THE SULTAN AND HIS PEOPLE.
BY
C. OSCANYAN,
OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
Illustrated by a Native of Turkey.
NEW YORK:
DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET.
CINCINNATI: H. W. DERBY & CO.
LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO.
1857.
Entered according to Act of Congress, to the year 1857, by
DERBY & JACKSON,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States,
for the Southern District of New York.
W. H. TINSON, STEREOTYPER.
GEO. RUSSELL & CO., PRINTERS.
TO MY
ALMA MATER,
The University of the City of New York,
THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
ONE OF ITS OFFSPRING.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. PRELIMINARY CHAPTER, 9
II. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ORIGIN OF THE TURKS, 20
III. THEIR RELIGIOUS CREEDS, 27
IV. SECTARIANISM, 37
V. PRACTICE OF RELIGION, 51
VI. PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA, 67
VII. PRINCIPLES OF THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT, 105
VIII. THE ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNMENT, 109
IX. POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT, 114
X. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE JANISSARIES, 117
XI. THE ULEMA OR SPIRITUAL BRANCH OF THE TURKISH
GOVERNMENT, 127
XII. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, 134
XIII. ARMY AND NAVY, 138
XIV. COMMERCE, 144
XV. JURISPRUDENCE, 149
XVI. EDUCATION, 159
XVII. MEDICINE, 167
XVIII. WESTERN PREJUDICES AND EASTERN TOLERATION, 171
XIX. THE SULTAN AND HIS PERSONNEL, 180
XX. PUBLIC DUTIES OF THE SULTAN, 200
XXI. THE ROMANCE OF THE EAST, 206
XXII. THE HAREM, 212
XXIII. CONDITION OF WOMEN, 224
XXIV. PERSONAL APPEARANCE, COSTUME, ETC., 232
XXV. DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS, 238
XXVI. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE, 246
XXVII. POLYGAMY, 253
XXVIII. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE, 259
XXIX. SULTAN'S HAREM AND HOUSEHOLD, 264
XXX. CIRCASSIAN AND NUBIAN SLAVES, 274
XXXI. THE WATERING PLACES, 280
XXXII. THE BAZAARS, 293
XXXIII. THE KAHVÉS, 299
XXXIV. THE HAMAMS, OR BATHS, 320
XXXV. THE RAYAS, OR NON-MUSSULMAN SUBJECTS--ARMENIANS, 340
XXXVI. THE RAYAS, OR NON-MUSSULMAN SUBJECTS--GREEKS, 364
XXXVII. THE RAYAS, OR NON-MUSSULMAN SUBJECTS--JEWS, 376
XXXVIII. PERA AND THE PEROTES, OR FRANKS, 381
XXXIX. THE ARISTOCRACY AND THE PEOPLE, 393
XL. THE FUTURE OF TURKEY, 419
THE SULTAN AND HIS PEOPLE.
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
Mutability is the appropriate motto of humanity; for what are men
but creatures of a day; monarchs, but transient shadows of earthly
greatness; empires, but passing events? Time, with more than eagle
swiftness, hurls all things into the great bosom of Eternity. Futurity
is dark and impenetrable, but the present is with us, and still more
the past, teeming with vast records of human life, of rising and
falling empires, bloody tales of extinguished armies and extirpated
races of mankind, detailing the effects of the wild ambition of kings,
emperors, sultans, themselves but atoms, yet involving the whole mass
in their career.
Contrast is often the greatest source of pleasure to the mind;
therefore do the citizens of this New World delight to revel in the
scenes of the olden hemisphere, which was in full glory when this
vast continent lay in undiscovered obscurity.
Orientalism! Talisman to conjure up the shades of the very parents of
our race, and of the old patriarchs of Israel, to array in picturesque
and savage beauty the vision of Arabian horsemen, flying steeds, vast
encampments on arid plains, tribes of wandering Tartars, and almost
to awaken the echoes of the clashing and blood-stained scimitars
of the desperate champions of the Crescent, the followers of the
Prophet. And while there is a wall of iron between us and our future,
the eventful record of by-gone times displays to us the development
of all that was hidden to our ancestors.
There is a great difference between the primitive condition of the
human race and the effects which Time has produced upon that wonderful
structure, MAN!
Simplicity, almost childlike, seems to characterize the living mind
of man in its embryo state, while years of successive re-conceptions
have continued to develop this noble emanation from the great spirit
of the universe.
But how deeply interesting to us, who are the embodiment of the more
mature and experienced human wisdom, to look into the vast womb of
the Past, and trace the growth of the great human foetus.
The impress of the original condition of our race is yet upon the
nations of the East, and wonderfully do they still retain the habits
and ideas of the earliest ages.
How vividly are the scenes of Biblical record exemplified in the
every-day habits of the people, who, at the present time, dwell
in those venerated countries. The patriarchal family government,
the flowing robes, even the very style of garment of which it is
recorded--"They parted my raiment, and upon my vesture they cast lots,"
are one and all in daily use in the East.
Our attention is peculiarly directed to the history of former ages,
and the progress of different empires, by the events which mark the
present course of time--for the great theme of the day is the Past and
Future of Turkey, the very garden of the East, and the desired of all
nations, upon whose shores has lately been poured the life-blood of
thousands of valiant heroes, each and all members of the vast human
family, whether known to us as Turks, Russians, English, or French.
There is an indefinable charm about all that relates to this land
of the Orient. The position by nature, the variety of scenery, hill,
valley, and undulating plain; the great streams which water its shores,
and the rich productions of the soil, the ancient capital proudly
towering from its verdant hills, the key to two continents, with the
"Ocean stream" for a highway. The lovers of classic lore delight
to realize the existence of ancient heroes, and the very homes of
the demigods, as they tread its honored shores. Romance seems to be
merged in reality, as the robed and turbaned Moslem, with stately step
and meditative countenance, passes beneath your latticed casement; or
the veiled lady and sable eunuch, with mysterious silence, stealthily
glide along. Sultans, vezirs, pashas, grand muftis, sultanas, harems,
and slaves, intriguing ulema and judges, so long enveloped in the
mist of fancy, are, in modern days, to emerge into the sunlight of
truth and civilization, and exhibit to the study of philanthropy,
only the type of ancient usages and the actual scenes of everyday
life. Amid the votaries to superstition and fanaticism, side by side
with the banner of the Cross, the followers of the Prophet, with the
Crescent of the faithful, will, henceforth, march through time into
eternity, but known and read of all men. The door to the East stands
open, and we may pass within the portal to study men and manners,
with their institutions, both social and political.
Many attempts have been made to portray the actual and past condition
of this Oriental empire, and as various have been the lights and
shadows in which it has been pictured; some making the Osmanli a
paragon of humanity, and others again reducing him to a mere polypus
on legs.
"If those who are resident among us," observes the editor of the
"New York Herald," "cannot, after the lapse of years, always succeed
in identifying themselves with our ideas, it is not to be expected
that writers at a distance, should be able to form a fair estimate
of American society from such imperfect evidences as they have before
them. We have seen how few foreign tourists have penetrated below the
surface of things in their analysis of our social and political life."
If these strictures of the "Herald" are just and true with reference
to American and European countries in general, where there is such
similarity, how much more applicable to our Oriental clime; for,
considering the peculiar form of government, and construction of
society in Turkey, based, as they are, upon the Koran, traditional
customs, and Oriental conventionalities, hitherto so inaccessible as
well as incomprehensible to strangers, it is, indeed, no matter of
wonder that such heterogeneous portraits of Eastern men and manners
have been promulgated to the world by travellers and bibliomanists.
Language is the great vehicle of ideas, the bond of man with man, the
"open sesame" to the spirit of every community--the record of the past,
the exponent of the present, and the foreteller of the future. But
how few, even of modern savans, have acquired a knowledge of the
Oriental dialects, which are never used in Europe, and only called
into exercise by researches into ancient chronicles. Even many who
have long resided in the East, and whose daily and hourly contact
with the inhabitants would seem to demand a mutual understanding,
have lived and died in a stoical adherence to their own mother tongues.
A French merchant, Mons. B., who had enjoyed the advantages of commerce
in the East for twenty-five years, may be quoted as an example. Either
considering his own superior civilization compromised by such a
condescension to barbarism, or unable to train his exclusively
French organs to any other guise of speech, Mons. B.'s ideas and
expressions were always in his mother tongue. When, therefore,
on a certain occasion, his Turkish porter excited his displeasure,
he poured out his indignation in pure Gallic, which lost much of its
intended effect upon his employé, who could not imagine the cause
of his master's agitation and vehemence, and ventured to ask an
explanation of a bystander. "What?" said the irritated Frenchman,
"does the stupid fellow mean to say that having been with me
for the past five-and-twenty years, he does not yet understand
French?" "Mashallah!" responded the astonished Turk, "My master,
who has been here so long a time, why can he not scold me in Turkish?"
Emergencies are constantly occurring, and as interpreters cannot be
omnipresent, ridiculous misunderstandings are often the results.
The complacent French and English seem to think their respective
languages universal, and upon their arrival in the East, address the
people accordingly, who can only look and listen, and strain their
senses for one familiar word or phrase; sometimes the simplest
expression, through some euphonious resemblance, may convey an
opposite meaning, or even a flattering compliment be mistaken for a
victimizing oath.
A party of French naval officers, one day visited the shoe bazaar,
and were attracted by the beauty of the collection of a certain
merchant. The author happening to be present, officiated as interpreter
for them, and advised the merchant to display all his best specimens
of embroidered slippers, so that the gentlemen soon had an innumerable
variety before them. But one of them yet unsatisfied, with a spirit
of independence, took a slipper in his hand, and showing it to the
merchant, said, "Beaucoup mieux, beaucoup mieux, Efendi." The grave
merchant instead of replying, turned all of a sudden pale with rage,
and gathering up his embroidered wares, mercilessly consigned them to
the recesses of his shop, and bestowing upon these insolent giavours
a most genuine Turkish benediction, ordered them to quit his premises
instanter. Bewildered at the singular conduct of the merchant, I
inquired as to the cause of his sudden irritation. "What! did you
not hear the impudent rascal say, bokoumu-yé?" said the enraged Turk;
an expression too unfit for ears polite to be translated into English,
though sometimes heard in the purlieus of the Five Points. I attempted
to explain, but in vain; the Turkish was unmistakable, so thought the
shoe-merchant, who insisted that they had at least learned that much
of the language of the country.
Thus, with entire ignorance of the language, thoroughly impregnated
with the prejudices of a European education, the foreigner looks
only upon the surface of things, and comprehends nothing, where the
simplest habits of life and etiquette are diametrically opposed to
his preconceived ideas.
The Osmanli would stare with astonishment at the presumption with which
a Frank uncovered his head in his august presence; while the exquisite
of the beau-monde would be lost in wonder to see his Oriental rival
enter his presence without shoes, and seat himself on the sofa with
his feet carefully concealed beneath him; thus only conforming to the
ancient etiquettes of the Bible, for Moses was not commanded to uncover
his head, but to put off his shoes. At least, some of the Oriental
forms of politeness have antiquity as their origin, and the sanction
of many generations; but for the varying code of western manners,
where can we look, save to the capricious tastes of the passing times.
Thus are the simplest habits of life reversed, and what is excessive
rudeness to the one, may be the essence of politeness to the
other. Very frequently these contrary customs are the source of
ludicrous mistakes.
As we were walking one day with a friend, a sailor from the English
fleet accidentally dropped his pocket-handkerchief. The gentleman
regretting that the worthy tar should meet with such a loss, hailed
him, at the same time beckoning with his hand à la Turque, which
is done by extending the arm and moving the fingers with the palm
downwards, or just in the same manner as would here be done to imply
a more distant removal.
A police officer happening to be at no great distance, the sailor,
on looking back, understood quite naturally my friend's movement as a
signal for him to make his escape, and accordingly took to his heels
with the greatest rapidity, leaving my companion in utter amazement. I
endeavored to explain to him the reason of the sailor's conduct, by
showing him the genuine European style of beckoning, by reversing
the hand and moving the up-turned forefinger back and forth. This
astonished him the more, since that motion is equivalent, in Turkey,
to that comical American gesture of placing the thumb on the tip end
of the nose, and extending the fingers.
Thus things which are in themselves trifles, may lead or mislead to
mighty results, and can only be appreciated when circumstances call
them into action. Therefore nothing but actual nativity and education
among the people, with the enlarged views which are acquired by a
residence in European countries, can enable an individual to judge
and appreciate the peculiar institutions of Turkey.
The author presents himself to the American public a native of
Constantinople, and of Armenian parentage, with the hope that he
may be able to unfold some new phases of Turkey and Orientalism,
which may tend to remove any unfounded prejudices, and enlighten
their minds with regard to the real and existing state of his country.
In order to attain a just and correct idea of the present state of
Turkey and its probable future, it is most essential to take a cursory
glance at the origin of the nation, its religion, government, civil
laws, social condition, and domestic relations, which are the elements
of nationality. In so doing, the writer has carefully avoided all
partiality, and endeavored to display the truth, simply, and nothing
but the truth, invested with the garb of a peculiar nationality,
and only adorned with the poetry of Oriental tastes and habits as
they actually exist.
CHAPTER II.
ORIGIN AND HISTORY.
Turkish and Eastern proverbs have often a deep and significative
meaning under a simple simile. They say, "a neighbor's chicken has
always so unreal a magnitude in covetous eyes, that it swells in its
proportions even to the size of a goose!"
Human nature has in reality undergone but few changes since it
descended upon this planet. The simplest shepherds and the richest
sovereigns have been alike swayed by the demon of envy. The earth
no sooner became the inheritance of man, than its treasures excited
the desire of appropriation in his breast. Mine and thine were the
earliest appellatives between man and his brother.
All-bountiful Nature provided a perpetual feast to their physical
wants, in her luxuriant offerings, ready for use, without toil or
labor. The flocks of the early pastoral days wandered from field to
field, along with their shepherd kings. Ample was the territory as
they forsook the soil when winter chilled, and roamed to summer climes
exempt from care. Simple in their tastes, they grew and multiplied
until they became mighty nations. But the monarchs of the animal
world, the kings of the forests, could not brook any inroads upon
their dominions, and self-defence awoke man's ingenuity, and armed him
with the war-club, the unerring stone and sling, the quivering arrow,
and pointed javelin. The practised hand, thus trained in vanquishing
the roaring lion, easily turned against his neighbor man, and the
stronger prevailed in the usurpation of coveted territories.
Thus war, in the absence of the arts of modern civilization became
the sole aim of these wandering tribes. Alliances were sometimes
formed for mutual protection, and territories were ever changing
masters. The primitive belief that the soil was common property,
and that occupancy gave the only title to possession, induced them to
trespass upon the neighboring territories. This same principle exists
even at this present day among some of the people of the East, of whom
the tribe of Yürücks is well known in Turkey, traversing the whole
dominion of Asia Minor, according to the climate they desire to find.
Passing by the days of Biblical History and the ancient pedigree of
the Arabians, we will observe the first appearance of the Turks on
the pages of history.
As early as the ninth century, a small but adventurous band of
Scythians, known as the Turkomans, impelled either by famine or
hostility, crossed the Caspian Mountains, and invaded the Armenian
territories.
Although they were bravely repulsed, still the prosperous condition
of the country was too alluring for them to give up all hope of its
ultimate conquest, they therefore continued to harass the inhabitants
by their incessant incursions.
In the middle of the eleventh century, a vigorous attempt was made,
under the command of Toghrul Bey, a grandson of Seljuk, one of the
principal families of Tartary, with an army of one hundred thousand
men, who ravaged twenty-four of its provinces.
Toghrul, already so distinguished by his valor, now embraced Islamism,
and thus added to the thirst of conquest, the ardor of the religion
of the Prophet. Another more desperate sally was made with redoubled
force, which met with similar discomfiture.
Fourteen years after, the infuriated Tartars collecting an army of
no less than three hundred thousand men, renewed their assaults.
Armenia was at this time not only harassed on all sides by Greeks,
Saracens, and Persians, but rent by the internal dissensions of its own
princes; so that it now fell a prey to Toghrul, who massacred, in cold
blood, 140,000 of the inhabitants, carrying many also into captivity.
The most flourishing provinces in due time were added to the
conquests of the Turkomans, by Alf-arslan the nephew and successor of
Toghrul. Their empire was greatly extended by the son of Alf-arslan,
Melik-Shah, and was subsequently divided among three branches of
the house of Seljuk. Suleyman, the third in descent from Melik-Shah,
was the first Turkoman prince who governed Asia Minor.
Er-Toghrul, or Orthogrul, the son of Suleyman, having by his assistance
on a certain occasion, secured a victory to Ali-ed-din, the sultan of
Babylon, Kara-Hissar in Bithynia, was bestowed upon him, and there
he settled with his family, which consisted of three sons. Osman,
the eldest son and successor of his father, Orthogrul, was left by
the death of Ali-ed-din, the ally of his father, without a rival in
the government of Syria; he was accordingly proclaimed sultan.
In the year 1,300 he made Neapolis the capital of his dominions,
and from thence is dated the foundation of the present Ottoman empire.
Osman was so distinguished by his conquests, and became so endeared to
his subjects, that ever since his time, the appellation of Osmanlis has
been adopted by them; and the word Türk, or Turk, so indiscriminately
applied to them by the Europeans, is not only inappropriate, but of
a disagreeable signification, for it is only used among themselves
as an epithet of opprobrium.
In the twenty-sixth year of his reign, Osman took the city of Broossa,
in Asia Minor, which his son Orkhan, who succeeded him, made the
capital of his dominions. The desire, however, to possess the city of
Stamboul, was transferred with increasing ardor from sultan to sultan;
but the glory of its conquest was reserved for Mohammed II.
The effeminate condition of the Greeks favored his design; for out
of a population of 200,000 men, there were scarcely 8,000 ready to
defend their capital; and on the 29th of May, 1453, Constantinople
fell into the hands of the Osmanlis, or descendants of Osman, who
have held it in possession until the present day.
It is evident that the Osmanlis are the descendants of the Scythians,
or one of the Tartar tribes; but who those Scythians originally were,
may be questioned.
A very curious, but plausible theory is advanced by some persons,
that the Tartars are of the Jewish race. Tarat-har or Tartar, in the
Syrian language, signifies the remnant of a people.
Now, in the second book of Kings, it is recorded that the King of
Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed
them in Halah and Habor, by the river of Gozan in the cities of the
Medes. This was about 720 years before Christ.
Medea is situated near the Caspian Sea; possessed entirely by these
Tartars.
The names which are given to their principal cities, are the same as
were common among the Jews. For instance, the capital of Tartary is
called Semerkand; which is a corruption of Samaryan, very similar to
Samaria. There are, moreover, many relics of antiquity in this city,
which bear undeniable evidences of having been Jewish monuments. They
have also another town called Jericho, a Mount Sion and a Mount Tabor,
with a river Yordon or Jordan.
They are divided into ten tribes, bearing names similar to the ancient
patriarchs of Israel.
They are under one government, but avoid all intermarriages; which
was also a peculiar observance of the Jews. There is also a great
similarity between the Tartar and the Hebrew languages. The degeneracy
of their language, may be attributed to the fact, that they were
long captives in a strange land, and removed from all intercourse
with more enlightened nations.
The Tartars have even been known to observe the Jewish rites of
worship and circumcision, and they traditionally boast themselves to
be descended from those Israelites, who, conquering their conquerors,
became possessed of all the territories by the Caspian Sea. Indeed,
Timour-link or Tamerlane the Great, is said to have proudly asserted,
that he was descended in a direct line from the tribe of Dan.
From these facts, it seems very probable that the people known as the
Tartars, are the ten lost tribes of the Jews; and it is historically
certain, that the founders of the present Turkish Empire, are
descendants of these Tartars.