THE CHRISTIANS IN TURKEY.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE SPEOTATOR."] do not know if you wish to continue a controversy of partisans. Halll Had overstates his case, but he is more right in his facts than Canon MacColl. It is perfectly true that Moslems, not being officials, are actually prevented from carrying arms under the present regime. The law is stringently enforced, as every one knows who is really acquainted with the interior of Turkey. Very few of the perpetrators of the last massacres in Constantinople were able to procure either swords or firearms. The Armenians were much better provided. Further, the army exemption. tax is not heavy, but very light, and a trivial burden compared to years of service with the colours in Hasa or Yemen, or the earlier system of tribute children. The Sheri, or religious law, does not, in fact, govern the status of the rayahs, and has more often protected them against the arbitrary will of the Sultan than led to their oppression. On this matter, as on the functions of the Sheikh-ul-Islam, Canon MacColl might learn from the able diplomat who calls himself "Odysseus." I wish to hold no brief for the Porte, between whose diplomatic professions and actual practice there is wide enough discrepancy. But I wish to bear witness that only in certain respects is there in Turkey one law for Moslems and another for Christians ; that in any case there is not only law for Christians, but much enforcement of it; and that vast numbers of rayahs live under it happily enough. Ca-non MacColl's creed on this matter seems as immutable and as little affected by facts as the Koranic Law itself.—I am, Sir, D. G. Hoosnrst. [Our own impression is that, whatever may be the theory, the actual conditions for Moslems and Christians are, under the present regime, almost equally bad. We can publish no more letters on this subject —ED. Spectator.]
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