New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-03
4 CRITICAL TINE IN TURKEY.

Tho Sultan's fears Of assassination or io''
t,on are probably well-founded Sucn '"'s .,,.
trophe or an attempt to produce IT, - eNa .,.
that ,s naturally 10 be looked for AT SUCH '''o
os this II was the dread Of PROVOKING IT, NJ
.,,,, ANYTHING else that caused the Suitan' anu
.ho Porte too. so long TO delay yiedlhs " '"'
,,nds of tho Powers for fuliiimeni Vi Va.
pcr,in Treaty i'm respect to Armenia. Ihe' "o
,,,h,loss realized from the beginning TIA. '"Ni
LIN soon or late. was inevitable. but u
:, u,s 70 couse n revolution the longer IL co"io
ho nostnoncd the better Moreover. ever! u"!
,o,a,. modo the danger Of revolution less pe-
,,.o !, sbowed the fanatical multitude that the
c,,,or and his Ministers were resisting 'he
rors Had the demands Of the latter peeh
crortod nromptly. there would probably nave
,oon an eouaIly prompt uprising. Now the poo.
n,o and even the priests are largely persuaded
thot The Government did the best it could III"
ore therefore haf-reconcilcd to It's surreh"ei.
rho danger is not. however, past. 1t Is sun
actual and acute. For there are many 'rrccon'
cilables." who will never for a moment cohuone
the slightest yielding TO the Glaour' anu Tie ""o'
NosIcm population is so fanaticai ana ihipo'SNo
that there is no telling what day may or'hs
forth.
Tboro is danger. too which Is already Dein2
.oo,vod of renewed and intensified disturbances
.,,u,rohout tho Empirc These are brought
,hou, nortIv nv the Turks. who are viciously Ill
ION, on "bovinc q last whack' at the Armenians
before the reforms 60 into practical erect. Az
tncks are made more savage by the hno"le"70
that the victim is about to be protecled' ooil'e
disturbances are also caused no douD'' ny 'nc
Armenians themselves They are now ehoor
dcned by the prospect of succor, ana II Is Only
natural that they should be disposed TO turn upon
their prosecutors and strike few DloWs ol
vengeance Certainly they will now wheh at
tackled by the Turks, be far more ready to stahu
and fight. We may therefore expect some
bloody work in the immediate future IN Armenia
and elsewhere throughout the Empire ana shah
have no cause foI surprise ut actual reNoiution
M such occurrences, however, should De per-
United to delay the work OF reform III they
come they will be the strongest possible proofs
If the need Of just UGH reforms. HAD the
Haiti IIumavCn of 1896 been faithfully execut-
ed there would be no trouble now and the stare
Of fine Empire would he vastly better tnan II Is
However serious may be the results OF enforcing
the reforms now proposed, the ultimate results
Of not doing so would be incOmparaDy worse
II will be we'll to bear in mind, too. that when
his last hour comes the Sick Man or Europe
will not die without a struggle. Crippled ana
demorazed as it is, the Turkish Empire IS yet
force to be reckoned seriously. 1t has an army
Of 200. 600 men on peace footing, and In time Oh
war can put 100000 trained soldiers mo tue
fold There are no Drawer men nor more stub
horn fighters in the world and the 2ooooo vi
the "nizam" may be compared without discreul'
with the flower of any European army. Memo
res Of Kars and Erzeroum. of Plevna and Shlpka
Pass remind us Of what the soldiers OF Islam are
copable. The mighty Osman on anything Ike
equal terms. was more than match for SKope-
left and Gourko. and even when oyerwheimhgN
outnumbcred by foes and betrayed by the false
courscs of friends. he made stand that Ior
eeneraship and heroism has no superior in mod
ern wars When the last fight comes, II there
be another OsmAn to lead it, we may expect to
see the Empire fall BELTS the realm of ANU
rath, Bajazet and Solyman