American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-04-27
The Quarrel Over Turkey.

the solemnity of al! the pending nego
body who wishes well for his kind de
sires that there shall be war. Even the
Western editor who exclaimed, "Why
don't England fight? Has she no back
bone9 we want to sell orr wheat!'
really wishes that peaEe might prevail
War is destructive of the life and prep
erty of the human race, and to make
good the waste of a conflict, however
distant it may he from any of us, re-
quires taxation, in one form or an.
other, which we must ultimately feel
the weight q. Is is impossible that de-
struction and loss snai: FIJI on one
member of the human family withoG..
remotely affecting all the others. There
fore, we deplore war, wherever and for
whatever it Is waged. Nevertheless, it
! is impossible to regard even the grave
complications which now threaten Ell
rope without some perception of the
ludicrous side of the case:
At the beginning of the trouble, Rus
STA avowed herself the protector and
avenger of the Christian subjects of Tur-
key. 1t could not for an instant be STRIP
posed that the Muscovite was moved by
any but purely sentimental considera-
| tons. Russia went to war for an idea
The English view of the case was that
the Bulgarian outrages had been very
much exaggerated and that the turk
was slandered person who would be
much better if he were left alone The
evangelical, anti-slavery, peace-at-aay-
price English people were Mortified at
the idea of Poland-crushing Govern
ment pretending to have any human
sympathies whatever. Those who dis
cussed the question, whatever might
have been their nominal sentiments,
knew that Russia's sympathy for the
oppressed Christian in Turkey was
pretext under which was concealed a
long cherished plan for driving the Turk
out of Europe. The English protest
against an assault on feeble Turkey was
protest against Russian conquest of
Turkey. 1t was not made because Eng
land loved Turkey, but because she
feared Russia. In all the diplomatic
verbiage which clouded the question for
weeks, there was only one tangible
point-the dread that Russian arms
would ultimately exclude British influ=
ence from Turkey.
Now that the war is over, and pour
parlers have displaced shot and shell,
the old game of diplomacy is renewed.
The treaty of San Stefano was extorted
from Turkey by promises and threats.
The Sublime Porte was in the attitude
of a man whose foe is on his PROSTATE
form, and who. is not in a condition to
make terms, but to take them. But it
should not be forgotten that Turkey
was, at the beginning, baughty and de-
faint, while Russia. threatened. What
ever may be tue of the alleged inter
view between Safvet Pasha and the En-
glish newspaper correspondent, it is
undoubtedly true that the Turks
felt that they had been egg
ed on to the fight, but had not
been sustained by the English influence
which had urged them forward. Mr.
Layard challenged Safvet to say in pub
lie what he was alleged to have said in
private-that the English had betrayed
Turkey, and that henceforth the natural
alliance of the Turk was with his an
Gent enemy, the Russian, not with his
vacillating sympatizer, the Englishman
Every body felt that this was true,
whether the Pasha said it or not. 1t is
ludicrous, however, to note the present
attitude of Turkey. She is like cour-
tesan who gives her favors to the strong
er bully Of the two Her ancient ''pro-
tector" stood by and saw another win
her regard by beating her. England's
rage over the result is the rage of an old
beau who sees his paramour going off
with another man.
But the fierce courtesies of the Rus
SLAMS are received with timidity and
alarm in Constantinople. England de-
sires to defend Turkey; Turkey does
not want to be defended. With pistol
at her ear, she exclaims that she is per-
fectly satisfied. Indeed (under what
domestic pressure we can not telD ,Tur-
key has put forth card, so to speak i'm
forming the world that she accepts the
results of the war-but hopes to be let
off easy. Russia, Disgusting her designs
under various philanthropic hypocrisies,
has conquered Turkey. Great Britain,
concealing her selfish chagrin under an
appearance of indignation at the ILL
treatment of Turkey, offers to avenge
the Mussulman and set all things
right in the interest of justice
and humanity. Between the bois-
ferrous friendship of the Russian and the
tardy and dangerous championship of
the Briton, Turkey is at her wits end.
All she asks is to be let alone. But
neither one nor the other will let her
alone. Aside from all diplomatic finesse
and Understanding phrase, Russia and
England are on the point of quarreling
over the partition of Turkey. And the
ruined, battered, wounded, and bedrag-
gled mistress of the Bosphorus, alarmed
for the safety of the house over her
head, proposes to move across into Asia
and let these bravo lovers fight it out
by themselves, while she regards the
contest from affair with impartial eye
NeU York Times.
AT 8 recpnt meetinU of the 81 IOuiS