New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-01-03
RUSSIA AND TURKEY.
THE RECENT HISTORY OF EASTERN Eoi'oi H.

RUSSIA AND TURKEY IN THE Mn liei, Elmer
CENTURY BY Elizabeth Wormeiey Li'i'
| PIP, H3. A. C. McClurg CO.
| Within the boundaries Of Western ciVhi~a.o"
Russia and Turkey the only countries III "hic"'
theoretically. the monarch IL absolute anu '
exempfy most clearly the fact that the ao7''"'
authority OF an individual Is Impossible. po'en
tate may in theory the power OF life ana death
over his subjects but II he exercises 1t TOO freey
he is himself assassinated. Both In Russia ana IN
Turkey he Is limited by the official system OF wci,
he Is In truth merely the head In theory ne co"'u
abolish H. but, he would Immediately nave ~
put something else equally burdensome IN It's pace
he Is fain to keep his absolute authority In his
rocket On the other hand, he Is limited also by
the social customs Of the people. and II he at
tempts to change these. except in most minute par
tlculars and long intervals. he finds himself III
much the same attitude as that OF Mrs Darlington
brushing back the Atlantic Ocean with broom
The author Of the interesting volume Indicated at
the head Of this article hints that the bond service
Of the Russian peasant has been transferred from
the lord to the village community that he who was
formerly serf to nobleman Is now the slave or
the organization to which he belongs. The truth
Is that he always has been since history began. In
bonds to the village. and 1t only through the
village system that the nobleman could obtain
hold upon him. The tyranny Of physical needs
caused by changed conditions OF life is breaking
down the tyranny OF the mir" But the absolute
authority of could not have done IT, No
could the Sultan set aside the complicated
| family system of his slavic subjects, nor those OF
the Mahometans. When these clash he is fortunate
In himself not being victim of the conflict
What has happened In past ages in Russia must
happen in Turkey. In the former. Turanan con-
luerors have always later been driven
out merged in the Slavic population. With the
progress of the centuries this population has become
stronger and stronger If the same race had really
formed the basis of the ancient Empire OF the East.
that empire would not have fallen without hope Of
recovery. One cannot watch the progress OF affairs
In Northern and Western Turkey without seeing
that the Slavic tide has always been rising, never
an ebbing one. But the weight OF It has never
been directed. When Votare wrote "Candide"
the men OF that region were known only as cruel.
mercenary soldiery, ready to fight for any cause or
any man, If they paid. Voltaire may have
supposed that there nothing else in them save
this cruelty and this mercenary greed. But we or
later times beginning to that these people. so
III understood, had ideals and an order OF society
Of their own. which they have only been kept from
perfectng by the burdens which all Europe has
agreed In putting upon them. The nineteenth cent
ury will be remembered in the East as the one In
which Western Europe became conscious that some
thing better than chaos underlay Turkish rule.
Another thing which the recent history Of both
Russia and Turkey illustrates IL the inefiiciency or
their semi Oriental diplomacy in spite Of the ira
d!tional astuteness Of the East little expert
ence fixes In the mind Of the Western statesman
the limits within which Oriental can be believed,
and II also serves to bring out the limits or MS
credulity. It would be useless TO attempt a ratio
between Eastern and Western diplomacy In the
matter of honesty but II is manifest that the Occi
dental fancy II less picturesque. has far the wider
range 1t has a practical turn, which is lacking In
the East. When the Emperor Nicholas, before the
breaking out OF the Crimean War. invented the
wildly descriptive phrase Of 1.-The sick man. In al
fusion to the condition OF Turkey and frankly pro-
posed the division Of Turkey, with Constantinople
nd tlet IN Mediterranean RuSSlaS
share, and Egypt England's portion he should
have that the valley of the Nile was only an
accident in the Turkish problem. The outcome OF
the controversy in closet and on battlefield has been
that England has Egypt and that Russia still gazes
longingly at ConstantnOple.
But there is something stronger than diplomacy
1t is race The Hellenic revival slight as 1t seemed
was too strong for Turkey. So 1t has been with
the movements which have created Kingdoms IN !
Northern Turkey. What the Car cannot gain by
diplomacy nor even by war, will yield to the ever
increasing pressure OF the Slav. The political phi
osophy of the modern world which comedies so
much to differences of race. will prevent nations
from interfering in a contest from which the sub
terfuges of royal ministerial policy have been
eliminated. What is there that can delay or turn
aside the gradual spread OF a race? Turkey polit
caly like the valley of the Dead Sea in topog-
raphy 1t is literally depression into which there
must be a flow of humanity. Just there would be
a deuge from the Mediterranean II the wall OF
Western Palestine broken down.
The specific unlkeness between the Russian and
the Turkish rulers Is that the latter are incapable
OF civilization without being weakened by 1t. II the
Turk could like his and like his Parthian
predecessors. make his saddle his throne toerating
but not sharing the culture of subject races he
might still display the virtues OF the who
conquered Constantnope and Numbered at the
gates OF Vienna. But he no sooner takes to ciyili-
zation than he becomes effemInate. cruel without
being brave. polite without being humane. It is
another thing with those gigantic of the North.
II they do not accept civilization. they certainly
comprehend 1t better than those who boast more
about It, In the centuries that have passed they
have lost none Of their old strength, and yet they
have steadily come nearer and rearer to the stand
ards of Western culture Their march is like that
Of men TO whom the world belongs. And while they
are more and more successful In the tentative
efforts to become European they part with none of
that dexterty for which they have long been famous
In Asia. AN international efforts have been d.
rected toward thwartng Russia's schemes of aggres
sion ard TO the repression OF its manifest destiny
yet 1t has held the balance of power in almost
every crisis of modern European history"
The plan of the book in hand is very simple
Where the history Of Russia and Turkey is sepa-
rate. the chronicles OF the two empires given in
alternate chapters. But when II comes to n crisis
like the conflict In the Crmea. hen the relations of
the two appear in one view. 1t is then that the
redder sees that the Turkish question Is really a
Slavic question and be Invested its race
aspect. So too. the history of the Balkan principa-
ties and provinces IL really az mrch a chapter IN
Russian history as in that of Turkey. The volume |
is illustrated with numerous portraits.