The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 27, 1864.

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Religious Crisis in Turkey,

DEPUTATION TO LORD RUSSELL.

Yesterday afternoon, a deputation consisting of Lord Cal-
thorpo (President) and other members of the British
Organisation waited, by appointment, upon Lord Russell,
her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, for the
purpose of bringing under his notice, by memorial, the cir-
cumstances connected with the religious crisis in Turkey.
The memorialists stated that trey desired, with great re-
spect and equal earnestness, to fix his lordship's attention
upon certain recent proceedings of the Turkish Government
at Constantinople which constituted a serious violation of
religious liberty, and were in direct contradiction both of the
spirit and letter of the famous Hatti Humayoun, published
by the Sultan in 1856. These proceedings,they were aware,
had been brought under his lordship's notice, as well by her
Majesty's Ambassador to the Sublime Porte as by different
religious and missionary bodies in London. They were,
consequently, as well known to his Lordship as to render
it necessary for them to detail them at any length, They
might be briefly described as consisting in the shutting up
of looms hired by missionaries and by agents of the Bible
Society, in which they peaceably conducted their Christian
labours ; in the seizure and carrying away of Christian
books ; and in the imprisonment of converts to Christianity
from the Mahommedan faith, and their threatened banish-
ment from their native land. These arbitrary and unjust
acts the memorialists submitted were not only inconsistent
with the principles of toleration professed by th© Turkish
Government, but an express infringement of that clause of
the Hatti liumayoun in which his Majesty the Sultan em-
ployed these distinct and emphatic words—" A*3 all religions
are freely professed in my dominions, none of my subjects
shall be injured in the exercise of the religion he professes,
nor shall ho be molested in the exercise of it." This con-
cession to religious liberty, as was well known, was made by
the Sultan at the earnest and conjoint importunity of nations
professing Christianity, and was more especially duo to the
enlightened and long-continued efforts of her Majesty's late
Ambassador at Constantinople, Lord Stratford de Red
cliffs,

The memorial which was presented contained the following
passages :—" Your memorialists would respectfully repre-
sent to your lordship how incumbent it is on the British
Government, to whom Turkey owes so much, to look to the
fulfilment of the pledges she has given, and still to main-
tain by British diplomat} that freedom from persecution
for Turkish subjects becoming Christians, and that liberty
for missionaries to propagate the Christian faith, which it
is the distinguished honour of British diplomacy to have
eehieved. Your memorialists are not ignorant that the
recent intolerance is attempted to be justified by the Tur-
kish Government on the plea that the missionaries and
some of their converts have acted with great indiscretion in
promoting the spread of the Christian religion, and have
preached in places and among persons whtre they were
likely to excite public disturbance, and it is even alleged
that the converts were imprisonoi for their own protection
against the violence of the populace, which they either had
excited or were in danger of exciting. Your memorialists
are perfectly assured that this allegation has no satisfactory
foundation in the facts of the case, and that the appre-
hended popular disturbance was little less than a gratuitous
and exaggerated surmise. Besides that, it will be apparent
to every one that it is as dangerous to admit such a plea as
it is always easy to frame it. It is particularly objected by
tho Ottoman Government that missionary operations have
been carried on in the khans, or, as they were sometimes
called, the inns of the city, places to which mixed multitudes
resort, so that the public peace is endangered, and in which
in former times it was said nothing of the kind was attempted.
But your memorialists are able to state, on the contrary,
that for more than a quarter of a century the missionaries
have been accustomed to rent rooms in the khans in con-
venient places for meeting those persons who wished to
come to them for religious inquiry; and as some misappre-
hension exists on the nature of the places thus designated
they submit the following remarks :—The khans in Con-
stantinople, while they are sometimes described as if for the
purpose of a clearer definition, by the explanatory word
inns, are inns not in the sense of the European hotel, but
rather in the sense in which Sergeant's-inn or the other
Inns of Court in London aro E 0 deneminated. They aro
large buildings, having an open court in the centre, and are
divided into a great number of rooms, for the most part
small, which are tented and occupied by individuals or
companies, and used by them in storing merchandise, for
workships, or to dwell in, or in short for any purpose at
the occupier's pleasure. The khan is a public place, but
these rooms are no more public than are the chambers of a
barrister in Lincoln's-inn. No person enters them but at
the invitation of the occupiers, or with his consent. By no
fair use of language could any canvassing of the claims of
Mahomedanisre, or any exhibition of the superior evidence
of Christianity into which a missionary might be drawn in
answering the inquiries of those who resort to him in these
rooms, be represented as a public attack upon the religion of
the country, for the rooms are private. Into a church any
one may enter, for it is open to all, but the doors of a room
in the khan are closed, and the public are not admitted, but
only individual persons whom the missionary pleases to
receive. In these private rooms religious meetings hate
been accustomed to be held for years, expositions of the
sacred scriptures have been given in them, and the doctrines
of the Bible discussed with Greeks, Armenians, and Turks,
and without disturbance given or received. Missionaries,
it may be added, have never attempted to preach in the
open court of the khan, any more than in the streets of the
city. To prohibit them therefore from thus resorting to
and using the khans in the way explained—the only way in
which they have used them, is not only an act of intoler-
ance, but an uncalled-for abridgment of the liberty which
has long been enjoyed and never hitherto abused. Your
memorialists aro constrained in conclusion to observe that
these proceedings of the Ottoman Government upon which
they have animadverted are conceived in the spirit of that
ancient exclusiveness which characterised the policy of
Turkey in former days, but which they hoped had become
obsolete under the guidance of Christian statesmen. They
are a practical repeal of some of the most precious provi-
sions of the Htttti Humayoun, and the first steps at least
of a retrograde movement which, if it bo not stopped, will
conduct the rulers of that country back again to the time
when a Mussulman could embrace Christianity only at the
peril of his life. The limits of religious liberty, as now de-
fined by the Turkish rulers, are narrowed down to a prac-
tical negation of it almost altogether. "The Ottoman Go-
vernment," it is said in Sir Henry Bulwer's letter to the
Secretary of the Committee of the Evangelical Alliance at
Constantinople, dated August 1, "is willing to allow Pro-
testants and all Christians to exercise their own religion
in the Ottoman dominions, in churches or quietly at home,
but it will not allow any attempts, public or private, to
assail the Mussulman religion. It will allow Mussulmen
to become Christians, but it will not allow them, any
more than it will other Christians, to go about speak-
ing publicly against Mahomedanism. Your memo-
rialists feel certain that they need enter into no argu-
ment to satisfy your lordship that the enforcement of these
views will inevitably put a stop to all missionary efforts and
prove utterly subversive of all roligi.u,l liberty in Turkey ;
nor can they refrain from cxpre:sing their cur prise and deep
sorrow that such views should be motioned in express terms
and be sustained by the influence of a British Ambassador,
the immediate successor of that eminent statesman to whom
Turkey is indebted for the Matti Humayoun of 1856, which
has been justly extolled as the charter of her liberties, and
as one of the noblest monuments of modern European legis-
lation. These are not the view, as they are persuaded,
which the British nation supposes are to obtain in a coun-
try for the defence and preservation of which it has expended
so much blood and treasure, and they appeal against them
with the greater confidence to your lordship since you have
I spent a long and honourable lire in promoting civil and re-

ligious liberty, and will not now, as they are firmly con-
vinced, permit this liberty to be violated in any country
in which British influence can protect it.''
Lord RUSSELL, after adverting to the facts as they bad
been explained by
the deputation, and to th 9 explanations
which were contained in the explanations of Sir 11. Bulwer,
said the subject should have 'his fullest consideration,
It was explained that Lord Stratford do Itedcliffe had
some delicacy in taking a personal share in presenting the
etemorial to Lord Rusiell, but had expressed his earnest
hope that the noble lord would find himself 'at liberty to at-
tend iffectuaily to its contents. His lordship, in a letter
addressed to the Committee of the Alliance, added, " Her
Iklak”sty's Government have, in my opinion, most rightful
and urgent motives for keeping the Turkish authorities to
a full execution of the Hatti Humlyoun, and in particular
fur pressing upon them the bounden duty of not impairing
or allowing to be impaired, that part of the Imperial
charter which provides for the complete enjoyment of reli-
gious freedom, and its open exercise without molestation by
all classes and every individual of the Sultan's subjects."

Our Commercial Relations with Germany

and Russia.

(From the Ataneh ester Gttudian.)

On Tuesday Mr Ward, C.R., the charge d'affeires at
Hamburg, attended a meeting of the directors of tho Man-
chester Chamber of Commerce, to ascertain the views of
the chamber as to any modifiCations of the Z ellverein tariff
whenever opportunity may arise for carrying those modifi-
cations into effect. The members present were--Messrs H.
Ashworth (chairman), 11. J. Leppoe, 0. Heywood, J. Hole
liday, A. Cassels, the Mayor of Salford (Mr W. Pearson),
and li. Fleming (secretary).
The CHAIRMAN read Mr Ward's letter of introduction
from the Foreign-office, wherein it was stated that Earl
Russell desired to give the board the opportunity of person-
ally communicating with Mr Ward, and explaining to him
their views as to any modifications in favour of British in-
dustry which the Governments of the German Customs
Union, if any opening for doing so should arise, might be
urged to adopt in their tariff. lie (the chairman) said that
the appearance of a Government representative at that
chamber was of good omen. lie trusted that Mr Ward
might be followed by others, so that there might be an in-
dication that diplomacy abroad was animated by the same
skdrit as mercantile affairs at home.
Mr WARD said it gave him great satisfaction to be able,
in accordance with the desire of her Majesty's Government,
to appear before the representatives of the commerce of so
great and important a city as Manchester. The object of
his presence was twofold first, to state the real position in
which this country stood towards the newly-constituted
Zollverein and the tariff which would immediately come
into force; ;and, secondly, to ask the chamber for its
opinion, and also for suggestions, in regard to the improve-
ment of that tariff. The chamber was probably aware
that the German Zollverein was instituted between 30
and 40 years ago, that it was very popular in Ger-
many, that it had tended very much to increase the
material wealth and resources of that country, and that
it had also added something to the political influence
which Prussia exercised over the smaller States. Being
bound by the Governments of ether States, Prussia had not
been able to realise all its wishes respecting the German
tariff, and in the course of time alterations and reductions
of that tariff had been made. But none of those alterations
was of more importance than those proposed on the occasion
of the negotiation of the commercial treaty with France,
which began three or four years ago. On the occasions of
those negotiations he,with thcl3ritish ambassador atßerlin,
endeavoured to obtain a reduction in the duties upon British
commerce. On presenting themselves at Berlin, the first
question they were asked was as to what equivalent they
would offer for the reduction they wanted. They were ob-
liged to answer that they had not any, because the British
Parliament had lately made a liberal tariff for all nations;
and that as Germany was enjoying the benefit of that libe-
ralised tariff, Prussia would act under the same principles as
had been adopted with such geed effect in England. In
the end, the Prussian authorities promised to concede to
England all that was given to France, which was, in fact,
placing England on the same footing as the most favoured
nation. Efforts were then made with the Berlin Board of
Trade to induce the Zollverein to adopt the tariff upon the
ad valorem principle, instead of the metrical system by
weight; but it was considered that the latter system was so
universally adopted by the German merchants and manu-
facturers that they would not be pleased with a change, and
the suggestion was not carried out. Ile (Mr Ward) did not
think that any proposal to alter that system would be sue
cessful. The treaty with Fiance was signed on the 2d of
August, MU; and in consequence of the promises made by
Prussia, this country became entitled to the benefit of the
tariff. Prussia then commenced getting the consent of
other States, which was a task she had the utmost difficulty
in accomplishing. It was only on the very day before the
end of the term fixed—viz., the Ist instant—that she got
the consent of the four States that most objected to the
measure', viz , Nassau, Besse Darmstadt. Bavaria, and Wur-
temburg. These States gave their adhesion on the 30th
of September; on the Ist October the treaty was completed,
and the Zollverein was reconstituted on the basis of the
new tariff. That tariff would come into operation on the Ist
July, 1865, and would continue for 12 years. The principle
of the Z illverein was unanimity as regarded all its delibera-
tions and considerations; and, therefore, the voice of any
one State, however small, was of the same weight as that of
Prussia. It hal been much discussed whether an alteration
in that respect would not be an improvement, but unfortu-
nately, things remained as they were. The tariff contained
many reductions of duties, and many of them were not
without importance to trade in general, and to the cotton
districts. The duty upon cotton yarn, for instance, was re-
duced from 3 dols. to 2 doll; that was from 9i. to 62. per
centner (1121 b). There was a reduction in the duty upon
cotton twist from 8 to 6 dole. per centner; and in cotton
manufactured stuffs from 50 dots., which had been the usual
rate, to various rates of 30, 16, and 10 doll. per centner.
There were also important reductions with regard to iron ;
in the case of pig iron it was 25 per cent. Duties were also
reduced on woollen stuff:, mixed goods, and chemicals used
in manufactures. The export duty on rags was reduced
ne4rly one-half, being from 9s. to ss. per centner, which
was a matter of some importance to papermakers. All non-
enumerated goods which were formerly charged Is. 61. per
centner were now free. Considering all these reductions,
he thought that, though tho new tariff did not go the
length of a really good free trade tariff, it was a very
important progress in the right direction, They might
fairly entertain hopes that in the course of years the Zoll-
verein would go still further and appreciate the true prin-
ciples of trade, and see thegreat benefits which the adoption
of them had conferred on the commerce, finance, and gene-
ral welfare of this country. The British authorities had not
omitted to furnish the Prussian and other German Govern-
ments with those valuable statistics which the Board of
Trade had lately published, showing the progress which
England had made in consequence of the adoption of the
free trade system. 'The strong arguments afforded by those
statistics would not be without weight, for the Free Trade
Association at Berlin was highly appreciated, and it worked
by its branches very actively throughout Germany. Free
trade had many friends in the Prussian House of Deputies,
and the Upper House was entirely composed of free traders.
Tho landed proprietors and nobility were to a man free
traders, which was the very reverse of what had been the
state of things in England. They saw that they had
no interest in maintaining the protective principle. The
but wieh the smaller
..spiaarmstaclt, Nassau, and
d ffieulty of carrying out free-trade measures with the
interests were too strong
others,
ervsse„r ewsi
unhe
ehretea' asish
ern ot
na tvaanrwui
aift,ahoit
iuPerrsi uscesg
for the Government. The rule hitherto adopted in
the Zollverein for triennial conferences would con-
tinuo to be maintained ; consequently there would bo an
opportunity every three years for carrying out any sugges-
tions with regard to the redaction of duties which it might
be expedient to make. It was also possible that political and
other questions might afford other opportunities for effecting
the same end sooner than they expected. At the expire-
tier. of the 12 years over which the treaty was to extend it
was competent for any State to retire upon giving two
years' notice. Whilst the France-Russian negotiations were
going on, a separate negotiation was pending with Austria.
Austria tried very hard to persuade the Southern German
States to leave the union, and form a separate union with
her, Austria was also desirous that the treaty which
existed between her and the Zollverein since 1853 should
be renewed. That treaty secured a preferential admission
of Austrian manufacturers into the Zollverein. Without
tho permission of France, which was to bo on the footing
of the most favoured nation, Prussia would not make the
concession which Austria desired, and the probability was
that Austria would now lose the benefit of the Zolh erein
treaty, and that Austrian manufactures would be admitted
into the States of the Zollverein on the same footing as those
of Eugland and other nations. It was considered in Ger-
many that the reconstitution of the Zollverein was a great
triumph of Fr uesiau commercial policy,andAustria felt very
sure that her commercial relations with Prussia had for the
moment been cut away. Ho understood that the Austrian
Ministers had expressed great readiness to treat NI ith other
nations, and mate their arrangements, if possible, inde-
dendent of Prussia, lie was not very sanguine that &iv-
thing important would follow from that. The Austrian Go-
vernment had many difficulties to deal with in the repug-
nance of her commercial bodies to any alterations; and
again, Austria had never gone down to the level of the
tariff of the Zellverein ; if she had, it would have been diffi-
cult for Prussia to have prevented her and some
other German States from forming meet
tariff was also higher the-

rein. Austri,,
y— •

ut the
Zollverein. Her
one revised tariff of the Zollve-

was still strongly in favour of a treaty with
—veldl • awl Iler product:, math) it iroportaut 154c11 ar-
•.-

rangements with foreign nations should be effected,
They must hope that the Austrian manufacturers
would make further efforts towards freeing their
trade, and further improvements in that ccun-
try might, though slowly, be expected. Through the re-
commendation of the Gorman Commercial Diet, the sub-
ject of a treaty of commerce between the Zollverein and
Russia had been ventilated, The Commercial. Diet recom-

mended that the Treaty should contain general reductions
applicable, on both sides, to all nations. Should it tako
effect the Russian tariff would be reduced largely, and the
Zollverein would admit every description of Russian pro-
duce duty free. Tho negotiations had hitherto been pri-
vate; but a negotiator who came from St Petersburg to
Berlin was told that as soon as the reconstitution of the
Zollverein was completed negotiations with Russia would
be opened officially. If a treaty was sffected ho an-
ticipated great benefits to this country, for whatever beno•
ti's were given by Russia to Prussia would also be secured
to England, for we stood on the footing of the most
favoured nation with Russia. The treaty would also be
beneficial to Russia herself. for it would stop the enormous
smuggling on the frontier, and admit English goods legiti-
mately, and he hoped to a much greater extent.
In reply to Mr Leppoc, Mr WARD said that he was in-
structed in 1861 to represent English interests at Berlin on
the occasion of the conference between Prussia and France.
_ _ _

Mr LEProc said they were all indebted for the very
lucid and valuable information which had been given by
Mr Ward ; and they were glad that the Foreign-office was
beginning to take more notice of them as a Chamber of
Commerce. He regretted that at the conference between
Prussia and Franco in 1861, Prussia forgot that she had a
quid pro quo for all she could offer us in the repeal of the
corn laws (for we had few duties beyond the excise) ; and
that on the occasion of that repeal England did not avail
herself of the opportunity of obtaining a promise of a cor-
responding boon from other countries. With regard to
Austria, he was quite of Mr Ward's opinion. A short
time ago, when it was proposed that he, as a member
of that chamber, should go to Austria to set forth the
advantages of free trade, he expressed his objec-
tions to such a course, because he wss convinced that at
present it would be useless. He could not believe that
Austria would give up her protective system. In the case
of Russia Mr Ward had made a passing remark about the
smuggling on the frontier. That smuggling was carried on
to an enormous extent. In fact, he did not believe that the
Government got one-twentieth of the duties that were due
to it, In 99 cases out of 100 English goods were passed
through the Russian ports by means of false declarations,
which wore connived at by corrupt officials, who received a
pro rata share of plunder, something after the manner that
prize money was distributed to a ship's officers and crew,
He concluded by moving a vote of thanks to Mr Ward.
The motion was seconded by Mr HOLLIDAY and adopted.
On the motion of Mr 0. HEYWOOD, seconded by Mr.
CASSELS, the following resolution wes passed :—" That
the best thanks of the directors of this chamber are due
and are hereby given to Earl Russell for the opportunity
afforded of conferring with Mr Ward, C. 8., her Majesty's
charge d' affaircs at Hamburg. The directors have learned
with great gratification the important concession, especially
as regards the staple manufactures of this district, which
has been made by the Z Alverein. They also contemplate
with pleasure further reduction, and a bolder adoption of
free trade policy."
The meeting then separated,