Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/142

114 staying at Mytilene for several days. He was for some time secretary to the Turkish. Embassy at Vienna, and speaks French with perfect fluency, and very fair English. He has studied European manners, and has consequently substituted for the graceful and courtly ceremony of Turkish de- meanour a brusquerie which does not seem more natural to him than the European uniform does to the modern Turkish soldier; but he is a good, clear-headed man of business, and if his professions are to be believed, has severely reprimanded the Pasha for his conduct in the case which I had to refer to Constantinople. Probably, the Porte took advantage of this opportunity to extort from the unlucky governor of Mytilene a heavy subsidy in aid of the distressed finances of the empire. Ali Nehad Effendi asked me if I had any other grievances to complain of, and I pointed out to him that the commercial tribunal called Tijaret Mejlis had never been introduced into Mytilene, though it had now been established in the principal towns of the Turkish empire. This court is composed of Turkish and Christian members, of whom some are Ottoman subjects named by the Pasha, others Europeans chosen by their respective consuls. Its jurisdiction is restricted to purely commercial cases, and is guided by rides derived from the French Code de Commerce. It has now been established in Turkey for some years, and is of great service to the mercantile world. Ali Nehad Effendi at once carried out my suggestion, and ordered the Pasha to establish this tribunal. I took advantage of the visit