338

ulescension, insisted on slu

the profil

in return for his c
of the day's sale.

The Christian merchants suffered extremely at this period,
equally in defiance of the terms of the treaty : besides very large
fines levied from each family, many were obliged to farm from the
government those taxes, which, from not yielding what was ex-
pected from them, were unpopular with the Mahometans ; while,
for the most common neeessaries of life, monopolies, as prejudi-
cial to the public as they were profitable to the fanner, were
granted to the latter.

The few European merchants whom the French had left at
Cairo, seeing the state of insecurity in which they were placed,
were preparing to quit the country.

The best feature of the Turkish government which was esta-
blished at Cairo within the first six or eight months after the con-
quest, was the rigorous manner in which the magistrates ap-
pointed to the superintendance of the police of the city were
punished for a dereliction of their duty. Thus in some measure
the ill effects of individual oppression were atoned for by the
preservation of general tranquillity, and the speedy distribution
of justice, where the public interest, or rather the interest of the
principal public officer, was not in opposition to that of the sub-
ject. A summary act of justice was about this time executed on
the inspector of the police and the inspector of provisions : they
both lost their lives ; the one for bribery in the execution of the
duties of his office, the other for allowing meat to be sold at a
higher price than what was fixed by order of the Pasha. At a
visit which we paid to the Pasha on the following day, he appeared
very desirous to convince us of the necessity he was under of
having recourse to this measure; begged us to inquire of all the
inhabitants whom wre conversed with, whether they had not de-
served