The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-03-03
THE LESSON OF THE TURK.
RESTlLL PROFITS BY TIE B1UNOER
OFHlS FOES.
But Greece II IS Fired TraIa Which May
Explode and Scatter Devastation and
Redeem the FaIr Land He Pollut9s.

! Explode and scatter Devastation ana
Redeem the FaIr Land H. Pollutes.
We now purpose to glance briefly
at the broad outlines Of Turkish his.
tory as Europe has experienced ii.
Unfortunately it is necessary to pre-.
suppose . certain acquaintance and
sympathy with the subject before the
best results can De had from the teach
! ing Of hiSto"y; aod there is no sym
patny and but lneagra acquaintance
with this theme IN the mlnd OF the
! American people The Turk is regarl.
! ed merely as nuisance, a Ge6lar OF
morals, a cum 5-rec o. the ground,
whose very existence Is looked upon
with disgust and ioathing. & IS not
so bad as he is painted bu: this Goa.
Germs rot cur enquiry FIrs. q col,
lection OF nolnad tribes dwelling in
Central Asia this raca overra1 the
fairest part o. EIroDe, became enIrau-
ched il it, and all efforts to drive them
out have to this day been utter fail
ureS.
As the Turk appears when his grow
ing power first menaced the city Of
! Constantine. he is a far better man
than az present. The soft air OF the
Mediterranean has weakened his frame
an indolent life, with its lascivious
concomitants, has s4pped the vigor Of
his mind and borne down his once
stalwar! virtue. Less could not have
been expected from barbarouS race
that had fallen heir to SO rich a prize,
when religion, instead Of checking,
ministered TO unholy desire.
The day the Turk entered Constan-
| tinople IS red letter day IN the his
tory OF nauoas. To conceive it prop
erly one must behold the conquered
race ii its every day life, the most
aristocratic, the most learned, the
most charming OF the peoples OF Ell
rope. Take old Greek life with lis
shimnering glory, the beauty Of its
women, the keen intellects and gold
en- tongues Of its orators, the astute
ness CT its statesnen-alas. we cannot
add incosrup.ibility and purity-all
this under the high pressure OF q
modernised society; take this into ac-
count and you have faint concep.
ton OF the pristine charm that invest
ed Constsntinople-tnat lay over it
| like dream and bound it in an en-
chanted sleep. The Moslem respected
neither age nor youth, beauty nor tai
ent. a sack and pillage, ct which the
m.nd sickens with horror, disgraced
his entry into the fated city. Royal
princesses that would have scorned
the hand ola European king became
the prey of the barbarian whose ha,
rems were stocked with the flower Of
Byzantine nlaidens. St. Sophia where
in the incompatible Chrystom Glitter
ally golden tongued) once pointed
men to g pure and stainless ife-St.
Sophia, the synagogue OF Christ, be-
came a Mohammedan mosque, and
from it even yet the muezzin calls
aloud that God is great aud MOham-
med is his prophet. O shame on man
hood that it is still q monument to
the abomination and deceit OF Islam.
It adds to the pathos to think that
the city could never have been taken
had il not been adeq lately defended.
But the army which defended it was
filed with mercenaries only; and on
tbe very day of the city's capture the
citizens were not under arms. If be.
hind the veil Of passing events one
looks for the realities, if back Of the
action he looks at the purpose, this
dogged stay Of the Turk in g hostile
land must prove of infinite interest.
1t verify seems that he has been sent
from his desolate home IN Asia as
scourge upon a people given over to
weakness, vice and folly. In that
event, the people along the Bosphorus
have drained the bitter cup to its
dregs-.heir social fabric dissolved,
| their good name soiled, their holy re-
ligion trampled under foot.
But ever since that fatal day when
Constantinople fell, the Ostaman pow
er has loomed over Europe as dark
and sinister shadow. 1t was favor.
ite threat of the Grand Monarch to
turn loose the Turk upon his defence
less neighbors. The greed of the great
powers, since the waning OF Turkish
prestige, has prevented Russia from
conouering tbs Ottoman empire. The
Greek church Of course is the national
church of Russia and it is that church
whose sanctuaries the in6del has de-
fled and whose chief synagogue he
now holds. Therefore Russia IS the
hereditary foe of Turkey. It will be
remembered that the Crimean war
was undertaken to check Russia and
that the chief motive IN the present
alliance of powers is to prevent Russia
| from getting q safe port, which once
done the sea would soon be dotted
with Russian ships and al present al
liances upset.
Now personally the Turk is brave to
| the verge OF fanaticisn. There have
never been finer 6ghters nor troops
that bore discipline with more fortl
tude and resignation. In belief ne IS
a fata!ist; aud perhaps the idea cur
rent as to his social life is near enough
true 10 need no restatement. He has
souatted upon the fairest country on
| the globe-a vast extent ot fertile
! lands tha. grow all manner OF fruit or
whatever else mans needs require; a
climate whose soft and vomptuous
charm poets and painters have inmor-
taIizad in the balmy breath ofits zeph-
yrs. in the glory of its setting suns,
in the tideleSs ripple Of its seas and the
{ starry splendor of its. nights. To all
! this, and to the human loyeliness that
| moves amid its blooming bowers like
hou~is fableG 10 exist in the elysium
Of the blessed-the Turk has become
lord and master.
And the great Christian nations
whose fleets FIJI every sea, whose ar
| mics are multitude and who control
the fnancies of The world, what say
| theyl Do they not muster their ar
mics and assemble their fleets to crush
this awful power-this moral leprosy
at their very doors? II seems an in
suit to ask the ouestion;vet instead OF