The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-15 00:00:00

means being found to supply the deficit. An in-
creased import duty is, they further allege, the
only alternative. This proposition may be open to
doubt ; but it seems ineradicable from their minds.
If, then, we would see one of the difficulties in the
way of the prosperity of this country removed, let

us by all means make some concessions.
A proposal, emanating, I believe, from M. de
Lavalette, ha's:been made to fix both import and
export duties at 8 per cent., on cordition that a
diminution of 1 per cent. shall be made each year
on the export duty, which would thutilbe altogether
removed after eight years. The import duty, which
will remain at 8 percent. during that period, may
then be reduced from time to time as the financial

position of the empire improves. No system by
which uniformity of rate of Customs' duties on every
description of merchandise is established can be
really good. It may be, however, that insurmount-
able difficulties would arise i a the present case were
a more satisfactory adjustment proposed. The
rights of the several countries ha` lug commercial
treaties with the Porte are identical. The nature
of their imports into Turkey varies. To propose
to visit the imports from some countries with a
higher percentage than those of others would pro-
bably lead to discontent, and to a refusal on the
part of certain States to suffer any alteration what-
ever of their treaty rights. This is not, however,
a question upon which I at present propose to dwell.
Coupled with the scheme for a revision of the com-
mercial treaties, a question of some importance both
to this country and our own has arisen.
It is certain that there are immense tracts of land
in the Sultan's dominions eminently suited to the
cultivation of cotton. The lowest of the series of
plateaux of which Asia Minor is composed contains
many thousands of square miles of such land.
Smyrna used, in the days of the Levant Company,
to expor this material largely. How is it that, in
proportion as the demand has increased, the supply
of cotton from Anatolia and Syria, where the plant
is indigenous, has fallen away to utter insignifi-
nance It is a question not difficult to answer.
The reasons are simple and manifold.
First and foremost, thinness of population and a
consequent dearth of labour is a difficulty with
which the cotton grower in Turkey has to contend.
It is a formidable obstacle to meet with at the out-
set and one which may be fatal to the culture of
land remote from the towns and larger villages.
Some compensation for this drawback is, neverthe-
less, to be found in the fact that with cotton, the
main part of the labour—viz., the hoeing and pi3k-
ing, is so light that it may be performed by women
and children. Of this labour there should in many
places be no dearth.
Next in the catalogue of impediments to success-
ful and remunerative cotton-growing come the im-
posts levied for the purpose of revenue. I have
said that exports are enormously overtaxed. The
objection is not applicable to cotton alone; but as
that is the article under consideration, let us see
how it fares in this respect. The chief imposts to
which exports are subjected before leaving this
country for a foreign market are :—The Sulquin,
the tithe, and the Customs' or export duties under
the commercial treaties.
The Sulquin, or Yergu, is at once a property and
an income-tax, assessed upon what principle it is
extremely difficult to say. Übieini, in his Lettres
stir la Turquic, describes it as a tax raised upon
the presumed fortune of all private individuals, de-
rived from their real, personal, or commercial pro-
perty. This tax, lie adds, is not uniform, amounting
in Routnelia to 10, while in many districts of
Anatolia it attains to 25 per cent. All I can add to
the definition is an account of the manner in which
it is apportioned among the population, end which
shall also show the inequality with which it bears
in different districts, and on different sorts of pro-
perty. The imposition of this tax would appear to
have originated in the following way :—A
sum was required for the Exchequer. This amount
it be
was apportioned arbitrarily—how could certain
other-
wise, in the absence of all statistical information ?
• i
—among the various sandjaks,.or provinces of the
empire. No more scientific division has ever taken
place. The burden thus arbitrarily imposed upon
each sandjak is as arbitrarily apportioned among
the cazas (judges' districts). The Muechir and chief
authorities of the WA determine the amount each