trikingly apparent in these
provinces; and although entirely deprived of all those Seignorial
rights which their ancestors possessed, the Mussulman population appear
perfectly satisfied with the lazy independence procured for them by the
produce and rents of the land, of which they are the sole proprietors.
The Christians, on the other hand, are invariably the tenants, as it is
beneath the dignity of a Mussulman to turn his hand to any kind of
manual labour, i.e. so long as he can find a Christian to do it.

The Euchlemeh, or arrangement for the tenure of land, has long existed
in this part of the empire, and has worked well whenever it has not been
abused. The original terms of the contract provided that the proprietor
should give the land and the seed for sowing it, receiving in return
one-third of the produce in kind. The commission of which Kiamil Pacha
was President in 1853, endeavoured, whilst regulating the taxation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, to ameliorate the condition of the tenant as
regards the rental of land. They decreed that he should be supplied with
animals, implements, seeds, and also a house in which to live, while
yielding to the proprietor in return from 25 to 50 per cent. of the
products, according to the more or less prolific nature of land in the
different parts of the provinces. These terms were cheerfully accepted
by the agriculturalists, by whom they were considered just. The internal
state of the Ottoman empire, unfortunately, renders it impossible that
these conditions should in all cases be adhered to, and without doubt
the tenants are often compelled to pay from 10 to 20 per cent. more than
the legal rent. These instances, however, are less frequent than they
were a few years ago, and very much less frequent than the depreciators
of Turkey would have us to believe. The most scrupulous observance of
the terms of the Euchlemeh will be enforced by the Ottoman government if
it be alive to its own interests, and the more so that the infraction of
it has been, and will always be, turned to account by those who would
fain see rebellion and discord prevailing in the Turkish provinces,
rather than unity and peace.

In 1860 no fewer than nine Servian emissaries were caught in the
Herzegovina, who were endeavouring to fan the discontent and ill-feeling
already existing amongst the agricultural classes. That province has
indeed been for a long time employed by the advocates of Panslavism, or
by the en