e suggestion of Lord Cowley, the Porte promised to send letters
to five different pashalics where there were Protestants, requiring
them to act in accordance with the letter; in which was granted the
privilege of toleration to all Protestant subjects alike, whether
from the Armenian, Greek, Syrian, or Roman Catholic Churches, or
from the Jews.

This letter was of great importance under the existing
circumstances; but the privileges it conferred might all be taken
away on a change of ministry. Accordingly Sir Stratford Canning, on
his return to Constantinople in 1850, lost no time in commencing
negotiations for a more stable basis of protection, and succeeded in
obtaining an Imperial Firman with the autograph of the Sultan, in
behalf of his Protestant subjects; giving to their civil
organization all the stability and permanency that the older
Christian communities enjoyed in Turkey. It was issued in November,
1850; and translated into English, reads as follows:--

"To my Vizier, Mohammed Pasha, Prefect of the Police in
Constantinople, the honorable Minister and glorious Councillor, the
model of the world, and regulator of the affairs of the community;
who, directing the public interests with sublime prudence,
consolidating the structure of the empire with wisdom, and
strengthening the columns of its prosperity and glory, is the
recipient of every grace from the Most High. May God prolong his
glory!

"When this sublime and august mandate reaches you, let it be known,
that hitherto those of my Christian subjects who have embraced the
Protestant faith, in consequence of their not being under any
specially appointed superintendence, and in consequence of the
patriarchs and primates of their former sects, which they have
renounced, naturally not being able to attend to their affairs, have
suffered much inconvenience and distress. But in necessary
accordance with my imperial compassion, which is the support of all,
and which is manifested to all classes of my subjects, it is
contrary to my imperial pleasure that any one class of them should
be exposed to suffering.

"As, therefore, by reason of their faith, the above mentioned are
already a separate community, it is my royal compassionate will,
that, for the facilitating the conducting of their affairs, and that
they may obtain ease and quiet and safety, a faithful and
trustworthy person from among themselves, and by their own
selection, should be appointed, with the ti