CAN THE LEOPARD CHANGE HIS SPOTS?
We are led to ask the above question on reading the remarks of the Christian Union’s Constantinople correspondent concerning the Mohammedan priest who assisted a German missionary to translate portions of the Bible into the Turkish language. A part of the facts here stated have been given in our news column, but we give the entire paragraph. Under date of Jan. 30, this correspondent says:— Since my last letter the case of the Turkish Khodja Achmet has taken a very serious turn. The English government interfered in his behalf, and the resistance of the Turkish government led to a temporary suspension of diplomatic relations. The difficulty has finally been arranged, but in a manner which cannot be at all satisfactory to the English government. In the matter of religious liberty the Sultan has yielded nothing. He has taken pains to say so in a special note to Sir Henry Layard. This declares that the Sultan has commuted the punishment of the Khodja simply out of regard to the English government; that his arrest and the sentence of death were just and proper, and that the partial pardon granted in his case is not to be taken as a precedent. It also justifies the arrest of Dr. Koelle and the seizure of his manuscripts. The Minister of police, Hafiz Pasha, whose removal was demanded by Sir Henry Layard, has, on the contrary, been promoted, and decorated with the highest class of the Medjidie. This pointed affront drew out a very strong article from the editor of the Levant Herald, and this has been replied to by the suppression of the paper and the expulsion of the editor from the Empire. It can hardly be said, under these circumstances, that the Sublime Porte has manifested any more wisdom than liberality, and it can hardly be supposed that its action will be overlooked by the English government.