421 
garia, an Alt Pacha in Albania, an Ismail Bey in Ro« 
melia> and several others of lower rank, who, with an 
air of dependence upon the sovereign, are really inde- 
pendent, and pay no attention to the firmans which are 
issued by the Porte, unless they suit their interest. 
A prince thus obeyed, ought, I think, to be erased 
from the list of sovereigns, since the empire is always 
in the hands of inferiors or mercenaries, and he who is 
dignified with the title of sovereign, is the most insig- 
nificant and useless being in the government. He hardly 
sees or hears any one except the Grand Vizier, and 
passes his life in the midst of his women and eunuchs: 
a stranger, as it were, to all the acts of administration, 
since every thing must be ordered by the Vizier, or 
by the Divan. The power of the Grand Seignior is 
therefore a nullity. It is at Morocco that the model of 
true despotism is to be found. 
The mercenary hands which govern the Turkish 
empire are paid for their labour by the acquisition of 
riches, proportionable to the ambition which actuates 
them. But the revenues of the empire diminish every 
year, on account of the rebellion which extends from 
one province to another. The Pachas before mentioned 
send very little or nothing to the public treasury; the 
products of Syria are absorbed by the Pacha of Damas- 
cus, under the pretence of the necessary expenses at- 
tending the caravan of Mecca; and during this year 
(1807) the government sent him besides, at his request, 
a large number of purses to defray the charges of the 
defensive war against the Wehhabites, who are gradu- 
ally reducing the limits of the Ottoman dominion by 
daily seizing some part of its provinces. The revolution 
of the Servians, the occupation of Wallachia and Mol- 
