RESOURCES OF TURKEY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 59, 9 March 1878, Page 4

RESOURCES OF TURKEY.

The area of Turkey in Europe is 166,090 square miles, with an estimated population of 9,669,000, giving an average of 61 to the square mile. In Asia her dominions cover 724,183 square miles, with an estimated population of 16,325,000, and a density of only 23 to the square mile, so that the entire territory of the empire embraces an area of 882,273 square miles, carrying a population of 25,994,000. Turkey is consequently rather smaller than South Australia, and contains three million fewer inhabitants than Great Britain and Ireland. But, as The Times observes, " the resources of nearly the whole whole twenty-fire millions (of the Turkish population) ara available in a contest ; " although as a set-ofl against this it must not be forgotten that the Sultan recruits bis armies from the Mohammedan races exclusively, these constituting only two thirds of his subjects. We are reminded, however, that the adult males of fighting a»e belonging two these two-thirds must be ample for an indefinite period of recruiting ; that ihe whole population of the United Kingdom during the great wars at the beginning of the present century was only about sixteen millions and that of France twenty-six millions; and that of Prussia only numbered eighteen millions before the battle of Sadowa ; and that the Northern States of America Republic, with a population of only twenty-four millions, kept an army of a million of men in the field during the civil war; while the seceding States, with only eight millions to recruit from, had at least faulf a million under arms. Hence, it is contended, there is no probability of Turkey having to succumb to her opponem for want of raen to fight with. H^r ability to proloag tho conflict will depend upon bur financial resources and it is important, therefore, to iuquire what is the exiaat of these. Here, again, the vesultß brought out, will prove a dissagroeable surprise to tho prtrtieutig of the bag-aud-baggage policy, who condemn a wuole uution for tbe vices of its rulers, and imagine that Constantinople ia Turkey, which is as greit a mistake as it would have been to pronounce that London was England, and that the mother country was sick nnto death, when Charles the Second was a pensioner of France ; and when, as Macaulay tells us, " scarcely sny rank or profession escaped the in-

fection of the prevailing immorality, and those persona who made politics their bußiness were perhaps the moat corrupt part of the corrupt society." The entries of shipping in Turkish ports are 6,000;000. tons annually, while those in Russian ports are only, 4,000,000; but then the policy of the! latter country is protective, while! ■Turkey levies Customs duties for re-; venue only. Her foreign trade is com-; puted by the Times writer to be nearly; forty millions sterling per annum, and this leads him to remark that " a state, of twenty-six millions, which has a surplus of twenty millions to exchange for foreign prod acts, must have considerable resources to fall back upon for purpOBOB, of defence. If its people choose to go^ without aome foreign, products which, they buy in ordinary years, they may j have a good deal to spend in the equipment of their armies." And in a war like this, which inflames the re- : ligious ardor as well as the patriotic feelings of the Mohammedan population : of Turkey, these men are capable of making heroic sacrifices, and of cheer fully enduring great privations.

The yearly revenue of the Turkish Government is set down at £22,000,000, ; one, half of which is derived from titheß ; and a sheep tax; and the cost of ad- i ministering the affairs of the country is j so low as to indicate that it is one of; the most, cheaply governed nations inj Europe. |