No. 1.
_Sir Stratford Canning to the Earl of Aberdeen_.--(_Received
September_ 20.)
(Extract.) _Buyukderé, August_ 27, 1843.
Within the last few days an execution has taken place at
Constantinople under circumstances which have occasioned much
excitement and indignation among the Christian inhabitants. The
sufferer was an Armenian youth of eighteen or twenty years, who
having, under fear of punishment, declared himself a Turk, went to
the Island of Syra, and returning, after an absence of some length,
resumed his former religion. Apprehensive of the danger but resolved
not to deny his real faith a second time, he kept out of sight till
accident betrayed him to the police, and he was then thrown into
prison. In spite of threats, promises, and blows, he there
maintained his resolution, refused to save his life by a fresh
disavowal of Christianity, and was finally decapitated in one of the
most frequented parts of the city with circumstances of great
barbarity.
Inclosed herewith is a statement of the particulars drawn up by Mr.
Alison.
It is not merely on grounds of humanity that I would draw your
Lordship's attention to this incident: political considerations of
serious importance are connected with it; and on this account, no
less than from regard for the tears and entreaties of a distracted
family, I exhausted my influence in vain endeavours to divert the
Porte from its purpose. Every Member of the Council to whom I
applied, returned the same answer, expressing a willingness to meet
my wishes, and regretting the inexorable necessity of the law.
For my own part I do not believe that any such necessity exists. The
determination of the Government to sacrifice the Armenian youth, in
spite of my earnest solicitations, unless he recanted publicly, is
part and parcel of that system of reaction which preceded my arrival
here, against which I have constantly struggled, and which,
notwithstanding the assurances given to me, and the efforts of its
partisans to conceal it, is day by day gaining strength, to the
despair of every enlightened Turkish statesman, to the prejudice of
our relations with this country, and to the visible decline of those
improvements which, in my humble judgment, can alone avert the
dissolution of the Sultan's empire.
The law, which, in this instance, has torn a youth from the bosom of
his family, and consigned him to an ignominious and cruel death,
would apply with equal force to a subject of any Christian Power.
Such of my colleagues as I have consulted upon this subject appear
to take a view of it similar to my own, I refer, in particular, to
the Austrian, French, Russian, and Prussian Ministers: each of them
has told me that he intended to recommend the question to the
serious consideration of his Government.
Since my arrival here one British and two French subjects have
declared in favour of Mahomedanism, and much difficulty has been
experienced in dealing with the individuals concerned. The British
subject, a Maltese, returned to the Catholic faith a few days after
he had declared himself a Turk, and he was privately conveyed out of
this country. The Porte, on that occasion, evidently identified the
change of allegiance with the change of creed, and not only would a
trifling incident have sufficed to raise the question arising out of
that principle between Her Majesty's Embassy and the Porte, but had
the man been arrested after his recantation, I should perhaps have
been reduced to the necessity of putting all to hazard in order to
snatch him from the hands of the executioner.
The only* Articles relating to this matter in our Capitulations with
the Porte are the sixty-first and seventy-first. The French have an
Article of similar meaning in their capitulations, and by the Treaty
of Kainardji between Russia and the Porte it was agreed that
individuals who had changed their religion should be mutually
exempted from the operation of the Article, which otherwise
stipulates for the extradition of refugees and malefactors.
* Article LXI.--That if any Englishman should turn Turk, and it
should be represented and proved that besides his own goods he has
in his hands any property belonging to another person in England,
such property shall be taken from him and delivered up to the
Ambassador or Consul, that they may convey the same to the owner
thereof.
Article LXXI.--That should any Englishman coming with merchandize
turn Turk, and the goods so imported by him be proved to belong to
merchants of his own country, from whom he had taken them, the whole
shall be detained, with the ready money, and delivered up to the
Ambassador, in order to his transmitting the same to the right
owners, without any of our judges or officers interposing any
obstacle or hindrance thereto.
Under these impressions I trust that your Lordship will not think I
have exceeded the bounds of prudence in stating confidentially,
though without reserve, to the Grand Vizier the impressions made
upon my mind by the recent execution. Couched as my message was in
respectful and kindly terms, I hope it will operate as a salutary
admonition. The interpreter's report of his Highness' reply is
inclosed with this despatch.
Inclosure l in No. 1.
_Case of the Armenian Avakim, son of Yagya, of the parish of Top
Kapousee_.
About a year and a half ago Avakim having had a drunken quarrel with
some neighbours, was sentenced at the War Office to receive 500
bastinadoes.
Fear and intoxication induced him to become a Mussulman, and he was
conducted on the spot to the Mehkemé where the name of Mehemet was
given him.
Some days afterwards Avakim repented of what he had done, and fled
to Syra, from whence he returned a few months ago.
About three months ago, while returning from his sister's house with
a small bundle containing wearing apparel, he was recognized by the
Kolaga of the quarter, Mustapha, and denounced at the War Office of
having renegaded from Islamism. He was then submitted to the most
cruel punishment to compel him to re-abandon his original belief,
and was even paraded through the streets with his hands tied behind
his back as if for execution. Avakim, however, unintimidated by
torture or the prospect of death, proclaimed aloud his firm belief
in Christianity, and was led forth to suffer on Wednesday last
amidst the execrations of the Ulema partisans.
Only one man, Taouk-Bazarli Ali, among the thirty armed police who
conducted him, could be prevailed upon to strike the blow. Many of
the Turks spat on him as they passed, and openly reviled the faith
for which he had died. A Yafta, in the following terms, was affixed
on the opposite shop:--
"The Armenian shoemaker, Avakim, son of Yagya, having last year, in
the beginning of Moharrem, while at an age of discretion, accepted
Islamism, and received the name of Mehemet, some time afterwards
renegaded, and having now obstinately persisted in refusing the
proffer made to him by the law to re-become a Moslem, sentence of
death was awarded unto him according to fetwa, and he has thereby
suffered."
The first intelligence received in Pera of this occurrence was the
appearance in the streets of the unfortunate lad's mother tearing
her grey hair, and rushing distractedly from the scene of bloodshed.
The poor old woman, when assured of her boy's fate, returned and sat
in grief by the corpse, from which she was afterwards removed.
A petition of the Armenians for the corpse was rejected, and it was
after three days exposure cast into the sea.
_Constantinople, August_ 27, 1843.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.