Book : ^ ^i Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/eastwestOOathe THE EAST AND THE WEST By AN ORIENTAL AND FORMER RAYAH. ATHENS, TRFNTED AT THR NATIONAL PRINTING OKFICH 1868. ,-,. h ^ THE EAST AND THE WEST In a Pamphlet puWished some time since, we contended, first, that the East ought to be regenerated rather by the East than through the interference of the West; and secondly, that it ought to be regenerated rather by peaceful means than by force of arms. The favorable reception which that work met. (trans- lated, as it was, into several European languages) encou- rages us to discuss the Eastern Question somewhat more in detail. As some might infer from our second proposi- tion, that we disapprove of the struggle which the Cretans are carrying on, we think it right, in order to prevent such misapprehension, to quote the following remarks on that subject, which we made in our former publication : (C The Christian element and particularly the Greek, » though it has hitherto not thoroughly regenerated the » East by the arts of peace, that is, by its literature, com- ); merce and industry, it has nevertheless regenerated it, to )) a very great extent, and this without any governmental » assistance, and notwithstanding the obstacles it encoun- )) tered from the government and the fanaticism of the » Turks. Neither the Cretans nor any of the Christians )) of the East would have had any disposition, for the pre- )) sent at least, to take up arms, if the Turkish govern- » ment had not provoked them. Nor is it a fact that they 3) were instigated to do so by any foreign Power. But when )) the Turkish government levies forty two per cent on the ;) gross product of the soil ; four paras on every vino, and )) twenty per cent on wine, the plant having been already 4 » subjected to two taxes ; when it taxes sheep^ and besi- )) des imposes a tax on the pasturage, lays a tax upon cattle » and another on shoeing them ; when it levies taxes upon » houses inhabited by their owner and another upon the t estimated rent of those which are let ; when, not satis- )) fied with all these high imposts, the Turkish government » demands forced loans from the people thus mercilessly ;) taxed ; when the Cretans'* petition for the dimmution of » their taxes, in a formal manner, and ask that a little atten- }) tion should be payed to the impartial administration of » justice, the establishment of hospitals and of a Bank of » credit, the Porte, instead of giving any kind of satisfac- )) tion, demands a gurantee for their future behaviour, ;) otherwise it threatens to destroy them by its numerous » armies : In such an emergency, the Cretans felt com- )) polled to leave their fields and to take up arms ; to die )) honourably at least on the battle field, and not to rot » in the prisons of the so called paternal government of )) the Sultan. If any other subjects of the Sultan follow the )) example of the Cretans, now in revolution, the Turkish » government will have only itself and its governors in )) the provinces to blame. The regeneration of the East by » arms has already commenced, and no human power will )•) be able to thwart it, until the wrongs of Christendom are )) redressed.)) It will be seen from this that, although we prefer the regeneration of the East by peaceful means, we do not disapprove a recourse to arms, but consider it, under the circumstances, unavoidable. To find the best solution of the Eastern Question, one should carefully consider the various elements which consti- tute it. From the origin of the Eastern Question, two different elements have been in conflict, the Ottoman and the Chri- stian. Of the Ottoman Element. The Ottoman element, which exists in the East as an intruder, was drawn to the East and concjueredi t, in con- sequence of the crusaders, who devastated every region they traversed, and also on account of the religious animosity and ignorance which then prevailed in the East, and the spirit of conquest which at that time animated the Ottoman race. With the latter, it was a point of religious belief that G so long as infidels are to be found in the world, the faithful either must convert or exterminate them.)) As soon as they got possession of a country, they deemed it their principal duty to convert or destroy its inhabitants. They kept and continue to keep this religions sentiment so faithfully, that, even at the present time, in many Turkish provinces every one v/ho is not a Mussulman may commit any misdeed, and yet, if he declares that he embraces Isla- mism, be not only pardoned, but even rewarded for his crime. M*" Felton, in his work entilled (c Ancient and Modern Greece)), relates that in 1843 the following incident took place in Constantinople: An Armenian, named Abacoom, embraced Islamism, but soon after, having repented of his conversion, declared a wish to return to his original faith. This declaration sufficed for his formal condemnation to death, and he was beheaded at Constantinople, the residence of the Ambassadors of the principal Christian States of the world. Strong repre- sentations having been made by the Christian governments, that such a barbarous act was a flagrant violation of the Hatti Sherif, the Porte promised that such an act should not be repeated. Nevertheless a similar occurrence took place the following year at Broussa. The news of this lat- ter affair havmg reached England, Lord Aberdeen instruc- ted Sir Stratford Canning to make strong representations to the Porte on the subject, reminding it of the promise it had given the year before. The Turkish Minister rephed to the following effect : a There is a strong distinction between » custom and divine law, intimating that a practice derived » from the former source might be abandoned, to meet the )) wishes of Europe, or even of great Britain alone ; but a )) Law prescribed by God himself is not to be set aside by )) any human power (1).» (1) S. Ancient and Modern Greece by G. G. Felton Vol. II. page 2G6 -270. Boston 1867. 6.; Snch scenes, we confess, are not to be met with nowa- days so frequently in the provinces where European Con- suls reside; but let us not forget that, according to the de- claration of the Turkish Minister made to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the Turks consider the Koran superior to any other code of laws, and no modern law and no Imperial ordinance, nor any human power can abrogate the principles of that sacred and supreme authority, or diminish their bind- ing effect on the consciences of the (cFaithfuL). We our- selves witnessed the following incident not many years since: A malefactor who had committed the most atrocious crimes was condemned to death and conducted to execution. When under the scaffold, he declared his intention to become a Mussulman ; in consequence of which, the capital punish- ment was not inflicted, and great honours were bestowed upon him by the Mussulmans and by the authorities. In every country which the Turks invaded, they made use of brutal force and of the most treacherous means for prose- lytising the Christians to the Mussulman creed. Provinces inhabited exclusively by Christians, unable to resist the oppression of the Turks, were compelled to prefer conver- sion to the faith of their conquerors, all the ordinances of which they outwardly observed, while in their consciences they remained Christian, until the promulgation of the Hatti-Sherif of Gul-Hane in 1839, which encouraged them to declare that the Christian religion was the only one which they had consistently and sincerely believed. ^ It appears, therefore^ that when the Turks conquered the East, they strove to make as many followers of the Koran as they could, and to exterminate those who persisted in retaining their own faith. Having divided the land into feudal estates, and having settled upon them as conquerors, they left to the Christians the cultivation of the soil, the trade and commerce of the Em- pire, and intellectual pursuits, to exercise them for the be- nefit of their lords. All that the Turks reserved to them- selves was, the so called administration of the country by force of arms. This is so evident that in many a province, even in our days, the Turks, influenced by their religious dogmas, have attempted to massacre the Christians for the single reason that they consider them as infidels ; and wherever the local authorities and particularly the spiritual Chief, the Cadi, or the Mufti, either from fear or for the sake of humanity, did not participate in the fanaticism of the populace, but pre- vented them from committing outrage, they acted, not by any sanction of the Law, which plainly prescribes the utter extermination of the Christians, but under cover of a sophism, by which they represent the Christians as a neces- sary evil, suffered to exist for the service of the faithful. Wherever .the spiritual chief participated in or excited the zeal of the populace, there scenes similar to those of Djeda and Damascus occurred. A diplomatic functionary some time since told us, that a most intelligent Turk, of high official station, in his indig- nation at the Cretan insurrection, remarked: (cThe fault » is not that of the Greeks, but of our ancestors, who spared :) their lives when they conquered them. If at that time » the Prophet's law had been faithfully observed, neither you » (the Franks) would have survived to mock us, nor would » the Chistians exist in the East to disturb us with their » insurrections, and give you the trouble to protect them.;) So long as the Turks were animated by the spirit of conquest, they could impose respect by terror upon the na- tions they had subjugated. The caprice of a Turk was then law to every Christian in the Ottoman dominions. Living on booty, the Turks were satisfied with levying on the Christians moderate taxes, regulated in proportion to the wants of the State and the caprice of the provincial governors. Of those taxes a very small amount reached the public Treasury. Every Pacha, governing a province as a feudal estate, was simply bound to send so much every year to the im- perial Treasury ; beyond which he was not responsible for the administration of his province. As he had no fixed salary, he levied whatever taxes he chose on those who were subject to his jurisdiction. If the grievances of the Christians were ever taken into consideration by the im- perial government, the Pasha was some times beheaded, and that without the least difficulty, if he happened to be rich, 8- as, in that case, his wealth passed into the public Treasury. But the taxes, once imposed, were maintained by the cen- tral authority. These Pashas, as well as rich Christians, were often beheaded, even without the least accusation against them, the sole reason being that the public Trea- sury wanted money. Those who escaped such a fate became so rich by their oppression, that they often revolted against the government. Pasvan-oglou, Kara-osman-oglou, and the famous Aali Pasha of Yannina in Epirus, are examples in point. When the Turkish element ceased to live on plunder, it commenced with a leech-like avidity to suck the blood of the Christian element. This is so evident that one may safely consider Constantinople and all the chief towns of the provinces, as places in which nothing but new taxes are invented for the inhabitants of the Empire. In order to avoid the charge of exaggeration, we quote here from the report of M*" Barker, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Preveza, addressed to Lord Lyons, English Ambassador at Constantinople, dated April 2, 1867 : (C The Ottoman government (says the English Consul) » has never yet ceased to deprive the Christians of the » right of an equality of position, in courts of law and even » of equity, with that enjoyed by theMahomedan. His testi- }) mony is still held invalid, and subterfuges are still resorted » to by the Ottomans or their retainers, to keep the Chris- )) tian in the same subservient and servile position in which » he has always been held by the Osmanli ; nor is it possible x> that it can be otherwise in Turkey, as long as the KiayaS )) and Canouname by-laws are in force, which have been » enacted by different Sultans of the Empire since the time of )) Murad L Consequently, no stipulations in their favour can ;) be observed or Hatti Humayoun enforced, or even a consti- » tutional government established, unless the Osmanli sys- » tern of governing, formed on those by-laws, is eradicated, )) which system subjects to a servile condition every one who » is not an Osmanli, or does not belong to his train or j) profess the same belief- while it enables the Ottoman not » only to rule but also to acquire transitore ill-earned wealth » from the industry of his vassal. In many remote parts of 9 )) the Empire where the Osmanli holds merely a nominal )) government of the country, and even in Syria, Palestine, » and Asia Minor, this system of government has not heen » much felt ; but in European Turkey it was and is still » rigorously enforced and felt. For here the population X) were all Christians and those who profess the Osmanli )) belief are, most of them, if not all, of Christian origin, 7> whose ancestors were induced to deny their creed, so that ;) they might be employed or protected by those in power, )) and acquire the possession of the Christian's land. The )) Mudir (Sub-Governor) of Filat has just passed here on )) his way to Constantinople, and he tells me that the ques- » tion was not decided in favour of the Christians. In fur- » ther proof that the Porte has not sought to ameliorate the » condition of the Sultan's Christian subjects, and as in most » all the districts of this province they have openly ex- }) posed their former condition in regard to the taxes, it » may be interesting to show the amount of taxes, contri- )) butions, and dues, levied on them, and the amount of their » yearly earnings. I therefore herewith transmit a state- » ment which I have lately drawn up on this subject, which » proves, that taxes and contributions have been considerably » increased, and that the peasants, who are all Christians in 7> this and the adjoining districts of Arta, Radovisi and A- )) grafa, on an average do not individually pay more than » 2048 piastres (about 19 1.) per annum, from which 1010 )) piastres are annually paid in taxes and disbursements to the » landlord and his train. Thus, only 1038 piastres remain )) to the peasant for the culture of the land, for the main- » tenance of his family, himself, his cattle, and for the unex- ;) pected extra contributions. Whereas up to the year 1847, » the average annual amount of taxes did not exceed one » tenth of the sum they now pay. Thus the Christian pea- )) sant in European Turkey becomes poorer every year, » being obliged to sell off stock to pay taxes and contribu- » tions. »Your Lordship is probably aware that I have served » in the Consular career since the year 1828, having been )) in diflferent Consulates in Egypt and Syria, in Bulgaria, and J) now in Epirus ; and have travelled and resided in Meso- » potamia and Armenia, and necessarily my opp6rtunities » for observation have not been limited either to Asiatic » or European Turkey. The result of such observation on » the subject of the Christian rayah and his ruler, is, that » I consider the social condition of the Christian in Euro- » pean Turkey much worse, in every respect, than that of » the Christian in Asia, who holds land and house property, » whether freehold or otherwise, equally with the Mussul- D man, the Assairi, the Druse^ or the Yazidi. With the ex- )) ception of the Christian's testimony not being admitted in » Turkish Courts of law all over the Empire, I do not be- » lieve that in Asia any one of these sects, including also » the Christians, whether Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Maro- » nite or Nestorian, are worse off or more ill-treated than )) the Mohamedans. But, at the same time, it must be un- ;) derstood that the Mohamedans of Asia are as much averse » to the Ottomans as the other sects, and complain in ;) common with them of their rulers. »Very lately a translation appeared in the Greek news pa- » pers, received here, of your Lordship's despatch to Lord r> Stanley, regarding the recent nomination ofM. Baltagi to a )) subordinate position in the Turkish Ministry of Finance. » The Archbishop of Arta having just alluded to the cir- y) cumstance, at the same time, observed to me, that he too » is one of the members of the Medjlisses or Councils )) here and in Arta ; but when the Decrees are passed to )) the different members of the Court for their signatures, D he, the Archbishop, is not allowed to attach his signature ;) unless under that of the meanest Turkish member amongst )) them. In the Arta Court, his Eminence's name comes » after that of a Turkish barber, of a disreputable character. )) My reply to his Eminence was, that he cannot be asto- » nished at this, since the Ministers at the Porte seem to }) have lost in their Turkish vocabulary a term to denominate » the sect of which his Eminence is a spiritual chief ; for, » in an official Turkish document, received here last week, » his Eminence is designated as President of the non-Mus- » sulman religion. ))The Christians, too, have prayers daily in which they )) implore our Creator to deliver them from the children of 11 )) Agar, in the belief that the Mussulmans are the descen- » dants of the illegitimate scion of Abraham. Since, then, )) such disdain, hatred, and animosity as these simple )) facts evince, are nourished by the rulers and the ruled )) from their mother's breasts, what kind of stipulations )) can be observed, or Hatti Sherifs be enforced in European )) Turkey ? I fear, mj Lord, that, in my humble and su- )) baltern position^ I have transgressed, in thus expressing )) the result of years of experience; but I beg your pardon, )) and trust that your Lordship and Her Majesty's govern- )) ment will beheve that my unreserved statement emanates y) from a feeling of impartiality towards both the rulers )) and the ruled j) (1) The English Consul at Preveza, M'" Barker, is indeed de- serving of gratitude, for telling his Government the truth so plainly, and particularly for the detailed statement he gives of the revenues and taxes of each family. If he had ex- tended his researches a little northwards of Preveza, he would have discovered facts yet more astonishing. In the Nahay^ (canton) of Corentou, and especially at Grammeno- horia, twelve hours distance from Preveza, he would have found, that each family, composed of ten members at least, employs the half of them in tiUing the soil, and gathers, in a favorable season, on an average, 1 00 kilos of wheat. Out of this there is to be deducted ; 1° For tithe and landlord's share •• kilos 43 2^ For seed » 20 3"" For ((salaria)) fafrqili' U^'^f ^^ 1 4° For the guard •• • • -^^-^ft^^' ^(^, » 1 S'^ For clergyman •:• • . )) 1 6^ For schools • •'• • •''• )) 1 Total » 67 which, deducted from 100 kilos, leaves 33 kilos worth, or P^«^ 990. Of barley, each family gathers 50 kilos, out of which are to be deducted : (1) See Blue Book 1847 p. 8. ^lyiiiilliiioi^ ^ 12 1^ For tithe and landlord's share •• kilos 21 l/2 2^ For seed )) 10 3^ For (csalaria)) ;) 1 Total )) 32 1/2 Thus, there remain but kilos 17 1/2, at 15 piastres each, making 266 piastres. Of Indian corn, etc., every family gathers annually, on an average, 25 kilos. Out of this there is to he deducted ; 1^ For tithe and landlord's share • • kilos 11 2'' For seed )) 5 Total }) 16 Thus, there remain but 9 kilos at piastres 12 each making P'«' 180 to which sum adding the profits from barley as above )) 266 and those from wheat )) 990 Total piastres 1436 Out of this sum are to be deducted: 1** Piastres 480 the interest at 24 p, c. on 2000 piastres, which is the value of two oxen, 2^ )) 72 the interest of 300 piastres, the estimated value of one donkey, 3° » 200 for deterioration of oxen and donkey, 4® )) 120 the annual interest on 500 piastres, esti- mated value of plough and other agricul- tural implements, 5° » 100 for wear and tear of the same annually. Piastres 972, which sum being deducted from the above mentioned amount, leaves annually to the cultivator a balance of 464 piastres. Out of this sum 30 piastres must be annually paid for exo- neration from military service for every male belonging to each family, and also a tax upon their miserable abode. We cannot give the precise rate of this latter tax, as it differs in every district, province, and family. We might approximately calculate it at 100 piastres , to 13 which 60 piastres more may he added for the exemption from military service of at least two members in each fa- mily. There thus remains for their subsistence only 304 piastres. The reader ought to know that those who live abroad are not exempted from the payment of military ser- vice tax. We know a gentleman who emigrated to Athens in 1837, and was naturalized there ; his family, however, continuing to live in Epirus, had to pay the exemption tax for him regularly every year, and it was only on his fa- ther's death, that they were relieved from the impost ex- acted for a relative who had long ago become a subject of another sovereign. With regard to the vineyards, after paying in kind or grapes 43 per cent ; in cash 4 paras for every vine, and moreover 20 per cent for the wine produced, it is well un- derstood that there remains nothing to the cultivator, who gets indebted every year in order to pay his taxes. It there- fore becomes incomprehensible how families can live under such circumstances. Their sole resource is the family as- sociation, or sojourning abroad. Brothers, and cousins of the first and second degrees, rarely separate from each other or divide their property ; so that it is not difficult to find in Epirus families counting from 20 to 30 members and very often intermarrying. Of each of these numerous fa- milies three and even four members constantly live abroad, mostly in Greece and in the sea-ports of Asia Minor, where they occupy themselves in various trades. To whatever part of these countries we go, we are sure to find many Epiro- tes as grocers (bacals), butchers, bakers or merchants. By their profits abroad they are able to pay their taxes at home, and support their relatives who remain there. Notwithstan- ding all this industry and patriotism of the Epirotes, the poverty and desolation of their country are daily increasing, from the causes we have described. Of the administration of justice by the Turkish Tribunals, and particularly since the establishment of the Medjlisses (Councils), the following examples may be taken as a fair illustration : 1^ The father of the physician Cosma Demetrius had signed, at Yannina, a petition against the adminicjtrative It abuses of Husni Pasba , governor-general of Yannina. The Porte, in consequence, removed this Pacha, but sent him in the same capacity to Bitolia, where the complainant's son was married, and exercised, honorably, his profession, being moreover in the service of the government. As soon as Husni Pasha discoverd his relationship, he casts him into prison, arraigns him on a trumped-up charge before the Med- jliss, which condemned him to five years, imprisonment and forced labor, and obliged him to sweep the streets. All this was done on a false accusation, that the unfortunate doctor had, on a journey, dishonored a Mussulman girl, eight years old, the daughter of the Pasha's concubine. In vain the fellow travellers of the accused, who had been brought be- fore the Medjliss by the Pasha as witnesses against him, swore that no such act was committed, and that, if it had been, it would have been punished on the spot. In vain the unfortunate physician invoked the testimony of two compe- tent physicians to the fact, that the girl was still a virgin. The Pasha refused to admit any deposition except to the fact that the accused travelled in company with the Mussulman girl, and pretended that, as she was of the Mussulman faith, she could not be subjected to medical examination, especially since a Mussulman midwife assured His Excel- lency that the young girl had been outraged. Upon such depositions, the Medjliss condemned this medical gentleman to five years imprisonment and forced labour; ^nd this un- fortunate victim of a Pasha's vengeance remains to this day in prison. 2^ A certain Hussein Bey, from Devras, was denounced in 1864 for many proved misdeeds. Husni Pasha arrested and imprisoned him, but afterwards liberated him as inno- cent, on receiving a bribe cf 400 pounds. Hussein Bey, on his return to Devras demanded the 400 pounds from those who had denounced him, and imposed on each of them a proportionate share of the amount. Those who refused to pay, he killed, and then demanded ten times the amount of their co-religionisls, under the threat of a simil r fate. 3° Some three years since it was decided to construct a carriage road from Bitolia to Salonica, and thence to Ser- ras. It was then calculated that^ if every family of the Province were annually to contribute four day's work, the road \\ould be finished in five years. Before, however, the road was begun, the four days' work imposed upon each family was extended to four days for every member of the family, and for every animal possessed by it; so that the villagers' families, comprising more members, and pos- sessing more beasts , paid incalculably more than the rich inhabitants. This state of things would be tole- rable, if any success followed the enterprise ; but, on the contrary, while the taxes imposed upon the inhabitants hkve been paid regularly for three years, only a few kilometres of the road have as yet been constructed. 4" M*" John Vlastos of Constantinople owned real pro- prety of considerable value, situated close by the bridge in Galata at Karakeui. The Municipality, after estimating its value, took possession of it, on the ground of public neces- sity, and constructed upon it the Municipality khan, which yields a considerable annual revenue. The estimated value of the property was not only admitted by the Municipality and its successive Presidents, namely Salih Effendi, Mouh- liss Pasha, Hairoullah Effendi, and Server Effendi, but a small part of the estimated value was paid over to M' Vlastos. When, however, the luckless owner dared to reject a secret proposition made to him by Server Effendi (the same funtionary who is now on a a pacifying » mission to Crete), the latter refused to pay the rest of the purchase money, although he had at various times paid instalments amounting to L. 12000. This course on the part of the Municipal President gave rise to many suits and subterfu- ges on the part of the authorities, which ruined the unhappy owner. Eventually, a decision was pronounced condemning the Municipality, as we understand, to pay L.52,000. The owner is still anxiously waiting for the excecution of this judgment, while the Municipality collects the rent. These are a few out of many examples, within our per- sonal knowledge. We might cite others sufficient to fill vol- umes. This work was hardly pubHshed in the Greek language, when the writer became an eyewitness of the following fact, 16 which took place hefore the eyes of the foreign representa- tives of the Christian European powers. The Christians residing at Constantinople had made the formal acquisition of a large piece of ground, lying in the Taxim quarter, the title deeds of which they still possess, and which they had transformed, with the authorisation of the Turkish government, into a cemetery. By widening and straightening the streets of the town, the cemetery was di- vided into two lots of ground. One of them the govern- ment took arbitrarily possession of, and transformed it into an excercice ground on which the Turkish soldiers are now drilled. What is the most provoking in that illegal tran- saction, is, that, although the government had paid no indemnity for that unlawful seizure, it continues to oblige the Greek community, to which that ground once belonged, to pay such land taxes as were paid when that property was in its possession. As for the other part which was used until lately as a cemetery, it was decided by an Imperial Rescript to be al- lotted for a church and the erection of storehouses, the re- venues of which to be used for the support of the church spoken of and the hospitals of the Greek community. But the Pera Municipality, taking the arbitrariness of the government as an example, commenced, on its own part, and without any authority, digging the ground and taking off the bones of the Christians buried in it, for the purpose of building storehouses for its own account and profit. The deterration was made in such a manner that in every other place it would have inevitably provoked bloodshed. Fresh human bones were thrown in to baskets with the filth of the town, and were carried off on donkeys, as a prey to the famished dogs abounding in the streets of Con- stantinople. The people having seen that profanation ran to the spot and stopped it by force, and immediately after, without any noise or disturbance, pulled down a wall which separated the cemetery from the court yard of the church, in the way of the building. By the wisdom of the Chri- stians a great misfortune was prevented, which the Muni- cipality by its imprudence, and by the profanation committed at its own instigation, would have provoked. 17 This scandalous affair was brought before the aclinj^ Grand Vizier, Fuad Pasha, reputed the most tolcrat.t and enlightened Turk, by the patriarchate and the Kphori of the churches and hospitals of the Greek Gommunil/. Ijut H. H. rephed, that, till the wall thrown down was erected, he could not take the matter into consideration. In order to explain this affair as well as we can, we ought to add, that opposite the late Greek cemetery, are the magnificent stone houses of Kiamil Bey, brother in law of Fuad Pasha, and those of Cabouh Pasha, now in Candia for the pacification of the island. These high standing Turks, the Municipality, as it appears, would have liked to gratify with a plot of ground, for the purpose of erecting horse stables, and that close by the altar of the church in course of erection. This incident, we think, is sufficient to show the Em- peror Napoleon to what degree the Turks are tolerant, and how much the Christians will profit by the recently pro- mulgated law, conferring on foreigners the right to possess real property all over the Turkish dominions, and hoAV much the Sultan profited by his late voyage to Europe, accompa- nied by his most enlightened minister, Fuad Pasha. The English Vice Consul at Cavalla reports among other facts the following : ((Two Christians were, in 1864, indicted for, and convec- » ted of, the murder of a Mussulman ; Christian witnesses )3 in disproof of the charges being rejected, while a near )) relation of the alleged murdered person sat as a member of » the Court. The iniquitous proceedings took their course : » a judicial murder was effected in respect to one of the T victims, a felon's prison opened on the oiher; the mcm- )) hers of this Court officiate to this day and the chief ad- » ministrative officer who packed the Court and approved » the proceedings, was shortly after promoted to a higher )) post in the Christian province of the Lebanon. The scc- » tarian principles by which the law's administration is )) guided, further appear in the fact, that no conviction fur » any grave offense has for many years l)een recorded against » a Mussulman, and that, in several notorious cases of mur- 2 % » der by persons of that creed, no proceedings have ever J) been set on foot.;) As long, then, as the Turks kept up the spirit of con- quest, they could spread terror among the conquered na- tions. But no sooner did they lose it, than the people, that were most oppressed, being driven to desperation, resorted to arms, in order to free themselves from the Turkish yoke. The spirit of conquest which animated the Turks, ceased about the commencement of the present century. Tiieir last conquest in European Turkey was, we believe, that of Pre- veza, made by Aali Pasha, in the year 1800. Servia revol- ted immediately afterwards, and the Hellenic struggle, which shook the Turkish Empire to its very foundation, commenced in 1821. How the Turks, how tke Christians, behaved during that struggle, we do not here intend to discuss. It is, however, certain that the Ottomans, by their conduct in hanging the Greek Patriarch, their massacres at Scio, Constantinople and Cassandra, and their devastation of the Peloponnesus, lite- rally realised the maxim, that so long as Christians exist in the world, et^ery faithful Mussulman must either pro- selytize or exterminate them. On the other hand, the Christians by their victories by sea and land, by the beroic defence of Missolonghi and by the bravery of those who distinguished themselves in that struggle, proved to the world that they are of the same mould as those who fought at Marathon and"Salamis, and can produce men like Pericles and Xenophon. Even dur- ing those ages when intellectual darkness covered the whole world, the Christian element in the East never ceased to cultivate letters, arts and sciences; to pursue commerce, the civilizer of mankind, and to promote, as well as it could, female education. The cruel, but far-sighted. Sultan Mahmoud discovered, during the Hellenic struggle, the decay and corruption of the Turkish element. Wishing to check it, he resolved, in imita- tion of Peter the Great, to destroy, first, the janissaries, in order to be able to restore order in the Empire, and to ci- vilize his nation somewhat. He inaugurated the introduction of civilizaition by the following atrocious act ; 19 The army of Albanians, which had been employed for the destruction of Greece, during its revolution, claimed incalculable sums of money, due for military services, and occupied almost all the districts of Epirus, from which they derived their subsistence for many years. In order to get rid of these troublesome claims, the Porte sent, in state and with great pomp, its Grand Vezier to Bitolia, who brought with him a number of mules, supposed to be laden with treasure, and with the pretended double mission of paying off the arrears due to the Albanian army, and relieving the oppressed Christians from the exactions of the Albanians. The Grand Vizier, on arriving at Bitolia, summoned thither the chiefs of the Albanians to receive the money due to them; and, while the accounts were being settled, he enter- tained their soldiers, who had fought under his own com- mands, at a dinner in compliment to their military achie- vements during the campaign in Greece. Under pretext of doing additional honour to his guests, he had the newly formed regular troops drawn up in line on two sides of the plain, in which the banquet was prepared. The Alba- nians, who came unarmed to the feast, had scarcely arrived in the midst of the two lines, when they were fired upon, and about 3,000 men fell dead on the spot, and more than 1000 were afterwards massacred by the cavalry and other troops, who had been assembled in order to give chase to those who received the fusillade. Those who escaped and still occupied the destricts of Epirus, indemnified themselves by remorselessly plundering the Christians , by setting fire even to the market place of Yannina. Such, briefly, has been the Turkish element in the East up to 1829. Further on, we shall examine some of its other qualities. Then it was that Europe, having become convinced of the impossibility of pacifying the East, so long as the legi- timate expectations of the Christians were not satisfied, in- stituted a deplomatic council in London, in order to pro- nounce its sentence between the two elements engaged in a deadly strife. Let as now consider the other element. 20 The Christian Element. This element, as is well known, yielded indeed to the Mohammedan torrent which, in the time of its invasion, threatened to overwhelm the whole of Europe, but, though subjugated, it has never ceased to protest by arms, and, par- ticularly, it has never stopped from cultivating the land, literature, arts, science, and especially commerce and na- vigation, as far as the terrible Ottoman yoke has permit- ted it. On the mountains of Olympus, Pindus, Parnassus, GEta, Agrapha, Parga aud Souli, never, during the long interval of their servitude, were armed Christians wanting, who for- med sometimes a kind of republic, as; for instance, in Souli, and Parga *, and at other times armed bodies of Christians, who protested against the barbarities of the Turks, and often gave asylum to their oppressed brethren. As for Mon- tenegro and Mani, no Turk has ever set his foot there in time of peace. it is generally known, that the hands of the native Chri- stians almost exclusively produced and exchanged all the rich articles of the East. We need hardly mention here, that the Christians alone cultivated, during the whole pe- riod of their servitude, the arts in the East. The Christians of the East never neglected literature, but promoted it con- siderably. Putting aside, for the sake of brevity, the intel- lectual progress, which the Eastern Christians stimulated and promoted in the West, by the publication and translation of the works of their ancestors, we will merely mention the fact, that in every village of the least importance pri- mary schools were never wanting, in which the Christian children were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. In many towns, and particularly in the monasteries of Mount Athos, ancient Greek never ceased to be taught, and in the patriarchate of Constantinople, ancient Hellenic was the lan- guage in which the Christians wrote. At Yannina, fcio, Cyiionia, Smyrna, and in many other towns, schools, lyceums and colleges always existed, in which were taught not only 21 ancient Greek, but Latin, Italian, French and the elemen- tary knowledge necessary to every man, such as geography arithmetic, geometry, algebra etc. etc. The Christians of the East studied not only the above branches of education, but cultivated also the sciences even during the darkest days of their servitude ; they produced in the ancient or in the modern Greek language, mathema- tical, literary, philosophical and medical works, which even now are worth studying. Some of them were translated into European languages. But the circumstance which mostly preserved the Chri- stians from being absorbed by the Turks, is, that the latter have always regarded, and still regard, woman as a creature made only for the gratification of their lusts; while the Chri- stian has never ceased to consider woman as his insepa- rable companion, through life, and bound to partake to the extent of her powers, of all the efforts, sorrows and plea- sures of her husband. Consequently, while the Turks care only to possess beautiful and charming wives. They seek to preserve their charms as long as possible, and when these unfortunate women cease to possess the requisite qualities or the husband is tired of tliem, according to the Turkish law, he has the right to replace them by others. In the town where he resides, he is legally entitled to take seven wives and even to force them to live together, and, in places of temporary residence, he can take seven more wives, according to law. The Suitan himself is bound by custom to receive annually one wife whom his own ministers must select and offer him, and even the ambassadors of fo- reign Christian powers are sometimes invited to attend the ceremony of presenting him with a new wife. The result of such a state of things is, that no Turkish woman learns to read, neither does she know nor has she any disposition to learn what Christians call, domestic eco- nomy. She is not obliged by any law or by her husband to educate her children, who, after twelve years of age, are even forbidden to look upon the unveiled countenance of their mother. A Mussnlman's wife regards it as her sole duty to please her husband and to take care lest, through want of personal attractions, he should abandon her for an other. The Christians have never ceased, as we have already stated, to consider the wife as a companion, so that, when the husband occupies himself with .his own business out- doors, his wife attends to the education of the children and to domestic affairs. The Souliote husband was fighting, in the past century, against the Turks, for the freedom of his country, while his wife was making cartridges for him and was carrying pro- vision and water to him on the field of battle. When the Souliote women were informed that their husbands could not survive the battle, they took their children in their arms, and, dancing, precipitated themselves from the rocks of Zalongo, in order to escape captivity. The Epirote husband sojourns abroad, in order to make money which with to pay his taxes, and to support his fa- mily, while his wife does her best to educate her children, that they may imtate their father ; takes care of her do- mestic affairSj and cultivates the land, to satisfy the rapacity of the Turk, and to preserve the country from becoming a desert. As soon as the independence of Greece was established, one of the principal cares of its inhabitants was to adopt a system of female education, according to the requirements of true civilization and to the wants of a Christian pceple. (1) The Philopedeutic Society was estabhshed exclusively for (1) Truth compels us to admit, that the first public school in Athens for the education of young ladies, was established in 1835 by M''^ Hill, from the United Stales of America. In this school have been educated numberless Greek young ladies, who have afterwards distinguished them- selves as exemplary members of society. IVF^ and D"" Hill, since they settled in Athens, have never ceased to be a great blessing to the East. In imitation of M*' Hill's school, the Greek society for female educa- tion soon eslablished the Arsakeion, which has proved so beneficial to the whole Levant. The formation and progress of the Society vere zealously promoted by the late M. Rizo, Minister of Public Instruction, the late M. John Coccone, director of primary schools, and many others. M" and D^ Hill have alvays continued to take a deep interest in the Greek establishment, and exerted themselves to promote its success. Thus, in connexion with female education, Athens, the ancient home of learning and science, owes a large debt of gratitude to the New World for having sent out so valuable a benefactress as M'^ Hill. 2S the preparation of female teachers. The progress made by that Society is such, that nowadays it has almost inundated all the East with female teachers and young ladies^ schools, in which hundreds and thousands of Christian females are taught and educated, becoming afterwards models of wives and mothers, capable not only of educating their own chil- dren but of governing their own families in time of neces- sity. If we do not mistake, there exist in Constantinople alone about 20 young ladies' schools, in which are educated only the daughters of the Christian inhabitants : five in Smyrna, and three in Salonica. Not only in each town, but even in every borough and in every village of the East there now exists a young ladies'^school, and, although the non -Chri- stians are not excluded, we are informed that there are no Turkish pupils in any of these schools, except one, where there is a solitary scholar of that creed. The name of that establishment we purposely omit, lest we should draw upon it the attention of Turkish fanaticism. If our asser- tions be considered exaggerated, we challenge the Consuls of all the European powers and all travellers in Turkey, to gainsay them, if they can. Such being the state of things in the East, and such the intellectual and material struggle between the Ottoman and Christian elements, we cherish the hope, that the European the Areopagus will assemble very soon, in order to pacify the East, as it did in the last days of the Hellenic war for in- dependence. But, before we explain what Europe must yet do, we deem it our duty to examine, briefly, what she has already done, for the first pacification ; that the lesson may not now be lost. When, for the first time, England commissioned the Duke of Wellington to come to an understanding Avith Russia for the pacification of the East, in which philanthropic work France was pleased to take part, Europe had not yet or- dered her Consuls to mke inquiries in the East, with any idea of being told, as M"" Barker fearlessly told his govern- ment, that : (crince such disdain, hatred, and animosity are V nourished by the rulers and the ruled, from their mothers )) breasts, what kind of stipulations can be observed or Haiti D sheriffs be enforced in Turkey?)) When England first conceived the idea of pacifying tlie East, she had not heard anything like this through the instrumentality of one of her own agents, but she had witnessed the massacre at Con- stantinople of 30,000 unarmed Christians, within a few days, and the hanging of the Greek patriarch. The whole of Eu- rope were witnesses to the fact that the Turks within two days massacred, at Scio, 40,000 unarmed men and women, and carried many more into captivity. They knew that Crete, Samos, Cassandra, Souli, and many other Christian pro- vinces were soaked with blood. The blowing up of the he- roes of Sculin in Moldavia, and of the women and children in Missolonghi, who preferred to be thus immolated rather than submit again to the Turks, were tragedies, which struck the world with amazement, and persuaded Euro- pe, that it was impossible for the Christian and Turkish ele- ments to agree, so long as the latter dominated over the Chri- stian provinces. But Christian Europe had, although she had seen and heard all these things, when she assembled diploma- tically in London, to deliberate upon the pacification of the East, resolved to leave unburied the bones of the Christian victims of Scio, Psara, and Crete, and to put under the Turkish yoke the Souliote, who had never been subjugated; the Pargiotes, who were S)ld by England, as captives, and the he- roes of Olympus, JPindus and Agrafa. By this policy she created a Hellenic kingdom like a body mutilated of its hands and feet; and loaded it with the dead-weight of roy- alty ; that it might not be able to rise spontaneously and move too freely, lest it should become able to assist and protect its oppressed brethren, who still remained under the thraldom of the Turk. Hence it is, that free Greece has ne- ver had a strong government; for a strong government can not be formed and maintained, while there exist many na- tional claims to be satisfied. How can you expect, poten- tates of the Earth, that a respectable government should be established in Greece? Is it likely that the Cretan, the Sciote, the Samian, the Epirote, the Thessalian, or the Mace- donian, who have settled in the free Kingdom, will ever leave the government of that country quiet, so long as their brothers are under the Turkish yoke, and have to pay the 95 capitation tax for their absent relatives ? It is unneces- sary to describe here what the Turkish yoke is to this day, M"" Earker has told you enough. But the Hellenic government, it may be said, is a consti- tutional one, and promulgates laws by its own parliament, and, according to these laws, the treaties with the European Powers, who have repeatedly guaranteed the integrity of Tur- key, must be respected. We answer, that every law ought to be based upon the unalterable laws of nature, or, as is com- monly said, upon cc natural rights. Natural right imposes no law prohibiting a brother from sympathising with his oppres- sed brethren, or from employing every effort for his delive- rance, even to the sacrifice of his property and his life. But Greece, some may pretend, has a regular army, by which she can enforse her laws. We doubt whether there be a single soldier in Greece, who would ever use his weapon against those, who plan and act for the deliverance of their brethren; or in behalf of those who, under the plea of treaty obligations, disregard the cries of suffering co-religionists. It is impossible, then, for Greece to possess a strong govern- ment, as long as she is deprived of her natural boundaries, and expecially of those provinces, which have more claims to an independent existence, than the present Hellenic kingdom. The European Areopagus, having assembled in 1829 in London, for the purpose of pacifying the East, or more pro- perly speaking, of pronouncing between the Christian and the Ottoman element, deemed, that it was rendering justice to the former, by establishing the Hellenic kingdom; that is, by creating a dwarfish monster of a state, with a large heart and head, but destitute of hands, feet, neck, and even without the means of self-subsistence ; which it took care to restrict, by imposing upon it the costly burthen of roy- alty. To the Turkish element, the European Areopagus said (cHere is a little body, formed out of the enormous mass, which you oppressed, but of this little body we give up to you the neck, in order, that you may hang as many Cretans as you like, and govern according to your pleasure Scio, Samos, Psara, and all the other islands of the Archipelago. W^e also give you the hands and feet of the Christian element of Epirus, Thessalia and Macedonia, in order that you may keep chained the neckless, handless and footless Christian State, wich we have been pleased to establish ; no matter though this new State is more exposed to frequent convulsion, on account of being deprived of its important members. What has happened in the East since then, all the Avorld knows. Twelve rebellions and insurrections have broken out in Greece, during that period; its ports have been block- aded by the English fleet ; its capital has been occupied by English and French troops ; and, finally, a king has been dethroned. In the rest of the East great agitations have constantly prevailed, and sometimes collisions have occurred between the Christian and the Turkish elements. The massacres of Djedda and Damascus at last necessitated European intervention, or more properly speaking, the military occupation of Syria by Europ an troops. In short, there has happened and still con- tinues to happen all that the English Consul at Preveza described. In order to prevent the recurrence of such disasters, Eu- rope has counselled the ruling Turkish element in the East to imitate civilized nations, that is, to put the elements, which constitute the empire, on a footing of equality, to make laws, guaranteeing the lives, property, and honour of all its subjects; and, in short, to strive to enter upon a sys- tem of civilized government. [1) ^ (1) In order to form a correct idea of the financial condition of Tur- key, it is necessary to keep in mind that, previously to the introduction reforms, that about 25 years ago, Turkey had no national debt what- ever. During the last 25 years, the national debt of Turkey has continued to increase, and now amounts to L.I 00,000,000. Of this dcbt,L.80,000,000 are consolidated. For interest and gradual extinction of this enormous debt, Turkey pays about L. 9, 000, 000 annually Out of a revenue consisting of L.I 4,000,000. The Sultan's allowance amounts to L.3,000,000 A-year. There remain for the national expenditure of that vast Empire, only L.2,000,000 a-year. Let as now compare the financial condition of Greece with that of Turkey. Greece, towards achieving her independence, incurred a debt of L. 2.800,000 y out of vhich scarcely L. 800,000 was effectively received bjr the Stale. . . 27 Notwithstanding the apparent feasibility of those reforms in theory ; notwithstanding the readiness which Sultan Mahmood evinced for their execution, by his promulgation of the Hatt-Sherif of Gulhan^; notwithstanding the even mo- re emphatic commnication of such laudable principles by his successor, Abd-ul Medjid's Hatt-Humayoun; and notwith- For this, according to the late arrangement, she undertakes to pay L.55,000, a-year. The three Protecting Powers guaranteed a loan of L.2l,400,000, of Avhich only L. 400, 000 reached Greece. For this loan, the State, accor- ding to arragements, has to pay only L. 40,000, annually. In 1865, the State contracted an internal loan of L.^oOjOOO 5 for which it pays about L. 20 000 a-year. The accession of the Ionian Islands added to the national debt of Greece the sum of L. 160,000: for wich we pay L.I 5,000 annually. Greece has acknowledged, as part of the national debt, sums advanced by individuals during the war of independence, to the amount of aloout L.800,000 ; for which we pay annually L.8,000. In 1 867 the government was authorised to contract a loan to the amount of L. 1,000,000: of which only the sum 6f L.350,000 vas ef- fected. For this, we pay annually L. 32,000. Thus, Greece pays annually, for the interest and gradual extinction of her national debt, about L. 200, 000. To which is to added the Royal allowance, amounting to L. 50, 000. Turkey, since her reforms, has incurred a debt which costs her an- nually, for interest and sinking fund, tMO thirds of the whole national revenue. Besides this, the spends as Imperial allowance one fifth of the whole national revenue^ so that only she seventh of the revenue remains, to meet the general expenditure. Greece, indeed, incurred debt by her struggle for liberty, but she has now an annual revenue of L.'l ,200,000. Her revenue, at the commen- cement of the war of independence, was only ^bout L.I 60,000. Greece, thus, has to pay for interest and gractual extinction of all her debt, about L.200,000 J that is, one sixth of her revenue. The Royal allowance, L. 50,000 is about one twenty fourth of the revenue. The re- mains four fifths of the revenue are spent in meeting the ordinary pu- blic expenditure, and expecial disbursements for the welfare of the coun- try, and the progress of civilization in the East. Turkey, having only one seventh of the revenue to spend in the wret- ched government of the country, is obliged to increase the taxes daily, to oppress the taxpayers, to incur new debt, and accelerate the ruin of the empire. Greece, able to spend four fifths of the revenue in meeting the general expenditure, and confining herself to this, not Only does not oppress the taxpayers, but is able td diminish the national debt, besides laying out 2S standing the repeated assurances, publicly given by the reign- ing Sultan, of his constant solicitude for the welfare and perfect equality of all his subjects, assurances repeated from time to time by every successive Grand Vizier, these long and often promised reforms still exist only on paper, and have proved to be altogether impracticable. This assertion is not ours, but M"^ Barker's, the English Consul at Preveza, a functionary who has studied the East for thirty years, and who has no particular bias, as he has said, either in favor of the rulers or the ruled. Let as now examine somewhat circumstantially, whether these reforms can ever be applied in the East by the ruling Turkish element, and whether it is possible for the dominant race, to enter ever upon the path of civilization and constitutional powers. Civilization, according to the real signification of the term, does not consist in speaking elegantly, or acting gracefully, in dressing genteelly, or in walking gravely, in pompous show, or external refinement of manners; but in living ho- nestly, and in improving constantly one's moral, intellectual and physical condition. a certain amount for promoting the prosperity of the country and widely diffusing civilization over the East. It is superfluous to dwell on the fact, that a nation which is constantly increasing its debt, impoverishing its subjects, by eve^y species of rapa- cious, as well as absurd and vexatious taxation, and by every sort of ap- pression and corruption, cannot, at the present day, be maintained within the bounds of Europe, to whatever extent it may receive foreign coun- tenance and support. Perhaps it may be thought, we have overrated the sum paid by Tur- key annually for interest and sinking fund of the natiolal debt, in sta- ting it to be L. 9,000, 000 '-, as the interest of the consolidated debt is Only 5 per cent. It must be recollected, however, ihat this is the lowest interest paid i that the interest on many other portions of the national debt is 8 or 10 per cent ^ and that on the non-consolidated part of the debt, 20 and even 30 per cent is paid. Last Bairam the sum of L.20,000 was borrowed. For this the Porte granted revenues to the value of L. 36, 000, to be collected within six months. In proof of this, I refer to the testimony of the banker Chrestaki Yito. We challenge those who are in the public service of Turkey to contradict us, while we assert, that the Porte is at ibis moment, in arrears tot hem, for salaries, and pay, to the amount of L. 7, 000, 000. 29 For a nation to advance in civilization, three things are absolutely essential : First, Education, and especially female education; Secondly, That the male population shall be individually self-supporting ; and Thirdly, That both sexes shall be imbued, to a certain degree, with the spirit of patriotism. Without these three qualications no civilization can exist. Of female education among the Turks. Little evidence need be adduced of the fact that the Turks originally had no educational system. We shall only mention that the Turks are still, with regard to their chara- cter and religious belief, the same as theMohamedans of India and Algeria, before they passed under the domination of the English and French. Just as the latter Mohamedan races governed themselves, before they were conquered by Euro- peans, in like manner did the Turks govern before their en- trance into the European family. As the Geh of Calcutta had the right to behead as many of his subjects, as he plea sed, and it is reported that within the few years of his reign, he beheaded 80,000 of them. So also, any Turkish gover- nor or subgovernor had the right, until 1839, not only to cut off as many heads as he pleased, but to confiscate the property and attack the honour of any under his jurisdiction. It is not long since the Sultan abandoned the practice of beheading any of his rich subjects, and confiscating their pro- perty, whenever the Public Treasury, or the Sultan's private chest, was in want of money. In the beginning of the pre- sent century, the notorious Aali Pasha of Yannina in one night arrested eighty women, belonging to the best families; condemned them, as prostitutes, without any judicial pro- ceeding, and drowned them the very next day in the lake Acherousia. Just as the Bey of Algiers thought he had the right to slap the face of the French Consul, so the Sultan cf Turkey behaved towards the representatives of Foreign Powers in Constantinople, until within the present century. it is not very long since the Seven Towers ceased to serve as a residence or prison for the ambassadors of any powers, against which the Porte declared war. If, therefore, the chiefs of Mohamedan countries had been so educated, as to claim these truculent attributes of power, it is easy to imagine what sort of an education the people governed by such ru- lers must have had. But though the training of the dominant Turkish race in the East, is such to this very day, some of the European Powers thought, that, after the promulgation of the Hatti Sherif of Gulhane, a new order of things would be instituted, and that Turkey would undergo a moral and political rege- neration. The promulgation of the Hatti Humayoun of 1856, tended to confirm this idea. If the educational standard of a whole nation, descended from a barbarous stock, having barbarous habits, and profes- sing a religion adverse to intellectual development, could be estimated from the outward conduct and urbane manners of five or ten individuals, at most, who have been educated in Europe, the European Powers might have been correct in their judgment : Aali Pasha and Fuad Pasha are certainly perfect in Wertern etiquette, and can speak and write polished French; and there are probably a dozen other well known Turks, who have acquired in foreign capitals the re- quisite grace in wearing European pantaloons and gants places. But polite manners are one thing, and good education in another. Etiquette is taught at school, and^ in society; and every one is compelled by the laws of society to learn it, or is punished for his ignorance ; while good education is to be obtained only in the family, and chiefly from the mother, and must commence from childhood. No one has ever seen or heard of a Turkish woman who Avas capable of educating her own child, or, indeed, even fit, herself, to live as a rea- sonable intellectual being. According to the Koran, woman has but one mission which is, to afford sensual pleasure to her husband. Not only is she not obliged to educate her children, but neither is she obliged to bring them into the world at all, and in order that she may preserve her charms, as long as possible, for her hus- band, in conformity with the prescriptions of the Koran 34 she frequently uses enormously expensive drugs which are specially prepared for inmates of the harem who wish to avoid beaing children. Hence the very sensible diminution of the Turkish population in many of the European pror- vinces of the Empire. ."; It is well known that the Koran considers woman as a being of a much inferior nature to man, who is accordingly permitted to marry as many as seven women, and to oblige them to live together ; while a woman cannot divorce her husband or deny him congugal rights, as long as he conti- nues to provide her daily with about half an oke of bread, (less than 1 1/2 lib) and one tallow candle of about 25 drams. Owing to the above causes it has followed that, while fe- male schools are continually being multiplied in the East, in which the female children of all races, even of the Jews, are educated and civilized, no Mussulman girls have ever entered any of those institutions, and it is impossible for them to do so, as long as the Koran prevails, which consi- ders the glance of a son above the age of twelve upon the unveiled face of his mother, as a conjugal profanation. The Turkish government has, indeed, for some time past made laudable efforts for the instruction of males, and has endeavoured to establish some primary schools in the pro- vinces. It has also established a sort of college and the so- called medical school, and an imperfect nautical school at Halki, and still more imperfect military school at Gonstan- tinoply. But any provision for female instruction none of the Turks have deemed it necessary to make, but on the contrary all of them consider it against the laws of the Prophet. Hence it is that no Mohamedan woman knows any language but her own, or has ever received even the most elementary instruction We hardly need say that, owing to all this, domestic economy, which is justly regarded among other nations as the basis of household and social welfare, and of every domestic and individual self existence, is unknown among Turkish women. It is obvious that if woman does not know how to manage properly the internal affairs of the family, the most lavish expenditure by the husband for its support will fail to satisfy ils wants and to contribute to a rational domestic happiness. But, what do we say ? The alpha and omega of domesticity among the Mussulmans is — in the true spirit of the Koran — solely the gratification of sexual passions. Beyond this all else is considered superfluous and even adverse to the inviolable laws of the Prophet. Such being the condition of woman among the Mussul- mans, it is totally impossible to civilize the race by a nau- tical school, although it is mangaged by Englishmen, and by a military school, conducted by Frenchmen. Even, if all the wisdom of the West could possibly be transported to the East, it would not effect such a transformation. This conviction is not entertained by us alone, but by enlightened men, who have long studied the Turks. The la'e Professor Felton of Boston U. S., who travelled almost all over the East and who made a particular study of the Christian and Turkish populations, has published a valuable work in two volumes, entitled : {{Ancient and Modern Greece)). In this work the Author, comparing the Christians and Turks, declares that: (Cthe more you ci- » vilize the Christian, the better he becomes; the more you » civilize the Turk, the worse Turk he grows. (1) It is not at all extraordinary, then, that even those Turks who are reputed to be the best educated or the most en- lightened, and who pass during the day, in their intercourse with Europeans, for men of civilized and refined character, should at night, when they retire to their harems, become true Turks again, and perhaps more intensely so, than their remote ancestors. How can you expect a real civilization from Fuad Pasha and Aali Pasha, for instance, when, from their earliest child- hood, they have received no education from their mothers and passed half their youth shut up in the harem ? What do you expect the fair haniim to say to her European bred husband, in order to make him milder in his habits, if he be naturally perverse •, to console him, if he happen to be afflicted ; to show him his paternal duties towards his , (1) Vide Ancie^il and Modern Greece by Felton Vol. II. page 264. — Bo6ioni867. ^ 33 children, if he he a spendthrift ; or to metigate his anger, if he happens to be in a passion : to tell him, for instance, that Frenchmen are gentle and polite in their manners ; that the English in sorrow or in trouble find consolution in reading the Holy Scriptures, or that the Germans and Russians take such care of their children, or that the inha- bitants of the New World have such and such characte- ristics ? The unhappy Turkish wife, outside the harem, which is to her a real prison, has seen nothing and learned nothing; she is entirely ignorant that there ever existed any Prophet other than Mohammed ; she is equally ignorant, that there exists in the world any king or Emperor other than the Sultan ; she does not know the existence of America or in what hemisphere of the world Paris or London lies. One of the best mannered Turks, who had been a Mi- nister and afterwards become Grand Vizier , said to a fellow- student in Paris — an intimate friend of his : — a If you ever come to Constantinople, I will receive you on terms of the highest intimacy, and even show you my harem.)) The European lately arrived at Constantinople, went with his wife to visit, among the first, his old school fellow, who in- troduced the wife of his friend into the harem, visited him in return many times and treated him in the most cordial manner, but always as a Turk. In no case could the eyes of the old fellow student and intimate friend be permitted to gaze on the unveiled face of the wife of his mussulman friend, nor was he suffered to set foot inside his harem. We said and repeat again that woman among the Turks has but one mision, which is a religions duty, that is, to please her husband. If, with this view, the European bred husband should converse with her on what he saw or learned in Europe, he would provoke in the heart of his beautiful wife, either jealousy or fanatical abhorrence. The Turkish wife will always listen with horror to her husband, when he talks of European manners and customs, and will use every effort in her power first to impress her husband with the same feeling, and secondly to monopolise all his favor and alienate him, if possible, from his other wives. The more the husband follows European customs, the more natural it is for his wives to exert themselves to 3 34 detach him from his European ways, and to render him again a good and faithful Mohamedan. Therefore the more you civihze the Turk, so much the worse he becomes, having been deprived of an early education, and being obliged to spend nearly half his time in his harem, with one or more wives, exceedingly jealous, fanatical, and utterly ignorant. If Europe would civilize the Ottomans, she ought to oblige the Sultan to convoke a Synod of the Ulemas, in order to abolish the law which considers woman as a being of an inferior order. Then she ought to send great numbers of Sisters of Charity to the East, and require those now there, to cease proselytizing, and devote themselves to the educa- tion of Turkish females. This is the only sure means of civilizing the Ottoman population in the East. All the rest, military and naval schools and universities are of little use; for, as long as the education of woman is neglected in a nation, in no way can civilization advance. Does Turkey desire to learn why the Christians in the East surpass the Turks in everything ? She need not go to Europe or to Greece ; let her visit the Christian quarters at Constanti- nople, such as the Fanar, Pera, and Tatavla. There, as well as in all the Christian quarters of the Empire, she will find well organized female schools, in which the daughters of Christians are taught by hundreds and thousands. Let her go, for instance, to Epivates, a small hamlet three hours distant from Constantinople, and there she wtll find an ex- cellent female school in which 300 christian girls are edu- cated, and which is maintained by the liberality of one gent- leman, D"" Sarantis. All these pupils and 400 more who are taught in the female school of the Convent of the Holy Sepulchre at the Fanar, and those taught in other female schools, become, for the most part, good wives and good mothers, able not only to educate, but in case of need to feed and clothe their children, and to take Care of their per- manent welfare. Let Europe show us one single case of a Turkish woman knowing how to do these things : The following incident illustrates the social position, which a woman holds among the Turks. One of the most 35 respectable physicians in Constantinople was invited by a Turk, occupying a high position, to visit his wife, who was in great danger. The physician, being engaged at the mo- ment, did not arrive till an hour after. In the meanwhile, the wife had died and was buried ; but the visit of the phy- sician was not useless; for the Mussulman husband had pro- cured another woman, and he asked the physician to visit her and tell him, whether her health was good, for other- wise, he would send her away and procure a third. Of Individual Self-support. Besides tbe education of the fair sex, we have said that the civilization of a people requires a certain self supporting capability on the [)art of every individual member of the community. How indeed can you expect a nation to become civilized, if each individual be unable to live by his personal exertions, and constantly stand in need of the fostering care of the government ? A good government does not provide permanent means of livelihood for the people : it suffices th: t it remove obstacles, and afford them faci- lities for supporting themselves, each one by his own la- bours It is only thus that individuals can constitute a so- ciety of reasonable beings, susceptible of training and clvi- lizatiin Those communities, on the contrary, which mostly consist of persons incapable of providing for themselves, arc like a herd of dumb animals, which, without a shepherd, can- not procure food or water. Let us now examine what in- dividual sell-subsistence the Turkish population has or can possess. In all the interior ])rovinccs of the East, rattle breeding and tillage of tbe soil are the only means, by whirh the TurKs procure a livelihood. But they carry on these pur- suits in so wretched a manner, that, though the land is the richest in the world, and the best kinds of aminals can be raised and multiplied in great members, the people are all of them in a most miserably poverty-stricken condition. They can scarcely subsist by these occupations, which in other countries would be inexhanstible sources of wealth 36 and prosperity. We may attribute this wretched state of the Ottoman population, partly to the oppression of the go- vernment, but mainly to their unsusceptibiiity of education and progress. The Turks are ignorant, and always like to to remain so, of all the modern improvements in agriculture and cattle-breeding. Even in the purely Turkish provinces, it is the Christians who mostly practice all lucrative trades. Christians, for instance, are, generally, the grocers, the ba- kers, the tailors and the shoemakers of a Turkish village, and the merchants" brokers. In all the provinces where the Christian element pre- dominates, every thing is in the hands of the Christians, and the Turk can serve only for a soldier or an official. The profession of a soldier has, however, ceased to be profitable among the Turks ever since they ceased to conquer fresh territories, and particularly from the time of the destruction of the Janissaries, and the establishement of a regular army in their place. The Turkish soldier nowadays cannot enrich himself by plunder. A Turk, to get a living, must have some landed property. Leading an idle and squandering life, and undertaking nothing for the improvement of his condition, he is obliged to burden his property daily with more debts, until he sell it altogether to the Christians. If be does not possess any real estate, he tries his best to get employed in the service of the government, be it in ever so mean or ill paid an office. Woe to him, whether Turk, Christian, or Jew, who falls into the hands of such an em- ploy^. For the slightest service, even a sacred one, or one which, as a public fanctionary, he is bound to render, a a baksheeshs is rigorously exacted. This is one great cause, why the sums received by the public treasury are not a tenth of the taxes paid by the people. While in all civilized communities the middle-class con- stitutes the most important element of society, such a class is utterly wanting among the Turks. At least the writer, a native, has studiously sought, but in vain, for anything resembling such an element among the Turks. We have not found any Turk capable (f living prosperously by his own efforts, either as a manufacturer or as a simple artisan. A small number of shoemakers, basket weavers, and ven- (lei's of JEgjptian products in the bazar, do not constitute a middle class, a bourgeoisie ; they are only exceptions from the rule. If we could take away from every Turk the property he has accumulated by inheritance or by abuses of official po- sitions, we should see even the most intelligent of them, not excepting Fuad and Aali Pashas, reduced at once to want and beggary; for they have never learned any useful profession and they are unable to do any thing to gain a livelihood. In all probability, a Turk never seriously thinks about his individual self support, which is the most impor- tant element of all civilized and well regulated communities. In such a state of things, we consider that it is all but im- possible for modern civilization to spread to any extent among the Turkish population. Of Patriotism. Patriotism is so important a quality, that is has been al- most by it alone that many nations have not only become civilized, but have attained the highest position and glory, and have subsequently transmitted their civilization to other nations. Without patriotism no nation in the world has ever been thoroughly civihzed. By patriotism we do not mean simply that instinct possessed even by the savage or by dumb animals, which impels them to defend the place of their biith to the utmost of their power. Even the Esqui- maux or the Hottentots resist to the death any attempt to drive them from their lairs, a mere instinct, however, which is found in the lowest order of creation. The patriotism which nations must possess, in order to be civilized, is that noble, sublime and almost divine sentiment by which the greater part tf the citizens of a country are inspired to sacrifice, for the common weal, not only wealth, glory, plea- sure and comfort, but every thing they most dearly cherish in the world ; such as wife, children, parents, friends and their own lives. Such patriotism the ancient Greeks notably possessed, and, animated by it, their posterity at this very day, have astonished the world by the wonders not only m of their civilization, but of their discoveries in science and arts, and by their courage and many other virtues. Such patriotism the Romans formerly had, and by it they be- came masters of the world. Through the same patrio- tism 30,000,000 Englishmen, have become rulers over 200,000,000 Indians and other races. Sach patriotism exists among the French, who liave for two centuries excited the admiration of the world by their achievements in science and their feats of glory. Through such patriotism the Italians obtained the unity and regeneration of all Italy. Such patriotism had and still have the Americans who, from being subjects of a distant nation, not only became masters of the New World, but even helpers and comforters of every oppressed nation in the old hemisphere. Such patriotism have all the other Christian nations which march in the path of civilization. The Christian element in tha East has given, and daily gives, sufficient and surprizing [)roofs of its patriotism. When, for instance, the celebrated Kara-Georgy, the de- liverer of Servia, condemned his own brother to death for disobedience to orders, and insisted on the execution of the sentence, notwithstanding the prayers of all the chiefs of the nation, he afforde ), in our opinion, a proof of that stern uncompromising patriotism, which breaks assunder the ties even of nature itself. Roman history alone furnishes, in the case of Brutus, a parallel cf such severe and lofty patrio- tism. The bequest of the ever memorable Dacian Bran- govans, by which he left the whole of his colossal property to his country, disinheriting his nearest relations, is, we think, another example of patriotism, difficult to be found am.ong the Western nations. What shall we say of the patriotism of the modern Greeks ? Six brothers from Epirus, named Zosimades, formerly subjects of the Sultan, unable to bear the oppresion of his Pashas, emigrated from their country and found an asylum in Russia, where they gained immense wealth by commerce. In order to preserve that wealth intact, they resolved to remain all of them unmarried, and, one after the other, at death bequeathed all his property to their country. 3^ When did theS6 ever-memorable patriots perform tbfese things? At a time when their country was in servitude and groaning under the weight of ignorance and tyranny. By their munificence they removed the ignorance of their na- tion, and, by its education, contributed materially to the re- generation of Greece. A subject of the Sultan from Scio, the celebrated Ada- mantius Coray, though in a position to enrich himself by commerce, like his fellow countrymen, abandoned it, and turned his attention to the study of literature and science; and chose for his residence the seat of arts and sciences, Paris, where, living like a hermit, he applied himself to the education of his country. He succeeded so well, that his works on patriotism are admired by the most enlightened men of the Old and of the New World. Another subject of the Sultan, the Epirote Nicholas Stour- nari, though he had a beloved wife and an affectionate child, almost disinherited these beloved objects of his, from a pa- triotic sentiment, in order to bequeath all his wealth to his country. <^j"^ >^ Two other subjects' of the Sultan, the Epirote brothers Rizari, though very rich, not only remained unmarried, but even denied themselves the necessaries of life, for the sake of bequeathing their entire property to their nation, and esta- blished at Athens the well known theological school, which is called after them (.(^Rzzariony). Another subject of the Sultan, the magnanimous Epirote Arsaky, built at his own expense at Athens a palace-like fe- male school, not to be eclipsed by any similar institution in Europe. Out of this school issue every year 100 female teachers, bestowing abundantly the benefits of instruction and education upon the fair sex, and disseminating civilization in the East. Another subject of the Sultan, the Thessahan Plategeni, disinhereted his own relatives, in order to bequeath all his property to bis country. Where did these former subjects of the Sultan bestow the fruits of their labour? On their native countries? Far from it, they had groaned under the Turkish yoke. All the Greeks from all quarters bequeath their gifts to free Greece, 10 \vlilch some of them bave never even seen. We might fill vohimes, if we were to enumerate all the astonishing exam- ples of Greek patriotism. We have mentioned enough, how- ever, to show that free Greece has, during the space of thirty five years — from the time of its regeneration — been adorned with many excellent educational and philanthropic institutions, which have not yet been acquired by some na- tions that have enjoyed freedom and independence for cen- turies. Why should we look however, for past examples of pa- triotism, when we have so many occourring before our eyes? Scarcely had the Cretan insurrection broken out, when the whole of the Greek nation responded electrically, like a sin- gle man, to the patriotic movement of their countrymen: (cWe will aid^ they said^ our brothers who are strug- gling for their lihertj.)) And they did aid and do aid them in the most patriotic and effective manner. There is not a Greek, living under the sun, who has not contributed to the Cretan insurrection, in proportion to his means. Simple mer- chants, constituting themselves into a Cretan Committees,)) and aided only by the patriotism of the Greeks, have been able to send to Crete not only numerous bodies of volun- teers, but also arms and munitions, and provisions sufficient to support at least 200,000 souls, at least for 18 months. They have sent all these things by saihng vessels and by the famous steamers of the Hellenic Merchant Steam Na- vigation Company, the Panhellenion^ i]\Q^Arcadion and the Enosis, which, as is well known, have, through the skill and patriotic valour of the Captains and their crews, set at nought the blockade of the island by 35 Turkish war steamers. Such is the patriotism of the Christians in the East. Let us now examine that of the Turks. A nation, which abandoned the graves of their ancestors, invaded Europe, like a torrent, and during four hundred years remains as it were encamped in it, cannot have a country of their own, and consequently can have no patriotic sentiment. We even doubt if the Turks, long as they have lived in Europe, possess much of that instinct of attachment to their native place, which is natural to wild animals and 41 insects. WhereVer the Christian element develops itself in European Turkey, there, it is observed that the Turkish ele- ment invariably diminishes, and retreats into the interior. Before the Greek revolution the proportion of Turks to Christians in Smyrna was as two to one ; now the ratio is exactly the inverse. In a certain hamlet of Adrianople, cal- led Scopos, the Turks, prior to the Greek revolution, were three times as numerous as the Christians : now the Chri- stians are five times as numerous as the Turks. Kadikieui (the ancient Chalcedon) which was formely inhabited almost exclusively by Turks, has within the last few years become a grand suburb of Constantinople, and nothing Turkish now belongs to it, but the name. We had nearly finished the present work, when we read some other reports of English Consuls, which have been published in a recent Blue Book, and which fully confirm the preceding assertions. We have proved by figures, that, in the Nahay^ of Co- rento in Epirus, the agriculturist pays in taxes sixty seven per cent out of the produce of the land. The same fact is officially corroborated by M*" Stuart, English Consul at Yan- nina, who says: (C I have now before me a return, carefully }) prepared, of the charges of every kind, to which a working » farmer is absolutely subject, and they amount to sixty )) seven per cent of the proceeds of the farm.» (1) We have stated that, as long as the Turkish element rules over the more numerous Christian population, the re- sources of the East will daily diminish. This is also affir- med by the same Enghsh Consul, who says: ((Taxation has ;) now become oppressive in this province ^Yannina). The » means of the country are sensibly diminishing ; almost ;) every year some new tax is laid, or some old one is in- » creased.)) We have asked how it is that the Turks leave countries, where life and energy are developed by the Christian ele- ment, and another English Consul M*" Longforth, as if to answer our inquiry, says: cc While the Christians have thri- (1) See Blue Book, April 16, 1867, ^Dfv^fi and tlieir prosperity is proved by their personal ap- * pearance and their having possessed themselves of the ;) best houses, and most eligible sites in the great towns; )) the Turks seem to be gradually shrinking from public view » into the obscure and unfrequented suburbs. ))Still their demeanour is that of stoical endurance; poorly )) cladj badly housed, and indifferantly fed • • • • still it must » be with a gloomy and bitter feeling that they contrast » their present with their past condition; that they ask )) themselves or others what further hardship and humilia- » tion fate can have in store for them, they hear no doubt » what all the world is constantly repeating that, they are ;) sick and dying out of the land, to which indeed they never 5> had a just title, being merely encamped upon it. (1))) We had supposed that the case of the inhabitants of the Vilayet of Salonica, who paid a tenfold tax for road making, though the road was never constructed, was an isolated in- stance of extreme oppression and extortion: but the En- glish Vice -Consul of Cyprus assures us that even in that island just the same thing has taken place : c(An abortive attempt, he says, was made three or four » years ago to construct a carriage road between this port ;) and the capital, a distance of but tyventy five miles. But, ^ instead of devoting any of the usual revenue of the island )) to this purpose, a tax was imposed on that part of the » country, which was to have benefited by the undertaking D and its labouring population forced to work gratuitously, ;) After 3,000 L. have been expended in the payment of )) salaries to an engineer and his staff, and preliminary ex- » penses, at the end of a year the work came to a close, the )) only result being of a detail for five miles on either side » of the intended road. The present governor has since J) recommended the abandonment of the undertaking ; But, ;) travelling myself in that district only last week, 1 was sur- » prized to find that the governor still continued to collect )) the road tax ; one village, where I staid, having just paid » 130 L. for that object. (I) See Blue Book to ajleviateihe: sufferings, oLtheir correligionists in Crete.. if^ii-'fj^ c o^nla 1 ;iHon