Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/194

 152 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAP, her an instrument which should have the force XL of a treaty engagement, and confer upon her the would be ich right to i ns i st that the Greek Church and Clergy JJSSSiS in Turkey should continue in the enjoyment of all their existing privileges. It was clear, therefore, that if the Sultan should be induced to set his seal to any instrument of this kind, he would be chargeable with a breach of treaty engagements whenever a Greek bishop could satisfy a Eussian Emperor that there was some privilege formerly enjoyed by him or his Church which had been varied or withdrawn. It was plain that for the Sultan to yield thus much would be to make the Czar a partaker of his sovereignty. This seemed clear to men of all nations except the Eussians themselves; but especially it seemed clear to those who happened to know something of the structure of the Ottoman Empire. The indolence or the wise instinct of the Mussulman rulers had given to the Christian 'nations' living within the Sul- tan's dominions many of the blessings which we cherish under the name of 'self-government;' and since the Greek Christians had exercised these privileges by deputing their bishops and their priests to administer the authority conceded to the 'nation,' it followed that the spiritual dominion of the priesthood had become blended with a great share of temporal power. So many of the duties of prefects, of magistrates, of assessors, of collec- tors, and of police were discharged by bishops, priests, and deacons, that a protectorate of these ■ecclesiastics might be so used by a powerful for-