this branch of business, the number of the Sarrafs was under eighty, or nearly the number of the Pachas; and, as by their refusal to become guarantee, they could reduce any Turkish Governor to the condition of a private individual, they, in fact, farmed out the provinces at their pleasure, and for their profit; at last they even carried their authority so far that no banker would consent to become the Sarraf of a Pacha without a note of hand from his former Pacha, declaring that all his demands had been paid. The confidential agent who accompanied the Pacha to his province was generally a relative of the Sarraf. All money transactions passed through his hand, and the commission and other perquisites were very considerable. This agent received the revenue of the province, for which his principal had become responsible, and trafficked in its produce, which he managed to obtain at a reduced price, as tributary exaction, &c. Thus, to every Pacha a steward was attached, like a sucking-fish to a shark, from whom, let him writhe ast he liked, he could not get rid-who watched his movements, commanded his resources, and, while urging him to repeated acts of violence and extortion, only left him a portion of the plunder. The Pacha could not throw him off because his office depended on the guaranteeship, and he could not possibly induce him to plot against the Porte, because the bulk of the Armenians' fortunes, and the principal of the firm, were at Constantinople, where his own family was also retained as hostages, and whence they were suffered, under no pretence, to depart. It was, then, by this body of bankers, jobbers, and speculators, that Turkey secured the payment of her revenue, and surrounded her governors with a financial thraldom and espionage, through which the boldest arms never succeeded in breaking; while, at the same time, the Pachas were driven to such excesses of extortion, that enmity was placed between the province and its Governor: and though he might amass treasure, levy troops, and assume a show of power and strength, he had no firm hold on his office, because the very means he had necessarily taken to maintain his authority, had rendered him the object of hatred.* Thus, the empire was given up to a body of plunderers, composed of the high Turkish functionaries and the Sarrafs, while only a small portion of the money raised flowed into the Imperial treasury. Sultan Selim was the first who attempted to remedy these abuses and augment the receipts of the treasury by subjecting the farmers to a new system of government control. After him, Sultan Mahmud issued an edict by which the Pachas were ordered to manage their Pachaliks on account of the State, and no longer on their own. This wise measure, which was * Urquhart's 'Turkey and its Resources.' first applied to Armenia and several other provinces in Asia Minor, was only a few years prior to the Hatti-scheriff of Gülhane, which promised a revision of the system. The conclusion of the Hatti-scheriff announced that the Council of Justice would assemble without delay, in order to settle this question. In the meanwhile, however, the old system continued in force, and the principal functionaries of the government still had the leases granted to them, either in their own name, or in that of the Sarrafs. The fatal results of this system were attempted to be modified by the adoption of certain measures, by which the rights of the State and those of private persons should be maintained; for instance, the restrictions placed upon the authority of the Pachas, by the separation of the administration, financial and military functions, formerly united under one head; the creation of special agents to receive the revenue; and, finally, by the extension of the municipal system, and the establishment of provincial councils, to whom was intrusted the administration and collection of the taxes. Spite of these wise measures, the State was continually plundered, the population oppressed and ground down, and the deficit in the miri was augmented, instead of being diminished. Two years ago, the committee which was appointed to examine into the different questions relating to finance, decided that no agent of the government should for the future obtain leases, and that those who acquired them in the name of other parties, should be prosecuted. But the law is of no use if not applied, and in addition, this was not sufficient; it was not enough merely to regulate and ensure the collection of the taxes, but their character must be entirely changed and modified. |