TENURE OF LAND.
Three Classes of Lands in Turkey—_Vakouf_ Lands, their
Origin and Growth—Turkish Equivalent of Mortmain—Privileges
of Tenants on _Vakouf_ Land—Maladministration—Corruption of
Charity Agents and Government Inspectors—General System of
Embezzlement—Sultan Mahmoud’s Attempted Reform—Insufficiency
of _Vakouf_ Revenues as administered; Supplemented by
State—General Decay of _Vakouf_ Property, Mosques, Medressés,
and Imarets—Misapplication of _Vakouf_ Funds intended for
the Support of the Public Water-supply—_Mirié_ Lands,
Government Grants, Military Proprietors, Growth of a Feudal
System—Miserable Condition of the Rayahs—Anxiety of the
Porte—Destruction of the Feudal System by Mahmoud and
Abdul-Medjid—Reduction of the Bosnian and Albanian Beys—Present
Condition of the Country Beys—_Mirié_ Lands reclaimed from
the Waste—Title-Inspectors—A Waste-Land Abuse—Similar
Difficulties in Connection with Ordinary _Mirié_ Tenure—_Mulk_
or Freehold Lands—Their Small Extent—Difficulty of Establishing
Safe Titles—Descent and Transfer of Land—Tenure of Land by
Christians and by Foreign Subjects—Commons and Forests—The
Inspectors of the Forest Department.
Regarded from a conveyancer’s point of view, land in Turkey is of three
kinds: _mevkoufé_ (or _vakouf_), “church” property; _mirié_, crown
property; and _mulk_ or _memlouké_, freehold.
1. _Vakouf_ lands are those set aside for the support of the religious
establishments, the mosques, _medressés_ (or mosque-colleges) and
other religious schools, and the _imarets_, or institutions for public
almsgiving. The appropriation of a just part of a man’s wealth for
purposes of religion and charity is one of the most constantly reiterated
principles of Islam, and, to the credit of Moslems be it said, it is
a principle very regularly reduced to practice. It is not surprising,
therefore, that on the conquest of European Turkey a large share of land
was set apart “for God.” But this original grant was not the only source
of the present large extent of vakouf lands. Private munificence has
constantly added to the original foundation. The piety of some Moslems
and the vain-glory of others has ever been displayed in the erection and
endowment of mosques, with their attendant medressés and imarets. In the
one case it was a sure key to heaven; in the other, it was the best way
to get the praises of men of one’s own generation and the admiration of
posterity. Formerly ordinary people used frequently to indulge in this
architectural luxury; but, during the present century, only Sultans and
Grand Vizirs have found the practice convenient.
Besides the original grant and the private additions which each century
contributed, vakouf lands have been greatly increased from a third
source. The people of Turkey seem to have duly appreciated those
privileges against which our own mortmain laws were directed. The
parallel is not indeed strictly accurate, but there are strong points of
resemblance. A Moslem (or, for that matter, a Christian) sells his land
to a mosque for about one-tenth of its real value. The land is now the
property of the mosque, but the seller has the right of lease, and may
retain his tenancy on payment of a fixed rent. During his life he may
sell the lease, or at his death it passes on to his heirs; but in default
of direct descendants the lease reverts absolutely to the mosque.[5] By
this transaction both parties are the gainers, and only the Government
and its corrupt officials the losers.
The mosque receives a large interest for a comparatively trifling
expenditure of capital; and has besides the reversion in the event of
default of heirs. The tenant, though he has to pay a rent where formerly
he paid none, is not burdened by this slight charge, and sets against
it the immense privileges he has acquired; for, as a tenant on vakouf
land—that is, holding direct of Allah—he pays no taxes; he is safe
from confiscation by the Government, extortion from its officials, and
persecution from private creditors. It is the most profitable and secure
tenure to be met with in Turkey, and it is a matter of congratulation
that the mosque authorities place so high a value upon money that they
are willing to accept it even from dogs of Christians who wish to avail
themselves of the protection afforded by vakouf leasehold.
No official report of the extent of the vakouf lands has, so far as I can
learn, been published; but it is easy to understand that their extent
and value must be very great. It is even estimated at two-thirds of the
whole land of Turkey. It is therefore remarkable that the revenues
derived from them do not nearly suffice for the purposes for which they
were intended. The expense of maintaining the services of the mosques
and of keeping up the extremely economical system of religious education
would not seem to be excessive, though the charitable imarets would of
course require considerable support. But these are not the real reasons
why these rich revenues are not sufficient. One reason is, that they are
expected to maintain a large class of Ulema, whose numbers are altogether
disproportionate to the educational results they produce. The other and
far more disastrous cause is that the revenues are corruptly administered.
At first the management of the funds lay in the hands of agents appointed
by the pious founders. When an agent died, his successor was named by
the Roumeli Kadisi (or Anadoli Kadisi if in Asiatic Turkey). The agents
were under the supervision of inspectors, whose business it was to
verify the mosque accounts. These inspectorships were generally given to
high functionaries of the Porte, and so lucrative were they that they
excited keen competition (in the Turkish sense), and eventually came to
be regarded as the fixed appendages of certain offices. It may easily be
imagined that between the agents and the inspectors there was not much
of the vakouf revenues left for the right purposes. As a matter of fact,
most of the money found its way into the pockets of the inspectors of the
Sublime Porte.
Among the many schemes that engaged the attention of the Reformer-Sultan
Mahmoud there was of course a place for vakouf reform. He wished to
amalgamate the vakouf lands with the mirié or crown lands, but had not
the boldness necessary to the carrying out of so revolutionary a measure.
He contented himself with clearing away some of the more obvious abuses
of the administration of vakoufs, and appointed a director, with the rank
of Minister, to see to the proper management of the property. Still,
however, the revenues did not prove sufficient. The annual budget of
vakouf returns reached a total of 20,000,000 piastres; yet in 1863 it had
to be supplemented by another 20,000,000 piastres from the Treasury, and
is ever in need of similar assistance. The funds are still misapplied;
and, as the result, the mosques and medressés have fallen more and more
into ruin and decay; the imarets are become instruments of a merely
nominal almsgiving; and every charitable or religious intention of the
pious founders is daily trodden under foot.
Among the minor objects of vakouf endowments are the construction and
maintenance in repair of aqueducts and road fountains. I have often
witnessed with regret the manner in which the trust is abused by its
holders. In most towns the principal water supply is endowed by vakoufs,
the revenues of which were intended to defray all expenses connected with
keeping the channels and fountains in repair. In three cases out of four
these funds are misapplied. At Salonika, for instance, the water supply
is richly endowed, and the town ought clearly to be well furnished with
water. Instead of this, a great number of the fountains are dried up, and
a serious waste of water is caused by the neglect of the water-pipes.
It is painful to see the crowd of miserable Jewish children waiting for
hours round the dribbling fountain under a burning summer sun, or pierced
with the biting winter winds, till they get a chance of filling their
pitchers—too often only to get them broken in the battle that immediately
ensues. In summer, when the want of water is most severely felt, many
people do not scruple to dig down to the water pipes in some deserted
street, stop the current that leads to the fountain, and thus obtain the
supply they need. In former times fountains were erected on all the
main roads and in every town and village; but most of them are now dried
up or fallen to ruin. Some of those that remain are of solid marble,
with a carved frontage inscribed with the name of the donor, the date of
erection, and some verses from the Koran. Some are in the form of basins,
with jets playing in them, sheltered sometimes by little kiosks, and
always shaded by fine old trees. The thirsty traveller and his beast are
all the more grateful when they do find a fountain with water running,
because the chances are so overwhelmingly against such good luck—thanks
to the vakouf administrators, who from this point of view deserve credit
for intensifying the virtue of gratitude.
2. The _Mirié_, or crown-lands, include the private demesnes of the
Sultan and the royal family, the lands reserved for the partial support
of the administration, the waste lands, together with an enormous extent
of land originally granted on condition of military service to the most
zealous supporters of the Sultan, with a view to retaining their fidelity
and assuring the supremacy of the Government over the native princes.
The country was thus given over to the power and license of an army of
occupation. It was divided into sandjaks governed by Pashas, Beys, and
Beglerbeys. Those last-named were the administrators of the sandjaks.
Their duty it was to collect the taxes and furnish the contingents of
troops to the Imperial army. The favored officers of the Porte received
immense grants of land in return for their zeal; they were exempt from
taxation, and only required to find soldiers for the wars of the Porte.
Excluding vakouf lands, the greater part of Turkey was thus placed on a
sort of feudal tenure, the proprietor holding of the crown by military
service. All the evil effects of the system soon developed themselves.
The lands of these military proprietors were of course chiefly tilled
by the rayahs, who had formerly held them in freehold. Although these
underholdings were supposed, like all mirié lands, to be registered,
and thus to enjoy the advantage of a legally fixed rent, they were yet
subject to the endless extortions invariably associated with the notion
of Turkish officials. Especially heavily did this system press upon the
Christian tenants of the military landowners. In principle the conduct of
the Turks to their Christian subjects was not greatly blamable; it was in
practice, as usual, that the grievances arose. The Christian communities
were managed by their Kodja-Bashi, or headman, who had to collect the
tribute, proportioning it to the means of each individual; and to
gather the kharadj, or poll-tax, and other impositions. A community was
allowed to compound for each or all its taxes by a fixed sum. Thus far
all appears surprisingly satisfactory. But when the actual condition of
the Christian tenants is looked into, a very different impression is
produced. Their landlords were ever devising some new extortion; the
taxes were levied with ruinous irregularity; fresh impositions were
constantly being added; and, in fine, their state became so intolerable
that large numbers of them deserted their faith (of which they are
generally highly tenacious in spite of ignorance and persecution), and
became Moslems, and were at once placed in possession of the privileges
of the dominant race. A curious instance of this conversion by necessity
was that of the Krichovalis, a lawless race of mountaineers about
Vodena. About the beginning of this century they found themselves unable
longer to endure the disabilities of their condition. They met in solemn
assembly in their old church on a great feast-day, and swore the sacred
oath upon the Bible that they became Mohammedans under protest, being
compelled to abandon their faith in order to escape the intolerable
trammels of their bondage. The Bible on which they swore, containing the
signatures of the chief men, still exists, I am told, in the keeping of
the Greek priest.
The evils of military tenure bore upon the Porte as well as upon the
rayahs. The Sultans were not slow to note with alarm the growing power
of the great feudatories. They endeavored to curtail their privileges
and to strengthen the hands of the rayahs and attach this class to
themselves. But for a long time the efforts of the central government
were unavailing. The military landowners made common cause with the
Beglerbeys, who had by degrees acquired the supreme control of their
sandjaks; and these two united in defying the authority of the sovereign.
A great landed aristocracy had grown up, like the baronage of England in
Angevin times, and threatened the very extinction of the supremacy of the
Porte over its subjects. A great blow must be struck at the country Beys;
and Mahmoud II. resolved to strike. He was completely successful, and
left to his successor Abdul-Medjid only the task of bringing some of the
rebellious chieftains to punishment. Some were beheaded, other banished,
and all had their property confiscated. Inoffensive tenants by military
service received compensation; but the system was rooted out, and has now
ceased to exist.
How the great feudal landowners were crushed will be understood from
a few examples. A short time ago I made the acquaintance of one of
the dervish sheikhs who followed Ali Pasha when he was dispatched by
Abdul-Medjid to reduce the Bosnian rebels. I asked how the reduction
was effected; and this was his account: Ali Pasha, with a small but
well-organized army of Nizams, on approaching the country, asked
permission of the Bosnians to cross into the Austrian territory. The
Bosnians unsuspectingly granted leave, and we marched into the country
and pitched our camp in its very heart. After a few days the Pasha
produced the Iradé of the Sultan, containing a demand for 60,000 recruits
from the Bosnians. They refused to furnish them, and began to assemble
and arm. The Pasha did not insist upon the enforcement of the Imperial
order, but opened negotiations. He was a wily man and knew his business.
He managed with soft words and fair promises to entice all the Bosnian
grandees into the camp, under the pretext of holding a general council.
Having thus collected all the influential persons of the country, he put
them under arrest and proceeded to try them. Some were beheaded, and Ali
Pasha with his own hand struck down the leading chief. The rest after
some further parley were brought to terms, and were then exiled and their
goods confiscated. The 60,000 recruits were soon raised, and the general
marched triumphantly back to Constantinople at their head.
The Albanian chieftains were dealt with in the same way: when forced
failed, treachery prevailed. Their two leaders, Veli-bey and Arslan-bey,
were enticed by a friendly invitation to Monastir, where they were
received with every mark of consideration and kindness. A few days
afterwards they and their friends were invited to a great feast by Reshid
Mehemet Pasha. This was to take place in a kiosk outside the town near
the head-quarters of the regular troops.
On the appointed day Veli-bey and Arslan-bey proceeded to the rendezvous
accompanied by nearly all their beys and retinue; in all about 400 men.
The kiosk was hidden from view by a turn in the road till they had almost
reached it, and it was only on entering the space in front that they
perceived the troops ranged in order of battle. A suspicion crossed the
mind of Arslan-bey, who said to his companion in Eastern phrase, “We have
eaten dirt!” Veli-bey replied, “It is the regular way of paying honor.”
“At all events,” said Arslan-bey, with doubtful friendship, “let us
change sides.” This was done, and Arslan-bey found himself screened from
view by the imposing figure of Veli-bey and his horse. They had reached
the centre of the line, when an order issued from the window of the
kiosk, the soldiers raised their pieces, and a murderous fire was opened
on the ranks of the Albanians, followed by a bayonet charge. Veli-bey
and his horse fell pierced with nineteen balls, but Arslan-bey was
unhurt. Followed by those who had escaped the first discharge, he turned
his horse and took to flight; but a second fire reached their flank.
Arslan-bey again miraculously escaped, and owing to the speed of his
horse soon left the place of carnage at a distance. But his flight had
been observed from the kiosk from which the Grand Vizir had directed the
massacre, and he was pursued; but putting spurs to his horse, he urged it
up the precipitous side of the hill, making for the summit with furious
speed. The top was almost reached when a shower of balls brought down man
and horse; and they rolled down the steep hillside to join the bodies of
their fellow-victims below. Such were the last fatal blows aimed at the
expiring feudal system; exile and confiscation did the rest.
The once powerful Beys, when thoroughly crushed and impoverished, were
allowed a small income, and after many years of expatriation were finally
permitted to return to their native districts. Their power is completely
gone, although their personal influence is still considerable over the
populations among whom they live, and in the local courts in which they
sit. It is however of a mutinous nature, and seldom employed either
in facilitating the introduction of the new measures attempted by the
Government for the improvement of the administration, or in promoting the
general welfare of the country.
Some beys in the interior still possess considerable landed property, but
with few exceptions their estates are dilapidated and heavily mortgaged;
while their owners are so deeply in debt to the Government that if called
to a reckoning under a well-regulated administration they would be ruined
men. A few, however, whose estates are in better condition are more
enlightened, and take a real interest in the welfare of their country.
The country contains extensive areas of mirié kinds reclaimed from the
waste, for which of late years there has been a great demand made by the
peasants, who reclaim portions of them by paying a small fee of about
1_s._ an acre. They cultivate or build upon them, and after paying tithes
for the space of twenty years get the _Tapou_, or title-deed, from the
Porte constituting them legal owners. But although subjected to special
laws and restrictions and under government supervision, it is a dangerous
speculation, often involving litigation, and liable to usurpation.
Great abuses are occasioned by the corruption of the _Tapou Memours_,
or inspectors, who within the last seven years have been intrusted
with the supervision and legislation of such lands, and regulate them
(irrespective of the rights of Christian or Turkish landholders) in
favor of the highest bidder. The consequences are that many persons have
been dispossessed of their property, others have had to pay high prices
to retain it by obtaining _Tapous_, whilst many are daily being driven
out of their lands. An example of this kind presented itself the other
day in the local court of the town of L⸺. The claimant was a Turkish
_Hanoum_; the disputants, Turkish and Christian peasants. The lady, a
widow, had inherited an estate bordering on some waste land upon which
these peasants had built a village. The _Hanoum_ in the mean time married
an influential person at Constantinople, through whose authority and
assistance, she managed to obtain a _Tapou_, including the village of
the settlers on the waste land within her own property. The villagers
indignantly protested against this act of usurpation, and refused to
acknowledge the authority of the lady, who, however, returned, furnished
with powerful _Emirnamés_ from the Porte to the town of L⸺ to enforce
her claims. The complaints of the peasants were disregarded, and they
themselves were seized as criminals and brought to the Konak, driven
into it by blows that fractured the skull of one and occasioned severe
injuries to others, and then imprisoned.
Disputed claims like this on commons, forests, etc., are innumerable.
The estates sold by the crown also labor under the same disadvantages.
Among many cases I may relate one in which the purchaser was an English
gentleman who bought a large estate in Upper Macedonia, comprising one
of the most beautiful lakes in the country. It was an ancient fief, sold
for the sum of 2000_l._ The speculation promised to be a splendid one,
and a fortune was expected to be realized. One day, however, as the owner
was walking over his grounds, an old Turkish peasant presented himself,
and with much natural eloquence, and perhaps some truth, explained to the
English bey that the former owner had usurped part of his fields which
were comprised in the estate. The proprietor, either convinced of the
man’s rights, or out of kindness, ordered that the contested lands should
be restored; but the one individual thus righted soon developed into
a legion, all presenting equal claims. Subsequently the legion became
a band of armed and menacing Albanians, who by their hostile attitude
stopped all attempts at culture, and threatened to shoot the tenants
and the steward, burn the crops, etc. A long litigation followed, and
the affair terminated, after much loss of time and damages amounting to
several thousand pounds, in the gentleman re-selling the estate for the
amount he had paid for it.
Besides the above-mentioned drawbacks, the holders of mirié lands cannot
sell, transfer, or mortgage them without a license from the authorities,
nor can they make them _Vakouf_ property without a special _Firman_ from
the Sultan.
3. The _Memlouké_ or _Mulk_ lands are the freehold property of their
owner, who can do with them whatsoever pleaseth him well. They do not
form a large proportion of the lands of Turkey, and a reason for this
is the prejudice entertained against this form of tenure on account of
the difficulties encountered in establishing titles. It is unfortunately
no unusual thing in Turkey for title-deeds to be forged, substituted,
destroyed, and otherwise interfered with.
The descent and division of Mirié and Vakouf lands are regulated by
imperial firmans and the special ordinances of the Vakouf laws; but
Memlouké land comes under the regulation of the _Mehkemé_ or court of
the town Kadi. The laws of Moslem inheritance are too complicated to
be recorded here, and their complexity is aggravated by the mixture of
Christians and the different ways of holding land. In the absence of
heirs, mirié and memlouké lands revert to the state; vakouf, as already
mentioned, to the administration of pious foundations.
Memlouké land is transferred legally by conveyance; vakouf and mirié by
conveyance together with registration. The duty on the sale of memlouké
land is five per cent, and the succession duty two and a half per cent;
on mirié, five per cent on sale, and the same on succession; on vakouf
land, five per cent on sale, and the same on succession. A difference,
however, is made if the land is built over.
The division of property among all the children and the reduction of its
value by these duties tend constantly to the diminution and deterioration
of Turkish estates and lead generally to mortgage. Mortgage on landed
property is at an average interest of eighteen per cent. The result is
easily imagined. Freehold lands may be legally mortgaged before two
witnesses without any further precaution; but crown and “church” lands to
be mortgaged must be registered by the registrar of title-deeds, or the
directors of vakouf property, for the fee of (nominally) one per cent.
A great number of large estates can be purchased in all parts of Turkey
for very small sums. The wealthy native Christians would gladly purchase
these, but for the complications that surround the possession of landed
property that is not vakouf, and the difficulties and opposition to which
a Christian land-holder is exposed. Turks seldom look favorably upon
the passing of such estates into Christian hands. Those who purchase
them are generally foreign subjects; the rayahs who venture to do so can
never enjoy their acquisitions in the same peace and security. Among many
instances of encroachment on such estates by hostile beys, Circassians,
and other neighbors, I may mention two that have come under my personal
observation. The first refers to a wealthy Bulgarian gentleman, whose
acquaintance I made ten years ago at R⸺. He was a man of great influence,
and a member of the Medjliss, or town council. A large estate owned by
him, not far from the town, was twice set on fire by his Mohammedan
neighbors, and a large mill he had constructed was pulled down. Neither
his influence in the district, nor his wealth, nor his position as member
of the council, could protect his estate, which he was finally obliged to
abandon.
The second case was that of a wealthy Greek at Baba Eski, a pretty
village between Constantinople and Adrianople. Some years ago I passed
a night in the house of this Chorbadji. When I talked to him about his
property he complained bitterly of the hostility he experienced from
his Turkish neighbors, and of the encroachments of the Circassians. The
former had attempted to set fire to his mill, and the latter had stolen
in the course of one year three hundred and fifty head of cattle from
him. “Wealth and prosperity,” said he, “are the sure recompense of every
man’s labor in a fine country like this, but it is hard work to keep
them when acquired.” Last year I met the unfortunate man at C⸺; he was a
complete beggar in appearance, and, with tears in his eyes, told me how
the Circassians and other enemies, profiting by the troubles in Bulgaria,
had completely destroyed his property. He had come to the town to obtain
redress, but I thought that his efforts would be fruitless.
Many gentlemen in Macedonia are owners of large estates. Some of them are
Greeks by birth, and all foreign subjects; for foreign subjects are now
permitted to hold land in Turkey on the same conditions as the subjects
of the Porte. Having capital at their command, and being more intelligent
than the Turks, they improve their property, and realize from seven to
ten per cent profit; but even their estates are not quite free from
the attacks and depredations of brigands, who often prevent them from
visiting their farms freely, or introducing all the improvements they
are desirous of making. Out of four of these, three sent their sons to
Europe, where they were educated for the profession of agriculturists,
a proceeding quite unknown among the Turkish proprietors. _Bonâ-fide_
Europeans are more respected and feared, and consequently are not exposed
to the hostilities to which native Christians are subjected. Some English
gentlemen possessing farms in Macedonia have had no occasion to complain,
even in these disordered times, when perfect anarchy prevails; their
property has been respected, and every assistance is afforded them by the
local authorities.
Estates can also be rented for a mere trifle, and when restored to good
condition are said to yield lucrative returns. Here again, however,
great care has to be taken to ascertain that they are not disputed
property, and, in the case of their belonging to several individuals of
one family, that all are of age, and sign the title-deeds. A case was
related to me by a member of the civil court of A⸺ of a rayah who had
rented an estate from a Turkish family, consisting of a widow and her
three sons, all of whom were of age and had signed the contract together
with their mother. The tenant, who was a man of moderate means, set to
work to improve the property, and spent £1000 upon it; but just as he was
beginning to realize the profits of his toil and outlay, a fourth son of
the widow came of age and disputed the validity of the contract. The case
was tried before the local civil court, and the rayah was declared to
have justice on his side; but as the case was one of heritage, the Turk
had the right to transfer it to the Mehkemé, or religious court of the
Kadi, which decided it in his favor. The result was that the tenant was
driven out of his estate, and lost all the money he had spent upon it.
Almost every village in Roumelia and Macedonia, and in fact all over
Turkey, had once its own common and forest, in which the peasant
proprietors, under certain laws and regulations, had the right to burn
charcoal, cut wood, and let the pasturage in spring to the herdsmen, who
brought down their sheep and cattle and kept them there the greater part
of summer. This was a great resource for the rural population, who, in
bad years, could always make some profit out of it.
After the organization of the vilayet system this privilege was
curtailed, and the forests and grazing grounds were placed under
government supervision. A Forest Department was established at
Constantinople, and a chief inspector appointed in every district,
together with agents to superintend the pasturages. The laws that were to
regulate these were said to be excellent, and, whilst equitable towards
the peasants, promised at the same time to yield considerable revenues to
the state. One of these regulations set forth that a portion of forest
and pasturage land should be left to the use of each village, securing
its provision of fuel and pasturage for its cattle. None of these laws
were, however, observed in the interior, and nothing definite was decided
with respect to either of these rights.
The beys, through bribery and favoritism, continued to enjoy their
ancient privileges over the forests and grazing lands, while the forest
inspectors are said to have realized such immense profits that every
official was desirous of becoming connected with the Forest Department.
The Government at the beginning, no doubt, derived some good receipts
from this new source, but the great expense inseparable from it, the
robberies that took place, and the destruction of property allowed, could
not fail, in the long-run, to be injurious to its interests. The abuses,
partiality, and waste that mark the proceedings of this branch of the
administration are most prejudicial to the rural population.
But the agents of pasture lands and the forest keepers are still more
tyrannical.
The extent of these grounds in the government possession was never
defined, nor has a limit ever been drawn. The beys rented the commons to
the herdmasters; the contracts were made with the cognizance of the local
authorities, and on stamped paper. Some of the villages that possessed
pasturage let it to the Wallachian sheep-owners, who, in the early part
of spring, migrate annually into Macedonia to pasture their flocks on the
commons.
Some herdsmen had made contracts for bringing down 300,000 sheep into
the plains, paid the fees for the contract, and the stipulated sum to
the peasants. All the arrangements seemed in perfect order until the
arrival of the flocks upon the different grazing grounds, when they were
driven off with violence and brutality by the forest-keepers and their
subordinates, who declared that they had no right to the pasturage
unless they paid the rent. The poor people produced their contract to
show that they had paid the money, and refused to do so a second time;
justly observing that, if any illegal action existed in the renting of
the pasturage, it regarded the Government and the villagers, and not
them, and that the Government should reclaim the money from the peasants.
This dispute lasted a week; some of the Wallachians referred it to the
local authorities, while others in their distress applied to any person
from whom assistance could be expected. Day after day these men, women,
and children might be seen in the streets of the town with desponding,
careworn faces, anxiously looking out for some of their people who might
tell them how the case was prospering. When I saw them no more about
the town, I asked one of the principal officials how the affair had
terminated; he replied, “Madame, malheureusement le gouvernement n’a pas
su encore mettre toutes ces choses en ordre, et il nous arrive souvent de
ces cas tristes; mais ça vient d’être arrangé.” He would not enlighten me
further on the subject, but I subsequently learnt that a great amount of
bakhshish had settled the matter in favor of the Wallachians.