The Evening Star SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4284, 18 November 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1876.

Although it may at first be difficult to see what good can be gained by a public meeting here about events which occurred the other side of the globe months ago, the proposal to express our abhorrence at a great crime, and our practical sympathy with the sufferers, should find a ready response in British hearts. All the public prints which have come to hand by the last two English mails are full of details of the effect on the British mind of the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria. A great tidal wave of intense feeling was passing over the country from end to end. Public meetings were being every where held, and the strongest language was indulged in by the speakers. Mr Gladstone had lent his great name and commanding abilities both as a speaker and as a pamphleteer to show, whi'e urging the practical independence of the Provinces, that Turkey was henceforward deprived of all claim to British support, and that the policy of Russia was not irreconcilable with British interests. The feeling was intensified by the apathy of the English Ambassador at Constantinople and the apparent supineness of the Government ; but there is no reastm to suppose that the movement was one of mere party, since strong Conservatives have everywhere joined in it. When it dawned upon the nation that, in spite of official denials, the first accounts of the terrible massacre were substantially correct, and if, in some particulars, exaggerations, in others were scarcely equal to the horrible truth, one universal cry of execration arose throughout Great Britain, and henceforward all idea of affording even moral support to Turkey was angrily scouted. It was a turning point, and its significance is well pourtrayed in an admirable cartoon which appears in a well-known satiric print. Turkey is there represented in the person of the Sultan, coming forward with sword and hands reeking with blood, and demanding of Britannia, "Will you not still help me!" and, with stern aspect, Britannia replies, *' Not with your hands of that color. " Nothing could more graphically represent the. altered attitude adopted towards her former ally, and its causes, than this picture. It was, as we have said, a turning point. Had Turkey behaved well, England would have been compelled to give her some countenance ; but she has revealed herself as a bloodthirsty tiger, reproducing the Cawnpore atrocities in Europe on an immensely larger scale, against her own Christian subjects, with the same ferocity that Nana Sahib displayed against his British enemies. Who can wonder that the hearts of English* m&i spbW out, anil that the cold, oaloulat-

ing utterances of I& r d Dbbby and lord BBAoo»asttLP were universally duowned, as not representißg true British feeling ? Prudence and a regard for self-interest have been thrown to the winds ; and doubtless the result has a good deal interfered with Lord Derby's diplomacy. Russia, at latest date, assured that England would no longer interfere to prevent her attacking the Porte, has presented her ultimatum, and is now it may.be at war with Turkey; having interfered when Servia was prostrate at the feet ©f her enemy, to prevent (that unhappy Province from being overrun by the victorious Turks. Such is the situation; England has not indeed gone to war, but she has acquiesced in Russia doing so, and such is her feeling of utter abhorrence of the Moslems, that "humane" men, full of pity for the suffering Christians, have uttered the most exaggerated desires for vengeance against their persecutors. In fact, some hotheaded clergymen have gone so far as to express a wish to sweep the whole race of Turks into the sea, by way of retaliation upon a comparatively small number actually engaged in the outrage. But allowance must be made for excited utterances like these. People do not stop to weigh their words when full of abhorrence and indignation. If Turkey is now overtaken by a retribution not less terrible than her crimes, she has brought the Nemesis most directly upon herself; but wo would fain hope that "Christian" vengeance will not imitate the " tender mercies of the wicked," and that at least non-combatants and wounded men will be spared, though on the Turkish side they were not spared, but subjected to nameless tortures. Directly the spirit of indignation degenerates into a spirit of savage revenge there will be little to choose between the two sides, except that one began while the other retaliated. As to the more immediate results of the conflict, it seems pretty certain now that Turkey in Europe will soon comprise but a small territory to the southward of the Balkan Range, though any union of the insurgent Provinces under one Government seems at present improbable, because not desired by themselves. What England will do to protect her own interests in the future from a possibly adverse Russian policy remains yet to be seen; it is something to" be assured by such a man as Mr Gladstone, that our interests are not irreconcilable with those of the great Northern Empire, in which opinion we have ever coincided; although England could scarcely see the Blaek Sea become a Russian lake without many qualms of uneasiness. That contingency has not yet arisen, however, though a favorable opportunity has occured were Russia inclined to take full advantage. What twenty years ago we fought to prevent, we are now prepared philosophically to acquiesce in, if not absolutely to approve.