The morning call., 1894-03-19
A PLEA FOR The TURK.

Since the subjects of the Sultan have
been branded as "unspeakable Turks" it
has been difficult for any apologist for the
followers of Mohammed TO gain hearing.
But Professor Max Muller of Oxford, who
is not man t. be pooh-poohed or talked
down, has recently visited Turkey and has
published the result of his observations in
paper which may change some opinions.
Mr.. Muller says that on all ordinary
subjects the feelings of the Turks are our
feelings, their thoughts our thoughts. their
motives our motives, their ideas of right
and wrong the same as ours. There is no
essential difference between the morality
of the Koran and the morality of the Bible.
Both inculcate the same virtues ana d e.
nounce the same vices. Both recognize a
just and righteous but merciful God, and
both believe that virtue will be rewarded
and vice punished in the world TO come.
In two particulars the philosophy of the
Turks seems 20 have attained better re-
suits than ours. There are no laws in
Turkey against intemperance. while our
statute books bristle with prohibitory
laws. Yet the Turks are an eminenty
sober people. The upper classes drink
wine in defiance of the Koran. but they
rarely drink to excess, and among the mid
die and lower classes drunkenness is
almost unknown. Considering the vast
amount of crime which can be traced to
drunkenness in this country and in Great
Britain, France and Germany the contrast
between ourselves and the Turks IN this
particular is very remarkable, and Goesnot
reflect much credit on our civilization. How
is it that Moslem Institutions accomplish
kIa xuith sl 10, md
our churches. are unable to realize?
Again. Professor Muller states that fe-
male immortality is as rare in Turkey as
it is common in Christian countries. No
Turkish woman openly leads an immoral
life. There may be disorders in the pri-
vacy of the harems. but no American lady
visiting Turkey ever sees anything to
shock her delicacy. The evil which states
men in this country, as in England and
France, have mainly striven to eradicate
or control does not exist in Turkey at all.
Why? Is it a question of race or blood,
or the fruit of the teachings of the Mos
lem faith? 1t would be interesting to
have the question intelligently answered.
Forty years ago, at the time of the Cri-
mean war, people read good deal about
the Turks, and learned that they possessed
two high Qualities-courage and habit of
veracity. Iu all the battles of that war
the Turkish soldiers fought maniully:
they stood up to be killed, but they never
ran away. So it was found that when
Turkish officer or Pasha made statement
it was always true; when he made prom
iSe it was kept. But the diaries and his
tories of the Crimean war did not intro
duce US into the Turkish home; it left US
as ignorant of the family life Of the Sui
tan's people as we had been before. That
ignorance has been largely due to our
habit of studying the letter Of the Turkish
laws rather than the manner in which
they are carried out. Most of the laws
which are repugnant to our notions have
long been dead letter. For instance, the
law allows polygamy, but no Turk has
more than one wife, unless he happens TO
be Sultan or Pasna, in which case Gus
tom requires him t0 MAINTAIN a seraglio,
which he rarely enters, and whose inmates
are merely the servants OF his wife and
the nurses of his children.
The estimate of the Turk which is found
in books is legacy of the spirit that in
spired those most bsurd of all absurd en-
terprses, the crusades. Wars always
cor for both contestants. Christendom
fought the Turks unsucressfully for GEN.
tury. and hated them for five centuries fol-
lowing. The hatred was intens fed in the
first gu rter of this century by the war of
Greek independence. 1t was natural that
Christendom should symDathize with its
coreligionists. But 1t was also natural
that Turkey should resist its own dismem-
berment. and though civiliza ion was
gamer by the victory at Navarino, it
hardly lies in the mouth of a people who
fought four years to defeat secession. to
blame too severely Ibrahim Pasha and his
chief. 1t may be the destiny of the
Turkish empire to go down in blood be-
fore Russian onslaught. But so far as
real civilization is concerned, comparison
between the Russian and the Turkish
peoples hardly leads to the conclusion that
intelligence and humanity would be certain
to be promoted bv Russian conquest.