Correspondence Relating to Executions in Turkey for Apostacy from Islamism Part 8

_Lord Stuart de Rothsay to the Earl of Aberdeen_.--(_Received February_ 24.)

(Extract.) _St. Petersburgh, February_ 6, 1844.

In obedience to the orders contained in your Lordship's despatch of the 16th January, I have communicated to Count Nesselrode a copy of your instructions to Sir Stratford Canning upon the subject of a Greek who had been executed near Brussa as an apostate from Islamism.

I did so without alluding to the wish of Her Majesty's Government that the Russian Minister at Constantinople might be furnished with instructions on the subject. The Vice-Chancellor, nevertheless, said that he should consider attentively the communication I had made, and see how far it might be useful to adopt a similar course, adding, that although he quite partic.i.p.ated in the feelings which actuated Her Majesty's Government, he thought that other means might be tried which would be more efficacious in attaining our common object. He afterwards remarked that through the instrumentality of some of the Russian Consular Agents Pashas had not unfrequently been persuaded, in an unofficial manner, to facilitate the removal from their Government of Greeks and others who had rendered themselves liable to capital punishment for apostacy; and he gave me to understand that he was of opinion that greater security to Christians would be obtained by the exercise of the individual influence of foreign agents, than by seeking an alteration in the fundamental laws of the Turkish Empire, such as appeared to be the object of Her Majesty's Government.

Count Nesselrode appears disposed to instruct M. t.i.tow to give his general support to Her Majesty's Amba.s.sador.

No. 24.

_Sir Stratford Canning to the Earl of Aberdeen_.--(_Received March_ 8.)

(Extract.) _Constantinople, February_ 10, 1844.

On the 5th instant I received your Lordship's instructions of the 16th ultimo, relating to the execution of a Greek near Brussa for relapsing from Islamism, and directing me to require of the Porte an unequivocal renunciation of the principle involved in that barbarous act. I received at the same time, from Her Majesty's Amba.s.sador at Paris a despatch informing me that he had communicated those instructions to M. Guizot, and was authorized by him to express that Minister's approbation of their contents, and his intention of ordering M. de Bourqueney to concur with me for the attainment of the object to which they were directed.

I proceeded at once to execute the commands of Her Majesty's Government. To the French Minister I read your Lordship's first instruction, and also Lord Cowley's despatch. He returned my confidence by putting me in possession of M. Guizot's instructions to him of the 13th ultimo, and by expressing his readiness to act in concert with me for the accomplishment of our common purpose. To Rifaat Pasha I communicated a copy, together with an exact translation, of your Lordship's first instruction. I waited upon his Excellency by appointment for this object on the 9th instant, having apprized the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian Ministers of my intention the day before.

The Ottoman Minister for Foreign Affairs read, in my presence, the whole of your Lordship's instruction translated into Turkish. Having finished it, he rose from his seat rather abruptly, without saying a word, and left the room for a few minutes. On his return, he told me that the subject was too important for him to give me an answer without referring to the Council; but, if I were inclined to listen, he would at once impart to me such observations as occurred to his mind. I a.s.sured him that I was willing to receive with becoming consideration whatever he thought proper to state; and he then proceeded to draw a strong line of distinction between custom and divine law, intimating that a practice derived from the former source might be abandoned to meet the wishes of Europe, or even of Great Britain alone, but that a law, prescribed by G.o.d himself, was not to be set aside by any human power; and that the Sultan in attempting it might be exposed to a heavy, perhaps even to a dangerous, responsibility. He sought to learn from me whether your Lordship had been fully aware of this view of the case in writing the instruction communicated to him; and it seemed to be his object both to prepare me for an unsatisfactory answer, and to obtain from me some admission which might give him an advantage in shaping the decision of the Council.

I had already, in presenting the instruction, endeavoured to make it clearly understood, that Her Majesty's Government had no object in view but the one so distinctly and powerfully stated therein; and also to show how imperiously the welfare of the Porte itself requires that a practice and principle which operate as moral barriers between Turkey and Christendom, should now be once for all renounced and utterly abandoned. I had every reason to believe that your Lordship had instructed me with a full knowledge of the question in all its bearings and eventual consequences; that the course deliberately adopted by Her Majesty's Government, and announced to the princ.i.p.al Courts of Europe previously united in reprobation of the late impolitic and atrocious executions, was not to be receded from; and that any opening to a compromise on so vital a point could only encourage resistance and endanger the most important interests. I, therefore, rested entirely on the terms of your Lordship's instruction, to which, in truth, there was nothing for me to add.

Although I replied to some of Rifaat Pasha's remarks in a considerate and conciliatory manner, I referred him steadily to your Lordship's instructions, and left no reason to hope that any evasive or temporizing a.s.surance would be accepted as satisfactory by Her Majesty's Government.

No. 25.

_Sir Stratford Canning to the Earl of Aberdeen_.--(_Received March_ 8.)

My Lord, _Constantinople, February_ 12, 1844.

The interview which I had on the 9th instant with Rifaat Pasha was followed yesterday by one of a similar character between that Minister and the French Representative. M. de Bourqueney obligingly called upon me as soon as he returned from the Pasha's house; and his report of the conference presented in substance a counterpart of what had before pa.s.sed between his Excellency and myself. He stated that he had given in a paper composed of the strongest pa.s.sages from M. Guizot's instruction to him of the 13th ultimo; that he had found in Rifaat Pasha's remarks the same indication of resistance on the ground of religion which I had experienced; that in reprobating the executions complained of, and urging the abandonment of so barbarous a law for the future, he had placed himself as nearly as possible on the same ground with me, and that he had carefully avoided any premature discussion of the form of declaration by which the Porte would probably, in the end, attempt to satisfy the remonstrating Governments without a surrender of the principle, or more than a virtual suspension of the practice.

Notwithstanding the want of any instruction from M. Guizot, subsequent to Lord Cowley's communication to that Minister, Baron de Bourqueney found himself sufficiently authorized by the instruction of the 13th to give me his cordial and unqualified support.

Agreeably to M. Guizot's suggestion, as conveyed to me in Lord Cowley's despatch, we have acted separately in form, though concurrently in substance.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) STRATFORD CANNING.

No. 26.

_The Earl of Aberdeen to Sir Stratford Canning_.

Sir, _Foreign Office, March_ 19, 1844.

I have received your Excellency's despatch of the 10th of February, giving an account of the manner in which you had executed the instruction of the 16th of January, which I addressed to your Excellency on receiving your report of the execution of a Greek near Brussa on the ground of his having renounced his profession of Islamism and returned to Christianity.

I have to acquaint you that Her Majesty's Government entirely approve of your having rested your communication to the Turkish Minister on the terms of my instruction, and of your having steadily referred his Excellency to that doc.u.ment, while replying in a considerate and conciliatory manner to the remarks which he addressed to you.

Nothing, indeed, can be further from the wish of Her Majesty's Government than that a communication which they have been compelled by a strong sense of duty, and, I may add, by a sincere regard for the welfare of Turkey, to make to the Porte, should be rendered more unpalatable than from its nature it was likely to be, by being conveyed in harsh or dictatorial terms; and they wish, if the question is still under discussion when this despatch reaches your Excellency's hands, that you should constantly bear in mind, that Her Majesty's Government, although they propose to abide by the general tenour of the communication which you have been directed to make to the Porte, have no desire, and would deeply regret, that the acquiescence of the Porte in the demand which they have addressed to it, should be attended with unnecessary pain to the feelings of the Turkish Government.

Her Majesty's Government are persuaded that if the Ministers of the Porte will dispa.s.sionately consider what has been desired of them, they will find that, without any real sacrifice of national or religious opinion, they may place themselves in harmony with the wishes and the feelings of the Christian Powers. Her Majesty's Government have not urged, and do not propose to urge, them to abrogate any law, divine or human, but merely to revert to the system which Her Majesty's Government believe to have been for some time past constantly acted upon, and to allow the law to remain practically dormant, and thus silently withdraw from a practice which cannot be enforced without rousing the feelings of Christendom, and rendering it impossible for the Turkish Government to retain the good-will of Christian Powers.

The Ministers of the Porte cannot, on calm reflection, suppose that if they deliberately deprive their Government of the moral or physical support of Christendom, the Turkish Empire can long be preserved from the destruction with which, from numerous causes, it is continually menaced; neither can they believe that, although the sentiments of the various Powers of Europe on the question to which the revival of an obsolete practice has now unfortunately given rise, may be conveyed to the Porte in terms more or less decided, there is any real and essential difference between the expectations and the intentions of all. All must yield to public opinion universally expressed; and the Porte may rest a.s.sured that Christian States will, with one accord, refuse to tolerate any longer a practice which, both in the principle on which it rests and the manner in which it is carried into execution, is designed to stigmatize the faith which they profess and cherish.

I am, &c.,

(Signed) ABERDEEN.

No. 27.

_Count Nesselrode to M. de t.i.tow_.--(_Communicated by Baron Brunnow to the Earl of Aberdeen_, March 19.)

_St. Petersbourg, le_ 15/27 _Fevrier_, 1844.

Je n'ai pas manque de prendre les ordres de l'Empereur sur le contenu de votre rapport No. 10, du 21 Janvier/2 Fevrier, par lequel vous nous avez rendu compte de la facheuse impression que la nouvelle execution religieuse qui a eu lieu a Biligik a produite a Constantinople.

Sa Majeste a voue une attention serieuse aux diverses considerations que vous nous avez exposees pour decider du plus ou moins d'opportunite qu'il y aurait pour les Puissances de l'Europe en general, et pour la Russie en particulier, a protester contre des actes de cruaute incompatibles avec les principes d'humanite dont la Porte devrait se montrer penetree a l'egard de ses sujets Chretiens.

D'une part, nous avons reconnu la difficutte, pour ne pas dire l'impossibilite, de decouvrir le moyen propre pour paralyser d'une maniere definitive les effets de la loi du Coran qui concerne les apostasies; d'autre part, nous ne saurions ne pas elever la voix, lorsqu'il s'agit de l'application de la peine de mort a des individus qui, en embra.s.sant le Christianisme, ou en retournant dans le sein de l'Eglise, invoquent notre protection, et nous imposent le devoir de les soustraire aux rigueurs d'une legislation barbare.

Dans un tel etat de choses, l'opinion que vous a communiquee M. le Comte de Sturmer, nous a paru celle qui offre le plus de chances de succes. Cette opinion est d'ailleurs conforme aux vues que j'ai ete dans le cas de vous developper sur la meme matiere dans une occasion precedente. Il est donc de l'intention de l'Empereur que vous declariez a la Porte Ottomane, sous la forme d'un conseil bienveillant, que nous nous attendons positivement a ne plus voir se renouveler des executions qui soulevent contre elle l'indignation de toute la Chretiente. C'est dans son propre interet que nous lui adressons cette demande. La Porte ne doit pas se faire illusion sur les elemens qui fermentent en Turquie. Au lieu de s'aliener les sentimens des populations Chretiennes, le Gouvernement Ottoman doit travailler plus que jamais, a se les concilier. Qu'il comprenne enfin la necessite de laisser tomber en desuetude des dispositions surannees de la loi Mahometane, qui ne peuvent etre maintenues qu'au mepris des representations unanimes de toutes les Puissances. Tel serait a peu pres le langage que vous auriez a tenir, Monsieur, a la Porte Ottomane, de concert avec les autres Representans, et nous esperons qu'en la rappelant ainsi a la conscience de ses devoirs et de ses interets reels, nous l'empecherons de retomber dans la voie vicieuse qu'elle a suivie en dernier lieu.