TURKEY. 



737 



that the reforms announced would not be able of 

 themselves to stop for a moment the shedding of 

 blood in the Herzegovina and Bosnia, nor to form a 

 solid foundation for the future peace of these parts 

 of the Ottoman Empire. 



If, indeed, we examine the contents of the irade 

 of October 2d, we cannot but recognize that the 

 Sublime Porte has paid more attention to general 

 principles, which in a precise form will be able to 

 serve as a basis for the administration of the empire, 

 than to the pacification of the provinces at present 

 in rebellion. 



It is the interest of the Ottoman Government that 

 the pacification be secured before everything else, 

 because, as long as it is not secured, it will be im- 

 possible to put those same principles into operation 

 which the Sublime Porte has proclaimed. 



On the other hand, the state of anarchy which is 

 devastating the northwestern provinces of Turkey 

 does not only present difficulties for the Sublime 

 Porte, but it also contains great dangers for the gen- 

 eral peace ; and the different European states cannot 

 look on indifferently and see a state of affairs repeat- 

 ing itself, and growing worse, which already weighs 

 heavily on commerce and industry, and which, de- 

 stroying more and more every day the confidence of 

 the public in the preservation of peace, tends to 

 compromise graver and more important interests. 



We also believe to fulfill an imperative duty in 

 calling the serious attention of the guaranteeing 

 powers to the necessity of recommending to the 

 Sublime Porte to complete its action by such meas- 

 ures which appear indispensable to establish order 

 and quiet in the provinces disturbed at this moment 

 by civil war. 



As a result of an exchange of ideas which has 

 taken place between us and the cabinets of St. Pe- 

 tersburg and Berlin, it has been recognized that 

 these measures must be sought for in a double di- 

 rection ; in the first place in a moral, and secondly in 

 a material way. 



Indeed, the material state of the Christian inhabi- 

 tants of Bosnia and the Herzegovina depends chiefly 

 on their social and moral position. 



In examining the fundamental causes of the pe- 

 culiar position which the Herzegovina and Bosnia 

 have occupied during several years, the feeling of 

 enmity and mistrust prevailing between the Chris- 

 tians and Mohammedans is directly patent to all. 

 It is this disposition which has rendered it impos- 

 sible to our delegates to convince the Christian in- 

 habitants that the Turkish authorities were actuated 

 by the sincere desire to redress their griefs. There 

 is probably no other part of European Turkey where 

 the antagonism between the Cross and the Crescent 

 takes such a distinct form. This fanatical hate and 

 mistrust must be attributed to the neighborhood of 

 peoples of the same race, enjoying that religious 

 liberty of which the Christians of Bosnia and the 

 Herzegovina find themselves deprived. The inces- 

 sant comparison causes them to have the idea of 

 being subjected to the yoke of an actual servitude, 

 that the name of Kayah seems to place them morally 

 in a position inferior to that of their neighbors ; and 

 that, in a word, they feel themselves as slaves. 



More than once has Europe had to occupy itself 

 with their complaints and the means for their re- 

 dress. The hatti-houmayoun of 1856 is one of the 

 fruits of the solicitude of the powers. But even by 

 the terms of this act the liberty of worship is still 

 limited by clauses which, particularly in Bosnia and 

 the Herzegovina, are enforced with a severity which 

 each year brings about fresh conflicts. The con- 

 struction of edifices consecrated to religious worship 

 and to instruction, the use of bells, the formation of 

 religious associations, etc., are still subjected to such 

 difficulties in these provinces as appear to the Chris- 

 tians as so many remembrances of the war of con- 

 quest, which let the Mussulmans appear in their eyes 

 as enemies of their faith, and confirm them in the 

 VOL. XT. 47 A 



belief that they live under a yoke which it is their 

 privilege and duty to throw off. 



The last firman touches this point, even as it had 

 been done by the hatti-sberiff of 1839, the hatti- 

 houmayoun of 1856, and other acts of the Sublime 

 Porte. It confirms the powers of the Patriarchs and 

 other spiritual chiefs with which they are invested 

 for the affairs of other respective communities, and 

 for the free exercise of their worship, but at the same 

 time designates the rights and powers as limits. It 

 also promises facilities for building churches and 

 schools, a promise which has been more than once 

 laid down in official acts, but which cannot aid the 

 process of tranquiliziug, as its realization depends 

 upon the provincial authorities, who, obeying the 

 local pressure, cannot put it into execution, unless 

 the principle has been distinctly enunciated. 



The firman, therefore, which lias just been promul- 

 gated, does not pass beyond any point not granted 

 in the hatti-houmayoun, which, as I have stated, 

 surrounds the religious liberty with restrictions, 

 which, in the course of the last years, have provoked 

 numerous conflicts. Kestricted as they are, the con- 

 cessions which it makes have never sufficed to satis- 

 fy the Christians. This will be all the less the case 

 at the present time, after the events which have 

 drenched the country with blood and which only em- 

 bitter the contest which separates the two religions. 

 The insurrection once suppressed, the Mohammedan 

 element, considering itself as victor, will without 

 doubt seek to avenge itself on the Christians for the 

 losses which so violent a war caused them. A state 

 of affairs which makes the coexistence of two peo- 

 ples who have just emerged from so bitter a conflict 

 possible can only be assured by placing the Chris- 

 tian religion on an equal footing with the Islam, and 

 by publicly recognizing and respecting, and not only 

 tolerating it, as is the case at present. ' It is for this 

 reason that the guaranteeing powers ought in our 

 opinion not only to demand of the Porte, but obtain 

 of it as the first and principal concession, a full and 

 entire religious liberty. 



Equality before the law is a principle explicitly 

 proclaimed by the hatti-houmayoun, and secured by 

 legislation. It is without doubt for this reason that 

 the recent acts of the Sultan have omitted to mention 

 it. 



But this principle, although legal, is not generally 

 applied throughout the empire. In fact, the testi- 

 mony of Christians against Mohammedans is re- 

 ceived by the tribunals of Constantinople, and for 

 the most part in the other large cities. But in some 

 distant provinces, as in Bosnia and the Herzegovina, 

 the judges refuse to recognize its validity. It would, 

 therefore, be necessary to take such measures that in 

 future the Christians will not have to fear a denial 

 of justice. 



Another point wuich calls for an urgent remedy 

 is the farming out of the contributions. Even the 

 hatti-sberiff of 1839, in speaking of this system, ex- 

 pressed itself in the following terms : "An evil habit 

 still exists, which can only have disastrous conse- 

 quences, that of the venal concessions, designated 

 by the name of iltizam. In this system the civil 

 and financial administration is handed over to a sin- 

 gle man, that is to say, sometimes to the iron hand 

 of the most violent passions and the most exacting 

 cupidity." 



And the hatti-houmayoun says as follows : "The 

 most energetic and the promptest means will be ad- 

 vised in the collection of the taxes, especially ofthe 

 tithes. The system of the direct collection shall 

 be introduced successively, and as soon as possible, 

 in the place of the farming-out system in all the 

 branches of the Government." 



In spite of these formal declarations, the farming- 

 out system still exists in all its extent. 



To-day the Porte brings reforms in view in this 

 direction, without, however, saying anything defi- 

 nite. The firman of December 12th again desig- 



