Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-03
FRIDAY EVENING. sePTexsER 3. 1886.
The UnspeaksbIe. Incomprehen,ibIeT TuI

The UnsPeakRbIe, IncomprehensibIe Turk.
In our daily edition of Thursday, Sep
tembrT I'd. We alluded editorialIy TO the TO
mrntic career of the ROmeian patriotic
heroine. Madame Tchardofan, reproducing
her letter TO Col. Furay. in which she spoke
Of the desputi>m of the Turks and of the
good work done in her country by the Rob
erts college. founded and maintained by
American Christians and of the good work
done in Bulgaria and Roumelia by the
American Protestant missionaries. Among
the Associated Press cable telegrams of the
same issue were dispatch announcing the
decoration of the city of PhiIIipopoIiS in
honor of the return of Prince Alexander
and the text OF correspondence between the
prince and the Gar of Russia, in which the
Gar turned all icy shoulder to the courteous
Bulgarian.
The fact in the matter is that the p0lit
cal situation in European Turkey is mixed.
Had her people the power Ia chOose be-
tween Russian and Turkish rule. il would
only be an option as 10 the selection of one
of two despotisiifS, and which would be- the
worse. il would be difficult for them or any
body else to decide. What the people want
more than anything else is to be free-and
Ia be unmOlested in their freedom.
One significant fact materialIze>. namely,
that the Sultan protects the American
Christian missionaries, 50 far a. is possible
in his dominions. Roberts College is a
Christian Institution. located in CONSTANT
nOple, and with it stands a fine, large Bible
house sustained by Americans, and both these
institutions are not simply protected but
they are Appreciated. Then there are col
lrges. seminaries. schools and mission sta
tions. etc, managed and sustained by the
American Board of Missions. and 50 far as
our knowledge goes, they are never modest
ed by the Turks. All serious trouble. M
all parts of Turkey. ASiatic or European,
comes from nominal Christians Ar
menians or the Russian Greeks. But the
Sultan has, as a matter of course, no SYM
pathy with either. and protects the mission
aries from both. Ii must be admitted, how
ever, in connection with all this, that the
''hitlii u Adl III VI - III
fact, a. We have personally learned
from eX-minister TO Turkey, General
Lew Wallace, a gentleman of culture and
refinement and of large and liberal views.
who invariably responded promptly and
effectively in righting wrongs of which the
General had cause Ia complain. Indeed,
the Sultan is a man of really more enlight-
ened and advanced views than the Gar.
who is quite illiberaI and who allows no
other religion other than that Of the Greek
church 10 be prOpagated in his dOmniOnS.
The people of Roumelia and Bulgaria de
sire therefore, 10 be not only independent
of the Sublime Porte but of Russia. and
wish to enjoy autonomy, without moleSta-
ton from exterior sources. But they have
more formidable foe than either the Turk or
the Russian. in the combined Powers of
Europe, who only watch and wait over the |
border, for a favorable time to pOunce upon /
the domini0ns of the Sultan and divide them /
up among themselves. II is believed that |
this will ultimately be done. When il will |
be done nobody knows or can know. 1t /
cannot be done until the Powers can agree !
among themselves as to the apportiOnment /
of the Turkish territOr and this agreement