THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3680, 11 October 1880, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1880.

The plot thickens. The European news contained in our issue of Saturday last, show that the tangled skein of Eastern affairs is becoming a veritable Gordian knot, and one which will not be perhaps unravelled till some modern Alexander ends the difficulty with his sword. Summarising the news under date London, September 27, we find that the allied fleet had already commenced shelling Dulcigno, into which well equipped Turkish and Albanian troops were pouring by thousands. Further on we find that the Turkish Pasha commanding the city had burned it to the ground to prevent it falling into the hands of the Montenegrins. A brief consideration of all these events must lead to no other conclusion than that the celebrated naval demonstration has been a failure, and will probably do more harm than good to its avowed object •—viz., the coercing the Sultan into compliance with the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin. Safe in his seraglio hundreds of miles away from the sound of the bombarding cannon, the Turkish potentate can laugh at the praiseworthy but futile endeavors to coerce him into the path of rectitude. The only thing that we are surprised at is that the futility of such a course could not have been foreseen by the statesmen of Europe. If they really wished to frighten the Sultan, the most effectual way was to place his capital and his palace within range of their cannon, and then perhaps his people would be in a fit state of mind to obey the wishes of the Powers. Turkey has been treated as a spoilt child half a century too long already, and it is preposterous that such a rotten State should be allowed to be the stumbling block to the progress of Europe. The time has now arrived for decided action, and if the Powers are in earnest, Turkey will either have to reform or be blotted out from the list of nations.