It will not be expected that, within the limits necessarily assigned to us, we should trace the further conquests of the caliphs -their successions and dissensions, the division of the caliphate into three independent sovereignties, or the wars by which they had afterwards to defend their possessions against the attacks of Western Christendom. A notice, however brief, must suffice of their progress in Europe. At the commencement of the eighth century, the revenge and treachery of Count Julian, a noble Spaniard, procured for the Moslems easy access to Spain. Thither Musa, the Governor of Africa, dispatched Tarik, his intrepid lieutenant, who, with only 5000 volunteers, landed on the rock of Gibraltar, (Gebel-al-Tarik,) where he laid the foundation of those fortifications which, not impossibly, it may be ours soon to defend against hostile forces. The Gothic monarchy, established in Spain, had long declined in vigor. At the time of the Saracen invasion the scepter was held by Roderic, one of the weakest and most licentious of princes. The Gothic army, computed at not less than 100,000 men, might easily have resisted the inferior forces of the Saracens; but the degenerate successor of Alaric appeared on the battle-field of Xeres wearing a diadem of pearls, a flowing robe of gold and silken embroidery, and reclining on an ivory car, drawn by two white mules. The treach ery and the cowardice of the Christians once more insured the victory of Tarik. In the decisive moment, two royal princes, the Archbishop of Toledo, and many others, deserted the standard of a sovereign whom they hated; 16,000 bodies of Christians covered the field; Roderic was drowned in his precipitate flight; and within a brief period all Spain was subject to Saracen domination. Envious at the success of his subordinate, Musa advanced from Africa to complete the subjugation of the country. In Spain the rule of the Arabs was gentle, and in some respects even beneficial to the country. Never has that land attained to such a high state of cultivation, never did com merce, arts, or sciences flourish, as when the Spanish caliphs held court in Cordova -that royal city with its 600 mosques, 900 baths, and 200,000 houses. Peace and protection were extended to the Christians, on the payment of a tribute, which under the first of the Ommiades amounted to 10,000 ounces of gold and of silver, with an equal number of horses and mules. Such was the prosperity of the country that, under the most powerful of his successors, it rose to about £6,000,000 of our money-a sum probably greater than all the revenues of the monarchs of Europe at the time.-The defenders of national independence and Christianity in Spain retired to the mountains, whence gradually gathering strength they issued into the plains, and, driving the degenerate successors of Tarik before them, they reconquered the country, till under the reign of the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, Granada, their last stronghold, was surrendered, and the Moors, with their ancient allies the Jews, were expelled from the Peninsula. Long before that time their further progress over the Pyrenees, and through France, had been checked by the decisive victory of Charles Martel on the plains of Tours. Eastwards also the Saracens penetrated into Europe. At one time they not only occupied Sicily, but even threatened Rome. So soon as forty-six years after the Hegira, the Moslems had appeared before Constantinople, and for six successive summers continued their attacks, till obliged for a time to withdraw from so costly an enterprise. Equally unsuccessful was another siege from 716 to 718. In both cases the city was largely indebted for its safety to the use of the so-called Greek fire, which the besieged poured with unerring accuracy on their defenseless assailants. But though centuries elapsed before the capital fell into the hands of the successors of Mohammed, the effete Eastern Empire was incapable of resisting the onset of the Moslems, restored from apparent decay by the accession of the Ottomans, or Turks, a wild highland tribe, originally inhabiting the mountain recesses of Asia. Amurath made Adrianople his capital; and although Sultan Bajazet was defeated by Tamerlane that scourge of Asiathe check was only temporary. A mournful interest attaches to the last siege of Constantinople under Mohammed II. Cruel, bloodthirsty, and licentious as that prince was, the conquest of the Eastern capital amounted almost to a passion with him. An apostate engineer furnished him with artillery of tremendous caliber. The siege began on the 6th of April, 1453. Within the city the courage of despair prevailed. Palæologus, the last of the Constantines, for a time rose to the digni ty of his situation. But against such tremendous odds, the devices of art and the determination of bravery were equally unavailing. The final assault took place on the 29th of May, by a host which for closeness and continuity has been compared to a twined or twisted thread. The undisciplined multitude of stragglers was first brought forward to exhaust the resources and the strength of the garrison. At each foremost place of danger the Emperor himself was found, rallying his soldiers by word and example. But the defection of the wounded Genoese commander of the city, and after him of most of his Italian countrymen, speedily decided the fate of the day. Palæologus found a soldier's death. Constantinople was surrendered to the lust of the soldiery, and the church of St. Sophia, in which fervent preachers had so oft poured forth their warnings and admonitions, became the cathedral of Mohammedanism. From Turkey the Sultans continued to menace and molest Austria and Germany by inroads into Hungary, till their power was finally broken under the walls of Vienna by John Sobieski, the heroic Polish leader. It is another and more difficult task to indicate the means by which the Saracens were enabled to preserve their rule in so many and widely distant countries. While devoutly acknowledging that these providential judgments upon the Eastern Empire were caused by the unfaithfulness of the Church and the sins of the people, and while acknowledging that by abolishing many a long cherished system of idolatry, the Korân may, in a certain sense, prove a schoolmaster unto Christ, the historian feels that a more accurate analysis of the secondary causes of so strange a phenomenon is requisite. Without doubt, the nominal Christians of the Greek Empire had, in great measure, lost all that entitled them to the name of a church. The profligacy and dissoluteness of the people, the ambition, disputatiousness, and servility of the clergy, the dead formalism and vain wrangling which they introduced, had long deprived the salt of all its savor. They had not vigor to oppose the martial ardor of the Arabs, nor conviction to resist the burning fanaticism of the Moslems. To many of these religionists it was but the change of a mys terious symbol for a creed, in most respects, of cold rationality; but which, in stead of fasts and abstinences, indulged its adherents with every sensual gratification. If to them the alternative was presented of martyrdom, or even persecution, and Islamism, with all its advantages, the choice would, in few instances, be difficult. Besides, every person dissatisfied from any cause, would naturally join the Moslems; while the numerous progeny of Saracens, by Christian mothers, espoused the creed of their fathers. It must always be borne in mind that the religion of the Mohammedans formed, if not the motive, at least the pretext of their expeditions, and that thus each acquisition made was, in reality, a politico-religious conquest. The sword and the Koran went together; and while other creeds were, indeed, tolerated on payment of tribute, the communities adhering to them were despised and oppressed. Thus each province gained was bound to the throne of the caliphs by the strongest of all ties-that of a common religion, of the most fanatical and exclusive character. But the reasoning which we have just employed will scarcely explain the fact, that to this day Mohammedanism is quietly, but rapidly, spreading by peaceful means, especially in regions distant, and not much known to Europeans. In the East, the Malay race has adopted the Korân within the last few centuries. Borneo is intensely Mohammedan, and Moslem missions are said to be established even in China. But it is chiefly in the interior of Africa, in Soodan and Hussa, the great kingdom of the Felatahs, and in the kingdoms of Ghana, Tokrur Bussa, Berissa, Wawa, and Kiama, that Mohammedanism has made its latest acquisitions. It is the religion of Timbuctoo. A century ago a few Mohammedans settled in Mandingoland; and by dint of schools and preaching, the whole country has become theirs. Ever and again our scientific and religious missions are brought into contact with this Moslem propaganda: every year, fresh pagan tribes in the interior of Africa are added to the disciples of the prophet. The Ghala tribes are gradually converted, and in Malabar the Korân is rapidly spreading. These results can only be attributed, humanly speaking, to the zeal of the Arab missionaries, and to the inherent superiority of Islam over the pagan abominations which it displaces. But on these progresses of Mohammedanism we probably require yet more ample and de tailed data to enable us to draw satisfactory inferences. would necessarily cease to be Mohammedan. Nor does the prospect of transferring the rule to the Christian populations in European Turkey, inspire us with greater hope. For the most part, these races are equally if not more degenerate than their Turkish rulers. Dark as is the future of that country, we feel as if Turkey would go down suddenly amidst the convulsion of nations; it can not be reformed, and it may not be partitioned-at least, till it has become the battle-field of peoples. From this we turn to another and very different picture. While Mohammedanism is extending to distant provinces, the Euphrates is undoubtedly drying up at its sources. The story of the sick man is, after all, not so much of a parable. With almost boundless resources at its disposal, with provinces which, properly cultivated, would yield inexhaustible wealth; with an ample seaboard, and the finest harbor in the world; with all the advantages of European and Asiatic possession, of soil But while the political prospects of the and climate, the Turkish Empire is rapid- country are thus unpromising, happy and ly decaying. In Europe its sovereignty successful efforts have of late been made over rebellious tribes is, to say the least, to introduce the light of a pure Christivery precarious. In Asia it is only strong anity among the various races of that enough to render improvement impossi- Empire. A chain of missions extends ble, but not to resist even those maraud- from its northernmost boundary through ing Beduins, who are rapidly depopulat- Wallachia, Bulgaria, Roumelia, to Asia ing Palestine, and whom a comparatively Minor, Palestine, Syria, and the ancient small number of soldiers might easily con- capital of Haroun-al-Rashid. The hightrol. The internal feuds, the financial dif- landers of Khurdistan, the inhabitants of ficulties, and the utter impotence of the Armenia, and the settlers in Ur of the government, are rapidly destroying the Chaldees, have again the Gospel brought remaining vitality of the Empire. We to them; native churches are being plantspeak not from hearsay, but from person- ed, native ministers ordained, schools al observation, when we state it as our founded, and printing-presses introduced. conviction that the revival or continuance These successes are mainly due to the of the Moslen power is an impossibility. indefatigable zeal and self-denying labors We are aware that, under proper leaders, of those best of modern missionaries-the the Turkish army has in the late war sus- Americans. From the latest report of the tained the onset of their Muscovite oppo- Aid Society established in this country, nents; but to judge from the defense of we learn that the number of their missiona fortress, or from a few well-devised aries amounts to 140, that of native assisstrategic movements, the state of these tants to 264, that of stations to 111, of forces was an utter fallacy. We know churches to 42, of nominal Protestants to that the army is entirely demoralized, 6958, of church members to 1586, and of that it is badly disciplined, worse officer- day-scholars to 4500. From every station ed, and still worse spirited; and that in considerable progress is reported. A open and fair fight it would never stand work of thorough reformation is progressagainst even a much inferior foe. A ing with great rapidity in the Nestorian, similar remark applies to all the other the Armenian, and the Greek churches; branches of the public service; corrup- while of late the Mohammedan population tion, venality, bigotry, ignorance, and in- itself has also been reached. If we may capacity reign supreme. The Turkish venture to take in its literality one of Empire could only be saved by a revival these accounts, a whole town near Trebiof the spirit in which it first originated. zond, with a population of 40,000 males, Nor is any progress towards European has cast off the Mohammedan faith, which civilization or improvement—at least, of for centuries was unwillingly held, and a genuine and lasting character-conceiv- returned to the religion of their forefathable. Modern inventions, arrangements, ers. But be this as it may, no doubt can and manners may be imported, but Islamism is of purely native growth-a thing entirely sui generis, and resistance to all that is without is one of its leading characteristics. If European civilization became naturalized in Turkey, the Empire be entertained that there is a number of Christian converts among the Moslems, that the Bible is increasingly circulating amongst them, and that many have rejected the Koran who have not yet learned to understand or to receive Christiani ty. Our hopes of the continued progress Mohammed to direct satanic agency, are, of this work are in great measure bound in our opinion, mistakes in a treatise which up with the Hatti Humaioun, or charter we would gladly see placed in the hands of religious liberty, lately granted by the of educated Mohammedan youths, especiSultan. We are inclined to believe that ally in India. We have also felt a certain this will not be a dead letter, but that its want of arrangement which may render power and influence will be increasingly it difficult for persons unacquainted with felt. For this inestimable boon, not too Mohammedanism to gain a consecutive dearly purchased even by the blood and historical view of its state and tenets from treasure spent in the late war, Europe is these pages. From one so able as our mainly indebted to Lord Stratford de author we should gladly have heard more Redcliffe. Foreign jealousy and domestic about the different sects of Islam. To ignorance may have conspired in his de- occasional slips of the pen we will not adtraction, but every unprejudiced person vert, satisfied that these will, on revision, acquainted with the political, social, and readily occur to the learned author himreligious state of Turkey will admit that self. Of Dr. Arnold's proposal to estabin him England possessed one of her most lish a Missionary Society for propagating sagacious statesmen, and Turkey one of the Gospel among the Mohammedans we her wisest and best friends. can only say it has our cordial sympathy, provided it is not intended in any way to supersede or interfere with the labors of our American friends. Surely the fifteen millions of our Moslem fellow-subjects in India, and the recent events in that country, constitute a loud call upon the Churches of Britain to address themselves to this work. Some such undertaking as that which presently engages the attention of the two English Universities, prayerfully commenced and believingly sustained, might prove a source of incalculable blessing. We close this volume, from which we have derived not a little information, and which we have persued with no small interest, with the recommendation to our readers speedily to make themselves acquainted with its valuable contents. The mention of American missions leads us to notice-perhaps somewhat tardily the work which we have placed at the head of this article. Its main object is to delineate the rise and character of Mohammedanism. With considerable learning Dr. Arnold traces the Korân to its origin in Jewish and Christian legends, explains and refutes its teaching, and vindicates Christian truth and dogma from the objections and aspersions of the Moslems. In some respects, however, the book is open to criticism, especially from the want of what we might call a sufficient grasp of the subject. To deny every thing good and great about Mohammedanism, to slight or ignore its culture, to connect it with earlier Christian heresies, and to ascribe the utterances of "E pur si muove." What if, when starry Galileo uttered these memorable words to the bigoted and unbelieving Inquisitors, the globe had moved, not, indeed, in the sense that the philosopher meant, but quaked under the influence of those mysterious and unknown causes which produce the astounding and terrific phenomena of Earthquakes? Then, indeed, the skeptical Jesuits-if they had not been whelmed in yawning gulfs, or crushed beneath falling columns-might have admitted that the all-powerful Being producing such phenomena might also cause the globe to revolve. And it is worthy of remark, that an earthquake of great severity occurred in Italy during the very year (1633) in which Galileo was brought before the Inquisition at Rome. At Mantua and Naples much damage was done, and the village of Nicolosi, at the foot of Etna, was totally destroyed. For Galileo, a bright light amidst his fellows, lived in an age when storms and tempests, thunder and lightning, flashing meteors, and, above all, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, were regarded either as instruments of punishment or as awful portents of the fall of kingdoms or the destruction of tyrants. Earthquakes were especially dreaded on account of their destructiveness. "We know, indeed," says Butler, in his Analogy of Religion, "several of the general laws of matter, and a great part of the behavior of living agents is reducible to general laws, but we know nothing in a manner by what laws earthquakes become the instruments of destruction to mankind." The progress of science and education has stripped astronomical phenomena of many of the superstitions which the vulgar and uneducated attach to them. The lightning has been controlled, electricity made to obey our mandates, and storms have been brought in a great measure under certain well-established physical laws, but it is only very recently that volcanic and earthquake phenomena have been investigated by exact science; and although THEIR PHENOMENA. theory and speculation must still enter largely into all attempts to fathom the cosmical laws connected with earthquakes, still much has been done to enable us to arrive at a tolerably just knowledge of the nature of these phenomena. Earthquakes have long engaged the attention of philosophers. The works of Aristotle and Pliny contain many passages and allusions to them; and innumerable books and tracts, some abounding with extraordinary, and curious, and occasionally with shrewd speculations, testify how interesting the study of earthquake phenomena has always been considered. But, numerous as these investigations have been, it is equally certain that the bibliography of earthquakes is singularly deficient in scientific results of any value, the staple of earthquake stories being made up of gossip and accidents that befell men, animals, and buildings, rather than of the phenomena themselves. This loose and inconclusive method led the Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science to devote a sum of money for the purpose of investigating earthquake phenomena, and drawing up a report on their principal features. The labor has been excessive, and the results, for which we are mainly indebted to Mr. Robert Mallet, F.R.S., are extremely interesting. Four valuable Reports have been made. sists of a large volume containing records of nearly seven thousand earthquakes, observed over every known part of the globe, both on land and ocean, from 285 years B.C. to A.D. 1850. The last con As may be supposed, the records of early observed earthquakes do not present that scientific exactitude desired by modern physicists anxious to explain earthquake phenomena; but nevertheless, the great mass of observations has enabled Mr. Mallet to arrive, by careful discussion, at results of great interest, and to him are we mainly indebted for the fact that seismology (from oɛloμos, an earthquake) has become an exact science. |