citizens.-Sultan and India.-The Sultan not Khalif.— Qualifications of Khalif.-Ibn Khaldun on the Khali- fat. Origin of qualification for the Khalifat.-The Khalifat elective.-Indian Musulmans and Turkey.- Extinction of the Khalifat.-Rise of the Ulema to power. Why coercion of the Sultan is necessary.- Lord Stratford de Redcliffe's error.-Apostasy a capital offence in Turkey.—British ignorance of Turkish law.- 138-162 MR. GLADSTONE'S LIVERPOOL SPEECH Feeling in Ireland on Armenia.-Origin of the agitation.- Consultation with Mr. Gladstone.-Misrepresentation of Mr. Gladstone's speech.-Chief points of his speech. 163-175 The speech a surprise.-Author's feeling towards Lord Lord Rosebery's idea of separate action.-Prerogative of the Sheikh-ul-Islâm.-The Sultan not a free man.— Separate action various.-Interdiction of separate action a dangerous precedent.-Examples of separate action.-Withdrawal of British Ambassador.-Con- tinued diplomatic intercourse may be mischievous.-- Sultan's triumph and character.-Suppression of ALLEGED COMBINATION AGAINST ENGLAND Lord Rosebery's reasons examined.-Language of diplo- 192-206 207-216 A BAD BEGINNING IN BRITISH POLICY Sultan begins to organise massacres.-A Turkish 'monster' rewarded by the Sultan.-How to deal with the Sultan.-The Turkish Commission.-Sultan's insult to the British Government: How it was resented.- Mr. Shipley's report. The Scheme of Reforms indirect cause of massacres.-Lord Rosebery on the Scheme of Reforms. Initial mistake.-Why Russia objected.— Separate action suggested by British Government.- Two offers of cooperation by Russia repelled.-Expla- nation of Prince Lobanoff's policy.-Lord Salisbury's plan.-Paper reforms useless.-Turkey never changes.' The argument of massacre a stale one, and always refuted by events.-Key of the Eastern Question.-A Sultan's royal word' tested by facts.-Religious tolera- tion as understood in Turkey.-Various illustrations.- Crescentade by the Sultan.-His triumph over the A good understanding between England and Russia and France desirable.-Vitality of political delusions.- Examples.-Russian invasion of India a superstition.— No motive for such invasion.-Alarming increase of Indian population.-No cause of antagonism with Russia. The future of Cyprus. - The Porte an organised brigandage.-Anglo-French lien on Cyprus.- British occupation of Egypt paralleled by French occu- pation of Tunis.-Certain relapse of Egypt under 269-283 Duke of Argyll's explanation of the cause of the Crimean by Russia. Protectorate exercised by France and Eng- land as well as by Russia.-Protectorate by the Con- cert of Europe tested by results.-Concert of Europe at Dulcigno.-Lord Salisbury on the Concert of Europe. -Inaccurate charge against Mr. Gladstone regarding the Concert of Europe.-An amende due to Russia.- Mischief of guaranteeing the status quo.-Sultan's power of mischief augmented by the Crimean War.-A for- gotten factor in the case.-Nations ruined from within.- A warning by Burke.-Ominous symptoms of decad- ence. Conscription not needed to enable England to do her duty.-Military occupation unnecessary.-European control the one need.-Providence needs cooperation THE SULTAN AND THE POWERS. CHAPTER I. CAN NOTHING BE DONE? THE one or two organs in the Press, which deprecate any agitation against the continued irresponsible rule of the Sultan and his parasites, are doing a bad service to the Government. They might as well try to stop the inflow of the rising tide. Perhaps I may venture to say that I am in a better position than most men to express an opinion on that subject. In conjunction with my lamented friend, Dr. Liddon, I got together an influential but non-partisan committee in 1876, of which the Duke of Westminster was president and the late Marquis of Bath vice-president. We established auxiliary committees all over Great Britain, and I was thus, as honorary secretary of the central committee, put in touch with a series of political nervecentres outside the range of ordinary politicians. I had piles of letters from country clergymen B 2 The Bulgarian Agitation and quiet squires, who, in sending contributions to the Russian Sick and Wounded Fund, assured me that they longed for the day when they could show their disapproval of Lord Beaconsfield's policy by voting for the first time in their lives against a Tory Government. Very few people on either side of politics had any idea of the disaster that was in store for Lord Beaconsfield's Government. Mr. Gladstone divined it with that magnetic insight which is quicker than reason in placing a leader of men en rapport with a great and free people, and acted on his belief while some leading Liberals, judging from parliamentary majorities and the talk of the clubs, thought that Mr. Gladstone was ruining the Liberal party. On the eve of the Midlothian campaign the Liberal whip, Mr. Adam, asked me what I thought of the prospects of the General Election. 'I give the Liberals,' I said, 'a majority of sixty for a minimum and 100 for a maximum.' He thought me almost crazy. 'The utmost I hope for,' he said, 'is to reduce the Government majority to about twenty.' Never, I venture to think, was a great majority more gratuitously thrown away than Lord Beaconsfield's majority in that memorable campaign. The agitation of 1876-77 sprang up spontaneously, like the present agitation. Indeed, it is impossible in a free, self-governed country like ours to get up an agitation on any subject in which the people are not profoundly interested. |