'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎1369] (1524/1782)

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assessment takes place annually, but much difficulty is experienced before the sum is
fully paid up, the object of the Arab being to show he is really too poor, and that of the
Government to obtain, if well paid in one year, an increase of tribute iu the next.
Thus both parties fall out, (and) are for the most part always at odds, if not at open
war. Too weak to coerce them efficiently, the Government employs the usual weapons
of the feeble, those of exciting party against party. Factions are thus raised in the
tribes, the much-coveted Shaikhships are sold, as it were, to the highest bidders, and a
constant rivalry exists, fomented by the Government as an element to neutralize the
combinations and rebellions so frequent in all ages among these singularly constituted
people. It is this system, however, which has impoverished both the country and
people.
Commander Tone's remarks on the Government of the town of Baghdad,
etc., which follow, are obviously accurate as well as extremely interesting,
and to a large extent they still hold good of the province at the present day.
On the Government of the province, and the iwpervum in imperio system pursued
to weaken those who, when united, were able to set up in antagonism to authority, I
have already touched. Generally speaking, the form of administration in Baghdad
and in the minor towns is based on that of Constantinople, varied only to suit local
usages and requirements, when these do not operate badly upon the general law,
which, of course is that of the Koran, and the interpretations which learned legislators
have awarded to its less intelligible doctrines. The old despotic rule has been closed
for some years ; and now a council, at which the Pacha usually presides, hears and
determines upon all cases. It is a mixed one of Mahomedans and Christians ; but
the latter in Turkey are not as yet sufficiently independent to do justice to their
position when the Mahomedan portion may be biased by their creed, or by corrup
tion, to pronounce an unjust award. To speak candidly, these nefarious practices
in perversion of law and right are less complained of in Baghdad than in most parts of
the Turkish empire, and under the more enlightened and honest administration of the
present Pacha, Mahomed Eeshid, they are less flagrant. He discountenances them, in
deed, in his desire to benefit the State and to raise his fellow Turk in the scale of huma
nity ; a Herculean task certainly, but the attempt is still worthy of commendation.
Trained by education in Europe, the present Governor-General of Iraq has the tact, and
perhaps the energy, to work a change in this neglected province. Unfortunately he has
no seconds. All his subordinates are as ignorant as Turks usually are, and his effort
are, moreover, often paralysed by the dogged obstinacy of their characters. The terrible
pressure upon the resources of Turkey by the present war is another drawback to him,
for he is called upon to furnish funds to aid in maintaining the struggle, and with an
exhausted exchequer, he must resort to an extra tax upon his people. Complaints are
therefore as rife as public improvement is at a stand-still. Too poor to maintain an
efficient staff in the various departments, the fiscal arrangements of the province, as
well as the police of the towns, are on the most slender and inadequate scale. Frequent
and daring robberies, as well as loss of revenue, result from the want of force to levy
the one, and the absence of efficient means to check the commission of the other.
There is, in fact, no system ; and so long as Governorships, public lands, custom
dues, and the wholesale vending of many staple articles of commerce and food, are held
as monopolies by the highest bidders in the State auction, improvement cannot be ex
pected. Every one, of course, works these with the greatest erain and least loss to himself,
regardless of the effect upon individuals, and the hideous consequences to the State.
The regular army, too, in the province is far too small for its extent in the most peace-
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