Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-08-14
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERVIEW
TIOE.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR INrERvEE-
TI0K.
If one-half or one-tenth of the
reported atrocities committed by
the Turks and the Russians have
taken place, it is enough to shock
the civilized world and bring about
the speedy Intervention of all the
great powers of Europe. These re-
ports may be exaggerated, but too
much must be true, and no doubt
hundreds of isolated cases have
escaped public notice. The Rus
SLAMS being the invaders, and having
no real sympathy with any of the
people, Christian or Mohammedan,
it was natural to expect some such
reports through Turkish and Eng
lish sources, since it is the policy
Of England to provoke interference
and arrest the progress Of the Rus
slams as soon as possible, unless the
Turks can hold their own. But it
seems that Turkey makes war not
only upon the public enemy, but
upon her own Christian subjects
men, women and children, unarmed
and incapable Of resistance. The
Bashi.B azouks, a wild, nndisei-
pinned. fauatical race Of people
brought down from the mountains,
have been turned loose, as after the
battle Of Plevna, to kill and rob the
wounded soldiers on the field and to
rzya.s the Christian districts in
Bulgaria with torch and sword.
Colleges churches and houses have
been burned; old men, women and
children shot down or butchered,
except where the females we're not
spared short while for a worse fate
than death. The Turks make
counter charges against the Rus
SANS aud we are left to suppose
that there IS some foundation on
both sides for all that has been
reported. War Is q terrible thing
al bsst. even when conducted with
a regard for the rules Of civilized
nations; but this war is without
one releeming feature. The Turks
are the same savage fanatics they
were some four hundred years ago,
when ;hey came over from Asia.
Their religion makes them sensual,
5igoted and incapable Of progress.
They have made no advancement
in the arts and industries of the
age, except that Englishmeu have
taught them the use of improved
implements of warfare. In the art
of destroying human life the Turk
Of to-day is superior to his ances-
tors whofrst crossed the BospAorus
OF the Russians it may be said thai
they keep nearer abreast Of The
worlds great advancement, MOI
only in the peaceful arts of indus
try, internal improvements anC
commercial enterprise, but also il
liberal sentiment, q higher STANDARD
Of citizenship and freedom o
thought and speech. The serf
have been emancipated, and som
degree Of religious liberation begin
to be apparent. This war was ur
dertaken under the pretext Of Civ
ing relief to their co-religionists j
the Ottoman empire and not fo
conquest, and the powers Of Er
rope have accepted this declaratio
apparently in good faith, whateyt
misgivings may be secretly ente
tanned. The fact that Russia h;
several times been engaged in a WI
to expel the Turks from Europ
and that Peter the Great bequeatht
this war as a perpetual legacy to a
his successors, is well calculated
excite some distrust as to the ulI
mate purpose Of the Russian go.
ernment. While non-interferen,
may remain the policy of outsit
powers, they cannot be inditferel
to the final result, and should
least demand that some regard
paid to the rules that go
ern civilized nations in tin
OF war. The greatest sutfere