Part 12 (2/2)

In short, my Lord, I am sanguine enough to hope that Her Majesty's Government have laid the foundation of a more real improvement in the temper and policy of this State than was to have been previously expected; and it is a subject of just congratulation that the counsels of two great nations have united successfully for the attainment of so beneficent an object.

The invitation to Baron de Bourqueney to wait upon the Sultan the day after my audience, and to receive, for the information of his Court, a repet.i.tion of the a.s.surances addressed to me, affords another proof of His Majesty's sincerity.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) STRATFORD CANNING.

P.S.--I request that a copy of this despatch and its inclosures may be forwarded immediately to Her Majesty's Government.

S. C.

Inclosure 2 in No. 38.

_Official Declaration of the Sublime Porte, relinquis.h.i.+ng the practice of Executions for Apostacy from Islamism_.

[See Inclosure l in No. 36.]

Inclosure 3 in No. 38.

_Acknowledgment of the Sublime Porte's Official Declaration respecting Executions for Apostacy_.

[See Inclosure 2 in No. 36.]

Inclosure 4 in No. 38.

_Declaration of His Highness the Sultan to Sir Stratford Canning at his Audience on the 23rd of March_, 1844.

”Henceforward neither shall Christianity be insulted in my dominions, nor shall Christians be in any way persecuted for their religion.”

No. 39.

_The Earl of Aberdeen to Sir Stratford Canning_.

(Extract.) _Foreign Office, April_ 19, 1844.

I received on the 10th of this month your Excellency's despatch of the 23rd of March conveying the gratifying intelligence that the Porte had given way on the question of the execution of apostates from Islamism. The concession made by the Porte in this respect, entirely consistent as it is with the wishes and intentions of Her Majesty's Government, as expressed in my several instructions of the 16th of January, 19th of March, and 6th of April, has given them the greatest satisfaction; and I have been happy to receive the Queen's commands to signify to your Excellency Her Majesty's gracious approbation of the manner in which you have executed your instructions, and brought to a successful close a question of which the importance cannot be too highly rated.

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