rinoc 11 II ii^^i ■^MT ffS >*• 5^ ^ < "%/' ?4 ®KS»S P^<7^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Shelf -iB-i-l UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ^ '$^^ :;^V MS ^feT£ ^t&^^^nC^ ^?& (Q INTRODUCTION. WE need a new angle of vision on the martyrdoms in Armenia. Let us suppose that we had never heard anything about them and that on next Sunday morning, in our respective churches, our respective pastors should come forward with a statement like the following : — Near the foot of a famous mountain there lived 1 500 years ago, in a little country about 400 miles square, a people numbering, perhaps, 3,000,000. In the turmoil of the centuries they had been scattered until their ances- tral valleys and mountain slopes have largely passed into other hands. They still preserve, however, the racial characteristics of that early time, and look back with intense yearning to that olden time and those familiar places. In face, figure and bearing, they are remarkably attractive. It is said that their personal resemblance to the supposed physical type of our Lord is probably more striking than that of any other race. In the simplicity of their faith and the earnestness of their character, these people are reminders of the early Christian Church. The bravery of their men and the chastity of their women are proverbial. They cherish the Bible as the most precious of their possessions and guard it all the more sacredly when to do so involves the hazard of their lives. They are unarmed and do harm to none, they only seek to tend their flocks, till their fields, and conduct their trade in quietness and peace. Their country is controlled by a rich and powerful potentate of another race, who with his court and his army would be neither cruel nor vindictive except for their religion. They are Mohammedans and CO 2 INTRODUCTION. have been taught for centuries that a Christian slain was the surest passport to the favor of God and the enjoyment of eternal happiness. Under the insane spell of this awful fanaticism, they have come down like wolves on the gentle Christian people under their sway, and within the last year have slaughtered men, women and children without mercy, not for any wrong that they have done, but only because they are Christians. Their villages and homes have been burned to the ground and such ingenuity of torture and outrage inflicted upon them as could hardly have been excelled if the bottomless pit had vomited forth its leading spirits to urge the battle on. The cruelty towards priests and women, the two non-combatant classes, has been bitterest of all. Because the priest represented the detested religion of Christ, he has been not only slain but mutilated, and the sign of the cross cut in his forehead by murderous swords, and because Mohammedans believe before all things in the harem rather than the home, a brutal soldiery has spared neither the wife, the mother, nor the babe unborn. Outrages worse than death have been endured by women, always preceded by the promise that they would be spared if they would abjure their faith, but in no instance have they hesitated to face their double agony rather than disclaim allegiance to the Cross. Now, in the presence of such a spectacle as this, with the martyr- dom of a devoted nation going forward under their eyes, the men of Christendom have stood by and watched these agonies ; have seen a crowd of gentle Christian women shut up in a church and undergoing a night of outrage ending in murder, the streams of blood flowing out under the church doors ; they have stood by while Moslem savages deliberately disemboweled Christian mothers and brought into a world accursed, innocent babes which were taken on the points of bayonets and sportively tossed to and fro ; they have passively beheld the mas- sacre of fifty thousand Christian people in the slowly-rounded circle of a year. Suppose that this were said in every Christian pulpit next Sunday morn- ing, with what righteous anger and holy indignation would the congre- gation rise up exclaiming : " Where are these outrages ? Who are the INTRODUCTION. 3 dastards that stand by watching the slow martyrdom of a nation whose only fault is its loyalty to the Gospel that we profess ? " And then should come the answer that Nathan uttered in the face of David: pointing to America, England, the Christian nations of the continent of Europe, " Thou art the man ! " It is you that are standing by like the traitors of old and consenting to the death of those who in an age of spiritual apathy are sealing with the blood of martyrdom their holy allegiance to " the faith once delivered to the saints." This is the situation : Armenians are the nation ; the Sultan and his soldiers are the devil's scourge ; the Anglo-Saxon race is the cold- hearted spectator. In saying this I am not upbraiding any person high in power, not singling out any nation as more guilty than the rest. For in this crisis mere criticism would be futile. What we must have is action ; united, cogent and immediate; we must not stand upon the order of our going, but go at once, drawn by the compulsion of what is best and most enduring in our natures, even " the tie that binds " us to the assertion and proof of a common humanity and a " like precious faith " in Christ. We have waited a year, and now across the horrid front of war gleams the white figure of a woman. Clara Barton, the angel of the battlefield, takes upon herself the heavenly task of going to Turkey to represent the forces of the Golden Rule and of the Home which is their outcome. In the long and bloody annals of the Sultan's country, two figures brighten the scene, two names breathe benediction — Florence Nightin- gale and Clara Barton, the fairest flowers of English and American Christianity. Women may well be grateful that their sex has placed in the sky where the crescent is fading into darkness the two brightest stars of hope that shall glow in history's constellation. Americans have given costly hostages to the Turk. No band of men and women more heroic have lived since the Great Light shone forth out of Jerusalem, than our Missionaries in the land of the harem. The record of their danger, suffering and death is only second to that of the beloved Armenians whose devotion has rewarded their heroic 4 INTRODUCTION. toil. Their colleges and schools, churches and hospitals have passed under the withering blight of the Mohammedan. In the present desperate emergency, the work of Miss Kimball in the devastated city of Van will be chronicled on the fairest pages where the bravery of Christian women is described. The record that follows is given us by a noble young American, the son of Isaac G. Bliss, D. D., that statesman-like Missionary whose name has been endeared to the Christian Church for well nigh half a century by reason of his wise and unremitting labors. The appearance of this book is opportune, and its moderation of tone will commend it to all thoughtful readers. For we do not wish to hate the Turk or impale him on the point of rapier-like epithets. He is what the centuries have made him, and like Saul of Tarsus who became Paul of Damascus, he " verily thinks that he doeth God service." Superstition and fanaticism have been in all ages the most deadly foes of the human race. Under their withering breath the Armenians seem likely to be swept out of existence. Surely such an illustration, surviving in a century when " sweet reasonableness " and universal toleration have made more rapid strides than in any that has preceded it, should nerve the will of every Christian man and woman to defend our Mission and our Missionaries, whose work alone can disinfect the land of the scimitar from its awful taint, and disintegrate by means of education the public opinion that prefers the harem to the home and the Koran of Mohammed to the New Testament of Christ. En route in the Southern States, January 15, 1896. FRANCES E. WILLARD. PREFACE. THE object of this book is not merely to set forth the situation in Turkey as it is to-day, but to trace the influences that have produced it. Those influences are very complex. They include the social characteristics of the peo- ples of Turkey, the religious beliefs and ecclesiastical customs that have grown up in the empire during the past centuries, the political ambitions and jealousies of the European Powers, and the personal qualities of the different men who have been prominent in the control of affairs. Probably no chapter in history is more kaleidoscopic in its character. To set forth its various phases, the topical rather than the strictly historical form has been adopted. The effort has been made to let each phase stand out as clearly as possible, first in itself, and then in its relation to the other phases. The contemporary historian is never logical. That remains for those who, with longer range, have a better perspective. The various histories of Turkey have been consulted, but special acknowledgment must be made to "Turkey Old and New," by Sutherland Menzies, which more than any other traces the development of the Eastern Question from the standpoint of the European Powers. "The Life of Lord (v) V l PREFACE. Stratford de Redcliffe," by Stanley Lane Poole, " Turkish Life in War Time," by Henry O. Dwight, and Dr. Cyrus Hamlin's books, " My Life and Times" and "Among the Turks," have been consulted with great advantage. It is a privilege not less than a duty to acknowledge the very efficient aid rendered by Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, Dr. Benjamin Labaree and Professor E. A. Grosvenor. Dr. Hamlin's vivid remembrance of the picturesque phases of Turkish diplomacy during the reigns of Mahmud II and Abd-ul-Medjid ; Dr. Labaree's scholarly as well as practical knowledge of branches of the Eastern Church which to most are little more than historic names ; Professor Grosvenor's intimate acquaintance with, and sym- pathetic appreciation of, the Greek life and character, have laid me under peculiar obligations to each. I must also express my thanks to those who from the very center of the conflict have given those sketches which describe so vividly the terror of the situation. Some of the letters appear for the first time on these pages ; others have been already given to the world in the columns of The Independent and the daily press. Their authors I know well and esteem most highly for their great ability and high character, which has been most nobly manifest during the trying scenes of the past year. As I write these lines word has come of the death of one and of the critical condition of another. They have been urged to leave their posts, but one and all they have refused, with the exception of a very few who, in their own physical weakness, have felt that they could not strengthen their associates. Turkey and Russia are banded together to force them to leave ; the former that they may not bear witness against the evil done ; the latter that they may not hinder the progress PREFACE. VH of that policy of repression already applied to Evangelical thought throughout her empire. What is in the future no man can tell, but the growth of pure religion in whatever form of church organization ; the development of freedom of thought; the attainment of civil liberty, and that not merely for Armenian, but for Greek, Nestorian, Jacobite, and even for the Turk himself, depends upon the continuance of the influences for a higher life that have been at work during the past sixty years, and that depends upon the missionaries being supported at their posts. Theirs is no sectarian work. They stand as the friends of Gregorian Armenians, Roman Catholic Chaldeans, Nestorians and Jacobites as well as of those in closer affiliation with the Protestant Churches of Europe and America. America should stand by them and demand their full protection. It is our right by treaty ; it is our right by the duty we owe humanity, by the duty we owe to our tradition as a liberty loving nation. We have no political ends to serve ; we want not a square foot of the Sultan's domains; but we stand, as we have always stood, for freedom for the oppressed, for the right of every man to worship his God in the light of his own conscience. Edwin Munsell Bliss. New York City, March 21st, 1896. tfLA CK N/COWED/H •**/~*& ^,>h. ,.„ ,,„, . $5 M4/TS, IT;-- S^l \ ANGORA^ <&BM3URT K---AE-- .-MtS V ^(°r v -% i? l y » m *4* *K A RAM fiOWEH 'pMi/assa '\ );»v^!!:;;:;;:";'r^fe: - v*\ «£T %• rf s W-i,W t of If? ITOON : MAfiflSti ^> * *»•»,,<, * 4 / .1/ ^ & I T ^ CYPRUS X L w (fir Red— District Where Ma»^" es Occuned. £ R T XK CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The Turkish Empire. Geographical Extent — Topography — Physi cal Characteristics — Products— Traveling and Transportation — Building . l 9 CHAPTER II. Population and Languages. Accurate Statements as to Population Impossible — No Census — Best Available Estimates — Distribution — Most of the Races Described in Other Chapters — Jews and Foreigners — General Characteristics — The Languages — How Distributed — Peculiarities of the Turkish — Number Spoken in the Seaboard Cities 37 CHAPTER III. Religions. Islam and Christianity — A Few Pagan Communities — Origin of Mohammedanism —The Koran— The Traditions— Extent of Islam— Present Condition — Effect upon the Turks — Contact with Civilization— Sects — Oriental Christianity— Characteristics 5 1 CHAPTER IV. The Turks. Their Origin — Early History — General Characteristics — Good Qualities — Kindness — Hospitality— Temperance — Honesty — Intellectual Ability — Obedience to Rulers — Bravery — Bad Characteristics — Indifference to Suffering — Brutality — Degradation of Women — Sensuality — Official Unreliability — Fatalism — Insolence — Indolence — General Summary 66 (ix) X CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. The Kurds. Legend of the Serpents — Connected with the Medes — Tribal Organization — Nomad Life — Saladin and the Crusaders — After the Russo-Turkish War — The Ham- idieh Cavalry — Brutal Treatment of Christians — Arabs — Circassians and Other Moslem Subjects — The Nusairiyeh — Yezidis and Druzes 85 CHAPTER VI. The Armenians. Their Origin — Early History — First Nation to Accept Christianity — Dispersion Under Oppression — Change from Agricultural to Commercial People — General Characteristics; Loyalty to Nation and Religion — Industry — Morality — Intellectual Ability — Shrewdness — Jealousy of One Another — Influence of Missions and European Ideas — Growth of National Ambition — Armenians in Russia — Autonomy — Armenians in Other Countries — Patriarch Mattheos — Outlook for the Future 106 CHAPTER VII. The Greeks. Fidelity of the Oriental Churches — The Apostle Andrew — Concessions by Mohammed II — Gennadios II — Suffering and Misery — Greek Revolution — Growth of National Spirit — Hellenes or Romaioi — Bulgarians in their Relation to the Greek Church. . 130 CHAPTER VIII. Other Oriental Churches. The Syrian Church Divided into Syrians, Chaldeans, Nestorians, Jacobites, and some Roman Catholic Bodies — The Jacobites — Patriarch of Antioch — Condition of Villagers — Jebel Tur Region — Nestorians — Patriarch of Babylon — Badir Khan Bey — Chaldeans — The Copts of Egypt — Maronites and Druzes 145 CHAPTER IX. Rise and Decline of Ottoman Power. Capture of Constantinople — Victories of Mohammed II — The Sultans Assume the Caliphate — Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — Attack upon Venice — Constant Strife over the Danubian Principalities — Internal Disorganization — Weak Sultans CONTENTS. XI and Powerful Viziers — Alliances with Foreign Powers — Repeated Disasters — Weak Rule in Asia — Revolt in Egypt and Syria — Condition at Commencement of Present Century 164 CHAPTER X. Turkey and Europe. First Intercourse — Alliance between Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent — Intrigues between France and Austria — The First Treaty — Nature of Capitu- lations — Peculian Favors Granted to the French — Their Recognition as the Pro- tectors of Christians — Entrance of Other Powers — Louis XIV and His Ambas- sador — Influence of De Breves — Peace of Carlowitz — Turkey No Longer Dreaded in Europe 183 CHAPTER XI. Russia and Turkey. Aggression of Peter the Great — Diminution and Renewal of French Influence — The Contest over the Holy Places — Victory of Russian Influence in Favor of the Greek Church — Russia's Religious Propaganda Among the Greeks — Rise of Phil-Hellenism — Dismemberment Talked of — Effect of the French Revolution — The Russian Fleet in the Dardanelles — The English Fleet at Constantinople — Peace of Tilsit — Plan for Partition — Accession of Mahmud II 195 CHAPTER XII. Mahmud II. A Disintegrating Empire — An Energetic Sultan— Napoleon and Alexander — Lord Stratford de Redcliffe — Greek War for Independence — Russia's Perfidy — Destruc- tion of the Janissaries — Reforms Attempted — Mehemet Ali of Egypt — Accession of Abd-ul-Medjid 210 CHAPTER XIII. Reform and Progress. Reign of Abd-ul-Medjid — Influence of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe — English Policy in Turkey — Hatti Sherif of Gulhane — A Remarkable Document — Equal Rights for All Subjects of the Sultan — Land Tax and Judicial Reform— General Situation of the Country — Application of the Reforms 225 Xli CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Treaties of Paris and Berlin. Influence of Lord Stratford — The Holy Places— Crimean War— Treaty of Paris — Abd-ul-Aziz — Extravagance — Influx of Europeans — Provincial Government — Accession of Abd-ul-Hamid II — Russo-Turkish War — Treaty of San Stephano — Treaty of Berlin — Cyprus Convention 238 CHAPTER XV. Condition of the Christians. The Christians under Early Moslem Rule — Mohammed II — General Oppression — Protection by French Government — Russian Intrigue — Power of the Greek Church — Reforms under Mahmud II and Abd-ul-Medjid — The Hatti Humayoun — General Improvement Throughout the Empire 259 CHAPTER XVI. The Turkish Government. True Moslem State Theocratic — Dual Form of the Present Government — The Sub- lime Porte — Army and Navy — Internal Administration — Financial Management — General Corruption — Administration of Justice — Treatment of Christians — The Ulema— The Palace Party— The Sultan 280 CHAPTER XVII. Protestant Missions in Turkey. Early History — Opposition of Ecclesiastics in the Oriental Churches — Attitude of the Turkish Government— Work Among Moslems — Development of Education — Societies at Work — The American Board — Presbyterian Boards — American and British Bible Societies — English Societies — General Statistics — Relations to the Turkish Government — Character of the Missionaries 3° 2 CHAPTER XVIII. The Armenian Question. A Progressive Grand Vizier— Victory of the Reactionary Party— Egypt and the Mahdi — Rise of the Armenian Question — Russian Intrigue — Articles of the Berlin CONTENTS. X1U Treaty — Autonomy Desired — The Huntchagist Committee — Placards in Asia Minor — Burning of American Building at Marsovan — Numerous Arrests — Armenians Exiled — Coercive Measures of the Government — American Citizens — Threats — Huntchagists Disowned by the Nation — Young Turkey Party — Ab- solute Failure of the Huntchagist Movement 324 CHAPTER XIX. General Situation in 1894. Terrible Oppression — Exaggerated Reports — Truth Stranger Than Fiction — Re- ligious Liberty Infringed Upon — Oppressive School Laws — Rigorous Censorship — General Effort of the Government to Suppress Christian Development 345 CHAPTER XX. The Sassun Massacre. A Deliberate Plan of The Turkish Government — Kurdish Raids — Armenians Defend Themselves — Kurds Reinforced by Regular Troops — Terrible Scenes of Slaughter — Stories of Survivors 368 CHAPTER XXI. Politics and Massacre at Constantinople. Investigation at Sassun — Mr. Gladstone on the Situation — Disturbances in Constanti- nople — Joint Notes by the Embassies — Plan of Reforms — New English Government — Massacre in Constantinople — Decisive Action of the Embassies — Signing of the Reforms — Subsequent Acts of Defiance — Breach Between England and Russia — Collapse of English Influence 384 CHAPTER XXII. Massacres at Trebizond and Erzrum. Importance and General Prosperity of Both Cities — Threats by the Turks — Terror Among the Armenians — Suddenness of the Attacks — Murder and Pillage by Regular Soldiers, Under the Eye of Foreign Consuls — Ferocity of the Turks — Testimony of Eye-Witnesses — Terrible Scenes at the Burial of the Victims 406 CHAPTER XXIII. Massacres in Harput District. American Residences — First Indications — Specious Promises — Riot, Murder and XIV CONTENTS. Pillage — A Dangerous Journey — Attempts at Defense — List of Villages and Details of Massacres — Statement of a Turkish Official — Armenians not Respon- sible — Turkish Dread of Reform — Tabular Statement 427 CHAPTER XXIV. AlNTAB, MARASH AND UrFA. The Situation in Northern Syria — No Revolutionary Movement — Massacre at Aintab — Kurdish Women — A Turkish Captain Helps the Pillage — A Colonel Checks it — Caring for the Wounded — Two Attacks at Marash — Destruction of American Houses — Brave Men in Zeitun — Story of Massacres at Urfa 447 CHAPTER XXV. Character of the Massacres. Massacres at Sivas, Cesarea, Birejik, Bitlis, and the Region of Mardin — Protection by the Turkish Government for the Jacobites — General Survey — Place and Time of the Massacres — Victims Exclusively Armenians — Effort to Destroy the Strength of the Nation — Motive — Responsibility of the Turkish Government and of the Sultan „ 474 CHAPTER XXVI. Religious Persecution. Motive of the Massacres — Primarily Political, then Religious — The Religious Element Overpowering the Political — Dread of Christian Domination — False State- ments by the Turkish Government — Instances of Persecution and Enforced Con- version to Islam — A Tremendous Moral Disaster — Efforts of the Government to Suppress Reports 482 CHAPTER XXVII. Relief Work. The General Situation — Absolute Destitution — Appeals to America and England — Work in the Sassun Region — Van and Dr. Kimball — Appeals Following the Greater Massacres — Clara Barton and the Red Cross — Opposition of the Turks — Letter from Van — After the Massacre in Harput — Suffering in the Villages — Appeal for Help ., 502 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XXVIII. Partition of Turkey. Factors in the Problem — Turkey and Europe — Topography of the Country — Distri- bution of Population — Countries Interested — Russia, England, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria — Desire for Territorial Aggrandizement — Mutual Jealousies — Possible Solution — Turkish Factor Often Overlooked — Great Difficul- ties to be Met 528 CHAPTER XXIX. America and Turkey. Early Treaties — Some Prominent Ambassadors — American Missionaries — Obedience to the Laws — Treaty Rights — Questions of Importance — Indemnity at Harput and Marash — More Consuls Needed — Naturalized Americans — Right of Domicile Threatened — Positive Action Needed — Duty of America 542 CHAPTER XXX. General Survey. Statistics of Massacre and Pillage — Where Does the Responsibility Rest ? —The Turks; Fear, Ferocity, Outrage — The Armenians; Ambition, Lack of Preparation, Unwisdom of Huntchagists — The European Powers ; Jealousy, Ambition, Cowardice — The Sultan; Alliance with Reactionary Party, Difficult Position, Individual Care of Minutiae — Latest Development of Most Terrible Persecution. . 552 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Patriarch of Constantinople .... Frontispiece. View of Mount Ararat . . . . . . . • l 7 General View of the Gardens of Van . . . .18 A Kurdish Encampment _ . -35 Turkish Peasant Family . . 36 The Hamadieh Mosque 53 Turkish Dervish 54 Turkish Peasant 7 1 Group of Mountaineers 7 2 Kurdish Sheik 89 Group of Xeibecks 9° Armenian Woman 107 An Evangelical Armenian Church 108 Kurdish Mountain Village 125 A Turkish Village Sheik 126 The City of Brusa 143 Land Walls of Constantinople 144 Bridge of Boats Across the Lower Tigris . . . .161 Village of Reed Huts in Lower Mesopotamia . . .162 A Khan, or Caravansary 179 A Dome Village in Northern Mesopotamia . . .180 General View of Constantinople 197 View of Adrianople 198 (17) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Group of Armenian Young Men The City of Marsovan in Asia Minor Sultan of Turkey .... Audience at the Palace . Robert College .... The Boys' High School in Smyrna . Circassian Officer in the Sultan's Army Slaughter of the Armenians at Sassun Gateway of the War Department at Constantinople The City of Trebizond .... The City of Harput in Eastern Turkey The City of Aintab The City of Gumushkhane View in the City of Tabriz . Council of the Government of Great the Armenian Question Square of the Atmeidan . British Flotilla .... Massacres of the Armenians . Looting in Stamboul Massacre in Stamboul Imprisoning Armenians Scene of Slaughter .... After the Slaughter Burying the Armenians . Britain Regarding PAGE 251 252 269 270 287 288 305 306 359 360 377 378 395 39 6 413 414 43i 449 467 485 494 510 526 543 CHAPTER I. The Turkish Empire. Geographical Extent — Topography — Physical Characteristics — Products— Traveling and Transportation — Building. THE Turkish Empire at the beginning of 1896 included: in Europe, Albania, Macedonia, and the southeastern portion of the Balkan Peninsula ; in Asia, Asia Minor, Eastern Turkey or Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Syria, and a compara- tively small section of Southern Arabia. In nominal subjec- tion was the large African province of Tripoli, while Egypt and Bulgaria were reckoned as tributary States. The total area may be estimated as follows : IMMEDIATE POSSESSIONS. Europe 63,850 square miles. Asia 729,170 " " Total 793,020 Add Tripoli 398,873 " " Total 1,191,893 TRIBUTARY STATES. Bulgaria -. . 37,860 " « Egypt 400,000 " " Island of Samos 210 " " Total 438,070 Grand Total 1,629,963 A better idea of the extent will be gained from the state- ment that the immediate possessions cover very nearly the same territory as the United States east of the Mississippi, while the addition of Tripoli carries the line to include Minne- 2 19 20 TOPOGRAPHY. sota and Louisiana, and the entire possessions correspond to the section east of a line drawn south from the western boun- dary of the Dakotas and cutting Texas in two. It is, however, by no means a compact country, as will readily be seen by the map, and the different sections are as unlike to as they are distant from each other. The difference between Albania and Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Egypt, is scarcely less great than that between Maine and Honduras, Oregon and Cuba. This great diversity in topography carries with it corresponding diversity in the general characteristics of the people, and both must be kept in mind if the situation, po- litical and social, is to be understood. Topographically the general characteristics of the Turkish Empire, whether in Europe or Asia, are a great extent of coast line and a large amount of mountainous country. With the exception of the Mesopotamia plain, a portion of Northern Syria and the plateaus of Western Asia Minor, the whole Empire is distinctly mountainous. In European Turkey the mountains extend from Montenegro into Greece ; and until within a hundred miles of Constantinople, with the ex- ception of the valley of the Vardar, there is scarcely any plain at all. Asiatic Turkey may be divided into four sections : Asia Minor, Eastern Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia. Asia Minor includes the country west of a line drawn north from the Gulf of Iskanderun to the Black Sea ; Eastern Turkey the remainder eastward to the Persian border ; Syria in- cludes the section south of the Taurus and east of the Mediter- ranean to the Euphrates ; and Mesopotamia covers the great valley between the Euphrates and Tigris and the section be- tween the Tigris and the Persian border as far south as the Persian Gulf, MOUNTAIN RANGES. 21 From the very eastern end of the Black Sea along its southern coast, along the Sea of Marmora, the Aegean and the Mediterranean, extends a range of mountains, broken only by occasional passes ; while from the Mediterranean through to the Persian border a line almost as sharp as that of a seacoast separates the mountainous region known his- torically as Armenia, more lately as Kurdistan or Eastern Turkey, from the level of Mesopotamia. So also the Lebanon range, extending from this same point of departure, the Gulf of Iskanderun, separates the narrow coast line from the Sy- rian Desert and the Hauran. The coast has almost no harbors worthy of the name. Constantinople, with its Bosporus and Golden Horn, is famous ; Smyrna has a good harbor, but Trebizond, Samsun and In- eboli on the Black Sea ; Adalia, Mersine, Alexandretta, Beirut and Jaffa on the Mediterranean, are open roadsteads. In European Turkey there are fairly good harbors at Kayala and Salonica on the Aegean, but none on the coast of the Adriatic. The mountain ranges have very few passes. The most important ones in Asiatic Turkey are on the north from Trebizond to Erzrum, from Samsun south to Marsovan and Sivas, and from Ineboli to Kastamuni and Angora; and on the south from Mersine and Adana to Nidgeh and Cesarea, from Marash to Malatia and Harput, and from Diarbekir to Harput. On the east there are passes from Erzrum to Kars, from Van to Trebizond, from Mosul by Rowandiz to Lake Urumia, and from Bagdad to Hamadan. There are of course other roads, but they are so precipitous as to be most difficult of passage. The western section of Asia Minor is mountainous, without special ranges, and there are no passes of the same nature as those that cross the northern and southern ranges 22 BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. of mountains. Still the country is very rough and there are only a few roads easy of travel. In such a country it is natural to expect that the scenery should be fine, and the expectation is not disappointed. Along the Tigris there are views unsurpassed, except perhaps among the high Alps or the Himalayas, for grandeur. As the river cuts its way between lofty precipices and catches glimpses through the valleys of snowclad summits, one gets an idea of the strange effect it must have had upon Xenophon and his ten thousand as they toiled along the path still easily traced on the east bank. The approach to the city of Rowandiz from Mosul and Arbela is through a gorge, where the road, which winds for 2000 feet up a precipice, furnishes views equal to any in Switzerland. The author, passing, here fired his gun expecting an echo, but was disappointed and was just starting on when from far down the canon there came a faint sound. Nearer and nearer it came, hurled back and forth from cliff to cliff", until the echo was almost deafening, and he was satisfied. A very different kind of scenery is that over the plains. The view from Mardin, bounded by the Sinjar Hills, nearly 100 miles away, is one never to be forgotten. The great Mesopotamia plain lies at one's feet, like a gorgeous carpet of many colors, and the villages like children's playthings dot it with miniature pictures of life. So too the views over the Cesarea plain, from the slopes of the snowclad Argeus ; over the Harput plain, from the Deli Baba Pass near Erzrum, and from the summits back of Trebizond and Samsun, where the Black Sea first breaks on the view ; and most unique perhaps of all, that from the citadel of Van, with the gardens and lake in the foreground, and volcanic Sipan Dagh looming up in CARRIAGE ROADS. 23 the background. Of all the mountains Ararat is certainly the most beautiful. From whatever direction it is seen its symmetrical sides and regular summit appear perfectly ap- proachable, yet so difficult is the ascent that to the people it seems almost as if God had forbidden its summit to be pro- faned. Very different from all these is the region near Brusa, with its Bithynian Olympus, its lake of Nicaea, and its vine- yards, reminding one of Southern France. In some future day when traveling is not only safe, but easy, searchers after the beautiful as well as the grand, will find Turkey a favorite field of travel. Over the plateaus of Asia Minor and the great Mesopo- tamia plain, passage is easy. Through the mountainous sec- tion of Eastern Turkey it is almost as difficult in any direc- tion as over the great ranges. The Romans had built cause- ways in every direction, but in the later Byzantine times, these had fallen into disuse, and the great pitfalls occasioned by the dropping out of huge blocks of stone made them almost im- passable. In a few instances, the Turkish Sultans made some efforts to repair these causeways, but they were seldom suc- cessful. The result was that everything was carried on horses, mules or camels, and such a thing as a cart or carriage was unknown. There have been various attempts on the part of the Turkish government to develop a system of carriage roads, especially within the past twenty years. Of these there were five specially important ones designed to connect Bagdad and Persia with the seacoast. One from Constantinople via Nicomedia, Angora, Sivas and Diarbekir to Mardin, Mosul and Bagdad ; one from Samsun on the Black Sea via Amasia connecting with the first at Sivas ; one from Smyrna via Konieh and Cesarea also connecting with the other at 24 RAILROADS. Sivas ; one from Alexandretta via Aleppo and Urfa to Diarbekir on the north, and on the south via Nisibin to Mosul connecting with the others at Diarbekir and Mosul. On the north there was a road from Trebi- zond via Erzrum and Van into Persia. In Syria the only roads of importance are from Beirut and Khaifa to Damascus. At the present time there are scarcely any roads worthy of the name anywhere in the empire, except between Trebizond and Erzrum and between Beirut and Damascus. There are a few railroads. The first to be built was from Smyrna to Aidin. That was followed by one from Smyrna to Manisa, extended on to Alashehir ; then followed one from Constantinople to Nicomedia, since extended somewhat on the way to Angora ; one from Mersine to Adana, and one from the coast to Brusa. It was the plan for all these to con- verge into a great railway to Bagdad, but, like so many other enterprises, they have proved unsuccessful. In European Turkey, owing largely to the influence of Austria, there has been better success, and both Salonica and Constantinople are connected by rail with Vienna and Paris. The climate of the Turkish Empire is very varied. In European Turkey, Western Asia Minor and Northern East- ern Turkey it is temperate ; while Syria and Mesopotamia are almost torrid in their heat. Undoubtedly the lack of trees has much to do with the intense heat of the plains of North- ern Syria, and even of sections of Asia Minor. The rains have washed the soil off the hills and mountains in many places, leaving bare rock, the reflection from which is intense in summer, while in winter the cold is almost equally unendur- able. The snows throughout Eastern Turkey are very se- vere, rendering the roads almost impassable in winter, so that FERTILITY. 25 caravans are frequently detained for days and weeks, and sometimes goods on their way from Erzrum and Van into Persia are delayed for several months. In Western Asia Minor, there is comparatively little snow, but the winter season is one of rain, and the soil, being in the main clay, renders travel exceedingly difficult. In Syria the intense heat of the plain may be escaped by going to the higher slopes of Lebanon. Thus the inhabitants of Beirut have a pleasant resort within a few hours' ride. In Mesopotamia, however, this opportunity does not exist, and almost the only relief from the intense heat in Mosul and Bagdad, is found by tak- ing refuge in cellars. The whole empire is extraordinarily fertile. The great Mesopotamia plain will bear the richest harvests with even the rudest form of agriculture ; so also the plateaus of Asia Minor and the valleys of Macedonia. There is scarcely a level square mile in the whole empire that does not yield excellent returns for very little labor. Originally there were large forests. They have however almost entirely disap- peared, and the only sections of forest to-day are along the shores of the Black Sea, in the region of Bitlis and between Marash and the Gulf of Iskanderun. Elsewhere the country is desolate, and the traveler is often directed on his way by landmarks of single trees. Comparatively small portions of the empire are, however, under cultivation. There are wide extended pasturages for herds and flocks, but these do not by any means cover the entire land, and there are long stretches without a sign of cultivation and with scarcely an inhabitant. The products of the country are chiefly wheat, rice and barley. Cotton is raised somewhat in Northern Syria and in Asia Minor, and there are also large fields of poppies, the 26 MINERAL WEALTH. opium trade being quite extensive. Tobacco is cultivated everywhere, and vegetables are much the same as ours, with the exception of the potato, which is almost unknown. The whole empire is rich in fruits of every kind, grapes, melons, figs, olives, peaches, pears, oranges, pomegranates and dates. All are of the best. The vineyards are extensive and in European Turkey and Western Asiatic Turkey considerable wine is made, which is largely exported to Europe and then re-exported bearing a French or Italian brand. Olive groves are especially abundant along the shores of the Mediterranean, and the fig orchards of Smyrna are well known. Dates are not found to any great degree outside of Egypt. The mineral wealth of Turkey is very great, but it is so thoroughly undeveloped as to make its estimate very difficult. Along the shores of the Black Sea and in some portions of the Taurus there is a great deal of coal, but it is not mined and the extent of the deposit is practically unknown. In Eastern Turkey there are important mines of copper, silver and iron. These are worked with very rude methods and with varying success, but the output is such as to indicate great wealth, still undeveloped. There are also in Western Asia Minor mines of baryta which have been worked to some extent. In European Turkey there is considerable iron, and probably considerable in the mountains of Western Turkey, but there are few if any mines. The domestic animals of the empire are horses, mules, don- keys, camels, sheep, buffaloes and dogs. There are also in certain sections wild boar, deer and other game, but to a limited extent. The horses vary from the fine Arab of the desert to the scrubby but enduring pony of Syria. The ordinary horse used in caravans is a rather small but powerful DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 2"J animal, sure-footed and easily adapting himself to the rough roads and rather poor fodder. The use of donkeys and mules is universal. The white donkey of Bagdad is almost as aris- tocratic an animal as the Arab horse. Camels have gradually disappeared from the North, but are found in the South, and are still occasionally sent out in caravans from Smyrna. The cows are poor, small and of little value, either for their milk or for use in farming. Agriculture is carrried on chiefly by the use of buffaloes. The animal to whose development most attention has been given, is undoubtedly the horse, and next to that the sheep. The Angora sheep and goats of Western Asia Minor are famous all over the world, and in general the quality of wool and of mutton is most excellent. The dogs are of many breeds, including fierce shepherd dogs and fine greyhounds, but the most common is the mongrel cur of the cities and towns. Fowls are to be found every where and in large quantities, and there are pigeons and partridges in abundance. The food of the people is chiefly the different preparations of wheat and rice, and in meats they eat little but mutton and fowl ; beef is considered by most as unfit for food. They also use a great deal of milk, chiefly of sheep or buffaloes. They are very fond of a preparation of fermented milk, not unlike curds, generally eaten in the semi-solid form, but sometimes mixed with water and made into a very refreshing drink. A certain modification of this has been introduced into this country and is widely known under the name of Madzoon. The cooking is in the main very tasty, although the common people, especially in the mountains and the southern plains, are content with a very meager diet. The traveller who understands the ways of the country can generally provide 2 8 TRAVELING FACILITIES. himself well, but he must carry some form of provision with him. As is natural, the food to be found depends very largely upon the nature of the country. In the heart of the Kurdish or Taurus Mountains, there will often be little more than a coarse millet bread, and perhaps milk, to be had; while in the cities and large towns, as also on the great agricultural plains, almost anything can be secured, and a good cook will provide a meal that the most fastidious would heartily enjoy. The author has repeatedly enjoyed dinners that would do credit to a New York Hotel for delicacy and richness of flavor. Traveling and the carriage of merchandise is almost entirely by means of horses, mules and camels. The use of wagons has been introduced to a limited degree, but, except between Trebizond and Erzrum, it has not become general. This is chiefly in consequence of the poor roads, and the fact that even where there are stretches of good roads, they are so short as to necessitate a change when the journey is to be continued. For the mail and for travelers with little baggage, there is a system of relay traveling. Horses may be changed at stations from sixteen to thirty miles apart, and although seldom of the better sort, they can be kept at a slow trot or uncertain gallop, so that a speed of from four to six miles an hour can be maintained through the day. The ordinary dis- tance covered by a caravan, whether of travelers or of mer- chandise, is from twenty-five to thirty miles a day. A post rider will frequently, in Turkey, cover forty to fifty miles; and in Persia, where the same system is employed, but the roads and horses are better, seventy-five or eighty, even a hundred miles a day, are not infrequently covered. The mail carriers, or Tartars as they are called, ride day and night, stopping only for change of horses and refreshments. One result of MEASURING DISTANCES. ?9 this general method of traveling- is that distances are measured by hours, not by miles, the hour varying somewhat in different parts of the country. In Asia Minor, where horses and mules are chiefly used, the hour is equivalent to from three to four miles, but in Syria and Mesopotamia, where camels are more common, the hour is seldom over three miles. Thus Erzrum is sixty hours from Trebizond — 180 miles; and Harput sixty hours from Sivas — 240 miles; but thirty hours from Marash to Alexandretta means no more than ninety miles. The country is very thoroughly covered with telegraph lines connecting the principal cities, and the postal arrangements supply both the cities and larger towns. Both are under the sole control of the government, although one of the lines of telegraph, from Constantinople to Bagdad, connecting with an extension to India, is owned by an English Company. Turkey being a member of the Postal Union, letters from any interior city can be forwarded to America at the regular rate, but the internal rates are very high. Under the administration of Abdul Aziz, and during the early part of the reign of Abdul Hamid, both departments were, on the whole, fairly well con- ducted, but of late years there has been no certainty of cor- rect transmission either of telegrams or letters, while papers frequently fail to reach their destination. In this connection a word should be said as to the means of business communication. Constantinople and the seaboard cities are fairly well supplied with banking facilities. The Im- perial Ottoman Bank has also a few branches in the interior, but for the most part the only method of transmitting funds has been by sending coin through the mails. In certain sec- tions, this has been very hazardous on account of the insecu- rity of the country, and as a result, internal trade has been 30 CITY WALLS. greatly hampered. The establishment of the American mis- sions all over the land has served in this matter greatly to the advantage of trade. A system of drafts has been established by which the missionaries draw on their treasurer in Con- stantinople and these drafts are sold in the market, facilitat- ing exchange greatly. The missionaries, however, are very cautious, feeling that their position makes it unwise for them to share to any great extent in general trade. One thing that strikes the traveler in Turkey very forcibly is the very sharp lines drawn between the cities, towns and villages and the surrounding country. City walls have to a considerable extent disappeared, though they remain in some of the more ancient places, Diarbekir, Urfa, Erzrum, etc. Beyond the line of houses there are in some instances, notably the city of Van, large sections of cultivated land, garden, vineyard or wheat field. In other cases, as at Erzrum, the city seems set down in the plain with no sort of relation to the surrounding country. The same is true of the towns and villages. Some are so completely imbedded in the gardens, that they appear much larger than they really are, while others give no sign of their existence, except as the village dog barks his signal of unwelcome to the traveler. The general style of building varies with the section of country. Along the seaboard, or within easy reach of it, the general appearance of the houses reminds one of Europe. There is a frame of timber, with a wall of board or rough brick or stone covered with stucco. Red brick and dressed stone are also not uncommon. In the interior, however, the general style is that of the Mexican adobe. Sun-dried brick furnishes the chief material, sometimes whitewashed for more pretentious homes, government houses, churches or mosques, PECULIAR HOMES. 31 but generally retaining- the color of mother earth. In parts of Asia Minor where a soft sandstone abounds, there are brown- stone fronts, rivalling in style some to be found in our own cities. There is generally, however, some incongruity, made manifest in a wooden beam supporting a carved window, or an elegant doorway in the middle of an adobe wall. Diarbekir is famous for its basalt walls, giving both city and houses a most for- bidding aspect. On the Mesopotamia plain, especially toward the south, reed huts are numerous, while in Northern Syria the almost entire lack of timber has occasioned the building of huts domed with sun-dried brick, anticipating the principle of the Pantheon at Rome. In the mountains of Kurdistan the vil- lagers not infrequently burrow into the mountain side, and even on the plains of Asia Minor advantage is taken of roll- ing land to help in the making of the walls, and the traveler by night need not be surprised if his horse breaks through the roof of some unnoticed house. There are numerous in- stances, notably in Amasia and Urfa and along the Tigris, of villages cut into precipices of rock, while in other places the villagers burrow into the hills. In passing from Mardin to Urfa once, the author came, toward evening, to the foot of a hill, where the guide said he was to spend the night in an Arab village. He looked around, but saw no signs of life. The guide went to the summit of the hill, and shouted into what ap- peared a mere hole in the ground. A few minutes after a man appeared through what had seemed to be the entrance to a tomb, such as abounded in that region, and soon the whole party were descending through a passageway into a large room, used both as granary and living room by the villagers. Such descriptions might go on indefinitely, but this will be 32 STONE BUILDINGS. sufficient to indicate that throughout the empire the people have made the most of the resources at their command, for their permanent dwellings. Tent life is confined to the Bedouin Arabs and the summer wanderings of the Kurds over the plains of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. It should be said, however, that within the past fifty years there has been considerable advance in the style of building, chiefly due undoubtedly to the influence of the missionary houses and the evangelical chapels, and to-day the general appearance throughout the entire country has greatly improved. The arrangement within the houses also varies with the section of country. In the interior cities and large towns, the ground floor is taken up with court, stable, kitchen, store- room and perhaps an audience room, the living rooms being chiefly on the second floor. In the villages, however, there are few houses with a second story, and often the family share the one living room with their animals. A word should be said as to the accommodation for travelers. This is chiefly in the form of khans or caravansaries, situated in the cities and on most of the caravan routes through the greater part of the empire, at intervals of about thirty miles. They are as a rule stone buildings, with a large open enclosure, surrounded by alcoves, closed or open, according to the climate. In the north, where the winter storms may be severe, there are stables frequently partly underground. The alcoves are for the travelers, the open space for their loads and the stables for the animals, but in case of severe weather the stable becomes also the refuge for the traveler, whether merchant, muleteer or official. In the large cities regular rent is charged, but in the country there is simply a keeper who receives a small fee for furnishing fuel and water, otherwise the place VILLAGE CLUB. 33 being free for all comers. In some cases there is no keeper at all, the place being left to go to ruin. Most of these build- ings in the interior have been put up as acts of merit by- wealthy Turks, but with no regular income, and no one to be responsible for them, they have in many places fallen sadly into decay. In the villages and even many of the larger towns where there are no khans, the traveler is sent to what is known as the "guest room." A room, or in some instances, a house, is set apart both for travelers, and as a meeting place, a sort of club for the villagers. Here they meet in the evening to discuss the events of the day, much as Americans gather at the postoffice or corner store. Some one is designated to provide fire and coffee and the head of the village holds a sort of court or assembly. Here also the traveler is welcomed, indeed has a right, whether welcomed or not, to make his stay. The room as a rule is oblong, with a fireplace at the end, and has a slightly raised platform on either side. If the arrival be a foreigner or official, he immediately takes the place of honor on the right near the fireplace and all gather to show him courtesy. If an ordinary muleteer or peasant, he must be content with a place near the door. Here also there is no charge, the attendants being satisfied with what they receive for the supply of food, etc. In case the village is too poor to boast a guest room, the traveler must content himself with some private house or room, which he generally finds no difficulty in securing. It will be readily seen that the traveler in the interior must in the main provide his own furniture and provision, unless he is able to put up with the very simple fare of the villagers. Foreigners, and even natives of the better 34 SIMPLICITY OF LIVING. class, carry their own bedding, cooking utensils and, to a degree, their food. The furniture of the houses is very simple, even in the cities, and in the villages it is primitive to the last degree. Chairs, tables, upright bedsteads, knives and forks are pene- trating little by little even to the towns, but still the great majority of the people roll themselves in quilts for the night, sit on the floor around a platter for their meals and use little more than spoons. A few copper kettles serve for the cook- ing and goatskins for holding what little provisions they keep. A story is told of a mountaineer in Eastern Turkey, who went to visit some friends on the plain. When night came he was offered a quilt or comfortable and a wool pillow. He accepted them, though with rather rueful countenance, and laid down to sleep. Sleep, however, refused to come. Alarmed by his tossings his friends asked him if he were ill. No, perfectly well. But still he tossed on. Again they came to him to know what was the matter. At last he blurted out, "I cannot stand this quilt and pillow. Give me a piece of sacking to throw over my head and let me lie on the floor." Much against their will he insisted and they yielded, and he slept the sleep of his own mountain home. TURKISH PEASANT FAMILY, from the interior of Western Asia Minor. The family consists of the mother in the foreground, the son and his wife and their two children, son and daughter. An excellent illustration of the average Turkish peasantry of the somewhat better class, as found in the villages of Asia Minor CHAPTER II. Population and Languages. Accurate Statements as to Population Impossible — No Census — Best Available Estimates — Distribution — Most of the Races Described in Other Chapters — Jews and Foreigners — General Characteristics — The Languages — How Distributed — Peculiarities of the Turkish — Number Spoken in the Seaboard Cities. ANY accurate statement as to the population of the Turkish Empire it is impossible to make. There have been various attempts at a census, but they have amounted to little or nothing, as is illustrated by the fact that in every case the number of males far exceeds, sometimes by 20 per cent, the number of females. The official returns like- wise are almost valueless. They are based chiefly upon tax returns and these are notoriously inaccurate. The taxes are collected by the farming system and based upon the returns from the heads of the different communities. There is thus on the one hand a strong temptation on the part of the com- munities to underestimate the number of taxpayers, and on the other hand a tendency on the part of the collectors to misstate, in order to give as much leeway as possible for filling their own pockets. Accordingly about the only basis for an estimate that can in any degree be relied upon is furnished by the statements of persons who have lived or traveled extensively throughout the empire, are acquainted with the manner of life of the people and have opportunities 3 (37) 38 DISTRIBUTION. for accurate information from the heads of the communities. On this basis a general estimate of the population for the entire empire, including tributary states, is about 30,000,000, divided as follows : Immediate Possessions. Europe 4,000,000 Asia o 16,000,000 20,000,000 Africa, Tripoli 1,000,000 Total 21,000,000 Tributary States. Europe 3,000,000 Africa, Egypt 6,800,000 The Mediterranean 40,000 Total 9,840,000 Grand Total 30,840,000 Leaving out of account the tributary states as practically outside of our purpose, we give here a brief general sur- vey of the distribution of this population, reserving more definite and particular statement for the account of each race. In European Turkey are Albanians, Greeks, Bulgarians and Turks. The Albanians are found on the borders of the Adriatic ; the Greeks on the northern border of Greece, along the shore of the Aegean and somewhat up the valley of the Vardar; the Bulgarians occupy the northern part of that valley and the mountains up to the very border of Bulgaria ; the Turks are principally found in the vicinity of Adrianople and Constantinople ; there are also Armenians in Adrianople and along the coast of the Marmora. The Greeks are the most numerous ; next to them probably come the Albanians and then the Bulgarians. Of Turks proper there are very ASIATIC TURKEY. 39 few. For years there has been a constant emigration from European Turkey into Asiatic Turkey, many recognizing that the time was at hand when the Ottoman rule in Europe must end. The Albanians are Moslems. There is, also, in the mountains on the borders of Eastern Rumelia, a con- siderable population, Bulgarian by race and Moslem by religion, called Pomaks. Passing over into Asia, so far as the population is con- cerned, the country may be divided into three sections : Asia Minor and Eastern Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia. In the first of these there are Turks, Kurds and a number of minor Moslem tribes, Circassians, Lazes, Xeibecks, Avshars, Tur- comans, etc. The Christian population is almost entire Armenian and Greek. The Turks are principally in Central and Western Asia Minor ; the Kurds are in Eastern Turkey, though extending somewhat along the mountain ranges; the Circassians are found scattered through Central and Western Asia Minor ; the Lazes are on the borders of the Caucasus ; the Xeibecks and others are tribes occupying the mountains in- land from Smyrna; Armenians are found over the whole of the territory, in almost equal proportions ; the Greeks chiefly along the coast of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and in the western part of Asia Minor, though in Central Asia Minor there are a number of Greek villages. In Syria the population — something over 2,000,000 — is about equally divided between Moslems and Christians. The Moslems are in the main of the orthodox Sunni sect, but there are a number of Metawileh, and the Druzes and Bedouin Arabs are numerous. There are also about 250,000 Nusairiyeh. The Christians are chiefly orthodox Greeks and Maronites ; there are some Armenians, Jacobites 4© JEWS. and others. The Druzes and Bedouin Arabs are found chiefly in the Hauran east of the Lebanon ranges. In Mesopotamia, the population is chiefly Moslem and Arab, though there are a number of Yezidis in the region of Mosul. The Christian races are found in the mountains between the Tigris and the Persian border, and include Jacobites, Nes- torians and Chaldeans ; Armenians are also scattered through- out the whole region. Jews are found in large numbers in Constantinople, Smyrna and Salonica, and in smaller communities all over the land wherever there is trade. They are very largely Spanish in their origin, having fled to the Levant at the time of the per- secution by Ferdinand and Isabella. They include the wealthiest and the poorest of their class. Many of the bankers are Jews, and their hold upon the finances of the country is very strong. They also control certain branches of trade, are very largely money-changers, and to a degree artisans. They occupy certain definite quarters in the different cities, which have the appearance familiarly associated with the Ghetto of Venice. They have the same general charac- teristics as their fellows in other lands, are shrewd, keen bar- gainers, but frequently find more than their match in the Christians. They are looked down upon and despised by Turks and Christians alike except when their wealth makes them the arbiters of the financial fortunes of the empire and of individuals. Many of the wealthier class are men of high character, universally respected for their ability and holding a favored position in society. As to their numbers it is diffi- cult to give any figures. In Constantinople there may be 75,000, and in the empire, aside from Palestine, perhaps 1 50,000 to 200,000. FOREIGNERS. 4 1 Almost all foreign countries are represented in Turkey. Those that furnish the largest number are probably Italy, Greece, France, Germany, Austria, England and Russia. Italians are numerous in the cities on the seaboard, in connec- tion with shipping interests. The French are merchants, bankers, and to a degree professional men, as also are the Germans. Austrian subjects are not to a great degree pure Austrians, but Hungarians, Bosnians, etc., interested in trade. The English colony has been at times a very large one. During the reign of Abd-ul-Aziz, English mechanics were brought into the country in large numbers, and the various departments of the navy, army and public works were managed almost entirely by them. At the present time their number has greatly diminished. They are still employed to a degree by the government as engineers, but their places are being taken by others. There are a number of English mercantile houses, but the Germans have outstripped them in the con- duct of trade with the interior, and the community is not as strong as it used to be. There is a large number of families of these various nationalities connected with the diplomatic circles, and Pera Society, as it is termed, is very largely com- posed of them, together with the bankers and the wealthiest merchants. The Americans resident in Turkey are almost entirely American missionaries. They number in all not far from 300 adults, and are found in all the chief cities of the empire, their headquarters being in Constantinople and Beirut. Fuller statements as to their location will be found in the chapter on missions. There are other Americans, some merchants, a few professional men, chiefly physicians, and a few interested in one or another form of concession from the Turkish 42 LEVANTINES. Government. The missionaries, however, form by far the bulk of the American community. Mention should also be made of a class peculiar to Turkey, known as Levantines. These are generally descendants of foreigners, English, French, or others who have settled in the seaboard cities, married women of the country and, while retaining their political connections with the country from which they originally came, have become thoroughly Oriental- ized in many respects, in their manners, customs and ideas. They are, as a rule, very capable, having all the shrewdness of the East, and are apt to be equally devoid of moral princi- ple. In fact the term Levantine has become in great degree a term of reproach, indicating a general lack of moral fiber. Many of them, however, are persons of high character and considerable influence. Each of these different races has its own particular and dis- tinctive characteristics, to be noted in connection with the specific description of each race. There are, however, certain general statements to be made which come in place here. The first thing to be noted is the marked unity, or perhaps better, similarity between the different races. Notwithstand- ing diversity of origin and language, it is by no means easy for the uninitiated to draw the lines of distinction. This is due partly to the fact of the general mingling of the races, partly to the fact that dress and general habits of life are regulated more by climate and physical conditions, than by any arbitrary rule of government or society. In the first place there is comparatively little pure blood except among the Christians. In certain sections, notably the region of Asia Minor, formerly occupied by the Seljuk domain, the Turks are exceptionally pure-blooded, but on the seaboard MOSLEMS PREDOMINANT. 43 there is a large admixture of blood of other races. The in- troduction of Georgian, Circassian and even Armenian and Greek women into the harems of the Turkish nobles has had a perceptible effect. So also the general fact that the Turk is the dominant race has made large numbers of others of entirely distinct racial origin ambitious to take the name of Turk. Thus in Eastern Turkey, especially in the cities of Erzrum, Bitlis, Van and Diarbekir, there is comparatively little of pure Turkish blood, the great majority of those pass- ing under that name being of Kurdish origin. The same thing is found elsewhere in Northern Syria, and to a degree in European Turkey. It must also be remembered that large numbers of Moslems called by various racial names are orig- inally of Christian blood. In the early conquest of the land many villages and even communities accepted Islam under the pressure of the sword and because of weak faith in their own religion, due chiefly to the ignorance enforced by ec- clesiastics. Thus in the mountains of Southern and Eastern Turkey there are whole communities known now as Kurdish which were originally of the same blood and the same charac- teristics as their neighbors now called Jacobites. Again in European Turkey there is comparatively little difference be- tween the Moslem Albanian and the Greek Mountaineer of the same section. The Moslem Pomak of the Rhodope Moun- tains on the southern borders of Eastern Rumelia can with difficulty be distinguished from the Bulgarians, where they are engaged in similar pursuits and occupy similar territory. In Syria and Mesopotamia it is scarcely possible to draw racial distinctions. The line between Moslem and Christian in Aleppo, Mosul, Bagdad or Beirut is practically impercept- ible except as occasional difference of dress or bearing is ob- 44 EASILY GOVERNED. served. As we have said, almost the only peoples who have kept their nationality clearly distinct are the Armenians, Greeks, and there may be added the Bulgarians. Yet as was inevitable, these have been to a considerable degree affected ; so that while the population of the Turkish Empire is thor- oughly heterogeneous, there is to the chance traveler com- paratively little distinction to be made between the men of the different races. Among the women the different conception of womanhood makes a very marked distinction, and on the street certainly even the most casual observer finds little dif- ficulty in distinguishing between Moslem and Christian. One general characteristic of the populations of the Turkish Empire is that they are easily governed. This does not mean that they are lacking in bravery, but the effect of the centuries has been to impress upon them the necessity of submission to whatever law is dominant in the empire. The Kurds are in the main thorough cowards. With the excep- tion of those in the South they are always amenable to a strong hand and a very slight show of real force on the part of any government is sufficient to secure their obedience. Travelers are usually able to control them even in the wildest sections. It has been repeatedly said that a very small body of European troops with mountain artillery could pass from one end of Turkey to the other, even in times of general anarchy, and meet with very little opposition. This as a gene- ral statement is true. At the same time, organized resistance on the part of the Turkish Government with its regular army, would present an opposition which the strongest of European armies might hestitate to meet. Among the Christians there has been no organization against the Turkish Government, with the exception of two small sections. The mountain LANGUAGES. 45 Nestorians are practically independent on the Persian border ; nominally they pay a certain tribute ; sometimes they pay, sometimes they do not. The Armenians of Zeitun have been from time immemorial practically independent. About 20 years ago they submitted to the Turkish rule on certain conditions, which were accepted by the Turkish Government. Their recent revolt and the persistency with which they held out against the Turkish troops manifest the character of the people. Undoubtedly they were assisted in great degree by the topography of the country, but that was by no means the strongest feature of their resistance. Aside from these two sections the Christians have been the prey of the Turkish Government and have never organized in opposition to it. The reasons for this will be apparent in the chapters relating to the general history of the empire and the condition of the Christians. The languages of Turkey are Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac and Bulgarian. The Turkish is the official language of the entire empire and is used to a greater or less extent everywhere except in the remote villages of Kurdistan, Mesopotamia and Syria and throughout Arabia. Arabic is spoken everywhere south of the Taurus Mountains, with the exception of a few cities in the vicinity of Aintab and Marash. Kurdish is used in the mountains of Eastern Turkey and to a limited extent in the mountainous sections of Asia Minor. Armenian is spoken over the entire empire wherever there are Armenians. Greek is used along the borders of the Black Sea, the Archipelago and the Mediterranean and to a very limited degree inland. Syriac is used among the Nestorians and Jacobites, chiefly the former, in the mountains of Eastern Turkey. The use of Bulgarian is confined to 46 CHARACTERISTICS. Bulgaria, Eastern Rumelia and Macedonia. Constantinople itself is a babel, all the different Oriental and many of the European languages being found there in everyday use. Turkish is spoken by the Turks and Circassians and the various Moslem tribes, also to a considerable degree by the Kurds, Armenians and Greeks and by government officials everywhere. Certain sections of the Armenians, especially those in Central Asia Minor, from Sivas west to Angora and Cesarea, and those south of the Taurus in the vicinity of Marash and Aintab, have in years past used Turkish almost entirely, preserving their ancestral language only in the church services. The same is true of the Greeks in Central Asia Minor. Arabic is used by Moslems and Chris- tians alike in the sections where it is the vernacular. Kur- dish is spoken both by Moslems and Christians. Bulgarian is used solely by Bulgarians. All of these languages vary somewhat in their characteristics, according to the section where they are used and the class of people by which they are spoken. Thus the Arabic of the plains and of Egypt is much milder in its form than that found in the mountains. The same thing is true of the Turkish and the Armenian of Bitlis, and the people of that section are almost unintelligible to those farther west. The Greek of the Turkish Empire is also quite different in many respects from that of Greece proper. The Arabic and Greek lana-uag-es are so well known as not to need any particular description. They are essentially the same as they always have been and are well known in litera- ture. The Arabic is one of the richest of all the Oriental languages in its literature. The character is difficult to learn and the construction is so involved that comparatively few foreigners become masters of it. It is said of Dr. Van TURKISH. 47 Dyck, the eminent missionary at Beirut, that he could speak Arabic so well as to deceive even the Arabs themselves, and on one occasion it is reported that this very facility in the use of the languages operated to create a prejudice that really at one time endangered his life, because they could not under- stand how any man who could speak Arabic as well as that could be a foreigner and claim the protection which he demanded. The Turkish language is peculiar in many respects. Orig- inally a Tartar dialect, it has many of the characteristics of the Saxon. It is terse and strong in its form of expression, and to a considerable degree monosyllabic. The Turks, however, passing through Persia, came very much under the influence of that language and felt the softening influences of it. The Persian, as spoken by the Persians, is smooth and flowing, liquid as any of the Pacific Island languages, and even more so than the Italian. The way in which an educated Persian uses his own language is unsurpassed for delicacy of expres- sion or sound. Passing from Persia and accepting the Koran, the Turks came under the influence of the Arabic language, and the Turkish of to-day is the result of the commingling of the three elements. As a consequence it is an exceedingly rich language. As it is ordinarily spoken it is not at all diffi- cult to learn, but to use it in literature correctly and with the appropriate adaptation of the forms derived from the Arabic and Persian, requires an amount of study and skill such as comparatively few have been able to bring to it. The charac- ter used is the Arabic, which, however, is not entirely adapted to the simpler Tartar forms, and as a result there is more or less of reduplication of letters. While the letterine of the three languages, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, is the same, 48 ARMENIAN. each language has its own distinct form, so that a book printed in the type favored by the Turks will not be acceptable either to the Persians or the Arabs, and the same is true of the others. The tendency of education with Turkish, as with Arabic, is to soften the gutterals, of which there are several harsh ones, and Turkish as spoken in Constantinople by the educated is a smooth and flowing language. The Armenian is naturally a harsh language, the strong gutterals, aspirates and sibilants affecting it materially. Here too is noticed the marked effect of education, and the Armenian spoken in the western part of Asia Minor is very mild com- pared with that along the mountains and even on the eastern plains. The Armenians of the Caucasus and Northern Persia use a form of Armenian which is somewhat distinct from that used by those in Turkey. The basis of all is the ancient Armenian, which has a very simple and direct construction, not unlike the English. A sentence in the old Armenian version of the Scriptures reads word for word almost the same as the corresponding sentence in the English version. The modern language as used by the Armenians of Turkey has been to a considerable degree affected by contact with Turkish and has degenerated in that respect. For some years there has been a tendency to revert to the more ancient form, and the teachers in the Armenian schools everywhere have exerted all the influence possible in that line. The result is manifest in their literature. The version of the Bible pre- pared by Elias Riggs, D. D., of the American Board, represents the best of what is known as modern Armenian of a quarter of a century ago. But of late years there has been felt the necessity of a revision to accord more closely to the type of the ancient language. This tendency is in the line of sim- FOREIGN LANGUAGES. 49 plicity. On the other hand, among the Greeks, while there is an increasing desire for the ancient Greek, which is quite dis- tinct from the modern, an increasing familiarity with it does not appear to be as much of an approach to the ancient con- struction in the ordinary conversation as is the case in the Armenian. The Bulgarian language is not unlike the Russian, both in its character and general construction, and belongs to the general Slav family. The Kurdish language is entirely unique, though some Kurdish scholars have claimed that it was parallel to the old Persian. It is a rough language, and yet has certain musical qualities, and its poetry and songs are like those of so many mountain sections, exceedingly full of sentiment. Even the wildest of the men seem to come under its influence most powerfully. In Constantinople and along the seaboard foreign languages are used to a considerable degree. The diplomatic language is French almost entirely. There is a considerable amount of Italian used in the seaports, and not a little German. The State papers for communication between the ambassadors in the Sublime Porte are entirely in French, though decrees of the government, of course, are written in Turkish. This mingling of languages has necessitated the employment of interpreters, and a large number of people, not merely con- nected with the embassies, but in various departments of business, are employed to transfer from one language to another such documents as may be necessary. The use of English is widely extended. The study of English in the different schools of the American missionaries and also in other schools has operated very largely to increase the use, 50 CONSTANTINOPLE. and English commerce has extended to a marked degree. This latter, however, has yielded in some respects to German, so that the German language is known and spoken more and more. As a rule, Armenians in the cities all speak Armenian and Turkish. Armenian merchants almost invariably add to this French, and in not a few instances Greek. In fact no one can do business successfully in the seaports without the knowledge of Turkish, French and Greek. Smyrna is almost entirely a Greek city, and even the Armenians use the lan- guage to a great degree. The Greeks, however, seldom, if ever, learn Armenian. In traveling, a knowledge of Turkish will carry one with ease over the whole empire, except in Syria and Mesopotamia and a few sections of Kurdistan. Even there, however, some one may usually be found who has enough knowl- edge of the Turkish for ordinary use. On the seaboard, Greek will be of advantage, but is by no means necessary. All large business houses have some one who can converse in any one of the languages of the country or of Europe. One effect of this is that accurate use of any one language is hindered. At a dinner table in Constantinople it will fre- quently be the case that the conversation will turn from one language to another, and Turkish, French, Greek, German, Italian or English may be used. When such a condition exists there will be a general conversational use of all, but accurate scholarly use of any one is rare. In the schools, Turkish, French and English are the most generally taught, instruction in the other languages being chiefly confined to those who use them as their own vernacular. CHAPTER III. RELIGIONS. Islam and Christianity — A few Pagan Communities — Origin of Mohammedanism — The Koran — The Traditions — Extent of Islam — Present Condition — Effect upon the Turks — Contact with Civilization — Sects — Oriental Christianity — Characteristics. THE religions of Turkey are in general two — Moham- medanism and Christianity. The semi-pagan forms of faith held by the Nusairiyeh, Yezidis and Druzes are spoken of In another chapter in connection with an account of those races. This is not the place for a scientific statement of the general subject of Mohammedanism. The purpose of this volume is to set forth the situation of the Turkish Empire as it is, and we have to deal with Mohammedanism not as a theory or a doctrine, but as a fact. At the same time some understanding of the doctrine is essential in order to realize how potent a factor it is in the present situation. Mohammedanism is primarily a historical religion, based upon the fundamental idea of the absolute unity of God and the recognition by God of Mohammed as his latest and most approved prophet. Without entering into the question of the sanity or insanity of Mohammed himself, it is sufficient to say that this Arab imbibed with his earliest teachings the doctrine which was held by the Jews, and a few in Arabia, of the power of the Deity. Apparently the teachings of the (SO 52 MOHAMMED. Hebrews had left their trace upon him, and his mind dwel- ling upon the precepts of Moses and comparing them with what he saw of the Christians, developed within him a hostility to any form of what seemed to him idolatry, such as he found existent everywhere. Among the pagan tribes there were said to have been 365 images of the gods, who were looked upon as the children of Allah, the creator of all, whose wife was Al-hat, and the Meccans looked upon their local deities as the daughters of this idol. Idols were found in every house and formed an important article of manufac- ture. Religion was a sort of barter, and festivals and pil- grimages made up a large part of religious life and worship. At the same time the form of Christianity was of the most inferior type. The doctrine of the Trinity was practically a sort of tritheism in which the three persons were God the Father, God the Son and the Virgin Mary. To Mohammed there seemed little difference between the two and both appeared to him the very lowest forms of religious faith, and he was stirred with an earnest desire to know more. This, according to the idea of the time, he thought to accomplish by a hermit life and would spend days in a lonely cave. While here it is probable that epileptic fits would come upon him and there would be what he considered ecstatic reveries in which revelations appeared to him. The story of the fierce persecution which he suffered at the hands of his tribe is a most interesting portion of history. From the time of his fleeing from Mecca to Medina, in 622, which marks the era of Mohammedanism, his advance was rapid. In eight years at the head of 10,000 men he entered Mecca in triumph. He only lived two years longer, but he had laid the founda- tion for a religious power of marvelous vigor and extent. THE HAMIDIEH MOSQUE, located close by the Sultan's palace, at Yildiz, to which he goes every Friday for service. Informer times it was the custom of the Sultan to attend service on Friday in different mosques of the city, but Abdul Hammed II. has confined his attention to this mosque, chiefly from fear of assassi- nation in the public streets of the city. TURKISH DERVISH. The dervishes correspond in the Moslem com- munities to the special orders in the Roman Catholic Church. There are different classes, itinerant and local. This is one of the better class of local dervishes. They are feared hy the people rather than respected, and are usually men of ability and considerable force ; fanatical in the extreme and bitter haters of all Christians. THE KORAN. 55 As to his character, those who have studied him most say that there can be no doubt of his sincerity and his conduct was in the main beyond reproach. He believed himself to be a divinely appointed messenger for the overturning of idolatry, and for years endured the hostility and taunts of his people with apparently no further motive than their reforma- tion. At a later time other characteristics appeared of a much lower grade. Wealth and glory mingled with his reform ideas. Cruelty, greed and the grossest sensuality were not merely allowed but encouraged by his teachings, and the most successful portion of his life, so far as his public career was concerned, made it appear that he was a thor- oughly self-deceived man. The Koran is a volume divided into 114 chapters or suras, made up in a volume not quite as large as the New Testa- ment. It constitutes the revelation proclaimed by him as received during the latter portion of his life. These were originally written on all sorts of material, "bits of stone, leather and thigh-bones," but had their strongest hold in the retentive memory of the Arabs, which assists their marvelous power of story-telling. These were gathered together after his death, in the caliphate of Othman, and the edition then prepared has been the standard edition for the Moslem world ever since. It is written in the Meccan dialect and held to be the absolute standard of the Arabic language, so beautiful that its very style is proof of its divine origin. The doctrine of the Koran is thoroughly simple. The fundamental teach- ings are the unity of God, the final judgment and absolute submission to his will or "Islam." The confession of faith is simply, " There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet." The general belief includes belief in God, angels, 56 THE BIBLE. the Scriptures, the resurrection and day of judgment, God's absolute decree and predestination of both good and evil. In practice it requires prayers, alms, fasting and the pilgrim- age to Mecca. In its relation to Christianity the Koran thoroughly recognizes the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testaments, and the prophets, from Abraham to Jesus, are acknowledged as divinely sent and of authority only less than Mohammed himself. The result of this is that a thor- oughly orthodox Mohammedan, well grounded in his own faith, will always accept the authority of the Bible, merely claiming that wherever that comes in contact with the Koran the Koran supersedes it as being a later revelation. A Kurdish Sheik with whom the author spent a Sunday in the city of Rowandiz, said, " Why do not the great Bible societies of England and America print the Koran and the Bible together ? Both are revelations from God ; the only difference is, that the Koran being later is more authoritative. Print them both together and then we shall have the complete revela- tion." This fact explains in great degree the position of the Turkish Government with regard to the Scriptures. So long as they thought that there was no danger of the Christians' Bible superseding the Koran they were entirely willing that it should be printed. It was only when they learned that the teaching of the Bible was antagonistic to the Koran that they made every effort to hinder its publication and circulation ; and in the whole contest the strongest argument and the one which they could not answer was that based upon the absolute recognition of the Bible by the Koran and the teachings of Mohammed. Secondary to the Koran in form yet practically overpower- ing it are the traditions : the " unread revelations," the " unin- NUMBER OF MOHAMMEDANS. 57 spired record of inspired sayings." They refer " not only to what Mohammed said and did, but what he allowed others to say unrebuked." As was inevitable, the mass of these tradi- tions is very great and their influence is proportionate. Any statement of Mohammedanism based upon the Koran alone is sure to be misleading. That together with the traditions must be understood in order to gain a clear and accurate con- ception of what the religion is. It is due to this fact that Mo- hammedanism has adapted itself with such marked success to the most varying conditions. It is as powerful in Central Asia as in Central Africa. It appeals to the educated Moslem of North India and to the ignorant and brutal Kurd. It num- bers among its votaries men of every grade of intellectual ability. This is illustrated by the statement as to the extent to which the religion has spread over the world. Any accu- rate estimate is simply impossible owing to the fact that in Moslem regions there is no such thing as a complete census known. The Eizcyclopcedia of Missions presents the following table derived from the Statesman's year-book published in 1890: Europe. Rumania 2,000 Bul § aria 668,173 Servia 14,569 Bosnia and Herzegovina « g2 ~ lQ Montenegro lo ' }OQ0 Greece 24,000 Turkey in Europe 2,000,000 Russia in Europe 2,600,000 Total for Europe 5,811,452" Asia. Turkey in Asia (including Arabia) 22,000,000 Persia '.'. 7,'56o!6oo Bokhara 2,500,000 5$ EFFECT OF THE RELIGION. Russia in Caucasus 2,000,000 Khiva 700,000 Russia in Central Asia 3,000,000 Siberia 61,000 Afghanistan , 4,000,000 India . .. 50,121,595 Ce y lon 197,775 Beluchistan 500,000 China , 30,000,000 Australasia 15,000,000 Total for Asia , 137,640,970 Africa. Egypt 6,000,000 Zanzibar. . 200,000 Morocco 5,000,000 Tripoli 1,000,000 Tunis 1,500,000 Algeria 3,000,000 Bornu (Lake Tsad) 5,000,000 Wadai 2,600,000 Baghirmi 1,500,000 Egyptian Soudan 10,400,000 Sokoto and Feudatory States 14,000,000 Sahara and scattered 10,000,000 Total for Africa 60,200,000 Total for Europe 5,811,452 Total for Asia 137,640,970 Total for Africa 60,200,000 Total Moslems 203,652,422 What is the effect of Mohammedanism upon the Moslems of the Turkish Empire? What relation does it bear to the situation in Turkey to-day ? These are questions not alto- gether easy to answer definitely and conclusively. A general idea is gathered from references made all through this volume. The situation maybe briefly summarized as follows : Moham- medanism is on trial ; it finds itself face to face with the aggressive power of a reformed Christianity; it no longer REVIVAL. 59 has to meet the effete systems of the middle ages, weakened by purely doctrinal discussions that spread among the Chris- tian Churches for centuries. It comes in contact thus with a truer spiritual life, and finds that it has suffered itself in its conceptions the same decadence that Christianity had suf- fered when it started. The belief in the unity of God is degenerating into pure and simple fanaticism ; predestina- tion to good has disappeared, and in place of it comes pre- destination to evil. The better characteristics of the Moslem influence have disappeared, and it is only the worst elements that come to the surface to-day. True there is an element in the Moslem Church that realizes, in a degree at least, this fact and is making strenuous efforts to reinstate the spiritual power to which the system has owed a large part of its aggres- sive strength, but it is doing it and has done it by means utterly subversive of the very ends it seeks to accomplish. From time to time there go forth fetvahs from the Moslem priests commanding the faithful to attend the mosque service, forbidding the faithful to indulge in certain things forbidden by the Moslem laws. But such edicts accomplish absolutely nothing. There is still to a certain degree the practice of the old asceticism. Any one who will attend a meeting of the Board of Censors in Constantinople will realize the truth of this as he looks upon the hard-visaged Tartars from Central Asia, whose fanaticism is manifest in every line of the counte- nance. But with them their religion has ceased to have any spiritual power. It has become nothing more than a form of doctrine identified with aggression and despotism. Eternal punishments take the place of eternal rewards and threats overpower promises. This manifests itself in two ways : first, in the tremendous pressure brought to bear upon the govern- 60 YOUNG TURKEY. ment to restore the austerities of the Moslem faith, and second, in the manifestation of the sternest Moslem arrogance in o the treatment of the Christians. Scarcely at any time in Turkish history has that arrogance been more prominent in certain sections and among certain classes. The scorn and contempt manifest for the infidel ; the utter disregard for the most common rights of humanity ; the assumption that Chris- tians exist purely and simply for the benefit of Mohammedans ; that rapine, murder and outrage are not criminal, but are absolutely legitimate ; that Christian property has no rights that Moslems are bound to respect; all these characteristics are apparent to-day as they have not been at any time during the past century. It is impossible for races such as the Moslem races of the Turkish Empire to come into contact with the results of a Christian civilization without realizing and acknowledging to a considerable degree the advantages of that civilization. These, recognizing the fact that Islam has adapted itself to very varying communities and circumstances, claim that it has still that power and that there is no reason why the highest results of European progress may not be appropriated by the Moslems. These men form the basis of what is known as the Young Turkey party. They call for a constitution; they demand railroads and telegraphs, electric lighting, free press, widespread literature, freedom of thought and worship ; they refuse to allow that attendance upon mosque service is the test of loyalty to their government. The strife between these two forces is one of the most interesting and significant facts in Mohammedanism to-day. What the result will be time only will show. One more thing should be said. The exclu- sive power of the Moslem faith has never been manifested MORAL CHARACTER. 6 1 more forcibly than it is now. No form of Christianity has affected it to any appreciable extent. The reasons for this will be recognized by any who have followed with care the developments of the past centurie They are to be found (i) in the dominating political power of the religion, and (2) in the fact that as yet to only a limited degree has there been any general perception of a truer spiritual power. This last has affected some, but the great mass are utterly untouched. Should the political break-up of the empire come, then there are many indications that the ecclesiastical power will weaken and with it the force of the faith. Many Turks have spoken of this in private, not daring to set it forth in public. The great characteristic of Mohammedanism which is most manifest in the dealings of Moslems with each other and with the world at large, is the fact that it recognizes no moral obligation of any kind. Sin is merely transgression of statute ; falsehood, deception, robbery, murder, have no moral quality whatever. They are entirely legitimate when used for the furtherance of the Moslem State and even for the furtherance of individual advantage. Undoubtedly there are individual Moslems everywhere who have a strong moral sense, but the great mass of the Moslem community is utterly ignorant of what evangelical Christians understand by the sense of sin. Mistakes are to be atoned for by punishment, penance or remission of penalty ; forgiveness in the Christian sense of the term is almost absolutely unknown. Hence arises one of the fundamental difficulties in dealings between Turkey and Christian nations. The Christian Governments unquestionably are bad enough in this respect, but the Moslem Government is far worse. It is a fundamental 6 2 SECTS. element in the Moslem creed that " no faith is to be kept with an infidel." This has been carried out throughout the whole of Turkish history and will continue to be carried out until the Moslem system is overcome. A word should be said with regard to the different sects of Mohammedanism. Mohammed himself is reported to have said that the children of Israel were divided into 72 sects, and his people would be divided into 73. A Moslem writer says that there are 1 50 sects in Islam, but the infinite shades between them make them practically innumerable. The two great divisions of the Moslem world are Sunnites and Shiites. The first follow the first three caliphs after Mohammed ; the latter regard these as illegitimate and commence with the caliphate of Ali, the prophet's nephew. The former embrace by far the larger part of the Moslem world. The latter are chiefly confined to Persia, though they are represented in a considerable degree in Turkey, especially by some tribes of Kurds. The Shiites believe that the last Imam is still alive and will appear as the Mahdi (director), after which the judgment day will follow. Some of them even go so far as to give Ali divine honors, holding him to be greater than Mohammed. They are as a rule far more deceitful than the Sunnites, and observe certain fasts denied by the orthodox. The Sunnites are divided into four great sects and these again into a num- ber of smaller ones. One, the most important, includes in greater part the Moslems of Turkey, Central Asia and Northern India ; the second those of Southern India and Egypt ; the third those of Morocco, Barbary and Northern Africa generally ; the fourth those of Eastern Arabia and some parts of Central Africa. Sikhism is a strange mixture of Hinduism and Mohamme- APOSTASY. 63 danism in Northern India. In Persia there are two great sects of considerable power : the Sufis and the followers of Bab. These, however, have no relation especially to Turkey. In Arabia, there is a sect, the Wahhabees, which was at one time very powerful and in the early part of the present century occasioned the Turkish Government considerable trouble. The most prominent development of Mohamme- danism of late years has been the rise of the Mahdi, in the Sudan. To describe this at length is beyond our limits. It arose in the dissatisfaction with the caliphate of the Turkish Sultan, and the belief that the sheik who called himself the Mahdi was in reality the one who was to lead Islam in its final victory over the world. In its relations to Christianity Islam allows absolutely no apostasy. The death penalty is still existent in Persia, and while nominally forbidden in Turkey, it is at least exile and often death for any Turk to accept Christianity. The different forms of Christianity are spoken of in con- nection with the different races. A few statements, however, should be made in regard to them in general. The charac- teristics manifested by all the different Oriental churches are essentially the same ; a strict formalism in doctrinal belief and in worship, a very general lack of spiritual life and an intense devotion to the national idea as identified with church life. It is to this very largely that is due the racial unity of the different classes, and while there has always been through the centuries a great deal of true devotion to Christian faith, it is unquestionably the fact that the national strife that centered about propositions or the most abstruse facts of philosophical theology, seems in many respects impos- sible to those of different race and different education. The 64 CHRISTIAN SECTS. same characteristics, however, that existed then exist to-day in considerable measure, and this must be remembered in all consideration of the situation of Christians and the de- velopment of Christian communities in the empire. It must be remembered also that the rivalries first oc- casioned by these theological differences and afterwards de- veloped by the peculiar system of government adopted by the Sultans, has done very much to intensify the peculiar- ities of each of these sects. They are bitterly opposed one to the other. Armenians will have nothing to do with Greeks, and Greeks are bitterly opposed to the Armenians ; Gregorian Armenians hate those of their own race connected with the Roman Catholic Church, and the Greeks despise the Bulgarians, although another branch of their own gen- eral faith ; Nestorians, Chaldeans, Jacobites, all strive against each other. The position of the Protestants is somewhat peculiar. At first they were looked upon merely as one ad- ditional sect developing an additional nation, and to that ex- tent detracting from the power of those from whom they sprung, and they were hated by all. Of late years, however, it has become evident that they are no less national in their feeling than those who have remained in the old churches, and they have been recognized more and more as parts of the same nations. It is hoped by many that, as Evangeli- cal ideas spread in all the different communions, there will re- sult a drawing together, not necessarily a unifying of forms of worship or statements of doctrinal belief, but a sympathy which shall make them support one another rather than work against each other. One thing more should be said. The general effect of re- ligious instruction throughout the Levant has been to divorce Faith and life. 65 the profession of faith from any control of life. The idea that moral conduct was involved in the profession of a creed seems to have disappeared from a good many lives, and the Greek brigand will say his prayers and then start on his pil- laging expedition ; the Armenian merchant will attend service and then go forth to get the better of his opponent in trade without the slightest regard to the use of truth in his deal- ings. The same thing appears in the Moslem, the most out- rageous persecutions and terrible cruelties having been carried on under the very lead of the Moslem Church and as a matter of faith. CHAPTER IV. The Turks. Their Origin — Early History — General Characteristics — Good Qualities — Kindness — Hospitality — Temperance — Honesty — Intellectual Ability — Obedience to Rulers — Bravery — Bad Characteristics — Indifference to Suffering — Brutality — Degradation of Women— Sensuality — Official Unreliability — Fatalism — Insolence — Indolence — General Summary. THE term Turk is a somewhat indefinite one. In general it applies to any or all of the different tribes originat- ing east of the Caspian, and who have spread in varying degrees north, south and west. Without undertaking to give specific definition, it is sufficient to apply the name to the greater part of the Turanian race, and for present pur- poses to limit it to those branches that have at various times occupied what is known as the Turkish Empire. According to a legend, the common ancestor of all was a mighty king by the name of Turk, who lived in the time of Abraham. A descendant of his, called Oghuz Khan, had six sons, whom he sent one day to the chase. Returning, they brought him a bow and arrows which they had found. The bow was given to the three eldest and the three arrows to the younger. The latter each took one, but the first three divided the bow among them, receiving thereby the name Bosuk, The Breakers. They were intrusted with the care of the right (66) TOGRUL BEY. 6j wing of his army, while to the three youngest, called Utschok, The Three Arrows, was given the care of the left wing. These younger ones extended their rule eastward toward China and were the ancestors of the Mongols. The others roamed westward. One became the founder of the Turko- mans, another of the Seljuks and the third of the Ottomans or Osmanlis. This, however, is chiefly legend. What is clearer history is the fact that varying tribes, with some evi- dent connection with the Mongols of Eastern Asia, spread westward through Russia and Persia, and encamped upon the plains of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Their first incur- sions were about the fifth and sixth centuries, at the very time when both Caliphate and Byzantine Empire were showing the weakness of effeminacy. At first their progress was, through lack of any organization and unity, of little moment. They furnished the mercenaries for the Caliphs, and while occasion- ally governing one section or another, held their power in very uncertain hands. The first chieftain to accomplish anything like permanent rule was Togrul Bey, the grandson of Seljuk, an Ameer of Turkestan, who wrested one country after another from its princes and reigned from Bokhara to Syria, from the vicinity of the Indus to the Black Sea. He bequeathed his vast empire to the famous Alp Arslan, who crossed the Euphrates, conquered Armenia and Georgia, and came up to the very borders of the already shrunken Byzantine Empire. Its emperor sought to check the advance of the chieftain, but was defeated, captured, and only received his liberty as a special favor of his conqueror. He, however, granted it not so much from any considerations of humanity, as because he realized that, brave and intrepid as his horsemen were, they 68 MALEK SHAH. were no match in the long run for the disciplined legions of what was to him a new world. As so often is the case, the adventurous rush westward left his ancestral region exposed to enemies. On his return to reinstate himself in Bokhara, Alp Arslan was killed, and his son, Malek Shah, came to the throne. His reign, 1072-1092, was the golden era of the Seljuk dynasty. His empire extended from the Caspian to the Mediterranean, from Khorassan to the Bosporus. The Fatimite Caliphs of Egypt were practically under his power, and from his capital at Konieh (Iconium) he governed the whole of his vast domains. The Seljuk ruler was not merely a conqueror. Whether under the influence of the Caliphs or not, he interested himself in education, founded schools, and it was during his region that many of the most beautiful specimens of what is mistakenly called Saracenic architecture were erected throughout Central Asia Minor. The graceful mosques and arches, sometimes highly adorned, mostly now fallen into ruin, are all that is left of a strange incursion of the wild Tartars into civilization. Malek Shah left little or nothing of his own ability to his three sons, who disputed among themselves and divided the empire : one holding Persia and laying the foundation for the present Kajar dynasty; another occupying Northern Syria, while the third retained the ancestral capital at Konieh. This division not merely made them subject to incursions from abroad, but to revolutions from the chieftains who nominally gave them allegiance. The first to take advantage of their weakness were the Mongols, who, under Zinghis Khan, either overbore the weak Seljuks entirely or held them in subordina- tion, though still allowing them the title of Sultan. The Mongols, however, had no staying power, and gave place in ERTHOGRUL. 69 their turn to still another incursion. A tribe of Turks swept away by the Mongol invasion had found their way from Khorassan to the region west of Ararat, where they camped about the headquarters of the Euphrates. They found this, however, not exactly to their mind, and longing for their ancient home, set out to return to it. Their chief, however, was drowned in attempting to cross the Euphrates, and the result was a division of the troops. The two oldest sons held on their way to Khorassan ; the younger two, with about 400 families, wandered back and forth in true nomad style from plain to mountain. One, Erthogrul, came out upon a plain of Cappadocia and found, according to the story, two armies in conflict. True to the mountain instinct, unfortu- nately lost in later years, he joined the weaker company, and with his fresh warriors won for them the victory. Later con- sultation revealed to him the fact that his late ally was the Sultan of the Seljuks, seeking to defend his much-diminished kingdom against one of his periodical foes. The new arrivals, fresh from their mountain life, unweakened by the experiences of the plain, formed a valuable reinforcement. They joined heartily with those they had helped, recognized loyally their chief, and assisted him to regain his power over the various tribes around, and also to make some headway against the Greeks. In course of time a closer alliance was brought about and the son of Erthogrul, Ottoman, Osman, or Othman, by persistent courtship and a convenient dream, won the daughter of an Arab chief, and Malkatoun be- came the mother of Orchan. Erthogrul lived to an advanced age, but little by little trans- ferred the care of his kingdom to Othman, who, on the death of his benefactor, became the recognized head of the JO ORCHAN. nation. This was in the latter part of the thirteenth century. His reign, and that of Orchan, were occupied chiefly in con- solidating their power, developing the general character of the people, introducing the best military arrangements known at that day, and in extending their empire. One by one they drew under their leadership the various Turkish tribes, and advanced nearer and nearer to Constantinople, until they made Brusa their capital. It was here that both father and son are buried, and their tombs are objects of great reverence among the Turks to the present day. It is probable that the influence of these two men largely controlled the development of Turkish character. That char- acter is often greatly misunderstood. It is by no means as thoroughly barbaric as many suppose. It is impossible that a nation that could develop such power, could not merely extend its boundaries, but maintain them, subdue nation after nation, and keep them in subjection, hold its own for centuries against the hostility of Europe, and withstand the disintegrating influences that have been at work during the past century, should not have much of vitality in its nature. Whatever of weakness at the head, there must have been, and there must still be, soundness of body. That this is true is testified to, not merely by travelers, of whatever nationality, but by the very people who are quoted as saying, " There is no good Turk but a dead Turk." The fact is, that in order to estimate accurately the character of the Turkish native, we must go not to the official circles, but to the private houses, whether in the cities or the country, but most of all in the country. The ordinary Turkish peasant, and many a townsman, is a man very simple in his tastes. His food is plain but whole- some, his dress is unassuming, his house most primitively fur- TURKISH PEASANT. They are ordinarily quiet, kindly men, fairly industrious, but not aggressive. It is only when stirred by fanatical appeals that they come to be dreaded. They almost all wear charms, and the cord about the neck is fastened to one such. The turban is a simple roll of dark cloth about a felt cap. GROUP OF MOUNTAINEERS FROM CENTRAL ASIA MINOR. These are not as fierce, although fully as brave as the Xeibecks. They form a considerable element in what are known as the Bashi-Bozouks, or irregular troops of the Turkish army. They are pure-blooded Turks, stalwart, powerful men. POLYGAMY. 73 nished. He is kindly in his bearing ; intensely fond of his children, frequently so of his wife ; a great admirer of the beauties of nature, generally contriving to have some flowers within reach. He is social, but in rather a sober way, in this respect quite different from the Armenians, who are far more buoyant, and from the Greeks, whose entertainments are fre- quently boisterous. He is thoroughly hospitable, entertaining with a free hand. To the unfortunate, especially the blind, the crippled, the demented, he is very kind, not only never lifting a finger against them, but helping them when he can. So also with animals, he is careful and generally considerate. In his private life the Turkish peasant is temperate. Not as temperate as he is supposed to be, but still temperate. As a rule he is a monogamist. Polygamy is comparatively rare, chiefly because of the expense. The facility and widespread use of divorce, however, accomplishes much the same thing. Any Turk can put away his wife at any time, and take another, and in the towns this privilege is used constantly, nor is there any disgrace involved. There are, however, multitudes of instances where husband and wife are true to each other through a long life. The statement is frequently made that the social evil is unknown. This is not true. In the cities, and wherever there are garrisons, there is prostitution, though not to the same extent as in Europe. Sodomy is far more common. In the main, however, the common Turk of the provinces will compare very favorably with the peasant of other lands, and one proof is found in the unimpaired vio-or of his physical constitution. He is ordinarily a robust, well- formed, powerful man. In his relations with the subject races of the empire, the Turk never forgets that he is the lord of the land. This is intensi- 5 74 THE FOREIGNER. fied by the fact that he occupies himself chiefly with the care of the land, herds and flocks, which he considers the only real property. Trade he has little taste for, and as little facility in it. Banking-, too, is entirely alien to his habits. These pur- suits he looks upon as implying endless trickery and decep- tion, and accordingly he looks upon them with contempt, for, except under the influence of the West, he is in general truth- ful, honest and reliable. This contempt is usually mingled with somewhat of dread, for he is no match for the very peo- ple he despises, whom yet he finds so essential to his comfort and general welfare. The result is, that for the most part he lives on good terms with his neighbors of whatever race or creed. In ordinary times he will be seen on friendly, even intimate, relations with them, and, although the distinction is always clear, it is yet frequently overlooked. Villages, Christian and Turkish, on the same plain, will ordinarily be at peace, and in the towns and cities there is seldom any indica-- tion of the line that separates one quarter from another. Even in the massacres of the past year, there have been many instances where they have given protection to hunted Christian refugees. So far as the foreigner is concerned, he is to the average Turk more of a curiosity than anything else, a kind of being with whom, or with which, he has very little to do. He has a dim conception of the existence of some strange countries far remote from his own, where people dress in a most uncom- fortable way, eat strange things, and altogether lead a life which has not the slightest attraction for himself. There are men, even in interior villages, who have a much more accurate idea of Europe, and who have even heard of America, but THE PREVAILING IDEAS. 75 the following incident, which is a true one, will apply to the greater part of the Turks of the provinces. A foreigner who was traveling in Northern Syria came to a village on the Euphrates, and entered into conversation with his host, a part of which was as follows : Host. What is the latest news ? Foreigner. Have you heard that the Russian Emperor is dead ? Host. No ! When did he die ? Foreigner. Two or three weeks ago. Host. Is there a new king yet ? (Notice change in title.) Foreigner. Why, yes, even though not formally crowned, the new Emperor became Emperor the moment his father died. Host. Who is the new kina? Foreigner. The son of the one dead. In Europe the crown goes from father to child, not to the oldest male of the blood royal as in the Turkish Empire. Host. Has the new king come to Constantinople yet? Foreigner . What for ? Host. Why, to get our Emperor's permission to put on his crown ; he cannot put it on without our Emperor's per- mission. Foreigner. I think that has not been the custom of late years. Host. Why, certainly it has. None of the kings of Europe can be crowned without our Emperor's permission. Is not that so ? (this to a Moslem who had just come in). Visitor. Why, yes. They are all vassals of our Emperor. Host. I wonder if our Emperor will not insist that the new Russian king pledge himself to abstain from war two years, before letting him put on his crown ? 7 6 INTELLECUTAL ABILITY. Visitor. Probably he will. The intellectual ability of the Turk is good. When it is remembered that there is almost no education of any kind throughout the country ; that what little there is, is confined to the priests ; that there is little reading and almost no oppor- tunity for development, the facts apparent on every hand indicate no mean order of talent. The records of attainment in government schools and elsewhere show that Turkish young men are fully the equals of any. In many respects the conduct of the government is of a very good order, and the history of Turkish diplomacy is certainly on a par with that of any court of Europe. They have not the keenness of the Armenians or of the Greeks, but have good minds, and, where circumstances give the opportunity, they show ability to think for themselves. In the official class this is particularly noticeable, and the educated Turk of Constanti- nople stands fully abreast of his compeer in the cities of Europe. An American, traveling in a railroad train from Adrianople to Constantinople, got into conversation with a Turkish army officer. He found the officer well posted in many lines of investigation and even well read in the Turkish version of the Bible. It is an interesting and significant fact that large editions of that version, in the form specially adapted to Turks, have been sold throughout the empire, and that they are constantly read and studied, has been repeatedly affirmed by the Turks themselves. A nation that can produce such men as Fuad, Midhat, and Ali Pashas, and not a few of those prominent in later years, and that shows such interest in a daily press, cannot be considered of mediocre intellectual ability. From the standpoint of a despotic government the Turk UNWAVERING OBEDIENCE. JJ makes an almost ideal subject. He is absolutely obedient to those whom he regards as constituted authorities, even where treated by them with the most outrageous oppression and injustice, as is repeatedly the case under the Sultan's rule. He seldom if ever complains, and when he does it is with bated breath, as if there could be no criticism of his superiors. Whatever of wrong there may be, is laid at the door, not of the authorities, but of some outside and to him unknown influences which compel this action under which he suffers. Or it may be that he looks upon it as just punish- ment from God for some crime against his law. But of this later on. As a soldier he takes rank with the very best in the world. His naturally fine physique and strong constitu- tion and simple manner of life give him great endurance, and his unwavering obedience, which, however, is by no means stolid, as is that of the Russian, makes him the reliance of his officers, while his education in his religion from childhood makes him reckless even to the point of despising death. The record of Turkish wars throughout the centuries has been one that any nation might well be proud of, so far as achievements of its soldiers are concerned ; and no one who watched the veterans as they returned from Plevna and from Shipka could fail to understand how it was that Russia had to buy her way into the fortifications. There is, however, another side to Turkish character, illustrated by many facts along the lines already mentioned. The treatment of the insane whose detention becomes neces- sary, and who have none to provide for them, is brutal in the extreme. In times of famine or of c-eneral distress the Turk will do little or nothing to relieve even his own people, and when an animal becomes sick or helpless, it is left to a 78 FRIGHTFUL CRUELTY. miserable end. It is no uncommon siorit on the caravan roads to see camels, horses or mules, that have fallen by the way left to die, while the vultures gather and commence their work even before life is extinct. The stories of the past year of torture, murder and outrage, seem to belong to a race of demons rather than of human beings. It is true that for much of this the Kurds are responsible, as in the Bulgarian massacres it was largely the Pomaks who were guilty of the worst excesses, but still it is true that the Turks themselves, soldiers and peasants, committed deeds of the most frightful enormity. The ripping up of pregnant women to decide a wager as to the sex of the unborn child, the wholesale out- raging of women and girls, not to speak of the torturing of men, and even little children, in the most inhuman fashion, indicate a fiendish barbarism that seems absolutely incom- patible with the kindness and hospitality to which so many bear witness. Yet it is simple truth that, were the facts to be detailed in all their horror, the chronicle would disgust the world. A portion of it has been set forth in such articles as those by E. J. Dillon, in the Contemporary Review ; by Frede- rick D. Greene, in " The Armenian Crisis in Turkey," and a. few, comparatively very few, instances will be found in later chapters of this book. They need not be repeated here. It is sufficient to say that there is not a case given for which there is not abundant proof. So also in private life there are aspects of even the best of the Turkish people that can call forth only condemnation. Most noticeable, perhaps, is the condition of women, which is in the main thoroughly degraded. From her birth she is looked upon as a menial and an unfortunate. This is illus- trated by the great amount of infanticide, especially if the BRUTAL SENSUALISM. 79 child be a girl ; by the haggard, ugly countenances of the old women, so different in that respect from the Armenians ; the piercing shrillness of their voices, from which every tone of tenderness seems to have gone ; the very general vulgarity of conversation and of thought, always attendant upon a condition of society where the woman must rely upon satisfy- ing the passions rather than the heart of her husband. As already stated, there are exceptions, but in the main the con- dition of the Turkish women is very low. This condition reacts upon the men and makes them vulgar and sensual in the extreme. The everyday language of the average Turk would shock the lowest of the slum boys in our own cities. Under ordinary circumstances sensualism is kept measurably in check by the inevitable restraints of community life, but once let those be broken and lust reigns supreme, dominating everything. As a gentleman who* knows them well and never hesitates to recognize their good qualities, "has said, " In a Turk's eye all that a woman has is sex, and for it he lusts with absolute brutality." Similar characteristics appear in his relations with others. While ordinarily peaceable and desirous of living on good terms with his neighbors of other creeds or races, and thus generally truthful, honest and hospitable, he will on occasion show the reverse of all these characteristics, and it is not infrequently the case that travelers find it impossible to understand how any one can possibly speak of the race with other than contempt for its utter disregard of the most ordinary amenities of life. The explanation is undoubtedly partly to be found in their religious training, but there is ingrained in the Turkish character an element of dishonesty and of disregard for truth. This uncertainty appears some- 80 THE TURKISH COURT. what in their relations to their own government. Loyal as they are, it has not infrequently been true that they, far more than the Christian subjects, furnish the most anxiety, and if now the inmost thoughts of the Sultan could be learned, it is most probable that he fears the Softas far more than the Armenians. Next, perhaps, to the condition of woman, the weaker or the worst side of Turkish character is manifest in the official class. The Turks themselves have a proverb that "The Turk is a decent man until he becomes an official, and then he becomes a scamp," and this is borne out in the greater part of the intercourse between that class and the rest of the world. Probably no court in history can give so marked an illustration of the decadence of all moral power as the Turkish court. There have been noble men, men of pre- eminent ability and sterling character, but they have been very rare, and the average official, whether in civil, military or naval service, is absolutely unreliable. He will make promises that he never intends to keep and that he knows he cannot keep. He will accept bribes unblushingly and will deal with all whom he comes in contact on the general principle that he is the smartest man who can get the most and give the least ; a sycophant to his superiors, a bully to his inferiors. His whole life is a constant strife with every one with whom he has any relations whatever. The very atmosphere in which he lives seems to breathe dishonesty and fasehood, and the ability he shows is prostituted to the very basest ends. Yet here again, as in almost every other statement, exceptions must be made. No one who has had dealings with the departments of the government has failed to find many instances of courtesy and consideration. With TURKISH CHARACTER. all the outrage and injustice perpetrated by the provincial governors, there have been many instances of not merely justice, but kindness, in their dealing with all classes of people. When, however, every possible exception is noted, it remains true that the official life from the highest to the lowest is thoroughly demoralized. The one dominant element in the Turkish character, how- ever, the one which controls and modifies all the others, is his religion. This is no place for a general description of Mohammedanism. Some reference has already been made to it in a preceding chapter. Here we have only to note its effect upon the Turkish character. That effect is both ad- vantageous and disadvantageous. The grandeur of its monotheism fills his soul and holds him in absolute subjec- tion to that idea. One result of this is that the natural simplicity of the race is strengthened rather than weakened." Another effect of it is seen in his general self-control and temperance. The Turk is by no means as temperate a man as many suppose him to be ; yet what temperance he has is due primarily to the precepts of his religion. So also he is as a rule self-contained, not from stolidity, but from principle. He is above all things else a pure and simple fatalist, acknowledging God's absolute control over him and claiming that whatever is, is right. It is immaterial to him what happens to him. Thus, on the field of battle he absolutely refuses to recognize danger, and in private life, when sick- ness overtakes him, he will frequently make no effort for re- covery. The following incident illustrates, better than any lengthy description can, the power of this influence. In the various scourges of cholera that have swept over many parts of the empire, the Turk has been the most 82 INFLUENCES FOR EVIL. difficult patient to treat. In the dread time in Constantinople in 1865, when the deaths numbered not less than a thousand a day, a gentleman on his errand of mercy and of healing met in the street a young man, who implored him to come into a room near by and save, if he could, his father. The room was entered, and there, upon a single quilt upon the floor, lay a Turk, old in years, but not in strength, of magnifi- cent physique and apparently of perfect health until attacked by the plague. The disease had secured so thorough a hold of him that he seemed to be marked for death. As the medicine was produced he absolutely refused to take it, saying, "If it is God's will that I should die, I shall die, and your medicine will do no good. If it is His will that I shall recover, I shall recover, and your medicine will be of no use." Scarcely needless to say the man died. This same principle also makes him the obedient subject that he is, and keeps him content with his lot when many another race would be restless and urgent for revolution. There are, however, other influences for evil. The very absoluteness of Islam makes him overbearing and insolent to all who are not of his own faith. Its exaltation of the sensual paradise frees him from all restraint in the gratification of his passions. If once his recognized ecclesiastical leaders, the authorized interpreters of the law, declare against the authority of the government, he becomes immediately the most danger- ous revolutionist known to history ; this in aggression. But in another sense the same religion develops within him an indolence. The one word that probably to many a traveler expresses Turkish character, is the word "kef." It is an un- translatable word, and denotes a general condition of indolent and sensuous rather than sensual enjoyment of different TURKISH "KEF." 83 pleasures. In the enjoyment of it he is careless of the future and the past, and lives only in the present. If urged to labor in the fields, he says, " What is the use ? I have enough for the moment. Why should I look out for the future?" If appeal is made to his ambition in the line of intellectual de- velopment or wide extent of prosperity, the same indolent luxuriousness prevents his taking the slightest trouble to alter his situation. That this indolence should co-exist with the tremendous fury of the Turkish onslaughts as known in his- tory, with the atrocious barbarity of the events of the past year, seems almost incredible, and yet it is true. This same characteristic appears in still another form. It stands in op- position to any development of the land. It is epicurean- ism interpreted in Tartar language, and we have the Sybarite, with the bare mud floor, a cup of coffee and a pipe, instead of the luxurious couch and deep potations of the Roman court. This latter indeed is found where wealth gives oppor- tunity, but for the distinctive Turkish " kef," we must look not in the palace or on the shores of the Bosporus, but in the village and on the plains of Asia Minor. An illustration is furnished in the refusal of a Turkish pasha who owned some land on the southern slopes of the Taurus. When some Europeans came to get a concession for working some coal mines on his property, he replied, " If God Almighty had intended that coal to be used, He would put it near the surface where it could have been got at, not away below, where you have to dig for it. It is blasphemy to change His plans." What disturbed the pasha, however, in truth, was not the blasphemy, but the interference with his "kef." It will be seen that the Turk, as is the case with so many other peoples, is a bundle of contradictions. With some 84 ABDUL HAMID II. noble qualities he unites some that are brutal and contempti- ble in the extreme. Those who see only the courteous host and the easy, suave diplomat, will defend him with all their power, while those who have felt the iron heel of his despot- ism, and seen the wanton outrage of his lust, find it hard to think that there can be any good in him. Probably the most typical Turk of the century is the Sultan himself. To the foreign ambassador, to the guest whom he delights to honor, he appears a man of kindly, even benign bearing, sincerely desirous of the welfare of all his people, sad at their distress, bitterly lamenting the cruel fate that has so weakened the power of his rule that he cannot do what he would, yet anxious to do all he can. To the official, however, who has displeased him, to the peasant in his village who pays him taxes, to the priest who seeks to perform the rites of his church, he appears a tyrant of the most unjust and cruel type. Which is correct ? In all probability both. When all goes well, Abdul Hamid, like any other Turk, is kindly, hospitable, even generous. When, however, adversity comes upon him, and he finds himself face to face with disaster, not merely to himself, but to his boasted title of Defender of the Faith, the old Tartar blood enkindled by the ferocity of the Moslem Arab breaks forth, and he permits, if he does not directly order, the the most atrocious series of massacres known in history. With capabilities for the best, the Turk frequently manifests the worst elements in human nature. CHAPTER V. The Kurds. Legend of the Serpents — Connected with the Medes — Tribal Organization — Nomad Life — Saladin and the Crusaders — After the Russo-Turkish War — The Hamidieh Cavalry — Brutal Treatment of Christians — Arabs — Circassians and other Moslem Subjects — The Nusairiyeh — Yezidis and Druzes. THE passion for legend is illustrated in no better way than in the statements as to the origin of the oriental races. Even the wildest tribes share in this, and there have come down, through their famous story-tellers, narrative after narrative, to be taken not as authentic history, and yet as giving after all the kernel of authentic history. The Kurdish people are no exception to this rule. According to the story that is told in their camps and castles, extending all the way from the eastern end of the Black Sea to the very borders of the Persian Gulf, and from the mountains of Western Persia along the mountain ranges of Asiatic Turkey, they owed their orio-in to one of those acts of cruelty familiar to all Eastern history. In the capital of Persia, in the ages long past, there was a king famous even there for his cruelty. Through many years his crimes went unavenged. At last the gods found them too severe, and in punishment sent two serpents to take up their abode, one in each shoulder. These serpents preyed upon his flesh, which yet was constantly renewed by a miracle of divine retribution, so that each morning found the body still unimpaired. The torture of the day brought to the (85) 86 DRAWING LOTS. kino-'s mind a suggestion of relief. Reasoning that his own flesh was no sweeter than that of his nobility, and that the younger the flesh the more dainty the morsel it furnished, he sent out among the wealthy families of his kingdom, and gathered in all the young men. Every morning lots were cast, and two of these were taken and fed to the serpents, that so they might be diverted from the body of the king. Naturally terror reigned throughout the kingdom. Fear and anger assisted the subjects to discover a way of cheating, both the king and the serpents, just as the king had hoped to cheat his tormentors. They reasoned that when the first taste of the serpents was sated, an ordinary sheep would satisfy their huno-er. Accordingly each morning, lots were drawn between the two victims, one escaped and fled to the mountains, while his comrade suffered. This was carried on, for how long the legend does not say, long enough, however, to result in the gathering of a large number of these escaped members of the nobility in the mountains of Demavend, banded together to avenge the wrong upon them and upon their kindred against the king and all his forces. This, according to the legend, was the origin of the Kurdish people. More authentic tradition states that a race variously called Gutu (warrior), Gardu, and Karu (whence Kardukas, Charduchi), occupied the mountainous eastern border of the Assyrian empire in the time of its glory. These were of Scythian origin, but were conquered by a tribe of Kermanj de- scended from Madai (Mede), the son of Japhet. In any case their mountain fastnesses furnished a sort of cave of Adullam, to which every man who had a grievance came, and a rude sort of feudal o-overnment arose. In some cases the men were followed by the women of their families ; in others they VARIETY OF KURDS. 8j gathered wives from the plain in their raids. Thus there grew up a race in the mountains whose hand was against every man and every man's hand against them. Occupying a position on the border of several kingdoms, it was natural that they should become a thoroughly heterogeneous com- munity, owing their origin to no one race and taking their characteristics from many. Still, whether due to the method of their life or to the dominant influence of some racial element, there resulted a very marked race, unity governing the diversity. Thus, while the Kurds of the North are in many respects essentially different from those of the far South, both in general appearance and even in language, there are certain characteristics of both that mark them all as being of one race. Probably no absolute distinction can be drawn between the different sections. In general, however, it is legitimate to ac- cept the classification of some of those who have made care- ful study of them. About the only published authorities are the Kurdish history, " Shereef Na'ameh," published in St. Petersburg, a report to the British Government prepared by Major Henry Trotter, British Consul for Kurdistan, and mon- ographs by the American missionaries. Considerable infor- mation has been given by individual Kurds, for they have furnished not a few scholars, and upon the basis of this infor- mation they may be divided according to race, religion, gov- ernment and mode of life, the lines of separation not being always clear, but sufficient to furnish the basis for classifica- tion. Taking up first the question of race, there appear to be two general divisions, each with two subdivisions. First comes the great Jaff race, divided into Kermanj and Goran or 88 DIFFERENT RACES. Kuran ; second, the Wend tribes, divided between the Wends and the Lurs. The Jaff race includes those tribes occupying the country from the eastern end of the Black Sea as far south as Kerkuk in Turkey and Hamadan in Persia and throughout the mountains of Asia Minor. The Kermanj are by far the most numerous and include the entire population as far as the vicinity of Mosul and throughout Asia Minor, with the exception of a comparatively small number of tribes. The remainder are Goran. Of the Wends, the distinctive Wend tribe has its origin in Afghanistan and extends through Persia into Southern Mesopotamia. The Lurs occupy a sec- tion of Luristan southwest of Hamadan. If the total Kurdish population be estimated at three and a half millions, fully two millions belong to what may be called the Northern Kermanj tribes; about 400,000 to the Southern tribes, and about the same number (400,000) to the Goran tribes ; while the Wends number in all about 700,000. In religion all are Moslems, the great majority being Sunnis or orthodox; a comparatively small portion aside from the Wend tribes being Shiahs. They are in the main very scrupulous in their observations of religious rites, thoroughly enthusiastic and intensely loyal Moslems, looking upon all Christians with the most utter contempt. They are very largely under the influence of Dervishes, many of their leaders belonging to the different Dervish sects which abound far more in Eastern Turkey and Persia than in Western Turkey. The general form of government is tribal, corresponding very closely to that of the clans of Scotland and such as is natural to all mountainous sections of country. As a rule, the chieftainship is hereditary, and in some families it has remained for a long time ; in others the democratic element KURDISH SHEIKH, from the region north of Harput. Many of the Kurds of that section were originally of Armenian origin. A great many of them are men of considerable force of character and ability, generally kindly in their disposition, and living for the most part on good terms with their Christian fellow-subjects. GROUP OF XEIBECKS ; a tribe of mountaineers inhabiting the mountain section inland from Smyrna. They are bold, reckless, rather brutal men, famous for their marauding expeditions, in which they plunder indiscriminately Moslem as well as Christian villages. In the Russo- Turkish war, numbers of them were taken .nto Bulgaria, where they committed the most atrocious outrages. MANNER OF LIFE. 9 1 seems to rule, and there are frequent changes. In the chief- tainship among the Wend tribes that position is held according to custom by the man whose prowess marks him as the leader. There are, however, considerable sections in which the tribal organization is practically disappearing. These mostly in- clude the Lurs of Persia and some of those found in Meso- potamia and through Asia Minor. This loss of the tribal character is due chiefly to the contact into which they have come with the dominating power of the Persian and Turkish Governments. Perhaps the most apparent division of the Kurdish people is according to their manner of life, nomad or sedentary. The distinction between these is not always easily drawn. In many cases the tribes are at one season of the year nomad and at another sedentary ; thus some of the wildest clans of the mountains who spend their summers upon the plains wandering- back and forth with their tents, are in the winter confined within their villages and have all the general aspects of a settled population. It is doubtless true that the general tendency has been from the nomad to the sedentary life, and many tribes whose ancestors a half century ago knew prac- tically no abiding place, are now found year after year within the same geographical territory. But one of these divisions can fairly be said to have retained absolutely its nomad character, and that is the Wend tribe. They live on horse- back, with comparatively few flocks or herds, and prey upon whatever country they happen to enter. The great mass of the Kermanj are partially nomad, while the Lurs are almost entirely sedentary. The development of city life has had its effect, and there are a number of cities along the Persian border, including Kerkuk, Suleimanieh, 92 TRIBAL ORGANIZATION. Rowandiz and Bitlis, where the entire Moslem population is Kurdish. In some cases these have retained a certain tribal form of organization though not of government, but in not a few instances that has disappeared, and to the traveler the Kurd appears to be an ordinary Turkish citizen. The general characteristics of the Kurds vary somewhat according to these general divisions. The nomads, whether Kermanj or Wend, are lawless and often brutal to the last degree. The sedentary Kurds are in the main sturdy, but quiet and unaggressive. On the other hand there is a marked distinction between the sedentary Lur on the plains of Persia and his kinsman in the city of Bitlis. In general the Kermanj are the most aesfressive ; the Gorans show the most character; the Wends are the wildest, and the Lurs the most peaceful. Comparatively few have come into contact with any form of civilization, although some of the Goran chiefs, and even men of no particular position, have manifested ability of high order. One of the most successful ministers that the present Sultan has ever had, who has not only been ambassador to Germany, but has held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and even that of Grand Vizier at Constantinople, is a Kurd from Suleimanieh. The editor of one of the most successful papers at the capital, before the present intense censorship was established, was a Kurd from the same section ; and one of the most efficient assistants in the preparation of the version of the Bible in the Turkish language was a Kurd who had no education in foreign languages, simply what he had obtained from Arabic, Persian and Turkish literature. No one .can travel through the mountains of Kurdistan, south of Van, without coming in contact with men whose personal dignity of character and whose wide information astonish him. Not HISTORY OF THE KURDS. 93 a few who have known of these people have thought that possibly with them lay the solution as to the ultimate rule of that whole section. Authentic history of the Kurdish people dates back not much more than three centuries. Before that time they were simply a collection of tribes with some racial unity, develop- ing the idea expressed by the legend of their origin. Occa- sionally chieftains made themselves a wider reputation. Sala- din, the famous Ameer of the time of the Crusades, was a Kurd whose nomad instincts and ability placed him at the head of the Moslem foes of the European kings. In the middle of the sixteenth century they came under the power of the Ottoman and Persian rulers, though the fealty that they ren- dered was perhaps scarcely worth the name. Until the latter part of the last century they confined themselves chiefly to the mountain ranges bordering Turkey and Persia, spreading out upon the plains merely for occasional pasturage, but within the last half century the tribes have spread east and west, but principally west. Little by little they occupied the whole of the mountain section of Eastern Turkey; then the mountain ranges skirting the Black Sea ; then the Taurus, until to-day they are found in varying numbers and with some modified characteristics, yet still evidently of the same race, even as far west as the borders of the Salt Plain of Western Asia Minor. The Kurds first came into prominence as an essential or at least important element in the problems affecting the Turkish Government, about the time of the Russo-Turkish war in 1876. Hitherto they had been looked upon chiefly as an element of disturbance, but not of dread. Whenever the government became more impatient than usual with their 94 SIEGE OF ERZRUM. raids, a strong hand was put forth and they were speedily brought to terms. There was no apparent thought on their part of any united action, or on the part of the Turks that they could be in any way made use of. The sieofe of Erzrum and attending battles on the border first brought the Kurds into contact with the more advanced methods of western warfare. They had seen something of it at Kars in 1856, but there had not then been the advance made in the weapons used which characterized the conflicts of twenty years later, and it seems to have made little impres- sion. On this latter occasion the Kurdish chiefs with their men hung on the outskirts of both armies pillaging each with scrupulous impartiality. They had no love for either Sultan or Czar, and looked upon the soldiers, whether wounded or dead upon the battlefield, chiefly as furnishing material for their own better arming. Two results followed. There was a marvelous distribution of modern arms throughout the Kurdish mountains, and a perfect revelation as to the methods of modern warfare and the power that even they might exert. More than this, however, there was borne in upon the Kurdish mind that neither Sultan nor Czar was omnipo- tent. The sudden arrest of the Russian advance and the subsequent evacuation of Erzrum could not in their mind be attributed to the power of the Turk. There must be other influences more mighty than he. In one way or another there came reports of the great Queen of England, the Emperor of Germany and his wonderful minister. The author was lunching one day in a Kurdish village, not far from Arbela, when he had a call from a Kurdish Sheikh, who asked him to read the inscription on a magnificent pistol. He read, " Providence Tool Company, Providence, Rhode OPEN WAR. 95 Island." The Sheikh would say nothing as to where and how he gained possession of this weapon, but it did not require much shrewdness to identify him with one of the leaders, who brought terror to the stragglers, both Turks, and Russians, in the war that had only ceased two years before. More sig- nificant, however, were the questions he asked about Glad- stone, Bismarck, Queen Victoria, the Czar, etc., and especially those in which he tried to sound the visitor as to the relations between those men and the Sultan and Shah. He did not get much satisfaction, but his talk came very vividly to mind a few weeks later, when a messenger from the most powerful chief of the mountains came to the same traveler to ask, in a strictly private way, how he could best come into com- munication with the Queen of England, whom he desired to recognize as his suzerain. It was easy to refer him to an English Consul, with the explanation that Americans had nothing to do with Oriental politics. The first fruit of this was manifest two years later, when the chief who sent this last question declared open war on the Shah, and started on an expedition that for a time threatened ruin to the two large cities in Northern Persia. Sheikh Obeidullah was one of the finest specimens of the Kurdish chief. A man of wide acquaintance, shrewd judgment, bound- less ambition, and fine bearing, he was evidently fitted to inaugurate a Kurdish kingdom. He was connected, too, with the Nakshibendi order of Dervishes, and could bring to his support the mighty influence of that, the most powerful order in Western Asia. When he started out from the fastnesses of the mountains north of Rowandiz there was terror every- where, and not a few felt that not merely had a new element entered the conflict, but one whose power was beyond com- 96 DANGERS TO THE SULTAN. putatlon. He traversed the plain south of Lake Urumia, appeared before the city, and even threatened Tabriz. He doubtless made his first attack on Persia, as the weaker of the two empires, planning, in case of success there, to measure strength with the Sultan. He doubtless hoped also to make such an impression as to attract the attention of Europe. He was disappointed, however. His followers, with no discipline or morale, proved absolutely unmanageable when it came to meeting even the play troops of the Persian army, and the tumbledown walls of Urumia. They soon became disheart- ened, feared lest they should lose the plunder already collected, and the army of many thousand men melted away like dew. As a Turkish subject the Sheikh, under the representations from Teheran, was taken as a captive to Constantinople. He was confined for a time in an apartment of the palace, but managed to escape in the form of a green dove, as the nursery stories went. He was found, however, back in his old home, and again seized and sent into exile in Arabia, where in due time he died. This experience, however, had its lessons for the Turkish Government. It was evident that there was an element of danger in the mountains of Kurdistan, which, added to the other dangers menacing the Sultan, from the activity of the Armenians, the pressure from the European powers, and the general hostility to his Caliphate among the Arabs, might easily prove very serious. Were the Kurds to join the Arabs, Turkish rule in Eastern Turkey and Mesopotamia would be at an end. Were they to join the Armenians the result would be equally disastrous. Such a thing may seem absurd, and yet it was not so absurd as might appear. The one power that seemed to Sheikh Obeidullah and doubtless to his friends PLUNDER AND FINERY. 97 as the one to be courted, was England. England was well understood to be the patron of the Armenians. The Kurds had little hostility to the Armenians themselves. They were glad to plunder them when they could, and very ready to raise the Moslem cry if it served their turn ; but in the main Kurdish and Armenian mountaineers had gotten along to- gether fairly well. It was the villages of the plain that had the most to fear. Both alike suffered from the Turkish Gov- ernment, both alike dreaded Russia. It is by no means in- conceivable that the two should have united forces against both governments. Whether this fear came to the Turkish authorities or not, it is certain that they took the most effective way to prevent such a union. The two things that appeal most to a Kurd are plunder and finery. If he can appropriate other people's sheep and goods and dress himself in showy colors he is happy. With true Oriental shrewdness the Turkish Government took advantage of this and sent word to the chiefs to organize a portion of their men into a sort of irregular cavalry. They were to be provided with uniforms and arms, were to be honored with the Sultan's own name, Hamid, and called the Hamidieh Cav- alry. At first there was some dismay, for it is the unvarying rule of the Turkish Government to send its soldiers far away from their own homes for active service. That rule was broken in this case. The Hamidieh were especially favored and permitted to remain in their own mountains, where they were authorized to act as police. The effect of this was to give them absolutely unlimited opportunity for plunder. The slightest defense on the part of the Armenians against a raid was sufficient pretext to warrant their punishment for open in- 98 KURDS AS DEMONS. surrection, and this was what happened throughout Eastern Turkey and even to the west, wherever the Kurds extended. The result has been to bring out into bold relief the worst el- ements in the Kurdish character. The atrocities committed by them have been horrible beyond description. They have showed no mercy to any. They have become so identified with robbery, murder and outrage, that not merely have the Armenians come to dread them as demons, but the Turks themselves often look upon them as the most dangerous allies. At the same time their innate cowardice as well as their weakness have been made most apparent. In every case where they have carried devastation to places of any size or strength it has been with the aid of Turks, and when- ever the Turkish Government has really sought to ward off their attacks it has done so with perfect ease. In defenseless villages they have proved a perfect tornado of devastation, but in not a single city have they unaided been able to accom- plish anything. In the attack on Harput, where the* houses of the American missionaries were destroyed, they were as- sisted by the Turkish rabble from the city itself and by Turk- ish soldiers in disguise ; but when, as at Mardin, they sought alone to attack the city, they were easily driven back. The term Arab is applied in popular use to all the Moslem subjects of the Sultan who use the Arabic language, and they are found in Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia. In fact a large number of these are not Arabs at all. In both Northern Syria and along the Lebanon, the great mass are Syrians who early accepted Islam, and are of the same race as their Christian fellows of the Jacobite and Chaldean Churches. Thus, in the cities of Aleppo, Mardin and Mosul there are comparatively few pure Arabs, although genuine Arab tribes THE ARABS. 99 press very closely upon the borders of all these places. Arabia itself, being practically independent, with the exception of the provinces of Hejaz and Yemen, has comparatively little to do with Turkish history, and notwithstanding that the Bedouin tribes of Mesopotamia partake frequently of the general characteristics of the mountain Kurds, they still have come into little antagonism with Christians. They prefer the free life of the plains and are not feared by the villagers as are the rougher Moslems to the East. The chief interest for Turkish history connected with the Arabs arises from the control Turkey has held, ever since the conquering of Egypt, of the provinces of Arabia, where the Moslem religion has its center. The Arabs of Mecca and Medina, and also those of the province of Yemen, have always hated the Turk. The Moslem law says that the caliph should be a member of the tribe of Koreish, and to have that high honor, so dio-nified by the rulers of Bagdad and their followers, assumed by a Tartar from Central Asia is a standing grievance with the descend- ants of the Prophet and his kinsmen. Hence the Turkish hold upon those provinces has always been very slight, scarcely more than its hold upon any of the interior sections. Revolts in Yemen have become so common a phrase that they scarcely attract any special attention. The whole prov- ince is in a chronic state of disturbance, and almost at any time, were Arabs really to exert themselves, or could they unite, they could throw off the Ottoman rule. More im- portant in many ways than the regular Arabs are the Syrians. They are shrewd, proud, ambitious, love dis- play and manifest the peculiar characteristics of a race which for centuries was subject and then assumed the ascendancy. IOO THE CIRCASSIANS, The Circassians, who are found in numbers in Asia Minor, from Constantinople to Sivas, along the shores of the Black Sea, and also to a considerable extent in European Turkey, are mostly the followers of Schamyl, the famous leader who was defeated by the Russians in 1859. They are bold and daring, far more fearless and aggressive than the Kurds and are also of a higher type of ability and character. The Sultan listened to their appeal for protection and gave them a cordial welcome into his domains. He appropriated to them certain lands and then practically left them to claim pos- session and to extend their claim wherever they could. As a result, for a number of years they were a terror to all, Mos- lem and Christian. Gradually, however, they settled down and then their industry manifested itself and the Circassian communities in many cases attained a good degree of pros- perity. Naturally they brought more or less of their brigand style of life and of dealing with them, and even the settled communities included not a few who relied for their subsist- ence upon plunder. One thing may be said in their favor. They brought their wagons with them from the Caucasus, and have done more perhaps than any others to change the method of transportation. Accustomed to rough roads in their old home, the absence of roads in Turkey did not terrify them and they set to work to make some, and to them per- haps more than to almost any other influence was due the gradual disappearance in certain sections of carriage by horse and mule caravan. Akin to the Circassians are the Lazes, found chiefly in the region of Trebizond. They, however, are of a lower grade, more brutal and less reliable, more easily led into outrage and violence of the lower order. Their OTHER MOSLEM TRIBES. IOI work is especially seen in the massacres in the region of Trebizond, Baiburt and Erzrum. In Western Asia Minor, in the mountains back of Smyrna and throughout the generally rough country as far east as An- gora, there are numerous Moslem tribes passing under one "name or another according to the location — Xeibecks, Av- shars, Yoruks, etc. They are a wild, lawless, brutal lot, a terror to everyone in the whole region. They know no re- straint of any kind and put at defiance all law. Occasionally, when their depredations upon the plains or villages have become too severe, the Turkish Government has sent out some troops, but ordinarily they have held their own in the moun- tain fastnesses and plundered the villages and towns and carried into exile prominent citizens, holding them for heavy ransom. In this respect they have vied with some of the well- known Greek brigands, until it was scarcely safe for foreign- ers to ride out an hour's distance from the cities of Smyrna, Manisa or Aidin. Ordinarily associated with Moslems and classed in a sense as Moslems by the Turkish Government, yet not belonging to them really, are three strange communities in Syria and Mesopotamia ; the Nusairiyeh and Druzes in Syria and the Yezidis in Mesopotamia. The Nusairiyeh have their head- quarters in the cities of Adana, Tarsus and Latakia, and num- ber perhaps 300,000. Their origin is lost in obscurity. Some claim that they are descended from the Persians ; others that they are the remnant of the tribes that Joshua drove out of Palestine. Their religious practices, which are held very secret, sustain the theory of their descent from the ancient heathen tribes of Palestine. They receive their name from a renowned leader and teacher, and their religious system was 102 THE NUSAIRIYEH. brought to perfection by one of his descendants. They claim to be followers of Mohammed, but are really pagans, the claim being a diplomatic one, chiefly for the purpose of avoiding the terrible oppression of the Moslem rule. They hold to special mysteries into which none are initiated under eighteen years of age, and each applicant must bring twelve men as security, and these must each be secured by two others. He is then required to swear by all the heavenly bodies never to reveal the mysteries under penalty of having hands, feet and head severed from his body. It is, as a consequence, almost im- possible to learn anything from them, and one of their number at Adana, who revealed their mysteries in part, disappeared shortly afterwards, and undoubtedly suffered the penalty. They worship fire, the wind, the waves of the sea — anything that manifests power ; are hearty believers in the transmigra- tion of souls, and occasionally have a strange mixture of paganism and Islam. They have numerous feasts, and some of their religious rights are said to be most vile. They are revengeful and practice blood atonement. They are thievish and tricky to the very last degree, and their general morality is very low. At the same time many of them- manifest elements of character of great interest, and their shrewdness makes conversation with them almost fascinating. Their relations to the Turkish Government have always been uncer- tain. They have been heavily oppressed and have been called on to furnish tributes, but are such adepts in the art of deception that even the government has found it impossible to carry out all its designs with them. The Yezidis are popularly known as devil worshippers, though this is probably incorrect and due partly to the secrecy of their rites, and partly to their idea of propitiating the powers THE YEZIDIS. IO3 of evil. They belong to those Arabs who refused to accept Islam, and gathered in a loose organization under a certain sheik from the region of Damascus, in the early part of the twelfth century. Under Moslem rule they have in a certain way accepted Mohammedanism, at least in outward appear- ance, though they entertain a deep-seated hatred for Moslems, whether Arabs or Kurds, and are in return treated by them with contempt. They are found both in the mountains to the east of the Tigris and also in the Sinjar Hills west of Mosul, as well as in the vicinity of that, city itself. Those in the moun- tains use the Kurdish language, but those on the plains use Arabic as well. They are an agricultural people, live in villages, and as a rule are neater and cleaner in their dress than either the Arabs or the Kurds. In the main they are quiet and industrious, but in the northern sections among the mountains they are given to highway robbery, and in the Sin- jar Hills, where they are in the great majority, they are restive and hostile to the Turkish Government. Their religious belief is very confused. They believe in God as the Supreme Deity, but have nothing to do with Him in the way of worship or service. They believe in an emanation from God who is eternal, the Melek Taoos, or King Peacock, who became in- carnate as Lucifer, deceived Adam and Eve as Satan, and is one of the seven gods who in turn ruled the world for ten thousand years. They also worship the Sheik to whom they owe the organization of their religious system, and various other gods. They hold to the transmigration of souls and give a qualified reverence to the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments. They have a religious oligarchy composed of six orders ; the Ameer, Sheiks, and priests, who are Nazarites, having taken vows of celibacy. They worship the 104 THE DRUZES. sun and fire, and once a year perform the service before the emblem of the Peacock, which is carried to the different villages. They have no liturgy and observe several feasts. Their relations to the Turkish Government have been not unlike those of the Nusairiyeh, except that they have suffered more severely than that community. In the early part of the present century there was a terrible massacre in which thou- sands of them were put to death. More notable than either of these previous classes, although much smaller in numbers, is the sect or race of the Druzes, living in Northern Syria, along the slopes of the Lebanon. They have about one hundred and twenty towns and villages, and are estimated at a total population of 65,000. Their chief town is Deir-el-Kamar, about fifteen miles southeast of Beirut. Like the Nusairiyeh, they are generally supposed to have descended from the pagan peoples of the land, especially the Cuthites, who re-peopled Samaria ; or perhaps partly from the Mardis, brought to Lebanon by Constantine, with an element of the Arabs and possibly something of the Crusad- ers. Their own traditions indicate a widely extended knowl- edge, and in their conversation and manners they show a certain refinement which is in marked contrast to the other Syrian races. The reputed author of their peculiar religion, which is held in secret by them, was a caliph of Egypt at the close of the tenth century, who was undoubtedly insane, but who left the impress of his ferocity upon the people. They do not acknowledge the claims of any other religion, but allow the profession of any religion according to expediency, and unite with the Moselm in many of his services. So also they at times will sprinkle with holy water in the Maronite churches. Far from being fatalists as the Moslems, they recognize MASSACRES OF i860. IO5 absolutely the freedom of the human will. Ordinarily they are quiet and peaceable, but on occasion are stirred to terrible ferocity, as was seen in the massacres of i860, when they killed so many Maronites, and at the present time they furnish the Turkish Government with not a little cause for uneasiness. A threatened revolt in the winter resulted in calling out the reserves of the Turkish army, and for a time there was fear of a general outbreak. This, however, was averted and quiet was restored. CHAPTER VI. The Armenians. Their Origin — Early History — First Nation to Accept Christianity — Dispersion Under Oppression — Change from Agricultural to Commercial People — General Characteristics; Loyalty to Nation and Religion— Industry — Morality — Intellectual Ability — Shrewdness — Jealousy of One Another — Influence of Missions and European Ideas — Growth of National Ambition — Armenians in Russia — Autonomy — Armenians in Other Countries — Patriarch Mattheos — Outlook for the Future. THE Armenians are generally supposed, from their lan- guage, to be of Aryan origin, though having not a little in common with the Turanian, or at least the non-Aryan races. In the Assyrian period, their country was occupied by the Nairi and Urarda, both probably Turanian stock. When the Aryan Armenian migration occurred is not known, but the name first occurs, in the form of Armaniya, in a Persian cunei- form inscription of Darius Hystaspis, 522-486 b. c. According to Armenian tradition, the name is derived from a king, Aram, under whose rule the nation achieved consider- able power, though subsequently overcome by the mythical Queen Semiramis of Assyria. They do not, however, call themselves Armenians, but Haik, and their country Haiasdan, after Haik, whom they consider the son of Togarmah, the son of Gomer, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. He, according to their traditions, established the Armenian kingdom in the vicinity of Ararat, to which country he had escaped from the tyranny of Belus, the king of Assyria, at an uncertain date, perhaps 2000 b. c. From that time on they were a more oj less powerful people, sometimes achieving a period of inde- pendence, but generally succumbing to the attacks of the more powerful kingdoms that arose to the south and west. (106) ARMENIAN WOMAN. A good illustration of the Armenian type. The head-dress is that usually found in the Caucasus. The Armenian women, as a rule, are fine looking, with intelligent faces and womanly bearing. This is especially noticeable in the case of old women. Among the oriental races, as a rule, the old women are not handsome, but the reverse is true of the Armenian women. DURTAD RE-ENTHRONED. IO g Any accurate statement of those early years it is impossible to make. It appears to be the fact that most of their kings, among them Tigranes, the friend of Cyrus, the younger Chosroes of the family of the Arsacidae, and Mithridafes, were not of Armenian origin, but chieftians from the neigh- boring races, Parthian or others, who by personal force of character gained a supremacy, and established for the time being what was called an Armenian kingdom. On the defeat by the Persians of Chosroes, of the family of the Arsacidae, his young son Durtad escaped and went to Rome. He subsequently gained the assistance of Rome and was re-established upon his throne. It was through his influ- ence in the latter part of the third century, that the Armenians as a nation accepted Christianity. This was the signal for renewed attacks by Persia, and the kingdom met with various fortunes, achieving a certain independence under the sway of the family of the Pagratidae, who for two centuries maintained a general authority in what was known as Armenia. In the middle of the eleventh century the Byzantine Empire became master of the greater part of the country, and in the fourteenth century the Ottomans commenced the reign that has been carried on till the present day. Armenian history states that, in the time of Christ, Abgar, of their royal line, was king of Edessa or Urfa in Northern Mesopotamia. In other histories he is spoken of as King of the Arabs, but the Armenians claim him for themselves. The name is certainly Armenian. According to the chief Arme- nian historian, this king listened to the preaching of Thaddeus, one of the seventy disciples who were sent forth by Christ, and was also healed by him of a severe disease. The result was that he accepted the Christian faith, and was baptized IIO GREGORY, THE ILLUMINATOR. with his whole family. His successor, however, refused to follow in his steps, and persecuted the people so, that this in- cipient growth of Christianity was almost destroyed. In the time of Durtad (Tiridates), in the latter part of the third century, under the influence of Gregory the Illuminator, as he is called, there was a great revival of Christianity, and it was accepted as the religion of the nation. From this great preacher the Church receives the different names by which it is known, "the Gregorian Church," the "Loosavorchagan Church" (Loosavorich being the Armenian for "Illuminator"). Under his influence the king was baptized in 301 a. d., and although there was bitter opposition on the part of some of the nobles, the nation as a whole followed him, and the Armenians have the distinguished honor of being the first people to make Christianity their national religion. Situated far from Constantinople, it was natural that they should not mingle intimately with the theological strifes of the early centuries. They were generally represented at the Church councils, but by some chance sent no delegate to the Fourth Council at Chalcedon in 451 a. d. The condemna- tion at that council of Nestorianism and Eutychianism was either misreported to them, or misunderstood by them, and at a synod of their bishops it was repudiated, and they declared themselves decidedly in favor of the Monophysite doctrine of the nature and person of Christ. There thus arose constant strife between them and the Greek Church, and more and more they were shut off by themselves, so that their national life developed, not merely independently of that of the surround- ing churches, but to the exclusion of any external influences, such as materially affect the growth of modern ecclesiastical communities. They would not accept instruction at the hands FORMALISM RESULTS. Ill of the Western Church, had no means of education within themselves, and as a natural result formalism took the place of spiritual life. This was assisted by the constant strife for their existence as a nation, until the Church, as a church, lost almost its entire hold upon the spiritual life of the people. The history of the Armenians for the five centuries inter- vening between the conquest of their home by the Turks and their coming into prominent notice before the Christian world in the early part of the present century, is one of constant conflict between the disintegrating influences of an oppressive government and the intense national characteristics of the people. From the very beginning they felt the terrible rule of the Moslems, and as far back as 1360 some refugees came to Edward III. of England complaining that the Moslems were trying to exterminate their people. A little was done for them. They were allowed to live in England and to collect subscriptions for their fellow-sufferers, but that was about all. In a certain sense the result of the oppression was not altogether injurious. Up to that time the Armenians had been strictly confined within their borders. Whatever of tyranny had been exercised there had served to repress their national life. Now commenced a dispersion, with both good and evil results. They wandered westward over Asia Minor; quite a number settled on the northern slopes of the Taurus and established a kingdom with Sis as its capital. Cut off from their own people, they secured a patriarch to themselves, and there seemed every possibility of their forming a distinct nation. This, however, was destined to fall under the rule of the Turks, and they were scarcely distinct from their fellows in other parts of the empire. Others wandered east- ward and peopled the Caucasus, which was then Northern 112 BANKERS OF THE EMPIRE. Persia. Shah Abbas recognized their value as subjects, and early in the seventeenth century transported a colony to the vicinity of Ispahan. This emigration naturally carried out of their own country some of the most aggressive elements, and as was not unnatural, those who remained felt still more the pressure of the surrounding Moslem tribes, who crowded into their villages. Thus little by little the ancestral plains of Armenia became more and more Moslem. Another influence operated quite forcibly. In a preceding chapter reference has been made to the custom of villagers leaving their homes for a shorter or longer term of life in the cities and larger towns. This was especially characteristic of the Armenians. Constantinople, Smyrna, Trebizond, Adana and all the western cities of the empire, as well as many inland, depended entirely upon this form of emigration for their artisans and the great mass of their day-laborers. While many of these bachelors, as they were called, returned to their own homes, a large number became permanent occu- pants of the cities, sometimes bringing their families with them, sometimes making their own homes. In this way there grew up a class distinct in many respects from the original Armenian population, with different ambitions, differing needs and widely different customs. The agricultural character of the race began more and more to disappear and the people became known as tradesmen. With the control of commerce came the control of money, and these Armenian tradesmen were the bankers in the empire. They found their way into the service of the government, made themselves essential to the Sultans and governors, and amassed in many cases large fortunes. We come thus to the situation about the time of the Treaty TREATY OF PARIS. II3 of Paris. The Armenians, no longer a homogeneous people with a national territory markedly and distinctively their own, were scattered to the number of from three to four millions over the whole of the Turkish Empire, the Caucasus and Northern Persia. They had the same marked racial charac- teristics. Physically of good stature, strong features, manly bearing; industrious and frugal ; loyal to their religion and to their nation ; of marked ability, adapting themselves to any circumstances, whether of climate, social or political life ; very kindly, sympathetic, affectionate ; with an element of the jevial in their life; intensely proud of their history and their faith ; clannish almost to the last degree, refusing such associa- tion with other races as might imply the loss of their own; of exceptionally pure morals among the Eastern races; in- tense lovers of home and family life, and hospitable in the extreme ; with acute minds and suave manners, they mani- fested many of the essential elements of a strong nation. There were, however, other features which must be noted. They were grossly ignorant and for the most part densely superstitious, held in absolute thrall by a Hierarchy bigoted and overbearing to the last degree, and fully as ignorant as the people whom they misled. Their constant strife with other races and their long history of subjugation had de- veloped a shrewdness of dealing which partook in marked degree of the unscrupulous. They were ready to take advantage of anybody and of anything to further their ends. Obsequious and servile in their bearing towards superiors, they were looked upon by the Turk as a necessary evil ; a fruitful source of income in the shape of taxes, advanta- geous for their general skill as artisans and as servants, but 114 PRESSURE OF DESPOTISM. beneath contempt for their trickery. Similarly they had the hatred of their fellow-Christians of other churches. There was, however, another characteristic that has been recognized by their best men for years as operating more than almost anything else to keep them in subjection and prevent their best development. With all their intense nationality manifesting itself in their devotion to their history and to their church, their absolute refusal to be swallowed up in any other race or any other community, there is a lack of mutual confidence, a jealousy of one another's advance that has made it impossible for them as a race to hold together in any onward movement. This is undoubtedly due to intense individuality and also to the pressure of despotism. They are not by any means lacking in personal courage, as is witnessed by multitudes of instances. Individually they will fight for their lives and their honor and especially for their families. They will suffer martyrdom for their religion, as they have suffered repeatedly during the centuries. They will sacrifice personal interests for Christ's sake, but when it comes to the waiving of personal opinion, the entrusting of power and the rendering of obedience to others, they have throughout their history failed entirely. A most marked instance of this was seen in the city of Erzrum. A wealthy Armenian from Russia, anxious for the education of his people, established a set of schools of very high grade, and for a time they were carried on most successfully. But before long there came jealousies in the management of those schools; mutual suspicion of personal interest on the part of the directors, and year by year what might have been the central point of Armenian national life dwindled in strength until it almost disappeared. AMERICAN MISSIONS. II5 The result of these characteristics was manifest in the general situation of the Armenians, and their relation to the other peoples of the empire. They were in many respects the most useful, and in some respects almost the best hated of all. Their shrewdness and ability made them indispen- sable. Thus they were everywhere the tradesmen and small bankers, but at the same time had very little interest in general commerce. The business directory of Constantinople shows almost no Armenian firms, even for local business, and very few Armenian houses engaged in foreign trade. Then also, when Sultan Mahmud II. organized the government on a semi- European plan, he drew very largely upon the Armenians for his administration officials in the various departments, finding their versatility, ability and adaptability of the greatest value. At this time they began to show the result of two very powerful influences from the West — those of American mis- sions, and of French literature and social life. The influence of American missions among the Armenians has been a great power. While the proportion of those who have identified themselves with what is known as evangelical Christianity, in distinction from the excessive formalism of the old Church, which had largely lost its spiritual power, was not large, it in- cluded many men of great influence, and the general effect upon the nation in opening the eyes of the more intelligent to the possibilities of the new century were very marked. Wherever an American missionary went, there was a school, and not merely a school of his own, but a school for each of the different communities. The priests of whatever faith found that they could not afford to lose their hold upon the children and young people, and thus were sown far and wide the seeds of the intellectual life that was spreading so rapidly in Europe. Il6 NO EDUCATION. The general condition of the nation, so far as education was concerned, was deplorable. Throughout the villages it was rare to find a man who could read, and even in the towns and cities the proportion was very, very small. Many of the priests even were unable to read the Scriptures in the old language, which was to them practically dead. The introduction of these schools changed this in a marked degree. The natural intellect- ual activity of the race asserted itself, and over all the empire there was manifest a new impulse. So far as that impulse was due to the influence of the missionaries, it was in the line of good morals and the best national development. Side by side, however, with this, came another. As inter- course with Europe increased, adventurous young men spread throughout the schools of Paris and Vienna. They brought back a craze for French literature, not the best, but the worst. With this came a revolt against religion. It became fashion- able to be known as free thinkers, and free thinking meant not liberty, but license of thought and of life. The immediate effect was almost appalling. The nation which had hitherto been noted for its strict morality, became widely immoral. Gambling was almost universal among the young men in the cities, on the seaboard, and the achievement of considerable wealth, while in the government service, and the openings of trade, had the effect of weakening national life. The pride of national life had not lost all its power, but the hold of national principles was becoming weaker. The best men in the nation looked on aghast, and longed for influences that should serve as anchors to keep the people. Thus there grew up a sympathetic feeling between the better class of Armenian ecclesiastics and the American missionaries, whose influence was strongly conservative. ENTHUSIASM AROUSED. II7 The reigns of Abdul Medjid and Abdul Aziz were times of great advance for the whole Armenian people. Oppression still existed, and oppression of the worst form, but they were becoming more and more able to meet oppression. Not merely in the cities, but throughout the empire, and even in the villages, there was manifest a development which had, as has already been said, its tokens both of good and evil, the good, in the main, being predominant. The advent of the present Sultan, following as it did upon the revolution which showed how thoroughly rotten the whole Turkish fabric was, and accompanied by the events which resulted in the formation of the Bulgarian kingdom, seemed to open a new era to the Armenians. The young men who had been under the ed- ucating influences of the different schools and colleges of the Americans, or of the universities of Europe, were assuming positions of influence among their people. Furthermore, ed- ucation in their own schools had brought sharply before them their own former history, and there was a great revival of in- terest in the early kings. The plains and valleys and moun- tains of Armenia were covered with a halo, which perhaps was not historically just, but which served at any rate to rouse the highest enthusiasm among the people. The use of their own language, which had drifted from the severe simplicity of its original form into a sort of mongrel, under the influence of the Turkish language and other surroundings, was coming back. Everywhere throughout the nation there was manifest an increasing ambition to do for themselves what the Bulga- rians had done. Accordingly, at the conference at Berlin, a prominent Armenian was present, and he set forth in very vivid and glowing terms the situation of his people. The political Il8 CONFERENCE AT BERLIN. effect of this is reserved for another chapter. We here simply desire to point out its effect upon the nation. That was un- doubtedly in the main advantageous. It brought to an even higher pitch their desire for education ; it bound them more closely together ; brought them under the influence, to a greater degree, of the better class of leaders, and as a natural result the first ten years of Abdul Hamid's reign were coincident with an even greater advance in the general condition of the nation than had been made during the preceding twenty years. Parallel with this, however, there was another development, the result of two influences : the free thought of central Europe and the pressure brought to bear by their compatriots in the Caucasus. Here we should turn aside to refer to that section of the Armenian nation under Russian rule. When Russia con- quered the Caucasus, and drove the Persians south of the Aras and Schamyl's followers into Turkey, she found that for the development of the new territory she must depend chiefly upon the Armenians, who had already come in in consider- able numbers. Accordingly they were made welcome and for some time a good degree of freedom was allowed them. Their national church was not interfered with, and though their schools were under close supervision, they were not prevented from developing to a considerable degree their national life. At the same time they were practically unre- stricted in trade. The easy-going Georgians were no match for them, and in Tiflis, Schemachi, Shusha, Baku, Erivan, Armenian influence became very strong, so that it was not surprising that there arose a dream of national independence. They probably did not expect to wrest any portion of Russian territory from the hand of the Czar, but they did apparently REPRESSION COMMENCED. II9 hope for a revival of ancient Armenia in that portion under Turkish rule. So long however as their condition in Russia was fairly comfortable they made little attempt in that direc- tion. But it became apparent to the Russian Government as the years went by that there was danger lest they find diffi- culty in carrying out the general policy of the empire, which was to weld its very heterogeneous population into a solid mass. Accordingly a system of repression was commenced. Everywhere the Armenians felt the severe iron hand that drove the people on the Baltic to despair. Their schools were more and more interfered with. Their monastery and its theological department at Etchmiadzine were watched with the eye of a detective, and both in the choice of the Catholicos (the Primate of the Armenian Church) and in the conduct of his office, the authority of the Holy Synod was exercised in no slight degree. Naturally the people became restive. They had seen the success of the Pan-Slavist Com- mittee in stirring up the disturbances in the Balkan Penin- sula, and they conceived the plan of accomplishing the same thing for their compatriots in Turkey. The fuller statement of this will come in a later chapter on the Rise of the Armenian Question. Here we note simply that the general effect upon the Armenian people was to create still more of dissatisfaction with their situation under the Turkish rule and fill their minds with visions of political independence. Parallel with this was the other influence referred to, that of the free thought of Central Europe. The young men who had been educated in the schools of France and Germany had become acquainted with the stories of the revolutions that marked the close of the eighteenth and the early half of the nineteenth century. Lacking the substantial basis of 120 PROTEST TO EUROPE. careful investigation, not even knowing, or at least not recog- nizing, the true character of their own history, they sought to enkindle a flame not so much of revolt against the Turkish Government as of protest to Europe against that govern- ment's oppression. Had it not been for the irreligion, even atheism, that characterized their movement, they might per- haps have had greater influence. In fact they accomplished very little, for they immediately encountered the general con- servatism of the nation, which declined to commit itself to the leadership of those who had thrown aside to such a de- gree the restraints of the Church. This was assisted by the conviction, or at least the fear, that these men were not so much interested in the general welfare of the people as in procuring opportunities for political advancement for them- selves, and by the fact that for the most part they were out of the country and not liable to suffer themselves in case of trouble. The result was that there was no unity of action or of sentiment. No one man or body of men were authorized to speak for the nation. Individuals set forth their personal opinions, but there was no telling to what extent they repre- sented the people. Constant intrigues weakened the power of the Patriarch at Constantinople, the civil head of the nation, and affected the choice of the Catholicos, at Etchmiad- zine, its religious head. Furthermore, the very rigid censor- ship of the press, the oppressive and absurd school laws, and even the restrictions on travel, which made it no easy matter for an Armenian to go from one section of the empire to another, all combined to prevent any united action or even sentiment. In general the condition of the rural districts had grown worse. Kurds, Circassians and Lazes held the greater por- GENERAL CONDITION. 121 tion of the plains of Eastern Turkey, having dispossessed the Armenians, without making good their place so far as tax- paying was concerned. The result was that when the col- lector came around, he found the revenue much diminished, unless he could squeeze the same amount out of half the people. In the mountains there was occasionally successful resistance to the raids of freebooters, but that had grown more difficult since the organization of the Hamidieh Kurdish cavalry. On the other hand, in the towns and cities, the Armenians were advancing, at least in material prosperity. Not merely the trade and banking but the real estate had come very largely into their hands. They were on the whole wealthier and more comfortable. With material prosperity, however, there had not come proportionate intellectual and moral power, and the description given above was increas- ingly true. The bearing of all this upon the question of their autonomy and independence as a nation is evident. That the Ar- menians have very many of the qualities that make a suc- cessful nation no one will deny. Their ability is undoubted. Their race tenacity evidenced in their loyalty to their faith, even in its weaker form, and the hold that their laneuao-e has even upon those with whom it ceased to be vernacular, mark them as a people of power. Their faculty of adaptation to new circumstances in the use of any means that come to hand would ensure in marked degree success in meeting new emergencies. The mutual jealousy and inordinate self-seek- ing that have hitherto proved so serious a hindrance to their general advancement might very likely be overcome were they compelled by force of circumstances to waive personal feeling or see everything collapse. Men who could fight to- 122 COSMOPOLITAN CHARACTER. gether as did the Armenians of Zeitun must have the best elements of patriotism. For the overcoming of these ob- stacles, however, it is essential that there be the pressure of outside circumstances. In the case of the Armenians that pressure was absolutely lacking. They were very differently situated from the Bulgarians, who were in the overwhelming majority in their own country, which moreover is compact. The Armenians are scattered over the whole Turkish Em- pire, and there are wide differences between those of different sections. The mountaineers of Bitlis can neither understand the language nor appreciate the ideas of the villager of Harput, much less those of the merchant of Smyrna or Con- stantinople. The men of Aintab and Adana, with their Turkish, can scarcely confer, still less associate intimately, with those of Marsovan. Thus the very cosmopolitan character of the nation, its ver- satility and ability, all operate to prevent what the Armenian nationalists so much desire, and these characteristics must be kept in mind if we would form an approximately correct idea of the nation. A word should be said about Armenians outside of their own country. As a rule Armenians do not make a pleasant impression upon the people of other countries. They are looked upon as tricky, scheming, unreliable. Where they have formed colonies of some size, as in New England and California, they are contrasted to their own great disadvan- tage with the communities of Scandinavians, Germans, and others. Where they appear as individuals in the cities, in trade or as artisans, they suffer from similar comparisons. In all such cases, certain things must be kept in mind. The colonies are almost entirely made up of those who come from ORIENTAL CHARACTER. 123 the poor sections of Asia Minor or Eastern Turkey, and even then are deprived of the refining influences of home as they have left their families in their own country. They are entirely uneducated, accustomed to very different kind of living, have not the language facility of those who have lived in Con- stantinople, and find it extremely difficult to enter into the new life about them. Those who gather in the cities are as a rule planning for a return to the East. They purpose to remain here long enough to make some money, or secure American citizenship, and then to go back to their homes. A few come expecting to stay and become loyal American citizens. Such as a rule find a cordial welcome and make a good impression. Two things must be remembered : the Armenian is essen- tially Oriental in his character and the true Oriental does not adapt himself easily or speedily to American life ; those who know the race most widely and most intimately esteem it the most highly. No better illustration can be given of the best develop- ment of the Armenian character, that which gives hope of their ultimate success as a nation, than the position taken by the present Armenian Patriarch in Constantinople. Mattheos Ismirlian is described by an American resident in Constanti- nople, as a man somewhat above medium height, thin and of dark complexion, but with strong, resolute face, having the large features characteristic of his race. He was born in 1845, in Constantinople, and received the name Ismirlian (the man from Smyrna, Ismir,) from the fact that his grandfather was originally a resident of that city. He was educated in the Armenian schools, and at the age of nineteen was made deacon of the Armenian' Church in one of the Bosporus villages. In 1869, he entered the celibate college and was 124 PATRIARCH MATTHEOS. ordained as arch-priest. His ability and industry brought him to the front, and he was elected successively secretary to the Patriarch, member of the assembly of the community and a member of the synod. He was noted as a preacher and teacher, simple, direct and intense in his style, and achieved a high reputation throughout the nation. He was also rec- ognized on every hand as a man of unusual soundness of judgment and purity of motive. Seven years later, when only thirty-one years of age, he was ordained as bishop and was promoted rapidly. In 1886, he was made leader or director of the parish of Egypt, where he instituted numer- ous improvements, and his service was so efficient as to bring for him decorations from King Menelek, of Abyssinia, and the Sultan, but more than all, the devotion of his own people. After five years of service he returned to Constantinople and soon after, when there became necessary the election of a Catholicos, his name was prominent among the candidates. He refused absolutely to make any effort to secure this prize, coveted by every Armenian bishop, and yet his name ranked not only among the first four in the assembly, but on the sub- sequent ballot was one of the two sent to the Czar for selec- tion. The choice fell upon Khrimian, also well and most favorably known throughout the nation, but it placed Ismirlian in the front rank for further honors. In December of 1 894, at the time when the affairs of the nation were most critical, as will be understood from the chapter on the condition in 1894, the one sentiment of all was in favor of him, but the question arose whether the Sultan would favor his election. He was well known as a man of great resoluteness and patriotism, and one who would never yield an iota of what he felt it was right to demand. < 3 12. rt <7 "2. SSj C/J n> n n> 3 o 3 •4,™ (/i o 3 d c a a '/: ~ c? cr n> 3 '■S> 3 o (/) O c o m a 3 £T -J t« ET 3 a> o _, H o rr SB o a> r~ o 5>" 3 -h w" n O P3 5' | 3crt) & 3 w" FT o ~ y) "*" fD — zr 2 a 3 J C M £.oq ct A TURKISH VILLAGE SHEIKH, probably connected with some one of the Dervish orders. Many of them are men of great intelligence and considerable force of character, especially those who are the chiefs of large communities. LOYALTY TO HIS NATION. 1 27 He was elected, and contrary to expectation, that election was immediately confirmed by the Sultan. From that time on the Patriarch has been " in a very real sense the champion of his people, bearing their griefs and carrying their sorrows as few have done, in an office that has been filled by men of conspicuous consecration." Every legal means in his power has been used in behalf of his people, and threats of imprison- ment or of death have accomplished nothing. Soon after his installation he sent to the Minister of Justice a letter ask- ing power to appoint new bishops in places where the bishops had been imprisoned for varying periods. The reply came that the statements about those bishops were false, and their withdrawal was demanded. The Patriarch answered, " The statements are true, and the truth I cannot withhold." From that time to this he has been a thorn in the side of the Turkish Government; neither bribes, flattery nor deception have availed. Loyal to the Sultan, his loyalty refuses ser- vility, as is instanced in his statement to the Sultan in his first audience : "As far as my conscience permits me I will obey you, but at the same time I must look to the welfare of my people." It is scarcely surprising that the Sultan in a rage sent him away and omitted the customary decoration. A little later, realizing his power with the people, the Sultan sent for him and offered him the highest decorations that could be given to a civilian subject in the empire. The reply came as follows : " Your majesty, what have I to do with such things ? I am a simple priest. I live on bread and olives, as do my people. I have no place in my house for such gorgeous things. I pray you, do not ask me to accept them." Another illustration of his boldness and firmness is found 128 HIGH COURAGE. in the following statement, made to his people in the installa* tion service : " Before God and in presence of this meeting, I swear to remain faithful to my government and my nation, and to watch over the just and explicit fulfilment of this con- stitution (the constitution granted by Abdul Aziz). My un- derstanding- of the word faithful is this: faithfulness involves on the side of the government protection of life and property. Without this, faithfulness on the side of the subject is hypocrisy." It was not only towards the government, however, that the Patriarch had occasion to manifest his high courage. Recog- nizing very clearly the absurdities of the revolutionist move- ment, he steadily refused to give it any countenance whatever, and threats were numerous on the part of the disappointed Huntchasfists that he should be killed. He feared this no more than the threats of the government, and has steadily pur- sued his way, holding to what he felt to be right and best for his nation. It is scarcely too much to say that such a man deserves the same rank accorded to the great leaders of the world, and a nation that can at such a crisis produce such a man and stand by him is a nation that under proper train- ing, and with favorable circumstances, may be expected to develop a high national character. The general situation of the Armenians at the present time is one that calls for the sympathy of the entire Christian world. They have lost a large proportion of .their best men by massacre ; throughout the empire it has seemed to be the un- wavering purpose of the Turkish Government to cut down the very men who had most influence, and who most used their influence in behalf of good citizenship and upright life. The most conservative estimates, endorsed by the British GENERAL SITUATION. 129 Ambassador at Constantinople, for the sections where there has been careful investigation, give the number killed at 25,000, and admit that the real number is far larger. For a nation numbering not more than 2,000,000 within the borders of the empire, to lose probably not less than 40,000 or 50,000 of its best men is a terrible thing, and the loss cannot but have a serious effect upon the future development. This, however, is not all. Not merely have these lives been blotted out, but property to an incalculable degree has been de- stroyed. The Armenian nation is shorn of a large part of its strength ; whether there is enough left to give it vigor or power for the immediate future remains to be seen. The out- look is by no means hopeful, and yet seldom in the history of the world has the effort to blot out a race been successful. Whatever be the political outcome, as set forth in other chapters of this book, there can be but one hope for all those interested in the Armenian people, and that is, that they may by this terrible experience realize their weakness and unite their strength for a purer and truer national life than they have had at any time, even than many of them have dreamed of. This, however, will depend very largely upon the support accorded to them by the Christian nations of the world. If that support fails, then the responsibility rests, not alone upon the Armenians, but to a great degree upon those nations. CHAPTER VII. The Greeks. Fidelity of the Oriental Churches — The Apostle Andrew — Concessions by Mohammed II Gennadios II — Suffering and Misery — Greek Revolution — Growth of National Spirit — Hellenes or Romaioi — Bulgarians in their Relation to the Greek Church. TOO much honor cannot be paid to those Christians of the East, whatever their church connection, who have adhered unswervingly to their faith. The endurance of the Covenanters and Huguenots and Waldenses casts a halo, not only upon themselves, but upon the human family. It ennobles the race that any members of it were capable of such devotion. The sufferings of the Eastern Christians have been continuous, and may be traced back by a chain, wherein there are no miss- ing links, to the day when their remote progenitors were first compelled to bow their necks under the foot of a Moslem conqueror. Bondage, inferiority, contempt, are hard and demoralizing teachers. Rapacity, which renders labor fruitless, and insolent terrorism, which multiplies devices to make its victims cringe, are not favorable to the development of the higher, manlier traits, either in an individual or a community. Ignorant, super- stitious, untrustworthy, the Eastern Christians too often are. Nevertheless, in view of the ceaseless, wearing ordeal which (13°) GREEK CHURCH. j-j they have undergone, their steadfastness and the many other virtues they do possess are all the more memorable and praise- worthy. Would we, children of the Pilgrim, of the Cavalier, of the Maryland Catholic and the Pennsylvania Quaker, have endured a like trial any better? Dare we assert that we should have borne it as well ? In that group of churches the most venerable and the most pathetic figure of all is the Eastern Orthodox, or, as it is com- monly called in foreign countries, Greek Church. According to a tradition, so attested as to seem authentic history, the Apos- tle Andrew preached Christianity upon the Bosporus within three years of the crucifixion. Weaving into the Sacred story " the golden woof-thread of romance," the Byzantine Christians loved to tell that the Bosporus reminded the Apostle of his native Galilee, and that the first company which met to hear him was made up of fishermen like himself. Here he re- mained two years and organized a church and consecrated Stachys, the "beloved" of St. Paul, first Bishop of Byzantium. When Constantine transformed Byzantium into Nova Roma, and made her, in place of the older Rome, capital of the world, Metrophanes I, twentieth in Episcopal line from Stachys, exchanged his humbler title of bishop for the more resound- ing appellation of Archbishop of Constantinople, or Ecumen- ical Patriarch. The Sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, though reckoned Apostolic, seemed to the ordinary eye less exalted than the ecclesiastical thrones on the Bosporus and the Tiber. Between these two pre-eminent arose unchurchly rivalries and factional dissensions. Antagonism of East and West, more than subtle differences of creed, were to tear them asunder. Alternately separated and reunited, in 1053 1*2 OVERTHROW OF THE EMPIRE. the definite, final division came. Then was rent in twain what a Greek historian calls " the hitherto seamless garment of the undivided church." The cleavage line was as old as history and by a meridian of longitude accentuated the aliena- tion. The Latins and the Teutons were in one party : the Greeks and almost all the Slavs in the other. Around the Ecumenical Patriarch were grouped his Oriental brethren of the three Apostolic Sees. Second only to the Orthodox Byzantine Emperor in power and prominence, and by his spiritual functions even more exalted than his sovereign, the Patriarch was the most awe-inspiring personage in the state. In 1453 the gradual overthrow of the empire was con- summated by the fall of Constantinople under the resistless attack of Sultan Mohammed II. The childless, wifeless Constantine XIII was killed while leading the defense. The Patriarch Athanasios II, a faithful, feeble old man, disappeared and his after fate is a mystery. The former inhabitants of the city had either been slain in battle or reduced to slavery, or were endeavoring to save themselves by flight. The Sul- tan was not only a mighty warrior, but a sagacious statesman. He realized the necessity of reassuring the vanquished and calling back the fugitives and re-populating the deserted town, if his new capital was to be anything more than a soldier's camp. So he endeavored to allay the terrors of the Greeks and to treat with the only national organization which re- mained. The empire had been destroyed, but the church still lived. He ordered the few surviving bishops to at once choose a new patriarch with all old-time formalities and without change in the manner of election. The vacant post was as arduous SCHOLARIOS. T 33 and dangerous as it was eminent. Doubtless there was no desire on the part of any of the prelates to be chosen. The suffrages fell upon the austere monk George, surnamed the Scholarios. The Sultan wished the same ceremonial of investiture should be observed as in happier days under the emperors. When Scholarios was sought for, he could nowhere be found. Up to the conclusion of the siege he had been a familiar figure, always fiercely declaiming against the Roman Church and inspiring whoever heard him with his own unyield- ing fanaticism. Several months of constant search passed away, during which the church continued without a visible head. At last he was discovered on the farm of a wealthy Ottoman at Adrianople. Taken prisonor at the capture, he had been sold and sent there as a slave. Released and informed of his nomination, the change in his condition could have appeared to him only as a change in the form of his slavery. A tradition asserts that the Scholarios in his youth had been ambitious of church promotion and had always as- pired to the primacy of the East. Now that it was thrust upon him by a sanguinary and suspicious conqueror, even his stout heart may well have shrunk from the obligation. Proceeding to Constantinople, he was received with kind- ness and honor by the Sultan. The Cathedral Church of Sancta Sophia had closed its more than a thousand years of Christian history and been made a mosque. The church of the Holy Apostles, the Saint Denis of the capital, where the emperors from the time of Constantine the Great had found a mausoleum, was left in the possession of the Christians and had been selected as their chief sanctuary. There the 134 THE SULTANAS GUARANTEES. Scholarios was consecrated with solemn, imposing, but melancholy pomp as Patriarch Gennadios II. After his enthronement he was entertained by Mohammed II at a magnificent banquet. The Sultan bestowed on him a richly jewelled sabre, promised him his protection and friendship and on his departure accompanied him to the outer door Ridino- on one of the Sultan's war-horses, wearing one of the Sultan's robes, attended by the highest of the Sultan's officers, he proceeded in state across the city to take possession of his ecclesiastical residence. To the few Greeks along the way, who cast furtive glances at their Patriarch and at his cortege, every detail of his attire and appearance must have emphasized the fact that the empire was no longer theirs and that their haughty church like themselves was fettered and enslaved. Gennadios bore with him the still preserved berat or written promise of the sovereign, which guaranteed certain immunities and religious privileges to the Christians. It was therein declared (i) that no person should in any wise inter- fere with the ecclesiastical rule of the Patriarch and of his successors, (2) that the Patriarch and all the bishops should be exempt from tribute, (3) that the churches, not already converted into mosques, should be forever retained by the Christians in peace and safety, (4) that weddings, baptisms, funerals and all other Christian rites and ceremonies should be solemnized freely and without molestation, (5) that the Christians should observe Easter and all other religious festi- vals and fasts with perfect freedom and customary splendor. These promises have been often evaded or restricted, and sometimes enlarged. Still from that day to the present they have been as well kept as such promises usually are, when THE MANY PATRIARCHS. 1 35 made by a stronger to a weaker and when the weaker has no means of enforcing- their observance. The responsibilities and trials of his position were beyond the physical strength of Gennadios. Sympathetic and warm- hearted despite his asceticism, the daily spectacle of the suf- fering and misery among his flock overtaxed his endurance. Utterly worn out, in 1459 he laid down the patriarchal staff and withdrew to a monastery in Servia, where he died during the following year. Since then, in the space of 437 years the throne has been occupied by just 100 different patriarchs. The average dura- tion of each incumbency has been a little over four years and has been almost invariably filled with labor and sorrow. The fate of the Patriarch Kyril Loukaris, whose name is more familiar in the West than that of almost any other Eastern prelate, differed little from that of others of his brethren. Slandered and an object of suspicion to the government, deposed by order of the Sultan and imprisoned in the fortress of Roumeli Hissar upon the Bosporus, then bowstrung and his remains cast into the strait, he trod the same path of ignominy and martyrdom as Parthenios II, Parthenios III, Pa'isios II and many another of the illustrious line. The last to meet a violent death at the hand of the Mos- lems was the saintly Gregory III, in 1821. The Greek re- volution had burst forth in Moldavia and the Peloponnesus. The Ottomans rose in a frenzy of rage and terror, furious for victims. The Patriarch and his clergy at Constantinople had opposed the insurrection and could in no way be accused of complicity with the Greek revolutionists. But the sanguin- ary Ottoman Government and populace were indifferent as to considerations of political innocence or guilt, and eager I36 DEATH OF GREGORY II. only for blood. On Easter Sunday the Dragoman or Inter- preter of the Porte came to the patriarchate and ordered the Holy Synod to assemble. Then he communicated the com- mand of Sultan Mahmud II, that the See should be con- sidered vacant and that they should at once name a new Patriarch. Meanwhile the aged Gregory was hung to a beam over the great gate in front of his residence and his shrinking successor, after induction into his office, was forced to pass in formal procession close to the still warm remains. The reverent Greeks now point to a black beam in the arch- way and in low, awed tones repeat the story of the tragedy. It was the idea of Mohammed II that Gennadios should not only represent his coreligionists, but be responsible for their tranquillity and submission. After each race riot or disturb- ance, the Patriarch must exculpate not only the participants of disorder, but himself. Most perilous was the honor of induction into the patriarchal office to him who filled it. Nevertheless the system inaugurated by the conqueror was of ultimate advantage in almost every respect to the non- Moslem community. Under Ottoman domination the centre of the Orthodox Eastern Church remained at the same strategic centre, where for centuries it had exercised a potent force. Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, were not acquired by the Ottoman Empire for more than half a century. When the patriarchs of those cities, whose Sees had endured every vicissitude under Saracens, Kurds and Crusaders, be- came in their later turn subjects of the Sultan, they found that their patriarchal brother on the Bosporus was already acknowledged by the Greeks all through the Turkish domin- ions as not only their spiritual father, but as, next to the INFLUENCE OF NON-MOSLEM AUTHORITY. I37 Sultan, their civil head. The time-honored titles of their sacerdotal rank still existed. There were no chancres in the hierarchy of the changeless Church. Yet to the eye of the Moslem and practically to that of the Greek, there was hence- forth but one Patriarch. The official recognition of a non-Moslem authority as in a certain degree representative of a nation and intermediary with the Sultan, has exercised vast influence in determining the relations of the native Christians with the Porte. It was based upon religious grounds, but speedily extended to and included civil affairs. It was a natural sequence that the course pursued with the Greeks should be followed in dealing with other subject peoples. When, after the conquest of the Crimea, the Armenian residents at the capital increased, Bishop Horaghim was summoned from Brusa and installed Patriarch of the Armenians. In time a khakham bashi or Grand Rabbi was thus appointed for the Jews, a patriarch for the subject Roman Catholics and, no longer ago than 1850, a vekil or representative for the Protestants. One result, which Mohammed II never dreamed of and would have deplored, was inevitable from this system. By it every person not a Moslem was bound in closer intimacy to the fellow-members of his own distressed community. Each was brought moreover into a closer identification of himself and his interests with his church. Through that church was to be obtained not only salvation in the future life, but what- ever alleviation was possible in the present existence. The Ottomans have always sought to extirpate the spirit of nationality or of any common feeling among the conquered. They have welcomed every influence which would apparently foster divisions and produce antagonistic factions among those i33 DESIGN OF THE CONSTITUTION. whom they ruled. Thus they judged they could play party against party, interest against interest, and render each sub- servient and pliable to their own control. For a Mussulman to change his faith was, till within half a century, a crime punishable with death. But they rejoiced at and favored the labors of foreign missionaries among such of their subjects as were already Christians, thinking that thus there would be a multiplication of sects and a larger number of interests to set against each other. Through the system inaugurated by the Conqueror, unwit- tingly in each community the instinct of solidarity was kept alive and developed. The intensity of a common sentiment among the proscribed was fanned to a hotter glow. Only during the last century have the rulers recognized their possible mistake. The Constitution, craftily devised by the astute Midhat Pasha and promulgated in the name of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II in 1876, was designed to accomplish two results, one foreign and one domestic. The former result was to be attained in blinding the eyes of Europe to the real internal condition of the empire. The latter result should be the gradual but entire sweeping away of a policy of internal administration which was intrenched in its duration of over four hundred years. The scheme, so shrewdly contrived and so elaborate in its provisions, utterly failed. Mussulmans and Christians alike contemned it. Only for a short time did the Sultan himself observe its conditions. It accomplished nothing beyond the creation of vexatious questions between the government and the Greeks. The latter perceived that their scanty privileges were involved. For a time they were almost delirious with excitement and ready to resist by every means NO NATIONAL FEELING. 139 at their command the abrogation of the system. The diplo- matic skill of the Sultan conjured the difficulty and the annoying issues were forgotten. A hundred years ago the feeling of nationality — as we un- derstand the word — was practically non-existent among the non-Moslems except the Greeks. With them it was always keenly alive, even when destitute of outward expression. But among the other peoples a stranger would have concluded that that sentiment, so mastering to-day, was extinct. Even forty years ago politics seemed restricted, not only by neces- sity, but by common consent and preference, to ecclesiastical questions. In European Turkey and Asia Minor, almost every non- Moslem, if not an Armenian or a Jew, was an adherent of the Orthodox Greek Church and hence, whatever his blood and vernacular, was reckoned and denominated a Greek. Up to the Greek revolution, every communicant of that church, whether Servian, Wallachian, Moldavian, Bulgarian, Bosnian or Orthodox Albanian, spoke of himself as such. Further examination would have revealed that these foster children of the church founded by Saint Andrew, these worshippers following the Byzantine ritual, recognized a broad distinc- tion between themselves and the real Greeks. But a com- munity of administrative and religious interests dwarfed so small considerations as those of lanofuaofe and race. Each readily accepted the label which circumstances had placed upon him. The Hellenes or Romaioi, in whom the traditional pride and ambition through all their deo-rading- servitude never slum- bered, rejoiced in this state of things which was to their political advantage, and did their utmost to expand and intensify it. I40 BULGARIA S DEMANDS RESISTED. With a lively appreciation of the past and an ardent anticipa- tion of the future, they looked forward to the time when the Moslem domination should be swept away, and all the various tribes south of the Danube be readily absorbed in a resurrected Byzantine Empire. It is a natural fact that the self-assertive sense of ignored nationality was first manifested in an ecclesiastical phase. The herald, for example, of the rousing- of Bulgaria was the universal demand among that people that the bishops, sent to the region inhabited by them between the Danube and the Balkans, should be not Hellenes but Bulgarians. All should receive appointment and consecration as before from the Ecumenical Patriarch, but it was fitting that they should be of the same branch of the human family as the flocks to which they were sent. Every detail of creed and ceremonial was to remain unchanged. If the course hitherto pursued was followed, each new bishop on arrival in his diocese was regarded as an unwelcome foreigner. If the now longed for innovation was made, he would be hailed as one of their own kith and kin, from whose lips they would listen to their own tongue. The Patriarch and Holy Synod obstinately resisted the demand. If granted, it seemed to shatter every hope of an ultimately to-be-restored Greek dominion. Every argu- ment, which ingenuity could suggest or which superstition and ignorance might heed, was devised to quiet the awakened aspiration. In the gospel there was neither Greek nor Jew; therefore it made no difference from what nationality a bishop was chosen ; therefore it was appropriate that all the bishops should be Greeks ! In the peculiar medley of Eastern affairs, the final decision was to be rendered by no Christian organization, but by the ANATHEMATIZED. 141 Mussulman Sultan. After months of delay it was announced and it was favorably to the Bulgarians. Forthwith the Bul- garians were anathematized by the Holy Synod, not for any error of doctrine or depravity of life, but on account of ecclesi- astical insubordination. Lo, though Orthodox on every point, holding in all its minutiae the Orthodox creed, theirs is in the eyes of the Greeks a Schismatic Church. It is how- ever in full communion and paternal fellowship with the Orthodox Church of Russia. The position of the Bulgarian Church is in other respects anomalous. Its spiritual head or exarch is confirmed by the Sultan and resides not in Bulgaria, but in Constantinople, where there are almost no Bulgarians, and near the palace of the Sultan. Gradually during the century, territories have been lopped off from the Ottoman Empire and erected into sovereign states. Such are Greece, Rumania and Servia. Montenegro might be reckoned in the number, save that the heroic hand of mountaineers, which lives in her restricted limits, never acknowledged subjection. As political independence was achieved, there was a galling impropriety in the fact that a people, politically free, should bow to the ecclesiastical control of a religious organization over which the Sultan was master. So naturally and without shock have arisen churches autono- mous, but revering the Ecumenical Patriarch as in rank and functions superior to any other prelate. As the Ottoman Empire shrinks and outlying provinces drop away or are absorbed by neighboring states, the direct jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople is circumscribed in equal degree, but her indirect influence knows no diminution or change. Her lone-bearded, black- robed clergy are the most imposing priestly body in the 142 GLORY IN THEIR FAITH. world. An assembly of her bishops transports the stranger to the early Christian centuries with their hoary titles of Nice and Nicomedia and Chalkedon and Ephesus. Her formal wor- ship is the most elaborate rendered in the name of Chris- tianity. The devotion of her sons and daughters has grown the stronger in their common humiliation and distress. The active, tumultuous West may reproach her as unprogressive and inactive and lifeless. But her children glory in her and the Christian world may glory in her, as the Apostle of the Gentiles gloried in the Thessalonian Church, for the patience and the faith in all the persecutions and the tribulations which she endured. LOYALTY TO HIS NATION. 127 He was elected, and contrary to expectation, that election was immediately confirmed by the Sultan. From that time on the Patriarch has been " in a very real sense the champion of his people, bearing their griefs and carrying their sorrows as few have done, in an office that has been filled by men of conspicuous consecration." Every legal means in his power has been used in behalf of his people, and threats of imprison- ment or of death have accomplished nothing. Soon after his installation he sent to the Minister of Justice a letter ask- ing power to appoint new bishops in places where the bishops had been imprisoned for varying periods. The reply came that the statements about those bishops were false, and their withdrawal was demanded. The Patriarch answered, " The statements are true, and the truth I cannot withhold." From that time to this he has been a thorn in the side of the Turkish Government; neither bribes, flattery no«* deception have availed. Loyal to the Sultan, his loyalty refuses ser- vility, as is instanced in his statement to the Sultan in his first audience : "As far as my conscience permits me I will obey you, but at the same time I must look to the welfare of my people." It is scarcely surprising that the Sultan in a rage sent him away and omitted the customary decoration. A little later, realizing his power with the people, the Sultan sent for him and offered him the highest decorations that could be given to a civilian subject in the empire. The reply came as follows : " Your majesty, what have I to do with such things ? I am a simple priest. I live on bread and olives, as do my people. I have no place in my house for such gorgeous things. I pray you, do not ask me to accept them." Another illustration of his boldness and firmness is found 128 HIGH COURAGE. in the following statement, made to his people in the installa« tion service : " Before God and in presence of this meeting, I swear to remain faithful to my government and my nation, and to watch over the just and explicit fulfilment of this con- stitution (the constitution granted by Abdul Aziz). My un- derstanding - of the word faithful is this: faithfulness involves on the side of the government protection of life and property. Without this, faithfulness on the side of the subject is hypocrisy." It was not only towards the government, however, that the Patriarch had occasion to manifest his high courage. Recog- nizing very clearly the absurdities of the revolutionist move- ment, he steadily refused to give it any countenance whatever, and threats were numerous on the part of the disappointed Huntchagists that he should be killed. He feared this no more than the threats of the government, and has steadily pur- sued his way, holding to what he felt to be right and best for his nation. It is scarcely too much to say that such a man deserves the same rank accorded to the great leaders of the world, and a nation that can at such a crisis produce such a man and stand by him is a nation that under proper train- ing, and with favorable circumstances, may be expected to develop a high national character. The general situation of the Armenians at the present time is one that calls for the sympathy of the entire Christian world. They have lost a large proportion of their best men by massacre ; throughout the empire it has seemed to be the un- wavering purpose of the Turkish Government to cut down the very men who had most influence, and who most used their influence in behalf of good citizenship and upright life. The most conservative estimates, endorsed by the British GENERAL SITUATION. I2 g Ambassador at Constantinople, for the sections where there has been careful investigation, give the number killed at 25,000, and admit that the real number is far larger For a nation numbering not more than 2,000,000 within the borders of the empire, to lose probably not less than 40,000 or 50,000 of ,ts best men is a terrible thing, and the loss cannot but have a senous effect upon the future development. This however, is not all. Not merely have these lives been blotted out, but property to an incalculable degree has been de- stroyed The Armenian nation is shorn of a large part of its strength; whether there is enough left to give it vigor or power for the immediate future remains to be seen. The out. look is by no means hopeful, and yet seldom in the history of he world has the effort to blot out a race been successful. Whatever be the political outcome, as set forth in other chapters of this book, there can be but one hope for all those interested in the Armenian people, and that is, that they may by this terrible experience realize their weakness and unite their strength for a purer and truer national life than they r e .rL 1' any time ' eVe " th , an man y of them have dreamed of. This, however, will depend very largely upon the support accorded to them by the Christian nations of the world If that support fails, then the responsibility rests, not alone upon the Armemans, but to a great degree upon those nations. CHAPTER VII. The Greeks. Fidelity of the Oriental Churches — The Apostle Andrew — Concessions by Mohammed II Gennadios II — Suffering and Misery — Greek Revolution — Growth of National Spirit — Hellenes or Romaioi — Bulgarians in their Relation to the Greek Church. TOO much honor cannot be paid to those Christians of the East, whatever their church connection, who have adhered unswervingly to their faith. The endurance of the Covenanters and Huguenots and Waldenses casts a halo, not only upon themselves, but upon the human family. It ennobles the race that any members of it were capable of such devotion. The sufferings of the Eastern Christians have been continuous, and may be traced back by a chain, wherein there are no miss- ing links, to the day when their remote progenitors were first compelled to bow their necks under the foot of a Moslem conqueror. Bondage, inferiority, contempt, are hard and demoralizing teachers. Rapacity, which renders labor fruitless, and insolent terrorism, which multiplies devices to make its victims cringe, are not favorable to the development of the higher, manlier traits, either in an individual or a community. Ignorant, super- stitious, untrustworthy, the Eastern Christians too often are. Nevertheless, in view of the ceaseless, wearing ordeal which (13°) GREEK CHURCH. j* z they have undergone, their steadfastness and the many other virtues they do possess are all the more memorable and praise- worthy. Would we, children of the Pilgrim, of the Cavalier, of the Maryland Catholic and the Pennsylvania Quaker, have endured a like trial any better? Dare we assert that we should have borne it as well ? In that group of churches the most venerable and the most pathetic figure of all is the Eastern Orthodox, or, as it is com- monly called in foreign countries, Greek Church. According to a tradition, so attested as to seem authentic history, the Apos- tle Andrew preached Christianity upon the Bosporus within three years of the crucifixion. Weaving into the Sacred story " the golden woof-thread of romance," the Byzantine Christians loved to tell that the Bosporus reminded the Apostle of his native Galilee, and that the first company which met to hear him was made up of fishermen like himself. Here he re- mained two years and organized a church and consecrated Stachys, the " beloved " of St. Paul, first Bishop of Byzantium. When Constantine transformed Byzantium into Nova Roma, and made her, in place of the older Rome, capital of the world, Metrophanes I, twentieth in Episcopal line from Stachys, exchanged his humbler title of bishop for the more resound- ing appellation of Archbishop of Constantinople, or Ecumen- ical Patriarch. The Sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, though reckoned Apostolic, seemed to the ordinary eye less exalted than the ecclesiastical thrones on the Bosporus and the Tiber. Between these two pre-eminent arose unchurchly rivalries and factional dissensions. Antagonism of East and West, more than subtle differences of creed, were to tear them asunder. Alternately separated and reunited, in 1053 X influences was the confiscation of the lands of the great Greek families and their transformation into fiefs, which were conferred on distinguished warriors who held them on condi- tion of serving the Sultan with a certain number of followers, helped to solidify the empire, but operated very heavily to repress the Christians. It left them at the mercy of these feudal chiefs, and the situation during the centuries that fol- lowed was one of increasing oppression. This was assisted by the degradation of their own priesthood. Their position as civil representatives of their people detracted more and more from their spiritual teaching, and they became addicted to all sorts of intrigues. Two notable results followed. One was the formation of bands of freebooters in the mountain regions, who preyed upon the plain villages in proportion as the feudal lords were careless or weak ; the other was the gradual dispersion of these Christian communities. This affected the Armenians more than any others. They wandered here and there over the empire in search of some place where they should be left unmolested. It was about this time that they established jjO EXTENDING CONQUEST. their qua si-kingdom at Sis in Cilicia, and spread over the plains of Northern Syria and of Central Asia Minor. Their kingdom had a short life, and the effect of their wandering from the ancestral home was to bring them still more under the oppression of the Turks, so that they even lost the ordi- nary use of their language. Of the events that followed the capture of Constantinople it is impossible here to do more than to give the very briefest summary, and emphasize only such points as are most essen- tial to the understanding of the situation as it is to-day. First came the extending of conquest, and during the thirty years that followed the capture of Constantinople, it seemed as if more had been done than at any time before. Servia yielded ; then came Greece, although the famous Scanderbeg held his own in Albania. More than one historian has sug- gested that the effort to subdue him was only half-hearted out of regard for his bravery and for the memories of his early life with the Turks. Then Wallachia yielded and the people of Transylvania found the Moslem no severer ruler than Wlad, called by his subjects Drakul (the devil). Bosnia yielded its rule next, and war spread on southward and west- ward against the Albanians and Venetians. Meanwhile the princes of Karaman, who for a century and a half had held a varying rule in Central Asia Minor, were finally subdued and the Sultan's power over what is now Asiatic Turkey was practically complete. Again he turned to Europe, crossed the Dardanelles, took Moldavia and captured the Crimea, which had for a time been under the Khans of that country, though they had in turn yielded to a Christian republic, which had maintained itself for some time with its capital, the most important town of the northern Black Sea coast. Always, THE SULTAN S EXALTATION. 171 however, there was the outlook westward, and although Venice checked the advance of the Ottomans, they still threw them- selves upon Transylvania and made incursions into Hungary and Italy, and Mohammed II closed his reign with an attack upon Rhodes, which, however, was repulsed. From the death of Mohammed II, in 1481, to the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, in 1520, there were expeditions into Hungary and Moldavia, and war with Venice and Persia, but no great additions to the Ottoman domain. This, however, was more than made up by the conquest of Syria and Egypt. The significance of these conquests was great as mere territorial enlargement of the empire, but more important still were the attendant influences which resulted in placing the Turkish Sultans at the head of the Moslem world. The last Mameluke Sultan, of Egypt, was hanged at the gate of Cairo in 151 7, and Sultan Selim passed a month longer in that capital presiding at two great Egyptian fetes — the open- ing of the Cairo Canal, and the departure of the annual caravan for Mecca, and received from the Sherif of Mecca the keys of the Kaaba. His army, however, became restless and he returned to Constantinople. To that city he sum- moned Mohammed XII, the last representative of the Abbas- side Caliphs, to whom the rulers of Egypt had always given the honorary title. Selim required of him to relinquish the rights and distinctive ensigns of the Caliphate, the standard, the sword and the mantle of the prophet, and assumed the political and religious chieftainship of Islam. This conquest of Egypt and the assumption of the Caliphate attracted the alarm of European powers and resulted in treaties with Venice and Hungary. A second attack on Rhodes was 1^2 SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT. planned, but not carried out, and in 1520 Selim gave place to his son Suleiman the Magnificent. The reign of Suleiman from 1520 to 1566, deserves more than a passing mention. It was the golden age of the Turk- ish rule, when the empire reached its greatest extent and achieved its highest success; when all Europe was either dreading its advance or treating for its assistance. But it was also noticeable for its internal organization, which remained until Mahmud II, under the pressure of the altered circum- stances of 250 years later, made changes which have resulted in the present system. The relations between Turkey and the European powers, inaugurated practically during this reign, will be treated of later. Here it is the purpose to survey the general history of that reign. The first act was the suppression of a revolt along the Danube, and Belgrade was taken, its Serb popula- tion being transferred ' to Constantinople in pursuance of a policy inaugurated by Mohammed II for the building up of that city. Then the Sultan turned his eyes to Rhodes, and with a fleet of 300 vessels and 100,000 men undertook its capture. For five months the Grand Master of the Knights held out, but was finally forced to yield, and betook himself with his men to Malta, where they planned anew the war against the Koran. Next to Rhodes, Hungary was the great object of the Sultan's ambition, and it was only a few years later that he made vast preparations for an invasion. At the battle of Mohacz, in 1526, the Hungarian kingdom was de- stroyed, and on the 10th of September Suleiman entered Budapesth. Revolts in Asia, however, called back the Sultan, though the war continued in Hungary, and a second expedition was ATTACK ON VIENNA. 173 started three years later. It was the Turkish theory that any place in which the Sultan had slept was within the bounds of his empire, and accordingly again Budapesth was occupied ; this time, however, merely as a vantage ground from which to attack Vienna itself. The history of the defense of the Austrian capital is one of the most brilliant in the military history of Central Europe during that century. Notwithstand- ing the overwhelming power of the Turks, with their army of 300,000 men and 300 cannon, besides a strong flotilla, the Austrians, reinforced by the Protestants — so-called since the protest at Spires in the spring of that year — resolved to de- fend the place. The city walls were weak and out of repair, and the Sultan apparently thought conquest easy, for he sent a message that if the garrison would surrender he would not even enter the town, but press on in search of the emperor ; if they resisted he would dine in Vienna on the third day, and then he would not spare even the child in the womb. They, however, would not yield, and he never entered. The bravery of the troops who gathered from every part of Germany, assisted by the valor of the citizens, repulsed the Turks again and again, and, as the season was advancing, the Sultan re- turned to Constantinople. A third expedition resulted again in a most humiliating disgrace ; 350,000 Turks, led by the Sultan himself, were detained more than three weeks by a garrison of about 700 men at a little town in Styria. Ger- many amassed all its forces, and now there came in the influ- ence of Western Europe. France had already made advances to the Turkish Government, and Venice, seeking protection for her commerce, had entered into treaty, and both of them through their ambassadors advised the Sultan, with a weak- ened army, not to meet the well-organized troops of Charles 174 INTERNAL HISTORY. V. The expedition, therefore, was reluctantly withdrawn, to be renewed again later, and again given up when a general truce was arranged with the German power. Meanwhile, however, Barbarossa had come in conflict with the Venetian Doria, and the Italian shore was threatened by the Turkish troops. But no great gains were made, and at the death of Suleiman, in 1566, no positive advance had been registered. The internal history of the empire was in some respects more important than the external. Suleiman is known among the Ottomans as the Legislator. He organized the Ulemas, altered the system of fiefs, and arranged matters of finance, justice, civil and penal law, and the various departments of his empire. The general principle of land tenure was based upon the doctrine that the soil belonged to God, and thus to his representative, the Sultan. It was, however, apart from that reserved for the Sultan himself, divided into three classes ; land occupied by Mussulmans after the conquest, subject only to the tithes; land let to conquered populations, especially Rayahs (non-Moslem subjects), who, aside from the tithe, paid capitation and exemption taxes ; and the domains given by the Sultan as military rewards under the arrangement inau- gurated by Amurath I. In general, the principle of the col- lection of taxes had been to make them as onerous as possi- ble. Suleiman recognized the unwisdom of this, and intro- duced various modifications, which had the effect of lessening the harshness, and at the same time of increasing the revenues. He also looked very closely after the fiefs, demanding that only the smaller ones should be under the control of the gov- ernors of provinces; that the larger ones must be referred to Constantinople. This last order had special reference to the taxes levied by these governors upon the peasants. Notwith- PAYMENT FOR CRIME. jyr standing this organized system of revenue, the income was not sufficient and additional contributions of one kind and another Irv »A T Y UP ° n conc l uered P^vinces, such as Hun- gary and Transylvania, which resulted in the almost utter destn.ct.on of their prosperity. In the matter of crime cor- poral punishment was sparingly inflicted. Almost every crime could be atoned for by the payment of a fine Not- withstanding the brilliant success achieved, it was in this very reign that the decadence of Moslem rule commenced The heavy expenses of the various wars, and of the organization of the empire had a great influence in bringing about a con- dition of venality which rapidly sapped the strength of the government Suleiman saw it, but allowed it t/pass, only taking care that ,t did not interfere with his army. His power over the army, however, weakened. It had hitherto been the custom that the Janissaries should never enter war excep! under the personal lead of the Sultan. This privilege was withdrawn Their numbers also were recruited by adventurers o every kmd, and the general discipline was weakened by allowmg them to marry, follow trades, and become stationary in the garnsons, where they were practically citizens, mer- chants, operators, etc. In the general conduct of the c OTern . men t also, th ie Sultan no longer presided over the Cabinet Meeting or D.van, as it was called. He confined himself more and more to his palace, and came under the effeminating influence of a uxury carried to such an extent that the su?- roundmgs of the Christian princes of Europe paled before the pomp of the Moslem Court. The forma' condemnatl by the Koran of such luxury was passed by entirely, the sim- plicity of manners to which the empire owed its advance was greatly corrupted; the use of wine became quite common, I76 CHRONIC WAR. and the use of coffee, just introduced, was carried to excess. The result was that in every department of the government there were sown the seeds of the weakness that manifested itself, with occasional exceptions, in the history of the suc- ceeding two and one-half centuries. The history of the following years, aside from the relations with the European Governments, must be passed over very briefly. They include expeditions to Arabia, the conquest of Cyprus in 1570, the battle of Lepanto, when the fleets of Europe — Spanish, Italian and Venetian — blotted out the Turkish marine, and freed the Mediterranean coast from the terror of their devastations. This was, however, somewhat compensated for by the capture of Tunis. There was chronic war with Hungary and Persia, that with the latter power re- sulting in the addition to the Ottoman Power of Georgia and a considerable portion of Northern and Southeastern Persia. The whole Balkan Peninsula was in a chronic state of revolt and subjugation. There were powerful Sultans, such as Am- urath I, and great viziers, as the Kuprulis. At times the Turkish successors threatened again the peace of Europe, but they were generally used by one and another government^ particularly France, as a check to the encroachments of enemies. In 1669, "the Ottoman Empire included forty governments and four tributary countries : in Europe all Greece, Illyria, Maesia, Macedonia, Pannonia, Thrace and Dacia; the kingdoms of Pyrrhus and Perseus; the states of Treballi and the Bulgarians : in Africa the kingdom of the Ptolemies, with the territory of Carthage and Numidia : in Asia the kingdoms of Mithridates, Antiochus, Attalus, Prusias, Herod and Ti- granes ; those of the obscure sovereigns of Cappadocia, SOBIESKI S ASSISTANCE. 177 Cilicia and Comagena ; the territories of the Iberians and the Scythians, and a portion of the empire of the Parthians. Without reckoning the Greek Republics and the Tyrian colony, there were twenty kingdoms included in these forty governments, from the Syrtes to the Caucasus, and to the countries watered by the Hydaspes." To these territories was added the lower part of Russia, held by the Cossacks of the Ukraine, who voluntarily sub- mitted to the Sultan's rule as protection against the Russians and Poland. This occasioned the war with Poland, when the Poles were led by John Sobieski. The famous general, Kara Mustapha, in 1683, sought to rival the conquests of Suleiman, and with an army more powerful than any the Turks had ever sent from Constantinople, determined to besiege Vienna. The Austrian king called for Sobieski's assistance, and secured it notwithstanding the intrigues of Louis XIV, who vainly sought to convince the Pole that his real enemies were in Austria, and in that power of the north whom the Dutch papers had begun to call " His Russian Majesty." Loyal to his religion, however, Sobieski went to the aid of Vienna. His cavalry, aided by that of the Germans, put the Turks to flight after more than 10,000 of their troops had been left on the field of battle. Then came a panic, and the Turks fled in disorder, leaving an immense booty to the victors. Of this the King of Poland received as his share 4,000,000 florins, while arms studded with precious stones, and banners and treasures to a very heavy amount, were divided among the victors. The war with Austria developed into the war against the Holy Alliance, a league against the Turks, under the protec- tion of the Pope, and formed by the Emperor of Austria, the I78 PEACE OF CARLOWITZ. King of Poland, and the Republic of Venice, to which also the Czar was invited. This war went on with varying fortunes until the peace of Carlowitz, in 1699. This period included the rule of the famous Kupruli Mustapha Pasha, one of the most successful and most noted of the Macedonian family, which supplied five viziers to the Ottoman throne. He was probably one of the most intelligent, courageous and humane statesmen of Turkey, and his death in battle was regretted alike by Christians and Turks, who named him Kupruli the Virtuous. The tide, however, had set against Turkey, and under the influence of William of Orange the intrigues of Louis XIV, were set aside, and Turkey signed the peace of Carlowitz. By this Hungary and Transylvania were ceded to Austria, with the exception only of a small territory. Poland recovered Ukraine and Podolia ; Russia retained Azof; Venice on her part gave up her conquests to the north of the Gulf of Corinth and almost the whole of Dalmatia, and all the tributes paid by the Christian powers to the Ottoman courts were abolished. This was the first great gap made in the Ottoman Empire, and from this time it ceased to be an object of dread in Europe. Hitherto it had been isolated and owed its greatness to that fact in considerable degree. Now it was dominated by its allies and had to submit to the influence of ambitious neigh- bors or interested friends. Its decline could no lono-er be hindered, and already there was upon its borders that power of the north, which, by gaining an entrance to the Black Sea, commenced really its European life. The example of Kupruli the Virtuous was followed by Kupruli the Wise, who immediately set himself about im- proving the general condition of the empire. In the European 1 sultan's rule nominal. 181 provinces he favored his Christian subjects in regard to the payment of arrears of taxes, and in Syria he gave them free- dom of pasturage for flocks. The Mussulmans under the general influences of the time retrograded in their devotion to their religion, and he strove by every means to recall them to the study and practice of that religion, but failed to keep a a hold even upon the Moslem leaders, and yielded his life to their intrigues. This was about the commencement of the eighteenth century, and through that century the history, so far as the immediate empire itself is concerned, is a varying one. It commenced with a time of peace, under the diminu- tion of French influence and a general disregard of the Russian power. That, however, under Peter the Great, commenced aggressions that soon aroused Mussulman pride, which, irri- tated at the appearance of the infidel on the Black Sea, hitherto regarded as sacred to Islam, declared war. This re- sulted in the restoration of Azof to the Ottoman Government and the shutting: out of Russia from the Black Sea. More and more, however, the influence of European politics (dwelt upon more in detail in another chapter) was evident in in- ternal disturbances, which had their effect not merely upon Christians, but upon Moslems, and Russian intrigue played an increasingly powerful part in the general development of the empire. Even throughout Asiatic Turkey the rule of the Sultan was scarcely more than nominal. The province of Bagdad was practically independent, furnished no revenues, and, although a certain suzerainty of the Sultan was acknowledged, even war with a European power brought no troops, which were held to be necessary as a defense against the Arabs. Through- out Eastern Turkey there were whole nations or tribes of l82 THE MAMELUKES. people independent of the Sultan and his pashas, and the Pasha of Trebizond was master of the whole country. Aghas, or independent lords, maintained armies even up to the borders of Smyrna, and the mountains throughout Asia Minor and the Lebanon were perfectly independent. Most of them, aside from the Armenians and Greeks, were Moslems, yet not a few sectaries, as Kurds and the Metawelis, united religious to political hostility. On the coast of Syria, only the ports were under strong Turkish rule, and caravans from Alexandretta to Aleppo dared not cross the mountains because of the Kurds. At this same time was developed the power of the Mamelukes in Egypt, under the famous Ali Bey, who joined with him an Arab chief, and dominated pretty nearly all of Syria. In 1770 the empire seemed near its dismemberment. The Russians held the Danube and Azof, Georgia was in rebellion, even Damascus was threatened, and Ali Pasha, of Janina, was laying the foundations of his power in Albania. The next step downward was the treaty of Kainardji in 1774, which gave Crimea to the Czar, accorded the navigation of the Black Sea to Russia, and ceded a portion of the Caucasus. True, some of the Danube provinces were regained, but this was of comparatively little moment. Another peace, that of Jassy, signalized an additional step in the same downward direction. Constantly there were increasing disorders in ad- ministration. The Sultans were less and less men of ability, dominated by the Janissaries or by the ecclesiastics, and Turkey became the football of the various strifes for pre- dominance in Europe. The present century opened with another war with Russia, when the latter invaded the Danubian principalities, taking advantage of a revolt of the Servians. CHAPTER X. Turkey and Europe. First Intercourse — Alliance between Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent — Intrigues between France and Austria — The First Treaty — Nature of Capitulations — Peculiar Favors Granted to the French — Their Recognition as the Protectors of Christians — Entrance of Other Powers — Louis XIV and His Ambassador — Influence of De Breves — Peace of Carlowitz — Turkey No Longer Dreaded in Europe. INTERCOURSE between Turkey and the European powers commenced with the first invasion of the Balkan Peninsula, but there were no formal relations until a Russian ambas- sador entered Constantinople in 1495. That, however, was not followed by important consequences, and Turkey did not commence its career of European influence until the time of Francis I, of France, about 1525. The French monarch found himself in a very difficult situation. The house of Austria had surrounded him, excluding him from the Mediter- ranean ; not only that, allied with Venice, she thus controlled the Adriatic, possessed Oran and theoretically the whole northern coast of Africa ; while her relations with Spain made her mistress of Barcelona, Naples and Sicily. France seemed to be shut out entirely from Mediterranean power. It was absolutely necessary for her at any price to find some counterpoise ; to oppose to Austria some other power, which should perhaps by its own force, perhaps in alliance, enable (183) x 84 the lilies and the crescent. her to regain her legitimate influence in the Mediterranean and her commercial relations to the countries of the Levant. It is scarcely surprising that France looked with longing eyes to the Turks. Suleiman the Magnificent was at the height of his power and the foundation of his kingdom seemed impreg- nable. His armies were attacking Hungary, his ships held the Adriatic and the Black Seas ; he could by no possibility come into rivalry with France ; each had the same enemies ; both were united by the same needs of commerce, and both had a warlike reputation to sustain. True, Suleiman was a Moslem and Francis I a Christian, and when the alliance be- tween them became known there arose a general clamor against the " impious union of the Lilies with the Crescent." Whatever Francis thought, it is scarcely probable that he looked upon the Turkish power as likely to spread much farther west, and planned to use it as a weapon, which, after a time, he might lay aside. For some time messengers had been passing back and forth making full inquiry as to the condition of the Ottoman rule, and secret negotiations had been entered into with the Sultan for the protection of French commerce. It was therefore no matter of surprise that he sent an ambassador, who was, however, arrested and mur- dered on the way. A second was sent who carried a letter purporting to request the furtherance of the attack upon Hungary and proposing to use counter influence on the other side of the continent. This second envoy was received with great honors, and notwithstanding the fact that Francis was then in captivity, the Sultan expressed his royal determina- tion to enter into alliance with the French king, the token of which was a letter written in 1526. This was the commence- ment of those alliances which for the succeeding 300 years, FOREIGN ALLIANCES. 1 85 with differing degrees of fidelity, were kept up, and proved of great value to France and of no little support to Turkey. Five years later came the reception of a special ambassador. Extraordinary honors were accorded to him such as have been given, it is said, to no Christian ambassador succeeding him. That these should be permitted by the Sultan's subjects is attributed by Turkish historians to a report that made Mohammed II, the Conqueror of Constan- tinople, the child of a princess of the royal family of France ; intended to be the bride of Emperor John IV, but who had been taken captive in 1428. Austria at the same time sent an ambassador, but he could by no means secure the same treatment as his French associate. He, however, succeeded in securing the first peace concluded between the two govern- ments, in 1533. The check given by Charles V to the advance of the Ottoman power along the African coast made him appear to the world as the liberator of the Christians and the terror of the infidels, and gave him such prestige that Francis felt obliged to get all the advantage possible out of his alliance. Accordingly the official envoy met the Sul- tan and a treaty was signed at Constantinople, in 1536. This was in the form of what is known as a Hatti Sherif, or an order from the Sultan which was the basis of all the treaties that have been concluded since that period between Turkey and the European nations. While substantially a treaty, it took the form of a concession, and from this has arisen the word " Capitulation " which has become recognized in all Turkish history as governing the relations between the Turks and Christians. It has always been contrary to the idea of the Moslem that a treaty can be made with Christians ; con- cessions (capitulations) can be granted, and this is what has !86 TREATY PROVISIONS. repeatedly been done in the diplomatic relations between the empires. This first treaty is extremely interesting. In it Suleiman gives to Francis I the title of Padiska, looked upon as sacred by the Turks, and it is said only accredited to one other Christian monarch, the Czar Paul, of Russia. The first articles were as follows : 1. That as there is peace and concord between the Grand Seignior and the King of France, their respective subjects and tributaries may freely navigate and go into their different ports for their commerce, buy, sell, load, conduct, and trans- port, by water or by land, from one country to another, all kinds of merchandise not prohibited, in paying the ordinary dues, without being subjected to any imposition, tribute, or other charge. 2. That when the king shall send to Constantinople, or to any other part of the Ottoman Empire, a consul, in like manner as the one he keeps at Alexandria, that consul shall be accepted and sustained in his authority and shall judge according to his faith and law, without that any judge or cadi shall hear, judge, and pronounce, as well civilly as criminally, upon the causes, processes, or differences which may arise, between the subjects of the king only ; and that the officers of the Grand Seignior shall lend assistance for the execution of the judgments of the consuls, any sentence passed by the cadis between French merchants to be necessarily null and void. 3. That in case of any civil contestation between the Turks and the French, the plaint of the first, named shall not be received by the cadis unless they should bring proof in writ- ing of the hand of the adversary or that of the consul, and TREATY STIPULATIONS CONTINUED. zgj that in any case the subjects of the king shall not be judged without their dragoman being present. 4. That in criminal matters the subjects of the king may not be brought before the cadi or ordinary judge, rTor be judged at once, but be conducted before the Sublime Porte, and in the absence of the Grand Vizier, before his substitute,' in order that the testimony of the Turkish subject against the king's subject may be discussed. 5. That no use shall be made of the merchant ships belonging to the king's subjects, nor of their artillery, muni- tions and equipages against their will, even for the service of the Grand Seignior. 6. That if any subject of the king quits the States of the Grand Seignior without having satisfied his debts, neither the consul nor any other Frenchman shall be responsible for them; but the king shall make satisfaction to the plaintiff upon the goods or person of the debtor, should it be in his kingdom. 7. That the French merchants and subjects of the king shall freely make their wills, and that the goods of those who shall die intestate shall be remitted to the heir by the care and authority of the consul. The importance of these articles is very evident. Theoret- ically there could be no cordial relations whatever between Christians and Moslems. The more enlightened judgment, however, that had already recognized the necessity of a modus vivendi with the Christian subjects of the Sultan, recognized now also a similar necessity in connection with the great states to the west with which the Sultan must come into relation, but which he could not hope to conquer, at least for some time to come. Thus there was introduced the 1 88 TREATY RESULTS. important innovation in the law of nations, since developed into the principle of extraterritoriality, and recognized in all treaties between Christian nations and Moslem or pagan governments, where the habits of life, the national customs and general laws are of necessity very different. This treaty gave to the French the advantage of their national laws and customs even under foreign rule ; recognized that in certain respects they had more rights and liberties even than the Sultan's subjects had, by acknowledging the protec- tion of their national magistrates. As was inevitable, out of this came the development of small French colonies centered about the mercantile houses ; consuls also lost largely their commercial character and became civil magistrates and even political agents. It is probably to this treaty that is due the fact that to-day all foreigners are classed under the general term of "Franks," which has also been applied even to many of the Christian subjects of the Sultan. But there were other articles of this famous treaty of great importance. The French were guaranteed the absolutely free exercise of worship. Their bishops and other priests of this ''Frank" religion, of whatever nation, were to be left undisturbed wherever they dwelt, provided they kept within the bounds of their condition. Thus, by an easy extension, France secured the right of protection over all Catholics in the East, and thus over the holy places in Palestine, as well as over all the edifices of the Church. More than this, the French flag became the protection for European merchants of other governments not allied to the Porte by treaties, and, as a matter of fact, every Christian nation was obliged to seek the protection of the French king in its trade with Turkey. A third condition was the liberation of slaves, and the Sultan, A GREAT EVENT. 1 89 on his side, agreed not to enslave the French, while the King of France granted the same privilege with regard to Otto- mans. The signing of this treaty was in many respects the most significant event in Turkish history. Probably without any realization of its ultimate results, the greatest Sultan that Turkey ever had voluntarily placed limits upon his relation with Christians, and laid down the principles which have governed Turkey in her foreign treaties ever since. Previous to this time the only treaties between the Otto- mans and European powers had been certain commercial treaties with Venice. These had dated from the first incur- sions of the Turks into Europe, and in them Venice was placed upon the footing of a vassal and tributary of the Sultan. This was done as early as 1408, and tribute varying from 1,600 to 10,000 ducats was paid at different times until the capture of Constantinople, when peace was purchased by an annual tribute of 36,000 ducats and the sending of a rep- resentative to Constantinople, whom the Turks regarded and treated as a hostage. o The alliance between Turkey and France went through various stages. At first Francis I seemed not quite to realize the whole bearing of -his alliance with the Turk, and sought to come to terms with Charles V. The conditions, however, were not acceptable, and the result was a new alliance, not- withstanding the fact that the ambassador who was charged with the duty of securing the alliance was assassinated on the way. Undoubtedly at times the French king was very anxious, for his new allies seemed to have as much desire for the French coast as for that of Spain. Still, they were essential almost to his very existence, and he maintained terms of harmony. After the middle of the sixteenth century, I90 NEW PRIVILEGES. however, the alliance was merely political. It had been entered upon on the part of the French in order to limit the house of Austria ; on the part of Turkey for the purpose of attacking more easily the countries of Europe. The end of the former was obtained by a treaty, which suspended the struggle with Austria for nearly a century ; and the latter found itself barred by Hungary, Italy and Spain. The next was a renewal, on the part of Suleiman's successor, of the capitulations already made, but with certain modifications rendered necessary by the developing hostility of Turks for Christians. New privileges were also added. Every French- man settled in the country was perpetually exempted from the capitation tax ; French officers were allowed to search for French slaves seized by Mussulmans, and to demand punish- ment for those who stole or captured them ; the Sultan also engaging to make restitution for such acts of piracy. French ships were treated kindly, and given assistance in case of running aground on the shores of Turkey, and the persons and effects of those who were ship-wrecked were to be re- spected. The most important of all, perhaps, was the fact that the French enjoyed to the full the privileges which the Venetians secured only through payment of tribute. The re- sult was that France was mistress of the commerce of the Mediterranean, and she improved the opportunity, so as to establish Catholic missions with the consent of the Sultan, and convents were located even in Constantinople. At about this time (1569) Turkey and Russia first measured their mili- tary strength, and Turkey was driven back from the Don, and a scheme for a ship canal, which should connect the Black Sea and the Caspian by the Sea of Azof and the Don and Volga, was stopped. FURTHER ENLARGED. I 9 I A few years later, in 1577, these privileges were enlarged, so that France was acknowledged the protector of very nearly all Europeans who sought to reach the Levant. Her ambassadors had precedence of those of other Christian lands, and especially of Spain, while Englishmen, Portuguese and some others were dependant upon the French flag for protection. England, however, was unwilling to rest in this situation, and the first ambassador sent by Elizabeth to the Porte obtained capitulations analogous to those of France, but limited to commerce. He also sought Turkish aid against Spain, as France had against Austria, but with less of success, the Sultan caring less about the Spaniards, who were far away, than the Austrians, who were near at hand. Russia also in 1786 sent ambassadors with rich presents, and it was scarcely surprising that the Ottomans were greatly exalted by their victories. Poland solicited the arrangement of treaties ; Venice congratulated the Sultan upon his success over the Germans ; the English ambassador accompanied him in per- son in his campaign, and France reconfirmed her alliance. It was at the close of the sixteenth century that France was represented at Constantinople by Savary de Breves, who did for France what Lord Stratford de Redcliffe did later for England. By the shrewdest means he gained such influence that a Turkish historian says: " It very nearly happened that in the house of Islam a veri- table enthusiasm was declared for France by the secret deal- ings of its accursed ambassador." That influence was powerful in many ways. It prevented the conversion of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre into a Mosque ; turned aside the Sultan's anger from the island of Scio ; protected the Christian churches in Constantinople from 192 ADVANTAGES TO OTHER POWERS. the attack of the Janissaries, but found even then that English influence was not easy to overcome. The British ambassador had succeeded in persuading the Porte that other nations, which had hitherto come under French auspices, might enjoy the same privileges under the English flag. Other powers also gained advantages: Poland secured capitulations, as also the Republic of Venice; and the United Provinces of the Low Countries obtained for the first time, in 1612, a treaty similar to those which France and England enjoyed. The use they made of this was characteristic. The Dutch introduced the use of tobacco into the empire. In vain did the priesthood try to oppose the innovation ; the soldiers and common people rose against them and they were compelled to revoke their decision. It is interesting to note the defense that De Breves made of the alliance between France and Turkey against the scru- ples of his own countrymen, and the declamations of others, who made this the basis of an accusation of treason against Christianity. Not only, he said, were the commercial advantages very great, and the political prestige most valua- ble, but Christianity itself was greatly advanced, inasmuch as it appropriated every sort of merchandise to be gathered from the East, and was enriched by the accruing wealth. He also dwelt upon the preservation of the Christian name and of the " Catholic religion." This is stated somewhat more fully in another chapter. French influence, however, suffered after the time of De Breves considerable change. This was due primarily to the fact that the general policy of the Sublime Porte toward the European Governments was no longer that of war, but of peace, so that this alliance was open to all. The entrance of A SERIES OF INTRIGUES. *93 other ambassadors brought other influences, and nations hos- tile to France used the ignorance of the Turks to further their own ends. So also France found Turkey of less use than formerly, finding surer and less dangerous allies in the Prot- estants of Germany. Other reasons were the weakness of the Ottoman Sultans, and also the weakness of the French ambassadors; the former paid no attention to the capitula- tions, claiming that they were under no obligations to keep their word with Christians; the latter, ignorant of the religion, laws and customs of the Ottomans, had no knowledge of o when to waive their peculiar prejudices, and when to insist upon the preservation of their rights. This was especially noticeable during the first half of the seventeenth century, and had its results in serious losses to the Roman Catholic Church, and the general cause of Christians in the empire. The reign of Louis XIV was a continued series of intrigues, demands for renewals of treaties, recriminations against the bad faith of the Ottomans, support now of the Venetians and then of the Turks; until, in 1670, a more skilful ambassador than France had sent at any time since De Breves, secured special favors. The customs duty was reduced, the King of France recognized as the unique protector of the Catholics of the East, and above all, French merchandise coming from India given the through passage by the Red Sea and across Egypt The French ambassador regarded Egypt as the true route to India, and after much negotiation and many threats, in 1673 the new treaty was signed. True, the question of through passage to India was not mentioned, but private arrangements with the Pasha of Egypt secured that favor. The treaty, however, was not destined to have great results. Henceforward the policy of France was not to advance in 194 THE HOLY ALLIANCE. cordial relations with her Turkish ally. She laid down her arms when Turkey commenced war, and Turkey made peace as soon as France entered upon a campaign. The result was evident in the development of the house of Austria, and the establishment of the power of Russia. In marked con- trast to the course of France was that taken by the Poles. Already reference has been made to the effort of Louis XIV to secure the alliance of Sobieski and allow the Turkish Gov- ernment free course in its effort to overpower Austria, and to the Pole's noble defense of Austria as the greatest Christian barrier to the spread of the Moslem power. One result of this action was the establishment of the Holy Alliance, when Austria, Poland, and Venice commenced the war against the Sultan, which ended only in the peace of Carlowitz, which had this chief result — that Turkey was no longer an isolated power, but closely bound to the interests of Europe. CHAPTER XL Russia and Turkey. Aggression of Peter the Great — Diminution and Renewal of French Influence — The Con- test over the Holy Places — Victory of Russian Influence in Favor of the Greek Church — Russia's Religious Propaganda Among the Greeks — Rise of Phil-Hellenism— Dismem- berment Talked of— Effect of the French Revolution— The Russian Fleet in the Dar- danelles—The English Fleet at Constantinople— Peace of Tilsit— Plan for Partition- Accession of Mahmud II. FROM the Peace of Carlowitz the history of the Turkish Empire is involved with that of Europe to a degre e hitherto unknown. The varied schemes of ambitious rulers, the influences of popular movements, were felt even across the Bosporus, and Turkey becoming no longer an Asiatic but a European power, found itself in a situation singularly incon- gruous. There was all the old Ottoman pride, which had its sharpest illustration in the custom of throwing European ambassadors into the prison at the Seven Towers whenever there was danger of hostilities, and there was also that recognition of commercial relations and need which militated so sharply against the former as to inevitably result in the decadence of the following- centuries. The eighteenth Cen- to fc> tury opened with considerable diminution of French influ- ence and with marked aggression on the part of the Czar. (195) I96 WAR AND PEACE. Unfortunately for Turkey the Porte knew little and cared less about the entrance of this last element, and paid little attention to the efforts made by Charles XII to stop the advance of Peter the Great. The battle of Pultowa had a strange result in the reception of the Swedish King by the Sultan and the combination of his efforts with those of French ambassadors to secure an alliance against Russia, which, however, would have failed, probably, had not the Russian fleet appeared. The embassy of the Czar to counteract their efforts appeared on a squadron which entered from the Black Sea and cast anchor before the windows of the Seraglio. The following years were a kaleidoscope of war and peace, treaty and aggression ; now with Russia, now with Venice and Austria, resulting in the peace of Passarowitz, in which Peter pledged himself not to appropriate any part of Poland or to meddle with the government of its republic, but to make every effort to prevent the sovereignty and hereditary suc- cession from being attached to its crown. A second article was the securing of freedom for Russians and Turks to travel and traffic in all safety in each empire. Pilgrimages to Jerusalem were to be subjected to no pecuniary exactions and Russian ecclesiastics throughout the East were to remain unmolested. Thus was taken the first step toward the dominating power of Russia in the Holy Land, which has since had so great an effect. The next step was the alliance between Austria and Russia to secure the ruin of Turkey notwithstanding the alliance with France. Again treaty was followed by war and war by treaty, until by the treaty of Belgrade the desert territory of Azof was to form the boundary between the two empires ; commerce on the Black Sea was to be free, with the condition, however, that the Orq rn c/> UJ cc < UJ O- O cc D UJ UJ _J a. O Q < O UJ TURKEY AND SWEDEN. I 99 Russians should only employ Turkish vessels. For this the credit must chiefly be given to the French ambassador Villeneuve, who restored the prestige which had fallen low under the successors of De Breves. The Frenchman's next victory was the developing of a treaty of friendship and commerce into a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between the Porte and Sweden, for mutual support against the aggression of Russia. He also, in 1740, secured a formal treaty of friendship and commerce between France and the Porte, which has only been renewed once since, in 1802, and which still regulates the relations of France with the Ottoman Empire. In this the precedence previously accorded to the representatives of France was renewed and new privileges given to the French consuls, merchants and traders. A special rate of duty was extended to every kind of merchandise and French proteges, as well as Frenchmen themselves, even when wearing Oriental dress, were granted free access to the States of the Sultan without payment of a tax. One effect of this general diplomatic intrigue was to give to Turkey the idea that its friendship was sought on account of its power, whereas as a matter of fact she had become weak and was liable to be overborne at any time by one power or the other. This influenced her to remain neutral during the war of the Austrian succession, and rendered her blind to the revelations of the French ambassador as to the encroachments of Russia. That government had spread its fortifications into every territory which had been declared neutral, by this means cutting off communication between the Turks and the Tartars of Southern Russia, as well as usurping a considerable territory. But all to no avail. The Ottoman preferred peace and paid little aoo THE HOLY PLACES. attention to the steps that were being taken against his power. Frequent references have been made to the relation of the European governments, especially France and Russia, to the Holy Places in Jerusalem. That question became at this time a very important one, and a brief survey of the situation will be in place. The possession of these places was dis- puted between the Latins, the Greeks and the Armenians. The Moslem law recognized no one of them as having ex- clusive rights, but held that each communion might enter and observe its ceremonies. To one, however, there was accorded a certain primacy, involved in the keeping of the keys, re- pairing the edifices, maintaining them at their own cost, light- ing them, and having general care for them. This privilege was accorded primarily by the Porte to the French ambassa- dor, according to the firman given in 1564: " The keys of the doors of the said place (the grotto in which Jesus Christ was born) are in the hands of the Franks, and pass successively from one to the other of those among them who arrive at Jerusalem, and that, as well before as since the taking of that city by the Sultan Selim I, up to the present date, without having passed into other hands than theirs. It is they who open to those of the Mussulmans or of the Christians who dwell in, or who come to Jerusalem, and who desire to visit that place (the grotto). There is no record that they have ceased to possess the said keys, nor that any one has contested with them for their possession, and has dispossessed them of the keys. They are in constant and uninterrupted possession of them from the most remote times up to the day of the date of the present act. Con- sequently, the under-mentioned judge has confirmed the pos- RIGHTS OF THE FRANKS. • 2 OI session of the keys of the said places in the hands of the Frank nation." Later, in 1 620, another firman has the following : "The Franks, ancient exclusive possessors of the Great Church of Bethlehem and the Church of the Tomb of the Virgin, have, of their full accord, granted to each of the other Christian communions sanctuaries in the Superior Church; but the inferior portion, the place wherein Jesus Christ was born (may salvation rest with him ! ) is the sanctuary of the Frankish monks ; no other nation has any right therein, and it is forbidden to each and every nation to usurp hereafter the said place. . . . We order that no individual be permitted, Armenian or other, to say mass in the place where Jesus Christ was born, a place situate underneath the Church of Bethlehem, no more than in the cupola, which is called the tomb of Jesus Christ ; neither in the interior of the tomb of the Holy Virgin ; nor finally in the sanctuaries which, from the old time, belonged to the Frankish monks." In 1633 a st ^ more explicit firman states: . . . "To-day the Frankish monks came to produce the titles which are in their hands. We have examined them, and have recognized that they were ancient and authentic papers. They prove that all the places above mentioned, as well as the possession of the three doors of the grotto of Bethlehem, and the keys of those doors, belonged exclusively to the Frankish monks since the conquest of Jerusalem by the Calif Omar, and that at the epoch at which Selim I made himself master of those Holy Places, that a large number of localities have remained, as before, in the hands of the same Frankish monks. We order that the Franks have, as anciently, the possession and enjoyment of the grotto situate 202 PRECEDENCE IN WORSHIP. at Bethlehem, and known under the name of the Crib of Jesus Christ, upon which the Greeks have seized, as it is said, to the detriment of the Frankish monks, by fraud, and by producing false titles ; that they have the possession and en- joyment of the keys of the three doors, north, south and west, of the said grotto, and of two small gardens which belong to it ; that they may have again, and in the said man- ner which they have had from all time, the enjoyment and possession of the stone of unction, situate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the vaults of Calvary, the seven arches situate below Saint Mary, the two cupolas, great and small, which cover over the tomb of Jesus Christ ; that they may have, besides the enjoyment and possession, whether at Jerusalem of the tomb of St. Mary or monastery called Deir- al-Amoud, with its belongings and dependencies, or whether in the village of Nazareth, of the churches and monasteries; in a word, of all the places of which, up to the present day, they have had uncontested possession ; that henceforth neither the Greeks nor the Armenians, nor any other Christian nation, trouble or disquiet them, or cause them to be troubled or disquieted ; . . . that always, in the said places, and chiefly in Calvary, the Frankish monks may exercise their worship at their will and as in the past ; that they may place therein, as before, candles and torches, without any one hindering them ; that in the exercise of their worship, the prefect of the Frankish monks have, as in the past, precedence over all the monks of other nations, provided that they pay the tribute desired by ancient custom (about ^*8oo)." Notwithstanding these, the Greeks succeeded in forcibly taking away the power from the Latins within a year after this last firman, but forty years later were obliged to ^yield. CAPITULATIONS REAFFIRMED. 20 , Then followed a series of intrigues in whicn the Moslem Governors of Damascus and Jerusalem were bribed bv one party or the other to favor them. This resulted in 1676 in g.v.ng to the Greeks the keys, carpets and lamps of the sanc- uanes on condition of paying annually the rent of 1000 pias- ters for the income of the mosque of Sultan Ahmet in Con- stantinople In 1690, however, this judgment was reversed, and m ,7,8, in the treaty of Belgrade, the only stipulation by Russia was that the Russians should have the right of making pilgrimages to Palestine without molestation or payment of ransom The capitulations of ! 740 solemnly confirmed the rights of France, and peace seemed established. But aaain 17 years later some Greek pilgrims pillaged the Catholic monastry at Jaffa, assailed the monks and the Catholics in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, broke the lamps and scattered the ornaments ; and, then having purchased at a heavy price various affidavits, proclaimed to the Turkish Government the mterruption of their worship by the Latins. They found ShTrif fonrT g A e f r° r ° f the Grand Vizier ' and a Hatti Shenf followed wh,ch drove the Latins from the Church of he Virgin, and from that at Bethlehem, and placed under the specal care and protection of the Greeks the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and several other sanctuaries the GrTek "^ m ° Ve ™ to sta » * religious propaganda in the Greek provinces of Turkey. Peter III had senfzealous emissaries among them, one of whom, a Greek of Thessaly "the Ao ' i TU " ^ R r ia " ^"^ — e d the shores through S ' 7r y and the M ° rea: an ° ther ' a monk ' we «t lit nX T Cr ° at,a - He SaM to *e Sultan's subjects that neither Germany or Hungary could do anything for them • France was careless, Poland helpless; Russia alone cared for 204 PHIL-HELLENISM. them, and was willing to help them; she alone belonged to the orthodox church. Stirred by these harangues, the Chris- tians of Albania, Servia and Montenegro arose, but too early for Russian movements, and the insurrection was of no avail. The emissary to the Morea found greater difficulty. A bishop promised to raise 100,000 Greeks at the approach of the Rus- sians, but a mountain chief refused to be seduced by flattery or yield to the threats. He gloried in his chieftainship of a free people, and said to the Russian that he was still a slave; if Russia cared to come as an ally, he would take up arms on condition of the war being pushed until the Turks were driven out. A third emissary went among the Rumanian provinces, but the Moldo-Wallachians achieved nothing more by an in- surrection than the pillaging of a few Turkish villages, and the only result of the three movements was to deprive the Christian merchants of their wealth, which was sent to Con- stantinople to insure their loyalty, and to raise a suspicion against all Christians on the part of the Porte. The intrigues of Russia, however, continued and there was over the whole empire a sense of uneasiness. The French ministers did their best to stir the Turks against Russia, but the ministry were either too weak or too lazy, and held off for a time. At last war was again declared, and the Empress Catherine de- spatched her fleet from the Baltic. The French ambassador called the Turks' attention to this and received in reply the expression: " Tell us how ships can get from St. Petersburg to Con- stantinople?" At the same time, 1769, Voltaire was trying to stir the spirit of Phil-Hellenism, in Germany and Russia. Already he urged the partition of Turkey and the restoration of the RUSSIAN PROTECTORATE. 205 Greeks to independence. Fleets were fitted out ; England approved the project ; the Morea arose, but there was no general plan. The Russians withdrew and the Morea was terribly devastated. Similar results followed renewed move- ments in the Danubian Principalities ; but the Turkish fleet was defeated at Tchesmeh and the army on the Danube, and Russia appeared predominant. Then came the mediation of Austria, and England offered assistance, which, however, was refused by the Turks, partly under the influence of France, who was anxious to use the newly developing disturbances in America to help her in her opposition to England. There were leagues and counter-leagues from Austria and Russia, with bargains for Wallachia, Moldavia, Bosnia and Dalmatia, the Turkish Government developing its since famous prin- ciple of sowing discord among the European powers that thereby it might gain strength. The next step of importance was the Congress of Bucha- rest, when the Czarina sent in her demands for freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, in the Archipelago for ships of war and merchant vessels, the right of protection of the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire, and various other things, all of which, however, were indignantly rejected by the Turks, who went to war and gained marked success. This, however, was followed by the treaty of Kainardji, in 1774, when Russia received the protectorate over the Danubian Provinces, over the Christians of Turkey, and was henceforth to be the " oracle of the diplomatic negotiations pursued by the Porte ; the arbiter of peace or war, the soul of the most important affairs of the empire." French influence received a mortal blow in gaining a rival in the protectorate of the Christians, who by having advantage of position, race and origin, could 2 o6 DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES. be no longer baffled. England, too, had been made a tool of and her influence was at a low ebb. The Russians followed up their advantage by intriguing anew in the Danubian Provinces, bu came again in contact with Austria, whom the French king sought to stir up to ex- tend her territory in proportion as Russia extended hers. Very little, however, was gained and Russia secured the sovereignty of the Crimea, fresh rights over the Black Sea, and seemed in the way to accomplish the project of a new Eastern Empire, which had already been set forth by Cathe- rine. England meanwhile had her hands busy with America and paid little attention to Eastern affairs until her Western task was finished, when she again entered the lists, endeavor- ing to drive Turkey to war with Russia. In this she suc- ceeded and again came talk of dismemberment. Russia's advance along the Danube compelled England to act more positively in aid of Turkey, when the French Revolution broke out and turned every one's attention, except that of Russia, away from Turkey. Then came the treaty of Jassy, in 1792, when the Danubian Principalities ceased to be recog- nized as Turkish Provinces. The first result of the French Revolution was the war of the allied monarchs to restore the house of Bourbon, and in this as hitherto entered the question of Turkey. England as well as the rest sought to induce the Porte to break with France, and to this end endeavored to secure some conces- sions from Russia. The Porte, however, preserved its neu- trality and continued to extend its protection to French com- mercial interests. Its increasing weakness, however, led Europe to believe that the empire was fast approaching dis- solution. This also was the opinion of France, and Napoleon, NAPOLEON S AMBITION. 207 looking forward to taking a part in dismemberment, planned for the leading part to belong to himself. The French ambassador at Constantinople advised the renunciation of the alliance with the Porte and the appropriation of the provinces escaping from its rule. Accordingly, with this came the invasion of Egypt and the sudden disillusion on the part of the Turks of the value of the French alliance. England, Russia and Austria profited by this to arouse French opposi- tion, and at last war was declared, the result of which was the ruin of French influence in the Levant and an alliance between the Porte and Russia, the admission of the Russian fleet into the Dardanelles and the treaty of Constantinople, by which the two powers mutually guaranteed each other's possessions, including Egypt. To this Great Britain acceded. In the peace of Amiens England desired to bind the Porte as a contracting party, but Napoleon persisted in a separate peace with Turkey, and sought to gain favor by evacuating Egypt and restoring the original situation. On the other hand, the capitulations of 1 740 were renewed with new articles, recognizing the incontestable right of French vessels in the Black Sea. Napoleon's ambition for Eastern conquest con- tinued, and it was not long before the peace of Amiens was broken through the re-establishment of French relations with Turkey and the refusal of England to give up Malta and of Russia to give up the Ionian Islands, where they had placed a garrison. Then followed various concessions and accessions accompanied by considerable dread on the part of the Turks of the new French power, until the battle of Austerlitz made him appear a most desirable ally. Meanwhile the Turkish Government had so thoroughly left Servia to the brigands and the Janissaries that in despair 2 o8 BRITISH AT CONSTANTINOPLE. they resolved to strike for independence, and called for the protection and support of Russia. Similarly Rumania thought to lean upon France for its independence, and the general result was a rupture of the peace and the occupation by Russia of Wallachia and Moldavia. Napoleon sent aid to the Porte and urged the fortification of the Straits. Then the English ambassador made strong demands, calling for the expulsion of the French ambassador, the concession of the Danubian Provinces to Russia, the giving up of the Turkish fleet to England, as well as of the forts and batteries of the Dar- danelles, and threatened an expedition against Constantinople. Already the Russian fleet was at the island of Tenedos, when it was joined by the British admiral, who, taking advantage of a favorable wind and a feast of Bairam, forced the passage of the Dardanelles, burned the Turkish fleet near Gallipoli and anchored off the Princes' Islands. Sharp conditions were sent demanding the dismissal of the French ambassador, the renewal of alliance between England and Russia, free passage of the straits and the sur- render of the Turkish navy. The Frenchman, however, did not lose courage. He pointed out that the wind was no longer favorable and that it would not be difficult to defend the city. Encouraging messages came from Napoleon, and meanwhile the English ambassador, thinking himself secure, occupied himself with negotiations instead of taking action. The result was that, notwithstanding summons after summons from the fleet, the Turkish defense was complete and the English ships had to withdraw through the Dardanelles. Then came the sudden deposition of Sultan Selim by a revolution of the Yamaks, which disgusted Napoleon and undoubtedly influenced him in arranging the peace of Tilsit, PARTITION. 209 which was concluded, to the complete abandonment of Turkey by France. It was stipulated that hostilities should cease between Turkey and Russia, after an armistice concluded in the presence of a French commissioner ; but a secret article made still more apparent the policy of France, in which it was declared that in case the mediation of France was not accepted she would make common cause with Russia against the Ottoman Porte, withdraw all the Turkish provinces, in Europe, from its rule, with the exception of Constantinople and province of Rumelia. From correspondence it is gathered that the partition would have been as follows:. France to have Bosnia, Albania, Epirus, all Greece, Thessaly and Macedonia ; Austria to have Servia ; Russia to have Wallachia, Moldavia, Bulgaria and Thrace, as far as the Maritza. The French mediation was accepted, but definite arrangements could not be secured. English intrigues inter- rupted, but before any definite result could be achieved another Sultan had been deposed and Mahmud II came to the throne. CHAPTER XII. Mahmud II. 4 A Disintegrating Empire — An Energetic Sultan — Napoleon and Alexander — Lord Stratford de Redcliffe — Greek War for Independence — Russia's Perfidy — Destruction of the Janis- saries — Reforms Attempted — Mehemet AH of Egypt — Accession of Abd-ul-Medjid. THE general situation at the commencement of the reign of Mahmud II is thus clearly described by Sir Stratford Canning: " The state of Turkey itself was anything but satisfactory in view of those powers who did not wish the Porte to become the prey either of Russia or of France. Both morally and materially the empire was bordering on decrepitude. The old political system of Turkey had worn itself out. The pop- ulation was not yet prepared for the new order of things. A depreciated currency, a disordered revenue, a mutinous militia, dilapidated fortresses, a decreasing population, a stag- nant industry, and general misrule, were the monuments which time had left of Ottoman domination in the second capital of the Roman Empire, and throughout those extensive regions which had been the successive seats of civilization, ever vary- ing, generally advancing, from the earliest periods of social settlement and historical tradition. A continual and often a sanguinary antagonism of creeds, of races, of districts and (216) A DECREPIT EMPIRE. 211 authorities within the frontier, and frequent wars of little glory and much loss with the neighboring powers, had formed of late the normal condition of the Porte's dominions. "Russia, France, Austria, and even Persia, had by turns contracted the area and drained the resources of the empire. From the corrupt monotony of his seraglio, the Sultan had to send forth his firmans, his emissaries, his bands of irregular soldiery, or, it might be, his naval armaments, against an in- vading enemy, a rebellious chief, or an armed insurrection. Several great families, several unsubdued tribes, and here and there an overpowerful pasha, had succeeded in braving and circumscribing the imperial authority. The Mamelukes still prevailed in Egypt. The most important part of Syria was under the sway of a Christian Emir. Ali Pasha of Janina exercised royal power in the provinces bordering on Greece, and Greece itself, excited by Russia, was preparing to burst the fetters which had so long bound her to the Ottoman throne. Servia, Montenegro, and the Danubian Principalities were all more or less in league with Russia, and the Porte, at war with that formidable power, had everything to apprehend from the Russian forces concentrated upon her northern frontier. The Sultan's fleet was manned with Christian Greeks from the island population of the Archipelago ; the Barbary Powers were scarcely even in nominal dependence on the Porte ; and a sect of Mohammedans, called the Wah- habis, and having a kind of analogy with our Puritans, had hoisted a separate standard of religious belief in parts of Egypt and Arabia." Mahmud II was unquestionably the greatest monarch of the Osmanli dynasty from Suleiman the Magnificent, 1566, to his enthronement. He escaped assassination at the dethrone- 212 NAPOLEON AND ALEXANDER. ment of Mustapha IV by concealment in an old oven, and was called from dust and ashes to be girded with the sword of Osman. He was then, by the death of Selim III and Mus- tapha IV, the only heir of the throne. The Janissaries killed his faithful and able grand vizier, who was bent upon reform- ing them, but Mahmud was sacred even to them. He then resolved upon their destruction, for sixteen years was slowly working towards it, and then the stroke fell upon them like a thunderbolt, and they were no more. He saw his empire going to ruin in every possible direction, and enemies multiplying on every hand. Napoleon and Alexander studied many schemes of dividing up the Turkish Empire, but in every scheme Russia was to have Constantinople and the Dardanelles, and to this France would never agree, and the whole scheme of division fell through. In a few years Moscow was in flames to drive out Napoleon, and France had twice been occupied by foreign armies, while Constantinople remained intact. Mahmud had plans of reform in all departments of govern- ment, and he, first of all the Sultans of his dynasty, saw not merely the political necessity of friendly relations with the Christian nations, but the advantage to his own government of modeling his army and navy after them. In 1809 he made a treaty with England to the disgust of the other powers. In 1 8 10 he had many bloody battles with the Russians on the Danube, in which he lost Silistria and other valuable positions. But the plans of Napoleon troubled Russia, and she was glad to make peace with Turkey and withdraw her forces for other uses, giving up Silistria and other places. By the treaty of Bucharest, 181 2, Moldavia and Wallachia were given back to the Sultan. Servia, also, after a most de- SIR STRATFORD CANNING. 213 voted struggle for freedom, was coldly surrendered to the Turks, who occupied the fortresses and renewed their tyranny. A Servian historian accuses Russia of this base abandonment for the purpose of finding, at some future time, an occasion for intervention. In the treaty of Bucharest, Sir Stratford Canning (quoted above), a young man of twenty-three, first displayed that re- markable insight and skill which made him during his long career the greatest diplomat England has produced. France was earnestly seeking an alliance with Turkey. Russia was disposed to peace because she had 22,000 of her choicest troops on the Danube, which a favorable peace would enable her to withdraw. Canning showed the Turks clearly the dangers they would incur by mingling in the contests of France and Russia. All parties acknowledged the consum- mate skill with which he cleared away objections and effected a treaty useful to Turkey, Russia and England. The embarrassment of the Sultan increased on every side, and his reign became a struggle for existence rather than for reform. The rebellious Janissaries were always a thorn in his side, but in Egypt the Mamelukes were far worse than the Janissaries. The Wahabites had raised a powerful insurrec- tion in Arabia and would dominate the sacred cities. Greece was also threatening rebellion, but, worst of all, England, France, Austria and Russia were pressing upon him conflict- ing claims which might result in war. The Ulema, the whole power of the Mosques, were against all reforms, all innova- tions, and they backed up the Janissaries in their rebellions. He faced all his enemies with unflinching resolution. He committed to Mehemet Ali of Egypt the work of subduing the Mamelukes and Wahabites. He performed his work with an 214 UPRISING OF THE GREEKS. energy and success that amazed the world. The Sultan soon understood that if two enemies had been destroyed, one had come forward more powerful and dangerous than the two, one who was destined to wreck the empire but for the inter- vention of Europe. It was about this time that the famous hetceria arose, an association destined to have great influence among the Greeks, and to play an important part in Greek independence. The Greeks, like most of the Christians under Turkish rule, accepted that authority so long as it did not affect their religion and general customs. Certain ones, however, proved recalcitrant. Some mountaineers took refuge in the rough country back from the coast of the Archipelago, and rivaled the bandits of Macedonia, Servia and Sicily. Others turning to commerce, sought to get the better of their Moslem rulers by shrewdness of intellect. They profited by the struggle in the Mediterranean between France and England, and under cover of the Turkish flag acquired great commercial strength, owning, in 1 8 1 5, 600 vessels. They sent their children abroad, and established schools everywhere on the Islands of the Archipelago, in Asia Minor and even in Constantinople. A few of these men joined in a company called the hetceria, or association, founded for the purpose of propagating religious instruction and the publication of religious books. They claimed to have the support of the Prime Minister of Russia, and secured the alliance of the chief brigands of the Pindus, the head men of the interior Greek communities, the merchants of the Archipelago and the heads of the Mainotes of the Morea who had proved impervious to Russian advances. Their one object was the independence of Greece, and they THE LION OF JANINA. 215 seized the opportunity offered by the revolt of the famous Ali Pasha of Janina to make a strike for that independence. AH Pasha, who had long had more or less intimate relations with these Greeks, summoned them to his aid and proclaimed himself their protector. They hesitated, but influenced by the report that the Turkish Government had decided upon the extermination of the Christians, joined hands with the Albanians, and Marco Bozzaris became the ally of the " Lion of Janina." In 1826 came the outrages at Patras and Seres, and soon there was insurrection from the Danube to the Gulf of Corinth. Russia again failed the very people who relied upon her, the Sultan's Government decreed the dis- armament and massacre of the Greeks, hung the Patriarch at the door of his palace in Constantinople, and on Easter Day three archbishops, and eighty bishops, exarchs and archiman- drites shared his fate. Through Thrace, Macedonia and Thes- saly the massacre spread, peaceable and defenseless Greeks were pillaged or slain, churches were destroyed, and women and children were dragged into slavery. In Greece, however, and in Albania, Ali Pasha and Ypsilanti held the Turks in check, captured several places, and retorted upon the Moslems the terrors of massacre. Then came treason, and Ali Pasha fell, but Greece refused to yield. The Turks in fury avenged themselves on Scio, which had taken no part in the insurrec- tion, and out of 100,000 inhabitants scarcely 900 were left. It was scarcely surprising that reprisals followed such a mas- sacre, but the utmost done by them was little in comparison with the atrocities which the Christians of the whole empire had endured. The insurrection went on. Appeals were made to the Christian nations of Europe, and delegates sent to a Congress 13 2 1 6 PHIL-HELLENISM. which met at Verona. The great purpose of that Congress being, however, to stifle the insurrections of Italy and Spain, it could hardly be expected to help Greece. They even invited the Sultan to membership in the Congress. Every- where, however, there was popular enthusiasm. In France, England, and Germany, societies of Phil-hellenes were formed, and America lifted her voice in support of this effort for free- dom. Many arms and munitions were sent to the aid of the Greeks, and many men came to share their fortunes, Lord Byron, Colonel Fabvier, Count Rosa and others. The Greeks, however, could not agree among themselves, and internal dissensions, including even war, prevented their securing the results of their victories. The Turks profited by their mis- fortunes, and weakened the power of the Greeks till Misso- longhi fell and Athens and Nauplia alone remained. The Greeks were almost disheartened, and turned to England for help. What Sir Stratford Canning felt is evident from the following- extract from his Memoirs. "Jn the port of Ipsera we gathered cruel evidence of what war is when kindled by the antipathies of race and creed. It was little more than dawn when we anchored before the town. The houses had every appearance of undisturbed repose, and the early hour sufficed to account for the want of movement in the streets. The admiral's steward went ashore with the full expectation of finding a market well stocked with all the objects he required. Imagine his surprise when the truth broke upon him. A death-silence indoors as well as without, not a voice, not a footstep, not an inhabitant ; the town was a mere shell, plausible to the eye, but utterly void of life. Later in the day a party of us landed with our guns and strayed among the vineyards in search of game. At SUFFERINGS OF THE GREEKS. 217 one spot near the coast we came upon a piteous sight, the bones of many who had preferred a voluntary death to captivity, when their homes became the prey of a Turkish squadron. Mothers in horror and despair had slaughtered their children on the cliff, and thrown themselves over on their bodies which had already found a resting-place below. Scarcely less horrible than this scene of death was the appari- tion of two survivors from the interior of the island. Worn nearly to skeletons by fear and anguish and famine, the very types of hopeless misery, with haggard eyes and loathsome beards, and tattered rags by way of clothing, they told with- out language the history of their sufferings. Heavens ! how I longed to be the instrument of repairing such calamities by carrying my mission of peace and deliverance to a successful issue ! He, however, could not do much, as Russia refused to join heartily. Mahmud persisted in forcing subjugation. Athens fell and at last a sort of agreement was reached by which the Greeks gained somewhat. Then came the battle of Navarino, when the Allied fleets under the lead of the British Admiral re- pelled an attack by the Turks which resulted in the destruction of the Turkish fleet. The responsibility perhaps rested with the turbulent Ibrahim Pasha, but the inevitable result was war with Russia which ended in the Treaty of Adrianople, by which the independence of Greece was assured, although the completely organized kingdom was not established for a few years. During the negotiations between the five powers, which resulted in the coronation of King Otho, Russian influence was predominant, but had to submit to much of hostility from the people, who could not forget the way in which they had been now encouraged, then left in the lurch 2l8 DESTRUCTION OF THE JANISSARIES. by the Monarch of the North. In the meantime the Sultan was training under European drill-masters a body of 14,000 artillery for the destruction of the Janissaries. When his arrangements were complete and he felt he could trust the commander of the artillery, " Black Hell," he obtained from the Grand Council of State an order sanctioned by a fetva of the Sheik-ul-Islam, requiring each company of the Janissaries to furnish so many of their number to the artillery. It was rejected with scorn. They turned their soup kettles upside down and beat upon them in sign of rebellion. The palace gates were shut and they could not get at the Sultan. The batteries were ready in barges on the Asiatic side and soon to the consternation of the Janis- saries every street leading from the barracks was swept by shot and shell as soon as they appeared. They made des- perate rallies, but grape cut them down. The remnant retired to their barracks to defend themselves to the last. " Black Hell " had no intention to give them any chance to fight. He shelled the barracks till he set them on fire and not a man escaped. The joy of the people was unbounded. The Janissaries had become a terror to Moslems as well as Christians. Their robberies and murders knew no law. The smaller bodies scattered through the cities were hunted down like wild beasts, the corps abolished and all its standards and emblems destroyed. Mahmud was now, 1826, free to institute reforms. He resolved' to have a cabinet of prominent ministers, each of whom should be responsible for his department, and to model his government after that of England. He felt keenly the loss of Greece and the destruction of his fleet, but did not abate one jot of his eagerness for reform. He had WAR WITH RUSSIA. 219 40,000 soldiers under the discipline of the young Moltke, afterwards so distinguished in German history. Russia car- ing little for Greece, but never losing sight of Constantinople, saw her opportunity, came down upon him with demands that stirred his wrath, but he was powerless and she forced upon him the treaty of Akkerman with many stipulations injurious to Turkey, such as increased privileges for the Danubian Principalities and free passage of the straits. After the destruction of the Janissaries and of the Turk- ish fleet and the loss of Greece, Russia regarded Turkey as an easy prey, and the next step by the Czar was to send into Bulgaria in 1828 an army which he believed would march triumphantly across the Balkans, through Eastern Rumelia to Constantinople. But the Turks fought with such enthusi- asm that the campaign of 1828 was a failure. In 1829 Diebitsch crossed the Balkan with some hard fighting and came down upon Adrianople, which he took with ease. A most destructive cholera or plague was deci- mating his army, and if the Turks had only maintained their positions two weeks longer Diebitsch would have had no force left. He played a high game of bluff, declared he had 50,000 men and that he would march immediately upon the city. The ambassadors all joined in beseeching the Sultan to save his capital, which he did by an indemnity of ,£5,000,- 000. When he found out the deception, and that the Rus- sian army was chiefly beneath the soil, his chagrin was so bitter that he shut himself up, and for a whole week his of- ficers could not see him. The result was the Treaty of Adrianople, which added to the previous agreements the demand for a heavy war indemnity to Russia. The indemnity, which was manfully paid, swept off the 220 REFORMS. gold and silver of the empire, and Mahmud substituted a base coin of the same numerical value, a kind of " fiat money " which was thought at first to be a grand inven- tion, but which played the mischief with commerce and with the finances generally. Undaunted by all these reverses he rebuilt his navy, em- ploying one American, Mr. Eckford, and his foreman, Mr. Rhodes, who produced some of the most noble vessels of war then afloat. He introduced reforms in the civil administration which were welcomed by the people ; the rajahs were treated with a justice and consideration that was new to them. Many Ar- menians were introduced into offices never before given to rajahs. One Armenian was at the head of the mint, an- other was the Sultan's architect and another chief of his powder works and most of the construction of arms, and another was collector of the port. The latter was a man of remarkable capacity, a friend of learning and a good friend of the first American missionaries. Could Mahmud have had a decade of peace after the destruction of the Janissaries and the peace with Greece, with his iron will and wonderful energy he might have brought up the old empire into some degree of health and vigor. England had begun to favor his reforms ; France was friendly; but Russia and Austria were bent upon his ruin. Another danger threatened the Sultan. Among the men sent to join the Turkish contingent in Egypt in their contest with the French in 1801 was a young Albanian named Me- hemet Ali. During the two years that followed he gained in- creasing influence among the Albanians and when soon there came a conflict between them and the Turks he took the RUSSIA IN THE BOSPORUS. 221 position of leader, and at last succeeded in securing a firman of investiture as Pasha of Egypt. He was ambitious and suc- cessful, advancing his arms until he secured the west coast of Arabia, and although acknowledging the Sultan as Suzerain became, with his son Ibrahim, a cause of much anxiety. It was Ibrahim who brought on the battle of Navarino, and once feeling his power he did not hesitate to use it, and the next step was to claim independence. The Egyptian forces con- quered Syria, Mahmud's forces were defeated at Konieh and there seemed nothing to prevent his march to Constanti- nople. Mahmud sought in vain the intervention of England. He had next to turn to his great enemy, Russia, who imme- diately landed an army on the Asiatic shore of the Bosporus. England bit her lips too late. Russia had eagerly seized the opportunity which England had slighted. Thus Ibrahim's course was stopped and he had to turn back. The treaty of Hunkiar Iskelessi, July 8, 1833, was an offensive and defensive alliance between Turkey and Russia, which closed the Dardanelles to other powers and gave the right of intervening- against the interior and exterior enemies of the Porte. Some places of importance were yielded to Me- hemet Ali, who became an increasingly important factor even in European politics. He had his eye on Bagdad and an ar- rangement by which he should at least be Grand Vizier, per- haps Sultan. With all these difficulties, Mahmud, unsubdued, continued his reforms, and began to lean more upon England as op- posed to Russia. He had again a fleet and a disciplined army when again the great Viceroy of Egypt rebelled. Mahmud was dying of consumption. One who saw him two weeks before his death said that he had the looks of a caged eagle, 222 ABD-UL-MEDJID. his spirit unsubdued. He sent his fleet against Alexandria, and his army against Ibrahim. The fleet was basely be- trayed into the hands of Mehemet Ali, and the army was badly beaten at Nezib, near the Euphrates. Mahmud died before the terrible news reached the capital. Abd-ul-Medjid was girded with the sword of Osman, July, 1839. A convention between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia and Turkey settled the affairs of Egypt and the Porte; in 1840 Mehemet Ali became the hereditary viceroy, and was compelled to give up all the places he had won. Indeed, the English navy had driven him out of all the ports on the Syrian coast. He was to pay one-fourth of his revenue to the Porte and acknowledge the suzerainty of the Sultan. The young Sultan was inducted into his high office with un- exampled splendor. He had fully imbibed from his father the spirit of reform, and a set of young men of marked ability had been educated in England and France to co-operate with him. He had nothing of the lion-like character of his father, but he had what his father never had, able and faithful coadjutors. Fuad, Aali, Midhat, Ahmed Vefyk Pashas did honor to his reign, and in part to his successors. His commander-in-chief, Omar Pasha, was a man of great military skill and genius, and of sound judgment. He kept European Turkey quiet in spite of Russian revolutionists. But from 1842 to 1856 the controlling power was unquestionably the English Ambas- sador, Sir Stratford Canning, better known as Lord Stratford De Redcliffe. Russia was having her own way, and the English Ambas- sador, Ponsonby, was merely a nobleman of vast wealth. He could make a splendid show. He had the finest " turn out" of any ambassador ; beyond that he had nothing. Canning INFLUENCE OF LORD STRATFORD. 223 had been three times at the Ottoman court, and he knew the ropes when he came in 1842. The Czar hated and feared him, and he feared if he did not hate the Czar. There were now to be fourteen years of the most indefatigable labor to regenerate the Turkish Empire, and equal effort on the Rus- sian side to prevent and upset all Canning's plans. But the Czar had no man of such mighty personality to match him. He recalled De Boutineff and sent Litoff. Lord Stratford interested himself in everything that per- tained to the general welfare of the empire, especially in the betterment of the situation of the Christians. He was greatly pleased with the promulgation of the Hatti Sherif of Gulhane (described in the chapter on the condition of the Christians), and was a cordial friend to the missionaries. He also was interested in archaeology. He obtained for young Layard (Sir Austen Henry Layard) a firman for those researches in Nineveh which gave him the name of Nineveh Layard. This was done at Canning's personal expense. He obtained from the Sultan the personal gift of the frieze of the Mausoleum of Artemisia, at Budrum, and presented the seventeen slabs, weighing twenty tons, to the British Museum. One of his great diplomatic triumphs was obtained against the united power of Austria and Russia, when the Hungarian Revolution failed, and Kossuth and his three hundred companions fled to Turkey. Every house, native and foreign, was opened to them. Russia and Austria demanded that they be surren- dered. It was an anxious time until the Sultan's reply came, that he would sooner surrender his throne than give up any one who had fled to him for shelter. Both embassies declared this equivalent to a declaration of war, pulled down their flags, covered with black the national signs and monograms on the 224 KOSSUTH. ambassadorial buildings, and departed in a rout of warlike pomp. England and France assured the Sultan of their sup- port, and the proud ambassadors had to come back and be laughed at. Russia and Austria would not meet England, France and Turkey in a new war for the pleasure and privilege of housing those few refugees. The returned ambassadors tried every means to persecute the brave men, but Canning met them at every point and baffled them. It is not strange that Russian newspapers lavished ink upon Sir Stratford Canning, or that they re- garded him as the Arch Fiend of diplomacy. CHAPTER XIII. Reforms and Progress. Reign of Abd-ul-Medjid — Influence of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe — English Policy in Turkey — Hatti Sherif of Gulhane — A Remarkable Document — Equal Rights for all Subjects of the Sultan — Land Tax and Judicial Reform — General Situation of the Country — Application of the Reforms. ABD-UL-MEDJID was a man of entirely different type from his father. He had little of that clear foresight and determined will which made Mahmud throw aside turban and kaftan, and assume the European dress, retaining only the fez as the distinguishing mark of his Turkish race ; study a French book of tactics and learn to ride his horse like an English dragoon instead of a Tartar courier. He had, however, what Mahmud lacked, able assistants. Under the general instruction of Mahmud there had grown up some young men who realized as he did the absolute necessity of change in the conduct of the Turkish Government, if it was to hope for strength in comparison with the European forces, and Abd-ul-Medjid had the judgment and tact to call them into his councils. He was fortunate, too, in having through a considerable part of his reign, the presence and counsel of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, and the famous Englishman threw himself heart and soul into the effort to establish the Turkish Empire upon such a basis of reform as should make it an (225) 226 THE TURKISH PROBLEM. efficient ally of Western Europe in its effort to resist the aggressions of the tremendous power of Russia, which was not only menacing more and more the peace of Europe, but threatening to spread over it the pall of its own barbarism. Lord Stratford recognized very clearly the nature of the men he had to deal with and the problem which faced him. In a private letter he wrote : " Very false notions are enter- tained in England of the Turkish nation. You know much better than I do the mighty resources and native wealth which this enormous empire possesses. I am myself a daily witness of the personal qualities of the inhabitants, qualities which if properly directed are capable of sustaining them against a world of enemies. But the government is radically bad, and its members, who are all alive to its defects, have neither the wisdom nor the courage to reform it. The few who have courage equal to the task know not how to reconcile reforma- tion with the prejudices of the people. And without this, nothing can be effected." Therefore he set himself, with all his skill and energy, to the work of reconciling the needed reformation with the prejudices of the people. The diplo- matic course of England has been singularly ill-advised, even though perfectly natural. Realizing the nature of the terrible oppression of the Turkish Government, especially as mani- fested in the condition of the Greeks, but blind to the scarcely, if any, less terrible oppression of the Russian Government, as manifested in those interior provinces, which were later to be photographed to the world by Eugene Schuyler, Macdon- ald and George Kennan, she and France joined hands with Russia in such a way as to give Russian influence an enor- mous prestige. The result was that the genuine enthusiasm for reform which filled Mahmud's mind was chilled, and more RUSSIAN OR TURKISH TYRANNY. 227 than that, he was discredited among his own people. Another blunder was the yielding to French influence in permitting the power of Mehemet Ali to increase in Egypt, so that he could overrun Syria and Asia Minor. Against both of them Lord Stratford had protested ; not because he lacked sympa- thy for the Greeks, but because he saw more clearly than others that to weaken Mahmud was to weaken the only avail- able means of checking that Russian aggression and tyranny which threatened to crush out all idea of development. Turkish tyranny was bad, but Russian tyranny was worse in his eyes; because in the Sultan he saw indications of a real sympathy with the best life of the nation, while in the Czar he found nothing but a fierce, unalterable determination to secure personal aggrandizement at whatever cost to anybody else. In accordance with this he outlined the foundation of his policy as early as 1832, in a despatch to Lord Palmerston, as follows : "The great question to be resolved is this: How far is it possible to introduce into the present system of administra- tion those improvements without which the army and finances of the country must be equally inefficient ? * * * More than five years have elapsed since the Janissaries were destroyed, and, although some regulations of a better kind have been adopted, and the Sultan's policy is in general of a milder and more protecting character, no beneficial results, except that of a diminished animosity between Turks and Christians, are yet visible. The regular army is not more numerous now, and scarcely better disciplined, than it was before the war with Russia. The financial embarrassments increase, and commerce is still depressed by a pernicious sys- tem of monopoly. * * * I think the time is near at hand; 228 HUNKIAR ISKELLESSI. or perhaps already come, when it is necessary that a decided line of policy should be adopted and steadily pursued with respect to this country. The Turkish Empire is evidently hastening to its dissolution, and an approach to the civiliza- tion of Christendom affords the only chance of keeping it together for any length of time. That chance is a very pre- carious one at best, and should it unfortunately not be realized, the dismemberment which would ensue could hardly fail of disturbing the peace of Europe through a long series of years." Here we have the germ of Lord Stratford's policy, and just in proportion as that policy was carried out by the Turkish Government was there peace in Europe and pros- perity in the Turkish Empire. It is to the neglect of that policy by Abd-ul-Aziz, and its reversal by Abd-ul-Hamid, combined with the inertness of Lord Stratford's successors in the English Embassy at Constantinople, and the determined hostility of Russia, that have been due the terrible events of the past two years. It was most unfortunate that for ten years, 1 832-1 841, Lord Stratford had no voice in Turkish matters. During that period came the treaty of Hunkiar Iskellessi, when the Rus- sian fleet, anchored in the Bosporus, made the Sultan a vassal of the Czar, and the great advance of Mehemet Ali, all result- ing in the discouragement of the most courageous and pro- gressive Sultan Turkey has ever had, and a situation at his death which would have appalled an ordinary man. Abd-ul-Medjid's first step was one which presaged good. Scarcely had he ascended his throne when he promulgated the Hatti Sherif of Gulhane. In some respects this is one of the most remarkable documents in history. In a sense it is surpassed by the more famous Hatti Humayoun issued by the same Sultan some years later, but that was after he HATTI SHERIF. 229 had been under Lord Stratford's influence, and was in the flush of victory in the Crimean War. This was at a time when discouragement was on every side, and all European ideas were looked upon as thoroughly anti-Islam. In view of its historical value, we give the text in full. Haiti Sherif of Gulhane. " All the world knows that, in the first days of the Ottoman monarchy, the glorious precepts of the Koran and the laws of the empire were always honored. " The empire in consequence increased in strength and greatness, and all its subjects, without exception, had risen in the highest degree to ease and prosperity. In the last one hundred and fifty years a succession of accidents and divers causes have arisen which have brought about a disregard for the sacred code of laws and the regulations flowing therefrom, and the former strength and prosperity have changed into weakness and poverty; an empire in fact loses all its stability so soon as it ceases to observe its laws. " These considerations are ever present to our mind, and ever since the day of our advent to the throne the thought of the public weal, of the improvement of the state of the provinces, and of relief to the (subject) peoples, has not ceased to engage it. If, therefore, the geographical position of the Ottoman provinces, the fertility of the soil, the aptitude and intelli- gence of the inhabitants, are considered, the conviction will remain that by striving to find efficacious means, the result, which by the help of God we hope to attain, can be obtained within a few years. Full of confidence, therefore, in the help of the Most High, and certain of the support of our Prophet, we deem it right to try by new institutions to give to the provinces composing the Ottoman Empire the benefit of a good administration. " These institutions must be principally carried out under three heads, which are : " 1. The guaranteeing and insuring to our subjects perfect security for life, honor, and fortune. " 2. A regular system of assessing and levying taxes. "3. An equally regular system for the levying of troops and the duration of their service. "And, in fact, are not life and honor the most precious gifts to mankind? 230 VENALITY. What man, however much his character may be against violence, can pre- vent himself from having recourse to it, and thereby injure the government and the country, if his life and honor are endangered? If, on the contrary, he enjoys in that respect perfect security, he will not depart from the ways of loyalty, and all his actions will contribute to the good of the government and of his brothers. " If there is an absence of security as to one's fortune, everyone remains insensible to the voice of the Prince and the country; no one interests him- self in the progress of public good, absorbed as he is in his own troubles. If, on the contrary, the citizen keeps possession in all confidence of all his goods, then, full of ardor in his affairs, which he seeks to enlarge in order to_ increase his comforts, he feels daily growing and doubling in his heart not only his love for the Prince and country, but also his devotion to his native land. "These feelings become in him the source of the most praiseworthy actions. "As to the regular and fixed assessment of the taxes, it is very important that it be regulated ; for the state which is forced to incur many expenses for the defense of its territory cannot obtain the money necessary for its armies and other services except by means of contributions levied on its subjects. Although, thanks be to God, our empire has for some time past been delivered from the scourge of monopolies, falsely considered in times of war as a source of revenue, a fatal custom still exists, although it can only have disastrous consequences; it is that of venal cessions, known under the name of 'Iltizam.' " Under that name the civil and financial administration of a locality is delivered over to the passions of a single man; that is to say, sometimes to the iron grasp of the most violent and avaricious passions ; for if that con- tractor is not a good man, he will only look to his own advantage. "It is therefore necessary that henceforth each member of Ottoman society should be taxed for a quota of a fixed tax according to his fortune and means, and that it should be impossible that anything more could be exacted from him. It is also necessary that special laws should fix and limit the expenses of our land and sea forces. "Although, as we have said, the defense of the country is an important matter, and it is the duty of all the inhabitants to furnish soldiers for that object, it has become necessary to establish laws to regulate the con- RIGHTS OF PROPERTY. 23 1 tingent to be furnished by each locality according to the necessity of the time, and to reduce the term of military service to four or five years. For it is at the same time doing an injustice and giving a mortal blow to agriculture and to industry to take, without consideration to the respective population of the localities, in the one more, in the other less, men than they can furnish ; it is also reducing the soldiers to despair and contributing to the depopulation of the country by keeping them all their lives in the service. "In short, without the several laws, the necessity for which has just been described, there can be neither strength, nor riches, nor happiness, nor tranquillity for the empire ; it must, on the contrary, look for them in the existence of these new laws. " From henceforth, therefore, the cause of every accused person shall be publicly judged, as the divine law requires, after inquiry and examination, and so long as a regular judgment shall not have been pronounced, no one can secretly or publicly put another to death by poison or in any other manner. "No one shall be allowed to attach the honor of any other person whatever. " Each one shall possess his property of every kind, and shall dispose of it in all freedom, without let or hindrance from any person whatever; thus, for example, the innocent heirs of a criminal shall not be deprived of their legal rights, and the property of the criminal shall not be confiscated. These imperial concessions shall extend to all our subjects, of whatever religion or sect they may be ; they shall enjoy them without exception. We therefore grant perfect security to the inhabitants of our empire in their lives, their honor, and their fortunes, as they are secured to them by the sacred text of the law. "As for the other points, as they must be settled with the assistance of enlightened opinions, our council of justice (increased by new members as shall be found necessary), to whom shall be joined, on certain days which we shall determine, our ministers and the notabilities of the empire, shall assemble in order to frame laws regulating the security of life and fortune and the assessment of the taxes. Each one in those assemblies shall freely express his ideas and give his advice. " The laws regulating the military service shall be discussed by a mili- tary council holding its sittings at the palace of Seraskier. As soon as a 14 232 REGULAR SALARIES. law shall be passed, in order to be forever valid, it shall be presented to us; we shall give it our approval, which we will write with our imperial sign -manual. " As the object of these institutions is solely to revivify religion, govern- ment, the nation, and the empire, we engage not to do anything which is contrary thereto. " In testimony of our promise we will, after having deposited these pres- ents in the hall containing the glorious mantle of the prophet, in the pres- ence of all the ulemas and the grandees of the empire, make oath thereto in the name of God, and shall afterwards cause the oath to be taken by the ulemas and the grandees of the empire. "After that, those from among the ulemas and the grandees of the empire, or any other persons whatsoever, who shall infringe these institutions, shall undergo, without respect of rank, position, and influence, the punish- ment corresponding to his crime, after having been well authenticated. " A penal code shall be compiled to that effect. As all the public ser- vants of the empire receive a suitable salary, and as the salaries of those whose duties have not up to the present time been sufficiently remunerated are to be fixed, a rigorous law shall be passed against the traffic of favoritism and bribery, which the Divine law reprobates, and which is one of the prin- cipal causes of the decay of the empire. "The above dispositions being a thorough alliteration and renewal of ancient customs, this imperial rescript shall be published at Constantinople and in all places of our empire, and shall be officially communicated to all the ambassadors of the friendly powers resident at Constantinople, that they may be witnesses to the granting of these institutions, which, should it please God, shall last forever. Wherein may the Most High have us in His holy keeping. May those who shall commit an act contrary to the present regulations be the object of Divine malediction, and be deprived forever of every kind of (protection) happiness. "Read at Gulhane, November 3, 1839." Through the peculiar Oriental verbiage it will be seen that this famous charter (1) Guaranteed to all subjects of the empire, without distinction, their life, their honor and their fortune ; (2) Re-established a uniform and regular mode of assessing and subsequently levying the taxes; (3) Regulated, REFORM AND REACTION. - 233 by legal powers, the levy of soldiers and the duration of military service ; (4) Suppressed monopolies ; (5) Ordered that the taxes should be levied in proportion to the fortune of each ; (6) Promised laws that should fix the expenses of the land and sea forces with the contingent of each locality ; (7) Ordered that every cause should be tried publicly accord- ing to the civil and religious laws ; (8) that every subject should possess his property with all the rights of ownership, and might sell it ; and finally, (9) that the heirs of a criminal should not be deprived of their claims to his estate. Such reforms were far-reaching and it is scarcely surpris- ing that their promulgation stirred a dangerous reaction, or that for a time the government was practically in the hands of the reactionary party, which aimed at a return to the system overturned by Mahmud, or at least to weaken the force of the privileges granted to the Christians as much as possible. In this they were assisted by the general conditions of the country, already referred to as disorganized, but more completely described by Lord Stratford's biographer as fol- lows : " The general state of the empire was such as might be expected after the late troubles and under the existing rulers. Disorder reigned in the provinces. The misgovernment of Wallachia offered an opportunity for Russian intrigues ; Bul- garia had caught the fever of disquiet, Albania soon broke into revolt, and in 1843 Servia rose against her prince. The local pashas did as they pleased. At Scutari, three Christian peasants were executed without trial ; at Trebizond, the pasha cut the throats of two criminals in the public street ; the governor of Mosul rushed out one night, mad with drink, to murder at pleasure ; two towns were razed to the ground by 234 GENERAL DEMORALIZATION. the troops in Albania ; the soldiers mutinied for their pay at Salonica, tried to kill their colonel, and then burnt the stores in a caravanserai, while the pasha looked on ; unequal and cruel taxation was driving the people to despair ; the minis- ters of the Porte used their official authority in favor of their private trading, and invited presents of hush-money from offending pashas. Fanaticism against Christians was increas- ing, and Pera was placarded with threats of burning the Frank quarter. 'There is no such thing as system in Turkey,' wrote the ambassador. ' Every man according to his means and opportunities gets what he can, commands what he dares, and submits when he must.' Financial embarrassment, public and individual, prevailed to an alarm- ing extent. The only active trade was the traffic in lucrative posts in the public service; but salaries were in arrears; commerce languished; the currency was ruinously debased ; forests and mines and other resources were neglected ; com- munications were bad — no roads or mere tracks ; good land on the coast within 50 miles of Constantinople was to be bought for two shillings an acre, while Russian grain was sold at a comfortable profit hard by. Ignorance and corrup- tion prevailed in every department of the state ; brutal violence and torture were employed in the law courts; Chris- tian evidence was not accepted against Moslems ; Christians were annoyed if they entered the Turkish quarters of the capital ; constant cases occurred of fraud and outrage against them ; yet in spite of these disabilities the rayahs were slowly advancing in wealth, education and independence, whilst the Turks were losing ground." Into this condition of things Lord Stratford injected his own fierce zeal, determined to carry through his point if possible, EFFORTS AT REFORM. 2 35 ~ft»n the case his very indomitableness was the and, as - so often the case h, y ^ of his chief occasion for a large degr ^ ^^ ^ ^ points was the carrying uui r . r - t ; an - at Christians, not becanse he wanted to help the Chn uan at the expense of the Moslems, for he appreciated the s uat on of the latter thoroughly, but because he -cogmzed that the development of the empire rested more with the Christians hanTh the Turks, and also that that development con, not be hoped for until there was political equality. Hence IL ful y as much with a desire to help the Turks themselves Is the Christians that he set himself to oppose the reign of fanaticism which threatened to swamp the best efforts of the Sultan Among the various points which hexarned ; . the abolition of religious executions and of the use ol tor ure n t Is. Several instances occurred of the former, one of an Armenian and another of a Greek, both of whom had a cepted Mohammedanism and then sought to return to their San faith, which second apostasy the Moslem ferocity had visited with death. This he earned by his owr .per- sonal influence with the Sultan. In other reforms he had he cordial support of the famous Reshid Pasha, or i of ti e noblest men that Turkey had ever produced Lord Strat ford also carried in .3 4 5 a long-contested point the right to establish a Protestant Church at Jerusalem for the Br, t.sh and Prussian subjects, and in ,846 med.ated in behalf of the Protestant Armenians, exposed both to the persecu or of the Porte and the hostility of their former ecclesiastical leaders. A few years later came the imperial firman recognizing Protestants as a distinct civil community. Aside from these the Sultan pressed forward m the gene al elevation of his empire. He sought to or S amze public 236 REFORMS URGED FORWARD. instruction, declared the Ottoman University an institution of the state and inaugurated the division of the general educa- tion into the primary, secondary and superior grades. The first of these had already existed in a measure, but in the most primitive form, being scarcely more than instruction in the reading of the Koran ; the secondary and superior grades had to be created entirely. Then came the publication of an administrative code regulating the duties and obligations of officers of the government and the institution of mixed tribu- nals of commerce. The first trial was held at Constantinople, in 1846, the different legations nominating ten prominent merchants to fill in turn the office of judge, while the Porte in turn nominated ten noted Mussulmans. There was an earnest effort to reform the system of taxation, and a decree in 1850 ordered that the personal tax should be collected in each province by the recognized head men of the communi- ties, and they were to forward the money thus received to their patriarchate, from which it was to be passed over into the imperial treasury. Thus the whole system of these laws was applied little by little to every province of the empire in succession. In some it met with reasonable success; in others it called out the bitterest opposition. Mehemet Ali, of Egypt, died in 1849, an d was succeeded by Abbas Pasha, one of the worst princes that Egypt ever knew. Order came to him to apply the same system of reforms in Egypt. He was shrewd enough not to make positive refusal, but disputed over its details, and especially over the clause which took from him the right to pronounce sentence of death. At last, however, he yielded and the reforms were enforced. In 185 1 another innovation was made. Commissioners were appointed to visit different provinces of the empire, examine carefully into GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT. 237 the condition of each, collect any complaints of the authori- ties or of the inhabitants and transmit them to the Sultan. Hitherto the government had scarcely allowed the right even of petition, and while this was carried out in no very effective way, and in not a few respects it seemed very weak, still the fact that commissions were sent at all marked a great advance in the conduct of the empire for the comfort and interest of the people. In the same year there was another step forward taken in education, and an academy of sciences and letters was established at Constantinople. In all this the moving spirit was Reshid Pasha. He made no attempt to secure absolute success at first, but steadily persevered in the course of reform wherever an opportunity offered. CHAPTER XIV. Treaties of Paris and Berlin. Influence of Lord Stratford — The Holy Places — Crimean War — Treaty of Paris — Abd-ul- Aziz — Extravagance — Influx of Europeans — Provincial Government — Accession of Abd- ul-Hamid II — Russo-Turkish War — Treaty of San Stephano — Treaty of Berlin — Cyprus Convention. THE success of Lord Stratford in establishing reforms in Turkey, and more than that in securing the cordial en- dorsement of the Sultan and of Reshid Pasha, occasioned great uneasiness in Russia. During the whole of Abd-ul-Medjid's reign there had been continuous intrigue, especially in the Danubian Provinces and in Servia. This latter had been practically independent since 1830, but its independence was by no means a peaceable one. Its prince, the founder of the Obrenowitch line, was a tyrant who took advantage of every opportunity to fill his own private purse. There were risings of the people followed by firmans from Constantinople, which limited his rights, but still the general suzerainty of the Porte was acknowledged, and Servia was recognized as a Moslem State. Along the Danube there were similar occur- rences following on the revolutions of 1848. The prince of Wallachia accepted a constitution and then fled, a provisional government being established. The movement spread to Moldavia and Russian troops occupied the provinces, resulting (238) CLAIMS FOR THE HOLY PLACES. 239 in an agreement between the Porte and Russia for a sort of mutual supervision. Similarly in Syria there had been trouble which called for the intervention of Europe for the protection of the Maronites against the Druzes. It was again, however, about the Holy Places in Jerusalem that the disturbance centered. During the reign of Mahmud II the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been devasted by fire and the Greeks made the repairs, taking advantage of that to lay claim to the church, and consequently to all the Holy Places, thus superseding the French, who had the general primacy since the time of the Crusades. In 1851, the government of Louis Napoleon demanded and obtained from the Porte, on the basis of the capitulations of 1 740, the formation of a mixed commission to look into the question of the possession of the Holy Places. France claimed (1) the monument of the Holy Sepulchre in the church of that name at Jerusalem ; (2) the great cupola built above the Holy Sepulchre ; (3) the stone of unction (this was not an exclusive claim); (4) the site of the tombs of the French kings in Adam's Chapel under Calvary ; (5) the seven arched vaults of the Virgin ; (6) the Church of Gethsemane and the tomb of the Virgin ; (7) the upper Church of Bethlehem with the gardens and sanctuaries dependent upon it ; (8) the mixed possession of the altar of Calvary. While making these general claims for the Latins, she declared that particular concessions would be made to the other communions, but they must be renewed annually. To these claims Russia objected very strenuously. After considerable discussion the commission recognized the rights of France, but proposed that the situation remain as it was, except the admission of the Latins into the Sanctuary of the Virgin and the right of Greeks to enter that of the 240 THE PORTE S REPLY. Ascension. France accepted this, but Russia objected, and this was followed by a special embassy to Constantinople to demand by virtue of the treaty of Kainardji the exclusive protection of all members of the Greek Church in Turkey, and the settlement of the question as to the Holy Places on terms granting the supremacy to the Greeks. This was in 1853. The Porte replied with moderation, stating its desire not to injure in any way the privileges of the various Chris- tian subjects, and its wish to satisfy the demands of the Greek pilgrims and the Russian churches, but affirming that to accept the demands of Russia would be practically to destroy its own independence. The Russian ambassador, Menshikoff, renewed his demands, and said that further refusal would impose on his government the necessity of seeking it in its own power. At this time Lord Stratford was absent. Ten years be- fore he had met a somewhat similar difficulty by suggesting to the Porte that they make the repairs themselves, but now such a solution was no longer possible. It became evi- dent that a crisis was at hand, and he was immediately or- dered back from England. This was Lord Stratford's fifth embassy to Constantinople, and marked a new phase in his policy. When first there, he had had a long struggle with France, in which at the close he found himself in alliance with Russia ; in the second and third he had united with France and Russia in seeking the pacification of Greece ; in the fourth, which covered the early part of Abd-ul-Medjid's reien, there was no great difference between the Powers, and although his actions were looked upon with suspicion by Russia, he met with practically no interference in pressing for reform. Now, however, he found that the aggression of PROPOSALS OF PARTITION. 241 Russia was becoming threatening. In private interviews be- tween the Czar and the British ambassador at St. Peters- burg in the early part of 1853, t ^ ie Russians had made known a definite proposal to England to join in winding up the bankrupt estate of the " sick man." Servia, the Danubian Principalities and Bulgaria were to be independent under Russian protection ; if circumstances obliged the Czar to occupy Constantinople, it would be as trustee and not as proprietor, and England might be free to appropriate terri- tories as she chose, provided she did not undertake to hold the capital. All this he thought might be accomplished by the two Powers, and if they agreed, it made very little differ- ence what France and Austria thought. This, however, was strongly opposed to the whole British policy, and Lord Stratford, immediately upon the decisive action of Prince Menshikoff, called the other representatives of the great Powers and laid the foundation for the European alliance, which was from that time steadily opposed to Russian ag- gression. Russia announced in May her proposal to enter the Danu- bian Provinces, and France and England answered by des- patching their fleets to the Island of Tenedos at the mouth of the Dardanelles. A conference was proposed at Vienna, but Turkey took the initiative by attacking the Russians in the principalities. Russia retorted by the destruction of a Turkish fleet at Sinop. The English and French fleets en- tered the Black Sea and obliged the Russians to withdraw to their own ports. A last attempt at peace was made by France, but the publication of the English ambassador's de- spatches at St. Petersburg stirred the indignation of France, Austria and Prussia, and the result was a general alliance of 24-2 CONGRESS AT PARIS. the four kingdoms with Turkey. To this afterwards Sar- dinia was admitted, and Italy first appeared in the general European concert. The story of the Crimean War it is not necessary to re- peat here. The mismanagement of the British army at its commencement and that of the French at its close amazed the world. At last England's forces were well in hand and the possession of the Crimea was practically secured. Then France grew again suspicious of England's power and sought to hold a balance between her and Russia. Sevas- topol fell in September of 1855, but the Czar had just died in chagrin at the complete failure of his plans and the ter- rible injuries and sufferings inflicted upon his people. His army had failed to take Silistria, and although Kars had fallen, the general rout of the Russian arms was so complete as to have made it possible to have carried the day completely. Alexander II was willing to treat, and a Congress met at Paris on the 25th of February, 1 856. In this, France, England, Aus- tria, Prussia, Sardinia, Turkey and Russia appeared. Peace was signed on the 30th of March on the following basis : 1. Russia renounced her exclusive right of protection over the Danubian Principalities, and all interference with their internal affairs. 2. The free navigation of the Danube was to be effectually secured by the establishment of a commission, in which all the contracting parties should be represented. Each of them should have the right to station two sloops-of- war at the mouth of the river. Russia consented to a recti- fication of frontiers which should leave to Turkey and the Rumanian Principalities all the Danubian delta. 3. The Black Sea was made neutral ; its waters, open to merchant ships of all nations, were forbidden to men-of-war, whether of RUSSIA S LOSSES. 243 the Powers on tne coasts or any others. No military or mari- time arsenals were to be created there. Turkey and Russia could only maintain ten lightships to watch the coasts. 4. The Haiti Sherif by which Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid renewed the privileges of his non-Mussulman subjects was inserted in the treaty, but with the clause that the Powers could not quote this insertion as authorizing- them to interfere between the Sultan and his subjects. Russia thus lost both the domination of the Black Sea and the protectorate of the Eastern Christians ; lost her fleets and naval arsenals on the Black Sea and the fortresses of the Crimea. The imprudent policy of Nicholas had destroyed the advantages gained by all the previous treaties. One clause, however, in the treaty was worth to her almost as much as these, and that was the one which prohibited the Powers from interfering between the Sultan and his subjects. Count Orloff with the aid of France proved more than a match for the rest. Something, however, was gained, and the treaty was scarcely signed when preparations were made, and soon after came the publication of the Hatti Humayoun, described in another chapter. Lord Stratford, when he heard of the treaty of Paris, said, " I would rather have cut off my right hand than have signed that treaty." In a letter written about that time he said: " How are the Sultan's reforms to be carried through ; the allied troops all gone and no power of foreign interference reserved? How is the country to be kept quiet if hopes and fears, equally excited in adverse quarters, have to find their own level ? What means shall we possess of allaying the discordant elements if our credit is to decline and our influ- ence to be overlaid by the persevering artifices of a jealous 244 STR HENRY BULWER. and artful ally? How can we hope to supply the usefulness derivable from our command of the Contingent and Irregu- lars, if they are to be given up ? In short, when I hear the politicians of the country remark that the troubles of Europe with respect to this empire are only beginning, I know not how to reply." Lord Stratford soon returned to England, but visited Con- stantinople again, only to realize in the presence there of his successor, Sir Henry Bulwer, that his great work for Turkey was finished, and that much that he had striven for and obtained would be abandoned. Sir Henry Bulwer was a man of great diplomatic craft, but of the vilest moral character. He commanded the respect of nobody. The best English families in the city refused to receive him into their houses. He was a giver and receiver of bribes, and it became notori- ous that whenever the Turkish Government, or indeed any- body else, wished to carry through a scheme that might be supposed to be hostile to English interests, all they had to do was to send a sum of money to the English palace or a pair of fine horses to its stables. He was at last recalled for re- ceiving a bribe of $50,000. He did everything in his power to undo the work that Lord Stratford had done and to prejudice the Turks ao-ainst the reforms which he had been instrumental in inaugurating. With this appointment of Sir Henry Bulwer commenced the decadence of English influence at Constanti- nople and that long series of diplomatic blunders that have resulted in the feeling on the part of every class of people in the Turkish Empire that England is a synonym for treachery and disgrace. There have been fine men in the English embassy : Lord Lyons, so well known in the diplomatic circles in Washington, was there for a time, and had he remained, it ATROCITIES IN SYRIA. 245 is probable that much of the lost ground would have been regained, but he was promoted to Paris ; Lord Dufferin was there for a time and his well-known high character and great ability accomplished much, but his term was very short ; Sir William White had a period of most successful conduct of English interests, but he was removed by death. Since 1857, the & English embassy at Constantinople has been occupied the greater portion of the time by Sir Henry Bulwer, a man of great ability, but of the lowest character ; Sir Henry Elliot, a man of high personal character, but of no diplomatic ability ; Sir Austen Layard, not dissimilar to Sir Henry Elliott, and of late years by Sir Philip Currie, a man of ability and force of character, but hampered by his relations and not equipped by diplomatic tact and skill to meet the wiles of Russian diplomacy. The next most important event after the treaty of Paris was the atrocities in Syria, where vast numbers of the Maronites were massacred by the Druzes. All Europe was filled with horror, and France sprang to the front to reassert her former supremacy. The French fleet anchored in front of Beirut ; French troops held the road to Damascus, and Syria became for the time being a French colony. The influence of other powers, however, prevented her securing occupation and Fuad Pasha represented the Turkish Govern- ment with such success in the quieting of the Moslem tur- moil that the Sultan succeeded in preserving his hold upon that portion of his empire. This much, however, was gained; a reorganization of the government was secured and the province of Lebanon was established under a Christian governor, to be appointed with and not to be removed with- out the consent of European Powers. This proved a great 246 ADVENT OF ABD-UL-AZIZ. boon, and Syria was at peace as she had not been for centuries. In 1 861, Abd-ul-Medjid died and his brother Abd-ul-Aziz came to the throne. The new Sultan was a man of entirely different type from either of his predecessors ; low-browed, coarse, sensual, given up to the gratification of personal pas- sions and personal pique; caring for nothing except his personal comfort and the gratification of his personal pride ; a coward, a tyrant, the tool of designing men, utterly weak for any good. At times strong men, like Fuad and Ali and Midhat and Ahmed Vefyk Pashas, succeeded in gaining a temporary power, but they could accomplish comparatively little for good, and the Turkish court from 1871 to 1876 was the scene of unbounded extravagance and corruption. Outwardly the reign was one of great progress. The navy was built up and put on a footing which brought the Turkish Government on a reasonable par with the other Mediterranean Governments ; the army was developed and its organization was brought into better shape than at any time previous ; palaces and public buildings were erected. Up to the reign of Abd-ul-Medjid the Sultans had occupied the famous old palace of the Seraglio, but it was becoming out of date, and furthermore, there were so many traditions of violence and crime connected with it that there was a pall of superstition hanging over it. Abd-ul-Medjid built the palace of Dolma-Bagtche, which contains one of the finest throne- rooms in the world. It was sumptuously furnished and most beautifully decorated. When Abd-ul-Aziz came to the throne this was not sufficient and he put up the palace at Tcheragan, just above, with adornments even surpassing in beauty, in some respects, those of Dolma-Bagtche. Other old palaces IMPROVEMENTS. 247 were torn down and beautiful buildings erected in their place. There were new roads built and efforts to improve the gener- al condition of the city. Constantinople itself has always suffered from fires; the crowded wooden buildings furnished behest Possible food for conflagration, and i the absolute V worthless fire department seemed to help o n ra her than hinder the flames. One great fire occurred , the latter part of the rei-n, and it was common report that under the Sul an s Ipec al orders no efforts were made to stop .t It f ad right through the city from the Golden Horn to the Xrmorarand was checked only as it came «P*^J hi.h walls of the Armenian Patnarchate. The generally understood reason for the action of the government was that it £ht build up this section again in more approved modern sty" At any rate this was done, and the whole of that rel on to-day bears a far different appearance from other sec- ions of the. city. Wide streets took the place of the narrow lanes and brick and stone houses replaced the wooden fire- raps At the same time concessions were granted on every hand' for improvements of all sorts. European speculators thronged in'crowds around the offices of the Subhme Porte and the gateways of the palace. They paid heavy bnbes and secured the most valuable subventions. Among the most notorious, and one which yet was a fair illustration , of many others was that for the railway extending from Constantinople to Adrianople. An Austrian financier secured the concession, and the contract awarded him so much for each kilometer. The result was that the road, by taking advantage of every possible turn, avoiding grades and bridges so far as possible nearly doubled the distance in a straight fine between the two cities. Care was taken also to have the different stations 15 248 MORE FAVORABLE FEATURES. at sufficient distance from the principal places on the route, apparently in order to provide additional income to those who wished to connect the cities with the railroad; The whole matter was a "job" of the most stupendous character, and was a simple illustration of what was done all over the empire. The government borrowed money with absolute recklessness. Engagements were entered into without the slightest careful investigation as to the resources of the empire and extravagance ran riot. At the same time there were more favorable features. It was during this period that Robert College in Constantinople, the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut, the Bible House in Constantinople and various other educational and philan- thropic institutions were started. So long as the immediate interests of the more avaricious Turks were not interfered with, there was in a degree free hand for those who sought to improve the general condition of the people. Foreign in- fluence was at its height and many a native, not merely Chris- tian, but Turk, rejoiced in the support of those who sought not any sectarian advantage, but the general improvement of the country. In the administration of the government the offices were filled to a degree as had never before been known with Christians. There were large number of Europeans — English, German and French ; and with all the bribery and extortion there was more of business enterprise than had been known during any of the preceding reigns. Armenians and Greeks also were pushed to the front. Their abilities were recognized by the heads of departments, and the pres- sure on every hand for the rapid accomplishment of enter- prises, which called for more of energy than the average Turk was willing to exert, resulted in great opportunities for A NEW SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 249 those who were willing to work — and laziness has never been a general vice of any of the Christian populations of the Levant. This had its effect in ameliorating the condition of the Christians ; at the same time, as is noticed in other chapters, this rapid improvement brought with it increasing information and still higher ideas. All of the Christian sub- jects of the Sultan began to feel still more restive under the Moslem tyranny, for that tyranny still existed. The absence of any genuine conception of reform or of good government in the Sultans inevitably affected the whole management of the empire, and taxation was scarcely less severe than it had been in the past, the chief improvement being in the freedom from certain other influences that worked heavily against the Christians. Thus it came about that there was perhaps more restiveness throughout the empire than there had been pre- viously. Soon after the disturbances in Syria, the Grand Vizier, Ali Pasha, made public a new system of provincial government in which each province was to have a Christian vice-governor and advisory council composed of Moslems and Christians, an independent judiciary and a complete police force. The first application of this was to the province of the Danube, including Bulgaria, which was placed under Mithad Pasha, perhaps the most aggressive of all the officials that Turkey has ever had. He carried it out there with great success, and in a year and a half brigandage was practically extinct in the province ; several hundreds of miles of road had been built, and schools, city hospitals, banks and steam navigation companies had been established. In 1867 tne system was ordered to be applied throughout the empire, and the foreign Powers acted as if they thought that the reorganization was 250 MAHMUD NEDIM PASHA. really going to be carried out. It seems scarcely possible that they should have been thoroughly deceived in this, for they knew perfectly well that the intricacy of the system of- fered abundant facility for corruption, and that the contempt felt by all Moslems for any laws not based upon the Koran would effectually check the application of the European code. As a matter of fact the whole system was lifeless from the beginning, and with the death of Ali Pasha all pretense of carrying it out disappeared. He, however, accomplished this much, that he warded off active interference on the part of Europe for fifteen years. He was followed by Mahmud Nedim Pasha, a man of strong individuality, who claimed that the Sultan could brook no interference of Europe in the internal affairs of Turkey, and announced his determination to govern upon the principle that Western civilization is in- herently unfit for the needs of Eastern races. In this he had the cordial support of the Turks, and more significant still, of the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople, General Ignatief, probably the shrewdest representative that Russia ever had at the Sublime Porte, and one to whom perhaps more than to any one else has been due the policy which Russia has followed out unwaveringly, of opposing any ac- tive interference on the part of Europe in the internal man- agement of the Ottoman Government. That this was prompted by any interest in Turkey no one will believe. It was simply the plan by which the situation was to grow worse and worse until it became inevitable for Russia herself to intervene and take what she desired. The results of this were soon manifest. In the summer of 1875 commenced revolt in Herzegovina, extending to Bosnia. Already there had been disturbance in the Danubian Prov- »^wi 7. w rr w ?r rt) 3 5 c m QPq c 'X ■a ^7 ~ (TJ '< 3 r\ -*- nT o o c/) c 3 'X n ^ X 3 a" a 7^ O 3 a — t D. s» a O -i O Eh 3 pj — t r+ < C 3" E* t/i < re H EL •< 3 a 55' i-h c ps •J, vi t/1 o W T3 ro cu J-. 6: a O o FRESH DISTURBANCES. 253 inces resulting in an increased independency; then came the famous Andrassy note, in which Austria demanded re- forms in the Balkan Peninsula, opposed by the Turks as derogatory to their honor. Meanwhile Russian embassies were at work throughout the Balkan Peninsula, and Bui- garians on every hand were being roused to a pitch of in- tense hostility to Turkish rule. Then came Russian pro- posals skilfully arranged in such form as to arouse hostility rather than the support of the other Powers and also the fanaticism of the Turks. The result was a series of arbitrary arrests of Bulgarians, the sending of troops into Bulgaria and the providing of Moslems with arms for use in case of the arising of the Christians. Then came an outbreak in Salonica, when the European consuls were beaten to death by a fanatic mob, followed by a general movement through- out Bulgaria attended by an outbreak of Softas in Constanti- nople. The utter incapacity of Abd-ul-Aziz was more and more evident, and there was a revolt under the lead of Mithad Pasha. A fetvah was secured from the Sheik-ul-Islam, Abd-ul-Aziz was dethroned, and notwithstanding the intrigues that had been going on for several years in favor of his own son, the legal heir, Murad, his nephew and the son of Abd-ul- Medjid, became Sultan. Meanwhile the atrocities in Bul- garia continued and it became evident that Murad was un- equal to the task. Abd-ul-Aziz had been assassinated, as was generally understood, as were also some of the ministers. The whole situation in Constantinople was chaos when Abd-ul- Hamid II came to the throne. At this time Servia declared war, and the situation throughout the empire became more and more serious. Abd-ul-Hamid banished Mithad Pasha and convened the first Turkish Parliament. For a while it 254 RUSSIA DECLARES WAR. seemed as if something were going to be done, but nego- tiations were followed by protocols, protocols by protests, and in April, 1887, Russia declared war, feeling that there would be no great opposition to the advance of her army which she had been massing in Bessarabia. The story of the war that followed, both in Eastern Turkey and on the Danube, is familiar. The determined opposition of the Turkish troops, the defense of Plevna, the storming of the Shipka Pass and the final advance through Bulgaria, until the Russian army had captured Adrianople and was massed on the very outskirts of Constantinople, formed a panorama of intense in- terest. All this was watched with great interest and some solicitude by Europe, which came to realize that Russia was on the point of securing the end that she had had in view for so long. England was the only power to act and her fleet was anchored in Besika Bay, just outside of the Dar- danelles. The armistice and terms of peace between Turkey and Russia, forming the basis of the treaty of San Stephano, were signed at Adrianople January 31st; the treaty itself at San Stefano, within sight of Constantinople, March 3d, 1878. The conditions comprised the establishment of a principality of Bulgaria, the payment of a war indemnity or a terri- torial compensation ; the independence of Rumania, Servia and Montenegro, with an increase of territory for each of the principalities, the introduction of reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina and ulterior understanding- between the Sultan and the Czar in regard to the Straits and the evacuation by the Turks of the fortresses of the Danube. As soon as this became known England was alarmed and the fleet was sent through the Dardanelles, and for the second time in history anchored at the Princes' Islands. A HALT CALLED. 255 It has been a subject of much discussion, why Russia did not improve her opportunity, and seize Constantinople when it was in her power. She could have done this with compara- tive ease, at least so many think. Others claim that the Turks were in condition to offer considerable resistance still, and that Russia knew very well that Europe, especially England, would not permit her to carry out the plan without war. For this certainly she was not prepared. So also there were many questions in regard to partition of the empire which may well have made her hesitate, and of which mention will be made in a later chapter on the general question of the partition of the empire. Whatever were the reasons, a halt was called. Then came the field of diplomacy. England and Austria, through their Ambassadors at St. Petersburg and Constantinople, announced that they would refuse to recog- nize conditions of peace in contravention of the terms of the Treaty of Paris, except as Europe had an opportunity to con- sider them. Russia declared that all such terms would be submitted to a review by the Powers. Finally a Conference of the Powers was called, first at Vienna, then at Baden-Baden, and finally at Berlin. A difficulty arose in regard to the sub- mission to the Conference of the entire treaty of San Stephano. This was demanded by England and refused by Russia. For a time it seemed as if war was imminent, but at last a ofeneral agreement having been reached by mutual conference between Russia, England and Austria, the representatives of England, Austria, Russia, France, Italy and Turkey met at Berlin in June, 1878, and remained one month, the Treaty being signed upon the 13th of July. Its main points may be summarized as follows : 1. Bulgaria, including Sophia, to be constituted a tributary 2 eft POINTS OF THE BERLIN TREATY. principality of the Sultan, ruled by a prince and an elected assembly, and to be organized under a Russian Commissary General assisted by delegates from the European Powers. The period of organization not to exceed nine months. 2. A province called Eastern Rumelia to be formed on the south of the Balkans, and to be governed by a Christian under the orders of the Sultan. The organization of this province to be under control of a commission appointed by the European Powers. Russian troops, not to exceed 50,000 in number, to occupy Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia during nine months, and to fully evacuate both provinces within three months after this period. 3. Administrative modifications promised in 1868 to be in- troduced in the island of Crete. Similar modifications to be introduced in the administration of all the provinces of European Turkey which are not otherwise provided for. These details of this reorganization to be submitted to the European Commission charged with the organization of Eastern Rumelia. 4. If Greece and Turkey fail to agree upon the ratification of the frontier indicated in the proceedings of the Congress, the Powers reserve the riant to offer mediation to the two parties. 5. Bosnia and Herzegovina to be occupied by Austria. 6. Montenegro to be constituted an independent principal- ity, with enlargement of territory (equal in amount to its whole previous area), including the seaport of Antivari, but not to be allowed to hold either ships or flags of war, and its ports to be controlled by Austrian revenue cutters. 7. Servia to be constituted an independent principality, with large additions of territory on the south and east. BRITISH TREATY WITH THE PORTE. 257 8. Rumania to be constituted an independent principality, to cede to Russia the portion of Bessarabia taken from Russia by the Treaty of Paris of 1856, and to receive in exchange the district of the Dobruja. 9. Kars, Ardahan and Batum to be ceded by Turkey to Russia, and Katour to Persia. 10. The Turkish Government to introduce without delay suitable measures of reform in all districts inhabited by Armenians. 11. Absolute religious liberty to exist in all the territories referred to above, including the whole Turkish Empire. The gain of Turkey, by the substitution of the treaty of Berlin for that of San Stephano, was in the territories cut by this new treaty from the principalities erected by the older one, and in the substitution of a European supervision for a Russian supervision of the execution of the treaty. Meanwhile other negotiations had been going on, and just before the close of the Congress the British Government announced a treaty concluded with the Porte consisting of the following Articles : "Article I. If Batum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of them, shall be retained by Russia, and if any attempt shall be made at any future time by Russia to take possession of any further territories of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan in Asia, as fixed by the definitive treaty of peace, England engages to join his Imperial Majesty the Sultan in defending them by force of arms. "In return, his Imperial Majesty the Sultan promises to England to introduce necessary reforms, to be agreed upon later between the two Powers, into, the government, and for the protection of the Christian and other subjects of the 258 TURKISH CHRISTIANS JUBILANT. Porte in these territories ; and in order to enable England to make necessary provision for executing her engagement, his Imperial Majesty the Sultan further consents to assign the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by England. "Article II. The present convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged, within the space of one month, or sooner if possible." To all appearance England had triumphed. Not only had the treaty of San Stephano been set aside, but the Sultan had practically recognized her as his most potent and most influen- tial ally. The prestige lost during twenty years of misman- agement had suddenly by a master stroke been regained, and all the Christians of Turkey were jubilant. The new Sultan was looked upon as a mild man thoroughly desirous of the good of his people, and there were the brightest anticipations of genuine reform. At this point it will be advantageous to look at the constitution of the Turkish Government. CHAPTER XV. Condition of the Christians. The Christians under Early Moslem Rule — Mohammed II — General Oppression — Protec- tion by French Government — Russian Intrigue — Power of the Greek Church — Reforms under Mahmud II and Abd-ul-Medjid — The Hatti Humayoun — General Improvement Throughout the Empire. UP to the time of the capture of Constantinople, the rela- tions of the Moslem Sultans to the Christians were simply those of tyrants, who collected what they could and recognized no rights of any kind on the part of those who refused to accept Islam. The fact, however, that there was scarcely any organized government of any kind made matters worse, and soon after the establishment of the dynasty, even as for back as 1360, just after the death of Orchan, it is said that some Armenian refugees came to Edward III, at Reading, made complaint that the Mussulmans were trying to extermi- nate their people, and asked leave to live in England and collect subscriptions for their fellow-sufferers. The king granted the petition, took the Armenians under his protection, but only so long as the protected should do nothing injurious to his realm, and should " bear themselves in true faith and honesty." But it was not only the Armenians who suffered. On both sides of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles the ( 2 59) 26o CONVERSION BY FORCE. Greeks felt the pressure of Ottoman power, and the situation all through southeastern Europe was one of terror. Among the greatest causes for suffering was the organiza- tion of the Janissaries. So long as Christian captives were constantly being taken, every fifth captive was claimed for the Sultan's service. The most robust and handsome were trained for the regular military service, and formed the basis of the famous body of Janissaries. Later, when the extension of dominion put a stop to this source of supply, a tax was laid by which every fifth male child of the Christian population of the empire was converted by force and added to this com- pany, until it has been estimated that in the course of three centuries not less than five million Christian children were sacrificed to this policy of the Sultans. The effect was two- fold ; it kept the Christian peoples in a constant state of sub- jection and terror, and it served as a heavy tax upon their actual strength by removing the most virile portion of the population. With the conquest of Constantinople there was a measure of relief in the situation. Yet in one aspect it became even worse. Under the policy of Mohammed II, by which he sought to strengthen his capital, there was formed a group of Greeks associated with the Patriarchs, to whom was granted a special section of the city called then and still the Phanar or Fanar. These Fanariotes became notorious for their intrigues and unreliability. Their relations with the Ottomans seemed to develop the very worst elements of the Greek character, and there commenced under them that style of life which has done more to degrade the Christians of the Levant than almost anything else. One illustration of this is seen in the fact of the very great number of Turkish officials of POLITICAL INFLUENCES. 26l Christian origin. Under Mohammed, of five grand viziers fou r were Christians — two Greeks and two Illyrians ; under Sulei- man the Magnificent, of nine grand viziers eight were of Christian origin. With such opportunities opened for advance- ment and wealth, the great surprise is, not that there were so many defections, but that there were so few. The recognition of the overpowering tyranny of the government, the realiza- tion that that tyranny could be averted only by catering to the passions or the cupidity of the ruling class, developed a servility and treachery that has been the bane of the Christian races of the Ottoman Empire. The same result was assisted by the peculiar ecclesiastical rule which was established. The worst features of the union of Church and State were mani- fest, and the priests became even more political leaders than spiritual guides. The various revolutions noticed in the preceding chapters operated also to bind still more closely the chains of oppres- sion upon the Christian populations. Were it possible to learn the detailed history of those centuries, undoubtedly instance after instance would be given of heroic defense and of loyalty to their faith on the part of every class and every church. On the other hand, the barbarism of the age had its effects upon the Christian chiefs, and both in Europe and in Asia, though especially in Europe, the.Christians of Hungary, Moldavia, Bosnia and Dalmatia were allied to Turkish Pashas in ferocity. The commencement of treaty relations between Turkey and the European powers was the first gleam of light that came to the Christian subjects of the Sultans. The simple fact that there were Christians recognized as having rights, in itself gave some encouragement, even to those who did 262 FRENCH INFLUENCE. not share in the immediate benefits accorded to those con- nected with the Roman Catholic Church. The appearance of Catholic missions and convents in the various Turkish States, the protection of Roman Catholic Christians, especially in Syria, in their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, gave to all classes — Greeks, Armenians, and others — a degree of hope that the time might come when their load should be lightened. In the main, however, the interest of Europe was political rather than religious, and for the most part the Christians were so thoroughly left to themselves that almost their only hope lay in securing the friendship, by whatever means were available, of their Moslem rulers. When by chance there came a milder governor, especially in the European provinces, the subject Christians would be found willing to sustain the cause of the Turks, and in more than one instance the primates were found to have intrigued in favor of the Porte. The French Ambassador, De Breves, rendered noble service when, in Constantinople, he threw himself between the infuriated Janissaries and the churches of Galata, declaring that he would defend at the peril of his life the exercise of the Chris- tian religion ; so also when he averted an initial massacre at Scio and preserved the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Christian faith. It was no vain boast he made when he claimed to have given liberty to from one thousand to twelve hundred men who had been made slaves at different times. A picture of the condition of the Christians a century after the capture of Constantinople is given by a traveler, who describes them in 1571 as so depraved and degraded that they hardly dared look a Turk in the face ; the only care of their listless existence being to raise enough for their maintenance and pay the kharadj and poll tax — all beyond JESUIT INTRIGUES. 263 would be seized by the Turks. In Constantinople only was there any security, and here at the end of the sixteenth century it is said that there were not less than 100,000 of them, many of whom acquired wealth either by trade or farming the revenues. One such was reported to have the fate of whole provinces in his hands, and the splendor of his palace rivalled that of the Sultan. It was perhaps in view of this condition that the French ambassador, De Breves, in presenting his defense of the Franco-Turkish alliance dwelt to a considerable extent on the advantage accruing to the Christian population from the French influence. He dwelt upon the number of monasteries permitted by the Sultan in Constantinople, colleges estab- lished by the Jesuits, the number of bishops in the different Turkish States and the honor coming to the French name by the securing of the protection of the Holy Places. But it was not only the Roman Catholics that he felt would be benefited. Reference was specially made to the Greek and Armenian Christians and to the Copts of Egypt, all of whom in their -pressing necessities and terrible oppression were glad to have recourse to the powerful support of the French kings. In connection with this French influence commenced Jesuit intrigues, and the priests already conceived great pro- jects for the re-establishment of Roman Catholicism in the East. The English ambassador denounced them as spies of Spain and alarmed the Turkish Government; so they were arrested and imprisoned. Their release was immediately secured, but the Ottoman Government did not hesitate to declare that it preferred to see ten ordinary priests rather than one Jesuit in Constantinople. So much did this preju- dice increase that a few years later, notwithstanding the 264 FANATICAL FURY. utmost efforts of the French Ambassador, the Jesuits were banished from Constantinople for the period of twelve years. At about this same time, the early part of the seventeenth century, we find the Armenians developing considerable influence. They had spread throughout Asia Minor and had increased their colony in Jerusalem to such a degree that they had forced the Catholic monks from the Holy Places at Bethlehem and taken possession of them themselves, only in turn to be removed on appeal to the French Government. Perhaps on account partly of the aggressive action of some of the French ambassadors, at about the same time, free reins seem to have been given to the fanatical fury of the Ottomans against the Christians in different parts of the empire, and even in Constantinople itself the churches were closed and terror reigned everywhere. Sultan Ibrahim I gave way to such furious anger in consequence of some European successes, that he resolved to exterminate all the Christians in the empire. This, however, was limited, on the representation of the Moslem Mufti to Europeans only, and next, under the protest of his ministers, to the Roman Catholic priests. The order for these massacres was given, and for several days the Franks dwelling in Constantinople believed themselves doomed to certain death. It was, how- ever, revoked after much diplomatic pressure. The general effect of all this was to stir the Catholic world and arouse the religious zeal even in France for war against the infidels, and this had no slight influence upon the strange vicissitudes of Turco-European diplomacy, all of which accomplished practically little for the general welfare of the Christians. The war in Hungary resulted in the carrying of nearly 80,000 Christians into slavery and the general con- GREEK CHURCH. 265 dition was most deplorable. Occasionally there was a little relief when such men as the Kuprulis held sway and intro- duced certain modifications of the bitterness of Moslem rule for the benefit of the Christian subjects of the Sultan, but in the main fanaticism ruled and the Christian was looked upon in the typical Moslem style, as a mere slave who had no rights of any kind, simply duties. With the peace of Carlowitz came into prominence the power of the Greek Church. Already there had been more or less of conflict, but now that assumed very great propor- tions. Not that there was much of Christianity in it. The be- lief professed by the people and even by the priests was probably the most superstitious form of the faith that had ever been set forth. The church, however, was led by men and women of great power, and their Christianity, even though largely destitute of moral power, was available for some mitigation of the sufferings of those at least whom they recognized as akin in Christian faith. As early as 1670 an English historian calls attention to fact that the Greeks throughout the empire turned to the Russian as their protec- tor and claimed that according to all their prophecies, ancient and modern, he was destined to be the restorer of their church and their freedom. This feeling was industriously strengthened by Russian emissaries. The Czar issued a proclamation guaranteeing to the Moldo-Wallachians the exclusive exercise of the Greek religion. A bishop was seen at Jerusalem circulating a report that the Turks would be driven out of Europe by the Russian nation, and Peter evidently hoped for a revolt of all the adherents of the Greek religion. This mingling of politics with religion, how- ever, accomplished very little for the general welfare of the 16 266 A DOOR OF HOPE. people. Indeed in some respects it seems to have made it worse. It roused the suspicions of the Turkish rulers, and wherever they were naturally under the influence of fanati- cism it assisted rather than hindered the practice of outrag- eous oppression. Especially was this true in the interior provinces. Whatever of relief came was upon the borders. In Constantinople, Smyrna and in Syria there was some pretence of protection. But inland this disappeared entirely, and the description given in previous chapters of the general de- moralization of the Turkish Empire emphasizes the terrible condition of the Christian population. That they retained their faith and even their national unity is a marvelous tribute to their character and to the genuineness — if ignorant and superstitious — of their religious belief. Still there was growth and the treaty of Kainardji in 1774, as it opened a wide door for Russian usurpation, opened also a wide door of hope for the Christian population. The promise of the Porte to protect the Christian religion and its churches, although vague, really accomplished something, and even those who refused any association with the Greek Church reaped, perhaps to a slightly better degree, the bene- fits of their fellows. The most, however, that can be said is very little, and the general condition of the Christian popula- tion of the Turkish Empire at the close of the last century and the commencement of the reign of Mahmud was one of intense suffering. About this time the Christians were distributed in the main as at present. The Greeks occupied the coast both of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, extending somewhat inland from Smyrna and Adana and occupying villages in Central Asia Minor ; the Armenians in largest numbers in their GREEK INSURRECTION. 267 ancestral country, Erzrum, extended from the eastern end of the Black Sea south to the region of Van. They were also found in increasing numbers throughout Asia Minor and Northern Syria. The Syrians of Mesopotamia had fled to a considerable extent to the mountains where they led a sort of feudal life, scarcely to be distinguished from the Kurds sur- rounding them ; those on the Mesopotamia plain, Syrians or Chaldeans, were constantly subject to the oppression of the Pashas; the Maronites of Syria occupied the Lebanon heights and the Copts were in the towns of the Nile valley. In European Turkey attention was mostly drawn to the Ser- vians and Wallachians ; the Bulgarians had as yet not attained any such national power as to bring them particularly into prominence. The early part of the reign of Mahmud II accomplished very little for the Christians. Attention was directed more especially to the Greeks and their efforts for independence, and foreign nations were too absorbed in their international politics to pay much attention to the general condition of the Sultan's Christian subjects. The Greek insurrection brought heavy loss upon their communities, and the massacre at Scio, which left scarce 900 out of 100,000, startled the whole Chris- tian world and operated strongly to bring about the inde- pendence of Greece, just as, later, the Bulgarian massacres resulted in an independent Bulgaria. Mahmud's ideas were tolerant. He realized the value to the state of the ability and shrewdness of his Christian subjects, as is shown by his calling numbers of Armenians to hold positions of influence in the government, and had he been free to act as he desired, un- doubtedly their condition would have been very much amelio- rated. As it was, it improved. One influence that worked 268 GOLDEN ERA. in this direction was the arrival of the American missionaries at Constantinople in 1831 and their subsequent rapid spread over the empire. The first effect indeed seemed unfortunate. The preaching of evangelical ideas aroused the bitterest hostility of the Armenian and Greek ecclesiastics, and appeared to increase the difficulties. This very fact, however, aroused attention, and the persecution of the Evangelicals called out the sympathies of Lord Stratford, who, though always holding an impartial position, never allowing himself to appear as the special defender of the missionaries, was able to bring to bear considerable influence in favor of religious liberty and thus improve the general condition of the people. The war with Mehemet Ali and his son, Ibrahim Pasha, was felt very severely by the interior Christian communities, and when Mahmud II died, in 1839, there seemed little hope of great improvement. The reign of Abd-ul-Medjid, 1 839-1 861, was, at least, so far as the Christians were concerned, the golden era of the Ottoman Sultans. He inherited his father's liberal ideas, and furthermore had the good sense to call to his aid some of the best statesmen that Turkey has known, men who cordially endorsed his schemes for the general improvement of the situation in the empire. Almost his first act was the promul- gation of the Hatti Sherif of Gulhane, a charter of equal rights for all subjects of the Sultan. This was chiefly political in its scope, having regard to the relations between the subject and the government, and is noticed somewhat at length in the chapter on Reforms and Progress. It was noticeable chiefly, so far as the Christians were concerned, for its recognition of their right to the same protection and justice which was accorded to Moslems. The difficulty of carrying out any such 9111 TAN OF TURKEY. Sultan Abdul H amid II is now fifty-four years Sonar h y aS par?y\ a arn?ad d etrnL,r%sp n „ d ns'lnle b Ior the terrfble outrages in h,s empire, HATTI HUMAYOUN. 271 scheme as this was made evident by the terrible massacres which occurred in Eastern Turkey, when the Nestorians and Jacobites suffered at the hands of Badir Khan Bey and his Turkish hordes (see chapter on the Nestorians). In general, however, there was peace, and on every hand the condition of the Christian population improved. In 1853 appeared a firman recognizing the Protestant com- munity and giving them all the rights belonging to any other Christian race. This was a great advance in the recognition of the principle of religious liberty, and paved the way for the next step. In 1856 appeared the most notable proclamation ever issued by a Moslem ruler, the Hatti Humayoun. This was specially for the Christian races, and on account of its great importance as well as general interest, is given below in full. HATTI HUMAYOUN. " Let it be done as herein set forth.* "To you, my Grand Vizier, Mohammed Emin Ali Pasha, decorated with my imperial order of the medjidieh of the first class, and with the order of personal merit ; may God grant to you greatness and increase your power. " It has always been my most earnest desire to insure the happiness of all classes of the subjects whom Divine Providence has placed under my im- perial sceptre, and since my accession to the throne I have not ceased to di- rect all my efforts to the attainment of that end. "Thanks to the Almighty, these unceasing efforts have already been pro- ductive of numerous useful results. From day to day the happiness of the nation and the wealth of my dominions go on augmenting. " It being now my desire to renew and enlarge still more the new institu- tions ordained with a view of establishing a state of things conformable with the dignity of my empire and the position which it occupies among civilized nations, and the rights of my empire having, by the fidelity and * These words, written by the Sultan's own hand, constitute the decree a Hatti Hu- mayoun. 272 PRIVILEGES SECURED. praiseworthy efforts of all my subjects, and by the kind and friendly assist- ance of the great powers, my noble allies, received from abroad a confir- mation which will be the commencement of a new era, it is my desire to augment its well-being and prosperity, to effect the happiness of all my sub- jects, who in my sight are all equal, and equally dear to me, and who are united to each other by the cordial ties of patriotism, and to insure the means of daily increasing the prosperity of my empire. "I have therefore resolved upon, and I order the execution of the fol- lowing measures : " The guarantees promised on our part by the Hatti Humayoun of Gul- hane (No. 188), and in conformity with the Tanzimat (scheme of reform), to all the subjects of my empire, without distinction of classes or of religion, for the security of their persons and property, and the preservation of their honor, are to-day confirmed and consolidated, and efficacious measures shall be taken in order that they may have their full, entire effect. "All the privileges and spiritual immunities granted by my ancestors ab antiquo, and at subsequent dates, to all Christian communities or other non- Mussulman persuasions established in my empire, under my protection, shall be confirmed and maintained. " Every Christian or other non-Mussulman community shall be bound within a fixed period, and with the concurrence of a commission composed ad hoc of members of its own body, to proceed, with my high approbation and under the inspection of my Sublime Porte, to examine into its actual im- munities and privileges, and to discuss and submit to my Sublime Porte the reforms required by the progress of civilization and of the age. The powers conceded to the Christian patriarchs and bishops by the Sultan Mohammed II, and by his successors, shall be made to harmonize with the new position which my generous and beneficent intentions insure to those communities. "The principle of nominating the patriarchs for life, after the revision of the rule of election now in force, shall be exactly carried out, conformably to the tenor of their firmans of investiture. " The patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops and rabbins shall take an oath on their entrance into office, according to a form agreed upon in common by my Sublime Porte and the spiritual heads of the different re- ligious communities. The ecclesiastical dues, of whatever sort or nature they be, shall be abolished and replaced by fixed revenues of the patriarchs and heads of communities, and by the allocations of allowances and salaries FREE WORSHIP. 273 equitably proportioned to the importance, the rank, and the dignity of the different members of the clergy. "The property, real or personal, of the different Christian ecclesiastics shall remain intact; the temporal administration of the Christian or other non-Mussulman communities shall, however, be placed under the safeguard of an assembly to be chosen from among the members, both ecclesiastics and laymen, of the said communities. "In the towns, small boroughs, and villages where the whole population is of the same religion, no obstacle shall be offered to the repair, according to their original plan, of buildings set apart for religious worship, for schools, for hospitals and for cemeteries. " The plans of these different buildings in case of their new erection, must, after having been approved by the patriarchs or heads of communities, be submitted to my Sublime Porte, which will approve of them by my imperial order, or make known its observations upon them within a certain time. Each sect, in localities where there are no other religious denominations, shall be free from every species of restraint as regards the public exercise of its religion. " In the towns, small boroughs, and villages where different sects are mingled together, each community inhabiting a distinct quarter, shall, by conforming to the above-mentioned ordinances, have equal power to repair and improve its churches, its hospitals, its schools, and its cemeteries. When there is question of their erection of new buildings, the necessary au- thority must be asked for, through the medium of the patriarchs and heads of communities from my Sublime Porte, which will pronounce a sovereign decision according that authority, except in the case of administrative ob- stacles. "The intervention of the administrative authority in all measures of this nature will be entirely gratuitous. My Sublime Porte Will take energetic measures to insure to each sect, whatever be the number of its adherents, entire freedom in the exercise of its religion. Every distinction or designa- tion tending to make any class whatever of the subjects of my empire inferior to another class, on account of their religion, language, or race, shall be for- ever effaced from administrative protocol. The laws shall be put in force against the use of any injurious or offensive term, either among private in- dividuals or on the part of the authorities. "As all forms of religion are and shall be freely professed in my dominions, 274 MIXED TRIBUNALS. no subject of my empire shall be hindered in the exercise of the religion that he professes, nor shall he be in any way annoyed on this account. No one shall be compelled to change his religion. "The nomination and choice of all functionaries and other employes of my empire being wholly dependent upon my sovereign will, all the subjects of my empire, without distinction of nationality, shall be admissible to pub- lic employments, and qualified to fill them according to their capacity and merit, and conformably with the rules to be generally applied. "All the subjects of my empire, without distinction, shall be received into the civil and military schools of the government, if they otherwise satisfy the conditions as to age and examination which are specified in the organic regulations of the said schools. Moreover, every community is authorized to establish public schools of science, art, and industry. Only the method of instruction and the choice of professors in schools of this class shall be un- der the control of a mixed council of public instruction, the members of which shall be named by my sovereign command. "All commercial, correctional, and criminal suits between Mussulmans and Christians, or other non-Mussulman subjects, or between Christian or other non -Mussulmans of different sects, shall be referred to mixed tribunals. "The proceedings of these tribunals shall be public; the parties shall be confronted and shall produce their witnesses, whose testimony shall be re- ceived without distinction, upon an oath taken according to the religious law of each sect. "Suits relating to civil affairs shall continue to be publicly tried, accord- ing to the laws and regulations, before the mixed provincial councils, in the presence of the governor and judge of the place. " Special civil proceedings, such as those relating to successions or others of that kind, between subjects of the same Christian or other non-Mus- sulman faith, may, at the request of the parties, be sent before the councils of the patriarchs or of the communities. " Penal, correctional, and commercial laws, and rules of procedure for the mixed tribunals, shall be drawn up as soon as possible and formed into a code. Translations of them shall be published in all the languages current in the empire. "Proceedings shall be taken with as little delay as possible, for the re- form of the penitentiary system as applied to houses of detention, punish- ment, or correction, and other establishments of like nature, so as TAXES AND PROPERTY. 375 to reconcile the rights of humanity with those of justice. Corporal punishment shall not be administered, even in the prisons, except in con- formity with the disciplinary regulations established by my Sublime Porte ; and everything that resembles torture shall be entirely abolished. " Infractions of the law in this particular shall be severely repressed, and shall besides entail, as of right, the punishment, in comformity with the civil code, of the authorities who may order and of the agents who may commit them. "The organization of the police in the capital, in the provincial towns and in the rural districts, shall be revised in such a manner as to give to all the peaceable subjects of my empire the strongest guarantees for the safety both of their persons and property. "The equality of taxes entailing equality of burdens, as equality of duties entails that of rights, Christian subjects and those of other non-Mus- sulman sects, as it has been already decided, shall, as well as Mussul- mans, be subject to the obligations of the law of recruitment. "The principle of obtaining substitutes, or of purchasing, shall be admitted. A complete law shall be published, with as little delay as possi- ble, respecting the admission into and service in the army of Christian and other non-Mussulman subjects. "Proceedings shall be taken for a reform in the constitution of the pro- vincial and communal councils in order to insure fairness in the choice of the deputies of the Mussulman, Christian, and other communities, and freedom of voting in the councils. " My Sublime Porte will take into consideration the adoption of the most effectual means for ascertaining exactly and for controlling the result of the deliberations and of the decisions arrived at. "As the laws regulating the purchase, sale, and disposal of real property are common to all the subjects of my empire, it shall be lawful for for- eigners to possess landed property in my dominions, conforming themselves to the laws and police regulations, and bearing the same charges as the na- tive inhabitants, and after arrangements have been come to with foreign powers.* * On the 18th of January, 1867, a law was passed granting to foreigners the right to hold real property in the Ottoman Empire, and on the 28th of July, 1868, a protocol was signed between the British and Turkish Governments relative to the admission of British subjects to the right of holding real property in Turkey. 276 COUNCIL OF JUSTICE. "The taxes are to be levied under the same denomination from all the subjects of my empire, without distinction of class or religion. The most prompt and energetic means for remedying the abuses in collecting the taxes, and especially the tithes, shall be considered. "The system of direct collections shall gradually,and as soon as possible, be substituted for the plan of farming, in all the branches of the revenues of state. As long as the present system remains in force, all agents of the gov- ernment and all members of the medjlis shall be forbidden, under the severest penalties, to become lessees of any farming contracts which are an- nounced for public competition, or to have any beneficial interest in carry- ing them out. The local taxes shall, as far as possible, be so imposed as not to affect the sources of production or to hinder the progress of in- ternal commerce. "Works of public utility shall receive a suitable endowment, part of which shall be raised from private and special taxes levied in the prov- vinces, which shall have the benefit of the advantages arising from the es- tablishment of ways of communication by land and sea. "A special law having been already passed, which declares that the budget of the revenues and the expenditure of the state shall be drawn up and made known every year, the said law shall be most scrupulously observed. Proceedings shall be taken for revising the emoluments attached to each office. "The heads of each community and a delegate, designated by my Sub- lime Porte, shall be summoned to take part in the deliberations of the su- preme council of justice on all occasions which might interest the generality of the subjects of my empire. They shall be summoned specially for this purpose by my Grand Vizier. The delegates shall hold office for one year ; they shall be sworn on entering upon their duties. All the members of the council, at the ordinary and extraordinary meetings, shall freely give their opinions and their votes, and no one shall ever annoy them on this account. "The laws against corruption, extortion or malversation shall apply, ac- cording to the legal forms, to all the subjects of my empire, whatever may be their class and the nature of their duties. " Steps shall be taken for the formation of banks and other similar insti- tutions, so as to effect a reform in the monetary and financial system, as well as to create funds to be employed in augmenting the sources of the material wealth of my empire. Steps shall also be taken for the formation IMPROVED CONDITIONS. %77 of roads and canals to increase the facilities of communication and in- crease the sources of the wealth of the country. "Everything that can impede commerce or agriculture shall be abol- ished. To accomplish these objects, means shall be sought to profit by the science, the art, and the funds of Europe, and thus gradually to execute them. "Such being my wishes and my commands, you, who are my Grand Vizier, will, according to custom, cause this imperial firman to be published in my 'capital and in all parts of my empire; and you will watch attentively and take all the necessary measures that all the orders which it contains be henceforth carried out with the most rigorous punctuality. "10 Dzemaziul, 1272 (February 18, 1856)."* During the remainder of the reign of Abd-ul-Medjid, and that of Abd-ul-Aziz (1861-1 876), the condition of the Christians throughout the empire generally improved. Outbreaks were not wanting. There was the massacre of Maronites by the Druzes in i860, and the intrigues of Russia resulted in the Bulgarian atrocities, which, in turn, resulted in the Russo- Turkish war and Bulgarian independence. For the most part, however, the situation was far better than it had been at any time. This, not merely in general prosperity, but in the re- lation between Christians and Moslems. Terms of reproach were heard less. There was greater freedom of worship and education, and it began to be possible for a Christian to secure some justice in the Turkish courts. Christians became numer- ous in administrative offices, and in the councils in the interior provinces. Taxation, while heavy, was less unevenly divided, and it became not unusual for a Christian to acquire property without attractine the notice of the Turkish authorities, and losing it all through the machinations of some jealous official. Appeals, also, were more frequently made to the higher courts, * This document, as also the Hatti Sherif, has been taken from Van Dyck's report on the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire, published at Washington, D. C, 1 881. 278 PROSPERITY AND INTRIGUES. and local magnates learned that there was a power higher than their own which they must respect. In this, the presence of the American Missionaries assisted greatly. While not interfering in the administration of the government, they frequently protested to the local governors against manifest injustice and assisted in the forwarding of complaints to Con- stantinople. The Patriarchs found cordial support at the hands of the foreign ambassadors, and not infrequently Turks looked on with envy, saying to the Armenians, "When an official treats you unjustly, you have some redress. You can send to your bishop and he to the Patriarch, and he can get the great Ambassador from Europe to support his plea. The result is, you get justice. We have nobody to go to. The official is one of us. He will forward no petitions, and we must simply accept his decision, whatever it may be." This amelioration of their condition was assisted not a little by the political necessities of the times, and the fact that Abd-ul-Aziz was so absorbed with his plans for aggrandize- ment that he thought chiefly of using every means that came to his hand. He found the Christians very useful, and ad- vanced them so that they became a great power in the land. Governors hesitated before they incurred their hostility, and they were able to do much for their fellow-subjects. This sort of prosperity, however, had its dangers. Intrigue in- creased on every hand, and the coming in contact with the new ideas of the West operated in some respects quite un- favorably (see chapter on the Armenians). It must not be supposed, however, that there was no oppres- sion. There was, and the suffering in many places was intense. It would have been impossible for even the most enlightened government to thoroughly carry out such radical IMPROVED GENERAL SITUATION. 279 reforms as those of the Hatti Humayoun without great diffi- culty, and in Turkey this was greatly increased by the fact that they were bitterly opposed by the entire Moslem popula- tion. Turkish pashas, sheiks, beys, and aghas were not slow to see that their power was on the wane, and Turkish peasants realized that the Christians were outstripping them in many of the elements of prosperity. Officials thus used their power when they could, and Turkish citizens made their hostility manifest in the most unpleasant ways. The incursions of Kurds, Circassians, Lozes, and others were also frequent, and the suffering was intense in many places. Peace and pros- perity had by no means ccme. Yet, on the whole, the situa- tion of the Christians was far better when Abd-ul-Hamid II came to the throne in 1876, than it had been at any time since the establishment of the Ottoman dynasty. CHAPTER XVI. The Turkish Government. True Moslem State Theocratic — Dual Form of the Present Government — The Sublime Porte Army and Navy — Internal Administration — Financial Management — General Corruption — Administration of Justice — Treatment of Christians — The Ulema — The Palace Party — The Sultan. " THERE can be no proper understanding of die situation in Turkey without a knowledge of the peculiar char- acter of the Turkish Government. That government is in reality dual in form. So far as the outside world is concerned it is on the basis of an absolute monarchy or despotism. The Sultan is the autocrat of his empire, but has under him a complete organization of departments conducted by the ap- propriate chiefs who form his cabinet. To the Moslem, however, the same government bears another aspect, and side by side with this organization that is apparent to the Western eye there is another, which to the true Turk takes precedence of it. The original Moslem State was distinctly theocratic in its nature, and its entire organization was based upon the idea that religion was the controlling element in the conduct of all affairs, national, municipal and family. Both forms, however, centre in the Sultan himself, and under the (280) THE SUBLIME PORTE. 28 1 peculiar conditions of his life there has grown up a third element, often distinct from and even antagonistic to the others — the palace element. Each one of these three play an important part in the affairs of the empire. The Turkish Government as it stands before the world at large is organized like any other government. The Sultan is the supreme head; under him is the Council of Ministers, called Medjliss-i-Hass. This consists of the following mem- bers : the Grand Vizier, the Sheik-ul-Islam, and the Ministers of the Interior, of Foreign Affairs, of War, of Finance, of Marine, of Commerce, of Public Instruction and of Evkaf, together with the President of the Council of State and the Grand Master of Artillery. These different departments constitute what is known as the Sublime Porte, and are carried on in much the same way as the corresponding de- partments in this country or in any European country, and most of them require no special description. The Grand Vizier, as president of the Council, holds much the same power as the Premier in England. Theoretically he has the power to decide matters in any department on his own judg- ment, and his endorsement of an undertaking is almost sure to insure its success whether the rest of the Cabinet approve it or not. Of the other members there are only three whose office needs any special description. These are the Sheik-ul- Islam, the Minister of Evkaf and the Minister of Public In- struction. The Sheik-ul-Islam is popularly supposed to be the head of the Moslem religion. This, however, is not true. He is merely the representative in this Council of the Moslem Hie- rarchy. Theoretically he is nominated by the Sultan with the approval of the Ulemas, or general body of Moslem 282 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. Doctors of Law. Practically he is the choice, as are the other members of the Council, of the Grand Vizier, who has the privilege usually of making up his own Cabinet, as has the English Premier. His membership in the Council is in most cases honorary rather than important. Only under rare instances does he come into position to exercise any positive influence upon affairs. On the occasion of the death of Sultan Abdul Aziz, the conspirators applied to the Ulema, who made a statement that the Sultan was not fit to govern, and as their mouthpiece the Sheik-ul-Islam issued a decree oi fetva, which made his deposition lawful. So also when it became necessary politically to replace Murad by his brother Abdul Hamid, the Sheik-ul-Islam was called upon, and, agree- ably to the influences brought to bear, issued the order. There have been similar instances at other times, but since the reorganization of the empire by Sultan Mahmud II the office has been as a rule honorary rather than practical. The Minister of Public Instruction is a Cabinet Minister by virtue of the peculiar relations existing between the govern- ment and the Mosque schools, and the necessity, under a despotic government, of watching that nothing shall be taught in one school that shall antagonize what is taught in another or be in the slightest degree derogatory to the general government. The important duty in regard to the schools connected with the Mosques, has to do not so much with the education itself as with the control of that very large portion of the revenues of the country which is applied to their sup- port. Another department under the same head is that of the censorship. How important a department this is will be manifest later on, illustrations of it being given in the chapter on the condition of the empire in 1894. The countries MOSQUES. 283 where this department occupies a somewhat parallel position are Russia, Austria and Spain, where the censorship is very rigid and the oversight by the government of all departments of instruction is very complete. The Minister of Evkaf has duties entirely unlike those of any cabinet minister in European countries. They arise from the inevitable mingling of the two characteristics of the Turkish Government. The term vakoufis applied to property which in one form or another is directed to religious uses and generally indicates that belonging to the Mosques. It is acquired in two ways ; the property of any man who dies intestate reverts under Turkish law not to the State itself, but to the nearest Mosque. In addition to this, if any man de- sires to secure special divine favor, such as is awarded par- ticularly to the charitable, according to Moslem teaching, he may transfer during his lifetime or deed after his death any portion of his property to any particular Mosque. He, how- ever, has the privilege of securing an annuity based upon this property to some member of his own family or some one whom he desires especially to favor. The result is that a very large amount, estimated at from one-third to one-half, of the real estate in the Turkish Empire is owned by the Mosques in this way ; the income, however, not by any means being entirely under the control of the Mosques them. selves. It is evident that the direction of this involves a very extended organization, and the elevation of it into a depart- ment whose head shall be in the Cabinet was perfectly natural. It will be easily seen that the style of questions arising in such a case is very varied. Where a person wishes to buy real estate the first thing he has to do is to find out whether it, or any portion of it, is vakouf. If so, he must, in making his 17 284 MILITARY DEPARTMENTS. contract, bind himself to pay the regular tax directly to the Mosque or to the holder of the annuity. This can be done without great difficulty. But in case he should die and the property be divided according to law among his heirs, and one of those heirs should die, then the portion of that heir goes to the Mosque. Various methods have been devised to over- come such difficulties. Two are provided for by Turkish law: (i) A lump sum may be paid to the Mosque, securing com- plete quittal of all claims ; (2) The purchaser may find some unencumbered property, and, by payment to its owners of a consideration, secure its acceptance by the Mosque in lieu of the property that he wishes. The military departments of the government are organized and officered very much as in other governments. The army is divided into the Nizam, or regular army ; the Redif, or reserves, and the Mustahfiz, or veterans. Military service is compulsory on all able-bodied Mohammedans for six years in the regular army, eight years in the reserve, and six in the veteran service. There are, however, the following excep- tions : (1) All Turks residing in Constantinople and its sub- urbs are released; (2) Those who are infirm, are the sole sup- port of their families, or for any special reason may claim exception, are required to go through from six to nine months' drill in the regular battalion in the first year of their service, and thirty days' drill at their homes in every subsequent year, and are also liable on emergency to be called to join the regular army. Non-Moslems are prohibited from entering the military service, but instead pay an exemption tax, which is levied alike on males of all acres. The effect of this has been to create a heavy strain upon the Moslem population throughout the empire, while the Christians have found it to EFFECTIVE FORCE. 285 their advantage to pay the tax rather than to endure the con- scription. In the apportionment of the troops it has been the rule never to allow soldiers to serve in the districts near their homes. Thus the troops employed in the garrisons in the north are levied from among the Moslems of Syria and Meso- potamia, while those accustomed to the snows and high alti- tudes of Asia Minor are sent into the heated plains of the south. Whatever advantage might result from this separation from their homes is more than counterbalanced by the strain upon the physical constitution. The total effective force of the regular Turkish army in times of peace is estimated at about 150,000 men and 9,800 officers, divided into 264 bat- talions of infantry, 189 squadrons of cavalry, 104 batteries of field artillery, 36 batteries of mountain and 29 battalions of garrison artillery, 4 battalions of infantry train, 14 battalions of artificers, 3 battalions of fire brigade, 22 companies of engi- neers, 2 sanitary companies and 1 telegraph company. The total force that it is estimated might be put into the field under the present system is said to be about 800,000 men. The rank and file is of excellent material. There are no better soldiers in the world than the Turks. They are faithful, obedient, fearless, and accustomed to the utmost fru- gality of life. The same, however, cannot be said of the officers. There are brave, efficient men among them ; but for the most part they show the same defects as other Turks in official position, and their weakness affects very seriously the whole army. The Turkish navy is the laughing stock of all who know anything about it. In numbers it is strong, and probably, if it were kept in repair and sufficiently well manned, it might be available for warfare. As a matter of fact, its principal use 286 ABDUL AZIZ' EXTRAVAGANCE. for the last few years has been to make annual trips from the inner harbor to the Bosporus and back again, in which trips it has to pass the two bridges that span the Golden Horn, and if it gets through without really damaging the bridges, it is matter of public comment and congratulation in the press. The present navy owes its origin to the ambition and extrava- gance of Sultan Abdul Aziz, who, having found that money was to be had in Europe for the asking, paid little attention to the conditions of the payment of interest, and borrowed right and left for the purpose of building palaces, public works of various kinds, and a navy. He had, however, to import engineers and officers ; for seamen he relied in some degree upon Dalma- tians, but they could not supply the demand, and he fell back upon the Turks. The Turks are as poor sailors as most Ori- entals, and as a matter of fact the fleet has been and is worth next to nothing for offensive or even for defensive purposes. The general collapse of the finances of the empire has made it difficult to pay the engineers ; the ships have not been well cared for, and are practically of no account in estimating the strength of the nation. There are 1 5 armor-clad ships of con- siderable power, and 42 others, some of them of very little value. Its nominal strength is 6 vice-admirals, 1 1 rear admi- rals, 208 captains, 704 under officers, 30,000 sailors, and 9,460 marines. The department which at present attracts most attention is that of the Interior. For administrative purposes the empire is divided into vilayets (provinces), which are subdivided into sanjaks or livas (governments or arrondissements), these again into kazas (counties), and these into nahies (communes). The governors of these divisions are styled Valis, or Walis, Mutessarifs, Kaimakams and Mudirs, The first two officers, D no o N (/> i d o ■3 c C/l — h o q rr c f+ r+ ft 3" V) < THE MEDJLISS. 289 who have the title of Pasha, and the third, are appointed by the Council of State at Constantinople, the fourth by the Valis. The last is generally some local magistrate ; the others are usually from places at some distance from where they hold office. Their duties are both judicial and executive, and each is practically autocrat within his own jurisdiction, subject only to his immediate superior. There is a council connected with each of these offices, composed of prominent members of the different communities, Moslem and Christian, whose business it is to advise the governor in the many details of his office. The different communities have a loose organization called the medjliss, which meets on occasion to discuss local matters, and which is represented in a sort of council associated with the governor. The general character of the provincial gov- ernment is largely dependent upon the Governor-General, or Vali. If he is a man who seeks to deal justly by the people, and who has a pretty firm hand, there is order and quiet, for the people are usually peaceable. If he is an ava- ricious man, that characteristic, always existent to a greater or less degree, pervades the whole administration, and the shrewdest politicians come out best. If he is easy-going, caring more for his comfort, or kef, his subordinates do much as they please, and that pleasure is, as a rule, to fleece the people to the best of their ability. Occasionally, though it must be said rarely, the governor is a man of marked bru- tality, and then woe betide any in city or country who for any reason incur his hostility. When it is remembered that ap- pointments to provincial offices are seldom made with any reference to the welfare of the province, but usually as a mat- ter of favor to some one who desires to recover wasted for- tune, or whom revenge seeks to remove from Constantinople, 2 GO FINANCE. it will be readily seen that the chances are all in favor of poor rather than good government Taking into account also the fact of the absolute autocracy of the governor, and the utter lack of supervision, the wonder is not that the provinces are governed so badly, but that they are not governed worse. The financial management of the government is probably the worst in existence. Properly speaking, Turkey has no finance. There are revenues, but no regular way of collect- ing them. There are salaries, but no regular way of paying them. The result is chaos. From the Sultan down to the lowest grade in the public service it is a scramble for money, each one getting all he can and giving up as little as possible. Many of the revenues are mortgaged to pay the loans con- tracted, chiefly during the extravagant reign of Abdul Aziz, and are under the absolute control of a commission of foreigners. The tithes are farmed out to the highest bidders, who have the whole power of the government at their disposal to enable them to collect all they can, on the general principle of a division of any profits between the collectors and the authorities. Tax receipts are repeatedly refused, so that when subsequent collectors come they can take advantage of their absence to collect back taxes to the very limit of possibility. Enumerators for personal taxes make their lists small so as to lessen the amount for which they are held responsible, while in view of this they levy on the community as high as the community will give. Importers try to secure undervalu- ation of their goods, land-owners undervaluation of their land, peasants hide their grain, and men will often bear imprison- ment, and even the severest beating, rather than reveal their deposits. In case of special need at Constantinople, requisition is BRIBERY AND EXTORTION. 291 made upon some province for a certain sum. Forthwith all the efforts of every member of the administration of that province are directed to two things : (1) to lessen if possible the amount demanded ; (2) to secure for themselves a portion of the money that must be collected. Spies and informers abound on every hand, and exceptional harvests, fortunate investments, fat legacies, are made the pretexts of all sorts of pressure. Salaries are always in arrears for months, and sometimes years. The announcement that the treasury is to pay a month's salary to the clerks of the departments, or to the army and navy, is a matter of public comment and adver- tisements in the newspapers. But people must live. Hence bribery and extortion rule everywhere. Judges, officials of every grade, even heads of departments, rely for their sup- port, not upon the government itself, but upon what influence they can exert on the lives and fortunes of others, and upon appropriating at least a little of what passes through their hands. The general conduct of the various departments is thus inevitably the poorest. There is not the faintest pretense of civil service. All appointments go by favor, and, with rare exceptions, the amount of work accomplished is lamentably, even ludicrously, small. It is absolutely impossible to get anything done in any of the departments except by one of two means : constant pressure combined with the endorse- ment of a superior official, or the most unblushing bribery. Fees abound on every hand, and are given openly without any apparent idea that there is anything derogatory to the officials in taking them. In the Custom House there is a reg- ular scale of fees ; so much to the porter who takes things out of the lighter; so much to the inspector; so much to the 292 CONCESSIONS. clerk, and so on from the bottom up. The inevitable result is that there is false swearing on every hand, and the dues supposed to be received seldom reach intact the treasuries of the government. When it comes to the question of securing concessions, the matter is still worse. Some ten years ago a small book, called "Minor Memoirs of Turkey," was pub- lished, full of curious details. Among them was a list of bribes received by dignitaries of the Ottoman Government ; they included 75,000 Turkish pounds paid by a railway com- pany to two secretaries, a chamberlain at the palace, a minis- ter in the cabinet, etc. A tobacco monopoly company paid 1 2,000 pounds to various officials ; the directors of a bank in Galata remitted 125,000 pounds as an agent for some enter- prise. The court chamberlain received 60,000 pounds from Baron , through a certain effendi, for a concession. Whether these particular instances are absolutely correct or not, makes very little difference. It is perfectly notorious, and has been for years, that every concession of any kind for public works has to pass the gauntlet of bribes from the lowest official at the Sublime Porte to the palace itself. It is true that some enterprises are carried through without bribes, but they owe their success to personal favor. One who was well posted in Turkish Government dealings has said, that " strong as Baksheesh Pasha is, Khatir Pasha is still stronger." (Khatir is what is done out of courtesy. If a Turk is asked to do a thing as a personal favor, it lays a heavier obligation upon him than even the presentation of a bribe, if the per- sonal relations are at all intimate.) To give in anything like full detail a description of the methods adopted in the differ- ent departments of the Turkish Government, would require several chapters of itself, and would reveal an amount of ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 2Q3 trickery, deception and fraud which would be almost incredible. In the administration of justice there is a system of laws and of courts based upon the Napoleon code. There is a certain amount of regular law practiced. Here, however, the Moslem organization comes into such close relation with what we may call the European organization, that special reference is reserved for a later paragraph. The policing of the country is in the hands of the military, although the police force is a different organization from that of the regular army. The personnel of the different departments is almost en- tirely Moslem, except where Turks are simply incapable of performing the duties. To Mahmud II must be given the credit of recognizing the superior ability of his Christian subjects, and of employing them in the various departments of the government. His practice was enlarged upon by Sul- tans Abdul Medjid and Abdul Aziz. When the present Sultan came to the throne, Armenians and Greeks were quite numer- ous as clerks in the various departments. Some rose to high position and were greatly honored. During the present reign, however, the number of these has been steadily dimin- ishing, and their places have been taken by Turks. The Turk, not being well adapted to bureaucratic work, the gen- eral conduct of the empire has suffered proportionately." It is to be noted that the diplomatic service of the Turkish Em- pire is chiefly in the hands of the Greeks. There are few, if any, Armenians. In the local administrative service the Armenians outnumber the Greeks. The presence of these men in the service is referred to as indicative of the kindly feeling of the government for the Christian subjects. This does not by any means follow. Their presence is due, not to any favor on the part of the Sultan or his ministers, but to 294 MOSLEM ORGANIZATION. the fact that they are absolutely essential for the efficient con- duct of the government. Turning now to the Moslem organization, we find that originally it was not dissimilar in form to the other. It is based, however, upon an entirely different idea. In it the Sultan is not an executive, but is the caliph ; primarily the de- fender of the faith, and only incidentally the governor of the people. He has associated with him the different prefects, practically ministers, who are his subordinates, and yet auto- crats each in his own department under his general authority. So far as relations to foreign governments are concerned, there is not so much of difference. In the conduct of home affairs the difference is very marked, especially in the Department of Justice. There the whole principle of judgment is based upon the Moslem law, including both the Koran and the tra- ditions. Those traditions recognize as the fundamental prin- ciple of law the faith and declaration of belief in the unity of God. Every person who denies that is an idolater, and un- worthy of position equal to that of the true Moslem. Thus no Christian testimony is available in a court of law, and in any difference between himself and a Moslem, his interest is entirely a secondary matter. The fact that the traditions were very inchoate and uncertain left an enormous amount of room for all kinds of legal quibbles. So long as the conduct of the courts was on this basis pure and simple, the absolute subordination of the Christians was very plain. They had no rights of any kind, and when, by virtue of a sort of rude jus- tice, they occasionally were treated honorably, it was so much clear gain. When, however, the new organization was brought side by side with the old, and the Napoleon code was made of equal importance with the law of the Cheri, then AN ILLUSTRATION. 295 there was a constant strife as to which should get the better of the other, and between the two, even less of justice was done than was accomplished by the former, except where there were influences at work to compel, through diplomatic pres- sure, the granting of just dues. An illustration will orive an idea of the situation better than any general description. A foreigner purchased a house in an interior city of Turkey which had been offered for open sale by the government, which had sequestered it in lieu of taxes due from its owner, an Armenian. A thorough o-overn- ment title was given, and possession seemed absolutely sure. After a few years the original owner died, leaving a son who had not yet attained his majority. Meanwhile the foreigner had improved the property so much that it had doubled, per- haps tripled, in value. The son, on coming of age, wanted to get back his ancestral property, and applied to the courts, claiming that the original seizure by the government was un- just, inasmuch as according to the Moslem law the rights of a minor could not be prejudiced by the debts of the father. The thing was brought before the local cadi, and for a con- sideration he decided in favor of the young man, and the for- eigner was immediately ordered to leave. There had been no opportunity for his case to be presented ; simply the instruc- tions came from the courts that he was to withdraw, and a platoon of soldiers was sent to enforce the order. Being- a foreigner, however, he had the right to refuse entrance to the Turkish troops, and the matter was referred to Constanti- nople. There it was brought before the regular court, and the representatives of the foreigner said, " If the man has been defrauded, why, that is not our business. The government gave us a good title and took our money; we have improved 296 NON-MOSLEM RIGHTS. the property. Now, if the house belongs to this young man, we shall bring suit against the government for the money paid, the interest paid upon that money, and for the value of the improvements." They utterly refused to go into the question of the original sequestration. This put the govern- ment in a difficult position. They were entirely unwilling to pay the money, and at the same time there was the decision of their courts. So an experienced Moslem jurist was called in, and he found that by some other precept of Moslem law the minor had lost his rights through not having presented his claim on a certain date. The result of the whole thing was that the property remained in the hands of the for- eigner. Two other points deserve special mention : the position of Christians in the courts, and the general relation of the gov- ernment as a protector. According to the true Moslem posi- tion, as stated above, no infidel (and all non-Moslems are infidels) has any standing before the law. His word is of no value, and his testimony is worthless in comparison with that of the true believer. Under the general reforms inaugurated by Sultan Mahmud and carried on by his successor, this was changed in theory, and, by the Hatti Humayoun, the Christian's witness was accepted on a par with that of the Moslem. Had the new code been the only one in force, or had it been pos- sible to institute courts all over the country, it would have been comparatively easy to accomplish the change ; but the continuance of the old system throughout the rural districts, and in many matters, notably real estate transfers in the cities, occasioned great confusion, which worked constantly to delay and hamper the development of the Christians. As a matter of fact, the local courts throughout the empire, in mat- SUPPRESSING CHRISTIANS. 297 ters affecting Moslems and Christians, have been and still are conducted on the general basis of the distinctively Moslem law, and not on that of the Napoleon code. The same thing is true of the general relations of the Chris- tians to the government in all matters regarding his protec- tion. The old formula was, " Islam, tribute, or the sword," with an at least implied pledge of protection for those who accepted the tribute. This was assured to the Christians by various edicts, notably the Hatti Humayoun. Yet repeatedly it has been manifest that the old Moslem law is practically in force, according to which the moment a Christian becomes in any way an element of uneasiness in the community, or of hos- tility to the government, he may be suppressed. A doctor of Moslem law, when questioned on this point, frankly acknowledged the truth of the statement, and went on to say that even if the Christian had done nothing, he might be in- cited to some overt act which would give a pretext for sup- pressing him. This fact throws a flood of light on the claim of the Turkish Government that it has been suppressing rebellion. This distinctively Moslem idea is represented in the actual government of Turkey in many ways. The Sheik-ul-Islam is its formal representative in the cabinet, but it has absolute control over the Board of Censors, in the Department of Public Instruction, as will be seen in the chapter on the situa- tion in 1894. It is also dominant in the Department of Evkaf, and practically, though not theoretically so, in the Department of Justice. In the interior provinces, however, with rare exceptions, it rules everywhere. The exponents are chiefly the cadis in the villages and towns, who look with marked disfavor on the new-fangled judges who have usurped their 298 THE PALACE. privileges, and who strive by every means to arrest their supremacy. In close sympathy with them are the Moslem priests, especially the Ulema, or Doctors of Moslem law, the Softas, or students of law. All of these are bitterly opposed to the introduction of what they consider the infidel code, and do not scruple to do all in their power to make it of no effect. When their numbers and their wide distribution are taken into account, it will be readily seen that while the parapher- nalia of the Turkish Government is to all appearances in accord with modern and European ideas, there is an influence not so visible, but very powerful, which renders it of ex- tremely little value in the actual conduct of the affairs of the empire. No one can live in Constantinople for any length of time, least of all have much dealing with the government, without learning the meaning of the term, "The Palace." Theoreti- cally it means the Sultan, with his environments of police officials and attendants ; practically it means in most cases those officials themselves, the Sultan being considered apart. Those officials include the officers of the palace, the chamber- lain, chief eunuch and private secretaries. There is also the introducer of ambassadors ; and aside from these there is generally a small coterie of men in whom the Sultan has per- sonal confidence. They hold no definite official position, but live near the palace and are summoned at any time that the Sultan desires their counsel. In addition to these there is usually a small company of ecclesiastics or of Dervishes, who have varying influence with the Sultan. The power of these different officials varies greatly at different times, and also as one subject or another comes up. Under some previous reigns, when the personal comfort of the Sultan was pre- GENERAL OSMAN PASHA. 299 dominant in his plans, the chief eunuch was often practically the ruler of the empire. It was said that he had considerable influence in the reign of Abdul Aziz. Under the present Sultan it is generally understood that he is purely a palace official, with no relation to outside matters. The introducer of ambassadors is generally a man personally agreeable to the Sultan, and who, by virtue of his acquaintance with the different representatives of the foreign governments, is able, in quiet, unofficial ways, to exert considerable influence. One man who has for a long time been quite prominent is the well- known General Osman Pasha. His heroic defense of Plevna made him quite a hero in Turkish eyes, and his influence in many things has been quite noticeable. With regard to the Dervishes, it is difficult to speak with any degree of certainty. They are men gathered from different parts of the empire, who for one reason or another, perhaps personal, perhaps due to the locality from which they came, have made them- selves agreeable to the Sultan or have made themselves useful. In general they represent to him the distinctively Moslem feeling of his empire and of the general Moslem world. There have been many reports as to their over- powering influence, and names have been given of one and another who seemed to dominate the Sultan absolutely. These reports must be taken with large allowance. While undoubtedly they have manifested considerable power on different occasions, it may be questioned whether that power has been at any time prominent or predominant, whether they have not more often been the tools of the Sultan rather than his masters. One other department should be mentioned, the Council of State or Privy Council. This is a large body, made up 3oo THE ULEMA. of most of those who have been prominent in public affairs. They may have been members of the Cabinet or not. Their duties are advisory rather than official. The only one among them having a definite position is the president, who is also a member of the Porte or Cabinet. In ordinary times they do not appear before the public to any great degree. On some occasions, however, they form a very influential element in the management of affairs. Reference has been also made to the Ulema. Of these there is no definite organization. It is a general body including the prominent instructors in Moslem law connected with the different Mosques. They appear in the regular government only in the person of the Sheik-ul- Islam, who is a member of the Cabinet or Sublime Porte. Dominating all these departments is the Sultan himself. His word is law, and no official order of the Porte, the Council of State, or connected with the Palace, can stand against his personal displeasure. At the same time, as in all autocratic governments, he is by no means an absolutely in- dependent ruler. He is compelled by force of circumstances to recognize the very diverse interests about him ; to realize that he must on the one hand keep on good terms with the nations of Europe, and not less carefully guard against offending those who have a great hold upon his Moslem subjects, and who may influence very seriously his position as Caliph of the Moslem world. It is thus that the personality of the Sultan is, after all, the most important element in the Turkish Government. In cases like the Conqueror of Con- stantinople, Mahmud II, and others, that influence is positive ; in the case of others it is negative, and the positive influence has rested with one or another branch of the government. Under the present reign the positive influence of the Sultan ABDUL HAMID S INDIVIDUALITY. 30I himself is a most important factor, recognized as such by all who have come into personal contact with him. And no one who has followed the course of his reign can fail to recognize the great degree to which Abdul Hamid III has impressed his individuality upon the Turkish Government. yS CHAPTER XVII. Protestant Missions in Turkey. Early History — Opposition of Ecclesiastics in the Oriental Churches — Attitude of the Turkish Government — Work Among Moslems — Development of Education — Societies at Work — The American Board — Presbyterian Boards — American and British Bible Societies — English Societies — General Statistics — Relations to the Turkish Government — Character of the Missionaries. NO statement of Turkey is complete without an account of the rise and development of Protestant mission work. The first effort of this kind in modern times was put forth by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Soon after its organization in 1804 colporteurs were sent inland from Smyrna, and subsequent missionaries found to a considerable degree traces of their work. There was also an attempt on the part of English societies to reach the country from Malta, but there was no organized effort until that of the missionaries of the American Board, at that time representing the Congregational, Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of the United States. In 18 19 two missionaries left Boston ap- pointed to work in Palestine. They stopped at Malta and conferred with the representatives of the Church Missionary and London Missionary Societies of England, and then went to Smyrna. It did not" take long for them to realize that there was little opportunity for successful work in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and they turned their attention to the Oriental Churches with which they came in contact. They were joined during the following years by a number of others, and aside (302) ORIENTAL CHURCHES. 3°3 from Smyrna there were stations occupied at Beirut and at Constantinople; this last in 1832. Without entering into any detailed account of the occupa- tion of the different cities by individual missionaries, a gen- eral statement as to their relations to the different races and religions and the progress of their influence among them will furnish what is most essential for the present purpose. This may be done under two heads; the Oriental Churches, and Moslems. The work among the Jews has been carried on to a limited degree chiefly by Scotch Presbyterians and members of the Church of England, but it has not been of such general success as to materially affect the empire. Other work has entered into the development of the empire in a most noticeable degree. We take up first work among the Oriental Churches. These include the Armenian, Greek, Bulgarian, Jacobite, Nestorian, Chaldean and Maronite. For the general state- ment of these see a preceding chapter. It is sufficient here to speak of the relations that Protestant missions have held towards them all. The first missionaries entered upon their work with no thought whatever of proselyting. They recog- nized the essential Christian character of the churches, and their object was to set before them not a new creed or a dif- ferent form of church government, but simply a higher con- ception of what constituted Christian life. They found almost absolute ignorance of the Bible ; complete domination by an ignorant and superstitious hierarchy, and a general feeling that their church life was so thoroughly identified with national life that to leave the church was to leave the nation, and that every heretic was also a traitor. Combined with all of these was the peculiar civil organization by which the ecclesiastics 304 HOSTILITIES OF PRIESTS. were the practical rulers in every community and were en- abled to exercise a pressure, the extent and severity of which it is almost impossible for us to understand at this time. Excommunication from the church meant far more than ec- clesiastical disability; it involved the absolute loss of any civil status. An Armenian or a Greek who incurred the hostility of his bishop and was placed under the ban had no rights that any one was bound to respect. He could neither be baptized nor be buried; he could neither marry nor purchase; no baker would furnish him with bread and no butcher with meat ; no one would employ him and no court recognized his existence so as to give him the most ordinary protection. The full extent of this situation did not appear at first. The early missionaries sought merely to explain the Bible doctrine of a purer, truer life dependent upon the atoning work of Christ. As always, they met with some who seemed to be looking for just such truth, and not a few welcomed very gladly the teaching. The moment this became apparent, however, the priests began to realize that their power was in danger. Undoubtedly in some cases their hostility was per- fectly sincere. They really thought that it was dangerous for these people to read the Bible for themselves. Fortified by the traditions and education of centuries they felt that the complete acceptance of certain formulas was absolutely essen- tial to eternal life. There were others, however, who feared far more the loss of political influence. There was just be- ginning to dawn upon Western Asia the light of European civilization. Its influence was felt on every hand, as yet very vaguely in most cases, but perhaps all the more forcibly. The Greeks and Armenians had been trained to look upon the Western churches as heretics or at least schismatics. CIRCASSIAN OFFICER IN THE SULTAN'S ARMY. After the defeat of Schamyl, the famous Circassian leader, multitudes of his people came into Turkey and spread over the whole of Asia Minor. They are powerful, fear- lass men, and committed widespread depredations among the villages. They are bolder than the Kurds and much braver ; are all bigoted Moslems. STRIFE OF CHURCHES. 307 The remembrance of the strife that preceded the final break between the Roman Catholic and the Greek Churches has been handed down until the bitterness of hostility which rules is scarcely conceivable. The predominant feeling was that whatever of weakness or of poverty there was, was due en- tirely to the tyranny of the Turkish Government which had held them in thrall for nearly four centuries. They saw that government perceptibly changing. Mahmud II was mani- festly recognizing that old-time methods were incompatible with the changing situation, and was introducing customs which to the traditional Turk savored of revolution if not of denial of the faith. The ecclesiastics of the Christian churches in a certain dim way probably thought that if at this time they could hold their own positively, and even aggressively, there would come to them a share of the improvement all expected in the future. It is therefore from every standpoint scarcely surprising that they failed to recognize the true character of the work com- menced among them by these representatives of a, to them, despised church. The strife that followed was exceedingly bitter. On the one hand there was the all-engrossing power of the hierarchy, on the other the irresistible force which the reception of new ideas in an old established community always betrays. Persecution merely fanned the flame of eager desire to learn what it was that so aroused the ire of the priests, whose power indeed had been recognized, but who, in the degenerate condition of the church, had largely lost their personal influence over the people. Man after man, women even, came, openly at times, usually secretly, to tht. homes of missionaries, not themselves with any thought of leaving the old church, simply anxious to understand more 308 excommunication. perfectly what they had been taught from childhood. Over both, watching with a curious and somewhat nonchalant eye, was the Turkish Government. It cared not a straw what par- ticular form of worship the " infidel dogs " preferred. On the whole its officers were rather pleased at the newly offered opportunity for carrying out their traditional policy of ruling through the disunion of either their subjects, their allies, or their enemies. It was not long before matters came to a crisis. The priests issued their bulls of excommunication and those thus excommunicated naturally came to the missionaries for assist- ance. They were indeed in a pitiable condition, some of them persons of wealth and education, all of intellectual ability, and keenly sensitive to the charges brought against them. Com- mon humanity compelled the missionaries to interest them- selves in their welfare, and they appealed to the representa- tives of the Protestant Powers at Constantinople. They in turn carried the matter before the Turkish Government, and the Turkish Government in its semi-lordly, semi-contemptu- ous way, reached out a hand of protection to the unfortunate objects of ecclesiastical persecution. They granted a quasi- civil organization to these Evangelical or Protestant Arme- nians, as they were called, and recognized them as a distinct body, notwithstanding the bitter opposition of the Armenian and Greek Patriarchs. They, however took care not to give this new body so much of power, or rather so much of pres- tige, as to materially affect the standing of the older commu- nities. They used it as a foil to ward off dangers which they conceived might come rather than as a means of doing justice to a portion of their subjects. One instance will furnish an illustration of the situation. One of the honored members of ECCLESIASTICAL PRIDE. 309 the Evangelical community died. The question arose where he should be buried. To bury him in the regular Armenian burying-ground, consecrated by the bishops, was out of the question. The Turkish Government granted a separate plot, but the Armenians were bound that he should not be buried at all. Every effort was made to preserve secrecy. The time of the service became known and a great mob collected. The Turkish Government was appealed to and the military was drawn out. And this simple Evangelical Armenian was buried amid a pomp of military display and a manifestation of racial and ecclesiastical hatred which was a fit symbol of the conflict that was to signalize the whole century. If special description is given of the work among the Ar- menians, it is merely because they attracted the most of public attention. There were missionaries who sought to reach the Greeks, but their efforts met with very little of success. Their national and ecclesiastical pride was too strong, and their nearer relations to Western life made the new teaching appear less attractive than to those to whom it was in great decree a revelation. In Syria also a work had been commenced, chiefly among the Maronites of Mount Lebanon, and carried to a great degree of success, so also among the Nestorians and Jacobites of Eastern Turkey and the mountains along the Persian border. It was among the Armenians, however, that the greatest efforts were put forth and the greatest success achieved. The general methods of work were the same with all and whatever was done for one race was done with vary- ing degrees of success for all the, Christian peoples of the empire. Of work among the Moslems there has been very little. Various attempts have been made to reach them with special 3IO MISSION INFLUENCES. work, but aside from the experiments of the Reformed Church in America at Busrah and the Free Church of Scotland at Sheikh Othman in Arabia, all have failed. There have beei> several converts from Mohammedanism in different parts of the empire, especially in Egypt, but no general movement Large numbers of Bibles in Turkish and Arabic are bought by Moslems and it is evident that there are a number who would accept Christianity, but for the fact that the penalty is absolute loss of property, if not of life. So long as the Turkish Government holds absolute power it cannot be expected that much impression will be made on the Moslem population. Within twenty-five years after the establishment of the work at Constantinople, the mission influences had spread throughout the empire. There were missionaries at Trebi- zond, Erzrum, Diabekir, Aintab, Brusa and Sivas. There were also smaller communities in the different villages within reach of these central stations and the Evangelicals or Protes- tant Armenians had come to be recognized on every hand as a power in the land. With the practical victory of Turkey and her allies over Russia and the promulgation of the treaty of Paris referred to above, there came increasing demand upon the Christian powers for recognition and protection of those who accepted the Evangelical ideas and forms. The Hatti Humayoun was issued, the charter of religious liberty. With this commenced in a certain sense a new phase of missionary work. Hitherto it had been almost entirely evangelistic. The effort had been to reach the consciences of the people and set before them the Gospel demand for a pure and true life. There was comparatively little of general educa- tion. With the growth, however, of the communities and the EDUCATION ESSENTIAL. 3H recognition of the fact that a community life was before them such as had neither been expected nor planned, it became evident to all that emphasis must be placed upon those same principles of community development which had done so much for England and America. It was not sufficient to put the Bible into men's hands nor to develop within them the idea of their relation to God. They must learn to interpret the Bible and apply it to their daily life ; must learn the princi- ples that governed social and civil organizations. Hence ed- ucation in its broader sense became essential. Education in the primary sense had always been carried on by the missionaries. A certain amount was needed in order to enable the people to read, for there was widespread igno- rance in that respect. It was essential in some degree for those who were under training to be the spiritual guides of their people. Now it became evident that something more was necessary. At first there was considerable difference of opinion. Many of the missionaries themselves felt that they were simply heralds of spiritual truth. They could not admit that they had anything to do with secular education. Others realized that secular education has a fundamentally important place in the development of national life ; that it is essential that that should be under religious influence if the general life is to be in accord with true religious development. More- over the demand for this was increasing Youne men of in- tellectual attainments sought instruction. They found opening before them a constantly widening sphere of thought and of investigation which they must enter. They would rather enter it under the lead of Christian thought, but enter it they would, and if the missionaries refused their counsel they would go to what were then almost purely infidel schools in Europe. 3*2 CHRISTIAN COLLEGES. Thus there was started, in minor form at first, afterwards more fully developed, a system of education that has grown until, taking into consideration the obstacles and perplexities at- tending it, it is surpassed in its widespread and high influence by no educational system even in far more favored lands. As in regard to the spread of the Evangelistic work, so here it is not the purpose to describe in detail the growth of this school system. It is sufficient to say that five years later, in 1 86 1, Robert College was started on the shores of the Bosporus by one who had been from the very beginning an earnest supporter of the idea that evangelism and education must go hand in hand if there is to be any Christian national life. He had had experience in the work of training preach- ers, and he realized that preachers need preparatory instruc- tion. The story of the years during which he battled the in- fluence of Armenian and Greek priests, of Papal representa- tives, and even of French and Russian ambassadors, is one of the most interesting on record. Robert College was fol- lowed within two years by the Syrian Protestant College of Beirut. Then commenced the development of the primary, intermediate and higher schools that had already been formed throughout the empire into larger institutions, until there are to-day in the Turkish Empire seven colleges all under Chris- tian influence, though not all directly connected with mission- ary enterprise. There are also hospitals, orphanages and a variety of institutions which owe their inception to the influ- ence of the missions, even in cases where they are entirely under native control. A general survey of missions in the Turkish Empire at the present time shows that there are the following societies at work : MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 313 From this country there are the American Board, represent- ing the Congregational Churches; the Boards of Missions of the Presbyterian Church (North), the United Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanter), and the Reformed (Dutch) Church; the Foreign Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples of Christ ; the American Bible Society, and several independent workers connected with other organizations. There are also a number of English societies; the Church Missionary Society, the Presbyterian Board of Ireland, the Free and Established Churches of Scot- land, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and several socie- ties for special work among the Jews. The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church has work in Bulgaria, which, however, hardly comes under review as a part of the Turkish Empire. Of all these the largest work is that done by the American Board. It covers the whole of Asia Minor and Eastern Turkey together with Macedonia and a portion of Bulgaria. The latest statistics show that there are 176 American mis- sionaries, including 56 ordained ministers and 68 unmarried women, most of them engaged in teaching. There are also 869 native laborers, including 100 ordained ministers and 128 other preachers, the remainder being chiefly teachers. They occupy 19 principal stations and have work in 306 important out-stations. (The term out-station is given to a town or city where there are preaching services and educational work and sometimes a missionary resident, but not the full organization of a mission station.) These are all divided into four mis- sions, called: The European Turkey Mission, covering Mace- donia and Bulgaria; the Western Turkey Mission, covering Western Asia Minor; the Eastern Turkey Mission, covering 314 MISSIONARY STATIONS. Eastern Turkey; and the Central Turkey Mission, covering Northern Syria south of the Taurus Mountains. Constantino- ple is the general headquarters for all four missions, and has a large staff of missionaries engaged in the general conduct of the work, the preparation of literature and evangelistic work to a limited degree. The important stations aside from this are as follows : In the European Turkey Mission, Sama- kov and Philippopolis in Bulgaria, and Salonica and Monastir in Macedonia ; Western Turkey Mission : Brusa, Smyrna, Marsovan, Cesarea, Sivas and Trebizond, this last being asso- ciated with this mission because of easy access by sea; Eastern Turkey Mission: Erzrum, Harput, Bitlis, Van and Mardin; Central Turkey Mission : Aintab, Marash, Adana and Hajin. Aside from these there are many important cities occupied, such as Nicomedia, on the gulf of that name; Angora, Yuzgat, Amasia, Tokat, in Western Turkey; Arabkir, Malatia, Palu, Diarbekir, in Eastern Turkey; Urfa, Birejik, Albistan and Tarsus, in Central Turkey. The city of Aleppo, just south of Aintab, has been occupied at times by the American Board, but the language being Arabic, association with the work at Aintab has been somewhat difficult, and hence it has not been developed. In all of this great field the chief work has been carried on in Europe among the Bulgarians, and in Asia among the Armenians, though from the city of Mardin considerable work has been done among the Jacobites of Northern Mesopotamia. The result of this work is seen in the follow- ing statements : In European Turkey the number of places for stated preaching is 42 ; the average congregations number 2,278 ; the number of organized churches is 1 4, and of church members CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 315 952, while 2,713 are ordinarily classed as belonging to the Evangelical community. There is one theological school with 8 students ; one training school for boys with 65 students ; two boarding schools for girls with 92 pupils, while there are 17 common schools with 450 pupils. In this field the Bul- garian Government has established an excellent system of schools, so that the missionaries have not been compelled to do as much work in that line. There are also a laro-e number of Bulgarian students in Robert College at Constanti- nople. In Western Turkey the result of these years shows 122 places for stated preaching, with average congregations of 10,336; 35 organized churches with a membership of 3,604 and a Protestant community numbering over 14,000. There is a theological seminary with 6 pupils ; schools for higher education with 528 boys and 686 girls, while there are 122 common schools with a membership of 5,027. These figures do not include Robert College at Constantinople, which is on an entirely independent basis, and has a staff of 21 professors and instructors and about 200 students. They do, however, include the American College for Girls in Con- stantinople with its 23 teachers and 161 pupils. In Eastern Turkey there are 1 1 1 places for stated preaching, with average congregations of 1 1,639 > 4 2 churches with a member- ship of 3,107 and a Protestant community of nearly 17,000. The two theological classes have been seriously broken up by the disturbances, but only a short time ago had 1 1 mem- bers. There are 364 boys and 220 girls in schools for higher education, and 6,232 pupils in the 130 common schools. In Central Turkey there are 52 places for stated preaching with an average congregation of over 10,000; 34 churches with a membership of 5,124, a Protestant community of 15,374, a 316 LITERATURE. theological class of 9 students, and the pupils in the schools for higher education number 321 boys and 300 girls ; while in the 98 common schools there are 4,326 pupils. These statistics, however, give but a very partial conception of the work done. As has already been intimated, the schools established by the missionaries have been in many cases duplicated by the Gregorian Armenians themselves, and the influences that have gone forth from these preaching places have been most effective in raising the general tone of com- munity life throughout the empire. In many places the preaching in the Gregorian churches is of a most thoroughly evangelical type. There are Bible classes formed in many places and the general spiritual as well as moral effect of the mission work is by no means to be gauged by the figures of statistics. One of the most important branches of work carried on by the American Board is that of furnishing literature for the people. There are conducted in Constantinople four week- lies and four monthlies, in the Bulgarian, Armenian and Turkish languages, there being two Turkish papers, one printed in Armenian characters for those Armenians who use chiefly the Turkish language, and one in Greek characters for the Greeks who also use the Turkish lano-uao-e. Aside from these there are school books and books of general character, predominantly religious, though also scientific and literary, issued by the committee of the mission from the Bible House in Constantinople. There is also not a little medical work carried on. There are medical missionaries in several of the interior stations, especially Cesarea, Van and Mardin. The fact that a large number of Armenians have studied medicine in this country and have returned has PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MISSION. 317 lessened the demand for American medical missionaries. At Aintab there is a hospital under the care of Americans con- nected with the Aintab College, but not under the immediate control of the mission. The Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church (North) occupies Syria and Mesopotamia. In Syria there are 14 or- dained missionaries, 2 medical missionaries, including one woman, and 9 unmarried lady missionaries, making the total American force 39. There are 6 native pastors, 26 organized churches with a membership of 2,048. In the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, which is in harmony with, though not under the direct control of the mission, there are 266 pupils; there are also boarding schools for boys with 213 pupils and for girls with 270 pupils ; 8 high schools with 478 pupils, and 130 common schools with 6,387 pupils. The stations occupied are Beirut, Abieh on Mount Lebanon, Tripoli and Sidon on the seacoast, and Zahleh on the eastern coast of Mount Lebanon. The work of this mission has been chiefly among the Maronites, though to some degree among the other races. The influence of the mission, however, is by no means to be measured by its size. It was here in Beirut that the Arabic version of the Scriptures was prepared, the foundation being laid by Dr. Eli Smith, and the completion being under the guidance of Dr. C. V. A. Van Dyck, both men famous as among the finest orientalists in the world. The version prepared by them is unsurpassed by versions of the Bible anywhere, and has perhaps the widest use of any except the English. It is in the vernacular not only of Syria and Arabia, but of Northern and Central Africa ; is used with facility in India, China and Malaysia, and everywhere where the Arabic language has spread. Its influence for good can- 318 UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MISSION. not be measured. The same should be said of the college, with its medical as well as academical department. Its graduates are found all over the East. The Mesopotamia mission of this Board has its head- quarters at Mosul. This was formerly occupied by the American Board, but because of its close connection with the Western Persia mission of the Presbyterian Board it was passed over to that Board. The work is chiefly among the Nestorians of the mountains and to a degree among the Jacobites and Chaldeans of the city itself. It has schools for boys and girls fully attended in the city itself, and Syriac village schools in the field. During the past year (1895), owing to the disturbance in the mountains, there has been much difficulty in securing full attendance. The mission of the United Presbyterian Board of this country is located in Egypt and shows a very marked degree of success. The principal stations occupied are Alexandria, Cairo, Mansurieh, Fayum and Osiut. At the latter place there is a large and successful college with a department for girls. The work of the mission is among the Copts, though, there has been something accomplished among the Moslems. The mission of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Church is located in Northern Syria and occupies the stations of Latakia and Mersine. There are six missionaries in the different stations, including two physicians. Their work is chiefly educational among the Nusairyieh, the evangelistic work among that class of people being extremely difficult. The Board of Missions of the Reformed (Dutch) Church is carrying on an interesting work in Arabia. It was started as an independent enterprise, but more lately has been taken up by the Board. Its headquarters are at Busrah on the Persian AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 319 Gulf, but it extends all along the coast, working solely among the Arabs, The mission staff is still very small, and the es- tablishment of schools has not yet been effected. The Disciples of Christ have a few missionaries, all Armenians who have become naturalized Americans, in Con- stantinople and vicinity, and at some stations in the interior. The same is true of some Baptist work carried on chiefly by the same class of workers and supported by independent or- ganizations in this country. The work of the American Bible Society covers the whole empire. There are two agents resident in Constantinople with sub-agents in Beirut and Alexandria. A large staff of colporteurs is employed, numbering during the past year over 100, some of them directly under the control of the agency, others under the supervision of missions and assisted by the agency. The agency does most of its own publishing, includ- ing printing and binding, in the Bible House at Constanti- nople and at the mission press of the Presbyterian Board in Beirut. The languages are : Turkish in the Arabic, Armenian and Greek characters ; Armenian both ancient and modern, Bulgarian, Kurdish and Arabic. It also purchases Scriptures in other languages from the British and Foreign Bible So- ciety, which has an agency also in the same places. The total distributions during the year 1894 from the depots at Constantinople and Beirut, were 52,895 in 32 different lan- guages and dialects, including most of the European as well as the different Oriental languages. Of this total 8,674 were Bibles, 13,826 New Testaments and 30,395 were por- tions. By the direct agency of the society through the col- porteurs and in their depots, the total distribution was 31,678, while 21,107 were through correspondents, the largest number 19 320 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH MISSIONS, being in Egypt, 14,258. It is interesting to note that of the sales from the Syrian depot 6 Bibles went to Zanzibar on the west coast of Africa, and 51 Bibles and 500 Testaments to Tangiers in Africa. The total issues for $7 years amounted to 1,376,798, and of the distribution for the past year it is estimated that 12,000 at least went to non-Christian national- ities. Of the English societies, the Church Missionary Society of England occupies a few stations in Syria and Palestine, the principal ones being Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza and Nablus. There are also a number of out-stations. The missionaries number 1 1 ordained clergy, 4 lay workers and 20 women. The native clergy number 9 ordained and 71 lay workers. The total number of communicants is about 500. There are also 42 schools; seminaries with 1,752 students. Medical work is carried on to a considerable extent, there being 284 in-patients and 32,810 out-patients under the care of the physicians. The work is among Jews and also among the Maronites. There is more work accomplished by this society than by others among the Moslems. The Scotch missions have stations at Constantinople, Smyrna and different points in Syria and Palestine. Their work is chiefly educational and almost entirely confined to the Jews. There are some very fine schools in Syria carried on under different organizations, English and Scotch, intended primarily for the education of girls. They have accomplished an excellent work. The British and Foreign Bible Society conducts its work on much the same general plan as the American Bible So- ciety, but confines its efforts more to the coast. Its chief work is in Bulgaria, among the Greek islands and along the MISSIONARY INFLUENCE. 321 Aegean coast of Asia Minor. It has also agencies in Syria and Egypt. Arrangements are made between the two Bible societies so that they shall not crowd or interfere with each other. The Turkish agency reports a circulation of 31,548; the Egypt agency of 15,191 ; Syria and Palestine 4,741, making a total of 51,480, which with the circulation of the American Bible Society makes a grand total of about 104,000 copies. This survey of missions in the Turkish Empire is neces- sarily very meagre. To go into it in full would require far more space than can be given. If fuller details are given with regard to the American Board it is simply because that Board occupies the territory which is more especially under notice at this time. The question is frequently asked, What are the relations between the missionaries and the Turkish Government? Repeatedly the statement is made by that government that the influence of the missionaries is antagonistic, disturbing, and that they are the enemies of the present rule. This is in no sense true. American missionaries have invariably ranked themselves on the side of law. They have taken the position that the Turkish Government is the government of the land and its laws must be obeyed. If those laws are op- pressive they will do their best to secure a change, but so long as the law is law it must be obeyed. In all the various attempts to stir up revolutionary feelings among the people, they have opposed with all their influence such movements. It is undoubtedly the fact that the general result of their in- struction by stirring intellectual development, has been to make men restive under oppression. Undoubtedly their preaching has created an intense desire for true religious lib- erty. Undoubtedly they have brought light into the empire, 322 CHARACTER OF MISSIONARIES. and light is always a disturbing element where there is cor- ruption ; it creates fermentation, and such fermentation as is not pleasant to oppressors. As has already been indicated, they have found some of their most bitter opponents among the clergy of the Christian Churches, even more bitter, than the Turkish rulers themselves. But as the better class of that clergy have come to recognize the value of their instruc- tion and their preaching, so the better class of Turkish of- ficials have realized that there are no more loyal subjects, no more honest citizens than those who are under the guidance of the American missionaries. Wherever their course has been objected to their objectors have been men who sought to cover up their evil deeds and hide from the world the story of their outrageous conduct. Individually there is no question but that the missionaries represent the very highest grade of ability and personal character. The record of their achievements in literature, in research, in education, is not surpassed by that of any other class of men or women in the world. Ambassadors, and travelers of high character, who have come among them, have uniformly borne testimony to their nobility, and the high position that they deservedly hold in the world. Not infrequently the diplomatic representatives of this country and England have come to their post at Constantinople with the feeling that these missionaries were a set of honest fanatics, well inten- tioned, but incapable of judging accurately and wisely as to the work which they were to do. In not one single case has any such man returned from his post, without putting on record his hipfh estimate of these men and women. Whether it be Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord Dufferin or Sir Philip Currie from England, Admiral Porter, General Williams, E. Joy MISREPRESENTATIONS. 323 Morris, Gen. Lew. Wallace or Oscar Straus, from America, their testimony has been one of unvarying praise for the conduct of the mission work, and those who have had longest experience have been slow to condemn, even where their judg- ment could not coincide with that of the missionaries. Such remarks as have been made by occasional travelers, who have seen only the outskirts of mission work, to the effect that they are a "bad lot ; " that they are well meaning, but ignorant en- thusiasts, have simply served to rank those who uttered them with the class of people who talk about what they know noth- ing of. The words of Sir Philip Currie, uttered in private conversation in connection with the recent events in Turkey, will stand as a perpetual refutal of any such charges. He said : "The one bright spot in all the darkness that has covered Asiatic Turkey, has been the heroism, the prudence and the common-sense of the American missionaries." CHAPTER XVIII. The Armenian Question. A Progressive Grand Vizier — Victory of the Reactionary Party — Egypt and the Mahdi — Rise of the Armenian Question — Russian Intrigue — Articles of the Berlin Treaty — Autonomy Desired — The Huntchagist Committee — Placards in Asia Minor — Burning of American Building at Maisovan — Numerous Arrests — Armenians Exiled — Coercive Measures of the Government — American Citizens — Threats — Huntchagists Disowned by the Nation — Young Turkey Party — Absolute Failure of the Huntchagist Movement. THE close of the Russo-Turkish war and the Treaty of Berlin left Abd-ul-Hamid II with the task before him of building up an empire which had almost fallen to pieces. On the one hand he was faced by the demands made upon him by England ; he was under obligations to make special re- forms in Asia Minor, also in Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus, besides granting a liberal form of administration to Crete. On the other hand he was faced by an internal condition which was enough to daunt the bravest man. The financial condition of the empire was in a state of collapse ; in fact there were no finances of any sort. The regular expendi- tures more than doubled the regular income ; the currency was in a hopelessly disorganized condition ; gold, silver, copper and paper were in circulation. The silver, however, had several different values. There were alloys of silver and copper of varying degrees of purity, each with its own value ; (3 2 4) AN HONEST VIZIER. 325 the paper currency also was never worth the same two days in succession. The whole business of the empire was dis- organized. Various attempts, some of them honest, some thoroughly dishonest, almost all ludicrous, were made to bring order out of chaos. The Sultan entered upon his task with unquestionably a sincere desire for the welfare of his country, as is shown by his choice, within six months after the signing of the treaty of Berlin, of a Grand Vizier who had never been identified with Constantinople intrigue. Haired- din Pasha, a Circassian by birth, had had some years of ex- perience in the control of matters in Tunis. He was known as a man of education, strictly honest and with a sense of duty very rarely to be found in the East. He was a thorough Moslem, believing heart and soul in the Mohammedan faith ; believing also that it was thoroughly adaptable to all needs of civilization, and that it could be made equal in beneficent results to Christianity as set forth in the life of Europe. His access to power was looked upon as a good omen. On every hand the people expected him to restore in Turkey all the ancient usages of Islam. He found a task before him which demanded all his energies. He found officials in power in the provinces who, when ordered to report the number of able-bodied Moslems in their districts and draw rifles for dis- tribution among them to check a revolt, added 10 or 20 per cent, to the actual number, drew the arms and then sold those not required for the Turks to the Christians. Others manifested the most atrocious lack of fidelity to their duty or of common sense in the conduct of their office. But this was not all ; in the Porte itself the management was sincerely opposed to all real reform. The very clerks managed by all sorts of devices to misrepresent the orders that were given, 326 TROUBLE IN EGYPT. or to so tamper with the despatches that they were made of no avail. Orders to provincial governors sent out from the Palace frequently set aside previous orders of the ministry ; the intrigues of the Palace clique permeated every depart- ment of the public service and the attendants upon the Sul- tan succeeded in blinding him constantly to the real situation. The first thing that Haireddin Pasha did was to send away from Constantinople to different interior provinces nearly all the pashas who had previously held the office of grand vizier. This, of course, made them all his enemies and the result was that he found himself involved in a struggle for his very existence. More than this, he made it manifest that his idea of justice included the Christians just as much as the Moslems, and that Moslem oppression of Christian subjects met with no favor at his hands. All these elements, combined with the financial stress, for which in the popular mind he was held responsible, helped on the struggle. At last he pre- sented an ultimatum to the Sultan, in which he demanded his freedom, within the limits of responsibility, from the inter- ference of the clerks and from intervention in the appoint- ment of officials. The Sultan hesitated for some time, but at last refused to give this on the ground of its being a limita- tion of his royal prerogatives. Haireddin Pasha resigned, and his place was taken by the very men whom he had sent away. Immediately following on this experience came the trouble in Egypt. Mehemet Ali had been followed by Abbas, a brutal voluptuary, and he by Ismail, a man of great ability, but of no conscience, who had pushed the country forward in some respects, but had so enslaved it by his personal extor- tion as almost to ruin it. Ismail was deposed by the de- ARABI PASHA. 327 mands of the European Powers interested in the conduct of the Suez Canal and the securing of the bonds that had been placed there, and was followed by Tewfik, a good-natured, well-disposed, but weak man, incompetent to meet the diffi- culties that encompassed him on every hand. Here again the financial question came to the front. The interest on the bonds must be paid whether the army officials were paid or not. Thus arose the demand for the national party and the revolt headed by Arabi Pasha, which resulted in the bom- bardment of Alexandria, the war in lower Egypt and the military occupation of the country by Great Britain. An- other important element in this was the desire of the Sultan to regain his hold upon the country. By the firman given to Mehemet Ali, the Sultan was really no more than suzerain. He felt that this was derogatory to his honor and wished to reduce the Khedive to the position of Vali. The whole story of English, French and Turkish diplomacy here is beyond the limits as well as the scope of this book. It is sufficient to say that it furnished an additional influence in determining the policy of the following years, carried out by Abd-ul-Hamid II. Immediately consequent on the trouble in Egypt itself came the rise of the Mahdi in the Sudan. References have already been made to the peculiar jealousy on the part of the Arabs as to the position held by the Sultans as caliphs of the Moslem world. That existed to a considerable decree not merely in Arabia, but throughout Africa. It was assisted by the terrible oppression of the Egyptian Government under the Khedive Ismail. All through upper Egypt, and especially in the Sudan, there was the bitterest feeling, and when in 1880 a certain Mohammed Ahmet, a boat-builder of Dongola and belonging to the Sennussi tribe, proclaimed himself as the 328 THE MAHDI. Mahdi, he almost immediately secured quite a following. The Mahdi, or last high priest, or Imam, of the family of Ali, according to Moslem tradition, entered a cave and hencefor- ward disappeared from the world. The Shiite Moslems be- lieve that he still exists, and look forward to his issuing from it again in pomp to rule the world. The Sunnites believe that he will appear only at the end of the world, when he will convert all mankind to Islam and reien as vicar of Jesus Christ. This boat-builder rapidly won veneration from the Arabs of his section by the learning he had acquired in the schools at Khartum and Berber, and his apparent piety. He also manifested considerable ability and gathered a large force of Arabs, making considerable advance, notwithstanding the fact that the Sherif of Mecca branded him as an impostor and the ecclesiastical Ottoman world refused to believe that he had any claim worthy of recognition. He set forth to conquer Egypt, defeated four expeditions sent against him by the Egyptian Government, annihilated the Egyptian army, com- posed of 10,000 soldiers, with 40 European officers, and cap- tured Khartum, killing General Gordon Pasha, the famous English leader. Further than this, however, his power could not go, and English troops kept him within the region of his own Sudan. Insignificant in a certain way in itself, this Mahdi move- ment exerted considerable influence throughout the empire. It assisted to focus attention upon the distinctively Moslem character of the Ottoman Government and furnished quite a factor in the decision which became manifest ere long on the part of the Sultan to conduct his empire on different bases from those accepted by his father, Abd-ul-Medjid, or his grandfather, Mahmud II. In truth the Sultan seemed shut up REACTION. 329 to one of two courses. He must either enter with his whole soul into the line marked out by Haireddin Pasha, or he must identify himself still more closely with the distinctively Moslem element in his empire. He found himself unable, even if he had been desirous, to do the former, and undoubtedly seemed to himself to be shut up to the latter. His principle, there- fore, of government, as made manifest by the subsequent history of his reign and illustrated very fully in a later chap- ter, was to satisfy the Moslem element in his empire, whether the Christian element was satisfied or not. Accordingly he commenced a systematic course of developing the Moslem power and prestige at the expense of the Christians. Little by little he replaced Christians by Moslems in the administra- tive offices of the government ; he indorsed increasingly re- strictive laws, by which the Christian communities were deprived of very much of the advance that had been made manifest during the three preceding reigns. At first this policy was not altogether apparent, and it is possible that it was not definitely decided upon. Those who know the Turkish Empire, know how many things goby default; how one movement leads to another, and the result is a situation not recognized and not planned for at the beginning, but which becomes, as a matter of fact, a settled, definite policy. In this it is not necessary to suppose that the Sultan himself laid down the definite rules. Unquestionably a large part of it was due to the same influences that deposed Haireddin, the local officials both in Constantinople and the provinces. That this was true was evident in many ways. Decisions would be secured from the officers of the Porte, orders would be sent to the provinces with regard to various matters, and the reply would come after awhile that the orders had not 330 THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. been carried out, and investigation would make manifest the fact that at the same time that these orders had been given, counter orders had been sent to the same official in a private way, absolutely annulling the general orders. The situation thus became increasingly difficult, when, after ten years or so, the Armenian question began to assume special prominence. The Armenian question, as such, began with the treaty of Berlin. Previous to that there had been other questions : the Greek question, the Bulgarian question — the former resulting in the independence of Greece, and the latter in the independ- ence of Bulgaria. Throughout Asiatic Turkey there had been no distinctive question of any sort ; Armenians, Greeks, Jacobites, all had suffered alike under the general oppression. With the treaty of Paris, however, there began an increasing manifestation of the power of Russia in the protection of Greeks throughout the empire. The Armenians had had no special patron, but as they increased in wealth and in general prosperity, and also in education, learning more of their ancient history, it was natural that there should develop among, them the idea of a renewed national life. The growth of this has already been described in general in the chapter on the Armenians ; so also reference has been made to the various influences that were at work in forming this national move- ment. Here we dwell more especially upon the political side of that movement. Those who have followed the very brief summary that has been given in the preceding chapters of the political intrigues and influences, operating throughout the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries, will see how constant was the influence of Russia, exercised first among the Greeks on the shores of the Mediterranean, then in the various Danubian Provinces and finally in Bulgaria ; RUSSIAN INFLUENCE. 33* always they had for their purpose the stirring of hostility be- tween Turks and Christians, and the enkindling of a feeling of dependence upon Russia as the only Power that could se- cure for them such national development as they desired. The same thing became manifest after a few years among the Armenians. The Pan-Slavist committee that had really fanned into flame the embers of hostility to the Turks in the Balkan Peninsula, with a view to the incorporation of those Slavic races with the Russians into a great Slavic empire, hardly found a congenial field among the Armenians. These latter are of different race and schismatics in religion and are looked upon by the Slavs everywhere as having no particular relations to themselves. They could form no integral part of the grand scheme, and there was no such feeling of sympathy for them as was distinctly manifest toward the Bulgarians, Servians, and others. Still the Russians never gave up their idea of an empire that should take in the whole of the Eastern Roman world, and replace the crescent by the cross on the dome of St. Sophia. Crippled even by their victory in the Russo-Turkish war, with great problems of internal adminis- tration staring them in the face, with opportunities opening in the far East and on the very borders of India, Turkey assumed for the time being a somewhat minor position in Russian dip- lomatic plans. At the same time it was never entirely out of sight, and there became manifest, before many years had passed by, the indications of another current of influence spreading from the Armenians of the Caucasus throughout the whole of Turkey. Whether these embassies were directly in the employ of a Russian organization or not, it is probably impossible to say ; it may be that they were simply in sympathy with the desire referred to in a previous chapter of establishing an 332 TREATY OF BERLIN. Armenia again in the ancestral region extending from Ararat on the north to Van on the south. But whatever the imme- diate connection may have been, the fact remains that Russian- Armenian influences began to make themselves manifest with- in not many years after the signing of the treaty of Berlin, especially in certain sections. They found indeed very fer- tile soil in which to work. The two clauses of the treaty of Berlin to which the Armenians looked as furnishing them the hope of a better national life were the 6ist and 62d articles, which read as follows : 'Art. 61. The Sublime Porte engages to realize without de- lay those ameliorations and reforms which local needs require in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and guarantees their security against the Circassians and the Kurds. It undertakes to make known, from time to time, the measures taken with this object to the Powers, who will watch over their application. "Art. 62. The Sublime Porte having expressed its willing- ness to maintain the principle of religious liberty, and to give it the widest sphere, the contracting parties take cognizance of this spontaneous declaration. In every part of the Ottoman Empire difference of religion should not be held as a motive of exclusion or unfitness in anything that relates to the use of civil and political rights, admission to public offices, duties, and honors, and the exercise of all professions and industries, in whatever locality it may be. All should be admitted before the tribunals, the exercise and external practice of all religions should be entirely free, and no impediment should be offered either to the hierarchical organization of the different com- munions or to their spiritual chiefs ; ecclesiastics, pilgrims, and monks of all nationalities traveling in European and Asiatic ARMENIAN AUTONOMY. 333 Turkey shall enjoy the same rights, advantages, and privileges. The right of official protection is accorded to the diplomatic and consular agents of the Powers in Turkey, no less with regard to the persons above mentioned, with their religious and charitable establishments, than to others in the Holy Places and elsewhere. The rights conceded to France are expressly reserved, it being well understood that the status quo with respect to the Holy Places shall not be seriously affected in any way. The monks of Mount Athos, whatever their nationality, shall be maintained in possession of their possessions and previous advantages, and shall enjoy without exception full equality of rights and prerogatives." The most cursory reading of these in the light of the suc- ceeding years shows how completely the Turkish Government had failed to carry out any one of the different promises made in these articles, especially in that with regard to the Arme- nians. It was, perhaps, not unnatural that the first idea of those who plead the Armenian cause at Berlin should have been to secure an autonomous province, They had seen Bulgaria developed; they had seen also the growth of Rumania, of Greece and of Servia into kingdoms, and many of them could not understand why there might not be an Armenia. They looked upon the whole section extending south from the east end of the Black Sea, and including Van, as their ancestral property. Whatever there was there of Kurdish or Turkish occupation was really usurpation, and they felt that if the Powers of Europe would simply support them, they could assert their right and overpower these in- truders. But even if there were not a distinct national prov- ince, they had seen the success of the plan developed in Syria. In the province of the Lebanon there were Moslems in great 334 PURPOSE OF THE LEADERS. numbers; nevertheless a Christian governor had been granted, and there had been for fifteen years such peace and prosperity as had not been known for centuries. At least this much might be secured to them. They, however, took the position that they would get in proportion as they asked ; hence they asked for the greatest that could be given, with the expecta- tion probably, at least on the part of the better informed, of securing not that, but something less, which should be after all a great advance on the condition at that time. As, however, the general discussion of the question came up more and more prominently, the Armenian leaders began to see that there was a very widespread feeling that the Armenian nation was not equal to the position which they claimed for themselves. To begin with, they were a distinct minority in the very country that they desired to own ; more- over the inhabitants of that section were in a considerable degree of the more ignorant classes. They were rude in their speech, uncultured in their manners, ignorant of almost all that pertains to national life. True, this was not their fault; it was rather a misfortune due to centuries of oppres- sion. Still, there was the fact. Moreover, there was no organization that bound all the Armenians together. They were scattered communities with no bond of union, except their language and their church creed. These communities were ignorant of each other and jealous of each others' pros- perity. The first thing, therefore, apparently that presented itself to the minds of the leaders was a general propaganda throughout the Armenians of the Turkish Empire, with a view to developing the national idea, and also with a view toward some form of organization, so that when the time for action came, they would be in a degree united. This was EDUCATION. 335 undoubtedly the chief purpose of such men as Minas Tcheraz, who was at Berlin, and of the wisest men among the leaders. They understood the situation, and set themselves to accom- plishing what they could. Had the movement remained in "" their hands, there is little probability but that the ultimate result, if not in accord with their highest ambition, would have . been a better condition than the present. Here, however, appeared another phase. There is in every nation a certain element of the heedless and reckless, seeing only the end to be gained, and impatient of the best means of reaching that end. Scattered through- out Europe were a number of Armenians who, having im- bibed the free-thought ideas developed in the French Rev- olution, and fired by the experiences of 1848, were utterly impatient of the slower process of education. They were hot-headed and ambitious rather for themselves than for the nation, and they pointed to the experiences of Bulgaria and of the Greeks. They claimed that this slower process of education was all very well, but it would accomplish nothing. It might go on for generations without securing any definite national life. They pointed out that the European nations would never interfere except for their own interests; that England, France, and Europe generally, had cared nothing for the Bulgarian troubles until the massacres compelled in- terference in order to prevent Russia from overpowering themselves. From this the argument was easy that the Armenians could accomplish nothing unless the European Governments saw that there was such a state of anarchy throughout Asiatic Turkey as would compel their interference in or^er to prevent the general collapse, which every one feared would be the result of a widespread European war. 336 THE HUNTCH AGISTS. Their argument was simply, " These European Governments, especially England, will never help Armenians practically until they see that they have got to help them in order to save themselves from great danger ; the only way to secure this is to stir the Turkish Government just as it was stirred in Bulgaria, and secure some kind of atrocities that shall focus the attention of the Christian world upon the Turkish Empire." This general argument was reinforced by the presence among the Armenians of the Nihilistic tendencies developed in Russia. The result was the formation of a revolutionary society called the Huntchagists. Just where it was formed, just who were its members, and just where and how it operated, is not yet definitely evident. Contemporary history is seldom if ever complete. It is sufficient to say that in Athens, Mar- seilles and London there were coteries of Armenians who made it their business to stir strife throughout the nation. They sent emissaries through the length and breadth of the Turkish Empire. These met with the younger, more ad- venturous and less scrupulous element to be found in every nation, and commenced a general propaganda. Where there was oppression, that oppression was made the most of in pub- lic prints ; stories of the most atrocious type were told. The Turkish rule was bad enough, but it was made to appear in- finitely worse than it was by these men. But they found that this was not sufficient. They became apparently exas- perated by their failure to rouse their own people to the pitch of excitement which they deemed essential in order to accomplish their purpose. Hence they commenced attacks of one kind and another, not merely upon the Moslems, but upon their fellow-countrymen who did not support them. PLACARDS. 337 Threats were allowed to be heard of what the Armenians would do to anybody and everybody they did not like. It was inevitable that these should be heard ; it was intended that they should be heard. Turkish governors were on the watch. One of the shrewdest of the provincial governors, a man whose general conduct of his office was by no means of the harshest, had the cannon of his capital trained upon an Armenian church because of the stories that came to him of the threats of these men. Then came the widespread use of revolutionary placards. Apparently they were posted by the Turks themselves, but whether this was true or not seemed uncertain. Naturally the Turkish officials began to exercise harshness. They felt that they were fighting some unseen foe and the results appeared in the form of arbitrary arrests and the most cruel punishments. Just when this general work commenced it seems to be impossible to say. Within ten years after the treaty of Berlin there were signs of the existence of this influence, but the most marked indi- cations were manifest in 1892, coming to a head in the early part of 1893. About this time the revolutionists, whether members of the Huntchagist party or not, seemed to have come to the con- viction that there must be some overt act that should ac- complish what they had in view — the focusing of the attention of Europe upon themselves. They seemed at first to be at somewhat of a loss as to the best method of doing this. Finally, under just what influences is not evident, they gath- ered, especially in the region of Marsovan and Yuzgat, and placards began to appear, sometimes on public buildings, sometimes on the walls of houses. On the night of the 5th of January, 1893, scores, even hundreds of these placards, 333 AMERICANS THREATENED. were posted in many places, all of a seditious character, rousing opposition against the government. Two were found affixed to the outer gate of the premises of the American Board missionaries at Marsovan, but before the paste upon them was dry they were pulled down by persons belonging to the college, who were passing through the gates. These placards were addressed to the Turks and full of denuncia- tion of the government for its oppression and general cor- ruption. Within ten days arrests began to be made. The chief of police was given full authority to investigate the matter, but his previous record and subsequent conduct showed him to be utterly unfit for the work. He was brutal, utterly regardless of law and simply bent upon wreaking personal vengeance wherever possible. Just what the object was in endeavoring to identify the American buildings with this movement, it is not difficult to see. Americans are almost the only foreigners dwelling in the interior of Turkey. They are under peculiar protection by treaty rights. They are well known over the world, and throughout the whole period of their residence in Turkey have identified themselves very closely with the efforts to ameliorate the condition of the people. Anything that could identify them with anti-government manifestations would call down upon them the hostility of the government. That would result in damage of some sort, and this would call the atten- tion of the foreign governments, which it was hoped would accomplish the end in view. With this it is entirely possible that there may have been personal bitter feeling. Not a few Armenians have felt that the missionaries were undermining their national life by their opposition to ecclesiastical formal- ism, and in their attacks on atheism and infidelity they were DISTURBANCE IN MARSOVAN. 339 charged by many with hindering the progress of free thought. Whatever the immediate purpose, this much was accomplished Z the attention of the Turkish Government was directed very forcibly to the missionaries. The chief of police, who perhaps had his own reasons for hostilities to the Amen ans, took advantage of the opportunity to threaten both the college and its teachers, charging the institution with being a source of sedition and affirming that the placards were issued from Anatolia College, since they were written by *£?£?£ as the missionaries used. It was also reported throughout the X that the buildings were to be burned and tha h.gh officials y had declared that the college site should be a plowed field. In less than two weeks the senior Armenian professor of the college, Mr. Thoumaian, and a little later another member of the faculty, Professor Kayayan, were arrested and imprisoned, and every request to see them or to give bad for them was refused. There was not the slightest : evidence that they had had anything to do with the .ssumg of the placards, and the whole charge seems to have been made for the pur- pose of furnishing a basis for an attack upon the college On the night of February 1st, one of the buildings which was in process of erection for the girls' school was set on fire. The presence of soldiers and officials near the budding before alarm could possibly have been given, indicated the.r connec- tion with it, but the charge was immediately made that the colleo-e authorities themselves had fired the building e.ther to exdte revolt among the Armenians or conceal the presence of arms and ammunition. These charges were sent on to Con- stantinople and the animus of the government is shown in its appointment of the same local officials notoriously corrupt and who were known to have threatened the college, for the 34o TRIALS AND TORTURE. conduct of the examination. There was general disturbance throughout the whole region, with outbreaks in a number of places : Yuzgat, Gemerek, Cesarea, and elsewhere. Large numbers of arrests were made until certainly between two and three hundred Armenians, against whom no charge could be found, were imprisoned. The professors were not released even on bail and there was great excitement throughout the region. Throughout the summer of 1893 the excitement continued to increase. Commissions were appointed to try these men in prison. At the trials, torture of the most atrocious kind was used to extort confession of guilt and charges against prominent men. Very little, however, was learned, and at last most of those arrested were released, though many were transferred to the different fortresses at the Island of Rhodes, near Mersine, and at St. Jean d' Acre in Syria. Among these were some Protestant pastors who had had no share whatever in the disturbance, but were looked upon with suspicion by the Turkish Government for their liberal ideas. The professors were put on trial. No proof what- ever was found against them, and at last, on special protest by the English Government, they were released on condition of leaving the country. One feature in the investigations was the presence of a large number of documents, apparently in the hand-writing of some of the arrested men. It appeared, however, on investigation, that there were a large number of forgeries, one of the American missionaries find- ing his own name signed to some papers. The question of the burning of the school building was taken up earnestly by the American Government and indemnity was secured from Turkey, together with a permit to rebuild. AMERICAN CITIZENS. 341 In one sense the revolutionists had achieved their purpose. They had attracted attention, and it had become very evident to Europe that matters in Turkey were going from bad to worse. The great activity of the Turkish Government, how- ever, made their position in Turkey quite difficult. They appeared less and less in the country itself for some time, but took their station outside, and through Europe and even in this country they made general charges against the Turkish Government and gathered funds to continue from a safe posi- tion the general propaganda which had been started in Turkey. At this point a new phase of their work appeared. For some time there had been considerable effort on the part of Armenians to secure American citizenship, return to Turkey and demand the same protection at the hands of the Turkish Government that was accorded to native-born American citizens. The diplomatic relations of this will be referred to in another chapter on the relations between America and Turkey. In some respects they were able thus to accomplish a good deal, but some serious difficulties arose. Individuals claiming American protection were charged by the Turkish Government with exerting seditious influence, and complaints were made to the United States Government with regard to it. The position was taken by this govern- ment that it could not force upon the Turkish Government the continued presence of its own citizens who were not desired by that government. This aroused a great cry and increasing efforts were made to secure at the hands of this government complete protection. The chief effect, however, was to direct attention more than ever to their work, and letters appeared from different parts of Turkey protesting against the influences that went forth from these revolu- 342 EXTENT OF REVOLUTION. tionary committees, taking the ground that they were having simply the effect of arousing the hostility of the Turkish officials, while they were accomplishing no good purpose. As has already been said, the extent of this revolutionary movement it is impossible to state accurately. The members of the committees are not known ; how widely their move- ment had received, if not the absolute indorsement, at least the sympathy of their own people, is also very uncertain. This much, however, is unquestionable, that while individuals in various parts of the empire did have this sympathy with the revolutionary idea, there were very few indeed who carried it to the extreme favored by the committee. Occasion- ally a man would be found who would say, as one did to one of the missionaries, " If I had my way I would kill you immediately. That would bring the whole matter to a crisis, and it would be the best thing for us." But this was entirely repugnant to most of those who favored overt action, and the great majority of Armenians in every portion of the empire not only had no share in the plans, but where they knew of them, bitterly opposed them. As a matter of fact the revolutionary movement has never been a national move- ment. It has represented individual ideas, and while those individuals were to a degree numerous, especially in certain sections, they have never represented the great mass of the people. The influence of the American missionaries, the influence of the Armenian ecclesiastics and of the better informed in the nation, was strongly against any such attempt. All knew that it was madness. The facts, that the Armenians were so scattered throughout the empire, that they were untrained in the use of arms, that so little organization was possible among them, all combined to make the movement a YOUNG TURKEY PARTY. * 343 most atrocious wrong to the people. At the same time it had its effect upon the Turks, both government and people. The appearance of the placards was attended to a considerable degree by talk among the people, which spread until there became a widely extended feeling that there was a revolution impending, and the Turks in many places really felt afraid of the influence that might be exerted through the Christian population. In some places this amounted to panic, and there were not a few cases during 1893 and in the early part of 1894, when Turkish officials had all they could do to restrain the hostile manifestations of the Moslem communities. Another effect was that it gave force to the arguments of the reactionary Turks, who claimed that all this yielding to the desires of the Christians was nonsense, and that the only thing for the Sultan to do was to set himself deliberately against them and to make it very clear that in Turkey the Turk ruled and Islam would brook no rival. In this immediate connection mention should be made of an undoubted fact. The elements among the Turks repre- sented by Haireddin Pasha, called variously the Party of Progress, or the Young Turkey Party, were at the same time carrying on a certain propaganda, to what extent it is impos- sible to say. Their leaders, among them Midhat Pasha, and those who had been associated with him, had been exiled and put to death. They themselves had been scattered in one way or another over the empire. Constantinople, and indeed all Europe, was aroused by the story of a number of young Turks who came from an interior city to Constantinople, were seen upon the steamer, and then disappeared from view. Whither they went no one could tell. Afterwards individuals appeared claiming to be members of that company and saying 344 FAILURE OF HUNTCHAGISTS. that they had been arrested and sent into exile only to return with great difficulty. There was a general feeling that revo- lution was in the air. The Huntchagists represented the Armenian phase of it ; the Young Turkey Party the Moslem phase of it. Each probably helped the other ; each laid upon the other the responsibility for certain acts aimed against the government. The Armenians said that the placards at Marsovan, etc., were posted by the Turks ; the Turks retorted the charge upon the Armenians. Just where the truth is, it will probably be some years before it is possible to state with accuracy. In the events that followed the massacres at Sassun, Con- stantinople, Erzrum, etc., the traces of Huntchagists are apparent in some ; absolutely wanting in others. Since then the party seems to have disappeared from view. Nothing is heard of it ; nothing said about it. If it exists, it is hiding itself, partly, it is to be hoped, in shame and remorse for the cruelties that have at least in good measure resulted from its folly, partly because its schemes have been brought abso- lutely to naught by the dominating power of Russia. They started out for an autonomous Armenia. They failed abso- lutely of securing even a moderate reform in the condition of their people. Conceived in conceit, in treachery and in falsehood, its fruit has been ruin and misery of the worst type. CHAPTER XIX. General Situation in 1894. Terrible Oppression — Exaggerated Reports— Truth Stranger Than Fiction— Religious Liberty Infringed Upon — Oppressive School Laws — Rigorous Censorship — General Effort of the Government to Suppress Christian Development. THE situation in the summer of 1894 throughout the empire was one bordering on anarchy. From every section of the country came word of the most atrocious treat- ment by the Turkish Government of its Christian subjects. Taxes were imposed in a way that in the already impoverished condition of the country was simply ruinous. The effect of the action of the revolutionists in Marsovan had been to arouse very bitter feeling against them on every hand and to create an impression, even among those favorable to the nation, that they were chiefly responsible for the situation. At the same time reports were sent to the European papers of the most thrilling type. Some of these were true, most were based upon truth, but there was not a little exaggeration in details. Great excitement was aroused by the publication in the English papers of a detailed statement furnished by the Vienna correspondent of the Daily News as to the treatment of Armenian prisoners in Central Asia Minor. According to this, hundreds of them were cast into prison, stripped of their clothes and tortured in the most diabolical manner. (345) 346 ATROCITIES. While men were beaten, women were outraged in the presence of their husbands and fathers, and general atrocities com- mitted that surpassed in horror those of the invasions of the Goths and Huns. Careful investigation showed that while these charges were in some sense correct, the impression made by them in general was often false. In one case the hundreds dwindled to twenty-eight, and while there was outrage enough to stir the indignation of every righteous man, there was exaggeration enough to enable the Turkish Government to represent that these stories were based upon a general desire to create trouble. Instances innumerable might be given of the methods adopted with regard to individuals. A few must suffice. An intelligent Armenian physician had been practic- ing for some years in one of the cities in Central Asia Minor. He had a good reputation, and both Greeks and Turks as well as Armenians patronized him and urged him to accept the office of city physician. With some reluctance he yielded. A petition was sent to Constantinople and he was appointed. He found the drinking water of the city polluted by the prox- imity of slaughter-houses and water closets to the water course. He reported the case to the local government in accordance with his duty as health officer. As nothing was done by them he appealed to the Governor-General of the province, but without any result. Then, following out strict orders from Constantinople with regard to the prevention of cholera, he reported to the health department at Constantinople and the headquarters of the army corps of the district. The Governor- General thereupon received a reprimand, and in great anger summoned the physician to the capital of the province. A request to go to his home for warmer clothing, for it was in mid-winter, was met with stern refusal, and a police force of HOMELESS. 347 twenty men with an officer at their head dragged him through the markets and the streets for more than half a mile, to the outskirts of the city, where he lay for half an hour unconscious. When he recovered he was placed upon a horse, but he could not sit up, and was tied to his back. The governor, in great rao-e, said that he should not be allowed to live in the province at & all Requests of people from another city that he come there, were not granted. As another illustration, a photographer of one city pre- sented the usual charge for some pictures made on the order of an official. The governor summoned him, and roared out, -Are not you one of those local Armenians that I can make rot?" So terrified was the poor man that he was glad to slink away and say nothing about pay. These are but illustrations of what was done over the whole empire by the order of high officials, until there became a veritable reign of terror, and no man felt his life or property, or the honorof his wife and daughter safe, in any interior city, town or village. Perhaps, however, the most forcible setting forth of the situation is found in a statement not in regard to the ordinary brutality of officials, or the rapacity of Kurds. It had become more and more evident that there was a gen- eral plan of the government to intensify by its oppression, as much as possible, the recognition on the part of the Chris- tians of their absolute subordination to Moslems. In response to a special request from the British ambassador, a statement was drawn up by persons thoroughly well-posted in regard to the general condition, and from that statement are taken in considerable degree the facts that follow. One of the glories of the administration of Abdul Medjid was the Hatti ^Humayoun of 1856, the charter of liberty and 248 DISPLACING CHRISTIANS. equality to the Christians of Turkey. This has already been referred to in preceding chapters, and needs no further description here, except to recall the statement that its aim was the carrying into effect of the principle of equality between the Mussulmans and non-Mussulmans of the empire. During the remainder of the reign of Abdul Medjid, and to a considerable extent during that of Abdul Aziz, this principle had been followed. Soon after the treaty of Berlin, however, there became manifest a tendency to displace Christians by Moslems in responsible posts in every department of government in Asiatic Turkey. Some still remained, for the reason that there were practically no Moslems competent to fill the positions. Administrative offices were even still to some extent occupied by Armenians or Greeks, but their number had been increas- ingly small. At the time of which we are speaking, 1894, there was in the Council of State, to which the administration of the interior provinces belongs, but one Christian member, notwithstanding the fact that measures affecting the vital interests of the Christian population were daily subjects for consideration. So also the High Council of the Ministry of Public Instruction, specially directed by the Hatti Humayoun to be a mixed council, had but one non-Moslem member, although it decided upon the interests of all Christian schools in the country. The Superior Council of Censorship had also a very insignificant proportion of non-Moslem members, not- withstanding the fact that by far the greatest number of books for Christians either published in Turkey or imported from without were by Protestants. Although the proportion of readers of books in the Protestant communities was far greater than in any other, there was not a single Protestant BOARD OF CENSORS. 349 on this council, or indeed in any high council or responsible position under the government. One result of this was seen in the absurd laws passed by the Board of Censors with regard to the introduction and publication of books. Instances of* this kind could be given in numbers; thus the word Armenia was stricken out of every book. A translation of the hymn — " The children are gathering from near and from far, The trumpet is sounding the call for the war," was forbidden as being revolutionary, and even a number of Eno-lish hymn books were detained for weeks and months by the^Board of Censors, in the search for the English version of this same hymn. One of the special points in the Hatti Humayoun was the suppression of the ancient custom of making the police agents collectors of taxes. This had given rise to grave abuses. Little by little the usage was restored and finally, in the summer of this year, an imperial edict set aside the work of that charter, by appointing the police throughout the country to be tax-collecting agents, with a system of rewards to those officers who should succeed best in collecting money. Torture and capital punishment were absolutely forbidden by this same charter, yet in the trials in regard to the disturb- ances at Angora, in 1893, and at Yuzgat, in 1894, torture of the most inhuman character was extensively used in order to force men to testify according to the orders of the officials. An Armenian at Marsovan was flogged until his back was raw flesh, to force him to sign a declaration that certain Ameri- cans were plotting with Armenians an insurrection. An Armenian blacksmith, in the province of Angora, was made insane by the torture inflicted on him in prison. or BRUTAL INSULTS. Residents in Constantinople and throughout the empire in the early years of the century had been accustomed to hear the most opprobrious epithets used to them by Turks of every grade. Under the influence of Abdul Medjid and the Hatti Humayoun this diminished greatly, and as a conse- quence the social relations grew more and more friendly. During the five years previous to 1894, however, a marked change was noticed everywhere throughout the empire. There was far more of brutality in the treatment of individuals ; there was an increasing lack of regard for the customs of the Christians. The governor of Nicomedia, only sixty miles from Constantinople, ordered a leading Christian merchant of that place to open his shop for business on Sunday. On his refusal to do that which his religion forbade, this same officer publicly and abominably reviled the religion that taught him such a thing. He then struck the merchant in the face and tried by fierce threats to compel him to "obey the orders of an officer of the Sultan." In the province of Erzrum some soldiers came to a village on Sunday and demanded sacks to carry grain. They were requested to wait until the close of the service when the sacks would be furnished. They however entered the church, bawled out to the preacher to stop the service, and even drew their swords upon the men who sought to quiet this interruption. An officer of a Christian community in another city had occasion to go to police head- quarters for a document. He was met with a torrent of un- speakably vile abuse of himself and the most -sacred things of his religion. There .were a large number of officers and pri- vates of the police present, but not one remonstrated. In no case was there any possibility of redress, although twenty TREATMENT OF CHRISTIANS. 35 1 years before, punishment would have been accorded promptly to the offending officers. # m With regard to the general treatment of the Christian peasants in the districts of Eastern Turkey, it is impossible to give anything like an adequate conception of the situation. Not merely were the villagers subject to open robbery by the Kurds, but to the scarcely less ruinous extortion carried on by the lower government officials. The outrages carried on by Kurds under their new semi-military organization, had given occasion to petition after petition to the Central Govern- ment. No attention, however, was paid to them, and in 1893 orders were sent from Constantinople forbidding the trans- mission of any more petitions against these regiments. But it was not merely the Kurds that the people had to fear. Reference has already been made to the Circassians that were brought in in such numbers from the Caucasus. They had spread themselves over Western Asia Minor, and while at first less bold became, during the five years under special survey, so arrogant that no Christian farmer could hope to hold his property if it pleased the eye of one of these men. A general survey of the whole situation leaves the inevitable impression of a plan officially adopted to wage an indirect war upon the whole Christian population by crushing them, reducing them to poverty, and to clear them off from the face of the land in order to replace them by a Moslem population. That this plan was a general one against all non-Moslems is evidenced by the fact that the oppression and the injustice was by no means confined to the Armenian villages and towns. The Greek villages suffered only in a secondary measure, while the Christian population of Mesopotamia suffered fully as much. In The Independent of New York, in the issue of 352 KURDISH EXACTIONS. January 17th, 1895, was published a long statement as to the exactions made upon the various villages by the Kurdish chiefs and also by the government officials. The following is an illustration of the latter. During the summer of 1894 the government demanded back taxes from a certain village to a large amount, which according to the villagers had no foundation in justice. They had already been impoverished and had no means of paying the tax. Under very heavy pressure from the government, however, they raised a part of the sum by mortgaging their fields and future crops, leaving a balance which they absolutely could not pay. Driven to desperation by the soldiers, who insisted upon collecting the taxes, they entirely deserted their village and fled to the mountains. After some months the government endeavored to induce them to return, and promised redress for their wrongs. When however they did return, still increased pressure was brought to bear upon them to secure money. In a number of villages the people were literally bought as slaves. In some cases the food supply, beds, household utensils, farmers' implements were seized by the collectors in lieu of taxes. These collectors then made false returns of taxes received, and when the new officials came, using the incomplete reports of their predecessors they again collected the taxes, entailing much suffering. In still further proof of the statement that the situation was the result of a general plan for the suppressing of the Chris- tians, attention should be called to a series of facts with re- gard to aggressions upon specific religious liberty. Before 1856, an imperial firman (permit) had been required for all Christian churches, and worship in any others than those in- dorsed by the Imperial Government was absolutely forbidden. A NEW EDICT. •353 After that date the Hatti Humayoun recognized the right of ail people to worship as they saw fit; and while the con- struction of churches was especially referred for authoriza- tion by imperial firman, the right to read the Testament, as worship was called, in private dwellings was fully acknowl- edged. From that time until 1891, this liberty was enjoyed throughout the country. When it became a question of the erection of a larofe church to be consecrated for divine ser- vice, the imperial permit was always secured. But there were many cases in smaller villages and towns, and even in cities, where the community was not large enough to warrant an expensive building, where the people gathered in a room in a private house. This served for service on Sunday and some- times on week days ; also for private schools, and meantime was in many instances a dwelling place for the family of the preacher or teacher. It was not until 1891 that the Sublime Porte questioned for the first time officially the right of Christians to conduct worship in this way in private houses. In the following year an edict was issued which took advan- tage of the fact that in certain cases worship was conducted in the same room as private schools, and basing its claim upon the recognized law that schools were under general imperial supervision, decreed the suppression of worship in schools not formally authorized and found to be without permits after a stipulated time. When objection was made to this, the reply was that this was a technical measure, bringing existing places of worship under regular forms, and promising that permits would be issued promptly on application. As a mat- ter of fact several permits were thus issued. But two years later a new move was made in this same direction and a 254 RIGHT TO WORSHIP. number of places of Protestant worship throughout Asiatic Turkey were suppressed, under the claim that no worship at all could be carried on in any building that had not received specific authorization by imperial firman. The situation was explained by a provincial official as follows : " Every place where a Christian says his prayers is reckoned as a church, , and a church cannot exist without an imperial firman." The result of this was that there were numerous cases all over the country, not merely in the interior, but in Constanti- nople and in Syria, where the Protestants were prohibited from worship. One case deserves special note. For many years the Protestant community in Stamboul, or the city proper of Constantinople, had worshipped in a private house under the general permit accorded in 1856. That building became un- safe through age and a new one was desired. Petition after petition was made, and every conceivable pretext, and many that seemed absolutely inconceivable, was brought forward to prevent their securing the right to worship. Similar in- stances occurred in Sidon, in Syria, others in the provinces of Trebizond, Harput, Angora and Adana. In the city of Ordu, not far from Trebizond, where there was a large Protestant community, effort after effort was made to secure a building, and one was at last obtained after repeated appli- cations. Objections, however, were made by local Greek priests, and the Turkish Government took advantage of this and stopped the worship. It thus became notorious that the government would take advantage of every pretext of what- ever kind, whether of hostility on the part of local magnates or of what they considered general welfare, to check so far as possible the spread of Christian worship. Of course the SUPPRESSING SCHOOLS. 355 regularly authorized churches were not disturbed whether belonging to Armenians, Greeks, Jacobites or Protestan s. Wlfat is perhaps a still more marked instance of this is found in the'action with regard to schools. According , to the Hatti Humayoun the various communities were authorized to open schools and in the circular that attended the promulga- tion of the edict it was said : a ,0 .rhools created and erected by the communities, the most absolute liberty «In regard to schools created ana y intervenes save to prevent in cases is le ft to them by the ^™^—^ "Xols to persons whose principles are iS?£ST ^ ISr- - I^ial Government or contrary to public order." For twenty-eight years this liberty was fully enjoyed by the various Christian communities. The result was the sponging np of a system of education over the whole country that chanced in many respects the character of the various com- munhies. The dominant cause for this is set forth in another lapter, that on- mission work, and need not be explained here further than to say that the impulse was given by the American and English missonaries, but was cordially followed out by Armenian, Greek, Maromte, Bulgarian and other Christian communities, and had its effect even upon he Modems themselves. In Syria in .88,, and throughout the Pm nire in 1884 the government suddenly commenced to sup- ;rChristia 4 n'schoolson the ground of .ack of conformity to the school law of .867. This was news to all. But on examination it was found that in an obscure PWPM«- ceded and followed by matter relating solely to the oiganua tion of a governmental system, there was a single clause touching what are known as private schools. According to his these are permitted on condition that the course of 356 HEAVY PENALTIES. study, the books used, and the diplomas of the teachers be submitted for the approval of the local authorities. For fif- teen years this had been held in abeyance, and was absolutely unknown until some thirty schools were closed in Syria for disobedience of it. Then followed a series of negotiations, which resulted in a declaration by the Minister of Public In- struction that existing Christian schools would not be molested if they submitted to control in the three points mentioned. Throughout the country there was general submission to this control, but on application for permits, the statement was uniformly made that they could be given to none but new schools. This again blocked the way. Three years later a large number were closed for lack of permits. Then followed re- newed negotiations; and a vizerial order was issued in 1889, confirming the declaration of the Minister of Public Instruc- tion. Again three years later the edict referred to was issued, ordering the closing of all schools and places of worship which did not obtain formal permits within a specified time, thouQfh it was left to the will of the officials to issue or refuse the permits. The situation was then somewhat alleviated, but the next year a new difficulty arose. The local authorities claimed that the permits required were not those of the De- partment of Public Instruction but an imperial firman, and in 1894, the Sublime Porte declared that no school of any kind could exist without an imperial firman. Stringent orders were issued laying heavy penalties upon officials who neglected to close schools without permits. Teachers were forbidden to allow addresses to be made to scholars or to have essays read by scholars at public festivals without first submitting both to the censorship. No private house occupied by an authorized CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS. 357 Christian school was to be repaired except by special order from Constantinople ; houses or building lots could not be pur- chased by English, American or French subjects without a [ bond promising that the buildings should be razed to the ground if worship or schools were at any time established in them. The inevitable result of this was to fill the provincial au- thorities with the idea that the Ottoman Government was hos- tile to Christian educational institutions. Another illustration was the requirement by a decree issued in this same year that all Christian schools were to give considerable instruction in the Turkish language. Such an edict inevitably closed the schools in Damascus, in Mesopo- tamia and in certain portions of Asia Minor, where neither teachers nor scholars knew that language. About the same time there came to light the influence of a law issued in 1892, organizing an Imperial Civil Service school, which forbade the employment in government bureaus of any one graduating from other than government schools. Thus again a blow was struck at the higher education in Christian schools through- out the country. In the same line with this was the action of the government with regard to censorship of the press and of books, whether those printed in the country or imported from abroad. Im- mediately following 1856, there was considerable freedom of action in this particular. While there was a general super- vision of everything that was either printed or imported into the empire, there was manifest an inclination to trust to the honor of reputable publishers and importers. Occasionally there was transgression, but as a rule by private individuals The large societies or printing houses invariably sought to 358 INCREASED RESTRICTIONS. accord absolutely to the law, even where they found it ex- tremely irksome. With the advent of the present Sultan, however, a change became manifest. Constantly increasing restrictions were placed. Law after law regulating the sale and publishing of books was issued, each more stringent than its predecessor. No book was allowed to be printed without carrying on its title page the permit of the Bureau of Censors, and no book was allowed to be imported without the stamp of the censors. Considerable negotiation in this regard re- sulted in a plan, which while irksome was not really injurious, and it was thought that everything would move rightly. Soon, however, it became evident that still more restric- tions were to be enforced. The existing law was interpreted in the most absurd ways. As an illustration ; a colporteur started out from the city of Erzrum to carry his books through the villages. He was stopped at the gate of the city by the police. He showed his traveling passport and stated that all his books had the permit of the official board of censors. The officer would accept nothing and insisted upon his going to the government house. There his books were placed in a room and he was told to come after a few days. He came but there was no reply ; there had been no time to examine the case. He came again, and at last by persistence secured the examination by the proper officer. This examination showed conclusively that everything was according to law, and the colporteur was permitted to go. He started again to the gate of the city, and found a new officer on duty. He was again arrested and sent back to the government house. Again there was a delay, until the same officer's attention could be secured. This thing happened several times and several weeks passed before the man could go on his way. w _ a - o a J* - t/i _j a a < 3 C> H m £.q* w (/) ff* > g(K! > o5'o 2 -i H -' o -^ D.O .- Z ,3 Z cr5 q:Z p r-h r.v: S- n> tr *» _^ 1^ 3 rro B3 % o 3 < ID sr£ O 3 S r SEVERE PUNISHMENT. 361 Instances innumerable of this kind could be given from all over the country. The last law gave a list of subjects on which all publications were absolutely prohibited, so broad that any official might if he chose, exclude from this province all Christian literature. Any censor in the capital or in the interior provinces might reject a book if a single sentence in it appeared of doubtful meaning, and severe penalties upon the importation, sale, dis- tribution or even transportation of any book which had not received the censors' approval, were applied not merely to dealers but to private owners. The result of this was that again and again individuals were severely punished for hav- ing in their possession technically unauthorized books ; that is, such as had been published before the existence of these later laws. The effect of this is seen in the fact that through- out the interior provinces of the empire it has been of late al- most impossible to find any books at all, and the children of fairly educated parents are growing up in ignorance. But the animus of the law was seen not only in its applica- tion to the interior provinces, but to the private libraries of foreigners, and to the local press in the border cities. In few countries has there been a greater newspaper development than in certain parts of Turkey. In Constantinople, there are a large number of daily papers in every language, Turkish, Armenian, Greek, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Judseo- Spanish (for the large number of Spanish Jews), Bulgarian, Arabic and others. Over every one of these papers there was exercised the most rigid censorship ; not merely local news, but foreign news was subjected to the most careful examination, and any item of any kind, that did not meet with the approval of the officers, was remorselessly stricken out. 362 FALSE STATEMENTS. More than that, every paper was compelled under penalty of instant suppression, to publish every item that the govern- ment saw fit to issue to it. The effect of this is seen in the statements in connection with the massacres. No statement of any kind with regard to these massacres was allowed, until they became so notorious that it was simply impossible to absolutely prevent them. Then the government issued offi- cial statements so utterly false, that not even the Turks them- selves would believe them. The following paragraphs, from the paper referred to above, illustrate very fully the nature of many of these restrictions : " The censorship of foreign religious and literary works is so stringent as to deprive the Christians in Turkey of the ordinary means of keeping in touch with the advancement of knowledge among their co-religionists abroad. Such classics of English literature, for instance, as Shakespeare, Byron, Milton, Scott, are refused authorization. So with the higher literature of any language. No standard History, no Ency- clopedia, no treatise on metaphysics of any extended character, no full and extended theology or commentary on the Bible, can pass the censorship for introduction into the interior of Turkey. And if any minister or teacher, anxious to fill well his place, ventures to smuggle such books through or to possess the rudiments of a library, he is certain sooner or later to fall under the notice of the paid spy, and then must submit to the condemnation for the crime which the authorities choose to consider to be " incited " by the history or theolog- ical work concerned. The effect of the refusal to admit the standard works of Christendom, in keeping teachers of Chris- tian schools in Turkey down to the level of the primary school, need not be enlarged upon. PROHIBITED WORDS. 3^3 « The censorship of books published within the empire is still more rigorous, no longer professing to confine itself to politics or to polemics in religion, but taking hold of and mutilating books designed for the religious instruction and encouragement of Christians. It is conceivable that here Mohammedan censors might defend their right to prohibit, as they do the publication in Turkish, where Moslems might see them of the noble works which have been the inspiration and the comfort of Christians in all ages. But it is not conceiv- able that justification can be found in the case of interference with the publication of such books, printed, not in Arabic letters that Moslems use, but in the Christian alphabets which no Mohammedan can read. Yet the Christian, anxious to aid his fellow-Christians to lead noble and useful lives, may not publish articles in his own religious newspapers, which contain, for instance, the quotation of texts of Scripture. These are commonly prohibited either on the plea that the texts are not suitable for the common people, or because they contain words which are forbidden, and cannot be altered by the publisher because they are the words of the Bible. For instance, a text which alludes to rising from the dead may not be used because the verb " to rise" in some other context might mean something else. Any passage from the Bible is prohibited which contains any of the following words : Per- secution, courage, liberty, strength, rights, union, equality, star (in astronomy one has to use the word "luminary" instead), king, palace, arms, bloodshed, tyranny, hero, etc., etc. In fact these words are prohibited in religious articles in any context whatever. A Christian religious newspaper may not place before its readers a hymn or other poetry, and from the hymn books used in Christian worship many of the grand old hymns 364 VIRTUES PROHIBITED. of the Church have been expunged, and the suppression sus- tained after appeal to the highest authority of the Porte. A Christian writer addressing Christians who know only Turkish, in the Turkish language, is constantly forbidden to use words of purely religious signification which are the words used in the Bible and the only ones known to the people to express a given idea, because the idea is held by the censor to belong to Mohammedanism alone. Of such are " the guiding grace of God ; " forbidden, because Moslems do not admit that Christians can have this grace. " Good news," the literal translation used in the Bible of the Greek word " Evangelion," commonly rendered in English as the Gospel. The use of this word is prohibited, because Moslems do not admit that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is "good news." "Apostle" (resoul) is a word found in everyday Turkish law in its sense of messenger. It is prohibited in the Christian newspaper press, because it implies that the Apostles of Jesus Christ were sent of God, which Moslems deny. The same prohibi- tion, for Mohammedan religious reasons, lies upon the use, in Christian religious books or religious newspapers, of references to our Saviour as " the Saviour of the world " or to his shed- ding his blood for the cleansing from sin. " But aside from these interferences, the censors refuse to allow certain subjects of religious discourse to be presented to Christians. Thus the virtues of manliness, of moral courage, or resignation under affliction, of hope in God under adversity, are all subjects concerning which Christian religious books may not speak to Christians. The same is true of exhortations to benevolence, of practical suggestions to Chris- tians as to means of copying Jesus Christ in doing good to others, of suggestions of Christian evangelistic work among MINISTERS MOLESTED. 365 the ignorant and degraded of the Christian communities, and of reference to Christian missions and their operations in other parts of the world. " Besides all this, Protestant ministers are molested in their services when they preach upon these normal themes of their religion. The Protestant pastor of Yuzgat was expelled from the place for no other offence. The Protestant pastor at Sungurlu was compelled to leave that town for preaching on the resurrection from the dead. The Protestant pastor from Gemerek is undergoing imprisonment in the fortress of St. Jean d'Acre for no other offence, to judge from the evidence produced at his trial. The Protestant pastor at Chakmak, near Cesarea, has just been thrown into prison ; and those who know his law-abiding and sterling character, assure us that his efforts to lead his flock into closer adherence to Bible Christianity are his only crime. Protestant pastors every- where declare that they are compelled, in choosing texts from the Bible, and in framing their exhortations upon them, to hesitate, and paraphrase, and weigh words, through fear that if they speak of the consolations of Christianity, they will be charged with encouraging discontent; if they urge resistance to sin, they will be condemned for suggesting resistance to the Turkish Government; or if they speak of the demand of Christianity for pure and noble character, they will be charged with inciting men to unlawful aspirations. On complaint being made of such restrictions upon the legitimate instruc- tion of Christians, officials in high position have answered that while provincial governors are constantly sending extracts from the Bible to prove the necessity of suppressing that book, Christians should be grateful for the privilege of being allowed to have the Bible, instead of complaining at being restricted 366 QUESTION OF RESTRICTION. in making or publishing comments upon it. Yet when there has been removed from the instruction of Christians all reference to the requirements of Christianity for practical benevolent living and to its abundance of assurances of the Divine aid in adversity and of the rewards of resignation, and to the proofs of its power which are found in the experiences of the Church universal in different parts of the world, much has been done to prevent Christians from knowing the worth or experiencing the effects of their own religion in their own hearts." It might be said that this whole question of restriction of wor- ship, schools and the press, is looked at from the distinctively Turkish standpoint, and the claim made that the government legitimately sought to protect the Moslems from being infected with Christian ideas. The answer to this is found in the fact that the restrictions did not by any means apply merely to publications in the Arabic character, such as is used by all Moslems, but to publications which no Moslem ever could or would read, in the Armenian or Greek characters, or even in foreign languages. In the same line is the fact that attacks upon Christianity were freely allowed by the Turkish Government, while replies from Christians were distinctly for- bidden. These Moslem attacks were full of the most scurril- ous statements and contemptuous epithets, and were so maliciously false as to almost overshoot their mark. Still the authors of these works were decorated by the Sultan him- self, and every effort was made to give to them the widest possible circulation. So, also, in the Turkish newspapers, attacks after attacks were made upon the Christian subjects of the Sultan, to which absolutely no reply was allowed. The paper closes with the following summary : — KEVIEW OF THE CASE. 3°7 - To review the case, we find an increasing stringency in Turkey directed against Christian education, an increasing tendency to hinder Christian worship, an increasing hostility to the use of hooks by the Christians of Turkey, which result in actually crippling the intellectual powers of men w .o would carry their culture along the lines of the best thought of Chris- tendom We find an increasing vigilance to prevent Chns- tians from exercising the injunctions of their religion in prac- tical benevolence and beneficence among their own people And in these later years we find this tendency reaching a climax of intensity in the rough hands laid upon the exposi- tion of the Christian faith in a way to prevent Christians from learning the full value of their religion and to prevent the Christian religion from producing its full fruit among its fo - lowers. In answer to inquiry as to the meaning of this rapid trend of different lines of policy converging to one point we are told that the trouble is that Christianity tends to make men grow into a better manhood. This statement >s made in various forms of paraphrase by officials of all grades from Bagdad to the Bosporus, and in answer to all objec- tions, to the closing of schools, to the suppression of worship to the restrictions put upon the use of books, to the elision of words and subjects from manuscripts in the press, and to the silencing of Christian ministers. To this declaration we make answer that the deliberate purpose of the founder of Chris- tianity and of the religion which He taught is the purpose to take the debased and ignorant, and to make them men, selt- controlled, honest and useful ; that the purpose to elevate man is not a disloyal or seditious purpose ; and that any lar- reaching scheme to restrain Christianity from accomplishing its full fruit in purifying and quickening the lives of .ts followers, is war upon the Christian religion itself. CHAPTER XX. The Sassun Massacre. A Deliberate Plan of The Turkish Government — Kurdish Raids — Armenians Defend Themselves — Kurds Reinforced by Regular Troops — Terrible Scenes of Slaughter — Stories of Survivors. IN view of the situation set forth in the preceding chapter the European powers emphasized more earnestly than before their demand for reforms, and the Turkish Government became convinced that another step was necessary in order to avert what they feared would be the complete destruction of their power. What that step was it is the object of this chapter to describe, leaving the inference as to the plan to come later. Among the different plains of Eastern Turkey there is none more fertile than the plain of Mush, about forty miles west of Lake Van. From the earliest times it has been noted for its harvests and for the general prosperity of its people, who partook, to a greater degree than was true of many other sections, of the vigor of the mountaineers. Bordered with high mountains on every side it was always an object of envy to the Kurdish tribes. Incursions had been repeatedly made and some result was manifest in the increase of Moslem vil- lages here and there over the plain. Still, however, it was the center of Armenian influence in that section ; even Bitlis and Van were scarcely more intensely Armenian than Mush. It was natural also that some of the revolutionists should (368) THE NEW ARMENIA. , 369 turn their eyes to this section. Here if anywhere must be the center of the new Armenia, and an effort was undoubt- edly made to stir some of the people to a revolution in oppo- sition to the Turkish Government. The plain villagers, how- ever, furnished very little encouragement for anything of this kind'. They realized perhaps even more clearly than the mountaineers did that opposition to the combined force of the Turkish Government and the Kurdish tribes was worse than useless, and the agitators found themselves turned aside after accomplishing but very lil-le. They then turned their at- tention to the mountain villages where the spirit of independ- ence was more strongly manifest. In the summer of 1893 one of these men was captured near the city of Mush, and the government had suspicion that friends of his were gathering in the mountains on the east. They accordingly sent word to certain Kurdish chiefs whose men had been enrolled in the Hamidieh cavalry to make a raid. Knowing the character of the mountaineers, these chiefs made their preparations some- what carefully. They gathered their men from every side, and it became evident to the Armenians that there was to be trouble. For a time there were simply ordinary raids ; ani- mals were carried off, occasionally a man was killed— some- times Armenian, sometimes Kurd. Ordinarily when a Kurd was slain his body was secured for burial before his people could come to claim it. At last there was a pitched battle in which the villagers were able to do considerable execution without heavy loss of life to themselves. The Kurdish chiefs finding themselves worsted withdrew, and no sufficient pressure could be brought to bear upon them to make them renew the contest. The Governor-GeneraJ of the province, however, with troops and 37° A WORSE SITUATION. field pieces, infested the mountains but made no attack, pre- ferring apparently to come into parley with the Armenians. He asked them why they did not submit to the government and pay taxes. Their reply was that they were not at all dis- loyal to the government, but could not pay taxes twice, to Kurds and to the government. If the Turkish authorities would give protection, they were perfectly willing to pay the taxes. During the winter several of their leaders were in- vited to Mush but declined to accept. 1 With the advent of the spring of 1894, the situation became worse. The government decided to make the advance and reiterated its instructions to the Kurdish chiefs to attack the whole section, west of the Mush plain and known now as Sas'sun, which included about forty villages. They came on every side and practically besieged the whole province. They stole animals, and the result was occasional contests in which one or more on either side fell. On one occasion the Kurds succeeded in securing the bodies of two of their comrades who had been killed, and carried them to the government at the city of Mush, reporting that the whole region was filled with armed men, who were defying the power of the govern- ment. Then followed a general attack upon the different villages. The Armenians had the better situation, and de- fended themselves with considerable success. The Kurds appeared to be unequal to the task of subduing them. The government reinforced them with soldiers, regular troops, but generally in disguise so as to retain as far as possible the appearance of the ordinary contests that had been going on for years between the villagers and the Kurdish chiefs. : Reinforced by these men, the Kurdish chiefs spread on every hand. They were assisted by the Turkish troops, not only in CAMPAIGN OF BUTCHERY. 371 positive attack, but in stratagems the most outrageous. Companies of troops would enter a village, telling the Arme- nians that they had come for their protection. They were received and quartered in the different houses ; then in the night they rose and slew the villagers, men, women, and children. Realizing now the evident intent, the Armenians resolved to fight and sell their lives as dearly as possible. The result was that for nearly three weeks from the latter part of August there was a general campaign of butchery. So bitter was the contest, that the Governor of Mush, fearing that he had not sufficient force at hand, sent word to the general commander of the Turkish forces in Eastern Turkey, whose headquarters were at Erzingan, west of Erzrum, to gather what troops he could, to join with the troops already there, and the Kurds, in the fight. Word meanwhile had been sent to Constantinople, that all Eastern Turkey was in rebellion, and the Sultan had issued a firman, calling upon his loyal subjects to put down the rebellion at all hazards. This firman was in the hands of the Commander Marshal Zekki Pasha as he came to Mush. He read it before the troops, then placed it upon his breast, and exhorted the men to do their duty. Especially on the last day of August, which was the anniversary of the Sultan's accession to the throne, was this exhortation read, and by every means in his power he roused the troops to the bitterest attack. At this time all pretense of complaint of revolution was thrown aside. Villages against which no charge of disloyalty had ever been made, where there had been no trouble of any sort, suffered equally with those where there had been contests. The re- ceipt of taxes amounted to absolutely nothing. On every hand it was proclaimed that there must be a clean sweep ; 372 BEGGING FOR MERCY. that the whole population of the Armenian district must be exterminated. In one village the priest, and some of the leading men, went out to meet the Turkish officer, declaring their loyalty, and begging for mercy. It was all to no avail., The village was surrounded and every man put to death. The stories of individual outrages were such as scarcely can be believed. Private letters, from persons well qualified to know the truth, many of which are quoted in full in "The Armenian Crisis in Turkey," by the Rev. F. D. Greene, give, instances almost too terrible for belief. We quote a few: " A number of able-bodied young Armenians were captured, bound, covered with brushwood and burned alive. A num- ber of Armenians, variously estimated, but less than a hun- dred, surrendered themselves and pled for mercy. Many of them were shot down on the spot and the remainder were dispatched with sword and bayonet. " A lot of women, variously estimated from 60 to 1 60 in num- ber, were shut up in a church, and the soldiers were " let loose " among them. Many of them were outraged to death and the remainder dispatched with sword and bayonet. A lot of young women were collected as spoils of war, Two stories are told. 1. That they were carried off to the harems of their Moslem captors. 2. That they were offered Islam and the harems of their Moslem captors ; refusing, they were slaughtered. Children were placed in a row, one behind an- other, and a bullet fired down the line, apparently to see how many could be despatched with one bullet. Infants and small children were piled one on the other and their heads struck off. Houses were surrounded by soldiers, set on fire, and the inmates forced back into the flames at the point of the bayonet as they tried to escape. TREATMENT OF WOMEN. 373 "At Geligozan many young men were tied hand and foot, laid in a row, covered with brushwood and burned alive. Others were seized and hacked to death piecemeal. At another village a priest and several leading men were cap- tured, and promised release if they would tell where others had fled, but, after telling, all but the priest were killed. A chain was put around the priest's neck, and pulled from oppo- site sides till he was several times choked and revived, after which several bayonets were planted upright, and he raised in the air and let fall upon them. " The men of one village, when fleeing, took the women and children, some 500 in number, and placed them in a sort of grotto in a ravine. After several days the soldiers found them, and butchered those who had not died of hunger. "Sixty young women and girls were selected from one vil- lage, and placed in a church, when the soldiers were ordered to do with them as they liked, after which they were butchered. " In another village fifty choice women were set aside and urged to change their faith and become hanwns in Turkish harems, but they indignantly refused to deny Christ, prefer- ring the fate of their fathers and husbands. People were crowded into houses which were then set on fire. In one in- stance a little boy ran out of the flames, but was caught on a bayonet and thrown back." The following stories from survivors of the massacre will give a more vivid picture than any general description : STORY OF A SURVIVOR OF THE SASSUN MASSACRE. " My name is Asdadur Giragosian. My home was on the sunny side of a high mountain, in the central village of 374 KURDISH RAIDS. the beautiful valley of Geligozan. This valley presents a charming scene when viewed from the top of one of the surrounding mountains, with many villages scattered here and there, and clumps of huge walnut trees between, giving the valley its name, ' Valley of Walnuts.' " Up to 1894 my family was a prosperous one, as were most of the families of Sassun. The Kurds who lived about us were, on the whole, friendly, though they frequently prac- ticed their habitual business of stealing cattle and sheep, but we were generally able to re-take our own, or others in their place. Our family consisted of twelve members, and we had many cattle and sheep. In the whole village were two hun- dred families, who possessed in the aggregate more than 15,000 sheep. Of course each of the sixty Armenian villages in the Sassun district (of which 42 are now ruined) had many cattle and sheep. " In the spring of 1894 the Kurds began to drive away our sheep more boldly than usual. At the same time the gov- ernment, suspecting that there were many armed revolution- ists in Sassun, sent to search for them, but failed to find them. They then wished to arrest some of our notables and take them to Mush as revolutionists, saying, ' You have revolutionary so- cieties here.' We resisted and prevented their taking our men. As I said, the Kurds made several attacks that spring, carrying off our animals, and we pursued them and rescued the animals, killing one or two men, whom we buried so they could not find them. Twice they attacked with this result,' but the third time we were not able to bury the two Kurds we killed, and they carried them to Mush and showed them to the government. A great tumult resulted, and it was re- ported, ' The Armenians of Sassun have rebelled and massa- FIGHTS WITH KURDS. 375 cred the Moslem inhabitants.' Also, ' They are armed with rifles and cannon.' The Turkish Government availed itself of the excuse, and instigated the Kurds to attack the Arme- nian villagers and massacre them. This they attempted to do, a large number attacking us, aided by many soldiers in disguise. But though the Kurds had been well armed by the government, we were able, owing to our superior position, to withstand them successfully for fifteen days. The Kurds were constantly repulsed, leaving many dead and wounded. During this time the Turkish soldiers were being rapidly col- lected in Merge-mozan. About twenty-five battalions of soldiers were gathered there. In these fights with the Kurds we lost only seven persons, but three Armenian villages were burned. "The assembled soldiers now began to attack. One day we heard the sound of their bugles, and for a whole day they con- tinued to advance with great tumult and besieged Geligozan on the sides. The road to a very high mountain named Andok was left open, and we were able to carry our families and animals there, but this in a hasty manner, while fighting with Turkish soldiers. Then the army divided, one part going toward Andok, the other coming toward us. We had already left the village and taken refuge among the rocks above it. Our position enabled us to withstand them all day, but we could see that they had burned the village of Husentsik, near our own. Toward evening they made a fiercer attack and got nearer us. Our ammunition was nearly exhausted, and we began to retreat. They now set fire to our village too, and from a distance, in the dark, we could see it burning. We fled to Andok, where our families and animals had been carried, but seeing that it was not a safe place to stay, we left 376 FLEEING FOR LIFE. it, and after a day's journey over rocks and mountains, towards evening reached a ruined church. Here we passed the night, but in the morning soldiers appeared and we hastened our flight. All our goods and most of our animals we left there. Near evening we reached a mountain named Gala-rash (Black Castle). We were very tired and hungry, but had nothing to eat, so we killed a sheep and ate it. But few of the villagers were to be found, the greater part having fled to other places. From this place we fled in the dark to the neighboring Kur- dish village, where our Aghas (chiefs) lived. Before morning we learned that Aghpig was also burned. Our Kurdish Aghas came out from the village to defend us against the soldiers, but did not succeed, and returned to the village, and we were obliged to continue our journey, though tired and thirsty. " When it was possible to stop, our first care was to find water and kill a sheep for food. The following day we learned that Hedink also was burned. Hearing this we fled to Heghgat, and then to a near mountain. The next morning we heard that Heghgat was burned. We descended from the mountain into a valley up which we slowly retreated, changing our position every day. But on the third day our pursuers appeared, and we left all our sheep and fled with our cattle. Soon we left the cattle too. One of my brothers, Atam, fled with the family, while my other brother, his fifteen- year-old daughter, and I, lagged behind and entered a forest, but when they saw my brother, two soldiers fired and he fell dead. Hearing the noise, the girl cried out and they saw her and shot her dead also. Me they did not find, and towards evening I came out of the forest, and hurrying forward, reached the family and told them of my brother's and his 3 3= a 63 fS W SAVINGS. 379 daughter's death. We wept aloud and spent the night dis- heartened, tired and hungry. In the morning, thinking the soldiers had turned back, we returned to a village to obtain food. I found my brother's body and buried it, but before I had time to bury the girl, the soldiers appeared. My remain- ing brother fled with the family, but I entered the forest. In the morning I found another refugee m the forest, who was seeking his family. He told me he had killed an ox, but had been obliged to leave it because the soldiers appeared. We were so hungry and faint that we could hardly walk, but we sought the ox and were about cooking some meat when sol- diers again appeared. "So we left the fire, climbed up the mountain, and hid be- hind some rocks. The soldiers saw us and two of them came to find us. We waited there for a few moments all trembling with terror. Suddenly a soldier appeared, aimed his gun at me and fired, the bullet piercing my leg. The other soldier also fired and pierced my thigh. Then they came up and severely wounded me with their short swords, in the shoulder and thigh. I shut my eyes and they thought me dead, and were about to depart when they saw my companion behind a rock ; they fired at him with true aim, and I heard his horrible cry as he fell. Before leaving us, one of the soldiers suspecting I was still living, proposed to cut my body to pieces, but his companion rejected the proposition, objecting that there was no water to wash the swords. So they merely threw some large stones at me, which fortunately did no special harm. When the soldiers were far enough away I spoke to my com- panion to see if he was living, and he answered very feebly saying he could neither walk nor move, and I was in the same condition. Oh ! our distress then ! Tired, hungry, 3 8o TERRIBLE SUFFERING. thirsty, severely wounded, we should die in torture, or be the prey of wild beasts. I cried to the soldiers, 'We are still alive, come and put an end to our misery.' I cried but they did not hear me. " After a while two Armenian fugitives passed by and saw us, and we besought them to carry us to a ruined sheep-cote near by. They were so hungry and weak they could hardly walk, and said they were not able to carry us, but yielding to our entreaties, they made a great effort and carried us there, gave us some water and fresh cheese and departed. We re- mained there three days, these friends coming to us at night and going away in the morning. We soon saw that this was too dangerous a place to stay, as we constantly heard the sound of guns and bullets passing over our heads. So they transferred us to another ruin, where we were tortured by the heat by day and the cold by night, naked and wounded. Our friends did not do much for us, not believing we could live. After three days my companion's mother came, bringing some millet to cook for us, but going out to get some water, she heard the sound of bugles and fled, but soon returned and cooked it. The next day our brothers came with the woman and tried to cook some wheat, but were again fright- ened by the sound of the bugles and fled, my brother wishing to carry me with him, but I said, ' It is better for you and the family to escape. I must die.' Toward evening they came back and carried us on their shoulders to another place, where some other families had already taken refuge. Soon they were obliged to leave this place also, fleeing in haste, and left me there. I remained in this dreary place eight days alone with my suffering save that they sometimes brought me a little food. After the eight days we heard that a firman had ESCAPE. 381 come ordering*- the massacre to cease. The soldiers then drove any fugitives they met, wounded or not, to the ruined villages. I remained thus among the ruins for two months, till my wounds were healed. As soon as I was strong enough, I left the ruins and slowly made my way to Vartenis (an Armenian village on the Mush plain). There I found my wife, but of the rest of the family I know nothing." With the man whose story is told above was a lad of seventeen years, named Serope Asdadurian, from the village of Mushakhshen, not far from Mush city. His statement shows the state of the region before the date of the massacre. STORY OF SEROPE ASDADURIAN. " Our family consisted of fifteen members, of whom four are now living, the others having died by the hands of the Kurds and Turks. "Before the year 1893 the brother of the celebrated robber chief, Mousa Bey, had abducted the daughter of the head man of our village. After a while the o-irl was rescued from his hands and married to a young man of Vartenis. In the spring of 1893 she visited her father's house, after which her father wished to send her, under safe escort, to her husband at Vartenis. He besought my father to carry her, and he ac- cepted the charge. On the way fifteen Kurds attacked the party and attempted to carry off the woman, but my father and his companions resisted, and delivered the woman safely to her husband, two of the Kurds being killed in the affray. My father fled to Russia, but soon returned, and for a month or so remained so concealed that no one saw him. After a while, however, it became known that he had returned, and suddenly one day the Mudir (Turkish petty governor) of the I 382 A CRIMSON STORM. neighboring village surrounded our house with a band of zabtiehs (gendarmes) to seize my father. He knew that to be taken was probably to be killed with tortures, and deter- mined to sell his life as dearly as possible. So when the zabtiehs burst open the door and came in my father killed one of them and rushed out with his rifle. But in his haste he struck his head violently against the frame of the door and fell, nearly dead. One of the zabtiehs fired and killed him. They then killed my mother, my two sisters, my uncle and four cousins. They carried away our cattle and sheep, robbed the house and burned it." So the crimson storm of carnage rolled on, until not less than thirty villages had been laid waste, so completely de- stroyed that even the names had been erased from the official records. As to the number of killed it is almost impossible to give accurate estimate. It must have been not less than five or six thousand, many put it much higher. Some soldiers said that a hundred fell to each one of them to dispose of, while others wept because the Kurds did more execution than they. Some, however, claimed to have been unwilling actors in the scene and suffered great mental torments. The wife of one noticed that he failed to pray, as had been his invariable custom. She spoke of it to him and he answered, " God will not hear me. If there is a God he will take vengeance for these awful deeds. Is there any use to pray ? " It is also told of other soldiers that on reaching their homes they in- quired of Armenian acquaintances, "Who is this Jesus of Nazareth ? The Sassun women were constantly calling out to Him." At last the carnage stopped. The commander-in-chief of the fourth army corps at Erzingan reached the field in time ORDER RESTORED. 383 to save a few prisoners alive and to prevent the extermination of four more villages that were on the list to be destroyed. He then sent a telegram to Constantinople that rebellion had been overcome and that order had been restored in the province. For this he received a medal and the thanks of the Sultan. CHAPTER XXI. Politics and Massacre at Constantinople. Investigation at Sassun — Mr. Gladstone on the Situation — Disturbances in Constantinople- Joint Notes by the Embassies — Plan of Reforms — New English Government — Massacre in Constantinople — Decisive Action of the Embassies — Signing of the Reforms — Subse- quent Acts of Defiance — Breach Between England and Russia — Collapse of English Influence. THE report of the massacres in Sassun aroused a storm of indignation throughout Europe. The British Consul at Van made investigation, confirmed the report of the massacres, which was again confirmed by the local military commander. The British Ambassador at Constantinople sent special officials to make public inquiries, with the result finally that the Turkish Government was informed that prompt, efficient steps must be taken to secure better government in Eastern Turkey, or she would join with European Powers in such intervention as would secure peace and justice for the Armenians. Meanwhile Czar Nicholas had come to the throne, and just what course would be taken by him was not yet evident. There were indications that he would pursue a different policy from his father, more in the line of general liberty and toleration, and there was a widespread feeling that the English demand was practically supported by Russia. A Turkish investigating commission was appointed, but its (384) A COMMISSION APPOINTED. 385 personnel was such as to make it open to grave suspicion, and the British Consuls at Erzrum and Van were instructed to watch its course carefully. This suspicion was increased by the fact that the Turkish commander was decorated, and notwithstanding the repeated efforts of the Turkish Govern- ment to prevent the spread of news, the worst reports as to the massacres were confirmed all over the empire. At the same time the Turkish Government invited an American representative to attend the commission. President Cleveland declined to do this, but after negotiations with England de- cided to send, as an independent investigator, Consul Jewett, of Sivas. To this, however, the Turkish Government objected, and refused to give him the traveling papers. As matters became more clearly understood, reports were spread of a separate commission to represent England, Rus- sia, Austria, France and probably Germany, entirely apart from the commission appointed by the Turkish Government. This general intensity of feeling on the part of Europe aroused considerable anxiety among the Turks, and the re- sult was that a commission was at last appointed with regu- lar representatives of the different European Powers to at- tend it and insure that its investigations were carried on in an impartial and thorough manner. The anxiety, however, was by no means confined to the government. Throughout the empire word had been spread among the Moslems that the Christians, backed by the European Governments, were planning the overthrow of the Sultan. At the same time the Huntchagists redoubled their efforts. They evidently felt that a point had been reached at which they might make a strike. The result was that disturbances were reported from the whole region of Western Turkey, especially in the 386 NEW PLAN OF GOVERNMENT. vicinity of Zeitun, Marash and Adana. Destructive fires were started in several cities. The Moslems charged it upon the Armenians, the Armenians retorted the charge upon the Moslems, and the situation rapidly grew more intense even than it had been before. The next step of the Turkish Gov- ernment was to announce that a new plan of government had been adopted for the districts of Erzrum, Van, Bitlis and Mush. These four were to be made a single province with a Mussulman governor appointed for five years, to be succeeded by Christians, who, however, were not to be Ar- menians. The gendarmerie were to be recruited from the district and commanded by a general named by the Sultan ; local revenues were to be retained by the provinces except one annual contribution to the Porte ; judges were to be elected and local ministries of education and public works were to be formed. This was largely as the result of the intense feeling roused in England, which was expressed by Mr. Gladstone in response to a deputation of Armenians from Paris and London on his eighty-fifth birthday, December 29, 1894. " The history of Turkey has been a sad and painful history. That race has not been without remarkable, and even in some cases, fine qualities, but from too many points of view it has been a scourge to the world, made use of, no doubt, by a wise Providence for the sins of the world. If these tales of mur- der, violation and outrage be true, then it will follow that they cannot be overlooked, and they cannot be made light of. I have lived to see the Empire of Turkey in Europe reduced to less than one-half of what it was when I was born, and why ? Simply because of its misdeeds — a great record written by the hand of Almighty God, in whom the Turk, as a Mo- Gladstone's views. 387 hammedan, believes, and believes firmly — written by the hand of Almighty God against injustice, against lust, against the most abominable cruelty; and if — and I hope, and I feel sure, that the government of the Queen will do everything that can be done to pierce to the bottom of this mystery, and to make the facts known to the world — if, happily — I speak hoping against hope — if the reports we have read are to be disproved or to be mitigated, then let us thank God ; but if, on the other hand, they be established, then I say it will more than ever stand before the world that there is no lesson, how- ever severe, that can teach certain people the duty, the pru- dence, the necessity of observing in some degree the laws of decency, and of humanity, and of justice, and that if allega- tions such as these are established, it will stand as if it were written with letters of iron on the records of the world, that such a government as that which can countenance and cover the perpetration of such outrages is a disgrace in the first place to Mohammed, the Prophet whom it professes to follow, that it is a disgrace to civilization at large, and that it is a curse to mankind. Now, that is strong language. " Strong language ought to be used when facts are strong, and ought not to be used without strength of facts. I have counselled you still to retain and to keep your judgment in suspense, but as the evidence grows and the case darkens, my hopes dwindle and decline; and as long as I have a voice, I hope that voice, upon occasion, will be uttered on behalf of humanity and truth." Soon after came the formation of a commission, which was, however, so constituted as not to inspire the greatest confi- dence, the foreign representatives not being of high rank. However, it was better than nothing, and the general feeling 23 388 DISCOVERIES BY THE COMMISSION. was that its report would be awaited with interest. Mean- while there came notices of disturbance elsewhere. There was a rising of the Christians in Albania, and considerable trouble in Bulgaria, where the Russian power was made manifest by the appearance upon the scene of Mr. Zankoff, who had been practically an exile for some time. The com- mission had started, and by the middle of February was thoroughly established in its work in Mush. On its way to that place it made some interesting discoveries. At the village of Bulanik some of the Armenian villagers came to the European members and reported that Turkish soldiers were at that time engaged in extorting money from villagers by threats of reporting them as rebels. The commission sent a polite invitation to the commander, asking him to come and answer a few questions. Instantly the whole body fled in every direction, evidently supposing that they would not be interfered with. This was a fair illustration of the kind of extortion carried on through the whole of Eastern Tur- key. Those who made any difficulty were imprisoned, until it was said that there was scarcely a single Armenian of prominence in the city of Bitlis who was not in prison, while Armenian ecclesiastics of every grade were arrested. This fact also illustrates the nature of the charges of the government with regard to insurrection among the Arme- nians. At Khnus the commission found some genuine refu- gees whom they took along with them to Mush. At the same time attention was diverted to the region of Marash, so far as appears, there was no special charge of insurrection, but a general uprising. The houses of the American missionaries were entered by force and searched for arms, which naturally they did not find. Complaint was sent MURDERS IN CONSTANTINOPLE. 389 to Constantinople and demands were made through the American Legation for protection. Similarly at Nicomedia a French Catholic complained that his domicile had been vio- lated and that he himself had been arrested by the Turks. The French ambassador, standing firm upon the capitulations accorded to his government, demanded the removal of the governor, the punishment of the officers and a public apology to the priest. The Turks objected, but finally yielded. Even Constantinople was not safe. An American citizen passing through the streets, only a short distance from the Sultan's palace, was stabbed and killed by a Turkish soldier, who had also seriously wounded sixteen others. A day or two later another Turk in a theatre got into a quarrel with an English- man and endeavored to kill him. The Englishman escaped, but a student friend who rose to defend him, was struck down with a single blow of the Turk's knife. The chief value of these incidents was that the government made every effort to excuse the criminals, and would give no punishment except under pressure. The official statement as to the man who murdered the American was, that the soldier had got into a quarrel with one of his comrades and merely stabbed the sixteen Christians on the supposition that they were try- ing to catch him. The absurdity of this is evident from the fact that one of them was an Armenian girl, standing on the steps of her own home ; another was a milkman, whom the soldier asked, 'Are you a Christian or a Moslem ? " and on being told that he was a Moslem let him go. For some weeks there was no special change in the situa- tion, though the relations between Turks and Christians were constantly more serious, so that the council of the Armenian Patriarchate at Constantinople presented a memorial to the 3

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