32 The " Mammalia ga-Foda:' [JULY, 



selves, to approach, and endeavour to recollect, by looking at his features, 

 whether they had ever been known to him. But the Greek having excused 

 himself for shortness of memory, the vizier then reminded him of a poor 

 Turk, whom he had so many years before received into his shop at Yassy, 

 and treated with kindness. 



In Turkey, where all are equally slaves to one master, no distinction of 

 ranks exists, except that which is conferred by the temporary investment 

 of authority. The advantages of birth, and of exclusive rights and privi- 

 leges, are as inconsistent with the spirit of the nation, as they would be 

 incompatible with the absolute power of the sovereign. 



The vizier here spoken of (for it was Hussein) had, perhaps by the 

 mere effects of chance, risen, as we have seen, from the very lowest condi- 

 tion in life, and had reached a station in the empire to which the sovereign 

 authority (the only hereditary power in Turkey) is alone paramount.* 

 But to resume our narration. 



When Yanacki discovered that his poor, long-forgotten friend was now 

 transformed into the eminent personage before him, he prostrated himself 

 to the ground, and besought the vizier, for the sake of the past, to spare 

 his life. 



<c Arise," said the viceroy mildly to him ; " I have not called you hither 

 for the purpose of doing you any harm ; far from it ; and woe be to him 

 who would dare touch a hair of your head! What I had to communicate 

 to you could not be said otherwise than verbally, and my intentions 

 required your presence in the capital. You once saved my life ; and you 

 did it in a manner which has shewn me that you are a good man, and 

 which commands my acknowledgments. For years before I reached my 

 present station, I was constantly employed in distant parts, and therefore, 

 unable to give you any token of my remembrance ; but now that I have 

 it in my power to do so, it is my business to reward your former charity. 

 Know, then, that baccal as you say you still are I destine you to the 

 hospodarian throne of Moldavia. You shall be clothed and fitted out at 

 my expense in a manner suited to the dignity to which you are about to 

 be elevated, and your slightest wants, and even your wishes, shall be 

 strictly attended to, by my haznadarft as commands. 



It was in vain that the poor baccal protested his incapacity to fill the 

 high functions about to be assigned to him, and his profound ignorance in 

 the management of public affairs. The vizier bid him take example of 

 himself, and assured him that his task was not so difficult as he imagined ; 

 and Yanacki, finding his new patron resolute, submitted at last to his will, 



* The history of Mehemmed-Alli Pasha, the present well-known and much spoken-of 

 ruler of Egypt, affords a striking instance of the continuation of the system in the Ottoman 

 empire. He rose from a condition equally obscure with the Vizier HusseYn, and, for 

 some years, was employed at Salomon by our late consul of that place, Mr. Charnaud, in 

 the menial capacity of yassaktshee, or house* messenger. In this service he gained some 

 money, which enabled him to rise to less humble employment ; and he continued advanc- 

 ing in rank until he was created a pasha of three-tails, and finally entrusted with the 

 important mission of undermining the authority of the beys in Egypt, and destroying the 

 power of the Alameluks. His success enabled him, in the course of a few years, to 

 assume the undivided government of that kingdom, whose welfare, it must be confessed, be 

 has not ineffectually laboured to combine with the furtherance of his private interest. The 

 annals of the Ottoman empire afford numberless instances of obscure individuals being 

 raised to the highest dignities; but, in stating this, it is necessary to add, that, as places 

 under the Turkish government are purchasable, the promotion of individuals is consi- 

 derably assisted by gifts of money to those from whom it may depend. 



t Private treasurer. 



