MR. GLADSTONE AND HOBART PASHA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 185, 7 August 1877, Page 4

MR. GLADSTONE AND HOBART PASHA.

The following correspondence was published in the Times on I4th May — TO THK EDITOR OP THE "TIMES." Sir, —At the request of Hobart Pasha, juat received, I ask the favor of your publishing the enclosed letter.) His request embraced rny answer. I have no copy of it, but the purport of it was to say that as I was about to write a reply on the various points (including that of the six policemen), I had Been in tha papers that he had been visited with the greatest of all domestic bereavements, arid that I could not under such circumstances trouble him, unless it were at his express desire, with a word of. controversial matter. I may be allowed to say in conclusion, that I regard Hobart Pasha as entangled ia an error of which the consequences are deplorable, but that I am likewise convinced that he is acting according to what he thinks the calls of honor and duty. May he soon be undeceived j I remain, sir, your obedient servant, W. E. Gladstone. London, 12th May.

" Constantinople, April 4. " Sib, — I can but feel much honored by your having mentioned my name in the House of Commons, and I feel flittered by your having given me credit for honesty of purpose while writing as I have done about Turkey and the Turks; but when it comes to be, as you say, a matter of ''shame to you that an Englishman should have advocated their cause/ I feel bound to make one or two remarks in selfdefence. The Dame oi Gladstone has always been regarded by me as the beati ideal of justice and fair-play.. I can but feel, however, that in the question Jof Turkish massacres you have so far been deceived by one-eided reports that you have lost sight (for the moment only let us hope) of that glorious attribute. My reason for thinking this is, that I do not find in auy of your speeches or writings anything to show that yon havecalmly and. dispassionately enquired into your subject by obtaining information on both sides of the question. Let me ask you — Did yon ever enquire into the real cause of tbe uuhappy events in Bulgaria, or did you from the very outset act upon the very idea that they were caused by Turkish misrule and thnt only? Did you ever hear of an organised combination to destroy til Mussulmans from Phillippolis to the very gates ot Stamboul ? Did you ever hear of. six Tmkish policemen being burnt slowly to death in quicklime before the row began? Did you enquire into the feeling which existed between the Mussulmans acd Christians in the year-* before the massacres ? Did you ever hear that through the crafty intrigues of cenain high personages the regular troops were all removed before the order to quell the revolt was given ? " Sir, 1 have never for one moment attempted to defend the unhappy and disgraceful occurrences in Bulgaria. I have never ior a moment defended the syfctim of Turkish Government, now, bappiiy, about to change. 1 bave merely maintained that the horrors of civil war, aggravated by religious fanaticism on both sides, have been the repeiition of an oil-told tale, and have uct beeu worse ia Turkey than elsewhere. I have endeavored to show that for the laat tweuty yeara Turkey hus hud no chance of going ahead in iho puih of progress and reform. She hus been subtly, out steadily, maJe to bleed nearly to death by foreign intrigues and evil advisers among her ownpeople. I have abkdd a fresh start for her, a little fair play, quiet and lime to enier upon ihe new path. If you lived (I suppose the very thought would render you ill) as I do, among these people, 1 am conviucbd that your farseejng good Beusa would cause a chauge in your opinions. As to what is now going on, I cau only say that at Conbtanfciuople ihere is tbo most perfect quiet. Iu the provinces, where people are starving through haviug had to puy to the Government what little money ihey possessed, and, in addition, to give up much of their store of provisions, to support au army necessarily mobi-

lised to resist invasion and spoliation under the guiae of humanity, ehere must exist, on the principle that . * a hungry man is an angry man,' miich bad fesiing, and Collisions will occur between the taxgatherer and the people more especially as the rayah does not share in the enthusiasm of his Mussulman neighbor; and it is evident that quiet timas alone can puG things to rights. Every one even in this country has heard of the time-hdnored name of Gladstone and his chivalrous character, and looks withastonishment at the line he bas taken. The Turks say, « Why doea not this just man mention the horrors committed by Christian insurgents, such as cutting off noses of prisoners, boiliug Turks alive?' 4 Why does he make out one side to be all angels, and those on the other devils?' " I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, "iIoBABE Pasha. " The.Right Hou. W. E. Gladstone, House of Commons."