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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



said : "We know that we have great dis- 

 appointments before us. We know that 

 we have hardships before us, perhaps 

 failures ; but nothing can ever take away 

 from us the joy of these first days." 



You are asking the question now as to 

 whether this is going to last. Will it 

 last? How long will it last? Some of 

 you also have been looking up the records 

 of that first parliament thirty-two years 

 ago. You admit that there is a differ- 

 ence in the accounts, but you have said 

 that the imagination of the reporter was 

 not as exuberant then as now. You have 

 said the telegraphic facilities were not so 

 great, and therefore many details were 

 left out. Probably then there was this 

 great acclaim; probably then there was 

 this great enthusiasm. And how long 

 did it last? 



But I believe that you will see that 

 whether failure is before this present en- 

 terprise or not, the conditions under 

 which this constitution was promulgated 

 are very different from those under 

 which the constitution of 1876 was estab- 

 lished for so short a time. The very 

 evidence that is being brought forward 

 now — and I might have repeated indefi- 

 nitely stories illustrating that universal 

 joy — that evidence is clear enough that, 

 whether the people know much about it 

 or not; whether they understand per- 

 fectly all the difficulties that arise before 

 them, they are back of this movement for 

 liberty; they are tired of living in the 

 Middle Ages ; they wish to live in the 

 twentieth century ; and whether this en- 

 terprise is successful or not, some enter- 

 prise will succeed that will enable these 

 men, women, and children to live in the 

 twentieth century. 



It is the Young Turkey Party, not 

 young in years, for many of them are 

 white-haired men; but they are indomit- 

 able, young in their hope and in their 

 aspiration and in their determination and 

 in their idealism ; and it is the spirit of 

 idealism that is back of this movement. 



The dangers are innumerable ; every 

 one can point them out. Enemies abound. 

 The variety of race, the variety of reli- 

 gion, which so easily result in mutual 



antagonisms ; the action of the European 

 powers — all those are dangers which 

 menace. What will overcome these dan- 

 gers? 



I cannot speak upon European politics, 

 except to say this : As for Europe, as for 

 the dangers that threaten this new move- 

 ment from the action of the European 

 powers, there is only one hope, and that 

 is the hope that the Christian nations of 

 Europe in their dealing with the Moslem 

 people will show a sense of fairness, will 

 show a sense of generosity, will feel the 

 thrill of chivalry, so that a new crusade 

 may conquer, not upon the battle-field, 

 but in the field of twentieth-century di- 

 plomacy. And, please God, great old 

 England, where chivalry is not dead, will 

 have a large voice in that matter; and, 

 please God, the United States of America, 

 where chivalry is not dead, will have a 

 voice in that matter. 



But what is to be said for the other 

 dangers that menace — antagonisms that 

 have been developing all these years; 

 where men of different races and reli- 

 gions have often been ready to fight each 

 other, with the result that their attention 

 has been concentrated upon their local, 

 petty jealousies? What is to be said of 

 these dangers and how can they be over- 

 come ? 



the: Turks are; a splendid race: 



Let me tell you something of the 

 racial diversity. This country is occu- 

 pied by twenty-five million people. 

 There are Turks, as I have said, five mil- 

 lion strong, followers of that first Otto- 

 man who broke out of the great central 

 Asia and established an abode in Eu- 

 rope — a splendid race itself, strong and 

 valiant. People talk sneeringly about the 

 Turk. The Turk is not a man to be 

 sneered at, and the fact that for six hun- 

 dred years that dynasty has held control 

 of the Turkish Empire is a fact that 

 shows that the Turkish rulers are men of 

 ability. The present Sultan is not a man 

 to be sneered at. If you were to see 

 him as many of you probably have seen 

 him, you can see that the caricatures in 

 the papers are caricatures. You can see 



