The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-12-30
The Saracenic Empire.

Through the dust and fog in which Euro.
peln diplomacy has envelOpcd the Eastern
question, we see one thing, the significance
of which cannot be ObsCured by protocols,
protests or prOClamulions-ih CLEAN of Rus.
sian bayOnets advancing toward Turkish
territory. This single, simple fact gives the
key to the whole situation. The joint COM
mission may meet when and where it pleases,
rebuke or recommend what It peasGs; Rus.
sla will have what she wants, or fight. Eth
er through the pen OF negotiation or the
sword of war, the first step in the programme
which Russian ambition marked out a hun.
dred years ago will be taken. The others
will follow III due time, and when the pro-
gramme is complete, Turkey will have been
erased from the map of Europe
II is impossible Ia contemplate the event
which now seems almost inevitable, without
feeling a renewed interest in the rise and
progress of that strange pOlticotheologica
power which is threatened with the loss of
its faircst possession. No fiction ever coined
by the widest fancy can match the unadorn-
ed truth of that wonderful history so Craphl-
Cally painted in the quaint pages of Ockley.
A country so poor and inaccessible that il es-
capped the tide Of Assyrian, Persian, Greciar
and Roman conquest; peopled only by wan
dering tribes of barbarians, proud of being
was against every man and every mans hand
against himn-produces a prophet and a
creed that have changed the face of the
world Mohammed was born in 500 and
died In G32 He found Arabia an unknown
desert. He left II u dawning empire. lie
left them united, harmonious and strong. lie
found an idolatry. lie left religion. Ovrl
the black stone of Kaaba he dedicated
shrine TO the Unity Of God. He opened III,
Koran, lald the scimetar on it, and told hi,
disciples 10 give "the Infdels" their choIc,
between the Scripture and the steel. Tn,
disciples heard and obcyed Before the enc
of the century which witnessed his death thu
banners of triumphant Islam waved over In,
whole Of the Arabian peninsula, North Afri
ca and part Of Asia. In the eighth century
they were planted in Spain, and represented
dominion stretching from the Euphratr,
aud the TIgris 10 the Pillars of Hercules ant
the Atlantic ocean; dominion which includ
ed all the centres of ancient civilization, ant
held rs It's brightest and most precious iewc
that holy Land, which was the chosen coun
try Of Jehovah and home of Christ
In 732 the victory of Charles Marel a
Tours stopped The march Of the Crescent II
the heart Of Europe; but the invaders, repul'
cd in One quarter, concentrated in another
and in 1853 they grlsped the grand prize q
,nstantinople The Successors of the can
el-driver of Mecca ruled over regions as vas
and as rich a. those which had once wor
the yoke of the Caesars. The faith evolve
from the fevered brain OF a son of IshmaC
had become a dangerous rival Of the fait
proclaimed By Abraham and Jesus. TIL
monarch, who, in the seventh century, wa
content 10 ride into Jerusalem alone, with n
better equipment than "a very great leathe
water bottle, and a couple o! sacks contain
ing provisions for his beast aud himself" Il
The iifteenth century filled Byzantine palace
with his court, msrntsined:an imperial spler