The Washington herald., 1912-10-27
NJ MAX NoRDAU,

Celebrated Author. Scholar, Physician Tn,ele.. an,
0ratof.
London. OCT. 4.-Four nations are at
tacking Turkey. There were FIVE be
fore peace with Italy was hastily con
cluded. -Four against one-that appear,
shocking to the natural feeling that de
mands fair fight. The sympathy o.
easily be led astray by II. Pierre Lot
is an example of this. He has passion
ately espoused the cause of Turkey. Il
Is necessary to calm sentimental souls
Turkey alone Is probably stronger thar
all four Balkan states together. She 4
a unity, while her assailers are indi.
vidualities. loosely bound to one another
who have a long past Of mutual hate
>to forget and who will. perhaps. even
on the battlefield distrust one another.
Turkey has the sea. She occupies the
center of an arc. on the periphery OF
which ner enemies are disposed. To the
sober reckoner Montenegro. Servia, Bull
saria. and Greece appear to such disad-
vantage against Turkey that only in
tolerable sufferings and desperate scorn
of death could induce them to risk the
chance of war.
The gallant little states have under
taken to avenge a historical crime and
cleanse Europe of an ignominy. / pity
a civilized man who can recapitulate to
01an peninsula during the last 600 years
without growing red with shame.
Formerly Cultured
At the end of the Middle Ages South
east Europe boasted Of an intense cul-
ture. Young nations full of unspent vital
power there entered into European
civilization and found themselves at the
beginning Of a highly promising develop
No. toA
rulers, such as Stephen Daschan; war
like heroes, such as Emperor Lazar. The
Bulgarians, Ural-Altaite tribe. who
brilliantly gave proof Of their power Of
adaptation by adopting Christianity. the
Slav language. and the regular order Of
. state, went toward a great future under
kings like Simion.
New states grew under the shadow OF
old Byzantium, which, in spite of some
appearance of decay, was still the glor-
Gus heir of Athens and Rome. There the
language of Homer and Plato. with COM
paratively slight changes, was still alive
There We're read Greek poets and think
ers whom the rest of Europe only knew
in feeble translation or not at all. There
they possessed the Gospel in the original
language in which the disciples Of Christ
had written il. There were preserved the
refined manners, taste for art, and the
more distinguished crafts. methods OF
government, law, the art OF war. and
the scientific philosophical interests of
classical antiquity.
When the dark night of barbarism lay
over Eastern Europe II was compare
lively light in Constantinople. ByZan-
tium gave the Northern nations who
had established themselves on the ruins
of the Roman Empire an example Of po-
litical organization which they gradually
put in place of their anarchical tumult.
Daughters of Byzantine emperors taught
the German princes to whom they were
married good manners and social de-
corum. If one wished to build beautiful
cathedrals to Gods honor; II princes
wished to dwell in splendid palaces. they
had them erected by Byzantine archi-
tects. Rich silks, purple brocade stuffs,
artistic jewelry, and goldsmiths work
were brought from Byzantium. The
whole European art of painting proceeded
from Byzantine studios.
1t is the fashion to speak contemptu-
ously of later Byzantium. That Is a
cal,imny A people whose last emperor.
Constantine Palaelogus. fell like one of
Livy's heroes. weapon in hand; whose
fugitives, in their own country obscure
small average men, became the creators
of Italian renaissance. which means the
whole culture of modern times. had not
played their part to the end. q
Into this fermenting world In which