larly paraded. To a stranger who had left Constantinople before the Revolution, and visited it immediately after, the change in a year or two was very striking. The military used to have something' of mystery about it, that no one ever saw; it was like some secret engine of despotism that lay concealed till it was pushed out with rude and fearful violence, and then again disappeared. People never had a sight of it, except they met it in straggling groups on a march; and when arrived in towns, it was shut up in kishlas or barracks, which, like the mosques, no one was allowed to enter.

The first sound that now strikes a stranger, on entering the city, is that of a fine military band, and the first sight is a regular regiment marching through the streets. If he goes in the morning or evening to a public parade, he will see soldiers drawn out in line, regularly exercised, and hear excellent music, to which groups of well-dressed people are listening, while they walk up and down. 'Tis true, there are many things in this approximation to European usage, which still remind him that he is not at the Horse-guards or the Castle-yard. The soldiers appear to have no shirts, they are not yet reconciled to the restraint of a stiff black stock, and the shoes which they have taken in exchange for slippers, are not in the neatest order; the greatest number are down at the heels, as if they were still slippers, and they are all dirty as if they never had been cleaned. -Every man got brushes for the purpose, but they have not yet been reconciled to them. Some orthodox Onbachi suggested that they were made of hog's bristles, and they thought the hair of this unclean animal would only defile them still more. These, and similar circumstances, trifling as they are, are yet indications of the inveteracy of habit, and the difficulty which the sultan had in conquering prejudices deeply rooted.

When his military reform was effected, he applied himself to other departments, and soon displayed an equal energy in every improvement. Öne of the greatest impediments to the introduction of knowledge, arose from the inveterate hostility of the Turks to any language but their own. Very few could read, and those few merely read

the Koran, almost the only book in Turkey, and that in an oriental language. When it was necessary to hold a communication with other nations on affairs of national policy, there was not a Turk to be found in the empire, who was able to maintain a conversation with any European agent, and it was always necessary to employ a Greek or a Frank as the medium of intelligence. Among the first acts of the sultan, was one to establish a school for European languages, and it was made a point, that Turks of rank should educate their children at it, in order to qualify them to become drogomans or interpreters, whenever it became necessary. This was at once an introduction to European literature, and tearing asunder the veil that concealed it from their view. But a few years ago, it was a hopeless and sometimes hazardous attempt to address a Turk in any language but his own. It is now common to meet welldressed men who can talk with you in French, Italian, and English more rarely; for the latter is a language of exceedingly limited circulation among the Franks.

even

A printing press had for many years been established at Constantinople, but had fallen into total disuse, till an attempt was made to revive it by Sultan Selim, among his other efforts to enlighten and improve his subjects; but this was too daring an enterprize for a well-meaning, but timid man; he soon fell a victim to his innovation, and his printing-office and his paper manufactory, for which he had given up one of his own palaces, were spurned at and cast into oblivion, when he himself had been put to death. But his more energetic successor not only revived them, but added an innovation altogether increditable to those who had only known the Turks a few years ago. We remember an editor of a London periodical, who, through inadvertency, inserted a paragraph that a newspaper was established at Constantinople-there was no epithet of ridicule that was not cast in his teeth by his contemporaries, and he was obliged in a subsequent number to apologize for his mistake. What will the scoffers now say, when they learn, that the Sultan has established not one, but four different newspapers in the several languages spoken in Turkey,

that every one of his subjects may be enlightened by a periodical printed in his own tongue.

The first is in the Turkish, published at the public printing-office now established at the Porte; this is nominally conducted by an Effendi, who has, since the opening of the office, distinguished himself by other literary publications, but the real editor is known, or said to be the Sultan, who writes himself some of the leading articles. The next issues from the patriarchal press of the Armenians in their own language, and circulates among that numerous community. The third is printed at the press of the Greek Patriarch, in Romaic or modern Greek, and enlightens the inhabitants of the Fanal; and the fourth is in French, for the Franks, and descendants of the Genoese, and other Europeans in Pera. All these are published weekly, and very extensively read. It is understood, that every Pacha, Muzzeleim, or other public man, must take a copy, as well for himself as for his district; so that in this way they are not confined to the capital, but sent over the provinces.

As yet the limited capabilities of the Turks impede their use by individuals. Among the mass of the population a very few, comparatively, are able to read them; but it is quite common for a number of persons to hire a reading room, where they sit round on stools, smoaking their chiboques, or nargellais, while a capable man is elevated in the centre, and reads the news for the company. Such a mode of communicating printed knowledge, is superseding the oral information of the story-teller, who was formerly the only enlightened man in the empire, from whom the Turks derived amusement and information. The number of readers is daily increasing, and in coffee-houses men are sometimes seen poring over the Gazette with their coffee, as in London or Paris.

The information contained in these periodicals is very varied and generally taken from the European papers. Many articles appear on arts and sciences, and useful improvements; many on literature, historical events, and amusing tales, and many on politics. The freedom allowed in this latter is unexpectedly great; debates

in the Chamber of Deputies and House of Commons, are extracted from the French and English newspapers, and the names and sentiments of M. Dupin and Mr. O'Connell are actually printed in Constantinople Gazettes, and the most violent declamation on liberty permitted to be read by Mussulmans and Armenians. It is true, indeed, the Sultan is not treated with the licence indulged against the Kings of France and England, and his name is never mentioned but with respect and admiration; it is always introduced as connected with some recent benefit he has conferred, or some improvement he has made, and never coupled with that gross and unmeaning personal adulation in which the “ Morning Post,” and other of such similar organs indulge to existing royalty.

The state of medical science was as low as that of literature; and the miserable expedients of the Hakins, or Turkish doctors, consisted in little more than amulets and charms. Frank physicians were held in higher estimation than the natives, and the city and country towns were inundated with quacks from Germany, France, and Italy, who having failed in other speculations, took up the trade of medicine, of which they were more profoundly ignorant, than of any other. To obviate the fatal effects of this, the Sultan established a school of medicine and surgery at the Porte, and set over it a Doctor Sat, an ingenious and intelligent Frenchman; in this school a course of lectures is given in the various branches of pharmacy, surgery, chemistry, and anatomy, and it is attended by two or three hundred pupils, from whom are taken the army medical officers, after a competent course of education. It is said that the dissection of human bodies will be soon introduced, and, notwithstanding the horror and repugnance of Turks, in general, to such a pollution, it is not, perhaps, greater than that entertained by many Christians in these countries, who think themselves very intelligent. Already has some approximation been made towards it. A student, who could not comprehend the mechanism of some part of the frame from mere description, contrived to get at a human body, and cutting off the part, he brought it next day to lecture for the edification of his companions, who

examined it without repugnance. The Sultan is favourable to it, and no doubt will have it adopted.

Among the prejudices of this kind which he has already conquered is that against vaccination. The strong and extravagant notions of predestination entertained by the Turks, had hitherto been carried so far, that they deemed it an act of impiety to take any precautions against that which Allah was pleased to send, and they rejected vaccination on this principle. But the Sultan adopted the argument of a Frank physician, that the process was not a prophylactic but a therapeutic, not intended as a protection against a coming evil, or to prevent a disease, but to heal one already existing in embryo, in the human constitution; and to show his own conviction on the point, he had his children vaccinated by the Doctor. His subjects soon were, or affected to be, satisfied with the propriety of the distinction, but were probably still more influenced by the example, and the practice thus introduced and recommended is gradually expanding itself.

But the greatest benefit rendered in this way to his subjects, is the establishment of a quarantine. Even after the awful visitation of the plague in 1812, the Turks of Constantinople could not be induced to take any precautions against this fearful malady. They saw that the Franks, who shut themselves up from all communication or contact with the infected, escaped amidst the carnage that surrounded them; yet they could not be persuaded to follow their example. They would not ventilate the apartment or wash the clothes in which the infected died, least it should appear like a distrust in Providence; and they carried this rooted misapprehension so far, that they would not suffer prayers to be offered up in the mosques to stay the plague, lest even that should appear to be a murmuring against the decrees of Allah, though 1000 persons a day were carried out of a particular gate to be buried. The Sultan was the first of his nation, who conquered this most Turkish absurdity. In the year 1830 he determined to establish a quarantine, on European principles, notwithstanding the many difficulties he had to encounter from local causes, as well as from the prejudices and superstitions of his subjects. The narrow straits

of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, being little more than ferries, afford facilities of communication between Asia and Europe, which it would seem impossible to impede; and when the plague was raging in one quarter of the globe, there seemed no means of preventing its importation into the other.

Not deterred by these and similar impediments, he applied to the Ambassadors of the different powers resident at Pera, for information on their respective quarantine establishments, to enable him to adopt the best plan for the purpose. The application to our Ambassador, Sir R. Gordon, was forwarded to England, and orders were sent to Malta that the plan of the noble Lazaretto at that place, should be sent to Constantinople. But this on examination, was found susceptible of much improvement, and one on a new model, adapted to the local circumstances of Turkey, was drawn up. With this Captain Schembri, the intelgent superintendant at Malta, arrived at Pera in May, 1831, when it was submitted to the Sultan and approved of, and orders were issued from the Porte for its future adoption. It is deeply to be regretted that the embarrassments and difficulties in which the government were soon after involved have prevented, hitherto, the completion of this plan, which when carried into effect, will be the most perfect of its kind in the world. The edifice alone will cost 1,600,000 piasters, or about £20,000 of our money, and instead of being a gloomy filthy prison, where everything that is disgusting and depressing to the spirits is added to rigid imprisonment like as in European Lazarettos, (as those who have been incarcerated in them can testify,) the apartments will be airy and elegant, ventilated by the breezes and enlivened by the current of the Bosphorus, situated in gardens and plantations affording pleasant walks, and compensating for the necessary detention, by rendering it as healthful and agreeable as possible. We notice this intended establishment, because it is not generally known, and we believe that few of our readers have ever heard of it. When completed it will considerably abridge the period and correct the annoyances of other quarantines, so justly and universally complained of. Turkey is the great cradle of contagion,

to guard against which the nations of Europe have drawn round her a vast and impassible cordon of these quarantines. Should similar precautions be taken in Turkey also, for the prevention and extinction of this disease, apprehension and exclusion will cease, and a free communication be universally established.

It would far exceed our limits to enumerate the many similar prejudices conquered and the many improvements proposed or executed by this extrarodinary and enlightened Turk, for the benefit of his subjects, which have not yet been published to the world we believe by any traveller, many of which inability alone prevents him from carrying into effect. When in 1831, Pera and a considerable part of Constantinople was burnt down by his inveterate enemies the Janissaries and their adherents, and 100,000 people were left without homes and lying in the burying grounds, he not only distributed large sums of money among the sufferers, and allocated public edifices for their immediate shelter, but he formed a plan to prevent the recurrence of that evil. One cause of the numerous and destructive fires in the capital is the facilities afforded to incendiaries by the narrowness of the streets and the combustible materials of the edifice. When the houses were now destroyed, and nothing remained but an open space, he had immediately drawn up the plan of a new town, with spacious streets and squares, which standing on such a noble site, would have equalled or surpassed in beauty the finest city in the world; in the mean time all building was suspended till the plan was complete and means were provided for carrying it into execution; but many of the proprietors of the former houses were bacculs, poor shopkeepers, who suffered severely from the suspension of their trade, and many others were persons in better circumstances, who had interests which they would not surrender; and as there is yet no "Commissioners for making wide and convenient streets" with ample powers, as in Dublin, the Sultan was obliged to yield to the clamours of the poor and rich, and defer his plan till another conflagration afford him another opportunity.

Nor were his benefits and good intentions confined to the capital. Among

the grievances complained of in Turkey was the arbitrary manner in which the taxes were levied, every Pacha exacted what he pleased in his pachalic, and the revenue which came to the Crown was but a small part of what was squeezed from the poor peasant. An equitable tribute was laid on, its amount ascertained and stated, and no functionary under the severest punishment dared to exact more. The rigid and inflexible character of the Sultan soon effected implicit obedience to this regulation, which was not confined to Turks, but equally extended to all classes, and the despised and trampled on Raya, now found himself for the first time, really protected, and raised in the estimation of the government to a degree of consideration equal to that of his oppressors.

There is perhaps no trait in the Sultan's character more estimable than this. On the first insurrection of the Greeks, he applied himself with rigour and severity to suppress it, and though he has been charged, and justly, with acts of cruelty, not only to those actually in arms, but to all who were known to have participated in the plan, which in fact included every Greek wherever he resided; yet his cruelties were always provoked by the greater atrocities of the insurgents, and allowing for the difference of the Oriental character, they were not greater than any European Powers would and do use, to reduce to obedience their rebellious subjects. When, however, it was found hopeless to subdue them, and he was compelled to acknowledge their independence, he shewed no angry feelings to those who were left in his power; on the contrary, as if to obliterate all sense of the past, he treated them with a kindness and protection which they had never before enjoyed. This was very remarkably displayed in the conduct of the Greeks of Constantinople. A traveller who had left them sunk into the most abject depression, their houses pulled down, their churches dilapidated, themselves in poverty and rags, shrinking from notice and hiding at every corner, was surprised to find them, on his return after a short absence, totally changed; their houses generally repaired, their churches reedified, themselves well dressed, celebrating their festivals by dancing about the street, generally intoxicated not

only with joy but wine, and hustling the grave Turks out of their way, as if they were actually masters in the city. So great was their indulgence, indeed in every way, that a rumour was spread abroad that the Sultan himself was inclined to become a Christian; and so far from the Greeks of the capital flying to the Morea to enjoy the new-born liberty, which they so much cherished in imagination, that crowds of them abandoned their emancipated country to seek under the Sultan that safety and protection, which anarchy and oppression denied them at home.

Nor was this good faith, this sacrifice of anger and revenge confined to his subjects, but extended to foreign enemies. There never was an act of greater or more unjustifiable aggression against an independent and even friendly nation, than that gallant but untoward one of Navarino. It was truly characterized by the late King, when he said, the action deserved a ribbon, but the act deserved a halter. Yet when every one here expected that a just retaliation would be immediately made by an exasperated monarch for so gross and unprovoked an outrage, by visiting its consequences on the persons and properties of every subject of the offending governments which he had in his power, a firman was immediately issued in Turkey for their more effectual protection; and though they were abandoned by their own Ambassadors, who fled from the consequences of the acts of those whom they represented, it only insured the more effectual security of those who remained behind, as if the very circumstance of being deserted gave them an additional claim on his care and attention. Nor was this protection confined to the metropolis, but it extended to the remotest confines of the Turkish dominions. A friend of ours at this time left Constantinople with a companion, to proceed overland to England. They were everywhere treated with attention and respect by the authorities of the towns through which they passed, and a guard assigned them on the road; but when they arrived at a place near the frontiers, they told the Pacha they considered it no longer necessary, and they had now no apprehension for their own safety. "If you have not," said the Pacha, "I have; my head is a pledge yours as long as you remain within

for

my pachalic," and he escorted them safely into the Banat of Temeswar out of the Turkish territory. When we consider the manner in which Christian powers think themselves justified in treating the persons and properties of their enemies, not only after hostilities have commenced, but even before war is declared and while peace and amity are supposed to subsist between them, we think they might take lessons on the law of nations from this Mahomedan.

The character and conduct of Mahomed have been compared with that of Peter the Great, and there are many circumstances of resemblance; the extermination of the Janissaries was similar to that of the Strelitz, and the reforms to be introduced and the difficulties to be surmounted, were alike in both countries; but in many points the Sultan seems to have the superiority. He was less qualified by education, his orientalism was more repugnant to change, he never left his own country to see the manners of others; his conquest over early prejudices and prepossessions was therefore proportionably greater and seemed some intuitive illumination, rather than the calculations of his reason or experience; in fact he was a Turk, and had to reform Turks, which the examples of centuries had proved to be the most difficult, dangerous, and hopeless attempt that ever was made by man. In his personal character, too, he seems superior to his great archetype. He never indulges in intemperance. He has so far approximated to European habits that he sits at a table, uses a knife and fork, and has no scruples about taking a glass of wine, particularly Champaigne, which he prefers; but this is done in strict moderation, and never produces the brutal and bloody ferocity of Peter's brandy. He never obliterated the feelings of nature in his heart and sacrificed an only son, as if he had been a common malefactor: on the contrary, he is a fond and affectionate father, and in the very tempest and whirlwind of his various excitements, he is said to have behaved to his family with uniform calmness and gentleness.

Who then can contemplate such a man and the nation he is reforming, without the deepest feelings of interest and sympathy; he has brought his subjects to that state when they are about