PART I THE GREAT TURK AND HIS CAPITAL

I THE LOST PROVINCES

The next battle-ground of Europe, like the last, will be the so-called

Balkan Peninsula, comprising a group of petty states lying south of

Austria-Hungary, bounded on one side by the Adriatic, on the other by

the Black Sea, and on the south by the Ægean Sea. It is one of the

most primitive, yet one of the first settled sections of Europe, where

kings and queens and courts shone resplendent in ermine and jewels when

Germany, Great Britain and France were still overrun by barbarians.

The earliest inhabitants were the Dacians or Getæ, who had reached a

considerable degree of culture when we first hear of them, from Pliny

and Herodotus, resisting the invasion of Darius, the Persian, five

centuries before Christ. A hundred years later, when Philip of Macedon

besieged one of their cities, and was about to give a signal for the

assault, the gates opened and a long line of priests, clad in robes of

snow-white linen, came forth with musical instruments in their hands,

singing songs of peace. Philip was so impressed by this demonstration

that he laid down his sword, married the daughter of their king, and

entered into a treaty of alliance with them.

They fought Alexander the Great; they resisted the Roman legions; and

Julius Cæsar was planning a campaign against them when he fell in the

forum with the dagger of Brutus in his breast. Trajan subdued them, and

the story of his marvelous campaign is carved in marble upon his column

in Rome. Theirs was the last province to be added to the Roman Empire

and the first to go at its dissolution. The territory was fought over

at frequent intervals by contending forces to the end of the fourteenth

century, when, one after another, the several Christian states which

composed the Bulgarian Empire were subdued by the Ottoman invaders who,

in 1529 and 1683, actually reached the gates of Vienna. For nearly five

centuries they submitted to the yoke of the Sultan and, like all his

subjects, were gradually submerged in political, moral, intellectual

and commercial oblivion. The existence of the once powerful people was

almost forgotten. They lay helpless and hopeless under the heel of a

vindictive and merciless despot until what were termed “the Bulgarian

atrocities” excited universal horror in 1875-77. Then Russia intervened

on the pretext of racial and religious relationship, and attempted to

take them from Turkey.

The original Treaty of San Stefano, which fixed the terms of peace

exacted by the Czar from the Sultan, would almost have restored

the boundaries of the ancient Bulgarian Empire, given its people

theoretical independence under his protection, and reduced European

Turkey to a narrow strip of territory; but the jealousy of the other

Powers would not permit it. Russia must not be allowed to extend her

sphere of influence towards the Mediterranean. England and Germany

interfered, called a conference of nations at Berlin, tore up the

Treaty of San Stefano, restored a large area to the Turkish Empire, and

left a group of small, weak states to stand as a buffer between the

Sultan and his aggressive neighbors.

This was done upon certain conditions. Positive pledges were exacted

from the Sultan concerning the administration and taxation of the

restored provinces, particularly that the inhabitants should be given

religious liberty, and be governed by officials of their own faith.

Not one of these conditions has been fulfilled, and the most appalling

injustice and cruelties have been practiced year after year, similar to

those which occurred in Bulgaria and provoked the Turko-Russian war.

Human life and property have been held as worthless by the Turkish

officials and military garrisons. No woman has been safe from their

lust. No man has been allowed to accumulate property or to improve his

condition without exciting the avarice of the tax-gatherer and the

military commandant. It has been useless for the inhabitants to save

money or produce more than enough to supply their own wants, for the

slightest surplus would attract attention and be stolen from the owner.

The Christian population have had no standing in the courts and are

often prohibited from practicing their religion. The number of lives

wantonly taken, the number of homes wantonly destroyed, the number of

women ravished and the number of children butchered in the Turkish

provinces of Europe, particularly in Rumelia, where the population is

almost entirely Christian, would shock the world if the truth were

known, notwithstanding, year after year, the Powers of Europe have

permitted these barbarities to continue. The other provinces, Kosovo,

Monastir, Salonika and Scutari, have suffered severely, but the

barbarities have not been so extended nor general; and they are not

in such a state of anarchy, but are ripe for rebellion. Macedonia, as

Eastern Rumelia is familiarly called, is the center of disturbance.

An occasional insurrection or lawless incident of which a foreigner has

been the victim, such as the kidnaping of Miss Stone, has attracted

public attention, and frequent written protests have been filed at the

Sublime Porte by the ambassadors at Constantinople, in which the Sultan

has been warned that the atrocities would not longer be tolerated,

and has been admonished to repentance and reform. But, instead of

improving, the conditions have grown worse. Each of these diplomatic

episodes has been followed by more serious exactions and persecutions.

Every remonstrance has been the signal for an increase of the military

garrison in Macedonia, greater restrictions upon the liberties of the

people, and the arrest and imprisonment of patriots who were suspected

of having inspired the protests. This fact is well known at every

embassy in Constantinople and at every foreign office in Europe, both

from official and unofficial information. Every one who cares to know

the truth may learn it without the slightest trouble.

How long the Powers of Europe will permit the Sultan to defy them and

the present conditions to continue are questions often asked both in

private and in public, but never answered. The Powers are too much

engrossed in their own troubles to hear the cry from Macedonia, “Come

and help us!” for neither their pride nor their pockets nor their

politics are affected by the sufferings of a distant people whose

commerce is insignificant and who have no influence in international

affairs. Russia and Greece are the only sympathetic nations. They

belong to the same race and profess the same religion. Greece, being

feeble, is powerless, although her recent disastrous war with Turkey

secured the partial emancipation of Crete. The Czar would instantly

go to the relief of the Macedonians were he not restrained by the

jealousy of Germany, Austria and England. The British people will stand

unmoved and permit the entire Macedonian population to be exterminated

rather than allow Russia to gain a political advantage or extend

her boundaries towards the Bosphorus. Nor will Austria allow any

interference lest her manufacturers lose an insignificant market.

Austria is the natural protector of the people of the Balkan Peninsula,

and her administration of affairs in Bosnia has been remarkable for

tact, intelligence and success. If she were allowed to extend a

protectorate over Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and the other countries

and provinces, and introduce among them the same reforms that have

been admirably carried out in the countries on the Adriatic, which the

Berlin Conference intrusted to her care, it would be an unmeasured

blessing; but neither Germany, England nor Russia would permit such an

arrangement.

Germany is more culpable than any of the other nations, because its

government sustains and protects the Sultan in his atrocious policy of

administration, not only in Macedonia, but in all parts of the “Near

East.” No diplomatist of ancient or modern times has been more shrewd

and skillful in profiting by the rivalries of his enemies. He knows

that Germany will not allow Russia, England or Austria to punish him;

therefore he can afford to defy them, and treat the remonstrances

of their ambassadors with contempt. It must amuse His Majesty the

Sultan to read the signature of the German ambassador at the bottom

of the frequent diplomatic notes that are handed to him concerning

the misgovernment of his empire, and we can imagine his large, sad

eyes grow merry at the farces so frequently enacted at the Yildiz

Kiosk, when the representatives of the Powers appear in their radiant

uniforms, as they often do, to remonstrate against his inhumanity

to his Christian subjects, and the massacres that are committed at

his very doors. He realizes, and he knows that they realize, that

the slightest interference by force on the part of any one sovereign

will provoke another and even more emphatic remonstrance elsewhere,

lest some political or commercial advantage may be gained. When

the situation grows serious, however, he grants another profitable

concession to some German syndicate as an additional policy of

insurance against intervention.

The continual extension of German enterprise in the Ottoman Empire

makes the reform of abuses more difficult and the position of the

Sultan more secure. If Germany will cultivate his good will to obtain

concessions, their possession will make it necessary for Germany to

protect them. The invasion of Turkey by a foreign army, the disturbance

of commerce and industrial conditions, would be a serious danger to

German investments already there, and the longer such interference

is postponed the more serious that danger will be, because those

investments are rapidly multiplying and gaining in importance. The

peace of Turkey and the maintenance of present conditions are essential

to their profit. Thus the Kaiser stands as the nurse of the Sick Man of

the East.

There are few German investments in European Turkey, because the

anarchy which has prevailed there for many years has kept capital

and immigrants away; but throughout the other Balkan States German

enterprise is taking the lead in every line of trade and industry,

and pushing the sales of German goods. In Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria,

Palestine and other parts of Turkey, the Germans are already numerous

and are increasing. They have greater privileges and better advantages

than any other class. The significance and value of the Kaiser’s

friendship for the Sultan is appreciated, not only by the officials,

but by the public at large, and for that reason Germans are exempt from

many, if not all, of the annoyances suffered by other foreigners.

It is useless to speculate as to what might happen if the friendship of

the German Emperor for Abdul Hamid were withdrawn. History teaches that

political problems in Turkey cannot be solved by the same rules that

apply to other countries. The Sultan and his ministers are not to be

considered as logical or rational beings. The extraordinary skill which

they have displayed in eluding the frequent crises that have occurred

in recent years, offers no ground upon which to base a prediction, but

the Germans are not to be involved in any ordinary complication. The

latest episode was the seizure of the island of Mitylene by a French

fleet to enforce the payment of money due French contractors who built

the docks at Salonika. The Sultan appealed to the Kaiser to extend

his good offices in arranging an amicable settlement, and the German

Minister of Foreign Relations advised the Turkish ambassador at Berlin

to pay the bill. The bill was not paid, but a mortgage upon the future

receipts of a Turkish custom house was given instead, and the French

fleet withdrew; but when the mortgage falls due, two years hence, it

will be necessary to send another fleet to collect it, for the Sultan

never keeps his promises nor pays his bills until he is compelled to.

The Kaiser is too shrewd to become involved in such a scandal; but if

the French go so far as to interfere with German interests in Turkey or

the Balkan States, they will undoubtedly meet with resistance.

The desperate state of affairs in Macedonia, or Eastern Rumelia, as

that province is named on the map, is attracting no marked attention

in Europe. This apathy, however, cannot long continue, for sooner or

later some nation, whether from humanity or selfishness, will interfere

and provoke hostilities in which all the Powers of Europe must become

engaged. The seeds and causes of conflict are there, and cannot be

exterminated without a struggle. The Austrians could do more than any

other nation were they permitted to make the attempt. They have already

demonstrated in Bosnia their ability to regenerate and govern a mongrel

population, but the ambition and purpose of Russia, ever since the

Romanoff dynasty came into power, has been to make Constantinople its

southern capital, and add the Ottoman Empire to its own.

In Bulgaria, Servia and Roumania, disorganization and decay are

advancing more rapidly than the elements of progress. These nations are

becoming poorer and weaker because of misgovernment for which there

is no hope of reform. Before many years their condition will have

reached a crisis that will call for intervention. Russian influence is

now supreme in Roumania and Bulgaria, and the Servians are willing to

submit to Russian domination under certain contingencies; but Austria

lies just across the Danube, and, as the nearest neighbor, takes a deep

interest in Servian affairs.

It is probable that trouble will ultimately arise through collisions

between the Bulgarian patriots and the Turkish troops in Macedonia.

They occur frequently. Scarcely a month passes without a skirmish upon

the border between brigands, as they are usually called, and Turkish

military guards. Bulgarian citizens are being arrested continually

and imprisoned in Turkish jails, and the Bulgarian government is

always making useless protests to the authorities at Constantinople.

The fact that Bulgaria is nominally under a Turkish protectorate

complicates matters and gives an additional excuse for hostilities on

the Turkish side, for the tribute which was agreed upon at the Berlin

Conference has never been paid, and never will be. Even if there

were a disposition on the part of the Bulgarians to comply with this

stipulation, it would be difficult for them to raise the funds; thus

the debt continues to pile up year after year, until Turkey, when the

Sultan considers it wise to act, will make a demand and call upon the

Powers to enforce it.

The _casus belli_ is always on the side of the Turk. Bulgarians are

continually invading Turkish territory, and it is the policy of the

Sultan to shoot them when his soldiers can catch them, and say nothing

about it. If Bulgaria makes a complaint, it is claimed that the dead

men were brigands, caught with arms in their hands, and that the

government is trying to suppress brigandage. Some day, however, the

Bulgarian people will not be satisfied with this answer. They will

insist that their government demand reparation from Turkey, and make

a hostile demonstration that shall attract the attention of Europe.

If Turkey “calls the bluff,” and sends her troops over the border,

Bulgaria will appeal to the Powers for protection, and thus force the

Macedonian cause upon their notice. This would have occurred long ago

but for the inability of Bulgaria to raise funds to equip and pay her

army, the indifference of Prince Ferdinand and the lack of leadership.

The influence of Russia is against radical measures also, because

she does not think the time is ripe. If Stambouloff had lived, the

situation in Bulgaria might have been very different from what it is

to-day. His death removed the chief obstacle to Russian domination and

left Bulgaria a mere pawn in the great game of diplomacy which the Czar

is now playing with the other sovereigns of Europe.

An American gentleman who has spent his life in Turkey, and is familiar

with the situation throughout the country, describes it as follows:

“The state of the Turkish Empire--morally, socially, financially and

politically--betokens the coming of a night of anguish. In every

department of government the amount of shameless iniquity is appalling.

Simony and bribery, treachery and extortion, always present, but once

wont to hide themselves, have lost all shame and fear of rebuke, and

are hideous in their ramifications. Socially the situation everywhere

is dismal. You read of riots and bloodshed in Albania, in Montenegro,

along the frontiers of Bulgaria, and more recent outrages and

bloodshed in Armenia. Things are not quite so bad in Syria, though

they are on the way to it. During the past four years emissaries from

Constantinople of a certain type have sown seeds of bitterness among

the Moslems and Christians until their relations to each other are

marked with unusual hostility, suspicion and open bloodshed. Even in

Beirut, one of the most peaceful and progressive communities in the

empire, an active vendetta is in progress and almost nightly men are

murdered. No one is punished, no one’s life is safe. It would seem as

though the very foundations of the social fabric had fallen.

“I can give you in brief the reasons why this awful state of affairs

will continue: The corruption of the courts, in which all crimes are

condoned for money. The sole ambition of the unpaid officials, after

the collection of the exorbitant taxes, is to get a hold upon citizens

of every degree and by means of charges, false or true, extort money

from them. I have lived in Turkey more than eighteen years, and have

yet to hear the innocence or guilt of a prisoner or criminal dwelt

upon. The officials apparently exult in the increase of crime, caring

only for the bribes and gifts resulting therefrom, while the wretched

people caught seek only for a way by which they can get free from the

clutches of these minions of the law. No one ever places any moral

weight on the judgments delivered, for in ninety-nine cases out of a

hundred they are worse than worthless. I am measuring my words and know

whereof I speak.

“The second fruitful cause is the centralization of absolute power

in Constantinople and the treacherous subversion of every vestige of

civil rights ever enjoyed by the people. The present Sultan, years

ago, instituted a policy by which he was to become the absolute master

of everything in the empire. The military establishment, in its six

great divisions, takes its orders direct from Abdul Hamid. Civil

affairs are supposed to be administered through the vilayets (some

thirty-five in all). In former times the chief officials, civil and

military, were almost absolute in their departments and are still so

in theory. But in recent years the Sultan, by an invidious system of

imperial _irades_ or edicts, has filched away every privilege and

prerogative of these provincial officials. Constantinople has become

a huge auction-market where every position in the empire is bought or

sold for a price. Worse than this is the ominous fact that the high

provincial officials, who once had the power to punish or remove a

disobedient or unworthy subordinate, are now powerless to effect any

reform. When an official falls under their displeasure or judgment,

the matter must be referred to Constantinople. The delinquent hurries

off to the capital and returns with an imperial rescript in his hand,

confirming him in his position and enabling him to defy courts and

judgments, officials and public opinion. By this process the Sultan has

insidiously undermined and completely overthrown the legitimate form of

government and replaced it by a set of spies, iniquitous and despicable

beyond description. The despotic master and the irresponsible clique

which has displaced the real government, have now extended their

abominable practices and travesty of justice to the ends of the empire.

As a result good men are disheartened and are leaving the empire by

thousands. Everyone who ever expressed dissatisfaction with the present

régime or sighs for reform or change for the better is instantly

branded as one of the Young Turkish party and treated as a felon. So

the empire has fallen into the hands of the worst elements--parasites

and sycophants who are mocking and baffling one another in every

department, while the common people are trampled under foot.

“The third cause of corruption and lawlessness is, if possible, worse

than all. Immediately after the massacres in Armenia and Constantinople

there were thousands of soldiers, military officers and civil officials

whose hands were dyed with innocent human blood, and whose pockets and

houses were filled with the accursed plunder which they were allowed

to take as their reward. Fearing at that time that the Powers might

seek the punishment of these red-handed murderers, the Sultan began

a wholesale shifting of them to all parts of the empire, so that in

every district we have thousands of these brutes who participated

in the killing of 100,000 Armenians. No one was ever punished, no

one was ever rebuked. Europe, in her pitiful jealousies, failed to

exact punishment for anyone. In a little time the Sultan and all his

miserable crew came to glory in this colossal crime. But retribution is

coming. The Albanians and the Kurds, after such orgies of lawlessness

and bloodshed, rapine and plunder, could never be expected to relapse

into law-abiding citizens of any empire, and so they are completely

out of hand and at this moment shaking off the last shadow of control

from Constantinople. Those parts of the empire which were once safe

and law-abiding are now preyed upon by treacherous spies and men whose

sense of decency and justice was forever blotted out by their acts in

Armenia. So neither Europe nor the world need express any surprise as

the hand of God rolls up the stormclouds of retribution and smites the

empire with the awful agonies of the coming night.”

Unspeakable horrors have been constantly occurring in this corner of

the earth, and will continue to occur so long as Turks are permitted

to govern Christian communities. The present management of the

Macedonian Committee is patriotic, unselfish and honest. The previous

administration was corrupt and vicious, but no one will suggest that

the sufferings of the Christian citizens of Turkish provinces should be

prolonged, even though bandits and blackmailers may be interested in

their redemption. The world owes a duty to the people of Macedonia. So

far as Armenia is concerned, anything more than diplomatic intervention

is impracticable, and civilized nations can only continue to exert

moral pressure on the Sultan in its behalf. But Macedonia is in an

entirely different position. There will be no difficulty in reaching

the sufferers with a fleet or an army of rescue if necessary, because

its ports are on this side of the Dardanelles, and the continued

violation of treaty stipulations will justify forcible interference.

Every day the situation becomes more and more serious, the necessity

for action more urgent.

The number of Bulgarians and other Christians massacred in Rumelia

and other Turkish provinces will never be known. There is no hope

that time will effect any change for the better. The motives for

murder, torture and oppression are too deep-seated for moral suasion

or diplomatic negotiation to reach. So long as the Christians submit

patiently to every wrong that may be inflicted upon them, so long will

they be permitted to live; but, in the eyes of the Mohammedans, they

have forfeited their lives by accepting the faith of the Greek or the

Roman Catholic Church, and so often as an excuse is offered it becomes

a religious duty to exterminate them. Just as Saul was bidden to smite

the Amalekites, and to slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox

and sheep, camel and ass, so does the Koran admonish the faithful to

remove unbelievers from the earth. Hence it is absurd for the Powers

of Europe to wrangle with the Turks concerning the principles of good

government or the introduction of reforms.

Not one of the many stipulations in the Treaty of Berlin has ever been

faithfully fulfilled; not one of the reforms demanded has ever been

actually carried out by the Turkish authorities. It is true that a

Christian was appointed governor-general and served in that capacity

for five years; but he was a cowardly creature and permitted himself

to be used as a screen to shield Mohammedan subordinates who murdered,

robbed and tortured the members of his own faith. “_The Bulgarian

atrocities_” perpetrated between 1865 and 1875 have been repeated

in Macedonia, and the population of that province has been largely

reduced by massacre and persecution until several sections are now

entirely deserted by their former Christian inhabitants. Every form of

tyranny and brutality has prevailed. One record shows 15,000 victims

during the last ten years. If a faithful Moslem covets the property

of his Christian neighbor it is only necessary to denounce him for

“discontent” before the nearest magistrate, and the soldiers will do

the rest.

The inhabitants of Macedonia, as previously stated, are of the same

stock, profess the same religion, speak the same language, and have

the same customs as the Bulgarians. They are generally intermarried,

so that the persecutions are a matter of family as well as national

concern. Ever since the refusal of the Berlin Conference to include

Eastern Rumelia in the Bulgarian Kingdom, the people of both countries

have been determined to bring about annexation by force, and, soon

after the recognition of the Bulgarian government, an organization was

formed to promote that cause. It is known as the Macedonian Committee.

Its headquarters are at Sofia, Bulgaria, occupying the second floor

of one of the most conspicuous buildings in the center of the city.

No secrecy is attempted. The meetings are open to the public, their

proceedings are published in the newspapers, the names of the officers

and committees appear upon every document issued, and a weekly

periodical, maintained in the interest of the cause, usually contains

lists of contributors to its support and signed articles by prominent

agitators. Branch organizations exist in every community. There is

not a village in Bulgaria without one, and the membership includes at

least ninety-five per cent of the Bulgarian people. The organization

is non-partisan, and has the tacit support of the government, being

composed of members of all political parties--both the opponents and

the supporters of the present administration.

Until 1901 some of the managers were disreputable persons, and were

guilty of practices which brought the committee and the cause into

contempt. The late president, Boris Sarafoff, was a notorious gambler

and dissolute politician. His reputation was such that people would no

longer contribute money. He squandered every dollar he could control,

and, in order to obtain funds for the support of himself and his

associates, adopted a bold system of blackmail. He even went so far

as to threaten a high officer of the government with personal injury

if he declined to contribute, and gave notice that he would kidnap

the child of a Sofia banker unless a large sum was paid into the

Macedonian Committee’s treasury. When these practices became known in

the community there was a thorough overhauling of the organization and

Stoyan Mikhailovsky was elected president. He is a literary man of high

character, and enjoys universal respect and confidence, being the most

eminent writer and poet in Bulgaria, as well as an orator and scholar.

His associates in the management of affairs are men of similar ability

and reputation, but, upon taking charge, they found the treasury empty

and the accounts in such confusion that they were unable to make a

financial statement to their supporters. Under the administration of

Sarafoff, the worst elements in Bulgaria obtained control and the local

organization at Samakof, or Samacov, as it appears on some of the maps,

was undoubtedly responsible for the kidnaping of Miss Stone.

We do not know definitely what is being done in Macedonia to prepare

for a revolution, but it is no secret that the entire province is

practically in a state of anarchy, and whenever an opportunity is

offered it will occur. In the spring of 1901 the treasury of the

Macedonian Committee at Sofia was stripped of every dollar by the

rascals who had charge of its affairs, and the difficulties of raising

funds have seriously increased since the scandalous disclosures made

at that time. Nevertheless the committee has renewed its activity

and is making energetic preparations in anticipation of an outbreak.

No secrecy is attempted with regard to revolutionary operations in

Bulgaria. The propaganda is carried on with the greatest publicity. But

all movements on the Macedonian side of the mountains are covered with

mystery. Conscious of danger, the Turkish authorities in Macedonia are

vigilant and constantly engaged in efforts to suppress the proposed

revolt. For several years the Macedonians have been organized and arms

and ammunition have been distributed among them. They drill in the

forests by night and bury their guns and cartridges among the roots of

the trees. This is an ancient custom, and strangers riding through the

country often have their attention directed to ancient oaks which bear

signs to mark the spot where arms have been concealed.

When the struggle does come the Macedonians will fight to the finish.

After five centuries of Turkish bondage they have become convinced

that it is better to die than to live under present conditions.

Deserted farms and heaps of ashes indicate where the Turks have been

administering discipline. The Turkish officials spare neither women

nor children, and make no distinction between Bulgarians and Greeks.

Every person who does not profess their faith is an infidel fit only to

die the death, and must submit to their lust, cruelty and extortion.

No Christian woman in Macedonia can be protected from the passion of

the Turkish soldiers and officials, and the thresholds of thousands of

homes are slippery with the blood of husbands and fathers who have died

defending the honor of their wives and daughters. But the Turks have a

way of accomplishing their purpose without the apparent use of force.

If a Turk finds a Christian woman who pleases his fancy it is only

necessary for him to have her summoned before the nearest magistrate

and asked if she desires to become his wife. If she consents the

marriage ceremony is performed at once. If she refuses persecution

begins--not only herself, but her father, mother, brothers and sisters

are arrested for fictitious offenses and thrown into prison. They may

be accused of treason and shot; they may be fined the entire value of

their property, and made to suffer other penalties which the Turks show

great ingenuity in devising. Some women yield to save their families,

and are self-condemned to spend their lives in the perpetual slavery of

the harem, but usually the entire family abandons everything, and flees

across the boundary into Bulgaria with only such property as can be

carried in their hands, to begin life over again under the protection

of the Bulgarian authorities and among sympathetic surroundings. The

Turkish officials invariably confiscate any property that may be left.

Southern Bulgaria is full of such refugees. A friend told me that more

than a dozen families within his own personal acquaintance had been

compelled to abandon their homes in Macedonia for this reason alone,

and within the limits of Bulgaria are several thousand similar cases.

Young women actually disfigure themselves that their attractions may

not excite the admiration of the Turk.

A gentleman who recently passed through Macedonia told me of a

spectacle he saw with his own eyes and an experience which can

never be forgotten. He says that, stopping for a drink of water at

a roadside cabin, he saw evidences of a recent disturbance, and, as

no one responded to his knock at the door, he entered. Seated upon a

rude bench was a wild-eyed woman holding to her breast the body of a

young babe, whose head had been crushed by a cruel blow, and whose

face was stained with fresh blood. Upon the floor in the corner of

the room was the mutilated body of a young peasant, the face hacked

by scimiters until it was beyond recognition, while the abdomen had

been ripped up until the bowels protruded. The woman was evidently

insane from fear and grief, and the fact that she was unharmed was

construed by the guide to mean that she was absent when a troop of

Turkish soldiers, passing by, had stopped at her home long enough to

murder her husband and child. The cause could only be inferred. The

man was said to be an industrious, honest, well-to-do peasant, who had

married the comely daughter of a prosperous neighbor about three years

before. The neighbors dared not discuss the occurrence, but from the

little information he could obtain it was not unusual. The people are

accustomed to such tragedies. The man was a member of the Greek Church,

and the Turkish soldiers killed him and his child because he either

refused to renounce his faith or because they supposed he had hidden

his handsome wife at their approach.

Much of the trouble is due to the desire of Turkish officials and

soldiers to secure the daughters of Christian families for their

harems. Is it any wonder, then, that the women of Bulgaria and

Macedonia have taken the sword in their own hands and defended their

homes and their persons with the courage and the strength of men?

We read of a band of Bulgarian Amazons who performed such prodigies

of valor in one of the revolutions years ago that, when they were

finally overcome, the Turks impaled them alive before the gates of the

governor’s palace and placed their heads upon the town walls.

The rebellious provinces have a population of about 4,000,000,

three-fourths of whom are Christians and one-fourth Turks. Almost

two-thirds are of Bulgarian ancestry, and, naturally, the people of

Bulgaria have a deeper sympathy for them than have those of other

nations. A portion of Macedonia formerly belonged to Servia and the

remainder to Bulgaria. If it were understood that, in the event

of emancipation from Turkish rule, the province would be divided

upon ancient lines, the Serbs would doubtless lend their assistance

and reënforce the Bulgarians; but unless some such understanding

can be reached in advance the Serbs might resist Bulgaria, because

of neighborly jealousy, and aid Turkey to suppress the revolt by

making war upon Bulgaria. The present committee advocates Macedonian

independence on the same basis as that of Servia, Bulgaria and

Roumania, and its local newspaper organ asserts that it would be the

crime of crimes to involve these three nations in a war.

Entirely disinterested judgment would suggest that the province of

Rumelia should be placed under the protection of Austria, Germany or

England; or, if that could not be permitted, that it should be governed

by the Swiss, the Danes or the Dutch, who have no political interests

at stake. The people are not fit for self-government, while the old

policy of trying to reform the Turkish administration is criminal

folly. Improvement will appear, however, the moment the curse of

centuries is withdrawn, and the ground left free for wise, honest and

just administration. Peaceful Moslems should, of course, be permitted

to pursue their vocations and practice their religious rites, as in

Bosnia. Religious freedom should be the fundamental condition, but the

Turkish pashas and bashi-bazouks, and every official of Islam faith

should be compelled to disappear, never to return.

If Russia could be induced to extend her influence in Armenia, which

no other power can approach without crossing foreign territory, and

permit Austria to control the Balkan Peninsula, there might be peace;

but Russia is indifferent to the Armenians, because they do not belong

to her race, nor profess her religion, while the populations of the

Balkan States are almost exclusively Slavs and members of the orthodox

Greek Church. Whatever may be said of the political aggressiveness

of the Russians, it cannot be denied that the rulers, statesmen and

people of that empire have always shown active sympathy for oppressed

Christians, and there is not the slightest doubt that Alexander II.

entered upon the war with Turkey in 1877 as if it were a holy crusade.

The religious relation gives Russia an advantage over Austria, because

the latter is a Roman Catholic country, and very few members of that

faith are found in Bulgaria or the Turkish provinces. Neither Russia

nor Austria would consent to British domination in the Balkans, but

they might yield their own claims in favor of a protectorate by one of

the smaller nations, such as Switzerland, Denmark or the Netherlands.

II THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT

The Sultan of Turkey is a good deal like President Cleveland, in

that he tries to look after the details of his government himself.

President Cleveland used to sit up all night sometimes examining the

recommendations of postoffice candidates because he felt a personal

responsibility in the selection of good men, which he could not

delegate to the officials of the postoffice department. He used to

read all the evidence and other documents connected with pardon cases,

because he could not trust the judgment of the attorney-general and

the officials in the department of justice. He frequently sent for the

papers relating to Indian contracts, public lands and other matters of

business which no President before him ever investigated personally,

but he knew more about what was going on, and had more influence

with his own administration, as President Lincoln used to say, than

any other man. The Sultan of Turkey has a similar disposition, but a

different motive. He trusts nobody, although everybody succeeds finally

in deceiving him. He endeavors to do everything himself and to attend

to all the details, but never goes anywhere and is compelled to depend

upon his ministers and other subordinates to see that his orders are

carried out. Therefore most of his labor is wasted and the people

suffer the consequences.

For example, recently a bridge over a river in Asia Minor was carried

away by a flood and the people came down to Constantinople with a

petition for a new one, because all such things are within the Sultan’s

personal jurisdiction and can only be done by his orders. He read the

petition and heard the committee, and, casting his eyes over the map

they had submitted, suggested that the new bridge be built at another

place. It was somewhat distant from the old one and in a situation more

liable to danger from floods. At the same time it was very inconvenient

for the public; but nobody dare tell the Sultan so, or even question

the accuracy of his judgment. So a new bridge was erected at the new

location and a few weeks later it was carried away like the first.

The people came back to the Sultan. He refused to receive them and

sent word that he had given them a new bridge and that they ought to

be thankful and ask no more of him. Since then the population of that

district has been compelled to cross the river in small boats because

the government will not build another bridge for them and will not

allow them to build one for themselves. That is about the way the

government of Turkey is managed; a fair sample of maladministration

that applies to every department.

Up the Golden Horn is a navy yard, with a fine marble building for the

headquarters of the admiralty, a school for the education of officers,

barracks for the accommodation of sailors, a hospital for the sick,

and a long line of sheds and shops for the construction and repair of

ships, and an enormous amount of money is expended annually for the

maintenance of ships which are supposed to be in commission, but cannot

be used because their engines, boilers and other machinery are useless.

Some of them have no smoke-stacks. They lie at anchor where the Sultan

can see them through a glass from a certain point in the park that

surrounds his palace, and he supposes them to be in full commission

and ready for active service. He gives the minister of marine every

year money to pay for coal that is never bought, for provisions and

other supplies for crews that do not exist, and for repairs that are

never made. The shops are idle and empty, although he believes them to

be filled with busy workmen. According to the official register, the

Turkish navy consists of eighteen cruisers of from 2,000 to 8,000 tons,

twelve coast-defense ships, six gunboats and twenty-six torpedo boats,

but all are useless except a few small torpedo and gunboats stationed

at different ports along the coast. The annual allotment of money for

the supplies of the navy is about $3,200,000, but, according to the

popular impression, a very small part of it is ever applied to the

purpose for which it is intended. The navy yard on the Golden Horn is

the most extraordinary marine morgue in existence. Long rows of vessels

of the most antiquated pattern lie side by side, stripped of their

machinery and equipments and fit only to be knocked to pieces for junk.

Students of marine architecture will find there types of vessels that

have not been used for a century, and the Sultan still appropriates

money to maintain them. But even the most modern vessels, built during

the late war with Greece, have been stripped of everything portable by

officers and sailors whose wages have not been paid. The Sultan does

not know anything about it. He depends upon his minister of marine, who

gives him such information as he thinks advisable, and is supposed to

rob him right and left.

Hassan Pasha has the reputation of being the richest and the most

corrupt official in the Turkish government. He is supposed to be worth

$4,000,000 or $5,000,000, all of which he has acquired while in the

service of the government. He has great influence with the Sultan. The

latter considers him one of his most loyal and efficient officers and

trusts him implicitly. It is said that Hassan would like to resign and

enjoy his money in London or Paris, but dare not do so. The moment he

suggested any such idea the Sultan’s suspicions would be excited, and

it would be dangerous for Hassan to retire, because his successor would

discover what has been going on in the navy department, and Hassan’s

head and his money would both be in danger. Many other pashas are very

rich, but they send their money out of the country as a precaution,

for they never know when they may forfeit their sovereign’s favor,

and that usually means the confiscation of their estates and perhaps

decapitation or imprisonment for life. When a prominent man disappears

in Turkey no questions are asked. It is impolitic to be inquisitive.

Said Pasha, the grand vizier, is believed to be an honest man. He

is one of the few prominent officials of the government who has not

amassed a fortune while in office. For his honesty and other reasons

he has many bitter and revengeful enemies. Six years ago, when he was

grand vizier, he endeavored to punish certain influential pashas for

robbing the government. They engaged in a conspiracy against him and

got the ear of the Sultan, who believed their statements, and sent the

_Kapu-aghasi_, chief of the white eunuchs and first officer of the

imperial bedchamber--the Sultan’s most confidential man--to summon

Said Pasha to his presence. The _Kapu-aghasi_ is always an unwelcome

messenger, because the Sultan trusts him when he will trust nobody

else. When he carries a message it has unusual significance.

Said Pasha understood the situation, and, instead of going to the

palace, sought an asylum at the British embassy, where Lord Dufferin,

then ambassador, gave him protection. Nobody knew what had become of

the grand vizier until after seven days, when he sent a carefully

prepared report of his proceedings and the motives for the conspiracy

against him to the Sultan by the hand of the British ambassador. The

latter explained to the Sultan his opinion of the case, and vouched

for Said Pasha as an honest, truthful and loyal man. The Sultan was

not convinced, but agreed to accept Said Pasha’s resignation without

further proceedings, and gave a formal assurance that if his former

prime minister left the embassy and returned to his own home he would

not be injured. Lord Dufferin notified the Sultan that the British

government would hold him responsible for any injury that Said Pasha

might suffer, and that in case of his death not even a plea of sickness

would be accepted. From that hour Said Pasha was the safest man in

Turkey. The Sultan sent his own physician and two of his most trusted

aides-de-camp to live in his house to protect him, and, adopting Lord

Dufferin’s suggestion, made an investigation of the charges against

him. Nobody knows how he got at the facts, but he executed some of his

new favorites, sent others into exile and finally restored Said Pasha

to power and gave him his confidence as fully as he ever gives it to

any one.

It is said that Shanghai, China, is the dirtiest city in the world,

that Peking is ten times as dirty as Shanghai, and that Canton is ten

times as dirty as Peking: but Constantinople is as dirty as all the

rest of them put together, and the pavements are simply horrible. Yet

the Sultan, who has never ridden about his capital, is laboring under

the delusion that it is well paved and sweet and clean. Several years

ago he took a notion to go by carriage instead of by boat to Seraglio

Point upon his annual pilgrimage to worship before the holy mantle of

the Prophet Mohammed, and the officers of the municipal government

covered the pavement of the streets through which he was to pass

with fine sand two or three inches deep. This not only concealed the

filth, but made a smooth and comfortable track for his carriage. The

Sultan was delighted, and gave instructions to fix all the streets in

Constantinople in the same manner, allotting a large sum of money to

pay the expenses. The officials took the money and put it in their

pockets, and nothing was done to the streets. The Sultan honestly

believes that Constantinople is one of the best-kept cities in Europe,

and often boasts of that fact to foreign visitors. As he dare not go

through the streets to see for himself, and is surrounded by men whose

interests and safety require them to maintain the deception, he will

probably never discover how he has been deceived. The two great bridges

across the Golden Horn, which connect Stamboul, the Turkish town, with

Galata, the foreign settlement, produce not less than $2,000 a day in

tolls. Every foot passenger is charged a penny, about the same fee as

that collected by the ferry companies of New York, and carriages pay

ten cents. But of the receipts not more than $100 a day goes into the

public treasury. The rest is stolen by people who have charge of the

collections. Everybody gets his “squeeze,” from the general manager

down to the Turks with white aprons who stand at the entrances and

take the money. Curious people have taken the trouble to stand at the

approaches to the bridge and count the number of passengers within a

certain time as a basis for an estimate of the revenues, and assert

that $2,000 a day is a low calculation. It is also asserted that

not more than ten per cent of the customs collections goes into the

treasury. The balance is stolen by the officials, who receive no

salaries and are expected to take care of themselves. Sometimes they

get their money out of the importers and exporters by blackmail,

because each collector of customs is required to turn a certain

amount into the treasury every month, but some of them simply take a

proportion of the ordinary receipts and are satisfied with that.

Several propositions have been made to the Sultan to farm out the

collection of duties to a bank, which is willing to guarantee him a

stated sum in cash annually and take its chances of collecting an equal

amount or a good deal more upon the present tariff rates, but the

Sultan dare not make such an arrangement because the customs service

takes care of so many poor relations and hangers on of his favorites.

If he should put this patronage out of his hands they would have to

be supported in some other manner. Therefore he declines to have his

revenues honestly collected.

Some people think that the Sultan was not responsible for the Armenian

massacre in 1896. Others are confident that he ordered it, just as

Charles of France ordered the massacre of St. Bartholomew. They

believe that he was induced to do so by the representations of the

Sheik-ul-Islam and his ministers that the Armenians were on the point

of revolution, and there was circumstantial evidence to sustain their

claims. There had been repeated massacres by the Kurds and other

Turkish barbarians in Armenia, and thousands of Christians there lost

their lives and property. When a committee of Armenian citizens went

to the Sublime Porte to present a petition demanding the protection

guaranteed their countrymen by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, they were

prevented from entering, and attempted to fight their way in, which

caused a riot and gave their enemies an argument to secure official

sanction for their persecution. But what is known as the “Ottoman

Bank Affair” was really the immediate cause of the massacre. It is

practically the only bank in Constantinople, and is managed by an

Englishman. One morning in 1896, while business was going on as usual,

a party of forty or fifty armed men entered the building and closed the

doors. The manager, Mr. Vincent, succeeded in escaping. The bank was

promptly surrounded by troops, which made it impossible for the bandits

to get away with any booty or with their lives, but they threatened

to blow up the vaults and to set fire to the building unless they

were granted immunity. Mr. Vincent had sufficient influence with the

authorities to secure such terms, and during the night after the raid

the bandits were taken from the bank to the nearest dock, placed on

board Mr. Vincent’s private yacht and carried to Marseilles, where they

were put ashore and disappeared. They claimed to be Armenians, but were

all strangers. Some people think it was a “fake” raid arranged by the

Turkish police to arouse public prejudice against the Armenians. Others

think that a foolhardy group of Armenian revolutionists attempted to

secure funds to carry on a revolution. But whatever the intent or

expectation, on the following day the Sultan was persuaded that unless

the Armenian community was effectually terrorized it would overthrow

his government. He gave the word, the Mohammedan priests and _softas_

(theological students) led the mobs, and the Turkish fanatics continued

to kill Christians until they were exhausted.

There is a multitude of priests, divided into classes and ranks.

The lowest is the muezzin, who is a sort of sacristan or sexton at

the mosque. He calls the faithful to prayer, but takes no part in

the devotional exercises. _Softas_ are theological students--young

preachers who make up a fanatical and turbulent class and are the

cause of most of the disturbances in Constantinople, as the students

of universities often are in other European countries. Next to them

in rank are the _cadis_, who exercise a temporal as well as spiritual

jurisdiction, acting as notaries, justices of the peace, judges of the

courts and look after the financial affairs of the different parishes

and religious orders. There are several religious brotherhoods and

orders like the dervishes. The _moulahs_ or regular priests, who

conduct the services at the mosques, may be compared with the ordinary

clergy in our country. One grade above the _moulah_ is the _khodja_, or

professor of theology, who is found daily at the mosques with a copy

of the Koran and other orthodox authorities before him, expounding the

faith of the Mohammedans to groups of students and others who gather

around him, sitting cross-legged upon the floor.

You can find these groups in every mosque at all hours of the day,

and they remind you of the story of Jesus teaching in the temple.

The theologians receive fees from their pupils. Another class of

_khodja_ expound the Koran to ordinary people very much in the manner

of our Sunday-school classes. After the regular prayers are over in

the mosques they take convenient places, and those who desire to

learn from them squat around in semicircles within the sound of their

voices. The lesson or lecture lasts about half an hour. Many of the

pupils are business men who are interested to hear and know. Others

are poor devotees who scarcely understand the language of the teacher,

but listen attentively to everything he says. There is no regularity

about the lectures and no stated fees are charged. Those who attend can

pay whatever they like. Some of the ablest theologians attract large

classes and make a good living. Their incomes are much better than the

salaries paid to the ordinary _moulahs_, or parish priests. Superior to

them are the _mufti_, or bishops, and the Sheik-ul-Islam, or patriarch,

the spiritual head of the Mohammedan Church, who often is known as the

Great Mufti.

Nearly all of the Moslems in Constantinople are employed either by

the church or the state, or are ordinary common working men. They are

ignorant and fanatical, dangerous when excited by the priests or the

_softas_, who make the mischief, and are as devout as any people in the

world. It is the universal testimony that Mussulmans are more loyal to

their religion and more faithful to its teachings than the members of

any other church. The pashas and the higher officials of the government

wear the European dress with the red fez. The poorer Turks retain the

native dress.

[Illustration: A GHAZI--A MOHAMMEDAN FANATIC]

While there are doubtless many good traits about the Mohammedans, and,

as an old lady said about Christianity, their religion would be a good

thing if it were lived up to, it is difficult to reconcile the facts.

For example, the Koran and the teachings of the prophet enjoin personal

cleanliness as necessary to salvation. The Moslems always bathe before

they pray. They would not dare enter the house of prayer with unclean

hands or feet or faces. Hence when the muezzin’s call is heard from a

minaret five times a day, faithful Moslems go first to the fountains

that are found outside of every mosque and bathe themselves. There

are innumerable bath-houses also in which genuine Turkish baths and

massage are given. At the same time their houses are positively filthy;

too filthy, as a rule, for human beings to occupy; and the streets

of Constantinople and every other Turkish town are indescribable in

their nastiness. The clothing they wear is as dirty as their bodies

are clean, and their food is often unfit for sanitary reasons. A

true believer will not cut down a tree without planting another in

its place. Hence the Turkish forests are in splendid condition. The

kindness of the Mohammedan to animals is proverbial. He will not kill a

rat and will share his crust with a dog; he will not beat a horse, and,

as you have often read, among the Bedouins man and horse always share

the same tent. But it is no offense to kill a Christian. Human life is

nowhere else held at so low a value.

The Koran forbids the followers of the prophet to charge interest

upon loans of money, hence Mohammedans cannot engage in the banking

business, and you often hear that true believers never swindle each

other; that no Mohammedan ever lies, except where the interests of

Christians are involved; that he will tell the truth to his own people.

It is evident that the Turks consider it no crime to cheat a Christian

or to tell him a falsehood, and it is a beautiful delusion that

Mohammedans never deceive or swindle one another. I have tried to

reconcile this generally accepted fable with the notorious robbery

of the government. Almost every official of the Ottoman Empire is a

Mohammedan. Very few Christians are employed in any capacity, and in no

other land on earth is official corruption, bribery and embezzlement so

general and common. It is not only known, but tolerated. Few officials

receive salaries, and they are expected to make a living by robbing

their government and by blackmailing people who have business with

it. While there is nothing in precise terms in the Koran to prohibit

malfeasance in office, one would suppose that the general laws of

morality and honesty, if not patriotism, would be recognized and

applied. When I asked an intelligent and liberal Mohammedan to explain

this phenomenon he did so without the slightest hesitation. He declared

in the first place that the government knew that its officials were

robbing the revenues and expected them to do so. Therefore, it was

no crime against the laws and no violation of the teachings of the

prophet. In the second place, he said, there were bad men among the

followers of the prophet as well as among the followers of Christ,

and that, “while no man who obeyed the teachings of the Koran and the

injunctions of Mohammed would cheat or steal, many sometimes did so

under great temptation.”

We are also told that Mohammedans are strict prohibitionists; that they

drink no wine or liquor of any kind, and this is more generally true

than any of the other statements to which I have referred.

There are plenty of saloons in Constantinople, but they are all found

in the foreign quarter. In Stamboul, which is almost exclusively

Mohammedan, there are none, and the natives dissipate at coffee-houses,

which are as numerous in the Mohammedan districts as saloons in

Chicago. The highest joy that a Turk can realize is to sit outside

a café, sip a cup of coffee, smoke a _nargileh_--one of those

long-stemmed water pipes--and contemplate the infinite. At least,

I suppose that is what the solemn-looking old chaps who sit around

on the sidewalk are contemplating. Their faces wear an expression

of unutterable wisdom, solemnity and benevolence that cannot be

surpassed, and their composure is perfect. A Turk is always composed

at a coffee-house, and you would think that his soul was submerged in

benevolence. But when he comes to action he is an entirely different

sort of a person.

As a rule Turks of the upper classes are very good-looking. Their

features are fine, their heads are intellectual and their expressions

are amiable. In addition to the coffee-houses water fountains for the

benefit of the poor are found on almost every block. When a rich man

wants to erect a monument by which he may be remembered, he builds a

fountain in a public place and leaves money for its maintenance. When

Kaiser William of Germany was in Constantinople a few years ago he

ordered the erection of a fountain, which is beautiful in design and

of expensive construction. It must have cost him a very large sum of

money, and was an appropriate, useful and noble gift. Thousands of

men make a business of peddling water, lemonade and sherbet through

the streets of the Turkish part of the city, and another praiseworthy

custom among benevolent men is to leave legacies to pay for the free

distribution of drinking water among the working people. You see many

such peddlers on the docks, in the factories and at other places where

laborers are employed. They go about with pigskins full of fresh water

upon their backs and a dozen cups hanging from hooks in their belts.

Anybody can stop them on the street and ask for a drink, which they

always furnish with great courtesy, as they are required to do by their

employers. If you give them a tip they will accept it, but it is not

necessary and it is not expected. The Turks are a very temperate people.

A Turkish gentleman declared that the young men of Constantinople were

being led into dissipation because they thought it was “progress”; that

fast foreigners had introduced bad habits into the country, including

whisky and brandy drinking, and many young Turks had followed their

example. The saloons and beer gardens, he said, were intended for,

and were generally patronized by, the foreign population--the French,

Germans, Italians, Austrians, Hungarians and others--and several liquor

stores had been established to supply them.

“Many young Moslems have become intemperate,” he exclaimed, “and it can

only be attributed to the bad example of Christians.” The pashas and

other public men think it is necessary to serve wine at their houses

because it is served to them when they visit the homes of foreigners,

and thus the habit is being introduced. The Sultan drinks nothing but

water and coffee, although at formal dinners he offers wine to his

guests.

“I met a friend the other day,” continued my informant, “who offered me

a glass of wine. I declined, saying that my religion forbade the use of

wine. ‘So does mine,’ replied the pasha, ‘but God is merciful and I

shall be forgiven.’”

One great trouble in Turkey is the disloyalty of the upper classes. The

lower classes are fanatical in their devotion to the Sultan and the

Mohammedan Church. But it is the office and not the man they adore.

They care very little who occupies the throne and will give their lives

cheerfully to support and defend him. The Turkish soldiers are great

fighters, if well led, and are absolutely destitute of fear because

they are taught from infancy that he who dies in defense of the church

or the Sultan goes straight to paradise, which is sufficient incentive

for them. At the same time the words “loyalty” and “patriotism” do not

appear in the Turkish language, and those emotions are almost entirely

unknown to the pashas and other persons of high rank who are always

striving to excel each other and secure the favor of the sovereign, and

the power, influence and wealth that attend it. The foundation of all

the trouble is the absolute authority intrusted to the Sultan, who is

able to appoint to the highest offices and elevate to the highest rank

the most unworthy and incompetent favorite at his court. The Sultan can

make and unmake pashas at pleasure, and this precarious tenure of rank

and dignity induces them to be so corrupt, so treacherous and envious.

Another great source of weakness is the entire absence of anything like

justice. If a man is accused before the Sultan by one of his spies or

by any informer, high or low, he has no trial and often there is no

investigation. In very rare cases the accused has an opportunity to

make a personal defense; but in the Sultan’s eyes every man is guilty

until he is proved innocent, and the opportunity to submit the proof

seldom comes.

A Constantinople photographer to whom I applied for portraits of the

Sultan and other public men explained that he was not able to furnish

them because the Moslem religion forbade its adherents to make the

likeness of anything in the heaven above or in the earth beneath,

and that the injunction was strictly observed by old-fashioned and

conservative Mohammedans. Being the head of the church, the Sultan

thinks he ought to observe it as an example to others. Nevertheless

the portraits of his sons have been painted, and you can buy their

photographs wherever such things are sold about town. And there are

oil portraits of previous Sultans in all the public buildings. On

the table in the audience chamber at the Seraglio, is a large quarto

volume containing a collection of the portraits of thirty-seven Sultans

of the Osman dynasty. In the treasury are a lot of miniatures and

several busts in bronze and marble. Statues of several Turkish heroes,

including Sultans, have been erected, and hence we must find some other

reason why Abdul Hamid will not be photographed. Perhaps it is merely

an idiosyncrasy, for he has many.

At the same time public men in Turkey do not have their portraits

painted, nor do they have their photographs taken as frequently

as those of Christian countries, and it is difficult to buy their

pictures. Certain photographs of public buildings, the interiors

of mosques, and women in the Turkish costume, are sold only to

foreigners. No photographer would dare sell the picture of a woman

to a Moslem, because her husband or father would take it as a mortal

insult, although he would have no objection to its sale to foreigners,

particularly those who take it out of the country. He would consider

that a compliment. These notions are relaxing generally throughout the

country, like many other of the Moslem habits and customs.

When I was at Constantinople the city was filled with pilgrims on their

way to Mecca. They came from all parts of the Ottoman Empire and from

the Mohammedan settlements in Russia. One party of 4,000 arrived from

Central Asia via Odessa upon special steamers, which carried them to

Jiddah on the Red Sea, the nearest port to Mecca. Hundreds of Persians,

Kurds, Mongols, men from Turkestan, Afghanistan, Bokhara, Cashmere

and other far-off countries had ridden thousands of miles over the

desert on this religious mission, and had come to Constantinople for

the purpose of paying homage to the Sultan, who is the head of their

church. The bazaars and mosques and the streets and public places were

crowded with them.

Very few were able to see the Sultan. Their only opportunity was on

Friday, when he rides through his park from the palace to the mosque

to say his prayers. They knelt when he passed, and afterward kissed

the ground over which his carriage had driven. Many of them were men

of wealth and property, but did not look it. They were dressed in the

fantastic costumes of their races and added to the variety of apparel

for which Constantinople is noted.

Every Moslem who can afford to do so makes a pilgrimage to Mecca at

least once in his life, for that not only insures the salvation of his

soul but advances him in social and religious rank also, and he then

becomes a _Hadji_, a title for which we have no equivalent. It gives

him a higher place in the mosque and secures for him certain privileges

and advantages which people who have not been to Mecca do not enjoy.

Hence it is the ambition of every Mussulman to make the pilgrimage,

and millions go every year. The pilgrimages are regulated much better

now than formerly. Sanitary rules are enforced, which tend to prevent

the plagues that have invariably followed the annual hegira. Formerly

thousands upon thousands died from fatigue, starvation and disease,

and contagion was carried to different parts of the world by returning

caravans. But this no longer occurs. The pilgrimages are so regulated

that nowadays they can be accomplished without much danger or fatigue

and at comparatively small expense.

The most conspicuous man among the pilgrims was Hadji Sheik Islam, the

head of the church in Persia, who was accompanied by his son and three

other prominent Persian ecclesiastics. Upon their arrival they were met

with great ceremony by the Persian ambassador and the Sheik-ul-Islam of

Constantinople. They were guests at the Persian embassy, and enjoyed

the hospitality of the Sultan, who decorated them with badges and other

honors and conferred upon them his blessing as the head of the church.

Their dress is quite picturesque. They wear long tunics, or gowns, of

white silk with plaited bosoms and flowing sleeves, and the finest of

cashmere shawls as sashes around their waists. Over their gowns were

large brown camel’s-hair robes and upon their heads enormous white

turbans. The Sheik’s party were men of noble appearance and dignified

demeanor and received the homage of the people as if they were

accustomed to it.

When a Turkish steamer, carrying 1,400 pilgrims, was about to start

for Mecca the Sultan sent orders that no passenger should be charged

more than $8 fare, and that those who could not afford to pay should be

carried free. When the officers of the steamship company remonstrated

he blandly told them to send the bill for the difference to him--an act

of generosity which amused everybody who has a sense of humor, for the

Sultan of Turkey was never known to pay for anything. The steamship

company dared not defy his orders, but after reflection was ingenious

enough to partially recoup itself. When the steamer got as far as

Beirut, it dropped anchor, and the officers informed the managers

of the pilgrimage that they could not go any farther because they

had run out of coal, and they could not buy coal because they had no

money, the small amount paid by the pilgrims for fare having already

been exhausted. The pilgrims appealed by telegraph to the Sultan,

who ordered the governor of Beirut to furnish them coal, and he was

compelled to levy blackmail upon his constituents to reimburse himself.

The Moslem day is reckoned from sunset to sunset, and is divided into

two divisions of twelve hours each. Sunset is always twelve o’clock,

and as the length of the day varies throughout the year, Turkish

watches have to be altered at least every five days by the official

clock, which is set in the tower of a mosque in Stamboul.

The crescent, which is the symbol of the Turkish Empire, was adopted by

the Sultan Osman, the founder of the present Ottoman Empire, in 1299.

It is said that in the year 340 B.C., when Constantinople was besieged

by Philip of Macedon, and was only saved by the timely arrival of

reënforcements which Demosthenes sent to its assistance, a bright light

in the form of a crescent was seen in the sky and was regarded by the

inhabitants as a sign that rescue was approaching. Hence, like the star

in the east that was seen by the wise men, it was accepted as a divine

revelation, and since then the crescent has been a sacred emblem to the

Turks.

III THE SULTAN AND HIS FAMILY

The present Sultan of Turkey is the most interesting personality

among the sovereigns of the world, both for what he is and for what

he represents, exercising as he does the functions of an emperor over

a semi-barbarous and turbulent people, and spiritual jurisdiction

over the most fanatical and numerous of religious sects. He is the

ecclesiastical successor of Mohammed, head of the Moslem Church with

200,000,000 believers, and of the house of Ishmael, the son of Abraham,

and in his person is supposed to receive and enjoy the blessings which

God promised to Hagar. That is one of the most dramatic incidents in

Biblical history when, in obedience to the jealousy of Sarah, his wife,

“Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of

water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulders, and the child,

and sent her away, and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of

Beersheba.” And after the water was spent in the bottle and she had

cast the child under one of the shrubs, and lifted up her voice and

wept, “The angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto

her: ‘Arise, lift up the lad and hold him in thine hands, for I will

make him a great nation.’”

The Moslem world believes that Abraham was the founder of Mecca; that

Ishmael was their ancestor and that they have inherited the religion

of Abraham with its promises and blessings, and the characteristic

traits ascribed to Ishmael. Their hand has been against every man,

and every man’s hand has been against them, and still they defy all

other nations, whether pagan or Christian. Padishah (father of all

the sovereigns of the earth) is the official title of the Sultan,

and is used exclusively by the Turks in official communications. He

is also styled Imam-ul-Muselmin (pontiff of Mussulmans), Alem Penah

(refuge of the world), Zil-ullah (shadow of God), Hunkiar (the slayer

of infidels), and has several other honorary titles. He controls the

Mohammedan subjects of all nations, and if he should go to a little

mosque at the Seraglio, unfurl the green banner which was carried by

Mohammed, and declare a holy war, the sons of Ishmael in every part of

the earth--in India, Africa, China, the East Indies, and the islands

of the sea--would be required by their religion to sustain him and

obey his orders, regardless of their allegiance to their own civil

authorities.

Abdul Hamid II., the present Sultan, who was sixty years old in

September, 1902, is said to be a great coward who dare not leave his

country palace or show himself in his own capital. It is true that the

most extraordinary precautions are taken for his protection. He dare

not leave the safe solitude of Yildiz Park, which is situated about two

miles outside the gates of Constantinople and surrounded by a double

wall. The road from the palace to the Bosphorus passes between those

walls and is protected every inch of the way from the gates of the park

to the wharf on the Bosphorus, where, once a year only, he takes a

state barge and is rowed over to the Seraglio to perform the obligation

imposed upon him by his religion: viz., to worship the holy mantle of

the prophet on the anniversary of the death of Mohammed. That act is

required of him. If he did not perform it the whole church would rise

against him. Therefore, for that day, he is compelled to suppress his

fears and appear before the public; but it would be impossible for an

outsider to get anywhere near him unless he were highly recommended and

identified. Some people say that his cowardice is cultivated by his

ministers and other men who surround him, because they find it to their

personal advantage to prevent him from going abroad. So they keep him

locked in the Yildiz Kiosk, where they can control his surroundings

and prevent him from receiving any information that will be to their

discredit. At the same time there is no doubt that the Sultan keeps

constantly in mind the fact that many of the twenty-seven Padishahs who

have reigned at Constantinople are believed to have died by violence.

Several endeavored to save their lives by abdication, but the public

never saw them again.

The conspiracies are all among his own people and his immediate

attendants--the “outs” are always scheming to get in and the “ins” are

always conspiring to maintain their position. There are no political

parties in Turkey; there are no political issues. It is all a question

of obtaining the Sultan’s favor, and the entire Mohammedan population

is divided into two classes,--the ruling favorites and those who have

been discarded. The officials and army officers who have been disgraced

and removed from their positions naturally desire to recover them, and

hate the Sultan because he likes other people better than themselves.

The same jealousies prevail among the men of the court as among the

women of the harem. The outside population take no interest. They are

glad to be let alone. The business community consists of Armenians,

Greeks and Jews, with a few Turks. It would not be accurate to say that

all Turks are in office, but it is actually true that all the offices

are filled by Turks, and as there are not enough offices to go round,

those who are left out and compelled to get their living without the

aid of the government, are forever conspiring against the Sultan or the

grand vizier.

Some curious conspiracies are discovered. One of the most recent,

which for a time created a profound sensation at the Yildiz Kiosk

and caused the Sultan the loss of considerable sleep, was inspired

by a young Turk of high family named Rechad Bey. His father occupies

a post of distinction and many of his relatives are employed about

the court in offices of responsibility. As a rare favor to the family

the Sultan permitted them to send the young man to England, where he

attended school for several years and imbibed a great many ideas which

do not conform to the present state of affairs in Turkey. In 1901,

upon his return, he organized a football club among the young men of

his acquaintance and practiced in a vacant lot behind a high wall

in the neighborhood of his father’s palace. The detectives, who are

always around, discovered that something unusual was going on, and upon

making a thorough investigation decided that Rechad Bey had organized a

desperate conspiracy against the life and government of the Sultan. He

was arrested in the middle of the night. The keys to the garden and the

clubhouse were seized, and the most astounding discoveries followed.

In the clubhouse were found several footballs, a lot of jerseys and

the colors of the club, with shin guards, nose protectors, elbow pads

and other paraphernalia familiar to football players. To complete the

damning evidence one of the detectives cunningly ascertained that the

name of the large elastic bomb which these young men were in the habit

of kicking around at each other was the same term as that used by the

Turks for a cannon ball. Hence it must be a new kind of bomb or shell,

and the police authorities were convinced that they had unearthed an

important conspiracy to assassinate the Sultan and blow up the palace.

The footballs were submerged in water to prevent their explosion, and

the sweaters and the rest of the outfit were carried cautiously to the

palace in order that the Sultan might see for himself.

Football has been played for years in Constantinople by the young

men of the English embassy and the European colony, and also by the

students of Robert College, but the police authorities and the Sultan

never happened to hear of it. Hence they knew nothing of the game.

When the friends of Rechad Bey learned how serious a predicament he

was in they appealed to the British embassy for assistance. One of the

secretaries was sent to the minister of police to explain the nature of

the game and the uses of the terrible articles that had been discovered

at the clubhouse. He unlaced a football without the slightest

trepidation and showed the officials how it was made. He put on the

nose guards, the shin protectors and the other armor and attempted

to convince them of its innocent purpose. But they were still very

suspicious. Perhaps their pride had something to do with it, for they

insisted upon having Rechad Bey severely punished, and he was bundled

off in great haste to Teheran, Persia, where he cannot do anything to

aid in the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.

The Sultan’s advisers tell him that his life is in danger, and are

continually discovering conspiracies which never exist. A recent

fictitious conspiracy against him was attributed to one of his best

and most loyal friends, Fuad Pasha, “The Hero of Elena,” one of the

foremost generals in the war against Russia in 1877 and the war against

Greece in 1897. Fuad Pasha is an enlightened and honest man and has had

the confidence of the foreigners to a degree greater than almost any

other of the Sultan’s favorites. Until recently he was so much of a

favorite that the Sultan allowed him to hold his handkerchief for the

people to kiss, which was a mark of the greatest honor and confidence.

He kept Fuad Pasha about his person constantly, giving him the

command of his bodyguard; but Fuad in some way offended the detective

department, which reported to the Sultan that his favorite was involved

with the reformers known as the “Young Turkey” party, and spies were

set to watch his house. Fuad noticed strange men about the premises.

He probably suspected who they were and what they were there for, but

pretended to believe that they were burglars, and purchased a supply

of rifles and revolvers, which he placed in the hands of his servants

with instructions to fire upon the intruders if they became offensive.

This fact was reported to the Sultan promptly, and the vigilance of the

spies was increased. A few days later a collision occurred between them

and Fuad’s servants, in which several were killed and wounded. Fuad

was immediately arrested, taken to the palace, and after an interview

with the Sultan was sent aboard the latter’s private yacht, which

sailed at once for Beirut without allowing the prisoner to communicate

with his family or friends. He is supposed to have been sentenced to

exile at Damascus instead of being executed, which is a mark of great

forbearance upon the Sultan’s part.

Fuad found plenty of company at Damascus. Several other of the Sultan’s

former favorites are there in exile, hopefully awaiting a day when

their sovereign will be less susceptible to the influence of his

hired spies and detectives and more trustful of his loyal friends and

supporters. The great difficulty, however, is in His Majesty’s natural

distrust. When his suspicions are once aroused his ideas are always

distorted and his confidence can scarcely ever be restored. He is thus

driving away some of his most valuable supporters.

In 1901, when the Sultan went to Seraglio Point to worship at the

mosque that holds the sacred mantle of the prophet, another funny

thing occurred. He was landed at the regular dock, where a carriage

was waiting to convey him to the old palace, but he had not proceeded

far when he noticed that telegraph wires had been stretched across the

driveway along the line of the railroad, and positively declined to

pass under them. Nobody knows what was in his mind, or what he thought

would happen, but the entire procession was stopped right there, and

remained motionless until aides-de-camp had galloped away to summon

somebody from the railway headquarters who could climb the poles and

cut down the wires. Nor have they been replaced. The Sultan positively

forbade it, but the railway officials are supposed to have dug a trench

and hidden them underground. If the Sultan learns that fact he may

refuse to drive over them.

He is very superstitious about electricity, but is as inconsistent

concerning it as he is with everything else. He will not permit

electric lights or telephones or electric street cars anywhere in

Turkey, although the government has a telegraph line to every important

point in the empire, and the Sultan has an instrument and an operator

in his private office to receive messages in his own private cipher

from detectives and other officials in different parts of the country

in whom he has special confidence, or to whom he may have intrusted

important business. He maintains a regular system of communication

with officials of the empire entirely distinct from and without the

knowledge of their immediate superiors. The general of the army and the

minister of war do not know what communications are passing between

commanders of posts and districts and their sovereign, and the minister

of the interior can never be sure what private reports are being made

by his subordinates. Thus the mutual distrust that exists between

the Sultan and his ministers is not only recognized, but promoted.

There are three electric-light plants in Constantinople--at one of

the hotels, at the palace of the mother of the Khedive of Egypt on

the Bosphorus, and at the palace of Hassan Pasha, minister of marine.

There are two private telephone systems, one between the headquarters

of the Imperial Ottoman Bank and its branches throughout the city,

and the other between the signal-station where the Bosphorus connects

with the Black Sea and the headquarters of the Maritime Association in

Constantinople. The Sultan will not allow gas or petroleum or other

explosives to be used about the palace, although the park surrounding

the palace is brilliantly illuminated by gas. His rooms and the

other apartments are lit with candles and equipped with beautiful

crystal chandeliers. There are several street-car lines operated by

horses, and the companies have repeatedly applied for permission to

use electricity, but have always been refused. In the street-cars,

ferry-boats and other public conveyances there is always a little

apartment curtained off for the use of ladies.

Gorges Dorys, author of “The Private Life of the Sultan,” recently

published in England, France and the United States, has been sentenced

to death. His real name is Adossides. The proceedings are only formal,

however, because Mr. Dorys left the country before the manuscript of

the book was finished and is now living in Paris. The French government

has been asked to surrender him, but has refused to do so. Mr. Dorys,

however, will never be able to return to his home. All of the European

nations were requested by the Turkish ambassadors to suppress the

volume, and the Sultan has been led to believe that his wishes have

been complied with all over the world; but nothing has been actually

done, except in Sweden, where an attempt to prevent the sale of the

book by legal proceedings not only failed but gave it a tremendous

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