It is to be feared that the deeply significant and profoundly true words which Lord Crewe used in reply to a question asked by Lord Bryce yesterday in the House of Lords on the most recent Armenian atrocities will not reach the ears of any resident in the Ottoman dominions. It is, however, just possible that their repetition in a letter to ”The Times” may arrest the attention of some who are interested in Eastern affairs and who are fortunate enough to be living for the time being in countries which admit of the circulation of news and of opinions. Lord Crewe, after confirming the truth of the reports that ”wholesale massacre and deportation” had been carried out in Armenia, went on to say, ”It was also true that the crimes had not been challenged by German officials, whose presence and influence might have mitigated the sufferings of the people, but had been a curse to the people. These officials had shown a cynical disregard of the country and its inhabitants.”
As one who has passed the best years of his life in the East and takes the deepest interest in the moral and material welfare of Easterns, I should like to state as strongly as possible that the inhabitants of the Ottoman dominions, be they Moslem or Christian, have nothing whatever to hope from the establishment of German predominance in their midst. Indeed, could they but peer into the future which awaits them in the event of Germany emerging victorious from the present struggle, they would use their utmost endeavours to resist the assertion of German influence. The results which would accrue from a complete German victory may be foretold with the utmost confidence. Not only would every semblance of genuine Turkish independence disappear, but, in addition to this, the worst defects of Turkish administration, from which Moslems and Christians alike suffer, far from being mitigated, would be enhanced by the addition of a powerful European element which, on its moral side, would represent the least admirable features of Western civilisation. Easterns, of whatsoever creed or nationality, would do well to ponder over these things.
I am, Sir, &c.,