270 



EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 



Christian powers of Europe. This pledge, as we 

 were informed, had been repeated on several occa- 

 sions by the reigning Sultan, and to this day the 

 Turkish Government declares its policy to be one 

 of perfect religious liberty. Judging from the re- 

 ception our respectful representations met with, and 

 from the information obtained during our stay in 

 Constantinople, we are constrained to record the 

 deliberate conviction that this policy is not carried 

 out that the treatment of Christian converts on the 

 part of local authorities is often insulting, and, at 

 times, in the highest degree cruel, and that there is 

 a failure on the part of the officers of the Porte to 

 rebuke their subordinates when convicted of intol- 

 erance and an abuse of the powers intrusted to 

 them. 



The report of the deputation was formally 

 communicated to the council at its regular 

 meeting held on the 3d of March. At the 

 same time a letter was read from the Rev. Dr. 

 Beattie, of Latakia, sustaining the positions 

 taken hy the deputation as to the unlawfulness 

 of the seizure of the Ansairyeh Christians. The 

 council decided to call a meeting of the per- 

 sons who had signed the memorial intrusted 

 to the deputation, for the purpose of seeking 

 their counsel as to what further action should 

 be taken on the matter. This meeting was held 

 March 18th. Resolutions were adopted op- 

 posing the course of the deputation in leaving 

 the address in the hands of Sir Henry Elliot, 

 British minister at Constantinople; directing 

 that the Earl of Derby be communicated with 

 and requested to instruct Sir Henry to present 

 the address to the Sultan, and support the 

 prayer of the memorial ; recommending that a 

 public meeting be held to call general atten- 

 tion to the subject ; and requesting the council 

 of the Alliance " to continue their efforts for 

 the release of their persecuted brethren in Syr- 

 ia, and for the maintenance of religious liberty 

 throughout the Turkish Empire." 



The deputation appointed for that purpose 

 called on Earl Derby, April 6th, to represent 

 that the deputation of the Evangelical Alliance 

 had been refused an audience with the Sultan, 

 and to request him to instruct the British em- 

 bassador at Constantinople to present a memo- 

 rial to the Sultan against the persecution of 

 Christians in the Turkish dominions. Earl Der- 

 by replied that he apprehended that he had no 

 right to insist upon the Sultan's receiving a 

 deputation. The Sultan never received depu- 

 tations of his own subjects, but lived a very 

 secluded life, seldom transacting business with 

 any but his own ministers. Lord Derby said 

 the deputation could not doubt his own sym- 

 pathy with their object. Freedom of thought, 

 of speech, and of action, so far as that was 

 compatible with the requirements of civilized 

 society, was the very basis of English society, 

 and Englishmen were naturally anxious that 

 those principles should be extended as far as 

 their influence could be felt. At the same 

 time, it must be recognized that in a vast em- 

 pire, not having an effective system of police, 

 not having a strong central authority, an em- 

 pire in which religious and national sentiments 



were blended, as it were, in one, and in which 

 very strong, even fanatical, feelings prevailed 

 among the mass of the population, there were 

 very grave difficulties to be encountered, which 

 it was not fair to the Porte and its advisers that 

 the British Government should not bear in 

 mind. 



The seventh annual meeting of the Evangel- 

 ical Alliance for the United States was held in 

 New York City, January 25th. One branch 

 Alliance had been formed during the year, that 

 of Wisconsin, organized at Appleton, Decem- 

 ber 21, 1874. The cooperation of the Alliance 

 had been asked by the British branch in the 

 case of the religious persecution of the converts 

 to the Christian faith in the Turkish Empire. 

 A special committee had been appointed, with 

 power to act in the premises. The committee 

 found, after accurate examination of the sub- 

 ject, that the attitude of the American branch 

 would necessarily differ in some points from 

 that of the British and Continental branches, 

 as the Government of the United States was 

 not a party in the treaties concluded after the 

 Crimean War, for the protection of Christian 

 subjects of the Sultan. They had therefore 

 drawn up a memorial of their own, which was 

 presented to the Turkish minister at Washing- 

 ton by the Hon. Peter ParLer and Dr. Joseph 

 Henry, and secured from him the promise of 

 an impartial examination into the nature of 

 the case, and a careful consideration of the 

 argument presented. This paper gave a tem- 

 perate exposition of the doctrine of the liberty 

 of the conscience as held by American Protes- 

 tants, with an endeavor to show it to be in 

 harmony with the fundamental principles of 

 the Mohammedan religion. In it the attention 

 of his Excellency was especially called to the 

 fact that 



The interpretation put upon the treaty of 1856 by 

 the British embassador, specially prominent in its 

 negotiation, is the interpretation which Christian 

 men and nations must recognize in its provisions. 

 Its wording must, of course, have been framed in 

 harmony with the traditional policy of the Moham- 

 medan e*mpires, and also in keeping with the pre- 

 cedents of the Turkish dominion. To suppose the 

 contrary is inconsistent with the dignity and self- 

 respect of the Government of the Sublime Porte. 

 Yet more, it is in accordance with natural right, 

 which is the foundation of all law and government. 



The committee added : 



The stipulations of the Hatti Scherif of 1856 are in 

 fact the restoration of the ancient and traditional 

 Mohammedan policy as interpreted from the first by 

 its wisest and best doctors. If the English Govern- 

 ment insist upon this interpretation of the treaty, 

 because of their military alliance with the Turkish 

 power, the American people ask its recognition on 

 grounds of natural right belonging to all men, and 

 of international comity now controlling the counsels 

 of all states. 



Subscriptions had been instituted under the 

 direction of the American branch of the Alli- 

 ance to secure a fund for the relief of the fami- 

 lies of the Rev. Messrs. C. Pronier, A. Canas- 

 co, and Emile Cook, foreign delegates to the 



