nates the idea that cocaine is as
easily procurable as a cocktail in London clubs, and that the Black Mass
is at least as common as the _danse de ventre_ in Cairo.

We can leave England for our Eastern tour with the conclusion that Islam
is welcome to any proselytes it makes there, but that the gravest slur
on Christian prestige is cast by our own conduct.

There is only one bone of contention between Moslems and missionaries in
Europe now that Turkey and Russia are knocked out of the ring of current
politics. Is St. Sophia to remain a mosque or revert to its original
purpose as a Christian church? Whatever may be Turkish opinion on the
subject, the tradition of Islam is definite enough. When the Caliph Omar
entered Jerusalem in triumph, after Khaled had defeated the hosts of
Heraclius east of Jordan, he withstood the importunate entreaties of his
followers to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, saying that if he
did so the building would _de facto_ become a mosque, and such a wrong
to Christianity was against the ordinance and procedure of the Prophet.
It is worthy of note that Christians were not molested at Jerusalem
until after the Seljouk Turks wrested the Holy City from the moribund
Arabian Caliphate in 1076: their persecution and the desecration of
sacred places by the Turks brought about the first Crusade in 1096.
Again it was the Ottoman Turks who stormed Constantinople and turned
St. Sophia into a mosque. According to the orthodox tradition of Islam,
once a church always a church. When the ex-Khedive had the chance of
reacquiring the site of All Saints', Cairo, owing to the increasing
noise of traffic in the vicinity, he contemplated building a
cinema-theatre there (for he had a shrewd business mind), but he was
roundly told by Moslem legalists that it was out of the question. Even
if the Turks urge right of conquest, victorious Christendom can claim
that too, and if they allege length of tenure as a mosque in support of
their case they put themselves out of court, as St. Sophia has been a
church for more than nine centuries and a mosque for less than five.

If Turkey is allowed to remain in Europe at all it will be on
sufferance. Even in Asia Minor signs are not wanting that Turkish rule
will be pruned, clipped and trained considerably, as humanity will stand
its rampant luxuriance of blood and barbarity no longer. The Young
Turks were given every chance to consolidate their national aspirations
and h