The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-02-01
MOST REMARKABLE SPEECH
Lord SaliSbury'S Admission of British
Weakness.
SULTAN CANNOT Be SUPPRESSED
For the First Time on Record British
Premier Admits Inability to Cope with
Foreign Foe-The Bnglishmen Favor
the Original Monroe Doctrine.

the Hotel Metropoe last night was the oc-
oasion for an address by the Marquis of
Salisbury, prime minister and secretary of
state for foreign affairs In the course of
his remarks he said with reference to Ven
ezuela:
81 have been held up as the denouncer
of the Monroe doctrine As matter of
fact although the Monroe doctrine is no
part of international law my message to
Mr.. Olney, the secretary of state Of the
United States, supported it as rule of
policy in the strongest and most distinct
terms. But when l stated in that dis
patch and reiterate now, that, rs a rule OF
policy, we are the entire advocates of the
Monroe doctrine, we mean the Monroe
doctrine as President Monroe understood
1t. In that sense you will not find any
more convinced supporters than we are"
Lord Salisbury then turned abruptly to
the Armenian question, and he reproached
the religious communities with laboring
under mistake when they supposed that
England had bound herself in honor to
succor the Armenians, which means to go
to war with the sultan in order to force
him to govern the Armenans we'll. The
Berlin treaty, Lord Salisbury said, merely
bound the signatory powers that if the
would watch over the execution of those
reforms. He did not think any one could
interpret that as an undertaking to go to
war AS to the Cyprus convention, Lord
Salisbury continued, it contains no trace
of an undertaking to interfere in behalf of
the subjects of the sultan.
81 was concerned in the drafting of both
these conventions" Lord Salisbury said,
"and nothing would have induced me to
pledge my country to such desperate un-
dertaking."
The speaker reminded his hearers that
the reforms which the sultan had recently
accepted, although very good reforms,
could not be expected to produce good
government in two months.
'"They require timc to work out, the
speaker went on to say. "They would re
quire time in a civilized community and
much more SO in savage and fanatical
community l hope they will have "A ben
efcent effect as time progresses.
Meantime, by spreading among the
Turks the feeling that their dominion was
threatened, these reforms have unfor-
tunatoly led to the perpetration of horrors
which can only be compared with the days
of Gonghis Khan and Tamerlane. l am
aware that many influential people aver
that this was done by the sultan and his
government with set purpose. My own
opinion is that the sultan governments is
weak, wretched, impoJent and powerless;
but it is a dream to imagine that he or
dered the preparation of these cruelties.
In my Judgment there is no ground for
thinking so. 1t was race faction and creed
faction, driven to the highest point in their
most corrupt most horrible form that
brought upon the wretched Armenians
these terrible sutferings.
''If you ask why we have not interfered
/ can only answer for England that we
could have threatened what ! may call an
noyances in the seizing of customs here
and there, but when you are dealing with
the rising of a whole fanatical population
against population with whom they have
been at bitter enmity for ages, and who
are situated in mountains far removed
from the seashore, you are deceiving your
selves if you imagine that England's arm,
long as it is, could have done anything in
mitigation. Nothing but a military oc-
cupation could have done it, and England
does not possess the power for military oc-
cupation at that distance.
"Mr Gladstone wrote "A letter that Eng
land could cope with five or six Turkeys.
udb was a. ilAOab IL JANtsSA "LAN A''~-- ~
servation. If the sultan would meet us \
on the open sea undoubtedly we could
cope with five or six sultans. But it Is not
worth arguing the possibility of England |
these inaccessible provinces
II am not bound to argue the question |
why Europe did not interfere. l say con
fldently that none Of the powers wished to
interfere, and believe their view is that,
with patience, the sultan's prestige, which |
Is the only power left in the country, will |
re- establish order and allow in |
iustry and commerce to take their usual /
secure course
"lfyou do not act with the great pow
ers, you must act against them and pro
duce calamities far more awful and terri
BILE than the Armenian atrocities
In conclusion Lord Salisbury referred To
the recent patriotic demonstrations in the
Dolonies in the face of the threatened for
sign complications, and said:
81 care not how much we are isolated
II we are united. An example has been
set which will shed benefcent light on
.he latest generations of Englishmen,"
Salisbury's 'IgnominiOus Admission"
LONDON, Feb. An editorial in The
Chronicle QIiberaD this morning describes
Lord Salisbury's speech as the most amaz-
ng utterance that ever fell from the lips |