laid more stress on the full equality of the Sultán's non-Muslim subjects and abolished the civil power of the heads of the various Christian communities. Churches were henceforth to be governed by synods of the clergy in co-operation with national councils of the laity. Full liberty of conscience was guaranteed and all civil offices were declared open to all Ottoman subjects without distinction. Non-Muslims were made technically eligible for military service but were given the option of buying their exemption. Torture was prohibited and prison reform promised.[2]
"Sariyerli Hoca Sadik Effendi . . . incurred the disfavor of the Porte [Ottoman Sultán] because he mentioned the evils of oppression in his sermons. Because of these sermons Sadik Effendi was accused of favoring the Young Ottomans and was exiled to [Akká,] Syria.
Mírzá Husayn 'Alí and a group of his companions have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the fortress of Akká. When they have arrived at that fortress and been delivered into your custody, incarcerate them within the fortress for the rest of their lives. Institute complete surveillance over them, to ensure that they mix socially with no one. Your officials must inspect them with great care, such that they not be allowed to move from place to place. They must remain always under close supervision.[6]
The day is approaching when the Land of Mystery [Edirne and Rumelia], and what is beside it shall be changed, and shall pass out of the hands of the king, and commotion shall appear, and the voice of lamentation shall be raised, and the evidences of mischief shall be revealed on all sides, and confusion shall spread by reason of that which hath befallen these captives at the hands of the hosts of oppression. The course of things shall be altered, and conditions shall wax so grievous, that the very sands on the desolate hills will moan, and the trees on the mountain will weep, and blood will flow out of all things. Then wilt thou behold the people in sore distress.[7]
This tablet was revealed when Fuad Páshá was the foreign minister of the Ottoman Empire. He had [earlier] returned to his home base, and became the cause of the recent [1876] crisis and of our own exile from Rumelia to Acre. Two individuals were, after the Sultán, supreme chief (Ra'ís-i kull): One was Fuad Páshá and the other was Alí Páshá. Sometimes the one was first minister, and the other foreign minister, and sometimes the other way around. In that tablet (God), may his majesty be gloried, says: "We shall depose the one who was like him and seize their prince, who rules the lands; and I am the glorious, the mighty."[8]