The Tucson citizen., 1902-09-23
OUR LATEST WAR.

We were informed in a dispatch
from Manila yesterday that Captain
Pershing, of the Fifteenth Infantry,
who is operating against the Moros of
Mindano, had met with slight oppo-
sition, but just the same he had cap
tured several forts, killed twenty-five
and wounded twenty, without his force
suffering any casualties. This ap
pears like very one-sided warfare.
Yet withal there seems to be scarce
1y the slightest probability that the
Sultan of Turkey will concern him
self about the Moros. The Sultan has
troubles of his own in regions much
nearer Constantinople than the Phil
ippine Islands are. The Macedonian
revolutionists are melting rebellion
against the rule Of the Turkish SOW
ereign. Bulgaria and Servia at all
times maintain a semi hostile attitude
to the Sublime Porte, and the big pow
ers of Europe are ever ready to profit
by the difficulties in which Turkey
may become entangled. There are
progressive Turks who do not like the
Sultan's despotic ways, and would re-
joice at the overthrow of abdul Ha-
mid. So the Sultan has to "go canny.'
He never knows when the cataclysm
will come, when the Ottoman Empire
will disappear from the map, when
Christendom will even up old scores
with Mohammedanism and the inf
dels'' will despoil Constantinople.
Naturally, therefore, the Sultan is not
hunting trouble.
But what would happen if Abdul
Hamid's heart should bleed for the
Mahommedans of Mindano, who are
now feeling the weight of American
displeasure? The Sultan of Turkey
is the head of the Mahommedan reli-
gion the commander of the faithful,
the generalissimo of the hosts of the
pAOplACI' IL LIS plOuo oOul oIiOulu
fill with Indignation a. the
attack of Americans upon the
Moros and the slaughter of his reli-
gious compatriots, he might be tempt
ed to proclaim a holy war" in the
Philippines. Then the Mahommedans
of Mindano would raise the green flag
Of the prophet and in THE name of Mo-
hammed wage war upon the invaders
with a fierceness and fanaticism which
have not yet been displayed in the
campaigns in the Philippines. OF
course, not even the flag of the prophet
can prevail against magazine rifles
and rapid-fire artillery. The "faith-
fuP' are as vulnerable as the heathen
and "infldels.' The shade of Moham-
med can not turn a bullet from it's
course, or make bayonet thrust
harmless Still, holy war" would
be no child's play. We should have
to kill many thousands of the Moros
before they gave up the conflict and
acknowledged their inferiority as war
riors to the unbelievers from the west
Until their religious ardor had cooled,
the Mohammedans of Mindanao, If
tray are like their brethren elsewhere,
would make war with ferocity shock
ing to contemplate.
For prudential reasons, however,
Abdul Hamid may refuse to stimulate
the fanaticism of the faithful in the
Philippines by proclaiming holy
war" His intervention might be
followed by serious consequences to
Turkey, and nobody knows this better
than the crafty head of the Moham-
medan religion. Whether the Sultan's
advice to the Moros to raise the green
flag and fight in the name Of the
prophet would justify the United States
government in making war upon Tur-
key is O question upon whictA only the
diplomats and the statesmen can de-
eide. Perhaps it might and perhaps