AGITATION IN ENGLAND ON THE TURKISH ATROCITIES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4890, 23 November 1876, Page 3

AGITATION IN ENGLAND ON THE TURKISH ATROCITIES.

(Daily News, Sept. 6.)

The large public meetings that are now being held all over the country show unmistakably that the English people will no longer accept the false excuses which have been made for the support given by their rulers to the abominable Government of Turkey. The demonstrations which we are called to report day after day are nobly distinguished by this peculiarity, that men of all political opinions and religions are taking part in them. Although most of the speakers find it impossible to avoid remarking upon the conduct and policy of the Prime Minister towards Turkey, this does not prevent consistent Conservatives from joining them, for in this instance Lord Beaconsfield is not followed by his party. Not for many years has been seen so powerful and resistless a movement of public opinion determined to assert its rights against those who were misrepresenting it. Several public men, while declaring their full agreement with the aims of the movement, are expressing the fear that it will fail to accomplish all that might reason ; bly be expected of it through a want of definiteness in its aim. We have no such fear. What the country wants is very evident. Ear above every other requirement this demand is heard—that the populations which have suffered such cruel wrong at the hands of the Turks, those of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria, shall have governments of their own, tributary indeed to Constantinople, but free from all administrative interference by the Sultan and his Pashas. This demand, which is too intelligible to be misunderstood, and too just to be resisted, is made at meeting after meeting, and it is the only one that meets the necessities of the populations of Turkey. Such a policy, however, although strictly consistent with the maintenance of the “ independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire,” differs essentially from that of the maintenance of the statue in quo ante which has been the policy of Lord Beaconsfield. • That policy—the voice of the nation declares it—-is now completely out of date. Every consideration—the duties which the European Powers acknowledged by treaty 'in 1856, the claims of humanity and civilisation, and the necessity of providing for the peace of Europe—forbids the surrender of the Christian races of Turkey to the power of the Ottomans. There are some things which, although unspeakably bad, we must, submit to ; but any Government which contentedly acquiesced in the prolongation of Turkish rule over Bulgaria and the other tian provinces of the Ottoman Dominion would expose itself to the contempt of its own age and the execration of posterity. This is not a quarrel of the old-fashioned sort about forms of government or the rights of a dynasty, or even of the domination of one race over another. The Bulgarians, with their oxlike patience, would have been glad to be governed by the Turks, if the Turks had been able and willing to govern them. But the Turks have no idea of accepting any obligation towards the people they oppress. They take their substance, their" lives, their honor, and still feel that they have not taken enough. The Bulgarian question, truly stated, is whether the people are to be deliberately made over to robbery, rape, and murder, There are those even in this country who solemnly tell us that this is absolutely necessary “ for the interests of England but happily England is declaring that she does not share that conviction. At present the Turkish Government is obstinate, and disposed to try the patience of Europe to the last. It understands, so correspondents of credit affirm, that should the Russian Government call it to an account it must expect no material help from this country, and it is very angry ; but it nevertheless goes its own way. It imagines that if it can complete the defeat of the Servians and Montenegrins, and suppress the insurrection in Herzegovina and Bosnia, the right of Europe to address observations to it upon the condition of its subjects would be gone. Considering how many Englishmen who can read and write share the same opinion, its delusion is not surprising; Even now, after all that is known of the character of the Ottoman rule, the same in one Christian province as in another, in one generation as in another, there are those among us who are praying that .they may have free course. Only let her alone, and “tTurkey/nracfosc.” Sowillbrigands,pirates,and othororganised criminals if permitted. It would not bo correct to state that the Turks do not want peace. Thoy'want it very much, and it is such a peace as that of which Mr. Eawcett has said that it would be “ far more disastrous than war.” Turkey has friends here who will assist her, if possible, to gain her ends, but they will not succeed. She may be strong enough'to devastate her provinces * and destroy her enemies—and it is all she has done for the last eighteen months—but she has neither the power nor the right to effect a settlement of her European territories without the co-opera-tion of the European Powers. She has not the power, for she has neither constructive ability nor constructive resources; and she has not

the right, for she is under the tutelage of Europe, which is responsible for the condition of her Christian subjects. Before 1856 the right of protection ,was recognised as pertaining to Russia under the treaties which successive Sultans had been compelled to make with that Empire. This exclusive right of the Czar was terminated by the Crimean war; but the Christian subjects of the ■ Porte ~were not therefore left without guardians; together with the Turkish Government itself, they were placed under the protection of all the Powers. It is not competent to the Turkish Government to oust the European Governments from the relationships which they sustain towards its Christian races.

The aim of the European Powers should of course be to devise, some arrangement which, the Turkish Government may reasonably-be' asked to accept, and under which it may be possible for its Christian subjects to enjoy the: blessings of a settled government. The task is not an easy one, but if it were approached with good will it would not be found impracticable. The first thing to be done is to convince the Turkish Government of its necessity. This work devolves naturally upon two Governments, whose agreement would ensure its success. Were England and Russia thoroughly* to convince the Porte that they were agreed in recommending the erection of Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina into self-governing tributary States, the Turkish Government would not oppose a blind resistance to these Powers. We know how different from anything of this kind has been the procedure of Lord Beaoonfield’s Government hitherto. It has measured its success not by the extent to which it has increased the chances of peace by removing the causes of war, but by its ability to defeat the proposals of Russia. The result has shown that the success of such a policy is more to be deprecated than the failure. Ministers have led us to the verge of a European war.