Englishmen will probably, at the first glance, wonder why it should be thus; but it would be greater subject for astonishment were it otherwise. When a Field Marshal, by kissing the Sublime Toe, is translated at once into a Lord High Admiral; and the Colonel of a Cavalry regiment becomes by an equally simple process a manufacturer of Macaroni; and when each is called upon to teach that which he never learnt, and to command ere he has been taught how to obey; the effects of the system may be readily foreseen. Nevertheless, were the Turks permitted to employ even subordinate European officers in their army and navy, much of the evil might be obviated. But Russia is opposed to a measure which would give them a correct idea of their own physical strength—by weakening the morale, she enervates the whole system; while, by her happy art of consopiation, and her finished tact at glossing over effects, and inventing causes, she has taught them to believe themselves independent of extraneous aid, Heaven-inspired, and all-sufficient.
It signifies not how irrelevant the duties of any situation may be to his previous habits and talent, no Turk would hesitate to accept it on that account, should the occasion of self-aggrandizement present itself; and he has two satisfactory reasons for acting thus—he must at least be as capable of fulfilling them as his predecessor, who was equally ill-fitted for the trust—and, should he refuse one good offer, he would probably never have a second. Thus reason the Osmanlis, and upon this conviction they act. Nor is Sultan Mahmoud one whit more difficult or quick-sighted on this point than his subjects; or more scrupulous as to the efficiency of those to whom he gives important appointments, than they are in accepting them; and a ludicrous example of this uncalculating facility occurred very lately, so perfectly in point that I cannot forbear to mention it.
His Highness had a favourite physician, to whom he had entrusted the superintendence of a public establishment, and who died suddenly at Scutari. When informed of his death, the Sultan was visibly affected: and in the first moment of regret he inquired anxiously if the deceased had left any family. He was answered that he had an only son, a clerk in the Greek Chancellery, whose situation was far from a lucrative one; and he immediately desired that the youth, who had not yet attained his twentieth year, should be appointed on the instant to his father’s vacancy, and receive the same salary which had been enjoyed by his parent. He was obeyed; and the spruce clerk at once became metamorphosed into the solemn physician, or something as near like it as he could accomplish.
By an arrangement not altogether so satisfactory, surgeons are supplied to the ships of war. When a medical man is required on board some vessel of the line, individuals appointed for the purpose walk into the first chemist’s shop they may happen to pass, seize the master, carry him off, hurry him first into a caïque, and thence to the ship; appoint him surgeon, enter him on the books, acquaint him with the amount of his pay; and, should he venture to remonstrate, give him a sound flogging.
Nor are “the powers that be” at all more particular in their bearing towards the officers of the ships, whom they flog (the captains inclusive) whenever they chance to consider the operation desirable. On a late occasion, two of the frigates ran foul of each other in the Channel, upon which Tahir Pasha, the High Admiral, bestowed the bastinado so unsparingly upon their commanders, that the blood penetrated their garments; and they were subsequently flung into some den in the hold, and there left during three days, not only without attendance, but literally without food!
It may be asked what punishment can be inflicted on the crews, if such unceremonious measures are pursued with the officers; and as one fact is better than a score of assertions, I will reply by relating another very recent occurrence, described to me by a Greek gentleman who was present during the whole transaction. The Capitan Pasha had a party of friends to dine with him on board his ship, who were about to seat themselves at table, when it was reported to him that one of the crew, in defiance of the order which forbade any individual to go on shore, had surreptitiously left the vessel.
“Let me know when he returns on board;” was the cold and careless rejoinder of the High Admiral, who had scarcely uttered the words, when the re-appearance of the delinquent was announced, after an absence of about ten minutes. He was ordered below to account for his conduct to the Pasha, whose very name is a terror to the whole fleet, when he stated that the following day being Friday (the Turkish Sabbath), he had ventured on shore to procure some clean linen, fearing the anger of the Admiral should he appear dirty.
“And was it for this trifle that you disobeyed my orders?” asked the Pasha; “I must take measures to prevent any future instance of the same misconduct—” and grasping an iron bar that served to secure one of the cabin windows, and which stood near him—without the pause of a moment—surrounded by his guestsstanding beside a table spread for a banquet and with his victim crouching at his feet—he struck the quailing wretch upon the head, and murdered him with a blow. The body fell heavily on the earth in the death-spasm; and the Admiral, addressing himself to an attendant, quietly ordered that the corpse should be removed, and the dinner served: but several of the party declined remaining after what they had witnessed, declaring their inability to partake of food at such a moment; these were, of course, Turks; for the Greek guests, although equally disgusted and heart-sick, were not at liberty to withdraw without danger; and the dead man was borne away, and the living feasted, with his death-groan still ringing in their ears, and his last fierce agony yet grappling at their hearts!
Tahir Pasha is a perfect embodiment of the vulgar idea of Turkish character which was so lately prevalent in Europe. He is the slave of his passions, and apparently without human affections or human sympathies. He lost his only son by his own violence, having beaten him so severely for quitting the house without his permission, that the unhappy young man died a day or two subsequently, in consequence of the injuries which he had sustained; and, instead of profiting by this awful occurrence, he afterwards murdered a nephew in the same manner.
And yet I have heard men, carried away by party-spirit, and hoodwinked by prejudice, maintain that this fiend in human shape was not cruel; and bolster their opinions with a sophistry that made me shudder.