Letters on Turkey; an account of the religious, political, social, and commercial condition of the Ottoman Empire ... Translated from the French ... by Lady Easthope

Letter I

Territorial divisions — Population — Races — Religions 14 LETTER n. General idea of the Tanzimat — Definition of the word Tanzimat — Origin of the Tanzimat — Hatti-sherif of Gulhaneh — Division of tiie Tanzimat into four sections : 1. Government — Of the Sultan — The Grand Vizir — The Sheikh-ul-Islam or Mufti — Ministry of the Privy Council — Councils of the Empire : Council of State and of Ju?tice — Of Public Instruction — Of War — Of the Ordnance — Of the Admiralty — Of Finance — Of Public Works — Of Mines — Of Police — Of Military Stores — Chancery of State — Interpreters' Department. 2. Administrative and Financial Section — Eyalets or General Governments. 3. Judicial employments — Mevleviets — C&zas. 4. MilHary dignities - - Ordous — Detached Corps 27

Letter III

The Koran. Rationale of the Koran — Simplicity of its Doctrine — Purity of its Moral teaching . . 51 a CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. IV

Letter IV

I. The Ulema. Origin of the Ulema, or body of Ulemas — Its encroachments — Fetvahs — Division into three branches : lst. Judges, Cadis ; 2nd. Interpreters of the Law, Muftis ; 3rd. Ministers of Worship, Imaums — Constitution and hierarchy of the Ulema — Table of degrees Page 65

Letter V

the religious state of Islam — continued. II. The Dervishes. Origin of Dervishism — The Sofis — The fundamental principles of their doctrine — Pantheism — Extracts from the Mesnevi of Mewlana Djeladeddin, aud the Gulistan of Saadi — Est ment of the first orders of Dervishes — Reaction of the political power ; of the Ulema ; of the Sunnite orthodoxy — Coalition be* ween the Dervishes and the Janissaries — Suppression of the Bektashi Dervishes under Sultan Mahmoud — The Den : the present day — Impossible for the Government to obtain their acquiescence in its reforms ...... 87

Letter VI

The Political Power. The origin and characteristic;; of the Ottoman sovereignty — The Caliphate — Transmission of the Caliphate from Abou-bekir, the first successor of Mohammed, to the present Sultan Abdul-Medjid — Eights and duties of the Sovereign — The absence of spiritual authority — Supremacy of the law CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. V

Letter VII

Os Legislation. Distinction between the civil and religious law (Cher'iat) and the political la own) — The sources of the Cher'iat — The Koran — The Sunna, or Tradition — The L ' net, or Collection of the Decisions of the. four first Caliphs — Tlie Kyas — Collections of Musulman jurisprudence — The Multeka — Analysis of the Multeka — Moral and religious code — Political code — Military code — Civil code — Penal code — Commercial code — Game law — Changes introduced in the legislation by the reforms — Penal code of 1840 — The decrees of 1840 — The commercial code of 1850 Page 134

Letter VIII

Of the Administration of Justice and the Dispensers of the Laws. Of the administration of Justice by the Civil Courts — Composition and mode of proceeding of the Civil Tribunals — Criminal Tribunals — Mixed Tribunals of Commerce — Correctional Mixed Tribunals — Organisation of the Judicial Body — Salaries and emoluments ot" the Judges — Various abuses — Ideal of a magistrate as set forth ir. the Law of Mahomet .... 167

Letter IX

Of Public Instruction. Defects of the old system of Public Education in Turkey — Mektebs — Mudiresehs — Reorganisation of Public Education in 1845 — Primary or elementary Education — Secondary or intermediate Education — li. Education — Schools at Constantinople for Special instruction — Imperial Academy of Science and Literature — Necessity for the prompt completion of reform in National Education VI CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

Letter X

Public Libraries, with a Sketch of Ottoman Literature. Public Libraries — Seraglio Library — Library of the Muhammediieh — Library of St. Sophia— of the Suleymanieh — of Abdul-Hamed — of the Grand Viziers Kupruli- Ahmed and Raghib Pasha — Sketch of Literature in Turkey — of works on Theology, Jurisprudence, Philosophy and Science, Poetry, History — Catalogue of works printed since the year 1728 .... Page 213

LETTER XL

Journalism in* Turkey. Earliest attempts at Journalism in Turkey — The Moniteur Ottoman — List of the principal Journals and Periodicals published in Constantinople and other parts of the empire . . . 246

Letter XII. Financial Condition And Revenue Of Turkey

I. Of the Origin and Nature of Property. Allotments at the Conquest — Division of Property into three classes : Patrimonial, Crown, and Ecclesiastical — Tithe and Tributary Lands — Military Fiefs — Vakfs or Vacoufs . 254

Letter XIII. Sequel Of The Finances

LI. Budget of Receipts. Oust imary revenue of Turkey — Tithes — Vergu, or income-tax — Capitation-tax, or Kharadj — Customs — Indirect ta. Stomps, Excise, Duties, Salines and Fisheries, Mines, Imperial Posts — On the mode of levying the taxes . . CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. VII

Letter XIV. Of The Finances

The Expenditure. The Sultan's Civil List ; household of the palace — Civil List of the Sultana Valideh, and of the Sultan's sisters — Salaries of the is functionaries — Local and municipal expenditure — Roads, paving, &c. — Subvention to the Vacoufs — Pensions — Subon to the Ottoman Bank; — Deterioration of the Coinage; ■ ig oi* KaimeTis (Treasury Bonds) ; new coins, called Medjidies — A i regulate the rate of exchange — Old Bank of ■mtinople — Statutes of the New Bank . . Page 284

Letter XV

Of Agriculture and Manufacturing Industry. General reflections — Singular dignity wherewith the religious law and tradition have invested the profession of husbandman and merchant in Turkey. — I. Of Agriculture: Advantages presented by Turkey on the score of agriculture and commerce — Aspect and chief productions of European Turkey and of Asia Minor — Contrasts — Attempts made by the Government to improve the of agriculture — Commission of inquiry — Commissions for improvement — Examination of the chief causes of the decline of agriculture — Iguorance of the cultivators — Want of hands — Scarcity of specie — Want of roads. — If. Of Manufacturing try : Decay of native* industry — Its chief produce — Impossible for Turkey to compote with foreign countries , . 307

Letter XVI

General considerations — Commercial system of Turkey — Inland trade — Mutual exchanges of the ports and commercial places of Turkey — Exi hanges between Turkey and its tributary provinces — Foreign trade — General estimate — List of the different ries, their imports and exports : England, France, Austria, Russia, Persia, Belgium, Greece and the Ionian Islands — Italy, Switzerland and Holland, &c NOTICE. The last two or three Letters of this Volume are by another Translator.