The Times, the Telegraph, and the Pall Mall Gazette have
all been stating this week that the Sultan now becomes an Asiatic sovereign, that he will be permanently threatened in Asia by Russian ambition, and that his dominions must be placed under the special guardianship of some single Power, which must be England. England must either administer Turkey in Asia— just seven United Kingdoms — or at all events keep a Resident at Constantinople, armed by Europe with the powers of advice and control which a Resident possesses in a native Indian State. The details of the project are given vaguely, but the Telegraph evidently looks forward, among other. trifles, to the revivification of Asia Minor, and there is a belief in well- informed quarters that there is something in the scheme. We have discussed its results elsewhere, but must add here that if it is large enough to be effective, there is no chance that the Turks will ever consent to it. They want to rule, not to enjoy the "closely-watched slavery" which in England "is mocked with the name of power," still less to see their own serfs—Infidels, men without rights—raised to an equality with themselves, under English administrators. It would be a strange irony of fate, if Lord Beaconsfield's hand were to be the one destined to give a coup de grace to the Turkish Empire. It is more vulnerable in Asia than in Europe, if we are the assailants.
