SYRIA.
THE last "final settlement" of the Syrian question only illustrates the permanent difficulty of Europe in its dealings with the Turkish Empire. It is agreed that Mo- hammedan rule is to be maintained, for if it is not, some Power or other will become so strong that the independence of Europe may ultimately be lost. That principle, such as it is, is intelligible, and were Europe governed by policy alone, might, till the extinction of the Turkish race, be per- manently maintained. But unfortunately Europe is con- trolled by feelings, creeds, principles, prejudices, as well as by policy, and whenever any one of these disturbing causes comes strongly into operation, policy is laid aside. Accord- ing to our policy, the Sultan is sovereign, and if his subjects like to exterminate the Christians or circumcise Pagans under penalty of death, that is no more our affair than the mas- sacre of the Huguenots, or the restrictions on Russian murder of Christians, simply because they are such, Europe interferes, and insists on a change of system, which, whatever its other demerits, shall at least stop that iniquity. The pre- vention of murder is not difficult to Powers whose armed force could exterminate the murderers in a week, but the emergency once over, the permanent policy revives, and the Christians are to be protected without infringing on the authority of the Sultan. Syria, says Lord John Russell, belongs to the Sultan and not to the Five Powers, and accordingly the Five Powers first declare that no man of the Sultan's race or creed shall rule the most im- portant division of the province. The Kaimacam of the Lebanon must be a Christian, or Christians cannot be con- ' sidered safe. Some ten millions of Christians are left in other places under this distrusted Government, but consist- ency in politics is too much to expect ; and we may let that pass. A Christian governor will doubtless protect Chris- tians, and if the Lebanon were declared independent, or a European placed at its head, the Maronites might lead lives only diversified by a little oppression from their bishops and a great deal of extortion from each other. But there are the sovereign rights of the Sultan to be respected, and the Governor of the Lebanon must therefore be a subject, or, at all events, one who has accepted some tie of allegiance to the Mussulman who is to reign, but not to govern. But, then, a subject of the Sultan, liable to his sovereign's repri- mand, is very likely to obey his orders, and the feeling which is opposed to policy springs up once more. The Christian Kaimacam is to be irremovable for three years, except with the consent of the Five Powers, who are never, under any circumstances, likely to be unanimous. In other words, the Christianity of the Mountain is protected by leaving it under the dominion of a Mussulman sovereign ; and the sovereignty of the Sultan is maintained by depriving him of the right of appointing and removing his own servants. Finally, to make the European reliance upon Turkey more evident, it is specially provided that the Turkish troops shall never enter this division of Turkish territory. And this quaint process is officially denominated the " mainte. nance of the integrity of the Turkish Empire." We are by no means certain that, the two postulates being granted that Turkey must be Mussulman, and must be tolerant, any other arrangement would have been pre- ferable to this. Fuad Pasha would have ruled as well as any Christian the Divan is likely to select, and a great deal better than the Shehaab who will be the nominee of France. But there is no proof that the next Pasha would have pro- tected the Christians, or thought himself pledged to protect Maronites against the plundering habits and fanatical ideas of soldiers professing the true faith. A Christian Kai- macam, therefore, Mussulman officials being such as they are, and will be, till their creed disappears, was an inevi- table alternative. Still less do we see any proof that Europe is prepared for the events which must follow that termination of the Turkish Empire implied in the indepen- dence of the Lebanon. The Sultan's authority must there- fore be retained, and the utter absurdity of an arrangement which preserves authority by decreeing that it shall never be exerted is due only to an originally false position. When English statesmen have discovered a policy which may keep Turkey independent without surrendering it to a fanatical Mussulman clan, the Government of Syria may become rational and strong. Till then we must be content to see some Maronite use his power to protect the Leb anon by enslaving one-half the population in order to extirpate the other moiety.
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