The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 712, 9 January 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

JEqi»al.and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political # # # # # Here shall the Presi the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbrib'ed by gain.

TUBS DA y. JANUARY 9, ,1877.

The European -intelligence by cable is anything but peace-assuring. On the contrary the Sultan appears to be blindly and obstinately -rushing on his fate. The good services of England have hitherto alone stood between the Ottoman Empire and its dismemberment, and now, ' when the ultimatum proposed by the late conference of the Powers, brought about by the active exertion of British statesmen, is placed before the British. cabinet, Murad Pascha, the

Minister for foreign, affairs, on beihalfof his government sets friends, and foes alike at defiance, refuses to accept Jbhe offered terms. and declines to consent to anything " thj&t would be contrary to the dignity and integrity of the Turkish Empire.".

And war for the dismemberment of Turkey, and driving- the Moslem from Europe to the more congenial soil of Aaia, would not be looked upon by the civilised world as an altogetlier.uninixedey.il. The horrible atrocities of the Turkish troops m Bulgaria and other revolted Provinces, atrocities so- repugnant to the feelings of human nature, that we haye hesitated to harrow the minds of the sensative of our readers with even their bare recital — - have placed the Turk, m the minds of all osv-ilised men, %eyond the pale »of humanity. Te drive him forth from Europe as Gain was driven from Paradise would be considered a duty and a pleasure by millions. On a farmer, occasion when glancing at the possible outcome of the present embrogolio of the western uations on the Eastern question we alluded to the probability that Germany would strive to turn the opportunity to wards -securing that unification of the 'German .Empire whish has been her policy, just as it bus been that of Russia to set her foot m Constantinople. To do this, as we then showed, Germany needs to annex all Austria westward of the "Danube, which meansthe absorption^ of much country and -some millions of the subjects of Austria. The equivalent the latter would receive for this would be the embracing m her Empire the real and nominaldependencies of the Porte. .Austria would then become the head of a

Sclavoaian Empire, a powerful Easterii state, which indeed appears to be hei- true and natural destiny. Daltnatia and Croatia itre already Austrian, and why*the other Solavonian races, Servia and Montenergo, which are independent, and. Bosnia, Herzegovina and other less 'important Sclavonic Turkish Provinces should not look for protection and rest to Christian Austria rather Stan 'to Mahomedan Turkey is hard to understand. The one alliance is unnatural, and, as .. events have shown, leads to .unnatural results — the dtber would unite the . g-reafc; remnants of the,Sctavonian race 4 ,and Greek Faith, distributed through these provinces and dependencies, undsr a common head if not of Sclavonic origin, at least of "Sclavonic" sympathies. The Statistics of Turkey m Europe show clearly enough the direction ia -which emniro

should solidify and consolidate, itself. The Moslems are but a small proportion even of the population. Out of -fifteen milMons and ;a half there are butfl,loo,o()o,pttqmansand 230,000 Tarjajjs-i; 'the Sclavoniau, Roumelian, 'Arnaat, Greek, and Armenian; nationalities, all chvistiau, making' up the balance of the population,

together with some 70,000 Jews. With a population so composed, it is impossible to keep up a Mahomedan Government — nay more — whatever the political purpose it may be supposed to serve, the Turkish ascendency ever so large- a Christian population is simply a disgrace to Christian Europe. By all means let there be an outpost at Constantinople to keep back the Russian Bear, but a great "Eastern Power such as Austria as the head of the Sclavonic races would become, would . be a far more fitting bulwark to the safety of Europe than the demoralised brutal Turk. The .following ex-' tract -from the leading Turkish paper, the " Vakit," will show how utterly the Turkish Nation — and we should imagine that the "Vakit" can be no more than the mouthpiece of the Government — misunderstands the position of affairs. — "We can see from the newspapers 1 that m consequence of the news spread from Sclavic sources of the pretended atrocities m Bulgaria, the English Government has not only become dissatified with us, but will no longer be on our side, will be -ftxieutral, -which means, will be j against -us." Then after discussing"

the attitude of Russia, the writer continues : — But. whether Russia be on good terms with us or not, 1 English "interest m India will be endangered. "Whatever may come we must consider what we shall do . when remaining alone. "We shall do our utmost m, order to keep England's support ; but at last, if we do not succeed in.it,. then it is. very easj'- to know what we have to do. When -Europe will not look at us, then we shall lay aside all the European customs which we have lately adopted, and - shall enter on our old way. From the boy of 13 years, to the old man of 75, everyone of us will be armed,. and we shall defend by the aid of God and by the dariug of old days, the

S country which we have held for 500 ! years. And if the issue should .come .to ihis, as Islamisin is not limited only to Turkey, then we will blend all the different Moslem races into one. The Moselms of India, of -Central Asia, of the Caucasus, of Africa, and of Algeria will come forward, and we shall again take the measures which we adopted once for the conquest of Jerusalem, We shall send procalamationa everywhere, and 'declare a war against the whole world. This is a very easy matter for His Majesty the Sultan to do. From the preparations we have made against a country like Servia, one can easily judge what we can do m circumstances auch as we have contemplated . . .. Then it will not be possible to subjugate 120 millions of Indians with

QO,OOO soldiers— a million will be insufißcient. If tho English Government takes these points, intoconsiderafeibn,.and if Prince Gortschakoff brings' before his eyes this result both><\y'M doubtless desist from pushing^ 'into' war the entire' world.: If, which JGtod forbid, things ;, reach this p^iriti ai>p..if the^lp,|]ems' rise m order to defend theii? sJaoredreligion : and 'if the treasui'S accu-" mulatated every year at Me^ca. is disposed of for the protection of the Mphammedan . -faith, then tlie" scenes- of tiro a;ncietife.'Et,iropean wars' where the Moslems were both victorious and destructive, will be ; repeated, and will destroy the progress and the civilization of an entire century."