Statement showing the navigation at the port of Constantinople, &c.—Continued.

It will be noticed that of the vessels entering this port in 1876 but five, with a tonnage of only 2,480 tons, were under the United States flag. These were all sailing vessels. The large quantities of arms imported from the United States have been carried on English steamers at the rate of about £8,000 each cargo.

Steam navigation.-I desire to call particular attention to the number of steamers engaged in the Constantinople trade, there being, besides the steamers chartered for a single voyage, regular lines to Liverpool, Marseilles, Brindisi, Trieste, and Egypt, all touching at various points in Italy, Greece, Syria, Asia Minor, European Turkey, and the islands, as well as others to Odessa and the ports of the Black Sea. The steamer lines which run to the various points on the coast are nearly all in the hands of foreigners.

In the Black Sea there are one Russian line, one French, one Italian, and one Austrian.

On the coast of European Turkey the service is made by two French lines, one Italian, and one Turkish. The coast of Albania is served by the Austrian Lloyds from Trieste.

On the coast of Asia Minor and Syria the following lines touch at different ports: One French, one Austrian, and one Russian. Occasionally British and French steamers touch at Beirut, Acca, and Gaza, chartered for the grain and oil-seed trade.

In 1870 several English lines called weekly or fortnightly at Beirut, Alexandretta, and Mersine (port of Tarsus); but they could not compete with the Austrian and French lines, and have abandoned those ports.

The vessels under the Austro-Hungarian flag arriving at Constantinople in 1876, brought merchandise to the value of $20,385,761, of which $180,013 was brought by sailing vessels, the remainder, $20,205,748, by the Austrian Lloyd steamers. Those leaving carried merchandise to the value of $9,534,754, of which $35,933 was carried in sailing-vessels, and $9,498,821 on the Austrian Lloyd steamers. The money imported by the Austrian Lloyd steamers in 1876, was $9,025,764. The amount of money exported was $9,498,839.

Filling up of harbors.-Navigation is greatly impeded by the bad laws and the worse administration. Quays are seldom built, those at Smyrna being a solitary exception. Harbors are filling up and no measures are taken for their improvement. Thus the entrance to the harbor of Smyrna is narrowing from day to day, and may soon share the fate of all the other Asiatic harbors, which in ancient times were so thronged with vessels. The harbor of Mitylene has become so silted up that the Austrian Lloyds are unable to enter it and have to anchor outside. After much exertion and continued entreaties for twenty-five years, two dredges were sent in 1873 to clean it out. These dredges remained in the harbor for a month without doing a stroke of work and were then taken away. The harbor-works at Varna, Salonica, and Dédé-Agatch, which were included in the contract with Baron Hirsch, the constructor of the Roumelian railway, have never been carried out, the government being unwilling to pay the amount which was stipulated in the contract. Burgas, on the Black Sea, though being itself a good harbor, has been left out of all the Turkish schemes for improvement, and consequently has not the importance which it deserves. To such an extent is this ignorance and carelessness carried that fifteen years ago there was actually a project for closing the harbor of Constantinople to vessels, on the ground that the sailors made too much disturbance in Galata and gave a great deal of trouble to the police. It was proposed that the vessels should anchor in the small port of the Kutchuk-Tchekmedjé, about three hours west of Constantinople, or when coming from the Black Sea at Buyuk deré, at the northern end of the Bosphorus. Fortunately, although this proposal was seriously discussed by the ministries of police and marine and of commerce as well as in the council of state, sufficient influence was brought to prevent its being carried into effect.

Some years ago a company was started for the navigation of the Sakaria River, one of the largest rivers in Asia Minor, but through the chicanery of the officials nothing ever came of it. The governors of Bagdad have done all in their power to prevent the navigation of the Euphrates and Tigris by English steamers, but the Ottoman Company, which was established by Midhat Pasha, when governor of Bagdad in 1869, for the navigation of the Euphrates as well as between Bagdad and Constantinople, has never been prosperous, owing to bad management in carrying on the company, the employment of superfluous subordinates, and consequent deficits. The most successful Turkish enterprise of this sort is the company of Shirkéti-Hairié, which has a monopoly of the steam-navigation of the Bosphorus. The shares of this company were taken by the high officials and the Turkish aristocracy, but the company has only been successful since it found out by severe lessons that it was necessary to pay some attention to the convenience of the public and to the accuracy of its accounts. For a long time, from motives of false economy, it refused to publish a time-table, and it came near failing on account of the competition of the caiques and small boats. As it is, the steamers are very bad and uncomfortable, but being the only means of conveyance on the Bosphorus they are always overcrowded. Transfers of Turkish vessels to foreign flags.-Turkish subjects are so frequently subjected to impositions of all kinds by the authorities, either legal or illegal, that when they can they often transfer their vessels to auother flag by a fictitious sale. Vessels engaged in the coasting trade on passing a town are sometimes seized by the police, and the grain, oil, fruit, or whatever other produce they are loaded with is taken possession of on behalf of the government to supply the temporary needs of the district, although more frequently to serve the personal needs and

assist in enriching the governor. The price is of course arbitrarily fixed by the authorities, and the poor ship-owner loses by the operation. Any complaints that he may make are countermanded by a mazbata or opinion signed by the local authorities and forwarded to the central government.

COMMERCE WITH THE UNITED STATES.

The following table sets forth the trade of Constantinople with the United States for the year ending June 30, 1877. It shows an increase in the imports from the United States of $2,002,091.28, and in exports to the United States of $12,820.02 over the year ending June 30, 1876. The increase of imports is entirely due to the arms and ammunition purchased by the Ottoman Government; although the quantity of petroleum imported was slightly greater than during the preceding year, its value had fallen.

There was a considerable diminution of the exports of opium, rags, and rugs, and a notable increase of the exports of attar of roses, tobacco, gum scammony, and gum tragacanth; in this last article from 1,158 pounds to 27,748 pounds. A similar increase in the export of gum tragacauth is noticeable at Smyrna.

Statement showing the imports and exports between Constantinople and the United States for the year ending June 30, 1877.

The collection of tithes.-I have in my previous reports referred to the unjust distribution and collection of the taxes, and especially of the tithes, and to the absurd system of internal custom-house duties, by which goods sent, for instance, from Smyrna to Constantinople pay higher duties than when sent abroad. These subjects require special

study to show them in detail and to point out the ways in which they affect the industry of the country.

I can only now refer to two other points in this connection. Prohibition of grain exports.-Nominally, on account of the war, the exportation of grain has now been forbidden from nearly every province of Turkey, both in Europe and Asia. With the exception of those regions which are actually occupied by the Russians and those which have been devastated by both armies, there is no reason to believe that the harvest this year is at all below the average standard. The inhabitants of Turkey are, as a general rule, able to feed themselves and still to have a considerable amount for export. Under these circumstances it would seem that the superfluous grain, which might be sold to advantage, is being kept in the country. This prohibition of the export of grain, which is nearly always productive of harm to the inhabitants and to the government, is sometimes enforced from most improper motives, namely, to enrich the governors and administrators of the various provinces. The modus operandi is the following: The governor calls together the council and bids them to sign a mazbata, or statement, addressed to the central government, that the harvest has been bad and that there is danger of the region suffering from famine during the winter, and that it would be desirable to forbid the exportation of grain until the next harvest. This paper is received by the Porte as genuine and worthy of credence, and the government issues a prohibitory order in consequence. No sooner has the governor received this than he and his friends send agents throughout the country and buy up grain at, of course, very much reduced prices, which are frequently arbitrarily fixed, for the account of the government, under the pretext of guarding the public granaries against an apprehended famine, and has it brought to the government town. As soon as this is done another statement is prepared for the council to sign, to the effect that by the wise and prudent measures of the governor the public granaries are filled and the country saved from famine; and, therefore, in the interests of the province, it will be better that grain should again be allowed to be exported. As this is, of course, approved by the Porte, and export is again allowed, the governor and his friends, in league with some merchants, who were always in the plot, make haste to ship off the grain they have bought at such a cheap rate on vessels which are already prepared. Naturally such a trick as this cannot be played often on a large scale. After being cheated a few times in this way the cultivator would, of course, restrict himself to the smallest quantity of grain needed for the actual support of his family and the payment of the taxes; but it is owing to such measures as these that the agriculture of all the provinces has, within the last few years, greatly decreased; and it is also in consequence of this that that part of Armenia, which is the seat of war in Asia, is so destitute of provisions, although large amounts from the government depots are said to have been exported to Russia previously to the war to fill the pockets of the authorities.

The prohibition to export grain has since been removed in a few provinces, provided it be sent to Constantinople and not out of the country. A similarly erroneous and oppressive measure, which has from all ages been followed in the East, is that of nark, or fixing the maximum price of articles when they happen to become scarce. A governor who wishes to become popular will naturally fix the price very low, and instead of its being a blessing to the people, it becomes a burden.

FINANCES.

The foreign public debt of Turkey, for obvious reasons, has not changed since my last report. The floating debt it is impossible to ascertain. I have already reported with regard to the issue of paper money.

Voluntary contributions.-During the Servian war last year, and dur ing the whole of the present year, inhabitants of Turkey have been greatly burdened by so-called voluntary contributions for the support and clothing of the troops and for carrying on the war. Most of these contributions are not voluntary, but compulsory. The authori ties of the village or district state that a certain amount must be collected, and assess this amount pro rata upon each house.

Forced loan.-In addition to this, the Ottoman Parliament enacted a law last year for a forced loan of $19,228,570. This law was proposed by the minister of finance, and was voted almost unanimously by the chamber, in spite of the real opposition of nearly every member. It provided that this internal forced loan should be employed exclusively for the needs of the war, and should be imposed upon all the tax-payers according to their resources and their means. The principal was to bear an annual interest of 10 per cent., and 5 per cent. would be voted to a sinking-fund, so that the whole loan would be paid off in the course of twelve years. Persons who owned no real estate would pay the same as real-estate owners, on account of the profits they were supposed to receive from their commerce and industry; the possessors of ti mars and of other kinds of fiefs were taxed 10 per cent. of their revenue. The government functionaries were to participate in the loan for two months of their salaries. Persons in the military serv ice up to the grade of adjutant-major were to be exempted, but officers above that grade were to be taxed in the same way as civil functionaries. There were to be four payments, the first in the month of July and the last in the month of October, on which the bonds, with interest coupons, were to be handed over to the subscribers. The interest was to be paid annually in the month of September. The loan was to be paid in paper money, except in those provinces where paper money did not circulate. The law has never been legally put in execution, although two months' salaries of a great majority of the officials have been retained without delivering to them any bonds or coupons of this loan. In the same way it has been the cause and excuse for very many unjust proceedings on the part of the local authorities in the provinces, by which money has been extracted from the peasantry.

Loans in England.-An attempt has also been made by the Turkish Government to float a small loan in England. It seems that the tribute coming from Egypt, amounting to £750,000 a year, has been regularly paid into the Bank of England as guarantee for the interest of the loans of 1854 and 1871. This amount was somewhat larger than the interest to be paid, but owing to the cessation of the Turkish Government to pay interest on its loans, the Bank of England had been ordered to retain this money, and owing to the action of the bondholders, refused to pay over to the Turkish Government either the whole amount or the residue. After a long negotiation, an arrangement was arrived at between the Turkish Government and the bondholders of these two loans, by which the annual interest of 6 per cent. and the amortizement of 1 per cent. were reduced to 4 per cent. interest and