In addition to this irade the Turkish government has placed in Robert College five more students, making ten in all, to be educated according to American ideas for teachers and superintendents of schools. Although Robert College is founded on the Christian faith and its students are required to attend religious worship on Sunday and morning prayer on week days, it is entirely non-sectarian and no questions are ever asked as to the religious belief of students, any more than concerning their political views. They attend worship just as they attend lectures, as a part of the curriculum, be they Jews, or Greeks, or Mohammedans. But it is very significant that a Mohammedan government should select a Christian college for the education of Mohammedan youth. Perhaps it would not do so if there were Mohammedan institutions where these young men could be educated. But the Turkish cabinet shows confidence in the good faith as well as the capacity of the American missionaries not only in this case but in a hundred other similar cases where the government is paying the expenses of Mohammedan students in missionary schools.
Robert College occupies one of the most superb sites of any institution in the world. It stands on the summit of one of the highest bluffs of the Bosphorus, commanding a view in both directions and over both shores of that wonderful body of water. It is a test of limb and lung to climb the path that leads up the Hill of Science from the boat landing at the suburban village of Bebek, but when you reach the top you are fully repaid for the exertion by the panorama that is spread out before you as well as by the cordial welcome of President Gates and his associates.
Mohammed II selected this commanding point for the Rumili Hisar, a mighty castle which he built in the middle of the fifteenth century while he was besieging the city of Constantinople. Immediately opposite, upon the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus, a similar castle was erected, and the two commanded the passage so that every ship passing up and down was compelled to pay toll. Mohammed called this castle Boghag Kessen (Throat Cutter), for he had a very pleasant way with him. The ruins are as picturesque and extensive as any in Europe, and the towers are almost perfect after nearly 600 years, although the floors and ceilings have long since fallen through. The walls have crumbled and much stone has been taken away for building material. They were originally thirty feet thick and thirty feet high and were built with the greatest haste and energy. Mohammed employed 1,000 masons, 1,000 lime burners, and 10,000 labourers in the construction, and to each mason was assigned the task of building two yards of wall in three months. By this division of labour and responsibility ^the work was completed in the time named by the ingenious designs of the engineers, and the outline of the walls forms the Turkish word "Mahomet."
Certain incidents in connection with the foundation'and early history of Robert College are quite romantic. During the Crimean war a New York merchant, Christopher Robert, was visiting Constantinople, and while crossing the Bosphorus one day in a boat to Scutari, the principal suburb on the Asiatic side, ran across a boat-load of bread which looked very much like that he was accustomed to at home. Upon inquiry he learned that the loaves came from the ovens of an American missionary school conducted by a man named Hamlin at Bebek, on the opposite side of the strait, and that they were on their way to hospitals established by Florence Nightingale for the care of the sick and wounded British soldiers. Mr. Robert, who was a keen Scotsman, was impressed with the sagacity of a missionary who would enter into an arrangement like that, and took an early opportunity of visiting the school. Dr. Hamlin explained that he obtained the contract to supply the British hospitals with bread: first, because he needed the money; second, because they needed the bread, and, third, because he had an industrial department in connection with his school and was trying to teach his students how to earn their living.
The missionary baker and the Scottish merchant soon became intimate friends, and Dr. Hamlin lost no opportunity to impress upon him the opportunities for an American college at the capital of the Ottoman Empire. As a consequence Mr. Robert gave Dr. Hamlin $30,000 to purchase a site and put up a building.