To prove that it was our right and duty to
intervene, Mr. Gladstone cited the Treaty of 1856 and the Treaty made with England in 1878, under which the Turks solemnly promised to give security to the Christian populations :—" Let me remind you of this. The treaties which confer rights have another side to them. In conferring rights they impose duties. If you take security and promises from the Turkish Government that they will remove abuses, and especially civil and religious oppression, and if those promises are not fulfilled, you have duties to fulfil in respect to them in order to secure their fulfilment, and not only rights of your own to enforce." Mr. Gladstone ended by reminding his hearers that there were three points which ought specially to be borne in mind. The first was moderation in the demands to be made on the Porte. The second was that no Turkish promises were to be accepted. "They arte absolutely and entirely worthless." No scheme would be c any good which was riot supported by "sufficient guarantees entirely outside the province of the Turkish Government." The third point was that there must be coercion. The word " ought " had no meaning at Constanti- nople. "Must," however, was a word that was perfectly understood. As we have noted elsewhere, Mr. Gladstone's speech was entirely free from any note of hostility towards the Government. It was what it professed to be,—a sincere effort to support the Government in their difficult task of forcing the Porte not only to promise to redress the wrongs committed in Armenia, but to see that the promise is kept. Canon MacColl spoke in the same sense,—i.e., as regards the desire of the friends of Armenia to support, not to harass, the Government. Unfortunately, his speech was not reported. This we greatly regret, as it would have proved to the Unionist party that the agitation with which the Canon's name is so prominently connected is entirely untainted by party feeling. No one is more ready to admit than he is that the attitude of the present Government towards the Armenian question is one of sympathy, and that they fully appreciate their duties in the matter.
Previous page
