Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/58

16 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 char, subject to all the laws of their conquerors, the „ people of the Christian Churches were suffered to live apart, governing themselves in their own way, furnishing no recruits to the army, and having few legal relations with the State, except as payers of tribute. In cities, the people of the Christian Churches and of the Synagogue generally had their respec- tive districts, apart from the Moslem quarter. They were not safe from lawless acts of tyranny ; and there were usages which reminded them that they "were a conquered people ; but they were never interfered with, as the citizens of European States are, for the mere sake of method or uni- formity. They were free in the exercise of their religion; and most of the customs under which they lived Avere so completely their own, and so many of the laws which they obeyed were laws administered by themselves, that they might almost be said to form tributary republics in the midst of a military empire. Indeed, this distinct existence was so fully recognised as a result of Mahometan conquest that the Turkish Government was ac- customed to give the title of a 'Nation' to the members of any Christian Church or Synagogue established within the Ottoman realm. The subjects, or 'Rayahs,' as they are called, thus held under Mussulman sway, numbered per- haps fifteen millions ; and although the Mussul- mans of the whole Empire might be computed at twenty-one millions, the great bulk of these were scattered over remote provinces in Asia and