in the country, or to profit in any appre- 

 ciable degree by that which exists in 

 Western nations. He could, and did, 

 prevent the Greeks and other Christian 

 peoples who were subject to his rule 

 from making that progress of which 

 their recent history shows them to be 

 <:apable. His treatment of the races sub- 

 ject to him absolutely barred anything 

 like amalgamation with his own race, 

 and the gulf which separates the con- 

 querors from the conquered is wider 

 now than it was when the Turks first 

 •entered the country. 



The explanation of the failure of the 

 Turks as rulers over the Christians is to 

 "be found in the facts that the latter are 

 conquered people, that they are more 

 industrious and intelligent than their 

 ■conquerors, and, above all, in the dif- 

 ference of religion. 



The Turks came into the country as 

 nomad conquerors, and the Christians 

 were largely dispossessed of their lands. 

 But the Turkish nomads who obtained 

 them, or who settled alongside of the 

 Christians, have seldom shown any apti- 

 tude for agriculture, for manufacture, 

 or for trade, and wherever Turkish and 

 Christian villages have existed side by 

 side, the latter, by the industry and in- 

 telligence of their inhabitants, have in- 

 variably shown more signs of prosperity 

 than the former. 



Poverty-stricken though the country 

 everywhere now is, it still remains true 

 that to pass from a Turkish to a Chris- 

 tian village is to pass from appalling pov- 

 erty to poverty less conspicuous and less 

 liopeless. Still, the Turk has never for^ 

 gotten that he belongs to the conquering 

 race ; and though the Turkish peasant 

 has just cause of complaint against his 

 rulers, he has never ceased to believe that 

 the Christians ought to be his inferiors 

 in every respect, and especially in the 

 possession of property. 



In other words, the comparati^^e 

 WAcalth of his Christian neighbor appeals 

 to his cupidity. It has been one of the 

 main causes why the Turkish population, 

 when permitted to plunder their neigh- 

 bors, has looked upon massacre largely 

 as an opportunity for loot. Massacres 

 of Christians have in fact not only been 

 one of the regularly recurring incidents 

 in Turkish rule, but have always ap- 



__^J 



I'hoto by Felix J. Koch 

 YOUNG TURKS 



pealed to the desire for plunder on the 

 part of the poorer Moslems. 



THE CURSE OF ISLAM 



While the unvarying testimony of 

 history shows the Turk to be incapable 

 of doing justice to a subject Christian 

 race, he is seen at his worst when his 

 religious prejudices come into play. It 

 is these prejudices more than any other 

 cause which have always prevented, and 

 still prevent, him from being a just 

 ruler. 



The religion of Islam, or Resignation, 

 supplies a teaching which, in certain re- 

 spects, works for righteousness, and in 

 an early stage of human society un- 

 doubtedly constituted a progress .on the 

 existing systems. Of this aspect of its 

 teaching I have nothing here to say ; but 

 I may be allowed to remark that while 

 it is difficult to find words too strong to 

 condemn the corruption and misrule 

 which exists in every department of 

 Turkish administration, I must not be 

 understood to condemn all Turks. The 

 common peasant, when not under the in- 

 fluence of religious prejudice, is sober, 

 kindly, and hospitable. When, however, 

 he rises to of^ce, he is incapable of re- 



1143 



