On a certain occasion 780 pieces of cotton cloth were palmed off upon the government by a European merchant for 78,000 pieces! for which amount the Treasury gave a note.
Such instances are not of rare occurrence, nor confined only to officials--they pervade all classes. Hence the scullion cheats the cook; the cook the steward; the steward the master; the master the efendy; the efendy the pasha; and the pasha the sultan; and why not? Where the strife for aggrandizement and power is so great, and the battle not to the brave and good, but to the wealthy and intriguing, there is little or no inducement to honesty and good faith.
Russia seems to understand our people better than any other Europeans, owing perhaps to her natural proximity; also since "a fellow feeling makes us wond'rous kind," she knew where to touch the sensitive Osmanlis, when she provided Prince Menschikoff, on his late mission to Constantinople, with a surplus fund of 300,000 Paul Imperials, or over a million of dollars!
It is not, however, only in Turkey that bribery and corruption prevail--even Europe, France and England, the very centres of civilization, have furnished sad examples of personal aggrandizement, under the garb of patriotism.
Nevertheless, it is eminently true, that those of the people who have retained their primitive simplicity are truly honest and confiding; while others have become contaminated by the corruption of the court, and the grasping spirit of European adventurers.
Many of the peasants remove to the metropolis, with the hope of bettering their condition. Some of them become hamals, or porters, Tellaks, or attendants of the baths; cayikjys, or boatmen, common laborers, venders in general, and others, domestics in private houses.
A certain Armenian, native of Van, immediately upon his arrival in Constantinople, was engaged as a scullion.
In course of time, he complained to his companions that he was not doing a good business on such a salary as he received, and he wondered at their apparent prosperity.
His simplicity was, of course, ridiculed at first, and through compassion, he was initiated into the tricks of the trade. He was told that he must always add to his account the customary Khamin of 20 or 30 per cent., a technical term, expressing overcharge, or cheating, not understood by novices.