The empire resemble that of the Ottoman Turks

Rodeos the fall of the empire resemble that of the Ottoman Turks. The rule of the first fell after long two empires centuries of struggles with external enemies, and after a long period of success which had helped to demoralize the conquerors. Its rule had been weakened by dynastic struggles, due in part to the fact that the people were progressive, and that a more modern form of government —that of oligarchy—was being evolved from the older one of an absolute sovereign with divine attributes.

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire has lost successively its possessions in South Russia, in Hungary, in Roumania, Servia, Greece, Bulgaria, Asia Minor, and Africa in consequence of the incapacity of its rulers to govern, and, above all, of their powerlessness to absorb conquered races or acquire the habits of commerce, manufacture, or civilization. One empire fell, after an honorable existence of eleven centuries, the most civilized power in Europe; the other, inheriting such civilization, has been powerful only to destroy, and will leave its territories far in the rear of the least progressive country in Europe, and Constantinople the most backward of European capitals.

So long as the armies of the present rulers were fed from the boundless supplies of men in Central Asia, so long as the harems were filled with European captives, and the supply of rulers kept up from Christian sources on the female side, so long was their military triumph secure, and their government at least better than organized brigandage. When these supplies were cut off and the Turkish race and religion were left to their own resources, decline immediately commenced, and is rapidly bringing the rule of the Ottoman Turk to its end.

The essential difference between the condition of the Em- signs of bet- Vire even under the Comneni and that of the Turk- ter things. jsh Empire is to be found in the results produced respectively by the religion of Christ and of Mahomet. The Christianity of the empire would have provided a means of regeneration, or would not have prevented the natural spirit of the population from developing itself. The religion of the Ottoman Turks is a hinderance to advancement. I am fully alive to the low condition into which the Orthodox Church has now fallen, though it was by no means so low seven hundred years ago.

But I repeat, that if that Church had fallen as low as that of Abyssinia, it would still, as a philosophical system accepted and entirely believed in by the people, be superior as a civilizing force to Mahometanism Visit Bulgaria, because at least it would not have been a hinderance to progress. As a fact, however, the Greek Church was still the preacher of morality, the torch-bearer of civilization, and the faithful guardian of the treasures of ancient Greece.

Nicetas Choniate

The monks of Mount Athos were already multiplying the manuscripts which were to bring about a revival of learning in the West. Amidst the general indifference to public morality, priests and monks could be found whose lives and teaching were long protests against the general corruption. The work of Nicetas Choniate, our principal Greek authority on the history of the Latin conquest, is imbued with a religious spirit — religious in the sense that he believed that God rules the world and will punish national immorality, that morality implies progress and immorality the reverse.

He and others with him protested in the strongest manner against the corruption in government, the dissoluteness of the court, the absence of morality in statesmanship. In reading the history of his own times we are apt sometimes to forget that these protests were written in the thirteenth and not in the nineteenth century. The abuses in the State and the cruelty of the emperors were hateful to him. But for the fact that we meet with passages showing that his religion partook of the superstition of his age, we should hardly remember that he was the contemporary of what he records.

The very discontent, amounting to querulousness, which runs through the whole of his narrative, and which is found in other contemporary, or nearly contemporary, writers, is one of the most hopeful signs of his time. That he and so many of his contemporaries were profoundly dissatisfied with the condition of the empire gives reasonable hope that, had the Latin invasion turned out otherwise than it did, there would have been a national movement towards reform or revolution. This movement, as in Western Europe, would probably have first been felt in religion, and the Eastern Church might again have taken the lead in shaping the creed of Western Europe. For, in spite of the subserviency into which the Church had fallen, its nominal masters were obliged to respect the opinion of its governing bodies.

The imperial shores had become the prey of every pirate

The weakness of the empire, and particularly at sea, from the accession of Isaac the Second, had become clear to every Italian state. The imperial shores had become the prey of every pirate who chose to attack them. Pisans and Venetians, though during the last fifteen years of the century almost constantly fighting against each other, occasionally united in piratical attacks upon the empire, while they regarded Constantinople as neutral ground.

The ill-feeling between the Greeks and Venetians

Put while the hostility which had been growing between the empire and the Italian states generally greatly weakened the former, that displayed by Venice was the strongest, and contributed most largely to the capture of Constantinople. The ill-feeling between the Greeks and Venetians had gained great strength with the grant of concessions to Pisans and other Italian states in the time of Manuel. It had been increased by several events in the same reign, until, in 1171, in a moment of irritation, all the Venetians in the empire wTere arrested and their property placed under sequester. A short war with but hotly contested war followed. In the following year the republic sent a fleet of a hundred vessels to attack the imperial forces in Dalmatia.

Pagusa surrendered on the second day of the siege. Dalmatia was conquered. Negropont, Chios, Scyros, and other places were pillaged. For a while everything seemed to be going in favor of the republic. Everywhere, however, the Venetians were opposed by the inhabitants. A portion of the Venetian fleet was destroyed by that of the empire, but the rest occupied itself during the next three years in piratical attacks on the islands of the Egean. Aid was given on every hand to the enemies of the empire. The Serbians were subsidized.

A great number in the Golden Horn

A band of Latins seized forty-four galleys which they found in the harbor, while another took possession of ships, of which there were a great number in the Golden Horn, and fled. The sick, the aged, and those who did not believe that a massacre was likely, remained behind. Of these some fought in the defence of their property, but were soon overpowered.

Four thousand of both sexes, says William of Tyre, were sold by the Greeks to the Turks and to other infidel peoples. Few were spared. Women and children fell victims to an indiscriminate and reckless fury. The forces of Andronicos joined the mob and took part in a general pillage of the Latin quarter. The priests were struck down in the churches which Manuel had allowed them to build. The sick in the hospital of St. John were dragged from their beds or were burned in the building. The Latin quarters, after being pillaged, were destroyed.

Cardinal John, who had been sent to negotiate for the union of the churches, was beheaded. His head was tied to a dog’s tail and sent spinning about the streets. The reports of the Western writers are doubtless exaggerated, but it is evident that the massacre was an insensate outbreak of mob violence, and caused a great amount of just anger in Italy and Sicily, and it was natural that the countrymen of the sufferers should be ready to avenge their death.

Cousin of King William

Tancred, the cousin of King William, was appointed leader Tancred a an expedition against the empire, having among leader that of avenging the outrages of 11S2.

In 11S5 he seized Dnrazzo, which we have already seen attacked by the grandfathers of the present invaders. More successful than Bohemund, he captured it, and then pushed boldly across the peninsula to Salonica. Aided by sack orsaio his fleet, he took the city by assault after a siege of nine days. The slaughter of the Greeks was great,

while the loss of the Sicilians was not more than 3000. The city was sacked in the fashion for which the Normans had obtained an unenviable renown.

Dissatisfied with the events

There was, however, a strong party in the city which was dissatisfied with the events of the last few days. The treachery of one brother to another, the abandonment of the enterprise against the one mies who had taken possession of the Balkans, the panderings to the mob and the soldiery, and the lavish way in which the imperial treasures had been distributed, disgusted men of sense and especially the well-to-do classes. This disgust was increased when it was seen that the new emperor cared for nothing but his own pleasures, that the interests of commerce were disregarded, that the government was left in the hands of his favorites, and that his lavish profusion in squandering what should have been employed for the use of the state forced him to levy new taxes.

The ease with which Alexis had obtained the throne increased the supply of pretenders. Three months after his accession the news arrived that another Alexis had arisen in Cilicia, who claimed to be the son of Manuel; that the Sultan of Angora had received him favorably, and professed to believe him to be the boy-emperor Alexis, who had been strangled by Andronicos. The emperor took the field against him, but after two months of unsuccessful warfare he returned to Constantinople. The pretender, however, was shortly afterwards killed.

Pursuit of the false Alexis

While the emperor had been in pursuit of the false Alexis, the Wallachs, still under Asan and Peter, had at with the tacked the imperial troops, had cut them to pieces, a a ’ and had captured their leader. The emperor sent a new army to repel their attacks, but the imperial troops were again beaten and their leader captured. Alexis then sent his son-in-law Isaac, who fought valiantly, but was likewise defeated and captured, and brought before Asan.

Shortly afterwards, however, this leader was himself assassinated by his nephew John, who then found it necessary to ask the assistance of the emperor against Peter. The war dragged on with little credit to the imperial troops. Their leader died in captivity, the troops were unwilling to continue a mountain warfare where the enemy had a great advantage in his knowledge of the country and was gaining ground every day. In the midst of it Peter himself was killed by one of his own followers.

Among people whose political education

Amid the follies of the empress and her lover, it was natural that the inhabitants of the capital should turn their thoughts to this adventurer. His very vices had been those which, among a people whose political education is but slightly advanced, help to make a prince popular. lie was believed to be fearless and resolute. He was known ostentatiously to despise luxury. He disregarded the ordinary pleasures of the table, was sober and abstemious. His rule could hardly be expected to be worse than that of a child emperor and his foolish, if not profligate, mother. His foolhardiness and hie wild adventures were regarded as the faults of youth, which by this time had probably passed away.

As soon as Andronicos heard of the divisions in the court he saw that his chance was come. Apparently on his last submission he had taken the oath which he had refused on a former occasion. The terms of this oath bound him to oppose with all his power anything which tended to the dishonor or was against the interest of the emperor.

He was careful to keep the letter of his oath and scrounge intrigueslously anxious to seem to regard it, but he was also for the throne. crafty enough to avail himself of its terms to compass his own purpose. He wrote to the young emperor, to the patriarch, and to others in authority, that, in honor of the memory of Manuel, he wished to put an end to the open profligacy of the court and to get rid of the protosebastos. Nicetas says that as his letters were full of quotations from St. Paul, and gave the impression that he was sincere, they produced a very marked effect, and caused many to believe that he was anxious mainly for the salvation of the state and the welfare of the young prince.

Journey to Constantinople

On his journey to Constantinople he everywhere made the same professions, and was in consequence welcomed by the people, was received with imperial honors, and increased the number of his followers. Pew were found to resist the patriotic professions of one who seemed to burn with zeal for the public weal, and who professed to have no other design than that of setting the child emperor free. His first check was at Nicsea, a city which is about seventy miles from the capital.

Plunder of comparatively civilized provinces.

The invaders, though often defeated, were as continually reinforced by new emigrants, tempted by the rich rewards to be obtained by the sack of wealthy cities and the plunder of comparatively civilized provinces. The city of Arsen was the principal object of one of these attacks. It had long been the great city of Eastern Asia Minor, the centre of Asiatic trade, the depot for merchandise transmitted overland from Persia and India to the Eastern empire and Europe generally. It was full of warehouses belonging to Armenians and Syrians, and is said to have contained 800 churches and

300,0 people. Having failed to capture the city, Togrul’s general succeeded in burning it. The destruction of so much wealth struck a fatal blow at Armenian commerce, and was the first of a long series of acts of destruction by which the Turks have marked the whole course of their dealings with Indo- Germanie peoples, and have converted some of the richest and most populous cities and provinces in the world into comparative deserts. The Armenians fought bravely even after the destruction of Arsen. Togrul’s army met them in great force in 10IS, and a battle was fought, which, though indecisive, compelled the general to change his plan of attack upon Asia Minor. In the same year Togrul in person invaded the provinces of the Emperor of Constantinople.

The independent principality of Kars was attacked by him, and the Armenians were defeated, but in an attack upon Manzikert Togrul was compelled to retire into Persia. In 1052 he again invaded the empire, but the Greeks, with the aid of the “Wirings, or, as they are generally called by the Byzantine writers, the Varangians, marched to meet him in such force that the invaders did not venture to give battle. Eight years later he again attempted an invasion of the empire on the frontier of Mesopotamia, but without any decisive result.

Togrul had, however, obtained a success which added He becomes greatly to his influence over his followers and over caliph. Mahometans generally. There were rival claimants for the caliphate, one of whom resided at Bagdad, the other in Egypt. Togrul threw the weight of his influence in favor of the Bagdad claimant, defeated and executed the chief of a rebellion against him, and then contrived to have himself named as the temporal substitute of the caliph lie thus became the Commander of the Faithful and Protector of the Mussulmans. Togrul died in 1003.

His successor was Alparslan

His successor was Alparslan, “the Strong Lion,” who reigned from 1063 to 1073. It is unnecessary for my purpose to attempt to follow in detail the career of this sultan—a career which was one long series of attacks upon the dominions of the empire in Asia Minor and upon the neighboring states of Georgia and Armenia balkan tours. The latter had developed a large amount of industry, commerce, and civilization. Ani, the capital of Armenia, was taken by storm in 106L The Prince of Kars, in consequence of its capture, made a degrading submission, and was allowed to retain his principality as a vassal under the sultan. Shortly afterwards he ceded his territories to the emperor in exchange for the city of Tzamandos.

The inhabitants of Kars, feeling that there was no security against the next Moslem invasion, fled westwards into Cappadocia or southwards to their brethren, who were yet to make a bold stand for independence under their native princes. In 1070 Alparslan besieged and captured Manzikert. Various small principalities were established, the rulers of which endeavored unsuccessfully to stem the advance of the Seljuks.

The barriers of the border states being thus broken down, They nttnek the Turkish hordes began to pour into the dominions Asia Minor of the emperor in an irresistible flood. The condition of Asia Minor offered a strong temptation to the in- its present vapers. We know it to-day as a country which condition. does no£ contain a single city except Smyrna that would be considered as of third or fourth rank in England, France, or Germany.

Smyrna is, indeed, rich and flourishing because of its irrepressible Greek population, and of its having had for centuries large colonies of Franks who, by means of the capitulations, are not under the curse of Turkish rule. Elsewhere the fertile districts of Asia Minor lie idle for want of roads to convey the produce to market. The absence of security for life and property makes the people careless about producing more than is necessary for the supply of their scanty needs. Famine, in some districts, recurs periodically, while there is abundance at no great distance. Everywhere the people are poverty-stricken and wretched.

Civil and Religious Liberty

APPENDIX.

THE compiler of these Memoirs, while engaged in their prep-, aration, furnished for the “Princeton Review” (October, 1875) a historical sketch of the action of the Turkish government on the subject of “ Civil and Religious Liberty ” during the present century. The official documents, which were gathered from various sources, are transferred to these pages, as having special interest in connection with the subject of this volume. It is believed that they are not elsewhere accessible in this complete and continuous form. They were all issued during the residence of Dr. Goodell at Constantinople. The first document, the history of which is given at page 240 of the Memoirs, is the Ilatti Sherif of Gul Hane, issued by the Sultan, Abdul Medjid, Nov. 3, 1839.

HATTI SHERIF OF GUL HANE.

It is well known that, during the early ages of the Ottoman Monarchy, the glorious precepts of the Koran and the laws of the Empire were ever held in honor. In consequence of this the Empire increased in strength and greatness, and all the population, without exception, acquired a high degree of welfare and prosperity.

For one hundred and fifty years a succession of incidents and various causes has checked this obedience to the sacred code of the law, and to the regulations which emanate from it, and the previous internal strength and prosperity have been converted into weakness and poverty; for, in truth, an empire loses all its stability when it ceases to observe its laws.

These considerations have been ever present to our mind, and since the day of our accession to the throne the thought of the public good, of the amelioration of the condition of the provinces, and the alleviation of the national burdens, have not ceased to claim our entire attention. If we take into consideration the geographical position of the Ottoman Provinces, the fertility of the soil, and the aptness and intelligence of the inhabitants, we shall attain the conviction that, by applying ourselves to discover efficacious methods, the result which, with the aid of God, we hope to obtain, will be realized within a few years.

Mrs. Van Lennep at Smyrna

The Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Bird, who sailed with us from America, and were our associates at Beyrout, still survive. Two of their children are engaged in the missionary work, — a son, Mr. William Bird, on Mount Lebanon, and a daughter, Mrs. Van Lennep, at Smyrna, and all their other children are occupying posts of usefulness.

Of all the missionaries of this Board I think of but three who are older than myself, — the Rev. Mr. Thurston, of the Sandwich Islands, whom I knew at the Theological Seminary, Andover; the Rev. Levi Spaulding, in India, whom I knew both at Dartmouth College and at Andover; and the Rev. Dr. King, of Athens, whom I knew at Andover, and who, with his fellow-laborer, Pliny Eisk, welcomed us to Beyrout.

And may I ask your special prayers for us poor old men?

for though we are almost through the wilderness, and are even now in sight of the promised land, yet we remember that the children of Israel, after they had been wandering in the wilderness forty years, and were already on the very borders of the land long desired, and could actually look over and see the green fields and vine-clad hills, yet even there many of them perished. Pray for us, beloved friends, that we may not fall after the same example of unbelief.

Fisk and Parsons of former times

We die, but God will surely visit you. Fisk and Parsons of former times, and the beloved Dodd and Morgan of the present, were not suffered to continue, by reason of death. But Jesus lives; His cause is marching on and His kingdom is near, and still nearer coming; and of that kingdom, yea, and of the increase of that kingdom, there shall be no end.

With this faith, and in the midst of all these bright hopes, I now retire from active service, but still desiring to be useful, and begging your committee to point out to me, from time to time, any way in which they may think I can render some small service.

May you, honored sir, long be spared to preside over this great body on these joyful occasions. And may you, and all this congregation, see the eternal good of God’s chosen, and rejoice with His inheritance.

Your aged, very affectionate, but very unworthy fellow- laborer in Christ Jesus, our Lord,

W. GOODELL.

Possession of the Danubian Provinces

The Russian army, in July, 1853, took possession of the Danubian Provinces, and thus commenced hostilities, the Ottoman Porte making a formal declaration of war on the 1st of October.

Early in the following year the missionaries at Constantinople set apart a day for fasting and prayer with reference to this matter, and the day was observed with deep solemnity not only by those immediately connected with the mission, but by the friends of the cause from different countries, who were resident or sojourning at the capital.

Special prayer was offered in behalf of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe (formerly Sir Stratford Canning), the British ambassador, that he might be endued with the spirit of wisdom in conducting his important negotiations, and that, in counselling the Sultan, he too might have counsel given to him from above. Never before had the position of this representative of the British government and devoted friend of the cause of Christ been so responsible, and never before did he hold such influential relations to the Porte.

In 1854, when the governments of England, France, and Sardinia made common cause with the Ottoman government for the sake of putting a check on the ambition of Russia, and sent their armies to Turkey and the Crimea, apprehensions of the disastrous effect of the war upon the missionary work were not dissipated, but rather increased. As these large armies came pouring into the capital, and its suburbs became as it were one great camp, it was natural to fear that such a state of things would seriously interfere with the work. But in the midst of war God spread a shield over His servants. At no previous period had they prosecuted their labors in greater quietness and peace, or with clearer evidence of the divine presence and blessing.

Sacred Edict

The war was still further overruled for the furtherance of the Gospel by becoming the occasion, if not the actual means, of securing another important concession from the Turkish government on the subject of religious liberty, a new Magna Charta for the Christian subjects of the Porte. This is known as the Ifatti Sherif (Sacred Edict), or Haiti Huma- youn (Imperial Edict) of 185G, and was issued on the authority of the Sultan himself.

It was generally regarded at the time as a complete guarantee of religious liberty to all the subjects of the Ottoman Porte, of whatever creed, and an assurance that no Mohammedan who chose to become a Christian should suffer on that account. But it has always been questionable whether the Turkish government, whose dealings are so often marked by duplicity, the prevailing sin of Orientals, really intended that it should have such an unlimited significance. Events of more recent occurrence give greater strength to such doubts, if they do not prove that the Porte intended only to make more secure the rights and privileges of those who were nominal Christians before.

Absolutely required by the necessities of the case

So, when churches began to be organized, he felt that it would be no charity, but a positive injury, for the mission to assume the entire control, or become responsible for the expenses, any farther than was absolutely required by the necessities of the case. Native pastors, instead of missionaries, were placed over the churches; the people took part in their government; and they were encouraged to contribute according to their ability to the support of the pastors, and to other needful expenses in maintaining the institutions of the Gospel. Soon after the organization of the first church, Mr. Goodell says: —

“ Recently their pastor was in straitened circumstances, and applied to us for relief. We told the church it was tlieir duty to see that their pastor did not suffer, and we informed them of the donation parties in New England. They immediately took up the subject in a business-like style, and appointed committees to receive contributions for the relief of their pastor. One member of the female seminary was appointed to receive what the pupils were disposed to give; and, to our great surprise and gratitude, they brought forward of their own accord between three and four dollars.

The next day I spoke to them on the privilege and duty of their doing something regularly to maintain the institutions of religion among themselves. I told them that after this year the pastor would not probably look to us for any part of his salary, but would look to his church and congregation for the whole, and that they must be ready to do their part. In the evening they all came running to me with money in their hands, — their first payment for this object. I afterwards told the deacons of the church that, if they would now undertake to support their own pastor, I was sure these poor girls could with their needles, even while members of the school, raise one-thirtieth, if not one-twentieth, of the funds necessary.”

Having made a visit to the interior, where churches had been organized, he wrote: —

Importance of supporting

“ In this visit we labored to impress on the minds of the churches the importance of supporting entirely their own pastors; and not only so, but of themselves contributing also to send the Gospel to those who were more destitute than themselves. We told them how the ladies in a certain town in Connecticut once built a meeting-house by raising onions; and we charged every husband who owned a garden to give his wife a corner of it, that site might at once begin to work in it for Christ.

We told them of a town in Massachusetts, in which the good people in a time of great distress contrived to support their pastor by sharing with him whatever they had for themselves, one and another sending to him three candles, thirty nails, some beans, a few hops, two quarts of milk, cloth for a shirt, a broom, half a dozen pigeons bulgaria holidays. We told them that, if there should be an increase of fifteen or twenty to their families ‘ by ordinary generation ’ during the year, they would be able to support them all without asking for the charities of their brethren; and could they not therefore support one whom God had now sent them? ”

Control as speedily as possible

On the still more important branch of this subject, that of educating the people to an independence of foreign direction, by withdrawing that control as speedily as possible, he wrote to the Secretary of the Hoard, in reply to a communication on the subject: —

CONSTANTINOPLE, Oct. 7, 1848.

MY DEAR BROTHER, — I hope you may not find it necessary to curtail us in our expenses next year; but, should you have to do it, would it not be better to leave it to us to decide in what particular department of our labors this curtailment must be made, than for the committee to do it at such a distance? It is of course for them to name the sum, if in the providence of God a sum must be named; but ought it not, of course, to be expected that we should be more capable of knowing than they, where the reduction will appear likely to produce the least possible injury to the cause?

With the drift of your letter to the mission I was much pleased, and I hope you will follow it up with others, urging us not to keep native helpers in the background for the sake of rendering ourselves apparently indispensable to the work, nor to delay settling native pastors, lest we ourselves should be found to be no longer necessary.

Specimen of epistolary composition

On the 4th of July, 1843, the venerable father of Mr. Goodell died at the home of his son in Copley, Ohio, whither he had removed a few years previous. The letter which Mr. Goodell wrote to his brother on receiving the intelligence was inserted at the commencement of these Memoirs. It is not only a touching tribute of filial affection, showing that the heart of the writer was as fresh and tender in its love as in the days of his boyhood, but, as a specimen of epistolary composition, and for the spirit of glowing, Scriptural piety that it breathes, it will bear many perusals. The Bev. Dr. William Adams, in quoting it in his introduction to “ The Old and the Kew,” says, “ We know not which to admire the most, — its purity of taste, its depth of pathos, or its simplicity of piety.”

Official despatch

In August, 1843, occurred an event which in its results had an important influence upon the cause of religious liberty in Turkey, and an important bearing upon the mission work in that country. The circumstances are detailed as follows in an official despatch to his government by Sir Stratford Canning, the English ambassador: —

“Buyuk-Dere, August 27, 1813. Within the last few days an execution has taken place at Constantinople, under circumstances which have occasioned much excitement and indignation among the Christian inhabitants. The sufferer was an Armenian youth of eighteen or twenty years, who, having under fear of punishment declared himself a Turk, went to the island of Syra, and, returning after an absence of some length, resumed his former religion.

Apprehensive of the danger, but resolved not to deny his real faith a second time, he kept out of sight, till accident betrayed him to the police, and he was then thrown into prison. In spite of threats, promises, and blows, he there maintained his resolution, refused to save his life by a fresh disavowal of Christianity, and was finally decapitated in one of the most frequented parts of the city with circumstances of great barbarity.”

According to the customs of New England

You will be gratified to hear that, according to the customs of New England, and, I suppose, of the United States generally, I have a bath every morning; and, though I am not altogether pleased with the custom, and sometimes cannot refrain from shedding tears, yet I consider it far preferable to that which prevails among the Armenians of Constantinople. These, on the birth of a child, immediately scarify its arms, back, legs, with a lancet, put on salt, and swathe it close, and thus let it remain for days, weeks, and I do not know but months, without unswathing. Whether they salt down the child in order to preserve it, or whether the object is to get all the old Adam out of its blood, I must confess my ignorance; but, at any rate, a daily purification by water must, it appears to me, be unspeakably better.

I wish to be properly remembered to all my uncles, aunts, and cousins in the land of my forefathers. Would it were in my power to tell you my name, but really I am not so rich as to possess one; and whether I am to be Jemima, Keren-happuch, or something else, I have not the least iiea; and all my friends here seem to be at as great a loss about itras I myself. But though my name is not yet written on earth, I hope it is already enrolled in heaven; and oh, may it never be blotted from the book of life!

And as to yourself, I presume you will know perfectly well who I am, and for whom you must pray, when I subscribe myself

THE LITTLE DAUGHTER OP YOUR SON TV. G.

Another letter was written by Mr. Goodell, as amanuensis for a son just born, to one of the officers of the American Board, whose name had been given to the child: —-

MY DEAR SIR, — I joined this mission on the 20th ult., and, though I was not wholly unexpected, yet I arrived at so early an hour in the morning as to take some of the missionary circle by surprise. For the present I board in Mr. Goodell’s family, which seems to be the case with all new missionaries, till they have learnt something of the language, with the manners and customs of the people; and this whether they are to remain permanently at Constantinople, or whether they are to pass on after a while to the regions beyond.

The Dairyman’s Daughter

“ According to an official statement, it appears that from the year 1822 to 1829 there were issued from the Malta printing-press 250,000 copies of various religious works, containing more than ten millions of pages in Greek, Italian, and Turkish, with Armenian characters. It is a subject of regret that such benevolent efforts should in some instances have taken a wrong direction. Nearly forty thousand dollars have been expended upon works which are as unintelligible to the Greeks or Turks as a Pelham novel would be toSplit Leg ’ or ‘ The Black Hawk.’

The Arabian Nights

The remedy, however, is easy. Instead of translating The Dairyman’s Daughter,’ and other tracts of a similar character, let the missionaries be instructed to compose on the spot short stories filled with local allusions, and naturally arising out of the scenes and manners around them. Let them write something in the style of the Arabian Nights,’ always, however, with a moral end and aim, and they will be read with avidity.” — Sketches of Turkey, p. 287.

The very tract here specified as unsuited to accomplish any good among the Orientals was the one which God had chosen to employ in the conversion of these two priests, and which was instrumental in inaugurating, without any other apparent means, a religious revival and reformation in the interior of Turkey.

In his journal he makes the following reflections upon the death of a daughter of the Sultan: —

July 3. The Sultan’s second daughter, who was married two years ago to Said Pasha, died last night, and was buried early this morning. I feel reproved for not having prayed more in time past for the Sultan and his family. We enjoy protection and great peace and quietness under his reign, and in what better way can we repay him than by remembering him and his sons and daughters in our intercessions? They suffer pain and affliction, and they must die as well as others; and, in a dying hour, where can they look for comfort if they know not the power of the Gospel?

From the old farm in Templeton

For the dried-apple sent me by your beloved daughter, from the old farm in Templeton, will you return her my warmest thanks? I brought it with me on my return from Broosa, and wish to assure her that it was very acceptable.

Will you remember me also to your new minister? I once saw him, though he may not recollect me. May he have an unction from the Holy One, and his labors be greatly blessed!

I almost forgot to say that while at Broosa I rode out to see the spot where your beloved children will probably find their last resting-place. It is very retired and romantic, away from the noise of men; and a sweeter spot one need not desire to lie in till the bright morning of the resurrection.

Mrs. Goodell unites in Christian love to all your dear family. Will you remember us and our six little ones in your prayers?

Yours truly and affectionately,

W. GOODELL.

In a communication to the Board, he related some of the incidents of his journey, which are inserted as showing the condition of the interior and the character of the government: —

“Constantinople, July 25, 1837. I left this for Broosa on the 7 th of June, and returned on the 19 th. Broosa is about twenty miles from Mondania, which is a seaport town, situated on the southern shore of the Marmora; and, as the Sea of Marmora is here, including the gulf, full sixty miles across, Broosa cannot be less than eighty miles from Constantinople. I left home at five o’clock in the evening in an open boat, and arrived at Broosa on horseback before the middle of the following day.

Broosa to Constantinople

“ The return from Broosa to Constantinople is often a more serious matter; for, as the north are the prevailing winds, it is necessary in such cases to row all the way back; and, should the wind be strong, a detention at Mondania, or at some place (perhaps an uninhabited one) on the way, may be the consequence. This has happened to myself more than once; and it requires all the patience one can command to keep himself quiet in a place where he can do nothing, enjoy nothing, and perchance find nothing to eat.

“ On the present occasion I was detained from a cause of a still more serious nature. An order had just come from Constantinople to Mondania for a hundred Greeks; and, as it appeared they were designed for the Sultan’s navy, they were particularly sought for from among the boatmen. As might be expected, therefore, the boatmen fled in every direction, and, as they were all Greeks, not a boat could, of course, be found. I went to the governor; but he only exhorted me to patience. The plague was raging in the place, and every hour seemed to me as long as a day.

Turkish guard offered

Not Ibrahim and all his conquests, nor the presence of the Russian fleet, with all the uncertainty hanging over the subject of their departure, have produced any thing like it. The Perotes, in particular, will now have subject-matter of conversation for a whole month to come; while all good papists among them will feel bound to place additional candles before the Virgin, in token of their gratitude for her timely interference in saving them from antichrist. And were it not for ourselves, they might now hope that ‘ the land would have rest for forty years.’

“ These men, it is said, went one day last week and stood in a conspicuous place to see the Sultan, and, when he passed along, they remained like statues, not showing the least sign of respect; but, whenever they saw a female, of whatever age or of whatever nation, they would run to her, even in sight of the Sultan himself, throw off their caps, bow down before her, gaze upon her face, and compare her features with the model of female beauty they had in their hand, in order to ascertain whether the individual they had accosted were the female messiah.

Now, you know, even the common Turks do not consider it very genteel, to say the least, for strangers to take such liberties with their wives and daughters. And the high Sultan was so indignant to see them give to the harem of his subjects that honor which he considers due to him alone, and give it, too, in a manner which would shock common decency even in civilized countries, where woman is accustomed to receive attention, that he ordered them to be arrested and thrown into prison.

“ A multitude of people of all nations were assembled to see them off. The Turkish guard offered them no abuse, nor did they allow any others to insult them. The Turks carried their baggage on board with as much gravity as they would charcoal, and the prisoners, thirteen in all, walked out two and two and embarked. They were all dressed in livery, having red pantaloons fitting as tight to the legs as their skin; neat boots, reaching liali’-way up to the knee; a sort of Albanian petticoat, though much less full and much shorter, not reaching half-way down to the knee; a girdle round the waist; black cloaks thrown over their shoulders and tied before; red, three-cornered caps on their heads; their beards long; and their hair, like that of Nazarites, hanging over their shoulders. They were all young men, with interesting countenances, and they appeared perfectly at their ease.

“ After they were gone, I asked the captain of the port, from whose office they had just been conveyed on board, Who were these singular-looking men you have been sending away? ’ lie replied, They are Frenchmen Istiklal Street and Taksim Square, whose father is imprisoned in Paris, and who came here to look round in our harems for their mother.’ They certainly displayed great ignorance of the customs of the country, and a great want of common sense, to say no more; but when men turn away their ears from the truth, and are turned into fables,’ what can be expected but that, like wicked men and seducers, they should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.’

They are called missionaries by the people here, which is, of course, not much to our honor. Yesterday I was in a store at Pera, and heard several persons conversing about the imprisonment of these thirteen. I told them I had understood that there were twenty-four of them in all.No,’ replied a flippant clerk, whom I took to be a papal Armenian, ‘ there are only thirteen of these; the Americans at Orta Keuy are bashkah,’ i.e., not the same; different. Some of those present must, I think, have known that I belonged to the bashhah; but they said nothing.”

Proclaimed extensively among the people

But although they had found the land and the people in such a state when they entered the country, seldom has missionary work been crowned so speedily with such encouraging results. The Gospel had not only been proclaimed extensively among the people, but from among the Armenians, Greeks, and Maronites, men had been raised up who were preaching the truth faithfully and fearlessly from house to house; schools had been established, in which hundreds of children and adults of both sexes were taught; a decided impression had been made upon the Oriental prejudice against the education of women; tracts had been widely distributed, which were eagerly read and discussed by a people peculiarly given to controversy; a spirit of inquiry, although in the main accompanied by a spirit of opposition, had been extensively excited; all classes of people, of all nationalities, had been aroused, — Armenians, Greek and Roman Catholics, including Maronites and Mohammedans, — moved as much, perhaps, by the zealous opposition of their religious teachers as by the truth itself, but thoroughly aroused to the consciousness that a new clement of power had been introduced among them.

All these were exceedingly hopeful indications; and sad was the disappointment when those who had begun to see the fruit of their labors were called to abandon the field and leave the harvest to perish. They left, however, in the full expectation of returning as soon as the political storm which was passing over the land should subside.

From Beyrout to Malta

The voyage from Beyrout to Malta was far from pleasant. There were in all twenty-one persons, besides the ship’s company, crowded together in a little Austrian trabaccolo of a hundred tons. Only about half the number could get into the cabin at once. They were obliged to live and take their meals chiefly on deck in all kinds of weather, without table or chairs; and when, after being thirty days at sea, the vessel reached port, they were obliged to go into quarantine for thirty days more.

From the lazaretto at Malta Mr. Goodell wrote to a friend in America: —

“ It grieves me to say that all our missionary operations in Syria are at present suspended, and ‘all our pleasant things laid waste.’ The step we have taken in securing a temporary asylum in this island will not probably be altogether unexpected, if you have had an eye to the political tempest that has been for several months gathering in the East, though you may not have seen and heard so distinctly as we have the lightnings and thundering which gave a more fearful aspect to the impending storm.