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elements of her own strength . Turkey dnce boring iresolred to conciliate these parties * may succeed in her purpose . Learning to look for justice where they may expedt impartiality ) the Greeks and Latins will at length perceive the advantages of the rule under which they lire . Tkus mutual benefits will go far to cement what might appear an anomalous connexion , and the strife of Christian fanaticism may yield : to the softening influences of the enlightened toleration of the Mussulman descendants of ]\ £ ahomet !
We ourselves cannot provide for the education of the people : sectarianism prevents the accomplishment of this highest and holiest duty ; but Turkey shows herself less sectarian than enlightened England ; and perhaps that apparently insurmountable difficulty may yet be overcome by the Porte . This , if practicable , would perhaps complete the moral regeneration of European Turkey ; for wherever education spreads , unqualifying sectarianism and relentless intolerance decrease . The screeching jackals of impure religions , and the bigoted supporters of doubtful and unimportant tenets of belief , shun the pure light of knowledge and advancing civilization .
But even the gradual abolition of these antagonistic elements must be accompanied by a physical regeneration of the countries , if the reform is to be complete . - The great rivers of European Turkey must be surveyed , deepened , or regulated , as necessity may demand . Those path-ways which now Berve in place of roads , must be widened , levelled , improved , and made more available for mercantile purposes . At present they are nearly useless , and in many portions of the various ^ provinces utterly impassable
for anything but pack-horses . Harvests are often destroyed or left to rot for want of a market , and these productive and extraordinarily fertile provinces , which are capable of becoming the granaries of Europe , are how suffered to be locked up by Russia's closing the Sulina mouth of the Danube * in direct contravention of the treaty to which Europe is party , and in direct contempt of the public opinion Of the West . Roads and water carriage provided ; the impediments which Servia , Moldavia , and Wallachia
have created between each other ; the duties , quarantines , and passport regulations they have established , the Porte should endeavou r to induce them to forego . A free intercommunication would thus become established , which would not a little tend to create material interests directly in antagonism to military ones , and be directly productive of large and constantly increasing revenues to the Ottoman power , and to the governments of the Principalities . Russia ' s sanatory cordon round Moldavia , and by which she " regulates" her proceedings in respect of all
travellers whose papers are " fumigated , would then be the only barrier against the civilization of the West . " Everything considered , " says Mr . Spencer , " the inhabitants of these provinces are not immod erately taxed , but it is the manner in which these imposts are levied , and the want of tact in the administration , together with th 6 rapacity ot the civil officers , which in too many cases render them an in tolerable grievance , that presses more Mussulman j
heavily on the Rayah than the . . ms arises in some part from the system of farming out the taxable districts , conferring the taxation as a fief , &c . Governments have successively civen up this system of farmers-general , and Soubtless the Porte will eventually do likewise The system is unproductive , oppressive through tho irresponsibility of the agents employed , and isTbesidel in many other respects objectionable . For tho rest , some" of the taxes deserve . repreto abuse Ot
ssion from tfelr very liability this nature is that tax demanded when the Sultan makes a tour of inspection . I < or , as in me oldendays of our English kings , provisions horses , the Rayah , all must bo at the service , o the S ultan , and the Sultan ' s servants estimate the Sultan ' s re quirements . " The land-tax being b ^ fc ^^ sais
alone should bo abolished , being a disgraceful P ?^ ? ur * z szss&& Zf miu » t Tlie MuBBulmau population . uo ZbleZt , >< m » annoyam ^ taegvJar t o
as the Rayah , and in this , therefore , w § can see that the even-handed injustice of the Sultan does not spare the children of his own faith . The revenue of Turkey is so variously estimated that anything like an approximate statement is difficult . Some authors calculate it at 6 , 000 , 000 / . ; some at more , some at less , than that sum . The following table , of exports and imports will , however , gire some idea of what TurkisH resources might become were they only more fully developed ! In 1850 , were imported at Constantinople , cotton and woollen manufactures , and some iron and zinc plates , from Liverpool , to the value of 751 , 0317 . From London , East and West India
produce , and various kinds of British manufactures , 223 , 4252 . From Southampton , fine cotton and woollen manufactures , cochineal , indigo , and other valuable articles , 833 , 6702 . From Liverpool , in screw steamers , similar products , 612 , 0002 . In a steamer from London , 16 , 3002 . From England generally , iron 27 , 0002 ., coals 87632 . ; in foreign vessels from England , coals and sundry goods , 38 , 4052 . j total , 2 , 512 , 5942 . ; and this , it must be remembered , is to the one port of Constantinople , the greatest centre of trade it
is true , but far from standing alone ; for we have yet Smyrna , Trebisond , Salonica , &c , and the ports ofthe Principalities to take into consideration . Galatz exported , in 1848 , 95 , 497 qrs . of maiae , 31 , 702 qrs . of Wheat , 4507 cwts . of tallow , and other miscellaneous products . In 1850 , the exports were somewhat lower ; in 1851 , 346 , 252 qrs ., besides bones , linseed , bales of wool , hides , &c . Galatz purchased , in One year alone , manufactures and twist to the value of 233 , 3102 . ! Wallachia exported , to the end of 1851 , 387 , 475 qrs . &cWalla
of grain , rapeseed , linseed , boneash , . - chia received in return 231 , 3302 . worth of manufactured articles and other goods ! The bulk of the trade of these provinces is with England . Servia , Bosnia , &c . communicate more with Austria , and the importance of opening up extensive channels of commerce with all these countries may be in part appreciated by the foregoing extracts . Notwithstanding the small comparative geographical extent of our ally ; our exports to the East more than double the value of our
trading connexion with Russia ; and as to Austria , she is unworthy of being mentioned as a purchaser at all . The old exclusiveness of the Mussulman is now no more ; the moment is propitious for his thorough and complete regeneration , and for the perfect administration of his provinces . We have shown why this administration is to be looked for from Abdul Medjid , and not from the European population themselves . We have shown also how much more inclined to trading connexion we find the population of Turkey than
the inhospitable savages of Russia , or even the enlightened Czar . The results of our policy will either open up these provinces , and enable the Sultan , unassailed from without , to calm the hatreds of his Christian subjects , and to pursue a general career of progressive reform , or surrender tlie finest and most fertile of districts to Russia , and encourage the hatreds of creeds an 4 races , and perpetuate tho barbarism of the country . It is for British statesmen to choose their course , and it is for the nation to confirm them in it , if the nation cannot choose for
itself . „ , . , i l There is but one more fashionable argument against tho maintenance of tho Turkish power in Europe which I will allude to here . The European provinces possess a Christian population of about 10 , 000 , 000 , and a Mussulman population of about 3 , 000 , 000 , or a little more . Tho Mussulman population of Asia , however , brings tho total Mussulman power to 17 , 000 , 000 . Wo havo , therefore , 17 , 000 , 000 of Turks against 10 , 000 , 000 of disunited Christians . This , it is proclaimed , renders Turkish rule impossible , and yet the very persons who venture upon this assertion , defend the Austrian domination of 6 , 000 , 000 Germans
over 30 , 000 , 000 of Slavonians , Hungarians , Croatians , Sea . !—not to speak of tho blessings of Austrian " rights" in Italy . . This is a better despotism , I suppose , supported , as it is , not only by hangings , floggingB , wholesale imprisonments , and a military ferocity without parallel , but also leaning upon tho bayonets of Russia for subsistence ! Bid I not speak truly , sir , when I asked , " Where is inconsistency to end—where is consistency to bogin P" Alpha .
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"A STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . The conversation , on Thursday night , between Lord John RusSell , Mr . William Williams , and Mr . Milner Gibson , was very indicative that we are in July : the ihqiiiry being—when will the innocents be massacred ? Herod Lord John hot being quite able to say : while assistant " Leader" Lord Palmerston is found , at a later hour tbe same evening , recommending suicide , as likely to promote business , to the , independent , members who have " notices" for Wednesdays . When it was ascertained that the India Bill was safe—the safety of the Budget having been already assured—the session
inevitably was marked out for the dulness which attends the execution of formalities—the completion of a routine in . which no more room is left for party risks : and " at this period , " as almanack writers would say , members of narrow chests and small heads begin to discover that morning sittings are preferable to evening sittings , that the enlightened Senate is . too . much given to talking , and that , generally , the House of Commons does not comprehend the best methods of doing business—remarks never made , not even by Mr . Ewart , who , though he never got a hearing , could always find
satisfaction in conscientious listening , when the House came fresh to the full swing of the " noble competition" of parties . No doubt , when the orators go out and the business members come in , it is very heavy work : when Brotherton is in the ascendant , we know the nation is getting on ; but we are not amused : and in the " club" view of the House of Commons , the William Brown class are bores ; though to no class is the country—which , however , has very little to Bay in the matter—more extensively indebted . How is it to be expected that the young patrician , disgusted both with the season and the session , or the dilettante
Mr . Ewart class , perpetually in search of first principles , and taking the pedantic view of human progress , should find ah interest in a morning sitting ? A morning sitting is like a committee meeting on the stage of a theatre in the day time : tho groups get light through the gallery sky-lights ; there is a musty smell of properties , and a clammy sensation of dauby side-scenes ; and everybody looks dismal , and hideously out of place . The House in the day time is like a theatre in the daytime : you can't get over the conviction , that it is only rehearsal before you ; and you m iss the lights and the spangles ;
and caniiot get up the delusion which after ten at night impresses you with the belief , that the greatest national Senate in the world is acting and speaking history * The young patricians , consequently , stay away ; the debaters shut themselves up over their blue-books , correspondence and impromptus ; the dilettanti M . P . ' s devote themselves to calculating what they will save in their yearly incomes by the new cab regulations ; and Great Britain is handed over to James Wilson , Joseph Brotherton , and William Brown . And when the morning sittings s et in , the business members get an
impetus which carries them predominant over the evening sittings too ; the character of the Session changes ; work is got through , and debating is suppressed . . And then , when people are merely bored , they fancy they are over worked ; and intolerable twaddle is talked , and even written , on that point . There is no reason whatever why Parliament Bhould not sit the whole year round ; in this age of railways and electric telegraphs all recesses art ; lunacies , but the long recess of six months is only to be regarded as a wide national mischief . Parliament tries to do in four months the
work of a year , and ifc does its work badly in consequence ; and clearly would enjoy better health , make better speeches , anil take more cheerful views , if it eat all tho year round , anil divided the day , like other men of business , in a rational and easy manner . But the talk of over work is absurd ; absurd in a leading journal which is got out by men who work every day as hard as Mr . Gladstone works in tho Session , and who do that work the whole vear round . Ifc in
absurd—because tho talk ia generalised , as if tho House , in tho aggregate , suffered equally ; as if all Members worked alike ; and as if tho same Members wore always "tho House . " Undoubtedly a Minister , when his department ia involved , munt keep his brain and body nt full stretch to keep pace with the neecsNities of Government . IJut > excepting Mr . Gladstone mul Mr . Wilson , Sit Clmrlea Wood and Mr . Lowe , Lord Clarendon and Sir James Graham , which of tho Ministers can bo said to
brt laborious or laboured P Lord Aberdeen has not got tho nnturo which would feel tho killing excitement of work if ho had it ; Lord John ' s groat grievance i » that bo i » idle ; Lord Pnlmerfiton is too clever a husbancler over to have tho sensation of being tired . And ttsk thoso who aro worked if they do not onjoy it P Great labour at groat posts is great happiness ; and the tson-Kntion of imuitul satisfaction ( men got used Mo % h * ildgottinesM of responsibility ) is in itself a preservative of health ; while , as a rulo also , hard work ia the cause
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Iwtv 18 , 18 g 3 . ] THE LEADER . 689 ¦ ' " J » J * MbaS !! gSJfL' * "JLLL ' - « . «* Wj ^ . ii .. ¦¦¦ " *!»''"*¦ -i ' - ' . f ^ ' mi ... | . i" *» ii * J'iL * n * . t' 'ib « hj . «» ii <¦>¦*»»»¦' ¦ . i . n . ' --- .- .. . - , r ... _^___ _ . . _ . ¦ ¦ ... . - ¦¦ . — . i ¦¦?»»¦ ¦ ¦ - ¦—— ¦ ¦¦¦ . ¦ ¦ - _ ¦ — : —I—J—1—————^
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Leader (1850-1860), July 16, 1853, page 689, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1995/page/17/
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