Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-19
THE DEEDS or THE TURK.
He Governs In the Spirit Of the Tar.
tars, the Spirit of Destruction.

He Governs In the Spirit Of the Tar
tars, the, Spirit of Destruction.
From the London Spectator.
Now. whats haze the Turks done? They
left their deserts on the frontiers Of China
and invaded Europe: for purposes Of plum
der. They reached the end of their re-
sources and would probably have been
driven back, when. as Dean Church in his
wonderful paper on the subject has de-
scribed,- their leader hit upon the Internal
device Of demanding tribute of children
instead Of certain imposts. Out of those
children. none of them Turks by blood, he
formed the New Soldiers" the Janis
saries. perhaps the most formidable stand
ing army which ever existed, and with
them his successors conquered CONSTANT
nople and the whole OF the eastern empire
Of Rome, and nearly conquered Hungary,
but were beaten back by the Polish cav
airy.
From that day to this they have gov
erred that magnificent empire in the spirit
OF Tartars, which Is the spirit Of destruc-
ton. They have founded nothing, improv-
ed nothing, built nothing. have produced no
literature. advanced no art, sent out no
new Idea among mankind. They have
shown no conception of governme1e: e,,:-..
despotism, supported. whenever resistance
was made, by massacres which included
both sexes. and destruction which extend
their endless subject-races they have not
corciliated one. Greek and Slav alike, by
almost unheard Of sacrifices, have at last
cast OF their yoke. There is no people in
who obeyed the Roman cheerfully for CEN
turtles, but even he cannot tolerate the
Turk. The Greek loathes him, and even in
little island like Crete fights him hand
to hand. The Arab, who Is of his own
faith. holds him to be the worst Of bar
barians and rises against him in armed
insurrectfon at least once in every five
years. The detestation Of him is, In fact,
not European but universal. and is kept
down in every province only by sheer ter
ror Of the Ottoman. the boldest and most
merciless Of all Asiatic fighting men.
Nor Is there the slightest hope Of i'm
provement. On the contrary. In Turkey
everything, including public virtue, is rap
idly decaying. There never was a sultan
80 bad as the present, or one so secure:
the pashas are universally corrupt and are
given Up even by the admirers of the Turk;
and as for the soldiery. let Batuk and Ar
menia answer for their character. Nothine
survives In the Ottoman except his mag
nificent courage, his habit of obedience to
his officers, and his readiness to die rather
than surrender the ascendancy of his cate.
an ascendancy which with him means the
right to kill all Christians who will NOT
submit. The treasury is bankrupt: the
provinces are ruined, the capital rises and
retires trembling, while all reformers are
hunted down.. and even the religious stu
dents who appeal to the Koran as con-
demning the present regime are ordered
back to their homes to starve there in
quiet. After 400 years Of unbroken rule
this is the condition Of Turkey. and then
becsCse the YLeyRntines of the ports are
an unworthy people, We are told that we
ought to sywpathize with the masculine
G e. 11s ana not the civilized Greek.
and then his admirers IL they can point
to another race IN which. II q man rises