THE BLACK FLAG.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 397, 6 August 1877, Page 4

THE BLACK FLAG.

(Auckland Herald.} Turkey has two fleg*. 013 is the flag of Turkey proper, o*: cf the Sultan as a temporal ruler; the ether is the flag of the Prophet, which comes to the Sultan as the head of the Mohammedan Church. The national flag of Turkey is red, with a white star and crescent; the Molummedsm flag is dead b!ack. Whsn the fo:: ner flies afc the head of the Turkish the Sultan appears as a t3.np-.Kal iubr; when the black flag is uifurbt 1 , he appeals as the spuitnal heal of i'; 3 C.:u v.h. Some days since ifc was repyrLed _lh.-i.fc ili3 Sdum would raisj the I Lick fl.:-, proclaim (his a religh-us war, and c.i Mohatnm-d/us throughout fc re wo. hi to Ei>ve the C.ureh. Tue British Mi,i"..Ler at Constantinople opposed this pel cy, ; ;id for a time its adoption was Our despatches now state th,;t \l;e proclamation has been issued ; that the Saltan declares t'ie wsr ngain.-t E>:cs'«i a hoiy war ; and that the b'ack fl.'j t. ill w.-ke the place of the national fh»g of r J we black flag is held in great reverence by the Mohammedans. Tn prochr'ming a holy the Su ? '.m seems to have chosen between t.?e r..d Christipn nations might extend to > m and the support he can comnvud f.orn the followers of ihe Prophet. Tuere a; e many millions of Mohammedans in As a who owe no pllegiance to the red flag cf Turkey, brt will rally under the o!ack flrg of i.he i rophefc. They evtn believe that the fl;?g unfurled when a holy war is proclaimed is the identical black curiam which Mohr.mmed is reported to have torn down from the front door of his wife's chamber; and the sight of ifc influences thtm with the same fanatical zeal which inspired the followers of the founder of their religion. The Sult.n counts much on this enthusifsm, and in the straits in which he is placed he does not consider the terrible consequences which may arise from this marshalling of religious forces —Mohammedan against Christian. But the adoption of this policy J laces England in an unenviable position, t opens up questions that have not yet been pubh'cly considered. One of these questions is, if England is a Christian or Mohammedan Power. In point of number", the Mohammedan subjects of the British crown far outnumber those nominally professing the Christian faith.. The Ouetn of Errand recently caused herself likewise to be proclaimed the Empress of India. Cut the governing classes are at l?ast nominally Christian. Tne Queen, the Menard y, the Parliament, and the people of the three kingdoms are all on the Christian side of the line. British interests are largely on the other. India, to which England is indebted for her supremacy in wealth, is Mohammedan.