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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