The Grand Vezir was formerly called Lala, or Tutor, because he was the sole adviser to his majesty, and as he exercised the civil functions of the executive, he was styled "Vekili-Mutlah," or vicar absolute. He therefore enjoyed all the rights and immunities of his imperial master--to the entire control of property and life itself. He used to head the army in time of war; make all appointments to office; give audiences to the foreign ambassadors, receive and answer their memorials; and he only, of all the ministers of the realm, had free access to the royal presence. As he was amenable to no tribunal, his only forfeit being his own head, and his worldly possessions, it was his policy to render the person of the sultan inapproachable--between whom and his people, a mystic veil seemed ever to depend. By degrees, the monarch, who should have been the father of his people, removed from all intercourse with his subjects, became only the shrine of their superstitious devotions, the deity of their worship, the proxy of Allah; while the real administrator of the realm, was the selfish, ambitious, scheming, and blood-thirsty Grand Vezir. Even on Fridays, as his majesty appeared in public on his way to the mosque, he was so surrounded by pomp and royal pageantry, as to be almost invisible. But since the promulgation of the Tanzimat or reformation, an entire change has been effected in the administrative department, and a substantial check imposed upon the Grand Vezir, whose former prerogatives and immunities have been much curtailed. There is now a council attached to each department, which deliberates upon the various measures proposed. A grand national council, established on a somewhat European system, called the Medjlissi-Wala, or senate, composed of the dignitaries and notables of the nation, and presided over by a Reiss or chief of its own, controls the affairs of the nation in general. Its duties are to prepare the laws; establish or revise the basis of the taxation; regulate the revenues and expenditure of the government; to draft the instructions for the governors of the provinces; to try all treasonable acts and crimes committed against the state; to correct the abuses of the functionaries; to attend to the complaints of citizens brought against the different agents or authorities; to draw up sentences for criminals, which are either maintained or modified by his majesty, etc. etc., There is another council called the Medjlissi-Khass, or special council, which, being composed of the ministers of the different departments, may be termed a cabinet, or privy council. The Grand Vezir, as prime minister, presides over this. These two councils together, constitute what is termed and generally known as the Baabu-Aali, or the Sublime Porte.