The people who thus acquired dominion over all
southeastern Europe had become, even at the middle of the fifteenth century,
greatly mixed in blood. Their ancestors were natives of central Asia, but in
Europe they intermarried freely with their Christian captives and with converts
from Christianity to Islam. So far has this admixture proceeded that the modern
Turks are almost entirely European in physique.
ISOLATION OF THE TURKS
The Bulgarians, who came out of Asia to devastate Europe,
at length turned Christian, adopted a Slavic speech, and entered the family of
European nations. The Magyars, who followed them, also made their way into the
fellowship of Christendom. Quite the opposite has been the case with the Turks.
Preserving their Asiatic language and Moslem faith, they have remained in
southeastern Europe, not a transitory scourge, but an abiding oppressor of
Christian lands. Every century since 1453 A.D. has widened the gulf between
them and their subjects.
TURKISH INFLUENCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
The isolation of the Turks has prevented them from
assimilating the higher culture of the peoples whom they conquered. They have
never created anything in science, art, literature, commerce, or industry.
Conquest has been the Turks' one business in the world, and when they ceased
conquering their decline set in. But it was not till the end of the seventeenth
century that the Turkish Empire entered on that downward road which is now fast
leading to its extinction as a European power.
