Possession of the Danubian Provinces

The Russian army, in July, 1853, took possession of the Danubian Provinces, and thus commenced hostilities, the Ottoman Porte making a formal declaration of war on the 1st of October.

Early in the following year the missionaries at Constantinople set apart a day for fasting and prayer with reference to this matter, and the day was observed with deep solemnity not only by those immediately connected with the mission, but by the friends of the cause from different countries, who were resident or sojourning at the capital.

Special prayer was offered in behalf of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe (formerly Sir Stratford Canning), the British ambassador, that he might be endued with the spirit of wisdom in conducting his important negotiations, and that, in counselling the Sultan, he too might have counsel given to him from above. Never before had the position of this representative of the British government and devoted friend of the cause of Christ been so responsible, and never before did he hold such influential relations to the Porte.

In 1854, when the governments of England, France, and Sardinia made common cause with the Ottoman government for the sake of putting a check on the ambition of Russia, and sent their armies to Turkey and the Crimea, apprehensions of the disastrous effect of the war upon the missionary work were not dissipated, but rather increased. As these large armies came pouring into the capital, and its suburbs became as it were one great camp, it was natural to fear that such a state of things would seriously interfere with the work. But in the midst of war God spread a shield over His servants. At no previous period had they prosecuted their labors in greater quietness and peace, or with clearer evidence of the divine presence and blessing.

Sacred Edict

The war was still further overruled for the furtherance of the Gospel by becoming the occasion, if not the actual means, of securing another important concession from the Turkish government on the subject of religious liberty, a new Magna Charta for the Christian subjects of the Porte. This is known as the Ifatti Sherif (Sacred Edict), or Haiti Huma- youn (Imperial Edict) of 185G, and was issued on the authority of the Sultan himself.

It was generally regarded at the time as a complete guarantee of religious liberty to all the subjects of the Ottoman Porte, of whatever creed, and an assurance that no Mohammedan who chose to become a Christian should suffer on that account. But it has always been questionable whether the Turkish government, whose dealings are so often marked by duplicity, the prevailing sin of Orientals, really intended that it should have such an unlimited significance. Events of more recent occurrence give greater strength to such doubts, if they do not prove that the Porte intended only to make more secure the rights and privileges of those who were nominal Christians before.