Hafiz Pasha’s political relations are necessarily of a very restricted character, as he rules only the few Turks remaining in Servia; that is to say, a few thousands in Belgrade and Ushitza, a few hundreds in Shabatz Sokol and the island of Orsova.  He represents the suzerainety of the Porte over the Christian population, without having any thing to do with the details of administration.  His income, like that of other mushirs or pashas of three tails, is 8000l. per annum.  Hafiz Pasha, if not a successful general, was at all events a brave and honourable man, and his character for justice made him highly respected.  One of his predecessors, who was at Belgrade on my first visit there in 1839, was a man of another stamp,—­the notorious Youssouf Pasha, who sold Varna during the Russian war.  The re-employment of such an individual is a characteristic illustration of Eastern manners.

As my first stay at Belgrade extended to between two and three months, I saw a good deal of Hafiz Pasha, who has a great taste for geography, and seemed to be always studying at the maps.  He seemed to think that nothing would be so useful to Turkey as good roads, made to run from the principal ports of Asia Minor up to the depots of the interior, so as to connect Sivas, Tokat, Angora, Konieh, Kaiserieh, &c. with Samsoun, Tersoos, and other ports.  He wittily reversed the proverb “El rafyk som el taryk” (companionship makes secure roads) by saying, “el taryk som el rafyk” (good roads increase passenger traffic).

At the Bairam reception, the Pasha wore his great nishau of diamonds.  Prince Alexander wore a blue uniform with gold epaulettes, and an aigrette of brilliants in his fez.  His predecessor, Michael, on such occasions, wore a cocked hat, which used to give offence, as the fez is considered by the Turks indispensable to a recognition of the suzerainety of the Porte.

Being Bairam, I was induced to saunter into the Turkish quarter of the town, where all wore the handsome holyday dresses of the old fashion, being mostly of crimson cloth, edged with gold lace.  My cicerone, a Servian, pointed out those shops belonging to the sultan, still marked with the letter f, intended, I suppose, for mulk or imperial property.  We then turned to the left, and came into a singular looking street, composed of the ruins of ornamented houses in the imposing, but too elaborate style of architecture, which was in vogue in Vienna, during the life of Charles the Sixth, and which was a corruption of the style de Louis Quatorze.  These buildings were half-way up concealed from view by common old bazaar shops.  This was the “Lange Gasse,” or main street of the German town during the Austrian occupation of twenty-two years, from 1717 to 1739.  Most of these houses were built with great solidity, and many still have the stucco ornaments that distinguish this style.  The walls of the palace of Prince Eugene are still standing complete, but the court-yard is filled up with rubbish, at least six feet high, and what were formerly the rooms of the ground-floor have become almost cellars.  The edifice is called to this day, “Princeps Konak.”  This mixture of the coarse, but picturesque features of oriental life, with the dilapidated stateliness of palaces in the style of the full-bottom-wigged Vanbrughs of Austria, has the oddest effect imaginable.