THURSDAY, MaY 2, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 914, 2 May 1878, Page 2

THURSDAY, MaY 2, 1878.

A few days since and there wa s blue sky . enough to have made a Dutchman's pair of "'breeches, in the murky atmosphere „pf "European poliiics,;but the clouda rha-ve since gathered, and- all is:, once more gloomy rtnd threatening. All hope of a Congress has passed' away, save such an one' as England could only enter with the certainty of being worsted in the crooked paths of diplomacy aiid intrigue, ii9 indeed (he British'-. Government clearly appear to have foreseen when they declined to commit themselves to any such indefinite arrangement as that proposed by Prince Bisriiarck, acting as the mediator between Kussia and England. That the position is evidently a critical one, that at any moment wc may receive intelligence of .the proclamation of war, is painfully clear.. Already the two nations have passed from simple discussion to thosepreliminary actions with which two combatants in fence indulge ere the first blow is struck. "Russia proposes the pious fraud of enteringConstantiuople with armed troops and banners flying, simply for the parposeof holding there the services of the Greek Church, and Britain, in turn, intimates that she has now twenty ironclads'ready for the Baltic- squadron. Russia makes another feint* with a national subscription to equip a flotilla of cruisers to harry British commerce on the seas, which is met by Britain's guard, that she will fit out a hundred armed steamers, and treat all such cruisers, when taken, as pirates. Such interchange of thrust and parry iaust lead, and that at any moment, but to: one end, the blow which will seb all Europe in a blaze. . That the' firm attitude now taken by Great Britain— an attitude which mouths 'ago might have stayed the war feeling of Russia, and of those who are urging her on in her course of defiance to British interests^ — has done much .to delay the bursting of the storm, there is no doubt, -bub'- wo 'scarcely believe that it will' now avert it altogether,; From first to last it has been evident that Russia does nob stand alone. Really she is but a tool in the skilful hand of Germany, -and Bismarck is the deus ex machina on: whose arbitrament depends whether or no Russia will push her agressive demands to an issue that must involye the nations in war, The cloven hoof peeps out in the latent of our telegrams published to-day, The intimation that the intention to despatch a British ironclad squadron to the Baltic i* a menace which will affect the neutral interests and complicate the situation, reminds one of the wolf who fell upon the lamb, drinking tho water below him, for muddying the stream. At auy rate the mediator, if not openly acting the part of the wolf, is not slow to suggest the role to an aocomplice. We have been, and still are, firm believers in the existence of a thorough understanding botween Germany, Austria, and Russia, an alKauee which has for its object a redistribution of territory anxiously desired by all threti-.-which will pive the independent provinces , of Turkey east of the Danube to Russia, extend Austria southwards down the Eastern coast of the Adriactic, and give to Germany certain western pio vinci'a of Austria which the fotmer anxiously seeks to incorporate. That, this will be found be bo the ultimate object of tha action of all thi*ee countries, whatever amount of neutrality, Germany, and of friendliness) to £iitain, Austria *nay profess to have iifcilo doubt. Meantime tho matter is one of

Lwifcb^^lffctle pleasure the colonists l^^*New* will read the p^'OUipbjjburle - and determination toitlijwhiqlii Britain replies to the thr«st of|f|Bussia to revive the infamous fsjstem of legalised piracy which has^ourished in the wars of a less oiyilised age under the name of" privateering, and which by a treaty of nations has been condemned and abolished., , JB ritain.,., jnayJka&et "full work elsewhere* for all save" a few small squadrons of war ships in these^ sgas, : though , even, to judge, from; the list lately! published/ the \neri of war on ' the 'China,' ' Pacific, and East Indian- stations are fab from. being : aa: insignificant force; but a hundred heavily arnierl steamers added to the naval force of the Empire, and to! d off for tho. special purpose of protecting British commerce and British colonies from the raids of Russian privateers, will have a most re-assuring effect upon the minds :of the colonists.: Englishmen have an unbounded faith in the capabilities of the British navy., and in any part of the world desire to place themselves under no more powerful ayi?, and Russian privateers.should they venture abroad, will doubtless very soon come to entertain a similar respect, though from very different motives. It is one thing to, fig-lit with ■ glory,! promotion, and the * Gazette ' urging on to deeds of valor, another thing altogether to enter action with a vessel where defeat 'means : the short, sharp decision of a drumhead courtmartial, a short shrift and a dance upon nothing from the yard-arm as the finale of the catastrophe.