THE KEY OF THE EAST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 299, 27 May 1915, Page 6

THE KEY OF THE EAST.

(liy P.ev. .James Milne, jr.A., ill the J Lunedin Star.) Constantinople, after Jerusalem, is i the most famous city in history ; it is probably, too, the most important strategic position in the world. It was founded by the Koman Emperor whose name it bears in the year .'WB A.D., am) ~ two years later was dedicated, through Christian rites, as the new capital of the Empire. Old historians tell that the choice of a site for his new imperial city gave Constantine no little concern; bui) tiuit he could have chosen a better is scarcely open to iiuestiou, as its natural features testify and its history has proved again and again. It is built where the old Crook town of Jiyzanfiuni once stood, at'Tae meeting of East and West. Situate on the lamous lioldvii Horn, by the famous Sea of Marmora, it commands a position of unique beauty, strength, and importance, its sea gate to tlie western world is through the Dardanelles ; with the Llack Sea J and the East it is connected by the Bosphorus. That it is otherwise j strongly placed and fortified is evident , from the numerous sieges it has successfully sustained anil resisted in the course of its long and remarkable history, for although Constantinople has j been often assailed it has seldom been j taken. Its importance is maniiesv, : when if is considered how olten Ihroiigh- ! out tiie Christian era it has l.ei n »'.!.• j „übjeet- of iati ('national controversy. In 1.-.1.'l Constantinople was taken by j the Turks, and thus the city which its i founder meant to be Ihe home and i stronghold of tlie Chris! iau laith cam" i into Mohammedan possession. In view j of this fact, and of its after history, as J likewise ill view of what may pro\e its i more immediate future, it may not He ! e. ithout interest to recall the story ol | the inspiration win ri by Constantino was moved to build the city- Kusebius, the historian, vouches for the story, which, ha declares, he received from the Emperor himself. It is to the oli'ecf that Constantine, while warring against one. of his rivals for sovereignty in Rome, saw above the noontide sun the figure ' of a cross, with the words oniblazon"il in Latin by it: "In this conquer!" The night following he was granted a. vision of the same sign, and at once thereafter embraced -Christianity as his faith. This step was succeeded by iiuj mediate success in battle, and soon eon- ! quering all opponents, he became master of Koine. As sole Emperor, he made Christianity the religion of the State, liut the old Western Kmpire was tottering to its fall. Constantine apparcntiv preccived this, and further having made ; himself unpopular in Home through eor- ' tain cruel enactments, which on the , face of them rather belied the religion he professed, he determined on a newneat of empire by Marmora and the l!osj phorus. Fourteen miles of retaining i walls were built, within which the city | rose beautiful on seven hills, as old ; I Home itself, Labor for its building was , ! abundant ; but artists and sculptors for ■ ' its adorning were few. So the world, ' east and west, was ransacked for Iron- ; ! sures of art anil beauty to be brought J : into it'. Chief among its lordly build- j ■! ings was the great church of St. Sophia.; ' over which glittered the sacred emblem j !of the Cross. It was on the site of this | lirst church of Constantim' that the | present pile was erected, the work being la gu:i by (he Kiuporor Justinian in the sixth century, and costing about ,t! 1,(1110,1100. This second St. Sophia was the ehurl'h which, all resplendent 'neatli the same sacred emblem, met the eyes of the .Moslem conquerors as they eni tereil the city at the dawn of the latter 1 half of the fifteenth century ; when i they hastened lo replace the cross by the crescent, and St. Sophia became a ' Mohammedan mosque. | The question of to-day is as lo the tenure of Constantinople. From the grasp of the Turks, who for upwards of four and a half centuries have been as the enemy upon the threshold of Christendom in Kurope, it, seems to he slippng | uway. But for international dissension 1 there, they would not have retained it' | for such length of time. Who then is' I to hold it when the Mohammedan power over it is broken? 'l'liis is the questian 1 | which, in the light of present circumstances, may be reasonably considered. 1 The ideal answer would be to restore ' the old Byzantine kingdom, and let it ! rule froni the city of Constantine. Under ] modern conditions this would be to feile- | rate the Balkan Stales and make of ! Constantinople a federal city, pertaining not to the individual ' Stale ill whose leritory it stood, but to the whole fed-1 (•ration. Under such a scheme Kussia could lie granted free waterway by Bosphorus, Marmora and Dardanelles to the Mediterranean, and so exercise that controlling influence over the federation which is her right, for past services rendered to the lialkaus, and for the iuI forest she has always numifested in their oppressed peoples. More than I once during the past eenfnry she has , gone to war with Turkey by reason of cruel persecution visited ruthlessly by | that Mohammedan country upon Bulgarians and other subject Christian races sniveling under the heel of the Turk. But there is an objection to this Balkan federation plan, which in itself is serious—viz., that these States do not possess that amount of cohcsivenoss within themselves to render the scheme workable ; in other words that they

iru not ripe for federation. This bein.; sn, the) dissension likely tii arise klhhiM sooner or later place Russia in a false position, licr intervention in tlx- eaitse oi peace leading very probably to iternational complications. Stn-li a rontinfiencv could only lie cliiciently guaranteed against under such a scheme by the formation of yet jrrealer and wider federation before the lialkans are federal oil Knropean States themselves. If sucli a consummation as the I'niieil States of Knrope were to be evolved - from (he present intermitional conlliet, then the plan of making Constantinople the federal capital of a federated Balkan Peninsula, with a free way for Russia throtiL:'!i the I Jardunelles, could not well be improved upon. 11 is hard to think of any international arrangement MI l'rou«lit with the. possibilities of per niaiient peace for Christendom for years to come as this should be. Hut if lllis plan should bo found too comprehensive- if at the close of this ureal war if should lie found that Kurope is not ripe enough, is not enlightened enough, has not sull'ered enough for that measure of disarinaiuent which the federation of its states would mean- then Constantinople jyust be put in the hands ol a strom,' power, tu rule tin* turbulent Balkans, and that points to the power as IJussia. This <lm.- ;*f»i mean this!:. wills llussia in I'onstani inople, a federation of tiie ICiirojx.-aii Stat* s slsmild be impossible ; hut it does t:n':in that, apart" from sueli a. federation, l!us*iu must be there. the better to ensure (he peace »d ivitrojK . Russia's very probable t ion of Constantinople opens up the very delicate question of the oi lie l l)ard;\:a lie.'. Tliis, it nriy l;e ; ::i'ely presumed, will nut he insisted upsm, as the famous strait, and likewise ihv S-'a of Marmora beyond it, have southern as well as northern chores. Tlu>e southern chores are on the northern bound::";,' line of A-da Minor, whesv the scat of Turki -n ju'wrr will be establish! d <lter bek:<.>; dethroned in Kurope. Where psirlieiil will the future t-auital ;>f tlie Modem Knipire ]>:'? Will it he about Scutari, still near to Marmora, or at Smyrna, at ]>rynnit or dall'a, ai Damascus' or Jeru.-ali m 7 Who can say':' The iii;esUon itself, however, is sml;of contingencies even more important than the possession of ('tmst.aulinople itself. Menuwliile lie it observed that when tin; States of Kurope federated, and Uiissia holding t'.nstantinople. it should not be even to raise the question of fortifvini: the Dardanelles.