The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-04-29
THE DErEsrEp TURKS.

Who are the Turks and what have
they done? They left their deserts on
the frontiers Of China, and invaded
Europe for purposes % pluaicr. They
reached the end VI their resources. and
would probably have been driven back.
when, as Dean Church in his wonie'-
fui paper on this subject has described.
their header hit upon the Internal de-
vice of demanding a tribute of children
instead OF certain impostS. Out of
these children. none OF them Turks by
blood, he formed the New soldiers"
the Janissartes, perhaps the mcst foy-
midable standing army which ever ex-
listed. and with them his SUCCESSORS
conquered Constantinople. and the
whole OF the eastern empire OF Rome.
and nearly conquered Hungary. but
were beaten back by the Polish cavalry
From that day 10 this they have gov
erned thai magnificent empire in the
spirit of Tartars which is the spirit OF
destruction. They have founded moth
ing improved nothing. built nothing,
have produced no literature. advanced
no art. sent out no ideas among man
kind. They have shown no conception
OF government except despotism, sup
ported whenever resistance was made.
by massacres which included both sexes.
and destruction which extended even 20
the animals and trees. OF these end
less subjeci-races they have no. ooncln-
ated one. Greek and Slay alike. by
almost unheard-of sacri.,cs have AZ
last cast of their yoke.
There is no people n the world s.
submissive as the ..rInenian. who obey
ed the Roman cheerfClly for centuries.
but even he cannot tolerate the Turk.
The Greek loathes him, and even IN
a little island ike Crete, fights him hs I'd
10 hand. The Arab who is OF his own
faith, n0l6s him 10 be the worst u bar
barlans and rises against him in armed
.nsuiTectoa at least once every five
years. The detestation Of him is in fact
not European but universal, and is kept
down IN every province only by sheer
terror OF the Ottoman, the boldest and
most merc1ess of all Asia6ic fighting
men Nor is there the slightest hope o |
improvement. On the contrary, in
turkey everything, including public yIr,
tue, IS rapidly decaying. There never
was sultan so bad as the present. or
one so secure; the pashas are universal I
~ corrupt, and as given up even by
the admirers Of the Turk; and as for
the soldiery. let Batuk and Armenia an
sWer Tor their character.
Nothing survives in the Ottoman ex-
cept his magnificent courage his habit
OF obedience to his officers. and his
readiness to die rather than surrender .
enc ascsndency Of his caste. an ascen- !
dency which with MIN means the right
TO kill all Cristians wo will no; submit. /
The treasury is bankrupt, the provinces
are ruined, the capital rises and retires 4
trembling. while all the reformers are
hunted down, and even the religious
who appeal to the Koran as
condemning the present regime are or
dered back to their homes to starye
there in quiet. After four hundred
years of unbroken rule this is the con
ditton Of Turkey. and then because the
LevaHttnes Of the ports are an unwo
thy people, We are told that we oush. Il
10 sympathize with the masculine Otto {
man." and not with the civilized Greek.
Let us admit that the Turk is mascu-
Inc, and then ask his admirers II they h
can point to another race in which. II
1 man rises 10 the top, he becomes, by II
those admirers acknowledgements, m
5tantly and hopelessly bad-is trans
'O-med. in fact, from a fine, If brutal
soldier or peasant into a pasha
It Is not in the least with Greeks qua ,
Greeks that we ask Englishmen 10 sym
Darhlze, but with all Christian and
Arab subjects Of what appears to US C
me most hopeless Of Asiatic despot- r
sms-a despotism which has no future, ;
which is kept up by naked violence