TOPICS OF THE DAY.
LORD SALISBURY IN TURKEY.
WE have advised and still advise Unionists not to press Lord Salisbury too hardly in this Turkish affair. No one except the head of the Foreign Office can know precisely what chances there are of maintaining the European concert—which, considered by itself, is most desirable—what is the real risk of a general attack on Christians throughout the Turkish Empire, or what the combinations will be if the Powers ultimately part company. The Foreign Secretary, too, is responsible as even Members of Parliament are not, and may well dread his own best impulses if they lead him to give orders which may involve the whole future of the world. We fully acknowledge that the fall of Turkey, whenever it falls, means the commence- ment of a new era in European history. Lord Salisbury should be allowed a free hand ; but we trust that while he claims, and should enjoy, national support, he will realise how completely his own future repu- tation as a great Minister depends upon his suc- cessful action. The whole people of both parties are watching him. They understand more or less the full difficulty of the situation, and will make allowances not only for delay, but for hesitation ; but they nevertheless expect from Lord Salisbury success, which means in their eyes some permanent guarantee that the Turkish Pashas and their cruel master shall no longer misgovern the Christians of the Ottoman Empire. They think they have a right to expect this much. Lord Salisbury has the record of a great diplomatist ; he has a special knowledge of the Turkish Court and its evil ways, he enjoys favour in Vienna, and he has in Italy a devoted ally, while he speaks on the Turkish subject the voice of a united British people,—and he ought, therefore, to be successful. If he is not, the people, though they will not condemn him, but believe him to have been overmastered by his difficulties, will no longer consider him a great Foreign Minister, but relegate him in their minds to a more ordinary cate- gory. So long as he goes forward step by step, they will not grudge the slowness of the steps ; but if he stops, or throws up his hand, the revulsion of feeling will be very deep, and will, for one thing, greatly cool the present enthusiasm for the Unionist party. The greatness of men who are great is best tested under great difficulties, and the world expects from Lord Salisbury a plan which will succeed, or at least show some evidence of pre-eminent nerve. At present, it must not be forgotten, no real suc- cess has been attained, even if the extra six guardships are allowed to enter the Bosphorus. The Armenians, to whom we promised protection, have lost by murder some thirty thousand of their number, most of them heads of families, under circumstances of abominable tyranny. The Pashas who sanctioned or witnessed or condoned the mas- sacres are still unpunished. The Sultan, who prompted the entire outbreak, is still absolute within his dominions, still dooms any subject who displeases him, still surrounds himself with advisers known to be hostile alike to Christians and to Western ideas of justice and wise government. The massacres have become fewer and smaller, but there is no security whatever against their recurrence ; while, as regards individuals, no man in the Turkish Empire is safe if the Palace clique think it profit- able to denounce him. Only this week a great Mussulman, an ex-Grand Vizier, has fled to the British Embassy after an interview with the Sultan, because he saw that he was suspected of Liberalism, and that means exile to Yemen or death. Lord Salisbury, in fact, with all his efforts, has accomplished nothing, although the efforts must have been great. He has kept the jealous Powers together, he has gathered a fleet such as has scarcely been seen in the harbour of Salonica,—a fleet to be joined, it is asserted, even by an American cruiser, so that not the six, but the seven, greatest Powers will be represented ; but still nothing of permanent value has been accomplished. There sits the Sultan safe in his park, unable, it is true, to resist any maritime movement, but on land master of all around him, able to baffle and confound the united Embassies, and to defy those who send them in- structions, with impunity. He promises reforms no doubt ; but was it without his knowledge that his Foreign Office denied absolutely that any revolt had occurred in Yemen, the most detailed accounts of which have since come to hand ? The civilised world is hungering for something more real than such promises,—for, if that were obtainable, a good Sultan, or if that is not obtainable, for a good and irremovable Vizier who shall at least grant security to the Christians of Turkey until the inevitable hour of partition shall arrive. No one of repute, unless we may count the Spectator among that number, objects to postpone sentence upon Turkey if her owner can be bound over for a time to good behaviour ; but even that imperfect result has not yet been secured ; and if it is not secured at last, Lord Salisbury's reputation as an adroit and successful manager will be materially diminished. It will be said, we know, that we are testing the Premier by his ability to perform the impossible ; but the retort is a mere begging of the question. Why is it impossible ? The Turkish Empire, as Mr. Gladstone long since pointed out, of all Empires is the one most accessible to the sea Power. Its very substance is cloven in two by the sea; its chief revenues are derived from seaports ; and it can be entered not only from the Mediterranean, but from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Suppose for a moment— we beg pardon of the astute Monarch for the bare supposi- tion — the Sultan executed Sir Philip Currie instead of a few thousand Armenians, how many days or hours or minutes would the impossibility continue ? Yet we are pledged, if men can be pledged without formal contracts, not to let Armenians be murdered, or if they are murdered, to bring the murderers to justice. Does any one, in fact, doubt that Mr. Gladstone would have done it ? That is a very serious reflection for the Foreign Minister who has defeated Mr. Gladstone—with our hearty concurrence— to ponder over while he waits the slow evolution of events at Constantinople. They will go right in the end, we do not doubt, as they went right in Naples, though King Ferdinand seemed so safe ; but we want Lord Salisbury to be the agent in making them go right.
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