Deshayes, the ambassador, speaks in the same terms of the persecutions experienced by the Fathers of the Holy Land from the hands of the Turks. "The poor religious who attend these places are also reduced sometimes to such extremities, for want of assistance from Christendom, that their condition is truly deplorable. Their whole revenue consists in the alms which are sent them, and which are not sufficient to cover one-half of the expences that they that they are obliged to incur; for, exclusively of their subsistence and the great number of lights which must be kept up, they are forced to be continually giving to the Turks, if they would live in peace, and when they possess not the means of satisfying their avarice, they must go to prison. “Jerusalem is at such a distance from Constantinople, that the king's ambassador resident there cannot receive information of the oppressions practised upon them till long afterwards. Meanwhile they suffer and endure, if they have not money to redeem themselves; and very often the Turks, not content with persecuting them in their persons, likewise convert their churches into mosques. I could fill whole volumes with similar testimonies contained in the works of travellers in Palestine; I will produce only one more, but that shall be unanswerable. This testimony I find in a monument of iniquity and oppression, perhaps without any parallel in the world; a monument of the greater authority, as it was designed to remain in everlasting oblivion. The Fathers had permitted me to examine the library and the archives of their convent. Unfor * Voyage du Levant, p. 409. FIRMAUNS GRANTED. 129 tunately, these archives and this library were dispersed near a century ago: a pacha threw the religious in irons, and carried them prisoners to Damascus. Some papers escaped the devastation; in particular the firmans, which the Fathers had obtained either from the Porte or the rulers of Egypt, to defend themselves against the oppressions of the people and their governors. This curious document is entitled: Registro delli Capitolazioni, Cattiscerifi, Baratti, Comandamenti, Oggetti, Attestazioni, Sentenzi, Ordini des Bascia, Giudici e Polizze, che si trovano nell archivio di questa procuragenerale di Terra Santa. Under the letter H, No. 1, p. 369, we read: "Instrumento del re saraceno Muzafar, contiene: che non sia dimandato del vino da i religiosi franchi. Dato alli 13 della luna di Regeb dell anno 414." Under No. 2 is the following: "Instrumento del re saraceno Matamad contiene: che li religiosi franchi non siano molestati. Dato alli 2 di Sciaval dell anno 501." Under No. 5, page 370: "Instrumento con la sua copia del re saraceno Amed Ciakmak contiene: che li religiosi, franchi non paghino a quei ministri, che non vengono per gli affari dei frati...possino sepelire i loro morti, possino fare vino, provizione...non siano obligati a montare cavalli per forza in Rama...non diano visitate loro possessioni...che nessuno pretenda d'esser drogloromanno, se non alcuno appoggio. Dato alli 10 di Sefer 609." Several of the firmans begin thus: "Copia autenticata d'un commendamento ottenuto ad instanza dell'ambasciadore di Francia," &c. We see, then, the unfortunate Fathers, the guardians of the tomb of Christ, solely occupied for several centuries in defending themselves day by day against every species of tyranny and insult. We see them obliged to obtain permission to subsist, to bury their dead, &c. Sometimes they are forced to ride without occasion, that they may be necessitated to pay the duties; at others, a Turk proclaims himself their drogman in spite of them, and demands a salary from the community. The most absurd inventions of Oriental despotism are exhausted against these hapless monks. In vain do they obtain, for exorbitant sums, orders which apparently secure them from all this ill usage: these orders are not obeyed; each successive year witnesses a new oppression, and requires a new firman. The equivocating governor, and the prince, ostensibly their protector, are two tyrants who concert together, the one to commit an injustice before the law is enacted; the other to sell, at an enormous price, a law that is not issued till after the commission of the crime. The register of the firmans of the Fathers is a valuable record, worthy in every respect of the library of those apostles, who, in the midst of tribulations, adhere with invincible constancy to the tomb of Christ. The Fathers were not aware of the value of this evangelical catalogue; they had no idea that it could interest me; they saw nothing curious in it; to suffer is to them so natural, that my astonishment actually astonished them. Great indeed and sincere was my admiration of their courageous endurance of so many afflictions; but deeply too was I Two of the religious narrowly escaped being put to death at Jerusalem, because a cat had fallen into the cistern of the convent.-Roger, p. 330. UNDER TRIBULATION. 131 affected on finding frequent repetitions of this head: Copy of a firman, obtained on the solicitation of the French Ambassador. Honour be to a country, which, from the midst of Europe, extends her care to the unfortunate in the remote regions of Asia, and protects the weak against the strong! Never, O land of my nativity, didst thou appear to me greater and more glorious than when I discovered the acts of thy beneficence concealed at Jerusalem in the register, in which are inscribed the unknown sufferings of a few oppressed religious, and the unheard-of iniquities of the basest of oppressors! How is it possible to conceive that a man of talents, who prides himself on independent ideas, can have taken a pleasure in calumniating the unfortunate! There is a something superior to all opinions-that is justice. If a philosopher of the present day were to write a good book; if he were to do what is still better, to perform a good action; if he displayed noble and elevated sentiments, I, who am a Christian, would applaud him without reserve. And why should not a philosopher act in the same mauner towards a Christian? Because a man wears a monastic habit, a long beard, a cord girdle, must we allow him no merit for any sacrifice? For my part, I would go to the end of the world in quest of a virtue in a votary of Vishnou or the Grand Lama, that I might enjoy the happiness of admiring it. Generous actions are now-adays too rare for us not to honour them under whatever garb they may be discovered, or to make such nice distinctions between the robe of a priest and the mantle of a philosopher. 132 CHAPTER VI. Examination of the Fields of Battle around Jerusalem described by Tasso-History of the Siege of Jerusalem by Robert the Monk. VERY early in the morning of the 10th, I sallied forth from Jerusalem by the gate of Ephraim, accompanied as usual by the faithful Ali, with a view to examine the fields of battle immortalized by Tasso. Proceeding to the north of the city, when I was between the grotto of Jeremiah and the Royal Sepulchres, I opened the Jerusalem Delivered, and was immediately struck with the accuracy of the poet's description : On two unequal hills the city stands, With smooth ascent; but well they guard the part, No stately trees at noon their shelter spread; |