THE ANGLO-TURKISH TREATY.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 63, 14 December 1878, Page 2

THE ANGLO-TURKISH TREATY.

We cannot bojiovo that tho Eugliah I people yet understand tho magnitude of tli.' responsibility which Hur Majesty's < (iiivcrniin'iit. by tho Socrot Troutv of Juno i Ah have accepted on their behalf. It is i nothing less than tho duty of protootinjf, I I'lintrollini;, and in tho last, resort admin- I [storing the whole of Asiatic Turkey, that I hj of an Empire larger than 1'" ranee, An»- I trio, and Spain taken together, wparated i tram their own couutry by 8000 miles of i mo, oooupiad by 10,000,000 of hdf-eivii- i ised and oppressed peoplo, surrounded by • formidable enemies, and at present mink t in bopoless nnarohy andoonfusion, If I this tr at)' El ratified tho British nation t

pledge them i ves through all time and against all foes from within and without. Tne permanent 1.0-tilitv of Buna, the sleepless jealousy of France, the angry suspiciousness of all Mediterranean Powers must be defied, rathur than any change beneficial or injurious should be made iu its dominions of a Mussulman family, which has by tho consent of its friends, degenerated into dotage, and of a caste with which Englishmen have not one single point of social or moral accord. And all this must be accomplished at all times, often the most unexpected and inconvenient times, by a nation which in peace k..p up an insufficient standing army, which has to protect forty colonies from whieb she does not draw a sold-'er, and which is already burdened with the protection, the government, and the civilisation of a fifth of the human race. All this, however, tremendous as the work is for a Power without a conscriptiou, and liable to emeutes in every corner of the world, is nothing to the fuither obligations imposed by tho Secret Treaty. The Asiatic Empire" we arc pledged to defend is so situated that it cannot be defended without being first administered. It is so badly governed that its Treasury is empty ; its cities are decaying ; its fairrest provinces are ravaged by tribes half brigands, half patriots. To restore order is imperative, for until this is done the mainspring of administration, decent finance, cannot be established. No Treacury can he solvent while its officials plunder ; no country can thrive while its peasantry live in hourly expectation of marauders, while no man in its great cities can hope for safety for his accumulations. Even if English philanthropists would hear such a situation Knglidi financiers would not, and the common sense of business men will stimulate the compassion never long d.-ad iii Englislimo.i to bring disorder to a close. Order must be restored in Asiatic Turkey and there is no agency through which "to do so. Tin Pashas, demoralised by centuries of corrupting ascendency, will not do tho work, and the Christians, enfeebled by centuries of slavery, cannot yet do it. Within three years the people of England will be compelled eith. r to repudiate the treaty, or to sell their soldiers to support barbarians in oppressions reported as accurately as if they occurred iu Cornwall or they must govern through administrators iu whose consciences and competence they have some trust. We all know which alternative they will choose; they will administer Asiatic Turkey for themselves, will replace tho Pashas" by English governors, will guarantee the people bv English collectors and English magistrates, will prohibit resistance by English armies, and will directly rule and administer from Constantinople eastward to the border of Shun, governing, protecting and taxing the whole of tho Western Asiatic world, all the countries on the Eastern border of the .Mediterranean, on the Southern border of the Black Sea. and : u the Valley of the Euphrates, all India, and as much of ludo-China as is drained by the Brahmapootra and the Irramad'dz.— Spectator.