New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-12-25
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.
THE sULTANS EMBELLISHMENTS.

| SYSTEM.
IFRoH AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRiBuSEl
| CoNsTANTINoPLE, Dec. 1.-Careful inquiries made
in various parts of this country show a condi-
ton Of affairs desperate that suppose there is
but little reason expect the Sultan to pass safely
through the present crisis. At Erzroom in Armenia
the tax gatherers arc pressing the people with all
manner of violence to pay "arrears" These arrears
may OF may not have an actual existence For in
stance a widow ia called upon to sell her household
furniture in payment of the military exemption tax
due from her husband for the ten since his DEATH
In CappadOcia a correspondent assures me that the
people are now being called upon to pay taxes which
| will not be due till 1877. In the same region the
| people are but just gaining strength again alter
two-years' famine, and being forced mercllessly
TO pay up the taxes forgiven" them on account OF
that famine. gentleman of long residence in the
Province of Broosa told me yesterday that the same
rigorous collection of taxes was being made IN that
province. asked him if the people were grateful
for the relief from taxation afforded by the recent
| Imperial decree which reduced the produce tax
from 12l2 to 10 per cent. He fairly laughed at my
innocence in supposing that the decree in question
was observed by the tax gatherers. 1t was intended
for effect in Europe and to people who claim the
benefit of it the is invariably returned that
the decree will not go into effect until year from
now This is understood to mean that it will not go
| into effect at all.
| The fact il the financial situation is one OF such
great ard pressing necessity that the Government IA
obliged to gather money by fair means or foul, and
in doing it it is ready to kill the goose
which laws the golden egg. The people well
nigh driven desperation; bu SAID one of the very
Armenisns who are suffering the most in this way
" Our people have been crushed 50 long without
! hope that they will not rise-they cannot. The
| people in European Turkey are not so broken
spirited as we are, and we look to them for our de-
hyerancep IL is reported good author
! ty that some hundreds Of these Armenians
in the region of Mount AraTat have lately
become Mohammedans in order to escape the # arlul
burden of oppression which the Turks had put upon
them as Christians In European Turkey there IS
no question but what the whole of Bulgaria needs
but a spark to bring revolt The Turkish troops
in passing have been guilty Of unchecked atrocities,
the people have mnrmured, more troops have in con-
sequence been poured into the "dsl1eced dis
trictsr and the Government has committed the ter
ribe blunder everywhere of undertaking to break
the spirit of those whom 1t might have concated.
Whole districts which two months ago were peace
full and perfectly free from disoyalty, now burn
ing to avenge O series of wrongs which have been
burned into the very souls Of the inhabitants.
In this city public opinion is deprived Of ex-
preston, the press is muzzled, the publication of
news is absolutely prohibited, except it has the
official sanction. This sanction of course Is gwen
to nothing of an uufavorable nature, and so the
public ls left to invent where it cannot learn the
truth. Stocks at the lowest figure consistent
with the quotations of the same stocks in London
and Paris. Operators here see that for some reason
operators in Europe are willing to pay % for bond
with 100 face value and what feeble transactions
take place on Change are ruled by the kilograms of
each day from the European markets. Were it not
that these quotations seem To show that those VINO
ought to know in Europe have more favorable I'M
pressons of the destiny OF the sick man" than
do those Immediately about that individual, the
Stock Exchange Of COnstantnople would have no
business to do Here the feeling is very strong that
the January coupons cannot be met by the Gov
eminent. Moreover, there is n marked eX-
pectancy of an absolute end of all things Turkish
before very long.
Out of this feeling grows a rather dangerous race
jealousy between Moslems and Christians in this
city, The M0hammedans have not a general thing
the means of information current events which
are possessed by their Christian neighbors. The
Censor of the Press has sliding scale by which he
graduates the allowance Of news made to each part
of the population. Certain items are tt only for The
Lecant Herald other items suitable for that paper are
not fit for French papers having different class OF
readers The Greek and Armenian papers have to
content themselves with very limited range among
the matters permitted to both English and French
papers while tho Turkish papers, intended only for
Mohammedans, contain but small selection of the
news of the day. and that garbled to suit the neces
sity of the Mussulman editor who must make it
plain TO all his readers that the Ottoman power is in
its highest glory to-day. These Turkish papers have
steadily represented Herzegovina as pacltled have
failed to publish the reforms in that Province
promised by the Government to the foreign powers,
and are to-day representing TO their readers that the
press Of Europe is unanimous in approving the
financial measure" of reputation of the CONSOLE
dateddebt. With this understanding Of the condition
of their country the Mohammedans of the mass feel
bitterly aggieved on hearing the political talk eur
rent among their Christian neighbors. The lie is
freely given in such cases, and it is a word and a
blow in these DAYS. So the bitterness is now grow
ing up which will doubtless have frutage in blood
before the Eastern question disposed Of unless the
arbiters of destinies careful of the de-
tails of their arrangements than emperors are wont
to be in their divisions of coveted territory.
But in the midst of all this feeling that the Turk
ish Empire is doomed there is also another strong
feeling that the jealonsies and the same polit-
zeal necessities, which have kept Turkey intact
long, may again prolong the days of the Sultans
There is nothing so permanent, says Victor Hugo
as the pile Of stones which is left for few days
Tn temporary prolongng of the days Of this en-
pire-excused in Christendom hitherto by the
assumption that the thin lacquer on the surface is
genuine civilization of the natiOn-may yet continue
| indefinitely on the same assumption.
In the mean time eat and we drink and we
marry and give in marriage as IL was in the days
of Noah. Some of the American papers have an
nounced lately that Turky has adopted the rules of
the Berne Postal Convention, so that letters may
now be sent to any part of Turkey for five cents