SHIAH MOSLEMS AND THE CALIPHATE.
(To THE EDITOR OF 'THE "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—Agreeably breaking the monotony of the pressure which Islam has for months past been bringing relentlessly to bear upon the Allied Conference, appeared three weeks ago the pro- nouncement of the President of the All-India Shiah Conference that " it was their duty to announce unequivocally that the Sultan of Turkey was not their religious head." It will doubtless be remembered that, very shortly after Turkey joined in the war, the Turkish authorities confiscated the treasure of Kerbeli, which shares with Nejef the palm of sanctity as a Shiall shrine. That treasure has, we have reason to believe, never been repaid. When the Crown of France was the stake, Henry IV. was moved to exclaim: "Paris vaut hien une Mesas." Now that Constantinople and the Caliphate are en disponibilite, the Sultan may well reflect: "Le Califat vaut hien une largesse it Kerbela." Shiah Kerbela in its Sunni entourage has, as may well be imagined, had a chequered career in the past. 1843 (see Watson's Hist. of Persia, 1800-1858) is a
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