The times., 1897-03-20
The Grand Old Man for Greece.


the Eastern question could have produced
greater sensation in England and on
the continent than the publication of AN
address on and a review of the present
situation sent to the Duke of Westminster
by Mr.. Gladstone In it the venerable
English statesman tells truths. unmasks
policies and denounces potentates and
cabinets in thun der tones aud with the
force Of thundcrboits 1t is broad
ment IL will be hailed by the friends
of liberty and humanity in Great Britain
and everywhere as the gospel OF new
crusade against the bioodthirsty power of
the indispensable Turk and it VIII lash
the aiders and abettors Of the great
assassin" whether in the British ministry
and Vienna, as with a whip of scorpions,
If English public opinion had strewn Lord
Salisbury's path with thorns before its
appearance, it may readily be believed
that now il will not be one of roses.
Indeed, the tide has been rising so Tor
days that it may not have needed greater
impetus than the Gladstone letter VIII
furnish TO break over the heads OF the
Tory ministry, and sweep it out or
power.
At the outset of his address MIR. Glad
stone takes prompt occasion to dispose
of that hyrocrtieal syndicate, powerful
ONLY for evil the so-called European con
cert, to the discord in which he attributes
the present condition of affairs In an
other place he subjects it to kCen and
yyitbering ANALYSIS showing how it oper-
ates in each country committed to it, to
destroy the normal effectiveness OF any
national opinion npon the policy or pro-
gram of the state Thus, in Great Britain,
it nulIifIes constitutional government ia
all concerns Of foreign roiicy, presenting
to the alton in It's st cad the autocracy of
a cabinet irresponsible to any power save
that of the five other cabinets, represent
ing as many sovereigns, armies and naVies
behind it This is a stern truth and a
terrible Indictment of the course of Lord
Salisbury in pursuing policy opposed to
the honor of his country and obnoxious
to the dictates of humanity, at the beck
and call of disgraceful and disgraced
concert" The great Liberal proceeds
to review the antecedents OF the present
sacres He writes:
The Armenian uassacres. ludiciouSly in
terspersed with intervals or breathing tHiie'
Eilyc surpaSSei IN their scale ann II lle IN
tensity and diversity or their wlckeunesS
all modern. If not all historical experience
All this was done under the eyes OF SIN
powers. who were represented by their am
nasSadors, and who thought tncir teetie
yerbIage a sufficient countcfpoise 10 the
instruments of death, shame and torture.
provided If In frainingit they all chimedi IN
with one another. Gro wing In confluence
with each successive triumph of deeds over
words, and having exhausted IN Armenia
every eNpedlent or deliberate ana Whoic-
sale wickedness, the sultan, whom | have
not scrupled to call tine Great A ssaSsin,
Tecollected that he had not yet reached ms
climax. 1t vet remained to show 10 the
powers and their aInba bassadors, under their
own eyes and within the hearing of their
own ears, IN ConStantlngple Itself, what
their organs We're too duh to see and near
Mr. Gladstone refers to the horrors OF
the succeeding massacre Of Arnenians in
Constantinople, under the eyes Of all the
concert ambassadors. as an evidence of
the sultan's contemptuous indifferences to
their presence or ability to interfere with
his deliberate atrocities He reminds
Great Britain thatt the concert y hich ex-
listed in $3.50 worked in different manner
because it was made to. Then Mr.. Glad
stone was prime minister and the late
Car Alexander III sat on the Russian
throne. The Great Assassin was at his
old tricks, and refusing to carry out his
1S7Sl to grant reforms, and to cede GER
tain territory to Montenegroandt to Greece.
The concert joined in a show Of force
on the Albanian and Montenegro coasts,
but most of the powers were quite unwill-
ing to extend the movement beyond that
condition; SO England and Russia quietly
arranged separate plan TO seize an i'm
portant piece of Turkish territory, without
troubling the others about it, AS soon
MS Abdul Hamid saw the drift OF this in
tention he promptly gave Montenegro the
agreed extension OF territory and sur
rendered Thessaly to Greece, and that
was the end of the episode.
The aged ex-prernier scouts the sacred
ness of the concert, or OF the Integrity
of the Ottoman empire Expressions which
European politicians have been dinning
into the ears of the nations for the past
two years He declares that the principle
once involved in supporting the ''integrity
OF the Ottoman empire long ago disap-
peareG Once it was believed that if Tur-
key could be guaranteed from Russian
menace it would take its place among the
civilized states of Europe. develop its
splendid agricultural and other material
resources and become like its Christian
neighbors The results of the Crimean
war afforded it the opportunity. For more
than twenty years the Turks were exempt
from troubles from without; but the only
civilized thing they succeeded in evolv-
ing was a vast debt and the ultimate
swindling OF their creditors. If anything,
they were more detestable anG atrocious
in their expressions and prosecutions at
the end of the period than at its begin
ming With that eXneriment the Justice