The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-01-07


d The Fall Of an Empire.
From day to day, the cable brings
tbs news which indicates that the
Turkish Empire in Europe is totter.
ing to it's fall. Even now the Turk re.
tains his hold OH Constantinople and
the territory adjacent to the Bosphor.
us Solely through the jealousy OF the
powers who hope to inherit the do
minions OF the Sultan. The bloodless
revolution by which the union of Bul
garia and Eastern Roumelia has beck
effected is proof positive that Turkey
has lost the power of self protection.
England, influenced by interest;
and the either great powers, animated
by their boundless jealousy of each
ether, may conspire to- retain the
Sultan in possession Of C0nstantino-
pie; but it IS beyond the power of di-
plomacy to do more than temporize on
the Eastern question, and statesman.
ship cannot hope to resist the swift
currents OF the time:
1t is not very Icing since the Sublime
Parte, lii i crisis like the present,
would have shown spirit and resources
more worthy OF the defendants OF
the conquering race which bore tho
victorious Crescent to the gates of
Vienna. There would then have been
no disgraceful story of armies existing
only onpaper, and of soreIy needed
treasure stolen by Ministers of War.
In those days Turkey would not have
written cringing diplomatic -iA55ttes Is
foreign powers but would have risen
equal to the crisis and would have
dealt swift; unerring blows. Those
days are past, never to RETURN.
The story of the rise OF the
Moslem Empire is assuredly one
of the strongest in the annals
of the world. Mohomet, dreaming
dreams and swayed by strange
fantasies in the solitudes of the Ara
bian deserts, evolved from his inner
consciousness a religion whose tenets
appealed with resistless force to the
deepest passions OF the Oriental ma
ture. His small band of faithful con-
verts were the nucleus of a sect which
ere long grew into conquering armies,
that relentlessly used the sword to
compel nations to accept the tenets of
the prophet. For a time it seemed
doubtful whether Europe was to be
Christian or Moslem, but John Sobi-
eski finally arrested the onward march
of the Crescent at Vienna, and the
Spaniards, after six centuries of inces-
SAINT struggle, freed their country from
the Moor. It is now 43O years since
the Turks took Constantinople; it
Is only 2O2 years since they
were defeated before Vienna. What
changes the intervening years have
seen Europe! III that time England
has risen from little island to be the
most widely extended and, in many
respects, the most powerful-einpirs
of which we have any record. Germa-
ny, from being a group Of petty and
independent states, has grown to be a
colossus OF military strength and
torch-bearer of civilization; France
has passed through vicissitudes OF for
tune which make all the fairy tales of
romance seem tame by comparison;
Spain has fallen from her proud pre-
eminence; Italy, for many year
in the depths of degradation,
is once more, thanks to the
exertions and self-sac-
rifice of her sons, taking her
place among the nations. Yet
another change, more ominous than
all Others for the Turk, have these in
tervening centuries seen; the change by
which Russia has been metamorphosed
from q barbarous and unrecognized
nation into a most powerful and dam
gerous member of the European fam
lily. Russia has the strength of a giant
and the will to use it like a giant. Rus
sia is resolved to have Constantinople,
cost what it may. In the policy of
such q despotism, years count for
nothing. Russia believes that all
things come to those who wait, and
there are, therefore, no limits to her
patience.
Meanwhile the whole Balkan
peninsula is aglow with the in
stincts of nationality, and the doom
Of alien rule is sealed. The
Turk may be kept in Constantinople
Tor many years to come, IN the capac-
ty OF care-taker, but that will be the
boundary of his province in Europe.
This race of "carpet-baggers" will have
TO 60. And it must be confessed that
The fall of the Turkish Empire lacks
The grandeur and pathos that belongs
20 the destruction of other empires
which though they have conquered the
world, have also civilized it and be-
1ueathed to succeeding ages legacies OF
art whose beauty can never fade. The
Turk has no such claim to our pity.
His empire was won by the sword,
Ind he has given to the world nothing
which the world would not willingly
ct die.-New Orleans Times-Demo-
rat.