28 



CAUSES OF THE WEAKNESS AND DECLINE 



of the power which they have acquired by profiting of the weakness 

 of the monarchy, would also resist it. New taxes must be imposed 

 for the purpose of maintaining the new troops, and a spirit of discon- 

 tent would be thus excited. Lastly, the Oulemah, whose property 

 has been hitherto deemed inalienable and sacred, apprehensive that 

 the Sultan might demand a portion of it, on occasions of great emer- 

 gency, would add the weight of their authority, and interpose and 

 obstruct the execution of such a scheme. 



The causes, then, to which the feebleness and decay of this 

 empire may be attributed, are the existence of a military govern- 

 ment in the capital, the want of salutary regulations in the admini- 

 stration of its revenues*; the interruption of the peaceful habits 

 of industry by the numerous tribes and hordes of robbers ; the 

 difficulty of attending to all parts of this over-grown monarchy ; the 

 national and religious prejudices which continue to operate on the 

 great body of the people ; the weakness displayed by the Porte 

 towards the different Pashas, who defy its power ; the indolence, 

 ease, effeminacy, which, according to the Turks themselves have 

 been exchanged by their countrymen for the hardier and more manly 

 qualities of their ancestors-, and lastly, the indifference to science and 

 art, and the little intercourse maintained by them with the civilized 

 states of Europe. 



While the habits, manners, and situation of the Asiatic provinces 

 continue the same, a great alteration has taken place in the condition 



* Mr. Rich, in his Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon, has given a curious document 

 respecting the annual receipts of the governor of Hellah, p. 12. After stating the sums, 

 he adds, " he must fee the most powerful members of the Porte from time to time, and 

 yet be able to lay by a sufficiency not only for his own reimbursement, but also to pay the 

 mulct that is invariably levied on governors when they are removed, however well they 

 may have discharged their duty. And, when it is considered that his continuance in 

 office seldom exceeds two or three years, it may well be imagined that he has recourse to 

 secret methods of accumulating wealth, and that the inhabitants of his district are propor- 

 tionally oppressed. The regulation of this petty government is a just epitome of the 

 general system which has converted some of the finest countries of the world into savage 

 wastes and uninhabitable deserts." 



