Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/71

 TURKEY 59 ing a few whose wealth secures them special privileges. They are despised by the Turks and periodically persecuted by the Greekjs. The Turks fully respect only foreigners in- vested with official rank or with powerful pro- tection. In the absence of such prestige, the slightest provocation is apt to reveal their in- nate prejudices against the giaour, though, when not under the influence of fanatical or criminal passion, they are remarkable for their dignity and courtesy, and for honesty in their private relations. The Turkish government, or Sublime Porte, is an absolute monarchy, the rule of which is vested in a sultan (officially called padishah, supreme ruler) of the dynasty of Othman. The sultan is allowed to govern in the most arbitrary manner, except in mat- ters of religion and law, which require the con- currence of the sheikh ul-Islam (grand mufti). The succession to the throne has from the first been vested in the oldest surviving male mem- ber of the ruling family. The late sultan, Ab- dul-Aziz, wished to secure the throne to his eldest son Yusuf, making the succession direct from father to son, a change which was estab- lished in Egypt in 1866; but he encountered an invincible opposition to any deviation from the ancient rule, and was succeeded by the heir apparent, his nephew Mehemet Murad (born in 1840), the eldest son of the sultan Abdul-Medjid. Former sultans have frequent- ly secured the succession to their sons by put- ting to death immediately on their accession all their other male relatives. The civil list of Abdul-Aziz was raised from 900,000 in 1868 to 1,200,000 in 1873, and he annually received besides 500,000 for pensions and charities, derived an additional revenue from crown domains and from presents, and might at his pleasure raise unlimited amounts. His actual annual expenditure was estimated at 4,- 500,000. This extravagance in the midst of na- tional insolvency and peril shook even the loy- alty of the orthodox Moslem, especially as the people were everywhere ground down by tithes and by the rapacity of tax-gatherers and other officials. The empire is divided into vilayets, under governors general (valis). They are sub- divided into sanjaks (districts) under gover- nors (mutessarifs), and these into cazas (cir- cles) under lieutenant governors (kaimakams), and the latter into nahiyes (communes). The mayors of villages are called muTchtars. The former eyalets or pashalics have been united or changed into vilayets. The provincial gov- ernors, who generally hold the rank of pasha, formerly had the right of sentencing persons to death; this has been withdrawn, but they still rule arbitrarily, particularly in remote dis- tricts, and are frequently in collision with the rayahs and the protected foreigners. Even after their proven dishonesty or unfitness, they are generally not dismissed from the service, but only transferred to a less important office. New territorial divisions are often created merely in order to make places for influential -The grand vizier presides over the council of ministers. This comprises the grand vizier's councillor, who acts as minister of the interior, the president of the supreme council of justice, who acts as minister of justice, and the ministers of foreign affairs, war, finance, navy, commerce, police, public works and quar- antines, education, and archives, the superin- tendent of mosque property, and the president of the council of state established in 1868. The department of taxes, the united postal and telegraph services, and the mining department are respectively in charge of directors general. The ministerial council corresponds to the Eu- ropean cabinets, while the new council of state is intended for the preliminary discussion of new laws and public measures. This body comprises an executive department, and four others, devoted to finance, justice, education, and commerce, and consists of 50 Mohamme- dan and Christian members chosen by the sul- tan. A scheme for the reorganization of the police and of the collectors of taxes, the latter to supersede the policemen (zaptiehs), was in 1876 in process of adoption. In 1868 a su- preme court for civil and criminal cases was substituted for the former grand council of justice, and the office of attorney general was created early in 1876. There are courts of appeal in the capital of each vilayet, and vari- ous superior tribunals exist all over the coun- try, about 100 subordinate tribunals, and mixed courts for settling cases between Mohamme- dans and non-Mohammedans, besides the con- sular courts. This divided jurisdiction natu- rally results in complications. The ancient "capitulations" relating to foreign jurisdiction were recently abolished in Egypt as altogether obsolete, and they have been modified in Tur- key proper, but without satisfactorily settling the questions at issue. Among the treaties with foreign nations now in force are extra- dition and reciprocal naturalization treaties re- cently concluded with the United States. The crown lands (miri) include the larger portion of the soil. They are granted on lease, and for- feited if the cultivation is neglected for three years. The land appropriated to mosques and for other religious purposes, to schools, and to charitable institutions, consists of real es- tate originally granted by the crown (vaJcuf el-zarai), and of private legacies for the same purposes (vakuf el-Tear amain). The grants of land (maliTcaneJi) originally made for military purposes and for the pilgrimages to Mecca are hereditary and free from tithes. The fourth and least considerable form of tenure is free- hold property (mullcJi), chiefly consisting of city estates and of land adjoining villages. For- eigners can now hold real estate in their own names, on the same terms as natives. The great Turkish landed proprietors are far more independent of the government than the land- ed aristocracy of Great Britain and continental Europe ; the most ancient and powerful of them in Aidin, Brusa, and other parts of the empire,