The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-10-27

TURKS AS DRINKERS.
Growth of the Use of Iutoxicants ANON
the Mohammcdans.


1t is probably known to all that the
koran-the Bible of the Mohammedan
world-prohibts strictly the use of
wine (Which is held to include all other
intoxicants); and that no faithful fol-
lower of the prophet can indulge in
intemperance The fact that the camel
driver of Mecca was shrewd enough to
impose this condition upon the faithful
accounts to some extent for the tremen-
dous power of the Mohammedan en-
pire. The faith was propagated by the
sword, and the conquering armies of
the Saracen caliphs were composed en-
tirely of temperance men. Their
physical powerstwcre not Slapped by the
drink habit; their bodies were not ener-
waited by being liquor-soaked. Their
fatalistic creed inculcates the doctrine
that no man can die until the time
arrives which Allah has decreed; and
hence they marched into battle in the
full belief that no man could be killed
unless that was his death hour so de-
creed from the beginning. ReclSlessly
brave from this belief, capable of ire
mendous endurance because of their
abstemious habits, they entered upon a
career of conquest that came near over
whelming all Europe. Had not the
Christian hosts under Charles Martel
stayed the wave of Saracen incursion
under the walls of Vienna, the cross
would probably have gone down before
the crescent, and the civilized world
yielded allegiance to Mohammed
rather than Christ.
But the burning zeal OF those days
has vanished. The Mohammedan of
to-day does not feel the fanatic fervor
of his forefathers He complies with
the forms of his religion because he
was born in them, rather than from
conviction. His religion is a mere form
alism; and hence he falls ready
prey to temptation. 1t has for years
been the testimony of travellers that
Mohammedans do not hesitate to drink
intoxicants whenever they have oppor-
tunity. Now it is said that the Turks
are yielding more and more to the
pleasures of drink. Though the mol
labs interpret the prohibition of the
koran against wine distilled liquors
had not been invented when the koran
was written. and beer was known,
probably, only to the wild tribes of
northern Germany to extend to all in
toxicating liquors, the Journalist Turk
says the koran only prohibits wine, and
therefore he may drink all other liquors.
A newspaper paragraph has this:
Rev DIR. English states 1.-THE drunkenness
is rapidly spreading among every class of peo-
pie, poor and rich and yet onlcials are the vic
Tins OF the giant raki" A gentleman who lived
twenty-five years in Turkey says: Or. English
tells the truth when he states that officials are
habitual drunkards Pious and learned classes
drink not in public but i'm secret. 1t is hard TO
see group of Turks in n house or outside pub |
lie places without raki That fiery alcoholic |
liquor gives more wildness to their savage
character. and ends the pleasant gathering with
quarrels and many times with blood II is a |
horrible scene 10 see them in the streets sing |
ing, cursing, hurrahing and insulting and beat |
ing the Christians unfortunately coming across !
them. have seen them many times, while I
under the effect OF rali, enter Christian houses |
and demand more raki. Drinking has no limit |
for them; they drink until they become horr |
bly, and perfectly stupefed There is no police |
10 arrest them or prevent their insults 1t is a |
positive fact that Turks are going so far as TO |
surprise Europeans and Americans who con |
slider the Turks the most temperate people in |
the world Ii was a truth many years ago, but !
not for the present and future
Ralxi is a fiery brandy, originally |
made in Russia. 1t has spread over
the east, and the Turks have learned |
the method of making it. Perhaps ral5i |
may yet be the proximate cause of the |
fall of European Turkey, and through |
its means Russia may plant herself on
the shores of the Bosphorus. and fix the |
seat of her empire in the imperial city |
of Constantine. As total abstinence |
from intoxicants was one of the factors |
which made the Turkish empire one |
of the mightiest nations in the world, |
intemperance among her people may
we'll become a factor in her decline |
and fall, and the eventual banishment |
Of the "unspeakable Turk" from Eu- |
rope. The history of the world is full |
of examples of hardy, abstemious |
people, of warliSe proclivities, extend /
ing their boundaries, and becoming the |
founders of mighty empire, only to /
have it overthrown because their de- /
scendants, grown rich and mighty, |
yielded to the great vices of mankind, /
among which intemperance is not the /
least, and fell before the victorious 1
arms of some enemy. Turkey has been /
declining in power for the last century, |
and more. and the growth of intemper- /
ance among her people means that her |
decline will be still more rapid IN the /
future. We of America should take 1
warning by the example of history and /
Danish from among our people TIE one