Mr. Morris to Mr. Seward.
Sir:Since my last despatch Fuad Pacha has been appointed grand vizier. He is also invested with the control of his late post—the war department— the practical management of which is intrusted to Halil Pasha. The latter has for several several years been the head of the artillery bureau. He ranks high as a man of military science, having been educated to his profession at Paris. Safvet Pasha, late president of the supreme council of state, becomes minister of commerce, his former post. He is a man of modern ideas, and of European education. Edhem Pasha, late minister of commerce, has been appointed government director of the New Ottoman Bank.
This change of ministry closes the contest between the progressives and retrograde parties. For a time the latter gained the ascendant over the mind of the Sultan, but the counsels of the representatives of the great European powers neutralized their influence, and secured the return to power of liberal and enlightened statesmen. The Sultan has regained public confidence, and the march of affairs tranquilly pursues its course.
Extensive reforms are being introduced into every branch of government, which will lead to a considerable reduction in the annual expenditure. I have heretofore alluded to the abuses growing out of the government of the provinces. These have become so flagrant of late that the Porte has appointed special commissioners to visit every province in the empire, and examine into the character of their administration. These commissioners have been selected from among the purest and ablest statesmen of the empire. Their duty is to visit each district in the province, and to carefully inquire into the complaints of the [Page 370] people against the authorities. Peculations and corruption of the most extraordinary kind have been already discovered. Extortion, plunder, and robbery have been practiced with impunity for years by the provincial governors, to the disturbance of the tranquillity of their pachalicks, and the detriment of the imperial treasury. The severity with which these investigations are pursued indicates that further mal-administration is not to-be tolerated in the provinces during the present reign.
The recent note of Aali Pacha, minister of foreign affairs, on the Suez canal, was rather a peace-offering to the British government than an act of hostility against the work. The Porte will not insist on any of the three points raised in that note. They have been advanced as objections which ought to be obviated, but they will not interfere with the prosecution of the enterprise. It is pushed on as vigorously as ever. It is rumored that the French ambassador has signified to the Porte that the Emperor Napoleon will not permit the completion of the canal to be arrested in any event.
The exhibition of domestic manufactures which has been opened in Stamboul for several months past, in a building constructed for the purpose on the site of the ancient hippodrome, is to close with the present month. It has been visited by the people generally, and has excited much interest among the Turks. One portion of the building has been dedicated to the exhibition of labor-saving machines of foreign invention, the principal of which are for agricultural purposes. Many of these have been purchased by the pashas for their cliftliks or farms, and will, in all probability, mark the beginning of a new agricultural era in Turkey. The Turkish manufactures on exhibition are various. The silk and woollen fabrics are the only ones which display much merit. The silk stuffs of Damascus, interwoven with gold threads, are distinguished for firmness of texture and brilliancy of color, but are more costly than the silks of France. The carpets, though not remarkable for beauty of pattern or color, have a reputation for solidity and durability that renders them superior to any carpets of European manufacture. Their unchangeableness of color is such that no acids can affect them. The best of them wear almost without change in body or color for twenty years. This part of the exhibition is interesting, demonstrating, as it does, the incontestable superiority of Turkey over all other countries in this branch of industry. Altogether the exhibition is creditable to the government, and cannot fail of exercising an important influence for good.
On the frontier near Bagdad the limits between Turkey and Persia have for a long period of time been a subject of dispute. Some years since a survey was made by a joint commission, but the maps have not yet been published. This debatable ground has recently been the scene of a conflict between the Turks and Persians. The governor of Bagdad regarding certain salt-beds on this tract as important to have possession of, ordered a detachment of troops to drive off the Persians in occupancy of them. They met a resistance, which aroused the Turkish soldiers to such a fury that they massacred a large number of men, women, and children. The Persian minister has demanded satisfaction of the Porte. An ill feeling exists between the Persians and the Turks on account of sectarian differences as followers of the prophet, and serious complications may arise from this apparently insignificant incident.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c.