732
vicious.” England had ridiculed her pretended
constitutional reforms, and pronounced her
promissory notes as nothing but inconvertible
paper. Finally, England had threatened her
with the invasion of her hereditary enemy,
and had emphatically warned her that she
would not be defended in the impending strug-
gle. And all this was said and done by us
on mo other ground whatever than the internal
government of Turkey. She had committed
no external aggression on the other Powers
of Europe. But that government had proved
itself to be so incorrigibly bad that it could
no longer be endured. The Treaty of San
Stefano must be read in the light of all of
those transactions. It set the seal of a
great international engagement upon this ig-
nominious condemnation. No man could hence-
- forward pretend that Turkey was really an in-
dependent Power, or that she could be safely
left to deal with her subject populations, on
the same footing as the civilized States of
Europe were, in like matters, independent of
external control.—Argyll, ibid, pp. 61-2.
We have now learned what the Treaty
of Berlin was, what it was about, and
what it was designed to accomplish.
Now note again a sentence already
cited :—
On the first Sunday in October, 1908, the
4th of that month, the Treaty of Berlin was
still in existence, a little torn at the edges,
but sufficiently intact. Within twenty-four
hours it had perished as completely and igno-
miniously as if burnt by the hand of the
common hangman.—London Fortnightly Re-
view, November, 1908.
The Treaty of Berlin perished in 1908
as completely and ignominiously as if
by the common hangman! Not the literal
ink and parchment, for that exists and
is as sedulously guarded as it ever was.
But it was the provisos, the objects, the
ends sought to be attained by that instru-
ment, which came to such an untimely
end. It was the historic policy of main-
taining the integrity of the Ottoman Em-
pire which met its death in the autumn
days of 1908. That policy of over a
hundred years was at that time torn to
shreads and tossed to the tempests of
THE WATCHMAN
time. The announcement of her in-
dependence by Bulgaria, sanctioned as
it ultimately was by the Powers, and the
annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
by Austria, were both flagrant violations
of the mighty Treaty which was once
supposed to have laid the dire specter of
the Eastern Question in an eternal grave.
The events of the fall of 1908 marked
‘the turning of the tide and the dawning
of a new and a darker day —a day in
which the powers plan to dismember that
which they once sought to preserve; a
day which will surely end, not only in the
dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire,
and the driving of the Turk out of Eu-
rope, but also in the long looked for
“last war,” the “final catastrophe,” in
which all those great nations, in the
flower of their pride and pomp and
power will perish in the ruin and the
wreck when ARMAMENTS END AT
ARMAGEDDON. P. T. M.
XX
Two Rival Kingdoms
Pn 5l VER since the fall in Eden,
i i there have existed in the
VEZ, earth two great spiritual
ODE kingdoms, antagonistic to
ise (CDC1LTS/ PN other, each seeking to
secure the allegiance of the human
family, The one is the kingdom of
Christ; the other the kingdom of Satan.
Satan was once known as Lucifer
(light-bearer), and as such he was a
covering cherub standing by the throne
of God. Pride entered his heart and he
became jealous of the Son of God. This
led him into rebellion against the govern-
ment of heaven. He was cast out of
heaven, together with his followers, and
having come down to this earth and se-
duced the human pair in Eden, he set
up his kingdom here. God put enmity
between the seed of the serpent and the
seed of the woman, thus providing that