Those
Janissaries, Who Have The Greatest Number Of Clients Are Of Course The
Richest, And Command The Greatest Influence.
But these are not the only
means which the Janissaries employ to extort money.
They monopolize the
trade of most of the articles of consumption, (which have risen in
consequence, to nearly double the price which they bore six years ago),
as well as of several of the manufactures of Aleppo; upon others they
levy heavy taxes; in short their power is despotic and oppressive; yet
they have hitherto abstained from making, like the Pashas, avanies upon
individuals by open force, and it is for that reason that the greater
part of the Aleppines do not wish for the return of a Pasha. Though the
Janissaries extort from the public, by direct and indirect means, more
than the Pashas ever did by their avanies, each individual discharges
the burthen imposed upon him more readily, because he is confident that
it insures the remainder of his fortune; in the Pasha’s time, living was
cheaper, and regular taxes not oppressive; but the Pasha would upon the
most frivolous pretexts order a man of property to be thrown into prison
and demand the sacrifice of one fourth of his fortune to grant him his
deliverance. Notwithstanding the immense income of the chief
Janissaries, they live poorly, without indulging themselves in the usual
luxuries of Turks-women and horses. Their gains are hoarded in gold
coin, and it is easy to calculate, such is the publicity with which all
sort of business is conducted, that the yearly income of several of them
cannot amount to less than thirty or forty thousand pounds sterling.
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