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106 The Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

toes on the fore-foot.

And finally,
orohippus, with four complete
we get the eohippus, which
shows the
in the lower Eocene,
rudiment of a fifth toe on the front and of a fourth toe on the
In the structure of the teeth ?
the other chief point in
hind foot.
which the modern horse is notably specialized ? we find a similar
type.
gradation back to the ordinary mammalian
of theory
The agreement of observed facts with the requirements
and specific; and Professor Huxley may
is here complete, minute,
well say that the history of the descent of the horse from a five
toed mammal, as thus demonstrated,
supplies all that was required
The theory not
the proof of the Darwinian
theory.
vera
a
not
is
and
confirmed
causa,
only
by the unani
only alleges
mous
of
of
the
facts
classification,
embryology, morphol
import
but it has further succeeded
in
and succession;
ogy, distribution,
one
from
of
the
actual
another,
type
tracing
origination
generic
"
And
descent with modifications."
thus, within
through gradual
a score of years from its first announcement,
the daring hypoth
esis of Mr. Darwin may fairly claim to be regarded as one of the
established
truths of science.
John Fiske.
to complete

Art.

VI. ?

The

Eastern

Question.

is the name of the oldest existing

the
All the questions with which
politics.
centuries were
and eighteenth
seventeenth
one fashion or another;
plagued, except this, have been settled in
than when
but this remains, and is now apparently more difficult
of Austria,
of the House
The humiliation
itself.
it first presented
reformers at the close of the
which was the aim of Continental
title of this
problem in European
of the
diplomatists
The

article

the hu
of the seventeenth
the beginning
century;
of France, which was their aim during the latter part
of the eighteenth
and the beginning
of the seventeenth
century;
of harmlessness,
to a condition
and the reduction of the Pope
which has been one of their dreams for fully three centuries, have
all been accomplished.
Indeed, if we look at the points of the
of Henry
the Fourth, as set forth by Sully to Queen
Grand Design
?"
to its ancient
of Germany
the restoration
Elizabeth,
liberty

sixteenth
miliation

and

The Eastern

1877.]

Question.

107

of a
in respect to the election of its Emperors and the nomination
"
of
Eomans
the
of
United
the
the
;
Provinces;
king
independence
"
of Switzerland;
of all Christen
the independence
the division
"
dom into a certain number of powers as equal as may be," and
the
reduction of the various religions in it to those three which should
in Europe,"
and
and considerable
appear to be most numerous
are struck with the prophetic
which were all to enjoy toleration,?we
Part of it, and not the least important,
character of the scheme.
was the strengthening
of the kingdoms
of Hungary,
Bohemia,
in the
and Poland, for the purpose of increasing
their efficiency
with
the
and
had
in
Turks
Tartars
which
those
countries
struggle
for many generations been engaged, and of this a striking reminis
cence may be found in Bismarck's
desire to build Austria
up on
the Slavonic side, as the power best qualified and most surely des
in Southeastern Europe.
tined to perform the work of civilization
to the settlement
But Henry did not confine himself
of Chris
in arms, La
One of his leading friends and companions
tendom.
drew up a plan for the overthrow of the Turkish Empire,
Noue,
which was to be carried out by the new league of the Christian
in
and from that time down to the fall of the monarchy,
powers;
1792, the idea of a great movement
against the Turks, in which
France

was

to

take

the

lead,

was

never

wholly

absent

from

French

In the East, Austria no less than Eussia was engaged in

politics.
the Ottomans, who in 1682 were
the almost incessant war with
on the point of capturing Vienna.
Indeed, the tremendous press
ure with which the Eastern Question
forced itself on the attention
from
of Continental
the
in 1360
Europe,
capture of Adrianople
down to the Turco-Austrian
of
in
1739, may be
Treaty
Belgrade
one
called one of the capital facts in modern
When
history.
one can hardly help feeling
considers what that pressure meant,
surprised that civilization
along the eastern frontier of Christen
It meant incessant
dom did not suffer from it incurably.
though
not formal war, and war in which quarter was neither given nor
expected, and of which the capture of women and children and the
or burning of villages were leading incidents, along a line
pillage
and intermissions,
from the
extending, with occasional variations
to
North
and
then
the
Poland
and
Sea,
Caspian
running through
to the Adriatic.
and Dalmatia
Hungary
Along the eastern portion
of it the Tartars for a period of several centuries made annual, and

108 Tlie Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

for a time semiannual, incursions, in which they carried devastation

into Russia, Poland, and Hungary,
the rapidity of the march, even
of their indefatigable
light cavalry, being greatly increased by their
of
with
them herds of horses which
practice
driving
they both
fed on and used as remounts.
of
filled
the
lives
Christian
They
tillers of the soil through all that vast region with a bitterness and
in our day have been known in no part of the
uncertainty which
civilized or even semi-civilized
world except the northern frontier
of Persia before the late Russian conquests.
On the Turkish border,
from the Danube
to the Adriatic
there was probably no real peace
for a month at a time from the middle of the fifteenth down to the
close of the last century, owing to the incessant raiding of the
border begs.
terror was carried still farther west,
The Ottoman
and into more civilized
the famous pirate Barba
regions, when
rossa, in 1520, converted Tunis and Algiers and Tripoli into pirati
cal Mussulman
the memory
of men
states, which, until within
now living, ravaged the coasts of Italy, France, and
car
and
Spain,
ried off men and women into hopeless slavery, from peaceful homes,
in the very heart of Christendom,
and made a voyage in the Med
iterranean,

and

even

the

Bay

of

Biscay,

an

adventurous

under

taking. Any one who wishes to get an idea of the cowed condition
to which
three centuries of Mussulman
had reduced
aggressions
Christian powers can hardly do better than read the history of the
demands of these Barbary States on the United
States from 1785
to 1805, and of the attack of Lord Exmouth
on Algiers
in 1816,
he released two thousand
and seventy-five
eight hundred
from captivity, mostly
Christians
Frenchmen
and Italians, who
had- been seized in their fields and homes in Sardinia, Naples,
and
and
into
sold
in
interior.
And
this
the
Provence,
yet
slavery
was only the close of a chapter of horrors nearly three centuries

when

long, and these corsairs were but the western outposts of a system
of organized oppression, which
covered the eastern shores of the
and stretched back to the frontier of Persia.
In
Mediterranean
no
no
it
is
to
that
fact,
say
probably
single tributary
exaggeration
to the great sea of human misery has equalled
in depth and dura
tion that which has flowed from the contact of Islam with Chris
terrors by which the human
Of all the political
tianity in Europe.
been
has
imagination
oppressed, probably not one has clouded the
future of so many
persons of all ages and sexes as the fear of
Mussulman
conquest or invasion.

The Eastern

1877.]

109

Question.

to Christendom
The dread of the Ottoman Empire as a menace
has declined rapidly since the siege of Vienna, which proved that
its aggressive
power was gone, and that it was falling behind
successes in the field, ?
in
the
Europe
military art. Its subsequent
and Eussians,
and it has had many,?both
against the Austrians
were achieved on the defensive
In
and behind its own frontier.
terest in Turkey, as well as fear of it, on the part of the Western
powers may be said to have much diminished or died out during the
It was only revived by the Greek
insurrec
century.
eighteenth
of the Turks excited general horror,
the atrocities
few
that the methods
remembered
of warfare to
though probably
which they resorted in that case were precisely those which they had
in suppressing Christian
revolts in nearly every other
employed
and notably
of
in Servia dur
the
European
Empire,
province
massacres
in
1804
and
the
the
1815.
Indeed,
per
ing
risings
landholders, in that province
petrated by the Dahis, or Mussulman
tion, in which

in ferocity
and deliberation
of which
the
surpassed
anything
Turks have since been guilty, and included the assassination
of
who
was
could
laid
hold
of
be
Servian
distinction
of.
There
every
no portion of the old Turkish Empire which suffered
undoubtedly
more from Turkish domination
than it did, as it formed the border
land through which Turkish armies passed in the long wars with
the passage of
and in the latter days of the Janissaries
Austria,
one

of

these

Servia
lay
servation.
Down

ube,
an

it was
unknown

involved

armies

But

to Western
land,

for

the

rayahs

every

species

far out of the track of Western

to the introduction of steamboats
the

as
Europe,
whereabouts

were

Bosnia
of

which

and
even

of horror.

travel or ob
on the Dan
Herzegovina,
most
edu

to fix with an ap
cated persons would have found it difficult
The Servian Christians
too, like the other
proach to accuracy.
no
had
Slavonic
of
the
sentimental
hold on the
Porte,
subjects
as
which
that
such
Western
the
Greek
gave
imagination,
rising in
no
1821 so much
and
The
Slaves
had
pathos
dignity.
history
that scholars and poets knew or cared for, and the miserable
tale
or unsuccessful
of their successful
heroism
and endurance
only
in stray scraps of old news, such as
reached France and England
we have been receiving for the last ten years about the contests of
Yacoub Beg with the Chinese in Eastern Tartary.
The horror and indignation
in the Christian world by
excited

110 The Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

of Scio, were in some degree kept

such incidents as the massacre
in that day
of the information which
down by the scantiness
was to be had about any distant
events, and by the bluntness
which
the long war of the French Revolution,
from which Europe
had just emerged, had given to popular susceptibilities.
The gen
in
eration which read of this, and of Ibrahim Pasha's
operations
to be deeply stirred by the
the Morea, had seen too much misery
woes of these far-off islanders, and it is questionable
if
whether,
to connect in the popular im
had not managed
the Philhellenes
and Karais Kaki with
agination the followers of Marcos Bozzaris
of
ties
the mere claims
Leonidas and Miltiades
by
consanguinity,
of humanity would not have been overridden by the caution and
of Wellington's
of the politicians, which led the Duke
misgivings
to
the
pronounce
speech the battle of
through
ministry
King's
an "untoward
Navarino
event," though it made Greek indepen
to
certain.
Indeed, Turkey had nothing more formidable
of
sentiment
than the fanatical
the
fear in Christian
sympathy
of
with
Russians
their ecclesiastical
brethren.
The "enthusiasm
"
not
in
to
had
What
show
itself
pitiful
humanity
begun
politics.
interest was roused by the struggle of the Greeks was satisfied by
of their independence,
and it died out rapidly
the achievement
dence

under

the

lame

attempts

of

the

new

nation

at

self-government,

and especially by its total failure, and indeed avowed unwilling

It got a bad name in the money-market,
ness, to pay its debts.
can lose
is perhaps the worst place in which a community
which
its reputation, and the spectacle of its failures and shortcomings,
and familiar process, helped
the
to rehabilitate
by a natural
a revision of the hostile judgment
suc
them, and, after the partially
upon
passed
cessful invasion of the Russians
in 1829, secured them twenty
this period
years of peace and not undignified
security.
During
in Egypt,
the revolution
the quarrel between England
and France

Turks,
which

or at all events

cause

had been

out

of it, and above all the rapid increase of the

in
of the
the annexation
India, ending with
Empire
after
Sikh
invasion
in
the
communication
1846, gave
Punjaub
with
India an importance
in English
it had not
politics which

which

grew

British

and created that jealousy

before possessed,
of any interference
with Turkey which, under Lord Palmerston's
fostering hand, grew
into a fundamental
To keep
portion of English
foreign policy.

The Eastern

1877.]

Question.

Ill

in the hands of a weak and unaggressive

power
Constantinople
was set down as essential to the preservation
of English supremacy
in the East.
and solidified in 1849 - 50 by one of
The idea was strengthened
those pieces of good luck which have often befallen Turkey, and
to which
After
she may be said to owe her existence.
twenty
she suddenly reappeared on the stage of
five years of obscurity
politics before the eyes of excited liberals of the West,
European
Eussia and Austria
in the attitude of a defender of the oppressed.
an unjustifiable
had done her the very great service of making
on her for the surrender of the Hungarian
and Polish
firm
refusal
took
the
enthusiastic
Christian
and
her
public
refugees,
She became suddenly glorified as one of the defenders
by storm.
of freedom, and the refuge of the oppressed, and the curious and
and French
hearty moral support which she received from English
was
Eussia
in
assailed
when
thus
liberals,
1853,
by
again
prepared.

demand

Strange as that support appears at this distance of time and in the

in under
light of recent events, no one will find much difficulty
can
it
who
recall
the
bitter
settled
which
disappointment
standing
after
the
failure
down on the friends of constitutional
government
of 1848 - 49, and the joy and gratitude with which the resistance
of Turkey to the two great absolutist powers was received, in the
midst of what appeared to be the general collapse of liberalism, ?
for even republican France had just captured Eome for the Pope.
It was doubtless
absurd to those who knew anything of the secret
of
Turkish
policy, or of the nature of Turkish rule, but it
springs
was sincere, and not unnatural, and it doubtless
saved Turkey.
In
the war of 1853 it gave her not only the aid of fleets and armies,
but the moral force of a great cause. When
the English and French
"
of
called
her
the
defender
civilization
papers
against barbarism,"
it drew forth in the Christian
not smiles of
homes of the West,
ridicule,

but

tears of honest sympathy

and admiration,
and this
soon
a
to
and
admiration
have
sympathy
proved
pecuniary value.
to help the hon
After the peace, there was a general disposition
est fellow who had so manfully withstood
the Eussian bear. There
was no longer any hesitation
in doing what
had never been
?
to
of
the
of civilized
circle
before,
thought
admitting
Turkey
nations,

and

there

was

that she had no difficulty

so much

confidence

in doing what

in

her

reforming

she had never

zeal

done before,

112 TJie Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

enormous
sums in France
and England,
borrowing
although
a spring carriage
on which
there was not a road in the Empire
a day's journey, not a judge to whom a European
could make
would
and hardly an
agree to submit the simplest
controversy,
or malversation,
and
official who was not suspected of corruption
was

the monarch

although

a worn-out

debauchee.

The money was used in a perfectly characteristic way, ?

in the
revenues have been used ever
in short, in which Turkish
way,
that is, for the luxury of the
since the fall of Constantinople, ?
court and the equipment
of fleets and armies.
For four hundred
nearly every
tax-payers has gone,
these two ways.
No
monumental
epithet

years

have
ed,

been
or

made,

channels

or

dollar

that has reached the capital from the

it is hardly an exaggeration
to say, in one of
new buildings?or
at least none to which the
could be applied?have
been erected; no roads

aqueducts
or

cleared,

built,
colleges

or docks
or

or wharves

charities

founded.

construct
There

on mosques,
but none of late, and the
has been some expenditure
?
most
splendid of the Mussulman
temples in European Turkey
?
one of the two which possess any claims to architectural
beauty
Nor has there been recently
is a legacy from the Greek Empire.
any sign of a birth or revival of civilizing energy among the ruling
race. No Turk had in 1853 or has since given any evidence of a
share in that passion for change or improvement which has within
There is neither
the last century transformed the Christian world.
in the capital nor in the provinces
any evidence among Turkish
youth of interest in the progress of Western
thought or discovery,
or desire to share in the toils and triumphs and pleasures of West
ern science or literature or art. There is to be found among the
to pur
softas, or young theologians who come up to Constantinople
sue their studies, a good deal of religious zeal, and a capacity for
self-denial which the most ascetic Christians might envy; but their
as well as moral force seems to spend itself in a sort
intellectual
of the central dogma ?
of fierce contemplation
in fact, one may
?of the Mahometan
of
faith, the oneness
say the only dogma
of the Prophet.
To believe this, to believe
God and the authenticity
it with passionate
certainty, to be ready to proclaim it through fire
and blood, and to be capable of overmastering
rage over any denial
or doubt of it, are the ambition of the only portion of the Mussul
man youth which seeks to rise above that enjoyment
of the good

The Eastern

1877.]

Question.

113

things of this life which they believe to be the true believer's right.
The good things of this life, too, is a phrase to which a young Turk
re
it would
would give none of the extended
significance which
a
cover
none
for it would
of the
ceive from Western
sensualist,
The sum of Ottoman
happiness
pleasures of taste or imagination.
is, in fact, expressed in a proverb which will not bear literal trans
for the wise
lation, but which finds ample and sufficient materials
man's content in a well-stocked
stable, and a
harem, a well-filled
Nor
is this careful and haughty
cook who knows his business.
to the
from the stream ofWestern
withdrawal
progress peculiar
"
of Turkey.
in his work on the
Indian
Mussulman
Mr. Hunter,
tells a story which throws a flood of light on the pres
Mussulmans,"
ent condition
and future prosperity of their brethren
in Europe.
in India occupying a position
The British
found the Mussulmans
to that of the Turks in Turkey.
strictly corresponding
They were
the political rulers and great land-holders
of the country.
They
officered the army and filled the civil service inevery branch.
They
were the judges, and while administering
the law were above the
law. All the offices of state which were worth having fell to their
share. With
the advent of the conqueror came the throwing open
to all natives of the country of whatever
creed such offices as were
course
to
and
of
open
any natives,
they naturally fell to the best
or
in full
found the Mussulmans
The
qualified
equipped.
English
a
of
and
for
half
the
judicial bench,
possession
century kept them
Now they have completely
there as assessors of the English judges.
because Hindoos
given way to Hindoos,
only will take the trouble
to acquire the necessary linguistic and other learning, and so on all
"
ten years ago," says Mr. Hunter
Even
in
through" the service.
?
or
to
the Mussulmans
transmit
the
of
Nazir
1872,
post
managed
to men of their own creed; but now
Chief of the revenue bailiffs ?
one or two unpopular appointments
about the jail are the most the
former masters of India can hope for. The staff of clerks attached
to the various offices, the responsible posts in the courts, and even
the higher offices in the police are recruited from the pushing
Hindu youth of the government
school."
Out of 2,111 offices in
in the province
the gift of the government
of Bengal, 1,338 are
filled by Europeans,
681 by Hindoos,
and only 92 by Mussulmans.
Turning to the pleaders of the high court, we find that in the be
ginning
vol.

of the century
cxxiv.

no.

254.

they were
8

all Mussulmans;

in 1851

the

114The Eastern
were

Question.

as numerous

as the Hindoos
and English
put
to practice
admitted
since then
together; but of the 240 natives
239 were Hindoos
The medical
and only one a Mussulman.
pro
fession tells the same story.
The Mussulman
will not learn the
modern medicine,
and there are now no Mussulman
doctors in
doctors graduate
India, except barber surgeons, while good Hindoo
"
in considerable
from the Calcutta University.
numbers
The
"
adds Mr. Hunter,
has covered Bengal with schools,
government,"
are peopled with Mohammedans.
and many of its districts
Gov
ernment
to
fail
schools
who can
develop a class of Mussulmans
or find an entrance
at the Universities,
into
compete successfully
same
of
forth
the
The
schools
send
any
every year a
professions.

Mussulmans

vast body of well-read,

Hindu
ambitious, and intellectual
youths,
as young men at the universities,
who distinguish
themselves
and
or distinction.
in after life monopolize
to wealth
every avenue
The truth is, our system of public instruction which has awakened
the Hindus
from the sleep of centuries, and quickened
their inert
masses with some of the noble impulses of a nation, is opposed to
the traditions, unsuited to the requirements,
and hateful to the re
of
the
Mussulmans."
ligion
account of the Mohammedan
Mr. Hunter's
College founded by
to enable the Mussulmans
to qualify themselves
Warren Hastings
for retaining their old place in the administration,
ismost interesting,
but too long for quotation.
Suffice it to say, that, having been left
in Mohammedan
hands, the studies in it are confined almost exclu
to
two
and Persian, and to the
the
sacred languages, Arabic
sively
a
turns
out
set
of
and
it
Mohammedan
law,
utterly ignorant, vicious,
The chap
and fanatical young men unfit for any modern career.
for
has
been
Infidel
ter on Holy War
the
ninety years
against
the favorite study of the place, and down to 1868 examination
resident professor was
questions were given in it. An English
so intense is their
some
with
in
years ago
difficulty,
smuggled
one
rounds
his
hatred of the infidel.
night, he had to quell
Going
a tumult in a student's room arising out of the question whether
the heels joined had any efficacy.
prayer uttered without
having
When
he tried to introduce profane science, they pelted him with
and rotten mangoes.
in 1855 was that they
What
the friends of the Turks expected
in Turkey that very political and social
would themselves undertake
the strong
revolution which the English have brought about with
brickbats

The Eastern

1877.]

Question.

115

hand in India, that is, that the members

of the ruling faith would
divest themselves of their privileges
and throw open all branches
men
to
of all creeds and races, and not
of the public administration
to
the same process of training,
only this, but submit themselves
same
and the
proportion of the public burdens, and the same im
nature.
of whatsoever
and disabilities
Nay, more, that
pediments
idea of the
for
traditional
Mahommedan
the
they would substitute
on
a
Euro
modern
that
the
the
sabre,
state,
is,
theocracy resting
an
in
idea
of
of
the
association
pean
equals, engaged
pursuit of
tests and
with
under
and
secular
secular
bonds,
happiness,
purely
a
state
would
about
of things
in
other
or,
words,
standards;
bring
to prevent, even at
which
the law binds all true Mussulmans
the cost of their lives, ?
of the country of Islam
the conversion
into an enemy's country by setting up a government which should
as of no more political
account
treat the religion of the Prophet
in
of Mussulmans
than any other.
There are forty* millions
or
as
as
in
and
times
British
three
India,
many
nearly
Turkey,
the experiment
of transforming
them
into modern
men, has
been tried there, it is safe to say, under conditions more favorable
than are ever likely to present themselves
anywhere else. They
are ready to endure poverty,
and total politi
social humiliation,
sooner than submit to it, even at the hands of a
cal abnegation
not this example be
Would
partial and fostering government.
sufficient to suppress all strong hope with
regard to the Turks,
no trial ? But they have under
even if they too had undergone
Ever since 1839 the Sultans have been endeavoring,
gone a trial.
if possible, to infuse new strength into the Empire, the decline of
which, as compared with the Western
powers, has been only too
certain
assimilations
of the political
consti
manifest,
by decreeing
tution to those of European
states; but as a matter of fact not one
of them has had any perceptible
force outside of Constantinople,
of the feudal sway of the old begs, which,
except the abolition
however, was carried out, not in the interest of the Christian vas
the incessant revolts by which
sals, but as a means of preventing
the government
began to
century, and at the same
into closer
Constantinople
of whom
the revenue was
years

since

be harassed from the close of the last

time of bringing the administration
at
relations with the tax-paying
class, out
to be squeezed.
It is now nearly forty

the issue of the Khatti-sheriff

of Gulhane,

the first of

116 The Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

the reformatory decrees, and testimony of the strongest kind has

been steadily pouring in ever since, and is now astonishing Europe,
that the condition of the Christian population has undergone
little
or
amelioration
during that period through Turkish
legislation
or
all
the
and that all
administration;
nearly
improvement which
has been effected in it has been the result of the intrusion of
To all the reformatory
the consuls.
opinion through
European
measures
and
from
which
the government
Constantinople,
issuing
itself had no direct fiscal interest in carrying out, the Mussulman
of the interior have opposed a steady and completely
population
effective

resistance.

we begin to inquire into the nature of the Mussulman

When
to these measures,
and the reason why
it has been
resistance
are
we
at
met
outset
fact
that the
the
the
effective,
by
puzzling
?
we are
with
this
and
.it
is
that
of
Turkey
European
population
?
in
amounted
in
the
article
concerned
1866,
present
mainly
cen
to the Turkish Ministry
of Finance
according
(but Turkish
sus returns are only approximative),
to twelve million,
of all
than three million
creeds and races, and of those little more
are Mussulmans.
is it that so small a body of men, not
How
not acting or prepared to act in
organization,
forming a military
over
in towns and villages
scattered
the
like
concert,
country
and
the others, are able to impose on this enormous majority,
a regime of crushing oppression and inequality
? Why
maintain
does this majority need to be looked after by foreign consuls, and
to be made the subject of periodical
intervention by foreign powers,
human
in order to be secured in the enjoyment of the commonest
not
of
is
The
domination
?
the
Mussulmans
upheld by
rights
troops, for the Turkish army on the peace footing is small, and is
Nor is it up
mostly posted along the frontier of a vast empire.
or energy.
or intelligence,
of wealth,
The
held by superiority
and more
educated,
richer, better
enterprising.
answer
to
these
questions
brings us to the central
Any attempt
it,
difficulty of the Eastern question, and the more one examines
the task which
the more one is struck with the analogy between
the great powers have set themselves with regard to the Christian
our government
has set itself with
and that which
population,
more
one is impressed
to
andthe
of
the
the
South,
negroes
regard
or what
of the part which moral qualities,
with the prominence
Christians

are

1877.] The Eastern

Question.

117

or intel
as distinguished
from knowledge
of
the
successful
any political
working
light, plays
as it stood,
The Turkish Constitution
system however
simple.
even before the latest
under the general name of the Tanzimat,
change, really provided the Christians with ample legal protection
of the
for their social rights, and for a large share in the government
at
of
the
issued
the
close
Crimean
The
Khatti-Hamayoun
Empire.
as the Turkish
share in the settlement
consecrated
War,
by the
we may
lectual

call

character,

in

in the local councils, the

of Paris, gave them representation
serve
and
to
in
have
their testimony received
to
the
army,
right
the
and
of all this the treaty
before
Mussulmans
courts;
against
took favorable notice, as a new departure on the part of Turkey.
admitted that it has wrought no per
it is universally
Nevertheless,
Peace

In fact, it
of the Christians.
change in the condition
ceptible
would be difficult to point to a single striking result of the Tan
in 1839,
of Gulhane
zimat, since the issue of the Khatti-sheriff
of
of
the
the
feudal
destruction
the
country
position
begs,
except
of the tax-payers to the adminis
and the more direct subjection
The reason of this practical failure of
tration at Constantinople.
reform is to be found in the character of the Christian population,
no less than in that of the Turks, and there could hardly be a
more

valuable illustration than this failure affords of the difficulty

of making
the bulk of the
any valuable
political
change where
in the courage, ambition, and self-confidence
people are wanting
needed to carry it out.
to its Christian
of the Ottoman government
The concessions
to
the official class
because
have
amounted
subjects
nothing, first,
at Constantinople,
which really made them, and which is the class
with which European
deal, does not represent and is
diplomatists
not in real harmony with the Mussulman
of the in
population
to impose its will upon
is utterly unable
it; and
so
have
the
broken
four
of
centuries
because
oppression
secondly,
their
that
and
combativeness,
destroyed
spirit of the Christians,
of using
their legal rights as against the
they are incapable
race. Language
to
of this sort is used at the West
conquering
care
not
which
do
state
of
mind
of
the
describe
communities
or what we call political
liberty, to be
enough for self-government,
usur
or
to
official
to
for
resistance
offer organized
it,
fight
willing
an
to
of
the
It
fail
idea
will
adequate
pation.
give
consequently
terior,

and

118 The Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

state of things in Turkey without

that the
the further explanation
Turkish Christian
stands in bodily fear of his Turkish neighbor,
very much as a slave does of his master, and does not think of
to him as among the possibilities
of his social existence.
opposition
traveller in the interior of Turkey must have seen illus
Every
trations of this. A Turkish youth will ride alone into a Christian
in its best house, order everything
attain
village, quarter himself
able for his personal use, convert every man and woman he sets
for the time being, load them with
eyes on into his attendants
in reply but appeals for mercy and for
abuse, and hear nothing
bearance.
We were once present at a trial of three boys, in a
town on the Lower Danube,
for robbing the head man of a neigh
the
Christian
boring
village,
proceedings
having been set on foot
the
British
eldest
of
The
the
Consul.
by
culprits was not fifteen,
of the other two brought out the fact, that,
the confession
one fine morning,
in
of
amusement
search
being
they adopted the
on
went
out
and
in the
of
the
the
leader,
suggestion
highway,
was
a
to
rob
The
first
who
himself
country,
presented
giaour.
in the
and was bringing
this tchurbadji, who was on horseback
sum (for those
to a considerable
amounted
tax, which
village
to dismount,
him
ordered
his
seized
bridle-rein,
parts).
They
which he did, and they then rifled his pockets or bag without
the slightest
resistance, and yet he was a tall and
meeting with
over
not
few persons,
too, have
man,
Probably
powerful
fifty.
an
ever been long in the interior without
able-bodied
seeing
Christian
receive a thrashing, with a stick or whip, from a Turk,
and

he submitted without
any nearer approach to revolt than
arms
of this is that for
for
The explanation
his
shelter.
holding up
are
the Christians
centuries
the Turks have carried arms, which
and with
forbidden to do, and have used them without
hesitation,
or spoliation
of an
the full certainty that the murder or maiming
In fact, so certain has
infidel would have no legal consequences.
end
that resistance to a Turk would
it been for many generations
in assassination,
and perhaps the ruin of a man's whole
family,
died out, but the very
that not only has the habit of self-defence
the subject
extinct
itself seems to be wellnigh
instinct
among
of a vil
most
and
Christian
richest
The
prosperous
population.
a com
or
of
in
himself
the
town,
presence
country
finding
lage
and
is
of
loses
his
silent,
Turks,
courage
pany
self-respect,
to which

1877.]

The Eastern

Quesiion.

119

them impossible,
abashed, and timid, and finds discussion with
and mere expression of opinion a thing to be dreaded and avoided.
The present writer was travelling many years ago in Eoumelia
with a European General in the Turkish
service, who was waited
upon, on arriving late in the evening, by the family of one of ten
from whom the Turkish Mudir
had demanded a loan,
Christians,
of the money.
and had shut up in prison, pending the production
The General went at once to the functionary and fiercely demanded
their release, which was promptly accorded, but there was not the
To be allowed
slightest
sign of resentment among the captives.
to get quietly back to their homes, to have no fuss made about
them, and above all to have no complaint made in their behalf at
Constantinople
against the local tyrant, were all they asked.
They
were profuse and even lachrymose
of grati
in their expressions
tude, but there was not the slightest
sign of the manly wrath
or vindictiveness
without
which, after all, no statutory, defences
of personal
they are writ
liberty are worth the paper on which
ten. They were, in short, for all practical purposes
in the men
condition
of mediaeval
Jews, and had evidently
of
of
life or property
better
mode
any
thought
protecting
or
or
lawlessness
than
concealment,
against
flight,
oppression

tal
no

and moral

bribery.
But the Christian
and self-distrust,
though more re
timidity
no
more
to
the
of
contribute
the
Eastern prob
markable,
difficulty
of the Turk; nor are these
lem than the pride and self-confidence
It has to be
by any means greater than facts seem to justify.
in the first place, that self-respect
and self-exalta
remembered,
tion occupy fully as prominent a place in the Mohammedan
faith
as humility and self-abasement
in the Christian, and in this the
Mohammedan
allies itself with the strongest of human
instincts.
The followers of the Prophet began by looking on the whole
earth
as their legitimate prey, and the sabre as the best and noblest instru
for the propagation
of their creed, and as they spread it they
a combination
to spiritual arrogance, ?
added military
of perhaps
in
of
one's
the
range
efficiency
unequalled
narrowing
sympathy
and giving zest to conquest and spoliation.
were
The Mussulmans
was
humble
but
then
the
of a
before
God
God
their
God,
enough
"
and
but
chosen people,
for
be
merciful,"
compassionate
only
was
so
and
their
in
and
lievers,
religion
superior
simplicity
purity

ment

120 The Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

to all the creeds they came across in their migrations,

that the
fostered a magnificent
insolence for
very worship of such a Deity
which the world has never yet produced a parallel, and which their
and military
for several centuries
seemed to
political
experience
warrant.
Even
the Ottomans,
far
to
inferior
the
Arabs,
though
no races in their earlier advances
over which
encountered
they
or moral
could not fairly claim either intellectual
In
superiority.
than
Europe
they had to contend only with a worse barbarism
their own, or a civilization
which
well
any barbarian might
they
despise, and for two centuries after the fall of Constantinople
in the mili
their superiority to the Christian
maintained
powers
tary art, which was then the art of arts. They were better artil
in a high state
lerists ; and they were the first to raise and maintain
a
of discipline and efficiency
They were the
large standing army.
"
to
in what military writers call
first
attain high excellence
logis
and supplying
tics," or the art of moving
large bodies of troops.
of their terror in the earlier days of
Their attacks owed most
to
of their
the then astounding
swiftness
their European
history
of
Froissart
the bat
marches.
In the graphic description given by
on
so
em
of
there
is
he
dwells
with
much
tle
Nicopoli
nothing
as
with
the
the
which
crossed
secrecy
Bajazet
Hellespont
phasis
with two hundred
thousand men, and the rapidity with which he
"
"
The Christians," he says, were not only
reached the Danube.
They advanced
ignorant of their numbers, but of their approach.
so secretly that they were close to Nicopoli
before the besiegers
No Christian
knew of their having begun their march."
power at
that day could move a force of quarter the size half the distance,
and all accounts agree that a Turkish army of that day was, as it
The history of the
is to-day, a sober and somewhat austere body.
for the last two hundred years has, it is true, been the
Ottomans
effects of the loss of military
record of decline, but the possible
more
than
counterbalanced
have
been
supremacy
by their con
In our eyes their government
has been a
tinued political success.
horrible failure; judged by their own standard, there is everything
in it to be proud of. The Turk's notion of success in politics makes
it consist in holding as large a body of infidels and as wide range
of territory as possible in complete subjection for the benefit of the
of this caste
Mussulman
caste, and seeing to it that the members
have the best the country affords in meat, drink, and clothing, and

The Eastern

1877.]

Question.

121

as circumstances
as few anxieties,
will
dangers, or tribulations
have done,
allow.
This work, there is no doubt, the Ottomans
to rule four times their
and done it well.
They have managed
or laboriously or conscientiously,
own number, and not mildly
but
with a rod of iron, and with utter indifference to all the responsi
of power.
This is
bilities usually associated with the possession
not an admirable feat in the eyes of the Christian statesman, but it
is a great display of capacity for command, perhaps
the greatest
the world has ever seen; and the lustre of the exploit from this
point of view is not dimmed by the atrocities of some of their pro
cesses.
to our notions, ought to have made
their
This, according
a
as
matter
of
their
intolerable
and
hastened
fact,
downfall;
sway
their downfall. Without
it strengthened
their sway and postponed
as bad as theirs could
the cruelty and ferocity no government
so
have
lasted
long.
possibly
This pride of theirs and sense of superiority have had an effect
on their manners, which curiously enough has done a good deal to
conciliate European
opinion, and thus secure not only tolerance,
but a certain amount of support for their system.
the
Socially
of a conquering
and slaveholding
members
class are almost sure
to be pleasant
that is, they are almost sure to have the
fellows;
ease, the dignity, the self-respecting
reserve, and the truthfulness
in an aristocratic
form so large a part of what
which
society is
a
called
The addition of general kindliness,
humanity,
gentleman.
in democratic
is usually made
defini
and unselfishness,
which
tions of the character, does not, strictly speaking, belong to it. A
and
proper has little sympathy except for gentlemen,
gentleman
as in a large degree intended
looks on the rest of the community
to make the world a pleasant place for gentlemen
to live in. In
the original sense of the term, the Turk is a thorough gentleman,
intercourse with him forms to travelling
foreigners a
to
contrast
of
social
with
intercourse
Christian
the
any
delightful
races who live under him.
One may go down to the lowest stra
tum of Turkish society ?
the poor Anatolian
peasant
living with
his family in his one room, and extracting a scanty subsistence from
a few acres with an antique plough ? without
finding any marked
in dignity.
diminution
His manners will show none of the usual
traces of poverty.
in the Turk the
You will never meet with
or
in flat
and
the
eager persistence
fussy
fawning subserviency,
and

social

122 The Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

are so apt to give the Christians

of
tery and devotion, which
"
"
"
race the air of
a
of
whatever
to
bill
drummers
sell
you
trying
In trade, too, he is not enterprising,
but he is honest as
goods."
his goods,,
the sun.
It is rare, indeed, for a Turk to misrepresent
or even to urge you to buy, and rarer still for a Turkish merchant
to
be unable to pay his debts.
As an artisan, he was, while he flour
ished, famed for honest work, but, as a general rule, he is being
world, by
rapidly driven out of business, all over the Mussulman
the cheaper products of Western
and the bazaars will
machinery,
soon know him no more.
All these things have helped him to
maintain
his sway.
Few travellers have ever accepted his hospi
tality without
liking him, or have contrasted his sober-minded
ness

and independence
with the timid and flattering
suavity of
his subjects, without
at least doubting whether,
if he were driven
for him anything half as
out, it would be possible to substitute
good.

If this sketch of the relations of the Mussulmans

and Christians
of the Empire be true, it will be readily seen that all legislative
reforms and all constitutional
schemes, such as that recently pro
mulgated,

are

sure

to miscarry,

which

assume,

as

they

all

do

as

if not of a homogeneous
at least
sume, the existence,
community,
to
of a community
of whose members
the majority
need
only
have the law on their side to avail themselves
of it for the de
fence of their rights of person and property.
The experiment
the
Turks wish Europe to witness
is very like the one we are trying to
carry out at the South, in giving the negro a whole arsenal of legal
in which he ap
against his late master, not one weapon
or
use.
to
has
We
the
skill
courage
parently
give him the ballot,
escort to enable him to
it a military
but have to give him with
in his house to enable him to
reach the polls, and put a policeman
make up his mind calmly and serenely on which side he will cast
defences

we have to lend him pro

organize his majorities
who
the
from
cheat him, while
North,
pre
politicians
serve
now
to
All
him.
constitutional
the
arrangements,
tending
in successful use by civilized peoples, are simply the statements of
the terms on which bodies of persons of about equal capacity and

his vote.

To

fessional

courage have, after long conflicts, in which they tested each other's
respect, at last agreed to live, and
strength and learned mutual
on
a
the
carry
government
together.
They are, in short, machines,

The Eastern

1877.]

Question.

123

motive power of which has to be supplied by the mental and moral

condition
If this condition is such as
of the bulk of the people.
that there is no general agreement as to the ends of government,
no union of the physical
its intel
force of the community with
on
no
and
in the
confidence
the
of
the
part
ligence,
minority
no
and
for
faith
of
and
the
law,
justice
good
majority,
general respect
a constitution, however carefully framed, is of about as much value
for practical purposes as a machinist's
It shows
working drawing.
what might be done, if one had the raw material,
and
fuel
skill,
There is, however, this difference between
the political
condi
tions of the Turkish rayah and that of the Southern negro.
The
is
of
and
is
rayah
property,
already possessed
yearly acquiring a
and
of
the
wealth.
He carries on
larger
larger proportion
general
all
of
the
the
and
has
of indus
trade
habits
nearly
Empire,
hereditary
races
to
and
He
which
cherish
economy.
try
great politi
belongs
cal memories,
and which across the frontier, under rulers of their
own faith and blood, are playing
a conspicuous
part in modern
civilization.
his people live very much
to themselves,
Moreover,
or communes of their own, and owe to Turkish
con
in villages
and
of
dislike
the
details
of
administration
tempt
long experience
in the management
of their own affairs.
In fact, the Turks have
with
meddled
them but little in a legal way,
except to collect
taxes in gross, or arrest criminals.
Turkish rule has never been, in
the ordinary sense of the word, vexatious;
what
the Christians
have had to dread is, not the tormenting
of the police,
interference
as

in

an

over-governed,

but

the

"bull-dosing"

and

"ku-kluxing"

of an ungoverned,
which
country, and the rapacious tax-gathering
is sure to take place when the power which imposes the taxes has
no community
of interest or feeling with the class which pays
them.
have considerable practice in
the Christians
Consequently
and in the distribution
of local burdens, and in con
deliberation,
cert of action for local objects. What
in
they are most wanting
are physical courage, and the habit of self-defence, and familiarity
"
with the use of arms. They, therefore, do not need
carpet-baggers"
"
to enable them to maintain
their rights, but
troops" to give secu
rity and to disarm the Turks, and see that there is perfect equality
before the law, whatever
the law be.
Several years of this security and the appearance on the scene
of a generation which has known nothing
of Turkish domination

124 The Eastern

Question.

[Jan.

in its worst form, will probably be needed in order to enable the

to take a real part in the working
of any system of
Christians
in concert with the Turks.
constitutional
But it is
government
quite safe to predict that they will never be called on for any
such display of courage or capacity.
There is no reason to sup
pose, even if we concede the sincerity of the official class at Con
in issuing the new constitution,
that the bulk of the
stantinople
Ottoman population will ever look on it as anything but an in
toy, or a bit of Stamboul corruption, and make
genious Frankish
to carry it out.
If the proposal
of the
any attempt whatever
Powers
is adopted, and a sufficient military
force is supplied to
in any partic
the Christians with equality and security
provide
ular province,
will
the Mussulmans
submit in sullen
probably
from it, as they have done in
silence, and gradually withdraw
times

past
and

sarabia,

from Hungary,
Greece,

as

soon

Servia,
as

they

and
can

the Roumania,
sell

or

secure

and Bes

compensation

for their land. Their numbers have in this way been waning all
ever since 1829, owing to the widespread
belief
along the Danube
that sooner or later the giaours would in that region get the upper
of the population.
hand.
In Bulgaria
The
they are a minority
Turks
number
about
the
Osmanli
proper
1,500,000,
Bulgarians
but to these have to be added, to obtain
only about 500,000;
the aggregate Mussulman
about 200,000 Tartars, Cir
population,
or
and
in all. To the Bul
about
cassians,
Albanians,
700,000
to
have
be
added
about
110,000 of various other
garians proper
races to obtain
or about
Christian
the aggregate
population,
or
more
in
than
double
the
Mussulman
1,600,000
all,
population.
In Bosnia, on the other hand, which
includes Herzegovina,
the
in a population
Mussulmans
of 1,216,846,
only number 442,000
are found in Bosnia proper, where
but most of these Mussulmans
and are all, or nearly all, of
they form a third of the population,
converts to
of Slavonic
Slavonic
that
the
descendants
is,
origin,
Mohammedanism
at the time of the Conquest,
and, though very
to the Stamboul
fanatical, very hostile
government.
Emigration
of the Mussulmans
from this province
is, therefore, not nearly so
probable as from Bulgaria, and no easy solution of the problem is
to be looked for in that way, and there is no question
that any
solution
play

of it in Bosnia

will

of force than in Bulgaria.

need more

patience

and a greater dis

The Eastern

1877.]

Question.

125

an armed Christian
force, not liable to be overawed by the
and
Turks,
feeling military
superiority to them, and therefore com
of
will
be
absolutely necessary to effect the desired
posed
foreigners,
the country needs
social revolution, there is little doubt. What
Christian police,
above all things is an irresistible and well-officered
?
a fact which Eussia has long steadily maintained,
and France
That Eussian
and England as steadily denied.
sympathy with the
Christians has covered motives of a lower order is undoubtedly
true,
confidence in the recuper
but not less true is it that the Western
ative power of the Turks has also covered fears that were hardly
That

and would not bear full exposition.

Whatever
respectable
danger
to England
there may be in the appearance of Eussia on the shores
of the Mediterranean,
there has been something monstrous
and
an
to
in
it
trying
by
guard
against
upholding
ignoble
organization
so rotten as the Turkish Empire;
and now that it is plain that it
cannot be upheld by any support from without, English politicians
are becoming
sensible of the fact that they have allowed Eussia
to supplant them in the confidence of that portion of the Turkish
sooner or later carry on the government,
population which must
vice the Ottomans, deceased or resigned.
The English
people are
not only becoming
sensible of this, but also of the fact that in
of
bolstering up Turkey they have been aiding in the perpetuation
the most revolting tyranny of modern times.
The policy of Eussia in Eastern Europe differs, and has differed,
but little from the British policy in India.
In both cases great
civilized
despotisms,

powers

finding

have

not

themselves
hesitated

to

in contact with
overthrow

them,

corrupt Asiatic
or wrest

ter

from a variety of motives

; the predominating
ritory
one being undoubtedly,
in both cases, love of power, or what it
is now the fashion to call the promptings
of the imperial spir
it. But
then the spread of their dominion
has brought
law
from them,

and order and security, or, in other words, the basis of all that
is good in human
into the dark places
of the earth,
society,
the very habitations
of cruelty.
But no work of this kind, re
quiring great sacrifices and exertions on the part of great states,
could ever be
absence of all
the race on to
and we have

if one of its essential

executed
conditions was the
selfishness from the design.
The forces which carry
its destiny are of all lands, and come from all sources,
seems to
to be content if the result on the whole

126 Doudaris

et Lettres.

Melanges

[Jan.

bring us each year even a little nearer to our ideal. It would seem
as if a creed so wholly out of harmony with the needs and aspira
tions of modern society as the Mohammedan
should, as rapidly as
with
have its connection
severed,
politics
everywhere
possible,
to the spiritual domain.
It has many
and be confined exclusively
seems to indicate that
merits, and is doing work in Africa which
it furnishes a more efficacious solvent for the more degrading forms
than Christianity
of heathenism
itself, by rousing a personal pride
to some races is the first step in upward progress.
But in
its possession
of temporal power is purely mis
Europe and Asia
In the tremendous struggle with a hard lot upon which
chievous.
the civilized world has entered within the present century with so
much
increase of energy, a creed which preaches
the futility of
an
to
set
not
is
obstacle
be
if
aside,
striving
destroyed,
simply
with as little ceremony as possible.
Edwin L. Godkin.
which

Art. VII. ?
\.?X.Doudan.
le

2 Vols.
was

Doudan

Ximenes

of a circle
of

his

small

Paris:
a man

Introduction
MM.

par

Calmann LeVy.
almost

unknown

but

composed
life was

in number,

His

contemporaries.

une

Avec

et des Notices

d'Haussonville,

lier-Fleury.

celebrated

et Lettres.

Melanges

Comte

outside

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.

de

M.

par

Cuvil

Sact,

1876.
during
of some

his

lifetime,

of

the

most

uneventful,

singularly

but his immunity from harassing cares and heavy griefs gave him
leisure for his favorite literary studies, and his fine nature needed
no

added

Douai

guard
in

1800,

to
and

save
at

it from
an

early

luxurious
age

selfishness.

was

left

an

He

was

orphan.

He

born

at

made

his way to Paris to complete his education, intending to become a

teacher, and while holding a humble tutorship at one of the great
Parisian

a mark
Madame

schools

already

admired

by

many

who

were

to make

destined

in the world, he received the position of tutor to the son left by

de

Stael

from

her

marriage

with

M.

de Roeca.

This

intro

duced him in 1826 into the household of the Due de Broglie, whose
wife was a daughter of Madame de Stagl by her first marriage, and
until his death in 1872 he remained closely connected with this family