The Thistle and the Cedar of Lebanon

by Habeeb Risk Allah

At length we are all seated, all served, and the amusements of the evening commence; the violin and the guitar, both have been tuned, and the first piece commences: a short symphony of lively music, and then the bard of the company sings a song, of which the following is a specimen:—

Breeze of the West, I pray thee roam
Toward my moon-faced lady’s home;
To her my flight forlorn declare,
Tittle by tittle, hair by hair,

Parted from thee, thou form of grace,
My heart hath been grief’s dwelling-place;
And love has drawn my wandering feet,
From grove to grove, from street to street.

My heart, when bent on beauty’s chase,
Ne’er found so sweet a form and face;
Although with roving step it went,
From house to house, from tent to tent.
While others smile, and play, and flirt,
This bleeding heart bemoans its hurt,
Like a young rose, blood-stained with grief,
Petal by petal, leaf by leaf.

The garden where I loved to trace,
Sweet blooming flowers in thy face,
How low and dead all gardens seem,
Alley by alley, stream by stream.

Sweet jasmine-bosomed love,—I pray
Fondly to heaven by night and day,
Once more to see that form and face,
Lip pressed to lip, and face to face.

Of all the garden flowers that be,
Why is the rose most dear to me?
’Tis that it’s like thy heart so true,
Odour to odour, hue to hue.

Though far from Allah’s loving sight,
The Fates have borne my soul’s delight;
Go, Western Breeze, this message bear,
Where’er thou art, my heart is there!

The song is no sooner concluded, narghilies, pipes and coffee handed round, than the story-teller’s abilities are called into requisition, and he tells us the story of

“The Tailor and the Sultan.

“Formerly when Baghdad was flourishing, when great men sometimes condescended to sink themselves to a level with the common herd of mankind, there lived and reigned the Sultan Houssein. He was a famous man and a just judge, but rather eccentric withal. As his Grand Vizier had, on more than one occasion, given him cause of dissatisfaction, he was determined at any cost to get the cleverest man in the kingdom to perform the duties of that office; but he resorted to a curious trial of their talent. A proclamation was issued, that the sultan offered the highest dignity in the empire to him amongst his subjects, who should be able satisfactorily to perform what he should require; on the other hand, the penalty in case of failure being, that the man so failing should forfeit his head. Under such circumstances, the aspirants were not over numerous, but still there were not wanting ambitious men, who were willing to place their heads in danger for the attainment of a position, which perhaps they least of any of the people of the country were fitted for. At last, a presumptuous tailor offered himself as a candidate, and was in due course ushered into the presence of royalty. The poor maker of garments found the sultan reclining on a carpet; and, hanging on a nail in the wall of the room, was a solitary counterpane; and in this counterpane the solution of the whole of the difficulty lay—the task being to cover the sultan entirely over with it. When the tailor first tried, to his consternation he found it too short by two good spans. He then suggested that another should be introduced; but the sultan laughed and hooted at the idea. At last a bright notion flashed across the tailor. He had long been accustomed to the nefarious art of cabbaging, so he set his inventive faculties to work, to find out how he could best cabbage a piece from the length of the sultan’s body, or, in other words, reduce it into as small a compass as could possibly be effected. Bethinking himself luckily of a little cane he usually carried in his girdle, he first covered the sultan’s head, his feet remaining uncovered; he removed the embroidered slippers, and stealthily bringing out his cane, caught the sultan a severe blow across the soles of his feet, that he involuntarily tucked them up, thus drawing himself into a sufficiently small compass, and the tailor, availing himself of this circumstance, instantly tucked the counterpane round him, and thus effectually succeeded in entirely covering him, at the same time telling him he must always take care to stretch his legs according to his covering.”

With songs and stories, such as I have given above, the time passes until nine o’clock, at which hour most of those assembled take their departure; and the Emir, attended as when he arrived, returns to his disconsolate dwelling to talk over the misfortunes of other days.

Perhaps here it would not be out of place, to show the fallacy of the opinions usually entertained in Western Europe as to the state of things in Turkey. People talk of the fanaticism of the Turks; and in England more especially they seem to entertain an innate terror of the very name of Turk. Anything ferocious, anything ugly, and black, and dingy, is called “like a Turk.” Now what can undeceive this excessive ignorance better than the conduct of the present amiable and excellent Sultan, of whom many instances might be given, shewing the utmost liberality of conduct towards those of his subjects professing a different creed, and their admission to some of the most responsible public offices. It is a fact worthy of remark, as illustrating this toleration of

spirit, that his representatives at the courts of London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, [175] have on several occasions been of the Greek faith. Also, on the event of the marriage of the daughter of the Prince Etienne Vogorides. (Prince Etienne was a native of Bulgaria. He was during ten years Prince of Samos. Latterly, however, he resided at Constantinople, and is high in favour with the Sultan, who for a long time has been accessible to the Prince at any hour; and he is a faithful devoted servant of the Sultan. One of his daughters is married to our present respected ambassador in London, and it is not necessary for me to inform the reader of the manifold virtues and amiable qualities of this lady; but her father’s excellence was such as has obtained for him a notoriety and honour unrivalled in the annals of Mahomedan history. When I was last at Constantinople, a daughter of the prince, a younger sister of our ambassadress, was married to a wealthy gentleman.) To the astonishment and intense gratification of every one present, His Majesty the Sultan attended with his mother at the ceremonial, a most unprecedented act of courtesy, and one least of all to be expected in Turkey, where the extreme fanaticism once existing between the two creeds would, we might have imagined, have raised an insurmountable barrier. What is more remarkable, the Padishah stood up; the prince seeing this, whispered the patriarch to curtail the ceremony. The sharp eyes of the Sultan noticed and understood this hint, and he immediately desired the patriarch to perform the rites as usual, as he was anxious to witness the ceremony fully performed. By departing on occasions such as these from the strict rules and regulations of the Mahomedan code, and by

disregarding the reproachful remonstrances of the Ulemas, who are the most determined advocates of perfect uniformity to their doctrines, Sultan Abdul Medjid Khan, has evinced a strong desire to introduce a thorough social reform into his empire, and he has hereby conciliated the good will and gained the affection of his non-Mahomedan subjects. Indeed, among all the present rulers of the world, and especially those whom Providence has endowed with ample means of improving the condition of their subjects, the Sultan occupies a distinguished position; and to him more credit is due for the reforms he has introduced among his people, than to any other sovereign of the civilised globe, and for this evident reason, that in the path he had to follow the greatest difficulties have been met with and overcome; namely, those powerful ones which spring from religious bigotry and prejudice. These he has either overcome or obviated with the utmost wisdom and perseverance. And even her enemies are obliged to confess that Turkey, under the rule of Abdul Medjid, is in a far more vigorous and flourishing condition than they either believed or hoped. And during the whole of this critical period, in which the affairs of this empire have been agitated, what a noble example of calm and dignified moderation has both his public and private conduct exhibited. To the violent and uncourteous menaces of his enemy, and to the extravagant character of his pretensions, he has opposed a conciliating, yet firm line of policy, which has won for him the respect and support of the more intelligent portion of Europe; and when his character becomes better known to the English public, which it will probably in the course of events, I feel convinced it will claim and win all the admiration it deserves from a people whose public judgment is

perhaps the most impartial in the world. My object is not to flatter; but I will avow, that I wish by facts and truth to remove some of that prejudice which is more or less associated in this country with the idea of a Turk. What I have said concerning my sovereign, is borne out by all intelligent travellers who have recently visited his dominions. For his love of literature—for his liberal patronage of men distinguished by literary or other merit—for his patriotism, evinced in his unceasing endeavours to bestow on his country all the advantages to be derived from modern scientific discovery, and for the amiability and gentleness of his personal character, I feel no hesitation, from what I have read of them, in ranking him with the most distinguished sovereigns of ancient times—with Frederick of Prussia, and I will add Peter the Great. But while he far excels the two last in the amiability of his character and disposition, he equals any of them in his efforts to advance the glory of his country and the welfare of his people.

Owing to the ignorance which prevails in Europe on the subject of Turkey, a great outcry is frequently made by many persons about events which occur in that country, without for one moment taking into consideration the difference in the temperament of the people, arising from their Asiatic origin. Our great cause of surprise, is the sudden rise of individuals in comparatively indigent circumstances to places of great power. When, however, it is considered that the Orientals view the various grades of society in another light to the Western Europeans, the sudden aggrandisement of individuals from the lower classes will cease to be a matter of surprise. In Turkey, men of the noblest birth mix indiscriminately with all ranks, and he who is possessed of wealth, talent, or interest, may rise to offices of the