New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-06

|
of Islam only Turkey. At q lator period, European
diplomacy. enargng its field of knowledge, has dis
covered in the East an Emperor of tho Turks, n
Sublime Porte and Divan- till at length, IN our
time. have come to perceive that all these Things
reduce themselves at last to nothing more than the
| Ottoman Porte, or simply the Porte.
Happily for MussumaDs, all these designations
! have in nowise changed the nature OF the Holy
| Caliphate. Profoundly desplsing all the errors
which infidel Europe has committed IN ITS regard,
and sincerely convinced of the divine and lnfalhDle
character of its constitution. the Capbate has al
| ways remained the great mmutable church OF IS
Iamism and in spite OF oil changes aud OF all re-
forms. 1t is this church which maintains Its s0ver-
| eighty at ConsantinOple.
| WHY CHRISTIANS CANNOT De RAISED TO CIVIL.
| EQUALITY IN ISLAM.
Now without pausing to dwell longer on the
character of this Mussulman institution, which Is
| perhaps the most extraordinary work which the
genius Of Asia has ever invented. we content our
selves with this simple question: Is it this Mussul-
| man Church which Europe desires to uphold Ill the
East, and is the maintenance of such an inSttn-
| ton pOssiblel And, first, If the Powers are
really interested in maintaining the temporal
sovereignty of the Mussulman Church, it Is
difficult to perceive how this necessity can be re-
conciled with the emancipation of the Christians.
The maintenance Of the Ottoman Power such as this
is defined to be- and the equality of the iniide rayahs
| with the Mussulmans, are two objects dlaInetrl-
calIy opposed 10 eacn Otncr' TOT lnt
this truth SO little understood it is sufficient to
member that the political power of Islam does not
admit the formation of any idea of nationality that
the whole Mussulman body Is only as it were, re-
hglous congregation, only an order of the mill
tarv chivalry, cosmopolitan in character
and that the principle Of this religious
order is exclusively the Mussulman faith. Now
would not the introduction into such an order
on terms of equality of members of a hostile re-
gOn, be III effect to destroy the priDcpe ana the
existence OF the order itself 10 demand of the
Caph that he should admit Christians To share III
| the functions of his Government Is exactly Ike
asking the Pope 10 bes!Ow the episcopal dignity
on MusSulmans. Thus IL Is that Mussulmans have
always regarded the elevation OF Christian To
public functions act of Impeiy, and they
have not hesltated to rid themselves Of such func-
JlonaTcs the moment that an opportunity 10 40 so
1t Will. doubtless be objected that the tenure Of
n public office Is not the exercise of reli ions
function but this distinction, though perfectly
just elsewhere, does not hold good IN turkey. The
lussulman papacy does not admit INTO its constltu-
ton the principle OF more than a single power and
this power, emanatlng from divine source, em-
braces all the acts and all tie functions OF
universal theOcracy ana repels with horror all DIS
tinCtOn between the spiritual aud the temporal.
Under this absolute papaCy there is not and there
cannot be, distinct clergy, nor civil society, nor
temporal power, nor political order. The solder
and the author the Shek-um-lslam and the Grand
NIZer all fulfil functions of the same kind They
are all equally members of one common society, or,
If you please, OF one common congregation; all
are clcIicas, all are priests. lnaSmuch rs all are
Mussumans. and "a the condition OF - DeleVer IL
in itself "a priesthood. In this community all must
be Mussulmans everything must be done for Mus
sulmaus, and there Is nothing sacred outside the
pale of Islamsm
Where IN this exclusively religious field. can a
single point be Indicated on which 1t would be pos
sbe TO establish the equality OF Christians with
Mussulmans without overtlrOWlng from TOP 10 Dot
tom the whole social cdliice OF ls!amf lac equality
which II is sought TO establish between Christians
md kIohnmetaUS.
Mussulman power winch Europe has endeaVOTed To
sustain at the cost of SO many sacritces. Some
dIplOmatists have imagined That by destroying the
Callpnate. the civil government would be released
from It's religious letters and that tins civil gov
eminent when reformed on European principles,
woald be precisely such normal power rs Europe
is seeking to establish and TO maintain In the East
This conclusion would be quite natural If there
were IN the Caliphate besides the religious order,
civil order, n national element, a Turkey and
Turkish people, holding paramounty to IFS nation
atty and DESTROYS OF gong forward III career OF pro-
gress. But repeat once more tins Turkish nation
and this Turkey, such as Europe concelyes them to
be- have never existed; they only designations
invented and maintained through mistake, or from
the mere necessity OF diplomatic language.
REFORMS WHICH WILL DESTROY AND NOT SAVE THE
EMPIRE.
Search through the archives of what you suppose
TO be the Turkish Empire, ard you will never find
there the word Turk In no official document. in no
book in no Turkish journal will you ever find the
word Turkey. 1t is a European invention which the
Turks have themselves finally accepted, without in
any manner departing from their principles The idea
of nationality. and the name of country are yet to
be invented in the dictionary of lslamlsn. Besides
what relation of nationality could exist, for eXam
pie between the Greek Mussumans of Crete aud the
Armenian Mussulmans of Erzeroum and what can
be the national bond between the Mussulmans Of
Bagdad and the Mussulmans of Bosnia That which
unites all these strange in community of
ideas and of sentiments is simply and solely the
Mussulman faith this is the base of the editce of
which the summit is the Calphate. Destroy this
religious bond. and all that will remain of this
Mussulman community VIII be the heterogeneous
debris of a dispersed congregation.
Ali if the Calphate in Arabia it might be
possible to destroy the Caliphate and preserve the
State or the Government, because In Arabia, dis
tinct from the Mussuman religion there is an Arab
people. And if at Rome it has been possible to re-
place the state of the Pope by Italian state it is
because in Italy. quite distinct rom the Papacy,
and apart from the Catholics. there IL an Italian
nation. But IN this religious empire. formed by the
reunion OF all Mussumans under the sceptre of the
Caph, in this cosmopolitan Empire. III which there
neither u.s. can be- any national idea, ana where
the state is the religion. il you destroy the state
which is religion, what will be left OF the other i'm
aginary gOvernmentT
No, the Turks, and in general, all enlightened
Mussulmans. DO not share these generous Illusions;
they perceive with terror that European reforms,
while taking from them religious authority, will at
the same time cause the whole edihce OF their pres
ent existence TO crumble into dust We observe.
therefore. with what tenacity the "AntOneli" of
Constantinople defends foot by foot tine domain of
the Mussulmau papacy. What is more natural
than that men OF superior intelligence like Fuad
and All should have used all their talents in
cepting with a good grace the anti-Mussuman re-
forms which Christian Europe has sought to impose
upon the Calphate only to destroy them, or to fail
in applying them when acceptedf Is It not also
evident that the Mussunans OF COnstantinOple owe
it to themselves rcpel with horror these European
of their empire
The truth, then. is that the Powers find them
selves ia the East face to face. not with secular
empire, susceptible of reforms, but with religious
and military theOcracy, absolute In its principles
exclusive IN its tights aud condemned either to re-
main immutable, or to die rs it has lived. In mlstak
ing this theocracy for secular government Europe