The Storm Gathering for Turkey.
By Uriah Smith
The Chicago Times of Nov. 8, 1875, has a long article, headed, “Hostile Attitude of Russia toward the Ottoman Empire,” from which we take the following opening and significant paragraph:— “The unfortunate state of affairs in the Herzegovina has greatly agitated the Russian officials at St. Petersburg. The revelations made by the insurgent committee at Metkovitch, the descriptions of Herzegovinian life under Turkish rule, the desecration of the church, the altar, and the most sacred rights of marital existence by the Ottoman officials, appear to have rekindled the smoldering sparks left unquenched by the Crimean campaign. The official and semi-official journals are publishing dispatches and governmental condemnation of the violence practiced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia appears to hold the Turk in anything but the high esteem stated in the insurgent memorandum to the great powers, and covertly hints that it may be necessary to take from Turkey the power she now possesses of embroiling the whole of Europe in war. The Voix, an official organ, makes a strong excuse beforehand for any acts that Russia may feel called upon to commit in order to protect the Christians in Turkish provinces, and to place the Porte without the pale of European dynasties.” At the same time that this appears in the Times, the Detroit Evening News contains the following paragraphs, which look in the same direction:— “Europe is a chess board, and if you watch closely you will probably see some masterful play this winter on the part of the Czar.” “It is very significant that the fate of Turkey seems to rest in the hands of the emperors of Russia, Germany, and Austria, and that Great Britain’s interest and influence in the business is the very subordinate one of protecting the moneyed interests of English bondholders.” “Coincident with the designs against Turkey (for such beyond question is the meaning of all this hob-nobbing of the three emperors) comes a demand for the British occupation of Egypt, as a step necessary, so the argument runs, for the preservation of the British Empire in India. If Turkey is a ‘sick man,’ as the cant phrase goes Egypt is by no means in the best of health; and it seems not unlikely that the present generation will witness the absorption of both lands, England to take the country of the Khedive and the pyramids, and the three powers to partition Turkey as they did Poland eighty years ago.” And still another paper has the following paragraph upon this question:— “It is reported that the Northern Powers of Europe will interfere in the Eastern question, and insist upon Turkey’s according needed reforms to the insurgent States. Count Andrassy, the Austrian Prime Minister, will draw up and present to the Sublime Porte the propositions agreed upon.” These paragraphs show a movement on foot in reference to Turkey, which evidently has not been entered upon to be abandoned, till it is pushed to its ultimate results. The steps taken are not merely like straws showing which way the wind blows, but like uprooted trees and drift-wood borne down by the flood, showing that an irresistible current is setting in to press the Turk out of Europe. The closing sentence of the first of the preceding quotations, gives the key-note to this whole movement: “To place the Porte without the pale of European dynasties.” This means, to drive the Turk out of Europe; and this means, further, the soon drying up of the great river Euphrates, Rev. 16:12, the signal for strife and trouble which shall involve all nations, and the setting up of an everlasting kingdom by Him whose right it is to reign. U. S.