Section VIII
Many simple persons, who do not know why the treasure of the Nizam-y-Gedid was instituted, and whence this money is collected, and to what purpose it is expended, say sometimes, “the water of the old cistern is not exhausted; why then is the new revenue made a separate treasure?”103 We have already stated how difficult a thing it is to explain public affairs to people who are plunged in the darkest ignorance, and to make those who cannot read the common alphabet understand science; although we were to labour until the day of judgment, we should not succeed. If a man is capable of receiving the words of truth from his outward ears into his mind, we proceed to relate matters as they really are.
Wars have been carried on for seventy or eighty years in a rude manner, and with weak and irregular troops, during which time the followers of Islam having been often defeated, His Highness Sultan Suleÿman Kannuni thought proper to form the body of the Janissaries, whom he divided into different divisions, assigning to each their particular regiments and quarters. He considered, however, that these troops could not be assembled and kept together for the love of God only, but that it was also necessary to establish funds for the purpose of providing meat, drink, &c. for them, as well as to appoint them a pay suitable to their expenses. After consulting with the wise and experienced men of the time, he regulated the administration of the revenue in the following manner. A small part of the monies drawn from the provinces that had, by right of conquest, become subject to his illustrious predecessors, was appropriated to the subsistence of military men who served on horseback and otherwise. The Emperor appointed by the canon104 that, from the annual product of the revenues, and from the sums which every one who succeeded to the farming of them, paid according to his means, as an anticipation price, provision should be made for meeting the expense incident to these corps, whether in war or in peace. After these arrangements had been made, it frequently happened that, in good times, no war took place for twenty years together, during which some of the military men who belonged to the corps, having turned old, departed in peace. As the papers granted them to enable them to draw their pay fell into the hands of their servants, relations, or comrades105, it was not suffered that the allowances appointed for several thousand men should be received by persons who did not belong to the military profession, who were novices in affairs, or apprenticed to some trade. As few of them left sons capable of taking the place of their fathers, and opposing the enemies of our faith, men of war became very scarce, and it was therefore necessary to levy fresh troops, and assign new funds for their support, the old revenue being exhausted. Besides this cause of the impoverishment of the royal treasure, the price of all commodities had greatly augmented since the time that the canon was promulgated. For instance, at that period an oke of the flesh of mutton was sold for four aspers, but in the course of time it rose to twenty-five paras, and other things were dearer in proportion. Thus an increase having taken place in the price of the necessaries which were furnished to the corps at its institution, the royal funds provided for that purpose were no longer able to meet the expense of the times, and as they were nevertheless obliged to find some means of going on, the rents of the Sublime Government began to run into each other; that is to say, that in order to provide for the expense of the current year, they sold the revenue of the succeeding one, and so on. Hence resulted a deficiency in the Imperial finances. Even the treasures, which had been amassed with a great deal of trouble previous to the Russian war that broke out during the reign of the late Sultan Mustapha, were in that war entirely drained and consumed, although every thing was then very cheap when compared with present prices, and after peace, the finances could not recover themselves, but the expense still exceeded the revenue. The enemies of our religion being informed of our want of money, were thereby confirmed in their purpose, and obtained complete success. But besides the difficulties in which our government found itself involved in peaceable times, owing to the deficiency of the ordinary revenue which did not suffice for the current expenses, there have been moments during war in which it stood like a man who has both his hands tied down to his sides, and knew not which way to turn itself; for as there was no ready money, nothing could be accomplished, and nobody showed any inclination to engage in a holy war; nothing was considered but pay, rations, and the privilege of being exempted from active service.
Thus hath the want of a well-organised system of finance been clearly proved, the whole revenue of the state not being sufficient for the exigencies of these times. The following example will point out the truth of this to the people at large. Suppose the case of a man, who twenty or thirty years ago enjoyed an income of one piaster a day, and regulated his expenses accordingly, if that man continued on the same scale how could he live at present, when every thing is four or five times dearer than at that period, and make the two ends of the year meet with his piaster a day? In like manner, we may apply this consideration to the actual condition of the Sublime Government. Behold, while the royal finances are in so great a state of penury, not a single person, whether rich, poor, or tributary subject, will give a single piaster to the treasure, under the name of a voluntary contribution, towards carrying on war; and, in short, no man will go to war gratis, and at his own expense, only to please God, or for the love of the prophet or the emperor; the formation of troops proportioned to those of the enemy, and the providing of military stores, which may equal theirs, are things which must be accomplished, not by words, but by money. The truth is, that the treasury does not possess a fixed revenue sufficient to defray contingent expenses, and, to sum up all, the old revenues of the Sublime Government were calculated for the old expense; and as two hundred and forty-five years have elapsed since the publication of the canon, the expense having constantly increased whilst the revenue was never augmented, His Highness, the Emperor, has looked out for some remedy in such difficult circumstances, and has laboured to establish a revenue proportioned to the amount of expenditure of these times. But that the requisite funds might neither be taken by violence, nor derived from casual contingency, it was thought proper to draw them from the peculiar possessions of the government and the sources dependent thereon. A treasure having been with much difficulty amassed, in which were to be deposited the money raised under the title of Iradi-Gedid, the following reflections presented themselves relative to the manner in which they were to be regulated.
The produce of the imposts at the time that the canon was promulgated, was farmed out in small branches to those who bid for them the highest, and authority was granted to them to receive each a part of the tribute on their advancing a certain sum in proportion to their respective means, and on condition of their paying a thousand piasters a year to the crown besides; thus a man was able in three years to reimburse himself of the small sum which he had advanced, and then if the contract was continued to him for the course of his life, he could make a clear profit of forty or fifty thousand piasters; and perhaps of an hundred thousand if he lived long enough. The contractors continuing to give the crown only a thousand piasters after the first small sum advanced, the whole benefit of the revenue accrued to them, but the profits of the public treasure were not augmented and continued the same. A new method having, therefore, been found absolutely necessary, has been adopted, and in such a manner as to leave no person any pretext for complaint. The arrangement is this: that when the perception of an impost, which belongs by right to the treasury, falls vacant, it is no longer farmed out in consideration of a small sum, but is taken possession of on the part of the Sublime Government, and the management of it is carried on for the benefit of the new treasury; the sum which continues to be paid to the crown, as well as the profits derived from the perception of the impost, are appropriated to the pay, clothing, and allowances of the troops of the Nizam-y-Gedid, and to the special exigencies of the war department, such as the providing of cannon, ammunition, tents, camp equipage, military stores, and the expenses of the park and train of artillery.
As the accountants of the old treasury are wholly employed in the collection and management of the funds appertaining to it, a director was specially appointed for the purpose of watching over that part of the administration, and by his ability the whole has been properly regulated. These are then the advantages which result from the expense of the troops being defrayed by this new financial arrangement. The old revenue hath not been thereby prejudiced, and the charges of the new troops are provided for. This business has been conducted in so masterly a manner that no just cause is left to any one to cry out against it; and the new revenue, like the new system of discipline, being established on the best footing, causes no loss or damage to any man, but, on the contrary, tends manifestly to perpetuate, until the last day, the duration of the empire and of the people of Islam, as must be evident to all persons endowed with penetration.
When we have by so distinct an exposition rendered all these points clear, those men who are acquainted with the difference between alum and sugar, good and bad, and in whose essence is a leaven of science, will, no doubt, listen to reason, and, by Divine grace, being brought under conviction, will submit themselves to the book of God, mighty and powerful!
The End
Printers-Street, London.
Re-indexed footnotes using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.
Notes
1. A great Roman pavement is still visible in Wallachia. It begins at a small town called Caracalla, situated near the borders of the Danube, about three miles from the place where the great river Olt falls into it: and it runs up in a straight line with this river, as far as the Carpathians, where its traces are lost. It probably led to the Dacian capital, Zarmiss, which is now a Transylvanian town, and contains many ruins of Roman monuments of an inferior kind. The Latin language is almost the only one spoken by its present inhabitants.
2. Antonii Bonifici Asculani Rerum Hungaricarum Decades. Decad. ii. lib. 8.
3. Knolles’s History of Turkey, p. 204. and Tounousli’s, Ισορια Ιης βλαχιας, p. 247.
A piaster and a half is equal to an English shilling.
4. Knolles’s History, p. 296.
5. Dracula in the Wallachian language means Devil. The Wallachians were, at that time, as they are at present, used to give this as a surname to any person who rendered himself conspicuous either by courage, cruel actions, or cunning.
6. Although the amount of the tribute was often increased under the successive Voïvodes, the same formalities of payment existed as late as the year 1716, when various changes took place in the Wallachian government, as will be observed hereafter.
7. Nobles.
8. Christian tributary subjects.
9. A Ferman is a written order issued by the Grand Vezier in the Sultan’s name.
10. Higher clergy and nobility.
11. Cantimir’s History of the Ottoman Empire, p. 186.
12. Cantimir’s History of the Ottoman Empire, p. 451.
13. Cantimir’s History, p. 452.
14. Chamberlain.
15. “It has been supposed that the Turks, to console the Greek descendants of the imperial family for the loss of empire, had bestowed on them the government of the two principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, an error which appears to have no other foundation than the assumption of the illustrious name of Cantacuzenus, by two persons of obscure family, born in Wallachia, who were raised to the administration of that principality in the seventeenth century.” Thornton’s present State of Turkey, p. 385, from Cantimir’s Ottoman Hist. p. 371.
16. A descendant of the Voïvode’s grandson above alluded to, is now living in Wallachia, and possesses all the landed property left by his ancestor, which gives him an annual income of upwards of 200,000 piasters. He is looked upon by his countrymen as the first and richest Boyar of Wallachia, and is acknowledged by the court of Vienna as prince of the Roman Empire, a title which, however, he cannot assume in his own country so long as the Turks are the possessors of it.
17. The formulæ of a Beratt will be found in the Appendix, No. 1.; it is the literal translation of the one given to the author by the present Sultan, shortly after his appointment to the official situation in the principalities. The original is written in golden letters, on a very long sheet of parchment, lined with green silk, and containing a variety of curious and rich ornaments.
18. Thornton’s present State of Turkey, p. 410.; and Cantimir’s Ottoman History, p. 189.
The Russian court was the first who entered into official intercourse with the Greek princes, and styled them by the title of Hospodars, from the Slavonic and Russian word Gospodin, or Lord. The Greeks, however, having the right to the title of prince from that of Beÿ conferred on them by the Sultan, on their nominations to the principalities, assume that of reigning princes, though they have only the power and prerogatives of Viceroys. They also claim that of Serene Highness, which the court of Vienna alone has consented to give them. Their subjects invariably give them that of υχηλοτατε most-high. Their sons are called by the Turkish tide of Beÿ-Zaaday, literally meaning prince’s son; their grandsons have no title.
19. The Prince Callimacki has sent by me a copy of his code to the university of Oxford. As Dr. Macmichael, in his “Journey from Moscow to Constantinople,” gives an account of this book, I abstain from any observations upon it.—Note of the Author.
20. In page 416, of the “Present State of Turkey,” Mr. Thornton says, “The Boyars of the most ancient families, indeed, assert that they are the descendants of the Slavi, and are of a distinct race from the people who have sprung from the alliances of the Romans with the original Dacians; but the chief distinction among the nobles is their wealth and possessions. The great majority of the Wallachian and Moldavian nobility owe their creation to the Sultan’s Voïvodes; for even these ephemeral beings, these fleeting shadows of royalty, are presumed to confer by their breath a permanency of dignity,” &c. I perfectly agree with Mr. Thornton as to the latter part of this observation; but at the same time I must beg leave to say, that although I am well acquainted with all the Boyars who are considered to belong to the most ancient families, I never could discover that their claims to antiquity went beyond the period of Raddo Negro’s and Bogdan’s establishment; nor indeed are there many sufficiently conversant with the history of their country, or with any other, to know that the Slaves ever came into it, or even that a nation of that name ever existed. Those who call themselves the oldest families merely date their origin from Voïvodes, who have reigned within the last five hundred years; and upon such origin alone they form their claims to ancient nobility.
21. £360,000. sterling.
22. The same who was Captain Pashah at Constantinople in 1810–11, and distinguished himself in that station by so many acts of cruelty.
23. In 1811, mineralogists were sent from St. Petersburgh to explore the Carpathian mines. They discovered some large veins of gold, silver, and quicksilver: time, however, was requisite to put the work into proper train; and when it offered the best prospect of success, peace was concluded, the Russian authorities withdrew, and the mines were filled up again, to remain in their former state.
24. A killow (Constantinople measurement) is equal to an English bushel.
25. One oke is equal to 2⅘ lbs. English.
26. The kintal weighs 44 okes.
27. 40 paras make a piaster.
28. The Fannar is a district of Constantinople, where all the Greeks who enter the career of the principalities reside. They are thus distinguished from the other Greeks of the capital.
29. See Appendix, No. 2.
30. Thornton’s Present State of Turkey, p. 434.
31. A declaration of war of the Sultan must receive the sanction of the Mufti, as chief of the religion, who makes his approbation known by a manifesto called Fetvaa.
32. He was first interpreter to the embassy; he has since the peace entered the Russian service, and is now attached to the Emperor’s embassy at Constantinople in the same capacity.
33. The word “Seraglio” is generally supposed in England to apply exclusively to a palace in which the Grand Signior’s women are kept. This idea, however, is erroneous; the Sultan’s residence in town is called “Seraglio.” His women, indeed, reside also within its walls, but their apartment is called “Harem.” The seraglio occupies the whole extent of ground on which the city of Byzantium stood, and is surrounded by the original Byzantine walls.
34. New military institution, explained in the Appendix, No. 5.
35. Mr. Adair.
36. Sir Arthur Paget had made a fruitless attempt in 1807.
37. Letter addressed by the Emperors Alexander and Napoleon to the King of Great Britain, dated at Erfurth, October, 1808, and official correspondence that followed it between the ministers of foreign affairs of the three sovereigns.—Official Papers published in 1809.
38. The same whose premature appointment in 1805 had partly given rise to the misunderstanding at Constantinople.
39. Corporals.
40. See the Appendix, No. 3.
41. See the Appendix, No. 4.
42. Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary, vol. iv. p. 199.
43. “It may be questioned whether it ever entered into the contemplation of the Russian cabinet to ameliorate the condition of the inhabitants of Wallachia and Moldavia, since no instance can be produced of any exertion of influence on the part of the Russian consuls to alleviate the distresses of the people, to check and restrain the tyranny of the Greeks, or to promote any plan of permanent benefit to the oppressed inhabitants.”—Thornton’s Present State of Turkey, p. 435.
Mere motives of good-will on the part of the Russian cabinet, are certainly questionable; but several instances of interference have occurred. In the official note given as a declaration of war in 1789, by the Turkish government to the Russian envoy, the composition of which was then attributed to the English ambassador, Sir Robert Ainslie, one of the principal grievances alleged was the conduct of the Russian consul-general at Yassi, who, it was said, had abused the right of interference in a most insulting manner. It may be supposed that the consul had acted in conformity to instructions from his court, who sought to create motives for a rupture; but after the conclusion of pence, nearly the same line of conduct was continued by his successors: I have seen many official documents which prove it; and during my residence in the principalities, several instances have occurred, within my observation, of very active exertion on the part of Russia to keep the accustomed system of extortion in restraint, and to relieve the inhabitants from oppression; and such exertion has certainly on many occasions prevented the condition of the inhabitants from becoming worse.
44. Whenever the Russian or Austrian armies have entered the territory of the principalities in their wars against Turkey, the natives have immediately joined them. At the beginning of the war in 1806, Bukorest was garrisoned by about 10,000 Turks, who declared themselves determined to make a desperate stand against the Russians, and to burn the city, if they should finally see the impossibility of preventing them from taking possession of it. Some inhabitants gave information of this plan to the Russian commander-in-chief Michaelson, who immediately despatched to Bukorest a corps of 6000 men under the command of General Miloradovith, which, by forced marches arrived suddenly before that city, and three days previous to the time they were expected by the Turks. These latter were seized with consternation; all the inhabitants rose against them, and some armed with sticks, others with bricks, tongs, pokers, daggers, swords, and with every thing, in short, that came within their reach, they fell upon the poor Ottomans without mercy, and cleared the town of them as the Russians were entering it. More than 1500 Turks were left dead in the streets, and the Cossacks, who preceded the regular troops, soon reduced them to a state of nudity, in which they remained exposed to the view of the public some hours after tranquillity and order had been restored.
45. The treaty of Yassi signed in 1792, binds the Porte to consult the Russian ambassadors on the choice of the Hospodars, and to appoint none but such as are approved of, or recommended by, the embassy. It contains also the stipulation of their remaining seven years at the head of the principalities.
46. The Prince’s daughter.
47. The author alludes to the Sultan and the body of Orthodox Mahometans.
48. The late Sultan Abdullhammid.
49. Died.
50. The Christians.
51. Turkey.
52. 1770.
53. He is called Kannuni from the new canon, or system of military administration which he established, and is the same whom we call ‘Solyman the Magnificent.’
54. True believers.
55. Lower order of grocers.
56. The common Janissaries usually follow these trades.
57. There is a tribe of Courdes so called.
58. A kind of soldiers in Asia.
59. Oriental Metaphor.
60. The Christian kings are so called from the Servian word Cral or Prince. More honourable titles are given to Mahometan sovereigns, and to the King of France, who has secured to him by treaty, that of emperor.
61. Christian Europe.
62. America.
63. A form of deprecation, as much as to say, “May the devil take no advantage of the suggestion.”
64. 1792, A.D.
65. It would appear that this person had returned from an embassy to Turkey.
66. The author seems here to allude to the Empress Catherine, and to some project that had been laid before her of completing the conquest of Constantinople.
67. Western or European Christians.
68. The Empress.
69. The Archipelago.
70. These reservoirs are situated among the hills and woods between the Black Sea and Propontis, in the forests of Belgrade and Domouzdéré.
71. The author of the project most probably meant the taking possession of the reservoirs, and suspending the course of the waters to Constantinople.
72. It is believed that the Empress Catherine had formed the plan of a similar expedition, and that her death prevented its timely execution. When in 1812, the approaching war between France and Russia rendered the cessation of hostilities, on the Turkish frontiers, absolutely necessary to the future operations of the Russians against the French, it had been determined, and measures were taken accordingly, that an army composed of regular troops, marines, and militiamen, amounting to fifty thousand men, under the command of the Duke of Richelieu, should have been transported from Sevastopol in the Crimea to Domouzdéré, where its landing was to be effected under the protection of a fleet, commanded by Admiral Bailie. This army was to take possession of the reservoirs, and the Turks by whom the event would have been perfectly unexpected and unforeseen, would, no doubt, have been compelled to sign peace immediately. This bold scheme was to have been executed in case any new difficulties had arisen in the negotiations of Bukorest. It has been kept so secret, that it is doubtful whether any Turk suspects, even at the present day, its having been conceived and seriously intended.
73. A Turkish proverb.
74. The deceased Sultan.
75. Teryak, formerly an article of trade coming from Venice, is supposed in Turkey to be a remedy against the bite of snakes.
76. The titles of some superior officers amongst the Janissaries.
77. A corps of gardeners for the Seraglio, but at the same time the Sultan’s body-guards.
78. Regiment.
79. Mahometan priest.
80. The Thracian Bosphorus.
81. These are proverbial expression to denote the vicissitudes of fortune.
82. The Janissaries.
83. Before the institution of the Janissaries, the corps employed in war were chiefly called Segbans.
84. Hagee-Bektash, whose memory is reverenced by the Turks.
85. The Christian Sovereigns of Europe.
86. Markwick Markham, a London watch-maker, in great esteem with the Turks.
87. 7 or 800 leagues.
88. Men of sense.
89. A kind of confection sold in the streets of the principal towns in Turkey, made of paste, butter, and honey.
90. An epithet of disdain, bestowed upon Christians in general.
91. The honour of the Turkish regiments is attached to the preservation of their kettles.
92. The Turks call the head-quarters of a corps, as well as their posts and guards, hearths, as coffee is always made there.
93. In the reign of Sultan Selim, the petty governors of Thrace revolted, and committed great disorders, even menacing the neighbourhood of Constantinople. The city of Adrianople took part with them. The new troops were sent against them, but did not obtain so much success as the author is willing to attribute to them.
94. Men, commonly dervises, who relate stories to amuse people at coffee-houses, and who receive a pecuniary recompense from the auditors.
95. It also means infidel, but it has the sense of reproach or insult.
96. This has happened to them at Zenta, Craoul, Rimnik, Hotim, and Aboukir.
97. Peter the Great. The epithet of mad is in Turkey considered as a compliment to those who distinguish themselves by courage and bravery.
98. Meaning the Author.
99. Domouz, and pezevenk in Turkish, are common epithets which mark disdain.
100. I have seen and conversed with Turkish women in Russia, married to Russian officers who had made them prisoners, and who assured me that they were very highly satisfied with their condition, and felt not the least desire to return to Turkey.
101. The Turks consider the marriage contract to be so intimately connected with religion, that a man who has committed any grievous infraction of their law, is obliged to renew his profession of faith and marriage ceremony, both of which have been rendered void by it.
102. The Author.
103. This is a jeu de mots, as Hazinay means in Turkish, both cistern and treasure.
104. The military and financial regulations of the Sultan Suleÿman are contained in a book entitled Kanuni-Humayoun, or Imperial-Mandate.
105. The Janissaries can easily alienate their pay, suffering others to draw it in their name by presenting these documents.