Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/217

Rh and by supporting the "great assassin" of ages in his barbarous course against Christianity and humanity. The Crimean war, and the following British transactions in the East, all resulted from the same selfish and jealous policy. In the last Russo-Turkish war Russia had reached to St. Stefano, only a suburb of Constantinople, and the Russian officers walked in the streets of this historic capital, and it was thought for some time that the Turk, gathering his "bag and baggage," should migrate back towards the interior of Asia Minor. It was under this terror that "the crown-giver of all the kings upon earth, the Sultan," hurried to sign the Treaty of St. Stefano, one of the terms of which was "Russian occupation of Armenia until the promised reforms were practiced." It meant nothing less than the coercion of Turkish-Armenia, and consequent liberation of a long-enslaved Christian people. But England tried and succeeded in annulling this treaty by obliging the European Powers to have a general conference at Berlin, as if to settle the Eastern question, and at the same time having a secret convention (1878) with Turkey (to protect her in case of Russian attack) and getting Cyprus for the security and facility of this bargain. In all these transactions the outward pretext was "the welfare of the Eastern Christians," but in reality the dominating project was selfish interest. Russia was too wise to ignore these intrigues and too cautious to repeat the same follies again. These last two centuries were very remarkable, with the open antagonism between the