is that of
the consuls.

Were it possible for any unprejudiced and rational being to doubt for a
moment that the religion of Mahomet is a false one and uncalculated to
promote the moral and political improvement of mankind, a slight glance
at this Mahometan country would be sufficient to undeceive him. The
Moors are the most fanatic of all Mahometans, and consider the Turks,
Persians, and other followers of the Desert-Prophet, as seceders from the
severe precepts of their religion. What is their state? They are
governed in their towns and provinces by arbitrary despots called Pashas,
who are accountable to no person but the Emperor, whose authority they
frequently set at nought, and who is himself a despot of the most
terrible description. Their lives, properties, and families are
perfectly at the disposal of these men, who decapitate, imprison,
plunder, and violate as their inclination tempts them. In this country
it is every person's interest, however wealthy, to exhibit an appearance
of abject poverty; as the suspicion of wealth instantly produces from the
Sultan or Pasha a demand for some large sum, which must be forthwith paid
or decapitation or torture are the severe alternatives. Here justice is
indeed an empty name, the most atrocious criminals escaping unpunished if
able to offer a bribe sufficient to tempt the cupidity of those whose
duty it is to administer it. Here money is sought after with insatiable
avidity by great and small, for its own sake, and not for what it will
produce. It is piled up in the treasury or is buried underground,
according to the situation in life of its possessors. In this land there
is neither public peace or individual security; no one travels a league
but at the extreme danger of his life, and war is continually raging not
against foreign enemies but amongst the people themselves. The Sultan
collects armies and marches against this or that province, which is sure
to be in a state of rebellion; if successful, a thousand heads are borne
before him on his return in ghastly triumph on the lances of his
warriors; and if vanquished, his own not unfrequently blackens in the sun
above the gate of some town or village. Here truth and good faith are
utterly unknown, friendship exists not, nor kindly social intercourse;
here pleasure is sought in the practice of abominations or in the chewing
of noxious and intoxicating drugs; here men make a pomp and a parade of
their infamy; and