it: one of the former stood for In no place where we have ever been-probably in no other place in the British Islandsis to be seen a sea so full of wild bird life as we Saw that day. Hundreds of cormor break out into violence and outrage against their unneighbourly neighbours. This was the origin of the Bulgarian atrocities, for which Turkey was not responsible, but England and Russia primarily were. We submit, therefore, that in those transactions which Mr Gladstone so recklessly used as a justification of Russia's attack on Turkey in 1877, no valid reason is to be found for a reversal of England's secular policy in the East. co-operation with the Allies? By the Treaty of Paris they were left to the tender mercies of their implacable enemies: why? because, owing to the bungling and blundering conduct of the war in the Crimea, the gallant Turkish army, which had single-handed defeated the Russian invaders in every engagement until they were joined and superseded by their Western allies, was refused permission to go to the relief of Kars, then sorely pressed by the Russians, until it was too late. At last the indignant protests of the heroic commandant of Kars, and the repeated requests of Omar Pasha, prevailed, and that able general was allowed to march to the relief of the sorely beleaguered city, only, on arriving within sight of it, to see the Russian flag waving over it. Kars then thus became the great card for Russia to play in the diplomatic game at the Congress of Paris, and she willingly exchanged it for Circassia. The brave but uncivilised inhabitants of that unconquered country, seeing themselves thus sold into the hands of their inveterate enemies, rather than submit to that hated rule, fled, to the number of some 40,000 souls, across the Black Sea to It should not be forgotten Bulgaria, where the Sultan that one of the safeguards allotted to them land and against maladministration in houses; but between Bul- Anatolia devised by Lord garians and Circassians no Beaconsfield-viz., the appointsympathy or amity could pos- ment of military consuls in the sibly exist, and the latter, as disturbed regions-had been time went on, only became abandoned by his successors, more and more discontented and that a great moral check with their lot, and ready to against "crime and outrage" The second reason assigned for that change is more plausible — viz., the Armenian massacres; and it may at once be admitted that the Porte's attitude in the matter has been in the highest degree unsatisfactory. It neither prevented, nor repressed, nor inflicted punishment, nor apologised for the manifold murders and outrages committed upon the unhappy Armenians. Probably the Sultan's Ministers did not dare acquaint Europe with the truth that the Turkish troops in those parts were ill-led, illfed, ill-clothed, and ill-paid, and were not to be trusted to fight against the Kurdish marauders, by whom most of the crimes laid to the charge of the Turks were committed. that one Sultan had been thus removed out of the way of Kurds and other caterans. While, then, admitting that the persistent failure of Turkey to effect the promised reforms in her Asiatic provinces, and the unchecked perpetration of outrages in Armenia, justify the withdrawal of the friendly offices due by England to her in virtue of the cession of Cyprus, the question of policy still remains to be considered; and it does not appear to us to be wise or patriotic in consequence of those deplorable events to execute a volte face in our Eastern policy, and become accomplices with Russia in her traditional progress to the Dardanelles. But it may be asked, How does it appear that the weight and influence of England have been thrown into the Russian scale? The shortcomings of Turkey, the bad faith and folly of the Porte, may be demonstrated and denounced, and yet the old policy may be substantially maintained. Certainly and up to the period when the Russian nomination of Prince George to the vice- throne of Crete broke up the European Concert, it was permissible to take that view. But when the two Conservative Powers, Germany and Austria, found themselves compelled to withdraw rather than consent to an inequitable arrangement urged by Russia in her own obvious interest, and England sided with Russia, in spite of the legitimate protests of the Porte, it became manifest to Europe that England had abdicated the role she had so long and consistently played at Constantinople, and that her place of power and influence there had become vacant. Then followed perhaps the most melodramatic stroke of diplomatic strategy since Napoleon pretended to adopt the Mussulman faith in Egypt. Without difficulty, with little delay, but with all preparations carefully made, and the ground rendered secure beforehand, the German Emperor stepped into the place at Constantinople vacated by England, and by ostentatiously accepting the lavish hospitality ostentatiously offered him by the Sultan, announced to all the world that in Germany Turkey had a fast friend on whom she could rely for at any rate good offices, if not for active military assistance. To render this more apparent and more impressive, the Empress appeared on the scene, and at the great banquet sat on the Sultan's right hand. After all this the Turks may be pardoned if they thought that Bulgarian atrocities and Armenian massacres were blotted out of the page of history, and that the Sultan, victorious over Greece, and hand-in-hand with Germany, need no longer dread Russian aggression, or the interference of the Western Powers. Nor would this impression be diminished by the Emperor's subsequent progress to and demeanour at Jerusalem. The Crimean War, we all know, had its origin in the conflicting claims of France and Russia about the Holy Places; but on the recent occasion those an tagonistic Powers were hardly in evidence at all. It was Germany, and German Roman Catholic or Protestant communities, which figured in the public eye. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that by this masterly manœuvre the German Emperor has captured Constantinople, the Sultan, his splendid army, and Palestine. The great lift to German commerce which will result from this happy coup de main is obvious; but, of course, it will be asked, Is this addition to German influence in the near East likely to last? Making allowance for the mutability of all mundane policies, we see no reason why it should not last for many years. Germany, in seceding from the Cretan concert, had the active support of Austria; and Austria, as is well known, has the active support of the most powerful of the Balkan States, Roumania. With equal ingratitude and folly, Russia after the fall of Plevna, which she owed to the gallant co-operation of the Roumanian army, threw over in the most cynical way the claims of Roumania, and appropriated to herself the territory coveted by her ally. Of Austria's traditional determination to prevent the absorption by Russia of the Black Sea, Constantinople, or the Dardanelles, there is no doubt; the German Emperor therefore knows, and, what is not less important, the Sultan knows, that behind Germany at Constantinople stand Austria and Roumania. In time, perhaps, the wave of fanaticism against Turkey, which of late years has been potent enough in this country to deflect her traditional Eastern policy, will have spent its force, and England will resume her position as guardian of the Dardanelles. Should that time arrive, in in what condition will she find the Mediterranean? Will France at one end see her present confederate, Russia, predominant at the other? Or will the triple alliance of Germany, Austria, and Roumania have succeeded in barring her exit from the Euxine? Something will probably depend on the future management and government of Crete. By placing, at the instance of Russia, a Greek prince and a prince and a member of the Greek Church at its head, the four Powers have incurred a serious responsibility towards Turkey and Europe; and, arguing from the past, it is not very easy to believe that if, encouraged by Russia, or even without that encouragement, Prince George one fine day proclaims the annexation of the island to Greece, any effective steps will be taken to prevent it. Then will have been set the shameful example of a small Power, hopelessly defeated in an unjust aggression on a powerful neighbour, not only saved from merited punishment by the interference of Europe, but actually rewarded for its misdoing by an accession of territory diplomatically filched from the unjustly assailed and vic➡ torious Power. On the other hand, the past |
