Littell's Living Age/Volume 138/Issue 1785/Foreign Views of our Occupation of Cyprus
FOREIGN VIEWS OF OUR OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS.
Journal des Debats, Paris, July 22.
The first unpleasant impression produced in France by the news of the occupation of Cyprus is now calmed down, and it must be admitted that we contributed to the utmost of our power in producing this desirable result. The language of the English press, Lord Beaconsfield's speech, and the diplomatic explanations given to us have tended in no small measure to produce this result. The English have left nothing undone to spare French susceptibilities, and all their statesmen manifest a firm intention, not only of preserving, but of making closer the good relations which they have with us. We will assist them in this to the best of our power. But the English must not indulge in the illusion that they have nothing to reproach themselves with so far as France is concerned. The secrecy and mystery, the jealous and suspicious care with which England conducted the Cyprus negotiations, could not fail to wound us. Let England reply to the following question: If France in the days of her power had done what England has just accomplished, and if she had done it in the same manner, what would England have thought of us from Dover to Inverness? We need only allude to the manner in which our annexation of Savoy was received in England, to show how such matters have been regarded in the past. We do this with no desire of raising recriminations which are almost always useless, and would now be specially ill-timed. We merely wish that the English would not display such a profound and candid astonishment at the emotion excited in France by the news of the occupation of Cyprus. If Englishmen will consent to reflect a little, they will admit that nothing could be more natural than our emotion, and that in our place they would have experienced feelings not less strong, and, perhaps, more lasting.
Le Telegraphe, Athens.
The English at Cyprus. We need not discuss from a moral point of view the bargain of which the island of Cyprus is the price. England, which has every interest in defending Turkey against future attacks, has extorted payment for such protection by the cession of Cyprus, the fairest and richest of the islands of the Mediterranean. This is all profit, as England thus indemnifies herself for services which she renders in a manner to herself. We cannot conceal the fact that we heard of this occupation of a Greek island by a great Western power with a surprise mingled with bitterness. For it amounts to a postponement to an unknown, but assuredly distant period, of the union of Cyprus with the mother country. Yet when we reflect that it is the flag of free England that will henceforth float over Cyprus, we are somewhat consoled by the thought that the local liberties will be peacefully developed under the shadow of that flag. … The inhabitants of Cyprus pass like a flock of sheep from under the dominion of the Porte to that of England; but the moral and material interests of the island have nothing to fear from the British protectorate. The inhabitants will not be the rajahs of England; they will be the subjects of the queen, and, as such, will be entitled to all the liberties enjoyed in all parts of the world by English colonists to whom they will find themselves assimilated by their position.
Voce Della Verita, Rome.
In Asia, the occupation of the island of Cyprus is only the means to an end. The true scope of the Anglo-Turkish treaty is to establish in that island a powerful station in which to reunite mighty forces, in order effectually to exercise a protectorate which shall oppose an insurmountable barrier to the encroachment of Russia. Henceforward at the least movement of Russia in those parts, she will find herself face to face, not with Turkey, but with England. In Europe the occupation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina on the part of Austria will produce an effect similar to that of the Anglo-Turkish treaty in Asia. Already the officious organs of Vienna are speaking of the bases of the new administration (to be confided to General Philippovich), and these bases constitute an absolute annexation to the Austrian empire. … Every one must perceive that this combination in Asia and in Europe is made to the detriment of Russia, and the exclusive advantage of Austria and England. And whilst the Russian delegates believed themselves to have obtained the substance of the Treaty of Santo Stefano by giving up the husk, a sudden coup de theâtre has entirely changed the aspect of things, and Russia finds herself in a far worse condition than at the beginning of the war. The only advantages obtained by her are the city and port of Batoum, of which she may make another Sebastopol, and the retrocession of Bessarabia. But to the greater ambitious views of Russia an insurmountable obstacle has opposed itself.
Il Bersagliere, Rome.
The divine island has been sold by the eunuchs of Constantinople to the usurers of London. Poor Cyprus! assailed by so many forces, defended by so much valor, bathed by so much Italian blood, who could have told thee that one day thou shouldst be sold for a handful of gold, to merchants come from the fogs of the north? They buy and will make profit of their acquisition; they will turn the cannon of Famagousta, where the Italian founders impressed their names, against the Italian ships ploughing that sea. They, from the rocks where the flag of Savoy waved, will seek to sink the ships carrying the flag of Italy. Oh, how sweet it would be to think that this also was a dream! Nevertheless, patience. Upon the shores of the Mediterranean rose Carthage, the emporium of universal commerce, the terror of the world; and a few years later Marius, the great exile, sat meditating among her ruins.
La Liberta, Rome.
Austria at Cattare and England at Cyprus, represent facts which for us are of a gravity sufficient to involve the most serious complications — facts with which Italy cannot and ought not to be content. They fatally open the door to consequences which will day by day become more imperious.