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    Christian population of the empire . Moldavia , Wallachia , Greece , and the Morea revolted ! The two former were overthrown , bufc , after a ten years' bloody contest , the latter were proclaimed independent , in 1839 , by the allied powers of Western Europe , and by Eussia . Abdallah , the Pasha of Acre , had also rebelled in 1822 , and been with difficulty repressed . But the Bosnians , who could bring 40 , 000 troops into the field , showed themselves the most decided opponents of the

    reforms attempted to be introduced by the Sultan : war was carried on against them , and , at length , on the destruction of the Janissaries , the Bosnians were compelled , by great severities , to submit to the new institutions . In the midst of this Ottoman weakness and confusion Uussia declared war in 1828 , " since the clauses of the treaty of Ackermann respecting the Servians had not been carried out by the Porte . " The Servians

    and Bosnians again rose in rebellion . The Bosnian troops , consisting of 38 , 000 men , who were commanded to march against the Russians , advanced towards Constantinople , intending to depose the Sultan . They accidentally fell in with a Russian corps , which attacked and defeated them , thus unintentionally preserving Mahmoud from destruction . The Servians were kept quiet by Prince Milosh . Events marched to a terrible consummation , and Mahmoud dared once more to

    raise the standard of the Prophet . The mighty banner unfurled only fell powerless in the dust , and Mahmoud signed with the blood of Turkey , and amidst the execrations of the descendants of Mahomet , the ominous treaty of Adrianople ! Mahmoud blinded , a reforming fanatic tore from the hands of the Mussulman Bosnians districts they had held from childhood , and divided them amongst the Christian Servians , and this also occurred in 1830 ! When , however , Ali Vidaich came to regulate the new boundaries , he was made prisoner by the Bosnians , and afterwards allied himself with them : and , in

    conjunction with Vussein , compelled the Turkish Vizier to do public penance , and to wash himself publicly as an unclean person ! 25 , 000 Mohamedan Bosnians united with 40 , 000 Albanians to destroy thi 3 Giaour who defiled the sanctuary of Constantinople . It was in vain that Eeshid Pacha despatched a considerable body of troops to stay this threatening avalanche ; they , too , only served to augment it , by throwing themselves with an embrace into its midst ! A rapid march ou

    Constantinople , and Mahmoud must have fallen ; but diplomacy , which has already done so much for tho Empire , preserved the Sultan this time . Beshid promised a return to the ancient order of things—the Mussulman coufidedintheKeformer ' s word , separated , and were utterly destroyed in detail . And thus did Mahmoud shed the blood of the Prophet ' s children . But again the

    Bosnians revolted , the Imperial troops were yielding , when an army of Christians advanced , the two incongruous bodies united , and tho enemies of tho Sultan were ouco more defeated . In the meantime , tho Bulgarians rose and the Pasha of Acre had rebelled again , in 1831 . The lurkiah troops subdued the former , and the latter was conquered by Ibrahim Pasha ; but tho Porto , on this occasion alarmed at Ibrahim ' s power , pardoned Abdallah , and espoused his cause . I ho tho

    advance of Ibrahim into Turkey , and poaco effected by lluasia and France in 1832 , are within tho memory of all . In 1838 , the Bulgarians ; m 1810 , tho Bosnians ; in 1841 , tho Bulgarians ; and in 1848-50 , tlio Moldavians and Wallacliians , again revolted , lieligious persecutions , f teSorvian question of succession ; Syria distracted and lonvLed ; the war with Mehomet Ah , tho Horzo-Kovina , and Montenegro , have from time to time revealed tho disastrous internal condition of

    a " political religion ( says one writer ) has produced national apathy ; "V ^ ' ^ n XXS poverty . andfamine ; tlioabohtionof thefouda sys' n the delegation of the patriarchal authority of tu " ihioftains b , military governors , who rule with an iron hand , and drain tho country by the most ssffiStSttsSji sSsiisssssitaj Turkish race expired with the Janiesanos . This »

    too true : theprecipitate eagerness of Mahmoudhas had the sole effect of hastening the fall of the empire . Foritwas uselessforone man to striveagainst the will of his people , and that people surrounded by hostile powers , and isolated amongst hostile races . Mahmoud used the arms of Christians to destroy the virility of the children of his own faith . The very founders of the glory of his empire he slew in a barrack . The liberties of the

    Christian population he moistened and nourished with the blood of Islamism , and , from the first moment of his reign , to that when he resigned his breath , Turkey , subjected to innumerable humiliations , from without and from within , saw her influence weakened , her children destroyed , and the flag of the Prophet scowled upon with gloomy contempt by the people , while the Russian army was encamped at Adrianople , and the Autocrat dictated his own terms to the

    Sultan . And § ne of the first acts of Abdul Medjid , on his succession , was to dismiss " the corrupt administration of Biza Pasha . Yes , honour , faith , loyalty , had all deserted the children of the Prophet . " The last great reformer , the Vizier Eedshid Pasha , was expelled from office , for peculation unequalled even in the annals of Turkey . " Only recently Hafiz Pasha , Finance Minister , was dismissed , and " the deficiency left in the public treasury amounted to 30 , 000 , 000 piastres . " In the affair of the loan , interested

    motives were imputed to those concerned in its negotiation . " The Grand "Vizier , Mehemet Ali Pasha , and the President of the Council , Mustapha Pasha , desired the establishment of the company , for the settlement of the affairs of the Bank , trie one to increase his wealth , the other to employ his immense capital . " The Porte was only enabled to arrange for the liquidation of the first loan negotiated in France by a two years anticipation of the Egyptian tribute , and this is no sooner arranged than Turkey " agrees to pay 4 , 000 , 000

    piastres as an indemnification ior the claims or Austria , and yet further sums for the reimbursement of duties wrongly assessed on Austrian merchandise ! " And in the midst of all this trouble , dishonesty , and confusion , " the principal bankers resolutely refuse to have anything to do with the society formed for the liquidation of the claims on the Turkish Bank , " and Prince Menschikoff scatters gold , and spreads increased corruption in the already distracted and beleagured capital !

    I have never , sir , witnessed before such an unexampled career of misfortune , confusion , and anarchy , as is presented by the last fifty years of the history of the Ottoman Empire : and yet that Empire still lives ! It has tided over these fearful rebellions , survived the corruptions , the anarchy , the apathy of its subjects . Does there not here lie ground for hope P Can we any of us remember tho struggle Catholic Emancipation cost us P how convulsed was our own enlightened

    England , and yet wonder at the effect of such an agitation upon the old Mahommedans of the Empire P And this Turkish reform too followed and was accompanied by other extensive reforms , any onoof which alouo would have been sufficient to convulse a kingdom to its centre ! No , sir , there is ground enough for hope ; for in foretelling such results as these , we should have believed that we prognosticated tho total ruin of a mighty empire . This empire , however , still survives tho difficulties of tho fearful struirKle , embittered and

    increased thoug h they wore by foreign influences . The battle being once fought , the prejudices of the old race being onco and for all drowned in blood , the path becomes smoother for the further and more effectual pursuit of ameliorative and enlightened measures . These measures alone can now preserve what they have formerly well nigh destroyed . But Turkey , unless powerfully protected , will bo unable to porsevoro in this career of administrative and national reform , and religious toleration . A war even might snatch tho

    fruit from her trembling grasp , for a period or war is not a period for domestic improvement , if it docs not prohibit it . My next letters being devotod to Russian policy for tho last forty years or more , and to Itussia ' a present political position in respect to Turkey , I will defer considerations upon tho requirements of tho Ottoman Empire until my next following communication , when theso necessities , in conjunction with tho policy of tho Western Powers , shall receive careful and ample development and full consideration . Awm .

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    JuneJ ^ 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 591

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    "A STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . Nobody can regret more sincerely than Mr . Keogh , that Mr . Keogh is the Parliamentary hero of this week , and is likely to he the hero of next week . His career and his political character have' been forced on the attention of the world , and neither are in a condition to render him assured of a happy issue . The politician who commenced his political life at the Carltqn , and is continuing it at the Reform , having intermediately passed across the stage as leader of the Irish Brigade , is in the position of one suspect to all parties ; and when an unlucky accident forces a public

    investigation into so sinuous a life , it becomes a matter of difficulty to induce the careless public to comprehend the minute motives which compelled the tortuosity , and which , in all the vacillations , preserved the " personal honour "—which is always assumed to include the political . The public will not analyze ; and if it is insisted that the public should think at all about Mr . Keogh , the public necessarily comes to the conclusion that tho man who started as a " Conservative Catholic , " then became a Democratic Ultramontanist , and is finishing as law officer of the Government , which is neither Conservative nor Catholic , Democratic , nor Ultramontane ,

    and which positively refuses to do any one of the things Mr . Keogh declares in " Dod" that he will do , and has declared out of doors would have to be done by any Government he joined—and who completes these inconsistencies in the short period between 1847 and 1853—may be a very clever , but cannot be a very reliable , or , politically , very lofty personage . There is a question of the day about Mr . Keogh , and that is the way it is likely to be answered . On Thursday he defied the Lords to the scrutiny ; and as they were not very

    busy with other affairs , they readily accepted the challenge ; and though Lords Eglinton and Derby are in the ridiculous position of having undertaken to damage the character of a man to whom their own agents offered office , when they thought he could be useful , they have the resource of repudiating the agency , and are not likely to halt in their malignant commission of inquiry ; for if they ruin Mr . Keogh , they just nowdeal a heavy blow against the Government of Lord Aberdeen .

    In the House of Lords Mr . Keogh ran great risks in having his character ventilated . It is heavy odds , half a dozen Earls against a poor Q . C , particularly when the Q . C . has exposed himself on various points to the sneers of Peers who were never tempted . There is a different code for Peers and needy lawofficers . Tor instance , the Duke of Northumberland was loudly cheering the Earl of Derby , when tbo Earl of Derby was talking the chivalry of the question about Mr . Keogh . But , supposing all Lord Westmeath ' s assertions about Mr . Keogh are correct ; , and granting that he is a political Proteus , how venial are hia errors parallele d with tho infamy of the Derby

    Admiralty doings in the Dock Yards . But the old Marquis of Westmeath did not prove his case ; it was shattered to atoms in the course of half an hour ' s energetic common sense from the Duke of Newcastle ; and , thus , two nights debates in the Upper House have resulted in tho putting ou record , and the supporting Lord Derby ' s opinion , that the appointment of Mr . Keogh was an " unfortunate" one , and Lord Eglinton ' s opinion that tho appointment was the " least reputable" one . Lord Derby , last night , repented tho " points" of a lending article , in Friday ' s Morning Herald , and made out u defence for his petulance on tho preceding occasion ; for though tho miserable exhibition of Lord Naas in tho Commons had

    made his repudiation of the Duke of Newcastle ' s retort ridiculous , ho still had to Miy that , as the quasi oiler wan made before Mr . Keogh remarked that the nights in Ireland were sometimes long , ho had still ground to go upon , in maintaining that tho coalition were- wrong in choosing the law-officer who made , and whom thoy knew to have made , that indiscreet speech . Lord Derby was very emphatic about this ; and as he made the morning paper ' s points , one after another , his supporters were astonished lit his cleverness , and cheered him with enthusiasm , lint is it not contemptible- in a croat party leader to bo lending his naino

    and weight to this paltry persecution of a man hi every way privately CHtiinablo , and in respect of whom theso peers ought to tako for granted that in forming tho prouont Government Mr . Keogh was influenced exclusively by a desire to secure- good government and " law and order" in Ireland . Is it not thoroughly despicable to find tho great party crowding into tho House as they would not crowd if it were ai national debate , for tho purpose of hounding on a shuttored Orangeman Marquis , whoso main grievance against Mr . Keogh i » , that ho upflet the- influence of the Marquis'a property in Westmoath . In order to gratify this potty spito , the House of Lords last night entertained tho question in direct violation of constitutional propriety ; and tho Earl of Derby

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 18, 1853, page 591, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1991/page/15/