In 1850 the Sultan gave a firman granting to Protestants all the privileges given to other Christian communities, and in 1853 another, declaring Christians before the law equal in all respects to Mohammedans, and the death penalty for apostasy from Islam was abolished. This Magna Charta of Protestant rights is the charter of liberty of conscience to all men in Turkey. The Ottoman Government became to a great extent tolerant, and to-day, as compared with its Northern Muscovite neighbor, it is a model of toleration. There is no open legal persecution for conscience's sake. The Bible in its various languages is distributed throughout the Empire, with the imperial permit printed on the title page. There is not yet liberty to print controversial books touching the religion of Islam, although Islamic works attacking Christianity are distributed openly, with official approbation. The censorship of the press is rigid, but the existing Christian literature is rarely interfered with. The Sheikh ul Islam in Constantinople recently replied officially to a European convert to Islam who asked his aid in entering the Mohammedan religion, that "religion is a matter between man and God, and that no sheikh or priest or mediator is needed in man's approach to his Maker." This is one of the cardinal principles of Christianity,--the difference consisting in this:--that while the Sheikh ul Islam probably meant to exclude even the mediation of Christ, the Gospel claims Christ as the only Mediator. It is also true that if any Christian wishes to become a Mohammedan he must go before the Kadi, who summons the Christian's religious minister to labor with him and examine his case before he is admitted to Islam. That so much of religious liberty exists is cause for profound gratitude. II. The social triumphs of Gospel work in Turkey appear in the transformation of the family and the elevation of woman. The Mohammedan practice of the veiling and seclusion of woman and her exclusion from all social dignity and responsibilities rested like a blight on womankind among all the sects of the Empire. Even among the women of the non-Muslim sects the veil became a necessary shield from insult. An exploration of the Empire in 1829 failed to discover a single school for girls. American women were the first to break the spell, and after long and patient efforts the first school building for the instruction of girls in the Ottoman Empire was erected in Beirut, in 1834, at the expense of Mrs. Tod, an American lady in Alexandria, and the teacher was Mrs. Sarah L. H. Smith.... In 1877, the first Muslim school for girls was opened in Beirut. They now have three girls' schools in the city, with five hundred pupils. Thus far their girls' schools are confined to the great cities, and they have shown commendable zeal in erecting neat and commodious buildings.