The Ruins, or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires and the Law of Nature by C. F. (Constantin François) Volney
page 85 of 368 (23%)
page 85 of 368 (23%)
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size of a crown piece, and which is suffered to grow to the
length of seven or eight inches, precisely where our priests place their tonsure. It is by this tuft of hair, worn by the majority of Mussulmen, that the angel of the tomb is to take the elect and carry them into paradise. Not yet, replied the Genius; this is only a preliminary. These Tartars have been, and might still he troublesome neighbors. The Muscovites are driving them off, finding their country would be a convenient extension of their own limits; and as a prelude to another revolution, the throne of the Guerais is destroyed. And in fact, I saw the Russian standards floating over the Crimea: and soon after their flag waving on the Euxine. Meanwhile, at the cry of the flying Tartars, the Mussulman empire was in commotion. They are driving off our brethren, cried the children of Mahomet: the people of the prophet are outraged! infidels occupy a consecrated land and profane the temples of Islamism.* Let us arm; let us rush to combat, to avenge the glory of God and our own cause. * It is not in the power of the Sultan to cede to a foreign power a province inhabited by true believers. The people, instigated by the lawyers, would not fail to revolt. This is one reason which has led those who know the Turks, to regard as chimerical the ceding of Candia, Cyprus, and Egypt, projected by certain European potentates. And a general movement of war took place in both empires. In every part armed men assembled. Provisions, stores, and all the murderous apparatus |
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