The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-20 00:00:00

of the financial system of Turkey. In applying for
and obtaining a concession for a national bank it
would seem that these eminent financiers, while
keeping in view the advantage )us investment of
their capital, have not lost sight of the obligation
of bestowing corresponding advantages on the
Turkish Government in regard to a proper admi-
nistration of the resources of the country. They
insisted upon and obtained such conditions as
enable them to investigate in the most scrupulous
manner the actual state of the revenue and the
defective manner in which it has hitherto been ad-
ministered. Gradually the Turks have been yield-
ing to the persuasion which was brought to bear
upon them, and they now show every disposition to
disclose the actual state of their affairs, a process
which was interrupted by the sudden recall of Mr.
Foster to England, where the services of this much
gifted economist were urgently required by his own
Government. It seems that with a judicious em-
ployment of the new loan they may be able to con-
solidate their home debt and to be in readiness to
start fair by the time that the Imperial Bank
commences its functions. It was with this view
that the promoters in Paris, in connection with
the Ottoman Bank in London, have been anxious
to provide them with sufficient means to enab,e
them to act independently of the local bankers,
whose usurious mode of business will be consider-
ably diminished, if not totally wrecked, by the
establishment of this institution. Moreover, by
coming forward at such a moment of need to relieve
the Turkish Government of their difficulties they
establish a claim, not only to advise them in future,
but also to regulate their financial organisation on
principles more in accordance with a European sys-
tem. When this object is once accomplished, and
bearing in view the distinct stipulations of the con-
vention for the bank, which provides that the latter
will" in all things act as the financial agents of the
Government, and receive the revenue," there is fair
reason to think that the hank will be able so far to
control the Government in matters of expenditure
and accounts as to prevent the recurrence of the old
system of irresponsible administration, and the
hopeless chaos into which the Tnrkish Treasury
was plunged. There are elements of prosperity
in the country which even a long course of
corrupt and iniquitous management has net suc-
ceeded in exhausting. I have previously pointed
out the increase which has declared itself in the
Customs' revenue; and, although I then stated that
this must not be interpreted as implying increased
prosperity, but rather increased taxation, I have
since ascertained, in the most positive manner, that
the Custom-house receipts exceed by 80 per cent.
those of the previous year; and, as this increase con-
siderably exceeds the proportion of the additional
imposts which have been created, it is reasonable
to infer that the present augmentation betokens, on
the whole, a wholesome extension of legitimate trade
and commercial prosperity. Tne tithes also—which
up to the present were disposed of at a ruinous
sacrifice by being generally made over at a nominal
price to Armenian and Greek bankers in satisfac-
tion of pressing demands, or as a guarantee for
temporary loans in moments of financial destitu-
tion—are now submiited to competitive sales ex-
tending over many days ; and the obvious conse-
quence is that in all cases they have this year, and
under this wholesome system, been disposed of at
double the price previously obtained for them, and
in some of them at three or four times their previ-
ous value. If, therefore, the moral ascendancy
which has been obtained over Turkish administra-
tors by the promoters of the bank has contributed
to bring forth such healthy indications before the
establishment of that institution, it is reasonably
to be expected that when it has commenced its
functions, and can bring into force the stringent
regulations and conditions of the convention, which
will give it considerable power over the Trea-
sury, its influence for good will be considerably
augmented ; and if it perseveres in the energetic
course of which such favourable indications already
show themselves, it would not be surprising if we
were to witness a new era in Turkish financial ad-
ministration. These are the opinions of serious and
thinking men who have given considerable atten-
tion to the subject, who for some time had given up
as hopeless all idea of financial regeneration, and
whose great integrity and perfect independence
place them out of the reach of any insinuation of
partiality towards the Turkish Government. It is
said that on its establishment the Bank will take
the lead in encouraging such legitimate enterprises
as may benefit the country. lam informed that its
interest and influence will, in the first instance, be
directed to the concession of the long talked•of
Adrianople Railway, the opening up of which com-
munication will be a source of incalculable benefit
to the country and of fair remuneration to in-
vestors.