Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1903-02-21
MACEDONIAN QUESTION
Professor Arminius Varbery's
Views on tire Subject.
SULTAN i FRIEND OF PROGRESS.

How Hfs Sovereign IL Handicapped.
DiacasssH@ Eastern Question.
Re says the suItag, Rather Than
Lose Macedonia, wiII Esght to De-
fon,a His property.
Professor Arminius vambery. writ
ing in the Vienna Poster Lloyd on the
Macedonian question, says:
ut is. then. refofms-serious reforms
which tie interested European pow
ers propose as a remedy, and the ques-
ton il. how far will these reforms be
applicable. and Is Turkey willing or
able to carry them out? The latter has
been a priorl denied, and the sultan Is
represented by some as adverse to all
reforms aud a declared enemy Of all
innovations-nay. as a Mohammedan
fanatic. | may say, on the strength Of
a personal intercourse with the Sultan
Abdul Hamid OF many years duration,
that he is emphatically a friend of
progress, but that his efforts are handi-
capped by the clinical and social con
ditions Of his people on the one side
and by his own excess of caution and
a certain indecision on the other. He
wishes to do everything himself. This
alone has ruined more han one prom
Using measure, and his not always jus
tilted mistrust has done the rest, but
the man has the best intentions, and,
though there have been failures in con.
sequence of his strong absolutist tend
encies. it would be unjust to doubt his
wish for reforms. The financial mis-
cry of the country, the hidden and
open animosity of the west, greatly
contribute to the deplorable conditions
in Turkey, nor can it be expected that
the reform measures to be enforced
viii have a particularly favorable re-
suit.
1T is not reforms. but autonomy,
and, later on, complete severance from
the Ottoman empire, that the Christian
population of Macedonia is aiming at,
and the whole world is rightly curious
to know whether Turkey will yield or
whether she will defend her property
by force of arms. | believe the latter
viii be the case, especially If it is true
that for the execution of the reforms to
be demanded a fixed term will be inn
posed. Such a term could hardly be
observed, and the result would needs
be a solution of the Macedonian ques-
ton by war. We are undoubtedly ON
the eve of great complications. The
Turkish army, whose gallantry nobody
doubts, is under all circumstances q
match for the forces of the Balkan
countries. but the question is, Will the
interested European powers quietly
look on when the sultan's Christian
subjects are sent home with broken
heads, and will not the situation be
made worse by Intervention? AS the
answer to this question mainly depends
on the compact between Russia and
Austria-Hungary it can only be hoped
that time will be given to Turkey to
continue uni~nterruptedly with the re-
forms she has initiated n that the
control the powers seek to exercise will
be q mild one. At any rate, people In
Co%nstantinople are fully aware of the
critical situation, and it is being ear
nestly dealt with, because the loss of
Macedonia would be the deathblow to
Turkish rule in Europe. AS Sultan
Abdul Hamid is not one of those rulers
who bring dangers upon their country
by rash action the further development
of events depends exclusively on the
will of the two European powers.
THE time has not yet come for the
final solution of the eastern question,
because the work of solving the great
problem. which extends not only over
the near east, but over the whole of
Asia and Europe as well, has barely
been begun. and it would be injurious
and ever criminal to enforce its prema-
ture solution and thus throw half of
the world into blood and fire"
If there is n man in Europe who is
able to grasp the eastern question in its
entirety, it is Professor Vambery, says
the London Standards Vienna cores
pondent, In saying that the sultan, if
afraid of otherwise losing Macedonia,
will trust to the chances of war he is
no doubt repeating what his majesty
himself has told or written to him.
The professor has been the sultan's
private adviser os matters OF great
Importance for many years. The sui
tan is in the habit of sending for him,
or writing TO him through his first sec
rotary, whenever he is in doubt or In
trouble. and il NJ. Vambery says the
sultan will not yield to undue pressure,
but rather 80 to war. it may be taken
for granted that he bas the best au-
thority for the statement. Russia and
Austria-Hungary may. for all | know,
be animated by the best Intentions,
and that may especially be the case
with Austria, but they are playing
Win FIRE and their n%eighbors are shar-
ing IN the danger. AS the two powers
: have asked the rest of Europe for sup
! port, Il lies with the countries thus APP
Il pcalcd to to counsel moderation and to
preach prudence. When the whole of
Europe was Infatuated by the Arme-
man massacres, when Abdul Hamid
+ was called a criminal in a public speech