III
The Real Issue in Turkey
Leader, N. Y. T., April 12, 1853
we are astonished that in the current discussion of the Oriental question the English journals have not more boldly demonstrated the vital interests which should render Great Britain the earnest and unyielding opponent of the Russian projects of annexation and aggrandizement. England cannot afford to allow Russia to become the possessor of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus. Both commercially and politically such an event would be a deep if not a deadly blow at British power. This will appear from a simple statement of facts as to her trade with Turkey.
Before the discovery of the direct route to India, Con-stantinople was the mart of an extensive commerce; and now, though the products of India find their way into Europe by the overland route through Persia, Teheran, and Turkey, yet the Turkish ports carry on a very important and rapidly increasing traffic both with Europe and the interior of Asia. To understand this it is only necessary to look at the map. From the Black Forest to the sandy heights of Novgorod Veliki, the whole inland country is drained by rivers flowing into the Black or Caspian Seas. The Danube and the Volga, the two giant rivers of Europe, the Dniester, Dnieper, and Don, all form so many natural channels for the carriage of inland produce to the Black Sea--for the Caspian itself is only accessible through the Black Sea. Two-thirds of Europe--that is, a part of Ger-many and Poland, all Hungary, and the most fertile parts
