IN 1853 a great struggle broke out between Russia and Turkey, the immediate cause of which was the desire of Russia to force a protectorate upon the Greek Christians in the Turkish dominions. This was accompanied by a dispute between Russia and other European powers, especially France, which had arisen over the guardianship of the “Holy Places.” The fate of Palestine was involved in the issue of this struggle. The pretension of the Greek Church to exercise the right of possession of the “Holy Places” dates back to the early days of Christianity. The Greek Church has always posed as the genuine representative of the Eastern Church, professing to have inherited its claim to the allegiance of the orthodox when the cleavage came, in the second century, concerning the proper season for the celebration of Easter, and divided its community into two distinct sections. The alleged and proved purpose of the Church was to obtain complete and undisturbed possession of the “Holy Places,” where the Greek Church deems it of vital importance that certain religious ceremonies shall be observed, to which pilgrimages are to be made by its devout members. Some of these members furnished the Russian Government with reasons for its claims, presumably based on facts. At that period the greater part of the Christian Communities in the whole of Syria and Palestine adhered to the Greek Orthodox faith. In the whole Ottoman Empire their number was very considerable; the estimate in 1852‒53 reached as high a total as 11,000,000 members of the Greek Church. In Greece it was the established religion, while throughout the Greek islands its members outnumbered those of any other Christian denomination. North of the Danube, Wallachia and Moldavia were under its sway and were considered to be under the protection of Russia. The Greek monasteries of the Holy Land were not only under the protection and control of Russia, but were chiefly supported by loans from that country. Under this influence these communities continued to make the greatest progress possible, and put forth every effort to advance themselves step by step, leaving no stone unturned in their endeavour to raise themselves above the other Churches. Rumours gained currency that a strong Russian propaganda was on foot. It was even said that the late _Sultan_ Mahmud II. gave an assurance to the effect, that at the death of Mehemet Ali, the Holy Land should be given up to Russian dominion on certain stipulated conditions. Imagination had, of course, free scope in inventing myths of this kind. But at any rate there was a general impression abroad that Russia was anxious to conquer and annex the Holy Land.