Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-10-24

HIS OPINION OF THE WAR.

= bishop Marvin in Csnst antlnoplc.
HIS OPINION OF THE WAR.
i This distinguished divine, well known
to the people Of Virginia, gives the fol-
lowing as his opinion Of the present and
future of Turkey in relation to the war
with Russia: |
a. y. b I have just been spending four days
I'm Constantinople. Never until now
4 Ibid / understand the magnitude Of the
Eastern Question: The importance
10 - ofit,growss out of several facts. In the
80 first place, there can never be settled
y peace in Eastern Europe while the Turk
qqa holds it. The presence Of the Ottoman
svio power in Europe is an intrusion. Be-
sides, it is an intrusion of barbarism up
Ion Christian civilization. Whatever
may be said to the contrary, the Turk is
essentially barbarian, and this shows
p itseifmore in his public than in his pri-
- e yatel life. a
To make matters worse, he despises
the Christian as such, and,a the Druse
massacres Of 1860, and the Bulgarian
= atrocities Of last year, prove, the only
2 safety of the Christians in this Empire
arises out of the dread the Turks are in
/ . Of the great European powers. But the
Christians are numerous in some parts
go. ofthe country, and what is more, they
-. are increasing, while in many regions,
the Musselmans are decreasing. The
Christians increase not by conversion,
for that rarely or never occurs, but by
their great vigor aud enterprise. 1t is
the natural increase of the Christian
population. But this increase of num-
bers and population is vexation TO
the Turk, and IS the occasion ofani;losi-
! ty.
The government of millions of Chris
tians, by an nimical and barbarous
power is, then, one factor in the Eastern
problem
Another factor is the great namber of
subjects of the sultan who are of the
Sclavic race, aud it is they, especially,
among whom the misgovernment of the
Turks felt most. They are cultivated
above the average people of the empire
andare becoming more and more So
Then they are on the frontier Of the
Christian nations, SO that the wrongs
done them are done in the face Of Eu-
rope. No doubt Russia has political
ends to serve, and that the interest that
the government expresses in the Chris
tan SchIay is a little more than a pre-
text, but this rather adds to the gravity
of the situation than otherwise. tits a
plausible, pretext, and, therefore, one
which will be used as long as the occa-
sion serves.
Then there is the British interest,
which is two-fold: First,the jealousy
between England and Russia, and the
danger Of interests in the Eastern pos
sessions of-the two nations;and, second.
1y, aheavy financial stake which Eng.
land has in Turkey. This financial in.
terest, again, consists in two facts. The
first IS that England has very advanta'
geous commercial treaties with the
1GfForte (which are of incalculable value
III ltosher; and, for the second, the bonds O
Turkey are heldin England to fabul.
Gus amount, some say nearly or quite
sl,000, 100000. For these reasons Eng
land cannot afford to see Turkey weak
e ened,A especially if it's done by Russia
The question of the Turkish bonds is
desperate for she has paid no interest
for two years.
The accounts of the Bulgarian atroci
ties published in Europe and America
y Were not exaggerated. have access ts
the most unprejudiced sources of infor
nation. Men, women and children
t were butchered in cold blood to the
number of not less than $4,000, ant
more than seventy villages were des
troyed. Hundreds of women were out
ragged in the most horrible way, ant
then cut to piece. The Turks at frs
denied the facts, but when the proof o
III them became irresistible, they dsclaim
ed responsibility, charging it upon the
Bashi-Bazouks, sort of irresponsible
militia, or Home Guard. But the off.
GERS who ordered the massacres, and
superintended them. have been decora.
ted, honored, rewarded, promoted, aad
are to-day in important posts, while the
IA NJ Nt1rly off, ,I,o :
- { against them have been laid aside. Sc
- the government makes itself responsible
for the greatest crime of the cen.
Is this war 'the beginning ofthe end ?''
1t begins to be apparent that the Turk.
ish government is too corrupt to exist
that it must perish of its own moral
putrescence. To man who has had
much to do with the principal officers Of
the government at Constantinople ]
said, "Do you believe the officials are
as generally corrupt as is reported ?"
81 never heard Of but one who was
: suspected of being honest-that is the
present Minister of Foreign Affairs"
s'Is this the beginning of the end ?"
Probably, unless European politics
8 require that the sick man should be
- - doctored up again by the Christian pow
ers. The trouble is, if the Empire goes
to pieces, what can be done with the
fragments? Ay there's the rub"
- You see the magnitude of the inter-
ests involved, and the complications
which may arise.
s'What hope for Turkey sn