Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-02-16
RECORD OF THE TURK.
Has Won and Lost More Land Than
Any Other Nation.

Has Won and Lost More Land Than
Any Other Nation.
The Terrible Turk" who may be
taken as typifying the empire of the
sultans, holds one record at least
which he is not likely to be deprived
of. He has won and lost more terri
tory than any other nation.
There was a time when the sultan
was the bugbear Of the world. Even
little children in England shook In
their shoes when they heard his name
mentioned, and those people who liv-
ed anywhere near him dared not call
their lives their own.
But at last the tide turned. The
Turk began to lose, and one great mis-
fortune followed another.
Spain was the first big bit Of the
Turkish empire to break free. The
Moors, who were subject and paid
tribute to the sultan, were driven
from province to province until at
length they were cooped up in the
solitary kingdom of Granada.
The last Moorish king to reign In
Spain was Boabdil-el-Chaco, or Boab-
dill the Unlucky. In 1882 Ferdinand
and Isabella, the king and queen OF
Aragon and CASTLE, declared war on
him, and in 1892 he had to surrender
everything.
Hungary, which now forms half of
the dual monarchy Of Francis JOS
eph, was a province Of the sultan for
$50 years. Then it was torn from him
by the sword.
After this came the turn Of the
czars. The Russians, whom he once
despised, have been the Turks worst
enemies. They have either robbed
him themselves or encouraged others
to rob him.
Peter the Great set the example, but
was not, on the whole, very success
full in his wars against the Moslems.
At one time the Turks could have cap
tured and massacred Peter and his
army, but were frustrated by the
slave girl, Catherine. whom Peter had
married.
Catherine the Great tore the Cri-
mea from the unhappy Turk, together
with thousands Of square miles Of ter
ritory along the shores of the Cas-
plan.
In 1921 the Greeks, who had been
slaves Of the sultans for many centu-
ries, rose in rebellion and drove the
Turks out of the country. But then
the Greek leaders began to quarrel
among themselves, and civil war fol-
lowed. The Turk took the opportu-
nifty to seize the country once more.
But the massacres and other hor-
rors which followed aroused Europe.
In 1927 the Turkish fleet was destroy
ed at Navarino. The combined fleets
of Britain, France and Russia took
part in the operation.
In 1928 Greece was acknowledged
as a free and independent kingdom,
with king of its own.
For nearly century Egypt, which
the Turk conquered in Gal, had been
a part of the sultan's empire in little
more than name, and since 1882,
when the English occupied Pharoah's
country after Arab Pasha's rebellion,
the Turk has had practically nothing
to do with Egypt.
The Moorish corsairs who had their
lair in the pirate city Of Algeria ac-
knowledged the sultan as their suze-
rain, but were defiantly independent as
regarded all the rest Of the world.
Their swift sailing dhows preyed on
the commerce Of all Europe, and
from start to finish they seized many
thousands Of white captives, many Of
whom they ransomed, while others
they doomed to slavery.
When asked to keep his piratical
subjects in order the sultan declared
himself helpless to do anything. The
freebooters went on doing as they
liked for a long time. Then France
became weary of patience and forci-
bly, took possession of the city in 1880.
Since then she has annexed 307,9S0
square miles of Algerian territory once
subject to the sultan.
Then came the Turks worst time.
Russia made war on him, and the
Balkan states, which had been held
as provinces of Turkey for hundreds
of years, revoited, flew to arms, and
did everything they could on the side
of Russia Had the czar been left to
himself the Turkish empire would
have been practically destroyed. The
other great powers however, were
afraid to see Russia too powerful.
They insisted on summoning the con-
gress of Berlin.
By the terms of the treaty Of Ber-
lin the Turk was almost swept out of
Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina
were handed over to Austria to keep
in order. Roumania, Servia and Mon
tenegro were declared absolutely in
dependent of him. Bulgaria was
created into a principality, nominally
under the sultan's suzerainty, but in
reality free. And then Austria an
nexed Bosnia and Herzegovina
Pearson's Weekly.
| EE A Rreslau paper publishes this