Turkey and Its Future (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Turkey and Its FutureIt is a revolution in political history, and we are only witnessing the first scenes in it. The leaven is working in other Asiatic States, such as Afghanistan, Burmah, Siam, and Tonquin. China is being zealously educated by Japan in all that Western science adapted to Oriental methods can teach, and the next century will no doubt Show extraordinary results, which will change the face of the world.For this reason it Seems to me that the vital interests Of the British Empire are involved in the future development Of Persia and Turkey, the two Empires which alone could threaten our communi cations with India. Russian intrigue is already busy with the former, and German ambition with the latter.I wish, in this pamphlet, to call attention to some facts with regard to Turkey which are too Often overlooked.The first is that from the accession Of the present Sultan, Abdul Hamid II., a new era Of improvement has commenced in the Ottoman Empire. He is an enlightened Sovereign, who is striving to raise the condition of his subjects up to the level Of other States. From the first he cut down the expenses of his palace at Constantinople, and he corrected many of the abuses among the functionaries Of the Government. Commissions were appointed to regulate the finances of the Empire. Concessions were granted to foreign capitalists to construct railways and other public works, as also to develop the enormous riches Of the country. Religious freedom has been granted to Jew's and Christians alik'e. Schools, orphanages, hospitals, &c., , have been established and subsidised by the Sultan out of the income Of his Civil List, at the grave risk of alienating the respect of his Moslem subjects. He has had enormous difficulties to contend with, if he has not been able as yet to achieve complete success, let us make allowances, bearing in mind how many years it has taken us in this England of ours to overcome the resistance Of vested interests to the introduction of desirable reforms, for in such matters the Moslem is even more conservative than the Christian.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.