The Maccabaean

I.

MIRACLES often-occur in this world. Who could have thought that the Marsellaise would ever be sung in Turkish, and especially in the streets of Turkish cities? From time to time one would read brief reports that there were in Paris “Young Turks,” and that the Sultan had cordially invited them to come to Constantinople, wher«» he promised to honor them with an exalted position on the point of a spear. But 't did not interest anyone as to what they were quarreling about with the Sultan. “Serail revolutions” were not at all of rare occurence in Turkey. The phrase was adopted in other languages to signify a special kind of disturbance which did not involve a question of principle, or political or economic reforms, but simply whether one clique of sycophants or another should divide the spoils. The present Abdul Hamid himself became Sultan through just such a revolution in the “serail.” His predecessor, Sultan Murad, was seized one fine morning by his royal subjects and thrown into prison, and Abdul Hamid was declared Caliph of all True Believers.

Having had such an object lesson, Abdul Hamid did not, on the present occasion, offer too much resistance.

No sooner had the commanders of the revolutionary army informed him that they would cease to offer up prayers for him in the mosques of Constantinople than he understood that "God is on the side of the well-armed battalions!" as Napoleon the First expressed himself.

It is yet too soon to prophesy the outcome of the revolution. That the revolutionists honestly intend to institute a popular government, there is no ground to

doubt. Whether they will succeed in uniting all the various peoples of the Turkish Empire is a question which it would be just as absurd to answer in a pessimistic as in an optimistic manner. In reality no one knows, just as no one knew that a revolution was brewing in Turkey among the Turks themselves. One is accustomed to look down upon the "backward races," but it is forgotten that capitalism is the greatest revolutionist in human history. The capitalist system draws into the world's affairs all backward races. The railroads, the telegraphs, international commerce, bring not only new ideas, they create also those economic interests which compel the carrying out of the new ideas into practice.

The circumstances are much more favorable in Turkey than in any other land for the introduction of the political program of national-cultural autonomy. The Turkish Government has never sought by force to compel the subject nations to adopt the culture of the ruling people simply because the Turks themselves have never had a "culture." Each nationality had its own language. So far as it was permitted to promote its own intellectual advancement, it had to attend to it itself and naturally in its own language.

The national struggle in Turkey has always had a political character. The Turks were the rulers. The oppressed peoples seeking to free themselves from this despotism struggled against the Turks, and to this was added the difference of religion; but since one Christian province after another has separated itself from Turkey, and since Turkey maintains itself as a separate empire in Europe solely through