Turkey is a country where church and state are most eminently combined. The standard of every measure or act is the Koran; the administration of affairs, both civil and religions, must, therefore, be in conformity with the precepts of that sacred book; but since that book does not provide for all emergencies, and in many instances is not even explicit, those who made the Koran their special study have ever been consulted, and all matters referred to them for examination and sanction. The entire body of these ecclesiastics are denominated the Ulema, or learned (in the Koran), and their expositions are termed Fetvas. These Fetvas constitute, as it were, the statutes of the state. The sanction of these doctors in every measure being essential, each civil tribunal is supplied with one of their number, in order that their acts may be valid. Hence, even the Grand-Vezir, who only represents the sultan in temporal matters, is associated with the chief of the Ulema, viz., the Sheikh-ul-Islam, who, on his part, personifies his majesty in spiritual affairs. Bearing the title of Fetvayi-Pena, or the Grand Expositor, his approval is necessary even to the measures of the great viceroy himself, for no law can be promulgated without his sanction. Considering then the importance attached to the study of the Koran, and the benefit derived from a full knowledge of its spirit and contents, which constitute the basis of the law and government, many have been induced to adopt it as a profession. There are no less than forty thousand of these Ulema in Constantinople. These men are of very low origin, and are generally the sons of poor peasants. They come to Constantinople and enlist themselves as Softas, or students of divinity or law, which are synonymous terms, in one of the principal mosques, where they go through a regular course of study. They receive no salary, but are allowed one loaf of bread a day, and partake of such food as is gratuitously distributed to the poor from the Imarets, or charitable institutions, which are attached to all the principal mosques. When they are proficients in writing, they are allowed to copy the Koran in the original Arabic, which it has hitherto been considered sacrilege to print or translate. And by the sale of these copies they gain a livelihood. They are afterwards promoted either to the office of Imams, officiating priests, or to that of Kadis and Mollahs, district judges, or Muftis, or expounders of the law. The acme of their ambition is to become either Molla-Hunkiar, chaplain to his majesty, Kazy-ul-Asker chief justice, or Sheikh-ul-Islam, high pontiff of the realm. This latter personage is considered by the Mussulmans as an undoubted oracle in all instances.