any strain of Turkish blood, and this is diluted till it is rarely

perceptible in their physiognomy: and if environment rather than blood is

to be held responsible for racial features, it can only be said that the

territory occupied by the Osmanlis is as unlike the homeland of the true

Turks as it can well be, and is quite unsuited to typically Turkish life

and manners.



While of course it would be absurd to propose at this time of day any

change in the terms by which the civilized world unanimously designates

the Osmanlis and their dominion, it is well to insist on their

incorrectness, because, like most erroneous names, they have bred

erroneous beliefs. Thanks in the main to them, the Ottoman power is

supposed to have originated in an overwhelming invasion of Asia Minor by

immense numbers of Central Asiatic migrants, who, intent, like the early

Arab armies, on offering to Asia first and Europe second the choice of

apostasy or death, absorbed or annihilated almost all the previous

populations, and swept forward into the Balkans as single-minded apostles

of Islam. If the composition and the aims of the Osmanlis had been these,

it would pass all understanding how they contrived, within a century of

their appearance on the western scene, to establish in North-west Asia and

South-east Europe the most civilized and best-ordered state of their time.

Who, then, are the Osmanlis in reality? What have they to do with true

Turks? and in virtue of what innate qualities did they found and

consolidate their power?