Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/223

Rh the pains of which is already begun in the "Houses of England."

2. England's Influence on the Eastern Question is Decreased. There was a time when the English Ambassador was the highest authority in Constantinople, and the English papers governed the destiny of the Eastern question. Two years ago British warships could enforce the Dardanelles and command before the walls of Bosphorus. The coward "SoverignSovereign [sic] of Turkey" was constantly watching the horizon with his fields-glasses to see the smoky trace of the "Ingilis" ironclads. The crisis has passed, the British vessels were ordered back from the mouth of the Dardanelles. That was the decisive victory that Russia gained over England, without firing a single gun. Even in the interior the common people, who know nothing about the geography and history of England, began to speak against her as the "Cahbe Ingilis" (Treacherous English), and to jeer at the Queen and her Prime Minister. The present favorite of the country is Russia, once "the Blind Mosgof, the Black Infidel."

In the arena of Eastern question Russia organized the play, Turkey acted, Armenia suffered and England lost. The writer is not of the opinion that it is too late for England, though far more difficult than ever, to rush into the field and save the present and future generations from the calamity which will follow the unnatural union of Turkish Mohametanism and Russian orthodoxism.