sent involved. The sheik-ul-Islam (pontifex
maximus) is the head of the church and the bar; he appoints the bishops
and the judges; and in his twofold character of minister and lawyer, he
is the expounder of the Koran, the source of all laws, civil and
religious; his decisions serve as precedents, and are as
incontrovertible as the Koran itself.

By the late reforms, Christian testimony is admitted in courts of
justice. But this is merely a nominal privilege; for what avails it that
Christian evidence is received, if the Koran and Sunnah are to
constitute the law, and a Mussulman judge is to be the expounder? Is it
not evident that the 'true believer,' whether right or wrong, will be
shielded by the strong arm of prejudice at the expense of the Christian?
The purity of Turkish justice may be understood from the following
humorous account given by Dr. Hamlin:

'I once had a case of law with a Turkish judge. It was tried nine
times, and each time decided against me. After the ninth trial, the
judge sent me word that if I gave him 9,000 piastres (about $800),
he would decide the case in my favor, for all the world knew that
justice was on my side!'

I look, however, upon the religious toleration extended to Christians in
1854 as the most important of all reforms; it is the keystone of the
arch. Christianity has been on a gradual increase in Turkey; and it may
not be deemed extravagant to hope that when a few generations shall have
passed away, its supremacy will be acknowledged. As Constantine, finding
the Christian element predominant in the Roman empire, made the religion
of Christ that of his people, so some Selim or Abdul Medjid, urged by a
power behind the throne, and more potent than the throne itself, will
substitute the Bible for the Koran!

The fall of Islamism does not imply the downfall of Turkish rule. The
one is religious, the other a civil power; the one may wane, the other
rise.

The wars which brought the European powers in Turkish waters made a deep
impression upon the Turks, and convinced them that they had been rescued
from annihilation by foreign arms. This led to an important measure,
viz.: the promulgation of the imperial edict of 1850, which was
translated into all the languages of the empire, and read in all the
mosques and churches. Besides securing the freedom of conscience and the
equality of rights, it grants the right of apostasy, which had hitherto
been a capital