“So we all feel,” answered the cheik. “But we can never forget the shock to the Moslem world of the ‘rumour’ that Constantinople (the seat of Caliphat) would be handed over to Russia. England had gone back on her word and lost our respect for ever. Henceforth we could be deceived no longer. We were cyphers, mere pawns, on the political chess-board of the Powers. The principles of Islam were distorted without hesitation to prove that no Christian peoples could live unmolested under Turkish rule. How could Great Britain be so blind to the unbounded respect she had earned from Islam by her fine tolerance of _all_ religions in India? Now she has ‘changed all that,’ and the war in the Near East was a _religious_ war.” When I attempted to frame some excuses for the pro-Greek attitude of the British Government, he reminded me of our “old pride in Moslem allegiance. You have more Moslem than Christian subjects.... Is not your Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, a democrat? Where can he find more perfect democracies than in the East, under Moslem rule? It is a ‘new’ ideal in the West. When President Wilson began to preach it, he was derided as a Utopian, because he was three centuries ahead of his time! Every Moslem has _always_ been equal before the law—the Sultan stands _with_ his subjects.” “That does not quite ‘explain’ Abdul Hamid,” I said. “He was the exception we shall never repeat. You cannot argue from exceptions.... It is the English who have ceased to value the precepts of Islam. The Koran bids us obey those in authority. Rather than rebel, we leave the country.” “And M. Kemal Pasha? Has he not rebelled?” “No, indeed. He simply defended his country, deposed the vassal-traitor-Sultan.... M. Kemal Pasha rules direct from the Koran. He will have strength to set aside the heresies of the Byzantines that have been grafted on to our Government. It is nonsense to say that the Koran has been found unfitted for the requirements of the twentieth century.” “There, I fear, I must plead guilty.” “You will see, when you have stayed among us a little longer, that it can be honestly interpreted to meet man’s present needs.” “The freedom of women——?” “The ‘seclusion’ comes from Byzantium. M. Kemal will change that, if only he does not himself make a foolish marriage.” “How do you mean—foolish?” “A princess. We attribute Enver’s downfall to his having married a princess. He then required money to maintain his ‘royal’ position; we do not inquire from whence it came! If M. Kemal Pasha follows his example we shall lose faith in his democracy.” “And a foreigner?” “That is almost as bad. The helpmeet of _our_ choice for him should be one who would help the country to progress along Eastern lines, not Western. Rather a peasant than a foreigner or a princess.”