19 JANUARY 1878, Page 3

Telegrams arrive every day in London announcing a "modifi- cation

"in the policy, of Austria. Count Andrassy has, it is stated, informed the Government of St. Petersburg that the Emperor cannot consent to any Treaty which is not in accord with the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, and is acting in unison with England. That Austria is, in some sense, acting with this cduntry is probably true, and is the explanation of Lord Salis- bury's strong hint that England was no longer isolated ; but those who think she will resist the " dismemberment " of Turkey are, we are convinced, mistaken. Austria haLa deep intereet,seated as she is on the Danube, both in- the Dardanelles and Constantinople, but her Government is wholly unable, even if it wished, to object to the enfranchisement of the -South Slavoner. Nothing whatever has occurred or can occur to alter the main facts,—that the Army is mainly Slav, that the reigning Emperor, having been saved by Slays, is Slav in feeling, and that the interest of the Hapsburgs is to obtain compensation for their losses in Italy by the annexation of Bosnia. If the British Government is relying on Austria as an ally for a pro-Turkish policy, it is relying on a broken reed.