Tae papers just received give us a full and distinct account of Sir Henry Layard's action in regard to the translater employed by the Church Missiouary Society's agent at Constantinople. This gentleman, Dr. Keller, a German, was engaged in translating the English Prayer Book into Turkish and be used the services of an assistant called Almed. Suddeuly, without any warn. ing or hint of hostile intention, Dr. KGller was arrested, We do not suppose that lie was treated with special severity, but lo was detained for six hours, and his manuscripts embodying the result of months and perhaps years of labour were seized. The unlucky Ahmed was arrested by Ue high authorities and informed that by Mohammedan Inw he was guilty of a crime which deserved death. It is not easy to find a more unjustifiable exercise of high-banded authority than this. It is a case which stands out in marked contrast to many cases of so-called missionary persecution. Some few years ago, when the late Sir Henry Bulwer was Ambassador at Constantinople, an enthusiastic emissary of one of the great religious societies insisted on rel announcing his intention of preaching against the errors of the Koran on the steps of the Mosque of St. Sophin. The result would have been a tumult in which the well-intentioned but over-zealous preacher would in all likelihood have been torn to pieces by an infuriated mob, Fortunately Sir Edmund Hornby exercised a little friendly violence and prevented the rash attempt at overthrowing the power of the Crescent from being made, A riot was prevented, and perhaps a valuable life saved. In the present case, however, as far as we know, the agent of the Church Mission ary Society exercised his calling in a perfectly justifiable way, and. the principles of religious liberty which Great Britain represents were grossly outraged by the Turkish religionists, Tt was clearly an occasion for the display of firmness, and Sir Henry Layard appears to have been perfectly success. ful in his course of action. It is interesting to read the account of the evasions and artifices of the Tarkish Government, and when we peruse the narrative, we cannot help fancying that we are reading about a transaction in Peking. The British Minister had given an ultimalaw, and this ultimatum he presented. Of course the Turkish official tried to put him off with excuses. He declared that Dr, KGller's manuscripts had been lost. He implored Sir Henry to wait until they could be found. He asked him not to choose a time like the Mussulman New Year's Day to talk about unpleasant subjects,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.