rly enduring,
brave, and obedient, they require only good leading to form them into
one of the most effective armies of the world. But this is precisely the
one thing in which they are most strikingly deficient, and of which
there is little hope of any permanent amelioration.

In no department of the public administration are the baneful effects of
that spirit of insincerity and rapacity, which is almost universal at
Constantinople, more apparent than in the army. Money drawn upon the
authority of false returns, and eventually appropriated by the highest
people of the land, affords an example of peculation and dishonesty
which is carried out through all ranks, and the result is that the
greater portion of the army has received no pay for more than
six-and-twenty months. There is reason to believe that this system of
sending in false numerical returns has been of late carried to an
incredible extent. The nominal strength of the Turkish army is as
follows:--6 corps d'armees, each consisting of 6 regiments of 4
battalions, each battalion numbering 1,000 effective men, with a
proportion of cavalry and artillery to each corps d'armee.

This gives us 144,000 regular infantry; and yet I have good authority
for saying that, should Turkey enter upon a war to-morrow, she would do
so with less than 80,000 regular infantry. Of these 29 of the strongest
battalions were in the Herzegovina during the past autumn, and that
force has received a slight increase during the winter months. To the
merits of these troops I have already borne testimony. Against those by
whom they are officered I would now raise a protest, since they appeared
to be so selected without regard to any one qualification which may
entitle them to the rank. Even were the finances of the empire restored
to a flourishing condition, and other reforms instituted, the army
cannot be thoroughly effective until it is re-officered, and the new
officers duly impressed with a conviction of the just distribution of
rewards and punishments. It is deplorable that so low a sentiment should
be the only one with which to inspire the officers, in order to secure
the zealous fulfillment of their duties. But so it is: their birth and
education, and the flagrant instances of bought rewards, which are
constantly before their eyes, combine to render it the best sentiment of
which they are capable. This applies principally to the regimental
officers in the lower ranks, upon whom the effic