The Vienna correspondent of the Standard has spread some alarm
this week by affirming that Russia is again actively intriguing in the Balkans; that she recently offered to guarantee the Sultan, if he would place the Bosphorus in her hands ; and that she has offered full forgiveness to the Bulgarian Premier, if he would desert Prince Ferdinand and accept Russian ascendency. He also affirms that Austria is massing troops, in view of eventualities to the eastward. All these statements are denied by the Russian Government, or by M. Stambouloff, and are most of them reaffirmed after the denial. The revived war-scare was consequently so sharp as to be felt slightly on all Stock Exchanges. There is nothing improbable in the Standard story, and on the Continent statesmen consider that their right of keeping secrets includes the right to publish false denials ; but we suspect the corre- spondent makes one mistake. He overrates the connection between the action of Russian agents and that of the Russian Government. The agents know Russia's permanent objects, and are allowed to press towards them even at times when the Czar has decided on temporary quiescence. A sudden opportunity might ',force the Czar's hand, for he could not resist a military outcry ; but he wants to put his finances a little straight first, and though he knows nothing of finance, he is doing it by sheer energy of will.
