The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-11-17


ed last Sunday evening By the Rev
William Morris Euyud. mt Central
Union Church un Turkeys treatment
Of Her Christian Subjects.
& am going TO speak to you for a few
minutes this evening upon Turkey and
her treatment of her Christian sub
jects, which lies at the foundation Of
much of the trouble which has taken
place I'm Macedonia. and other prov
inces during the last few months, and
of which we have read SO much.
l want to give yoa an idea of what
the tyranny Is ana h,.E been which the
Turkish sultan exercises over mis-
Christian subjects. And let me say that
II is not my purpose to eXaggerate one
item in the sJdtem 'utS / am gong to
make. / 90 not base my allegations on
newspaper reports, but on authentic
documents. In my trip from AleXan-
dria to Constantuup.e last May / spent
a number of days on board of a steam
er whose captain J found 10 be NEST
intelligent man VINO mad made himself
familiar in an unusual degree with
what is known as the Eastern question.
He had thought much and read much
| upon the subject As / remained on
board of the ship during her four days
stay in Constantnople, we had many
| an interesting talk in the evening as
we sat together upon the deck, and as
! we were in the midss of the excitement
caused by the uprisings in Macedonia
| ana bulgaria, that was the suDJ=Ct up
| permost in our minds. There was also
on board of the shii. an almost COM
plete set of British consular reports
concerning Turkey covering the last
twenty-five years. and also a number
of printed statements concerning the
/ condition of the Christian subjects Of
| the Sultan by English Ambassadors IN
! ConstantlGoDl In Verlhcdt,il Of tie
statements made to me by the captain
VI he - p, he referred me TO tnCs, ie-
| ports and printed statements. 1t was
! with the greatest interest that on the
| return VoyI6c nom COustGutm1L.a t.
Athens that I looked thlm over. III
| my ak this evening / do not max, Il
single statement beyouI these anthem
tic documents. AMI what nav to say
concerning the peima lon5 law of FUR
key, l have taken from the teSt books
of Turkish law itself.
The first thing 10 remember is thai
| when we speak OF the Christian SUBJ
jects of the Sultan we need 10 draw a
clear distinction between the Christians
who are living IN Turkey, as tn. sub.
Jects of other nations, and the Chris
tians who are subjects of the Sultan.
SHIlSLellUGfn
little confidence in the honesty ana
justice of the Turkish government
that they have their own consular
courts and their own post offices n
turkey. An American subject, or the
subject of any other Christian power.
is not he: the jU isdicti Il Of the
Turkish courts of justice, but under
the consular jurisdiction of his own
country. But the Christian subjects Oh
the Sultan who are the descendants OF
those Christians whom Turkey con-
quered long ago, have no redress at all
but such as these which l am now
about to describe to you. IN the first
place, it is against tie law of Turkey
that the Christian subjects of the Sui
] ton should possess arms, even a dagger
or pistol Again, no Cnrlstlan SUBJ
Ject OF the Sultan can give evidence in
court OF justice against q Mussul-
man; the evidence OF Christians NOT
being admissible against Musselmans in
any part of the Turkish Empire. The
, result is that hundred witnesses who
may be Christian subjects of the Sultan
may see a woman assaulted, ill-used
, carried of, or forced into the house of
a Turk, or slain, and they cannot prove
the crime, because there may be a hun
dred credible witnesses, their evil
dence Is not available against a Mus
selman, and no Musselman will give
evidence against a co-relgionist in
favor of a Christian.
Again every Christian in Turkey
from the time he is born, is liable to a
poll-tax, that is a tax for permission tc
live during that year. If the tax is MOI
paid at the end of the year, his life is
forfeit. This law is universal and it i.
put in force. | said a moment ago thai
Christians were not allowed to pos
sess arms, and because of that they ar,
not admitted into the army or the
gendarmerie of Turkey, yet every male
Christian from the time he is tire,
months old, is obliged to pay a tax To-
immunity from military service. Firs
ne ls not allowed TO be a soldier, an,
then he must pay this tax from tn,
2 time he is three months old till he die,
for immunity from serving the SultaI
} in his army or gendarmerie. These are
2 the taxes which the Sultan's Christian
: subjects pay in addition to taxes which
, 'Musselman pay in common with them
All the taxes are farmed out to chief
l ana to others; and these go thei
= rounds, and as rule insist upon bribe
in addition to the legal tax or 1.-THE
and II they do not get it they do no
allow the fields to be mown until tn,
tax Is paid; and in the meantime the,
and their retinue of followers are quar-
tered on the inhabitants. The Chris
tiaris are also liable to forced service
: whenever their Musselman LANDLORD
demands 1t, without payment of an,
KIND. They are also liable to all kind
OF personal insults and indignities
They are obliged to wear a sombr
dress to distinguish them from a Mus
selman. They are not allowed TO bath,
In the same common public baths; the,
are not allowed to draw water from
the same wells; they must live in |
separate quarter of the town; and tn
terms commonly applied TO them, no
by popular fanaticism, but in sober de
liberate official documents, are dogs,
and hogs" Also in legal papers whel
the name Of the Christian is mentione,
70 whom the papers are given, or Oh
whose behalf II is gwen, II his dealt
Is maintained a In 10 r.n.r IL =