Cyprus and its Secret

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dreamt he would return therefrom with anything in the shape of baksheesh, or a bribe; and yet that is what he did come back to England with. In spite of all the nonsensical talk about "Peace with honour", he returned to Westminster with his pocket bulging out with the Island of Cyprus as a gift for Queen Victoria. What was the explanation? for surely some explanation was needed, just as much so as if a friend had succeeded in settling a quarrel between two other friends, and had accepted a bribe from one of them. For some time it remained a secret why Mr. Disraeli had accepted Cyprus as a present for his Queen and Country; but the secret did come out, and is now public property.

Mr. Justin McCarthy, the historian of the century, in his comprehensive work, History of Our Own Times, in volume III., page 90, says :

"Another secret engagement was that entered into with Turkey. The English Government undertook to guarantee to Turkey her Asiatic possessions against all invasion on condition that Turkey handed over to England the Island of Cyprus for her occupation."

In the New International Encyclopædia we read, in volume V., page 714

By a Treaty between the British Government and the Ottoman Empire, June 4th, 1878, the former promised to defend Asiatic Turkey against further aggression by Russia in return for permission to occupy Cyprus

In Chambers' Encyclopædia, on page 644, of volume III., we read:

On July 10th, 1878, Cyprus was occupied by the British, under the provision of the celebrated Turkish Convention, by the terms of which the island is to be occupied by Great Britain until Batoum and Kars are restored to Turkey by Russia."

Until !

In his History of Our Own Times, volume III., page 97, Mr. McCarthy further says:

"Lord Beaconsfield now declared it to be the cardinal principle of his policy that specially England, above all, was concerned to maintain the integrity and the independence of the Turkish Empire; that, in fact, the security of Turkey was as much part of the duty of English statesmanship as the security of the Channel Islands or of Malta."

Beaconsfield or Gladstone ?

Naturally, the Treaty and bargain gave rise to much comment in political circles, and many leading articles and letters appeared in the world's Press. Such comment and discussion are well summed up by Mr. McCarthy in Volume IV. of the History of Our Own Times, on page 267, where he says:

"The London newspapers, with the conspicuous exception of the Daily News, were entirely on the side of Lord Beaconsfield.

There was no London paper of any literary

name, no daily papers lying on club tables, which had not declared themselves emphatically in support of Lord Beaconsfield against Mr. Gladstone."

But why Cyprus ?

That question received a very cogent and adequate reply in a speech which Lord Beaconsfield delivered some time afterwards in the City of London. Mr. McCarthy neatly expresses it thus, in Volume IV., page 265:

"Lord Beaconsfield afterwards explained that Cyprus was to be used as a place of arms'; in other words, England had now normally pledged herself to defend and secure Turkey against all invasion or aggression, and occupied Cyprus in order to have a more effectual vantage ground from which to carry on this project."

We have said that no English Government would ever allow any interference with the Holy Land— Conservative, Liberal, Radical, or Socialist. The Daily News might protest, as it did, but the nation would be against it, even though supported by a second Gladstone.

Mr. Asquith.

Our present Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith), Radical as he is, is determined to stand by Lord Beaconsfield's bargain; for at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, at the Guildhall, London, he used the following ominous words (November 10th, 1913):

"There is one other matter-and I fear only

H

one-in these recent troubles in the East, which gives us cause for satisfaction. It is that the Asiatic Provinces of Turkey have not been involved in the conflict. It is the desire of His Majesty's Government that the integrity of these dominions should not be infringed. (Hear, hear.) We could not see without lively concern anything that threatened the Holy Places. We wish to see no invasion of the territorial integrity of Asiatic Turkey. We, in Great Britain, gladly offer any help which the Turkish Government may ask in the prosecution of that direction. (Hear, hear.)” But, it may be asked-in fact, we were frequently asked during our lecturing tour through the United States and Canada: "How can that sort of talkhow can those assurances be reconciled with Britain going to war against Turkey, and taking the offensive in regard to the present Mussulman possession of the Holy Places?

In reply, we would remind the interrogator of Mr. Asquith's words at the Lord Mayor's Banquet Guildhall, just after we had entered into war with Turkey. He then said:

"It is the Ottoman Empire, and not we, who have rung the death-knell of the Ottoman dominion."

The situation can well be illustrated by an imaginary case of two friends, Brown and Jones. Brown assures his friend Jones that he can rest assured of his help and protection in the event of his ever being attacked by his enemy, Robinson, and that he will

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Beaconsfield a Tool of Providence 99

never stand idly by and see him robbed. But supposing Brown sees his former friend Jones losing his reason, and playing into the hands of the thief Robinson, a man who has shown himself totally devoid of all honour, good faith, and common humanity. If Brown then interferes and takes charge of or assumes a protectorate over all Jones' possessions, would any sane man charge Brown with breaking his word, or running counter to his pledge, or assurances, or guarantees? That is a very fair illustration of the attitude of Great Britain toward the demented Turk, and his swollen-headed political advisers, and "blood and iron " blood and iron" instigators.*

On looking at the map of the Mediterranean and the Holy Land, we cannot fail to see the foresight of Mr. Benjamin Disraeli in selecting Cyprus. It occupies a position just off the coast of Syria that enables her to act as a sentry and protector of the Holy Land against all unfriendly, avaricious intenders upon the country covenanted by God to the Jews.

Beaconsfield a Tool of Providence.

Mr. Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) was a Jew!

He may not have known that he was being used by a divine hand to carry out the programme set out in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation, but the fact remains. And it was not the first time that God

This is now an accomplished fact, for as one paper stated-Centuries of Ottoman dominion over the Holy City of Christians and Jews have ended. . . and Jerusalem is liberated from the thraldom of the Turk."