The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1897. THE TURKISH QUESTION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 21, 26 January 1897, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1897. THE TURKISH QUESTION.

For th* OMiae that laola assistants, For the wrone that Beads resistance. For the fnturs in ths stutaneo. And the goad that ws can ao.

The Porte, in compliance with the demands of the Powers, has issued a proclamation giving religious liberty to Armenians who have been coerced into renouncing their faith. We suppose that this, proclamation will be followed by others embodying, the pragramme of reforms which the Sultan has reluctantly agreed to. Oar cable messages to-day, however, describe the Sultan as being greatly dejected because Moslems are supporting European demands, and that he- desires to get rid of. the Grand Vizier under whose influence the concessions were made. A still more significant announcement comes from the Constantinople correspondent of the London " Standard." Although the Sultan, under pressure, has granted a general amnesty to Armenians, martial law still prevails throughout the Empire. This means that the operations of the Civil Courts are suspended, and the whole population is kept under the iron heel of a Moslem military despotism.

We fear that the jubilation which attended Lord Salisbury's diplomatic victory in securing such 'a combination of the Powers that the Sultan could no longer treat English demands with open defiance was premature, if it proceeded

on the assumption that the permanent amelioration of the condition of the Christians in Turkey has been assured. Times out of number the Sultan and his predecessors have given guarantees of reform. Under the Anglo-Turkish Convention these promises took the solemn form of an international treaty, but in no single instance has the Porte fulfilled its pledges. We doubt whether, even if the Sultan earnestly desired reforms, he could, while administering through the agency of greedy and corrupt Pashas, materially change the policy of plunder and oppression which has desolated one of the fairest regions ot this earth. But we know that the heartless butcher who now occupies the throne would, if he dared, continue the war against bis Armenian subjects until tbey were either driven into the ranks of Mohammedism or exterminated. His temporary enforced abstention from open persecution may secure a welcome respite to the Christians living under his jurisdiction, but neither for them nor for Europe will there be a permanent settlement of the Eastern question until the Turk is driven out of Europe.

We can only conjecture what the nature of the agreement between the Powers was that compelled the Sultan to change his tactics. No doubt it included some definite programme of coercion in the event of refusal, and so far as it has removed the grounds of misunderstanding and distrust which neutralised all England's efforts to assist the Armenians, it marks an advance towards the final solution of the problem. In England it was welcomed as affording relief from the fear of a dreadful war. Public indignation had almost passed beyond the control of statesmen, and the clamour for some action, no matter what the consequences, to end the ruthiess slaughter of the Sultan's Christian subjects, must ere long have forced the hand of diplomacy and compelled the British Government to act independently if the other Powers held aloof. And who could forecast the consequences ? Among the most probable were a general massacre of Christians within tbe Turkish dominions and the embroilment of England with Russia and France. As a means of saving England from embarking on an enterprise fraught with so many serious perils, the agreement between the Powers on the Turkish question is a cause ol much thankfulness. Our chief hope is that tbe understanding is definite enough, and the bond of sufficient strength to carry the contracting parties through the tortuous alleys of Oriental chicanery which lie ahead.