After the conclusion of the Crimean War and the signing of the peace of Paris in 1856, the Ottoman Bank was formed through the efforts of English capitalists.
From this time forward he was a close student of the Turkish empire, and gained a wide knowledge of its people and rulers, as well as of its trade and financial condition.
Farley had been on intimate personal terms with Fuad and A'ali Pasha, but after their fall he severely condemned the misrule and oppression of their successors.
On the formation of the new principality of Bulgaria in 1880, he journeyed to Sofia in order to be present at the reception of the newly elected ruler, Prince Alexander I.
As some recognition of his literary services to the Ottoman Empire, he was appointed in March 1870 consul at Bristol for his imperial majesty the sultan, and this post he held until 1884.
Farley was a fellow of the Statistical Society of London, a corresponding member of the Institut Égyptien (founded by Napoleon I at Alexandria), and a privy councillor in the public works department of Bulgaria.