The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1912. A TOTTERING EMPIRE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 60, 4 November 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1912. A TOTTERING EMPIRE.

The desperate straits of the Turkish Army and the utter rout of Nazim Pasha’s great force, as detailed in our cable messages, must almost certainly mean the fall of the Turkish Empire. Assailed on every hand by warlike peoples, Turkey was never so sorely pressed. What the Great Powers will do it is difficult to predict, but it is plain that the oppressed subject races will never again permit the outrage and aggression so Jong borne. Only a week before the actual outbreak of the war Armenia once more, sent up her despairing cry at ruthless massacre by Turkish soldiers. Other nations under Turkey have suffered terribly from mismanagement or reckless neglect of elementary duties on the part of the Ottoman Government, but they are capable of offering res’stance. They rise in revolt, make heavy reprisals and frequently obtain redress. This is the case with tlio Arabs and the Albanians. It is altogether different with the Armenians, who have forgotten how to use arms. Although at one time they were brave and skilled in the art of war, they have allegedly become now, through ages of subjugation and oppression, so disheartened that even the ordinary spirit of selfdefence has left them. But the great example of the Bulgarians, whose resistless onslaughts demoralised / even such famous fighting men as the Turkish soldiers/ may put new heart into this down-trodden race. It is said that the Armenian people are the worst treated of all Turkey’s ill-governed subject races, and they have come to look upon misfortune and suffering as their lot in life. Their senses have been blunted and their wits dulled by the unrelieved horror of their existence. After the deposition of Abdul Hamid it was believed that the condition of Armenia would be' improved. The Young Turks announced that a new era of freedom and peace had dawned, and the Armenians thought that at last they were to bo protected from attack. But they were soon disillusioned, and under the new regime matters were just as bad and protests as little heeded at Constantinople. The Turk is apparently hopeless, and except possibly for reasons of European diplomacy, is not wanted by anybody. If the day for the fall of the Ottoman Empire is at hand, and with a successful enemy’s army almost at Constantinople itself, it looks very much like if, it will probably prove a great blessing though there will be much trouble before peace is ultimately gained, and the turbulent nations arc at rest.