(Signed) STRATFORD CANNING.
No. 34.
_Sir Stratford Canning to the Earl of Aberdeen_.--(_Received April_
4.)
(Extract.) _Constantinople, March_ 14, 1844.
Since I had last the honour of addressing your Lordship the Turkish
Ministers have been almost exclusively occupied with the great
question which formed the subject matter of your Lordship's
instruction of 16th January. The deferred settlement of this
question is, indeed, a source of much inconvenience to all who have
business to transact with the Porte. The affairs of Her Majesty's
Embassy, and those of the French and even of the Austrian Legation,
are almost suspended. I have, therefore, been doubly anxious to
obtain the Porte's definitive answer; but notwithstanding every
exertion consistent with the consideration due to an independent and
friendly Government, I have only this moment succeeded in obtaining
it; and I lament to say that it is so unsatisfactory as to induce me
to reject it without a moment's hesitation.
In this decision the French Minister concurs with equal promptitude
and completeness. I inclose herewith the terms of the answer, as
reported to us by our respective interpreters. It was given
verbally, but with some additional authority derived from the
presence of the Grand Vizier and the President of the Council.
The 16th instant had been previously fixed for the delivery of the
Porte's answer, and we were content to wait. This morning, however,
I received through several channels a confirmation of intelligence
which had reached me imperfectly the evening before, to the effect
that an unfavourable resolution had already been adopted by the
Council, and that the Turkish Ministers deferred the communication
of it for the sole purpose of engaging the Sultan's word, and
frustrating any eventual appeal to His Majesty. At the same time,
therefore, that, in concurrence with the French Minister, I directed
M. Pisani to demand an audience, if an immediate and satisfactory
answer were not delivered at the Porte, I sent to the Grand Marshal
of the Palace and called upon him to apprize the Sultan forthwith of
my intention to seek a formal audience of His Majesty, and to
entreat that the Royal decision might be withheld until I had an
opportunity of executing your Lordship's instruction in that
respect.
Meanwhile in spite of adverse appearances, I still retain the
opinion expressed in a former part of my correspondence. The Porte,
I am satisfied, is prepared to give way in the end, though with much
reluctance. Nothing whatever has occurred to warrant the alarming
rumours of popular excitement and insurrection diligently
circulated, and even countenanced by Rifaat Pasha, some days ago. If
my information be correct, there is reason, on the contrary, to
believe that not only the Mussulman inhabitants of the capital are
sufficiently indifferent to the question at issue, but that many of
the upper classes, some of the most distinguished Turkish statesmen,
and a few even of the Ulemah are favourable to our view of the
subject.
Inclosure in No. 34.
_Answer of Rifaat Pasha to M. Frederic Pisani, March_ 14, 1844.
La réponse de son Excellence Rifaat Pacha, dite verbalement et
officiellement, se trouve dans une pièce qui nous a été présentée.
Cette pièce était un extrait d'une dépêche à Aali Effendi et à
Réchid Pacha. Nous avons refusé de la prendre parcequ'elle n'est pas
satisfaisante. Elle est conçue ainsi: "Comme la loi ne permet
nullement de changer les dispositions à l'égard de la punition des
apostats, la Sublime Porte prendra des mesures efficaces, les
mesures possibles, pour que l'exécution des Chrétiens qui, devenus
Musulmans, retournent au Christianisme, n'ait pas lieu."
(Translation.)
The answer of his Excellency Rifaat Pasha, verbally and officially
pronounced, is contained in a document which was presented to us.
This document was an extract from a despatch to Aali Effendi and to
Reshid Pasha. We refused to take it, because it is not satisfactory.
It is couched in these terms: "As the law does not admit of any
change being made in the enactments regarding the punishment of
apostates, the Sublime Porte will take efficacious measures, the
measures which are possible, in order that the execution of
Christians who, having become Mussulmans, return to Christianity,
shall not take place."
No. 35.
_The Earl of Aberdeen to Sir Stratford Canning_.
(Extract.) _Foreign Office, April_ 6, 1844.
The latest account which I have received from your Excellency of
your proceedings with regard to the question pending with the Porte,
arising out of the execution of the Greek near Brussa on the charge
of apostacy from Islamism, is contained in your despatch of the 14th
of March. From that despatch it appears that, in conjunction with
your French colleague, you had rejected as unsatisfactory the
communication made to your dragomans on that day by the Ministers of
the Porte, and that you were taking measures to secure an audience
of the Sultan, in the event of your failing to obtain from the Porte
without further delay, a more satisfactory reply.
On the statements in that despatch I have to acquaint your
Excellency that Her Majesty's Government concur with you in
considering that the communication made to you through your dragoman
on the 14th of March, was not of that absolute and unequivocal
character which you were instructed in my despatch of the 16th of
January to require from the Porte; and that you consequently acted
rightly in refusing to receive it, and in taking steps to obtain
either a more satisfactory communication from the Ministers of the
Porte, or admission to the presence of the Sultan for the purpose of
addressing to His Highness in person that appeal which you were
directed in case of necessity to make to him.
With regard, however, to the nature of the communication which Her
Majesty's Government would consider satisfactory, I have to state to
your Excellency that Her Majesty's Government are content to abide
by the terms which, it appears from your despatch of the 6th of
March, were suggested to Rifaat Pasha on the preceding day by your
Excellency and M. de Bourqueney, namely, that the Porte should make
"an official declaration that effectual measures would be taken to
prevent the recurrence of executions for apostacy," or, as the
proposition has been reported by M. de Bourqueney to his Government,
"that the Porte will take effectual measures to prevent the renewal
of executions similar to those which have recently taken place at
Constantinople and Biligik."
With such a declaration, officially made, Her Majesty's Government
would be perfectly satisfied, even without the additional clause
reported by your Excellency, which appears to them to be
unnecessary.
I need scarcely inform your Excellency that Her Majesty's Government
look with much anxiety to an early solution of this question. They
are sensible of the many inconveniences which the continued
agitation of it may involve, although it is with no small
satisfaction that they perceive from your Excellency's despatch that
there is no present appearance of the difficulties necessarily
attached to the question being increased by any insurrectionary or
fanatical movement on the part of the Mussulman inhabitants of the
Capital.
I have not yet received from the Turkish Ambassador in this country
any communication of the despatch from which the answer given to
your Excellency, through M. Pisani, appears to be an extract.
It is greatly to be desired that the Porte should act with
promptitude. Much of the embarrassment to which the agitation of
this question has given rise, may be traced to the attempt of the
Porte to invest it exclusively with a religious character.
No. 36.
_Sir Stratford Canning to the Earl of Aberdeen_.--(_Received April_
10.)
(Extract.) _Constantinople, March_ 23, 1844.
I have the honour and satisfaction to inform your Lordship that the
question of religious executions is happily and, to all appearance,
conclusively settled. The concession has been obtained with great
difficulty; and, even to the last moment, it required the firmness
of resolution inspired by your Lordship's instruction to overcome
the obstacles which were raised against us, and to keep the Turkish
Ministers steady to their professions. I felt it to be my duty to
accept nothing short of your Lordship's requisition in its full
extent. But this obligation did not preclude me either from adopting
such means of success as were best calculated to hasten a favourable
result, or from accepting that result in a conciliatory though
effective shape. By availing myself of an overture to communicate
directly with the Sultan, I succeeded in obtaining all that was
necessary, and in receiving His Highness' acknowledgments for the
consideration I had shewn to his wishes.
These transactions have so little interest now, that it would be a
waste of your Lordship's time to enter upon a narration of them. It
may suffice for me to state that, after several unacceptable
propositions, the Porte's definitive reply was communicated to me
and to the French Minister in suitable terms, and also in writing,
which had been long refused; that to leave no doubt of what I
understand to be the meaning of the Porte, I sent in an
acknowledgment, of which a copy is herewith inclosed, together with
a translated copy of the Porte's declaration; and that to-day, at my
audience of the Sultan, His Highness not only confirmed what the
Porte had declared, but added, in frank and explicit language, the
assurances which I had previously required as to the general good
treatment of the Christians throughout his dominions. He, in fact,
gave me his royal word that, henceforward, neither should
Christianity be insulted in his dominions, nor should Christians be
in any way persecuted for their religion. Important as it was to
obtain this assurance from the lips of the Sovereign himself, I
should have thought it right to demand an audience for the mere
purpose of removing false impressions from His Highness' mind
respecting the motives and objects of Her Majesty's Government. In
this respect, also, I had every reason to be satisfied. The Sultan
expressed the strongest reliance on the friendly intentions of Great
Britain; he fully appreciated the motives which had actuated her on
the present occasion; he acknowledged more than once the signal and
frequent services rendered to his empire by British arms and
counsels; he declared that the great concession which he had now
confirmed, though entirely consonant with his own feelings, had been
made to his sense of obligation towards the British Government; he
called upon me to convey his thanks to Her Majesty for the good
treatment experienced by the millions of Mussulman subjects living
under British sway in India, and his anxious desire that the
engagements which he had taken to protect from violent and undue
interference the Christians established in his empire, should be
appreciated by Her Majesty's Government, and prove a source of
increased good-will between the two nations, and an occasion of
eliciting fresh proofs of friendly interest on the part of Great
Britain towards his dominions.
What passed at this audience is the more important and binding, as
it was one of a formal character, applied for on public grounds;
and, to give it still greater value, the Sultan, after I had retired
from his presence, called back the dragoman of the Porte, and
desired him to assure me that what he had said in public proceeded
from his real conviction, and was, in fact, the sincere expression
of his personal sentiments.
Inclosure 1 in No. 36.
_Official Declaration of the Sublime Porte, relinquishing the
practice of Executions for Apostacy_.
(Translation.)
It is the special and constant intention of His Highness the Sultan
that his cordial relations with the High Powers be preserved, and
that a perfect reciprocal friendship be maintained, and increased.
The Sublime Porte engages to take effectual measures to prevent
henceforward the execution and putting to death of the Christian who
is an apostate.
_March_ 21, 1844.
Inclosure 2 in No. 36.
_Acknowledgment of the Sublime Porte's Official Declaration
respecting Executions for Apostacy. March_ 22, 1844.
The official declaration communicated by his Excellency the Minister
for Foreign Affairs shall be transmitted to the British Government,
who will understand with satisfaction that the Sublime Porte, in
taking effectual measures to prevent henceforward the execution and
putting to death of any Christian, an apostate from Islamism,
relinquishes for ever a principle inconsistent with its friendly
professions; and the further assurances to be given at the
Ambassador's audience of the Sultan, in the sense of the instruction
presented in copy to the Porte on the 9th ultimo, will fully satisfy
the British Government that Christianity is not to be insulted in
His Highness' empire, nor any one professing it to be treated as a
criminal, or persecuted on that account.
(Signed) STRATFORD CANN1NG.
No. 37.
_Earl of Westmorland to the Earl of Aberdeen_.--(_Received April_
12.)
My Lord, _Berlin, April_ 7, 1844.
I received a private letter From Sir Stratford Canning, dated
Constantinople, March 23, announcing the termination of his
negotiation with the Turkish Government as to its future conduct in
the cases of Christians who have renounced the Mahomedan religion,
and bearing witness to the cordial manner in which M. de Le Coq, the
Prussian Minister, under Baron Bülow's instruction, had assisted his
exertions.
I thought it my duty to communicate this feeling to Baron Bülow, who
has expressed himself obliged by the expressions of Sir Stratford
Canning, and most happy to have contributed to so good a work as the
attainment of a written pledge from the Turkish Government that it
will take effectual means to prevent henceforward the execution of
the Christian who is an apostate.