Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1877-04-26
TURKEY -EuROPE-RUS-

/ cars mas lne crescent glIttcred
where the cross should shine above
the gilded dome OF ST. Sophia, ard
though, since the treaty of Belgrade,
century or more ago, the Otto
man power in Europe has ceased to
be feared as an aggressive force, it
is as much II disturbing influence
t"-day as il was when Constanti-
nople fell and the llnrdrs nf Islam
broke over tie barrier that had for
centuries divided the Est from the
West. The Eastern question, OF
which we have heard so much. is
no new thing. 1t is just as old as
the Turkish occupation os the am
cient Christian capital, and ther
never has beet Il time when til
European powers-uniess distracted
| by other contests, and not always
thcn-were able to forget the pres
ence of these invaders. For two
hundred years they were the terror
of all Europe, until at the close Of
The seventeenth century, they came
very near capturing Vienna. With
that future their aggressive force
began to decline, the military and
enthusiasm that had made them in
viDcible dying ont as it ceased to be
exercised, and they have snnk more
and more to the level of common
bandits; but TO the people over
whom they have still held sway
there has been no security and to
the nei ghbor:ng nations no lasting
| peace while these bandits main
tanned footlIold in tlteir conquered
territory. For it must always be
remembered that Turks are not in
any sense the owners of Turkey in
Europe, but the holders OF it mere>
iy- They did not graft themselves
np"n become apart Of tho nations
that they found, rs the Norumns
in England; they did not convert
the people to their faith and make
one nation, as had been done in the
East they simply came and quar-
'ele ed themselves upon people who
hated then, bat whom they brought
into suhjugatlon by fire and the
sword, robbing aud numbering and
holding them down, until centuries
of wrong and oppression have made
nine millions of Christians hope
.essly suliec TO three millions OF
Nussnlnans. And the government
they have maintained, though not
without a certain dignity and GER
tain measure of success, has never
been anything but an organized
brigarda5c, Il government of the
sword in :he hands of descending
series OF bcni=hted and degraded
drspots. Tho IL Europe, it is not
Of Europe. 1t has none Of the dig
nifty of Mohammcdan empire like
that of Persia, which is real ma
ton with national life and history
The history OF these people is Eu
ropcan, the despotisn that rules
over them is Asiatic, and there is
no point of sympathy between til,
East and West. AS Jersey sale
by Freeman, the one il progressive
legal, homogeneous and Christian
the other stationary, arbitrary
polvgamous and Mohamedan. Blu,
here is a piece of the E,sst thrust Ii,
upon the West, an Asiatic army
qnartercd in the ancient carital O
Christendom, ard sending ont liz
detachmcnts to harrass and terroriz,
all of Europe. The hand of til,
. Turk, by his constitution, his train
ing, by the fundamental articles o.
his faith, is against every man whe
does not profess allegiance TO the
Prophet, and necessarily every
mans hand has been against him
Either Austria or Russia or boil
have been fighting him almost con,
tinnously since his first inroad.
} were made, and Russia alone ha,
had half dozen wars within the
last century and this. We our.
selves, remote as we are, have been
drawn into the edges Of the ire
pressible conflict. The tcrrosim Sc
long maintained by the Barbary
pirates, which it is one of the high
est glories OF the American navy
to have ended, was but an illustra
ton of how Moi,ammcdanism ha:
oppressed and Earia>sed millions
of people and kept all Europe un
der arms.
1t WAS not until after the wal
with Russia in 1929 that Turkey
confined within more rigid bounda
ries, and, for while, neither dis
turbing nor disturbed, was enabled
to gain some sort of recognition
, among the nations Of Europe. She
had ceased by this time to be con
sidcred dangerous. Russia ane
Austria had secured the recognition
OF some rights to the Scalvoni,
/, principalities; the Independence o
3 Greece was established and tn
cruelties of the struggle had fade'