The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-05 00:00:00

TURKISH COMMERCE.

CONSTANTINOPLE, AUGUST 15.—,-There is no sub-
ject of mare general imp.iranee at the present day than
the eau,' condition of Turkey in a commercial point
of view. I shall proceed to remark upon some few
points that have fallen under my particular observation.
Toe manufactured articles chiefly imported into Con-
stantinople from Europe, are—cottons, woollens, cutlery,
silks, velvets, and glass ware. The greater part of the
imports consists of cotton manufacture and cotton twist
from Great Britain. By an approximate valuation of
the goods imported from England, made from en exa-
mination of the manifests of cargoes in 1837 and
1838, the imports were estimated at about 1,500,0001.
per annum. It has been stated that the transit
trade to Persia in manufactures is three-eighths to
two-thirds of the imports from England ; thus the re-
mainder, deducting two-thirds from 1,500,000/., would
give about the reel amount of Turkey aame. The
value of the xports to Great Britain from Turkey ap-
peared from the same calculation to be only about
600,0001. Now that there ought to be a free trade in
virtue of the commercial treaty, exportation may ex-
ceed impertetion materially. In such an event, as
money becomes more abundant in the country, so will
a demand for foreign manufactures increase. At *the
present moment the imports from, and exports to,
Great Britain form the greatest proportion of the trade
of Turkey. The chief Turkish exports are raw silk,
gnats' wool, sheep's wool, galls, yellow berries, box-
wood, and opium.
The system of trade pursued by many of the mer-
chants here (rayahs) is, generally speaking, most unfa-
vourable to the country. They menage to buy up in
all cases of crisis by advance upon the crops—a pro-
ceeding much to be reprobated, and which it is to be
hoped the enactments of the hatti-scheriff of Gulhane
will in future do away with to a considerable extent.
The circulation of capital, too, has hitherto been very
imperfect. The whole of the imports are sold on credit.
I have the authority of one of the first merchants in
stating, that when sales are now paid for in double the
time specified it is thought very fortunate—that in a
country where the legal per tentage is 12 per cent. per
annum, and where the best hills are often discounted at
11 to 2 per cent. per month ! The latter in a great de-
gree has been the fault of the fluctuating state of the
Government coinage, which now for the first time has
been put upon an honest footing.
Another evil, and one pressing for instant attention,
is the great extent to which smuggling is still carried on
at the ports, more particularly of Smyrna and of Con-
stantinople. The Turkish authorities themselves, from
the laxity and venality of their Government, have been
the principal cause of the success of illicit trade.
Their employes in the Custom-house still receive sala-
ries upon which it is impossible that they can alone
support themselves. The Commission for the arrange-
ment of the commercial treaty were anxious to establish
a penalty on the detection of contraband ; but, besides
the difficulty attending the condemnation of goods so
seized, it was founa that the old Austrian treaties stipu
fated that double duties only should be levied in such
instances. Hence, us every nation would claim, in
individual cases, to be upon the footing of " the most
favoured," such a course was found to be impracti-
cable. kustria, as usual, is in this instance a bar to
herself and to others. There exists great necessity for
the proper establishment here, on the p- rt of Great
Thitain, of a local judicial system, applicable net only
to the crime of smuggling, but also to all other delin-
quencies ccmaritted by British subjects. Such a course
absolutely necessary for the protection of the honest mer-
chant, and, on the other band, to demonstrate to the
Turkish Government the integrity and liberality of the
relationship which for the future we wish to establish
with them. The Turks are not allowed to punish
foreign subjects or proteges. Their police may arrest
and imprison, but then the foreign authority must be
informed of it, and unless the evidence is such as exae'ly
to satisfy the foreign law, the delinquent is given up.
and ultimately released ; and in most cases merely be-
cause the foreign authorities have no local etiminal code
upon which the:r subjects can be judged. In the instance
of British subjects offending, the criminal must be sent
to Malta, and there it requires witnesses and evidence in
volving a little fortune todefray the expenses. The conse-
quence is, that this place swarms with Maltese and
lonians of the most notorious Character, and upon whom
there is little or no check. Such is the ill-defined na-
ture of the judicial powers with which even the English
Consul-Genersl in his civil authority is invested, that
even in his own department, although a man of the
soundest judgment, it is with the greatest difficulty he
can be brought to give any decision. The general opi-
nion of merchants here best informed upon the subject
is, that the British Ambassador at the Porte ought to
preside over a criminal court whose object would be to
aid and supervise the local authorities concerning
questions in which British subjects were involved. Nor
would such a plan be at all inconsistent with the pre-
sent functions of a British Ambassador at this place, for
not only is he vested in Turkey with ordinary ambas-
sadorial privileges, but in relation to his country's sub-
jects he is also in the light of a colonial goveinor.
There is another remedy which might operate on the
part of the Turkish authorities themselves—namely,
that when strangers arrive here with the intention of set-
tling-, they should ascertain their character, trade, and
pursuits, and, where necessary, obtain a guarantee for
their good behaviour. Why should the Turks be the
least favoured of any nation in those respects ! By
some such regulation, as much due to our national
honour as to the Turkish Government, the character
of our authority would stand far higher than it does at
present.
With respect to exchanges, the largest operations are
with London, Vienna, Marseilles, and Trieste. Extra-
ordinary fluctuations sometimes occur, owing to the
circumstance of there being no bank of discount.
Every merchant is in consequenc,... his own cashier, and
his money being generally otherwise employed, it often
happens that large orders arriving to be executed (in
silk or corn, for instance), and requiring to be paid for
in cash, negotiations have to be pressed, and the ex-
changes necessarily give way. Tne weekly exchanges
at present do not exceed 30,0001. for European opera-
tions.

I shall now subjoin a few remarks respecting the
produce of raw silk in Turkey, a rising and most
important branch of Turkish commerce. The pro-
duce of raw silk was formerly confined to the
Pashalic of Brossa, but is n.,w also extensively
cultivated about Adrianople and in Salonica. " Broussa
silk,' in its manwactured state, is confined solely to
Turkey, nor is it applicable to any other market. The
produce of an ordinary good rccolte may be esti-
mated at about 7,000 bales, of 40 tiffees each ; in all
about 1,190,0001b5. English. The silk was, some
years ago, wound off on large reels of about 300 inches
in circumference, and was then only serviceable in Eng-
land for the manufacture of r;band ; bnt lately they
have begun to imitate the Italian silk, and have em•
ploycd reels of from 72 to 80 inches. They have suc-
ceeded ia bringing it. to such perfection as last. year to be
wor hin London from 225. to 245. pc r lb. The Turkish
Government received in the intericr on its production
10 p' r cent. on the market value ; and by the new to-
r ff, on arriving here from the interior, they receive 9 per
cent, or 27 piastres per teffee ; they ec,iv eon export.-
I tton a farther 3 per cent. ; in all 22 per cent. Since the
growers have found it to their advantage to wind
the silk in short reels, the cultivation and produc-
tion are greatly increasing, and may before many
ye,rs be doubled ; and now thet its quality crimes in
eomputit:on with that of China and Italy, England
alone would take any quantity that they could pro.
duce. Of the 7,000 bales of silk estimated as the
production of Broussa, about 3.000 go to England, and
1,000 to France ; the rest in smaller quantities to
Russia, Holland and America, leaving about 1,700
hales for home consumption. The silk of Salonica and
Adrianople in commensurately on the increase, but I
have not ha,l the same opportunities of estimating
the amount of their production as in the instance of
Broussa.