The Express.
London, England, 1860-12-12 00:00:00

rnimgctAt, ORGANIZATION OF FRB OITOMAII MOIRE.

If the paitical and administrative rota= of the Ottoman
Empire diem a curiona physiognomy, it. aspect becomes
■till more surprising when the ounditioa of this vast empire
is examined from a financial point of view, particuiarly with
respect to taxation.
It may be mid, on this head. that far from being an ex-
hausted couutry, the Ottsiman Empire is the least burdened
of all states.

In fact the taxation varies from sto 2 per cent. and, in
fine, its im is but from 275,000,000 to 300,000,000
fore pop 'on of 30,000,000, or 10 fr. per head. Now. tke
taxation in England is 53 fr. per head ; and in Austria,
30 fr., fze.
Moreover, the Ottoman Empire is exempt from thine
enormous debts which encumber other states.
Without wishing to enter here into the detail of the dif-
ferent taxes, it will be sufficient to mako known with what
equity and moderation they are imposed. The principal of
those tares, the verghi, or direct land tax, which forme,
after the tithes sod the customs, the most important part
of the public revenue, is apportioned by the pnoci* inha-
bitant* of the localities without the intervention of the go-
veromentl and according to the itioo, the means, and the
fortune of each, as well sa actor ing to the revenue from the
ProPert7.
Agriculturists have the right of discharging the imposts
either in snowy or kind. They may pay the imposts on ce-
reals according to the number of sheaves, or by weight, aa
they prefer.
The tax-payers in this strange country thus pongee facili-
ties nod immunities for the acquittal of the imposts that no
Europe= governingot either could or dared grant.
In order to minipiMy the administration and reduce the
charges of the state, the greater part of the revenues are
farmed to some et the inbabitiuste of each district. This
farming privilege is publicly awarded at the Ministry of
Finance on the Ist (13th) of March in each year. Every
fanner is bound to have securities at Constantinople of un-
doubted solvency, and who are responsible fur punctuality
of payment.
Tnia payment is thus effected. The farmers regulate
their accounts during their year of office by means of
monthly hills, delivered and signed by their semintiee at
Constantinople. No instance has ever occurred of one of
these bill having been dishonoured

IV.
risAmciAL CONDMOII OF TXll_ OTTOMAN IMPTRE._

The titianOjai condition of the Otiomaii---Lniirreezitibite
the peculiarity of having during s period of four centuries,
that is to my, from 1453 to 1853, 'probated the phenomenon
of a state which discharged its total exponent with the
onlinary receipts without say increase of &amnion. And

let it not be imagined that the yield of taxation was
irregular. On the contrary, the kw is explicit on this
point. It interdicts any augmentation, and pants to all
the members of the Ottoman nationality the right of con.
trolling and supervising all the expenditure.
It is only from the date of 1864 that the balance between
the receipts and the expenses was disturbed by the extra-
ordinary expenses of the war in the East, and that, as a
oonsequence, the Ottoman Empire was obliged to have re-
course to tho system of loans. And yet the sum total of
all then loans is only 326,000,000 francs, an amount which
indicates neither prodigality nor disorder on the part of the
Turkish Empire.
Of all the states of Europe the Ottoman Empire is, there.
fore, the only ooe that is not loeded with a heavy public
debt. If its credit is not developed, it is because its loans
are of recent date ; because there has been no opportunity
of clearly exhibiting its financial situation ; and, finally, be.
cause the banking-houses to whom the negotiation of the
Baines (titre' de route) of this empire was entrusted have
not paid sufficient attention to the reorganization of its
finances. This reorganization, now in preparation, is really
very easy for a state which pommies such great resources,
and which, so to speak, has no debt., since altogether they
are limited to a total of 774,000,000 frame.
The debt of the Turkish Empire, like that of most other
states, is divided into the exterior and interior debts, into
consolidated and floating debt.
The following is an exact statement of these debts as ob-
tained from sources which may be termed official :

The exterior debt, oTnatraated since 1864, to
meet the expense. of the war in the Crimea,
repreeenta, after deducting the redemption Franca.
already effected, a capital of 310,000,000

Pram Djeddiellis (ooneolidated brad
Balance of paper dopey (Chimes) in circu-
lation, and which will be withdrawn
Galata debts, payable at different periods 127,000,000
Home Tahvih (treasury boods)
Emma litamtuzes (scrip proceeding from
the cooversion of dock) 15,000,000
Serbia (bonds payable by fifths, eminenc-
e from the year 1865)
- - debt, represented by the expends
ministries 110,000,000

7. inpli 00l
ol sea=

Total of the interior debt 481,000,000
The exterior debt reduced by the redemption
effected

The total of all the debte of the Ottoman
Empiretlius amounts in capital to.. 774,000,000
This sum represents claims, some of which bear no
interest, and others produce interest at different rates; so
that in short the annuities for the k4el payment
of the debt only amount to about orty-five millions. not
including the sinking fund, or about 16 per cent. of the
general revenues.
To appreciate the insignificsnoe of such a debt for an
empire like that of Turkey, it is sufficient to remember that
the debt of England ernes& twenty milliards, that the
Austrian debt is about 5 milliards, fee., and that the
portion between the amount of the interest to be paid pro-
by
those states end their ordinary revenue. varies from 30 to
40 per cent.

DUD= OP Imam AND 121PEN8PS.
The administration of the finances of the Turkish Empire
is entrusted to a superior council, under the presidency of
his highness Mehemet Buschell Pads.
The imperial government, desiring to effect great re-
forms in its finances, has requested the collective informa-
tion of the European Powers. In order to satisfy this
desire the French and Austrian governments have en-
trusted the mission of studying and organizing the finan-
dal administration of the Turkish Empire to
The Marquis de Plume, Inspector of French Finances ;
M. Denux id. ; and
M. lachaiacher, Aulic Councillor of the Austrian
En=
distinguished functionaries have been attached to
the Superior Council of Finances sitting at Constantinople ;
and it is with their concurrence that the budgets of re-
aside and expenditure of the Turkish Empire are being
P7l:irnis arduous labour will be concluded shortly. Mean-
while an approximate estimate can be made of the receipt.
and expenses as resulting from the present state of things.
Rend publications have already made known the total
el Ilene budget". but some errors have crept in ; thus, for
example, they have stated the amount of the debt at only
MO Wallow, while it really reaches, as already shown, 774
millions. But without stopping at these valuations, evi-
deally favourable to the Turkish government, the con-
fusable consider a frank a:poi:aeon due to the public,
and they cannot do better than here insert an extract
Gem a note emanating from • source that may be termed
add :
ss Eles •11111111116:01 with which I furnish you on the
sMendien end the biulphi of Turkey, although not
lib* the Meld eastitude that I should have wished to
gin em see nevertheless sufficiently approximate to
afford a jOilieleas estimate. I will add in a more positive
manner, that the budgets for the years 1855 and 1856
ma balanced fp an excess of receipts amounting to about
8 millions d ftnee. In WNW the excess reached nearly 25
million frame. During 1188 end 1839 the results were
different, but the amp was principally due to financial
operations while did net produce the remits that the im-
perial goverannat bad reason to expect. For the future, how-
ever, thanks to the integral withdrawal of the paper money,
and in 006100L1110013 of the development of public prosperity,
the budget will be balanced by an excess of receipts. The
receipts and expenditure of the Turkish empire are approxi-
mately as follows :
The produce of all the taxes amounts to between
275,000,000 f. and 30),000,000f.
" The budget of expenditure only amounts to about
260.000,000 f.
" If it is considered that the interest of all the debts only
amounts to 45,000,000 f., or about 16 per cent. of the total
revenue of the empire, it will be acknowledged, in spite
of :ovary prejudice, that three things appear as clear aa day.
In the first place, it is that a budget of between 275
and 300 millions is very low for so vast an empire, and indi-
cates • very moderate taxation.
"Secondly, it in that a funded debt of 310,000,000 is alto-
gether a trilling charge when compared with the debt. con-
tiacted during only half a century by the peat states of
Europe
"Thrdlyand lastly, it is that this situation, taken altoge-
ther, proves that the Turkish administration is leas irregu-
lar or more economical than is generally believed."
After having exposed, as exactly sa possible, the financial
situation of the Ottoman Empire, and before indicating the
guarentees furnished by the government of his Imperial
Ma , it remains to point out the charscterandtheobject
of thisluan.
An example borrowed from the financial history of
Europe in these recent years will clearly elucidate the idea
that has influenced the contractors.
Four years ago the Queen of Spain had just dissolved the
Cosies and summoned Marshal Harmer to the Presidency of
the Council of Ministers. At that very moment • bed
harvest of cereals was producing an uneasiness that further
aggravated the general and political state of the country.
It was then that one of the contractors, M. Mires, was rum-
mooed to Madrid by the intermediation of an influential
e, and wee put in communication with Marshal
Tar:nnaa for the negotiation of a loan. He found at Madrid
something analogous to what is met with at Constantinople
—that is • commercial Mud= little developed, which give
but few outlets to capital, and left the bankers scarcely any
custom thee that of the government.
It will be understood, in short, that when commercial
and industrial affairs do not offer sufficient aliment to capi-
talists, they turn away from their natural mission to pursue
the path which offers them greater and more immediate
advantage.
The Spanish government was desirous of making a loan
at that period, not only to lay for the grain it was buying
in different ports of the Mediterranean, but also to pay the
interest of the public debt. The Madrid bankers were
aware of them embarrassments and were not willing to
facilitate the loan further than within the urgent wants of
the treasury. There resulted to the government a precarious
situation, that damaged its credit and obliged it to pay a
very high interest (10 and 12 per cent.) for the anallest
sums furnished by the bankers. This situation is exactly
that el the Ottoman government.
IL Mires was struck with the danger that such a state of
things presented to the prosperity of Spain, and in a con-
ference with Marshal Is amen and M. Barsanallana, then
Minister of Finances, he offered to remedy it, by taking
the entire balance of the loan of two millions of reds autlio-
rind by the Cartes. This belauce consisted of 800 millions
of real*. This was the basis of the loan of which he ob-
tained the concession, and the realisation of which may be
said to have been the point of departure fur the ascending
period into which Spam has entered. The large resources
placed by that loan at the disposal of the Spanish govern-
ment gave a spring to its credit, sod the Spanish Three
per Cents., which were at 36f. in 1856, are now at 50f.
Such is the object that was attained in Spain, such is that
pursued at Constantinople. The contractors could make a
loan for a more restricted figure than that at which they
have, at which they have stopped, but then the Ottoman
Empire would not be with sufficient resources to withdraw
from circulation the piper money which clogs commercial
enterprise, nor to extinguish the greatest part of its floating
debt, nor lastly to escape from the exigencies of a few
bankers.
The contractors have done still more. By an agreammt
concluded with the directors of the Bank of Turkey, they
have insured to that institution great advantages, by facili-
tating for it some important operations useful to Ottoman
credit. They are crating a financial company for public
works and the construction of railways. AitiT the con-
cession of the railway from Constantinople to Adrianople is
demanded by a powerful company of capitalists and hankers.
In fine, everything leads to the presumption that the reali-
sation of this loan will be the dayspring of a new era for the
Ottoman Empire, just as the Spanish loan has ben one of
the causes of the development of prosperity in the Iberian
peninsula.

VII.

Till GOAP.ANTZEIS PORTZ! LOAN..

Although the rank of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, its
moieties resource*, sod the relatively mien amount of its
dent, offer to capitalists absolute security and great advan-
mica, the eontractors, however, felt it incumbent on them,
though it appeared unnecessary, to demand special gua-
rantees beyond the general eseignment of all tbs revenues
of the empire. These guaranteed' have been amended with

the greeted sincerity and the most perfect good faith ; they
do not depend upon contingent revenues, susceptible of
reduction, but on the surest and most important return?,
for they are all farmed, and easy of realisation. Their
amount greatly exceeds the sum necessary for the payment
of the interest and for the redemption of the loan in a pe-
riod of 38 years.
Whatever might be the conviction of the contractors
upon the really favourable financial condition of Turkey,
they felt compelled to take into consideration the ermrs
propagated against the Ottoman Empire, and it is with the
object of combating and destroying these errors that, inde-
pendently of the guarantees accorded, they have demanded
and obtained the formation of an international oommiasion
composed of distinguished men.
This commies'= of 12 members, resident at Constanti-
nople, Paris, and London, is deputed to supervise the re-
turns of the rOIIIIIIANI assigned in guarantee, and the regular
payment at Paris and Landon of the interest and redemp-
tion of the loan.

It G on those members of this commission resident at
Constantinople that will naturally fall the most useful teak,
viz., that of superintending the returns of the revenues
given as guarantee.
It will, therefore, be of service to announce their personal
situation, because it is precisely this which has determined
the choice of which they have been the object.
The members resident at Constantinople are :
The Marquis de nem, inspector of the finances of
France, sent on a mission to Constantinople, at the request
of the Ottoman government, to co-operate in the financial
reorganization and in this capacity member of the Superior
Council of the Finances of the Ottoman Empire.
IL David Olavani, banker at Constantinople, and the
highest end most honourable of the financial notabilities of
the empire.
Mr. Ch. S. Hanson, banker, one of the censors of the
Ottoman Bank at Constantinople, and brother of one of the
directors of the Bank of England.
Mr. Ch. Arland, one of the principals of the house of
Arland, G. Court, end Co., and a partner of the special
commissioner of the Ottoman government for the loan.
Members melding in London :
The direction of the Bank of Turkey, composed of
and
Rowell Ellice, Esq., of the firm of Roberts, Lubbock,
00.

William Gladstone, Esq., of the firm of Thomson, Boner,
and Co.

Gordon, E 9., of the Oriental Bank.
M. E. Rodosianaclu, Esq., of the firm of Rodocanachi,
Sous, and Co.
Members residing in Paris :
Count Simeon, senator.
M. Donon, banker, consul-general of Turkey.
M. Lichtlin, director of the Societe GenErale de Credit
Commercial et InduatrieL
M. Isidore Fcrald.

After having summarily exhibited the general situation of
the Ottoman Empire, and the financial considerations which
have determined the oontracton to undertake this loan, they
have the right to add that, whilst seeking advantages for the
interests they represent, they further believe they will be
useful to the great European family by contributing to the
prosperity of an empire so neoemary to the equilibrium of all
states, and the integrity of which has been augured by the
concurrence of the Great Western Powers when they ad-
mitted the Ottoman Empire into the European compact.
Receive, &c.
For the Coetrastors of the Ottoman Loam
J. HIRES.