The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1877-09-28
The Progress of Turkey.

1t is thought by many that there has
been no progress in Turkey. Without
expressing any opinion, we can state a
few facts which, being facts, can not be
! c~ontradicted. At the time of Suleiman
the Magnificent, Turkey was, on the
| whole, very little, if at all, behind Europe.
The horrors of the Inquisition and of st.
Bartholomew, the cruelty of Philip III.
and Henry VIII, fully equalled any
thing of the sort in Turkey at that time.
Since that period Christendom has adj
vanced in the arts and sciences beyond
Turkey; while the appalling horrors of
the French revolution, the commune,
the Cuban war, American slavery and
the Russian knout. and many other in
stances too common, too awful and too
recent to be forgotten, have shown us
there is still too much of the tiger blood
remaining in our nature to enable us to
be too free in condemning Turkish afro
cities when they are fighting to preserve
their national existence. But granting
hat upto the time of the Greek revolu-
ton Europe had completely distanced
Turkey, we find that since that time
there have been really great social changes
and innovations in Turkey, most of them
improvements and reforms. Religious
liberation, which, as regards all sects but
the Moslem, existed in Turkey before it
was even dreamed of in C~hristendom, has
been extended to Mohammedans, and a
man may now in Turkey accept any faith
he chooses, and be actually protected in
it. Such absolute liberation exists else
where only in Great Britain, the United
States, and Germany, and one or two of
the minor states of Europe. Numerous
periodicals have been established in Con
stantinople, Smyrna, and elsewhere, and
the censorship of the press is less oppres-
sive than in France.
Numerous works have been printed,
and scholars like Achmet Vefik Pasha
would be creditaole to any people. Mil
itary and medical colleges, and numerous
universities and educational institutions,
supported by the government or by pr.
vate enterprises, have been founded,
while the circulation of the bible and
religious works of every manner of belief
is carried on throughout the empire with
perfect freedom. The army and navy
are organized and armed entirely upon
European modes, with the exception of
the irregular soldiery, and many of the
officers and members of the government
have been educated abroad. The slave
trade in women has been practically
abolished, and there is a strong tendency
to introduce reforms in the garb and regu-
lations of the harem itself. And, to
crown all, a legislative body has been
organized, and Moslem and Christian
have been placed OF an equality. These
and numerous ether reforms have all
been accomplished within forty years,
and naturally met with opposition from
the conservatives, while the brevity of the
time that has since elapsed does not allow
us yet fully to Judge of the possible re-
suits. But it is only fair to the Turks to
allow them credit for the reforms they
have attempted to accomplish, and for
the fact that ii some of these reforms hsd
depended upon the fanaticism of the
native Christians, little would have been
done in this directions. g. W. Ben
jdmin in HQrDer's M101ziue.