DAWN OF A NEW ERA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 163, 27 November 1912, Page 4

DAWN OF A NEW ERA.

Now for the third time in sixty years the inhabitants of the Balkan States have found themselves arrayed in their own defence against Turkish tyranny. Their past struggles for liberty—religious and political—ended in failure, but the present campaign bids fair to be crowned with success. ; Outrages in Macedonia and the provinces of the Turkish Empire have long been the order of the day, and have goaded the downtrodden races into rebellion against the infamous rule of the oppressors. Christian Europe, as of old, obeys political and worldly motives on which the Turkish Government have hitherto speculated with confidence. Even Austria and Hungary have lent their support to tke Ottoman nefarious power because they dread the advance of Russia on Constantinople, Yet, despite European apathy and indifference, the Crescent is waning, while the Cross is growing brighter in Eastern skies. The Christian people are multiplying, whilst the Islamite is dying off. If the peace of Europe cannot be maintained except at the expense of the enslavement of noble races, let it perish and make way for an order more humane and just. It is owing to the jealousies of the great so-called Christian Powers that Palestine, Syria and Western Asia have lain prostrate during centuries under the Turkish blighting dominion. And those Powers would still prolong the agony of Eastern Christians for their own narrow, selfish purposes. But they cannot stop the movement of history. These races now standing in the hottest forefront of battle could have escaped past persecutions and present daughter if they would only utter the four short words, ''Mohammed, prophet of Allah," whereby the Mussulman is created. They would not do it. Neither would their suffering ancestors. Tt is to be hoped that the British Government will not make the mistake into which it has fallen over and again of defending the Turk while permitting him to trample under foot, to outrage and to murder populations marked so deeply with the sign of the Cross. What it needs at the moment is a W. E. Gladstone to guide the conscience of our nation so that it may not fling itself as a hindrance across the path of these dauntless crusaders.