mi l 1 1 1 WHI.r-.l' l ■-/ y/U^Ol^y <^>^ <-/^ y o ^2- UCSB LIBRARY y THE TURKISH EMPIRE THE SULTANS, THE TERRITORY, AXD THE PEOPLE. NEW AND REVISED EDITION. L O X D O X : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY ; 56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Pacl's Churchyard; AND 164, Piccadilly. LONDON : TAKDON AND SON, PRINTER? PATERNOSTER ROW. CONTENTS. CM A?. VAOT. I. THE TURKS, SELJUKIAN AND OTTOMAN" ... 1 II. RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE .... 9 III. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE . . . .25 IV. MOHAMMED II. — CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE . o3 V. GENERAL EFFECT OF THE OTTOMAN CONQUESTS . 85 VI. GREATEST POWER AND EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE . 101 VIL REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE 133 VIII. FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE . . . 102 IX. MAHMOUD II. — ABDUL MEDJID I. ABDUL AZiZ I. . 192 X. THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. .... 235 XI. TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL VIEW OF THE EMPIRE 265 XII. POPULATI.^N AND PKODUCTS OF THE EMPIRE . . 291 EMIRS AXD SULTANS OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. EMIR3. A.H.* A.D. Othman i 688— 726 12S9— 132(5 Orchan 726— 761 1326—1359 Amurathi 761— 791 1359—1389 SULTAXS. Bajazeti 791— 804 1389— 14C2 Interregnum 60-4— 816 1402—1413 Mohammed 1 816— 824 1413-1421 Amnrathii 824—855 1421—1451 Mohammed n 855—886 1451—1481 Bajazet ii 886— 918 1481—1512 Selimi 918—926 1512—1520 Solimani 926- 974 1520-1565 SeUmii 974—882 1566—1574 Amurathiii 982—1003 1574—1595 Mohammed in 1003—1012 1595—1603 Achmet i. 1012—1026 1603—1617 Mustaphai 1026—1027 1617—1618 Othman ii 1027—1031 1618—1622 Mustapha I. (restored) 1031—1032 1622— 1G23 Amurathiv 1032-1049 1623—1640 Ibrahim 1 1049—1058 1640—1648 Mohammed IV 1058—1099 1648-1687 Solimanii 1099—1102 1687-1631 Achmet II 1102—1106 1691— 1C95 Mustapha II 1106—1115 1695—1703 Achmetiii 1115—1143 1703—1730 Mahmoudi 1143-1168 1730-1754 Othman III 11G8-1171 1754—1757 Mustapha III 1171—1187 1757—1773 AbdulHamidi 1187—1203 1773—1789 Selimiii 1203-1222 17S&-18C-7 Mustapha IV 1222—1223 1807-1808 Mahmoudii 1223—1256 1808-1839 Abdul Medjid ,„ 1256—1278 1839-18S1 AbdulAziz 1278-1293 1861- 187G Murad (Amurath) V 1293—1233 1876—1876 Abdul Hamid II 1293— 1876— •The year of the Hp?ira, or of the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Jledina, llsed by all Mohammaaans. Erawi.i-.'EagTiLwily^iw^Govcr SPAncrs oTreetBed Hi^ THE TUEKISH EMPIER CHAPTEK I. THE TURKS, SELJUKIAN AXD OTT0MA:r. Turkish or Tatar Tribes — Their common origin — Migration from Centraj Asia— Appearance in Persia — Conversion to Mohammedanism — Rise of the Seljukian empire — Alp Arslan — Malek Shah — Fall of the empire — Seljukian kingdom of Roum — Iconium — Ertogrul, father of Othman— Settlement in Asia Minor. The Ottoman or Osmaiili Turks are identical as a people with numerous and extensive tribes scattered over the plains and table-lands of Central and Western Asia, pastoral in their occupations, warhke in disposi- tion, predacious in habits, and nomadic in their mode of life. These tribes have particular local designations, as Turkomans, Iliyats, Kirghises, Usbecks, and Xogays, besides others derived from the names of the districts they occupy, or from those of celebrated chieftains. They are also popularly distinguished by the compre- hensive appellation of Tatars, and their ancestors appear to have been known to the ancients by the general denomination of Scythians. The national unity of these races is proclaimed by 'I THE TURKS, SELJUKIAN AND OTTOMAN. certain conformities of physiognomy, and by the preva- lence of a common spe^h. It is true that the Turks of Europe differ in physical characteristics from the more easterly populations, or from those situated in the interior of the Asiatic continent. The former closely correspond in their t}^e of countenance and bodily organization to the symmetric or Caucasian model, as exhibited by the great bulk of the European nations, while the latter display the inharmonious lineaments of the Mongolian or North Asiatic yariety. But the identity of the tribes, as belonging to the same parti- cular stock, is proved by historical evidence, as well as by the bond of language ; for the Turkish, \vith purely dialectical differences, is spoken by the hordes who have kept nearest to the geographical site, and retained most largely the nomadic habits of their forefathers. The external change referred to in the European Turks has been gradually produced by intermixture with the inhabitants of conquered countries, and by civilization and improved social circumstances. Instances of this effect — the substitution of a new type of conformation for the original one, owing to the causes mentioned — are not unusual in the history of nations, and confirm the Scripture account of the direct descent of the human race from the same parentage. Like most other nationahties, the Turkish tribes have a legendary history which goes back to remote anti- quity. They claim to be descended from an individual named Turk, a supposed grandson of Japheth, fancifully recognised by some as the Togarmah of the sacred annals, and the Targitaos of Herodotus. It is pro- bable that they once occupied the high plateau of central Asia, or the country extending from the frontier of China Proper to the Altai mountains and are THi: TURKS, SELJUKTAN AND OTTOMAN. 3 identical -with a powerful and celebrated people referred to in the Chinese annals, as having threatened that empire prior to the Christian era. But their authentic history commences at a more recent date, for it was not till the fifth or sixth century that Europe had anv knowledge of the name and nation of the Turks. This was obtained through the medium of the Byzantine or Greek-Roman empire. About that period, having mi- grated westward from the region mentioned, the barren table-lands of jNIongolia, they spread over the vast steppes now bearing the name of Turkestan, and ap- peared on the banks of the Oxus, some tempted by the acquisition of better pasture grounds, and others led by warlike khans intent on empire and on spoil. At a subsequent date, having established themselves in Persia, they came into contact with the Mohammedan powers. They gradually embraced Islamism, entered the service of the caliphs of Bagdad, and swelled their armies, till the degenerate Commanders of the Faithful were compelled to resign the temporal supremacy to the new converts, who affected to respect their spiritual authority. Saliir, the first chief of consequence who became a convert, called his tribe Turk-imarfs, or Turks of the faith, to distinguish them from their brethren who continued in heathenism, a name which has since been corrupted into Turkomans. The first Turkish tribe conspicuous in liistory, the Seljukians, settled in Khorasan under their leader Seljuk, from whom the name is derived. In that Persian province, an independent sovereignty was founded, with Xishapore for its capital, a place still in existence, but wholly unimportant. Three vigorous princes rapidly enlarged its bounds, Togml Beg, Alp Arslaii. and Malek Shah, who ralhed to their standard 4 THE TURKS, SELJUKIAN AND OTTOMAN. fresh swarms of hardy races from the north, and oiFered the rare example in an Asiatic dynasty ol* suc- cessively able rulers. The period of their reigns coincides with the Norman age of England. Their empire finally included the whole of Persia, Armenia, and Syria, the greater part of Asia ]\Iinor, with the country from the Oxus to beyond the Jaxartes, thus extending from the shores of the Mediterranean on the west, to the borders of China on the east. The second of these princes. Alp Arslan, the " vahant lion," who succeeded to the throne in 1063, captured the Greek emperor Romanus in battle ; but soon himself afforded an equally memorable example of the instabihty of human greatness. At the height of his power, a singu- larly successful career was terminated by the dagger of an enemy, through the over-confidence of the monarch in his own prowess, which led him to brave the danger. Though mortally wounded, he lived long enough to confess and bewail his self-exaltation, and ordered the impressive sentence to be inscribed upon his tomb at Merv, " O ye who have seen the glory of Alp Arslan exalted to the heavens, repair to Merv and you will behold it buried in the dust." The inscription has long since been effaced, the tomb has perished, and the city survives only in the dilapidation common to once- renowned oriental sites. But universal history remains an unobscured permanent memorial of the vanity of sublunary power, impressively representing its pos- sessors to be as vulnerable to the stroke of de-ath as the feeblest mortals, while equally subject to the sentence of the righteous Judge of all mankind. "V\Tiether re- cording the fate of haughty potentates, or of godless subjects, it strikingly teaches the folly of being capti- vated with the things of this life, which are sure to pass THE TURKS, SELJUKIAN AND OTTOMAN. 5 away, and neglecting the realities of another as certain to be abiding. The empire attained its greatest prosperity under the third ruler, Malek Shah. Agriculture was pro- moted, canals and water courses were constructed; mosques, colleges, and caravansaries were built ; learned men were patronised, and the computation of time was improved by an assembly of eastern astronomers, who closely approximated to the correctness of the subse- quent Gregorian reckoning. In reUgion, the Seljukian sovereigns surpassed the other Moslems of their age in fierce intolerance, and thereby inadvertently provoked the famous Crusades of the western nations. Upon wresting Jerusalem for a time from the dominion of the Egyptian cahphs, they visited with such hardships the resident and pilgrim Christians, that Europe armed for their dehverance from oppression. Upon the death of the last named sovereign, the unity of his vast dominions was dissolved, in conse- quence of several candidates claiming the throne. The empire then became di\'ided mto various principahties. One of these comprised a considerable portion of Asia Minor, forming the kingdom of Roum, or the Romans, so called from having been a principal part of the Greek- Roman empire, and lying immediately on its frontier. Nice became the capital, till the first Crusaders took possession of it, when the seat of government was re- moved to Iconium. This city, so often referred to in the apostohc history as a scene of the labours and suffer- ings of Paul and Barnabas, had its churches converted into mosques by a Seljukian sultan, and remained, for upwards of a century, the seat of an influential dynasty, which was actively engaged through the whole era of the Crusades in opposing the march of the western 6 THE TURKS, SELJUKIAN AND OTTOMAN. armies. At its close, the irruption of the Mongols under the successors of Genghis Khan, changed the entire political aspect of the East. These new comers from the teeming regions of central Asia, the most ferocious conquerors ever sent as a scourge to mankind, everywhere broke the power of the Seljukian Turks, and paved the way for the rise of their Ottoman suc- cessors in Asia Minor. To the latter event, a sultan of Iconium indirectly contributed. About the middle of the thirteenth century a tribe of Turks, not of the stock of Seljuk, driven forward by the Mongol invaders, left their camping grounds in Khorasan, and wandered into Armenia in search of un- disturbed pasturage. After seven years of exile, deem- ing the opportunity favourable to return, they set out to their ancient possessions. But, while fording the Euphrates, the horse of their leader fell -with him, and he perished in the river. A spot upon its banks now bears the name of the Tomb of the Turk. Upon this accident occurring, the tribe was di\Tded into four com- panies by his sons, and Ertogrul, the warlike head of one division, resolved to turn to the westward, and seek a settlement in Asia Minor. While pursuing his course he descried two armies in hostile array. Not willing to be a neutral spectator of the battle, he joined himself to the apparently weaker party, and his timely aid decided the factory. The conquered were an invading horde of Mongols: the conqueror was Aladdin, the Seljukian sultan of Iconium ; and Ertogrul received from the grateful victor an assignment of territory in his do- minions for himself and his people. It consisted of the rich plains around Shughut, in the valley of the San- garius, called the "country of pasture," and of the Black Mountains on the borders of Phrj-gia and THE TURKS, SELJUKI.IN AND OTTOMAN. 7 Bith}Tiia. The former district was for his winter abode; the latter for his summer encampment. In this domain, his son Othman or Osman was nurtured, who became the founder of a d\Tiasty and an empire. From him the Turks of the present day have the name of Ottoman or Osmanh, which they uniyersally adopt, rejecting that of Turk with disdain as synonymous with barbarian. Ertogrul visited the capital of his liege lord. The father recommended his son Othman to the prayers of a resident ^Moslem saint of high repute ; and Mullah Hunkiar gave his blessing to the youth. This indi- vidual, an author of eminence, founded the order of the Mevlevi Dervishes, one of the most venerated of the monastic fraternities in the Turkish empire. Iconium, now Koniah, contains his tomb and the most cele- brated monastery of the community. The modem town is still surrounded with its ancient wall, the Rork of the Seljukiau sultans, but now half in ruins, and on a small eminence within its circuit, the arched foundations of a superstructure indicate the site of the palace once inhabited by those monarchs. The history of Iconium thus brings before the mind varied and strongly contrasted events of which it was succes- sively the scene ; the splendid pageants of polytheism, the piety of primitive Christianity, the corruption of the truth in a subsequent age, the establishment of a false system of rehgion, the barbaric pomp of the Seljukian princes, and the chivalry of the crusading armies encamped upon its extended plain. It was pure Christianity' that supplanted heatherusm, and it was a false profession of the faith of Christ that gave way to Mohammedanism. A Christianity of supersti- tion and war, of violence and bloodshed could have no 8 THE TURKS, SELJUKIAN AND OTTOMAN. attraction, as it had no claim, to bring men back to the adoption of the Christian name. Such a -victory can be hoped for only by the hke hands and the same weapons -which won the first conquest of this eastern region. Faithful men, true sen-ants of the holy Sa^-iour, and the pure doctrines of the simple gospel of salvation by God's grace to all who beheve in the crucified and risen Redeemer — these, we have reason to expect, will one day, not only in this region but in every part of the Ottoman empire and the east, replace the faith of Mohammed and every other system of error. CHAPTER 11. EISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. Early career of Othman— His celebrated dream— The Michalogli— In- vasion of the Greek empire — Broussa the first Ottoman capital — Death and tomb of Othman — Reign of Orchan — First landing in Europe — Gallipoli — First vizier — Viziership of Aladdin — Appointment of Pashas — Rise of the Janissaries — Their organization — First European standing army— Its influence upon the Ottoman Government — Tomb of Orchan — The seven churches of Asia. Othman succeeded to the mountain and valley patri- mony of his father, and became head of the tribe. His name, which signifies "bone-breaker," however unpleas- ing to a rightly disciplined mind, sounded auspiciously to the ear of his rude followers, especially as it is an epithet of the royal vulture, the bird which the orientals have regarded from time immemorial as holding the do- mmion of the air. The shepherd, warrior, and free- booter were united in his character. During the life of the sultan of Iconium, Othman sustained much the same relation to him as that which formerly subsisted between the chief of a Scottish clan and the sovereign. He had an acknowledged liege lord to whom he was bound to render reasonable senice, but he was otherwise free to prey upon his neighbours, and govern his dependants. That government was chiefly of the patriarchal kind, and there might be no limits to his authority but those aris- ing from the danger of abusing it. In primitive states of society, however, where all bear arms and are nearly upon the same level, deference is paid to general opinion 10 RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. as expressed by hereditary usages which tal\e the place of formal laws. The " alper " of the tribe, or the strong and gallant men who distinguished themselves by valour in predatory expeditions, were viewed more in the hght of comrades to be consulted, than as vassals to obey in silence. Upon the death of the sultan, who left no sons to succeed him, the emirs divided his dominions hito petty states among themselves, and Othman became practically an independent prince, though he never assumed a royal title, or exercised the functions which are deemed by the easterns peculiarly distinctive of sovereignty. According to the native historians, a dream presaged to Othman his future greatness, or rather that of his race. This celebrated \^sion, with which every Turk is familiar from his childhood, may have had some founda- tion in fact, though considerable embellishment appears in the record of it. While reposing beneath the roof of a sheikh, (to whose daughter he was attached, and whom he afterwards married,) the slumberer fancied that he saw a tree sprouting from his o-wn person, which rapidly grew in size and foliage, till it covered with its branches the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Beneath this tree four enormous mountains raised their snowy summits, Caucasus, Atlas, Taurus, and Hsemus, apparently supporting like four columns the vast leafy tent. From the sides of these mountains issued four rivers, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Danube, and the Nile. An immense number of vessels sailed on the streams, and almost hid their waters. Yellow har- vests covered the plains through which they meandered ; waA'ing woods crowned the hills, and countless rivulets wandered through groves and gardens. Through the vistas of the valleys were seen cities adorned ^\ith domes, RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 11 cupolas, towers, minarets, and columns. The crescent gleamed on eveiy spire, and from every minaret was heard the voice of the muezzin announcing the hour of prayer. The sound mingled with the notes of thousands of nightingales and other singing birds, producing deli- cious music. Suddenly the branches and leaves of the tree assumed a glittering, sabre-like aspect ; and, moved by the breeze, they turned towards Constantinople. That capital, placed at the junction of two seas and two conti- nents, seemed Hke a noble diamond set iu a ring between two sapphires and emeralds. Othman was about to cele- brate his nuptials vrith the Byzantine city, the capital of the world, by placing the ring upon his finger— when he awoke. But naturally bold, active, and enterprising, Othm.an needed not the stimulus of an exciting dream to become ambitious of conquest. His position was eminently favourable to success in seeking aggrandizement by an extension of territory. He was. seated on the verge of the decaying Greek empire to the west, and in the van of disturbed eastern populations, ready to enhst under a \-igorous leader. From multitudes m the rear he could replenish his forces as often as occasion required, while in front lay a realm distracted by dissensions, and en- feebled by luxury, with a government so neghgent and incapable as to leave the passes of Olympus on the frontier open to any invader. His designs in the latter direction were promoted by a young Greek noble, Kuse Michal, who had renounced his religion for Islamism, in order to secure Othman' s friendship, and doubtless sup- plied him with valuable information respecting the tactics and discipline of his countrymen. From this renegade descended the family of Michalogli, "the sons of Michal," so conspicuous in Turkish history for several 12 RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. generations as the hereditary commanders of the Hght horse. One of this name appeared at its head, and scoured the plains of Germany as far as Ratisbon at the time of the first siege of Vienna. Thus encouraged, Othman entered the Greek territory, and began the in- vasion of Nicomedia, July 27, 1299. 1299. July 27. Ytoto. this era his reign is dated, and it Invasion of ^^ -^^ regarded as the commencinar Piicomedia by *^ . ^ Othman. cpoch of the Ottoman power. Edward I. then sat upon the throne of England ; Philip the Fair upon that of France ; and Andronicus Palaeologus the elder occupied that of Constantinople. The reign of Othman extended over Reign of 0th- morc than a quarter of a century, from rn^an. a.d. 1299- ^^ ^^gg ^^ ^^^q^ j^ ^^ marked, not by rapid conquests, but by gradual en- croachments upon the imperial dominions. Desultory inroads were repeated year after year; strongholds were estabhshed in the most defensible places as acquisitions were made, while Tolunteers and captives recruited the ranks of the invading chief. He finally extended his authority over a considerable district in the north and west of Asia Minor, comprehending great part of the ancient provinces of Phrygia, Galatia, and Bithynia ; and, upon the capture of Prusa, it be- came his residence and the seat of government. This city, now called Broussa, renowned for its thermal waters and splendid situation, was the first capital of the Ottomans. It occupies a plain sparkhng with streams, gay with flowers, and diversified with meadows, gardens, and mulberry woods, the whole surrounded by a framework of mountains, among which the noble head of Olympus is conspicuous from afar, silvered with snow through the greater part of the year. The site RISE OF TRE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. Ij is eminent for interesting historical associations as well as natural beauty. Here, at a remote period, the kings of Bithynia kept their court, one of whom gave an asylum to the illustrious Hannibal in his misfortunes, who probably ended liis days in the locahty. Here Pliny noted the early progress of Christianity, and illustrated the piety of the primitive believers. Here, likewise, as the judgment of Providence upon their un- faithful successors, the founder of the Ottoman dynasty was permitted to estabhsh Mohammedan mstitutions ; and at Broussa, imder the protection of his present descendant, the celebrated Arab emir Abd-el-Kader had recently his assigned abode. The earthquake of 1855 reduced the city to a ruin. Though Othman became a city-dweller, he did not renounce the simplicity of pastoral manners and the hardy habits of his ancestors. This is evident from the property he left behuid him. It included no treasures of gold or silver, no insignia of pomp, but consisted of a spoon, a salt-cellar, an embroidered coat, a new turban, several red standards, a stud of fleet horses, some herds of cattle, and flocks of excellent sheep. He died at Broussa, and was interred in the mosque called the silver dome, formerly a Byzantine church, and the ancient cathedral of the castle. Down to the first year of the present century his rosary was preserved there, as well as the great drum which he received from the sultan of Iconium when invested \rith command. These curious rehcs were destroyed at that period by a fire which desolated a great part of the city ; it ravaged the mosque and the castle ; the silver dome fell in, and covered the tomb with a heap of rubbish. This event, happening at the beginning of a century, was popularly regarded by the Turks as ominous of the speedy over- B 14 RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. tlirow of the empire, and contributed more than the disheartening pohtical appearances of the time to shake the courage of the people. The double- pointed sword of Othman, with some of his standards, are yet in existence ; and, what is still more curious, his descendants, down to the reigning sultan, have pos- sessed flocks of sheep pasturing on the hills about Broussa, derived without mixture from the stock of their ancestor. Orchan, his son and successor, in Orchan, a.d. ^.d. 1326, extended the bounds of the 1326—1359. infant state with extraordinary rapidity. He took Nice, once the residence of the Greek emperors, and the seat of two great ecclesiastical councils, overran the remainder of Bithynia, -vvith great part of Mysia, and not only advanced his forces to the waters of the Hellespont and Bosphorus, but crossed the straits on desultory expeditions, being the first Turkish potentate that ever set foot on the soil of Europe. The emperor John Cantacuzenus gave him his daughter in marriage by way of conciliation, but this feeble and unhallowed expedient was fruitless, for, very soon after the alliance, the dreaded invaders took permanent possession of a European site. This im- portant event occurred in the year 1354, under charac- teristic and interesting circumstances. Soliman, the eldest son of Orchan, having been ap- pointed governor of the newly-acquired province of Mysia, visited the spot on the shore where the ancient populous and wealthy city of Cyzicus had flourished. Its broken columns and marble edifices, scattered over the turf, filled him with awe and admiration. He fancied them the remains of wondrous palaces built by the genii, similar to those of which he had heard at RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 15 Persepolis, Palmyra, and Baalbec. The Turk loved to wander on the beach, lost in reverie, amidst the remains of the Tyre of the Propontis. One evening, as he sat wrapped in contemplation, he beheld the pillars and porticoes of the ruined temples of Jupiter, Proserpine, and Cvbele reflected by the light of the moon in the tranquil waters of the Sea of IMarmora, while a few fleecy vapours hung over the waves. It seemed to him as if the restored city were emerging from the deep in its former beauty, girdled with the white sails of its ancient fleet. The whispering winds and murmuring waves broke upon his ear as mysterious voices from imdsible beings, while the moon seemed to unite with her beams the opposite shores of Europe and Asia. The prince recollected the dream of his grandsire. Its memory combining with the visions of imagination and the suggestions of ambition in his mind, he imme- diately formed the resolution to have both sides of the strait blended in his o^vn inheritance. With a chosen band of forty, he crossed the channel the following night on a raft hastily constructed for the occasion, and seized the castle of Tz}Tnpe, now Chini, near Galhpoli. A rocky strand or mole in the narrowest part pre- serves the name of Gaziler Iskelssi, or the Victor's Harbour, in memory of the landing of the first Ottoman invaders ; and at a httle distance a hill cro\Mied with a scanty ruin is said to be the spot where Soliman first planted his standard on the Thracian shore. The very elements of nature seemed at this juncture to war against the Greeks. Violent earthquakes shook the walls of the towns, and the terrified inhabitants flying to the fields left their strongholds an easy prey to the enemy. Gallipoli itself, the Callipolis of ancient {geography, and the key of the Hellespont, soon after- 16 RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. wards fell. This was an important post to the Otto- mans previously to the capture of Constantinople. The possession of it kept open the communication between Asia and Europe, though the besotted Greek emperor, upon hearing of its loss, simply remarked that he had merely been deprived of a cellar for wine and a sty for hogs, alluding to the magazines established there by Justinian. Bajazet i., more sensible of its value, forti- fied the spot, and made it a port for his galleys. By these means he commanded the passage between the two continents, and could intercept the succours which the western nations might send to Constantinople. An old tower or castle of his erection remains in the wretched modern towTi. Durmg the late war in the east with Russia, the British and French troops first encamped upon Turkish soil at Galhpoli. Though content with the modest title of emir, Orchan foiTTially assumed the prerogatives of royalty. Money was coined bearing his inscription, and the public prayers on Friday in the mosques were said in his name. These two acts are considered by the Mohammedans as specially sovereign attributes. This reign is pecuharly important, for in it many political and mihtary institu- tions originated which have been the ground-work of the Ottoman constitution to the present day. Intent himself upon conquest, Orchan consigned the important task of administering the government to his brother Aladdin, who was the first vizier or "burden-bearer'* in the history of the nation. But he differed essentially from those who succeeded him in this capacity, sharing the cares of state by right of hneage; while future viziers, though possessed of undivided power, were at the same time slaves depending on the no.d of a despotic master. Upon the death of Aladdin, priace Soliman risp: of the ottoman empire. 17 held the office, and was the last member of the royal family appointed to it. Upon his decease, the post remained vacant for ten years, when it was given to Kara ChaUl Chendereli, high judge of the army ; since which time it has never been discontinued. In his family it remained for four generations, till immediately after the taking of Constantinople, when Chalil Pasha, the grand vizier, was executed by order of the sultan, who suspected him of a secret understanding with the Greeks. This is the first instance in the Ottoman history of the capital punishment of a prime minister ; and the bloody example has been since repeated one- and-twenty times. The hereditary title to the high office was then extinguished, and Greeks and Albanians have since held it as commonly as Turks. TVTiile Aladdin was vizier, he divided the dominions of his brother into distinct provinces, to each of which a go- vernor was appointed with the title of pasha. This term, derived from the Persian "pai-shah," or "the foot of the shah," is a title of great antiquity in the east. Xenophon states that the ministers of the Persian king were called his hands, feet, eyes, or ears, according to the nature of their respective offices. The provincial go- vernors, who were also commanders-m-chief of the troops in their pro\'ince, were hence called pashas, as the chief support, "the feet" of the sovereign. The distinctive official s}Tnbol of a pasha is a horse's tail ; and one, two, or three tails express the relative amount of dignity and power -with which the individual is invested, triple tails denoting the highest rank. Respecting the origin of this ensign, we are told that one of the sultans, ha^dng lost his standard in battle, immediately, with his scimitar, cut off the tail of the horse on which he was riding, mounted it on a pole, and announced to his troops that 5 8 RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. it was to be from henceforth the ensign of the nation, around which they were to rally to havoc and to Tictory. To secure the power of his brother, iVladdin addressed himself to the establishment of a permanent military force. He first instituted a corps of infantry called jajay or footmen receiving pay, and marshalled in tens, hundreds, and thousands, with a regular gradation of officers. A number of these troops had also grants of land assigned to them, on condition of clearing the roads in campaigns. They were the first regularly formed body oi pioneers, and both the class and the name have been borrowed by the European armies from the Ottoman. But not haA-ing yet forgotten the equality of pastoral life, the soldiers proved intractable, and could not be brought to submit to the strict discipline involved in military organization. To obviate this difficulty, the ex- pedient was resorted to of rearing up in the doctrines of Islam the children of the conquered Christians, inuring them from early youth to the profession of arms, and forming them into a separate corps. This " black in- vention," as Von Hammer truly characterizes it, was adopted by Aladdin at the instance of Kara (the black) Chalil Chendereli, the judge of the army, and, he adds, has " a diabohcal complexion, much blacker than the gimpowder almost contemporaneously discovered by Schwartz (black) in Europe." Hence arose the Janissaries, a name which the wes- terns have corrupted from the Turkish Jeni-cheri, signify- ing the "new troops." They received the title, and the distinguishing form of their caps, from a dervish, Hadgi Begtash, who formally blessed them, and gave them an assurance of victory. " May their countenances," said he, " be evf r bright, their hands victorious, their swords keen. May their spears always hang over the heads of RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 19 their enemies ; and, wheresoever they go, may they return with a white face." This was a proverbial ex- pression for triumphant success. The dervish, as he uttered these words, stood in front of the ranks, and drew the sleeve of his red gown over the head of the foremost soldier. Hence, instead of a turban, a red cloth cap, the back of which was formed hke a sleeve, and hung down behind, was adopted as a distinguishing costume in memory of the incident. The wants of these soldiers were liberally supplied. Of this they were reminded by the names of their officers, and other contrivances. The head of a regiment, or colonel, was called the tshorbadgi, or " soup-maker ;" the officers next in rank were "chief cooks" and "water drawers;" the common soldiers carried a wooden "spoon" in front of their caps instead of a tuft or feather; and a "kettle" or "caldron" was the standard and rallying point of every division. These remarkable forms remahied unchanged to the last ; and as institu- tions referring to the cravings of appetite, the passion to be appealed to, they curiously illustrate the condition of the people among whom they originated. ]Many a time has the clang of the kettles in the streets of Constanti- nople been the signal of an insurrection of the Janissaries, while leaving the spoon untouched in their caps for a day has proclaimed their loss of appetite for everything but the death of a vizier, or the deposition of a sultan. The corps continued to be recruited by the children of captives taken in war, or by those of Christian sub- jects, an inhuman tax of every fifth child, or of one child every fifth year, being rigorously le\-ied upon the families. The number of the Janissaries, originally one thousand, was successively raised to twelve, to twenty, and to forty thousand, immediately connected with the court, besides 20 RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. a much larger number scattered through the proTinces. Plence it has been estimated that not less than half a million Christian children were cruelly torn from their parents, compelled to embrace Islamism, and trained to maintain it with the sword. At length, in the reign of Mohammed iv., the custom began of admitting into the regiments the children of the soldiers themselves ; and, after this innovation, the Janissaries became a kind of military caste, transmitting from father to son the pro- fession of arms. The creation of this martial hierarchy took place in the year 1330. It supphes an instance of a standing army, a full century before that of Charles VII. in France, which is the first example recorded in European history. Besides regulating the infantry, Aladdin organized the first spahis, or horsemen, who received gifts of land, became the most distinguished cavalry regiments, and were long the terror of Europe as well as of Asia. In the days of their pristine vigour, the new troops were distinguished by their fanaticism and valour. Through upwards of three centuries, marked by a long series of great battles, they sustained only four signal reverses, chiefly from Tamerlane, in 1402, and John Huniades, the Hungarian general, in 1442. But during that period they extended the petty kingdom of Broussa over the vast dominions of Constantine the Great, and made knowai their prowess from the walls of Bagdad to the gates of Vienna, and from the Caspian Sea to the Nile, while their name was the common terror of Chris- tendom. The European armies, as then constituted, could not compete with the well-disciplined bands of a standing force. They were composed mainly of serfs called out for the occasion, and of nobility or men-at- arms in a comparatively small proportion. The serfs RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 21 were an ill-armed multitude without regular training, combating on foot, while the noble or knightly warriors and their immediate attendants were incapable of sus- tained active sers"ice in the field, being encumbered with the defensive armour which fashion and the tournaments had extravagantly increased. Hence the shocks of battle between the Ottomans and the European powers almost always terminated to the advantage of the for- mer, till the latter substituted a trained standing force for motley feudal levies and hii-eling bands of adven- turers. The rise of the Janissaries had a m.ost important effect upon the character of the Ottoman government. It altered gradually and completely that relation be- tween the prince and people which had marked their primitive pastoral condition. Despotic rule took the place of the patriarchal. The new troops being an ahen race, bound by no ties of common origin to the Turks, and no sympathies of kindred, enabled the rulers to emancipate themselves from every species of control, and become independent of their native subjects. They were thus the instruments of domestic despotism as well as the means of foreign conquest. Victory and arbitrary sway marched hand in hand under theii banner. But as their prowess failed abroad owing to the advance of the European nations, while their tur bulence increased at home, they became formidable to their masters, and rendered them dependent upon them- selves. The Janissaries finally acted at Constantinople the part of the Pretorian guards at Rome, deposing from the throne, and raising to it ; till, unable other\\ise to restrain their audacity, a monarch more vigorous and unscrupulous than his predecessors had the entire order extirpated by the sword. TZ RISE OF THE OTTOMAN' EMPIRE. Orchan died iii a.d. 1359, at a far-advanced age, overwhelmed with grief for the loss of his eldest son Soliman, who was killed by a fall from his horse while folio-wing the sports of the field. His remains were interred at Broussa, along -with those of the prince, and of several members of his family, in a wing of the same building which contains the tomb of his father Othman. !Miss Pardoe, a visitor to the mausoleum, describes it as ha%-ing been apparently a private chapel when the edifice was a Christian church. Originally, rich marbles entirely lined the walls, which were partially destroyed by the fire before referred to, and have been replaced by paint and stucco. The royal tombs " occupy the centre of the floor, the fine mosaic pavement of which has been covered throughout the whole space thus appropriated with a mass of coarse plaister, raised about a foot from the floor, and supporting the sar- cophagi. That of the sultan himself is overlaid with a costly cashmire shawl, above which are spread two richly embroidered handkerchiefs in crimson and green worked with gold ; while the turban at its head is decorated with a third, wrought in beautiful arabesques, and by far the most splendid thing of the kind that 1 ever saw. On t»he left-hand side of the imperial sarcophagus hangs a small wooden case, shaped like a bird-cage, and covered with green silk, containing the sultan's beard, the precious relic oi five centuries." The Asiatic conquests of the second emir of the Ottomans and other contemporary Turkish chieftains consummated the foretold fate of the seven churches of Asia, or brought it to their thresholds. Strikingly have the announcements of the Apocal}^se been accomplished. To Ephesus, destitute of religious RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 23 ardour, and fallen from her first love, the extmction of the light and influence of Christianity was threatened, and the total subversion of both church and city fol- lowed as the consequence of impenitence. The " can- dlestick " has been removed from the station where it was planted by apostles. The traveller looks down upon the site, from the neighbouring heights, and beholds a scene of solitude and desolation. Silence reigns upon the plain, except when occasionally inter- rupted by the sea-bird's cr}', the barking of Turkoman dogs, or the tones of the muezzin from the ruined towers of Aiasaluk; and the remains of churches, temples, and palaces are now buried beneath the accu- mulated sands of the Cayster. The Sardians and Laodiceans were found degenerate and lukewarm, and to a similar doom they were to be subject. A few mud huts in Sart represent the splendour of the ancient capital, while the nodding ruins of its acropolis, with the colossal tumuli of the Lydian kings, impressively teach the vanity of human glory. But at Laodicea the scene is far more cheerless. No human being resides among its ruins. The abandonment threatened has overtaken it ; and neither Christ nor Mohammed has either temple or follower upon its site. The lot of Pergamos and Thyatira has not been so severe ; but apostasy there triumphed over evangelical truth, and they were brought to groan beneath the oppressive mastery of barbarian lords. The fortunes of Smyrna and Philadelphia have remarkably corresponded to the inspired announcements. Times of "tribulation " and temptation came to both from Pagan emperors and Mohammedan conquerors ; and according to the inti- mation, not\Nithstanding the devastations of war, earth- quakes, and persecutions, both have survived with a 24 RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. remnant naming the name of Christ. "Such is the state," says Newton, "of these once glorious and flou- rishing churches ; and there cannot be a stronger proof of the truth of prophecy, nor a more effectual warning to other ('hru^tians.' CHAPTER III. ESTABLISHML^'T OF TUE EMPIEE. Condition of the Greek empire — Eastern and Western Christendom — Capture of Adrianople — Emperor John Palaeologus i. — Victories of Amurath i.— Bajazet, the first sultan— Fratricide— Battle of Nicopolis — The emperor Manuel's visit to Eagland — Tamerlane — Captivity of Bajazet— Interregnum — Mohammed i. — Amurath ii. — Capture of Sa- loniki — Emperor John Palaeologus ii. — The Greek and Latin churches — Projected union — Council of Florence — Hungarian war — Character of Huniades — Abdication of Amurath — Cardinal Julian — Battle of Varna — Battle of Kossova— Scanderbeg — Death of Amurath — Christianity and Mohammedanism. The state of Europe, when the Ottomans effected their first settlement upon its soil, and contemplated estab- lishing their dommion within its borders, was eminently favourable to views of conquest. The eastern di^-ision of the Roman empire, of which Constantinople was the capital, commonly called the Greek or Byzantine empire after the fall of the western branch, had become, as a political fabric, incurably weakened, its foundations being undermined, and the coherence of the super- structure ruined. ^Miile feeble or indolent emperors resigned themselves to the pleasures and empty formal- ities of the court, insolent and venal courtiers, entrusted with arbitrary power, so corruptly administered the govenmient, enriching themselves by fiscal oppression, and prostituting justice for gain, that all respect for the imperial throne had long been extinguished in the popular mind beyond the walls of the metropolis. In 2t) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE, consequence of the great moral tie, which had once attached the inhabitants of the provinces to the central authority, being thus broken, those provincials who possessed a distinct national character, such as the Wallachians, Bulgarians, Sclavonians, and Albanians, practically sepi^fated their interests from the Greek gOTemment, and either openly asserted their independ- ence, or viewed the fortunes of the predominant race with complete indifference. This internal estrangement and disunion, the best ally of a foreign foe, prepared the way for the subversion of the empire ; for, though the populations gathered to many a bloody field to resist the Ottoman invaders, they did not struggle to prop up the tottering throne of a liege lord, but simply to preserve their own freedom. Yet, being without the controlHng bond of a supreme authority, combination was difficult among distinct nationalities to repel the assailants ; while the operations of the latter were greatly facilitated by the practical severance of those who were assailed from their allegiance to a common head. If the court of eastern Christendom appealed to the world of nominal Christianity westward for aid against the advancing Mohammedans, the prospect of obtaining it was sufficiently cheerless. Since the middle of the eleventh centur}^, on the ground of some doctrinal and ritual differences, the Greek emperors, clergy, and people had abjured the authority of the Vatican, and constituted an independent hierarchy, with the patriarch of Constantinople for its head. Hence, while schism- atical towards Rome, their political misfortunes would be viewed with an unpitpng eye by the ecclesiastics of the west, so long as similar reverses did not menace themselves. Nor would western temporal sovereigns ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 27 care to oftend their ovm. spiritual chief, by rallying to the help of a crowned brother in the east, who acknow- ledged the supremacy of a rival. To remove this diffi- culty, overtures were repeatedly made by the Greeks for an arrangement of differences, with a view to the union of the two churches. Emperors and high ecclesiastics passed from Constantinople to Italy to urge this project, but had to endure the humiliation of making insincere concessions to serve a purpose which, after all, was not promoted by them. Western Christendom was too much distracted by its own rival popes, and with the open wars and hollow truces of its states, to interpose effectively on behalf of eastern by any general com- bination. Though military adventurers from Germany, France, and Italy, devoted their swords to its service, such auxiharies were too few in number to turn the tide of battle, while they not unfrequently provoked defeat by presumptuous confidence. The circumstances of Europe were thus auspicious to the conquest of its eastern peninsula by the Ottomans. Their third chief, Amu rath i., through a reign of thirty years, from a.d. 1359 Amurath i. to 1389, ^agorously prosecuted this de- a.d. 1359— i3S9. sign, at the same time attacking the petty Seljukian states of Asia Minor. Though not successful to the full extent of his wishes, he compelled his Asiatic neighbours to take the oath of vassalage, cooped up the Greek emperor within veiy narrow bounds, and paved the way for the speedy subversion of the imperial throne. Advancing from the Hellespont, he captured Adrianople in 1361, and made it his resi- dence. This city, founded by the Roman emperor Hadrian, whose name it bears, became the first Euro- pean capital of the conquerors, a distinction which it 28 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. retained for nearly a century. Even after the fall of Constantinople, several of the sultans made Adrianople the seat of government, as Mohammed iv., Mustapha II., and Achmet iii., a preference which so exasperated the Janissaries, that it was one considerable motive to the rebellions which led tx> their deposition. The mosque of sultan Seiim, with its thousand windows, towering minarets, and spiral staircases, one of the largest and most beautiful edifices of Mohammedanism, is now the pride of Adrianople, and proclaims the par- tiality of its founder to the spot. The proximity of the enemy to his capital alarmed the emperor John Palaeologus i., who repaired in haste to Italy to obtain assistance, and was the first of the Greek princes to visit the western nations. He ab- jectly renounced the tenets considered heterodox at Rome, tendered his submission to Urban v., kissed the feet of the pontiff in St. Peter's, and led his mule by the bridle in the streets. But hj-pocritical servility was properly rewarded by the failure of the application and some consequent embarrassment. Promises were made, but arms, men, and money were not forthcoming ; and, having contracted debts on his passage through Venice, the emperor, on his return, was detained by remorseless creditors, till security was given for their payment. At the time of this imperial pilgrimage, there was an English rover named John Hawkwood, who, with a number of h"s countr^Tnen, had entered Italy upon the termination of the wars of Edward iii. in France, and became a kind of Robin Hood in the Apennines. Though excommunicated for shooting his arrows indis- criminately at clergy and laity, a papal Hcense autho- rized the emperor to treat with the outlaw in order to engage the services of his band. But the negotiation ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EIMPIRE. 29 did not prosper, and John Paloeologus returned to Con- stantinople, poorer in purse and more depressed in spirit than he left it. Threatened by the northerly irruption of the Otto- mans, the nations on the banks of the Danube, com- prising the Servians, Bosnians, Hungarians, and Walla- chians, formed a league to preserve their independence, act upon the offensive, recover Adrianople, and drive back the advancing enemy. But soon after crossing the Balkan, their combined forces were totally defeated by Amurath in 13G3, hi the first battle between the powers of Europe and the invaders. King Louis, of Hungary, having narrowly escaped capture, founded the abbey of ]\Iarienzell, in the Styrian Alps, to com- memorate his dehverance. This is still a celebrated place of pilgrimage. The victors rapidly overran a con- siderable extent of country on both sides of the moun- tains, which was inhabited by hardy, pastoral, and uncultivated races, hitherto subject to the Greek government. The allies, having recovered from their defeat, ventured upon another struggle, but were again routed on the field of Ousels, near Kossova, in the southern corner of Servia. The vassalage of that prin- cipality was the consequence of this victory. It tenni- nated also the career of the conqueror. "While receiving in his tent the homage of his prmcipal captives, one of them, after prostrating himself, suddenly drew a dagger concealed under his clothes, and stabbed Amurath, inflicting a mortal wound. The act was not more atrocious than unprofitable and calamitous to the van- quished. The wounded Amurath immediately ordered the prince of Serv-ia, who was in the list of prisoners, to be beheaded in his presence, and then expired upon the throne. The remains of the third ruler of the Ottomans, c 30 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ExMPIRE. and the first v,'ho died upon the soil of Enrope, rest m an Asiatic grave at a village in the neighbourhood of Broussa, where he had caused his own mausoleum to be prepared. The edifice, a beautifully proportioned domed structure, is still in good preservation, with the funeral arrangements just as they were nearly five centuries ago. The next sovereign, Bajazet i., who Bajazet i. icigued from A.D. 1389 to 1402, ex- A.D, 1389—1402. changed the title of emir, borne by his predecessors, for that of sultan, -udiich has ever since been part of the style royal of the house of Othman. He was the first also to set the example of fratricide in the royal family, causing his only brother to be put to death, "remembering," says the Turkish historian, "the text of the Koran, that disturbance is worse than execution." This horrible act, prompted by personal depravity and state expediency, has been often repeated in the history of the Ottoman court; and the same atrocity was common in the reigning families of the eastern world in ancient times. Under parallel circumstances, a mournful similarity attends the manifestations of human depravity in diiferent ages. The ungodly kings of Israel and Samaria destroyed the seed royal to secure themselves against competitors. Queen Athaliah did the same. But a prince escaped her ferocity, being hid in a chamber by his nurse, and the royal line was preserved from extinction. So in recent Turkish history, the father of the sultan, when doomed to die by a cruel brother, was hid from the fury of his agents by faithful attendants, and came forth in an hour of successful revolution from a covering of mats and carpets, to mount the throne of liis ancestors as the only remaining representative of tbs ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 31 line of Othman. The cmlized nations of the present day are not indebted to mere intellectual cultivation for enlightened observance of the obligations of moral duty and natural affection, but to the fact that their civiliza- tion has advanced under the control and guidance of the direct and indirect influence of Christian truth. It is this which strengthens and purifies the feeling of domestic love, while it expands the principle of brotherly kind- ness, and brings universal humanity withm the range of its manifestation. Bajazet, fierce and proud, warhke and talented, acquired the surname of Ilderim, or the " Lightning," owing to his energetic character and martial impetu- osity. During a brief reign of thirteen years, he was incessantly in motion at the head of his armies, pushing his way either from Broussa eastward to the Euphrates, or from Adrianople northward to the Danube. Sigis- mund of Hungary, aided by a body of French and German knightly auxiliaries, endeavoured to cope with the fiery Turk, but was defeated \dih terrible loss in the battle of Nicopolis in 1396. The greater part of his army, one hundred thousand strong, perished by the sword or in the waters of the Danube. The king escaped by flight, closely pursued by the victors, who now, at this period, made their first appearance in the south-eastern provinces of Germany. Ten thousand prisoners Mere put to death by order of the conqueror on the field, as an act of reprisal for the massacre of two thousand Turkish captives by the nominally Chris- tian host a few days before its overthrow. The nobles and knights taken were sent to Gallipoli and Broussa, to be reserved for ransom by their respective sovereigns and friends. Among these were the young count of Nevers, Bon of the duke of Burgundy, four princes, his cousins. 32 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. the sire do Coiircy, De la Tremoiiille, and the marshal Boucicault, who was afterwards slain in the fight of Agincourt. Compelled by the victorious sultan to pay a hea\-y tribute for permission to occupy a throne, and appre- hending the loss even of that degrading license, the Greek emperor Manuel imitated the example of his pre- decessors, and visited in person the western nations, to excite SATnpathy and obtain protection. After a tour in Italy, he repaired to France, and then crossed over to England, landing at Dover. It was in the month of December, 1400, that the yeomen of Kent beheld for the first time an imperial Greek. At Canterbury he was lodged in the monastery of St. Augustine, and conducted to the shrine of Thomas a Becket, famous for its wealth and relics. On Blackheath the rei2;nin2; soverei2:n, Henry iv., who had just usurped the throne, met the illustrious stranger, and hospitably entertained him in the capital. Our own historian Walsingham slightly notices this visit, and Chalcondyles, a Byzantine writer, has recorded some of the observations made by his tra- velling countrymen relative to the island. "Britain," says he, " is full of to^^^ls and villages. It has no vines, and but little fruit, but it abounds in corn, honey, and wool, from which the natives make great quantities of cloth. London, the capital, mav be preferred to every city of the west, for populatiou, opulence, and luxury. It is seated on the river Thames, which, by the advan- tage of the tide, daily receives and despatches trading vessels from and to various countries." With the exception of being treated ^^■ith respect, gra- tifying his o^^-n curiosity, and exciting that of others, the emperor's journey was unprofitable. But he had not long returned to Constantinople before his fears were ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 33 effectually relieved from an unexpected quarter — from the east instead of the west, and from the realm of Mo- hammedanism, not of Christendom. Bajazet, elated by his successes, contemplated a cam- paign in the heart of Europe, and boasted that he would one day feed his horse at Rome with a bushel of oats on the altar of St. Peter's. But he had reached the term of his greatness, and was destined to succumb to a con- queror more powerful and savage than himself. This was the famous Timour-leuk, or lame Timour, a name which the westerns have corrupted into Tamerlane. From being the chief of a nomadic horde of Mongols, he rose to the mastery of an empire extending from the AYall of China to the shores of the Mediterranean, of which Samarcand became the capital. His lineage from Genghis Khan is more than doubtful, but the emperors of Delhi, or the Great Moguls, descended from him. Aiming at the reduction of Asia INIinor to his sway, the rapacious potentate came into collision with Bajazet, who confi- dently courted an encounter with him on the plains of Angora. The sultan behaved with his usual intrepidity. But his troops are said to have faltered at a critical moment, through treachery or cowardice, and he lost the battle. Being ill at the time, he was unable to effect his escape, though put upon one of the fleetest horses in the field. The fate of the captured sovereign is variously reported. The tradition of his being confined in an iron cage, and barbarously exhibited by his captor, is now rejected as an idle legend. He would seem to have ex- perienced no unnecessaiy hardships, and to have died in the first year of his captivity, a.d. 1403, from natural causes, aggravated by his inability to brook a reverse of fortune so signal and complete. Utterly comfortless does the world leave its devotees in the hour of adver- 34 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. sity, or when death threatens, and eternity is at hand. Slavery to it is the sure precursor of eventual anguish, as much in the case of a potentate as of a subject. Happy is he who anticipates that time when the mind will be impressed with an irrefutable consciousness of the vanity of earth, and at once directs all the energies of his being to the attainment of that which alone will sustain him in peace amidst privation or the last extremity itself, namely, the saving knowledge and acceptance of eternal life in God through faith in Christ, according to his gracious declaration, " This is hfe eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."* Both the conqueror and his captive had a measure of personal deformity. In an interview between them, Bajazet, fancying himself an object of derision, remarked, " Do not laugh, Tamerlane, at my misfortune ; for God, not you, has subdued me ; and he is able to undo to- morrow what he has done to-day, and reverse our situa- tions." Tamerlane immediately assumed a serious air, and answered, " I laughed not v^-ith a design to exult over you, but from a sudden impression that thrones and kingdoms must be held in low estimation in heaven, since one crown has been bestowed upon such a blink- eyed man as you, and another on such a crippled man as myself." The incident is in harmony with inspired truth, " The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." He who commands in the army of heaven niles also in the kingdom of men, " and giveth it to whomsoever he will." " The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich, he bringeth low, and lifteth up." Nor are inequalities unnecessarily created among the members of the human family, nor the distributions of fortune and * John xvii. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMTIRE. oO lot arbitrarily made. ^Vise and holy designs ni« tlirough the entire scheme of Providence, and outward circumstances are ordered to promote the great and bene- volent designs of God towards his intelligent creatures, tjiough om' ignorance and blindness may often veil from us the fitness of particular arrangements. But the mighty, in their aggrandizement, are admonished of its precariousness by the depression of others ; the chastised are urged by their reverses to look above subhmary things to spiritual objects ; and the blame is ^ith men alone, if the incidents of life are not received as demon- strations of the forbearance and long-suffering of God, whose purpose is thereby to lead them to repentance, to faith in their Redeemer, to holiness, and to heaven. For a few years Timour was the undisputed lord of Asia, master of the origmal seat of the Ottomans, reign- ing in all the spAendom* of the ancient caHphs at Samar- cand, till death removed him to the presence of that awful Being whose laws he had "sdolated and whose creatures he had destroyed. But though millions trembled at his name, and his power was supreme from the Ganges to the Hellespont, he had not possession of a single galley with which to cross the strait, and never set foot on its western shore. Upon his decease, the sons of Bajazet contended \\ii\i each other for the predominance, till, after an interreg- num of ten years, the youngest, Mo- hammed i. established himself upon the Moiiammed i. throne; and durins; his reijjn from a. d. a.d. his— 1421. 1413 to 1421 restored the empire of his father in its integrity. Gifted with beauty, strength, courage, and talents, he was called by his comitr^-men Ivllrishji Chelebi, or the "gentleman." A Turkish ambassador appeared in his reign for the first time at 36 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. Venice; and the sultan, who was disposed to maintain amicable relations with his contemporaries — a measure of political prudence dictated by present exigencies — paid a visit to the emperor Manuel at Constantinople, and was received by him with extraordinary splendour. His successor, Amxjrath ii., a youth Amurath ii. of eighteen, displayed vigorous capacities, A.D. 1421—1431. and .^ully repaired the injury done to the power of the empire by the jMongoi irruption and social discord. The reign, which ex- tended from a. d. 1421 to 1451, is remarkable for the defeat of the last combined effort of the Christian nations to expel the Turks from Europe. It also pre- sents the singular example of a powerful sovereign and successful soldier becoming a voluntary recluse, twice abdicating the throne, returning to it again at the call of public events, and dying in its possession. Amurath, soon after his accession, directed his arms against Saloniki, the Thessalonica of sacred history. This maritime city had been sold by the degenerate Greek government to the Venetians, and was defended by a small garrison belonging to the western republic. "How far," inquired the sultan of his officers, "is Thessalonica from Adrianople?" They replied that it was distant somewhat less than four days' journey. To this he rejoined, " O servants of God, why do ye sit here idle? Get ready to fight quickly." The incidents of the siege and capture of the city, related by an eye- witness among the citizens, illustrate the suicidal spirit of the Greeks and the moderation of the victors. Sub- stantially the same events attended every similar con- quest. Many of the inhabitants proved venal and treacherous. Others, instead of maiming the walls, abandoned themselves to panic and thronged the ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 37 cliurclies, addressing clamorous prayers to the martyr Theodora, then' patron saint. The Venetians, despairing of such confederates, and apprehensive of being be- trayed by them, took to their ships and sailed away, leamig the Thessalonians to their fate. It was less bitter than the doom to which captured cities have often been devoted by a triumphant soldiery. Prisoners were taken and reduced to slavery, or set free on ransom ; but there were no bloody or licentious excesses. The churches, after being despoiled of the objects of idol^.try which dishonour the name of Christian, were, for the most part, converted into mosques, and in some instaaces restored to the original occupants. The shrine of Theodora was stripped of its gold and jewels ; and, with a very natural contempt, the bones of the saint were chopped in pieces. In the early part of liis reign the sultan directed his arms against Constantinople, and laid siege to the city. Its fall would probably have been accelerated by thirty years but for a domestic revolt at Broussa, which com- pelled him to repair thither with his army. Dismayed by the danger, and anticipating the return of the foe, the emperor John Palceologus ii. sought a western alliance, and the scheme of re-uniting the Greek and Latin churches was seriously revised, as an indispensable preliminary to military co-operation. The two churches were chiefly divided upon four points : the use of leavened or unleavened bread in the sacrament, the nature of purgatory, the supremacy of the pope, and the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit. In celebrating the eucharist, the Greeks used leavened and the Latins unleavened bread. Both part .es agreed in the belief of a purgatorial state, but weie divided respecting the means of purgation, whether by fire as maintained by 38 ESTABLISHMENT OF TPIE EMPIRE. the Latins, or by suffering in a dark and dismal abode, as held by the Greeks. The easterns recognised the supremacy of the Constantinopolitan patriarch, while the westerns proclaimed the Roman pontiff to be the chief of Christendom. But the fourth point constituted the most formidable barrier between the papal and oriental communions, namely, vrhether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, fdiuque, accord- to the Latins, or from the Father only, a tenet passion- ately advocated by the Greeks. After a thousand hesitations and a tedious exchange of envoys and letters, the emperor and the patriarch, with other representatives of the eastern church, agreed to attend a council in Italy, to be convened under the auspices of Eugenius iv., to discuss these differences with the western prelates, and to effect, if possible, a comprehension of the two communions. The pope, anxious to gain the distinction of presiding over un- di\-ided Christendom, engaged to send galleys to bring over the oriental delegates, and to supply their wants during the mission, out of his own treasury. That such an offer should have been accepted shows the im- poverished and dependent condition to which the im- perial court must have been reduced. The arrival of the papal galleys in the Bosphorus, which had been hired at Venice, occasioned some sohci- tude to Amurath, who foresaw in the proposed union of the eastern and western hierarchies a coalition that might be fomiidable to himself. *'^\liat ails your king," said his viziers to an imperial envoy, "that he goes away to the Latins ? If he wants anything, let him tell us his necessity, and the sovereign vdW help him. He will get better assistance from him than from those Latins, and the friendship of Amurath will be ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. ^(J more serviceable to the king than theirs. Advise him to excuse himself from taking a voyage to the Latins, and tell him he may obtain whatever he wishes from our master." With an apparent magnanimity, which, if not real, might be assumed from present inability to act otherwise, the sultan nromised to respect the capital during the absence of its sovereign. The emperor prepared for this journey by collecting the remaining relics of the splendid fortune of his ancestors, in order to render his own appearance in the west as imposing as possible ; and ordered litanies to be sung in the streets of Constantinople, concluduig with a prayer for peace, a good journey, a successful mission, and the union of tLe churches. The patriarch Joseph, a vain old man, required his attendant clergy to provide splendid vestments, and appear before the westerns with all the pomp considered suitable to their high character as representatives of tha oriental church. He took from St. Sophia's, the cathedral of the city, its vessels of gold and silver, with splendid ornaments from the altar, that the eucharist might be celebrated with im- posing magnificence before Itahan spectators. This proceeding was viewed as httle less than sacrilege by numbers of the inferior clergy, who ventured to hint that altars of sufficient size to use the semce might not be placed at their disposal. But such representations were treated as idle fancies. Entertainmg an exagge- rated idea of his own importance, the patriarch calculated upon being installed in an ecclesiastical palace, and ha\-ing one of the principal churches in the western world surrendered to his ministry, while the prelates ot the west would receive in submissive silence the words of wisdom from his lips. Thus equipped, the emperor and metvopohtan with their suite sailed for the Adriatic, 40 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. and reached Venice in February, 1438, afler a tedious voyage. The doge Francesco Foscari, with a train of senators, councillors, elders, and great men, came out to meet the party in the Bucentaur, the stately barge in which the senate embarked on the grand occasion of celebrating the nuptials of the repubhc with the Adriatic. In reply to the hospitality offered them, the eastern clergy concluded a complimentary speech with i\ sentence from the Psalms, as apphcable to the city. " He hath built her upon the seas, and estabhshed her upon the floods." The heads of the Greek and Latin churches met for the first time at Ferrara in the following month, where the patriarch had his temper irritated by being called upon to kiss the foot of the pope, a ceremony which the latter deemed it politic at last to wave. Upon visiting the papal palace, the eastern clergy obser\'ed with dismay that Eugenius ate alone, and drank from a carefully sealed phial, fearing poison. They thenceforth stoutly refused to eat or drink within the walls of a place where such an apprehension existed and was not concealed. Soon after the council of Ferrara had commenced its sessions, it was transferred to Florence in January, 1439, where the patriarch Joseph suddenly ended his days. Here a formula of union was eventually dra^Aii up, and signed July 7th, 1440, by the emperor, twenty-nine of the eastern delegates, and a hundred and thirteen of the western. But many members of the council on both sides took care to be absent, disliking the act, while some openly refused to subscribe ; and all the proceed- ings were speedily rendered null and void. Though no doctrinal chfferences had been definitely determined, the oriental church was exasperated by concessions made to the western ; and Jolm l.^alijeologus, who had spent ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. -11 most of his time in hunting, regained his capital in the succeeding year, to encounter popular resentment for the step which he had taken. The clergy of the city refused the right hand of t^llowship to their brethren who had signed, and would not allow them to resume their ecclesiastical duties. Even the bishops who had been parties to the transaction encountered such a storm of obloquy, that they repudiated their o\^ii act, and eventually a Constantinopolitan conclave formally repealed all that had been done at the Florentine council. During these ecclesiastical proceedings, Amurath became entangled in a war -uith the Hungarians, in the course of which his pashas were successfully encountered by John Corvinus, best known by the name of Huniades, who acquired distinction as the champion of the Chris- tian cause. This man, originally of moderate rank, raised himself into notice by bold forays across the frontier, till his valour, integrity, and rude eloquence procured for him the command of armies. Brave men of his country ralUed round him. Foreign mercenaries, attracted by his fame, flocked to the standard of the new captain ; and during an unsettled state of the kingdom he was constituted its governor by the voice of the nation. He called the people to arms, bidding them rememiber the dead, and contend for the protection of the living. " As you fight," said he, " think that with the right hands which grasp vour swords you embrace your wives and hold fast your children. In one battle you must avenge the shame of many, and conquer for the honour of our God," Though invested ^Aith supreme command, he did not disdain the meanest offices of the camp, instructed the Tolunteer of yestei- day and cheered the veteran. But vrith the heart of a 4 J ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. patriot and the liand of a soldier, Huniadcs liad not the skill of a general ; and hence his campaigns -were not successful, though at last a splendid victory retrieved liis fame, while it terminated liis career, With this formidable opponent, Amurath deemed it prudent to come to terms, and a truce for ten years was concluded, to which each party solemnly swore, the one upon the Evangelists, the other upon the Koran. The sultan then abandoning royalty to his young son, Mo- hammed, retired to a Moslem monastery at Magnesia of ?»lount Sipylus, at present one of the most agreeable towns of x\siatic Turkey. This was his first abdication, on account of which he lias been compared with Dio- cletian and Charles v. But no love for simple retire- ment, philosophy, or asceticism, instigated the step ; and the praise awarded to him by general histoiy for his self- denial is not justified by the light of close inquiry. An Asiatic chief who deemed the opportunity favourable for revolt more truly explained the case, by alleging to his confederates that " Amurath the Ottoman had begun to play the fool. He was living v,ith. jesters and buffoons, eating and drinkir.g "with them in corners of vineyards, and making light of his duty as a sovereign." Events speedily brought back the nominal recluse to the stage of public life. Upon the false and temporary union between the Greek and Latin churches being ef- fected at the council of Florence, Julian Cesarini, cardinal of St. Angelo, who had distinguished himself against the Hussites, was despatched as papal legate to the Christian nations on the Danube, to promote a combined crusade against the enemies of the common faith. Notwith- standing the solemn treaty which bound the Hungarians to peace, the mischievous ecclesiastic instigated them to break it, and foraiallv absolved them from the obligation ESTASLISHMENT OF THE EMTIRE. 4o of the oath. Eager to acquire celebrity in a so-called holy war, he affirmed that a promise could not be inno- cently pledged to such an enemy, nor, \yhen given, could it be kept without a greater crime. The cardinal on this occasion was the faithful exponent of the dogmas of a council. That of Constance, only twenty-nine years before, declared the interest of the church to be the only ground upon which to rest a decision, whether or not faith should be kept -o-ith an enemy. The Moham- medan law, not to attack enemies after haying made a truce with them, contrasts favourably with this pernicious doctrine of the Romish church, though not with the law of Christianity, inasmuch as the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, abound with passages which condemn breaches of faith, and place trucebreakers in the class of infamous persons.' In an evil hour, Ladislaus, the young king of Hun- gary, Huniades the general, and the chief nobles, were induced by their spiritual guide to leave the path of in- tegrity, and cross the frontier with an army. The expe- dition was commenced precipitately viith an insufficient force, conducted without plan, and with the timidity on the part of the secular leaders which a consciousness of dishonour is apt to excite. Amurath, upon hearing of it, left his retreat, reappeared in Europe, collected his troops, and arrested the career of the invaders by the battle of Varna in 1444. Before the engagement, a copy of the broken treaty was carried through the ranks of the Ottomans on the top of a lance, to remind them that they were fighting for a just cause. Ladislaus was slain in the action ; and, upon his fall, the army dis- persed. Huniades saved himself by flight ; but cardinal Julian was a less fortunate fugitive, being murdered on the banks of the Danube for the sake of his money and 44 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. clothes. No one knew what had hecome of him till his body was found naked, floating in the river. Many in Hungary moralised upon his miserable end, and regarded it as an example of the signal vengeance which awaits the perfidious violaters of solemn treaties ; while others in Italy eulogized him as a martyr of Christ. Poggio Bracchiolhii composed an oration on his decease, in which he mentions his residence in England in the quality of papal nuncio, affirm.ing that he did there what DO one had ever ventured to do before him. In a numerous assembly of prelates, the nuncio uttered a vehement invective against the statutes which had been enacted in parliament with a view to restrain the autho- rity of the court of Rome, and admonished his auditors to yield obedience to the pope rather than to the laws of their country ; " a proceeding," says Poggio, " at- tended with great peril in aland the inhabitants of which were not accustomed to such boldness." This teme- rity procured Julian the gift of a cardinal's hat, which Martin v. bestowed upon him imm.ediately upon his return from England. A second time Amurath withdrew to Magnesia, leav- ing the government to his son, and was again recalled by a mutiny of the Janissaries. Tlie -vigorous monarch soon quelled the disturbance, and now retained the sceptre till compelled by death to relinquish it. Notwithstanding the severity of their defeat, the Hungarians courted a contmuation of the struggle, and the plain of Kossova, in the year 1448, A^itnessed their renewed overthrow. This was the last great victory of the sultan ; and from this period the fortunes of Christendom never rallied in the country south of the Danube, but succumbed to the Mohammedan power. Huiiiades, whose life Avas a succession of -wild adventures, quitted the field of battle ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 45 to fall into the hands of two robbers, who would lia\e slain him, but for a quarrel about the disposal of his golden cross. Watchino; his opportunity, he snatched a sword from one of them, whom he despatched, and then, jiutting the other to flight, he effected his escape, sur- viving to become conspicuous in the following reign. One individual alone successfully defied the Ottoman monarch. This was George Castriot, or, as he was generally called, Scanderbeg, the "lord Alexander," whose career has more the air of romance than of real life. His father, John Castriot, was the hereditary ruler of Epirus, a district in the south of Albania on the shores of the Adriatic. Being forced to yield to the invaders of his country, he consented to surrender his four sons as hostages for his cvai fidelity as a tributary, while permitted to retain his principality. Slavery, or worse treatment, is said to have been the fate of the three elder brothers, but George, the youngest, experi- enced the favour of Amurath on account of his beauty and intelligence. He was brought up with great care and tenderness, received the education of a Janissary of the first class ; and, being only nine years of age when introduced to a new position, no strong prepossessions in behalf of the imperfect Christianity of his native land interfered with his becoming a ^loslem. Yet, while outwardly professing the religion of his patron, he secretly clung to the faith of his fathers, and cherished the thought of revolting against him, while accepting the marks of his confidence. Peculiar circumstances offer some palliations for this conduct, but it was essentially wrong ; and it remains, along -with som.e ulterior mea- sures, a blot upon his, memory. Feats of prowess gained him admiration, and high command, with th& name of Scander or Alexance and wealth. Ibrahim, by his ma- chinations, succeeded in depriving him of his office ; and he was afterwards executed in the streets of Bagdad. The vizier, about the same time, ventured to assume the title of serasker-sultan, an imprudence likely to give offence, even though nothing was to be feared from the vanity which so openly displayed itself. Ibrahim, on returning to Constantinople, concluded a commercial treaty "VNith France, by which the French were allowed to have resident consuls at several of the Turkish ports, with liberty to build churches for the exercise of their religion. This was the first treaty of the kind entered into between Turkey and a state in Christendom. It was the last act of the \-izier's adminis- tration ; but his influence and intimacy \\'ith the sultan were apparently undiminished up to the last moment. The native historians ascribe his fall to dreams and 120 GREATEST POWER AND vision's oftbe night which haunted the mind of Soliman, and represented the shade of Iskender Chelebi approach- ing his couch, with the voice of upbraiding, for sacrific- ing him to the will of an imperious favourite. One evening during the Ramadan, the vizier went as usual to sup with the sultan, and retired to sleep in the same chamber. In the morning he was found strangled, and the traces of blood, visible in the apartment a century afterwards, showed that he had not resigned life without resistance. The corpse was carried across the harbour, and buried in the suburb of Galata. No monument was raised to his memorv% but a tree for a long time marked the site of the grave. Such is the friendship of this world. Infinitely better to be a peasant at the plough, a shepherd on the plains, if, through faith in Christ, at peace with God, and enjojang the hope of a blessed immortality, though eating the bread of labour, than to be a sultan or a vizier, king or noble, with nc dependence in the present life but precarious human alliances, and no cheering prospect beyond the tomb. The reign of Soliman was of comparatively little in- terest from this date. If the execution of the treasurer affected the spirits of Soliman, it is more than probable that the loss of Ibrahim, his early friend and companion, darkened the aching void within. In fact, he s^ms to have become the prey of embittered and suspicious feel- ings, which rendered him incapable of reposing confi- dence in any one, or deriving pleasure from the senti- ments of friendship. This state of mind is the almost invariable concomitant of tyrannical guilt. It may be overcome for a time by the engagements and amuse- ments of life, but it is certainly experienced in hours of leisure, when reflection cannot be evaded. Conscience speaks in the silence of retirement from the world, and EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. 121 makes cowards of the boldest ; and, whether in high or low grades of society, there is no peace to the wicked. Soliman occupied himself alternately between pompous shows and voluptuous indulgences, the inevitable ten- dency of which is to harden the heart. They increased the native ferocity of his character, till at last he relin- quished the common sentiments of nature. Two of his sons, Mustapha and Bajazet, were successively destroyed by his orders, which were instigated by the intrigues of the harem. Roxalana, said to be a Russian captive, though the French claim her as a countrywoman, ac- quired complete ascendancy over his mind. Beuig anxious to secure the succession to her own son, she used all her arts to undo the other princes, and un- happily succeeded. Mustapha was assassinated in the camp at Eregli, where he came to pay his respects to his father. Bajazet escaped into Persia, and was there perfidiously put to death by the shah to gratify his con- temporar}'. The sultan celebrated the mm-der of his son as a victory, by the distribution of presents to the officers of his court. A navy, rivalUng in strength and equipment the fleets of Italy and Spain, was created by Soliman. It operated in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Arabian and Persian Gulfs. In connexion with it, Khair-ed-din, better known as Barbarossa, gained dis- tinction. This celebrated sea-rover, while a youth, left his home in one of the small islands of the Greek Archipelago, where his father was a humble artizan, and joined a band of pirates. Being successful in his depredations, he became captain of a fleet of twelve galleys, and made himself master of Algiers, where he estabhshed that system of piracy, of which it was the seat to a comparatively recent date. While an 122 GREATEST POWER AND independent chieftain, Soliman heard of him as a bold commander and experienced seaman, and offered to place him at the head of his navy. Barbarossa accepted the invitation, repaired to Constantinople, and was ap- pointed capitan pasha, a position equivalent to lord high admiral. He was the first who bore the title, and in return for the honour he agreed to hold Algiers as a dependency of the empire. In nautical skill and daring enterprise he equalled Doria, the renowned admiral of the Genoese, but he scoured the seas as an unprincipled barbarian. The shores of Italy, Spain, and the Balearic Isles were ravaged, and Tmiis was wTested from its last native king, Muley Hassan. The latter conquest Bar- barossa was compelled to resign by an expedition under Charles v. in person, who restored the deposed prince to the throne, upon his consenting to hold it as a vassal of the croTVTi of Spain. The emperor had the satisfac- tion upon this occasion of liberating upwards of six thousand Christians from slavery, chiefly merchants and seamen whose ships had been captured by the pirate. Another corsair, Torghud, succeeded to the office of Barbarossa, but not to his fame. He assisted at the conquest of Tripoli in 1551, from the knights of St. John, and became its first governor. Towards the close of Soliman' s reign he commanded also in an attack upon Malta, the last stronghold of the chivalric order in the Mediterranean; the attempt was distinguished for its cruelty and signal failure. The siege lasted up- wards of two months, and was not raised till two-thirds of the Turkish army had perished before the place. Torghud himself was among the slain. The most bar- barous contrivances were adopted to intimidate the garrison. The bodies of wounded men who had fallen from the walls were nailed on boards in the form of a EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. 123 cross, and sent floating into the liarbom*. Boats filled with imams and marabouts reciting passages from the Koran, and directing imprecations against the besieged, accompanied the soldiers in every assault. The castle of St. Elmo was won at a vast cost of hfe, but the bravery of the knights prevented any further impression being made upon the place. Had Soliman concentrated his attention and resources upon his fleet, he might probably have commanded the entire sea-board of the Mediterranean, and have coerced Europe to an important extent. But he aimed at the latter object by inland conquest, and was foiled by the vastness of the project. The Venetians adi'oitly stimu- lated him to the design, not out of enmity to the house of Austria, but to divert his attention from theh own favourite realm, the sea. In the year 1566, the sultan once more led his army across the Danube, and appeared in the field \^■ith a pomp which far surpassed his former displays, and attended by all the great oflicers of the em- pire, ^lohammed Sokolh, the grand vizier, commanded the troops. This man had been at first a slave, then one of the pages of the seraglio, and subsequently capitan pasha, before rising to the dignity of prime minister and generalissimo. The army was more powerful than those of previous campaigns. It amounted altogether to two hundred and fifty thousand, of which forty thousand three hundred and sixteen were regular troops, or Janis- saries and Spahis, the rest being hght horse and Asiatic infantry. The park of artillery consisted of three hundred pieces. Soliman, now oppressed with the in- firmities of age, travelled chiefly in his litter ; but at Sabaez, he crossed the bridge over the Danube on horse- back with great parade in the presence of his entire force. The siege of Szigeth, with the self-immolation of its 124 GREATEST POWER AND defender Nicholas, count of Zriny, the Leonidas of Hungary, was the notable event of the campaign. In early life the count became distinguished at the siege of Kenna, and now had the chief command on the left bank of the Danube. Throwing himself with a mere handful of men into Szigeth, a place naturally strong, he resolved never to surrender it. The hills on one side were occupied by the beglerbeg of Roumeha, with ninety thousand men ; on the other side were Soliman and the main body of the army. Zriny, as soon as he discerned the scarlet tent of the sultan, hoisted red flags, rang the bells of the town, and fired a salute to intimate that he was ready to engage him. The attack commenced at once ; the walls were stormed ; but the desperate resolution of the garrison baffled every at- tempt to gain them. Soliman oifered Zriny the whole of Croatia as the price of his surrender, but he disdained the bribe. At length, on the morning of the 5th of September, after the siege had continued a whole month, a mine was sprung which destroyed a great portion of the walls. Zriny now made characteristic preparations for the inevitable issue. From four swords he chose one which he had worn in the campaigns of liis youth. He put on no defensive armour, but fastened to his person the keys of the castle, and a purse of a hundred ducats. " The man," said he, "who lays me out, shall not complain that he found nothing upon me. When I am dead, let him who may take the keys and the ducats. No Turk shall point at me while alive with his finger." He waited not for the final assault, but sallied forth at the head of his small force, and was slain by the advancing host. Szigeth never recovered from the desolation to which it was then reduced, and some incon- siderable ruins alone mark the scene of Zriny 's self- EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. 125 ilevotion. A few hours, llo^yeTer, before its fall, Soliman hifld expired in his scarlet pavilion, whether from para- lysis, apoplexy, or natural decay, was never known. The better to conceal his death from the army, till his successor was apprised of the event, the physician who attended him was immediately strangled. The encouragement of learning is one of the best features of the reign of Soliman. His age is regarded as the brilliant period of Turkish Hterature, though there is little in the character of its productions to re- commend them. Careless of expense, Soliman gratified his love of magnificence by stately buildings, erected or repaired the aqueducts of Constantinople and Mecca, rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, fortified the Dardanelles in the European manner, and adorned the capital mth several splendid mosques. In one of the latter, the Solimanie, his own remains are deposited. This mosque is deemed by many the most elegant edifice in the city, with splendid windows of stained glass, brought by the founder as spoils from his wars. Its interior is cheerful, and its exterior is formed of the finest stones that could be found among the ruins of Chalcedon on the Asian shore. "An open gallery," says Miss Pardoe, " extending along the whole of the northern side of the edifice, is filled with chests of various sizes and descriptions, piled one on the other, and carefully marked. These chests contain treasure, principalh^ in gold, silver, and jewels, to a vast amount, and are all the property of individuals who, in the event of their leaving the country from family misunderstandings, or from other causes, require a place of safety in which to deposit their wealth. Each package, being accurately described and scrupulously secured, is received and registered at Solimanie by the proper authorities, and I 12G GREATEST POWER AND there it remains intact and inviolate, despite national convulsions and ministerial changes. As the property is deposited, so it is withdravra, the proper documents are produced, and the chest or desk is delivered up without the charge of a piastre from those who have acted as its guardians." The same arrangement pre- vails with reference to the other mosques, but to an inferior extent. It is to the credit of the Turkish government, that, amid all its reverses and all its neces- sities, the property confidingly deposited in these national banks — for such they may be truly considered — has always been respected. It has, however, been pro- posed to apply to the service of the state deposits un- claimed after the lapse of fifty years. The mausoleum, at the back of the mosque, in an enclosed court shaded -with trees, is an octagonal building, open at the top, that the rain may fall upon the flowers and herbs planted around the tomb in the centre of the interior ; but it is guarded from the intrusion of birds by gilded wire- work. Mutes were first employed at the Ottoman court in this reign. These unfortunate beings, bom deaf and dumb, were so highly valued, that a courtier could not offer a more acceptable present than a mute slave: they could hear no secrets, and tell no tales. The sultan introduced gold and silver vessels to his table, though forbidden by the Koran. His predecessors had always been served on green porcelain from China. He also indulged freely in wine, (a practice equally opposed to the Jvlohammedan law,) till bodily infirmity enforced a more temperate diet. Coffee, hitherto unknown in Europe, was introduced into Turkey at this period, by a merchant of Aleppo, named Shem, who returned in a few years to his native city with, a fortune of fifty EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. 127 thousand ducats. In the " Arabian Nights' Entertain- ments," which are considered faithful pictures of oriental manners, there is no mention made either of coifee or the pipe, which are now universal throughout the east, and deemed by every Turk indispensable to existence. The Arabic name of the beverage kahveh, an epithet of wine, signifying the queller of appetite, excited at first the suspicions of the more rigorous Moslems, and coffee-houses were viewed as an abomination. But Sohman permitted their erection, adopted the article himself, and its use gradually became general in his dominions. The title Kannuni, the lawgiver, or the institutor of rules, given to Soliman by his subjects, is apt to mis- lead. He originated no new scheme of government, but amplified and developed the institutions of his ancestors; caused a compilation to be made of their maxims and regulations, and. stringently enforced obedience to them. Vigilant administration is his chief political merit. His care extended to every department of the state, civil, criminal, mihtary, and financial, not forgetting the security of his own person. The pages of the household were multiplied, and the class of bostanjys or gardeners was estabhshed. The latter not only cultivated the gardens of the seraglio, but served as guards of the palace, both in the capacity of mihtary and pohce. This order was probably established as a check upon the Janissaries, and a protection from them. But " there is no king saved by the multitude of an host." In the pride of apparently irresistible strength, the sultan left Constantinople to find mutes, pages, bostanjys, spahis, and janissaries of no avail to avert his death-doom beneath the walls of a petty Hungarian fortress. The false lustre with which mankind had 128 GREATEST POWER AND ir.ypKted him, and in which he viewed himself, was then revealed to his consciousness; the flatteries which minions had addressed to his ear were corrected by the unerring appointment of Heaven ; and when the dead, small and great, shall stand before God on the final dav, the vanity of such titles as that of Soliman the great and the magnificent will be fully manifest. Crowns and sceptres will seem worthless baubles, and nothing be deemed of value but those possessions which a godless world wot not of — a title through the blood of the Redeemer, to acceptance with the righteous Judge, and a meetnessby his Holy Spirit's influence for the celestial kingdom. The tenth sultan of the Ottomans, and the tenth illustrious man of the Mohammedan era, was one of ten conspicuous contemporary princes, the father of ten children ; and ten grand viziers under him successively \A-ielded the powers of empire. Selim, his son and suc- cessor, attended his remains to Constantinople, but the Janissaries refused to admit either the living sultan or the lifeless corpse into the city, till propitiated with money and presents. Immediately after his accession in 1566, Selim II. Selim ii. received an embassy from the A.D. 1566—1574. German court proposing peace, of which he gladly availed himself, principally on account of the alarming temper shown by the Janis- saries, which required all his care and caution to subdue. The ambassadors brought with them some costly pre- sents, particularly a clock of curious workmanship, and gold and silver goblets wrought by the goldsmiths of Augsburg. They were admitted to an audience in full divan, and departed impressed by the spectacle of bar- baric splendour exhibited to them. The sultan sat upon EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. 129 an embroidered cushion, habited in a robe of gold tissue, and his turban sparkling with diamonds. By the terms of the treaty, the Turks retained possession of the southern provinces of Hungary, with the city of Buda ; and the emperor agreed to pay an annual tribute for the remainder of the country. Without any personal pre- dilection for war, or taking any direct part in it, Sehm fomid • it expedient to tread in the path of his prede- cessors, and aim at conquest. In 1570, the empire was extended by the acquisition of the province of Yemen in Arabia, and in the same year by that of the island of Cyprus, taken from the Venetians. Two years latere however, the Turkish na^y was almost annihilated by the fleet of the repubhc, combined with that of Spain, in a great battle fought in the bay of Lepanto. The alhes captured, burned, or sank two hundred vessels ; and all Europe rejoiced at the most serious reverse hitherto experienced by the Ottoman arms. But with remarkable rapidity the sultan and his officers restored the navy, so that a single wmter sufficed to render it superior to the fleet of the confederates; and, in 1574, a naval armament sailed to Tunis, and finally \vrested that dependency from the power of Spain. A great industrial operation in the Khanate of the Crimea, which was attempted but not completed, is the worthiest memorial of the reign. Since the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape, the trade between east- ern Asia and western Europe had been diverted from the overland route into the maritime channel. But Selim conceived the bold and sagacious design of restoring it to the ancient course, by uniting \\'ith a canal the great streams of the Don and the Volga, thus opening a navi- gable passage from the Black Sea to the Caspian, and esta- bhshing easy commercial communication between Europe 130 GREATEST POWER AND and Asia. Some traces of the canal are still visible. Its progress was interrupted in a remarkable manner. While the work was proceeding, a body of men, with uncouth figures, strange features, and barbarous lan- guage, sallied out from a neighbouring town, and cut the workmen and soldiers to pieces. They were the Muscovite subjects of Ivan the terrible ; and this was the first encounter between the Turks and the Russians. Under Amurath hi., a feeble-minded Amurath in. monarch, who reigned from 1574 to 1595, A D. 1574—1595. a war broke out vrith Persia, in the course of which the provinces of Erivan, Georgia, and Daghistan were wrested from the territory of the shah, and added to the dominions of the sultan. The successful general, Osman Pasha, then crossed the Caucasus in order to aid the khan of the Crimea, who was threatened by the Russians, and thence proceeded through southern Russia and Bessarabia to Constanti- nople. This was in the year 1584, when the crescent for the first tim.e made the circuit of the Black Sea. In a league between the sultan and the king of Poland, the former gives himself the following titles: — "I, sultan Amurath, the son of Soliman Khan, the son of SeUm Khan, the son of Bajazet Khan, the son of the great emperor, Mohammed Khan, — prince of these pre = sent times, — the only monarch of the age of power able to confound the whole world, the shadow of divine clemency and grace, great emperor of many kingdoms, countries, provinces, cities, and towns, lord of Mecca, of the house of the glory of God, of the resplendent city of Medina, and of the most blessed city of Jerusalem, prince of the most fruitful country, of Egypt, Imeii, Zenan, Aden, and many other such Hke." EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. 1,>1 The next reign, that of Mohammed TIL, from 1595 to 1603, Tvhich brings Mohammed m. us to the commencement of the seven- a.d. 1595— 1603. teenth century, has no features of any interest. The Ottoman Turks, once a petty tribe of vagrants, wandering from the Armenian highlands, -without an acre of soil they could call their own, had now become in httle more than three centuries a great community among the European nations, occasionally endangering their independence, ci^-ilization, and rehgion. They possessed the most favoured cUmates of the earth, and the most fertile territories ; a sea-board abounding in convenient roads and harbours ; an archipelago offering facihties to commerce ; straits the most impassable to him who has not the key, or who is not on friendly terms with the owner ; and a capital, adapted by its geographical position to become the centre of a domi- nion extending to three continents. They were masters of countries the most interesting from their sacred, classic, and historical associations ; the scenes where patriarchs pitched their tents and prophets dehvered their oracles ; the land of Homer, Plato, Demosthenes, and Alexander ; and the soil on which the Saviour of the world was born, and where apostles first proclaimed the gospel of salvation. Their empire included in Europe, European Turkey, Greece, and the greater part of Hungary ; in Asia, all Asia Minor, Armenia, Georgia, Daghistan, the western part of Kurdistan, ^Mesopotamia, Syria, Cyprus, and the chief part of Arabia ; in Africa, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers ; while the khanate of the Crimea, the principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania, with the repub- lic of Ragusa, were vassal states. Diplomatic and com- 132 GREATEST EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. mercial relations subsisted between tbe Porte and the leading powers of Christendom.* But though the Turks had made themselves a name, and built up a colossal power, they were destitute of the qualities which alone give honour to greatness, and can secure permanence to success. Truth, righteous- ness, and mercy were alike unknown to their govern- ment. They took the sword ; they trusted in it ; and consumed the vitals of the empire to maintain its reign. Hence, by a natural process of exhaustion, from becom- ing powerless to attack, they became as powerless to defend, and were doomed to feel the sharpness of the weapons they had so often directed against others. The immutable law of Providence, with reference to nations, connects real prosperity and permanent strength with religious principle and moral virtue ; just as, in the case of individuals, real enduring peace is associated with personal godliness and rectitude, while by a righteous judgment the oifences of communities and persons are made commonly the instruments of their chastisement. The inspired saying holds good of both — '*Be sure your sin will find you out." ♦ Edward Bertou concluded the first mercantile treaty between England and Turkey in the reigns of queen Elizabeth and Amurath in.- and in 1580 the Levant or Turkey Company was incorporated in London to carry on trade between the two countries. CHAPTEE YII. EEVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. Aohriiet I.— The Shirleys in Persia— Shah Abbas— Concessions of the Turka — Inroads of the Cossacks — Career of Amurath iv. — State of the em- pire described — Murder of Cyril Lucar — His enlightened views — M&. morials in England — Mohammed iv. — The grand vizier Kiuprili — Office of drairoman— War with Austria — Second siege of Vienna — Dis- tress of the city — Remarkable adventure — Vienna relieved — Total defeat of the Turks— First Turkish Xew Testament- English in the Black Sea — Russian capture of Azoff— Triumph of the Austrians— Peter i. on the Pruth — His perilous position — Charles xii. and Baltadji Mohammed — First Turkish press — Declining fortunes of the empire — Its causes. From the period at whicli we have now arrived, the commencement of the seventeenth century, the power of the empire began to dechne, and its vigour relaxed. For another century, indeed, the apprehensions excited by its previous triumphs were not extinct in Christen- dom ; but its history ceases to be that of a conquering people. Though some occasional irruptions showed that the enthusiasm for conquest remained, the out- bursts were as the last flashes of an expiring flame. It will neither be consistent with our limits, nor desirable in itself, to indulge in detail. The particular chronicle of the huge shaking and convulsed political fabric involves a long enumeration of shocking state crimes, and a tedious view of the tangled web of European policy. A few prominent events may be selected for notice, and some general statements made on the cha- racter of the successive reigns. 134 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRiJ. The reign of Achmet i., from a.d. Achmet I. 1 603 to 1 6 1 7, was marked Tvdth reverses. A.D. 1603-1617. It commenced as that of Elizabeth of England closed, two of whose subjects acted a conspicuous part in producing the disasters. The energetic queen, with commercial purposes in view, had sent an ambassador to the Persian court to propose an alliance ; but shah Tamasp declined to have any cor- respondence with a nation of giaours. An opposite policy was pursued upon the accession of shah Abbas, commonly styled the Great, a magnificent barbarian. Two brothers. Sir Anthony and Sir Robert Shirley, at the head of twenty-six followers, "gallantly mounted and richly furnished," presented themselves to the monarch as English soldiers of fortune, desirous of entering his service. The adventurers met with a gra- cious reception, and by their instructions an army was disciplined after the European model ; the use of artil- lery was also introduced into Persia; and the shah became prepared to cope with the neighbouring Mo- hammedan power. "The mighty Ottoman," curiously remarks a contemporary writer, " the terror of the Christian world, quaketh of a Shirley fever, and gives hope of approaching fates. The Persian hath learned Shirleyan arts of war ; and he which before knew not the use of ordnance, hath now five hundred pieces of brass and sixty thousand musketeers ; so that they which at hand with the sword were before dreadful to the Turks, now also in remoter blows and sulphurean arts are grown terrible." Sir Robert superintended this military education, while the shah despatched the brother on a mission to different European sovereigns, to obtain their co-operation in a war with the sultan. Upon the sword being drawn, REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 135 the Persians rapidly recovered the provinces wrested from them by Selim and Sohman ; and a large Turkish army was signally defeated August the 24th, I6O0. Five pashas were slain ; the same number were taken prisoners ; and the victor continued to receive the heads of his enemies till midnight, when more than twenty thousand had been counted. Shah Abbas performed pilgrimages on foot to the shrines of Moslem saints, and swept their tombs. Yet while doing this he allowed a Roman Catholic convent to be established at Ispahan, stood godfather to the child of Sir Robert Shirley, and even formally received baptism — events to which the Jesuits ascribed his execrable triumphs. Similar ill success attended the arms of the sultan be- yond the Danube. After several defeats by the impe- rialists, he was compelled by the peace of Sitvatorok to relinquish the tribute which Austria had paid for her part of Hungarv^, and to recognise Rudolph 11. as an equal, by giving him the title of " padishah " or em- peror. This is the first example of such a concession in the history of the Ottoman sovereigns. Relying partly on an actually predommant position, and partly on hav- ing succeeded to certain pretensions arrogated to them- selves by the Greek emperors of Constantinople, they had hitherto refused to acknowledge an imperial dignity in any crown but their own. Hence the abandonment of this high ground in the instance of the German poten- tate was not without its significance, as betrapng con- sciousness that the pohtical position of the ^Moslem empire was weakened. Anne of Russia, in the next century, extorted the same concession, and obliged her southern neighbour to respect an empress in the czarina. Yet so absurdly tenacious has the court of Constanti- nople been upon the point, that when Napoleon, in the 136 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. plenitude of his power, assumed the title of emperor, the ministers of the Porte actually objected to the as- sumption, as infringing the peculiar rights of the sultan. Violent scenes followed the reign of Mustapha i. Achmct. MusTAPHA I., who succecdcd 4.D. 1617-1618. tQ t]^e throne a.d. 1617, was in a few months deprived of it in 1618, by a revolution in the seraglio. Othman II., after a brief term of othman ii. powcr, from 1618 to 1622, was deposed A.D. 1618—1622. ^j ^^Yie Janissaries, and strangled in the castle of the Seven Towers. This was the first instance of a sultan being put to death by his subjects. His predecessor was then recalled, and again displaced as incapable, upon which prince Amurath, a mere boy, was proclaimed by the licentious soldiery. In the short space of fifteen months, there were three sul- tans, seven grand viziers, two capitan-pashas, five agas of the Janissaries, three high treasurers, and six pashas of Cairo. Amurath iv. ascended the throne in Amnrathiv. 1623, and during his minority reigned A.D. 1623-1640. under the guardianship of his mother. This period was attended -wdth great dis- asters. Bagdad was taken by the Persians ; the Tatars of the Crimea revolted ; and hordes of Cossacks of the Dnieper made their appearance in long barques in sight of the capital, ravaging both sides of the Bosphorus. These bold marauders formed a practically independent military confederacy, occupying the islets and shores of the river above the cataracts or rapids ; and hence ac- quired the name of Zaporogians, from two Polish words, sa, ** beyond," and ^jjro^, "waterfalls." Having selected a chief, and a suitable season for a piratical expedition, REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 13/ they descended the stream in light barques, capable of holding from thirty to seventy Taen, furnished with sails, oars, and arms. They sailed by night, and con- cealed themselves by day in the beds of osiers along the banks, in order to elude observation, and fall upon the ^-illages by surprise. To restrain these excursions, the Turkish government fixed a strong iron chain across the river at Bereslav, while the fortresses of Kinburn and Otchakow kept guard over the mouth. But by felling a number of the largest trees, and setting them adrift upon the current, the adventurers broke the chain ; and, under cover of the darkness, passed the fortresses, which were from four to five m^iles apart. Pushing forward into the Black Sea, they landed upon its shores to pillage the towns, giving them up to the flames after the booty had been collected, and visiting with unsparing slaughter the inhabitants who resisted. Sometimes from six to ten thousand men were engaged in these inroads, who made the name of Cossack as terrible to the mari- time population as that of Dane once was to the people of our own coasts. In consequence of repeated cruises, the corsairs became as bold and skilful in navigation as the Scandinavian sea-kings, and extended their voyages to remoter districts in successive years. Sinope, of melancholy celebrity in the present day, was plundered and destroyed, while Trebizond and even Constantinople were assailed. Exasperated by these events, the Janissaries set fire to a quarter of the capital ; and, surrounding the seragho, they with loud cries called upon the youthful sultan to assume the reins of government, saying, " The only way to save the empire is thy sword." Fires, notoriously frequent in the city, owing to the houses being mostly of wood, and from the carelessness of the inhabitants, 138 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. haye not always been the result of accident but have repeatedly been kindled to answer the same purpose as political meetings and popular petitions in England. The head of the state has often for the first time been en- lightened respecting the discontent of his subjects either with himself or his advisers by a grand blaze in his neighbourhood. Amurath heard tlie call of the troops, put himself at their head, and quelled the disorders of the empire by a reign of terror. Active and enterprising, he acquired the surname of gazi, the conqueror, and led the army once more to victory, but proved a most ferocious tyrant. The Persian pro\-inces recovered by shah Abbas were reconquered and wasted with fire and sword. Towns, villages, and inhabitants perished. But a special campaign for the reduction of Bagdad was re- markable for its enormities, illustrating a remark already made respecting the unsparing vengeance with which the Mohammedan sectaries visited each other. Starting from Scutari, across Asia ]\Iinor, along one of the great mili- tary roads, the army passed the Euphrates at Bir, the Tigris at Mosul, and proceeded along its left bank to the devoted city, which was reached on the one hundred and ninety-seventh day after the commencement of the march. Bagdad was taken by storm, December 2.5, 1638. Ten thousand of the Persian garrison lost their lives during the siesre ; and twenty thousand more, being the whole number in the town, were massacred during and immediately after the capture. A few days after- wards, an equal number of the inhabitants, who were sheahs, were slaughtered by the triumphant sonnees. The English traveller Sandys, who visited the empire at this period, has described with truth and eloquence the unhappy condition of the regions subject to its de- structive despotism. " These countries, once so glorious REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 13P and famous for their happy estate, are noTV, through vice and mgratitude, become the most deplorable spectacles of extreme misery. The "uild beasts of mankind have broken in upon them, and rooted out all civility ; and the pride of a stern and barbarous tyrant, possessing the thrones of ancient dominion, vrho aims only at the height of greatness and sensuality, hath reduced so great and goodly a part of the \rorld to that lamentable distress and ser^-itude under which it now faints and groans. Those rich lands at this present remain waste and over- grown with bushes, the receptacles of wild beasts, of thieves and murderers ; large territories dispeopled or thinly inhabited ; goodly cities made desolate ; sump, tuous buildings become ruins ; glorious temples either subverted or prostituted to impiety ; true religion dis- countenanced and oppressed ; all nobihty extinguished ; no light of learning permitted, nor virtue cherished ; violence and rapine insulting over all, and leaving no secu- rity, save to an abject mind and unlooked on poverty." Sandys is the first English traveller who notices the practice of smoking tobacco among the Turks. After mentioning that they are incredible takers of opium, "which they say expelleth all fear," he adds, "They also delight in tobacco, which they take through reeds that have joined unto them great heads of wood to con- tain it ; I doubt not, but lately taught them, as brought to them by the Enghsh. x\nd were it not sometimes looked into (for !Morat Bassa not long since commanded a pipe to be thrust through the nose of a Turk, and so to be led in derision through the city), no question but it would prove a principal commodity. Nevertheless they will take it in corners, and are so ignorant therein, that what in England is not saleable doth pass here among them as most excellent." 140 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. Terrible as Amurath made himself, the fleets of pirates from the Dnieper defied his power, and wrung from him the exclamation, " The whole of Christendom trembles at mj nod, and yet a band of Cossacks causes me sleepless nights." It may here be remarked that soon after his reign their maritime enterprises ceased, both because the Ottoman navy became too strong for them, and sufficient employment was found for their swords on land in the contests between Turkey, Poland, and Russia. The latter power finally broke up the fraternity towards the close of the following century, and removed its members to garrison the forts on the north of the Caucasus, giving them the name of Tcher - nemorski, or Cossacks of the Black Sea. Intemperance brought the sultan to the grave at the early age of thirty-one, soon after his return to the capital. Cyril Lucar, the Greek patriarch, was one of his vic- tims; but Amurath was the tool of others in the tragedy. This excellent man had caught the light ol" Protestantism, and exposed himself thereby to the machinations of numerous enemies in the corrupt Greek and Latin churches. Fearing reform, and apprehending it from the enlightened metropolitan, they resolved to avert the attempt by his death. Being calumniated to the sultan while the latter was absent in Asia, he signed a warrant for his execution. Upon receiving it, the Janissaries carried him on board a vessel, as if for exile, and perpetrated the judicial murder with the bow- string as soon as they were out at sea. Upon perceiv- ing their intentions, the prelate calmly resigned himself to a tragical fate, June 27, 1638. His body, after being cast overboard, was drifted ashore by the waves and buried. But his implacable foes caused it to be REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 141 exhumed, and again committed it to tlie sea. But once more the sea gave up its dead, and the corpse was finally interred in a small island of the hay of Nico- media. Cyril was a native of Candia, was educated at Venice, and acquired extensive learning. He was successively elevated to the patriarchates of Alexandria and Constan- tinople. In his younger days he travelled over a con- siderable part of the continent, and became acquainted with several members of the reformed communion, in- tercourse with whom paved the way for his final decision in favour of the reformed doctrine. He has himself described the process by which he came to this conclusion. " Having obtained through the kindness of friends some writings of evangehcal doctors, which the east have not only never seen, but, through the influence of the censures of Rome, never even heard of, I invoked earnestly the assistance of the Holy Ghost, and for three years compared the doctrine of the Greek and Latin church -udth that of the Reformed. Occasionally I hesitated ; but I weighed in an even balance the opinions of both parties. Laying aside the fathers, I took for my guide Scripture and the analogy of faith alone. At length, through the grace of God, because I discovered that the cause of the Reformers was the more just, and the more in accordance -^ith the doctrine of Christ, I embraced it. I can no longer endure to hear men say that the comments of human tradition are of equal weight with the Holy Scripture." This enlightened course of inquiry led him to scriptural views of the plan of salvation ; and pleasing it is to see a ray of the true light upon the subject streaming over the darkness of the eastern church. " On the article of justification," siiys Cyril, "with respect to which we K 142 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. once believed that our vileness could have merit, and trusted in it more than in our Lord Christ, now we com- prehend how pernicious is the doctrine of inherent righteousness ; and we look only to the mercy of Al- mighty God, bestowed upon us on account of the merit, apprehended by faith, of Christ our Saviour and ]\Iedi- ator ; we also believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that on him all our righteousness depends, while we regard our own works as filthy rags. Not that any one should hence imagine us to assert that good works may be neglected ; this be far from us ; yea, rather, for this very cause we approve and assert their necessity, that they may be the true signs and evidences of our justifying faith, to the confusion of our adversary the devil, and to the glory of God who justifieth us." After becoming a dignified ecclesiastic, Cyril occa- sionally attended public worship in the British ambas- sador's chapel, and was present at the baptism of the infant son of Sir Peter Wych, who was named Cyril in lionour of him. England possesses two memorials of the patriarch— the Codex Alexandrinus, or Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, which he presented to Charles i. through the medium of Sir Thomas Roe, and which is now in the British ^Museum ; and an Arabic Pentateuch, preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The lattfej has an inscription in Greek and Latin, written with his own hand: "Cyril, the (Ecumenical patriarch, to the most blessed and most wise archbishop of Canterbury, AAilliam Laut (Laud), gives the present book as a sign of brotherly love." Underneath is written, in a dif- ferent hand, " The gift of Cyril, patriarch of Constan- tinople, a little before he unworthily perished by the hands of the Turks." REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 143 Ibrahim i., who reigned from a.d. 1640 to 1648, was deformed in body and Ibrahim i imbecile in mind. He abandoned himself a.d. i640— 1.43. to vicious pleasures, and perished by the hands of the Janissaries. Mohammed iv., a mere child, was then, in 1648, placed upon the throne, under the guardianship of his grandmother. Mohammed iv. During his minority the most fearful ^■^- i64s— i6S7 confusion prevailed. The soldiers waged open war against each other ; bands of outlaws ravaged the neighbourhood of the capital; and fifteen grand viziers successively held office in the short space of six years. At length Mohammed Kiuprih, a A^gorous old man, being raised to the post, restored tranquillity ; and, under the administration of his son and successor, Ahmed Kiuprili, the empire recovered from its depres- sion. The latter undertook m person the reduction of the city of Candia, the island having been previously subdued ; and he captured it from the Venetians in 1 669, after the garrison had endured with heroic firmness a terrible siege of two years and six months. But in a war with Poland, the Turks were defeated by the renowned sovereign, John Sobieski, whose name was henceforth a word of terror to them.. Tlieir power, however, was still deemed abroad to be so considerable, that a peace was concluded to their entire advantage. But this was the last struggle in which they engaged with any signal success. The second Kiuprili, the greatest of all Turkish grand viziers, held the viziership during seventeen years. He was a patron of literature, wrote state papers which were considered models of clear, forcible, business-like com- position^ and founded a library by the side of his father's 144 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. monument. Under his administration, the office of divan terziman, or dragoman to the divan, was formally constituted for the purpose of translating the official papers presented to the Porte by the representatives of Christian powers. Hitherto Jews or renegades had per- formed this service without being regularly retained, or considered functionaries of government ; and as the Turks themselves were disqualified for learning the language of infidels by the Mohammedan law, as well as by indi\'idual character, Greek subjects were appointed to the new office. Panayotaki, a native of Scio, who had distin- guished himself at the siege of Candia, was the first dragoman. His abihties procured for him the curious appellation of the "green horse," in consequence of a proverb that it would be just as difficult to find a steed of that colour as a wise man in Scio. An establish- ment in connexion with the other offices of the government was assigned to him, with permission to let his beard grow. His successors, who were also Greeks, obtained an extension of prerogatives ; and so improved their position as to monopolize the whole external intercourse of the Porte, negotiate treaties, and conduct the subtle functions of diplomacy. They finally acquired such ascendant influence, that the wealthiest Greek families regarded the post as the great object of ambition for their childi'en, and had them care- fully instructed in the Turkish and Frank languages to quahfy them for it. The sultan had been thirty-four years upon the throne when a war broke out with Austria, instigated by the vizier, Kara ]\Iustapha, a crafty, conceited, and ambitious man, which proved fatal to its author and his master. It led to the great event of the reign, the second siege of Vienna bv the Turks, the last occasion on which the? REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 145 Appeared formidable to Europe. Louis xiv. of France, ha^-ing humbled the power of the house of Hapsburgh, the vizier conceived the design of vrresting from Austria a territory in which to found an independent kingdom for his own family. Concealing his ultimate object, he induced the sultan to favour an invasion; and ^NFo- haramed iv., preceded by the standard of the prophet, left Constantinople with an army of two hundred thou- sand men, commanded by Kara Mustapha. He accom- panied his troops into Hungary, and there left them. There being but few imperial forces in that kingdom, the vizier encountered no opposition in pushing on to Vienna, and encamped beneath its walls on the 14th of July, 1683. Then commenced one of the most famous contests recorded in history. The garrison, including the armed citizens, did not amount to more than twenty thousand men ; and the walls and fortifications were ill calculated to resist an attack. But the bravery of the defenders, and the activity of their commander, Guido Count Von Stahremberg, compensated for paucity of numbers. Well aware of the importance of time, the vizier pro- secuted the siege with ^ngour, while with characteristic slowness the Germanic Diet gathered the forces of the empire to the camp of Crems, where the duke of Lor- raine commanded. Expecting to be rewarded by the plunder of the city, and anticipating immense wealth in the imperial treasury, the Turks conducted their as- saults with the fierceness and determination which dis- tinguished their ancestors. All communication was cut off between the capital and Crems. The provisions of the besieged gradually became exhausted ; the covered work of the besiegers advanced towards the walls ; and the scanty garrison was daily thinned by incessant at- 146 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. tacks. It became at last indispensable to communicate with the relieving army, in order to hasten a diversion which might save the city. Several volunteered to undertake the dangerous errand of passing the lines of the enemy, and perished in the attempt. Despair was beginning to pervade every mind, when George Francis Kolschitzki offered himself for the enterprise, and ac- complished the daring deed. This man, a Pole by birth, had been in the employ- ment of a company of oriental merchants as an inter- preter. Becoming a citizen of Vienna, he had resided in the Leopoldstadt, and had served in a free corps since the commencement of the siege. His intimate know- ledge of the language and manners of the Turks qualified him for the perilous mission. Accordingly, on the 13th of August, he was let out through a sally-port, and escorted by an attendant of the commander as far as the palisades. Scarcely had he proceeded a hundred yards beyond them, when horsemen were heard advancing at a rapid pace towards the spot. Being yet too near the city to escape suspicion, he turned aside, and hastily con- cealed himself in the cellar of a ruined house till the tramp of the passing cavalry had died away. The Pole then pursued his course, singing a Turkish song ; and, with an unembarrassed air, idly sauntered through the streets formed by the tents of the beleaguering host. Attracted by his familiar strain and cheerful appear- ance, an aga of the Janissaries invited him to some coffee, called for another song, and dismissed him with the caution not to wander too far, and fall into Christian hands. Kolschitzki thanked him for his advice, and safely threaded the mazes of the encampment to the Danube. Here a new danger awaited him. An island in the river was occupied by a party who, misled bv REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 147 his Turkish attire, fired upon him. They proved to be some inhabitants of Xassdorf, who had been dislodged from their homes, and had made the island their tern porarj refuge. Discovering himself and his errand to them, the adventurer was readily assisted to pass the river. He gained the imperial camp, delivered his des- patches, and received a reply. In a similar manner, after several narrow escapes from the Turkish sentries, he repassed their lines, and entered Vienna with a letter for the commander from the duke of Lorraine. At the close of the war he was rewarded for this important service by permission to open a coffee-house ; and, in memory of it, every keeper of a cafe in the city is obliged to have his portrait hung up in his estabhshment. ITie Turks are celebrated in military history for con- duciing sieges and defending towns. They introduced the practice of reducing a fortress by regular approaches, with the accessory of hot shot, which appears to have been first used before the walls of Vienna. It may here be added, that the so-called howitzer gun is derived from the same people. A piece of this description, now at Woolwich, is one of those cast by order of Selim iii., soon after the commencement of the present century. The Russians first employed the same artillery at the battle of Smolensko, under the name of unicorns. It then attracted the attention of Napoleon by its long range, and the introduction of the improved ho-w-itzer or Paixhans gun resulted from it. Thus the horizontal shell firing, which was the chief agent in recently de- stroying the Turkish ships in the bay of Sinope, origin- ated with the Turks. While the regular army closely invested Vienna, squadron? of cavalry, chiefly Tatars from the Crimea, desolated the country far and wide. But they were 148 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. sometimes severely chastised by the exasperated popu- lation. The peasantry rose in their own defence, and even ecclesiastics took the field. Abbot Kolbries made himself conspicuous for the vigour with which he de- fended the abbey of Lihenfeld, and also by offensive operations characterized with Mohammedan ruthlessness. He rallied round him his monks and vassals, fortified his convent, and prepared to defend it to the last. Not content with this, he salhed forth in quest of the enemy, cut off a detachment almost to a man, and brought back in triumph forty heads of Tatars whose bodies he had left for an example exposed on the roads. No help having arrived, the capital was brought nearly to its last extremity. On the 6th of September, an explosion occurred which made a practicable breach in the walls. The furious assault and desperate de- fence which followed may be inferred from the Turkish loss of 1,500 men in a narrow space. Two standards for an instant were planted on the rampart. A house in the Lobelstrasse, opposite the spot where this took place, still bears the name of the Turk's house, in commemoration of the incident. Night had begun to gather over the city, which was apparently doomed to fall the next day, when some rockets were seen to rise from the high ground of the Kohlenberg, which the inhabitants joy- fully recognised as the appointed signals of approaching rehef. The assailants had now to stand on the defensive, and encounter the combined imperial and Polish army, the command of which had been ceded to the redoubtable Sobieski. In a few days, at the head of his famous lancers, he attacked the city of tents, and its inmates were scattered as dust before the whirlwind. A uni- versal panic seized the Turks as soon as they were con- scious of his terrible presence in the field. " By Allah," REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 149 exclaimed Selim Gherai, the khan of the Crimea, " the king is really among us." The pashas of Aleppo and Silistria fell in the fight. The vain-glorious Kara ]\lus- tapha fled precipitately, leaving his gorgeous pavihon of crimson silk a trophy in the hands of the \-ictors. His charger, far too hea\'ily caparisoned for speed, was found at its entrance, held by a slave. Abandoning everything, camp, artillery, baggage, and magazines, the discomfited army became a disorderly rabble. Those who escaped the sword continued their retreat by moonlight, and halted not till they had crossed the Raab at the distance of fifty-five miles from the field. The battle of Vienna, on September 12, 1683, re- lieTed western Europe of all apprehension from the Turks. Their flight and subsequent reverses revealed their weakness when opposed by disciplined forces ably commanded. Being promptly pursued by the imperial troops, they suffered defeat after defeat, lost Buda, the capital of Hungary, and its most important fortresses ; while the Venetians, joining the league, conquered the Morea. Irritated by these humihations, the Janissaries revolted, and deposed the sultan in 1687, his grand %izier having previously been consigned to the bow- string. The first appearance of the New Testament in the Turkish language is an interesting event of this long reign. The translation was made by Mr. William Sea- man, a Nonconformist minister, who had been chaplain to the British embassy at the Porte. Sir Cyril AVych, who was before mentioned as taking his baptismal name from that of the Greek patriarch, suggested the work ; Edward Pococke, the celebrated orientalist, aided it ; the hon. Robert Boyle contributed towards the publication ; and the Let'ant or Turkey Company defrayed the gveatt r 150 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. part of the expense. It was printed at the Oxford uni- versity press in the year 1666. It was also under this sultan that the right of navi- gating the Black Sea, which had been pre^-iously granted to English merchantmen, was defined by specific articles, negotiated by the representative of Charles ii. The mer- chants were to be allowed, " with all under their banner, to go by way of the Tanais (Don) into Muscovia;" and a pro\-ision occurs which indicated a state of lawlessness to have hitherto existed ; namely, to the effect that, on returning, the merchants were not to be compelled to break bulk arbitrarily. *' The English ships which shall come to this our city of Constantinople, if by fortune of seas, or ill weather, they shall be forced to Kaffa or to such like port, as long as tlie English will not unlade, or sell their own merchandise and goods, no man shall en- force nor give them any trouble." KafFa, at this period, had recovered the commercial prosperity which departed from it with the Genoese, and was known by the name of Koutchouk Stamboul, or Little Constantinople. Great internal disorder and progressive reverses on the frontier marked the close of the seventeenth century, durine- the short reis:ns of Soliman ii., Sohman ii. » '^ from 1687 to 1691, Achmet ii., 1691 — Achmetii. ^^^_^ ^^^ MUSTAPHA II., 1695 — 1703. us ap a II. ^^^ ^j^.^ period, Russia was rising to mili- tars^ power and political importance under the extraordi- nary semi-barbarian Peter i. The czar, having organized an army, and commenced a navy on the lakes and rivers of his country, aspired to improve its geographical posi- tion by the acquisition of seaports for naval purposes. At the commencement of his reign he had not command of a foot of land on the Baltic or the Black Sea, and no sea-board at all except in a northerly direction, where REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 151 navigation is suspended for six or seven months in the year by the severity of winter. To remedy this obstacle in the way of maritime adventure and foreign commerce, Peter declared war against Turkey, and, in 1695, marched alons- the Don to attack Azoff, a strondv forti- tied to^Mi at its mouth. In the first campaign, he was obliged to raise the siege, and retire with great loss ; but, in the following year, when aided by a flotilla which de- scended the river, he captured the place, and extended his frontier for a time to waters communicating with the Black Sea and the Bosphorus. A few years later he founded Taganrog, on the northern shore of the sea of AzofF, as a southern outport for the produce of his domi- nions. But a far hea^der blow was inflicted upon the Turks by the Austrians under Prince Eugene, who de- feated them in the great battle of Zenta, on the river Theiss, in Hungary. The grand vizier, seventeen pashas, and twenty thousand men, were left dead on the field, while the imperialists crossed the Danube, and appeared in sight of the Balkan. In consequence of this disaster, the peace of Carlo-^dtz was concluded in 1699, under the auspices of England and the provinces of the Nether- lands. By its conditions, the Porte lost Transylvania and nearly the whole of Hungary, which were added to the Austrian crown, while the Venetians were confirmed in the possession of the Morea, and Peter in that of Azoff. Never had the empire been so humbled since Timour effected for a time its actual dismemberment. Soon after the commencement of the eighteenth cen- tury, AcHMET III. ascended the throne, in A. D. 1703. The succession of fourteen Achmet m. grand viziers in the space of fifteen years a°- I'oa— irso. al'ter his accession sufficiently evidences the enfeebled and disturbed position of the government. 152 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. Early in the reign of this prince, Charles xii. of Sweden took refuge in his dominions, after being defeated by Peter in the battle of Pultowa, upon his mad advance into southern Europe, far from all supplies and rein- forcements. The fugitive was hospitably received, and took up his abode at Bender, on the Dniester. Owing to his representations, and the menacing attitude of Russia on the sea of Azoff, the sultan declared war in order to check the progress of the czar. The latter accepted the contest with alacrity, but coriducted it with singular incaution, committing the same error which had led to the ruin of his antagonist Charles. Confident of nctory, and thereby rendered rash, he marched his army from the Dniester to the Pruth, far from his own resources, and depending upon the promise of the hospodars of Molda\'ia and "Wallachia to join him with men, forage, and pro^-isions. The princes repaired to his camp, but their subjects were either passive or friendly to the Turks ; and, while the expected supplies of stores were not forthcoming, clouds of locusts ob- scured the sky, eating up every green thing upon the ground. Peter soon found himself in the extremity of danger. His troops were on the verge of famine, when an army of a hundred thousand Turks, under the grand vizier, Baltadji Mohammed, and one of fifty thousand Tatars, under the khan of the Crimea, hemmed them in between the Pruth on one side and a morass on the other. The czar must, with his whole force, have been either captured or destroyed had the hostile commander pressed his advantage. After resisting the attacks of the overwhelming host for two days, though with dreadful loss, the czar, in utter despair of deliverance, addressed a letter to his senate. "1 announce to vou," he wrote, "that, de- REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 153 ceived by false intelligence, and through no fault of mine, I am here shut up in my camp by a Turkish army four times more numerous than my own, our provisions cut off, and on the point of being cut to pieces, or taken prisoners, unless Heaven comes to our aid in some unex- pected manner. If it befall that I am taken by 'the Turks, you will no longer consider me your czar and lord, nor pay regard to any order that may be brought you on my part, not even though you may see my hand signed to it ; but you will wait until I come myself .in person. If I am destined to perish here, and you re- ceive well-confirmed news of my death, then you will choose for my successor the worthiest among you." Peter was dreadfully distressed by his position. He suffered from strong convulsions, which always seized him when he was excited and anxious. Having deter- mined to emancipate himself or perish rather than be taken captive, he retired to his tent at night, and gave strict orders for no one to enter it under any pretence whatever, not wishing to have witnesses to his dejection. But his wdfe Catherine, who was present in the camp, and quick-witted enough to perceive the only chance of escape, defied the order, and intruded upon him to procure his signature to a proposal to treat. She wrung this from him by entreaties and tears, despatched it to the camp of the enemy, backed "with a present of all the jewels and valuables she could command or obtain. Weakly or corruptly, the grand -vizier yielded, and allowed the czar to escape upon his assenting to humiliating conditions. He agreed to abandon Azoff and Taganrog, burn the galleys in the ports, surrender the artillery in the fortresses, and give hostages for the fulfilment of the treaty. Peter had thus to renounce the south maritime frontier he had won ; and was ex- 154 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. pressly required to accept the treaty of the Pruth as an act of grace frorrj the Turks. Hastily surrendering the hostages, lest the vizier should change his mind, Peter marched back to his own dominions, having had the wants of his army abun- dantly supplied. As he was retiring, the Swedish king made his appearance, having galloped from the Dniester to the Pruth, upon being apprised of the dilemma of his rival, to assist in his capture or destruction. In a tem. pest of passion he went straight to the tent of the Ottoman commander, and reproached him with having consented to treat. "I have the right," replied the grand vizier, calmly, "to make peace or war." "But," resumed the king, " was not the whole Muscovite army in thy power?" "Our law directs us," rejoined the vizier, " to give peace to our enemies when they sue for mercy." " Pshaw," said the king, " does thy law order thee to conclude a bad treaty when thou canst dictate any terms that seem good to thee ? Did it not rest with thee to take back the czar as thy prisoner to Constan- tinople ?" The Turk, hard pressed, replied drily, "And who would govern his empire in his absence ? All kings should not leave their homes." Charles stated, not- withstanding this repartee, that if he would give him a number of troops he would yet recover the opportunity. " God preserve us," responded Baltadji Mohammed, " from breaking a treaty of peace without any reason, and I have already accepted hostages for the perform- ance of it." The indignant Sw-ede threw himself on a sofa, looked at the vizier with inexpressible contempt, and sti-etching out his leg he caught his spur on purpose in the robe of the Turk, tore it, rose immediately, mounted his horse, and galloped back to Bender. The grand vizier might be regarded as having simply acted REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 1 00 the part of a generous foe, but for the presents of Catherine, which it is notorious he along with some of his officers received. This event, together with his faihare to procure the punishment of the delinquent \-izier, so exasperated Charles, that he became an impracticable guest ; and the authorities were compelled to enforce his departure from the country. " I never knew this king of Sweden," said sultan xlchmet ii., "till he came to seek shelter in my dominions, yet I have aiforded him all the rights of hospitality. I have maintained his officers, his ministers, and his soldiers, for the space of three years and a-half. I have given him the money which he wanted, and have never ceased to heap benefits upon him ; yet he will not depart in peace. Can I then be called cruel or mijust by other nations, if I resort to force to compel this prince to leave my country, where he is now remaining to the great inconvenience of the btate?" The Swedish king left Turkey in the year 1713. Not long afterwards, Devlet-Gherai, khan of the Crimea, who had never forgiven the grand \-izier, obtained what Charles had pleaded for in vain, the punishment of the delinquent commander. Having been summoned to Adrianople to attend a council of war, he was in the act of mounting his horse to return at the close of the conference, when he suddenly stood still, -with one foot in the stirrup. "What can make Devlet-Gherai tarry thus?" inquired the sultan. "I am waiting," he replied, "that thou shouldest send me the head of Baltadji Mohammed." The vassal was too powerful to have his wishes thwarted. Achmet declared war against Venice, in order to re- cover the Morea, and succeeded in the object. But this 156 i:kverses of the empire. step brought the imperial armies into the field as the allies of the repubhc. They were victorious in several actions, and enforced the peace of Passarowitz in 1718, by which the remaining Hungarian possessions of the Porte were ceded to Austria. Through the remainder of the reign, or for twelve years, the administration re- mained in the hands of one grand \dzier — an unusual occurrence. He conducted it ably, but was at last sacrificed to the resentment of the Janissaries, in con- sequence of a war with Persia, which had commenced prosperously, being closed with reverses. The deposi- tion of his master being likewise demanded, Achmet quietly submitted; and, in a.d. 1730, left the throne to become a prisoner of state in the palace of which he had been the lord. The honour belongs to the deposed sovereign of having patronized the introduction of European arts and sciences into his capital, and of estabhshing the first press for printing in Turkish. This event, which occurred in the year 1728, is of sufficient interest and importance to deserve some notice. At the time mentioned, there existed at Constantinople several Hebrew, Greek, and Armenian presses. As far back as the year 1488, a Hebrew lexicon was printed in the city; and in the middle of the seventeenth century, the Greek and Ar- menian presses were in full activity. But every attempt to introduce printing for the Turks themselves in their own language failed, till Said Mohammed Effendi took up the design. This intelligent man, while on an em- bassy to Paris, had his attention arrested by the pro- gress of the western nations, and the decline of the eastern since the invention of printing. So strongly did this fact impress his mind, that a printing-press ac- companied his return to Constantinople. Communicat- REVERSES or THE EMPIRE. l57 ing his views to a Hungarian renegade of the name of Ibrahim, the latter addressed a memoir to the sukan on the vast advantages hkel}' to result from Turkish print- ing-presses. The project excited alarm, and encountered strong opposition. Many of the Ulema denounced the innovation as dangerous to the creed of Islam, and even asserted it to be a profanation offered to human thought, which, they said, "had always been transmitted by writing, and which ought not to he divulged by any other mode!" Fifteen thousand scriveners who got their living by copying manuscripts, raised a violent outcry. But the Sheikh-ul-Islam approved the scheme, and advised the sultan not to yield to clamour. It was finally arranged that the Koran and doctrinal works should continue to be circulated in manuscript, and printing he allowed for other books. Ibrahim acted the part of printer, translator, author, and corrector, and issued books of social utility, such as the histories of various countries. But, though he was a man of vast energy, such was the indifference of the Turks to books, that with all his efforts in the twenty-eight years, ex- tending from 1728 to 1/56, the press produced only eighteen works, or twenty-five volumes, the number of copies printed being sixteen thousand five hundred. Through the next twenty-seven years, from 175C to 1 783, the press was entirely inactive. It was then re- established under sultan Abdul-Hamid, when the old worn-out types were replaced with new, smaller, and neater letters. The progress of the Turkish press since its revival, though very slow, has had a marked effect upon the art of penmanship. The beautiful handwriting for which the caligraphists were remarkable, equal to that of the rersian scribes, has now almost entirely disappeared L 158 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. though the business hand has gained in distinctness. State papers, credential letters, and other ministerial documents are no longer written with the graphic luxury which they boasted a century ago. "It is a remark- able fact," says Yon Hammer, " confirmed by the pre- sent condition of caligraphy, as well in Persia as in Turkey, that the state of the art of beautiful penman- ship may, in these countries, be taken as a certain mea- sure of the progress made in scientific and yet more in scholarly cultivation." The art of transcription has been shorn of its lavish ornaments ; and artists are rarely met with capable of even deciphering the writings adorned with them. The declining fortunes of the empire, so manifest in the period to which this chapter is devoted, are refer- able to various causes. The feebleness of the sultans may be mentioned as not the least influential. Their predecessors, the founders of the state, were men of vigorous character and 'active habits, accustomed to direct the councils of their ministers, and superintend in person the administration of the government ; sharing in all the duties of the cabinet, the labours of the camp, and the dangers of the field. But the discipline of the seraglio, when fully established, was fatal to a succession of able or competent rulers. A policy dictated by fear in the breast of the reigning sovereign confined the princes of the blood witliin its walls, like so many prisoners of state, and thus deprived them of the means of acquiring that practical knowledge which is essential for filling any office efln^ciently. Sequestered from general society, and excluded from every sphere of useful activity or honourable ambition, with eunuchs for their teachers, and slaves for their companions, while m jeopardy of the bowstring in everv political sto^m. REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 159 they resigned themselves to guilty pleasures to dissipate the tedium of such an existence, and Tvere only fitted, ii raised to the throne, to act the part of timid puppets or effeminate tyrants. Under rulers without the will or the capacity to hold the reins of government "uith a vigorous hand, the spirit of turbulent independence was cherished in the pashas of distant portions of the empire, and of ^vild licence among the troops, who were both ahke tempted to break loose from the bonds of authority by the prospect of immunity from punishment. The former exhausted the provinces in order to enrich themselves ; the latter became their auxiliaries for a share of the spoil. Pohtically incompetent and devoted to sensual gratifications, the sultans abandoned the task of ad- ministration to favourites and parasites, who had re- course to the sale of i Lblic functions as the readiest mode of performing it, r.nd the most profitable for themselves. Pashahcs and other oflices were sold to the highest bidder. Bribes influenced the negotiation of treaties, and even forwarded the objects of the public enemy. Thus a corrupt and extortionary system of administration prevailed, which was debasing to the morals of the community, and ruinous to the interests of the state. But the genius of Mohamm-edanism, by the vain and arrogant claims to superiority which it engenders, and its stern fatalism, contributed much to retain the Turks in a stationary condition, which necessarily became one of increasing inferiority in comparison with that of the other nations of Europe, so soon as they had begun their advancing course out of the darkness of the mediaeval period. Educated in a creed which confines the intellect to the Koran, and inspires sovereign con- 160 REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. tempt for nations, arts, and institutions without the pale of Islam ; taught to regard the sultan as the im- personation of all mundane power and greatness, as being the " shadow of God," and the earthly represen- tative of the prophet ; resigned to the belief that all events happen by inevitable necessity, an arrest was laid upon intellectual cultivation, and the people were kept by their v^r-y religion in that non-progressive state which is always equivalent to a retrograde condition. Thus, while the revival of letters, the invention of print- ing, the new channels opened for commerce, the ad- vance of art and science, the extension of civil liberty, and the light of pure Christianity, changed the face of society over the greater part of Europe, and renovated the strength of its nationalities, the Turkish empire was kept, in general, aloof from current improvements, and remained, like a barbarous edifice of the olden time crumbling amidst the noble architectural creations of a modern age, ready to fall in pieces at the touch of every hostile influence. The essentially military constitution of the empire also insured its decay. History continually repeats the lesson that power founded by the sword, and depending mainly upon the sword for its maintenance, can never be firm and permanent, whether this weapon of govern- ment be grasped by a potentate or wielded by an aristo- cracy. There must be a limit to conquest, by the general array of threatened nations against the common enemy, and consequently a cessation of the supplies obtained from the pillage of subjugated countries. When that period comes, and no care has been taken to provide internal resources by the development of industry, the state collapses from its own intrinsic weakness ; the aggressor becomes unable to resist REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. IGl attack ; and the spoiler is in clanger of being taken for a prey. In such circumstances, rapacity to maintain tlie expense necessary for foreign war, or for checking the advance of powerful invaders, speedily produces exhaus- tion ; while its exercise is far too perilous to be often repeated. Thus, the Turks were formidable so long as they could reap a harvest of plunder from the states and countries around them. But, when a stop was put to their career of conquest by the mcreased power of their neighbours, and they had to act upon tlie defen- sive, the deficiency of their o\mi resources was soon apparent. Having neglected to fortify themselves with the elements of national strength, or the energy and means which unfettered industry^ mental cultivation, and wise and free institutions impart, they finally suc- cumbed in the struggle with the once barbarous Mus- covite and the more enlightened Germans ; and would, ere this, have been blotted irretrievably from the list of European kingdoms, but for the intervention of friendlv powers, and the manifestation of a recent dis- position to adopt and conform to the laws and influences of the ci^-ilization which they formerly despised. Tliough it may not be always obvious, yet nations and individuals are subject to a measure of natural and providential retribution in the present life ; and both, generally speaking, advance or mar their prosperity, according as right or wrong principles of action are adopted. "Our defeats," said the mufli to the baron de Tott, " are not the effects of human force. They are the chastise- ment of our crimes. The decree of Heaven has reached us, and nothing can avert the wrath of Omnipotence." CHAPTER YIII. FURTHER RILVERSES OF THE Er^riRE. Tatars of the Crimea— Their sacred standard— First Russian invasion of the Crimea — British officers — Mustapha in. and Catherine ii. — Great struggle between Russia and Turkey — Russian fleet in the INIediterra- nean — Ignorance of the divan — Battle of Tchesme — Disorganized state of the empire — Sheikh Daher and Ali Bey — Treaty of Kainardji — Articles relating to the Greek church — Independence of the Crimea — Faithlessness of Russia— Projected partition of the empire— Abdul. Hamid— Capture of Ismail— Peace of Jassy— Reforms of Selim in.— His difficulties and deposition— The Waliabites—KuLshuk Ali— Depo- sition of Mustapha iv. , „ , , In the reio;!! of M/HMOud i., from Mahmoud i. o A.D. 1730-1754. A.D. 1730 to 1/54, the Russians made their first appearance in the Crimea, and commenced that system of open attack and secret interference which, in the space of about half a century, brought it under their dominion. The Tatar khans had long been the main props of the Turkish sultans, marching at the head of armies, varying from one to two hundred thousand strong. The cavalry, armed with sabre, lance, and buckler, had inspired Poles, Hun- garians, and Germans mth terror. The infantry, in early times, employed the sling and bows and arrows, besides the sword. Both cavalry and mfantry used the lasso. Horns of cattle served as a substitute for the bugle, and sounded the onset with an indescribable clang, produced by their number. Upon the khan engaging in war, each kadilik or district of the Crimea FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 163 was bound to fumisli the army with a waggon dra\ra bj two horses, and a load of corn. The khanate once included a vast territory. It stretched from the Danube on the one hand, to the Caucasus on the other, while its northern frontier extended as far as Poland and Lesser Russia. Though reduced in dimensions, it still comprehended, besides the peninsular tract of the Crimea Proper, the countries on the lower courses of the Don, the Dnieper, and the Dniester. Bakchi-serai, the capital, in the days of its prosperity, contained nearly two hundred thousand inhabitants, -^-ith palaces, kiosks, mosques, and minarets, lining the banks of the Djourouk-sou, or grouped on the terraced sides of a valley resembhng Matlock. Martial games and warlike songs fostered the mihtary spirit of the people. The following is a specimen of the latter : " Fling high ! Oh fling high ! To the bnght blue sky. The banners that led Our forefathers, dead, To battle! to battle! to battle " Hope, like a bright star, Shines forth from afar ; And leads on the brave. Their country to save, To battle ! to battle ! to battle! " May each glittering tear, On our heroes' bier, Gem the deathless crown Of their bright renown. To battle! to battle! to battle!" The banner referred to in the first stanza, the national flag of the Tatars, Avas an old, moth-eaten standard, placed under guardianship of imams, and specially venerated by the people ; for, according to tradition, it had been borne before the padishah of padishahs, king of kings, Genghis Khan. 164 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. The invasion of the Crimea by the Russians arose out of the war -with Persia, which was proceeding at the accession of jNIahmoud. Under orders from the sultan, the khan, Feth Gherai, passed the steppe of the Kuban, and attempted to cross the Caucasus, for the purpose of attacking the Persians in Georgia. His route brought him into contact with the nations of that grand moun- tain chain, especially with the Tcherkesses or Circas- sians, who chiefly inhabited the pro\dnces of the Little and Great Kabardah. Though not subjects of the Porte, nor vassals, they had for centuries maintained friendly correspondence with the court of Constan- tinople, and considered its sovereigns the natural pro- tectors of their liberty and religion. So far, therefore? from objecting to the march of the khan, they received him with every mark of respect as the representative of the sultan, facilitated his movements, and proposed to assist him against the Persians. This alliance provoked the jealousy of the Russians, whose commanders im- mechately put forth a claim, never heard of before, to the sovereignty of the district, and proclaimed the march of the khan a -s-iolation of their territory. The latter was attacked by them "uithout a declaration of war. But, so anxious was the Porte to avoid a rupture with the northern power, that orders were sent to the khan to return to the Crimea. The good oiflces of the cabinet of Vienna were also solicited to avert hostilities. But, after affecting to entertain the project of mediation, Austria concluded an offensive and defensive alliance vdih Russia ; and the two mighty states assailed at differ- ent points the empire of the sultan. The perfidious policy of the Austrian court was justly punished. The imperial armies, being commanded by incompefent generals, were signally defeated in several FrRTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 165 pitched battles, and sustained such severe losses that the emperor was glad to purchase peace by consenting to conditions which proclaimed his own humiliation. In the direction of Russia, the result of hostilities was un- favourable to the Turks, though no real loss of territory was suffered. Early in the year 1726, marshal Munich advanced against the Crimea with a powerful army, and arrived ^^ithin cannon-shot of the lines of Perekop on the 28th of May. These defences consisted of a fosse and rampart extending across the narrow isthmus which connects the peninsula with the continent. The fosse was seventy-two feet broad, and forty-two feet deep, but completely dry. The height from the bottom to the crest of the rampart was seventy feet. The Russians broke through by outwitting the Tatars. An hour before daylight, a division made a false attack towards the extremity of the hues on the right. This feint succeeded in drawing the greater portion of the defenders to that point, while the main body of the army, which had been marching all night in profound silence towards the left, passed the fosse, and scaled the rampart with little difficulty. Finding the enemy within their lines, the panic-struck Tatars retired to lay waste the country, and harass the invaders on their march by skirmishing. jMunich directed his course to Koslov, now Eupatoria, from- thence to Bakchi-serai, plundering and burning the towns and villages, and on June the 29th he encamped on the banks of the Alma. But the heat of summer, incessant harassing, fatigue, and want of supplies, had so far reduced his army, that he had to re- treat precipitately to the northward, and regained the Ukraine, having lost half his troops in the desolating inroad. ^Meanwhile, another division of the Russians, 166 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. under General Lacy, had been closely pressing the siege of Azof, and mastered it before the campaign closed. After two more desultory forays in the Crimea tinder Lacy, with the capture of Otchakow by Munich, the empress Anne gladly closed the war, in consequence of the menacing attitude of Sweden. By the peace of Nissa, in 1/39, Russia agreed to surrender all her con- quests, and even to acknowledge the independence of the Kabardahs, though her claim to them was the original cause of hostihties. The real design of the cabinet of St. Petersburg was to reverse the hard conditions wrimg from Peter on the Pruth, and gain access to the Black Sea ; but this second attempt of the northern power to conquer a southern seaboard failed as signally as the first. The Russian armies at this period were largely officered by foreign adventurers, many of whom were our own countrymen, Jacobites — who were either unaljle to live at home from being politically compro- mised, or we- 8 voluntary exiles through discontent ^^ith the Hanoverian government. It is curious to find the names of Lac}', Brown, Leshe, Sinclair, Jones, Gray, and others, respectively Irish, Scotch, and Enghsh, in the Crimea in 1/36-8, serving a power which has been opposed in the same region in 1855, by the whole might of the British government. Sultan Mahmoud reigned nearly a quarter of a cen- tury, and died a natural death in the possession of the throne, an event up to that time sufficiently rare in the annals of the empire to be remarkable. During his latter years, the Mohammedan reformer, Abdul-'Wahheb, who foimded the sect of the Wahabites, became con- spicuous in Arabia. FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 167 The brief career of the next sovereign, n-^..,.,, ,r. ~ ' Othmau III. Othman III., from A. D. 1754 to 1/57, ad. 1754—1757, "was attended with no incidents deserving of notice. But it was the lot of his successor Mus- TAPHA III., who reigned from a.d. 1757 to 1773, to commence that struggle "\\ith Mustapha m. the ruler of the north, Catherine 11., ^•^- 1757—1773 which enabled her to wrest nearly the entire north coast of the Euxine from the Ottoman sway, and compromise the independence of the empire. The design of the empress to become the mistress of Poland was the cause of the war which the sultan de- clared in 1768, in order to prevent the aggrandizement of a state which was considered already too extended for the safety of his own domhiions. Still the decisive step was not taken till actual aggression had occurred. Upon the patriot Poles being defeated, they escaped across the frontier, and were hospitably received by the Turkish commandant, in the small to^vn of Balta. The Russian < followed them in their flight, attacked the town, laid it in ashes, and massacred the inhabitants. It was not until the tidings of this daring Adolation of territory reached Constantinople, that the mufti granted the ecclesiastical sanction for the commencement of war, which had previously been sought for from him in vain. Vast preparations for hostilities were made on both sides; successes and reverses were at first somewhat evenly balanced between the contending parties, but the triumph of the Russians was finally decisive. Under Romanzow they captured the fortresses, and mastered the country from the Dnieper to the Danube. Under Dolgorouki they again broke through the hues of Pere- kop, and overran the Crimea, compeUing the khan to quit his territory', while their fleet for the first time 168 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. sailed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. It was designed to co-operate vdth the Greeks of the ^Nlorea and the Archipelago, and ^\^th the Sclavonian subjects of the sultan who were of the Greek religion, among ^Yhom the agents of the empress freely scattered gold and promises to excite an insurrection. The armament sailed in two squadrons from the ports of Revel and Archangel, and united on the voyage. Alexis Orlof was appointed high admiral, with his brother Feodore for second in command. Neither of them had the slightest nautical knowledge, but they were court favourites, and not indisposed to acquire fame by the skill of others. The real command de- volved upon admiral Spiridoff, assisted by British officers in the Russian service — Elphinstone, Greig, Dugdale, and Tate ; while foreign seamen, British, Dutch, and Danish, formed the effective part of the crews. The fleet reached the Mediterranean in the year 1770, after having encountered great difficulties, owing to storms and the incapacity of those on board who assumed authority. Such was the ignorance of ^ography in the Turkish ministry, that, when informed of this mari- time expedition, it was declared to be impossible, since no communication subsisted between the two seas ; and when satisfied that there was some trutn in the tidings, an application was made to the Austrian ambassador to forbid the passage of the ships by Trieste and the Adriatic. Thirty years hiter, a similar instance of igno- rance was manifested by the Turkish rulers. The British government proposed to bring to the assistance of the Porte an Anglo-Indian force by the way of the Red Sea, upon which the grand vizier denied its possibi- hty ; and it was with the utmost difficulty that Sir Sydney Smith convinced him by the exhibition of charts. FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 169 that the Red Sea was really an arm of the Indian Ocean. The counsellors of the sultan are now better acquainted Tv-ith the map of the world ; for the dangers with which the empire has been menaced through upwards of half a century have enforced attention to the avenues of access to it, "with reference to both friends and foes. The Ottoman and Russian fleets came to action in the channel between the island of Scio and the coast of Anatolia. Night terminated a dreadful engagement, which was disadvantageous to the Turks. They impru- dently took rexuge in the narrow and shallow bay of Tchesme, where many of the vessels ran aground, while all were so closely packed together as to be unable to manoeuvre. In this position they were attacked by the British officers \\-ith fire ships, and destroyed in a general conflagration. This was the greatest disaster which had befallen the Turkish navy since the battle of Lepanto. Considering existing political combinations, it is a re- markable fact that our countrj^men contributed more to the depression of Turkey, and the aggrandizement of Russia, than perhaps any other people. The state of Constantinople and its neighbourhood was awful in the extreme at this crisis. The seamen who managed to escape from the ships roamed along the shores, committing outrages upon the miserable popula- tion, which the enemy could scarcely have exceeded. At the same time, the plague raged in the capital, and destroyed its victims at the rate of a thousand a-day ; while incendiaries were mcessantly setting fire to some quarter of the city, in order to plunder with impunity under cover of the conflagrations. The plague extended itself to the armies on the Danube ; spread into Poland and the interior of Russia ; reached Moscow, and swept off nearly a hundred thousand of its inhabitants. Such 170 rURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. was the panic of the jNIuscovites, that, upon the arch- bishop interfering to check the frenzied fanaticism of the people, they rose in insurrection, and murdered him in the Donskoi monastery. The disasters of the Euiopean part of the empire, and the impossibihty of the government maintaining its authority over the rulers of distant regions, while en- gaged in a tremendous struggle with the Colossus of the north, led to the formation for a time of several in- dependent states in the Asiatic provinces. The pashas of Caramania, who were almost always on bad terms with the Porte, availed themselves of the opportunity entirely to throw off their allegiance. Over a consider- able portion of Syria the celebrated Bedouin chieftain? Daher, was absolute, under the style and title of sheikh of Acre, prince of princes, governor of Nazareth, Ti- berias, and Safet, and sheikh of all Galilee, a territory which he wished, though in vain, to convert into a state hereditary in his family. This remarkable man, a native of the valley of the Jordan, and ^^gorous at the age oi fourscore years, was in many respects worthy to rule, by reason of his strict justice, hberal religious policy, disdain of luxury, and preference of open dealing to the arts of intrigue. He survived the reign of Mustapha in., but was soon afterwards attacked in his capital by a Turkish fleet, under the command of Hassan, the famous capitan-pasha. Being deserted by som^e of his adherents, the old sheikh mounted his horse to escape, but was shot as he fled from the gates of the city. In Egypt, the reins of government were held by Ali Bey, a native of the Caucasus, who had been originally sold as a slave in the market of Cairo. He subjected the whole country to his dominion, refused the cus- tomary tribute to the sultan, and coined money in his FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 171 own name. He, however, lost his power and life from the treachery of his principal general, who succeeded in supplanting him, and consented to hold Egypt as the vassal of the Porte. According to an odious custom, the heads of both sheikh Daher and Ali Bey were forwarded to Constantinople. The plague, and the losses incurred by both parties, disposed them to accommodate differences ; and a con- gress was held in the neighbourhood of Bucharest to consider terms of peace. The plenipotentiaries met in the open air, pitched their tents, and conferred in a kiosk erected for the occasion. No contrast could be greater than that afforded by the representatives of the belligerents in their outward appearance. Gregory OrlofP, the envoy of the empress, came in a carriage, with the state of an emperor, blazing with jewels ; while Osman Effendi, the ambassador of the sultan, was on horseback, simply distinguished by a gold-headed cane. The latter, the first to break silence, remarked that " the grand seignior, his master, had recommended him to serve God, and love peace."' No arrangement being then made, the war raged wildly on till Abdul Hamid, in 1773, came to the throne. The advance of Abdul Hamid. his assailants to the passes of the Bal- *•"• i'^-^— i7S9. kan compelled him in 1774 to sign the treaty of Kainardji, so inglorious to his empire, and so memorable from its consequences in the present day. By its pro^-isions, Turkey lost the country between the Dnieper and the Bong, and the latter river became the boundary of the two empires. The fortresses of Kin- burn and Azoff, with those of Kertch and Yenikale in the Crimea, were ceded to the northern power, while the Crimea itself was constituted a mock independent 172 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. State. The free na^-igation of the Black Sea, the Bos- phorus, tlie sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles, was likewise conceded ; and Russia obtained the co-protecto- rate of ^Moldavia and ^yallachia, with a limited right of interference with reference to the Greek church in the dominions of the sultan. The "glorious treaty of Kainardji," as the emperor Nicholas called it, brought Turkey nearly to a state of political dependence upon Russia, and laid the founda- tion for those extravagant demands of the late czar Nicholas upon his southern neighbour, which originated the tremendous conflict which arose between Russia on the one hand, and Turkey, aided by France and Great Britain, on the other. It will be observed, that the articles of the treaty of Kainardji are far from support- ing the claim advanced by the emperor Nicholas. Article vii. runs thus: — " The Sublime Porte pro- mises constantly to protect the Christian religion, and the churches belonging to it ; and also it j^ermits the ministers of the imperial court of Russia to make, on all occasions, representations as well in respect of the new church of Constantinople (of which mention will be made in Article xiv.) as of those who belong to it^ promising to take them into consideration as coming from a person in the confidence of a neighbouring and sincerely friendly power." Article xiv. states as follows : — " After the example of the other powers. It is permitted to the high court of Russia, besides the chapel erected in its house of em- bassy, to construct in the quarter of Galata, in the street named Bey Ogen, a public church of the Greek religion, which shall be always under the protection of the ministers of that em.pire, and held free from all in- terruption and annoyance." FLTITHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 173 Thus the clauses permit Russia to erect a certain church in Constantinople, and place that church under its protection, specifying the suburb, and naming the street. They permit Russia, on all occasions, to make representations on behalf of the said church, and of tAOse who belong to it ; and the Porte contracted an engagement to take them into due consideration. But turning permissions into rights, and a particular case into a general regulation, the position which the czar sought to occupy involved a claim of protection and of interference in respect to all the members of the Greek communion under the rule of the sultan or residing in his dominions. The part of the treaty most obnoxious to the Turks was the stipulation for the independence of the Crimea, as it dissolved a connexion of three centuries' standing, and weakened their military power ; while they must have perceived that, in detaching the peninsula from them, the real object in view was its ultimate incorpora- tion with Russia. Both parties bound themselves in the most solemn manner to leave the people to their own self-government, only dependent upon God. " The Sublime Porte," says the third article, "binds itself, and solemnly promises, afier the example of Rvssia, not to introduce or support any garrison or armed forces, in the said tow^is, countries, and dwellings ; further, for the future, to appoint no governor or officer to these states, under whatever appellation it might be, but to leave the Tatars in perfect liberty and independ- ence, as is done bij Russia." The Turks, with all their faults, have not been covenant-breakers, and they fulfilled their part of the engagement with constancy. Yet, scarcely had the hik dried with which the document was signed, when the M ir4 rURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. Russians were acti-vely at vrork to defeat the compacr. In less than three years afterwards their troops were in the peninsula dictating to the people their ruler ; and nine jears after the treaty of Kainardji had declared the Crimea independent, a simple manifesto of the empress proclaimed it for ever annexed to her dominions. It is painful to have to contrast Mohammedan integrity and the signal faithlessness of a power making a vaunting profession of Christian orthodoxy. Honesty is as much incumbent upon states as upon individuals, and, besides being an imperative duty, it is always in both cases the best policy. Deceit and treachery may ansv/er a tem- porary purpose, >ut those who walk in crooked paths are sure to find themselves, sooner or later, fatally en- snared. Russia, after upwards of seventy years' pos- session of a territory obtained by fraud and violence, has now had her claim to further encroachment success- fully disputed. Ha\'ing been tempted by cupidity and past success to further aggression on her enfeebled neighbour, she became involved in a war in which she has suffered immense losses. Her punishment has been severe ; for, v/hile her armies of defence have been vamly sacrificed, the millions expended upon forts, arsenals, and fleets have been rendered nugatory by their de- struction; and at the termination of the contest her aggressive pohcy towards Turkey has, by the treaty of peace, received a signal check. A triumphant march to Constantinople, with the dismemberment of the Ottoman empire, was at this period contemplated by the court of St. Petersburg as the result of another war ; and Catherine looked lor- oy-ard to her grandson ^ilexander reigning on the bauks of the Neva, and his next brother, Constantine, en- throned ou the shores of the Bosphorus as the head of a FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 175 restored Greek monarchy. The latter prince was care- fiilly trained for this destiny. At his birth, he was put into the hands of Greek nurses, brought from the island of Xaxos. He was dressed in the Greek fashion, and surroimded by children of the race, that he might acquire the language, which he soon spoke with gre^t facility. A deputation of Greeks, during the next war, ■v-isited St. Petersburg, to offer him the crown. "Deign," said they, "0 great empress, thou glory of the Grecian faith, deign to peruse our memorial. Our magnificent ruins speak forcibly to our eyes, and pro- claim our pristine grandeur ; our innumerable ports, our beautiful country, the sky serenely smihng on us the year throughout, the ardour of our youth and even of those advanced in age, all attest that nature is not less propitious to us now than U\ our great progenitors. Give us for a sovereign your grandson Constantine ; it is the wish of our nation, the race of our emperors being extinct ; and we shall become what our ancestors were." The proud dream of a revived Greek empire was sedulously cherished in the mind of Catherine by her base minister Potemkin, in order to preserve his own influence by flattering her ambition, and that he might have vast resources at command for his profit. In the course of a journey to the Crimea in 1/87, he placed the ominous inscription before her at Cherson : — "This is the way to Byzantium." During the tour, in which she was accompanied by the Austrian emperor, Joseph II., the two potentates arranged in their inter^riews the conquest and partition of the whole of European Turkey. This projected spoliation is an undoubted fact, though the details of it are not known with certainty. To rouse the rehgious enthusiasm of her subjects, the em- 176 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. press caused some foolish sayings of the Greek patriarch Jeremiah to be printed and circulated as veritable pro- phecies, in which he had announced the ruin of Con- Btantinople, and the transference of power from the Turks to the Russians. Jeremiah, upon being deposed from his office by Amurath iii. in 1588, sought a tem- porary asylum in Russia, and was induced by the reigning czar Feodore to originate the Russian patri- archate, consecrating the metropohtan of ^loscow to the dignity. In anticipation of ine\dtable hostilities, Abdul Hamid precipitately commenced a war, in the midst of which, in 1789, he died, leaving to his successor the sad legacy of a terrific conflict with the combined forces of Russia and Austria. The sultan, Abdul Hamid, was a very accomplished man, well acquainted with several European languages, and with the arts and literature of the western nations. He entirely laid aside the arrogant bearing of his pre- decessors, was fond of social intercourse with enlightened foreigners, and quite alive to the abuses which prevailed in eveiy part of his empire, though, being of an easy disposition, he made no attempt to correct them. While a somewhat strict observer in general of the Moham- medan law, he allowed himself a beverage which the Koran interdicted, and is said to have obsen'cd jocosely to some of his European guests, that if ''he were to become an infidel, he should embrace the Roman Catholic communion, since all the best wines grew in their countries." A disposition to abandon exclusive habits, and profit Seiim III. by the knowledge of enlightened nations, A.D, 17S9— 1807. -^as more formally and openly displayed by Selim III. His reign embraced the end of the FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 177 last, and the beginning of the present century, having extended from 17S9 to 1807. Prior to his accession, he rose superior to the depraving influence of the seraglio. He was carefully trained by his uncle, Abdul Hamid, studied the history of his country, and the general history of Europe ; cultivated correspondence with intelligent natives and distinguished foreigners, and conceived the bold design of becoming the regenerator of the empire. Unhappily, besides being in advance of the great mass of his subjects, he ascended the throne in specially troubled times ; and the whole period of his reign was a stormy one. In- heritmg the legacy of a war with his northern neigh- bours, he attempted to continue the unequal contest, but was obliged to succumb to the overwhelming coali- tion. Under Potemkin, the nominal commander-in-chiei, who lived like a satrap in his camp, while Suwarrow exe« cuted his orders, the Russians advanced triumphantly to the Danube, took Ismail, crossed the river, and menaced Yarna. The capture of Ismail was one of the most dread- ful tragedies in the dismal annals of bloodshed. Suwarrow appeared upon the occasion, as he has been called, " the avenging demon of Catherine." Equally eccentric and ferocious, the evening before the storm he informed his columns, alluding to his well-known signal, " To-morrow morning, an hour before daybreak, I mean to get up. I shall then dress and wash myself, then say my prayers, then give one good cock-crow, and capture Ismail." The sun on the next day exhibited a spectacle in the town which has rarely shocked the eyes and feelings of man- kind. Fifteen thousand Russians fell in the assault. After becoming masters of the place, the 'victors merci- lessly slaughtered its defenders and inhabitants, includ- 1/8 rURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. ing even women and children, till upwards of tliirty thousand perished, and the streets and passages were choked with heaps of the dead and dying. Pillage fol- lowed the massacre. In Suwarrow's "Discourse under the Trigger," as he strangely termed a series of instruc- tions drawn up by himself for his soldiers, this passage occurs : " Booty is a holy thing. If you take a camp, it is all yours. If you take a fortress, it is all yours. At Ismail, besides other things, the soldiers shared gold and silver by handfuls." His cruelty upon this occasion procured for him the soubriquet of 3Iuley Ismail, in allusion to the emperor of Morocco of that name, one of the most sanguinary monsters that ever existed. The czarina heard of the victories of her armies with exultation, and ironically observed to Whitworth, the English ambassador, " Since Mr. Pitt means to drive me from '^t. Petersburg, I hope he will permit me to retire to Constantinople." It was the full intention of Catherine at this period to listen to no overtures of peace till the Turks had been deprived of their power in Europe, if not chased beyond its limits. Two centuries previously, this would have been deemed by all Christian nations a most desirable consummation. Popes and councils, sovereigns and prelates, princes and priests, had formed plans to accomplish it ; and prayers had been offered in the churches of Christendom for the success of the contemplated movement. But now the sympathies of the same governments were largely excited in favour of the people once so universally abominated ; and diplo- macy became active not only to keep them -vrithin its bounds, but to prevent their expulsion from the family of European states. The causes of this change of public poHcy are very evident. The Turks had ceased to be FURTHER KEYEIISES OF THE EMPIRE. 170 politically formidable ; and, as Kussia would gain over- whelming preponderance if allowed to seize their in- heritance, the western cabinets interfered to arrest the design, in order to mamtain the balance of power. Being forced to yield to their mediation, the proud empress con- cluded the peace of Jassy in 1792, by which the Porte consented to recognise the Russian annexation of the Crimea, and the frontier between the two empires was remoyed from the Boug to the Dniester. Neyerwas an ambitious project more completely baffled than that or Catherine which originated this war. Potemkin, instead of overthrowing the house of Othman, and organizing a new empire, was arrested by the hand of death while trayelling oyer the steppes of Bessarabia, and consigned to a graye which no one now can point out. Four years later, Catheriae expired with a wild shriek, which made the palace ring, after lying forty-seyen hours un- able to speak a word or moye a limb. Her grandson Constantine, instead of reigning at Constantinople, neyer reigned at all, being superseded on the throne of Russia by his 5-ounger brother Nicholas, upon the death of Alexander. The sultan now addressed himself to his contemplated reforms. He patronized the press, erected a printing establishment at Scutari, welcomed foreigners of talent, employed Christian workmen, organized the empire into diyisions for administrative purposes, re-arranged the diyan, assembled it more frequently than in former reigns, and changed the system of taxation. But the principal innovation related to the military force. To renovate the army, which had completely lost its ancient discipline, it was resolved to raise a force trained, armed, and accoutred after the European model ; and the great barracks of Scutari, nov.- so well known to our own soldiers, were 180 FLRTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE, erected to accommodate the new troops. The chief ad- \-iser of these plans was Mahmoud Rayf EfFendi, who, after having passed through various subordinate offices, and ^-isited the courts of London, Paris, and Vienna, was raised to the post of foreign minister. He drew up the statutes to this effect, and was specially entrusted with the execution of them. They received the name of Nizam Djedid, or the "New Regulation;" and this be- came the name of the remodelled soldiery. With more policy, the great reformer Mahmoud ii., at a subsequent time, in order to appease the popular outcry against in- novation, changed the name to Nizam Attick, or the "Old Regulation," as if revi^dng the legislation of his ancestor, Sohman the Great ; and thus the murmurs of the people were silenced. Selim is said to have received himself the suggestions of the French and other Frank residents in the capital ; and his ministers availed them- selves of their advice. In addition to the foregoing arrangements, the establishment of improved roads, a regular postal service, with the lighting, paving, and draining of towns, were objects entertained by this enhghtened sovereign. The new regulations of the empire bear the date 179G. Rut their practical adoption was checked by successive domestic troubles, and the wars consequent on the French revolution. It was the wish of the Ottoman government to keep aloof from the convulsions of Europe occasioned by the latter event. Rut the in- vasion of Egypt by Napoleon compelled a departure from the system of neutrahty which it was anxious to maintain, after repeated conflagrations in the capital had signified the discontent of the people at the hesita- tion of the divan. The Egyptian and Syrian victories cf the French inflamed the passions of the populace m FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. IS I Constantinople, and the snltan tottered on his throne ; for the bigoted adherents to ancient usages referred the pubHc misfortunes to his innovating pohcy. This storm was allayed by the exploits of Lord Nelson at Aboukir, Sir Sidney Smith at Acre, and Sir Ralph Abercromby at Alexandria. But the calm was of short duration. Napoleon, v,]\i\e the master of Europe by land, com- pelled the Porte to consult his views by the threat of invasion, and thus brought it into collision with his chief aiitagonists, Great Britain and Russia. Never was potentate placed in a more embarrassing position than the sultan at this period, — menaced by the master of the land, unless French influence were allowed to pre- dominate in his councils, and threatened by the mistress of the sea, in case he should make the concession. While Russian troops marched into the Danubian pro- vinces, a British fleet for the first time passed the Dardanelles, and anchored off" the mouth of the Bos- phorus. Though the squadron attempted nothing against the capital, and even retired with loss through the strait, the event proved fatal to the reign of Selim. The anchoring of a Christian fleet under the walls of the Moslem city and threatening it with destruction, exasperated the ignorant and fanatical part of the popu- lation. The Janissaries, who apprehended the fall of their order from the organization of the new troops, seized the opportunity as a favourable one for efl'ecting a revolution, in order to retain their position. They directed the general discontent against the sultan, by attributing the dangers of the empire to his reforms, as being oftensive to the founder of Islam, and compro- mismg the integrity of his institutions. Selim, though 182 FURTIIIvR REVERSES OF THE EMr'KE. a man of well-mformed mind, was of mild and timid disposition, incapable of averting the gathering tempest, or quelling it when it broke. The Janissaries rose in open mutiny May 25th, 1807, occupied Pera \Tithout opposition, and directed their cannon against the seraglio. Kayf Eifendi, the author of the Xizam Djedid, was one of their first victims. Other individuals obnoxious to them were massacred, and blood was shed with the wantonness common to oriental strife. The mufti, who had secretly favoured the revolt, at length openly joined it. This high dignitary, when appealed to, formally declared by a fetva, that, having given no heir to the empire, and having introduced the New Regulation, and several other innovating measures, the " sultan Selim III. had forfeited the throne." The circumstances of his actual deposition are not known mth exactness ; but the most injured, and perhaps the best, of the Ottoman sovereigns was transferred to those apartments of the palace where dethroned princes are immured, soon to experience a more adverse lot. Selim founded the school of engineers, and appeared in the ranks of the poets, writing under the poetical name of lUiami, the *' inspired of God." Besides an elegy expressing his emotions in prison, which has been published both in the original and in German, many of his compositions are in circulation : the folloA^'iug is one of them : — " IMine eyes by day and by night Weep for thy sorrows; They who know my sorro"w, All with me lamenting weep. When the mark in my bosom Is seen by the roses in the ^rove. They in compassion begin All to -weep dew. When the physician saw my grief, Sympathizing in tlie pain, he said FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EJiriKE. 183 'Sick man, -whom separation grievet, Thy medicine is weeping.' Is it possible that he Should not pity my sufferings, When in compassion to me The clouds are ever weeping iu rain? When Ilhami seeks sorrowfully For thy beloved eye, Joy breaks his heart ; Nevertheless must he weep bitterly." Mohammedanism is equally povrerless either to con- sole the sorrovving spirit, or relieve the hurdenecl con- science. Christianity never fails to do both, when ita savuig truths are received m the confidence of faith, and its authority is meekly and reverently recognised. Soon after he ascei.ded the throne, Sehm rebuilt the monastery of the Mewlewi Dervises in the capital, as a mark of respect for the poetical superior Gahb-deda, who expressed his gratitude in verses picturesquely describing the ruined condition of the old structure : — " The high house has become an observatory; The stars look in at .the men of the order; The windows are a pillared door for the knowing ; The spider, as chamberlain, has hung a curtain before it ; The self-destroyer has made its way in ; The whole edifice dies away like a song upon nothing ; It trembles at the tone of the flute or of the drum ; At every breath away fly some of its secrets." The sultan ordered a copy of Galib's poems to be prepared for himself so magnificently, that the gilding of the margin alone cost three himdred ducats. A remarkable revolution was effected in this reign iu Arabia, by which that portion of the country under the sovereignty of the Porte was, for a time, severed from it ; namely, the district which includes the cities of ]Mecca and Medina, the Holy Land of the Moslems. The rise of the Wahabites in the middle of the eighteenth century has been already incidentally men- 184 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. tioned. The religion of these sectaries may oe briefly defined as a jMohammedan puritanism. Abdel Wahab, their founder, a Bedouin sheikh, having in his vouth visited the chief cities of the east, returned from his tra- vels convinced, by observation, that the primitive faith of Islam had become totally corrupted in practice, and that by far the greater part of the Turks and Persians were heretics. He determined therefore to assume the character of a reformer, proclaimed his views to his countrymen in the pastoral villages of Nejed, and brought entire tribes, with their chiefs, to embrace the reformed doctrines, recognising him as their spiritual leader. The Wahabites strictly held the unity of God. They believed in the divine mission of the prophet; but, regarding him as a man essentially mortal, they deemed it criminal to swear by his name, and accused the Turks of idolatry on account of the exces- si^e veneration paid to him. Considering all men is equal in the sight of God, they thought it sinful to invoke the intercession of departed saints, or to honour their mortal remains more than those of any other person. Hence chapels, cupolas, and monuments, where reverence was paid to their memory, they con- demned as an abomination, forbade them to be visited, and destroyed them as opportunity offered. Next to the crusade which they proclaimed against saints and sepulchres, their indignation was chiefly directed against luxury and dress. They prohibited the use of spirituous liquors and other exhilarating substitutes ; strictly for- bade the wearing of silk and the smoking of tobacco ; and, in the true spirit of fanaticism, were as zealous about the inferior as the weightier matters of the law. The reformer added political to ecclesiastical rule, and united under his sway the tribes scattered on the FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 185 central wa-tes of Arabia, using the sword and the sermon to effect this object. Saoud, one of his suc- cessors, as chief of the Wahabites, reduced nearly the whole peninsula, and laid the foundation of a great empire. In 1803, Mecca surrendered to him, after a long siege. On taking possession of the place, not the slightest excess was committed ; and the inhabitants long remembered A^ith gratitude the excellent discipline observed by the wild Bedouin soldiers. All the shops were immediately opened by order of the victorious chief, and every article which his troops required was purchased Avith ready money. But above eighty splendid tombs, which covered the remains of the descendants of the prophet, and formed the great orna- ments of the city, were levelled with the ground. The zeal of the reformers was next directed against the coffee-houses, or rather shops for spirituous liquors. Piles of pipes and hookahs were collected from these haunts and destroyed ; the use of brandy and tobacco was prohibited under severe penalties ; prayers for the sultan in the grand mosque were abolished ; and the people were obliged to conform, outwardly at least, to the new creed, by abandoning their rich dresses, and more punctually observing the hours of prayer. The conqueror announced his conquest to the Porte in the folloAving laconic letter : — " Saoud to Selim. I entered Mecca on the 4 th day of jMoharrain (April 27), in the 1218th year of the Hegira. I kept peace towards the inhabitants. I destroyed all the tombs that were idolatrously worship- ped. I abolished the levying of all customs above two and a half per cent. I confirmed the cadi whom you had aj)pointed to govern in the place, according to the laws of ]\Iohammed. I desire that in the ensuinc^ years 135 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. you -uill give orders to the pashas of Sham (Damascus) and Mesr (Cairo) not to come accompanied vdth the mahmai, trumpets, and drums, into Mecca and Me- dina.* For Tvhy? Rehgion is not profited by these things. Peace be between us ; and may the blessmg of God be unto you! Dated on the 10th day of Moharrain (May 3)." IMedina was captured in the following year, with the like result. Saoud left the tomb of the prophet un- injured ; but prohibited as idolatrous all visits, prayers, oi- adorations addressed to it. He despoiled it of its treasures, the most remarkable of which is said to have been a star set in diamonds and pearls, which was sus- pended directly over the coffin. Around it were de- posited many costly vessels, with jewels, ear-rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other ornaments, sent as pre- sents from all parts of the Mohammedan world. The total value of the booty was estimated at more than 300,000 dollars ; but the donations of the faithful, accumulated for ages, must have amounted to a much greater sum, had not the governors of the city, or the guardians of the sepulchre, occasionally reheved their necessities by large drafts from this religious exchequer. At Medina, as at Mecca, the "Wahabite commander enforced the due observance of the stated times of * This refers to the great annual caravans of pilgrims. The AVahahites dill not object to the pilgrimage itself, but to its accompaniments, such as the wahmal. This appendage of the SjTian and Egyptian caravans is a pavilion of silk, borne on the back of a camel, beneath -which a book of prayers is placed. On the return of the caravans, the camel and the book are held in great veneration by the lower classes whose means do not allow them to go to Mecca in person. They flock in crowds to touch either, and deem themselvas benefited by it. How nearly allied are Mohammedan and Papal superstitions ! The camel is never afterwards employed in labour. Though the Wahabites allowed of pilgrimage, they practically stopped for a lime the passage of the great caravans by the terms annexed to the privilege. FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 1^7 prayer, and the abandonment of silks and tobacco. A body of Arabs, armed witb sticks, patrolled tbe streets, and cudgelled the inhabitants to the mosqne. AAer morning, noonday, and evening service, the names of ail the adult males were called over, and those who did not answer to the roll were punished. A respectable woman, accused of having smoked a hookah, was paraded through the streets on an ass, with the pipe suspended frorn^ her neck, round which the long flexible tube was twisted. Saoud spread the terror of his name far and wide, and conducted his followers on desultory expeditions to the borders of Palestine and the banks of the Euphrates. During the whole reign of Selim, and for some years before and after, such was the imbecihty of the govern- ment that the line of direct communication by land between two great divisions of the empire, Asia ^Nlinor and Syria, was completely stopped, except to those who chose to hazard their lives, or submit to heavy exactions. This state of things was the work of Ivutshuk Ali, a rebel chief, who was practically the Icing of the passes. In the early part of his hfe, he was a simple bandit, inhabiting the mountains of Amanus, at the foot of which stands the town of Payass, on a narrow plam between them and the waters of the gulf of Scanderoon. He began his more pubhc career by nocturnal excursions to rob the gardens of the towns- people, some of whom at length agreed to pay him a triflmg annual tribute to be exempt from depredation, till all of them consented to furnish a stated contribu- tion. The views of the robber enlarged \\-ith his suc- cess ; and, having become the chief of a gang, he aspired to the mastery of the toAvn. The heads of families were waylaid on their journeys, while others 188 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. ■were decoyed from home and successively destroyed, till Kutshuk Ali found himself strong enough to over- come the survivors, and assume the government of Pay ass. He now began systematically to levy contri- butions upon all travellers; and, as the grand annual caravan of pilgrims from Constantinople to IVIecca must either pass through the town or make a long and expen- sive journey through the mountains of Armenia, he drew a considerable revenue from this source. Each individual was taxed according to Kutshuk' s caprice, and detained in prison till his rapacity was satisfied. In order to dispose the pilgrims to comply with his terms, he never failed to prepare for them, as an intimation of his power and cruelty, the spectacle of two impaled bodies transfixed to the gates of the to\vn. The Dutch consul of Aleppo, though armed with imperial firmans, was detained in bondage during eight months, till a caravan from Smyrna advanced the money for his ransom on the security of his bond. French and English seamen who happened to land from the gulf of Scanderoon for water were similarly treated. The Porte at various times sent expeditions to subdue the rebel; but he always managed to secure himself, by retreating to the fastnesses of the Amanan range. Though his force was never large, yet he artfully made it appear so, by studding the heights with heaps of mud and rubbish, which, at a distance, had the appear- ance of towers, and conveyed the impression of a nu- merous garrison. After a career of upwards of thirty years, Kutshuk Ali found his master in sultan jNIah- moud, who crushed his power and demohshed his stronghold, in defending which the robber probably perished ; but the particulars of his fate are unkno^\•n. The successor of the deposed Selim, a cousin. FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 189 MusTAPHA IV., nominated by the Janissaries, had but a short-Uved elevation, from 1807 to 1808, and was completely their tool or slave Mustaphaiv. during its continuance. The institutions ^■'^- isor— isos. of liis predecessor were at once abo- lished. The new troops were disbanded after their principal officers had been executed, and many of the more prominent promoters of the recent changes fell victims to the vengeance of the bigoted insurrectionists. But their lawless and insolent exercise of authority soon filled the capital with complaints, and dissatisfaction spread from the centre of the empire to the provinces. It disposed numbers who had been passive during the overthrow of the government to regret their inaction, and favoured a counter-revolution. This was conceived by a friend of the deposed monarch, the pasha of Rust- chuk, best known by „his surname of Bairacter, " the ensign," referring to the humble rank he originally held in the army. Rude and illiterate, but of a bold and vigorous character, he determined to rescue the state from its subjection to the haughty militia of the capital, by opposing to them the hardier troops of the country. This measure had frequently been attempted in former times, but had failed for want of capable leaders. It now succeeded. A competent force, con- sisting chiefly of Albanians, marched towards the city, encamped in its environs, and dictated a change of government. To avert it, !Mustapha ordered the death of Selim, and sought the life of his own brother Mah- moud, under the idea that, becoming himself the last representative of the race of Othman, his enemies would respect his position. But Mahmoud, being con- cealed in an obscure apartment of the palace by the fidelity of a slave, escaped his brother's myrmidons, N 190 FURTHER REVERSES OF THE E.ViPlllK, and ^yas at length placed upon the throne by the triumphant troops of the pasha. Over the scenes of horror which took place in Constantinople at this period we may draw a veil, merely remarking, that many of the capitals of Christendom have witnessed perhaps equal and even greater tragedies, in times of pohtical passion. The revolutions of power are lessons to the Christian, and are suggestive of profitable thought and feeling. How often they occur and are brought about by wholly unexpected means, the history of all nations proclaims, whether their constitution may have been a despotism, a hmited monarchy, or a republic, and whether the people be Mohammedan, Pagan, or Christian. Rapidly has royal state been exchanged for exile, the palace left for the prison, and popularity with senates and mobs been followed by party desertion and general neglect. Such changes are liable to occur, while euYj, ambition, avarice, and anger are inmates of the human breast, even though the persons supplanted may be clear of pohtical transgression, or even entitled to the gratitude of their contemporaries. Thankful should we be for our position as members of a community in which right influences so generally prevail, and which has been favoured with institutions so happily adjusted that paroxysms in the body politic are rare, and when they threaten are met with safeguards against any seriously disturbing violence. Changes in the officials of govern- ment occur, but cannot be effected except by lawful means. Statesmen fall from commanding positions, the victims, it may be, of unjust resentment ; but there is no possibility of mere personal exasperation bringing upon them unlawful injury. To sustain such institu- tions in their integrity; to strengthen and extend iii FURTHER REVERSES OF THE EMPIRE. 191 society the rule of those religious sentiments -which are incomjiatible Tvith the reign of evil principles and passions, is the duty and the wisest policy of enlightened patriotism. But what reason for gratitude has the Christian, when reflecting upon these transitions of worldly power so often manifested in the story of king- doms, and contrasting with tnem the enduring riches in his own possession, the value and indestructibleness of which eternity alone will fully demonstrate ! He may experience the mutability of outward circumstances ; be opposed by enemies and betrayed by friends; be de- prived of health, wealth, rank, and fame ; but, with a renewed heart, and reconciled to God, and justified in his sight through faith in the atonement of Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, he has a peace, consola- tion, and hope in his own mind, which the world cannot take away, the adversities of life cannot disturb, nor the inevitable changes of time impair. The just result of a comparison between such a one and " Man, vain man, Dressed in a little brief authority," vnll be to confirm the Christian's resolution to abandon the idolatry of power, honour, wealth, and all outward things, to live for the higher glories of heaven and eternity, in the faithful discharge of duty here, and the exercise of holy faith and love towards his Creator and Redeemer. CHAPTER IX. SIAHilOUD II. — ABDUL MEDJID L — ABDUL AZIZ I. Eevolution in Constantinople— Views of the emperor Alexander— Peace of Bucharest— Chap wan Oglu— Career of Ali Pasha— Insurrection of the Servians — Insurrection of tlie Greeks— Sanguinary proceedings- Suppression of the Janissaries— Reforms of Mahmoud— Strange scenes in the capital— Battle of Navarino— "War with Russia— Treaty of Adrian- ople — Career of Mohammed Ali — Reduction of the Wahabites— Revolt of Mohammed Ali— Danger of tne Sultan— His death— Verses of his sister — Measures of the reign — Turkish newspaper press — Abdul Medjid— Peace with Egypt— Hatti-Scheriff, of Gulhane— The Crimean, war— Foreign loans— Abdul Aziz — Decline of Turkey — Insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina— Murad V.— "War with Servia and MontenogTO —Deposition of Murad and Accession of Abdul Hamid 11. Mahmoud it. came to the throne a.d. 1808, in his twenty-fourth year. While heir pre- Mahmoud ii. sumptive, he had been carefully instructed A.D. 1 808— 1839. by the hapless Selim in those measures of reform necessary to save the empire from dissolution. Having warmly espoused them, he was qualified l>y' extraordinary energ^^ of character to attempt their accomplishment, and displayed in the task one of the most striking examples ever afforded of invincible resolution under liiscouraging circumstances. Rarely has the path of any man been so beset with difficulties, and attended with such tremendous reverses. Being indebted to Bairacter for the sovereignty, it was natural that that individual should -be installed in the post of grand vizier. The Nizam Djedid, or New Regulation, was restored in a modified form, and the intention was again manifested of either abohshing the Janissaries, or MAHMOUD II. 193 SO far retrenching their privileges as to render the body powerless. But, in the pride of success, the minister committed the capital error of despising the enemy he had irreconcilably exasperated, and imprudently broke up his camp in the environs of the city, and dismissed the greater part of the provincial army. The step was fatal to him, and for the time to the new system. It tempted the Janissaries to another and a successful struggle for the mastery, the most sanguinary of three revolutions which occurred within the short period of eighteen months. The vizier perished in the struggle, after causing the dethroned !Mustapha to be put to death, for the security of Mahmoud. The latter would undoubtedly have been sacrificed also by the triumphant insurrectionists, but for the circumstance of his being the last adult descendant of the house of Othman. Though compelled to re-establish the old forms of government in their integrity, and to shape his course according to the will of the armed lords of the capital, Mahmoud secretly resolved to emancipate himself from their control, and impatiently awaited an opportunity favourable for becoming an independent and reforming sovereign. But a more serious enemy was at hand, and he had immediately to cope with the inveterate foes of his empire, the Russians. The emperor xllexander, though in many respects an estimable sovereign, in- herited the aggressive policy of his dynasty. In the early part of his reign, he required from sultan Selim, precisely as Nicholas did about half a century after- wards, that all the subjects of the Porte professing the • Greek religion should be- placed under the immediate protection of Russia. This being refused, his troops occupied the Danubian. principalities ; and upon his becoming the friend of Napoleon for a time at Tilsit, 194 MAHMOUD II. he agreed to support the system of the western dictator receivuig his consent to the spohation of the Ottoman empire, the capital excepted. Alexander pleaded hard for the possession of that prize, and " the keys of his house," as he called the Dardanelles. But "Con- stantinople," muttered Napoleon abstractedly, "Con- stantinople, never: it is the empire of the world!" Mahmoud displayed great -vigour in defendhig his dominions ; but internal troubles weakened his power to resist. Almost all the great pashas of the empire, tempted by the prostration of the supreme authority through successive revolutions, aspired to convert their provinces into petty separate states. The beys of Asia Minor ruled their respective territories without any regard to a supreme government ; the notorious and terrible Ah, pasha of Janina, was absolute over all Epirus and the neighbouring districts ; while the Servians were in revolt, seeking to recover their ancient right to independent rule. In these circumstances, the peace of Bucharest was concluded in 1812, by which the frontier was removed from the Dniester to the Pruth, the whole of Bessarabia with the principal mouth of the Danube being severed from Turkey and added to the territory of the czar. In Asia Minor, the most powerful of the beys. Chap- wan Oglu, a Turkoman of ancient family, was in every respect an independent prince, and successfully resisted every attempt to crush him. From Ooscat, his capital in the interior of the peninsula, he gradually extended his rule over an extensive territory, and did not abuse his power. Endowed with great talents and enlightened understanding, he improved his dominions by encou- raging agriculture, carefully avoiding those rapacious measures common with the Turkish governors, which MAHMOUD TI. 195 Bcatterecl ruin and desolation through their provinces. His people, aware of the comparative security and hap- piness thev enioyed under his government, were always prepared to defend him to the last extremity ; and the peasantry from the neighbouring pashalics came in crowds to place themselves under the protection ot Chapwan Oglu. In a few weeks he could muster an effective army of forty thousand men. He lived in great splendour, having a large revenue derived almost entirely from a tax on the produce of grain. Food for three hundred persons was daily prepared in his kitchen. Jealous of its authority, and anxious to obtain his wealth, which was beheved to be immense, the Porte attempted to reduce the formidable chief. The efforts made were partially successful, and, upon the death of Oglu in 1814, at a far advanced age, a portion of his territory was brought under the rule of the sultan. A very different character from Chapwan Oglu was Ah, pasha of Janina. This extraordinary man was commonly called the "tiger pasha" from his ferocity, and the "old lion" from his indomitable courage and vigour; after having seen more than threescore years and ten, and been familiar for half a century with marches, sieges, forays, and battles. His history is more like a wild romance than a narrative of real life. He was at first a robber at the head of a few guerillas ; then a bandit upon a larger scale after his boldness and ferocitv had won for him a government ; and finally, Dy pillaging and slaughtering in every direction to enlarge his territory, he rose to the rank of an inferior European potentate, and virtually ruled the greater part of con- tinental Greece and Epirus. Great Britain, France and Russia had diplomatic agents at his court, and entered into negotiations with him. In gaimng this positic? 195 MAHMOUD II. Ali dared every danger, and committed almost every crime. For a long period, owing to a plentiful distribution of gold in the proper quarter, he was not disturbed by hostile proceedings. But his audacity, in sending emis- saries to Constantinople to assassinate a member of the divan, sealed his doom. The attempt was made, and failed. It inspired the sultan with some apprehension for his own personal safety, and decisive measures were immediately adopted. In a council specially summoned, the old pasha was placed under the ban of the empire ; and, to give the greater effect to the imperial firman, it was backed by the anathema of the mufti. His successor was nominated and despatched with an army against him. Being forced to surrender in February, 1822, after operations extending over more than two years, and conducted by several commanders, a tragical death ter- minated the guilty career of the formidable subject. An inscription in the beautiful burial-ground of Eyoub, in the enyirons of Constantinople, reads as follows : " Here lies the head of the once celebrated Ali Pasha, governor of the sansriac of Janina, who, for more than fiftv years, pretended to independence in Albania." With the ex- ception of Servia, Greece, and Egypt, the other parts of the empire were brought to respect the authority of Mahmoud, and were more consolidated under his government than they had been for two centuries before. The Servians, though temporarily overcome in their struggle for liberty, eventually achieved their object. This Sclavonic people, inhabiting a mountainous terri- tory on the southern bank of the Danube, had retained the manners and customs of their free ancestors after the lapse of centuries. Mostly peasants, they occupied villages in the gorges of the mountains or in the depths MAHMOUD II. 197 of the forests, while the Turks possessed the to^ns. They raised their own huildings, manufactured their implements, and drew from the land the food they re- quired, salt heing almost the only article which it was necessary to purchase. Men and women entered into voluntar}- association with each other, pledged to mutual fidehty and aid during their whole lives, taking the title of "brothers in God," and "sisters in God," or "bro- thers by choice," and " sisters by choice." But, be- sides the settled industrial peasantry, the more difficult highlands had sheltered a race of freebooters ever since the establishment of a Turkish dominion, and which the government had never been able to extirpate. They infested the roads and passes, levied contributions upon travellers of the dominant class, but were connected with the peasants by ties of common descent and friendly intercourse, and found shelter in their houses during the severity of \^inter. One of these lawless men, George Petrowitsch, commonly called Kara George, took the lead in the Servian insurrection, and made himself conspicuous by many dark and daring deeds. As the Ser-^-ians adhered to the ritual of the Greek church, the sympathies of Kussia favoured the national movement ; and finally Ser^-ia was constituted a sovereign state, electing its orti prince and managing its internal affairs, but acknowledging the supremacy of the sultan, and submitting its external relation! to his control. The first prince was Milosch Obrenovitch, the successful leader of the second rebellion. The southern part of European Turkey, compre- hending the IMorea and Greece in general, imitated the example of the northern pro-vince in renouncuig its allegiance. The event ultimately added another mem- ber to the list of European kingdoms, endangered the 198 MAHMOUD II. throne of the sultan, and inflicted a severe blow upon the power of the empire. Besides the mere loss of terri- tory, coasts and islands were surrendered which supplied its best sailors, while the entire Turkish navy was, for the time, annihilated by the " untoward battle of Nava- rino." On the ground of the merits of their ancestors — the fathers of poetry, eloquence, history, philosophy, architecture, and sculpture, and distinguished for the noblest displays of heroic valour, devoted patriotism, and political freedom — the Greeks received the sympathy of the whole civilized world ; and, but for the interven- tion of allies, they must have succumbed again to the Moslem yoke. Their conduct since has not verified their lofty claim to have inherited the spirit of their fathers, nor shown them to be worthy of the boon oi independence which was eventually conceded to them. The Hellenic revolution began, as revolutions often begin, with a secret society. An association of Greeks, styling itself the Hetairia Philike, or Society of Friends, had for some years existed in the dominions of Russia and Austria, in imitation of the revolutionary clubs prevalent at the time in Germany and Italy. The liberation of their country was the project to which the members bound themselves by oath to devote their lives and fortunes. The principal oath contained the follomng clauses : " In the presence of the true God, spontaneously I swear that I will be faithful to the Hetairia in all and through all. I will never betray the slightest portion of its acts or words. Nor will I ever, in any manner, give even my relatives or friends to understand that I am acquainted with them. I swear that I will nourish in my heart irreconcilable hatred against the tyrants of my country, their followers, and favourers; and I will exert every method for their in- MAHMOrD Vi^ 199 jur}' and destruction. Last of all, I swear by thee, my sacred and suffering country ; I swear by thy long-en- during tortures ; I swear by the bitter tears which for so many centuries have been shed by thy unhappy children •, I swear by the future liberty of my country- men, that I consecrate myself wholly to thee : that henceforth thou shalt be the scope of my thoughts, thy name the guide of my actions, thy happiness the recom- pense of my labours." The association originated A^ith Nicholas Scuphas, a merchant of Odessa, and had its focus in the southern provinces of Russia. Once or- ganized, it spread gradually and slowly, but surely, and extended itself throughout the European empire of the sultan. The first insurrectionary movement was made in the Danubian provinces in [March, 1821, by i\lexander Ipsilanti, a Greek militaiy officer in the Russian service, but the attempt was speedily repressed. In the follow- ing month, the flag of rebellion was raised in the Pelo- ponnesus. This was the signal of a long and sanguinary struggle, in which atrocities were committed on both sides utterly disgraceful to humanity. Imprudently, in public proclamations, the Greeks connected the utter do^vnfall of the Ottoman power with their own liberation. This was exasperating to the Turks. It was also generally believed, and there is little reason to doubt the fact, that a grand plot was formed at Constantinople for the burning of the city and the murder of the sultan. Hence Ali Pasha, who had knowledge of the whole conspiracy, declared, during the siege of his stronghold, that in a few months he would shake the empire, and those who assailed him should tremble even in the heart of Constantinople. "Execrable city," said he, "Ali, before he dies, shall yet behold thy palaces in ashes." Upon the discovery 200 MAHMOUD II. of the extent and puqjose of the conspiracy, with tidings of the double revolt in the Danubian provinces and the Peloponnesus, jNIahmoud gave way to frantic rage, and let loose the passions of his Moslem subjects against the Greek Christians in the capital and the towns. Thou- sands of innocent victims were sacrificed to their ven- geance, many of them without knowing why they were slain. On Easter-day, the greatest of the Greek fes- tivals, Gregorius, patriarch of Constantinople, was ex- ecuted at the door of his own church ; and, as the greatest possible indignity which could be offered to it in the eyes of his countrymen, his body was delivered to Jews to be dragged through the streets. Other ecclesiastics of high rank were similarly treated, as well as Greeks of every class. These atrocious proceedings were intendeu to quell the revolt by terror, where it had broken out, and to prevent its extension. They an- swered the latter purpose, but not the former ; and a war of extermination was waged in the ]\lorea and its islands, which both Greeks and Turks marked with horrors, as either party gained the upper hand. In the early part of the insurrection, IMahmoud oecame convinced that he must either have an effective army, disciplined after the European model, or cease to reign. He accordingly raised a force which was regu- larly drilled under his own superintendence, had a com- mon uniform, and was exercised by foreign officers in the tactics of the militar}^ nations. This body being formed, he ordered a number of the Janissaries to be incorporated with the new levies as a preparatory step to the enrolment of the whole, and the complete sup- pression of this turbulent order of soldiers. But peace- ful means failed to effect this object. Proud of their distinct and separate organization, accustomed to con- MAHMOUD II. 20\ sicler themselves a privilpged class, opposed to every change, and of an msnbordinate temper, they refused to obey the mandate, gathered to the Atmeidan, the ancient race-course of the Romans, their ordinary place of assembly, and imperiously demanded the heads of those who had advised the measure. The sultan apprehended the peculiar character of the crisis. He felt at once that the hour was come when he must either rid himself of the factious soldiery, or submit for ever and more completely to the humiliating bondage of their control. In this emergency he ordered the "sandjak sheriife," or sacred standard of the empire, to be unfolded, and resolved to commit himself to the loyalty of the people. This standard, which was sup- posed to have belonged to the prophet himself, was pre- served with care in the seraglio, and revered as the most solemn relic of him possessed by his disciples. It was never unrolled except on great occasions, and had not been exhibited for more than half a century. The idea of appealing to its protection was a most politic one, as all classes except the rebels rallied round the revered flag. It was conveyed in formal procession to the mosque of Achmet, near the Atmeidan, attended by the sultan, his court, and household, the magistrates of the city, the new troops, the corps of artillery, and a crowd of the speedily armed populace. The Janissaries, havmg been placed out of the protection of the law by a fetva of the grand mufti, were assailed in the square, and three hours sufficed to annihilate the body whose mili- tary ascendancy had once made the sovereigns of Europe tremble abroad, as it had the sultans at home. Num- bers fell on the spot beneath the fire of the artillery, after a vain resistance ; but how many was never posi- tively kno\Mi. Others escaped to perish miserably in 202 MAHMOUD II. their barracks. Those stationed in the pro-vinces had afterwards the alternative offered them of submission or the sword ; and thus the formidable corps was for ever abolished. Mahmoud decreed the extinction of the name. Their dress was prohibited ; their camp-kettles, which had so often given the signal of revolt, were destroyed; their barracks were taken down, or appro* priated to other purposes ; and every trace of the long- dreaded mihtia of the capital was swept away. From this period, the year 1826, Mahmoud gave free utterance to the magical word "reform;" and, though opposed in his plans by the inveterate prejudices of his subjects, while his oa^ti attention was distracted by foreign hostihties, it was introduced, to a great extent, into every department of the state. Pantaloons and frockcoats were substituted in the cosiume of the mili- tary for long flo\nng robes and loose shalwars ; and the ** fez," or cap of red cloth, took the place of the turban. Even the Ulem^ were ordered to lay aside their chs- tinctive turbans and adopt the red skull-cap, a measure of more importance than it seems, as it tended to amal- gamate a proud and pov.'erful order with the mass of the community. "While subjecting his recruits to European training, the sultan underwent the discipline himself, and persevered until he could ride upon the saddle as well as any cavalry officer, and put a regiment through its evolutions like a European colonel. "SVith an iron hand he repressed disaffection, and visited with instant punishment, as guilty of treason, those who ven- tured to murmur at his reforms. But not unfrequently prompt proceedings led to the execution of the innocent for the guilty. Strange scenes took place in Constanti- nople. The inconvenience of common names was, on more than one occasion, illustrated. A heedless passen- MAHMOUD II. 203 ger in the streets might be arrested with an unexpected inquiry, and find himself exposed to a penal sentence, while wholly unconscious of crime. " Are you so-and- so, Hassan, or Achmet, or Zadik?" *' True, I am Hassan; what do you want?" "We want your head; kneel down without disturbance." " Oh ! this is a mistake ; you mean that Hassan, or that ; I am not the man." " You are the man ; we are looking for a certain Hassan with a long nose and large eyes ; you have a long nose and large eyes, and are called Hassan, therefore you must be the man who is convicted of treason against the Bultan," " I protest this is a calumnious falsehood ; I pray you go elsewhere ; I am not the man." " Hear the wretch ! Not content T\ith conspiring against the sultan, he denies his guilt. — Kneel." " By the prophet, by my father's beard, I am innocent ; this is a mistake." Execution generally abruptly closed such dialogues. For six years the Greeks, single-handed, maintained their revolt with varying fortunes, receiving contributions of money from Christian Europe, with the personal services of indi\'iduals. But, by the treaty of London, •July 6th, 1827, three powerful cabinets, the British, French, and Russian, engaged to terminate the dreadful struggle, and induce the Porte, by persuasion or force, to consent to the independence of Greece. A combined naval squadron sailed to the Levant to support the terms of the treaty. But recourse to actual hostilities for the purpose, however agreeable to Russia, was re- mote from the views and interests of England and France. They commenced, however, rsomewhat inad- vertently, on the 21st of October, when the battle of Navarino was fought between the alhed squadrons under Sir Edward Codrington, and the combined Turkish and Egyptian fleets under Ibrahim Pasha. The contest 204 MAHMOUD II. lasted witli unabated fury for four hours, at the end of which the victory of the alUes was complete, little re- maining of the fleet of their opponents but hulks and wrecks floating on the waters of the bay. In former reigns, an incident of this kind, occurring in a time of peace, would have placed the life of every Frank in Constantinople in jeopardy. The ambassadors of the allied powers, on receiving tidings of the event were, in fact, in the greatest alarm for the safety of their fellow- countrymen, among whom the consternation was ex- treme. But the capital remained perfectly tranquil. Though the severity of the blow was keenly felt by the sultan and his subjects, not a menace was uttered, nor an insult offered to the foreign residents. The destruc- tion of the Janissaries, and police regulations in their place, secured the city from tumult. The proceedings of the divan were also calm, dignified, and eminently peaceful. Towards the close of the year the ambas- sadors took their departure, upon the Porte firmly re- fusing to submit to foreign interference in the affairs of Greece, while proposing ameliorations of policy towards the Hellenic race. It claimed also compensation for the loss of the fleet, with an apology to the sultan for the insult offered to his person and government. Mah- moud was now \artually at war with the three greatest powers of Europe, one of whom, Russia, eagerly seized upon the occasion to renew her invasions. In April, 1828, the emperor Nicholas issued a manifesto, directing his armies to march, alleging various grievances. Never was an empire less prepared to enter on a gigantic struggle than was Turkey at this period, or a sovereign in a position of greater difficulty and isolation than the sultan. His navy had just been destroyed ; the army consisted of the new le-vdes, rav/ and undisciplined ; the MAHMOUD II. 205 finances were embarrassed ; the flag of the maritime powers commanded the Archipelago ; a powerful Russian squadron sailed in the Black Sea ; Greece was prac- tically free ; and the czar was pouring down immense forces upon the frontiers, both in Europe and Asia. Well might the sultan exclaim to his vizier — '' Keep your wits together, for Allah knows the danger is great." His exertions in the emergency were pro- digious. Every corner of Constantinople resounded with the din and bustle of arms, the reviewing of soldiers, the casting of cannon, and the collection of stores ; the Bosphorus was closed to the commerce of all nations ; and reinforcements were hurried to the fortresses on the Danube. The new leyies presented a most singular spectacle, the infantry appeared in Turkish trousers and close fitting Russian jackets, with the red fez or Arab cap ; the cavalry had Tatar saddles, French stir- rups, and English sabres. Though these troops con- sisted for the most part of mere youths without any military experience, who had been selected purposely of an early age as best adapted for instruction, they had three valuable qualities — implicit obedience, enthu- siasm in the cause of their master, and abstinence from the use of intoxicating liquors. This regimen led to the best results ; for while the Russians, in the ensuing war, fell by thousands, in consequence of insobriety predisposing them to disease, the losses of the Turkish army were chiefly those of the sword. In the first campaign, the Russian emperor accom- panied his troops in person. It was honourable both to the valour and conduct of the Turks, who showed unexpected A-igour against their mighty assailant. They lost Varna through the treachery of the second in com- mzfcnd, Youssouf Pasha, who went over to the enemy. 20b* MAHMOL'D II. and retired upon a pension to Odessa, to live in splendid infamy. But the army of the czar was dreadfully wasted in effecting the equivocal conquest, the only im- portant advantage that had been gained, when it retreated northwards into winter quarters. Soon after the com- mencement of the war, a body of the new Turkish ca- valry, having surprised an advanced post, and captured a number of prisoners, cut off their ears, and sent them as trophies to Constantinople. But, instead of exhibiting the satisfaction formerly evinced on such occasions by his barbarous ancestors, Mahmoud reprobated the cus- tom in terms of severity, insisted upon its disuse, and gave orders that in future no prisoners should be mal- treated. This step was not more humane than bold. It attacked a usage sanctioned by the Mohammedan religion ; since the prophet had declared the unbeliever captured by the sword to be the property of the captor, to be disposed of according to his pleasure. The energy and resources of the sultan were over- matched in the campaign of 1829 by the colossal power of his antagonist. Marshal Diebitsch effected his famous passage of the Balkan by a rapid march, and approached the environs of the capital. The British and French ambassadors, who had pre^dously returned to the Porte, now interfered, and besought the Turkish ministry to yield to the force of circumstances. Accordingly, the treaty of Adrianople was concluded, by which Russia obtained a cession of territory towards the Caucasus, the fortresses of Anatia and Poti, on the east coast of the Black Sea, and a sum of money as an indemnity for the expenses of the war. A short time before, the sultan had signified his assent to the treaty of London, and tJins virtually recognised the independence of Greece, Tfie northern power acquired its advantages at an im- SIAHMOUD II. 207 mense cost. Fifty tliousand of the invaders died upon the plains of Turkey in the first campaign, not one man of whom was killed in battle, but by sickness, want of the necessaries of life, and neglect of the commissariat department. In the next year, when the troops arrived at Adrianople, they were in such a wretched condition, from disease and want of food, that not seven thousand men were able to bear arms. The Turkish government was not aware of this fact tUl some time afterwards, when the intelligence came too late to be of any avail. Had it been known sooner, Mahmoud would have con- tinued the struggle, and not a single Russian would have seen his native land again. Even as it was, out of an army one hundred and twenty thousand strong, not six thousand ever re- crossed the Russian frontier. Another storm speedily gathered upon the oft-clouded horizon of Turkey, excited by Mohammed, commonly called Mehemet Ali, the pasha of Egypt. This power- ful vassal had held the government of that country through the entire reign, and had hitherto served the sultan faithfully, rendering him important assistance during the contest with the Greeks. EQs career was remarkable for its almost uniform success, till ambi- tion brought him into collision with his liege lord and the European powders. Eorn at Cavalla, the ancient Neapolis, in Roumelia, in the year 1769, he engaged in its trade, the export of cotton and tobacco, till the French invasion of Egypt led him to the scene of his future distinction, as an obscure soldier in the contingent which the governor of his native town was bound to furnish. His spirited conduct obtained him notice and advancement ; and, by one of those rapid strides so common in Turkish history, by which obscure adven- turers are raised to the highest posts, he became pasha 203 MAHMOUD II. and viceroy. Thus invested with authority, ]Mohammed AU sought, by address, intrigue, violence, and some en- lightened measures, to retain, strengthen, and extend his power. In 1811, he removed out of his way the surviving remnant of the Mamelukes. As turbulent and lawless chiefs, addicted to infamous habits, their fall was not to be regretted ; but nothing can extenuate the ini- quitous treachery by which they were in\'ited to Cairo, lured into the citadel as if to an entertainment, and massacred by the troops in a position where they were helpless, and from which escape was impossible. In subsequent years the viceroy triumphed over the Waha- bites, re-established the authority of the Porte in the holy cities of Islam, and extended his own to the regions of the upper Nile. Free from many eastern prejudices, his army and fleet were equipped upon the European system ; while the skill of foreigners was employed to direct and improve the resources of his territory, by the introduction of various arts and manufactures. The reduction of the AVahabites was not accomplished without great difficulty and some disasters. Though practically at war with the Turkish government by in- terrupting the passage of the pilgrim caravans, and for- bidding the customary prayers to be offered in the mos- ques for the welfare of the sultan, the Porte made no direct efforts to overcome the sectaries. Firmans con- signed the task to the pasha of Egypt, who was stimu- lated to undertake it by the promise of the pashalic of Damascus for one of his sons, as soon as the holy cities were recovered. Medina was retaken in 1812, and Alecca in the following year. But the Wahabites would probably have remained masters of their interior strong- holds, and continued an independent people, had the hfe ov liaoud^ their iTidefatigable le'^der, ])een prolonged. MAHMOUD II. 209 Victory never deserted his troops while he was at their head; and to his death, in 1814, the rapid overthrow of the power of the sect may be attributed. Abdallah, his son and successor, brave like his father, was not so saga- cious and prudent. Though counselled by his last words never to engage the Turks in open plains, he ventured to oppose his bands of raw Bedouins to the Egyptian army under equal circumstances, and was signally de- feated. The conqueror sullied his triumph with horrible cruelty. During the battle, Mohammed Ali commanded his carpet to be spread upon a little level spot, and, seat- ing himself upon it, he called for his pipe, declaring that from that ground he would not move, but there await victors' or death. A reward of six dollars was promised to every soldier who should present him %vith the head of an enemy ; and, in a few hours, five thousand of these ghastly trophies were piled up before him. Abdallah, after enduring a siege of five months in Deraiah, his capital, was forced to capitulate in the year 1816 ; and the power of the AVahabites was for ever broken. Some writers have regretted their overthrow, from an impres- sion that their j)redominance would have secured the downfall of Islam, and paved the way for the establish- ment of a purer religion. But the reform they advo- cated extended only to a few absurd and scandalous practices, while they held all the essential dogmas of the Koran with even greater rigour than their co-religion- ists. The pasha gained immense renown in the Moslem world bv recovering the Ballad-el-Huram, or Holy Land of Islam ; but the use which might be made of such celebrity in furthering his ambitious views, more than the firman of the sultan, was his motive for undertaking the enterprise. In secret, ^Mohammed Ali had Ions; entertained the 2i0 MAHMOUB II. tboiight of converting liis goYernment into an indepen- dent hereditary kingdom, before any signs of his pro- jected insubordination became apparent. The exhausted condition of the sultan, owing to the Greek revolution and the Russian war, at length tempted the viceroy to defy him, and thus endeavour to exchange the position of a vassal prince for that of an absolute monarch. In the year 1832, a powerful army, under the command of his son Ibrahim, a man of great militaiy capacity, in- vaded Syria, and rapidly overran it, while a large fleet aided the land troops. A quarrel with the pasha of Acre was the pretext for the movement ; but Moham- med's own aggrandizement was the real motive. Syria, besides containing a numerous population likely to be useful in future operations, possessed the natural trea- sures mOijl, wanting in Egypt — wood, coal, and iron. Mahmou/i, the common master of both the belligerents, issued a foman commanding peace, and directing them to lay thciT complaints at the foot of the throne, to be investigated and decided by himself. But he had not the power to enforce compliance with the requisition, a fact of which Mohammed was fully conscious. Evasive answers were returned, while the warlike Ibrahim, having mastered all the strong places m Syria, and gained two pitched battles, advanced into Asia ^Minor, as if intent upon dictating terms to the sultan in his own capital, or overthrowing his empire. Crossing the Taurus, he de- feated the last great effort made to arrest his course, totally routing the army of the grand vizier, Redschid Pasha, December 21st, on the plain of Koniah. The road tQ Constantinople was now quite open to the Egyptian troops, and the utmost alarm prevailed in the city. The advajiced guard pushed on towards Bioussa; MAHMOUD II. 21 i end three days' march would have brought the entire force to the shores of the Bosphorus. The position of, Mahmoud at this period vras most critical ; his lot singularly trying. Many in the capital, who clung to the abuses he had assailed, raised a spirit of opposition to him on the ground of his misfortunes which spread among the unenlightened classes of the population, and created a powerful diyersion in favour of the triumphant viceroy. The latter did not fail to have emissaries at Constantinople, who represented him as the uncompromising foe of heretical innovations, only anxious to save Islam from ruin by a crusade against a half-apostate sultan. What vdth wars from without and sedition from within, detraction in the provinces and unpopularity in the capital, censure from all except the few who comprehended his policy, his very sub- jects looking anxiously for a usurper to take his place, the do%vnfal of his empire being confidently predicted by astute politicians, and his own health failing from constant anxiety, the circumstances of Mahmoud were enough to overwhelm him. Thus placed, he accepted the insidious offer of assistance from Russia, which had been so recently an invading enemy ; and, while a Russian squadron guarded the Bosphorus, an auxihary force en- camped upon the hills on the Asiatic side above Unkiar Skelessi, "the sultan's stairs." This measure excited great popular dissatisfaction and diplomatic alarm. "Were it the English," the people reasoned, "they might bid them welcome ; but to invite the Muscovite infidel, their bitter and hereditary foe, was inadmissible ; they would rather leave the event to Providence." The step saved the sultan from succumbing to the victorious Egyptians ; and he had no alternative but to adopt it, as England and France then declined to render help in 212 MAHMOUD IT. the crisis. By the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, in 1833, the czar obtained, by way of compensation for his aid, the closing of the Dardanelles for ten years to every enemy of his empire. Syria was left to Mohammed Alt as a part of his viceroyalty, for which he remained tributary to the sultan. During a brief term of comparative tranquillity, Mah- moud made gigantic efforts to promote the welfare of his people. But these peaceful occupations were in- terrupted by a new war Tvdth the aspiring ruler of Egypt, who avowed the resolution not to pay any more tribute. It was in progress when the sultan expired, July 2nd, 1839, at the age of fifty-four. The incessant agitations and disappointments of his reign had undermined a strong constitution ; and it is lamentable to add that he sought a refuge from his anxieties in habits of intem- 7erance, at variance with the maxims of his owii religion, which contributed to hurry him to the grave. Before being broken down by care and disease, his personal appearance was quite in keeping mth his high station. The sultan's manners were both easy and commanding. He was dignified without the affectation of statelines«, while extreme energy of will was expressed by his fea- tures. Persons accustomed to interviews with ro3'alty in other quarters, and with distinguished statesmen and generals, have retired from the presence of the Moslem monarch more impressed by his bearing than by that of any of his contemporaries. He wrote a fine hand, and occasionally amused himself by composing poetical dis- tiches. His sister too, the sultana Heibetullah, indulged in poetry, and produced a lay in one of the revolutions, which is still in circulation. It is as follows : Indolently have I drunken poison, I am weary of my own soul ; MAHMOVD II. 213 Life's pains burn me — I am weary of my o\Yn soul. Never laugh'd I in the world's grove, Never saw I the radiance of truth, Never saw I the like pain — I am weary of my own soul. Fate decrees it, so must it be. None heed my prayers; Can the world signify to raef — I am weary of my own soul. Friends invite to live, To me it may well be indifferent; To me the world cannot avail — I am weary of my own soul. Never saw I truth pure, Strangers drink the cup of joy, And I suffer in vain — 1 am weary of my own soul. The lines are stamped ^vith that dreary monotony which is the doom of female life in the east, and the utter disconsolateness to which the unhajDpy religion of Mohammed consigns its votaries and \-ictims. Despot as was Mahmoud ii. by natural temper and political position, his plans were neither conceived by caprice nor executed in passion, but were the fruit of cool calculation, and carried into effect as a beneficial line of policy. His government tended to estabhsh law, security, and order in the empire, in the place of violence, uncertainty, and turmoil. A relentless war was waged against the hordes of outlaws who interrupted the peace- ful pursuits of industiy ; and by dint of perseverance the countr}^ was largely cleared of the marauding gangs which had long infested it with impunity. The san- guinary habits of the people were discouraged, and the power cf the pashas was abridged. Formerly these military governors conducted the entire administration of their respective provinces, and decided u]ion the 214 MAHMOUD II. liberty and life of those under their dominion. But now, separate civil governors were appointed to determine criminal cases, and they alone were competent to pass sentence of imprisonment and death. Cruelties became less frequent, while life and personal freedom acquired additional security. After the fall of the Janissaries, a regular system of pohce was estabhshed in the capital ; and the attempt was made to get rid of its old scaven- gers, the dogs. These animals, oeing cherished by the ill-directed pity of the Turks, had increased to such a degree as to become a perfect nuisance, and often a terror, to the Franks. Sanctioned by usage, they had a kind of prescriptive right to the streets, where they foraged among the heaps of oifal. But in the dismal times of insurrection they consummated the work of public vengeance, and acquired such an appetite for human blood as to be dangerous to the living. Yet no government dared to interfere with ancient custom, till the bold innovator Mahmoud ordered them to be de- stroyed by poisoned sausages. A remnant, however, escaped to multiply, and become as great an annoyance as ever to Europeans. Though no great progress was made during this reign in arts and manufactures, they were encouraged, the latter chiefly as government monopolies conducted by foreigners. Preceding sultans rode on horseback, never patronizing carriages ; but Mahmoud introduced a small English phaeton for himself, and learned to be his own coachman, driving four-in-hand. He caused roads to be constructed, one of which extended from Scutari to Isnikmid, a distance of about sixty miles, and estabhshed a regular postal service. The newspaper press in Turkey date^ from his reign. In the year 1828, the first journal, called the " Sj»^tator of the East," ABDUL MEDJID I. 215 appeared at Smyrna, under the direction of ]\I. Blacque. Aichitecture received special attention from the sultan. He erected spacious barracks and arsenals beyond the limits of the capital, numerous mosques in the city, and many residences for himself on the ^shores of the Bosj^horus. By far the most remarkable of his measures are those which not only innovated on long-established customs, but opposed Mohammedan prejudices and precepts. Though all pictures representing the human form or any living creature, as well as music, are for- bidden by the maxims of the impostor's creed, Mah- moud adorned his palaces with paintings and engrav- ings, had his own portrait taken in oil, and placed it publicly in the arsenal. It was also lithographed and sold in the city ; while the " concord of sweet sounds " from the bands of the military was heard by the people. Such was Mahmoud, the " Giaour Padishah," a man of many crimes and errors, but still a great and extraordinary man, considering his Turkish origin, his limited advantages in early life, and his education in the dogmas of Islam. A superior understanding made him a semi-infidel to the false religion in which he was trained ; and had he but possessed the light and grace of the true faith, it is probable that few sovereigns would have left behind them a brighter name, or the memory of a nobler career. The active and energetic Mahmoud was succeeded by his son Abdul Med- Abdul Medjid i. JID I., who assumed the government in ^•^- ^^^^• July, 1839, becoming the thirty-first sovereign of the house of Othman, and the twenty-sixth 216 ABDUL MEDJID T. since the taking of Constantinople. The times were eminently difficult for the empire ; the peo})le were everywhere despondent ; and the firm hand of a ruler of known vigour, instead of an inexperienced and delicate youth in his seventeenth year, seemed neces- sary to prevent confusion. Disastrous intelliirence inauofurated the new reign. ]Srot many days had elapsed before tidings arrived at Constantinople of the total defeat of the Turkish army by the troops of Mohammed Ali, at Nissib, near the Euphrates ; and of the defection of the Turkish admiral, who went over to the side of the rebellious pasha, and carried the fleet with him from the Darda- nelles to Alexandria. The intervention of the leading European Powei^s prevented the seemingly impending overthrov/ of the Ottoman throne. A treaty was signed at London, on the 15th July, 1839, by all the Powers except France, for the settlement of the then pressing Eastern ques- tion. ]\Iohammed Ali was offered the hereditary government of Egypt, with the pashalic of Acre ; but the ambitious vassal having refused this offer, the fleets of the allied Powers proceeded to reduce the fortified places held by him on the coast of Syria. A series of prompt warlike operations ensued, in which England bore a conspicuous part. Beyrout, Saide, and St. Jean dAcre v/ere taken from the Egyptians ; the last fortress was surrendered after a bombardment of only three hours' duration, and soon afterwards the Egyptian troops under Ibrahim Pasha, unable to make further resistance, evacuated Syria. Peace secured, Mohammed Ali was confirmed in the possession of Egypt, which was made hereditary in the ABDUL MEDJID I. 217 line of liis descendants on the payment of an annual tribute to the Porte ; in other respects he was placed on a footing of a vassal pasha, subject to the laws of the empire. The young sultan was now at liberty to apply him- self in carr)-ing out the measures of reform bequeathed to him by his father. In this task he was assisted by Eedschid Pasha, his first minister, an enlightened and patriotic statesmau, who was intimately acquainted witli, and partial to, the institutions of the AVestern nations, from having been the representative of Turkey both at London and Paris. Abdul IMedjid had also a powerful adviser in the direction of reform in the person of Lord Stratford de Eedcliffe, the English ambassador at the Porte. There was accordingly promulgated the Tanzimat, or Hatti-Scheriff, of Gulhanu, so called from its execu- tion having been jordered at the court of Gulhane. This took place on the 3rd November, 1839, amid much pomp and ceremonial befitting so important a concession of equal rights and justice to all classes of Ottoman subjects. The document in question, how- ever, was not a code of absolute laws, but rather the expression of principles, and in harmony with it statu- toiy laws were from time to time to be framed by the divan or council of state. The charter of Gulhane was received with satisfaction by the more enlightened classes, as terminating the reign of the bowstring and the scimitar. But there was an ismorant, bigfoted and fanatical portion of the Turkish population, especially in the provinces, to whom the idea of being placed on the same level with the professors of other creeds, whom they were accustomed to regard as dogs and infidels, 218 ABDUL MEDJID I. •was offensive in tlie extreme. Irritated feeling mani. fested itself at Adrianople, Smyrna, and other places, and finally extended to the capital, where insults and outrages were offered to the Christian inhabitants. Although statutory laws were framed, the central authority was unable to carry them into effect ; and it is to be recorded that the improvement in the adminis- tration of public affairs, and equality of civil rights, promised by the so-called charter, remained, except at Constantinople and a few other localities, a dead letter. Among the improvements attempted by Abdul Medjid was one in the department of taxation. As Mahraoud, as already remarked, abridged the jDower of the pashas by depriving them of the right to inflict capital punishment, so did his son supersede them as collectors of taxes by officers sent direct from the central government into the provinces. In the same direction it was also enacted that no business of importance should be decided by the pashas without concert with a municipal council, composed of respect- able Mohammedan residents in the province, and also of deputies from other classes of citizens of different religions. It is, however, to be confessed that these and other like reforms have remained, in a great degree, inoperative, or have been thwarted by cupidity and by apathy on the j^art of the Turkish officials, as well as by the want of vigorous supervision on tlie part of the supreme authority. By a treaty, dated 13tli July, 1841, France joined with the other Powers in confirming the rule for shutting the passage of the Dardanelles to foreign ships of war, and in guaranteeing the integrity of the Ottoman empii'e. It had long been the aim of British ABDUL MEDJID I. 219 policy to restore the full sovereignty of the sultan over his dominions. Arabia was now brought under the direct rule of the Porte. Kurdistan was subjected to order and obedience ; the long unsettled boundaries between Turkey and Persia were adjusted, and the troubles in Bosnia, arising from aversion to the new system of taxes and military conscription, were sup- pressed. The only exception to the repose of several years which Turkey now enjoyed, was some contentions in the Lebanon between the Druses and the Maronite Christians, and the predatory violence of certain Arab tribes of the Syrian and Mesopotamian deserts. The general shock throughout Europe in 1848 did not ajffect the passive Mussulman or the subject Christian population of Turkey. In the war waged by Hungary against Austria for the attainment of constitutional rights, Turkey was favourable to the Hungarian cause. Deterred by England, whose policy it was to avoid a general war, she did not, however, support it by force of arms. To the honour of Abdul Medjid and his advisers, it deserves to be said that they accorded a generous hospitality to the Polish and Hungarian refugees who sought an asylum on Turkish soil after the disastrous events which followed on that year of revolutionary tunnoil. In November, 1850, a decree was issued proclaiming the professors of all religions equal in the eye of the law. Since that year the Protestants in the empire have been a recognized body invested with certain political rights, and having a magistrate or functionaiy bo represent them in civil affairs at the Porte. As far AS the government is concerned, it presents no obstacle to the propagation of evangelical truth, but leaves the f220 ABDUL MEDJID I. door freely open to the efforts made for tlie purpose, both by the diffusion of tlie Scriptures and the minis- trations of missionaries and other teachers. The Protestantism of the world can scarcely be better employed tlian in zealous labours to exhibit the pure Gospel of Christ in the realm where it was first preached, but has for ages been corru2:)ted and debased by selfish- ness and superstition. Christianity in the East, it should never be forgotten, whether represented by the Armenian, Greek, or Latin Churches, is very different from that pure, upright, peace-loving, and peace-giving religion which the apostles taught ; and thus its name has been rendered odious and contemptible to the Moslem population. The great religious denominations of Turkey, together with the Protestants or Jews, are recognized by the Government as independent religious communities, with the privilege of possessing their own ecclesiastical rule. The bishops and patriarchs of the Greeks and Armenians, and the high rabbi of the Jews, have in consequence of their functions great influence. The proselytes of American Presbyterian mission- aries, it may be said, have also their own recognized elders and places of worship. Converts from Mo- hammedanism to Christianity are allowed the exercise of their adopted faith unmolested. The terrible contest — known as the Crimean war — in which Turkey, in alliance with France, England, and Sardinia, engaged with Ptussia, had its origin in a petty squabble between the Greek and Latin churches in Palestine respecting the so-called " holy places " at Jerusalem. These were certain chapels and sanctuaries in and near the city, which had been visited for ages AEDUL MEDJID I. 221 by pilgrims of each communioD, and used loy their l^riests for vulgar and deluding, yet, in a pecuniary sense, profitable ceremonies. The dispute related simply to points of precedence and privilege. France, as the i)rofessed protector of all the Roman Catholics in the East, espoused the cause of the Latins, while Kussia, by virtue of the czar's claim to be regarded the head of the Greek church (a rank never bestowed but assumed), appeared as the champion of the oppo- site party. The Turkish government had no interest in the quarrel, nor concern about it, further than to prevent violence and secure the disputants in their just rights. After various fluctuations, this question, by the moderation and concessions of France, was satisfactorily adjusted, when Russia originated a new cause of contention, by demanding a right of protec- tion over all the subjects of the Porte belonging to the Greek church, and that the civil adjudication of their grievances by the Turkish government should be guaranteed by a formal document or treaty. The ambitious policy of Russia, which sought a quarrel with Turkey, was directed by the imperious will of the Emperor Nicholas ; and Prince Menschikoff was despatched to Constantinople, formally to demand the recognition of these claims, and to present the ultimatum of the czar. The refusal of the sultan was made a pretext for war. Russian troops crossed the Pruth and took possession of the Danubian princi- palities, as a material guarantee until Turkey suc- cumbed. No accommodation could be arrived at by diplomacy, and in October, 1853, the Porte declared "War against Russia. Nicholas having, as he thought, secured the aid of Austria by the assistance rendered p 222 AEDUL JIEDJID I. to her in tlie Hungarian war, was deluded by tlie idea that England would make no resistance to his designs on Turkish territory ; nor did he contemplate the idea of an alliance between England and France antagonistic to his aims. War was, however, declared by these powers in ]^. larch, 18-54, and their joint forces proceeded to the western shores of the Black Sea. The earlier operations of the contest had been unfavourable to Eussia, whose forces met with humiliating defeat on the Danube, at the hands of the Turkish forces alone, under the command of Omar Pasha, and sustained immense loss by disease and other causes ; while the wanton and unjust aggression of Kussia was almost universally condemned by the public opinion of Europe. On the withdrawal of the Kussian army from the principalities, they were occupied by the neutral troops of Austria ; and the allied Powers having resolved to attack Sebastopol, the great stronghold and arsenal of Kussia on the Black Sea, their armies were transported from the neighbourhood of Varna to the Crimea. In due course followed the memorable events of the great struggle ; the battle of Alma ; the siege of Sebastopol ; the celebrated charge of the English at Balaclava ; the battle of Inkermann, and other episodes of the war. The capture of the Malakhoff by the French rendered the Ptussian defences no longer tenable ; and the Musco- vites accordingly evacuated and burnt the city, which fell into the hands of the allies, on the 8th of September, 1855. Soon afterwards, the present czar, Alexander — Nicholas having died in March of the same year — agreed to terms of peace. The objects France and England had in view in ABDUL SIEDJID I. 223 entering on tlie Crimean war, so far as tlie repression of the assaults of Kussia upon Turkey was concerned, were abundantly secured. The treaty of peace, signed at Paris m 1856, provided for the free navigation of the mouths of the Danube, and added the southern part of Bessarabia to Moldavia ; it did away with the exclusive right of Prussia to interfere in the internal affairs of the Turkish provinces on the ground of her alleged protectorate of the Greek Christians ; it destroyed the preponderance of that power in tlie Black Sea, and it substituted for her special protection of the Danubian principalities the conjoint protection of the Great Powers. Provision was likewise made for limiting the naval force of the great northern power in the Euxine ; but this requirement was afterwards relinquished by a new treaty signed in London in 1871. In addition to the attainment of these objects, the Crimean war destroyed the military audacity and prestige of Pussia, and from the severe blow it inflicted in the diminution of her resources, it effectually warded off danger in that quarter to Turkey. But while the Great Powers did so mucb to maintain against the external foe the integrity of the Turkish empire, they were not less desirous to secure it from internal corruption and decay. By the terms of the treaty of 1856, Turkey was bound in the face of the world to redress the inveterate evils and abuses of her government, and to extend to all her subjects the blessings of civil and religious freedom. There was accordingly promulgated the Hatt-y-Humayoum of 1850, in which the principles of reform embodied in the Tanzimat were renewed and extended ; but that edict, like those which pre- 22-1 ABDL'L MEDJID I. ceded it, remained in effect null and void. The grievances and wrongs endured since that time, es- pecially by the Christian population, the perversion of justice, and gross administrative corruption, furnish a sufficient commentary on the futility of the attempted or promised reforms of the Porte. Had Turkey possessed any recuperative energy, at no time did she occupy a position more favourable to her future progress and prosperity, or more likely to lead her to realize the sanguine expectations entertained of her even by English statesmen, than after the memorable events of the Crimean war. Her empire was made secure alike against naval, military, and diplomatic attacks. She was admitted into a place in the system of the equilibrium of Europe. She had but a very small debt, at a comparatively low rat(i of interest ; and, recognizing the necessity of good government, she had issued, by the advice of her allies, the edict referred to, which, had it been fully and fairly carried into practical operation, would have resulted in the material advancement of the country, and in the happiness and contentment of its diverse populations. During the latter portion of the reign of Abdul Mcdjid, the reforming statesmen of Turkey who struggled but too ineffectually against the vicious traditions of the past w^erc Fuad and A'ali Pashas. Lord Stratford de Pedcliffe also continued at Constan- tinople to support the cause of right and justice up to his retirement in 1858. The sultan himself, however, it is to be confessed, disappointed the promises of the early period of his reign. When he died in June, 1861, he had long survived tlie hopes founded on his gentle character and good intentions. During his ABDUL AZIZ I. T2d reign was begun that system of contracting foreign loans whicli, continued under liis successor, lias at length brought the Ottoman empire to hopeless bankruptcy. The first foreign loan contracted by Turkey in 1854 was on the security of the tribute of Egypt, and to meet the expenses of the war with Kussia. It was for a sum of £3,000,000. The second loan of 1855 for £5,000,000 was brought out under the guarantee of Great Britain and France, and charged on the balance of the Egyptian tribute and on the Customs duties of Syria. The next loan of 1858 for £5,000,000 was for the purpose of partially withdrawing the paper money then in circulation; and of the fourth loan for £16,000,000, authorized in 1860, only £2,070,000— so low had the credit of Turkey fallen — could be issued at the price of 62 J. At the death, therefore, of Abdul Medjid the external debt of the empire amounted to £15,000,000. Abdul Medjid, notwithstanding that he issued wise and tolerant laws, and was evidently sincere in his efforts for reform, was weak and incapable in his conduct of state affairs. He allowed his women to waste his revenues, and favourites to hold the highest posts in the empire. His army languished for want of pay and of competent leaders, while the finances were disorganized by carelessness or fraud, and drained to meet the frivolous demands of the palace. Abdul Aziz i. succeeded his brother on the 25th of June, 1861. Men hoped ^^^^^ j^^^^ j^ that the decadence of Turkey would a.d. i86i. be arrested on his accession. The debt of the country was as yet small, its revenue wa.s 226 ABDUL AZIZ I. increasing, and there was a general tranquillity through out all its provinces. Before he came to the throne Abdul Aziz Effendi was spoken of as the destined saviour of Turkey. He had, it is true, lived in seclrsion ; but his mode of life was said to be simple, and his tastes manly; he was fond of shi^os, and took an interest in military matters, and especially in artillery. Alas ! how have all these hopes of a vigorous and patriotic rule been belied. The new reign was inaugurated by economical re- forms promulgated by Fuad Pasha, who became grand vizier in November, 1861. In his first budget, issued in March, 1862, he thus proclaimed his financial policy : " Public credit is," said he, " the lever of all the wonders of our age, and the terms on which kingdoms obtain it are, first, economy in their administration — that is to say, the employment of the public money in matters useful to the State ; and, secondly, the faithful fulfilment of all obligations deliberately imdertaken." The improved credit of Turkey in 1862 was shown by the successful issue of a loan for £8,000,000 at 68, and that, with the loans of 1863 and 1865 for £14,000,000, cleared off the large floating debt, and placed the finances on a basis of security. The revenues at the same time had increased from £11,000,000 in 1862 to £14,000,000 in 1865; and when A'ali Pasha issued his budget in the month of August, 1869, the receipts amounted to £17,128,395, with the expenditure showing a small deficit of only £460,995. Of the two great patriotic and reforming statesmen of Turkey, Fuad Pasha died first ; and on the death of A'ali Pasha, in September, 1871, the ABDUL AZIZ I. 227 reign of waste and peculation unchecked set in. All control ceased, and corruption became the rule from the highest to the lowest. When in 1830 the Porte accorded to Servia the light of self-government, it reserved the fortresses, which were to be held by Turkish garrisons. In 1867, however, the Turkish government deprived the Servians of all reasonable pretext for hostility, by withdrawing the Ottoman troops from Belgrade and other garrison towns of the principality. Some un- successful attempts about this time were made to incite the Bulgarians to insurrection ; and Greek marauders also failed to stir up strife in Thessaly. An insurrec- tion, which broke out in Crete in 1866, was largely abetted by Greece, and continued for some years to employ the resources of Turkey. Omar Pasha at the head of a formidable army was unable to subdue the mountain tribes. The government of the sultan, however, declined the recommendation of the European Powers to give up Crete; and finally, in 1869, it succeeded in bringing the rebellion to a close. The Porte, however, conceded to the Cretans a mixed Mussulman and Christian government. In 1867 the Sultan Abdid Aziz, with his son Youssouf Izeddin and his nephew Miu-ad Effendi, visited Paris, and having arrived in London were entertained by Queen Victoria at Windsor, and also by the Lord Mayor in the city. About this time Abdul Aziz endeavoured, but iu the endeavour failed, to alter the succession in favour* of his son, to the exclusion of Murad, the eldest son of his brother, Abdul Medjid. Murad having been born under his father's reign, had, according to Turkish law, a prior 228 ABDUL AZIZ I. claim to a cousin born before his father came to the throne. The decline of Turkey proceeded at a rapid rate during the later years of the reign of Abdul Aziz. In June, 1875, the attention of the House of Commons was drawn to the financial and administrative condi- tion of the empire. It was then shown that all the promises made at the Peace in 1856 had been broken, and that misgovernment and corruption were para- mount throughout the countiy. From 1854 to 1869 Turkey had borrowed on the bourses of Europe £59,292,220. "All the loans," says Mr. Farley, in a recent work, "effected by Fuad and A'ali were perfectly legitimate, as the money which reached the Treasury was used for specific and well-known objects. The £84,000,000 borrowed, however, during jhe years 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874 might as well, as far as any useful purpose is concerned, have been thrown into the Bosphorus ; for it has all gone into the pockets of the contractors and the Turkish functionaries, and helped to minister to the wasteful extravagances of the harem at Dolma- Baghtche." In the summer of 1875 the raliyas of Bosnia and the Herzesrovina rose against the intolerable evils and exactions of Turkish misgovernment, and in October of the same year was issued a decree reducing the interest of the debt to one-half the amount. Ka great apprehension was at first felt in Europe on accoimt of the insurrection, and it seemed as if the revolt would be speedily suppressed. The collapse of Turkish credit, however, gave a fresh impetus to the movement. The insurgents were assisted not only by ABDUL AZIZ I. 229 volunteers from Montenegro and Servia, but their cause enlisted the sympathies of Europe, and called forth the diplomatic action of the Great Powers in their behalf A scheme of reforms, framed by Austria, in concert with Russia and Germany — known by the name of the Andrassy Note — was agreed to by Eng- land, and substantially accepted by the Porte. This scheme, which, contained many favourable provisions, w^as urged on the acceptance of the insurgents by the representatives of the northern Powers as a condition of peace ; but it failed to secure their adhesion. Pro- fessing, from the experience of the past, no faith in the promised reforms of the sultan, the rahyas refused to lay down their arms until entirely freed from the detested Moslem rule. Early in May, 1876, when the abortive character of the reform scheme had become fully manifest, and while the insurrection still continued in the revolted provinces, an outbreak of Mohammedan fanaticism occurred at Salonica, daring which the consuls of France and Germany were put to death by an infu- riated Mussulman mob. i\[ilitaiy reinforcements were immediately despatched thither from Constantinople ; commissioners also were sent by the Porte to co-ope- rate with the representatives of France and Germany, and with the consuls of England and Italy. By these measures order was speedily restored ; no further out- breaks occurred, the guilty persons w^ere brought to justice, and prompt pecuniary reparation was made by the Turkish Government to the families of the murdered officials. Under the influence of the apprehensions created by this deplorable outrage at Salonica, the document 230 ABDUL AZIZ I. known as the Berlin Memorandum was concocted by the three Imperial Chancellors. It urged the con- clusion of an armistice between the Turks and the insurgents, and the prompt pacification of the disturbed districts ; and in the event of the sultan's failure, on the expiry of the armistice, to accomplish this object, it was provided that forcible measures on the part of the Powers should be resorted to. The Berlin Memo- randum w^as adhered to by France and Italy, but England declined to join. Ultimately the concurring Powers withdrew from the position they had taken up, and, as a matter of fact, the document was not formally presented to the consideration of the Porte. Soon afterwards important events occurred in Constantinople which, for the time being, altered the whole political aspect. Yielding to the petitions and demonstrations of the Softas — an organized body of divinity and law students — the sultan dismissed Mahmoud Pasha, the grand vizier, and the other ministers, and changed also the Sheik-ul-Islam. These occurrences were but preliminary to his own deiDosition. On the night of the 30th of May the palace of Abdul Aziz was surrounded by troops, and after being informed that he was no longer sultan, he -vvas removed to the old palace of Stamboul. This im- portant event was not brought about either by a popular revolution or a palace intrigue, but by a resolution of the new ministers, the leaders of w^hom were the reforming Midhat Pasha, and Hussein Avni Pasha, minister of war, and because such a step was deemed essential for the safety of the country. The fall of Abdul Aziz was owing to the national bank- ruptcy, to mal-administration, to wasteful expenditure, ilURAD V. 231 and to abuses of all kinds ; and was welcomed alike by the Cbri«tian and the Turkish population. Five days after his dethronement Abdul Aziz, who had given clear proofs of mental derangement, committed suicide. But for the strong testimony furnished as to this fiict, it might have been surmised that, in accordance with Turkish custom, the ex-sultan had been murdered. There can be no doubt that his death, however deplorable the event, removed out of the way an element of possible political complication. The body of Abdul Aziz was placed beside that of his brother, Abdul Medjid, in the mausoleum of his father, Sultan Mahmoud ii., at Constantinople. Abdul Aziz had reigned nearly fifteen years ; and in strange contrast to the hopes excited by his accession, closed his career amid the reproaches and indignation of his people. No hand was stretched out to save him, and his nephew, who was born Murad v., on the 21st September, 1840, was pro- ^-d. iS76. claimed in peace under the title of ]Murad v. In the reign of the deceased sultan was chiefly piled up the enormous debt of <£184,981,783, which culminated in repudiation. From the vast sums re- ceived and expended, the empire gained little or no advantage. Palaces, kiosks, and mosques, ironclads, and formidable artillery, were among the chief objects of the vast and unproductive expenditure. Other tragic events speedily succeeded the death of the dethroned Abdul Aziz. On the night of the 15th of June a Turkish officer named Hassan, a Circassian by birth, under cover of his uniform, penetrated into the council of ministers assembled at the country house of Midhat Pasha, and, by means of a revolver, ^O'A MURAD V. assassinated Hussein Aviii and Easclnd Pashas, the ministers of war and of foreign affairs. Hussein Avni Pasha, a man of determination and energy, who had taken a main part in the enforced abdication of Abdul Aziz, and was strongly opposed to the Christian insurgents, stood at the head of the war or fanatical party, and was resolved to prosecute hostilities against them to the utmost. It is moi-e than probable that he would have been equally opposed to the constitutional changes considered by Midhat Pasha as essential to the maintenance of the empire. Incited, perhaps, to immediate action by the death of Hussein Avni Pasha, Prince Milan of Servia and Prince Nicolas of Montenegro, in spite of the restrain- ing influence of the Great Powers, and after much preparation , declared war against the Porte. Antipathy to the Turks, or sympathy with the cause of the insurgent Christians of Bosnia and Herzesrovina, and no doubt also the desire of extended territory, induced the two allied Slav powers to take so momentous a stej^. Servia was, indeed, carried into war by a powerful party, and by the strong current of popular feeling. In his declaration Prince Milan said that he wished " to enter the insurgent provinces in order to pacify and organize them according to the principles of justice and legality, without distinction of religion, and with all respect to the integrity of the Ottoman Empire." The Servian forces, at first under the nominal leadership of Prince Milan, were afterwards ably commanded by General Tchernayeff, formerly an officer in the Russian service. A series of signal victories attended the Montenegrin arms ; but in the Etru^de with the Turks the Servians were, on the MURAD V. 233 whole, unsuccessful. Having invaded Turkey, tliev were driven back on their own territory, and in the valley of the Morava compelled to act on the defen- sive. AVhile still holding the entrenched position of Alexinatz, and while the ultimate result of the war was still doubtful, Prince Milan communicated to the Great Powers his desire for peace. While the war was proceeding south of the Danube, all Europe was shocked by accounts of barbarous cruel- ties in Bulgaria, first made public by the English press. A rising in that province was part of the scheme of the promoters of war with Turkey. An insurrection, it appears, had been organized, which, however, broke out prematurely in the region between the Balkan and tlie Pthodope early in May. There is evidence that on the first outbreak a certain number of Turks were killed — some in fair fight, and some, it is said, in cold blood. This created alarm and panic among the Moslem population; the Government Avas asked for aid, but as it had no regular troops to send, the Beys of Adrianople and Philippopolis armed the Mussulman inhabitants of the towns, and sent them to the scene of insurrection against the Bulgarian villages. These irregular troops, or Bashi-Bazouks, afterwards joined by Circassians, not satisfied with encountering the insurgents in arms, directed their hostilities against villages which had never risen, and against the de- fenceless and unresisting people without distinction of age or sex. Horrible atrocities were committed on men, women, and children, which, at first denied by the Turkish authorities, were afterwards clearly estab- lished by independent investigations in the localities, conducted both by British and American officials. 23i AEDUL HAillD. These unliappy occurrences produced intense indigna- tion in England and throughout Europe, and perhaps, more than any other recent event, will prove adverse to the Turkish empire. Before the conclusion of the war it was strongly felt that no settlement vrould be permanent or satisfactory which continued I'lloslem government in Bulgaria, Bosnia, and the Herzegovina. The accession of Murad v. opened up some slight prospect of reformation in the system of administration and government. Midhat Pasha had declared himself in favour of a constitution. But all plans of reform were delayed : first, owing to the existing war j and secondly, to the illness of the sultan. An unhappy effect was produced upon Murad by the suicide of his uncle, followed by the violent deaths of his two ministers. Already shattered in mind and body by self-indulgence and intemperance, he relapsed into despondency, and became unfit to discharge the duties of his position. At length, on the 51st August, by the authority of the Council of Ministers, attended by the great dignitaries of the empire, Murad v. was deposed, and his brother, Prince Abdul Abdul Hamid, Hamid, proclaimed as his successor. A.D. 1876. Abdul Hamid, it is said, has given proof of energy of character; but the day, it is to be feared, is gone when the personal qualities of the sultan can have much efiect in arresting the decadence of Turkey. The date of his accession will more probably mark the opening of a new chapter of further reverse and decline in the eventful history of the Ottoman rule in Europe. CHAPTER X. THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. Awcicnt Byzantium — Foundation and procrress of Constantinoplo — Sieg:e« of the city— Its vralls and gates— Its splendid appearance — Remains of antiquit3- — St. Sophia — Historj- of the building — Its present condition — Other principal mosques — The seraglio— Baths, khans, and bazaars — Fires and dogs — The streets — Ramazan — The Golden Horn — Galata, Pera, and Scutari — Shores of the Bosphorus — Tunny fish— Climate of Constan. tinople — Valley of Sweet "Waters — Motley population of the city — Turks^ Armenians, Jews, Greeks, and Franks— The great burial fields — Cemetery at Scutari — Armenian cemetery. Constantinople, called Stamboul by the Turks, the centre around which so many great events of former as well as recent times have revolved, is situated on the western or European shore of the Thracian Bosphorus, at its south extremity, where the waters of the strait mingle with those of the Propontis, or Sea of Marmora. Its name preserves the memory of its founder, Constan- tine the Great, the first Christian emperor of the Koman world, who commenced the building of the city about the year a.d. 328, and made it the metropolis of hia dommions. But for nearly a thousand years pre^-iously, a part of the site had been occupied by Byzantium, a city built, according to ancient authorities, by a Grecian colony (B.C. 658). This older foundation was confined chiefly to the point of land which imm.ediately fronts the shores of Asia, and which is now covered with the halls, courts, and gardens of the seragho. A portion of the original walls, consisting of mouldering but sohd masonry, stands at present, and ser^-es to separate the Moslem palace from the public street. Various considerations ijiduced Constantine to esta- 236 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. blish a new capital, and select the frontier of Europe and Asia for the site. For half a century the emperors had ceased to reside at Rome, though they occasionally visited it. One cause of this might be their desire to escape the interference of the senate. In consequence, moreover, of the extension of the empire in the east, the Italian city had ceased to be its geographical centre. Byzantium was more nearly in this position, and had the additional recommendation of great natural strength and beauty ; and there the sovereign could more readily protect his territories from their most formidable foreign enemies, the Goths and Persians, by being nearer to them than when in the heart of Europe. The previous co-ordinate government of the east and west by different rulers, as by Diocletian and Maximian, had loosened the union between the two poitions of the empire, and Constantine, having rendered himself supreme, sought to restore the bond by founding a metropolis at the junction of the two divisions. As he had also adopted the Christian faith, he resolved to fix '^is court on the shores of the Bosphorus, as being more free from the monuments of paganism than the banks of the Tiber. With unsparing liberality the resources of the imperial treasury were devoted to the task of replacing Byzantium by the new city of Constantinople. The forests of the Black Sea yielded their timber, and the quarries of Perconnesus their marble, for this object. In May, A.D. 330, long before it was completed, the city was inaugurated as the capital. Seven years later, it re- ceived the corpse of its founder ; and forty-three years la-fer stiii, in a.d. 380, during the reign of Arcadius, the eictint document was compiled, known under the name of " Notitia," which contains a catalogive cf its buildings. There were 4,388 houses, fourteen palaces. THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE, 237 eight tliermse, or large bath estabhshments, 153 private baths, twenty pubhc swimming schools, fifty-two porti- coes, two senate-houses, two basilicas, and fourteen churches, besides theatres, forums, a circus, a capitol, and a mint. By Theodosius ii., Justinian, and He- raclius, the capital was enlarged and beautified till it rivalled Rome ; becoming, perhaps, the most splendid and opulent city of the globe. Few cities have been more frequently assailed. An- cient Byzantium, in the year B.C. 340, was attacked by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great; but the Athenians, urged by Demosthenes, came to the rescue, and compelled him to raise the siege. One night, while the Macedonians were undermining the wails prepara- tory to a grand assault, a new moon enabled the inhabi- tants to discern their danger, and defeat the operations of the enemy. The crescent found on Byzantine coins, and afterwards adopted by the Ottomans as their de- vice, is supposed to commemorate this deliverance. In A.D. 616, Constantinople was besieged by Chosroes ; and in 626 by the Persians and Avars. UpAvards of forty years later, in 668, it was attacked by the Arabs, in the reign of ]Moawyah, the sixth caliph. Great pre- parations were made for this enterprise, as it was for the purpose of fulfilling one of the most ardent wishes of Mohammed, who had looked forward to the conquest of the proud capital of the Caesars as the highest triumph of Islam, and had promised the full pardon of all their sins to the army that should achieve it. Old soldiers of the faith, battered in the wars, and almost broken down by years, who had fought by the side of the prophet, and were honoured with the title of •' Com- panions," girded on their swords for the expedition with all the ardour of youth. An immense armament passed Q 2o8 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. the Dardaiielies, and disembarked within seven miles of the apparently doomed city. But the besieged made use of the Greek fire, a new and terrific agent of de- struction to the iMoslems ; and after repeated attacks, extending over six years, the disciples of Islam re- tired from its walls, after enormous losses. The Arabs renewed the assault in 716, but were a second time unsuccessful. The Russians, under Oleg, the imme- diate successor of Rurik, advanced to the neighbour- hood in 865, and became for upwards of a century as formidable to the Greek imperial family as their descendants have been to the Ottoman sultans. In 1204, the capital was captured by the crusaders, whose conduct fixed an indelible stain upon the name of the Franks throughout the east, especially as it is strik- ingly contrasted with that of the rvlohammedans, who, a few years before, had conquered Jerusalem. When Saladin entered the latter city, the church of the Holy Sepulchre was respected, and the conquered Christians remained in possession of their property ; no confisca- tions were made of the wealth of the non-combatants, nor were any driven into exile ; the women were not insulted, nor the poor enslaved. But the vaunted chivalry of the Papal church plundered a Christian city without remorse, desecrated its shrines, and mal- treated its inhabitants, while the profane cry of " God wills it ! " was raised to excite each other to act the part of brigands and debauchees. Sacred plate, golden images of saints, and silver candelabras from the altars ; bronze statues of heathen idols and heroes, precious works of Hellenic art ; crowns, coronets, thrones, ves- sels of gold and silver ; ornaments of diamonds, pearls, and precious stones from the imperial treasury and the palaces of the nobles ; jewelry and precious metals from THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 239 the shops of the goldsmiths ; silks, yelvets, and bro- caded tissues from the Tvarehouses of the merchants, together with coined money, were accumulated in vast heaps, as spoil to be divided by the victors. A few of the crusading clergy endeavoured to moderate the fury which the bigoted prejudices of the Latin church had instilled into the minds of the soldiery against the Greeks ; but many priests were as forward as the most abandoned of the troops in robbing the temples of a kindred faith. After a few days of the wildest licence, the chiefs interfered to re-estabhsh military discipline, and some soldiers were put to death, while a French knight was hung by order of the Count of St. Pol, with his shield around his neck. The offence, however, thus punished was not abuse of the rights of conquest to- wards the defenceless, but that of defrauding their comrades by embezzling part of their plunder. The Greeks wTCsted their capital from the hands of the Latins in 1261, and finally lost it to the Mohammedans in 1453 ; an event which has been detailed. Since that period, Constantinople, though often menaced by foreign foes, has not been actually assailed. The Ottomian capital occupies the seven hills and in- tervening valleys of an irregular triangular shaped area, and has a circuit of about thirteen miles. The rounded apex projects towards the east, and terminates at the Bosphorus ; an arm of the strait, the canal of Perami, or the Golden Horn, washes the north side and forms the harbour, which is one of the finest in the world ; the Sea of Marmora lies on the south ; and a line across the peninsula is the base of the triangle. This area is surrounded by triple walls, which, on the land side, the most assailable point, have a fosse in frortt. They were built chiefly by the second Theodosius, and retain in 240 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. various places their original appearance, except that large trees have sprung up from the fosse, and from the rents made by repeated earthquakes. The triple ranges rise one above the other, and are strengthened by lofty towers, square, circular, or octagonal. The inter^'als between the walls are about eighteen feet, but are in many places choked up with earth, and masses of the fallen ramparts ; and the fosse, twenty-five feet broad, is now converted into herb gardens and cherry orchards, with here and there a solitary cottage. So lofty is the innermost wall, that to those follovring the road on the outside, none of the mosques or other buildings of the capital are visible, except an occasional tower. Six gates open into the city from the land, one of which, the third in succession from the Golden Horn, is the Top Kapoussi, or cannon-gate, which formerly bore the name of St. Romanus. Here the last of the Constantines fell in the defence of his capital, and the Ottoman conqueror entered. The landward walls ter- minate on the Sea of Marmora, at the famous castle of the Seven Towers, and the golden gate within its area. The gate now stopped up was a triumphal arch, erected by Theodosius to commemorate his victory over Maximus. The castle, originally a Greek fortress, was built by Mohammed ii., and has been used as a state prison. Three of its seven towers have disappeared, and tne four remaining are ruinous, yet still conspicuous bulwarks, 200 feet high. It was formerly the custom, when the Porte declared war, for the unlucky ambas- sador of the hostile power to be committed to durance in this prison, a violation of the law of nations which was not abandoned till the commencement of the present century. Seven gates lead into the city from the sea of Mar- THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 241 mora, and seven from the Golden Horn, making a total of twenty ; but the original number was twent\ -eight. "VMthin the walls is a confused mass of narrow, winding, and dirty streets, or lanes, crowded with wooden houses, and interspersed with numerous baths, khans, and mosques. But as the most majestic of the mosques crown the summits of the seven hills, with their massr domes and lofty minarets, they give to the capital from a distance an appearance of great magnificence, the effect of which is heightened by the gleaming waters, and the extreme beauty of the surrounding shores, studded with kiosks, and clothed with the brightest verdure. To a spectator on the Seraskier's Tower in the city, or the Tower of Galata, or the heights above Scutari, the scene is incomparably glorious. The eye overlooks a fanciful mixture of domes, minarets, and cypress groves ; glittering mosques, ruined aqueducts, and solemn cemeteries ; graceful slopes and castled crags ; with the windings of the blue and brilliant sea, over which thousands of boats are gliding ; while, eastward, the grand panorama is bounded by the hills cf Mysia and Bithynia, amid which, and above all, rises the lofty head of the snow-crowned Olympus. Equally imposing is the appearance of the city on ap- proaching it by sea. *' At last," says a visitor, " Con- stantinople rose in all its grandeur before us. AYith eyes riveted on the expanding splendours, I watched, as they rose out of the bosom of the surrounding waters, the pointed minarets, the swelling cupolas, and the in- numerable habitations, either stretching along the jagged shore, or reflecting their image in the mirror of the deep, or creeping up the crested mountain, and tracing their outline in the expanse of the sky. At first agglome- rated in a single confused mass, the lesser parts of this 242 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. imraeRse whole seemed, as we advanced, by degrees to unfold, to diseno;age themselves from each other, and to grow into various groups, divided by wide chasms and deep indentations ; until at last the cluster, thus far still distinctly connected, became transformed, as if by magic, into three distinct cities, each individually of prodigious extent, and each separated from the other two by an arm of that sea whose silver tide encompassed their base, and made its vast circuit rest half in Europe, half in Asia. Entranced by the magnificent spectacle, I felt as if all the faculties of my soul were insuf- ficient fully to embrace its glories. I hardly retained power to breathe, and almost apprehended that in doing so I might dispel the glorious ^-ision, and find its whole fabric only a delusive dream." This is not the lan- guage of exaggeration ; but it is equally true that close inspection is as disappointing as the distant prospect is attractive. The city of the sultan has few monuments of an- tiquity of interest or importance, except those in the Atmeidan, the cisterns, the aqueducts, and St. Sophia's. The Hippodrome, or running place for horses, now represented by the Atmeidan, a literal Turkish trans- lation of the Greek nam.e, is no longer a circus, but an oblong open space adjoining the seraglio, originally formed in ancient Byzantium by the emperor Severus. Tt contains an Eg}^ptian granite obelisk, formed of a single stone, terminating at a point, about fifty feet high, and partly covered with hieroglyphics, not of the best workmanship. From inscriptions at the base, it appears to have been raised by Theodosius from a pro- strate condition, having been probably thrown dovra by an earthquake. There is another obelisk near it, formed of different pieces of marble, apparently once covered THE CAPITAL OF THE EMriRE. 2-13 over with plates of brass ; and a brazen column, com- posed of the bodies of three serpents twisted, which formerly supported the famous golden tripod in the temple of Delphi. The "burnt column" in the street of Adrianople is an unsightly mass, black from re- peated conflagrations ; but, when entire, it must have been one of the noblest pillars in the world. It once sustained a colossal statue of Apollo, or, as it was after- wards interpreted, the emperor Constantine himself, with a sceptre in his right hand, the globe of the world in his left, and a crown of rays e-litterinn; on his head. The great works of the Greek emperors for supplying the city with fresh water are still to be seen, and surpass in extent anything of the kind found at Rome. They include the aqueduct of Valens, which connects the third and fourth hills, consisting of a double row of forty Gothic arches, now in a ridnous state, though still serving to convey water ; and a vast subterranean construction, called the imperial cistern of Constantine ; also the palace of the Thousand and One Pillars, designed to retain a supply of water in the event of a siege. This reservoir is now dry, and occupied by artisans, who ply their trade in almost total darkness. j:\jiother cistern, containing water, extends under several streets, and resembles a great under-ground lake ; its dimensions are quite unknown. Seven mosques are dignified with the title of im- perial, and most of them bear the names of their fomiders : these are, — St. Sophia, Sultan Mohammed, Sultan Selim, the Solimanie, Sultan Achmet, the Ozmanie, and Sultan Bajazet. Besides these, there are perhaps not less than 200 smaller mosques and 300 pubhc chapels. The ancient church of the Holy ^'isdom, Hag la 244 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMl'lRE. Sophia, which Europeans have absurdly converted into a female, St. Sophia, occupies the summit of the first v)f the seven hills, reckoning them from the Bosphorus, and immediately overlooks the seraglio. It was founded by Constantine the Great, enlarged by his son Con- stantius, burned down in the reign of Arcadius — having been set on fire by the party of John Chrysostom — rebuilt by Theodosius ii., and burned again in the fifth year of Justinian, who reconstructed it from the foun- dations with far greater splendour, and in its present form. Anthemius of Tralles, and Isodorus of Miletus, were the principal architects. Under them were a hundred master artificers, each of whom had charge of a hundred men, making a total of 10,000 labourers. Half of this number worked on the right side, and the other half on the left. Heavy taxes were laid upon the ])eople, to defray the expense of the erection, and even the salaries of the professors of learning throughout the empire were devoted to it. The costliest materials were collected for the building, especially for the columns ; white marble, with rose- coloured stripes, from Phrygia; green marble from Laconica ; blue from Lybia ; black Celtic marble, with white veins ; Bosphorus marble, white, with black veins ; Egyptian starred granite, and Saitic porphyry. Eight green columns originally belonged to the temple of Diana at Ephesus ; and eight of porphyry to the tem- ple of the Sun at Baalbec. The tiles for the cupolas were made at Rhodes of a particularly light white clay. They bore the inscription, " God has founded it, and it will not be overthrown : God will support it in the blush of the dawn." By the time that the walls had been raised two yards above ground, 452 cwts. of gold had been expended. The aitar vvas composed of every THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIIlf;. 245 species of precious materials, matted together with gold and silver, and crusted with pearls and jewels. It had vine-formed candelabras of the purest gold, and all the sacred vessels were of the same description. The doors of the church were of ivory, amber, and cedar ; and the floor was paved with variegated marble. Seven years and a half were consumed in collecting and preparing the building materials, eight years and a half were devoted to the task of erection ; so that the finishing of the whole occupied sixteen years. Upon the completion of the fabric, Justinian, on Christmas eve, a.d. 538, drove with four horses from the palace to the church. There had been slaughtered 1,000 oxen, 1,000 sheep, COO deer, 1,000 pigs, 10,000 poultry, and during three hours these, together with 30,000 measures of corn, were distributed to the poor. Accompanied by the patriarch Eutychius, the emperor entered the structure, and, standing near the pulpit with outstretched arms, he exclaimed, " God be praised, who hath esteemed me w^orthy to complete such a work. Solomon, I have surpassed thee." On the following morning, Christmas-day, the church was opened in great state, and special services were held in honour of the event till the Epiphany. St. Sophia's had been largely despoiled of its valuables by the Crusaders and others, before it came into the hands of the Moslems. In its principal features, the structure has remained unaltered during an existence of thirteen centuries. Externally, it is a large square building, covered with cupolas, to which its new masters added a beautiful minaret at each of the four corners. Inside, it exhibits the form of a Greek cross, the intersection of which is surmounted by a very flat dome, 115 feet in diameter, being fifteen feet more than that of St. Paul's, and in 24G THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. height 180 feet above the floor. '' My general mipres sion," says Mr. Hobhouse, ''was that the skill of the one hundred architects, and the labour of the 10,000 workmen, had raised a stupendous monument of the heavy mediocrity which distinguished the productions of the sixth century from the perfect specimens of a happier age. The general style of its ornaments showed that it was calculated for nocturnal illuminations. It must, indeed, have a brilliant appearance when lighted by its myriads of lamps, and its vault may glitter like the firmament ; but this is the excellence of a theatre rather than of a temple, and may be found where the skill of the architect and sculptor is required in vain." The interior of the dome is inscribed with the follow- ing passage from the Koran, which is illuminated during the nights of the Ramazan : — " God is the light of the heavens and the earth." Highly gilded crescents adorn the tops of the minarets. But the one which super- seded the cro^s on the cupola is remarkable for its dimensions, having a diameter of fifty yards. The gilding alone of this enormous crescent cost Amurath iii. 50,000 ducats. It is said to be ^dsible a hundred miles out at sea, and may be seen from the summit of Mount Olympus, glittering in the sunbeams. In the years 1847-8, Fossati, an Italian architect, was commissioned by the sultan to repair and beautify the mosque. For this purpose, very extensive scaffolding was erected in the interior, so as to give easy access to various parts usually beyond the reach of the obse-rver. Upon receiving intelhgence of this, the king of Prussia sent an architect named Salzenberg to Constantinople, in order to measure accurately, and draw the whole building, for which a firman was readily obtained. While the repairs were in propjress, an unexpected dis* THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 247 CO very was made. On removing tlie whitewash from the interior of the dome and other parts, the beautiful mosaics with which the Christian builders had adorned it most richly came to light, and a vast number of other decorations were disclosed, the existence of which had never been suspected. Fac-similes of these in- teresting monuments of ancient art have recently been published at Berlin. The Solimanie, on the second of the seven hills, though smaller, is far superior to St. Sophia, and the ilnest monument of Ottoman architecture in the city. It was erected in the reign of Soliman the iMagnificent, by Sinan, the most celebrated architect of the empire ; and is universally admired for the regularity of its plan, the careful execution of the individual parts, ancl the harmony of the whole The mosque of Mohammed ii., built to commemorate his capture of the city, stands on the fourth hill, on the spot where once stood the church of the Holy Apostles, in which the Greek emperors were buried. The imperial tombs of porphyry, serpentine, green, red, and white marble had been violated by the crusaders for the sake of their valuables ; and the building itself was dilapidated when taken down to make way for a Moslem temple. The mosque of Achmet i. occupies one side of the Atmeidan, and may be regarded as the Mohammedan state church, or cathedral of Constantinople. The sultans generally repair to it, on the great festivals, at- tended by the court, and it was here that Mahmoud ii. appealed to his assembled people for their assistance in crushing the Janissaries. This mosque was the only one in the empire with six minarets ; but two or three of them have recently been blown-down by a storm. The large mosqu.es of the city of which Von Hammer 248 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. enumerates one hundred, are called Jami, " places of meeting." The functionaries attached to them are Imams, Sheikhs, and Kiatibs (the Friday preachers) ; the Muezzims (those who call to prayer) ; the Dewr Khuran (readers of the whole Koran) ; the Naat- shuran (singers of hymns) ; the Rewab (door-keepers) ; and other inferior officers. The small mosques are called Mesjid (places of prayer) ; from whence comes our word mosque. Immediately overlooking the Bosphorus and the shores of Asia, is the Serai, or imperial palace, called Seraglio by the Franks. This is not a single building, but a group of structures of various forms and dimen- sions, interspersed with fountains, baths, grottos, courts, gardens and shrubberies, the whole surrounded by a high wall, nearly three miles in circuit. Besides the more private apartments, which are rigidly guarded trom intrusion, the enclosure contains the divan, the presence chamber, the mint, the treasury, the palace of the grand vizier, infirmaries, stables, barge-houses, kitchens, and other offices, forming, in fact, a miniature city, with inmates said to number 6,000 when the court is in residence. Within the enclosure is the church in which Theodosius convened the Council known as the Second of Constantinople. There also may be seen the celebrated pillar of Theodosius the Great. In the third division is the hall of the throne and the librnry, which is believed to be very rich in manuscripts. The principal entrance is by a gate, or porte, through a building which resembles a huge guard-house. It contains the public offices where the business of the state is transacted, and is, therefore, styled the Sublime Porte. There is very little to in- terest the visitor in this far-famed palace, with the ex- THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 249 ception of a kind of armoury, -^'liere specimens of old Turkish weapons and dresses are shown. Fountains of fantastic design, and gaudily decorated, but some of them ornamental, are numerous in the city, and are often inscribed with the text from the Koran, ** By water everything lives." Baths are indulged in by persons of both sexes and all classes ; and of these establishments there are not less than 130 for public use. Though some are built of marble, their external appearance is not remarkable; but the interiors are spacious, and supply all the appendages necessary to the complete enjoyment of the first of oriental luxuries. The water is brought by aqueducts, partly above and partlv under ground, from reservoirs in the neighbour- hood of Belgrade, a village fifteen miles north of the capital. The khans, or inns, for the reception of strangers, of which there are 180, are large stone barracks, or closed squares, of very homely aspect, but adapted to their purpose. They generally consist of warehouses and stables on the ground-floor, above which are ranges of small chambers for travellers, kept neat and clean by the servants of the khan, and fitted up for the time by the several occupiers. These structures have been mostly erected by the sultans and munificent individuals for the pubhc good. Hence strangers are lodged gra- tuitously, with the exception of a small fee to the attendant, and during their stay they keep the keys of their rooms. The khans are for people of all nations and religions, and the poor are just as much entitled to their accommodation as the rich. In Constantinople, the chief scenes of life and bustle are the long covered streets of shops, or bazaars, of varying length and width, severally devoted to par- 250 THE CAPITAL OF IHE EMPIRE. ticular trades and merchandise. Shoes and sHppers of every colour meet the eye m one ; jewehy in another ; shaAvls and silks in the next ; drugs in a fourth ; pipe- bowls and pipe-sticks in a fifth ; with sellers of paper and copyists in a sixth. On a Monday morning, one of the most interesting places in the capital is the flower bazaar, which is then crowded with magnificent speci- mens of the rarest and most beautiful plants offered for sale. Of cook-shops, where relishing kahohs are pre- pared with despatch, there is no lack in the sultan's shadow ; or of coffee houses, thronged in the evening with Turks, Armenians, Greeks, and Jews, to smoke, make bargains, hear news, and talk of pubhc events. Not far from the wall of the seraglio, the hollow of a fine old plane-tree serves as a coffee shop. In consequence of the houses being mostly built of wood, fires are very frequent, and have sometimes been so extensive as to threaten the destruction of the entire city. If a fire is not quickly subdued, the governor of the district is bound to attend and superintend the efforts made to suppress it ; and one of unusual magnitude for- merly forced the sovereign himself to the spot. This cus- tom was long observed by the Russian czars, as well as by the Turkish sultans. On the lofty Seraskier's Tower, built by the late sultan, he ordered a guard to be con- stantly stationed, to watch for the breaking out of fires. When one occurs, the guard beats an immense drum, aad shouts at the top of his voice, Tangin var ! Tangin var ! " Fire there is ! Fire there is .-" to assemble the firemen and alarm the inhabitants. The tower of Galata is used for the same purpose in the suburb. If it is daylight, flags are hung out to indicate by their coloui' and arrangement the direction of the fire, and by night otlier signals for this end are adopted. A THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 251 great conflagration in Constantinople is rendered more terrific than in other European cities by the fearful baying and howhng of the multitudinous dogs in the streets. These curs, notwithstanding the destruction of thou- sands by the late sultan, are now as numerous as eyer, and are the chief scayengers of which the city can boast, subsisting upon offal from the butchers' shops, the carcases of animals, and other refuse. None of the Turks own them, but all protect them. They are never admitted into houses, being considered unclean, and the mosques are carefully guarded against their intrusion ; but the streets are surrendered to them as a kind of rightful domain, while some consider it a sort of religious duty to furnish kennels for their litters, and reseryoirs of w^ater, and food. They are of a pecuhar race, somewhat like a sheep-dog, and are said to be susceptible of the plague, but not of hydrophobia. They also maintain a rigid pohce among themselves, and should a vagrant stray out of his own street or territory, he is immediately attacked by the indignant canines, on whose patrimony he has trespassed. It is commonly said, that they know a Frank by liis dress and walk, and cannot help barking when they see a hat. Until recently, none of the streets had any names, nor were the houses numbered. Districts alone were designated, generally by the names of the principal mosque, or some conspicuous object in each. In 1844, orders were issued to remedy this inconvenience to the stranger, as well as for the estabushment of pohce offices in the suburbs, which were often disturbed by the unruly Frank population, consisting of the refuse of Europe. By night, in the city itself, the streets are in general remarkably still. Ever}' human voice is 252 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE, hushed at an early hour, and were it not for the howl- int^ dogs, and the footfall of the patrol, the silence would be complete. But in the month of Ramazan, the ^Mo- hammedan Lent, this aspect is entirely changed. The day is passed, by the wealthy classes at least, in sleep or total idleness, and the night is devoted to enjoyment or devotion. With the exception of travellers, children, and invalids, every Moslem at this period is forbidden to eat, drink, or smoke, from sunrise to sunset. As the Turkish month is lunar, the Ramazan runs through every season in the course of thirty-three years, and when it occurs in summer, the labouring classes suffer extremely from exhaustion and thirst. " I have seen the boatmen," says Mr. Turner, "lean on their oars almost fainting ; but I never saw, never met with any one who professed to have seen, an instance in which they yielded to the temptation of violating the fast." But at sunset, a moment anxiously looked for, and an- nounced by the firing of cannon, all classes make up for the abstemiousness of the day by the revelry of the night. The mosques are open, the minarets are illumi- nated, the streets are crowded, and the coffee houses thronged. The harbour of the Golden Horn is indebted for that name to its beauty and curving shape. It extends from the Bosphorus, nearly five miles inland, with a width varying from two furlongs to five, but gradually narrows towards its termination, where it receives the waters of a small stream, the Lycus of the ancients. The largest ships may float in the basin close to the land, and there is space for 1,200 sail. The steepness of the banks, and the great depth of water, which is liable to no variation from tides, afford great facilities for loading and unloading vessels. THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 253 Tn 1828, the first steamer, an Engb'sh one, entered file port, to the astonishment of the Turks, not unmixed with fear. For some time no persuasions could induce them to enter a craft of this kind ; but apprehension being overcome, their dehght was extreme on finding steamers going against the wind ; for in summer, saihng vessels are sometimes detained in the Golden Horn for weeks by contrary gales. Besides ships and steamers, the surface of the harbour is occupied with great numbers of light boats, or caiques, plying for hire, or the property of the persons in them, intent on business or pleasure. They are canoe-like, long and narrow, elegantly adorned when belonging to the rich ; and are made to ghde with great rapidity through the water, by the dexterity of the caiquejees. Towards the upper end of the harbour, on the side op- posite to the city, is the imperial naval arsenal, Ters-hana, "the place of shipwrights," comprising docks, work- shops, stores, and machinery for the building and fitting of vessels. Immediately below the arsenal a bridge of boats was thrown across the port in 1837, through which ships and other craft pass by means of drawbridges. Two other bridges, since constructed, now form convenient communications between Constantinople and its Eu- ropean suburbs. The largest of the suburbs, Galata, extends along the north side of the harbour. It contains the custom- house, is the principal seat of commerce, and the usual ianding-place from the Sea of Marmora. The inhabi- tants are foreigners of all nations, with Turks. Imme- diately behind Galata, only separated from it by a wall, IS Pera, on the upper slopes and summit of a hill. This suDurb is the head-quarters of diplomacy ; the residence of the European ambassadors and consuls. It has R 254 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. nothing oriental in its aspect, but resembles a second- rate town of Italy. Galata is continued eastward to the Bosphorus by Tophana, which derives its name from a camion foundry at the spot. It contains, also, the ar- tillery barracks ; and its fine quay is the usual place of embarkation for Asia. About two miles from this point, across the strait, and directly opposite the mouth of the harbour, is Scutari, the Asiatic suburb of Constantinople, on the heights of which are the extensive barracks erected by sultan Selim, which were converted into hospitals for the sick and wounded of the British army in the Crimea. In ancient times this place was called Chrysopolis, or gold-town, probably from the Persians collecting here the gold and silver they levied by way of tribute. Its pre- sent name is the corrupt form of a Persian word, signi- fying a courier. Scutari is, and has been from time im- memorial, the post-station for Asiatic couriers, the great rendezvous of caravans, and the place where travellers to and from the east commence and terminate their journeys. The Bosphorus is the outlet of the Black Sea inter the Sea of Marmora. This fine natural canal follows a winding course between high banks thickly strewed with imperial residences, villas, \-illages, woods, vine- yards, and gardens ; while castellated ruins occasionally add to the beauty of the scene. Following their respective windings, the European shore extends nine- teen miles and a half, and the Asiatic twenty-four miles. The breadth varies from three quarters of a mile to two miles. Besides the palaces, the more remarkable objects are the castles of Roumelia and Anatolia, opposite each other, at the narrowest part of the strait ; the tomb of Barbarossa, a simple monument covered with moss and ivy ; with the villages of Bebek, Therapia, and Buyuk* THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 2jJ dere on the European side : and the Giant's Mountain, the highest hill on the channel, the Yalley of the Hea- venly Water, and the village of Kandilli, on the Asiatic. Important political negotiations have been concluded on both banks of this famous channel. At Kalender, a romantic little bay, called by the old Byzantines " the Bay of the Quiet Sea," on the side of Europe, the present Lord Stratford de Redcliffe won his first diplo- matic triumph, persuading the Turkish ministers, with whom he was closeted sixteen successive hours, to consent to the treaty of Bucharest, in 1812. At Balta-Lim.an, " the port or bay of the battle-axe/* on the same shore, where Redschid Pasha had a villa, the treaty of the Five Powers was signed in 1841, and the Convention of 1849 relative to the Danubian Prin- cipalities. On the opposite bank Unkiar Skelessi wit- nessed the signature of the treaty of 1833, whereby, in case of need — to be estimated by the Russian govern- ment — Turkey bound herself, for the term of ten years, to close the Dardanelles to foreign fleets. The term Bosphorus, or more correctly Bosporus, signifies " the passage of the ox," or " Ox-ford." Its origin is variously explained. According to heathen mythology, it was at this strait, that lo, when transformed by Jupiter into an ox, passed from one continent to the other in the course of her wanderings. A more sober account is, that the first voyage through it was made in a vessel, on the prow of which was the figure of the animal. But another, and perhaps a bet- ter explanation, attributes the name to the circumstance that oxen were accustomed to svrim from one side to the other. In this manner droves of cattle were brought over our Menai Strait, from Anglesea into Wales, pre- vious to the construction of the suspension bridge. 256 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. The waters of ancient Byzantium were remarkable for their tunny-fish, called pelamides, by the Greeks, which often figure upon the coins of the city ; and they are still a source of considerable profit to the inhabitants of Constantinople, as a principal article of food to the lower classes of Greeks during Lent. Impatient of cold, the tunnies migrate in large shoals from the Black Sea to more southern latitudes, on the approach of winter, returning in the spring, and are readily cap- tured in the narrow channels of the Bosphorus and Dar- danelles. Dr. Neale relates, that while at Therapia in autumn, two smart shocks of earthquake were followed by a strong hurricane from the north, sudden cold, and a fall of snow. After the wind had continued in the same quarter for some days, he observed a singular rippling appearance in the waters of the Bosphorus, forming a dark serpentine line, about a mile and a half long. It was caused by the tunny-fish on their annual migration. Over, and all around the rippling, were swarms of aquatic birds — swans, cormorants, pelicans, geese, ducks, and gulls, shrieking in hoarse concert as they dived upon the myriads of fish in the mid- channel. Boats soon began to arrive from Constan- tinople. They increased to hundreds, manned by Turks, Albanians, and Greeks, shouting and wrangling for the prize which the wild fowl seemed to contest with them, by intrepidly seizing the fish when struggling amid the meshes of the nets. This scene lasted day and night till the fourth morning, when the last of the shoal passed Therapia. The climate of Constantinople, though in general mild and moderate, is much colder than that of places in Italy and Spain at the same latitude. It is not sufiiciently hot for the growth of the ohve ; and orange THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 257 and lemon trees will not thrive in the open air, but require a sUght shelter. Great and sudden changes of temperature are experienced from the shifting of the wind to opposite quarters north and south, sometimes causing Fahrenheit's thermometer to fall or rise 30^ in the space of an hour. The north wind blowing over the Black Sea gives coolness to the days of summer, with frost and snow to those of winter ; while a south wind will render a December day uncomfortably warm, and is most oppressively hot in the summer months. The north, or north-east wind, being the prevailing one, is detrimental to the commerce of the port, since, blowing in the direction of the currents, through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, it delays the shipping coming up from the Archipelago and the Mediterranean. Instances of remarkably severe winters in this region are on record in history. In thcyear 401, large tracts of the Euxine were frozen over for twenty days ; and when the weather broke up, such mountains of ice passed by Constantinople that the inhabitants were terrified. Zonaras writes, that in the reign of Constantine Copronymus, there occurred such a severe winter, that the Bosphorus was frozen, notmthstanding its rapid current, and people walked upon the ice from Europe to Asia. Cantimir states that this also happened in the year 1621. Examples of this rigour have not been known in recent times. During the heats of summer, the foreign ministers and wealthy famihes commonly retire from the capital to Buyuk-dere, or Therapia, contiguous to the Black Sea, to inhale the cooler breezes ; while pleasure parties proceed daily to the Prince's Islands and the valley of Sweet Waters. The islands, nine in number, are a group of picturesque and beautiful rocks rising abruptly from 258 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. deep water, on the Asiatic side of the entrance to the Bosphorus from the Sea of Marmora. The Sweet Waters are those of the Lycus, which flow through a flat valley in a canal lined with marble, amid pleasure grounds and fine plane-trees, about two miles from the head of the Golden Horn. The grounds were laid out and a kiosk built for Achmet iii. An enormous plane-tree rises in the middle of the valley, the trunk of which is forty- seven yards in circumference, while the branches afford a shade for a hundred and thirty yards round it. De Candolle, the French botanist, estimated the age of this tree at two thousand years. A motley assemblage of people — Turks, Armenians, Jews, Greeks, Franks, and natives of the east, form the population of Constantinople and its suburbs. What Lady Mary Wortley Montague wrote a century ago is true at present. " I live in a place," she observes, "that very well represents the Tower of Babel. In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Sclavonian, Wallachian, Ger- man, Dutch, Italian, French, Hungarian, English; and what is worse, there are ten of these languages spoken in my own family. My grooms are Arabs; my footmen French, English, and Germans ; my nurse an Armenian, my housemaids Russians, half a dozen other servants Greeks, my steward an Italian, my Janissaries Turks." This medley of races and sounds has been vastly in- creased by the employment of mechanics of the Western nations. The unsophisticated brogue of Scotland, Treland, and Wales, and similar dialectical differences in France have been carried to the threshold of the Porte; and many an attempt has been made on the part of French and English to commune together by means of hideous distortions of each other's speech. Even some THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 259 of the Turks themselves have learned to stammer out to the Ingliz, " Bdly bell, I tank you." The Turks chiefly occupy Constautmople itself, though there are many in the suburbs. The Armenians, Jews, and Greeks have also quarters in the city, while they are, to some extent besides, dispersed through it, and also form a considerable proportion of the population \^ithout the walls. The Armenians have two quarters assigned to them, one on the Sea of ^Marmora, and the other along the harbour, both somewhat central to each side. They are the most respectable of the regular in- habitants — honest, industrious, and enterprising, and some of them very wealthy. The rich are money-brokers, goldsmiths, and corn-merchants ; others are surgeons, apothecaries, bakers, masons, carpenters, braziers, lock- smiths, farriers, and horse-breakers ; others are porters, and in this capacity they carry loads at a quick step, beneath which the stoutest coal-heaver on the Thames would stagger. The Jews are, like the Armenians, engaged in mercantile pursuits, and various calhngs as artisans ; but a considerable number belong, by preference, to the mendicant class. They are chiefly of Spanish extraction, and occupy Ballata, a district on the harbour, the dirtiest and most densely peopled part of the city. The Greeks, while scattered throughout the capital in the neighbour- hood of their ancient churches, occupy the Fanar, a quarter next to that of the Jews, where the most re- spectable of the communion reside, and are hence known by the name of Fanariotes. The majority are proverbial for cunning, duplicity, dishonesty, and intrigue. In the Fanar, just within the gate of St. Peter, stands the patriarchal church of St. George ; and close adjoining is the dwelling of the patriarch. The cathedral is a humble dwelling, neatly kept, but not capable of holding more 260 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. than from six to seven hundred persons. It has na statues, but the walls of the inner sanctuary are decorated with some paintings and a coarse mosaic, representing the Virgin. Those who are credulous may here see an episcopal chair of burnished wood, and believe it to be the veritable cathedra from which Chrysostom delivered his homilies, with a pillar said to be the one to which our Lord was bound when he was scourged by order of Pilate. Of foreigners the Russians are the most numerous. After them, in numerical order, are lonians, Germans, Italians, Hellenic Greeks, Maltese, Austrians, French, Prussians, British, and Americans. The total population is entirely a matter of conjecture ; but it has been esti- mated by respectable authority, in round numbers, as follows : Turks .500,000 Armenians 200,000 Jews 100,000 Greeks 28,000 Franks and other strangers . . 18,000 846,000 This return is for Constantinople, Galata, Pera, Tophana, Scutari, and the minor suburban places. However incorrect the numbers may be, it is probable that they very closely represent the respective propor- tions of the different classes in the ordinary state of the population. The abodes of the dead in the neighbourhood of the city are remarkable sites, commodious, picturesque, beautiful, and solemn, occupying an area scarcely less THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 261 than that of the habitations of the hving. Each of the principal nations has a distinct cemetery. The Turks, on the death of a relative, plant a young cypress over the grave ; and they do not allow this tree to be employed for the same purpose by any of the other races. Their cemeteries have become, in some instances, vast forests, extending for miles, owing to the invariable practice of opening a new grave for every corpse, the disturbance of the dead being regarded as sacrilege. The tombstones are of white marble, those for males being surmounted with turbans, the form of which denotes the rank and condition of the deceased. Many stones may be observed from which the turbans have been severed, thus marking the graves of the Janissaries. The tombs of females are simply distinguished by a rose-branch. Though much is unquestionably gained, as regards the health of the living, by this extra-mural interment, yet, owing to the graves being exceedingly shallow, while only thin boards are laid over the bodies, the great burial fields reek with offensive exhalations, and are at certain seasons pestilential. The aromatic odour of the cypress is thought, in some degree, to mitigate this evil. Multi- tudes of turtle-doves frequent these wooded abodes of departed generations, and hold a di\'ided sway in them with owls and bats. The principal Turkish cemeteries on the European side of the capital are at Eyoub and near Pera ; but the great home of the dead is in Asia, behind Scutari, which is also the richest in monuments of distinguished men. The Turks prefer a resting-place in the soil of Asia, as the country of their forefathers and the prophet, and of the holy cities — Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Damascus ; and because of a presentiment long en- tertained, that they are destined to be expelled from 262 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. Europe. " So long," says a i-i-vid describer, " so busily has time been at work to fill this chosen spot ; so repeatedly has Constantinople poured into this ultimate receptacle almost its whole contents, that the capital of the living, spite of its immense population, scarcely coimts a single breathing inhabitant for every ten silent inmates of this city of the dead. Already do its fields of blooming sepulchres stretch far away on every side, across the brow of the hills and the bend of the valleys ; already are the avenues which cross each other at every step in this domain of death so lengthened, that the weary stranger from whatever point he comes still finds before him many a dreary mile of road between mar- shalled tombs and mournful cypresses ere he reaches ids journey's seemingly receding end; and yet, every year does this common patrimony of all the heirs to decay still exhibit a rapidly-increasing size, a fresh and vdder line of boundary, and a new belt of young planta- tions gro^^ing up between new flower-beds of graves. " There," said I to myself, *' lie, scarcely one foot beneath the surface of a swelling soil, ready to burst at every point with its festering contents, more than half the generations whom death has continued to mow down for nearly four centuries in the vast capital of Islamism. There He, side by side, on the same level, in cells the size of their bodies, and only distinguished by a marble turban somewhat longer or deeper, somewhat rounder or squarer, personages in Hfe far as heaven and earth asunder, in birth, in station, in gifts of nature, and in long-laboured acquirements. There lie, sunk alike in their last sleep — ahke food for the worm that li\es on death — the conqueror who filled the universe with hia name, and the peasant scarcely kno\^'n in his own hamlet ; elders bending under the weight of years, and infants of THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. 2G3 a single hour ; men \nth intellects of angels, and men \Aith understandings inferior to those of brutes ; the beauty of Georgia, and the black of Sennaar; virgins, beggars, heroes, and women." The evergreen cypress (cujjressus sempervirens) was considered by the ancients an emblem of immortality, owing to the great age which the tree is reputed to attain, and the extreme durability of the wood. Hence the Athenians buried the remains of their heroes in coffins of cypress ; and the chests in which the Eg}^tian mummies are found are usually of the same material. The conquering Moslem adopted from the conquered Greeks the practice of planting the tree over the grave and carrying it in funeral processions, with the same symbolical reference. Scutari has now its Protestant burying-ground, in which large numbers of our soldiers of the Crimean army lie buried. The burying-ground of the Armenians, an eminently beautiful spot, is a tract of high rugged land overlooking the dark blue waters of the Bosphonis. Not being allowed to plant the cypress, they generally overshadow the grave with the terebinth, or turpentine-tree, probably the ailon, or plane-tree of the Old Testament, the resin of which yields a strong aromatic odour. It grows to a large size, and forms a very ornamental addition to the landscape. The cemetery, thickly planted with these trees, has hence a remarkably pleasing appearance, and is attractive from its elevated situation and the \-iew it commands, as well as from its solid and elaborately con- structed funereal monuments. The tombs are slabs ot stone or marble from the island of Marmora, with a multitude of httle cavities cut out on them, as miniature reservoirs intended to catch and retain the rain-drops in order to preserve the birds, who frequently perish iu 264 THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE. summer for want of fresh water. The tombs usually commemorate the profession of the deceased as well as his name and age. Thus the calling of the tailor is shown by the shears and yard-measure ; that of the blacksmith by the anvil ; and that of the mason by the rule and trowel. But the most remarkable circumstance is, that those Armenians who have undergone execution, have the modes of their death commemorated on their sepulchres by the effigies of men being hung, strangled, or beheaded. In explanation it is stated, that having become wealthy by their industry, they suffered as \-ictims to the cupidity of former governments, not as criminals ; and hence their ignominious death was really honourable to them and worthy of a memorial. An inscription on one of the tombs of this class is as follows : — " You see my place of burial here in this verdant field. I give nriy goods to the robbers, My soul to the regions of death ; The world I leave to God, And my blood I shed in the Holy Spirit. You who meet my tomb, Say for me, 'Lord, I have sinned,' 1197." The inscriptions on the Armenian tombs give evidence of the prevalence of much religious error and super- stition. The confession of sin and prayer for the dead by the living, suggested by the foregoing epitaph, point to a delusion full of mischief which is found extensively in both eastern and western communions. How many millions calling themselves Christians have yet to learn that religion is a personal and individual concern to every one — a transaction between each human being personally and God, to be performed completely and finally in this life only — not in the grave, nor by prayers and offerings for the dead! CHAPTEE XL TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. Eiiropean Turkey — Extent and area — Mountains — The Balkan — Rivers and lakes — Provinces — Roumelia — Ancient sites — Mount Athos — Thessaly — Albania — Montenegro — Bosnia — Turkish Croatia and Herzegovina — Servia — Bulgaria — Moldavia and Wallachia — Natural and cultivated products -— Asiatic Turkey — Asia Minor — Armenia and Kourdistan — Mesopotamia and Irak Arabi — Syria with Palestine — Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem — The Hedjaz — African Turkey — Egypt — Tunis — Tripoli — Travelling in the empire — Government — The divan — Order of succession — Officers of the household — Titles of the sultan. The Ottoman dominions consist of an extensive por- tion of south-eastern Europe, of a part of western Asia, and of northern Africa, comprehending some of the most celebrated, best situated, and naturally fertile districts of the continents to which they belong. The European division of the empire embraces a large part of the south-eastern portion of Europe. It extends from the kingdom of Greece on the south to the Austrian and Eussian frontiers on the north, and has the mari- 2G6 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL time boundary of the Adriatic on the west, with that of the Archipelago, the Sea of Marmora, the Black Sea, and their connecting straits, on the east. The greatest breadth, east and west, or from the mouths of the Danube to western Croatia, is about 700 miles ; the greatest length, north and south, is rather less, being about 650 miles ; and the whole area is commonly com- puted at 200,000 square miles. The interior of the country consists of an extensive central nucleus of ele- vated plains and rugged, towering highlands (the ancient Mcesia Superior), from which a descending series of table- lands extends generally towards the coasts, intersected by various ranges of mountains, emanating from the same central point. North-westward stretch the Dinaric Alps, joining the great Alpine system of Europe. Eastward^ the chain of the Balkan (the ancient Hcemus) extends to the bold headland of Cape Emeneh, on the shore of the Black Sea. South-eastward, a loftier ridge, the Kilo Dagh, and Despoto Dagh (the Rhodope of the ancients), runs into the plains bordering the north coasts of the Archipelago ; and southward a range follows the direc- tion of the peninsula into Greece, denominated the Hel- lenic chain, of which the classical mountains, Pindus, form the southern extremity, with Olympus, Pelion, and Ossa, as oifsets on the Gulf of Salonica. These chains, to a considerable extent, render communication between contiguous provinces rare and difficult. A few heights attain the elevation of from 9,000 to near 10,000 feet, but the Turkish mountains are generally much below that altitude. The Balkan mountains have acquired interest in modern times as a line of military defence against the aggressive designs of Russia. They form an undulating range, separating Bulgaria from Koumelia, and the VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 2^7 waters which flow to the Danube from those which pro- ceed to the Archipelago. Their height gradually di- minishes from west to east. Towards the Black Sea it is inconsiderable. In the opposite direction it is seldom more than 4,000 feet. The culminating point, Mount Merrikon, rises 6,395 feet, and does not lose its snow at the summit till the middle of summer. Through almost the whole of the chain, the tops and sides are covered -with thick woods ; and it is only in valleys and gorges that masses of rock appear. A range of hills along the base, intersected with ravines, is also so densely clothed with brushwood as to be scarcely penetrable. The difficulty in leading an invading army across the Balkan is not owing to the heights of the passes, for they seldom exceed 1,800 feet ; but the forests, and the want of roads better than the rudest mule-paths, are the chief iiatural obstacles. When the Russians, under Diebitsch, effected the passage in July, 1829, pioneers were sent in advance to hew ways througli the woods and jungle. The soldiers marched in caps, linen trousers, and uni- form. Each carried a knapsack containing a change of linen, and provision for ten days. Baggage of every other kind was left behind. The Turks themselves ren- dered this operation successful, for, as if bewildered by its audacity, they did not lift a hand against the passage of the enemy. Yet, under these favourable circum- stances, it was with extreme difficulty, after the lapse of a month, that a remnant of the invaders staggered on to Adrianople ; and but that their commander carefully masked the condition of his troops, or the infatuation of his opponents bhnded them, probably not a man would have returned. The lowlands are chiefly maritime, and are not, separately, very extensive, except on the north-ea.Mi, 268 TERRITORIAL AJfD GENERAL where the vast levels of Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Mol- davia stretch along the course of the lower Danube. This great stream and its affluents, the Save on the Austrian frontier, the Pruth on the Russian, the Morava and Isker from the northern slope of the Bal- kan, are the important rivers in that direction ; while the Maritza, with its affluents from the opposite slope in the south, drains the plain of Adrianople and enters the Archipelago. But almost everywhere the country is well watered. Lagoons line the lower course of the Danube ; small lakes are numerous in many of the pro^dnces ; and some spacious ones occur among the Albanian highlands. The forests in the high region of the north-west, comprising Bosnia, Croatia, and the adjoining districts, consist of pine, elm, and oak ; south of the Balkan, sycamore, carob, and plane trees appear, with gardens of roses, jasmine, and lilac, and in the extreme south, in the beautiful basin of Thessaly, olives, cotton, tobacco, oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, and pomegranates are produced in perfection. The fox, jackal, wolf, bear, wild boar, roe, and fallow-deer, are found in the woods. In ancient times, during the age of Aristotle, the lion was not uncommon, but it has long since been extirpated. For purposes of internal government, the country- is divided into eyalets, or provinces, the larger of which are ruled by pashas of three tails, and these pro^dnces are subdivided into livas or sa7idjaks, and districts of smaller dimensions. But Turkey is best known by its older geographical divisions of Roumelia, Thessaly, Albania, Montenegro; Bosnia, Turkish Croatia, and Herzegovina ; Servia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Moldavia. Roumelia includes the country between the Archipe- lago and the Balkan, and comprehends the whole of TIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 260 ancient Thrace, with the greater part of Macedonia. It comprises some extensive levels, dreary and desolate, with fertile river valleys, being watered by the Maritza (the ancient Hebrus), the Struma (the Strymon), and the Yardar (the Axius), with other streams, all of which enter the Archipelago. Besides Constantinople, which has a distinct administration, and is separately noticed, Roumelia contains Adrianople, Demotica, and Philip- popolis, on the banks of the Maritza ; GalHpoli, at the uorthei-n entrance of the Dardanelles ; and Salonica, a flourishing port at the head of the gulf of the same name, which ranks after the capital in commercial im- portance. There are several places of classical interest in this district — the ruins of Pella, the birthplace of Alexander the Great ; and of Phihppi, where was fought the great battle between Brutus, Cassius, and jNlark Antony, which decided the fate of the Roman world, m the year B.C. 42. But the latter spot is far more renowned as the first European city in which the gospel was preached, and a Christian church planted ; the scene also of Paul's memorable imprisonment with his companion Silas — to whose converted inhabitants he addressed one of his epistles. The remains of Philippi are on a hill-side, ten miles inland from the small port of Cavallo, the ancient Neapolis, where the apostle landed. Salonica represents the Thessalonica of the New Testament, and has monuments which go back to the age of primitive Christianity, and prior heathenism. The remarkable promontory of Mount Athos, called by the Greeks Agion Oros, and by the Franks Monte Santo, both names meanmg Holy Hill, marks the coast line of the pro^-ince. It consists of a mountainous ridge, twenty-five miles in length by four in breadth, rising abruptly from the water, ^ith its lower sides clothed s 270 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL with forests of oak, pine, and chestnut, attaining at the extremity the height of 6,778 feet. From a remote period, the ridge has been occupied by a large number of Greek monks, who have about twenty convents, and attend quite as much to horticulture and rearing bees as to ecclesiastical duties. The huge promontory is joined to the mainland by a low narrow isthmus, through which Xerxes cut a canal for the passage of his fleet, B.C. 480, to save the doubling of the headland. Thessaly, the garden of European Turkey, lies on the west coast of the Archipelago, en\-ironed with towering mountains. Its fertihty, and its grand and beautiful scenes, have long been celebrated, especially the Vale of Tempe, a deep gorge between the ridges of Olympus and Ossa, through which the Selembria (Peneus) flows to the sea. It is still as renowned for its breed of horses as when Alexander received his I'amous steed, Bucephalus, from its pastures. Larissa, the chief town, a place of considerable manufactures, is surrounded with groves of oranges, lemons, citrons, and pomegranates. Albania, divided into southern, middle, and upper, is a rugged district, stretching along the Adriatic, inha- bited by a rude and turbulent race, supposed to be descended from a tribe of the ancient Illyrians. They are frequently called Arnauts, and for the most part profess Mohammedanism, but have never been scrupu- lous in the observance of its precepts, or in their sub- jection to the sultan. Janina, the capital of South Albania, picturesquely seated on the shore of a spacious mountain-lake, was a large and populous town while it remained the stronghold of the revolted AK Pasha, but has since gone to decay. Durazzo, almost the only port of Turkey on the Adriatic, represents the VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 271 ancient Dyrrachium. Ochrida and Elbrassan are im- portant cities in central Albania ; and Scodra, the capital of the northern division, was long the seat of power of the celebrated Scanderbeg. Montenegro, the " black mountain," designates a scanty territory on the north of Albania, which has pro- fessed its independence of the Porte for four centuries, under native rulers. It comprises about 300 square miles, and a population of 100,000, all of them Scla- vonians of the Greek church. Such is the difficult nature of the country, that this small community, scarcely furnishing 20,000 men capable of bearing arms, has successfully defended its native hills against the Turks. The surface presents a succession of wild limestone ridges, occasionally diversified with lofty peaks. Its rugged aspect may be inferred from the impression made upon the people, who say that " when God was in the act of distributing stones over the earth, the bag that held them burst and let them all fall upon Montenegro." The government is vested in hereditary chieftains of the family of Petrovich, who now take the title of prince, assisted by a senate or council of elders. From 1516 until 1851 the Monte- negrins were ruled by vladikas or bishops. But, in 1851, when the late Prince Danilo succeeded, he re- fused to take holy orders, and the bishopric was con- ferred upon another member of the family. The pre- sent Prince Nicolas, like his predecessors, receives an annual pension from the Russian government, and is chiefly maintained by it. The Montenegrins, a semi-civilized and warlike race, have many fine quali- ties of character, and under the present and late rulers have made a considerable advance in civiKzation. 272 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL Oue of the reasons of their ensragingf in war with the Turks was to procure an extension of territory, and above all a seaport on the Adriatic. Their capital, Cettigne, a mountain village, is a few hours' journey from the Austrian port of Cattaro. Bosnia, part of ancient Pannonia, includes in its government that portion of Croatia which belongs to the Porte, and the province of Herzegovina, so called from Herzog, " duke," the title of its princes previous to the reduction of the country by Soliman the Mag- nificent. This district is the extreme north-west of European Turkey. The people, though Sclavonians, profess Mohammedanism to the extent of about one- half their number. Like the Albanians, they adopted the religion of their conquerors from political motives, to preserve their social importance; and, like them, they have not been dutiful subjects either to the sultan or the prophet. It was in quelling an insur- rection in this quarter, in 1851, that the celebrated Omar Pasha first obtained notoriety. The general sprang from the district, being by birth a Croat. Bosna-Serai, called the Damascus of the north, from its beautiful situation and numerous gardens, is the capital of the province ; but Travnik, from its central position and strong fortifications, is the residence of the governor and the military. The Christian peasants of Bosnia and the Herzegovina, owing to oppression on the part of the Moslems, took up arms in the autumn of 1875 ; this led to war by Servia and Mon- tenegro, which became an embittered struggle between Slav and Turk. The modern principality of Servia, parts of ancient Moesia and Illyricum, extends along the south bank of VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 273 tlie Danube, by which it is separated from Hungary, and comprises nearly the whole basin of the Morava, one of its principal affluents. Towards the north-east corner of the princedom, the great river flows through a defile, and forms the cataract known by the name of the Iron-gate, the most picturesque portion of its course. A few miles lower down are the remains of Trajan's bridge, built by the emperor to facilitate the conquest of Dacia, on the northern bank. The ruined buttresses remain on each side of the river, 3,900 feet apart, and the foundation of the piers, in the bed of the stream, are \asible when the water is low. The Servians, an industrious and courageous race, have preserved their Sclavonian nationality in its full integrity, and possess a literature rich in popular poetry. They are perfectly independent in internal affairs ; but external relations are under the control of the sultan, to whom a small tribute is paid. Servia embarked on the recent war to extend her territory ; but in the appeal to arms she proved unsuccessful. Bulgaria, anciently Moesia Inferior, is entirely under Ottoman authority, and extends from Servia to the Black Sea, between the Danube on the north, and the Balkan on the south. It contains the towns of Sophia, Shumla, Rustchuk, Widdin, Varna, and Silistria, names which the events of much warfare have rendered familiar to most readers. The mass of the population, though of Tartar origin, migrants from the banks of the Volga, have lost their nationality, and become com- pletely Sclavonians in customs, language, and religion. Fearful atrocities were inflicted upon many Bulgarian villages by Turkish irregular troops in checking an insurrectionaiy movement in the summer of 1876. 274 TERRITORIAL AND GENE HAL Wallachia and Moldavia, north of the Danube, though for a long period separate provinces, under distinct local governments, have a common physical character, being great levels, and are identical in their inhabitants, language, and unfortuuate history. They are now united under the name of Roumania. The people call themselves Roumans, or Romans, a name to which they have a claim, as the descendants of the ancient Dacians and of the Roman colonists who settled among them after the conquest of the country by the Emperor Trajan. The peasantry still bear a considerable resemblance in features and costume to the Dacians represented on Trajan's column at Rome. Their language is derived from the Latin, as truly as are the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. They are not, therefore, a pure stock, but of mixed Dacian and Roman blood, consequent upon the inter- marriages of the conquerors and the conquered. Their present foreign name, Wallach, is said to be derived from the word Vlach, a herdsman, or shepherd. They have no affinity whatever with the Russians, except that of being members of the Greek church. The hospodars, or governors, were, for a considerable time, appointed by the Porte from among the Greeks of Constantinople. The Roumans now choose their ruler, as they did the present Prince Charles I., a scion of the royal house of Prussia. Bucharest and Jassy, the Wallachian and ^Moldavian capitals, have a large number of churches, which give them an imposing appearance at a distance. Bucharest is now the seat of the united government, with a largely increased population. Whole forests of apple, pear, cherry, and apricot TIF.W OF THE EMPIRE. 275 trees may be seen in Wallachia, and from thence to the south of the Balkan. But, in the more southern regions, the apple and pear disappear, and the olive becomes the most common fruit-tree, the plantations of which are interspersed with the laurel and the large-caped myrtle. The plain of Adrianople is celebrated for its roses, from which a considerable quantity of attar of roses is made; and where the mountains are sufficiently watered, their sides are clothed in spring with flowers, among which, the violet, narcissus, and hyacinth appear in the Bame profusion as in the mild districts of Italy. The vine is grown over the whole country, but the grapes produced on the banks of the Danube are far inferior to those on the coasts of the Archipelago. In Bosnia the plum takes the place of the vine ; and a favourite beve- rage slivovitza is made from its juice. Great quantities of melons, cucumbers, onions, beans, and cabbages are raised for food, but some vegetables common with us, as turnips, beet-root, and asparagus, are scarcely known in Turkey, and the potato has a very restricted cultivation. The grain crops, maize, wheat, rye, barley, and millet, are sufficiently abundant not only for the home demand, but for exportation, and ten times the produce might be raised by skilful husbandry. Bice is gro\vn in the marshy tracts of the southern provinces, but the supply being insufficient for the home consumption, this is the only grain which is imported. Agriculture and horti- culture are almost everywhere in a very backward state, the implements being of the rudest description, while the long unsettled state of society and vexatious exactions have checked industrial efforts. The dominions of the sultan in Asia are much more extensive than those in Europe, comprising more than double the area, being estimated at 437,000 square 2 / 6 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL miles ; but the population is proportionably much less numerous. Asiatic Turkey stretches along the south shore of the Black Sea, the east coast of the Archipe- 'ago, and from thence along the Mediterranean to the south of Palestine, including several important islands. Its continental boundaries are the Caucasian provinces of Russia on the north-east, Persia on the east, and Arabia on the south. This territory extends 1,400 miles from Constantinople to the Persian Gulf, and 1,100 miles from the north extremity of the eyalet of Trebizond to the south of Palestine. No part of the globe is invested with so much interest. It has been the scene of most of the important events in the early history of the world recorded in the Scriptures ; the seat of the great Assy- rian and Babylonian empires, connected also with the exploits of Cyrus and Alexander, and largely with the arts, learning, and enterprise of ancient Greece and Rome ; but above all is its south-western portion distin- guished as the spot chosen by God for the special reve- lation of himself to mankind, and for the advent of the Saviour of the world. This portion of the Mohammedan empire may be viewed as consisting of four geographical regions : — 1st. Asia Minor; 2nd, Turkish Armenia and Kourdistan; 3rd, Mesopotamia with Irak Arabi ; and 4th, Syria in- cluding Palestine. Asia Minor, one of the finest countries in the world, dignified by the birth and labours of the illustrious apostle of the Gentiles, is an extensive peninsula pro- jecting Uke a bridge from the main mass of the eastern continent towards Europe. Elevated plains occupy a great part of the interior, intersected and bounded by ranges of mountains, leaving only narrow lowland tracts between them and the shores. The plain of Kutaiah is VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 277 6,000 feet above the sea, but the mean height of the table lands is from 3,000 to 4,000. The mountains diverge from the great highland nucleus of Armenia, and extend their ramifications westward to the borders of the archipelago ; and branches stretch through the central parts of the peninsula in various directions. Taurus running from east to west, parallel to the Medi- terranean, and throwing out bold headlands to the shore, is the best defined chain. An outlier. Mount Arjish (Argseus), is the highest point, a volcanic snow-capped cone, rising 13,100 feet. The lofty table-lands are tree- less, though forming fine pastures ; but the inferior crests of the mountains are richly clothed with noble woods, which occupy their slopes, and largely over- spread the maritime lowlands. These forests are so extensive that in one place the Turks have given them the expressive designation of Agatsh-dengisy sea of trees. The country possesses productive mines of copper and argentiferous lead ore ; and coal of excellent quality has recently been found in abundance, close to the shore of the Black Sea, in the neighbourhood of Erekli {Heradea). The coal-field extends from seventy to eighty miles, and belongs to the true carboniferous formation. It is worked under the direction of Enghsh engineers, and will greatly facilitate steam navigation in the eastern waters. Smyrna, called Ismir by the Turks, and cele- brated as " Ismir the lovely," the " ornament of Asia," the " crown of Ionia," at the head of a gulf of the Archipelago, is the most important city of the peninsula. It trades with most parts of Europe in various commo- dities, but particularly in dried fruits, the annual export of which IS enormous. Broussa, Kutaiah, Konieh, Adaiia, Adana, Tokat, Siwas, and Trebizond, are other piaces of note. 278 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL Turkish Armenia and Kourdistan occupy the north- east and east. The surface of the former is composed of lofty plateaus and mountainous ridges, with deep intervening valleys overlooked by the towering mass of Ararat, the culminating point of western Asia. The highest of its two peaks, called Jghri Bagh, the " pain- ful mountain," from the difficulty of the ascent, rises 17,112 feet, just without the Turkish frontier, but near its converging point of junction vAth. the Russian and Persian territories ; and thus forms, as it were, the colos- sal boundary stone of three great empires. The Tigris and the Euphrates have their sources in this district, and annually overflow their banks in the level countries to which they descend, in consequence of the melting in spring of the snows which a long and severe winter ac- cumulates on the elevated plains. Kourdistan is a southerly continuation of the Armenian highlands to the left or eastward of the Tigris. The remarkable lake Van, a mountain expanse of water 200 miles in circuit, renowned among the orientals for its beauty, belongs equally to the two provinces of Armenia and Kourdistan. Erzeroum, the only town of consequence in the Armenian province of the same name, stands on an extensive plain at the great elevation of 6, 1 14 feet, and has, consequently, a very severe climate. Tournefort found the wells here thmly frozen over during a night in July, and the vege- tation no farther advanced than at Paris in April ; while Schulz, the German traveller, passed over deep snow in June. Kars, about a hundred miles north-east of Erze- roum, celebrated for its heroic defence under General AVilhams, is at a nearly equal elevation. Throughout this high region no one thinks, except under most urgent necessity, of travelling for eight months in the year, owing to the snow, ice, and intense cold , and for pro- '7IS\V OF THE EMPIRE. 279 tection against it, the houses are either constructed wholly, or to a great extent, under ground, as in the time of Xenophon's retreat with the ten thousand Greeks. Mesopotamia includes the country between the Eu- phrates and the Tigris from their upper courses, where they are most apart, to the district where they begin to approach each other ; and Irak Arabi, or Babylonia, extends from thence to the confluence of the rivers, stretching also along the Shat-el-Arab, the name of the joint stream, to its entrance into the Persian Gulf. They form one geographical region, mountainous and undulating where it borders on Armenia, with forests of pine, oak, maple, chestnut, and terebinth clothing the hills ; but, for the most part, consisting of a series of levels, the renowned plains of Assyria and Babylonia. The character of these plains varies from alluvial de- posits on the banks of the rivers periodically overflowed, to permanent marshes and to sandy or stony tracts often impregnated with bitumen and salt ; true deserts, inha- bited by the roving Arab, "uild ass, and ostrich. On the sides of the two great rivers, once the scenes of high culture and the residence of mighty potentates, the spectacle is now most melancholy, presenting the relics of ancient greatness in the ruins of fortresses, mounds, and dams, erected for the defence or irrigation of the country. The date groves, vineyards, parks and gar- dens of antiquity are chiefly represented by a boundless growth of reeds, rushes, and sedges, while herds of bufl'aloes tenant the jungle. Mosul on the Tigris, with the recently discovered remains of Nineveh in its neigh- bourhood ; Bagdad on the same river, formerly the capital of the empire of the caliphs ; and Bussora on the Shat-el-Arab, the emporium for all the Indian commo- 280 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL dities that find their way into the Turkish empire, are the most important places. Syria, including Palestine, extends along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and lias for its in- land boundaries the Euphrates on the north and north- east, and the great Arabian desert on the south-east and south. A narrow lowland strip on the coast, and vast inland plains assuming more of the desert character as they recede into the interior, with an intermediate range of mountains, characterize the region. Lebanon, the name of the grand chain, divides into the two branches of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, inclosing between them the valley denominated Hollow Syria, and terminates on the northern borders of Palestine, but is prolonged through it by lower ridges on both sides of the Jordan, forming the hills of Galilee, and the mountains round Jerusalem. Beirout, the principal port on the coast, is the great Protestant Mission station ; Aleppo and Damascus are the chief centres of life and trade. Jeru- salem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other places connected with tLe history of our Lord's life, are places of endur- ing interest. Though desolated by two destructive earthquakes in the present century, Aleppo, in northern Syria, about sixty miles from the coast, is still, after Smyrna, the most commercial city of Ottoman Asia. Caravans bring hither pearls, shawls, Indian and Chinese goods from Bussorah and Bagdad; camels from Arabia; cotton stuffs and thread, morocco leather, goats' hair, and galls from the pashalics of Diarbekir and Mosul ; furs, wax, gum ammoniac from Armenia ; copper and hnens from Asia Minor ; coffee, soap, scented woods, amber- gris, drugs, and silks from Syria and Arabia ; rice and Egyptian produce from the port of Latakia j manufac- VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 281 tnred silks from Broussa and Damascus ; and European cotton and woollen stuffs, printed muslin, hardware, watches, wrought amber, and furs from Smyrna and Constantinople. Scarcely inferior as an eastern mart, is Damascus ; 180 miles south by west of Aleppo, 60 east by south of Beirout, and 140 north-east of Jerusalem. It is situated on an extensive plain, on the eastern side of Lebanon, and watered by numerous streams which flow iTom the mountains into the desert. Being completely encompassed with gardens planted with fruit trees, it has, at a distance, the appearance of a city in a vast wood. The inhabitants have an ill reputation. Sham Shoumi, the "wicked Damascenes," being a common Arab saying, with that of Ealepi tshelebi, the " foppish Aleppines." The artisans of Damascus were formerly renowned for the manufacture of sword-blades, which appear to have been made of thin sheets of steel and iron welded together, so as to miite great flexibility with a keen edge. Timour carried off the workmen to Persia; but sabres of inferior quality continue to be made. Damascus is a place of the highest antiquity, being men- tioned in the history of the patriarch Abraham. It never attained the celebrity, importance, and splendour of Nineveh and Babylon, but has been more fortunate than most of its early contemporaries, having survived the revolutions of ages, while they have passed away. Palestine, the land to which the world owes so immeasurable a debt, surrounded in our minds with the holiest associations, is now, after centuries ot wretchedness and misrule, in an improving condition, through the efforts of Europeans, and through the interest the whole civilized world feels in all that pertains to it. The modern representative of the 282 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL City of Da\'id stands on part of four small hills nearly surrounded by deep ravines, and is inclosed with Gothic embattled walls about two miles and a half in circuit, overlooked eastward by the mount of Olives. Its most conspicuous edifice, the mosque of Omar, occupies the site of Solomon's temple, and is one of the finest build- ings in the Mohammedan world; it is considered by the ^I )slems as inferior in sanctity only to the Kaaba at Mecca. The church of the Holy Sepulchre, the great object of attraction to crowds of superstitious Greeks and Latins, was built originally by Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, and destroyed by fire in October, 1808. In its place the present structure was erected, chiefly at the expense of the Greeks, assisted by the Russians. Their clergy consequently usurped tlie prin- cipal charge of the pretended "holy places" in the sanctuary, to the no small mortification of the Latins, who were only allowed an occasional peep at them. The two parties came to blows and bloodshed ; till France interfering on the one side, instigated Russia to action on the other, and brought on the Crimean war. Jerusalem has now its Protestant church, mutually sustained by England and Prussia, a nobler work than Godfrey de Bouillon effected, and Tasso sang. It pre- tends to no visible display of supernatural light, like that which is. annually conjured by priestly legerdemain at the so-called sepulchre of Christ, but exhibits the light of the lamp of truth in the Holy Scriptures, re- vealing to mankind the one true way of life and peace. It seeks not the guardianship of His tomb who died, w^as buried, and the third day rose again, even could its identity be established, but the direction of the living to preparation for their inevitable end, by a true faith in that risen Saviour, so that when absent from the body VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 283 they may be present with the Lord. Other Christian mis- sionaries, also, have been for some years in the Turkish dominions, endeavouring, and with some success, to sow the good seed of the word of God. It may long be the day of " small things " with these efforts ; but they hold out the hope that, if prosecuted with zeal, perseverance, and prayer, by the blessing of God, a pure Christianity will again flourish in the scene of its birthplace, and the testimony be once more true of Jerusalem and of Turkey also, " The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." There remains to be noticed the Hedjaz, or land of pilgrimage, also called the Beled-el-Haram, or Holy Land of Arabia, on the eastern shores of the Red Sea, a dependency of the empire, though the authority of the sultan in the district is more nominal than real. It contains the place of the prophet's nativity. Mecca, an open town, two days' journey from the coast, situated in a barren valley surrounded by naked mountains. No trees or gardens cheer the eye; yet the city has a pleasing appearance. Its streets are broad, with stone houses furnished vrith numerous and gaily ornamented windows. The Kaaba, or mosque, the great point of attraction, is an oblong massive structure of rough stone, in the centre of a square, and encircled by a covered colonnade. Ha\-ing gone to decay, it was entirely rebuilt, as it now stands, in a.d. 1627. Medina, 250 miles to the north-east, the place of the prophet's death and burial, is a smaller town, but walled, and containing a mosque similar to the one at ]\Iecca. Near the south-car^- corner of the mosque stand the famous tombs in which are deposited the remains of jNIohammed and the first two caliphs, Abubekir and Omar. The founder of Islam having enjoined it upon 284 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL liis followers to visit his native place at least once in their lives, caravans of pilgrims start annually for this jDurpose after the Ramazan. Those from Constantinople and Smyrna, Erzeroum, and Bagdad, proceed to a com- mon rendezvous at Damascus, and from thence travel together across the desert to Mecca. Trade, quite as much as religion, has long been the object of the travellers. The journey has not contributed to good manners, judging from a common Arab proverb : " Distrust thy neighbour if he has made a Hadj ; but if he has made two, make haste to leave thy house." The African territories include Egypt, Tunis, and Tripoli. Egypt pays tribute to the sultan and owns him as its suzerain. In all other respects it occupies the position of an independent kingdom. Under the present ruler the country has greatly advanced in material prosperity ; but the expenditure has been on an excessive scale, which has led to financial embarrass- ment and to a forced unification of the Egyptian Debt. The debt now stands at upwards of £90,000,000. Tunis during the eighteenth century was subject to Algiers ; afterwards it became virtually independent, but sent a yearly tribute to ConstantinojDle. Recently, by a decree of the sultan, it was made an integral portion of the Turkish empire. Tripoli comprises the coast region lying between Tunis and Egypt. It came into possession of the Turks in 1552. Up to 1835, however, the sultan had merely the shadow of authority. In that year the ruling dey was deposed and a Turkish pasha appointed with vice-regal powers, and the country made an eyalet of the empire. The partial introduction of I'ailways has in some districts greatly facilitated locomotion, but travelling VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 285 is still to a great extent done in Turkey on horseback or with camels j and ^oods are conveyed in the same manner. Wheel-carriages are now to be seen on some roads and in the capital ; but their introduction is of very recent date j and roads fit for vehicles can hardly be said to exist at all. In consequence of this defective inter-communication, the prices of corn, wood, and other bulky articles vary extremely in different parts of the country ; and one or more provinces may be afflicted with absolute scarcity while there is a glut of corn in contiguous districts. The wealthy Turk travels with several servants, and either with his own or hired horses. If in Asia, he carries tents, which are pitched in the evening near some spring, running stream, or pleasant garden. Provisions are brought from the last resting-place, or purchased at the nearest village to the camping-ground. The rate of progress is slow, seldom exceeding more than twenty miles a day ; but while it is the easiest mode of journeying, it is also the most dignified in the esteem of all orientals. Along the great routes, fresh horses may be obtained at jDost stations, generally at no great distance apart, by which means from fifty to one hundred miles a day may be accomplished. The latter is reckoned fast travelling ; and 150 miles in the same time is the uttermost speed of government couriers. In the towns and villages the traveller of limited means may lodge free in khans and public rooms, with which they are usually provided ; though, with few exceptions, these are not propitious to balmy sleep — from causes which may readily be sur- mised. Apartments in private houses may generally be hired ; and if any Asiatic wandering tribe be near, the accommodation of a tent may readily be obtained. At suitable distances between considerable towns, coffee T 286 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL shops are common by the wajside. These are sma^I rustic sheds, kept by peasantry, where the beverage is sold, sometimes with the addition of eggs and bread, milk and sherbet. They are convenient spots for a mid-day halt, always offering the luxuries of shade and water, however deficient they may be in other supplies. In European Turkey a knowledge of the Turkish lan- guage may be dispensed with, but Greek, Albanian, Bul- garian, or AVallachian is necessary, according to the district visited. Turkish and Greek only are required in Asia Minor, with Arabic in Syria and Egypt. The most useful of the Frank languages to the traveller on all the shores of the Levant, is the Italian, and next the French. The Ottoman government has been called an absolute despotism, limited by regicide. But this definition of Chateaubriand's has never been strictly correct, for the supreme temporal power has alwavs been expected to rule in harmony with the laws of Mohammedanism, nor could the most powerful sovereigns of time past, a Mo- hammed II., or a Soliman the ]\Iagnificent, have openly defied them with impunity. The government may now be said to be in a transition state, between a despotism founded upon the Koran, and one restricted by a definite constitution apart from it, and, in some points, subversive of its authority. In ruling his empire the sultan is assisted by the divan, a cabinet council, consisting of thirteen members nominated by himself. 1 . The Grand Vizier, or prime mi.aister. Until very recently, this officer was the most important, and almost the only minister of state, being both at the head of the civil administration, and generalissimo of the military and naval forces. But the power of this functionary has been much cur- VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 287 tailed, and the office itself was altogether abolished bv ]\lahmoud ii. ; but it was revived by Abdul Medjid. He is the head of the ministry, and appears on state occasions attended with great pomp. 2. The Sheik-ul- Islam, or mufti, ranks with the grand vizier, receives 100,000 piastres, upwards of 900/. per month, and exercises functions simalar to those of a lord chancelloi and archbishop of Canterbury. He girds the sultan with the sword of inauguration in the mosque of Eyoub, solves doubtful points, and is the supreme interpreter of the Koran and the canonical laws. But his influ- ence has declined. 3. The Seraskier Pasha, a minister of war, and commander-in-chief of the army. 4. The Topdji Pasha, master of the ordnance and governor of all the fortresses in the empire. 5. The Capitan Pasha, or lord high admiral, who, by virtue of his office, is governor of several of the islands in the Archipelago. 6. The Sumonri Kharjieh Naziri, secretary for foreign affairs, formerly called Reis Effendi, one of the most important of the ministerial officers. 7. The Sadar Azam Musteyshari, an adviser of the grand vizier, who acts as secretaiy for the home department. Besides these seven dignitaries there are six others of less influence and weight ; a minister of finance, one of commerce and public works, another of police, a presi- dent of the council, a master of the mint, and a comp- troller-general of ecclesiastical property. Each of these thirteen has the title of Miishir, or privy councillor. The succession to the throne is fully regulated by the Salic law. The daughters of the sultan never succeed ; nor can a daughter transmit to her male offspring any rights to the supreme power. His wives, who alone can give an heir to the throne, are usually limited to seven. They are styled Kadines, and upon his death 288 TERRITORIAL AND GENERAL they cannot again marry, but are removed to the Eski Serai, an old palace in the capital, where the rest of their days are spent in solitude. Neither do the sons of the sultan succeed under a certain age, if an elder rela- tive survives. Thus, upon the death of Abdul Hamid i., his sons, afterwards Mustapha iv. and ]Mahmoud ii., were superseded by his brother Selim iii. ; and had the latter left heirs, the throne would have descended to them in preference to his excluded nephews. The mother of the sultan has the title of Sultana Valide, resides in his palace, and sometimes exercises predo- minant influence in affairs of state. The principal officers of the imperial household, owing to their position near the person of the sovereign, are likewise important pohtical personages. They are, the chief of the black eunuchs, who has control over the interior economy of the palace ; the keeper of the privy purse ; the treasurer of the crown ; the chief of the white eunuchs ; the chief of the chamberlains, who acts on state occasions as master of the ceremonies ; the keeper of the wardrobe ; the chief page ; the chief official messenger, and the chief of the ushers. The latter walks on the right of the sultan on his public ap- pearances, with his hand on the back of his master's horse, while a subordinate walks on the left. Besides these, who all reside in the palace, the royal establisli- ment embraces non-resident fmictionaries; the imaum of the house, and a co-adjutor, who officiate alternately in the mosque in which the sultan is present on Friday ; the chief physician, who is head of the medical pro- fession throughout the empire ; the chief secretary, and the master of the horse. The highest title of the sultan is Padishah, signifying father of all the sovereigns of the earth, analogous to VIEW OF THE EMPIRE. 289 king of kings. He is also styled, Vicar of God ; Successor of the Prophet ; Pontiff of Mussulmans, or Commander of the Faithful ; Refuge of the World ; Shadow of God ; and TJnkiar, the man-slayer or blood- drinker. XJnkiar Skelessi before mentioned as the Bcene of a famous treaty, and there rendered the sultan's Btairs, literally means the manslayer's or blood-drinker's stairs. The above titles have either obvious Moham- medan allusions, or are common orientalisms. The last is the only one that requires explanation. It has been borne by the potentates of several eastern dynasties, and refers to their unlimited power over the lives of their subjects. Formerly the sultan might order four- teen persons per day to be capitally executed, although no crime had been committed by them. After that number some reason was expected to be shown for the further use of the sword or the bowstring on the same day. The title has now become a dead letter, the head of the state having formally guaranteed to all classes of subjects the possession of their hves and liberties, except forfeited by crime, duly attested by a legal conviction. Executions are now rare, owing to a mild penal adminis- tration, and the paucity of great crimes. It is also an undoubted fact that, instead of crowding to an execu- tion, the Turks avoid the sight, keeping within doors. This was the case when the Armenian suffered for abjuring Mohammedanism, though that was an occasion gratifying to Moslem intolerance, and likely therefore, as a religious triumph, to attract spectators. The sanguinary practice, which is now happily abolished, of consigning to capital punishment any j\Iohammedan becoming a Christian was not directed by the Koran, but rested upon traditionary law handed down from the Prophet, of equal authority with it, in the same manner as ecclesiastical tradition is of equa^ 290 TERRITOKIAL ASD GENERAL VIEW. force with the Scriptures in the esteem of some cliurches of Christendom. This ground of accusation cannot be pointed at as belonging only to the adherents to the religion of the Turk, inasmuch as throucrhout the whole of nominally Christian Europe, the spiritual power once formally delivered over all so-called heretics to the secular arm, to undergo the last penalty ; and deemed the abominable outrage an act of faith. Nor have the ruling authorities of the Romish church ever disclaimed the right of inflicting cajjital punish- ment upon those who leave its communion, though they have been restrained from exercising it by the want of political power and the force of public opinion. The abolition of the practice is one of those organic changes which have been properly pressed upon the Turkish Government by the Christian powers. The " protection of Christianity in Turkey " was the ostensible object which Russia had in view in provok- ing war ; and while opposing the ambition of the northern potentate, the same end, to be effected by the sultan himself, was solemnly guaranteed by his allies. But our hope of permanent amendment in the social and religious condition of Turkey is not in sultans and cabinets, diplomacy and legislation, treaties and firmans, except as accessory agents. It rests upon the spread among distinct nationalities of the knowledge of Divine truth, by which ignorance will be removed, prejudice softened, and exasperation assuaged ; and upon the bunds of a common faith in the one only Saviour of the world which alone can reconcile Turk and Sclavonian, Greek and Jew, and bring diverse and discordant races to dwell together in peace and unity. CHAPTER XII. POPULATION AND PRODUCTS OF THE EMPIRE. Census of 1844— Distributiou of the people into races— The Turks -Their decline and general charactei- — Hospitality, honesty, and truthfulness— H.-manity to animals— Houses of the Turks— Domestic life— Colloquial f-ooden spoons are supplied according to the means of the host. Little pointed sticks are used for meats : but finger and thumb generally serve for knife and fork. 20^ POPULATION AXD PRODUCTS Nothing is drunk but water or sherbet. At the close of the repast a ewer is brought, and a basin in which the company wash their hands. Rice is the principal food of the poorer classes. The houses of the poor are very comfortless in winter, the windows being without glass, and the rooms without fire-places. The invariable salutation of the Turk is Salaam aleikum, ''Peace be unto you," or "Prosperity attend you," to which the response is the same, but ^-ith the words reversed, Aleikum salaam. In both cases the greeting is accompanied with a low bending of the body. The guest salutes first ; and, before retiring, always asks leave lo go. The host replies according to the rank of liis visitor. Dourlet ichalileh, " With the fortune of a pnnce ; " Saader ileh, " With prosperity," or Saghlige ileh, " With health." Eimi-siniz effendhn ? " Are you well, sir ?" or Kiejiniz eimi ? *' Axe you in good spirits ?" are common forms of courteous inquiiy. The aihrma- tion of the Turk, even when his mind is fully made up to grant a request, is always Inshallah, " Please God ;" and his negative, Stufekllah, " God forbid ! " His astonishment finds vent in the exclamation, Allah kerim! "God is great and merciful!" and his gratitude, in Shukur Allah, "May God reward you!" £v Allah, "Praise be to God!" or Allah-raz olsun, "May God receive you!" He has no colloquial phrase answering to our " Thank you." Whatever ideas may be associated mth these expressions of common life, they are forms of sound words, and remind us of the simple piety of patriarchal times. We too often honour the creature instead of magnifying the Creator ; and announce our purposes v^ith the positiveness of independent beings, instead of saving, " If the Lord will, we \vill do this, or that." OF THE EMPIRE. 299 The Turkish language is much interlarded with Arabic and Persian words ; and the alphabet is the same as the Arabic, with a few additional letters. It is expressive, soft, and musical, easy to speak, but difficult to read, the vowels being generally omitted in writing and print- ing, while no marks of punctuation are observed. The characters are written from the right to the left in a diagonal direction, which becomes more obhque towards the close. But various styles of handwriting are in use, each applied to a particular purpose, as sacred literature, official documents, and ordinary correspondence. In writing, the Turk sits cross-legged, employs the left knee for a desk, and has a reed for a pen, cut into the shape of one, but without any sht. Instead of moving the hand, he moves the paper in the process. The national dress of the people is loose and flomng, suited to the numerous ablutions enjoined by their religion. That of the females differs but httle from that of the males, with the exception of the turban and the yashmak, or white veil, which all the women wear when they appear in the streets. But in Europe, the turban has been largely discarded for the round fez cap, and floAving robes for tight pantaloons. It is in Asia chiefly that the Turks look like themselves, ha^-ing preserved unchanged the costume of their ancestors ; while in Europeanized Constantmople, tight-fitting clothes, patent-leather boots, and cravats encase the limbs of the Moslem. They are admirable horsemen, and throw the djerid, or lance, with great dexterity and force ; but, except this exercise, they abjure active eifort, and are never so happy as when seated on the divan, or reclining on soft verdure, under the shade of trees, lulled by the trickling of a fountain, or the murmur of a rivulet. 300 POPULATION AND PKODUCTS Most of their usages are the very reverse of our oayii. From numerous instances of contrariety grouped by Mr. Urquhart, some of the more remarkable may be quoted. AVhile western Europeans commemorate laying the foun- dation stone of a building, the Turks celebrate the covermg in of the roof. Among the Turks a beard is a mark of dignity ; with us, of neghgence. Shaving the head is with them a custom, wdth us a punishment. We take off our gloves before the sovereign, they cover the hands with their sleeves. "We enter an apartment with the head uncovered, they enter with the feet bare. With us the women commonly appear in gay colours, and the men in sombre ; with them it is exactly the reverse. In our rooms the roof is white, and the walls are coloured ; in theirs the walls are white, and the ceiling coloured. Amongst us, masters require a char- acter with their servants ; in Turkey servants inquire into the character of masters. In our fashionable circles, dancing is considered an accomplishment ; they deem . it a disgraceful employment. An Englishman will be astonished at what he calls the absence of public credit in Turkey; the Turk will be amazed at our national debt. The Englishman will esteem the Turk unhappy because he has no public amusements ; the Turk will reckon the man miserable who wants amuse- ments from home. The Englishman will look on the Turk as destitute of taste, because he has no pictures ; the Turk will consider the Englishman destitute of feehng from his disregard of nature. We are shocked at the purchase of slaves ; they are disgusted at our haughty treatment of inferiors. The Turks commence their reckoning of time from sunset. This is with them the twelfth hour. An hour afterwards it is one o'clock, and so on till the twelfth OF THE EMPIRE. 301 hour in the morning, -when they begin again. Their year, in common vdth that of all Mohammedans, con- sists of tTvelye lunar months, each containing: twenty- nine days, thirteen hours. The year therefore contains 354 days, nine hours. But to obviate the inconvenience of having a year not of an integral number, it was arranged that there should be nineteen years of 354 days, and eleven years of 355 days, in a cycle of thirty years, thus making each year an integral number. The Mohammedan era dates from the time of the Hegira, or of the flight of the prophet from Mecca, Friday the 16th of July, a.d. 622 ; and the 538th year of the Hegira began Friday, July 16th, thus bringing back its commencement to the same day of the*;veek and month on which it first began. The 538th year of the Hegira corresponds to a.d. 1143, and therefore 521 of our years are equal to 537 Mohammedan years. The Turkomans are a branch of the same family as the Ottomans, and speak a kindred dialect, but have retained the nomadic habits of their ancestors. They are found on the northern plains of the Syrian desert, and the wavy downs of Upper Mesopotamia, but are most numerous on the table lands of Armenia and Asia Elinor, where they hve in tents during summer, fre- quently shifting their camps in search of pasture, and generally spend the winter in fixed villages. They pos- sess large herds of camels, buffaloes, goats, and sheep ; breed horses, and sell them ; while the women spin wool, make carpets, and articles of clothing. Each camp is under the government of a chief, and pays a tax to the pashas proportioned to the number of tents, for the pri-^-ilege of pasturing over the uncultivated and uninclosed parts of the provinces. "SVhile adliering to Mohammedanism, they have httle acquaintance with TJ 302 POPULATION AND PRODUCTS its doctrines and precepts, and are without mosques oi priests. The Arabs are scattered over Syria and southern Mesopotamia, bearing a general resemblance in character, manners, and customs to their brethren in the Arabian peninsula, from whence they came at various periods, originally under the early caliphs of Mecca and their generals. Some are resident in towns or villages, and cultivate the soil : but the greater number are migrants of the desert, true Bedouins, who regard the town- dwellers with scorn as a degenerate race ; and exactly answer to the picture drawn of them by the pen of in spiration, in the person of Ishmael, their progenitor : *' He will be a wild man ; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." They are divided into tribes, more or less extensive, each con- sisting of numerous clans ; and are occupied with pas- toral pursuits, mercenary warfare, and the guidance and guardianship of caravans, which they are ready to attack and rob when the stipulated service is per- formed. The Kurds, or Koords, though somewhat widely dis- persed, are principally found in Kurdistan, their old ancestral seat. They are descended from the wild mountaineers, mentioned by Xenophon as the Karduchi, who so severely harassed the ten thousand Greeks during their retreat. Afterwards they were conspicuous in history under the name of Parthians, the formidable antagonists of the Roman generals ; and at a more modern date they sent forth one of the greatest of eastern conquerors, Saladin, the chivalrous opponent of our Richard i. in the wars of the crusades. The Kurds are mostly Mohammedans, fierce, uncivilized, and law- less ; but about a tenth part of them are Chaldean or OF THE EMPIRE. 303 Nestorian Christians. Tliey all speak the Persian lan- guage with a mixture of Chaldean and Arabic terms. Of the various iMohammedan sectaries in the empire, the Druses are by far the most remarkable. They dwell mostly in villages of their own among the hills, and in the valleys of the southern portion of Lebanon, lying east and south-east from Beyrout, and are com.- pletely isolated by their faith, their manners, and their locality. Though their tenets are involved in as much mystery as possible by a priestly class, it is certain that they reduce ^lohammedanism to a nonentity ; for with them, Hakem, the caliph of Egypt about the year A.D. 1020, is honoured as the last medium of commu- nication between the Deity and man. Darazi, a zealous supporter of the pretensions of Hakem to this media- torial character, proclaimed them in the Lebanon ; and his disciples, by a natural and easy change in etymology, obtained from him the distinguishing epithet of Druses. The origin of the people is uncertain ; but, vdth some probability, they are supposed to be descended from the ancient Iturei, who possessed the district in the time of the Romans. Their long standing may be inferred from some beautiful customs of primitive times. Thus in the season of fruit-gathering, when a man has once descended from a tree, having shaken off as much of the produce as his strength permitted, he will upon no consideration shake the tree again, however much fruit may tenaciously adhere to the boughs. What is left is deemed the portion of the poor and the gleaner. This usage is in strict accordance with the law, Deut. xxiv. 20 : " When thou beatest thine oHve-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again : it shall be for the Btranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow." In the same spirit, they never reap the fields -vsithout 304 POPULATION AND PRODUCTS leaving a full measure for the gleaners, and rarely muzzls the OX that treadeth out the corn : they will not yoke a bullock and a mule together. The women wear a horn upon the head, supporting a kind of veil, a custom fre- quently referred to in the sacred writings. The Druses are industrious, hospitable, martial, and brave to rash- ness. Their ci-v-il government is in the hands of sheiks, subject to an emir, or prince of Lebanon, who maintains relations with the Porte through the pasha of Sidon. In reply to representations made by the Christian powers to the Ottoman government to grant liberty to adopt another faith to all subjects, Moslem as well as Christian, mthout fear of penal consequences, the sul- tan issued a firman in the year 1856, declaring as fol- lows : — "As all the forms of religion are, and shall be, freely professed in the empire, no subject shall be hin- dered in the exercise of the religion he professes, nor shall he be in any way annoyed on this account ;" and further, " No one shall be compelled to change his re- ligion." If this document means anything, it signifies, that a Moslem may become a Christian without hazard of capital punishment as the doom of apostasy, according to the barbarous practice of past ages, and the tradi- tionary law of Mohammedanism ; and that an Armenian or Greek may become a Protestant without risk of any authorized persecution from the communion he has re- nounced. Such is unquestionably the law, whatever the practice may be. It will probably be for some time to a great extent ineffective, owing to the indifference of pashas, the fanaticism of the population, especially in distant provinces, and the weakness or neghgence of the central government. But gradually its due observ'ance may be gained by the influence of continued pressure on the Turkish cabinet by foreign powers, and the circu- OF THE EMPIRE. 305 lation of enlightened opinions by Em'opeans, whose set- tlement in a country admirably suited to sustain a pro- sperous commerce will probably be largely extended. It is peculiarly incumbent upon the church of Christ to take advantage of these auspicious incidents for pro- secuting the evangelization of regions where Paul planted and Apollos watered, and which have been so long lost to the dominion of the gospel. Protestantism occupies high vantage ground with reference to this task; for never will a race which has worshipped without an image for twelve centuries be concihated by the idolatry of Greek and Latin Christianity. But there is reason to hope, that if kindly and patiently histructed in the doctrines of the pure word of God, some of the milhons in the Moslem world may be won to a worship as simple in its forms as their own, luminous in the evidence of its truth, satisfying in its nature, and sublime in its doctrines and precepts. The Non-Mohammedans of the emphe consist, for the most part, of members of the nominally Christian churches of the east, with a minor proportion of Ko- manists, Protestants, and Jews. It will only be necessary to notice the more important communions. Of these, the first in point of numbers as well as of influence, is the Greek Church, com- prising within its pale not less than 13,000,000 of the population of the empire, seated for the most part in European Turkey. The members of the Greek church consist of the Moldo- Wallachians ; the Sclavonic races of Bulgaria, Servia, and the adjoining districts; and the Greeks pro- perly no called, on account of their descent and language, who are most numerous on the shores of the Archipe- lago and the Bosphorus, on the coasts of Asia Minor, and in the islands. With few exceptions, this vast body 306 POPULATION AXD PRODUCTS belongs to the great see of Constantinople, the bishopg of which rose to pre-eminence in the oriental world by favour of the early Greek emperors. They assumed the style of patriarchs, took precedence of the older dignitaries of Antioch and iVlexandria, disputed the pretensions of the Roman pontiffs to superiority, and finally renounced communion with them, constituting themselves the independent chieftains of eastern Chris- tianity. Though the races constituting the Greek church differ widely in language and national characteristics, they agree mournfully in being involved in deep spiritual darkness, and enslaved by puerile superstitions, while professing the name of Jesus. The Holy Scriptures are said to be the rule of faith, in connexion with the decrees of the first seven general councils. But it is an established maxim, that the interpretation of the sacred oracles belongs exclusively to the church officials, whose synodical decisions, incorporated from time to time in creeds and liturgical forms, are fatally subversive of evangelical truth. Though image-worship is denounced, yet pictures of the saints are universally venerated ; and dirty, ill-executed paintings of these personages hang in all the places of worship. Believing in the efficacy of their mediation, deluded devotees invoke it by kissing the canvass, kneeling before it, and addressing supplications to the unconscious portraits. The idolatry of the Virgin is specially prominent; and her intercession, as the " Mother of God," is earnestly sought on all occasions of personal or public trouble. There is no difference /rom Rome respecting the nature of the eucharist ; but the tenet of transubstantiation has only been adopted by tX\e Greeks for about two centuries, and the elements OF THE EMPIRE. 307 are received by them in both kinds. No place of pur- o;atory is formally admitted ; but the delusive opinion is firmly held that the dead are benefited by the prayers of the living. Distinctly also is the destructive notion enforced by ecclesiastical teachings and liturgical offices, that justification is not by faith in Christ alone, but conjointly by faith, fastings, and ritual observances. It is obvious from these statements, that in the east as well as in the west, an immense fabric of superstition has been erected to supersede the truth of the gospel, ruinous to the souls of men, and hurtful to the general interests of Christianity. Next in point of importance, among ^the old Christian communions of the empire, is that of the Armenians, a people so called after their original seat, the land of Armenia, of which Mount Ararat may be regarded as the central point. They are now widely scattered through the dominions of the sultan, to the number of perhaps 2,000,000 ; but are principally found in the capital, and in the towns and ^"illages of Asiatic Turkey. The Armenians embraced Christianity soon after the commencement of the fourth century. But towards the close of the fifth, a synod of their bishops rejected the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon ; and by that act cut themselves off from communion with the rest of Christendom. They clung to the heresy of Eutyches, condemned by the council, namely, that the humanity and divinity of Christ were so united as to form but one nature ; and hence received the name of monophy sites. This tenet is the chief distinction between the Armenian and the Greek and Latin churches ; and on account of it, the former body is considered as schismatic and he- retical by the two latter. In all other respects, the three communities are in fatal agreement, substituting 308 POPULATION AI\D PPvODUCTS false doctrines and unscriptural practices for the true gospel plan of salvation. Auricular confession, absolution from sin by the priest, penance, transubstantiation, baptismal regeneration, in- tercession of the saints and angels, the worship of relics and pictures, and prayers for the dead, are points of faith and practice in the xlrmenian church. In some respects, it annuls the gospel more than is done by the Greek and Latin communions : for while the latter dishonour Christ by associating with him a crowd of other inter- cessors, the former seems to have excluded him alto- gether from the mediatorial office, rarely mentioning the name of Jesus in the forms of devotion, while promi- nently parading that of the Virgin, with the other saints. Its superstitions are also more grovelling, for the materiiil cross is supposed to be endowed with the power of intercession, and is thus referred to in the for- mulary of daily prayer : " Through the supplication of the holy cross, the silent intercessor, merciful Lord, have compassion on the spirits of our dead." In a creed of very recent date, the year 1846, drawn up by the patriarch Matteos, it is declared, " That the holy wooden cross, anointed pictures, and rehcs of saints, are to be adored ; and that God always works miracles by them." In addition to the Greeks and Armenians, there are the Jacobite Christians, a monophysite sect, chiefly found in Syria and Mesopotamia, amounting to about 200,000, who have their name from Jacob Baradaeus, an eminent man among them in the sixth century ; the Nestorians, about the same in number, on the frontier of Persia, called after a bishop of Constantinople, in the fifth century, who worship neither images nor saints, nor rehcs, and among whom evangehcal truth has OF THE EMPIRE. 309 made progress by the efforts of Protestant missionaries; and some 250,000 Maronites on Mount Lebanon, who, though professedly connected with the popedom, are so far independent as to elect their own spiritual chief, reject the celibacy of the priests, and use both bread and ^Yine in the Lord's supper. These are the old nominally Christian bodies in the Ottoman empire, divided from each other at present* not so much by the dogmas which were the original cause of their separation, as by minute ceremonial ob- serrances, while agreeing in substituting confession for repentance, bodily discipline for holiness of life, and de- pendence upon fasts and penances, baptisms and anointings, priests and sacraments, for reliance on the death of the Redeemer. Their condition is a solemn warning of the danger of degrading the majesty of the word of God, by elevating to co-ordinate authority with it the decisions of men, whether those of a church* or a council, or a tradition, or a pontiff. By so doing, the light that was in them has become darkness ; and it will not be restored till there is a return to the primi- tive simplicity of the faith, and to the inquiry, " What saith the Scriptures ? How readest thou? '* Happily, this process is in action with reference to some of these fallen communities ; and to " These holy fields, Over whose acres walked those blessed feet, Which, eighteen hundred years ago, were nailed For our advantage to the bitter cross," after Iving; for ages as in the shadow of death, the lost light of salvation has been conveyed across the Atlantic, from a comitry unknown for centuries after it had been enkindled. Though Great Britain and Prussia are now 310 POPULATION AND PRODUCTS prominently enlisted in the (ii\dne enterprise of evange- lizing the east, yet to the American Board of INIissions the honour must be assigned of having been first and foremost in the field. In commending evangelical doctrines to the easterns, the enlightened plan has been pursued of not attacking their respective superstitions, but preaching " Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" for the most effectual method to break down error is to build up the truth. Gene- rally speaking, the gospel has proved, as aforetime, to the Jews " a stumbling-block," and to the Greeks "foolishness," while to many of the Armenians it has been "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Not only have the common people heard the word gladly, but parochial priests and vartabeds, undeterred by the anathemas of the ecclesiastical authorities, and severe consequent persecution, have abjured the errors of the communions, embraced the truth in its purity, and are now walking worthy of it. The converts have been furnished with the Bible in their own vernacular tongue, with such books as D' Aubigne's " History of the Re- formation," Barth's "Church History," ^^^lateley's " Evidences of Christianity," and the " Pilgrim's Pro- gress." "The standard of piety," says Mr. D^dght, " is high ; and for simplicity of faith, and a full, peace- ful, and joyful trust in Christ, many of our Armenian brethren might be held up as examples to Christians in more favoured lands. The forms of worship among them are essentially copied from the prevalent usages in our churches in America. The present aspect of the work of God among the Armenians of Turkey is highly cheer- ing. A numerical estimate of the strength of the exist- ing evangelical communities would present an entirely erroneous view of the true strength of Protestantism in OF THE EMPIRE. 311 the country. During the many years of missionary labour among that people, invohing much inquiry and much discussion, new thoughts and new opinions have found a lodgment in many minds. The constant presentation of Scripture truth for so long a time, in conversation, in the pulpit, and from the press, has not been powerless on the Armenian community. Thousands who still remain in the old connexion are intellectually convinced that evangelical Protestantism is true ; and some among them, no doubt, have heartily embraced the doctrines their intellects approve. Some belonging to this class are active reformers, who are constantly employed in circulating the Scriptures, and making known the truth as it is in Jesus." When we look at the progress of pure religion in Turkey as the result of missionary effort, and to the gradual enlightenment and civilization of the so-called Christian races by educational and other agencies, as well as to the decline of Mohammedanism as a form of belief or as a power of government, we may take a hopeful view of what the future has in store for the mixed populations of the Ottoman Empire. We accord- ingly conclude our historical and descriptive account with a brief glance at its great commercial capabilities and varied articles of export. The resources of Turkey are all but undeveloped : it has a fine climate, and is rich in natural wealth ; but thousands of acres of its best soil are untilled, its forests are unproductive, and its minerals unwovked. For the facts we cite we are mainly indebted to Mr. Farley's volume on *' Modern Turkey." As to Cereal Productions, the soil of Turkey has been remarkable for fertility from the earliest times. 312 POPULATION AND PRODUCTS. At tlie present day the yield of corn in some parts of Roumelia rarely amounts to less than three hundred- fold. There are some places also where the land is so fertile that two crops of grain are obtained in the same year. Earley is sown in September and cut in May, Indian corn is then planted, which is gathered in September following. The "Wools of Eoumelia are held in high estima- tion, and large quantities are produced throughout Bulgaria and other provinces. The yield in Eastern E,oumelia is about six million pounds annually. Thessaly and Albania combined give a like quantity. The wools of Anatolia and Upper Asia are remark- able for their fine quality. The province of Angora is famous for the silky fl.eeces of its goats. This product is known by the term Mohair. Formerly the Angora hair was spun into yarn by the natives, and exported in that state. But owing to the great improvements made in ma- chinery, particularly at Bradford, this article is now- exported in bales, and the manufacture has almost ceased to be a local industry. The goats are clipped in April and ]\Iay, the finest quality being obtained from the female animal ; but the fleeces of both sexes are usually mixed for export. The production of silk is one of the most important industries of the Ottoman Empire. Adrianople in Koumelia, Volo in Thessaly, and Broussa in Asia Minor, are all largely engaged in this business ; while jSIount Lebanon, in Syria, is invested with sheds for the rearing of the silk worm, and factories for unwind- ing the cocoons. The production of silk has, however, much declined of late years, especially at Broussa, OF THE EMPIRE. 313 wLicli was desolated by an earthquake in 1855 ; and what are called "Broussa" silks are now largely manufactured at Lyons. The culture of Cotton in Turkey received an impetus from the failure of the supplies from America during the civil war in that country. It is now grown in Ptoumelia, particularly in the district of Seres, as also in Asia Minor, Syria, and the Archipelago. It is believed that Turkey will continue to be a perma- nent source of the supply of this important staple. Tobacco is grown in every part of Turkey where the elevation of temperature admits of its production. In "Western Iloumelia tobacco occupies about one-eighth of the ploughed lands. The consumption of this article by the native poj^ulation is enormous ; yet the annual exportation is continually on the increase ; and on land suited to its growth it is considered by the farmers of Turkey as the most profitable of their products. Maddee, grown in several of the countries of Europe, is in Turkey principally cultivated in Asia Minor, where the finest quality is produced. It is a dyeing material of great importance, although the famous "Turkey red" is now largely produced by chemical means from coal tar. Turkey madder is ex- ported in the root. The cultivation of the plant, owing to its prolific nature, is highly profitable, notwithstand- ing the large outlay per acre in tillage and manure. The valuable tanning material of Yalonia, which consists of the acorn cup of a certain species of oak, is obtained in abundance in Asia Minor, European Turkey, and the Islands of the Archipelago. The principal market is Smyrna, the valonia thence ex- ported being of excellent quality. 314 POPULATION AND PRODUCTS Auother dyeing material is the berry of a small buck- tliorn, which grows in Eastern Europe, and is exported from Turkey under the name of Yellow Berries. Opium is extensively produced in Asia Minor, European Turkey, and Egypt ; and Dried Fruits, such as figs, raisins, etc., form a considerable item in the exports. Among other articles of commerce produced by, and exported from, Turkey we may enumerate the follow- ing : — Boxwood, carpets, drugs, emery stones, gums, galls, liquorice, leeches, nuts, olive oil, attar of roses, sponges, scammony, skins, seeds, such as flax, linseed, millet, and rape, tallow, etc. Among the natural resources of Turkey which remain undeveloped are her Black Sea fisheries, her coal, copper, and other mines, and her extensive forests. Nothing could more contribute towards the de- velopment of the immense resources of the country than a well-planned system of railways, and the con- struction of good roads ; but, above all, Turkey requires an equitable system of government and administration, and an entire reform in the prevailing mode of taxa- tion. Some progi-ess has been made in the construction of railways. At the end of 1865 there were 47 miles of railway open for traffic; at the end of 1869, 180 miles ; and in June, 1873, 488 miles. The principal railways open at the latter date were — the line from Yarna to Hustchuk on the Danube, 1 38 miles ; the line from Smyrna to Aidin in Asia Minor, known as the Ottoman Railway, 110 miles long; c.nd the line from Constantinople to Adrianople and Philippopolis (since extended beyond that important town), 103 miles in OF THE EilPIRli. 315 length. This last line forms part of a scheme under- taken in 1869 by a French company, formed for working lines in Turkey in Europe. New lines were ordered to be built in 1874, at the expense of the Government; but their construction was not pro- ceeded with for want of funds. Turkey is well sup- plied with the means of telegraphic communication. The telegraph lines on the 1st January, 1875, were not far short of twenty thousand miles, the receipts from which for the year 1874 were £208,180, and the expenditure £192,356. UCSB LIBRARY APPE]S"DIX. In illustration of the geographyof the Turkish empire, the meaning of some terms of common occurrence is a2)pended : — Agatsh, or Agadj, a tree. Ak, white. Altun, golden. Bakchi, or Bagtche, a garden. Baia, upper. Balkan, a chain of hills. Ba^hi, a head. Bazaar, a market. Bendt, a reservoir. Bournu, or Bumu, a cape. Bunar, a spriug. Buyuk, great, large. Chai, a river. Bagh, or Tagh, a mountain Bo.van, a mountain-pasn. JJemir, iron. Benghiz, or Bengis, a Be a or Like. DeroA, or Bere, a valley. Beir, a convent. Biyah, tents. Egr%, crooked. Eski, old. Gliol, or fibZ, a lake. Grada. a fortress. Gumish, silver. Hisso.r, a castle. ye;ii, or Ymi, young, new. ILijah, hot springs. Jik, sign of diminutive. Kaleh, a castle. Kapu, a gate. Z^a?*a, black. Kasbah, a market town. Khanoh, a house. Keban, a gorge, a pass. Keliieh, a church. ^oi, or ^«i, a village. ^isi/!, red. Koom, sandy plains, deserts. Kovlassi, a tower. Kopri, or Kupri, a bridge. Kutchuk, little. Liman, a bag. Moden, a mine. Menzill, an inn. Oosek, high, C?i;a^, a plain. Palanka, a stockade. Phanar, or Fanar, a lighthou-e Pianina, a chain of hills. Sari, yellow. Serai, a palace. Shehr, a town. Skellessi, steps, a landiug-piace. /Sw, water, or river. Tei. a mound. Tuzlah, a salt lake. re.s7ui, green. PAKDON AXD feoN, PRI.STEKS, LONUOS. ^9 THE SUOOESSOR OF MOHAMMED^ 1 The Mohammedan world has so little in} common with Christendom that without ! special means of information the Western ; mind is liable to be in entire ignorance of very important movements in the East. The Rev. Dr. Washburn, President of Rob- bert College, Constantinople, contributes to , the Independent an account of an expected "Mohammedan Messiah," whose advent is looked for as near at hand. The possible effects of this expectation are very serious. The Eastern Question is liable to be pre- sented in a new aspect^any moment. It is a trac^ition accepted by all sects of Mohammedans that on a certain Friday, in the mosque at Medina, the prophet himself said: "When there shall remain but one day of the days of the earth, God shall pro- long that day and shall send forth from my house a man bearing my name and that of my father, and he shall purify the earth t from injustice, and fill it with that which is right." Other traditions predict that this man, whose name is to be Mohammed, the sou of Abdallah, is to be called the Mahdi (guide), is to appear suddenly in some distant place from which he will march toward Mecca, destroying all un- faithful Moslems as well as Christians, will overcome all opposition, and reign over the world till the second coming of Jesus and Mohammed for the final Judgment; that the coming of the Mahdi and the overthrow of the Turkish power and the caliphate of Constantinople will occur in the year of the Hegira 1300, which is 1882 of our era. It is a curious fact that there is now in Tripoli a man who answers in every way to the demands of the traditions. He is the son of a famous sheikh of the family of the prophet whose^name is Abdallah. His own name is Mohammed. The tra- dition says that his vicegerent is to be named Abd-ul-Mutalleb, and this is the name of the present Scherif of Mecca, who is supposed to be conspiring against the Saltan. The Mohammedan world seems to be in a state of expectation, as was the Jewish world' at the time of the coming of Christ. Its promised Messiah is to come like a true Moslem, sword in hand, and his kingdom is to be of this world. He is to rule as an ; autocrat, and restore the primitive faith of Islam. AH nations will be forced to sub- mit to his rule, and the predicted time U at hand. As the prediction foretells the over- throw of the Turkish power, it excites very different feelings at Constantinople and among the Arabs. The latter would wel- come such a leader and rally around him, while the Sultan would find him his most dangerous foe. While the Arabs are waiting for the Mahdi who is to overthrow the Turk and unite the world under his sway, the Sultan is trying to assert his right as Caliph to command the support of the faithful. The newspapers of Constantinople, especially those published in the Arabic language, for circulation in India and Africa, are filled, week after week, with violent appeals to Mohammedans everywhere to rally around the Caliph and unite against Christendom. The last mail brings the leading Turkish papers, which declare that Turkey has made an alliance with Germany against France, and appeals to the Mohammedans of Africa to unite their forces to extermi- nate the Christians. They denounce Eng- land, and call on the Mohammedans of In- dia to rise and throw off her yoke. It is well known, also, that the Sultan has sent a large army to Tripoli. It is believed that he has furnished the Arabs with arms and ammunition to enable them to resist the \French in Tunis. Many persons have been alarmed by these demonstrations, especial- ly by the articles in the official Turkish pa- pers ; but it is probable that they have far more to do with the conflicting claims of the Caliph and the Mahdi than with any anticipated attack upon Christendom. The Sultan is simply struggling to regain the power of the old Caliphs over the Moham- medan world, while the Arabs, who' hate the Turks, are using- this prediction of a coming Messiah, or Mahdi, to unite the people against the Sultan. An attack upon Christendom, or even upon England, is not likely to be begun by the Saltan or his ministers, who know too much of the power of Christian Europe to I think of provoking it. But should the Sul- tan be overthrown by an outbreak of Mos- lem fanaticism, the Mahdi and his fierce followers may be less prudent, and the ul- timate result more doubtful. The gift of prophecy is not needed to assure any thoughtful observer that the present un- stable equilibrium of the Turkish empire cannot stand any great shock, and how great the shock of the Mahdi movement is likely to prove cannot now be foreseen. 000 607 297