"Alas! it is true," replied my companion, "but if we have two sects, you, according to what I have read, number at least a hundred, and the members of many of the sects think that every one else besides themselves must be damned. A very charitable doctrine that, is it not?" he added.
"Who was the Bulgarian with our Vice-Consul?" I inquired.
"He is in business with the Vice-Consul, and, I am sorry to say, does not love us Turks."
"Why?"
"Because his brother was one of the victims in the late Bulgarian rebellion."
"People in England blame us for the massacres," continued Suleiman. "What could we do? Our regular troops were employed elsewhere. This was owing to the intrigues of Russia; we were obliged to employ Circassians. The Circassians hate the Russians, and indeed they have reason to hate them. Those whose own mothers and sisters have been ravished and butchered, cannot be expected to love their oppressors. The Circassians looked upon the Bulgarians as Russians, hence the bloodshed. A few days ago I read an extract from an English paper, which had been translated into Turkish. It was to the effect that an English priest had seen people impaled by our Bashi Bazouks. Have you heard of this?"
"Yes, but the story has been contradicted."
"It is a pity when Christian priests or Mohammedan Imaums mix themselves up in politics," remarked another Turk; "their place is to calm men's passions, not to rouse them."
They left me; my host having previously asked at what time I should like to dine, with the observation that his hour was mine. Three servants were also placed at my disposal, with orders to supply me with anything I might require.
The following morning I called upon the Vice-Consul, and found him at home with his wife—a delicate-looking lady, who had braved all the hardships of the journey from Ismid in order to be at her husband's side.