whom he has driven from the sight of Europe into the recesses of Anatolia, and the other crowds in Armenia whom he has robbed of their all, are already, according to the latest accounts, 'dying like flies' from cold and starvation; while the children are carried off by the Turks to be brought up as Muslims, in order to recruit the decaying race of their oppressors. The boys will be brought up for service in the Turkish Army, while the girls, on reaching the age of puberty, will be sold as slaves into those unspeakable hotbeds of vice-the harems of dissolute Turks. And Christian Europe looks on with less concern than on an outbreak of rinderpest among some of its cattle! 'Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?' And the Sovereigns of Christendom hold familiar intercourse with, and treat as an equal, this man whom their own Ambassadors have twice branded as a wholesale murderer. It may be that the God, whom Christian Europe appears to have practically disowned in this matter, will yet punish the Great Powers by that very scourge, the dread of which has benumbed their consciences and paralysed their strength-a great European war. A little disinterestedness now, and a little common sense and courage, would prevent that dire calamity, the bare possibility of which makes them tremble like chickens at the shadow of a passing bird in the air? This very dread of war is indeed. the most damning proof of the selfishness of the Great Powers; for what can cause a great war but the selfishness of the Powers themselvestheir greed to grasp what does not belong to any of them; like a band of brigands watching some booty which they dare not seize for fear of quarrelling among themselves over its distribution? It is the most ignoble spectacle that the history of Europe affords. God can afford to be patient, for He has an eternity to work in; but we, creatures of a day, must work in our own way, however humble, until this tyranny be overpast.' There is one Power which, even at this late hour, could save the Armenians without trouble. It is Russia. I have endeavoured to do her justice in this volume, and I received the thanks of the late Tsar for defending Russia in the troubles of 1876-78. Is Russia going to allow the Armenians to be exterminated when one stern word from her would stay the hand of the murderer? England prevented her from saving them eighteen years ago. Is she going to prevent England from saving them now? Would that be a revenge worthy of her great traditions as Protector of the Christians of the East? I will not believe it. England has abjured the past, and will give Russia a free hand now. CONTENTS Impossibility of stopping agitation on the Armenian Ques- PAGES 1-13 Coercion the only effective weapon.--Argument from alleged combination against Britain.-Our treaty rights not likely to be contested by other Powers.-Improbability of war against England.-Russia and Constantinople.- Proposed MUSULMANS DESIRE EUROPEAN CONTROL Both Liberals and Tories are to blame: therefore let bygones 25-38 Russia under obligations to Lord Salisbury.-Policy for public meetings.-Advice of Sir Charles Dilke and Lord Rosebery.-Prince Lobanoff's declaration misunder- stood.-A material guarantee. No danger of European war. Toujours de l'Audace.'-Duty of Liberals.-Con- War not the object of the agitation, but assurance to the Government that they may rely on the support of the whole nation in any effective steps which they may take for protecting the Armenians.-Press of Vienna.-Count Goluchowski on the massacres.-The Sultan branded as a murderer by the Powers.-Apathy of the Powers Mr. Gladstone's resolution and speech (1858) in favour of the union of the Danubian Principalities supported by Lord Salisbury, and opposed by Mr. Disraeli and Lord Palmerston. Concert of Europe baffled by Roumania.— Lord Salisbury on the Eastern Question in 1877–78.— Lord Salisbury and coercion.-Lord Salisbury's policy: How his policy was defeated.-Lord Beaconsfield's policy 39-49 50-57 58-72 LORD SALISBURY AND PRINCE BISMARCK Instances of separate action by Lord Salisbury and Mr. Gladstone.-Different kinds of separate action. The division of Bulgaria.-Reunion of divided Bulgaria.-A secret of diplomacy.-Proposed naval demonstration in PRECEDENTS FOR SEPARATE ACTION Lord Beaconsfield's plot against Russia in 1877: Its rash- 73-83 Contents action.-European approval of separate action in 1877.- Admission of Turkey into the comity of European nations in 1856 a blunder and a crime.-Appeal to history.- Representative British statesmen on Turkey.--Lord Palmerston on coercion.-Reforms in Turkey impos- xiii PAGES Pitt's policy towards Russia.-The triumvirate who plotted the Crimean War.-Story of Sir Stratford Canning. Massacre of Sinope.'-Anglo-French affront to Russia. Unpopularity of the Aberdeen Cabinet.-The Queen and Prince Consort on Turkey.-Palmerston's intrigue.-The Prince Consort slandered.-Prince Consort the first proposer of the bag and baggage' policy. His policy defeated by Palmerston.-A new departure initiated by Lord Derby.-Its real author was Russia's desire for a good understanding with England.-- Visit of Nicholas to England.-Nesselrode's Memo- randum.-Nicholas on the 'Sick Man.'-Russia and Constantinople.-England's blunder.-Napoleon the The Turkish Government is a strict theocracy.-Conse- |