Correspondence Relating to Executions in Turkey for Apostacy from Islamism. Various
l'accusé de déclarer qu'il s'est fait de nouveau Musulman. C'est dans le seul but de sauver la vie a l'individu en question que nous avons, contre la lettre de la loi, qui exige que la sentence dans le cas dont il s'agit soit mise à exécution aussitôt qu'elle a été prononcée, que nous lui avons laissé quelques jours de temps pour y bien réflêchir, avec l'assurance que la déclaration voulue par la loi une fois faite, il serait mis en liberté, et qu'il pourrait partir de Constantinople; mais comme il a résisté à toutes les tentatives faites pour le persuader de recourir au seul moyen d'échapper à la mort, force fut à la fin d'obéir à la loi, sans quoi les Oulémas se souleveraient contre nous. L'exécution a dû, aux termes de la loi, être faite publiquement."
Voyant que le Grand Vizir n'avait rien dit par rapport aux observations de votre Excellence sur ce qui arriverait si un étranger, un Anglais par exemple, se trouvait dans des circonstances analogues, j'ai prié son Altesse de considérer et de faire considérer au Ministère Ottoman, dans quelle position la Porte se mettrait vis à vis du Gouvernement Anglais, si elle recourait à des violences. Le Grand Vizir a dit alors: "Je ne sais pas vraiment ce qu'un cas pareil exigerait s'il s'agissait d'un étranger; j'ignore ce que les lois disent à l'égard d'un Franc qui se trouverait compromis par les circonstances qui ont fait condamner à la mort l'Arménien, qui est un rayah."
Le Grand Vizir a fini par dire; "Faites mes complimens à Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, et dites lui que j'apprécie ses sentimens d'humanité et de bienveillance; mais que ce qui vient d'arriver était un mal tout à fait sans remêde."
J'ai l'honneur. &c.,
(Translation.)
Excellency, Pera, August 24, 1843.
In conformity with your orders I saw the Grand Vizier and communicated to him, word for word, the message contained in your confidential instruction of yesterday respecting the young Armenian who has just been executed. His Highness made answer to the following effect:—
"As regards myself personally, I have a horror of even putting a fowl to death. Executions, so frequent under the old system, are now of rare occurrence. But in the late instance, as I have already said to you, and again repeat, positively neither the Ministers nor the Sultan could have saved the life of the Armenian. The laws of the Koran compel no man to become a Mussulman, but they are inexorable both as respects a Mussulman who embraces another religion, and as respects a person not a Mussulman, who, after having of his own accord publicly embraced Islamism, is convicted of having renounced that faith. No consideration can produce a commutation of the capital punishment to which the law condemns him without mercy. The only mode of escaping death is for the accused to declare that he has again become a Mussulman. It was only with a view to saving the life of the individual in question, that we—contrary to the letter of the law, which requires that the sentence in cases of this nature, should be executed as soon as pronounced—allowed him some days respite to think over the matter carefully, with the assurance that having once made the declaration required by law, he would be set at liberty and would be able to leave Constantinople; but inasmuch as he resisted all the attempts which were made to induce him to have recourse to the only means of escaping death, it finally became necessary to obey the law, otherwise the Ulemas would have risen against us. The execution, according to the terms of the law, was necessarily public."
Seeing that the Grand Vizier had said nothing with reference to your Excellency's observations as to what would occur if a foreigner, an Englishman for instance, were to be placed in similar circumstances, I begged His Highness to consider, and to direct the consideration of the Ottoman Ministry to the nature of the position in which the Porte would place itself as regards the British Government, were it to have recourse to violence. The Grand Vizier then said, "I really do not know what would become necessary in such a case if a foreigner were concerned; I am ignorant as to what is said in the law as regards a Frank who should be compromised by the circumstances which caused the Armenian, who was a Rayah, to be condemned to death."
The Grand Vizier concluded by saying, "Present my compliments to the Ambassador, and tell him that I appreciate his humane and well-intentioned sentiments, but that what has occurred was a misfortune for which there was no remedy whatever."
I have, &c.
No. 2
Lord Cowley to the Earl of Aberdeen.—(Received September 20.)
My Lord, Paris, September 18, 1843.
M. Guizot informed me this morning that he had received a communication from M. de Bourqueney, relative to a most unjustifiable act of the Turkish Government, in having, under circumstances of great cruelty, put to death an Armenian Turk who had embraced Christianity, and had refused to renounce that religion and resume the Ottoman faith.
M. Bourqueney having asked for instructions for his guidance in this matter, the Minister for Foreign Affairs sent him a protest which he is to present to the Ottoman Government on the behalf of the Government of France.
M. Guizot observed, that as the Great Powers of Europe were using their best endeavours to induce the Sultan's Christian subjects to live peaceably under the Ottoman rule, they could not allow of such arbitrary acts of cruelty as that which had been perpetrated, and which was sufficient to rouse the whole of the Christian population against the Government. He understood, he said, that Sir Stratford Canning had asked for instructions from your Lordship in this matter, and that he trusted that they would be in a similar tenor to those he was about to send to M. de Bourqueney.
I have, &c.,
No. 3
Chevalier Bunsen to the Earl of Aberdeen.—(Received September 29.)
Le Soussigné, Envoyé Extraordinaire et Ministre Plénipotentiaire de Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse, a l'honneur de transmettre à son Excellence le Comte de Aberdeen, Principal Secrétaire d'Etat de Sa Majesté Britannique pour les Affaires Etrangères, copie d'une dépêche qu'il vient de recevoir, avec l'ordre d'en donner connaissance à sa Seigneurie.
En s'acquittant de cette commission, il profite, &c.
Londres, le 28 Septembre, 1843.
(Translation.)
The Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from His Majesty the King of Prussia, has the honour to transmit to his Excellency the Earl of Aberdeen, Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a copy of a despatch which he has just received, with instructions to communicate it to his Lordship.
In executing this instruction, he avails himself, &c.
London, September 28, 1843.
Inclosure 1 in No. 3.
Baron Bülow to Chevalier Bunsen.
Monsieur, Berlin, ce 21 Septembre, 1843.
Vos rapports au Roi jusqu'au No. 91 du 15 du courant nous sont parvenus et ont été placés sous les yeux de Sa Majesté.
Vous êtes sans doute déjà instruit, par la voie des journaux, des détails de l'exécution de l'Arménien Serkiz Papazoghlou, mis à mort dernièrement à Constantinople pour avoir renié la foi de Mahomet qu'il avait embrassée quelque temps avant. A la vérité, la lettre du Coran inflige la peine de mort à tous ceux qui abandonnent le Mahométisme, mais longtemps déjà l'usage avait adouci la rigueur d'une loi si peu en harmonie avec les préceptes de la civilisation, et depuis nombre d'années aucune exécution de ce genre n'avait eu lieu. Celle du malheureux Serkiz doit par conséquent être considérée comme un triste retour aux barbaries du fanatisme Musulman. Elle le doit d'autant plus que, d'un côté, l'énergique intercession de Sir Stratford Canning en faveur de la victime est restée infructueuse; et que, de l'autre, les autorités Turques, en conduisant Serkiz, quoique Arménien, en costume Franc et la casquette sur la tête au supplice, semblent avoir voulu donner à ce sanglant spectacle le caractère d'un défi public porté par