The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-10 00:00:00

The Taxation of Ancient Persia.

rom " Ratclinfon's Ancient Monarchies.")
The substitution of definite burtbens on the sub
ject in lieu of variable and uncertain charges was
aimed at rather than effected by the new arrange-
ment of the revenue which. is associated with the
name of Darius. This arrangement consisted in
fixing everywhere the amount of- tribute in money
and in kind which each satrapy was to furnish to
the crown. A definite money payment, varying,
in ordinary satrapies, from. 170 to 1,000 Babylo-
nian silver talents, or from £42,000 to £250,000 of
our money, and amounting, in the exceptional case
of the Indian satrapy, to above a million sterling,
was required annually by the Sovereign, and had to
be remitted by the satrap to the capital. Besides
this, a payment, the nature and amount of which
was also fixed, had to be made in kind, each pro-
vince being required to furnish that commodity, or
those commodities, for which it was most cele-
brated. This latter burthen must have pressed
very unequally on different portions of the
empire, if the statement of Herodotus be
true, that Babylonia and Assyria paid one
third of it. The payment seems to have been
very considerable in amount. Egypt had to supply
grain sufficient for the nutriment of 120,000 Per-
sian troops quartered in the country. Media had
to contribute 100,000 sheep, 4,000 mules, and 3,000
horses ; Cappadocia, half the above number of each
kind of animal; Armenia furnished 20,000 colts ;
Cicilia gave 360 white horses and a sum of 140
talents (35,000) in lie of further tribute in
kind. Babylonia, besides corn, was required to
furnish 500 boy eunuchs. These charges, how-
ever, were all fixed by the crown, and may
have been taken into consideration in assessing
the money payment, the main object of the
whole arrangement evidently being to make the
taxation of each province proportionate to its wealth
and resources. The assessment of the taxation
upon the different portions of his province was left
to the strap. We do not know on what principles
he ordinarily proceeded, or whether any uniform
prinliples at all were observed throughout
the Empire. But we find some evidence that, in
places at least, the mode of exaction and
collection was by a land-tax. The assess-
ment upon individuals and the actual collection
from them, devolved, in all probability, on the
local authorities, who distributed the burthen im-
posed upon their town, village, or district as they
they thought proper. Thus the foreign oppressor
did not come into direct contact with the mass of
the conquered people, who no doubt paid the calls
made upon them with less reluctance through the
medium of their own proper magistrates.
If the taxation of the subject had stopped
here, he would have had no just ground of com-
plaint against his rulers. The population of the
empire cannot be estimated at less than forty
millions of souls. 'I he highest estimate of
the value of the entire tribute, both in money
and kind, will scarcely place it at more than
ten millions sterling. Thus far, then, the bur-
then of taxation would certainly not have ex-
ceeded five shillings a head per annum. Per-
haps it would not have reached half that amount.
But, unhappily, neither was the tribute the sole
tax which the Crown extracted from its subjects,
nor had the Crown the sole right of exacting
taxation. Persian subjects in many parts of the
empire paid, besides their tribute, a water rate,
which is expressly said to have been very produc-
tive. The rivers of the empire were the King's ; and
when water was required for irrigation, a state
officer superintended the opening of the sluices, and
regulated the amount of the precious fluid which
might be drawn off by each tribe or town-

ship. For the opening of the sluices a large sum
was paid to the officer, which found its way into
the coffers of the State. Further, it appears, tbat
such things as fisheries—and if so, probably salt
works, mines, quarries, and forests—were regarded
as Crown property, and yielded large sums to the re-
venue. They appear to have been farmed to respon-
sible persons, who undertook to pay at a certain fixed
rate, and made what profit they could by the trans-
action. The price of commodities thus farmed
would be greatly enhanced to the consumer. By
these means the actual burthen of taxation upon
the subject was rendered to some extent un-
certain and indefinite, and the benefits of the
fixed tribute system were diminished. But the
chief drawback upon it has still to be mentioned.
While the claims of the crown upon its subjects
were definite and could not be exceeded, the
satrap was at liberty to make any exactions that he
pleased beyond them. There is every reason to be-
lieve that he received no stipend, and that, conse-
quently, the burthen of supporting him, his body-
guard, and his court, was intended to fall on the
province which had the benefit of his superintend-
ence. Like a Roman proconsul, he was to pay him-
self out of the pockets of his subjects, and, like
that class of persons, he took care to pay himself

highly. It has been calculated that one satrap of
Babylon drew from his province annually in actual
coin a sum equal to £lOO,OOO of our money. We
can scarcely doubt that the claims made by the pro-
vincial governors were, on the average, at least
equal to those of the Crown ; and had the disadvan-
tage of being irregular, uncertain ; purely arbitrary.
Thus, what was gained by the new system was not
so muoh the relief of the subject from unoertain
taxation as the advantage to the crown of knowing
beforehand what the revenue would be, and being
able to regulate its expenditure accordingly. Still
a certain amount of benefit did undsubtedly accrue
to the provincials from the system since it
gave them the Crown for their protection. As
long as the payments made to the State were
irregular, it was, or at least seemed to be, for the
interest of the Crown to obtain from each province
as much as it could anyhow pay. When the state
dues were once fixed, as the Crown gained nothing
by the rapacity of its officers, but rather lost, since
the province became exhausted, it was interested
in checking greed, and seeing that the provinces
were administered by a wise and good satraps.

THE FAMINE IN ALGERIA.

The Archbishop of Algiers has written an appeal
for assistance to the suffering Arabs in the colony.
He says :—" The evil is daily extending, and assum-
ing such grievous proportions that I cannot any
longer remain quiet It is in fact ' famine' with all

its horrors that is decimating the native population,
already so severely tried by the ravages of cholera.
Two years of drought and the invasion of locusts
have exhausted all resources. During several
months past a large number of Arabs have been
living solely on the herbs of the field or the
leaves of trees, which they browse on like animals ;
and now, with a winter more rigorous than
usual, their exhausted bodies no longer re-
sist, and they die of absolute hunger. They
are to be seen naked, hardly covered with rags,
wandering in troops on the roads in the neighbour-
hood of the towns, whence they are obliged to be
removed to prevent disturbances of all kinds. Every
morning men are found on the highways and in the
fields dead of inanition, in groups of six, eight, or

ten. These poor people, destitute of everything,
still show a certain amount of fortitude and a savage
resignation which would be really admirable if in-
spired by a sentiment of Christianity, and if they
did not arise from their sad Mussulman fatalism,
the first cause of their misfortunes, because it
prevents them from using the slightest foresight.
It was in that way that in the summer they died
of cholera, and are now perishing of hunger. Cal-
culations which are not exaggerated estimate the
victims in the last six months at 100,000. Only
think of the number of widows and orphans 1
Little children are sometimes picked up on the road-
side still clinging to the necks of their dead mothers,
frequently themselves expiring. Several have been
brought to me, and the Bishop of Oran writes me
word that others have been brought to him. He
tells me that near him the people are also dying of
hunger, and I know that the misery is not less
great iu the province of Constantina. Under these
circumstances the Government of Algeria fulfils its
duty admirably. Work is offered to all the able-
bodied men, and there is plenty for all. Extra-
ordinary assistance for the widows and children

has bee; asked from the legislative body, and will