The Legal Forms Of Government Have Not Been Changed, And The Janissaries
Outwardly Profess To Be The Dutiful Subjects Of The Porte.
The civil
administration is nominally in the hands of the Mutsellim, who is named
by the Pasha and confirmed by the Porte.
The Kadhi presides in the court
of justice, and the Mohassel or chief custom house officer is [a]llowed
to perform his functions in the name of his master, but the Mutsellim
dares not enforce any orders from the Porte nor the Kadhi decide any law
suit of importance, without being previously sure of the consent of some
of the chief Janissaries. The revenue which the grand Signior receives
at this moment from Aleppo is limited to the Miri, or general landtax,
which the Janissaries themselves pay, the Kharatsh or tribute of the
Christians and Jews, and the income of the custom house, which is now
rented at the yearly rate of eighty thousand piastres. Besides these
there are several civil appointments in the town, which are sold every
year at Constantinople to the highest bidder: the Janissaries are in the
possession of the most lucrative of them, and remit regularly to the
Porte the purchase money. The outward decorum which the Janissaries have
never ceased to observe towards the Porte is owing to their fear of
offending public opinion, so as to endanger their own security. The
Porte, on the other hand, has not the means of subduing these rebels,
established as their power now is, without calling forth all her
resources and ordering an army to march against them, from
Constantinople.
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