BRITISH POLICY AND THE TURKISH REFORM MOVEMENT
by Frank EdgarBailey '26. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1942 pp. 312. $3.50.
This timely study should be widely known. Acutely and with no trace of prejudice it clarifies, for the first time, the origins of the AngloTurkish friendship that has been a keystone in the political structure of Europe. Broken in the last war, it is being vigorously renewed as both nations again face a common peril. It began as a bar to Tsarist conquest: its renewal now is ironically against Russia's foe as well as England's; but to the Turks it has always stood as a bulwark against annihilation; and to the English it has meant the preservation of a good customer and the security of the Near East. Without it the story of modern Europe would have been far different, and probably no better.
Mr. Bailey's study, which carries into an earlier period the treatment of the subject in Prof. Sidney Fay's Origins of the World War, begins in the year (1826) when Sultan Mahmoud II attempted to save his disintegrating empire by killing off the Janissaries and starting a premature reform movement (tanzimat). It ends with the outbreak of the Crimean War that frustrated the Tsarist menaces. It threads neatly through the intricacies of hostile interests, of complex trade relations, and of diplomatic tangles. Bringing to light much fresh evidence, the writer makes apparent the highly creditable part played by England for her own security and profit and for the betterment of Turkey. Palmerston and Canning appear as conscientious statesmen, if not always firm and clear-sighted: the Turkish reformers —the Sultans Mahmoud and Medjid and the Grand Vizir Reschid—as crusaders tragically thwarted by a weight of corruption and conservatism. Of Palmerston's wisely cautious policy, Mr. Bailey makes this penetrating comment: "While the sponsoring of internal reform in Turkey showed little outward results, it was the invisible item which made the Foreign Secretary's diplomacy successful and eventually freed Turkey from the Tsar's control."
As one who has lived and worked in that too little regarded land of the East, I gladly bear witness to the soundness and wisdom of England's pragmatic policy of helping the Turks to help themselves. I also heartily recommend this book to anyone who wishes in the light of careful scholarship to diagnose the case of "the sick man of Europe." It gives alt possible information about trade, diplomacy, and internal politics of the period. It should make clear to dreamers of tomorrow that the only basis for a lasting peace is mutual profit and security, to which each nation contributes in the spirit of friendly helpfulness.
