The Armenians of Erzuroum were induced to emigrate into the Russian land of Canaan, which, they were assured, flowed with milk and honey; but when they drank these honeyed waters, they found them only wormwood and gall, and all who could, eagerly burst their fetters, and returned to Turkey, preferring Moslem oppression to Moscovite despotism and systematic serfdom.
The Greeks, who were so clamorous against the Turks, when they succeeded in obtaining their independence, by raising the standard of the Cross against the Crescent of the Prophet, showed very little preference for the Hellenic government, since after a while they returned by thousands into Turkey!
The effect of Turkish policy has been such, that there is a prevalent desire among the Rayas to escape from their allegiance to such a government, and place themselves under foreign protection, not from any fear of religious intolerance whatever, but merely to obtain comparative liberty and justice. Indeed, what incentive have the people in general, either Turks or Rayas, to patriotism, or what care they for national prosperity, when they are forced to regard themselves as mere tenants of their own houses and lands?
Missak, the late Armenian banker, did not escape into Russia from any fear of religious oppression, but to avoid the vindictive persecutions of the Minister of Finance.
It is not, then, religious freedom that the Christians of Turkey require, but political franchise and unbiased justice.
The past has sadly proved that the Mohammedans are incapable even of self government, or at best, Mohammedan domination has had a demoralizing tendency over half, if not the entire population.
Is the country, then to be ruled by the other half of the inhabitants viz., the Christian population?
This is another impossibility; for this population is like a house divided against itself, and besides their incapacity in other respects, they, having so long felt the bitterest animosity towards their Mussulman masters, would in their turn become even greater oppressors than the Mohammedans themselves, as was evinced by the conduct of the Armenians of Erzuroum during the last war with Russia.
The “Eastern question” is not, however, one of propagandism, either of Christianity or of Mohammedanism, but demands, while granting perfect liberty of conscience to all classes, how political and civil equality may be maintained throughout the Ottoman dominions. Fusion, then, is the only policy that can resuscitate the Turkish Empire.
The Tanzimat was the beginning of a reform, but there were no coercive measures put into play, to overthrow the power of ancient usages, so that the proclamation soon became almost a dead letter. The blind bigotry of the people and the absolute power of the heads of government, imbued as they are with a spirit of favoritism and corruption, have hitherto excluded the unfortunate subjects of the sultan from the justice and protection which are the sacred rights of every son of Adam. There has been no security for property nor any inducement to honesty in Turkey.