THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1886.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7760, 5 October 1886, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1886.

The year 1304, which has just begun in the Mahomedan era, will be an eventful year in the Mahomedan world if the army of the Czar, through the co-operation of the German Chancellor, should find its way into Constantinople. If the crescent were pulled down in Stamboul, whither would the Sultan shift his headquarters 1 In Asia Minor he might find himself as insecure as on the European side of the Bosphorus. That historical, but now half desolated region, may be said to be under the shadow of the Caucasus, which the Western Powers, by the peace made exactly thirty years ago, left Russia in undisturbed possession of. Louis Napoleon and Lord Palmerston, while gaining useless victories in the Crimea, would do nothing to help the Circassians at the opposite side of the Black Sea to defend their mountains, which have since been converted into a vast Muscovite citadel, hanging over the neck of the neighbouring countries of Asia. But if not in Asia Minor, why should not the Sultan indeed obliged to shift— a new capital in Syria, in either of its once famous cities, Damascus or Aleppo? Because close by is the great mountain district of the Lebanon, with its nonMoslem inhabitants, Druses and Maronites, to whom in late years a half independence has been secured by treaty. Since the Crusades the Maronites have been under French protection, which was actively exercised by the late > French Emperor, and the Sultan would naturally feel that to fix his seat of Government anywhere in Syria might again place him in too close proximity to European interference or control. What about Egypt 1 Could he not make a metropolis of Cairo, as it is hinted Prince Bismarck desires ? That would be likewise awkward ; for it would transfer him to Africa, and the international highway of the Suez Canal could not but be prolific of complications for the chief of Islam. There then only remains Mesopotamia, and its city of Bagdad would afford the double advantage for the purpose of being central, and nowadays comparatively secluded from outer influence. And yet that is just the place, above all others, where the Ottoman Sovereign would now refuse to plant himself, for Bagdad was the seat of the Arabian Caliphs who were the heads of the Mahomedan world before that dignity passed to the Turkish Sultans. The Turks, moreover, are few in the population of that part of the empire, whereas the Arabs are many; and, as the reader is aware, a movement within Islam has sprung up in recent years to recall the Arab to dominant authority and abolish the sway of the Ottoman Sulta; s as enfeebled and incompetent. Some carious information from the Constantinople correspondent of the Times, which we then quoted in these columns, showed that leading men of other Moslem populations, as well as the Arabian, were engaged in this secret movement, which had its representation in • Stamboul, as in most parts of the empire, and which was inspired by the humiliation felt at seeing the head of the Faithful so much at the mercy of the Gaiour, and too readily imitating European usages. It was even said that the existing Shereef of Mecca was marked out as the forthcoming chief, and though he soon after suddenly died, intelligence from time to time shows that the secret organisation is still alive, and it is not likely to become less active in the present current of events. Under certain circumstances, which, however, it would be difficult or impossible to call up now, the Turkish Sovereign might be the most potent on the globe. The Mahomedans comprise nearly two hundred millions of the human race, and all, except the Persians, recognise him as their liege lord. They are, as a rule, martial populations, and their religion is well calculated to render them so; for it inculcates war, and offers paradise to all who die in battle for the faith. An able government at the head of such a confederacy would be a tremendous power; but the Turks have not had such a rule since the days of Suleyman " 'Ihe Magnificent," or Bayazeed, surnamed Ilderrim, or " The Lightning." Then, . they had regular standing armies, while those of Europe were a feudal militia, which explains the defeats sustained by the latter, often twice as numerous. In later times, and under feebler sovereigns, the janissaries would not accept modern discipline and arms, which accounts for the loss of so many provinces to Russia. Sultan Mahmoud massacred the mutinous janissaries, and then reformed the army, but of his civil reforms some were most impolitic, and others quite ineffective, While in many ways he hurl; his people's national feeling and sense of dignity by incongruous imitations of Europe, even discarding the loose flowing robes so well adapted to the climate and habits of the East, he found himself unable to cope with the corrupt oppression of the> local pashas and beys, which in at least modern times has been the prime weakness of the Empire. Prince Bismarck's motive for his present encouragement of Russia has not yet transpired, can only be conjectured , but certainly the Ottoman will not be turned out of Constantinople without another hard fight for it. The Turks have been always gallant soldiers, and they have now a welldisciplined army. It was first trained by French officers, until the Porte was displeased at the favour shown to its refractory vassal, Mehemet Ali, by the French Government. Then German officers were obtained, one of whom was the present General von Moltke. It is. an interesting fact to be noted that the Magyars, the principal population of Hungary, and who have now stepped forward as ardent friends of the Sultan, belong to the same stock as the Turks, and came to Europe from the same part of central Asia. The Magyars, who arrived first namely in the tenth century-—be-came Christians, and were obstinate ; antagonists of the Mahomedan con-

querors; but that long-continued ho tility of the two kindred population has been quite reversed in our time J. in 1849, and again on the p rese ~" t occasion—from the dread they both naturally have of the ambitious ad. vances of Russia.