3° 



A Relation of the Chap.IV. 



like a Cloifter -, and 'tis under that Gallery which is on the right hand, that the Ja- 

 nizaries have their ftation, while the Divan is fitting. 



council-days. The Council fits, ordinarily, four days in the week, which days are anfwerable to 

 the Saturday, Sunday, Munday, and Tuefday of the Cbrijtians. 



CMftsfoon de. Juftice is there exactly adminiftred to any one that defires it, and for what caufe 

 tided. foever it be, fo, as that the differing Parties have no need either of Proctors or Ad- 



vocates names not known in Turkey, and the«Perfons concerned are to lay open their 

 Cafes themfelves. There is no talk of delays, or putting off from one time to ano- 

 ther -, people (hall not languid! in expectation, but the bulinefs is decided immediate- 

 ly, what nature foever it may be of. 



The Reafons of Though this Cuftom be very commendable, yet can it not be fo well pradtis'd 

 that Expedite- amongft CbrijUans, becaufe they ftand upon the property of what they have, and that 

 on of Jufiice. j s deriv'd by Inheritance from fome to ethers, and the litigious partitions of them do 

 many times engage the Proprietors thereof in long Suits of Law. 'Tis quite other- 

 wife amongft the Great Officers of the Port, who are all Slaves, either taken in War, 

 or fent up, as Prefents, by the Baffa's, and Governours of Provinces. All their Eftates, 

 when they die, return to the Grand Seignor, from whom they had receiv'd them, fo 

 that it is a perpetual Circulation : and their Children, as Ï told you in the beginning 

 of this Difcourfe, are brought up to the Seraglio, to be educated there, and that with- 

 out any hope of ever fucceeding their Parents, either in their Eftates, or Employ- 

 ments. The Ottoman Monarchy has always obferv'd this fubtle Policy, not to permit 

 that any Family lhould aggrandize it felf, and be powertul from Father to Son : but 

 they bring it down, as foon as they have rais'd it up, and timely enough deprive 

 them of the means whereby they might create Factions,to the difturbance of the State. 

 Thence it comes, that, befides the Royal Family of the Ottomans, they know not what 

 Gentility, and antiquity of Extraction means i there's no emulation upon that (core, 

 ' and Charges and Dignities are bellow' d anfwerably to the Merit of the Perlbn, with- 

 out any confideration of his Extraction. Nay, it fometimes happens, that the Prin- 

 cipal Minifters of the Empire, are the Sons of Cow-keepers, as was one Rujlan, a 

 Grand Vmr, who made fo much noife under the Pveign of Solyman. And fo, being 

 not any way oblig'd to their birth, they acknowledge their Fortunes to be the reward 

 of their Education. 



But to return to the adminiftration of Juftice amongft the Turks. Thofe who make 

 the Law their profeffion, and are look'd upon as the Clergy of Mahomet, leave no place 

 for luits at Law ••> every one knows his priviledges, and what belongs to the function 

 of his Charge, and there arife no differences among them, becaufe all things are per- 

 fectly well regulated. 



In like manner, the people are ignorant what pleading fignifies. There's no occafion 

 for publick Notaries, in order to Matrimonial contracts -, There's no great fums given 

 with a daughter 5 and the jewels and cloaths which fhe can get out of her Fathers houie, 

 are all the portion (he brings to her Husband. And this, in few words, is the reafen 

 that the Turks can put an expeditious end to all their affairs, without giving any tole- 

 ration to that pettifogging, which, among Chriftians, proves the ruine of fb many 

 People. 



The Officers, who fit in the Divm are, flrft, the Grand Vizir, the Lieutenant-Gene- 

 ral of the whole Empire, who is Prefident of it, and reprefents the Grand Seignor's 

 Perfon ; Then the fix other Vizirs h Then the Cadilefquers of Romania and Natolu, 

 who are the Judges and Intendants of the Armies i Then the three Tefterdars,ox Trea- 

 furers-General ; Then the Niffangibacba, the Lord Chancellour , And the NetangiMho 

 is as 'twere the Secretary of State, with fome Clerks, or Notaries. All thefe Offfers 

 come into the Divan-Hall, at four in the Morning, and continue there till noon, té $à- 

 minifter Juftice. The Chiaoux-bachi has his ftation at the Gate, with a troop of thofe 

 that arc under his charge, to execute the Grand Vizir's Orders, and has a filver-rod in 

 his hand, as a badge of his Authority. 



On 



