munibus annis*. schedule of the revenue in greater detail, which, in result, somewhat exceeds the sum allowed by Cantemir, and which wants only the merit of accuracy. I do not pretend to give a correct account of the Turkish finances, and I believe, that few Europeans

Mr. Eton has given a

* I have taken this amount of the Turkish finances from Cantemir, who indeed says (p. 170, note 53), that in his time "there were brought yearly into the two treasuries twenty-seven thousand purses, each containing five hundred rix dollars:" but as I find that Count Marsigli, who appears to have had access to the public registers, estimates the revenues of the miri alone at 28,272 purses (See stato milit. t. ii, p. 179), I must suppose the apparent disagreement in their computations to be occasioned only by an inaccuracy of expression. Toderini (t. i, p. 90) says, that the revenue of the miri, of which the defterdar effendi has the direction, amounts to about twenty millions of Turkish piastres." De Tott (v. iii, p. 135) agrees with Cantemir, and fixes the revenue at 3,900,000l. sterling. Olivier says (v. i, p. 24), that the revenues of the miri and the sultan, which are annually paid into the treasuries of Constantinople, amount to 150 millions of livres, besides 50 millions from the revenues of mosques and from casual sources. Motraye (t. i, p. 255) calculates the total receipts of both treasuries at 36,000,000 of piastres, or 9,000,0001. sterling, according to the value of Turkish money in his time. Chalcondylas (lib. viii) estimated them, in the reign of Mahomet the Second, at four millions of gold staters, which, according to the calculation of Artus his translator (t. i, p. 172), amount to eight millions of ducats.

«Total of the revenue of the empire, or public treasury called the miri, 44,942,500 piastres, or about 4,494,2501. sterling." (Survey of the Turkish empire, p.47.)

in Turkey possess the means of obtaining it : but as Mr. Eton declares," that he reasons only from facts, and trusts the impartial reader will draw the same conclusions," it may perhaps not be thought superfluous to examine the merit of the facts themselves, which form the basis of his reasonings.

Mr. Eton comprehends among the sources of revenue collected by the miri, in the rear of a formidable list of Turkish words, haremein hasinesi, and sherifein hasinesi : but as far as can be collected from the meaning of the words themselves, they must signify the rents of vacuf, property consecrated to the service of public worship or charitable institutions they are however by no means under the control of the officers of either of the departments of the exchequer; the miri or

the hazné.

The founder of a mosque or other pious establishment, or the individual who enriches it by subsequent benefactions, has the privilege of appointing to the administration of his bequest an officer under the title of mutevelly, and a superior officer, or overseer, under that of nazir. These, more especially in the instance of mosques founded by the sultans, are the chief ministers of

state, the heads of the ulema, or the principal officers of the seraglio; and in the case of private donations, are frequently the chil dren or natural heirs of the testator, who enjoy, by the tacit consent of the law, such part of the rents as is not specifically appropriated, though, when this surplus is considerable, it does not escape the vigilance of government, but is adjudged to belong to the public treasury. The administrators, and chiefly those of the mosques and hospitals in Mecca, Medina, and Constantinople, are authorized, on receiving an adequate assignment of property in buildings or landed estates, to make loans to individuals, whether Mussulmans or infidels, from the public funds of the establishment which is committed to their care. The borrower still retains the use or enjoyment of his property on the payment of an inconsiderable rent, and cannot be deprived of it by his creditors in the event of his subsequently becoming a bankrupt: he may even sell or transfer it to strangers with the consent of the mutevelly, and on the payment of certain dues to the mosque, without being subject to the claim, which in Turkey every neighbour is allowed to make, to a preference in the sale of property contiguous

to his own: he transmits it, on his decease, in equal portions to his immediate descendants. On the gradual, or total, extinction of such heirs, the absolute property of the several portions, or of the whole of the estate, becomes vested in the lender.

The coffer in which the revenues of the vacufs are collected, to the amount of several millions, is called harémeïnn dolaby, and is deposited in the seraglio under the care of the kislar aga, and strictly guarded. It is wrong to represent these treasures as "sums taken from the active and efficient capital of the nation, and either wholly unemployed, or appropriated to uses which cannot be supposed to have a very direct relation to the necessities of the state*;" for, on the contrary, without deviating from the intentions of the founders, or violating the essential clauses of their charters, that part of the revenue of vacufs which remains after the religious uses are satisfied, is considered as appropriable to the urgencies of the state, and might afford essential succour, if economy and fidelity were employed in administering it. In times of public distress the sultans occasionally apply these funds to the neces

*See Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 40, 41.

sities of government, but under the form of a loan and the solemn engagement of the minister of finance, who, in the name of the sultan and the empire, binds the state to the payment of so sacred a debt*.

The haratch, or capitation tax imposed on the rayahs, is improperly called by Mr. Eton "the annual redemption of the lives of all the males above fifteen years of age, who do not profess the Mahometan religion."

*See Tab. Gén. t. ii, chap. v, sec. 3.

The grand vizir Kioprili Mustafa Pasha first brought the treasures of the jamis into the public treasury: and when the mutevelly charged him with sacrilege, he insisted that the wealth, designed for religious uses, ought to be employed in maintaining the defenders of the holy edifices. (Cantemir, p. 367.)

+ See Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 41.It is with much regret, that I feel myself compelled, from a respect for truth, to declare, that Dr. Wittman's account of a conversation which he held with me at Buyukdéré (See Travels, p. 28) is wholly inaccurate. A person who, like myself, had resided many years in Turkey, could never have "comprehended under the general denomination of rayah, the Greek and Armenian subjects of the grand signor and every description of Franks." Still less could I have so far adopted Mr. Eton's errors, and even have borrowed his language, as to assert, "that the haratch is considered as the redemption of the heads of the rayahs, which were forfeited in perpetuity by their subjugated ancestors." Dr. Wittman has also made me pronounce a very florid panegyric on the modern Greeks; but though I had read Mr. Eton's work while I was in Turkey, it had made so slight an impression on my memory that I must have spoken from the same inspiration as Mr. Eton himself, if I could have amused Dr. Wittman by the misrepre sentations which he has attributed to me.