Mutability is the appropriate motto of humanity; for what are men but creatures of a day; monarchs, but transient shadows of earthly greatness; empires, but passing events? Time, with more than eagle swiftness, hurls all things into the great bosom of Eternity. Futurity is dark and impenetrable, but the present is with us, and still more the past, teeming with vast records of human life, of rising and falling empires, bloody tales of extinguished armies and extirpated races of mankind, detailing the effects of the wild ambition of kings, emperors, sultans, themselves but atoms, yet involving the whole mass in their career.

Contrast is often the greatest source of pleasure to the mind; therefore do the citizens of this New World delight to revel in the scenes of the olden hemisphere, which was in full glory when this vast continent lay in undiscovered obscurity.

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 foetus.

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.”

If these strictures of the “Herald” are just and true with reference to American and European countries in general, where there is such similarity, how much more applicable to our Oriental clime; for, considering the peculiar form of government, and construction of society in Turkey, based, as they are, upon the Koran, traditional customs, and Oriental conventionalities, hitherto so inaccessible as well as incomprehensible to strangers, it is, indeed, no matter of wonder that such heterogeneous portraits of Eastern men and manners have been promulgated to the world by travellers and bibliomanists.

Language is the great vehicle of ideas, the bond of man with man, the “open sesame” to the spirit of every community—the record of the past, the exponent of the present, and the foreteller of the future. But how few, even of modern savans, have acquired a knowledge of the Oriental dialects, which are never used in Europe, and only called into exercise by researches into ancient chronicles. Even many who have long resided in the East, and whose daily and hourly contact with the inhabitants would seem to demand a mutual understanding, have lived and died in a stoical adherence to their own mother tongues.

A French merchant, Mons. B., who had enjoyed the advantages of commerce in the East for twenty-five years, may be quoted as an example. Either considering his own superior civilization compromised by such a condescension to barbarism, or unable to train his exclusively French organs to any other guise of speech, Mons. B.’s ideas and expressions were always in his mother tongue. When, therefore, on a certain occasion, his Turkish porter excited his displeasure, he poured out his indignation in pure Gallic, which lost much of its intended effect upon his employÉ, who could not imagine the cause of his master’s agitation and vehemence, and ventured to ask an explanation of a bystander. “What?” said the irritated Frenchman, “does the stupid fellow mean to say that having been with me for the past five-and-twenty years, he does not yet understand French?” “Mashallah!” responded the astonished Turk, “My master, who has been here so long a time, why can he not scold me in Turkish?”

Emergencies are constantly occurring, and as interpreters cannot be omnipresent, ridiculous misunderstandings are often the results.

The complacent French and English seem to think their respective languages universal, and upon their arrival in the East, address the people accordingly, who can only look and listen, and strain their senses for one familiar word or phrase; sometimes the simplest expression, through some euphonious resemblance, may convey an opposite meaning, or even a flattering compliment be mistaken for a victimizing oath.

A party of French naval officers, one day visited the shoe bazaar, and were attracted by the beauty of the collection of a certain merchant. The author happening to be present, officiated as interpreter for them, and advised the merchant to display all his best specimens of embroidered slippers, so that the gentlemen soon had an innumerable variety before them. But one of them yet unsatisfied, with a spirit of independence, took a slipper in his hand, and showing it to the merchant, said, “Beaucoup mieux, beaucoup mieux, Efendi.” The grave merchant instead of replying, turned all of a sudden pale with rage, and gathering up his embroidered wares, mercilessly consigned them to the recesses of his shop, and bestowing upon these insolent giavours a most genuine Turkish benediction, ordered them to quit his premises instanter. Bewildered at the singular conduct of the merchant, I inquired as to the cause of his sudden irritation. “What! did you not hear the impudent rascal say, bokoumu-yÉ?” said the enraged Turk; an expression too unfit for ears polite to be translated into English, though sometimes heard in the purlieus of the Five Points. I attempted to explain, but in vain; the Turkish was unmistakable, so thought the shoe-merchant, who insisted that they had at least learned that much of the language of the country.

Thus, with entire ignorance of the language, thoroughly impregnated with the prejudices of a European education, the foreigner looks only upon the surface of things, and comprehends nothing, where the simplest habits of life and etiquette are diametrically opposed to his preconceived ideas.

The Osmanli would stare with astonishment at the presumption with which a Frank uncovered his head in his august presence; while the exquisite of the beau-monde would be lost in wonder to see his Oriental rival enter his presence without shoes, and seat himself on the sofa with his feet carefully concealed beneath him; thus only conforming to the ancient etiquettes of the Bible, for Moses was not commanded to uncover his head, but to put off his shoes. At least, some of the Oriental forms of politeness have antiquity as their origin, and the sanction of many generations; but for the varying code of western manners, where can we look, save to the capricious tastes of the passing times.

Thus are the simplest habits of life reversed, and what is excessive rudeness to the one, may be the essence of politeness to the other. Very frequently these contrary customs are the source of ludicrous mistakes.

As we were walking one day with a friend, a sailor from the English fleet accidentally dropped his pocket-handkerchief. The gentleman regretting that the worthy tar should meet with such a loss, hailed him, at the same time beckoning with his hand À la Turque, which is done by extending the arm and moving the fingers with the palm downwards, or just in the same manner as would here be done to imply a more distant removal.

A police officer happening to be at no great distance, the sailor, on looking back, understood quite naturally my friend’s movement as a signal for him to make his escape, and accordingly took to his heels with the greatest rapidity, leaving my companion in utter amazement. I endeavored to explain to him the reason of the sailor’s conduct, by showing him the genuine European style of beckoning, by reversing the hand and moving the up-turned forefinger back and forth. This astonished him the more, since that motion is equivalent, in Turkey, to that comical American gesture of placing the thumb on the tip end of the nose, and extending the fingers.

Thus things which are in themselves trifles, may lead or mislead to mighty results, and can only be appreciated when circumstances call them into action. Therefore nothing but actual nativity and education among the people, with the enlarged views which are acquired by a residence in European countries, can enable an individual to judge and appreciate the peculiar institutions of Turkey.

The author presents himself to the American public a native of Constantinople, and of Armenian parentage, with the hope that he may be able to unfold some new phases of Turkey and Orientalism, which may tend to remove any unfounded prejudices, and enlighten their minds with regard to the real and existing state of his country.

In order to attain a just and correct idea of the present state of Turkey and its probable future, it is most essential to take a cursory glance at the origin of the nation, its religion, government, civil laws, social condition, and domestic relations, which are the elements of nationality. In so doing, the writer has carefully avoided all partiality, and endeavored to display the truth, simply, and nothing but the truth, invested with the garb of a peculiar nationality, and only adorned with the poetry of Oriental tastes and habits as they actually exist.