Year: 1878




Two Turkish officials OF high position leave
Constantinople to-day to meet the Grand
Duke Nicholas and treat with him, or
through him with the authorities in st. Pc
tersburg, for suspension OF hostilities.
But that is, of course not the limit OF their
errand. One of these officials is the Minis
ter of Foreign Affairs in the present Otto
man government, and 1T Is said that these
commissioners have been invested by the
Ministry with full power to negotiate q
peace. It will be remembered that when
the Turkish government lately proposed an
armistice to the Russian commander the re-
sponse was that an armistice could only be
conceded if the Powers could previously
agree on the bases of II peace negotiation.
That was q reasonable and natural reply,
for Russia has no reason to desire
an armistice. On the contrary, 1t
would be a palpable disadvantage to her,
as it would be simply an expensive and
dangerous delay to her everywhere trium-
phant forces. But that delay would be OF
little account it Turkey proposes to make
peace. If, therefore, Turkey wishes the
| armistice rs q preliminary to peace she
must consent to give Russia some guarantee
| that it will not be abused for the purposes
OF mere delay and the only guarantee that
| Turkey now has it in her possession to give
! is such demonstration of her sincerity as
would be found in previous agreement on
the bases of the ulterior negotiation 1t Is
in the sequence of that exchange OF views
that the commissioners will now go to
meet the Grand Duke Nicholas, and if the
statement of the powers given them is not
erroneous we may regard the war us well
nigh ended.


For it is hardly conceivable that two men
of distinguished position in the Ottoman
State can, in the present crisis, fail to
make peace if they have the opportunity,
however hard are the enemy's conditions.
In view of the calamities that have fallen
upon the Ottoman arms in rapid succession
within o short time in Europe and in Asia;
in view Of another calamity now imminent
in the fall of Erzeroum, and in view, fur
ther, of the exhaustion of the resources of
the Ottoman State and the decentralization
OF it's army, it is evident that further resist
ance of the Russian forces is utterly.hope-
less. It is not possible to repel the invasion;
il is not possible to accomplish with the
Ottoman armies any national purpose whats
ever. If a nation cannot hope to defend
itself its only other inquiry preliminary to
peace must be, "Has it any ally
that will come to its assistance ?"
Can the Turks count upon England?
Apparently they have lost all hope of that.
But for the hope Of English succor they
would not have gone into the war; They
were ready to accept the conditions laid
down in Count Andrassy's note; and they
were also ready to accept the amplifcation
Of that note which was called the Berlin
memorandum. But when England refused
to join with the Powers in requiring Tur-
KEYS submission to that note she tossed
her hat In the air, for she believed that Eng
land was with her for fight against that
programme. Turkey would again have sub
mitted to the demands of the Conference if
England had not clandestinely encouraged
her to reject them. But, though she has
had England's encouragement whenever the
subject was dealt with automatically, Eng
land has not been at her shoulder when it
was dealt with on the field of battle. Eng
land has sent her Hobart Pacha and
Valentine Baker-magnifcent tributes OF
nations heroic generosity! But an
English regiment or an English battery has
not figured in any Of the hard conflicts
that Turkey has been tempted into under
the delusion of an English alliance. On
the contrary it is now the recognized atti-
tude of England that she will not help the
Turks, but will help herself when she finds
her own interests in danger. and the Turks
can now believe that their annihilation may
precede England's perception of her peril.


Wonderful for England is the attitude in
which she now appears before Europe.
With struggle of giants on loot she sits at
home and dreams of alliances One of her
brilliant soldiers, who, ifsEngland had the
will of old days, would head corps in
Roumelia, writes for the magazines
projects of what might be done in GER
tain contingencies. Sir Garnet Wolseley
has had vision. He has seen a line of bat
tie with a million men in it, stretched from
anywhere on the Franco German frontier to
the shores of the German Ocean, and has
even seen it gloriously resist advancing
hordes OF Germans and Russians moving to
crush out of existence Holland and Belgium
and to set up basis Of future naval rivalry
to England. In that line of battle France
had seven hundred thousand men and Eng
land, Holland and Belgium, respectively, IL
hundred thousand each. Sir Garnets vision
did notinclude the person of the paymaster;
but there was one, no doubt, and of course
he was an Englishman. In this vision of Sir
Garnet one may see the outline of pretty
Continental policy--a policy that might
trouble the reverics at VarZin with MANY n