The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-05-10
Raising the Standard.


ton with the approaches of the Russians
towards Constantinople will be resisted
says
In his extremity the Turkish Sultan threatens to
raise the sacred banner of the Prophet, about
which not only all the turbaned men but all ortho-
dox Mussulmans commanded to rally. Its I'M
folding would be the signal for the outbreak of a
religious war such this unbelieving century has
not seen and can but family anticipate; the call
for the Faithful to rise in arms for their menaced
religion and to put the unbellever to the sword.
The call would be greeted with ardor from the
Danube to the Ganges, from the Gates of Hercules
to the Gate of Tears, and all Mohammedans, save
only those of the hereto sect of Persia would
respond with alacrity to the summons of the Sue
cessor of the Prophet and Commander Of the
Faithful
The Sanjak- Sheriff or Standard of the Prophet,
is black flag made of the curtain which hung be-
fore the door Of Ayeshah, the favorite wife of Mo
manned. 1t was first used as standard by Omar,
the conqueror of Jerusalem and the founder OF the
Saracen empire, who assumed in addition to the
title of Caliph or Successor, that of Eniral- Mume
mia or Commander of the Faithful. The sacred
standard passed with the empire into the hands Of
the Abbasdes and next to the Fantmite Caphs
Of Cairo AT the close of the sixteenth century it
was brought into Europe by Amurath Ill, and
deposited at Constantinople. There i'll chapel,
called the Hall Of the Noble Vestment," it now
Is covered Win WldppluSS vi SIctli Sin
and perpetually guarded by twelve Emirs with
constant prayer. With it are the stirrup the sabre
and the bow of Mohammed. The Sanjak- Sheriff is
seldom brought out to the light of day. The green
banner which is frequently COMPOUNDED with it,
and which is untolded at the beginning of every
war is quite another affair and has attached to it
no sacred associations.
A little reflection will convince any in
telligent person that Il movement like
this would bring to the Sultan but little
effective aid. 1t might and probably
would call hordes from Asia to his stand
ard; but they would be totally unac-
quainted with European methods Of war
fare, without discipline, without proper
arms, and be little better than a fanatic
mob. The mere provisioning of such
hordes would be a thing impossible to
the limited resources of Turkey The
most difficult problem to solve in the
maintaining and moving OF an army Is
that of feeding it. The Russians, with
their vast and productive country at their
backs, trayersed by railroads, will find
this problem easy of solution; While the
Cars millions of soldiers, thoroughly
disciplined with the best of modern arms,
and a desperate bravery that the French
and English in the Crimean war have a
lively remembrance of, will invite the
Asiatic hordes to certain defeat.
There is an instance in history which
ought to settle any question us to the
onslaughts against European discipline.
When Napoleon Bonaparte entered Egypt
with French army he was attacked by
the Mamelukes in numbers so great thai
| they covered the desert. They We're the
world, but lacked discipline, and each
man fought as he pleased, but always
with determined bravery. The French
| infantry was formed in squares, which
the clouds of Mamelukes charged again
and again, each time receiving d terrible
| fire of mnsketry. At last they fled in
dismay, leaving two-thirds Of their mum
Der dead on the field. 1t was Il lesson il
| the art of war that the Mohammedans
remembered for a long time. Perhaps
after the lapse of eighty years, it may
become the duty of the Russians to adj
minister to the Asiatic brethren of the
Mamelukes reminder that modern war
fare is a science, against which fanati-
cism and undisciplined bravery cannot
successfully contend.