THE STATE OF EUROPE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2275, 8 February 1887, Page 2

THE STATE OF EUROPE.

The Vienna correspondent of the Daily Telegraph reports that the news as to the European situation is disquieting, and tha general aspect of the situation is anything but reassuring. The question seems to be no longer whether there will be war in the spring, but whether it will be possible to maintain peace until then. All trace of the incorrigible optimism which so long characterised official opinion has disappeared. War is talked of as if half-a-dozeh, battles had already been lost. In fact, the hopgful view of the Bulgarian crisis taken hitherto has given way to dreadful pessimism. The Standard's correspondent in the same capital says he is informed on good authority that Russia demands from Germany and Austria not only that thev should abstain from encouraging the Bulgarians,' and thus give Russia a free hand in Bulgaria, which may be called her negative demand, but that they should openly support the Power against the de tacto rulers ■ of Bulgaria by endorsing her claims. A Constantinople correspondent hears "from u good source" that the British Governi ment have given the Porte to understand that if it persists in throwing itself into the arms of Russia the British occupation of Egypt may change its character from a provisional to a definite measure. The tone of the French press also continues warlike. : ANOTHER STRANGE HUMOUR ABOUT THE CZAR. The Berlin correspondent of the Times says :—"'There is a persistent rumour in Potsdam, where resides the father of Colonel von Villaume, Military Representative of the German Emperor at St. Petersburg, that this officer has been shpt by the Czar in a fit of rage; but here in Berlin nothing is known of such a tragic incident in circles which could scarcely be ignorant of it had it occurred." LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL'S RESIGNATION. The Pall Mall observes:—" In the i opinion of Lord Salisbury and a majority of i the Cabinet, a war on the Continent next year is exceedingly probable. It is by n& means so probable that we shall be drawn into it, but it is impossible to diminish out tire insurance if the Continent is to be ablaze. Lord Randolph entertains extraordinary views as to a swinging reduction of our army and navy expenditure. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, be would have to impose the taxes necessary to meet the deficit which would be entailed by carrying out the programme of his colleagues. He therefore appears to have determined, with characteristic rapidity, that his continued presence in the Cabinet was impossible. He has consequently departed, and everyone is wondering how Lord Salisbury will carry on without him. The answer to the question is very simple. Lord Salisbury will not carry on without him at all, unless* Lord Haitington steps into the breach. There is, for the first time, a possibility of establishing a real Conservative Government in this country, which was impossible while Lord Randolph was leader of the Ministry. Lord Hartington was offered the post when the Cabinet was formed. He rejected it, and has ever since been wondering whether he did wisely. He has now in his hands tiie fate of the Government. Accepting his standpoint as to the duty of England in Ireland and elsewhere, we are utterly unable to conceive any hypothesis by which Lord Hartington could defend, on moral or political grounds, a refusal to accept; the post vacated by Lord Randolph Churchill. As to the future of Lord Randolph, who has now succeeded to the uost vacated by the extinction of Sir Charles Dilke in the Chamban.tin combination, it is as yet premature to speak." THE IRISH QUESTION. In United Ireland the author of "The Plan of Campaign " says:—"Neither proclamation, arrest,, and seizure at Loughrea, nor judicial pronouncements, nor police prosecution alter the situation by an hair's breadth. We still bold by Mr Holmes' opinion, delivered in his sober judgment against any action he may be forced to take by colleagues who value rack-rents more than constitutional law. I maintain still further that there is no serious intention ou the part ol the Government to bring the legality of "the plan" to the test. To secure a condemnation from a friendly judge in the first instance, and to proceed to trial after would be a proceeding too farcical for even the blunderers who direct the prosecutions." In further endeavouring to demonstrate the futility ot tile proclamations United Ireland says :—" When the rack-renters did not quail at the first note of the campaign bugle, the tenants collected their superfluous stock and are prepared for action. How does his Serene Highness, the ' wee wee German lairdie' of SaxeWeimnr, propose to disarm them? By prohibiting fund collection ? The money is collected. By seizing the money? The money is beyond reach. The police cut- l purses have only succeeded in snatching a trifle over £100 out of tens of thousands collected, and even if the pilferers should not be obliged ignominiously to disgorge their booty with costs, the £5000 of American subscriptions announced at Tuesday's meeting of the League form a pretty substantial indemnity fund against casual pickings and stealings of the police. The war-chest being already filled and double-locked, and out of reach of the enemy, will the Castle people undertake to make it a criminal offence to succour evicted tenants with their own money ? If not, in what way do the Castle proclamation-writers propose to impede the practical working out of the plan ?" MR BRIGHT ON WELSH AND ' IRISH QUESTIONS. Writing to a Welsh gentleman on the disestablishment of the Church in Wales, Mr John Bright says:—"l have no doubt of this, that the Welsh Church question may, and probably will, remain unsettled for a long time, whilst we are fighting over another question, whether one of the three kingdoms is to be handed over to the conspiracy, half-Irish and half-American, which is now at open war with the Government of the Queen." According to the official figures pub lished, the liabilities of M. Vuatiart, the Paris stockbroker who disappeared, mysteriously of late, amount to £130,720 and the assets to £120,000. This leaves only a deficit of £16,/'2O. In the meantime no tidings have been obtained respecting the fate of the missing stockbroker, many of whose friends persist in believing that he has not committed suicide.

Patjpekism.—A Parliamentary return just issued shows the gradual decrease of pauperism in England and Wales during the last thirty years. The total number of jmipers in 188G was 120,000 less than in 18->7, though the population is now onethird more. In the latter year there were 43 paupers to every 1,000 inhabitants. In the metropolis in 1857 there were 35 paupers to every 1.000 inhabitants, and now there are only 22 to every 1,000. In the metropolis the number of paupers in the present year is larger than the numbers in the 15 of the other 39 years mentioned. The years in which the numbers were smaller were from 1858 to ISO 3 from 1875 to 1881, and from 1883 to 18S5, inclusive. The proportion of pauperism to population was in any other year coinprised with the period except 1878. On Saturday last the nuinbei- of paupers in London, exclusive of lunatics in asylums and vagrants, was 90,045, as compared with 90,050 on the corresponding day of last year.