The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-06-03 00:00:00

GATHERING CLOUDS.

The Eastern difficulty seems to grow more
perplexing with every week that passes, and
with each new attempt of diplomacy to bring it
to a close. Time out of mind has this Eastern
question been suspended like a dark cloud ovcr
the east of Europe simply because the energetic
and pushing peoples upon the Continent have
found in their midst a race whose history,
traditions, and religion render them totally
incompatible with the sturdy civilisation which
has gradually rolled like a wave westward.
That is the course which, we are told, empire
takes it away; and thus far it has been proved
by events. The East was the cradle of
Christianity, and remained the home of learning
and of civilization for ages. Gradually the tide
flowed westward to Greece and Rome; but now
it is no longer the banks of the Ilyssus and the
Tiber which are the homes of teeming popula-
tions, but those of the Thames and of the
Seine. Further in this direction the wave can-
not go. But political prophets point us to the
immense stretching plains of the country across
the Atlantic, and they point us to a time when
the vast prairies of that colossal lend shall be
the homes of giant cities when the cathedral
Towers of Paris shall have become a wreck, and
long after Macaulay's typical New Zealander
shall have sketched the ruins of St. Paul's from
one of the broken arches of London Bridge.
This is a prophecy which many find it difficult
to believe will be fulfilled ; but, at all events,
whatever may be the fate of the power and
influence of England and France, there can be
very little doubt of the doom which has been
pronounced upon the Ottoman Empire. Seldom
in the history of the world, and certainly not in
modern times, has there been a more shameful
_ _

misapplication of splendid opportunities. A
magnificent climate, a fertile soil, mineral
wealth in great abundance, capacious harbours,
seas abounding with the produce of ocean, all
have been utterly thrown away so far as the
Turk is concerned. His indolence and his
religious fanaticism have alienated from himself
all the sympathies which might have been ex•
tended to industry and tolerance, and to avert
the threatened ruin which seems to be awaiting
a corrupt and fatalist people. The independent
existence of the Turk is henceforth seen to be
impossible in the public system of Europe. .
At the same time, a great Empire which has
lasted for centuries cannot disappear from the
face of the Continent without causing an
abnormal displacement of political power. Its
destruction is a course of danger the effects of
which are widespread and permanent. It be-
comes absorbed into the dominions of potentates
whose territories are already extensive enough
for the safety of their weaker neighbours.
Such a crime as that of the forcible partition of
Poland by Russia, Prussia, and Austria just over
a century ago leaves baneful results which are
felt for generations. It has left Russia a legacy
of hatred on the part of the Poles, which has
more than once broken out in stubborn revolts
only to be suppressed by terrible bloodshed.
When France had made herself a public enemy
in Europe, and had made war upon every nation
worth fighting between 1793 and 1815, and when
she had been completely beaten down after the
battle of Waterloo, the Powers which had her in
their mercy did not divide her amongst them-
selves, for it was seen that to annihilate a great
nation would cause a serious disturbance of the
balance of power, which would be more perilous
to the general peace than her restlessness and
ambition. France was not even dismembered
by the Treaty of Vienna ; her provinces were
all permitted to remain with her; and the con-
querors contented themselves with deporting
Napoleon to St. Helena, where he was effectually
kept out of mischief. When Russia cast long-
ing eyes upon Turkey, or at all events upon a
considerable part of it, twenty years ago, Eng-
land and France interfered to prevent the great
Colossus of the North from becoming an all-
absorbing empire. Tho lesson then taught to
the Moslem bas not, however, profited him in
th• slightest. He is incorrigibla, and it is now
no longer a case of partition, to be resisted and
defeated, but one of gradual and certain decay
which it seems powerless on the part of human
effort to attempt to prevent. It appears to be
taken for granted that the whole political fabric
of Mohanaineduniam must collapse, and the
other powers are preparing for an emergency
interests.
I must materially affect their own
I They are gathering togethrr their forces, not
from any love of the Turk, for with him people
can no longer have patience. but really to take
care that they are properly secured against an y-
thing which may happen. The same feeling
which prompted us in 1854 to drive back the
R anian Czar from the banks of the Danube
impels us now to send a strong squadron into
the Mediterranean. The other Powers are doing
the same thing. France, indeed, has sufficient
else
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that at this moment our fleet of twenty ironelads
iq the Mediterranean not only outnunlb(r tho:e
of all other nations, but is in itself the strongest
display of naval power which even this country
has ever sent forth to sail the seas.