G. But then, granting the truth of much that you say, you put out of sight the incapacity of the Christian races for rule, so that we come back to what we started from. If you put out the Turks, who can take their place? D. Is it true that the Christian people of Bulgaria, Bosnia, and other provinces are unfit to rule? I ask you to look at Servia, which has been at peace, and has made solid progress, ever since its virtual independence. It has made greater advances in education, relatively speaking, than we have. A school, well provided with the necessary school apparatus, is to be found in every village. The children are well taught. I remember strolling accidentally one day into a school, to which I was attracted by hearing the hum of the multiplicationtable. My visit was wholly unexpected. A little boy happened to be standing by the master's desk, repeating his lesson in geography. Turning from the actual lesson, the master began to ask the little village lad questions as to English geography; and I venture to say that no lad taken at random in an English school could have approached this lad in his knowledge of geography. Then as to the fruits of their teaching, I appeal to all who know anything of the Serb agricultural labourers and they will own their superiority, as a class, to those of our own country. But I need not dwell on this. They have proved their capacity for rule, and from them we may fairly infer that the Serb districts under the Turkish yoke will acquit themselves as well when they also are free. Experience warrants us in this conclusion. I ask you, again, to consider Roumania. There it is confessed, though the elements of society were far more corrupt than they are in Bulgaria, yet since the withdrawal of Turkish pashas and Turkish troops the growth and improvement of the country have been marvellous. Therefore, judging by the past, I conclude that the people of Turkey are not so unfit, even for immediate freedom, as many persons allege. Certain I am that every year they remain under the degrading yoke of Turkey they are rendered more unfit for eventual rule. But you forget one thing. Experience is better than theory; fact is superior to imagination. You don't think the Bulgarians fit to rule. You think Bulgaria free might be a spectacle of misgovernment? G. Others think so. I have had no experience which would warrant me in saying whether the Bulgarians would be fit for selfgovernment or the reverse. I can only rely on the judgment of others. D. But the others who say so-have they experience? Have the Bulgarians ever failed in this way? G. No, for the best of all reasons: they have not misgoverned their country because they have had no opportunities of governing. D. And the Turks-have they governed or misgoverned Bulgaria? G. Well, I can't deny that there has been much misrule. I have said that before. D. Then it comes to this. You know the Turks have misruled. You know from the past they do not govern, but misgovern. At the worst, the Bulgarians could only do the same, and therefore we cannot change for the worse: but we have no reason to believe they would be incapable of managing their own affairs. All experience is against the Turks, no experience is against the Bulgarians; and in such a matter again I say, “A handful of experience is worth a wagon-load of conjectures." Many faults these people of Turkey no doubt have; but in their case the maxim is surely applicable, "The faults of the people are the crimes of their governors." Slavery makes people cringing; it compels them to lie; it makes them lazy, since they have no security that they may reap the harvest of their industry; it implants and then fosters many evils; but this is the strongest of all reasons why slavery should end; and when the material evils of slavery have been removed, then only may we hope that the taint of slavery will also be removed from the heart of the slave. G. Well, you have not answered my question. driving these people into the arms of Russia? How are we D. By our injustice toward them; by our transparent partiality for their oppressors. This is doing what you attribute to Russia. We are prolonging the misery of our fellow-Christians. We encourage the Turk in his wrong-doing toward them, and that is as unchristian as it is impolitic. Continue to satisfy the Turk, as we are doing, that no act of atrocity, however great, will ever induce England to use coercion, and we shall have repetitions of Bulgarian and Syrian massacres. Once satisfy the Christian people, as we have almost done, that there is no hope for them from England, that we are not deaf only but dead to their cries, and then they must in their misery turn elsewhere for help, and may at length get over their repugnance to Russia, and throw themselves into her arms. G. But surely you would not have us go to war as the allies of Russia? D. Thank God, the attitude of the English people will not allow of our going to war as the ally of Turkey. But in reply to your question, I say the determination to go to war would effectually preserve peace. G. Yet the Turks showed by their spirit at the Conference that they would resist interference, that they would not endure coercion. D. They did so, but then the instructions to Lord Salisbury were that no word as to coercion was to be used, and this the Turks soon knew. Now tell me what would be the power of a policeman in the midst of a mob, if it were known beforehand that his power was limited to persuasion, and that he was forbidden on any account to use his truncheon or to arrest an offender. The knowledge that if he sees fit he may use his truncheon and carry off an offender is the best means by which he is able to keep the peace. It is so with Turkey. Had they not known that coercion was not to be resorted to, they would have done what was required, the demands of Europe would have been deferred to, and the peace of Europe would have been assured. Well, said my friend, rising from his seat and folding his newspaper, I don't say that you have convinced me, but I own you have given me something to think about, and that I am not so sure as I was on two or three points as when you came up. I shall be glad to talk this matter over again when I have thought more upon it. D. And in the meantime G. Well, I'll think over what you have been saying. I promise you so much. And thus our conversation ended. |