The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-06-15
The Turks as Bribe-Tal ers.


The evil inherent in Turkish charac-
ter must be mentioned, as il holds a
large place among the causes of Otto
man downfall, and is all aggrayation of
all the rest-it is the universal venality
of office-holders. The Turks are often
described by those who have lived
among them as remarkably Kind and
generous, faithful to promises, and so
honest that their word is as good as
their bond. We may gladly believe this
TO be true in private life; but certainly
no people have ever had their heads and
their hearts turned so quickly and conf
pletely by accession to power. Only in
the declining days of imperial Rome
can we find a parallel to Turkish office
holders. From the grand vizier down
to the aga bribe-money is the "open
sesame" to every object of desire. All
positions are sold to the highest bidder;
even the judges get their places by brib-
cry, and keep them by "hush-money."
Until the recent reforms, all Judges
the mollahs, cadis and dnaibs-pronounc-
ed sentence In both civil and criminal
cases, without appeal Bribery here
was rampant. Whenever, by any
means, the victim can get the car of the
grand vizier, the dishonest Judge may
be deposed, bastinadoed, and bis prop
erty seized. But even then the Oppress-
ed suitor gets no redress; his wrongs
are not rectified, nor his stolen goods
retuned-for the confiscatcd wealth
goes only TO the sultan. II was to coun-
teract these influences that the Office Of
azam was created, intended o. n bull
warl hefweon the people and ihoir nfii-
GERS. And il is true that tie azams
have done the empire great service,
! and, by breaking the weight OF pashalic
oppression and restraining the dishon-
esty of the courts, they have saved more
than one province from utter ruin. But
they, too, gradually became yonal, and
in later years have been almos, wholly
in league with the oppressors, and
wherever one Is found honest and UNI
willing to wink AT corruption. 4 false
charge is brought against him, he is
tried before the cadi--perhaps he very
one the azam has threatened to expose
and, of course, his ruin comes. Nor
is this subtle evil confined to civil Office.
The army-where IL would be least ex-
pected--has oflen proved susceptible to
bribery. More than once, in the Rus
sian wars, gold has done more than
laundering cannon TO open a breach in
Turkish walls, especially in Asia Mi
nor. And in 1889, in the decisive bat
tie Of Nizeeb, between the rcbellious
pasha of Egypt and the forces OF the sui
tan, the Egyptian bribes, previously
distributed through the imperia ranks,
brought victory TO Ibrahim, fo,, at the
very moment when the Turki.h army
had victory in its grasp, whole battal-
ions rushed over to the enemy, and the
battle became a rout. Everything fell
into Ibrahim's hands-all the Turkish
artillery, twenty thousand muskets,
nine thousand prisoners, tents, baggage
and the diamond-set insignia of COM
mand of Haaz Pasha, recent present
from the grand Turk himself. More
than this, few days after, the sultan's
fleet, drawn by thread of Egyptian
gold, sailed into the harbor and anchor
ed lovingly under the guns of Alexan-
dria.-[Appleton's Journal.