Orientalism! Talisman to conjure up the shades of the very parents of our race, and of the old patriarchs of Israel, to array in picturesque and savage beauty the vision of Arabian horsemen, flying steeds, vast encampments on arid plains, tribes of wandering Tartars, and almost to awaken the echoes of the clashing and blood-stained scimitars of the desperate champions of the Crescent, the followers of the Prophet. And while there is a wall of iron between us and our future, the eventful record of by-gone times displays to us the development of all that was hidden to our ancestors.
There is a great difference between the primitive condition of the human race and the effects which Time has produced upon that wonderful structure, MAN!
Simplicity, almost childlike, seems to characterize the living mind of man in its embryo state, while years of successive re-conceptions have continued to develop this noble emanation from the great spirit of the universe.
But how deeply interesting to us, who are the embodiment of the more mature and experienced human wisdom, to look into the vast womb of the Past, and trace the growth of the great human fœtus.
The impress of the original condition of our race is yet upon the nations of the East, and wonderfully do they still retain the habits and ideas of the earliest ages.
How vividly are the scenes of Biblical record exemplified in the every-day habits of the people, who, at the present time, dwell in those venerated countries. The patriarchal family government, the flowing robes, even the very style of garment of which it is recorded—“They parted my raiment, and upon my vesture they cast lots,” are one and all in daily use in the East.
Our attention is peculiarly directed to the history of former ages, and the progress of different empires, by the events which mark the present course of time—for the great theme of the day is the Past and Future of Turkey, the very garden of the East, and the desired of all nations, upon whose shores has lately been poured the life-blood of thousands of valiant heroes, each and all members of the vast human family, whether known to us as Turks, Russians, English, or French.
There is an indefinable charm about all that relates to this land of the Orient. The position by nature, the variety of scenery, hill, valley, and undulating plain; the great streams which water its shores, and the rich productions of the soil, the ancient capital proudly towering from its verdant hills, the key to two continents, with the “Ocean stream” for a highway. The lovers of classic lore delight to realize the existence of ancient heroes, and the very homes of the demigods, as they tread its honored shores. Romance seems to be merged in reality, as the robed and turbaned Moslem, with stately step and meditative countenance, passes beneath your latticed casement; or the veiled lady and sable eunuch, with mysterious silence, stealthily glide along. Sultans, vezirs, pashas, grand muftis, sultanas, harems, and slaves, intriguing ulema and judges, so long enveloped in the mist of fancy, are, in modern days, to emerge into the sunlight of truth and civilization, and exhibit to the study of philanthropy, only the type of ancient usages and the actual scenes of everyday life. Amid the votaries to superstition and fanaticism, side by side with the banner of the Cross, the followers of the Prophet, with the Crescent of the faithful, will, henceforth, march through time into eternity, but known and read of all men. The door to the East stands open, and we may pass within the portal to study men and manners, with their institutions, both social and political.
Many attempts have been made to portray the actual and past condition of this Oriental empire, and as various have been the lights and shadows in which it has been pictured; some making the Osmanli a paragon of humanity, and others again reducing him to a mere polypus on legs.
“If those who are resident among us,” observes the editor of the “New York Herald,” “cannot, after the lapse of years, always succeed in identifying themselves with our ideas, it is not to be expected that writers at a distance, should be able to form a fair estimate of American society from such imperfect evidences as they have before them. We have seen how few foreign tourists have penetrated below the surface of things in their analysis of our social and political life.”