VISCOUNT STRATFORD DE RED- CLIFFEsaid, he had a question to ask of the noble Earl at the head of the Foreign Department relating to a case of religious persecution in the East. He could not, he thought, better do justice to the importance of the subject than by reading an extract from the last report of the Turkish Missionary Aid Society, well known for its benevolent exertions in Turkey and elsewhere. The extract to which he alluded was as follows:—
In Angora there have been two cases. A Papal Armenian was beaten cruelly by his family friends, and, under false charges, thrown into prison. The second case is that of a Moslem who for eight months has been openly professing his faith in Christ, closing his shop on the Sabbath, attending to all the means of grace, and showing himself a sincere follower of Christ. At the commencement of the present month he was cruelly beaten, loaded with chains, and thrown into prison. The case has been brought to the attention of the British Ambassador. This being the first case of persecution of a Moslem on account of changing his religious profession in the reign of the new Sultan, the action of the Government respecting it will be watched with interest.His noble Friend would remark that the particular interest attached to the case thus reported arose from its being the first instance of persecution in the person of a Mahomedan convert since the accession of the present Sultan to the throne of Turkey; and it was natural for those who remembered what had been effected under the influence of the British Government and their allies, during the reign of the late Sultan Abdul Medjid, in favour of religious liberty, to watch with anxiety over the manner in which the present case would be treated by the authorities at Constantinople. No one, he was sure, could feel more deeply than the noble Earl any departure from the protection which had been so liberally granted by the Ottoman Porte to all its subjects in the conscientious profession of their religious faith. He only requested to know, Whether the case in question had been mentioned to Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, and whether any suitable redress had been afforded or promised by the Porte?
§ EARL RUSSELLreplied that the attention of the Turkish Government had been called to the subject by Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, and that they at once admitted their readiness to adhere to the Declaration made by the late Sultan. He might add that they had given the most satisfactory assurances with respect to redress in such cases.