the Southern Slavs from the Ottoman dominion, it cannot be supposed that she would tolerate the grant of more liberal institutions to them than she herself possesses; a free State is a dangerous neighbour to a despotic one, which must always dread the incitement to revolution among its own people produced by the proximity of a nation. enjoying greater political liberties than themselves.

sequences to

Christians

If, therefore, the Turkish Christians are to be Probable conemancipated with the help of Russia, that power the Turkish may fairly claim, if not to exercise a influence over their system of government,

direct of Russian

intervention

at in their be

least to prevent it from becoming more liberal than her own. And what is the Russian system of government? That it is a despotism we all know; and this-though it would be intolerable to Englishmen-would, perhaps, not be regarded as a grievance by the half-civilised populations of the East. But even they would probably protest against the incessant and vexatious interference of Russian officialism in all the affairs of life; the rigid suppression of all manifestations of public opinion which are at variance with the views of the government; the prohibition of the use of their

half.

own language in public documents and courts of justice; and the almost unlimited arbitrary power of the higher functionaries, who have the lives and properties of the people at their

mercy.

It will be interesting to quote on this subject the Pall Mall Gazette of the 21st of February, 1876:

"Another complaint made against the Turkish Government is that there is no security for the property of its Christian subjects. But in Russia the Government has not only failed to afford securities for the property of its Polish subjects, but has carried out a system of wholesale confiscation which is without a precedent in any modern Christian State. Moreover, in Lithuania, Volhynia, and Podolia no Pole or Roman Catholic is mitted to acquire land except by direct inheritance. If he becomes insolvent his landed property is sold by auction; and, as none but Russians can be buyers, and those residing in the provinces in question are usually few in number and poor, the sum realized by the sale

per

In

is usually so small that both the debtor and his creditors are ruined. Nor is this the only cause of the depreciation of property in the Polish districts. During the last twelve years a special tax has been imposed on the Poles and Catholics, from which their fellow subjects of the Russian nationality and creed are entirely exempt. addition to these material grievances, there are moral, or, so to say, national ones in Russia which do not exist among the Turkish Slavs. There are from 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 persons under the Russian rule whose native tongue is Polish. Of these, four-fifths at least do not speak any other language; yet in the Polish provinces the only language used in all the public offices, courts of justice, etc., is the Russian. In Lithuania, Volhynia, and Podolia it is forbidden, under legal penalties, to place Polish inscriptions on the shops, to make out tradesmen's bills in Polish, to address letters in Polish, and even to speak that language in public places. It is, of course, found impossible strictly to enforce the latter prohibition; but the decree on this subject (General Potapoff's circular of the 22nd of March and

Is Russia more tolerant than Tur

key?

9th of July, 1868) still has the force of law, and even now placards may be seen in various parts of Vilna with the inscription, 'It is forbidden to speak Polish here.' As to the absence of personal security for the Christians in Turkey, the recent banishment of M. Brodzki, banker and municipal councillor at Odessa, shows that in Russia people are not better off. This incident has made some noise, owing to the fact that M. Brodzki is a Jew, and that his cause has consequently been taken up by the numerous journalists of his persuasion who occupy influential positions in the press of Berlin and Vienna; but there are hundreds of Poles who have been similarly treated, and any Russian subject is liable to be banished without trial by an order from the chief of the police at St. Petersburg."

The greatest grievance, however, of those of the Turkish Christians who do not belong to the orthodox Russian church, would, if they were placed under a system of government similar to that existing in Russia, be that of religious persecution. It is a favourite argument with

humanitarian politicians that Christianity cannot exist by the side of Islamism, and that it would therefore be better for Russia than for the Sultan to rule in the provinces inhabited by Christians. But let us look at the facts. Is Russia more tolerant towards alien religions than Turkey? To this question no better answer can be given than the evidence of the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, who has long resided in Turkey as an American missionary. In a lecture delivered at Boston in October, 1876, he says:

men.

*

tolerance.

"Turkish officials are generally kind-hearted Turkish All the persecution which Protestant missions have suffered in Turkey originated in the Christian priests, communities, and churches opposed to the Protestants. . . . The Turks are naturally a tolerant people. It is specially provided in the Koran that any 'religion with a book '—that is, any religion which draws its authority from inspired writing shall be tolerated; and under this provision the various Christian sects and the Jews find protection. . . . There is this difference

*Boston Journal.

D