Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1909-02-03
RECORD OF THE TURK
Has Won and Lost More Land
Than Any Other Nation.
ONE TIME A WORLD BUGBEAR.


- He Was Almost Swept Out o. Z
rope by the Treaty Of Berlin.
:! The Terrible Turk" who may
" : taken as typifying the empire of Il
d sultaus, holds one record at lea
. which he Is not likely to be deprive
= OF. He has won and lost more ter,
tory than any other nation.
There was a time when the suita
was the bugbear Of the world. Eve
little children In England shook
. their shoes when they heard his nam
mentioned, and those pt tple who live
, anywhere near him dared not call thel
g lives their own.
t But at last the tide turned. Tn
Turk begun to lose, and one great mis-
fortune followed another.
} Spain was the nrst big bit Of tn
Turkish empire to break free. Th
&oors. who were subject and pal.
tribute to the sultan, were driven from
province after province until at length
they were cooped up In the soiltaxy
Kingdom OF Granada.
The last Moorish king to reign Il
Spain was -Chaco. or Boab
oil the Unlucky. In 1882 Ferdinand
and Isabella. the king and queen o!
Aragon and CASTLE, declared war or
him, and In 1892 be had to surrender
everything.
Hungary, which now forms hnK OF
the dual monarchy of the Emperor
Vrsncis Joseph. was q province OF the
sultan for 100 years. Then II was torn
from him by the sword.
After this came the turn Of tia
exars. The Russians. whom b once
desptsed. have been the Turks worst
enemies. They have either robbed him
themselves or encouraged others 10 rob
him.
Peter the Great set the example, but
was not, on the whole, very successful
h his wars against the Moslemx. At
one time the Turks could have CAP
tured and massacred Peter and his ar
nay, but were frustrated by the slave
Fir, Catherine, whom Peter had mar
ried.
Catherine the Great tore the Crimea
from the unhappy Turk. together with
thousands of square miles Of territory
along the shores q the Caspian
In 1921 the Greeks, who had been
slaves of the suitans for many centu-
ries, rose In rebellion and drove the
Turks ont Of the country. But then
the Greek leaders began to quarrel |
among themselves. and civil war fol- |
lowed. The Turk took tho opportunity |
to ReiEe the country once more.
But the mossacres and other horrors
which followed aroused Europe. In
1927 the Turkish feet was DESTROYED
At Navarino. The combined fleets Of
Britain. France and Russia took part
tn the operation.
In 1913 Greece was acknowledged ~
= free and independent kingdom. with
a. king Of its own.
For nearly \ century Egypt. which
the Turk conquered In Gal, has been
part OF the sultan's empire In ht:ie
moro than name. and since 1882. when
The English occupied Pharaoh's coun-
~ after Arab Pashas rebellion. the
purk has had practically nothing to do
with Egypt.
The Moorish corsatrs who bad their
air 10 the pirate city OF AlRiers &C.
the sultan as their SUE
ain. but were dehantly independent ms
egurded all the rest Of the world.
Their swift sailing dhews preyed on
he commerce of all Europe. and from
tart to finish they seized many thou. :
ands OF white csptves. many Of
Fhom they rnnsomed. while Others :
hey deemed to slavery. q
When asked to keep his piratieaI :
ob1ects In order the sultan declared r.
inSelt helpless to do anything. The :.
went ON doing as they
ked for a hong time. Then France
ecare weary Of patience and forcibiy
,ok possession Of the city In 1890.
Since then she has annexed s01 $50 :,
Iaare miles of Algerian territory once h
inject to the sultan. .
Then Gaze the Turks worst tims. =.
ussia made war on him, and the Bal =
IN stStes. which bad been held as =
rovinees by Turkey for hundreds OF :
ears, revolted. few TO arms and did
they could on the side of
ussia. Had the car been left to him
III the Turkish empire would have =,
zen practically DESTROYED. The other -
eat powers. however. were afraid to y
e Russia too powerful. They insist ~
on summoning the congress Of Ber. VI
By the terms Of the treaty Of Berlin ~
e Tusk was almost swept ont Of Eu- "
Pc Bosnia and Herzegovina were -
nded over TO Austria % keep IN or. -
2. Roamnnia, ssrvia and Montene ~
o were declared absolutely inAspend. AZ ~
t Of him. Bulgaria was eresxsd into ~
prfncipality. nominaIly under the -.
ltan's suzerainty. but in reality free.
I'd then Austria annexed Bosnia and VI
.rzeeovina.-Pearson's Weekly. w
OH
An Old Idea. mi
iacaulay was not the frst man to or
me the fqmOffQ fynaOa NJ Nhn ,v~~. III,