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for a 'bad administration. schools of agriculture have been established, where the theory of scientific cultivation is taught, and immense experimental farms, conducted by competent persons, have been formed in various parts of the country, for the purpose of affording the peasantry, and cultivators generally, practical examples of the application of those theories. There is also a large agricultural colony on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. From the journalists and book-. makers, whose allotted task it is to represent Turkey as incurably lost, not one word is ever heard of these efforts of the Government, vigorous and systematic, to spread a knowledge of agriculture among the people. Let us apply our principle of comparison even here. Notwithstanding the famine and the exodus, is the agriculture of Ireland yet rescued from barbarism? How long is it since scientific agriculture became the fashion in England? In Belgium, which used to be the (kitchen) garden of Europe, and whose people were supposed to have perfected the art of cultivation, the very same means of imparting knowledge which we have described as being employed in Turkey, are now made use of by the Government. It is remarkable, too, that the Belgian Government, one of the most enlightened and beneficent in Europe, was anticipated in this great work two or three years by the Government of Turkey. The radical error, or fallacy, of all reasoners on the condition of the Turkish peasant, consists in the comparison tacitly instituted between his condition and that of the more artificially trained native of the western countries. That man is rich who possesses as much as he desires : the wants of the Turkish peasant are so few and so simple, that even the languid and imperfect cultivation he bestows on the soil is enough to meet them. The favouring climate enables him to content himself with the simplest and most primitive of domicilessometimes a tent suffices-while the produce of his fields and his flocks furnishes him with all he requires for his food and clothing, and something to exchange for his almost sole

luxuries, his coffee and his tobacco. Why should we reproach him because he accepts life and enjoys it as best he may, happily ignorant of that feverish passion for gain which consumes the energies and poisons the existence of the natives of the West? The Government of Turkey is now alive to the necessity for marching with the progress of civilization; to the want of internal communication; to the sensible though remote competition of western nations in every branch of production wherein the Turks once excelled. Already efforts are being made to put the finances of the country on such a footing as will permit the necessary expenditure: much is accomplished; and more will follow, if the war forced on Turkey by Russia, seemingly with the object of repressing her nascent energies, does not impede the patriotic designs of the Sultan and his advisers.

Turkish mechanical industry has shared the fate of all normal or manual processes of manufacture. In most of the western countries, the word manufacture' is a palpable misnomer in Turkey, with some exceptions, it can still be applied to industry. The capital and machinery of England, and the minor manufacturing states Prussia, France, Belgium, &c.- have distanced all competition, by producing articles which come within the means of the million, and at the same time diminish the demand for the finer and more beautiful fabrics which formerly attested the taste and ingenuity of individual artificers. Here, again, false ideas have been suggested with regard to Turkey. Time was, when she had manufactures of arms, of velvet, of silk stuffs, of leather, of rich cloths, of jewellery, of gold thread, &c., &c., which were famous all over the world, and for which the wealthy paid high prices. But the capital and machinery of the West have made fatal inroads on all this valuable industry. They have created new tastes and habits in dress, which again they have provided for in productions so cheap that the native makers could not compete with them. The four millions sterling of British manufactures, to say nothing of those of

other countries, annually entering Turkish ports, explains the altered condition of Turkish industry far better than any theories of race, or hypotheses of inevitable decay. The Turkish Government has long been alive to the danger, and has made convulsive and expensive but fruitless efforts to arrest the progress of this competition. How? By imposing prohibitory import duties? No; that barbarism it has left to the Christian nations of the north and west. How, then? By the very expedients adopted by some of those Christian nations themselves within the last few years, in order to stimulate their subjects to a struggle with England in the modern modes of manufacture. The Sultan and his advisers attempted themselves to establish factories and founderies, but they discovered that the European manufacturer could deliver the article in Constantinople at a lower price than the Government could manufacture it at on the spot. Still, as the movement is in its infancy, it is impossible to say what may not be done in time, should extraneous causes permanently raise the price of labour in the Western States, and should tranquillity enable the Turkish Government to develop its new plans for the reintegration and re-organization of the finances of the country. The contemporaneous stimulus to agriculture, should it succeed, will bring about a solution of present difficulties more in accordance with the laws of political economy, inasmuch as it will enable the Turks to exchange their natural productions for the manufactures of the West. As it is, we would only caution the reader against the assumption that the decline of Turkish manufacturing industry is any more conclusive proof of a decay of race, than is afforded by the reduced condition of those classes of the population in western countries, whose subsistence was derived from manufacture in the strict sense of the term, and who have been to a considerable extent 'starved out' by the rapid progress of machinery. The English hand-loom weaver, and the Flemish tisserand, are not cited as examples of decay in either country, yet they are in a con

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siderably worse position than the manufacturer of Bagdad or Aleppo, or any other of those numerous cities which once swarmed with the industrious artificers of the East.

The commerce of Turkey is in a better condition than its industry. Taking the imports and the exports together, it may be estimated at somewhat under twenty millions sterling per annum, exclusive of about one million for the commerce with the European tributary provinces, and of about five millions and a quarter, the commerce of Egypt, as shown in the exports and imports of Alexandria, those to and from Turkish ports not being included in the calculation. The trade between Turkey and England has increased to an extraordinary extent, from about half a million (of imports) in 1827, to upwards of four millions in 1852. It should be observed, however, that not much more than half these English imports are consumed in Turkey, the remainder passing by way of Trebizond to Persia. Turkey receives chiefly our cotton manufactures, linen manufactures, hardware, iron, coal, and colonial produce. Our chief imports from Turkey are flax, raw silk, grain of various kinds, opium, &c. France is not in so favourable a position as regards her commerce with Turkey; the gross total of imports into Turkey from France being about a million, while the exports of Turkey to France exceed two millions. The total commerce of Turkey with Russia (exports and imports) is somewhat more than a million and a half sterling, the balance of exports and imports being slightly in favour of Russia; with Austria, nearly three millions sterling; with Holland and Belgium about 360,000l.; with Persia about one million; with Switzerland, the United States, and other countries, about a million and a half. These are all more or less on the increase, and do not include the commerce of Egypt by way of Alexandria. The navigation of Turkey, which is chiefly carried on by foreigners, is on the increase; but the most remarkable evidence of progress is to be found in the rapid and vast extension of steam navigation for

mercantile purposes. Between 1841 and 1849 the number of these steamers entering Constantinople had increased from 274 to 486. There is, as our readers are aware, a direct and constant communication by first-class steamers between Southampton and Constantinople, and recently there has been established a similar line from Liverpool. The communication between the capital and the main parts of the empire, in the Levant, the Archipelago, and the Black Sea, is singularly well-organized and regular. As we are not writing a full description of the Ottoman Empire, but only putting forth a few facts as materials for forming a correct

opinion as to its resources, it is not necessary here to enter into details of the internal organization of the Turkish administration; but we may touch the subject with this general remark, that the great majority of recent representations are one-sided, and do not sufficiently consider the counteracting argument derived from the essential Orientalism of the people.

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Of the military resources Turkey it is the less necessary to speak in detail, because they have of late been the subject of so much explanation and discussion. The ordinary active force of the empire is about 140,000 men; the reserve of equal number. These, with the irregular force of 61,500, and the contingents of 110,000, make up a total force of nearly 500,000 men. These numbers, however, were estimated in the year 1850, and they inadequately represent the forces which have been brought into the field by Turkey, to resist Russian aggression. All the troops in the service of Turkey are, according to report, well fed, well paid, and in an effective condition. As to the navy, opinions are less unanimous. In 1850, the Turkish navy numbered 74 ships of all sizes, with 4000 guns, and manned by 25,000 men. Since

that date, this branch of the Turkish force has been much increased; and, as in the case of the army, the men are said to be well cared for and well paid, according to Oriental notions.

The financial system of Turkey, from being brought more directly in contact than any other part of the

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machinery with the methods adopted in the west, appears by comparison to be in a barbarous state. On a closer examination, we find a direct resemblance in the items of taxation and revenue; but a rude fiscal system is combined with what in this country would be described liberal legislation. Our details are taken from the budget of 1850, as commented upon by a French traveller who published the results of his observations, together with some interesting statements on Turkey, in one of the Paris newspapers, during and subsequent to his sojourn in the country. The total State expenditure of Turkey is 733,400,000 piastres, the total revenue 731,000,000. The latter is composed of tenths, 220,000,000 piastres; virgu, or income-tax, 200,000,000; taxes on non-Mussulman subjects, 40,000,000; customs duties, 86,000,000; indirect taxes, 150,000,000. The expenditure comprises the ordinary items of army, navy, civil service, and civil list, with the amounts of which we need not trouble the reader; and also an item of 12,500,000 for the maintenance of what is called the administration of Vakoufs.' It is in this direction, as well as in the reform of the coinage, that the regeneration or restoration of the Turkish financial system may be expected. The administration of the vakoufs is the holder of three-fourths of the landed property of Turkey, which at a period when the laws were powerless for protection, was consigned by the owners to its care, as being sacred. Under its management, this property yields but 20,000,000 piastres per annum; yet the State pays the 12,500,000 above-mentioned for the maintenance of mosques and charitable institutions. A partial parallel to this evil may be found in the maladministration of church and cathedral property in this country. The vakouf pays a rent to the owner, but that rent is calculated on the nominal coin, as it stood in former days, not at its present value. The scheme of the new statesmen of Turkey is to take this property out of the hands of the administration of vakoufs, and render it more productive, at the same time paying