Nor can better things be expected in an empire in which caprice reigns supreme. The Padishah is lord of the souls and bodies of his subjects; he is commander-in-chief of the army, supreme judge, and sovereign pontiff. In former times his power was practically limited by semi-independent feudatories, but since the fall of Ali Pasha and the massacre of the janissaries he is restrained only by customs, traditions, and the demands of the Governments of Europe. He is the most despotic sovereign of Europe, and his civil list the heaviest in proportion to the revenues of the country. The household of the late Sultan and of the members of his family was exceedingly numerous. There lived in the Seraglio an army of 6,000 servants and slaves of both sexes, of whom 600 were cooks. These servants, in turn, were surrounded by an army of hangers-on, who were fed from the imperial kitchens, to which no less than 1,200 sheep were supplied daily by the contractors.
Current expenses were sufficiently heavy, but more considerable still was the extraordinary expenditure incurred in the construction of palaces and kiosks, the purchase of articles de luxe and of curiosities, and for all kinds of prodigalities. The present Sultan, driven thereto by the precarious position of his empire, has limited his expenditure. But will this last? {146}
Ministers, valis, and other high officials of the empire faithfully follow in the footsteps of their sovereign, and their expenditure always exceeds their salary, though the latter is fixed on a most liberal scale. As to the lower officials, their salaries are small and irregularly paid; but it is understood that they may recoup themselves at the expense of the ratepayers. Everything can be purchased in Turkey, and, above all, justice. The state of the finances is most lamentable; loans are raised at usurious interest; and so badly is the country governed that it has been seriously proposed to intrust the management of its finances to a syndicate of the European powers ! [41]
Agriculture and industry progress but slowly under such misgovernment. Vast tracts of the most fertile land are allowed to lie fallow; they appear to be no one’s property, and any one may settle upon and cultivate them. But woe to him if he conducts his operations with profit to himself; for no sooner is he observed to become wealthy than his land is laid claim to on behalf of the clergy or of some pasha, and he may consider himself lucky if he escapes a bastinado. The peasants, in many districts, are careful not to produce more than they absolutely require to live upon, for an abundant harvest would impoverish them—would merely lead to a permanent increase of taxation. The tradesmen in the smaller towns are equally careful to conceal their wealth, if they possess any.
Many Mussulman families have ceded to the mosques their proprietary rights. They thus enjoy merely the usufruct of their lands, but are freed, on the other hand, from the payment of taxes, and the land remains in the possession of their families until they become extinct. These lands are known as vakufs, and they form about one-third of the area of the whole empire. They contribute actually nothing towards the revenues of the State. In the end they aggrandise the vast estates of the Mohammedan clergy. Taxation weighs almost exclusively upon the lands cultivated by the unfortunate Christians; and in proportion as the vakufs increase, so does the produce of taxation diminish. This must in the end necessarily lead to a secularisation of the estates of the clergy; and even now, to the great horror of the old Turks, the Ottoman Government is timidly extending its hands towards the estates belonging to the mosques of Constantinople.
MUSSULMAN OF ADRIANOPLE, AND MUSSULMAN LADY OF PRISREND.
The Servian, Albanian, and Bulgarian peasants actually cultivate their land in spite of their masters. A single fact will show this. Certain collectors of tithes, in order to prevent fraud, insist upon the peasants leaving the whole of the harvest upon the fields until they have withdrawn their tenth part. Maize, rice, and corn are exposed there to the inclemencies of the weather and other destructive agencies; and it frequently happens that the harvest has deteriorated to the extent of one-half in value before the Government impost is levied. Sometimes the peasants allow their grapes or fruit to rot rather than pay the tithes. But it is not the tax-gatherer alone of whose conduct the peasant may complain; for he is exposed likewise to exactions by the middlemen with whom he comes into contact when selling his produce. “The Bulgarian works, but the Greek holds the plough.” So says an ancient proverb; and this is still true at least of the {147} countries to the south of the Balkan, where the Bulgarian peasant is not always the proprietor of the land he tills. But where he does not directly work for a Greek or Mussulman proprietor, his harvest, even before it is cut, is frequently the property of a usurer; but he works on from day to day, a wretched slave, in the vain hope of becoming one day a free man.
The fertility of the soil on both slopes of the Balkans, in Macedonia, and in Thessaly is, however, such that in spite of mosques and tax-collectors, in spite of usurers and thieves, agriculture supplies commerce with a large quantity of produce. Maize, or “Turkish corn,” and all cereals are grown in abundance. The valleys of the Karasu and Vardar produce cotton, tobacco, and dye stuffs; the coast districts and islands yield wine and oil, whose quality would leave nought to be desired, were a little more care bestowed upon their cultivation; and forests of mulberry-trees are met with in certain parts of Thracia and Rumelia, and the export of cocoons to Italy and France is increasing from year to year. Turkey, with its fertile soil, is sure to take a prominent part amongst the European states for the variety and superiority of its products. As to its manufactures, they will no doubt be gradually displaced on the opening of new roads of commerce. The manufacturers of arms, stuffs, carpets, and jewellery in the cities of the interior will suffer considerably from foreign competition, and many amongst them will succumb to it, unless they pass into the hands of foreigners. The great fairs, too, which are now held annually at Slivno and other places, and at which merchants from the whole of the empire meet to transact business—as many as a hundred thousand strangers being attracted occasionally to a single spot—will gradually give place to a regular commercial intercourse.
It is certain that the commerce of Turkey has increased of late years, thanks to the efforts of Greeks, Armenians, and Franks of all nations. The annual value of the exports and imports of the whole of the Ottoman empire in Europe and Asia is estimated at £40,000,000—a very small sum, if we bear in mind the resources of these countries, their many excellent harbours, and their favourable geographical position.