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wear each other down, and the Government, which finally reduces them to order, accomplishes its purpose at a loss, not easily repaired, in men and money.

A despot's strength is the weakness of his subjects. The strength of a constitutional government resides in the wealth and good-will of the people. Ill fares the country where neither the strong hand nor the willing heart is to be found.

The fortunes of the Turkish Empire, when in their flow, were mainly to be ascribed to religious enthusiasm, military discipline, national character, and unanimity of purpose. Their decline may generally be accounted for by the comparative progress of Christendom, and particularly of northern Christendom, in the arts of war, in population, in produce, and in every branch of knowledge, whether social or political. If the Turks, made confident by repeated victories, and strong in their submission to a single will, had found it easy to spread over countries where the elements of resistance were feeble, they could not but suffer in their turn under the natural consequences of an unreasonable policy, of an evil administration, and of decaying morals, when they had to deal with adversaries who had prospered in proportion to their decline. The mutinous spirit of the Janissaries, the enervating habits of the Seraglio, and the corrupting intrigues of adventurers at court and in office, were hardly needed to complete the disastrous process. Much, however, in the bright as well as in the darker period, may be traced to the personal qualities of the reigning Sultan or of the principal depositary of his power. The nature of the government and the character of the people require a firm will at the helm. Mahomet, the conqueror of Constantinople, and his immediate successors, are brilliant illustrations of this fact. Mahmoud, the present Sultan's father, ruled with power, and commanded general respect, notwithstanding his losses, his reforms, his sanguinary executions, and the vile debaucheries which closed his life. His eldest son and successor fell into contempt through want of resolution and energy, although his reign, unsullied by any measures of injustice or cruelty, was marked, on the contrary, by a course of policy successful, on the whole, both at home and abroad. His failings were those of a gentle and generous disposition unsustained by that vigour of mind and body which the difficulties of his perilous station required. If, as there is room to hope, his younger brother, the reigning Emperor, should carry out the reforms and improvements adopted by Abdul Mehjid, with the energy displayed by Mahmoud, both Turk and Christian, the empire and its allies, would have reason to rejoice. Appearances

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at first were decidedly favourable to this expectation; and if it were true that Sultan Abdul Aziz intends in good earnest to limit his connubial establishment to a single wife, the prospect might soon ripen into a reality. Economy would be the least advantage of such a limitation. The morals and manners of the Seraglio would undergo a transformation much to be desired. The example would operate most beneficially throughout the whole range of Turkish society. The harem would cease to be a curse, and a great step would be made towards an intermixture of classes. But we must be content to wait. It is not the first time that a new reign has commenced in Turkey with a clearance at the palace. Four thousand ladies and attendant officers are described in the Turkish annals as having been dismissed on one occasion. A vast increase of paper currency, and its intended application to the payment of the army, are measures of ominous import. The dismissal of the late Grand Vizier in favour of the present incumbent is a very questionable move. Other personal changes in the administration have no distinct character, and, except in the case of Riza Pasha, may be referred to mere motives of convenience.

Reduction of expense is an excellent, indeed an indispensable thing to begin with, especially after the measureless extravagance of the late reign. But much more is wanted. Economy itself, to be remedial, must be applied with judgment. Now, the army is already too small for the defence of the empire. We repeat that it does not exceed a third of the numbers displayed on paper. It is not equal to the maintenance of internal order except by harassing and wasteful exertions. Its increase is more to be desired than its diminution, and means for that purpose should be sought in other reductions, particularly in the reduction of salaries and pensions, and also in a more effective management of the revenue, including its collection and administration.

Be it remembered that the Sultan's dominions, whether we look to climate, to soil, or position, are rich beyond conception in resources of every kind. We have only to name the countries which are comprised within their limits, and every doubt on this point must vanish from our minds. The wonder is that regions so blessed with all varieties of produce, with climates so favourable to labour, with coasts so accessible to commerce, and with full experience of these advantages transmitted from age to age, should have been brought to such degradation at a period when other countries, less happily endowed by nature, have reached so great a height of prosperity and power. Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria, the vast plains of Thessaly and Adrianople, those in Asia, watered

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by the Hermus, the Meander, the Cayster, the Caicus, and the productive provinces extending on both sides along the Danube from Hungary to the sea-all these, and many other districts of surpassing fertility, are only waiting for the long-expected signal to enter upon a new course of industry, wealth, and glory. Let the doors be thrown open to the arts, the science, the capital of Europe-let the emulation of the natives be encouraged and their fortunes sufficiently protected-let the reforms to which the Imperial Government is pledged be put into a regular course of execution, and the most satisfactory results would be sure to follow. Even as it is, the revenue has increased by considerably more than a fourth since the Crimean war, and the financial embarrassments, which have accompanied that progress, may be fairly attributed to extravagance, corruption, and mismanagement, or to the cost of putting down disturbances engendered by a vicious course of administration.

The reforms, which are here recommended, must be viewed as a whole in order to be fully appreciated. They are comprehensive in principle and also in their application. They are by no means limited to the Christian subjects of the Porte. They are calculated to promote the welfare of all classes, whatever may be the separate creed of each. The Imperial proclamation, in which the new concessions are embodied, together with the earliest, is a real charter of franchises, the Magna Charta, in a broader sense than ours, of the Turkish empire. The various provisions it contains may be severally classed under the following heads :I. Confirmation of beneficial ordinances already proclaimed. II. Extension of previous concessions.

III. Removal of existing abuses.

IV. Security for the observance of new measures.
V. Improvements of a material kind.

The field, it must be allowed, is a wide one, and surely in its compartments there is no want either of liberality or of apparent sincerity. A system of reform, which aims at the removal of all abuses, the perpetuation of all franchises, the fusion of all classes, the development of all resources, the entire liberty of public worship and of private conscience in religious matters, the extension and security of civil rights, and an enlarged intercourse with foreigners, can hardly fail to engage our sympathy, and, considering the difficulties which, in a country like Turkey, surround it, to command our admiration and hearty concurrence. We boast too much of the spirit of our age to be indifferent to one of its greatest and least expected achievements. Our free institutions, our Pro

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testant faith, our commercial enterprise, our skill in manufacture -all these sources of our national greatness are deeply interested in the triumph of such principles over bigotry, ignorance, and corruption in one of their strongest and most extensive holds.

It is obvious that our Mussulman allies are now in a truly critical stage of their political transition. What they most stand in need of is a more complete application of these new principles with an earnest enforcement of corresponding measures. Unfor tunately fresh obstacles occur at this point. The Sultan looks to his ministers; the ministers look to each other. Some of them are restrained by the fear of responsibility, some by their personal interests; others have to contend with false impressions contracted in their youth, and others again with an indigenous love of ease and habitual self-indulgence.

Among those statesmen at the Porte, who admit the necessity without promoting the progress of reform, no allegation is more common than the deficiency of suitable agents. There is, no doubt, truth, but there is also much exaggeration in this plea. Men of sufficient ability are seldom wanting for the public service when the authority under which they act is clear and determined in its views, and when adequate motives for individual exertion are brought into play.

It will soon be forty years since the present era of Turkish reforms began. A new generation has sprung up within that period. The young men of Sultan Mahmoud's time have now attained the experience of age. Those, who were only children then, have already overstepped the halfway road of life. It would be strange indeed if there were none among them whose natural intelligence had taken the impress of the time-none who felt that, in serving a reformed government with zeal, they could best fulfil their public duties, and consult their own interests. Their minds have ripened in the warmth of new ideas: they have had access, in maturing, to broader avenues of knowledge than were open to their predecessors, who, nevertheless, sent out from their ranks the earliest instruments, the most active pioneers of reform. Between the two classes, the elder and the younger, a sufficient supply might surely be found, if not for giving full effect to all the ministerial functions, at least for conducting the principal departments in a creditable manner, and setting an example of vigour and consistency to other branches of the government. Turk with good manners, who can talk French, who has visited the chief cities of Christendom, and has some acquaintance with European literature, is no longer, as in the last century, a phoenix or a black swan. The Greeks have ceased to monopolise the

main channel of communication between the Porte and the foreign ambassadors at Constantinople. The functions of Chief Interpreter are generally performed by a Mussulman.

What serves to counteract the natural tendencies of so important a change is favouritism, which is still but too often the arbiter of public appointments in Turkey. This evil may be traced to three distinct sources. The candidates for office receive their education in general either at the Porte or in the Seraglio.* Their first appointment is made on the recommendation of some influential person at one of those two seats of power. Their promotion is frequently the result of a similar exercise of patronage. The relations of patron and client, which formed so strong an element of public life in ancient Rome, survive to a certain degree at Constantinople. The great man is at times sustained by his political dependents, who, in turn, look up to him for the advancement of their fortunes. Official establishments, though of late curtailed, are still expensive, and the majority of the incumbents have little but their salaries and their expectations wherewith to support themselves. Debts are consequently incurred, and the bankers, who lend, employ their credit, which is considerable, in keeping or reinstating in office their respective debtors. Hence a routine most favourable to misconduct, incapacity, and corruption; hence a discouragement of those who seek to rise by honest means and honourable exertions; hence an assurance that no amount of disgrace will permanently exclude the most undeserving character from office and power. Such Pashas as Riza and Saffiti must laugh at being dismissed, since, however clear their delinquency, they are allowed to keep their ill-gotten spoils, with the certainty of returning to office at no distant period, and with the enjoyment, meanwhile, of colossal pensions.

There is much, we must confess, in these abuses to dishearten the advocates of Turkish revival. But they are not irremediable, and other countries have succeeded in throwing off the same impediments to progress. Even here, in our own country, the struggle of private interest with public spirit was long and anxious. It survived both the Reformation and the Revolution. It hung as a cloud over our expanding prospects in the last century. It required the resolution, the integrity, and the genius of a Burke to check its progress; and even now there are statesmen who seem to fear its renewal, and to look for its death-blow to the more than doubtful experiment of competitive examinations.

* The distinction between Porte and Seraglio is similar to that elsewhere between the Palais and the Chancellerie, the Court and the Government, the Household and the Ministry.

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