The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-08 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Detachments consisting of 12 non-commissioned
officers and gunners, with one officer of the Depot
Brigade Royal Artillery, four officers, one officer's
wife, and two children, and two men of the 2d bat-
talion of 14th Regiment, have embarked on board
the Macduff, at Gravesend, for conveyance to Mel-

bourne. A detachment of the Army Hospital Corps
bas also proceeded from Chatham and embarked at
Gravesend, on board the Maori, for New Zealand.
Letters received by our Chatham correspondent

from Gibraltar describe the great activity now pre-
vailing among the Government officials in making
the necessery preparations for the shipment of the
supplies of mules purchased in Spain by the Go-
vernment agents for employment in the Abyssinian
campaign. The whole of the arrangements con-
nected with the purchase of the mules have been
carried out under the superintendence of Deputy-
Commissary Gen. Fitzjames E. Watt, Mr. Fitz-
gerald being specially engaged in making the pur-
chases of the mules throughout Spain, and hiring
muleteers, the latter being described as being only
too glad to obtain employment in the British service
on any terms. The cholera is stated to have entirely
disappeared from Gibraltar, but a new disease,
which is termed the " seven agues," has made its
appearance. The disease, which appears to have
been imported from Morocco, is not generally fatal,
but disappears about a week after the attack, leav-
ing the patient weak and exhausted.
Yesterday Major-General Freeman Murray, at-
tended by the officers of his personal and divisional
staff, commenced the half-yearly inspection of the
battalions of infantry under his command in the
Chatham. district. The Divisional orders issued the
previous day directed the troops comprising the Ist
depot battalion to form on Chatham-lines at 11 a.m.
yesterday, and each man to be furnished with 15
rounds of the blank Snider ammunition. Owing,
however, to the unfavourable weather and the heavy
rain which fell, this portion of the inspection did
not take place yesterday, Gen. Murray devoting
the morning to the inspection of the battalion offices,
schools, orderly-rooms, barrack-rooms, and the
books and accounts of the division. In the afternoon
the corps comprising the Ist battalion, including the
Ist and 2d battalions of the Ist Royals, Ist and 2d
battalions of the 15th Regiment, 2d battalion 17th
Regiment, 50th Queen's Own Regiment, and 109th
Regiment, under command of Col. J. W. S. Smith,
C. 8., formed up upon the general parade-ground,
Chatham Barracks, where they were inspected by
corps by Gen. Murray, when they afterwards went
through the manual and platoon exercises, followed
by a few other manoeuvres which the disposition of
the ground would allow of being carried out. At
the close of the movements Gen. Murray inspected
the officers in the sword drill. The inspection will
be resumed to-day, when, should the weather permit,
a field day of the battalion will be held on Chatham
lines.

During the visit of the members of the Board of
Admiralty to Chatham dockyard several important
improvements were ordered to be carried into effect
at that establishment during the forthcoming year,
the charges for which will appear in the estimates
now uuder consideration. Among the principal
works decided on is the erection of a permanent iron
roof in No. 2 dock, in which the ironclad frigate
Hercules, 14, 5,226 tons, 1,200 horse power, is
under construction. Hitherto the mechanics em-
ployed on the iron vessels building in the graving
docks at Chatham have suffered much from the in-
clemency of the weather in the winter from there
being no shelter provided for the workmen. Their
lordships have now decided on placing a permanent
iron roof over the whole of the docks, sliding shutters
being let into the roof at the top to admit vessels
being docked with masts. Some additional travel-
ling cranes are also to be erected, in addition to
which machinery more powerful than that now in
use in the factory is to be purchased for preparing
the armour plating for the ironclad vessels now
building.
The screw steam transport Queen of the South,
having embarked a steam launch and various medi-
cal and other stores, left Plymouth on Saturday for
Bombay.

The Prussian steam frigate flertha, Capt. ileldt,
and the corvette Medusa, Capt. Struben, sailed from
Plymouth on Sunday for the Mediterranean.

The screw steam corvette Rattlesnake, 21, Com-
modore Wm. M. Dowell, C. 8., was appointed to
leave Plymouth yesterday for the West Coast of
Africa.

Admiral Farragut, United States' Navy, accom-
panied by Capt. Leroy, senior officer of the Staff,
and Lieut. Watson, went down to Woolwich yes-
terday morning in Mr. Penn's paddlewheel steam
yacht Engineer for the purpose of making an in-
spection of the departments of the Royal Arsenal.
The Admiral was also accompanied, on his embar-
kation at Westminster-bridge, by Mr. E. J. Reed,
chief constructor of the Royal Navy, Mr. John and
Mr. T. Penn, and Vice-Admiral Sir Sydney Colpoys
Dacres, K.C.8., one of the Lords Commissioners of
the Admiralty. The party disembarked at the land-
ing stage of the Royal Arsenal, and were met by
Commodore Edmonstone, Col. Boxer, Col. Clerk,
Caps. Gordon, and the heads of departments gene-
rally. Having partaken of refreshment at the official
residence of the Commodore in the dockyard, whither
they proceeded for that purpose, they again returned
to the Arsenal, at half-past 2 o'clock, and entered,
first, the manufacturing branch of the Royal car-
riage department, in which they inspected the new
Abyssinian equipments and the various methods of
welding and rolling out the scrap iron, and also the
manufacture of the new gun carriages and slides, as
well as the new and highly available method intro-
duced by Mr. Allen, one of the chief constructors of
the department, for cutting plates and blocks of
iron with the handsaw. The American officers
examined attentively the working of a couple of
machines made in that department for the manufac-
ture of plugs, composed of ground clay, and then in
full work, turning out at the rate of 36,000 per
hour, or 160,000 each per day. These plugs have
entirely superseded those of boxwood, formerly used,
and costing about six times the price of those now
adopted. The two machines are under the direction
of Mr. Harrison, one of the most experienced arti-
ficers of the department, to whom Admiral Farragut
and his officers expressed their thanks for the infor-
mation he gave them on the subject. Leaving the
paper mills they inspected the long room in the
Royal Laboratory, where they remained until near
sunset. Proceeding back to the place of embarka-
tion, their attention was called to one of the two
huge Mallett mortars, designed, it is stated, par-
tially by Lord Palmerston for the destruction of
Sebastopol, the first of which failed in the proof test.
Admiral Farragut and his party returned to London
by the Engineer, Mr. Reed and Mr. Penn by the
train from the dockyard.

THE ROMAN CATHOLICS IN THE

OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

(From the Diplomatic Review.)
When " Christians" are spoken of as subjects of
the Sultan, the professors of the Oriental creed
are understood, and their words or wishes, or those
placed in their mouths or engendered in their hearts,
are taken to constitute " Christian wishes and
desires." Those desires are thus rendered by
Consul Palgrave :—" They do not aim at equality
—that they have got—but at mastery."
The Greeks are, however, not the only Chris-
tians in Turkey. They have, indeed, had the art
to make us believe (at least, we have had the
stupidity to accept their word) that what they de-
sire all desire, whilst it is just the reverse. The
Greeks are plotting for the subversion of the Ot-
trunan Empire ; the other Christians look on such
an event as the direst of calamities that could
befal them.

The Continental Roman Catholic press has re-
cently contained a Beret of the Sultan to the Syrian
Catholics, taken from the Unith Cellolice, which
that journal prints to "make known the sentiments
by which this sovereign is animated towards the
Catholics of his empire." Not being in possession
of the document, which has been officially pub-
lished at Rome, we can only give the extracts that
the Unite Cattolica has inserted, but which are
sufficient as an example of what the Mussulmans
understand by government, which is allowing

each community to manage its own affairs.
Whether Catholics understand or not that they
are protected in virtue of a fundamental rule of
the Mussuhnan religion and polity, the fact that
they do possess absolute liberty in the practice of
their religion and the management of their affairs
is so undoubted and so necessary to make known
at this moment, that we look upon the publication
of this Berat and the remarks that accompany it
as a matter of great importance. The Catholic
paper naturally uses the example of the Turks to
contrast with that of the so-called Christian kings
and people who are now occupied in dividing the
spoils of the Church, and who have proclaimed
as the great maxim for the future that the Church
is only to be occupied with the next world, and
forsakes its proper sphere when it attempts to teach
men anything about their conduct in the present ;
thus proclaiming, as the great discovery and glory
of " civilization and progress," that " religion has
nothing to do with politics ;" from whence it fol-
lows that politics have nothing to do with religion.
The Berat is dated October 8, 1866. The fol-
lowing is the description given of it by the Unita
Cattolica :—The Sultan forbids any officer of the
Government "to oppose the least obstacle, or to
cause any difficulty, or to interfere in any way,
whether in the churches or the monasteries which
belong to the Patriarchate of Antioch for the
Syrians." He desires that the Catholic laws
which regulate marriage should be observed, and
that all questions which concern marriage, or sepa-
ration and divorce, should be decided by the patri-
arch or his vicars." The Sultan orders that " the
property of the Church and of the convents shall
be respected in all their integrity, and that no one
shall place them under tutelage or take them in
possession." He ordains that if a Catholic Syrian,
at the time of death, should " leave his goods to
the Church, the civil authority should cause the
testament to be executed." He orders that " Ca-
tholic Syrians shall make oath according to the
precepts of their religion." He forbids his gover-
nors to molest the patriarch, or to say to him,
" Place this priest in such a place ; confide this

Church to such another priest." He desires that
everything which belongs to the worship of God
" shall be free from taxes, and that no priest,
brother, or monk whatever can be arrested by the
police without the intervention of the patriarch.'
Finally, he ordains that "no person shall place
any obstacle to the free exercise of the Catholic
religion, either in the Churches or the Oratories
subject to the patriarchal jurisdiction, and that no
one shall say, You ought to celebrate funerals
or interments in such or such a manner, or you
ought to sing in one way rather than another.'
He also orders that no one shall be molested on
account of the colour or the form of his dress.' "
The Unita Cattolica prefaces the above descrip-
tion by the following anecdote :—" It is said that
one of the Eastern bishops who arrived for the
Centenary of St. Peter, addressed himself in these
terms to the Sovereign Pontiff : Most lloly Father,
there is still a Prince in the world who respects the
Catholic Church, its canons, its laws, and its minis-
ters, and this prince is the Grand Turk.' "

To this we will add other words which we know
to have been also spoken on that occasion by one
of the most eminent of the Eastern prelates :
" Our position in the Ottoman Empire cannot be
really known in Europe, or Christendom could not
act as it is doing. It is not only that we enjoy
perfect liberty and repose under the rule of the
Sultan, but for us there is no alternative between
that rule and the rule of the Czar—that is, be-
tween entire liberty for our religion, our manners,
our laws, and our language, and a rule which pro-
scribes our religion and forces the abandonment of
manners, language, and laws that are different
from its own."

The case of the Bulgarians is one which shows,
in the most striking manner, the antithesis that
exists between the rule of the Czar and that of the
Sultan.

The Bulgarians have been seeking, in recent
years, to escape from the oppression exercised over
them by the Greek bishops who hold from the
Patriarch of Constantinople. One result of this
feeling has been that a tendency towards the Church
of Rome arose, and even amongst the priests a
certain number sent an address to the Pope ac.
knowledging his supremacy.
Previous to this their desire to escape from Greek
domination had led to a proposition for joining the
Church of England, which was abandoned from the
fear that if they became members of it they would
be interfered with by the English Embassy at
Constantinople. They then turned to the Pope as
the head of a religion which was not that of their
oppressors, and which would not render them de-
pendent on a European Government.

So far, what we have to relate is generally known.
But what is not known is the mode in which the
Catholic movement has been arrested, and the hand
which has done it.

The leader of the Bulgarian Catholics was a bishop
named Joseph Sholkowski. This man is now a
prisoner in a Greek monastery in Russia, having
been carried off by treachery from Constantinople
to Odessa. This was managed in the following
manner : -The secretary of the Russian Ambassador
at Constantinople got hold of Sholkowski ; he pre-
tended to be his friend, and to sympathize with the
Bulgarians in their complaints against the Greek
Patriarch. lle told him that the Ambassador was
also well disposed towards him, and at length
persuaded him to accept an invitation from the
Ambassador to breakfast with him at his palace at
Buyukder6, when he would have an opportunity of
laying before him the complaints of the Bulgarians.
The secretary, accordingly, went one morning to
fetch Sholkowski for this purpose, and to bring him
in a calque to Buyukder6. The morning chosen
was that on which the Russian packet starts for
Odessa. When the calque with Sholkowski arrived
in front of the palace, the steamer was lying off
shore, waiting, as is the practice, for the last
despatches from the Embassy. The Russian
secretary signed to the caicjis to row to the steamer
instead of the shore. When the bishop inquired
what this meant, he was told that the Ambassador
was on board the vessel, and would receive him
there. No. sooner had he placed his foot on the
deck than the packet started for Odessa. When
the vessel arrived there, and the authorities ob-
jected to receive him without a passport, the captain
produced an official letter by which he was to be
handed over to the Russian Governor. This was
accordingly done, and he was at once despatched
to Kieff and shut up there in a monastery.

These particulars are taken from the mouth of
one of those who were in daily communication with
Joseph Sholkowski.

Not long after the departure of the vessel, his
friends discovered that he was missing, and at once
telegraphed to the Papal consul at Odessa to make
inquiries. From him they learned that he had been
seen to land at Odessa, and the particulars of his
subsequent fate. He has also been since visited in
disguise by one of his Bulgarian flock, who had
from his own mouth the assurance that he remained
firm in his faith, and had been deceived into in-
tercourse with the Russian Ambassador in the
manner above narrated.

The Turkish authorities, it appears, were not
informed of these particulars ; they were told that
Sholkowski had gone to Russia of his own will,
and believed that he had been induced to do so
by bribery.
But it will be asked what was the attitude of the
Porte in reference to the Catholic tendencies of
the Bulgarians ? It remained entirely neutral. Here
we can quote an official statement. In a paper
drawn up by the Turkish Government, called
" Considerations on the Execution of the Imperial
Firman of the 18th Feb., 1856," the following
passage occurs :—" This respect for the immunities
which were granted ab antiquo to the advantage
of the Christian communities has not always per-
Imitted the Sublime Porte to act in accordance with
the wishes of its noa-Mussulman subjects, especially
with respect to the people of Bulgaria, who have
for so many years been struggling to expel the
Greek clergy from their national churches. In
spite of its sincere wish to attend to their aspira-
tions, the Imperial Government has been obliged
to remain a spectator of the efforts of its Bulgarian
subjects in the matter above mentioned, through
fear of dimiuishing the authority f the Greek