Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-04
MA TIONS PLAYING CHESS.
Extracts From the Interview OF W. h.
Hess by the Chia.ayo Inter Ocean.

Since The publication Of an interview
Gn the Turk rklsh-Armenian question
with our distinguished citizen, the Hon.
W. b. Hess, by the Chicago Inter-Ocean
of last Tuesday there has been such a
demand for the published article that
we believe We are more than justified in
re-publlshing the extracts given below
MIR. Hess was Consul General at Con-
stantinOple in 1881 and is a recog-
nized authority on current international
affairs centering in the Ottoman EN-
pire. He said:
The situation is very critical. The
treaty powers are simply playing game
on the diplomatic chess board for posi-
tlOn. The policy of the Cleveland ad-
mlnlStratlOn in not protecting Armen-
ians who are Amerian citizens Is alto
gether wrong. L has been an entering
wedge to deSpOtism because it has per-
mitted the Turkish government to rule
out anybody as suspect. The
trouble originated in President Cleve-
land cOncedlng to the Turkish govern
ment tho right to exclude from the en-
pire, all undesirable persons" Had the
Sublime Porte undertaken to apply that
doctrine under former administration,
under Blaine, or even under Frellng-
huysen, the assumption would not have
been tolerated for moment. They
would have carried out the lOng-eS.
tablished principle of our government,
which is to protect naturallZed Ameri-
can citizens the same as native born.
hold the treaty powers morally re.
SpOnSlble for the Armenian masSacreS
because under the Berlin treaty the
provinces were placed under the con.
troll Of the treaty powers and were prom
ised better government under the di-
rectiOn of the Christians. NOtwith-
standing, things have been growing
worse and worse ever since. There Is
no doubt in my mind that those powers
there will just dilly daily with this mat
ter until they can succeed in getting a
satisfactory arrangement and agreement
as to how the spOils shall be divided up,
and then whenever that is done it won't
take them very long to simply say to the
SICK man to move across the BoSpOruS
or even the Euphrates or to perform his
nOtOrlety the Sultan holds his tongue to
day, IN Europe at least, simply through
the jealousy of these six great powers,
and he knows that just as well as any
body.
For instance there is in the Imperial
Ottoman Bank, an English institution
controlled by English capital, notice
that 1t has loaned the Sultan Sl,100.000
InX hnt l. &c, ,,.tx- 4
branches throughout the Ottoman En-
pre-, would not, III my judgement, have
made that loan if 1t had not been as
sured by the British government that
there was no imminent danger of the
dlmemberment of Turkey. And be-
sides that, England and France hold a
great amount of Turkish bonds, and
both countries have their own agents at
COnStantinople to collect a portion of
the revenue direct from the Turkish
government to apply upon the principal
and interest of the debt, not even letting
the money pass INTO the hands Of the
Turkish officials. How would we like
to have foreign government run such
an agency III connection with our
treasury?
| believe the naval denomination in
theBay or Salonica was not for the pur
pose solely or principally of compelling
the Sultan To accept those reforms.
When England got her war ships there,
those other powers got jealous, and
practically steamed up into Smyrna Bay
and round about to kind OF watcn the
British union jack. 1t IS all bit of
ma leuvering for most advantageous
position. 1t is not at present TO the
commercial and financial interests of
the powers that the Turkish Empire
should be dismembered. The spoils are
recognized as certain reversion.