The Express.
London, England, 1847-01-02 00:00:00

Tokat, like Amnia, is famed for its fruit, and orchards
extend for many miles in its vicinity. It is here that the
paw berry is produced in greatest perfection. The copper
ens dog from the mines of Argana-Maden, owing to the '
oinellikr of wood there, is refined at Tokat. The ore, whe%
deg sal, etstains 20 per cent. copper, which is the largest',
Wedill known in any copper mine. Before leaning
Kahn it nee through two melting,. The partially
ore is then sent to Tokat, and submitted to a
oemplete processor refinement. Upon arriving at Tokat it
h hood is aantain 76 per cent. copper and 2.5 portions of
Ma and abhor. An Austrian superintends the smelting
afthilansat Since the introduction of the European
method a net deal more work has been done at a lees ez-
”ess. The chief improvement seems to be separating the
hal from the ore, with which the Turks formerlymixad it
Tin ore comes from Argans in November and is carried
parified to Stamboul in June. During the four summer
months work is suspended. The quantity sent to Constant-
mph last May and June amounted to 900,000 cher. An aka
Y2l lb.. An extensive robbery of the copper, in which .
4... t number of the Turks in the town were implicated, and
arkialt has been carried on for many yertn, was lately detected
by the manager of the works. A. commissioner has been
sant from Constantinople to inquire into the matter. The
hostility of the Turks to the European method seem, to arise
6 am the greater facilities for robbery afforded by the old way.
riagovernmemt pays 36 para. (about 24.) WI Ow for the copper,
at Anna, after it has gone through the two melting', whisk
is thought an oppressively entail remuneration to the miners.
The value of an oke at Argana is 8 piastres. 600 miners an
s:7The Kurds from the neighbouring villages as.
101tdog to Argon& annually 100,000 loads of char.
of 00 obas amen load. The receive no remuneration
'halm for either charcoal or carriage, and pay into ha
hawk a heavy sahlian. This cornet, it may be observed,
is • direct viola ion 1-^ 0••• -overnment of it, own •TiLlitliSl
. .
•. I.!! -re arli.iionh. .ne common Workmen a Toklt reeign
2 and 3 piastres a day ; the masters 6.
At 5i,.., on the I Ith, I met the Tatar from Bagdad, whe
repented the cholera to be raging in that city. When he left,
about a week before, the people, nearly all of the lower and
poorer cruses. were dying at the rata of 150 a day. The go-
vernor, Emend Pasha, an old man on the verge of 70, arrived
an the I Ith from Emanuel,. The tanzionat, not pt law in
the pashalik of Tretisond, has been introduced into Sinn
Be chief advantage consist., not in taking lets from the
raor In doing more for them, but in reducing to a Ten-
.,:ic..the taxation before unsettled. The tanzimiat
does not abate one jot of the barthena ; but it puts into :he
pocket of the government what went before into the pocket
of the Pasha. The people know what they have to expect,
and that nothing more can be demanded from them—at
least, legally—hut that more demands are made from them
illegally, and, in spite of the tanaimaat, I met with too
many proofs, besides the instance I have already mentioned
of the charcoal-co at Argana-bladen. In fact, a similar
_._..

carves exists in the neighb;urhood of the silver mines of
Kebanmaden, on the Euphrates. The ems of Amens, in
the pashalik of Kharpont, consists of 48 villages. These 46
vilhon, besides paying a heavy sahlian, are Obliged to (tar-
si& annually 4,000 casters of charcoal to the minis
Be Ilhe use of the smelting-houses, and the poor
Kurile who drive their laden asses there, receive
not a piastre for either charcoal or carriage, and
ere severely beaten if they murmur. A =tar it
180 ekes. Under the Tanzimaat books are also kept,,
and public registers accessible to all, so that it may be
exactly ascertained what each man pays; asd if he par
more than he ought, he can, it is said complain to the can-
' teal government. He can ; but who imagines that such a
privilege can be safely used by the poor, who lie at the
mercy of the assessors, these being the big people of the
place. The official people at Constantinople will tafic to
you about • fine municipal system existing throughout
Turkey, but which I have found nowhere. They Say that
on a certain day the people of a village meet and elect, say
ten notables; then one is elected by the ten out of their
own body, and he is sent to represent the village at
die chief place of the cue. Then out of the chief
=es one is elected to represent them at the
of the pachalik ; and thus three municipal
Made are formed. All this sounds very well, but
** bit is, that in Trebinond, Sivas, Kharpont, and
Bhelseldr, where I have made inquiries, nothing of the sort
exists. Everywhere the cadi, the mufti, and the ullema
here the distribution of the taxes in their hands, and shove
the burthens on the Christians. Before the arrival of Ilse l
Pasha at Diarbekie (about a year ago he sou passing thsoogb
on his way back from Mosul) the burthens fell nearly exclu-
sively upon the Christians. A wealthy Chaldean merchant
represented to this promising young Turk the state of the
case ; and he instantly, with his usual vigour, summoned
the cadi and the mufti, and advised them to make • more
impartial distribution of the taxes otherwise they might
hear of it from Constantinople. The hint was taken, and
the taxation is now placed upon a fairer footing. Under the
Tenzimast, where the amount of taxation isnot excessive, and
the personal distribution of the beechen& is impartial, some ease
is no doubt felt, particularly by the Christians, and some.
;ymptoms of infant prosperity are beginning to appear.
dans of the villages in the district of Sivas appear to be well
off. One is sometimes astonished at the quantity °ream and
cattle belonging to a small hamlet. But when you pass into
the pschalik of Kharpont you behold the effect of cones,
and of excessive millions. Ruined and abandoned villages
lie scattered about the desert hills. These are Kurdish
their inhabitants have fled to chieb in the mountable at war
with the Porte. I have already described the way in which
the poor people of Arguoun are oppressed. And what
does the government do for this burdened people ?
Does it provide them with one school ? Does it build
or repair one morgue ? Does it furnish fair tribunal.
for the administration of justice ? Does the exorbitant sum
I,7ool.,writng from 700 poor village families) return to them
in the shape of any benefit whatever ? No. But not content
with withholding the commonest benefits of • government,
it afflicts this squeezed popul.tion with odious rorrees: and,
in the teeth of its own repealed abolition of such iniquitous
vexations—in direct contradiction of the Sultan's word and
will, proclaimed far and wide, It addles these wretched
weatures with the curse of forced and gratuitous
Meer. Between Sivas and Kharpont, the road is
=el with Affshars, the fleeced robbers in Asia
. The audacity of these brigands, and of .he Kurds,
lee oath increased sines power over life was taken from the
pashas. The reference, te Constantinople for the confirm:m-
ikes el a capital sentenee, which is now required, and the
=which arise hem distance and from official neglect,
the doom et death extremely rare, even in cases of
murder. But a slight aNusintance with Orientals is
suffieient to convince an observer that net, lees then
the her of death will deter them BIM 11, Mot
When men guilty of the mast at:Wm wines
are merely thrust into prison for a month or two; * the
local authorities get tired of feeding them, and tame them
loom upon society again, the example of impunity 4eleds far
and wide defiance of the law, sharpens the appaft el the
novice for plunder, and sets the hardened outlaw epee yew
and more desperate enterprises. On the ether hanis the
pashas have so often abused their power over the Bows of the
&objects committed to their charge by the asintliare! Mill-
dam. whose wealth they coveted, that an unlimited
of inflicting death permitted to them would ha lied‘ml:
great an evil as belgandage. In the present stalliertgdihk
morale and jurisprudence, it is not easy to sininenhits fibs
restrictions which would render the ciaisgeima 4d nth
• power safe. But certainly, unless seen deed gpage
be adopted for dealing summarily, soli triMsp uspui to
the central government in the case of egital elbenee, wash
disorders wM be multiplied till the wieseeity arrives tor