The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1903-09-01
THE BREWING STORM.

| Inc uiSpatcneS from Adrfanople In
vite attention to the critical situation
in which the most advanced nations oil
the world are now involved, but which
they will surmount. The two points
of danger are China and Turkey. The
policy and strategy of Russia in Man.
churia represent the Muscovite cam.
paign, of Tartar origin, against eau
casian civilization and power, the i'm
mediate point being dominance in Asia
British control in India and the COM
mercial ascendancy of the United
States. Great Britain and other civil
lied powers in China, are thus at
tackled. The other line of assault,
within the settled purposes of the
Muscovite for centuries, has for its
starting point the Dardanelles. the Sea
of Marmora and the Bosporus. and,
within its primary object, the dismem-
berment of Turkey.
The most superficial reader and OBJ
server can now discern the prescience
OF Great Britain. when 1t acquired the
Suez Canal. The wisdom which re-
1ected the advice of short visioned SEN
timentalists, and refused to precipitate
war for the benefit of the Armenian
Christians, who themselves committed
atrocities against the Turks. has also
been fully indicated.
The preservation of peace in the sense
of averting or postponing the most
disastrous war in human history, has
been mainly attributable to the MAIN
tenance of Turkey in Europe as a buff
fer state. If Russia acquires Con-
stantinople, that phase of the contest
q nd oh
vicinity of the Persian Gulf, and AZ
ghanistan, may be the scenes of bat
ties, military and naval for which
there are no presidents, while the con-
tending powers, with their localized al
lies are pounding away in Manchuria
and the adjacent seas.
But there Is another element to be
considered. Turkey, both in Europe
and Asia, is chiefly important on ac-
count of its situation. Probably its
population does not exceed fifteen mil
lions, of whom considerable proper
ton is not Mohammedan. 1t is also
hopelessly bankrupt. But, on the
globe, there are over a hundred and
fifty millions of Mohammedans-i At
RIGA siXty-six millions, in Asia fifty
millions, of whom forty are in Hindo-
stan. In China, in Japan. in Korea,
and even in our Philippine acquisitions,
there are numerous millions of this
faith, which is not absolutely unknown
in America or in the chief states of
Europe. The center of Mohammedan-
ism is Constantinople, with Mecca and
Medina as it's shrines. 1t is an or
ganiZed system of fatalism. There
are probably nearly 400, 100000 of pro-
Tossing Christians in the world, but
among them. there eve few who would
sacrifice their families, their wealth,
and their individual lives for their
religion. The Moslem, however, is
an iadurated fanatic, Of the most rad
zeal type, to whom his wives, his chill
dren, his property and his life are
nothing in comparison with Allah and
the Koran. He is under complete
control and discipline, and is fight
ing animal of the most ferocious ma
ture.
The news from the seat of the rapid
ly augmenting belligerency in Roume-
liza is that: THE Turks are massacring
the Christians" and the Federal Gov
eminent has been advised that Amer
lean Christians in all parts of the
Turkish Empire and it's dependencies
or tributaries are in danger, which
signifies that all Christians, of every
nationality, are threatened. If, as
seems possible, the Sultan and his gov
eminent should fail in suppressing the
local disturbances, If the fanatical
Mussulmans should get the upper
hand, and should enter into a war for
the determination of the Christian pop
al IL
Flag should be raised from it's rest of
centuries, there would be a conflagra-
ton such as even the Nineteenth Cen
fury never witnessed, in the midst of
which the ancient Muscovite designs
for supremacy and the fatalistic AFRO
gance of the followers of Mohammed
would be stopped and the final triumph
of the Caucasian blood and of Chris
tian civilization assured.
The signs are ominous and the por-
tents dark, but it is to be hoped that
the entente cordiale between the Uni
ted States and the British Empire,
aided by Germany and by other great
powers, may result in a combination
that will avert catastrophe that in
tellectually and morally, as well as
physically, would furnish more than
an analogy to the destructive earth
commissions of the Twentieth Century.
The final contest between darkness
and light is inevitable, in some form.
but the longer peace and conventional
ism are maintained, the better the
prospect for a solution of ultimate
questions by ideas and education.
rather than by brute force and mater
ialistic science.