THE TABLET
A Weekly Newspaper and Review
WITH SUPPLEMENT.
D u m VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
Brom the Brief of His Holiness to T he Tablet, June 4, 1870*
Vol. 51. No. 1969. L ondon, January 5, 1878.
price sa. by post ¡%i
[R egistered a t the General P ost Office as a Newspaper
C hronicle of the Week
Page
The Overture toRussia.—Russia's Reply.—The Advance on Sofia.— The Danube Bridges. — The Pashas.—War and Peace Demonstrations. — Lord Carnarvon on the Situation.—The Two Consistories.— The Italian Ministry. -—The Charge of a Projected Coup d’Etat in France. — The Ministerial Crisis in Prussia.— The News from the Cape.— Queen Isabel and Don Carlos.— Russia and Poland. — The Revenue and State of the country. —The Home Rule Conference .. 1
C O N T
L eaders :
Page
Pius IX ...............................................5 The Ministry and the W a r .. _ •• 5 The “ Times ” and_ the Religious
Conflict in Prussia .. .. 6 Intermediate Education, Ireland .. 7 A rt :
Round the Winter Galleries .. 8 R eviews :
Dr. Newman on the Via Media .. 9 The Lectures of a Certain Pro
fessor .. . . .. .. 10 Anthropology.. .. .. . . 1 0 England's Policy and Peril.. .. 10 Le Libéralisme .. . . .. 11 Mycenae .. .. .. . . 1 2
NTS.
Pago
Short N otice :
The Spirit of St. Francis of Assisi i 3 C orrespondence :
The Problem of Catholic Liberal
Education.. .. ,. .. 13 The Night Home for Girls .. 14 Corpus Christi Church, Maiden-
lane .. .. .. .. 14 The Bedford Catholic Schools .. 14 Starving Children in South Wales 14 A New Year’s Gift .. .. 14 A Last Word .. .. .. 14 R ome :— Letter from our own Cor
respondent . . .. •• Î17 D io cesan N ews Westminster....................................18
D iocesan N ews (continued) .
Page
Southwark .. .. .. . . T9 Beverley .. .. . . ..19 Birmingham.. . . .. . . 19 Hexham and Newcastle .. . . 19 Nottingham.. .. .. . . 19 Scotland— Western District . . 19 I reland :—
Letter from our own Corre
spondent . . . .
... 19
Foreign N ews
,- France .. .. ** ..21
G e rm a n y ................ .. 22 G eneral N ews . . . . ..22
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
THE world was startled on Sunday by the an
nouncement thatEngland had stepped in KuaaiA between the belligerents in the East. A s usual there was a great deal o f exaggeration lia sed upon a modicum o f fact. W e were assured that our Governm ent had offered mediation, and had called upon R u ssia to state the conditions upon which she would be prepared to conclude peace, with the intention, if those conditions proved to be inconsistent with the assurances given b y the Emperor at Y a lta , o f intervening in a more active manner. W e were even to ld that the form which that in tervention would assume would be the despatch o f sixty thousand men to Gallipoli. A n d the news that Russia had returned the answer which most people expected she would g iv e was magnified by a portion o f the press into such a refusal o f our good offices as would be an insult to this country T h e sim ple facts were that after a Cabinet C ouncil held on Thursday, the 27th u lt., a despatch was sent to St. Petersburg, stating that the English Government had been solicited by the Sultan to inquire o f the G overnment o f the Emperor whether it would be disposed to enter in to negotiations with a view to peace. But although it is very lik e ly that Lord D erby may have said something about the willingness with which this Governm ent would do anything in its power to contribute to such a result, it is certain that no formal offer o f mediation was made. T h e Russian papers, however, proceeding on the same assumption as that adopted by a portion o f the English press, proceeded very ungraciously to declare that med ia tion, except when it is demanded by both belligerents, is impossible, and becomes intervention, a thing which it behoved Russia to resist. I t would be, however, quite contrary to common sense, as well as to precedent, to maintain that the combatant who has got the worse in the struggle m ight not ask a friendly neutral to ascertain for him whether his adversary would be disposed to negotiate for peace on moderate terms. This, is in fact, what Turkey has done. A n d the latest accounts represent the answer o f Russia to be that she is at all times ready to open negotiations with the Porte if the latter manifests its inclination for peace by addressing itself directly to Russia.
I t is not to be wondered at that Russia b u s s ia ’s should prefer that the negotiations should from reply. the first be carried on d irectly with Turkey.
In that case the first step would be the arrange
m ent o f an armistice, which would furnish an opportunity ft« exacting terms which would test the reality o f the Porttfi intention to g ive up the struggle. And it is a lready ru«,oured that the surrender o f some at least o f the
Danubian fortresses, and perhaps o f Erzeroum , are among the conditions on which Russia would consent to an armistice. This, however, would, o f course, be equivalent to an unconditional concession o f the Russian demands concerning Bulgaria and such portions o f Armenia as they may insist on having, and, when once an armistice has been concluded on those terms, Turkey herself, without the intervention o f other Powers, would be unable to resist dismemberment to that extent. T h e reasons, therefore, why Russia should desire this mode o f negotiation are obvious. H ow far the interests o f this country may or may not be affected by it must depend upon the moderation o f the Russian Governm ent and the fidelity o f the Emperor A lexander to the assurances which he has so often given. A fortnight hence we shall probably know whether her M a jesty’s M in isters are o f opinion that those assurances can still be depended upon. In the meantime to predict, without positive and definite official information, that the Emperor intends to break them w ould be to assume a serious responsibility. But i f those assurances should be falsified in any important particular, the feeling o f the country is likely to be so strong as to sweep away all factious opposition, and g ive to the Governm ent a hearty support in its assertion of England’s right to have a voice in the settlem ent of the Eastern question.
T h e tide o f war is steadily, though slow ly,
THB sweeping southwards. On the 28th the Serso f ia . vians a ttacked P irot, otherwise called Sharskoi,
and after a fight o f nearly two days obtained possession o f the town. T h e Kaim akan, Hassan H a lil Bey, was taken prisoner, and large stores o f provisions, arms, and ammunition, including 23 K rupp guns, fell in to their hands, while the Bulgarian Bishop and his c lergy with the leading members o f the Christian community went out to escort them in triumph iuto the town. T h e Turks had blown up the magazine before retiring, and caused a conflagration which it took some time to extinguish. T h e fall of N ish is supposed to be imminent, and the bombardment is said to have been suspended with a view to negotiations for a capitulation. A t the same time the Russian advanced guard has been pouring through the A rab K onak pass into the plain o f Sofia. T h e Turks seem to have been taken by surprise and to have offered no serious resistance, for even the natural difficulties o f the frozen and snow-laden passes have been so great that at two distinct points three days have been occupied in the accomplishm ent o f an insignificant distance. B y Sunday morning a Russian force sufficient to threaten the railway had debouched in to the plain, and in Sofia itself preparations were being made for a determ ined resistance, the civilian inhabitants being sent out o f the town.
New Serifs, v 0l. XIX. No. 478.
