The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-07-26
THE EASTERN PERTURBA-
ITO ~

heart is like great continent of finder
which spark may kindle into confia-
grafton.
This smouldering hostility of late years
has been intensified by the steady en-
croachments of European influence, and
by the enforced reforms which have been
dictated by conferences of the great
Powers.
Between the beak of the Russian Eagle
and the paw of the British Lion success
sive Sultans, unable to evade either, have
been compelled to submit to the most ex-
asperating humiliations, and thousands of
their fanatical subjects have longed for the
good old days of Suleiman, the Magnif-
cent, and of Mohammed ". who carried
his conquests far up the Danube, and
Numbered at the gates of Vienna.
To have proper conception of the
hold which the Islam faith has upon the
intellect and heart of the people one must
remember that it is at once religion, a
political economy, philosophy, and a
social code,
The greatest propagandist institution
in the world is the Moslem University of
Cairo, with its three or four hundred pro-
fessors and its ten thousand students, who
come from Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Nubia,
Persia, and the various Mohammedan
countries of the Orient. The young men
gathered there are ostensibly preparing
for civil life, but their training is chiefly
religious one With them the authori-
ty of the Khedive, the power of the Sui
tan, the brute force Of the army is moth
ing compared to the divine supremacy of
the Koran. We read of the patient in
dustry of the students of the German
universities, of the self-denial and will
ingly endured privations of young men
in Europe and America, to whom an edu-
cation is not only the passport to honor
but the sole hope of subsistence; but
their hardships and struggles are nothing
compared with those of Moslem youths,
sitting on the floor as they study sleep
ing on straw mats, and living on food
barely sufficient to sustain life DR.. Schaff
says the students of no Theological Sem
mary in our country would stand such
privations for single week, and yet
these Mohammedan young men submit
to it all without murmur, and then 90
forth to become missionaries throughout
India, Central Asia, and Africa. The
Professors of some of our colleges and
Theological seminaries are poorly paid,
but the Professors of this great Moslem
Propagandist University receive no sala-
ries at all they are supported, to the ex-
tent of being kept alive, by the aims of
the faithful, and such is their zeal and
devotion to their mission that they are
happy, and more than satisfied in being
the honored instruments of extending and
perpetuating Mohammedanism on two
continents.
1t is easy to see, therefore, how readily
the ferocious fanaticism of the followers
of the false prophet might be so fired as
to provoke religious war, which would
fame around the whole horizon of the
Mohammedan world 1t is not probable,
however, that the present im6rogzo in
Egypt will produce such a result. Egypt
is only dependency of the Ottoman
Porte. In 1872 the Khedive obtained
frman, giving him an independent Judi
ciary and administration; the right of
conducting treaties with foreign coun-
tries; of coming money; of increasing his
army and navy at pleasure, on the condi-
tion Of paying an annual tribute to the
sublime Porte.
1t is not likely that even an alliance
between Arab Bey and the Soudan
Prophet, FL Mahdi, commanding the
mongrel ruffians of South Nubia, blue
black negroes of Darfur, and the Jet black
negroes Of Karfodan, will furnish an
army able to withstand the disciplined
forces o! the English infantry, cavalry,
and artillery, now en- route for Egypt,
and from the nature of the country, a
long narrow belt Of green between two
deserts, the war will probably be short
and sharp, as well as decisive.
But what interests the readers of a re-
ligioua no nor mara Tho, or,, tb;,o, o1,o