The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-16

them. u IS only by extraOrQlnary eX- ertions that they will be able to put a barrier to the absolutistic tendencies of their sultan; and people laboring under many hundred years of tyranny and despotism cannot be so easily brought over to the path of political liberty and modern institutions.
 Here the assistance of the happier nations is indispensable of the Turk. If we desire to accelerate the process of transformation of ancient Turkey into a modern state we have to discontinue the policy of rivalry and special nation al interests on the banks of the Bos- phorus. Up to the present as 40 years experience has taught me, the intro ductlon of the smallest reform has been a bone of contention among the various representatives of the West. Every power was anxious to secure it's special influence against the other; and the end of it was that the slow and lazy Turkish government got the best of 1t. namely, a respite ad infinitum and happy opportunity to avoid all reforms and ameliorations. "As long as they quarrel among themselves said Turk to me 30 years ago, i've remain unscathed and undisturbed in our bliss full inactivity" Of course this proceed ure on the part of Europe did not and could not conceal from the eyes of the unbiased observer the real aim and gist of such policy. It has not remained | a secret to the initiated that most of | the greedy neighbors of the sick man, | far from wishing his recovery, were most anxious to prolong the malady and to make an ultimate cure impossi- ble. From time to time some of those | dear friends were candid enough to show their genuine intentions. Russia, | for example, is frank enough to state that all civilizing efforts are with the Turk lost labor, and that it is utterly | hopeless to prevent his collapse. This Russian opinion is quite natural, for, having her five fingers already firmly fixed upon the property of the sick man she will certainly not renounce one l inch of territory of the expected inhcr- | itance For similar reasons we hear l German official circles saying: Do not l interfere with the Turk; he must have his own way; he will never be like our : selves, and his civilization can be only medley of Asiatic and European cul- ture." Here, too, the German egotism l is but badly concealed. The kaiser, l having managed up to the present to provide his civil and military officers lent to the sultan with rich pay out of the Turkish exchequer, and having succeeded in getting for Krupp and others nearly 100,000,00O of marks for guns and rifles, besides the millions of l German money successfully invested in Turkish railways-the kaiser, say, will certainly not be overzealous to hasten the process of reforms in a country so cleverly exploited by his subjects.
 In similar strain we might easily speak of other governments. Suffice to say that 1t Is not only Turkish drowsi- ness and oriental conversatism which has frustrated all reformatory efforts in the near East; but that we too are to be blamed for the abortive results, and that we too have our share in the failure of the reformatory work begun in Turkey nearly a century ago. If Eu- rope would be actuated by pure hu-
 manity and philanthropy, as it be-
 hooves Christian nations, nothing would be easier in the world than to
 bring the tyrant on the throne in Con- stantinople to his senses. Through uni-
 ted action he would easily yield to the
 just demands of his people, who would
 be content with just administration
 and with laws guaranteeing the happi-
 ness and security of all the subjects
 without difference of creed and race. It
 is not exactly constitution and Parlia-
 ment that they desire, but the end of
 the present despotic and ruinous reign.
 This is what the party called Young
 Turkey" is aspiring for, a party which
 is misunderstood in Europe and in
 America, and of which I shall write to
 you later.-Prof. A. Vambery in New
 York Independent.