In relation to Turkish Armenia, Mr. Labouchere was as eager
apparently to disavow all sympathy with the wishes of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bryce, as he was to prove that Lord Salisbury feels the deepest hatred for the French Republic. Mr. Charming having inquired whether we could not bring more pressure to bear on Turkey to treat the Armenians better, Mr. Labouchere hastened to express his utter indiffer- ence to the condition of the Armenians, and his disapproval of any and every attempt to interfere on their behalf. "Assuming, for the purpose of argument," he said, "that the Armenians were the best of human beings, and that the Turks alone committed atrocities, he could not but ask, What earthly business is it of ours P' He protested against the doctrine that we were to roam all over the world, redressing grievances and establishing good government. There were atrocities requiring remedy far nearer home than Armenia. There were Pashas called Resident Magistrates, and an unfor- tunate race composed of fellow-citizens whose position might not unreasonably be compared with that of the Armenians. How could we call upon the Turk to take the beam out of his eye, when we left the mote in ours P" Mr. Labouchere has perhaps been misreported, and may have really made his quotation rightly, asking how England, with a beam in her own eye, could see clearly to take the mote out of the Turk's eye. But if he put it as he is reported to have put it, perhaps his conscience unexpectedly smote him, and suggested that, after all, Resident Magistrates, with Mr. Balfour to pull them up, are about as unlike irresponsible Turkish Pashas as Queen Victoria is unlike an Ashantee chief. But nothing could be more profoundly cynical than Mr. Labouchere's ostentatious indifference whether or not the Armenians are plundered or massacred by their Turkish rulers. He seemed to come as near to the emotion of indignation as it is possible for Mr. Labouchere to come, in contemplating the bare notion that it could matter to us whether Armenians perish or survive.
Previous page
