HE ANGLO-TURKISH CONVENTION.*

THESE two books are of very unequal merit ; but they throw light upon each other, and. should, therefore, be read together. Mrs. Scott Stevenson is young and lively, and we should infer from her book that she is a most agreeable companion. When she confines herself to jotting down her own Observations and recording her fresh impressions she is entertaining, and some- times instructive. She is the wife of a British officer, whom she idolises, as a model of all that is excellent in bodily vigour and in moral and intellectual worth,—and we are convinced that a man who can inspire the enthusiastic devotion of such a wife must be a very fine fellow. But Captain Scott Stevenson, in addition to being a. soldier, is also an Assistant- Commissioner in Cyprus. Mrs. Scott Stevenson is thus brought within the region of politics, a region which to her is evidently as unfamiliar as was the island of Cyprus when she stepped upon its shore. Ignorance of politics, however, is no discredit to any woman, and still less to the young wife of a soldier. But, on the other hand, women are not less liable than men to griev- ous blunders and amusing self-contradictions when they deal dogmatically with unfamiliar subjects. To this rule, Mrs. Scott Stevenson is no exceptiou She thinks the Russians a bad nation and our natural "enemies," and elm can " ouly conclude that party spirit has had a great deal to do with the antagou ism shown" to the Anglo-Turkish Convention in England. There is no great harm in our authoress indulging in these pet pre- CiSprus as I Saw it in l870. By Sit damuill. White Balm% London: Macmillan and Co. 1879, Om Horne in Cyprus. y Mrs. Scott Stovonmon. London : Ohapuma and Hall. 1870.

judices. But when she gets interested in her subject she chats away pleasantly, and puts down facts and impres- sions ludicrously in conflict with the regulation preju- dices of the mess-room. Here, for example, is the sentence which immediately follows the accusation of "party spirit" against English Liberals :—" Had we taken Cyprus in ordinary course, without the sudden invasion of ten thousand troops, and calmly looked on it as a profitable investment in an agri- cultural light, and with the hope of improving the revenue from the almost unexampled fertility of the soil, it would have been annexed with little or no opposition." That is to say, if Lord Beaconsfield's Government had done everything contrary to

what it has done, there would have been little or no opposition

on the part of the Liberals in England. That is probable enough. But why should Liberals be guilty of "party spirit," for making the very same objections to the Anglo-Turkish Con- vention which Mrs. Scott Stevenson herself makes,—apparently, we are bound to add, without perceiving the drift of her damaging admissions P "I do not wish," Hays Mrs. Stevenson, "to be understood to say that 1 set any value on the island as a garrison in the Mediterranean. I know that is not so." And she proceeds to give excellent reasons for her opinion,—reasons which, no doubt, she picked up from military authorities on the spot. But Cyprus was acquired by the Government simply and solely on the ground of its being a strong place of arms."

If it is not that, its acquisition is, in plain language, an imposture. So, again, when Mrs. Stevenson gives unconstrained expres- sion to her own feelings, she describes the Cypriote Christians as hospitable in disposition, cleanly in their habits, delicate in their manners, and "without exception the most grateful, docile subjects over possessed by the British Crown." As it happens, they are subjects of the Sultan, not of the British Crown,—a fact which the wife of an Assistant-Commissioner in Cyprus ought to have known. But let that pass, and let us

give the authorese's account of Greek and Turkish habits rd- spectively, She visits with her husband a Greek monastery, and is received with cordial hospitality by the monks. "I was

struck," she says, "with the cleanliness of the table linen ; though coarse, it was as white as snow, and embroidered at the edges with coarse Greek lace. In almost every Cypriote house, oven amongst the poorest villages of the Troildos mountains, we were offered napkins, or rather, towels, when we commenced a meal." On another occasion, the lady and her husband enjoyed the hospitality of a Turkish gentleman who had filled the post of governor of a province. They were desperately hungry, and this is how they fared:—

" Neim [their host], who sat opposite me, after helping me to some chicken broth, highly flavoured with oil and cinnamon, suddenly helped himself to a few spoonfuls, which he ate with a great deal of noise and lip-smacking, and then as suddenly proceeded to fill up my plate with the ennui spoon. I was quite aghast It was the same thing throughout the dinner. Though we had plates, spoons, and all table necessaries, Nairn had but a wooden ladle for himself ; and he not only helped us with this, but used it for his own eating, putting it back into the dishes at every mouthful. The chicken he divided with his lingers, sucking them well afterwards ; and finally seizing my husband's tumbler, drank it Mr, called for more water, filled it up

again, and gravely handed it back to him But, in truth, even the educated Turks have not the least delicacy in eating. Unac- quainted with the usages of good society, they cannot understand our objections to their manners."

So writes Mrs. Stevenson when she is not thinking of English Liberals or of "our enemies, the Russians." But when these disturbing visions flit across her mind, the Turk becomes "re- markable for cleanly habits and customs," and she records for the instruction of the British public how she has heard her husband" express strong opinions as to the character and nature

of a religion which, in its teaching, BO forcibly insists upon the maxim of godliness and cleanliness." On her chancing to praise the charming hospitality of the Cypriotes to an English gentle- man in Cyprus, "he replied, asking me 'if I had never observed

the difference in the hospitality of a Greek and of a Turkish village ; how the former only gave from fear, whilst the latter offered you their all from an innate feeling of hospitality P' I confess I had never noticed the difference, but I suspect there is a great deal of truth in the remark." With this charming ad- mission of the triumph of prejudice over observation, let us pass on to Sir Samuel Baker's book.

It is of very different calibre from Mrs. Scott Stevenson's. Sir Samuel went to Cyprus to study for himself the value of the Anglo-Turkish Convention. He took with him from Eng-

laud two suitably furnished gipsy-vans, in which Ile travelled all over the island, in happy independence of hotels and lodging. houses. After nearly a year's careful study, he has published a book which is full of interest for the general reader, and is, at the same time, a most valuable and timely contribution to our political knowledge. Here and there he travels over the same topics as Mrs. Stevenson, and- each book sometimes corrects an error of fact or of impression recorded in the pages of the other. Sir Samuel Baker, for example, justifies the rigorous imposition of taxes by the British authorities on the property of the Cyprian monasteries, and takes occasion to expatiate on IM ussulman toleration, from the fact that the Turks were more lax in this respect. But Mrs. Stevenson supplies the ex plionition. Under the Turk the monasterids of Cyprus were exempted from taxa- tion, in consideration of being obliged " to feed and provide lodging for all (Musselman) travellers free of expense, from the Governor of the island to the lowest muleteer." The English administration has abolished the immunity from taxation, but not that grievous oppression of Turkish rules-enforced hospi- tality. A short time before Mrs. Stevenson's visit to one of the monasteries, the superior " had paid £18 into Sir Garnet's treasury s and a few days afterwards an Eng- lish official, on a tour through the district, took up his abode in

the monastery for two days, with his interpreter, his servant,

his meleteer and a zaptieh, and six mules. On going awns', this gentleman had presented the servant with also Th1liey,

ignoring altogether the plate" (for the receipt of pious offer- ings). On the other hand, Sir Samuel Baker's book corrects not a few of Mrs. Stevenson's crude impressions. "The women" (of Cyprus) says the lady," have no modesty. In England, their dress would be considered very indecent. Among the Greeks it is the custom to leave the gown open over the chest, often as far down as the waist." Sir Samuel, with more souse and a larger experience, draws a different conclusion :—" The buttons that should have confined the dress in front," he says, "were generally absent, and the ladies were not bashful at their loss, but exposed their bosoms without any consciousness of indeli- cacy I believe no women are more chaste than the A Cypriotes of the present day." And of the Cypriotes generally, he says In my experience of travelling, I never met with such kind and courteous people as the inhabitants of Cyprus."

But our space is limited, and we must pass on to what must be regarded at the present moment as far the most important part of his book,—we mean his exhaustive demonstration of the utter imposture of the Anglo-Turkish Convention. Let it be remembered that Sir Samuel Baker is no admirer of the foreign policy of the Liberal party. The imperialism of Lord Beacons- field's Government does not alarm him. He does not disapprove of territorial additions to the dominions of the British Crown. He regards Lord Palmerston's cession of Corfu to Greece as " an example of temporary insanity." e is suspicious of Russian intrigues, and advocates a policy of antagonism against the Russian Government. lf, therefore, Sir Samuel Baker's facts and conclusions are most damaging to Lord Beaconsfield's policy, at least it cannot be said that the blow has been struck by a political adversary or an interested partisan. Let es see, then, what Sir Samuel Baker thinks of the Anglo-Turkish Convention.

The reform of the Turkish administration in the Asiatic dominions of the Sultan is of the very 088011C0 of the Anglo-Turkish Convention. If the Turks. do not or can- not reorm their administration, the Convention is con- fesse lly a farce. But Sir Samuel Baker is clearly of Opinion that the regeneration of the Ottoman Empire is out of the question. "Decay," he says, is "stamped on all Turkish Possessions." "0 Turk I" he exclaims elsewhere, "insatiable in destruction, who breaks down, but never restores, what a picture of desolation was here [Lo., in Famagousta] ! Three centuries had passed away since, by treachery, the place was won, and from that hour the neglected harbour had filled up and ()eased to be ; the stones of palaces rested where they fell ; the filth of ages sweltered among those blood-sodden ruins ; and the pro- verb seemed fulfilled, "Pile grass never grows on the foot-print of the Turk.' I never Haw so fearful an example of ruin." He denounces the Turkish flag as "the red ensign beneath which Cyprus had withered us before a flame." "Poverty is the natural inheritance of Turkish rule." Under that rule, the Cypriotes have become "an abject race, in which all noble aspirations have been stamped out by years of unremitting oppression and insustsce." "We have assumed the enormous responsibility of the Proteetorate:of Asia Minor, under conditions which we must know will never be fulfilled. Turkey premises to reform the abuses of her internal administration, &c.! Anybody who knows Turkey must be aware that such a reform is impossible ; the honest administrative material does not exist in the Otto- man Empire," which is, in fact, a "nation bankrupt beyond all

hope of liquidation." And this bankrupt and moribund empire England is bound, by the sagacious statesmanship of Lord Beaconsfield, to defend against Russia, so long as Russia retains possession of Kars, Batuum, and Ardahan, it matters not what provocation iNssia may have; if .she go to war with Turkey, England, though poseibly engaged at the time in mortal struggle with some other enemy, is nevertheless bound by solemn treaty to defend all the Asiatic possessions of the Sultan against all the might of Russia.

Assuming for a moment that Cyprus is valuable as a strategic position inview of in war with Russia, it will at once be admitted that its military importance depends on two things—its suitable- ness for accommodating a first-rate garrison and a powerful fleet.

We have seen that Mrs. Scott Stevenson, reflecting military opinion on the spot, "knows " that Cyprus has " no value as a garrison in the Mediterranean." "There are only two places," she says, "where English troops could be stationed,—Mount Troados, and the high ground [the italics are hers] of Kyrenea," ----both of them unsuitable in the Can of sudden emergency, and neither of them at present possessing any accommodation for the purpose. Sir Samuel Baker thinks that Cyprus might be made a useful station for military purposes, on these conditions :

first, and as a stno quei stoma, that it should belong absolutely to the British Crown; secondly, that by the liberal expenditure of money it should be made fit for the accommodation of a British garrison and a British fleet, beginning with the harbour

of Pamagousta, which has "silted up and ceased to be ; " thirdly, that "a line of coaling stations should be estab- lished at intervals of five days' steaming," "with docks and an arsenal where ironclad vessels could obtain the necessary repairs after a navel engagement." "Without this advantage," says .Sir Samuel emphatically, " Pamagousta would be a useless acquisition, and Cyprus would be worthless as a strategical position." And he does not merely give this as an obitor opinion ; he demonstrates it as a fact. So that assuming Cyprus to be geographically a desirable military and naval station, and assuming also the expenditure of much British money to make it available for that purpose, it would nevertheless "be worthless as a strategical position," unless England is prepared to occupy and turn into arsenals some other portions of Turkish territory ! Compare this lame and impotent conclusion with Lord Beaconsfield's magniloquent de- scription of Cyprus at the Lord Mayor's banquet last year :— " It was as a Strong place of arms, for which it is admirably calculated by its geographical position, that we fixed upon Cyprus, after having eXamined all the other islands in the east of the Mediterranean."

Again, the Anglo-Turkish Convention assumes an alliance of England mid the Porte against Russian aggression,—that is its raison Vire. But in such a contingency Turkey would be only too delighted to lot us occupy Cyprus, or any other place, including Constantinople. "Should Turkey and England re- main friends and allies, Cyprus is quite unnecessary as a British military station." " Why, then," asks Sir Samuel, pertinently, "should we occupy Cyprus upon such one-sided and anomalous conditions as would frustrate all hopes of com- mercial development. for the sake of obtaining a strategical position that would have been opened to our occupation, as ass ally, at any moment P" How very "one-sided and anomalous" the conditions are Sir Samuel proves, with startling and most painful complete- ness. We prefer to state the case in his own words :—

" We pay £96,000 [we believe the real figure is £100,000] per annum to the Turks, out of an assumed revenue of £170,000. There- fore, without any trouble or risk, the Turk is receiving 3} per cent. upon three millions. This establishes an unfortunate precedent in the valuation of the island, should England eventually become a pur- chaser ' British interests' in this transaction are represented by Cyprus, which we occupy as tenants, paying 416,000 for the ruined house, and leaving ourselves no balance front the revenue for the necessary repairs."

The result is, that the administration of Cyprus under British rule is as oppressive, as scandalous, and as wasteful as it was under the Turks. Turkish law is still administered, Turkish Judges still dispense justice, the ruinous system of Turkish taXation is still in force ; "and the strange anomaly is pre- sented," to quote again Sir Samuel Baker, " that the exchange of the British for the Turkish flag has not increased public con- fidence If Cypriotes were Cretans, their voices would be forcibly heard, and the Turkish rule beneath the British uniform would be quickly overthrown." In some respects, in- deed, the British Government has added even to the oppres- sion of the Turks, and it is impossible to read without shame the admission of Mrs. Stevenson, that British officials are accused of some of the most disgraceful abuses of the Turks.

Her husband, she says, "felt keenly a remark not unoften heard,—' Some of the English are like the Turks, and take presents and backsheesh just the same.'" The justice of this grave accusation is vouched for by Mrs. Stevenson. "I know," she says, "that many gentlemen were not so strict as my husband, and looked upon backsheesh as almost a part of their pay. And as those in authority did not think the worse of them for accepting it, I sometimes in my heart felt rather hard not to be allowed to do the same." Another of the most grinding abuses of Turkish administration is forced labour. This, in spite of the Parliamentary assurances of the Govern- ment, we appear to have continued in Cyprus. Here is Mrs. Scott Stevenson's testimony,—an incident artlessly put down in her ordinary experience :—

"We met gangs at work,—men, women, s,ud boys, who are paid a shilling, nineponeo, and sixpence a day each respectively. There are over one thousand employed on the road, every batch of a hundred having an overseer who, when they lagged, cried out, 'Add, add and threatened their backs with a light whip."

And this under British rule ! This one disgraceful fact alone ought to lose the Government more than one seat, when the day of reckoning comes. And it is on this state of facts that Lord Beaconsfield had the assurance to speak as follows to the people of England, on that special occasion on which he claims to utter " the words of truth and sense ":—

" Perhaps it will not be uninteresting to the citizens of London to learn that Cyprus will be no burden to this country, and that even this year (1878), when the method and ad- ministration of England have only partially—necessarily partially —been applied, it will furnish not merely the sum which we have annually secured to the Sultan, but the whole expenditure of its civil government. There is no doubt, my Lord Mayor, that the adminis- tration of Cyprus by England will exercise a most beneficial and moral influence upon the contiguous doniinione of the Sultan."

On the other hand, let us hear Sir Samuel Baker : --

" As all the revenue of the island was handed over to the Porte, excepting a bagatelle insufficient for the requirements of the country, there is no money for any improvements, and the boasted surplus will plat suffice for the payment of salaries and the absolutely necessary items of carrying on a Government more in accordance with the position of Greece or Denmark, than with the historical reputation of Great Britain."

At Kyrenea, for example, Sir Samuel found that the British authorities could not afford to hoist even a decent Union Jack :

"I felt ashamed," he says, "that such an exhibition should meet the eye of any foreign ship upou entering the harbour of Kyrenea, and I was informed that this miserable remnant of tattered bunting was the only flag that was possessed by the authorities."

A striking proof, truly, of the way in which the "spirited foreign policy" of Lord Beaconsfield has raised the fame and influence of England. And as to the "most beneficial and moral influence" which "the administration of Cyprus by England will exercise upon the contiguous dominions of the Sultan," the facts already stated are a sufficient commentary.

With those facts before him, the Sultan might reasonably claim to be excused from initiating reforms in Asia Minor till England set him the example in Cyprus.

Sir Samuel Baker's conclusion of the "whole matter is that this ill-starred Convention will probably terminate in a friend- ship between the Russians and the Turks, to the detriment of British interests and to the confusion of the assumed Protec- torate,"—a catastrophe, however, which he thinks will be anticipated by a peace with dishonour. "Unfortunately,

English diplomacy is celebrated for back-doors. In the Berlin Treaty we entered Cyprus through a back-door, and we may possibly retire by the same exit." Behold the one solitary gain of Lord Beaconsfield's "spirited foreign policy !"