Theosophy - A Turkish Effendi on Christendom and Islam
- The Blavatsky Pamphlets No.8- as issued by the H.P.B.
Library now in Toronto,On.Canada
A
Turkish Effendi
on
Christendom and Islam
The Blavatsky Pamphlets No 8
Reprinted from “Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine,”
No. DCCLXXI January 1880 Vol CXXVII
With a Foreword
Published by The H.P.B Library, Toronto ,Ontario. Canada
FOREWORD
Since the Letter herein reproduced
was written, nearly fifty years ago, the conflict between the two contending
religious forces, Christianity and Islam, has become not only more acute, but
more world-wide. Christianity, regarded as a moral and ethical influence, is
on its trial now as never before in its long and, it must be admitted, blood-stained
history.
The letter is an exact reprint from the January number
of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine for 1880. It puts before the
public so admirable a summing-up of the attitude and views of a cultured and
intelligent Moslem, that it has seemed both timely and useful to include it
in the Blavatsky Pamphlet series, to the end that the Western peoples may have
the opportunity to study the real issue of the conflict, from the point of view
of Islam. As the writer speaks of his connection with the Theosophical movement
founded by H. P. Blavatsky, it is probable that he is one of the Initiates who
were known to be working in the Near East at that time.
The indictment which the writer of the Letter brings
against Christianity is a heavy one. It has been stated time and again in one
form or another (cf. Blavatsky Pamphlet No. 1.) by many who, while admiring
profoundly the Christian ethical teachings, fail to discover much evidence
of their actual practice by those nations which nominally profess to
hold and to follow the religion of its founder.
The British Government representative, to whom the
Letter was given, explains in an introductory note the circumstances under which
he met the mysterious writer.
INTRODUCTORY
NOTE
In
the suburb of one of the most romantically situated towns
in Asia Minor there lives the most remarkable oriental
whom it has ever
been my fortune to meet. Traveling through that interesting
country a few months ago, with the view of assisting the
British Government to introduce some much
needed reforms, I arrived at ----------------. I purposely
abstain from mentioning the name of the place, as my Eastern
friend, to whom I am indebted for the following
paper, desires his incognito to be observed, for reasons which the reader
will easily understand on its perusal. I remained there
some weeks examining the state of the surrounding country,
at that time a good deal disturbed, and
giving the local authorities the benefit of a little wholesome
counsel and advice, which, I need scarcely say, they wholly
disregarded.
"My
officious interference in their affairs not unnaturally
procured me some notoriety; and I received, in consequence,
numerous visits
from members of all classes of the community detailing
their grievances, and anxious to know what chance there
might be of a forcible intervention on the
part of England by which these should be redressed. In
my intercourse with them, I was struck by their constant
allusion to an apparently mysterious individual,
who evidently enjoyed a reputation for an almost supernatural
sagacity, and whose name they never mentioned except in
terms of the greatest reverence, and
indeed, I might almost say, of awe.
"My
curiosity at last became excited, and I made special inquiries
in regard to this unknown sage. I found that he lived
about a mile and a half out of the town, on a farm which
he had purchased about five years ago; that no one knew
from whence he had come; that he spoke both
Turkish and Arabic as his native tongues; but that some
supposed him to be a Frank, owing to his entire neglect
of all the ceremonial observances of a good
Moslem, and to a certain foreign mode of thought; while
others maintained that no man who had not been born an
oriental could adapt himself so naturally to
the domestic life of the East, and acquire its social habits
with such ease and perfection. His erudition was said
to be extraordinary, and his life seemed
passed in studying the literature of many languages — his agent, for the
purchase and forwarding of such books and papers as he
needed, being a foreign merchant at the nearest sea-port.
He seemed possessed of considerable wealth,
but his mode of life was simple in the extreme; and he
employed large sums in relieving the distress by which
he was surrounded, and in protecting by the
necessary bribes those who were unable to protect themselves
from oppression. The result was, that he was adored by
the country people for miles round, while
he was rather respected and feared than disliked by the
Turkish officials — for
he was extremely tolerant of their financial necessities,
and quite understood that they were compelled to squeeze
money out of the peasantry, because, as
they received no pay, they would starve themselves unless
they did.
To
this gentleman I sent my card, with a note in French, stating
that I was a traveling Englishman, with a seat in the House
of Commons
in immediate prospect at the coming election, consumed
with a desire to reform Asia Minor, or at all
events, to enlighten my countrymen
as to how it should be done. Perhaps I am wrong in saying
that I actually put all this in my note, but it was couched
in the usual tone of members of Parliament,
who are cramming political questions abroad which are likely
to come up next session. I know the style, because I have
been in the House myself. The note
I received in reply was in English, and ran as follows:
DEAR
SIR—
If you are not otherwise engaged, it
will give me great pleasure if you will do me the honour
of dining with me to-morrow evening at seven. I trust you
will excuse the preliminary formality of a visit,
but I have an appointment at some distance in the country,
which will detain me until too late an hour to call.
Believe
me, yours very truly,.....................Effendi.
"P.S. — As
you may have some difficulty in finding your way, my servant
will be with you at half-past six to serve as a guide".
"Dear
me", I thought, as I read this civilized epistle
with amazement, "I wonder whether he expects me to dress"; for I need scarcely
say I had come utterly unprovided for any such contingency,
my wearing apparel, out of regard for my baggage-mule,
having been limited to the smallest allowance
consistent with cleanliness. Punctually at the hour named,
my dragoman informed me that ...................
Effendi's servant was in attendance; and, arrayed in
the shooting-coat, knee-breeches, and riding-boots, which
formed my only costume, I followed him on foot through
the narrow winding streets of the town, until
we emerged into its gardens, and following a charming path
between orchards of fruit-trees, gradually reached its
extreme outskirts, when it turned into
a narrow glen, down which foamed a brawling torrent.
"A
steep ascent for about ten minutes brought us to a large
gate in a wall. This was immediately opened by a porter
who lived
in a lodge outside, and I found myself in grounds that
were half park, half flower-garden, in the center of which,
on a terrace commanding a magnificent
view, stood the house of my host .......a Turkish mansion with projecting latticed
windows, and a courtyard with a colonnade round it and
a fountain in the middle. A broad flight of steps led to
the principal entrance, and at the top of it
stood a tall figure in the flowing Turkish costume of fifty
years ago, now, alas! becoming very rare among the upper
classes. I wondered whether this could
be the writer of the invitation to dinner; but my doubts
were speedily solved by the empressement with which this turbaned individual, who seemed a
man of about fifty years of age, descended the steps, and
with the most consummate ease and grace of manner, advanced
to shake hands and give me a welcome of unaffected
cordiality.
"He
spoke English with the greatest fluency, though with a
slight accent, and in appearance was of the fair type not
commonly seen
in Turkey; the eyes dark-blue, mild in repose, but, when
animated, expanding and flashing with the brilliancy of
the intelligence which lay behind them.
The beard was silky and slightly auburn. The whole expression
of the face was inexpressibly winning and attractive, and
I instinctively felt that if it only
depended upon me, we should soon become fast friends.
Such in fact proved to be the case. We had a perfect little
dinner, cooked in Turkish style, but served
in European fashion; and afterwards talked so far into
the night, that my host would not hear of my returning,
and put me in a bed-room as nicely furnished
as if it had been in a country-house in England.
Next
morning I found that my dragoman and baggage had all been
transferred from the house of the family with
whom I had
been lodging in town, and I was politely given to understand
that I was forcibly taken possession of during the remainder
of my stay at ............ — .
At the expiration of a week I was so much struck by the
entirely novel view, as it seemed to me, which my host
took of the conflict between Christendom and
Islam, and by the philosophic aspect under which he presented
the Eastern Question generally, that I asked him whether
he would object to putting his ideas in
writing, and allowing me to publish them — prefacing his remarks by any
explanation in regard to his own personality, which he
might feel disposed to give. He was extremely reluctant
to comply with this request, his native modesty
and shrinking from notoriety of any sort presenting an
almost insurmountable obstacle to his rushing into print,
even in the strictest incognito.
However, by dint of persistent importunity, I at last succeeded
in breaking through his reserve, and he consented to throw
into the form of a personal communication
addressed to me whatever he had to say, and to allow me
to make any use of it I liked.
I
confess that when I came to read his letter, I was somewhat
taken aback by the uncompromising manner in which the Effendi
had stated
his case; and I should have asked him to modify the language
in which he had couched his views, but I felt convinced
that, had I done so, he would have withdrawn
it altogether. I was, moreover, ashamed to admit that
I doubted whether I should find a magazine in England with
sufficient courage to publish it. As although
my friend wrote English with extraordinary facility for
an oriental, the style was somewhat defective, I ventured
to propose that I should rewrite
it, retaining not merely the ideas, but the expressions
as far as possible. To this he readily consented; and as
I read it over to him afterwards, and he
approved of, it in its present form, I can guarantee
that his theory as to the origin and nature of the collision
between the East and the West is accurately
represented. I need not say that I differ from it, entirely,
and in our numerous
conversations gave my reasons for doing so.
"I
will not enter into them here, however, as they will at
once occur to the intelligent reader; but notwithstanding
the many fallacies
contained in the Effendi's line of argument, I have thought
it well that it should, if possible, be made public in
England, for many reasons.
In the first place, the question of reform, especially
in Asiatic Turkey, occupies a dominant position in English politics; and it
is of great importance that we should know, not only that many intelligent Turks
consider a reform of the Government hopeless, but to what causes they attribute
the present decrepit and corrupt condition of the empire. We can gather from
the views here expressed, though stated in a most uncomplimentary manner, why
many of the most enlightened Moslems, while lamenting the vices which have brought
their country to ruin, refuse to co-operate in an attempt, on the part of the
Western Powers, which, in their opinion, would only be going from bad to worse.
However much we may differ from those whom we wish to benefit, it would be folly
to shut our ears to their opinions in regard to ourselves or our religion, simply
because they are distasteful to us. We can best achieve our end by candidly
listening to what they may have to say.
And
this must be my apology, as well as that of the magazine
in which it appears, for the publication of a letter so
hostile
in tone to our cherished convictions and beliefs. At the
same time, I cannot disguise from myself that, while many
of its statements are prejudiced and highly
coloured, others are not altogether devoid of some foundation
in truth: it never can do us any harm to see ourselves
sometimes as others see us. The tendency
of mankind, and perhaps especially of Englishmen, is so
very much that of the ostrich, which is satisfied to keep
its head in the sand and see nothing that
is disturbing to its self-complacency, that a little rough
handling occasionally does no harm.
These
considerations have induced me to do my best to make "the bark of the distant Effendi" be heard, to use the fine imagery
of Bon Gaultier;
Say,
is it the glance of the haughty vizier,
Or
the bark of the distant Effendi, you fear?”
— Eastern Serenade:”Bon Gaultier’s
“Book of Ballads.”
and with these few words of introduction, I will leave
him to tell his own tale, and state his opinions on the burning questions of
the day.
The Turkish Effendi's Letter
"My
DEAR FRIEND,—
"I
proceed, in compliance with your request, to put in writing
a resume in a condensed form of the views which I have expressed
in our various conversations together on the Eastern Question,
premising only
that I have yielded to it under strong pressure, because
I fear they may wound the sensibilities or shock the prejudices
of your countrymen. As, however, you
assure me that they are sufficiently tolerant to have the
question, in which they are so much interested, presented
to them from an oriental point of view,
I shall write with perfect frankness, and in the conviction
that opinions, however unpalatable they may be, which are
only offered to the public in the
earnest desire to advance the cause of truth, will meet
with some response in the breasts of those who are animated
with an equally earnest desire to find
it.
"In
order to explain how I have come to form these opinions,
I must, at the cost of seeming egoistic, make a few prefatory
remarks
about myself. My father was an official of high rank
and old Turkish family, resident for some time in Constantinople,
and afterwards in an important seaport
in the Levant. An unusually enlightened and well educated
man, he associated much with Europeans; and from early
life I have been familiar with the Greek,
French and Italian languages. He died when I was about
twenty years of age; and I determined to make use of the
affluence to which I fell heir, by traveling
in foreign countries. I had already read largely the
literature of both France and Italy, and had to a certain
extent become emancipated from the modes of
thought, and I may even say from the religious ideas,
prevalent among my countrymen. I went in the first instance
to Rome, and, after a year's sojourn there, proceeded
to England, where I assumed an Italian name, and devoted
myself to the study
of the language, institutions, literature and religion
of the country. I was at all times extremely fond of philosophical
speculation, and this led me to
a study of German.
"My
pursuits were so engrossing that I saw little of society,
and the few friends I made were among a comparatively humble
class.
I remained in England ten years, travelling occasionally
on the Continent, and visiting Turkey twice during that
time. I then proceeded to America, where I
passed a year, and thence went to India by way of Japan
and China. In India I remained two years, resuming during
this period an oriental garb, and living principally among
my co-religionists. I was chiefly occupied, however, in
studying the religious movement
among the Hindoos, known as the Bramo Somaj.
From India I went to Ceylon, where I lived in great retirement,
and became deeply immersed in the more occult knowledges
of Buddhism. Indeed, these mystical studies
so intensely interested me, that it was with difficulty,
after a stay of three years, that I succeeded in tearing
myself away from them. I then passed, by
way of the Persian Gulf, into Persia, remained a year
in Teheran, whence I went
to Damascus, where I lived for five years, during which
time I performed the Hadj, more out of curiosity than as
an act of devotion. Five years ago I arrived
here on my way to Constantinople, and was so attracted
by the beauty of the spot, and the repose which it seemed
to offer me, that I determined to pitch
my tent here for the remainder of my days, and to spend
them in doing what I could to improve the lot of those
amidst whom Providence had thrown me.
"I
am aware that this record of my travels will be received
with considerable surprise by those acquainted with the
habits of life
of Turks generally. I have given it, however, to account
for the train of thought into which I have been led, and
the conclusions at which I have arrived, and
to explain the exceptional and isolated position in which
I find myself among my own countrymen, who, as a rule have
no sympathy with the motives which have
actuated me through life, or with their results. I have
hitherto observed, therefore, a complete reticence in regard
to both. Should, however, these pages fall under
the eye of any member of the Theosophic Society, either
in America, Europe, or Asia, they will at once recognize
the writer as one of their number, and
will, I feel sure, respect that reserve as to my personality
which I wish to maintain.
"I
have already said that in early life I became thoroughly
dissatisfied with the religion in which I was born and
brought up:
and, determined to discard all early prejudices, I resolved
to travel over the world, visiting the various centres
of religious thought, with the view of making
a comparative study of the value of its religions, and
of arriving at some conclusion as to the one I ought myself
to adopt. As, however, they each claimed to be
derived from an inspired source, I very soon became overwhelmed
with the presumption of the task which I had undertaken;
for I was not conscious of the possession
of any verifying faculty which would warrant my deciding
between the claims of different revelations, or of judging
the merits of rival forms of inspiration.
Nor did it seem possible to me that any evidence in favour
of a revelation, which was in all instances offered by
human beings like myself, could be of
such a nature that another human being should dare to assert
that it could have
none other than a divine origin; the more especially as
the author of it was in all instances in external appearance
also a human being. At the same time,
I am far from being so daring as to maintain that no divine
revelation, claiming to be such, is not pervaded with a
divine afflatus. On the contrary, it would
seem that to a greater or less extent they must all be
so. The relative values must depend, so far as our own
earth is concerned, upon the amount of moral
truth of a curative kind, in regard to this world's moral
disease, which they contain, and upon their practical influence
upon the lives and conduct of men.
"I
was therefore led to institute a comparison between the
objects which were proposed by various religions; and I
found that just
in the degree in which they had been diverted from their
original design of world-regeneration, were the results
unsatisfactory, so far as human
righteousness was concerned; and that the concentration
of the mind of the devotee upon a future state of life,
and the salvation of his soul after he left this
world, tended to produce an enlightened selfishness in
his daily life, which has culminated in its extreme form
under the influence of one religion, and
finally resulted in what is commonly known as Western civilization.
For it is only logical, if a man be taught to consider
his highest religious duty to be
the salvation of his own soul, while the salvation of his
neighbor’s occupies
a secondary place, that he should instinctively feel his
highest earthly duty is the welfare of his own human personality
and those belonging to it in this
world. It matters not whether this future salvation is
to be attained by an act of faith, or by merit through
good works — the effort is none the less
a selfish one. The religion to which I am now referring
will be at once recognized as the popular form of Christianity.
"After
a careful study of the teaching of the great founder of
this religion, I am amazed at the distorted character it
has assumed
under the influence of the three great sects into which
it has become divided — to
wit, the Greek, Catholic, and Protestant Christians. There
is no teaching so thoroughly altruistic in its character,
and which, if it could be literally
applied, would, I believe, exercise so direct and beneficial
an influence on the human race, as the teaching of Christ;
but as there is no religious teacher
whose moral standard, in regard to the duties of men towards
each other in this world, was so lofty, so there is none,
it seems to me, as an impartial student,
the spirit of whose revelation has been more perverted
and degraded by His followers of all denominations.
"The
Buddhist, the Hindoo, and the Mohammedan though they have
all more or less lost the influence of the afflatus which
pervades their sacred writings, have not actually constructed
a theology based
upon the inversion of the original principles of their
religion. Their light, never so bright as that which illumined
the teachings of Christ, has died away,
till but a faint flicker remains; but Christians have developed
their social and political morality out of the very blackness
of the shadow thrown by 'The
Light of the World.' Hence it is that wherever modern Christendom — which
I will, for the sake of distinguishing it from the Christendom
proposed by Christ, style Anti-Christendom [I here remarked
to the Effendi that there was something
very offensive to Christians in the term Anti-Christendom, as it possessed
a peculiar signification in their religious belief; and
I requested him to substitute for it some other word. This
he declined to do most positively and he pointed
to passages in the Koran, in which Mahomet prophesies the
coming of Antichrist. As he said it was an article of his
faith that the Antichrist alluded to by
the Prophet was the culmination of the inverted Christianity
professed in these latter days, he could not so far compromise
with his conscience as to change
the term, and rather than do so he would withdraw the letter.
I have therefore been constrained to let it remain] — comes into contact with the races
who live under the dim religious light of their respective
revelations, the feeble rays of the latter become extinguished
by the gross darkness of this
Anti-Christendom, and they lie crushed and mangled under
the iron heel of its organized and sanctified selfishness.
The real God of Anti-Christendom, is Mammon:
in Catholic Anti-Christendom, tempered by a lust of spiritual
and temporal power; in Greek Anti-Christendom, tempered
by a lust of race aggrandizement; but in
Protestant Anti-Christendom, reigning supreme. The cultivation
of the selfish instinct has unnaturally developed the purely
intellectual faculties at the
expense of the moral; has stimulated competition; and has
produced a combination of mechanical inventions, political
institutions, and an individual force of
character, against which so-called heathen nations, whose
cupidities and covetous propensities lie comparatively
dormant are utterly unable to prevail.
"This
overpowering love of 'the root of all evil,' with the mechanical
inventions in the shape of railroads, telegraphs, ironclads,
and other appliances which it has discovered for the accumulation
of wealth
and the destruction of those who impede its accumulation,
constitutes what is called 'Western Civilization.’
“Countries
in which there are no gigantic swindling corporations,
no financial crises by which millions are ruined, or gatling
guns
by which they may be slain, are said to be in a state of
barbarism. When the civilization of Anti-Christendom comes
into contact with barbarism of this sort,
instead of lifting it out of its moral error, which would
be the case if it were true Christendom, it almost invariably
shivers it to pieces. The consequence
of the arrival of the so-called Christian in a heathen
country is, not to being immortal life, but physical and
moral death. Either the native races die out
before him — as in the case of the Red Indian of America and the Australian
and New Zealander — or they save themselves from physical decay by worshiping
with all the ardour of converts to a new religion, at
the shrine of Mammon — as
in the case of Japan — and fortify themselves against dissolution by such
a rapid development of the mental faculties and the avaricious
instincts, as may enable them to cope successfully with
the formidable invading influence
of Anti-Christendom.
"The
disastrous moral tendencies and disintegrating effects
inverted Christianity upon a race professing a religion
which was far
inferior in its origin and conception, but which has
been practised by its professors with more fidelity and
devotion, has been strikingly illustrated in the history
of my own country. One of the most corrupt forms
which Christianity
has ever assumed, was to be found organized in the Byzantine
empire at the time of its conquest by the Turks.
"Had
the so-called Christian races, which fell under their sway
in Europe during their victorious progress westward, been
compelled,
without exception, to adopt the faith of Islam, it is
certain, to my mind, that their moral condition would have
been immensely improved. Indeed, you who have
travelled among the Moslem Slavs of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
who are the descendants of converts to Islam at that epoch,
will bear testimony to the fact that they
contrast most favourably in true Christian virtues with
the descendants of their countrymen who remained Christians;
and I fearlessly appeal to the Austrian
authorities now governing those provinces to bear me
out in this assertion. Unfortunately, a sufficiently large
nominally Christian population was allowed
by the Turks to remain in their newly-acquired possessions,
to taint the conquering race itself. The vices of Byzantinism
speedily made themselves felt in the body
politic of Turkey. The subservient races, intensely superstitious in the form
of their religious belief, which had been degraded into
a passport system, by which the believer in the efficacy
of certain dogmas and ceremonials might attain
heaven, irrespective of his moral character on earth,
were unrestrained by religious principles from giving
free reign to their natural propensities, which were
dishonest and covetous in the extreme. They thus revenged
themselves on their conquerors, by undermining them financially,
politically, and morally; they
insidiously plundered those who were too indifferent
to wealth to learn how to preserve it, and infected others
with the contagion of their own cupidity,
until these became as vicious and corrupt in
their means of acquiring riches as they were themselves.
"This
process has been going on for the last five hundred years,
until the very fanaticism of the race, which was its best
protection
against inverted Christianity, has begun to die out,
and the governing class of Turks has with rare exceptions
become as dishonest and degraded as the Ghiaours
they despise. Still they would have been able, for many
years yet to come, to hold their own in Europe, but for
the enormously increased facilities for the
accumulation of wealth, and therefore for the gratification
of covetous propensities, created within the last half-century
by the discoveries of steam and electricity.
Not only was Turkey protected formerly from the sordid
and contaminating influence of Anti-Christendom by the
difficulties of communication, but the mania of developing
the resources of foreign countries, for the purpose of
appropriating the wealth
which
they
might contain, became proportionately augmented with increased
facilities of transport — so that now the very habits of
thought in regard to countries styled barbarous have
become changed.
"As
an example of this, I would again refer to my own country.
I can remember the day when British tourists visited it
with a
view to the gratification of their aesthetic tastes. They
delighted to contrast what they were then pleased to term
'oriental civilization' with their own.
Our very backwardness in the mechanical arts was an attraction
to them. They went home delighted with the picturesqueness
and the indolence of the East.
Its bazaars, its costumes, its primitive old-world cachet, invested it
in their eyes with an indescribable charm: and books were
written which fascinated the Western reader with pictures
of our manners and customs, because
they were so different from those with which he was familiar.
"Now
all this is changed; the modern traveller is in nine cases
out of ten a railroad speculator, or a mining engineer,
or a financial
promoter, or a concession hunter, or perchance a would-be
member of Parliament like yourself, coming to see how pecuniary
or political capital can be made
out of us, and how he can best exploiter the resources of the country
to his own profit. This he calls 'reforming it.' His
idea is, not how to make the people morally better, but
how best to develop their predatory instincts,
and teach them to prey upon each other's pockets. For
he knows that by encouraging a rivalry in the pursuits
of wealth amongst a people comparatively unskilled
in the art of money-grabbing, his superior talent and
experience in that occupation will enable him to turn
their efforts to his own advantage. He disguises from
himself the immorality of the proceeding by the reflection
that the introduction
of foreign capital will add to the wealth of the country,
and increase the material well-being and happiness of
the people. But apart from the fallacy that wealth
and happiness are synonymous terms, reform of this kind
rests on the assumption that natural temperament and
religious tendencies of the race will lend themselves
to a keen commercial rivalry of this description; and
if it does not, they,
like the Australian and the Red Indian, must disappear
before it.
"Already
the process has begun in Europe. The Moslem is rapidly
being reformed out of existence altogether. Between the
upper and
the nether millstone of Russian greed for territory and
of British greed for money, and behind the mask of a prostituted
Christianity, the Moslem in Europe
has been ground to powder; hundreds of thousands of innocent
men, women, and children have either perished by violence
or starvation, or, driven
from their homes, are now struggling to keep body and soul
together as best they can in misery and desolation, crushed
beneath the wheels of the Juggernaut
of 'Progress’. — their only crime, like that of the poor crossing-sweeper,
I think, in one of your own novels, that they did not ‘move on.’ This is called in modern parlance 'the civilizing influence
of Christianity.' At this moment the Russians are pushing
roads through their newly-acquired territory
towards Kars. I am informed by an intelligent Moslem gentleman,
who has just arrived from that district, that the effect
of their 'civilizing' influence
upon the inhabitants of the villages, through which these
roads pass, is to convert the women into prostitutes and
the men into drunkards. No wonder the
Mohammedan population if flocking in thousands across the
frontier into Turkish territory, abandoning their homes
and landed possessions in order to escape
the contamination of Anti-Christendom.
"In
these days of steam and electricity, not only has the traveller
no eye for the moral virtues of a people, but his aesthetic
faculties have become blunted: he regards them only as
money-making machines,
and he esteems them just in the degree in which they
excel in the art of wealth-accumulation. Blinded by selfish
utilitarianism, he can now see only barbarism in a country
where the landscape is not obscured by the black smoke
of factory-chimneys,
and the ear deafened by the scream of the locomotive.
For him a people who cling to the manners and customs of
a bygone epoch, with which their own most glorious
traditions are associated, have no charm. He sees in
a race, which still endeavours to follow in the faith of
their forefathers with simplicity and devotion, nothing
but ignorant fanaticism, for he has long since
substituted hypocrisy
for sincerity in his own belief. He despises a peasantry
whose instincts of submission and obedience induce them
to suffer rather than rise in revolt against
a Government which oppresses them, because the head of
it is invested in their eyes with a sacred character. He
can no longer find anything to admire or to
interest in the contrast between the East and West, but
everything to condemn; and his only sympathy is with that
section of the population in Turkey, who,
called Christians like himself, like him, devote themselves
to the study of how much can be made, by fair means or
foul, out of their Moslem neighbours.
"While
I observe that this change has come over the Western traveller
of late years — a change which I attribute to the mechanical
appliances of the age — a corresponding effect, owing to the same cause,
has, I regret to say, been produced upon my own countrymen.
A gradual assimilation has been for some time in progress
in the East with the habits and customs of
the rest of Europe. We are abandoning our distinctive costume,
and adapting ourselves to a Western mode of life in many
ways. We are becoming lax in the
observances of our religion; and it is now the fashion
for our women to get their high-heeled boots and bonnets
from Paris, and for our youths of good family
to go to that city of pleasure, or to one of the large
capitals of Europe, for their education. Here they adopt
all the vices of Anti-Christendom, for the
attractions of a civilization based upon enlightened selfishness
are overpoweringly seductive; and they return without
religion of any sort — shallow, skeptical,
egoistical, and thoroughly demoralized. It is next to impossible
for a Moslem youth, as I myself experienced, to come out
of that fire uncontaminated His religion fits him to live
with simple and primitive races, and even to acquire a
moral control over them; but
he is fascinated and overpowered by
the mighty influence of the glamour of the West. He returns
to Turkey with his principles thoroughly undermined, and,
if he has sufficient ability, adds one
to the number of those who misgovern it.
"The
two dominant vices, which characterize Anti-Christendom,
are cupidity and hypocrisy. That which chiefly revolts
the Turk in this disguised
attack upon the morals of his people, no less than upon
the very existence of his empire, is, that it should be
made under the pretext of morality, and behind
the flimsy veil of humanitarianism. It is in the nature
of the religious idea that just in proportion as it was
originally penetrated with a divine truth,
which has become perverted, does it engender hypocrisy.
This was so true of Judaism, that when the founder of Christianity
came, though himself a Jew, he
scorchingly denounced the class which most loudly professed
the religion which they profaned. But the Phariseeism which
has made war upon Turkey is far more
intense in degree than that which he attacked, for the
religion which it profanes contains the most divine truth
which the world ever received. Mahomet divided
the nether world into seven hells, and in the lowest
he placed the hypocrites
of all religions. I have now carefully examined into
many religions, but as none of them demanded so high a
standard from its followers as Christianity,
there has not been any development of hypocrisy out of
them at all corresponding to that which is peculiar to
Anti-Christianity. For that reason I am constrained
to think that its contributions to the region assigned
to hypocrites by the prophet will be out of all proportion
to the hypocrites of other religions.
"In
illustration of this, see how the principles of morality
and justice are at this moment being hypocritically outraged
in
Albania, where, on the moral ground that a nationality
has an inherent right to the property of its neighbour,
if it can make a claim of similarity of race,
a southern district of the country is to be forcibly given
to Greece; while in violation of the same moral principle,
a northern district is to be taken
from the Albanian nationality, to which by right of race
it belongs, and violently and against the will of the
people, who are in no way consulted as to their
fate, is to be handed over for annexation to the Montenegrins — a race whom
the population to be annexed traditionally hate and detest.
"When
Anti-Christian nations, sitting in solemn congress, can
be guilty of such a prostitution of the most sacred principles
in the name
of morality, and construct an international code of ethics
to be applicable to Turkey alone, and which they would
one and all refuse to admit or be controlled
by, themselves, — when we know that the internal corruption, the administrative
abuses, and the oppressive misgovernment of the Power
which has just made war
against us in the name of humanity, have driven the population
to despair, and the authorities to the most cruel excesses
in order to repress them, — and
When, in the face of all this most transparent humbug,
these Anti-Christian nations arrogate to themselves, on
the ground of their superior civilization
and morality, the right to impose reform upon Turkey, — we neither admit
their pretensions, covet their civilization, believe in
their good faith, nor respect their morality.
"Thus
it is that, from first to last, the woes of Turkey have
been due to its contact with Anti-Christendom. The race
is now paying the penalty for that lust of dominion
and power, which tempted them in the first instance to
cross the Bosphorus. From the day on which the
tree of empire was planted in Europe, the canker, in
the shape of the opposing religion, began to gnaw at its
roots. When the Christians within had thoroughly
eaten out its vitals, they called on the Christians without
for assistance; and it is morally impossible that the decayed
trunk can much longer withstand
their combined efforts. But as I commenced by saying,
had the invading Moslems in the first instance converted
the entire population to their creed, Turkey
might have even now withstood the assaults of 'progress.'
Nay, more, it is not impossible that her victorious armies
might have overrun Europe, and that the
faith of Islam might have extended over the whole of
what is now termed the civilized world.
"I
have often thought how much happier it would have been
for Europe, and unquestionably for the rest of the world,
had such been
the case. That wars and national antagonisms would have
continued, is doubtless true; but we should have been saved
the violent political and social changes
which have resulted from steam and electricity, and have
continued to live the simple and primitive life which satisfied
the aspirations of our ancestors,
and in which they found contentment and happiness, while
millions of barbarians would to this day have remained
in ignorance of the gigantic vices peculiar
to Anti-Christian civilization. The West would have then
been spared the terrible consequences which are even now
impending, as the inevitable result of an intellectual
progress to which there has been no corresponding moral
advance. The persistent violation for eighteen centuries
of the great altruistic law, propounded and
enjoined by the great founder of the Christian religion,
must inevitably produce a corresponding catastrophe; and
the day is not
far distant when modern civilization will find that in
its great scientific discoveries and inventions,
devised for the purpose of ministering to its own extravagant
necessities, it has forged the weapons by which it will
itself be destroyed.
"No
better evidence of the truth of this can be found than
in the fact that Anti-Christendom alone is menaced with
the danger of a
great class revolution; already in every so-called Christian
country we hear the mutterings of the coming storm when
labour and capital will find themselves
arrayed against each other, — when rich and poor will meet in deadly antagonism,
and the spoilers and the spoiled solve, by means of the
most recently invented artillery, the economic problems
of modern 'progress.' It is surely a remarkable
fact, that this struggle between rich and poor is specially
reserved for those whose religion inculcates upon them,
as the highest law — the love of their
neighbour — and most strongly denounces the love of money. No country,
which does not bear the name of Christian is thus threatened.
Even in Turkey, in spite
of its bad government and the many Christians who live
in it, socialism, communism, nihilism, internationalism,
and all kindred forms of class revolution, are unknown,
for the simple reason that Turkey has so far, at least,
successfully resisted
the influence of 'Anti-Christian civilization.'
[It
is interesting to compare his forecast of the fate of Turkey
at the hands of "Anti-Christendom" with her condition today,
after succumbing to that influence, under Kemal Pasha. — Ed.]
"In
the degree in which the State depends for its political
commercial, and social well-being and prosperity,
not upon
a moral but a mechanical basis, is its foundation perilous.
When the lifeblood of a nation is its wealth, and the existence
of that wealth depends upon the
regularity with which railroads and telegraphs perform
their functions, it is in the power of a few skilled artisans,
by means of a combined operation, to
strangle it. Only the other day the engineers and firemen
of a few railroads in. the United States struck for a week;
nearly a thousand men were killed and
wounded before the trains could be set running again;
millions of dollars' worth of property was destroyed. The
contagion spread to the mines and factories,
and, had the movement been more skillfully organized,
the whole country would have been in revolution; and it
is impossible to tell what the results might
have been. Combinations among the working classes are
now rendered practicable by rail and wire, which formerly were impossible;
and the facilities which exist for secret conspiracy have
turned
Europe into a slumbering volcano, an eruption
of which is rapidly approaching.
"Thus
it is that the laws of retribution run their course, and
that the injuries that Anti-Christendom has inflicted upon
the more
primitive and simple races of the world, which— under the pretext of civilizing
them — it has explored to its own profit, will be amply avenged.
Believe me, my dear friend, that it is under no vindictive
impulse or spirit of religious
intolerance that I write thus: on the contrary, though
I consider Mussulmans generally to be far more religious
than Christians, inasmuch as they practice
more conscientiously the teaching of their prophet, I feel
that teaching, from an ethical point of view, to be infinitely
inferior to that of Christ. I have
written, therefore, without prejudice, in this
attempt philosophically to analyse the nature and causes
of the collision which has at last culminated
between the East and the West, between so-called Christendom
and Islam. And I should only be too thankful if it could
be proved to me that I had done the
form of religion you profess, or the nation to which you
belong, an injustice.
"I
am far from wishing to insinuate that among Christians,
even as Christianity is at present professed and practised,
there are not as
good men as among nations called heathen and barbarous.
I am even prepared to admit there are better — for some struggle to practise the higher virtues
of Christianity, not unsuccessfully, considering the manner
in which these are conventionally travestied; while others,
who reject the popular theology altogether,
have risen higher than ordinary modern Christian practice
by force of reaction against the hypocrisy and shams by
which they are surrounded, — but these
are in a feeble minority, and unable to affect the popular
standard. Such men existed among the Jews at the time
of Christ, but they did not prevent Him from
denouncing the moral iniquities of His day, or the Church
which countenanced them. At the same time, I must remind
you that I shrank from the task which
you imposed upon me, and only consented at last to undertake
it on your repeated assurances that by some, at all events,
of your countrymen, the spirit by which
I have been animated in writing thus frankly will not be
misconceived. — Believe me, my dear friend, yours very sincerely,
"A
TURKISH EFFENDI"
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