It is not, then, religious freedom that the Christians of Turkey require, but political franchise and unbiased justice.
The past has sadly proved that the Mohammedans are incapable even of self government, or at best, Mohammedan domination has had a demoralizing tendency over half, if not the entire population.
Is the country, then to be ruled by the other half of the inhabitants viz., the Christian population?
This is another impossibility; for this population is like a house divided against itself, and besides their incapacity in other respects, they, having so long felt the bitterest animosity towards their Mussulman masters, would in their turn become even greater oppressors than the Mohammedans themselves, as was evinced by the conduct of the Armenians of Erzuroum during the last war with Russia.
The "Eastern question" is not, however, one of propagandism, either of Christianity or of Mohammedanism, but demands, while granting perfect liberty of conscience to all classes, how political and civil equality may be maintained throughout the Ottoman dominions. Fusion, then, is the only policy that can resuscitate the Turkish Empire.
The Tanzimat was the beginning of a reform, but there were no coercive measures put into play, to overthrow the power of ancient usages, so that the proclamation soon became almost a dead letter. The blind bigotry of the people and the absolute power of the heads of government, imbued as they are with a spirit of favoritism and corruption, have hitherto excluded the unfortunate subjects of the sultan from the justice and protection which are the sacred rights of every son of Adam. There has been no security for property nor any inducement to honesty in Turkey.
A man has, under the existing laws, every temptation to injure his neighbor to any extent, and the innocent have no other means of protecting themselves and their interests, than by resorting to counter dishonesty. For instance, if a man is unjustly accused of a debt of one hundred dollars, it would naturally be inferred that he would at once deny the accusation, and call for proof. But such an honest procedure would not answer in the Turkish courts of justice, for it would immediately give the plaintiff the desired privilege of producing two hired witnesses, by whose testimony the defendant would, beyond a doubt, be condemned to pay the pretended debt.