The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-13 00:00:00

scarcity, but to influence prices, to profit by the sale of
private exemptions from this restriction, and open up a field
for other abuses. No doubt it is most desirable that
such an arbitrary privilege should be as strictly
limited as possible. But its exercise is occasionally
allowed to all governments ; and to dispute the
Porte's right to make use of a power which it regards as
indispensable for the protection of its subjects, seems un-
reasonable, and woult certainly be futile. Meanwhile, some
guarantee might be taken that the scarcity should be real
and not pretended ; that the rule should be universally ap-
plied; that some date should be named for the termination
of the prohibition to export; and that the grain intended to
be subject to prohibition should be specified in the firmans,
to prevent governors in the provinces from extending the
restriction beyond the limits assigned by the Porte. These,
I believe, were the precautions taken by Lord Ponsonby in
the autumn of 1839, when ho received a notice from the
Porte that the exportation of grain would be forbidden, in
consequence of an apprehended scarcity.
3. They object to the monopolies sought to be established
by the Porte on fish, leeches, alum, salt, snuff and tobacco.
With regard to the last objection, I may observe that, no
sooner was the treaty of 1838 concluded than endless disputes
arose between the British consuls and the Ottoman governors
concerning the question of monopolies. All monopolies
were supposed to be done away with by tho treaty. This
was found not to be the case. Merchants who bought
leeches for exportation at Smyrna, had them seized
by the kavasses of the governor, and delivered over to the
leech-monopolist, who nod just concluded his contract for
the ensuing year. Reclamations were made from the
Governor Husain Bey, protests i-sued against hint, and
emphatic representations sent to the Home Government.
Leeches, said the governor, arc the property of the Sultan. I
pay his Majesty so much for the, exclusive privilege of fishing
for them in all ponds, lakes, and rivers of the district under
my government ; and I reimburse myself by selling that
exclusive privilege to some one else. Well ; the force of this
reasoning was admitted by everybody. Leeches were pro-
nounced to be private property just as legitimately as the fish
in our rivers in England. Lord Palmerston. Lord Ponsonby,
and Mr. Brant, our come] at Symrna, were all satisfied ; and
the leech question was dropped. It was settled that we
were not entitled to demand more than that the traffic in
leeches should be free. But how the traffic in leeches was to be
1 free while leeches remained subject to a monopoly, it was
not quite easy to see. Here then was a clear one
of monopoly justified by the Turkish government, after the
declared abolition of all monopolies by the treaty of 1833.
With salt, alum, &c., it proved as with leeches. The same
principle was made out for enforcing the monopolies in
these articles : and we still had to 3 a ld. The fact is, that
the whole Turkish fiscal system is based upon monopolies.
Every source of revenue is farmed; and each farmer is a
monopolist. At every turn the foreign merchant comes into
conflict with these monopolies. Say you impart a quantity
of coffee. You pay your 3 per cent. ail valorem duty and
convey it into the interior for sale. There you find you can
only sell your coffee to the coffeeimonopellst of the district
you visit. You must either sell it to him or re-export it.
All competition among consumers is annihilated. There
remains but one check upon the mouopoliet, that he is
obliged to sell his coffee at a certain fixed price. This obli-
gation to furnish the market at a certain price is at once a
chance in favour of the foreign merchant, and a guarantee
that the people will not be deprived of th. it coffee. Fur
the rent, hove injuriously such a system of internal monopoly
must act upon the external trade is obvious. At some
future time I shall have to return to this subject. Mean-
while, it 6 highly desirable that more distinct notions should
prevail with regard to the nature of m inopolies in Turkey,
and that a Rae of demarcation should be drawn between
such as are indispensable, in a sound fical sense, to the
Ottoman government, as permanent sources of revenue, and
such as are accidental and partial, and imposed simply at the
caprice of some dishonest governor.
Circulani have been sent from the British embassy to the
various British consuls resident in different parts of the em-
pire, enjoining them to prepare reports with regard to the
manner in which the administration of justice is carried en,
as far as relates to British subjects, in their respective dis-
tricts, by the practice customary in Mahometan courts of law
of rejecting Christian evidence. I hail occasion to call your
attention to this subjectsome months ago, in a letter concern-
ing the trial of Sir Laurence Jones's murderers, against
whom the only adeucible evidence was Christian: in conse-
quence of which they escaped with the comparatively light
punishment of 3 yeses imprisonment, although these existed
not the least question concerning their guilt.
A trick recently resorted to by hlustapha Pacha, Governor
of Candle, for filling his pockets at the expense of the people
under his government, has come to light, and deserves ex-
posure. For a long time, the Porte has been desirous of re-
stricting as much as possible the circulation of foreign coin
in its dominions. Bat, while it declares such currency an
illegal tender, it stations throughout the empire Miner,
called menbayadas, to buy up these coins on account of
the government at a certain price fuel by a tariff. Now, it
appears that Muetapha Pacha has taken advantage of the
Porte's objection to the circulation of foreign coin, t i enforce
the prohibition just at the moment of the conclusion of the
oil harvest : but he has established no moubayadji what-
ever. This will prevent sides of oil from being made to
foreigners, as the duty of nine per cent, at the time of sale
can only be tendered in European money, which will not be
received. This fraudulent exaasion of foreign competition
enables him not only to buy up the oil at his own price, but
to reap a proportionable profit upon the oil which is paid to
him in kind by many eceamnakere, who are his debtors. After
he has made his coup, he relaxes the prohibition upon
the circulation of foreign c sin ; and see at an enormous
profit. Two years ago, at the last oil harvest (far the olives
only bear once in two years), this ingenious Pacha adopted
the same means of turning a little money. But a trick may
be played once too often : and the Sultan's government is
not just at present to be trifleil with.
Haul Pacha, director of the cannon foundry at Tophana,
is about to be sent to London. He has been educated in
Europe, speaks French and Feelieh with sufficient case, and
is commissioned by Ahmed Felhi Pacha, the master of ord-
nance, to make purchases of machinery for the 'Artillery de-
pertinent.
An Armenian of Ortakeni, who had been converted to
Protestantism, having died on Saturday, his remains were
carried the next day to the great burying ground, where they
were interred with the Protestant forms of ritual. An im-
mense crowd of Armenians was present, and it was expected
they would not line this occasion of venting their bigoted dis-
like of the American missionaries ant their coaver s. But
they confined their opposition to groans and curses; and a few
soldiers sufficed to maintain order.
The papal government, I hear, is trying to get a consul
established here through the irate-eat of France. We are
glad to hear it reported, on the best authority, that Sir
Stratford Canning is coming out as ambassador coin.
M. de Bourqueney has addressed a ante to the Porte com-
plaining of the neglected conititain of the Albanian colonists
at Mohalitch. But I hear from a gentleman who has lately
visited them that there is not the least foundation fir such
an accusation against the Turkish government, and that the
colonists are in good health and well attended to.
The long couferences which the repr.:sentatives of the
English and Russian embassies have lately had with the
Foreign Minister of the Porte upon the subject of the Per-
sian treaty, indicate the existence of a good deal of debate
about the settlement of that question. I praeind to give
you what I can acid of new to the details I have sent in for-
mer letters. A straight line drawn from Mount Ararat to
the mouth of the Tigris will fall in pretty well with the
frontier boundary of Turkey and Persia, as it it at present
laid down in our maps, and as it has remained from the time
of Nadir Shah to the present day. About the northern half
of this line there is no dispute. Z ihab, one of the disputed
districts, falls about its middle; and about half of the southern
part of the same line will pass thpough the other disputed
district of Mohamran. lam indebted to an excellent Turk-
ish authority for this account of the position of the district
of Mohamran, a name which I cannot find in the best Eng-
lish French maps. According to the decision of the con-
ferences at Erzroum, Zohab was assigned to the Turk., and
Mohamran to the Persians. There was also another
article by which the Persians were bound to adopt the same
scale of duties as the Porte. The reason why such an article
was introduced is this. The Porte charges a duty of 12 per
cent, upon export.% and 3 per cent. upon imports. She
excuses the heavy proportion of the first tax by the necessity
of some fiscal compensation for the abolition of her mono-
polies. Persia, on the other hand, retains her monopolies,
and charges 5 per cent, upon exports, and 3 per cent. upon
imports. Now the district of Mohamran has an extensive
littoral upon the Persian Gulf, stretching from the mouth of
the Tigris towards Bashir, and, it would seem, a convenient
port near the river's mouth. The Turks are therefore afraid,
unless the duties of the two countries are equalised, that
merchants will take advantage, in case Mohamran should
fat- to the Persians, of the lower Persian export duty, to
ship their goods at the port of Mohamran, instead of at
Bassera, as they have heretofore done. They go so far as to
say that under such an arrangement the trace of Bassora,
which has been of late years rapidly declining, would be
then ruined altogether.
At present the customs of Basel= are valued at 250,000
piastres. The Porte therefore refuses to give up its claims
to Mohsmrak, unless Persia adopts the export duty of 12
per cent. As the mediatory Powers would not consent to
such a change without the abolition of the monopolies of
Persia, to which she clings as one of the sources of her
revenue, the question evidently assumes nth( r a knotty ap-
pearance. For the rest, the Turks lay much more store by
Mohamran than rehab, a territory comparatively fruitless
to them by the intractable nature of the Kurdish tribes
which inhabit it, and from which tribute can only be ex-
trectei at the sword's point. In fact, the Paellas of Bagdad
and Moral are at this moment at war with the hereditary
Pacha of Rawardour, a district which lies immediately:to the
north of Zuhab. Another reason which the Turks give for
insisting on their claim to Mohamran is, that the cession of
the lower Tigris to the Persians would bo establishing a per-
petual source of contention between the two nations about
the navigation of the river.
I have to mention with regret the death of Mr. Churchill,
a correspondent of one of the London morning papers, and
editor of the Turkish journal Djeride Havadis. Mr. Church-
ill's name is probably familiar to the English public, as being
connected with an occurrence that brought out, a few years
back, some characteristic features of Turkish rule. In con-
sequence of having shot a Turk, by accident, in some part of
his body, however, where the wound did not prove mortal,
or even highly dangerous, Mr. C. was seized by the Turkish
police, cruelly maltreated, and thrust into a dungeon in the
Baguio. But Lord Ponsonby, warmly taking up his cause,
and insisting upon the fullest reparation for the outrages he
had suffered, the Turkish government, on restoring Mr. C.
to liberty, presented him with a monopoly of oil. This pri-
vilege he immediately sold for a considerable sum, which
constitutes at present the main provision for the support of
the numerous family that deplore his loss.

ITALY.—ROME, SErr. 26.—The Austrian ambas-
sador, Count Lutzow, was to lento en comij on the 27th ; he
is to be replaced ad interim by M. Ohm, councillor to the