Thus they brought upon themselves a needless Albanian revolt, and saw much of their prestige vanish in it. They outraged the prejudices of every conservative Mussulman by their open disregard of such an institution as Ramazan. They offended the very Christians whom they were trying to benefit, by the proposal to remove all the distinctive privileges of each _millet_, and make them all Ottoman subjects and citizens alike. The effect was to make them all as wrathful as the thief who found that he was not to be honoured with a higher gallows than his companions. Had time been given them, and had the army continued to back them, things might have gone well; for no European proverb holds in Turkey, and there it is not the case that "you can do anything with bayonets except sit on them." Bayonets enough make a very comfortable seat for the Government, or seem to do so. Still, time was not given; and two disastrous wars have not left much of the prestige that is the breath of life to an Oriental Government. The Turk has the misfortune to be an anachronism in power. His present methods were those of every European Government some five hundred years ago; but European consciences have developed in the interval, and his has not. Modern civilization, though willing enough to shut its eyes to a good deal that is ugly, cannot avoid seeing what the Turk does. He happens to occupy lands which must attract the religious and antiquarian interest of the world, and which are the nearest unexploited field for European capital besides. He is then, and must be, in the limelight. Still, you cannot do in the limelight what sentiment will allow you to do in the dark; and the trouble is, that the Turk knows no other way of doing his business than the habits he learnt when everything was dark. You can give an old dog a new collar, but you cannot teach him new tricks; and even calling the Government of Turkey "constitutional," has not altered its methods. Bribery is more costly now than under the old regime, in that you have to insure against risk; but it is not less prevalent: and the Turk has been given an excellent additional reason for disregarding the advice of foreign Consuls; for what _locus standi_ have they in a Civilized and Constitutional country like the Ottoman Empire? These facts appear to a European resident to be the two principal results of the "new régime" after five years. What can Dame Europe say or do to the grim old mastiff, who can still bite enough to make her very nervous about handling him, and who says "What my enemies have left me of the kennel is mine; and while it remains mine I will manage it as I like." NOTE. It is one of the consolations of life in Turkey that the more tragically serious a thing is in reality, the more certain it is to present a comic aspect in practice. A good instance of this was provided for the foreigner in Van, shortly after the proclamation of the Constitution in that city.