The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-05-24
The Eastern QuestiOn---The Crescent and
the CrOss---HOW the War will Az
feet the United STATES.

with Turkey in the Eastern question are
eloquent in denunciatiOn Of the ambition
the perfidy and the land-hunger of tho
Gar. England, they say, is the most
magnanimOus and fOrbearing of nations
She wants no provinces, no territory. not
an acre nor a stone. All she cares abOut
is that Europe shall be ''indeDendent- .
that the Turks shall be Gree and that
the ambition of the terrible Car shall be
depressed. This is another of the iIIu-
siOns with which the English newspapers
and orators amuse the world. 1t is like
her claim of imperial ''infiuence." lie.
us compare the history of the Russian
and English empires since the accession
of Peter the great, not quite two centu-
ries ago. Since that time the Russian
| Empire has grown from ?, $50, 900 square
miles to S,444 ,766, and from -, 200, 900
population to more than 5000, 900. This
represents the steady growth of an en-
| pire of civilization over barbarOus ma
| tiOns like those of Central Africa or semi
! ibarbarOus anarChies like old Poland. In
! this period of time England has grown TO
| be much larger empire than Russia,
with three million square miles in Amer
| lea, one million in Africa, million in
Asia, and more than two million and
half in Australia. The colonial possess
siOns of Great Britain which have been
gathered in the last few centuries, are al
most as large as the whole Russian En-
pire.
1t is charged against Russia that since
the time of Peter she has been rObbing
her neighbOrs, enCrOaching on all sides.
Thus she attacked Sweden and robbed
her of Finland. She attacked Persia and
took some of the Shah's most important
provinces. In 1892 she carried away a
great slice of Poland. She attacked Tur-
key and robbed her. She made war upon
kniva and deprived the Khan of his pos
sessions, and she now wants the Danube
and the BOsphOrus, This is the record
against Russia and we do not question it,
But what has England been doing all this
time? England has robbed France and
Spain and Holland in Europe; China,
Buhma and India in Asia, not to speak of
America and Africa. Within the last
century, says one English authority,
''England has for every square league Of
territory annexed to Russia, by force, vi
Olence or fraud, appropriated to herself
three" This is not our charge, but that
of a famous English statesman, which we
quote for the purpose of showing our En-
giish friends when they howl over the
misdeeds Of the Car in land stealing
they forget their own. SO tar as the land
stealing morality of the two nations is
concerned it is Robert Macaire removing
Jack Sheppard. 1t is said that England
has only robbed other countries of their
peOyinces for the purpose of CiviIizmg
people; the same may be said of Russia
England has gone into other continents
and across the seas to take colonies in a
spirit Of adventure. Russia has taken
hers on her own borders, and often for
Sclf-proteCtiOm. The nations who have
come under the Russian rule have been
blessed by the change, 1t India and
CeylOn and MaUTitiuS are happier be
cause England rules them now, 80 great
asSurcdly are the serfs of Poland and the
saVages of the Caucasus under the CZar.
If there is one nation iii Europe which
came is Il cOnquCring army, which has
despiscd civilization, which knows and
respects no authority but the sword |
whose civil policy l. aggressive, and !
whose religion is lust and superstition, |
it Is that Ottoman power which many
ruling minds in England would pcrpGt- |
uate even at the expense of Il bloody war. !
Turks have no sympathy with us either !
in race or religion. They came into Eu- |
rope and took COnstantinOple in the mid 4,
die of the fifteenth century. They were |
Tartars from Asia, By the sheer force |
of arms the Turks captured the most re- |
nOwned and ancient Empire Of the |
home of the Greek and Egyp- |
tian and the Carthaginian. He ruled in I
Athens and JCrusalem-the city of light |
and the city of religion. He menaced !
Vienna. Wherever he ruled he blighted |
and destroyed. The history Of his adj
vance Is the history of civilization over
thrown, industry paralyzed, laws viOlat-
ed, temples cast down, art cflaced. He !
has never changed. A warrior at outset
he has stTiven to engrafC his warlike En-
DiTe upon the fair bosom of Christian /
Europe. The Turks have no art, no
science. Countries which, ages before |
America was known, were the homes of a
delicate and refined civilization, have |
fallen under Turkish rule into decay.
The story of their Empire is a scandal.
\ OF many years have passed since they
engaged in a fierce war with the GeOr-
gians, Gin consequence" says the histo-
Ian, "Of the GeOrgians having refused
o continue to supply Turkish harems
With customary annual tribute of the
landsOmest of their daughters, offering
however, at the same time, in lieu, a
early contribution in money"
In European Turkey the Ottomans are
II the minority. Out of a population of
more than eight million, excluding the
,tatCsman'S Year Book that only mill
on are OttOmans. The remainder are |
Ireeks, SlaYOrians, Armenians and Alba
ians. These races are all now, and have |
een ever since the Turkish advent, sub
ect to the Turk, who has reinforced him
elf from Asia when repressed and mas
acre were necessary. We not only, ,
therefore,, have an empire of abomina-
ion like Turkey sustained in Europe, |
,ut we have it sustained as Il ruling pow
II over millions of Christians. And for I
What? Simply because England fears ,
hat her communications with India may =
,e endangered. In other words, Eng
and has by conventions and coalitions
nd wars built up an empire which she ,
annOt defend. She asks Europe to de !
end it by sustaining the wretched Turk !
sh Empire as barrier to Russia. This I
It least is the argument which swayed
england into a war twenty-three years |
go. 1t Is the argument we hear in many
nigh quarters in England now. We do
lot believe that the great honest, chris |
ian heart of England will respond to it.
The meu who want to support Turkey
md to continue the fearful government
which now deyaStates some of the fairest | ,
Genes on the earth are the stock jObbeTs
Who own Turkish bonds, and army con-
FACTORS, who look upon war as a blessing
md that truculent, selfish spirit which
We md IN all countries, and which cares | ,
or no right and for no duty that does not |
aid their own interests.
50 far as this is a struggle between the
crescent and the Cross, between the Rus
ian and the Turk, our whole heart goes ,
Tut to Russia. We pray that victory may
est upon the banners of the Gar, that
ne VIII not pause until he reaches the
5OsphOTus. We hope he will take Con-
and that if it pleases him he
will keep it. ConstantinOple will be
much more useful capital in the hands of
christian monarch like Alexander than
II those Of the masters of the harem. {
let Russia do her work well. Since she
las gone into the war let her not pause |
IntIl the Turk has been driven over to |
ASIA, where he belongs. Let these pro- I