Miscellany

Constantinople, Jan. 20, 1847. Attention has boen recenlly dirccted lo this subject by the nnnounCement in several English journals) that Lord Palmerston hasca'led upon Ihe Porte tocónsider whnt mensures il mny be proper to acopt, witli a view lotbeentire abolition of (he slave system as it exista in Turfcey. Tbe fact that some doubts have boen thrown on the truth of lliese announcemenis by tbe Journal de Conslanlinople, only tends tosonfirm the readers of lluit print in the conviction that there should be no doubt abut it ai all ; for il" the statement could linve been positively denied by the editor, who is the mere creature of llie Grand Vizier, and in the pay of the Ottoman Government, it would have been so denied. Besides, it is ivell known that Lord Palmerston, when formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs, mndc a like application to the Turkish cabine', which he wns induced by Lord Ponsonby, the Brilish Ambassador at the Porte, not, ut tlie time, ío insiát farlher-upon. It is pretty clear, therefore, that he is in earnest on the subject, and thatit is, consequently, one which must shoi lly provoke much discusión. It will assuredly be taken lip and treated of at large in the nynthly and quarterly periodicals of Engl.-ind. In the meantime, a few brief hints OU the subject may be opportune. - I pretend not to semi you more ; indeed, for more you would not be able to aflbrd me space There seems tobe ari opinión getliug ahroad, which lias been mos assiduoulsy circujated, and has iniposed upon many '.bat .slavery in ihe East is so entirely the reverse of Slaveryiti the West, that the two systems should be regnrded respectively wilh entirely Ojipositc foelings. But though different in several respects from cachother, the systems are not the reverse of each other. The false conclusión, therefore, which t bas been sought tojuggteout of a false ossumption, can not stand. Nothing can be the reverse of Slavery, but Freedom. Differencrs there are, ho wever, very broad - in s! range contrnat with each other- botwixt the condition of Slavery in the two hemispheres. In tlie first place, the trnífic in slaves by ncw imporlations is, in the West. by Iaw abolished, and regarded as a high crime ; ivhorea) in the East, this traffic, this hiinting and catchiug, canying off into foreign Innds, and buyiug and selling of human beings, existe, is legal, and is in every (vay encouraged. Thi other distinctions are, on a superficial glance, more favorable to the Oriental practico. 1 will mention a few of them. Slaves in in the East, especially in the Ottoman empire, to which Egypt can be hardly snid to belong, are not driven o field, in herds, to cultívate rice, cotlon, or the ga plant, but are cunuclis, set'vants, wivcs, and mistresscs ; and these, even o( ihe lowest grade, are said, and I believe Iruly, to bc treated with great kindDen and tenderncss. tliough not vviih more, probably, tlian the planten of the West cxercise toward their slaves. But the great distinction of all is this : Slaves in Turkey are inanumitted after seven year's servilude, and become in great numbers, tlie chief men of the empire. - ThfiV may bc said to foi-m, as it were, the aristocracy of the country. The mothers and ivives of the Sultan are imariably slaves, and the mothers and wivesof the Turkis!) Giandees nlmost invariably so. Thus the female aristocracy of the west Ottoman dominions is totally composcd of slaves ; and of the males, not to speak of eunuchsjwho have often ruled supreme at the Porie, several of the most potent Pachas of Turkey have been of slave origiu. Two of the brothers-in-law ol the present Sultan wcro bought, in tlicir ) oulh, in a slavc market ; and t may be [ nffirmed without exaggoration, that the coniition of Slavery is, among the Turks, the surest path to greatness. Certainly, nothing can be more unlike the Slavery of the West than this. Througliout the Ottoman territory, the slave sysiem is surrounded wilh every circumstance of easy enjoyment, of splendid luxury and power. Wherens-, under its best aspect in llie West, it presenls the revolting spectacle of human beings transformed into herds of cattle, and condemned perpetually to forced labor. But what,then? Does tliis render itso greaily a less evil thing than Western Slavery, that foreign nations would not be juslified in adopting tho same policy of repression towards il wliich they have so succe.vsfully adopled towards the other sysfem ? Let ussee. The prominent and most evil effect of Western Slavery consists in the shocking degradation of those who are subject to it. In these unhappy creatures, men who live among tliem are hanlly willing or able to vecognize their own species; hotvever tenderly they may bc treate.l, the contempt wilh wliich they are regard - ed as properly, having a certain pecuniary value, proclaims them to be beings jus bencath, rather than ofxhe human farriily. But in the Enst, this effect does not follow Slavery. ílere, it never degrades ; it usually, with reference to sociul station. elcvates. Wherein, then, is the evil ? It corrupls. As degradation has set its ineffaceable mark upon Western Slavery, so corruption has set i!s incfïaceable mark upon Knstern Slavery ; - and tho excess ot each to a dominant degree over all other qunlitie?, marks either. But of these two, corruption, though it has the most fair and sttraclive outside, is by far the worst ; for degradation does not mount, but corruption doe,? descend. The germ of corruption in Eastern Slavery is herein, viz í it produces a devotion to persons, instend of to principies ; and that of the most selfish, ambitious, and unscrupulous kind. Tlie Western slave, sei'ves his master through attachment. He can never be in nny greatly bptter position , thereforehis ambition, if he has iny, is of very harmless sort, and his moral qualities have a degree of fair play. But the Eastern slave j regards hisproprietor as his patrón, by ! whom he is to rise, perhnp.=, to the highest digniiles; To the abject obedience of n slave, he consequently adds all the arts of an aspiring sycophant. II& accomplishes liimself in all sorts of cleveines9, becomes an adept in the most complicated intrigues in his patron's service, and gels a character of perhaps the most adaiirably intricale deCeit of vvhich human nature is capable. Besides,this dcvolion to persons must necessnrily and completely subvert tliR power of princplrs ; and it does this so eflectua'ly, thnt it is of all things the most difficult to convince a Turk, or indeed any Eastern man, thixt there can be any virtue in any principie whalever. - S'avery, then, Whicb leajs to honor and power, must be pronounccd much more baneful than Slavery which never rises nb -ve degradation. In Turkoy it infects fiom the higli place in which it exists nmong womdn, and to which it conducís men, ihe entire population of ihat whole empire. But this cannot be faid of Slavery with respect to any other nation, aiicient or modernj whöre it has been confined to a degraded class. The Turk who has never been a slave, can in no way be discriminaled from one who has been onc. Tlie froe man and the slave in Turkey rise by tlie same acts of dsvotion to persons; and even of those who have mounted to the highest posls by prostituting themselves as the instrumenta and the objects of the most abominable vices of iheir pntrons, thera are as many of frpe as of slave origin. Then conslJer tlio power of domöstic education - and that educalion in the lap of Slavery ! - and decide wliicli of the two species of Slavery in question is tho most inimical to the moráis, to :he welfare, and to tho progress of sociely and of mankind. But lhere is anollicr consideraron springing out of this subject, tliat has so paramount an importance lhat it may be said to show fully the meaning and the rcsull of the wholc slave sj-stem, as it now exists in this country. The word " Harem1" expresscs powerfully all I mean. - The Harem life of the Turk is entirely dependent on.Slaverv. The wives tlierein caged, are, for the most part, slaves, and all thedomestics aro so without excoption,whether eunuch or females. No fiee man, except the master, dnre approach this sanctuary, within which the Turk leads n life peculiar to himself. - He is separated thereby most eflecually, from nll civilizing influences. He lives wilhin a circle that acls as a spell upon his whole existencer In his cominorce witli Christiaus and Kuropeans, he shuts himself up in an esternal ' characler, whilst his real, hisinternal chaiacter pinds only in the Harem, or in converse with his own creedsmen. Imagine what a different being one subject to tliis secret and mysterious domestici'.y must be, from one who lives, as it were, an open life before all tho world. The Turkis!) ivomcn especinlly, must be, in all their thoughts andfeelingijtotally unlike Christian females. The society of men is to them an utler nbomination. Of mankind they know only their husbands, better callecl their masters. And llien reilect what a pnramoutit effect tliis condition of wives and tnothers must have upon all male Turks. If positivo, the infiuencc must be immense ; or if the Wahommedan woman be regirded morally, as a mere nullity, this etlfire absence of female influcnce must havo negativo cnnsequencos the most inhumanlzing - abridging humanity of all ils choicest virtues. Any common brotherkood of sentiment, any sympathy, any other feeling than that of radical antipathy, however mild an aspect it may under particularly circumstances wear, cannot possibly exist between a nation living under this exclusive sliuiting-up and and shutting-out system, anda peopleor nation who, by the very fact of being exempt from it, have so many reciprocal relations with each j ot'ier, that they may be said, in the comparison, to form bitt one great family of men. The Mahommedan creed in itsolf would not produce that separation of Moslems, and emphatically of Turks, from the rest of mankind, that the " Harem'' so effectually does. The-rc is hardly more dilTerence of creed between Mahommedan nml Calvinist, than there is between a Unitarian ar.d a Calvinist ; and it is probable the mnjority of Protestants, were the great vvall or partition bctiveen them and the Mussulman thrown down would regard the followers of Mahomet as muel) more npt to receive the Gospel, than are some Christian communities who have implicated Chfistianity with what Protes. tanta deern the deadliest falsities and dekisions. We see. then, howdsep and wide the effect of Slavery in Turkey is. With its abolilion, the Harem wou)d fall. lts sliining outer wal], would. at once come down. F ree women, and in lieu of eunuchs free men, would then havo ingress nnd egress n and out of these domestic closislers. The secret and concealed wife of the Turk would no Jonger be impervious to the common air and common liglit of day ; the seal of bermetio closeness. which Slavery forms, being once broken, Turkish households would become speediy assimilated to those of the Chriatian world, and a revolution would be accompHslied that would at once unlurk the Turk, and almost Christianize him at the same time.