The Sultan himself and the old Turkish party which supports him, while
clinging obstinately in appearance to all their ground, really have
their eyes turned elsewhere than on Adrianople and Salonica and the city
of the Roman Emperors. It is unlikely that a new advance of the
Christian Powers from the Balkan would meet again with more than formal
opposition; and Constantinople itself, unsupported by European aid,
would be abandoned without a blow, or with only such show of resistance
as the Sheriat requires for a cession of territory.[14] The Sultan
would, in such an event, pass into Asia, and I have been credibly
informed that his own plan is to make not Broussa, but Bagdad or
Damascus his capital. This he considers would be more in conformity with
Caliphal traditions, and the Caliphate would gain strength by a return
to its old centres. Damascus is surnamed by theologians _Bab el Kaaba_,
Gate of the Caaba; and there or at Bagdad, the traditional city of the
Caliphs, he would build up once more a purely theocratic empire.
Such, they say, is his thought; and such doubtless would be the empire
of the future that Mussulmans would choose. Only it is improbable that
it would continue to be in any sense Ottoman, or that Abd el Hamid would
have the opportunity of himself establishing it.
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