ISLAM

SIDELIGHTS ON MOSLEM CHARACTER 143
From the above paragraphs it will have been seen
how true Englishmen and Christians have viewed
Turkey as it is. Mr. Knight has frankly admitted
that he has more confidence in a Turkish brigand
than an Anglo-Saxon or a Celtic one. He has prized
his friendship which is valuable as that of one's
brother and as faithful as that of one's dog. But
Mr. Levonian has not paid the devil its due. Blessed
be he! In the following lines Mr. Knight gives an
idea of the tenderness of heart of the Turks and their
kindness to animals.
Everybody knows very well how Christian ladies
make an indiscriminate and lavish use of feathers
and furs in their garments. They completely ignore
the circumstances in which the fur and feather
yielding animals and birds are butchered every day
for satisfying the most shallow variety of putting
on gorgeous costumes, we would have left that
alone, but for the attack of Mr. Levonian on Turkish
character as being intemperate in everything.
In reply to Mr. Levonian's aspersions on the Turkish
Caliphate we may say here that the abolition of the
is the most momentous event of modern
Caliphate
times. Par-reaching are it consequences, consequences
for good or evil, as the case may be. Its prolongation,
however, till but yesterday demonstrates
how the ideas of a vanished age live and linger long
after they have spent their force and served their
purpose. The Turks before, as now, have rendered
heroic services to Islam. At the tirfie of the domina-