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on the other hand, the Russian rule extends, the Catholic Church is persecuted with an implacable and elaborate cruelty. It is from the Penal Code of Poland that Prince Bismarck learned the art of legislation against God. It is in accordance with Russian policy that hostility to the Latin Christians is carefully fomented throughout the Greek communities of the East, from the gates of the Holy Sepulchre to the valley of the Danube. Under this circumstance we cannot for a second hesitate to say that we much prefer to have to deal with the Turks.-Dublin Rev. Oct. 1876.1

[A reason why Jews in general have held aloof from the agitation on the Bulgarian Atrocities is that their co-religionists are held under every form of degradation by the Christian population, while it is a proverb that "The rulers of Ishmael are merciful."]— A. L. Green, T. Oct. 14th, 1876.

[Some correspondence ensued on this letter.]-T. Oct. 16th, 17th, 18th.

[Several Jewish-Greek subjects write to say that they are not denied civil rights.]-D. N. Nov. 25th, 1876.

[A deputation to Lord Derby, headed by Baron De Worms, presents a memorial emanating from a conference of Jews in Paris, asking that securities may be taken for the rights of the Jews as well as the Christians in the Turkish provinces, and drawing attention to their persecution in Servia and Roumania.] -D. N. Dec. 28th, 1876.

Connected with the religious aspects of the question is the idea. of Russia as a theocracy.2 Political dread of the Russian theocracy, from fear that such an ascendency over the minds of vast multitudes might become as dangerous as the Papacy, appears to have had little, if any, effect as a factor of Public Opinion. But a considerable amount of distaste and repulsion was excited by the notion that the Russian Government was trafficking in solemn and sacred feelings. The Daily Telegraph was unwearied in dwelling on the hypocrisy of Russia.

Again, the principle of religious liberality was invoked to conciliate something more than mere toleration for Turkey.

1

At once Asiatic and European, as a consequence of its position and history, the Turkish nation often affords us a test of the spirit in which the stronger West is disposed to deal with the more disorganised families of man. .. Wise statesmanship, guided by an instinct of what was good for humanity, for the whole race, would avail itself of this existing intermedism . . Far from seeking to eject the Turks from Europe,

"The Impending War."

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2 It is worth noticing that one great difficulty in the way of the Turkish Government arose from its being, like the Russian, theocratic in character.

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it would see in them a means for smoothing the differences between the continents, the races, and the creeds-for breaking down the barriers which now separate the various portions of mankind, and for showing that one common humanity could override all minor differences. . . . Any such considerations are alien, and probably distasteful to the Christian mind. . . . The extermination of the Moslems is not more impossible than is their conversion to the Christian faith, in which they see—it sounds strangely to Christians—a retrogradation. . . . Widen the area of your sympathies. Let Christendom and Islam . . . shake hands, and agree to put aside their differences. . . . If the con-clusion is one from which the popular instinct as yet revolts, this only shows how weak we are in toleration.-Rd. Congreve, Fort. Rev. Oct. 1876.

There is no disguising the fact that there is in England a class who distinctly dislike Christianity in itself, and who are, wittingly or unwittingly, set against the victims of the Turks by the very fact that they are sufferers for the Christian religion. And there are others who neither dislike nor disbelieve in Christianity themselves, but who are so morbidly sensitive on the point of religious toleration or equality, that they fall into the very danger that they wish to avoid. They are so careful to avoid anything that can be unfair to the Mahometan, that they become bitterly unfair to the Christian.-E. A. Freeman, Contemp. Rev. Feb. 1877.

In certain minds, culture, when divorced from action and soothed by club furniture, begets a passionate contempt for all forms of enthusiasm, and especially for that which seems to be philanthropic. . . . A kindred cause of English Mahometanism comes from deep-seated, subtle, vehement, half-confessed, and often only half-conscious hatred of Christianity.-Spec. Sept. 9th, 1876. It almost seems that one source of active goodwill towards Turkey was a latent dissatisfaction with many aspects of European civilisation. We can imagine a man in such a frame of mind. listening to the letter of the Turkish Pasha to Mr. Layard, in reply to a request for information about the population and trade of his province, as to words of true wisdom :

My illustrious friend, and joy of my liver! The thing you ask of me is both difficult and useless. Although I have passed all my days in this place, I have neither counted the houses nor have I inquired into the number of the inhabitants; and as to what one person loads on his mules, and another stows away in the bottom of his ships, that is no business of mine. But above all as to the previous history of the city, God only knows the amount of dirt and confusion that the Infidels may have eaten before the coming of the sword of Islam. It were unprofitable for us to inquire into it. O my soul! O my lamb! seek not after the things which

concern thee not. in peace. Of a truth thou hast spoken many words, and there is no harm done, for the speaker is one and the listener is another. After the fashion of thy people thou hast wandered from one place to another, until thou art happy and content in none. We (praise be to God!) were born here and never desire to quit it. Is it possible then that the idea of a general intercourse between mankind should make any impression on our understanding? God forbid. Listen, O my son! There is no wisdom equal unto the belief in God. He created the world; and shall we liken ourselves to Him in seeking to penetrate the mysteries of His creation? Shall we say, Behold this star spinneth round that star, and this other star with a tail cometh and goeth in so many years? He from whose hand it came will direct and guide it. wilt say unto me, Stand aside, O man, for I am more learned than thou art, and have seen more things. If thou thinkest that thou art in this respect better than I am, thou art welcome. I praise God that I seek not that which I require not. Thou art learned in the things I care not for; and as for that which thou hast seen, I defile it. Will much knowledge create thee a double stomach, or wilt thou seek paradise with thine eyes? O my friend, if thou wilt be happy, say, There is no God but God. Do no evil, and thus wilt thou fear neither man nor death; for surely thine hour will come! The meek in spirit, Imaum Ali Tade.1

Thou camest to us and we welcomed thee; go

!

Let it go
But thou

There may have been some wish to keep from utter ruin an Empire which brought the suggestion of quite different possibilities into the dull monotony of modern European civilisation, and this wish may have led men to cast about for any argument, however far-fetched, to bespeak men's sympathies for it.

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Turkey is not a nation, but an Empire . Surely there is something very grand in such an Empire, shorn though it be of much of its former prestige and renown. [As an Empire ourselves we ought to sympathise with her.]-H. A. M. Butler Johnstone, P. M. G. Aug. 23rd, 1875.

I am not surprised at anybody's sympathy with the Turks, for they and the Spaniards are still in manner the first gentlemen of Europe. But I do not think any one can entertain kindly feelings towards their government.-7. Dec. 28th, 1875. Special Correspondent at Pera.

The most savage

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"Miso-Turk" acknowledges that this barbarian has remarkably refined and dignified manners Compare this with the Frank custom of indiscriminate shaking hands-that odious form of moral corruption.-Butler Johnstone, P. M. G. Jan. 8th, 1876.

1 W. R. Greg, "Life at High Pressure," Contemp. Rev. March, 1875.

[In another letter, Mr. Butler Johnstone notes that the Turks never interrupt in conversation (P. M. G. Jan. 12th.) The objection to shaking hands appears to be a tradition from Mr. Urquhart. In the Diplomatic Review, April, 1875, p. 160, there is a casual reference to "the vile practice."]

Don't you know the Turk's a gentleman,

The Slav a scurvy knave?

That Islam takes French polish,

And can learn how to behave?

-Punch, Dec. 16th, 1876.

Nor were there wanting points in which a superiority was claimed for the Turk over the Russian on grounds of moral weight. The Turk, (at least with the exception of the corrupt official class), they said, was sober; the Russian was proverbially intemperate. The Turk was credited with the Oriental virtue of frequent ablution, to which the Russian was a stranger. The Turk always told the truth; the Russian always lied.

Thus the companion pictures are presented of the Turk as a being endowed with many engaging qualities, and of the Russian as a creature of coarse and repulsive habits. The contrast between the ideal portraits of the Turk and of the Russian is dwelt upon and serves to enlist political sympathy for the former.

CHAPTER V.

POLICIES.

§ 1. Emancipation, Isolation, Police and Support.

WE now come to the consideration of the answers returned to the question: What should the English Foreign Office do? These answers constitute the various "Policies" to be distinguished as elements of Public Opinion. Four such policies seem naturally to spring from the notions which have been enumerated, according to the differing estimates which might be formed of their validity and importance; for when persons, who had definitely adopted one of the Views which have been spoken of, passed on to the consideration of the means for giving effect to it, they would almost of necessity 1 desire that the English Foreign Office should proceed in one of the four following ways:

1. Take part in bringing about the emancipation of the Provincials from Turkish rule.

2. Take no part in the matter whatever.

3. Deprecate or suppress disturbance as a breach of the public. peace.

4. Support Turkey in resisting any curtailment of her authority.

Let us, for convenience sake, speak of these four courses as the policies of "Emancipation," "Isolation," "Police" and "Support" respectively.2

The phrase "Bag and Baggage," used by Mr. Gladstone in his exposition of the Emancipation Policy, was rather an unfortunate one. It suggested to some minds that the policy involved a

1 See table Appendix to Part II.

2 Mr. Boyd Kinnear (P. M. G. June 29 and 30, 1876) clearly distinguished these as the four possible policies, and argued strongly in favour of that one which we call "Emancipation."

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