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run in the same narrow and beaten groove of politics. Some of these good men, after enjoying the generous hospitality of the Sultan and professing most profound attachment to his person, have returned to their own country only the more vehemently to condemn him and plan out the partition of his kingdom between their own pet States of Europe. After such bitter experiences, who can be surprised to find the Sultan grow suspicious of his Christian foreign visitors? Who shall blame him if His Majesty plays the diplomatist with his visitor, lest he should inadvertently let drop an important hint into the ears, perchance, of a mere political spy?

Few European visitors have the means of becoming familiar with the social and the religious position of the Sultan, upon which, in a great measure, depends the political success of a monarch in a Moslem country. The Sultan in the mosque is much more important than the Sultan in the kiosk. Many a whisper in the mosque against a monarch has led to his downfall. The Ruler of Turkey is nobody if he is not Caliph at the same time. To arrive at a true conclusion regarding the power and prestige of the Sultan's person, one should approach Constantinople with the eyes and ears of an Oriental Mohammedan.

European visitors are as much at a loss to understand the nature of the deep Turk as a Chinaman is to understand that of the prosaic German.

An Oriental is surprised to find the amount of ignorance that prevails here regarding the Moslems. Very often unfounded, untrustworthy trash passes for useful and reliable information in the British Press. But it is high time that it should cease. It is of the greatest importance, indeed, that people of all classes in this country should possess most trustworthy knowledge regarding the Mohammedan nations of the world. Lord Beaconshield wisely remarked that the keys of India are not at Kandahar, but in London. It may safely be added that the political fulcrum of the Islamic nation has now been placed in London, as Great Britain is in daily and hourly contact with them all.

But it is as surprising as it is regrettable that the teeming millions of the faithful the far East, who recognise the spiritual authority of Sultan Abdul Hamid, and offer weekly prayers for his well-being, have little personal knowledge of their own Caliph. To all these, therefore, any ray of light from one of themselves regarding His Majesty cannot but be welcome'

The following pages are intended as much for the Mohammedans of the far East as they are for the people of this country. It may be urged that a British magazine is rather a curious channel of communication with the far-off Moslems. Curious, indeed, it is; nevertheless it is the safest, the speediest, and the best. News from London to a Mohammedan country, and vice-versâ, is transmitted earlier and circulated earlier than it is