The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-07-04
Ancient and Modern COnstantlnOple.

the watery highway which links the Med
iterranean with the Black Sea, and di-
vides by narrow line Europe from Asia.
1t may be said to control two seas and
grasp two continents. 1t is the natural
outlet of all the trade in Southern Rus
STA, Asia Minor and the regions round
the Caspian. Two strong gates lock it
in; the Bosphorus on the northeast, and
the Dardanelles on thu. southwest. 1t has
a perfect harbor, com pletely surrounded
by land, without tide, and deep enough
to float the largest vessels. Its climate
and marine sewerage are so admirable
that in spite of Turkish filth the Turkish
capital is remarkably healthy.
The generous gifts of nature have
brought with them wonderful vitality,
such as no other city of the olden time
enjoys. Nineveh and Babylon are mere
piles of rubbish, Thebes and Memphis
mere mines of mummies, Jerusalem
abandoned to dirt and devotees, Athens
a grave of departed glory and Rome a
combination of convent and curiosity
shop. But Constantinople is invested
with as much interest and importance
to-day as when Philip of Macedon was
beaten back from its walls; as when the
crusaders turned aside from their pious
mission to do such deeds there as devils
might blush to own; as when the victo-
rious Turk struck the marble column in
the church of St. Sophia with his bloody
hand and cried: "rhere is no God but
God, and Mohammed is his prophet"
Though more than $500 years have passed
since its foundations were laid, though
every government which then existed (the
Chinese only cxceptedD has persisted ut
terly, though the old civilization, with
its society, its creeds, its science and
its philosophy, has passed away, though
new religion rules the fairest portions
of the globe, and new world has been
plucked from the bosom of the western
seas-yet Constantinople retains so much
of its pristine value that the proudest ma
tions in Europe are ready to fight for its
possession. Nor can we imagine that u
time will ever come when the jeweled
ring of Othman's dream will be consid-
cred less precious than it is now. For
Constantinople is an imperial city by
right of birth, cosmopolitan city by
right of position, and will maintain its
power and prestige in European diplo-
macy when London and Paris, Berlin
and ST. Petersburg, have lost theirs.
Yet, old as it is, Constantinople con-
tains few relics of antiquity, few tokens
of its illustrious past. A portion of the
old wall, built by Theodosius, has been
spared. No thanks to the Turks, how
ever, for Sultan Abdul Medjid gave it to
his mother, who proposed to sell the ven
cradle stones and pocket the proceeds.
At the personal solicitation of the Brit
ish ambassador the royal lady consented
to take the cash and leave the stones, and
so they remain in their original places,
SCARED all over with the marks of the
various sieges they have endured, and
with huge gaps here and there which
climbing vines drape in gent,e garni-
ture of green, as if to brighten the fea
lures of decay. 1t was in one of these
gaps that the last Greek emperor died,
sword in hand, fighting vainly against the
swarming hosts of Mohammed II. His
body, dragged out from beneath pile
of slain, was recognized by the golden
eagles embroidered on his buckskins and
presented to the brutal conquerer, who
cut off the head and sent it through the
provinces of the empire as AN evidence of
his triumph. There is St. Sophia with
its pavement of waved marble to initiate
the rolling of the sea, and its one hun
dred and seven columns of marble, por
phyry and granite which Justinan stole
from the heather shrines of the farther
East to deck the temple of Jehovah and
Jesus. Here for ten centuries the By yam
tine emperors were solemnly crowned,
and here their requiems were sung. Here
on the awful twenty ninth of May, 1453,
helpless crowd of Christians sought
refuge, and were mastered to the last
man by the savage victors, Here for
nearly four hundred and twenty five
years no Christian prayer has been said,
but under these arches which Christian
faith reared the creed of the Arabian
camel-driver has been repeated by his
disciples with that fervent zeal which no
misfortune can check or chill. Is not st.
Sophia destined to go back to its first
love; change from mosque to church,
as it changed from chuDch to mosque,
and contain worshippers who bow to-
ward Jerusalem and not toward Meccai
Looking upon Constantinople in the
! light of its better and brighter days
days that reflected the splendors of the
Roman Empire-and realizing its capa-
bil,ies for future grandeur than its
grandest past, does not "the eternal fit
mes of things" demand that the Turk
shall cease to own what his ownership
has degraded and well nigh destroyedl
The waters of the Golden Horn are as
pure and blue and sparkling as when first
cut by the banks of the adventurous Ne