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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
282
the Turks, urging that succour must be sent to their Christian
brethren. In England Gladstone wrote, in 1876, his famous
protest, throbbing with indignation, against the misdeeds of
the Turks. Russia was more than ready to step in and
snatch the Christian country out of the claws of the Turks,
and it could easily have done so. But the other Powers did
not wish to see Russia too strong ; in particular, it was
contrary to the policy of the British Government, which
envisaged Russia as the really dangerous foe in the East.
Turkey had long been ripe for dissolution, and its rotten
administration stank in the nostrils of the world ; yet the
Great Powers could not agree how to divide the spoil ; they
went on supporting " the sick man ", while each hoped for
a convenient opportunity to seize the lion’s share. The more
and more indignant demands of public opinion in Europe
for some intervention that would put a stop to the atrocities
in Armenia were utilized by European statesmen as a weapon
to extort fresh concessions from Turkey for their respective
countries, apparently without any serious intention of helping
the wounded and bleeding people who provided them with
such ample materials for their moving oratory.
For all their corruption the wily Turkish statesmen had
sufficient acumen to appraise the situation, and they turned
it to their own advantage. While they put off the public
opinion of the world by solemn promises to give freedom
and equality to the oppressed—promises they never dreamed
of fulfilling—they played one Power off against another. As
for the protests against their atrocities, they flatly denied
that these had ever tåken place, feigning extreme indignation
at such shameful accusations. In this typically Turkish diplo
matic strategy they showed themselves to be past masters.
We need not here go into the various solemn proclamations
which the sultans issued as far back as 1839, after the Crimean
War in 1856, again in 1876, and later, promising all subjects,
irrespective of race and religion, equal rights, equality in the
sight of the law, religious freedom " without compulsion of
any sort," and much beside. Nor need we stop to consider
the Russo-Turkish War in 1 877-1 878, which naturally raised
such strong hopes in the breasts of the Armenians in Turkey,
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