“Well, then, I heard the Bishop say the Turks were a disgrace to Europe, and that the Book of Common Prayer had once contained a petition for delivery from the Devil, the Turks, and the comet, then flaming in the sky and believed to be threatening destruction to the earth.”
“Listen, and I will tell thee the truth. The Greek population of Turkey, its Syrians and Armenians, are the oldest Christians in the world. They are also the most numerous and important class of the Sultan’s subjects. Russia also has a 138 large number of Russian Christians in Turkey over whom she wants a protectorate, but these two influences would be thorns in the side of Turkey. England has bought favour for the Christians she protects, by immense loans of money and other political advantages, but neither the Turk nor the English want Russia’s power inside of Turkey.”
“What for?”
“Turkey is in a bad way. A few weeks ago the Czar said to England, ‘We have on our hands a sick man, a very sick man. I tell you frankly, it will be a great misfortune if one of these days he should slip away from us, especially if it were before all necessary arrangements were made. The Czar wants Turkey out of his way. He wants Constantinople for his own southern capital, he wants the Black Sea for a Russian lake, and the Danube for a Russian river. He wants many other unreasonable things, which England cannot listen to.”
“Well then, I think the Russian would be better than the Turk in Europe.”
“One thing is sure; in the hour that England joins Russia, Turkey will slay every Christian in her territories. Dost thou think England will 139 inaugurate a huge massacre of Christians?”
“That is not thinkable. Is there nothing more?”
“Well then, there is India. The safety of our Indian Empire would be endangered over the whole line between East and West if Russia was in Constantinople. Turkey lies across Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and Armenia, and above all at Constantinople and the Straits. Dost thou think England would ask Russia’s permission every time she wished to go to India?”
“No indeed! That, itself, is a good reason for fighting.”
“Yes, but the Englishman always wants a moral backbone for his quarrel.”