Note Note X — NOTES TO CHAPTER VI.
T. G. (Thomas George) Bonney translation
A firman, granted in 1852, allows the Latins to hold service in the Sepulchre of the Virgin, after the Greeks and the Armenians, enjoining upon them at the same time to take away on each occasion the objects of worship. This firman, amongst the many false statements that it makes, contains a few lines which are worth quoting: "it is just to confirm the permission granted at all times to the Christians of the Catholic rite to exercise their own form of worship in this place." In spite of these previous concessions, &c. the Latins had been totally driven out from it. Of what use are firmans when they are acquired at will by presents of gold?