The Christians in Turkey

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THE

CHRISTIANS IN TURKEY.

BV

REV. W. DENTON, M.A

AUTHOR OF "SERVIA AND THE SERVIAN'S,"
ETC. ETC.

LONDON :
BELL AND DALDY, i86, FLEET STREET.

1863.

LONDON :

R. Cr.AV, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET HII.L.

THE

CHRISTIANS IN TURKEY.

The recent debate in the House of Commons on the condition
of the Christian subjects of Turkey, together with other indi-
cations of a reviving interest in the cause of our oppressed
brethren in the East, renders it the duty of every one who is
able to give any information on the subject to contribute his
share to the general stock.

A short visit to Servia, which I made in the spring of last year,
first enabled me, on the spot, to collect materials illustrative of
the unhappy condition of those races who are subject to the
caprice of Turkish officials; and the bombardment of Belgrade,
which happened a few days after I had left that city apparently
slumbering in perfect peace, led me to make inquiries the result
of which I embody in this pamphlet. Until I learnt on the spot
what those grievous wrongs are which the very presence of
Turkish garrisons inflict upon the people of Servia, the whole
subject was entirely new to me. If any one, therefore, could
have approached this question with an unprejudiced mind, it was
myself. In conversation with well-informed, with impartial,
and even with hostile witnesses, I first learnt to understand
why Servia is so earnest in her protest against the continuance
of these garrisons, which are at once moral pests and also
causes of continual alarm. Availing myself of the acquaintance
which I have made with British consuls, with English and
foreign residents in Turkey, and of my access to the official

B

2 'The Christians iti Turkey.

records of a Turkish province, I seek, from tliese sources of
information, to lay before the reader a calm statement of the
unhappy condition of the people of Turkey. On such a sub-
ject calmness is no easy virtue ; it is hard to write without
emotion and without giving way to the language of indignation.
Wrongs more keen, sufferings more bitter, persecution more
continuous and intolerable, have hardly fallen to the lot of any
people on the face of the globe. And all this is rendered more
difficult to endure because suffered in the midst of surrounding
freedom and in the sight of general security.

If this question were one of mere party politics, I should not
venture to intrude into a region where the presence of a clergy-
man is rightly regarded as incongruous. It is because the
unhappy circumstances which surround so many millions of our
brethren inhabiting some of the fairest and most fertile portions
of the globe, cannot awaken party animosities, that I ask the
attention of the reader to a review of the present wrongs of the
Christians in Turkey, in order to enlist the sympathies of
Englishmen in their behalf. Indeed, with rare and noble ex-
ceptions, it must be confessed that party politicians of all shades
of opinion are equally uninformed on this subject, and therefore
equally indifferent to the sufferings of the great mass of the
people of Turkey. This fact, whilst it removes this"; great
political question out of the arena of party strife, at the same
time renders more difficult the attempt to obtain for it an atten-
tive hearing from those who seek, or affect to guide, popular
opinion. My object, let me state at the outset, is not to ask the
rulers of England to interfere in the behalf of these cruelly
oppressed people, but rather that our governors should cease
from that strange interference against the people of Turkey
which is the present policy of the English Government, and
that they should no longer actively aid a despotism the most
grinding on the face of the earth, and which, not content like
the fanatical cruelty which led to the Diocletian, and other
early persecutions, with cruel pains and martyrdoms, poisons
and pollutes the whole domestic life of the vast majority of the
subjects of Turkey.

1'

^ :/

T!he Christians in "Turkey. 3

In a letter written by an English gentleman resident at Con-
stantinople, and quoted by Mr. Cobden in the recent debate,
the following passage occurs : — " What is our policy sup-
porting ? Some one asked me how to account for this in a
people the most moral of all, the English, that these deepest
immoralities should be maintained by their patronage ? I
replied, they are, for the most part, quite ignorant or unwilling
to believe what they hear/' When that ignorance is removed,
when they know what is really meant by the phrase " supporting
the integrity of Turkey," Englishmen, I am assured, will no
longer sustain by their patronage a Government which exists
only to inflict misery upon its subjects, whether by its active
oppression or by its helplessness and imbecility.

7'hat this ignorance on the part of the people of England
should exist is not to be wondered at. The same ignorance
as to the condition of the people of Turkey, and of the habits
and feelings of the large Christian communities which cover
the face of that empire, has been long shared in by suc-
cessive Governments in this country. Indeed, the occupiers of
our Foreign Office seem to have thought it wholly unnecessary
to inform themselves at all on these points. The broad distinc-
tion, however, between the ignorance of the people of England
and that of the Government, hes in the circumstance that the
latter has always had it in its power to obtain information, from
which it has intentionally turned away, and has even taken con-
siderable pains to suppress, whilst the ignorance of the people
of England arises from the deliberate action of their governors
in preventing, so far as possible, any information reaching this
country as to the real condition of the people of Turkey.
The large consular staft' scattered throughout the dominions of
the Sultan, cither by the positive instructions of the English
Government, or by those indirect means by which men are
made acquainted with the wishes of their superiors, have long
known that amongst the most important duties which the
Government required them to perform is a complete with-
holding all information as to the state, and especially as to
the sufferings of tlie people of Turkey. They are bidden

B 2

4. T^he Christians in 'Turkey.

significantly to shut their eyes, even if they cannot harden their
liearts, against the daily recurring atrocities practised upon the
unarmed and wretched peasantry of Roumelia, of Asia Minor,
and of Syria, so that in answer to interrogations in the House
of Comnions respecting any case of grievous wrong, it may be
answered by the organ of the Foreign Office, that no account
of any such occurrence has been received from the consul on
the spot, and that therefore the presumption is that such report
is untrue.

What the impression and the practice of the consuls in this
matter is may be gathered from the following extract from a
letter addressed to me by Dr. Sandwith, well-known as the Chief
of the Medical staff during the siege of Kars : —

"When I was in Turkey, about two years ago, I had a long
conversation with a consul, who told me stories that curdled my
blood with horror concerning the cruelties and barbarities of the
Turks, chiefly towards the Christians, but their misdeeds were by
no means confined to the unbelievers. Wherever a pasha could
plunder, he never cared what ruin and misery were the result. The
Consul showed me clearly how inevitably the country was being
ruined and depopulated. ' At all events,' I remarked, ' you have
the satisfaction of reporting all these horrors in your despatches 1 '
' Oh dear, no,' he answered, ' I dare not. We have received more
than a hint that our Government is determined to uphold Turkey;
and if I were to tell the truth, and describe things as they really
are, my career would be ruined. More than one consul has been
severely snubbed for doing so.' On another occasion I heard
also from a consular official of a horrible case of judicial torture.
I asked for the details. He durst not give me them, and told
me the case would not be reported, as the consuls had been
made to understand that any reports unfavourable to the Turks
would be unwelcome to the embassy."

But on this matter we are not left to conjecture, or even to
seek for the testimony of men of veracity. It is witnessed to
by the papers presented to Parliament. The official acts of the
Government in England, and the circulars and instructions of
the ambassador at Constantinople, proclaim the same settled
determination to suppress, and, if need be, to pervert, any
information by which the people of England may be made
acquainted with the condition of an empire which, at the cost

'The Christians in ^Turkey. 5

of priceless lives and of abundant treasure, we have so frequently
been called upon to uphold.

In the early part of 1860, Prince GortschakoiF, the Russian
Minister for Foreign Aftairs, addressed a circular to the Great
Powers of Europe, pointing out the continuance of that injustice
of which the Christians in Turkey had so long complained, and
which the Porte had, at various periods, for upwards of the last
thirty years, promised should be removed. In that circular,
which was dated in May, 1860, the following statement
occurs : —

" The attention which the discussions upon the condition of the
East has excited throughout Europe, makes us desirous of freeing
from all error and false and exaggerated interpretation the part
which the Imperial Cabinet has taken, and the object which it
proposes to itself in this matter.

" For more than a year the official reports of our agents in
Turkey have made us acquainted with the increasingly serious
condition of the Christian provinces under the rule of the Porte,
and especially of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. This con-
dition does not date from to-day, but, far from getting better, as
was hoped, it has become worse during the last few years.

" In this conviction, after having, on the one hand, vainly
sought to enlighten the Turkish Government on the gravity of the
circumstances, by communicating to it successively all the ac-
counts which have been made known to us of the abuses com-
mitted by local authorities ; and after having, on the other hand,
exhausted all means of persuasion that we could use among the
Christians, in order to induce them to patience, we have frankly
and loyally addressed ourselves to the Cabinets of the Great
Powers of Europe. We have explained to them the circum-
stances, as described in the reports of our agents ; the imminence
of a crisis ; our conviction that isolated representations, sterile, or
palliative promises, will no longer suffice as a preventive ; and
also the necessity of an understanding of the Great Powers among
themselves and with the Porte, that they will consult together as
to the measures which can alone put an end to this dangerous
state of things. We have not made absolute propositions as to
the course to be adopted. We have confined ourselves to show-
ing the urgency, and indicating the object. As to the first, we
have not concealed the fact that it appears to us to admit of no
doubt, and to allow of no delay.

" First of all, an immediate local inquiry, with the participation
of Imperial delegates, in order to verify the reality of the facts ;
next, an understanding which it is reserved for the Great Powers

6 'The Christians in Turkey.

to establish with each other and with tlie Porte, in order to engage
it to adopt the necessary organic measures for l)ringing about in
its relations with the Christian populations of the empire, a real,
serious, and durable amelioration.

" There is nothing here, then, in the shape of an interference
wounding to the dignity of the Porte. We do not suspect its
intentions ; it is the Power most interested in a departure from
the })resent situation. Be it the result of blindness, tolerance, or
feebleness, the concurrence of Eurojoe cannot but be useful to the
Porte, whether to enlighten its judgment or to fortify its action.
There can no longer be a question of an attack on its rights, which
we desire to see respected, or of creating complications, which it
is our wish to prevent. The understanding which we wish to see
established between the Great Powers and the Turkish Govern-
ment, must be to the Christians a proof that their fate is taken
into consideration, and that we are seriously occupied in amelio-
rating it. At the same time, it will be to the Porte a certain pledge
of the friendly intentions of the Powers which have placed the
conservation of the Ottoman Empire among the essential condi-
tions of the European equilibrium. Thus, both sides ought to
see in it a motive : the Turkish Government, for confidence and
security — the Christians, for patience and hope. Europe, on its
part, after past experience, will not, in our opinion, find elsewhere
than in this moral action the guarantees which a question of first
rank demands, with which its tranquillity is indissolubly connected,
and in which the interests of humanity mingle with those of policy.
Our August Master has never disavowed the strong sympathy with
which the former inspire him. His Majesty desires not to burden
his conscience with the reproach of having remained silent in
the face of such sufferings, when so many voices are raised else-
where, under circumstances much less imperious. We are, more-
over, profoundly convinced that this order of ideas is inseparable
from the political interest which Russia, like all the other Powers,
has in the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire.

" AVe trust that these views are shared by all the Cabinets ; but
we are also convinced that the time for illusions is past, that any
hesitation, any adjournment, will have grave consequences. In
combining, with all our efforts, to place the Ottoman Government
ni a course which may avert these eventualities, we believe that
we are giving it a proof of our solicitude, while at the same time
we fulfil a duty to humanity."

Upon the receipt of this circular. Sir H. Bulwer, acting
under the instructions of the English Government, drew up a
list of questions, which he sent to the various consuls through-
out Turkey. No persons could, from their position, better

'The Christians in 'Turkey. 7

speak on such a subject ; none would be more ready to furnish
evidence which would contradict the assertions of the Russian
note, provided that this were possible. From their answer,
honestly, faithfully, and intelligently given, we might have
had a luminous survey of the Turkish empire. Such a report
would have been invaluable. It was not likely that English
consuls would exaggerate the unhappy condition of the Chris-
tians, since they had been made to feel in many ways that
even truth on this subject was " unwelcome to the embassy ; "
and before sending in their answers they were reminded that
their very bread depended upon the will of his Excellency the
Ambassador.* At the same time, it is evident, that reports
from the pens of English gentlemen, making allowances for the
circumstances of the case, would, on the whole, present a
faithful picture of the condition of the people — slightly coloured,
perhaps, in favour of things as they are, and framed in some
degree to meet the wishes of the Government which they
served, but still generally trustworthy. It would seem, how-
ever, that Sir Henry Bulwer felt, from the first, some misgivings
that a simple answer to these questions would confirm every
jot and tittle of the accusations of the Russian minister, and
accordingly he took the unusual step of issuing a circular,
dated "Constantinople, June 11th, 1860," and inclosing it
under the same cover as the questions, by which circular he
directed the consuls in what way he wished and expected
them to answer the questions. In this circular, which one of
the consuls rightly calls an " instruction," Sir Henry Bulwer
says —

" Looking at the barbarous and despotic power but a few years
since exercised by the Pashas in the Provinces, and at the venal
practices too long indulged in by Turkish functionaries, — the temp-
tation being not unoften given by the Rayahs themselves, who
bribed such functionaries to favour the one against the other,^it
is too much to expect that a pure and perfect administration will
now be found.

* '' I assure you that your conduct at this crisis will be duly watched by me,
and my opinion respecting it, whether favourable or the reverse, communicated
to Her Majesty's Government."— C/m^/ar of Sir JI. Bulwer to Her Maiesty's
Consuls^ August 8, i860.

8 T^he Christians in 1'urkey.

" The crimes, moreover, signalized by Russia, are in all countries
unfortunately to be seen and deplored ; and whilst religious toler-
ation to a far greater extent than is even now practised by many
European governments, has been traditionally characteristic of.
Turkish domination, — a system of religious ecpiality, though by no
means easy to establish at first — when the conquering race is of
one creed, and the conquered of another, — has, nevertheless, of
late years, made a visible progress in the capital ; and can hardly,
one would suppose, since it has been proclaimed ostentatiously
and constantly, with the consent of the Sovereign, be altogether
disregarded by the Porte's official servants in the country at large.

" Thus, — whilst I am far from denying that great and radical
reforms are required in the provincial administration, I am, never-
theless, inclined to believe that it is an exaggeration to contend
that things are in a vmch worse state than under the circum-
stances might be expected, or that there is a constant and perverse
action, on the part of the Governors and their subordinates, in
opposition to the general policy which their superiors are pledged
to carry out."

And Sir Henry Bulwer thus significantly adds —

"Her Majesty's Government wishes, as you well know, to
maintain the Ottoman Empire, — which in its fall would produce
a general disorganization in the East, accompanied, probably, by
war throughout the world, — the whole producing a series of dis-
asters which would certainly not benefit any class in Turkey, and
would be likely to cause great calamities to mankind."

Now it is evident that had Sir Henry Bulwer believed that
the state of Turkey was improved or improving, he might have
safely left it to the consuls to make such a declaration without
telling them that he expected them to do so. If under the
mild " toleration " of Turkey the Christians were reposing in
peace and were free from grievous oppressions, it was not
necessary that the ambassador at Constantinople should tell this
to the consuls, who must know far better than he could what was
the condition of the Christians. That his circular was regarded by
the consuls as a dictation as to the kind of answers desired by Sir
Henry Bulwer, and "welcome to the Embassy," is evident from a
circumstance which, if it were not for the gravity of the offence
against the very first principles of morality, would be simply
ludicrous. By some mistake in the office of the ambassador,
the list of questions was received by Mr. Skene, the Consul

T^he Christians m 'Turkey. 9

at Aleppo, without the circular which should have accom-
panied it ; on the 4th of August, that gentleman forwarded his
answers in simple child-like faith that his excellency required
truthful answers to his questions. A few days, however, after
the report had been sent, the circular arrived under another
cover. It was then evident to him that he had committed a
great blunder ; he had been asked to bless the Sultan, to praise
his beneficent and ''tolerant" rule, and to contradict the accu-
sation in the Russian note. Alas ! he had unwillingly cursed
the one and confirmed the other by a simple picture of the
state of the province in which he resided. Here it would
obviously have been better to have let the matter rest, the
mistake of not sending the questions and the draught answers
together had been made at Constantinople, and the blunder of
telling the truth had been committed at Aleppo, in consequence
of the first error. This, however, did not satisfy poor Mr.
Skene. He did what terrified men of no great moral courage
frequently do. He was bold even to rashness. He undertook
to confute himself, and wrote a despatch full of lamentation at
his simplicity, and overflowing with apologies for speaking the
truth. In this latter document the consul professes that he
is not so competent to speak as his Excellency, his ideas are all
" crude," and he seeks to recal his former statement, seemingly
not knowing it was too late to do so. Eating his leek with a
very wry face, in his alarm he made a larger meal of it than
was at all necessary.

In his second report, written after he had learnt why Sir
Henry Bulwer had sent the list of questions to him, Mr. Skene
thus writes —

" On the 4th instant 1 had the honour of forwarding my replies
to the queries contained in your Excellency's circular of June 11,
which had reached me only a few days previously, and yesterday
I received the other circular [paring the same date. I thus
furnished what information I ^uld luithout being aivare of the
motives dictating the quest iotis^ and without being in possession
of the valuable instructions conveyed by the other circular. I
shall, therefore, endeavour now to supply the deficiencies of my
replies.

lo T^he Christians in 'Turkey,

" Your Excellency expresses the belief that it is an exaggera-
tion to contend that things are in a much worse state than, under
the circumstances, might be expected. This view of the case is

fully corroborated by my experience.

* * * i|t *

" I am sure your Excellency wishes to have opinions frankly
stated, in order that they may be duly sifted, and appreciated
according to their merits and demerits ; and I therefore hope
I may be held excused if I have too freely given utterance to
these crude notions on a subject, the consideration of which may
not strictly form part of a consul's attributes."

It is a melancholy spectacle to see a man of mature age making
piteous appeals for tender consideration because he had un-
fortunately spoken the truth ; but however melancholy the
spectacle is, it is important, since it shows us the effect of the
circular of Sir Henry Bulwer upon the mind at least of one of
the consuls, and it leaves us to regret that we have missed
those valuable photographs of the state of Turkey which, but for
the forethought of Sir Henry Bulwer, we should have obtained.
Under the circumstances, therefore, every admission of the
consular body as to the misrule, the oppression, and cruelty
practised by the officers of the Turkish Government, acquires
additional weight. Nor would it be right to pass over, without
a word of admiration, the courage which has led some of those
officers to speak plain words and to declare unpalatable truths
in their reports.

But the record of the freaks of British diplomacy are not at
an end. The papers lately presented to Parliament are full of
mournful instances of the way in which truth is paltered with,
equivocation resorted to, and even positive untruth suggested,
when it is thought necessary to throw the shield of England's
might — T wish I could say England's greatness — over the cruel
oppression and the profligate sensuality of Turkey. I will not
weary the reader by quoting, as Irnight, the numerous despatches
of Sir Henry Bulwer, especially those which occur in the Blue
Books on the Syrian massacres, which illustrate this dishonesty.
I content myself by citing one painful instance from the de-
spatches of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Earl Russell.

l!he Christians in Turkey, 1 1

Enough has been written respecting the bombardment of
Belgrade which took place in June last year. That the soldiers
of a garrison, more numerous than the whole adult male popula-
tion of the commercial city near which they were quartered,
sheltered by the walls of a citadel of enormous strength perched
on a promontory commanding the whole of the city which lies
on its slope and mounting on its ramparts more than two
hundred pieces of cannon, could pretend that they fancied
themselves in danger from the attacks of a smaller number of
shopkeepers, who were without means of offence, must con-
vince every unprejudiced person that it is dangerous to entrust
arms of any kind to such soldiers. Be that, however, as it
may, after the bombardment occurred. Sir Henry Bulwer,
whose Turkish predilections have been sufficiently evidenced
by his " Circular " just quoted, addressed a letter on the 24th
of .Tune, to the Foreign Office in London, in which, though he
endeavours to exonerate the Turks from a considerable share
of the blame, yet he admits, " The Servians were neither, I
think, prepared nor disposed just at present to enter upon any
serious conflict."* This despatch was received by Earl Russell
on the 5th of July, and five days after this he wrote to Lord
Napier, the Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and directed him to
state the contrary, and to assert " that it is evident that
Servia provoked the recent conflict at Belgrade,"! although he
had just received a despatch from Sir Henry Bulwer alleging the
reverse. When this assertion was reported to the Russian
minister, it cannot therefore surprise us to read, in a despatch
of Mr. Lumley, " Prince Gortschakoff demurred to the state-
ment that it was evident the recent conflict at Belgrade had
been excited by the Servians. He had every reason to believe
the contrary had been the case, and that his views would be
borne out by the opinion of Her Majesty's consul-general in
Servia — a gentleman and a man of honour — in whose version
of the affair he would place implicit faith." |

* Correspondence on the Bombardment of Belgrade, p. il.
+ Ibid. p. 17.
Ij: Ibid. p. 19.

12 T^he Christians in 'Turkey,

Prince Gortschakoff probably knew that the instructions given
to the ambassador at St. Petersburg were not borne out by the
evidence in the hands of Earl Russell.

By means, then, such as these — the systematic suppression
of information — the requiring our consular agents to make
one-sided, partial, and coloured statements, and, when all these
fail, boldly resorting to something so like to untruth that it
cannot be distinguished from it — are the interests of the public
of this country diverted from the sufferings of the people of the
East. But, let us bear in mind, in our zeal to preserve, at
all hazards, " the integrity of Turkey," that the integrity of our
public men is greatly suffering, and the honour and humanity of
England are in danger of becoming bywords in many parts of
the world. It would surely be more manly, more honourable,
more politic, to grapple with the real facts of the case. It would
be better — for honesty is still the best policy — to acknowledge
that though the Government of Turkey is hopelessly dead or
dying ; though the moral corruption of all classes in that country,
but especially of its rulers, has reached such a stage that it is too
polluting a subject to be even mentioned, still less detailed ;
though the unhappy subject races are exposed to daily massacres
<md to outrages worse than death ; though portions of the empire,
naturally amongst the most fertile on the globe — tracts of land
which a few years ago were cultivated with the same care as
the gardens of Flanders or of Lombardy — are now a waste
wilderness, trodden only by the feet of wandering Bedouins, by
some Christian flying from the intolerable oppression of his
savage masters, or, more commonly, only by prowling beasts
of prey, for this — as I shall be able to show from documents of
unimpeachable veracity — is, in brief, the condition of the greater
part of Turkey in Asia — yet that in despite of all this it is
for some reason or another so important to England to main-
tain all these abominations that we are resolved to do so. It
would be better to acknowledge this : but not at the cost of
our own "integrity" to attempt to conceal that which is
notoriously and unhappily true. We might still plead, if we
would, that, all this accumulated misery and evil notwith-

T!he Christians in "Turkey. 13

standing, it is sound policy to perpetuate these horrors, to
sustain this crumbling pillar and to prop this falling edifice of
Ottoman power. I confess that both humanity and policy
are, in my opinion, damaged by the course which the Foreign
Office is bent on pursuing ; but, at any rate, if necessary, let
that course be held to without resorting to equivocation, deceit,
and falsehood. Such weapons indicate a desperate cause, or
they will injure that which, but for their use, need not be
despaired of.

The witnesses whom I am about to quote, and who in many
cases are our own consuls settled in Turkey, write with an
evident consciousness that any bias in favour of the oppressed
races of that country would be " unwelcome to the embassy,"
and, as Sir Henry Bulwer had lately informed them in writing,
to the British Government, yet testify to these facts : —

(I.) That the most fertile provinces in Turkey, formerly and
even recently covered with flourishing villages and occupied by
industrious inhabitants, are now waste and desolate, filled only
with ruin, " the mouldering remains of slaughteretl men and
children, and with prowling beasts of prey. That the former
inhabitants have been massacred or driven away, and that the
sands of the desert are fast encroaching upon what were formerly
the most fruitful lands on the globe.

(II.) That moral corruption the most horrible, and sensuality
the most loathsome, has become universal amongst the Turkish
people and is fast depopulating the empire and destroying the
whole Mussulman race.

(III.) That alarm and terror for the lives and honour of their
families reign in every quarter of the Turkish empire. That
there is no security for industry, no safety for life ; and that with
the diminution of the dominant race, the jealousy and hatred
of the Turk towards the Christian is acquiring fresh force.

(IV.) That no attempt has been made by the Turkish Govern-
ment to fulfil the engagements which, from time to time, it has
entered into with the Great Powers of Europe to guard against
the oppression of the subject race.

(V.) That in the Christian races of Turkey, and in them only,
are there any signs of life, and that their rapid increase in

14 'The Christians in Turkey.

numbers and material prosperity, as well as the extension of
education amongst them, together with their superior industry
and morality, aflford the only hope for the future.

That the condition of the people of Turkey — the large mass of
the population of that country — presents the sad spectacle which
I have here indicated, and which I am about to illustrate from
official and other unexceptionable documents, I believe no one at
all acquainted with the subject will deny. The utmost that the
apologists of Turkey are accustomed to plead is, that the de-
population, the massacres, the cruel acts of injustice practised
toward the Christians, arise not from the direct action of the
Turkish Government, but from the corruption of the officers
and the fanaticism of the Mussulmans, which it is too feeble
to restrain or punish. This, no doubt, is in part true ; but
then it ought to be remembered that the very feebleness of the
central Government arises from its injustice. But, indeed, this
is only true in part. The men who compose the Turkish
Government — the owners of the sumptuous palaces which
fringe the Bosphorus, are in no degree removed above the
crowd in intelligence, in uprightness, in morality ; and much of
the ruin which lies like a heavy blight on the land, and the
present hopeless condition of the Ottoman empire, arise from
the positive sins of its Government, its miserable faithlessness
towards its subjects, as well as from its inherent powerlessness.

Practically, however, it is of little consequence to men who
suffer, to what quarter the source of the evil of which they
complain may be traced. A peasant who is stripped of his
property because he is a Christian — whose testimony in a court
of justice is refused for the same reason — who has been arbi-
trarily imprisoned — whose wife and daughter have been out-
raged, and whose sons have been executed because they ventured
to defend the honour of their mother and sisters — derives no
comfort from being told that all these things have happened,
not from the vice and corruption of the Government, but only
from its want of power to protect. And let it be remembered,
that every means which statecraft can devise — protocols with-

^he Christians in Turkey, 15

out number, alliances on all sides, conventions to avoid wars,
and wars which have happened notwithstanding — have all been
resorted to with the view of infusing new life into the veins of
that dying body, and to give it artificial strength, but all without
avail. The ruin goes on at an accelerated speed — the feeble
Government is becoming every day more hopelessly feeble. /

(I.) The first point which I have indicated as symptomatic of
the decay and approaching extinction of Turkey is the desolation
which is to be met with in all the provinces of the empire, and
which is increasing in intensity, and widening in area. That
this is so, we know from testimony which is as unimpeachable as
it is uniform. The evidence is so abundant, and the witnesses
to this fact so numerous, that the only difficulty arises from the
necessity of selection.

Of the country about Smyrna, Mr. Senior thus describes
what met his own eye, and was pointed out to him by the
Prussian consul : —

*• ' A strong proof of the depopulation of the country is
the presence of nomadic tribes, Irooks and TurcoTnans, who
wander over it in parties of from thirty to forty families, carrying
with them cattle, camels, horses, and sheep in thousands, en-
camping and feeding on the unoccupied lands. The Irooks live
in tents ; and, besides their pastoral employments, weave carpets
and coarse cloths. The Turcomans are purely pastoral, and
sometimes build temporary villages of wood coated with mud. I
remember finding one near Sardis on the same spot for two suc-
cessive years. They had 150 camels, 400 or 500 head of cattle,
and perhaps 10,000 sheep. I asked them how long they intended
to remain there. " God only knows," they answered. The next
year they were gone.'

" ' To whom then, ' I said, ' does the land on which they en-
camp, and feed their herds and flocks, belong V

" ' To the Sultan in general,' he answered.

" 'And do they pay for its use ]'

" ' Not,' he replied, 'when it is the Sultan's. The unoccupied
land of the Sultan may be used without payment ; when they use
that belonging to private persons, some payment is exacted.
They ought to pay tithe, but the appearance of a tithe-collector is
a notice to them to depart.'

" ' How much of Asia Minor,' I said, ' do you suppose to be
uncultivated 1 '

" ' Ninety-nine hundredths,' he answered ; ' if you go from

1 6 T'he Christians in 'Turkey.

hence towards Magnesia, you will ride ten hours through fine
land without seeing a human habitation. But such is the fertility
of the hundredth ])art which is cultivated, that if there were roads
its produce would influence sensibly the markets of Europe.'"*

Of the whole province of Palestine, Mr. Finn, Her Majesty's
Consul at Jerusalem reports, that it is " seriously under-popu-
lated, and consequently large tracts lie waste ; and of the
inhabitants he writes : —

" We have a thinly scattered population, almost entirely engaged
in rural occupations, propagated like wild animals, without educa-
tion, in the common acceptation of that word, or even a decent
sense of any religion whatever, and ignorant of everything but the
use of very clumsy fire-arms, and actuated by no conscientious
feeling beyond the requirements of their clan or faction." t

As to Aleppo and its neighbourhood, Mr. Skene in his/r5^
report thus writes : —

" This province is in a good condition as regards the amount
of production. But unfortunately, the productive class does not
enjoy in peace the fruits of labour. A portion of its produce is
carried oft' by the nomadic Arabs, and extorted from the pea-
santry by the farmers of the tithes.

"Vast plains of the most fertile land lie waste on account of
the incursions of the Bedouins, who drive the agricultural popula-
tion westward, in order to secure pasture for their increasing flocks
of sheep and herds of camels. I have seen twenty-five villages
plundered by a single incursion of Sheik Mohammed Dukhy with
2,000 Beni Sachar horsemen. I have visited a fertile district
which possessed 100 villages twenty years ago, and found only a
few lingering Fellahs, destined soon to follow their kindred to the
hills ranging along the seaboard. I have explored towns in the
Desert, with well-paved streets, houses still roofed, and their stone
doors swinging on the hinges, ready to be occupied, and yet
quite untenanted ; thousands of acres of fine arable land spread-
ing around them, with tracks of watercourses for irrigation, now
yielding but a scanty pasture to the sheep and camels of the
Bedouin. This overlapping of the Desert on the cultivated plains
commenced eighty years ago, when the Anazi tribes migrated
from Central Arabia in search of more extended pasturage, and
overran Syria. It has now reached the sea on two points, near
Acre, and between Latakia and Tripoli.

* A Journal kept in Turkey and Greece, by Nassau W. Senior, Esq.
London : 1859. In quoting tliis valuable book for the first time, I cannot but
express my regret that it is so little known to English readers.

t Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 27.

'The Christians in Turkey. 17

" The Arab, however, does not always carry off the whole stock
of the villager, but is frequently satisfied by a conciliatory offering
in money and grain. Something is thus left for extortion by the
tax-gatherer. His operations are conducted in an equally open
manner with those of the nomadic plunderer. When the tithes
are put up to auction, the members of the Provincial Council
select the villages whose revenues they wish to farm under the
name of a retainer. They agree not to compete with each other,
and use their joint endeavours to prevent others from outbidding
them. When the highest price is offered the Pasha consults the
Council, which declares it to be the full value ; and a profitable
bargain is obtained by the Councillor whose turn has come.
Then begins the pressure on the villager. His grain is threshed
and ready for sale, but he must not move it until the tithe is taken
by the farmer. Prices are falling in the market with the daily
increasing abundance. He implores permission to sell, and
receives it only on consenting to double or treble the tax. In
lieu of 10 per cent., there are instances of 40 per cent, being thus
wrung from him, when the want of the necessaries of life for his
family prevents his waiting longer. The peasant is next forced to
convey the collector's share to town without remuneration, to feed
his numerous satellites, to bring him presents of poultry, lambs,
and forage, which latter produce is not tithed. He has no means
of redress, for the voice of the all-powerful Council drowns every
complaint. The Pasha is appealed to, and shrugs his shoulders.

" Still the agricultural population is not plunged in that hope-
less state of destitution which might be expected under these con-
ditions : so rich is the soil, so industrious and frugal the labourer.

" In the towns, until quite lately, trade and manufactures were
in a flourishing state. Since the revival, however, of the old feel-
ings of aversion and animosity between the Mussulman and
Christian communities, a disadvantageous change has consequently
become apparent also in the material circumstances of the popu-
lation. Want of confidence in the future is withdrawing capital
from circulation ; trade stagnates ; and one-half of the looms pre-
viously worked are now at rest." *

Of the province of Erzeroom, " containing about fifteen
hundred villages," we read : —

" A correct census, I believe, is not desired by the Turks, who
are conscious of a very sensible decrease in the Mussulman popu-
lation in many provinces, and naturally would not like to publish
this fact." t •

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, pp. 48, 49.
+ Narrative of the Siege of Kars. By Humphry Sandwith, M. D. London,
1856. P. 60.

C

1 8 The Christians in Turkey.

In Mr. Senior's diary, again, occurs the following picture of
the depopulation which is going on in Armenia :* —

" Saturday, October 2\th. — I sat at dinner next to V. W., who
lias just returned from the frontier separating Turkish and Russian
Armenia.

*•' He gave a frightful account of the misgovernment of Turkish
Armenia.

" ' It is such,' he said, * that the people are wishing for the
Russians. A new Pasha — and there is one every three or four
years — sends word of his arrival to all the subordinate local
officers. This is a notice to all office-holders to be prepared
with their bribes, and to all office-hunters to be prepared to
outbribe them.'

" ' And how,' I said, ' do those who have bribed him get back
their money % '

" ' By increasing the taxation,' he answered, * by not account-
ing for the public receipts, by winking at breaches of quarantine
laws, or non-payment of custom-house dues, by selling justice,
and through the corves. The last is a fertile source of profit.
The Pasha is making a progress -, the villages in his line have
to furnish camels and horses ; the Nazir requires twice as many,
or five times as many, as are really wanted, and is bribed to
reduce his demand. If the village is rich and bribes highly, it
furnishes none, and the burden falls on those who cannot buy
themselves off; they are forced to travel with their beasts for
ten or for twenty days, unpaid, canying their own food and that
of their beasts, or plundering it, and are discharged perhaps loo
miles from home, their cattle and themselves lame and worn
out. The amount of tyranny may be inferred from the depo-
pulation. You see vast districts without an inhabitant, in which
are the traces of a large and civilized people, great works for
irrigation now in ruins, and constant remains of deserted towns.
There is a city near the frontier with high walls and large stone
houses, now absolutely uninhabited ; it had once 60,000 inhabi-
tants. There is not a palace on the Bosphorus that has not deci-
mated the inhabitants of a province."

A like spectacle is presented in the Troad. In the same
volume from which the last extract has been taken, Mr. Senior
reports a conversation which he had with Mr. Calvert in these
words : f —

" ' The Turks are dying out, and the Greeks, many of them im-
migrants from European Turkey, are increasing. In your ride
round the plain of Troy to-morrow, in a circuit of thirty miles you

* Senior, p. 138-9. f Ibid. p. i63.

l!he Christians in 'Turkey. ip

will find three Greek villages, Runkoi, Yenekoi, and Yenisher, all
thriving, surrounded by gardens and cultivated fields, the old
houses in repair and new ones building. The only other human
habitations that you will see will be three Turkish villages — Chiflic,
on the site of the IHum Novum, Bounar Bashi, just below the site
of Troy, and Halil Eli. The first has about twenty inhabited
houses, the second about fifteen, and the third, which, twenty years
ago, was a considerable village, has only three.' "

Let us turn to another of the provinces of this empire.
On leaving Constantinople Mr. Setiior reports the words of a
friend well acquainted with the whole of Turkey : —

" ^ You are going,' he continued, ' to Smyrna and to Greece.
When you are at Smyrna, visit Ephesus. You will ride through
fifty miles of the most fertile soil, blessed with the finest climate
in the world. You will not see an inhabitant nor a cultivated
field. This is Turkey. In Greece, or in the Principalities, you
will find comparative numbers, wealth, and population. They
have been misgoverned ; they have been the seat of war ; but
they have thrown off the Turk.' " *

And again": —

" In towns where there were 3,000 Turks five or six years ago,
there are now not 2,ooo.t ... In the provinces of the Darda-
nelles, the deaths exceed the births by about six per cent.

" When we recollect that the Greek population is increasing,
and, therefore, that the Turks alone suffer this excess of deaths,
we may infer that they are, as has often been said to me, rapidly
dying out."J

Nor is all this the inevitable result of any past policy which
has now been abandoned. It exists still. The progress of ruin
is going on before our eyes. Nay, it gathers force every day.
Mr. Skene contrasts the state of the country round Aleppo with
what it was only twenty years ago. Within that district " one
hundred villages" had been entirely obliterated during the period
of twenty years. The desolation is inseparable from Turkish rule
in the nineteenth century. It is not the consequence of Mus-
sulman power merely, it is distinctively Turkish. During the
brief rule of Mehemet Ali, Syria was beginning to be repeopled,

* Senior, p. 148. t Ibid. p. 191. % Ibid, p. 184.

c 2

20 ^he Christians in Turkey,

and its waste places to be cultivated. Mr. Brant, our consul at
Damascus, writing in June, 1858, says: —

" I have already sent a report on the trade of Damascus, but I
conceive it would be incomplete were 1 not to add a sketch of the
state and administration of the Paschalic. In the report I said
that, while the province w-as in the occupation of Mehemet Ali
Pasha, many deserted cities and villages were reinhabited, and
their lands brought again under cultivation. This was particu-
larly the case in the Hauran, in the country round Hamah, and
generally on the confines of the Desert. In these places the
Arabs were made to respect authority, and the settled inhabitants
were effectually secured against their depredations.

" The whole of Syria was placed under the civil administration
of Sheriff Pasha, and Ibrahim Pasha commanded the army, which
amounted to 40,000 troops, regular and irregular. The able
administration of the former increased the prosperity and improved
the finances of the country as much as the activity and energy of
the latter promoted security and confidence. The Government
was certainly considered harsh, but it could scarcely, indeed, have
been otherwise regarded, for it had to reform so many abuses,
and to substitute system and equity for the disorder, license, and
fanaticism which prevailed. The upper grades, the Eff'endis and
Aghas, were most discontented, for they enriched themselves by
the plunder and oppression of the industrious classes ; but the
latter were pleased to find themselves freed from the tyranny they
had so long groaned under, and the Christians were particularly
delighted at being shielded from the fanaticism which had reduced
them to a state of intolerable degradation. The peasantry were
not less contented ; for, although the fixed taxes were rigorously
exacted, no more was demanded, and no one was allowed to seize
their produce without payment, to extort from them anything at
less than its value, or to force them to render services without a
fair remuneration. The Mussulmans were subjected to a con-
scription, then a novelty, which was a source of serious discontent,
but the Christians paying Haratch were exempt from military
service. The peasants who had reoccupied abandoned villages
were assisted with loans to repair the houses and to supply them-
selves with stock, and enjoyed besides immunity from taxes for three
years ; every encouragement, in short, was held out to increase
production, and sometimes even troops, with Ibrahim Pasha at their
head, went out to destroy the eggs and young of the locusts.

"Under a system so vigorous, equital)le, and considerate, the
country was gradually advancing in ])rosperity, and, had the
Egyptian rule continued, Syria would have regained a great portion
of its ancient populousness and wealth, of which evident traces
are visible in the remains of innumerable villages and cities spread

The Christians in Turkey. 21

over the Hauran, as well as to be found far to the eastward in the
Desert, where also Roman roads are yet to be traced." *

Then came the bombardment of Acre by the British fleet,
the departure of the Egyptians, and the restoration of Syria to
Turkish rule, with what efiect the same witness reports : —

"Scarcely were the Egyptians expelled and the strong arm
removed, which had kept every one in due subordination to
the ruling Power, than resistance to authority began to replace
obedience, peculation and waste to be substituted for honesty and
economy in the administration of the finances, revenue to decrease,
the Arabs again to encroach on the settled inhabitants, the newly
repeopled villages and lands to be gradually abandoned, until, at
the present moment, there is so little security for person and pro-
perty, that it may almost be said no longer to exist, and everything
indicates a return to the state of anarchy in which the Egyptians
found the country."

" The revenue is daily diminishing, from villages and lands
being thrown out of cultivation. What is collected is in a great
degree misapplied or plundered by the employes. Money is re-
quired from Constantinople to carry on the Government, and it is
too evident that financial matters must progressively deteriorate, for
the evils of a corrupt administration are constantly extending." t

Whatever energy and self-reliance the Turks once possessed
has long since gone. To use again the language of Mr.
Senior : —

" ' Until the battle of Lepanto and the retreat from Vienna,
they possessed the grand and heroic but dangerous virtues of a
conquering nation. Th'ey are now degraded by the grovelling
vices of a nation that relies on foreigners for its defence. But as
respects the qualities which conduce to material prosperity, to
riches and to numbers, I do not believe that they have much
changed. I do not believe that they are more idle, wasteful,
improvident, and brutal now than they were 400 years ago. But
it is only within the last fifty years, that the effects of these
qualities have shown themselves fully. When they first swarmed
over Asia Minor, Roumelia, and Bulgaria, they seized on a country
very populous and of enormous wealth. For 350 years they kept
on consuming that wealth and wearing out that population. If a
Turk wanted a house or a garden, he turned out a Rayah ; if he
wanted money, he put a bullet into a handkerchief, tied it into a

* Despatches respecting apprehended disturbances in Syria, pp. 22, 23.
t Ibid, p. '23.

22 ^he Christians in Turkey^

knot, and sent it to the nearest opulent Greek or Armenian. At
last, having lived for three centuries and a half on their capital of
things and of man, having reduced that rich and well-peopled
country to the desert which you now see it, they find themselves
poor. They cannot dig, to beg they are ashamed. They use the
most mischievous means to prevent large families ; they kill their
female children, the conscription takes off the males, and they
disappear. The only memorial of what fifty years ago was a
populous Turkish village is a crowded burial-ground, now unused.'
"'As a medical man,' said Y., 'I, and perhaps / only, know
what crimes are committed in the Turkish part of Smyrna, which
looks so gay and smiling, as its picturesque houses, embosomed in
gardens of planes and cypresses, rise up the hill. I avoid as
much as I can the Turkish houses, that I may not be cognisant of
them. Sometimes it is a young second wife who is poisoned by
the older one ; sometimes a female child, whom the father will
not bring up ; sometimes a male killed by the mother to spite the
father. Infanticide is rather the rule than the exception. No
inquiry is made, no notice is taken by the police.' " *

But it is impossible to give all the facts which may be
gathered from the Parliamentary papers issued of late years on
the state of Syria and of Turkey in general, and to cite the
evidence of witnesses worthy of confidence. Nor, indeed, is it
necessary to accumulate evidence on a point about which there
is no dispute. To use the words of the present Lord-Lieutenant
of Ireland when surveying, not a province merely, but the whole
extent of the Turkish empire : —

" When you leave the partial splendours of the capital, and the
great state establishments, what is it you find over this broad sur-
face of a land, which nature and climate have favoured beyond all
others, once the home of all art and all civilization ? Look your-
self— ask those who live there ; — deserted villages, uncultivated
plains, banditti-haunted mountains, torpid laws, a corrupt adminis-
tration, a disappearing people."t

This, then, is the testimony which even the physical features
of the country bear against the Turkish rule. In the nineteenth
century, large tracts of what, thirty, twenty — nay, ten — years ago
was a smiling and a fruitful land, cultivated with all the care of
garden husbandry, and rivalling for beauty the best parts of the

* Senior, p. 211-12.

t Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters, by the Earl of Carlisle. Second
edition. London, 1854. P. 184.

'The Christians in Turkey. 23

plains of Lombardy and of Flanders, have now become portions
of the desert. From the shores of the Bosphorus, under the
fairest sky, amid the most beautiful scenery, with a soil the
most fertile of any in the world, surrounded by the ruins of
ancient glory and civilization, the traveller now may wander for
more than a hundred miles without meeting with a trace of the
dwellings of man, save here and there the ruins which his horse
tramples under its hoofs. If he asks for the inhabitants, he will
hear only of graves, of heartless massacres, and of terrible
martyrdoms on a gigantic scale, with pashas for the execu-
tioners, and grand viziers for the instigators. The desert is
rapidly encroaching on the fertile land, and the sand is covering
what was, a quarter of a century ago, the abode of industrious
and happy peasants. The land was " as the garden of Eden ;"
it is now " a desolate wilderness."

In 1830 Smyrna contained 80,000 Turkish inhabitants and
20,000 Christians. In 1860 the Turks numbered 41,000 and
the Christians 75,000.* Though the Christians have increased
at this enormous rate within thirty years, this increase has
been almost neutralized by the great decline of the Turkish
part of the inhabitants in the same period of time ; and the
decline is even greater in the smaller towns and villages than
in Smyrna. The same consul from whose report these statistics
are taken, remarks : —

" It may be observed, in reference to this question, that rapid
as the increase is of the Christian population, the decrease of the
Turkish is in a greater ratio. Visit any town or village where
there is a mixed Mussulman and Christian population : in the
Turkish quarter no one is visible, no children in the streets ;
whereas in the Christian the streets are full of children."t

This is not peculiar to Symrna or to the country in its neigh-
bourhood. This decline of the one race and the increase of
the other is uniform throughout Turkey : —

" On the continent, in the islands, it is the Greek peasant who
works and thrives ; the Turk reclines, smokes his pipe, and
decays. The Greek village increases its population, and teems with

* Report of Mr. Charles Blunt, Consul at Smyrna. Parliamentaiy Papers
on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 31.
+ Ibid. p. 3-2.

24 ^he Christians in J'urkey,

children ; in the Turkish village you find roofless walls and
crumbling mosques." *

" As we rode through one of the villages from which the Turkish
inhabitants have disappeared, my companion chimed in with the
universal view of the rapid decay of their numbers. He gives
them from twenty-five to forty years before, without the help of
war or violence, they would entirely vanish from the land." t

This opinion is supported by the testimony of Mr. Finn,
who, speaking of the province of Palestine, tells us that there
also —

" The Mahometan population is dying out ; I can scarcely say
slowly." X

To the same effect, again, Mr. J. E. Blunt, writing from
Pristina, says : —

"While everywhere there are signs that the Turks, more espe-
cially the higher classes, are losing ground in population, agricul-
ture, and trade, the opposite is the case with the Christians.

"In nearly all the towns, streets — entire quarters — have passed
into the hands of the Christians." §

(II.) Notwithstanding the rapid increase of the Christian
subjects of Turkey, the population throughout the empire is still
diminishing, in consequence of the enormous decrease of the
Mussulmans. This depopulation arises from two different
causes : — (1) From the dying out of the dominant race ; and
this diminution of the number of the Turkish inhabitants is
going on at so rapid a rate as to threaten their total extinc-
tion within a comparatively short time. (2) From the frequent
massacres of Christians, either such as are heard of in Europe
because of the large number of lives which are lost — like those
which have recently taken place in the Lebanon, in Damascus,
at Jeddah, and other places in Asia — or those massacres which
occur daily on a smaller scale, but which in the aggregate are even
more destructive to life than those which led to the French
occupation of Syria, and furnished much anxious employment
to diplomatists. Of these two elements of ruin, it will be

* Lord Carlisle, Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters, p. 183,

t Ibid. p. 171.

X Despatches on apprehended disturbances in Syria, 1858—60, p. 89.

§ Consular Reports on Condition of Christians of Turkey, p. 36.

The Christians in Turkey, 25

necessary to speak only of the first, which, from its nature, is
generally kept out of sight in the account which travellers give
us of that country. Most travellers and writers on Turkey act
as Lord Carlisle did, who says, " Upon the state of morals I
debar myself from entering." * And yet this is the most im-
portant matter for consideration when the state and prospects of
an empire are to be examined. It is not surprising, however,
that men who know what the state of morals is shrink from
the repulsive subject. I cannot pass it by ; it would be unfair
to do so. In it consists much of the misery which the Christians
suffer. I cannot, however — I will not attempt to — give in detail
that which it is my power to give, mindful of the injunction,
" Uncleanness or covetousness [ifKeove^id), let it not be once
named among you as becometh saints." f I must content
myself with vague words ; the subject permits of no other.

Polygamy is said to be generally less conducive to the increase
of mankind than monogamy. The wide-spread practice of
infanticide amongst all classes is a reason why the Turkish part
of the population should not merely be stationary but diminish.
Conscription for the army, which is raised entirely from the
Mussulman portion of the population, has also an important
influence in the same direction. But all these causes com-
bined will not account for the fact that the Turks are rapidly
becoming extinct. At best, these causes would but check or
diminish the natural rate of increase. The evil lies far deeper.
It is one, however, which cannot be laid bare. The hideous
revolting profligacy of all classes, and almost every individual
in every class, is the main cause for the diminution. This is
a canker which has eaten into the very vitals of society. It is
one, however, which has taken so unspeakably loathsome a
form that no pen dares describe the immoral state of Turkish
society. It must be abandoned to vague generalities, for
happily the imagination cannot picture the abominations which
are fast exterminating the whole Turkish race. If, at the cer-
tainty of outraging decency, some hints even were given, they

* Lord Carlisle, Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters, p. 182.
t Ephes. V. 3.

a 6 'The Christians in Turkey.

would necessarily fall so far short of the truth that they would
have the effect of eulogy by making men believe that the horrid
details of guilt revealed in any degree the real corruption of this
deeply polluted race. I speak thus advisedly.

T have the evidence now before me of persons at present resi-
dent in Turkey, as well as of English officers high in the civil
service, whose duties have made them acquainted with the
real state of society in Turkey ; and in addition to these, I
have a voluminous report addressed to me by a distinguished
foreigner, formerly a colonel in the Turkish service, and, from
the varied offices which he has filled in that country, of all men
one of the most competent witnesses. I have all this evidence
before me, but it is so disgusting and obscene that I dare not
make use of it. The Satires of Juvenal and Petronius Arbiter
are decorous in comparison. Students may remember how
rabbinical writers describe the sins of the Amorites and other
inhabitants of the land of Canaan, who for their revolting sins
were driven out by the children of Israel.* That description
gives but a partial picture of what is the present state of Turkish
society. The Cities of the Plain were destroyed for sins which
are the common, normal, everyday practice of this people.

And, be it remembered, I am not speaking of the dregs of
society — the outcasts of humanity — herding together at Con-
stantinople or Damascus ; I speak of grand viziers, of powerful
pashas, of many of the present ministers of the Sultan. I read

in Blue Books and in Mr. Layard's speeches of Pasha, the

friend of England; or Pasha, the enlightened Minister for

Affairs. I am told of their intelligence, but not even Sir

Henry Bulwer will become sponsor for their honesty, still less
for their morality. The utmost that the English Ambassador can
say is, that what they " ostentatiously and constantly " assert can
hardly be untrue. This is the first time, so far as my experience
serves, that ostentatiousness has been supposed to be a guarantee
for the truthfulness of any statement. But it is not necessary
to call the English Ambassador as a witness in this matter. It

* As, for instance, Maimonides, in **More Nevochim," § Precepts of the
second class.

The Christians in Turkey, 27

is perfectly notorious that these pashas, these ministers, are
men so foul and obscene in their lives, that the " most infamous
ruffians of the Haymarket" * would shrink from them as beings
sunk immeasurably beneath themselves, and as too polluted for
companionship. And yet these advisers of the Sultan are the
men whom Mr. Layard eulogized in the House of Commons
as *' good and worthy." \ That gentleman's standard of good-
ness and of worth seems a peculiar one. Several at least of
the present advisers of the Sultan were educated in the harem
(the rest of my sentence must of necessity be in a dead
language) atque ibi cinaedi et pathici juventutem agebant.
lisdem in gubernationem regni promovendis primus ad honores
et imperia gradus extitit quod libidini regise morigerentur. Ea
autem ipsa flagitia quibus in pueritia et adolescentia sunt imbuti
niaturi viri consequuntur et pueros baud paucos, in quibus libi-
dinem exerceant, aeque ac puellas, in domus secretiore parte
conservare Solent. If these are the "good and worthy men ^'
of Turkey, what are the ordinary inhabitants of that country ?
And what honesty, what forbearance, what truth can be ex-
pected when these are the rulers of the Ottoman Empire ?
But I dare not pursue this subject.

In a letter already made use of by Mr. Cobden in the House
of Commons occurs the following passage : —

" Few of you in England know the real horrors of this country.
You will see what I mean when I tell you my intention of getting
a number of tracts, in Turkish, written or lithographed, to be
distributed by a Turk on the bridges, &c. The tract is to con-
sist of such passages as the history of Sodom and Gomorrah.
What can we hope to do with this people ? One Englishman,
who has to do with multitudes of them, reckons those who are
innocent of this hideous vice at two in a hundred. A Turkish teacher
told an European that those who were guiltless as to that are
two in a thousand. Stories of assaults, sub dio, effected or at-
tempted, have come to me one after another. These people must
be held together 1 What is our policy supporting 1 Are we not
responsible for corruption which breeds by our fostering ? Some
one asked me how to account for this in a people the most
moral of all — the English people — that these deepest immoralities
should be maintained by their patronage ? I replied, they are for

* See Mr. Gregory's Speech in the House of Commons, May 29, 1863.
t See Mr. Layard's Speech, in Morning Star, May 30th, 1803.

28 'The Christians in 'Turkey,

the most part quite ignorant, or unwilling to believe what they
hear. Still, it is a condition of morals which makes khans and
baths and lonely places dangerous to the unwary. . . .

"... Believe me (my authority is the best), it is a question
of time ; the decay of the Turkish people is going on rapidly ; their
numbers are fast decreasing through vice, disease, neglect, and the
conscription."*

It is painful to print even this extract, though what it reveals
is only an approximation to the horrors and licentiousness
of Turkish society. It is better, however, to shock the reader
rather than that, through ignorance, we should continue to
"maintain," to "foster," and to "patronise" such a condi
tion of society. Half the world knows what we are doing : it
is high time that we were also conscious, and that we should
consider whether any theory, or fancy, or chimera about the
balance of power, or the " integrity of Turkey," will justify our
maintenance of such unspeakable wickedness.

It is this corruption, this revolting form of brutal sensuality,
which makes the presence of a Turkish garrison so grievous
a wrong to the Christians in its neighbourhood. If in Con-
stantinople— in the chief city of the empire — in the presence
of European civilization, a state of things exists which " makes
khans and baths and lonely places dangerous to the unwary,"
what must be the condition of the people who, in Servia, in
Bulgaria, or in Syria, live near these abodes of sin and pollu-
tion, with a fierce fanatical soldiery free from all moral restraints,
and encouraged by their officers in every act of hostility towards
the Christians ? It is unnatural horrors of this kind, even more
than the numerous murders and acts of rapine which mark the
presence of a Turkish garrison, against which the inhabitants
of Belgrade and the Prince of Servia are now protesting.
They pray that their young children may be spared from tlie
sight of deeds which defile at times the esplanade of the fortress.
They pray that they may have some safeguard that their sons
may no longer be carried off. . . /

It cannot be that they will always pray in vain to a Christian

* Letter addressed to Rev. Ernest Hawkins, 8th January, 1863, MSS.
in Archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

'The Christians in Turkey. 29

people. If treaties be pleaded as a hindrance to our active
assistance in their behalf, let us at any rate not encourage the
wrongdoers in the perpetration of these acts of abomination and
wickedness. Nay, rather let the sight and the love which we
bear our own children, sheltered happily from such dangers,
quicken our sympathies for the oppressed, and move us to
desire at least that they may soon possess that liberty which is
our inheritance ; but, above all, that they may obtain that freedom
from the contamination of those horrid forms of vice to which
all are exposed who are forced to live in contact with Turks.

So far as can be gathered from the testimony of travellers,
from the evidence furnished by Parliamentary papers, and from
the imperfect statistics which we possess of various provinces of
Turkey, as well as from the refusal to allow any statistical
returns to be officially made, lest they should reveal the real
condition of the empire, the Mussulman population will be
extinct within sixty years ; and should the present rate of
decrease continue, within two generations the Ottoman power
will have ceased to exist. The question, a deeply interesting
one to ourselves, naturally suggests itself — What is to be the
policy of England under these circumstances ? Are two genera-
tions of Turkish subjects to be reared under their present
oppressors, and this whole nation educated in bitter hostility
and hatred to England ?

Let us remember —

" At no distant time the Greeks will govern this country. What
we have to wish is that they should come to the government with
English feelings, English opinions, and English sympathies. The
Russians through their political agents, the French through their
missionaries and schools, are striving to make them hate and
despise us."*

Judging from the policy of our public men we seem desirous
of emulating the Russians and French, for we are industrious
in teaching the future masters of Asia Minor, of Syria, and of
Roumelia to " hate and despise us." An impression prevails
throughout Turkey that England is the firm and unscrupulous
ally of the Sultan. Young Turkey — the scoffing Mussulman

* Senior, p. 219.

JO ^he Christians in Turkey.

who has broken away from even the restraint of the Koran —
with a significant gesture indicative of the most polluted idea,
passes his judgment upon the unnatural alliance of England and
Turkey, and pays us the compliment of exclaiming, " We are
all brothers, the English and the Tosqucs — we are all Frama-
souns (infidels)." * When the Druse chieftains massacred, with
unspeakable atrocities, the Christians of the Lebanon, it was
done not only at the instigation of the Court of Constantinople*
but with the belief that it would be pleasing to the Queen of
England, who, as the ruler of that " infidel " nation, and the
devoted ally, and, as they beheve, tributary of the Sultan, must
needs rejoice at the slaughter of the Christians, f If this is the
belief, the firm belief, of the ruling race — and if, unhappily, our
actions as a nation give currency to this notion — it is not to
be wondered if the subject race should be reared in the same
belief, and that they should begin to look upon the people of this
country as their natural and implacable foes ; the more hateful
because gratuitously joining in acts of wrong from which no
benefit can accrue ; for, of all persecutors, the amateur perse-
cutor is the most intolerable. There are sad indications that
this belief is gaining ground. Let me first speak of my own
experience. In the course of last year, I visited three of the
Servian monasteries, having received from the Metropolitan of
Servia a letter of commendation to all the clergy of that country.

"On my presenting the letter of the archbishop to a monk
at one of these monasteries (Rakowitza), he remarked that
he had read much about the English nation, but had never
before met with any of my fellow-countrymen, as few Englishmen
ever came to Servia. ' And what has led you,' said he, ' to this
country 't ' I answered, that I had come partly in quest of health,
and partly to see something more of the state of the Greek
Church. '■ Then am I to understand,' he rejoined, ' that, though
an Englishman, you are a friend of Servia T I told him that I
knew no reason why an Englishman should be held to be hostile
to Servia. * How, then,' he added, ' is it that I find in the news-
papers that whenever any act of oppression and cruelty by the
Turks towards our people is complained of, members of the
British Parliament always rise up to excuse and justify the Turks

* Layard's Nineveh. Vol. I. p. 163. Third edition.

+ Con'cspondence on the Affairs of Syria, June, i860, p. 55.

'The Christians in Turkey, 31

Why is it,' he continued, with animation, ' you who are the great,
the greatest civiHzers in Europe, invariably support the cause of
those who are most hostile to all civilization — the Turks — against
us, who are doing our best to follow your example T " *

This is a wide-spread feeling amongst all classes. I cite, from
the letter of a friend, a recent instance of the same feeling in
Asia : —

" On one occasion lately, an English traveller arrived at the
house of an American missionary. He was hospitably welcomed,
but before he had been long in the house where he intended to
sleep he observed that there was a domestic commotion, and
anxiety on the face of the missionary. It was evident that, in
some way or another, he was the cause of this. He therefore in-
sisted on an explanation, when the latter informed him that the
servants had mutinied — they refused to do anything for one of the
e?iemies of Christianity^ an Englishman. Such is the result of our
Eastern policy."

Instances of this kind might be multiplied without end.
Fortunately, this hostility, which our recent policy is engendering,
is only in the bud. The Christians of the East, from Montene-
gro to the borders of Persia, still turn their eyes to England in
all their sufferings; and proportionably to their expectations, their
feelings are made bitter by disappointment. To them, France is
known chiefly as the advocate of the Roman Church and the
armed assertor of Papal supremacy, and this will always inter-
pose a barrier between that nation and the Christians of the
East. Russia they dread as a gigantic power on their frontier,
which would absorb them, to the loss of all national existence,
and they turn away from her with dread, proportionate to her
nearness and her strength. Austria, chiefly known to the people
on the borders of the Danube by petty, stupid, vexatious acts
of tyranny, as well as by her religious intolerance, is more
odious than Russia, though in her case hatred is softened down
and mitigated by contempt. England, from its distance, from
the nature of its Government, and its separation from Rome,
as well as because of its material interests in the trade of
these nations, is regarded as their natural protector. This is a

* Servia and the Servians. By the Rev. W. Denton, p. 137,

J 2 'The Christians in Turkey,

feeling to be fostered, not to be turned awry and embittered,
to serve the pecuniary interests of a few individuals amongst
ourselves, or to satisfy the unreasoning prejudices of the many.

But if the indifference to the condition of the Christians of
Turkey is so general in this country, and if the belief in the neces-
sity of maintaining what is called " the integrity of Turkey " is
so deeply rooted in the minds of Englishmen, how, it may be
asked, has this arisen ? How comes it that this opinion has
so much vitality ? It springs from one cause : the^people of this
country are taught to believe that the Christians of Turkey are
conspirators against what Sir Henry Bulwer calls the " tolerant "
rule of the Sultan for the purpose of aggrandizing Russia.
This one assertion, iterated by interested speculators and re-
peated by unreasoning politicians, deafen the ears of Englishmen
to the testimony of unprejudiced travellers, blinds their eyes to
notorious facts, and dulls their intellect to the voice of reason.
Sir Henry Bulwer knows the value of this " idol of the imagina-
tion ;" he is always ready to brandish it before the eyes of terrified
and delinquent consuls when they appear disposed to act inde-
pendently, and there is a danger of their speaking the truth.
When it was desirable that " our consular agents " should
testify that Turkish rule was " tolerant," that the Christians
were not oppressed, and that the assertions of the Russian note
were untrue, this fear was skilfully played upon. In the circular
of the 11th of June, addressed to "our consular agents," tlie
Ambassador informs them in words which, if true, must have
sounded to them superfluous : —

" I have also been made acquainted, through the channel of
our consular agents, as well as by other means, that great efforts
have of late been made by persons of various kinds — not iden-
tified with, or belonging to, the native population — to get up dis-
content amongst the population, and to excite them to make
complaints that may reach the ear of the European Powers ; and
that in this way the Slave population has been especially brought
to imagine tliat it may obtain, through foreign protection, great
advantages, and even arrive at an independent existence.

" I have likewise been informed that a conspiracy among the
Slavonian race, with the object of making a revolution in this
empire, actually exists — with chiefs selected, and plans more or

T'he Christians in Turkey, 33

less defined — and that though such conspiracy may not, at this
moment, be formidable, its leaders imagine it may become so by
exciting the sympathies of the great western and northern states."

Let us, however, listen to the words of competent witnesses,
recorded by Mr. Senior. Speaking of the Christians in European
Turkey, he says : —

" They all, without any exception, hate Russia, and look for
support and protection to England." *

" The Bulgarians hate not only the Russians, but the Greeks,
and so do the Roumelians, until you reach Thessaly, where the
Greek race prevails, and a desire for union with their brethren in
the war of independence is naturally felt.

" ' What is the feeling,' I asked, ' of Servia, Bosnia, and the
Principalities % '

"'A general hatred of all their neighbours. They hate the
Russians, the Austrians, the Greeks, and the Turks. What they
really wish for is independence, at least the virtual independence
which has been gained by Servia.' " f

In the same volume Mr. Whittall, of Smyrna, is cited as a
witness to the same effect : —

"The Greeks dream of nothing but a Greek empire, to be
created by the help of Russia. They despise the Russians as
slaves and savages, but they hope to make use of them, and then
to throw them off." %

The words of another person are quoted by Mr. Senior to the
same purpose : —

" We sympathise with the Russians only as the enemies of the
Turks. Their whole system of government, of trade, of thought, and
of feeling is repulsive to us. Our strongest feeling is the desire to
preserve our nationality; we have clung to it for 3,000 years. If we
are attached to the peculiarities of our religion, it is not because
we care about the Patriarch of Constantinople or about the doc-
trines which separate us from the Roman Catholics or from the
Protestants, but because we think that those peculiarities are safe-
guards of our nationality. We shall not suffer ourselves to be
merged in the semi-barbarous mass of Russia, or even to become
one of its satellites." §

And this is borne out by notorious facts. The provinces of
Turkey are in a chronic state of discontent through the daily

♦ Senior, p. 34. t Ibid, p. 35. X Ibid. p. 20.S.

§ Ibid. p. 215.

34 '^^^^ Christians in Turkey.

outrages perpetrated on the Christians, wliich are less the result
of the fanaticism of the Mussulman people than of the deliberate
policy of the Sultan and his Ministers. At no period during the
present century was there more quiet in these provinces than
during the war in the Crimea, when the Turkish troops occu-
pied in struggling against the Russians were withdrawn from the
interior of Turkey. Now, had there existed any understanding
with Russia, surely Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Epirus, and Syria
would have risen in arms, and, by so doing, have seriously em-
barrassed the Western Powers. They remained quiet, however.
It was no part of their policy to unite with Russia, and this alone
kept these provinces from revolt, although denuded of Turkish
troops.* The Montenegrins, it is notorious, have refused all offers
of Russian protection, with the proud declaration that they
would remain independent both of Turkey and of Russia. Six
months ago we were all of us taught to believe that Greece was
but the vassal and bond-slave of Russia, and that all intrigues
against King Otho were but to pave the way for some imaginary
prince from St. Petersburgh or Moscow, who should convert
Greece, from being '' a mere outpost of Russia," into an integral
part of that empire. I hope we are all of us ashamed of our
old belief. I trust we shall for the future show less credulous
confidence in our blind guides. This notion is getting too
absurd to be maintained any longer. It is hardly worthy
of serious refutation. Men may in desperation rush from
grievous tyranny to some milder form of despotism, because
unable to achieve their entire freedom ; but races half eman-
cipated, provinces virtually independent, are not prone to im-
molate themselves, and to quench their young life, by voluntary
submission to a new master. History gives us no instances of
such madness, and we can but appeal to experience on such

* This has not escaped the notice of even Mr. Layard, who thinks that
this is a jiroof of the goodness of Turkish rule. I am not concerned with his
special pleading. I lis acknowledgment of this fact possesses a certain value.
In the course of the recent dehalc in the House of Commons, he said r " In
the Crimean War the Servians resisted every attempt to induce them to arm
against the Turks in favour of Russia .... They steadily refused to take part in
any war against Turkey, and remained faithful throughout the war to the
Suzerain power." — Speech of A. H. Layard y Esq. Murray, 1863.

The Christians in Turkey. 35

a matter. Let us therefore dismiss this delusion to the limbo
of ghosts, as a bugbear which may be useful to terrify children,
but which ought to be powerless to make men turn aside from
the path of right ; for in fact, the notion that Servia, that Bul-
garia, Bosnia, or Asia Minor, have secret relations with Russia,
is so evidently a delusion, that it does not allow of serious
argument. We have lived to see table-turning practised and
spirit-rapping believed in, but to contend that there is a spirit-
medium between Russia and the Christians of the East, is to
own that we have sunk even below the credulity of those who
think that mahogany and oak are in conspiracy with angels or
demons, and that articles of domestic furniture really turn round
through the effect of " foreign intrigues."

In truth, neither the agents of Russia nor of any other Power
could persuade the large Christian communities in Turkey to be
dissatisfied with their lot, unless there existed causes for discon-
tent. The fact that these races, widely separated from each other
and possessing few means of intercourse, are all of them pro-
foundly dissatisfied with their lot, is, at least, some ground for
believing that their condition is one of suffering and of injustice.
Nations goaded to madness by oppression are often mistaken in
the remedies to which they resort for deliverance from their
wrongs ; but no intrigues can persuade a nation that justice is
injustice — that right is wrong — and that freedom is bondage.

Here, however, we are not left to the testimony of the sufferers
themselves. The pains and penalties attaching to the profes-
sion of Christianity are too patent : the sharp cry of anguish
has so often reached even the ears of the people of Western
Europe, that we cannot refuse to believe in the existence of
wide-spread, capricious, and bitter suffering. Hence for the
last thirty years England and other Powers of Europe have
constantly demanded an amelioration of the hard lot of the
Christian subjects of the Porte. Every assistance rendered to
Turkey has been fettered by this one condition, that as a return
for such assistance the Government of that country should
guarantee, T will not say equality, but a removal of some of the
inequalities of the position of the people of Turkey. This has

D 2

J 6 T'he Christians in 'Turkey.

been promised by the Ministeis of successive Sultans, this has
been embodied in solemn public treaties with the Great Powers
of Christendom, this has been written in Hatt-i-Sherifs,
Hatt-i-Humaiouns, and — not one item of these treaties, not
one single provision of any of these Hatts have ever been
fulfilled by the Government of Turkey.

(III.) It is an ever-ready but a vulgar excuse to attribute all
popular discontent to " foreign intrigues." That foreign agents
may stimulate the urgency of an oppressed people for redress is
possible, but their power is limited ; they can do no more than
this, and these foreign agents will be disarmed when people
cease to suiFer. In place, then, of attributing the notorious
dissatisfaction, the wide-spread discontent, of the Christians of
Turkey to " foreign intrigues," it would be more to the purpose
to inquire whether there does not exist ample and legitimate
grounds for such dissatisfaction.

When in England we hear of brigandage in Bosnia, of sullen
discontent in Bulgaria, we are told it is the work of Russian
agents and of Muscovite intrigues. Russia probably denies
the charge and retorts the accusation, pointing in support of
her belief that England is intriguing in Turkey, to the notorious
partiality of the Foreign Office of this country, the readiness with
which every abominable and atrocious act of the governors of
Turkey is palliated, and actions the simplest and most natural
of an oppressed people are exaggerated by British officials.
France certainly makes the same charges against England which
English politicians make against Russia, and is as uneasy at
the success of English intrigue as any minister of state in this
country can be at the progress of Russian agents.* All this
may possibly arise from the jealousy with which men watch the
actions of a rival, and satisfy themselves by attributing evil

* "What is the complaint? In 1840 there was a Turkey and a Turkish
Government, in 1862 there remains nothing but England and an English
Government. The East can no longer face decrepit mouldering Turkey, but
it has to encounter vigorous and powerful England. Greece, Egypt, Syria,
the Lebanon, Servia, the Danubian provinces, no longer look to Constantinople,
but to London. Turkey has found the secret of being even more formidable
than she was in the i8th or i6th century, by being nothing of herself, and of
being everything through England." — St. Marc Girardin, Revue des Deux
Mondes, Oct. 1862.

ne Christians in Turkey. 37

motives where they are unable to point to evil actions. On
this subject let us listen, I will not say even to the testimony
of men of intelligence, but to the voice^of common sense, for,
in truth, this childish accusation of " foreign intrigue " is not
only beside the purpose, as wholly insufficient to account for
the discontent which reigns throughout Turkey, but it is one
which it is so easy to make, so difficult to substantiate, so
impossible to disprove, that it cannot be allowed to stand, as
it now does, instead of facts, in the place of information, as a
substitute for reason.

The question then, I repeat, is not whether the Christians of
Turkey are ever inflamed against the Government of the Sultan
by "foreign intrigues," but whether, without any such " intrigues,"
there exist grounds for such discontent ; whether every province
of Turkey, from the banks of the Danube to the Red Sea, is not
suffering from the gross injustice of the Government towards
the people ; whether the Christians of Turkey are not oppressed
by such rapacious rulers, that men would cease to be men if
they were not discontented.

Now what do we find revealed to us in the report of our own
consuls, and in the recently -published books of men of sagacity
and integrity ? Not only the evidence of widespread dissatis-
faction and discontent, but the grounds for this feeling. The
people of Turkey are discontented because they know that cer-
tain rights — the simplest rights which humanity can claim —
have been promised, and are withheld from them by the
Government of the Sultan. So long as this grievance remains,
it will require no " foreign intrigues " to make them dissatisfied.
For though the Hatt-i-humaioun has not been even read, " it
cannot be a dead letter ... it stimulates the hopes, and also
the hatred, of the Greeks. They see that the Turks are resolved
to render illusory stipulations made by the Allies in their favour.
They are," consequently, " if possible, worse subjects of the Sul-
tan than they were before the war." *

The Christians of Turkey, again, are naturally discontented,
because they know that the Government of Turkey is utterly

* Senior, p. 152.

^S ^he Christians in Turkey.

indltfcrent to their cries for redress ; that no official throughout
that country troubles himself to ascertain how many of them
are murdered, still less to punish any one for the murder of a
Christian unless some active and troublesome consul interfere.
Except in this case, which is necessarily of rare occurrence,
the life of a Christian may be taken with perfect impunity.
In one district, Mr. Rogers reports that eleven hundred of
such murders have taken place within nineteen years, " not
one of which has been avenged by law." * Of another district,
a most competent witness. Dr. Dickson, of Smyrna, reporting
the murder of a Greek woman under circumstances of great
atrocity and the discovery of the murderer, says, " He will be
released ; no Mussulman cares about the murder of a Rayah. "f
At Beyrout the British consul reports nine murders, and
remarks, " Unfortunately, no effective steps are taken by the
Turkish authorities to repress these disorders by the capture and
infliction of condign punishment on delinquents ; indeed, Mr.
Abela, the vice-consul, states that the authorities in Sidon have
become so accustomed to the commission of these atrocities,
that they no longer seem to attach any gravity to them."t There
is no remedy for these wrongs whilst the present inequality
between Mussulman and non-Mussulman subjects of the Porte
is maintained. So long as Christian evidence is not received in
a criminal court, there is the most perfect impunity for the
murder of Christians.

It would be a mistake, however, for us to suppose that the
relatives, the friends, and the co-religionists of the murdered
persons were perfectly satisfied with this state of things, and
were only made discontented, as Mr. Layard tells us, by reason
of " foreign intrigues."

There is indeed widespread discontent, and, alas ! ample
cause for it. The facts we have on the testimony of the
English consuls in Turkey.

Mr. Holmes, writing from Bosna Serai, the capital of Bosnia,

says : —

* Correspondence on Affairs of Syria, i860, 1861, p. 404.

+ Senior, p. 68.

X Despatches on apprehended disturbances in Syria, 185 8- 1860, p. 95.

'The Christians in Turkey. 39

" I have the honour to report to your Lordship that I find the
position of affairs in this province to be most unsatisfactory, the
opinion being generally prevalent that, without some powerful
intervention, Bosnia and Herzegovina may soon witness scenes
similar to those which have lately horrified Europe in Syria.

" Reports are continually arriving here of massacres of Christians
in different places, which, if untrue, serve at least to show the
existing excitement and alarm.

" On the night of the 6th the Ferik Pasha commanding the
troops here left this suddenly by post, taking with him his son
and a few attendants. The Vali Pasha declared that he had
merely proceeded to the Servian frontier to inspect the troops
and defensible positions in that direction, as several inroads had
lately been made by bodies of Servian volunteers. This service,
however, did not seem to call for a sudden and, as it were, secret,
departure at midnight, and the explanation of the Pasha was
looked upon as an evasion of the tmth. The next day a rumour
was spread abroad that some twenty Christians had been mas-
sacred at Gradiska, in the district of Banialuka, by the Turkish
population. This excited great alarm here. The authorities were
said to have denied the truth of the report, but its coincidence
with the departure of the Ferik threw suspicion on their sin-
cerity." *

And a2;ain, a few weeks later, the same consul tells us : —

" A few days after my arrival here I wrote a despatch dated
the 1 8th August regarding the state of affairs in this Pashalic,
from which you will have perceived that a good deal of alarm
and excitement prevails. Since that date I have had further
opportunities of observation. There is here, at present, no deli-
berate intention, though the desire may perhaps exist, on the part
of the Mussulman population, to assault the lives or property of
the Christian population ; and I believe also that the chief danger
lies in the agitated state of the public mind, of which, unfor-
tunately, there is no doubt, and in connexion with which the
smallest accident may, at any moment, produce the most serious
results. In addition to real causes of complaint every little acci-
dent is magnified into a premeditated crime ; and dismal stories,
no doubt often invented and industriously circulated, are not
wanting to increase the existing alarm." f

Of the state of affairs in the same province, Mr. Zohrab

reports : —

*****

" The influence of the Central Government is daily becoming

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, pp. 47, 48.
t Ibid. p. 69.

40 T^he Christians in Turkey.

weaker, while the pride and fanaticism of the Bosniac Mussul-
mans is rapidly developing itself Such a disregard to its interests
will eventually bring against the Porte two formidable antago-
nists— the Christians who have given up all hope of amelioration
of their position under the present regime, and who are Jaily
subjected to fresh hardships, and the Mussulmans, who look apon
the Government of the Sultan with disdain. The presence of an
energetic and honest Governor is urgently required in Bosnia.
Such a man could render valuable service in re-establishing order,
and in removing many of the causes of irritation ; but if the
Porte persists in sending Pashas, without regard to their capa-
bilities, disgrace and misfortune must necessarily follow." *

Of the country round Aleppo, Mr. Skene writes : —

" In the towns, until quite lately, trade and manufactures were
in a flourishing state. Since the revival, however, of the old
feelings of aversion and animosity between the Mussulman and
Christian communities, a disadvantageous change has conse-
quently become apparent also in the material circumstances of
the population. Want of confidence in the future is withdrawing
capital from circulation ; trade stagnates ; and one-half of the
looms previously worked are now at rest." t

Whilst murder, in every part of the Turkish empire, is un-
punished ; whilst crimes of every description are done with
impunity on the persons of Christians ; whilst they are liable to
be thrust from their little property at any moment, and to be
despoiled of the goods which they have collected ; and whilst
all the time the Government is under express treaty obligation
to protect its subjects, and yet exerts no influence in this
direction, we cannot wonder that the rule of the Sultan is
everywhere despised : —

" Mr. Vice-Consul Rogers reports that throughout his recent
journeys over unfrequented parts of the country he heard every-
where the desponding expressions of the peasantry, that — ' There
is no Government.' — ' Where is the Government ? ' — ' The Govern-
ment is sunk into nothing,' — and this is confirmed by the facts of
robberies on the roads, and the hostile combats of villages." %

Whilst Mr. Finn, of Jerusalem, tells us : —

" Respect for the Ottoman Government is gone ; the plains are
overrun by Bedaween, and these venture, as they never did before,

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 70.

f Ibid. p. 49.

X Despatches on apprehended disturbances in Syria, p. J9.

S'he Christians in 'Turkey. 41

to come in among villages and between the hills ; those from be-
yond Jordan have even plundered cattle in large numbers within
sight of the sea-port Jaffa." *

In another direction we have testimony to the same effect.
Mr. Calvert, of Monastir, says : —

" I am obliged to confess that the people do not appear to
have, at present, any confidence in the Government. The chief
aim of the Government, therefore, should be to restore that con-
fidence. If their good faith has been doubted, they should seize
every opportunity to retrieve their lost character : and without
some palpable, earnest, and continued proofs of their good inten-
tions, they can scarcely hope to succeed." t

But this account of the state of alarm under which the whole
Christian population of this empire drags on its precarious
existence would be incomplete without some illustrations of
the consequences of the legal disabilities of which the people
complain, and to which I trace their discontent more readily
than to any hypothetical activity of " foreign agents."

I select my illustrations from different parts of Turkey, and
the first fact is given on the authgrity of Mr. Calvert, the British
consul : —

" In June last a Government courier was killed near Maronia,
in the pashalic of Salonica, and ^2,000 was taken from him ; the
robbery took place just within our frontier. Probably the police-
officers of Gallipoli and Serries were, as they generally are, in league
with the robbers. Either to screen themselves, or to claim the merit
of vigilance and activity, they determined to find the robbers in
Maronia. They began by surrounding the village with troops, and
for three days they allowed no one to leave it. It was at a critical
period of the silkworm harvest. The worms required to be con-
stantly fed with mulberry leaves. The mulberry gardens are out of
the village ; as no one was allowed to go to them, and fetch leaves,
the whole stock of silkworms died. The loss to the village was at least
;^i,5oo. The police then seized two brothers, Rayahs, respectable
men, and accused them of the robbery. The governors of the
districts near Maronia came to the village to superintend the in-
vestigation, took possession of all the best houses, and lived there
with all their retinues at free quarters.

"The brothers proved, or at least offered to prove, an alibi.

* Despatches on apprehended disturbances in Syria, p, 72.

+ Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 18,

4 2 ^he Christians in Turkey.

Many of the principal inhabitants were ready to depose that they
liad seen the prisoners at the very time of the robbery, and long
before and after it, in a coffee-house, in the village. As they were
Rayahs, their evidence was rejected.

" * Notwithstanding the Hatt-i-Humdyoon % ' I said.

" * The influence,' he answered, ' of the Hatt-i-Humdyoon does
not extend i6o miles from Constantinople.'

" To procure evidence against the prisoners by confession, the
police proceeded to torture them. One brother could not stand
the torture, and confessed the robbery. Then they asked him
where the money was ; of course he could not tell, so they tortured
him again. To obtain a respite, he said that he had hid it in such
a place ; it was not found there, so the torture was recommenced.
He then said that his brother had it. The brother was tortured,
but, being more resolute, persisted in his denial. '■ You may kill
me, he said, ' but I will not confess what is not true.' This had
been going on for some time, the village was almost ruined, both
the brothers had been so maimed, that they are cripples for life,
when the Pasha of Salonica heard of it, and drew the attention of
the Pasha of the Dardanelles to the scenes which were acting by
his officers, and under his authority. He was indignant, and
begged me to assist in the inquiry. It is not quite concluded ;
but the facts which I have mentioned have come out. I said to
the Pasha : '■ You see now who are the real friends of the Russians.
You see what sort of persons and what sort of means are employed
to make the Turkish rule hateful to the Christians.' " *

Mr. Arbuthnot, who accompanied Omer Pasha in his cam-
paign against the people of Herzegovina, and who naturally,
from his position, is always inclined to present the Turks in
their best aspect, gives us a reason why Bosnia should be dis-
contented. He thus sketches the career of a Turkish pasha,
and shows us how a province may be rendered dissatisfied with-
out the aid of foreign intrigues : —

" Hadji Ali Pacha commenced his career as a clerk in the pay
of the great Mehemet Ali Pacha, Viceroy of Egypt, but, having
deserted to the Turks, he was employed by them in the capacity
of Uzbashee or Captain. Fearful of falling into the hands of the
Egyptians, he fled from his post, and, having made his way to
Constantinople, contrived, by scheming and bribery, not only to
efface the memory of the past, but to secure the appointment of
Kaimakan or Lieut. -Colonel, with which grade he was sent to
Travnik in command of a regiment. Tahir Pacha, the Governor

* Senior, pp. 15S, [59.

'The Christians in Turkey, 43

of Bosnia, had about this time been informed of the existence of
some gold mines near Travnik, and ordered Hadji Ali to obtain
samples for transmission to the Porte. This he did, taking care to
retain all the valuable specimens, and forwarding those of inferior
quality, which, on their arrival at Constantinople, were declared
worthless. No sooner was this decision arrived at, than Hadji
Ali imported the necessary machinery and an Austrian mechanic,
to separate the gold from the ores, and in this way amassed
immense wealth. Rumours having got abroad of what was going
on, and the suspicions of Tahir being aroused, the unfortunate
Austrian was put secretly out of the way, and, as a blind, the un-
principled ruffian procured the firman to which allusion has been
made. It need hardly be said that he never availed himself of the
privileges which it conferred upon him. Some time after these
transactions, he applied for leave to visit Austria, on the plea of
ill-health, but doubtless with the view of changing the gold. This
was refused, and he was obliged to employ a Jew, who carried it
to Vienna, and disposed of it there. In 1850, when Omer Pacha
came to restore order in Bosnia, which had then revolted, Hadji
Ali was sent with two battalions to the relief of another detach-
ment ; upon this occasion he communicated with the enemy, who
cut off his rear-guard, and otherwise roughly handled the Turkish
troops. Upon this, Omer Pacha put him in chains, and would
have shot him, as he richly deserved, had he not known that his
enemies at Constantinople would not fail to distort the true
features of the case. He therefore sent him to Constantinople,
where he was shortly afterwards released, and employed his gold
to such good purpose, that he was actually sent down as Civil
Governor to Travnik, which he had so recently left a prisoner
convicted of robbery and treason. He was, however, soon dis-
missed for misconduct, and entered once more into private
speculations. In 1857 he purchased the tithes of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and employed such ruffians to collect them as to
make perfect martyrs of the people, some of whom were even
killed by his agents. Exasperated beyond endurance, the people
of Possavina rose eji masse, and although the movement was put
down without difficulty, it doubtless paved the way for the discord
and rebellion which has been attended with such calamitous
results. This is precisely one of those cases which has brought
such odium on the Turkish Government, and which may so easily
be avoided for the future, always providing that the Porte be sin-
cere in its oft-repeated protestations of a desire for genuine reform.
Ali Pacha was at Mostar in the beginning of 1858, when the move-
ment began, but was afraid to venture into the revolted districts
to collect his tithes. The Government, therefore, made him
Commandant of the Herzegovinian irregulars, in which post he
vindicated the character which he had obtained for cruelty and

44 ^he christians in Turkey,

despotism. Subsequently he was appointed Kaimakan of Tre-
bigne, but the European consuls interfered, and he has now
decamped, owing a large sum to Government, the remnant of his
contract for the tithes." *

After reading Lieutenant Arbuthnot's sketch of the career of
this pasha, and his remarks upon the effects of the rapacity of
such a ruler, the words of Mr. Zohrab, acting consul at Bosna
Serai, acquire additional significance : —

" I do not hesitate to say that Bosnia and the Herzegovina,
which ought to have been now prosperous, contented, and peace-
ful, have been turned into discontented, disloyal, poverty-stricken
provinces, through the unworthiness of the Sultan's lieutenants,
and the gross misconduct of inferior employes'' t

How the taxes are collected in this province — how the
Christian peasants are oppressed by the subordinates of such a
Pasha as Hadji Ali — how men are rendered discontented and
goaded on to insurrection without the aid of Mr. Layard's
" foreign intrigues," may be illustrated by an anecdote related
to me by the Princess Julia of Servia : —

"The usual method of wringing out the imposts from the
Christian peasants in Bosnia is to tie them up in a small apart-
ment and apply fire to green or half-dried wood until the place is
filled with smoke. When the Christian is half-sufi'ocated the
money is sometimes extracted. Often, however, this fails, for the
poor wretch has not sufficient means, and he is left to perish. A
short time since a poor widow woman, frantic with agony, burst
into the apartments of the Princess Julia at the Palace in Belgrade :
alternately she wept, imprecated, besought the Princess to redress
her wrongs. She had been assessed by the Turkish authorities of
a village in Bosnia, on the Servian frontiers, at a sum which she
had no more the means of paying than I have of discharging the
National Debt. She was smoked. This failed of extracting the
gold. She begged for a remission, and stated her inability to pay.
In answer she was tossed into the River Drina, and after her were
thrown her two infant children, one of four years old, the other of
two. Before her eyes, notwithstanding her frantic efforts to save
them, her children perished. Half-drowned and insensible, she
was dragged to land by a Servian peasant. She made her way
to Belgrade, believing, from the character of the Princess for

* Herzegovina ; or Omer Pacha and the Christian Rebels. By Lieut. G.
Arbuthnot, R.H.A. London, 1861.

+ Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 58.

"T^he Christians in 'turkey. 45

humanity, that if she could she would aid her. Of course to do so
was out of the question." *

Or, to turn in another direction, and to cite another author
in illustration of the defenceless condition of which all classes of
Christians complain, and which will remain so long as their
evidence is refused in a Turkish court of justice, and officials
may persecute and torture them with impunity. The relation
of this outrage is from the pen of the late Mr. MacFarlane,
and, though a few years older than those which I have already
given, is but an instance of those wrongs under which these
poor people at present groan in all parts of the dominion of
the Sultan. Tt took place after the Tanzimat and the Hatt-i-
Humai'oun, and in disregard of all the stipulations which the
Government of Turkey had made with the Great Powers of
Europe : —

"During the late Ramazan Hadji Dhimitri, of Ascia-keui, a
picturesque village in the ravine, situated among high rocks,
which we had seen on our right hand in coming up from Keuplu
to Billijik, had been miserably crippled and otherwise injured by
order of the Turkish court, which had let off Abdullah Effendi
without so much as a reprimand. Turks as well as Greeks lived
at Ascik-keui. One day poor Hadji Dhimitri had with great toil
brought up water from a fountain and had filled his reservoir in
order to irrigate his little garden and mulberry ground. A Turk,
his neighbour, one Kara-Ali, came to him and said that he
wanted that water for his own garden and must have it. The Greek
said that he might have brought up water for himself, but that he
was free to take part of it. The Turk got into a towering passion,
called the Greek a ghiaour and pezavenk, and swore he would have
all the water. The quarrel was hot, but short. Dhimitri, fearing
consequences if he resisted, went away and left the Turk to take
and wantonly waste the water, merely saying that he submitted to
violence and injustice, and that the Tanzimaut meant nothing.
The Turkish savage went to the Mudir and Kadi at Billijik, and
vowed that Hadji Dhimitri had wanted to rob him of his water,
and had uttered horrible blasphemies against the Koran and the
Prophet. Tufekjees were sent to Ascia-keui, and Hadji Dhimitri,
being first of all soundly beaten, was handcufi'ed and chained
and brought up to Billijik. The Greeks of the village were afraid
of appearing in such a case or against a Mussulman ; but four or
five did follow the unfortunate Hadji to the hall, misnamed of

* The Guardian^ April 29, 1863.

46 The Christians in "Turkey.

justice, and were there to depose that it was the Turk who had
taken by violence his water and had traduced his rehgion ; and
that he, the Hadji, though excited by anger, had not said a word
against the Koran or the Prophet. But the testimony of these
Christians could not be taken against Mussulman witnesses, and
Kara AH, the Turk, was provided with two false witnesses, one
being Shakir Bey, his own son-in-law, and the other Otuz-Bir
Oglou-Achmet-Bey. The pair were false witnesses of notoriety,
and generally reputed to be the two greatest scoundrels of the
town. There were scores upon scores of people who had seen
them at the coffee-house in Billijik at the hour and time they pre-
tended to have been at Ascia-keui, four miles off. But of those
who had thus seen them the Mussulmans would not appear, and
the Christians could not get their evidence received in court.
Kara AH swore to the truth of his statement ; his two false
witnesses swore that they had heard the Greek blaspheme their
holy religion, and by sentence of the Kadi poor Hadji Dhimitri
received, then and there 300 strokes of the bastinado. His toes
were broken by the blows, his feet were beaten to a horrible jelly,
he screamed and fainted under the torture. There were some
among our narrators who had seen this forbidden torture inflicted,
and others who had heard the poor man's shrieks. The victim
was carried home on the back of an ass ; he had been laid pros-
trate for more than six weeks ; it was only the day before our
arrival that he had been able to attend the Billijik market, and
then he was lame and sick — a hobbling, crippled, broken man.
* The law,' said one of our party, ' is equal in the two cases. If
Hadji Dhimitri were guilty, he was only guilty of that which we
have all heard from the lips of Abdullah Effendi this morning in
the khan ; yet the Hadji is cruelly bastinadoed and lamed for life,
and this same Kadi does not even reprimand the Effendi. What
then is the use of this Tanzimaut 1 ' * The use of it,' said
Tchelebee John, ' is just this : it throws dust in the eyes of the
foreign ambassadors at Constantinople who recommended its pro-
mulgation, and it humbugs half the nations of Christendom, where
people believe in newspaper reports.' " *

I add one other illustration of the way in which discontent
and dissatisfaction are fostered, not by " foreign intrigues," but
by the misgovernment of the Sultan. The narrative is one
which I have already made use of in my little volume on
Servia. I reproduce it in preference to many other similar
anecdotes which I might have given, for the same reason which
led me to print it before. It was related to me by a consul

* Destiny of Turkey, by Chas. MacFarlane, Vol. I, pp. 336-338.

'The Christians in Turkey, 47

and his wife, who both witnessed the act of atrocity. I recorded
it immediately after leaving their house. In one only part of
it I have intentionally spoken vaguely. I have no wish to draw
down upon their heads the wrath of Sir Henry Bulwer ; I have
not, therefore, indicated the exact place where it happened, lest
I should betray my informants : —

" A short time since the inhabitants of a little village in Rou-
melia were called upon to pay the taxes, at which they had been
assessed by the authorities of the district in which the village is
situated. When the principal inhabitants had assembled, they did
what probably many others would have done in like circumstances,
they rather discussed the means by which the tax might be evaded
than the mode of paying it. After many schemes had been sug-
gested, the only means which appeared satisfactory to those who
were present, was to compel some inhabitant who was not present
to pay the whole assessment. In the outskirts of the village
resided a Christian peasant, who owned a small strip of ground,
which he cultivated for his maintenance. He was industrious,
and was supposed to possess a hoard of money. Indeed, as he
had only one child — a son who assisted him in the cultivation of
his rood of land — how could he spend all his earnings ? It was
evident, so his Mussulman neighbours argued, there njust be a
store somewhere, and it was resolved that he should be compelled
to pay the whole amount at which the village was assessed. By
this means it was clear that the claim of the Porte would be satis-
fied, and the rest of the villagers would be lightened from the
burden about to be imposed upon them. The discussion took
place in the presence of the cadi. He assured the assembly that
it was a matter of indifference how the money was procured,
provided that it was duly paid to him. After some delibera-
tion as to the best means of wringing the whole sum from one
peasant, the following plan was suggested, matured, and finally
carried out. It was agreed that the rest of the villagers should
seize his only child, a lad of some sixteen years, and imprison him
until his father should ransom him for the sum at which the whole
village was assessed ; and that the cadi should suspend the collec-
tion of the tax until this means had been tried. In order that this
functionary should not, however, pocket the ransom himself, and
then levy the tax upon the villagers, a deed was drawn up and
witnessed according to the forms of Turkish law, by which the
cadi covenanted to accept the money thus to be wrung from the
parent in lieu of all claim upon the rest of the villagers ; to hold
the boy in his custody until the ransom should be paid, and to
release him as soon as this should be done. It was seed-time,
and the lad, wholly unconscious of the plot, was employed with

48 'T^h.e Christians in Turkey .

his parents in ploughing and sowing their little piece of ground,
when he was seized, carried off to the cadi, and, amidst the cries
of his mother and the entreaties of his father, thrown in prison,
with the intimation that he should be released when the money
was paid. The village was but ill-supplied with prison buildings,
and the boy was thrust into the small dome, of some six feet
square, which covered an unused well. Day by day the parents
came, but could not weary the patience of the unjust but impas-
sive judge. The only answer which they received was that, when
the money was brought, the boy should be released. The parents
were not wealthy ; they had no hoard ; the supposition of their
fellow-villagers was unfounded ; they had nothing save the small
strip of land which they cultivated for their daily needs. The last
thing which a peasant will give up in Turkey is the privilege of
being a landed proprietor. The father, who loved his son, clung,
however, to his bit of garden ground, and exhausted all other
means of raising the required sum before selling his land. He
appealed to the authorities of the district. He was referred by
them for redress to the cadi, by whom the wrong was done. De-
spairing of any other means of delivering his child, the wretched
parents now endeavoured to collect the money which the cadi
required. Their furniture was first sold, then their tools and
implements of husbandry were parted with. The sum thus ob-
tained fell so far short of the amount required, that it was at length
evident that the rood of ground, the family estate, must be parted
with. This also was sold, and still there lacked a portion of the
total sum required. The cadi was inexorable, and rigidly upright.
The Government expected so much from the village, and so much
must be brought before the lad could be released. At length the
last piastre was procured, and the wretched parents hastened joy-
fully to the cadi with the whole amount. All this had taken
upwards of ten months to collect, and for so long a time the poor
lad had been subjected to the horrors of solitary confinement, in
total darkness, and in a dungeon only a few feet in extent, in which
it was impossible to stand upright. The floor, partly of rough
stones and partly of mud, was equally cold and damp, and on this
he had sat and lain and lain and sat for more than ten months.
On receiving the money the cadi assembled the villagers ; the
deed was recited ; the money exhibited, and the legal instrument
duly cancelled with all the mocking formalities of law. And now
the prison door, or what served for a door, was unbarred to the
parents, and they were permitted to look again upon their child.
For a time nothing moved within the narrow limits of the cell ;
the call of his mother could elicit no signs of life in the jDoor
prisoner. At length a bundle of humanity was dragged out ; it
breathed ; it stirred : but these were the only tokens of life which
could be seen. Signs of humanity there were none. The limbs

'The Christians in l^urkey, 49

had been contracted by cold, wet, rheumatism, and by the crouch-
ing posture which the poor lad had been compelled to assume,
and he could only crawl on all-fours like a beast. His face
resembled a skull covered with dirty parchment, and he was hope-
lessly an idiot. How long since reason had given way his jailors
could not tell. He was now a slobbering, jabbering idiot. The
light, and joy, and hope of his parents' cottage was not merely
quenched, it had become a palpable and noisome blackness.

"Amidst the wails of the parents, and the ' God is great' of the
persecutors, the crowd dispersed, some cursing more deeply than
ever the despotism which rendered them liable to atrocities such
as these. It needs no ' Russian intrigues ' to make these poor
peasants believe that deeds like these are unjust, and to inspire
them with a longing for an opportunity to break such an intoler-
able yoke from their necks. For this incident is but a specimen
of what the Christians throughout Bosnia, Roumelia, and Bulgaria
are now enduring. I could narrate acts of atrocious cruelty and
^vrong which would go far beyond this ; but I have selected this
anecdote because I can tell it on other authority than that of a
Servian or a Dalmatian. I did not hear it from a suffering, and
therefore a 'prejudiced, Bosniac' or allying Greek.' Amongst
the crowd which witnessed this horror, amongst the many who
saw the shattered remains of this poor and innocent lad dragged
forth from his cell and handed to his parents by the cfiidi, were
the British consul and his wife, and from their lips I heard this
tale of barbarity."*

But beyond the unexceptionable nature of the source from
which I obtained this illustration of the way in which a Turkish
province is governed, and our Christian brethren are oppressed,
I have reprinted this anecdote because, subsequently to its
original publication, I have submitted it to persons conversant,
from long residence, with the actual state of the Turkish empire,
and I am assured that similar atrocities happen in every province,
in every district, of that country, so that this fairly represents
the normal condition of our brethren unhappily living under the
rule of the Sultan. +

Here are, surely, sufficient elements to produce discontent
amongst the Christians of Turkey without our having recourse
to any imaginary amount of " foreign intrigues," or of
clandestine exertions of " Russian agents." If, indeed, weighed

* Servia and the Servians, pp. 288 — 292.

+ See in the second vohune of Mr. MacFarlane's " Turkey and its Destiny,"
pp. I — 8, a somewhat similar story of exaction and wrong.

to 'The Christians in Turkey.

down by these intolerable severities, they do turn at times to
some one who can protect them against their cruel oppressors,
it is not a matter for wonder. They have ceased to expect
anything, except additional wrongs, from their rulers. Husbands
and fathers as they are, and unarmed in the midst of an armed
Mussulman population, they must look to some one to inter-
pose in their behalf. At present this takes the form of suppli-
cating passports from English, French, and, less frequently,
from Russian consuls, so as to avail themselves of their pro-
tection ; and, while their condition is such as the illustrations
which I have just given i-eveal to us, they will look for protection
to any quarter of the heavens where there is the least gleam
of sympathy, the least break in the dark cloud which hangs so
heavily over them. That they do so — that they must do so
— is the severest condemnation of the Government of the
Sultan.

Mr. Abbott, the consul at the Dardanelles, says, that the
*' vexatious and arbitrary proceedings of Turkish officials " is the
cause why '* the subjects of the Porte get foreign passports,"
and, after recounting a narrative of petty oppression, he
tells us : —

" It is not a matter for surprise in the face of similar facts,
which are of daily occurrence, that the Rayahs should occa-
sionally resort to the only means at hand of protecting themselves
against the shortcomings of their legitimate rulers ; and it is the
greatest reproach upon the Turkish Government, as well as one
of the most incontestible proofs of its weak and degenerate state,
that its own subjects should be compelled in self-defence to
throw off their lawful allegiance, inasmuch as they are denied the
protection which they have a right to expect, and are less
favoured in this respect than foreigners ; being the reverse of
what occurs in civilized countries.

" When a foreign passport cannot be procured, the Rayahs find
it advantageous to carry on business in ostensible partnership
with a foreigner or under a foreigner's power of attorney. This
affords A great security for their property, and has become a com-
mon practice.

" This anomalous state of things will not cease to exist, until
the Porte has completed the task of reforming the present
defective administration of justice, and has provided for that
purpose properly-constituted tribunals. When that time arrives,

l^he Christians in 'Turkey, 51

the Rayahs will, I doubt not, cheerfully return to their al-
legiance." *

Unhappily, as the evidence of the consuls show, the sufferings
of the Christians throughout Turkey, so far from diminishing,
are actually increasing. The legal condition of the Christian is
as degraded as ever. The text-books of the law, by which the
decisions of the cadi are regulated, are as intolerant as ever.
It is easy to profess incredulity on this matter ; it is not so easy
to overcome the logic of facts. The Multka is still the authority
to which all Mussulmans appeal throughout Turkey. It is a
book which possesses an authority greater than that of Lynde-
wood in our ecclesiastical tribunals. It ranks higher than Coke
or Blackstone do in our common law courts ; and the pre-
cedents and axioms of this book of Institutes of Mahommedan
law are not only still used and cited, but the volume is the
ruling authority of the court of Turkey, from which no one
dreams of appealing. In that book we read and, more still, every
cadi reads : —

"And the tributary (or Christian) is to be distinguished in the
beast he rides, and in his saddle, and he is not to ride a horse,
he is not to work at his work with arms on, he shall not ride on
a saddle like a pillion, he shall not ride on that except as a matter
of necessity, and even then he shall dismount in places of public
resort ; he shall not wear clothes worn by men of learning, piety,
and nobility. His women shall be distinguished in the street and
at the baths, and he shall place in his house a sign and mark so
that people may not pray for him or salute him. And the street
shall be narrowed for him, and he shall pay his tribute standing,
the receiver being seated, and he shall be seized by the collar, and
shall be shaken, and it shall be said to him, ' Pay the tribute, oh,
tributary ! oh, thou enemy of God ! '" t

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p, 88.

t The Multka, or digest of the Mahometan Canon Law, from which this
extract is made, was written in Arabic by a Turkish lawyer several centuries
ago. It gives the decisions arrived at by the two great legists of Sunni Mahom-
medanism, and is the text book and authority in the law courts throughout
Turkey. Indeed, all Sunni legists in Turkey, and in other Sunni countries, study
this book, and make their references to it. Cadis and Muftis take it, with other
similar books, as a guide to their decisions, as our judges consult the decisions
of their predecessors. It is, however, of a far greater authority than any such
decisions can be amongst ourselves ; because it is a fundamental principle in
Turkey that no one, neither the Sultan nor the government combined, can
change or abrogate the Canon Law of that country.

E 2

^2 The Christians in Turkey.

Nor are the forms of Turkish law, even when the spirit has
grown more tolerant, one whit more favourable to the poor
Rayahs. Persecuted in life, " treated," as long as they lived,
" not merely as slaves, but as slaves whom their masters hate,*'*
the persecution, the hatred, the contempt goes with them to
their grave. In his account of the siege of Kars, Dr. Sandwith
has printed a burial certificate which is given when a Christian
dies.f It is in these terms : —

" We certify to the priest of the church of Mary, that the impure,
putrified, stinking carcase of Saideh, damned this day, may be
concealed underground.

" Sealed. El Said Mehemed Faizt.

"a.h. 1 27 1. Rejib 11."

(March 29, a.d. 1855.)

What years of hatred must have been endured before the
feeling was embodied in this document ! What years of hatred
must have been endured since ! How deep the scorn, how
bitter the contempt, how fierce the intolerance ! So long as,
even in official forms, such words as these are used, what hope
can there be for a great part of the unhappy subjects of this
empire ?

(IV.) In order to abate the wrongs of which the Christians
of Turkey have long complained, the Great Powers of Europe
have, from time to time, insisted upon certain concessions being
made to them in return for the material assistance which the
Western Powers have granted, the blood so lavishly poured out,
the treasure so freely expended. They demanded in 1839, and
again on the non-fulfilment of that demand, in 1856, on the
termination of the war with Russia, certain stipulations, of which
these are the principal : (1) That the evidence of Christians
should be received by the Turkish courts of justice equally with
that of Mussulmans. They pressed this the more earnestly
since it is evident without this neither life nor property is
secure. (2) That the Christian peasant should be able to pur-
chase and hold land, and should not be liable to be ousted from
his possession at the caprice of his Mahommedan neighbour.
(3) That in regulating the taxation of the empire, Mahommed-
* Senior, p. 113. + Siege of Kars, p. 173.

I^he Christians in 'Turkey, 53

ans and Christians should be placed in a position of equality.
(4) That both races should be eligible to serve in the army, and
that it should be as lawful for the Christian to possess arms
as the Mussulman. (5) That compulsory conversion to the
Mahommedan faith should be abolished.

Every one of these essential conditions to the freedom of the
Christian races of Turkey remains, however, notwithstanding
repeated pledges, as much disregarded as they were fifty years
ago ; but to particularize : —

(1) The evidence of a Christian is not received either in the
criminal or civil courts of Turkey. It is true that some shadow
of equality in this respect, between the Mussulman and non-
Mussulman, exists at Constantinople, and is ostentatiously
pointed out to travellers who limit their observations to that
capital. But this only makes the faithlessness of Turkey to
treaties the more evident.

In the Hatt-i-Sherif of 1856, the Sultan, at the pressing
instance of the European Powers, decreed : —

" The guarantees promised on our part by the Hatt-i-Hkimaioun
of Gul-Hane, and in conformity with the Tanzimat, to all the
subjects of my Empire, without distinction of classes or of religion,
for the security of their persons and property, and the preservation
of their honour, are to-day confirmed and consolidated, and effica-
cious measures shall be taken in order that they may have their
full and entire effect." . . .

" All commercial, correctional, and criminal suits between
Mussulmans and Christian or other non-Mussulman subjects, or
between Christians or other non-Mussulmans of different sects,
shall be referred to Mixed Tribunals.

" The proceedings of these tribunals shall be public ; the parties
shall be confronted, and shall produce their witnesses, whose
testimony shall be received, without distinction, upon an oath
taken according to the religious law of each sect."

It must be observed that the Sultan here appeals to a former
promise made to the same effect as the provisions of the Hatt-i-
Sherif; the Hatt-i-Humaioun to which he refers bears date
Nov. 3, 1839, and even this latter was only in accordance with the
Tanzimat still more remote in date, so that, when it is pleaded
by the Sultan's advocates that, though the Hatt-i-Sherif has been
entirely disregarded, yet that this was only promised six years ago.

^4 The Christians in Turkey,

and if we have patience its provisions may yet be carried out ;
this is said in ignorance of the real circumstances of the case.
The pledge that Christian evidence shall be received in the
courts of justice throughout Turkey, and be accepted on the
same footing as Mahometan evidence, was made upwards of
thirty years ago.

How then has this pledge, made to the nations of Europe,
and re-confirmed in consideration of the blood poured out
and the treasure expended by the Allied Powers in behalf of
Turkey, been fulfilled ?

The seventh question in the list forwarded by Sir Henry
Bulwer to tlie *' Consuls in the Ottoman dominions," is as
follows :-

" Is Christian evidence admitted in courts of justice ; and if
not, point out the cases where it has been refused 1 " *

In answer to this, Mr. Abbott, the English consul at Mona-
stir, writes : —

" It is only admitted at the Tahkik Medjlis (Court of Inquiry).
There, Christian witnesses are sworn, whereas Mussulmans are not.
I cannot point out cases where it has been refused at the other
Courts, as, it being considered an established rule not to admit
Christian evidence, a Christian has never dared present in a suit
one of his co-religionists to give his testimony." t

To the same inquiry Mr. Finn, the consul at Jerusalem,
thus replies : —

" In the Mehkemeh, or Cadi's Court, non-Mussulman evidence
is always refused. In the various Medjlises some subterfuge is
always sought for declining to receive non-Mussulman evidence
against a Mussulman, or recording it under the technical name of
witness. These Courts and the Pasha will rather condemn at once
a Mussulman in favour of a Christian, without recording testi-
mony, than accept non-Moslem evidence. Evidence of Christian
against Christian, or Jew, or vice versa, i.e. non-Moslem against
non-Moslem, is always received." %

Mr. J. E. Blunt, consul at Pristina : —

" Christian evidence in law-suits between a Mussulman and a
non-Mussulman is not admitted in the local Courts.

* Report of Consuls on the Condition of the Christians in Turkey, p. 3.
t Ibid, p. 7. X Il^id, p. 27.

The Christians in Turkey. ^^

" In such cases in which the parties are not Mussulman,
Christian evidence is admitted.*

Mr. Skene, the consul at Aleppo, in his report, says : —

" It is not admitted ; and the attempt is never made to obtain
its admission. No case has occurred in connexion with the
business of this consulate to raise the question." t

Major Cox, the consul at Bucharest, says : —

" In cases between Christians, yes ; but in cases between Chris-
tians and Mahometans, no. This is one of the subjects on which
the intelligent portion of the Christians earnestly insist for redress,
and which they know at the same time is one of the most difficult
for the Ottoman Government to deal with, on account of the
strong prejudices entertained by the Mussulmans." %

Other consuls, indeed, report that the evidence of Christians
is received in the criminal courts of justice in certain provinces
of Turkey, but when we come to examine in what way it is
received we find that contrary assertions are not always con-
tradictory.

Mr. Charles Blunt, of Smyrna, thus answers Sip Henry
Bulwer's question : —

" Generally speaking, from all that I can learn. Christian evidence
is not admitted against Mussulmans in the interior, but only one
instance has been brought before me, which was in 1857, when the
authorities at Aidin would not admit Christian evidence in a suit
in which a British subject was interested. On that occasion, in
conjunction with the Pasha of Smyrna, officers were sent from the
Governor and this Consulate to Aidin, when upon their united
interference Christian evidence was, and has since been, admitted
in the courts of Aidin. Christian evidence is admitted in the
courts at Smyrna, but in all suits relating to houses and landed
property, foreign Christian evidence is not admitted against the
native Christian." §

Mr. Cathcart, the consul at Prevesa, states : —

" Christian evidence is always admitted in the courts of justice,
but I think it doubtful whether, in cases between a Mussulman
and a Christian, it carries the same weight as Mahometan
evidence." ||

* Report of Consuls on the Condition of the Christians in Turkey, p. 35.
t Ibid, p. 50. X Ibid, p. 58. § Ibid, p. 32. || Ibid, p. 4a.

^6 'T^he Christians in Turkey,

Acting-Consul Zohrab, writing from Bosna-Serai, says : —

" Christian evidence in the Medjlises is occasionally received,
but as a rule it is refused, either directly or indirectly, by reference
to tlie Mehkemeh. Knowing this, the Christians generally come
forward prepared with Mussulman witnesses. The cases in which
Christian evidence has been refused are numerous, but it would
take time to collect them." *

Mr. Moore, the consul at Beyrouth writes : —

'•' Christian evidence is admitted into the mixed Tribunals (those
composed of Christian and Mussulman members), but not in the
purely Turkish court called the Mehkemeh, or in the Grand
Medjhs of the Eyalet when it is presided over by the Cadi, and
where the law may be administered according to the Shara (Maho-
metan Ecclesiastical law). /;/ case of murder^ for instance^ when
the iniirderer is a Moslem, that presidency atid that law are re-
sorted to, and Christian evidetice would be rejected. No such
case having occurred for many years, I am unable to furnish
instances. Petty criminal cases are tried at the Medjlis Tahkik
(Court of Verification), and civil suits at the Commercial Courts,
both mixed Tribunals where Christian evidence is accepted." t

Mr. Abbott, the consul at th6 Dardanelles, says : —

" It is admitted ; though, generally speaking, the testimony of a
Mussulman carries with it more weight. I may here add, that
circumstantial evidence, though of the clearest nature, is refused ;
that the Tidjaret-Medjlis, or Commercial Tribunal, goes only
upon documentary evidence ; that the testimony of one female
is rejected as insufficient, whilst that of two females, of whatever
creed, is accepted, being considered equivalent to that of one
male. Owing to these peculiarities of Turkish law, a miscarriage
of justice often ensues : whilst the fear of incurring vengeance
deters many persons, both Mussulmans and Christians, from
prosecuting notorious malefactors, or giving evidence against
them." X

Major Cox, again writing from Bucharest, says : —

" The non-reception of the testimony of Christians on the same
footing with that of the Mussulmans is as much a subject of com-
plaint in Bosnia and the Herzegovine as in Bulgaria." §

In order in some degree to protect Christian witnesses, the

* Report of Consuls on the Condition of the Christians in Turkey, p. 55.
t Ibid, p. 71. X Ibid, p. 70. § Ibid, p. 96.

I^he Christians in 'Turkey, 57

Porte consented to tlie appointment of Christian assessors in
the Medjlises, or local courts. This has been carried out cer-
tainly in forai, though in substance the stipulation is as much
disregarded as that by which the testimony of a Christian was
declared to be placed on the same footing as that of a Mussul-
man.

Mr. Calvert, the consul at Monastir, tells us ; —

" As to the Christian members, they take their seats at the
Medjlisesas a matterof form, but dare not dissent from an opinion
emitted by the Mussulman members. I hear that, some years
back, the Christian member of the Medjlis at Monastir was
poisoned for opposing his Mussulman colleagues." *

To the same purpose Mr. Calvert, writing from Salonica,
says : —

" Christians are admitted into the local Councils, but they are
so few in number compared with the Mussulman members as to
be completely overawed, and therefore practically useless. They
blindly affix their seals to the " Mazbattas " (reports or decisions)
which are written in Turkish, — a language they can rarely read ;
and even were they to understand what was written, tbey would
scarcely venture to refuse to confirm it, although they might
inwardly dissent from the purport of the document." t

I content myself with citing only one other witness, Mr.
Finn, the consul at Jerusalem : —

" Christians are admitted as members of the Medjlises by
virtue of laws of the Central Government, but the number of the
members proportioned to the number of the sect is not equal to
the proportion of the Mussulman members to the number of their
sect. For instance, the Jews, who nearly equal the Christians and
Mussulmans together, have but one member in each Medjlis ; the
Christians, who are nearly equal to the Mussulmans, have but one
member of each sect in each Medjlis ; while the Mussulman
members are as numerous as the Pasha pleases to make them, —
generally six or seven."

" They are barely tolerated by the Mussulman members, and
are always placed in lower seats : they liave not the courage to
make use of the privileges as intended. I sometimes hear of
their placing their seals falsely to Mazbattas, merely from fear of
displeasing the Mussulman members." J

* Report of Consuls on the Condition of the Christians in Turkey, p. 4.
t Ibid, p. 12. + Ibid, p. 28.

5 8 The Christians in Turkey,

Now, so long as this is the case — so long as Christian evi-
dence is wholly refused, or is not allowed to have any weight in
the determination of a civil suit, whilst it is utterly rejected in
all criminal causes, it is obvious there can be no security for life,
limb, nor property for the great mass of the Christian subjects
of the Sultan. Murder, attended by the most revolting circum-
stances, and perpetrated in the midst of a crowded Christian
village, and in the sight of a hundred witnesses, is never
punished, because the evidence of all these people is inad-
missible in the courts of Turkey. What impunity this gives to
the criminal, and what encouragement to commission of out-
rages, must be evident to every one.

From a report of Mr. Finn, dated Jerusalem, January 4,
1860, we obtain a glimpse of the normal condition of the
Turkish provinces, as to the administration of justice : —

" The Arabs have a proverb that the Divine Government acts
upon the two motives of first, reward ; secondly, punishment ;
but that in Turkish rule it is all Heaven, there is no penalty
for transgression. * * * *

" On this same principle, political rebels are at the most only
disabled temporarily from doing mischief. Officers of regiments
convicted of extortion and peculation are only removed from
one station to another. Pashas {loith but one exception that I
have knowii) are alivays promoted, when dismissed o?t the con-
plaints of coJisuls ; ajid throughout my experience I have never
knonm a robbery or other such offence punished as a cri?ne.
When burglars or highway robbers are discovered and convicted,
it is always considered an ample retribution if a sum almost
amounting to the loss is levied upon the guilty. The Govern-
ment congratulates itself and the plaintiff on the success obtained,
but the criminality is never punished." '*

When this is the case with reference to all crime, except in
rare and exceptional cases, it is not surprising that crimes
against Christians are committed with total impunity.

Mr. J. E. Blunt, of Pristina, thus reports three cases which
had occurred in his neighbourhood : —

" About seventeen months ago a Turkish soldier murdered a
Mahometan, an old man, who was working in his field. The
only persons, two in number, who witnessed the deed are Chris-

* Despatches on apprehended disturbances in Syria, 1858-60, p. 90.

'The Christians in Turkey, 59

tians. The Medjlis of Uscup would not take their evidence,
although the Undersigned urged the Kaimakam to accept it.

" About the same time a Zaptieh tried by force to convert a
Bulgarian girl to Islamism. As she declared before the Medjlis
of Camanova that she would not abjure her religion, he killed her
in the very precincts of the Mudir's house. This tragedy created
great sensation in the province. The Medjlises of Camanova
and Prisrend would not accept Christian evidence, and every
effort was made to save the Zaptieh ; but on the case being referred
to Constantinople, an order reached the authorities to ' take the
evidence of all persons who witnessed the murder.' This was
done, and Kiani Pasha, who at the time took charge of the
province, where he has done much good, immediately had the
Zaptieh beheaded.

" Six months ago a Bulgarian in the district of Camanova was
attacked, without provocation on his part, by two Albanians.
They wounded him severely. On the case being referred to
Prisrend, the Medjlis refused to take cognizance of it, as the only
evidence produced was Christian." *

To this I would add an extract from Dr. Sandwith's account
of his travels in Armenia : —

" An Armenian tradesman, about to leave the town fof B — ] for
another city, had been trying to change some paper-nioney into
gold, the former not being current at the place of his destination.
An officer, hearing of this, went and offered the Armenian gold
for 5,000 piastres in paper (about 40/.), ten per cent, agio being
deducted. This offer the Armenian accepted, and gave the
officer the paper-money, the latter promising to return imme-
diately with the gold. Some time having elapsed, and the officer
not having made his appearance, the Armenian went to look
after him, and with much trouble succeeded in recovering, at
various instalments, 4,060 piastres. The Armenian then applied
to the Turk's commanding officer for the payment of the re-
mainder, who recommended that the affair should be taken to
the mi j lis. The Turk seeing that the proofs were rather strong
against him, insisted on his right to be tried by the mehkeme,
where he knew that the Koran would serve him in his need.
Accordingly the Armenian and the Turk were confronted before
this religious tribunal ; and there the Turk, grown bold, as a
Mussulman, declared that, far from owing the Armenian any-
thing, the latter wished to rob him ; that he (the Turk) had
placed the above-named sum in the hands of a third person to
be changed into gold, and that the Armenian had taken it for
that purpose, but that the gold was not forthcoming. ' Do you

* Report of Consuls on the Condition of Christians in Turkey, pp. z^y 36.

6o 27;^ Christians in "Turkey.

swear to this V asked the President. ' I swear it on the Koran,'
answered the Turk. ' It is enough.' The Armenian had brought
witnesses, but they were all Christians, their evidence \vas impos-
sible ; so the hapless Armenian was obliged to refund all the gold
he had previously obtained, and found himself a ruined man." *

The consequence of this impunity is murder on so large a
scale as almost to amount to continuous massacre. Thus,
Mr. Rogers, the vice-consul at Beyrout, reports from infor-
mation satisfactory to himself : —

" Exclusive of the blood shed in opoi civil warfare betiveeti the
years 1841 and 1858, or in other words, during the space of seven-
teen years, 780 individual murders have been co??wiitted in Mount
Lebanon; and probably since the year 1858 upwards of 300 more
have occurred, thus forming a total of about 1,100 /;/ the space of
nineteen years, fwt o?ie of which has been avenged by law'' t

I have dwelt at length on the refusal of Christian evidence
in the Turkish courts of law, because it is the fountain of that
injustice of which these people complain. From this flows,
as from a copious well-head, impunity for every outrage which
the malice of envious neighbours, the cupidity of greedy officials,
and the lustfulness of casual travellers of the ruling race can
prompt. Throughout the whole extent of the Turkish empire,
every young girl, every Christian wife, is the lawful prey of any
wandering Mussulman, who is at perfect liberty, in wantonness
or in the consciousness of power, to show his contempt for
the sanctities of a Christian household by the violation of any
or every member of it, and the father, husband, or brother are
liable to punishment, even that of death, if they defend their
own honour and that of the females of their family. Well may
Mr. Layard say —

" Wherever the Osmanli has placed his foot he has bred fear
and distrust. His visit has been one of oppression and rapine.
The scarlet cap and the well-known garb of a Turkish irregular are
the signals for a general panic. The women hide themselves in
the innermost recesses to save themselves from insult ; the men
slink into their houses, and offer a vain protest against the seizure
of their property."

Even Mr. Longworth, the consul-general at Belgrade, and

* Narrative of the Siege of Kars, pp. 169, 170.

+ Correspondence on Affairs of Syria, i860, 1861, p. 404.

'The Christians in 'Turkey. 6i

formerly consul at Monastir, says, " The forcible abduction of
Christian girls by Mahometans is an abuse which calls urgently
for correction/'* . . . There is, however, but little prospect
that this abuse will be corrected, since Mr. Abbott tells us —

" A custom prevails here to exempt from military conscription
a Mussulman young man who elopes with a Christian girl, and
whom he converts to his faith. This being considered a meri-
torious act for his religion, it entitles him, as a reward, to be freed
from military service." t

When a man can, by the laws of Turkey, avoid the conscrip-
tion merely by seizing and violating a Christian girl, it is not
to be wondered if such cases abound in this ill-fated country.
Nor is the singular provision, that he should convert to his own
"faith" the victim of his lust, any safeguard to a Christian
maiden, since, if she appeals to the tribunals, she is utterly unable
to obtain redress: should she declare herself a Mahometan,
then the ravisher is held to have done a praiseworthy action ;
should she proclaim herself a Christian, she is, by the law of
Turkey, prohibited from giving evidence of the wrong done to
her ; so that, in either case, she must submit. On the subject
Mr. Longworth, apologizing as he does for Turkish abuses, yet
says —

" It is an old custom of these wild districts, and was formerly
held to evince manly spirit on the part of the ravisher. It is
asserted also, and I believe it, that the girls are frequently con-
senting parties to their own abduction, and that the parents, by
delaying to give them in marriage, with a view of appropriating
their services as long as possible, indirectly bring this misfortune
on themselves. But these palliatives, and others of the kind,
which may be urged, are, I think, beside tlie question, which is
simply if seduction and violence has been employed in removing
these girls from the roof and protection of their parents. But
instead of putting it to this issue, it has been the rule to force '
the party to appear before the tribunal which rejects Christian
evidence, and to dispose of the affair summarily, by compelling
her to declare herself a Christian or a Mahometan." J

Where the safety of life and respect for the honour of the
family is utterly disregarded, it is not to be expected that much

* Consular Reports on the Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. ^i.
t Ibid. p. 7. X Ibid, p. 21.

62 -77/^ Christians in 'Turkey.

consideration will be given to the right of property. With
reference to this particular, the injustice and cruelty of their
Turkish masters press heavily upon the whole Christian popu-
lation. Acts of oppression, incited by the desire to possess the
property of the subject race, will, indeed, be more numerous
than murders and deeds of violence to Christian women, since
cupidity is a more universal passion amongst men than even
the thirst for blood or the gratification of lust.

(2) This fact has not escaped the attention of the Powers of
Europe. So far indeed as solemn stipulations can go, nothing
at present can be desired in behalf of the Christian subjects of
the Porte. But then it must be remembered that every stipu-
lation made has been — I will not say broken, because that
implies a state of things which has existed and been violently
destroyed — but disregarded. It must be borne in mind that
no treaty has, on this point, ever been fulfilled. Every promise
has been forgotten. Whenever a loan is required, for which the
guarantee of England is necessary, or the assistance of this
country is desired for the preservation of " the integrity of
Turkey," and the lives of our fellow-countrymen are to be
sacrificed on her soil, or the industry of England weighed down
by taxation imposed for the security of the Ottoman power,
we have promises in abundance — the Hatt-i-Sherifs and Hatt-i-
Humaiouns, which are then drawn up and signed, bristle with
the pledges of freedom. But the loan once obtained, the assist-
ance once given, the money squandered, and the blood of
Englishmen poured out beyond recal ; every pledge is broken,
every treaty forgotten, and the Hatt-i-Humai'oun, which has
declared the equality of the Mussulmans and Christians of
Turkey in the eyes of the law, is quietly withdrawn. No
nation, except Turkey, has ever shown such a flagrant disregard,
such a contempt, for public treaties. Where the rights of her
Christian subjects are concerned no attempt is ever made to
observe them. Nor can this be said to be of little moment
to ourselves. We are concerned in this breach of faith, we
are parties to it. The simple rii>;ht which the Christians of
Turkey claim, the right to be heard as witnesses when the

The Christians in 'Turkey, 6 2

blood of their brothers has been shed in their sight, when
their wives and daughters have been outraged, is one which
we have pledged ourselves to procure for them ; the right of
the Christian to hold property has been demanded as the price
of our assistance in upholding the rule of the Sultan. Neither
right lias been conceded, neither promise has been fulfilled,
and we go on murmuring and maundering about " the integrity
of Turkey ; " but we are utterly indifferent whether Turkey
takes any steps to preserve her own " integrity," by performing
the repeated promises made on this subject, or whether she
destroys the one and violates the other by her faithlessness.

In the negotiations preceding the treaty of Paris, the con-
dition of the Christians of Turkey engaged the attention of
the representatives of the great European Powers. In order to
obtain some guarantee that the Sultan would no longer dis-
regard the provisions solemnly promised by the Hatt-i-Humaioun
of Gul-Hane of 1839, which itself, however, as I have before
said, was only a reiteration of like promises made in the
Tanzimat of an older date, it was proposed that stipulations
for the rights of tiie Christian people of Turkey should form
a part of the treaty to be signed at Paris. At the repre-
sentation, however, of the Turkish minister that the Sultan
would prefer to issue a document for this purpose, as though
it were his own free act and not part of the proceedings of the
Coniiress then assembled, this was overruled, and accordingly
the treaty of Paris was completed without any stipulations
for the better treatment of the Christians. It was left to the
Sultan's honour, and the only notice taken of the subject, is
that contained in the Ninth Article of the treaty, which is in
these words : —

" His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, having, in his constant
solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a firman which,
while ameliorating their condition without distinction of religion
or of race, records his generous intentions towards the Christian
population of his Empire, and wishing to give a further proof of
his sentiments in that respect, has resolved to communicate to the
Contracting Parties the said firman, emanating spontaneously from
his sovereign will." *

* Treaty of Paris. Parliamentary Paper, p. 20.

64 '^^^^ Christians in Turkey.

A few weeks before this treaty was signed, the Sultan had
issued his Hatt-i-Sherif, in which he says : —

" The guarantees promised on our part by the Hatt-i-Humaioun
of Gul-Hane', and in conformity with the Tanzimat, to all the
subjects of my Empire, without distinction of classes or of
religion, for the security of their persons and property and the
preservation of their honour, are to-day confirmecl and consoli-
dated, and efficacious measures shall be taken in order that they
may have their full and entire effect."

% % Id 'id %

" The equality of taxes entailing equality of burdens, as equality
of duties entails that of rights. Christian subjects, and those of
other non-Mussulman sects, as it has been already decided, shall,
as well as Mussulmans, be subject to the obligations of the Law
of Recruitment. The principle of obtaining substitutes, or of
purchasing exemption, shall be admitted. A complete law shall
be pubhshed, with as little delay as possible, respecting the admis-
sion into and service in the army of Christian and other non-
Mussulman subjects."

% Id % * *

" The taxes are to be levied under the same denomination from
all the subjects of my Empire, without distinction of class or of
religion. The most prompt and energetic means for remedying
the abuses in collecting the taxes, and especially the tithes, shall
be considered. The system of direct collection shall gradually,
and as soon as possible, be substituted for the plan of farming, in
all the branches of the revenues of the State. As long as the
present system remains in force, all agents of the Government and
all members of the Medjlis shall be forbidden, under the severest
penalties, to become lessees of any farming contracts which are
announced for public competition, or to have any beneficial in-
terest in carrying them out. The local taxes shall, as far as pos-
sible, be so imposed as not to affect the sources of production, or
to hinder the progress of internal commerce."

Now, it is important to bear in mind the fact which, indeed,
the Sultan himself states, apparently without any feeling of
shame ; that the promises made in this Hatt-i-Sherif of 1856,
were only the reiteration of those made in the Hatt-i-Huma'ioun
of 1839, and these again were only the reiteration of promises
made in the older Tanzimat, and that this reiteration was made
necessary by the fact that the promises made in the first instance
and re-promised in the second, were still unfulfilled. Now let
us ask what has been the fate of this third instrument, with its

'The Christians in Turkey. 6s

reiteration of the unfulfilled engagements of the two preceding
documents ? Have these promises been better kept than the
self-same promises made thirty years ago ?

The Hatt-i-Sherif has never been even promulgated. It is
unknown throughout the whole of Turkey. Not one promise
has been performed, not one stipulation has been fulfilled, and
yet in the face of these facts, even members of Parliament,
officers of the Government, presuming upon the almost universal
ignorance which prevails respecting that country, venture to
speak in the House of Commons of the fidelity of Turkey to
her engagements !

By the Tanzimat, the Hatt-i-Humaioun of 1839, and Hatt-i-
Sherif of 1856, three editions of the same unfulfilled promises,
it was declared, as we have seen, amongst other things, that
Christians might hold landed property in all parts of the empire
as freely as Mussulmans, and also that there should be perfect
equality as to taxation between the Mussulmans and non-
Mussulmans of Turkey.

What attempt has been made to carry out thest simple
requirements of justice ?

Amongst the questions issued by Sir Henry Bulwer to the
English consuls in Turkey, occurs the following : —

" 4. Can Christians hold landed property on equal condition
with Turks? and if not, where is the difference 1"

To this question Mr. Calvert of Salonica replies —

" As regards the acquisition of landed property, a Christian is
not allowed to purchase any belonging to a Turk." *

Since then, nearly every acre of land at the present moment
belongs to the Turks, the refusal to allow Christians to pur-
chase such lands amounts almost to a prohibition of their
purchasing any land. Again on this subject Mr. Finn of
Jerusalem reports —

" Native Christians are precisely on equal terms with Mussul-
mans in regard to the tenure of landed property, though in
acquiring it they are exposed to pecuniary and other annoyances
to which a Moslem would not be exposed." t

* Report of Consuls on the Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 10.
t Ibid. p. ■27.

F

56 'The Christians in Turkey.

Mr. Skene of Aleppo thus answers Sir Henry Bulwer's
question : —

" Freehold property, the best of tenures, is within the reach of
the Sultan's Christian subjects. The fear, however, of unfair
treatment deters them from becoming landholders."*

To the same effect Acting- Consul Zohrab says —

" Christians are now permitted to possess real property, but the
obstacles which they meet with when they attempt to ac(iuire it
are so many and vexatious that very few have as yet dared to
brave them." t

What those obstacles are which prevent Christians from
acquiring and holding land he proceeds to state in these
words : —

" Christians are permitted by law to possess landed property,
but the difficulties opposed to their acquiring are so great that few
have as yet dared to face them. As far as the mere purchase
goes, no difficulties are made — a Christian can buy and take pos-
session ; it is when he has got his land into order, or when the
Mussulman who has sold has overcome the pecuniary difficulties
which compelled him to sell, that the Christian feels the helpless-
ness of his position and the insincerity of the Government. Steps
are then taken by the original proprietor, or some relative of his,
to reclaim the land from the Christian, generally on one of the
following pleas : that the original owner, not being sole proprietor,
had no right to sell ; that the ground being ' meraah,' or grazing-
ground, could not be sold ; that the deeds of transfer being
defective the sale had not been legally made. Under one or other
of these pleas the Christian is in nineteen cases out of twenty dis-
possessed, and he may then deem himself fortunate if he gets
back the price he gave. Few, a very few, have been able to
obtain justice ; but I must say that the majority of these owe their
good fortune not to the justice of their cause, jjut to the influence
of some powerful Mussulman." %

This, then, is the way in which this stipulation is carried out
in Turkey. Christians may hold land, but — They must not
purchase any belonging to a Turk. As at present scarcely any
land belongs to any one else than a Turk, this is virtually to
prevent all such purchases. But beyond this the dangers which
threaten those who attempt to do that which the law declares

*■' Report of Consuls on the Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 50.
t Ibid. p. 54. X Ibid. p. 55.

The Christians in lurkey, 67

they may do are so real, that few are hardy enough to brave
them, and when they do, having paid the price for their posses-
sion, no sooner is the land brought under cultivation, than the
original owner is at liberty to reclaim it, and having dragged the
unfortunate purchaser into a court of law where his evidence
cannot be received, he may re-enter his old possession with
impunity, for even documentary evidence made in favour of a
Christian is rejected by these courts of injustice.

(3) Nor has the stipulation of equality of taxation been any
more regarded than that which declared the right of the
Christian to hold land. One provision of the Tanzimat was, that
arbitrary taxation of the Christian peasant was to cease. This
has never been fulfilled, except in a way which the petitioners
could scarcely have contemplated.

On this head we have the following observations in Mr.
Calvert's report : —

" The Turkish Government has too long neglected the interests
of the two classes of the population upon whose well-being the
prosperity of the country mainly depends, namely, the agricultural
and mercantile classes. Almost every other consideration ought
to have been sacrificed for the promotion of their interests. Like
the Turkish landed proprietors, the State appears to care not how
its revenues are raised, provided it receives them."

^ ^ -}(: ^ ^ ^

" We have an instance of this in the manner in which the direct
taxes were assessed upon the Christians on the promulgation of
the ' Tanzimati Hai'riye,' which was intended to put a stop to the
then existing systems of exactions. The Rayah population, on
being called upon, promptly furnished statements of the exact
amount of the contributions they had been abitrarily subjected to
in addition to the lawful taxes ; and since it was presumed that
they had been able to satisfy all the requisitions made upon them,
the Government, I am told, forthwith assessed them with the
whole amount, which they pay at the present moment.*

'F vT" ^ TF "5!^ ^

" As the Mussulman peasantry are not as well off" as they might
be, the distinction between the condition of the Christians and
that of the Mussulmans in the villages is in some respects only
relative. One point of difference consists in the fact that the
irregularities of the tax and tithes collectors, and the excesses of
the police force, not to speak of the depredations of brigands, are

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christiana in Turkey, pp. 8, 9.

F 2

68 'The Christians in Turkey.

practised to a larger extent and with more barefacedness on the
Christian than on the Mussulman peasantry. It is, however,
extremely difficult to define the extent of the difference, and quite
impossible to prove the facts on which the general statement of its
existence is founded. But I feel persuaded that, without admitting
any special claim of the Christians on our sympathy, the tacit
submission of the Christians to the abuses in question, and to
others of a harassing character, has conduced to their perpetuation
at the hands of the notoriously rapacious tax and tithes-farmers.
The Mussulman peasantry are not so extensively imposed upon,
because the superior chance which their complaints have of being
listened to by a District Government in which the element of their
co-religionists preponderates, causes them to be regarded with
greater respect. The Mussulman peasantry, nevertheless, suffer
from the same causes as their fellow-labourers on the soil, only to
a smaller degree. There is, however, a positive difference, and a
very important one, in the condition of the Christian peasants in
the farms (' tchiftliks ') held by Turkish proprietors. They are
forcibly tied to the sjDOt by means of a perpetual, and even
hereditary debt which their landlord contrives to fasten upon
them. This has practically reduced many of the peasant families
to a state of serfdom. As an illustration, I may mention, that
when a tchiftlik is sold, the bonds of the peasantry are transferred
with the stock to the new proprietor. In Thessaly there are
Christians who own farms on the same conditions. Upon one
occasion, in which the landlord, who was a merchant, had become
a bankrupt, I remember noticing, that amongst the assets borne
on his balance-sheet there figured the aggregate amount of the
peasant's debts to him, and it formed a rather large item." *

These oppressions and exactions, according to the testimony of
Mr. Skene, so far from diminishing have greatly increased of late
years. It is significant of the utterly hopeless condition of the
Turkish Government, that even administrative reform becomes
a fresh engine of evil to the overburdened Christian. It has
been the practice of late years to send an assistant or kehaya
with the pasha — a kind of deputy pasha, to check and report
the actions of that officer, with what effect Mr. Skene will
tell us.

" In my humble opinion, the experiment of municipal institu-
tions was made in a manner not in harmony with the existing state
of the country. The feudal system of the East had degenerated
when it produced the great barons of Turkey in the first quarter

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, pp. lo, ii.

'The Christians in T^urkey. 6^

of the present century, Ali Tepedeleni, Ali of Stolatz, Kara Osman
Oglu, Chassan Oglu, Haznadar Oglu, and others, equally powerful
and independent, and it had reduced the body of the people to
actual servitude. The spirit of industry was crushed by the narrow
maxims of a military aristocracy. The country was on the verge
of ruin. A counterpoise was sought for the oppression of Pashas
of the old school. The remedy has outweighed the evil, and
instead of one tyrant there are now many tyrants, each grasping
his own advantage, and all inferior to the Pasha in qualifications
for government. The desired control exists, but the local mag-
nates are unworthy of the trust. The power of the functionaries
sent from Constantinople, which is a whole century in advance
of the provinces, is paralysed by the corrupt action of the Ayans.
A good Pasha is hampered ; a bad one not checked. Men of
integrity and public spirit may come from the capital, but are not
to be found in the towns of the interior. The Pasha of the present
day is an improvement on the old feudal Satrap ; the unchanging
Ayan is still a man of the same stamp ; and the better is thus
controlled by the worse. Composed of cruel, venal, and rapacious
accomplices, the Med j lis oppresses the people and enriches itself,
while Pashas are powerless, when wilhng, to cope with its collusive
chicanery. Possessed of superior local information and experience,
wielding a dangerous influence over the lower orders, which fear
their iron rule, and well versed in all the trickery of Oriental in-
trigue, they rarely fail soon to reduce the most zealous* Pasha to
the condition of a mere instrument in their hands .... I have
followed the same familiar phases of provincial government with
unvarying issue in Bosnia, Bulgaria, and Roumelia, in Asia Minor
and Syria, and I have thus been forced into strong convictions on
the subject, which I hope to be held excused for thus expressing
freely." *

Mr. Abbot, of Monastir, adds his testimony to the same
effect.

" In giving my humble opinion on this subject, I am far from
taking the part of the Turks, and exonerating the conduct of some
of the Turkish officials. Abuses, and to a great extent, exist in
this Province as well as in others, and the evils caused by these
abuses are of such a nature as to admit of remedy.

" For instance, a Pasha is apparently an honest man, but his
Kehaya or Intendent is venal, and then the inhabitants have to
suffer from the rapacity of a man whose advice has so much
deliberative power with the Pasha, who, perhaps indolent and
weak, allows himself to be influenced by an unprincipled man in
whom he has entire confidence.

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 5i> 5^-

yo The Christians in Turkey.

" Then come next the Beys, who sit in the Medjlises. Natives
of the place where they hold their office, and with great local
interests to protect, they connive, for a trifle, at illegal acts, if, by
doing so, their interests are in any way i^romoted, and hence
affix their seals to decisions which have not the slightest particle
of justice."*

The same testimony, again, is borne by Mr. Zohrab as to the
jiopelessness of expecting any real amelioration of the condition
of the Christians from the hands of the officers of the Sultan.
Speaking of the Christians he says : —

" In the belief that the direct administration of the Porte would
materially ameliorate their position, they were induced, in 1850,
to lend a hearty assistance to Omer Pasha, and to their aid must
be attributed the rapid success of the Turkish arms. Their hopes
were di reappointed. That they were benefited by the change there
can be no doubt, but the extent did not nearly come up to their
expectation. They saw, with delight, the extinction of the Spahi
privileges and of the corvee^ but the imposition of new and heavy
taxes, the gross peculation of the employes sent from Constanti-
nople, and the demands of the army filled them with disappoint-
ments and dismay ; and, with these causes for complaint, their
previous servile condition was almost forgotten. Their hopes had
been raised high to be cruelly disappointed ; their pecuniary
position was aggravated, while their social position was but slightly

improved."

* * * * * *

" Oppression cannot now be carried on as openly as formerly,
but it must not be supposed that, because the Government
employes do not generally appear as the oppressors, the Christians
are well treated and protected. A certain impunity, for which the
Government must be rendered responsible, is allowed to the
Mussulmans. This impunity, while it does not extend to per-
mitting the Christians to be treated as they formerly were treated,
is so far unbearable and unjust, in that it permits the Mussulmans
to despoil them with heavy exactions. False imprisonments are
of daily occurrence. A Christian has but a small chance of excul-
pating himself when his opponent is a Mussulman.

******

" vSuch being, generally speaking, the course pursued by the
Government towards the Christians in the capital of the province
where the Consular Agents of the different Powers reside and can
exercise some degree of control, it may easily be guessed to what ex-
tent the Christians, in the remoter districts, suffer who are governed
by Mudirs generally fanatical and unacquainted with the law." t

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 4.
t Ibid. p. 54.

'The Christians in Turkey, 71

So uniform is the course of injustice practised towards the
Christians, that the words of a consul at one end of the empire
seems but an echo of those already spoken by another at the
opposite extremity. Mr. Abbot, consul at the Dardanelles,
says : —

" It might reasonably have been expected that the general con-
dition of the country ought, by this time, to have so far improved
as to have inspired the whole population with the certain con-
viction that any just claim, even from the humblest individual,
would meet with a fair investigation ; that the Porte would have
devised such checks over its functionaries as to prevent the pos-
sibility of the powers confided to them being abused, and would
have exercised the utmost vigilance over their conduct. Such,
unfortunately, is not the case. Too much power is confided to
the chief local authorities ; the laws and regulations are framed so
carelessly — their construction is so defective (no provision being
made for securing adhesion to them) — that it is obvious they are
the work of persons inexperienced in the art of legislation. The
consequence is, that with a host of officials who sufter no oppor-
tunity to escape them of abusing their power whenever they can
derive any substantial advantage therefrom, the laws are either
eluded or converted into instruments of oppression.

* * * * * *

" I trace, as one of the principal causes which renders the laws,
framed in a most laudable spirit, perfectly inoperative, the fact of
the Government trusting the welfare of the province to the sole
goodwill of the Governors, believing that they will carry out
implicitly its instructions, without requiring proof of their being
fulfilled. Thus, for instance, in the Porte's Proclamation of the
2nd of March, 1846, the Governors and other authorities are
expressly forbidden to receive bribes, to impose ' corvees ' without
payment, &c. ; but I observe that the only check attempted to be
imposed is, strange to say, confided to the Governors themselves,
who are commanded to report any person infringing this order.
The Porte appears to have forgotten that the Governor himself
might be the first person to set this order at defiance ; so that it
is rendered nugatory to all intents and purposes."*

Amongst other evils which press exclusively upon the
Christians, Major Cox, writing from Bucharest, but speaking
of the state of the whole province of Bulgaria, says : —

" The Christians are exposed to the necessity of entertaining
strangers, and the others are not.

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 76.

y2 The Christians in Turkey,

"The Christians are the subjects of ' hanghariyeh ' or forced
labour, and the others are not.

" The Christians are frequently obliged to give their labour to
the Mussulmans of the village at a low rate of wages."*

The oppressive way in which the Government exacts the tithe
of all agricultural produce, is made to press most injuriously
upon the Christians.

" The crops, after being cut, are sometimes two months on the
ground before the tithe-farmer comes, and until then the people
dare not remove them ; their value is of course much diminished
by the ravages of the animals and of the weather. If this tithe-
tax could be assessed it would be a great boon, and the whole of
the taxes collected in money after the harvest.

" It is stated that in many instances the cost to the villagers of
entertaining the collectors of the ' iltizam ' has nearly doubled
that tax." t

But I will not fatigue the reader by travelling through this
wearying record of oppression. Holding his life, the honour
of his family, and his property at the mercy of his Mussulman
neighbour, who hates him on account of his religion, and envies
the results of his industry ; weighed down by Government
taxation, and oppressed beyond even that by the rapacity of the
farmers of taxes ; without help from the tribunals, where his
evidence cannot be heard ; mocked by promises of protection by
the Sultan which have never been fulfilled — the lot of the
Christian peasant, the condition of those who numerically
are more than two -thirds of the people of European Turkey,
and a very large proportion of the population of Asia Minor
and Syria, is one of despair. He sees around him the bitter
tokens of increasing wrong. His hard and cruel bondage has
not sufficed to extinguish the love of home and the desire for
children, and a blessing has gone with him ; so that whilst his
stern taskmasters are diminishing, he sees his own race in-
creasing, and is doomed to feel the intolerable sufferings which
are instigated by the jealousy excited in the breast of the Mussul-
mans by the impression, which is gaining force every day, that
they are retrograding to the advantage of the Christian. Indeed —

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 58,
t Ibid. p. 60.

'The Christians in Turkey, 7 J

"This feeling has acquired such influence in the subordinate
MedjHses, that when any case of oppression takes place on the
part of the populace, courts are disposed to assist in it." *

Shut out as the subject race is from the acquisition of land,
their attention has been turned chiefly to trade, and almost the
whole of this throughout Turkey has passed into their hands,
and as a consequence we read, in the report of another consul,
that—

" The progress of the Christians has reached a degree which is
becoming dangerous to them : the Mussulmans are jealous ot
their prosperity in trade." t

(4) Another concession, in favour of the Christians of
Turkey, which the Western Powers of Europe required from
the Sultan was, that the armies of that country should be
recruited alike from the Mussulman and non-Mussulman por-
tions of the population. It was felt that so long as the
Christians were forbidden to be armed, whilst the rest of the
subjects of Turkey were allowed the use of arms, and whilst
the soldiery of the empire was exclusively drawn from one
race, those classes of the people which were excluded from
the army and not allowed to be armed were exposed to a
certain disadvantage, and that their defenceless condition
invited attack. Both in the Hatt-i-Humaioun of 1839, and
again in the Hatt-i-Sherif of 1856, it was promised that this
distinction should be abolished, and that the army should be
drawn from the population of Turkey without distinction of
creed. It was promised, and here the matter has rested. No
Christian is allowed to bear arms ; the army is exclusively
Mussulman. But not only is this pledge given to the Western
Powers deliberately violated, the pledge extorted, though un-
fulfilled, has been turned into a fresh engine of oppression.
Christians are not only excluded — they are subject to an
oppressive tax on the ground that they are so excluded

The tenth of Sir Henry Bulwer's questions is as follows : —
"10. Would the Christian population like to enter the military

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 36.
t Ibid. p. 50.

74 '^^^ Christians in Turkey,

service instead of paying the tax which procures them exemption ;
and which would they gain most by — serving in the army, or pay-
ing the said tax ? " *

To this Mr. Abbott, of Monastir, replies : —

" Christians would prefer entering the army instead of paying
the exemption tax, provided they were formed into separate
regiments, and were held out the prospect of advancing as much
as Mussulmans would in similar positions. If this were the case,
they would gain most by serving in the army." t

Mr. Finn, of Jerusalem, answers this question in these
words : —

" Excepting in Jerusalem, where they are too much priest-
ridden, the Christians do wish to serve personally in the army
instead of paying the substitution tax, and consider that they and
their people would gain by it in consideration, I am told that, in
several parts of Syria, the youthful Christian population have
petitioned for the privilege of serving personally in the army,
even without requiring to be placed in separate companies or
regiments." %

Again, Mr. J. E. Blunt, of Pristina : —

" It is the impression of the Undersigned that the Christians,
the peasantry, which forms the bulk of their population, would
prefer to enter the military service than pay the commutation -
tax. . . . The Christians would gain more by serving in the army
than by paying the tax." §

Mr. Moore, consul at Beyrout, says : —

" I think they would prefer entering the army to paying the
tax, if there could be enrolled purely Christian regiments, officered
by Christians ; but they much prefer paying the tax to serving in
the army with the condition of being drafted into Turkish regi-
ments with Turkish officers. They would gain most, I conceive,
by entering the army under the former arrangement than by
paying the tax." ||

A difference of opinion exists as to whether the Christians
of Turkey, on the whole, would or would not be better oft' by
paying the heavy exemption-tax, or by serving in the army ;
but no difterence of opinion is possible as to the fraud practised

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 3.

t Ibid. p. 5. X Ibid. p. a8. § Ibid. p. 36. || Ibid. p. 71.

^he Christians in Turkey, 75

upon the Western Powers by the non-fulfilment of the promise
made by the Porte. It is pleaded by some of the consuls that,
under the present condition of the Christians, and in face
of the injustice practised towards them, it would be dangerous
for the Sultan to put arms into their hands. But this is only
an additional reason why the contracting Powers should insist
upon this stipulation being faithfully carried out. Compel the
Government of Turkey to fulfil its obligation in this respect,
and that Government will be compelled, as a necessary ante-
cedent, to ameliorate the condition of the Christians. At
present the Christians are not armed, because they are so un-
justly used, that it would be dangerous to place arms in their
hands. By insisting upon this stipulation being fulfilled, we
insist then upon their being fairly treated.

It is absurd to suppose that a nation of some twenty-four
millions of persons should require the constant wet-nursing of
England and France to carry them safely through their second
infancy. Twenty-four millions of free men might defend them-
selves against the world in arms. The defensive strength of
such a nation is far greater than the offensive power of Russia.
It is because the strength of the Mussulman is exhausted in
watching against and in oppressing the non-Mussulman portion
of the empire that there exists any necessity of aid from England.
If we compel Turkey to do justice to all her subjects, we shall
obviate the necessity for English blood being wasted and English
treasure consumed in defence of such a Power. Tell Turkey
that she must henceforth rely upon her own subjects, and she
will be forced to adopt a generous policy towards them. We
are bearing at this moment the additional weight of seventy
millions to our National Debt : we have to deplore the death
of many thousands of Englishmen in the Crimean campaign :
we maintain, at a great expense, a large Mediterranean fleet to be
ready to defend Turkey against all assailants — only because the
Sultan will not do justice to his Christian subjects. Had he
done so, there would have been no Russian War ; and had the
Czar been ever so ambitious, ever so warlike, Turkey, but for
this standing wrong against the great bulk of her people, might.

7«

"The Christians in 'Turkey.

without aid from England, France, and Italy, have resisted all
the assaults of the legions of the Northern autocrat. Whilst
we are willing to pay for the injustice of Turkey towards her
own subjects, we encourage her to persist in that injustice.

(5) But there is another subject about which Sir Henry
Bulwer professes incredulity, and on which he requires infor-
mation, and that is the enforced conversions from Christianity
— the compulsory adoption of the Mahomedan creed, in order
to escape persecution and death. Nothing can show either the
utter ignorance of Sir Henry Bulwer as to the state of Turkey
or the unfairness of his questions than that he should ask for
information on the subject. He knew at the time of sending out
the list of questions that in the massacres of the Lebanon and
Damascus whole villages, hundreds of men, women, and children
had been compelled to adopt the Mahomedan faith in order to
escape death in its most appalling forms. Sir Henry Bulwer
knew, on the evidence of Lord Duflferin and of Mr. Cyril Graham,
that thousands of those who then perished died martyrs for
Christianity. That the alternative of death, or accepting the
Mahomedan creed, was presented not only to men, but to women,
and even to girls of tender age, and that thousands deliberately
preferred the cruellest martyrdoms to abandoning their religion.
When we talk of the imperfect faith of our brethren in the East
— when we are told of their low morality, be this remembered
to their everlasting honour, that in the middle of the nineteenth
century between five and six thousand, at the least, on that
occasion, accepted death rather than deny their belief in Christ !*

(6) But a survey of the condition of the Christians in
Turkey would be incomplete if I were to pass over all con-

* I have referred less to the massacres in Syria and to the evidence of the
consuls in that part of the Turkish dominions than I should otherwise have
done, because the long-expected volume of Mr. Cyril Graham on Syria will be
shortly published. No one has a greater right to be heard witli attention. No
one is more competent to speak on the subject than Mr, Graham. And though
his book is understood not to refer specifically to modem Syrian history, but
to be one of enduring interest, yet, as the political history of Syria will be in-
complete without an account of these massacres, I refer my readers with con-
fidence to that forthcoming book for a calm, impartial narrative of events in
which the writer may be said almost to have been an actor.

^he Christians in Turkey, 77

sideration of their moral state. The advocates of the Govern-
ment of that country — the apologists for the rule of the Sultan
tell us that the Christians — the large mass of the people of
Turkey — have " exaggerated notions of nationality and political
freedom ;"* that they have "no independence of character ;"t
that they are "ignorant;" "miserly at home, abject without
support, and insolent where unduly protected ; " % that they are
"lying, intriguing ;"§ and that their clergy and municipal
officers are "rapacious/' and that the whole race is "degraded
and pusillanimous." II

I have no doubt but that much of this is true. It is the
curse of slavery that it brings forth in men the fruits of slavery ;
and when w^e see such fruit, we are sure what the root must be.
I know no heavier accusation against the Government of Turkey
than that it makes men abject and lying, pusillanimous and
miserly ; that it destroys independence of character, and that
it degrades the whole man. The peasant, whose life and the
lives of his children are at the mercy of his neighbours, cringes
and submits to degrading acts until he acquires the habit of
cringing. The man whose property may be seized at any
moment by the meanest village official will, I am afraid, pretty
generally "intrigue" and "lie" to preserve his hard-earned
and dearly-prized possessions. This is the aspect which human
nature invariably presents. But is this any excuse for slavery
and oppression ? Nay, but its severest reproach. If the
Christians of Turkey were invariably honest, munificent, manly
— if, in short, they had all the virtues of free men, then
I for one should be content that they should abide under
the rule of the Sultan. The assertion that these virtues are
not to be found — at least, in profusion — but that the sub-
ject races are degraded by vices of this kind, is the strongest
condemnation which can be uttered against that system of
government by which they are weighed down and debased.
Slaves are not freemen, neither have they the virtues, of

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 8.
t Ibid. p. 20. X T])id. p. 49. § Ibid. p. 64.

II Mr. Layard, in House of Commons, May 29, 1863.

y8 'The Christians in Turkey.

freedom. This is why slavery is so bitter a wrong, not that it
diminishes the pleasures of the senses, but that it destroys the
dignity of manhood ; and because I long for the day when our
brethren of the East may be distinguished for independence of
character — when they may be truthful, honest, courageous — in
a word, free men, I desire they may be free. They cannot
possess these qualities of the heart and soul so long as they are
trampled under foot by their present masters. It is because
you cannot graft these virtues upon the stock of abject sub-
jection, that I pray for their deliverance from their present hard
bondage. It is because you cannot gather grapes from thorns,
nor figs from thistles, that I would that the thorns and the
thistles might no longer be permitted to hinder the growth of
those fruits which they cannot themselves produce.

But we overlook much of the evils of slavery when we only
consider its effects upon the bodies and souls of the enslaved
race. It spreads beyond these : it debases and corrupts the
master oftentimes more than the slave. This — according to the
testimony of all travellers, of all who know anything of the
condition of Turkey — is the result of slavery in that country.
The subject races are, to use Mr. Layard's true though un-
generous taunt, " degraded and pusillanimous," so much so in-
deed that, in many places, they have lost heart, and have become
meekly submissive to injustice;* but the ruling caste — the
masters of these slaves — have sunk to lower depths than these,
so that, degraded as the Christians are, yet in them alone lies
the hope that the people of the countries stretching from the
Black Sea to Aden will ever again lift up their heads and be
numbered amongst the nations.

On this matter I prefer to pursue the same course which I
have already followed, and to allow others to speak rather than,
by generalizing their testimony, to weaken its force.

In Mr. Senior's diary this conversation is recorded : —

" Soon after I left C. D., E. F. called on us.

"* What impression,' he said, ' does the East produce on you ?

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 65.

'The Christians in Turkey. 79

" * The East,' I said, * is not quite new to me, as I have passed
some months in Egypt'

" ' Egypt,' he answered, * is not a fair specimen. The govern-
ment of Egypt is as superior to the Mahomedan government as
the docile laborious Fellah is to the brutal Turk.'

" ' I have had time,' I said, ' only to look at the exterior. I see
a capital, the streets of which are impassable to wheels, and
scarcely to be traversed on foot ; I see a country without a road ;
I see a palace of the Sultan's on every promontory of the Bos-
porus ; I see vast tracts of unoccupied land, and more dogs than
human beings ; these appearances are not favourable to the govern-
ment or to the people.'

" ' If you have the misfortune,' he answered, ' as I have had, to
live among Turks for between two and three years, your opinions
will be still less favourable. In government and in religion Turkey
is a detritus. All that gave her strength, all that gave her consis-
tency, has gone, what remains is crumbling into powder. The
worst parts of her detestable religion, hatred of improvement, and
hatred of the unbeliever ; the worst parts of her detestable govern-
ment, violence, extortion, treachery, and fraud, are all that she has
retained. Never was there a country that more required to be
conquered. Our support merely delays her submission to that
violent remedy.' " *

Again, in the same volume : — •

" The Turks of Europe are not producers ; they are a parasitical
population, which lives only by plundering the Christians. Let
this be made impossible, or even difficult, and they will emigrate
or die out. The Turkish power in Bulgaria and Roumelia might
thus fall of itself without conquest, as it has already done virtually
in Servia, and in the Principalities." t

And a little further on : —

" ' Turkey,' said W., ' exists for two purposes. First, to act as
a dog in the manger, and to prevent any Christian power from
possessing a country which she herself in her present state is
unable to govern or to protect. And, secondly, for the benefit of
some fifty or sixty bankers and usurers, and some thirty or forty
pashas, who make fortunes out of its spoils. It is the land ot
jobs. All these palaces, all these terraced gardens, are the fruit of
jobs, when they are not the fruit of something worse. All the
most respectable statesmen are jobbers. Reschid Pasha during
his different vizierships sold to himself at low prices large tracts of
public land. He built a palace at Balti Liman, and sold it for
200,000/. to the Sultan, who made a present of it to his daughter
married to Reschid's son.' " %

* vSenior, pp. 17, -28. t Ibid. p. 31. % Tbirl. p. 84.

8o 'The Christians in Turkey.

Another conversation is reported in these words : —

" We talked of the degeneracy of the Turks. ' How do you
account,' I asked, ' for the strange fact, if it be a fact, that in
proportion as they have improved their institutions, in proportion
as hfe and property have been more secure, their weaUh and their
numbers have diminished? How comes it that the improvement
which gives prosperity to every other nation ruins them ? ' "

" * It is a fact,' said Y. * that while their institutions have im-
])roved, their wealth and population have diminished. Many
causes have contributed to this deterioration. The first and great
one is, that they are not producers. They have neither diligence,
intelligence, nor forethought. No Turk is an improving landlord,
or even a repairing landlord. When he has money, he spends it
on objects of immediate gratification. His most permanent in-
vestment is a timber palace, to last about as long as its builder.
His only professions are shop-keeping and service. He cannot
engage in any foreign commerce, as he speaks no language but
his own. No one ever heard of a Turkish house of business, or
of a Turkish banker, or merchant, or manufacturer. If he has
lands or houses, he lives on their rent ; if he has money, he spends
it, or employs it in stocking a shop, in which he can smoke and
gossip all day long. The only considerable enterprise in which he
ever engages is the farming some branch of the public revenue.' " *

But, not to multiply extracts, to testify to a fact which is
illustrated in almost every page of this valuable volume, I will
only add the following : —

" ' The distinguishing characteristic of the real Asiatic is, intellec-
tual sterility and unfitness for change. One nation, to save itself
trouble, declares that its laws shall be immutable. Another
institutes caste, and makes all further improvement impossible.
Another protects itself against new ideas, by refusing all inter-
course with foreigners. An Asiatic had rather copy than try to
invent, rather acquiesce than discuss, rather attribute events to
destiny dian to causes that can be inquired into and explained.
His only diplomacy is war ; his only internal means of government
are poison, the stick, and the bowstring.

" ' In the Turk these peculiarities are exaggerated. Whatever be
his puri)ose, he uses the means which require the least thought.
If he has to create a local government, he simply hands over to
the Pasha all the powers of the Sultan. If he wants money, he
takes it wherever he can find it ; and if he cannot get it by force,
he puts up to auction power, justice, the prosperity, and indeed
the subsistence, of liis subjects. He averts the dangers of a

* Senior, pp. 210, 211.

The Christians in 'Turkey. 8i

disputed succession by killing all the nephews of the Sultan, or
preventing any from coming into existence. He relies on the rain
for washing his streets, on the dogs for keeping them free from
offal, on the sun for making passable the tracks which he calls
roads, and on the climate for enabling him to live in his timber
house without repairing it. For everything else he relies on
Allah, and entreats God to do for him what he is too torpid to do
for himself His fatalism, is, in fact, indolence in its most exag-
gerated form. It is an escape, not only from exertion, but from
deliberation.

" ' Our attempts to improve the Turks put me in mind of the
old story of the people who tried to wash the negro white. He
never was, or will be, or can be anything but a barbarian.' " *

Lord Hobart and Mr. Foster, in their report on the state of
Turkish finance, speak of Turkey as possessing. . .

"An army scarcely sufficient to ensure the defence of the
frontier from marauding tribes, and powerless in the face of a
fanatical outbreak ; with a police, which in many parts of the
empire casts not even a shadow of restraint upon the thriving
trading of brigandage, and with production and commerce para-
lysed for want of roads." +

But, on this subject, it is possible to cite Sir Henry Bulwer
himself as a witness, the more valuable, because his Turkish pre-
dilections are sufficiently notorious not to permit of our believing
that he would exaggerate the evils of this empire of anarchy.
Speaking of Syria, he says : —

" To expect the same state of things in Syria that exists in a
well-, or even ill-, governed province in Europe, is out of the ques-
tion. The warlike and more than half-barbarous mountaineers
are in one quarter habituated to a state of military independence.
In another, the wild Arabs of the Desert have through all times
defied civilization, and resorted to plunder wherever there was not
a superior force to overawe their temerity, or punish their mis-
deeds. In the plains there exists a peasantry thrifty, and indus-
trious, but for ages oppressed and subdued. How can all these,
by the wand of an enchanter, be at once called into a homo-
geneous class of cultivators, artizans, shopkeepers, and merchants
obedient to the law, and acknowledging that equality before it
which distinguishes the citizens of our modern communities 1 It
appears that, for some time at least, there is only a choice between
the two extremes of disorder generated by licence, and submission,

* Senior, pp. 727, 328.

+ Report on the Financial Condition of Turkey, Dec. 1861, p. 31.

82 T^he Christians in Turkey.

tlic consequence of power, which will rarely be unaccompanied
by oppression. At the present time, however, these two extremes
appear unhappily associated. Wherever the Turk is sufficiently
predominant to be implicitly obeyed, laziness, corruption, extra-
vagance, and penury mark his rule ; and wherever he is too feeble
to exert more than a doubtful and nominal authority, the system
of government which prevails is that of the Arab robber and the
lawless Highland chieftain." *

And yet, according to the testimony of Mr. Brant, quoted
at page 20, it is evident that the task of reducing Syria to
order is only hopeless, because it is under the Government of
Turks.

In answer to Sir Henry Bulwer's question to the consuls —

" What measures do you think could best be taken to improve
generally the condition of the country ? " f

Mr. Charles Blunt, of Smyrna, replies : —

" Previously to suggesting any measures, it is most undoubtedly,
under existing circumstances, a question of very serious import
whether, by attempting a re-organization, and consequently dis-
turbing the present state of things, any beneficial results could be
obtained. My foregoing replies have shown that, when human
life and property were secure, the state of the Christian races
began to improve simultaneously, it may be said, with agriculture
and commerce. The more than richness of the soil, and well-
known superior intelligence of the Christian over the Mahometan
races, mainly contributed to that improvement ; therefore the
now daily-increasing means of instruction, so largely availed of
by the Christians, but unheeded by the Turks ; the facility of
communication with more civilized nations by steam, and the
introduction of railways, will probably do more for the general
good of the country, even under the present faulty system, than
the introduction of new measures which the Turks cannot or will
not understand, and I may add, have neither the desire nor
capacity for carrying out.

" In making the latter remarks, however strong they may
appear, I shall venture to add, for my justification, that, with a
people with whom the idea of patriotism is wanting ; people in
whose characters apathy and procrastination are predominant ;
people whose ideas are, in the extreme sense of the words,
selfish and sensual ; people whose existing social and moral evils
add to the daily-increasing degradation of the country'; with such

* Papers on Administrative and Financial Reform in Turkey, 1858 — i86r,
PP- .^2, 33.

f Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 4.

"The Christians in Turkey, 83

sorry elements to work with, the introduction of new measures
might probably tend to disturb the present steadily-progressing
intelligence and prosperity of the country."*

Nor is there any hope of improvement in the way of
education : —

" The ignorance of the Mussulmans on all educational matters
is notorious : indeed, they delude themselves with the idea that
they are so infinitely superior to the conquered races that it would
be derogatory in them to improve their minds in the same way as
the Christians do. The Rayahs have begun of late years to
understand the immense importance of education, and the great
advantages to be derived from it, and they demonstrate a most
praiseworthy desire for acquiring knowledge and for having their
children properly educated.

" The utmost that a Turk will attempt is to follow the old
beaten track of his ancestors, in merely learning to read the
Koran, and to write sufficiently well to be able to compose a letter
with tolerable correctness and elegance. The Turkish Khoja, or
schoolmaster, is totally ignorant of geography, general history,
natural science, and modern languages ; indeed, the Turks deem
such knowledge to be quite useless." t

No wonder that every one who has seen tlie country, has
lived in Turkish society, and is able to observe, is in despair
of preserving this empire as at present constituted : —

" ' As for the integrity of Turkey,' said W. ' as a permanent
arrangement, it is impossible. We may dose her with Hatt-i-
Humaiouns, but she is past physic, " nullum remedium agit in
cadaver." She is worse than a corpse ; she is a corpse in a state
of decomposition.' " J

" This country is a pourriture. To civilize the Mussulman is
impossible. All that we can do is to try to raise the Christian.
He has borne on his shoulders far too long this cadavrcr §

If there exists any gleam of hope, however faint, for this
Turkish race, it is in the overthrow of the Government of the
country ; for ignorant, and inert, and sensual as the whole people
may be, the governing body, the officials throughout the empire,
are more depraved even than the Mussulmans whom they
govern, and under the firm and equitable rule of a Christian
people it might even be possible to save the poorer classes
amongst the Turks from that utter extinction which surely

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 34.
t Ibid. p. 87. t Senior, p. ^^. § Ibid. p. 147.

G 2

84 77z^ Christians in 'Turkey,

awaits them if the Government of the Sultan continue much
longer : —

" Mr. Bkmt was for twenty years consul at Salonica. I asked
him which population he preferred, the Salonicans or the Smyr-
niotes.

" ' There is not much,' he said, * to choose between them. The
poorer, the humbler, the Turk is, the better he is ; as he mixes
with the world, and as he gets money and power, he deteriorates.
In the lowest class I have sometimes found truth, honesty, and
gratitude ; in the middle classes, seldom ; in the highest, never.
Even the lowest classes are changed for the worse. Five and
twenty years ago you could trust a bag of money to a porter for
short distances, to a courier for long ones ; it was the practice.
No one ventures to do so now. The race, however, is rapidly
dying out' " *

And, again : —

"*The Turk of the 15th century,' answered Y. ' was a different
person from the Turk of the 19th.

" ' He was athletic and vigorous, he lived in exercise and in the
open air. He was not the sedentary smoking sensualist that he is
now : but I will not deny than even the degenerate Turk has some
virtues. He is sober. All classes are sober in eating, the great
majority are sober in drinking. He is sober in conduct, he is not
easily ruffled or easily excited. He is calm in both good and bad
fortune. He is eminently hospitable and charitable. Unhappily
his virtues wither under the rays of prosperity. The poor Turk is
honest and humane, the Turkish private soldier is brave. The
rich Turk is always an oppressor.' " t

The testimony of Lord Carlisle is to much the same effect: —

" Among the lower orders of the people, there is considerable
simplicity and loyalty of character, and a fair disposition to be
obliging and friendly. Among those who emerge from the mass,
and have the opportunities of helping themselves to the good
things of the world, the exceptions from thorough-paced corrup-
tion and extortion are most rare ; and in the whole conduct of
l)ublic business and routine of official life, under much apparent
courtesy and undeviating good-breeding, a spirit of servility, de-
traction, and vindictiveness appears constantly at work. The
bulk of the people is incredibly uninformed and ignorant." %

With one other extract from another traveller I quit this
branch of my subject : —

* Senior, pp. 189, 190. + Jbid. p. 216,

t Diary in Turkish Waters, p. 182.

^he Christians in 'Turkey, 85

"To do any good in this country, or to see it done, a man
ought to live to a patriarchal age, and to see the Turks dis-
possessed of the sovereignty forthwith. There is a malediction
of heaven and a self-destnictiveness on their whole system. I
know them well — I have now lived many years among them —
there are admirable qualities in the poor Turks, but their govern-
ment is a compound of ignorance, blundering, vice — vice of the
most atrocious kind — and weakness and rottenness. And what-
ever becomes a part of government, or in any way connected with
it, by the fact becomes corrupt. Take the honestest Turk you
can find, and put him in office and power, and then tell me three
months afterwards what he is ! He must conform to the general
system, or cease to be in office. One little wheel, however sub-
ordinate it may be, would derange the whole machine if its teeth
did not fit." *

The only hope, however, for this country rests in the
Christian population. The superiority of the Rayah or Chris-
tian subjects of the Porte to the Mussulmans is so notorious,
that no traveller in Turkey can pass it by unnoticed. They
are at present rising elastic under the hand of the oppressor, so
that the nature of the vices, with which they are justly charged,
are, because clearly the result of servitude, grounds of hope and
reasonable expectation that in their hands and under their
government these fertile countries of Europe and Asia may
again blossom as the rose and be studded by smiling villages.

Again to make use of Mr. Senior's diary : —

^'Monday, November 16th. — I showed Y. the journal which I
have been keeping here.

" ' All that you have reported of me,' he said, ' is correct. And
I think that you have well collected the opinions that prevail in
Smyrna respecting the Turks. But I should like to see more
about the Greeks. They are destined to play — indeed they play
now — a more important part than the Turks. I admit that they
have great faults ; that they are false, intriguing, and servile ; that
they have, in short, many of the bad qualities which might be
expected from four hundred years of oppression. The wonder is,
that they are not worse. We find that even Englishmen are worse
for twenty or thirty years of residence among us. But their dili-
gence, their public spirit, their ambition, their thirst for knowledge,
and their sagacity, are beyond all praise.' " *

* Turkey and its Destiny, by Charles McFarlane. Vol. II. pp. 84, 85.

86 T*he Christians in Turkey,

Again : —

" The Turks are idle and improvident. The Greek labourers
arc not good, one of them does not do half the work of an
Englishman ; but he does three times the work of a Turk, and I
pay him three times the wages." +

Mr. J. E. Blunt, British consul at Pristina, though, in his
report, he points out that " the Christian peasant labours under
certain disadvantages from which the Turks, in comparison,
suffer little or not at all," yet tells us that

" A Christian village is in general better formed and cleaner,
its yards more stocked, and its inhabitants better clothed than the
Turkish." %

But, on this point, we hardly require the opinions of consuls,
nor even the sad pictures which travellers give us of the con-
trast between the decaying Turkish village, or, more frequently,
the clump of cypresses and the deserted cemetery, which alone
show where a Turkish village has been, and the Christian
hamlet embosomed in trees and tracked from afar by the sounds
of joyous infancy. The one fact that, in every province of Turkey,
the population is rapidly declining — that scarcely a town in the
empire can be pointed out, in which whole quarters have not
totally disappeared within the last few years, " or have left
nothing behind them but ruined mosques, minarets, and baths,"
and that everywhere, whilst the Turks are on the decrease,
Greeks, Armenians, and Jews are increasing in numbers, § is
more significant than all reasoning or the partial accounts of
travellers. To use again the words of Lord Carlisle : —

On the continent, in the islands, it is the Greek peasant who
works and thrives ; the Turk reclines, smokes his pipe, and decays.
The Greek village increases its population, and teems with chil-
dren ; in the Turkish village you find roofless walls and crumbling
mosques." jj

So that no fate can be so afflictive, no injury to this country

so great, as that which we aim at, " the maintenance of the

* Senior, pp. 223, 224.

+ Ibid, p. 164.

X Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 35.

§ Turkey and its Destiny, by Charles McFarlane. Vol. II. p. 63.

II Diary in Turkish Waters, p. 1.S3,

The Christians in Turkey, 87

integrity of Turkey ; '' for if we repress the growth of the
Christian races — if, in the words of Mr. Senior, —

" You leave the Turk to himself, this country, if it does not
become another Greece, ' by shaking off the Turkish yoke,' will
become another Morocco."*

In this consists the hopelessness of expecting any improve-
ment, so long as the government of the Sultan continues. The
evil of the present state of things arises not so much from
Turkish character as from Turkish rule. This fact has been
contested by Mr. Layard, who, in the course of a recent debate,
endeavoured to defend the Government of that country at the
expense of the people. According to his view of the case, it is
the people of Turkey as contradistinguished from the govern-
ment who are the source of all the misrule, all the corruption,
all the evil which have destroyed the national life ; it is the
people alone, according to the Member for Southwark, who are
responsible for " the horrid massacres and outrages " by which
the Turks have attempted to reduce the Christian population.
The assertion, however, that these deplorable events have their
origin in the spontaneous fanaticism of the people is not true.
Almost every massacre which has shocked Europe has been the
deliberate work of the Sultan, and has not arisen from the
people of Turkey. The people have, indeed, been incited to
act, and have been but too ready to obey the suggestions or
directions of the Court of Constantinople ; but the evidence
is too complete on this matter to leave us in any doubt about
the quarter from whence the instigation came. From the
massacre of Scopia,t down to that of Damascus,| we have
invariably seen fanatical populaces acting under the direction
of their pashas, and these, again, only obeying the wishes
of the Sultan and his advisers. There can be no doubt of
the fact. It is this circumstance, that these were all govern-
ment massacres, ordered for the political object of keeping down
the increase of the Christian population, which has led those
who are best acquainted with Turkish politics to predict that

* Senior, pp. 208, 209.

t Turkey and its Destiny, by Charles McFarlane. Vol. I. pp. 202 — 228.

X See the Blue Books on the Syrian Massacres, passim.

88 T^he Christians in Turkey.

there will be no more massacres on a large scale, until the
Ministers of the Porte shall have recovered from the alarm felt
throughout all the departments of State in Turkey, lest the
recent French occupation of Syria should be permanent.

One consul expressly says that " the popular fanaticism never
breaks out until the fanatical tendency of the Governor is
visible/' * But even then it does not break out of itself. It
watches and waits for the orders of the central government.
Let us follow for a moment the course of one of these massacres.
The evidence is complete with reference to the last of these
" horrid massacres and outrages." In the Syrian massacre the
arms of the Christians were first taken away by the Lieutenant
of the Sultan, and given to the Druse chieftains. The Christians
were next led to abandon their strong positions, and to rely upon
the protection of the Turkish troops. When in a safe place,
the approach to their retreat was thrown open by the Turkish
commander to the Druses ; and the Turkish soldiers pretending
to aim at the assailants of the Christians, poured in their
whole fire upon the unarmed peasants, men, women, and child-
ren. For his share in these deeds, Kurschid Pasha was sent to
Rhodes, where he is " the fountain of all honour and advance-
ment "t in that island. Tahir Pasha, who presided at the mas-
sacre, was allowed to retire to Beyrout,t whilst the guilty agent
in the Jeddah massacre, Namik Pasha, was first rewarded with the
office of Minister at War, and then appointed Pasha of Bagdad.

In considerations of general policy, in those deeper matters

* Report of Consuls on Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 28.

+ Mr. Gregory's Speech in the House of Commons, May 29, 1863.

% "When I was in Syria in the spring of 1861, I inquired what had become
of Tahir Pasha, whom I had known at Kars. I was told that he had been
adjudged worthy of death by the almost unanimous verdict of the European
commission, for having presided over and directed the wholesale massacres
of Christian villages of unresisting and disarmed men, women, and children.
This man had received an English education, having been for six years at the
Woolwich Artillery vSchool. His sentence had been commuted to imprison-
ment for life, and so I concluded he was incarcerated in a gloomy dungeon.

Before I left Beyrout, I was admiring the position of a building placed so as
to command tlie finest scenery. I saw, on the balcony, two Turks of rank
playing at dominoes, and enjoying themselves in true Turkish fashion. I
thought I recognized Tahir Pasha in one of them, but to make sure, I rode up
to the balcony and called him by name. He came forsvard, and we had some
conversation together." — Extract of a Lettet from Dr. Sandwith.

^he Christians in 'Turkey, 89

which involve the life of a nation, too great stress is oftentimes
laid upon mere material interests. All is not to be settled
by appeals to tables of exports and imports. There are
more enduring interests than can be represented by bales of
cotton goods and crates of earthenware. Communities of
slave-owners may be larger importers of dry goods than a like
number of freemen. Accident may cause this. The former
may be larger purchasers merely because they are smaller
producers. We are not, however, to make bills of lading the
only measure of our sympathies, nor pore curiously over the
columns of exports and imports, before we determine whether
slavery be evil ; whether despotism be preferable to consti-
tutionalism ; whether a profligate Mussulman Government
shall so far enlist our support as to make us indifferent to
the condition of the millions of Christians pining under its yoke.
For this reason I should not have thought of appealing to
the figures of the Custom-house. Mr. Layard, however, has
done so ; and, though I demur to their universal applicability,
yet I am unable altogether to pass them by. I am puzzled
to understand why he should have imported this element
into his speech on the oppressions of the Christians in
Turkey. It yields no support to his assertions — nay, it conflicts
with the whole tenor of his speech. I have abundantly proved,
from the testimony of every one who has written on Turkey,
that the race is dying out in every province of the empire,
whilst the Christians on the same soil are uniformly in-
creasing in numbers. Now, under these circumstances, we
should expect to find some fluctuation in the value of the exports
and imports to that country. If the declining, or Mussulman,
race, were in the main the chief purchasers or producers, then
we should find the exports and imports suffer a corresponding
diminution. If, however, the increasing race, the Christian sub-
jects of Turkey, are the better customers for the produce of the
rest of the world, then the imports will show an increase pro-
portionate to that of the increase of this part of the population.
Now, Mr. Layard tells us that —

*' In 1 83 1 the Turkish import trade from England amounted to

go The Christians in Turkey.

888,684/. ; and in 1839 it had increased to 1,430,224/. ; in 1848
to 3,116,365/.; and in i860 to 5,639,898/. The export trade
had increased no less rapidly from 1,387,416/. in 1840, to
3,202,558/. in 1856, and 5,505,492/. in i860, the Danubian IMn-
cipalities included. In fact, the trade with England had increased
in twenty-three years 635 per cent. The results as regards France
have been no less remarkable. In 1833 the imports from that
country amounted in value to 16.730,000 francs; in 1856 they
had risen to 91,860,000 francs. The exports in 1833 were only
874,000 francs; in 1856 they had risen to 131,546,258 francs.
The revenue of Turkey shows a no less extraordinary result. In
the time of Sultan Mahmoud it amounted to only 3,000,000/. a
year; in 1850 it had risen to 7,000,000/.: it has now reached
15,000,000/." *

How much of this increase is due to the freedom of the
Danubian Principalities ; how much of this must be credited to
Servia, Wallachia, and Moldavia, Mr. Layard does not tell us :
though it is noteworthy, that in order to show this great increase,
he has to include countries now free from the Ottoman yoke,
and flourishing because free.

But in culling these figures, Mr. Layard unaccountably over-
looked others which are still more deeply significant of the differ-
ence between the slumberous and decaying Turkish race and the
active and advancing Greek people. Thirty years ago, Greece
commenced its national life. Till that time it was a province of
Turkey. It has now a population of only about 1,200,000 —
just a twentieth part of the population of Turkey. Yet the return
of the ships and tonnage entering the port of Constantinople in
the years 1857 and 1861, gives us these remarkable items : —

1857. i86i.

Ships. Tons. Ships. Tons.

Turkish . . 4,055 377j5oo . . 3,690 360,612
Greek. . . 2,738 461,95? • • 3»2io 527,131
Ionian Islands 290 45,^34 • • 5°° 82,853

So that the whole shipping, coastwise and foreign, sailing under
the Turkish flag, and entering the port of its own capital, is less
than that of the petty kingdom of Greece, and the former is
declining, whilst the latter is increasing.f

One fact, however, is clear from the figures cited by Mr.

* The Condition of Turkey and her Dependencies. A Speech delivered in the
House of Commons, May 29, 1863, by A. H. Layard, Esq. M.P. (Murray.) P. 57.

f Statistical tables of trade of Foreign Countries. " Parliamentary Papers."

ne Christians in 'Turkey, 9I

Layard and those which I have just given. With the rapid
dechne of the Turkish race the foreign trade as rapidly increases,
whilst the increase in trade keeps pace with the increase in the
numbers, the activity, and the intellectual progress of the Greeks.
What, then, is the inference, the only inference to be drawn
from these facts, but that the Turks are neither consumers of
foreign goods, nor producers of articles of commerce to any
appreciable amount ; and that, when the whole race has disap-
peared from the countries which it occupies, indeed, but does
not till ; which it possesses but only to render desolate and to
curse with sterility ; that then, not merely will the peace of the
rest of the world be less frequently menaced, but its commerce
will be largely augmented.

Increasing wealth implies industrious population ; it does not
prove that they are not oppressed. Tyrants tire of persecuting
when there is unyielding submission, and no element exists to
alarm their fears. Even the Turk would not plunder, unless
stimulated by the knowledge of the gains of industry hoarded
up or invested by the Christian races. But increase in
numbers, and even augmenting wealth, is no evidence that
the people are not oppressed. History gives us many examples
of great increase in numbers, in wealth, and in intelligence, in
face of grievous tyranny, and in defiance of cruelties resorted to
to keep down the advance of a subject race. It was the growth
of the Low Countries, in population and material resources,
which, awakening the alarm of Spain, led to their oppression.
The Prime Minister of Philip the Second retorted the charge of
cruelty and wrong by pointing to the growth of Leyden and the
thriving commerce of Antwerp. His Under Secretary for Foreign
Affairs praised the tolerant rule of Alva, and condemned the
restlessness and ingratitude of the Hollanders, much as Mr.
Layard eulogizes Turkish Pashas and condemns the discon-
tented Christians ; and all the members of the Spanish Cabinet
united in attributing the movements in the Low Countries to
" foreign intrigues," and to " persons of various kinds not iden-
tified with or belonging to the native population."* History,

* Sir Henry Bulwer's Circular to Her Majesty's Consuls in the Ottoman
dominions.

9 a The Christians in Turkey.

however, has returned a different verdict, as history will reverse
the sentence passed by Mr. Layard and Sir Henry Bulwer.

Be it remembered, then, that these massacres are not the
spontaneous outbreaks of Mussulman fanaticism directed against
Christians, nor cruelties springing from the rapacity of the
Turkish Government, and aimed against its richer subjects
merely. It is the oppression of self-preservation springing from
the alarm felt by the Turks at the increasing numbers, wealth,
and influence of the Christians, and at their growth, notwith-
standing all the cruel means which have been resorted to in
order to keep down the increase of the Christian population.
History is ever repeating itself. We may see in Turkey the
same spectacle which the rulers of Rome beheld in the early
centuries of the Christian era, the growth within the empire
of a despised and persecuted sect ; growing, though persecuted
— nay, as it seemed, growing because persecuted. But not
only in this particular have we a parallel between the condition
of the early Christians and those of modern times in countries sub-
jected to Turkish rule, we have a repetition, also, of the means
which the Neros and the Diocletians attempted to prevent the
growth of the people and to destroy the hostile religion. But
we may find a closer parallel than even this. When I read of
the oppression which is the normal condition of the Christians
of Turkey ; when I think of the massacres of Damascus and
Jeddah, I am naturally reminded of the hard bondage of the
Jews and the instincts of Pharaoh ; and in a few verses in the
beginning of the book of Exodus I read a faithful picture of the
growth of the Christian people amidst oppression, and of the
cruel policy by which the government of Turkey endeavours to
restrain the increase of a race which it hates and fears : — " And
the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly,
and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty ; and the land w-as
filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt. . . .
And he said unto his people. Behold, the people of the children
of Israel are more and mightier than we : Come on, let us deal
wisely with them ; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that,
when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies.

T!he Christians in 'Turkey, 93

and fight against ns, and so get them up out of the land. There-
fore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with
their burdens. . . . But the more they afflicted them, the more
they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of
the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of
Israel to serve with rigour : And they made their lives bitter
with hard bondage, in mortar : and in brick, and in all manner
of service in the field all their service, wherein they made them
serve, was with rigour." * And when hard bondage failed to
thin their numbers sufficiently, and to stay the increase of the
oppressed people, then we read that Pharaoh ordered the destruc-
tion of the male children, from state policy, just as now, from
the same state policy, the Sultan, from time to time, directs thQ
massacre of his Christian subjects.

But it is not the fact of the oppression and wrong practised
throughout the Turkish empire which, as an Englishman, I
chiefly regret ; it is that, in defiance of all our boasted sympathy
with enslaved and suffering people, in defiance of all our
traditions of non-intervention in the internal afFaii^ of other
countries, we strengthen by our influence and our material
power the hands of the oppressor, and are continually meddling,
against this suffering people, in the internal government of
Turkey. The impression that we do so is increasing through-
out the dominions of the Sultan. This knowledge is em-
bittering the people, unhappily subject to his rule, against
England. It is acting also as a perpetual irritant to France
and Russia ; excusing, and, as they think, rendering neces-
sary, their interference, and sowing the seeds of future trouble
and wars between the Great Powers of Europe. At least
half our warlike preparations and expenses of late years have
arisen from this one source. The impression that we so inter-
fere is, indeed, not groundless ; it is avowed by Ministers of
State, and recorded in official documents. " Her Majesty's
Government wishes, as you well know, to maintain the Ottoman
Empire,'^ is the language of Sir Henry Bulwer ; but it does far
more than wish, in order to accomplish this object; it tramples

* Exodus i. 7 — 14.

04 The Christians in Turkey.

on all other considerations, it disregards cveiy right, and tole-
rates the breach of every treaty which has been made for tlie
amelioration of the people of this " Ottoman Empire."

I need not travel beyond the words of a recent speech of the
I'nder Secretary for Foreign Affairs, for mournful evidence of
the truth of these assertions. Much of that speech was directed
against the Government of Servia. The people in these pro-
vinces, at the cost of a war of thirty years' duration, emanci-
pated themselves from the dominion of Turkey. They hold at
present a semi-independent position, paying a small tribute,
and burdened by the presence of five garrisons, but beyond this
free, by treaty, from Turkish control. Whilst all the other
provin''es of Turkey have for a long time past been declining
in number:-, from the dying out of the Turkish population,
Servia. on the other hand, is admitted by her opponents to
be rapidly increasing.* Though small in territory, it has more
miles of read than are to be found in ten times the extent of
territory .n other parts of the Turkish empire, and the value
of land — one great test of material advancement — is in this
principality more than a hundred times higher than in Asia
Minor. These are signs of progress which are not gratifying
to the apologists of Turkey, and hence Servia is the object
of their unceasing attacks. Recently the Government of this
province thought it right to encourage the formation of corps
of volunteers, similar to the defensive force which has sprung
up in our own country. The circumstances of the times seemed
to call for this. The new Sultan had commenced his reign by
largely increasing his regular army. Great military preparations
were taking place throughout Turkey — large levies of men, and
the accumulation of military stores — whilst in this country the
Sultan was purchasing great quantities of arms. Bosnia, on
the eastern frontier of Servia, was held by twenty battalions
of Turkish soldiers, and these were about to be increased. t
Bulgaria, on the eastern boundary, contained a similar over-
whelming force ; whilst the most successful general in the

* Herzegovina, &c. by Lieutenant Arbuthnot, p. 262,

+ Report of Consuls on the Condition of Christians in Turkey, p. 54.

The Christians in Turkey. 95

Turkish army was marching on the southern border of the
principahty, to suppress an insurrection in the Herzegovina,
occasioned, as Mr. Arbuthnot admits, by the exactions of
Hadji Pasha, the officer of the Porte.* Whilst all this array
of troops was going on, Servia itself was garrisoned by some
eight thousand Turks, and had for an army — if so small
a force can be dignified by that name — between three and
four thousand men. It had been culpable, criminal neglect on
the part of Prince Michael, if he had taken no precautions,
whilst his people were thus surrounded by Turkish armies. He
took steps to arm the militia throughout the principality, for at
that moment the militia, which had only a nominal existence,
possessed no arms. And this is made, by the Foreign Office of
England, a charge against the Prince. Under like circumstances,
indeed, in England, we hear of great activity in the dockyards, of
the necessity of new fortifications, of naval reserves, of augmented
battalions, and the enrolment of volunteers. And ought that
which is held the highest prudence with reference to ourselves to
be made a charge against Servia ? But Mr. Layard teHs us it was
"monstrous" for Servia to seek to arm its militia because the
" rights and actual status " of that principality were " gua-
ranteed by the Great Powers of Europe," but surely he must have
forgotten that the " rights and actual status " of Turkey were
also "guaranteed by the" same "Great Powers of Europe;'^
and that, if, notwithstanding this guarantee, it were allowable for
the Sultan to collect an army which could only be used against
his own people, it could not be criminal in the same people
to take some precautions against fresh Syrian massacres, asjainst
a repetition of the scenes only a few months before acted in the
Lebanon. May the wolf sharpen his claws and his teeth and
charge it as an affront upon the sheep that they look about for
the means of safety ?

But the endeavours of the Prince of Servia to obtain arms
was made the ground for an attack of so singular a kind, one
which is so characteristic of the inexactitude of Mr, Lavard's

^ Herzegovina, pp. I'i, 38.

q6 T'he Christians in Turkey.

statements, that I must briefly refer to it. In tlie report of his
speech, corrected by himself, I find the following words : —

" The conduct of the Servian Government since the bombard-
ment has been entirely passed over by my honourable friend.
What has occurred since that event, and whilst the great Powers
have been endeavouring to effect some arrangement between the
Porte and Servia? We find large supplies of arms clandestinely,
I would almost say treacherously, sent into Servia. According to
some statements, as many as 100,000 stand ; according to the
lowest estimate, between 40,000 and 50,000. These arms were
not purchased in the open market and for an avowed purpose,
but were secretly furnished from Imperial arsenals in the south of
Russia, and furnished, there is evety reasoji to believe^ without pay-
nient. They were secretly sent across the Moldo-Wallachian
frontiers, and under the charge of Russian and Wallachian officials.
AMien information was obtained as to what was going on, and
remonstrances were made by the Porte and by some of the great
Powers, the fact of arms being sent was boldly denied ; then it
was asserted that the arms were few, and were not intended for
Servia at all. When the whole transaction was fully exposed, the
Prince of Servia came boldly forward and declared that the arms
were for him, and that he had a perfect right to receive them."

We find here that species of rhetoric for which the Member
for Southwark is distinguished. Suggestions in the room of
facts, insinuations in place of argument, and Russia dangling
as bugbear to aflfright the Commons : but we have worse charac-
teristics than these. Would any reader of Mr. Layard's speech
gather from it the facts for which I vouch, and which were per-
fectly known to him whilst making this statement ?

Tlie Prince of Servia when he needed arms applied first to
this country ; a contract w^as drawm up with Birmingham gun-
makers. It only needed the signature when the manufacturers
received notice from the Foreign Office, of wdiich Mr. Layard
is the Under Secretary, that these arms would not be allowed to
leave the country, and this, though the exportation of arms to
the Northern States and also to the Southern Confederacy of
America was going on daily. Failing then to obtain the arms
from Birmingham, the Prince procured them from a Russian
maker, and the money, which was to have been paid in England,

'The Christians in Turkey. 97

was paid in the former country, and yet, knowing all these cir-
cumstances, the Under Secretary of State for Foreign AiFairs
dared to rise in the House of Commons and to make it a charge
against Servia that " these arms were not purchased in an
open market," when it was the authorities of the Foreign Office
alone who had hindered their being so purchased.

Wlien Mr. Layard makes inexact assertions in the House of
Commons, it is not surprising for us to find from the newspapers
that every bench in that house seems simultaneously filled
with noisy sceptics, joining in derisive cries of unbelief. This
is a small matter. It is a more important matter, however, to
remember that this country is degraded in the eyes of Europe
when Ministers of State are permitted to palter with truth and
honesty in this manner.

Further on in his speech Mr. Layard attempted a vindication
of the past policy of this country with reference to Turkey. I
have neither space nor time to unravel the sophistries nor expose
the misstatements which abound throughout the speech, nor is
it necessary to do so. There are two points, howeveT, which I
will advert to, one as illustrating the wrongs thoughtlessly,
recklessly inflicted upon an innocent much-suftering people —
the other the deeds actively done in our zeal to " maintain
the integrity of Turkey."

It is some extenuation of a wrong that it was thoughtlessly
inflicted. But even in that case the wrong-doer is bound to
make some amends for the injury which has followed upon his
thoughtlessness. I am not aware that a nation has any right
to hold itself exempt from making the same atonement.

In 1840-41, in pursuance of the policy of this country, by
the aid of a British fleet and land forces, the Pasha of Egypt
was driven from Syria, and that country was restored to the
immediate rule of the Porte. I am not concerned with the
policy itself which led to this. It may or may not, for aught
I know, have been, on the whole, a sound policy. Tiie state
of Syria, however, at the moment when we transferred it to the
hands of the Sultan, is worth noticing. The condition of that
country was this : — the people were, for the first time for a

H

5 8 The Christians in Turkey,

century at least, enjoying security of life and property, the laws
were firmly and impartially administered, crime had diminished,
outrages against the Christians had almost entirely ceased ;
trade had revived, lands which had long gone out of cultivation
were again under tillage. The change from its former mis-
government was, according to trustworthy accounts, marvellous.
We interfered ; we drove out the Egyptians ; we transferred it
to the rule of its old masters without, unhappily, making one
stipulation in favour of the inhabitants. Immediately, as if by
an enchanter's wand, all life died out, the lands which had
been but just rescued from the desert again went out of culti-
vation, the old insecurity made itself felt ; again we find the old
outrages, the former crimes. But over and above this, the mas-
sacres which have taken place since that moment, such as Mr.
Rogers, Mr. Cyril Graham, Mr. Moore, speak of, have caused a
destruction of far more than 50,000 persons, men, women, and
children. This has been the result, the consequence, of our
policy. Tt was a result which we were bound to have guarded
against ; which w'e might have foreseen. It was a crime against
humanity to have handed over the people of Syria to the rule
of the Porte, without some stipulation for their better treat-
ment, some precautions against their destruction. Though it
be true that

" Evil is wrought by want of thoughtj
As well as want of heart," *

still evil is not the less evil whatever the source may be from
which it springs. But granted that this was a thoughtless
wrong, we " maintain the integrity of Turkey " in ways which
lack even this extenuation, unsatisfactory as it is.

Mr. Layard, in his speech, referred to the war against Mon-
tenegro, waged by Turkey during the last year. He, of course,
lays the entire blame upon the Montenegrins, who, " without
any provocation, made a wanton attack upon Turkey." Accounts
differ widely on this matter. However, be that as it may, it
hardly excuses the part taken by the British Government in

that struggle.

Hood.

The Christians in Turkey. ^9

At the close of the Crimean War, the Great Powers of
Europe, commiserating the condition of these brave moun-
taineers, appointed a commission to settle certain questions of
boundary which had arisen between them and the Turks.
Amongst the commissioners sent from England was a military
officer, who was or had been consul at Bosna Serai. He
and the rest of the members of the commission were hos-
pitably received by the people of Montenegro, who entered
warmly into the pacific errand on which they had come. In
order to arrange the question of frontier, the commissioners
traversed Montenegro ; they penetrated its defiles ; they made
themselves familiar with its fastnesses ; those gorges which had
enabled its inhabitants for so many ages to defy the Turks and
to defend their independence. Hardly had the commission
completed their labours when war broke out between Turkey
and Montenegro — between the few thousands of those sons of
the Black Mountain and the empire of 24,000,000 inhabitants.
Then comes a story which is scarcely credible. No sooner had
this taken place, whilst the Turkish army was preparing to
invade Montenegro, the commissioner was directed by the
British Government to proceed to the head-quarters of Omer
Pasha, and, with the knowledge of the defiles and approaches
to the Black Mountain thus obtained in peace, to place him-
self at the service of the Turkish general. What follows I
prefer to state in the language of the correspondent of the
Times, who dates his letter from " Scutari," in Albania, on the
31st of August, 1862, and who, after pointing out the defects
in the organization of the Turkish army, says : —

"The fault must lie therefore somewhere else. The first thing
which occurs in this respect, is of course the imperfect organiza-
tion of the Turkish army in all the special services, such as staff
engineering, &:c. It is nothing better off in this respect than it
was in the beginning of the Eastern AVar ; nay, if possible, it is
worse off, for then there was still a number of foreigners there
who knew something about such things, but these have been for
the most jjart shelved or eliminated, and now here with the flower
of the Turkish army, there is not a single man who can be trusted
with making even a simple sketch of the ground. How correct
this is may be judged from the circumstance that the only reliable

loo ^he Christians in Turkey.

sketches of the ground which are used are due to the exertions of
Mr. Churchill, Ifcr Majesty's Commissioner in these parts. Were
it my f for his sketches and personal kno7c>ie(ii^e of the country^ they
would he ivorking altogether in the dark. They hai'e not a single
guide who knows anything about the country, or a single spy to give
them information of the moTements of the mountaineers.'^

The truth of tliis statement has never been questioned. It
has remained for nearly two years unchallenged. It would be
hard to say what law was not broken by this act. The first
principles of international law were utterly disregarded. The
chief provision of the Treaty of Paris was trampled under foot.
And then we talk of "Russian agents," and of "foreign in-
trigues." But we must go back to the middle ages for base-
ness equal to this — for an instance of corresponding barbarity
and perfidy. If it be by means such as these that we are to
" maintain the integrity of Turkey," it is time that we should
look to ourselves.

But Mr. Layard, in his speech, goes on to tell us that —

"The best blood of the race has been spilt, the bravest and
most warlike of their young men have been killed, and it will
take Montenegro a quarter of a century at least to recover the
strength she possessed before embarking in this fatal war."

The brave people of Montenegro may recover from the effect
of this disastrous war in " a quarter of a century." I trust that
another Power, which lost more than Montenegro did in that
disastrous campaign, v,ill erase this blot from her escutcheon
within the same period.

But I dare not speak more on the subject. To one w^ho
loves his country with intensest affection nothing can be more
painful than this and similar terrible revelations of perfidy.
Would that we could wake up from our present delusion to
see that this marsh-light which we are pursuing can never be
possessed — that there is nothing to be grasped in this worse
than phantom of Turkish integrity, and that, like similar
adventurers, whilst straining after that which has no substantial
existence, we are becoming ourselves very noisome by reason
of the foul mire through which we have to struggle.

The Christians in Turkey, loi

When I wrote the first pages of this pamphlet, it was my
intention to have made use of the official records of Servia,
and to have given instances of those "cruelties and barbarities"
practised daily in Bulgaria and Bosnia, the recital of which
Dr. Sandwith* speaks of as curdling the blood with horror.
I have, however, been unable to do so in consequence of the
length to which this pamphlet has extended. Nor is there
any necessity to make use of such evidence. At best, the
facts which are there treasured up, the deeds of violence there
written, are but the incidents which Mr. Holmes, Mr. Zohrab,
and other English consuls make use of in their generalisations,
when they speak of the terror and discontent which reign
throughout the limit of their respective consulates. I have
another reason for passing by these deeply affecting documents
— these wailings of young nations over the cruelties of their
oppressors. English authorities, though they may not be more
truthful than non-English ones, are deservedly of greater
weight, inasmuch as they can be tested and examined —
confronted with other witnesses, and rejected if their evidence
should be undeserving of attention. Men who know Mr. Senior
will place reliance on his statements. Those who have met
Dr. Sandwith in society will acknowledge the truthfulness of
his character and the opportunities which five years of travel
in that country have given him of forming a judgment on
matters connected with Turkey. Men cannot well doubt about
Lord Carlisle's assertions or his power of describing accurately
what he had observed. Mr. Cyril Graham has had more
abundant means of judging as to the effect of British policy in
Syria than all the members of all the cabinets which have
directed the afiairs of England during the last half century.
And the testimony of these men is uniform. I have related
only one incident upon the authority of a lady who is not
English. I have cited the testimony of only one Englishman
who is not alive to answer the interrogations of those who are
still sceptical as to the condition of the Christians of Turkey.

* See at p. 4.

J02 'The Christians in Turkey.

My chief authorities, however, are the reports of the
various consuls throughout Turkey. It is true that these
were collected for a purpose. It is true that the intention of
Sir Henry Bulwer was to supply materials wherewith to deny
the statements of Prince Gortschakoff. It is true that only
some of these reports have been selected by the Foreign Office;
that of those selected many have been pruned and mutilated —
given not in extenso, but only in fragments — in such a way as
to remind us of the famous Affghanistan despatches. Yet,
garbled as the statements are — manipulated as the reports have
been, there is enough remaining in that one Parliamentary Paper
to demonstrate the absurdity, the impotent folly, of those who
still cling to the notion of *' maintaining the integrity of
Turkey."

More noteworthy, however, than the positive evidence of the
corruption, the injustice, the faithlessness, the impotence of the
Turkish Government, which is met with in every page of the
Consular Reports, is the negative evidence of these documents
— the portentous silence — the absence of any word of hope,
any suggestion as to the possibility of the Turkish race ever
shaking ofF the death torpor which presses upon it. Talk of
" maintaining the integrity of Turkey"! As well talk of " main-
taining " the life of a corpse which is being galvanized into
some mocking resemblance of the motions of a living man!
As well talk of keeping garbage from decay when it is seething
with putrefaction and corrupting the whole atmosphere ! We
may take care of the burial of a corpse and cover it reverently
with earth because it has once been a living creature, but to
prate about keeping it alive when it is dead is the language of
a madman or a fool. We are doing much the same when we
talk about " maintaining the integrity of Turkey."

What, then, is the picture with which P^nglish writers — with
which these English gentlemen present us? The witnesses
whom I cite to testify as to the actual state of the lands of
the Sultan, the government of that country and its millions
of subjects— are men who have travelled in Turkey, and
who have described what has passed before their eyes. In

^he Christians in "Turkey. 103

the pages of their books we see an empire occupied by two
races — one the exclusive possessor of all social and political
privileges — the other refused the simplest rights of humanity,
and shut out from even the protection of that law which
their masters have established. We see in the pages of these
writers that the destruction of the ruling race is going on at so
rapid a rate that within a few years, about half a century at the
furthest, it will have ceased to be. This fearful destruction we
learn is caused by deep inbred vices of the foulest kind, which
prevail in every class of Turkish society. There is no possibility
of staying the hand of the self-destroyer, for throughout the
Ottoman empire we have the shocking spectacle of a whole race
committing suicide — grovelling in hideous vice — dying sen-
sually, but still dying. To arrest this the efforts of the Great
Powers are as impotent as those of the smallest states. The
whole world combined must needs fail in such an attempt. It
is beyond the scope of political aluances.

The significant proofs of this rapid waste and destruction of man
are to be seen branded on the face of the whole countfy. Large
tracts of rich and fertile soil, in which travellers only a few years
ago saw with wonder the profusion of nature, and admired the fair
beauty of undulating tracts of golden corn, of luxuriant olives,
and of groves of mulberry -trees, are now silent as the grave ;
the inhabitants all dead ; the trees destroyed ; the once fruitful
fields a sterile. sandy waste. Fertile and yet barren — fertile by
the bounty of its Maker, barren by the caprice, the sins, of man.
The traveller, if he revisits the scenes of his former wanderings,
beholds no more the pleasing prospect which half a dozen
years before met his eye, but in place of it a pathless waste over
which he must track his course by the cypress-trees of deserted
cemeteries — silent mourners over the villages which have dis-
appeared from the face of God's earth. In almost every city
of the empire, with scarcely one exception, within the memory
of man, suburbs which were then alive with inhabitants and
teeming with children, have become depopulated : this quarter
by the dying out of the Turks, that by the massacre of the
Christians. This is the lot which has fallen on Smyrna ;

I04 ^^^ Christians in Turkey,

this has been the ruin which has bhghted Damascus ; this
is tlie spectacle which may be witnessed around Ephesus ;
this saddens the traveller as he silently wanders through the
tenantless streets of Nicsea. Wherever the Osmanli has
planted his foot there the grass grows no more — there he
brings desolation.

Let us turn away from this sight, which will meet us in every
province of Turkey ; let us turn our eyes upon the suffering
people of that empire. If kingdoms exist not for kings, still
less are people sent on God's earth merely to be playthings
for Turkish Pashas, and to be trafficked in by jobbing Grand
Viziers. What are the people of this the fairest region of the
globe enduring, whilst their masters are dying ? We see through-
out the length and breadth of that land, from the Danube to the
Persian Gulf — from Kars to Albania, millions of men subjected
to every wrong which jealous governors can devise, or the envy
of their neighbours can suggest, whilst they are deprived by law
of the power to make themselves heard against the violation of
law. Living in perpetual fear, without any reasonable security
for life, without one safeguard for the honour of their family,
unarmed, by the forethouglit of their rulers, in the midst of a
people armed with every w^eapon of offence, and easily moved to
fanaticism, they are daily, hourly, exposed to every outrage which
envy, cupidity, lust, or anger can urge, and they are exposed to
the effects of these passions without possibility of. defence. In
such cases, if, goaded by the sense of wrong, the sufferer should
make use of the rudest weapons of defence — a stone, a club,
he is guilty in the eyes of his masters of a crime ; and many a
boy has been executed within the last year for no other sin
than the generous impulse which led him thus too fatally to
guard the honour of his sister, to avenge an outrage upon his
mother. Dr. Sandwith, in a letter quoted by Mr. Cobden in
the recent debate in the House of Commons, tells us that
within the last two years he " remembers a case in which a
Christian, having lost many sheep from robbers, at last loaded
a gun, and kept it by him. Tlie next time the robbers came,
he fired and killed one. This Christian was publicly executed

The Christians in Turkey. 105

for having shot a Mussulman/' * And only two years ago the
Grand Vizier, in his tour into Bulgaria, ordered to instant
execution a poor lad who, in defence of a companion from
the foulest assault which is heard of in the laws of any civilized
country, struck and killed one of the assailants. And what
the Grand Vizier then did is — I will not say law, for this is
too noble a term to be used to palliate such atrocities — but
the practice throughout Turkey.

But be it so, we must, say men who aspire to be thought
statesmen, " maintain ^* this accursed empire, this reign of law-
lessness, this institution of persecution. We must — because it
is our policy. We dare not plead that it is right, that it is
just, that it is in accordance with our principles, that it
squares with our professions. Call it, however, what we will.
It is surely impossible that a poHcy so barren of good fruit,
so cankered with injustice, should be much longer persisted in.
We cannot, if we would, " maintain the integrity of Turkey,"
by which liberal politicians mean the government of the Sultan
— the rule of the handful of pashas who spoil and evil intreat
the people of that country. Let us, if we] must needs inter-
fere at all, do so for Turkey itself — for the inhabitants of that
fair and fertile land. If indifferent to the sufferings of our
brethren, it surely becomes us to endeavour to set limits to the
encroachment of the desert — to attempt to stay the desolation
of those lands which their Maker and ours has enriched with
all that can delight the eye or satisfy the wants of man.
Honour, natural instinct, a common faith, should lead us to
desire that the people who, in this fruitful cradle of nations,
are fast rising to manhood should do so with hearts beating
with gratitude and affection for England, and not with the
bitter feelings of hatred. Let us not thwart and repress their
generous longings to tread in the same path of freedom which,
by God's blessing, has led this nation of England to so much
happiness and greatness ; but rather let us encourage them
in their efforts to emancipate themselves from the sensual and
degrading despotism which presses heavily upon their necks and
• Speech of Mr. Cobden in House of Commons, May 29th, 1863.

I

io6 'The Christians in Turkey.

corrupts their moral nature. In pursuing a magnanimous policy
we shall be treading in the safest path ; whilst, on the other
hand, we may be assured that a policy which is based upon
wrong cannot prosper, and that the Nemesis which follows a
nation is even more quick-footed than that which haunts the
steps of an individual.

It is time that this pretext for a policy were at an end. The
alliance is degrading England more than it is maintaining
Turkey. It is filling our history with the record of actions as
base as those which we find in the chronicles of the Turks. It
is making us as faithless to all high and noble iristincts as the
Sultan is to treaties. It is tainting our public men, so that
they are not ashamed to disregard truth as greatly as a Turkish
pasha. It cannot be persisted in without the violation of every
principle of a true English policy and the sacrifice of every
English virtue. For surely to disregard those principles which
are enshrined in our laws, and embalmed in our literature, regard-
less of what evil we inflict — to strike hands with the oppressor
— to assist the faithless masters in afflicting their slaves — to
support, to our own heavy injury, the persecutor in his bar-
barous treatment of those whom a common humanity binds
to our fortune, and ought to bind still closer to our sympathies
— is injustice for which we must needs suff'er — is dishonour
from which we may well shrink — is wrong for which we shall
have to atone.

48, FiNSBURY Circus,
July id, 1863.

R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL.

M