Hence they have arrived at the acme of perfection in the arts of adulation, servility, deceit, and intrigue. Real virtue is of no avail, where successful vice only is admired, and the most insidious and faithless ever the favorites of fortune. Indeed, ingratitude is stamped upon their character, for an Osmanli raised to power, would turn the enemy even of his patron, should he dare to cross his schemes. This is so proverbial that they have a saying--Bir Osmanli bir piré itchin koss kodja yorgani yakar! an Osmanli would burn up an entire coverlet to rid himself of a single flea! or in other words, no consideration would deter him from any sacrifice that would promote his own interests--examples of which are of daily occurrence in their political machinations.
In such a malarious atmosphere, it would be supposed that every moral virtue would perish, and only noisome weeds choke the soil--but such is by no means the case. As the richest fruits and most fragrant flowers often grow from the very putrefactions that lie on the surface of the earth, so the people in Turkey, surrounded by such a depraved and corrupted court, are themselves often specimens of nature's best handiwork.
The native honesty of the Turks is proverbial, and in illustration thereof the following story has been widely circulated.
An Englishman having landed a cargo of goods at one of the custom-houses in the East, was unwilling to leave them at the wharf unguarded; when he was told by the officer, that there was no need for apprehension, as there was not another Englishman within fifty miles!
Whatever may be the truth of this statement, it may be observed, that some of the Osmanlis of the present day have so far advanced in civilization as to even excel in this respect their present honorable Allies! For, the idea that to rob the treasury of the sultan is not defrauding the people, has led the officials into all the wiles of corruption and systematic cheating--so that cheating and bribery may be considered as the corner stones of this vast edifice.
In the purchase of government supplies there is a display of honesty on the part of the officials, and also of the European merchants, who endeavor to underbid each other in prices, which may be considered by an outsider as ruinous, but on the contrary, always proves profitable to the co-partners in the speculation.