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Monthly Review qf Literature, 



[FEB. 



and by themselves fiercely maintained a 

 species of praetorian bands, with all their 

 power and violence. By degrees, numbers 

 were enrolled without serving to escape 

 the pressure of the capitation-tax, to which 

 all who were not soldiers, in the new order, 

 were subject, like infidels. The institutions of 

 the empire partook, all of them, of a mili- 

 tary character; and the military spirit is 

 observable on all sides. The common pro- 

 verb is they gained the country by the 

 sword, and by the sword they will keep 

 it. 



IV. Originally the Sultan had no sacred 

 character ; but, on the conquest of Egypt, 

 Selim obtained from the defeated Caliph 

 a cession of his rights, and thenceforth the 

 sovereign was styled //nam, or pontiff^ as 

 well as Sultan or lord. By this accession, 

 new authority, or, at least, new reverence, 

 was secured in all civil matters ; the Sultan's 

 will is law ; he sets aside whatever is not 

 specifically established by the Koran ; but, 

 in religious affairs, he is controlled by the 

 Ulemas. These are the clerical body, con- 

 sisting of three classes the doctors of the 

 law, the judges, and the ministers of reli- 

 gion : the latter the lowest. The Koran is 

 the law of the land, as well as the religion 

 of it ; and the doctors of the law are the 

 interpreters of it. Their persons are sacred. 

 Their sons are always preferred for admis- 

 sion among the Ulemas ; and thus a sort of 

 aristocracy or even an hereditary nobility 

 after all, is formed. The Sultan, it is true, 

 may exile, imprison, or displace even the 

 Mufti ; but it is certain, in modern times, 

 the dread of the Ulemas has often prevented 

 the Sultan from leaving Constantinople, 

 when wishing to head the army. The mob 

 of the city again forms a sort of constitu- 

 tional check ; the Sultan must appear in 

 public on Fridays, and take the petitions 

 presented to him, and plain truths are then 

 occasionally told. To please them bread is 

 kept at a low price, though the provinces 

 starve. The government is administered by 

 the vizier, and several subordinate ministers. 

 In Divan, the Sultan is placed behind a 

 grated window to see and not be seen 

 and thus preserve his dignity. The pro- 

 vinces are under the command of Beglier- 

 begs and Pachas, whose authority extends 

 over the military, the revenue, and the ad- 

 ministration of justice attended with the 

 greatest insecurity if the spoils they have 

 gathered be wanted at home, their heads, 

 by hook or by crook, are speedily slipped 

 off. At home, the powers of the Cadhis, or 

 judges, are vague and arbitrary. There are 

 no appeals ; and very little nicety is indul- 

 ged in about evidence or precedent. Causes 

 are quickly dispatched ; each party pleads 

 for himself; witnesses are heard, and the 

 judge forthwith decides. The charge is in 

 writing, but is never allowed to exceed "half 

 a page." Cheap and rapid as all this may 

 be, injustice, from ignorance, precipitation, 

 passion, and mistake, must be pretty com- 



mon. But the corruption of the judge is a 

 more abundant source of injustice. It is 

 difficult to do justice, said one Cadhi to 

 another, when one of the parties is rich and 

 the other poor. No, replied the other, I 

 find no difficulty in such cases ; I always 

 decide for the rich ; the difficulty is when 

 both are rich. Witnesses, if possible, are 

 worse ; and numbers are known to live by 

 trafficking evidence and oaths. Bad as is 

 civil justice, criminal is worse. If a baker 

 be found selling light bread, he is hanged 

 before his own door, whether master or ser- 

 vant ; if any one is apprehended on the 

 spot where a disturbance takes place, he is 

 dispatched instantly no matter whether 

 guilty or not he should have kept out of 

 the way. On the rapidity of justice the 

 Turk piques himself. A Russian minister 

 complained of some outrage ; the vizier 

 made a horizontal motion with his hand to 

 some of his attendants ; and, before the 

 conference was over, seven heads were rolled 

 at the feet of the complainant. The oath of 

 a Christian, unsupported by that of a Mus- 

 sulman, stands for nothing. If a Mussul- 

 man kill a Christian, he escapes with im- 

 punity, but the least blow of a Christian 

 against a Mussulman, is visited with the 

 heaviest penalty. He must live in houses 

 of a dark hue, and wear a dress of a dark 

 colour ; and, particularly, must abstain from 

 green turbans, white shawls, and yellow 

 slippers. If he have a good house, he must 

 give it a shabby outside if he have a fine 

 horse, he must get a Turk to ride it. 



V. The causes which checked the career, 

 and have led to decline, are chiefly the indo- 

 lence of the Turk. He is in the state in which 

 he was four or five centuries ago. The 

 great discoveries of Europe are lost upon 

 him. Printing was not introduced till the 

 year 1727 ; and he still prefers MS. The 

 State Geometrician, when asked, from some 

 suspicion of his ignorance, how many right 

 angles there were in a triangle, replied 

 that depended on the size. The compass is 

 adjusted to the variation of Constantinople ; 

 but the sailor has no notion of a different 

 variation in different latitudes and an High 

 Admiral himself once confessed he knew 

 nothing of its use. Of geography and his- 

 tory they have very scanty and incorrect 

 notions of morals and eloquence, none, 

 but what is derived from the Koran. Pre- 

 destination pervades the people practically 

 once the source of their valour, it is now also 

 that of their inactivity. All is the will of 

 God whether successful or unsuccessful it 

 forms the ground of the Turk's indolence, the 

 motive for apathy, the excuse for ignorance. 

 With him truly ignorance is bliss and his 

 glory his shame. 



This summary the reader will find very 

 ably dilated in the book before us ; and now 

 that the Turks are a little more talked about 

 than they have been for many years it will 

 be well worth while to consult it. 



