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gives them opportunities of rapidly acquiring wealth. The sultan views their prosperity with no unfriendly eye, as their wealth, like that of the pashas, is not squandered by extravagant habits, or expended in rebellious enterprises, but remains carefully hoarded in their strong boxes.

Considerable capital being required for carrying on this branch of business, the number of the sarafs is, I believe, under eighty, nearly the number of the pashas; and as, by their refusal to become guarantee, they can reduce any Turkish governor to the condition of a private individual, they, in fact, farm out the provinces at their pleasure and for their profit; they have even of late carried their authority so far, that no banker will consent to become the saraf of a pasha — raised, as I may say, to that rank by one of their body, without a note of hand from his former banker, declaring that all his demands have been satisfied.

The agent of the banker, who accompanies the pasha to his province, is generally a relative of the saraf; all money transactions pass through his hands; the agiotage and commission are very considerable. This agent receives the revenue of the province, for which his principal has become responsible, and trafficks in its produce, which he manages to obtain at a reduced price, as tribute by exaction, &c. Thus, to every pasha a steward is attached, who watches his movements and commands his resources. The pasha cannot throw him off, because his office depends on the guaranteeship, and he cannot possibly induce him to plot against the Porte, because the bulk of the Armenian's fortune, and the principal of the firm, are at Constantinople, where also his family are retained as hostages, and whence on no pretence they are suffered to depart.

The principal evil of this system is this: the sarafs naturally wish to conceal from the pashas the amount of their profits, which they most effectually do, by obtaining the order for collecting the revenue before harvest time. By anticipating the time of payment, the bankers receive two and a half per cent. interest per month on the money, which the peasant is obliged to borrow; depress the market after harvest by the necessity in which the

peasant is placed of realizing; bargain with the villages for the exclusion of all other competitors for their produce, and even for a reduction of the price below that of the thus depressed market. On a small scale, the effects of our indirect system are realized, the imitation originating in similar causes the pretence of taxation for the benefit of monopolists, and the imposition of ruinous burdens for the sake of disguising a small profit.

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By means of this body of bankers, Turkey surrounds her governors with a financial thraldom and espionage; at the same time the pashas are driven by them to such excesses, that enmity is placed between the province and its governor : let him amass treasure, levy troops, and put on the show of power and strength, he has no hold on his office, because the very means he has necessarily taken to maintain his authority have made him the object of hatred.

This picture was drawn in 1832, when every cause of evil was exacerbated by the general circumstances of the empire. The evils there pointed out have partially been remedied, both by the improvement of the material condition of Turkey and by measures of the Sultan, which exactly coincide with those pointed out in the work quoted. But it is to be expected that the worst results of that system will again re-appear, as a consequence of the control which Russia will establish over the Armenians.

RECENT PROGRESS

OF

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

IN HUNGARY.

Pest, March 30th, 1836.

SINCE wants have so much increased in both hemispheres, it is natural that the desire to satisfy them should have equally increased. To remain stationary, whilst all the world marches towards this object, would be to go back. This is an incontestible truth, of which Hungary, in its turn, begins to be more and more convinced. Our journals, which occasionally give details of the Association for the Navigation of the Danube by steam-boats, have slightly alluded to the Protocol of the last general meeting, held on the 12th February. We hope that a few supplementary words on this subject will not be uninteresting to our readers.

It is to the indefatigable zeal and to the circumspection of its founders that the Society owes the happy results it has obtained, that is to say, in surmounting, in the interval of ten years, and with small means, the difficulties opposed to them by the elements and political relations-difficulties which might have appeared insuperable to limited understandings. The greater these obstacles were the more commendable was the modest tone in which the Report is pleased to allude to what yet remains to be desired and to be accomplished. It was only in 1835 that the Society assumed

the direction of all the vessels, now amounting to seven, all of them of superior construction, and provided with the best and most costly English engines; and still the funds of the Society only amount to 700,000 silver convention florins. The last vessel, of one hundred horse power, the Ferdinand I., which left Trieste on the 15th of March, is about to effect the immediate communication with Constantinople. The Maria Dorothea has already performed the voyage between that city and Smyrna. The Argo, as heretofore, will take charge of the service of the left bank of the Lower Danube beyond the Iron Gate, whilst the Francis I. is destined to do the same on the right bank, inhabited by Turkish communities of importance, where it will meet the Ferdinand I., for which destination they are now preparing her at the docks at Buda. Thus we shall succeed in removing the quarantine obstacles, which hitherto have been grievously felt, and which, last year, prevented also the steam navigation projected by Prince Milosch; for, by these two vessels taking always the Turkish side of the river, travellers will arrive, without delay, from Constantinople at the quarantine at Orsowa. These arrangements, which are in perfect conformity with the object and with other similar ones, will soon put an end to every just complaint, and will efface the unfavourable impression that Mr. Quin may have made on some persons, by his narrative of his voyage on this part of the Danube. Nevertheless, this impression can hardly have been made, if it be considered that Quin is utterly destitute of foresight, and that, in his naïve carelessness, he chose the most disadvantageous period of the year, that is to say, the late season of the year 1834, which was the driest season within the memory of man. Moreover, as the year 1835 was remarkable for singular changes in the elements, it was not a proper time to make, for an extent of 400 leagues between Presburg and Galatz, the arrangements necessary to expedite travellers and merchandize with rapidity, to take care of them in the vessels, and in the places of disembarkation, in spite of so many obstacles; and, in fine, to supply the magazines with a sufficiency of combustible matter. It appears, however, that the wishes of the patriots for the success

of so many efforts are about to be accomplished, since the service of the Argo, which, in 1834, showed a deficit of 18,745 fl. 56 kr. gave, in 1835, already an excess of 5,87 i fl. 50 kr.

The results of the steam navigation are more favourable still on the Upper Danube, where, only last September, the Zriny joined the Pannonia, and where, in a few days, the last steam-boat, the Rondor, (a Hungarian word which signifies palatine) is about to be consecrated to the same destination, by the voyage which the illustrious consort of our palatine will make in her from Presburg to Buda. An eighth steam-boat, about to be constructed, will complete this service on the Upper Danube. In order to be able to make this acquisition, and then to enlarge the establishment by a greater number of steam-boats, 700 new shares have been issued, which will be distributed to the proprietors of the 1400 old ones, in the proportion of half a new one for an old one, so that the funds will be raised to 1,050,000 florins.

Hitherto, the shareholders have only received five per cent. annual interest, and no dividends, for they have wisely preferred putting into a reserve fund the greater part of the 4407 florins, which now make up the net surplus. Nevertheless, only a few days ago, the shares had already risen 30 per cent. which sufficiently proves the great confidence justly inspired in the administration of affairs.

Although the Zriny did not commence her first voyage until the 22d September, and the Maria Dorothea sustained a considerable injury, still 17,727 travellers had been expedited up to that period by the five vessels which then existed. A port, near Buda, which is perfectly adapted to guarantee the vessels of the Danube against the thaw, and the evacuation of which is now proceeding, has been assigned to the association by its august patron, the Archduke Palatine. A dock has been established in the neighbourhood, in an island of the Danube, under the excellent master ship-builder, who hitherto directed the construction of the vessels of the association at Trieste. In this school the natives will gradually be formed for the service of the steam-boats, on board which are now heard almost all the languages of the Tower of VOL. III.-NO. XXIII. S

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