rare: while the
horrible death by impalement, and the amputation of the hand for
theft, have fallen into complete disuse. Offences are tried, in the
first instance, in the court of the Cazi-asker or grand judge of
Roumelia or Anatolia, according as the crime has been committed in
Europe or Asia: from this tribunal an appeal lies to the Supreme
Council of justice, the decisions of which require to be further
ratified by the Mufti. The _proces-verbal_ of two of the cases above
referred to, is given at length; in one of which the murderer escaped
condign punishment only because the extreme youth of the only
eye-witness, a slave, nine years old, prevented his testimony from
being received otherwise than as _circumstantial_ evidence:--in the
other, "it being essential to make a lasting and impressive public
example, it was resolved that the criminals should not be put to
death, but condemned to such ignominious public chastisement as might
serve during many years as a warning to others." The sentence in the
former case was ten, and in the latter, seven years' public labour in
heavy irons--a punishment of extreme severity, frequently terminating
in the death of the convict. Nafiz Bey, the principal offender in the
second of the above cases, did not survive his sentence more than
twenty months. "On examining a multitude of condemnations for crimes
of magnitude, the maximum average, when death was not awarded, was
seven years' hard labour in chains, and fine, for which the convict is
subsequently imprisoned as a simple debtor till the sum is paid. The
average punishment for theft, robbery, assault, and slightly wounding,
is three years' hard labour, with costs and damages. These sentences
(of which several examples are given) were referred, according to
established forms, from the local tribunals to the supreme council:
and before being carried into effect, were legalized by a _fethwa_
(decree) of the Sheikh-Islam, (Mufti,) and after that by the sultan's
warrant; a process affording a triple advantage to the accused, each
reference serving as an appeal."

The exclusive jurisdiction over the subjects of their own nation,
exercised by the legations of the different European powers in virtue
of capitulations with the Porte, was doubtless at one time necessary
for the protection of foreigners from the arbitrary proceedings of
Turkish despotism; it has, however, given rise to great abuses, and at
the present day its practical effe