Thus hath the want of a well-organised system of finance been clearly proved, the whole revenue of the state not being sufficient for the exigencies of these times. The following example will point out the truth of this to the people at large. Suppose the case of a man, who twenty or thirty years ago enjoyed an income of one piaster a day, and regulated his expenses accordingly, if that man continued on the same scale how could he live at present, when every thing is four or five times dearer than at that period, and make the two ends of the year meet with his piaster a day? In like manner, we may apply this consideration to the actual condition of the Sublime Government. Behold, while the royal finances are in so great a state of penury, not a single person, whether rich, poor, or tributary subject, will give a single piaster to the treasure, under the name of a voluntary contribution, towards carrying on war; and, in short, no man will go to war gratis, and at his own expense, only to please God, or for the love of the prophet or the emperor; the formation of troops proportioned to those of the enemy, and the providing of military stores, which may equal theirs, are things which must be accomplished, not by words, but by money. The truth is, that the treasury does not possess a fixed revenue sufficient to defray contingent expenses, and, to sum up all, the old revenues of the Sublime Government were calculated for the old expense; and as two hundred and forty-five years have elapsed since the publication of the canon, the expense having constantly increased whilst the revenue was never augmented, His Highness, the Emperor, has looked out for some remedy in such difficult circumstances, and has laboured to establish a revenue proportioned to the amount of expenditure of these times. But that the requisite funds might neither be taken by violence, nor derived from casual contingency, it was thought proper to draw them from the peculiar possessions of the government and the sources dependent thereon. A treasure having been with much difficulty amassed, in which were to be deposited the money raised under the title of Iradi-Gedid, the following reflections presented themselves relative to the manner in which they were to be regulated.