The Morning herald., 1878-07-12
Fr9IaHNDBECOME a MON AMAE
~ DAN rsq'7 &C e

ExeIa4xDBxcOME 4 MOHAMxEs
- ~. DAEP0WER. 80 &C -o
The EngIish liberals seem to have besnf
s.upefsd by the sudden revelation OF The
secret treaty with Turkey. and the simul-
taneous announcement that the military
occupation ot Cyprus has already begun
Malta d thousand miles distant from
Cyprus, and If the report is true that some
Of the sepoy regiments which were guar
tered in yaletta,a few weeks ago are al
rsady disembarking ia Cyprus port, prs
sumably Larnaca, on tbe southeast cast
of the .IsIand, il u evident that the mill.
.ary movement and the diplomatic diselo-
sure we're timed in harmony, with we'll
natured design to commit England irrevo-
cabiy toEthe policy Of a protectorate over
Asiatic Turkey in spite Of any opposition,
abroad or at home. 1t well might be
questioned whether the.secret consumma-
tioa ofa plan 10 momentous to the future
Of the United Kingdom by the executive,
without consulting Parliament. ia connect
ed siih the spirit Of the British cosstitu-l
ton, but no voice was raised in the House
Of Commons to suggest the objection. The
splendor of the fBeaconsfeld project, the
dash with which 1t has been undertaken,
and the glory of reinstating Great Britain
into her ancient rank of equality, to say
the least, with any other power in the
world In political influence, paralyze the
tongues of the Premier's usual adversaries.
The last and greatest act in his transforma-
,ion of the England ofaProtestant Eliza
beth into AMI Asiaic and Mahometan do
minion encounters less criticism at home
than the addition of the title Of Empress
of India to ElizabetRs successor did few
years ago, though one Of the older titles Of
Her Majeay-that Of defender Of Faith
is thoroughly perverted byit.
No Englishman Of Elizabeth's time, in
his widest dreams ofthe destiny Of his
country, would have dared to fancy that
before the passage Of three centuries it
would become the guarantor of the Turk
and the protector Of Islam against the i'm
perial representative of the Knights of st.
John. Still less that this would be effect
ed by Premier whose ancestors then were
Venetian Jews, and that he would be sec
onded in the enterprise by foreign secre,
tary bearing the honored name Of Cecil.
The Crown of Germany, at the death Of
Maximilan, only fourteen years before
Elizabeth's birth, had been contested by
Francis Of France and Charles of Spain
with arguments founded on an agreement
that the first requisite in the choice of the
Emperor must be his superior ability TO
defend Christendom against the Turk. So
odious was friendship with Turkey to the
English mind that in 1893 Elizabeth,
usually naughty In her demeanor and
chary Of explanations, ,,was moved to pub.
lish that she had no dealings with the Sui
tan save for the purpose of enabling her
subjects to trade securely 10 bis territories
in order TO silence a runner set afoat on
the Continent that she was holding politi-
cal relations with him. Nineteen wears
after her death Lord Bacon expressed the
universal sentiment ofthe England ofthat
day, when he declared in his "advertise-
msnt touching holy war;" that "th,
Turk 10 the most potent and the most dan
gerous enemy Of the faith" and "a wa
against him is. lawful both by the laws O
nature and of nations, and by the law di
vine, which 10 the perfection of the othe
two. ,,..
It's fast becom ing difficult to believ
that the England Of Victoria is the sam
England Of which Elizabeth was monarch
The lmodern Queen inherits Ethe title q
Defender ofthe Faithsfrom her predeces
sor, but the faith she defends is the fait
ofMahomet ard not of Jesus. In Cyprr
and Malta, both ancient seats of th
Knights Hospitallers of St. John, she SCI
Mahometan garrisons in mockery of tn
remembrance that the last Grand Maste
ofthat illustrious order, the eternal enem
ofIslam and the Tark, transferred TO ,b
Gar Of Russia the rights and obligation
of bis office when he was driven fro,
Valetta by Napoleon. When Shakespeare
company played "Othello" before Quee
Elizabeth, at Hnef@|d, in the summer
1902, thest 'in' lad no such signifcan.
as they will p~s.>ss when Queen Victor
next attends representation of the trae,