The record-union., 1897-05-30
A CRITIC ON THE EASTERN CUES
TION.

BENJAMIN Ide Wheeler resided many
wears in Athens. He has long been a
student of the Eastern question and
Turkish Russian and Grecian politics.
In a recent lengthy and able paper in
the Atlantic Monthly" Mr.. Wheeler
expresses the unqualified belief that
the ultimate occupation of CONSTANT
nople by Russia is a foregone conclu-
sion. In this Mr.. Wheeler concurs with
the judgment that is prevalent upon
this continent.
But the chief interest in Mr.. Whee-
ler's paper centers about his estimate
and the condition of Greece and the
Greeks, who are a feeble folk-a mere
remnant of ancient greatness among
the great peoples of Europe; little ma
ton that sprang from the root OF
grand old tree. What is TO be the fate
of this tender shoot is a question OF
unusual interest. especially so when we
read in the dispatches of the prepara-
ton the Turk is making to support
the intention to wrest Thessaly from
Greece and establishing over that prov
ince the rule of the Moslem.
According to Mr. Wheeler, the Eu-
ropean politician, unmoved by sentl-
ment. opposes the absorption of Crete
by Greece. though it is essentially Gre
clan. since it would. by establishing a
precedent, open the door for the an
nexation, for the same reasons, OF Cy-
prus. Chios. Samos, Epirus and the
coast of Macedonia. Indeed. no one
could tell where the end would be, and
that business arrangement" the bal
ance of power" would be in jeopardy.
Greece did not seek Crete, but ne
and the latter to heed the cry. Year
bv wear the Grecian Government shell
tered and fed the refugees driven out
bv the Turk. until it became too much
for flesh and blood to bear. Then
came the crisis, the present war, and
the triumph of the Turk. All this is
the fault of the great Powers, not of
Greece: for the Powers have been the
guarantors of Turkish misgovernment.
II was not unreasonable in the Greek
to believe, therefore, that the uncheck-
ed Turk would make him his next
victim. 1t was the instinct of self
preservation. therefore, that drove
Greece into the present war. 1t was
sentimental politics, but at the base
was the sentiment of kinship of blood
and klnshp Of faith
In this conflict about all European
States are concerned. Russia, because
II affects her route to the sea and her
relation 10 England in Asia; Austria,
because of her prospects in the Balkan
States: France, because of her COM
mercial ambitions in the Orient, her
claims in Africa and her route to the
tions to Russia and France. England
is concerned because of Russia, and her
Iife-and-death interest as the main
tainer of a world-empire, in the Suez
AdHdA. AIlNt4NtAiS otA4 1a|A SC4o4A*tNA iAtNNA
ests in Asia and Africa. A little State
of but 100000 people. with an area
about half as large as New York, is
the focal center of all this concern
ment
Mr.. Wheeler shows that the Eastern
question was such before there was any
Russia or Turkey or England, for it
created the ancient nationality of
Greece. The boundary between the
Occident and Orient, the narrow Bos-
phorus. marked from early time the
contrast between Occidentalism and
Orientalism. To the one a day is a
thousand years, for the other there is
no time to spare, and there is more to
do than time in which to perform.
Right at the Aegean and the Bospho-
rus the frontier has stood all the ages,
and "along its line the conflicts between
Occidentalism and Orientalism have
again and again been fought out.
Greece stood at the gateway, and what
ever came from Asia to Europe came
through tits islands are as bridge,