The Nestorians and their Rituals/Volume 1/Chapter 22
CHAPTER XXII.
May 28.—We left Urfah this evening, and passed the night at Khudhr Elias, where our hospitable host had prepared an entertainment for us, to which Mutran Agop and several of the Armenian and Syrian clergy were invited. The Bishop made many inquiries respecting our Church, and expressed his sincere desire for the religious improvement of his people. On the following morning we bade farewell to our kind friends at 4 a.m. and pursued our journey over an undulating and barren country till noon, when we reached Tcarmelik, where we located ourselves in a ruined mosque which stands by the side of a large khan in tolerably good repair. Just below the mosque is a capacious reservoir measuring eighty feet in depth. We passed several of these rock cisterns during our day's journey, and they are common in this district along the caravan routes. There is a large Coordish village of conical mud huts in the vicinity, but the villagers had all gone into the Serooj to pasture their flocks.
May 30th.—We started from Tcarmelik at 4 a.m. and at noon reached Birejik on the Euphrates, where we were accommodated on the terrace of an Armenian house close under the castle, in order to be in readiness to cross the river early in the morning. The general features of the road to-day were like those of yesterday; the country is barren but more rocky, and as we approached the town covered with chalk hills sprinkled over with a stunted brushwood.
The sight of Birejik reminded me of my visit to the Euphrates Expedition in 1836, just before the two steamers started on their voyage of discovery, one, the "Tigris," never to be heard of more. Long shall I remember the energy displayed both by officers and men, and withal the unanimity and cheerfulness which prevailed among them. "Port William," the name given to the station on the western bank of the river where the boats were put together, was all life and activity from morning till night, each pursuing his avocation with a right good will under the able and zealous superintendence of Colonel Chesney. Sunday came round and with it a suspension of all work; the bell was rung for divine service on board the "Euphrates," the ensign was lowered, and all assembled on the quarter-deck publicly to recognize the Almighty Ruler of the universe and their individual dependance on Him. The moral effect of this outward respect paid to religion upon the surrounding natives must have been great because of its singularity, and I doubt not tended in a high degree to preserve among the members of the Expedition that sobriety, order, and good feeling, for which they were remarkable.
On our second journey to Mosul in 1849 we were obliged to spend a quarantine of twelve days at Birejik, when I had abundant leisure to examine all the objects of interest in the neighbourhood, a short account of which I shall now proceed to lay before my readers.
Birejik is built upon a rather abrupt slope, the base of which touches the eastern bank of the Euphrates. The country around consists chiefly of chalk hills, and as the town is constructed of the same material it would be hardly visible at any distance were it not for a narrow belt of gardens which crowns its summit. The houses are fiat-roofed, and all the windows open into a court-yard. Besides a covered bazaar containing about sixty shops, there are five mosques and three baths in the place; but none of these can lay claim to any antiquity. The inhabitants are pleased to say that before the last earthquake of 1826 Birejik could boast of several ancient palaces; but of these no vestige remains, and all the modern buildings are of the plainest architecture. The town is not very clean, but is considered healthy; the climate in summer during the day is very hot, but the nights are cool and pleasant. When I was here in March, 1836, the nights were bitterly cold, but the sun was hardly up when the heat was scorching, reminding one forcibly of Jacob's expostulation with Laban somewhere in the vicinity of Harrân, when he said: "In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes."
Birejik contains a population of 1500 families composed of Turks, Turcomans, Arabs, Christians, and a few resident Jews. Turkish is the only language spoken except by the Arabs, who seldom speak any other than their own native tongue. The Christians, who are all Armenians, have a church and a priest. The bulk of the people are petty traders and craftsmen; the Arabs and Turcomans, who live chiefly in the numerous caves which skirt the hills around, are engaged in tending the flocks of sheep which are kept here for the Aleppo and other Syrian markets. The custody of the town is entrusted to a Mutsellim, and a few irregular troops. When I called upon this official in 1849 he was playing chess with two merchants of the town in his shirt sleeves, and his Frank trowsers were attached to his extremities by a solitary button. His assistant seemed anxious to copy the style of his superior, for when he returned my visit he was without coat or stockings. I have often had occasion to observe, that the substitution of the Frank for the Oriental costume by the Turks has rendered them very careless in their mode of dress.
There is little cultivation in the vicinity of the town, if we except the wheat and other grain which are raised in great abundance in the vast plains bordering the Euphrates, and which form the staple articles of commerce in this district. Fruits are scarce, but melons, cucumbers, onions, and other vegetables are grown in large quantities on the banks of the river.
But the most interesting object at Birejik is the old castle, which though shattered and fast crumbling into ruin, presents a most imposing spectacle. It is built upon an isolated rock at the northern extremity of the town, of an oblong form, and upwards of two hundred feet from the ground below. The entrance is by a narrow gateway leading through an excavated
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BAS-RELIEF IN THE CASTLE OF BIREJIK.
passage to the fortress above, and through a covered way to the river. The upper area appears to have been lined on the eastern side with a double row of apartments surmounted by a strong parapet which extended round the entire fortress. Underneath these buildings are two tiers of galleries, the lower of which is cut out of the solid rock, and pierced with loop-holes for archery. There are several chambers on the southern side in a good state of preservation: one of these contains the tomb of a Mohammedan santon covered with parti-coloured rags,—the tokens of vows made by pious visitors to the sacred shrine. An old padded cap, the remains of a green turban, and a leathern sling three feet long, are placed at the head of the grave, and we also remarked numerous small stones stuck on the walls around, which on inquiry I learned to be another mode common among the Mussulmans of commemorating their religious visits to places reputed to be holy. But one of the most curious relics now extant is a bas-relief occupying the end of one of the arched apartments in the northern part of the castle. The accompanying sketch conveys a correct idea of the original, which has been considerably defaced by some bigoted Moslems. The centre piece, enclosed within a figure resembling a crescent, is what some persons have taken for a crusader's cross; but after carefully washing the sculpture I could not trace any such design. The style, moreover, and the costume are at variance with that notion, and remind one more of the later Persian engraving. The ground is painted with ochre, and the portraits of a dark dingy colour with occasional variegations in the dress. The original inscription has been erased, and an Arabic one substituted in its stead, which in its turn has been so destroyed as to be quite illegible.
Among the débris we saw the capital of a Corinthian column, and a few ancient friezes, the only remains now extant of Roman skill and sovereignty, if we except the subterranean galleries. These are covered with round arches, whereas all the upper buildings have the pointed Saracen arch. In the lower yard of the castle we found three other sculptures, cut in basaltic rock, of which the annexed are correct copies. Fig. 1, I was informed, was brought from Mumbej, the ancient Hierapolis, and Nos. 2 and 3, which are separate slabs, from some village north of Birejik. Though the figures on the latter are considerably injured, yet enough remains to show that they were intended to represent a man and woman, and the words "Christos" and "Barnabas" in the Greek inscription determine their date to be posterior to the commencement of the Christian era.
We were not a little vexed on reaching Aleppo in November, 1849, to find that we should have to perform a quarantine of twelve days either at Aintâb or at Birejik before we could be allowed to pursue our journey into Mesopotamia. We chose the latter for our prison, and were allowed to reside in the castle instead of the miserable Khan lately built as a lazaretto on the western bank of the river. We had not been in our new quarters long when the absurdity of the detention as a sanatory measure became too obvious. Caravans which had performed quarantine at Aintâb mixed on the road with those which had come direct from Aleppo, and on reaching the Euphrates the former were allowed to proceed on their way, while the latter were lodged in the Khan to undergo their purification. The guardiano set over us freely went into the town and purchased for us whatever we required; individuals just released from the Khan came and paid friendly visits to their friends in the castle, whose term of durance was not yet expired, sat in the same room with them, smoked in their company, and then separated. The Nâzir, or superintendent, took the same licence; he politely rowed over a Turkish officer who had come in charge of a detachment of troops on their way to Urfah, took him to his own apartment, chatted with him all day, breakfasted and dined with him, and went into the city whenever he felt disposed. To escape this annoyance many of the natives cross the river by stealth, some to the north and others to the south of the town. Nor is it the detention merely which renders this measure so vexatious, especially to the trading portion of the community; but it is the heavy tax which is levied not only upon the individuals but upon the merchandize passing this way. Each mule-load must pay so much, and if the weight happens to exceed the regulated scale, twice the sum is exacted; so that in fact all merchandize passing into the interior from the sea-coast is subjected to a fresh custom duty in contravention of the treaties made with Turkey by the different European powers. I mention
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ANCIENT SCULPTURES FOUND IN THE CASTLE OF BIREJIK.
this because considerations of this nature are more likely than any other to induce the foreign representatives at the Porte to inquire into the state of these so-called quarantine establishments in the interior. If the measure is a mere fiscal one, and the principle is just, let the money be levied by all means; but if the toll is all that is sought after, let the arbitrary detention be removed. I have since heard that the quarantine at Aintâb and Birejik has been shortened from twelve to five days.
May 31st.—We crossed the river at 4 a.m., and diverged a little from our road to visit "Port William" on the opposite bank. The rooms still contained several relics of the expedition, such as cart-wheels, blocks of wood, coal, &c., which I wonder the natives do not carry away, as there is no person charged to take care of the property. In five hours we passed the Kesreen bridges, and shortly after stopped near a copious spring to rest during the heat of the day which was now beginning to be excessive. Three rough-looking fellaheen were seated by the well's mouth, one of whom took the liberty of occupying the carpet which our Greek servant had thrown upon the grass for Mrs. Badger's accommodation. I ordered the carpet to be removed, and to our surprise the same fellow quietly squatted himself upon it a second time. He paid so little attention to our expostulations, that our Mosul servant Rahhomi approached him and gave him a severe castigation. This effectually cured his predilection for the carpet, but as he skulked away with his companions he threatened that we should not pass the Sajoor river in safety. We again started on our journey at 4 p.m. and at 7 reached the Sajoor, which was then so swollen, and the night so dark, that our muleteers refused to cross: so pitching our tent in the valley we retired to rest quite forgetful of the friends we had met in the morning. We had not retired long when Giorgio woke me, and pointed to nine figures on the hills a short distance from us, who were evidently watching our movements. We accordingly prepared for the attack, made a breast-work of our baggage, charged our muskets, and waited patiently for the onset. An hour passed and no movement was made on the part of our adversaries. Hardly wishing to spend a wakeful night after a long day's journey, I proposed that we should advance. Giorgio and Rahhomi were each armed with a pistol, the runaway soldier and the confidential slave with a sword, the three muleteers with as many matchlocks, and myself with a gun. At a given signal all rushed up the hill, bawling and vociferating to our opponents not to run away. We reached the summit without any opposition, then proceeded along the bank to the spot which our antagonists occupied, and on nearing it found to our great disgust that we had been frightened at eight bushes! Giorgio maintains to this day, I imagine, that the thieves had fled on seeing the spirit which we had manifested, or were scared perhaps at the noise which the assailants had made. We returned to our camp more dejected than if we had been discomfited, but soon forgot in a refreshing sleep the martial encounter with the supposed freebooters.
June 1st.—We left the Sajoor at 4 a.m. and on the following morning, rode into Aleppo, where we were welcomed by Naoom Azar, a respectable Syrian merchant, and almost the only Jacobite resident in the town, the remainder having joined the Church of Rome. We remained at Aleppo for a fortnight, during which time we had abundant opportunity of mixing with the native clergy, and of making known to them the doctrine and discipline of the English Church; but as it does not enter into the design of this work to treat of Syria, the reader must not be surprised if ray remarks thereon are few and cursory. This is the less to be regretted, seeing that the whole of this country is now so well known to Europe through the publications of the numerous travellers who visit it, that any detailed account introduced here would be as superfluous as it would be out of place.
The following is a tolerably correct estimate of the different Christian communities in Aleppo.
The Greek, or Holy Eastern Church, does not number at present more than 100 families, with one place of worship. They are called "Room el Kneesi," and by way of reproach "Fisfisi," i.e., Ephesians.
The Papal Greeks number 1,000 families, with two churches; they had no Bishop when we first visited Aleppo, but on our return in 1849 we found there Mutran Athanasius Tootoonjee, the ex-Bishop of Tripoli, well known to many of our clergy in England.
The Armenians number 180 families, with a Bishop and two churches; and the Papal Armenian community 600 families, with a church and five priests. During our stay there was a controversy going on between these two sects, and I was frequently referred to by the Armenians to assist them in coping with their antagonists. The point in dispute was, "What are the true notes of the Church?"
The Papal Syrians number 350 families, under the Patriarch Botros Gerwa, who some years ago visited England, and obtained grants of money and a printing press from some piously disposed individuals, whom he persuaded that he was desirous of introducing many reforms among his people.
There is also a small community of Maronites, and a large Jewish population at Aleppo. Several of the foreign consuls at this city are Jews. An American Independent mission had been established here some years previous to our first visit, but was afterwards dissolved. In 1849 there were two missionaries from the same body at Aleppo and two at Aintâb, where they have succeeded in forming a schism among the Armenians, and are about to build a separate place of worship for the new proselytes.
Most sincerely is it to be regretted that we have no chaplains in Syria to attend to the spiritual wants of the British residents, and to make known to the native Christian communities what are the doctrines, rites, and discipline of our national religion. This unjustifiable neglect is fraught with mischief, not only to the best interests of our own people but also to the character and honour of the Anglican Church, and contrasts most disadvantageously with the provision made by the Romanists for these objects. There is not a town in Syria or Palestine where there are not some resident Latin priests or missionaries, who act as chaplains to the foreign consulates, besides otherwise forwarding the views of the See of Rome among the Christians of the country. And what is the consequence of this neglect of our people, residents, and travellers in these parts? They have no churches to go to, no opportunity of making any public profession of their religion, and are therefore regarded as little better than atheists by the orientals generally, or they are driven to frequent the meetings of Independent missionaries, and thereby have contributed to confirm the native Christians in the idea that the English are all sectarians, or that they consider as light and trifling the differences which separate members of the Church from the communion of the multiform dissenters from her pale. The late Rev. H. Wimbolt, agent of the London Society for converting the Jews, endeavoured for several years to remedy this defect at Beyroot, where he opened a room for divine service in his own house, and regularly administered the ordinances of the Church. But all this was voluntary; it was no part of his duty, and he continued to act in this double capacity till tired nature was exhausted, and he has since gone to his rest. His place as spiritual guide to the British community at Beyroot is left unsupplied, nor is there any hope of its being filled up, unless some especial effort is made in behalf of the interests of the Church generally in Syria. Aleppo, Beyroot, and Damascus, ought each to be provided with an English priest, whose office it should be to minister to our own people, and to hold friendly intercourse with the native clergy. It would be in the legitimate province of the Anglican bishopric at Jerusalem to further such a plan, and it can hardly be doubted that if properly represented, what with local subscriptions and assistance from the societies in England, funds would be forthcoming for carrying it out. Little is to be expected in an undertaking of this nature from the government at home, and indeed it is not desirable that these chaplains should be hampered with any obligations to act in accordance with the political views of a foreign secretary. Decent places of worship should be built for the due celebration of our ritual, and the incumbents should be empowered to discharge the functions of curates and missionaries under instructions from the Church, and subject to the episcopal supervision of the Anglican Bishop at Jerusalem. My strong conviction is, that a measure such as this would not only do much towards spreading abroad among the native Christian communities a just appreciation of our apostolical faith and discipline, but also lead them eventually to profit by our good example and to reform their errors after the scriptural model of our ritual.
The most interesting relic of antiquity at Aleppo is the Jamaa el-Kbeer, formerly a Christian church, and said to contain the grave of Zechariah, the father of S. John of Damascus. Tradition says that in the belfry, now a minaret, is a diamond cross enclosed within a ball, which miraculously returns to its place as often as it is removed. The office of Muezzin, or crier to prayers, to this mosque is hereditary, and has been handed down in one family since the time of the Mohammedan conquest. No one but the Muezzin himself knows what he chants at the midnight cry; it is certainly not the usual sentence from the Koran, and many affirm that the first word he utters is "Kaddoos," holy. May it not be the ancient hymn Tersanctus, which in Arabic begins with the same word?
The Aleppines, and more especially the Christians of the town, are in my estimation the most highly polished people in the East. There is a cleanliness and comfort in their houses, an elegance and gracefulness in their dress, and a courtesy and affability in their manners, far superior to what is to be met with among orientals generally. They have adopted just so much of European manners and customs as has tended to refine without destroying their native peculiarities. There is more social intercourse among them than exists generally among the people of these countries; the women mix freely with the men in the home circle, and are not debarred, as they are elsewhere in Turkey, from taking a part in the ordinary civilities of society. I have hardly seen better regulated households than some of the respectable families of this town, and that of our kind host Naoora Azar and of Mr. Michael Sola, the dragoman of the British consulate, may be adduced as specimens of every thing that is comely in domestic life and elegant in the proprieties of good breeding. There is not that anxious strife after gain, even among the commercial portion of the community, which characterizes the mass of European merchants; a great part of their time is spent at home, and when their ordinary business is over, which it generally is at four in the afternoon, fathers may be seen taking their families to the gardens to enjoy with them a little innocent recreation after the toil and care of the day. "Why should we make our duty an intolerable task and our life a burden?" some of them have said to me when I have contrasted their freedom from anxiety with the all-absorbing devotion to worldly interests of so many who follow the same pursuits in other countries; "we have enough for our wants, and our sons must labour as we have done, and God will provide." This reliance on the divine care and bounty is a virtue which is practised in a much higher degree by Easterns than it is by the people of the West generally, and hence the claims of relationship are more fully recognised by the former than by the latter. An indigent relative, however distantly connected, feels himself at home in the house of his kinsman, who on his part considers himself bound to do all in his power to assist him. From this it results that there are many households in the East, composed of several united families, who live together in peace and harmony, the poorer sharing the affluence of the richer, and all regarding one another as members of the same domestic circle.
So great was the kindness and hospitality shown us at Aleppo by many eastern friends,—in which acknowledgment we should be ungrateful not to record the attention of Mr. Consul Werry, who though ill at the time did all he could to render our stay profitable and agreeable, that we prepared to leave it with regret. But we had not yet reached the end of our journey, and duty called us to be going. We accordingly started from the town on the 17th of June, visited Dana and the ruined establishments of the Stylites, or Pillar Saints, in that neighbourhood, crossed the Orontes and the great Turcoman plain, and entered Antioch in three days from Aleppo. From thence our route lay over the wooded heights of mount Casius to Latachia, where we embarked in a native boat for Beyroot, and again left for Smyrna in the Austrian steamer "Arciduca," on the 4th of July. At Smyrna Mr. Fletcher and Kas Botros took their departure for Malta, and Mrs. Badger and I accompanied by Kas Michael proceeded to Constantinople, where we were welcomed by the Rev. Messrs. Miles and Taylor; two missionaries of the American Episcopal Church, who had been sent out to labour among the Armenians. The Rev. H. Southgate was absent at the time on a visit to his native country, where he was consecrated Bishop, and subsequently rejoined his colleagues. This mission, I regret to say, was broken up a few years after, but for what reason I am not informed. We remained at the Turkish capital till the 18th of September, engaged in forwarding the interests of the Nestorians and their Patriarch, and in holding frequent intercourse with the heads of the Christian communities there, and finally reached London in October, after an absence of nearly two years.
The Committee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had entirely relinquished the idea of continuing a mission to the Nestorians, and had transferred my services to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, by whom I was to have been engaged, in company with the two priests Kas Botros and Kas Michael, in preparing for the press a Syriac edition of the Sacred Scriptures, the Book of Common Prayer, and other useful works, for the benefit of the people among whom we had been labouring. The valuable MSS. which we had brought with us, amounting to one hundred and fifty in number, had been collected to this end; but the Society, finding that their funds were not adequate to the undertaking, finally declined to enter upon it, and thus ended the mission to the Nestorians. Mr. Fletcher was afterwards admitted to holy orders, and is now minister of S. Saviour's district, in the parish of Hampstead. Kas Botros and Kas Michael remained for some time at Malta under the supervision of the Lord Bishop of Gibraltar, who throughout had manifested a deep interest in the welfare of the Nestorians, and were afterwards placed at the disposal of Bishop Southgate at Constantinople. I am not aware how the former came to leave the Bishop, but being thrown out of employ, with no means of subsistence, he attached himself to the American Independent Missionaries, and is at present in their service at Aleppo his native place. Kas Michael was sent to Mosul with instructions to open schools and otherwise to exert himself in behalf of the Nestorians, with a salary of £60 a year. Out of this sum he succeeded in opening two schools in Buhtân, and frequently visited the Nestorian villages in that district, freely preaching in their churches, and exercising the other functions of his ministerial character with the consent and approbation of the Patriarch. Moreover, when Mar Shimoon fled from Mosul he left him in charge of his people there, and directed them to look up to him as their spiritual guide. Last year his salary was stopped, the two schools have fallen into the hands of the American Independents who have consented to support them, and Kas Michael, one of the most able Syriac scholars of the day, and a good man, is now left wholly unprovided for. With regard to myself, an Indian chaplaincy having been placed at the disposal of our late lamented Primate, I was recommended by him to W. H. C. Plowden, Esq., the generous donor, to whose kindness I shall ever feel deeply indebted, and by whom, under the sanction of the Board of Directors, I was appointed to the Presidency of Bombay, where I arrived in May, 1845.
Were it not out of place here, I would most gladly bear my humble testimony more at large to the muoificence of the Honourable East India Company towards the Church establishment in India, and to the kindly disposition of the local authorities generally to forward the interests of religion among the civil and military services under their control. The Bishops are left unfettered in the exercise of their episcopal jurisdiction, and whatever is likely to add to the efficiency of the Church meets with the cordial approval and ready co-operation of the Company's government. A clergyman could not desire more freedom in the discharge of his ministerial functions than he enjoys in India, nor could he wish to be under a more excellent superior than the Lord Bishop of Bombay, [Dr. Carr], who is a father to his clergy, and deservedly revered by them and by the community at large, both for his private virtues and for his zealous though quiet efforts to extend the empire of the Redeemer over the length and breadth of his diocese.
After doing duty for eighteen months in the Southern Mahratta country, I was appointed chaplain to Aden, where a severe illness, which brought me to the borders of the grave and left behind it an inveterate nervous affection, induced the physicians to recommend a change of climate. I accordingly left Aden in March 1849, accompanied by Mrs. Badger, the untiring partner of my wanderings, spent a short time in Egypt, and passed a summer in one of the villages on mount Lebanon. A return of my old complaint, joined with a strong desire to visit the scenes of my former labours, led me to travel farther eastward, and we accordingly proceeded to Mosul, which we reached in safety on the 9th of December. The reader must excuse this biographical episode which has been introduced solely for the sake of connecting the order of my narrative.
As a great portion of the information acquired during this second trip has been embodied in the foregoing pages, little need be said of our journey through Syria and Mesopotamia. The Tanzeemât Khairiyyeh, or Beneficial Ordinances, had already been several years in operation, and I had some opportunity of judging what were the effects of this new chapter of privileges upon the subjects of the Porte in these parts of the Turkish empire. It would be unjust not to allow that the condition of the agriculturists, and indeed of the natives generally, has been improved: less tyranny is openly exercised by the Pashas of the different districts, the laws are more justly administered, the Christians are not so much oppressed as they were formerly, and the taxes and other duties are imposed and levied with greater equity than heretofore. Nor have the people been backward in appreciating the rights thus accorded to them: the Christians are thankful for the boon and the Mohammedans might be equally so were it not for the hateful conscription which has been extended to the Coords, and to other tribes who were formerly exempted from serving in the army. In several instances we found that the villagers in the interior had taken advantage of their new immunities to refuse the traveller's claim to hospitality (a thing almost unheard of before in the East,) and we were imperiously told on more than one occasion that we should not enter their houses, though we had guards with us from the government, and passports from the Pashas of the provinces. To our repeated assurances that we intended to pay for our accommodation, and would fee them besides, they replied: "Tanzeemât! Tanzeemât!" as if the ordinances referred to gave them the right, in their turn, to lord it over strangers. It is just for me to mention that this conduct was manifested chiefly by the Coords between Birejik and Diarbekir, who are a notoriously rude and barbarous race. On mentioning several facts of this kind to Asaad Pasha of Diarbekir, he regretted that the ordinances had been extended at once to all classes of the Sultanas subjects, or that they had not been coupled with some provision to prevent abuse. "As to the Coords," said he, "it was arrant folly to give the Tanzeemât to such barbarians."
There may be some truth in the idea that a portion of the Sultan's subjects are not yet fit for the enjoyment of the liberties now extended to them, and that unless other radical reforms are superadded, these privileges may be so misused as to oblige the government to abridge or revoke them. The tendency of the Tanzeemât is to pave the way for the people to become more prosperous and consequently more independent, and in the same ratio that they attain to this state will they become more impatient of control, and more disposed to resist any species of aggression on the part of their rulers. And here it is important to bear in mind, that the Turks have no hold whatever on the affections of the masses in the empire; on the contrary, they are cordially hated, not only by the Christians, but also by the Coords, Yezeedees, Druses, and Arabs, that is by ninety-nine out of a hundred of their subjects, who could overthrow the Ottoman dynasty at a blow. The prejudices of religion and caste, which separate these distinct races, may perchance always prevent their combining to any such end; but it is by no means improbable that the attempt may be made when once the better circumstances of the disaffected shall supply them with the means of effectually withstanding their feeble and degenerate masters. Hence, it seems to me, that in easing the yoke of servitude wherewith they have hitherto ruled their subjects, without making any adequate provision for the probable consequences of the immunities now granted to them, the Turks are arming their adversaries with weapons which they will not fail to use against them on the first favourable opportunity.
For one thing is certain, that the administrators of the new laws have no right conception of their spirit, and hence, whereas in some cases they are likely to be misinterpreted or misapplied into immunities for crime; in others, they will only serve as an additional sanction to the misgovernment of provincial Pashas. Thus, Asaad Pasha of Diarbekir deeply regretted that he could not punish offenders as they deserved, because of the Tanzeemât, and the Pasha of Mosul adduces the same excuse for a leniency destructive of the well-being of society. During my visit to Mosul in 1850, this last mentioned official dismissed several notorious thieves, in whose possession a large amount of stolen property was discovered, which had been claimed and restored to its rightful owners, on the ground that the proof required by the new ordinances to convict them was not forthcoming. The same Pasha has been frequently known to require the members of the municipal council,—who, by the way, are supposed to deliberate and decide freely, as if men educated under despotic rule can be really capable of exercising the functions of popular representatives with any thing akin to independence,—to come to opposite decisions on the same subject, and to confirm both by affixing their seals thereto as the genuine conviction of their united judgment. Instances of this nature,—and many such might be adduced, for they spring of necessity from the opposite genius of the governors and governed, from their separate interests, and from the despotism of ages on both sides,—go to destroy all hope that the new ordinances will effect any radical reformation in the Turkish empire. To use a scriptural simile, the promulgation of the Tanzeemât is nothing more than the putting of a new patch upon an old garment: the concessions which they accord may cover the more glaring defects of a bad system for a time, but in the end will make the rent worse; and no traveller in the east, who has looked beyond the surface of Ottoman rule, whether under the old or new regime, can fail to be convinced, that it is based upon no fixed principles of justice, or of real anxiety for the welfare of the subject, and is consequently rotten at its very core, and fast falling into decay. No better proof, perhaps, could be adduced in support of this conclusion, than the undeniable fact that the Tanzeemât, or any similar chapter of privileges, lately accorded to the Sultanas subjects, is not the offspring of the voluntary suffrage of the ruling powers, springing from any comprehensive appreciation of the rights of the people, or of the real value and tendencies of the immunities conceded; but has been granted mainly out of a disposition to ape the political institutions of Europe, in the same way that the change of costume was introduced by the late Sultan Mahmood, or to satisfy the importunate expostulations of foreign representatives at the Sublime Porte.[1]
In fact, the Osmanlis do not possess the materials for administering any other than a despotic form of government, and therefore every attempt made on their part to effect a radical change in their political system will be futile. Their Pashas are generally ignorant and rapacious men, their Cadhis, or Judges, are venal to a proverb, their Oolema are unalterably attached to the old policy, and their soldiers are devoid of one spark of true patriotism. Look, then, at the state of the eastern provinces of the empire; on reaching Idlib, three days from the sea coast, we found the governor expelled the palace by his own attendants, the neighbourhood of the town was infested with robbers, and the same was the case between Aleppo and the Euphrates. Just before we entered Birejik, fifty villages in the Serooj had been laid waste by the Bedooeen, and the road to Urfah was impassable. The district between Mardeen and Jezeerah was overrun by troops of marauding Arabs, who ravaged the villages on the banks of the Tigris, and approached even to the walls of Mosul. No efforts were made on the part of the local authorities to stay these freebooters, who daily plundered caravans, and committed several murders with impunity. The same unsettled state of things exists up to the present time, no property is safe beyond the city gates, and the villagers in the plain are driven to pay the Arabs black mail to purchase indemnity from plunder and bloodshed. In the more distant provinces bordering on Coordistan, such as Bahdinan and the Tyari, which are now supposed to be entirely under Ottoman rule, the Christians continue to be oppressed as usual without any means of obtaining redress. The poor Nestorians are the chief sufferers here, so that it is to be doubted whether they have profited much by their change of masters. The present political condition of the mountain Nestorians will be noticed more particularly in the sequel.
- ↑ A German friend of mine aptly likens Turkey under foreign influence to a galvanized frog.