An Address to the Public, and Especially the Clergy

ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE FOREGOING CALCULATIONS

When the above was written, the result was in futurity, and was purely a matter of calculation; but now, however, the time is passed, and it is proper that we should inquire whether the event has answered the calculations. APEC 117.3

1. Has, then, the Ottoman supremacy in Constantinople been broken, or has it been lost? APEC 118.1

1st Testimony. The London Morning Herald, after the capture of St. Jean d’Acre, speaking of the state of things in the Ottoman empire, says: “We (the allies) have conquered St. Jean d’Acre. We have dissipated into thin air the prestige that till lately invested as with a halo the name of Mehemet Ali. We have, in all probability, destroyed forever the power of that hitherto successful ruler. But have we done aught to restore strength to the Ottoman empire? We fear not. We fear that the Sultan has been reduced to the rank of a puppet; and that the sources of the turkish empire’s strength are entirely destroyed.” APEC 118.2

“If the supremacy of the Sultan is hereafter to be maintained in Egypt, it must be maintained, we fear, by the unceasing intervention of England and Russia.” APEC 118.3

What the London Morning Herald last November feared has since been realized. The Sultan has been entirely, in all the great questions which have come up, under the dictation of the christian kingdoms of Europe: and on them he has been dependent for support against Mehemet. APEC 118.4

2nd Testimony. The following is from Rev. Mr. Goodell, missionary of the American Board at Constantinople, addressed to the Board, and by them published in the Missionary Herald, for April, 1841, page 160:— APEC 118.5

“The power of Islamism is broken forever; and there is no concealing the fact, even from themselves. They exist now by mere sufferance. And though there is a mighty effort made by the christian governments to sustain them, yet at every step they sink lower and lower with fearful velocity. And though there is a great endeavor made to graft the institutions of civilized and christian countries upon the decayed trunk, yet the very root itself is fast wasting away by the venom of its own poison. How wonderful it is, that, when all Christendom combined together to check the progress of Mohammedan power, it waxed exceedingly great in spite of every opposition; and now, when all the mighty potentates of christian Europe, who feel fully competent to settle all the quarrels, and arrange all the affairs of the whole world, are leagued together for its protection and defence, down it comes, in spite of all their fostering care.” APEC 118.6

This, let it be remembered, is the clear, positive testimony of an eye-witness, a man who is on the spot, and who knows whereof he affirms. For truth and veracity, he has the confidence of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and they, in their official organ, have given publicity to the testimony. Reader, please review this witness’s testimony, and mark its point and strength. APEC 119.1

3rd Testimony. The following is an extract from a London paper; the article is headed, “The Waning of the Ottoman Empire.” It has been copied into most of the leading journals of this country, without one word of dissent on the part of any. Thus the whole editorial corps in this country have given it their official sanction. APEC 119.2

The object of the writer is to show the relative condition of the Turkish and christian powers of Europe. In former times the Turkish empire exceeded in power every kingdom in Europe. But the scene is changed; the Turks are weakened and the christian nations strengthened. The article concludes thus: “The day they (the nations of Europe) counted their numbers, was to be the last of Constantinople; and that day has everywhere come.” APEC 120.1

So, according to all our leading periodicals, the last of Constantinople has come. APEC 120.2

4th Testimony. Dr. Bond, editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, New York, in one of the May numbers of that paper, concludes his account of Eastern affairs thus: “The Mohammedan nations are effectually in the hands and at the mercy of the christian governments.” APEC 120.3

This is granting all we ask. Turkish supremacy is gone, and is in the hands of christian powers. With these I shall close the testimony on this point; and proceed to inquire- APEC 120.4

2nd. When did the Ottoman Independence depart? APEC 120.5

Perhaps it may be said in reply, “it has been decaying for years.” True, it has. But if its power is broken forever, as Mr. Goodell declares, there must have been a point when it was broken. If it is dead, there was a moment when it ceased to be alive, and became dead. When was that crisis? To answer this question understandingly and clearly, it will be necessary to take a view of the eastern difficulty, and the means adopted for its settlement. APEC 120.6

For some years Mehemet Ali, Pacha of Egypt, had manifested a disposition to throw off the Turkish yoke and maintain an independent government. He gradually increased in power, and extended his conquests, wresting one province after another from the Sultan, adding it to his own dominions. In 1839, a war broke out between Mehemet and the Sultan, in which the Sultan’s army were cut up, and his fleet taken by Mehemet and carried to Egypt, which he refused to surrender and return to the Sultan; threatening to burn it, if an attempt should be made to take it. APEC 120.7

The following extracts from the translation of an official document which appeared in the “Moniteur Ottoman,” of Aug. 22, 1840, will show the turn of the affair at this juncture. APEC 121.1

“Subsequent to the occurrence of the disputes alluded to, and after the reverses experienced, as known to all the world, the ambassadors of the great powers at Constantinople, in a collective official note, declared, that their governments were unanimously agreed upon taking measures to arrange said differences, and the sublime Porte, with a view of putting a stop to the effusion of Mussulman blood, and to the various evils which would arise from a renewal of hostilities, accepted the intervention of the great powers. His excellency Sheikh Effendi, the Bey Likgis, was therefore despatched a plenipotentiary, to represent the sublime Porte, at the conference which took place in London, (July 15, 1840,) for the purpose in question.” APEC 121.2

The conference was composed of England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, together with the Sultan’s ambassador. The following extract from the same official document above quoted, shows the decision of that conference. APEC 121.3

“It having been felt that all the zealous labors of the conferences of London in the settlement of the Pacha’s pretensions were useless, and that the only public way was to have recourse to coercive measures to reduce him to obedience in case he persisted in not listening to pacific overtures, the powers have, together with the Ottoman Plenipotentiary, drawn up and signed a treaty whereby the Sultan offers the Pacha the hereditary government of Egypt, and of all that part of Syria extending from the Gulf of Suez to the Lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre, for life; the Pacha, on his part, evacuating all other parts of the Sultan’s dominions now occupied by him, and returning the Ottoman fleet. A certain space of time has been granted him to accede to these terms, and as the proposals of the Sultan and his allies, the four powers, do not admit of any change or qualification, if the Pacha refuse to accede to them, it, is evident that the evil consequences to fall upon him will be attributable solely to his own fault. His excellency Rifat Bey, Musteshar for foreign affairs, has been dispatched to Alexandria in a government steamer, to communicate their ultimatum to the Pacha.” APEC 122.1

The reason why the Sultan thus submitted the decision of the question to the Christian powers is intimated in a manifesto which he issued about the 20th of August, and caused to be read in the mosques, day after day. It was because he felt his weakness and the danger of his throne. APEC 122.2

“The Porte, in order to counteract this, (the pretensions of Mehemet,) has deemed it necessary to publish a manifesto, laying before its subjects a statement of affairs from the commencement of the quarrel up to the present time, and proving to them, by the clearest arguments, that the Pacha himself is the enemy of their religion, and that the object he is aiming at is to dethrone the Sultan.”-Corres. Lond. Morn. Chronicle. APEC 122.3

If we can place any confidence in the declaration of the Sultan, he did feel his throne to be in danger; and this was his reason for throwing himself on his allies for support. APEC 123.1

The ultimatum of the London conference, it seems, was put into the hands of the Sultan, to treat with Mehemet, and if possible settle the difficulty without the further intervention of his allies. But if Mehemet refused to accede to the terms, which admitted of no change or qualification, the great powers were pledged to use coercive measures. While, therefore, the Sultan held the ultimatum in his own hands, his independence was maintained; but the question once submitted to Mehemet, and it was beyond his control. True, if Mehemet accepted the ultimatum, the Ottoman independence would remain; but if he rejected it, there was no alternative but for the christian powers to interpose and put him down. APEC 123.2

Rifat Bey left Constantinople for Egypt, with the ultimatum, August 5th, 1840. APEC 123.3

“He arrived at Alexandria on the 11th of August, and was by Mehemet’s orders placed, in quarantine until the 16th.” Thus on the 11th of August the question of war or peace was taken from the Sultan’s hands and placed in Mehemet’s, so that the Sultan could no longer control the affair. APEC 123.4

The 541 years 15 days, commencing July 27th 1299, would end on the 11th of August; just the day Rifat Bey arrived at Alexandria. APEC 124.1

On the 15th of August, Mehemet gave his answer to the Sultan in the following note:— APEC 124.2

“Wallah, hillah, tillah,“(an oath, by God.) “I will not yield a span of the land I possess, and if war is made against me I will turn the empire upside down and be buried in its ruins. APEC 124.3

Mehemet All.” APEC 124.4

This was the decisive stroke, and under it the Ottoman power was thrown into the hands of the Christian nations of Europe: And the very next day, the 16th, the consuls of the four powers took up the affair and remonstrated with him for his course, and threatened him if he did not submit. Since then, the Sultan has been under the necessity of submitting to the dictation of the European powers in all the affairs of his empire. APEC 124.5

I am now entirely satisfied that on the 11th day of August, according to previous calculation, the end of 541 years 15 days, the Ottoman Supremacy departed; and that on the 15th of August, the control of the empire was thrown into christian hands, from which it had departed 391 years 15 days before. Thus the Ottomans were loosed and prepared for an hour, a day, a month and a year, to slay the third part of men. That time ended and their power was broken, and Christian power restored to Constantinople. APEC 124.6

After the prediction of the Turkish power, the Revelator continues, chap. 10th, and relates what he saw farther. He saw an angel stand upon the sea and upon the earth, who “lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that are therein, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that there should be time no longer. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished; as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” APEC 124.7

The Revelator was here permitted to anticipate the sounding of the seventh angel, and the event of his sounding, but the way was not yet prepared for presenting in due form the sounding of the seventh trumpet. APEC 125.1

The history of the Greek church and their oppression by the Mohammedans was given in the 9th chapter, which brought us down to the ending of the second wo; but before the even of the third wo could be fully presented, another line of prophecy must be brought up to the same period. That line was to give the suffering and depressed condition of true religion in the west, and its triumph before the end. APEC 125.2