The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-02-07
SOMETHING ABOUT THE TURKS.
Progress from victory t, Disaster.
Etom the Neu York Times.

From the New York Times.
It is Just about fye hundred years
since the first terrible Turkish invasion
poured into Europe in the very districts
where the war is now carried on. In
eleven years it will be precisely FIVE hun
dred years since Amurath l. oyerthrew,
on the borders of Servia, tile whole pow
er of the then mighty Kingdom of Ser
via, in one of the "world.battles"-that
of Kossoya-a bloody struggle which so
impressed itself on she imaginations of
men, and was followed by such immense
consequence to that portion of Europe,
that the Servian and Bulgarian peasants
still refer to it as an event which affects
even now their destinies. And they do
not exaggerate its consequences. After
Amursth followed Bajazet, surnamed the
Lightning" and in his track was desc
lation and hills of human heads. The
Turk was then no "sick man," but bar.
barian of unsurpassed vigor and valor,
with, it must be allowed, a certain talent
for command. He swept over all East.
ern Europe, and but for the long and
heroic defense of Hungary, would no
doubt have conquered and held Southern
Germany, as be afterward conquered and
held Thrace and the Danubian countries.
1t was more than half century from
the battle of Kossova before the Turk
wrested from the decayed Greek Empire
the city of the Golden Horn, which he
has held ever since. In the long empire
of lust and blood by the Turk, whether
in Europe or Asia, it will be difficult for
the most ardent admirer of the race to
find single blessing or benefit which it
has conferred on humanity. In Thrace,
Epirus, Macedonia, the Bosnian Provin-
ces, Bulgaria, Servia, and the Wallacho-
Moldavian districts, the rule of the Otto.
mans has been nothing but repression or
plunder and violence. Liberty, ofcourse,
has never fourished under them, nor
science, nor agriculture, nor commerce,
nor trade. Where they have been, there
has been the slightest progress in all ma
terial things. Generation after genera
ton of misery and submission to grind.
ing tyranny has passed away. The
Christians have been pressed to the earth,
while the Mohammedans have not ad-
vanced. One of the fairest portions of
Eastern Europe has been rendered poor
and half barbarous by this long enduring
tyranny. In fact, even in the neighbor-
ing districts now under Christian sway,
the scars and relics of the former Turk
ish domination may be seen, in barren
fields, poor roads, miserable villages, q
degraded peasantry, and want of all
the best appliances of civilization.
Turkey itself, in Asia, seems outside of
all modern progress, and unnatural vices,
such as consumed the pagan Empire of
Rome, have eaten away the vigor of the
people. Nor does this corruption and
degradation seem an effect Of religion
alone, though that, no doubt, has had
much influence in causing it; it belongs
alone to the race. For one Mohamme-
dan people, the Arabs, eucamped for
some one hundred years in Europe--as
the Turks have done-but when they
were driven forth, they left schools, col.
leges and places of learning, palaces, and
an architecture which still delights the
eye, and permanent traces on the arts,
science, and learning of Europe. When
the Turk departs from Eastern Europe,
as soon he must, there will be no monu-
ment of his five hundred years of resi-
dence, but smoking villages, piles of
human bones, peasantry iInbruted by
his government, and fair country made
almost desert. :
The latest telegram from the seat of
war was that the Turks were burning
.Philippopolis and other Christian towns
in their retreat. The exodus is charac-
teristic and consistent. The great an
cestor of the Sultan's family entered
Europe over burning towns, and marked
his way with pyramids of human heads.
The degenerate descendant departs amid
the smoke of peaceful haniless, and with
his line of retreat covered with the
manned and defaced corpses of prisoners
and of the unfortunate peasantry. No
sentimental sympathy will follow the
Ottoman, as has attended the Moor IN
his defeat. Even England will soon for
get him. The historical scholar will re-
joice at the just retribution the legisla-
tor will look for new advances in that
miserable region; and the curses and
hate of populations whom the Turk has
for centuries plundered and oppressed
will 60 with the last battalion as it car.
ries the Crescent back from the hills OF
the Balkan peninsula to the Sea of Mar
mora and the Golden Horn"
From the Saturday Rerielr.
On the mothers side the rich Turk is
lost in painful confusion, yet be would
be marked "h. b." in any calendar that
took account of human thoroughbreds.
In spite of this little blot on his es-
cutcheon the Turk answers very we'll to
the current idea of a gentleman. He is
brave, he detests trade, he is indifferent
to comfort or luxury, he can be temper
ate and even abstemious, he has repose
of manner, he does not lose his temper
with things inevitable, aud rail in the
calm presence of actual facts. General
Cesnola, who was lately American Con.
sui in Cyprus, has many illustrations of
the gentlemanly Turkish character in
his interesting account of Cyprian re-
searches. A Turkish Governor of the
old school arrived on one occasion just
too late to prevent the General from re-
moving a sarcophagus which he had dis
covered. Finding that the time to inter
fere was passed, the old Turk did not
fly into passion, as European might
have done, but apologized for the late
ness of his visit, smoked the friendly
cigarette, and retired with many compli-
ments, but without single allusion to
the sarcophagus. This calm sort of re-
s'gnation, this yielding to the inevitable,
this superiority to annoyances, is GER
tainly one of the best sides of the gen.
tlemanly character. 1t is the trait of a
dominant race which cultivates lofty
disregard of petty affairs, and perhaps it
is aided by the fatalism of Islam. Even
after stripping the gentlemanly character
of its moral and ideal attributes does not