OF THE TURKISH MONARCHY. 



5 



to any advancement of prosperity or general civilization.* In and 

 about the great cities of the empire, where the Pasha, Mohassil, 

 and other officers of high situation reside, and to which manufacturers 

 or merchants are attracted, some degree of industry and cultivation 

 may be observed. But as we proceed through the more distant parts 

 of many of the provinces, we find little appearance of wealth or 

 comfort. This inequality of property is a consequence of the in- 

 security of the possessions of those, who are in inferior situations in 

 life. If we except some families of feudal rank, the most opulent 

 people in every province are the officers of government, those who 

 hold situations under the Porte, or Pasha of the district. All of 

 a class below them, are checked and impeded in their exertions to 

 raise themselves. If their occupations are agricultural, they do not 

 possess that interest in the land which would encourage them to in- 

 dustrious exertion, in encreasing the quantity or improving the quality 

 of the productions of it. Their territorial assessment is nominally 

 fixed ; but they are exposed to heavy and fluctuating exactions. If 

 their means of subsistence are derived from commercial sources -f, an 

 incautious display of wealth would subject them to extortion and 

 plunder. Under such a system of mischievous policy, it is not 

 surprising that various modes of concealing property are practised. 

 In the large towns it is not necessarily so much exposed to the eye 

 of the government, as that wealth, which is derived immediately 

 from the produce of the land. 



Such is the favourable situation of some of the provinces of 



* " Above all things, good policy is to be used, that the treasure and monies of a 

 state be not gathered into few hands. For otherwise, a state may have a great stock 

 and yet starve; and money is, like muck, not good, except it be spread." Bacon. 

 Essay, 39. 



f " The Christians of Aleppo," says Russell, (in a remark, which admits of general 

 application to the Christian subjects of the Turks,) " find it prudent to avoid the osten- 

 tation of wealth, from fear of attracting the attention of their rapacious governors. They 

 are under the necessity of contributing largely to the support of the poor of their respective 

 nations, as likewise to the payment of Avanias, or unjust exactions demanded from 

 them." ii. 46. 



