TURKEY RUINED BY LIBERALITY!
THE PRESS.
MORNING Jountrap—The march of liberal principles has ruined Turkey. Mab- moud would be a reformer, he would trim beards, diminish trowsers, convert turbans into caps, and cut off the heads of those who were content with the wis- dom of their ancestors, and in consequence grumbled at changes of which they could not be brought to see the advantages. We shall not say that, with twenty years of peace before him, some of the Sultan's reforms might not have proved innocuous if not wise ; but political changes are not abstractions which may he taken up or laid down at pleasure ; the proper time is as necessary as the proper means of carrying them into judicious effect; and he who does not combine all the elements of success in his endeavours after reform must not look to gain it. The coming on of the war in the very midst of the Sultan's improvements might have been fatal to the wisest that ever were planned. The only policy which should have been adopted was to retrace his steps as speedily as possible, and to leave the accomplishment of his projects to better times. The Janissaries were troublesome, no doubt; but they had bravery, a character to lose, and, above all, they had confidence in one another. The new troops might be—we doubt not that they were—individually brave; but they had no character, and no man know or trusted his fellow. The utter helplessness of the best men under such circum- stances is proverbial, For the Sultan we doubt entirely his fitness for any higher occupation than cutting beards and throats. He may be the patron saint of bar, hers and hangmen ; but before he rise to the dignity of a general he must study new arts, and those less accessible to royal scholars. What, indeed, was to be expected of a Turk, of all men under Heaven, who, when the sacred standard that had so often opened the road to victory was borne forth to cheer the eyes of his followers, was content to follow behind, like a turtle-fed alderman in a coach?
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