TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE MASSACRES. FIVE thousand Armenians have been massacred in the streets of Constantinople. The Ambassadors of the Powers promptly showed their sense of the gravity of this fact. They expressed their regret to the Porte, and refused to put candles in their windows on the Sultan's Accession-day. Never was there so prompt and spirited a protest. It reminds one of Lady Catherine de Burgh :— " I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compli- ments to your mother. I am most seriously displeased." In truth, it is as if the neighbours in a suburban town, dis- covering that one of the householders in the square had been guilty of horrible cruelty to his wife and children, had held a meeting and determined that, in view of the fearful atrocity of Mr. S.'s conduct, they would only nod to him when they met at the station, and would on no account say it was a fine morning. The Powers are no doubt sincerely anxious to stop horrors like those of last week, when Galata was turned into a slaughter-house, and men, women, and children were killed under the eyes of the soldiers and police by a Turkish mob ; but do they seriously imagine that the sort of action they are taking will have any result ? The Sultan is not such a fool as to be frightened by their omission to illuminate in honour of his accession. The fact that he has been able to let the mob loose in the capital without any serious injury to his right to do what he will in Turkey, is ample compensation for a dull Fete-day. The knowledge that he can go as far as he likes in the way of suppressing anarchical tendencies among the Armenians, as he puts it, is worth any number of small snubs. The Sultan can now feel that the jealousies and fears of Europe make him master in his own house, and that he has nothing further to fear from outside pressure. He was no doubt rather nervous at testing his strength, but now that he has found how great it is, he must be exceedingly happy. If nothing is to happen to him, even when the Armenians get their deserts, not in a distant province, but in the streets of Constantinople, all fear of armed intervention is at an end.
The world is so saturated with Turkish horrors that it has lost all sense of proportion, and talks as if the recent doings in Constantinople were merely a regrettable street incident, reflecting little credit on the Sultan, no doubt, but still merely an ordinary piece of misgovernment of the kind that must be expected in Turkey. Yet in fact the massacre of last week was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, massacre in modern history. In the September massacres in Paris not a fourth of the number were killed, and the greatest slaughter during the Revolution, that which took place during the street fighting when the Swiss Guard were annihilated, only caused the death of five thousand people. But on that occasion there was some- thing approaching a battle. At Constantinople it was pure butchery. The Armenians were hunted out and knocked on the head like rats in a barn. We are, then, face to face with this fact :—One of the bloodiest deeds in history has been committed in the face of Europe, and Europe can think of nothing better to do to punish the perpetrators than to keep its Embassies dark on the Sultan's Fete-day. Though England must to some extent share the disgrace with the rest of the Powers, we freely admit that Lord Salisbury would be most willing to take active measures to put an end to a Government which can create such a state of things. If the Powers would only agree, he would doubtless use the force of England to punish the perpetrator or tolerator of the massacres. But the Powers will not agree. What, then, ought to be England's attitude ? It appears to us that the time has come when we must clearly define our position. Of course the ideally best of all courses to pursue would be to obtain an agreement among the Powers for the partition of the Turkish Empire. Russia should be asked to take Constantinople and Anatolia ; France, Syria; Austria, Salonica ; Greece, the islands ; Italy, Tripoli ; while we should remain in Egypt. Of course, this could be done, and done effectually, if only Russia would agree. Were she to consent, Austria, though angry, would be obliged to acquiesce. But, unfortunately, it seems im- possible to get Russia to agree. She prefers that Turkey should advance yet a stage further towards complete putrefaction, and appears oblivious to the sufferings she- thus inflicts upon the Christian subjects of the Sultan. But even if the avenue of hope opened by a partition of Turkey is closed, is there not some other opening ? There is, if the Powers will only take it. If they cannot agree as to the disposal of Turkey, and regard the maintenance of the status craw in Turkey as a necessary guarantee for European peace, why cannot they agree to depose the present Sultan, and to put in his place his brother or some other member of the house of Othman who may seem suitable. In this way the status quo would be preserved, and yet a lesson given to the Turks that Europe will not tolerate a regime of massacre and atrocity. The new Sultan, with his predecessor's fate before his eyes, would think twice before he let the Kurds loose in Armenia, or- the mob in Constantinople.
But though we believe that the deposition of the Sultan might be accomplished, and yet the status quo be maintained, we feel very little real hope that the Powers will agree to such a course. They will, we fear, take the line that the- deposition of the Sultan might mean armed intervention, and that armed intervention by six Powers might lead to jealousy and confusion, and so might imperil the peace of Europe. In fact, they would argue, What is the massacre of five thousand Armenians compared with the interests of European peace ? ' If, then, England can. neither obtain the partition of Turkey nor the deposition of the Sultan, what is she to do ? Is she to sit down and let the spectacle of massacre and outrage go by without moving ? It is a terrible alternative, but we fear she must. If she alone were to send her Fleet to Constanti- nople, she would probably secure nothing but the hatred of Europe. Suppose our Fleet to have forced the passage of the Dardanelles to be anchored in the Bosphorus, and to have delivered an ultimatum to the Sultan. If we took this action in opposition to the Powers, they would probably advise the Sultan to resist. What could we do then ? We might bombard the Seraglio and the city, but with little effect. After we had bombarded Alexandria, we found that we had an instant need for an army to occupy the streets and keep order. But Constantinople is a city of a million people, and to keep order would require an army of at least thirty thousand men. But the idea of landing thirty thousand men in the teeth of a united European opposition is absurd. Even if the Powers only offered a passive resistance, we should find ourselves in an in- tolerable position. Clearly it would be impossible for us to take action alone. Another alternative would be to retire altogether from the Concert of Europe, and to throw the blame entirely on the other Powers. But this would be not only dangerous, but a blow to the cause of the Armenians. As long as we keep in the Concert of Europe, we can do something to help the Christian subjects of the Porte. As the example of Crete shows, that something may often be really important.
It must be confessed that the whole prospect is gloomy and depressing. The only ray of hope, and that, we confess, is a faint one, is afforded by the Czar's visit to Balmoral. It is just possible that in the conversations in which he will doubtless engage with the statesmen who are to meet him there, he may become convinced that we have no sinister motives in urging Russia to take the lead in putting an end to Turkish misrule, and that we would loyally support Russia in any action she might take in the direction of freeing Armenia and possessing herself of Constantinople. If Russia could be persuaded to join with us in a settlement of the Turkish question we might see an end put very shortly to the infamy of Mahommedans ruling Christians. As we have said, however, it is but a. faint ray of hope. We fear that the Czar is more likely to listen to the views of those who call for the status quo at any price, than to listen to counsellors who may advise that if he comes to an agreement with England, his may be the glory of freeing Europe from the last remnant of Turkish rule.
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