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120 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1S53 chap, seem tolerable to Christendom by getting rid of . L_ the differences which separated the Christian sub- jects of the Porte from their Mahometan fellow- subjects, and placing the tributaries on a footing with their masters. But the theory of Mahometan government rests upon the maintenance of a clear separation from the unbelievers ; and to propose to a Mussulman of any piety that the Commander of the Faithful should obliterate the distinction between Mahometans and Christians, would be proposing to obliterate the distinction between virtue and vice. The notion would seem to be not merely wrong and wicked, but a contradiction in terms. A virtuous Osmanlee would feel that, if lie were to consent to this levelling of the bar- riers between good and evil, he would lose the whole merit and comfort of being a Turk. Per- haps the opposite policy — namely, that of widen- ing the separation of the Christians, and giving them (under a tenure less precarious than the present one) the character of tributary municipal- ities — would be more consonant with the scheme of a Mussulman Empire, and therefore more sus- ceptible of complete execution. But whether the reforms thus counselled were possible or not, it was hard to resist the imperious Ambassador to his face. If what he directed was inconsistent with the nature of things, then possibly the na- ture of things would be changed by the decree of Heaven, for there was no hope that the great Eltchi would relax his will. In the meantime, however, and by the blessing of God, the actual