The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-25 00:00:00

WARLIKE APPEARANCES.
It is rather difficult to say what powers will be brought
against Russia, how France and England may interfere for the pre-
servation of the Turkish Government or whether the United Powers
will succeed by open warfare or favourable negociation ; let this be
as it may, it is certain that the WINTER OVERCOATS manu-
`actured by E. MOSES and SON will be victorious in every conflict
with Storms, Rain, and Cold, the United Forces of First-rate Mate-
rials, Matchless Styles, Inimitable Workmanship, and Prices more
Economical than those of any other House in the World, are sure to
retain and further extend the fame and celebrity of E, Moms and
Sow.
Every member of society, all classes and professions, should in-
spect the unparalleled novelties for the WINTER SEASON, presented
by E. MOSES and SON, they comprise numberless New Styles of
Dress, displaying fashion and neatness, and associating comfort and
economy.
The Hosiery, Fur, Rat, Cap, Boot and Shoe departments are com-
plete exhibitions of Mmnitlcence, Elegance, and Utility, combining
every recent improvement and the Newest Articles of Attire for
Ladies, Gentlemen, and Children.
The Wholesale Department at the Establishment of E. MOSES
and SON is the largest depot in the world, the Goods are all the
most select, and suitable for the colonies or the home trade; in
Price and Quality they offer advantages to Merchants, Captains,
and Emigrants, which cannot be obtained elsewhere.
Full Lists of Outfits for Ladies and Gentlemen, with ship-sailing
information, may be had on application, or post-free.
CAUTION.—E. MOSES and SON regret having to guard the
public against imposition, having learned that the untradesman-like
falsehood of " Being connected with their Establishment," or " It's
the same concern," has been resorted to in many instances, and for
obvious reasons, they beg to state that they have
No CONNEXION WITH ANT OTHER HOUSE IN OR OUT OF LONDON,
except their own Establishments, as follows :

London City Establishment, 154, 155, 156, and 157, Minories, 83,
44,85, and 86, Aldgate, opposite the Church, all communicating.
London West-end Brineh, 506, 507, 508, New Oxford-street, 1, 2
and 3, Hart-street, all communicating.
Bradford (Yorkshire) Branch, 19 and 20, Bridge-street.
Sheffield Branch, 36, Fargate.
Colonial Branch, Melbourne, Australia.
Merchant Tailo:, Clothiers, Hatters, Hosiers, Furriers, Boot and
Shoe Makers, and General Outfitters for Ladies and Gentlemen.
IMPORTANT.—Should any article not give satisfaction, it willbe
exchanged if desired, or, if preferred, the money will be returned
without hesitation. All goods are marked in plain figures, the to west
price, from which ne abatement can be made.
The Establishments are closed from sunset Friday to sunset on
Saturdays, when business is resumed till 12 o'clock.
A new Book, " The Epitome of Comfort and Economy," contain-
ing full lists of prices, our system of self-measurement, &c., &c.,
may be had on application, or post-free.
A handsome Almanac for the year ending 1853 can be had gratis,
an application.
i Ponon parle Francais. Qui si purls Italiano.
Ic
tiler sr richt man Deutsch. Aaua se habla Espanol
*t.* SPECIAL NOTICE.—The Establishments will be CLOSED
on Monday and Tuesday, Oct 24th and 25th, re-opening, as nub
on Wednesday morning, pt 7 o'clock.

MAN KILLED AT NINE ELMS. -Yesterday morning,
Mr. Bedford, the coroner, received information of the
death of George Penfold, aged 30 years, who expired
at Westminster Hospital from the effects of injuries re-
ceived on the South-Western Railway. One of the
porters going down the line, near Nine Elms, discovered
him lying across the rails, mutilated in a frightful man-
ner. He was taken to the hospital, where he expired
shortly after his admission. How the deceased got on
the line is at present unknown.
THE LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND.--The expense
of the establishment of the Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland
was last year 26,633/., including 20,0001. as salary to
his Excellency.

It is fortunate that the Turkish Government is deriv-
ing onprinragomont from the success of that which it has
itself undertaken. If it has done much, there remains
not less for it to do yet ; and, if we had not confidence
in the intentions and in the energy of the men who now
direct it, we should have reason to be uneasy at the sight
of so many important questions still waiting for solution.
General reforms are sterile when reforms in detail are
not made to complete them ; and it is this new path, the
financial system, which must in the foremost place occupy
the attention of the Turkish Government. Money, it is
said, is the sinews of war. It is, by the same rule, the
sinews of peace. There can be no real justice where
taxation is not regularly established ; there can be no
proper means of action where there is not adequate taxa-
tion. The power and prosperity of a State depend, if
not exclusively at least principally, upon its system of
finance ; but nothing is more imperfect than the organi-
sation of the finances of the Ottoman empire. It is not
that the vices of legislation have led to false ideas and
erroneous theories upon the principles of revenue, or upon
the conditions of circulation and of credit. No, for it
may be said, to the advantage of Turkey, that there are
not systematic vices in its laws, though there are unfa-
vourable traditions and customs which partake a little of
empiricism. There is no unity, nothing fixed, nothing
stable. It is in these respects that the position of
Turkish finance merits at this moment all the attention
of the Divan.

In ordinary times the Government would not disturb
itself at all about the revenue, if it balanced the expenses.
Unfortunately, it has been sufficient if the harvest had
disappointed the expectations of the cultivators, or if the
produce of corn was diminished by some evil influence of
the climate, to place the Turkish budget in a deficit ; or
else there arose some diplomatic incident of a nature to
require measures of defence, and it was necessary to
augment the contingent of the army, so that again the
expenses would infallibly exceed the receipts. How
would it be if, for the want of reform, the Government
shou'd think of adequately endowing all the services
which, like that of public instruction, are still upon suf.
ferance ? In the present state of the financial legisla-
tion of the empire, the revenue depends, we perceive,
a little upon the caprices of chance. It has no certain
basis. It might, however, be increased in enormous
proportions without embarrassing the people by the
mere effect of an intelligent organisation. A 'rapid exa-
mination of the Turkish budget, of which we do not
pretend to embrace the whole, will leave no doubt, we
believe, as to the importance of the advantages which
financial reform would ensure to the empire.

For some years the ordinary revenue of Turkey has
not exceeded the amount of 750,000,000 piastres, and
it has not been below 650,000,000. In order to explain
this variation, it is sufficient to say that the principal
sources of income are the tenths upon the produce Of
the soil and the Customs. The expenses, which are
more easy to determine than the receipts, have reached
to 733,400,000 piastres. The details of a Turkish bud.
get are very different from those of a budget among the
people of the West.• We may judge:of this by the follow-
ing table of receipts and expenditure, which, indeed, it

is otherwise curious to compare. The expenditure is
divided in the following manner among the different
services :

Piastres.
The Sultan's civil list
Civil list of the Sultan's mother and of his
married sisters

Army............... 300,000,000
Navy 37,500,000
Materials of war, artillery, engineers, and
fortresses
Salaries of employes in all the empire, and
in every branch of the administration
Subvention to the administration of vakoufs
for the establishments dependent on them 12,500,000
Contingent annuities
Interest at 6 per cent. bons du tresor 9,000,000
Annuities payable in compensation for
ancient fiefs to proprietors dispossessed 40,000,000
Foreign affairs—ambassadors and consuls 10,000,000
Expenses for objects of public utility 10,000,000

Total piastres .

.. 733,400,000

Such are the whole expenses of the Turkish Govern-
ment. Here are its different sources of income;—
Piastres.
Tenths

. .
Income-tax
Personal taxes on non-Mussulman subjects 40,000,000

Customs..
86,000,000
Tribute from Egypt 30,000,000
)1 I, Wallachia 2,000,000
), " Moldavia 1,000,000
Servia
If 2,000,000
Indirect taxes (patents, stamps, octrois,
mines, and ports) 150,000,000

Total peastres

We thus know the elements of the budget and the
financial resources. What measures, then, should be

The tax called vergu, formerly salian, corresponds to
the English income-tax. It varies according to locality,
from 10 to 25 per cent. It is a tax raised upon the pre-
sumed fortune—real, personal, or commercial. It is
placed indifferently upon all the subjects of the Grand
Seignor, Mussulmans or Rayas. The municipalities
which exist everywhere in Turkey are charged with its
apportionment and its collection, and they turn over the
produce to the financial agents of the Government.
This intervention of the municipalities in financial ques-
tions is one of the principles of their organisation in the
East; but this principle supposes in the municipalities
enlightened and equitable views which are not always
met with. There are some in which the patriarchal and
fraternal spirit of the earliest times is preserved ; the
fortune of each, consisting generally of land and cattle,
is of public notoriety. The distribution of the tax
is easy, and its collection is effected without reclamations
or resistance. In some communes of Asia Minor jus-
tice is not so scrupulously applied. 'Although munici-
pal functions are elective they are tod often the prize of
intrigue, and the privilege of great influence, from which
it follows that the great fortunes are not always those
which have to bear the highest tax ; the small ones
suffer, and the Treasury with them. Without attacking
the organization of the municipalities, which have been
in periods of oppression the safeguards of individual
liberty, the Government ought more narrowly to super-
intend their acts. This intervention would no longer
facilitate, as formerly, tyranny and exaction, and the
Government would be able to protect itself in some
municipalities against the very plausible pretext of re-
ductions which have been in their favour. The munici-
palities are no longer at the charge of lodging for military
and employes on travel, and forced labour is suppressed,
which too frequently impoverished the population. The
Government may then, without much scruple, undertake
to verify the labours of the municipalities in the distri.
bution of the tax.

The tenths are not the verge, the most productive
branch of the revenue of Turkey. They are collected
upon all the productions of the earth, fruits, and cereals.
In Roumelia they extend to sheep. It is the same in
some localities in Asia Minor. In others, immunity is
compensated by a surcharge upon the tax. With the
view of receiving money instead of the produce of na-
ture, the Government has recourse to a disastrous expe-
dient, which is one of the principal vices in the financial
legislation of the empire. It puts this tax to auction
the same as the Customs of many cities. The purchasers
effect their reimbursement by means of special agents,
with the concurrence of the municipalities and of the
representatives of the central authority. We may
easily conceive the inconveniences of this system. But
altogether, vicious as it is, it is a step in the way of pro-
gress, if we call to mind the times when governors of
provinces, farmers of tenths and of all the other taxes,
used and abused their power without limit, and ground
down the population in a thousand different ways.
For some years the principal functionaries of the Go-
vernment have presented themselves at these auctions,
and have become purchasers either in their own name or
under that of some Armenian bankers (sarrafs). These
bankers are their sureties with the Treasury, their part-
ners in the profits, or their brokers to re-sell at a profit.
We are tempted, with reason, to exclaim against such
an anomaly. It is necessary, however, to remember
that the spirit to gain is not at this moment the only
motive which instigates Turkish functionaries to endea-
vour to obtain the farming of the tenths. They obey,
at the same time, the idea of the Government, which
wishes to establish on this subject the most serious com-
petition. Thus the price of these purchases has been
considerably augmented, and the Government knows
much better the extent of its resources. It is, in every
case, a minimum result, if we compare it with the immo-
rality of the speculation, with the waste which the sys-
tem provokes, and, in a word, with the enormous losses
thus caused to the people and to the Treasury, to the
profit of the fortunate farmer of the tenths and the Cus-
toms. The inconveniences of this system are perfectly
appreciated by the Government itself. The farming,
already condemned by the hatti-sheriff of Gulhane, has
just been the object of consideration by a committee ap-
pointed to examine some financial questions ; and the
opinion of this committee, composed of some of the prin-
cipal functionaries of the empire, was, that Government
agents ought not to be authorised to present themselves
at auctions. This is a decisive step towards the com-
plete abolition of this ruinous system ; let us hope that
it may not be long before it is attempted.
The capitation tax (haradje or djizie) extends only to
the rayas—that is to say, to the non-Mussulman sub-
jects of the Grand Seignor. Every male adult is liable
to the haradje, which is divided, in proportion to their
fortunes, into three classes. The most rich pay 60 pias-
tres annually ; the middle class, 30 piastres ; and others,
only 15. Generally this tax is considered as compen-
sation for military service, to which the rayas have
not hitherto been subject. For a long time the
haradje was collected by special agents, who spared
the rayas neither gratuituous humiliation nor exactions.
Although these abuses have disappeared, it is only
just decreed that the mode of collection shall be
changed, but in the meantime there is no doubt the
character of the impost will be modified. Here-
after the Patriarchs, heads of the different Chris-
tian communities, as well as the Khakam-bachi, or chief
of the Jews, will be the intermediaries between their co-
religionists and the Treasury. It is difficult to believe
i that this new mode of collection can be more profitable
Ito the Treasury than the former—at least until, by a sys-
tem of subscription, the state is able to guarantee a fixed
sum to itself. The tax appears less onerous upon the
population ; this, perhaps, is the single advantage to be
expected from the innovation.
We shall now touch upon a subject of an interest not
less great, and which takes us less from the economic
ideas of the West—the Customs. The Customs system