New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-06

CLERGY or in other words that the clergy is allowed
IN GOVERN them. Thus we see how, out oil the very
bowels Of Mahommedan fanaticism most curious
system of religious tolerance spruLg up-a s!it IN
enabling each priesthood to be intolerant ~ their
own sphere, and to subject the social lie oil 'neir
ccreieionists 10 their despotc sway The SheIk-ul-
Islam with his order of ulemas is reproduced with
a vengeance in the Patriarch with his holy Synod
in the Great Rabbi. with bis Levites, and 80 on.
Under this system the Patriarch of Cons anti
NOBLE. or head of the so-caled Orthodox or Ureek
Church. is not only the High Priest, but also the
political chief of the entire population VINO pro-
fess that faith, whose numbers are commonly esti'
mated at eleven million of souls. de is IN one
person the Supreme Judge the Executive magis-
trate the fountain Of municipal authority, and the
general administrator of all public affairs. He
solemnizes marriages, grants divorces, draws up
wills and annuls them, reviews lawsuits and
pronounces finally in appealed cases, levying 10
per cent as costs upon the value IN controversy,
assesses taxes controls the schools, imposes fines
for crime, and pockets them too, sentences to
prison or exile and superadds to all these powers
the uncontrolled and in those countries most terri
bic authority of accommodation.
In the provinces the metropoltans enjoy about
the same rights in proportion to their rank in the
bierarchaI scale The Pashas and Cabs are obliged
TO execute their sentences and to lend them armed
assistance for the collection Of their revenues,
which consist In an annual tax on every family,
beside numerous casual em0luments, derived partly
from their constant intermeddDg with all transac-
tions of civil life, partly from religious ceremonies
such as communion, Marriages christenings, burias,
and the like This theocratical power, conferred
in the Patriarch and the Holy Synod, and descend
ing BY multihrOus degrees to the abect body OF
the papas or common priests, is blended in very
original wa with the most elaborate system OF
snopy. Each dignity, each promotion, in the
Orthodox church, from the scepter OF the PATH
arch to the duties of the papa, is matter OF trac'
The Patriarch buys his post from Che Divan, and
sells out the bshoprics; the sufiragans buy from
the metropolitans, and so on. When candidate
presents himself for a vacancy, the first question
put to him il whether he possess the cash required
for the purchase of the title. In the case OF
negative ansn err an investigation is made as to the
expedency Of trusting him, and if he be likely to
discharge the debt. Hence the Orthodox priest is
inspired by cruel greediness. He has invested
capital in his place which he expects not only to
bear interest, but also to repay the principal AT
every degree of the scale immediately above him.
the Or est is watched by an memorable creditor
If he does not pay, he will be elected from his
place with as little ceremony as an Irish peasant
at.wl from his cottage. Even delay of payment
is commonly succeeded by expulsion from Office
Before the abolition of corporal punishment by the
Sultan, the Orthodox priest used to have the poor
rsahs foeged by the soldiers whom the Pasha was
obliged to furnish for the purpose. NJ. de POuque
vile relates that instead of money the holy man
sometimes condescended to accept bedding and gar
ments from families too poor to pay in money.
Thus the Orthodox clergy keep the people not only
in mental boz dsge but in social misery and CT vii
seryitude. The same relations exist between the
schismatc Armenian Patriarch and his flock, be-
tween the Rabbs aud the Jews-Turkey, in
word, is the Canaan of theOcratic misrule.
1t is hardly necessary to say that however
agreeable their ancient rights and privileges
may be to the priests who profit by them, they
are deeply hated by the people who have to
pay and suffer. When the Serbians conquered
their independence the first use they made
of it was to abolish them. The Bulgarians have
even risked an insurrectOn to get rid of them, and
the Principalites have never admitted them into
their public law. In addition to the theocratic
oppression thus exercised alike among Arme
mans. and Jews, the members Of the Orthodox
Church suffer another grievance of peculiarly
OdiOus nature. The priests who tyrannlze over
them are for the most part, Greeks BY birth; and
when the SerbiaDs abolished the clerical privl'
leges, and stripped the priesthood of all civil
authority they also sent of the obnoxious parsons,
and filled their places with men of their own
nation.
Such is the 81 stem which it is now proposed to
reform by depriying the priests of all civil and
judicial power, substituting direct ta1es to the
State for ihes to the church, and making the clergy
draw their salaries from the treasury instead Of
extorting them from the peasants. Ii this charge
were honestly undertaken by Government pos
sessng any vitality, it could notail to prove bene-
fcial but under the present circumstances it can
do nothing but add to the prevailing confusion and
decay. Indeed, the Oriental question, so far from
being solved, is only entering more serious phase
| With the dissolution of the Turkish Empire thus
accelerated by the Allies, the old system o.
European balance is destroyed, and new one can
| only be the result of protracted struggles.
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