DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0145
IN ASIATIC TURKEY 135
under my notice of anything like esprit de corps, or
of that pride in the service which rarely fails in an
old soldier of our army. The nearest approach to
it I ever saw was in an old man whom I doctored
with quinine at a guardhouse on a trade road in
Pontus (said to be rather infested by robbers). He
had fought under General Williams at Kars against
the Russians, and described with great feeling the
kindness, the self-sacrifice, and the bravery of the
English general, declaring that he would never
believe anything bad of the English.
This feeling was, doubtless, due in part to the
complete destruction of their armies by the Russians
in the recent war; and so far as that was the cause,
the feeling might be only temporary. But I believe
that it arose much more from the settled conviction
that their system of government was bad. The
idea of " Reform," even the word, had become
familiar to them by frequent reiteration ; they
believed in its necessity, but not in its possibility.
Of course, the ordinary villagers had not risen to
such a pitch of reasoning power as to consciously
think like this ; they knew nothing except their
village concerns, their fear of the officials, and their
dislike to the thought of being forced away from
home to fight. But in towns, where a little was
known of the outside world, that was the general
tone.
under my notice of anything like esprit de corps, or
of that pride in the service which rarely fails in an
old soldier of our army. The nearest approach to
it I ever saw was in an old man whom I doctored
with quinine at a guardhouse on a trade road in
Pontus (said to be rather infested by robbers). He
had fought under General Williams at Kars against
the Russians, and described with great feeling the
kindness, the self-sacrifice, and the bravery of the
English general, declaring that he would never
believe anything bad of the English.
This feeling was, doubtless, due in part to the
complete destruction of their armies by the Russians
in the recent war; and so far as that was the cause,
the feeling might be only temporary. But I believe
that it arose much more from the settled conviction
that their system of government was bad. The
idea of " Reform," even the word, had become
familiar to them by frequent reiteration ; they
believed in its necessity, but not in its possibility.
Of course, the ordinary villagers had not risen to
such a pitch of reasoning power as to consciously
think like this ; they knew nothing except their
village concerns, their fear of the officials, and their
dislike to the thought of being forced away from
home to fight. But in towns, where a little was
known of the outside world, that was the general
tone.