SOME PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE CHRISTIANS OF EUROPEAN TURKEY.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 92, 16 June 1843, Page 3

SOME PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE CHRISTIANS OF EUROPEAN TURKEY.

(From the French Protestant paper, VEsperdnce.) At a recent academical meeting, M. Blanqui delivered a fresh lecture on the condition of Mohammedanism and Christianity in the East. We regi'et oiir 1 Inability to insert a! large portion of this discourse. We shall, therefore, endeavour to place before our some of its more important points. The researches of M. Blanqui' are entitled to the greater Confidence on account of being wholly devoid of the spirit of party, either in politics or religion. In Servia, we hear nothing but Imprecations against the Mussulmans from the highest to the humblest rank. At all the festivals, the air rings with religious and warlike songs. The pretres serhes have now become officers of the State—an immense progress in a country where, a short while before, the children of Christians were reckoned as so many head of cattle, without rights, without family names, without the means of knowing their parents! Thus, the first effect of religious emancipation has been to consolidate the ties of kindred, and to give to the community at large the element of cohesion. Islamism is growing weaker day by day ; and the more it declines, the nearer seems its fall. What now remains of the great and terrible invading army which of old penetrated to the gates of Vienna ? A few disheartened troops, in fortresses crumbling into ruins. Servia, Moldavia, Wallachia, and Greece, have shaken off the yoke, and hoisted the cross; and, since then, Mohammedanism haS almost entirely disappeared from these countries. The incompatibility between the faith of Christ and that of Mohammed is such that, when the former prevails, the Turks withdraw or cease to rule. They say, whenever the climate becomes favorable to Christians that it becomes fatal to theni. Hence, in less than thirty years, the Turks have completely evacuated the emancipated provinces of the Danube and Greece, and they will live in continual dread of the party that remains submissive to their laws. They feel, as it were, in an enemy’s country. Everywhere the chime of the church bells overwhelms the sound from Turkish domes—everywhere all trace of Turkish power is being effaced before the genius of Christianity. The Turks are still masters of Bulgaria, Thrace, and Macedonia; but they are heartily detested in these countries. It is instructive to see the air of contempt with which the remaining Osmans treat the rayas, dr Christian subjects of the Sultan. The latter are compelled to rise in the presence of the Turks, to cede to them the better part of the path, and the finest produce of their orchards. Happy are the Christians, at this day, if they can preserve the domestic hearth from the violence of their masters. The Koran is the true source of all these iniquities. It is this book that is hurrying the Turkish race towards the abyss they are so rapidly nearing. The Koran ought to be judged by its principles-^-polygamy—-the spirit of war and pillage which it maintains among tlie followers of the false prophet—and the invincible amelioration. But steam boats begin, to damage the infallibility of the Koran. M. Blanqui met with- some Musselinans even who entertained strong fears that this mode of navigation would tend to injure the faith of their country. Meanwhile the bulk of the Turkish nation remains still, whilst all around is change. The great Greed -slope family forms* at tliis day, seven-eigths of the population of the empire. It resembles a flock wandering in a country under the care of dreaded shepherds. But, thanks to the frequent intercourse with other Christians'of Europe, the Bulgarians begin to look for better days., Though they may have learnt but little from the recent changes among .us, yet they know enough to comprehend the sympathy which their cause excites. They fear-' the usurpations of the Church of Rome almost 1 as much as the tyranny of Islamism. Their faith partakes somewhat of the independence of that of the Christian sects in the United States—they have a genius analogous to that of the Scottish Presbyterians. M. > Blanqui draws a sad picture of tlie'Greek Clergy. The division of this clergy into two classes, namely, those devoted to a life of celibacy, and those that are married, somewhat

j weakens his statements in reference to thewhole order. The greater part of the Bishops are as greedy as the Pachas; and most of the Popes me compelled to perform acts at .variance with every sentiment of dignity. The first are' extortioners' —the second/ beggars. Each priest attempts to conceal his manner of life from the view of his superiors; and he cares little for discipline so; long as his dues are punctually paid. What rule, however authoritative, emanating from a distant place, could affect the curates of villages, separated by enormous tances, who have never seen their bishop ? Each parish gradually becomes independent. The Calamities of the Eastern Christians arise, in a great measure, from the absence of a. central power.

The spark of Christianity, such as it is, lias, however, sufficed to prevent the sacred 'fire from being utterly extinguished. The Eastern Christians have a distinctive physiognomy which affords most interesting characters. If/ on the one hand, servitude has stupified them, on the other, persecution has tempered them! afresh. Their naivete is like that of children. They believe, it is true, a number of things that the faith of Christ disavows; but their beliefs are harmless. They have nothing of the fanaticism and the intolerance of the Mussulmans. The striking purity of their manners is.the best testimony of the excellence of their religion. We never hear of seduction, adultery, or bastardy among them. Assassinations are extremely rare, and sire almost always provoked by the violence of the Turks; Harmony in families, respect of children for parents, tenderness of parents to children, the good will of all, and a spirit of resignation, strike forcibly the stranger who traverses their country. In order to appreciate accurately the influence of the Christian principle on the future prospects of European Turkey, it is necessary to consider the people as constituting two parties—namely the Grecian and the enslaved — because each of these parties is possessed of a peculiar character. The literary and religious influence unquestionably belongs to the Grecian family, which occupies the southern and western parts, of the empire; while the agricultural and military seems rather the apanage of the slave family, which is the more numerous and warlike. The Greeks are shut up between the Rhodope and the two seas; the slaves inhabit the banks of the Danube as far as the Balkau mountains, and are separated from their brethren of the south by the great valleys of the Bulgaria. In the vast basin which separates these two races, the fate of the Christians of the East will one day be decided. M. Blanqui concludes his interesting memoir by stating} that everything led him to expect the triumph of the Christian principle. The struggle may be vigorous and bloody, but he was convinced it was not a doubtful one. The Dast, and 'afterwards the whole world, shall own the sway of Christianity.