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

ensifns been invited to of the great. and appa
rently insurmountable obstacles in the way of what
il called the emancipation of the Christians in the
IT rkisb Empire, and thu putting them upon levt'
as regards civil rights and privileges, with tn
Molammedan subjects Of the Porte; aud the
suI iect Is now again suggested BY the tenor OF the
lat telegraphc dispatches from ConstantnopIe TO
the Western Powers. According to this inteli-
pence the Conferences recently held at CONSTANT
NOBLE have agreed upon a measure of reform of the
most sweeping and radical character, to which the
Sultan has already pledged himself. Not only is
tie famous haai-sherif of Gulhane to be msntained
but all religions are to be put upon footing OF
equality; Christians are to be admitted to both
the civil ard military service; civil and criminal
code il 10 be Introduced; the priesthood of the
different denominations are to be deprived of the
varied executive and Judicial power they have
heretofore exfrcised civil tribunals are to be
established for the Christian subjects OF the Portei
the provincial administrations are to be reformed;
the revenue is to be raised by direct taxation and
expended in accordance with a regular public
budget In short, the entire system OF the Empire
is TO be reyolutionzed, at least on paper; and
new fabric, modelled according to the ideas OF
Western tieOr SITS and doctrinaires, is to be I'M
peso upon the Sultan and his people, with an
allied army remaining in the country to preserve
order, if possible, while it is done.
To every one who remembers the difficulty not
TO say impossibty of executing the comparatively
simple reforms prescribed by the hah-shsrg OF
Gulbspe of November, 1889, and the numerous in
surrections by which they have been resisted in
every quarter Of the Empire, it will be clear at
the outset that these changes can only be con-
summa.ed by civil war, and that the attempt Sc
riousy to carry them into effect must result 10 the
total dissolution of the Moslem government. BY
hat means, short of domestic or foreign conquest
can the Turks be brought to admit tho
civil equality of the despsed Kayaks with
themselves If it has been impossible even
to introduce honesty and justice in the collec-
ton of the taxes under the old system, how is
that system rooted it is in the very foundations
of the social state to be entirely remOdeed, with
out indescribsble and fatal commissions The OF
toman empire, with the Koran for its only law, is
based upon the idea that there are but two nations
in the world: the nation Of believers and the nation
Of infdels; the latter being by the will of Heaven
and the power of the sword subject to the former.
How then is it possible to set aside this law and at
one blow to overthrow this fundamental idea
Evidently the process is one Of extinction and not
of regeneration. II the Sultan was sick man be-
fore, we may now regard him as upon his death
bed; unless indeed the scheme should be modified or
smothered. 1t is possible that those ardent de-
tenders of religion and OF liberty who are now set
ting the question at Paris may deem it advisable
oput veto upon the enterprise.
But while as whole the projected reform seems
to be impracticable on any other terms than the
destruction of the Empire and the final overthrow
of the Sultans it has at least in respect Of the in
teri al organization of the Christian communities,
some features which, so far as we can understand
them in the brevity of telegraphic dispatch,
promise to be of real advantage. Ii is true
that these features are no less revolutionary
than the others, but they are not likely to
meet with such resistance from the parties i'm
mediately affected On this, reference to
few well-known historical facts may be instructive.
The peculiar relation of the Porte to its non
Mussuman subjects dates from the conquest of
ConstantinOple, and has its origin not only in the
history of the conquest, but in the very constitu-
ten of MOsem society itself During the siege OF
that city sangunary internal conflicts between the
Latin and Greek Christians much facilitated the
work of the besiegers; and finally Greek monk
named SchOlarius Genadus entered into treasOna-
BILE negotiations with the leader of the Mosle ms,
Mahomet ii. One result was that on the very
day when COnstantinOple was writing in agony
under the atrocities of his victorious troops, Ma
homet ordered the election of Genadius as patri-
arch of the Greek Church. He also presented
him with precious scepter proclaimed him in
some sort the heir of the power before welded BY
the Byzantine Emperors, and, according to Ham
mer- Purgstall, addressed lin in the following
words
- The Patriarch, whom may Heaven protect, shall
enjoy all the privileges OF his predecessors; he shall De
inyiolabe in biz person; he shall not be moested by
whomsoevtr; be and his arch-priests and sufragans
shall be exempt from all public charges
MahOmet understood at once that these Greek
monks, with their profound corruption their fauat-
zeal hatred of the Occident and their dOgmstic
niceties, would prove the most Incorporating
Instruments of Mohammedsn rule. In fact, the
Turkish conquest did not sweep away the founda-
tons of the Byzantine EMPIRE but only its super
structure The religious power Of the Emperor
disappeared, but the civil power Of the Patriarch
went On Increasing. The Turkish conquerors in
some sort emancpated the Byzantine clergy from
the Byzantine autocrat, and endowed them with
more boundless control over their people than
ever.