MR. G. B. RAVNDAL, until recently United
States consul at Beirut, Syria, is an intelligent and
sympathetic witness of the progress of events in that
part of the Turkish empire. He writes, with special
reference to the commercial aspects of missionary advance,
that “the Syria of to-day cannot be compared with the
Syria of twenty-five years ago. Education is working
wonders, raising the standard of living, multiplying and
diversifying the requirements of the people, developing
the natural resources of the country, and increasing the
purchasing capacity of the individual. Illiteracy is on
the wane, independent thought is in the ascendant. We have
printing-presses, railroads, carriage-roads, bridges,
postal and telegraph routes. Trade is increasing in volume
and variety, and the United States is getting a larger
and larger share of it. Our country, owing primarily
to the efforts of our missionaries, is near and dear
to a large portion of the population, not only of this
country, but of the entire Levant—nay, even of Persia
and the Sudan. Through our college (at Beirut), with
its School of Commerce and museums, through the mission
press, the industrial academy, and the experimental farm,
missionaries have become ambassadors of American trade,
and as the foreign commerce of the Levant swells into
larger proportions—it is yet in its infancy—the United
States is getting a surer foothold in the near East.”
He also speaks of his gratification in witnessing the
increasing introduction of American machinery into Syria,
such as reaping, threshing, and milling machines, and
expresses his confidence that “Western Asia will before
long become a market for our agricultural, irrigation,
and other machinery, which no manufacturer at home will
despise or ignore.” He refers to the School of Commerce
recently established in connection with the American
College at Beirut, with its students drawn from a widely
extended region, reaching from Trebizond on the north to
Khartum on the south, and from Albania in the west to
Teheran in the east, as an enterprise which is destined
to “play a leading part in the economics of the Levant.”
There is a business ring to testimonies like these just
quoted from men of official position in the East, which
surely cannot be credited to missionary partiality or
misjudgment, and as such we are glad to have the privilege
of presenting them.
—JAMES S. DENNIS, in
“Christian Missions and Social Progress.”
The Albanians in Macedonia have been for more than a generation a
source of terror and a tower of strength to the Turkish government.
They number perhaps two million in the country and occupy a region
remote from the capital, and difficult to control. They have never been
fully loyal to the sultan or any other ruler, and, occupying as they do
the fastnesses of the mountains along the western borders of Macedonia,
they have enjoyed unusual liberty. They have been referred to as the
least civilized of the European races. They are warlike by inheritance
and profession, and cling with an intense devotion to their Albanian
tongue.
They claim that they are direct descendants from the ancient Pelasgi
and are proud of their lineage. An Albanian prince told the writer not
long since that he was of the same race that gave Alexander the Great
to the world. They call themselves _Skipeter_ or “the Eagle People.”
The majority of the race have outwardly accepted Mohammedanism but in
most cases this is largely in form only. As the Koran is permitted to
circulate in Turkey only in the Arabic tongue, and as few Albanians are
acquainted with that language, they have little knowledge of Islam, and
perhaps less love for it. Many of them are nominal members of the Greek
Church.
On the other hand, the Turkish government, through the love of the
Albanians for war, has brought many of them into direct service to
the state. Some of the best and bravest officers in the Turkish army
are Albanians. Mohammed Ali Pasha, who reformed Egypt and founded
the present khedival house, was an Albanian. They have risen to the
highest positions of influence and power in the empire, not a few of
them serving in the sultan’s cabinet. This reveals the native strength
of this people, and the reason why the sultan jealously guards the race
in his attempt to hold them true to Mohammedanism and loyal to himself.
Their very strength of character makes them bold and fearless in the
fastnesses of their remote mountain home, and hard to subdue; but when
they declare allegiance to a cause or a person they cannot be diverted
by fear or favor.
This sturdy people with high codes of honor in their dealings with
each other and with strangers number about one-tenth of the Mohammedan
population of the Turkish empire. Until within a few years they have
been regarded as inaccessible to the missionary and to the Christian
worker. Recently mission work in Macedonia has come into contact with
them and a few have embraced Christianity. Nearly twenty years ago a
school for girls was started in Kortcha, one of their chief cities,
conducted by Albanian Christians, and in the Albanian language. Some of
the chief men gladly put their daughters in the school, but were later
compelled by the sultan to withdraw them.
The Albanians constitute one of the vital race problems of Macedonia.
They are eager for modern education and are restless under the
restrictive and oppressive rule of the Porte. If they become, as
a race, members of the Greek Church, as many have already become,
their influence will be cast against the rule of the sultan and in
favor of outside protection. If the Turks can hold them to a servile
Mohammedanism, they will greatly strengthen the power of the throne
at Constantinople. Upon the other hand, if they insist upon a modern
education for their children, and enter upon an impartial investigation
of the merits of Protestant Christianity, there is no standard for
measuring their influences on the other races of Macedonia. Albanians
in large numbers are coming to the United States, and here they seek
education for themselves and plead eagerly for assistance that they may
be able to give greater educational and religious privileges to their
children at home.
This race is but a part of the Macedonian question which has been
agitating Turkey and Europe for the past few years. If the demands
of the European Powers are acceded to, the hold of the sultan upon
Macedonia will be weakened, although not broken. It has been well
known for the last twenty years that, with every weakening of the
sultan’s power, strength has never returned to it. Should there be a
withdrawal of Turkish rule from Macedonia, including Albania, it would
remove all restraint from the Albanians and give them full freedom to
educate their children and to worship God according to the dictates
of their consciences. Under these circumstances few would probably
remain Mohammedans for any length of time. To Turkey these conditions
contain mighty possibilities, nor are they without deep significance
to the entire Moslem world. It may be that we are to-day witnessing a
break in the Moslem ranks that have hitherto presented a solid wall
of opposition to every Christian approach. There is no phase of the
present Turkish question which is more important or significant.
Besides the Albanians, Macedonia has three most discordant national
elements consisting of Turks, Bulgarians, and Greeks. The Bulgarians
are eager for the extension of the Bulgarian principality south to the
sea, while the Greeks desire the extension of the kingdom of Greece
eastward to include that part of Macedonia in which a large number of
Greeks dwell. The Turks represent the government and are strenuously
opposed to both these tendencies, and they express their opposition
in every kind of repressive measure known to the Porte. To this is
added the rivalry and hostile jealousies existing between the Greek
and Bulgarian churches in the country, and the resultant condition of
affairs is about as bad as well can be.
Marauding parties, formed and armed in many instances upon the
Bulgarian side of the border, have penetrated into Macedonia,
terrorizing all classes and clashing with the Turkish troops. These
have operated for several years. The object of these expeditions
apparently was to arouse the attention of the world to the
misgovernment of the country and so secure outside intervention, and
consequent reform. Their purpose has been offset by the lawlessness
of the Turkish soldiers, and between the two the innocent citizen and
peasant are ground almost to powder. There are also Greek bands of
marauders who strike terror to the regions in which they operate.
It is to restore some degree of order and to prevent the country from
running into absolute lawlessness, that the European Powers have
endeavored to unite and secure for Macedonia a systematic and safe
administration. If the Powers succeed in this effort, we may reasonably
hope that the hold of Turkey upon Macedonia will soon begin to break
and that ultimately all that section of Europe will be free of Turkish
rule. The sultan will not yield those rich and fertile provinces of
his empire willingly, but he is powerless to resist the demands of the
combined Powers of Europe.