600 TURKEY IN EUROPE. 



possession of countries, which, in the hands of Russians, or any active 

 state, might endanger the commerce of their neighbours, especially 

 their trade with India. 



Constitution, government, laws... .The Turkish government is 

 commonly exiUDited as a picture or all that is shocking and unnatural 

 in arbitrary power. But from the accounts of sir James Porter, who 

 resided at the Porte, in quality of ambassador from his Britannic ma- 

 jesty, it appears that the rigours of that despotic government are con- 

 siderably moderated by the power of religion. For though in this 

 empire there is no hereditary succession to property, the rights of 

 individuals may be rendered fixed and secure, by being annexed to tne 

 church, which is done at an inconsiderable expence. Even Jews and 

 Christians may in this manner secure the enjoyment of their lands to 

 the latest posterity ; and so sacred and inviolable has this law been 

 held, that there is no instance of an attempt on the side of the prince 

 to trespass or reverse it. Neither does the observance of this insti- 

 tution altogether depend on the superstition of the sultan : he knows 

 that any attempt to violate it would shake the foundations of his throne, 

 which is solely supported by the laws of religion. Were he to trans- 

 gress these laws, he would become an infidel, and cease to be the law- 

 ful sovereign. The same observation extends to all the rules laid 

 down in the Koran, which was designed by Mahommed both as a po- 

 litical code and as a religious system. The laws there enacted, hav- 

 ing all the force of religious prejudices to support them, are inviola- 

 ble ; and by them the civil rights of the Mahommedans are regulated. 

 Even the comments on this book, which explain the law where it is 

 obscure, or extend and complete what Mahommed had left imperfect, 

 are conceived to be of equal validity with the first institutions of the 

 prophet; and no member of the society, however powerful, can trans- 

 gress them without censure, or violate them without punishment. 



The Asiatic Turks, or rather subjects of the Turkish empire, who 

 hold their possessions by a kind of military tenure, on condition of 

 their serving in the field with a particular number of men, think them- 

 selves, while they perform that agreement, almost, independent of the 

 emperor, who seldom calls for the head or the estate of a subject who 

 is not an immediate servant of the court. The most unhappy sub- 

 jects of the Turkish government are those who approach the highest 

 dignities of state, and whose fortunes are constantly exposed to sudden 

 alterations, and depend on the breath of their master. There is a 

 gradation of great officers in Turkey, of whom the vizier, or prime 

 minister ; the kiaja, second in power to the vizier; the reis-effendi, or 

 secretary ol state ; and the aga of the janisaries, are the most consi- 

 derable. These, as well as the mufti, or high priest; the pashas, or 

 governors of provinces ; the civil judges ; and many others, are com- 

 monly raised, by their application and assiduity, from the meanest 

 stations in life, and are often the children of Tartar or Christian slaves 

 taken in war. Tutored in the school of adversity and arriving at pre- 

 eminence through a thousand difficulties and dangers, these men are 

 generally as distinguished for abilities as deficient in virtue. They 

 possess all the dissimulation, intrigue, and corruption, which often ac- 

 companies ambition in a humble rank ; and they have a further reason 

 for plundering the people, because they are uncertain how long they 

 may possess the dignities to which they have attained, The adminis- 

 tration of justice, therefore, is extremely corrupt over the whole em- 

 pire ; but this proceeds from the manners of the judges, and not from 



