Chapter I

Therapia--Caiques--Precautions--Old England--Ambassador’s
residence--Lord Ponsonby--Mr. Urquhart--Diplomatic profession--
British interests--News dispatches--Dragomanship--Storm--Sources
of plague--Proposed improvements--Russian designs--The
Dardanelles--Ibrahim Pacha.

♦ THERAPIA ♦

Having letters for Lord Ponsonby, I proceeded (18th Oct.) the day after my arrival, to Therapia, where the British embassy has been most inconveniently established, since the magnificent palace belonging to it at Pera was burnt down during that extensive conflagration which occurred a few years ago. What the distance of Therapia may be from Constantinople by land, I cannot conjecture: by the Bosphorus, the more usual route, I should suppose it may be about nine or ten English miles, which are sometimes doubled by the tacks rendered necessary to catch the baffling winds of that channel. The weather may encourage you to go to the embassy; but a change of wind may detain you there for a week, as the only steam-boat yet upon the Bosphorus is reserved for the exclusive service of the Sultan. Certainly no man can have any right to complain of being imprisoned under Lord Ponsonby’s roof for a week or a month: for a more enlightened companion, a more kind-hearted host, or a more worthy representative of his country in every respect, is no where to be found. But it is hardly fair to impose upon any ambassador the necessity, not only of receiving his countrymen in an agreeable manner, but also of keeping a sort of caravanserai for them, in order to provide against the vicissitudes of every wind that chooses to blow from the Black Sea, or the sea of Marmora. This inconvenience, however, is, I understand, about to be remedied, as measures are in progress for the erection, at Scutari, of a residence suitable to the dignity of a British Legation.

♦ CAIQUES ♦

The caiques that ply on the Bosphorus are somewhat larger and considerably deeper than the wherries of the Thames. But they are built so round that the passengers and rowers must balance themselves to a nicety before they can depart; otherwise they run the chance of being very speedily upset. For this reason the passengers are obliged to convert themselves during their voyage into ballast, by sitting down on the bottom of the vessel, where a mat or a carpet is usually spread for that purpose. If the wind be favourable, the sail is spread, and then the changes of place which become necessary from time to time, in order to preserve the due distribution of the said balance in accordance with each tack, when the boat cannot run right before the breeze, are very troublesome. The annoyance is still more sensibly felt when there is only one passenger in the boat, for he is obliged to shift here and there according to invisible lines of demarcation, as if he were weighing out his body to a customer in scruples.

As it was against the law of health that I should touch any woollen substance, or any other luxury capable of communicating the plague, I was obliged to sit down on the naked plank, and be cautious even of suffering a cord to come in contact with my clothes. I thus consigned myself to the care of two brawny Turks, whose oars were tied by leathern thongs to a peg inserted in the edge of the vessel, and we departed from Pera. The day was brilliant.

♦ BOSPHORUS ♦

Much as I had heard of the beauties of the Asiatic as well as of the European banks of the Bosphorus, I must say that they very much exceeded any description I had ever read, or any panorama I had ever seen of them. The ever-changing character of the hills, that rise on each side; the magic variations of colour cast upon them by the travelling sun, and by their own shadows; the pendant groves and gardens; the castles and fortifications of the middle ages; the old Moorish architecture of the houses and palaces, which extend for five or six miles under the hills, beside the blue waters; the splendid new residences, built on either shore, by the present Sultan or his ministers, with their light oriental fronts, their latticed windows, their bronze doors, and snow-white marble steps; the towering Turkish ships of war, anchored off the arsenal; the merchant brigs of all nations, sailing up or down the waves; the innumerable boats bent on business or pleasure, urged by the oar or wafted by the wind in every direction; the costume of the Frank mingling with that of the Turk, the Albanian, the Greek, the Tartar, the wild mountaineer from Caucasus, the slave from Circassia, the horse-dealer from Arabia, the silk and carpet-merchant from Persia, the Dervish from India, and the veiled form of woman wherever she appeared,--spread out a picture of human life and industry, and of natural grandeur before me, such as no other part of the world could disclose.

♦ OLD ENGLAND ♦

In about two hours and a half I arrived at Therapia, where, upon presenting my letters, which were fumigated, and having undergone the same sort of purification myself, I was desired to feel as if I were at home in Old England. Every thing, indeed, looked truly English about me--the sofas, the rose-wood tables, the screens, the comfortable carpets, the cushioned chairs, the richly curtained windows, the mirrors, the books on side tables, the newspapers and reviews and magazines, the bronze ink and pen tray, the blue gilt-edged dispatch paper from the Stationary Office: it was delightful to tread, as it were, upon a portion of the sacred soil of my country, under the protection of her laws, and hearing only her language at such a distance from her shores!

♦ AMBASSADOR’S RESIDENCE ♦

Lord Ponsonby was so good as to keep me to dinner, and to direct a chamber to be prepared for me, which I was to consider as my own during my sojourn in the capital. I had to wind my way to it through several flights of stone stairs, a court-yard, and then up another set of stairs, where I was surrounded by bath-rooms fitted up with marble basins for the hands and feet, in the Turkish style. Indeed, the mansion, taken as a whole, before it was civilized by the taste and perseverance of Lady Ponsonby, must have presented a most cheerless aspect. It must have looked more like a huge granary, than any thing convertible into a fit residence for a nobleman. Such was its state of repair when occupied by Mr. Mandeville, who, as _chargé d’affaires_, immediately preceded Lord Ponsonby, that when the inclemency of the weather precluded that gentleman from taking his usual ride, he put on his boots, wrapped his cloak around him, and walked up and down his dining room--a tremendously large saloon--for exercise. On some occasions, it is said, while thus employed, he was even compelled to place himself under the protection of an umbrella!

♦ LORD PONSONBY ♦

The society of Therapia is necessarily very limited,--indeed usually confined to the circles of the English and French legations, which are established near each other. Lady Ponsonby has indeed an ample compensation for her absence from the gay crowds of home, in an intellect refined by great natural delicacy of thought, and enriched by the treasures of almost every living language worth attention. Lord Ponsonby is an ardent pupil of the Fox school, of which, and of the individuals who moved in it in his younger days, he has preserved many anecdotes, which he tells with great effect.

♦ MR. URQUHART ♦

Among the guests of the day were Mr. David Urquhart, the well-known author of “Turkey and its Resources,” who had lately returned to Constantinople from a tour through the European provinces of the Ottoman empire. This gentleman seems to have attached himself strongly to the Turkish people, amongst whom he has already acquired considerable influence. He is the first European, I believe, who has been admitted to Mahommetan society in the turban, without having changed, or intended or even affected to change his religion, which is that of the Protestant church. His residence was at Scutari, where he lived altogether after the Turkish fashion, dispensing however with the harem, and was known by the title of the “English Bey!” He was full of the Russian question--that is to say, of the numberless inroads lately made upon the independence of the Sultan by the open aggressions and the more dangerous secret manœuvres of the imperial government, and was so obliging as to give me much useful information on that subject.

Another of the ambassador’s guests was Dr. M’Neil, an intelligent and enterprizing Scotchman, who went out some years ago as physician, and afterwards became secretary to the British embassy in Persia. He was on his way home with dispatches. His account of that interesting country was by no means encouraging, so far as British interests were concerned. The whole empire was in a state of disorganization, of which, as usual, a swarm of Russian agents were eagerly availing themselves in order to prepare the way for their own dominion.

♦ DIPLOMATIC PROFESSION ♦

It is an unfortunate defect in our constitution, that its machinery is expressly calculated to prevent us from having a body of gentlemen regularly brought up to diplomacy as a profession, altogether independent of politics. The etiquette of foreign courts will, for the most part, generally require the higher appointments in that department of the state to be filled by noblemen; and as these individuals owe their promotion chiefly to political connexion, I fear they must always remain liable to be changed with the fluctuations which so frequently take place in our government. But it is quite practicable, if the system were once established, that all the minor legations, the secretaryships, and other offices connected with the foreign interests of the country, should be committed exclusively to the hands of individuals properly educated for the purpose. The duties of consuls and vice-consuls are essentially diplomatic, and ought to be entrusted only to gentlemen capable of serving the country in that capacity.

If some system of this kind be not speedily established, we may as well give up at once the latent contest which we are at this moment carrying on with Russia in Persia, Turkey, and Greece, and with all the northern powers in Germany and Italy. All the consuls of these powers are diplomatic agents, besides whom they have “agents of correspondence,” distributed through every country where their interests are in the slightest degree liable to be affected by political circumstances. It is a national silliness on our part to say that these men are “spies,” and because _espionage_ is in itself a mean and objectionable occupation, therefore we ought not to follow the example of our rivals. It is eminently absurd to designate an individual as a “spy,” in the offensive sense of that term, whose office it is to watch the progress of events, to mark the character of the men engaged in them, to speculate rationally upon their consequences, and to furnish his government with all the information concerning them which he has been enabled to collect on the spot by his sagacity and industry. Such an agent may frequently render to his country most material services; and in consequence of the want of public officers of this description, I am convinced that the influence of England is all but destroyed in Germany, Italy, and the whole of the western districts of Asia.

♦ BRITISH INTERESTS ♦

♦ NEWS DISPATCHES ♦

Another vice of our diplomatic system, if indeed we can be said to have any such system at all, is this, that when a dispatch is prepared by any of our ministers abroad, he is strictly enjoined by the regulations of the Foreign Office to restrict his statements to one general subject. Thus, for instance, suppose the negotiations on the Boundary question to be going on at Washington, and that the British envoy has occasion to narrate to his government the progress he has made, he must touch in his dispatch upon that subject, no other topic whatever. The consequence of this regulation is, that, although on some rare occasions separate dispatches are written on other subjects,--generally speaking, no more than a single communication upon the principal topic is sent home, unaccompanied by a solitary remark on the living history of the men and of the transactions, of whom the writer is only one, and of which his composition forms no more than an episode. From this practice it results that our representatives at foreign stations are seldom good observers of character; that their dispatches are remarkable dry, and altogether destitute of general information. I have been told, that in the legations and consular offices of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, and even of some of the minor states, individuals are specially instructed to write home what are called “news dispatches,” as often as possible. I know of no reason why a similar course should not be adopted by our legations, many of which are well paid for doing little, and that little very indifferently.

♦ DRAGOMANSHIP ♦

But perhaps the defect of our diplomacy in Turkey which most strongly demands immediate alteration, is that arising from the old fashion of dragomanship,--not indeed peculiar to the English embassy, since it prevails also amongst the other European missions at Constantinople. An intelligent tribe of men, half Greek, half Italian, has been settled for centuries at Pera, whose business it has been to cultivate the Turkish, French, and Italian languages; hence they are enabled to furnish each of the embassies with an interpreter, who is retained in its service at a high salary. He attends the minister at all his interviews with the Sultan, the members of government, and of the divan, in order to interpret between both parties; he translates the notes and other communications transmitted by one party to the other, and thus becomes intimately acquainted with state secrets on both sides. Does he never reveal them? If this question can be truly answered in the negative, then the whole race is much calumniated at Constantinople. Indeed, it is said that Russian gold, which is never absent from the scene of negotiations when an important disclosure can be purchased, has irresistible charms for the dragomen.

It may be asked, why a professional secretary is not attached to our Turkish embassy, selected from amongst our own countrymen, and qualified for his office by a familiar acquaintance with the Turkish language? It is not more difficult than the dialects of Persia and India, where we have seldom occasion for the assistance of interpreters in our diplomatic missions, because care is taken to attach to them one gentleman at least of British origin, who is master of the language of the country where the mission is established. The same rule should apply to Constantinople, where the members of government, with few exceptions, are ignorant of every language but their own.

♦ STORM ♦

I was detained at Therapia the whole of the ensuing day (19th October) by heavy rains, and a violent tempest which prevailed, without a moment’s intermission, until evening, when we all met again round Lord Ponsonby’s table. During the night there were tremendous storms of thunder and lightning, accompanied by a strong wind, blowing down from the Black Sea through the hills on each side of the Bosphorus as through a funnel, in the very neck of which his lordship’s residence was placed. The waters were still (20th October) much disturbed when I returned to Pera; but the wind being right down the channel, I was only an hour on the voyage, and spent that day, as well as several of the following days, in exploring the curiosities of Constantinople, with an account of which, as they have been already fully and graphically described in a hundred other works, I shall not burthen these pages.

♦ SOURCES OF PLAGUE ♦

One or two general reflections, however, upon the actual state of that metropolis, may not be deemed superfluous. It is built on a series of hills, which afford every requisite facility for purifying the streets, and for conducting to the Sea of Marmora, through properly constructed sewers, all the impurities which necessarily attend a large population. Unfortunately, whatever sewers exist are choked up, or lead only into the Golden Horn, the inner harbour, where numerous merchant ships are anchored at all seasons of the year. The consequence is, that the harbour, which is but little affected by the current of the Bosphorus, is little better than a stagnant pool, in which not only the drainage from the most crowded part of the city is collected, but also that of the ships waiting for winds, or to deliver or receive their cargoes. I entertain no doubt at all that the Golden Horn, so called as the emblem of commercial abundance, is the real source of the pestilence which so often, I may say so permanently, wastes that metropolis, and renders it a most disagreeable place of residence.

There is not, indeed there cannot be, any thing like society in a capital, where every circle is obliged to observe a quarantine against its neighbour. “Have you touched any body to-day?” is the first question put to a visitor, who is supposed not to be experienced in the arts of avoiding contact. The whole year passes without any evening amusements. Theatres, musical or dancing assemblies, are of course out of the question in such a state of things. Indeed, nobody attempts to go out at night, as the bazaars are all closed at sunset, and the streets are destitute of lamps.

♦ PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS ♦

It is impossible, therefore, that Constantinople can ever be rendered a healthy, a social, or civilized residence, in the European sense of the terms, until the inner harbour shall be entirely filled up, and the sea excluded to that line of demarcation where the current of the Bosphorus acts upon the mass of the waters. New sewers must be constructed leading chiefly into the Sea of Marmora. The bazaars, which are in fact but the principal streets _roofed in_, should be unroofed, and left perfectly open to the air. The gates which exist in different parts of the city, with the view of cutting off communication during a period of insurrection, should be removed. The old battlements and walls, which have no value as defences against artillery, should be levelled with the earth. The same fate should visit the cumbrous and lofty walls by which the official habitations of the governor of Constantinople, and other public servants, are surrounded. For the wooden houses, of which the capital is chiefly composed, streets in the Moorish style of architecture, of stone or brick materials, should be substituted. If these and other alterations which good taste, attention to air, and provisions for an efficient police would suggest, were carried into execution, Constantinople would be without a rival for the beauty and commercial advantages of its situation.

♦ RUSSIAN DESIGNS ♦

I believe that nobody has thought more frequently or more deeply upon this subject, than the late and the present sovereigns of Russia. Indeed, when we consider the vast strides which their dominion has made from time to time towards the Dardanelles, we cannot avoid coming to the conclusion, that the design has been, and still is seriously entertained, of eventually rendering Constantinople the seat of government for the Russian empire. This is not only, in my judgment, a very natural object of ambition on the part of the Czar; but one apparently forced upon him by the defective position which the southern provinces of his vast possessions enjoy.

By having extended their authority from the old kingdom of Moscovy, to the Lesser Tartary and the Crimea, thence on the eastern shore of the Euxine to Anapa, and to the delta of the Danube, on the west, the Russians have become masters of the Black Sea, which has no outlet except through the Bosphorus and the Hellespont. The current which flows through those canals, and through the intervening Sea of Marmora, points out the natural course which that authority must further take before it can be established on a solid basis.

♦ THE DARDANELLES ♦

The phrase which escaped Alexander, when he called the Dardanelles “the key of my house,” is pregnant with a truth which becomes every day more apparent. It is unquestionably necessary to the further aggrandizement of the dominions of the Czar, assuming that to be his object, to have the right of free egress and ingress through the gates of the Dardanelles, which are the gates also of the Black Sea; and it is incompatible with the notion which every man must entertain, of the relations actually subsisting between his Imperial Majesty and the Sultan, to suppose that the former would ever again suffer the shutting or the opening of the Dardanelles to be dependent on the fiat of the Divan.

♦ RUSSIAN AGGRANDIZEMENT ♦

All the recent history of Russia has been one uniform series of transactions, tending cunningly, and indeed without disguise, towards the transference of the imperial throne from Petersburgh to Constantinople. The treaty of Bucharest, which was signed in 1812, placed Wallachia and Moldavia under the _quasi_ protection of the emperor. By virtue of the treaty of Adrianople (1829), and of Petersburgh (1834), as we shall presently see, those provinces have become substantially Russian; and Servia has acquired a nominal government of her own, which is calculated only to prepare the way to a similar result in that quarter. This was a remarkable stride across the Danube, and in order that no re-action should render it ineffectual, possession was subsequently secured to the Russian troops of Silistria, which opens the way to Constantinople, for a period of eight years certain, liable to be prolonged _ad infinitum_!

This period of eight years forms a remarkable epoch in these transactions; it discloses the predominant thought of the Russian cabinet in originating the treaty of Adrianople, as well as the two still more important treaties of 1833 and 1834, by which the advantages acquired on the side of the emperor under the former compact, were not only confirmed but seriously augmented. Eight years from April 1830, (when the convention for the payment of the indemnity was signed at Petersburg) would seem to be the space of time within which the Czar at first calculated upon replenishing his treasury, and collecting sufficient means to enable him to surprise or defy the power of Great Britain, by seizing the Dardanelles. We shall accordingly observe that when a portion of the indemnity (ten millions of Dutch ducats) which the Sultan agreed by the treaty of 1829 to pay to Russia, was subsequently remitted, no diminution took place in the term of years over which the payments had been originally extended; on the contrary, that term was _enlarged_!

♦ IBRAHIM PACHA ♦

Every body recollects how England and France were engaged in 1832 and 1833 in settling the affairs of Belgium; that French troops were obliged to dislodge by force the Dutch garrison from Antwerp, while British ships of war were occupied in blockading the ports of Holland. In the mean time, Ibrahim Pacha, the able and enterprizing son of Mahomet Ali, actual ruler of Egypt, had overrun all Syria, had encamped on the mountainous ranges of the Taurus, and threatened a descent upon Constantinople itself. Under these circumstances, the Sultan applied for assistance to England and France; but whether it was that sufficient importance had not been then attached to the conquests of Ibrahim, or to the apprehension that his ultimate views were directed upon Constantinople; or that the engagements of both the powers with reference to the pacification of Belgium, prevented them from paying due attention to the solicitations of the Porte, it is at all events certain, that the interposition required on that occasion in behalf of the Turkish empire was refused by the two governments. I cannot but consider that refusal as a most unfortunate event, from whatever causes it may have arisen; it left the field of the East open to the autocrat, who lost not a moment in making it his own.