accomplished, and yet patient, she waited
for the last fall as for the ripeness and
fulness of the harvest of her hopes. Hushed
in expectancy, she kept her wary gaze upon
the stairs; and seldom so much as darkly
shook her right mitten (with her fist in it),
at the figure coming down.

        HER MAJESTY'S CONSULAR
                       SERVICE.

THERE are one or two important consulates
in the Levant about to become vacant; and
as it is a very sensible proverb which tells us
that prevention is better than cure, I shall go
on to say a few words upon this subject. To
understand clearly, however, the duties and
precise position of our consuls in this part of
the world, it will be necessary to go back a
little.

Bad as the state of Turkey still is, it was
formerly very much worse. The Greeks had given
the Turks such an indifferent opinion of the
Christian world that they looked upon our race
as a species of game it was lawful to hunt.
Unbelievers had, therefore, neither justice nor
mercy to expect from the followers of the
Prophet. Thus, if one Frank did wrong, the
cadi not only punished the sinner, but every
other Frank who was to be found. Ships
were stopped on the high seas in time of
peace, and made to deliver up their cargoes
and cabin boys; sometimes the ships also
were taken. Turkish officers not only exacted
arbitrary taxes and customs dues, but they
levied them as often as they pleased. They
would not give receipts for money paid to
them; and tax-gatherers who had nothing to
do, were calling on the Franks all day long.
Merchants were compelled to exchange their
money for the debased currency of Turkey,
and to take it at its nominal value. There
were all sorts of vexatious monopolies.
Merchants were obliged to sell their goods to
Turks, in preference to better paymasters.
Whenever the Sultan wished to reward a
favourite, he was apt to give him a charter to
annoy the Franks in some way. Even the
lowest employments in private houses were
disposed of by law. All commercial travellers
were Jews; and if one of them was turned
away for misconduct or dishonesty, he had
a claim for indemnity, and was able to enforce
it. Turks pretended to have bills of exchange
upon Frankish merchants, and insisted on
being paid on their mere assertion to that
effect. Franks were often detained in
captivity, under pretence of making them
discharge the debts which they did not owe;
if they refused to ransom themselves, the
Turks stormed and plundered their houses.
If a Frank had ever had any charge brought
against him, the cadi reopened the case whenever
he felt in the humour, till that Frank's life
became a weariness, and he was obliged to buy
the cadi off. If a Turk brought a charge
against a Frank, the latter was not allowed
time to prove his innocence; if he had
witnesses on the spot, their evidence was
inadmissible by law. One Frank was not
unfrequently even put to death for the sins of
another. The Turkish tribunals insisted that
all the parties to a suit should appear in person;
so that a troublesome fellow might take up
the whole of a busy man's time by bringing
the absurdest charges against him. Many
persons made a trade of this, and it was not
a bad business in a lucrative point of view.
The cadi decided all questions with a lofty
contempt of evidence; and as even the man
who gained a process paid the expenses of it,
there was no punishment for the most wanton
malice. The giving and receiving of presents
was also a gigantic evil; they were required
upon all occasions, and they were merely an
authorised species of robbery.

At last, after centuries of the most
extraordinary patience, the Christian powers began
to take heart, and to make treaties for the
prevention of these things. The result was
the gradual blossoming into fuller and fuller
flower of the Levant consuls. I shall, however,
for the present, limit these remarks to our own.

The British consul in the Levant is
entrusted with both civil and criminal jurisdiction.
Fortunately, he has not the power of
awarding capital punishment; but he has
almost every other. He may banish, dishonour,
imprison, and fine at pleasure; he is banker,
notary, arbitrator, judge, priest, registrar, and
administrator of dead men's goods. Untold
property is confided to his care; the many
interests of travellers and merchants are
almost entirely entrusted to him. Finally, he
has power to enforce attendance at his office
by a fine. He is recommended to prefer
summary decisions, and not to give his mind
to juries.

The British consul has such weight and
authority among the Turks that he may cause
almost any amount of mischief unchecked.
There is no press to watch his doings; no
society to cry shame on him; no means by
which an ignorant Maltese or Ionian can
make a grievance known or obtain redress;
there is, indeed, no control of any kind over
your British consul; and a very august and
singular personage he has become in
consequence. If we grant that your British
consul is always a high-minded and conscientious
man (and I am not doubting it), it must still
be borne in mind, he has to deal with a
numerous class of persons who speak no
English, and whose depositions he is obliged
to receive through dragomen who are not
always honest, and whom he cannot always
understand. He has to decide cases, also,
where every effort is made to deceive him;
where evidence is often particularly difficult
to sift; and thus, however upright himself,
your British consul is often made the involuntary
instrument of cruel wrong. I know that
this is not the tenor of the reports sent in
some time ago by the consuls to the Foreign
Office; but I have seen the system at work.