The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-01-27
The Turkish Question.

1HIS Is not merely the al pifently |
insignificant one whether the town
of DuIcigno shall be ceded to
Montenegro, whether the Grecian
boundary shall be moved
few miles to the north, whether, even,
Eastern Roumelia shall be permitted to
follow her natural instincts and unite
with Bulgaria in Bulgarian S;ate; it is
whether the power OF the Caliph shall
/ be renewed, the whole Moh4mmedau
world united under one head, all the
/ fierce fanaticism of the sixth and sew
enth centuries revived in Eastern Eu-
rope, Asia Minor, and perhaps India
/ and Africa.
The Caliph is the successor of Mo-
/ hammed-the word means Vicar, or
successor-and he thus stands in the
same relation TO the Mohammedan re
ligion that the Pope does to Roman
Catholic Christianity. In Mohamme-
dan theories he is invested with quite as
great authority, regarded with quite as
great reverence, and obeyed with quite
as unquestionipg zeal. But the Moham-
medan world has been rent by contests
between rival caliphs as the Western
world by conflicts between rival popes.
The Sultan of Turkey has long claimed
to be the Caliph and this claim, grad
ually fallen into allegiance, the present
Sultan is endeavoring to re-establish.
He is fighting not for strip of Grecian
territory, but for quasi papal author
ity over Asia, India, Africa. For the
Sultan as the civil ruler of Turkey the
Mohammedans of the rest of the world
would not draw a sword nor march a
mile; for the authority of the Caliph as
the Mohammedan Pope they are ready
to battle and, if need be, die. And the
Ulemas, the Mohammedan priesthood,
the pagan Jesuits OF Turkey. are ready
to stimulate their fanagicism and to di
rect it whenever opportunity shall offer
any prospect OF success.
Three years ago the present Sultan
was put into his office by clique OF
ministers who expected to use him as
their tool He had been educated
among the Ulemas. and possesses all
the fanaticism, all the narrowness and
all the bigotry, wi hout the courage, OF
, the fiercest of the Mohammedan hier-
arcny. Thus his religious instincts
, stimulated his political shrewdness; he
/ perceived that the road to power lay in
| a reassertion and re-eStablishment OF
, the power and authority of the Caliph :;
that if this could be reasserted aud re
, absolute authority in his own Turkish
? Empire, but throughout the Mohamme-
, dan world. Within eighteen months he
; had concentrated the whole power of
) the Turkish Government in his own
I hands; the :. tool" was the ma 5ter; and
| from that time all his energies have
a been directed to regaining the larger
r authority of Caliph, with its consequent
supremacy over Asia Minor, Central
: Asia, India and Africa. Hence the an
q nouncement of the Grand Council OF
4 Ulema that the Sultan reigns as Caliph
n hence the repeated murders of Christ
i ians in and around Con -tantinople, SO
r tar with absolute impunity; hence the
occasional threats of a "religious war;
with which Turkey kept the Beacons-
O field Administration in fear for India.
Q Now the war of words has accom-.
Il plished all that it can accomplish. The
Sultan has, by his identification of him
self with the Mohammedan hierarchy
attained once more hold on the Arab
ans and the Indians; but his supremacy
with them depends upon the question
/, whether he is able to resist Europe. L
n he Yields to European influence, that is
!. to Christ tianity, he resigns all hope o.
Il the power of the Caliphate. If, on the
n contrary, he can show that he is able tc
defy OF to defeat Europe, he will regain
% the lost position of the Sultans as Ca
n liphs And that means a great deal; i
means that all through Asia Minor there
will be revival of Mohammedan fanat
n icism; it means general massacres Of thI
!. Christians; it means that in India an(
y. Central Asia the whole influence of th'
!. Mohammedan population will be raise(
|. against the English Government to over
/. throw the English dominion in India; i
means a gene al return to the state o
things of one hundred years ago.
r The indications are that England ha
t. at her head a statesman who so read
g the Turkish Question; but it is not 81
E. clear that it is so read by the rest o
IF Europe, Austria has a monomaniaca
id dread of Russian influence in the East
al and fears any change lest it be
il change for the worse. 1t
I'd the policy of Vienna to let Turke,
TX in Europe die natural death. Franc
ell and Germany are watching each other
I'd each chiefly anxious that the other shal
III get no advantage through Eastern com
vi plications and alliances, and that it sha
I'd not itself become involved in distan
war and so endanger its own frontier
m Russia has her watchful eye open to tn
e. possibilities of gaining a water wa
av through the Bosphorus to the MediteI
ey ranean Sea. The one power that is in
st terested in preventing the Sultan fror
ill regaining the power of the Caliph
w England, for the one power whose Ii
to dian supremacy would be endangere
|e by a revival and concentration of Mohan
On medanism is England. 1t is England
of diplomacy which has brought the allie
m fleet together in Ragusa harbor; it
rh the English Vice-Admiral who con
ON mands it; it is English determiDatlo
1o which keeps it there. For England ha
li at the head of her government mi
;" who will act alone it he can not act
ed alliance, and who will not. if he ca
elk prevent it, see Mohammedan uprisin
al throughout the East, with all the frigh
full calamities which would certainly fo
.r low if this pale horse, whose rider
o., Death and whose train is He'll, were on,
~ ~ let loose to ride forth in Asia, India al
~ Africa. Christian Union.
ad