The Hastings Standard Published Daily. THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1896. THE TERRIBLE TURK.

Hastings Standard, Issue 99, 20 August 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1896. THE TERRIBLE TURK.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that nesd- resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The Prime Minister of England has for a second time spoken rather freely of the terrible Turk. At the Mansion House last year Lord Salisbury levelled some home truths at the Sultan, which cut that august potentate so severely that he indited a letter to the British statesman setting forth his views on the situation, detailing the steps taken to pacify the irate and bewildered Armenians, and promising large measures of reform ; and Lord Salisbury was asked to give publicity to the Royal letter. At the very moment that this farce was being played, the Sultan in true Oriental style was coquetting with Russia and France. He was literally playing with the Powers, as he would with so many inanimate chess-men. The reforms in Armenia are as far off being an accomplished fact as they ever were, while the terror-stricken Christian subjects of the Sultan are still compelled to seek safety in flight, preferring starvation on the hills to living under Turkish; misrule, with the chances of being slaughtered by bloodthirsty Khurds. For two long years the Sultan has been actively, though indirectly, the cause of so much terrible butchery, that it is amazing more stringent measures have not been adopted by the Great Powers to bring him to account. The Sultan has taken advantage of the extreme jealousy which the principal Continental nations bear to England to flout the British Government. It is probably the duty of England to take the lead in bringing to an end Turkish misrule, and while there can be no doubt that Great Britain is ready and willing to undertake her share of the work, she naturally recoils from taking the initial steps in the reform movement, as to do so would be to fan the flame of jealousy, and turn upon herself the wrath of her neighbors. Time is being wasted in parleying for concerted action. There can be no unanimity among the Great Powers when each one is seeking for political advantages, and while diplomacy is at work arranging a basis of operation the butchery is continued, and innocent lives are sacrificed by a crael and fiendish moparch. It seems improbable that Turkish misrule will be stayed except at the cost of a great war, and it is the dread of setting a light to the powder magazines of Europe that probably restrains the British Government. In his latest speech Lord Salisbury has given vent to some weighty words,, which moat be taken at their full

value. He is the Minister responsible for the foreign relations of Great Britain, and with that responsibility resting on his shoulders we may be sure that every word he has uttered has] been well-weighed before it has been allowed to escape his lips. Measured by the standard of his last great speech on the same subject it is more penetrating, and its effect upon the Turkish ruler will be to quicken his cunning, while Russia will seek for further profit by the Sultan's chess playing. ' It may be that the vigorous language of England's Prime Minister is the beginning of the end of England's inactivity, and the mighty resources of the empire may be put forth to settle the problem of the East. The Sultan must feel very uncomfortable.