ion is not even intended for the north of the
earth, for some reasons connected with its ceremonial; nor is there in
it any public recognition, as in intercessory prayer, of the duty of
converting infidels. Certainly, the idea of Mahometan missions and
missionaries, unless an army in the field may be considered to be such,
is never suggested to us by Eastern historian or traveller, as entering
into their religious system. Though the Caliphate, then, may be
transferred from Saracen to Turk, Mahometanism is essentially a
consecration of the principle of nationalism; and thereby is as
congenial to the barbarian as Christianity is congenial to man
civilized. The less a man knows, the more conceited he is of his
proficiency; and, the more barbarous is a nation, the more imposing and
peremptory are its claims. Such was the spirit of the religion of the
Tartars, whatever was the nature of its tenets in detail. It deified the
Tartar race; Zingis Khan was "the son of God, mild and venerable;" and
"God was great and exalted over all, and immortal, but Zingis Khan was
sole lord upon the earth."[85] Such, too, is the strength of the Greek
schism, which there only flourishes where it can fasten on barbarism,
and extol the prerogatives of an elect nation. The Czar is the
divinely-appointed source of religious power; his country is "Holy
Russia;" and the high office committed to him and to it is to extend
what it considers the orthodox faith. The Osmanlis are not behind Tartar
or Russ in pretending to a divine mission; the Sultan, in his treaties
with Christian Powers, calls himself "Refuge of Sovereigns, Distributor
of Crowns to the Kings of the earth, Master of Europe, Asia, and Africa,
and shadow of God upon earth."

We might smile at such titles, were they not claimed in good earnest,
and professed in order to be used. It is said to be the popular belief
among the Turks, that the monarchs of Europe are, as this imperial style
declares, the feudatories of the Sultan. We should smile, too, at the
very opposite titles which they apply to Europeans, did they not here,
too, mean what they say, and strengthen and propagate their own scorn
and hatred of us by using them. "The Mussulmans, courteous and humane in
their intercourse with each other," says Thornton, "sternly refuse to
unbelievers the salutation of peace." Not that they necessarily insult
the Christian, he adds, by this refusal; nay, he even insists that
polished Turks are abl