Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-20
EMPIRE OF TURKS
ONCE A WORLDP POWER
Former Ottoman Sultans Were
Soldiers as Well as States
men.

s:Solvn,an was the last and greatest Of
the FIRST ten Ottoman Sultans who, sue
cceding one another from father to son, IN
rather less than 500 years, raised their
Empire from nothing to one OF the most
extended in the world. With one eScep-
ton they were all able generals and ha-
bitually led their armies IN tho teld. They
were all statesmen, persistent IN pursuing
their ambitious aims. Many OF them were
addicted 10 literary pursuits, were stu
dents of history, and even had reputa-
ton as poets In spite of these softenIng
influences, there was in nearly all OF them
a fund Of cruelty. IL may bc doubted
whether, in the worlds history, any other
DYNASTY has produced so long q succession
OF men with such eminent and persistent
qualities Lord Eversley writes IN The
Turkish Empire"
"Solvman was succeeded bv his third
son, Sclm, commonly called the Sot, a
sobriuuct which sufficiently describes him.
Selim was followed by 24 other Sul'ans Of
the Othman dynasty down the present
time. With the rarest exception, they
were men wholly wanting IN capacity to
rule great empire. Only one of them was
capable of leading his army IN the field.
The Others had neither the will nor the
capacity, nor even the personal courage TO
do So
whatever may be the explanation,
there can be no doubt that the degcneracy
of the Othmsn dynasty dates from the
accession of Selim the Sot. But tins did
not necessarily involve the immediate dc
sadence oi tho Empire The Ottoman
Fu,pIrc could not have been built up hy
the energy and ability of a single auto
crat In each generation. There must have
heen many capable men, statement
generals and administrators, ct all ranks,
who contributed in each generation 70 the
achievements Of their rulers. Many such
mon survived Solv1nan, and pre-
served the Empire from the ruin which
threatened IT, The Empire, IN TACT, did
not begin 70 shrink in extent till some years
later, and for about u wears, as il from
the momentum gwen 10 IT by the power
ful Sultans Of the past, Il actually con-
tinued to expand. ~cilm was the first OF
The new tvpe OF Sultans He took no
interest or part in the affairs Of state.
''Selim fell completely under the IN
fiucnoe Of his grand ylzler, who had held
the post for two years under Solynlan.
sokolh, who was most capable man, was
the virtual ruler OF the Empire He was q
man OF large views tie had two important
and interesting schemes IN his mind The
one 70 cut q canal across the Isthmus 81
Suez. 80 that the Turkish fleet might tind
its way into the Red Sea and Indian
Ocean, the other 20 make junction by 4
canal between the rivers Don and Nolga
These two great rivers, which have their
sources IN Russia, run Il parallel course for
= long distance, and at one point approach
one another within 50 miles They then
dlverge again, the one Sowing into the Sea
Of A.off. thc other INTO the Caspian Sea
By Joining these two rivers by canal at
the poin. where the distance between
them Is the least, II would oe pOsSlhl IoT 2
Turkish totllls 70 ascend the Don, and
then, alter passing through the canal,
descend the Nolga into he Gas plan Sea
" henoe Il would be able 10 attack the
Persisn proy1nce Of Tabrlz with great ad-
vantage. The commercial possibilities OF
this junction oi the two great water high
ways were also obvious. The schemc, how
ever, nacessitatcd taking Astrlkan and
other territory from Russia q country
which had OF late years lare, u extended
lLs possessions and power The ox-
pfdItlop was = total failure
The scouistions Of the Ottoman En-
pure during the J. years when the grand
yizier SokollI was virtually lts ruler, were
very great and important They included
the island OF Cyprus, the province OF
Tunis, the kingdom of Georgia, the provln-
oes taken from Persia, and the Yemen. IN
Arabia. These, with one exception, were
the lsst ACQUISITIONS OF the Ottoman I'M
pire. The exception was that of the island
Of Crete, which was not attacked by the
Turks till o. years later, IN ltij, sud VS.
not finally conquered till l66s But bv
shrS tlue, the Ottoman Empire had begun
70 shrink al the hands Of It's enemies IN
other directions l. may he concluded
therefore. that the last year Of the vIzi.r-
ate OF Sokolh, l57e, and not the last year
oi Soiyrnan reign, was the zenith 0. the
Ottoman Lmpre.