1 OCTOBER 1881, Page 3

A correspondent of the Times, to whose view that journal

evidently attaches importance, bids England at once increase the number of her enemies. He affirms that Austria is steadily adva,ncing down the Balkan peninsula, that she will, in spite of denials, shortly, arrive at Salonica, and that then the Greek kingdom, occupying Macedonia and Epirus, will become a vassal kingdom of the Hapsburgs. "The position of a Power with the organising and staying capacity of Austria, command- ing all the physical and nautical resources of the Greek popula- tion of the Levant, on the flank of the most important station along the road to India, is one which ought to make English- men think of the contingencies which may arise therefrom." We are therefore to guard India by watching Russia, lest she acquire Constantinople ; France, lest she dominate Egypt ; Austria lest she throw Greek vessels on our flank ; and Germany, we suppose, lest she assist any one of these Powers. With the writer's deduction that we ought to be secure in Egypt, we agree, but is not this hostility to all mankind rather a high price to pay for India ? Are we never to have a foreign policy which is not dictated from Calcutta ?