CONDITION OF THE MUSLIM PEASANT IN ASIATIC TURKEY.

It might be supposed from the complaints of certain English orators, that the Muslims as a class systematically oppressed the rayahs as a class. So far as my own experience extends, this is not the case. Both classes suffer alike: both have to bear the burden of a corrupt and immoral bureaucracy; both are crushed under a taxation which, though in itself not excessive, is, compared with their resources, most burdensome.

Certainly the rayah, besides the very real and tangible grievances which he has in common with his Muslim fellow-subjects, has also grievances of his own (e.g. he is practically excluded for the most part from State employ), and grievances too of sentiment; but in most essential points he is on the same footing as the Muslim; and not once, but several times, Christians in the interior of Karamania have admitted to me that the Central Government at least tried to act justly towards both classes alike.

The misfortune is that so much depends on the character of provincial governors, and of the leading members in the provincial councils (medjlis), for these give the tone to the administration. If such administration as that of Midhat Pasha in Bulgaria was more common, less would be heard of complaint against the Central Government; unfortunately, such governors are very rare. Such grievances, however, can hardly be cured by mere legislation, but the natural course of events is gradually removing them. The Greek and Armenian Christians, for instance, are rapidly rising in numbers, wealth, and education, while the Muslim is stationary, or even falling back, in these respects, and this in a short time must have an effect.

Turkey is essentially agricultural and pastoral. Her manufactures are inconsiderable, and constantly diminishing under the influence of European imports. But she is a vast producer of raw material. Her climate and much of her soil are magnificent, but she has neither the population nor the capital requisite for developing the gifts of nature. Immigration—the grand resource of all under-peopled countries—is for her impracticable. European colonization on a small scale has been tried, and failed; immigration of Europeans on a large scale would be dangerous while Europeans can claim at pleasure foreign support and enjoy special immunities such as no other class in the empire possesses.

The State is in theory the owner of the land in Turkey, and any land lying uncultivated for five years, reverts ipso facto to the State, and can be granted afresh. Even Europeans can obtain land by submitting to the same conditions as the natives, and renouncing (in so far as they become landowners) the special privileges secured to them by the Capitulations.

But though the experiment has been often tried by private individuals, it has never succeeded; sooner or later the European landowner has been obliged from one cause or other to retire, often with heavy loss.

Nor must it be assumed that there is an unlimited quantity of waste land capable of cultivation. At least one-fourth of the surface of Anatolia, and much more in Karamania, never can be utilized except as pasture land. No doubt such districts as the great plain of Cilicia, and many of the river valleys, contain much waste land, and would easily support threefold their present population, but their climate is unhealthy; even the natives prefer the poorer mountain lands to the rich soil of these plains. How, then, could the European colonist thrive, or even live in such positions?

What the population of Asiatic Turkey is, can only be guessed. I have heard the most ludicrous discrepancies in the estimates made by Turkish officials as to the population even of the town in which they lived, and a census is impossible. It is supposed, however, that the Muslim population of Asiatic Turkey exceeds the rayah by at least tenfold.

It is therefore on the former that the great amount of the State burdens fall. There is no difference in the taxes paid by these classes, for, be it remembered, it is not the man, nor even the land, but the crop, which pays, and the days are nearly past when a pasha or Government official could plunder, imprison, or put to death with impunity, the provincials subject to his rule. Still less will such deeds be possible in future should the Turkish parliament begin to exercise an influence in the State. And even already the much-reviled Khatti Humayoon has secured a great deal for the rayah.

The backbone of the State, then, is the Muslim peasant, holding his land directly from the Government, or cultivating in partnership the land of another, somewhat on the “metayer” system.

In general the peasant is miserably poor, for in the first place he is not industrious. His wants are few, and neither the climate nor his surroundings tend to render him enterprising. Partly from these reasons, partly from lack of skill, of capital, and want of communications with the outside world, he does not draw from his land nearly as much as he might. At least a third of his arable land must lie fallow every year. At intervals of a few years, drought ruins his crop—this is a constantly recurring trouble; his son is drafted as a conscript into the army (a fate which the rayah avoids, or has avoided hitherto, at the moderate cost of from five to ten shillings per annum); the Government inexorably exacts its dues. Too often, sooner or later, the unfortunate peasant is obliged to resort to the money-lender (who is nearly always a Christian, for his religion forbids the Muslim to lend money on interest), and then his fate is sealed!

Even when the seasons are favourable, and the harvest abundant, this is of no permanent benefit to him; the Osmanli never seems to accumulate capital; he lives from hand to mouth; his surplus resources (if any) are never expended on some remunerative undertaking. A pilgrimage to Mecca on a larger scale than usual, a new wife, or some such folly, speedily absorbs all his profits, and then when the pinch comes, there is nothing between him and want. This was abundantly proved during the great famine year of 1873-74.

The Government taxes him, but does almost nothing for him. There are not a dozen roads in the empire; and though a heavy debt has been contracted, there is very little internal improvement to show for it. Still it would be unjust to lay all the blame upon the Government. The character and spirit of the people, their prevailing form of religion, their unhappy political position, and the accumulated evils of centuries of misrule, all, in various degrees, tend to make the Ottoman empire what it is—a scandal to civilization, and a constant source of trouble to Europe.

The Asiatic provinces of Turkey, then, are inhabited by a population, poor and unenterprising, but sober, peaceful, hospitable, religious, loyal even to a fault—and this last virtue is one of the greatest obstacles to their progress. The Padshàh is not only the head of the State, but the head of their religion also. What is done in his name is accepted with implicit submission. They may suffer, but they submit! Of late, however, the abuses of the Government are beginning to wear out even their patience, and in conversation with some of the more intelligent, I have heard the opinion freely expressed that the only persons who benefited by the present state of things were some few thousand officials and others at Stamboul. But I never heard the least complaint against the Sultan personally. “The Padshàh is good!” “The Padshàh does not know all this.” “If only the Padshàh knew,” &c., &c. Such are the excuses made for the head of the Government. We may smile at this unreasoning loyalty, but there it is, a great fact, unfortunately, for the well-being of the people themselves. It must not be supposed that they are wanting in spirit, but their religion teaches them to look upon the Sultan as the vicegerent of Allah, and this is really the great obstacle to revolution. Were they subject to a Christian Government to which their religion did not bind them to yield passive obedience, they would certainly never submit to similar treatment.

Much has been made of the supposed fanaticism of the Muslim population, and certainly there are districts of the empire where, owing to the opposition of races, the fiercest bigotry is at times displayed, as, e.g., in Damascus, and some other portions of Northern Syria. Amongst certain of the official class also, and the well-to-do tradesmen and merchants, there is much of the old jealousy and hatred of Christians, but this sentiment is far from common. It may exist, but it is dormant, if not dying out.

It is true that neither the people nor the Government approve of conversions from Islam to Christianity, and in fact they are exceedingly uncommon (while on the other hand conversions to Islam are not uncommon, though due almost always to some bad or mean motive); but is it such an unheard-of thing, even in Europe, that converts should suffer in some respects when they change their profession of faith? But further, even as compared with many of the Christian Governments of Europe, the Turkish Government is singularly tolerant. Every sect is allowed the free and unrestrained exercise of its public worship, and may possess property and administer its internal affairs without hindrance or interference from the Government, unless internal dissensions render such interference necessary. Even such bodies as the Protestant communities throughout the empire are gradually obtaining an official recognition, which has only been delayed hitherto because the Government requires that every religious community should have a recognized official head, and the Porte could not at first comprehend a Church without a patriarch or some such ecclesiastical chief.

Amidst the many grievous defects and faults of the Ottoman Government, let us at least give it credit for its toleration in religious matters. It is not so very long ago since we ourselves passed the Catholic Emancipation Act; and as compared with Russia, Spain—even with France—the Government of the Sultan has no reason to be ashamed of its legislation and practice in matters ecclesiastical.

The principal taxes of the Turkish empire are—(1) The dîme, or tithe of the crops (really 12½ per cent.). (2) The “vergui” or “salyan,” a kind of property tax, which, being arbitrary, and arranged between the Government officials and the leading members of the village council, is often the means of much oppression. (3) The sheep tax, of 2½ piastres (about 6d.) per annum for each head of sheep or goats, in return for which they have the right of pasturage on the Government lands. (4) The “timùttaa,” an income tax of 3 per cent. on the annual gains or revenue of each person; even the poorest is obliged to pay this. This tax is estimated by the town council. The lowest amount accepted is 7½ piastres; but it is usually fixed at a very low rate. (5) “Imlak,” a property tax on houses, magazines, &c., founded on the saleable value of the property. This is fixed by the Government through the town council. A man who occupies his own house pays only 4 piastres per cent. on the value. If the property be let, the percentage is much higher; the valuation is, however, low, and of course there are ways of arranging matters. (6) “Import and export duties,” respectively 8 and 1 per cent. on the value of the merchandise. Usually the estimate of value is low. (7) The tobacco duty, which is fast destroying the culture of tobacco. Several of the villagers who used to grow large quantities of tobacco have told me that, so great was the annoyance and loss caused by the arbitrary method of levying the tax, that they intended to abandon the cultivation. The farmers of the tax examine the growing crop, make an estimate of the probable produce, and on this the amount of the tax is fixed. Often the crop falls short of the estimate, yet the amount is exacted. Endless, in short, are the vexations connected with this tax. (8) The “bedeliyeh,” or exemption tax from military service—established after the Crimean war in place of the “kharaj,” or capitation tax—paid only by Christians, and amounting to from 5s. to 10s. per annum.

Of all these taxes, two only—the dîme and the “vergui”—much affect the peasant. The import duties scarcely touch him; so few are his wants, that hardly anything foreign is consumed by him except coffee and calico. His clothing is mostly of home manufacture, and in many districts the women spin a coarse but durable cotton cloth. His household furniture is simple even to bareness—no chairs, no tables, no knives and forks, no crockery, no glass. A few cushions stuffed with cotton, and some quilted coverlets, form his bedding. He sits, sleeps, and eats upon the floor. His plates and dishes are of copper, and last a lifetime. The few and simple agricultural implements he employs are of home manufacture; his plough is of wood, for he never ploughs more than a few inches deep. Nearly every article of iron work that he uses is manufactured in the country; and some of the towns in the interior (e.g. Marash) turn out very good work in iron, and in native cloth; others excel in leather work, and the current prices of these articles are surprisingly low. Scarcely any machinery is imported. Production is slow and cumbrous, for nearly everything is made by hand; yet some special articles are of an excellence and finish not to be attained in Europe.

The frugality of his diet is unexampled. His drink is water or coffee; wine or spirits he would not touch, even had he the opportunity. His chief food is unleavened bread of rye, barley, or mixed wheat and barley. Meat he does not eat once in twelve months. Whilst he had a flock, milk formed the chief item of his food; but since the loss of the flocks even that has been cut off in great part. In short, the Turkish peasant has reduced the expense of living to a minimum; it would not be possible to live at all on less!

Much has been said and written touching the resources of Turkey, and the chief items indicated are the mines of the country, its forests, and its waste lands.

As to the last, I have before said that the waste lands which can be utilized are, after all, less extensive than would be supposed; and even of them the best portion is unsuited to the European. But whence could the requisite skill and capital come, except from Europe? from what other quarter can immigration be looked for?

No doubt the mines are valuable, but mines are chiefly of value as supplying materials for manufacturing industry. Mines that can only be worked by foreigners cannot add very materially to the wealth of a country. Moreover, European mining enterprises in Turkey have not often succeeded.

Last, as to the forests, no doubt it would be easy, and very profitable for the moment, to sell or lease the forests to foreign companies; but when the mountains had been bared of their wood—which would soon be brought about—the effect both upon the climate and the population could not fail to be disastrous. Nor would much be gained by clearing the land. The great mountain ranges of the south are covered with forest that extends almost without a break from Adana nearly to Smyrna, and again eastwards round the great plain of Cilicia almost to Alexandretta; but the soil is rocky—only a small portion of it could ever be cultivated—much of it, indeed, is covered with three or four feet of snow for a large part of the year.

The great resource of Turkey, after all, is her agriculture, and the mainstay of her agriculture is the Muslim peasant. The essential point, therefore, is to improve the condition of the poor down-stricken agriculturists of the interior, by urging economy at Constantinople, by helping to open up the country through roads and railways—above all, by ceasing to advance loans, which even now would probably be only squandered, and can but increase the burdens and miseries of a population that is already almost crushed to the very earth.

(Since writing the above, two articles have appeared in the ‘Nineteenth Century Review’ for August and October, 1878—viz. “The People of India” and “The Bankruptcy of India.” If the statements in them be correct—which I presume there is no reason to doubt—it is evident that a very sad state of things exists in one of our own dependencies, and that even our own Government is not quite blameless as regards its treatment of the millions of Indian cultivators under its sway.)