but it seems unquestionable that, considered by themselves, his reforms are wisely conceived and executed with great intrepidity and success.

The suppression of the proverbial venality of the Turkish functionaries may be mentioned amongst the amendments recently attempted by this active monarch. Not content with directing empty prohibitions against the practice, he has endeavoured to give effect to his views by increasing, to a considerable extent, the salaries of the public servants; at the same time, severe enactments have been framed against official malversation, and a council of state appointed to carry them into effect, and to investigate and adjudicate upon all charges preferred against public functionaries. The revolting duties of the Capidji Bashi, the executioner of disgraced public servants of eminence, are also said to have been abolished. A still more important improvement was probably contemplated in the transfer of the office of collecting the revenues from the speculators, who formerly farmed them, to the municipal officers annually elected by the inhabitants of the respective districts. In a corresponding spirit of wisdom, the abolition of all taxes upon food and other articles of primary necessity was determined upon, the loss thereby occasioned to the revenue being supplied by an increase upon the import duties. Various other fiscal regulations, which appeared in the official gazette in the course of the Autumn, are entitled to notice. Of these we may mention the following instances. An exact statement or balance sheet of the revenue is to be prepared. Every

tax unauthorised by the ancient canons is abolished. The high officers of state are now taxed alike with the rest of the people, and all privileges of exemption from the common burdens cease. A committee, composed of men of acknowledged probity and intelligence, is be to appointed for the purpose of making a new assessment throughout the empire; the amount of individual contributions being settled annually, and entered in the public register of cach municipality. The confiscation of private property will no longer be permitted, and, in no case is it henceforward the intention of the government to appropriate to itself the possessions of its subjects, except on the death of persons without heirs.

But one of the most beneficial of these innovations is the introduction senatory laws, a measure, which, as it seemed foreign to the genius of the Mahometan religion, and, indeed, a violation of the express precepts of the Koran, encountered a powerful resistance from the Mussulman theologians. For these, and other enlightened schemes, Turkey is indebted to Redschid Pacha, late minister for foreign affairs, who, during the year, presided over the councils of the Porte. Through the most determined perseverance, the same statesman has accomplished the destruction of the monopolies which paralyzed the resources of the country. With a view to a general reform of the laws of the empire, a board, called "The Council of Material Interests," has been formed by Redschid, and in communication with this council, travelling commissioners have been despatched into various parts of Europe.

Amongst the favourite objects of

the Sultan, may be reckoned the embellishment of his capital. Under his auspices and encourage ment, mosques, palaces, and other large edifices, of all descriptions, are rising in great numbers; and it is stated to be the popular belief, that his highness is the more prone to the indulgence of his taste, by reason of a current prediction, that he is doomed to die as soon as these improvements come to a stand.

Not the least important result of Redschid's administration was a commercial treaty, executed in the autumn, between the Sublime Porte and Great Britain, and which, while it professed to place the mercantile relations of the two countries on a new footing, seemed likely to strengthen their political connexion.*

Late in the year, Redschid Pacha, being appointed ambassador to Great Britain, left Constanti nople and proceeded through Berlin and Paris to London.

Meanwhile, the breach between the Sultan and his nominal tributary, the Pacha of Egypt, continued to widen, and it was with great difficulty, that the collision, which seems ultimately inevitable, was averted for the moment. Early in the summer, Mehemet Ali intimated his resolution to pay no more tribute to the Porte, au announce ment which, as it amounted to an express renunciation of his allegiance, was followed by great military and naval preparations on both sides.

But a formidable insurrection, which, at the close of 1837, broke out in the province of Haouran, in Syria, afforded ample occupation to the Egyptian arms during the

• See the Appendix.

greater part of the following year. In January, Mehemet Pacha, who commanded the troops in Syria, encountered the insurgents in a mountain gorge, and after a severe conflict, his corps was totally rout ed, and himself, together with many officers of distinction, slain on the field. Nor had the appearance of Ibrahim in person, at the head of large reinforcements, the effect of quelling the revolt, or discouraging these warlike tribes, who are stated to have defeated him with great loss, in another mountain combat, in the course of the spring.

The diplomatic agents of the European powers were, in the mean time, using all their endeavours to prevail upon Mehemet Ali to withdraw his refusal of tribute. They seem to have been so far successful as to persuade him to reconsider it. Perhaps it was with a view to free himself from their importunity, that he set out for Sennaar, with the expressed intention of visiting his gold mines in that quarter, a journey which seems to have excited some speculation.

The provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia are, as it is needless to remind the reader, in a state of double dependence upon Russia and Turkey. The former power extorted from the Porte, for her own purposes, the advantages which the treaty of Adrianople professed to guarantee to the people of these states. In conformity with that treaty, a constitution, called "The Organic Statute," was granted to Wallachia and Moldavia, in 1832. The fundamental articles of this convention related to the election of the Hospodar, to the freedom of commerce, the formation of courts of judica

that M. Rudhart was again driven to offer his resignation; which the King, on the 19th of December, 1837, found it expedient to accept, to the great joy of the English party, as well as of the nation generally. On the following day, a royal order appeared, appointing M. Zographos, then Greek ambassador at Constantinople, to the vacant portfolio of Foreign Affairs, and intimating that, in future, his Majesty would himself exercise the functions of President of the council. M. Glaraki, who had been Minister of Foreign Affairs, under the government of Capo d'Istria, succeeded M. Polyzoidos as minis ter of the Interior; M. Paikos retained his post as Minister of Justice; and M. M. Kriezis, and Lazzaris, respectively remained at the Admiralty and the Exchequer.

Thus, to the great satisfaction of the people, the administration of strangers, or the xenocracy, as the Greeks termed it, ceased, for the present, to exist.

The establishments of this infant state seem to be considerably disproportioned to its resources or its wants. At the beginning of 1838, the principal departments

• Vol. lxxix. 355. M. Rudhart died at Trieste in the following May.

stood as follows. In the first place, came the cabinet, divided into six departments. There were besides, a council of state of 38 members; an ecclesiastical synod; the royal household; the high administrative commission, or board of controul, which seems to exercise a superintendance over the entire administration of the state; ten courts of first instance; two superior courts at Athens and Nauplia, besides the areopagus, or supreme court; three tribunals of commerce at Nauplia, Syra, and Patras; the mint; twenty-five colleges; 111 secondary schools; five gymnasia; a normal school and a university.

The kingdom is divided into thirty departments, which are again sub-divided into districts, and demi, or communes, which seem furnished with a large staff of mu nicipal officers.

The navy of Greece consists of one twenty gun corvette, and about twenty smaller vessels, mounting, in the whole, 170 guns. The army is composed of 2,744 officers of all ranks, and 9,099 non-commissioned officers and soldiers. The revenue, by which these expensive establishments are to be supported, amounted, in 1837, to 14,911,910 drachmas, about 13,400,000 francs.