to
control and direct it with perfect publicity. But more yet: there exist
Wallachia and Moldavia, under Turkish dominion; and the Turkish nation,
which has conquered that province and is dominant, yet, out of respect
for national self-government, has prescribed to its own self not to have
the right of a house to dwell in, or a single foot of soil in that land.
In all the domestic concerns of the province--which for centuries has
had a charter, by which the self-government of Wallachia and Moldavia
was ensured--it is worthy to mention that the Turk has never broken his
oath. Whereas in the European continent there is scarcely a single
dynasty, whether king, prince, duke, or emperor, which has not broken
faith before God and man. Now, the existence of this Turkey, great as
the present power of Europe is, is indispensable to the security of
Europe. You know that in the Crimea, in the time of Catherine, Potemkin
wrote the words, "Here passes the way to Constantinople." The policy
indicated by him at that time is always the policy of St. Petersburg;
and it is of Constantinople that Napoleon rightly said, that the power
which has it in command, if it is willing, is able, to rule
three-quarters of the world. Now, it is the intention, it is the
consistent policy of the Russian cabinet, to lay hold of Constantinople;
and therefore to protect the independent existence of Turkey is
necessary to Europe: for if Turkey be crushed, Russia becomes not only
entirely predominant, as she already is, but becomes the single mistress
of Asia and of Europe. And to uphold this independence of Turkey,
gentlemen, nothing is wanted but some encouragement from such a place as
the United States. Since Turkey has lost the possession of Buda in
Hungary, its power is declining. But why? Because from that time
European diplomatists began to succeed in persuading Turkey that she had
no strength to stand by herself; and by and bye it became the rule in
Constantinople that every petty interior question needed European
diplomacy. Now I say, Turkey has vitality such as not many nations have.
It has a power that not many have. Turkey wants nothing but a
consciousness of its own powers and encouragement to stand upon its own
feet; and this encouragement, if it comes as counsel, as kind advice,
out of such a place as the United States, I am confident will not only
be thankfully heard, but also very joyfully followed. That is the only
thing which is wanted the