The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-26 00:00:00

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he did not preclude himself from removin

3LIC BUSINESS.—In answer to an enquiry by 'Jr.
DISRAELI, as to the intentions of the government in
respect to the public business, Lord J. RUSSELL stated
that he did not intend to move a second reading of the
Education Bill, and that he hoped on the Ist of August
to go into the committee of supply, with the view of
taking the remaining votes. He proposed that, after
that date, orders of the day should take precedence of
motions on Tuesdays.

In reply to Mr. H. DRUMMOND whether the public
accounts could not in future be made up at Christmas
instead of Easter, so that the house might sit in winter,
instead of summer, Lord J. RUSSLLE said—l shall net
now discuss the question as to our sitting in winter and
having our holiday in summer. lam one of those who'
in some respects agree with the hon. member. 1 haver
however, observed that whenever the house met at all
early period, the session was not found to be a short one'
I believe that in another year—l will not say neat Year".
we may be able to finish the session in June or July.
.2
RUSSIA AND TURKEY.—III answer to Mr. LEIVOTCIo
to the negotiations pending between Russia and Turkela
and to the production of papers connected therewith, Mr
J. RUSSELL said that the sending of the British fleet to
the Turkish waters was:a proof of the interest which her
Majesty felt in the maintenance of the integrity of Turkel'
He thought no Ministry were justified in plunging Into
war until every means for the preservation of peace had
been exhausted. In trying to preserve peace he thong"„
it more likely to be accomplished by communication °,
Government with Government rather than by submitting
the whole of the papers to a popular assembly. He knee
he was making a large demand upon the forbearance of
the house; but, in the present state of the negotiationgt
which had scarcely commenced at St. Petersburgb,
could not consent to lay the papers on the table.
THE INDIA. BILL.—The house went again into coroci
mittee on the India Bill, commencing with the 32°
clause.—Sir C. Wool) stated that they intended to open
Hai!eybury College to competitioa, but to leave Addis:
combe under the nomination system, as at present.
In the course of the discussion allusion was made to the
statement by Mr. Bright of the abuse of the patronage
of a director.—Mr. BRIGHT said, his authority for the
statement was the member for Lambeth.—Mr.
SON acknowledged the substantial accuracy of it. The
party who had been communicated with was his ovaa
brother, who, having given his word of honour, did not
f hi
eel msf at liberty to disclose the name of the perscir.
who madele the corrupt proposal.—A long and sornewho
angry discussion followed, in the course of which soma
sharp censures were cast upon Mr. Bright, who, coil'
fessing that he ought to have obtained the consent of I'de'
Wilkinson before he made the statement, denied that in
other respects be was open to animadversion.—The whole
of the clauses in the bill having been gone through. the
consideration of the new clauses was deferred until Afon-
day, and the Chairman reported progress.
ENCUMBERED ESTATES.—A discussion of some knell
took place on the motion for the House resolving itself
into a committee on the Encumbered Estates (Ireland}
Act Continuance Bill : and the House ultimately resolved
itself into the proposed committee pro forma.
The Patronage Exchange Bill, the Colonial BishePg"
Act Extension Bill, and the Turnpike Trusts Arrange'
ments Bill were each read a third time and passed.
out,
on half-past two o'clock the House was counted
on a motion of Mr. Macartney's, for certain papers con'
nected with the proceedings of a yacht club.

MILITARY RESOURCES OF TURKEY.

The Turkish army, as at present organized and eclair
ped, has never yet been brought face to face with a FOP
peen force. in the last Russian war the Nizam, or Iwo'
lars, were a few raw, ill-organized conscripts, and the
i
greater part of the army was composed of a hasty Jeri °„
irregulars. At present the regular force that Turkey es:
bring into the field consists of seven ordous, or ean3P"
each of 35,000 men, and each of them has a redif, or re'
serve force, of those who, having served five years in Va'
regular army, have still seven years to serve as militia ell
extraordinary occasions. Besides the regular army, In
key contains a vast irregular force of great variety, which
might be made most useful during a campaign. In re;
ropean Turkey the Bosnians are a warlike race, and under
their feudal system—which was crushed though not el:
tinguished by Omer Pasha—could furnish a large papules
tion of fighting men, both foot and cavalry. The horsed
are small and thickset, but active beasts, and well adapts
d
for their mountainous country ; their riders are aria',,
with a long gun, gaily ornamented with tnether-of-Peesrd
' .1-'"
and silken tassels, besides a yatagan, or long knife
~,ts
pistols. The foot are armed in the same manner. s
race of Slavonians are remarkable for their large foliose
frame and warlike spirit. They were bound under 111
ancient feudal system to furnish a large force of staled
e‘t
men for the service of the empire, and in the late war w",e
Russia this force marched towards the Balkan, but vise•-cr
not permitted to pass through Serbia, since Milosh, 'bed
Serbian Prince, was in the interest of Russia and cheek
from
most with the Serbian troops. The Bosnians are
most fanatical Mussulmans, and are distinguished ill
their fellow-Christians by wearing the turban • the le.so
of their costume is like that of almost all the glavohruar".
of Asia Minor. The Albanians, a kilted people, w'°-e,
semble the ancient Scottish Highlanders even in
_,-
are entirely composed of foot, and are as hardy, dirty, and
e
savage as any mountain warriors in the world. They
excellent riflemen, and are Mussulmans or Christian_sr;
much as their interest suits them. They are employed i,
garrison work in every remote corner of the empire, and
are everywhere the terror of the peasant. The Gran'
Vizier is an Albanian ; indeed, they have furnished Maur
remarkable men. In Asia Minor, the stronghold of the
Turks and the citadel of Islam, the whole Mussulman po'
pulation would, in case of war, rise almost to a man. The
Osmanlis compose the agricultural and town populaticolesr
and the use of arms is very common among them, though
they cannot be called an armed race, since the towns ge'
nerally contain garrisons of regular soldiers, so that the
citizen merely dons his arms when undertaking a journey
The nearest Mussulman neighbours to Russia are the
Lagi, a small but savage people, inhabiting the al'aieet
Colchis, and, until lately, serving feudally under Dere:
beys ; which custom still maintains to a certain extent'"
but nothing like what it was formerly, when a small WI
could be raised in a few days under the heads of lbelc
chiefs ready for active service. These Lagi have a distill.,
language of the Indo-Germanic family, and are a ha r? 7,,
aboriginal race of red-bearded mountaineers, quite albs/
tinct from the Turks but joined by the powerful symPlll.,l2
of religion. They are all footmen, and are armed C1„,`,1
a short heavy rifle, a cairns' or large broad dagger, 9'o
pistols. About thirty years ago an army of 500 of Vilest!
besieged Trebizond, but were negotiated with and induced
to retire. They are agriculturists and fishermen, and ins
habit villages which are thinly scattered in the dense Pig,
forests covering that mountainous tract lying south Of !ha
river Phasis. From the coast of the Black Sea to
Taurus chain of mountains a great part of the popul!".;(1)0
is nomad, and. besides the Turks or Osmanlis (and
Armenian and Greek Christians, who are non-combatants)'
consists of two distinct races—the Turcomans. who 13°80
sessed themselves of the land before the advent of t'to
Osmanlis, and who wander with their black tents UP t,
the shores of the Bosphorus ; and the Kurds on the east;
the ancient Carduchi, who harassed the 10,000 Greens'
and who, in the middle' ages, gave the great Saladin
the defence of Islam. These latter people are partly nus
mud, most of them leaving their huts in the mountains is
wander with their tents and flocks in the rich valid
Araratduring
tt
oh e
thesummer
southern
mountains months.
Thes
quently dwell in every variety of climate, arid lead I. u
childhood a sort of military life. The northern Kurds
about Ararat are still the very models of mediaeval Eastern
trloaonpce:fthtehemseacKe,urtc::l,
of Christendom. The adventurous tourist may at the_
d'oaneregtrunk with chain mail armour;
warriors, such as Saladin led against the Western Knight
taperingp on
nd
looking horses'
present day, while travers,uinagndsohmigeh-bbrroead valley in these
raaenngddioar
mountedsm clothed,
e donw ialt,ccita suddenly
d:
le:ceaosnlmi These people
pers
Persia, and faonudn
copse'
°n fromasen;
scimitar, or battle-axe, their chiefs being distinguished
by the richness of their arms, their superior horses, an
d
casque. In the highest mountains the Carduchi
the white plume of the egret in front of the polish%
rn still found among the crags of Bohtan and Jula
er
but are not horsemen. Their arms are the rifle and
dagger, both of home manufacture. Their enormous 8.11
many-coloured turbans and their brilliant costume 81,
them a remarkable appearance, and their fierce rnelanchll,
countenance is but an index of that stern fanaticism whie
but seven or eight years ago sacrificed many thousands a'
the Nestorian Christian mountaineers. Further south o.°
still find the same people, with the same habits, but first'
rate horsemen, who have within the last thirty or fort 9
years substituted guns for bows and arrows, and who 41
combat, quickly wheeling round their horses and die'
charging their guns while fleeing, are, like the ancient
Scythians, • oV
s
Scythians, more terrible in retreat than onset. The r
comans, who are spread over the whole of Asia Minotricaur:
also a most warlike people. Clans numbering wens' f the
sands acknowledge the Sultan as the representittiVe
esso all
Caliphs and the Sovereign Lord of Islam, from W's"—
tically independent of him, and pay no taxes but to the;
own chiefs. In the neighbourhood of Caesarea, Kusapil
the Frank Kings receive their crowns; but they are Prael
Oghlon, a Turcoman chief, numbers 20,000 armed hars';
men, rules despotically over a large district, and has ofteio
successfully resisted the Sultan's arms. These PeePss
lead a nomad life, are always engaged in petty warts.,'"
are well mounted, and armed with pistol, scimitar, spell"
or gun, and would always be useful as irregular trail's'
South of the Taurus we still find numerous Kurds sae.
Turcomans, but the Arab element begins and prevails 4
we travel southward, to the exclusion of every other.
citizens and villagers of Arabistan are not
, unaccustolneo
to the call to arms, but the Bedouins, as is well knolia,`
are incomparable in all that relates to long marches, 500 E
den onslaughts, plundering convoys, and. the harassin
retreating armies. These swarthy savages—poor, La
armed, and almost naked—are yet far better mounts
than any other nomads, and, for anything but flees,
fighting, would be superior to either Kurd or Turcoras:f
The Arab is essentially brave, and battle is the breathy
his nostrils; but as he loves his mare better than hinssel
he dislikes too close combat lest his four-footed friea,
and companion should be injured. The Bedouin is seldr;
armed with any other weapon than a long lance and
rude sabre, though the Arabs about Syria have frequen",,r
guns. Many great Sheikhs could, on an extraordir l ,
occasion, bring 20,000 or 30,000 men into the nei,
d'
mounted on animals incomparable for speed and enu..ti„
ranee, whose riders are endowed with extraordinary ifs
stincts for living in and ranging wildernesses, where sit;
other creature would die of hunger and thirst. Maser
these the Druses of the Lebanon, the Yezidees, and 01" re
armed non-Mussulmans, who would probably fight wilsb
most plunder was to be gained, and we have a rude s
of the irregulars of Turkey.

AN ESTABLISHMENT FOR GENTLEWOMEN during Ito
ness has for some time existed in London, though hither,,,,,
but little known, and restricted in utility by the na,rr°4-5
limits of a small house and insufficient income. Er',.°lts
have, however, been made to extend the sphere 0,
operations; and on Wednesday a meeting of the patt°;;A.
and supporters of the establishment was held in a 13,:',0
house in Harley-street, where the society have
larger premises, and hope to render their exertions ben,,f
ficial among a wide circle of recipients. Tho Bushoßf,
London presided at the meeting, and resolutions dechaTT:
the usefulness and advocating the cause of the establoP
meat were unaahnoully adopted.