The Press.
London, England, 1858-05-29 00:00:00

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

THE politics of Eastern Europe present but
few attractions to the great body of English-
men ; their sympathies are seldom strongly en-
listed on the side of either Russian or Turk ;
and beyond the general impression that it is
necessary to keep the Czar out of Constantinople,
in order to preserve a free communication with
India by the overland route, the mass of our
countrymen have but little knowledge, and be-
stow but little thought, upon a question which is
regarded by the other Powers of Europe with
constant anxiety and vigilant watchfulness. It
is right, however, that England, as one of the
high contracting parties to the Treaty of Paris,
should, even in the midst of an Indian crisis,
remember the engagement into which she
entered under that Treaty, and require the exact
fulfilment of the terms for which she stipulated.
Thus, and thus only, can the balance of power in
Europe be maintained ; thus, and thus only, can
the necessity for another war with Russia be
obviated.

Among the many questions left unsettled at
the termination of the late Crimean campaign
was one which even more closely concerns the
development of civilization than either the recon-
struction of the government of the Principalities
or the opening of the navigation of the Danube
to European commerce. That question was the
condition of the Christian subjects of the Porte.
The attention given by the Congress of Paris to
this topic was dictated no less by sound policy
than by a benevolent sympathy. It was by
means of her protectorate of the Greek Church
in Turkey that Russia had gained her influence
in Turkish affairs ; in older to repress that in-
fluence, it was necessary to withdraw the Oriental

!

Christians from the patronage of Russia and to
place them under the patronage of Europe.
Accordingly, the Treaty of Paris is as careful to
oclaim the engagement entered into by the
proclaim the engagement entered into by the
Western Powers to watch over the interests of
the Christian subjects of the Porte, as it is to
establish the fact that a check had been given to
Russian ambition, and limits fixed to its progress.
In pursuance of the Treaty, a firman was issued
by the Sultan, in which, after expressing his
desire to effect the happiness of all his subjects,
" who," he says, " are all equal in my sight, and
" equally dear to me," he proceeds to enact :
" The guarantees promised on our part by the
Hatti-Humayoun of Gulhane, and in conformity
with the Tanzimat, to all the subjects of my
empire, without distinction of classes or of re-
ligion, for the security of their persons and pro-
perty and the preservation of their honour, are
to-day confirmed and consolidated, and efficacious
measures shall be taken in order that they may
have their full and entire effect.

" All the privileges and spiritual immunities
granted by my ancestors, ab antiquo and at sub-
sequent dates, to all Christian communities or
other non-Mussulman persuasions established in
my empire under any protection, shall be con-
firmed and maintained."

In order to effect this, a Commission was to be
appointed to examine into the actual immunities
and privileges enjoyed by the Christians in
Turkey, and to discuss and submit to the Sublime
Porte such further reforms as were required by
the progress of civilization and the age. In the
meanwhile, every sect was promised entire free-
dom in the exercise of its religion ; all classes
were placed on the same footing as to civil rights,
and declared equally eligible for public employ-
ments ; equality of taxation was decreed, in order
that no unfair pressure might be laid on any man
on account of his creed ; and, for the impartial
administration of justice, mixed tribunals were
to be established for the settlement of civil and
criminal suits between Christians and Mus-
sulmans. These various measures for the
amelioration of the condition of the Eastern
Christians were to be carried out by the Porte
under the superintendence of the Western Powers.
Two years have passed, and what has been the
practical result of these promised reforms ? If
we did not already know that a firman almost
invariably becomes a dead letter at the very
gates of Constantinople, recent events would
have shown that such has been the case in the
present instance. All the Western provinces of
the Ottoman empire are in a ferment. In
Herzegovina the rayahs have risen, and organized
a positive insurrection ; battles have been fought,
towns captured, and all the horrors of civil war
revived. Similar agitation prevails in Bosnia,
though there the revolt has not yet assumed so
definite a shape. Albania is convulsed by the
same movement ; and on the frontier of Monte-
negro, actual war is carried on between the
inhabitants and the Turkish soldiery. As to
the character of this rebellion there can be no
doubt. It is the desperate struggle of an
oppressed race whose burden has become too
heavy for them to bear. The wretched and
forlorn condition of the Christian populations of
these provinces is set forth with painful vividness
in every line of a petition which has been for-
warded to the Sultan by the Christians of Bosnia,
through Prince CALLIMAKI, the Ambassador of
the Porte at Vienna. Their lives, their property,
and their labour are all at the mercy of the
Turkish authorities, whose only care is to enrich
themselves, and who laugh at firmans, knowing
that they can evade them with impunity. To
fill their coffers, in( spite of the proclamations of
the Sultan, the beys grind down their unfortunate
subjects by excessive taxation ; and they not
merely fix the amount of the tax which they
levy, but they assess the value of the property on
which it is levied, so that by over-estimating the
worth of a crop it often happens that the price
for which it is sold in the market is scarcely
sufficient to cover the tax upon it. Borne down
by these exactions, and harassed by continual
violence, the wretched rayahs are frequently
driven by hunger to sell their children in order to
rescue themselves from starvation !

It is evident from this state of things that the
stipulations of the Western Powers on behalf of
the Turkish Christians have been nugatory ; and
that the only consequence of the temporary sup-