THE DAY
MISSIONS LIBRARY
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TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

TURKEY AND ITS
PEOPLE BY
SIR EDWIN PEARS
KNIGHT BACHELOR, COMMANDER OF THE BULGARIAN ORDER OF MERIT
KNIGHT OF THE GREEK ORDER OF THE SAVIOUR

SECOND EDITION

METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON

First Published . . September 14th, 1911
Second Edition . January zgiz

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
FACE
SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE . . I
CHAPTER II
THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED . , . -23
CHAPTER III
TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS . 44
CHAPTER IV
FAMILY LIFE AND THE POSITION OF TURKISH WrMEN . 57
CHAPTER V
IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION . . . -75
CHAPTER VI
THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE . 94
CHAPTER VII
THE GREEK CHURCH . . • • • ¦ "4
CHAPTER VIII
THE VLACHS, THE POMAKS, THE JEWS, AND DUNMAYS . 144
CHAPTER IX
THE ALBANIANS ...•¦•

164

vi TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

CHAPTER X
PAGE
MACEDONIA ....... I9&

CHAPTER XI
ASIA MINOR ....... 246
CHAPTER XII
THE ARMENIANS ...... 270
CHAPTER XIII
MAHOMETAN SECTS ...... 296
CHAPTER XIV
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM . . . . 318
CHAPTER XV
THE CAPITULATIONS AND FOREIGN COMMUNITIES . . 334
CHAPTER XVI
SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY .... 344
INDEX ........ 397

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
CHAPTER I
SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE
Introductory — Constantinople — Nation of soldiers requiring
absolute sovereign — Rule of succession to Turkish throne — Slaughter
of younger sons — Result of law of succession — Engenders suspicion —
Illustrations — Is the Sultan Caliph ? — Pan-Islamism, false and true
MY purpose is to give an account of the present
position of the various races which form the popu
lation of Turkey ; to show how they have arrived at that
position ; and to indicate, as far as I can, what are the
circumstances and influences which are likely to modify
their development.
The most important part of the Turkish Empire,
Asia-Minor and Syria, including the valleys of the
Tigris and Euphrates, has been for three thousand
years the battlefield between the East and West. It
was overrun by the great armies of Darius and Xerxes ;
by Arabs in their great days of triumph after they had
been compacted together by the religion of Mahomet ;
by the barbarous but disciplined hordes from Central
Asia under Yenghis Khan and subsequently by Timour ;
by the Seljukian and by the Ottoman Turks, and by a
number of less-known invaders. Its earliest races of
whom we have any record — indigenous we cannot call
them — Sumerians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Babylonians,
and Hittites, never altogether disappeared. They have

4 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
in the wide territories over which it ruled flocked to it.
The ablest jurists, theologians, painters, and scholars
sought refuge within its walls. The allusions to the
city by Byzantine authors show that both writers and
citizens were proud of it. For them it was emphatically
" the City," or the *' Queen City." Much that has been
written about its story is misleading. Until within the
last half-century authors relied almost solely upon the
Western authorities, who had inherited hostility to its
inhabitants, due to the opposition of the latter to the
Church of Rome. The accidents of the city's history,
and not the great achievements which kept it intact
and made it for ever famous, are what Western popular
opinion seized upon. A certain gorgeousness of palace
ceremonial struck the attention of the Crusaders and
has never been altogether lost sight of. The luxury of
the inhabitants impressed them deeply because they
compared it with the poverty of their own countries ;
but they were mistaken in inferring that the dandies
they scorned were effeminate. Palace intrigues did not
surprise foreigners, for they existed at home. The love
of games even appealed to them. The keenness of
popular interest in religious and political discussions
were incomprehensible to them.
But there were other aspects which the Crusaders
and thoughtless travellers did not see. Constantinople
had been the strongest bulwark of Europe against the
encroachments of Asia. Hordes of barbarians had
descended upon it from the north and east and had
failed to capture it. The largest waves of Moslem
fanaticism broke harmlessly against its walls. The
Arab invasions in 672-7 under Eyoub, the aged standard-
bearer of Mahomet, and of 717, failed in their attempts
against the Queen City. The Byzantine historians
proudly claim that it successfully resisted twenty sieges.

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 5
Yet amid constant wars the prosperity of the densely
crowded capital had increased. Its people had grown
wealthy by industry, intelligence, and commerce. Its
luxury was the natural sign of wealth. Law and good
government had made it the treasure-house of the
empire, the most civilized and the wealthiest city in
Europe. Its inhabitants lived and traded in peace, and
had leisure to discuss the many political and theological
questions in which, more than the people of any other
city they were interested. Its scholars had kept alive
the love for classical learning. Its jurists gave to
modern Europe a body of legal principles known as
Roman law, from the New Rome where they were
formulated, which every nation has adopted, and which
has largely helped to shape modern civilization. Its
theologians gave to the Christian Church nearly all the
great formulas of the faith. Its architects set Europe
upon the path to great Christian architecture.
In the eight centuries between the fourth and the
thirteenth, while our own ancestors were working their
way upwards from something not far removed from
barbarism, the inhabitants of New Rome were thinking
for themselves and for the Western world, and were
struggling for the realization of ideals. There were
always men among them ready to strive, fight, and die
for righteousness.
Upon the fall of the Christian empire, the capital con
tinued to be the seat of government, and, with certain
unimportant exceptions, has been the capital unin
terruptedly ever since.
The Sultanate
To speak of each of the Sultans of Turkey since 1453
would be to write the history of Turkey since that date,

6 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
which I have no intention of doing. As a rule, they have
not been able men, though the earlier were more com
petent than the later. The three most conspicuous for
their ability since 1453 are Mahomet the Second, who
captured the city, and who is known as " the Conqueror,"
and also as " the Lawgiver " ; Suliman, known as " the
Magnificent," a great ruler under whom, between the
years 1520 and 1566, the empire obtained its largest
extension ; and Mahmud the Second, known as " the Re
former," who, during a long reign, 1803 to 1839, did much
to compact the ruined elements of the nation, which
appeared on the point of breaking up. The earlier
sultans who carried the Turkish armies successfully, first
to Constantinople, and then to the gates of Vienna, were
in many cases the sons of Christian mothers who had
been captured in the West, and whose descendants were
therefore after a few generations largely of European
blood. The decline in ability among the Ottoman sultans
dates from the destruction of the corsairs who ravaged
the coasts of Italy, France, Spain, and, in the seventeenth
century, even of England, for the capture of slaves. The
mothers of sultans during the last two centuries have
usually been quite uneducated women, and often slaves
chosen for their physical beauty. Their subjection to
the limitations of harem-life has not tended to develop
such natural intelligence as they possessed.
The Turks, since they established themselves in Asia-
Minor, have been a nation of soldiers. Their civil govern
ment has usually been extremely casual. The records
of travellers to Turkey from the fifteenth to the twentieth
century — and they are numerous — agree in telling the
same tale of misgovernment, of injustice, and of cor
ruption in general, but especially in the courts of law.
Governors buy their posts. Judges sell their judgments.
The records leave the impression that public opinion took

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 7
such abuses as in the natural order of things, and that the
Sultan and his ministers let such matters drift. But
though bribery and corruption were present in the
administration of the army and navy, they were less
prevalent than in the civil administration, and every now
and then spasmodic energy was displayed to effect
reforms. All the attention which the sultans could
bestow was given to the fighting forces. Arms were the
chief matters which deserved attention. All the dis
tinction that the Turks have ever gained has been in
war. They have produced no art and no architecture,
though they have destroyed much. They have given to
the world no literature, science, or philosophy. In all
such matters they were inferior to the races which they
conquered. But their traditions and their environment
and necessity itself made them a nation of fighters. It
is almost literally true to say that until a century ago
every Turk was a soldier.
A nation of soldiers requires an absolute ruler. It is
true that under the Ottoman rulers there were a large
number of subjects who were not soldiers. But they
were rayahs or cattle, Christians and Jews, to be held
in subjection, whose lives were to be spared so long as
they submitted, but who took no part in the government,
except as servants of the Turkish nation. They formed
separate communities or millets which had in many
matters to govern themselves and were really outside
the Turkish nation. The governing race, the dominant
millet, was the Turkish, and all power was in its hands.
The head of such a race was of necessity absolute.
Since the adoption of the title of Sultan by Othman,
or Osman, the founder of the present reigning dynasty,
until July 1908, if we except a few months in 1877, the
government of Turkey has been an absolute monarchy.
Under such form of government, the character of the

8 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ruler is manifestly of supreme importance. The method
of appointing him, or in other words the law of succession,
may have a powerful influence on the character of the
ruler. It certainly has had such influence in Turkey.

The Turkish Law of Succession
The Turkish law of succession to the throne now
differs from that prevailing in all European countries.
The heir to the throne is the oldest male member be
longing to the imperial stock. The usual European
method is to make the oldest son of the reigning sovereign
heir. In the early centuries of Turkish history the European
mode of succession was followed. Son succeeded father.
Brothers of the Sultan only came in when the male heirs
of the body had failed. As under a system of polygamy
there were often many sons by different mothers, serious
struggles between them and between the mothers
occurred for the succession of the father. It was for
this reason that, before 1453, the practice in the Sultan's
family of killing off younger brothers had become general.
Mahomet, the conqueror of Constantinople, legalized the
practice, but did not so far as I can find attempt to change
the rule of succession. The hideous practice of killing
younger sons continued. Turkish history is full of
struggles between brothers ; of younger brothers being
hidden away ; of cold-blooded murders when they were
caught, and of infanticide. The Turk seems to have
considered fratricide, and especially infanticide irf the
reigning family, a necessity. Turkish law legitimates
all children of free Moslem fathers, no matter what was
or is the condition of the mother. When a man had a
large harem, the share coming to each of his heirs upon
his death would be usually small, because by Moslem

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 9
law all sons take equally. Every mother whose child
was living would resent the birth of new heirs by other
mothers. The result has been and still is a large amount
of infanticide wherever there are more wives than one.
Medical men in Constantinople are agreed that even now
the amount of illegal practices to prevent the increase
of heirs is something appalling. Hence the law of
Mahomet II. , legalizing fratricide in the imperial family,
coincided with the popular will, and the inhabitants of
the capital heard of child murder with indifference.
Contemporary books about Turkey written in the six
teenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century abound in
imperial murders, many of which were perpetrated in
order to prevent wars of succession.
Alongside the great Mosque of Saint Sophia there is a
striking illustration of this hideous form of crime. On
its south are three large mausoleums. Murad the Third,
who died in 1594, lies in the middle one. He left
eighteen sons who in various ways had escaped death.
The eldest son succeeded to the throne as Mahomet III.
On his accession he ordered all his seventeen brothers
to be bow-strung. Their bodies are within or rather
beneath biers around that of their father.
When Sultan Ahmed died in 1617, all his children
were young. The Council of State took the opportunity
of changing the succession. The brother of Ahmed
was proclaimed Sultan under the name of Mustafa, and
the new rule of succession was adopted by which the
oldest male of the imperial stock became heir to the
throne. There are only two sultans from that time
to the present who have succeeded their fathers, one
being Mahomet IV. and the other Abdul Medjid. During
all this period, until the middle of last century, the
law for destroying superfluous male issue was acted
upon. Colonel White notes in his "Three Years in

10 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Constantinople," that the barbarous practice of immuring
younger sons or brothers who had been allowed to live,
and of destroying their offspring, was in 1844, the date
of his residence here, still in force. It was indeed just
about that time, by the efforts of Abdul Medjid, that
the recognition of the murderous seraglio law came to
an end. His immediate predecessor, Mahmud II., the
Reformer, had been deeply attached to one of his
daughters named Mihr, who, knowing the existence of
the inexorable rule, submitted herself to an improper
operation, from which both mother and child died.
Mahmud swore in his agony that no more lives should
be thus sacrificed. Nevertheless, the law remained
unchanged. Shortly afterwards, in 1839, Mahmud
himself died. His successor, Abdul Medjid, had not been
long on the throne before an incident occurred which
attracted the attention, not only of the Sultan, but of
the ambassadors of foreign Powers and of Western
Europe. Ateya Sultana, his sister, had already seen
one of her sons killed in conformity with the brutal
palace law. When she was again pregnant her husband
expended large sums to buy off the hostility of the
mothers of other princes ; but when a boy was born,
the jealousy of the mothers against the prince who might
be a rival to their own sons' claims was too strong to
be resisted. The Sultan's permission was obtained, and
the child was made away with. The poor mother went
mad, and in less than three months was buried near her
infant. The incident was strongly commented on in
England and France, and with such effect that if similar
murders have since taken place, they have been care
fully concealed.
The change in the law of succession already mentioned
probably increased child-murder. It has, however, yet
more evil results to answer for. It is probably the worst

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE II
plan which could be devised for securing a competent
Sultan. The ruler, like any other father, would naturally
prefer that his son, rather than his brother or other
older relative, should succeed. On the other hand, the
brother or other relative is waiting anxiously for the
vacant throne. Hence the story runs through the last
three centuries of the heir to the throne being kept
strictly guarded as a prisoner, or, as opportunity offered,
of being made away with. The heir, being kept in
confinement, sees nothing of the world, is not visited
by or allowed to visit any Turkish minister or other
subject of intelligence, sees no foreign ambassador, and
takes no part in any public function. The longer he
lives, the less-^lcapable he becomes of governing wisely.
Compare such a condition with the training of the
heir to the throne in England or Germany. These heirs
see the ablest statesmen of their respective countries,
meet with the experts in science, art, and politics, are
visited by, and visit ambassadors from other countries,
have been at one or more universities, are trained as
soldiers or sailors, and take the place of their fathers in
many public functions. Under such circumstances,
unless a man is mentally deficient, he is sure to be
highly educated. The older such a man is when he
succeeds to his father's throne, the more competent is
he likely to be. The older a man is under the Turkish
system, the less competent will he be.
Let me take an illustration which is under my eyes
while writing. Reschad Effendi, now the reigning
Sultan Mahomet V., was the next in succession to
Abdul Hamid. He was only two years younger, and
was treated in the usual manner as a next heir. He was
allowed an income sufficient to maintain him and his
establishment in affluence, but was confined to his
palace, and to a region of about half a mile around it.

12 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Spies inside and outside his house took note of all
visitors, and neither ambassador nor minister could even
make a visit of courtesy. He is said to have declared
in August, after the revolution, that he had not read
any newspaper for twenty years. So also with the
other princes of the imperial family. When Nazim,
Vali of Bagdad (1910-1911), arrived in Constantinople,
having escaped from prison in Erzinghian a few weeks
before the revolution, where he had been for seven years,
Prince Buraneddin said to him, " We have hardly been
better off than you, for we were never allowed to see
any one."
The treatment Reschad Effendi endured is the result
of the suspicion created by the Turkish law of succession.
Abdul Hamid has quite enough to answer for, and
although he has been suspicious of everybody and every
thing, I am not prepared to say that in his treatment of
his brothers he was worse than his predecessors in similar
circumstances. It is the rule of succession that is wrong.
It will be remembered that in April 1909, when Abdul
Hamid was deposed, he claimed that his life ought to be
spared because he had not killed his brother, the present
Sultan. He had a modicum of reason and precedent
in his plea.
Further illustrations of how the law works may be
given : Abdul Hamid is the second son of Abdul Medjid,
who died in 1861. Abdul Medjid was succeeded by his
brother Abdul Aziz, who was deposed and committed
suicide in 1876. On the deposition of the latter, Murad,
the elder brother of Abdul Hamid and the eldest male
of the imperial family, became Sultan, but was deposed
for mental incapacity after two months, and was suc
ceeded by Abdul Hamid. In the natural order of things
it is doubtful whether any son of Abdul Hamid will be
girt with the sword of Othman, the ceremony which

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 13
corresponds to coronation. It is well known that about
1905-6, the Sheik-ul-Islam was sounded as to whether
the Sultan might lawfully change the law of succession,
his desire being to nominate his third and favourite son
Buraneddin. The Sultan's request was met by a very
distinct negative. By law there were fourteen who
took precedence over the son in question, the first being
Abdul Hamid's brother Reschad, the now reigning
Sultan, the next being Prince Yusuf Izzedin, the son of
Abdul Aziz. One of the strongest arguments in favour
of retaining the Sultan on the throne after the revolution
of July 1908, was that in case of his dethronement or
death, there would almost certainly have been a war of
succession. The ulema and a portion of the army
would have declared for the lawful heir, while it was
generally believed that there was an organized body of
men who were working to place Yusuf Izzedin, the
present heir-apparent, on the throne. When, on the
very day in December 1908 on which the Sultan opened
the Chamber of Deputies, an attempt was made to
break into the house of Reschad, and, as was believed,
to kill him, placards were posted in prominent places
denouncing a Turk who was believed to be the organizer
of the Izzedin faction, and adding, " If you wish to find
the real author of the crime, ask yourselves who would
profit by Reschad's death." The answer of course was
Izzedin. Suspicion, inherited by the tradition of murder in
order to give security for the occupation and for the
succession to the throne, and intensified by the know
ledge that intrigues are constantly going on to change
such succession, becomes the keynote to palace policy
in Turkey. The reigning sultans have constantly
become suspicious of everybody and everything. Abdul
Hamid, though the latest and in some respects an un-

14 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
usually striking example of a sovereign steeped in
suspicion, shared this characteristic with nearly all his
predecessors. Cart-loads of " journals," the technical
word for the reports of his spies, were collected in Yildiz.
These were the documents which occupied most of his
time. He knew that his spies were often untrustworthy.
Accordingly, other spies were set to report upon them
or to control their reports. Men of every European
nation as well as Turkish subjects went to form a great
multitude of spies. Well-dressed women as well as
men had their expenses paid at the best hotels in Pera
in order to report the doings and sayings of even visitors
who might be working for some candidate for the throne.
As Abdul Hamid attached great importance to what was
said of him by foreign newspapers, he had " journals "
sent with extracts from the newspapers of every capital
regarding him. In the capital itself censorship of every
newspaper which entered the country was complete.
But the Sultan here also distrusted his own workmen.
He had therefore at the palace a double set of censors
who found out what was said. Then the two reports
were compared. A friendly censor told me that he had
been compelled to call attention to a letter I had written
to the Daily News, because, said he, " If I had passed it,
it would have been found by the censors at the palace,
and I should have been dismissed for having omitted
to report it."
The suspicion ever present became a species of mania
and developed a harshness of character and a reckless
ness of the rights of his subjects of which some illustra
tions may be given. Sir Henry Elliot, who was British
ambassador to the Sultan when Abdul Hamid came to
the throne, and who had exceptional opportunities of
knowing the truth, declared in the Nineteenth Century
that the foulest blot on the career of Abdul Hamid was

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 15
the trial and condemnation of Midhat Pasha. Think
what this statement means : Sultan Abdul Aziz was
dethroned, and committed suicide by opening the veins
on his left arm, and to a less extent on his right, with a
pair of long scissors. His mother declared she had lent
her son the scissors a short time before in order that he
might trim his beard. Nineteen medical men, including
one from every foreign embassy, examined the body,
and unanimously reported that the death was from
suicide. Dr Dickson, the medical adviser of the British
Embassy, told me, and, I believe, published the state
ment, that he went to the palace to examine the body
with the full conviction that the Sultan had been
murdered ; but having made a thorough examination,
he entertained no more doubt than did his foreign
colleagues that the case was one of suicide. Then,
when many months had passed, Abdul Hamid put
Midhat Pasha and others on their trial for the wilful
murder of Abdul Aziz, and, having, placed his own
creatures on the judgment seat, false witnesses were
produced and a sentence of death was pronounced
which it required all the diplomatic efforts of Europe
to have changed into one of banishment. As the world
knows, for Midhat's son has produced ample evidence,
the author of the Constitution was subsequently killed
in Arabia.
Sir Henry Elliot's charge is that Abdul Hamid, in
order to render his own succession to the throne secure,
trumped up a foul, detailed, and ingenious story in order
to get rid of a man who had shorn the office of the Sultan
of its absolute power by insisting upon the proclamation
of a constitution.
It would be easy to record many other foul deeds done
by Abdul Hamid to make away with men upon whom
his suspicion had fallen. Hardly a year passed without

16 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the disappearance of some man of note who had fallen
under the suspicion of the Sultan. The victims were
usually reported in the local press to have " died
suddenly." In all such cases it was dangerous to speak
openly of their death or disappearance.
One case, however, may now be mentioned, where
Abdul Hamid's suspicion and reckless injustice failed
of its object. It is a tradition among Mo?lems that
no cession of territory can be made, except it be
taken by force. The Cyprus Convention was con
cluded between Great Britain and Turkey, the latter
being represented by Safvet Pasha. I remark in pass
ing that the arrangement was made in great haste,
kept secret from other embassies, and that many of the
details were curiously defective, England consenting
for example to pay so outrageous an amount of tribute
that the resources of the island have been crippled ever
since. When the cession became known there was much
ill-feeling among Moslems. Here was a reckless cession
of territory by the Sultan, a clear violation of Moslem
law. Abdul Hamid at once took measures to save him
self. He sent for Kutchuk (or Little) Said Pasha, and
ordered him to bring a public charge of high treason
against Safvet. The order was monstrous, because the
Sultan had himself taken the most active part in the
negotiations, and had himself issued the imperial iradi
confirming the conditions, each of which he had dis
cussed with Sir Henry Layard. The order to Kutchuk
Said was to find a method of proving Safvet guilty before
a Turkish court of law. Said took some time, and then
explained that several highly placed men knew the
interest his imperial master had taken in the matter,
and the really unimportant part which the accused had
played. He reported that it would be impossible to
prove Safvet guilty with any form of law, and that the

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 17
attempt would do more harm to his Majesty's reputation
than good. The Sultan was furiously angry, withdrew
the imperial favour, and brave Little Said, an honest,
industrious, eminently useful servant of the State, re
mained under suspicion until the deposition of Abdul
Hamid. It may be remembered that during the time
when Sir Philip Currie was ambassador in Constantinople,
Kutchuk Said took refuge in the British embassy with
his young son. It was generally believed at the time, and
notably by Kutchuk Said himself, that the Sultan was
endeavouring to arrest him and have him made away
with, and it was while he was being followed in the
principal street of Pera, that he with his son passed into
the Bon Marche, and while the spies waited for him at
the door, passed through into another street from which
he readily escaped into the embassy. He did not leave
until Sir Philip Currie had received assurances that his
life and property would be saved. In fact, however,
the publicity given to his escape was his best safeguard.
In some matters Abdul Hamid stood greatly in fear of
foreign public opinion, and all that the Sultan could do
was to protest that he had no hostile design against so
loyal a subject as Kutchuk Said, a protest which nobody
believed. The treatment of Sultan Murad, who was deposed to
make room for Abdul Hamid, was miserable enough,
but his deposition was necessary, inasmuch as for a
while he was out of his mind. He was confined in the
Cheragan palace, the beautiful building which, after
having served as the meeting place of the Deputies, was
accidentally burnt in the spring of 1910, and there he died
in 1904. But he with his wives and slaves were prisoners.
They were never permitted to leave Cheragan and the
grounds around it.
The story told to some friends by the harem ladies,

18 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
after the revolution of July 1908, which set them at
liberty, was a pathetic one. Children had been born,
had died and had been buried in the garden of the palace.
But no occupant had been permitted to leave it. None
of them knew what went on outside. No newspapers
were allowed to be passed in. The ladies were in old-
fashioned dresses — and Turkish ladies are as fickle in
regard to fashion of dress as Europeans — and wore the
ferijis and yashmacs which had been fashionable in the
seventies. No visitors were permitted. Their supply
of food, with the exception of the simplest articles, was
extremely limited. The poor prisoner himself regretted
most of all that he could not make small presents to his
children and grandchildren who were his fellow-prisoners.
Before leaving the subject of the imperial family, I
may note that the mother of the first-born prince takes
precedence of all other ladies in the harem, and that,
when her son comes to the throne, she takes the title of
Sultana Valida. In the European sense, the Sultan is
never married. His harem consists of as many ladies as
he chooses to own. Abdul Hamid's harem was much
smaller than was that of Abdul Aziz. Until about
fifteen years ago, the custom prevailed of making the
Sultan an annual present of a lady, usually a Circassian.
Abdul Hamid deserves the credit of putting an end to it.
Upon the accession of a sultan the ceremony, which
corresponds to that of Coronation in England, is, as
already mentioned, the girding on of the Sword of Osman.
It takes place in the Mosque of Eyoub, which is situated
on the Golden Horn, about half a mile from the Walls of
Constantinople. A certain sanctity attaches, and always
has attached, to this Mosque. No foreigner and no non-
Moslem is allowed to enter it. Indeed I have often seen
considerable fanaticism displayed by the poor Moslems
living around the Mosque when Europeans have ventured

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 19
to enter the courtyard ; angry faces and shouts of
Yasak (forbidden) greeting the intruders.
The duty of girding on the Sword of Osman on a new
Sultan devolves upon the Chief, or Chelebi, of the Mehlevi
Dervishes, who resides at Konia. The office of the
Chelebi is hereditary, and the occupant rarely comes to
Constantinople except for the purpose of performing this
hereditary duty.
At all times it has been extremely difficult to obtain
accurate information of the private lives of the sultans
and of the crowd of men and women who inhabit the
palace. Under the harem system the number of women
largely exceeds that of men, and information from the
palace is rarely to be obtained at first hand. The Turks
themselves fully admit their own ignorance on this
subject. It would be easy to fill many pages with
stories of the ugly deeds done there during the thirty
years of Abdul Hamid's reign; of persons who have
entered and never come out alive ; and still more of
persons who, after examination, have been shipped off
and never heard of again, or sent into exile to distant
portions of the empire. It would be unreasonable to
suppose that all these stories are untrue. The evidence
is not sufficient, however, to make any sweeping state
ment about palace practices. The life is one of mystery
and intrigue. According to the reports that come from
it, it is essentially unhealthy and morally unwholesome.
The Sultan's Claim to be Caliph
Abdul Hamid, like several of his predecessors, claimed
to be not only Sultan, but Caliph. The word signifies
" vice-regent of the prophet." As such the Caliph was to
be protector of Mahometans everywhere and entitled
to their allegiance. He was to rule with authority over
Moslems, and practically to be Pope and King combined.

20 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
The prophet had claimed such authority in Arabia, and
made provision for his successors to inherit the like
powers. The successor was to be supreme in all matters
spiritual as well as temporal. There was to be only one
Caliph, for the prophet said, " When two Caliphs have
been set up, put the last to death, and preserve the
second, for the last is a rebel." x The Turks belong to
the division of Mahometans called Sunnis, and all the
Sunni books are in accord as to the necessary qualifica
tions for the dignity of Caliph. These qualifications
were judged so important that until about ten years ago
they were posted up in all the great mosques of Con
stantinople. The first of them was that the Caliph
should belong to the tribe of the Koreish ; the second
(though I cannot learn whether this was contained in the
extracts from the sacred traditions so posted in the
mosques), that he was to be elected. Mr Hughes, the
author of a Dictionary of Islam regarded as of high
authority, asserts that all parties among Mahometans
agree that the Caliphate is elective and not hereditary.
By Abdul Hamid's orders, and much to the disgust of
many Mollahs, these notices as to the qualifications for
the dignity were ordered to be taken down. " Does
Abdul Hamid believe," said a Mollah of rank at the time,
" that we do not all know them by heart, and that we
shall omit to teach them to all Moslems ? " Clearly, as
Abdul Hamid is not of the Arabic tribe of Koreish, he
cannot be the Caliph whom Mahomet contemplated.
Mr Hughes says, " We have not seen a single work of
authority, nor met with a single man of learning, who
has ever attempted to prove that the Sultans of Turkey
are rightful Caliphs," and in support of his statement he
gives a number of quotations from Mahometan writers.2
1 Mishkat XVI., chap, i., quoted by Rev. T. P. Hughes, p. 150.
2 Hughes' "Notes on Muhammadamsm." Second edition, p. 152-4. A

SULTANS AND SUCCESSION TO THRONE 21
The same author, writing four years ago, says, " After
a careful study of the whole subject for thirty years,
twenty having been spent among the mosques of the
Moslems, I will defy anyone to produce any reasonable
proof that any Moslem scholar in India acknowledges
Abdul Hamid as the rightful Caliph."
In certain Islamic lands the indispensable qualification
of being of the Koreish is put forward in support of the
claim to be Caliph. The Sultan of Morocco makes such
a claim. Nor is there any pretext that Abdul Hamid
or his predecessors were elected by the followers of
Mahomet. The claim of the Turkish Sultan to be Caliph is stated
in the following manner. He inherits the right of
Caliphate from the time of his predecessor, Selim I.,
to whom the Sherif of Mecca, who was ruler and guardian
of the sacred cities, submitted in 1516. Thereupon the
Sultan took the title of guardian of the sacred cities.
Subsequent sultans have always preserved the title
taken by Selim and called themselves caliphs. They
have, however, never been recognized as such in Morocco,
Tunis, Algiers or India. I have said nothing of the
Shiah sect, because there such a pretention is unknown.
According to the leaders of that division of Mahometan
ism the Imam, or Caliph, is almost if not entirely an in
carnation of divinity. The Caliph of the Sunnis is only a
divinely appointed ruler. Pan-Islamism
The above facts are important, because much was
said in England during Abdul Hamid's reign, and con
tinues to be said, about Pan-Islamism.
similar opinion is expressed in "The Faith of Islam," by the Rev.
Edward Sell, p. 85. His book is specially useful for those interested
in the development of the Shiah doctrines.

22 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
I have made careful inquiries of many trustworthy
Moslems in order to learn the truth about the existence
of the movement under this name. I believe the facts
are the following : — first, that the Pan-Islamic move
ment, which writers in favour of Abdul Hamid's govern
ment endeavoured to persuade Europe was a living
force dangerous to England and other Christian Powers,
hardly existed. I doubt whether Abdul Hamid himself
attached much importance to it. It is true that in
Yildiz itself he had denunciations printed against
England, which were prepared for distribution amongst
Afghans and Arabs during the time when Lord Dufferin
was Ambassador in Constantinople. But that Am
bassador saw the Sultan on the subject, and in his
peculiarly tactful way made light of the matter and let
Abdul Hamid know that he was playing a dangerous
game. Abdul Hamid from that time, though he never
ceased to be hostile to England, lost apparently any
interest in the Pan-Islamic movement.
But, secondly, there was, and is, a genuine movement
which deserves that name. It is a purely religious one.
Islam, like Christianity, being essentially a missionary
religion, has never wanted believers who were prepared
to become missionaries. In a subsequent chapter, I
indicate that some of the Dervish sects are the present
living force of Islam. But the great missionary efforts
of Mahometanism are not due even to the religious sects
of Turkey. At the present time the Senoussi are spread
ing Islam in Africa and are converting idolators and
fetish worshippers to the belief that there is only one God.
I am not aware that this Pan-Islamic movement is a
serious danger either to Islam or civilization, though in
Africa it may give considerable trouble.

CHAPTER II
THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED
Population of Turkey — Turk as distinguished from Osmanli —
Turkish population stationary or diminishing — Influences of heredity,
environment and religion on Turkish character.
THE population of the Ottoman Empire, including
about four million Arabs, is about twenty-four
millions. As no accurate statistics exist it is impossible
to say with any precision what proportion the non-
Moslem population bears to the Moslem. There are
between three millions eight hundred thousand and four
millions of Greeks, one and a half million Armenians,
and probably a million Bulgarians. In what remains
to the empire in Europe, there are Albanians, descendants
of perhaps the earliest race which settled in the Balkan
peninsula, some of whom are Moslems while others are
Christians. There are Greeks in the south of Macedonia
and around all the coast of the peninsula, Bulgarians in
its centre, and Serbians in the north. Scattered across
Macedonia, a little to the north of Salonica, are a few
colonies known as Wallachs. All these races profess
Christianity. In Thrace and in the Rhodope mountains,
immediately to the south of Bulgaria, are the Pomaks,
a hardy people, probably Bulgarians in race or possibly
the survivors of the ancient Thracians who were pushed
into the mountains by the Bulgarians. The Pomaks
are Moslems. Between the rivers Vardar, which empties
itself into the bay of Salonica, and the Struma, are
settlements of Turks. They are found also in isolated 28

24 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
communities on the frontier of Greece, to the south-west
of Salonica, and in various other parts of Macedonia.
It is convenient to speak of the Moslem inhabitants
of the Ottoman Empire as Turks. The name Osmanli
is now officially applied to all subjects of the Sultan,
whether Moslem or Christian. But the term Turk
requires explanation. Among the Moslem subjects of
the Sultan, there are Turks strictly so-called, that is,
descendants of the Turkish race which entered the
country during the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, but also Arabs, Circassians, Albanians, Lazes,
Pomaks, Euruks, Kizilbashis and others.
It is beyond doubt that the Turkish race is not of pure
blood. To say nothing of the intermixture of Turcomans
and Tartars, Mongols, Patchinaks and others with the
inhabitants of the empire before the time of the prophet
Mahomet, those who emigrated into Asia Minor in the
succeeding centuries married the women of the provinces
in which they settled. Much of the settlement was by
way of peaceful emigration. Many of the women
willingly so married. Others were forced to do so. It
is an interesting fact that among the early Ottoman
conquerors there seems to have been no objection to
taking wives who remained Christians. Many of their
leaders did so. Even at the present day it is by no
means uncommon for a Turk of the wealthier class to
have a Christian wife. She may attend her own church
and profess her own faith, but the children must be
brought up Moslems. In earlier days even this re
striction was not imposed upon her. Moreover, all the
invaders did not profess Islam, and upon others their
religion sat lightly.1 Even as recently as sixty years
ago the custom among the Albanians was to bring up
the boys as Moslems, the girls as Christians. Sir Henry
1 See on this subject my " Destruction of the Greek Empire," chap. iii.

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 25
A. Layard, who as a young man travelled through
Albania, notices this from his own observation among
many other interesting facts in his autobiography. The
result of the freedom of intercourse between com
paratively small armies of occupation, as were both the
Seljuk Turks, as the first invaders of the Turkish race
were called, and the Ottoman Turks who subsequently
branched off from them, and the mass of the population
in Asia Minor and European Turkey, was greatly to
modify the early type. Among other causes tending
to such modification may be added the existence for
upwards of three centuries of an army of Christian
origin, all the members of which were compelled to
become Moslems and were merged in the Turkish race
with their descendants. The physical features of the
Turk were even changed. In the interesting lectures
on Turkey, delivered at the time of the Crimean war
by Cardinal Newman, are given descriptions of the
hideous physiognomy of ancestors of the Turks, descrip
tions which explain the not uncommon belief that ¦ they
had come from Tartarus, but which are certainly untrue
of the twentieth-century Turk. '
Speaking of the Turk in the strict sense and omitting
other Moslem peoples in the empire, his race has de
veloped a type of face which residents in the country have
usually little difficulty in recognizing. I do not forget
that owing to the isolation of races, as to which I shall
have to speak later, there are, in many places, groups
of people where the original type of earlier races than
the Turks remains distinct. There are Hittites and
Assyrians, Lazes and others who have preserved the
appearance of their ancestors as completely as many of
the islanders in the jEgean have preserved that which
Praxiteles and Lysippus and many another sculptor
have left for us. In some districts, as on both coasts of

26 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the iEgean, there has evidently been much inter
marriage with the Greeks. In others, as in the plain
to the south of the Taurus range from Adalia to
Alexandretta, the type is largely Arab. A little to the
east of that district and in Armenia proper, the Turk
has intermarried with the Armenian and taken his type.
As the types have been varied in this manner, so also
have the general characteristics of the race.
Strictly Turkish Population Diminishing
The strictly Turkish population shows a tendency to
decrease. A report was presented to Sultan Abdul
Hamid about ten years ago by Dr Von During, an
eminent German specialist who had been for some years
in the Turkish service, which expressed his deliberate
opinion that unless radical measures were taken to check
the widespread diseases with which he had to deal, the
Turkish population would be extinct in two generations.
It was a report which stated facts fearlessly, and was so
terrible that it was with great difficulty that the author,
who had given notice of his intention to quit Turkish
service and resume his practice in Germany where he
had already acquired a valuable reputation, was able to
get it into the hands of the Sultan. He only succeeded
by the intervention of his ambassador.
Abdul Hamid was alarmed at its contents and sent
for the writer. After a long interview he begged Dr
Von During to remain in Turkey, and offered him double
the considerable salary he had been receiving. He, how
ever, refused all offers, justly claiming that what he had
done was no more than his duty as a medical man, and
in the interest of a people whom he liked. I believe,
however, that he promised, at the request of the Sultan,
to select two medical men to take up the work in which
he had been occupied.

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 27
The army system has been largely, though not solely,
responsible for the spread of the forms of disease with
which he had had to deal. But the whole Turkish people
have been, since their entry into the country, a nation of
soldiers, and probably the like evils have always existed.
As a result, the Turks are not a prolific race. A
singularly observant British Consul, the late Mr Gavin
Gatheral, whose station was at Angora, told me that in
his frequent journeys from Ismidt to that city, before
the railway was opened, he had passed the deserted sites
of at least a dozen Moslem villages which he had
formerly seen under occupation, and that in several
others, where there had been two or three mosques,
there was now only one.
My late friend, Sir William Whittall, who died in
1910, was fond of telling of towns and villages in the
country, between Smyrna and Konia, which he had
known in his youth as purely Moslem, but which were
now largely Christian. A Greek bakal would establish
his huckster's shop in the town. It would be found of
general use, and gradually other Greeks would follow
until the Moslems would be in a minority. The popula
tion had neither increased nor decreased, but its elements
had changed. Other residents in various parts of
Turkey tell a similar tale.
My own somewhat extensive reading of Turkish
history convinces me not only that this kind of peaceful
penetration of the Christian populations has nearly
always been going on, but that the native Moslem
population has been constantly decreasing. Its
numbers have only been maintained by a steady stream
of immigration from central Asia and Russia. Though
the Euruks and other destructive Nomads commenced
to enter Asia Minor long before 1453, others have con
stantly followed in their footsteps. Settlers have also

28 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
come from the same countries in order to exchange a
Christian or semi-pagan rule for a Moslem one. There
has been no century since the capture of Constantinople
in 1453 in which great numbers of Turcomans, so-called
Kurds, and others have not been silently entering the
country. The most notable of these immigrants during the last
century are the Circassians. Mr Wilson, an American
missionary who has been in Persia for many years,
writing in 1899 states that 600,000 Circassians have
entered Turkey during the fifteen previous years.1
I have no means of controlling this statement, but think
it probably correct. They are not a people who readily
assimilate with their neighbours, and are not popular
even with their co-religionists.
There are other Moslem immigrants who have entered
the empire within the last thirty years, whose names
will recur to the reader. Moslems from Bulgaria, others
from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a not inconsiderable
number from Crete, probably numbering altogether in
one generation not less than half a million emigrants.
The Turks have always been ready to receive foreign
immigrants. The asylum offered to the Jewish victims
of Christian persecution in Spain, under Ferdinand and
Isabella, was not granted merely on humanitarian
grounds, but because the sultans wanted population in
Macedonia. Yet in spite of these immigrants, Moslem
and Jewish, nobody who knows the country will assert
that the Moslem population is increasing.
On the one hand, the denudation of certain districts
by famine, want of communication, by the drain of
population for the army, and by other causes has
especially told on the Turkish population ; on the other,
the Christian populations, in spite of frequent massacres,
1 "Persian Life," by the Rev. S. G. Wilson.

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 29
have been fairly prolific. Various sultans have sought
at many periods in Turkish history to transplant the
prolific Christians into the districts left void by the
Moslems. We have many instances of such transplant
ing even near the capital. Bardizag, about twenty miles
from Ismidt, is a town of purely Armenian population.
It probably contains ten thousand souls. Riding over
the Bithynian hills a quarter of a century ago with two
Turkish friends, we found in a remote mountain valley
a fairly thriving Armenian village called New Town,
or Yenikeuy, of probably three thousand persons. Not a
Turk or Greek was among them. Neither at Bardizag
nor at Yenikeuy were we able to obtain definite informa
tion as to how colonies of Armenians were found in such
isolated places. The only answer obtainable was that
their ancestors had been brought there many generations
ago by the Turks. These isolated communities are
found throughout the empire, and are among the
curiosities of travel. I mention them as an illustration
of the fact that the Turkish population has had, and has,
a tendency to diminish, while no such tendency exists
among the Christian races. In spite of polygamy and
of constant immigration, the Turkish population of Asia
Minor, which is so sparsely peopled that in large areas
it does not amount to more than seven to the square
mile, does not increase.
Influences of Heredity and Religion
The twentieth-century Turk is of mixed race, being
the product of central Asiatic stock and of the earlier
races whom his ancestors found in the country which he
invaded. The two influences which have done most
towards forming his character have been derived from
heredity and religion, and deserve notice. The original
Turk, as judged from history, was a dweller on the Asiatic

30 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
plains who cared little about religion. That which he
inherited or was ordered to profess, he clung to. But
he did not care to examine it. The people with whom
he mingled when he came into Asia Minor took their
religious beliefs seriously. They understood the mean
ing of the phrase Oportet hereticos esse. The great
Paulician heresy of the third century, which extended
from Armenia to Ireland, had its stronghold in Eastern
Asia Minor. The Mithras cult had its greatest develop
ment in the same country. Other heresies will at once
recur to the mind of the reader, especially perhaps the
Nestorian, a fact which shows that the inhabitants were
not disposed in the time of the empire to take their
religious teaching from Constantinople or elsewhere
without discussion. These heresies were usually of an
intellectual and reasonable character. Such wanton
beliefs as prevailed among the Arabs, like, for example,
the existence of a Trinity composed of Father, Son and
the Virgin Mary, must be excluded when thinking of
Asia Minor. Sir William Ramsay, who knows the history
and archaeology of the religions of Anatolia certainly as
well as any man living, has described the serious type
of religion which the early peoples of the country de
veloped, and the remarkable continuity of religious
thought which has existed from long before our era
down to the present day. The central idea was of the
Motherhood of God, the mother evidently being nature.1
They never fell under the spell of Pantheism with its
inevitable tendency to degenerate into Polytheism.
Though the monotheistic idea is usually credited to the
Hebrews, yet it would not be wrong to say that the
religions of Arabia, Syria and Asia Minor always tended
towards Monotheism. The sense of the incomprehen-
1 See Sir William Ramsay's " Luke the Physician," and especially
his Rede lecture at Cambridge, published in the " Contemporary
Review" of July 1906.

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 31
sible, of visible power, of almighty dominancy and im
manency over both nature and men, is what impressed
the early races of these countries, and still impresses
them. Mr Charles M. Doughty, in his invaluable
" Wanderings in Arabia," expresses his surprise at the
" religiosity of the rude young men of the people " (of the
desert at Aneyza), and remarks that while the Semitic
religion is a cold and strange plant in the idolatrous
soil of Europe, it " is like a blood passion in the people of
Moses and Mahommed." 1
The influence of the religions of Asia Minor and Arabia
was always opposed to that of Greece. The emperors,
who opposed the worship of images and pictures, were
from Asia Minor. Those who protected such worship
were from the European provinces. It was among the
serious minded haters of image worship that the Turks
settled or conquered, and, before the advent of the
destined conquerors, the Anatolian subjects of the
emperors had shown their opposition to their fellow-
Christians in Europe by their attitude in reference to
image worship. In the case of the Anatolian Turk,
the influence of Mahometanism has rather deepened the
impress on him which he received by descent than
changed his characteristics.
The influences, beneficial or otherwise, which the
religion of Islam has exerted on the Anatolian Turk may
>e noted. In passing, I may remark that it would be
an interesting question to ask how far the European
conception of Mahometanism has been largely com
pounded of the hereditary characteristics of the Anatolian
and of the teaching of the Koran.
It may justly be claimed that the religion of Islam
has made or kept the Anatolians a sober race. I mention
this first, not because of its importance, but because
2 "Wanderings in Arabia," vol. ii. p. 161.

32 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
sobriety is one of the characteristics which at once
attracts the attention of European travellers. The
great mass of Moslems in Turkey are total abstainers
from every kind of alcoholic drink. If they were ever
likely to fall into excess, the total prohibition decreed
by their religion would help to keep them sober. But as
a simple fact, none of the races of the empire are inclined
to insobriety. Christians and Jews take the wines of the
country, but use them as food. The habit of presenting
alcoholic drink in any form as an act of courtesy or
friendship, except at regular meals, is far from general,
and in many districts is unknown. It is therefore not a
very conspicuous service which Islam has rendered to
the Anatolian Turks by prohibition.
Islam has made them a physically clean people. A
prayer has to be said at least five times a day. Before
each of these services of adoration — for that term would
be more correct than prayer — the face, feet, hands, and
arms up to the elbows must be washed. So completely
is the rule followed that if, as in the desert, water is not
to be had, the form of washing is gone through with sand.
The prayer-place, whether at home or in a mosque, must
be scrupulously clean. The teaching in regard to
physical defilement, which requires the washing of the
whole body on certain occasions, of the hands before
meals ; the constant cleansing of their houses, and puri
fication of the person, have created the habit of cleanli
ness. Travelling in the interior, where European in
fluences have hardly penetrated, one is struck by the
remarkable cleanliness of the interior of the poorest
Turkish houses. The example has not been without its
influence on their Christian neighbours, but the traveller
very often has disagreeable evidence brought to his
senses that the Christians are content to have certain
receptacles of filth about their houses which the Turk

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 33
will not tolerate about his own. Even in reference to
personal cleanliness the difference is the same. " Am
I a Turk that I should be always washing myself," said
a Christian peasant, when asked in a village cafe if he
would not like to wash before starting on his journey.
A prominent member of the Committee of Union and
Progress claimed that the special value of his religion
was that it is essentially hygienic, and the claim is well
founded. The health of the ordinary Turkish peasant
is improved, because he is clean, avoids alcohol, lives
frugally, and largely in the open air.
His religion has helped to make and keep him a self-
respecting man, an obedient citizen, a man contented
with his lot. These results come from his belief that
every action in his life is preordained. It is difficult for
those who have not seen the Turk at home to recognize
how completely fatalism obsesses him. If he suffers a
loss, " it was written," meaning, of course, that it was
preordained by Allah before he was born. No Scotch
Calvinist ever held more tenaciously to the belief that
every bullet has its billet. If a man becomes poor, " it
was written." Does he rise ? as hundreds of men have
done, to high office through ability or favouritism, " it
was written." Strong in his belief, he takes the changes
in life as a man travelling for the first time on a railway
through fields, passing villages and towns of the existence
of which he had known nothing. They are there. He
has had nothing to do with them, but chance does not
exist. Whatever is, is right. The ups and downs in
life hardly worry him, and are seen with wonderful
indifference by his fellow-men.
I recall a typical instance which came under my notice.
A man had risen from a low position to become a pasha
and governor of an important vilayet. He had a large
salary, which he probably doubled by the usual exactions.

34 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
The time came when another favourite replaced him.
Meantime he had bought a large palace on the Bosporus,
had augmented his harem, and largely increased the
number of his retainers. Here he lived in glorious style
and at great expense. He had not invested money, and
could not or would not lessen his expenditure so as to
save enough to buy a position from the palace favourites
or live quietly. His fortune was soon spent. He
mortgaged his palace and other property, probably at
very high interest, and gradually the mortgagees fore
closed. The pasha became penniless and houseless. It
was naturally a sad day for him and the members of his
family when they had to leave their palace. The women
howled, by which I mean that they set up those loud
cries of wailing, which have been common to Eastern
peoples, and even Greeks, for thousands of years, even
when professional mourners have not been hired. Then
they betook themselves to a small tumble-down wooden
shanty a few miles distant, and seemed to live, it would
hardly be incorrect to say to starve, as contentedly as
they had lived in their palace. They were resigned to
their fate. Islam means resignation to the divine will,
and of all the moral lessons taught by his religion that
of being resigned has been most thoroughly learned.
Of course there are other results from fatalism, but
with them I am not at present concerned, but when
men believe that everything is divinely ordered, down to
the smallest incident of life, the belief strikes at the root
of ambition, and even of striving to better one's condition.
The man feels himself to be the puppet of the Higher
Powers, like his fellow-men — just as good as they, and
just as helpless. Such a man is likely to respect himself
and to respect others. Thrift, however, has no place
in his practical philosophy. To provide for the morrow
would be to distrust Allah.

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 35
There is another beneficial result conferred on the
Turk by his religion, a result also which has its dark side.
I am told that during the Crimean war some statesmen
asserted that the Turk was the only gentleman left in
Europe. Ambassadors and visitors, who have been
brought into contact with Turkish officials, have been
loud in praise of the urbanity, courtesy, and ease of
manners which characterizes them. It is indeed rare
to find a Turk with any pretension to education whose
manners are not pleasant. No matter with whom he is
talking, his bearing will be courteous. He may be a
scoundrel who is robbing his government, oppressing the
peasants, taking bakshish whenever he can get it, but
everything that he does will be done in gentlemanly
fashion. If you know him to be a good man, you are
naturally charmed. Burke says, that vice itself in
losing its grossness loses half its evil. So, on the same
principle, you are tempted to forget the thief in the
plenitude of his good manners. One of our ambassadors
spoke to me of a Turkish official as beyond doubt the
biggest liar he had ever met with. But his manners were
perfect. Nor is this gentlemanliness, which is largely
an absence of gaucherie, confined to the wealthier Turk.
The poorest will offer you a light for your cigarette, or will
ask one from yours ; give you a welcome, hosh geldinez,
on entering his village with an absence of awkwardness,
and a self-respecting ease which in its way is charming.
This trait in the Turkish character is, in part at least,
the result of the conviction in every Mahometan's mind
that believers are on a higher plane than infidels, and
that they have the right to be dominant. They are the
lords of creation, by divine right. Between themselves
they are equals. The slave-holders of the Confederate
States are represented by Americans as well as by
Europeans to have had exquisite manners. Both the

36 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
two dominant races were aristocrats. Indeed, all
Moslems in reference to unbelievers are born aristocrats.
They have, of course, realized that foreigners, not
being under their subjection, are in an exceptional
position. It is much that rehgion should tend to produce clean,
contented, well-mannered, and self-respecting men.
But Islam has done even more. The deeply refigious
sentiment of the Anatolian, noted by both travellers and
historians, has been emphasized. The daily prayer, oft
repeated, said by the pious peasant, wherever he finds
himself, fills the mind of the refigious Moslem with a
sense of the overpowering presence of God. His day
begins with a call from the minaret by the muezzin.
" God is Great (thrice repeated), I testify that there is no
God but God. Come to prayer ; come to prayer ; come
to salvation. God is great. Prayer is better than sleep."
Whether he goes to prayer five times or not, the constant
repetition of the words of his devotional service exercises
an influence upon his character. The strictly observed
fast, during the month of Ramazan, and other observ
ances help to strengthen such influences.
So much for the beneficial results upon Turkish
character from his religion. But there are other and
less satisfactory influences from it . First and worst is the
position which Mahometanism assigns to woman. What
that position is may be judged from the fact, elsewhere
mentioned and discussed, that for centuries the common
belief among Turks is that women have no souls, or that
they have souls of an inferior kind. It is immaterial for
the present purpose to ask whether such belief is in
accord with the teaching of the Koran. The wife of
a distinguished Frenchman, who came to Constantinople
about 1902, met the wife of a Turkish minister of high
rank and other Turkish ladies, and spoke to them on

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 37
religion from the point of view of one who saw the value
of the common religious ideas of Christianity, Judaism
and Islam. When she had finished, the ladies expressed
their gratitude with remarks of this kind : " We have
never heard anything about religion." " The subject is
profoundly interesting. We thought it only concerned
men." Sir William Ramsay suggests 1 that " the fatal
error of Islam, viz., the low estimation of women, was
probably due in great part to the reaction from the idea
of the cult of ' the Mother of God.' " Personally I
should prefer to say that Islam did nothing to improve
the general Asiatic estimate of woman. I agree, however,
with him, and with every Western writer who has known
Turkey, that the low estimation of women is an error
fatal to the progress of the race. Elsewhere I shall
attempt to show that the greatest hindrance to Turkish
civilization is the absence of family life, and that this is
the result of the way in which woman is regarded.
The sense of superiority fills the ignorant Turk with a
spiritual pride, an intellectual conceit which is a real
hindrance to his progress in civilization. No Moslem
has need to offer the Scotch minister's prayer, " Gie us a
good conceit of ourselves." He has it already. Having
it, and being saturated with the idea of fatalism, he
is neither thrifty nor ambitious. Of course there are
ambitious men among the Turks. So also there are
thrifty men. But they are exceptions, and, in so far
as they struggle to attain their ends, are acting against
the generally accepted teaching of their religion. In,
considering such cases it is necessary to generalize, and
a few exceptions do not vitiate the rule. The same
results of Mahometanism hold good in India. British
administrators have usually a strong feeling in favour
of the Moslem population, which produces trustworthy,
1 Contemporary Review, July 1906.

38 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
self-respecting and brave soldiers. But their feeling
of superiority and their fatalism prevents them from
succeeding in competition with the other races under
our rule. Much to the distress of some of the best
administrators in India, who would willingly see more
Moslems occupying positions of trust, the latter cannot
hold their own against the Hindoo in the competitive
examinations which have been instituted so as to give
every race an equal chance. To me it is abundantly
clear that the ideas of dominancy and fatalism hinder
the progress of a Mahometan people.
Heredity and religion will account for most of the
characteristics of the Turkish character. The typical
Turk is, under ordinary circumstances, an honest, truthful,
self-respecting man. But I am not sure whether these
causes will account for his want of energy or his occasional
outbursts of fanaticism. In the normal condition of an
average Turkish peasant a long period of laziness is
alternated by short, spasmodic periods of industry.
He is neither industrious nor persistent about anything.
In ordinary times he is lazily tolerant of the religion
of others, but occasionally he breaks out into very
dangerous fanaticism. As is the individual, so is the
nation. Mr Palgrave, who was a keen observer and knew
Syria, at least, well, and knew also his Turkish history,
says that " Convulsive fanaticism alternating with
lethargic torpor, transient vigour followed by long and
irremediable decay ; such is the general history of
Mahometan Government and races." The indictment
can be justified.
Where religious fanaticism does not come in, the
inhabitants of mixed villages, and the various races of
the empire, get on fairly well together. Often in spite of
their religion they have a sense of human justice and
natural kindness which is noteworthy. Let me illustrate

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 39
this by a story which I had at the time from my friend
the late Dr Long, whom I knew for a quarter of a century
as the vice-president of Robert College. In 1877 the
villages around Constantinople were crowded with
refugees from Bulgaria. The worst form of typhus
prevailed, and was largely increased by the poverty of
the sufferers. Dr Long visited, always gratuitously, the
cases near the college. He heard that in one hut two
sons and a daughter had died, and that the father, a
Moslem, was down with the fever. He told the wife
that he was a Hekim or doctor, and would like to see
her husband. " You may see him, Hekim, if you like,
but you can do no good. This is Allah's business, not
ours." Then the poor woman told her story and ex
plained her meaning. " We were living in a Bulgarian
village ; our next-door neighbour was a Christian. He
was always kind to us. Our children played with his,
and when I wanted lettuce or an onion, I was welcome
to take it from the giaour's garden. Then one night my
husband came home and told me that the padisha had
sent word that we were to kill all the Christians in our
village, and that he would have to kill our neighbours.
I was very angry, and told him that I did not care who
gave such orders, they were wrong. These neighbours
had always been kind to us, and if he dared to kill them
Allah would pay us out. I tried all I could to stop him,
but he killed them — killed them with his own hand,
Hekim. Then, when the war began, we came here.
Allah has taken our children, and he will take my husband.
Thank you, Hekim, all the same, but you can't be of any
use against Allah's sentence. I shall not die, but my
husband will "—and he did.
. It is when religious fanaticism has been aroused that
the Turk is seen at his worst. Let it be noted that
spontaneous outbursts of fanaticism are unknown, or,

40 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
at least, rare. The elements necessary to produce a
massacre exist almost everywhere throughout Turkey.
But the great massacres of the last century, Chios,
Bulgaria, and Armenia, were all made to order. In that
of Armenia many of the worst scenes were conducted
with military regularity. In many instances the Moslem
inhabitants were invited to attend at the principal
mosque, at which, of course, no Christian was allowed to
be present. Then a messenger from Constantinople in
formed the congregation that it was Abdul Hamid's
wish and his command that the Armenians should be
spoiled on the following day. To pillage your wealthy
neighbours in the name of religion and the padisha is a
form of service which appealed to the worst portion of the
Turkish population.
Here again it must not be supposed that the brutal
massacres and robberies had the sanction of pious
Moslems. I heard at the time of many such men who
expressed their loathing at the orders sent. In one case,
and I believe there were others of a similar kind happened,
the Imam, corresponding as near as possible to the
parson of the town, did his best, at great risk to himself,
to stop a massacre. The usual address had been given
by the emissary from the palace in Constantinople, who
stated that the padisha's orders were that the Armenians
were to be plundered and massacred next day. When
he had finished the Imam rose, and, in an indignant
voice, declared that he did not care by whose orders these
attacks on their fellow-townsmen were to be made, they
were against Islam. " You know me," he went on, " as a
good Moslem. I have grown old amongst you, and I tell
you that these Armenians are ' people of the Books,' who
ought be be treated as brethren. You are only allowed
to attack them if they rebel against the padisha. No
body here dare say they are rebels. If you kill them or

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 41
I rob them, you will have to answer for it to Allah, and I
will be your accuser."
Nevertheless, next day one of the worst massacres in
the bloody series took place.
I have said that where Christians and Moslems are
living together the first are usually better off than the
Moslems. I am not thinking of the towns, though if the
official class be omitted the remark would hold good
there also, but of the villages from one end of the empire
to the other. All the peasants are poor, but the Christian
is less poverty-stricken than the Moslem. About the
fact no one who knows Turkey would be doubtful. The
explanation is to be found partly in race and partly in
religion. The Turkish peasant, with his pleasant qualities,
is liked by travellers, and especially by sportsmen who
get into remote villages, and speak in admiration of his
hospitality, and contrast it, very often unfavourably,
with the sordid greed of the Armenian or Greek. But in
intelligence the Turk is inferior to either. He is dis
inclined to work, and is content if he can get bread.
There are villages within fifty miles of Constantinople,
situated in the midst of rich forest or grazing land which
belongs to the Moslem villagers, where milk is not to be
had, and where nothing in the shape of fruit or vegetables
is procurable for love or money. A quarter of a century
ago I paid my first visit, with another Englishman and
two Turkish friends, one being the late Hamdi Bey,
whom Oxford honoured in 1909, to Nicaea, the city of the
creed. We had taken a supply of provisions with us,
but had omitted to take vegetables of any kind, believing
that we should find them there on sale in the poverty-
stricken village, which now replaces the once rich and
populous capital of Bithynia. Nothing of the kind was
to be had.
The Turk becomes a fanatic from a variety of causes.

42 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
The idea that he has a divine right to be lord over other
races is one. But a more powerful stimulus than even
religion helped to promote all the fanatical outbursts
which I have seen. Both the Moslem atrocities in
Bulgaria and the much greater ones in Armenia and
those in Constantinople itself were mainly due to the
sordid motive of obtaining possession of other people's
property. When the central government gave permission
and even instructions that the Christians should be
plundered, all that is vile in a semi-civilized race was
appealed to. The Turkish Government has never been
for a long period either just or humane. Fifteen years
ago most of the Yezijis were quietly exterminated.
I doubt whether, at any time since Mahomet captured
Constantinople, there has ever passed a quarter of a
century without a big massacre. It has been the
Turkish way of maintaining his supremacy. As the
Christians are the more intelligent, industrious, and
thrifty part of the population, there is always present
a feeling of envy and jealousy. Why should the un
believing Christian be better off than a believer ? This
feeling helped to make the Turkish blackguardism of
Constantinople and Smyrna rush to Chios to share in its
plunder and take part in the massacre. A like motive
actuated the ruthless atrocities in Bulgaria, and made
the worthless rabble of the capital eager to kill the
Armenians in the capital in 1896, and to plunder their
persons and houses.
We are all hoping, and happily have some justification
for the hope, that since July 1908 the Turk has abandoned
his ancient method of government. Our justification of
such hope is grounded on various considerations. The
Turkish people, especially in the capital, have not re
mained uninfluenced by the progress of civilization in
Europe during the last forty years. Absolutism has

THE TURKS STRICTLY SO-CALLED 43
happily been succeeded by constitutional government ;
for absolutism, in Turkey at least, meant the government
of one man who was almost certain from his want of
culture and experience to be especially ill-fitted to rule,
and was responsible for opening the sluices which let
loose the flood of fanaticism. Massacre would now, I
firmly believe, be condemned by the heads of the ulema
as well as by the constitutional ministers. The Sheik-
ul-islam, in 1908 Jelalladin, with whom I had the oppor
tunity on several occasions of discussing many questions,
and his two successors, are men of deservedly great
influence, and far too enlightened to give their sanction to
outrages on Christians or to believe that the cause of
Islam can be served thereby. The leaders of the Turkish
people have become more tolerant. Adbul Hamid
contrived to gather round him men who represented the
unprogressive part of the race and its vilest features. At
the same time, it is not well to overlook facts. Three
foul massacres are yet within the memory of middle-aged
men. They were due to an abominable government —
to its appeal to the worst passions of ignorant and
fanatical mobs, to the licence given to plunder Christians,
to jealousy of their superior progress, and to the tradi
tional belief that in enriching themselves these plunderers
and murderers were serving God.

CHAPTER III
TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS
House furniture — Poverty — Cleanliness of Turks — Defilement —
Reminiscence of sermon — Cemeteries — Slight value of human labour —
Illustrations — Hamals — Manufacturers — Their primitive character —
Cotton yarn — Carpet industry
THE interior of a Turkish peasant's house is sin
gularly bare of furniture. Of the two rooms which
it contains, one will be reserved for the male and the
other for the female members of the family. Bedsteads
are unknown. So also are mattresses. But along one
side of each room there often exists a portion of the
floor raised about nine inches, and fixed upon it is a
covering stuffed with cotton wool. This is the divan.
It serves as a sofa by day and a bed by night. Each
house contains a number of yorghans, or coverings made
of two lengths of cotton with cotton-wool between.
These are rolled up during the day and serve as covering
at night. After sleep the sleeper or some one else takes
up his bed and walks off with it to place it on a shelf
where the other occupants of the house place theirs.
Chairs are rarely seen in the house of a peasant, but
a small stool about a foot high and universally known
as a scamni, the Latin scamnum, is usually to be found.
Every peasant has two or three trays, and food is usually
served upon them. There is no table in the English
sense, though often a simple arrangement exists by
which the tray is sometimes raised a few inches from the
ground on an ingenious tressel. Forks are used only
44

TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS 45
among those who have come under European influence.
But, though fingers were made before forks, and are in
more general use, the Turks always wash their hands
before eating. The practice still holds good in the
villages of the host offering a tit-bit with his fingers
to a guest. It is not a pleasant habit though well meant.
The right hand is invariably used. In a household where
there are servants, the latter will come forward after
a meal with a bowl, a pitcher of water with a long spout
and a towel, and will pour over the fingers water which
is caught in the bowl by another servant. Washstands
and their furniture are, of course, unknown in peasants'
dwellings. The Turks, and indeed the other races
in Turkey, prefer to wash in running water rather than
in European fashion. The habit has been attributed
to their extreme delicacy of cleanliness. I believe
it arises rather from the general scarcity of water. If
a man wants to get the best wash possible out of half
a pint of water, his best course is to have it in a vessel
with a hole which will allow it to trickle out. Neverthe
less, the comfort of finishing one's wash with running
water, as from a tap over a bath, is so generally recognized
that at the principal club in Constantinople the usual
basins are fitted with taps over them, so that running
water may be had as well as the usual bowl full.
The general appearance of a Turkish and to a less
degree of other villages in Turkey gives an impression
of disorder and slovenliness. Even where good building
stone is to be had the majority of the houses are of wood.
The framework may be covered with weather-boards
or filled in with sun-dried bricks. The house, once
built, is rarely repaired or painted. The Christian
villages are generally in better repair than the Moslem,
but shutters hanging loose, weather-boards that have
gone, and a general tumble-down appearance are common

46 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
features. In warm weather many men have the sense
to sleep in the open air. The peasants make no dis
tinction usually between bedroom and living room,
the same room serving for both purposes. No one
undresses at night. There is therefore no question
of clean sheets. Though the floors are usually
scrupulously clean, the less said about certain sanitary
arrangements, or the want of them, the pleasanter for
the reader. The accumulations of refuse and other
filth outside the houses show that there is no attempt
at village government.
Soap is almost unknown. Natives of all races seem
to take no account of fleas or B. flats. In many places
the fleas exist in such numbers that if they were
unanimous they could carry off the unwary European
while asleep. It is on account of their prevalence that
the writer of a guide book to one country of the Balkan
peninsula, some years ago, made a careful distinction
in recommending the traveller to stop. " Here travellers
may spend the night," he said of some of the native
hotels. " Here travellers may sleep," he said of
others. Poverty is apparent on the exterior of the peasant's
house and in the interior. When a man is able to buy
more than what is necessary for food and cooking
it he generally spends his money on rugs or carpets.
These, however, are not put upon the floor. The demand
for Turkish rugs and carpets in Europe and America
has greatly increased the value of those articles, and
the best, with non-aniline colours, have been exported.
But there are few houses where they do not possess
one or more, often enough ragged and worn, which are
brought out to show visitors. Nevertheless, poverty
is the distinguishing characteristic of the Turkish
peasant's house. There are scores of villages where a

TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS 47
Turkish lira has hardly ever been seen, and where a
beshlik, worth elevenpence, is a rarity.
People rise early and go to bed at dark. Candles
and lamps are hardly known in the peasant's house.
Petroleum, or, as it is generally known in Turkey, " gas,"
has been a great boon to the poor. When artificial
light is employed it will usually be from petroleum.
Then, too, the gas tins in which it is carried into the
interior become very useful. They serve with a little
adaptation as buckets. The tin plates in other cases
are carefully separated and serve as tiles. There are
few villages where roofs will not be thus formed. My
first view of the Bedouins of Syria showed them eager
to possess empty petroleum tins and knowing how to
utilize them.
I have already alluded to the cleanliness of the MoslemJ
population. The statement that the religion of the)
Moslem is a hygienic religion is true. It is not merely, r
as John Welsey was fond of saying, that " cleanliness is j
next to godliness " ; in the Islamic view it is part of I
godliness. The teaching in reference to defilement ,
and the practices of purification are closely followed, f
Various precautions are taken in regard to food lest j
the body should be defiled. The constant practice of '
washing creates a habit of cleanliness which is useful. \
If water is abundant the floors will be often swilled. 1
The result is that the Turkish peasant, no matter how \
poor, is usually, in his person and home, a clean man. !
Most Europeans would prefer to eat food prepared by
the Turkish peasants rather than by an Armenian or
Greek. Every visitor or occupant of the house takes off his
shoes before entering. The official or man of wealthier J
class wears thin kid boots, and over these, when out of /
doors, well-made and light overshoes, usually of patent '

48 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
leather, with a spring in the heel by which he can take
them off on entering a house. The little knob connected
with the spring by which the wearer can release the
spring with the other foot without stooping is usually
taken by visitors to be intended for a spur. The over
shoes once removed, the wearer steps with light, dainty
boots into the house, and can sit upon a divan with his
feet under him without defiling the place by the dirt
of the streets. Somewhat cheaper than this kind of
overshoe, which is yet very largely worn, are goloshes
of india-rubber. These are made with a solid knob
in the heels, and can also be taken off without stooping.
Some years ago English firms sent out goloshes without
this convenience, but the people would have nothing to
do with them. They are a necessity in winter, and
Europeans take to them or the Turkish overshoe as
readily as the Turks and other natives.
In front of all mosques is a cistern of water for the
purpose of ceremonial purification. In front of the
large mosques in Constantinople one may see every
day a number of men preparing themselves by their
ablutions to enter the mosque for prayer. Theie are
a number of taps where water can always be had. The
dread of defilement leads to some curious results, some
of which need not be mentioned. A fanatical Moslem
of the old school will never give his right hand to a
Christian. I remember an Arab merchant, who settled
a few years ago in Constantinople, who kept strictly
to this rule. But good Moslems in the cities have learnt
that for them to give the left hand to a foreigner is an
insult and will probably be resented. The merchant
gradually had this fact brought home to him and now
gives his right hand. Many years ago, a British Consul
of great experience had to visit a sheik. The visit was
one of some ceremony, and the sheik was known to be

TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS 49
a fanatical hater of Christians of all sorts, and those
about him felt sure he would offer some kind of insult
to the consul on his first visit. It was therefore with
interest that the spectators watched the first interview.
The consul advanced into the room, the sheik met him
in the middle, and held out his left hand. The consul,
quite calmly, spat into it as if it were a spittoon, and
went on as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
Both the Christians and Moslems recognized that an
insult had been offered and resented, and nothing more
came of the matter.
Connected with the subject of defilement, I may
mention a sermon preached some three or four years
ago in a Constantinople mosque. Sermon is not quite
the word, for the Moslem hodja squats cross-legged on
a slightly raised platform, and his hearers sit before
him on the ground, prepared to listen to him. There
is nothing formal about the function. The hearers
constantly interpose remarks. Neither the hodja nor
his hearers object to a joke, and very often the address
is studded with observations, amusing remarks, objec
tions, and questions from his audience. The hodja
in question announced that he was about to speak on
a special form of defilement. He told them that they
all knew that in every bakal or huxter's shop there was
Siberian butter for sale, which was contained in skins,
just as it was imported from Russia. Now if they ate
butter so packed they were defiled. " Then," called
out one of the audience, " we are all defiled, because we
all eat it." The interruption was supported by many
voices, and the question was argued with the hodja,,
until he had to whittle away his declaration by telling
them that they should only eat the butter in the middle
which had not touched the skin.
Visitors from Europe are surprised to see the disorderly

50 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
condition of the Turkish cemeteries. Owing to the
practice of only burying one body in a grave the
cemeteries cover enormous spaces all over the country.
But they are rarely fenced, and no care whatever is
bestowed on them. The Christian cemeteries, on the
other hand, are on the whole well kept.
It is remarkable that a people whose houses are clean
/ and who are clean in their personal habits should be
/ absolutely careless of tidiness and cleanliness outside
their houses. The Turk has a happy-go-lucky way with
him which leads to curious results. He is fond of
flowers, admires fine prospects, delights in sitting under
trees where he can take his kef amid his friends, but he
j is indifferent to the accumulations of filth in his streets
and to bad smells which would be avoided by the
lowest class of our population. Even in the capital
itself there are no drains which are satisfactorily made.
Such as exist consist of unhewn stones forming the
sides, with others laid across. The ground forms the
bottom. They leak, the stones fall in, and the so-called
drain becomes a series of leaking cesspools. In the
villages the traveller has to be careful in picking his
path. As may be expected, the towns differ a good
deal among themselves as to sanitary arrangements.
Until ten years ago I should have said that Jerusalem
was the worst I had seen for filthiness, though
I am informed that under recent governors considerable
improvement has been made.
The Englishman on first going through the streets of
Constantinople will see many signs of the slight value of
human labour. Bootblacks are in every street. The
hamals or messengers and porters are everywhere.
Hawkers whose stock-in-trade cannot be worth half a
crown, sellers of sweets or ices, called dondermajis, will
travel a mile on the chance of selling a piastre's worth

TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS 51
of stuff. All bear witness not only to the want of
employment but to the small amount on which a man
can live. They suggest poverty largely due to ignorance
of any kind of skilled labour. Two men do the work of
one. A hurdy-gurdy is carried by one man while
another does the grinding. The very beggars often
go in couples. If a man has a withered arm, or a
specially ugly sore, another will go with him to attract
the attention of passers-by. The beggars are of all
races, and, as the Greek phrase runs, each one is more
disgusting than the other. Their sores and deformities
are their capital. A man will push his naked withered
arm close to a lady's face or show his hands with double
thumbs ; or some wretch will crawl half-naked on the
side-path so that the traveller has to get out of his way.
It is generally believed that many of the sores and
wounds are self-inflicted. The Turkish beggar will
shout out Allah as you pass and demand bakshish as
of right. The Greek will whine out his troubles, and
especially if it is Saturday, for that day is the beggars'
day ; will tell you what the day is, implore you " to
make your soul," and call down the blessing of the Virgin
and saints if you give him ten paras, value a halfpenny.
Most of the beggars leave the impression that they
have adopted begging as a profession and are unworthy
of sympathy.
When the municipality sends a man to mend the
street there is invariably another sent to look after
him. In old-fashioned Turkish houses every stranger is
astonished at the number of servants and hangers-on.
Many of them receive no wages, but get food, lodging,
and cast-off clothes. The rag, tag and bobtail of a
-wealthy Turk must be a fruitful source of expense.
The hamals or porters form a corporation or esnaf, and
as such are a hindrance to business. Until recently

52 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
they would not allow tradesmen to employ carts for
delivery. Everything must be carried by hand. The
esnaf divides the city into districts, and if a man is hired
to take furniture who does not belong to the quarter
where it is to be taken from there is pretty certain to
be a quarrel. The donkeymen and owners of horses
for transport form another esnaf, and every day the
passenger sees their animals laden with bricks or
dragging planks trailing on the ground which might
be conveyed more cheaply and conveniently in carts.
Everything bears witness to backwardness in civilization
and to the absence of skilled labour.
Turks who are not agriculturalists or officials
usually become hamals or porters. Until the Armenian
massacres of 1895-8 many of the hamals in Constanti
nople were Armenians. Many hundreds of them were
then killed. The remainder were sent to their country,
and Turks and Kurds replaced them. In some places
there are a few Greek hamals. It is, of course, an
occupation which requires little intelligence but much
strength. It is one which can hardly be said to exist
in the West or wherever good roads allow wheel trans
port ; though the porters of London, as described by
Defoe and other writers of that period, seem to have
resembled our hamals. The weights which a hamal will
carry are astounding. I had a piano which was marked
" specially manufactured for hot climates," the only
speciality about it that I could recognize being that
it was unusually heavy. Four men lifted it on the back
of a hamal, who carried it upwards of half a mile and
to a height of at least two hundred feet. Any day in
Constantinople a man may be seen carrying ninety
petroleum tins (empty, of course) of the usual size, the
whole making a large and unwieldy package, some nine
feet by three and two feet deep.

TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS 53
A few years back most of the streets of Constantinople,
even in the best quarters, were so steep and narrow that
no carriage could ascend or descend. Visitors had to
ride in sedan chairs. Hobart Pasha for a while lived in
such a street, and I have seen at an evening's reception
as many as fifty such chairs waiting outside his door.
They were not uncomfortable. The hamals who carried
them kept step together, and usually all went well.
The person using them had the chairs brought inside
his house and taken into the house where he was going.
I remember; however, an awkward incident that
occurred. Snow had fallen to the depth of nearly a
foot, and in the course of the journey the bottom of the
chair fell out. The occupant, who was a stout lady,
with short legs, had to run along through the snow,
and unfortunately she could not make her cries heard
until near the journey's end. Happily no ill results
ensued. The hamals have, like the dogs had till 1910, then-
own quarter. As they form a guild or esnaf, the Govern
ment, by being able to get into communication with the
head of the esnaf, is able to exercise a certain control
over them. They are fairly orderly and good-natured,
and though destitute of education and intelligence, or
they would not be content to be hamals, are necessary
in a country where carts and carriages cannot get along
in the principal streets.
While everything bears witness to the absence of
skilled labour, it is true nevertheless that even in the
capital there is a large amount of honest workmanship.
It is mostly, though not exclusively, in the hands of
the Christians. There are Turkish saddlers and shoe
and slipper makers, makers of pipe-bowls in red clay,
of cigarette holders, and of simple articles in brass-work.
There are Turkish white-washers, makers of yorghans,

54 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the simple duvet which is found in every house, and
already mentioned. In simple matters of this kind the
Turk manages very well. He is by no means so skilled
as the Christian, but he does honest work. But the
great mass of the work done in the country is very
primitive. A native window or door rarely fits properly.
The flooring of a native house will show planks that
have warped, joints that are ill-made, and a general
want of skilled workmanship.
Naturally and inevitably there is a large importation
of foreign goods. Such native cloth as is made is coarse,
unequal in quality, and even when made of selected wool
is not to be compared with that which comes from
England. In Bulgaria the native cloth, or as it is called
sMak, is much superior. Cotton goods from Lancashire
have almost everywhere taken the place of the native
articles. Peasant industry in making cotton cloth still
continues all through the empire. The peasant women,
Christian and Turk alike, use for this purpose cotton yarn.
Some of this comes from Italy. But two factories for
preparing the yarn exist in Turkey, the most important
being in Constantinople. It was established with
British capital some twenty years ago, finds employ
ment for about two hundred women and girls, and is
fairly successful.
A century ago very respectable pottery was made in
Turkey, but though at Eyoub on the Golden Horn the
revival of the industry was attempted, the experiment
was not a success. Germany now supplies the largest
amount of ceramic ware.
One general remark may be made regarding all the
native industries of the country. It is easy to say that
they have been killed by foreign competition, but that
is only half the truth. Turkey now levies eleven per
cent, on all foreign goods and wishes to levy fifteen.

TURKISH DOMESTIC LIFE AND HABITS 55
Until 1907 she had never levied less than eight. This
margin of profit, plus the cost of carriage into the country,
ought to have been protection enough to allow the de
velopment of native industries. But they were killed
by the ignorance and stupidity of the Turkish Govern
ment. Obstacles were always placed in the way of
natives or foreigners who attempted to establish them.
They had to bribe to obtain permission to establish a
factory of any kind and to keep it going. The fact that
a native had sufficient money to embark on an industrial
undertaking indicated him as a man to be squeezed.
Imposts of a ridiculous character were levied. Let me
give a case from my own experience. I went, probably
in the year 1879, *° see Sir Henry Layard, who was still
in high favour both at the palace and the Porte, on
behalf of a British firm which had a flour mill on the
Golden Horn. I pointed out to him that while Russian
flour was imported into the country on payment of
eight per cent., Turkish flour, before it could be brought
from another part of the empire and be sent back, had
to pay sixteen per cent. Sir Henry was naturally
incredulous. But after examination had shown the
statement to be correct, he burst out with a strong
exclamation on the incorrigible folly of the Government.
" I can understand," said he, " the theory of protecting
your own industry against that of foreign countries, but
to reverse the process is more than I thought any race
was capable of." He took the matter up with great
vigour and managed to reduce the amount to be paid
to eight per cent. During the conversation he spoke of
the Turks as like children in all matters relating to
political economy, and told me of another matter he was
then treating with the Porte. There had grown up in
England a considerable demand, especially, said he, in
the mining districts, for crushed dates. The result had

56 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
been that thousands of acres in Arabia which had been
desert for centuries had been planted with the date-palm,
and the Arabs of the neighbourhood were settling down
to cultivate the country. " A fool of a Vali had had
the trees cut down, alleging that the Arabs would become
too numerous and wealthy." He had been at the Porte
and had done what he could.
The industry in Turkey which is in the most flourishing
condition is that of carpet-making, which, however, is
under the direction of Europeans. Turkey carpets have
long been famed for their beauty of design, of colouring,
and durability. The demand for them in Western
Europe and in America has greatly increased during
the last twenty years. They are made in the west of
Asia Minor, Smyrna being the place from which the
manufacture is directed. The industry is largely a
village one, and Turkish men, women and children, as
well as Christian families, engage in it at their own
houses. Within the last six or seven years the industry
has been so well organized that nearly everything
necessary for the finished product is produced in the
country. It is said to give employment to forty
thousand persons.

CHAPTER IV
FAMILY LIFE AND THE POSITION OF TURKISH WOMEN
Absence of family life in European sense — Turkish marriages, how
arranged — Celebration — Seclusion fatal to family life — Various aspira
tions — Best Turkish women — Polygamy — Uncertain position before
law — Repudiation instead of divorce — Wife's rights over property —
Turks' kindness to children — Hopeful movement among Turkish
women THE absence of family life among the Turks is the
most serious hindrance to their advancement in
civilization. Riding over the Bithynian hills some years
ago with an educated Turk, who had lived some years
in Western Europe, we discussed the eternal question of
the reforms necessary to bring the country to the level
of Western civilization. After an hour's conversation,
my companion turned to me with an impatient remark :
" What are we talking about ? no reform whatever is
possible." " Why ? " I asked. " Because we can have no
family life. I have seen how man and wife live together
with you, how the children are the companions of both
parents, the woman the companion and friend of her
husband. You may believe in the possibility of Turkish
reforms when you see Turkish husbands and wives arm-
in-arm on Galata Bridge, when we Turks respect and
trust our women sufficiently to allow them to hear men
discuss all questions together as freely as women do in
Paris or London."
Turks are at a disadvantage in not having a family
name. Hassan Effendi may have a son named Nedjib, sr

58 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
but the son has no surname to distinguish him from
dozens of other Nedjibs. You hear a man named, say
Midhat, but the name gives no information of the family
to which he belongs. I am aware that the general use
of a family name even in Western countries is com
paratively recent, but such use helped to strengthen
family ties, and was thus a step forward. That the want
of it constitutes a difficulty to strangers of all kinds is a
secondary matter.
The foundation of family life is marriage. A Turkish
marriage is arranged, and is usually the result of negotia
tions between the relations or representatives of the bride
and bridegroom. It is supposed to be among the demo
cratic privileges possessed by Turks that any mother
with a son whom she wishes to see married has a right
to enter into negotiations with the family of the girl
whom she wishes him to marry and to interview the girl
herself. Even if she is unknown and poor, she may
present herself at the house of the girl and claim the right
to see her. It is in this way that negotiations for
marriage often begin. The mistress or hanum of the
house notifies the girl, who then comes into the room
where the mother or other female representative of the
young man is present. The mistress retires and the girl
then offers coffee and other civilities. After what may
be called an interview of inspection, the representative
retires to report the impression the girl has made. If the
overtures are looked on with favour, a photograph of
the girl may be carried away. Then negotiations begin
between the two families. Etiquette and Turkish pro
prieties require that these negotiations should not be
mentioned in presence of the girl, but should be left to her
relations. Very often the intermediary between the two
sets of relations is an old slave woman, or perhaps two
such women, one for each side. When they are agreed,

FAMILY LIFE 59
a civil ceremony of engagement takes place before the
Kadi and witnesses, the most important part of which
consists in asking outside the closed door of the girl's
room whether she will marry Hamid or whatever the
intended bridegroom's name is. A like question has
already been asked of the intending husband. If all
goes right, the marriage takes place when the trousseau
and house are ready. The ceremony begins by conduct
ing the bride with considerable pomp to the house of the
bridegroom. As men are not permitted to be present, I have re
quested a lady who has not only lived long in Turkey,
speaking Turkish well, but has an intimate knowledge
of Turkish manners and customs, to take up my narrative
and tell the story of an ordinary Turkish marriage among
well-to-do Turks.
A Turkish wedding is celebrated in two places — the
bridegroom entertains his friends in his own house. The
bride's celebration is much more elaborate, and lasts for
three days. During one portion of the ceremony the
groom appears for a few moments. One of the most
typical Turkish weddings I ever attended was in the
house of an old-fashioned Pasha, whose daughter was the
bride, and whose acquaintance with all the old Turkish
families of the neighbourhood made the circle of guests
a very large one. When we arrived at the house we
were shown through the great paved court and up the
wide uncarpeted stairs, through bare unpainted halls
with many windows, into the specially furnished rooms
of the harem. The furniture, as usual in a large Turkish
house, was principally divans, chairs and chandeliers.
The divans and chairs were nearly filled with ladies,
listening to the weird monotonous strains of Turkish
music. The musicians, with their bagpipes and lutes,

60 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
were concealed by a curtain — as they were mere men.
Graceful salaams were exchanged as each new guest
came in. Occasionally groups of two or three ladies
made a tour of the rooms, stopping a little to say a word
to and gaze at the bride as she sat in the end of one long
room in solemn state. She was dressed in white satin,
with showers of tinsel all entwined in her long black
hair, and falling over her dress, and wore quantities of
diamonds and jewellery of all kinds. These jewels are
often borrowed for the occasion, as it is considered very
necessary to have a great display at the wedding. The
bride must sit still all day at the real old-fashioned
wedding, rarely speaks, and does not come to the dinner.
Something is given her to eat, probably.
At some hour during this first day of the festivities,
usually about noon, comes a short ceremony. The guests
veil their faces but crowd around to see, as the bride
groom comes into the house and is led up to meet his
bride, whom he is supposed not to have seen before. He
goes into a room with her alone for a few minutes, then
comes out and scatters pieces of money — small silver
coins — among the guests, who scramble eagerly for them,
as they are regarded as lucky coins. At the wedding
of which I am speaking, the father of the bride also threw
handfuls of money down into the court, and the servants
and town hangers-on rushed about gathering up the
shining pieces.
Then we were invited to dinner. Tables had been
arranged in one large room, which would accommodate
about forty-five ladies, and we all gathered and sat down,
as we came in no special order. The costumes, as is
always true of a Turkish gathering, were various and
incongruous. Directly opposite me at the table sat a
royal beauty, the daughter of a pasha in Stamboul. On
her golden hair was a diamond coronet ; her white satin

FAMILY LIFE 61
gown was beautifully made, and cut very low, showing
the most dazzling white neck and arms. Her looks and
her manners would have graced any court in Europe.
Next her sat a veritable old hag, dressed in a cotton-
wadded jacket and skirt, shapeless and not even very
clean, with no pretence of a collar. The old lady speared
pieces of bread and fruit with her fork and drew them
toward herself, or handed them to the haughty beauty
next to her, and chattered volubly about the food and the
other guests. I saw many others in the same sort of easy
negligee-cotton gowns — while scattered among them
were dresses that might have been Worth creations from
Paris, and jewels worth a king's ransom. My companion
and I were the only persons present who were not Turkish.
The waitresses were as casual as the guests in their
costumes. Some of them were dressed in blue satin
gowns and coquettish blue satin caps on the sides of
their heads, with elaborate coiffures. Others had trailing
cotton wrappers, and unkempt hair, and heel-less shoes
that flapped and flopped on the bare floor as they walked
about. The courses of food were many and most
delicious, Turkish cooking being especially excellent
and savoury. Sweets and meat courses came in a hap
hazard sequence. But as always at a Turkish wedding,
the last dish was rice, covered with a thick saffron sauce.
After that the people left the tables and walked through
the rooms again, listened to more weird minor music,
talked or sat still, and then were free to go home. But
the bride must still sit in solemn state for hours, for
people came and went all the afternoon. Anyone,
whether invited or not, can go to a Turkish wedding after
the dinner is over — any complete stranger or passer-by —
and so, curious crowds come in, and stare, and sitjand
drink coffee, and go out, while the weary bride sits still
on her throne to be looked at and talked about for the

62 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
whole of the three days, if the old custom is followed.
It is now, however, becoming more usual to have only
one day of this open hospitality, and after this the bride
either goes to her husband's house or the newly-married
couple settle down in the bride's home.
The Turkish wife resides in a separate part of her
husband's house specially set aside for women and called
the haremlik. The other part for the men is the salemlik.
The haremlik intended for the seclusion of women is
religiously reserved for their use. As a rule no male
visitors are admitted. The practice varies to some
extent. An old doctor of medicine tells me that in his
younger days when called in to attend a woman patient
he was never allowed to see her. A hand would be
pushed between the curtains and he could feel the pulse,
but this was the extent of his diagnosis. It is, however,
now becoming recognized that the doctor may be
admitted into the harem.
The seclusion of women is fatal to family life. A
woman must not unveil except before her husband, her
father, or her brothers. The education which comes to
European women from being present in the company of
her husband and his friends, from mixing in society,
attendance at receptions, lectures, and church services
is all denied to Turkish women. The typical large
Turkish harem is one where a number of usually good-
looking women live together without any intellectual
pleasure or pursuits whatever. European ladies who
have lived in such harems even among those belonging
to the great favourites of the Sultan are impressed with
the inanity, the full-grown childishness, and most of all
with the disorder, which exists. The rooms may be
furnished with the latest fashions of Paris furniture ;
everything may be costly, rich and gorgeous ; the taste

FAMILY LIFE 63
usually much too loud for Englishmen or Frenchmen.
Gilding, white marble, rich velvets, tapestry, abundance
of mirrors, all proclaim wealth and an exuberance of
display. But amid it all are specimens of barbaric
taste and a survival of Circassian and other Asiatic
instincts. Those who have lived in such houses speak
of dinners served to various ladies separately, and at
any time between five o'clock and midnight, of the
dinner things left in corners of the beautiful drawing-
rooms till they are wanted again for service, of the
quarrelling going on between the wives and among the
servants, and of other incidents which show that the
women of these large harems are on a lower level of
civilization than their lord. He mixes with Europeans
and with other Turks who know what are the habits of
civilized life. His wives see few other women, and unless
they are able to read French or English novels, or happen
to know foreign ladies, are ignorant of European manners.
An English lady of title who, after a life of varied and
quite unique experience, ended as the wife of an Arab
sheik, and had had an exceptional experience in Turkish
and Arab harems, described to me many years ago harem
women in general as children with the vices of women.
They had at times, said she, all the charm of children,
were gay and careless, but were liable to lose their
tempers, and then quarrelled with the violence of children
who had been allowed to run wild. As for their con
versation she added, " the less I tell you about it the
better." It requires, however, little knowledge of
Turkish to learn from the expressions of vexation
uttered in the streets even by well-dressed Turkish
women that there is amongst many of them an absence
of refinement and delicacy of speech.
It will be readily understood that while I speak
generally of harems, there are some Turkish women

64 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
of quite another character. The ladies who are described
by Pierre Loti in " Les Desenchantees " represent
a very different class : a type which exists, it is true,
but of whom the numbers are very few. There are
Turkish women belonging to the wealthier class who are
readers of French novels of the most romantic kind, and
who might behave as Loti's heroines did. It is an
unhappy type, because the women have broken away
from all the traditional sentiment and restraint of their
own race or religion, have not adopted Christianity,
and have not come under the influence of the moral rules
which govern society in Western Europe, even where the
ethical teaching of Christianity does not prevail. A
Turk who knew Loti well, and recognizes the women who
to some extent served as his models, insists very strongly
that the picture of even the limited class of Turkish
women there drawn is untrue, and my own experience
would certainly lead me to agree with him.
But there is another type of women which it is much
pleasanter to think of. There are Turkish ladies who
have been educated by English, French, or German
governesses, or, better still, at the invaluable American
College at Scutari, whose manners and conduct are
irreproachable. The habit of seclusion gives them a
winning modesty of manner when they venture into
the houses of European ladies. There is an absence of
shyness or obtrusiveness. Their readiness to converse
on literature or other subjects which they have studied,
their evident desire to learn whether their course of
reading is approved, and their general intelligence, make
them pleasant companions. These ladies have formed
an ideal up to which they wish to live. They endeavour
to take all the good they can from their own religion,
and are trying in their own way to adopt that which they
find good in Western habits and thought. Quietly and

FAMTLY LIFE 65
unobtrusively they are working for the establishment of
family life on the best European lines. They are entitled
to the respect of all who know them. Two of such women,
the daughters of a Turkish official, ladylike, carefully
brought up by an English governess, of perfect manners,
often visited my wife and daughters and would have been
an ornament to any drawing-room. One or another
of them would take part in a duet and played classical
music at sight ; or, the two would discuss Tennyson or
Browning, or other British authors. The number of
ladies of the latter class is beyond doubt increasing.
It is well known that some of this class of cultured
women contributed to the success of the revolution.
Even Abdul Hamid's spies dared not, except under very
exceptional circumstances, invade the privacy of the
harem or search Turkish ladies. Not only did Turkish
women carry messages from one member of the secret
committee to another, but spoke and wrote in favour of
reforms, and, in some instances, were stronger partisans
of the revolutionary party than their husbands.
The explanation of the influence exerted by this class
of Turkish women is curious. The schools established
during the reign of absolutism were for both boys and
girls. Abdul Hamid on occasions showed his anxiety
that not too much should be taught. But what was
taught to the girls did not seem to trouble him. From
all I can learn it was not much, but they learned to
read, and probably the ex-Sultan now recognizes that it
was reading which did the mischief. A large number of
women seem to have read with avidity. Harem life
at least gave them plenty of time. When they heard
the stories of their brothers and other relations being
imprisoned, or exiled, or secretly disappearing, they
became partisans of the revolutionary movement.
During the revolution of 1908, and the months which
5

66 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
followed it, some Turkish women came before the public
in a very favourable light. Their aspirations showed an
amount of culture and acquaintance with advanced ideas
which were remarkable. They knew what they wanted,
and appeared determined to have it. But their utter
ances were generally full of a reasonableness which
appealed to fair-minded men. They fully recognized
that in matters such as walking out unveiled, and in
the changes which are necessary to introduce what is
best in European family fife, they must act with dis
cretion. The advocacy of violent changes would pro
duce reaction. Turkish women, and men too, must be
educated by discussion in the newspapers, by general
reading and otherwise, in order that they might welcome
what is good from the West while keeping all that is
valuable in Eastern habits. Their moderation and
common-sense were as well marked as their determina
tion. One of the best known declared that woman's
enfranchisement must be worked for steadily but
quietly, and in reply to some of her sex who wished to
go too fast, added that " if the intelligence was en
lightened and unveiled, the unveiling of the face would
follow of itself." She claimed that nothing should be
done to give the impression that the emancipation of
women was likely to lead to unfeminine conduct. Since*'
the revolution, the class of women in question have
become fervent advocates of women's education. The
visit of Miss Isabel Fry in December 1908 was welcomed
by a group of these ladies, and has already resulted in
useful developments.
But Turkish ladies have many difficulties before
them in their efforts to assimilate what is valuable in
Western civilization. Marriages, as I have already said,
are largely matters of arrangement. The notion of a
Turkish girl having a word in the selection of her husband

FAMILY LIFE 67
is still foreign to ordinary Turkish ideas. Something is
to be said in favour of the selection of wives or husbands
as managed in France. It has been asserted that
marriages there are as frequently successful in after life
as those made in the Anglo-Saxon mode by a different
fashion of selection. I do not befieve it. But French
marriages are arranged with a care greater than exists
with Turkish marriages. I put aside the marriages of
the daughters of the Sultan. There, the recipient who
receives what is practically an imperial command to
marry one of the palace ladies, usually feels honoured
by the command, though it not uncommonly happens
that the recipient soon wishes that it were an honour
to which he had not been born. But the ordinary
business of finding a husband by the marriage broker
is of the most commonplace and sordid character.
There is neither poetry nor love nor the semblance of
affection about it. The hardship of such an enforced
union tells most upon the girl who has been carefully
educated and who is ordered to take an uncultured
brute as her husband. In more than one notable case
the girl has upbraided her father for giving her a
European education instead of leaving her in the
normal ignorance, where women are content to take
any man.
What I have said on the subject of marriage and
family life applies especially to the classes who are better
off than the peasants. The latter are usually too poor
to keep more than one wife. As women work in the
fields, fetch water, and necessarily mix to some extent
with men, their simple life comes nearer to that of a
European peasant than does that of the wealthier Turk
to a man of his class in the West. Even in the villages,
however, it is remarkable how little intercourse takes
place between men and women. But in Turkey as else-

68 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
where the wealthier class gives the example which the
majority follow.
Among the wealthy Turks, polygamy still prevails. It
is lawful to all Moslems, and it is occasionally practized
among the poor. The habit of having more wives than
one is, however, decreasing. The influence of the West
has had its effect. I do not mean that Turks consider
that polygamy is wrong, but that as Western men of
wealth are saved the expense of keeping more than one
wife, wealthy Turks do not see the use of incurring the
cost which the practice of polygamy involves. Perhaps
the greatest drawback to a plurality of wives is the
increased expenditure occasioned by it. But other dis
advantages result from the practice. As each wife
knows that she may be sent away at any time, she has
little interest in saving her husband's property. The
jealousy and selfishness which is developed on the
introduction of a second or third wife is another. The
wife or wives in possession resent the intrusion of another.
The ordinary Christian wife considers her interest bound
up with her husband's. Where there are more wives
than one no such sentiment of common interest exists.
Each one is trying to get as much of her husband's
property for herself and her child, if she have one, as
possible. What she gets she will spend on jewels or on
dresses for herself, which in case of divorce will remain
as her property ; for the property of married women
is strictly respected by Ottoman law. If not careful
to gain as much for herself as possible, she is still jealous
of what is given to her rival.
Wife's Legal Position
A still more serious inconvenience, due largely to
polygamy and attaching to Turkish women, arises from

FAMILY LIFE 69
her uncertain position before Turkish law. The wife
knows that at her husband's fancy he may bring home
another woman, and that at his whim she may at any
moment cease to be his wife. Her position thus deals
a fatal blow to the conception of family life. Law
gives her no redress. Educated Turks would generally
admit that polygamy is not a satisfactory institution.
The argument sometimes adduced in its favour, that it
prevents prostitution, is not borne out by experience,
and there are worse evils even than prostitution.
Under a system of law which recognizes polygamy
and the practice of making marriages without consulting
both parties, easy divorce was a necessity. Accordingly
Mahomet provided a regular and systematic legal
manner of obtaining it. But in Mahometan countries
generally, and certainly in Turkey, this method was
found much too slow, and in its place " repudiation "
has been substituted. The husband pronounces three
times a simple formula by which he puts his wife away,
and then, without the intervention of any kind of law
court, the woman ceases to be his wife. Eminent
Moslem legal authorities, both of Turkey and India,
recognize that the practice of repudiation is an abuse,
but it exists ; it is adet (custom) and has the force of
law. I believe that in Turkey there are no cases of
divorce, at least I never heard of one. The wife is
simply put away. Cases have occurred not infrequently
where a man has married, has tired of his wife after a
few months, has repudiated her, and has repeated the
process in heartless fashion several times.
The abuse in past years became so great that the
lawyers, who have generally been the defenders of
women's rights, came to their aid and invented a method
which to some extent prevents the abuse of repudiation.
When a Turk of any position marries, he now usually

70 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
gives a bond to the wife or her father to the effect that
if he repudiates her he shall forthwith pay a fixed sum
as liquidated damages. In addition to such sum, the
fact that the wife's property is safe from her husband's
grasp makes a husband hesitate before he repudiates
his wife.
Speaking generally, a Turkish woman has rights over
her own property which are exceptionally large and are
safeguarded by law. Though she owns property she is
not compelled to contribute to household expenses.
Does she inherit ? all the inheritance goes to her for
her own use absolutely. In these respects indeed the
wife's position in Turkey is better than it was in England
before the passing of the Married Women's Property
Acts. English lawyers used to say that the effect of
marriage was to make two persons one, and that that
one was the husband. But Moslems took much of their
law from that of New Rome,1 which was more favourable
to women than that of medieval Europe. Probably
also the system of polygamy rendered it necessary to
strengthen the wife's hold over her property. Thus it
comes about that upon repudiation the husband, with
the aid of the lawyers, is compelled to give up all the
property which his wife may have voluntarily brought
into the common stock, and to pay the amount of the
bond which he has signed. Where she brings none, her
position is beyond remedy.
When repudiation takes place, the wife has the right
to keep the girls born of the marriage, and the boys till
they are seven years old, when the father can claim the
1 It seems not to be generally known that when Roman law is
spoken of, that of Constantinople or New Rome is intended. For
practical purposes — and Roman law still holds its own in various
European States — the Instituties, Pandects, and Codes of Justinian
are what is intended by the term. The Roman law of the Elder Rome
is only of historical value.

FAMILY LIFE 71
boys. Repudiation and polygamy do much to account
for the unimportance attached to the weaker sex. The
birth of a boy is a subject for congratulation ; of a girl,
for openly expressed condolence.
The seclusion of women produces no advantages and
many disadvantages. It dwarfs the intelligence of
women. It therefore makes them much less fit to bring
up their children than they would otherwise be. When
one recalls how much of early education and of impres
sions which last for life are due to the influence of the
mother, the absence of intelligence in her will be
recognized as deadly. I was impressed with the remark
of an educated Turk who struck the weak spot in the
education of young children in Turkish houses. Said he,
" I do not befieve in your religion nor do I think much
of mine, but your religion allows your girls and women
to be trained in family life. They become intelligent,
and their influence on the children is good. Ours are
left to run about the harem, to hear all the base talk of
women and servants, and to have purely animal notions
put into their heads almost before they can talk." The
seclusion of women, by dwarfing their intelligence, lessens
that of their sons, and has largely to answer for the non-
progressiveness of the Moslem as compared with the
Christian populations.
Though family life, in the European sense of the word,
does not exist among the Turks, it must not be supposed
that Turkish children have not a good time, and still less
that Turks are unkind to their children. The youngsters
are for the most part allowed to run wild. When a boy
first goes to school, a pretty ceremony is often observed.
He is placed on a gaily caparisoned horse in the centre
of a procession of his school-fellows, and with the hodjas
or schoolmasters among their pupils, while all join in

72 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
chanting the praise of learning and wishing success to the
new scholar.
The Turks are indeed singularly kind to children.
It is rare to hear a child of any race in Turkey cry, unless
actually from pain ; but the Turks allow their children
liberties which no Western people would tolerate. It
is a common and a very pretty sight to see little boys
running about and playing in the mosques while a
considerable number of persons are saying their usual
prayers. I have watched them on occasions even from
the gallery of Hagia Sophia. No one attempts to stop
them, nor does any Turk see any incongruity in such
play within the house of prayer. Of course it must
be remembered that though the prayers have to be
and are gone through with very great formality and
care, they are individual and only rarely common
prayers. While writing this chapter, a lady friend who had been
occupied all the afternoon with a group of educated
Turkish ladies called at our house. Her experience of
movements among her sex in Constantinople is excep
tional and extensive. One lady, or hanum as my friend
called her, meets other Turkish women periodically to try
to advance elementary education. Another has just had
a short series of meetings at her house to talk over the
best way of rearing babies and young children. One
of the ladies present at one of these meetings had been in
England, and declared that the only proper way to treat
a baby was the English way. She denounced all others
as cruel and mischievous. She knew what she was
talking about, said my friend, by detailing the faults
of the Turkish nursery and the advantages of the British.
My friend spoke also of a species of women's club which
she is allowed to attend, where the members are Moslem
and Christian women. Their object is to consider the

FAMILY LIFE 73
best rules to adopt for the conduct of life and for advanc
ing morality. They had recently invited a respectable
Christian minister to open a discussion which she had
heard on that subject. He openly claimed that the best
teaching of morality was that found in the New Testa
ment, and as he treated the topic reasonably and not
dogmatically, used fair arguments, and did not invite
his hearers to become Christians, but allowed his facts
and arguments to speak for themselves, the Moslems
listened respectfully, and wanted to hear more of the
matter. The most interesting portion of her conversation
related, however, to her visits when only Turkish women
were present. There are happily a few small groups
of Turkish women who are meeting together for study
and discussion of social questions. Her account is
curious. The women sat round, threw off their veils, and
each lit a cigarette. I asked my friend if she smoked.
Her answer was that if she as a European were to smoke
among them she believed her influence would be gone.
They knew she did not smoke, and she would be looked
upon as abandoning her principles if she took a cigarette
to please them.
I asked her what her friends thought of the attempt
of some Turkish women immediately after the revolution
to abandon the yashmak. Her reply was that they
disapproved of any such step. They thought the time
had come when they ought to be allowed to be unveiled
before men whom their husbands approved, and to sit
at table with such men. But they were all opposed to
anything like a revolt against a custom which was general
in the country. One of them remarked that it was clear
that the wearing of the veil was not obligatory according
to the teaching of the prophet, for many Moslem women
in other countries did not wear it, but the reform must

74 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
be gradual, or it would be taken as backed by a desire
to lead an immoral life.
The sum of my friend's observations confirms the
impression I have gained from other sources. There is
a remarkable movement going on among Moslem women
of the better class. The movement is spontaneous,
absolutely unconnected with any missionary efforts,
either Moslem or Christian, though, with keen perception
of who were likely to help them in the way they wished
to go, they asked good women, either Christian or Moslem,
for their friendship and assistance. In revising these
last sentences, I recall a fact which shows how Moslem-
ism does cruel injuries to women. One of the ladies
present at the meeting alluded to is of exceptional
intelligence and culture. Her husband and she lived
happily together for ten years and have a fine son. Her
husband's fancy was taken by a foreign woman, and as
his wife would not consent to have a colleague, he
" repudiated " her. Family life has an insecure basis
where such a thing is possible and legal.
Nevertheless, the influence of Western thought on the
status of woman is having a valuable effect on home life
in Turkey. English, American, and French teaching,
the study of English literature, even the reading of the
ordinary French novel, not a very elevating study in
general — all are exerting a useful influence in stimulating
thought, and especially as indicating what family life is.
If such life on the best Western models can be sub
stituted for that of the harem, a great reform will have
been accomplished, and it is to this reform that a few
devoted and enlightened Turkish ladies of the new
generation are directing their serious attention.

CHAPTER V
ignorance and superstition
Sultan lord of all kings^Why foreigners visit Turkey — Belief in
foreigners' magical powers — Evil eye, charms and talismans — Fortune-
telling — Superstition has preserved inscriptions — Anticas — Counter
feits — Objection to sketching — Story of Toughra — Of St Paul — Variety
of fashions among women — Turkish officials — Student dragomans
THE ignorance of the Turkish peasant may possibly
have had its equal in England during the Middle
Ages, but hardly since. Let me give some present-day
illustrations. Moslem peasants are convinced that the
Sultan is lord of the world, and that all the sovereigns of
other nations are under his orders. They admit that he
has great trouble in keeping them in order, but that is
merely part of his kismet. What many of them failed
to understand about England was, how the Sultan would
allow its vali or governor to be a woman. Of course all
the extraordinary phenomena of nature are due to good
or evil spirits. Foreigners are rich and influential,
because they can control these spirits. The belief that
every foreigner has the magical secrets of medicine is
almost universal. An English house within ten miles
of Constantinople but in a Turkish village serves per
force as a dispensary. The owner took up his residence
there in the sixties of last century, and as a matter of
course every one in the neighbourhood who had fever
or any other malady went to him for relief. He had
never studied medicine but had to practise it. This was
of course without any payment. When he died some
75

76 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
eight or ten years ago, his sons and the ladies of the
family had to continue his practice. Their annual bill
for pills, and above all for quinine, is a heavy one. I
should be afraid to administer the doses which I have
seen one of these ladies give without hesitation. If the
medicine is strong, and particularly nasty, it gets a great
reputation even in distant villages. Travellers like Sir
William Ramsay who get away from the great roads,
find it difficult to live up to their reputation as healers
of the sick. At first sight the eagerness for medicine
looks like a violation of the Islamic opinion that every
thing is pre-ordained. But Mr Doughty, the Arabian
traveller, himself a doctor of medicine, remarks that
Islam " encourages its professors to seek medicines,
which God has created on earth for the service of man,
but they may not flee from the pestilence" — a curious
distinction.1 To the peasant, Moslem or Christian, it is a constant
subject of wonder why foreigners who are not engaged
in business should visit the country. Their explana
tions are various. One traveller must have committed
a crime and is bound under a vow not to settle down until
he has expiated it. If this England or France from
which he comes is a flourishing country, why should a
man want to leave it ? I took a snapshot with a kodak
at a group of trees. " I suppose that in the country you
come from," said the man who was driving me, " you
have no fine trees like these." " Is your country as
beautiful as this ? " has often been asked me. " Yes," and
" has it good drinking water ? " " Excellent." " Then
why do you not stay at home to enj oy it ? " The question
is asked in simple honesty. The great aim in life is to
make kef, to have sufficient food and no work to do.
With such, why should a man wish to travel ? The
1 " Wanderings in Arabia," vol. ii. p. 188.

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 77
archaeologist is a puzzle to them. Why does he want to
find stones with writing on them ? The usual answer
by the peasants is that he knows there is treasure hidden
somewhere in the neighbourhood, and the writing, if
only he can find the proper inscription, will tell him
where it is and how to get it. A common variant to
this version is, that the visitor possesses in his own
country a wonderful book which gives him a general clue
to where treasure lies. This explanation was given to me
under circumstances which illustrate the imagination of
the peasant. I visited one of the small islands in the Gulf
of Ismidt. On it, as I believe on every islet in the
Marmora, there are the remains of a monastery, in the
crypt of which I scratched away the soil which had
drifted into it to see if there were any inscription. On
the occasion of our visit there was no one on the island.
Two years later, I again landed and found a peasant who
had built himself a small hut and tended a few goats.
We went into the crypt once more and were then told
that two years earlier a boat, which I recognized from
his description as my own, had brought a visitor from
Constantinople who had a wonderful old book. He had
not seen it, but he believed that the man had brought it
from Russia. The visitors — there were two — had looked
at their book, so the boatman had told him, and had
found the treasure, which, however, they did not then
attempt to carry off, but they must have visited the place
some days after, because he had searched where he had
found the ground had been disturbed and the treasure
was no longer there.
The belief of the Turkish peasant in the power of the
Western traveller is marvellous. They will not only trust
themselves and their children to his care in sickness,
but they believe that his thaumaturgical power is
extensive. He can prevent a misfortune happening or at

78 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
least can foretell it. If he does not, it is because he is
unwilling. An American missionary told me the story of
a poor Moslem who went to him in great distress. His
one possession of value was a cow which had fallen ill.
He stated that the mollah had given him a verse of the
Koran on a paper which he had made the cow swallow,
but without avail. He had then paid, first the Greek,
and then the Armenian priest to read prayers over it, but
the cow was no better. " If only you with your foreign
knowledge would read a verse over it," he was convinced,
a cure would be ade. It was in vain that the missionary
endeavoured to explain that such a practice was not in
accordance with American religion. The only result was
that the poor fellow left, convinced that the missionary
did know a charm which would cure the cow, but that
for some reason he was unwilling to use it. The mis
sionary, however, who had some knowledge of medicine,
subsequently treated the cow and thus saved both it and
his reputation.
Superstition is almost equally general with Moslem
and Christian peasants. It might be supposed that with
the simple creed of the first, with no pictures in his
mosque, no religious emblems, with absolutely nothing
sensuous about his worship, and with very little which
can be called spiritual, the Moslem would have got rid of
his superstition. There remains, however, in the Turkish
character much that is primitive. Moslemism indeed
dealt a heavy blow at superstition. It is beyond doubt
that it got rid of the more gross superstitions which pre
vailed in Arabia. But as an enormous number of persons
adopted the Moslem creed on compulsion, they retained
many of their old beliefs, and probably these largely con
tributed to perpetuate in the average Anatolian mind the
old superstitions.
It is rare to find a poor Turk who does not feel that the

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 79
Christian Churches have some kind of thaumaturgical
power, and this probably did much to save them. There
are in many parts of Turkey Christian tombs which are
venerated by Moslems and Christians alike. There are
also many Turkish tombs which are reverenced by
Moslems only. The traveller constantly comes across
such tombs, which exist in considerable numbers in
Constantinople itself, where articles of clothing have
been attached to the railings which surround them in the
belief that virtue will come from the holy person who is
there buried, and will accrue to the benefit of the person
who has deposited the article belonging to him or her.
Many of these tombs have literally hundreds of such
votive offerings hanging upon them, which time and
strong winds have torn into shreds and rags.
Probably the most widely dispersed superstition, nof\
only in Asia Minor but throughout Southern Europe, is
that of the evil eye. Moslems and Christians in Turkey
have unquestioning belief in it. Blue eyes attract or
give it. I knew a Turk who refused to negotiate on
what promised to be a good business because the other
party, an Englishman, turned out to be a man with a
black beard containing a streak of white. This could not
fail to attract the evil eye. Every race takes measures
in various ways to avert the malign influence of the evil
eye. The principle to be borne in mind in order to
thwart it, is to have something strikingly conspicuous
which will first catch its attention. If so, you are saved.
A blue glass bead on your horse's neck is a good talisman,
and hardly a horse is to be seen in Turkey without a
necklace of such beads or at least one bead. A string of
beads or of shells round a child's neck is also a good
preservative. A cross, no matter how simply formed,
on the top of the scaffolding, will prevent accidents, and
is used by Christians and sometimes even by Turks.

80 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Amulets and talismans play a great part in the life of
all races in Turkey. They are of many kinds and formed
of many different substances. The commonest are of
stone or metal, strips of paper, parchment, or leather.
Gems are specially valuable as talismans. The fondness
of all classes for amulets may be shown by certain facts
which I take from memoranda kindly furnished t^ me
by Dr Sandler. During the last six years while in con
nection with a medical mission in Constantinople he has
treated 40,000 patients. The majority of them were
Spanish Jews, but there were also Turks, Greeks, and
Armenians. Among them all, belonging to a variety of
classes and races of both sexes, and of almost every age,
Dr Sandler declares that he rarely saw one without an
amulet or charm of some kind or other. He made many
attempts to buy amulets from patients, but they were
nearly always futile. The owners clung to their mascots
with a singularly strong attachment.
The wearing of such things is a solemn business.
The person adopts his amulet with circumstantial
ceremonial, as if he were performing an act of religious
worship. He selects for the inauguration of his charm
a lucky day. He avoids everything which might weaken
or destroy its virtue. Astrology usually plays a dominant
part in all the preparations. But the day of the week
or month is also important. Nothing would induce a
Greek to choose Tuesday as a propitious day, for every
body knows that Constantinople was captured on a
Tuesday. The magic formulas are often fantastic, and
usually incomprehensible, but they give the amulet its
value. Egyptologists say that the Egyptians ascribed
magic effect to curious words which had no sense what
ever. The same belief in the efficacy of senseless, but
possibly traditional, conglomerations of words still exists
with us, among Turks, Greeks, and Jews alike. Fre-

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 81
quently the small leather bag of a talisman, worn as a
rule upon the neck, contains whole sentences or even
chapters from the Bible or Koran. Sometimes only the
name of Allah or the Greek 'l^Ovs, formed of the initial
letters for Jesus Christ, God, Son, Saviour, or the Pater
Noster, are written upon it. Talismans and amulets
with such names or sentences are the most sacred and
powerful of all charms. But even these are not entirely
valid, unless they have been submitted to incantations
and ceremonial rites, often of a most elaborate and occult
character, performed by an initiated person. Turkey
abounds in quacks who offer numberless panaceas and
remedies, which are far more wonder-working than our
English patent medicines.
The Oriental can certainly beat the Western in quack
remedies. He has poison-expelling pills, spirit-cheering
pills, and life-supporting powders. The pill of which John
Bright spoke as " a remedy against earthquake " must
have been made in Stamboul. The Moslem sibyls are
especially great at concocting such pills. Dr Sandler
tells of an old hanum in Stamboul who sells a rejuven
ating pill capable of dispelling all the ills of old age, of
instilling new vigour and making one young, beautiful,
and bright, like Phoebus in his morning flight. She lives
in a room filled with every awe-inspiring object, and all
the stock-in-trade of a witch, with ghastly skulls, snakes,
and scorpions, with strange pots and pans for mysterious
decoctions and mixtures, with fantastically shaped
figures, and of course with the traditional black cat.
Exorcism still survives, and ugly stories can be heard
in coffee-houses of attempts which have been made,
sometimes with, sometimes without, success to drive out
the evil spirit.
Fortune-telling flourishes. Any fine day in Constanti
nople the fortune-tellers may be seen in the streets.
6

82 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Even men who would be supposed to be educated will
try their luck. It was so even a century ago ; for Dr
Millingen relates that Lord Byron, whom he attended in
Greece, requested him to find a witch in order to determine
whether he was suffering from a spell cast by the evil
eye.1 The belief in astrology lingers on among all
classes. How can it be otherwise when, for many years,
Abdul Huda, the Sultan's astrologer, was a trusted
adviser at the palace ? He probably at one time be
lieved in his own prognostications, but the story of his
late years until the revolution of 24th July 1908 would
show that, like so many of his profession, he was tempted
to aid his reading of the stars. It is commonly asserted
that he and Izzet Pasha worked together, that Izzet
received telegrams daily from abroad and from various
parts of the empire ; that he showed these to the
astrologer before they were seen by the Sultan, and thus
his predictions were singularly verified.
Sir Thomas Roe, the British Ambassador to the Sultan
in the seventeenth century, asked his government to
send him all the books they could find on the subject
of astrology. He explains that he has told the Sultan
that English people do not believe in astrology, but the
answer he received convinced him that his reply was
considered an evasion. He and his people did not wish
the Sultan and his advisers to learn the secrets of the art.
To dart your hands out with your fingers open is the
most effective way of cursing a person. If you do it to
his face he will probably attack you, but it is equally
effective if you do it when his back is turned.
Superstition has in one matter served a useful purpose.
Anything written has, among the Turks, a semi-sacred
character. Among many of the lower classes it is
regarded as dangerous to tread on a paper with writing
1 Julius Millingen, " Memoirs," p. 1 39.

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 83
or print on it. The explanation usually given is that the
name of Allah may thus be insulted. In the same way
an inscription on a stone had better be left undestroyed.
The stone may be re-used, as thousands happily have
been, for a tombstone, but the writing must not be
effaced. An incident in Constantinople about 1906
refers, I think, to the same superstitious instinct. The
Tobacco Regie had hundreds of thousands of cigarette
papers with the Sultan's toughra, or symbol, printed on
each. A spy informed his Majesty that a smoker had
thrown his cigarette end on the ground and trodden on it.
It was an insult to the imperial insignia, and orders were
given that no cigarette papers should bear the toughra.
The loss to the Regie and the Austrian Company, which
had a large stock of such papers on hand, would be heavy.
Baron Calice, the Austrian Ambassador, went to the
Sultan and explained that in Austria, as in other countries,
postage stamps which bore the Emperor's head were
stuck on often with spit, that such stamps were defaced
by the postal officials, and were just as liable to be trodden
under foot as cigarette ends. His arguments, after
considerable difficulty, prevailed.
The opposition to sketching is attributed to the inter
pretation of what we know as the second commandment.
This is no doubt partly the explanation ; but I believe
the real objection is based on the idea, common to all
primitive peoples, that any representation of a human
being takes from his life a part of his vitality. A Turkish
gipsy strongly objected to being sketched or photo
graphed. Her life might be charmed away by the person
who had the picture. The person whose likeness is taken,
or better still who is represented by a clay image, may be
bewitched and done to death by people who know the
proper formula of incantation. But such bewitching is
greatly aided if something belonging to the person can

84 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
be secured : a piece of his coat will do. Something that
he has written is equally valuable. To tread on the
imperial symbol even accidentally may do injury to the
person symbolized. Many a tale is told of the powers still
exercised among the ignorant of various races in Turkey
by witchcraft working on similar lines.
/ The ignorance of the great mass of the people is aston
ishing, and is largely the cause of the widespread super
stition. I was travelling in Roumelia a few years ago,
with my friend, the Vice-President of Robert College,
when we spent the night at certain hot springs. A score
of visitors were there, and among them a priest whosq
rank corresponded to that of archdeacon. At night, we
all sat in a circle in the open air and in glorious moon
light and talked on a variety of subjects. Anent a
remark of my friend, the archdeacon observed that he
could not understand how a man could profess to be a
Christian and yet believe that the earth is round, and
that it was ninety-two millions of miles distant from the
sun. He knew his Bible, and it was evident that the
starry heaven above us was a firmament supported by*
pillars with windows through which rain was allowed to
come. These and many other statements he uttered
with a conviction which was evidently sincere. I need
not summarize my friend's answers, which only elicited'
the remark, " Your science tells you one thing. My
religion tells me another, and I believe it." The audience
wanted to hear what I could say, and I told them Dr
Ward's parable of the mice locked up in a piano.
As illustrating the ignorance of Turkish officials even
in Constantinople, I may relate an incident which came
under my own observation a few years ago. A well-
known Greek doctor of medicine came to consult me
under the following circumstances. His wife, with the
kindheartedness which is one of the best features among

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 85
the Greeks, had brought up a poor boy as a working
printer. He was now a man, but having been taken to
prison, had appealed to his patron to get him released.
In the printing-office where he worked they had brought
out in Greek the rules of a Printers' Benefit Society, and
on the title-page had been placed the words of St Paul
(Gal. vi. 9 and. io), " And let us not be weary in well
doing," etc. After the text on a separate line came the
words 'E7r. HavXov irpbs TaXar. The police had seized
a copy of the rules, and demanded from the young man
the address of Paul, who was not registered as a printer.
The young man replied that the rules had been printed
in his master's office, as indeed was admitted, but that
Paulos was dead. The police declared that this was a
mere excuse. Could they not see for themselves ? It
was Paulos who lived in Galata. It was in vain that
they were told that " Galat." did not mean Galata, but
the Galatians, a people that lived hundreds of years ago.
They were not to be thus imposed upon. To prison he
must go and remain there till he gave the address of Paul.
From prison he managed to communicate with my friend,
who went himself to the kouluk or police office and
assured the officer who had arrested the man that Paulos
was dead, that he was regarded as a saint by Christians,
and that he died eighteen hundred years ago. The
officer shook his head with an air which said, " You
won't get over me : I see Paulos and Galata, and the
printer Paulos must be found. The man shall not be
set free till he is found." It was on this that I was seen.
My advice was to take two well-known Greek colleagues
and declare that all these were ready to swear that
Paulos was dead, and to enter into sureties to pay if
Paulos should be found. Upon the representations
which were thus made, the printer was set free.
Everybody knows that in the early infancy of man-

86 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
kind some men had acquired the art of sketching with
considerable accuracy. Some savages possessed it.
But it is either by no means a universal instinct, or it is
lost by non-use. Every one in civilized countries learns
to distinguish what a drawing is intended to represent.
But among those who cannot read or write, and especially
probably among races to whom the representation of
anything in heaven above or in the earth beneath is
forbidden, it commonly happens that pictures convey
little or no meaning. I remember on one occasion
travelling with a friend who had a scientific magazine.
A fine-looking old Turk who had been in conversation
with my friend looked over the magazine and was
especially attracted by a full-page illustration of a steam-
engine. A European child of five would have recog
nized what it was. Not so the old Turk. After turning
the page upside-down and looking at it all ways, he
remarked, " I suppose that is a kind of animal that lives
in your country. How big is it ? "
I was with the same friend thirty years ago in the
gallery of Hagia Sofia. We engaged in conversation
with a mollah who, out of pure kindness, showed us the
impress of Mahomet's hand and the other miraculous
points of interest in the great church. He asked me
where I came from, and on my reply said that Ingilterra
was well known, and that her queen was a faithful servant
of the Padisha. When my companion said that he came
from America, the mollah brightened and said that he
had heard of that country. It was a place which one of
their great seamen, Capitan Pasha Colomb, had dis
covered, but he did not know whether the Padisha had
yet built a mosque there.
In a country with such a diversity of races it is danger
ous to generalize about the character of the people.
This is especially the case when treating of peasant

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 87
women. A Yorkshire woman in her dress and manner
does not differ much from a Dorset woman. But the
diversities of race in Turkey make the difference very
obvious. As to the covering of the face, the practice
varies greatly. There are districts where Turkish
women, while wearing the head-dress, scarcely take the
trouble to cover their faces when approaching a man.
There are others where they uncover their faces as
readily as European women. In other districts they will
not only cover their faces but will turn sideways when a
man approaches, and so remain until he has passed.
A friend asked the husband to whom he had rendered a
service why the women did this, and the answer was, " I
would put away my wife if I knew that she had inten
tionally seen the face of another man."
Then, too, in reference to the work done by women,
the practice varies. Among the strange wandering
Euruks, nomads abounding in the west of Asia Minor, the
women seem to do most of the field-work, the men the
loafing and lounging about the village cafes. With
Circassians, on the other hand, the men do the field-
work and the women remain at home. Yet, when the
Circassian smartens himself up he is generally clean and
handsome and something of a dandy, while the Euruk
rarely looks other than a lazy and slouching vagabond.
The fashion in woman's dress is a dangerous subject for
a man to write upon. But woman is woman everywhere,
and will have her changes of fashion. Thirty years ago
every Turkish woman wore a spotless white yashmak.
This was a head-covering carefully fixed so as to leave
a narrow slit through which the eyes could be seen. The
material, I am told, was a thin, clear muslin. With
it was worn a cloak or feriji, very often of startling
bright colour. All this has been changed. The yashmak
has gone (except for palace women) as well as the feriji.

88 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
I do not know how the present garment is made, but to
me as a mere man it seems to be all of one piece, the upper
portion of which covers the head and supports a veil of
black silk gauze. Bright colours have given way to
black among nearly all Turkish ladies.
Turkish Officials
Before parting with the Turks something must be said
of the official Turks. It is difficult for the foreigner to
estimate them aright. The peasant is truthful and
courteous though ignorant. The officials — and all well-
to-do Turks are officials — keep their courteous manners,
but, speaking generally, lose their truthfulness and
honesty. Of course there are many exceptions, but it
remains substantially true that the Turkish official
becomes at once imbued with the vices of the rotten
system of administration which has been for centuries
the bane of Turkish life, and which was in as bad a con
dition during the thirty-two years of Abdul Hamid's
reign as it has ever been. He ceases so long as he is in
office to be trustworthy. The casual European visitor
finds no difficulty, as he thinks, in gauging the character
of the Turkish official. Those who have lived long in the
country are less confident. The visitor will find the
official ready to discuss the advantages of civilization,
will be surprised to find that he has a full appreciation
of them, and deplores the evils of the abominable system
which retards the progress of his country, and of which
he forms part. Speak on the necessity of the pure
administration of justice in the law courts, on the need of
education, of roads and railways, and the Turk will give
illustrations of what is needed, and will leave the im
pression that he is burning to execute reforms. He has
a wonderful knack of catching the point of view of his

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 89
hearer and of reflecting his opinions. It is his way not
only of impressing a visitor but of flattering him and
being polite. If the European should be foolish enough
to try flattery, he will at once find his superior. In this
respect Abdul Hamid is a true Turk. A few years ago,
the story was current of an ambassador who told Abdul
Hamid that he was the ablest Sultan who had occupied
the Ottoman throne since the capture of Constantinople.
The answer came at once. While deprecating such
praise, the Sultan declared that he was convinced that
his auditor was the ablest ambassador his country had
ever accredited to the Sublime Porte. In the worst
periods of Abdul Hamid's reign, many English and other
European statesman who visited Yildiz came away with
the conviction that the Sultan was possessed of a re
markable zeal for reform and of far-reaching projects
for the welfare of all his subjects, as to whom, whether
Christians or Moslems, he would never make any dis
tinction ; for he loved them all equally.
The desire of the Turkish official to keep up appear
ances has occasionally its humorous side. When a royal,
visitor came to the capital, the roads along which he was\
expected to pass were carefully swept, hoardings were ¦
built to hide unsightly objects, or whitewashed to make '
them look clean. On the last visit of the Kaiser, the
usual preparations had been made. Unfortunately for
their success, the Kaiser on one of his early morning
rides determined to choose a route for himself. Whether
he had received a hint or his choice was by chance, he
turned off at a street into which all the filth of the streets
through which it had been proposed that he should pass
had been crowded, and he thus saw what he was not
intended to see.
The officials were more successful with a dignified
Irish member of the House of Lords who took great

90 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
interest in prisons. He went to one at Galata Serai,
which is far from being as ill-managed as are many. He
was received with extreme courtesy, regaled with coffee
and cigarettes, and spent an hour in replying to the
questions asked of him, and of giving his opinions on
prison management. During that precious time all
available men, warders and prisoners alike, were sweep
ing and cleaning, so that when the inspection was made,
the visitor felt satisfied that the place was kept clean.
The difficulty which a foreigner encounters in under
standing the higher-class Turk arises in part from the
fact that he never sees him at home. He may be enter
tained at formal dinners, but there will be no ladies
present. The dinner may be all that could be wished :
well cooked, because the chef from one of the leading
restaurants has been engaged for the day ; well served,
because the waiters also have been brought for the
occasion. The wines, the crockery, the table ornaments
are all in European fashion, but there is very little to
indicate that the dinner is Turkish. When the time
comes to retire to the drawing-room, the absence of the
womanly element becomes still more marked. The
foreigner may have intimate relations with the Turk in
business. He may have a genuine liking for him. The
two men may have common sympathies. If both are
sportsmen, they will find ample occasion for pleasant talk.
They may like each other and respect each other. But
the intimacy does not advance beyond a certain stage.
He soon finds that he gets no forwarder. Each pro
bably realizes that the other has different ideals and
habits of thought and divergent standards of right and
wrong. This feeling is enhanced by the glimpses the
European obtains into Turkish private life. Europeans
and Turks who have seen much of each other come to
recognize that they live on different planes. The typical

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 91
Turk has, in his own way, ideals to which he is faithful.
While some of the many scandals of ordinary Turkish
life reveal immorality of a kind peculiarly repulsive to
Christians, the revelations of our Divorce Courts or of
Western Society life as represented in French novels
seem to the educated Turk to present a condition of
immorality worse than he sees among his countrymen.
As an illustration of the statement that the Turk is
faithful to his own ideal, I may mention a common habit
which I have never before seen noticed. The typical
Turkish son considers it a sacred duty to pay the debts
left by his father. It may take him years to do this, but
he will economize and save until all are paid off. When
this is done, he considers himself free to incur expenses
on his own account, and he has no hesitation in con
tracting debts which he will not be able and indeed never
expects to pay. That will be the business of his sons.
Shopkeepers speak highly of the well-to-do Turk. He
rarely pays at once, and therefore a large price is nearly
always demanded from him, but he will pay, or his son
will do so in the long run.
* When speaking of the Turks of the higher class, it is
well to note that there are no wealthy men in the European
sense among them. Nor is there any class of nobles.
There are no great families proud of their descent and
possessing historic estates, though there are a few men
who claim to be descended from notable Turks, especi
ally from distinguished ulemas. In a few but very few
of such families, the family name is preserved. A
century ago there was a class of men known as Dere-beys
who were in the position of great landlords, and who held
their land on a feudal tenure in return for the service
of bringing a certain number of men into the field in time
of war. When this system came to an end, largely owing
to the military reforms of Sultan Mahmud (1808 to 1839),

92 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the Dere-beys almost everywhere ceased to exist. In
Turkey there are no " country houses," no Moslems or
even Christians who display wealth in the villages. The
result is that the peasants are familiar only with poverty.
The officials belonging to all European nations come
more in contact with Moslem officials than with Christian
Ottoman subjects, whether official or not. The tendency
of the foreign official, especially in places remote from the
capital, is to be on the best possible terms with his
Turkish colleagues. It saves trouble. He hears the
Turkish version of outrages, looks at whatever happens
from the Turkish point of view, and, if he is an unsym
pathetic man, comes to look with so much contempt
on the cringing Christian, that the latter dare not tell
the story of his wrongs. Most of the British Consuls and
Vice-Consuls between the Crimean War and the Russo-
Turkish War of 1877-8 were notoriously blind to the
wrongs of the non-Moslem subjects of the Porte. When
Lord Salisbury came to Constantinople in December 1876,
he had previously summoned a few of the ablest men in
the Consular body to meet him. He learned two im
portant facts, first, that England had been singularly
ill-informed of the relations between the Turks and
Christians, and second, that Russia had been fully in
formed. British Consuls had taken their information
almost solely from Turkish officials. The Russians had
been in sympathy with the Christians. General
Ignatieff on one occasion entered the Grand Vizier's
room when Sir Henry Elliot was present. The Grand
Vizier remarked that he had just heard that Russia had
spies all over the empire. " Yes," said Ignatieff,
" wherever there is a Christian, he is ready to bring his
complaint to our notice. They are all spies for Russia."
It is easy to object that Russia claimed and acted up to

IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION 93
her claim, put forward formally and admitted in the
treaty of Kainardji, to be the protector of the Christians.
The answer is that England and France had disputed her
exclusive claim, and at the Crimean War had placed on
record that they were also the protectors. But they had
not exercised their right. Russia had.
Lord Salisbury, on the last night which he spent in
Constantinople, expressed his determination to reform
the Consular system in Turkey, and especially to have
British subjects appointed who were not likely by their
long residence in one place to fall under Turkish influence
exclusively. In accordance with this idea, he re
organized the service, and constantly during the last
thirty years a detachment of student dragomans has
arrived in Constantinople, who shortly pass into active
service. The new plan has been a success. The great
majority of these men are intelligent, energetic, and
independent. With some exceptions, they cannot be
justly accused either of being indifferent to the sufferings
of either Christian or Moslem or of seeking to live a com
fortable life by making friends only with the Turkish
officials. From Armenia and from Macedonia the
reports they have furnished to the British government
and public are models of fairness. If it can hardly be
said that there is nothing extenuated, it may be safely
affirmed that there is nothing set down in malice. It
must be remembered that the tendency of all officials
is to minimize the wrongdoing of other officials with
whom they have to work. But they have told the truth
fearlessly, and with this among other valuable results,
that Christian and Moslem sought to represent their
grievances to the British Consul. Russia no longer
figures even to the Christians as the only Power which
takes any interest in what happens to them.

CHAPTER VI
THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE
How far a pure-blooded race — Have varied little from classic times —
Hellenic Greeks impulsive — Distinction between them and the
Anatolian Greeks — Individualism — Greek islanders — Massacre at
Chios — Story of Rhodes
THE Greeks in the Ottoman Empire are said to
number about 3,800,000. Of these, about
1,700,000 are in European Turkey, including the capital ;
1,600,000 in Asia Minor ; and 500,000 in the Greek
islands. No one who knows the history of the Byzantine
Empire would claim that they are of pure descent from
the ancient Greeks. Fallmerayer long ago created a
sensation among the subjects of the Greek kingdom by
declaring that substantially they had very little Greek
blood in their veins. The population of the Balkan
Peninsula was so intermingled by the movements of
various races that no race had remained pure. Slav
villages existed well into the last century within a few
miles of Athens. In the crusading centuries Macedonia
was known as Great Wallachia, and although the Wallachs
in the country are now few in number and greatly
dispersed, it is probable that at one time they were one
of the main elements in the population. Then the later
Slav races, of which the two principal representatives
in the Balkan Peninsula are the Bulgarians and the Serbs,
encroached on the other inhabitants, Wallachs, Greeks,
and Albanians, and thus the country became dotted
94

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 95
about with communities of different and often hostile
races. The bond of union among them, until the fili
bustering expedition called the Fourth Crusade destroyed
its influence, was the rule of the emperor and of the
Orthodox Church in Constantinople. The difference in
language as well as in race hindered any real amalgama
tion. As the chemists say, the elements weie mechani
cally mixed but never chemically combined. They are so
to the present time. The southern portion of Macedonia,
say south of a line drawn westward from Salonika, is
occupied by Slavs and Greeks who are in villages side by
side with each other, and constantly in antagonism.
After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Balkan Peninsula
right down to Cape Matapan was parcelled out among the
Crusading barons, and its history for the next three
centuries was one of constant struggle between them and
their successors against the Greek adherents of the
restored empire of Constantinople (1258), and in the later
portion of the period against the Turks. All this points
to a large admixture of races. The influence of the
language of the peasant tillers of the soil prevailed, and
the result is that the people of the southern part of the
Balkan Peninsula (with the exception of a few Albanians
and Turks) consider themselves either Greeks or Slavs.
It is, however, simply impossible to draw a line across
Macedonia and truthfully say that all north of it are
Slavs and south are Greeks.
Greek sculpture and coins have made us familiar with
the type of face and head of the Greeks in classical times,
and the evidence afforded by both is of value in reference
to the question of purity of race.
The Greek type of womanly beauty is much more
commonly found in the islands of the Mgean than on the
mainland east or west of that sea. Nor is the explana
tion difficult. The hordes of barbarians who found their

96 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
way as far south as Athens and left colonies in their
many endeavours to occupy the lands whose owners they
had dispossessed were in almost every case without
fleets, and hence the people of the islands were saved.
It is true that pirates and piratical adventurers like
the Genoese and Venetians often raided the islands, and
occupied some of them during several years ; but while
in some islands they have left their mark, in most the
admixture of blood has been slight. Most of the domestic
servants in the capital and Smyrna are islanders, and
many of them have the pure Greek profile.
A distinction has to be made between the Greeks
of the European provinces and those of Asia- Minor.
Between them there exist the two common ties of
religion and language, but the two populations differ to a
considerable extent on account of admixture with other
races, and of their different environments. Those in
Europe represent the tendencies of what especially
characterizes Hellenism much more distinctly than those
in Asia. They have done so during the last two thousand
years. Hellenic Greeks were steeped in the religious
sentiment of Greece, which represented the supernatural
powers as everywhere present. Their religion was
Pantheism of a type which it is difficult to understand,
but which is still ever present with the uneducated
Greek. There was a deity for every spring, waterfall,
valley, or forest. Though among the cultured the wor
ship became spiritualized as that of the forces of nature,
among the uncultured it was polytheism of the most
pronounced type. It was probably nearly always saved
from being of a gross type by the lightsome, cheery,
open-air temperament and life of the Greek race. But
that the masses believed in the existence of a great
number of gods I think is beyond reasonable doubt.
When, beginning with Constantine the Great, public

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 97
sacrifices to the gods, and subsequently sacrifices every
where were suppressed ; and when, in the time of Theo
dosius, decrees were issued ordering every subject to
become Christian, nearly all men made profession of
Christianity to save their lives or property. In pagan
times it was well to be on good terms with all the gods.
But no form of paganism was worth dying for. In
becoming nominal Christians the people took their
ancient practices with them and paganized the Church.
-The spring became an ayasma or Holy Well, usually
guarded by a saint. Religious services were held at it
and are continued to this day wherever there is a Greek
population. The " saints," who were multiplied much
more in the Eastern than in the Western Church, became
the successors of the gods. The churches were filled
with icons or holy pictures, and pagan practices in a
variety of forms survived under Christian forms.
The Hellenic people have varied little in the course
of their history. In religion, as Lord Beaconsfield
observed, they are still largely pagan. " They think,"
as he made one of his characters in " Lothair " declare,
" that their processions with sacred pictures are Christian,
but they are only doing what their fathers did." The
thousands gathered from the neighbouring country at
any of the great shrines of the Greek Church in Turkey
are only doing, probably on the same spot, and mostly
in the same manner, what their ancestors did two
thousand years ago. Apollo yesterday; St George
to-day : for the instinct fbr sun-worship has never ceased
to exist in the Greek race. There is no Greek village
known to me where on the eve of St John's Day fires are
not lighted on the hills and in the valleys as they have
been probably for millenniums.
In the same way the political characteristics of
the race have little changed. The uncultured Greek

\
98 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
is as violent in his prejudices, as eloquent and
vehement and vainglorious in his speech, as incon
clusive in his arguments, and as impracticable as were
his ancestors. The greatest fault to be found with many
of the leaders of the Greek people to-day is that they
mistake oratory for statesmanship. Professor Bury
says x that " Demosthenes was the most eloquent of
orators and the most patriotic of citizens. But that
oratory in which he excelled was one of the curses of
Greek politics." It is so still. The men of common
sense, of cool heads, capable of thinking out the practical
problems of statesmanship have little chance against
the mere talker. The Greek kingdom during the last
thirty years has suffered enormously because thoughtful
men, and they exist in fair abundance among the better
class of Greeks, have no chance against the fluent speaker
or writer. Unfortunately it would be easy to give many
instances of national folly and consequent misfortune
due to mere unthoughtful oratory. Let one suffice.
Most people remember the wretched war of 1897, when
the Turks could have marched almost without hindrance
to the sack of the Piraeus, and even Athens itself, if
they had not been prevented by the watchfulness of
Europe. Every one who had knowledge of the facts
was sure that the Greeks would be beaten ignominiously
if they were so foolish as to declare war. They were so
beaten. The Greeks made a quite pitiful show of resist
ance. Happily the Powers agreed to leave the settle
ment of terms of peace to Austria, and thus Greece was
saved. I was in Athens shortly after the war, and called
upon an old friend who belongs to the Phocion rather
than to the Demosthenian class of men. I asked why
they had made the war when he and all other men with
common sense knew theycould have no chance of success.
1 " History of Greece," ii. 326.

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 99
His reply was substantially the following : " Of course
many of us realized that we had no chance. But the
orators of our cafes and the newspapers that pander
to the vain glory of our ignorant mob had shrieked out
the praises of the ancient Greeks, had talked of the
brave deeds done at our revolution, of the invincible
courage of our soldiers and sailors, to such an extent
that they had persuaded their hearers and readers,
and probably themselves, that they could beat the
Turkish army. A loud cry for war was raised, and an
easy victory anticipated."
" But you could not have thought so ? " Then he
added a story which, as the principal actors are dead, I
will relate. Three or four of the ex-ministers went at
night to Mr Deliyani, the Prime Minister, and asked that
their interview should be private. Deliyani agreed.
His visitors explained the object of their coming. They
were there to state that the unpreparedness of the
country urged them to put aside all party feeling and to
join cordially with the government to prevent war.
They suggested that Deliyani should call a meeting of the
Chamber — there is only one — exclude reporters, and urge
the members not to speak of what went on at the secret
session ; that the ministers should expose the unpre
paredness of the country. They in return would pledge
themselves not to make recriminations, but loyally to
support the ministry in any proposal to avoid war.
Mr Deliyani expressed his appreciation of their patriot
ism, and thanked them with the utmost cordiality. It
was agreed that the same persons should meet him on
the following evening after he had consulted his cabinet.
Next night they returned, and were first very sincerely
thanked by Deliyani on behalf of all his colleagues. But
after long deliberations the ministers had decided that
the suggested course was too dangerous to adopt. The

100 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
reason given was probably true : that the orators of the
cafes and press had so intoxicated themselves and the
mob with their own boasting, that if the government
decided against war there would be a revolution. The
royal family would be driven away, and Greece would re
ceive no kind of friendly aid from the European Powers.
This is the explanation of why the Greeks went to
a war in which mismanagement and incompetency
were the chief features and in which they had never the
slightest chance of success.
So much for the average Greek in European Turkey.
There are, however, many men among them of great
ability and good judgment. It is a pleasure to turn from
the Greeks, whether residing in Athens or in Constanti
nople, who are merely shallow and noisy politicians, and
much more agreeable to speak of them in other aspects.
Their joyousness is a lesson to Englishmen. Their
patriotism, however blatant, is genuine. Their desire
for education is praiseworthy. Their devotion to the
interest of their own people is to be seen not in boastful
speeches but in real work. Much of this work is done
unostentatiously. Poor scholars educated ; promising
boys sent to Europe to study special subjects — many
similar good deeds are told of Greeks in Constantinople.
The late Mr Bikelas the historian, who died in the summer
of 1908, devoted his later years and a large portion of his
by no means large income to selecting and editing books
written in English or other languages on practical
subjects. These he translated into modern Greek and
sold at the lowest possible prices to the public. When
I saw him last, he had recently published a handbook on
bee-keeping which had already given a large stimulus
to that industry. Besides books on kindred subjects,
he selected others for translation which were likely to
stimulate the peasant to industry and to improve him

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 101
materially and morally. His translation of the principal
plays of Shakespeare was part of a plan to place before
his countrymen selections from the best literature of the
world. Probably his own inclination would have led
him to continue the historical studies which had given
him a place among the historians of Europe.
Other Greeks in various spheres have been doing useful
and self-denying work. Wherever a Greek community
exists, the patriotism of the race shows itself in useful
outlets. Athens indeed is in some danger of being
pauperized by the asylums, hospitals, orphanages,
schools, and other institutions with which it has been
endowed by wealthy Greeks. Around the iEgean and
the Marmora it constantly happens that a Greek from
one of the villages makes his fortune outside his own
country, and apparently his first object is to build a
school or hospital, and occasionally, though not often,
a church in his native place. The generosity of the
Greeks in such matters is beyond praise.
Their enterprise as business men is of a very high order.
Greek traders are to be found in every civilized country.
The merchant vessels owned by Greeks are said to be
more numerous, though of course not of equal tonnage,
than those possessed by any other nation except England.
It will be remembered that wherever our soldiers went
during the expeditions in Egypt they found Greeks.
Lord Cromer, shortly before he left that country, paid
them a well-deserved compliment as a race always in the
forefront of commerce. A friend of mine, a mining
engineer, went out at the late Mr Cecil Rhodes's request to
examine certain mineral deposits in the back country of
Rhodesia, and twenty miles from the nearest settlement,
where, however, there was no Englishman. His com
panion fell ill and my friend rode late at night to procure
medicine for him. When at midnight he reached a small

102 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
settlement, the most remote in the country, all lights were
out except one which was seen through the chinks of a
shutter. Doubtful of whom he might find, he listened
and heard the persons speaking Greek. He asked in that
language for admission, found that the Greeks were as
much astonished as he to find anyone in so remote a spot
who spoke their language, and obtained all he wanted.
What I have said of the Greek as a politician applies
principally to the Greeks in Europe. Those who five in
Asia and the Greeks of the capital have always been,
and continue to be considerably different in character.
Common language, a common Church, and the instinct
of the Greek for travel have caused at various times
a large influx of European Greeks into Asia-Minor.
Smyrna is for example largely peopled by immigrants
from Greece. The Greeks of Constantinople are from
both Continents. Thousands of them have come from
the Ionian Islands. It must be remembered that Greece
is a small country, that much of it is rocky, and that the
physical conditions are such that the adventurous Greek
has been at all times forced to seek his living in other
lands. Indeed, at present the most serious question
with which the Greeks of the kingdom have to deal is
emigration. The United States offers as many induce
ments to them as it did two generations ago to the Irish.
With the family affection, which is one of the best features
of the Greek, the industrious emigrant soon makes enough
money to send for his relations, and so emigration has
gone on, and goes on steadily increasing. In former
times Greeks emigrated to places all round the Mediter
ranean, to Marseilles, Italy, Tripoli, Egypt, Syria, and
especially to Asia-Minor. Anyone who recalls his Greek
history will remember how, even in the classic period
of, the Greek race, its colonies were found far afield.
Smyrna was always an important Greek centre. It is

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 103
only within recent years that it has ceased to be the city
inhabited by the largest number of Greeks.
It must be noted that while neither. Anatolian Greek
nor Hellenic is of pure descent, the people with whom
they have intermingled respectively have been different.
The Europeans have intermarried with Slavs, Albanians,
Wallachs, and Franks ; the Asiatics with the earlier
races of Asia-Minor and Syria. The Semitic races have
left their influence. So also have the Armenians. The
Galatians, inhabitants of what was called by ancient
geographers Gallo-Grecia, on account of its conquest
and settlement in the third century B.C. by the Gauls,
found a population probably of Hittites, and both con
queror and conquered contributed to the formation of the
existing Asiatic Greek. All round the coast there were
and are Greek-speaking peoples. The Lazes of north
eastern Asia-Minor, most of whom are now Moslems,
form one such people. The colonies at Trebizond,
Samsoun, Amasia, Sinope, and elsewhere on the Black
Sea, and even inland near Konia, remain Greek in religion,
but are notoriously not of pure race. On the south coast
of Asia-Minor from Adafia to Alexandretta there has been
a large intermixture of Arab blood.
It is in their history and environment that we find
how the Greek-speaking people of Anatolia have come
to differ from their brethren in Europe. The tendency
of Asiatic influence as already stated was monotheistic.
No better illustration of the different tendencies of the
Asiatic and European Greek could be given than that
furnished by the Iconoclastic controversy, where the
first was iconoclast, the second iconodule.
The Asiatic Greek is not so lively, so hasty in temper,
so versatile, or volatile in business and in pleasure as his
European relation. But he is quite as intelligent. He
is a slower-minded man, but his judgment is sounder.

104 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
He takes life more seriously. The pleasures of the
Hellenic Greek are more frivolous than those which will
satisfy the Asiatic. The casino and the theatre in the
towns, the cafes in the villages are the Hellenic Greek's
delight. The intelligence of the Greek-speaking people is
undoubted. The lower class almost everywhere in the
western portion of Asia-Minor have most of the small
shops in their hands. They work hard, save money,
are obliging and courteous. They dislike farming, but
take readily to the sea and make good sailors in ordinary
weather. Their fault as seamen is a want of coolness in
sudden emergencies. I remember my own cutter being
caught in one of the sudden squalls in the Marmora,
when nothing but presence of mind and great activity
can save a vessel. I was not on board at the time, but
fortunately another Englishman was. When the fierce
gale laid the cutter over almost on her beam-ends, the
Greek sailors lost their heads, and instead of hastening
to let everything go, began frantically crossing them
selves and calling on the Virgin and Saint Nicolas for aid.
The Englishman was at the helm, but knocked the
kneeling devotees over and kicked them into doing their
duty. Voltaire said of English sailors that, having no
belief in the power of the saints to work miracles, they
worked them for themselves. The lower-class Greek
has not yet reached that stage.
It is from the lower class of Greeks that we who live
on the Bosporus receive our domestic servants. They
are usually good girls, rarely given to be fast, often quite
illiterate, but occasionally, especially if coming from the
islands belonging to Greece, able to read and write.
Probably Hellene is the commonest name among them.
But all the old names exist. The ugliest maiden who
ever served in our house was Aphrodite. We gave

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 105
warning to Cassandra and she was replaced by a
Theodora who was obedient, meek, and correct. The
traditions of the Greeks have led them to keep the names
of their illustrious ancestors. They have a kindly
feeling even towards their pagan heroes. At Mount
Athos I saw various pictures of heaven in which Leoni-
das and Epaminondas and Plato occupied places of
honour. These still remain common names. So also
are Eustratius, Zoe, and Penelope. Constantine and
George are probably now the commonest men's names.
The modern pronunciation of Greek often puzzles
travellers. A Greek lady visitor took up one of Mr
Theodore Bent's books and remarked to me, " I see you
have a book on the Kicklathees." It was on the
Cyclades. I remember asking a witness his name. He
gave it as Evripeethes. The judge, who was new to the
country, asked how it was spelt. I replied, " Call it
Euripides," and the difficulty solvitur Hsu. Some of
the names strike an Englishman as strange. I have a
servant who is called Saviour, Soteri. Another is
Deuteri, pronounced Thevtari, or Monday. Paraskevi
(Friday) is not unusual. Stavros, a cross, is common,
the patronymic Stavrides being an ordinary surname.
As, however, I have written elsewhere on the question of
modern pronunciation, I need say no more.
The individualism of the Greeks is very marked. Each
one fights for himself. Greek boys usually are not good
at games like football or cricket where combined action
is necessary. Each plays for himself only, and not for
his side. Nor have they the feeling for fair play. If the
game is going against them, they lose their temper. To
use convenient slang, what they do is '* not cricket."
In none of their contests can they be depended upon " to
play the game." They are not less keen in athletic
sports than any other race in the empire. Indeed, I

106 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
think they are the keenest. For many years I have been
astonished at the skill in athletics shown at the largest
Greek commercial school in the country, which is in the
island of Halki. I have seen splendid performances on
the cross-bar, at climbing, running, leaping, and the fike
which showed exceptional activity, energy, and skill.
The exercises were entirely voluntary, and the boys
delighted in them. Within a mile from the school in
question is the only Turkish naval college, where the
students had no boat to practise in, and seemed to take
their holiday or (as it is generally expressed in Turkey) to
make their kef in sitting on a quay and dangling their legs
over the water. The contrast between the restless
activity and agility of the Greeks and the dead-and-alive
conduct of the Turks is very striking. Yet set the Turks
to play a game like football which requires organization,
and all the experts are agreed that the Turks will play
better. They instinctively recognize the need of orga
nization, of playing for their side. They take the
game coolly, do the work assigned them, lose without
loss of temper, and win without irritating exultation.
They play the game. The same remark applies also
to Armenian boys. Bulgarians take to athletic games
readily, are very serious about them, and co-operate
with their side.
Combined action is contrary to the nature of the
Greek. Individualism makes them courageous and
daring, but as in the Greek revolution and in the conduct
of the Greek nation ever since, they do not act well
together. Artemus Ward's regiment, where there should
be no one below the rank of colonel, would completely
suit the Greek. He has no greater desire than other
people to be superior in rank, but he must work for him
self and be the centre of what goes on around him.
Every coffee-house in Athens has its knot of politicians

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 107
who settle the Greek question nightly, every one appa
rently himself a better politician than any of the ministers
in power.
Yet it must not be forgotten that individualism has
served the race well in many parts of the world, nor
that the wealthiest Greeks are to be found in the great
European cities outside Greece, where, notwithstanding
that they have had to compete with the keenest of
business men, they have held their own.
The Greek Islanders
The Greek islanders are perennially interesting. I
include in the term those who inhabit all the islands of
the Archipelago, whether belonging to Turkey or Greece.
The traveller who sees the Greek islands for the first
time will be disappointed. Instead of a vegetation coming
down to the water's edge, many of them look barren
rocks, incapable of being cultivated. The " eternal
summer " which " gilds them yet " has apparently
burnt up every trace of green vegetation. Nevertheless
most of them are beautiful, though they present their
worst side to the sea. The description of them as places
" where grew the arts of war and peace " has its truthful
as well as its poetic side. But they are essentially places
for rest — for the weary sailor who has made a few pounds
to quit the sea and live and lie reclined for the rest of his
days. Possibly he may be as tired of the sea as St John
was who, having only the dreary waste of waters to look
upon from Patmos, described heaven as a place where
there should be no more sea. But to an elderly Greek as
to an Englishman, who never feels quite happy unless he
knows himself to be within get-at-able distance from the
sea, the island valleys with their abundance of vines,
figs, and olives, present the restfulness, absence of excite-

108 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ment, joy of mere living which either invite to work as an
indulgence or to a condition of nirvana.
The history of most of these islands has never been
written, yet I doubt whether any sites in the Western
world possess more romantic interest. Natural scenery,
archaeological remains, association with heroic deeds and
with the struggle of races, all combine to invite a visitor
to stay. Take for example Chios, an island about twice
the size of the Isle of Wight, with a perfect climate and
superb scenery. For a while in the occupation of a
Genoese Company of merchant adventurers, each of
whom took the name Justiniani ; then, a century ago, the
paradise of Greeks who had made fortunes in various
cities of Europe, a seat of learning with libraries and
colleges — the very name of Chios suggesting refinement
and easy circumstances, for the island was under the
indirect rule of a sultana, who received her tribute
regularly and was content to let the Chiots alone. Then
came the Greek revolution, the Chiots sending hostages
to Constantinople, and carefully keeping out of the
struggle, though with fear and trembling. Next the"
bursting of a thunderstorm, the Sultan having given the
order, in 1822, that terror was to be struck into all the
Greeks of the empire : a rush of all the scoundreldom
from Smyrna and even from Constantinople itself ; the
destruction of the houses, capture of the women and
children, the murder of the men ; death and destruction
everywhere ; three months of plunder, the gratification
of man's lust, the desolation of the beautiful island : four
thousand persons, mostly women and children, sold into
slavery. Only five thousand left alive out of sixty
thousand. The fate of many of the victims of the massacre of
Chios is still a matter of lively tradition wherever the
Greek race exists. In every place where there is a Greek

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 109
colony — in London, Marseilles, and Russia, the ablest
Greeks usually claim Chios origin. Almost every
family has a gruesome story to tell. One friend of mine
glories in the fact that her grandfather, sent to Constanti
nople as a hostage, was hanged. There was no charge
against him except that he was a Greek and a Chiot.
Another, and this is a common case, tells of his mother
having been taken into a harem and of her being assisted
to escape on board a foreign vessel. My late friend Dr
Paspates, the archaeologist, has often told how, when
the plundering gang came into his father's house and
killed most of the inmates, his mother, then a girl, con
cealed her jewellery in her thick mass of hair. Captured
and sold into a Turkish harem, she managed to get into
communication with a British merchant. She was
unknown to him but trusted to British honour, then and
always the most valuable asset we possess in Turkey.
The Englishman entered cautiously into negotiations
with her owner and succeeded in buying her freedom.
Paspates was fond of relating how loyally and generously
the Englishman behaved. Another well-known story
relates how two little brothers were sold to different
owners, one being brought up as a Moslem, and the other
as a Christian purchased from a harem. They both
lived to be old men in Constantinople, each keeping to the
creed in which he had been trained. One rose to be grand
vizier : the other to be a respected physician.
Another island in the .ZEgean under Turkish rule has a
still more remarkable history. The inhabitants of
Rhodes have many strains of blood. Every one knows
the story of the Colossus of Rhodes, the bronze statue
of Apollo, the Sun-god, usually represented as straddling
across the mouth of the boat harbour, and beneath whose
legs ships were supposed to enter.1
1 It probably served as a lighthouse, and thus may recall the noble
figure of Liberty which forms so conspicuous an object on approaching

110 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
But few people recognize that Rhodes played an
important part in European history during the two
centuries preceding 1522, when the island fell under
Turkish rule. In 1310 it was occupied by the Knights
of Jerusalem, who took the name of Knights of Rhodes.
Their original duty had been to protect pilgrims on then-
way to Palestine. Their history is a long and glorious
romance. Under them Rhodes was for a century at
least the most powerful State in the Mediterranean. Her
knights were the militant arm of Christendom, the
inveterate enemies of the pirates from Algiers and other
North African countries. When Philip le Bel with un
scrupulous ferocity suppressed the Knights Templars,
the public opinion of Europe would not allow him to
touch the Knights of Rhodes. Their power became so
great and their hostility to Mahometanism so formidable
that Mahomet, the conqueror of Constantinople, after
New York. Though accounts differ as to its height, the lowest
assigned is a hundred feet. It is difficult to decide upon the position
where it stood. With the aid of all I could read on the subject and
the assistance of our consul, Mr Biliotti, members of whose family
have made the island and its history their special study for two
generations, I was unable to satisfy myself during my last visit to
Rhodes in 1906 as to the original site. We examined what is now a
small garden just within the walls, but which was certainly ^at one time
a boat harbour, and agreed in thinking that of all the sites suggested
this appeared to be the likeliest. There is no reason whatever to
contest the existence of the Colossus. The accounts come from
various sources and are too full of detail to leave any doubt on the
point. Sir Charles Newton and Mr Biliotti agree with certain ancient
authorities that it did not straddle across the entrance to any harbour,
but that the feet were on the same slab. The Colossus was destroyed
by an earthquake fifty years after its erection, but the accounts of the
heaps of bronze, the size of the fingers and other portions of the
figure, furnish satisfactory evidence of its colossal proportions.
Nor is there any reason to doubt that it was a superb work of art.
The city of Rhodes itself was richly endowed with statues, and can
only have been inferior in this respect to Athens itself. Even to-day,
when half the museums in Europe have been enriched with treasures
of art from it, one sees everywhere in the ancient city, pedestals,
capitals, altars, fragments of friezes and other sculptured work, which
fully confirm the statement that in classic times it was rich in this
kind of wealth.

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 111
tremendous struggles to capture Rhodes, his latest siege
being in 1480, left as a direction to his successors that their
efforts were to be addressed, first against Belgrade, the
key to the advance northwards, and then against Rhodes,
to further attacks westward. Yet it was not till 1522 that
the Turks succeeded in capturing it.
The story of Rhodes is a thrilling one. It is full of
varied interest and brave deeds, of heroic fighters and
treacherous renegades. If a modern Sir Walter would
study it, he would find ample material for a dozen histori
cal novels which would illustrate alike the valour of the
knights, the wiliness of spies and renegades, and, let
roe add in fairness, the chivalrous deeds of many a
Moslem. But how stands the once famous city of
Rhodes to-day ? My last visit to it was in 1906. It
remains in much the same condition as it was in the first
half of the sixteenth century. No Christian is allowed
to sleep within it. Its fifteenth-century walls and forti
fications are strictly guarded, though the interior of the
city would not be worth capturing, and the fortifications
would be useless under modern conditions. The stone
houses are picturesque, with balconies, with grills, with
numerous bridges across the narrow streets to enable the
knights during a siege to pass readily from one place to
another above the houses. In the streets one sees
numbers of stone cannon-balls which tell of the last gieat
siege, capitals and altars which belong to the earlier
Greek period. The remains of the temple of St John,
which was destroyed by an accidental explosion of the
gunpowder magazine in 1856, enable the visitor to
recognize that the drawings and the descriptions given
by persons still living are correct in speaking of it, as a
place of singular beauty. The houses of the Masters
of each of the " nations " of knights are still preserved.
Indeed, on every hand one sees inscriptions and shields

112 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
which mark the dwelling-place of the most distinguished
knights. There is notably a Rue de Chevaliers which,
though stripped of many of the shields which I saw
there on my first visit in 1876, is yet a street as little
changed during the last four centuries as probably any
in Europe.
My last glimpse of the city was on the Greek Easter
Sunday in 1906. Between the city and the cluster of
houses half a mile distant, where Christians Irvv and to
which I was returning, there is a broad expanse of open
country. The only persons whom I met were a Greek
priest with four or five acolytes or friends on their way
to a church two miles distant. As we got near they
looked hard at the foreigner coming from the ancient
city accompanied by a Turkish kavass. I gave them
their Easter salutation, Xplcrros avio-nq : their faces
brightened as with one voice they threw back the
response, 'AXrjdus aviarr). Beyond the expanse of open
land in front of me, bright with spring flowers, lay a wide
stretch of yellow sand ; beyond that a sea of a glorious
ultramarine such as I never saw in any other sea than the
Mediterranean and not always there, and far on the other
side of the fifteen miles of sea were the beautiful blue
mountains of Asia-Minor, the highest still capped with
snow. When Rhodes is more easily reached, its many
attractions, not only to people interested in history,
archaeology, and the modern Greeks, but to all who
delight in beautiful scenery and enjoy a delicious climate,
will make the island a favourite winter resort.
Before leaving the subject of the Greek islands I repeat
that there is a wonderful charm about most of them.
Sappho's birthplace, the picturesque island of Mitylene,
still cherishes her memory, and though one may well
doubt or rather have no doubt about the validity of her

THE GREEKS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE 113
relics in the island, its scenery and associations, its very
atmosphere and seas adds zest to what one reads of her,
and by her.
Hardly any of the islands are without valuable frag
ments of antiquity to add to their general interest. Take,
for example, Milos or Melos. Everyone knows the famous
Venus of Milo, now in the Louvre. Only a few are
acquainted with the marvels which successive explorers,
and of late years especially English scholars, have brought
to light in that island. The objects discovered range in
interest from a time when flint or obsidian implements
marked man's progress through Greek and Roman
periods down to late Byzantine times.
As art decayed after the marvellous century of per
fection in Athens, its study was continued not only in
various places in the West of Asia Minor, notably Lycia,
but in the islands. Investigations and new finds are
constantly strengthening this view. It is confirmed by
the singular story about the Venus of Milo. When in
1820 the statue was found by the French there was upon
its base the name of a sculptor, Alexandras son of
Menides of Antioch, who belonged to the second century
b.c. The name was afterwards cut away, because, said
certain savants, it is impossible that so superb a
work can be of so late a date. Surely it would be
difficult to find a worse example of the chauvinism of
archaeologists.1 1 Those curious as to this story may find the details in Overbeck's
" Griechische Plastic," Book V. ch. iv. In the edition of 1882 (the
third) it is in vol. ii. p. 329.

CHAPTER VII
THE GREEK CHURCH
Its influence on European history — Its organization — Murder of
Greek Patriarch in 1822 — Religion and nationahty — Influence on
Greek race and individuals — Mount Athos — Disorderly church-
services — Church preserved Greek language in Turkey — Alleged
intolerance of Greek church — Attachment of Greeks to Church —
Traces of paganism in the Greek and other Eastern churches —
Conclusion ANY notice of the Greeks would be incomplete
which did not speak of their Church and of its
present position. No nation has ever been more closely
identified with its Church than have the Greeks. Its
influence also on European civilization has been immense.
In the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries it took the largest
share in formulating Christian theology, and it created
canon law. The formation of the Nicene Creed alone
as modified at the subsequent Council of Constantinople
and arranged in its present shape by the Council of
Chalcedon, the present Kadikuey, was a historical
achievement of the first order. It is true that other
races and churches were represented at these Councils,
but Greek influence and Greek philosophy gave the lead.
One-third of the bishops present at Nicaea were from
Asia Minor. The creed has been accepted all down the
centuries to the present day by nine-tenths of those
who have professed Christianity. The skill and finesse
with which the questions brought before these early
Councils were discussed bear testimony to the acuteness
of the intellect of the clergy of the eastern portion of the
114

THE GREEK GHURCH 115
empire. The long-enduring results of their discussions
show the thoroughness with which the questions were
thrashed out. Once the premises on which the discus
sions took place are accepted, the conclusions are in
evitable and are universally accepted. We may be
astounded at the violence displayed, at the intense
energy of the disputants, as when in Ephesus a bishop
was trampled to death, but we must respect the thought,
the care, and the earnestness which they brought to the
consideration of the difficult and solemn questions under
consideration. With the aid of the lawyers the Church established a
system of law, which in substance remains that of every
civilized country in matters of testamentary and other
succession, marriage and other questions of personal
statute. The Greek Church has for many centuries ceased to be
a missionary church. But besides Christianizing the
various races within the empire, its great missionaries,
Cyril and Methodius, succeeded in planting Christianity
among the Slav races. The heresies with which it had
to deal bear witness not only to the subtleties of the
human mind, but to the determination to solve the
great questions suggested by the Christian creed. The
Nestorian with his two natures in Christ, and his refusal
to recognize the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos ; the
Syrians or Jacobites with their Monophysite teaching
of one nature, the sects which taught that Christ had but
one Will and were hence called Monothelites ; the
Adoptionists or Paulicians whose teaching spread from
the extreme of Asia Minor to Ireland— all testify to great
activity of mind, seriousness of thought, and quickness of
intelligence. These questions for which men fought,
for which hundreds were slain, though they have for the
most part long lost their interest, yet remain like extinct

116 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
volcanoes to show how fierce was the fire with which they
once burned.
The Greek Church, always devoted to the solution of
moral and intellectual puzzles, while its great rival in
the West paid more attention to questions which regarded
the conduct of life, gradually and characteristically came
to be known as the Orthodox Church.
Among its many services to the world was that of
creating a new style of architecture. The Greeks, during
the great century of their history, had invented and
brought to perfection the style which still charms the
world in the Parthenon and the Erectheion. The Romans,
though they did not, as is often loosely stated, invent the
key-stone arch, for Professor Hilprecht found one under
the accumulations of millenniums at Nippur, at least
discovered its great utility and employed it in many
solid and stately buildings which still remain. The
Orthodox Church, unwilling to employ the buildings
which had been devoted to the worship of idols, or even
to construct new ones after their model, employed the
arch, extended its use, surmounted it with a stately
dome, and made their churches glorifications of the arch.
Let it be noted, however, that they invariably attached
more importance to the interior than to the exterior of
their Houses of Prayer, with the result that an English
authority on architecture can say of the interior of the
Great Church of Constantinople, which was built in the
middle of the sixth century, that Hagia Sophia " is
the most perfect and most beautiful church which has
yet been erected by any Christian people." 1 Its exterior,
however, remains unfinished to the present day. Though
disfigured in appearance by additions and changes, prin
cipally intended to add strength, it has none of the casings
and external ornamentation which have transformed St
1 Fergusson's "History of Architecture," vol. ii. p. 321.

THE GREEK CHURCH 117
Marc's at Venice from what the present building was in
the fourteenth century to what it is in the twentieth.
Hagia Sophia gave a type of building which was repro
duced in various parts of the empire, reproduced but
with many variations. The beautiful little churches in
Constantinople, now Moslem temples, of St John the
Baptist and the Kalendir mosque may serve as models
of what the ordinary parish church was like. The Gul
J ami or Rose mosque, once probably the church of
Pantepoptes, the church of the Pantocrator, of Pam-
makaristos and of Hagia Irene, remain as illustrations
in the capital of how the architects gave reins to their
skill. In Salonika other variations from the type exist,
and some of its churches are illustrations of what beauti
ful effects can be obtained by employing bricks of any
shape which the architect desired. The history of
Byzantine architecture has not been satisfactorily written.
Sir William Ramsay, who has had the subj ect under notice
during the many years of his visits to Anatolia, has pro
bably collected material to give us the most complete
book yet produced, showing its development until it
culminated in Hagia Sophia, and subsequently made
many interesting developments.
Though Constantinople became the capital of the later
Roman empire its bishop or patriarch never succeeded
in occupying so important a position in the State as did
the bishop 'of Rome. In the Eastern empire there were
four patriarchates— those of Alexandria, Jerusalem,
Antioch, and Constantinople. The patriarch of Con
stantinople sometimes maintained long struggles with
the emperors, and even successfully resisted them, but
never succeeded in obtaining an entirely independent
position. The ecclesiastical division of the empire corresponded
to the civil. The chief bishop in a province was called

118 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
a patriarch or an exarch. Gradually the name patriarch
became limited in the East to the bishops of the places
already mentioned. The Church is still governed in
theory by the four patriarchs, who are equal in authority.
The teaching of the Orthodox Church is that all the four
patriarchs enjoy equal dignity and have the highest
rank among the bishops. The bishops, united in a
general council, represent the Church, and infallibly
decide all matters of faith and ecclesiastic life under the
guidance of the Holy Ghost. But as in the days of the
empire, so now. With few exceptions the patriarchs have
usually been under the supremacy of the civil power.
Upon the capture of Constantinople this supremacy
was transferred to the Sultan.
The patriarch of Constantinople exercises ecclesiastical
rule over European Turkey and a large portion of Asia
Minor. Eighty-six bishops owe him allegiance. He
resides at the Phanar, a district in Constantinople which
for three centuries has been largely occupied by Greeks,
and a century ago contained the residences of the
wealthiest Greek families from whom men were taken to
become the rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia. As there
was much intrigue and bribery to secure these and other
positions under the sultans, Phanariot came to be a
synonym for a man of unscrupulous political intrigue.
In the Phanar, which is on the south shore of the
Golden Horn, is the cathedral church of the patriarchate.
Immediately adjoining it is the official residence of the
patriarch. One of the features which attracts the notice
of visitors to the patriarchate is a large closed double gate
at the head of the flight of stone steps leading to the
principal entrance. The gate should indeed, be the
usual entry to the official residence. But it has been
closed since 1822, when the reigning patriarch was hung
in the gateway. The story of his murder and the treat-

THE GREEK CHURCH 119
ment of his body is one which deserves to be remembered
as illustrating the conditions under which Greeks lived
in Constantinople less than a century ago. We have a
careful account of it by a trustworthy witness, the Rev.
Dr Walsh, who was chaplain to the British Embassy in
Constantinople at the time. The excitement among all
sections of the population in the capital had been for
some time intense, on account of the progress of the
struggle by the Greeks in Greece to gain their independ
ence. This had now been going on for some years. Dr
Walsh repeats three or four times over that the Turks
avowedly acted on the principle of making every man
responsible for the acts of every other man of his nation.
It is one well worth bearing in mind when reading of
Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria and Armenia as well as
against the Greeks. Already a reign of terror existed
in 1822, throughout Western Turkey, and hardly any
where worse than in the capital itself. The Greeks of
Constantinople were not aiding their countrymen, and
were indeed too much stricken with fear to do so, though,
of course, they sympathized with them. Nevertheless,
they were everywhere publicly insulted, their property
seized, and their leading men butchered. Men who were
well known and highly respected by English and other
foreign residents, as well as by their own people, were
imprisoned, brought out suddenly and, without trial,
hanged, or otherwise killed. Shortly before Easter
Sunday of 1822, the execution of ten of the principal
Greeks residing at the Phanar, and of various others of
inferior note, seemed to whet the appetite of the Moslem
population for blood. Hostages were hanged. Ana
tolian regiments passing through the capital were allowed
to commit every outrage on Greek and Armenian women.
The devilish spirit of triumphant fanaticism became so
rampant that the Sultan himself became alarmed.

120 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Foreigners were maltreated as well as native Christians.
To prevent any movement on the part of the Greeks, the
Sultan sent for the patriarch, and during an interview of
five hours prepared a declaration signed by the patriarch,
and subsequently by twenty-one of his bishops, which
was printed and read on the following Sunday in all the
Greek churches. It is a document of abject subjection,
evidently wrung from the patriarch and signed by his
colleagues, by the threats of a fear-stricken tyrant
anxious for his own safety, and signed by the bishops
with the object of saving the lives of their flocks.
Easter fell in that year for both Latins and Greeks on
the 22nd of April. Dr Walsh had finished his own
service and was preparing to visit the patriarch according
to custom on the great festival, when he " heard terrible
news." The patriarch and the bishops, in the conscious
ness of their own blameless conduct and in the belief
that their pastoral address had removed all suspicion of
their loyalty, had taken part in the usual service in the
patriarchal church. The building was full, and a large
crowd remained outside. Addresses were given, emphas
izing the advice given in the pastoral to remain quiet, to
give no cause of offence, and to show themselves loyal
subjects of the Sultan. Suddenly through the dense
crowd soldiers forced their way to the patriarchal throne,
seized the patriarch, who had just given his benediction
to the congregation, and dragging him and the other
bishops present into the courtyard tied ropes round their
necks. According to the custom of that period each
Church dignitary and even foreign consul had an attend
ant janissary told off to protect him. The patriarch's
janissary had learned to respect and like him. When he
saw his master roughly treated, he rushed to his defence
and fought against the soldiers until he was stabbed into
silence. The venerable and beloved old patriarch was

THE GREEK CHURCH 121
then dragged under the gateway. The cord was passed
through the staple that fastened the folding doors, and
the old man with his patriarchal robes upon him was
hauled up and left to struggle in the agonies of death.
Two of his chaplains were hanged at the same time in the
neighbouring doorways. The bishops of Nicomedia
(Ismidt), of Ephesus, and of Anchialos were dragged
through the streets and hanged at different places in the
Phanar on the same occasion.
The body of the patriarch was allowed to hang for
three days, and was exposed to various insults. Then
some of the lowest class of Jews were ordered to drag it
down to the Golden Horn, a distance of a hundred and
fifty yards, and to throw it into the water. Dr Walsh
is careful to point out that the creatures chosen for this
purpose " were incapable of sense or feeling on such a
subject ; they acted under the impressions of terror and
stupidity, and any exultation they showed was to gratify
their more brutal and ferocious masters."
Finally, however, the body was found floating in the
Marmora and was taken to Odessa for interment.
No shadow of proof or just ground of suspicion, says
Dr Walsh, was ever stated against the patriarch. Indeed,
the British chaplain, to whom the patriarch was personally
well known, speaks of him as distinguished for his piety
and gentleness.
In concluding this story, there are two facts which I
add with sincere pleasure : First, that Dr Walsh bears
witness that the news of the outrage gave an immediate
expansjon to the Greek revolutionary party; and, second,
that throughout all the bloody outrages which preceded
and followed the execution, the foreign residents, and
especially the British, behaved well, succoured the
desolate and oppressed, ransomed many prisoners, both
men and women, and, whenever possible, hid them,

122 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
disguised them, aided fugitives to escape, and did this
often at the risk of their own lives.
In Turkey, but especially among the Greeks, the
religious community to which a man belongs is regarded
as of more importance than his nationality. Ask a
Turkish subject of what nationality he is, and he will reply
that he is a Moslem or an Orthodox, a Catholic or an
Armenian, as the case may be. It may be that he is an
Armenian Catholic, but the latter word only will be used,
the word Armenian, signifying that he belongs to the
Armenian or Gregorian Church. So also of the Greek
Uniats, that is, the members of the Greek race who are
united to the Church of Rome. The answer of such a
member will be that he is a Catholic. The Orthodox
Church is by far the most important of the Christian
millets or communities in Turkey, and their almost
invariable use of the word Orthodox to signify the race
to which they belong usually surprises a stranger. Of
what nationality are you ? The answer in nine cases out
of ten will be, " I am Orthodox." To them race and
religion, or nationality and religion, are usually identical.
This conjunction has had important effects on the
history of the Greeks and their Church. Since 1453
they have always been able to speak with one voice ;
the mouthpiece has been their Church. They have been
singularly tenacious of their rights, which have all
clustered around their Church. In return the Church
saved the race. They had privileges granted to them
by Mahomet immediately after the conquest. The con
cession of these privileges was rather a renewal of those
which patriarchs had possessed under the empire than a
new grant. The grant is creditable both to Mahomet, the
conqueror, and the patriarch, the celebrated Gennadius,
between whom not only official, but apparently really

THE GREEK CHURCH 123
friendly, relations existed. Cantimir states that the
original Firman setting out the privileges was burnt, but
its existence was established half a century later in
presence of Sultan Selim. Throughout the four centuries
which have passed since his time these privileges have
been often confirmed, the latest formal confirmations
being in the Gul Hane Hatt, and the Tanzimat, granted
largely owing to the invaluable aid of Lord Stratford de
Redcliff, and in the Constitution. Their churches were
taken from the Greeks by successive sultans, so that in
Constantinople itself only one insignificant building
remains in which Christian worship has been celebrated
continuously since 1453. But they were allowed to build
others ; for this was one of the privileges conceded by
the conqueror. Other privileges were accorded which
proved of great value, the most important being the right
of the patriarch on behalf of his flock to make representa
tions to the Sultan and the Turkish authorities respecting
the violation of any of the privileges ; and to exercise
legal jurisdiction over the members of his community
in all matters in dispute among them. The latter con
cession was in accordance with mediaeval practice, not
only in Moslem, but in Christian states. It was not long,
however, before the jurisdiction was limited to what now
exists, to the right of jurisdiction in reference to marriage,
succession, and questions of personal statute. To
maintain these privileges the Church has constantly been
in conflict with the State. During the Abdul Hamid
period, it was seldom that a year passed without some
attempt being made to limit them. Several encroach
ments were successfully made, the principal being that if
either party to a suit objected to the jurisdiction of the
patriarchal courts, he should be free to take his suit into
the Turkish. I have not yet met the Greek who would
willingly consent that the jurisdiction of the patriarchal

124 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
courts should be abolished. The courts in question are
far from being as satisfactory as they ought to be, but
they are superior to the Turkish. When, therefore, the
too zealous spirits of some of the Young Turkey party
speak of abolishing the privileges of the Greek and other
Christian Churches, they are met everywhere with serious
opposition. The all-sufficient Greek answer is, " Reform
your courts and then we will consider the matter."
So long as by the Constitution the established religion of
the country is Mahometanism, it is a necessity to the
Christian communities that they should maintain their
own courts. Family life being the basis of such com
munities, so long as the State does not recognize it, the
Christians must be permitted to exercise jurisdiction in
regard thereto. Take one case in illustration : no means
exist under Ottoman law of punishing a Christian for
bigamy. The dictum of its law is that a man may have
a second wife or even a third or a fourth. The easy
manner in which divorce is allowed by the Orthodox
Church is probably due to the fear that if it is not per
mitted one at least of the parties will abandon the faith.
The Influence of the Greek Church on the
Race and the Individual
It is easy to exaggerate the influence of the Orthodox
Church in Turkey. The Hellenic Greek more especially
is not a religiously minded man. I do not think that
he ever possessed the Hebraic spirit. While Hellenic
influence always tended towards the paganization of his
refigion, Paganism and Christianity alike sat lightly upon
him. The Orthodox Church in Turkey, while saving the
Greek race, has become very largely a political institution.
It would not be right to say that it is without even
serious religious influence on the community. But its

THE GREEK CHURCH 125
religious influence is almost solely among the uneducated,
and for this and other reasons is more powerful in
Anatolia than in European Turkey. There is a refigious
instinct which will find refuge in the established faith in
almost any country. But I have yet to meet the
educated Greek who is a regular church-goer, or who will
admit his belief in what his Church teaches. So far as
influence upon character is concerned, the Church has by
no means lost its power over the educated class in Turkey.
It is certainly not now an aggressive spiritual force. Its
educational value is slight. Sermons, except in two or
three of the larger cities, and there only rarely, are never
heard. The parish priests are too ignorant to preach,
too poor to be respected socially. They are, of course,
not to blame for their ignorance or poverty. The system
under which they live and the oppression of their pre
decessors by the Moslem majority during four and a half
centuries are the chief causes. Several circumstances
prevent them from rising in the social scale. They are
wretchedly paid. No man in comfortable circumstances
will bring up his son to be a priest. A priest must be a
married man before he is ordained. The bishops never
marry. Instead of having a fixed salary, the priest has to
obtain his living by practices which are degrading, and to
which a man of education ought not to have to resort.
He usually goes round at least once a month to bless the
house of each of his parishoners. For this he will receive
a piaster or twopence. This seems to be his great
stand-by. The rest he makes up in fees for baptisms,
marriages, and funerals. The sordidness consequent on
such a method of livelihood deters men of intelligence
from encouraging their sons to enter the priesthood.
As by the law of the Church the bishop must not be a
married man, there is little hope of promotion for the
ordinary priest, and therefore little incentive to ambition.

126 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
The result is that the ordinary priest is not only poor
but without hope of bettering his condition. Neverthe
less, as a class, the priests are sober, kindly, human, and
honourable men.
It should never be forgotten that whatever is the
condition of the Orthodox Church in Turkey now, it has
done splendid service to the race during the last four
centuries. Its priests are uneducated because they
are poor. But they are poor because their Church has
been deprived of her property, because the people have
been oppressed, and even when they had made money
were unable to invest it so that it should not be
plundered. The Church has dark pages during these four centuries.
The higher order of priests, including the patriarchs them
selves, bribed in order to obtain or keep their positions.
According to the uncontradicted testimony of a great
number of writers, there is a melancholy series of the most
miserable tales of intrigue and bribery of Turkish officials
to obtain the higher offices. The patriarchs, who had
gained their position by bribing grand viziers, tried to
recover what they had paid by selling appointments of
bishops and other functionaries to the highest bidder.
The bishops endeavoured to recoup themselves by
making priests and people pay. The whole story is a sad
one, and helps us to understand how the influence of the
Church as a spiritual force cfiminished.
The result upon religious sentiment has been fatal. If
the definition of religion is " morality touched by
emotion," then the answer is that in the Greek Church
the standard of morality is low and religious emotion
rarely visible. There is no enthusiasm either of
humanity or of spiritual life. Everything is common
place and suggests the want of ideals. The priests seem
incapable of appreciating the elevating character of

THE GREEK CHURCH 127
Christian teaching, and still less of displaying the
grim earnestness that characterized Scotch ministers,
Wesleyan revivalists, Catholic priests, as well as the
members of the two great parties in the English Church.
They have, however, succeeded in saturating the Greek
race with an intense love for their Church as representing
national existence.
During a fortnight's visit to Mount Athos, the
Holy Mountain, I saw nearly all the great monasteries
and many of the Sket£s (a word from which we derive
ascetics), and a number of leading monks. There are
about 8000 in all on the peninsula. They are of two
orders, the Coenobites, who live a collegiate fife under a
warden, and a more ancient order. The former are
much more strict in attending church services and in
regarding the fasts than the latter. But the impression
left upon me was that they were all living a useless
and most of them a lazy life. On my return to Con
stantinople I endeavoured to stimulate two or three
leading Greek friends to visit the Mountain. I pointed
out that the geographical position, the extensive and
picturesque buildings, and the revenues of the monas
teries invited the establishment of a great theological
college or university for the whole of the Greek race and
others belonging to the Orthodox Church ; that the
Greek monks, instead of spending their time largely in
quarrelling with the monks of the Russian and the
Bulgarian convents, should unite forces for the good of
their common church, but especially for the furtherance
of education. My friends were smitten with the idea
and went to Mount Athos. When they returned it was
with the melancholy conviction that the monks were
hopeless, and that no project of the kind would have
the least chance of success so long as the present
occupants were in possession.

128 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Before leaving the subject of Mount Athos, with its
beautiful old buildings and crystallized fourteenth
century habits, customs and art, and its glorious land
scapes with which an artist might fill many sketch books,
I may mention some facts of interest. On the peninsula,
which is about twenty-four miles long and from four to
ten miles broad, there are eighteen large and many small
monasteries. They are governed by a representative
assembly which meets at Karyes, a small town in the
centre of the peninsula where the heads of the houses
form a Synod. There is a Turkish governor as an
evidence of the rule of the Porte, but he has fittie to do.
No woman is ever permitted to land, nor is there a
female of any kind. Even hens are not allowed, though
there is a large importation of eggs.
I had often heard that many years ago an English lady
had landed disguised as a middy. I asked one of the
monks whether the story was true, and was gravely
assured that it was, and that the Virgin had punished
her for her sacrilegious trespass. Her child had died.
I was able to assure him that the lady in question was
still living, and was enjoying a happy old age, but had
never been married. Thereupon the monk faced round
and declared that he must have been mistaken as to
the form of punishment, which evidently was that the
lady had been unable to find a husband.
Greek monks are as ignorant as the priests, but also
as kindly, hospitable, and good-natured. At Batopedi
and other monasteries I had a look at the libraries. My
visit was not long after the discovery, in the library of
the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre on the Golden Horn,
of the "Teaching of the Apostles." The wonderfully
interesting little treatise was found bound up with a
number of other manuscripts. The book was labelled
and indexed with the name of the first treatise only.

THE GREEK CHURCH 129
At Mount Athos I was curious to see whether the cata
logues were similarly incomplete. My inquiries, besides
satisfying me that they were, brought me into contact
in every monastery which I visited with the best
scholars. The impression formed by me was that there
were not more than two or three men who knew any
thing of palaeography.
During the Greek revolution of 1820-6 Mount Athos
was overrun by Turkish troops. The parchment MSS.,
not in the form of books but of rolls, were raided again
and again by the soldiers to make haversacks. Thou
sands of MSS. have been destroyed by rats, or stolen or
given away. At the same time I believe that in the
libraries of the monasteries on the Mountain and in Mace
donia and in those of some of the mosques of the capital
there may yet be as precious finds as " The Teaching of
the Apostles." It is only at rare intervals that a scholar
has been allowed to look at the piles of MSS., even in
the Imperial Library at Seraglio Point known as Top
Capou. Yet forty years ago Dethier dug out of them
the manuscript of Critobolus, giving the only account
which we have by a member of the Orthodox Church
of the capture of Constantinople by Mahomet. Dr
Arminius Vambery was allowed a few years ago to
search for and take away some of the books which were
captured at the taking of Budapest, and which had
been in the library of Mathew Corvinus, King of Hungary.
The director of the Imperial Russian Institute at Con
stantinople found also a copy of the Hexateuch which
his government has recently published. With these
exceptions I know of only one person who has been
allowed to carefully examine the Imperial Library and
that attached to St Sophia. He informs me that there
are piles of MSS., mostly in Arabic or Turkish, but that
there are others which he has seen in Greek and Latin.

130 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
In the libraries attached to several mosques in Constanti
nople there were many MSS. How many remain ?
Kim biler ?
Before leaving the subject of the influence of the
Greek Church and of its priests and monks, let me
recall that they assisted to preserve a knowledge of the
Greek language as well as to compact the Greeks to
gether. The very forms and ceremonies of the Church
contributed to both these results. Even the hard
shell of their religion guarded the living organization
itself. During her centuries of oppression there must
always have been found in the most degraded and in
different times many pious souls who recognized the
inner meaning of their faith and were the better for it.
Appearance of Disorder in Ordinary Greek
Services
An English visitor to a Greek church is usually struck
with the want of discipline, and disorder in the congrega
tion. His first impression is that there is a want of
reverence, but further experience will show him that
the congregation is reverent enough in its own way.
Two incidents from my own experience will show what
I mean. One Sunday morning I had taken a walk with
my little daughter before breakfast. On my way we
entered a Greek church. The important service is
usually about eight o'clock. I was known to the priest
and many of the congregation, and not wishing to dis
turb them, walked quietly up an aisle and stood for a
while near a lectern, the priest standing on the opposite
side at another. I wished to follow the service, and, as
there was a book on the lectern, quietly turned its pages
to find out where the priest was reading, doing so in a
manner not to attract attention. The priest, however,

THE GREEK CHURCH 131
saw me, and, stopping his reading, called out " Can you
read ancient Greek ? " I nodded an affirmative, where
upon he crossed the nave and found me the place, he
meantime still reciting the prayers until he returned to
his former place. I followed the words of the beautiful
liturgy of Chrysostom for two or three pages. Then
there came the insertion of a prayer which did not follow
consecutively. He saw that I was lost and called out,
of course in Greek, " Never mind, keep the place where
I left off; I shall be back there directly." Everyone
could hear what he had said, but probably none thought
that anything remarkable had been done. It was only
an act of courtesy to an Englishman who was interested
in their service.
Another instance has remained in my memory, though
. it happened soon after I took up my residence in Turkey.
With Mr Schliemann, the first explorer of what is gene
rally accepted as Troy, and my friend Dr Paspates, I
attended the celebrated Easter Eve service at the
patriarchal cathedral in Stamboul. It commenced
about half-past eleven at night and continued till two
in the morning. The church was crowded in every
part, nineteen-twentieths standing all the time, as is
the rule in the Orthodox Church. A portion of the nave
near the screen or iconostasis was railed off, and in it
were stalls. Those on the south side were occupied by
the patriarch and eight or nine bishops, the patriarch
being seated on an ancient throne which tradition,
probably wrongly, claims was actually used by
Chrysostom. The corresponding stalls on the other
side were for visitors, those immediately opposite the
patriarch being known as the imperial seats and being
occupied by our party. The choir, in two parts, were
on the floor near the stalls. The service was, as this
service always is, of an impressive character, but at one

132 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
part a boy in the choir made a mistake. The choir
master left his place, crossed to the opposite side, and
gave the lad a severe box on the ear. The lad shrieked
with pain. The instant after he shouted out against his
attacker and called him a brute, as indeed we thought
him. Thereupon he received another blow : the lad
replied ; more blows followed, and this contest went on
in presence of the congregation two or three minutes.
No one remonstrated, no one seemed to think the scene
unseemly or extraordinary.
The language of the Greek liturgy is almost unin
telligible to modern Greek peasants. The fact was
brought home to me in an interesting service which I
attended five years ago in Nicaea. Our party had been
at the church when the ordinary service was held,
and had heard the creed to which the city has given its
name clearly read by a deacon, and was on its way home
to breakfast, the service having commenced at half-past
five, when we observed that the congregation were filing
off to a burial-ground. We followed, and found there
was to be a service for rain. To our surprise, the
prayers were in Turkish and were read by the priest
from sheets of paper. Half an hour later the priest
joined us at breakfast and proved an exceptionally
intelligent man. He explained that his flock could not
understand Greek, though having heard the liturgy all
their lives they knew fairly well what the prayers meant.
When, as in the present case, the service was compara
tively strange to them, it was unintelligible, and therefore
he had translated the Greek into Turkish. He hoped
the members of our party did not consider he had done
wrong. He was comforted when we told him that we
had noticed the people nodding approval and saying
Amen with great fervour at various statements in the
prayers and at the appeals made to Heaven, and that

THE GREEK CHURCH 133
English people were of opinion that prayers ought to be
in a language understood of the people.
The Orthodox Church, judged by the declarations of
some of its chiefs, is intolerant. In reference to its rites
it is intensely conservative. The story goes that not
long ago a patriarch spoke of the Pope as an unbaptized
heretic. Dean Milman characterized it in reference to
its unchangeableness and inadaptability as bearing the
same relation to the Church of Rome as the latter does
to the Protestant Churches. Yet its intolerance, except
towards the Church of Rome, is more apparent than real,
and is limited only to the Church speaking in its official
character. Even here, however, it must be noted that
it maintains friendly relations with the Armenian Church,
and exchanges not unimportant official and friendly
communication with the Anglican Church through the
Archbishop of Canterbury. Its hostility to the Church
of Rome is due largely to tradition — a hostility which
was predicted by Innocent III. when he denounced
those of the Fourth Crusade who took part in the capture
of Constantinople. It is interesting to learn that the
Church of Rome has never formally excommunicated
the Orthodox Church.
The attempts of a section of the Anglican Church
to establish union with the Orthodox Church have met
with little success. The Church will not even recognize
Anglican baptism. The attempt to obtain a formal
recognition of the validity of Anglican Orders has not
only failed but continues to be simply mischievous. It
encourages the suspicion that Anglicans feel their
position to be weak, and wish it to be strengthened by
a Church whose Orders are beyond suspicion. The
Presbyterian and other Protestant missionaries, Ameri
cans, Germans, and English, who have no desire of
the kind, but whose work in the country is acknow-

134 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ledged by Greeks and Armenians to be purely beneficial,
get on excellently with these Christian communities.
The Armenians frequently allow Presbyterians to preach
in their churches. The late Bishop of Gibraltar,1 who,
besides being a historical High-Churchman, was also a
broad-minded man, was invited to preach in the Armenian
church, in 1908, at Bardezag near Ismidt, and wisely
accepted the invitation, thereby strengthening the hands
of the Rev. Dr Chambers, a Canadian Presbyterian at
the head of a valuable Armenian college in that town.
He had a crowded congregation, and his address as well
as his sympathy had an excellent effect upon the large
Armenian population.
Traces of Paganism in the Eastern Churches
The Greek and other historical Churches in Turkey,
being institutions whose development was suddenly cut
short by the subjection of their members to Moslem races,
retain many traces of paganism which, under different
circumstances, would probably have disappeared. These
are found in customs and superstitions, or attached to
places of worship which have survived in being adapted
to the change from paganism to Christianity. Such are
the death-wailings which are pretty general through the
Greek world, the ancient feasts of the dead, including the
distribution of Blessed Bread and the burning of incense
in honour of the departed. The saints became suc
cessors of the pagan gods. Every hill-top which had
been crowned with a temple to Phoebus Apollo, the Sun-
god, was succeeded by a church dedicated to St George,
who is invariably represented as slaying the dragon.
The transformation may be excused as allowing the pagan
1 1 regret to have to speak of Dr Collins as the late Bishop. He died
in March 191 1 , on his way from Constantinople to Smyrna, at the early
age of forty-five. He was a man of sterling merit, sympathetic, able,
and learned.

THE GREEK CHURCH 135
pilgrimages, beneficial to bodily and mental health, to
continue under the sanction of the Church. It is justified
if St George be regarded _as light overcoming darkness,
as the champion of right triumphing over " the dragon,
that old serpent which is the devil " (Rev. xx. 2), Chris
tianity victorious over paganism — a noble symbol if
assuring hope of the victory of right over wrong. Whence
St George came I am compelled, after considerable search,
to admit that I have been unable to find. I utterly fail
to recognize him as either of the two somewhat common
place saints of that name who are given in the Hagi-
ologies. There is a passage in Eusebius which possibly
suggests his origin, but the discussion of the question is
not within my present purpose.
While the rule holds good that every hill-top of im
portance in the JEgean and Marmora is crowned by a
church or monastery dedicated to the Knightly Saint,
it is subject to an exception of the kind which proves the
rule : for churches may be found in some such places
dedicated to St Elias. It seems now to be generally
recognized that as in Greek the aspirate has been for
many centuries unsounded, there was a confusion in the
popular mind between the words, Helios, the sun, and
Elias, the prophet, and that the church dedicated to the
latter was really continuing sun-worship. Of course,
it will not be forgotten that Elias was present on the
Holy Mount at the Transfiguration. Some hill-top
churches are named after that event, which the Gieeks
call the Metamorphosis. In like manner, all along the
shores inhabited by Greeks, St Nicholas has taken the
place of Neptune or Poseidon. The Nereids are firmly
believed in by Greek islanders. Our common word in
modern Greek for water is nero.
The traditional Greek spirit in their blood infuses
poetry into Greek superstitions. " The Nereids' smiles

136 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
turn to roses ; their tears to pearls " ; " beautiful as a
Nereid" — are common expressions. Their long and
luxurious hair and supple forms still lure men. Mr Bent
mentions certain well-known families of islanders who
are reported to have Nereid blood in their veins. The
rainbow is the " sun's girdle," and as such recalls the
myth of the virgin Iris. It is sent to show where buried
treasure exists, and reminds us that Iris was Jove's
messenger from heaven to earth. In the islands of the
Archipelago there is hardly one of the gods who does not
figure as a Christian saint. In Kios or Zea, Pan has
given place to St Anarguris, who is the patron of flocks
and herds. When an ox is ill the owner takes it to the
saint's church and prays for its recovery. In Kythinos,
when an islander goes abroad his friends collect, and as
he crosses the threshold of his house one of them pours
out a libation to the gods to bring him good luck. Mr
Abbott notices the same practices in Macedonia. At
Paros is a church dedicated to the " Drunken St
George." On the 3rd November, the anniversary of his
death, the Pariotes usually tap their wine, get drunk, and
have a scene of revelry in front of the church with the
priests among them. Another form of worship of
Bacchus may be seen at Naxos. St Dionysius, the
Christian successor of Dionysus, preserves many traces
of the worship rendered to his ancestor. A good story is
preserved about him. According to the Christian
legend, when the saint was going from his monastery on
Mount Olympus to Naxos he found a plant which he
placed in the bone of a bird to keep it moist. Later on,
he put both in the bone of a lion, and on his last day's
journey placed the three inside the bone of an ass. The
plant grew to be a vine. From it he gathered
grapes and made good wine. A draught of it made
him sing like a bird ; a little more made him feel

THE GREEK CHURCH 137
strong as a lion ; and still more made him as foolish
as an ass.
Sometimes the old gods have been changed into modern
saints, regardless of sex. At. Kios, Artemis has become
St Artemidos. Demeter is represented as St Demetrius,
who is the protector of flocks, herds, and husbandmen.
Many islanders still tell you that Charon lives in Hades,
where he hunts his victims on a spectral horse. Charon
or Charos is the modern synonym for death. A new
personage has been introduced into Christian mythology
as Charon's mother, a sweet, tender-hearted woman,
probably from the analogy of the mother of Christ, who
intercedes for sinners with her bloodthirsty son.
Among all the Greek populations, miraculous powers
are attributed to the old gods and their modern successors.
It would be easy to cite illustrations from the shrines of
the saints in Tenos and a dozen of the islands. But in
the island of Prinkipo where, during upwards of thirty
years, I have spent annually some months, a good illus
tration is at hand. Crowds of people assemble on the
23rd of April each year to celebrate St George. They
are dressed in all sorts of curious costumes, each of which
is characteristic of the place from which the wearer has
come on pilgrimage. Many of the women wear the
divided skirt. Strings of coins, mostly silver, adorn their
necks. Lovely tertiary tints of green and blue and red
alternate with rich orange and yellow, the produce of
traditional dyes in places to which aniline crudeness has
not yet penetrated. St George's Church is of course
on the highest peak of our island, six hundred feet above
the sea. On the eve of his festival thousands of people
flock together from the neighbouring and the remote
islands in the Marmora and from the villages of Bithynia
to celebrate the feast. Note in passing that in the East
the eve of the feast day is usually more regarded than the

138 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
day itself. In all the ancient churches, " the evening
and the morning " make the day. The church is
crowded, and hundreds of peasants, unable to gain
admission, sleep out on the adjacent hill-side with the
object of obtaining the saint's help in sickness, for St
George, like his predecessor Apollo, the father of
iEsculapius, is a great healer. It is a sad sight to see
people in far advanced stages of consumption carried
there in hope of a miraculous return to health. It is
pathetic to see mothers, weary with long travelling,
toiling up the steep hill, carrying their sick children to be
cured : infants on whom death has set his mark receiv
ing all the care which maternal devotion can give in what
the onlooker sees to be hopeless cases. The wild eyes of
other visitors at this annual festival suggest craziness ;
the vacant stare of others proclaims idiocy ; for this,
like so many shrines of Apollo yesterday, and St George
to-day, has been and still is reputed for healing the mad
and the mindless. On the floor of the church there are
iron rings to which mad creatures were bound, even
within my own recollection, so that they might pass the
night in the church and receive the benefit which St
George, or the Black Virgin, whose picture, owing its
colour probably to the fact that it was painted with white
lead, was in some mysterious manner able to bestow.
This kind of superstitious belief in saintly intervention
is in the Greek blood. I knew one man who was con
stantly dabbling in small speculations on the Bourse.
It was his habit, as he admitted, always to burn a candle
to a saint to bring him luck when he had a speculation
on hand. He openly professed unbelief in the existence
of any supernatural being. He secretly believed it to be
useful policy to be on good terms with all the saints.
Occasionally Greek priests have encouraged the super
stitious tendencies of their followers for the sake of gain.

THE GREEK CHURCH 139
It must be remembered that they are almost always
peasant priests, lamentably ignorant and ill-paid.
Within my own recollection there have been ayasmas
found and taken possession of by priests at Kandilli
on the Bosporus and at Prinkipo, that is to say a spring
of fresh water has been discovered. In each case the
report was spread that an icon was found near the
spring ; a priest took possession, erected a shrine, and at
once received the offerings of worshippers. Such a
priest I knew at Prinkipo, and have often visited his
shrine. The latter exists, but the Greek was found to be
aiding the smugglers of tobacco and was then sent away.
Some ten years ago, a serious attempt was made to
establish the reputation of a miracle-working shrine in
Constantinople, but investigation showed that it was the
work of persons who intended to exploit it for their own
profit, and the patriarchal authorities put an end to the
attempt. Near Smyrna, within the last few years, there
was a similar attempt to encourage pilgrimages to a house
supposed to have been inhabited by the Virgin Mary,
the pilgrims being mostly Greek by race but belonging to
the Roman Catholic Church. But the ecclesiastical
authorities, after examination, put an effectual end to
such pilgrimages.
In Asia-Minor, instances exist in abundance of the
respect paid by Christians and Moslems alike to holy
places, which have been held sacred for probably
millenniums. Sir William Ramsay has called attention
on various occasions to Moslem mosques which have
been Christian churches, and which churches had taken
the place of Hittite or other early temples. Something
in or connected with the site long ago was regarded as
marvellous or peculiarly suited for the worship of the
Unknown. It may have been a prominent wild peak,
a peculiar formation of rock, a spring welling up mysteri-

140 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ously out of the arid plain, or, as at Mahalich in the
district south-east of Koniah, extinct volcanic craters
leading to the abode of the infernal gods, and suggesting
terror, which first led the original worshippers to regard
the place as holy. Our military consul, Captain Dickson,
at Van, a district which is full of traces of paganism, has
told the story of a holy place on the summit of Jebel Judi,
7000 feet high. Every August, thousands of Moslems,
Christians, and Yezidis or devil-worshippers climb this
great height to do homage to Noah at this, one of his
many reputed tombs. The shrine was erected on the
place by some early race ; worshippers flocked to it, and
a reputation for sanctity gathered round it. When the
old heathenism had to make way for the teaching of
Christianity, those who were opposed to it clung to the
holy place hallowed by the worship of their fathers, and
those even who professed the new faith were unwilling
to separate themselves from the ancient place of worship.
There was often a lingering feeling that the old gods, the
guardians of those places, ought to be appeased. Chris
tians, even in the time of St Paul, did not deny their
existence or influence. They existed, but were powers
hostile to the True God. Then when Christian worship
had itself lasted for centuries, came the Moslems, the
great iconoclasts. But they too felt the influence of the
holy places, and while stripping the church of its pictures
and ornaments, respected the place which tradition
regarded as holy.
I conclude this notice of surviving paganism by telling
a story for which my authority is the late Theodore Bent.
In his interesting book on the Cyclades, his last chapter,
full of good matter, is about the island of Amorgos, at
the south-east end of the group he has been describing.
The following story is not given in it, but was told me by
him shortly after the incident occurred ; and Mrs Bent,

THE GREEK CHURCH 141
who nearly always accompanied her husband, has kindly
informed me recently that it was on Amorgos where the
incident happened. Mr Bent had so often found that
the customs mentioned by Herodotus were continued to
the present time, that he incautiously asked the priest of
St Nicholas, the successor of Poseidon as the protector
of sailors, whether the old practice of divination by
tossing up knucklebones and learning by the way in
which they fell on the altar what the direction of the
wind would be, still continued. The answer was in the
negative. When the piiest turned away, an old woman
who had overheard the conversation said to Mr Bent,
" All the same, Chilibe, no ship goes to sea without the
crew coming here to learn how the wind will blow."
Mr Bent said nothing, but having learned that two or three
days later a vessel had arranged to leave, watched her
crew, and having seen them start on their way to the
church, followed them at a distance, taking care to k< ep
out of sight. They entered the church, and five minutes
later were followed by Mr Bent, who arrived just in time
to see, through the holy gates, candles lighted upon the
altar, the priest with his hat off, and his long hair down,
and in the very act of tossing the knucklebones.
When we foreigners get impatient at the mistrust
shown by the Greeks of their Moslem fellow-subjects,
of their determination not to abandon one jot or tittle
of the ancient rites of their Church, it is right that we
should remember what are their traditions. The grand
children of the men who were butchered under the
influence of Moslem fanaticism are still living. They
remember that their fathers died for their faith, that each
could have saved his life if he had been willing to renounce
it, but that with very few exceptions they stuck to then-
creed, and with a glorious obstinacy which is the salt of a

142 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
race, preferred death to a life purchased at the price of
disloyalty to their beliefs.
And how well they died ! I am not thinking of pious
death-beds, of men borne up by the hope of exchanging
the short time they had to live in this world for the
eternal happiness of Paradise, but of men in the prime of
life, anxious to be about their business, to provide for
their families, and therefore desirous of living. Here, to
this lovely island of Prinkipo, where I am writing, there
were banished, between 1820 and 1830, great numbers of
Greeks. Daily there came to it from the capital, eleven
miles away, the Sultan's great caique, bringing the
executioner. Mr Walsh, the embassy chaplain, relates
how with a gaiety of heart, a worthy indifference to fate
or contempt of death, they continued their games of
tric-trac when the executioner arrived. He passed
among them, laid his handkerchief on the shoulders of
the men who were to be taken off to death, while the
men themselves continued their game and finished it.
Then those marked rose from their seats, said good-bye
to their friends, and went as gallantly to death as ever
did an aristocrat during the Terror in France. Bravo !
my light-headed Greek friends ; you can brag and be
vainglorious, but you can also die like brave men.
I recognize that I have said some hard things about the
Greeks and their Church ; but both are worth criticizing.
Modern Gieeks have the making of a fine people. They
have admirable qualities. They have life and energy.
More than this, they possess nous — intelligence, brains.
They can think as well as talk. Their commercial
morality wants waking up, and if a Chrysostom or a man
like many of the great teachers of the world should arise
among them, the race might once more come into the
front rank of the world. What they want both in religion
and politics is a few men with clear, plain intelligence, who

THE GREEK CHURCH 143
can see questions concerning their race in their correct
proportion, and will speak and act in accordance with
their insight.
Turkey and its many peoples make one believe in
race. Jew or Armenian or Greek, neither can be exter
minated. They may be oppressed and trodden down,
debased by long centuries of servitude, but, like a tree
which is not rooted out, they will bring forth fruit after
their kind. Disraeli's remark that, while Jews are always
Jews, every nation gets the Jews it deserves, applies also
to Eastern Christians. Give each their chance, and the
quality of the race will be proved. Greeks are the most
numerous of the latter, and they and the Armenians, in
spite of oppression, have for four centuries found the
brains not only for the Turkish government but for the
greater part of the intellectual work in the country.
Many of the best as well as the ablest men in the Turkish
service have been Gieeks. Far and away the ablest
minister of foreign affairs who has held office during my
residence in the country was Alexander Pasha, one of the
family of Caratheodoris, who have furnished and are
allied to many men who, by their services in Turkey and
abroad, have helped to keep the Tuikish Empire going.
The ablest Turks, many of whom are conscious of hav
ing inherited Chiistian blood, are wise in proclaiming
religious equality if they wish their country to take rank
among the civilized nations of the earth. But of all the
races under the Sultan's rule none are more valuable to
the Turks than are the Greeks.

CHAPTER VIII
THE VLACHS, THE POMAKS, THE JEWS, AND DUNMAYS
Origin name Vlach — Early notices of Vlachs — Probably a Latin
people and among earliest settlers in peninsula — Pomaks possibly
descendants Thracians — Why Moslems — Probably converted Adop-
tionists — Jews — Some descendants of ancestors who have always resided
in country — Others exiles from Spain — Dunmays professing Islam but
keeping Jewish practices — Story of Sabbatai Sevi, founder of sect.
BEFORE speaking of any of the larger communities
in European Turkey, it is convenient to notice
three groups of different races and religions who are
found in the Balkan Peninsula. These are the Vlachs,
the Pomaks, and the Jews. The first two are exclusively
European peoples.
The Vlachs
The Vlachs or Wallachs are widely dispersed through
Macedonia. They are of the same race as the Rumanians
and speak the same variety of what may be called Latin
language, except that there are certain dialectical peculi
arities in various districts due to the fact of their con
tiguity with Slavs and Greek. Little is recorded of the
early history of the Vlachs. Sir Charles Elliot thinks
that the origin of the name Vlach is to be found in the
Polish word for " Italian," and that it was applied to the
Vlachs because of their Latin speech.1 The suggestion
does not appear to me to be necessary. Vlach or Wallach
is a word which appears as Gael, Gaul, Galatia, Wales,
1 " Turkey in Europe," p. 414.
144

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 145
and Welsh. It usually signifies foreigners or foreign.
Of course no native speaks of his own people as foreigners.
The Vlachs of Macedonia call themselves Rumani, or
Armani, that is Romans, just as the largest group of the
race call their country Rumania. In the time of Trajan
such country was called Dacia, and as it is known to
have been a Roman convict colony, a common explana
tion of the existence of a people speaking a form of Latin
was that its inhabitants were the descendants of the
colonists. The further particular was then added that
they subsequently crossed the Balkans and spread into
Macedonia and penetrated even as far south as into
Greece. But the explanation fails for want of evidence
when it is suggested as a reason why the Vlachs exist
throughout the Balkan Peninsula. Even the assertion
that the modern Rumanians are the descendants of the
Trajan colonists was denied some forty years ago by
Rossler, who claimed that the first mention of a Roman
settlement north of the Danube is not before 1222.
But we have notices of the Vlachs extending from the
Pindus range in what is now Northern Greece right up
into the Carpathians and across the peninsula almost
to the Black Sea centuries earlier. Procopius, in the
later half of the sixth century, gives the names of Illyrian
fortresses in what may be called Rumanian Latin. A
little later, in 587, soldiers of the Greek Emperor are
represented as using such expressions as torna, frate (turn,
brother). Cedrenus, about 976, speaks of the murder of
the brother of Samuel, the Bulgarian King, by certain
Vlach wanderers. Anna Comnena, in 1080, mentions
them as existing in Thessaly. She describes how a
certain general in Macedonia received orders to enlist
as many soldiers as he could. These were not to be
veterans but raw recruits, both for cavalry and foot,
taken from the Bulgarians, " and from the wandering

10

146 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
people commonly spoken of as Vlachs," or any others
who might offer themselves.1
About the same time the Jewish traveller Benjamin
of Tudela gives an interesting paragraph about them.
Travelling in Southern Macedonia, he says that he
reached the country of Wallachia, whose inhabitants are
called Vlachs. " They are as nimble as deer and descend
from their mountains into the plains of Greece, robbing
and collecting booty. Nobody ventures to make war
on them, nor can any king bring them under subjection.
Their names are of Jewish origin, and some even say they
have been Jews. When they meet an Israelite they will
plunder but not kill him, as they do the Greeks. They
profess no religious faith."
When Benjamin wrote we are in the period of the
Crusades, and the chroniclers of the Crusades speak of
Macedonia as Great Wallachia.2 His short account
suggests that the Vlachs were highlanders. Most of
them are mountaineers to the present day, and many
prefer a wandering life as owners and leaders of pack-
horses. They were of a different race from the ordinary
subjects of the emperor, whom Benjamin here and else
where speaks of as Greeks. Their religion was not that
of the Greeks. He thought they had none. Suppose that
they belonged to the Adoptionists, Bogomils, or Pauli-
cians, who would not tolerate worship of the Virgin or the
saints, objected to icons, and to most of the outward and
visible emblems of Christian worship which the Greeks
had incorporated into their Christian worship from
paganism. They would be regarded by the Orthodox,
as we know that these so-called heretics were, as atheists,
men of no religion. My conjecture is that they were
1 "Anna Comnena," Bonn edition: — 'Octroi re ix Bov\y&pon>, iea.1
oiroaoi rbv vofiAda (Slou dXovro (jSXdx0"5 To&rovs T) Koirf/ Ka\e?v olde SuiXeKTOS,)
Kai toi)s tLXhodev e"| airaawv twv xuP^v ^px°/i^*'ol's iinreas re Kai Tefofa.
8 /ie7<i\a B\ax«a.

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 147
such heretics. It is possible of course that they were
pagans, but in such case they would probably have been
spoken of under that name or qualified as idolaters.
However this may be, the mention of them suggests
that in Benjamin's time they were a people who for
some reason or other lived apart from the subjects of
the emperor. Near the close of the twelfth century
a Vlacho-Bulgarian kingdom was established. Pope
Innocent III. addresses John Asam, one of its two lead
ing chiefs as a Vlach, and of Roman descent. Ville-
hardouin, the chronicler of the Fourth Crusade, expressly
says that Asam was a Vlach.
In the twentieth century the Vlachs in Turkey are
often regarded as Greeks because they belong to the
Orthodox Church. Their villages are hidden away in
valleys near the summits of mountains. The largest
clusters of them are found in the Pindus range, on the
north-west boundary of Greece and the adjoining country
of Macedonia. Metsova is the town which has the
largest proportion of Vlachs. But small settlements
exist all over Macedonia and in Servia, to say nothing
of thousands in Transylvania and Hungary. Every
where the Vlachs are industrious. Some are wealthy.
They nearly all now belong to the Orthodox Church, and
until thirty years ago seem never to have thought it
necessary to have a separate Church. Rumania has
claimed it for them, and attaches more importance to
obtaining it than do the Vlachs who are Turkish
subjects. While it is not denied that the Vlachs are of one race
and language, there are certain differences between them
due to their environment. Those of South Macedonia,
about the Pindus range, who are known as Kutzo- Vlachs,
have been for centuries intermixed with Greeks and
have been under the influence of the Orthodox Church.

148 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Further north the tendency of the Vlachs has been to
wards the Roman Catholic Church.
My explanation of the presence at an early date of the
Vlachs in the Balkan Peninsula is that they were
members of that branch of the Aryan race to which the
Latins belonged who in later years had taken refuge in
the mountains from Greeks, Slavs, Goths, Avars, and
other enemies. This would imply that they were
amongst the earliest settlers in the peninsula. I suggest
that Rumanian Latin, Latin of the Elder Rome, the
language of the Gauls, of the ancient Britons and Erse,
were all closely allied branches of a common language.
It has been shrewdly conjectured that the soldiers of
Julius Caesar got on well with the Gauls because each
could understand the other. It is hardly probable that
the first horde of immigrants, speaking the language
from which all the Latin tongues are derived, when they
entered Europe from Asia, would have passed over the
fertile country south of the Danube without leaving
many settlers. Hence, I conclude, that the large numbers
of Latin-speaking Vlachs now found in Servia and
Hungary, as well as scattered throughout the whole of
the western portion of the Balkan Peninsula, are the
descendants of an ancient race, possibly of settlers as
old as the ancestors of the Albanians. They may be
descendants of the Thracians dispersed and driven to
the hills, though some of the place-names usually con
sidered Thracian have not a Latin sound about them.
The Pomaks
In and near the Rhodope Mountains, partly in Mace
donia and partly in Eastern Rumelia, are found a
number of people known as Pomaks. They are popularly
believed to be Bulgarians who became Moslems in order
to preserve their lands. The explanation is open to

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 149
doubt. Though their language gives some support to
this theory, since it is largely made up of Slav words,
their appearance causes hesitation. Many of them have
light or reddish hair and delicate features. It has been
conjectured with some plausibility that they, possibly
like the Vlachs, are descendants of the original Thracians,
who were driven westward to the hills by successive
invasions, first of Greeks and then of Slavs. If so, their
change of refigion may be due to a cause other than that
just mentioned. It is possible that their ancestors, fike
a considerable portion of the population of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and of Macedonia itself, were Adoptionists
or Bogomils.
In order to explain my meaning, I must make a short
digression. A great heresy, existing almost certainly in
the fourth century, spread from Armenia and its neigh
bourhood to Macedonia, to Bohemia, to Italy, and pro
bably to Britain. For convenience' sake we may call its
professors Adoptionists. They were also known as
Paulicians, not after St Paul, but from a certain Paul of
Samosata, who was the typical Adoptionist. At a later
period they were known in the Balkan Peninsula as
Bogomils. They obtained their name from the doctrine
that Jesus became Christ and Son of God at His baptism.
God on that occasion adopted Him and remained in
dwelling in Him. They repudiated or attached fittie
importance to the Christian sacraments. But they
maintained that God was imminent in the Elect. They
disliked ecclesiastical vestments, objected to the adora
tion of the Virgin and to the worship of icons. Speak
ing generally, they represented a Hebrew rather than a
Hellenistic tendency. Like our own Puritans, they were
greatly attached to Old Testament teaching. But the
distinguishing mark of the Adoptionists was their piety,
resulting from their belief in an indwelling God. Many

150 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
of their devout men tried to live up to the theory that
their bodies were the temples of the Holy Spirit. They
regarded the rites and ceremonies of the Church as
remnants of paganism. In some respects they recall
our own Quakers. They were undemonstrative pietists
who rejoiced in contemplation and in pious ecstasy.
They were searchers after the Inner Light. It can
hardly be doubted that the charges brought against them
of rejecting some of the doctrines of the Church were
well founded. Throughout Macedonia and Southern
Bulgaria they formed a considerable portion of the
Christian population during the thirteenth and two
following centuries, their chief centre being at Dragovitza.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina they were more numerous
still, and their influence spread into Bohemia and cul
minated there in the movement headed by John Huss.
The Council of Basle formally condemned the Bogomil
heresy in 1435. At that time, in Bosnia and Herze
govina, the so-called heretics were between the hammer
and the anvil ; for Roman Catholics on one side and the
Orthodox Church on the other persecuted them with
relentless pertinacity. To escape persecution they had
invited the Turks to enter Bosnia as early as 1415. They
were Protestants, and they seem to have regarded Islam
as a form of Protestantism which on the whole was
preferable to the paganism of the Orthodox Church.
It is worthy of remark that other Christian dissenters
under the empire had similar tendencies. They were
at one with the object of protesting against what they
regarded as pagan practices.
Now contemporaneously with the spread through the
centuries of this heresy among Christians a religious
movement of importance had been going on among the
Mahometans. From the time of the Prophet himself
there had always been two tendencies in Islam ; the one,

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 151
attributable to Persian influence, was spiritual though
pantheistic. The Caliph Ali himself showed this tend
ency, and the members of the Shiah branch of Mahome
tanism, who are his followers, have felt such influence to
a remarkable extent. The movement in question has
long taken definite form, the pietistic forms of Islam
having developed into many sects known as dervishes.
While the majority of the Turks are Sunnis, nearly all
the many sects of dervishes in Turkey are really, though
not all nominally, followers of Ali. In Turkey the ulema
represent the theological and formalist side of Islam ;
the dervishes the refigious and spiritual side. It may be
taken as a rule even now that when a Turkish Moslem
becomes seriously and devoutly inclined he becomes a
dervish. Sultan Mahmud, the " Reformer," who sup
pressed the Janissaries, belonged to the dervish order of
Mevlevis. The actual Sultan Mahomet V. is reputed to
belong to the same order.
The teaching and refigious influence of Islam as repre
sented by its spiritual side appealed to the pietistic
Christian heretics.
The districts which the Pomaks inhabit were occupied
to some extent by adherents of the Adoptionist heresy
during the Middle Ages. Their principal church at
Dragovitza was long regarded as the mother church, even
by the Cathari or Albigenses.
When the Turks took possession of Rumelia, most of
the Bogomils of the plains about Philippopolis conformed
to the rites of the Orthodox Church. But while conform
ing outwardly they kept their own organization and
were in consequence fiercely persecuted. To escape this
they joined the Church of Rome in the eighteenth
century. The Bogomils of the hills, however, passed over
into Islam, as did most of the people of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, in order to escape the tyranny of the

152 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Churches, and because they befieved its refigion to be
more in conformity with their own than the Orthodox.
The converted or perverted Bogomils of the Rhodope,
if this conjecture be well founded, became the modern
Pomaks. I give this suggestion as plausible, but the
subject has never been carefully examined.
Among the refugees who have entered Turkey during
the last forty years to avoid being under Christian rule
in Bulgarian or in Austrian territory, none furnish so
valuable an element as the Bosniaks and Pomaks. Both
races are industrious and honest. They are everywhere
regarded as good neighbours. In this respect they
compare most favourably with Circassian immigrants,
who soon come to be on " shooting at sight " terms, even
with their Mahometan neighbours.
The Jews
In the absence of trustworthy statistics it is im
possible to say how many Jews are found in Turkey.
My impression is that they number about three hundred
thousand. They are naturally numerous in Palestine,
though half the Jews there are immigrants who have
entered the country within the last century. Salonika
is the capital of Turkish Jewry. Its Jews are physically
the finest of the race whom I have seen.
In Constantinople there are probably thirty thousand.
They axe mostly poor and reside in two very crowded
villages on the Golden Horn, one at Balata (formerly
Palation, from the neighbouring Palace of Blachernae),
and the other at the village on the opposite shore called
Hasskeui. On the Bosporus there are two populous
villages which they have almost entirely to themselves,
Ortakeui and Kuskunjuk. Many well-to-do Jews, how
ever, reside in Pera. My impression is that there have
been Jews in the capital from a very early period. The

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 153
Spanish writer Benjamin of Tudela gives an interesting
account of his co-religionists in 1170. Their principal
quarter was then in Galata. Frequent mention is made
of them by later writers. Grimston in 1626 states that
they had thirty-eight synagogues in the capital — about
double the number they now possess.1
Let me say in passing that the English and Scotch
Jewish Missions which have schools in Constantinople
and Salonika have done very valuable work. They have
made very few converts, a fact that I cannot say that I
regret ; but their educational work and influence generally
have been wholesome and purely beneficial. Old residents
declare that sixty years ago Jewish women occupied a
much lower social position than they do at present.
Polygamy was common. The women went about veiled.
Few could read or write. It would be easy now to name
many Jewish women who have been educated in the
Mission-schools, who are cultured, and are received in
any society to which their husbands' position entitles
them. Indeed, these schools have raised the Jewish
communities bodily to a higher level.
Speaking generally, the Jew of Eastern Europe leaves
much to be desired. Nowhere is Disraeli's dictum more
applicable, that each nation gets the Jews it deserves,
than in the East of Euope, notably in Russia, Rumania,
and Turkey. The Jew has been better treated in Turkey
than in the two other countries named, which annually
supply Jewish emigrants to Turkey. The Turkish Jew
is superior to his co-religionists from these countries.
It must not be concluded, however, that he has received
any exceptional favour in Turkey. There have been no
favours bestowed on him, but neither has he been
1 Grimston's Description of Constantinople, published in Sir Richard
C Temple's edition of " The Travels of Peter Mundy," p. 185. Hakluyt
Soc, 1907.

154 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
subjected to legislative restrictions in regard to trade,
commerce, or industry. He has been left severely alone.
The average Turk has tolerated but despised him. The
lower class of Christians, the Greeks in particular, are full
of medieval prejudice against him. But in Turkey, as
elsewhere, he has managed to exist and in some cases to
grow rich.
There are two distinct types of Jews in Turkey which
may be conveniently classed as Spanish, and German or
Polish. The first frequently show delicate features,
with light brown hair and occasionally with blue eyes.
The second have the heavy features with dark hair and
unusually large nose which we see in the race in England.
Most of the so-called Spanish Jews are the descendants of
men who were driven out of Spain in the reign of Ferdi
nand and Isabella. Their language is still Spanish.
Turkey gave them a resting-place and assigned Salo
nika to them as sufficiently distant from the capital.
They have flourished, and are now the most important
commercial element in that city. They are good traders,
will drive a hard bargain, but once it is made, once, as it is
locally expressed, they have given their Sta bene, they
will scrupulously respect it.
Disraeli brings into two of his novels Jews in Syria
who claim to trace their descent and their occupation of
certain estates from a time previous to the destruction of
Jerusalem. I very much doubt whether any family can
support such a claim. There are, however, ancient
families in Palestine proud of their descent, which they
can trace for several centuries. I admit, however, that
if any such families can go back as far as Disraeli sug
gested, they are likeliest to be found in Syria or in the
desert to the east of the Jordan, where, after the fall of
Jerusalem at least, two Jewish States existed and
flourished, and probably kept their race pure in blood.

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 155
In the West, in Gaul and Spain, the suggestion of Renan
appears to me to be justified, that the Jews belonged to
the liberal section who based their religion on the later
prophets, discarded the tribal ceremonials, taught a pure
theism, and accepted good men of other races without any
initiatory rite. It is beyond doubt that the Spanish
Jews have developed a very distinct type which produces
in both men and women handsome specimens of humanity.
Mr Holman Hunt, in his " Finding of Christ in the
Temple," which was painted in Jerusalem, has repro
duced models of both the Spanish and the German Jew,
The Palestine Jew usually resembles the Spanish much
more closely than the German.
Besides these two classes of Jews there are many
indications which show a considerable mixture of
Jewish blood in the population of especially the eastern
part of the empire. I do not speak of the various
Jewish populations of Arabia whom Mahomet defeated
or destroyed, as for example that of Khaiber. It is
sufficient to say that the survivors were absorbed in the
Arab population. But considerable detachments of
Jews — always a prolific race — have been merged into the
Anatolian population. Dr John Peters, the discoverer of
Nippur,1 travelled leisurely across country from the mound
of that name, which is just beyond the south-east boundary
of Mesopotamia, to Palestine, and found many traces of
Jewish settlement. He was convinced that at least
three small Jewish States had existed in that region
after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. There can be
little doubt that these Jews became lost in the general
1 Nippur is the Calneh of Gen. x. 10. The identification was due
to Professor Hilprecht, who had continued the work of exploration
commenced by Dr Peters, and had obtained written records which
go back seven thousand years before Christ, the total result being
quite one of the most brilliant obtained by archaeology during the
last century.

156 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
population. In some places even now the process of
absorption is going on. Mr Hogarth speaks of groups
in Syria who have long resided among Arabs, and who
tend to become " hardly distinguishable from their neigh
bours in tradition and hope." x
Earl Percy, in journeying through the wild districts of
the Hakkiari near the Persian frontier, inhabited by
Kurds and Nestorians, found near Girdi " three villages
occupied by Jews." The date of their immigration was
unknown, " but it is certain that they have resided in the
country from a very early period, and having adopted
the local dress and even the language of their Mussulman
neighbours, are now, except in features, practically
indistinguishable from the Kurds." Earl Percy suggests
that these and others Jews whom he found in consider
able numbers, " not only in Mossul but in pastoral
villages like Diza, Neri, Girdi, and Bashkali, may be the
descendants of one of the numerous Israelitish colonies
which the Kings of Assyria planted in distant portions
of the empire after the fall of Samaria."
Since the revolution of 1908, the Jews in Turkey have
come very distinctly to the front, and now play a very
important part in the government of the country. But
even before that event, Jewish medical men, advocates,
and merchants, formed a valuable part of the community.
The Dunmays
Something must be said of an interesting sect or off
shoot of the Jews. These are Jews who profess Islam.
They are called Dunmays. The name is Turkish for
converts. They form an important part of the popula
tion of Salonika. They are found also in Adrianople and
in other parts of the empire. They openly profess
1 " The Nearer East," p. 184.
2 " Highlands of Asiatic Turkey," by Earl Percy, 245-6.

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 157
Mahometanism and secretly practise the rites of Judaism.
It appears to me probable that they may all in time
become simply Moslems. Their history is known from
trustworthy sources and is interesting. They date only
from the second half of the seventeenth century. Many
accounts of their founder, a certain Sabbatai Sevi (1626-
76), have been written within the last quarter of a
century.1 But the most trustworthy is that furnished
by an exceptionally able British consul, Paul Rycaut, who
resided at Smyrna, the birthplace of the founder and the
scene of many of his doings.
Among both Jews and Christians, but especially among
the Jews, the belief existed in the first half of the seven
teenth century, that in 1666 the Messiah would appear.
The Christians of course looked for the second coming of
Christ ; the Jews for that of the promised and long
expected Deliverer, who should restore the race to a
proud position among the nations. The Jewish refugees
from Spain, victims of religious persecution, had turned
their attention more than ever to the practices and
teaching of their religion, to the hopes and promises of
a divine intervention in favour of the chosen people of
Jehovah, held out to them by their traditions and sacred
books. The study of the Talmud in particular engrossed
their attention. Indeed, the intellectual culture of many
of them was largely confined to its contents. The Koran
itself was not more completely the authority for the
conduct of life among Mahometans than was the Talmud
among pious Jews in the seventeenth century. There
was a veritable rage for interpretation of the sacred text,
1 See in particular, from Jewish sources, a very full and thoughtful
notice of Sabbatai and of the belief in a coming Messiah in the Revue
des Ecoles de V Alliance Israelite : Paris, avril-juin 1902, and also a
very learned paper giving new information regarding the Dunmays,
by Abraham Danon in the Revue des Etudes Juives : Paris, oct.-
decembre 1897.

158 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
and for the verification of prophecies. Every passage,
almost every word, had many explanations. There was
mystery in every sentence. Men studied, worked, and
longed for the discovery of these mysteries, but above all
to find out by what signs the Expected One should be
known. In many synagogues the worshippers prayed
every Sabbath for the coming of the Messiah, and
thousands of pious souls confidently expected his speedy
advent. The attitude of mind among them was one
which, if it were not abundantly proved by trustworthy
evidence, would be incredible. So certain were hundreds
that the advent could not long be delayed that they
neglected business altogether and devoted themselves to
making preparations to meet the expected Deliverer.
Rycaut says that in 1666, having to journey from
Constantinople to Buda, he " perceived a strange
transport in the Jews, none of whom were attending to
their business except to wind up former negotiations
and to prepare themselves and families for a journey
to Jerusalem."
It was an attitude of mind which invited imposture.
The impostor — probably at first an unconscious one —
came in the person of a handsome Smyrna Jew. He was
learned in all kinds of cabalistic literature. He gradually
discovered that he himself had the necessary qualifica
tions and fulfilled the predictions relating to the coming
Messiah. He journeyed to Egypt, to Palestine, to
Salonika, everywhere declaring his divine mission. As
he travelled his pretensions and his belief in his
own mission increased. He met with many adven
tures. The rabbis persecuted him ; he was denounced
as impious and a blasphemer. But every persecu
tion and denunciation served to confirm his own faith
and that of the followers, who everywhere flocked
around him. He was attended by a certain Nathan

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 159
who acted as his Elijah. Nathan predicted the time
when the Messiah should appear before the Sultan, take
away his crown, and lead the grand vizier captive in
chains. By the time he returned to Smyrna in 1665,
the whole empire and the Jews throughout Europe were
full of his doings. It was at Salonika apparently where
the infatuation was keenest. The cry was raised that
the Promised One had come. It was only necessary to
await his signal. Many of the Jews fasted for days till
they fainted. Others tortured themselves in various
ways to render themselves acceptable to the Christ. All
their shops were closed, and nothing was sold except to
get rid of business altogether. The Gentiles would soon
be subject to them, and all that was necessary was simply
to support life till the Messiah should lead them to
their own. Four hundred poor Jews were fed by the
wealthy. When Sabbatai returned to Smyrna, a large section of
the Jews hailed him as he wished. But the " Kochams,"
as Rycaut calls the rabbis, still stood aloof. His sup
porters appealed to the kadi or local judge, but, says
Rycaut, " the kadi, according to the usual custom of the
Turks, swallowed money on both sides and then remitted
them to the determination of their justice " — a delight
fully Turkish proceeding which has happened scores of
times during the last thirty years.
Nevertheless, his supporters at Smyrna daily increased,
and with such increase the pretensions of Sabbatai grew
also. He became either a greater knave or greater fool
than ever, for he added to his title of Messiah that
of " Son of God." Then there happened one of those
strange outbreaks of religious or hysteric mania of which
England had an example in the time of Edward Irving.
Sabbatai's followers fell into ecstasies, and the young
women began in this condition to prophesy. His

160 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
followers demanded a miracle for the confusion of his
enemies. On the occasion of his public visit to the kadi
some of his disciples declared that a pillar of fire suddenly
arose between him and the judge. Some persons swore
they saw it. Others caught up the cry, and the belief
at once spread to nearly all the Jews of the place. The
Messiah's mission was attested by a miracle. Every
man produced his treasure, his gold and jewels,
and offered them as gifts. But Sabbatai prudently
refused to receive them. Was it from principle or
craftiness ?
Shortly afterwards he declared that he was called by
God to leave Smyrna and visit Constantinople, where he
had to fulfil the most important part of his mission.
With a select few of his disciples he took ship and
spent thirty-nine days in making a voyage which is now
done in twenty- two hours. Many, however, went
overland and awaited his arrival. The Jews also in the
capital, when they heard the news, were greatly moved
at the approach of their deliverer.
The grand vizier had often heard of the disputes among
the Jews, but, so long as they only affected Salonika and
Smyrna, did not trouble himself about them. Once it
was announced that the supposed Messiah was on his way
to the capital, his attitude changed. He sent to arrest
him, and on his capture packed him off to one of the worst
prisons in the capital. This step rather increased
Sabbatai's influence, for this again was the fulfilling
of prophecies. He was visited by all that was best in the
Jewry of the capital. One of the most highly esteemed
among them headed a deputation of his co-religionists,
and " during a whole day they stood before him with
eyes cast down, bodies bending forward, and hands crossed
before them," which as everybody knows is the rever
ential manner of standing before a Sultan.

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 161
The Jews in Constantinople were as excited and
credulous as those in Smyrna, and Rycaut relates a
curious story of " some of our merchants," meaning
members of the Levant Company who had debts to
receive from certain of the Jews, and were in doubt now
that the debtors had closed their shops whether they
were going to be paid. So, partly out of curiosity and
partly in hopes of obtaining payment, they went in a
body to see Sabbatai and to complain. The prisoner
heard them, and then wrote to each defaulter a request
that he should pay the " members of the English nation,"
for, if not, " know that you are not to enter with us into
our joys and dominions." Rycaut gives the text of the
circular sent to the debtors.1
After two months' imprisonment in Constantinople, the
grand vizier had to leave on the famous expedition
destined to conquer Crete, and, not thinking it safe to
leave Sabbatai in the capital, sent him as a prisoner to
Abydos, at the east end of the Dardanelles. His removal
once more confirmed the faith of his followers : for, said
they, this prophet has foretold the doom both of the
grand vizier and of the Sultan, and has spoken of putting
the grand vizier in chains, and they would have killed
him had they not known that he was a prophet.
In all probability the Turks regarded him as deli, or
mad, and all madmen and idiots are sacred throughout
Turkey, while injury done to them, besides being
irreligious, brings ill-luck. His prison at Abydos became
a court, and he was visited not only by Turkish Jews, but
by others from Poland, Germany, Italy, and Holland.
Indeed he was now at the zenith of his career. In the
synagogues the letters S.S. were emblazoned to honour
him. He ordered a new form of liturgy to be used in
them which he had himself composed.
1 " The History of the Turkish Empire," from 1633 to 1677.
II

162 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Unfortunately he got into disputes with a rival from
Poland, a man of great reputation, named Nehemiah
Cohen, who claimed that there should be two Messiahs
and that he was one. As they could not agree, Cohen
laid a formal complaint against Sabbatai before the
caimakan of Adrianople of so serious a character that
this officer had to forward it to the government, who at
once ordered Sabbatai's removal to that city. He was
there brought before the Sultan. Now came his chance.
If he could prove his power of working miracles, as his
followers befieved he could, the time for the deliverance
of the Jews was at hand. But Sabbatai, possibly
demoralized by success, showed the white feather.
When asked to reply, he pleaded that he could not
speak Turkish, and asked for an interpreter. One was
allowed. This of itself was a disappointment to his
friends who believed that, as the Messiah and the Son
of God, his tongue would have been loosened into
eloquence in any language. Thereupon the Sultan sug
gested a test of his miraculous powers. He should be
stripped and set as a mark for his skilled archers. If
their arrows missed him, or if his body was proof against
them, then he, the Sultan, would recognize him as
Messiah and the person chosen by Allah to be ruler of
Palestine. Sabbatai's courage failed. He declared that he was
only an ordinary Jew and had no pretentions to
authority. The Sultan replied that, as he had claimed
the right to rule, he was a traitor and must pay the
penalty of treason unless he became a Mahometan. If
he did not, the stake was then ready at the Seraglio
Gate for impalement. Sabbatai immediately declared
that he wished nothing better than to change his religion.
Thereupon the pretender was contemptuously dismissed.
But numbers of his followers refused to believe the

VLACHS, POMAKS, JEWS, AND DUNMAYS 163
master had turned Moslem. His soul had been taken
up to heaven : his ghost walked on earth in the dress
of a Moslem. The rabbis, however, took courage and
proclaimed him an impostor, and his pretentions to be
the Messiah, damnable. In March 1669, he returned to
Smyrna, but shortly afterwards settled in Constantinople,
where he not only practised the rites of Mahometanism,
but advised his followers that he could not persuade
Allah to allow them the promised advantages unless
they would abandon the imperfect elements of Judaism
and follow his example.
He died in 1676. His followers still number many
thousands. They are probably the most numerous
portion of the Jewish population in Salonica. Many
even of the present professing Mahometans in that city
are the descendants of Dunmays.

CHAPTER IX
THE ALBANIANS
Ghegs and Tosks — Vendettas — Treatment of women — Attitude-
towards religions — Bektashis, influence of — Occupations abroad—
Skender Bey — Ali Pasha — Albanian share in revolution 1908-9 —
Future of Albania
THE Albanians, known also as Arnaouts, are a sur
vival of possibly the earliest Aryan race who entered
the Balkan peninsula. They have remained an isolated
people since the earliest historical times, and have sur
vived as a people largely because of their isolation.
With the sea on one side and occupying a mountainous
country, their isolation resembled that of the Scots
highlanders until two centuries ago. On the landward
side there came, at periods which are not yet determined
accurately, other races — Greeks on the south, Vlachs,
Wallachs or Welsh on the east, and an early stream of
Slav-emigrants on the north. The fringes of Albanian
territory show some admixture of these races. But
their advent seems only to have compacted the Albanians
within their present territory and to have completed
their isolation. In Montenegro, however, there is a
famous clan of Albanians, who, though in race, customs
and language they do not differ from their neighbours
in Turkey, are yet loyal subjects of King Nicholas. The
Albanians were estimated half a century ago by Schaf arik
to number about one and a half millions, and probably
this estimate holds good to-day.1 They inhabit the
"¦Mr Brailsford's estimate is 1,250,000; that of Mr Charles H..
164

THE ALBANIANS 165
eastern shore of the Adriatic from and including part
of Montenegro down to the Gulf of Arta and the confines
of Greece. Their eastern boundary is as vague as that
of the Scots highlanders two centuries ago, but may be
represented generally by a line drawn from Kastoria to
Lake Ochrida, thence to Uskub and into the vilayet of
Kossova, in what is often called Old Serbia. Fersovich,
a small town on the railway from Salonica to Mitrovitz,
about equal distance from Prisrend, Uskub, and Pristina,
may be regarded as the entry into Northern Albania from
the north-east.
The Albanians fall into two divisions, Northern and
Southern. Possibly they are two branches of the same
people. The first are known as Ghegs, though they call
themselves Skipetars, probably meaning rock-dwellers.
The second are conveniently spoken of as Tosks, from
the name of the most important clan among them. The
Skumbi river, which flows into the Adriatic just north
of 410 latitude, may be taken as the boundary between
the Ghegs and the Tosks. Prisrend is the most important
centre of the Ghegs ; Koritza of the Tosks. The Ghegs
have square heads, refined features, and usually light
coloured hair. The Tosks have a heavier caste of
features, with darker hair. Among both, however, are
beautiful heads which recall those of classic Greece. All
speak the Albanian language, though with certain dia
lectical peculiarities between the Northerners and
Southerners. In both forms it is a pleasant language
to hear. The Ghegs probably are the representatives
of the ancient Illyrians. The late Professor Max Miiller
concluded that the present Albanian speech is the repre
sentative of the Illyrian tongue. The Tosks, then and
now the inhabitants of Epirus, were spoken of by the
Woods (in the Westminster Gazette of 8th Sept. 1910) is between
1,100,000 and 1,200,000.

166 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ancient Greeks as Pelasgi, and were regarded as a people
more ancient than themselves. The characteristic dress
of the Ghegs is a waistcoat, jacket, and breeches, each
close-fitting, of a white material usually resembling
tweed cloth, braided with black ; that of the Tosks is
the long white petticoat, known as the fustanella, which
the Greeks have taken for the uniform of the king's
guards, known as the Euzones. The Gheg is proud of
his dress, and is a picturesque figure. The Tosk loves
his fustanella as does the highlander his kilt, which it
resembles in shape, though its material is white cotton
instead of wool.
Both Ghegs and Tosks have at times extended beyond
what are now the boundaries of their country. The
Ghegs, though probably of purer race than the Tosks,
have intermingled to a considerable extent with their
Slavonic neighbours. During the seventh and succeed
ing centuries the Croats and other branches of the Slav
races on the Dalmatian coast steadily pushed the
Albanians southwards. During the reign of the Serbian
Czar, Dushan, who died in 1348, the Ghegs flocked to his
standard. The Serbian capital was for a while at
Prisrend, at another time at Uskub or at Scutari in
Albania. Even Arta and Yanina were in his possession.
The existence of many place-names of Slav origin in
dicates a long Slavic occupation. After the coming of
the Turks they and the Ghegs forced the Serbs to retire,
and now not only do Albanians occupy the three towns
mentioned, but they have taken possession of a large
part of the vilayet of Kossova which two centuries
and a half ago was occupied solely by Serbs. The
oppression of the two races drove a number of Serbs,
estimated at a hundred thousand, in about 1680 to
emigrate in mass and headed by their patriarch into
Hungary. The departure of other thirty thousand

THE ALBANIANS 167
followed early in the eighteenth century. Combined
Turkish and Albanian oppression continued, the refugees
finding their way during the first half of the nineteenth
century across into Hungary, but during the later half
into free Serbia. Those who remained had to purchase
the right to live by rendering service to the Albanians,
much as many Armenians had to do towards the Kurdish
chiefs. Mr Brailsford states that at present in the
vilayet of Kossova there are from 20,000 to 30,000
Albanian families against only 5000 Serbian house
holders,1 and he describes the country of the Serbian
serfs under Albanian rule as " the most miserable corner
of Europe." The Northern Albanian out of his own
country proved himself an incompetent tyrant. But the
point to which I here draw attention is that among them
there has been a considerable admixture of Serbian blood.
The Tosks or Southern Albanians have intermingled
with the Vlachs, but especially with the Greeks. In the
Greek War of Independence, Albanians and Greeks
were so intermixed that it is difficult to distinguish
them. What is certain is that the Albanians, whose sons
now reside on Greek territory, largely aided in the
triumph of the Greek cause. The Greek race has at all
times shown a power of assimilating the races among
which they dwell, and the Albanians furnish a striking
illustration of the fact. When Constantinople was
captured in 1204 by the Crusaders and Venetians, the
empire was parcelled out among military chiefs.
Southern Albania, with Yanina as its capital, became a
principality, and Baldwin II. , the last of the Latin
emperors, gave Albania to a member of the House of
Anjou. The Albanians, all of whom were then Christians,
joined with their Greek neighbours to resist the tyrant
from the West. They got on well together, and down
1 Brailsford, " Macedonia," p. 274.

168 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
to the present hour the influences at work for civiliza
tion among the Southern Albanians are derived from
contact with the Greek race and Greek Christianity.
Greek is more spoken among the Albanians even in
Turkey than is Turkish.
Mr Hogarth points out that the fife and characteristics
of the Ghek population is largely due to the peculiar
relief of their country.1 The isolation of the region,
bounded on one side by a malarial swamp and on the
other by a sea without safe harbours and its general
inaccessibility, have prevented its development under
Turkish rule.
Both Tosks and Ghegs are mountaineers. Though the
first are not so tall as the second yet they too are nimble
and active. Throughout Albania the people all belonged
to clans. But while the clan system has largely broken
up among the Tosks, it flourishes in full force in Northern
Albania. Everywhere it recalls the highland clans of
Scotland of two centuries ago.
The people are not only an Aryan people of race, but
are European in their national instincts. Even the
Moslems among them are monogamists. Their sense of
family life is European and not Turcoman. They are
barbarians but they have never assimilated with the
Turks. They marry in their own rank. Their chieftains
are born aristocrats. When it is remembered that the
Turk is of mixed blood and has no family in the Western
sense, and that his heir may be the issue of one of
the slaves whom he has bought, the difference will be
appreciated. The characteristic virtues of the Albanian look like
survivals from the Middle Ages : his vices and occasional
savage energy from probably an earfier period. Loyalty
to the chief of his clan and to his word is his greatest
1 " The Nearer East," p. 229.

THE ALBANIANS 169
virtue. An inborn courtesy is common to the race.
The best fighter is the best man. Every Albanian feels
himself independent except when bound by the ancient
customs of his race. In Northern Albania he re
cognizes no law except that based on such ancient
customs. The Turk has hardly attempted to impose
any other law. Whether in the field or in the market
place he is nearly always armed and is ready to fight on
the smallest pretext. The boy attains manhood when
he can show that he possesses arms which he has captured
from an enemy. His rifle is ever with him. All fire it
as a sign of joy. The Christian summons the congrega
tion to divine service by a definite number of shots.
His instincts are tribal, and he therefore revenges any
insult to himself or his clan by starting a vendetta which,
in case of his own death, is carried on by his relations or
fellow-clansmen, until the bessa is given and ends the feud.
Once this sacramental word is pronounced it is respected
so universally that the man who violates it loses caste in
his tribe. He respects the right of asylum, and even the
enemy is safe who has sought his protection. When
reconciliation has taken place he may consent to make
his enemy a blood brother, each of them puncturing his
arm and sucking a drop of blood from the other. But
even while the vendetta lasts it must be conducted
according to fairly well established customary laws.
The intended victim, who for any cause has become
liable to vendetta, may not be killed when he is accom
panied by a woman or by a child nor when he is with
other men. The parties may agree upon a truce lasting
for a definite number of days or weeks, and the bessa
having been given for such time the intended victim
is safe. If the vendetta is between clans they may agree
that no action shall be taken against the other until an
hour after sunset.

170 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
The causes for which blood may be shed are also fairly
well defined. Murder, of course, is one. But the chivalry
of the race demands the blood also of a man who has
struck a woman. There is usually no secret about a
vendetta. Public opinion requires that for certain
offences a man shall die by the hand of the person or
relative of the person who has been insulted or injured.
When the blood-avenger has killed his man, he pro
claims his deed so that pubfic opinion may recognize
that he has done his duty and saved his honour. There
upon he himself, by the tribal custom, may become liable
to be killed by the relative of his victim. A sort of
Council of Honour exercises jurisdiction over vendetta,
and in certain tribes has large powers. It may burn the
house and crops of the wrongdoer. Miss Edith Durham
states from her own knowledge that " an incredible
amount of food-stuff is yearly wasted and land made
desolate " in consequence of such decisions.1 This is
the more serious because in Albania, as in certain districts
of Bulgaria, there are House Communities containing
sometimes from fifty to a hundred persons. In some
of the tribes the Council has other important powers over
their members. A tribesman belonging to the Northern
Albanians cannot sell his land to others than members
of his clan without the consent of the tribal Council.
There still linger among them many of the communal
proprietary rights which once existed among the whole
Aryan race, and which still exist in the Indian Village
Communities and until recently in the Russian Mir.
An outsider cannot become a member of the clan with
out the consent of the tribal Council, because on being
admitted he takes his share in the communal property.
A tribesman may marry an outsider, but the woman loses
her rights in the tribe she leaves, and, so to say, comes
1 "High Albania," 1909, by M. Edith Durham.

THE ALBANIANS 171
under the patria potestas of her husband or his chief.
An Albanian, whether of the north or south, on being
asked his name will give it with the addition of the
name of his tribe, just as a Scots highlander two centuries
ago would call himself Ian Macleod or M'Tavish.
The Albanian's treatment of woman is mediaeval. It
can hardly be called chivalrous, because the sex is in
no sense glorified or clothed with romantic attributes.
Woman is simply left out of account in most matters.
The wife works in the fields as hard or harder than her
husband. But she nevertheless is respected. She can
fight in case of need as fiercely as her husband. The
presence of a woman acting as a guide to a man is a
protection to him. But her husband leaves her to carry
produce and to do his heaviest work. Among the
Albanians who are Moslems she is not veiled, and in this
respect is treated differently from other Moslem women
in Turkey.
Marriage by capture remains the rule, and this even
among the Mirdites, a large clan in Northern Albania
numbering 30,000, who have been under the influence of
Italian teaching and are Roman Catholics.
About two-thirds of the population of Albania are
Mahometans. The remainder consist of about one-
third Roman Catholics and two-thirds members of the
Orthodox Church. The Moslems and the Roman
Catholics are more numerous in the north, the members
of the Greek Church in the south.1 But throughout
Albania the professors of different creeds get on fairly
well together.
The attitude of the Albanian towards religion is re
markable. Christians and Moslems are before all things
Albanians. Indifference to religion and the strong sense
1 An interesting and valuable article on the Albanians and their
relation to the Latin Church may be read in "Temple Bar," vol. 127,
p. 178, and vol. 129, p. 68, by Reginald Wyon. $

172 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
of nationality as over-riding all other distinctions help
to make them tolerant and create curious results. Until
fifty years ago the custom prevailed in Northern Albania
of bringing up the boys as Moslems, the girls as Christians.
Even now in the Skumbri plain many of the boys are
baptized as well as initiated into Mahometanism. At
home they have Christian names ; officially they have
Turkish. There is no haremlik and salemlik as in a
Turkish house. Many, of both sexes, keep both Lent and
Ramazan. On the same table will be pork for the
•Christians and mutton for the Moslems. Lord Byron,
nearly a century ago, noted that " the Greeks hardly
regarded the Albanians as Christians, or the Turks as
Moslems, and, in fact, they are a mixture of both, and
sometimes neither." x Religion, indeed, has always sat
lightly upon them. I question whether they were ever
much attached to Christianity. A Catholic archbishop,
writing in 1610, says that out of a population of 400,000
in the See of Antivari, 350,000 were Catholics. There
are probably about one-third of that number now. It
is certain that the two-thirds of the total population who
now profess Islam are very loose Mahometans.
On the death of the great national leader, Skender
Bey, in 1467, many of the Albanian chiefs soon found it
to their interest to profess Mahometanism. By their
•conversion they obtained peace and the support of the
Turks against other chiefs. Their followers, with the
feudal attachment to their chiefs and without any great
attachment to Christianity, adopted the creed of their
leaders. Others were attracted to a fife of adventure
in the Turkish Army and adopted the creed of their
comrades. Many, however, who remained at home,
especially women, remained Christians ; many men
became crypto-Christians ; outwardly conformed to
1 " Notes to Childe Harold," Canto n.

THE ALBANIANS 173
Islam, privately maintained Christian practices as do
members of other races in Asia Minor to the present day.
A decision of the Roman Church in 1703, however, forbad
the practice of the secret administration of the Mass
which had been continued among the Ghegs.
The Mahometan Albanians show an amount of tolera
tion which is exceptional among Moslems in Turkey.
Mr Brailsford attributes their toleration in refigious
practice largely to the influence of the Bektashi dervishes
who have for two centuries been among them. The
suggestion appears to me well founded. This Order
from various causes was always tolerant of Christians
and their religion. Hadji Bektash, its most illustrious
member, though not the founder, appears to have been a
man who took the good things Allah had sent in a spirit
of joyous piety. It was he who gave the name of
Janissaries or New Troops to the regiment which Sultan
Orchan formed in 1326 by selecting youths from Christian
families. Until the destruction of the famous corps in
1826 the Bektashi dervishes always maintained their
connection with them, and it is said that as the band was
slaughtered, the men died with the names of Hadji.
Bektash and Allah on their lips. Immediately after the
destruction an Imperial Decree suppressed the Order,
alleging, falsely probably, that in their convents were
demi-jons of wine stoppered with leaves of the Koran.
But the Decree did not put an end to the Order, and their
convents exist in many parts of the Empire, but are
especially influential in Albania. It may be reasonably
conjectured that most of the Janissaries during the first
three centuries of the existence of the corps, all Christians
of origin, who had been torn from their families and
brought up as Moslems, kept up a feeling of kindliness
and kinship for the relations from whom they had been
taken, and that this reacted upon the Bektashis. Indeed.

174 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
many Janissaries, when they retired by reason of age
from active service, became fully admitted Bektashis.
But then as now there were attached to the Order a
great number of lay brethren. It is certain that to
this hour the numbers of the Order, both initiated and
lay, are well disposed to all who are doing humanitarian
work, and their influence everywhere favours religious
toleration. I could mention several instances in con
firmation which have come under my own observation.
Let me tell a story in illustration : a friend of my own
had been settled for a year in a village where the popula
tion was about equally divided between Moslems and
Christians. He had passed his time in learning the two
languages spoken there, and in practising medicine. He
had often observed an old Bektashi sheik in the street,
followed by a number of disciples who crowded round to
hear his words. My friend had taken him for a
Moslem fanatic, and had carefully avoided him. One
day, however, he had to pass the Bektash who was on
the opposite side of the way. The old man beckoned
to him to cross the road, and, with some hesitation, he
did so. The sheik took him by the hand, linked his arm
in his own, and, turning to his disciples, said something
like the following : "I am very old, and Allah will soon
take me home, but I request you, my children, to take
a legacy from me. I give you this man to take special
care of. I have watched him since he came to our town,
and he has done nothing but good. Some of you may
say he is a ghiour, but I don't care for that. Whether
he says his prayers in the name of Mahomet, may his
holy name be praised ! or whether he says them in the
name of Jesus, may His holy name be praised ! does
not matter to me. He has been doing no evil but only
.good, and I therefore charge you to take care of him
:for my sake."

THE ALBANIANS 175
The same friend many years afterwards took up his
residence with his family in what was then a purely
Turkish village near the Capital, but in which a Bektashi
convent exercised influence. The fanatical part of the
population were bitterly opposed to the residence of any
Christians in their village. They threw stones, called
ghiour after him, and made themselves generally dis
agreeable. He soon, however, made friends with the
sheik of the Bektashi convent. His noble life gradually
won the esteem of his Moslem neighbours, and when, in
1901, he was carried in a chair from his house to the
water-side in order to embark on a voyage, during which
he died, the Moslem villagers extemporized a procession
to wish him God-speed. The Iman's wife, who had been
the leader of the opposition, led the women and ex
temporized a litany, " This is a good man, Allah, send
him back to us." Fervent Amins followed. " He has
been good to us, Allah ; give him health. He has
helped our poor, saved our children," and so on till my
friend embarked. It was a pathetic sight, showed the
influence of the Bektashis, and proved once more that
there is a good deal of human nature in men, irrespective
of their creeds.
The Albanian is an honest barbarian. He is sensitive,
has a keen sense of honour, and a fine self-respect. He is
never a coward and never mean. He is ready to turn
highwayman, but not to pilfer or cadge. His trust
worthiness, activity and tidy, not to say picturesque,
appearance, makes him a favourite in Turkey. His
mountains furnish him only with a scanty living, and,
largely from this cause, many Albanians as well as Croats
and Montenegrins leave their country to take service in
distant lands especially in Constantinople. Many become
horse-dealers, especially from the Northern Albanians.
They are found in Constantinople as road-makers, as

176 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
guardians, body-servants, gardeners, and soldiers. The
Turkish Army has long been as great a resource for the
superfluous energy of the Albanian mountaineers as
was the British Army a century ago for Highlanders.
As road-makers and unskilled labourers, the Albanian
has little to differentiate him from the Italian labourer
out of his own country. As body-servants and guardians
they are invaluable. They are ornamental as well as
useful. Visitors to Constantinople are often struck
with the gorgeous appearance of the cavasses before the
doors of embassies, banks, or the houses of wealthy
citizens. These men, constantly mistaken for Turks
by visitors, are pretty sure to be Albanians, Montene
grins or Croats. The man chosen is handsome, proud of
his bright dress, his one or two revolvers, and his dagger.
The Albanian and the Croat, who is often half Albanian,
make excellent guardians on account of their honesty.
On all sides their trustworthiness and truthfulness are
acknowledged. If I mention my own experience it is
simply as typical of what hundreds of residents in Turkey
could confirm from their own. During the last thirty
years we have had a summer residence in the island of
Prinkipo, which we have occupied during five or six
months annually. On leaving it year after year for one
in Pera, our furniture, household effects, summer clothing,
books and ornaments are left in the house, in rooms
which are not even locked. A gardener, at one time an
Albanian, at another a Croat, has been left in charge, and
on. our return to the island in the spring we have never
found anything missing. Most of the neighbouring
houses, all of which are closed during winter, are similarly
guarded by Albanians or Croats who usually agree well
together. They are proud of their charge. Robbery
from one house would be felt as a stain upon all the
guardians. Our usual word on leaving for the winter is,

THE ALBANIANS 177
*' We leave everything to you." The answer is, " On
my head be it."
Many other positions of trust are held by them in
Constantinople and throughout all the western portion
of the empire. They are bank-messengers, door-keepers,
and gardeners, and are employed by many merchants
who wish to have men who can be trusted absolutely.
They are popular in such employ, not only from their
honesty nor merely from their picturesque appearance,
but because they are lively and always seem wide-awake.
The Turk in a similar position, though equally trust
worthy, looks usually sleepy, and as if he wished to
be " making kef." I should not wish to leave the
impression that they are the only men who, in such posi
tions, are trustworthy. The uneducated classes of all the
populations in the empire are usually honest when
in positions of trust. Armenian and Turkish hamals
or porters who are in a foreigner's employ are quite as
trustworthy as Englishmen of the same class would be.
My own hamals have always been either Armenians or
Turks, and have cashed many thousands of pounds, and
I do not believe that any of them has ever stolen a
penny. Service in the Turkish army long afforded to the
Albanian the most promising career. Where there is
fighting to be done he is happy. He is willing to under
take the commonplace work of paving or road-making,
of gardening or of watchman, when necessity compels
him to leave his native mountains. But the life which
appeals to him is that of the soldier in time of war.
Until half a century ago it was military service under the
Turks which offered the great and almost the sole induce
ment to leave Albania. It has been to his race the great
attraction during the last two centuries. Though all

178 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
were Christians when the Turks first entered then-
country, gradually the allurements of soldiering led
many of them to join the army. Von Ranke says that
when the Albanians began to change they went over to
Islam in masses. While thinking the statement too
general, it is certain that the liking for military life largely
resulted in the adoption of Mahometanism, sometimes
even by whole clans. In other cases military service
reacted upon the clans from which the men came by
creating a friendly feeling which softened the asperities
of Turkish rule.
The Albanians were at first mixed with the other
troops, but soon came to be considered the favourite
soldiers of the Porte. They never had the reputation of
being readily amenable to discipline. But they were
especially useful to the Sultans in suppressing revolts
among other subject races. For this purpose, in the
latter half of the eighteenth, and the first half of the
nineteenth century they were employed against Arabs,
Egyptians, and Greeks. The great movement in Egypt in
1811, which placed the present dynasty on the Khedivial
throne, was led by a conspicuously able man, Mehmet
Ali, who had a genius for warfare and administration,
which, under other circumstances, might have produced a
Napoleon. Mehmet Ali was an Albanian who had settled
in Cavalla at the head of the ^Egean Sea.
But the Albanians, though largely trusted by the
Sultans to put down revolt, were seldom to be de
pended upon themselves, unless kept actively employed.
The independence of the mountaineers made them
uneasy under a discipline which they regarded as
degrading. The same observation still holds good. Mr Brailsford
mentions the case of a Turkish officer who, in 1904, struck
a private soldier . " The whole garrison went into

THE ALBANIANS 179
mutiny, until it had found and slaughtered the erring
lieutenant." 1
The turbulent spirit of the Albanian troops led at
various times to attempts to bring the whole of their
country under complete subjection. Up to the present
time this has never been done. Urquhart, the great
philo-Turk Englishman of the middle of last century, and
a man of deservedly great influence in his day, claimed
indeed that Sultan Mahmud the second, in the first
quarter of the century, had subjugated the Albanians.
Mahmud had done nothing of the sort. He had done
what his predecessors had done, had sent overwhelming
armies into the country; had killed many persons, had
destroyed crops and burnt houses. Then the troops had
retired, and in a few years the Albanians were as unsub-
jugated as ever. Even now, there are clans which pay
no taxes. The district north of Avlona and the back
country into the mountains care nothing for the tax-
gatherer and such law as is administered is not in many
districts of Albania the law applicable elsewhere to the
empire, but is a general summary of the tribal customs.
The two Albanians who are best known in history are
George Castriotes, more commonly spoken of as Skender
or Iskender (that is, Alexander) Bey and Ali Pasha.
They are distinctly representative of the best and worst
side of Albanian character. Each figures as a National
hero. The first lived and made his name renowned
1 "Macedonia," p. 224. While revising these pages a somewhat
similar incident occurred in Constantinople. On the 28th March 191 1,
a German officer struck an Albanian while at drill. The Albanian
a few minutes afterwards shot him. When brought into the presence
of the dying officer, and asked why he had shot his officer, his reply,
given in the Turkish semi-official paper Tanin, was, " I shot you
because you ill-treated me and humiliated me before my comrades.
I would have done the same to my own father." He was publicly
shot.

180 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
throughout Europe in the middle of the fifteenth century.
The second made Turkey and Western Europe ring with
his bravery and misdeeds from 1790 to 1822. Each was
a daring and skilful soldier. To Ali Pasha, however, must
be assigned a special strain of perfidy and cruelty.
Skender Bey was Christian by birth, the son of the
chief of a clan who had been defeated and compelled
to give his four sons as hostages to Sultan Bayazid. He
went through a series of adventures which recall those
of Garibaldi. Though he was without the humane and
chivalrous qualities which characterized the Italian hero,
he showed a like skill in guerilla warfare, and a like
recklessness of danger. During the later years of his
life, and for long after his death in 1467, he was regarded in
Italy and elsewhere as a Christian hero.
He left no successor capable of carrying on successful
war ; and before many years had passed, the Albanians
came, at least nominally, under Turkish rule.
The other Albanian whose name was well known in
Western Europe was Ali Pasha of Yanina, a consummate
master of intrigue, an inchoate statesman, an able soldier,
but a treacherous and cruel tyrant. He is a good illus
tration of the type of man which Turkish tyranny
developes among able and semi-independent races. He
is often mentioned in the correspondence of Lord Byron,
and his later history forms part of the story of the revolu
tion which led to the independence of Greece. That
story itself has a happy issue. No Englishman in the
twentieth century who knows anything of the history of
Greece in the eighteenth century, and who has visited
that country, can be otherwise than satisfied that the
fatal blow to the Turkish power in Greece given at
Navarino by the combined fleets of Great Britain,
France, and Russia was wisely struck. Though for
political purposes the British Government spoke of it in

THE ALBANIANS 181
intentionally vague language as an " untoward event,"
its results were to create a nation whose remarkable
progress has been witnessed by the world with satisfaction.
If the story be true that William, afterwards the fourth
king of that name, wrote on the dispatch to his old
shipmate, Sir Edward Codrington, who was in command
of the three fleets, " Go it, Ned," and that this pre
cipitated the action, we may regard the act as a happy
indiscretion. But the story of the revolution, always bearing in mind
its happy issue, is grim and ugly. It is one of struggles
between Greek and Albanian generals who distrusted
each other, of contests between primates, of warfare of
one section against another for the glorification of private
levenge, of personal jealousies, of blood-feuds, treacheries,
desertions to the Turks and back again, of intrigues, of
political and private murders in the name of patriotism ;
of the murder of prisoners on both sides, and withal of
splendid acts of bravery by land and sea ; it was a period
of chaos, of wild confusion, the struggles of slaves with
great and glorious traditions but also with the vices of
slaves, to become free. The idea of patriotism seemed
at times to be entirely forgotten in the desire for selfish
triumph. Fortunately, on the Turkish side, there was still
more corruption among the officers and a brutality
which constantly helped to weld the Greeks together.
In all this medley of treachery and hard fighting the
Albanians took a prominent part. It is estimated that
even fifty years ago there were a hundred thousand of
them within the kingdom of Greece, and the numbers
were probably larger in the early part of the century.
Under happier rule these are rapidly becoming merged
among the subjects of King George, because whatever
may be said of Greek foreign policy it must never be
forgotten that the rule of their country by the Greeks

182 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
has been, on the whole, a great success, and is infinitely
preferable to that which preceded the revolution. They
have passed from barbarism to civilization.
When the struggle to throw off the Turkish yoke began,
many of the Albanians made common cause with the
Greeks. When Ali Pasha the Albanian was appointed by the
Sultan about 1790, to be Vali of Yanina, he was already
forty-five years old. Born near Avlona, he must be
counted as a Southern Albanian. To the south of
Yanina the mountain ranges were nearly inaccessible, and
on many occasions the Turkish troops sent against him,
when he sought refuge in the hills, utterly failed to take
the positions. He had succeeded in getting named as
Vali after defeating several neighbouring chiefs, after
procuring the murder of his father-in-law and sub
sequently of his brother-in-law, and after himself stabbing
a Vali, who had been given a position he wanted for
himself. When he obtained the Vilayet his power in
Southern Albania was nearly absolute. He defeated the
chiefs of the clans around him. He encouraged the
Greeks in rebellion, and aided them with his own
Albanian troops, doing this while always in the Sultan's
service. He played off one revolutionary party against
another, as well as Turks against Christians, always
constant to the one purpose of making himself sole
independent ruler. He intrigued with the French under
Napoleon, against the English, and with the English
against the French.
Sometimes he took French officers to drill his troops ;
sometimes English. He was relentless and brutal to all
who opposed him. One of the incidents in connection
with his career, which is best known, is connected with the
small district called Sufi, between Yanina and the Gulf
of Arta. It was occupied by Christian Albanians, and

THE ALBANIANS 183
so strong in its independence from its natural position
as almost to constitute a republic. There were in it
about sixty villages, but only 1500 fighting men. Many
attempts had been made by Turkish troops to capture
the place, but the Suliots had always successfully resisted.
Ali himself determined to annex it. He made his first
attempt as early as 1792, with an army four times the
number of the Suliots, and failed. During several
years he endeavoured to bribe the Suliots into sub
mission, but always without success. In 1800 he again
attacked them. Their trusted leader, Botzaris (not to
be confused with Marco of that name) , was absent. After
a fierce struggle against almost ever whelming numbers,
the strength of the Suliots was broken. In 1803 orders
were sent to Ali, by the Sultan, to capture Suli at all costs.
The Suliots fought like heroes, and were led by a priest
named Samuel whose curious cognomen was " Last Judg
ment." When, by means of treachery, the approaches
to Suli had been captured Samuel refused to capitulate,
and, as the place was being taken, deliberately blew up
the powder magazine, destroying many friends and him
self. Some few escaped to a neighbouring place called
Kiapha, and subsequently to one of the Ionian islands.
When relief or further endurance was quite hopeless,
six men and twenty-two women threw themselves over
a precipice in order to escape falling into the hands of the
blood-thirsty Ali. This appears to be the simple narrative
of the deed. Heroic in itself it is one which has grown
in the Greek imagination to a dramatic picture of a band
of Suliot women circling round with joined hands in the
old Pyrrhic dance, as they still circle in dozens of places
throughout Greece on great feast days, and as the circle
passed near the edge of the precipice each one in turn
flung herself or himself over while the circle was im
mediately completed by the remainder, until all had

184 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
voluntarily sought the doom which should save them
from the brutality of Ali and his soldiers.
Ali resisted the Sultan for nearly twenty-five years.
His success secured him the admiration of his neighbours.
His rule, when once it was firmly established and recog
nized, /was not bad. Colonel Leake, who at the time
visited almost every part of Ali's dominions, states that
he " always encouraged education among the Greeks.
He got rid of highway robbers, built roads and bridges,
treated Christians and Moslems on an equality " ; but
that he was a selfish tyrant is attested by all witnesses.
Though calling himself a Moslem, he treated all cults
with indifference, and it is suggested that he specially
encouraged the Dervish order of Bektashis, because
they were regarded by the Turks as infidels, or, at least,
as men regarding all religions as he himself did with
equal favour.
In 1822, he received the Sultan's promise of pardon and
a safe conduct to Constantinople, and upon this promise
he surrendered. There are various accounts as to how
he came by his death, the commonest being that the day
after he had set out for the Capital he was beheaded. The
British Chaplain in Constantinople, Dr Walsh, who was
in that city in 1822, saw the head of Ali exposed to public
view. It was buried in the great cemetery outside the
landward walls and immediately opposite the Silivria
Gate. The traveller now has pointed out to him the
tombstone of Ali the Albanian, and those of his brothers
and three sons.
As recently as 1880 it looked as if a united Albania
might be possible, at least among the Ghegs. But the
movement turned out to be nothing more than one of
Abdul Hamid's futile attempts to frighten Europe. The
time was an anxious one in Constantinople and in England.
The Berlin treaty had decided that Antivari and its sea

THE ALBANIANS 185
coast should be given to Montenegro.1 Abdul Hamid,
however, refused to consent to any surrender of territory.
Mr Gladstone, after negotiations had failed to persuade
him, induced the European Powers to make a naval
demonstration in the Adriatic. But this also appeared
to be on the point of failure. All the men-of-war of the
Powers retired except those belonging to Great Britain.
The Sultan and the enemies of England were in high glee.
But they did not know that they had to deal not only
with Mr Gladstone, but with one of the ablest Ambas
sadors England ever sent abroad, Mr Goschen. The
latter went to the Palace and delivered an ultimatum.
If the Sultan did not yield, England would occupy a
Turkish seaport until he did. It was a message which
tried a man's mettle, and I learned at the time that Mr
Goschen's lips trembled as he gave it. Nevertheless the
Sultan still refused. Sealed orders were sent to the Fleet,
as the world learned a few months afterwards when a
Blue Book told the story, to sail for and occupy Smyrna.
The signals for departure were actually " bent on,"
ready to be shaken out, when a boat was observed pulling
with all haste for the fleet, and a man in its stern waving
something energetically. It turned out to be the British
Consul bringing a telegram from Mr Goschen stating that
the Sultan had given way.
Meantime, in order to alarm the Powers a great fuss
was made of an " Albanian League " which was going to
do wonders if the Powers persisted. A native prince,
Dodo by name, Chief of the Mirdites, whose capital is at
Oroski, had been placed at the head of the League, every
man of which was to shed his blood for the defence of
Ottoman territory. When Abdul Hamid yielded he had
no further need of Dodo, who soon found that Western
1 Certain modifications were made, and a definite arrangement was
only signed on 18th April 1880. See Nouradoungian's " Recueil des
Treaties," p. 260, vol. ii. The articles in the Berlin Treaty are 28 and 29.

186 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Europe suited him better than Albania. He returned
to Turkey after the Revolution.
Many Albanians who have received some amount of
instruction have risen to high offices in the State. They
have intelligence and a dignity and courtesy of manner
which makes a favourable impression. The Grand
Vizir, Ferid Pasha, who held office until the revolution of
July 1908, is a pure Albanian. He is a typically hand
some man, and always impressed me with his airs of
manliness and straightforwardness.
The Albanian regiments in Constantinople were trusted
from his accession by Sultan Abdul Hamid, who during
all his reign had never less than five thousand Albanian
soldiers as his guard at Yildiz. Indeed the favours he
showered upon them caused much jealousy among other
troops. These favours were not confined to the Albanian
guard ; for, in order to stand well with their race gener
ally, and to be able to employ them against the Serbians,
Montenegrins and Bulgarians, taxes were allowed to
remain uncollected, and their chiefs were permitted to do
almost what they liked. During the seven or eight years
preceding the revolution, they opposed the introduction
of reforms in Macedonia urged by the Powers and
nominally accepted by Abdul Hamid.1 When outrages
of an exceptional character occurred, the Sultan's
excuse to prevent the execution of the reforms, was that
the Albanians had got out of hand. The excuses
deceived no ambassador.
The Albanians played an important though unexpected
part in Macedonia in precipitating the revolution in
July 1908. The intention of the Committee of Union
and Progress was to make their demonstration and
1 Mr Brailsford's book on Macedonia is especially valuable for
showing how the reforms suggested by Europe were for the most part
evaded.

THE ALBANIANS 187
demand for constitutional government on the anniversary
of the Sultan's accession, namely, the ist September.
Abdul Hamid, however, had been informed by the be
ginning of July, and probably a fortnight earlier, of what
the Committee was doing and of the disaffection in the
third army corps stationed in Macedonia. He had sent
forty spies, almost ostentatiously, to scent out the dis
affected. Shemshi Pasha was at Monastir ready to
repress revolt, and on every side precautions against a
rising were being taken. These incentives to speedy
action, however, might not have been sufficient to make
the Committee change their plans. Their proposed
enterprise was full of risk, but the Committee believed that
so long as their project was not generally known, every
week or even day would enable them to strengthen their
position. They wished to act with great caution and
not to precipitate a hasty movement which would be
ruthlessly ended. An incident at Uskub helped to force
their hands. In that town there were certain drinking
shops and cafes chantants which belonged to Austrian
subjects. They hoisted the flag of their nation to show
that they were under its protection. The Austrian
Consul proposed to give a great picnic at Fersovich, or
Ferizovich, about half way between Uskub and Kossova,
and on the eastern frontier of Albania. The picnic was
nominally for the benefit of an Austrian school in Uskub,
and, according to repute in Uskub, was to be a record
one. A special train was arranged to run to Fersovich ;
a great tent had been sent on and even wooden shanties
erected for the guests. But the organizers of the week's
pleasure — it was spoken of in the neighbourhood as a
debauch — had not taken the Albanians into account.
The leading families among the Ghegs had been alarmed
at the inducements to vice which had led some of their
young men astray in the cafes chantants of Uskub.

188 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
They collected some thousands of men in the neighbour
ing hills, and sent word to the Austrian Consul that they
would not allow the picnic. They would burn the train
and attack those in it if it were attempted. As an
earnest of what they meant they destroyed the shanties
and the casinos in Fersovich.
The Committee of Union and Progress in Monastir
and Salonika were alarmed at the news. If the conflict
came off, the Austrians might enter the country ; war
would ensue and the revolutionary projects would be
for a time at least frustrated. Accordingly some of
their members hastened to the hills near Uskub, con
ferred with the leaders at Fersovich, and persuaded them
to make common cause for the establishment of con
stitutional government.
Meantime, Galib Bey, who commanded the gendar-
mery at Uskub, received orders from Yildiz to disperse
the thousands of Albanians, but Galib had himself be
come a member of the Committee. The telegraph and
most of the railway employes were gained over by the
Committee which issued its instructions from Salonika.
The conference lasted a week. On the 22nd of July
telegrams of a common purport were sent from Fersovich,
and many other places of Macedonia, to Yildiz, demand
ing a constitution, and intimating that if it were not
granted " something very serious would happen to the
Sultan himself." In presence of these demands from
nearly all the important towns in Macedonia the Sultan
yielded. In the night of the 23rd-24th July replies were
received, and before midnight the troops in Uskub,
Monastir and Salonika saluted the constitution, some
eight hours before the news was announced in the
capital. The Albanians had joined with the rest of the
population in Macedonia in the demand for this new
form of government.

THE ALBANIANS 189
It was on account of the favours the Albanian soldiers
had received from Abdul Hamid that after the revolution
those in Constantinople were distrusted by the Committee
of Union and Progress, and a considerable number were
replaced in November 1908 by other troops brought from
Salonika, whose officers were members of the Committee.
It was known to be against the Sultan's wish that the
Albanians should be sent away, but the Committee were
determined, and two of their number were deputed to see
him and declare that if the Albanian tioops resisted the
change they would be attacked by the others and by an
ironclad stationed in the Bosporus. In such an event
" the Committee would not answer for the consequences."
As their barracks were almost in the line of fire between
the ironclad and Yildiz it was impossible that the Sultan
should not realize what the consequence might be.
As it was, when the first detachment of Turkish troops
arrived from Salonika to replace them, a mutiny occurred
among the Albanians in the Tashkisla barracks, which
are about half a mile distant from the palace. In the
struggle to repress it several men, officially stated as
nine, were killed and more wounded, but the prompt
action of the officers prevented further trouble. As
other troops were expected whose arrival might cause
further trouble riflemen were stationed during the follow
ing night in the valley between the mutineers' barracks
and Yildiz, and the ironclad stationed in the Bosporus
had her guns turned on the barracks and also, incidentally
of course, on Yildiz itself. The Sultan, when a deputa
tion from the mutineers waited upon him to object to
their removal, declared that it was the business of his
Minister of War to determine where his troops should be
stationed, and that as for himself he loved all his soldiers
equally well !
Within six months, however, the very troops who had

190 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
replaced the Albanians had been gained by the partisans
of Abdul Hamid, and when, on the 13th April 1909,
the soldiers in the capital rose against their officers,
against the Committee of Union and Progress and the
adherents of the new regime, these troops took part in
the revolt. Those who occupied the Tashkisla barracks
had many Albanians among them, and the regiment in
question was known as the chasseurs of Salonika. On
the 13th April they not only joined the other rebellious
troops but killed all their officers whom they could find.
When, therefore, ten days later, the army under Mahmud
Shevket Pasha arrived before the city to recover posses
sion of it, and to punish some of the leaders of the silliest
and most ill-considered movement that the brainless
partisans of reaction could have devised, the chasseurs
of Salonika were marked men. They knew the fate
intended for them, and in the Tashkisla barracks made a
more obstinate resistance on the famous Saturday the
24th April, when the army captured the various barracks
and public buildings near Yildiz than any other troops.
For a while they remained in the barracks on the defen
sive, but about 9 a.m. upwards of a hundred sallied out
to attack the invaders. Many of them fell, and the rest
hastened back. The soldiers who had taken refuge in
other barracks near had all surrendered by noon on that
day, and many of us civilians had ventured beyond the
cavalry barracks at the Taxim under the impression that
the Macedonian army had captured every place of
importance. Suddenly, about 3 p.m., firing commenced.
A body of the chasseurs had barricaded themselves in
the stables of Tashkisla barracks, and, after firing had
ceased elsewhere, had opened fire. At once the available
points for attack upon the stables were occupied by
Shevket's troops. Many of the civilians were in the line
of fire and hastened into neighbouring houses for shelter.

THE ALBANIANS 191
Artillery was quickly brought up and by 4 p.m. the
mutinous chasseurs were either killed or prisoners. At
4.30 I was with the crowd of spectators examining the
damage which had been done. All resistance had
ceased. No serious attempts have ever been made to bring
Albanians within the sway of civilization. Nor have
matters improved in this respect under the Constitu
tional Government. In a rising in December 1909,
which the Albanians declare was wantonly provoked and
which lasted till the following April, the old method
of suppressing discontent among them was followed.
It may be admitted at once that the Albanians in
question have been and are unruly, that many of them
refused military service, objected to pay for exemption
from such service, and, to use the usual slang phrase,
required a lesson. But it should have been remembered
that they were a people who had never been subdued,
that they had been spoiled by Abdul Hamid, that no
attempts had been made to civilize them either by
making roads or encouraging education, that they hoped
much from the Constitution which they had helped to
establish, that they had been ready to fight Austria
when young Turkey believed war was probable, and
that the old method of sending men into the mountains
to destroy their houses and crops and to kill all whom
they could catch had invariably failed in making them
a law-respecting people. The example of our own
country after the rebellion in Scotland in 1745, when our
fathers under not dissimilar circumstances, constructed
roads through the highlands, would have been an excellent
one to follow. Instead of following it, Turkish troops
burnt their houses, aroused a bitter feeling of opposition
throughout all sections of the race, and finished up with
a number of executions and brutal punishments which

192 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
left the impression upon the inhabitants that the new
regime was no better than the old. The attempt to
disarm the population of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and
Albania, which followed was not only a failure, but was
conducted in a grossly unfair manner ; it was a failure
because very few of the forty-two thousand Mauser
rifles, distributed among the people to be used against the
Austrians if the troubles brought about by the annexation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina should result in war, were
collected ; it was conducted in a grossly unfair manner
because the disarmament announced as general was only
partial, the arms which were surrendered — mostly old
ones — being in many cases handed over with little
attempt at concealment to those in whom the officers
in command had confidence.
In concluding this account of the Albanians, some
notice must be given of the struggle in reference to the
written language. Koritza has for years been the centre
from which this language struggle has been mainly
conducted. It is now going on more fiercely than ever.
It is not too much to say that the great majority of the
people wish to employ Latin characters. Until a century
ago there was practically no written Albanian whatever.
About that time the Tosks in the south, and the Roman
Catholic priests among the Ghegs, began to make fairly
successful attempts to reduce the language into writing.
The Tosks, through the influence of their Greek neigh
bours, employed Greek characters ; the Catholics used
Latin. Forty years ago, when these tentative attempts
were beginning to make considerable progress, the Turks
took alarm and objected to both systems. The Roman
Catholics had established primary and secondary
schools at Scutari, and the Italians about ten years ago
opened primary schools at Avlona and Yanina. The

THE ALBANIANS 193
Greeks had been equally zealous in spreading a know
ledge of their own written character. The language
struggle has been going on intermittently for forty years.
The Turks appealed to the religious sentiment of their
faith, and represented to the Moslem Albanians that the
employment of other than Arab characters was treason
to Islam. But the plea of utility appealed to all
Albanians who had received any kind of instruction.
The difficulties of learning to read the Arab character, in
which Turkish is written, notoriously exceed those of
learning with either Greek or Latin letters. The famous
Midhat Pasha, when Governor of Bulgaria forty years
ago, told a friend of mine, that if he could, he would
prevent Bulgarians and Greeks using their own system
of writing ; " for," said he, " I know that a Greek or
Bulgarian child can learn to read and write in two or
three years ; ours require five or six." So also with
Albanian in Roman letters. Gradually there came to be
almost unanimity amongst the Albanians capable of
forming an opinion on such subject, that Latin characters
with certain modifications which all readily understood,
expressed most phonetically the Albanian language, and
were most easily learnt. This unanimity was only
arrived at after years of tentative attempts to find the
most suitable script. Portions of the Bible and other
books were printed in Sofia, Rome, and Bucarest in a type
with dots, accents and characters which hardly look
Latin. Finally a Latin script was generally adopted. The
fact that the British and Foreign Bible Society, which
has no other object than that of spreading a knowledge
of the Sacred Scriptures, and the Catholic priests and
missionaries in and about Scutari in Albania are in
accord in using Latin character with certain modifica
tions, raises a fair presumption that it is the one best
adapted for the purpose required. A gathering of repre-
13

194 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
sentatives from every part of Albania in September 1909,
held at Elbasan, agreed to adopt the same system.
Unfortunately, the young Turkey party, in its zeal
for the Turkification, not only of the Albanians, but of
all the races of the Empire, closed all the schools where
Latin character is taught, confiscated Albanian books
if not in Turkish type, and insisted upon forcing the
employment of Turkish, if any character is to be taught.
The Albanians do not object to the teaching of Turkish
but they do to employing it for their own language. It
is a foolish attempt on the part of the Turks, because,
while on the one hand, no impartial persons would
maintain that Arabic character can be learned as readily
as Latin, on the other the written language in Latin
character can be made as simple and as phonetic as
Italian itself.
Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the Albanians
are a European and not an Asiatic people, and the educated
men amongst them prefer the form of, writing which
should bring them in line with Europeans rather than
Asiatics. Speaking on the subject to one of the Albanian
deputies, who is thoroughly conversant with French, and
is at the same time a Moslem who reads and writes
Turkish with facility, he remarked on the folly of the
young Turks in endeavouring to coerce his fellow-country
men in a matter of this kind : " what does it matter,"
said he, " so long as we pay our taxes and give military
service, how we write our language ? Nothing can pre
vent us from speaking it. Young Turkey recognizes this ;
why then should we not be allowed to write it as we like."
He assured me also that the Latin alphabet expressed
more clearly the sound of the Albanian language than
either Turkish or Greek.
Whether the Albanians will ever become a compact and

THE ALBANIANS 195
autonomous body is doubtful. They are divided in
religion, but not hopelessly and certainly not fanatically.
They are united in their love for their country, and the
dialectical difference between Ghegs and Tosks is not
greater than that which existed two centuries ago between
English and Scotch. They have no love for their Slav
neighbours, and their desire for national independence is
so great that they would form a turbulent element for
either Italy or Austria. It appears to me highly pro
bable that as they advance in civilization — for advance
they will — the formation of an autonomous state is the
direction towards which they will aspire. Amongst
the difficulties in the way of the realization of such a wish
is that of defining tha eastward boundary of their
territory. If, however, autonomy were granted to
Macedonia generally they would probably be willing to
be included in it. Should the happy consummation be
realized of a federation of all the Balkan States, Albania
might obtain a form of self-government in such federation
which would greatly advance its civilization, and allow
the Albanian people to develop on their own natural
and national lines.

CHAPTER X
MACEDONIA — PART I
Progress and present condition of Romania, Serbia, Greece and
especially Bulgaria, all principally as influencing the present position
of Macedonia.
THE kingdoms of Romania, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria
and Montenegro do not come directly within the
limits of my task. But there is a large and important
Bulgarian population, and there are Greeks, Serbians
and Romanians residing in Turkey. It is with such
dwellers that I am here principally concerned, but it is
impossible to understand their condition and the ques
tions relating to them without some notion of the
countries mentioned and of their recent history. All
the states of the Balkan Peninsula which have been set
free from the rule of the Turk have made great progress.
In Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece we see nations
which, though all a century ago under subjection to the
Sultans, have risen from apparent death and are now on
the highway to civilization.
Romania
Romania, formed of the two tributary states known as
the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, was, a
century ago, the scene of constant troubles, of intrigues,
disorders and massacres. When, in April 1866, its
present king was chosen as Prince, Bismarck remember
ing the frequent revolutions, in giving him permission,
against the king of Prussia's wish, to accept the position,
196

MACEDONIA 197
added that if he reached the disaffected provinces, he
would probably soon be driven out, but that his visit to
the countries would always be a reminiscence for him.
Napoleon III. was in his favour, and rightly judged that
a well-organized state with a frontage on the Black Sea
would be a barrier to the progress of Russia towards
Constantinople. Austria, however, which probably hoped
to add the turbulent population of the principalities to the
million and a half of the same race already under her rule,
was especially hostile to a member of the Hohenzollern
family becoming ruler, and when it was known that the
prince had disappeared from his home, tried to prevent
his reaching the country of which he had been asked to
become ruler. Her agents carefully searched for him.
Every landing-place on the middle Danube was care
fully guarded in order that he might be arrested. Travel
ling as a private person, he had an awkward moment
when at one of the wharfs the Austrian authorities
examined his passport ; for he had forgotten his assumed
name. His secretary however overcame the difficulty by
calling out " Mr Kaufman, the customs authorities want
to examine your luggage." When he landed at the first
wharf in what was to be his territory, a small crowd, as
soon as they knew who he was, set up a shout of welcome,
and the Austrian agents knew that they had been done.
From that time to the present the countries over which
he went to rule as Prince Charles have prospered. As a
result of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8, the prince
became king. He has been a model constitutional
sovereign. From the moment of his arrival he gave
great attention to the organization of the army, and one
of the surprises of the Russo-Turkish war was its effective
condition. I remember before it broke out that even
newspapers friendly to the Russian side spoke of the
Romanians as moutons, quite useless as soldiers. In

198 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
actual fact, they saved the Russian army at a moment
of supreme danger. But Charles did more than organize
his army. Though keeping himself strictly within the
lines of constitutional rule, he made his influence felt on
every set of ministers in his country, and thus guided its
politics wisely and well. It should be remembered that
in all these newly created states, the ministers are not only
inexperienced in politics but have had little or no training
in administrating government, and know little of the
political questions which every Englishman or French
man has been familiar with from his youth. While
therefore constitutional government is on the whole
the best adapted to meet their wants as signifying
government of the people by the people, and as training
the population in the art of government, it is of great
importance that the permanent head of the state should
be a man of good judgment, well acquainted with
European politics and capable of suggesting to his
untrained ministers the most expedient line of conduct in
regard both to external and internal affairs. Such a
man is King Charles. He has won the confidence of his
people and without obtruding himself has directed the
policy of his country. He has been greatly aided in his
task by his deservedly popular queen.
Little has been heard of Romania during the last
thirty years. But the country which does not furnish
the newsmonger of the West with striking incidents, is
usually happy and prosperous ; and the prosperity of
Romania has been steadily and constantly increasing.
Its people are contented. Between my first visit to the
country, thirty years ago, and my latest in 1910 the
progress made is very striking. Better houses, better
cultivation, well-built schools, and a steadily-growing
population whose material prosperity is manifest, are the
visible signs of national progress.

MACEDONIA 199
Serbia
Serbia with its thriving peasant population has also
quietly advanced. The country has memories of
its long slavery but also of heroic struggles. Its
people are backward, but they are doing their
best to promote and to establish industries. They
are backward because during four centuries of weary
strife against the forces of Asia they refused to buy
prosperity by abandoning their faith. Their struggles
are kept in mind by a rich collection of popular ballads
and legends. Their capital, Belgrade, has alone a
history which deserves to be commemorated in folk-lore
and in poetry worthy of European renown. Mahomet
the Conqueror of Constantinople recognized its strategic
importance as being the key to conquest north of the
Danube. The watchword already mentioned of the
silent sultan bequeathed to his successors denoted the
great objects which he tried to realize himself, and in
which he failed but which he left to them. " First
Belgrade, then Rhodes." Few pages in history are more
thrilling than the story of the defence of Belgrade against
his attacks in 1455-6. The city was held by the Hun
garians and the Serbs. Mahomet already occupied a
part of the south-east Hungarian plain, and dared not
advance with Belgrade in the hands of the enemies. His
expedition against Serbia a year earlier had been on the
whole successful, but the wily king of the country had fled
into Hungary at the approach of Mahomet's messengers.
Belgrade, once in his possession, would enable him to
dominate Serbia and extend his dominions northwards.
He therefore concentrated the full strength of his army
before the city. The brave soldier John Hunyades was
two hundred miles distant when he learned the news ot
Mahomet's approach. It would be out of place to tell

200 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
here the glorious story of his relief and subsequent
defence of the city, of the marvellous — people believed
it to be the miraculous — heroism of the aged Franciscan
monk, John Capistrano, who co-operated with him ; of
the descent of Hunyades down the Danube with his mot
ley collection of boats carrying Hungarian and Serbian
peasants ; of his being accompanied and greatly aided
on shore by an ever-increasing crowd of ill-armed men
kindled into enthusiasm by the burning words of the
feeble and weird old monk, preaching as he stood beneath
the great black banner of the cross ; of the simultaneous
attack, by Hunyades on the great boom of boats which
the Turks had placed to block the entrance to the city,
and by Capistrano, upon the Turkish army on shore ; '
of the courageous rush which swept away every obstacle,
and of the subsequent fiercely contested fight with the
respective battle cries of Jesu ! and Allah ! and the final
victory of the cross. It is a heroic story which has never
been worthily written though ample material lies ready
for the historian. It is sufficient for my purpose to say
that Hunyades regained the reputation which had been
tarnished at Varna (1444) and at Kossova-pol (1448),
that his heroic resistance was successful, though it cost
him his life a few weeks later, and that John Capistrano
deserved from his church and Christian Europe, the
recognition which he received after his death by being
canonised.1 In 1521 the night of slavery fell on the Serbians, when
Belgrade was captured by Sultan Suliman. Until the
end of the eighteenth century their history was that of
an attempt by the Turk to crush out all national senti
ment, and to extort from the population the uttermost
farthing of taxes. They were exposed to exceptional
1 The Story of the Siege is carefully told in The English Historical
Review by R. Nisbet Bain, April 1892, p. 253.

MACEDONIA 201
extortion because the Janissaries in the eighteenth
century, now no longer solely recruited from Christians
but a body recalling the Praetorian guard, making and
unmaking sultans and ministers, were the real rulers of
the land. As they had become too powerful and in
dependent to submit to the control of their sovereign,
the price they exacted for their services in war was a
tacit permission to extort what they could from the
Christian population of Serbia. Their exactions became
so intolerable that, in 1804, a great rising of the people
in despair occurred under a native leader named George
Petrovich, commonly known as Kara George. The
rising was successful : the Janissaries were defeated.
Then the Serbians, encouraged by their success, en
deavoured to shake off Turkish rule altogether.
Kara George was defeated. In 1813 he fled the
country, but in 1817 was murdered by another Serbian,
Milosh Obrenovich. The rising under Milosh after many
vicissitudes was successful. In 1830 he was recognized
as prince by the Porte. He abdicated, was recalled and
died in i860. His son and successor, Michael, succeeded
in getting the Turkish garrison removed from Belgrade
in 1866. But he too was assassinated, and according
to general belief by a member of the Kara George family.
His successor was the grand nephew of Milosh named
Milan, who became prince of Serbia in 1872. The
struggle for independence was long but it fell within
Byron's rule that : —
Freedom's battle, once begun,
Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won.
In 1878 as a result of the Russo-Turkish war Serbia
was recognized as a kingdom.
Of the heroic struggle against the Turks in 1875 and

202 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
of the abdication of King Milan, an entirely worthless
sovereign, and of the accession of his son Alexander and
the hideous and infamous tragedy of June 1903, in which
the young king and his wife were brutally murdered, I
have nothing to say. Our interest is with the Serbian
people. In Serbia, in spite of the constant interference
of Austria and Russia, the peasants have steadily im
proved their position. In 1897 an important under
standing was arrived at between Russia and Austria, by
which Bulgaria was to be regarded as within the sphere
of Russian influence while Serbia should be within that
of Austria. The latter Power has never ceased from
that time to harass Serbia. She vetoed in 1906 a pro
posed Treaty between that country and Bulgaria, which
had for its object the preventing of misunderstandings
between the two Balkan States, and which would have
facilitated intercourse and commerce.
It is believed among military experts that Austria
recognizes that her descent towards Salonica could not,
for military reasons, be made from Herzegovina, and that
if ever the Austrian ambition of gaining a seaport on the
Aegean is to be accomplished it must be through Serbia.
Greece
A few words only may be said regarding Greece.
Those who have read Finlay's " History of the Greek
Revolution," Byron's " Letters while in Greece," and
some of the many able volumes of travel in that country,
written between 1810 and 1840, will realize what was
the anarchy which then existed, how low was the con
dition into which the country and its inhabitants had
fallen, and the enormous difficulties which had to be
surmounted before Greece could be born again. In
trigues, disloyalty, treachery, and disunion meet one
at every turn. Dr van Millingen, who with Trevelyan

MACEDONIA 203
was probably the last survivor of the band of British
Philhellenes, and who attended Byron on his death-bed,
gave me a vivid description of the apparent hopelessness
of the Greek struggle for freedom, a hopelessness mainly
due to the discord between the Greek leaders themselves.
But in spite of discords, illusions and failures, now that
one can regard the struggle as a whole, we can recognize
that amid all their dissensions the Greeks were constant
to their ideal of making Greece free. How hopeless that
struggle appeared to some persons may be gathered
from a volume written about 1825 by a British consul
in which he says something like the following :
" There are some persons who choose to call this col
lection of huts Athens and profess to believe that the
barbarians who live in them are capable of civilization.
To such persons I do not address my observations."
If I could now be side by side with that author upon
the Acropolis I should like to show him what the bar
barians have done ; a well-built city of close upon
130,000 inhabitants with a flourishing university, with
museums which draw visitors from every civilized
country, orphanages, asylums, free schools, hospitals
and other eleemosynary institutions ; a well instructed
people, having a large business connection with Con
stantinople, Alexandria and all the chief cities of the
world ; the country limited in extent and not especially
fertile, cultivated in security and a people eager for
progress, tMnking, striving, discussing, and blundering
their way forward.
The population of the country is only about two and
a half millions. But it is the fatherland of Greeks all
over the world, and with an affection for it which amounts
to true patriotism, Greeks everywhere are ready to assist
their countrymen in Greece and to aid in the develop
ment of Greek institutions.

204 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Bulgaria
Bulgaria is the Balkan state which has made most
progress and for various reasons and principally because
of the large body of Bulgarians in Macedonia, deserves
fuller notice than that given to the others. Its popula
tion in 1895 was 4,035,646, showing an increase in the
period between 1880 and 1895 of 1,085,000. The census
taken in the autumn of 1910 gives the population as
4,317,069. Of these about half a million are Moslems.
This population may be compared with that of Serbia,
which is just over two millions. If Romania be put
aside as a non-Balkan state, then Bulgaria has the
largest population in the peninsula. Romania, however,
has about six and a half millions.
The Bulgarians are a race allied to the Finns. Their
language, however, is now Slavic. It may fairly be said
that the race began its career of early civilization when
the great missionaries of the Eastern Church, Cyril and
Methodius, in the second half of the ninth century, con
verted them to Christianity and gave them a Slavic
liturgy. The recent history of Bulgaria is within the recollection
of all Englishmen who are fifty years old. It is curious
how completely its former history and almost the
existence of the Bulgarian people had been forgotten by
Western Europe. The Bulgarians were never demons
trative, and seemed to observers in the first half of last
century to be hardly conscious of their own existence.
Foreigners seemed to ignore their existence. Kinglake's
account in Eothen of his journey from Belgrade to
Constantinople never mentions them. A distinguished
British statesman told me that when a young man — I
believe in 1851 — he travelled over the same ground as
Kinglake, but although he saw from the many churches

MACEDONIA 205
that there were Christian inhabitants, he took them to be
Greeks. Many travellers made the like mistake. Prob
ably the houses at which they were entertained were
those of Greek ecclesiastics ; for the Orthodox Church
during the first half of last century, when bishops and
even patriarchs obtained their posts by payment and
intrigue, insisted upon sending bishops into Bulgaria
who were Greek of race and usually only spoke Greek.
The Bulgarian people in addition to their hard lot under
Turkish rule had ceased to regard their Church as a pro
tector. The liturgy of the Church was Greek. The
Church itself had come to be regarded as foreign. Indeed
the question of the language was one of the grievances
of the Bulgarian people and when a number of young
Bulgars had learned from their education outside Turkey
to be discontented with the lot of their countrymen, they
demanded not only that the service in their churches
should be in a language understood of the people, but
that the bishops sent by the patriarch should speak
Bulgarian. Once awake, Bulgaria steadily persisted in
her demand for at least this reform.
The Bulgars for some years before their struggle for
either ecclesiastic or civil liberty had made great efforts
to give their sons an education. Russia alone among
the Powers had given attention to them. It was there
fore natural that the Bulgars who had the common
bond with Russia of religion and language should look
to that country for aid. A number who advocated the
cause of their Church and country formed a committee
in Odessa which, until the Crimean war, continued to be
the centre of Bulgarian national activity. After the
war the Church struggle became more acute. Russia
was unwilling to reopen a conflict with the Western
Powers regarding Turkish subjects or Turkish territory,
though the Bulgarian people had already gained the

206 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
-sympathy of the Russian Church. When the Bulgarians,
finding that they could obtain no redress either from
the Orthodox patriarch at Constantinople or from
Russia, threatened that the population would join the
Church of Rome, sending indeed a deputation to Rome
in 1 86 1, the Russian government consented to move,
principally apparently to prevent such a schism from the
Orthodox Church. She declared herself in favour gener
ally of the claims advanced on behalf of the Bulgarian
Church. The dispute threatened to become inter
national. The Greek ecclesiastical authorities at the
Phanar took up the position that a sectional or national
Church was impossible and in consequence declined to
recognize a Bulgarian Church or appoint Bulgarian
bishops. Meantime England and France recognized that
the only reasonable solution was to allow the Bulgarians
to have their own Church. Russia after considerable
hesitation joined them but her vacillation ceased when
Napoleon III. advised union with Rome. The Porte was
willing enough to sanction anything that would divide
the Christians, and when the agitation became clamor
ous, and union with Rome probable, sultan Abdul Aziz
in February 1870 granted a firman constituting the
Bulgarian Church. Its authority was to extend over all
Bulgarian-speaking communities in the empire. The
head of the Church was styled the exarch. Monsignor
Joseph was named and still continues to occupy that
position. He has been respected during the long term
of office by all the heads of foreign missions in Constanti
nople, by Turkish ministers and by the Bulgarian people.
His moderation and steady perseverance have made him
a model church ruler.
The Orthodox Church declared the Bulgarians to be
schismatics, and still refuses to admit them to com-
:munion with her. The division of the churches has had

MACEDONIA 207
its disadvantages. One in dogma and discipline, the
hostility between Patriarchists and Exarchists helped to
widen the gulf of racial divergence between Greek and
Bulgar. It added especial bitterness to the struggles
in Macedonia when Greeks and Bulgarians contended for
the possession of church buildings. This strife com
menced with the appointment of the exarch, but happily
diminishes in asperity. It shows itself in the opposi
tion to the appointment of Bulgarian bishops in Mace
donia, and does much to prevent the harmonious co
operation for political purposes of Greece and Bulgaria.
Young Turkey made an attempt to settle the question of
the ownership and occupation of the churches in Mace
donia, but happily the patriarch and exarch have
avoided the scandal of having their differences settled
by Moslems. In the majority of cases they have agreed
as to the occupation of the churches and schools.
The Russian and the Serbian Churches have never
officially recognized the Bulgarian. But the synod of
the Russian Church which represents by far the most
important body of Orthodox Christians has never
adopted the decision of the patriarch of Constantinople
by which the Bulgarians are declared to be in schism.
It is interesting to note that the Bulgarian church
services are in a language known as w Church Slavic."
When the great missionaries of the Orthodox Church,
Cyril and Methodius, preached Christianity to the Slavs
the liturgies introduced were in a language now known
as Old Slavic. In the seventeenth century, some of
the Bulgarians reformed their liturgy so as to make it
more in conformity with the Russian form of Slavic.
When the Bulgarians insisted upon having their church
services in Bulgarian, they obtained their church books
from Russia. The Bulgarians had no printing press,
and were glad to avail themselves of this kind of Russian

208 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
aid. Their books though now printed in Bulgaria are
still written in Church Slavic, which as I have explained
is not Old Slavic.
When the Bulgarians awakened from their long
lethargy they turned their attention to the cultivation of
their language. With some slight but not unimportant
exceptions no attempt had been made to write Bulgarian
until into last century. In 1838, a Bulgarian merchant
in Odessa opened a school in his native country for the
teaching of his own language and this did something to
put it into grammatical shape. A great step was taken
twenty years afterwards when two Americans, Dr Riggs
and Dr Long, prepared a translation of the Bible into
Bulgarian. Dr Long was my friend for a quarter of a
century, until his death in 1903, and while he was my
neighbour was constantly consulted by Bulgarians as
to the proper form of writing Bulgarian words. The
translation of the Bible, in which he took an important
share, remained for many years the standard of what was
or was not good Bulgarian.
Meantime the active young spiiits among the Bulgarian
people, having gained a victory in ecclesiastic affairs,
turned their attention to obtaining reforms in the civil
administration and, as some of the bolder men hoped,
freedom from the Turkish yoke. They had a terribly
difficult task before them. They had yet to learn from
bitter experience that it was hopeless to obtain reforms
from the Turkish Government. Every attempt made
towards enlightenment by means of education was
resisted. Even Midhat Pasha, at a later period the
author of the constitution now in force, proposed to forbid
instruction in their own language to the Bulgarians in
order to level the people down to that of the Moslems
in educational disadvantages. But the schoolmaster
made headway and his peaceful penetration had wonder-

MACEDONIA 209
ful effects upon the country. It was in vain that the
Turks imprisoned, exiled, tortured, or killed the school
masters, who were indeed the class which with a true
instinct the Turks especially persecuted. Those who
gave heed to their teaching met with a similar fate. The
result of this method of treating suspects was that young
men escaped from the country ; and soon, from Bulgarian
exiles a committee was formed in Bucarest which had for
its object the setting free of Bulgaria from Turkish
misrule. The Committee's influence kept up the desire
for freedom but it was looked upon coldly both by the
government of Prince Charles, and by that of Russia.
In Bulgaria itself while there was general dogged
discontent, there were no attempts at rising. The
enormous majority of the Bulgarian people, mostly
peasants, wanted to be left alone to work their farms,
and were deaf to the appeals made from Bucarest. The
Turk, however, feared that a rising was contemplated
and in preparation, and as he knew of no other means of
keeping a subject people quiet than his usual one, gave
orders for a massacre. He would strike terror into the
Christians from one end of the country to the other.
Now, orders for a Turkish massacre meant a free licence
to soldiers, mostly barbarians from Anatolia, and to a
small number of Circassian refugees who had recently
been dumped down into the country by the Turks, to
violate women, kill men, women and children, and take
possession of or destroy their property. The orders were
issued in April 1876, by the Ministers of Abdul Aziz!
All the brutalities which had been practised in 1825 in
Chio, were to be repeated and the Bulgarians were to be
taught a similar lesson. The half century which had
elapsed had not changed Moslem fanaticism or taught
the Turk that important changes had occurred in Europe.
Immediately after the Crimean War, and principally due

210 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
to the great influence, marvellous knowledge of Eastern
affairs and diplomatic genius of Stratford de Redcliffe,
there had been enlightened and reforming ministers
in Constantinople, Ali, Fuad, and Reshid Pashas. But
in 1875, they were dead, and a period of reaction had
succeeded. Lord Stratford's fondly cherished and
constant hope of a regenerated Turkey, a hope for which
he made enormous personal sacrifices had proved illusory.
The Turk fell back upon his traditional methods. He did
not realize that Bulgaria was very many times the size
of Chios and that from this difference alone his task was
more difficult than that of his fathers. But the great
change which he had overlooked was that the telegraphic
wire and means of communication with Western Europe
had altered the situation, and made it impossible to
conceal a great massacre in any part of Europe.
The news of outrages in Bulgaria came in slowly to
Constantinople where I was then living. Little of it,
however, was allowed to appear in the local papers. But
from a variety of sources, the chief being from my friends
Dr Washburn the president, and Dr Long the vice-
president, of Robert College, I gathered enough facts
to write a letter under the heading " Moslem Atrocities
in Bulgaria," to the Daily News. It bore date June 16,
and appeared on June 23. I gave the names of thirty-
seven villages which had been destroyed and whose
inhabitants had been tortured or killed. In a subsequent
letter, written on June 30, I brought the number up to
sixty, and stated that I had seen an official report which
estimated the number of persons killed at 12,000. My
letters, in the words of the late Mr Gladstone, " first
sounded the alarm in Europe." The first letter attracted
much notice. Mr W. E. Forster called attention to its
contents in the House of Commons, and the Duke of
Argyll in the Lords. Mr Disraeli who was then first

MACEDONIA 211
minister made light of the matter, doubted whether
torture had been practised on a large scale among a
people " who generally terminate their connection with
culprits in a more expeditious manner," and made
statements for which it is now evident he had no
authority. He spoke of the Circassians who had taken
a large share in the plunder and killing of the Bulgarians
as " settlers with a great stake in the country." As a
fact, there were only a few bands of Circassian marauders
who seized every opportunity of looting the property of
the peasants. They seized and sold girls and this to so
great an extent that, as I mentioned, girls could be bought
into slavery for two or three Turkish pounds each.
Mr Disraeli stoutly denied my statements, and his
zeal for the Turks so far outran his discretion that on one
of the many occasions when attention was drawn to the
subject in the House, he held up a telegram, stating that
he had received it from Sir Henry Elliot, the British
ambassador in Constantinople, defending the conduct of
the Circassians and Bashi-bazouks and stating that the
alleged atrocities were gross exaggerations. As I knew
that Sir Henry, who was essentially an English gentle
man incapable of lying, had had a great mass of letters
and other documents in his hands which gave almost
every detail which I had published, and that he stated
that he had examined them, I wrote at once to the Daily
News to the effect that I did not believe that our ambassa
dor had made any statement of the kind. Considerable
controversy took place at the time. But when, some
three years afterwards, Sir Henry was ambassador at
Vienna, he declared to the common friend who had given
each of us the mass of detailed news that he had never
sent a telegram of this effect to Mr Disraeli, and that the
misrepresentation of what he had said was so great that
he had to consider whether he should lie under the imputa-

212 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
tion of sending a telegram which perverted the truth or
should clear himself by publicly stating what he had
sent. It is beyond doubt that by accepting the former
alternative he became the victim of a crowd of charges
and attacks as the defender of murderers and thieves.
My letters on the Moslem atrocities in Bulgaria formed
the subject of a hot discussion in the English press.
Though I had given the names of the villages burned,
one of the leading London papers declared that they
were names not to be found in any published map. I
replied that they were as easily identified as if I had given
the names of Yorkshire or Devonshire villages and I
urged that a commission should be sent by Her Majesty's
government to Bulgaria to make a report upon the
subject. Meantime, I had written privately to Mr Robinson,
afterwards Sir John, urging him to send a competent
correspondent to report on the subject as it was im
possible for me to leave Constantinople and useless if it
had been possible. Mr Robinson made a happy selec
tion in Mr Macgahan who was sent to Constantinople.
After learning what he could from me and others, and
accompanied by one of my clerks who acted as inter
preter, he went into Bulgaria with Mr Schuyler the
United States Consul. One of the first places they
visited was Batak the destruction of which had been
mentioned in my first letter. From thence Macgahan
sent me by private messenger a description simply
stating what he had seen on entering that village. Its
contents were horrible and as no telegram of the kind
would have been transmitted by the authorities in
Constantinople, I sent it on by letter to be dispatched
from Bucarest. It was followed a day or two afterwards
by a letter which I sent likewise by Bucarest. This
letter which was dated 2nd August, and appeared in the

MACEDONIA 213
Daily News about a week later, created a profound sensa
tion, not only in Great Britain but throughout Europe.
It was at once a series of pictures describing with photo
graphic accuracy what the observers had seen and a mass
of the most ghastly stories they had heard on trustworthy
authority. They had seen dogs feeding on human
remains, heaps of human skulls, skeletons nearly entire,
rotting clothing, human hair and flesh putrid and lying
in one foul heap. They saw the town with not a roof
left, with women here and there wailing their dead amid
the ruins. They examined the heap and found that the
skulls and skeletons were all small and that the clothing
was that of women and girls. Macgahan counted a
hundred skulls immediately around him. The skeletons
were headless, showing that these victims had been
beheaded. Further on they saw the skeletons of two
little children lying side by side with frightful sabre cuts
on their little skulls. Macgahan remarked that the
number of children killed in these massacres was some
thing enormous. They heard on trustworthy authority
from eye-witnesses that they were often spiked on
bayonets. There was not a house beneath the ruins of
which he and Mr Schuyler did not see human remains
and the streets were strewn with them. When they
drew nigh the church they found the ground covered
with skeletons and lots of putrid flesh. In the church
itself the sight was so appalling that I do not care to
reproduce the terrible description given by Macgahan.
Batak, where these horrors occurred, is situated about
thirty miles from Tartar Bazar jik, which is on the railway
and on a spur of the Rhodope Mountains. It was a
thriving town, rich and prosperous in comparison with
neighbouring Moslem villages. Its population previous
to the massacres was about 9000. Macgahan remarks
that its prosperity had excited the envy and jealousy of

214 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
its Moslem neighbours. I elsewhere remark that, in all
the Moslem atrocities, Chiot, Bulgarian and Armenian,
the principal incentive has been the larger prosperity of
the Christian population ; for, in spite of centuries of
oppression and plunder, Christian industry and Christian
morality everywhere makes for national wealth and
intelligence. I am greatly tempted to dwell on the stirring times
during the latter half of 1876, and on the many dis
closures made by Macgahan. He was a keen observer,
absolutely fearless and withal of a kindly disposition and
charming manner, which won for him the friendship of
all whom he met. He afterwards accompanied the
Russian army in the war which followed in 1877, and
continued with it until it arrived at San Stefano.
General Skobeleff became greatly attached to him. But
the fatigues of the war bore heavily upon his strength.
He came to my house at Prinkipo and spent two or three
weeks while the Russian army was encamped during the
peace negotiations at San Stefano. Strongly against
my advice, for he was still weak, he went to Pera as he
considered that it was his duty to go there for some days.
Black typhoid and other malignant diseases were then
raging fiercely in every part of Constantinople, brought
into the place by the crowds of refugees. He caught
typhoid and I accompanied him to the British hospital
where everything that medical science could accomplish
was done to save a life which was very dear to many of
us. The malady was swift and he died. I remember
General Skobeleff coming to see him as he lay dead, and
crying bitterly over him. He also attended the funeral
which it was my task to arrange.
I am, however, anticipating what happened to bring
about the independence of Bulgaria. The statements in
my own letters were abundantly confirmed by those of

MACEDONIA 215
Macgahan, by Mr Galenga in the Times, and by the
official report presented to the American government
by Mr Schuyler. The latter by its official character is in
some respects more terrible than the letters of 'Macgahan.
It is an investigation carefully made, giving the number
of houses, churches and schools destroyed and the state
ments made to fiim by Turkish officials. Alluding to the
attempt made by the Turks to exonerate themselves by
stating that outrages had been committed by the Bul
garians on the Moslems, he says " I have carefully
investigated this point and am unable to find that the
Bulgarians committed any outrage or atrocities or any
acts which deserve that name. . . I have vainly
tried to obtain from the Turkish officials a list of
such outrages, but have received nothing but vague
statements." Mr Disraeli had been compelled by public opinion in
the House of Commons to send a commissioner to re
port to H.M. government, and Mr Baring, secretary of
Embassy, was chosen for the task. Without giving the
details either of his reports or that of Mr Schuyler, I may
mention that Mr Baring found the number of villages
destroyed to be fifty-nine, and that his estimate of the
number killed was 12,000. Mr Baring's work was done
under circumstances of considerable suspicion, by which
I mean that many persons believed that he was sent to
put the most favourable aspect possible on the doings of
the Turk. The suspicion was probably without justi
fication, but whether well founded or not, Mr Baring did
his work ably, conscientiously, and thoroughly.
During the summer of 1876, Mr Gladstone had taken
no share in the denunciation of the Moslem atrocities in
Bulgaria. But in September, Mr Gladstone judged that
the evidence upon the charges was complete, and he
published a pamphlet under the title of " Bulgarian

216 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Horrors and the Question of the East." This summed
up the evidence and pointed to definite and statesmanlike
conclusions. Its appearance was contemporaneous with
an outburst of indignation in England against the authors
of the horrors, such as had never taken place before nor
has taken place since. Public meetings were held in
nearly every important town in the British Islands.
The agitation spread throughout Europe, and especially
in Russia where the letters to the Daily News, Times,
and other important newspapers were reproduced. It
was a generous demonstration of human sympathy with a
suffering people and of indignation against its oppressors.
Nothing had been seen the least like it since the time
when our grandfathers denounced the slave-trade.
Members of all political parties, of all the churches, all
the living historians including Freeman, Carlyle, and
Froude, joined their voices in the denunciation of the
most wanton and brutal attack which had been made
on a race within living memory.
Mr Gladstone in the pamphlet, page 21, wrote as
follows : —
" The first alarm respecting the Bulgarian outrages
was, I believe, sounded in the Daily News on the 23rd of
June. I am sensible of the many services constantly
rendered by free journalism to humanity, to freedom,
and to justice. I do not undervalue the performances,
on this occasion, of the Times, the Doyen of the press in
this country, and perhaps in the world, or of the Daily
Telegraph and our other great organs. But of all these
services so far as my knowledge goes, that which has
been rendered by the Daily News, through its foreign
correspondence on this occasion, has been the most
weighty, I may say, the most splendid." He adds : —
" I believe it is understood that the gentleman who
has fought this battle — for a battle it has been — with such

MACEDONIA 217
courage, intelligence and conscientious care, is Mr Pears,
of Constantinople, correspondent of the Daily News."
The question arose of a remedy. No nation wished
to make war on Turkey. England in particular desired
to save her, whilst introducing reforms which would
prevent a recurrence of massacres and would better the
condition of Bulgaria and the other European provinces
of Turkey, including Serbia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.
Other nations also desired peace and objected to disturb
ing existing political relations. Accordingly, after long
deliberations it was agreed by the Powers that an
international Conference should meet at Constantinople.
When the proposal was first made to the Porte, Sir
Henry Elliot was directed to leave Constantinople if it
were not accepted, because, as Lord Derby, at that time
Foreign Secretary, stated, " It would then be evident
that all further overtures to save the Porte from ruin
would be useless." The Conference was accepted by the
Turks on November 20, 1876, and each of the six great
Powers named representatives. It was a gathering of
eminent men who were practical statesmen, all of whom
wished to avoid war. The most distinguished were Lord
Salisbury who, with Sir Henry Elliot, represented Great
Britain, General Ignatieff who was deputed by Russia,
and Count Corti by Italy. Ignatieff was a man of
remarkable energy and conspicuous if obtrusive ability.
He declared to a friend of mine that he knew that he
was sometimes called the " prince of liars," but he
deceived diplomats by telling them the truth. His
statement was not far wrong. His manner was that of a
man who prided himself on being a soldier rather than a
diplomatist, and it is only fair to say that I never knew
a false statement brought home to him. From the
moment of Lord Salisbury's arrival in Constantinople,
he and the representative of Russia got on well

218 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
together. Both were big men physically and mentally.
The two countries were believed by a great number of
people to be watching each other, and ready to spring at
each other's throat ; for the old hatred and jealousy due
to the Crimean War was still strong within the memory
of the inhabitants of both countries. But Russia did not
want war and the aim of the Conference was to avoid it.
In the preliminary meetings held before the Turkish
delegates joined, the Russian ambassador " surprised his
colleagues by the facility with which he made one con
cession after another." On December 21, the full Con
ference began its sittings. The Turkish delegates were
both able men, Safvet Pasha and Edhem Pasha. Each
subsequently became Grand Vizier. They had received
instructions to make no concessions. They knew,
unfortunately, that the Powers were not united to coerce
Turkey. The project of reforms on which all the non-
Turkish delegates had agreed was rejected. Sentence
by sentence the project was whittled down until many
of us thought that if the remainder were accepted it
would be useless. Much, however, might be sacrificed to
avoid war. But Sultan Abdul Hamid who had suc
ceeded to the throne six months earlier would not have
the reforms at any price. On January 18, 1877, the
Conference broke up without having accomplished
anything. The inspired Turkish papers weie jubilant
at the failure. It was currently believed that Lord
Salisbury was opposed by his colleague, Sir Henry Elliot,
and while the Turkish papers sneered at the first, they
had nothing but praise for the second. " Bravo, Sir
Elliot," was the heading of one paper, when the failure
of the Conference was announced. I was present at a
small reception given by Lord Salisbury the night before
he left Constantinople. In conversation with me and
the late Mr F. I. Scudamore he spoke freely and regret-

MACEDONIA 219
fully of the failure. " We have all tried," said he, " to
save Turkey but she will not allow us to save her." He
did not wonder that some of us in the press had com
plained of the whittling down of the project, but their
great objects were to avoid war and maintain the integrity
of Turkey. There would be a war to a certainty and
Russia could not afford, whatever the cost, to lose.
Lord Salisbury was right. Russia perhaps more than
any other Power, wanted to avoid war, and this not merely
on account of its heavy expense and risks, but because
she was not prepared for it. One person after another
published statements in the local press showing that
nothing was ready for war in Russia, and Sultan Abdul
Hamid lent a willing ear to such statements.
Meantime the diplomatists made one more effort to
save Turkey from loss of territory. On the 3rd March
the representatives of every European Power signed a
Protocol at the British Foreign Office urging measures
to be taken to satisfy the disaffected provinces. The
reply to this Protocol by the Porte on April 9, was to
reject it with contumely. Thereupon the Tzar of
Russia on April 24, issued a dignified manifesto, in which
he declared that having exhausted all pacific measures,
Russia was " compelled by the haughty obstinacy of the
Porte to proceed to more decisive acts."
On the same day she announced to the Powers that
she had declared war.
Of the war itself, I have little to say. I was in Con
stantinople during its continuance. The city was full
of refugees from Bulgaria. The first who came were
Circassians and other unattached persons, who brought
great quantities of plunder, horses, asses, cattle and
especially the furniture and belongings of Bulgarian
churches for sale. Prices were low on account of the
large supplies offered. The spoils of the churches were

220 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
especially cheap because the Greeks and Armenians
thought it sacrilege to buy them and the Turks believed
they would bring ill-luck. Some of us considered
whether it would not be worth while to buy in order to
return the objects to the churches plundered, but we
concluded that it would be impossible to find the owners.
I bought a silver and gold chalice for its weight in silver,
a beautiful altar frontal for a trifle. A friend bought a
complete set of priest's beautifully embroidered vest
ments for about half a sovereign. Then afterwards
came crowds of Moslems who on the advent of the
Russians fled before them fearing vengeance on the part
of the Bulgarians. They crowded our streets and suburbs
driving cattle before them and bringing typhoid and other
deadly diseases. It was a horrible time.
After a long and weary war, during which there was
exceptional suffering, occasioned by a very severe winter,
the end came somewhat suddenly. When Plevna was
capturedjby fheJTurks after a defence by Ghazi Osman
Pasha which showed the best qualities of the Turkish
soldier, General Gourko advanced with the largest
division of the army towards Sofia with the view of
pushing on through the ancient gates of Trajan, and
down the valley through which the railway between that
city and Constantinople now passes. All newspapers
correspondents with the Russians accompanied him.
But another movement of at least equal importance
had been arranged which was kept strictly secret. It
was due to the genius of General Skobeleff. Winter in
the Balkans was at its worst. The snow-covered range
was believed by the Turks to be impassable. The most
important pass debouched near the village of Shipka.
Through it there was a good military road, but it was
defended on its southern side by strong forts held by the
Turks. Below the forts and on the plain was a Turkish

MACEDONIA 221
army of about 100,000 men under Vessel Pasha en
camped around a village known as Shenova, while to the
west of the village, at a position where they would be
ready to strike at the flank of Gourka's advance was
another Turkish army with which was General Valentine
Baker, then a pasha. Skobeleff saw that to attempt
to cross the Balkans by the military road was useless.
But he learned from Bulgarian peasants that to the east
and west of it were goat tracks, where men travelling
Indian file could cross. Accordingly while sending men
to make a feint of attempting the road, he sent a detach
ment to cross to the east of the road, while he took
command of a second which attempted to cross by the
track to its west. Both these divisions could be seen by
the Turks at the forts. The thin line of men was so long,
that by the time the first had reached the southern end
of the pass the last had not yet started. Skobeleff's
division, however, as well as that to the east of the road,
crossed without molestation. Then they joined forces,
attacked the army under Vessel Pasha and utterly
routed it. Vessel with his large army submitted, and
consented to send orders to the Turks who were defending
the forts on the Shipka road to surrender, orders which
were obeyed. Before night fell, there were eighty
thousand Turkish prisoners on the march northwards
to Russia. The battle of Shenova was the most im
portant incident in the war, if the heroic defence of
Plevna be left out of account. Skobeleff was authorized
by the Czar to inscribe its name upon his flag. As not a
single correspondent was with either of the armies which
took part in the battle, only the results came to be known
in Western Europe, and then only gradually and partially.
I was the first to give an account of it. When the war
was concluded Skobeleff came to Constantinople and
was kind enough to give me a full description. I took

222 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
this to my neighbour Baker Pasha, who made various
corrections and additions rendered necessary by my then
ignorance of the locality and of military matters and I
published it under the heading, " The Battle of Shenova ;
An omitted Chapter of the War."
The conclusion of the war may be shortly told.
Plevna fell on ioth December 1878. By 5th January,
Gourko's army was in Sofia. Skobeleff's army had
crossed the Balkans on 9th January, and within a week
of its start was on its way towards the capital. On
3rd March 1878, the Treaty of Peace was signed at San
Stefano and Bulgaria became free.
In many respects the rapid and immense progress
made by Bulgaria since the war recalls that of Japan.
In the days of my youth, I was in Java and heard of the
limited visits of a limited number of Dutch ships and
remembering all one has heard and read of the progress
of the island empire during the last half century, one
thinks of a fabled giant awakened after centuries of sleep.
So also with Bulgaria. Its existence was practically
forgotten. Its power of resisting Asiatic religion and its
professors was unrecognized. Yet its advance since 1878
far surpasses that of any state in Europe. Like the
Japanese the Bulgarians felt the need of foreigners to
instruct them in the arts of the West. Like them again
having carefully profited by what the West could teach,
they manage now to depend on their own resources with
little aid from foreigners.
It is difficult to make a satisfactory comparison of the
condition of the country now, with what it was in 1878,
because no statistics of or before that year are in exist
ence. Almost everything in the country has been
created since then. Before this the name Bulgarian
stood for ignorance, submissiveness, and unrecognized
nationality ; the Bulgarians were rayahs or cattle. It is

MACEDONIA 223
now a name to be proud of. Under Turkish rule every
part of the country was unsafe. Mr Stambouloff the
last time I saw him gave me a vivid description of how
he had put an end to brigandage in the district south
of Burgas. It had long been unsafe for travellers, but
a strong hand, inflexible justice and swift execution,
gave a valuable district back to civilization. Now, in
that district as throughout Bulgaria, it is a pleasant
sight to see groups of school boys and girls with knap
sacks on their backs making excursions in even remote
mountain districts without any thought of danger.
Afew facts will showthe progress made since the country
became free. Sofia, when I first saw it, was a wretched
village of mud huts and ill-built houses never more than
two stories high. Its principal streets, then mere mud
tracks, have now well-built houses four or five stories
high with electric trams and lighting. The value of land
has enormously increased. The city has many handsome
public buildings. As with Sofia so with nearly every
town in the newly established kingdom. Everywhere
one sees good houses replacing mud huts. The first
visible sign from the railway a year or two after the war
were new schoolhouses which bore witness to the keen
desire for education. Every year showed progress in
that direction. As far back as 1892, I was astonished to
see second grade schools or lyceufns at Slivna and else
where, well filled with educational appliances, under
teachers who had received training in Germany or some
foreign country, a people who were enthusiastic for
educational progress. I remember that during many
years the largest number of students and graduates at
Robert College on the Bosporos were Bulgarians. Then
their numbers gradually fell off, until in the year 1906,
for the first time on its record there was no Bulgarian in
the graduating class. It looked as if the great American
College had completed its work for Bulgaria, by showing

224 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
its people how to organize their own teaching. > But the
year in question was the only one in which such a record
has been noted, for Bulgarians still seek the advantages
of an English training. Under Dr George Washburn,
the Arnold of education in the Near East, and Dr Long,
it had trained a succession of Bulgarians to think care
fully and soberly ; to avoid impracticable projects, to be
self-reliant, to act for themselves and above all to
endeavour to maintain a high standard of morality.
Besides supplying able ministers like the premier
Stoiloff and the permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
Mr Demitroff, a man full of knowledge on every subject
connected with the questions of the Near East, and
Mr Gueshoff the present premier, it furnished also useful
administrators like Matthieff. It equipped likewise a
number of men like Calchieff, Slavekoff, Professor
Panaretof of Robert College and a number of others who
have been leaders in Bulgaria in its wonderful career of
progress. Happily, there is reason to hope that Robert
College is now going to exert a like useful influence on
Turkish students as it did on Bulgarians and is already
doing on Greeks and Armenians.
In Bulgaria education is free and obligatory. There
are 3506 primary schools ; 94 pro-gymnasiums, each
with from three to five classes ; 33 gymnasiums each of
seven classes and several with technical courses of instruc
tion. During the year 1909, there were 469,550 children
attending school. The educational system is crowned
with a university which had in 1909 no less than 1569
students of whom 217 were young women. The results
of the instruction given are no less striking. The census
taken in 1905 showed that in the towns 93 per cent, of
the Bulgarians and 83 per cent, in the villages between
the ages of ten and fifteen could read and write. Though
the law regarding public instruction applies to Mahome-

MACEDONIA 225
tans as well as Christians, only 21 per cent, in the towns
and 4 per cent, in the villages between the same ages
could read and write. The great difference is not
attributable to the government but to the same causes
which in India make the Moslem population unable to
compete with the Hindoo. Out of Bulgaria's budget
for 1910 showing a revenue of £6,880,000 sterling, no less
a sum than £880,000 is assigned to education.
Bulgaria has constructed, including some which are
not quite finished, 12,500 miles of roads and, excluding
those which had been built previous to 1878, 2380 miles
of railways. All these are the property of, and are
worked by the State.
Immediately after gaining her freedom, Bulgaria
established postal and telegraphic services. In 1879,
she had 42 post-offices ; in 1910, these had increased to
2070, with an additional 323 attached to railway stations
and summer resorts. I remember visiting the Philippo-
polis exhibition in 1892, and being surprised to find that
we could be in telephonic communication with Sofia and
most of the important towns in the country. We were
impressed, because then, as even now, there was no tele
phonic service in Turkey. In Bulgaria at present the
important towns can communicate by telephone with
each other, with Belgrade and Budapest. A post-
office Savings Bank was introduced in 1896. Twelve
years later, the year's returns in 1908, showed that
23,458,894 francs had been deposited and 21,886,410
withdrawn. Still more striking as showing at once the thrift and
enterprise of the Bulgarian peasant is the fact that in
1908 there were 727 co-operative societies. There were
also 33 Bulgarian banks with a paid up capital of
nearly a million sterling. The Bulgarian national bank,
founded in 1880, had had deposited in it during the year
'5

226 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
1908, roughly two millions sterling (53,696,033 francs).
Industries of various kinds have been commenced with
Bulgarian capital and are prospering. The export of
cloth, leather, wool, mining produce, food stuffs, etc. in
1879 were just over two millions sterling. In 1908 they
had increased to nearly ten millions.
On my first visit almost the only manufacture worth
speaking of was of the famous attar of roses in Kezanlik.
It is an ideal industry. Thousands of rose bushes on a
lovely plain at the foot of a bold spur of the Balkans ;
the roses in full bloom, cream coloured, white, or red,
the air redolent with their exquisite scent ; the rose-
gathering mostly by girls and women in their bright
and picturesque dresses ; cloth and home-made on
patterns, traditional and uninfluenced yet by western
fashions ; the home bringing of the leaves ; the handling
of them with something like affection, and finally the
¦extraction of the essential oil, so powerful that a few
drops will suffice to make a half bottle pass as excellent
Tosewater ; the experience was altogether delightful.
At Kezanlik I was courteously entertained in the house
of one of the largest makers of attar of roses, a young
man who had been at Robert College and had imbibed
something of American energy and pushfulness. He
had already been to America as well as the chief cities
of Europe. In my bedroom were a series of glass jars
containing the precious attar and to my surprise I was
informed that the total value of their contents amounted
to something over £3000.
Even in the 'eighties I found at Slivan that excellent
native woollen cloth was being made in large quantities,
and it called up a smile to learn that a large order was
being executed for the Turkish army, with whom a few
years ago the Bulgarians had been fighting. It sug
gested a new reading of the text, " If thine enemy

MACEDONIA 227
hunger, feed him, if he is naked give him the where
withal to be clothed."
I may mention that students of the Mir system, as it
recently existed in Russia and as to a considerable
extent it still exists in the Village Communities of India,
may find many survivals of the kind in Bulgaria. House-
communities are the most prominent examples. Several
families in some portions of the kingdom occupy a huge
house, or as it is called a Zadruga. The men leave the
community to earn their living outside the village or
even outside Bulgaria. Their earnings are thrown into
the common stock according to well established rules.
Under the Treaty of Berlin, the Bulgaria of the San
Stefano Treaty was divided into two provinces after a
considerable portion to the south had been returned to
Turkey. The northern province was erected into a
principality under an independent prince. The southern,
named Eastern Rumelia, was to be under a prince
named by the sultan. The arrangement did not work
well, and when in 1885 the population expelled the prince
of Rumelia even Sultan Abdul Hamid made no effort to
enforce his rights under the Treaty. When in October
1908 prince Ferdinand proclaimed himself king, no one
seriously opposed. Certain financial questions occasioned
some difficulty, but the Turks took up the position that as
the country had for thirty years ceased to be under their
rule, it mattered little whether the ruler was called king
or prince.
Macedonia — Part II
Present Condition and Probable Future
The history and condition of the countries I have
described has to be borne in mind when writing of
Macedonia, for Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and Albania

228 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
nearly surround the country. The first three have
escaped from bondage into freedom. Albania can hardly
ever have been described as in bondage. A country thus
surrounded was not likely to remain quiet under Turkish
misrule. Valuable books have appeared within the last few years
on Macedonia and its various races. Sir Charles N. E.
Eliot's " Turkey in Europe " is full of information and
valuable suggestions. Dr Brailsford's " Macedonia "
abounds in the statements of a keen observer. A number
of essays in French and German periodicals, published
during the last ten years, show the interest taken in the
Macedonian question and add to our stock of knowledge.
Macedonia has indeed been and will continue to be the
battle-field of writers on the questions of the Near East,
and may become at no distant date the bloody battle-field
of contending states. It is possible that but for the
proclamation of the Turkish constitution in July 1908,
it would ere this have become an autonomous state.
The tendency of its history even now is in that direction.
In order to understand and estimate this tendency,
certain facts must be considered. Macedonia is a
geographical term used to signify different extents of
colmtry. Sometimes it includes the whole of the Balkan
Peninsula excepting Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and
Greece, but even including that portion of European
Turkey which comprises Adrianople and the country
west of a line drawn from that city to the Struma, the
ancient Strymon. Others would exclude Albania and
the whole of the district between Constantinople and a
line drawn roughly from Serres to the most southerly
point of eastern Rumelia. A Greek author claims that
the term Macedonia should be limited to the vilayets of
Monastir and Salonika. Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia
have each dreamed of a division of Macedonia, and each

MACEDONIA 229
one has done its best to show that it is entitled to a
larger portion of the country than the others are willing
to concede.
Serbia claims that there are many Serbians in northern
Macedonia under Turkish rule, and that the territory
which they occupy should be delivered to her if any
partition of Macedonia should be made. This territory
is called Old Serbia, but the name has no precise meaning.
In the reign of the great Serbian king, Dushan, who was
crowned in 1331 and died 1355, all Macedonia and
Albania with a large part of Greece was under Serbia.
That indeed might be called Old Serbia. But apart from
the fact that Dushan is spoken of also as king of Bulgaria,
which indeed for a time was under his rule, the pre
cedent is as remote as that which caused our sovereigns
to take and retain for centuries the title of kings of
France. In like manner the claims of Bulgaria might
be advanced ; for its kings ruled Macedonia, with an
interval for a century and a half, their rule in that
country ending in 1241. The Bulgarians however admit
that, if a partition of Macedonia were made, a strip of
country ought to go to Serbia because it is now occupied
by Serbs.
Serbian, Bulgarian, and Greek writers have been
occupied during the last twenty years in discussing the
ethnography of Macedonia. The object of this discus
sion has been political rather than scientific. The writers
have brought much careful research to bear upon it. But
the object has not been to learn the truth. Each writer
gives the impression of holding a brief for his own country.
The principal advantage gained by outsiders from the
discussion arises from the accumulation of testimony,
ranging over many centuries, as to the movements of the
Slav and other races south of the Danube. The general
results which I gather from many studies on the subject

230 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
are that the word Bulgarian has often been used both by
Slavs and others to indicate all the Slavs in the Balkan
Peninsula with the exception of the dwellers on the Dal-
rhatian coast ; some of whom are certainly of Albanian
blood ; that at times the whole of such country has been
called Bulgaria but that at other times Serbia has had
a much more extended meaning than it now possesses.
William of Tyre, for example, calls Harold Hardrage of
Norway — who aided the Greek emperor in 1050 to subdue
the inhabitants of Macedonia — Bolgara-brenner ; while
during the same period, and for two centuries later, the
country was known as Great Wallachia.1
The real questions of interest to Englishmen are only
incidentally historical ; they are, who are the present
inhabitants ? What is the actual condition of Mace
donia ? and what is it likely to be in the future ?
The Greek population predominates on the shores of
the Aegean. During all historical times this statement
would have held good. It would almost hold equally
good if made about all the shores of the Mediterranean.
But in reference to Macedonia it is impossible to mention
a period when the seaports and the immediate back
country has not been occupied by Greeks. Let it be said
also that Greek influence has been always in favour of
civilization and commerce. Salonika is the most im-
1 Those who wish for information on the subject will find it in
Cvijic's " Remarques sur l'Ethnographie de la Macedonie" and in a
" Response " to it by Dr A. Tchircoff, published in Serbia in 1907 : The
first gives the Serbian, the second the Bulgarian view of the question.
Another book on the subject is worth examination " La Macedonie
au point de vue Ethnographique, Historique et Philologique par
Ole'icoff," published in Philippopolis in 1888. In these works a mass
of authorities, Slav and foreign, are cited. One of the writers best
worth consulting is C. Lejean who gives a carefully drawn Ethnographic
map of Turkey in Europe and the autonomous states. See his " Ethno-
graphie de la Turquie." He was a young and energetic engineer who
had travelled through all parts of the Balkan peninsula and died all
too soon for the interest of geographical knowledge. The Greek view
is well given in "La Macedonie et les Reforms" a valuable paper
prepared by the Macedonian Syllogos of Athens.

r-

MACEDONIA 231
portant city on the sea-coast of Macedonia. It is true
that its influence and its commerce are now mostly due
to its Jewish population. The Jews, largely of Spanish
descent, the offspring of exiles driven out of Spain under
Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, still speak Spanish. But
except during the last half century the Greeks had most
of the business in their hands. Even now, the Greeks
are by far the most important element after the Jews.
As we penetrate inland we find at once Greek villages
side by side with Bulgarians ; but on the shores the
great majority of the people are Greek.
Unfortunately no trustworthy statistics exist as to the
population of Macedonia. The one factor in regard to
it which is pretty certain is that the Bulgarians are the
largest element. It may be safely affirmed that outside
the Turkish provinces of Monastir and Salonika no Greek
population exists. The Slav population are agricultural
ists ; the Greeks very rarely. Away from the shore it
is rare to find a purely Greek village except near the
confines of Greece. It is alleged by the Greeks that out
of a total of 1,873,000 people in the two provinces
named there are 777,000 Moslems, 659,000 Greeks, and
374,000 Bulgarians.1 Probably the number of Moslems
equally with that of the Greeks is over-estimated.
Rittich, an author quoted with approval by the Bul
garian Oleicoff, in his " Le Monde Slave " gives figures
which may be compared with those put forward by the
Greeks. In the same provinces, Monastir and Salonika,
he estimates the Bulgarians at 682,714 instead of 374,000 ;
the Greeks at 30,482 instead of 659,000, and the Turks
at 175,968 instead of 770,000. The figures are of course
incorrect and I believe that each set is grossly exaggerated.
It is impossible to draw a line between the Greeks and
1 "La Macedonie et les Reforms": Memoir e du Sy Hogue Mace-
donien d'Athenes, published in 1903.

232 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Bulgarians and to say that all north of it are Bulgarians
and all south, Greeks. In a conversation with the late
Mr Tricoupis, the prime minister of Greece, he admitted
this fact but added that though to the south of any line
drawn there would be Bulgarian villages, after a genera
tion under Greek rule the inhabitants would consider
that their ancestors had always been Greeks. Then with
the frankness which was characteristic of the man, he
added that there would be Greek villages to the north of
any reasonable line which if placed for the same time
under Bulgarian rule would believe themselves to be of
Slav descent. The manner in which Greek and Bulgarian
villages are dotted about in many parts of the country
makes it incorrect to assign such country to either race.
One of the many good stories told of General Ignatieff
emphasizes this statement. When at the Conference
after the Russo-Turkish War it became necessary to
define the boundaries of Bulgaria, Ignatieff told the
Turkish delegates that he was ready to take those marked
by the Turks. They replied that they were ignorant of such
boundaries. The Russian ambassador then explained that
there were a number of villages burned by the Turkish
troops because the inhabitants were Bulgarian. As one
of these was within twenty miles of Constantinople, and
others far south of the proposed new Bulgaria, another
means of establishing a boundary had to be devised.
A comparison of various accounts leads me to the con
clusion that the population of Macedonia, excluding
Albania, is about 1,750,000 ; that of these about one
million are Slavs, while the remainder may be divided
about equally between Greeks and Turks. The Bul
garians claim that to their race belong sixty-nine per cent.
of the population.1
The troubled condition of the country during the last
1 " La Macedonie," p. 55, par Oleicofi.

MACEDONIA 233
fifteen years has considerably reduced the total popula
tion. Hundreds of Bulgarians emigrated into Bulgaria.
It is asserted that even now, after some have returned to
their desolated homes, there are 20,000 Macedonians in
Sofia itself. But all along the borderland of Bulgaria
families quitted the country which was the scene of
violent anarchy and disorder in order to escape into the
land of their countrymen which had obtained freedom.
Emigration to America has also been going on quietly but
constantly. In 1904 from the vilayet of Monastir, 3000
men are stated to have crossed the Atlantic. In the
following year the emigrants had increased to about 7000,
while in the first half of 1906 the number had grown to
nearly 15,000. In ten of the villages round Fiorina only
women and children remained.
It is not my intention to write the recent history of
Macedonia. It is sufficient to recall that the consular
reports, written by a number of Englishmen and French
men who have lived in or visited Macedonia, have placed
on record a condition of anarchy which during the same
period had no parallel in Europe. It was justly described
by Victor Berard in 1906 as " une Macedonie pillee et
massacree, unproductive pour elle-meme et inutile pour
le reste du monde, intenable aux indigenes et impene
trable aux etrangers." 1 The congress of Berlin was not
entirely content to leave Macedonia to the tender mercies
of Abdul Hamid. In conformity with its provisions a
mixed commission was formed to draw up a scheme of
reforms for European Turkey. The British com
missioner was Lord Fitzmaurice. Its work was done
thoroughly. An organic law was produced. But it was
thrown into the wastepaper-basket by the Turks. If
the country had been in Asia-Minor probably it would
1 "La Macedonie et les Reforms," by Dragonof, with preface by
Berard, p. 134.

234 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
have suffered less at the hands of the Sultan ; for the
Macedonians were surrounded by four free states, and
they naturally compared their condition with that of
their neighbouring brethren. The influence of Greece
made for civilization in the south. The newly created
prosperity of Bulgaria and Serbia on the north and east
awakened the energy of the Slavs, and the state of security
in Montenegro and the other Christian states of the
peninsula, aroused the desire for a like security from
misrule. Oppression of a kind which no race is justified
in tolerating, if it has a reasonable chance of setting itself
free, drove many into voluntary exile and caused others
to take to the mountains. In Bulgaria the exiles worked
in collusion with their relations and friends to avenge
their wrongs and to prevent others being committed on
men and women of their race. They formed commit
tees. They organized means of punishing noteworthy
offenders and of striking terror into the oppressors.
In many instances the committees formed a kind of law
court which did justice upon offenders, rough justice it
is true, but like lynch law better than no justice whatever.
Race hostility entered and complicated the situation.
Greeks and Slavs were jealous of each other. Each
feared that the other would establish a claim in case of a
partition of the country to a larger share than that to
which it was entitled. Still further to increase the
difficulties of the situation, the Church came in with its
division of the people into adherents of the patriarch and
those of the exarch. Without the difference of an iota
on matters of dogma, with none in reference to the forms
of religious worship — for the division in the Eastern
Church is racial rather than ecclesiastical — the odium
theologicum added unusual bitterness to the political
struggle between Slav and Greek. Greek bands flocked
across the frontier to join the bands which had been

MACEDONIA 235
formed to attack the Bulgarians. Officers from the
Greek army joined such bands. Abdul Hamid, with the
cunning which sycophants chose to call capacity, took
advantage of the hostility between the Christian races.
The Greek bands were encouraged to attack the Bul
garians. One remembers with satisfaction that when
the most self-sacrificing and daring of the missionaries
of the revolutionary party, Dr Nazim Bey, who was
already proscribed as a rebel, determined to place his life
at the service of the Committee of Union and Progress
in Salonika, he disguised himself in the Greek brigand's
fustanella, crossed the frontier from Greece and descended
into the town of Salonika, fearless of arrest by Turkish
zaptiehs and rightly confident that his disguise would
cause him to be regarded as friendly to Abdul Hamid's
government. Without entering into details of the anarchy and
misrule which prevailed in Macedonia during the first
seven years of the present century, it may yet be gener
ally stated that there existed the minimum of security
for life and property. Valuable mines were shut down
on account of the risks of carrying provisions to the
workmen or material for mining. Landowners, Moslems,
and Christians alike, natives and foreigners were unable
in hundreds of cases to visit their properties. Bulgarian
and Greek bands of brigands held possession of many
parts of the country and made life almost unsupportable.
The Turkish peasants or proprietors were allowed to
plunder their neighbours. The Turkish troops some
times favoured one and sometimes another band. They
lived upon the peasantry and were useless as a protection
for the innocent. Even when at the demand of Europe
foreign gendarmerie officers were appointed they were
prevented from examining and reporting upon the de
vastation caused by Turkish soldiers or Bulgarian or

236 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Greek bands. It was in vain that ambassadors obtained
promises from the Sultan that such officers should have
the right to examine ; for orders were either never sent
or disobeyed by men knowing well that Yildiz would be
best pleased by disobedience.
Massacres upon a scale comparatively small when
measured by those of Bulgaria and Armenia, but great in
the aggregate, went on all throughout the period in
question. Villages were pillaged and burned by one or
other of the bands, or by Moslem neighbours, or by the
troops themselves, and scores of independent reports were
furnished and photographs taken showing the desola
tion of these places and the ordered indifference of
the authorities in regard to them. The law courts
were abominably corrupt. Sentences were notoriously
bought and sold. When a criminal outrage was com
mitted it was used as a pretext to extort from the accused
man or from his relations whatever could be obtained.
If a man were killed a whole village would be attacked.
Administrative and judicial extortion in the collection of
taxes was common throughout the country. Men were
kept in prison " administratively," as it is called, with
out being brought to trial, the term of such imprison
ment being often measured by the time within which
his relations and friends, or one of the committees, could
find the money to buy his release. Though there is
nothing in Turkish law to correspond with our writ of
Habeas Corpus, the noblest legal invention of the British
race for the safeguard of individual liberty, yet even
under Turkish law such indefinitely long administrative
imprisonments were grossly illegal. Nobody, however,
could interfere to prevent them.
The public opinion of Western Europe and notably of
England and France became aroused. Something must
be done to clear out the foulest Augean stable which

MACEDONIA 237
existed in Europe. But no government was anxious
to take the lead. Each one knew that Abdul would be
hostile to any interference. One might suppose that he
was foolish enough to believe that disorders would be
beneficial to Turkey or would at least show Europe that
her interference could not mend matters. The latter
suggestion will not bear examination ; for the whole
history of sultanic rule in Turkey shows that reforms
have never come from Turkish initiative. Germany
had already begun her policy of shutting her eyes to
abuses in Turkey and making friends with the Sultan in
order to further her commercial interests. Even as far
back as the Armenian massacres in Constantinople,
friends and well-wishers of Germany had deeply regretted
her careful abstention from any acts which showed
disapproval of the brutal massacres at our doors, and
this at a time when France and Great Britain even
ostentatiously sheltered Armenian fugitives from the
knives and sticks of Abdul Hamid's barbarous sopajis.
But Germany had not yet disassociated herself from the
Powers in endeavouring to obtain decent government for
Macedonia. Russia looked on coldly because at the time
she was dissatisfied with Bulgaria. She could not how
ever refuse to join England and France in efforts to better
the condition of the Slavs.
Austria from the first was so half-hearted in her action
with the other Powers to obtain reforms as to leave the
impression that she preferred that the disorders in the
country should continue until Europe in general should
ask her to take possession of the country in the interests
of international peace. Among the papers of the ex-
grand vizier Halil Rifaat Pasha were found several
reports which he made in 1898, after the Turko-Greek war,
which throw light on the attitude of Austria. These
were published in Paris after his death with facsimiles

238 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
of the originals and translations. In one he reports a
meeting of the representatives of the European Powers.
An original of the minutes, which was signed by the
ambassadors of the seven Powers, was shown to him by
the Austrian ambassador. The latter, according to the
report, spoke of the great insistence {grande intran-
sigeance) of the French, Russian and British ambassadors
in their determination to submit to the Porte a proposal
for putting into execution the scheme proposed by the
joint commission of 1880. He claims credit for being
the only ambassador who resisted this demand and for
obtaining an adjournment in order to gain time. The
grand vizier concludes by advising that his government,
in order to shut the mouths of its enemies, should itself
put into operation some of the reforms which would be
submitted by the Powers.
The advice was wise though it was not followed. But, if
the grand vizier's report is a fair representation of what he
was told, Austria then did not desire Macedonian reforms.
Readers will remember that while the three Powers in
question, to which Italy must also be added, worked hard
to show the Porte that it was to its interest that security
for life and property should be conferred on Macedonia,
travellers and newspaper correspondents of all shades
of political colour who watched events on the spot never
believed in the sincerity of Austrian support.
While on the subject of an attempt to persuade Abdul
Hamid to institute reforms or to accept those proposed
by the Powers, let me bear my testimony to the sincerity
of the late Sir Nicholas O'Conor's labours on their behalf.
Long years of training in the diplomatic service and
something in his native character made him an extremely
cautious man. In everything which he undertook he
was painstaking and industrious. He saw the various
sides of any question submitted to him and carefully

MACEDONIA 239
selectecWhat he deemed to be practicable. When, there
fore, from 1900 until his death in 1908, it was his duty
to examine the proposed reforms for Macedonia he set
about his task with the utmost care. This was the more
important, because though he was the representative of
only one of the Powers, it was notorious that the assist
ance given by the representatives of the others favouring
reforms left to him the bulk of the work. The establish
ment of a financial commission for Macedonia, the great
improvement in the control of the customs of the same
country, and above all the foundation of a school of
gendarmerie, were benefits which the country owes largely
to his initiative, plodding industry and determination
not to allow the purposes of his government to be
defeated. He was aware that the Turkish officials knew
that if they wished to stand well with Yildiz they must
make the reforms impossible of execution. With luke
warm supporters and active enemies what he did was
remarkable and his labours are bearing fruit to-day.
I have no intention of writing the story of the at
tempted reforms. It is constantly asserted that the
Muerzeg programme and the steady and slow progress
which the reforms were making precipitated the revolu
tion of July 1908. The fear which existed among young
Turks was that the Powers would declare that Macedonia
should be formed into an autonomous state, and thus be
separated from Turkey. I do not know whether such a
course had been agreed upon. Probably not ; but the
possibility of it was at least one of the causes which made
the Committee of Union and Progress quicken their pace.
Every one knows that the revolutionary movement
began in Macedonia, that its headquarters, from which
action was directed, was at Salonika, and that Albanians,
Bulgarians and Greeks joined hands to bring it about.
Such a union of hitherto hostile races in Macedonia had

240 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
never been before seen. We hoped that under a con
stitutional form of government a better day had dawned
upon Macedonia. To that hope most of us are still
constant. When the military revolt occurred in the
capital on 13th April 1909, the object of which was to
overthrow the constitution, the Macedonian army at once
took measures for its defence. Dr Carasso one of the
deputies for Salonika with three or four others called
upon Mahmud Shevket Pasha, the Commander-in-chief,
on the evening of the 13th April, as soon as they learned
the news of the revolt and asked what he proposed to do.
The reply of Shevket was manly and soldierly. " I have
sworn to defend the constitution and shall do so." His
action was as prompt as his words, and the next day his
army had commenced that journey which terminated
happily by the capture of the capital on 24th April, and
by the deposition of Abdul Hamid on the 27th. Mace
donia had saved the constitution.
The subsequent history of that province is far from
making altogether pleasant reading. A series of
blunders were made by the government which has gone
far to compact Albanians, Bulgarians and Greeks, into
opposition against the Turks. The Committee of Union
and Progress, containing some enlightened men among
them, decided apparently to Turkify every race and
institution in the Empire. Not only must the Albanian
learn to read his own language only through Turkish char
acters, but Turkish must be taught in every school. The
Arab with his semi-sacred language must communicate
with government in Turkish. So also with the Greeks
and Armenians. Old established institutions which for
half a century like the Ottoman Bank had communicated
in French were informed that henceforward their letters
must be in Turkish. Nowhere was this drastic Turki-
fication pressed more harshly than in Albania and Mace-

MACEDONIA 241
donia. Schools were closed because the teaching was
not solely in Turkish. This attempt at Turkification was
the first step towards alienation.
In mitigation of the blunder of the Committee, the
following facts should be remembered. It soon came to
be noted that in spite of the popular demonstrations in
the capital and elsewhere for brotherhood and equality,
the adherents of the old system, the legion of spies and
dismissed employes, pointed to the Committee and the
government as one composed of atheists, Jews, and
enemies of Islam. The sneer was, of course, unjust, but
the presence of Ahmed Riza, who with his transparent
honesty avowed himself a Positivist, the outspokenness
of some of the orators in the first bloom of the revolu
tionary period and the presence of one or two Jews, able
and loyal as they had proved themselves to be, gave
colour to the slander. It was scattered broadcast.
Needless to say that in a country where the inhabitants
are so backward as in Turkey such a charge was peculiarly
dangerous. The danger was greatly increased when a
strong party was formed with the real object of destroy
ing constitutionalism, but with the avowed object of
establishing the religious law of the Sheriat. This party
had its newspapers. Its members, while secretly
opposed to the constitution, cheered for it, but carefully
accompanied their cheers with cries for the Sheriat. The
military revolt on 13th April 1909 showed to the world
what was their intention. Real Hodjas, and others dis
guised to look like them, made the Sheriat the cry of the
revolt. " We want the Sheriat," said a deputy springing
upon a chair in the Chamber of Deputies on the morning
of that day. That deputy is now in prison for his cry.
" We will die for the Sheriat," said a white-bearded
military officer on the same day in inciting the troops to
rebellion. He, expiated his offence by being hanged a
16

242 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
fortnight later near the place where he had offended.
The only cries during the revolt were for the constitution
and the Sheriat, these cries coming from the same mouths.
There can be no reasonable doubt that among the
thousands of men in the streets the only intelligent
demand was for the Sheriat, which they had been taught
to believe would put an end to giving equality to Chris
tians. The cry meant that there must be no more talk
of religious equality or of brotherhood with giaours. All
that was against the Sheriat. It was treason to the faith.
The prominent members of the Committee, of the
Chamber of Deputies and newspaper writers, who had
been in favour of the new regime, had to run to earth,
Ahmed Riza being one of those most eagerly sought for.
The leaders of the new movement when they recovered
power had to appease their followers by showing that
they were good Moslems and neither atheists, Jews, nor
unbelievers. Hitherto they had proclaimed that Osmanli
was to be the name common to all subjects independent
of race or religion. This tune was now varied. It was
necessary to conciliate the ignorant Turkish Moslem.
It was at this critical moment that dissatisfaction arose
among the Albanians. It was due mainly, if not entirely,
to the efforts to make them conform to Turkish models.
While Albanians were being suppressed, it was not likely
that the Christian elements of the population would
be fairly treated. The Hamidian methods employed
against the race declared to be revolt were applied,
especially during the disarmament, against the Bulgarians
of Macedonia, and the populations for a time at least were
alienated from loyalty to the young Turkish party.
It is impossible to exonerate the government from
blame, but it is just to point out their difficulties. The
first and most important was the absence of men accus
tomed to administration. The government had to choose

MACEDONIA 243
between trustworthy men entirely without experience
and men whose experience had been on Hamidian lines.
In many cases they were under the necessity of choosing
the latter. But such men had all the old prejudices
against the Christians, the old traditions of stamping out
opposition to the government by means of arbitrary
arrest and torture and cruel punishment. They were
tolerated in Macedonia probably because it was believed
that their methods would show the Anatolian Moslem that
the government was determined to carry out its designs.
It may be admitted that the Albanians once in revolt
invited a serious lesson ; and that the Bulgarian inhabit
ants were dissatisfied with the treatment meted out to
them. Nevertheless it was unfortunate that the govern
ment had not faith in constitutional principles. They
governed under panic and, instead of stoutly maintaining
legal procedure and practices while ruling with a firm
hand, allowed their subordinates to use the old brutal
methods under the sanction of martial law. The govern
ment blundered and committed grave errors, errors
which, it must be said, they are now trying to correct.
As to what the future of Macedonia will be, the factors
are too numerous to justify a satisfactory forecast.
Serbia has for some years advocated a partition of the
country between herself, Bulgaria, and Greece. Bulgaria,
on the other hand, has been in favour of its erection into
an autonomous State. Greece would prefer a partition
if her share were larger than the Bulgarians would admit.
The theory of many Greeks a generation ago, and the
dream of many more, was that Greece should extend her
rule along the coast of the Mgean as far as and including
Constantinople itself. They claimed that the long-shore
population was and always has been Greek. But the
so-called Greek population of the capital was never

244 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Hellenic Greek. The Greek-speaking peoples of the
eastern shore of the ^Egean had quite as much, and
probably more, influence on its life and thought than
those of Greece. The people of Macedonia, always with
the exception of the Turkish minority, would probably
prefer an autonomous State under a separate ruler named
by the Sultan. But it is to be feared that Austrian in
fluence would prevent Serbia from approving autonomy,
Austria's ultimate object being to reach Salonika.
In these aspirations Turkey cannot be overlooked.
Apart from the reluctance of every Moslem to sacrifice
an inch of territory, the important part played by
Macedonia in the revolution of 1908 and in the military
rising in 1909 would make Young Turkey stoutly
resist partition. It is true that Bulgarians, Greeks,
Albanians, and Jews aided the Turks, and that happily
all worked harmoniously together, but the Turks were the
most numerous. Everything promised well until the
Albanian rising in the winter of 1909-1910 and the events
which followed it. Arbitrary measures, lawless im
prisonment and torture destroyed the rising hopes of
Christians and Albanians alike and their willing accept
ance of Turkish rule. It may be that time and improved
administration will effect a reconciliation. But the
alienation of the races in Macedonia from the Turks
is the most severe blow which constitutionalism has
received in Tui key, and lessens the chance of the Turks
henceforward taking the lead.
From these and a number of other causes it appears
to me that Macedonia is returning to the status quo of
three or four years ago. If Turkey can regain the
sympathy of the various races which she held during
twelve months after the revolution Macedonia may con
tinue to be an integral part of Turkey. It is possible
that the Turks themselves may come to recognize that

MACEDONIA 245
to erect it into an autonomous State under her own pro
tection and subjection would be in their interest. The
Macedonians would be satisfied, for their feeling of
nationality is strong. No considerable portion of them
desires annexation either to Bulgaria, Serbia, or Greece
except as a means of getting rid of misgovernment. The
genuine Macedonian considers himself the superior of the
subject of either of those States. Bulgaria also has
constantly declared that she too would be satisfied with
Macedonian autonomy. She fears that Austria intends
to employ Serbia as a means of getting down to Salonika.
The conduct of the Turkish government is the most
important factor in estimating what the immediate future
of the country will be. If it can repress disorders, and
content the various races, the country, which is one of
the most fertile in Europe, will become prosperous and
satisfied to remain under Turkish rule. But to attain
this result Turkey must abandon Hamidian methods.
The danger for the Turks, as for the Bulgarians, is that
Austria, supported by Germany, shall remain constant to
her design and persistent in her efforts to get to the
Mgean. An autonomous State under Turkish rule with
a contented and prosperous people would constitute a
moral barrier which European public opinion would make
it difficult for Austria to break down. A condition of
things like that which existed three years ago would make
many observers and well-wishers to Young Turkey echo
the words of the late Lord Salisbury, that if Austria were
about to take possession of Salonika it would be " glad
tidings of great joy." My conclusion, therefore, is that
the future of Macedonia depends mainly on the conduct
of the Turkish government. Have they learned the
lesson that mere repression, without liberty in its various
forms, is not enough to enable them to keep their hold
over a people and a province ? The future will show.

CHAPTER XI

ASIA MINOR

Physical features — Isolated communities, racial and religious —
The Nomad races — Turcomans — Euruks, etc. — Druses, Maronites,
Nestorians, Crypto-Christians — Kizilbashis, Stavriotai.
IN this chapter I deal with Asia Minor. I have already
spoken generally of the Turkish population who, in
their more normal condition, are found in this portion of
the empire. The Armenians, who are the most important
element of the Christian population east of the Bosporus,
will require a separate chapter. But in addition to the
adherents of the two great religious systems of Islam and
Christianity there are in Asia Minor a number of small
communities, some of which appear to have halted
between the two systems while others have retained more
ancient forms of worship or of superstition. Taken singly
each of these communities is small, but taken altogether
they form a far from unimportant section of the popula
tion. Asia Minor contains the debris of many races, the
drift of many religious or theological storms. Scattered
about its mountains or in its almost unvisited valleys,
in out of the way corners whither they have been
pushed by new-comers into the country, the student of
compaiative religion may find almost virgin country
for his investigation.
Before attempting a description of these communities
some account must be given of the physical conformation
of Asia Minor ; for it is this conformation which has
largely aided the survival of the remnants of ancient
races and religious beliefs.
246

ASIA MINOR 247
Asia Minor is in shape like an inverted dish, the larger
portion being an elevated tableland. In its slope towards
the north are many fissures in which various rivers flow
to the Black Sea. In the west the slope is gradual, and
the fertile valleys of the Mendere, the ancient Meander,
and other less important rivers have always supported a
considerable population. In the eastern portion, my in
verted dish is without a rim, the mountain ranges and the
tableland extending east of the Tigris to the Persian
frontier and beyond it. The southern portion slopes off
somewhat rapidly in a line continuous with that of the
coast of Cilicia, where the Taurus is the southern bound
ary of the tableland, to the plain between Alexandretta
and the Euphrates. It is the drainage from the tableland
which supplies the water for that river and the Tigress.
The tableland varies in height, but its eastern portion
is lofty through a large area. Lake Van is 5300 feet
above sea-level. The plain extending from Van to
Erzeroum is nearly everywhere above 5000 feet.
South of this central tableland and west of the
Euphrates is the Syrian desert. Along this roam many
tribes of Bedouins not more advanced in civilization than
the Red Indians of America. When I was in Damascus a
marriage took place at which the dowry contracted to be
paid by the bridegroom, a Bedouin chief, or sheik, was
the value of what he could plunder from the next caravan
of the Sacred carpet. A friend, who had known the
Bedouin for many years, assured me that this form of
dowry was not unusual. The caravan alluded to was
the one sent annually from the capital to Mecca with great
ceremony by the Sultan. It carries the presents of the
sender, the most notable of which is a carpet to be used
in the mosque of the Kaaba. An ordinary Bedouin
travelling party is singularly unromantic and not more
picturesque than gipsies on the tramp.

248 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Where water is available the desert to the immediate
south of the tableland blossoms as the rose. I have
stood at the place where Mahomet, looking down on the
green oasis of Damascus, declared that he would not enter
because he could only hope to behold one Paradise. The
mass of green is strikingly beautiful because it is set in
the midst of a yellowish red desert, with a background of
white mountain limestone. It is the nakedness of the
neighbouring land in comparison with the fertility pro
duced by the rivers Abana and Pharpha which gives the
oasis of Damascus and the plain of Sharon their reputa
tion for beauty.
The north-west corner of Syria has a like beauty due
to its water supply. Mr Hogarth remarks with justice
that Palestine itself is not a fruitful country except by
comparison " with the awful aridity of Sinai."
The great road from Syria to Constantinople in Roman
times, and until the destruction of the Greek Empire, was
through the pass in the Taurus, known as the Cilician
Gates, and along the country through which the Konia
railway has been built. The country west of that road
has been invaded and settled by men coming from the
south and from the shore of the Mgean. It is still being
peacefully penetrated by a largely increasing Greek
population which now, as formerly, comes in from the
western shore of the ^Egean. As it appears pretty
certain that the days of massacre in that part of Asia
Minor are ended, the ancient method of thinning out the
Christian population will no longer be available to pre
serve the balance in numbers between Moslems and
unbelievers. Owing mostly to economic causes the
Moslem population in that portion of Turkey is giving
place to the Christian.
It must be noted also that in this western part of
Anatolia the population, and especially the Christian, is

ASIA MINOR 249
fairly industrious. Within the last generation the in
habitants have had two inducements to industry which
were wanting to their predecessors. First and most
important, the existence of two railways running almost
at right angles from the coast and each beginning at
Smyrna, enables the peasants to get their produce down
to the coast and find a market. The second is that
European merchants and capitalists have opened markets
for the sale of Turkish carpets, and have thus, as already
mentioned, largely increased an industry which already
gives home employment in the villages to many thousands
of men, women and children. If security to life and
property, such as exists in civilized countries, can be
provided, the development of the western portion of
the country may be regarded as secure.
Early travellers, as well as recent ones like Miss Lothian
Bell and Sir William Ramsay, American and other mis
sionaries who reside at centres in Asia Minor and who
visit the less known parts of the neighbouring country,
tell of encounters with people in isolated villages, whose
faces and even dress recall those of Assyrian and even
Hittite sculptures. The nature of a large portion of the
country facilitates survivals.1
Perhaps it is in the great central tableland and in the
north-west corner of Syria that the isolation of small
communities, which I have called survivals, is most
noticeable. But it would hardly be an exaggeration to
say that there are survivals of all the peoples which have
ever occupied Asia Minor and representatives of all the
heretical sects, Christian and Moslem. The Armenian
community of Zeitoun can hardly be called a survival,
though, strictly speaking, it is one. Its peoples are a
brave remnant, the survivors of Little Armenia, a king-
1 This is well brought out in Mr D. G. Hogarth's " Nearer East,"
the best book yet written on the influences of the physical geography
of Turkey upon the history of its inhabitants.

250 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
dom erected by the crusaders and itself the fragment of
a larger state which once extended from the Mediter
ranean to Persia. Secure in their mountain fastnesses
they have repeatedly defied Turkish armies, and have
done deeds of heroism as great as even Montenegro can
show. A dozen years ago Abdul Hamid determined to
extirpate them. But the troops he poured across the
mountains lost so many men, and the resistance offered
by the mountaineers was so successful that, when the
Powers, and principally England, let the Sultan know
that Europe would not tolerate a wanton massacre of
brave men, he was probably well satisfied to say that he
had been obliged to yield to diplomatic pressure, and the
Zeitoun Armenians were saved.
Other communities, both Christian and Moslem ;
Yezidis and others unattached to any recognized cult,
followers of some dervish or Christian heretic, are hidden
away and owe their safety to their obscurity and in
significance. They are survivals who have got into
backwaters and are out of the main stream of their race's
history. In Lycia, in the Taurus mountains, and in
many other parts of Asia Minor, they are occasionally
encountered. They have kept the habits and customs,
the weapons and in many cases the dress of their ancestors.
The Holy Places of their remote ancestors in their midst
have continuously been reverenced, sometimes under
Pagan forms, sometimes under the form of Christian, and
later under that of Mahometan sanctuaries. In the
province of Konia, at Sinason, where there are no Turks,
there is a survival of ancient Greek-speaking people who
keep many words and forms of the ancient language
which modern Greeks have forgotten. The same district
abounds in rock dwellings. There are still troglodytes
with many of the characteristics that are attributed
only to prehistoric man.

ASIA MINOR 251
One of. the most important causes which contributed
not only to the survival of isolated communities, but to
the impoverishment of Asia Minor under Turkish rule,
is to be found in the constant incursions and perpetual
wanderings of Asiatic nomads. I propose to indicate
the more important of these nomads and to give such a
summary of their condition as will show that they have
exercised an influence which has been largely mischievous.
In doing so I am aware that I am rummaging amid the
debris of many races and religions, in which a careful
searcher with ample time and knowledge of the languages
and people would make valuable discoveries.
Nomads in Turkey
The nomadic races which migrated into Turkey are
mainly four in number — Turcomans, Euruks, Araplis,
and Abdals. The Turcomans, commonly known in
Turkey as Tartar j is, are numerous throughout the
central tableland. Their supreme head is supposed by
his followers to live in Korassan, but I am told that
actually he resides in India and is a pensioner of the
British government. They profess a form of religion
which can hardly be classed either as Moslem or Christian.
They acknowledge the authority of one hereditary high
priest who, when he reaches a village or camp, is placed
in a tent apart. In this tent he receives the confessions
of men and women. If any man has quarrelled with his
neighbour, he calls both before him and tries to induce
them to settle their differences amicably. If either
refuses, he has the power of excommunication, which is
put into force as follows. On the great day of a religious
service, resembling either a Christian communion or love
feast, Agape, there are two tables spread, one for the
married, the other for the unmarried. Each family brings
a dish together with wine or raki (mastic). The dishes

252 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
are held by each person providing them till the priest
authorizes his placing them on the table. In case the
priest does not permit him to do so, he or his household
cannot take part in the feast, a much dreaded punish
ment, as it entails the refusal of all intercourse with the
other members of his tribe. Before the feast is eaten the
priest blesses the food and passes the wine cup round.
There is no divorce amongst the Tartar j is, and they can
only marry a second wife in case the first proves sterile.
The above practices look like a remnant of Christianity.
So also does the fact that they observe certain Christian
saint days. But the same people keep the month of
Moharrem as a time of abstinence, eating only of lenten
dishes. They do not, however, keep the sacred month of
Ramazan, which orthodox Moslems observe, though they
in certain places profess to do so. The priest or sub
stitute kills all the animals intended for food, receiving
a small sum of money per head.
They claim to be followers of Ali, the son-in-law of
Mahomet. Their tradition is that when Ali was at death's
door he commissioned his sons to hand over his body to
an Arab on a black camel who would call for it. When
the body was delivered to the Arab, the sons, out of
curiosity, by taking a short cut, overtook the Arab and
to their surprise found their father leading the black
camel. From this and from other traditions they con
clude that Ali was incarnate God. On the tenth day of
Moharrem they prepare the Ashoureh, small baked cakes,
something like the koliba by which the orthodox Greeks
commemorate their dead after forty days.
Two of the other nomad communities may be dis
missed as of slight importance : first, the Araplis, or
Arablis, who are believed by the population to be of
African descent. They are nearly all charcoal burners
or wood-cutters ; and second, the Abdals, who are not

ASIA MINOR 253
numerous and are unfavourably regarded by then-
neighbours. Of all the nomad races the Euruks are the most
numerous. They are found in small communities
throughout central Asia Minor, from Smyrna to Armenia.
They consist of several tribes, of whom the Tekelis have
the best reputation for honesty, while the Chiplis have
the worst and are dreaded as thieves and generally
untrustworthy. It is difficult to decide when the Euruks
entered the country. Some maintain that they are the
descendants of one of the ancient autocthonous races
which was never subdued. Whether this be true or not,
it is certain that their numbers increased greatly on,
and immediately after, the invasion of Genghis Khan in
the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and again
after that of Timour at the end of the fourteenth.
The only nomads with which Western Europe is
familiar are the Gipsies. But they have nowhere been
sufficiently numerous to constitute an element of general
danger. Many of the nomads who came into Asia Minor
were vigorous and wild barbarians from the steppes of
Central Asia. Ignorant of, and unused to, agriculture,
they treated the settlers who had been under the empire
as their lawful prey. The Seljuk Turks showed a power
of assimilating much of the civilization possessed by the
people whom they conquered, but they were either unable
or unwilling to check the inroads of the Euruks. They
probably made use of them to devastate the enemy's
country. In presence of the constant stream of nomad
immigrants, deterioration rapidly ensued. The country
population was driven into the towns or their immediate
neighbourhood for protection. The great roads, which
the Romans and subsequently the Byzantine rulers of
the empire had maintained, became unsafe. Never
repaired, they were destroyed by rainstorms and gradually

254 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
perished. Communication between neighbouring towns
almost ceased to exist. Produce could not be got to
market. Poverty followed, and with it knowledge of art
and literature perished and industry ceased. The people
fell back into barbarism, content to grow enough food
to keep body and soul together.
The Euruks exist throughout large tracts of Asia
Minor, sometimes merely harmless, driving small flocks
of sheep and living much like our own Gipsies, but every
where justly regarded with distrust as thieves who reck
little of life. I have a vivid recollection of seeing a
number of these nomads at, and near, Hierapolis. The
ruined city is intensely interesting and suggestive. Built
upon the slope of a mountain forming one side of a
magnificent valley in a district which the Europeans of
Smyrna call the Anatolian Switzerland, its situation is
superb. Laodicea, with its ruined theatre and deserted
buildings, is distant some five or six miles. Three or four
walled towns, absolutely deserted and not all even identi
fied, exist between Aidin, the ancient Tralles, and the
valley in question. But Hierapolis must have been a
large and fashionable city. Its two noble theatres which
still remain were capable of seating thirty thousand
people. Its ruined churches speak of a time when there
was a large Christian population. Indeed Renan
asserts that even as early as the third century the
Christians formed a majority of its population. The
chief attractions of the city were its hot baths, whose
extensive ruins suggest that it was once a Roman
Harrogate or Bath. A spring of hot water wells up in
large volume which yet flows along channels carefully
constructed by the side of some of the principal streets
to the great baths. In the course of many centuries it
has deposited in these channels a coating of limestone
which has raised the level of the channel six inches ;

ASIA MINOR 255
and in another part overflows down the rocks forming
a series of beautiful terraces somewhat resembling, though
on a smaller scale, the famous terraces of New Zealand.
Everything bears witness that at one time the city was the
inland resort of a well-to-do population who could afford
to spend time and money amid luxurious surroundings.
The city is now a desolation. Churches, theatres,
markets, baths, all of which have been solidly built,
have fallen to ruins or have entirely perished. There is
not a single habitable house ; not a single resident. But
in the great cemetery there are large tombs and sarco
phagi, and among them on my visit was a temporary
encampment of Euruks. Most of the tombs had been
broken open. Works of art with valuable inscriptions
had been destroyed ; and the explanation given was that
the Euruks had broken them either out of pure wanton
ness or in hopes of finding treasure. The members of our
party who well knew the country between Hierapolis and
Aidin agreed that to be caught alone by these nomads
would certainly imply being robbed of everything and
killed in case of resistance or even merely to save possible
trouble. In fact, they were looked upon much as settlers
in Western America look upon the savage Red Indians,
as dangerous men, enemies of civilization, and a curse
to the country where they are found.
It was such nomads who completed the work of destroy
ing Anatolian civilization which other Asiatic invaders
had commenced.
Among the remnants of races which have been driven
into isolation are three or four communities who inhabit
the north-west corner of Syria, the Lebanon, Anti-
Lebanon and the Ansarieh, the highland district from
the Lebanon to Alexandretta. Most of the inhabitants
are Shiah Mahometans (not Sunnis like the Turks) The

256 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Metuali number about 30,000. It is probable that the
fact that they are not Sunni gave rise to the belief that
they came from Persia where the Shiah sect is dominant.
There is also a remnant of the Hashashin. Their evil
reputation has given Western Europe the word assassin,
on the supposition that before killing their victims they
intoxicated themselves with hashash, a species of hemp.
But by far the most interesting of these refugees or sur
vivals in Syria are the Maronites and the Druses. The
first are now Christians and in union with the Church
of Rome. It is among the second, or Druses, that the
most interesting traces of an early race exist.
Druses
A century ago the Druses were hardly to be found
outside the Lebanon. During the last three generations
great numbers migrated into the Hauran, the fruitful
district around, but principally south, of Damascus,
where their numbers have largely increased. A not
inconsiderable number have emigrated into Egypt, since
native reports from that country have spoken of the
security for life and property under British rule. Others
have gone further afield and even to America. As usual
in Turkey no trustworthy statistics of their numbers
exist, but two American friends, who know the Druses
well and reside in Syria, made an estimate of the popula
tion in the autumn of 1910, with the result that they
found the total number to be 225,000, of whom 60,000 are
in the Lebanon.
The Druses are a fair-haired Indo-Germanic people
who at some early period were driven into the mountains
of Lebanon. I can find no information which appears
trustworthy as to their origin. They believe themselves
to have occupied the Lebanon since Noah's flood.
Though there is a considerable literature of the Sacred

ASIA MINOR 257
Books of their community, and though many volumes
have been written about the Druses themselves, both
their religion and history remain a mystery. When
visited by the famous Jewish traveller, Benjamin of
Tudela, in 1163, he found them friendly to his people, but
" of no religion, and regarded by their neighbours as
heathens." As professing neither Judaism, Islam, nor
Christianity, the description was not unnatural. At an
early period the Druses seem to have given refuge to
fugitives of various creeds and races, to Kurds and even
to Yezidis, or Devil Worshippers. They still continue
the practice. They profess to do this on the principle
that all men are brothers and equally the sons of God.
In 1019, Hamze, a Persian mystic, preached among
them, and one of his supporters claimed to be the incarna
tion of Christ. Apparently their tenets and practices
have always been mysteries. The Druses are enjoined
to keep their religion secret. They are said to be allowed
to profess whatever faith is dominant in the country
where they live. The same statement is made, however,
in regard to various sects of Dervishes. While I admit
that there are many expressions in Eastern philosophies
which would justify such a belief, I doubt very much
whether any sect has formally adopted the proposition
that so long as the spirit of religion is kept any form
may be professed. But the Druses appear to live up to it.
They are ready to sprinkle themselves with holy water
in the Maronite Church, or to perform the Moslem ablu
tions. Prayer, however, is regarded as an insult to the
Creator, as attempting to interfere with the Divine Will.
But so entirely is the obligation to secrecy observed that
only a few initiated persons are supposed to know the
secret doctrines of the sect. Such initiated persons are
the Elect, and it may well be that they have adopted the
formulae of some of the Dervish sects and believe that the
17

258 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Elect are divine. They are said to believe it to be their
duty to kill any uninitiated person who obtains posses
sion of their Sacred Books. Nevertheless, such books
have found their way to Rome and elsewhere.
The meetings of the Diuses are on Thursday evenings.
So long as strangers are present nothing extraordinary
takes place. The Koran is read and not their own Sacred
Book. The opinion of their neighbours is that, if there
are no strangers in their meetings, the lights are extin
guished and a ceremony takes place at which the break
ing of bread and the distribution of wine form an essential
part. If true, this suggests a Christian origin. Their
neighbours, the Maronites, assert that on such occasions
there take place orgies of an indescribable character.
Churchill, whose books on the Druses still remain authori
ties on the subject, appears to support this opinion,
and speaks of many of the Druses indulging in the " dark
and unscrupulous libertinism of Darazi," a Druse heretic
of the eleventh century. He is careful, however, to point
out that the majority of the people follow the teaching
of Behr-ed-din, which is unobjectionable.
They consider their community responsible for all its
members, so that Druse beggars are unknown. Many
traces of this solidarity and mutual interdependence of
the community exist in Turkey. The community is
responsible for the criminal acts of its individual members.
While it exercises a tribal jurisdiction over them, it also
is bound to grant them protection. To those who are
outside it constitutes a unit.
Men of other races, including Europeans who have lived
among the Druses, speak highly of their hospitality. It
is noteworthy, however, that they do not carry their
hospitality to the length of the Arab tribes. It does not
follow that because a man has shared their bread and salt
that he will be safe from attack. Lord Carnarvon, who

ASIA MINOR 259
visited them in 1861, speaks of the " refinement which
distinguished the conversation and manners of those
amongst the Druse chiefs " whom he met. The char
acteristic of the Druses which impressed me most was
their self-respect ; the absence of anything like loutish-
ness or gaucherie in the manners of peasants and chiefs
alike. Further experience taught me that this feature
was general throughout all the population of the empire.
A man who, by his manners, dignity of carriage, natural
politeness to everybody, was one of the most distinguished
I have ever known was my own Armenian head porter.
Freedom from awkwardness is almost universal in
Turkey. My late friend, General Blunt, himself a model
of charming manners, was fond of calling attention to the
trait in question among the poorest men in the community.
Even a beggar will ask for a light for his cigarette with as
much confidence and delicacy as would any gentleman.
The labourer who passes and observes that you are in
want of a light will offer it with the like absence of
awkwardness. In this respect the General would remark,
the people are more advanced in civilization than our own.
Nevertheless, the self-respect of the Druses is not a
mere question of manners. Like the Albanians, they are
proud of their families, of their race, and of their history ;
and like the Albanians they have great names and
reputations among them ; princes, like Shehab, whose
pedigree goes back to times beyond the Crusaders, against
whom their ancestors fought ; chiefs with long lines of
ancestry of which they are as proud as any sons of the
Crusaders in the West. English and American residents
in Syria like the Druses, because they are men, strong,
truthful, trustworthy and independent, because they are
a fighting race and will not cringe or lie before any man.
I may conclude this notice of the Druses with an
account of their origin as given by themselves. It was

260 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
related to me by a trustworthy Roman Catholic who
resided in the Lebanon and knew them well. Their
version is, that after the Noachian deluge, all the sur
vivors lived in the great garden of Paradise on and
around the Lebanon. Centuries passed, and then Allah
sent a prophet named Moses. Many followed him and
left the garden. More centuries passed, and then a
greater prophet came from Allah named Jesus. A larger
host left the garden to become His disciples. Then again
centuries passed, and Allah sent the last prophet, Maho
met ; and so large a host quitted the garden that only a
remnant of the inhabitants was left. Finally, Allah
sent the archangel Gabriel, who asked of the elders why
they also had not quitted the garden : " Allah has sent
three great prophets ; why have you not followed one of
them ? " The elders took counsel together and answered.
the archangel, " Allah is Great and we thank him for
sending the three Great prophets. But we have no need
of one. " Allah is sufficient for us."
Maronites
The largest community in the Lebanon is the Maronites.
In the fourth century they were monotheletes. By this
name they were distinguished from the monophysites,
who claimed that Christ had only one nature instead of
two as Christians generally hold, a divine and a human.
The monotheletes desired apparently to indicate that,
whether there was only one or two natures, as to which
they expressed no opinion, there was at least only one
will or source of action. The controversy was a curious
one, and the class of questions to which it belonged
remains, like extinct volcanoes, though at one time their
fires burnt fiercely. The clauses in the Nicene and
Athanasian creeds in regard to them have been happily
described as the tombstones of buried heresies. The

ASIA MINOR 261
heresy of the Maronites separated them from the other
Christian churches. They became a distinct community
perhaps as early as the fourth century, under a certain
S. John Maro, from whom their name is derived.
Whether they aie a distinct community by race is, how
ever, doubtful. The evidence appears to me to suggest
that they are ; that, like the Druses, they are the
remnants of an ancient race who became isolated in the
mountains and developed on their own lines, and were
persecuted as heretics. When the Crusaders entered the
Holy Land they were ready to ally themselves with
Christians who were generally hostile to their persecutors.
As early as 1182 their patriarch admitted Roman
supremacy, and since then they have always been
Maronite Catholics. It is claimed that they number
about 300,000. During the last century they were
under special protection of the French government, just
as the Druses were, or at least were supposed to be,
under that of the British.
The Nestorians
These Christians are found near and around Bagdad
and in the country to the north and east of that city as
far as, and within, Persia. Nestorius, from whom the
name is derived, was patriarch of Constantinople between
428 and 431. His heresy is another illustration of how
burning questions come to resemble burnt-out volcanoes.
Very hot controversy raged about his teaching. As he
began his short patriarchate by being a bitter persecutor
of others, no surprise arises at his being swept aside when
his opponents came into power. His heresy consisted
in denying that Christ was born God, though he taught
that God dwelt in Christ. Hence he held that though
Mary was the Mother of Christ she was not the Mother
of God. Indeed, the controversy raged about the test

262 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
word OeoToicos, which his followers would not allow to
be used. It is noteworthy that his doctrine did not
prevent his accepting every article of the Nicene Creed,
and a recently discovered MS. by him tends to show
that he was not a Nestorian ! But popular opinion was
against him. His teaching was declared heretical, and
the emperor, Theodosius, abandoned him.
In the east of the empire and in Syria a Nestorian
Church was formed. It had a remarkable history as a
missionary church, glories in many martyrs, and spread
Christianity through many countries in Central Asia, in
India, and Java, and even in China, where, as may be
learned from a long inscription given in Colonel Yule's
" Marco Polo " as existing in Singanfu, the Nestorian
Church had an extensive organization. So far as I can
learn it has never permitted eikon worship. The decline of
the Church was due to the terrible invasion of Tamerlane
who, in 1398-1403, swept across Central Asia and into
Asia Minor as a veritable scourge, destroying hundreds
of Christian churches. Since that time the Nestorians
have gradually become of less importance. Their head
quarters are now around Lake Urmia. Their patriarch
lives at Koshanes and takes the title of Marshiman.1
They number about 159,000 and are now perhaps the
most ignorant of all the sects of Turkish Christians.
Twenty-five years ago I was assured by a Nestorian
bishop that no copy of their liturgy had ever been printed.
I believe the honour of first putting it into type belongs
to an American missionary. The Nestorians in Turkey
are largely descendants of the old Chaldean race, and
their race has been kept fairly pure. Sometimes they
call their Church the Syrian and themselves Chaldeans.
But the name Chaldean Church is now applied to those,
1 The patriarchate is hereditary, passing usually to a nephew.
Lord Percy paid him a visit and gives interesting facts about this
ancient people. See his "Highlands of Asiatic Turkey," pp. 165-172.

ASIA MINOR 263
mostly town dwellers, who separated from the Nestorian
Church and accepted the supremacy of Rome. The latter
are said to number 70,000 ; their chief, whose name is
always Elias, takes the title of patriarch of Babylon.
An Anglican mission is making a useful attempt to
improve the Nestorian Church. It was due, I believe, in
the first instance to Mr Athelstan Riley, who was sup
ported in his efforts by Archbishop Benson. Its educa
tional work and the influence of a singularly tactful and
sympathetic missionary, Mr W. H. Browne, who died in
1910, have been of great value. I make only one remark
about it. I do so as an Englishman who cares little about
the distinctive dogmas of the churches, but wishes well
to all civilizing work done among the Nestorians who, from
circumstances for which they are not responsible, are
degraded, whether such work is done by Anglicans,
Roman Catholics or non-Episcopal missionaries. My
remark is, that Anglicans make a mistake in giving the
grossly ignorant Nestorian priests the notion that because
they belong to an Episcopal Church and have valid
" orders " they are necessarily superior to the representa
tives of non- Episcopal churches. Such teaching retards
Anglican work, creates ill-feeling, and is unjust to the
men belonging to the non-Episcopal churches.1
The Kizilbashis
The Kizilbashis, or " Red Heads," are another people
distinguished from the ordinary Moslems of Turkey by
their religious belief and practices. They are said to be
Turkish emigrants from Persia who, during the long wars
in the sixteenth century between Turkey and that
country, left the latter and were allowed by the Turks to
1 The Quarterly Paper of the A ssyrian Mission is interesting and some
times amusing, but I have seen too much of the work of eastern priests
to give credit to the stories of Chaldean, that is, Uniate, priests con
stantly intriguing to induce the Nestorians to quit their Church.

264 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
settle in the northern portion of Asia Minor. Afioum
Kara Hissar, the " black opium castle," for such is the
meaning of the name, a remarkably strong position
which the Konia railway passes, may be taken as the
southern limit of the country occupied by the Kizilbashis.
A line drawn from that town through Angora to Amasia,
about a hundred miles south-west of Samsoun, runs
through fertile plains largely occupied by them. They
profess Mahometanism, but are exceptionally tolerant
towards the professors of other religions and especially
towards Christians. Their women are unveiled except
in presence of the ordinary Turk. They object to
polygamy, and are said to have secret meetings in which
wine is ceremoniously drunk. A former British consul,
who was stationed at Angora and who knew the people
well, spoke of them as superior in intelligence to the
ordinary Turk, and was convinced that their ancestors
had been Christians. He spoke well of their morals,
of their cleanliness, of their trustworthiness and of
their kindly help towards each other. They are good
agriculturists, and our best apples and pears come from
Amasia where they are grown by Kizilbashis.1
Near Yuzgat the Kizilbashis are largely occupied in
the breeding of horses.
The Kizilbashis, if they were Turks of origin who had
settled in Persia, a statement which I take leave to doubt,
had possibly become influenced by the Shiah doctrines
which have usually been in favour of religious toleration.
1 The local tradition is that they owe their excellent fruit trees to
the English. The Levant company had a factory at Angora which in
the eighteenth century was fairly flourishing. There are now no
Englishmen residing in that ancient city, but there are some families
of Greeks who are proud of showing English books which belonged to
their ancestors, probably daughters of Englishmen who married Greeks.
In passing, I may remark that such marriages have frequently taken
place in many of the seaports of the empire, The offspring are
naturally brought up as Greeks, and after the second generation are
entirely assimilated by the Greek community.

ASIA MINOR 265
They call themselves Alevi, that is, followers of Ali, a
fact which shows that they wish to be regarded by then-
neighbours as Moslems. When asked by a stranger
whether they are Moslems or Alevi they will probably
answer, " We are all the slaves of Allah." Their tradition
is that their ancestors came from near Brussa and were
Christians. When once their confidence is gained by
a European they are communicative. They hate the
ordinary Moslem and are equally hated in return.
They carefully respect the Christian emblems found on
gravestones in their villages, emblems which are usually
defaced by the ordinary Moslem. Turkish neighbours
declare that on the occasion of certain Kizilbashi feasts,
meetings are held in a room carefully tiled, the doors of
which are guarded by armed men who will kill any
intruder. Even their weekly assemblies are remarkable.
An old Kizilbashi, who gave full confidence to my
informant, stated that every Thursday evening his com
munity meets in one of the large houses belonging to a
member. The men occupy one side of the room, the
women the opposite. At one end stands a priest. The
assembled people then partake together of their ordinary
evening meal, and when this is concluded the priest
intones an ancient hymn, accompanying himself on a
kind of small guitar. Then one of the men rises, takes
a cup and fills it with wine from a large earthenware
jar. The man advances with the full cup to the priest
who tastes and blesses it. The man returns to his place
and drinks the wine. Each of the men and women
present repeat this ceremony. When all have partaken,
the meeting breaks up and each goes to his own home.
The consul aheady mentioned was invited to be present at
one of the Thursday meetings, but was unable to remain.
A friend, however, who had frequently been present at
them testifies to the truth of the above statements.

266 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Thursday evening meetings, ceremonial supper, wine : all
this is suggestive of either Christian or Mithraic traditions.
Crypto-Christians ; Stavriotai
That there are Crypto-Christians in Asia Minor who
pass as Mahometans is, however, beyond doubt. In the
year 1904 the Orthodox patriarch had a case which
attracted considerable attention concerning some persons
in the neighbourhood between Batoum and Trebizond
who are known as Stavriotai, or followers of the Cross.
An Orthodox priest was imprisoned for having read the
burial service over one of this sect, whom the authorities
claimed to have been a Moslem. The community of
Christians belonging to the Orthodox Church who never
theless professed Islam was so numerous that the
patriarch threatened to resign if the priest were not
released, and to save the scandal of its becoming known
to the world that men were forcibly prevented from pro
fessing themselves to be Christians, the Porte gave way.
It is stated that there are some thirty thousand
Stavriotai. They openly profess Mahometanism. They
secretly practise Christian rites. They do not tolerate
polygamy among them. When they marry the ceremony
is a Christian one, often taking place in a rock-hewn house
or ~one underground. Then to keep up the pretence of
being Moslems they will go through a ceremony in
Mahometan form. A trustworthy Greek tells me the
story of his entering the house of a family which he had
always taken to be Moslem, and finding the table pro
vided in one part with lenten food and in another with
meat, he remarked on their thoughtfulness in prepar
ing lenten food for him, but received the reply that they
were keeping lent and that the flesh meat was for him.
Later on a mollah entered the house, and to the visitor's
surprise showed himself to be a Christian priest. When

ASIA MINOR 267
one of the sect dies, a Christian ceremony takes place as
well as the usual Moslem one. Old men in the com
munity declare that half a century ago their cryptic
ceremonies had to be conducted with the utmost care,
but that now, so long as the men register themselves as
Moslems and are thus available for military service,
nobody cares to inquire whether they are Christians at
heart or Moslems.
Most of the Stavriotai come from Lazistan. Many of
them are miners. Most of the Lazes are fanatical
Moslems, but there are Christian Lazes also who are
interesting. They, as well as many of the Stavriotai,
travel over a considerable area to work at mines. Prob
ably the largest number is to be found at the Ak-dagh-
maden mines in the vilayet of Angora. They have a
special bishop, Orthodox, of course, whose seat is at
Gumushhana, the " Storehouse of Silver," who travels
far afield to look after his flock, for many are in the
north-east corner of Asia Minor. There are others, how
ever, engaged in mining not far from Eregli, beyond
Konia, and in the Taurus, The corresponding state of
things in England would be that there should be a
bishop for the Gipsies.
There is no reason to doubt the tradition of the Stav
riotai that their ancestors had the choice of accepting
Mahometanism or death. They chose the first and still
continued to be Christians at heart.
The Crypto-Christians of Turkey present almost virgin
ground for investigation. I am sure that it would bring
to light many interesting facts. In speaking of them
with a singularly learned French Catholic priest who is
also an archaeologist and has paid special attention to
the subject of the forms of religion in Asia Minor, I threw
out the suggestion that possibly there was no heretical
sect in the early Church which was not now represented

268 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
in some part of Turkey. He at once replied that he had
arrived at a similar conviction. Many difficulties would
have to be dealt with by an investigator, amongst which
one of the most serious would be to distinguish between
the influence of ancient Christian teaching and that of
other faiths, old and new, derived from Persia. The
followers of Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, of whom
there are many sects, have often adopted a teaching
which looks curiously spiritual. Many extracts might be
made from their books which would pass as the utterances
of Christian mystics. " Indeed," says a recent writer
who has been fifteen years a missionary in Persia, " some
have supposed that the Ali-Allahi (believers in the
divinity of Ali) were once Christians who, when con
quered by the Arabs, substituted the name of Ali for
Jesus and afterwards forgot their origin." The same
writer adds that the Persian sects in question call Ali
" the Light of God manifested in the flesh. He is the
Redeemer." x They also have a ceremony which re
sembles a Christian communion. These and other
indications suggest that these sects, both in Persia and
in Turkey, had a Christian origin. But other indications,
such as the adoration of Light, the symbolic use of fire
on the occasion of religious service, recall Zoroaster and
Fire worship. I suspect also that there are many traces
of Mithraism. It is only of recent years that the wide
spread worship of Mithras has received attention, a
worship which so curiously resembled that of the Christian
Church that many Christian Fathers, Tertullian notably,
taught that the devil had instituted many of its rites in
order to travesty Christianity. Mithraic worship, which
was fully developed at least three centuries before Christ,
originated in Persia, but was more fully developed in
Asia Minor. Careful examination might discover
1 " Persian Life and Customs," by the Rev. S. G. Wilson. 1899.

ASIA MINOR 269
whether the curious religious practice of ceremoniously
drinking wine in some of the sects regarded as Crypto-
Christian is a survival of Mithraism or of Christian
communion. While writing on the subject I have read
Sir William Ramsay's " Notes on the Revolution in
Turkey," published in 1910, and observe that he states
as a " matter of surprise that so little evidence remains
of the worship of Mithras in Asia Minor." Yet he
mentions the discovery of an inscription by himself
which shows that its ritual was familiar to the Phrygian
people and suggests that a fuller examination would
bring to light further evidence.
My own belief in regard to Mithraism is that it will be
shown to have played an important part in the history of
the Christian Church. Its followers were found through
out southern Europe as well as in Asia Minor. The
emperors fostered it in the army " as a counterpoise to
the influence of Christianity." When all subjects of the
empire were ordered to become Christian the Mithraic
worshippers would find little outward difference between
their old faith and the new. Even the festival of the
birth of Mithras was on the 25th December. But when
men change their religion on compulsion, their tendency
is to take into their new worship the practices to which
they have been accustomed, and the Paganism against
which the Christians had to struggle was, I suspect,
largely imported from Mithraism.

CHAPTER XII
THE ARMENIANS
General characteristics — Armenian Church — Persecution of
Armenians — Cause of — Abdul Hamid's hostility — Massacres in 1894-7
— Testimony of Daily Telegraph — Of Rev. Ed. H. Hepworth —
Of Mr Fitzmaurice — Slaughter at Oufra — Massacre at Adana in 1909
IN some respects the Armenians are the most interest
ing people in Asia Minor. They are physically
a fine race. The men are usually tall, well built and
powerful. The women have a healthy look about them
which suggests good motherhood. They are an ancient
people of the same Indo-European race as ourselves,
speaking an allied language. During long centuries
they held their own against Persians, Arabs, Turks,
and Kurds. Wherever they have had a fighting chance
they proved their courage. In the economic struggle
for life against alien races they and the Jews have
managed to hold their own ; but, unlike the Jews, a
large proportion of them have remained tillers of the
soil. In commerce they are successful not only in Turkey,
but in Russia, France, England, and India. Though
subject to persecution for centuries under Moslem rule
they have always, though sometimes after long and
arduous struggle, managed to make their race respected.
Notwithstanding a long series of massacres, in one of
the latest of which, that under Abdul Hamid in 1894-7,
probably at least two hundred and fifty thousand of
them were killed or died from exposure, the race has
continued to increase. It is prolific and comparatively
270

THE ARMENIANS 271
free from the deadly maladies of immorality, which,
unless checked, will exterminate the Turkish race. A
century and a half ago, the Armenian language was
prohibited in several parts of Armenia. The penalty
for speaking it was to have the tongue torn out. Never
theless, Armenian is still almost everywhere spoken
by the race. Ijts people are stiff-necked and have a
toughness about them which prevents their being
broken. They probably number about four millions,
of whom two are in Turkey, one and a half in Russia,
and the remainder dispersed throughout the world.
They are thriving merchants in India and Persia, make
splendid agricultural colonists in the United States,
where there are already three or four considerable towns
almost exclusively composed of them, and are found
in almost every country in Europe.
Accepting Christianity at an early period their Church
has always been jealous of outside interference. They
keep their own rites and liturgies and only own
obedience in religious matters to their own patriarch
and catholicos.
Since the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks
they have always been more open-minded* than any
other of the Christian races in the empire in reference
to matters of religion. It is generally said that the
Greeks will not tolerate a Roman Catholic or Protest
ant missionary, because they consider any man who
abandons the Orthodox Church is a traitor to his race.
They regard religion and nationality, using the latter
word in the sense in which Turkish subjects employ
it, as meaning the Millet or community to which they
belong, as synonymous. But while the Armenian is
proud of his Millet and does not look kindly on a man who
changes his religion, he does not consider that it should
prevent him inquiring into the truth of other forms

272 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
of Christianity, or adopting one of them if he likes. In
the sixteenth century the Armenian Church dignitaries
corresponded with Erasmus and Melancthon and other
reformers. The Jesuits and early Roman Catholic
missionaries in Asia Minor are said to have used this fact
against them, and persuaded the Porte that for Armenians
to treat with such foreigners was treason to the State.
When, in the eighteenth century, Catholic missionaries
endeavoured to make converts among the Armenians
they met with considerable success. The absence
of living and visible force in the Ancient Church no
doubt greatly aided them. The converts were formed
into a Uniat Community, known as the Armenian Catholic
Church. The first Armenian Catholic patriarch was
recognized by the Roman Church in 1742. Its
adherents are more numerous in the towns than in the
country. Their patriarch has virtually the same powers
and his Church the same system of church organization
as the great majority of their countrymen possess in the
Ancient Church. The advantage which the Armenian
Catholics possess is that, being in union with the great
Latin Church, they find co-religionists and places of
worship wherever they go. They would add, of course,
that they are members of the only true Church. Some
at least of their opponents suggest that the greatest
of their advantages was that, on becoming Catholics,
they obtained protection from France or Austria, which
claimed the right of protecting those who acknowledged
Rome. But I see no reason to doubt that the great
majority of converts were actuated by honest conviction.
It may be added that some of the Armenian Catholics
have a tendency to get rid of their racial character and
give the impression that they do not like it to be known
that they are Armenians. Whether it is an advantage or
not that all Christians should be merged in one Church and

THE ARMENIANS 273
lose their national or race feeling is a fair subject for
difference of opinion.
The American Protestant missionaries have also
met with success among the Armenians. Protestant
communities exist among them throughout the empire.
In the massacres of Adana in April and May 1909,
where Protestants, ordinary or Gregorian Armenians
and Catholic Armenians were slaughtered indiscrimi
nately by the fanatical mob, twenty-two Protestant
pastors were murdered.
Whatever may have been the doctrine and the practice
among the early American missionaries, their teaching
and method of conducting their missions during the
last twenty years have tended not so much to make con
verts as to act as a useful leaven upon the population
around the missions, especially the part of it professing
Christianity. The Eastern Christian Churches generally
had become almost useless as institutions for religious
or moral teaching. Sermons were unknown. The
American missionaries have infused into the ancient
Armenian Church a spirit of piety as understood in the
Churches of the West, which was almost unknown. The
Armenians have seen from the teaching in the American
schools, and from preaching in which attacks upon the
Ancient Church are carefully avoided, that there is no
desire to make proselytes. Their confidence has been
obtained. In many places, priests and the heads of the
Ancient Church work harmoniously with the American
missionaries. Men and women attend their preaching
but attend also the Ancient Church. A Methodist
Episcopal missionary declared, thirty years ago, his
preference for this kind of co-operation. " Why," he
asked, " should men be asked to leave the church of
their father ? " He assimilated the practice followed
by him and others to that established with the approval
18

274 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
of Wesley when his followers went to the Established
Church for the sacraments but to the preaching for
religious instruction. Of course it happens when a
priest is notoriously immoral or stupid that a separate
community is formed. But in many places Armenian
priests have been present at, and have taken part in,
Protestant services. In like manner Protestant mission
aries are often invited and preach in Armenian churches.
My own impression is that the American leaven has
worked excellently, that a reform, religious awakening,
an improvement — call it what you will — has been and is
being effected among the Armenians of a valuable
character. The Armenians still keep the iconoclastic spirit. They
object to pictures in their churches except one which
is usually of the Virgin and Child placed over the altar.
Sometimes, however, small eikons or even bas-reliefs
are placed on the altar, but in order that they shall not
be confounded with ordinary eikons, they are specially
dedicated for church use. The absence of eikons in
church or even of a screen or iconostasis is noticeable.
Nor do they keep them in their houses. The practice in
the Greek Church of kissing the eikons is neither pleasant
nor edifying. Prelates and superior persons may say
what they like in its defence, but they will never persuade
independent observers that the mass of poor worshippers
do not regard the pictures themselves as possessing a
miraculous virtue. The practice is a survival of, or a
reversion to, fetishism. The Armenian Church has never
encouraged it.
I believe the Armenian race to be the most artistic in
Turkey. Many paint well and some have made a reputa
tion in Russia and France. Amateur painting is so
general as to suggest that the race has a natural taste for
art. The picture gallery on the Island of San Lazzaro

THE ARMENIANS 275
at Venice, where (as also in Vienna) there is a convent
of Armenian Catholics known from the founder as
Mechitarists, contains many works of art by Armenians
which won the approval of Ruskin. I can only judge of
the Armenian love for music from the fact that nearly
every family which can afford a piano has one upon which
its members often play well, and that excellent choirs
of Armenian singers come occasionally to the capital.
Every observer notes that our best native companies of
actors are Armenians.
The National Church of the Armenians is sometimes
spoken of as the Gregorian, because the conversion of
the nation was largely due to Gregory the Parthian,
known as " the Illuminator," whose great work was ,
accomplished in 301, when Christianity was adopted as
the established religion. The kingdom of Armenia was
thus the first state to erect Christianity into the national
faith. The Church adopted only the decisions of the three
Great Councils — of Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), and
Ephesus (431) — as against the seven recognized by the
Orthodox Church. Its history is a long martyrology.
In later years, persecuted by the Persians, nearly isolated
from other countries where Christianity had begun to
spread, notably in Phrygia, the Armenians developed the
Church on national lines. Amid many changes, it has
always had a powerful hold over the race. Armenians
felt the influence of Hellenism very slightly. They were
always iconoclasts with a strong conviction in favour
of Monotheism : their religion never showed much
tendency to adopt the practices of Paganism which had
something like a fascination for the Greek race.
The Armenian patriarch has no territorial title, but is
called " Patriarch of all the Armenians." While the
government of the Church is in his hands, aided by his
council, the spiritual head is the Catholicos, who resides

276 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
at Etchmiadzin. Although the majority of Armenians
in Turkey are found in Armenia, there is no province
or important city in the empire which is without them.
Everywhere they seem to be successful. They have
great mental capacity. The Greeks may excel them
in quickness of perception and vivacity but the Armenian
has a steadiness, a thoughtfulness, and a canniness about
him which is of value. Armenians and Greeks have
furnished the brain of the Turkish empire during the last
two centuries. Those who have known Turkey during
the last thirty years will readily recall, not to mention
living men, the names of a host of able public servants.
Medical men, advocates, teachers, managing clerks,
belonging to the race abound and have the confidence
of natives and foreigners.
And yet this race, which in religion has never been
aggressive, and which under Turkish rule only asked for
the protection of life and property and desired to live at
peace with its Moslem neighbours, was during the reign of
Abdul Hamid so fiercely persecuted as to lead many to
suppose an intention to exterminate all who belonged to it.
The causes of the massacres in Armenia in 1894-7
were mainly four. All of them had been in operation
for years. There was first, a traditional feeling among
their Moslem neighbours that they had the right to
plundex,_Christians ; /second, the .superior industry and
thrift of the Armenians, which hadenablecTTIiem to
acquire land and become generally wealthier than their
neighbours, who thus coveted their possessions ; third,
their superiority-in- intelligence, due to their thirst for
instruction which had induced them to be less tolerant
than they had formerly been of periodical robbery and
outrages upon their wives and daughters. In other
words education had fostered the desire to be free.

THE ARMENIANS 277
Lastly^ a series of petty^pjersecvitionsJby their Moslem 1
neighbours, especially by the Kurds, and the impgssi- '
bility of obtaining^redress. These causes led to the
emigration of many Armenians to Russia and America,
and to the formation of revolutionary committees out
side Turkey. In despair of obtaining redress, a few
Armenians within the empire joined these committees.
These bodies gave Abdul Hamid the excuse for massacre.
The idea of the foreign committees appears to have
been the very dangerous one that, by promoting disorder
in the country, the Turks would be certain to commit
barbarities and then Europe would intervene in favour
of their people. Many members of the foreign revolu
tionary committees entered Armenia from Russia and
provoked disorder. As Europe did not do more than
lodge protests, as in particular Russia was unwilling to
enter the country, the Sultan and his gang considered
that they had a free hand.
The Sultan, in a hundred ways, had shown his dislike |
of the Armenians. He had closed schools wherever'
possible. He had prohibited the entry into the country
of all books which could in any way feed the aspirations
of the Armenian people. If a geography for schools even
mentioned the word Armenia it was not allowed to enter.
Armenian newspapers were even more strictly censored
than those in other languages. School teachers in
particular were regarded with suspicion and were
arrested on the slightest pretext or without pretext. It
was impossible for an Armenian to obtain justice in
the law courts if one of the parties were Moslem.
Arbitrary government showed itself in Armenia at its
worst. Wholesale arrests, imprisonment without trial,
tortures of the most horrible character which the in
genuity of savages could devise in order to extort evidence,
public executions, private murders in the prisons, the

278 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
veriest pandemonium which the nineteenth century
could show, were all displayed to the world before the
massacres of 1895 commenced. Abdul Hamid knew of
these outrages and justified them. I remember a story
which Sir Philip Currie told me in 1894. He had re
ceived news from a Consul in Armenia of the arrest,
imprisonment and torture of sixty persons in a village
where a Moslem had been killed. He went to see the
Sultan and to ask that they should be released. Abdul
Hamid replied " but a Moslem has been killed," and this
with an air, said Sir Philip, as if to say " you can't object
to imprisoning the whole lot when you remember that."
Our Ambassador explained that in civilized countries,
the murderer would be sought out and punished. It was
useless to try and persuade Abdul Hamid that order could
be maintained by limiting the action of his servants in
that fashion when Armenians were concerned.
Shortly afterwards came the massacres. By Abdul
Hamid's orders Moslem fanaticism was inflamed ;
Moslem cupidity was given a free hand and the barbarous
masses were encouraged to enrich themselves and prove
their fidelity to their faith by robbing and killing their
Christian neighbours. The massacres were carefully
organized. Messengers were sent from the capital to
each of the large towns. They gathered the Moslems
in the largest mosque, harangued them as to their duty
to their sovereign and religion, and urged them on the
following day to pillage. As I elsewhere mention, these
messengers of evil were sometimes stoutly opposed in
the mosques themselves by good Moslems, whose sense
of what was right led them to protest against the proposed
horrors as outrages on their own religion. Unhappily
such protests were rare, and when made little heeded.
On the day following the meeting in the mosque the
horrors commenced by sound of trumpet.

THE ARMENIANS 279
I have no intention of re-telling the hideous story of
that terrible time. I denounced the illegal imprison
ments, the unjust executions, the brutal tortures, the
utterly and inexpressible stupidity of Abdul Hamid's
government in Armenia. But I also denounced the
sending of revolutionary agents to provoke insurrection
and this on the sole ground that the Armenians would
and could have no chance of success. I knew generally
what the palace gang was capable of, though I had not
then fathomed the depths of savagery in them. Instead
of recalling what I myself wrote about the outrages
in Armenia, I may summon certain witnesses whose
testimony will not be suspected. The Special Com
missioner of the Daily Telegraph in Armenia on April 2,
1895, telegraphed a long dispatch from which I take
the following statements ; " The Armenian population
throughout the entire country are exhibiting a marvellous
degree of patience under treatment which would rouse
any other people to open rebellion. The mischievous
remarks of people writing from Tiflis concerning the
workings of a secret society, and so forth, are utterly
devoid of truth. There is no secret society worthy the
name in Armenia now. The Armenians are incapable
of guarding secrets or of being welded into a powerful
organization ; and the revolutionary plans talked of
are a mirage of the brain ; but the injustice and oppres
sion of which the Armenian people are the victims would
change the most loyal of Europeans into rebels. Women
are being constantly insulted, assaulted, and dishonoured ;
property is being seized by violence ; men, women, and
children struck, wounded, and killed ; and Christ's
religion publicly reviled. Those who dare to complain
are imprisoned, and the highest officials who enjoy the
Sultan's confidence offer the very worst example. Every
day I see property of Christian merchants publicly

280 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
taken away by Mohammedans, and when these helpless
people kept their shops closed to avoid pillage the
Governor-general himself ordered them to be opened.
" Two days ago three Armenian ladies came to me for
protection. They did not fear death, they said, but only
dishonour, and they had been told by Turkish officers
that when the riot began each one of them would be
handed to certain officers who had marked them for
their own. The female teachers of an Armenian Pro
testant school at Erzeroum took refuge with the
American missionary's family, as they were all too much
alarmed to spend the night in the school-house.
" The collection of taxes offers opportunity for exac
tion and nameless injustice. I am enabled to state
as an absolute fact that the governmental tax-gatherers
are no longer satisfied with the money due to the treasury,
or the usual bribes for themselves, but indulge in wanton
cruelties such as tying men to posts, flogging them,
rubbing fresh manure into their eyes, nose, mouth, and
ears ; slowly pouring cold water over them while they
stand naked in snow ; and forcing them to walk barefoot
over sharp thorn bushes."
My object in making the above quotation is to show,
(i) that the influence of the foreign revolutionary com
mittees was greatly exaggerated, (2) that the Armenians
were enduring suffering which would have fully justified
revolt if revolt had the slightest chance of success.
My second witness is one of quite exceptional quality.
The Rev. Geo. H. Hepworth is a Presbyterian clergy
man greatly respected in the United States, who has
turned his attention largely to journalism. He was sent
to Armenia with two others by Mr Bennett of the New
York Herald. The Sultan had stipulated with Mr Bennett
that Mr Hepworth should be accompanied by Mr Sidney
Whitman, with whom he had personal relations and in

THE ARMENIANS 281
whom he had great confidence.1 The party was accom
panied by three of the Sultan's aides-de-camp and a
secretary. Mr Hepworth remarks that no other repre
sentatives of the press had been allowed to make the
proposed journey. I have never met Mr Hepworth
but I recall that when it was known in Constantinople
that the correspondents of the New York Herald were thus
sent off to make an inquiry under the special protection
of the palace we concluded that Abdul was at his old
trick of trying to deceive Europeans, and beyond all
doubt this was so. But Mr Hepworth in his preface
tells us that from the first he determined to be impartial.
He kept his promise and his book indicates a clear-headed,
high-minded and trustworthy man with eyes to see and
with will to resist all temptation to pervert truth and for
this reason it affords invaluable evidence.
I select certain passages from his admirable, because
impartial, account. " It is one thing," says he, " to
read about the tragedy, the stupid blundering tragedy,
when you are seated in your easy-chair, thousands
of miles away, but a very different thing to look into the
wan and wrinkled faces of women whose homes have been
broken up, and who were compelled to fly to the moun
tains amid the snows of wintef in order to save themselves
and their children, while their husbands and fathers lay
dead under the deserted roof." a
As I have already written, some of the Armenians were
worried into rebellion by the attacks made upon them
by the Kurds, attacks which brought in revolutionary
agents from Russia. This is how Mr Hepworth states
the matter. " When I say that the Armenian massacres
were caused by Armenian revolutionists, I tell a truth,
i " Through Armenia on Horseback,"by the Rev. Geo. H. Hepworth,
Isbister & Co., London 1898.
* Page 129.

282 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
and a very important truth, but it is not the whole truth.
It would be more correct to say that the presence of the
revolutionists gave occasion and excuse for the massacres.
That the Turks were looking for an;occasion and an excuse,
no one can doubt who has traversed that country.
" Way down in the bottom of his heart, the Turk
hates the Armenian. He will swear to the contrary, but
I am convinced that the statement is true nevertheless.
The reasons for this are abundant, as I have tried to
show in other chapters of this book. The Turk is ex-
/ tremely jealous of the Armenian, jealous of his mental
j superiority, of his thrift and business enterprize. He has
therefore resorted to oppression, and his steady purpose
has been and is now, to keep his victims poor. Equal
opportunities for all are a delusion and a snare. They
do not exist, and it is not intended that they shall exist.
If the Turk could have his own way, unhampered by the
public opinion of Europe, there would neither be an
Armenian nor a missionary in Anatolia at the end of
twenty years, for both are equally obnoxious.
" If you put an Armenian and a Turk side by side in
a village it will hardly be twelve months before the Turk
will retire impoverished because the Armenian has
absorbed the business. The Turk has conquered the
Armenian by force of arms, but the Armenian has the
better of the Turk by force of brains. Up to the time of
the recent massacres the Turk was continually losing
money, while the Armenian grew richer every day."
As to the numbers killed, Mr Hepworth's statement
may be compared with that of Sir William Ramsay.
Each statement is that of an honest observer, but that
of Sir William is by a man who has known the country for
a quarter of a century. Mr Hepworth says " It wouldhe
a moderate estimate to say that fifty thousand have
been killed. These victims were mostly heads of

THE ARMENIANS 283
families." 1 Sir William says, " Abdul Hamid has a
fair claim to rank among the greatest destroyers of
human kind that have ever stained the pages of history.
Responsible for half a million deaths, a still larger number
who have suffered permanently from destitution, torture,
mutilation, loss of property, of honour, etc. He can vie
with Mongols like Tamarlane. . . . Not one spark of
any grand or great quality illumined his life or ennobled
his fall." 2
Mr Hepworth renders homage to the " marvellous
heroism of the Armenians in the heart-rending ordeal
through which they passed." They met their doom
" with the true and indomitable spirit of martyrdom and
were as noble in their deaths as they were faithful in their
lives." In exceptional instances they renounced their
religion to save their lives, but, adds the writer, " Let
those who think they would prefer to have their skulls
broken with a club blame the people of Birejik if they
choose to do so — I can only say that I myself dare not
do it." 3 " Think of women," says he, " holding their
honour at such a price that they deliberately leaped from
the bank of the Euphrates and sank beneath the raging
torrent rather than submit to the lust of the Kurd. Can
the old days of persecution furnish nobler examples
of self-sacrifice than these ? " * He raised his hat to
their honour as he passed the place from which they
threw themselves.
For myself I will remark that while I recounted
several instances of self-sacrifice in a letter to the Daily
News which I headed with the phrase " The Noble Army
of Martyrs praise Thee," I wish with all my heart that
the Armenians had not submitted so readily to death.
An Englishman who was present at one of the massacres,
i Page 344. ' Page 163.
8 " Diary in 1909-10," p. 140. * Page 164.

284 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
I think in Trebizond, expressed his opinion very con
fidently that had there been a score of fighting roughs
from the east end of London, or from the western states
of America, they could have organized a resistance which
would have prevented many of the worst outrages. It
was because the victims submitted too readily that the
blood-thirsty and cowardly scum of the Moslem popula
tion were encouraged to a profitable slaughter which
entailed no risk to themselves. The attitude of turning
the other cheek is not suitable for such occasions. Still,
we must not forget that these people were unused to
arms and were in most cases without weapons, while
their opponents were well armed.
The alternative presented to the Armenians was a
dreadful one, says Mr Hepworth, " turn Moslems or be
exterminated. . . . The poor fellows at Birejik looked
into the faces of their wives and children whose fate
depended on their decision. It was a tragic scene and
tragic moment. Their brethren in other parts were being
murdered by hundreds. The cemeteries were glutted
with victims. They surrendered and saved their lives."
I have marked many other passages but refrain. The
writer speaks of torture as to which he had trustworthy
evidence, of the savagery of the Kurds, of the impossi
bility for an Armenian to obtain justice in the law courts,
of the practice of buying the judges and of the absence
of roads.
The last witness I will call is at the present time the
chief dragoman at the British Embassy in Constantinople,
Mr Fitzmaurice. The whole of his reports dealing with
the troubles in Armenia during 1895-6 are of value, as
narratives by a keen observer who has long been known
for his skill in gaining the confidence of Moslems and
Christians alike and for his habitual good faith. In
February 1896, the Sultan at the demand of Sir Philip

THE ARMENIANS 285
Currie consented to allow Mr Fitzmaurice to go to
Birejik and elsewhere in Armenia, to inquire on behalf
of the British government into the conversions from
Christianity to Islamism. His story on the subject is a
terrible one. It is contained in a report dated 5th March
1896.1 The Turkish officer in Birejik had asked the
Christians to surrender their arms " otherwise he could
not protect them." All the arms they had were sent to
Government House. The Moslem mob was excited
against the Kaimakan, reproached him "as an un
circumcised infidel, with protecting Christians, and with
concealing the sultan's orders for their extermination."
Then the mob took the matter into its own hands. The
major in charge of the troops refused to protect the
Christians. Every Armenian house whether belonging to
Gregorian, Roman Catholic or Protestant, was pillaged,
ruined and desecrated. Here, as happened in certain
other places, a kindly Moslem of good position tried to
protect the Christians. He begged the major " with
tears in his eyes " to give him a few soldiers to go up and
help to save what he could. His request was refused.
The Christians were surrounded ; many killed ; all
were menaced with death as they left a large building
where they had taken refuge. Their positidh was hopeless
when a woman ascended the roof and, holding a white
flag, declared that all within it had become mussulmans.
As Mr Fitzmaurice says, " they accepted Islam to save
their lives, to save themselves from certain death."
The official report prepared by the Turkish officials,
which represented the conversions as voluntary, was a
huge lie. Even when Mr Fitzmaurice was there, the
population was determined to kill any convert who
renounced Islam.
On the 16th March 1896, an even more gruesome story
1 "Blue Book," Turkey No. 5, 1896.

286 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
was told by Mr Fitzmaurice. He wrote from Ourfa, the
ancient Edessa, and described the hideous massacres
which took place there in the preceding October and
especially on 28th and 29th December.
When he arrived in the first half of March, he found
desolation everywhere. In December the town contained
40,000 Mussulmans and 20,000 Armenians.
Troubles began in October in consequence of an
Armenian asking a Moslem for payment of a debt. The
latter and his friends attacked the Armenians, believing, as
all the Moslem population in that portion of Asia Minor
did, that the Sultan wished the Christian population to be
exterminated. The Armenians lived in a quarter apart
from the Moslems. They had all been carefully disarmed.
Their water supply was cut off and no food was per
mitted to enter the quarter after the end of October.
The Armenian bishop tried to telegraph to the Sultan, but
having withdrawn to a monastery outside the town he
was kept prisoner. Neither he nor any Armenian was
allowed to telegraph or send letters by post. Among the
Armenians, and aiding them was a brave American lady,
a Miss Shattuck, who was only permitted to leave the
town an hour before the great massacre commenced, on
28th December. All bore up well during the state of
siege, from the end of October to the last days of
December. They reopened old wells, caught rain water
and managed to obtain a scanty supply of food. Many
messengers were sent out but all were caught and
stripped. Twenty-five Armenians were induced to sign
a telegram stating that tranquillity had been restored.
On 28th December the leading Armenians gathered in the
cathedral, drew up a statement of their fears and asked
protection. The officer in charge of the troops promised
that it should be given. Hardly had the promise been
given when the great massacre began. The intended

THE ARMENIANS 287
victims were surrounded by a double ring of soldiers and
mob. At the mid-day prayer, a mollah waved a green
flag. " Soldiers and mob then rushed on the Armenian
quarter and began a massacre of the males over a certain
age." Here is one of the ghastly incidents recorded.1
" A certain sheik ordered his followers to bring as
many stalwart young Armenians as they could find.
They were to the number of about ioo thrown on their
backs and held down by their hands and feet, while the
sheik, with a combination of fanaticism and cruelty,
proceeded, while reciting verses of the Koran, to cut
their throats after the Mecca rite of sacrificing sheep."
All the houses were plundered. Many women were
cut down mercilessly while trying to protect their male
relations. Towards sunset a trumpet sounded ; all outrages
ceased. On the next day, Sunday 29th December, the
trumpet again sounded and the massacre re-commenced.
Moslems who had not taken part on Saturday fearing
resistance from the Armenians joined in on Sunday.
A savage butchery continued until noon and then
culminated in an act, says Mr Fitzmaurice, which for
fiendish barbarity is one to which " history can furnish
few, if any, parallels." This was the deliberate sacrifice
of a cathedral full of people. The hideous holocaust will
not and ought not to be forgotten. The ugly barn-like
Cathedral of Ourf a,like the mountain of sacrifice of Mexico,
like the Bridge of Sighs of Venice and the other monu
ments of man's inhumanity to man, ought to be religiously
preserved as a memorial of the stiff-necked determination
of the Armenians to die rather than change their religion,
and of the infernal brutality which can be practised in
the name of religion. The facts are the following : —
The Cathedral Church would hold about 8000 people.
1 "Blue Book," page 12.

288 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
A general belief prevailed that the unarmed persons who
took refuge within its walls would not be killed or even
molested. On the Saturday night the priest recorded
on one of the pillars of the church, where the record was
read by Fitzmauricej that he had administered a last
communion to one thousand eight hundred of his flock.
These one thousand eight hundred remained in the church
all night and were joined by several hundreds more, who
believed that they would be there in a place of safety.
There were thus in the church on Sunday morning at
least three thousand people when the mob attacked it,
the mob all well armed, the victims long since disarmed.
The attack commenced by firing in through the windows ;
then, the iron door was smashed in. The mob made a
rush and killed all who were on the ground floor, nearly
all men, the women and children having gone into the
gallery. They rifled the church treasures and ornaments,
tore down the shrines and mockingly " called on Christ to
prove Himself now a greater prophet than Mahomet."
The huge gallery was partly stone and partly wood and
was packed with a shrieking and terrified mass of women
and children with some men. Some of the mob began
picking off men with revolver shots, but this process
of killing Christians was too tedious. A large quantity
of bedding, doubtless the yorghans or duvets which are
used both as coverings and as mattresses for the sleeper,
was collected together and with many other combust
ibles including the straw matting covering the floor
were arranged for setting fire to the galleries. Some
thirty cans of Kerosine were poured over them and also
on the dead bodies lying about on the ground floor
and then fire was set to the whole.
The gallery beams and staircase soon caught fire and
then the mob left the mass of the struggling human beings
to become the prey of the flames.

THE ARMENIANS 289
Abdul Hamid and Islam had avenged themselves, and
a deed of devilry had been done which is on a level with
the barbarous Moslem outrages in Bulgaria at Batak, in
1876. Moslem inhabitants spoke of the hideous stench of
burning flesh, and, says Mr Fitzmaurice " even to-day,
two months and a half after the massacre, the smell
of putrescent and charred remains in the church is un
bearable." Like the other massacres in Armenia, for which Abdul
Hamid and his gang must be held responsible, the
massacre was systematically commenced and completed.
At 3.30 on that terrible Sunday afternoon, the trumpet
once more sounded ; the mob withdrew and, soon after
wards, the mufti and other Moslem notables went round
the Armenian quarter to proclaim that the massacre
was at an end.
Mr Fitzmaurice is careful to point out that no dis
tinction was made between Gregorian, Roman Catholic
or Protestant Armenians. He notes that 126 families
were so completely wiped out that not even a woman
or a baby remained. He estimates that on the two days,
the 28th and 29th December, close upon 8000 persons
perished, and that of these between 2500 and 3000 were
killed or burnt in the Cathedral.
Between 400 and 500 persons, during the two months'
siege, became Moslems. I agree with Mr Hepworth, in
not daring to blame those who saved their lives by chang
ing their faith. A letter from an Armenian woman was
shown me by our own cook, which gave a vivid picture of
the trials of the time. It was addressed to her husband,
who, like many of his countrymen, was working in
Constantinople, and sending his wages home for his wife
and family. It ran practically thus : " Our three
children were with me when a man came up and seized
19

290 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
little Andon and held a huge knife to his throat, threaten
ing to kill him unless I turned Moslem. I could not
bear it. You know what a bonny boy he is. He was
just turned six and how he loved us. He shrieked and
the others did the same, and — God forgive me — I turned
Turk." I regret that I must not leave the subject of the
massacres of the Armenians without speaking of the
hideous tragedy in Cilicia in April 1909. It was the
culmination of the series of horrors by which Abdul
Hamid's reign will be noted in history, horrors of which
it is hard to say whether their stupidity or their brutality
is the most distinguishing feature.
The revolution nine months earlier had shorn Abdul
Hamid of his arbitrary power. No one supposes that
he had re-established the Constitution, framed by Midhat
in 1877, willingly. Menaced by numerous telegrams
from various classes of his subjects in Macedonia who
demanded the Constitution, informed by many of his
spies that his troops were no longer to be depended on,
but confident in his own powers of intrigue, the Sultan
called together his leading advisers in order that they
might find a path of escape from threatened revolution.
Their deliberation was long, because, while all were
agreed that the only chance of avoiding a probably
bloody struggle was to proclaim the Constitution, none
dare mention the word. At length Abdul Hamid's
chief astrologer and sooth-sayer summoned up courage
to pronounce it and to inform the Sultan that it was
necessary to bow before the storm. Abdul Hamid pro
claimed the establishment of Constitutional government
and swore, or allowed it to be stated that he swore, to
observe its conditions. But Abdul had lived a life of
intrigue. He never made a confidant, but being a firm
believer in his own intellectual powers, which ambas-

THE ARMENIANS 291
sadors had often told him were the greatest with which
any existing sovereign was endowed, he began at once
to intrigue for his restoration to power. His plan, or
that of his adherents apparently, was to bring about a
counter revolution by a series of general and simultaneous
risings. The difficulties were great : Macedonia was
the stronghold of his enemies ; the population of the
capital was generally favourable to the new regime.
Abdul Hamid knew that the army generally was largely
discontented, but he trusted that the Albanian troops
around Yildiz, which for many years he had favoured,
would support his cause. But his great hopes were
fixed on Anatolia. There fanatical Moslemism was
strongest, and there consequently was the largest amount
of material for a counter revolution. Both in the capital
and throughout Anatolia he and his friends intrigued to
obtain especially the support of the large number of
Moslems who had seen with dislike the declarations in
favour of religious equality. A well-informed " occasional
correspondent " of the Times whose letter appeared in
the Mail of August 20, 1909, and who, from internal
evidence is evidently a man with exceptional local
knowledge, said that "all through the Asiatic provinces
it is believed that he instructed the high officials to
destroy the Christians. The report varies in detail but
is always the same in substance. It is to the effect that a
telegram was received from Constantinople by the Vali,
the commandant or the Mutesarif directing them to
create disturbances."
He further states in detail how dates had been fixed
for massacres in several big provincial towns and com
municated to the country population. The Sultan
hoped for a Jehad, or religious war, against the Christians
and against the Committee of Union and Progress as
consisting of unfaithful Moslems, Jews and Freethinkers.

292 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
The plans for a counter revolution were laid in great
secrecy, and the stroke fell like a bomb on the ministry,
the population of the capital and every ambassador.
The 13th day of April was the » appointed day. A
demonstration took place in the capital by which, in a
few hours, Abdul Hamid became once more undisputed
master in Constantinople. The Committee of Union
and Progress, the deputies, the editors of the newspapers
favourable to the Constitution disappeared. It looked
for a few hours as if the revolution had been in vain.
It is true that Abdul Hamid at once declared that he
would respect the Constitution, but nobody believed him.
It may be confidently affirmed that if the Sultan had
possessed one-tenth of the ability with which his syco
phants, his paid agents in the native and foreign press
and even ambassadors who ought to have known better,
had credited him, he could have become once more an
absolute ruler. But during this period he was inert,
apparently bewildered, unable to decide upon any action
and left all such to his creatures. By the distribution of
large donatives to the troops and by disguising men as
Hodjas and Mollahs who raised the cry of " Islam in
danger " he or his friends made a successful first move
in the capital itself. But he had not even thought
apparently of the second. It is sufficient here to recall
that Mahmud Shevket Pasha with Mahmud Muktar,
whom Abdul Hamid had in vain sought to kill, led the
troops from Macedonia, captured Constantinople, took
possession of Yildiz, deposed the Sultan and on the 24th
April packed him off without ceremony to Salonika.
The movement planned by the party of reaction
throughout Anatolia came off only in Cilicia and its
neighbourhood and principally in Adana. It was a
terrible success there and was contemporaneous with
that in the capital. Elsewhere the reactionaries waited

THE ARMENIANS 293
to see which side in Constantinople would win ; and
when, in less than a fortnight, the result showed the
powerlessness of the Sultan, no further attempt at
reaction took place. Amid some problems which are
still unsolved, it cannot be doubted that there was a
deliberate attempt to raise Anatolia against the new
regime. In Adana exceptional circumstances favoured the
party of reaction. Among them must be placed the
foolish conduct of a Section of the Armenian population.
Some of them, flushed with the wonderful changes
brought about by the revolution, gave vent to their
newly raised hopes, and declared that Christians and
Moslems were now equal. A few were foolish enough
to talk of Armenian independence. Many Armenians
had bought arms, and the quantity purchased, greatly
exaggerated by the fears of the Moslems, contributed,
together with incendiary speeches, to drive Moslems
into a panic. The cry of " Islam in danger " was
readily listened to. The Moslem population was inflamed
and ready to acquiesce in the suggestions of men who
purposed to create disorder.
On the appointed day, the 13th of April, an attack
was commenced by the Moslems of Adana upon the
Christians. The Governor either countenanced it or was
criminally weak. Within a few hours, fire was set to the
Armenian quarter of the town and the government depot
of petroleum which adjoined the governor's house was
opened and the petroleum taken away to increase the
fire. The movement spread to the villages and beyond
the borders of Cilicia. Probably not fewer than five
thousand persons were killed.
The distress occasioned by the tragedies in Cilicia,
and beyond that province as far as Aleppo, was terrible.
An international Committee of Relief, of which I was a

294 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
member, published the statement three months after the
events in question that "from the most authorized
sources " the number of victims who required relief was
nearly eighty thousand of whom five thousand were
orphans. " The number of killed has been stated to be
ten thousand but it would be safe to take half this number
as probably nearly correct. As these were the bread
winners of hundreds of families, the sufferers from desti
tution among the surviving women and children were
many times that number." The slaughter of these
victims was the characteristic event which marked the
end of the reign of Abdul Hamid.1
The massacres of Armenians have received and deserve
the fullest condemnation. Nowhere else in Europe
during the last century were there any wanton outrages
on humanity on so large a scale. When during the
Napoleonic wars, Spaniards and Germans were forced
from their homes to become food for powder, when during
military occupation in Germany and in France, horrors
were committed on both sides, we remember that these
were in war, and we recall also that the horrors even of
war have been lessened among civilized nations. The
massacres in Armenia, as in Bulgaria in 1876 and in
Chios in 1825 were cold-blooded slaughters of men,
women, and children by inferior races, perpetrated for
the purpose of plunder and in the name of religion. The
victims in Chios, Bulgaria, and Armenia were not rebels.
Their horrors recall the Mongolian invasions of long past
centuries in Asia Minor and of last century in central
Asia. We may continue to hope what we like from the
Turkish revolution. We may believe that it is possible
1 An admirable, because impartial, account of the massacres in
Adana and its neighbourhood is given by Mr Charles H. Woods in
"The Danger Zone of Europe" (1911).

THE ARMENIANS 295
that the Moslem population can abandon its fanaticism.
But it is impossible to read such books as Hepworth's
" Ride through Armenia " or Walsh's " Residence in
Constantinople," or any fair account of how the Turks
treated the Greeks in 1820-30, the Bulgarians in 1876, or
the Armenians in 1895-8 without recognizing that there
is a depth of brutality, a recklessness of human life and
hatred of Christian men and women among the lower
class of Turkish Moslems which is unfathomable. A long
and hideous series of testimony is given in the extremely
interesting " Ride through Asia Minor and Armenia " by
Henry E. Barkley ; by Sir William Ramsay in his
" Impressions of Turkey," and by many others who have
been through Anatolia. We have black pages in our own
history, and especially in reference to the treatment of
the Irish people. Other western nations have even
blacker, but nothing in the nineteenth century can ap
proach the horrors committed in Turkey under the
sanction of religion. The Turkish reformer has to deal
with a solid mass of prejudice, based on ignorance and
tradition, of blind unreasoning hatred of the very name
of Christian ; traditions which speak of the utter ex
termination of enemies, which teach that all moslems
have the divine right of dominancy ; bigotry which will
refuse to examine the objections to a divinely revealed
faith, and which therefore makes the mass not only
impervious to argument but unwilling to listen to it.
Pride of race, spiritual conceit, and the obstinacy of
ignorance are the obstacles which the new teaching will
have to encounter in its endeavour to teach the lesson
of religious liberty and equality to lower class Moslems.

CHAPTER XIII
MAHOMETAN SECTS
Influence of Shiah teaching — the Dervishes — Senoussi — Mevlevis —
Howhng Dervishes — Bektashis — ReUgious teaching and influence
of Dervishes — The Yezidis.
THE Shiah branch of Islam has had important in
fluence on the religion of a considerable part of the
population of Turkey and demands observation. The
Shiahs or Shi'ites are most numerous in Persia. Con
siderable hostility exists between them and the other
great division, or Sunnis, to which most Turks belong.
The Sunnis are those who hold by the Sunnat or Pre
cedents or Traditions of Mahomet. The Shiahs hold
that the caliphate or successorship to the temporal and
spiritual rule over the faithful was vested by Mahomet in
Ali and his descendants, through Hassan and Hossein
the children of Fatima, daughter of the prophet. Their
form of belief is that " There is one God and Ali is the
caliph of God." They commemorate the month of
Moharem as a time of lamentation for the three martyrs,
Hassan, Hossein, and Ali the son of Hossein. In the
fatal battle of Kerbela six sons of Hossein, grandsons
of the prophet, were killed, Ali another son alone escap
ing. The city of Kerbela, where the tombs of these de
scendants of the prophet exist, has long been and still
continues to be the chief place of pilgrimage for all
Shiahs. Thousands of corpses are carried thither annu
ally from Persia and India in order that they may be
buried in the place made holy by the dust of the three
martyrs. 296

MAHOMETAN SECTS 297
The annual commemoration of the death of Hassan
and Hossein is held in Constantinople in the largest
Persian Han, and is one of the most bloody and grue
some sights I have witnessed. It is celebrated still more
dramatically or rather realistically in Persia. In Con
stantinople a number of men in white gowns each bearing
a sword, pass round in procession, again and again wailing
in melancholy cadence " Hassan, Hossein ; Hassan
Hossein," until they have roused themselves to a frenzy,
when they cut and slash their own faces and heads.
Other men stand outside the line with stout sticks to
prevent them inflicting dangerous or even fatal wounds.
After a while there is not a man in the procession who is
not bleeding profusely and the spectacle becomes simply
disgusting. The influence of Persia upon Mahometanism has been
remarkable. The Persians were, even in the prophet's
lifetime, an educated people. They had cultivated art, a
philosophy of their own and that of Greece and Egypt.
The natural result followed that when they accepted
Islam they introduced into it a number of conceptions
which were foreign to the Arabs, and still more to the
Turks or any other central Asiatic race. Mahometanism
among pious Turks is essentially a religion of discipline
rather than of emotion. The daily prayers five times
repeated ; the formal purification before prayer, and at
other times daily, to avoid defilement ; abstinence from
all alcoholic liquors ; the rigid observance of the fast from
sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramazan ; these
and other observances are all disciplinary. I readily
admit that the repetition of the attributes of God has a
reflex action on him who utters them. But there is no
apparent striving after spirituality. To the Shiah such
worship is formalism. It makes for " mere morality "
and is not religion. Shiah influence as represented in

298 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Turkey by the Dervishes is on the other hand essentially
emotional and spiritual. It has been especially great in
the development of mysticism and a curious kind of
religious philosophy. Even now in Persia, according to
the observant American already quoted, " conversation
on religious subjects is habitual." * Religious revivals
have taken place both among the Sunnis and the Shiahs,
roughly speaking among the Turks and Persians. With
the first they have taken the form of a demand for the
return to early practices, a stricter observance of Moslem
ceremonies. With the Shiahs, they have produced a
more intense feeling for mystical devotion and especially
of insistence upon the immanence of God in the human
soul, a doctrine which as held by them is the continuation
of a form of Pantheism which was common both to certain
sects of Greeks and Persians but which is spiritual rather
than disciplinarian.
One interesting result of 'this difference of conception
and development may be noted. The Sunnis are much
less tolerant than the Shiahs. The Shiah sects as repre
sented in Turkey by various orders of dervishes, are less
attentive to forms than the ordinary Turkish Moslem,
but their conception of religion is different. So long as
a man's heart " is right with God," to use a phrase
which is common to them and to Christians, the ordin
ary Dervish would consider his profession of faith as a
secondary matter. It is not this conception so much as
their neglect of forms which has made them regarded as
only half believers — as at best, only hike-warm Moslems,
at worst, as infidels or atheists. But the same conception
makes them tolerant of good men of other creeds, for they
conclude from their conduct that they too are partakers
in the immanence of God.
1 " Persian Life," by the Rev. S. G. Wilson, 1899.

MAHOMETAN SECTS 299

Dervishes

The Dervish sects in Turkey are still a living force.
They are the Religious Orders of Islam. Unlike Christian
Orders the members are married men ; for marriage is
regarded by Islam as the completion of manhood. Few
of them are of very recent date. One general observation
may be made which is applicable to Moslem sects whether
Dervishes or not. The ascetic and reactionary sects like
Islam itself came from Arabia. None of them have made
any considerable progress in Asia Minor or European
Turkey. Babism is of Persian origin. Babism, called
after its founder who was executed at Tabriz in 1850, who
had taken the name of the Bab or Gate and which greatly
troubled Persia, never caught on in Turkey. Even
Wahabism which owes its name to a Sheik named Wahab
who about the middle of the eighteenth century founded
a sect which grew in political importance in Turkey until
checked by Mehmet Ali about 1830, has not taken deep
root in the country. The Wahabi seized the holy places
and were in force around the Persian Gulf and formed
communities in Afghanistan and throughout India.
They have been spoken of as the Puritans of Islam, but
the term is misleading. While they lopped off many
of the later accumulations of their religion, they en
deavoured to secure a reform by rigid asceticism but
never possessed a lofty ideal.
The Senoussi originated in Africa, but their founder,
after whom the sect is named, established himself in
Mecca, where his influence made itself felt and where his
distinctive dogmas were formulated. Subsequently he
went to Tripoli in Africa and established himself near
Bengazi. His sect spread throughout the Sahara. He
extended the ascetic system of the Wahabi. Like the
latter he forbade the use of coffee, tobacco and silk, and

300 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
denounced all customs which were not specifically
authorized by the Koran or the Traditions. His hostility
to the Turks as bad Moslems was as great as towards the
Christians. His declaration '' I will crush out Turks and
Christians alike in one common destruction " sufficiently
indicates his attitude.
Happily it may safely be said that Wahabism and
Sinoussism only make progress among the less advanced
races. The latter has made no progress in Asia Minor or
in India. It is worth noticing, however, that it is chiefly
these forms of Mahometanism which show the missionary
spirit, the latter in particular spreading Islam among the
fetish worshippers of Africa at a somewhat rapid rate.
Nor is this to be deplored. To replace fetishism by a
belief in one God marks an advance in civilization. The
savage or barbarian convert to Islam is an improvement
on the unconverted man. Englishmen who have resided
on the west coast of Africa learn to respect the truthful
Moslem convert as more trustworthy than his neighbours.
The pietistic sects of Islam, roughly generalized as
Dervishes, cannot be classed among the reactionaries,
except as to some of the smaller sects. Among the thirty
existing orders classed as Dervishes probably the Refaees
are the most reactionary. They are simply barbarians
and happily not numerous and diminishing in numbers.
The three principal sects of Dervishes in Turkey are
the dancing or whirling Dervishes who are known as
Mevlevi, the howling Dervishes and the Bektakis.
Casual visitors to the dancing Dervishes in Constanti
nople are usually surprised at what they see. They
anticipate something amusing. Instead, they find them
selves present at a moslem religious service of which the
most characteristic feature is reverence. A limited
number only whirl round. Others, without any dis
tinctive dress, sit as spectators and are thereby greatly

MAHOMETAN SECTS 301
edified. Solemn hymns are sung to weird music. No
observer can fail to be impressed with the genuine
sincerity of the worshippers. They are carried out of
themselves in an ecstacy of devotion. The Mevlevi have
many places of worship even in Constantinople. Their
order is the wealthiest in the empire, their wealth con
sisting mostly of landed property.
They claim that their founder in the earlier part of the
thirteenth century was taken up into heaven and then
returned to earth and that he could become invisible to
ordinary sight. He urged men to become Dervishes in
order that they might be exalted by piety above the cares
and anxieties of the world. His followers wear dis
tinctive caps, brown and lofty, and coats of the same
colour. Their convents are known as Tekkes. The
teaching of their founder is found in a poem which is
regarded as sacred. It is purely mystic ; its subject
being divine love. The raptures of worship are inspira
tions from on high, which enable the worshipper to hold
communion with God. They give each other the greeting
" May love be with you." Many of them command the
respect of those who know them by the purity of their
lives and their charity. There are no beggars among
them. Usually there is a fountain attached to their tekke
and a brother ready to give drinking water with the
salutation " In the path of God and for the love of God."
Their belief in love is the salt of their lives and saves
them from bigotry or intolerance. The head of the
largest tekke in Constantinople was, within my recollec
tion, a freemason and visited an English Lodge established
in the capital. He was respected during his life as a holy
man, and for this reason a light is still kept burning upon
his tomb in the Grand Rue de Pera. The head of all the
Mevlevi Dervishes resides at Konia, in and around which
the Order possesses much real property. He is known as

302 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the Chelebi effendi and, as already stated, preserves the
right of girding on the sword of Osman on every new
sultan. The howling dervishes excite less attention than the
whirlers. Their mantles are generally green or black,
these being the colours worn by the prophet. They
adopt as a principle the necessity of withdrawing from
the world, with its cares and inducements to sin. De
claring themselves satisfied with God alone, they abandon
all the ordinary pleasures of life. Their prayers begin .
with the words : "In the name of Allah, the merciful
and tender. I seek a refuge in God from the break of day
against the wickedness of those creatures whom He has
created ..." After the prayers the ninety-nine names
of God are recited. As each one denotes one of the divine
attributes, it is unnecessary to reproduce them. They
are termed the beautiful names of God, and figure in the
rosary not only of Dervishes but of many other Moslems.
Foreign visitors often ask what are the strings of beads
they see in the hands of Turks, Greeks and Armenians.
The answer is that in the majority of cases they are not
used for prayer but simply for diversion. The habit is
a curious one but on the same principle as Addison's
barrister who could not speak without a piece of string
in his hands, which the wags called the thread of his
discourse, those who have once adopted it do not feel
comfortable unless they have a few beads to twiddle in
their fingers.
Another order of Dervishes which among Europeans is
often regarded as a branch of the howling Dervishes is
the Nakshibendi. Their principal claim to notice is the
possession of spiritual powers which enables certain of
their number to perform miracles. This claim is very
wide-spread and those who make it are credited with
large powers by the ordinary Mahometan. The treading

MAHOMETAN SECTS 303
upon sick persons by one of the elect is held to effect a
cure. Their books are full of the spiritualistic wonders
performed by their leading saints. The marvels of
mediums, of animal magnetism, mesmerism and above all
of the Powers of Will, figure in the accounts of their
founders. Provided that the operator is a holy man
and has acquired the Power of Will, time and space cease
to be obstacles to its exercise. The wonderful powers
claimed by these Dervishes appeal to the inborn super
stition of men and women of all races. Among others
whom they attracted was the late Lawrance Oliphant.
His many stories of their wonders even when told with
an air of incredulity led me to conclude that he was half
convinced of the existence of some kind of traditional
miraculous power which might even now be obtained by
prayer, meditation and introspection. A man of ex
ceptional culture, of wide experience — think of a man
who had been under-secretary of State, becoming a
member of Harris's community and then sent to sell
strawberries at a railway-station — the marvellous had a
fascination for him. He seemed to me to have dwelt
upon it so long that he wished to believe in what he saw.
If anyone is curious to learn how he expressed himself on
the subject they should dig up an article in " Blackwood,"
which appeared about thirty years ago on his experiences
in Damascus.
Another order of Dervishes is the Bektashis. They date
from a very early period. Some indeed claim that they
were organized as an Order before the Christian era.
They are mystics to whom, as I have already mentioned^
no existing creed whether Christian or Moslem is of first
importance and it is claimed that they have been ready
to adopt that of any race provided that they were allowed
to follow their own practices. They have their own
secret signs and tenets which are only known to the elect.

304 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
As many of the " new troops " or Janissaries became
members of the Order of Bektashis an intimate relation
ship was established between the Order and the military
fraternity. When in 1826 the Janissaries who were in
Constantinople were ordered to accept the military
reforms in dress and drill which Mahmud demanded, they
turned their camp kettles upside down, their usual signal
of revolt, and were attacked by artillery. The revolt
was suppressed as I describe in a later chapter and six
thousand Janissaries were slaughtered. Thereupon the
Order of Bektashis was formally suppressed.
In Constantinople the Bektashis have never recovered
from the blow struck by an imperial edict which sup
pressed the Order. They were never, however, entirely
suppressed even in the capital. They have an establish
ment at Rumelia Hissar and another near Kadikeui.
I have already stated that in Macedonia they are still
numerous, influential and a living force.
They have always been suspected of disloyalty to the
faith of Islam. The Turks sometimes speak of them as
atheists. All Orthodox Moslems seem to regard them as
heretics and there has constantly been friction between
their Sheiks and the Ulema. They claim a kind of
apostolic succession from the first Caliph Abou Bekr.
Their ancient Sheiks or elders are believed to teach the
" true path " which leads mankind to God. They base
themselves on one of the Hadjis or sayings of the prophet :
" The paths leading to God are as numerous as the
breaths of His creatures." Hence they consider religious
toleration as a duty.
The Bektashis are Pantheists in the sense that they
regard all nature as part of God. But their Pantheism
helps them to look charitably on all men and to be kind
to animals. A Sheik whom I knew expressed the opinion
that there was nothing in Christianity which need prevent

MAHOMETAN SECTS 305
a man from becoming a good Bektash. He was an old
man much respected not only by his own Order, but by
many Europeans for his gentleness, invariable kindness
and truthful simplicity. I lived for a year in a Turkish
village near his Teke, and on passing our house, which
he did almost daily, he would bring a peach or an apple
or a freshly-picked rose to give to my little daughter.
On being thanked one day by a lady of the house, he
struggled to assure her that he and his people regarded
Christians as their brothers as well as Moslems, and went
so far as to remove his head-dress to show that in the
embroidered portion there was always a cross. Their
kindness to animals is one of several practices which
has suggested that their teaching was influenced by
Buddhism. It is extremely difficult to prove what their
theology is, or whether they have a precise theology. I
believe that the most important feature of their mystical
system is perfectionism, the doctrine that if a man really
recognizes the voice of God and lives accordingly, he may
become so perfect that he is above the need of a moral
code. On the initiation of a neophyte certain secrets are
whispered into his ear. But whatever their secrets or
their theology may be, many fine characters exist among
the Bektashis.
I have read a great number of the regulations of the
various Dervishes' Orders and many of their prayers.1
They are somewhat dismal reading and to a large extent
useless, for I am convinced that most members knew little
of them. But they have a pathetic side. They suggest
that each Order has had among its founders and first
votaries honest men, seekers after God, men who were
1 Those who are curious about them and the Orders will find a mass
of information in " The Dervishes," by John P. Brown, formerly
American Consul in Constantinople ; and in a later work, " Les Con-
freries Musulmanes," par Rev. P. Louis Petit, the Superior of the
Assumptionist Mission in Constantinople.
20

306 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
willing to sacrifice everything in order to win divine
favour. Some of them had evidently come under the
influence of the Greek philosophy which had worked its
way into Arabia and Asia Minor. Others, and perhaps
the great number, knew something of Buddhism and of
that Indian and Persian philosophy of which there are
traces in the New Testament. The early members at
least, and probably others, all down the centuries, were
men who, by such lights as they had, struggled hard to
find their true relation to the Eternal ; men who had
wrestled with God — as the old phrase runs, suffered in
order that they might find the path to Him ; starved
themselves like early Christian ascetics ; tortured them
selves like Indian fakirs ; deprived themselves willingly
of the ordinary pleasures of life in order that they might
propitiate an angry God. Many of their regulations were
harsh and inhuman. The intention among some of them
was that the believer should save his soul eternally by
sacrificing his humanity here. Happily the Mevlevis,
and especially the Bektashis, brought the best ethical
rules of their Order into practice.
All the Dervish Orders have, I believe, followed the
general course of similar movements ; first, fervency of
devotion and intensity of belief ; then, the formulation
of rules and practices intended to stimulate the devotion
that was waning ; third, the gliding into formalism, with
little of the original fervency left, but always keeping
some aroma and saving grace of the spirituality which
had given birth to the movement.
The smaller Orders in Turkey, and especially those
which I have called reactionary, diminished in numbers
during the last century. Some which had lost general
respect have quite disappeared. Within my own recol
lection it was a common sight to see half-naked men with
dervish bowl and battle-axe in the streets of the capital,

MAHOMETAN SECTS 307
terrifying simple travellers by their demands, claiming the
right and exercising it of entrance into mosques or minis
tries, and making themselves a nuisance to the public.
Such men were justly regarded during the eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries as the embodiment of fanatic
ism, and their refigious profession as a cloak for robbery.
These wandering Dervishes did much to bring the Orders
generally into disrepute. I remember that on a journey
thirty years ago to Lake Ascanius with two Turkish
friends we suddenly came on two such men. In reply to
my inquiry, who they were, one of my friends answered,
Dervishes by profession, brigands when they get the
chance. Even in the middle of last century, Ubicini
relates that hardly a week passed without some Turkish
minister having to submit to the remonstrances of some
Dervish who chose to push himself forward for the
purpose of abusing and threatening the minister.
Various attempts have been made to suppress some of
the larger Dervish Orders. Perhaps their survival may
be taken as an illustration of Carlyle's dictum that no
religion ever perishes till all the good has gone out of
it. Nevertheless, the Dervishes too have felt the world
movement like other people, and have advanced with it
or have been carried along by it.
In concluding my notice of the Moslem brotherhoods I
add that the best side of them is also the truest. There
are bad men in all communities, but the influence of the
practices and teaching of the great majority of the
Dervishes makes for righteousness.
The devotional meetings of even the so-called Dancing
Dervishes are a suggestive and a pathetic sight ; sug
gestive, because one is driven to think of the elemental
character of reverence and of religious worship irrespec
tive of creeds or formulas ; of the human soul desirous of
entering into communion with the Creator ; pathetic,

308 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
because the sad seriousness of the faces is joined to a
look of ecstasy which we associate with the rapture of
triumphant piety, with an exaltation of spirit which
painters like Guido have successfully caught, and which
suggests that these are men who, having passed through
tribulation, have obtained a glimpse of unearthly glory.
The weird music, the rapt look upon the faces of even the
whirling Dervishes, the devout aspect of the passive
members of the congregation, all indicate an emotional
religion. I have seen the same look on the simple faces
of Flemish fishermen in Belgian churches, and in Primitive
Methodist chapels in Yorkshire. One feels oneself in
presence of pious men, each of whom has sought " to
reign within himself and rule passions, desires, and fears,"
of strong men who have wrestled with themselves in order
to practise the bed-rock duties which make for righteous
ness. Yet over many of their faces has come an aspect
of peace, calm after storm, a peace which passes all
worldly conception ; the peace of men whose consciences
tell them, as the Dervishes would say, that they have
striven to obtain clean hearts, or, as the Primitives would
express it, to find salvation.
The Yezidis
I have spoken of Christian and Mahometan sects, of
strange survivals of ancient creeds following intuitions,
giving themselves up to ecstasies rather than to authority
or even to sequence of thought ; but something must be
said of a somewhat large group of people who cannot be
classed either as followers of Christ or of Mahomet, a
group who, in the modern world, are an anachronism, who,
if they are not a survival, are born out of time. These
are the Yezidis, usually called " devil worshippers."
They are interesting whether we regard them as a people

MAHOMETAN SECTS 309
who have kept an ancient belief, or as one which has
perverted any or all of the three monotheistic religions
to which Syria and Arabia have given birth. They
occupy a somewhat wide range of country. A few are
nomads ; others inhabit a small number of villages in
Armenia, in the vilayets of Diarbekir, Van, and Aleppo.
But by far the larger number exist in the districts of
Sheikhan and Sinjar, in the province of Mossul. In the
plains of Sheikhan there are between 15,000 and 16,000
Yezidis, occupying thirty villages. These villages obey
the Government except in refusing to send men for mili
tary service. The Yezidis of Sinjar are mountaineers and
are less civilized than their co-religionists of the plains.
Many of them live in tents. Few engage in agriculture.
All have the reputation of dangerous brigands. The
Sinjars are reckoned at about 20,000. Taken altogether
the Yezidis probably number about ioo.ooo.1 Formerly
their numbers were much greater. Ainsworth, an
English traveller, writing in 1863, estimated them at
300,000. Many attacks were made upon them previous to and
during the reign of Abdul Hamid. They have constantly
claimed that they were not Moslems and that they were
therefore not liable to military service. The Turkish
Government, on the other hand, chose to consider them a
Mahometan sect, and this mainly because many of them
have Mahometan names — a fact which proves nothing
since many Syrian Catholics employ such names. Many
expeditions were sent to compel them to furnish their
quota to the army. The latest of importance attracted
little attention outside the Yezidi countries and was in
the year 1886. It was commanded by General Eumer
1 An Armenian writer, in November 1910, who knows the country
of the Yezidis, estimates their number at 150,000. He includes in his
estimate those living in Persia and many scattered about Asia Minor
in districts other than those I have mentioned.

310 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Pasha, who granted pensions and decorations to the prin
cipal chiefs and did his utmost to persuade them to serve
in the army. When his efforts at conciliation failed, he
attacked them and took possession of the celebrated tomb
of Sheik A'ddy, regarded by the Yezidis as the Mahome
tans regard the Kaaba at Mecca. The people themselves
arouse so little sympathy that few who knew of the ex
pedition at the time cared to trouble themselves about
what was regarded as an attempt at exterminating an
idolatrous, dirty, and rebellious race.
A Turkish writer, Jelal Nouri, in May 1910 gave the
fullest recent account of the Yezidis which we possess, to
which may be added another by an Armenian, published
in Constantinople in November 1910. Jelal Nouri states
that he is largely indebted for his facts to his father,
Nouri Bey, now a senator, who, while governor-general of
Mossul, wrote a book upon them called " Les Adorateurs
du Diable " which, however, was burned for fear of the
censorship under Abdul Hamid. Nouri states that
Eumer destroyed half the district of Sheikhan containing
more than seventy prosperous villages. The persecution
was known to be severe and many thousands perished,
but whether Ainsworth's estimate of the population
nearly half a century ago is too high I am unable to say.
The Sinjars of the mountains and the people of the
fertile plain of Sheikhan are of the same race. They are
dirty in their persons, but truthful ; undesirous of inter
course with their neighbours, but hospitable to refugees.
They wish to have the least possible intercourse with
other people. Like other Yezidis they not only deny
that they are Moslems, but claim that they are a distinct
race and are not the descendants of Adam and Eve, with
whose offspring they are forbidden to have any relations.
Their theory of origin is curious. They declare that God
is formed of seven emanations, and that each emanation

MAHOMETAN SECTS 311
is God. \ From these emanations came the angels, the
first of whom was the devil. He sinned, suffered, was
restored to favour and was placed highest in order
amongst the angels. Then the angels revolted ; God
punished them ; and, this time, made Satan their chief
and named him the Meleki Tavus, or Peacock King, con
ferring on him power equal to that he himself possessed.
" Just as two flames unite so did Allah and Satan become
one." If this quotation, which I give from Jelal Nouri,
be from the sacred writings of the Yezidis it would imply
a monotheistic belief. But all accounts, including that
of Jelal himself, speak of them as recognizing a dualism,
the personification of the ideas of good and evil respec
tively. The same notion is found in Egyptian, Persian,
Assyrian and other ancient religions. It is man's theory
in a certain stage of his history to solve the eternal riddle
of the existence of evil. It cannot come from a good
spirit, therefore it must come from another. It is wide
spread and irresistible. Therefore that other is of almost
equal power. Many other peoples have sought to pro
pitiate an angry God. Human sacrifices were offered
even in our own country to appease such a god. But
all such expiatory offerings have been made to an anthro
pomorphic god who was the giver of good things as well
as a revengeful god. It remained apparently for the
Yezidis to teach, as they do, that prayers to One were
insults, inasmuch as He was always working for good and
wanted neither prayer nor guidance, but that to reverence
and propitiate the spirit of evil because he has the power
and the will to do mischief to man was at least a useful
precaution. It is worth noting that Yezidism, like other
creeds, while recognizing the antagonism between the two
emanations declares that ultimately the evil emanation
will be overpowered.
The two powers united to create Adam and Eve.

312 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Their posterity lived on earth for 10,000 years and died
out leaving the world in possession of Jins. The human
inhabitants perished because of their disobedience.
This process was repeated five times. Then a new Adam
and Eve were created from whom all humanity is de
scended, with the exception of the Yezidis. The latter
are the sons of Adam but not of Eve. The creation
in each case was the joint work of the Allah of the seven
emanations and of the Peacock King. Yezidi is one
name by which the latter is known. His followers
believe in transmigration. The soul of Yezidi has occu
pied various earthly forms, the most important being
that of the famous Sheik A'ddy. He has often revisited
earth as a mahdi. Now a mahdi or messiah or Keutchek
is not a prophet, but an incarnation of God himself.
Many mahdis have since claimed to be incarnations and
have constantly appeared, but as they invariably lead
rebellions against the Turkish Government, they are
ruthlessly hunted down.
Needless to say, the Yezidis are intensely conservative,
in the sense of being non-progressive. They claim to be
under the protection of the Peacock King, otherwise the
devil. Their legends are many and extremely weird. As
far as possible they refuse to have any dealings with their
Moslem neighbours. The Moslem authorities distrust
them, and on the other hand, no Yezidi chief will visit the
Turkish authorities unless upon substantial guarantees
being given for his safety. No Yezidi will enter a
mosque. They have no desire to meet Christians, but
they do so more willingly than Mahometans. The
features in their conduct which has most contributed to
their repute are : their distrust of all who are not of their
religion ; and their belief that reverence must be shown
for the devil. They regard as enemies those who lightly
take his name in vain. Layard got himself into trouble

MAHOMETAN SECTS 313
while at Nineveh for using one of the names of his Satanic
majesty in presence of some of them. Satan, devil,
Eblis, and numbers of other words are not to be
mentioned. They claim that it is their duty to kill any
one who speaks ill of the devil. Jelal Nouri confirms
the statement of earlier writers who declare that then-
religion requires them to murder those who do not accept
their opinions and authorizes them to take their property.
As to what their religion is, whence it comes, or what
it teaches, opinions differ. None of the Yezidis has given
to the world a statement of their creed and we are con
sequently limited to the reports of outsiders, few or none
of whom have had the necessary facts or knowledge of
the growth of religious ideas to give a satisfactory
account of it. They have two sacred books called the
"Jelveh" and the "Black Mushafi," but as it is a
crime to any except the members of one family, to read
and write, it is difficult to obtain information as to then-
contents. They have never been printed. Of recent
years they declare that even all their manuscript books
have been destroyed. Both Moslem and Christian
authors, however, have asserted that the lost books were
transcripts of parts of the Koran with the words Satan,
Eblis, as well as other words by which the Prince of
Darkness is alluded to, such as the " Wicked One," the
" Accursed One," omitted. Jelal Nouri says, in opposi
tion to those who declare that the Sacred Books have
been compiled from the Koran, that from extracts of the
books which he has seen there is nothing which resembles
the text of the sacred book of Islam.
They are undoubtedly idolaters. They venerate the
statues of a peacock representing the great God-Devil,
Meleki-Tavus. The principal feature in their public
worship is dancing which they practise around these
statues. They also offer sacrifice. The most important

314 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
and most venerated of these idols was captured and con
fiscated by Eumer Pasha, to the infinite regret of its
worshippers, when he took possession of the sacred tomb
of A'ddy. When the statue was carried by some
members of the small Caste set apart for the purpose to
a Yezidi village, it was lodged in a house of the believer
who paid the highest price for the honour. As it was
hollow so as to receive the contributions of its devotees,
the host is supposed usually to have made a profitable
business by receiving it.
Their faith and practice is a pot-pourri of superstitions
and rites, a thing made up of contributions from all the
faiths which the country, the most fecund in the produc
tion of religions, has ever produced. It might be ex
plained historically if the facts were more fully known.
For the present we must take it as it is. Its professors
practise circumcision like Jews and Moslems. Dancing
as the principal form of worship recalls various ancient
religions including Judaism. They baptize their children
like Christians and, like them, drink wine and spirituous
liquors. They turn towards the morning star like fire-
worshippers. Some of them at least worship water and
never pass a spring without a prayer. They believe
firmly in transmigration like Hindoos and, like them,
favour Fakirs. They repudiate Islam and yet have often
been classed, both by Moslems and Christians, as Mahome
tan sectaries. Turkish writers claim that they derive
some of their doctrines and practices from the Nestorians.
But, one God with a co-equal devil, the latter to be held
in equal respect, was never the dogma of any Christian
sect. The pious Moslem of old time would never tread
on a scrap of paper lest the name of Allah should be
inscribed on it. The Yezidi shows his respect by being
ready to die if his second divinity's name is uttered with
disrespect. He will never spit in the fire for that would

MAHOMETAN SECTS 315
be an insult to his god. As far as one can judge, it is a
topsy-turvy creed. One God is a negligible quantity,
because he has handed over the government of the world
to Satan; the other requiring adoration because he is
mighty and will punish those who do not render him due
honour. The problem of the origin of these people and of their
beliefs has been guessed at with some plausibility.
Ainsworth and other writers who knew them suggest
that they are the descendants of ancient Assyrians.
Their appearance rather favours this idea. They are
robust and well built, wear their hair long and gathered
into a bunch behind the head, and resemble in features
and even in dress the figures found on Assyrian sculptures.
As the Yezidis admittedly resemble these sculptures,
I see no difficulty in accepting Ainsworth's suggestion
that they are Assyrian survivals. But their religion;
Whence comes it ? I suggest that it is based on that of
Assyria with accretions and modifications from the Fire-
Worshippers of Persia, from Buddhism, from Christianity
as developed among their Nestorian neighbours, and
possibly from Islam. Those who have read such essays
as those of Professor Fritz Hommel on " Explorations, in
Arabia," of Professor Hilprecht on " Assyria and Baby
lonia," both included in the remarkable volume of
" Explorations in Bible Lands," published by the
University of Philadelphia, will recognize that in Meso
potamia, eastward and southwards, there are found the
ruins of religious systems showing the most curious
aberrations of religious thought, a power of perverting,
and turning topsy-turvy the theological developments of
great religious systems. Think, for example, of that view
of the Trinity which prevailed among many of the Arabs
at the time of Mahomet. I am unable to produce
evidence of how the Yezidis developed their curious

316 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
beliefs and practices. Such evidence at present is not
complete, though I think it probable that it would bear
out my suggestion. Of course it does not follow because
the Yezidis circumcise that they adopted the practice
from either Jew or Moslem. The habit was probably
earlier. Nor does the practice of pilgrimage which exists
among them necessarily point to Islam. They visit the
tomb of Sheik-A'ddy, just as some of their neighbours
visit Mecca and others the three famous tombs at Ker-
bella. Pilgrimage, indeed, as a religious duty was not
unknown to many of the ancient religions. The feasts
at the tomb of Sheik-A'ddy are usually described as orgies,
but as non- Yezidis were not allowed to be present the
statement may be doubted. Baptism, however, appears
to point unmistakably to Christianity. Their practice
of praying only in presence of the morning star,
which is possibly derived from Persia, is equally likely
to indicate a habit derived from the Chaldeans or
Assyrians. The transmigration of souls may have come
from India.
The American Protestant Missionary Board has a
mission to the Yezidis which has apparently gained then-
confidence, and during the famine of 1909 one of the mis
sionaries was entrusted with the distribution of food. He
tells an ugly story of the way they are still treated. I
regret to say that it appears to me quite trustworthy.
He wrote in November 1910 the following : " The
Yezidis are overflowing with gratitude, and some of then-
villages are asking us to give them teachers. But the
government will not allow us to do so. The position
taken up by the government is that the Yezidis are a
branch of Islam that has been led astray by corrupt
teachers, and they must be persuaded, not forced as
formerly, to adopt Moslem Orthodox teaching only."
That is their theory. But a different story must be told

MAHOMETAN SECTS 317
as to their practice. In the recent rebellion of Ibraham
Pasha the soldiers separated the Yezidis from the Kurds
and then slew the Yezidis and their families, plundering
and burning their houses and carrying off their tents.
The American plan of persuasion is some centuries ahead
of the Turkish.
The language of the Yezidis is akin to that of the Kurds,
and is therefore not Semitic nor belonging to the Tur
coman variety. Language, however, is by no means a test
of the origin of a people. There are many Armenian
villages where only Turkish is spoken, and many Greek
villages where the inhabitants have forgotten the speech
of their race. I for one shall wait eagerly for further
investigations on the history of these people and of their
curious religion, and to see what success the American
missionaries will have in their praiseworthy attempt to
bring them within the range of civilization.

CHAPTER XIV
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM
Is Islam unchangeable ? — Foreign influences — Conservatism of
Moslems — Statements in Koran may now be discussed — Hindrances
to development — Rules of interpretation — Have women souls ? —
Paradise — Claim that Christians shall have equahty — Conclusion
hopefulTHE popular conception of Mahometanism is that it
is unchangeable ; that having a creed of only two
short articles, the first declaring that there is only one
God and the other that Mahomet is his prophet, Moslems
desire no change, do not think improvements possible
and resent every attempt, especially those made by
Christians, to change their faith.
Mr Palgrave,1 one of the keenest observers who ever
travelled among the Arabs, says " Islam is in itself
stationary and was framed thus to remain." The Rev.
T. P. Hughes, author of a " Dictionary of Islam " which is
regarded by experts as singularly accurate, claims that
Mahometanism is " a barrier against the progress of
civilization," that Mahometanism " admits of no progress
in morals, law or commerce." It would be easy to
multiply quotations to a like effect. Without forgetting
that educated Pagans, in the time of Constantine, made
similar observations regarding the incompatibility of
Christianity with civilization, it may be admitted that
one of the features of Islam which has most impressed
the imagination of non-Moslems has been its unchange-
1 "Arabia," vol. i. p. 372.
318

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 319
able character. The Koran has been presented as a final
but complete revelation. It has been said " to contain
the whole of the religion of Mahomet," to be " an all
embracing and sufficient code regulating everything."
Above all it has been represented as a Holy Book which
must be accepted but not discussed.
Yet even in Moslem countries the world moves. There
are communities where such ideas still prevail. They
were much more generally held half a century ago. The
Koran was beyond criticism and even outside discussion.
It came from God and its teaching was therefore infallible.
No Christian cottager who " just knew and knew no more
her Bible true " was ever more convinced that every
statement contained in it; must be regarded as liter
ally true than was the Moslem in regard to the Koran.
Popular sentiment supported the notion that Islam must
neither be attacked nor discussed.
The penalty for abandoning Islam was, and still is,
death. On the rare occasions within the last half century
when Moslems in Turkey have changed their creed they
have either fled the country or disappeared and their
friends have assumed, and probably rightly, that they
have been secretly killed. Religious liberty was decreed
as far back as the time of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, but
when that great ambassador learned that a Moslem had
been sentenced to death for having become a Christian,
he hurried off to the palace, refused to take mere verbal
assurances from the Sultan that the man's life would be
spared, and insisted on waiting until, with his dragoman
he could take away the order that the man should be
given up to him. He believed that the convert would be
hanged as a sacrifice to Moslem prejudice immediately
it was known that the ambassador had interfered and
that his hanging would be declared to be a mistake.
The popular sentiment against a change of faith is prob-

320 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ably as strong now in eastern Anatolia as then. In a
hundred villages in Turkey a man would be killed if he
declared that he had become a Christian, and his mur
derers would believe they were doing God a service.
Nevertheless, Islam being a human institution it would
be remarkable if in the midst of change it were unchange
able. It is true that the old system of astronomy and
other matters which in the Ages of Faith were held also
by Christians are still clung to in most, perhaps all,
Mahometan schools for softas. Christianity, though
always tardily, has never yet failed to accept the teach
ings of science. A material firmament supported by
pillars, with windows which are opened when rain is to
be supplied, with a score of similar beliefs have long since
been discarded by nearly all Christians and though these
relics of early teaching linger on among Moslems, it would
be strange if the movement which has enabled Christians
to read into their belief, conclusions for which their pro
fessors would have been burnt five centuries ago and for
which they would have been cast out one century ago,
had not its counterpart in Islam. A friend was fond of
saying that the difference in the eras, that of a.d. and of
a.h. (the hegira 632 a.d.) marked the difference between
the civilization of the west and the east. We are in 1911.
Moslems are in 1326. The remark has a truth in it. But
the learning of the Christian west cannot be ignored
among the Turks and still less among the Moslems of
India, where the teachings of science are being steadily
diffused. In India the Moslems read English books
which have obviously been written not with the object of
perverting the faith but of instructing Englishmen. They
are founded on science. They do not profess to teach
with divine authority but appeal to reason and arguments
which the student is invited to examine and is at liberty
to accept or reject as he likes. Many of them are of

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 321
course written by agnostics while most of them make no
reference whatever either to Islam or Christianity.
Religious instinct or tradition may fight against the con
clusions but reason ultimately compels acceptance.
So also in Turkey. The wealthier classes usually know
some western language, most commonly French. Mili
tary students have been sent to Germany, a few naval
men to England. Young men training for diplomatic or
consular posts must always acquire at least one foreign
language. It is natural that the professors of Islam,
which I have heard a prominent Moslem of the Young
Turkey party speak of as first and foremost a hygienic
refigion, should endeavour to study the art of healing.
But for this purpose, even though they are students
in the great medical college at Hyder Pasha a foreign
language is necessary, if the student is to know what
progress in medical science is being made. Hence the
proportion of men who know a foreign language is con
siderably high. This fact has an important bearing on
the way in which Islam is regarded by educated Turks.
The basis of their traditional creed is not shaken : but
adjuncts to it go by the board. They see professors
drinking wine and not becoming drunkards. They
recognize that the command to abstain from eating bacon
or ham is merely a hygienic rule useful in a semi-tropical
country. They note that the ceremonial washings and
regulations against defilement are useful sanitary pre
cautions, but not matters to be regarded as sacred
commands. My own observation leads me to conclude that, of the
students who have been to the West and of those who
associate with Frenchmen or Englishmen or read then-
books, the majority are far from disowning the religion
of their fathers but they do not care to practise its ob
servances. A few among them openly profess Free

322 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Thought or adopt Positivism. Indifference is probably
the best word to apply to the attitude of mind of educated
Turks in regard to the observances of religion. It has
been said that many Moslems, in neglecting the teaching
of their youth, become drunkards. The statement is
simply untrue. I have known Turks who have drunk to
excess but I am sure they are not numerous.
It is rare among the mollahs, and they are the leaders
of religious thought, to find a man who knows anything
about western literature or can speak a western language.
Arabic, the language of the Koran, is naturally the
language which they acquire. Hence to find the old-
fashioned Moslem with all his intolerance and bigotry
one would first look among them.
There are, however, thoughtful men among the mollahs
who respect their religion and feel the difficulties which
exist in maintaining the old beliefs and practices with the
new teaching coming from the West, and who wish to
reconcile the two. The needs of Turks have forced in
novations. Every reader of travels in Turkey will re
member the general esteem felt for Europeans as the
depositaries of medical secrets. Medicine has indeed
made great progress in Turkey. There are excellent
surgeons who are recognized by their European colleagues
as their equals ; physicians with European training, and
even a medical school which would do credit to a European
city. The religious precepts of the Sheri, formed on the
Koran and the sayings of the prophet, cannot be changed,
but they can be explained away or conveniently disre
garded. The criminal law of Islam is as crude and tribal
as that given to the Jews. Remembering the tenacity
with which our fathers refused to disobey the injunction
" Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," we can at least
make allowances for the Turk whose religion not only
teaches him that he has the latest and final revelation of

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 323
God but that it places him upon a higher plane than even
men who follow the " religion of the books," that is
Jews and Christians.
How much the Moslem has stuck to the sacred letter
of his law may be illustrated. The penalty to be inflicted
on a Moslem for eating or drinking during daylight in the
month of Ramazan is death, to be inflicted by pouring
melted lead down the offender's throat. I am writing this
during Ramazan, and while doing so I had a visit from a
former procureur imperial, who told me that on one
occasion in Asia Minor a Kadi formally notified him that
he had sentenced an offender to this penalty for the offence
of eating during the prohibited time. My informant re
monstrated, stating that he could not be a party to such
a proceeding. The reply was, " I have to give sentence
according to the sacred law against the man who has been
found guilty of its violation : it is for you to see to its
execution." The matter was referred to the Ministry of
Justice in Constantinople and conveniently forgotten.
In a dozen different matters the law being sacred remains,
but is disregarded. In this way some of the less reason
able commands of the Sheriat have fallen into disuse.
One enormous advance has been made by Moslem
scholars during the last thirty years. After much struggle
it has come to be recognized that the statements in the
Koran may be discuss id. It is no longer a conclusive
reply to an objector that the Koran says so and so. It is
recognized that there are other truths than those con
tained in the great Sacred Book, such for example as
those in the Ahadis, and if the statements in the first
conflict with such other truths, the matter may be ex
amined. Once such a position is accepted the old dogma
tism is undermined. In the development of Islam the
recognition of the right to criticize the Koran and the
Ahadis or " Traditions " is of supreme importance, because

324 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
once these books can be examined their true value can be
ascertained. Mr Hughes states indeed — and everything
from the pen of so accurate an expert as he is, on the
subject of Islam, merits attention — that " as Islam is a
system of the most positive dogma, it does not admit
either of rationalism or free thought." He compares the
influence of a certain Indian Mahometan reformer upon
Islam with that of Mr Voysey upon orthodox Christianity.
The comparison is fair. But I believe the truth to be
that just as modernism, the higher criticism, broad
churchism, or by whatever name liberalism in Christianity
is known among us,, has made great progress among all
Christian churches, so the same order of ideas, the same
tendency of the age has made and continues to make pro
gress among at least some Mahometan peoples. It is true
that Islam like Christianity is burdened with dogma, but
a similar movement and like arguments which have caused
all western churches to ignore much of their dogma, and
to get back to principles, are being employed by Mahome
tan students.
A great hindrance to the reception by Moslems of
European ideas in regard to politics, philosophy or
religion is the spiritual pride of the Mahometan, by which
term I mean the undoubting conviction that the believer
in the religion of Mahomet has a divine right to treat all
non-believers as on a lower plane, to reduce them to sub
jection if they are " Jews or Christians," and to exter
minate them if they are Idolaters. Among the ignorant
masses of Moslem Turks this sense of superiority is deep.
I may illustrate it by the following. When about 1880,
Colonel Coumaroff the military attache of the Russian
embassy in the capital was riding two or three miles away
from Pera, a Moslem stepped out in front of him, took
deliberate aim and shot him dead. He was arrested and
tried for the murder. As all the embassies were inter-

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 325
ested, in consequence of the official character of the
victim in seeing that justice was done, a court was ap
pointed of which several foreign representatives, among
them Hobart Pasha, were members. On the evening of
the trial he expressed to me his regret that I had not been
present to see the prisoner's attitude when he was asked
incidentally whether he knew the man he was shooting
was a Christian. " Of course I did," was his immediate
answer. " You don't think I am capable of shooting a
believer, do you ? " " It was," said Hobart, " as if we
had asked after a dog." This attitude of spiritual conceit
can only arise from the conviction of ignorance that divine
Power has ordained that Moslems should possess domin
ance over other men. Once let the Sacred Books be
examined and discussed, as they are beginning to be, and
the conviction of inherent superiority will diminish or
disappear. In certain cases of difficulty learned Moslems boldly
tackle the discrepancies which exist between what their
reason teaches them is true and what they find commonly
taught as the doctrine of Islam, By what is now a well-
recognized system of interpretation they make a distinc
tion between the teaching which is to be of general applica
tion and that which had only application to the particular
case under discussion. It is claimed that this mode of
interpretation is very old and that it is sanctioned by the
early doctors of Moslem teaching. It is evidently one of
wide application. It should also be noted that the
Moslem doctors of all schools are agreed that even Moslem
law is not held to be contained exclusively in the Koran.
It is to be gathered, say the professional teachers of all
branches of Islam, from four sources, from the Koran, the
Sayings and Traditions of Mahomet, the Consent of
certain early Doctors of the Law, and the Reasoning of
Learned men. If these early Doctors agree there can be

326 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
no doubt, say all the orthodox teachers, what Islamic
Law is.
The greatest drawback to the progress of Moslem
civilization is the position popularly assigned to women.
Thoughtful men among Turks- as well as among
foreigners recognize that this is the most serious blot
upon Mahometan practice. Lady Mary Montagu,
writing in 1717, said it was a popular delusion among
Christian peoples that in accordance with Turkish belief,
women have no souls. She then goes on to explain that
the belief is that they have souls but of an inferior char
acter to those of men. The popular delusion alluded to
still exists and in support of it I may quote Sir Edward
Malet's pleasant book, " Shifting Scenes," in which among
other things he explains how he remonstrated with the
Khedive, Tewfik, during the Arabi disturbances in Egypt.
He gives Tewfik's reply. " Death does not signify to me
personally ; our religion prevents us from having any
fear of death ; but it is different with our women. To
them, you know, life is everything, their existence ends
here : they cry and weep and implore me to save them."
A cultured American lady informed me that on three
several recent occasions Turkish ladies had excused their
ignorance as to the matters under discussion by saying,
" We don't understand such things, we women have no
souls." There is probably little difference between those
who use such language and those who agree with Lady
Mary's informants that women's souls are of an inferior
sort. On the other hand it is clear that many Moslems hold
that women have souls. The evidence for this is to be
found on some women's tomb-stones. Near Haskeuy on
the Golden Horn is one with " grant my soul the blessing
of a prayer." In a Turkish cemetery opposite me while
writing, is " weep not for her : she has become a dweller

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 327
in the Gardens of Paradise." Such epitaphs, however, are
rare. Among those who have come under European
influence, men and women, it is of course recognized that
woman is as clearly endowed with a soul as man. The
pious reconciler of the Sacred Word and the teaching of
the West wishes to establish that the popular belief is
incorrect and that no such inequality ought to be credited.
European commentators on the Koran are agreed that
there are passages in the Koran that justify those who
claim that women have souls and may enter into a para
dise. The two verses relied upon are clear. The first is
in Sura or chapter xlviii. v. 5;and says that God is knowing,
wise " to make the believers, men and women, enter into
gardens beneath which rivers flow to dwell therein for
ages." 1 The second is in Sura iv. v. 123. " He who
doeth good works — be it male or female — and believes,
they shall enter into Paradise." 2
If it be asked how in presence of these passages, the
belief has become popular that women are soulless, the
answer is not difficult to give. The rewards promised in
the Koran to men who attain Paradise are very promin
ently brought forward 3 Those for women are very few
and are not given and though a woman may attain
Paradise her pleasures and her occupations are not de
scribed. The houris are not earthly women but a distinct
creation. If we pass from the educated man's examination of the
question to the popular conception and even teaching in
the backward parts of Anatolia, the following is illustra
tive : Some years ago, an American young lady living in
an interior city in Asia Minor visited a mosque, and tells
1 " Translation of Koran," by E. H. Palmer, " Sacred Books of the
East," edited by F. Max Miiller.
a Ibid.
3 See Suras, 47, 55, 56 and 76, and given in fuller details in the
" Sayings of the Prophets."

328 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the following story : Some of her Turkish friends wished
her to hear a sermon specially for women. As it was
unheard of for a foreigner to attend such a service, she put
on the charshaf (or sheet) of the Turkish woman and so
disguised attended as a Turkish woman.
She knew Turkish, and as she sat on the floor huddled
up, and closely veiled, she lost her fear of being discovered
in the interest of listening to the preacher. Her account
is the following : The imam sat on a sort of low armchair,
raised six or eight feet above the floor and so wide be
tween the arms that he could sit in it cross-legged.
From this elevation he gave golden counsel to the veiled
women crowded together on the floor around him. He
said, " Of course you women have no souls." And the
women rocked to and fro and beat their breasts and said,
" Yes : amin : we have no souls. We are asses. We
are beasts." Then the preacher discoursed long on then-
duties. He said, " Although there is no place prepared
for you in Paradise, you may possibly get there by being
very good to your husbands and sons, your fathers and
brothers. If you rise in the night and prepare food and
see that the house is clean and do all the things that your
men like and never neglect their wishes and work hard
and faithfully and never think of selfish pleasure, when
your husband or your son dies and rides into Paradise on
a noble white steed you may catch hold of the tail of the
horse and so get in." And all the women rocked back
and forth and said " We are asses ; but please Allah we
may reach Paradise."
The enjoyments of Paradise as everyone knows are of
the most sensual kind, and in this respect the Mahometan
contrasts unfavourably with the Christian conception of
Heaven. The teaching of Christ is that the inhabitants
" neither marry nor are given in marriage," and the ideal
which speaks of the consummation of just men made

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 329
perfect could not be bettered by prophet, practical man
or dreamer.
But even here the influence of modern thought is
visible. The sensual delight of Mahomet's Paradise are
felt by many pious Moslems to constitute a low ideal of
happiness, and teachers are now found who speak of such
enjoyments as figurative, like many of the expressions in
Solomon's song. Mr Hughes, however, is presumably
right when he states that " all Moslem theologians have
given a literal interpretation of the sensual delights, and
it is impossible for any candid mind to read the Koran
and the ' Traditions ' and arrive at any other conclusion
on the subject " 1
Whatever the recent teachers of Islam may say, it is
however beyond reasonable doubt that the position of
women in Moslem is lower than in Christian countries.
The modernist among Moslems is trying to find a
remedy for the position in which woman is placed. Her
worst grievances are to be found in polygamy and in her
liability to be " repudiated." Her husband has but to
pronounce the simple formula of repudiation three times
and his wife is legally put away. No reason need be
assigned. She is cast off almost as easily as an old shoe.
The leading Moslems both in Turkey and in India recog
nize the evil of such a practice. A Turkish Moslem and
an Indian, the latter a barrister-at-law, both of them
reputed to be experts on Mahometan law, have assured
me that the practice of repudiation though everywhere
admitted is an abuse contrary to the religious teaching
of Islam and that regular divorce proceedings based upon
adultery is what Mahomet enjoined. I cannot, however,
find in Mr Hughes' " Notes on Mohammedanism " any
authority for the statement. My informants claimed
that the movement to abolish repudiation will be sup-
1 Hughes' "Notes on Mohammedanism," p. 93.

330 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ported by appealing to early religious teaching. As
happened in England, and as I have already explained, the
lawyers came to the assistance of Turkish women. From
the days of the early caliphs, they claimed that women
were entitled to their own property. Modernism, however,
wishes to strike at the practice of repudiation altogether.
Perhaps the most remarkable signs of the movement
to get rid of the hardness and rigidity of Mahometan
dogma is the attempt made during and since the revolu
tion of July 24, 1908, to show that Christians and Moslems
ought to be regarded as equals. The cry during the first
weeks after the destruction of the debasing and irritating
tyranny of Abdul Hamid was for liberty, equality, frater
nity and justice. The four words were inscribed on most
of the Turkish banners. In a great procession which
passed my house in Pera on the 3rd December 1908, there
were probably fifty open carriages, in each of which sat a
mollah side by side with a Christian bishop or priest or
with a Jewish rabbi. Every form of Christianity in the
Empire was represented. The Orthodox Church, the
Armenian, Melkite, Coptic, Armenian Catholic, each had a
member sitting side by side with a Moslem dignitary.
From the terrace of the Town Hall a mollah offered prayers
for brotherhood, and the crowd, composed about equally
of Moslems and Christians, responded with hearty Amins.
Two months previously I had a conversation with the
Sheik-ul-Islam who is at once " primate and lord chancel
lor " of the Moslem Millet or community, and had invited
him to express his opinion on the question whether by the
law of Islam equality with Christians could be permitted
by the ' ' Sheri ' ' or Sacred Law. His reply was remarkable.
He declared that in accordance with the teaching of
Mahomet they ought to be so treated, and that as a fact
they were so treated by him. In response to my ob
servation that I could not recall any Mahometan ruler

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 331
who had recognized the " People of the Books " as the
equals of Moslems, he admitted that this was true gener
ally but added that when the Moslem applied the law of
the conqueror he was acting against the law of Islam.
He asked me whether I had given attention to the early
progress of Islam. In reply I told him that I had and
that I considered it the most wonderful progress of which
history bears record. " Yes," said he, " from India to
Gibraltar within a few years was marvellous," but what
was my explanation of it ? I told him that I would
much prefer to hear his. He then claimed that it was be
cause Mahomet proclaimed liberty and granted equality.
Thousands of Christians flocked to his standard as they
did afterwards to that of the caliphs in order to enjoy the
liberty and the equality which he offered them. Mahomet
and the caliphs were true to these principles. Then he
added, and the phrase was twice repeated during the
conversation and recalled to him by me a little later in
an interview in presence of Mr Noel Buxton and Dr,
now Sir Arthur Evans, that liberal though the Consti
tution granted in July was, Islam was still more liberal.
In the course of my second interview and upon the
suggestion of Mr Roden Buxton I asked whether he re
garded the members of the Sheah sect as Mahometans.
His answer was emphatically yes. In the course of the
same conversation he made a statement which I confess
startled me. All men, said he, may be recognized as
entitled to equality and even as belonging to the religion of
Islam if they are prepared to say and believe " La ilaha
Il-lal-laho," " There is no deity but God." He did not add
the other portion signifying " Mahomet is the prophet of
God." Upon his making the remark I replied, "then all
of us here are Moslems for we all believe and are all ready
to say that." The venerable head of the faith smiled
pleasantly but said nothing in the way of dissent.

332 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
If this statement be held by any considerable member
of Ulema or of Moslem scholars, and it was made in
presence of four or five Moslem dignitaries, then the
world is in presence of a movement before which the old
notion of Mahometanism, as a crystallized faith, will have
to be abandoned.
Of one thing I am convinced, that among the educated
and thoughtful Moslems of Turkey there have been for
some years and still are forces at work which are exercis
ing immense influence on them and their religious con
ceptions. Among these forces are, the progress of
physical science, the example of the prosperity, strength,
order, better government and civilization of Christian
countries, the influence of travel both of Moslems who
have resided in Western Europe and of European travel
lers who have visited Turkey, and association with and
the example of men of other religions.
We are now beginning to see the results. Islam is
theism plus many practices. These practices have in
many cases become sanctioned as if they were articles
of belief. Some are useful, others of doubtful utility.
Many have served their turn and have become useless.
The hygienic regulations have made the Moslems the
most cleanly people in Turkey. The rule as to abstaining
from eating swine-flesh in any form, though generally
observed, is spoken of by educated Moslems merely as a
good sanitary observance for a country like Arabia. In
time it will probably be sent to the limbo of the similar
provisions made for the Jews. The dogma insisting on a
pilgrimage to Mecca, which is officially taught to be one
of the " Five Pillars of Islam," has had its use but is
generally recognized as one which may be obeyed or not
according to the convenience of the believer. The
practices of Islam which cannot reasonably be justified
will die out, but they will die slowly. The great definite

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 333
advance which has been made in deference to modern
Moslem thought is that investigation is permitted by
public opinion. To be not altogether satisfied with
dogmatic teaching and to be able to examine it is in itself
progress and the best Turkish thought has arrived at
that stage.
But one must face facts ; and while one welcomes the
developments of Islam it must not be forgotten that the
modern views have to make way against a dense mass
of bigotry, superstition and unreasoning attachment to
old beliefs. There are developments which are acting as
leaven, but it would be against all experience to believe
that the leaven will work quickly. A recent writer, Leon
Cahun, says " Les Turcs ont ete toujours trop inaccessible
au sentiment reiigieux pour jamais devenir heretiques.
Ils ne demandent pas mieux que de croire, mais ils ne
tiennent pas du tout a comprendre " and though it must
be remembered that the Turks of Turkey are a mixed
race, with Arab, Syrian, Karamanian, Armenian, and
Greek blood in them, the remark is substantially true.
It is of course true of most peoples, but in Islam the
doctrines of pre-ordination, of foreknowledge, of fatalism
have taken away or at least lessened the desire for know
ledge and the thirst for inquiry. To suggest that any
other religion, be it Christianity or Buddhism, ought to be
examined is an insult to the uncultured Turk. An
apostate ought to be killed ; doubt is disloyalty. The
elect are preordained. To accept any other faith is in
popular belief to abandon all hope of that Paradise which
awaits every Moslem, to lose the right of dominancy
over the professors of all other creeds with which his
religion inspires him and, to willingly take a lower place
in the world. Nevertheless I believe in the power of the
leaven which has already begun to work.

CHAPTER XV
THE CAPITULATIONS AND FOREIGN COMMUNITIES
Capitulations a survival — Largely employed in Middle Ages —
Foreign jurisdiction an obligation, not a privilege — In full force in
1453 — French Capitulations of 1535 — Followed by English — Favoured
nation clause — Its operation — British and Turkish administration
of law compared.
FOREIGNERS constitute so large and important
an element in the population of Turkey, that some
notice must be given of them, but especially of the
peculiar conditions under which they reside in the empire.
This is the more important because there constantly
appear statements in British and American papers
which display ignorance of what these conditions are.
The subjects of European States and of America who
reside in Turkey are, within certain well-defined limita
tions, subject only to the jurisdiction of the countries
to which they belong. British subjects form a colony
within Turkey, and are always within the legiance of
the British king. Their descendants, no matter how
remote, do not become Turkish subjects merely by being
born on Turkish soil. They are justiciable before the
British Courts where British Law is administered by
British judges and British juries. In like manner,
German, French, Russian, American and subjects of other
civilized states form colonies in Turkey, each set of
subjects, being amenable to their own laws. There are
thus a series of imperia in the imperium of the Turkish
Empire. Such a condition of things does not exist in
any other European country. It is usually and correctly
334

CAPITULATIONS & FOREIGN COMMUNITIES 335
stated to be due to the Capitulations. The word belongs
to mediaeval Latin and signified Treaties with the
conditions given under small headings. In its modern
use as applied to Turkey it simply means treaties. It is
the Treaties or Capitulations which create for non-
Turkish subjects the exceptional position which they
possess in Turkey.
Many incorrect statements have been made and much
nonsense has been uttered in regard to the origin of the
Capitulations. Such statements have been founded on
one of two assumptions, both of which are contrary to
fact. It has often been asserted even in the House of
Commons that the Capitulations are a proof of the far
sightedness or magnanimity of the Turkish Sultans who,
in their desire to foster commerce, conferred privileges on
foreigners in order to induce them to reside on Turkish
territory. It is more usual to describe them as con
cessions wrung from the Sultans by the grasping foreigner.
Each view is incorrect. The first is hardly colorably
true ; the second is ludicrously at variance with facts.
When it is remembered that the most important Capitula
tions to the Western nations were granted during the six
teenth and seventeenth centuries when Turkey was at the
height of her power, when indeed all Western Europe was
alarmed at the almost uninterrupted encroachment upon
Christian territory made by the Grand Turk, it will
at least be recognised as unlikely that Western Europe
compelled him to make concessions which reduced his
sovereign rights. Indeed the supposition is at once
absurd and without any historical foundation.
The explanation of the existence of capitulations and
¦of what appears now to be the anomalous conditions
created by them is to be found in their history. The
key to their history is in the fact that they are not
creations of modern statesmen, but survivals to modern

336 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
times of legal conceptions which were familiar to the
Roman and especially to the Later Roman, or, as I
prefer to call it, the Greek Empire.
This is not the place to point out the conditions under
which foreigners lived under the Roman Empire before
the time of Caracalla. This has been done by various
German, French and English writers. It is sufficient
to say that under the Greek Empire and in Syria during
the Crusades, foreigners were permitted to form colonies
on Greek and Saracen territory which were governed by
their own laws and administered by their own magistrates.
The ruler of the territory only conceded the privilege of
residing within it. What is now regarded as at least an
equally valuable concession, namely that foreigners
should be governed by their own magistrates, who should
administer their own laws, was not considered by the
emperors or sultans as a privilege. It was an obligation
imposed on them as a condition upon which they enjoyed
the privilege of residing in the foreign country. All
ancient peoples regarded their laws as sacred. They
considered them as privileges which were not to be con
ferred on outsiders. Students of the Bible will recall
the treatment prescribed for Gentiles. Students of
Roman law will remember that by the side of the Civil
Law, which was only for Roman citizens, there grew
up under the direction of an officer appointed to
settle matters between foreigners, and called the Pretor
Peregrinus, a parallel system of law, the Roman equally
with the Jew being unwilling to allow foreigners to
have the advantages belonging to his own citizenship.
They might reside in the empire but they must govern
themselves. The Roman knew nothing of their laws or
usages, and was not going to be troubled with their
internal affairs except when they were likely to disturb
public order.

CAPITULATIONS & FOREIGN COMMUNITIES 337
This system took a wider development when the seat
of the empire was fixed on the Bosporus. When the
Greek Emperors, or the Saracens granted permission to
reside in their territory, it was on the well-understood
condition that the foreigners on whom the privilege was
bestowed should remain subject to the sovereign to
whom they had owed allegiance before coming. They
were to remain under his jurisdiction while residing on
foreign territory, and he was to support the burden of
governing them.
One of the earliest Treaties or Capitulations known
was made between the Greek Emperor and the Warings
or Russians in 905. It was renewed in 945. From that
date to the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in
1453 there is a series of Capitulations between certain
European states and the Greek Empire. There were
also similar Capitulations between various Italian States
and the Saracens in Syria and Egypt.
When the Turks captured Constantinople they there
fore found Capitulations in full force. Galata on the
opposite shore of the Golden Horn was a wailed town
occupied by Genoese, who, by virtue of their Capitula
tions with the Emperors, elected their own podesta or
mayor, were governed by their own laws, and were sub
jects of the Duke of Milan. The Sultan, within a few
days after the capture of the city, confirmed the ancient
capitulations in favour of the people of Galata and the
Genoese generally, though he would not allow their
fortifications to remain. He stipulated that they should
govern themselves and remain subject to the Duke of
Milan their overlord.1
In the following year, 1454, the Venetian colony in
Constantinople likewise received Capitulations and were
1 The treaty containing these Capitulations is given in Von Ham
mer's " History of the Ottoman Empire," and in Sauli's " Storia di
Genovesi in Galata."
22

338 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
allowed to govern themselves under their own bailo or
mayor, it being always, of course, understood that they
should continue subjects of the Republic of Venice. We
need not trouble ourselves about other Capitulations
until we come to those given to France in 1535. These
are, however, of great importance because they formed
the basis upon which all European nations obtained
similar treaties.
The first English Ambassador to the Sultan was
William Harborne, who arrived in Constantinople in
1583. He at once began to appoint consuls. A
" Charter of Privileges " had been granted to the English
in 1579. These were enlarged in the following year.
The new treaty is given in Anderson's " History and
Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce "
under the title " The Charter of Privileges granted to
English and the League of the great Turke with the
Cjueenes Maiestie in respect of Traffique." These
privileges were formally confirmed as Capitulations in
1593, under Sir Edward Barton the second English
ambassador. They were renewed and added to in the
time of Charles IL, in 1675. They have received further
modifications which have reference almost exclusively
to commerce.
Now the English Treaty obtained in the last years of
Queen Elizabeth was based upon the French Treaty of
1535, and that again was founded on, and so far as legal
principles are concerned was identical with, the Treaties
with Genoa and Venice. The English Treaties of
Elizabeth and Charles II. have never, so far as the legal
status and immunities of British subjects are concerned,
been changed from that day to the present.
If, under an empire which had conferred on the world
Roman Law, it was judged necessary to have capitula
tions, which compelled resident foreigners to provide

CAPITULATIONS & FOREIGN COMMUNITIES 339
for their own government, such provisions were far
more needful when the ruler of the empire was a Moslem.
Neither Turk nor foreigner would be content that such
residents should be under Turkish law. The Moslem
could never consent to accord to the miscreant the
privileges his religion conferred on him as a believer.
The unbeliever to him is on a lower plane. He is a man
to be killed if he will not submit to Moslem rule, to be
treated as an inferior being if he submits. The Koran
is for the Moslem at once a civil and a religious code.
The foreigner, as a non-Moslem, is outside religion. The
law being an advantage derived from religion, only be
lievers can share in its advantage. Foreigners, how
ever, could not consent to be treated as cattle or rayahs,
the term which the Turk applies to non-Moslem subjects.
It was nevertheless in the interest of the country that
foreigners should live in Turkey. They could do so,
but they must govern themselves. The arrangement
suited both parties.
It was in the realisation of the unsuitability of
Turkish law either to the Turkish or foreign subject
that all foreign countries received Capitulations. Then
there followed a somewhat interesting and important
development. Each nation sought to obtain the best
possible conditions, and from an early period a stipulation
was inserted in the Capitulations which any country
obtained that whatever advantages were accorded to
any other nation should likewise be granted to that
obtaining the new capitulation. Thus each capitulation
contains the " most favoured nation clause." The effect
is that the subjects of all foreign nations are under the
same regulations or capitulations, and thus the Capitula
tions taken altogether form a body of law applicable to
all foreigners who reside in the Turkish Empire. The
general result was correctly stated by Lord Watson in a

340 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
case before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
and is that such foreigners " form an anomalous ex
territorial colony of persons of different nationalities,
having unity in relation to the Turkish Government, but
altogether devoid of such unity when examined by itself ;
the consequence being that its members continue to
preserve their nationality and their civil and political
rights, just as if they had never ceased to have their
residence and domicile in their own country."
The operation of the Capitulations in Turkey leads to
each European State having a separate colony with
its own court of law, laws, and judges. In case of dis
putes between non-Turkish subjects in Turkey of different
nationalities, the court of the defendant has jurisdiction.
Where either of the contending parties is a Turkish sub
ject, then under the Capitulations the question in dispute
has to be decided by a special court. This consists of
three Turkish judges with two assessors named by the
Embassy of the nation to which the foreigner belongs.
For the further protection of the foreign litigant, whether
plaintiff or defendant, the presence of a dragoman, that
is of an official interpreter belonging to the Embassy in
question, is necessary. The tribunal in question is
usually spoken of as a " mixed court." Many such
courts exist throughout the empire. As without the
presence of the dragoman the court is not validly con
stituted, he is an officer of considerable importance.
Usually and throughout the empire the dragomans told
off to attend the mixed courts are able and trustworthy.
If he be so, his influence on the assessors, who are very
rarely legal men, and on the judges is beneficial.
Since 1869, foreign subjects have been permitted to
own land in Turkey. Inasmuch as the condition on
which they hold is that they are to be considered in
reference to such ownership as Turkish subjects, and

CAPITULATIONS & FOREIGN COMMUNITIES 341
therefore judiciable in purely Turkish Courts where
they are not permitted to have the advantage either of
assessors or dragoman, it would be out of place here to
speak further on the subject.
Turkish courts and judges call, however, for remark.
Speaking generally, they are corrupt. I have known not
merely able, but honest Turkish judges, but their popular
reputation is deservedly bad. Bentham says that the
greatest liar who ever lived made more statements which
were true than were false. In like manner I believe that
the majority of Turkish judgments are substantially
just. But there is certainly no presumption in the
public mind that a judgment, even if just, has been
honestly obtained. Popular sentiment on the subject
is the very antithesis of what it is in England. The
system of Trial by Jury has produced in England the in-
incalculably valuable effect of familiarising all classes
of the community with the course of legal procedure,
especially in criminal cases, and of thus inspiring public
confidence. The Assize system, practised during long
centuries, increased this confidence. The solemn entry
of the king's judges into a provincial city, where they
were met by the High Sheriff, the mayor and all local
dignitaries, all clothed in official livery, the fanfare of
trumpets, the reading of the King's commission, the
ringing of the church bells, the attendance in state at the
cathedral, all added dignity and importance to the
occasion. People noted that these representatives of the
King came from the capital, knew nothing of local
differences, had no temptation to favour one person
more than another, and having executed the task assigned
to them by the sovereign did not linger in the place. If
ever dramatic effect were useful to a state it was here.
Justice was not only properly administered, but ap
peared to be so. It was known also that the judges

342 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
were chosen from the most eminent men at the bar, and
were paid large salaries. The result has been that in no
country on earth do the great mass of the people more
completely believe in the purity of the administration
of law. The advantage is an enormous one. With a
somewhat exceptional knowledge of most of the foreign
systems of law administered throughout Europe, having
had the advantage of working for upwards of thirty
years with able and loyal legal colleagues representing
almost every European state, I confidently affirm that
our judicial system has a reputation not only among
British subjects, but among competent foreign observers,
for dispensing even-handed justice such as is not pos
sessed by the legal system of any other country, and I
add that such reputation is deserved, and is one of which
we may well be proud. I am not thinking so much of
the spirit of our legislation, which has given us the Habeas
Corpus Act, and which for two centuries at least has never
tolerated the preliminary and secret official examination
of accused persons which still prevails in some civilised
states, as of the spirit of confidence, of respect for fair
play and for seeing both sides of a question, created in the
public mind by an administration which is believed to be
beyond suspicion. It is largely from having acquired
this spirit that our trades-unionists and our socialists
are far ahead of their continental colleagues in modera
tion and fair-mindedness, and take the lead in the Inter
national Congresses of working men.
In Turkey, things are far different. There is little
fault to be found with the Turkish law. In a sense the
Turks may be said to have inherited Byzantine law, that
is the law of the New Rome formulated mainly in the
time of Justinian. The members of the Orthodox church
are governed to this hour by Byzantine law in all matters
relating to marriage, succession, dowry and personal

CAPITULATIONS & FOREIGN COMMUNITIES 343
statute. The Turks adopted large portions of it, partly
from Byzantine law directly, chiefly from compilations
made from it during the time of the caliphs. Within
the last half century they have largely used the French
codes for framing their system of commercial law and
procedure. It is true that the Koran furnishes a system
of law and procedure which believers hold to be sacred.
But at all times Moslems have held and still hold that
the advantages of such law are for believers only.
Mahomet the Conqueror granted what may be called
Capitulation to the Christian churches in Turkey, in
order that they might govern themselves. He re
cognized that the law of the Koran administered by
what are known as Sacred or Sheri Courts could not deal
with many matters, and that a Christian system was so
alien to that of Islam that Christians must be allowed
on such matters to govern themselves. They were left
therefore to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchal Courts. I
have elsewhere cited bigamy as an offence unknown to
the Sheri Court.
Fault is to be found not with Turkish law but with its
administration. Why its administration is impure is
difficult to understand. But there is no tradition of just
administration. It has been often said that Asiatic
influence is against it. But why ? I have no sufficient
answer. I note, however, as a fact which would have to
be considered in seeking for an answer so far as Turkey
is concerned, that the outward signs of respect for the
administrators of the law as exhibited by the judicial
genius of our race have no existence in Turkey. Nothing
has been done to exalt the position of the magistrate.
He is an ordinary servant of the state, unsurrounded by
any accessories which confer dignity on his office, and
he is ill paid.

CHAPTER XVI
SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY
Can Turkey reform — Three periods taken between 1820 and 191 1
to illustrate progress of Turkish people — Abdul Hamid's reign — A
reaction — Progress in sanitary matters— In Education — Efforts of
Christian Churches — American Schools and Missions — Robert College
— Scutari College
IS it possible that Turkey can reform ? Is the Turk
capable of improvement ? Is he not an irreclaimable
barbarian, a man incapable of civilization, unconsciously
prevented from making progress by his religion and his
traditions ? Many have both asked and answered these
questions. Their answers fall under two categories. In
the first the position is taken up that all reform in Turkey
is impossible. " It is clear to me," says the author of an
able and altogether honest book on Armenia, "that
Turkey will never organize practical reforms. She does
not know how to reform, is quite content to remain as
she is, hates all innovations, even when they come in the
shape of improvements." The sentences quoted are
written at the end of Mr Hepworth's investigations re
garding the Armenian massacres and record his conclu
sions. It would not be difficult to find similar utterances
in the suggestive books of those experienced travellers in
Anatolia, Sir William and Lady Ramsay. Both know the
country well and their conclusions lead the reader almost
to despair of reform. I have myself often called attention
to the terrible task of effecting any beneficial changes in
Asia Minor, and have spoken of the career of the Turks
during the last five centuries as one of destruction and

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 345
never of construction. I have no intention of unsaying
what I have said. I may have stated even that the Turk
was hopeless, though I think not. In denouncing the
iniquities of misgovernment in Turkey, it was hardly
possible to employ the language of exaggeration. When
writing of the general corruption in the administration
of government ; of the great variety and number of out
rages committed, the torture of prisoners to obtain
evidence or confession ; of the imprisonment of crowds
of Armenians to find one criminal ; the daily extortion,
shared in or permitted, by those in authority ; the organ
ized massacres of tens of thousands whose offences were,
first, that they were Christians, and second, that they
were more prosperous than their Moslem neighbours,
hardly any language could be characterized as too violent.
That in writing upon them in the twentieth century, one
should regard the perpetrators as incapable of reform was
natural. Expressions denoting the hopelessness of reform
might be gathered by the score from many English and
other authors belonging to the nineteenth century.
Another class of writers who were much in evidence
half a century ago would have given different answers ;
for they regarded the Turks and reforms from a totally
different point of view. The most conspicuous writer of
this class was Mr Urquhart who about the time of the
Crimean War exercised influence on English opinion.
He was the great leader of the Philo-Turks in England.
His followers went far beyond their leader in admiration
for everything Turkish. The Turk was the only gentle
man left in Europe. If mal-administration existed in the
country it was due to foreign influence. Christians had
corrupted Turks. Christian traders had introduced such
abominations as general bribery among the Turks who by
race and religion were honourable and pure-minded.
The Christian races of the Empire were degraded, liars,

346 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
untrustworthy, incapable of civilization and sunk in
ignorance and superstition. Islam was a religion well
suited to the Turkish race and on the whole preferable to
Christianity. Indeed three of the disciples of Urquhart,
all holding a somewhat conspicuous position before the
British public, became Mahometans. In 1873 when I
arrived in Constantinople, the influence of these English
men was still powerful. I recall one of them in particular
who paid a long visit to Turkey, who could never see
anything Turkish except through rose spectacles. He
was an elderly, kindly, and intelligent man, but his belief
in the immaculate character of the Turk was incurable.
Before leaving he gave me very seriously a word of advice :
" You are a young man, and if I were you I should become
a Moslem : you would then have a great career before
you." I smiled and said that one must draw the line
somewhere, and that most certainly I should draw it
before reaching that stage." He was a generous man and
wealthy. In passing through the picturesque Turkish
cemetery at Scutari he met two Turkish soldiers, who
asked him for bakshish. In his entire confidence in the
native goodness of the Turk he pulled out of his pocket
all the money he possessed, including gold and silver and
showed them in his hand, inviting them to take something.
One of the soldiers seized the hand and simply emptied
its contents into his own. Does the reader imagine that
this disillusioned him ? Not the least ! I could tell
many stories about him and other philo-Turks of that
period of a similar character. I will only relate one : An
imaginary debt was paid to a Turkish department running
into thousands of pounds, after the imaginary debtor had
been assured by legal advice in England and in Turkey
that he was under no legal or even moral responsibility in
regard thereto. To complete the story I may mention
that he sent a man to pay the amount and that for two

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 347
months the Turks refused to receive it, fearing probably
that the offer of payment was a trap, and that if they gave
a receipt it would be used to found a demand for the
payment of a much larger sum. The man who was sent
with the money came to me about a month after his
arrival, and stated that he had had a visit from two
government officials who told him that they had arranged
with the minister to receive the money, but that he would
have to pay them £500 for persuading the minister to do
so. He was a blunt sort of Englishman of the straight
forward, superior working man class, and his answer to
the officials, which referred to his boots and their persons,
was not complimentary either to his master or to the
Turks. Ultimately, but only after two months' delay, the
Turks took the money and no bakshish was paid for
receiving it.
This is, of course, an extreme case of Philo-Turkism, but
the attitude of mind years ago was not so rare as might
be supposed. There were Englishmen who, while unable
to see any fault in the Turks, could see no merit in the
Christian subjects of the Sultan. The most distinguished
of such men in later years, and one of whom I can only
speak with respect, was the late Earl Percy. His ten
dency and that of all the school in question is to hold
that the need for reform is greatly exaggerated, and that
the Turk may safely be left alone to work his own will
upon his subjects. Such writers would hardly go so far
as to say no reforms are advisable, but that, all things
considered, there is no need to worry the Turk to make
them. Some would add that more harm is done by
pressing for them than by letting things take their
natural course. The sufficient answer to such a con
tention is twofold ; that while not one of the able men
who were British ambassadors here during the last or
the present century has held such an opinion, no improve-

348 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ment in Turkey during the same period was initiated by
the Turkish Government. All ambassadors alike, begin
ning at the opening of last century with the greatest ever
sent to Turkey by England, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,
and continuing to the revolution of 1908, have had as
their chief duty to urge upon the Porte the necessity of
reforms which should make for the welfare of Moslems
and Christians alike, and which in particular should make
the lives of Christians endurable. The longer they have
remained here the more firmly have they been convinced
that Turkey must perish if such reforms are not carried
into execution.
Seventy years ago, Lord Stratford, then Stratford
Canning, used the phrase found in Shakespeare, and made
famous in connection with Turkey by W. E. Gladstone,
" bag and baggage," as expressing his hopelessness of
reforms. " I wish," said he in 1821, " that the Sultan
were driven bag and baggage into the heart of Asia." x
Sixty years later, Sir Henry Layard was sent here by Mr
Disraeli and chosen as a friend of the Turks. An old
acquaintance of Urquhart, he believed that once they
were shown that reforms were for the advantage of the
country, the Turk would accept them. His reputation
was bound up in such acceptance. No ambassador ever
worked harder in trying to show the Turks that what
England advised through him was in their own interests.
But he was compelled to admit that he had entirely failed,
and those who, like myself, often saw him and observed
how from month to month his illusions fell before the
steady resistance of Abdul Hamid, were not in the least
surprised when his famous dispatch of April 1881 was
published admitting his failure. It recorded an honest
change of opinion arrived at by the irresistible force of
evidence. 1 "Life of Stratford Canning," by S. Lane Poole, p. 307.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 349
Yet, in spite of the many statements that the Turk
cannot reform, in spite of the comparative failure of the
attempts by the Powers, and, to England's credit,
especially by her, to urge the execution of reforms, in
spite of the publication of paper reforms decreed to
placate Western Europe, and including the famous Hatti-
Humayoun and Midhat's constitution of 1876 and their
immediate neglect by the Turks, there has been im
provement. Even in reference to Turkish fanaticism, I have no
hesitation in saying that it has diminished and is dimin
ishing. The pages of Turkish history even before 1800
give ample evidence of such change. They contain the
records of foul slaughter, of which, if fanaticism was not
the direct cause, it always supplied the most dangerous
element. In the beginning of the sixteenth century,
Sultan Selim (1512-1520) proposed to put all Christians
in the capital to death unless they accepted Mahome
tanism, and to convert all their churches into mosques.
Happily the grand vizier recognized the folly of so terrible
a proposal and arranged with the patriarch a pretty little
plot. The patriarch was to appeal against the proposal
to the chief officer of the Sheri, or Religious Court, who
had also previously been seen by the vizier and was in
accord with him. When the case came on for hearing
the patriarch, in presence of the Sultan, quoted the Koran
to the effect that the " People of the Books " were to be
spared. The chief judge declared that all the authorized
Moslem commentators agreed with the version given by
the patriarch. It was therefore Sacred Law. The Sultan
had to content himself with taking their churches and
giving them permission to build others in wood. No
such monstrous proposition has ever been renewed.
But though the lives of the Christians were saved,
they were subject to constant brutalities and periodical

350 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
massacres. The seventeenth century is a story of wild
disorder, of continued oppression and of the general
toleration of lawlessness so long as it was directed against
the Christian rayahs. In the middle of the century
foreign subjects were almost as ill-treated as the rayahs.
In 1645, when the Porte declared war on Venice, orders
were issued to slaughter or make slaves of every Venetian
subject found in the empire. The war was declared by
throwing the ambassador and his suite into prison. This
practice, indeed, continued till the Peace of Ryswick in
1697 ; and in the enclosure called the Seven Towers, which
was usually employed for the imprisonment of diplomats
and their suites, there still exist inscriptions on the walls
carved just before that date by diplomatist prisoners.
The eighteenth century is full of injustice toward the
Christians, but it is an improvement on the seventeenth
and this because the influence of European States had
begun to be felt in Constantinople. As the century
advanced, the Turks learned that Europe would not
tolerate the imprisonment of ambassadors or the murder
of subjects of foreign States because Turkey was at war
with them. But so far European influence hardly told
upon the Turk in reference to the treatment of his own
subjects. I may remark in passing that there appears to
be an idea in England that the Turk always showed a
contemptuous toleration for his Christian subjects. This
is far from being true. His history at its best, in regard
to them, is one of comparative indifference alternated
with energetic persecution. Until the nineteenth century
his policy was one of constant worry with occasional
Bartholomew massacres.
The nineteenth century enables us to estimate the im
provement which has taken place and the diminution of
fanaticism as part of it. For the purpose of examination

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 351
I may divide it into three periods each representing
roughly about a generation. We may begin with the
year 1820.
Condition of Turkey between 1820 and 1830
The atrocities committed between 1820 and 1830 in the
capital, in Smyrna, in Chios and, indeed, wherever Greeks
were found throughout the empire, were of a hideous
character. The dregs of the Moslem population were
turned loose upon the Christians in the name of religion
to satisfy their greed and their lust. It is hardly possible
to imagine, and quite impossible to describe without
giving scenes unfit to be printed, what was the brutality
of the tortures and the treatment generally meted out to
the Christians. All this is now known from a variety of
eye-witnesses, but it took months or years before the
horrors of the time were brought to the knowledge of
Western Europe — so long indeed that the reports when
they arrived had lost much of their interest.
The condition of Constantinople was far worse than it
has been even during the thirty-three years of Abdul
Hamid. The English embassy chaplain of that period,
Mr Walsh, mentions that, as regiments passed through
Constantinople, they committed every kind of outrage
with impunity on the unarmed rayahs, women and men
alike. He tells the story of an Armenian cloth merchant
who was measuring a length for a soldier and leaned over
the cloth while doing so. The naked neck was tempting,
and the soldier whipped out his yataghan and with one
stroke the Armenian's head dropped into the cloth. This
was in Constantinople itself. The body was left, but the
soldier carried off the cloth with the head in it, showed it
openly and boasted of his feat. Nobody dared interfere.
The victim was only a Christian. Wealthy Christians
were tortured on the slightest pretext. Many were killed

352 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
without even the semblance of a trial. Every now and
then the Turks would take it into their heads to order the
Christians not to show themselves in the streets, even of
Pera, the foreigners' quarter of Constantinople. The chap
lain mentions an incident on one of these occasions when
the Turks alone paraded them. He saw a Greek who had
ventured out of a bakal's, or huckster's, shop to buy some
article and who was returning when a Turk, who was
walking just in front of the chaplain, met him. The
Greek drew himself up to the wall as close as possible to
let the Turk pass, but the latter deliberately pinned him
to the wall with his yataghan and the Greek fell dead. The
Turk wiped his weapon, entered a coffee-house where the
chaplain saw him unconcernedly smoking his chibook. It
was no uncommon thing, he declares, for a Turk to try his
pistol on the first Christian he could get a shot at. Every
day some wounded person was carried hastily by the
embassy gate. He tells the story of a man being beheaded
in the street by a soldier. There was no trial, no ap
parent cause of offence except that the man was a giaour.
He mentions the names of men respected in the city who
were suddenly decapitated without any trial or even
formal charge. Lawlessness was general. Men were
executed on slight suspicion. A well-known dragoman,
intimate with every ambassador, was summarily executed
before the eyes of the Sultan. His offence was that in
reading out a letter which he considered it his duty to
disclose to the Turks he omitted to mention the name
of one of his friends. If he had said nothing about the
letter no harm could have come to him.
The city during many weeks was in the possession of
an unbridled rabble, and the Turkish ministers declared
to the ambassadors that they could not control it. The
chaplain gives many illustrations of what he himself
saw. A man was cut down in front of the embassy

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 353
gates. An artist who would have been killed for painting
the scenery of a small theatre where a play objected to by
the Turks was put on, took refuge in the embassy and
was given employment to save him from the Turks. " Not
knowing," says Dr Walsh, " how long we might keep our
heads, we thought it a good opportunity of sending some
representations of what they were to our friends at home."
So they had their portraits taken. Finally, the man
was smuggled one night on board a Russian ship where
he was hidden in a cask and arrived safely in Odessa.
After the massacre of Chios, the price of Greek slaves
went down so low in the capital that a boy or girl could
be bought for a few dollars. Indeed the glut was so great
that many were killed to get rid of them. The chaplain
saw or heard on good authority of headless men ; of
caiq-jis taking captives to be killed who were slaughtered
with such fiendish delight that the expedition was re
garded by the savages as a picnic. The British embassy
gardens were filled with fugitives for whom the pretext
of finding work was found as an excuse for not turning
them out to be killed. They were of different trades, but
Lady Strangford found excuses for keeping them all, and
kept her brave and mirthful spirit alive amid the
pandemonium. She declared that she had sent the
tailors among the cabbages, and the bakers among the
flowers. Let it be said, with pride, that all accounts of
the devilry of that dreadful decade show the conduct of
the British residents to have been worthy of the best
traditions of our race. Though foreigners and other
Christians were forbidden to ransom or buy slaves,
British merchants arranged with individual Turks to pur
chase and set them free. They sheltered them whenever
they could, helped them to escape from the country, and
behaved generously to the victims of ignorance, savage-
dom and religious fanaticism.
23

354 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
We have another and valuable account given of the
condition of Constantinople and Smyrna by an intelligent
traveller who was in the capital from May to October 1828.
He had previously been in Smyrna. The author, an
English barrister, Charles MacFarline, was a cautious
man, and a faithful recorder of what he saw and learned
from trustworthy persons. He visited Chios and re
marks that the fearful outrages perpetrated were because
the island was the centre of an educational movement.
He describes the hanging of the hostages as a brutal crime
against civilization, and arrives at the conclusion that
besides the thousands who were killed in the massacre,
no less than 40,000 men, women, and children were sold
into slavery. The population of the island was 15,000, as
against 100,000 five years earlier, or, according to the
Greeks, 120,000. The fate of the Christians of both sexes
" was most horrible."
On his arrival in Smyrna in August 1827, he found the
city tranquil. He tells the story of the massacre of the
Greek notables, of the desire of the Moslems to extirpate
the Greek population, and of the violence of the mob
against the governor, who honestly tried to prevent so
extreme a measure. " But," he adds, " the ruffianly
mob, while destroying Greeks like game in preserves, had
become, in fact, masters of the town from which they had
frightened speculation and commerce to the no small
detriment of the pasha's revenue." To object to the
killing of Greeks was to be on their side. In the streets
wherever a Greek was seen he was shot at, the most
violent of their enemies being Moslems from Crete.
MacFarline makes a remark which is interesting as
recalling what happened in Armenia in 1895-6. The
misfortunes of the Greeks were so many and so terrible
that " some came at last to court death. They were to
consider their death at the hands of the blaspheming

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 355
Mahometans as a martyrdom, and hundreds submitted
their throat to the knife with a placidity, self-possession
and unresistingness that might go far to merit that palm."
Resistance, according to many eye-witnesses, was rarely
offered. Let me say of Smyrna what I have also said of
Constantinople, that the British residents sympathized
with and protected the Christians, and that they were
ably assisted by the French consul and colony.
On leaving Smyrna MacFarline passed to Pergamon
and has to tell the same story of lawlessness, poverty,
desolation and slaughter. He landed also at Mitylene,
and found the beautiful island of Sappho suffering from
the same mad fanaticism and lawlessness as the other
islands which he had visited. He embarked on the first
steamer which was ever seen in these parts, for Con
stantinople. As they entered the Dardanelles they were
fired at by a company of Zeibecks, savages from the hills
whom the Sultan was endeavouring to drill into a useful
force. The firing was only for fun, and happily no one on
board was hit.
When he arrived in the capital, he was " astonished at
the melancholy, depopulated aspect of the place." The
explanation follows at once. It was not a question of the
Greeks. They had had their bad time. It was now the
turn of the Armenian Catholics. In January 1828, eight
or ten thousand of this always respectable community
had been exiled into Asia from the capital. Two or three
thousand more had been cleared out of the city, but
allowed to settle in neighbouring villages. In the Grand
Rue de Pera nearly every third house was painted red.
This indicated that they belonged to Turks. They had
been stolen from the exiles by the government, but had
been sold at not a twentieth part of their value, and only
to Moslems. MacFarline tells many stories of arbitrary
oppression, of brutal cruelty, and of the horrors of

356 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
slavery. It is unnecessary to furnish other illustrations
of the condition of the country between 1820 and 1830.
But the point that I wish to note is, that the state of
things described was in the capital, and in the most
civilized cities of the empire. We have seen Armenians
slaughtered in Armenia by Abdul Hamid amid a devilry
quite equal to that exhibited in Constantinople. We
had here, even in Constantinople in 1897, a massacre of
Armenians. But the massacre in the capital cannot be
compared with those between 1820 and 1830. It was a
short, sharp, tentative attempt made by Abdul to see
whether Europe and his own people would allow a
massacre like those which he had successfully carried out
in Armenia, an attempt which was put an end to after
the first day by the collective and stern representations
of the ambassadors of the Powers. His own people in the
capital were hardly less decisive in their answer.. His
army of spies dare not tell him of the deep loathing
which respectable Turks expressed at his conduct, but it
is inconceivable that they did not inform him that his
own subjects, excepting, of course, the low rabble which
had been employed as his instruments, utterly disapproved
of his brutal savagery. In other respects the capital, even
after long years of Abdul Hamid's rule, showed that there
had been improvement. It is true that property was
arbitrarily seized by the late ruler, but a pretext had to be
found before it was confiscated. Some men mysteriously
died or disappeared, and in popular belief, which in
certain cases was probably well grounded, they had been
made away with. But the openly reckless slaughter of
men under Sultan Mahmud's reign had disappeared.
I have mentioned Mahmud as Sultan during the period
between 1820 and 1830. His long reign, which began in
1808 and lasted till 1839, was a useful one. His chief
reform consisted in the adoption of European drill,

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 357
discipline and methods in his army. To accomplish this,
he had to break the power of the Janissaries. These
" New troops " had ceased about 1680 to be recruited
exclusively or even mainly from Christian families. Their
organization had become so complete and their esprit de
corps was so strong that during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries they were a greater terror to Sultan
and ministers than to a foreign enemy.
Originally, and until the Moslem conquest of Con
stantinople, they were never more than 15,000 in number.
But this number gradually increased, and members of the
corps took other offices as watchmen, body servants, and
the like, so that in 1826 there are said to have been 120,000
in the capital alone. Of these about 25,000 were in the
fighting service. When they refused to obey Mahmud's
orders, every one knew that the long expected struggle
was at hand. Their. predecessors had deposed sultans,
had demanded the heads of unpopular ministers, and
had almost invariably succeeded in obtaining them.
Mahmud, however, was made of sterner stuff.
In the courtyard of the Seraglio, near the once famous
church of St Irene, they overturned their camp kettles.
They were attacked by a small body of troops, who had
been drilled on the European model, and fled a short
distance, less than a quarter of a mile, to the hippodrome
or At-meidan where they had a barrack. This was on
the 15th June 1826. From thence they fled to the Et-
meidan, or meat market, a mile and a half distant, where
their principal barrack was situated.1 This was sur
rounded by troops. The rebels were ordered to surrender.
1 It is worth noting the difference between the two words, Atmeidan
and Etmeidan, because in an otherwise able article in a French Review
on the Janissaries the slaughter is described as having taken place
on the hippodrome or At-medan. On my pointing out this to the
writer he frankly admitted that he had thought at and et indicated the
same place. At-medan is a Turkish translation of hippodrome, at
being a horse. Et-medan means meat market.

358 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
On their refusal the barracks were surrounded and
attacked. A desperate rush was made by a compact
mass of Janissaries to break through the iron ring which
had been drawn round them. Cannon were in front of
them, but when the gunners in charge saw the mass of
their fellow Moslems rush forward with their cry of Hadji
Bektash, their hearts quailed and they turned their backs
to the guns. It was at this fateful moment that an
officer named Kara-gehenna, or Black Hell, rushed for
ward to one of the guns and discharged it by firing his
pistol over the priming. The charge was of grape shot,
and the havoc it made among the densely packed mass
in the crowded street was appalling. The Janissaries
hesitated in confusion. Some turned and fled. A
second discharge completed their discomfiture.
The scene is a hideous one, and that which followed,
during the next few days, the slaughter of every Janissary
who could be found in Stamboul or across the water was, at
least, awful. The British ambassador estimated that six
thousand Moslems were killed in the attack. The Janis
saries had, by their crimes against individuals and the
State, filled the cup of their iniquity, and no great fault can
be found with Mahmud for destroying them. I mention
the incident first, to complete the picture of Constantinople
at the period under consideration ; and second, to mark
that the suppression was part of the work, on the whole
a needful part, of Mahmud's reforms. Many others were
attempted. He endeavoured to prevent the outrages of
his soldiers, and when he could not prevent, he punished
the wrong- doers with a strong hand. I have mentioned
that a body of Zeibecks amused themselves by firing at
the passengers on board the ship on which MacFarline
passed the Dardanelles. Another band of the same
lawless scoundrels, on their way through Brusa and other
Bithynian towns, fired their pistols at Greeks and

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT TN TURKEY 359
Armenians, broke open their shutters and doors, and
killed harmless rayahs. Mahmud had given orders that
all outrages should cease. The tidings of the conduct of
this particular band preceded them to Constantinople,
and when it arrived, they were decimated, and, according
to one account, twenty, according to another, forty, were
strangled and thrown into the Bosporus.
Condition of Turkey between 1830 and 1870
In endeavouring to point out the improvement effected
in Turkey, I now pass from the period ending in 1830 to
about the year 1870. It is the period when the am
bassadors of England and France are striving to obtain
reforms. Canning was again the representative of
England though he was absent from 1829 to 1841. He
had had a rough time towards the end of the first period
I have taken. When the news of the destruction of the
Turkish fleet at Navarino, in October 1827, arrived, the
attitude of the Turks became so alarming that he and his
colleagues representing France and Russia thought it not
unlikely that they and their suites would be sent as
prisoners to the Seven Towers. As a precaution Canning
burned his papers. He and his colleagues asked for their
passports, which were refused, and all left the country
without permission. The practice of imprisoning am
bassadors had ceased, as we can now recognize, for ever.
Canning's name will ever be associated with the
attempts of Western Europe to place Turkey among
civilized nations. He recognized that if she were ever to
take such a place there must be radical reforms. She
" must be saved by the assimilation to Western principles
of liberty, toleration and good government." " One of
the chief points in his programme," says his biographer,1
1 Lane-Poole's " Life."

360 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
" was the removal of all the distinctive disabilities which
oppressed the Christians." He recognized, as all un
prejudiced observers had done from the time of the able
British consul Rycaut in the seventeenth century, that
the Christians form the most intelligent element in the
country, and that the empire had need of their intelligence.
He concluded, therefore, that in helping the Christians, in
making himself their protector, as he soon came to be
regarded, he was rendering good service to Turkey. On
this principle he worked steadily for years. He obtained
great influence and became for Turkey a benevolent
despot always trying to drive home reforms.
He was a man of strong will, of clear insight, of con
siderable tact, and of even a fierce courage. His long
experience had made him self-reliant. He belonged to a
period when an ambassador was not a foreign office clerk
at the end of a telegraph wire. He had had the duty im
posed upon him when only twenty-three years old of
deciding what England's policy should be during a period
of eighteen months when he was unable to receive com
munications from his government. Between 1810 and
1812 he had prevented Turkey joining with France. He
had been disciplined into self-reliance, and in the accom
plishment of his purpose never feared responsibility. On
his return to Constantinople, thirty years later, he acted
with a firmer hand than ever. When his government, at
the request of the Porte, sent a circular to each consul
practically telling them not to interfere with individual
cases of oppression, Canning wrote a private note to
each one to say that the circular did not apply to him.
The following may be mentioned as illustrating his
character. Among the debasing customs which the
Turks had retained from the time of their supremacy, was
one in accordance with which every European, as well as
Christian subjects, had to dismount and walk past the

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 361
imperial palace. On one occasion Canning was returning,
bespattered with mud from a long ride, and was ordered
to dismount. He did so, and, just as he was, demanded
an audience of the Sultan and did not leave until orders
were given that this practice should cease.
Acting constantly with the desire to benefit the Turkish
nation he tackled the question of the inequalities to which
the Christians were subject. He judged rightly that so
long as religious toleration did not exist, reform for the
nation was impossible. In 1844 his indignation had been
brought to fever heat by the reports which reached him
from the provinces. He learned that Christian children
were being seized in various parts, forcibly made
Mahometans, and confined in harems. He found that
the practice of executing Moslems who changed then-
religion was general, though such changes were few. He
worked hard to put an end to both practices. A special
appeal was made to him while driving from Pera to
Therapia by the relatives of a young Armenian then under
arrest. His crime was that, having become a Moslem, he
had reverted to Christianity. The efforts of Canning were
in vain, and the man was executed. But the man did not
die in vain. Canning and his French colleague took the
matter up and each succeeded in obtaining instructions
from his government to require of the Porte that punish
ment should no longer be inflicted on persons who
abandoned Moslemism. When Canning framed an
official note to the Porte in this sense, his dragoman,
Pisani, whom I remember well as a brave old man well
fitted to serve such a chief, replied that it would never
succeed. Canning's reply was given with a look of deter
mination, " Mr Pisani, it shall."
The struggle was long. The Turkish ministers wanted
to compromise, to give a vague declaration of their desire
" to avoid, as far as it might be practicable, occasions of

362 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
enforcements of the law " by which apostates were to
suffer death. In truth they were in a dilemma. If they
refused they lost the friendship of the Western Powers ;
if they consented they risked unpopularity among their
fellow Moslems. But Canning would not yield. He
knew only too well the Turkish habit of promising reforms
which were never intended to be carried out. Such
promises eased the situation at the time, and a weak
ambassador has often been fain to accept them. Canning
and his French colleagues persisted until the Porte formally
consented to abolish executions for change of religion.
Canning's persistence was justified when shortly after
wards a man was charged with apostacy from the Moslem
faith, and adjudged guilty. Taking with him the same
dragoman, Pisani, he went to see Abdul Mejid and de
manded that the man should be set free. After consider
able delay, the Sultan signed an order which, when Pisani
translated it to his chief, was seen to be vague and merely
intended to gain time. Canning, knowing the fanaticism
which prevailed, thought it probable that the man would
be hanged in spite of the order. He therefore announced
his intention of not leaving the palace until he received a
clear order that the man should be given up to him forth
with. He had a long wait, but he carried his point and
the man's life was saved. Several instances occurred
during this period where Moslem fanaticism defied the
Sultan's orders and a few men who became Christians
were lynched. But Canning obtained strict orders to the
provincial governors to save the lives of renegades ; and
British consuls, knowing they would be supported by the
ambassador, often intervened for their protection. In
the autumn of 1844 several instances of successful inter
vention occurred. Two years later he obtained the
dismissal of the Vali of Salonika for his inhumanity
to Christians.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT TN TURKEY 363
Canning addressed himself about the same time to the
question of torture in prisons. The hideousness of the
methods of torture as well as its general prevalence,
sometimes as a punishment, often as a means of extorting
evidence, aroused his indignation and he succeeded in
obtaining an imperial irade abolishing it altogether
throughout the empire.
During the second period, which I am dealing with,
several improvements took place in reference to what
may be called domestic institutions. The most import
ant of these was slavery. European travellers previous
to 1830 give many details as to the horrors of the slave-
trade in the country, and few seemed to have realized
that Western opinion had condemned the institution.
But in the period now treated of, the sale of slaves in
Constantinople was not only legal but a well recognized
industry. The chief market was at Avret Bazaar in
Stamboul, near the place where now stands the dado of
the once famous Column of Arcadius. Another market
which was rather for the choice articles of slavery was at
Tophana just outside Galata. We have several accounts
of what these markets were like. Perhaps the most
valuable is that given by Colonel White who spent three
years in Constantinople. He gives a vivid narrative of
what he saw in 1843. He was disposed to see everything
Turkish in a favourable light. He denounces, for example,
the destruction of the Turkish Fleet at Navarino as a
" woeful stroke of policy." He insists constantly that
slavery is a harmless and indeed generally a benevolent
institution. Nevertheless he deals faithfully with his
facts. He saw women put up for public auction, passed
round for inspection, duly certified as to their blemishes
or freedom from them, and saw them knocked down to
the highest bidder. In the great han at Avret Bazaar
they were sorted like other cattle and told off in pens

364 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
according to their beauty and accomplishments. Men,
women and children, who had been imported could be
bought cheap. The " second hands," that is, those who
were being sold by their owners and who had learned to
cook, to cut wood, or be useful in the house, fetched a
higher price. He saw a fine negress, with good recom
mendations as a cook and sempstress, put up for sale.
It was admitted that she had an incorrigible temper, and
on this account had been sold thirteen times. Buyers
apparently were afraid, but she was finally knocked down
to an old mollah for £17. Negroes and negresses usually
increased in value for some years after their arrival in
the country : white female slaves, however, fetched lower
prices, the reason being that young women were rarely
re-sold except for incorrigible defects, or for another
reason. It was " no uncommon practice," says Colonel
White, with young and wealthy profligates to purchase
young women from the Circassian dealers at Tophana,
or from those who bought such women from the dealers
to educate and re-sell and then, at the expiration of a
few weeks, to send them to Avret Bazaar in order to
procure money for purchasing other novelties.
The trade in human flesh in 1843 was not so flourishing
as it had been a few years previously. An old Arab who
had carried on the business for many years, " with Allah's
permission," as he carefully explained, cleared about
thirty per cent, on his sales. The profits would have
been much larger but for the unfortunate fact that sixty
out of every hundred died on their journey from their
homes in Africa to Stamboul. Nevertheless, the business
flourished, though prices were not high. The slaves
brought from Africa were of course black. A newly im
ported one could be bought for £14, and never fetched
more than £25 ; a second-hand article who had been
taught to work and was in good health ranged from £25

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 365
to £50. White women sold in the market when young
averaged from £9 to £14. The choice articles in white
slaves were, however, sold at Tophana. In 1822 the
number of slaves officially notified as imported from
Africa was 2800, while Circassia sent 500 in the same year.
The Circassians were almost always imported young.
Dealers bought them, had them carefully fed, washed and
clothed, and sold them off at prices varying according to
their personal charms. A young girl thus treated often
doubled or tripled in value after two or three years.
Colonel White relates that a doctor who was sent to
examine one, reported that she was not in any danger,
whereupon the owner replied " Thank God ; it would
have been a sad loss, she cost me £400."
The remarkable thing about these Circassian slaves is
that they were usually brought up by their parents for
the purpose of sale. The girls themselves looked forward
with pleasure to the time when some wealthy pasha would
take a fancy to add them to his harem. Many Circassian
slaves rose to high honours : for slavery was not a bar to
marriage and by adet, or custom having the force of
law, a slave who bore a child to her master became
free. It may be admitted that on the whole slaves in Turkey
were not and are not ill-treated. A woman in particular
who has been long in the service of her master is kept on
until her death, though she has become incapable of work.
Even in the slave depots they did not usually complain.
Still, the system was and is a barbarous one, and so long
as a human being is a chattel and there are brutes among
men, instances of cruelty will occur. Colonel White him
self was witness of one : the broker had ordered a girl to
follow him round the colonnade arranged for showing off
his goods. The girl either from shame or obstinacy went
the other way. The broker struck her so severely on the

366 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
face that she fell and the blood rushed from her mouth
and nose. The Englishman's blood rose and he would
have liked to have punished the brute, but he points out
that an attack would only have resulted in the expulsion
of himself and friend.
Slavery in Turkey has not ceased to exist. But it has
become illegal though everybody who knows Turkey is
aware that thousands of slaves are still found in the
country, that every now and then black slaves are landed
from Africa, and that the sale of a/Circassian is by no
means unknown. In a Turkish village where I lived for a
year on my first arrival in the country, there was a house
where an old Turkish woman always had from two to
half a dozen little Circassian girls. The neighbours
assured me, and I have no reason to doubt their state
ment, that her practice was to buy them young, to let them
run wild on the beautiful hill-side for two or three years,
and then to sell them into harems. They were not
cruelly treated. Talking some three years ago with a
medical man who has studied in England, France, and
Germany, but who is a Turkish subject, he observed
" You Europeans know nothing of what goes on in the
harems. We hekims are privileged. You believe slavery
is abolished — rubbish. I have myself examined five
women for the purpose of sale within the last month."
During several years Canning had endeavoured to pre
vent the importation of negro slaves. MacFarline and
Stevens as well as Colonel White found the practice
general and not apparently condemned by public opinion.
But the sufferings of the slaves in their passage to the
coast and thence to Turkey were terrible and awakened
the sympathy of all Englishmen. Canning called the
attention of the Sultan to what civilized states had done
to put down the slave-trade and in 1850 succeeded in
persuading him to issue a law forbidding Turkish vessels

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 367
to transport slaves. I cannot find that he ventured to
touch the domestic aspect of the question.
In the same year he succeeded in obtaining the recog
nition of the Protestants in Turkey as a distinct body,
which was to enjoy the same privileges as the Greeks
and Catholics respectively. For this purpose they were
authorized to name a representative or Vekil who should
have the right to represent any Protestant before the
government. The arrangement continues to the present
day. The Armenian Catholics had fallen under the dis
pleasure of the Turks, but Canning judged that they were
oppressed and pleaded successfully also on their behalf.
There were thus distinct and important reforms due
to the efforts of the Powers and always mainly of England
which were effected during the second period I have
chosen. Many of them, as for example the order abolish
ing torture, are rightly classed as paper reforms. Far and
away the most important was the granting of a charter of
liberties known as the Hatti-humayoum. It marked the
climax of Canning's career as a reformer. It included
and summarized all the reforms he had succeeded in ob
taining during twenty-five years. Already in 1839 an
imperial decree had been issued known as the Hatti-
sherif of Gulhana which promised security for life and
property for all subjects of the empire without distinction
of race and creed. But the Hatti-humayoum promul
gated in February 1856 was in more emphatic language.
It renewed the ancient privileges of the churches, guar
anteed the free exercise of non-Moslem religious rites,
and allowed every church and sect to have the control
of its ecclesiastical and educational buildings. It pro
claimed that " every distinction and designation tending
to make any class whatever of the subjects of my empire
inferior to another class on account of their religion, lan
guage or race, shall be for ever effaced . . . no subject of

368 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
my empire shall be hindered in the exercise of the religion
which he professes nor shall he be in any way annoyed
on that account. No one shall be compelled to change
his religion." It was a Magna Carta for Turkey.
When at the end of the Crimean War, the Treaty of
Paris was drawn up, the Hatti-humayoum was formally
recognized in Article IX. To Canning's disgust no pro
vision was made in the Treaty for enforcing its provisions.
But they remained on the Statute Book and have often
been appealed to in the law courts and by diplomatists.
Let the remark be made here once for all, that iradis or
decrees making promises of reforms and other promises
are one thing, their execution another. In my own ex
perience decrees forbidding torture have been made again
and again but constantly disregarded both in their letter
and spirit. Torture, abolished by law half a century ago,
flourished five years since with all sorts of hideous horrors.
Slavery, abolished in like manner, still exists though the
traffic is driven under ground. Reforms for the bettering
of the lot of Armenians, promised by the Treaty of Berlin,
were drafted by the Powers, strongly supported by
England and urged upon the Porte. Each reform was
keenly contested and had to be abandoned until what
Lord Salisbury qualified as the " irreducible minimum "
was attained and then Sir Henry Layard had even to cut
down the " irreducible." Finally a show of reforms was
agreed upon and an imperial irade, followed by promises
made to the Great Powers, was issued. But judging by
results there was no intention to cairy them into execution
and for the most part they have remained a dead letter.
The specific reform longest dangled before Western eyes
regarding Armenia was the appointment of assistant
governors who would be Christians. Naturally the
Sultan's creatures selected men who would do what the
Moslem governor ordered them to do and such men in

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 369
popular speech soon became known as Evvet effendis, or
" certainly sirs," because of their subserviency.
Have then all these promises, obtained by the strenuous
and unremitting labours of Canning, who is still known in
Turkey as the " Great Elchee," and of other ambassadors,
been of no avail ? The answer is that they have not.
The attempts to evade them as far as possible, to go
through the pretext of carrying them into execution so
that the Powers should not worry the Porte by their
importunity, have had a beneficial result, an educational
value. The people, Moslem and Christian alike, learned
what the promises were, formed the conviction that the
Powers wished better government for all sections of the
community, and, as the reforms were intended to intro
duce religious toleration and to prevent oppression, they
helped to prepare the population for the introduction
of a better system of government. Paper reforms led
the people to anticipate real reforms. They gave the
Christians hope and taught the fanatical portion of the
Moslem population to regard reforms as pre-ordained.
The point, however, to which I wish to call attention is
that Turkey had made progress towards improvement
between 1830 and 1870.
But though the paper reforms were not without distinct
value, and while noting definite improvement, it must not
be supposed that the condition of Turkey at the end of
the period cited showed that they had effected a great
general bettering of the condition of the population and
especially of the Christians. Scenes of violence were less
frequent but misgovernment still continued. The same
gross mass of ignorance and fanaticism which we have
seen in excelsis in the period between 1820 and 1830 still
existed : the same corruption in the administration, the
like injustice in the law courts, the same refusal to admit
the Christian to equality with the Moslem. It would be
24

370 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
easy to fill hundreds of pages with quotations from a score
of volumes published soon after the Crimean War showing
that injustice, oppression, mis-government and no govern
ment remained. One of the earliest of such books may
be mentioned as giving a faithful picture of the condition
of Turkey during the period of ten years after that war.
The " Hakim Bashi," by Dr Humphry Sandwith, well
known as the author of w The Siege of Kars," was pub
lished in 1864. The author's picture is not the less true
because he tells his story under the guise of a romance.
The doctor of medicine or " Hakim Bashi " visits and
resides in Salonika as well as in Bagdad and Syria.
Sandwith wrote from actual experience and it would be
difficult to show venality, corruption in all sorts of persons
in authority and general demoralization in more striking
lights. The " Hakim Bashi " goes to Damascus. The people
have heard of the firman confirming the Hatti-humayoum.
The incident related in the following extract is valuable
as showing the way Moslems regarded and treated
Christians notwithstanding all promises of reform to
better their condition.1 " While buying a lantern at the
shop of a Moslem, I heard jeering voices a few paces from
me, with the words, * Hanzeer-pig, Kaiffer, and such like.
I turned and saw two Christian merchants hurrying
through the streets, looking neither to the right nor to
the left, and as they passed each shop, jeers and scoffs
followed them. The tradesman who was showing me his
goods stopped for a moment, put down his lanterns, and
cried out, " Hanna, thou pig, I am coming to help myself
out of thy house : I shall take thy daughter to my harem."
A few steps further on a young boy planted himself before
the two Christians, and tracing a cross on the ground spat
upon it, and as the two men hurried by, he gave them
1 " Hakim Bashi," vol. ii. p. 199.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT TN TURKEY 371
each a vigorous kick, which feat was loudly applauded by
the bystanders.
" What have these Christians done," I asked of the
lantern seller, w that they should be treated so scurvily ?
Have they stolen anything ? have they broken the law ?
are they felons ? "
" Man, they are Christians," fiercely answered the
shopkeeper ; " is not that enough ? they are Christian
pigs, and ought not to defile the city with their presence."
" But have you not always had Christians amongst
you ? " I replied. " What have they done lately to
excite your anger ? " " What have they done ? "
screamed an armourer close by ; " they have year by
year been invading our privileges. When I was a boy
they were humble rayahs ; no Christian durst mount
a horse, or take the wall of a Moslem, or dress in hand
some clothes ; now they are richer than ourselves, they
seek protection of foreign consuls, some of them even
ride horses, nay, I have seen one or two bear arms.
May God curse them. Wait until the firman comes to
Damascus, and we will make short work of it."
" My friend," I replied, " why should not the Christians
wear good clothes if they pay for them ? Why should
not they ride horses, if they buy them ? There is no law
against their riding their own animals surely ? "
" No law against Christians riding horses ? Hear the
blasphemer," cried more than one voice : for there was
now quite a crowd gathered to hear the discussion which
I had foolishly begun. " Abdullah ibn Omar- Abdullah,
tahl, tahl, — come come, tahl heyn — come here : you are
wanted. Come and refute this Kiaffir."
"lam not a Kiaffir " I replied indignantly : "lam
a Moslem. II hand ull illah — praise be to God," " Aib,
aib, shame on the fellow : he calls himself a Moslem,
and talks like a Christian. What is he ? " "A Turk

372 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
surely," remarked a bystander. " Naam — yes indeed :
he is one of the Stamboulis who come to govern us :
he is a cross between a dog and a sow — a bad breed
surely," said the sallow-faced armourer."
The last sentence points to a truth that applies to
Constantinople and has applied to it for a century. The
inhabitant of the capital, the Stambouli, the Moslem in
particular has always and is now far in advance of his
co-religionists in Anatolia. Everybody knows that all
our words denoting civilization point to its growth in
cities as opposed to rural districts. Civility, politeness,
urbanity are opposed to rusticity and boorishness.
Freedom and progress alike spring from city life. But
to realize how these words have come to have their
derived meaning, we need to recall the isolation of cities
in former times. The want of communication means
poverty, ignorance of what other men are doing, the
nursing of the sentiment that an outsider is a barbarian
and to be treated as an enemy. Isolation in Turkey even
at the present time exists because there are few roads
and the country is never safe. But isolation was more
complete fifty years ago. Hence the contrast between
the condition of things in the capital and in Anatolia was
striking. The Earl of Carlisle who visited Turkey in 1853
describes it as follows : " When you leave the partial
splendours of the capital, and the great state establish
ments, what is it you find over this broad surface of a
land which nature and climate have favoured beyond all
others, once the home of all art and all civilization ?
Look yourself : ask those who live there ; deserted
villages, uncultivated plains, banditti-haunted mountains,
torpid laws, a corrupt administration, a disappearing
people." x
Unhappily the distinction made by Lord Carlisle up-
1 "Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters," by the Earl of Carlisle, p. 184.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 373
wards of half a century ago is true to-day. Macedonia
is half a century, and the eastern portion of Anatolia a
full century, behind the capital. Nevertheless there has
been progress since Sandwith and Lord Carlisle wrote,
and this in spite of the reactionary reign of Abdul Hamid
between 1876 and 1908.

Progress in Abdul Hamid's Reign, 1876-1908
I have endeavoured to show that in the first two
periods selected, terminating with the accession of Abdul
Hamid, definitely marked progress had been made by the
Turkish nation. I now proceed to deal with the reign
of that Sultan with the object of showing that even under
a reactionary sovereign of the worst kind, Turkey has
continued to improve.
One of the first notable events in his reign, for which,
however, Abdul Hamid cannot be held responsible, were
the Moslem atrocities in Bulgaria. They occurred in
May 1876. I have already described the indignation
they aroused throughout Europe. The outcry prevented
further massacre in Bulgaria and withdrew sympathy
from a nation capable of such horrors. Punch's cartoon
on the subject reflected English opinion on the matter
when it represented the Sultan with his hands dripping
blood, surrounded by corpses and asking for British
help. The reply was " not with your hands that colour."
For the first time the Porte was astonished to find that
their treatment of Christians was a matter which pro
foundly interested Western nations. It was a useful
lesson and constituted a landmark of progress. When in
1885, eastern Rumelia threw off her allegiance to Turkey,
the Sultan hesitated to exercise the right he possessed
under the Treaty of Berlin, to enter the province and
reduce it to subjection. But it was well known in Con-

374 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
stantinople that when such a proposal was made to him,
he declared that his troops were rough fellows and could
not be restrained, and that such an occupation would
awaken European fanaticism against Turkey's method
of punishing rebels. He declined to exercise his right.
In other words Abdul Hamid had learned the lesson of
the Atrocity agitation in England.
The massacres in Armenia, in 1895-1896, were in many
respects more ghastly than either those of the Greeks in
1820-1830 or of the Bulgarians in 1876. But there are
several considerations which show that western opinion
though powerless to prevent them was a factor which
even Abdul Hamid did not altogether neglect. Armenia
is a long distance from Constantinople. There is no
province in which the Christians are in a majority. The
only adjoining country was Russia which was known to
be unwilling for various reasons to interfere. Lord Salis
bury publicly regretted that he could not send a fleet over
the Taurus mountains. The Sultan and the palace gang,
mindful of the agitation over the Bulgarian horrors in
1876, made most determined efforts and with a large
measure of success, to prevent any European and especi-»
ally any newspaper correspondent from learning what'
was going on. Unscrupulous mendacity on a large scale
was resorted to in order to deceive foreign consuls and
ambassadors and prevent them from learning what was
being done. The organization of the massacres was kept
strictly secret. The Sultan's orders were promulgated
only in the mosques when, of course, only Moslems were
present. The open, shameless, almost ostentatious de
struction of Christian m*n, women, and children which
had taken place at Chios, and even in Bulgaria, was
replaced by massacres which were concealed as far as
possible and were made to appear the spontaneous work
of the Moslem population. When they were repeated.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 375
though on a much smaller scale, in the capital they were
stopped immediately on the receipt of an open telegram,
due to the initiative of the British Charge d' Affaires, Sir
Michael Herbert (in the absence of the ambassador, Sir
Philip Currie), and signed by all the European ambas
sadors telling Abdul Hamid that if these events did not
immediately cease M there would be danger to his throne
and dynasty." No letter or similar message would have
been sent even half a century earlier, or if sent, would
have been regarded.
The progress of a nation may be delayed by the acts
of an incompetent, perverse and ignorant ruler. But
there are movements beyond his control. So it has been
in Turkey. Outside influences make themselves felt.
One of the most important in Turkey was derived from
the progress made by neighbouring peoples, and though
Abdul Hamid did his utmost to prevent such progress
from becoming known, he failed in this as in so many of
his foolish attempts to keep the nation in ignorance. It
was in vain that he appointed a censor in every newspaper
office and caused every sentence in each local paper to be
carefully censored, that he excluded school books which
stated that Asia Minor was once highly civilized but under
Turkish rule was now largely depopulated ; that he pro
hibited the mention of the words Armenia and Macedonia ;
that he rigorously insisted that not a word should be
published to indicate that the English had entered Egypt ;
that whenever an attempt was made upon the life of a
ruler of a foreign state he required that no mention should
be made of it, and that when such attempts succeeded as
they did against Nicholas of Russia, King Humbert, the
Empress of Austria, Mr M'Kinley, M. Carnot and Mr
Stambuloff , he would only permit the statement of death
without a word to indicate that it had been the result of
violence ; in vain that he prevented as far as he could

376 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the entry into the country of foreign newspapers which
either mentioned facts which he wished concealed, or
commented unfavourably upon his want of states
manship, or exposed the evils of his administration.
It was all supremely silly because all the facts which
he wished to conceal became known at once to his
subjects. Foreign newspapers in his pay praised his
statesmanship. Members of various parliaments, received in audience
and conversing with a ruling sovereign for the first time,
were flattered by him into believing that he was a wise
ruler. Even ministers who ought to have known better
and ambassadors — though thank God never a British
ambassador — mistook bis cunning for capacity and spoke
of him as an enlightened ruler. He was emphatically the
sultan of reaction and, in all matters where a wise sultan
could have favoured material progress or exalted the ideal
of his people, did harm. Possibly owing to the commonly
expressed belief of bis Moslem subjects that he was of
Armenian origin, he showed himself a frantic supporter
of Moslem fanaticism against the Armenians. But I
repeat that his efforts to put an end to progress towards
civilization were in vain. He arrested it, put a brake
upon it, but the elemental forces were too strong for him
and finally, to the delight of all, swept him unrelentingly
into obscurity.
The most noteworthy improvements made in his reign
are those which tend to the preservation of health.
Constantinople a century ago was the city in Europe
where plague was endemic and most virulent. As re
cently as 1835 the well-known American traveller Stephens
asked " Can this beautiful city, rich with the choicest
gifts of heaven, be pre-eminently the abode of pestilence
and death ? where year after year the angel of death
stalks through the streets and thousands and tens of

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 377
thousands look him calmly in the face and murmuring
Allah, Allah, God is merciful, lie down and die."
The latest outbreak of plague in Constantinople was
in 1841. But hardly less terrible were the visitations
of cholera, of which the last worth noting was in 1865.
These diseases once introduced spread with terrible
rapidity. A soil saturated with the filth of centuries ;
street-dogs, homeless, often mangey, numbering probably
thirty thousand ; street cleaning unknown ; heaps of
decaying vegetable and other matter, the absence of
drainage and a deficient water supply supplied the
conditions which enabled the great scourges mentioned
to sweep away tens of thousands. The sanitary con
ditions of all towns in Turkey at the present day, in
cluding the capital itself, is disgraceful. Typhoid fever,
small-pox, diphtheria and other deadly diseases kill
hundreds annually whose lives would have been saved
by decent regulations. But nevertheless there has
been great improvement in the Public Health. The
establishment of an International Sanitary Board, in
tended primarily to prevent the entry of epidemic
diseases by means of quarantine, has had a useful
influence. Consequent upon its representations, ac
cumulations of filth have been removed, some attempts
have been made to cleanse the streets, and above all a
public opinion has been created in favour of better
sanitary arrangements. We have even seen the dogs
of the capital disappear. These measures were in many
cases opposed by Sultan Abdul Hamid, who introduced
to the Sanitary Board about 1882, nominees of his own,
sufficient in number to swamp the delegates of foreign
states. The general corruption in the administration was
seen even in the execution of the simplest sanitary
precautions. Whenever there occurred — as there did

378 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
nearly every year — an alarm lest cholera or plague
should break out, dirty places were daily sprinkled with
a white powder which was supposed to be chloride of
lime, but which was popularly, and I believed rightly,
understood to be pounded maltese stone mixed with
a small quantity of the disinfectant. The principal
streets have been paved during the last fifteen years
with basalt blocks which, when we have our heavy
rains, allow them to be washed and therefore largely
lessen the accumulations of filth which previously
existed. The change was valuable.
Moslems generally are cleanly in their persons and
in their houses. But many travellers old and new
have remarked that they care little about filth in the
streets. Colonel White noted with surprise, in 1842,
well-dressed ladies sitting upon small stools or scamni,
which were placed upon heaps of refuse. Many other
travellers have noted that the Turk, during plague or
cholera, would take no precaution against infection or
contagion. While Greeks or Armenians were particular
about the disinfection of their houses and food, carrying
their somewhat primitive notions of avoiding it to
absurd extremes and carefully avoiding touching other
persons or their clothes during the prevalence of epi
demics, the Turk would stalk carelessly through the
most infected quarters fearless of death. His fatalism
made him courageous. Defoe tells a story in his history
of the Plague in London which has had its analogy
thousands of times in Turkey. A negro boy remarked,
when his master's family were about leaving the horrors
of that time in London, that he supposed his master's
God lived in the country, the inference being that he
was unable to afford protection in town. The Moslem,
with the belief that he still expresses in the form, " all
is written," that everything is fore-ordained, considered

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 379
it wicked as well as impossible to attempt to evade the
eternal decree.
Notwithstanding this belief, he was generally willing
to take medicines. Foreigners in Turkey were always
supposed to possess magical powers over sickness. The
Moslem's theory is that God has provided remedies to
be used by man, but that man nevertheless cannot
evade " what is written." Human nature is stronger
than dogmatic belief.
Gradually it dawned upon the Turks that it would
be well that they as well as foreigners should learn the
secrets of the healing art. A decision to this effect
was not arrived at without difficulty. Besides the
chief objection, that the attempt to cure sick persons
was to interfere with the decrees of heaven, there was
a strong prejudice against anatomy, which indeed still
continues. In time, however, and especially during
the last twenty years, this prejudice was overcome, and
Turks became medical students. A well-arranged medi
cal school has been built at Haidar Pasha and its staff
of teachers does credit to all concerned.
In no direction has more progress been made in
Turkey than in the healing art. Abdul Hamid, with
his rare faculty of seeing danger in most kinds of progress,
did not see any in the study of medicine. He would not
allow his naval officers to receive the instruction which
some of those who had been in Europe proposed to
give. One of these indeed, an able man known as
English Said, was, during the early years of Hamid's
reign, a sort of show pasha. I recall a visit paid here
by the late W. E. Forster in 1876 who had a long inter
view with Said. The next day he told the Englishman
who had introduced him that he would believe in the
possibility of reform if the Sultan would make English
Said Grand Vizier. But this kind of Turk was far too

380 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
intelligent to be taken into imperial favour. Said pasha
wished to improve the education given to the pupils of the
Turkish Naval College, but so far was he from succeeding
that orders were sent that they should be taught nothing
but reading and writing. Said ended his career by being
shipped away from the capital and dying in obscurity.
In other directions Abdul Hamid showed his dread
of progress in educational matters. The elementary
schools which had been established before his reign,
where children might be allowed to read and learn the
Koran, were permitted. Their principal aim seemed
to me always to teach the Koran by rote. The children
might be seen swinging backwards and forwards while
they shouted out the sacred text. Though in a very
clumsy manner, they were taught Turkish reading and
writing, and after years of labour many of them were
able to decipher what appeared in the newspapers.
One of the difficulties in the way of elementary
education for the Turks arises from the use of Arabic
characters in Turkish writing. Reading is rather
deciphering. It is almost inconceivable that an ordinary
scholar should attempt to read a book of considerable
length, say a novel by Dickens or Dumas, even if any
one would take the trouble to translate it. Something
has been done during the last quarter of a century to
simplify the written character, but it is still far from
being as easy to read as any Western language or as
Greek, Bulgarian or Armenian. Some years ago, a
considerable number of Turkish scholars strongly advo
cated the use of Latin characters. Even those who
oppose such a change recognize that it would render
reading and writing much easier. But it would be
difficult to accomplish and has probably about the
same chance of being made as the adoption by English
speaking peoples of a phonetic system of spelling.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 381
Christian schools were at a disadvantage. An educa
tional tax was levied about twenty-five years ago to
which both Christians and Moslems had to contribute,
though the Christians had to support their own schools
and derived no advantage from the new ones. The
Greeks were the first to establish elementary schools.
But all the Christians were keen to learn. It was an
interesting sight even thirty years ago, before the
Armenians were forbidden to meet, except for service
in church, to see able bodied labourers in their churches
on Sundays struggling with the elements of reading and
writing. The efforts of the two great Christian churches
stimulated the Turks to follow their example.
Education for the wealthier classes of Christians had
already made considerable advance. The credit of
having been the first to furnish such educational aid is
due to the Roman Catholics. The Armenian Catholic
Church, denied the privileges of a separate community
and persecuted if they attended religious service at
Latin churches, had for many years a rough time.
Their young men intended for priests and the sons of
men who could afford it were sent abroad for their
education. Two great institutions were established
by wealthy Armenians, which subsequently passed into
the possession of Armenian Catholics, one on the island
of San Lazzaro at Venice, the other known as the college
of the Mechitarists at Vienna. The convent at San
Lazzaro with its picture galleries, the exercises in the
Armenian language of Lord Byron, and the mementoes
of Ruskin and Gladstone, is probably well known to
many readers. Its most valuable product has been a
supply of young men who have returned to Turkey
with a good education and especially with a knowledge
of Italian and French.
The example of the Armenian Catholics stimulated

382 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
the national Armenian Church, and the two have vied
with each other in educating boys and girls throughout
the empire.
In all these educational matters Abdul Hamid either
had no share or did what he could to prevent their
development. There was no university. A large build
ing indeed was erected by his predecessor as the crown
of an educational system and is still known by the
pretentious title of The Gate of Learning. But it has
never been used for the purpose for which it was built.
It is now the seat of the principal Law Courts. A
valuable middle-class lyceum was established at Galata
Serai, before Abdul Hamid ascended the throne, and
did very useful work under an able French director,
but it was looked on unfavourably by the Sultan, and
when some six or seven years ago the building was
burnt down, popular opinion held that the fire was by
" superior orders." The late distinguished director of
the Imperial Museum remarked to me at the time that
I should never see it rebuilt. The prediction would
probably have come true, but for the revolution of July
1908. It has now risen from its ashes and has probably
a greater career of usefulness before it, than in the past.
Quite the most remarkable instance of educational
progress during the period of which I am treating,
is that of Turkish women. My own impression is that
Abdul Hamid regarded women as a negligible quantity
in the matter of education. If a few women chose to
learn foreign languages, to occupy themselves with
what they considered learning, what did it matter ?
Turkish fathers, however, who had seen how women
were treated in Western Europe were often anxious
that their daughters should be taught. One such
father applied to the head of an American school and
begged that his daughter might be received. The

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 383
directress was not anxious to receive her, and judging
from an expression he had used that he thought the
school was English, she explained that it was American.
" What does it matter," was his reply, " English or
American, the teaching will be clean and good." During
the last thirty years there have been many governesses
in Turkish harems. English, French, German and Swiss
women have been in demand. One may say even that
it became the fashion in Turkish Society to have a
governess. Abdul Hamid did not like the fashion and
grew alarmed. One of his latest orders, given a few
months before his dethronement, was that foreign
governesses should not be employed in Turkish families.
The order was quietly evaded. He was equally per
sistent in his endeavour to prevent Turkish girls receiv
ing instruction in European schools, and many orders
were issued forbidding them to attend. He never even
pretended that his opposition was based on the fact
that in such schools the girls might be proselytised.
Spies were sent even in Constantinople to prevent them
attending. Happily, under the regime of the Capitula
tions, no Turkish official can enter foreign premises
without the permission of the embassy of the country
to which it belongs. But within my own knowledge
I have known both boys and girls whose Moslem parents
have succeeded in persuading the managers of such
schools to allow their children to attend, and in order
to prevent the Sultan becoming aware of their attend
ance, have requested that the pupils in question should
not be allowed to go outside the school grounds. At
the gates stood or slunk the miserable agents of the
palace, to find out who were the Turkish children or
their parents who sought instruction. Yet in spite of
these precautions, children and grand children of some
of the most highly placed persons in the empire, includ-

384 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
ing men who were in immediate attendance on the Sultan
himself, managed to elude his orders. Education was
a forbidden fruit and fathers and mothers, the latter in
particular, decided that their girls should eat of it.
The managers were not keen upon having Moslem
children, because their presence led to constant annoy
ance by palace spies. In many cases when the director
of the school or college pointed out that the institution
was Christian and that the girl or boy, would be required
to attend the Christian services, the answer was "let
him (or her) attend them. We have no fear that they
will be taught anything wrong and we wish them to be
taught Christian morality." I have never heard of a
case where this confidence in the absence of a proselytis
ing spirit has been abused.
When the revolution came, there was immediately
an increase of applications for entry into the foreign
Christian schools, and within my own knowledge the
college and school faculties or committees have had to
make regulations by which the number of Moslem
pupils should be limited.
The influence of the foreign schools established in
Turkey has been great and purely for good. Such
progress as has been made by the people of Turkey has
been largely by their aid.
I have a high opinion of the value of the educational
work done in Turkey by the Roman Catholic mission
aries. But the most extensive and valuable work in
this direction has been accomplished by the Americans.
Their missions exist throughout the empire. I deal
separately with Robert College for boys and young men
and with the Scutari College for girls, for, although
these are perhaps the two most important in the empire,
neither of them is or professes to be a missionary institu
tion. Elsewhere throughout Turkey there are noble

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 385
American missionary establishments both for elementary
and for advanced education. There are colleges at
Marsovan, Kharput, Aintab, Tarsus, Marash, and
Smyrna. The Smyrna College is managed by a Board
of Trustees upon which are some of the leading British
subjects in that city; for in this matter of education
Englishmen have always worked harmoniously and
heartily with Americans. There has been no British
ambassador in Turkey for a century, whether Protestant
or Roman Catholic, who has not shown high appreciation
of American educational missions in the country, and
who has not rendered aid to them whenever he could.
In addition to the colleges, there are under the American
Board of Missions forty-four establishments which may
be classed as High Schools. Some of these are for girls.
There are also two hundred and seventy elementary
schools. Counting all the schools, instruction is now
being given to 25,000 pupils by one hundred and eighty-
six missionaries. These are all Americans or Canadians.
One of the most interesting institutions near the capital
is at Bardizag, two hours distant from Ismidt, the ancient
Nicomedia. The town is almost exclusively Armenian
and the school with its orphanage is full of Armenians.
Its director, Dr Robert Chambers, a Canadian, is exerting
an admirable influence over some four hundred of his
pupils. In 1908 it was visited by Dr Collins, the late
Anglican bishop of Gibraltar, who was delighted with
what he saw. The local priests and the members of the
school staff work well together. The bishop was invited
to preach in the Armenian church and did so to a crowded
congregation, the service being one in which Armenian
priests and Presbyterian pastors took part with the
Anglican bishop.
At Beyrouth there exists an American university
whose beneficial influence is not only wide-spread but
25

386 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
recognized by Turk and Arab as well as by the members
of the many ancient churches in Syria. It contains eight
hundred and seventy students. Thirty-five of its teachers
or professors are Americans. In addition there are forty
teachers who are natives of the country. The university
has one faculty for medicine ; another for law and others
for commerce and engineering. In the American ele
mentary schools of Syria there are 5600 scholars.
The two great American institutions in Constan
tinople which have especially rendered valuable service
to the Turkish people deserve special notice. These
are Robert College on the European side of the Bosporus
and Scutari College on the Asiatic. There are about 650
boys and young men in the first college and 250 girls in
the second. From the foundation each has been a con
spicuous success. Robert College was due to the efforts
of the Rev. Dr Hamlin, an American, long resident in
Turkey, a useful and versatile man in the Crimean days
and for long after, and possessed of a remarkable energy
which he kept almost to the age of ninety. He had the
confidence of Sii Stratford de Redcliffe and other British
representatives as well as those of America. Even in
Crimean War days he had convinced himself that educa
tion was the great need of the Christian peoples of the
empire. His experience had taught him that if instruc
tion given by foreigners were identified with proselytising
it would not be welcomed. After expressing this opinion
in New York, a wealthy merchant, Mr Robert, liked the
idea of having a college where the teaching should be
Christian but undenominational, and where no attempt
whatever should be made to induce the students to leave
the churches to which their fathers belonged. He offered
£40,000 as a first contribution towards the founding of
such an institution. Thus the college called after him
was commenced. It is on a noble site above the famous

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 387
castles of Europe constructed by Mahomet II. in 1452 as
a basis for his operations against Constantinople. Many
other buildings have since been added to the original
block paid for by Mr Robert. Various donors have given
liberally ; Mr Kennedy, one of the most liberal, crowned
his gifts by bequeathing in 1908 upwards of £300,000
for its development. The success of the institution was
remarkable from the first. Its president for thirty years
was Dr George Washburn who retired in the spring of
1908. He exercised a great and useful influence ; for he
impressed hundreds of young men who passed through
the college, with his own manly character, soundness of
judgment and moderation. His example and teaching
discouraged wild thought and violent action, but stimu
lated an enthusiasm which had permanent effects on the
character of the young men under him. Many of these
graduated, for the college under a charter from the State
of New York has the power of conferring degrees, and
have become conspicuous professional men or merchants
throughout Turkey. Dr Washburn was ably supported
by an excellent staff of professors, notably by Dr Albert
Long and Professor van Millingen, an Englishman and
a great authority on the antiquities of Constantinople.
I have been well acquainted with them all for many years
and can honestly say that their influence has been of price
less value. English being the language of the college it
will be readily understood that without any attempt
whatever to form political opinion, the studies and the
educational atmosphere were hostile to absolutism. On
this account Abdul Hamid with the old palace gang never
looked with favour on the college and did not hesitate to
let their hostility be known. On many occasions Turkish
boys have been ordered to cease attending. But in spite
of these orders, and in spite of the fact that the faculty
did not care to have students to whose attendance the

388 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
government was opposed, Moslem parents constantly
begged that their sons might be allowed to attend.
Shortly after the college opened, the majority of the
pupils were Greeks. So highly was the course of educa
tion appreciated that a number of wealthy men of that
race felt that they ought not to be beholden to Americans
and therefore established a middle-class commercial
school in the island of Halki, about ten miles from Con
stantinople, which has done and is doing excellent work.
I have already spoken of the beneficial influence exerted
by Robert College on Bulgaria.
The American college for girls at Scutari, though a
younger institution than Robert College, has done and is
doing equally good work. As Women's education was
even behind that of men, this work is the more remark
able. Its influence has been equally well appreciated by
all the populations of the empire. Like Robert College
it has the power given by an American State Charter to
confer degrees. It turns out annually a number of young
women who have received as good an education as they
could have obtained in an English or American High
School : but above all mental attainments, its graduates
and other students leave it with high ideals of home life
and purity. Under the direction of Dr Mary Patrick,
its president, whose influence is magnetic and wholesome,
and a staff of educated American women of the best type,
— bright, intelligent, highly educated and earnest workers,
but kindly, sympathetic, and lovers of fun — the students
leave the college for their homes throughout the empire,
to become wherever they settle, centres of light and
civilization. Home life is the great desideratum of all
the races in the empire : and the women of Scutari
College are annually furnishing models for such life. The
diversity of races to which they belong is remarkable.
Four years ago I was present at a lecture in it by my old

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 389
friend Canon Shoobridge of Tasmania. After the lecture
there was an " at home " in the college drawing-room,
and noticing that half a dozen of the elder students were
in conversation with the canon, I observed that he would
be interested in finding how many races his half dozen
hearers represented. He asked each and found that
there were five, a Greek, a Bulgarian, a Turk, an
Armenian and a Jewess probably from Russia.
How about the religious difficulty ? might be asked.
The answer is that like Robert College, the institution is
Christian but not sectarian. Neither institution is under
a missionary society and there is no religious difficulty.
If the parents of the Jew or the Turk do not wish their
child to be present at the religious services, he or she may
be absent. As for the Christians, as no attempt whatever
is made at proselytism, the parents prefer that they
should receive religious instruction at the college. Even
Turks have often desired that their children should attend
Christian lessons. The members of the ancient churches
are allowed and indeed encouraged to attend their own
places of worship on holidays andf estivals, but on ordinary
Sundays they will listen to a sermon in the college from
an Episcopalian, Presbyterian or any other minister
whom the president may incite. The happy result of
this liberality is that from the beginning both institutions
have been regarded favourably by the Orthodox patri
arch, the Bulgarian exarch, the Armenian patriarch and
the heads of every Christian Church in the empire except
the Roman Catholics. Indeed it is usual at the annual
" Commencement " of both these colleges for the repre
sentative of each of the heads of these Churches to be
present or represented in order to show their sympathy.
We English are doing something for education in
Turkey. We have in Constantinople a High School
for girls where there are two hundred pupils of whom

390 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
about one fourth are English. The school itself is in the
High Street of Pera and is built on a site given by Sultan
Abdul Medjid after the Crimean War for the purpose of a
girls' school. During the last twenty years it has been
successfully managed and a succession of girls have been
sent forth well trained for the duties of womanhood. It
possesses property which brings in a revenue of about
£800 a year, with the result that it is able to maintain an
excellent staff of about a dozen teachers. It is under the
management of a committee of which the ambassador for
the time being is ex-officio president.1
An English boys' day school has also recently been
established, to which in 1908 the British government.
allotted the annual sum of £300. It is right to mention
that every important European State subsidises a school
or schools in the capital. England was the last to do so,
and no one who knows what other States are doing in
order to spread a knowledge of their respective languages
can doubt that England was wise in following their
example. It is a satisfactory feature that the great American
colleges mentioned have had the cordial sympathy and
support of every British ambassador, and there is probably
no British subject in the empire who does not highly value
the work they are doing and wish them every success.2
1 I may be allowed to mention that I have been for many years
chairman of this committee.
a While on the subject of education in Turkey, I may call attention
to a matter which usually occasions surprise to visitors in Turkey.
Those who come to Constantinople or the other large cities are aston
ished to find that most persons are able to use at least three or
four languages. Every foreign resident has to know something of
four. Let his own be Enghsh, German, Russian or ItaUan, he will
find it of little use to him outside his own community. French will
carry him much further because it is the language of diplomacy and
because it is acquired by every Ottoman subject with any pretentions
to education. The worst linguists in Europe are probably Frenchmen,
though we run them very close, but the races of Turkey seem to pick
up French or indeed any European language with remarkable ease.
You may meet any day a bevy of Greek or Armenian girls who will

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 391
If I have dwelt long on the educational work done by
the Americans in Turkey it is because I regard such work
as a living regenerative force. It is hardly possible to
speak too enthusiastically of its value. A body of edu
cated men and women are scattered throughout the
empire who are everywhere centres of light. The houses
of the missionaries are models of simple home comfort
and home life. Their occupants, by their life and con
duct, set an example of what a Christian family should be.
be speaking French instead pf their own language. They are absolutely
free from the foolish shyness which marks English boys and girls-
in speaking a foreign tongue. They recognize that language was-
made for use and begin using it as soon as they know a few words.
Once language is acquired in this way, that is by treating it as a living
language and by using it on every occasion without mauvaise honte,
a working knowledge is soon obtained. The learners seem to bother
little about grammar but the grammar nevertheless comes. They
obtain, if not a full vocabulary, a practical knowledge of the language.
Nor is a full vocabulary needful for the ordinary business of life.
An old Rumanian who had taken Orders in the English church and
was a wonderful linguist expressed his belief that a man could say all
that was needful in any language if he knew forty words and that if
he knew a hundred he could write a book in it. But he added, he
must know the words : they must rise to his lips as easily as his
thoughts came. I have met dozens of persons in Turkey who were
at home in five languages. A legal friend in Constantinople is famihar
with eleven. He is Maltese of origin and his native language at once
gave him the clue to Arabic. His studies were made in Italian and
Latin, the latter being taught as a living language. This facility of
acquiring foreign languages sounds somewhat remarkable to an
Englishman, but not to a native of Turkey. My own conclusions
about the acquisition of languages are pretty definite and are founded
on somewhat exceptional opportunities of observation. I am quite
clear that it is better that a man or woman should be able to express
six ideas in one language than one idea in six languages, and speaking
generally, the alternative hes that way. The men whom I know or
have known who are able to speak many languages have had to
neglect the study of other subjects. While I should like to see a
more widespread knowledge of languages in England than at present
exists, I should strongly deprecate the sacrifice of other subjects to
make room for them. It is of supreme importance that a man should
know his own mother tongue. It may be said of many natives.
of Turkey that they have no mother tongue. Their vocabulary of
words in any of the languages they speak is small. But words repre
sent ideas and without a somewhat extensive vocabulary men know
little and can know little of the literature, the thought, and the ideas
which are moving the world.

392 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
Let me say at once that they do not make any converts to
Christianity from the Moslems. I doubt whether they
ever try. In the large majority of instances they make
no attempt to withdraw Greeks or Armenians from then-
own churches. They try to live on good terms with the
priests of the ancient churches and though in the early
days of the American missions they were met with per
sistent jealousy and hostility, their lives and conduct
have lived these sentiments down. But the work being
done is mainly educational and its influence is recognized
as invaluable. Moslems have seen native as well as
foreign Christians who are not degraded, who are living
good lives and prospering, and in many districts there has
been a marked change of feeling towards them by the
best followers of Islam. British and American travellers,
of all churches and of none, in Anatolia, Bulgaria, and
Macedonia, have borne willing testimony not only to the
civilizing influence of the missionaries themselves but to
that of their pupils. In a journey made a few years ago
through the entire length of Rumelia from the west to
the Black Sea, I found in almost every town that the
houses with the conveniences of European civilization,
with decent sanitary appliances, and the comparative
refinements which are to be found in English houses
of the lower middle class, were those of ex-pupils of
American schools.
In thus giving a necessarily short account of what has
been done in Turkey during the past century, I trust I
have shown that there has been definite progress in
civilization. Turkey is usually classed as an Eastern
nation. Arnold's lines
" The East bowed low before the blast
In silent deep disdain,
And let the legions thunder past
Then plunged in thought again,''

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 393
convey a truth, but not the whole truth. The difference
between races is not between those which are progressive
and those which are non-progressive, but between those
which are more and those which are less progressive.
The human mind whether Asiatic or European goes
marching on, and Turkey is no exception. But Turkey
can hardly be classed as an Eastern nation. At least one
half of the population are the direct descendants of
civilized peoples, of Assyrians, Chaldeans, Hittites,
Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, and European settlers. In
the other half there is a large admixture of Greek and
Armenian and other Christian blood. " When our
fathers half a century ago," said a leading Turk in
presence of several others and of a British consul,
" wanted a wife, they selected one from the Greeks
and Armenians and took her by force." The statement
is true of all parts of the empire. The result of the
admixture of races has been that the Osmank people,
using the word in its modern sense to include all
subjects of the Sultan, is hardly properly classified as
Eastern. In concluding my notice of improvement during the
last thirty-five years, I may call attention to indications
within my own recollection in another direction which
are not without value. The behaviour of the ordinary
soldier has greatly improved. Before the Turco-Russian
War, it was hardly safe for European ladies to walk about
unattended even in Pera. New comers were warned that
if they met two or more soldiers it was better to leave the
side-walk and go into the street so as to give them a wide
berth. Almost every woman had a story to tell of her
own experience. They were severely pinched, or received
an indecent blow or were jammed up against the wall by
men who were simply savage brutes. The stories one

394 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
heard of their treatment of poorer Christian women were
heart-rending. The Russian War taught the common soldier and even
the Turkish officer a useful lesson. Hundreds of Russian
officers came daily to the city while their army was en
camped from San Stefano to the Black Sea. They con
ducted themselves well and went about with the pride of
their position as representing the army of their country.
If their scabbards clanked at every step, the clanking did
not suggest that they were ashamed of their service.
After a while the Turkish officers imitated them. But
the most valuable lesson taught to the Turkish people
came from the conduct of the Russian private soldiers.
All reports which came in from the camp at San Stefano,
only ten miles from Constantinople, spoke of the excellent
discipline of the whole army and of the respectful be
haviour of the men not only to their officers but to all
who visited the camp whether men or women. The
result was that Turkish officers made an effort to knock
decent behaviour into their own men and to some extent
succeeded. Another valuable lesson was taught by the same war.
A large number of prisoners were taken by the Russians.
At the great defeat of Shenova, at least sixty thousand
captives sent off at once across the Shipka Pass
reached Russia. At the end of the war these men, were
released and sent back to Turkey. They were loud in
praise of the treatment they had received. The effect
was the more remarkable since before the war the
Russians were held to be ogres.
When the revolution came in July 1908, its first and
immediate effect was to improve enormously the disci
pline of the army. I have not heard of any misconduct,
in Constantinople at least, of private soldiers towards
Christians. The old rollicking fashion of strolling

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY 395
through the streets and finding amusement in insulting
European and other Christian ladies, in tearing their
dresses and in pinching them has disappeared, let us
hope for ever.
I set out in this chapter to show that Turkey had im
proved. By comparing the condition in the three periods
I have chosen, I trust I have established my contention.
All the influences which have combined to bring about
the improvement already achieved are still at work, and
it is not unreasonable to believe that they will operate
with increased activity. Education, increased facility of
travel, and intercourse with the people of the West will do
much to lessen Moslem fanaticism. It is a force which
will have to be reckoned with, and Europe may yet see
wild outbursts due to its influence, but it is a diminishing
force. The ulema class is beginning to be under the
influence of Western ideas, and the day is coming when
even the ignorant Moslem will not consider it meritorious
to kill a Christian. Looking beyond the present day, the
evidence appears to point to a continued though slow
improvement. The revolution of 1908 constitutes a
great landmark in the advance of the Turkish people.
Its primary object was to rid the country of a sovereign
who represented arbitrary and reactionary methods of
government. But its success was due to the belief that
the time had come to put into practice the ideal of Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe and to establish a government
which should recognize equality among all subjects in
dependent of religion and race. The revolution itself
gave hope to all the races in Turkey. Foreigners, who
like the present writer, saw the accession of Abdul Hamid
and the mischief he perpetrated during upwards of a
generation, welcomed the revolution and the dethrone
ment of the Sultan with unmixed satisfaction. The ten-

396 TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE
dency of most men who saw and sympathised with the
sufferings of the Turkish people during Abdul's weary
reign was to be oblivious of such progress as was being
made, and to conclude that the nation was incapable of
advance in civilization. The historical method is the best
corrective of such tendencies. I have confidently asserted
in my short sketch that the Turkish nation in the nine
teenth century had lost some of the barbarism which
had characterized it in previous centuries : and I have
indicated that the condition of the Turkish people in the
middle of last century was better than it was between
1820 and 1830, and that the population even under Abdul
Hamid, and in spite of him, made a real advance. An
Arab proverb says, " The dogs bark but the caravan
moves on." Those who have seen the lines of camels
pursuing their course with steady, stolid, unheeding but
unresting steps, and who have witnessed their disregard
of attacks by the village packs of wolf-like hounds, will
recognize the vividness of the proverb. It applies to
Turkey ; in spite of the disaffection of reactionaries, of
fanatics, of indifference, cynicism and other hostile forces
there is reason to believe that Turkey will continue in
her course of advancement. If her people have learned
or show themselves capable of learning the lesson of
religious equality, she will yet take her place among
civilized nations.

INDEX

Abdals, 251, 252
Abdul Hamid, 11, 19, 26, 43, 65, 89,
185-191, 218, 219, 227, 250,
270, 277-279, 283, 290 etseq.,
356, 373
attempt of, to conceal Armenian
massacres, 374
attempt of, to keep Turks in ignor-
ance, 375
banishment of, to Salonika, 292
European threat to, 375
love of intrigue of, 290
opposition of, to sanitary reforms,
377 ; to education, 382
progress during reign of, yi^eiseq.
speciousness of, 376
Abdul Medjid, 10
Absolutism, necessity of, 7
responsible for fanaticism, 43
Adana, massacre at, 293
account of, 294 note
Adoptionists, 149
compared with Puritans, 149
compared with Quakers, 150
persecution of, 150
theory of, denounced by Council
of Basle, 150
Albanians, 23, 24, 94, 103, and
chapter ix.
an Aryan race, 168
blamed for outrages, 186
characteristics —
chivalry, 170
courtesy, 168
independence, 178
instincts, tribal, 169
militarism, 169, 177
tolerance, 172, 173
trustworthiness, 168, 175-177
tyranny, 167
communal rights, 170
compared with Scotch Highlanders,
166, 168, r76

Albanians — continued
crops, washing of, 170
divisions of, 165
education of children, 172
excuses for lack of civilization, 191
family life, 168
future of, 194
independence, national, desire for,
195
intermingled with Greeks, 167
language, 168
language struggle, 192-194
Latin Church, relation to, 171 note
marriage rights, 170, 171
number of, 164, and note
promotion to State offices, 186
religion, 171, 172
Revolution of July, 1908, 186
schools, establishment of, 192
taxes, refusal to pay, 179 ; un
collected, 186
trades, 175
treatment of, by Sultan, 186
vendetta, 169, 170
women, treatment of, 171
veiling of, 171
work of, 171
Ali, as successor to Mahomet's tem
poral rule, 296
Tartarjis followers of, 252
Ali Pasha, 179-184
attacks Suliots, 183
career of, 182
death of, 184
intrigues with English and French,
182
resists Sultan, 184
Ambassadors, imprisonment of, 350
Amulets. See Talismans.
Anatolians, 31
Anatomy, prejudice against, 379
Antiquities —
in Greek islands generally, 113
397

398

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

Antiquities — continued
in Milos, 113
in Rhodes, 109 note, m
Apostasy, death penalty for, 361
abolishment of, 362
Arabs, 24, 26, 103
Araplis, 251, 252
Architecture —
Byzantine, 117
Greek Church, 116
Hagia Sophia at Constantinople, 116
Mosques at Constantinople, 117
Rhodes, III, 112
Salonika, 117
St Mark's, Venice, 117
-Armenians, 23, 26, 29, 103, and
chapter xii.
Ancient Church, 272, 273
as agriculturalists, 270, 271
as Hamals, 52
as iconoclasts, 274, 275
as merchants, 270, 271
attacks of Kurds on, 277, 281
Catholic Church, 272
characteristics —
artistic qualities, 274
courage, 270
dramatic qualities, 275
healthiness, 270, 271
industry, 276
mental capacity, 276, 282
morality, 271
music, love of, 275
physique, 270
thrift, 276
Church, 272, 274, 275
absence of eikons in, 274
patriarch of, 272, 275
^compared with Greeks, 271
with Turks, 276, 282
distribution, 271, 276
early history, 270
justice in law courts, impossibility
of, 277, 284
language, 270, 271
.massacres of 1894-1897, 270, 276
et seq.
Blue Books on, 285, 287
causes of, 276
conversion of Christians in, 283,
285, 289
" Daily Telegraph," quoted on,
279

Armenians — massacres of 1894-1897
— continued
description of, 277 et seq.
families exterminated by, 289
Fitzmaurice on, 285
Hepworth, Rev. G. H., on, 281-
283
influence of revolutionists on,
281, 282
in Ourfa Cathedral, 287, 288
Moslem opposition to, 278
number of killed in, 282, 289
organization of, 278, 286, 287,
289
outrages of tax-gatherers in, 280
Ramsay, Sir Wm., on, 282
report of Turkish officials on, 285
submissiveness of victims of, 279,
283, 284
massacres of 1909, 273
circumstances leading to, 290-
293
destitution among survivors of,
294
numbers killed in, 293, 294
missionaries, work of, 272, 273
number, 270, 271
religion, 271, 273, 275
revolutionary committees, 277
influence qf, exaggerated, 280
Sultan's dislike, 277
Turks' dislike, 282
' women, 270
Aryans. See Albanians.
Asia Minor, Chapter xi. —
as battlefield between East and
West, 1
contains debris of many races, 246
influence of nomads on, 251
obscurity of communities in, 250
physical features of, 247
religion of, 2
Assyrians —
as ancestors of Yezidis, 315
traces of, I, 25, 249, 315
Astrology, 80, 82
Athens, Modern, 203
Athos, Mt., 127
theological college at, proposed, 127
Attar of roses, manufacture of, 226
Austria, designs of, on Salonika, 244,
245«
relationship of, to Serbia, 202

INDEX

399

Babism, 299
Babylonians, traces of, 1
Bain, R. Nisbet, on Siege of Bel
grade, 200 note
Balkan Peninsula, 94, 95
Balkan States, federation of, possi
bility of, 195
Barkley, Henry E., 295
Batak, scene of Bulgarian Atrocities,
212, 213
Beads, 302
Bedouins, 247
Bee-keeping, amongst Greeks, 100
Beggars, 51
Bektashis, 173, 300, 303
character of, 304, 305
influence of, 175
influence of Buddhism upon, 305
Pantheism of, 304
religious toleration of, 7, 174, 304,
3°5
suppression of, 304
Belgrade, capture of, by Suliman, 200
defence of, by Hunyades, 199, 200
strategic importance of, 199
Benjamin of Tudela, quoted, 257
quoted, on Wallachs, 146
referred to, on Jews, 153
Bent, Theodore, on rehcs of Pagan
ism, 140
Berlin, Treaty of, 227
Abdul Hamid disobeys, 184
England's measures to enforce, 185
reforms promised by, 368
Bikelas, work done by, 100
Bogomils. See Adoptionists
Brailsford, Dr, on Albanians, 167,
173. '78, 186 note
Bridal dinner, description of, 60, 61
dress, description of, 60
guests, 60
British subjects, status of, 334
Bulgaria, 204 et seq.
atrocities, England's attitude to
wards, 373
banks, 225
boundaries, 232
brigandage suppressed, 223
characteristics of natives, 204
church, 205
constitution of separate, 206
Joseph, Monsignor, as exarch
of, 206

Bulgaria — church — continued
liturgy of, 207
Orthodox Church's hostility to,
206, 207
Russia's sympathy with, 205
threat of, to join Rome, 206
comparison with Japan, 222
co-operative societies, 225
educational progress, 223-225
freed, 222
King Ferdinand, 227
language, 204, 208
manufactures, 226
massacres of 1 876, 209^ seq,
commission sent by Disraeli to
report on, 215
description of, 213
Disraeli on, 210, 211
Elliott, Sir Henry's telegram on,
211
English indignation at, 216
European attitude to, 217
European Conference subsequent
to, 217, 218
Gladstone's pamphlet on, 215
impossibility of concealment of,
210
letters to "Daily News'' on,
210, 212
Macgahan's report on, 212, 213
motives for, 209, 214
newspaper incredulousness as to,
212
population, 204
postal services, 225
progress, 222 et seq.
railways, 225
roads, 225
Robert College,influence 0^223,224
savings bank, 225
schools, number of, 224
telephonic services, 225
university, 224
Bulgarians, 23, 28
Bury, Professor, quoted, 98
Byron, Lord, quoted, 107
quoted on Albanians, 172
superstition of, 82
Cahun, Lion, quoted, 333
Caliph, Abdul Hamid's claim to be,
20, 21
qualification of, 20

400

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

Caliph — continued
signification of, 19
Sultan's claim to be, 19, 21
Canning, character of, 360
early responsibility of, 360
experience of, as Ambassador, 389
intervenes to put down slave trade,
366
obtains charter of liberties, 367
success of, in abolishing torture, 363
in obtaining reform, 362
work of, not in vain, 369
Capistrano, 200
Capitulations, advantage of, 339
between England and Turkey, 338
France and Turkey, 338
Genoese and Galata, 337
Greek Emperor and Europeans,
337
Greek Emperor and Russians,337
Italians and Saracens, 337
Venice and Constantinople, 337
granted to Christian Churches, 343
growth of, 339
instances of, in Middle Ages, 337
Lord Watson's definition of, 340
meaning of, 335
operation of, 340
origin of, 335
Carlisle, Earl of, on isolation, 372
Carpet industry, 249
making, 56
Carpets, export of, 46
Castriotes, George. See Skender Bey
Catholicos, 275
Cemeteries, 50
Chairs, 44
Chaldeans, traces of, I, 262
Characteristics —
ambition, lack of, 37
attitude to Christians, 42, 282, 295,
325
charm of manner, 259
cleanliness, personal, 32,47,332,378
courtesy, 35
fanaticism, 38, 39,. 295, 349
fatalism, 32, 34, 378
indifference to religion among edu
cated classes, 322
industry, lack of, 38
intellectual conceit, 37
lower classes, brutality of, 280, 295
pilgrimages, practice of making, 332

Characteristics— continued
self-respect, 32, 38
sobriety, 32, 322
superstition, 78 et seq.
thrift, lack of, 34
truthfulness, 38
Chasseurs of Salonika, mutiny of, 190
Chelebi effendi, 302
Children, custody of, in case of re
pudiation, 70
education of, 71
happiness of, 71, 72
kindness of Turks to, 72
Chios, 108
desolation of, in 1822, 108, 109
outrages at, 108, 109, 294
cause of, 354
Cholera, 378
Christianity, penetration of, 27
Christians, ill-treatment of, 350 et seq.
inequalities of, 360, 369
position of, under Ottoman rulers, 7
See also Massacres
Russia protects, 92, 93
transplanting of, 29
Cilician Gates, 248
Circassians, 24, 28, 87
as slave dealers, 364
as slaves, 368
Columbus, Christopher, belief regard
ing, 86
Constantinople, 3-5
allusions to, by Byzantine authors, 4
bulwark against encroachments of
Asia, 4
comparison of, with Florence, 3
with Paris, 3
with Venice, 3
conditions of, between 1820 and
1830. 351. 354. 355
ecclesiastical position of, compared
with Rome, 117
educational influence of, 1 53
International Sanitary Board in, 377
invaded by Arabs, 4
Jews in, 152
mistakes of Western authors in
regard to, 4
patriarch of, 117, 118
plague in, 377
prosperity of, 5
sale of slaves in, 363
source of " Roman Law," 5

INDEX

401

Constantinople — continued
streets of, 53
synagogues, Jewish, in, 153
Constitution of 1908, Abdul Hamid's
attitude to, 290
effect of, on Macedonia, 228
fails to civilize Albanians, 191
Consuls, British, attitude of, to
Turkish officials, 92
Coronation, 12, 18, 19
Cotton yarn, 54
Courts of Justice, compared with
English, 341
corruption of, 341
injustice in, 277, 284, 369
mixed, 340
site of, 382
special, 340
Croats, character of, 176
Crypto-Christians. See Stavriotai.
Currie, Sir Philip, 278, 284
Cvijic, 230 note
Cyprus Convention, history of the, 16
"Daily News," revelation of Bul
garian Atrocities, 210, 212, 216
"Daily Telegraph," quoted on
Armenian massacres, 279
Damascus, oasis of, 248
Darius, invasion by, I
Date-palm, cultivation of, frustrated,
56
Debts, son's duty to pay father's, 91
Defilement, dread of, 48, 49
Deliyani,attitude of, to war of 1897, 99
Derl-beys, 91
Dervishes, 299 et seq.
character of, 307
Dancing, 300, 301
beliefs of, 301
religious services of, 300, 301,
3°7
disappearance of smaller Orders of,
306
early asceticism of, 306
emotionalism of, 308
formalism of, gradual gliding into,
306
Howling, 300 et seq.
garb of, 302
Nakshibendi, branch of, 302
prayers of, 302
principles of, 302
26

Dervishes — continued
influence of Eastern philosophies
on, 306
prayers of, 302, 305, and rtote
suppression of, attempted, 307
wandering, 307
Devil- worshippers. See Yezidis
Dickson, Dr, on death of Sultan
Abdul Aziz, 15
Dinner, description of formal, 90
Diplomats, imprisonment of, 350
Disraeli, indiscretion of, 211
on Bulgarian massacres, 210, 211
on Jews, 143, 153, 154
Divan, 44
Divorce, 329
ease of obtaining, in Greek Church,
124
non-existent among Tartarjis, 252
wife's property in case of, 68
Dogmatism, movements to get rid of,
330
undermined by education, 321, 323
by medicine, 321, 322
by science, 320
Doughty, C. M., cited, 31
quoted, 76
Drainage, unsatisfactory condition of,
46. 5°
Drawings, unfamiliarity with, 86.
See also Sketching
Druses, 256 et seq.
British protection of, 261
hospitality of, 258
interdependence of, 258
manliness of, 259
meetings of, 258
number of, 256
origin of, 256, 260
politeness of, 259
principles of, 257
religion of, 257
self-respect of, 257
Dunmays, 156 et seq.
founder of, 157. See also Sabbatai,
Sevi
number of, 163
Durham, Miss Edith, quoted, 170
During, Dr von, on decrease of
Turkish population, 26
Education, demand for, 384
Eikons, 274

402

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

Elliot, Sir Henry, cited, 14
on Bulgarian massacres, 211
Employment, want of, 51
Engagements, 59
England, Queen of, belief regarding,
86
Erasmus, 272
Esnaf, 51, 52
Euruks, 24, 27, 87, 251, 253-255
Evil-eye, 79, 82
Exorcism, 81
Eyoub, invasion of Constantinople
by, 4
mosque of, 18
Fallmerayer's theory, 94
Family life, chapter iv.
absence of, 37, 57, 58, 62
Family name, absence of, 57, 58, 91
Fatalism, 333
Fergusson's ' ' History of Archi
tecture " referred to, 116
Fitzmaurice, on Armenian massacres,
285-289
Foot gear, 47
Foreigners, as landowners, 340
credited with healing powers, 379
position of non -Moslem , 339
right of, to own land, 340
status of, 334
treatment of, 350, 372
Forks, 44
Fortune- telling, 81
Fratricide, Mahomet III.'s crime, 9
polygamy as cause of, 8
Ghegs, 165
characteristics of, 168
dress of, 166
intermingle with Slavonic neigh
bours, 166
physical features of, 165
physical features of country of, 168
representatives of ancient Illyrians,
165
Gladstone, quoted on Bulgarian
atrocities, 216
Goods, foreign, importation of, 54
tariff on, 54, 55
Goschen threatens Sultan, 185
Governesses, European, demand for,
383
forbidden for Turkish families, 383

Government, civil, state of, 6, 7
Greece, 202, 203
anarchy in, between 1810 and
1840, 202
ideals of, 203
population of, 203
Greek, pronunciation of modern, 105
survivals of ancient, 250
Greek Church, chapter vii.
architectural features of, 1 16
as political institution, 124
bribery in, 126
canon law created by, 1 14
Christianizing work of, 1 1 5
compared with Western Church,
116
difficulties of, 115
divorce in, 124
friendly relations of, to Anglican
Church, 133
to Armenian Church, 133
to Presbyterians, 133, 134
ignorance amongst priests of, 125
influence of, on European civiliza
tion, 114
intolerance of, 133
lack of ideals in, 126
liturgy of, often unintelligible, 132
Nicene creed, formation of, by, 114
privileges granted to, by Mahomet,
122,- 123
confirmation of, 123
religious influence of, 125, 130
services of, lack of orderliness in,
13°. 131
traces of paganism in, 1 34
Greek islands, physical features of,
107
Greeks, chapter vi.
23, 94 «* seq., 234
as domestic servants, 104
Asiatic, 103
attitude of, to pagan heroes, 105
autonomy of, successful, 181
beekeeping amongst, 100
characteristics- behaviour in games, 105
contrasted with Turks, 106
bravery, 142
devotion to own people, 100
family affection, 102
generosity, 101
intellectuality, 143

INDEX

403

Greeks — characteristics — continued
intelligence, 104
intolerance, 271
love of travel, 102
patriotism, ioo, 101
political enthusiasm, 106
skill in games, 106
tenacity, 143
Christian names amongst, example
of, 104, 105
commercial enterprise of, 101
compared with Armenians, 271
distinctions between, 96
emigration of, to U.S.A., 102
festivals, religious, of, 92
individualism of, 105-107
influence of, 230
need of intelligent leaders amongst,
142
oratory of, Prof. Bury on, 98
responsible for war of 1897,
98-100
pantheism amongst, 96
political characteristics of, 97
polytheism amongst, 96
seamanship of, 104
sun-worship amongst, 97
type of womanly beauty amongst,
95
value of, to the Turks, 143
war of 1897 between, and Turks,
143
Gnmston, cited, 153
Habits, difference between European
and Turkish, 90
Hamals, 50-53, 177
Harem, 18, 19
furniture of, 62
position of doctor to, 62
quarrelling in, 63
recruited from slaves, 366
Haremlik, 62
Hashashim, 256
Hassan and Hossein, commemoration
of death of, 296, 297
Hatti-Humayoun, 349, 367
recognized in Treaty of Paris, 368
Hatti-Sherif, 367
Hawkers, 50
Hepworth, Rev. G. H., quoted on
Armenian massacres, 281-284
on reforms, 344
26*

Heredity, influence of, 29
Herodotus, customs mentioned by,
still existent, 141
Hierapolis, former importance of, 254
present ruin of, 255
Hilprecht, Prof., 155 note
Hittites, traces of, 1, 25, 103, 249
Hogarth, D. G., cited, on Ghegs, 168
on " Nearest East," 249
quoted, on Syrian Jews, 156
House, description of peasant's, 44,
45
exterior, 45
interior, 44
Hughes, Rev. T. P., cited, 20
quoted, 20, 21, 318, 324, 329
Hunyades, defends Belgrade, 199
Huss, John, 150
Iconoclastic controversy, 103
Iconoclasts, among Armenians, 274,
275
Industries, native, 53, 54
killed by Government ignorance, 55
Infanticide, Abdul Medjid's efforts to
deal with, 10
medical men on, 9
polygamy as cause of, 8
Inscriptions, sacredness of, 83
Islam, criminal law of, 322
definition of, 332
development of, chapter xiv.
dogmas of, investigated, 332
law of, as regards equality, 330,
331
liberty, 331
Islamism, 2, 22
Iskender Bey. See Skender Bey
Janissaries, 173, 201, 304
as members of Bektashi Order, 304
quelled by Sultan Mahmud, 357
slaughter of, 358
Jews, Anatolian, 155
character of, 153
Disraeli's dictum on, 143, 153
educational influence of, 153
expectant of coming of Messiah,
.'57 .
immigration of, 28
in Constantinople, 152
number of, 152

404

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

Jews — continued
Palestine, resemble Spanish Jews,
155
polygamy among, 1 53
position of, since Revolution of
1908, 156
position of, under Ottoman rulers,
7
Renan on, 155
Spanish, beauty of, 155
integrity of, 154
prosperity of, 154
treatment of, by Christians, 154
by Turks, 153
types of, 154
Kerbela, battle of, 296
pilgrimages to, 296
Kizilbashis, 24, 263
attitude of, to Moslems, 265
meetings of, 265
occupations of, 264 and note
religion of, 264
tolerance of, 264
trustworthiness of, 264
women unveiled among, 264
Koran, as civil and religious code,
339
as lawgiver, 343
discussion of statements in, 323
infallibility of, 319, 323
quoted, on immortality of women,
327
taught by rote, 380
Koreish, tribe of the, 20, 2 1
Kurds, 317
Labour, absence of skilled, 52-54
slight value of human, 50, 51
Latin characters, Albanian views on,
194
opposition to, by Young Turkey
party, 194
struggle concerning, 193
Latin language, traces of, 144
Law, administration of, bad, 343
French codes adopted for framing
commercial, 343
origin of Turkish, 342
Lawyers, as champions of women's
rights, 69, 70, 330
assistance given to Greek Church
by, 115

Lazes, 24, 25, 103
Legitimacy, law of, 8
Lejean, G, on Macedonian ethno
graphy, 230 note
Loti, Pierre, referred to, 64
Lunatics, attitude to, 161
Macedonia, chapter x.
anarchy in, 233-235
backwardness of, 373
books on, 228
defends Constitution of 1908, 240
definition of, 228
effect on, of 1908 Constitution, 228
ethnography of, 229, 230 note
fertility of, 245
future of, 243-245
Greek and Slav jealousy in, 234
massacres in, 236
attitude of Austria towards, 237,
238
attitude of England towards, 236
attitude of France towards, 236
attitude of Germany towards, 237
attitude of Italy towards, 238
attitude of Russia towards, 237
population of, 230-232
reduction of, by emigration, 233
reforms for, Sir N. O'Conor's
efforts to secure, 238
Turkification ordered in, 240
MacFarline, quoted on Smyrna mas
sacres, 354, 355
Macgahan, investigation of Bulgarian
atrocities by, 212-214
Magistrates, position of, 343
Mahmud II. , 6, 10, 151, 179, 356,
357
army reforms of, 356
Mahomet II. , 6
Mahomet III., 9
Mahomet V., 11-13, 151
Mahometanism, disciplinary character
of, 297
discrepancies in, 325
effect of education on, 321
effect of science on, 320, 332
effect of travel on, 332
effect of Western civilization^on,
320, 321, 324
immutability of, doubted, 318
influence of Persia upon, 297
interpretation of, 325

INDEX

405

Mahometanism — continued
leniency, modern, with regard to,
321-323
missionary efforts of, 22
penalty for abandoning, 319, 320
Persian, compared with Turkish,
297, 298
emotional character of, 298
spiritual pride of, 324
Maronites, 256, 260, 261
founder of, 261
French protection of, 261
number of, 26 1
religion of, 260
Marriage, ceremony of, men not
allowed at, 59
description of, 59 et seq.
negotiations for, 58
Turkish system of, compared with
French, 67
disadvantages of, 67
Marshiman, Patriarch of Nestorian
Church, 262
Massacres, in Adana, 273
in Armenia, 270, 273, 278 et seq.,
294
in Bulgaria, 209 et seq., 289, 294,
373
in Chios, 108, 109, 294
in Cilicia, 290, 293
in Constantinople, 119, 356
in Macedonia, 236
in Mitylene, 355
in Pergamon, 355
in Smyrna, 354
in Sixteenth Century, proposed, 349
in Seventeenth Century, 350
in Eighteenth Century, 350
motives for, 345
of Armenians, not spontaneous, 40
opposition to, by pious Moslems,
40. 356
reasons for, 42, 43
secrecy regarding, 374
of Greeks, in 1822, 119- 12 1
,of Janissaries, 357
Meckitarists, 275
Medical Science, progress of, 321,
322
Mehmet Ali, 178
Melancthon, 272
Meleki-Tavus, 313
Mesmerism, 303

Messiah, beliefs regarding appearance
of. 157
Metuali, 256
Mevlevis. See Dervishes, dancing
Midhat Pasha, 193, 208
Sir H. Elliott on trial of, 15
Militarism, 6, 7
effect of, on population, 27
Millets, 7, 271
Milos, 113
Mir system, 227
Miracles, performance of, 302, 303
Missionaries, American, among Ar
menians, 273, 274
among Yezidis, 316
Anglican, among Nestorians, 263
Catholic, among Armenians, 272
Missionary spirit, among Senoussi
and Wahabi, 300
Mithraism, 268
Mitylene, 112, 355
Moldavia. See Romania.
Mollahs, ignorance of Western pro
gress among, 322
Monasteries, at Mt. Athos, 127, 128
libraries in, 128, 129
manuscripts in, 129
remains of, 77
Mongols, 24
Monks, idleness of, 127
ignorance of, 128
Muezzin, 36
Nakshibendi, 302
powers claimed by, 303
Navarino, battle of, 180, 359, 363
attitude of Turks after, 359
Negroes, as slaves, 364
Nereids, 135
Nestorian Church, 262
improvement of, 263
Patriarch of. See Marshiman
Nestorians —
decline of, 262
founder of, 261
missionary efforts of, 262
religion of, 261
Nicene Creed, 114
Nippur, 155
Noah, reputed tomb of, 140
Nomads, influence of, in Asia Minor,
251. 253
Nouri, Jelal, on Yezidis, 310 et seq.

406

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

Officials, characteristics of —
courtesy, 88
dishonesty, 88
flattery of strangers, 89
ignorance, 84
love of appearances, 89
untrustworthiness, 88
Kaiser outwits, 89
Ole'icoff, 230 note
Oliphant, Lawrance, stories of, 303
Osman. See Othman
Osmanli, 24, 242
Othman, 7
sword of, 18, 19, 302
Ourfa Cathedral, massacre in, 287,
288
Paganism, relics of, 140
Palgrave, quoted, 38, 318
Pan-Islamism, 21, 22
Abdul Hamid's attitude to, 22
Pantheism, in doctrine of Bektashis,
304 ; of Shiahs, 298
Paradise, conception of, 328
influence of modern thought
on, 329
conditions for men entering, 327
for women entering, 327
sensual delights of, 329
Paris, treaty of, 368
Patchinaks, 24
Patriarchal courts, 123, 124
Patriarchs, 118, 126
Paulicians. See Adoptionists
Peasants, courtesy of, 88
ideals of, 76
ideas of, concerning archaeologists,
77 ; foreigners, 75-78 ; nature,
75 ; Sultan, 75
ignorance of, 75, 84
poverty of Moslem, 41
superstition of, 78 et seq.
truthfulness of, 88
Percy, Earl, as philo-Turk, 347
quoted, 156
Persia, influence of, on Mohametan-
ism, 297
Peters, Dr John, 153 and note
Petroleum, use of, 47
Phanariot, meaning of, 118
Philo-Turkism, advocates of, 345, 347,
348
instances of, 345-347

Plague, 378
Plevna, capture of, by Turks, 220
fall of, 222
Polygamy, as cause of fratricide an
infanticide, 8
bearing of, on prostitution, 69
decrease of population despite, 29
disadvantages of, 68
Political economy, ignorance of, 55
Pomaks, 23, 24
character of, 152
origin of, 148
persecution of, 151
physical qualities of, 149
religion of, 151
Population, 23
change of elements in, 27 et seq.
decrease of Turkish, cause of, 28,
248
unification of, unsuccessful, 2
varying elements in, 2, 23
Prayer, daily, 36, 72
Prayer-place, cleanliness of, 32
Priests, Greek Church —
character of, 126
ignorance of, 125, 126
must be married, 125
payment of, 125
poverty of, 125
Turkish, ignorance of, 84
Prisons, condition of, 90
Protestants, recognition of, 367
Quacks, 81
Ramazan, fast of, 36, 297
sacredness of, not observed by Tar-
tarjis, 252
Ramsay, Sir Wm. , cited, 30 ; quoted,
37, 283 ; on Mithraism, 269 ;
on reforms, 344
Refaees, 300
Reforms, Canning's views as to, 359
co-existent with toleration, 361,
3^9
danger of delay in granting, 348
England's attempt to secure, 349,
359
evasion of, 368
France's attempt to secure, 359
Hepworth on, 344
hesitation to grant, 361

INDEX

407

Reforms — continued
opposition to —
in Albania, 192
in Bulgaria, 208, 218
in Macedonia, 237
paper, 369
Philo-Turk's failure to secure, 348
possibility of, discussed, 344
progress of, in city and country,
compared, 372
Ramsay, Sir Wm., on, 344
religious, 367
sanitary, 376
opposition of Abdul Hamid to,
377
Turkey's future dependent on, 348
Religion, as hygienic factor, 33
attitude of Anatolians to image-
worship, 31
conjunction of, with race, 122
Divine immanency, 31, 36
fatalism engendered by, 33, 37
formalist side of, 151
influences of, 29
Monotheism, 30
Monotheistic, source of, 2
pantheism among Greeks, 96
polytheism among Greeks, 96
position of women in regard to, 36
Ramsay, Sir Wm. , on, 30
simplicity of, 78
spiritual side of, 151
Renan, cited, 254
Repudiation, 329
as substitute for divorce, 69
safeguards against, 69, 70
Reschad Effendi. See Mahomet V.
Revolution of 1908, 3, 239
Albanians' part in, 186-188
counterstroke to, planned, 291
partial success of, 292
"Times" correspondent on,
291
women's part in, 65, 66
Rhodes —
beauty of, 112
capture of, by Turks, ill
Colossus of, 109 and note
description of modern, ill
hostility of, to Mahometanism, 1 10
knights of, no
statues, remains of, in, 109 note
Robert College, 223, 224, 384

Rock dwellings, 250
Romania, 145, 196-198
King Charles, 197
as administrator, 198
as politician, 198
organizes army, 197
prosperity, 198
Roman Law, 70 note
Rugs. See Carpets
Ruskin, on Armenian art, 275
Russia, protection of Christians by,
92,93
Rycaut, Paul, referred to, 157 ;
quoted, 158, 161
Sabbatai. See Sevi
St Dionysius, 136
St Elias, 135
St George, 97 ; churches dedicated
to, 134
festival of, 137
St John's Eve, 97
St Nicholas, 35
St Paul, mistake concerning, 85
Saints, as successors of pagan gods,
97, 134-138
miraculous powers of, 137
Salemlik, 62
Salisbury, Lord, reforms Consular
system, 92, 93
Salonika, 152, 154, 156, 230, 239,
244, 245
Sandwith, Dr Humphrey, ' ' Hakim
Bashi " quoted, 370-372
Sappho. See Mitylene
Scamni, 44
Schools, Armenian Catholic, 381
Christian, 381
Elementary, 380, 381
influence of, 384
medical, 379
Scutari, American college at, 64,
384
Sects, Mahometan, 296 et seq.
Sedan chairs, 53
Seljuk Turks, 1, 25, 253
Sell, Rev. Edward, cited, 21 note
Senoussism, 299, 300
Serbia, 199-202, 229
Austria's interference in, 202
recognized as kingdom, 201
revolt of, in 1804, 201
Serbians, 23, 94

408

TURKEY AND ITS PEOPLE

Sevi, Sabbatai, 157-163, 157 note
brought before Sultan, 162
claims of, 159
conversion of, 162
death of, 163
fall of, 162
followers of, 163
imprisonment of, 160
infatuation caused by, 159
journeyings of, 158
persecution of, 158
regarded as mad by Turks, 161
veneration of, 160
visits Constantinople, 160
Shakespeare translated into Greek, 100
Sheik A'ddy, 310, 312
Shenova, battle of, 221
Sheriat, religious law ofthe, 241
Shiah Mahometans, 255
Shiahs, 296, 298, 331
Sh'iak, 54
Sinjars, character of, 3 10
dualism of, 311
theory of origin of, 310
Skender Bey, 179
Sketching, objection to, 83
Sketes, 127
Skobeleff, Gen., 220, 221
Slaves, 353, 354, 363 et seq.
prices of, 364
Slavs, 94, 95, 103, 115, 234
Smyrna, massacres in, 354
peopled by Greek emigrants, 102
Sofia, 223
Spies, 14, 356
Stavriotai, as crypto-Christians, 266
as miners, 267
marriage ceremonies among, 266
polygamy forbidden among, 266
Succession, law of, 8-19
European, 8
Turkish, 9 et seq.
incompetence of heir under, 1 1
infanticide under, 8-10
suspicion created by, 11, 12
workings of, illustrated, 12 et
seq.
Suliman, 6
Suliots, heroism of, 183
Sultana Valida, 18
Sultans, eminent, 6
heirs of, compared with English
and German heirs, 1 1

Sultans — heirs of — continued
incompetent, n
mothers of, in recent times, 6
private lives of, 19
Sumerians, traces of, 1
Sunnis, 20, 151, 296, 298
Sun-worship, among Greeks, 97
Superstitions, 78 ei seq., 136-141
encouraged by priests, 138
Syllogos of Athens, 230 note
Talismans, 79, 81
Tartarjis. See Turcomans
Tartars, 24
Tchircoff, Dr A. , 230 note
Tekkes, 301
Territory, cession of, illegal, 16
Timour, invasion by, I
Tombs, veneration of, 79
Torture, Canning's efforts to suppress,
3^3
order abolishing, 367
Tosks, 165, 192
dress of, 166
Troglodytes, 250
Tuesday, unluckiness of, 80
Turcomans, 24, 28, 251
Turkification, consequences of, 194,
240
Van, Lake, 247
Veil, use of. See under Women
Vekil, 367
Vendetta. See under Albanians
Vlachs. See Wallachs
Wahabism, 299, 300
Wallachia. See Romania
Wallachs, 23, 94, 103, 144 et seq.
industry of, 147
language of, 144
origin of, 145
Anna Comnena on, 145, 146 note
Benjamin of Tudela on, 146
presence of, in Balkan Peninsula
explained, 148
religion of, 146, 147
settlements of, 147
Walsh, Dr, on the massacres of 1822,
119-121
" residence in Constantinople," 295
Water, use of, for ceremonials, 48
in house, 45

INDEX

409

Wealth, absence of landed, 91
White, Col., cited, 9
Wilson, Rev. S. G., cited, 28 ; quoted,
268, 298
Women —
Albanian, 171
Armenian, 270
as slaves, 363
treatment of, 365
betterment of, 74
childishness of, 62
Christian, 24
children of, 24
club for, 72
dress of, 18, 87
colours in, 88
educated, examples of, 64-6
education of, 382
emancipation of, 66
Greek, 95
grievances of, 329
ignorance of, 63, 71, 326
immortality of —
Koran on, 327
popular delusion as to, 326, 328
influence of Western thought on
status of, 74
Jewish veiling of, 153
manners of, 63
married, legal position of, 68, 70
position of, 326, 329
in regard to religion, 36, 37
repudiation of, 69, 329
seclusion of, as cause of non-pro-
gressiveness, 71
fatal to family life, 62
sermon for, account of, 328
unveiling of, 66, 73

Women, veiling of, 87
Writing, Arabic characters used in,
380
sacredness of, 82
Xerxes, invasion by, 1
Yenghis Khan, invasion by, 1, 253
Yezidis, appearance of, 315
as water worshippers, 314
baptism of children, 314, 316
brigandage, 309
circumcision, 314, 316
conservatism of, 312
distribution of, 309
dualism of, 311
idolatry, 313
language of, 317
missionaries, American, among,
3«6
Nouri, Jelal, cited on, 3 10 et seq.
numbers of, 309
origin of, theory as to, 312, 315
persecution of, by Turks, 310
pilgrimage, practice of, 316
refuse military service, 309
religion of, 313-315
resemble Assyrians, 315
reverence for devil, 312
sacred books of, 313
suspicion of Moslems, 312
Turkish treatment of, 316
Zadruga, 227
Zeibecks, 355, 358
Zeitoun, heroism of community of,
249

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