71b 



EUROPEAN TURKEY 



Turkej, Death stands at the right hand of power, and many officers in resigning their places 

 yield up also their heads. The very terms of endearment used by the females of the Grand 

 Seignior express his formidable, rather than his amiable qualities ; they call him their Lion. 

 As the observances of despotism are kept up in the seraglio, all is prostration and fear ; and 

 even those who feel no awe, pretend it by confusion and hesitation of speech, when addressing 

 the monarch. All attendants walk quickly, as a slow gait is appropriated to majesty. The 

 present Sultan is one of the few monarchs, who ever ruled the Turks, that was bent upon im- 

 proving them, and he has done something, though much remains to be done. 



Some of the Sultan's titles are, " Son of Mahomet, King above all Kings, Seed of the 

 Great Alexander, Lord of the Tree of Life and of the River Fliskey, Prior of the Earthly 

 Paradise, Commander of all things that are to be commanded. Centre of Victory, Shadow of 

 God." The court is called the Sublime Porte, and all decrees or treaties are dated " from om- 

 stirrup." The Divan, or Council of State, is composed of the Ministers of the Interior, Ex- 

 terior, and Finance. The government of the provinces is delegated to pachas, waivodes, and 

 other officers. The military ensigns are horsetails, and the dignity of the pachas is measured 

 by the number they are permitted to assume, three being the most honorable. All offices are 

 sold ; the incumbents give to the treasury a certain sum, and indemnify themselves by extorting 

 from the subjects placed under them. The pachas divide their territories into districts, and 

 dispose of them as they have bought their pachalics ; so that the circle of extortion is com- 

 plete. There is no security for property, and the last para is often rendered up under the 

 bastinado. To serve the state, is a principle unknown among Turkish officers ; to serve 

 themselves, with little choice of means, is the practice. They indemnify themselves for their 

 expense and brief authority, by all the wealth that their rapacity can collect. They live upen 

 a dangerous post ; and history has recorded that 33 viziers have been executed at the com- 

 mand of their masters. The inferior officers are too numerous to be recorded. 



19. Laws. The Turkish laws are contained principally in the Koran and the commentaries 

 of sages. They are not generally unjust, but the administration of them is utterly corrupt,* 

 and the judge decides in favor of the party which propitiates him by the greatest bribe. In oth- 

 er countries, it is common to retain the lawyer ; in Turkey it is more necessary to retain the 

 judge. Everything is venal ; the complaint of the informer, the testimony of the witness, and 

 the sentence of the judge. Property is safe only when it is concealed. The edicts of the 

 Sultan have the force of laws, and it is safe for him to outrage all things but custom, the only 

 protection of those who live under a despotism. To custom the Sultan must himself submit ; 

 and it would cost him his crown to invade generally the private apartments of his subjects. 

 He has the property of all those who die in his service, a tax of 10 per cent upon all inherited 

 property, and as many confiscations as he is pleased to make executions. Some of the laws or 

 rather municipal regulations are, that nothing shall be charged for the novelty or fashion of an 

 article, and that even the early fruit shall be sold as low as the late. A baker, who defrauds in 

 the quantity of bread, is nailed to his door by the ears for 24 hours ; a law which, says a recent 

 traveler, if introduced into all civilized countries would raise the price of nails. A hole is cut 

 in the door for his head, and both ears are nailed to the board. The bastinado is the common 

 punishment for the lighter crimes ; it is inflicted by hard blows on the soles of the feet, or by 

 beating with a cudgel, the ribs, stomach, and loins. The bastinado is the common method o' 

 collecting the taxes in provinces. Petty larceny is punished in the same way, but this is iu 



* " A remarkable cause was tried while we were in Cos ; 

 and a statement of the circumstance on which it was 

 founded will serve to exhibit a very singular part of the 

 Mahometan law ; namely, that which relates to ' homicide 

 by implication.^ An instance of a similar nature was be- 

 fore noticed, when it was related, that the Capudan Pasha 

 reasoned with the people of Samos upon the propriety of 

 their paying for a Turkish frigate which was wrecked up- 

 on their territory; ' because the accident would not have 

 happened unless their island had been in the way.' This 

 was mentioned as a characteristic feature of Turkish jus- 

 tice, and so it really was ; that is to say, it was a sophisti- 

 cated application of a principle rigidly founded upon the 

 jifth species of homicide, according to the Mahometan law ; 

 or ' homicide by an intermediate cause,' which is strictly 

 the name it bears The case which occurred at Cos fell 

 mere immediately under the cognizance of this law. It was 

 as follows. A young man desperately in love with a girl 



of Stanchio, eagerly sought to marry her ; but his propo- 

 sals were rejected. In consequence of his disappointment 

 he bought some poison and destroyed himself. The Turk 

 isli police instantly arrested the father of the young wo 

 man, as the cause, by implication, of the man's death; un- 

 der the fifth species of homicide, he became, therefore, 

 amenable for this act of suicide. Wlien the case came 

 before the magistrate, it was urged literally by the accu- 

 sers, that ' If he, the accused, had. not had a daughter, the 

 deceased icould not have fallen in lore ; consequently, he 

 icould not hare been disappointed ; consequently, he icould 

 not hare sioalloired poison ; conseqvently, he would not have 

 died; — hut he, the accused, had a daughter ; and the deceas- 

 ed had fallen in lore ; and had, been disappointed ; and had 

 sicallowed poison ; and had, died.' Upon all these counts 

 he was called upon to pay the price of the young man's 

 life ; and this, being fixed at the sum of 80 piastres, was 

 accordingly exacted." — Clarke's Travels. 



