New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-01-08
A NEV ORIENTAL MIDDLE.

Another surprise. TO judge from yesterdays
kilograms, Russia is unprepared for war, Tur-
key has discovered the fact, and the proposals
agreed upon by the Conference are defied
| with impunity. Really, the Eastern Question
| develops itself by ways that are dark, and $50
| far as the Christian Powers of Europe are
concerned) by tricks that are vain. Is this
the sole result of six months of delicate nego-
tiation' Has England taken the back track
to no purpose, has Russia merely played a
game of bluff which was successful so long as
she was not forced to show her cards, and has
Turkey, conscious all the time of holding the
| winning hand, only waited for the decisive
moment? 1t is next to incredible; yet this
seems to be the latest aspect of the situation,
as it is apprehended by the principal European
journals
If true, the immediate result will be great
increase of Turkeys prestige and popularity.
But is it trues The diplomatic annals of Rus
sia have never yet recorded such blunder as
she must have committed, in that case. The
Observation-Disclosures of the other nations of Europe
must have been bambOozled to the verge of
suggested imbecility, if this be the only ex-
PLANTATION. We can easily imagine the stupe-
faction of those pOnderOus representatives.
when, after presenting plan which had all
the character and weight of an ultimatum
they were met by Turkeys cool counter pro-
| posal and her polite declinatiOn to- consider
what were really the vital points of the ques-
ton In the interest of their own dignity, an
explanation must be sought for; and the most
obvious and easily comprehended is that Rus
sia is not ready for war, and the Turkish
I,,,r yIy ,f fba
fact One might ask, why England, or Austria
was not able first to make the discovery and
thereby win some slight diplomatic advantage
The true explanation Of Turkeys defiant at
titude is, we suspect much simpler than this.
Driven to the wall, she shows the courage of
desperation. The Ottoman Government, fully
alive to the fierce eXcitements which are spread
ing and deepening among its Moslem subjects
does not dare to make the concessions de-
mapded by the Conference. This is an ele-
ment which the statesmen of Europe do not
seem to have practically recognized. We have
not ceased, from the first, to present it to the
readers of THE TRIBUNE as one OF the most
imDortant factors in the detcrminatiOn OF the
problem There can be no doubt, now, that
Turkey prefers the chances of war to the GER
tainty of internal revolution. 1t may be that
this decision has taken the other European
Powers-cxcept Russia-by surprise We cam
not imagine that Gen. lgnaticff, with all his
intimate knowledge of the races of Asia, was
ignorant of the fact. A retrograde policy, on
the part of Russia, would damage her all the
more after the great ascendency she has at
tanned in regard to the solution of the ques-
ton If she recede now, she will lose more
than she has won. For this reason, we can
not yet accept the English views of the situa-
ton. Either Russia or Turkey-who are now
the chief actors on the stage-must yield too
much and lose proportionately, or they must