The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-01-01
Communications.

Mr.. EDITOR By the accounts lately received from
Europe, it appears that Turkey is in q bad way.
Since the war with Russia, she has been living, not
only on her capital, but on money borrowed at
enormous rates of interest. Her debts have not been
paid from the revenues and industry of the country,
but have been met, as fast as each became due, by
the creation of a new one; until at last, as had been
long foreseen, there is a break down and the bare
interest can no longer be paid.
Being in a state of bankruptcy, the revenues
squandered by the Sultan and his officers on pleas
ures, useless ornaments and other follies, the coun-
try ill-goyerned and in a state of rebellion; the
question arises: What is to become of Turkey? In
dependently Of the disaster she has brought upon
herself by her folly and recklessness, she threatens
to be the cause Of trouble to all the surrounding
peoples.
The kings and rulers of other nations, especially
of the small and weak, would do well to take warn
ing from the example Of Turkey. Were I honored
with the friendship of such a ruler, and should he
ask me for my opinion as to what his course should
be, if he found himself living beyond his means and
falling into arrears of debt, 1 should address him
| somewhat in this manner:
.'SRE: After the worship due to his Creator, the
first duty of q sovereign is to his people. He is
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or pleasure, but to promote their welfare. 1t is not
for himself, or that he may bestow rewards and
honors on his personal friends. or to patronize syco-
plants aud hatterers, that he is made q ruler or a
king, and that he has so large a share in appointing
to Office and dispensing the revenues of the country
it is not for his own qualification, for his being s
king is but an accident, but for the preservation and
happiness of his people, and that when called from
this world he may leave his country TO his successor
in q more secure and prosperous condition than that
in which he found it; therefore. if your Majesty finds
that your country is unnecessarily mourning debt,
that the expenses of government are greater than its
revenues, it will be the duty of your Majesty to exert
to the utmost your influence in restoring the equi-
librium, and for this you must be a man of action as
well as feeling. 1t is not sufficient to deplore the
unhappy state in which the country is placed; you
are on the brink of a ~precipice, and must employ
nerve as we'll as wisdom to escape the danger. OF
course you have chosen as your advisers men who,
you believe, are devoted to your interests, and OF
the brightest intellect your country could afford
you must tax that intellect unspsringly. Were it
my case, I should require each Of my principal
officers to prepare a written scheme; either for rails
ing the revenue of the state until it equaled the eI-
penditure, or for reducing the expenditure to a sum
within the amount of the revenue; the discussion OF
these schemes would lead to some line of action
worthy to be adopted and acted upon as q financial
policy. But SOur Majesty's labors and self-denial
would not end here. If your Majesty found that
your salary was more than requisite for your support
in style becoming the dignity of the nation whose
ruler and chief representative you were, your
Majesty, as having the best interests of your people
at heart, and DESTROYS of setting an example that