slaves and helots to be trampled on, and we forget that our mediæval system of feudalism was far more oppressive than the hardest slavery under Asiatic despots, and that Eastern nations only suffer from their tyrannical governments in the countries where clumsy religious fanaticism has encouraged ignorance, and the anarchical conditions have favoured pauperism and reduced humanity to a state of dull submission. These evils have increased in the same proportion as our victorious arms advanced and our commercial superiority crushed the life out of native trade. Absolutism found a productive soil in impoverished Asia, and the misery would have become greater still if a current of air blowing from the Far East had not roused the slumberers and stirred them into consciousness. Japan's extraordinary successes and China's energetic pulling of itself together have had a wonderful effect on the followers of Mohammed's doctrine. The heathen Buddhists, formerly despised as blackest infidels, now appear as shining lights and examples in their eyes. The movement for liberty in Western Asia must be attributed to this vision. Constitutional Government is by no means a new thing in Islam, for anything more democratic than the doctrine of the Arab Prophet it would be difficult to find in any other religion. It is true that only the first four Caliphs strictly adhered to the text of the Koran and the Sunna, while their successors made the Caliphate into a Saltanate, and sacrificed the spirit of democracy to the personal will of the ruler. Their example appealed particularly to the rulers of Persia and Turkey, the amalgamation of spiritual and worldly power made resistance more difficult, and hence we are face to face with the strange phenomenon that millions of people have for centuries submitted to the despotism, the caprice, the dissipation of their tyrannical masters, and allowed themselves to be crushed down into the dust by them.

But this ignominious anomaly could not continue for ever, and after Europe had broken her fetters and awakened to a new life, Asia also began to bestir herself, and to realise that her children also had a right to live as free men. When, towards the end of the fifties, I resided at the house of the Division-General Husein Daim Pasha, I noticed the first symptoms of the liberty movement in Turkey. My Pasha, a Circassian by birth, and formerly adjutant to Sultan Mahmud, had first heard of political liberty in his intercourse with Hungarian emigrants, and at once took up the idea, to try whether political liberty could not be introduced just as well in Turkey and the Islamic world. Husein Daim Pasha was a pious enthusiastic Mussulman who never undertook anything without the spiritual advice of wise Mollas, and Sheikh Ahmed from Bagdad, who often visited at our house, and had tried to convert me, was the right man to advise Husein in this matter. A haggard, bare-footed, fanatical Arab he was, with a remarkably piercing eye with which he seemed to look one through and through, and his erect figure as he firmly strode along will always

remain vivid in my mind. He held a conference with the Pasha and other faithful Moslems in one of the inner apartments of the house. I could only vaguely guess at what was going on in this secret conventicle, and it was not till afterwards, when the Pasha had been carried off and imprisoned by a high functionary, that I learned how the threads of the famous Kuleli conspiracy had been spun in our house, and that my patron was the leader of it. The idea of the conspirators was to force the Sultan to grant a Constitution, on the grounds that Absolutism as hitherto practised was contrary to the spirit of the Koran, and that the Caliph as representative of the Prophet could not be allowed to commit such a sin.

This first attempt to obtain free institutions and to restrict the power of the Sultan was, of course, nipped in the bud. The idea, however, had taken root, and the number of its adherers grew in the same measure in which anarchy and tyrannical caprice increased, so that even in the reign of Sultan Abdul Aziz all educated young men and many older officials were caught in the stream, and built their hopes on a constitutional régime for the cure of all existing evils. Under the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid the movement had become almost universal, and although he forcibly prevented an outbreak, the explosion took place afterwards with such startling violence that all Europe wondered at the marvellous rapidity with which the insurrection spread, and the unanimous response of the whole nation, while it watched with interest the quiet, unsanguinary proceedings of the revolutionaries. With the downfall of Absolutism, for centuries the ruling power of the East, we in Western lands looked on with curiosity, and people began to query whether a Constitution, a purely European production, could possibly be established in Asia, or whether the whole thing would collapse shortly again.

I have often smiled at the sceptical and malicious conceit of the Westerners in this matter, for surely it would be too childish for us to pretend to believe that in Asia no one has any taste or desire for liberty-that most excellent of all our possessions. This opinion, however, is particularly prevalent in places where Western political aspirations predominate, and where the laws of national psychology are explained according to one's own fancy. Recent experiences show us that such a supposition is entirely false. The Constitution in Turkey caused such a ferment of feverish delight among the Mohammedan population as could hardly be credited of sober, quiet-going Turks. It would seem as if one and all had been waiting and longing for many years for the establishment of Constitutional rights, and had been fully acquainted with this form of Government as it exists in Western lands. Yet this was not the case. The simple Mussulmans had no notion whatever of all this, for to the mind of the lower classes in Asia, tyranny and Government are identically the same; but when they heard that the new form of Government meant freedom their joy

was unbounded, and they completely forgot the sufferings and the injustices of past times.

Something of a similar nature took place in Persia, but the latest events there have either not been made known or else misrepresented. The Constitution granted by the sickly but kind-hearted Shah Mozaffareddin was received with joy by the inhabitants of that unfortunate country. The Persians recognised in it the means by which they might be freed from the ancient yoke of bondage, misery and depravity. The whole aspect of things had suddenly changed. There was a general awakening out of the profound sleep of lethargy and national gloom, and in spite of all the opposition which the headstrong, self-opinionated and tyrannical Shah Mohammed Ali has brought to bear against the Constitution, the people of Persia will not relinquish their claim for freedom and independence.

The Constitutional Clubs known as Endjumen may possibly, partly through over-officiousness and partly from personal motives, have done more harm than good to the Constitution in the early stages of its existence, but this is no reason for us to condemn the liberty movement in Persia and to assume that the Persian people are not worthy of liberty and the nation not yet ripe for Constitution, as has been suggested in certain quarters.

The Iranians have always been among the most intelligent and most gifted people of Asia. The recollection of a thousand years' old culture and national greatness still exercises a mighty spell. Europe may think as highly as it likes of the power of its influence in the Western and Northern districts of the land, but certain it is that this material superiority of West and North can only last for a season. The desire for liberty once awakened in the Persian people can never again be crushed. Sattaur Khan, Samsam ed Dowleh, the Ilkham of the Bakhtiaris and other heads of the revolution are merely the instruments of the awakened spirit of freedom, for Islam will be independent, and will have it proved that the religion of the Arab Prophet does not stand in the way of political liberty or in any way impede the progress of culture and national greatness.

The love of freedom in the Persian people is a striking proof of the awakening of Islam. A stubborn, capricious despot has made up his mind that Absolutism which has brought his country and his people to the brink of perdition must be maintained at any cost, even to the final destruction of this ancient race. In this horrible intention he appears to be supported by the political constellations of his European neighbours, who have already in anticipation divided the spoils among themselves. They will have tabula rasa, and the deluded despot is helping to make the sharing easy for them. Yet, I greatly doubt whether the accomplishment of the scheme will be as easy as it looks.

The signs of awakening and of increased vitality are far too evident and too genuine for us to be possibly mistaken in them.

From Tebris, the chief source and centre of the movement, the revolt against the presumptuous tyrant has spread in all directions throughout the land. Meshhed in the East, Ispahan and Shiraz in the South, have raised the standards of revolt and open resistance against the authority of the Shah. Tradesmen, artisans, clerics, have made common cause, while semi-nomadic Bakhtiaris and Lurs leave their hiding-places in the mountains to give armed support to the demands of peaceful citizens.

The provisional end of all this will probably be a foreign intervention, but it is a delusion for the intervening foreign Power to expect that its authority can be established and maintained for any length of time. It may have been possible in the past, but now it is out of the question, for the Asiatics, whether Mohammedan, Buddhist, or Brahmin, have tasted of the nectar of liberty: our own example has proved to them its miraculous power, and they will not be satisfied until they also have drunk deep from the cup of the gods.

While the Persians in their hard struggle for liberty lack all outside support and encouragement, the Osman nation, more favoured by fate, has successfully passed through the first phase of the struggle. Europe, as a whole, rejoices with the formerly despised and derided Turks. She admires the victor who without spilling of blood has attained his end, and who now quietly and cautiously has commenced his work of reorganisation. His task will not be an easy one, considering the heterogeneous elements of which the nation is composed and the mutual feelings of hostility which animate the different religious bodies. It will require an unusual amount of energy, and the success of his undertaking will depend first and foremost upon the political attitude of the West. As regards the internal conditions, if we may judge by the genuine delight which the institution of Constitutional life has created throughout the Osman Empire, and the glad participation of allied and non-allied Moslem nations in the joyful event, we cannot doubt the fact that the present movement is the expression of a unanimous desire for liberty, and we may take it as a happy omen for the awakening of their still slumbering Islamic brethren in Asia.

The political national unanimity of purpose which of late years has come into evidence, chiefly owing to the widespread circulation of the Moslem Press, first manifested itself in India. The Moslem Hindus, thanks to the civilising efforts of the English, were initiated into a new world of thought by their foreign Christian masters. They have realised that there are other ideals worth living for, besides those of religion, and that their only chance for obtaining the secretly coveted political and national independence is by the way of modern culture.

Like causes lead to like results in Egypt and among the Moslems

of Russia. The nine million Mohammedans of the Nile-lands, who were, so to speak, the first to be elevated by European culture, were as a matter of course unbounded in their enthusiasm at the revival of the Constitution in Turkey, and although the Turks have never enjoyed much popularity with the Egyptians, at the present moment they all join together in longing for the restored sovereignty of the Constitutional Caliph. The realisation of this wish, however, will doubtless be delayed for many years to come, for self-rule will hardly surpass the flourishing state of the country under British rule.

The Russian Mohammedans, i.e. the Tartars, whose national consciousness has first been roused by the Russian Talmi-Constitution, are naturally greatly delighted at the revival which has taken place among their fellow-tribesmen and co-religionists in Turkey, and the Mohammedan faction of the Duma has sent a congratulatory address to the Osman Parliament, the text of which is as follows:

The Moslem faction of the Russian Duma desires to offer this day, the day of the opening of Parliament, hearty good wishes to their Osman fellowtribesmen and co-religionists. We congratulate the deputies and through them the whole Ottoman nation on this happy day. We heartily hope that Turkey, awakened to a new existence, may grow and flourish under the protection of freedom. We feel and realise how great must be your joy on this day and it

finds an echo in our hearts.

TEWKILEFF (President of the Mohammedan faction).

From India, Java, and Sumatra many similarly worded congratulations have been received. All speak of the joy and the enthusiasm which the success of their co-religionists in the Ottoman Empire has caused them; the personality of Sultan Abdul Hamid becomes particularly prominent, the man who was honoured by Hindus and Central Asiatics, even at the time when he was hated by the Turks on account of the régime of Absolutism, now stands forth in all the glory of a constitutional, liberal-minded sovereign.

Seeing how this sudden change in Turkish politics is exulted in by the Moslem world, and how Europe looks upon it as quite a phenomenal event, we ask ourselves the question in how far this excitement is justifiable, and whether the changed form of Government is likely to bring about a radical transformation in the national aspect of things and in the individual characteristics of the people. This is a most important question from the standpoint of the universal history of culture, and also for the future influence of Europe over the Near East. It is, therefore, well worthy of being thoroughly investigated, the more so as the leading circles of Europe, with regard to Mohammedanism, either labour under gross ignorance or else are so blinded by their own national-political interests that they cannot, or will not, see the true position of things. Since by our example and encouragement a portion of the Oriental community has been led to