The selfish and corrupt principles of the government have naturally had their pernicious effects upon all its agents, and through them, upon the people.
The sultan is the great sun of the system—around whom the many lesser orbs revolve. While the pashas and dignitaries are themselves planets of no small lustre, attended by innumerable satellites of their own.
The grandee holds the cable of power upon which tremblingly cling a numerous train, from its summit to its lowest extremity—all sustained, as long as the rope is firm; all crushed, when it slips from the hand of its supporter.
Indiscriminate patronage being a principle, favoritism and corruption become of necessity a natural consequence. Indifferent men are therefore raised to places of trust, to perform duties which can never occupy their minds or engross their intellect, but the want of money is their first and their keenest necessity; for “N’est on que grand? On veut être riche. Est on et grand et riche? On veut être plus grand et plus riche.”
Thus all patriotism is subverted—and individual interest and position are made the sine quâ non of existence.
Before they were enervated by conquest and the possession of vast tributary states, which intoxicated them with sudden wealth, the Turks were brave in battle, faithful to their friends, and generous to their enemies. But being inured to war and excitement, peace and tranquillity only reduced them to a state of sloth and idleness, and inspired them with conceit and arrogance to all around them. Content with being the lords of the realm, ignorant and unfitted for the arts of peace, all their affairs were consigned to their rayas.
The titles of Vali, Pasha, Mussellim, etc., were enjoyed by them while their provinces and Pashaliks were either farmed out to subordinates or managed by their Armenian sarafs or bankers—who received and disbursed their incomes; so that the Osmanli grandee had nothing to do but lounge listlessly in his Keosk and puff his long chibouk—varying his life by occasional official visits to the Porte, or in the softer seclusion of his harem.
The enviable condition of indolence, and the desire to be surrounded with the trappings of wealth, created a rivalry among them, not to attain high and honorable posts as the champions of their country’s welfare, but to ensure the means of luxury and display—and to excel each other in supremacy.
Hence they have arrived at the acme of perfection in the arts of adulation, servility, deceit, and intrigue. Real virtue is of no avail, where successful vice only is admired, and the most insidious and faithless ever the favorites of fortune. Indeed, ingratitude is stamped upon their character, for an Osmanli raised to power, would turn the enemy even of his patron, should he dare to cross his schemes. This is so proverbial that they have a saying—Bir Osmanli bir piré itchin koss kodja yorgani yakar! an Osmanli would burn up an entire coverlet to rid himself of a single flea! or in other words, no consideration would deter him from any sacrifice that would promote his own interests—examples of which are of daily occurrence in their political machinations.
In such a malarious atmosphere, it would be supposed that every moral virtue would perish, and only noisome weeds choke the soil—but such is by no means the case. As the richest fruits and most fragrant flowers often grow from the very putrefactions that lie on the surface of the earth, so the people in Turkey, surrounded by such a depraved and corrupted court, are themselves often specimens of nature’s best handiwork.