The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-10-29
THE suLTAN's SOLDIERS.
The Races from Which tho Ottoman
Army 10 Drawn-Uniformity Ro-
oufred ONLY I'm Religfous Belief.

| Tho Races from Which tho Ottoman
Army 10 Drawn--Uniformity Re-
quired Only In Religious Belief
In no army in the world, perhaps.
except our Indian army. says The ST.
James's Gazette, is there to be found .
greater variety of race and hue than in
TINT of the sultan OF Turkey. In one
essential only is uniformity required
/ that OF religious belief. To the follow
er OF Mohalnmed alone is it permitted
to bear arms in defense of the domin-
ions of the padishah. and, if fate de-
crees, to become a chehid, martyr for
the faith. No Christian or Hebrew
i subjects may enter the combatant SER
vice of the sultan, but they render tri-
butte for exemption in the bedek askerich,
or military tax.
Foremost among the peoples which
furnish the best material to the Turkish
army is the peasantry of Anatolia. OF
patient and long suffering under trial
and privation, the Anatolian battalons
have always been among the most
trustworthy soldiers of the sultan. The
best troops with which Mehemet Ali in
the Bulgarian quadrilateral confronted
the Russians in 1877 were from
Anatolia. Their disciplined bravery
was the admiration of all who wit
messed their conduct in action. Me-
hemet Ali himself thought rather bet
ter, perhaps. of his Bosnians and
Herzegovinans. Hardy and enduring
rs the Anatolians, they often showed a
more fiery courage, due probably to
their Slavonic blood, and, in the hands
of officers capable of leading them,
would have proved irresistible. But
thanks to the ignorant rashness of
Suleiman, their magnificent battalions
were decimated at the Shipka 1t was
with the remnants of tho Bosnian regl-
ments that Baker subsequently covered
the disastrous retreat of Suleiman's s
army by lchtiman and Tatar Bazardiik.
With the occupation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina by Austria this element of
military strength has been lost to the
sultan. Aimsst on an equality with
these first two were the troops recruited
among the descendants of the old
Turks settled IN the country north and
south OF the Balkans-the troops with
which Osman held Widdin and
Plevna and the country to
the westward of the Osma in 1877. Less
impetuous than the Bosnians. they did
not yield to them in the stubbornness
with which they would advance to or
repel attack War largely diminished
their numbers, and some (not many)
have remained in Bulgaria and Roume-
liz. The majority of the survivors have
returned into Asia, from whence, five
centuries ago, their ancestors crossed
over to spread the terror and power of
the Ottoman name in Europe. The Mus
sulman Bulgarian. the Pomak, lacked
many of the better qualities of the true
Turk; and there is evidence that some
OF the worst crimes committed durin o.
the atrocity time of 1876 were the work,
not of the descendants of the old Otto
man Turks, but of the Pomaks. Fol-
lowing these came the Albanian contin-
gents to the Turkish army. Here three
very diverse elements were found under
one designation, varying in courage
and submissiveness to discipline. The
best of these men are the Tosks (the
race which gave some of its most re-
nowned and distinguished leaders to
the Greek insurrection of 1S26) of lower
Albania and Epirus, the country of the
Souliotes and Ali of Tepelen. After
them may be reckoned the Arnaouts of
northern Albania and the Ghegas of the
center. These last were held in little
esteem by the Turkish commanders, by
reason of their want of discipline and
the difficulty of controlling them in gar
rison or among the Christian popula-
tion. They are, besides, much under
the influence of the desire for platcAka,
or loot, and the prevalence of vendetta
between the members of different fami-
lies and tribes often rendered it d ifficult
!. to preserve peace among the northern
Albanian regiments. For this reason
they have always been among the first
troops disbanded after war
Coming after these men, but at some
distance, are the Syrian Arabs. The
Syrian troops that formed portion of
Mehemet Airs army in 1877 showed
very little ardor in fight, and many of
them took advantage of any skirmish
to inflict on themselves slight wounds
to escape a service that was distasteful
to them. Among the most worthless
OF the contingents sent from Asia to re-
inforce the army in Europe in 1877
was that composed of Zcbecs. drawn
from the country behind Smyrna.
These picturesque but cowardly and
bloodthirsty warriors were utterly use
less against the enemy in the field; but
woe to the prisoner who fell into their
hands. Long before the war had ter
minated they were sent out of Bulgaria,
to the great relief of the Turks and the
population generally. But the element
Hxyhir1, nj ioA H.,
tation was the Circassian. Va;nglori-
GUS and truculent. the conduct of the
Tcherkess throughout the war was a
bitter disappointment to the Turks. A
more unfortunate hospitality was never
exercised by the Turkish government
than when they gave refuge to those
mountaineers of the Caucasus after
their subjugation by Russia. Planted
along the banks of the Danube and in
the Dobrja in the hopo that they would
be useful against Russian invasion,
they proved a scourge to their neigh
bors, and were detested alike by Chris
tian. Turk, and Tartar. Cattle-lifting
was common with them, but horse
stealing was preferred. SO systematic
were their arrangements for passing
on their booty that they completely
evaded the ordinary authorities, who,
however. were suspected of being in
collusion with them. They never could
be got to face the Russians in open
fight, but occasionally stampeded their
horses and surprised Cossack vedettes,
who invariably paid for their want OF
vigilance by the loss OF their heads.
Such are the races from which the
Ottoman army is still drawn. They
do not all make good soldiers, but
some of them do supply first-rate men;
and properly commanded. regularly
paid. decently fed and clothed, the
Turkish army is still capable of hold
ing its own against the soldiers of the