Page:France and the Levant peace conference 1920.djvu/19

] successive Sultans till 1740, when the Sultan declared that for the future they should be regarded as a contract binding on both parties for ever.

Among the rights granted by the Capitulations was that of free Christian worship; and the Catholic monks found an excuse for the Turkish alliance in the privileges thus secured to the Church. As the political and commercial primacy of France crumbled away, the Sultans granted compensation in a field which involved but little sacrifice of their power and gave lively satisfaction to their ancient ally. While in politics and commerce France had worked for herself alone, in the religious sphere the toleration of Christians and Christian worship which she had secured was shared by the priests, monks, and pilgrims of other countries. The protection of Christians of all nationalities was never conferred on France specifically by any treaty; but it came to be accepted not only by Turkey but by all the Christian Powers, including the Papacy. Little by little the Catholic clergy of the races conquered by the Turk escaped from the yoke of their territorial sovereign to participate in the privileges of the "Franks"; and the tutelage of France was extended from the clergy to their flocks. Soon the Orthodox Christians sheltered under the protection of France; for the Turkish invasion had submerged all countries of Orthodox faith except Russia, who in the sixteenth century was too weak to protect her co-religionists beyond her own borders. Thus France became the representative throughout the Levant not only of Catholicism but of Christianity in all its forms. III.

A century's experience convinced French statesmen that the Turkish policy of Francis had been a failure in its political and commercial aspects; and the Bourbon Monarchy, which prided itself on its zeal for the faith, was under no temptation to revive it. Louis XIII repeated the old wish "to draw the sword only against