Show r W oy ae ON S Aar wave of new national life sweeping around the earth conglomeration of races and religion in turkey of ity WILLIAM williaa T ELLIS constantinople turkey awoke with a scream bc reaia the recent history ol of the new regime in this country was quite unintelligible to the western world the popular shrilling of liberty bertyll I 1 Just Jus teal equality Equall tyl t fraternity tern ity ityl re sounded throughout tion Mul aullana lalis and armenian priests groen green turbaned descendants ot of the prophet and protestant christians fell on one an others necks indiscriminately in a delirium of rejoicing it w was as the intoxication ol of the wine 0 of civilization the ancient long suffer ing and sadly used ottoman empire was beside itself with joy the transformation of turkey into a constitutional government will probably be ranked as one of tho the great events of the new cen century the reason for all this la Is that the nations sleep had bad been a nightmare america Amerl ca has never developed a very deep or intelligent interest in tur turkey key consuls have baye tor for years hammered away on the neglected trade tunit les here and missionaries have talked of the social and religious conditions of the empire even in a the safety ot at the free west nobody dared say that abdul was several degrees worse than the ogres agres of the fairy tales 1 up to the year 1908 turkey was more benighted than china new ideas and popular tights rights had more opportunity in tho the celestial king dou dom than in this nation which be strides the two continents of europe and asia the cunning resourcefulness of the most tyrannous ruler of modern modem history was used to keep heep out all that makes for enlightenment the tha dark days of turkey everybody whom one meets on the streets of constantinople knows from personal experience the horrors of at the old regime nobody was allowed to study true maps or read real history nobody was permitted to travel abroad private letters as aa well as newspapers newson era and books were censored by officials more alert than intelligent they required that any bool book which mentioned turkish should call a defeat a retrograde ad vance after censoring some bibles one of the multitudinous stories cur rent has it tho the functionary luerul bously enquired who Is this man mai paul who Is writing to those gala government was waa by and massacre the dagger was a the back of every person of force or 01 initiative or progressiveness th emaciated and trembling body i of f th thai arch coward and tyrant abdul hamic could have bathed tor for months in th innocent blood of the tha halt million peo pie whom it Is estimated ho he had pu to death nobody knew whose turn would be next covetousness Covetous nesa revenge jealousy an and dabove above all fear conspired to point tho the assassins dagger there then was a world of significance in the re mark made to me by an old of the tha empire as wo we rode up the last week all the bl palaces within sight belonged to abdul abdu alamid nobody was allowed to pros per greatly except the sultan revelations of the spy system it Is now known that an incredible large number ot of spies more more than thousand one reliable statement ha it in all walks ot at life made mada dally daily re ports to this monarch 0 at fear bitter bitten mind A large room in the war office next to that occupied by Shey shevket ket the commander ln in chief ol 01 the turkish army Is now filled these documents which were seized along with less leas dangerous weapons and great stores of treasure in yildiz palace A trusted committee la Is perusing th documents although the tha counsel ol 01 many was that they should be burned unopened it has leaked out that they implicate high and low native and foreigner n such ench a reign celb it the ot of suspicion inevitably points every where perhaps most unsettling art are the he sinister charges which one hears heare against men connected with the for eign legations it would not be pleasant for americans or britons to feel that persons even ot of minor position supposed to represent their interests interest in constantinople had bad really been lr in the pay of abdul untold A national comedy the dark ages havo have no story to tc equal this one which is to athla aya favorite theme of conversation ever people meet abdul sleeping in one of the multitudinous rooms roams of that junks bop called palace after he be hail had said he be would sleep in others lulled to rest by the cheapest type of at sensational and melo dramatic french novels novela dreaming over plats against his life practising practicing with a multitude of revolvers moro more thau than three thousand were found after he had bad been dethroned dethroner his palace s wonderful house bouse ot of fear his hie eunuchs possessing greater prestige and power powei than the nations foremost statesmen the army and ana civil all parts parti of a malign machine for which the poor overburdened people hd to caf pa ray pay bayts ls there anywhere in lis his tory lory an chapter to this tur key knew a reign ot of terror abdul abdu I 1 haild ald represented a rO to bar barlam and to the basest primitive in equipped with untold 1 end and tho the enginery ot of modem civilization the great awaking such was the tha night from which turkey awoke with startling suddenness la Is it any wonder that this historic city once the capital of 0 rome and of greece and of pe christian empire 8 city more mora truly than jerusalem beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole earth rang wit with hsuch such acclamation cla clar mation nation as the proudest of its ancient emperors had bad never heard beard liberty long lone dreamed of and often despaired of came cama almost overnight to 10 a throne on tho the where two continents and two seas meet constantinople to la admittedly the most strategic city in the world so it was no small event when it fell before the irresistible forces of twentieth century civilization tho the young turk victory was hardly the nicely calculated scheme often Ke represented presented ral herlt was a few leaders taking advantage of A resistless conquest by tho the spirit of the tim times C s what the new regime means with the significant details of tho the now conditions in turkey I 1 shall deal in subsequent articles here I 1 want to present the broad outline approaching constantinople by water one finds it still as of yore the fairest work of man that anywhere greets the travelers eye above the tha red roofed houses unmarked by the smoke stacks of modern industry rise the graceful minarets mina on a commanding position tion on an ono one of the seven hills bills of old stamboul st sophia keepen guard now a mosque but the oldest building in existence dedic dedicated atad to Christ christian lin worship and more mora magnificent ent than st peters in rome or st pauls or westminster abbey in london or notre notra dame in parts paris or the gaudy don in berlin or historic st stephens in vienna greeks ar medians and roman catholics dream and prophesy of the day when the cross will once again shine above st bt So phlas great dome and the power printing press is IB silently accomplish ins ing not only in turkey but in china and persia and the other backward countries of the world with the uncensored press have come books A mar man may now read anything bo be pleases in turkey my bag at 0 books received not a second glance at the custom house which caused a fellow traveler used to the ways ot of the old order to tell of 0 what would have happened two years ago had bad a traveler tried to bring a suitcase suit case full ot of books into the custom house there Is tree free entrance tor for twentieth century ideas in turkey whereas men used to have to whisper under their breath the bi big 1 words ot of Ll liberty bertyll I 1 Justl justice cel 1 Equall tyl and fraternity I 1 they now cry them aloud anti and placard them on tho the highways formerly neither Ot ottoman nor foreigner could travel tave in the interior of turkey without a special passport now anybody may go eo anywhere some marvellous marcellous Marv ellous transformations no organizations wore were permitted under the old regime today clubs societies and parties flourish spies are but a hideous memory even schools for women are permitted and encouraged turkish officials send bend their daughters daugh tera to the schools of at modern learning maintained by the foreigners alongside of tho the veiled woman in sombre wrap ono one sees the swag swagger 9 or dark skinned modern girl in merry widow hat and hobble bobble skirt I 1 no ticen a constantinople college girl with nil an array of puffs on the back of 0 her head such as one commonly sees on an broadway and which are ara surely never made outside of at the shops well patronized cinematograph shows pro pre sent the latest fashions as well as the latest news in a word and with reservations and exceptions to be ba noted later modern civilization has come to turkey there are multitudes who for one reason or another sih for the to ro ry a av IN mosque of st sophia constantinople of christendom will be supreme on the adjoining st the traveler sees the seraglio where tragedies beyond count have bava been enacted the palaces the fast scurrying cliques calques cai cal ques and the latticed windows ot of the harems hares of turkish houses bouses all pass in review it Is a beautiful and tolled lellea picture it if he be arrives by all the traveler beholds the ancient walls ot of old con stantin ople and Is quickly introduced to the filthy odors and disorder of the incredibly ill kept streets of constantinople ti but dut signs of the now new regime are not wanting hero Is a street turned up for an electric railway yon der a road engine la Is at work and a highway la Is being widened A group of graveyard cy presses Is giving way to a modern thoroughfare actually sidewalks are being laid in somo some places the constantinople Constanti dogs j the famous or infamous constantinople dogs are missing except for or an occasional stray at which critics of the new administration point fingers ot of scorn some thousands of 0 dogs were gathered up by workmen with wooden tongs tones dropped into carts and carries to towboats which boro bore them to an island lathe harbor the simple and natural way would have been to kill them painlessly and end the matter or accept some one of the commercial offers to clean tho the city ot of dogs for the sake of the bides one company agreeing to give the government a bonus for or tho the privilege dut but the turk has ideas of mercy toward dumb animals albeit rather quixotic oti cal the poon margy mangy flee bitten curs were sent to this island where it Is said they got nothing to drink or eat cat although supposed to be fed by b government grant certain it Is abal tha the dogs which at first waded out to sea in longing for the filthy streets of old constantinople speedily be cam caca fewer and lower fewer and all are now but a tradition of dark days that are gone the press as archimedes lever most significant rif 0 all the signs which an observer notes in tho the constantinople stantin ople ot of today are the boys and men who hawk dally daily newspapers through the streets extras in strange hen ben track turkish arabic and armenian script ate flaunted in the face of the cosmopolitan passersby they are real newspapers too filled with the doings of the whole world r ot of this cepus u changed order of society you cannot bare news newa without having progress pro geas tho the dark ages cannot stand the tidings of what is 19 going on la in the world the press pres as Is one of abi archimedean Arch imidean levers levera b the world la Is moved what armies and mobs could not do in the tb overthrow of despotism tho turn of the good old days but their power has been hopelessly broken turkey Is awake never to sleep again her future la Is an absorbing enigma that concerns alike the practical statesmen of ct the worlds capitals and the student of human affairs whatever her destiny may be the sleep ot at death has passed the new life ot of the now day la Is the latest conqueror to sweep over historic blood drenched turkey copyright 1911 by joseph 73 cowles |