LORD SALISBURY'S JOURNEY.
TORD SALISBURY'S wander through Europe will pro- 4 bably do him much good, but we question if any great benefit will accrue from it to those who, desire that Turkish misrule should continue to be upheld. It is well for the Marquis if, as people talk, he is to be Foreign Secretary under a recoustructed Government, he should see the governing men of Europe on business of importance, learn something of their minds, and show them something of his own ; but his hope of a useful alliance, if he entertained any, must by this time have become very feeble. He evidently secured none in France. The French consider, and with some justice, that in allowing them to be deprived of two provinces and two hundred millions sterling, we did not display much desire for the continuance of the entente cordials, and they have not abandoned their hope that Russia may one day prove. their ally in a grand campaign, The Due Decazes has therefore, we may rely on it, assured Lord Salisbury of his profound respect and sympathy, but has remarked almost incidentally that the interests of France require her Govern- ment to adhere rigidly to a policy of peace. France wishes well to Turkey, and maintains her traditionary benevolence towards Catholic Christians under Turkish rule, but the instructions to her Envoys at Constantinople will be to main- tain a strict reserve, and not to expend in defence of Turkey resources which she may require to use on her own behalf. From Paris Lord Salisbury passed on to Berlin, and the reply of Berlin has already been published to the world. The German Government is grateful to Russia for her aid in 1870, she has no direct interest in the affairs of South-Eastern Europe, but if the Czar likes to free the Slavonic Christians from Turkish rule, Berlin will maintain towards him an attitude of the friendliest neutrality. How. could it be otherwise If Prince Bismarck had con- trelled affairs himself, he could have arranged nothing more advantageous for Germany than that Russia should be engaged in a dangerous and costly enterprise, in which she might possibly provoke the hostility of Great Britain. Why should Prince Bismarck, by assuming an attitude of menace, or even of reserve, prevent the Czar from exhausting his army in a work in which, if he fails, he will be discredited, and if he succeeds, he will do unquestionable good to the world? If England had an alliance to offer, indeed, so that revindieation should become impossible, then a word such as the Times, prayed for on its knees, and Lord Derby with his hands folded, might perhaps be spoken ; but England is governed by Parliaments, and has no such alliance to offer, and Germany, with her million of soldiers, will remain benevo- lently expectant.
From Berlin Lord Salisbury proceeds to Vienna, where, if he shares Lord Beaconsfield's views, he may have some little hope ef discovering some traces of sympathy with the Premier's ideas. He will find a most sympathetic interlocutor. The Chancellor of the Empire is a Magyar, and the Magyars would fight for Turkey with as much pleasure as if they were Ma.hommedans, and are even now urging the Emperor to intervene on their behalf by force. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however, as the case may he, Count Andiussy in opposed by two forces hitherto irresistible in Austria, one of theta patent, and the other yet to be revealed,—the feeling of the Army, and the secret will of the Imperial House. In the Army more than three-fifths of the officers are Slays, and Slays from the regions where hatred of the Turks is at once a tradition and a present passion. They will obey an order, but they will not fight willingly to rivet the Mahommedan chain once more on Christian popula- tions, and the Emperor Francis Joseph has had enough of campaigning with unwilling troops. Besides, where is the evidence that he sympathises with the Turkish side ? If the Emperor has a belief derived from experience, it is that his Slays are the most trustworthy defenders of his throne, which they saved in 1848; that the Magyars are fighting for their own freedom and ascendancy, and not for his family; that if he is ever to be recouped for the loss of Italy, it must be out of the Turkish provinces in Europe. Why should he quarrel with his most devoted sub- jects, and risk the disaffection of his army, and place the key of the future in the hands of Prince Bismarck, by fighting Russia in order to protract the decease of Turkey England, it is true, could find him money, but how many corps d'armies could England land in Croatia if Croatia rose in insurrection The Emperor will not, we imagine, openly ally himself with Russia, which he has every reason to distrust ; but he will refrain from attacking Russia, and with the Emperor, as Lord Salisbury will find, lies still the control of foreign policy. With Prince Bismarck friendly, Francis Joseph has no need to think of his German subjects, and he most assuredly will not voluntarily cast himself into the hands of the Magyars alone.
Vienna traversed and found barren, Lord Salisbury proceeds to Rome, there also, we fear, to find that Lord Beaconsfield must be disappointed. The Italian Government does not love the Turk, does not want to quarrel with Russia, which can aid it in any diplomatio straggle with the Vatican, and has no de- sire to be fighting side by side with the Hapsburgs and the Pope. The motives which led Cav our to the Alma exist no longer. Frame is not engaged, and England has nothing to offer except the friendliness of feeling which would remain un- changed if Italy abstained from any part in the negotiations. No doubt the Italian Government might be willing to oblige all Europe and give itself position by undertaking any function it was requested by all Europe to assume, such as the occupam tion of a Turkish province, but beyond this S. Depretis is not likely to be persuaded to go. If Italian policy has a permanent object, it is the interest of Italy, and Italy has no interest whatsoever in the prosperity of Pashas. Unless, therefore, Lord Salisbury can find time for a flying visit to Fez, he will reach Constantinople without having secured the services of an army other than our own. In other words, he will know more thoroughly and clearly than ever he knew before that English policy, so far as it is pro- Turkish, is policy in which she stands alone ; that no ruling statesman in the world, except Lord Beaconsfield, is willing to waste treasure or lives in order to maintain an Asiatic clan in ascendancy over South-Eastern Europe. If England enters upon this task, it must be in defiance of her steady policy of never landing upon the Continent without having made sure of an ally, and with a full sense that she must do her own work by her own unassisted strength.
We have not the slightest objection to that position. England is quite strong enough, if need be, to hold her own against Russia, whether in Europe or Asia., and will, we trust, should the need arise, do her duty, without caring too much about alliances. But it is well that an assertion constantly made by Tory orators, that it is needful to support Turkey in order to prevent .a great European war, should be thoroughly exposed. If England does not defend Turkey there will be no great European war, but a comparatively limited war be- tween Russia and the Ottoman caste. No Power is willing to move a step on behalf of Turkey unless England moves, and only one Power is half-willing, or a quarter-willing, even if England moves. She alone can change the limited war into a European war, and she need not, if she pleases, allow even that limited war to last a week. She has only to insist that the Turks shall emancipate the Provinces to see the Turks give way, or if they will not, by sending her fleet to Constantinople to paralyse their resistance. The issues are entirely in her hands, unoomplicated by any decisions of the remainder of Europe, which will watch a duel between Russia and Turkey in calm content, not desiring Russian success, not fearing Turkish fall,—which, when all is said, can but add splendid and hitherto wasted countries to the European demesne. No man ever had his hands more unfettered by foreign pressure than Lord Beaconsfield, no man ever had a grander issue to decide, and we must add, no man who ever lived was more likely, to the extent of his ,power, to decide it wrongly.
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