Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/158

 11G ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1S53 chap, patron, and flourished quite as well as their _J protected brethren ; but the numbers composing these Churches were scanty in comparison with the worshippers following the Greek ritual ; and it may be said that the bulk of the Christian population of Turkey had contracted the habit of looking abroad for support. Again, the Turkish Government was always so sensible of the distinctness of the ' nations ' held under its sway, and of the hardship of keeping Christians under the close subjection of the Mos- lem system, that even in the times when the Sul- tans were in the pride of their strength they generously allowed humble foreigners, though living in Turkey, to have the protection of their country's flag, and to enjoy immunities which (except in the case of Sovereigns and their ambas- sies) the Governments of Christian countries have never been accustomed to give to any of their foreign guests. These privileges had been grant- ed to the principal States of Europe by treaty engagements which went by the name of 'capitu- ' lations ;' and they were so extensive that, except in regard to one or two specified descriptions of crime and outrage, a foreigner in Turkey wlro was a native of any of the States to whom these capit- ulations had been granted, was exempt from the laws of the country in which he dwelt. And these privileges were not even confined to foreigners, for Ambassadors at the Porte claimed and exercised a right of withdrawing a Turkish subject from the laws of his country by taking him into their ser-