Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1880
No. 606.
Mr. Maynard to Mr. Evarts.
Constantinople, October 21, 1879. (Received November 10.)
Sir: This morning I received from Hagoss Effendi Matteosian, Vekil (secular agent) of the Protestant community in the Ottoman Empire, a note, of which a reply is inclosed; also, a pamphlet which he requests transmitted to you.
Hagoss Effendi, as his name indicates, is an Armenian, and by virtue of his office holds the esteem of the Protestants, and is respected by others of different faith. His pamphlet, though brief, is a forcible presentation of Protestantism in Turkey.
He would greatly err, however, who should estimate the fruits of missionary labors in Turkey by the number and character of the Protestant community alone. The stimulus given to the native Christian [Page 962] churches by awakening a zeal for education and kindling a brighter and more ardent piety has been productive of indirect results greater by far, in my opinion, than the direct results, however considerable.
I have, &c.,
Hagoss Effendi to Mr. Maynard
Sir: I have taken the liberty to inclose two copies of a pamphlet intended to show the necessity of the complete organization of the Protestant community for the security and prosperity of that people, and that in order to do this their constitution must be ratified by the Porte and an imperial berat be given them, like those of other communities.
Begging that you will kindly forward one of the accompanying pamphlets to the Hon. Mr. Evarts, the Secretary of State, I remain your obedient servant,
Vekil of the Protestant Community.
Statement as to the present position of the Protestant community in the Turkish Empire.
The history of Protestantism in Turnkey dates from the introduction of Protestant missions into the empire, and as there is scarcely a Protestant country which has not more or less operated here, so nearly every Protestant country is interested in the enterprise represented by the Protestant community.
This movement does not assume majestic features, like the Roman Catholic propaganda. On the contrary, operating among the masses, it has hitherto been to the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness. The admirers of Roman Catholic splendor may see but little to admire and respect in Protestant operations and institutions. Yet, despite external appearance, the steady growth of the community in numbers, the marked improvement in the intellectual and moral condition of its members, the high character of its institutions, and the approbation already gained by its liberal principles among the masses, may assure its friends that the reforming and elevating power of its faith will bring forth the same results here as elsewhere, though much remains to bring this community to a position to make its beneficial influence generally acknowledged.
Statistics could be brought to show that the Protestant movement in this empire is not a contemptible enterprise. The whole work is characterized by that Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic stability so well adapted to the sober-mindedness of the masses, and which, it is hoped, will counteract the ostentatious Latin influence which has so much affected the upper classes.
As it is now fully thirty-five years since this community came into existence under the care of missionary societies, the time seems to have come for it to assume a self-existent position as a native institution, so that its members shall be no longer regarded as simply individual followers of foreign missionaries. In order to this the community must be fully recognized and its constitution sanctioned by the Imperial Government, on a basis of equality with other Christian bodies.
No doubt the Protestant Church, by virtue of its position in the civilized world, can claim religious equality here as a legitimate right. Moreover, the Protestant community should be recognized as entitled to civil equality, for no religious profession can have organized existence, much less prosperity, in this country, without the honorable civil status granted to “Millets.”
Since the Ottoman Sultan is the Khalif, he is the sovereign head, not of a race, but of those who hold the tenets of Islamism. The Ottoman body politic is the community of the faithful. Into this community, it is plain, non-Moslem subjects cannot be admitted. This is the constitution of Ottoman sovereignty, and the character of its nationality.
The Ottomans by settling in this country among the nations they conquered, put an end to the political existence of the latter. And, since these could not be incorporated into the new body or nation, they were organized into separate bodies. The Fatih Sultan, in order to recommend his rule to the nations whom he deprived of country [Page 963] and power, and at the same time to relieve himself of all responsibility towards providing for their social and religious wants, and as an instrument of defense to protect these feeble nations against the excesses of his own followers, granted these non-Moslem classes national existence upon theocratic principles like those of the Moslems, with entire freedom to manage their own internal affairs, with religious immunities, communal powers, and civil privileges, clothing their chiefs with judicial prerogatives and a representative character, entitling them to plead the cause of their people.
Like true theocracies, these new organizations were put under the jurisdiction of patriarchs of their respective creeds, and were designated “millets” or nations, distinguished by their religious profession.
It was on this principle of religious nationality that the Bulgarian and other races holding the orthodox Greek, faith were incorporated into the Greek “millet” or nationality. And for the same reason the Bulgarians, wishing to assert their national existence, sought to separate themselves from the jurisdiction of the ecumenical Greek patriarch.
The special duties of these millet organizations are to care for the educational and other moral wants of the people; to regulate their social and domestic relations; to settle family, religious, and other differences in the community; to maintain the stability of all communal institutions; and defend the rights and external relations of the “millet” individually and collectively.
Within the domain of these millet organizations there is ample protection for religious and civil existence, as far as such can be secured without political and military life; outside of it none. Conformity with the creed of the body is an absolute condition for membership; active diversity from it is unallowable. Religious freedom is therefore understood to be only freedom to pass from one non-Moslem community to another.
Still, it must be acknowledged that, but for this millet organization, Christianity would have been annihilated in this Islam empire, a fact recognized by Moslems with regret, and with gratitude by Christians.
This state of sectarian existence is not confined to non-Moslem subjects of the Sultan. The government itself holds the position of a military “caste,” and is the prototype of existing sectarianism. It must be remembered that the dominant body is composed of heterogeneous races, and that there is no more sympathy between its different sections than with the non-Moslems. Their common faith is the only bond of union, of which the center is the “Khalifate,” now personified in the Sultan.
Religious exclusiveness is of the very nature of the Ottoman rule—the vital force by which the system is sustained, the hope of its perpetuity, the corner-stone of the imperial edifice. Hence this spirit pervades every section and grade of the population. From the cabinet, and the judicial bench, down to the details of e very-day life, it is the ruling principle—the dividing line between man and man.
Within the last fifty-two years two millets have come into existence. The first was the Armenian Roman Catholic body, and the second was the Protestant. When those of the Armenians who had joined themselves to the Church of Rome were persecuted and excommunicated by their millet, they were, through the intervention of Roman Catholic powers, formed into a separate body by an imperial berat, on a footing of equality with the most favored millet.
When the followers of the Protestant reform were subjected to like treatment, their protection became a serious question with the friends of this movement. Since the object of Protestant missions established here was primarily the diffusion of evangelical principles and the reform of existing institutions, and not the establishment of a sect or the extension of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the formation of a Protestant millet on the usual basis was repulsive to the religious ideas of the promoters of the movement, as a system which secularized the church and added to their burdens. Besides, the withdrawal of the professors of this faith from their respective communal connections, into a new body, was unfavorable to the diffusion of enlightened principles among the masses. Efforts were therefore made to avoid it and obtain toleration within existing “millets;” but that could not be gained. Moreover, the establishment of evangelical churches and institutions was absolutely dependent upon the formation of a Protestant millet organization to legalize their existence. They were, therefore, through the kind offices of the British and the then Prussian embassies, formed into a body by an imperial firman, under the superintendence of the prefecture of the police, and represented by an agent called the vekeel of the “Protestant millet.”
This organization was provisional, as it was intended only to protect them from persecution by separating them from the jurisdiction of the other millets. Enough was, however, granted to form a basis of a new system of millet administration. The principal feature of this organization was that it was represented by a layman. The church, taking no part in the secular administration, was itself freed from secular intermeddling. The executive officer of the community, like a civil magistrate, has charge of the secular affairs of the people, and acts as a protector over the church and other institutions so far as to secure their civil rights. This organization, however, was [Page 964] deficient in this, that it was formally put under a government officer, which was tantamount to subjecting it to government surveillance; again, no administrative power was ever formally granted to it; and, lastly, the privileges and immunities granted to the institutions of other millets were not extended to those of the Protestants by right of a “berat.” In short, the millet autonomy for Protestants was not sanctioned by imperial berat or rescript, and, therefore, it had no civil status among the recognized millets. Hence, Protestantism, though hitherto tolerated, is not sanctioned in this empire. In fact, no berat* has ever been granted to the Protestants, nor have they any privileges registered in the imperial chancery, nor does their name appear among the religious bodies of the empire in the annual government gazette.
The promoters of the movement, having not much sympathy with secular establishments, took no care for the completion of the civil organization of the community, content with the little protection afforded by it as an agency allowed to assume powers never formally granted. This, certainly, was not enough for the efficiency of an administrative organization, which was to watch over and protect the external relations and interests of the community, to settle internal questions, and to regulate and direct the relations of a growing people, composed of many denominations and races, unlike to any existing institution, unique in every feature.
The sanction by imperial berat of its peculiar constitution and laws has been becoming more and more an indispensable necessity, especially since officials were growing less favorably disposed towards the community from observing its capacity to develop and exert, influence.
On the basis of the berats and constitutions granted to other communities, a constitution was framed, adapting to the wants of the Protestant community the provisions contained in those berats, and, after due examination by all concerned, the government sanction was solicited for it.
The Porte, however, issued a project of a constitution especially for Protestants, depriving them of millet organization and privileges connected with it by new restrictions, dividing them into local communities under the officious surveillance of the local authorities, whose principles, or rather whose too common want of principle, is so well known.
All efforts of the British and German embassies to put the then Protestant community on a recognized equality with other religious communities have failed, though official assurances that such was the position designed for it were liberally given, and perfect equality with other communities was all along professedly the position of the Protestants.
Those who know the nature of the relation existing here between the governing body and the governed, know that government officials of all ranks in general are far from being public servants. In this relation justice is a favor, or a thing taken by the violent; right is not, as a rule, sufficient to guarantee justice, or even respectable treatment, and since the existing antipathy, as well as difference of language between classes, prevents the population making common cause, the control of public opinion can scarcely be said to exist here.
In such a state of society the beneficial influence of a popular combination like the millet organization cannot be overestimated, an organization surrounded and protected by the hallowed associations of religion. The services rendered to the subject nationalities by the privileged heads of the organizations, are historical facts; and these heads are to this day the only efficient advocates who have a respectful hearing guaranteed to them. The possession of such as organization and representative head among people who seem to have no inviolable rights, is an indispensable necessity. The agents of the chief officers in the interior are the rallying centers of the oppressed. The high position in which these officers are kept by their people gives them the dignity so necessary here for efficiency, and saves them from the insults to which private parties are so much exposed among a rude population.
From what has been said it is plain that, both to secure a position of respect in relation to the government and to their fellow-subjects, and to enable them to carry out numerous objects of an educational, domestic, religious, and charitable nature among themselves, it is of essential importance that the Protestant community should receive from the Porte a formally sanctioned constitution and berat, such as are granted to the other religious bodies.
Hitherto the Protestant community has been deprived of the benefits of such officers as above described, and the organization of which these officers are the representatives, though, perhaps, more than all the rest, it stands in need of them, as from its character and its aggressive power it not unfrequently has to encounter the opposition of them all.
In conclusion, we would assure our friends that this document has not been prepared with any desire to disparage the reputation of the Imperial Government, nor is Oriental [Page 965] society so minutely depicted with any other intention than that of explaining the position occupied by the Protestant community, so as to show the absolute need of the complete millet organization for the Protestants of this empire. That organization, upon which so much has been shown to depend, so long sought for and so often promised, we trust may now at length be conceded.
Vekil of the Protestant Community.
- A berat is an imperial rescript granted to the officers of the communities, and securing them freedom of action independent of local authorities.↩