The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-05-03

THE SuLTAN's SEIZURE of the posses
sions of the Turkish mosques is thus re-
ferred to by correspondent of the Lon
don Times
Thorefusal of the Shoikul Islam to con-
seat to this measure was the cause Of his
deposition. 1fthis statement be correct,
it is beyond all comparison the most i'm.
portant resolution taken by the Turkish
government since the destruction of the
Janissaries, for it is measure from
which Sultan Mahmoud himself recoled,
though he had often contemplated it as
one of the most essential conditions Of
the regeneration Of the Empire In fact,
a measure so contrary to the prejudices
of the Mussulmans and the interests of
the Ulomas could hardly have been at
tempted, with any chance of safety to
the Sultan or his Ministers, unless he
had the support of a considerable force
in the immediate nGighborhood Of the
capital and even now we shall not be
surprised to learn that cup d'etat of
this description has been followed by
agitation and excitement among the
Mussulman population.
The mosques and religious foundations
of the Ottoman Empire form important
spiritual corporations, exercising an i'll
dependent, legal and theocratical power
in the State. The Ulemas, or masters
of the law and the Koran, are the sole
posscssors of the vast wealth belonging
to these foundations, and at the same
time, as the expounders of the faith and
fundamental laws Of Islam, they enjoy
an authority to which the highest powers
in the State have been compelled
to bow, The insecurity of property
under an arbitrary government, and
many other causes, have induced Turk
ish landowners, from generation to gen.
Grafton, to assign over the fee simple of
their estates to the mosqucs--reserving
only the usufruct to themselves and their
direct male descendants. Land thus
held by the mosques or religious corpor-
atoms become Udc0of, or, as it is termed
in India, scahJ, and is held forever in
mortman.
Such lands have hitherto been exempt.
ed from taxation and personal confsca-
ton, and this tenure has so increased and
extended by the mere influence of dura-
ton and security in au Empire where all
other property is tluctuating and insecure
that full three quarters of the soil Of the
Turkish donations are said to be thus
held u disposScss these powerful cor.
poratlons of landed property which they
have held for centuries by the two fold
bond Of legal usage and religious venera
tion-to resume the direct authority Of
tho Sultan over so large a portion Of the
lands of tho Empire, one third of which
was allotted to the mosques by Mahomet
the Conqueror-and to defy the whole
power which the Ulomas and religion
orders may be able to put forth in dc
fence of their vested rights, is certainly
one Of the boldest measures ever takcr
in great emergency.
But we entertain no doubt that thi.
resumption Of lands is an indispensable
preliminary to the real reform and pro
gress of the country. Sooner or latei
in its history, every Christian State ha,
undergone it, and the vast possession.
which the superstition or the rapacity o.
former ages placed in the hands of the
church have been restored to the common
uses of society Tho social revolution
which is being effected in Turkey by the
emancipation Of the Christians, and tho
establishment of q principle of equality
between all races and religions Of the
empire, led by an inevitable consequence
to the abolition of the exclusive suprem
acy which the Mussumans have hitherto
exercised over the largest portion of the
SOIL except in the Archipelago and il
the provinces from which they are ex
cluded by treaty. And, although change:
OF this nature arc never accomplished
without the dangers and sutferings in
separable from revolutions, tho future
strength and independence of Turkey
depend on the introduction of a system
totally distinct from that which has re
duced so magnificent an empire to the
verge of dissolution.