Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-03-14
miscellaneous Artltlts.
CONSTANTTNOPLE.

part is she next TO act? To the eye that
can appreciate the power Of moral instru-
mentalities, she appears even now the
scene Of a movement, the importance
and the results of which cannot be over
calculated. When Rome admitted the
obscure prisoner who had appealed
from Felix ito Cesar" she received
into her bosom the element of a revolu-
ton incomparably greater and more last
ing than that of her Brutus. When
Constantinople. about twenty years ago,
received the band of American laborers,
who went thither to plant the truths of
the gospel, and the free ideas of the west
ern republic, the fulcrum was silently set
up, and the lever adjusted, which is to
oveTturn the whole system of eastern
despotism and build up Christian schools
these are the artillery which American
hands are now plying at this new siege
Of Constantinople-an artillery more pa
cifc, but infinitely more efectual than the
great cannon of AIohammed.
1t is remarkable enough that the cap
ture of COnstantinOple by the Turks was
the very event which secured it as an
open field of Christian effort in the nine
teeuth century, and as the great base of
operations for the social and moral re-
generation of Asia. In the possession
of nominally Christian despotism, it
would have been closed impenetrabIy
against all such efforts and Influences
Were the Greek empire and the Greek
Church in full and combined strength at
this day, as they were before the middle
Of the fifteenth century, printing presses,
schools, the preaching of the gospel, and
free discussion on all subjects, which
would be as much out Of the question at
ConstantinopIe, as they now are at Vi
emma, Madrid, Naples, or St. Petersburgh.
The Greek Patriarch has actually done
all that he could or dared do in opposi-
ton to the reformation and nothing but
the check Of Ottoman government has
prevented him from prosecuting even to
death those who had forsaken that cor
rupt church, or protested against its er-
rors. No power hates, resists, and per-
secutes the gospel like false form of
Christianity. In no city in the world is
the Bible so scarce as at Rome. No
where is every bud of religious life nip
ped with so prompt and meIoI4os hand.
The strange and incredible violence with
which DR.. King has been prosecuted at
Athens, though an acknowledged bene-
factor Of the Greek race, contrasted with
the almost perfect liberty enjoyed by our
COuHtI HlOh dI thC CcfTrrU or UruOUIan
power and superstition, presents this fact
IN the strongest light. 1t would not be
so, Of course, if the Turkish empire were
such as it was four centuries ago. Tur-
key tolerates, not because she is humane
or friendly to truth, but because she is
weak. The complicated exigencies Of
her position compel her to consult all the
+ Christian powers: and the joint product
Of her concessions is that indiscriminate
liberation which makes Constantinople
more open to all kinds of free and Chris.
tian agencies than any other city of con.
tinental Europe OF of Asia.
At the same time, the whole worIG
could not, perhaps, have offered a more
central and commanding position for sucE
operations. There almost all the Ian
guages of Asia may be learned, and al
Il most all the tribes of Asia reached
n thence the Eastern churches may be viz
flied; there terminate the great avenue,
Of Asiatic trade and travel. Its import
ance will immeasurably increase, too. a;
the vast and fertile regions lying on the
shores and penetrated by the rivers O
the Black Sea, are peopled and civilized
and their energies and resources freed
from the incubus of Turkish and Russian
tyranny Constantinople is yet to act &
more important part in history than it ha,
ever yet acted. Wonderful it is. indeed
that its apparent loss to Christendom il
the fifteenth century should have insured
Its possession in the nineteenth. at the
very time when it is most needed. anf
when its occupation can be made the
most effective
When l was very young" says Du
cas-, Z" heard wise and venerable mer
say that the end of the power of the
Ottomans would come at the same tim,
with the downfall of the dynasty of the
k Palaologi. We, therefore, who have
e lived to witness this last calamity of time
and have seen this dire and unutterabIe
disaster falling upon our race, with fer.
q vent prayers to God, who chastenetb and
healeth again, wait for our redemption
Four weary centuries have passed away
s and however superstitious may have