From The Turkish Letters by Ogier Ghiselin
No distinction is attached to birth among the Turks; the deference to be paid to a man is measured by the
position he holds in the public service. There is no fighting for precedence; a man's place is marked out by
the duties he discharges. In making his appointments the Sultan pays no regard to any pretensions on
the score of wealth or rank, nor does he take into consideration recommendations or popularity, he
considers each case on its own merits, and examines carefully into the character, ability, and disposition of
the man whose promotion is in question. It is by merit that men rise in the service, a system which ensures
that posts should only be assigned to the competent. Each man in Turkey carries in his own hand his
ancestry and his position in life, which he may make or mar as he will. Those who receive the highest offices
from the Sultan are for the most part the sons of shepherds or herdsmen, and so far from being ashamed of
their parentage, they actually glory in it, and consider it a matter of boasting that they owe nothing to the
accident of birth; for they do not believe that high qualities are either natural or hereditary, nor do they think
that they can be handed down from father to son, but that they are partly the gift of God, and partly the
result of good training, great industry, and unwearied zeal; arguing that high qualities do not descend from a
father to his son or heir, any more than a talent for music, mathematics, or the like; and that the mind does
not derive its origin from the father, so that the son should necessarily be like the father in character, our
emanates from heaven, and is thence infused into the human body. Among the Turks, therefore, honours,
high posts, and judgeships are the rewards of great ability and good service. If a man be dishonest, or lazy,
or careless, he remains at the bottom of the ladder, an object of contempt; for such qualities there are no
honours in Turkey! Summarize it