PALMYRA.* STILL O'er Assyria's land, and Taurus' side, Oh, more than mortal scenes! blest spot of earth, Where now the high-poised dome, the stately tower, And what is Nineveh? a sound, a wind, Of History's voice, long mute, an echo left behind. Not one lone wreek to break the boundless blank, And Fancy, u supported, seeks in vain, But thou, Palmyra, thou, the desert queen, Though scarce the shade of what thou once hast been, Lone in the wilderness all slowly fade The glories of thy matchless colonnade, In naked maj sty those pillars stad, No voice, no sound, no whispers intervene To break the intense, deep stillness of the scene, Save where the mouldering columns' crumbling sound A momentary echo strikes around. So dost thou sink, and so shall perish all! And Havoc still with keener vengeance eyes, * From a work just published, entitled 'Ulric of Aymer, and other Poems." 72 UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS OF A TRAVELLER IN THE EAST. No. X. Commerce of Smyrna-Laws of Trade-Turkish JusticeGreek Mercantile Shipping-Productions and Exports of the Turkish Empire. THE merchants of the different nations of Europe, resident at Smyrna, keep their books in piastres, and minor subdivisions of the same coin. The English subdivide them into 80; the French into 100; and the people of the country, that is, the Turks, Jews, Greeks, and Armenians, into 120 parts. Bills of exchange are often drawn on Smyrna in foreign coin, particularly in Spanish dollars, which are always to be had there; but if drawn in a coin not in current use, the exchange of the day is established to make the payment. From Egypt they almost invariably draw in Spanish dollars, or Venetian sequins. Current Coins. The current Coins of Smyrna are as follows: Silver-Piastres of 40 paras, which are the piastres of the Grand Signior. Ditto of 100 ditto, worth 10 per cent. more than at Constantinople. Ditto of 200 dito, very commonly called also Turkish dollars. Gold-Stamboul of 290 ditto, with and of each; and, like the former, Funduc of 400 ditto, S worth more than at Constantinople. The foreign coins in general use at Smyrna are, Silver-Imperial dollars worth 64 piastres, issued from Austria. Spanish ditto, the same nominal value, but preferred in large payments, as being of a little more value in Europe. Gold-Ducats of Holland, worth 134 piastres. Ditto of Austria and Hungary, 13 ditto. Venetian sequins, 133 ditto. Spanish doubloons, 15 to 16 Spanish dollars. Payments for goods sold are generally made in light monies, which cannot be refused without protracting the payment for a long period. The merchants here assume the privilege of charging per cent.; and some Europeans charge even 1 per cent. for that loss, under the name of shroftage; but if sales are often made for cash, it will sometimes amount to 2 per cent. The nominal values of coins in Turkey have augmented in a very rapid degree, while those coins have been as rapidly diminishing in their intrinsic worth; an effect which is produced by the frequent calling in of the current money by the Porte in moments of demand, and issuing it again at a more advanced rate and debased quality. The result of this impolitic measure is the real depression of their coin, and an augmentation of the price of goods, as well as of the rate of exchange on foreign parts. In the year 1803 the Spanish dollar was worth 3 piastres; in 1807, it had risen to 4; and in 1812 it passed at 6, though its true value remains nearly stationary. The Turkish dollar of 5 piastres is equal in weight with the Spanish dollar, and is intended by the sagacious Turks to represent the same kind of money; but its intrinsic value does not certainly exceed one-fourth of that coin. The Porte, having no silver mines, buys up the Spanish dollars for the supply of the mint, in which tin and zinc are the prevailing metals used. It is owing to these successive degradations of their piastres that, in lending money on interest, the sum borrowed is advanced in foreign coin, and the obligation is invariably to return the same sort of money, both in principal and interest. It has often happened, indeed, that between the period of a mortgage being made and released, the increase of nominal value in current money has amounted to 50 per cent., which would thus have ruined the lender. The interest on money lent is as under: To Franks or Europeans.. 10 per cent. per annum. Bills of exchange from any one part of Turkey on another, are drawn at eleven days; those from Turkey on Continental Christendom, at thirty-one days; and on London generally, at forty-five and sixty days. Weights and Measures. The various denominations of weights which exist in Turkey generally bear a reference to a certain number of drachms; but, properly speaking, all goods are weighed by the rotolo, which is afterwards reduced into the other smaller weights in use for calculation. There is also a difference in the weight by a steelyard and by scales at a beam, the latter bearing a disadvantage to the scales of about 3 per cent.; but there are certain goods only sold by the balance, such as cochineal, cloves, nutmegs, &c. 1 Ditto ditto, Smyrna standard, 1 Kilo of rice, in all Turkey, weighs 24-5ths ditto. 125 ditto. 4 ditto. 14 ditto. 53-5ths ditto. 1 Kilo of corn, Constantinople standard, weighs about 23 okes. 33 okes. 10 okes. SĄ Smyrna kilos of corn are equal to a psalm, or an English quarter. 1 Pike, a cloth measure, is 27 inches, or three-fourths of an English yard. 106 Endezia, a measure of the shop-keepers, equal 100 pikes. Advances on Bottomry. The Greeks have a number of vessels, particularly in Ipsara, Idra, &c., which are owned by their captains, who, when they engage a crew, give them, in lieu of wages, a certain interest in the freight and in the profit of the cargo. But as those commanders never possess money enough to purchase a lading for their vessels, they obtain advances from the Greek merchants of Smyrna and Constantinople at a stipulated premium, both capital and interest being made payable on the safe return of the vessel. If she happens to be lost, the contract is null; and all those who have made the advances receive nothing. If she returns safe, but the voyage has proved unfortunate, then the crew are first paid their share of the freight, and the money-lenders receive the rest. All those ships are extremely well manned: one of 300 tons will have a crew of 50 men, and one of 400 tons from 60 to 70 men, continuing in the same proportion. The premium current for those risks are such as will require a very lucrative business to support. From the Archipelago to Malta and Sicily it is 20 per cent. From ditto to Barcelona, 35 per cent. From ditto to Gibraltar, 40 per cent. From ditto to Cadiz and Lisbon, 50 per cent.; with a still further increase in proportion to the distance of their voyage beyond the Straits of the Mediterranean, and the season of the year. The Vessels of the Archipelago are From Ipsara 50 sail, from 250 to 300 tons, whose crews are the most honest. From Idra 70 sail, from 300 to 450 tons, whose owners are the richest. From other islands, 100 sail, from 150 to 200 tons, less to be depended on. These, together, form the Greek marine. The Turks have a few vessels only, which navigate the Archipelago and Mediterranean, and these are manned by Greeks. They confine themselves more to the Black Sea. The trade from one part of the empire to another is carried on in large boats, from 50 to 150 tons, navigated without compass or chart. The large Turkish vessels seen in the Mediterranean are generally from Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoly. Conditions of Sale, Credit, &c. The only articles which are always sold for cash are cochineal, tin, Mocha coffee, and pepper. Other colonial produce sell at one or two month's credit, but when articles are scarce, by sacrificing one or two per cent. on the price, cash may be readily obtained. All manufactured goods, excepting cloths, may be sold in small parcels, partly for cash and partly on short credit, when the articles are in demand and scarce; if, however, there is a plentiful supply to answer the demand, the credit is then extended to four and six months, and when the market is full, without demand, sales cannot be effected at less than eight or twelve months' credit. In general, payments are made in three instalments, and in what has been already said, it must be understood as fixing the period for the final settlement of the account. When sales are forced, in order to obtain cash, it is necessary to make a sacrifice of twenty or twenty-five per cent., and even then they cannot be effected to any great amount. The buyers of cotton manufactures are not considered so solid in their responsibility as the cloth dealers, yet there is not much risk with them, if sales are made with judgment. It may be observed that the trading capital of Turkey is very small, which forces the shopkeepers to buy on credit, and carry on their trade with the capital of the Europeans; and, as their payments cannot be made until the goods themselves are sold, there is an extreme degree of uncertainty in the most fixed periods. Colonial produce may be easily bartered for the produce of the country, excepting fruits, opium, silk, and copper, which are always bought with cash in hand. Manufactured goods are more difficult to be bartered in this way, and never can be exchanged for the whole amount of their value only; as if 1000 piastres of goods are to be disposed of, 2000 piastres of produce must be taken, and the balance paid in cash. The buyers of cloth, though solid in the result, are long paymasters, extending the nominal credit of two or four months to one or two years; and though the Turks buy from the Europeans every thing on credit, yet, in the sale of their own productions, they almost invariably insist upon cash in hand. Turkish Mercantile Justice. I have given it this head, to prevent wandering into the many political topics which so fertile a subject presents, and shall continue, therefore, within the circumscribed limits which I first proposed to myself. According to the Turkish laws, no contract can take place, and, therefore, no penalty can be claimed for the failure of an engagement. The public weight is the only thing that really fixes a sale; for should the purchase money even have been paid to the seller, before the goods are weighed, he is at liberty to alter his intention, dissolve the bargain, and return the money to the intended purchaser. In general, the laws of Turkey favour the highest bidder, and he who offers most to the judge is always in the right. When a debt is contracted, the debtor signs and seals a written obligation in the presence of two Turkish witnesses; on the expiration of the term of payment, should the person deny the debt, the witnesses are then called to prove it; they, however, often decline to give their testimony, being silenced by a bribe from the debtor himself, the consequence of which is, the impossibility of the lender's recovering. In the law courts of Turkey there are neither pleadings nor writings, so that decisions are very quickly made. The plaintiff simply states his case, the defendant replies, upon which the judgment is almost instantly pronounced in favour of him who has either paid or promised the highest bribe. The gainer of the cause invariably pays the expenses, which, in commercial transactions, amount to from fifteen to twenty per cent. for rayahs or subjects of the Grand Signior, but not more than five per cent. for Europeans, |