THE COURIER
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Authentic snapshot of a company of Turkish Infantry who may be ordered to the front at any moment In view of the situation In the Balkans, which
threatens to develop Into a crisis. Bulgaria protests against the mobilization of Turkish troops. Meanwhile warlike preparations are going on among the
various European powers and a heavy warcloud hangs over Europe-with a likelihood of bursting at any moment.
LONDON, Feb. 28. The long-expected
crisis in Turkish affairs now really seems
to be imminent. The puppets who are
to be made responsible for the coming
combat between such of the powers as
may be drawn into it have been so care
fully rehearsed by the Muscovite stage
managers that the successful enactment
of another tragedy in the career of the
"sick man of Europe" should not possibly
fail unless, perchance, instead of trag
edy the situation develops into a farce
comedy and the shadow of the bear has
once more to skulk back from the covet
ed Balkans.
One thing is certain, that before Tur
key will give up another slice of territory
she will fight any armies that may be
allied against her to the bitter end. She
has lost so much during the past cen
tury that her diminishing greatness is
one of the bitterest shocks that Moham
medan pride has ever sustained.
Early In the century Just closed Greece
attained its Independence. This was
followed by the autonomy of Roumanla,
Bulgaria and Crete. Bessarabia and
Batoum fell to Russia as spoils of her
last war, while Egypt and Cyprus have
fallen to England and Syria is under the
protection of Prance and other powers.
The ostensible cause of the present
contemplated rising in the Balkans is
the inhuman treatment of Macedonians
by Turks. Whatever else the Macedonian
committee, which foments most of these
1 troubles, may be, It certainly is in col
laslon with Russia and is one of the most
potent tools of her Balkan policy.
Although the Bulgarians themselves
are apparently endeavoring to suppress
- tfce Macedonian uprising they have mob
ilised a large army to menace Turkey,
jwhich will if an outbreak occurs be the
inain reason of the conflagration.
The reforms which Austria and Russia
ire asked Turkey to make for the
lent of Macedonians seem to be a
mdary matter, as irrespective of her
ewnpllance or non-compliance huge
armies are preparing to pour south
ostensibly to right the wrongs of Mace
donians and Albians but really to es
tablish the claim of Russia to rule
the Bosphorus and Austria's to such
territory as she may have considered
necessary to the establishment of an
other good port on the Adriatic and ofher
advantages long sought in that direc
tion. Of course Montenegro and Albania and
Servia, all pet dogs of the northern bear,
will be ready to pounce upon the sick
man when Russia gives the word, so that
really there would seem little chance for
the "disgrace" of Europe.
Italy, however, has dreams In the direc
tion of Dalmatia, and her old-time feud
with Austria may be relied on to stop
any move that Austria may make to
obtain Turkish territory in case such aim
on the part of Austria becomes a dem
onstrated fact as the result of her pact
with Russia.
As I wrote you some months ago a
treaty exists between Servia and Russia
by means of which the army of the
former will co-operate with that of
Russia as soon as she sets her battalions
marching in the direction of the Balkans.
Britian has been called upon by Tur
key to carry out her part of a very old
and well understood bargain in other
words asked to help out her old ally. For
the nonce England is nonplussed; the
situation has developed so suddenly that
she has not had time through the Jingo
press to lash the public into a fury
about it.
France sits and smacks her lips at the
thought of having Austria for a co-ally,
but she would rather have Italy in her
place for several reasons.
And what will France do under the
circumstances?
Have we so soon forgotten what that
astute analyst Tolstoi has told us. Here
is a digest of his opinion on this eternal
question: France needs the cohorts of
the Muscovite. In pay, she is more than
willing that the Cossack shall displace
the Briton in India, China, Polynesia
save rectification. When the'day comes
which Is as certain as the succession
of the seasons that she holds the pinch
beck German empire under the heel of
her ready hosts, then she will have a
recrudescence of the spirit which holds
the Russian a Tartar and is destructive
to the "Interests" of western civilization.
Napoleon III. joined England in the
Crimean campaign, not because France
had forgotten Waterloo or the dolts who
had won that half fought contest, but
because It was essential to his purpose
to delude the Pharisees who fancied
themselves arbiters of the destinies of
Europe.
France, to recapitulate the reasoning
of her diplomatists, for the moment
needs the semi-barbarous millions who
aspire to the empire of Alexander. When
the die Is cast and the battle won France
will oppose an iron wall to Russian ag
gression upon Constantinople with a
firmer front and a nobler purpose than
the land-grabbing Briton, who simply
wants everything In sight and pledges
what would be his immortal soul If he
had a soul to secure It. When the die
is cast and the battle ranged, France
will have five million Muscovites to con
front the shambling German hosts. The
result will be what Napoleon brought
about at Tilsit, at Austerlltz, at Fried
land, and the map of Europe will be re
constructed philosophically and ration
ally. Twenty millions of Poles will form
a great nation. Prussia will be reduced
to Its original duchy of Brandenburg,
Austria will be obliterated, and the re
public of Europe will be made up of
France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Po
land. Prussia will disappear from the
cognizance of men.
This Is the meaning of the Franco
Russian alliance. And if Christianity
still means what it has always stood for,
this must be the outcome.
For, as a matter of fact, the endurance
of the Hohenzollern travesty of admin
istration Is simply the reduction of man
kind to the conditions In vogue three cen
turies ago. The kaiser Is an Irrespon
sible mountebank, believing himself born
by a special interposition of Providence,
free to make war, to maintain peace at
his own idiotic will Irrespective of the
will or prayer of fifty millions of reason
ing beings pledged to his vagaries.
Empires have seen, known and endured
imbeciles In the past; they have suffered
madmen's manias. But no empire ever
bent before such a pranking figure as
the present emperor of the Germans.
George the Third was a madman. Na
poleon I. was half demon, half demo
crat; but no ruler of a great people was
ever more Irresponsible than the opera
bouffe monarch of the finest people in
Christendom. Hence, declares the Gaul,
when the republic Is ready to move, the
German house of cards will tumble with
a swiftness that has no precedent in
history, and the end of the twentieth
century will find it difficult to" realize
what Its beginning was.
British pride, suspicion, rivalry denied
Napoleon III. the compensation France
thought the due of her soldiers' valor In
the Crimea. When Sebastopol fell before
the furious onslaught of MacMahon's di
vision at the Malakoff, Napoleon hinted
to the British Cabinet that the time was
ripe for effacing the Captain Kldd treaties
of 1815, by which France had been robbed
of her natural boundaries. But the Brit
ish cabinet turned a deaf ear to diplo
matic hints and hastened to come to
terms with Russia lest Napoleon might
audaciously imitate his uncle's methods
and occupy the stolen states.
Now, however, France sees her way to
more dazzling results. England, In
volved In upholding Turkish misrule, will
oppose Christendom. Then France's
time will be at hand. She, too. has scores
to settle with several who balked French
designs In the past quarter century, who
lent themselves to the British Interfer-
il