This seems frivolous and incredible, but it is true; namely, a dream
of the Sultan.
Some six years ago, a report was circulated in Constantinople about
this dream. It was, that in his sleep the Sultan saw a little tree
planted in the center of his kingdom. It began to grow larger and
larger, till it covered the whole Turkish Empire, and overshadowed even
the mountains. All the nations of Turkey dwelt under its glorious and
majestic shade. Still it grew, till the branches crossed the oceans
and covered all the other kingdoms, finally the whole world. He
woke, but the dream troubled him deeply, and he called some of the
ulemas or wise men, of whom he always has a number in his palace, to
interpret it for him. They explained it by saying that the tree was
Christianity; Christian missionary work in the heart of his empire. It
was a menace to his throne and country, and would grow till it covered
the world. The Sultan, alarmed and angry, asked what he should do. The
ulemas advised him to cut it down while it was small, and he has been
doing his best to follow their advice. He did not dare to kill the
missionaries, but he is accomplishing the same result by destroying
their churches and schools and forbidding any more to be built,
confiscating all religious books, and killing the native Christian
ministers. He has employed every device to force the missionaries
to depart by paralyzing their work; if they chose to stay, he would
accuse them of inciting the natives to revolt. He has succeeded so far;
plunder, burning, torture, murder, violation and forced conversion of
Christian women, have practically put an end to missionary work. Now
the time has come to kill the missionaries; and he will very likely
find some excuse for doing it--he has an arsenal of falsehoods always
at his command. Quite likely he will say the Armenians killed them,
and then murder more Armenians in reprisal. His cunning is as infinite
as his cruelty. He gives a charter to a missionary institution and
destroys ten others. He invites Minister Terrell to the palace, gives
him grand receptions, and loads him with promises and flatteries,
and all the time goes on obliterating the schools and churches and
killing the native pastors. He creates a ruin; when the European powers
protest, he says he will make amends, and he does it by perpetrating
a greater one, in which the first is forgotten. He massacres hundreds
in a city; when the powers protest, he says he will restore order,
and does it by ordering thousands killed in another city, and the
first is again forgotten. His atrocities increase as he finds that he
is to be unmolested; he is resolute to cut down that spreading tree,
and has already cut thousands of branches from it. And the Christian
nations look on and say they cannot help it. They know perfectly well
what is going on, but their "interests" of one sort or another will
not permit them to remove that awful blot on civilization.