The Osservatore Romano, generally believed to speak under pre- cise
orders from the Vatican, calls upon all Catholic Powers to aid the Turks. It appears to consider that the war is one between Islam and Russia, and contrasts the toleration of the Turks for the Catholic creed with the intolerance of the Russian Govern- ment in Poland. That is truly, though selfishly said ; but there is no proof that the Serbs would persecute the Catholic Christians. They used to do so, but an arrangement appears to have been ar- rived at between the faiths for a certain toleration. It certainly exists in Montenegro, the Miridites, a warlike clan of Catholic Albanians, having this time refused to assist the Turks, though tempted with large privileges, and having allowed one of their leaders to join Prince Nikita's staff. It is worth while for Englishmen to remember that the immense majority of Servians are not Catholics, and that the influence of the Vatican is, on the whole, on the Turkish side.
