The following sketch of Turkish history was the substance of
Lectures delivered in the Catholic Institute of Liverpool during
October, 1853. It may be necessary for its author to state at once, in
order to prevent disappointment, that he only professes in the course
of it to have brought together in one materials which are to be found
in any ordinarily furnished library. Not intending it in the first
instance for publication, but to answer a temporary purpose, he has, in
drawing it up, sometimes borrowed words and phrases, to save himself
trouble, from the authorities whom he has consulted; and this must be
taken as his excuse, if any want of keeping is discernible in the
composition. He has attempted nothing more than to group old facts in
his own way; and he trusts that his defective acquaintance with
historical works and travels, and the unreality of book-knowledge
altogether in questions of fact, have not exposed him to superficial
generalizations.
One other remark may be necessary. Such a work at the present
moment, when we are on the point of undertaking a great war in behalf
of the Turks, may seem without meaning, unless it conducts the reader
to some definite conclusions, as to what is to be wished, what to be
done, in the present state of the East; but a minister of religion may
fairly protest against being made a politician. Political questions are
mainly decided by political expediency, and only indirectly and under
circumstances fall into the province of theology. Much less can such a
question be asked of the priests of that Church, whose voice in this
matter has been for five centuries unheeded by the Powers of Europe. As
they have sown, so must they reap: had the advice of the Holy See been
followed, there would have been no Turks in Europe for the Russians to
turn out of it. All that need be said here in behalf of the Sultan is,
that the Christian Powers are bound to keep such lawful promises as
they have made to him. All that need be said in favour of the Czar is,
that he is attacking an infamous Power, the enemy of God and man. And
all that need be said by way of warning to the Catholic is, that he
should beware of strengthening the Czar's cause by denying or ignoring
its strong point. It is difficult to understand how a reader of history
can side with the Spanish people in past centuries in their struggle
with the Moors, without wishing Godspeed, in mere consistency, to any
Christian Power, which aims at delivering the East of Europe from the
Turkish yoke.
THE TURKS.
I. THE MOTHER COUNTRY OF THE TURKS.
LECT. PAGE
1. The Tribes of the North 1
2. The Tartars 19
II. THE DESCENT OF THE TURKS.
3. The Tartar and the Turk 48
4. The Turk and the Saracen 74
III. THE CONQUESTS OF THE TURKS.
5. The Turk and the Christian 104
6. The Pope and the Turk 131
IV. THE PROSPECTS OF THE TURKS.
7. Barbarism and Civilization 159
8. The Past and Present of the Ottomans 183
9. The Future of the Ottomans 207
Note 230
Chronological Tables 235
* * * * *
I.
THE MOTHER COUNTRY OF THE TURKS.
* * * * *