The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-07-18

pared with the moral annexation which
Is about to follow. The war of 1877
and its results have cost Turkey not
Batoum, not Bulgaria, not Antivari,
but the Turk himself. Europe has de-
creed the reform of the Turkish system,
and with the first touch of reform the
genuine "Osmanli'' ceases to exist. A
bigot in creed, conservative in poll
tics, destroyer by habit and tradition,
barbarian in thought and feeling, he
is opposed alike by nature and by cir
cumstance to the very name of innova-
ton; and, as in the old German legend,
the power of the enchantment ceases
with the first CLEAN of daylight. Such,
from the beginning of time, has been
the fate OF every s'empire of the sword"
1878 is the diverse of 1853. The Turk
| lsh Canute forbade the tide of human
progress to approach his august feet,
and it has replied to him with Nayarino,
Adrianople, Plevna, San Stefano. He
loved to treat the "Christian dogs, as
the vilest Of his slaves, and those slaves
are now commanding his fleets and
armies, and representing his Kingdom
in the parliament of the world. He
the irresistible conqueror around whose
throne the inidels should crouch to
plead for their very existence; and his
own existence is now hanging upon the
decision of three or four sedate middle
aged inhdels from London and St.
Petersburg.
Luck, for season, bade the Porte farewell,
And Turkey shrieked as Osman Pasha fell.
1t is this which gives the Cars tri-
umph its real Importance. Russia's
progress toward civilization has been
tardy and uncertain; but the slowest ad-
vance is better than none at ALL Russia
is stream, Turkey pond. While the
one creeps slowly onward, the other lies
fostering in useless and death-dealing
stagnation. In fact, the Tartar of the
Bosphorus, burning libraries, razing
flourishing towns, blighting trade and
agriculture, trampling Christianity.
butchering Sciote fugitives and Servian
prisoners, boasting that swhere his
horse-hoofs have trodden grass never
springs again. Is the Rip Van Winkle
OF modern history-a relic of a bygone
time, preserving, amid the life-giving
progress of the worlds greatest era, a
last remnant of the cruel and unfruitful
barbarism of the Middle Ages. Such
historical paradoxes are not uncommon.
Spain, with her Inquisition and her
auto da fe, was the solecism of the sew
enteenth century. Poland, with her
oligarchy and her universal veto, -
was that of the eighteenth. Turkey,
with her tyranny and her fanaticism, is
that of our own day. Into this human
swamp the worlds tlood-tide has broken
at last, to sweep away once and forever
the accumulated putrefaction of four
centuries.
But the work of ages can not be un-
done in a day, and the British protecto-
rate which Lord Beaconsield proposes
to establish in the East will be neither a
short nor an easy task. Enthusiastic
men, themselves belonging to high
standard of civilization, are apt to for
get how many centuries were spent in
perfecting that standard. and to claim
that the whole earth shall be raised to
their level by one dead.lift effort. 1t is
the schoolboy's mistake over again: $50
the wise men said to the King, 8 o King,
live forever and Immediately the King
lived foreyer.'' But this volcanic re-
generation is possible only in theory.
To cram whole nation into a monster
gun of reform, and blow it out COM
pletely civilized, is beyond the power OF
man, and, in the present case, the
restoration of Ardahan and Bayazid,
the waving of the DardaAelles ques-
ton, the leaving to the Porte the power
of nominating the Militia officers Of
Southern Bulgaria, and various other
symptoms, indicate wish on the part
of the Western powers to make Turkeys
fall as gradual as possible.
Such, then, is the situation. Germany
having done her work, stands watching
its results with the quiet composure Of
conscious strength. Austria, disap
pointed of her expected bribe, is fret.
ting and scolding at every one in turn
like peevish child. Turkey, accept
ing her own defeat as an accomplished
fact, is striving to make the best of
bad bargain by saving all she can
England is divided between satisfaction
at her own unexpected success and s
lurking suspicion that this easy victory
must cover some deep stratagem on the
part of her willy antagonist. Mean
while, Russia, wisely yielding to
pressure which it would be dangerous
to resist, is .sbiding her time," ant
trusting to diplomacy to regain for hel
what she could hardly hope to MAKE
good by war.-NeU York Times.
White Cake.-Whites of 3 eggs, l cup
full of white sugar, 5 cupful OF swee
milk, cupful of melted butter, l tea
spoonful of cream-tartar, teaspoonfu
u of saleratrs / eI1nful of corn-Starch. /