ikSii
 
 THE 
 PRESENT STATE 
 
 OF 
 
 TURKEY/ 
 
 OR 
 
 A DESCniPTION 
 
 OP 
 THE POLITICAL, CIVIL, AND RELIGIOUS CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OTTOMAN EMPIRE; 
 
 THE FINANCES, MILITARY AND NAVAL ESTABLISHMENTS; 
 
 THE STATE OF LEARNING, AND OF THE LIBERAL AND MECHANICAL ARTS; 
 
 THE MANNERS AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE TURKS AND OTHER SUBJECTS 
 
 OF THE GRAND SIGNOR, &c. &C. 
 
 TOr.ETHER WITH 
 
 THE GEOGRAPHICAL, POLITICAL, AND CIVIL, STATE OF THE PRINCIPALITIES OF 
 
 MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA. 
 
 FROM OBSERVATIONS MADE, DURING A RESIDENCE OF FIFTEEN YEARS IN 
 CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE TURKISH PROVINCES, 
 
 BY THOMAS THORNTON, ESQ. 
 
 "Nee a fcstinante el vehementer occupalu elcgantiam orationii, qiiam ne mcrfitalus quidem et 
 otiosns praestare possem, aequum est requiiere. Me quidem consolabitur nullius mendacii sibi con- 
 Eoius animus ; quod tst in luijusmodi narrationibus praicipue spectandum." 
 
 Bi'SDEouii F.pist. i. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOSEPH MAWMAN, 22, POt'i.Tin , 
 1 807.
 
 G. Wooilfall, Printer, PatirnosUr-row.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 iHE great number of books which have ah-eady been written 
 on the government and institutions of the Turkish empire, 
 seems to render superfluous any further attempt to elucidate 
 the subject. The accounts of diflferent authors are, however, 
 so various and discordant, that it appears no less difficult to 
 reconcile, than impossible to credit, their relations. 
 
 Some travellers have avowed other objects of pursuit than 
 the peculiar customs, manners, and opinions of the Turks. 
 Others, less ingenuous, have, notwithstanding, observed them 
 superficially and even falsely, have guessed at what they have 
 not understood, and have described nature, not from an accu- 
 rate survey of real life, but from the distorted phantoms of 
 their own imaginations. 
 
 The European provinces of Turkey, interesting as they are 
 from their past celebrity and their actual importance, are, 
 however, scarcely better known, except in the mere geogra- 
 phical outlines, than the forests of America or the deserts of 
 AfMca. The foreign traveller, unfamiliarized with the man- 
 ners, and unacquainted with the language, of the people 
 
 302653
 
 IV 
 
 whom he studies, can have only a distant view, or a transient 
 ghmce, even of the most prominent features of his subject: 
 his descriptions are necessarily hasty and imperfect perform- 
 ances, and, when compared with the original model, resemble 
 rather the dreams of a diseased brain, than the ideas treasured 
 up in the memory from intelligent and minute investigation. 
 
 " He who tells nothing exceeding the bounds of probabi- 
 lity, has a right to demand, that they should believe him who 
 cannot contradict him." But while the traveller is allowed 
 the exercise of so extensive a privilege, he becomes responsible, 
 in an equal degree, for any abuse of the authority with which 
 he is invested. As I claim for my labours, in common with my 
 predecessors in this career,, the same indulgence, I have con- 
 sequently hazarded assertions which can derive support only 
 from a reliance on the veracity of the author. The remote- 
 ness of my subject from general observation leaves, however, 
 the right of censure or contradiction in so few hands, that the 
 reader is justified in with-holding, his assent until I adduce 
 proof, that the means which I have possessed, and the circum- 
 stances in which I have been placed, have qualified me for 
 the task which I have undertaken. 
 
 A residence of fourteen years in the British factory at Con- 
 stantinople, and about fifteen months at Odessa on the coast 
 of the Black Sea ; occasional excursions to the provinces of
 
 Asia Minor, and the islands of the Archipelago; a fiimiliar 
 intimacy with the most respectable of the foreign ministers 
 and their interpreters ; a long and not unemployed leisure, and 
 a knowledge of the languages of the country sufficient for the 
 purposes of ordinary communication, must have furnished 
 opportunities for original observation, and have enabled me 
 to discriminate, with greater accuracy than tlie inexperienced 
 reader, between the imaginary and the real in the relations of 
 former writers. 
 
 For the general confirmation of these facts I may refer to 
 gentlemen of rank and resp.ectability, not only in this country, 
 but on the continent, and may presume with confidence, that 
 His Majesty's ambassadors at the Porte, as well as the repre- 
 sentatives of the continental powers, who honoured me with 
 their friendship in Turkey, will justify my appeal to their 
 testimony. 
 
 The state of society in the capital of the Turkish empire is 
 such, that a mere personal acquaintance is the necessary effect 
 of the relative position of all classes of Europeans : But I may 
 boast of having obtained, and preserved uninterruptedly, the 
 friendship of His Excellency Mr. Listen, of Sir Sidney Smith, 
 and his brother and colleague in the embassy, Mr. Spencer 
 Smith, of the Imperial Internuncio Baron Herbert Rathkeal, 
 M. Van Dedem, the Batavian ambassador, M. de Knoblesdorff,
 
 Tl 
 
 tbe Prussian envoy,, and M. Descorches (formerly Marquis de 
 Sainte Croix) ambassador from tlie French republic. I have 
 had the satisfaction of being personally acquainted with the 
 most distinguished of the modern travellers in Turkey, and 
 have been gratified by having it in my power to assist their 
 inquiries, and to point out to their observation objects con- 
 nected with their different pursuits. Some gentlemen have 
 ^one me the honour to acknowledge that they derived advan- 
 tage from my communications, and I hope it will not be im- 
 puted to vanity that I record the melancholy satisfaction which 
 I received from the expression of gratitude, the last effusions of 
 a heart glowing with every virtue, of a mind enriched with 
 various branches of learning connected together by principles 
 of the most enlightened philosophy. 
 
 The name of TvvEDDELL is dear to many who knew his 
 worth : he distinguished himself at the university of Cam- 
 bridge by the elegance of his learning : he had visited the 
 Northern courts, and had travelled over some of the most In- 
 teresting countries of Europe : If he had lived to complete his 
 tour, his name would have descended with honoirf to pos- 
 terity: and although the materials which he left w^ere dis- 
 persed and unconnected, those which remained were still 
 sufficient, if collected and arranged by the hand of friendship, 
 to form a monument which mig^t rescue his memory from: 
 unmerited oblivion. He died at .xthens, and was buried in
 
 Vli 
 
 the temple of Theseiis. Three days before his death he wrote 
 me the following letter, which I value from my respect for 
 its amiable author, and preserve the more carefully as it is the 
 last which he ever wrote. 
 
 14th July 1799. " I write to you, my dear Sir, on board 
 of a ship In the harbour of Piraeus, which in half an hour 
 hence will transport Mr. Neave to Smyrna, from whence he 
 will proceed to Constantinople. I am desirous that he should 
 not set sail, without taking charge of half a dozen lines for 
 you, because I recollect with continued satisfaction the re- 
 sources which I derived fi"om your society during my residence 
 at Pera, and promise myself at the same time that you will 
 thank me for having procured you the acquaintance of this 
 gentleman. I do not add a syllable upon any other subject. 
 There is so much noise ' above, around, and underneath,^' that 
 I do not know whether the few words which I have written 
 will be intelligible to you. I hope at least you will under- 
 stand, even though you should not be able to read it, that my 
 best wishes attend you and Mrs. Thornton, and that I am, 
 my dear Sir, ever very truly yours, 
 
 J. TWEDDELL." 
 
 Placed by circumstances in a country where the general 
 appearances of nature, and more especially the general man- 
 ners of the inhabitants; are so exceedingly different from those
 
 via 
 to which I had been, familiarized, I was consequently led to 
 observe, though without having formed any fixed design, the 
 occurrences tliat were daily passing before me. General 
 manners more particularly attracted my notice, whether from 
 natural taste and the bent of preceding studies, or because, 
 from the means which were in my power, I judged myself 
 qualified to prosecute my inquiries in this department with 
 greater prospect of success. I read the works of preceding 
 travellers, as, by pointing out what chiefly merits attention, 
 they shorten the labour of observation : I selected from their 
 writings such remarks as I found corresponding with the ori- 
 ginal model, and having thus ascertained their accuracy, I 
 treasured them up in my own mind, and considered them as 
 a legitimate augmentation of the stock of my own knowledge. 
 Attached to no system, having no hypothesis to defend, and 
 being influenced neither by affection nor animosity, I merely 
 accumulated observations and amassed ideas. I studied cfl:ects 
 in tlieir different relations without hastily inquiring after 
 causes. It required a long familiarity with the usages of the 
 country, and experience in the manners of the inhabitants, to 
 be able to discriminate between what is genuine and habitual, 
 and what is adventitious and adulterated. It was necessary to 
 observe the same conduct in different persons, to compare it 
 in lis various operations, and to identify it under dissimilar 
 circumstances, before incorporating it with that distinguishing 
 mass of peculiar habits which constitute the national character,
 
 IX 
 
 and from which particularities and individual features are to 
 be excluded. In the possession of means, adequate to the 
 accomplishment of the task which I had set to myself, con- 
 sisted the superior advantage of my position over tiiat of the 
 cursory traveller, who must derive his information almost en- 
 tirely from inquiry. He has previously arranged a series of 
 questions, and he writes down in his tablets such information 
 as he is able to obtain, which must frequently be vague, incor- 
 rect, or exaggerated. In his eagerness for information he can- 
 not expect to penetrate beyond the surface : the folds of the 
 human heart do not develop themselves to transient observa- 
 tion ; nor are the distinguishing characteristics of mankind 
 written in a language which he who runneth may read. 
 
 While I acknowledge my obligations to those whose labours 
 have removed the difficulties which perhaps would have 
 wholly impeded, and certainly would have considerably re- 
 tarded, my progress, I must however declare, that in almost 
 all the writers who have preceded me in the description of 
 Turkish manners, I discover partiality, prejudice, or defect. 
 I have observed in some instances that accuracy is sacrificed to 
 the beauties of stile, and even to trifling conceits and absurd 
 comparisons. 
 
 The European, attached to the peculiar usages of his own 
 country, condemns whatever is irreconcileable with them. 
 
 b
 
 X 
 
 On the other hand the Turkish national historian, whose con- 
 ceptions are unenlarged by general study, has neglected to 
 mark the nice discriminating traits of the Oriental character, 
 has overlooked defects with which he was familiarized, and 
 has even mistaken deformity for beauty. 
 
 In order to learn with precision, it was necessary to return 
 to the state of childhood wherein every object that presents 
 itself is a lesson, to gather together a comprehensive mass of 
 information, to repass it frequently in review, and, as expe- 
 rience advanced, to reject whatever bad been adopted without 
 minute examination. I read the human character, not 
 through a verbal translation, but as depicted by its own un- 
 equivocal expressions, when acting free from restraint, un- 
 guarded by suspicion, unconscious of exposing itself to exa- 
 mination, and exhibiting alternately its different features, as 
 they were alternately put in motion by the predominance of 
 different passions. 
 
 Such were my means of acquiring information, and suck 
 my mode of employing them. The result of my observations 
 I now submit to the judgment of an enlightened public. In 
 the course of my work I have obtruded myself as seldom as 
 possible on the notice of the reader. If I appear, it is to sup- 
 port assertions which rest on my sole authority, or to give
 
 \1 
 
 authenticity to facts by vindicating the correctness of my own 
 statements. 
 
 In representing foreign manners I have divested myself of 
 national prejudices; in describing foreign religions I have not 
 confronted them with the opinions and practices of other 
 sects or persuasions : I have endeavoured to avoid those ex- 
 pressions of malevolence which 'SuUy the pages of preceding 
 Christian writers. I am not, however, conscious that I have 
 glossed over any error, concealed any absurdity, or misrepre- 
 sented any dogma, practice, or ceremony. . The doctrines of 
 Islamism, founded as they are on the religion of nature and 
 the revelations of both our scriptures, must necessarily possess 
 a considerable portion of intrinsic worth ; but this acknow- 
 ledgment by no means implies respect for the artificial and 
 heterogeneous superstructure which peculiarly constitutes 
 Mahometan ism. 
 
 I have contemplated my subject under the guidance of my 
 own reason ; but I trust it has seduced me into no error which 
 can corrupt the heart or mislead the judgment. I flatter my- 
 self that the reader will perceive throughout my work, zeal in 
 the cause of virtue, morality pure though not morose, respect 
 for order in human society, reverence for religious and civil 
 institutions, and, above all, a love of liberty, the characteristical 
 virtue of the nation to which I esteem it an honour to belong.
 
 XI 1 
 
 I am aware that it may be said I have forfeited my title to 
 indulgence by the severity with which I have animadverted 
 on the writings of preceding travellers. I have indeed ex- 
 pressed without reserve the feelings vvhich have been excited 
 by studied misrepresentations, by falsifications of which the 
 author himself was conscious, and by arguments rendered 
 specious in order to mislead ; but if in any instance I have 
 censured unjustly, if I have presumed to decide where I was 
 unqualified to judge, if I have been actuated by any other 
 motive than the love of truth, the severity of my own remarks 
 may justly be retorted with tenfold exacerbation. In some 
 instances I may appear to have cut the Gordian knot by too 
 unmasked a blow ; but the fallacy of its artifice did not seem 
 deserving of a more elaborate process of disentanglementw 
 I have not sought controversy, but I felt it my duty not to 
 avoid it ; and I shall acknowledge the propriety of reproof 
 only when it is demonstrated that any remark could be omit- 
 ted without injury to truth. My personal acquaintance with 
 several of the modern travellers has neither seduced me into 
 undeserved praise, nor provoked me into bitterness. I have 
 dismissed from my mind every consideration of private 
 partiality or resentment, and having undertaken a work, 
 whose only merit must be its intrinsic accurac}'', I have 
 sacrificed every infcrioi motive to the love of truth and 
 justice^
 
 xm 
 
 I have perused some works in which not a single fact is 
 justly stated, nor a single conclusion fairly deduced. I have 
 said so without reserve or equivocation, but the accuracy of 
 each of my assertions may be judged of by the proofs whicli 
 accompany it. Some explanation is, however, necessary for 
 my having presumed to censure a work of considerable merit, 
 which has attained to great celebrity among the writings of 
 modern travellers. The general merit of a work cannot, 
 however, be pleaded in extenuation of particular blemishes or 
 defects : on the contrary, by how much the more an author 
 proves himself to be deserving of our approbation from the ac- 
 curacy of his representations and the justness of his remarks, 
 by so much the more does he deservedly incur the severest 
 reprobation, if, presuming on his acknowledged credit, he 
 dares to impose unfounded assertions on the credulity of his 
 readers. Such are the faults of Dr. Pouqueville's Travels, 
 faults made still more conspicuous by the correctness of his 
 information on several interesting subjects where his judgment 
 was left free from any improper bias. His Travels consist of 
 three parts. The first volume contains a description of the 
 Morea, highly interesting from the novelty, the correctness, 
 and the importance of his remarks. The second contains a 
 description of Constantinople. The third volume, composed 
 from the journals of some very intelligent French officers, 
 contains a description of Albania, the ancient Epirus, a coun- 
 try hitherto so little known, and now described with sucli
 
 XIV 
 
 apparent accuracy and minuteness, that it forms perhaps the 
 most valuable part of the collection. The first volume, which 
 from its little connection with the subject of the present work 
 I have had few opportunities of commending as it deserves, is, 
 however, all that Dr. Pouqueville can with strict propriety 
 claim as his own original and exclusive performance. He 
 resided during seven months in the Morea under circumstan- 
 ces highly favourable for his undertaking ; he studied the 
 modern Greek language, and appears to have made a profici- 
 ency in it sufficient for all the purposes of the curious observer 
 and inquisitive traveller. From the Morea he was transferred, 
 by order of the Turkish government, to Constantinople, where 
 he remained during twenty-five months a state prisoner in 
 the fortress of the Seven Towers. Two months after his en- 
 largement he sailed for France. He appeal's during this short 
 time not to have been in the full enjoyment of liberty, to have 
 been much occupied in making preparations for his depar- 
 ture, and to have possessed no peculiar advantages over other 
 cursory travellers ; and he has consequently no claim to ex- 
 traordinary confidence in his account of Constantinople. The 
 great disparity between the different parts of his work was 
 the more evident to mc, because, being myself familiarly ac- 
 quainted with that in which lie is most deficient, I was struck 
 the more forcibly with its inferiority to the otlier volumes, 
 which I had read with pleasure and improvement. I have 
 pointed out, in the course of the present work, some few of
 
 xr 
 
 Dr. Pouqueville's errors, only so far as the refutation of tlicm 
 was connected with the subjects of which I treat. Many re- 
 main uncontradicted, but they cannot mislead, if the reader 
 yields his belief only to such assertions as in themselves arc 
 probable, to the relation of facts which the author may appear 
 to have had the means of examining, and was not influenced 
 to misrepresent.^ 
 
 Dr. Pouqueville, actuated by a spirit which he himself 
 condemns, labours to perpetuate between two respectable 
 nations that hatred and animosity which the circumstances of 
 a long and obstinate war have sufficiently inflamed. In every 
 passage of his book wherein he has occasion to mention the 
 British name,, his eholer bursts out. The British vice-consul 
 at Navarin in the Morea, where the doctor first landed, was by. 
 profession a tailor, whom the doctor's comrade employed to 
 botch his clothes, and whom he accuses of having stolen a 
 diamond which he had saved in the lining of his pantaloons 
 from ihe search of the pirates. Commodore Trowbridge is 
 accused by Dr. Pouqueville of having unwarrantably detained 
 a Freiich diplomatic agent, (the Abbe Beauchamp, who was 
 discovered among the passengers in a flag of truce) of having 
 abused him ivitk the harshest expressions, overwhelmed hij?i icilh 
 ^injuries, threatened to hung him at the yard-arm, aiid being 
 irritated at the Frenchman s calmness, of having seized him by 
 the throat, Beauchamp was afterwards delivered over to Sir
 
 XVI 
 
 Sidney Smith, Dr. Pouqueville who wrote, if not under the 
 dictate, at least under the influence, of the French court, 
 bestows on Sir Sidney Smith an eulogium undoubtedly author- 
 ized by his government, but unjust in itself because made at 
 the expense of the whole British navy. He could not possibly 
 have foreseen that his panegyric would in so short a space of 
 time as one year be reprobated by the stile and language of 
 the twenty-ninth bulletin of the grand army, and therefore 
 he does not hesitate to say " that Sir Sidney Smith alone up- 
 held the honour of the British flag in the East." Sir Sidney 
 Smith, according to Dr. Pouqueville, being only subordinate 
 in command, was compelled to send the Abbe Beau champ 
 in a small vessel to Constantinople. On his arrival he was 
 treated as a prisoner, and after three days was conducted to 
 the palace of Bebec on the Bosphorus, in oi:der to undergo 
 an examination before the British minister, Mr. Spencer 
 Smith, and the interpreter of the Ottoman Porte. Dr. 
 Pouqueville again asserts, that Mn Spencer Smith abused 
 the Abbe Beauchamp with the harshest expressions, overwhelmed 
 him zenith injuries, threatened to liang him, and being irritated 
 at the Frenchman's calmness, seized him by the throat ! Are 
 these things possible ? Are outrage and inhumanity so 
 inherent in the English character, that men of honour, 
 invested with public dignity, should thus on tho slightest 
 provocation sink into a conduct so very unbecoming, and 
 yet so exactly similar in both instances, that it cannot be
 
 XVll 
 
 otherwise accounted for than \)y acknowlcdgin"^, tlsat tl'.erc 
 exists in our nation an instinctive and unconquerable bar- 
 barity ? Can it be admitted I'or a inonient, that an ofllccr of 
 distinguished rank in the British service, and that the repre- 
 sentative of the British king, sliouid so wholly lay aside the 
 conduct which distinguishes English gentlemen, should so 
 entirely forget the dignity of tin ir public charactei', as to 
 triumph over the weakness of a prisoner, insult liis mli^for- 
 tunes, and by laying violent hands on his person, degrade 
 themselves, and dishonour their country? The conduct with 
 which Capt, Trowbridge is reproached must have been ob- 
 served by some of the officers and people of hi.-i ship, and 
 must have been known to all of them. I have not the 
 advantage of being acquainted with any of the officers who 
 served under Commodore Trowbridge on board the Culloden, 
 but so convinced am I that the charge of Dr. Pouquevillc 
 in this instance Is calumny, that nothing can re-establish 
 my opinion of his veracity unless the correctness of his as- 
 sertions be confirmed by the declaration of some of these 
 honourable men. The charge against Mr. Spencer Smith 
 cannot be refuted by such honourable testimony: the only 
 persons present at the conference, besides himself and M. 
 Beauchamp, were two Greek Interpreters, Prince Suzzo, 
 dragoman of the Porte, and Mr. Pisani, dragomzn of the 
 British embassy, yet though it be true even to a proverb, 
 that every occurrence, however private, is matter of general 
 
 c
 
 XVUl 
 
 conversation in Pera, and though Mr. Pisani, with a vcrsatihty 
 which is not thought inconsistent in a dragoman, became the 
 avowed enemy of Mr. Spencer Smith when he had been 
 superseded in the mission, yet never did a syllable transpire 
 which could give colour to such an accusation. Dr. Pou- 
 queville indeed says, that M. Beauchamp related the same 
 story to several persons, and, among others, to M. Ruffin the 
 French Charge (Taffuires, and to all the French commercial 
 agents who were at that time at Pera. I have no hesitation 
 in contradicting this assertion : M. Ruffin's veracity is not 
 perhaps to be judged of, in all cases, from the example fur- 
 nished by Dr. Pouqueville himself, which is related in the 
 seventh chapter (p. 2y(5.) of the present work ; but I venture to 
 say that M. Ruffin, who is still living in Pera, will not dare 
 to affirm, in the presence of Mr. Pisani, that M. Beauchamp 
 did accuse Mr. Spencer Smith of such ungentlemanlike 
 behaviour. I was myself intimately acquainted with M. 
 Flury, the consul-general or commercial agent at Bukarcst 
 in Wallachia, who was at that time in Pera, and was the 
 friend of Dr. Pouqueville. I have spoken with him on the 
 subject of the treatment of the French prisoners, but neve'r 
 heard from him, or from any other person, the slightest in- 
 sinuation of this, or any specified accusation against Mr. 
 Spencer Smith. I heard indeed that Colonel SebastianI 
 had complained in general terms, that the foreign ministers, 
 instead of alleviating, had augmented the suflerings of the
 
 XIX 
 
 French prisoners ; but Colonel Sebastian! had returned to Paris 
 from Constantinople, and no doubt had made his report to the 
 government, long before Mr. Spencer Smith arrived there and 
 met with an honourable reception from the First Consul. 
 Would this have been the case, if Dr. Pouquevllle's relation 
 had been so stated to the First Consul, and believed by him 
 to be true ? These considerations are a sufficient confutation 
 of the calumny ; but in the relation itself let us examine how 
 far Dr. Pouqueville has forfeited his claim to the confidence 
 of his readers. He says, he was ordered by M. Rufiiin to 
 attend the Abbe Beauchamp who was dangerously ill at 
 Fanaraki on the Black Sea. He arrived at about sunset at a 
 village opposite to the European Cyaneans, which was inha- 
 bited by about six hundred Albanian Turks, a great number 
 of whom were smoking their pipes in a heosk near the sea 
 shore. " Some of them began to abuse me," says Dr. Pou- 
 queville, " when I addressed myself to them in their own 
 language to complain of their conduct. Surprized at hearing 
 an European express himself with facility, and more especially 
 without fear, they invited me to sit down beside them, and 
 passed from murmurings to expressions of kindness." Now if 
 in this very outset of his narration it should be discovered that 
 Dr. Pouqueville has deviated Into incorrectness, can he reason- 
 ably expect that his readers should submit their faith to his 
 guidance through the more intricate and wonderful passages ? 
 The question is simple, and the answer, if the hypothesis can
 
 XX 
 
 be substantiated, will be obvious. Let us therefore proceed to 
 analyze his assertions, since the national honour is connected 
 with the discussion. The doctor spake to the Albanian Turks 
 in tlieir oivn language. Y/hat he means by their own language 
 may be learned from himself, for he has told us, that one of 
 the peculiarities of the Albanians is, that in whatever country 
 they are settled, they adhere, even to obstinacy, to the use of 
 their national language, the Sclavonic. But in no part of his 
 work does Dr. Pouqueville insinuate that he knows the Scla- 
 vonic language, nor indeed does he appear to have had any 
 opportunity of learning it. Perhaps however he means the 
 Turkish language, which, although not their own, is adopted 
 among the Albanians, and generally known to such of them 
 as expatriate. But it will be shewn in the course of the pre- 
 sent work that Dr. Pouqueville is wholly ignorant of the 
 Turkish language. The modern Greek is the only language 
 of Turkey with which Dr. Pouqueville is acquainted. Few, 
 however, of the Albanians, comparatively speaking, know 
 Greek ; and the doctor is by no means authorized to deno- 
 minate it their own language, "We are compelled however 
 to conclude that Dr. Pouqueville addressed himself to the 
 Albanian Turks in modern Greek. But so far from this ex- 
 citing their surprize, the European Turks seem to expect that 
 every Frank should understand Greek, and Indeed it is rare 
 to fnul an inhabitant of Pera who cannot express himself in it 
 at least intelligibly. Greek is the ^miliar language of female
 
 XXI 
 
 society, some of the ladles speak no other language, the ser- 
 vants of the Franks arc all natives of the Greek islands, and 
 the women servants very rarely acquire even the slightest 
 knowledge of Turkish, or Italian, or French. 
 
 Dr. Pouquevillc discovers himself in the fictitious parts of 
 liis works by employing unnatural figures, inflated expressions, 
 and a style of theatrical declamation. He enters the dungeon 
 of Beauchamp ; " the darkness is so thick that the light of 
 the candles can scarcely penetrate tlirough it:" he approaches 
 the truckle bed, and sees his patient " dying under a burning 
 fever and having but a few minutes to live:" the doctor ad- 
 ministers relief, but the unwholesome air and fetid exhalations 
 of the dungeon deprive him of the use of his senses ; he 
 faints, and the guards carry him into the open air ; they how- 
 ever refuse to permit the prisoner to change his abode : the 
 doctor therefore re-enters the cell, the mephitism of the 
 chamber ceases to affect either him or his patient, the abbp 
 recovers, and continues, all through the night, to edify the 
 doctor by relating the wonderful barbarities of the Engligh, 
 binding him under a solemn engagement to reveal them to 
 the world. The conclusion of the story is " lame and jm^ 
 potent" as to the efiect which Dr. Pouqueville intended that 
 it should produce, for the abbe, in two days, is well enough 
 to quit his prison, and em.bark for his native country, and dor« 
 not die till after his arrival at Nice.
 
 xxu 
 
 For shame Dr. Pouqueville ! — The enmities of civilized 
 nations ought not to survive their open wars ; but you have 
 endeavoured to perpetuate them by the basest calumnies. 
 Had you, as you might have done with propriety, declaimed 
 against the barbarism of the Turks, who, on a declaration of 
 war, detained as prisoners, the merchant whom they had 
 invited to settle in their country, the artisan employed in 
 their service, the peaceable citizen, the studious traveller, 
 and the accredited public agent; this would have been an 
 useful and instructive theme. Had you reproached the re- 
 presentatives of the other nations of Europe, even those en- 
 gaged as parties in the war, that they, who by their Influence 
 could have prevented, should suffer, and perhaps connive at, 
 such a violation of the laws of nations, I would have seconded 
 you ; for such was the language which I, and several of my 
 countrymen in Turkey, publicly held. Had you traced to 
 this example the outrages of the frantic Paul against the 
 British nation, I would have concurred with you in opinion ; 
 for in this instance the Turks were masters to the Russians. 
 Had you held up the more recent injustice of your own 
 government, and pointing to the prisoners illegally detained, 
 and languishing at Verdun, have said, " See how contagious 
 is bad example ;" I would have applauded your philanthropy. 
 ^But when a writer who knows what virtue and justice are, 
 'who affects a love of truth, who has himself felt injustice,
 
 XXlll 
 
 and groaned under adversity, when sUcli a wrltet- pleads the 
 cause of Inhumanity, justifies violence, and palliates oppres- 
 sion, by representing the aggi-ession under which our innocent 
 countrymen suffer as first provoked by the conduct of the 
 agents of the British government, such u perversion of talents 
 makes us regret that Nature has bestowed them. 
 
 "Why does Dr. Pouqueville impute to the secret machina- 
 tions of the allies the inveteracy of the Turks against the 
 persons of their enemies who fell into their power ? Was 
 their conduct, during the war against the French, different 
 from their practice on every former occasion ? If the in- 
 famous Jean-bon St. Andre, who gloried in the name of 
 regicide, was treated by them with more than usual harshness, , 
 is the memory of Baron Herbert to be traduced, as though he 
 had been the mover of the persecution ? If we are to credit 
 the last official reports from the grand army, the Russian am- 
 bassador at Constantinople, all the Russians in that city, and 
 the Greeks protected by them to the amount of seven, or eight 
 hundred, were saved from the horrors of imprisonment, 
 from confiscation of their property, and from death, by the 
 mediation of the French ambassador. If the fact be so, 
 let the French ambassador have his due praise ; and let us ■ 
 hope that the government, which can challenge the respect 
 of foreign nations for the moderation and humanity of its
 
 XXIV 
 
 pubKc agent, will condemn, with becoming dignity, its own 
 precipitate conduct, and by an express clause in the next 
 treaty of peace, will prevent the repetition of a violence, 
 which sullies even the Turkish character. 
 
 Jlackney^ 
 March % 1807.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF THE MANNERS. ARTS, AND GOVERNMENT OF 
 
 THE TURKS, 
 
 National character. — Conduct compared with that of the Romans, 
 — and of the Arabs. — Foreign learning and arts adopted and 
 imitated. — The early sultans patrons of learning. — Mahomet the 
 Second. — State of knoxvledge and literature. — Language. — Me- 
 chanical arts. — Printing. — Deficiency of elementary knowledge. 
 — Husbandry and proauctions. — Manufactures. — Architecture. 
 ■ — Sculpture. — Painting. — Chronology. — Geography. — Astro- 
 logy. — Medicine. — Surgery .—Navigation.- — Commerce. — Roads 
 and travelling.-^Couriers.— Abuse of power. — Evils of despo- 
 tism. — Practicability of improvement. - - 1 
 
 d
 
 Xxvi 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE OTTOMAN POWER. 
 
 Origin of the Turks. — Emigration of the Othtnanida under SoUman 
 Shah. — Osman, son of Ertogrul, founder of the Ottoman dynaslr^ 
 —-Conquest of the Eastern empire. — Oppression of the Greeks, — • 
 Jexvs and Ai'menians. — Greatness and extent of the Turkish domi- 
 nion. — Alarm of Christendom. — Consequences of the invention of 
 gunpoxcder. — System of Turkish government over the Rayahs or 
 tributary . subjects, — and over the Mussulmans. — Partition of 
 lands to the conquerors. — -Sources of revenue. — Inefficiency of the 
 military and financial systems. — Considerations on the probable 
 destinies of the Turks ; — on the justice or policy of expelling them 
 from Etirope ; — on the emancipation of the Greeks. — The modern 
 compared xvith the ancient Greeks ; — the Athenians, — and the 
 Spartans. — Causes oj' the superiority of the ancient Greeks, — and 
 of the decline of the national spirit. — Apprehensions of the Turks 
 Jrom the power of Russia. — History of thefn'st\taricilh the Czar 
 of Muscovy — Consequences of the conquest of Turkey to Russia; 
 — to the other states of Europe, — ajid to the Ottoman subjects. — 
 Russian church. — Russian government. — Examination of the ar- 
 guments for dispossessing the Turks. — Remoteness of ameliorra- 
 tion, • - - - - 4CK
 
 XX vu 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Code of laws. — Authority mid prerogatives of the sultan : — His 
 vicegerents ; — His titles, — personal sanctity, — and absolute power. 
 — Lazos of succession. — Princes of the blood. — The Ulema, or laW' 
 officers : — their classes, — privileges,— functions and powers, — in- 
 violabilitj/, — submission to government. — Nature of the fetzva. — ■ 
 Order of legal dignities. — The pi'iest hood. — Grand Vizir. — Divan, 
 or council of state. — Sublime Porte, or Ottoman cabinet. — Do' 
 mestic and foreign administration. — Government of provinces. — 
 Revenues of pashas : — their modes of life : — precariousness of 
 their offices. — Hazne, or sultans treasure. — Reflections oti the 
 jultans direct interference in government, — in administering jus- 
 tice, — in conducting war. — Subjection of the people. — Political, 
 civil, and religious distinctions. — Means of redress against tyranny 
 and oppression. - - - - - gi 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW, 
 
 Practice of the courts of lazv. — Administration of civil lazv. — Mehh' 
 keme or tribunal. — False xvittiesses. — Inaccuracy of investigation.
 
 XXVIU 
 
 - Privilege of Europeans. — Avania. — Proceedings in criminal 
 cases, — Tortui'e, - , - - - - 147 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MILITARY FORCE OF THE OTTOMANS. 
 
 Military divisions of the empire. — Feudal system of the Ottomans. — 
 Ziamets and titnars. — Janizaries. — Agemoglans. — Other bodies of 
 infantry receiving pay from the Porte; — topgis, — gebegis, — 
 sakkas. — Cavalry receiving pay from the Porte. — Serratculy or 
 troops receivitig pay from the pashas. — Order of encampment, 
 — Tents and camp-equipage. — Method of supplying the army zvith 
 provisions. — Order of march and battle. — Modes of fighting, — 
 and of defending their fortresses. — Recapitulation. — Turkish laws 
 of war. — Treatment of prisoners. — Turkish navy. - l6l 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FINANCES OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND REVENUES OF THE 
 
 SULTAN. 
 
 System of finance under the feudal govern}72ent. — Divisions of the 
 Turkish exchequer. — Public treasury. — Sources of revenue ; — 
 land-tax, — -property-tax, — customs, — -poll-tax, — monopoly, — 
 mines, — escheats and forfeitures, — coinage, — tribute. — Expendi- 
 ture of (he public treasure. — Sultan s revenues, fxed and casual. 
 
 — Dowerics and pensions. — Nizami djedid. - 210' 
 
 1
 
 XXIX 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RELIGION, MORALS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE TURKS. 
 
 Physical constitutions and general habits. — Mrral and religious 
 education. — Popular belief and practice. — Priests. — Dei^vishes. 
 — Emirs. — Pilgrimage to Mecca. — Predestination. — Invocation 
 ef saints. — Belief in the efficacy of amulets, relics, and enchant- 
 metits. — Faith in omens and dreams. — Prejudice against pictures. 
 — Punishment of apostacy. — Morality. — Proselytism. — Modes of 
 proposing the Jaith to unbelievers. — Public charities. — Hospi- 
 tality and alms. — Tenderness towards brute animals. — Character 
 of the Turks ; — their austerity, — irritability of temper, — intem- 
 perance in the use of wine, — and opium, — covetousness, — ambition, 
 — hypocrisy, — behaviour to strangers. — Virtues of the middle 
 class.— ^Clothing of the Turks. — The xmrm bath. — Turkish luxu- 
 ries and amusements : — conversation, — story-telling — ombres 
 chinoises, — dancers and gladiators, — athletic exercises. — Gene- 
 ral health. — The plague. — Mourning. — Interments and funeral 
 monuments. '- ~ ~ " 249 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 WOMEN, AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 
 
 Distribution of apartments in Turkish families, — Subjection of the 
 women; — and their privileges.— —Marriage. — Polygamy and
 
 XXX 
 
 divorce.-^Redprocal duties of the husband and •wife. — Domestic 
 arrangements. — Household establishment of the women. — House 
 Jurniture, and mode of life. — Amusements, — occupations, — and 
 character of the Turkish "women. — Primary motives for the 
 seclusion of icomen. — Inquiry as to its effects in promoting 
 marriages, — in enforcing the observance of the conjugal duties, 
 — in influencing the public character, — Persons and dress of the 
 Komen. — Harems of Turkish gentlemen, — and grandees. — Ln- 
 perial harem. — Titles and degrees of precedency among the ladies. 
 — Domestics and guards of honour. — Utate of the women. — The. 
 slave-market. — Public zcomtn. — Eunuchs. - 335 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MOLDAVIA AND WALLACIIIA. 
 
 System of Turkish government towards the tributary subjects. — 
 Powers and immunities of the clergy. — Offices of emolument con- 
 ferred on the rayahs. — Peculiar advantages of the Greeks. — 
 Cause, — and consequences of this distinction. — Exceptions to the 
 usual mode of Turkish government. — Dacla. — Geography of 
 Jlloldaiva and JVallachia : — their departments and dioceses : — 
 seasons, air, and soil : — husband?'y and natural productions : — 
 appearance of the country. — Constitution and moral qualities 
 of the inhabitants. — Civil distinctions. — Constitution and goverfi- 
 ment. — Valvoda or prince : — ceremony of inauguration ; — cotirt, 
 officers of state, and body-guards. — Divan or council : — its de-
 
 XXXI 
 
 pftrfments. — Boyars or nohiUty. —Porvers of the dhan. — Clashes 
 and privileges of the boyars. — Turkish magistrates. — OJjkers 
 civil and militartj. — Laws and police. — Revenue and taxes. — 
 Capital cities. — Public establishments. — Manners of the Greeks 
 and the boyars. — Deposed princes. — Foreign relations, 382
 
 Jt'ane. 
 
 15 
 
 71 
 
 131 
 
 146 
 
 231 
 
 312 
 
 314 
 
 386 
 
 407 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Line. 
 
 14 NOTE for ortliographie read orthograplie. 
 
 3 for Theraiopyla read Thonnopyla. 
 
 1 for ITS read en-s. 
 
 1 for stop read stops. 
 
 7 NOTE for cin bcens read cinq cens. 
 
 1 8 for Tuik of the capitl read Turks of the capital. 
 
 3 NOTE for oeeflure read coeilure. 
 
 5 NOTE for au read ou. 
 1 3 for a one ?'earf alone. 
 
 6 ybr coachmtns, cook read coachmen, cooks.
 
 GH AFTER. I. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF THE MANNERS, ARTS, AND GOVERNMENT OF 
 
 THE TURKS. 
 
 National Character. — Conduct compared with that of the Romans, 
 — and of the Arabs. — Foreign Learning and Arts adopted and 
 imitated. — The early Sultans patrons of Learning. — Mahomet the 
 Second. — State of Knowledge and Literature. — Language. — 
 Mechanical Arts. — Printing. — Deficiency of elementary Know- 
 ledge. — Husbandry and Productions. — Manufactures. — Architec- 
 ture. Sculpture. — Painting. — Chronology. — Geography. — 
 
 Astrology. — Medicine. — Surgery. — Navigation. — Commerce. — 
 Roads and Travelling. — Couriers. — Abuse of Power. — Evils of 
 Despotism. — Practicability of Improvement. 
 
 1 HE character of the Turks, as it has been observed in different National 
 
 character. 
 
 points of view, has been either held up to admiration, and for an 
 example to surrounding nations, or represented' as an incongruous 
 mixtiire of savage barbarity and effeminate luxury. We have been 
 called upon to emulate their military virtues, and to copy them in 
 their administration of justice ; we have also been directed to abhor 
 their undistinguishing severity, or to ridicule their efforts fo? 
 opposing their enemies. Their government has been envied by 
 
 B
 
 Christian monarchs, as tending to its object with the fev/est impe- 
 diments, and the least obliquity ; and it has been decried by 
 philosophers, as the brute exertion of unorganized power. 
 
 The genius of a people, and the spirit of their institutions, are 
 best learned from the study of their history ; and the annals of the 
 Ottoman nation, as transmitted to us by original historians, repre- 
 sent with fidelity this horde of Tartars, issuing from the deep forests 
 Avhich skirt the Caucasus, impelled by their native turbulence and 
 love of war, and urged onward to universal conquest by the pre- 
 cepts of their religion ; terrible to their neighbours, but peaceable 
 within their own community, and restrained in their domestic ex- 
 cesses by veneration for the law, which enforces reverence for the 
 state, though it fail in insuring respect for the monarch. For 
 amidst the most outrageous exertions of violence against indivi- 
 duals, the sovereign power, and the rights of the military and the 
 great body of the people have always been sacred. The Turkish 
 history, like that of other nations, exhibits the progress of uncer- 
 tain opinions, vain objects of glory, and bloody and useless vic- 
 tories. Their maxims of government, like the policy of other 
 nations, are rather the dictates of caprice than the deductions of 
 reason ; and the soil of the most fertile countries in the world, wet- 
 ted with the tears and blood of the inhabitants, reproaches the 
 legislators with their ignorance of the laws of nature.* 
 
 * The history of the growth and decay of the Ottoman empire, written in Latins 
 by Demetrius Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia, contains the most authentic inforniationji 
 as it is composed from the annals of the original Turkish historians. A work entitled, 
 " Crimes des Empereurs Turcs," was published at Paris during the turbulent period 
 
 1
 
 The Turks are stigmatized, by almost every foreign writer, with 
 the imputation of ferocity and barbarism ; and even Cantemir 
 himself, in affected imitation of the ancient Greeks, is prodigal of 
 terms of opprobrium and reproach. Peyssonel is foremost of the fe\r 
 who defend them from the general censure ; and though the facts 
 he states be all founded in truth, yet their assemblage gives an 
 untrue picture of Turkish manners. The same may be said of their 
 detractors ; so that an attempt to ascertain their rank in the scale 
 of civilization becomes a matter of curious inquiry f. 
 
 A full investigation and accurate description of the Ottoman 
 nation must be reserved for the more extensive knowledge, and su- 
 perior talents of a future historian. To describe with impartiality 
 a people among whom every thing is contradictory to our usages> 
 
 of democracy ; and extracts from it have been presented to the British public as genuine 
 history. 
 
 t I consider the Chevalier d' Ohsson as a native historian; for he is an Armenian, 
 born in Turkey, and a tributary subject of the Porte. His general description of the 
 Ottoman empire, of which the religious code is the only part yet published, gives a 
 correct account of the ceremonies and customs of the Turkish nation. But their mo- 
 rality, it must be allowed, is in many instances represented rather as it ought to be in 
 conformity with their religious precepts, than as it is actually found to exist. The 
 passages of the Koran, inculcating the fundamental virtues of men in society, be- 
 cause they are continually in the mouths of the Turks, are asserted by D'Ohsson to 
 be deeply engraven on their hearts, and so to regulate their conduct, as to make them 
 the most humane, and the 7Host charitable of all the people of the earth. (Tableau General 
 de r empire Ottoman, V. iv. p. 302.) 
 
 Foreigners indeed run into the opposite Extreme, and describe them as universally 
 smvage and barbarous, 
 
 " Monstrum nulla virtute redemptum 
 A vitiis," 
 m. account of the cruelties and excesses committed by the soldiery in time of war.
 
 though not perhaps more repugnant to reason, requires a freedom 
 from prejudice, and a cahnness of inquiry, guided by the love of 
 truth, which few travellers are found to possess. Yet, in the scar- 
 city of information, we do not hesitate to receive, as the authentic 
 history of an illustrious nation, a few anecdotes collected by chance, 
 admitted without enquiry, and sometimes misrepresented from per- 
 verseness : which is fully as absurd, as if a foreigner were to com- 
 pose our history from the relations of a captive, or the correspond- 
 ence of a merchant, amid the distractions of war and the interested 
 reports of commerce. 
 
 The national character of the Turks is indeed a composition of 
 contradictory qualities. We find them brave and pusillanimous ; 
 good and ferocious ; firm and weak ; active and indolent ; passing 
 from austere devotion to disgusting obscenity, from ihoral severity 
 to gross sensuality ; fastidiously delicate and coarsely voluptuous; 
 seated on a celestial bed and preying on garbage. The great are 
 alternately haughty and humble; arrogant and cringing; liberal 
 and sordid : and in general, it must be confessed, that the qualities 
 ■which least deserve our approbation are the most predominant. 
 On comparing their limited acquirements with the learning of the 
 Christian nations of Europe, we are surprised at their ignorance : 
 but we must allow that they have just and clear ideas of whatever 
 falls within the contracted sphere of their observation. What 
 ■would become of the other nations of Europe, if, in imitation of 
 the Turkish government, the highest offices in the state were filled 
 by men taken from the lowest rank in society, and unprepared by 
 education or habit to discharge their important duties ?
 
 s 
 
 Tlie Romans, when they had subdued the states of Greece, felt Conduct 
 
 compa red 
 
 and acknowledged the charms of Grecian literature; nor did they .^VtlJ^"^" 
 disdain to grace their unconquered necks with the lighter yoke of '"''"^' 
 science. But the Romans were already illustrious in domestic and 
 military virtues, renowned for the gravity of their manners, and 
 the severity of their practical morality : their republic was founded 
 on law ; and was rich with the spoils of conquered nations, though 
 temperate in the use of them : and if the citizens disregarded the 
 elegant arts, it was less from ignorance of their value, than from 
 observing in other nations, their connection with luxury and effe- 
 minacy. But the Turks, though previously to their emigration 
 they must have possessed, in common with other savage nations, 
 a probity natural to their simple modes of hfe and the absence of 
 temptation ; yet, when forced by circumstances to become war- 
 riors, and* falling at once upon some of the richest countries of the 
 earth, they were necessarily invaded by all the violent passions of 
 conquerors, and rioted in enjoyment with the keenness of newly- 
 excited appetite. If the adoption of a common religion pro- 
 moted intercourse between them and the inhabitants of the kins- 
 dom of Persia, the profession of jarring and mutually intolerant 
 opinions prevented communication with the Christian subjects of 
 the Eastern empire ; and the knowledge which the Greeks pos- 
 sessed was beheld by the conquerors with the same contempt as 
 their persons. They conquered to inherit ; but they knew no 
 honourable means of subsistence besides arras, and left to slaves 
 and cowards the cultivation of the earth and the practice of the 
 arts. The indefinite extension of their empire, and the universal
 
 propagation of their faith, were the avowed objects of their war- 
 fare : and they had consequently a sufficient number of enemies to 
 exercise their courage, Tlie intervals of peace were the seasons 
 of unrestrained indulgence ; but these were too frequently inter- 
 rupted to allow them to sink into eflFeminacy : thus, they passed 
 from idleness to rapine, and, under different circumstances, they 
 alternately exhibited the ferociousness of barbarian courage, and 
 the vices of luxury. 
 
 and of the The conduct of the Turks has also been contrasted with that 
 
 Arabs. 
 
 of the Arabs, who after extending their conquests to the western 
 boundaries of Europe and Africa, cultivated the sciences with 
 success, and preserved literature, which among Christian nations 
 was almost obliterated. But the Arabs, long before the age of 
 Mahomet, were a polished and learned nation ; and the attention 
 which they paid to science, when they rested from their conquests, 
 was merely the resumption of their ancient habits. The inter- 
 marriages between the IMoors and the Christian women, which it 
 is said Almanzor encouraged in Spain, have with much gallantry 
 and ino-enuity been held out as the cause of that taste for literature 
 which distinguished the Arabs of the eighth century*; but I 
 
 * Survey of the Ottoman empire, p. 1 4. " Les progres des Arabes dans les lettres, 
 ct les beaux arts ayant suivi ceux de leurs armes et de leur domination dans les trois 
 parties de I'uncien continent, on vit bientot les colleges (savoir, ceux elcves a la Mecque, 
 a Medine, a. Kiufte, a Baghdad, d Danias, en Perse, en Afrique, en Espagne, &c.) cul- 
 tiver avec le plus grand succes toutes les sciences qui ont tant contribue a la gloire des 
 Grecset des Remains." (Tableau General, V. ii. p. 465.) 
 
 " Les lettres, les sciences, et Its arts curcnt de puissans protecteurs dans Haroim I,
 
 doubt whether it be not more just to attribute the invention of 
 algebra and the improvement of medicine, rather to the refined 
 taste of the court of Haroun al Raschid, and the encouragement 
 which learning received from the Caliphs of Bagdad, than to the 
 connubial happiness which the Spanish ladies conferred on their 
 unchristian husbands. The Turks indeed cannot be accused of 
 having neglected these extraordinary aids of science ; foi', after the 
 siege of Nicaea, when the Grecian ladies, in the presence of Sultan 
 Orchan, bewailed the loss of their husbands, the generous con- 
 queror appointed honourable successors from among the officers of 
 his court and army ; and the grateful widows spread the fame of 
 his humanity over the neighbouring regions*. The peculiar fero- 
 city of the Turks has been rashly attributed to the arrogant and 
 barbarous dictates of their religion^ ; for the Arabs, a people equally 
 favoured by both Minervas, professed the same religion, and pro- 
 bably with more ardent zeal, as being new converts, and with 
 stronger attachment, from the circumstance of its being first pro- 
 pagated in their own country. 
 
 dit Reschid, dans Ahmed III, Aly II, Mohammed VIII, Mohammed IX, mais sur-tout 
 dans Mensour II, et Davoud I." (Tableau General, V. i. p. 246.) 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 26. 
 
 + The leading features of tlie Mahometan religion are very much misrepresented by 
 iuch expressions. The Chevalier D'Ohsson, who had at least as good an opportunity 
 of knowing the true character of the Turks as any other writer, says, that the humanity, 
 the beneficence, and the hospitality, which during so many ages have been the charac- 
 teristic distinction of the Rations subject to the law of Islamism, are the necessary conse- 
 quence of the precepts of the Koran. (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 301.)
 
 FoKign The Turks, possessed of Arabian and Persian literature, do not 
 
 learning 
 
 and arts perhaps deserve severe reproach for having overlooked the chaster 
 andimita- bgautics of Grcck and Roman learning, which were concealed from 
 their research by the obscurity of an unknown language. They 
 indeed rejected, as useless, the dogmatical knowledge, on which the 
 Greeks valued themselves : but, unless we suppose them to have 
 been previously instructed, they learned all that the Greeks could 
 teach them, of agriculture, of navigation, of mechanics, and of all 
 the arts subservient to the purposes of utility, or even of luxury. 
 The destruction of the ancient monuments of art is not to be im- 
 puted to the Turks. Soliman, says Leunclavius, paused at 
 Troas, and admired the remains of stately edifices which the irrup- 
 tion of the Goths had ruined. Preceding irruptions had in like 
 manner annihilated the celebrated labours of Phidias and Praxi- 
 teles ; and the Turks are blameable, only for having completed 
 the work of destruction, by employing the fragments of ancient 
 buildings, in modern edifices, or for common purposes. 
 
 The Turks are reproached with not having imitated the archi- 
 tecture of ancient Greece, nor having corrected one fault, or 
 conceived any idea of proportion, from the perfect models which 
 they have daily before their eyes*. But a slight recollection of 
 history must convince us, that in the capital the Turks could have 
 found no remains of ancient Greek architecture. They have how- 
 ever copied the most perfect model existing there, and have built 
 all their principal mosques in close imitation of the cathedral of 
 
 * Survey of tbe Ottoman empire, p. 208.
 
 9- 
 
 Sancta Sophia*. Statuary and painting, it is true, are discouraged 
 by the spirit of their religion ; and to their intemperate zeal we 
 must attribute the destruction, or defacing, of all the monuments 
 of ancient art, which the Greek emperors had collected for the 
 ornament of the metropolis, and which had survived the rage of 
 faction and the pillage of the crusaders t. 
 
 Though war and conquest were the chief occupations of the 
 Ottomans, the early Sultans do not appear to have been wholly 
 insensible to the advantages of learning. Sultan Orchan, in thei'hccariy 
 
 Sultans 
 
 ■year thirteen hundred and thirty-six of the Christian tera, founded P*'™"^ °^ 
 
 •'- '' learning. 
 
 an academy at Brusa, which became so illustrious by the learning 
 of its professors, that students, even from Arabia and Persia, did 
 
 * " Ad hujus templi formam omnia fere Turcarum lempla sunt constructa." 
 (Buibequii Epist. i.p. 27.) 
 
 " If they have fine mosques, it is because they had a fine model before their eyes, 
 the church of Sancta Sophia." (Tournefbrt, V. ii. p. 1 8 1 .) 
 
 " There are even mosques, particularly those of Sultan Ahmed in the Hippodrome, 
 and of Shahzade, which are of a lighter construction than Sancta Sophia; and though 
 built on the plan of that ancient Greek church, have surpassed their model This 
 nK)del, indeed, is far from being a master-piece." (De Tott, V. i. p. 228.) 
 
 t " On sait que long-temps avant la chute du Bas-empire, les fureurs des Icono- 
 clastes, soutenues par le fanatisme de Leon I'Isaurien, et du prince Theophile, avoient 
 porte les coups les plus funesteS a la peinture et a la sculpture." {Tab. Gen. V. iv. 
 p. 457.) 
 
 A minute and curious description of the ancient statues destroyed by the cmsaders, 
 tcJien they took and pillaged Constantinople in the year 1204, is given -by Nicetas, an 
 historian who held several important offices in the court of the Greek emperor at the 
 time. (Nicet. ap. f abricii Bib. Grtec. V. vi. p. 405, — See also Gibbon's Roman 
 History, V. xi. p. 238.) 
 
 c
 
 10 
 
 Mahomet not cHsdaiii to becoijie tlic clisciplcs of thcOtlimanicIas*. .Mahomet 
 
 the Second. ...:-••■• « , 
 
 the Second, whose victories terminated the Roman empire, repeated 
 an elegant Persian distich on the instability of human grandeur, 
 vhen he entered the deserted palace of the last of the CECsars, 
 
 : M Pcrd6 dary mikiuned her kysr Kaisar ankebut ; 
 " Bumy neubet mizened ber kuinbeti Efrasiab." ■ 
 
 The spider holds the veil in the palace of Caesar : 
 
 The owl stands sentinel on the watch-tower of Afrasiabf. 
 
 * Si touB les monarques de cette maison, depuis Osman I, jusqu'a Ahmed I, n'ont 
 pas egalement biille sur le trone par l^urs vertus et leurs qualites guenrieres, presque 
 tons se sont cependant distingues par leur erudition, et leur amour pour les lettres. 
 (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 478.) 
 
 See in the Tableau General the state of the thirty five public libraries in the city of 
 Constantinople alone, some of which contain 15,000 volumes, together with aij account 
 of the subjects of Persian and Arabian literature. (Vol. ii. pp.468. 476. 483. 49)1. 
 494.) 
 
 The public library founded under Mustafa the Third, by the Vizir Racub Pacha, 
 is the 7iiost fnodem; and yet De Tott says that before it there was no such thing at Cen- 
 stantinople. (V. i. p. 14G,) 
 
 + Sir William Jones translated these lines before he was acquainted with the cus^ 
 toms of eastern courts, or he ivould have given to his translation the forcible and melan- 
 choly colouring of the original. Perde is the curtain, which is spread before tlie throne, 
 t)r at the entrance of the hall of state, which the pages draw aside, when strangers are 
 admitted to an audience: but here the office of chambejlain is assigned to the spider. 
 Neubet, the martial music, whicli from the turrets of the imperial residence announces 
 the evening retreat, is replaced by the screechings of llie owl. 
 
 " Ertoghroul, perc d'Osman I, etant gouverneur d' Angora, sous les Sultans Seld- 
 joukiens, faisoit joucr sa musique militairc, Keubeth, tous les jours, vers le coucher du 
 eokil, d l"exemplc dos autrcs gouvcrncurs dc provinces." (Tab. Gen. V. iii. p. 4t'.)
 
 u 
 
 The conqueror of Constantinople "fras renowned among tlio 
 nations of tlie East for his piety, his learning, his knowledge of 
 foreign languages, and his acquirements in general science; 
 though Christian writers have represented liini as cruel, perfidious, 
 and bloody; without faith, humanity, or religion ; and consider- 
 ing piety and justice as virtues belonging to the vulgar. It is 
 however difficult to imagine, that a mind furnished like his, which, 
 in the midst of slaughter, and the exultation of victory, could pause 
 at such reflections, should either wantonly indulge in the unpror 
 yoked murder of his newly conquered subjects, or in the destruc- 
 tion and mutilation of the most venerable monuments of anti- 
 quity*. 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 102. note. — The brazen column in the Hippodrome, which Maho- 
 met is accused of liaving defaced, is formed by three serpents twisted spirally, whose 
 heads spreading on the sides compose a kind of chapiter : It is supposed to liave been 
 brought from Delphi, where it supported the famous golden tripod, which the Greeks 
 after the battle of Plataea found in the camp' of Mardonius. Dr. Dallaway, in his 
 description of the Hippodrome, says, "that the three entwisted bodies only of the 
 serpents now remain ; one of the heads was broken off by Mahomet the Second, with a 
 single stroke ofhis battle ax6, in proof of his extraordinary strength." (P. 68.) 
 
 It is curious that Lady Mary W'ortley Montagu, in her account of this column, 
 should describe the serpents, as at that time, "with their mouths gaping;" (V. ii. 
 p. 250.) particularly as Tournefort, who preceded her ladyship in his visit to Constan- 
 tinople, expressly says; " that the rettiaining two heads were taken away in 1700.*' 
 (Vol. ii. p. 196.) He accuses Sultan Murat of having broken off the first head. 
 
 Lord Sandwich says (p. 128.) that " Sultan Amurath, one day passing this way) to 
 make an experiment of the ^strength of his anti, beat off the head of one of tlie serpents 
 with his topoiiz, after which his followers, in imitation of their sovereign, destroyed the 
 remaining two." From these examples it may be seen, how little the traditions of 
 Constantinople are deserving of credit; and they may serve to guide our judgment, in 
 determining upon otlitfr- .more serious accusations which are alledgcd against INIahomet 
 the Second. 
 
 5 
 
 i
 
 12 
 
 knowledge ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^'^^ '^"'■^^ ^" illiterate people, it is not because learn- 
 ture."""' ing is universally neglected by individuals : for, on the contrary, 
 the Ulcma, or theological lawyers, undergo a long and laborious 
 course of study; the Turkish gentlemen are all taught certain 
 necessary, and even ornamental, parts of learning ; and few chil- 
 dren, at least in the capital, are left without some tincture of edu- 
 
 Mr. Eton, in liis historical account of the siege and taking- of Constantinople, says, 
 " that the Greeks who fled for safety to the church of Sancta Sophia were all slain, taul 
 the church was converted into a stable. Three long days and three long nights the air 
 was shaken with the cries of the vanquished. The Sultan heard it in his camp, and it 
 lulled him to sleep. The dogs ran into the fields howling uith compassion, or leaped 
 into the sea." After three days the Sultan entered the city; " He made a sumptuous 
 feast for his pashas and officers in the holy temple of Sancta Sophia ; and as he sat ban- 
 qiietiing he caused to be killed, for his diversion and that of his guests, great numbers 
 of his prisoners, of the first distinction, for birth, eminence and learning, among whom 
 were many of the late emperor's relations ; and these feasts he repeated daily, till he had 
 destroyed all the Grecian nobility, priests, and persons of learning, who had fallen into 
 his hands, of both sexes, and of all ages." (P. 1 45.) 
 
 Cantemir, the Turkish historian, was ignorant of the commission of these horrible 
 enormities : and even Gibbon had not the advantage of consulting the authentic docu- 
 ments, whence Mr. Eton has collected the materials for so pathetic a picture. I must 
 confess however that the effect of this history is somewhat weakened, by the kiwivledge 
 we have that the church of Sancta Sophia was converted into a mosque, on the very day 
 of the conquest of the city, (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 589.) and that, consequently, the Sul- 
 tan was not lulled to sleep during three days in his camp, while his soldiers were slaugh- 
 tering the citizens; that the church was not converted into a stable, or a wine-house; 
 and what is still more consolatory, that it needed no purification fi^om pollution by 
 human blood. (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 9.) 
 
 The memory of this cruel Sultan, according to Tournefort, continues to spread terror 
 through the seraglio; and " the pages dare not enter the kitchen gardens, ever since 
 Mahomet the Second caused seven of them to be ript up, to discover who had eaten one 
 of his cucumbers." (V. ii. p. 246.) 
 
 Gibbon (V. xii. p. 184.) calls it a tnelon, and \\zs fourteen pages.
 
 V3 
 
 cation*. It must be acknowledged, however, tliat the objects of 
 Turkish study, the rhetoric and logic, the philosophy and meta- 
 physics, of the dark ages, do in reality only remove men further 
 from real knowledge. The instruments, without which the re- 
 searches of the acutest natural philosopher would be imperfect, arc 
 either entirely unknown in Turkey, or only known as childish 
 playthings, to excite the admiration of ignorance, or to gratify a 
 vain curiosity. The telescope, the microscope, the electrical 
 machine, and other aids of science, are unknown as to their real 
 uses. Even the compass is not universally employed in their navy, 
 nor its common purposes thoroughly understood. Need it then 
 be observed, that navigation, astronomy, geography, agriculture, 
 chemistry, and all the arts, which have been, as it were, created 
 anew since the grand discoveries of the two last centuries, are 
 either unknown, or practised only according to a vicious and 
 antiquated routine. 
 
 The Turks possess, in their own language or in Arabic, the 
 philosophy of Aristotle and the works of Plato, together with 
 innumerable treatises on astronomy and chemistry, as mcII as on 
 
 * " On distingue dix degres differens dans la classe des Muderriss. Les candidats 
 ne peuverit les parcourir que successivement et toujours par ordre d'anciennete, ce qui 
 souvent demande plus de quarante ans pour parvenir a celui de Sukymaniije, le plus 
 eleve de tous." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 489.) 
 
 " Les etudes paiticulieres des enfans des OuUmas sont reglees sur le meme plan que 
 Ton suit dans les Medresses. Celles que font la jeune noblesse et toutes les personncs 
 qui se vouent a I'etat politique, sont moins etendues. L'histoire orientale et les ouvTagcs 
 philosopliiques sont les objets aux quels ils s'appliquent le j^lus parliculiereiTient.i II en 
 est peu qui etudient la metaphysique, la politique, et les principes du gouvernementj 
 parceque sur ces objets importans, il y a une insouciance presque universelle dans la 
 nation." (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 478.)
 
 u 
 
 astrology and alchymy*. . But they have no hooks calculated to 
 advance their progress in the arts, or to teach them the rudiments 
 of science : and a skill in jurisprudence, founded, not on reason 
 and nature, but on positive and imperfect precept ; a knowledge 
 of controversy, and the imaginary capacity of ascertaining with 
 precision, whether Abubekir, Omar, and Othman, were impostors 
 and robbers, or the true successors of the prophet ; the being able 
 to determine, whether it be necessary, on rising from bed, to 
 wash the feet with water, or only to rub them with the bare hand ; 
 though in Turkey they are thought to involve the dearest interests, 
 yet attract from strangers as little respect, as the intricate and in- 
 explicable difticulties, which occupy and disturb the leisure of our 
 own domestic sectaries. 
 
 Language. -, Tlic Turkish language is harmonious and regular, but of intri- 
 cate and involved construction ; sufficiently copious for the pur- 
 poses of ordinary intercourse, and only defective in terms of art, 
 and expressions adapted to philosophical ideas. No language 
 admits of greater delicacy or nicety of expression, and none is 
 better suited for colloquial purposes. Their polite literature is 
 modelled from the Arabian and Persian, and is not to be judged -of 
 by our rules. The Turkish poets, though they debase their com- 
 positions by conceit and aflfectation, and eagerly catch at objects 
 of comparison, wherein there is sometimes scarcely any general 
 similitude, yet have all the beauties, and all the defects of their 
 masters. ]\Ir. Eton says " it is astonishing. that they have not 
 
 * Peysisonnel — R«jJons€ a M. de Volney, p. 1 4.
 
 15 
 
 perfected their alphabet:" but this reproach does not justly attach 
 to the Turks; they have adopted the Arabian alphabet, which, 
 for ages before the emigration of the Turkish nation, had been 
 found sutificient for all the purposes of science and literature. The 
 want of the vowels does certainly occasion an ambiguity in the 
 pronunciation of foreign words or' proper names, which even the 
 vowel-points do not entirely remove: But the omission of these 
 points does not increase the difficulty of reading the ordinary lan- 
 guage to a person who is but moderately acquainted with it. The 
 oriental scholar will exculpate the Turks from the charge of 
 being farther removed from perfection in their alphabet than any 
 other nation, and will not expect from them an effort to 
 improve it*. - 
 
 , *. I venture t-o pronpunc? tUa|t De T9tt, though he resided twenty three years in 
 Turkey, and was able to express himself in Turkish with tolerable fluency, yet pos- 
 sessed but a superficial knovvledge of the language. His proficiency may be judged of 
 by his own declarations; and there ai*e many oriental scholars in England, who will 
 easily detect the ignorance, or the exaggeration, of the following passages. — " When 
 the whole life of a man is scarcely sufficient to learn to read well, little time remains 
 to choose what he shall read for his instniction and advantage." {V. i. p. 9.) " No 
 care can effect the improvement of the Turks, while the difficulties of their language 
 confine all their learning to reading and writing." (V. i. p. 146.) Let us see how 
 D'Ohsson, a professed oriental scholar, speaks of the Turkish language, and the diffi- 
 culties of learning it. " Le Turc, le Persan, et I'Arabe, ont les memes caracteres, un 
 meme alphabet ; et quoique dans cet alphabet il n'y ait proprement que trois voyelles. 
 Kite (ipplication de quatre mois est sufTisante pour apprendre a lire et a ecrire; I'ortlio- 
 graphie etant infiniment plus simple et plus conforme a la prononciation que ne le sont 
 pour un etranger le Frani;ois, I'Anglois," &c. (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 474.) 
 
 " Cette langue, ti'es cultivee sous les premiers Sultans Othomans, mais particuliere- 
 ment sous Suleyman I, emprunta les richesses du Persan et de I'Arabe. C'est daiii 
 cet idiome, aussi noble qu'harmonieux, que s'ecrivent tous les livres historiques," &c. 
 (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 473.)
 
 arts. 
 
 36 
 
 Meciianicui xiic improvcd state of the mechanical arts in Christcnrlom, 
 
 ■Arts. 1 ' 
 
 V here they are cherished and extended by the rapid communica- 
 tion of the discoveries of innumerable professors of science, makes 
 us regard ^^'ith contempt the condition of them in Turkey, where 
 they are neither founded on principles, nor connected with each 
 other, but appear merely as the fragments of a system, the wreck 
 of former knowledge ; as their practice seems a servile imitation, 
 instead of a regular and intelligent process. In a country where 
 ihere exists no theoretical or speculative knowledge, we look in 
 Tain for architects, for navigators, for mechanicians, for agricul- 
 turists. But it would be lash to presume an inferiority in their 
 capacity from the imperfection of their knowledge; or to conclude 
 that they are so besotted by ignorance as even to be vain of it, and 
 because they possess not, that they therefore despise foreign im- 
 provements. Though, indeed, there be wanting the mind to 
 guide, we must not permit ourselves to think, that mental superi- 
 ority would meet with contempt : tliough there be wanting the 
 judgment to direct their operations, we must not think that such 
 a director would be spurned. The Turks, on the contrary, are 
 deficient neither in talents to comprehend instruction, nor in doci- 
 lity to adopt it. If we find a skilful mason, can we suppose he 
 Mould execute the plans of genius, with more dithculty than 
 the rude conceptions of ignorant caprice ? If the ploughman 
 can draw out his furrow, in an uncurved line, for a quarter of 
 a league, would he unwillingly pursue an improved system of hus- 
 banchy ? * If the mariner have the courage and the skill, to cor- 
 
 * DeToU. V. iv. p. 118.
 
 17 
 
 duct his vessel tlirouf^Ti the dangers of navigation, by the mere in- 
 formation of his senses, would he become less capable, if his efforts 
 were aided by principle, and directed by science? If the mecha- 
 nic, with a rude instrument, can fashion matter so as to answer 
 useful purposes, would he relax in his ingenuity, if the difficulties 
 of labour were removed by better-adapted methods? Their apti- 
 tude for improvement is unquestionable: the industry which can 
 persevere through rugged paths beSet with brambles, would move 
 on with increased rapidity, over a smooth and level road. Let it 
 not then be said, that because the Turks believe in predestination * 
 they necessarily resist instruction ; nor let us suppose, that, because 
 they find their Avay in the dark, they must necessarily become blind 
 upon the approach of light. 
 
 Elementary knowledge, so highly appreciated by their ancestors, 
 M'as already lost to the Greeks, before their necks had bowed to a 
 barbarian yoke : and it requires historical testimony to convince 
 us, that the descendants of the people, whom we respect as the in- 
 ventors of all that is exquisite in elegance and correctness, could 
 be guilty of so wide a deviation from the principles of taste, as we 
 see in the design and execution of the paintings, the coinage, the 
 sculpture, the architecture, the writings, and even the amusements, 
 of the later Greeks. At the period of the conquest of Constanti- 
 nople, elementary knowledge had not revived in the west of Europe : 
 in Arabia it had never existed. Whence then could the Turks 
 
 * " Perpetually heated with the fever of predestination, they despise whatever is 
 not agreeable to the manners of their nation; the necessary r^-sult of which is pride 
 and ignorance." (De Tott. Prehrainary Discourse.) 
 
 D
 
 18 
 
 iiave derived it? They looked around for instruction ; but tlier* 
 was no one to teach them : and j^et we reproach them for not 
 having restored what the Greeks had shamefully suffered to 
 perish ? * 
 
 The Turkish government has been accused of extinguishing the 
 light of science, and forcing their subjects into degeneracy. But 
 I doubt the truth of the assertion ; and I do not hesitate to believe, 
 that, with the single exception of Grecian literature, knowledge 
 rests on the same basis, and is as correctly carried into beneficial 
 execution, as on their first invasion of the metropolis. The mina- 
 rets of Sancta Sophia, erected immediately after the conquest of Con- 
 stantinople, are of less elegant construction than others of more 
 modern date. The early imperial mosques, built by Greek archi- 
 tects, are in no respect superior to the later ones: and men may at 
 
 * The Greek prince Cantemir tells us, (p. 92.) " We are not to imagine, witli the 
 generality of Christians, that Greece is so far sunk in barbarism, as not in these later 
 ages to have produced men little inferior to the most learned of her ancient sages : " and he 
 proceeds to enumerate a long list of persons who flourished in his time, famous for their 
 learning, doctors of great piety, preachers, divines, controvertists, and philosophers of 
 all the old uncorrupted Greek sects; men whose doubtful utility was bounded by their 
 parishes, and whose names have not outlived their anniversaries. In his zeal for the 
 vindication of the honour of modern Greece, he gives an instance of the bathos, which 
 outrivals even Blackmore. " The Greeks," said a Persian courtier to Sultan Murad, 
 " who now obey your sceptre, were once our lords, and / have this day found, they 
 justly deserved that honour. I had heard of their fame in our historians, but never hap- 
 pened to meet with any one of that nation, worthy the character formerly given them. 
 But it has been my fortune to-day, to know a Greek, whom if the rest are like, that 
 race was truly deserving as well of our empire as of your service. For though I am 
 second to none amoitg our countrymen in tnusic, lam scarce worthy to be called the scholar 
 efihis Greek." (Cantemir, p. 247.) 
 
 I
 
 19 
 
 this day be found in Constantinople, capable of equalling whatever 
 monument was erected by the lower Greek emperors. The Turks 
 stiU possess whatever knowledge the}' once inherited : their patri- 
 mony is still unimpaired in their hands : nor arc they avei'se from 
 improvement. Their friendly reception of foreigners might be 
 adduced as a proof of their docility ; but I want no other evidence 
 of their liberal encouragement of learning, than their own unassist- 
 ed efforts to introduce a printing press. * Rufiin, with the igno- ^'''"'"''* 
 ranee that characterizes a dragoman of Pera, asserts that " the 
 Ulema oppose printing, jealous of that pre-eminence which their 
 science, such as it is, secures them over the people," and that, 
 "from this cause the nation is kept in ignorance, as the elementary 
 ni^uscripts in every branch, from the dearness of copies, and 
 their small number are insufficient to enlighten them." It is how- 
 ever, a most certain fact, that the Ulema publicly testified their 
 approbation of the new establishment, and imposed no restrictions 
 on the press, except such as would naturally operate to the ad- 
 vancement of learning. Only the Koran, and books treating of 
 the law, and the doctrines of the prophet, were forbidden to be 
 printed ; a useful and salutary prohibition, which, at the same time 
 
 * A Renegado of the name of Ibrahim, encouraged by the grand vizir- Ibrahim 
 Pasha, and the Mufti Abd'uUah effendi, first introduced a printing press, ni the year 
 1'727. The fetwa of the Mufti, corroborated by the opinion of the first magistrates 
 and most distinguished doctors, declares the undertaking to be of the highest pubhc 
 utihty ; but the Khatt'y sherifoi the Sultan, Ahmed the Third, or letters-patent author- 
 izing the establishment, shew a perfect conviction of the advantages of printing. The 
 Sultan felicitates himself that Providence has reserved so great a blessing to illustrate ' 
 his reign, and to draw upon his august person the benedictions of his subjects and of 
 Mussulmans to the end of time. (Tab. Gen. v. ii. p. 500.)
 
 20 
 
 that it preserves religion in its purity, stifles, even in embryo, that 
 r>';fioiency.jc3'loi^sy with which RuilRn upbraids the Ulema.* In Turkey, 
 tary kuow- there is no scarcity of manuscripts ; the great number of them on 
 
 ledge. 
 
 the contrary, is supposed lo operate as an impediment to printing, 
 but the rudiments of knowledge do not yet exist there. Let these 
 first be naturalized, or printing itself will be attended with no 
 utility. If these be neglected, or overlooked in the eagerness to 
 introduce civilization, it is to be apprehended, that, instead of at- 
 taining the object, we shall but see a second instance of the desire 
 of national improvement giving more developement to vicious 
 habits, than to the useful or liberal arts. When public amuse- 
 ments are the natural produce of civilization, and congenial to the 
 manners of a people, they assist and promote urbanity. But I 
 would not wish to see among the Turks, either public assemblies 
 or theatrical exhibitions. Such things are inconsistent with their 
 habits, and if forced upon them, would only introduce confusion. 
 Let their religion and their customs remain unchanged ; let them 
 but be taught principles, to correct and methodize what they al- 
 ready know, and the great work of civilization is performed. If 
 the instructions, which they have occasionally received from intel- 
 ligent foreigners, have not produced their full effect, it is because 
 the principle of the improvement introduced was never sufficiently 
 
 * M. Ruffin's remark is the mere ridiculous, as the manuscripts containing' that 
 science, which gives the Ulema their supposed pre-eminence, are not written in 
 sacred and unintelligible characters, nor is the perusal of them forbidden to the people. 
 The war against their pre-eminence may be even now carried on, without imposing a 
 heavier tax on the public, than the difference of price between a manuscript and a 
 printed book.
 
 21. . 
 
 developed or explained : the work was left unfinished, and no suc- 
 cessor was appointed in the school to continue the instruction. 
 
 It will be sufficient to take a rapid survey of the establishments 
 existing among the Turks, in order to convince us, that, though 
 there be much to improve, there is nothing to create. Let us 
 abandon to them the use or the abuse of their language ; let us 
 leave them to their taste in prose and in poetry ; these do but indi- 
 rectly influence a nation's happiness. Let them pun, and use con- 
 ceits, and play upon words, and admire all the difficulties which 
 false taste has ever invented ; a habit of correctness, in things 
 more essentially important, will introduce a chaster taste. But let 
 us examine what is the practice of agriculture, and the mechanical 
 arts ; what is the state of such as depend on mathematical princi- 
 ples, or on analogy and research ; what are their notions of trade ; 
 what are their national establishments for the facility of commer- 
 cial intercourse; and we shall be convinced, that we can introduce 
 only improvement. We may lament the errors of their govern- 
 ment ; but we must not interfere with their prejudices. We must 
 trust to their own improved reflection for ameliorating the state of 
 their Christian subjects, whom we shall only injure by interposing 
 in their behalf, beyond persuasion ; for as their oppressions arise, 
 not so much from the government, as from individual tyranny, no 
 act of government can efificaciously relieve them. 
 
 Turkey depends upon no foreign country for its' subsistence. Husbandry 
 
 and Pro- 
 
 The labour of its inhabitants produces, in an abundance unequal- Auctions. 
 led ill the other countries of Europe, all the alimentary produc-
 
 22 
 
 tions, imimal and vegetable, whether for use or enjoyment. The 
 corn countries, in spite of the impoHtic restrictions of the govern- 
 ment, besides pouring plenty over the empire, secretly export their 
 superfluities to foreigii countries. Their agriculture, therefore, 
 though neglected and discouraged, is still above their wants. 
 Their corn, their maize, their rice, are all of superior quality ; their 
 w ine and oil, though deprived of half their excellence by the un- 
 skilfulness. and negligence of preparation, are sutKcient, not only 
 for the demands of an extensive consumption, but for the supply 
 of several foreign markets. The large exportation of the most 
 valuable merchandize, which they possess beyond the demand for 
 the internal trade of the country, sufficiently proclaims their in- 
 dustry. Their silk, cotton, wool, flax, drugs, coflfee, sugar, Avax, 
 honey, fruits, hides, tobacco, and other articles of commerce are 
 (distributed over the continents of either hemisphere ; and the pro- 
 duce of their toil, supports and embellishes the existence of those, 
 who reproach them with idleness. The capital of the empire, 
 though the soil in its immediate vicinity is barren and ungrateful,* 
 receives from the neighbouring villages, and from the surround- 
 
 * See Dr. Wittinan's Travels, p. 20. Olivier's Travels, v. i. p. 63. The circum- 
 stance of the poorness of the soil, is not sufficiently attended to by travellers, who are 
 offended at the neglect of agriculture on the land side of the city of Constantinople. 
 Voila comme sont, et comme doivent etre les avenues de la principale residence d'un 
 jieuple, aussi paresseux et aussi ignorant, que devastateur, (Voyage a Constantino- 
 ple, p. 147.) 
 
 The shores on both sides the Bosphorus, present a very different scene : the ground 
 forms a chain of schistus hills, covered with vineyards and gardens, and beautiful trees 
 and shrubs; and the vallies, which are exceedingly fertile, are in the highest state oif 
 cultivation.
 
 23 
 
 ing coasts of both tlie seas which it commands, all the culinary 
 herbs, and fruits of exquisite flavour, which the most fastidious 
 appetite can require ; and from the Asiatic coasts of the Black 
 Sea, all materials necessary for fuel, or for the construction of 
 ships and houses. 
 
 I know not whether Europe can equal, but certainly it cannot „ 
 surpass them, in several of their manufactures. The satins and*"^^' 
 silk stuffs, and the velvets of Brusa and Aleppo^ the serges and 
 camelots of Angora, the crapes and gauzes of Salonica, the printed 
 muslins of Constantinople, the carpets of Smyrna, and the silk, the 
 linen, and the cotton stuffs of Cairo, Scio, Magnesia,* Tocat and 
 Castambol, establish a favourable, but not an unfair criterion of 
 their general skill and industry.* The workmen of Constantinople, 
 in the opinion of Spon, excel those of France in many of the inferior 
 trades. They still practise all that they found practised ; but from an 
 indolence with respect to innovation, have not introduced or encou- 
 raged several useful or elegant arts of later invention. They call 
 in no foreign assistance to work their mines of metal, or mineral, or 
 fossile substances. From their own quarries, their own labour ex- 
 tracts the marble and more ordinary stone, which is employed in 
 
 * " Is it not matter of astonishment, says Mr. Eton, that since the first'establishmeiit 
 ef their manufactory of carpets, they have not improved the designs, and particularly as 
 they are not forbidden to imitate flowers ? The same may be said of their embroidery, 
 and of the stuffs made at Brusa, Aleppo, and Damascus." (p. 208.) 
 
 It must however afford equal matter of astoni.shment, that the designs of Turkey car- 
 pets are copied in England : and that in our imitations of the Cachemire shawls, Me- 
 should still adhere to the designs of flowers, as grotesque as those on Turkey carpeU.
 
 ture. 
 
 24- 
 
 their public buildings. Their marine architecture is by no means 
 contemptible, and their barges and smaller boats are of the most 
 graceful construction.* Their foundery of brass cannon has been 
 admired, t and their musquet and pistol barrels, and particularly 
 their sword blades, are held in great estimation, even by foreign- 
 ers. 
 
 Arciatec- 'Yhe degradation of the arts into mechanical trades, from ie:- 
 norance or neglect of scicntifical principles, is in no instance 
 more discoverable than in their architecture. Their buildings arc. 
 rude incoherent copies, possessing neither the simplicity nor unity 
 of original invention. They are the attempts of admiration, igno- 
 rant of method, to emulate perfection and sublimity ; and not the 
 effect of that combination of results, which a creative people have 
 been successively led into by a series of reasoning. Heavy in 
 their proportions, they are imposing only from their bulk : the 
 
 * We went on board the Sultan Selim, with Mr. Spurring, the Enghsh ship-build- 
 er, at Constantinople, and found her to be a remarkably fine vessel : we were told 
 hoivever, that her timbers were not proportioned to her size, and that she vaovld work very 
 ill in tempestuous weather, and in a rough sea. (Dr. Witunan's Travels, p. 37.) The 
 opinion of Mr. Spurring detracts little from the merit of the ship ; for Mr. Spurring, 
 in comparison with M. Le Brun, w ho built the Sultan Selim, was but as a cypher to 
 unity. 
 
 Dr. Wittman was present at the launch of a seventy-four-gun ship, which he says, 
 " being conducted in a very masterly manner, afibrded us much pleasure." (p. 96.) 
 
 t Olivier says that they were taught by the Frencli to cast cannon ; but Tournefort, 
 a century before, had pronounced tiicir cannon to be good. " They use good stufij 
 and observe a just proportion ; but their artillery is as plain a.s possible, without the 
 least ornament." (Vol. ii. p. I'Jl.)
 
 25 
 
 parts do not hainionizc, nor are tluy subservient to one leading 
 principle : the details are bad, both in taste and execution : the 
 decorations are fantastical, and ncitlicr directed by reason nor na- 
 ture : they have no use, no meaning, no connection with the gene- 
 ral design: there is nothing whicli indicates the conceptions of 
 genius. But in these masses of monstrous magnificence, though 
 we discover the vast inferiority of unprincipled practice to scien- 
 tific method, we must still admire the skill and industry wliich has 
 reared and constructed them. The builder may merit our appro- 
 bation, though we ridicule the architect.* The superiority ol tlieir 
 workmen is chiefly apparent in the construction of the minarets, 
 the shafts of wliich are surmounted by a gallery, whence the 
 people are summoned to public prayer. They do not indeed con- 
 
 * Cantemir says, " that in the mosque of Sultan Selim, eleg-ance and art so sliine, 
 that to describe its proportions must be acceptable to the sons ot'Da;dalus. It is stiuare 
 and built with square stones, the length of the side bein^- fifty, and the height 
 seventy cubits. The roof contains the same space with the floor. No arches are drawn 
 from the angles, but the roundness of the roof rises from the walls themselves, so that 
 ffoni the point of tiie angles is drawn the arch of a circle almost horizontal." (p. 182.) 
 " Sulimanie is built w ith so much art and elegance, that no structure deserves to be 
 co\npared with it. This I have heard affirmed not only by Turks, but by foreigners 
 of .several nations." (Cantemir, p. 215.) " Sultan yVhnied excels Sancta Sophia in 
 magnificence, though not in largeness." (Cantemir, p. 297.) But these are the 
 descriptions of a Greek. The mosque of Sultan Ahmed is more correctly described 
 by Lord Sandwich, wlio saj^s, " It might justly be esteemed a most magnificent edifice, 
 if it were built more according to the rules of architecture, of which the Turks have 
 not the least knov ledge. The figure of this mosque is a square, the roof of it com- 
 posed of one large flat dome, and four of a less size ; the large one is supported on 
 the inside by lour marble columns of an immense thickness, being more in circunifc- 
 rcuce than height ; which though fluted, cannot l>e reckoned an i\nJ(alion of any of the 
 orders of architecture. Ail are much of the same model, ditlerir.g only Tn extent ar.d 
 inagnifkence/' .(Travels, p. 128.) 
 
 E
 
 56 
 
 \ev the idea of strength or solidity, the chief end ofarchitecture, 
 yet they please from their picturesque lightness, and the graceful 
 boldness of their elevation. 
 
 The monotony of Turkish habits, and the austerity of their cus- 
 loms. chill and repress the energies of genius. Their cities are not 
 adorned with public monuments, whose object is to enliven or to 
 embellish. The circus, the forum, the theatre, the pyramid, the 
 obelisk, the column, the triumphal arch, are interdicted by their 
 prejudices. The ceremonies of religion arc their only public 
 pleasures. Their temples, their baths, their fountains, and se- 
 pulchral monuments, are the only structures on which they bestow 
 any ornament. Taste is rarely exerted in other edifices of public 
 utility. Khans and Bczestins, bridges and aqueducts. 
 
 Sculpture. Sculpturc in wood or in stucco, and the engraving of inscrip- 
 tions on monuments or seals, are performed with neatness and ad- 
 mirable precision. The cielings and wainscoting of rooms, and 
 the carved ornaments in the interior of Turkish houses, shew dex- 
 
 Painting. tcrity and even taste. Their paintings, limited to landscape or 
 architecture, have little merit, either in design or execution : pro- 
 portion is ill observed, and the rules of lineal and aerial perspective 
 are unknown. 
 
 Chronology. They rcckon time by lunar revolutions, so that in the space of 
 thirty three years, the Turkisli months pass through every season. 
 In religious affairs, they are restricted to this mode; but in order 
 to conciliate it with the revolutions of the sun, they are reduced to
 
 27 
 
 use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes. As clocks were 
 unknown at the birth of Mahometanism, the hours of prayer were 
 regulated according to the diurnal course of the sun ; and the 
 custom is religiously preserved among the Turks, though the use 
 of watches has become general. The civil day begins at sun-set, 
 so that the hours which indicate mid-day and midnight continually 
 vary. To remedy this inconvenience, and to ascertain the hours 
 of prayer, the faithful make use of almanacks, which calculate, 
 according to the degree of longitude of every province, the pre- 
 cise time of the hours of prayer. Their knowledge of geography Geography. 
 does not extend beyond the frontiers of their empire. Men in 
 high public offices scarcely know the relative situation of their 
 immediate neighbours, and have no conception that astronomy may 
 be applied to ascertain geographical positions*. Astrology, even Astroiogj-. 
 
 * It has been said, that " it is an article of faith, from the Mufii to the peasant, 
 that Pahnyra and Balbeck were built by spirits, at the comfnand of Solomon." (Sur- 
 vey of the Turkish Empire, p. 200.) The eccentricities of error are indeed infinite, 
 and even greater absurdities have entered the heads of several hajf-learned Turks : but 
 with respect to this particular article of belief, tliough I believe ^^'ood mentions it as 
 prevalent anions'' the Arabs who had built their huts among the ruins of Palmyra, yet 
 I may say that the Turks are entirely ignorant of the existence of these cities. 
 
 Dr. ^\'ittman's .Tournal, so far as relates to what he himself saw and understood, is a 
 valuable collection of facts; and it is to be regretted that he has admitted some anec- 
 dotes, upon tl)e authority of vague ami pojnilar rejxirt. I do not particuhuly alhule in 
 this remark to the follow ing one, though I question the accuracy of it, from knowing 
 that the interpreter, P)Ir. Vinchenzo, \\as too ignorant, even of the Turkish language 
 to communicate intelligibly the substance of such a conversation as CJeneral KoulJer 
 luld with the grand vizir. — " The general told his Higline.''s, among otlirr particu- 
 lars, that the earth was round. This information caused no small degree of surprise to 
 tlie Turki.sh minister; and it appeared, by his reply, that he was c'isposcd to doubt 
 the truth of the assertion. ' If,' he observed, ' the earth is round, how can tlie people, 
 and other detached objects on the half beneath, be prevented from faUiiig oil'f ' \\ lien
 
 28 
 
 in the estimation of tlie common people of most countries in 
 Europe, is expunged from the list of sciences. This phantom, 
 which has so frequently in former ages drawn men from tiie blame- 
 less tenor of life, and allured them to the commission of crimes, 
 still influences the public councils, and interrupts the private ha])- 
 piness of all classes in this nation.* I remember that the Abb6 
 Beauchamp mentioned, in a company where I was present, that 
 when passing through Aleppo, on his return from Bagdad, the 
 pasha having heard of his arrival, and knowing his reputation for 
 astronomical learning, sent to enquire zchat rneans migJit he ctn- 
 ploycd xvith success, for the recovcri/ of a faxvurltc horse, xchkh had 
 wamlercd into the desert afexc xcccks before. 
 
 he was tolJ that the, earth revolved round the sun, lie displayed an equal degree ot' 
 scepticism, observing, that if tiiat was the case, the ships bound from Jatlii to Constan- 
 tinople, ia'tead of proceeding to that capital, would be carried to London, or elsewhere." 
 " So much," concludes Dr. Wittman, rather too generally perhaps, " so much for the 
 astronomical and geographical knowledge of a Turkish statesman." (Travels, p. 13-3.) 
 
 * " II est encore d'usage et meme d'une etiquette sacree dans cette cour, de ne 
 deferer las premieres dignites de I'etat, sur-tout cetle de grand-vezir, de ne lancer a 
 la nipr aucuh vaisseau de guerre, de ne laisscr .sortir de Constantinople les escadres 
 destinees a croiser dans I'Archipel, de ne jetter ks fondemens d'aucun edifice public, 
 &c., qu'aux jours et dans les momcns prescrits par ks aslrologues. — A cet ctiijt les Sul- 
 tans Olhomans, a I'e.xeraple des anciens Khaliphes, entvctiennent toujours ])armi les 
 ofTiciers dii seraii, un homme sufiisauiment instruit dans les sciences d'astrononiic et 
 d'astrologie, sous le litre de Muncdjim liuschii, ou chef des astrologues." (Tab. Gen. 
 V.i. p. 41(5.) 
 
 Dr. Wittman a.-iks, " Can such a people l)e formidable r" To which I do not scruple 
 to answer affirmativdy : for the greatest and most formidable nations, even to no very 
 remote period in modern history, have believed in the influence of tlic stais on huuuin 
 actions.
 
 29 
 
 I liave constantly observed that they consider the skill of a ^''^'"ciue- 
 physician as of the nature of sorcery, and expect from hin> solu- 
 tions of ditiiculties which could only be obtained by supernatural 
 means. I have read of a physician, who acquired great reputation 
 with his patient, from ascertaining the nature of his food by the 
 motion of his pulse : and every pretender to medicine is expected 
 to announce, from the first visit, with the precision of a sooth- 
 sayer, the minute when death, or a favourable crisis, is to relieve 
 his patient. Their surgery is rude, from want of science, of skill, surgery. 
 and of instruments. Eut though Christian surgeons are in general 
 employed by persons of rank, there is a Persian at Constantinople 
 who has acquired great reputation, even among the Franks, for 
 setting dislocated bones.* 
 
 In navigation the Turks are, in my opinion, equal to the Greeks Navisation. 
 in address, and superior to them in courage and perseverance. 
 I judge of both, not from their evident inability to conduct their 
 ships of war, a task to uhich neither of them are equal, but from 
 their management of tlie smaller coasting vessels, to which both 
 are familiarized, and in which they are by no means inexpert. I 
 
 * " Sitot qu'un bai-bier salt un secret, il s'erig-e en ]\Iedccin." (Spon, Voyage, 
 p. 205.) 
 
 The bastinadoe, according to De Tott, enters into the Turkish pliarmacopeia. A 
 pasha h;id lionourcd a European merchant with his intimate friendship: tlie merchant 
 had a fit of the gout; the pasha had studied a Utile phasic, and uti^.Tous of curhio- his 
 friend, directed two of his domestics to give him fifly blows on tlie soles oPliis feet. 
 The merchant, though he would willingly have dispensed with the administration of tiie 
 medicine, /o/mrf it deserving pruif.c, for it soon tfltcted a perfect cure, (^!emoir^. V, iv. 
 p. 109.) 
 
 7
 
 so 
 
 have at different times crossed the Black Sea and the Archipelago, 
 in Greek and Turkish boats, and have observed the character of 
 both people, in danger and in escapes, in seasons of fair and 
 tempestuous weather. I have admired the equanimity of the 
 Turk; but should be cautious of trustiiTg my safety another time 
 to the bragging temerity and unavailing despondency of a Greek 
 7ris. I embarked for Constantinople, with two other gentlemen, 
 at the port of Varna, in the Black Sea, in the month of November: 
 our voyage was tedious ; but attended with no danger, till we 
 incautiously made towards the mouth of the Bosphorus on a stormy 
 night. I cannot describe the consternation and the dismay of the 
 crew, when, soon after midnight, they observed the land, at no 
 great distance ahead. The common manoeuvre of going about would 
 save us : but the sea ran high, and every object was seen through 
 the medium of their fears : confusion prevented the execution of 
 the necessary orders : tbeir intercessions to heaven were interrupted 
 by curses on the passengers, to M'hose bad fortune they attributed 
 the effects of their own negligence. The pilot was the only Turk 
 on board ; and he alone was steady ; he alone animated the people 
 to exertion by example and authority, and in a single tack we 
 found ourselves out of danger*. 
 
 * They li.iil un(krtakrn the voyage vith some iitnvillinfjncss, as tlie Black Sea, 
 during the winter, is nuich more stormy than the Propontis and Archipelago. From 
 Eneada to the Capes of the Rospliorus there is no harbour, so that many of the boats of 
 those, who dare to navigate during the five winter months, arc dashed by the north- 
 north-east and nortli-west winds against the rocks and sands of the soutiicrn coast. 
 Their vessels are of the kind called saiqucs, wluch arc so conslrnctcd us nut lo be able 
 to keep the sea when the wind is stron^jj and they arc obligi d tu bear away rij;iit before 
 the wild, and run for a harbour. 
 
 3
 
 31 
 
 On a former occasion, I had crossed the Black Sea, from Odessa 
 to Constantinople, in a Greek passage-boat. As we approached 
 the Promontory of the Hoemus, a thick fog arose from the vallies 
 and defiles of that chain of mountains, and spread over the sea, 
 so as to prevent our ascertaining the bearings of the coast. In 
 this state of anxious uncertainty, an expedient was resorted to, 
 •which, I apprehend, is peculiar to the Greek nation. The cabin- 
 boy, the youngest, and therefore probably the most innocent, 
 person in the vessel, brought a censer with incense, and visited 
 every corner of the boat, and perfumed every passenger, calling for 
 the interference of heaven in our behalf, by incessantly repeating 
 the Kyrie ekysoti. The clavous, or pilot, was appointed, because of 
 his age and experience, to lower down into the sea a hollow gourd, 
 or pumpkin, in which was fixed a lighted taper : and we looked, 
 with devout confidence, for the miraculous dispersion of the fog*. 
 The approach of evening prevented the full etfect of the miracle ; 
 but, providentially, it was calm, and the sea was smooth. Our 
 reis, a profligate scoundrel in fair weather, chid the boy with some 
 severity for omitting to light the lamp which ought to have been 
 burning in the cabin before the tutelary saint of the vessel. " I 
 am the more attentive to this duty," said he, " since a circumstance 
 happened to me, which I shall never forget. I was sleeping on 
 the deck, in a harbour, with my people all round me. In the 
 middle of the night I was awakened by some smart blows applied 
 to my boulders : I started up, and saw a venerable personage, with 
 a flowing beard as wiiite as snow, whose countenance expressed 
 anger, and Avho continued beating me, in spite of my tears and in- 
 treaties, till my body was one continued bruise, and I fainted under
 
 52 
 
 the discipline with anguish and terror. Wlien I recovered I found 
 the people still sleeping : they had heard no noise, and had seen 
 nobody ; and it was not till I went into the cabin to restore myself 
 by a glass of 7-aki, that I discoveied the lamp untrinimed, and 
 confessed the justice of the punishment inflicted upon me." De- 
 votion immediately became the order of the day : and everj' one 
 doubled his evening prayers, and multiplied his crossings and pio- 
 strations. /Vn unfortunate " esprit fort, " who, while we were at 
 anchor in smooth water, had quoted Voltaire, a name of the same 
 import as Antichrist, was shunned as infectious, and left to per- 
 ^_ form his sincere, but solitary, penance ; whilst the pious circle 
 
 hung upon the lips of his opponent, listened with edification to the 
 crudity of his reasonings, and exercised their faith by a submission 
 to all the absurdities of his legendary histories. 
 
 Commerce. Whcu the minister Colbert inquired of the French merchants, 
 in what manner government could best interpose for the benefit of 
 commerce, they advised him to leave to their management the care 
 of their own interests. The maxim which that enlightened states- 
 man adopted, from a conviction of its utility and its political im- 
 portance, is followed, unconsciously indeed, by the Turks, from 
 its coincidence with their inertness and apathy. No restrictions 
 are laid on commerce, cxcei)t in the instance of a general prohibi- 
 tion of exporting the articles necessary for the support of human 
 life to foreign countries, especially from the capital, where alone it 
 is rigorously enforced ; and this impolitic restraint will no doubt 
 be removed, when the Turkish government shall become sensible, 
 that what is intended as the means of securing abundance, is in
 
 33 
 
 fact the sole cause of that scarcity which is sometimes experienced. 
 With this one exception, commerce is perfectly free and unfettered. 
 Every article of foreign, or domestic growth, or manufacture, is 
 conveyed into every port, and over every province, without any 
 interference on the part of the magistrates, after payment of the 
 duties. On this suhject I speak with the conviction of expe- 
 rience, and may appeal to ever}^ foreign or native merchant in 
 Turkey for its general truth. The ideas relative to trade, enter- 
 tained by all ranks in Turkey, are indeed, if truly represented by 
 Mr. Eton, no less narrow and absurd than all their other opinions. 
 " We should not trade, say they, with those heggarlij nations, 
 who come to buy of us 7'icli articles of viercliand'ize, and rare com- 
 modities, which we ought not to sell to them : but with those, 
 who bring to us such articles without the labour of manufacturing, 
 Of the trouble of importing them on our part. Upon this 
 PRiN^ciPLE it is, that !Mocha coffee is prohibited to be sold to- 
 infidels*." 
 
 The high. roads in Turkey are rarely traversed by individuals for roa.'s md 
 
 tiavclliiig. 
 
 Other purposes than those of business. The caravans of mer- 
 chants, both in Europe and Asia, are composed of liorses and 
 camels ; and merchandize is transported, by tliese conveyances, 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish Empire, p. 238. — M'ithou? presuming to questinn (lie accu- 
 racy of this representation, we maybe allowed to ask, ^nIio among the Turks have ever 
 held such lan)Tuaj;e. — Is it the law ? The law interdicts commerce with no nation.-^Is 
 M the governors or magistrates? lliey exclude no foreigner from their markets. — Is it 
 t>ie Turkish proprietor ? He confounds all Europeans under the general name of Frank, 
 and knows no otlier distinction.
 
 94 
 
 from the Hungarian frontiers to the Persian gulph. Wheel car- 
 riages are not unknown, but disused from their not being adapted 
 to the nature of the country. 
 
 Couriers. Thc Tartars are public couriers, much respected for their good 
 conduct and fidelity. Their name by no means indicates their 
 origin, as they are taken indifferently from all the provinces in 
 the empire, and are distinguished by the Tartar Calpack, which 
 they wear instead of the turban. They are strong and hardy : 
 and perform their journies with remarkable celerity. As there is 
 no such establishment as a general post, a certain number of these 
 Tartars are attached to the court, to the army, and to the gover- 
 nors of provinces, and are occasionally dispatched to all parts of 
 the empire. The post-houses in the European part of the empire, 
 through which I have travelled, are well served with horses, and 
 every requisite accommodation is afforded to the Tartars, which 
 their habits of life require. * 
 
 * Mr. Griffiths, in order to obtain a knowledge of g^enuine Turkish manners, tra- 
 velled in the character of a Greek. He complains of the boorish behaviour of these 
 Tartar guides; but he should not complain, since he chose to assume a character, as 
 little respectable as a v:an(kring Jeiu in our country. A gentleman, who in travelling 
 supported the dignity of his character, speaks of them, as I have always found they 
 deserved. " La bonne foi avec laquelle ce- Tare fit accord avec nous m'a frappe." 
 " II HKttoit d nous j)roi'urer ce qu'il nous falloit un zele incrovable, etant plus fache que 
 nous, lorsqu'il nous nianquoil quclque chose." " Lts Turcs oflient niille traits de pro- 
 bite pareille. II y a des professions, on elle est coninie un esprit de corps. L.es 
 Kirailjix de Salonique transportent sur kurs chevaux 50, 60 mille piastres sans donncr 
 de refus, et paient sans difliculte ce <jui sc perd en chemin." (Voyage a Constanti- 
 nople, p. 134.)
 
 35 
 
 Tlie most prominent feature in the Turkish establishments, and -*!»"<='><' 
 
 ' power. 
 
 that which first forces itself upon the attention of the observer, is 
 the abuse of power. . Whether this abuse be modelled into that 
 perfection of tyranny which is denominated despotism, has been 
 differently determined by different authors. Their disagreement, 
 however, arises rather from different conceptions of the meaning of 
 the term, than from any variety of opinion as to the nature of 
 Turkish policy. With us the word despotism has so odious a sig- 
 nification, that we connect with it, almost involuntarily, the ideas 
 of violence and injustice : But despotism, considered abstractedly 
 and in itself, is neither more nor less than pure monarchy, one of 
 the three regular modes of administering government, not neces- 
 sarily including any abuse of authority, or cruelty of proceeding, 
 and differing froni the most perfect system of liberty only in tlie 
 circumstance of the legislative and executive authorities being 
 both vested in one person, instead of flowing from the general will 
 and collected wisdom of the society*. The objects, however, which 
 the law and the power tend to promote, are, professedly at least, in 
 both cases, the happiness of the community ; calculated, in one 
 instance, according to the nature and habits of the people, and in 
 the other, rendered subservient, in a chief degree, to the mainte* 
 nance and support of the monarchical establishment. Yet "under 
 governments of this latter species, unless when some frantic tyrant 
 
 * " Je suppose trois definitions, ou plutot trois faits : I'lm que le gouvernement re- 
 publicain est celui oii le peuple en corps, ou seulement une partie du peuple, a la souve- 
 raine puissance; le monarchique, celui oii un seul gouverne, mais par des loix fixes et 
 etablies ; au lieu que, dans le despotique, un seul, sans loi et sans regie, entraine tout 
 par sa volonte et par sea caprices," (Esprit des loix, Liv. ii. ch. 1 .)
 
 36 
 
 Jiappens to hold the sceptre, the ordinary administration must be 
 conformable to the principles of justice ; and if not active in pro- 
 moting the M'elfare of the people, cannot certainly have their 
 destruction for its object*." 
 
 " A despotism," says Sir James Porter, " I take to be a govern- 
 ment in which there exists neither law nor compact, prior to the 
 usurped power of the sovereign ; a sovereign, on whose arbitrary 
 will the framing or the execution of laws depends, and ztko is bound 
 neither by divine positive injunction, nor compact xvith the people" 
 And comparing the Turkish government with this standard, thouglv 
 he admit that " it is not perfect, or totally exempt from despo- 
 tism," yet he asserts it "to be much more perfect and regular, as 
 well as less despotic, than most writers have represented it ; in a 
 word, to be much superior with regard to the regularity of its form, 
 and the justness of its administration, as well as much less despotic,, 
 than the government of some Christian statesf." 
 
 But though we allow these things in their full extent, and indeed 
 they are not wholly unfounded, and though we admit the restraints 
 arising from religion and the soldiery to be more powerful than 
 they really are, yet we can distinguish the Turkish government by 
 no other name than that of despotism. 
 
 * Robertson's History of Charles the Eifth, p. 388, note. 
 
 t Observations on the religion, laws, goveminenf, &c. of the Turks. preface, 
 pp. 14. ly.
 
 37 
 
 Despotism is in the natio'e and p7''mciple of a government, rather 
 than in its actual and general practice.* The power of the 
 monarch is not continually exerted in acts of violence : the great, 
 in some degree above the reach of common law, are indeed exposed 
 to all the caprices of the prince : but to the body of the people, 
 laws must be administered, conformable to the great principles 
 of justice, or the state itself will be involved in dangerous con- 
 fusion, f 
 
 The Turkish government has been said to be free from dies- 
 potism, because, in a despotic state, the law can be nothing but 
 the will of the master, and because universal fear of the monarch 
 is essential to its existence ; whereas the sultan is bound by para- 
 mount religious law, and the army exerts a power which the sul- 
 tan himself stands in dread of. But the law, as it is called in Tur- 
 key, (improperly, so far as it regards the monarch, unless we really 
 deceive ourselves into the opinion of its divine origin) is but a code 
 of maxims promulgated by the first despot, and transmitted to 
 his successors, as necessary to uphold the existence of that species 
 of tyranny, which he himself had usurped. It is still the will of 
 
 * The nature of a government, is that whicl'i constitutes ft what it is. Thus in a 
 despotic state, it is essential that tliere be no law besides the will of the tyrant. Tiie 
 principle oi" a government, is that which supports and acttiates it; and this in 
 despotism is fear : for it can neither use nor listen to modification or remonstrance ;.it 
 trm only command and threaten, and must be obeyed, 
 
 t " II faut que le peuple soil juge paries loix, et les grands par la- fantaifie du 
 prince; que la tete du dernier snjet soit en surete, et cclle des bachas toujouis cxpostev 
 _^l\sprit de.< loix, Viv. iii. Chap. 9.)
 
 08 
 
 tlie despot, rendered permanent as an inheritance to his posterity 
 and it does not diminish or change the character of despotism. Thi 
 mere terror of a name coidd never hold a people in subjection : ai 
 armed force at the disposal of the sovereign is necessary^to insure 
 its efficacy. But, because an army, however nearly it may ap- 
 proach to it, can never become merely a passive instrument in the 
 hands of a monarch, is it therefore to be considered as counteract- 
 ing or restraining his power, though it differ from other instru- 
 ments only in its capacity of being seduced by selfish motives, to 
 swerve from the object of its institution ? In the ordinary acts of 
 government, neither religion nor the army are any restraints upon 
 despotism, and certainly not so much so, as the aversion to oppres- 
 sion and spirit of resistance implanted in the nature of man would 
 be, if these restraints were removed. They do not then even miti- 
 gate despotism, except over themselves, and in no lespect in its 
 exercise over the people. But when these powers feel the oppres- 
 sion of tyranny, and interfere to alleviate it, despotism itself is 
 overthrown, and a temporary anarchy is introduced.* 
 
 Dr. Robertson says, *' there can indeed be no constitutional 
 restraints on the will of a prince in a despotic government ; but 
 ihere may be such as are accidental. Absolute as the Turkish 
 
 * " Un gouvernement modere peul, lant qu'il veut et sans pej'il, relaclier ses res- 
 sorts; il se maintient par ses loix el par sa force meine. Mais lorsque, dans It gou- 
 vernement dcspotique, le prince cesse un niouicnt de li-ver le bras ; quynd il ne pcut pas 
 aneantir a I'liistant ceux qui ont les premieres places, tout est perdu : car le ressorl 
 du gouvernement, qui est la crainte, n'y etant plus, le peuple n' a plus de protecteur." 
 (Esprit des loix. liv. iii. chap. 9.)
 
 S9 
 
 sultans are, they feel themselves circumscrihed both by religion, 
 the principle on which their authority is founded, and by the army, 
 the inatin.nent which they must employ." But the prcetorian 
 bands in Home, and the janizaries in Constantinople, thougii both 
 in the most wanton manner have dethroned, murdered, and exalted 
 princes, have never by their interference, either designedly or ac- 
 cidentally, mitigated the violence, or softened the severity of des- 
 potism : and as for religion, if it curb the authority which it sup- 
 ports, it restrains it but from the commission of suicide.* 
 
 The disadvantages of despotism are, that it is without resource Evils of 
 
 despotism.- 
 
 in its distress : it falls, and does not preserve a basis on which to 
 found its re-establishment. In Turkey this inconvenience is how- 
 ever confined to the individual : the purity of the succession, and 
 
 * " II y a pourtant' line chose que I'on peut quelquefois opposer a la volonte du 
 prince, c'est la religion. On abandonnera son pere, on le tuera nieme, si le prince 
 I'ordonne : mais on ne boira pas du vin, s'il le veut et s'il I'ordonne. Les loix de la 
 religion sent d'un precepte superieur parcequ' elles sont donnees sur la tele du prince 
 eomtne sur celle des sujets." (Esprit des loix. liv. iii. chap. 10.) 
 
 But what is the whole weight of the restriction which religion imposes on the actions- 
 of princes ? It requires from them conformity lo established rites- and ceiemonies. 
 It indeed preaches virtue ; but no religion subjects the moral conduct of governors to 
 the judgment of the people. It addresses itself to the conscience of the individual, 
 directly and immediately. Its language to those who would interfere with its august 
 functions, is, " let him among you who is without sin, cast the first stone." 
 
 1 he Mahometan religion inculcates the reciprocal duties to be observed by the 
 prince and his subjects ; but though it teaches, it cannot enforce, a just administi-atiuii 
 of government. The only condition imposed upon the sultan, is the profession of the 
 Mahometan faith, and conformity to the ceremoniaV of the Mahometan church ; and 
 ihough the practice of every regal virtue be more consistent with these duties, yet 
 they are not incompatible with the exercise of the most atrocious t\TanRy. .
 
 40 
 
 the plenitude of power, are guarded by the religion, and universa* 
 prejudices of the nation. It is for this reason that the Turkish in 
 surrections are ohserved to resemble hurricanes, which in theif 
 course overturn and ravage the country, but pass on and are lost 
 in the dust which they have raised. 
 
 Perfect despotism, unmitigated in its exercise by the collision 
 with human passions, to the honour of human nature be it said, is 
 but an ideal existence, a metaphysical abstraction. iEsop the 
 fabulist, and the president jMontesquieu, when they would raise our 
 abhorrence of so degrading a system, are obliged to delineate it, 
 not as it is observed to subsist in human society, but by compari- 
 sons drawn from the ignorant or savage abuse of power over brute 
 or inanimate matter.* It would therefore be an unfair conclusion 
 that, because we characterize the Turkish government as a despot- 
 ism, from an examination both of its nature and principle, we 
 should therefore admit all its possible atrocities as really existing ia 
 practice t- 
 
 * See Phaedrus's fables, book. i. fab. 3. 
 
 The foTlowing is the chapter in 1' esprit des loix, entitled " Idee du despotisme." 
 
 " Quand les sauvages de la Louisianc veuknt avoir du fruit, ils coupent 
 Tarbre au pied, ct cueillent le fruit. Voild le gouverneinent despotique. (Liv. v. 
 c. 13.) 
 
 + " If by despotism," says ^Ir. Eton, " be meant a power oriifinatinr; in forcf 
 and upheld by the same means to wkieli it 'o:vi:(l its establishment; a power scornin 
 the juri.sdiction of reason, and forbidding the temerity of investigation ; a power ca 
 oilated to eramp the growing energies of mind, and annihilating the faculties of ma) 
 in order to ins\n'e liis dependence, the government of Turkey may be most failhfu 
 tliaractcrizcd by that name." (Survey of the Turkish Eiiip. p. 11.)
 
 41 
 
 De Tott, in compliment to the theory of Montesquieu, (a flattery 
 ^diich that veracious author would have disdained) has distorted 
 even the hideousness of arbitrary power. Fear is the principle of a 
 despotic government ; and, " the Turk, incited to violence by des- 
 potism, wishes, but fears, to commit murder, until intoxication puts 
 him on a level with the despot." Honour, the leading principle in a 
 monarchy, is unknown under despotism ; and De Tott, in contra- 
 diction, I may say, to his own positive knowledge, denies even the 
 existence of the word in the Turkish vocabulary. The indolent 
 Turk indulges in the natural taste of reclining under the shade of 
 great trees, " because despotism," which suffers him to pass on al- 
 most unwrinkled from infancy to decrepitude, " will not allow 
 him to wait'the growth of trees." " Their compassion for brutes 
 arises from the pride of despotism, which, while it confounds all 
 beings, chuses its favourites from among the weakest."* 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to point out the incorrectness of this passage. The Ot- 
 toman national power indeed originated in force, was founded on conquest, and must 
 still be upheld by force. But the power of the Ottoman sultans over their subjects, 
 which is the matter of the present discussion, is as legitimate in its origin and its pro- 
 gress, as that of every other sovereign in the world. In its present state, so far from 
 supporting itself by force, it appeals only to reason ; the reason indeed of the nation, 
 which bounds investigation by the precepts of the koran. Mr. Eton's representation 
 of its effects may perhaps be thought exaggerated, upon a more familiar acquaintance 
 with the nation which is governed by it. 
 
 * De Tott seems desirous of paying such a compliment to Montesquieu, as that which 
 the French philosophers, sent by the court of Versailles to measure an arch of the meri- 
 dian in different parts of the world, paid to Newton on their return, when tliey had 
 ' ascertained, frj/ their labours, the accuracy of Itis theory respecting the true figure of the 
 «arth. 
 
 Compare " Esprit des loix," liv. iii. Chap. 9. with memoirs of Baron de Tott^ 
 
 G
 
 42 
 
 Our respect for Montesquieu cannot be tlimlnlslied by an ex- 
 posure of the disingenuousness of De Tott's admiration. The 
 name and reputation of I\Iontesquieu must be immortal ; but our 
 
 PnliiTiinary discourse, p. 8. Esprit des loix, liv. iii. Chap. 8. with memoirs, v. iii. p. 
 140. See also memoirs, v. i. p. 62. and v. i. p. 207. 
 
 The weak and conPjsed understanding of this superficial, but presumptuous WTiter, 
 will appear on comparing to^jetlicr these quotations from his Memoirs. We see the 
 same person, alternately, tlit tyrant, and tlie slave of despotism ; incited to violence by 
 {he possession of power, and deterred from exerting it by that very power, to which at 
 the same time he himself is preposterously subject. See De Tott's Memoirs, passim. 
 
 Montesquieu, probably misled by an author of the name of Perry, indeed says, that 
 " honour is unknown in despotic states, where ficquenlly there is no word even to 
 express it." With respect to Turkey, the position is false. D'Ohsson, in refutation 
 of De Tott, says " Ceux qui ont pretendu que le mot d'honneur n'existe pas dans la 
 langue des Ottomans, n'ont prouve que leiir parfaile ignorance et de I'idiome et des 
 ina?urs dc ces peuples. En efl'ct comment n'ont-ils pas ronnu Ics mots d 'irz, d^ 
 iiampv:, de schann, de sc/ituiihi-ct/i, qui repondent a ceux d'honneur, de dignite, de 
 i-i'putation, de consideration, et qui sont dans la bouche de tous les citoyens, larsqu'il 
 s'agit de la moindre discussion relative a la probite, I'honnetete, a la justice ? 
 (Tab. Gen. v. iv. p. 374.) 
 
 So nuich for the existence of the tiord, as for the sentiment of honour, as existing 
 among the Turks, I would beg to know of those who do not admit its influence in ^ 
 despotic countrj', upon what other principle they can account for the conduct of the 
 Turks, in an instance related by Dr. Wittman. " On the nth of June, dis- 
 contents broke out among the janizaries, on account of the British troops under Colonel 
 Stewart, and the corps of Turks commanded by Taher Pasha, being advanced in their 
 front." If this be not honour, I am at a loss to characterize it. But indeed wherever 
 there is a sense of pride or shame, there must be a feeling of honour ; and to suppose 
 that an army can exist without it, that rnen mIio are urged on to perform great actions, 
 without other recompence than the feme of their exploits, that ."iuch men should be in- 
 sensible to honour, istoo gross a contradiction to need refutation. The Prussian officer 
 who discharged his one pistol at ilicfeet of tlit king, and shut liimself with the other, 
 rather than survive the infamy of a blow, expressed in the same momeiii an absolute 
 submission to despotism, and the quickest sense of honour. Tliat sentimLut of honous, 
 vhich is tlie rule of private conductj is as pure and sacred in retired life, and under r«
 
 43 
 
 deference for his system, however ingenious, how^ever reasonable, 
 should never tempt us to abuse it like the bed of Procrustes, or to 
 forswear the e^'idence of our senses in pbedience to his authority. 
 
 One of the evils, and by no means tlie least of tKbse ne- 
 cessarily accompanying despotism, is that it represses the spring 
 of improvement, which there is in society. Whatever talents 
 may have been called forth, during the struggle which des- 
 potism was making to establish its dominion, become stationary 
 at best, or more probably retrograde, when once it has perfected its 
 plan, and stretched itself out to repose on the summit of its pow- 
 er. We behold with wonder in the history of the world the empire 
 of China, which has been aiTested many centuries ago in its career 
 of improvement, still resting upon its plan of imagined perfection 
 occupied only in supporting the sameness of its existence, and 
 surveying with indifference the superior elevation of foreign know- 
 ledge. In every country, where despotism is established, every 
 
 publican or despotical goven meits as in monarchies. It however appearsto me, that 
 tiy honour, of which Monte.sqiiie i denies the existence under despotism, he means a 
 principle diderent from those 1 have described. He calls it the public virtue of a 
 monarchy, the source of all vigour and all action, inherent in the very nature of limited 
 government ; which prompts men to support the privileges of their hereditary nobility, 
 as of equal sanctity with tlie prerogative of the sovereign, and which urges others to 
 claim distinction of rank and pre-eminence from their own personal merit. This kind 
 «f honour could not indeed be stilVered m despotic countries, and it would disturb the 
 <ECQnomy of a democraey. Philosophically speaking, however, this sentiment of per- 
 sonal preference, notwithstanding its utility, is but a false honour: the principle of 
 Crue honour, which leads to virtue from a contempt of vice, is not less pure from being 
 wholly unconnected with it, and is not confined to any climate or any system of 
 government.
 
 44. 
 
 art and eveiv useful institution dates from a period antecedent to 
 its introduction. In no one, is it possible to trace the rays of 
 science to one common centre in the zenith ; the source of light is 
 sunk beneath the horizon, and only a few scattered rays faintly 
 point out some partial and imperfect method, follow,ed without 
 being understood. In process of time the evil becomes incurable ; 
 those who should apply the remedy are themselves contaminated.*' 
 " See, says Montesquieu, with what eagerness the Russian govern- 
 ment endeavours to throw off its despotism, which is become more 
 oppressive to itself, than to the people, "f In despotic countries, 
 if arts continue to be practised, there is no science in the method ; 
 the artisan knows not the principles on which he proceeds ; he 
 gropes on in routine, but stumbles into the most ridiculous 
 absurdities, when he quits the beaten track. To the inherent 
 quality of despotism itself, and not to any natural incapacity, we 
 are to attribute all that is incoherent and grotesque in Turkish 
 knowledge. 
 
 D'Ohsson, having observed the mischievous tendency of some of 
 the ramifications of despotism, attributes to them the evils which 
 
 * " Toute la difference est que, dans la monarchie, k prince a des lumieres, et que 
 les ministres y sont infiniment plus habiles et plus rompus aux aifaires que dans I'etat 
 despotique." (Esprit des loix. liv. iii. chap. 10.) 
 
 t The memoirs of Baron de Tott present us with an interesting picture, in the 
 fruitless attempts of Sultan Mustafa, to ameliorate the system of his government. He 
 was sensible of the existing evils ; a wonderful progress, when we consider how far he 
 was removedfrom information by his rank and education. " Had he lived," says De 
 Tott, " he would have sacrificed even his despotism," but in the disease of despotism 
 the patient cannot minister to himself; he flounders under his own unwieldiness, but he 
 carmot shake it off: he may scarify his bloated substance, but he deforms instead of 
 healing it.
 
 afflict the Turkish emnire, and does not penetrate as far as the radical 
 cause. " The law," he says, "which subjects the minor princes of 
 the blood to a state of imprisonment, enervates all the elasticity of 
 the heart, and the mind. Its influence extends to the people, and 
 strikes all with sterility ; suspending, as well witri the subjects, as the 
 prince, all progress in the arts and sciences. " But this cause is evi- 
 dently inadequate to the effects produced : for, in a despotic country, 
 the public conduct, even of a reigning prince; can never operate as 
 an example to his subjects; and still less can the conduct, observed 
 towards him during his minority, influence the public manners. 
 The assertion is further disproved by an appeal to history ; for 
 the evils which oppress the country, and which D'Ohssoa 
 enumerates as originating in a law made under Soliman the First, 
 did equally exist in all the preceding reigns.* The vices of ad- 
 ministration, and the instability of office, are indeed the more im- 
 mediate causes of public misfortune ; but these are but the opera- 
 tive power of despotism. The Roman empire groaned under the 
 same evils, and sunk to the same debility. Enlightened and virtuous 
 despotism may procure a transient felicity ; but at the same time 
 when the Roman historians were celebrating the blessings of Trajan's 
 
 government, " the splendour of the cities, the beautiful face of 
 the country, cultivated and adorned like an immense garden,'' 
 
 the latent cause of decay and corruption, " the imif arm govern- 
 
 * Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 483. " Hence, continues D'Ohsson, popular prejudices, or 
 rather the superstitious respect of the nation for its ancient customs ; the want of com- 
 munication with Europeans; the slow progress of the press; the prejudice against 
 foreign languages ; the neglect of translating the works of European writers ; the aver- 
 sion to travel beyond tlieir empire ; the system of not sending ambassadors to foreign 
 courts :" and he places as the last effect, what indeed is a primary cause — " En n la 
 foible sensation que font naturellement siu- les esprits, des objets dont I'importance 
 echappe a cevix qui n'en ont que des notions imparfaites."^
 
 46 
 
 meiit of the Romans'' M-as gradually reducing the minds of men to 
 the same level, extinguishing the fire of genius, and causing 
 e\ en the military spirit to evaporate.* 
 
 In Turkey, even the most worthy members of society perform 
 their duty, coldly and officially ; all tremble at the public censure, 
 and dare not aspire to innovation or reform, lest they should expose 
 themselves to the shafts of envy and calumny. Under despotism 
 talents must remain insulated, the very nature of the government 
 militates against the idea of aggregation, of a national fund of 
 acquirements. That the Turks labour under no natural infe- 
 riority, there needs no argument to prove : a testimony, by no 
 means to be suspected when it condescends to praise, assures 
 us that they possess " the bold and vigorous grasp of native ge- 
 nius." t 
 
 * Hadrian and the Antonines, were themselves men of leaniing and curiosity, and 
 the love of letters was fashionable among tlieir subjects; yet, " if we except the inimit- 
 able Lucian, this age of indolence passed away without having produced a single writer 
 of original genius, or who excelled in the arts of elegant composition." The lo)/:; fes~ 
 tmd of peace contributed less to damp the military aidour, and stop the growth of mili- 
 tary talents, tlian the natural jealousy of despotism, " Germanicus, Suetonius Pau- 
 linas, and Agricola, were checked and recalled in the course of their victories. Cor- 
 bulo was put to death. Military merit, as it is admirably expressed by Tacitus, was 
 in the strictest sense of the word, impei-aloria villus." (Gibbon, V. i. p. 3.) 
 
 t Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 87. 
 
 Climate and the government, in tiic opinion of De Tott, have formed tliis ])eople 
 such as he describes them. " The power of moral causes predominates over that of 
 physical ;" but, " under the yoke of actual tyrants, physical causes umst regain their 
 influence. The climate which the Turks inhabit relaxes tiie fibres and perverts the eft'ect 
 of llieir jirojudices, so far as even to make them rasli, from a cause, wiiich in a cold couu- 
 t y, would iiave made Ihcia brave." (Memoirs, Preliminary diseoursf, ]>. 1-.) It 
 cannot certainly be thought unfair to confront with l)e Toll's reasoniou, the moral
 
 47 
 It is certain too, that there is no fundamental maxim in their r'-a«]';ai>'- 
 
 Iity of im- 
 
 religious or civil code which obstructs the progress of improvement, p™"^'"^°'- 
 or forbids communication with men of other religions.* De Tott 
 found in them an aptitude and an eagerness for mathematical 
 knowledge ; and if domestic tranquillity and external peace allow- 
 ed an extensive and well directed study of the mathematics, they 
 •would in a few years, be little inferior to any nation in Europe. 
 No branch of science equally roots out prejudices and inculcates 
 method, or is equally applicable to all depaitments of utility m 
 the state : on mathematics depends the first great science, that 
 without which all others are useless, the science of national 
 defence : from the mathematics flow all public and private works, 
 and by them, men arc prepared for all situations in life. On the 
 mathematics depends all that distinguishes civilization from bar- 
 barism. Learning, without them, bewilders itself in the mazes 
 of scholastic subtlety, and philosophy Avastes itself in conjectures. 
 
 and physical porti'ait of a Turkish subject of Upper Egypt, taken from common 
 life. — " On peut dire qu'individuellement I'Egyptien est industrieux et adroit- 
 et que manquant, a I'egal du sauvage, de toute espece d'instrument, on doit 
 i'etonner de ce qu'ils font de leurs doigts, auxquels ils sont reduits, et de leurs 
 pieds, dont ils s'aident merveilleusement. Ils ont, comme ouvners, une grande 
 qualite, celle d'etre sans presomptioHj patients, et de recommencer jusqu'a ce 
 qu'i's aient fait a-peu-pres ce que vous desirez d'eu'C. Je ne sais jusqu'a quel point 
 on pourroit les rendre braves ; mais nous ne devons pas voir sans ellioi toutes ies 
 qualites de soldats qu'ils possedentj eminemment sobres, pietons comme des 
 coureurs, ecuyers comme des centaures, nageurs comme des tritons : et cepen- 
 dant c'est a une population de plusieurs millions d'individus, qui possedent ces qualites 
 que quatre mille Fran^ais isoles commandoient imperieusement sur deux cents 
 lieuesde pays ! Tant I'habitude d'obeir est une maniere d'etre comme celle de com- 
 mander, jusqu'a ce que les uns s'cndormant dans I'abus du pouvoir, les autres soier.t 
 reveilles par le bruit de leurchaine." (Dcnon, V. i. p. 3 '22.) 
 
 * Tab. Gen. V. iy. p. p. -179, 4 SO.
 
 4S 
 
 The vain science of words usurps the seat of learning, and so- 
 phistry, the name and the honours due to wisdom. Where the 
 mathematics are not encouraged, civilization is precocious and un- 
 stable ; where they are cultivated, their roots strike deep into the 
 system, and every floMcr of ornamental literature flourishes under 
 their shade.* 
 
 * Matiiematical knowledge must indeed have been in a degraded state, if we are 
 implicitly to credit De Tott's account of the conference, which he held by command 
 of the sultan, with the chief of the geometricians. " I modestly asked them, what was 
 the value of the three angles of a triangle, / was requested to propose the question once 
 more, and, all the learned having looked on each other, the boldest among them repli- 
 ed with fiminess, " It is according to the triangle." " The ignorance of these pretended 
 mathematicians," continues he, " needed no demonstration; but I must do justice to their 
 zeal for the sciences : they all requested to be received into the new school, and no- 
 thing was now thought of but its establishment." His scholars were " captains of 
 ships, with white beards, and others of mature age ;" and yet these men, though the 
 charge of indocility is so unsparingly cast on the vi'hole nation, were able, at the end 
 of three months, to work, in the field, all the problems which result from the four theo- 
 rems of plane trigonometry; which was as much of this kind of knowledge as was re- 
 quired." The affectionate parting of the baron and his scholars does equal honour to 
 both, and who, on reading it, will not spurn at the insinuation that the Turks are 
 inferior to those men " whom Peter the Great taught to conquer the Swedes " " The 
 Tessel," says De Tott, " that was to convey me to Smyrna, had already weighed anchor, 
 and set her sails, when several boats came about us, and I saw myself surrounded by 
 all my pupils, with each a book or an instrument in his hand. Before you leave us, 
 said they, with much emotion, give us, at least, a parting lesson : it will be more 
 deeply impressed on our memories than all the rest." One opened his book to explain 
 the square of the hypothenuse ; another with a long white beard elevated his sextant 
 to take an altitude ; a third asked me questions concerning the use of the sinical quad- 
 rant ; and all accompanied me out to sea, for more than two leagues ; where we took 
 leave of each other with a tenderness the more lively, as it was unusual, and to me 
 unexpected." (Memoirs, V. i. p. 204.) 1
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 RISK AND PROGRESS OF THE OTTOMAN POWER. 
 
 Origin of the Turks. — Emigration of the Othmanidce under SoUman 
 Shah. — Osman, son of Ertogrid, founder of the Ottoman dynasty. 
 — Conquest of the Eastern empire. — Oppression of the Greeks, — 
 Jews and Armenians. — Greatness and extent of the Turkish domi- 
 nion. — Alarm of Christendom. — Consequences of the invention of 
 gunpowder. — System of Turkish government over the Rayahs or 
 tributary subjects, — and over the Mussulmans. — Partition of' 
 lands to the conquerors. — Sotuxes of revenue. — Inefficiency of the. 
 military and financial systems. — Considerations on the probable 
 destinies of the Turks ; — on the justice or policy of expelling them 
 from Europe ; — en the emancipation of the Greeks. — The modern 
 compared xvith the ancient Greeks ; — the Athenia7is, — and the 
 Spartans. — Causes of the superiority of the ancient Greeks, — and 
 of the decline of the national spirit. — Appixhensions of the Turks 
 from the power, of Russia. — History of the first xvar xvith the 
 Czar of Muscovy. — Consequences of the conquest of Turkey to 
 Russia, — to the other states of Europe, — and to the Ottoman 
 subjects. — Russian church. — Russian government. — Examination 
 of the arguments for dispossessing the Turks. — Remoteness of 
 amelioration. 
 
 The high antiquity of the Turks is attested by the Persian and ^""jslp o^l^ 
 Arabian writers, as Avell as . by those of their own nation. The 
 
 H
 
 60 
 
 Persian traditions relate that Turc, ^vh<)gavel>is name to Turkistatt, 
 and Iredj, from whom the Persian kings claim descent, were sons- 
 of the same father. Abulpharagius, an Arabian author, in hi* 
 Universal History of Dynasties, enumerates the Turks among the 
 seven original ancestors of mankind ; that is, Persians, Clialdasans,. 
 Greeks, Egyptians, Turks, Indians, Chinese. The Turkish writer* 
 claim their descent from Japhet, by Turc the eldest of his eight 
 sons, the founder of the Tartar race, who fixed his residence at 
 Selinkiah, allured by the salubrity of the air and the purity of the 
 waters. The Greeks confounded this people under the general 
 name of Scythians, and their country under that of Scythia ; but 
 the Oriental geographers divide it into four parts, the most fertile 
 and populous of which is that bordering on the Caspian Sea, and 
 watered by the Oxus. This district was the seminary of those 
 hordes who over-ran the western parts of Asia, and the eastern 
 division of the Roman empire. And hence the OthmanidsK derive 
 their origin.* 
 
 * Caius Plinius Secundus, in the 7th chapter of the 6th book of his Natural History, 
 makes mentioa of the Sarmatians, inhabitants of the country about the Tanai's, among 
 whose famihes he enumerates " Tiircnp, usque ad sohtudines saltuosis convallibus 
 asperas, uUra quas Arimphaei, qui ad Ripha-os pertinent montes." And Poniponius 
 Mela, towards the end of the 1 9 th chapter of the 1 st book, De sitd orbis, " Foecundos 
 pabulojuxta Mseotim, at alias steriles midosque campos tenent Budini: Geloni urben\ 
 ligiieam habitant : juxta Thyssagctac Turcaque vastas silvas occupant, alunturque 
 vcnando." Constantine Porphyrogcnitus, in the book, De administrando imperio, at 
 the beginning of the 37th chapter, says that " towards the end ofthe 9th century, the 
 V'/A, uniting with the Charazi, expelled the Patzinacitse from their country beyond the 
 Volga ; these, in search of a new settlement, fell upon the Turks, and drove them out 
 of their country near the Tanais." But there must have been anterior emigrations; 
 for we find that the Turks, expelled from (heir country, were invited by the caliphs to 
 enter into their service : and ia the years of the Hegira 247 and 249, we read of their
 
 nder Soli- 
 man Siiah, 
 
 51 
 
 Tlie Roman empire was first invaded by the Turks about the Emigration 
 
 ' "^ of the Oth- 
 
 middle of the eleventh century; but at a later period, in the "'''"''''^ 
 61 1th year of tlie Ilegtra and 1214th of the Christian asra, the 
 great ancestor of the Ottoman princes, Soliman Shah, encouraged 
 by the example, or alarmed at the jirogress, of Jenghiz Khan, 
 quitted his settlements in Khorassan, a province of Persia, and 
 his native city Mahan, and leading forth his subjects and associates 
 to new conquests, first approached the confines of Anatolia. His 
 conquests and his life were terminated by the river Euphrates, 
 which he attempted to pass on horseback. His forces were divided 
 among his foui* sons, and again united under Ertogrul, the eldest, 
 who employed them in aiding the sultan of Icouium to conquer 
 and expel the dispersed Tartars of Jenghiz Khan's expedition. 
 He merited, by preserving and extending the sultan's dominions, 
 the rank of generalissimo of his armies, which he bequeathed to his 
 son Osman, whose ambition assumed no higher title, until, on the 
 abdication of the second Aladin, he seized and retained the sove- 
 reign power.* 
 
 seditions because of their arrears being unpaid, of their combinations in acts ofret;icide 
 and rebellion, and of their uncontrolled dilapidations of the public treasure. About, 
 the end of the 9th century of the Christian sera they established in Egypt the dynasty 
 of the Toulonides ; and in tlie succeeding century, that of the Saraanides in Persia; 
 and, wherever employed, they gradually advanced from offices of public importance, to 
 the sovereignty over their former masters. (Abulpharagii Hist. comp. dynast, ed. 
 Oxoniae 1663, p. 115, 176.) 
 
 * I do not mean to insinuate that I have studied the original historians : my humbler 
 knowledge is confined to the perusal of Cantemir's History, D'Ohsson's Tableau Gene- 
 ra?, and the preface to the last Vienna edition of Meninski's Thesaurus linguarum orien 
 talium.
 
 DU 
 
 o?man,son OsiTian, tlic foiuider of the empire which still is honoured with 
 
 of Erto- ' 
 
 der'ofti'ie '"^ naiiie, was led in early life, by the love of piety and learning, 
 dynasty" to seclc thc society and improve by the conversations of sheiks and 
 ulemas, venerable for their austerity or the extent of their know- 
 ledge. A sheik in the neighbourhood of Eski Sheher, named Ede- 
 balj^, possessed still greater attractions for the young prince in the 
 personal charms of his daughter Malhun-hatynn. Osman had 
 seen her by chance or design, and was smitten with her beauty ; 
 but he was deterred from marrying her b}^ apprehension of his 
 father's displeasure, and restrained, by the lady's prudence, from 
 a clandestine engagement. The governor of the city, whom Os- 
 man had entreated to use his good offices in order to obtain the 
 approbation of his father, was inflamed with his description, and 
 privately sought, but failed in obtaining, the lady's hand. His 
 treachery and the resentment of Osman involved the citizens in 
 the horrors of civil war. The anxious desire of possessing his 
 beautiful mistress, and the necessity of obtaining his father's con- 
 sent, suggested to the prince an artifice, justified by the manners 
 of the age, and the credulity of Ertogrul's character. He 
 dreamed, or invented a dream : a meteor, beaming with a mild 
 light like that of the moon, arose from the side of the sheik, and 
 rested on the navel of Osman, whence a tree, whose top reached to 
 the skies, sprang out, and extended its branches, bending under 
 rich foliage and delicious fruit, to the farthest extremities of the 
 universe : one bough, distinguished from the others by a more 
 lively verdure, and by its form resembling a sabre, stretched out to. 
 the west towards Constantinople : all the riches and beauties of 
 nature were spread out under the canopy of this wonderful tree.
 
 £3 
 
 and invited the various tribes of mortnls to enjoy prosperity and 
 abundance without any obligation to hibour. The natural inter- 
 pretation of such a prodigy pointed out the sheik, who was himself 
 skilled in the art of developing mysteries, as the future father-in- 
 law of a monarch, already united to him in community of faith*, 
 whose race, as was typified by the mysterious tree Tuba, one of 
 the wonders of Paradise, should multiply their possessions, and 
 extend their sway, beyond the capital of the Eastern empire. Such 
 reasoning, seconded by the blooming beauties of sweet fifteen, was 
 irresistible: Osman was subri.iissive to the divine decree, and it 
 even carried such full conviction to the devout Ertogrul, that he 
 was no less impatient than his son to hasten the accomplishment 
 cf the prediction. 
 
 The relaxed state of government and military discipline amonffConquestof 
 
 " '' "^ = the Eastern 
 
 the Romans, encouraged the inroads of the Turks, which conti- ^"P''^^- 
 nued, with unremitting success, till Mahomet the Second in the 
 year fourteen hundred and fifty three, placed himself on the throne 
 of the Ctesars. The power of the Ottoman sultans gradually ex- 
 tended from the banks of the Dnieper to the cataracts of the Nile, 
 and from the Adriatic Sea to the Persian Gulph, over the portion 
 of the globe the most favoured by nature, the parent, or the nurse, 
 of all the sciences, and all the arts of civilized lifef. But, long 
 
 * The schism, which separated the Turks and Persians, was introduced, according 
 to Cantemir, (Hist. p. 135.) in the year 1501 of the Christian tera, by Sheitan Cuhv 
 the slave of Satan, as he is called by the Turkish historians, though more properly 
 named by the Persian writers Shah Culy, the king's slave. * 
 
 + The extent of the Turkish empire may be judged of from the Sultan's titles, pre-i
 
 54 
 
 before the final conquest of the Roman empire, the co-operation 
 of various ^causes had suspended or corrupted the arts, and had 
 perverted the very sources of science. The study of natural causes 
 had given place to theological subtleties ; the science of govern- 
 ment had sunk under tyranny ; and the arts administered only to 
 effeminacy. The few remains of ancient learning were tinctured 
 and connected with dogmas and superstitions, which the Turks 
 held in contempt or abhorrence, as being contradictory to the pre- 
 cepts of their own religion. They therefore, like the unlettered 
 warriors who overspread the western countries of Europe, esta- 
 blished, in their hew conquests, the feudal system of government, 
 
 fixed to the ratification of the treaty of alhance of the 3 1st January, 1190, made between 
 the King of Prussia and the Ottoman Porte. 
 
 " Sehm, flls de Mustafa Chan. 
 
 " Nous, par la grace particuliere de Dieu et par les merites extraordinaires du pro- 
 phete, souverain et maitre du plus excellent pays, et des plus belles provinces, et des 
 villes les plus heureuses, particulierement de celles de Mecka, de Medine, de Jerusalem, 
 protegees de Dieu, des quelles je suis le servileur ct le maitre, et des plus renommees 
 Constantinople, Adrianople et Bruisa, de Damas, du Caire, de toute I'Arabie, de 
 I'Afrique, de Barka, de Kairiwan, Alep, de I'lrake, de la Perse, de Lychsa, de Dillem, 
 de Rypka, de Mussul, de Diarbeckir, de SuIcadriL, du pays d'Erseruin, Siwas et 
 Adana, Caramane, Wan, Magrip, de I'Abyssinie, de Tunis, Tripoli, de la Syrie, de 
 Cypre et Rhode, de Candie, de la Moree, de la Mer Blanche et de la Mer Moire, 
 d'Algev avec ses torritoires, de tous les pays d'Anadolie et de Komelie, et pai'tituliere- 
 nient de Bagdad et du Kurdistan, de la Tatarie, de la Circassie, et du Cabartha, de 
 la Georgie, de Kaptsehak et tous les Tatares qui sent dans cette contree, du Daghinak, 
 d'Ojniakan, de la Bosnie, et de la forteresse de Belgrade, et de toutes les Ibrtcresses qui 
 «e trouvtnt dans ccttc province, de I'Albanie, de la Waliacliie, ct de !a Moldavic, avct 
 touH Icurs districts ct de pluiieurs aulres lieux, qui ne sent pas mcntionnes." 
 
 It is indeed true that, with respect to several countries and places in this very imme- 
 thodical catalogue, his Highness is only sovereign inpurtibus; but, after every deduc- 
 tion, the i\uiaiftdcr forms an empire not eljewliere to be equalled.
 
 55 
 
 with which they appear to have been familiarized, without deign- 
 ing to modify it by institutions previously existing among tlie 
 ancient inhabitants. Depriving their conquered subjects of their oppre*ioa 
 
 of the 
 
 pobtical existence, they allowed them a limited and imperfect ^'^<=''''^' 
 exercise of their civil rights on the payment of an annual tribute, 
 and tolerated their peculiar modes of worship, in a restrained 
 and private manner. The sense of present degradation over- 
 whelming the recollection of past independence, humbled the 
 minds of the Greeks to the level of their abject situation ; and the 
 vices, peculiar to a state of domestic slavery, were superadded to 
 those, which luxury and superstition had before generated.* 
 
 About the end of the fifteenth century, the Jews, expelled from Jews and 
 
 Armeniani. 
 
 Spain on the conquest of Grenada, found an asylum in Turkey ; 
 and at the commencement of the succeeding century, Armenia was 
 made a province of the empire by Selim the First ; and its uncon- 
 verted inhabitants were reduced to a state of tributary subjection. f 
 
 If the Turks had had no external enemy, their system of politi- 
 cal institutions, intrinsically vicious and imperfect as it is, might 
 have been upheld for an indeterminate period by the arts which 
 first established it. But the progress of surrounding nations in 
 tactics and military science has not only left them behind in the 
 
 * The national appellation of the modern Greek is Romaics or Romeos, which sig- 
 nifies a Roman. How is the pure gold changed ! this most illustrious of all distinctions 
 is now become a bye-word and reproach among nations. 
 
 t Cantemir, p. 155.
 
 56 
 
 career of Improvement, but, by weakening their confirlence in their 
 ancient mode of attack and defence, has caused them to deg-ene- 
 rate from their ancestors.* The checks they have received from 
 foreign powers have encouraged their pashas to rebellion, and 
 diverted the Porte from its usual methods of counteracting them. 
 The band of union between the sovereign and the component 
 members of the empire is broken or relaxed : the army is dis- 
 pirited : the finances unequal to the exigencies of the state : and 
 the officers of government, in such an uncertain state of affairs, 
 are actuated only by a regard to their own emolument and safety. 
 
 * I feel the importance of the question, Whether the Turks have degenerated ? And 
 though I do not wholly deny it; yet I must declare that, as far as my unbiassed, 
 though perhaps imperfect, observation guides me, a diffidence in the talents of their 
 generals is all that distinguishes the modern, from the ancient, Turkish annies. We 
 have seen them, in the course of a single campaign, heroes at Acre, and most contemp- 
 tible cowards at Aboukir; because, as a prisoner once replied to Marshal Saxe, 
 " Though none of our soldiers are less brave than me, there is wanting one among 
 them like you." It is ajusl and true remark of the Abbe Mably, that a nation suffers 
 no real or essential loss, but when it loses the character to which it ov;ed its success. Now. 
 when we consider that this character among the Turks, as individuals, is unchanged, 
 and that it is not impossible that the talents of one man may yet reanimate the national 
 sjjirit, we should carefully guard, especially in such critical times as the present, against 
 an indulgence of that contempt, which some writers endeavour to inspire us with. My 
 opinion is further confirmed by the following observation of a military traveller. " La 
 religion ct I'liabitude sont deux barrieres qui empechent autant les Turcs d'avancer que 
 de reculcr. Jc crois qu'on les accuse a tort d'avoir degenere. Les Turcs, qui ont fait 
 deux fois le siege de Vienne, ressembloient, a peu de choses pres, aux Turcs qui ont ete 
 vainqueurs a Karansebes, ct vaincus a Martinesti. Les Turcs, qui ont rendu Ismael, 
 etoient aussi braves ct aussi ignorans que ceux qui ont pris Rliodes. lis sont a pcu pres 
 au meme point; ce soiit les autres pcuples qui ont fait des progres." (Voyage a Con- 
 stantinople, p. 155.) 

 
 S7' 
 
 About two centuries ago the liistoiiau Knolles couteniplatcd tlic'^^;''j''^'^i,"fj^ 
 mighty power of tlie Ottoman sovereigns, M'hen they united under f„'ktsi, 
 their sceptre the empires of the Saracens and Greeks, and had sub- 
 jected part of Hungary and Persia. " If you consider," says hcj 
 " its beginning, progTCss, and uninterrupted success, there is 
 nothing in the world more admirable and strange ; if the greatness 
 and lustre thereof, nothing more magnificent and glorious ; if the 
 power and strength thereof, nothing more dreadful or dangerous ; 
 which, wondering at nothing but the beauty of itself, and drunk 
 with the pleasant wine of perpetual felicity, holdeth all the rest of 
 the world in scorn."* Busbequiiis, ambassador from the emperor ^larm of 
 
 ^ ■* Christcn- 
 
 Ferdinand the First, had before been aware of the danger which •^°"'- 
 threatened Germany and all Christendom, and, in the true spirit. 
 of patriotism, had endeavoured to rouse his countrymen to a sense 
 of their situation : " We are not called upon to resist enemies cf 
 the same stamp with ourselves : the blind may contend with thg 
 blind, and their common errors may pass unobserved : but we have 
 now to oppose the Turks, a vigilant, industrious, sober, and dis- 
 ciplined, enemy, inured to military labour, skilful in tactics, and 
 obedient to the rigours of service. Led on by these virtues, and 
 • forcing their way through desolated empires, they have subdued 
 every thing from the frontiers of Persia, and, trampling over the 
 mangled bodies of hostile sovereigns and their subjects, havo 
 reached the frontiers of Austria, and threaten Vienna itself."! 
 Sandys, who travelled through Turkey and Egypt during the reign . 
 
 * Knolles's preface to the History of the Turks. 
 
 t Busbequii — De re militare contra Turcam instituenda consilium. 
 
 I
 
 58 
 
 of Ahmed the First, expresses less apprehension; " for surely," 
 says he, "it is to he hoped that their greatness is not only at the 
 height, hut near an extreme precipitation : the hody being grown 
 too monstrous for the head ; the sultans unwarlike ; the soldiers 
 corrupted with ease, wine, and women ; their valour now meeting 
 opposition, and empire, so got, when it ceascth to increase, doth 
 begin to diminish."* It would be rash, at this distance of time, 
 to controvert the opinion of so respectable a traveller, an eye-witness 
 too of the facts from which he has drawn his conclusions ; and 
 yet the Turkish power, at the commencement of the sev^entcenth 
 century, had not even reached its highest pitch of elevation : 
 Ahmed, himself a warrior, was succeeded by other warlike sultans ; 
 and the Ottoman armies continued to bear down the opposition of 
 European valour, till the gallant Sobieski forced them to abandon 
 their ill-omened siege of Vienna, and determined the destinies of 
 the world. t The latent causes of the failure of their extensive 
 plans of conquest are however to be «ought for in the history of 
 remote nations and preceding ages : these were silently preparing 
 in the sequestered cells and studious labours of Christian monks, 
 even during the full blaze of their meridian splendour, and amidst 
 their triumphs over the worship of Christ. J 
 
 * Sandys's Travels, p. 51. ed. 1627. 
 
 + Cantemir's Ottoman History, p. 310. 
 
 % Bartholomew Schwartz, a German monk, is rommonly sa'd to have invented 
 6;\mpo\vder in the year 1320, thoug;h it is certainly known, thai this couipositiou le 
 -described in a treatise written by Roger i3acon about the year ISftO.
 
 S9 
 
 Waiiomet the Second, during the siege which terminated in the conscqucn- 
 
 ces of t he 
 
 conquest of Constantinople, employed modern artillery, the secret ™|^^^jj>n«t 
 of which had been revealed to him by a Dane, or Hungarian, of 
 the name of Urban*. But, whatever advantages the Turks may 
 have momentarily derived from it, I consider the invention of gun- 
 powder as the principal obstacle to the progress of the Turkish 
 power, and the chief cause of its decline. 
 
 From the heroic ages to the days of chivalry, bodily strength, 
 and skill in the use of arms, had constituted the perfect soldier. 
 But, though art and tactics gave a disciplined army a prodigious 
 advantage over multitudes and untaught courage, and though 
 experience, even then, had shewn that the event of a battle de- 
 pended more on the powers of the mind than on corporeal exer* 
 tions ; yet war was less a science : it neither could be studied in 
 privacy and retirement, nor could a nation keep up the martial 
 spirit in a long enjoyment of repose, or retain a familiarity with mi-- 
 litary exercises sufficient for an emergency. The interval of peace 
 between the first and second Punic wars had made the Romans 
 inferior to the Carthaginians, and the luxuries of Italy in a short 
 time enervated the victorious armies of Hannibal. But, on the 
 discovery of gunpowder and the introduction of fire-arms, the boil- 
 ing courage, whether the effect of physical or moral causes, whe- 
 ther from strong nerves and high spirits, or patriotism or religious 
 fanaticism, which before had given to one soldier a superiority over, 
 another; the excess of bodily strength, which alone, in some in>- 
 
 * Gibbon, V. xii. p. 19T.
 
 "GO 
 
 -stances, had constituted the hero ; lost tlieir advantages : and a 
 steady and obedient courage on the part of the men, coolness and 
 deliberation on the part of the officers, became the virtues of the 
 soldier. The individual efforts and desire of distinction, ^vhich 
 formerly were encouraged, and had produced such great and sur- 
 prising effects, were now to be checked and restrained ; and it 
 became erroneous or criminal to overstep the line traced out for the 
 general conduct. The impetuosity of the Turkish soldiers could 
 ill brook such restraints: and the feeling of individual worth con- 
 curred with the memory of their illustrious ancestors to endear to 
 them their ancient habits and modes of warfare. They possessed 
 the adventurous, though not the gallant, spirit of chivalry, and, 
 like the knights-errant, regretted that personal prowess was made 
 subservient to an invention, which gave to artifice and cowardice, 
 an advantage over skill and valour*. Busbequius had noticed the 
 
 * Ariosto has transmitted to us their sentiments, in his beautiful po'em of Orlando 
 Furioso. He represents liis hero as having rescued the dominions of Olimpia, a prin- 
 cess of Friza, from the usurpation of Cymosco, who had baffled the efforts of former 
 adventurers by the superiority of his newly invented weapons. Orlando however de- 
 feated him, and bore away his musket as a trophy : not to use it, but to bury it in the 
 sea, and to remove it from human research. 
 
 L'intenzion, non gia, percbe lo tolle, 
 
 Fu per voglia d'usarlo in sim difesa, 
 
 Che sempre atto stimo d'aiiimo molle 
 
 Gir con vantaggio in qual si voglia impresa ; 
 
 Ma per gittarlo in parte, onde non voile 
 
 Che mai potesse al uom piii fare offesa. 
 
 E la polve, e le palle, e tiitto il resto 
 
 Seco porto, che apparteneva a queslo. (Canto none.)
 
 61 
 
 aversion of the Turks from the use of fire-arms, and their prefe- 
 rence of ancient weapons ; but he could not at that time deduce 
 the consequences which have flowed from their prejudices. A 
 Dahnatian horseman (one of those called by the Turks, Delhi, from 
 their intemperate courage or rashness) came express to Constanti- 
 nople, and reported to the Divan the ill success of an incursion 
 into Croatia, where two thousand five hundred Turks had been 
 surprised by a party of five hundred musqueteers, and completely 
 routed with great slaughter. The Ottoman pride was more affected 
 with the dishonour to Soliman's arms than with the loss of troops, 
 who, the Divan supposed, had acted in a manner unworthy of the 
 Turkish name. " Have I failed in making myself understood"-" 
 said the Delhi, unmoved at the reproach, " ]^o you not hear that 
 we were overpowered by musquetry r We were routed by the force 
 of fire, and not by the bravery of the enemy. The event of the 
 battle would indeed have been otherwise, if it had been really a 
 contest of courage : but they took fire to their aid, and we acknow- 
 ledge ourselves to have been conquered by its violence. Fire is 
 one of the elements, and indeed the most powerful ; and what is 
 the strength of man, that it should resist the shock of the ele- 
 
 His execrations against tlie invention are characteristic of the spirit of cliivalry, and 
 were repeated by Don Quixote in terms equally bitter. 
 
 O maladetto, o abbominoso ordigno; 
 
 Che fabbricato nel tartareo fondo 
 
 Fosti per man di Belzebu maligno, 
 
 Che ruinar per te disegno il moudo. 
 
 All inferno, onde uscisti, ti rassegno. (Stanza 9 1 .)
 
 62 
 
 ments?" " Hence," says Busbequius, '* I learned, that the smalt 
 arms used by our cavalry are peculiarly formidable to the Turks."* 
 
 While discipline and attention to the military exercises could 
 insure success in war, the Turks were the first of military nations. 
 When the whole art of war was changed, and success in it was re- 
 duced to calculation, tlie rude and illiterate Turkish warriors expe* 
 rienced the fatal consequences of ignorance, without suspecting ther 
 cause. Accustomed to employ no other means than force, they 
 sunk under despondency, when force could no longer avail ; and,, 
 having now almost lost confidence in the possibility of recovery, 
 they present to their own astonishment, and to the mockery of 
 Europe, " the mighty shadow of unreal power." 
 
 System of Their S'ystem of government was still less scientific than that of 
 
 Turkish 
 
 govern- tliclr warfarc. To constitute a community, interested in the pre- 
 
 ment over 
 the Rayahs 
 
 lary sub- * " Wem usu venire audio Persis. Ex quo fuit non nemo, qui suaderet Rustano, 
 •'^'^'^ ad bellmii adversus Persas cum suo rege proficiscenti, ut turaiavn ducentorum equitum 
 
 ex suis domesticis institutam sclopetis armaret, magno terrori futuram liostibus, et fitragem 
 maoTiam facturam. Nee consilium aspernatus Rustanus earn tumiam instituit, sclo- 
 petis instruit, curat exercendam. Sed nondum dimidiam partem itineris confecerant, . 
 cum aliud ad sclopeti usum necessarium deficere cocpit. Amittebatur quotidie aliquid 
 aut fraugebalur, raris qui possent relicere. Sic bona sclopetorum pars jam inulilis red- 
 dita erat : et cum ea de causa poenitebat ejus teli, turn quod munditiei, cui valde student 
 Turca*, advcrsabatur, conspiciebantur manibus fuligine infectis, vestitu maculoso, infor- 
 y mibus thclis et pyxidibus undique pendulis, ut risui essent commilitonibus, tt ab eis per 
 
 ludibrium medicamentarii vocitarentur, ita cum nee sibi nee aliis cum hoc habitu pla^ 
 Cerent, Rustanum circumsistunt : mancos' et inutiles sclopetos proferunt. Quemnam 
 ex bis fruetum speret, ubi ad hostes ventum sit: rogant id se illis deoncret, urma reddat 
 usitata. Re diligenter considerata, non putavit cau&am esse Ruslaiius ut refragarctur. 
 Sic cum bona ejus venia sagitt&s et arcus resumpserunt." (Busbeq. Epist. iii. p. 1 32.) 
 
 5
 
 63 
 
 servation of the empire, from the various and discordant classes of 
 people comprehended in its vast extent, was a task which called 
 ^or the greatest genius, the most profound study of morality, and 
 the most extensive observation of human passions. To harmonize 
 them was not, however, the wish of the Ottoman legislators. 
 " The bended head," according to a maxim of Turkish justice, 
 "is not to be struck off."* But, though submission to their 
 power warded off the stroke of death, nothing short of embracing 
 the religion of their prophet could exonerate the vanquished from 
 fines and personal subjection. The conquered people, if they per- 
 sisted in obstinacy, together with their possessions, their industrj-, 
 and their posterity, became virtually the property of their masters. 
 " Their substance," says the law, " is as our substance ; their eye 
 as our eye ; their life as our life."f In such a state of subjection 
 their claim to justice and security was precarious, and their lives and 
 fortunes were made subservient to the necessities of the state, and 
 the interests of the superior and privileged class, :|; who strove by 
 every means, however injurious and insulting to their feelings, to 
 suppress, instead of exciting their energies ; to debilitate their 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 72. 
 
 t Cantemir, p. 21€. 
 
 t It was asked of the mufti, "If eleven Mussulmans, without just cause, kill ah 
 infidel, who is a subject of the emperor, and pays tribute, what is to be done?" The 
 ■mufti subscribed with his own hand, " Though tlie Mussulmans should be a thousand 
 and one, let them all die." (Cant. p. 183.) But it may truly be said, "quid leges, 
 sine moribus ? " for the protection of the law avails notliing to the oppressed infidel.
 
 Gi 
 
 minds to tlie level of slavery ; and to insure their submission to- 
 the forms of government established by themselves. The state 
 haughtily rejected their active services ; as, at best, they must be 
 languid in its defence, or more probably hostile to its cause,* 
 and over Tlic Turks, OH the Contrary, were attached to the constitution by 
 
 Mussul- 
 
 mauK. every motive which fanaticism or self-interest could urge ; favou- 
 rites of heaven, and lords of the earth ; the infidel tributary sul> 
 jects were sacrificed without scruple to the interest, the conve- 
 nience, or the caprice, of the faithful. The precepts of the Koran, 
 and the decrees of the sultan, secured to the Turkish subjects 
 equal right to all posts of trust or dignity, equal justice, and the 
 undisturbed enjoyment of the fruits of rapine or industry. The 
 public force was lodged in the- hands of the ]\Iussulman people ; 
 and frequent examples occur in history of their having directed it 
 against the heads of the state or the church, when they apprehended 
 injustice, or felt oppression. Party rage has led them to acts of 
 violence, and even rebellion, against their legal sovereign ; but to 
 change or new-model the system of government could never hav3 
 entered into the minds of men, who acknowledge no superiority 
 but in oflficial rank, to which all may hope to attain, and who 
 lord it over the subjected rayahs, every one in his own sphere, 
 with undisputed, and almost uncontrolled, authority. 
 
 * In judging of the exercise, of government in Turkey, it is necessary to bear in 
 mind tliis great political distinction of Turks and Rayahs. It is evident that the go« 
 vernment should be considered, as it is exercised over tlic natural subjects or Turks, and 
 not over the aliens or Rayahs. It would be unjust to characterize the Spartan govcra- 
 ment, only from its treatment of the Helotes.
 
 63 
 
 Tlie empire, like one great manor, was parcelled out according Partition 
 to feudal usages ; and all the natural and improveable advantages ^^^^^°j^^ 
 of soil, climate, and productions, were held out as incitements to 
 their Avarriors, from their captains of thousands, and captains or 
 hundreds, to the private volunteers, as a foretaste of the sweets 
 of Paradise to those, who had not obtained martyrdom in the pro- 
 pagation of their faith, and the extension of their empire. These 
 military tenures, on the death of the incumbents, lapsed to the 
 crown : and, as under no circumstances, except in the possessions 
 of the church, * the grants were hereditary, there could be no 
 thought of a distant futurity, no cave for the posterity of a stran- 
 ger ; all hopes of preserving or desire of improving estates, were 
 confined to the term of a single life ; and all ate and drank, to 
 exhaustion and impoverishment, for on the morrow they were to 
 die.t 
 
 * The pious foundalions called Wakf, or rather Vacvf, are property conBecrated to 
 the service of public woi-sliip, or charitable institutions. It will be sufficient to observe 
 in this place, for the better understanding of the passage in the text, that even grants 
 ef this nature are not properly hereditary in families. The original benefactor has the 
 privilege of appointing to the administration of his bequest an officer under the title of 
 w;!^/eD<.'?(y, and a supi^rior officer, or overseer, under the title oinazir; these are some- 
 times the children, or natural heirs of the testator, and they enjoy, by the tacit con- 
 sent of the law, such part of the rents as is not specifically appropriated. But when 
 this surplus is considerable, it does not escape the vigilance of government. 
 
 t " The Turks," says Olivier, " enjoy e', eiy where with the mdifference cf tenants,'' 
 Busbequiuo two obsen'ed on passing through Buda, the capital of Hungary, that tlie 
 Turks suffered the palaces which they inhabited, to fall into decay, without troubling 
 themselves about even necessary repairs. 
 
 " lis batissent le moins qu'ils peuvent; ils ne reparent jamais rien : un mur menace 
 rultti, ils I'etaient ; il s'eboule, ce sont quelques thambres de moins dans la raaison ; ils 
 
 K 
 
 \
 
 66 
 Sources of Ti^g spoils of War, the contributions from the natural riches of 
 
 rerenue. l ' 
 
 the country, and from the industry of the rayahs, which, how- 
 ever, was much repressed by the uncertain enjoyment of their 
 acquisitions, furnished government with the means of supporting 
 all its establishments, whether of utility, luxury, or splendour; 
 but the financial operations were as rudely conducted, as, at that 
 period, they were in Western Europe. The direct extortions of 
 government were practised only upon the great and powerful. 
 The means of raising revenue from the provinces were left almost to 
 the discretion of the governors ; and they, and their inferior 
 agents, restrained in their tyranny over the Turks, exerted their 
 unlimited authority over the rayahs, in employing the endless in- 
 ventions of oppression to force the proprietors of money, the hus- 
 bandman, the artisan, and the merchant, to disclose and surrender 
 their concealed property. 
 
 of'tfe 'S '^^^ force of the Turkish empire is a militia composed of the 
 Sicia? total mass of the Mussulman subjects ; but uninformed, undisci- 
 plined, and intractable ; if compared to an European army, they 
 are merely a disorderly crowd. The finances, in the calculation of 
 which violence and extortion always formed a principal part, are 
 now, from the loss of wealthy provinces, and the defection and rebel- 
 lion of pa&has, insufficient for the ordinary expenditure of the go- 
 vernment ; and they seem incapable of being improved, so as to be 
 sufficient for the support of a regular standing army, by any constitu- 
 
 s'arrangent d cote des decombrcs : I'cdifice tombe enfih, ils en abandonnent le sol, 
 ou, s'ils sont obliges d'en deblayer I'emplacement, ils n'einportenl les platras que le 
 moiiis loin qu'ils peuvent." (Denon. v, i, p. 1^3.)
 
 C7 
 
 tional means, or by any means which the people, instigated by turbu- 
 lent and ambitious leaders, would not efficaciously oppose : so that 
 notwithstanding the efforts of the Porte towards ameliorating their 
 military system and introducing European improvements, there is 
 little ground for expecting that they will ever again bring their 
 armies into the field, on this side of the Bosphorus, against a 
 foreign enemy, unless impelled by despair, or aided by a powerful 
 ally. To oppose a rebel in a distant province, a neighbouring- 
 pasha must be stimulated by the allurement of conquest and plun- 
 der, or incited by rewards and the promise of new dignities.* 
 The governor of an insignificant fortress, at no very great dis- 
 tance from the capital, not long ago insulted the government, 
 almost at the gates of the seraglio, and baffled the utmost 
 efforts of the Porte : and the late Capudan Pasha Husseia 
 was compelled to sacrifice his own honour, together with the 
 dignity of the sultan, to the humiliation of treating with a 
 revolted subject : and, at this time, there is no province in 
 Rumelia, where troops of licentious banditti do not annually in- 
 tercept the caravans, interrupt communication, plunder the hus- 
 bandman of the fruits of his labour, and reduce the country to a 
 solitude, t 
 
 * Mr. Eton, however, gives too degrading an idea of the weakness of the Porte, 
 when he asserts, (p. 290.) " tiiat in the country about Smyrna, there are great agas, 
 who are independent lords, and maintain armies, and often lay that city under contri- 
 bution. 
 
 + I have travelled through several provinces of European Turkey, and cannot con- 
 vey an idea of the state of desolation in which that beautiful country is left. For the 
 «pace of seventy miles, between Kirk Kilise and Carnabat, there is not an inhabitant,
 
 6S 
 Considera- ^f a peiiod like tl)c present, when the fate of Turkev is suspend- 
 
 ♦ ionson the * i ' ■ ^ I 
 
 d^tiui^of ^^1 i" ^'^^ balance, when its inferiority to the nations of Europe is 
 "' '' become so evident, and surrounded, as it is, by powerful and 
 ambitious neighbours, it seems to require no supernatural fore- 
 sight to announce an approacliing revolution. But is Turkey no 
 longer to exist as a nation, or is the most numerous part of the 
 people to resign the sovereignty into the hands of their emancipated 
 subjects, and in their turn to submit their necks to the yoke? 
 ticc*or """' Are we to admit, with Mr. Eton, that the expulsion of the Turks 
 expelling from Europe, and the re-establishment of the Greek empire, are 
 
 them from 
 
 Europe; what sound policy and even justice require; fop, " according to 
 the laws of nations, the Turks have not, by length of possessi- 
 on, acquired a right to the dominion of the countries they con- 
 quered."* This, I apprehend, is carrying up the question too 
 high ; for, on such principles, every people must first examine the 
 ground on which they themselves stand, and it would then be 
 
 On the difficult to determine what nation has a right to attack and dis- 
 
 cmancipa- 
 
 tionofthe possess the Turks. Mr. Eton is positive, " that the Greeks will 
 emancipate themselves from the yoke of Turkey. "f " They are 
 
 tliough the country is an earthly paradise. The extensive and pleasant village of Faki, 
 with its houses deserted, its gardens over-run with weeds and grass, its lands waste and 
 uncultivated, and now the resort of robbers, affects the traveller with the most painful 
 sensations. 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish empire. Preface, p. 9. Denon, I think, reasons better 
 " Si la terre que nous foulions Icur etoit mal acquise.ce n'etoit pas a nous a le trouver 
 mauvais; et au moins plusieurs siecles de possession etablissoient leurs droits." (Voy- 
 , age en Egypte, V. 1. p. 284.) 
 
 t Survey of the Turkish empire. Preface, p. 10.
 
 69 
 
 then," say^ Voliicy, " to recall the arts and sciences into their native 
 land, to open a new career to leg'slation, to commerce, to in- 
 dustry ; and to efface the glory of the ancient East, by the bright- 
 er glory of its regeneration."* 
 
 But can men, who, " in the revolution of ten centuries,'"'^"'''''*"* 
 
 Ci.ini pared 
 
 made not a single discovery to exalt the dignity, or promote ^',[|.^,j|'j° 
 the happiness of mankind ; who held in their lifeless hands, "^ ' 
 the riches of their fathers, without inheriting the spirit which 
 had created and improved that sacred patrimony, "f and have 
 since lain, " vanquished and weltering," through the long 
 space of three hundred and fifty years, lost even to the love of 
 liberty or the faculty of employing it; can such men suddenly 
 recover from the stupor of so tremendous a fall, and emulate 
 the virtues of their remote and illustrious ancestors ? If indeed 
 they be the descendants of the ancient Greeks ; for how fallen, 
 how changed from those, who, alone in the whole history of man, 
 have left one bright page, have illustrated one short period, and 
 have held up to the insatiable admiration of posterity the only 
 models of human nature which approach to perfection. Who are 
 the modern Greeks ? and whence did Constantine collect the mix- 
 ed population of his capital ; the herd of dogmatists, and hypo- 
 crites, w liom ambition had converted to the new religion of the 
 court ? Certainly not from the families M'hich have immor- 
 talized Attica and Laconia. They never sprang from those ^aL'^'^*' 
 Athenians, whose patriotic ardour could not wait the tardy 
 
 * Volney, Considerations sur la guerre actuelle des Turcs, 
 t Gibbon. V.X. p. 161,
 
 70 
 
 tardy approach of the Persian army, but impelled them over the 
 plains of Marathon, to an unpremeditated charge, whereby they 
 forced the superior numbers of an invading enemy to seek refuge 
 in the sea. The lofty spirit of Athenian independence could not 
 brook the mild yoke of Persian despotism : they refused to dis- 
 honour the soil of Attica by offering the smallest particle of it as a 
 tribute to a foreign sovereign ; though their enlightened patriotism 
 could upon a great emergency, rise superior even to the natural 
 attachment, which so powerfully binds men to their native soil : 
 they abandoned their city, with the temples of their deities, and the 
 tombs of their ancestors, to the fury of the barbarians, and era- 
 barked on board their navy, what really constituted the Athenian 
 common-wealth, the whole of the Athenian citizens. 
 
 From Athens and the borders of the Ilissus, the seat of literature 
 and science, even when arms were wrested from the hands of its 
 citizens, the invitation of Constantine attracted no philosopher. 
 The capital, with all its allurements of splendor and luxury, could 
 not come in competition with the more enchanting impressions of 
 groves and gardens consecrated to philosophy and science : and 
 they continued to study the doctrines of the Porch, the Lyceum, 
 and the Academy, on the same ground where they were iirst pro- 
 andthc mulgatcd, uutil Theodosius finally expelled them. Still less can 
 
 _j;pattai)S. 
 
 the modern Greeks be supposed the descendants of the citizens of 
 . Sparta, of those ferocious warriors to whom a state of actual 
 warfare was repose, when compared with the intervals of hostility? 
 spent in gymnastic exercises and the most fatiguing duties of the 
 military life. Tonued by the rigid observance of the laws of Ly-
 
 71 
 
 cuigus, and animated with the warmest enthvisiasm of real patriot- 
 ism, Leonidas and his small ilkistrious band, with deliberate reso- 
 lution, devoted their lives at Tiiermopyla for the freedom of 
 Greece. But the Spartans were the terror of all the neighbouring- 
 states, except those who were their dependent allies. At length 
 the devourino- fire of their valour consumed itself: and Ions: before 
 the seat of government was removed from Rome to Constantinople, 
 the Spartan families, if not wholly extinct, could no longer be dis- 
 tinguished among the mass of submissive subjects of the Roman 
 empire. 
 
 The climate of Greece has been supposed to be peculiarly <^a"ses of 
 
 ' ^ ^ the supf ri- 
 
 favourable to the birth and expansion of talents: but it seems ""'''y "'^ '''* 
 
 I ' ancient 
 
 unreasonable to ascribe to climate or physical constitution, effects '^"^^''''^' 
 which cannot be the result of any organization. The Athenians 
 indeed were peculiarly characterized by a quick and accurate 
 perception of beauty or defect, by a delicate and distinguishing 
 taste. But taste is less the gift of nature, than the effect of study. 
 Demosthenes addressed his eloquent discourses to the general 
 assembly, composed of the Athenian populace ; the poets enriched 
 the Athenian stage with the sublimest and most pathetic tragedies ; 
 the labours of the statuary and architect, were submitted to the 
 judgment of the people ; and they presided over the public exhibi- 
 tions of strength, skill, and agility. They were early formed ia 
 the gymnasia and public schools, to the contemplation of beauty 
 and grace ; each citizen M'as ambitious to excel in the exercises at 
 the public games, in oratory at the general assemblies, in music 
 and dancing on their public festivals. Drawing and the ax-ts of
 
 72 
 
 design formed essential parts of the public education ; aad 
 sculpture furnished the objects of their public and private devotion, 
 the ornaments of their houses, and the history of their families. 
 What was so generally useful, was necessarily attended to : 
 and judgment, if not skill, in the liberal arts was indispensable 
 to the comforts, the pleasures, and the respectability, of every 
 citizen. 
 
 indoft'ne National character is entirely modified by circumstances. The 
 
 decline of 
 
 the nation- loss of hbcrty and political independence had, even in the time 
 of the early Roman emperors, sullied this beautiful portrait : and 
 the Greek had already dwindled into the Grxculus esuriens, the 
 hungry parasite, fawning, intriguing, subtle, argumentative, and 
 loquacious. For the display of such talents, the imperial court 
 was the proper theatre : the degenerate Greeks crowded to the new 
 capital in Thrace, in numbers sufficient to fix the language, 
 and stamp the national character : under weak and superstitious 
 monarchs. tliey exercised their hcentiousness in morals, and in- 
 tolerance in religion ; and from degradation to degradation, they 
 fell at length under subjection to the turban, which they had 
 deliberately preferred to an union with the Western Christians.* 
 
 * Mr. Eton, in his chapter on the political state of Greece, gives the history of some 
 fkirrni^hf•!^ between tile pasha of Yanina, andtlie Greek inhabitants of the moiinlainsof 
 K«Ili. The particulars were communicated to him by a Greek ioteqireter, of the 
 name ni Amoxaris, who served on board the Tigre under Sir Sidney Smith, during the 
 Syrian and Egyptian campaigns. These and the piracies of a Greek of the name of 
 l.amhro, are " the struggles which," according to Mr. Eton, (p. .'534.) " shew that 
 Greece is about to awake to the assertion of her native riglits." But the details present 
 ■a disgusting picture of ibe warfare of lli»* modern Greeks, which is in fact, in a
 
 Spoil, M'lio published his travels in 1679, has observed that " of •^pp»''"'"' 
 
 • ' sions of the 
 
 all the princes of Christendom, there, was none whom the Turks j,'"'''^'* '''"'" 
 
 tlie power 
 of Russia. 
 
 political point of view, . only tlie devastation of banditti, and MboUy undeserving the 
 notice of liistoiy. I blush, w'.iile I quote Mr. F.ton's culogium of the gallant Lambro, 
 who pillaged ai\d ransacked the Grtck islands of the Archipelago, and molested the 
 trading ships of all nations, even after the jjeace of Yassi was signed, when he wac 
 disavowed by Russia, and declared a pirate. The account of his defeat by two trench 
 frigates is given by Olivier : Mr. Eton says, " the Greeks proved on this occasion 
 tlieir love of liberty, their passion for glory, and a perseverance in toils, obedience to 
 discipline, and a contempt of danger and death, worthy of the brightest pages of their 
 history : they fought with, and conqutred, very superior numbers, and when at last 
 they were attacked with an inequality of force, as great as Leonidas had' to encoun- 
 ter," (Leonidas ! great, injured name) " they fought till their whole fleet was sunk, 
 and a few only saved themselves in boats." (p. 368.) 
 
 That I may not be accused of calumniating the modern Greeks, it will, perhaps, 
 not be improper to review the opinions of former writers on the subject. Sandys says, 
 (p. 11.) " but now their knowledge is converted, as I may say, into aftected ignorance 
 (for they have no schools of learning among them) their liberty into contented slaverj-, 
 having lost their minds with their cmj>ire. For so base are they, as thought it i.s, they 
 had rather remain as they be, than endure a temporary trouble by prevailing succours ; 
 and would with the Israelites repine at their deliverers." 
 
 " I thouglit it," says De Tott, (p. .^1.) " a well-grounded obsen-ation which 
 Manoly Serdar, himself a Greek, made, " that his nation in nothing resembled the 
 ancient empire of the Greeks, except in the pride and fanaticism which caused its 
 ruin." 
 
 " C'est une belle idee sur le papier," says a very intelligent obsener, "que devoir 
 les Russes a Constantinople y retablir I'empire Grec. INIais ceux qui forment de si 
 beaux plans ignorent que les Grecs modernes sont comme ces vins, dont il ne reste que 
 la lie; qu'il.< n'ont conserve des Grecs anciens que les vices, sur lesquels ils ont encheri ; 
 qu'ils sont deux iois plus fanatiques que les Turcs, s'il est possible, et qu'ils seroient, 
 par cette raison, mille fois plus cruels, s'ils devenoient, je ne dis jjas maitres, mais 
 plus libres.^' (Voyage a Constantinople, p. 162.) 
 
 Mr. Eton may be considered as the champion of the Greeks. He asserts, that, " a 
 Grecian state will quickly attain a proud pre-eminence among nations." (p. 440.) 
 " Strengthened by such an alliance, we should maintain that ascendancy in the Me- 
 
 L
 
 74 
 
 so much feared, as the Czar of IMuscovy."t But, were It not for 
 the testimony of a contemporary writer, it would have beeu 
 
 ditenanean, of which the union of Fi'anceand Spain threatens to deprive us." "Wniich- 
 if Great Britain does not embrace, her influence and ^velght in the Mediterranean, Mid. 
 perhaps in the scale of Europe, must speedily sink." (pp. 437, 441.) Mr. Eton pro- 
 ceeds to analyze the Greeks, and arranges them in distant classes. 1. The Greeks of. 
 ihe Fanal, from whom are appointed the dragomans of the Porte, and the Vaywodas- 
 of Wallachia and Moldavia. " They are continually intriguing to get thos^ in office 
 removed, and obtain their places ; even children cabal against their fathers, and brothers- 
 against brothers. They are all people of verj' good education, and are polite, but. 
 haughtj', vain, and ambitious to a rjiost ridiculous degree. As to their noble extraction 
 it is a matter of great uncertainty. They hate in general all the vices of the Turks of th<^ 
 Seraglio ; treachery, ingratitude, cruelty, and intrigue vhich stops at no means. When 
 they become Vayxvodas, they are in nothing differenl. from Turkish pachas in tyranny. la 
 such a situation the mind must lose its vigour, the heart its generosity. They do not 
 weep over tl>e ruins which they cannot restore, nor sigh to rear others of equal magni- 
 ficence." (p. 344.) " But," adds Mr. Eton, " they are the only part of their 
 nation, who have totally relinquished the ancient Grecian spirit." In the second class 
 arc the merchants and lower orders of Constantinopolitan Greeks, who indeed have no 
 very marked character ; " they are much the same as the trading Christians in all 
 parts of the empire, that is to say, as crafty and fraudulent as the Jetss." (p. 342.) 
 Of course, neither of these classes are meant by Mr. Eton, when he says, (p. 340.J^ 
 " the Greeks retain so much energy of character, and are so little abased, for like noble 
 coursers they champ the bit, and spurn indignantly the yoke; when once freed from 
 these, they will enter the course of glory." "We must not therefore be discouraged ; 
 but follow Mr. Eton in his characteristic descriptions, and we shall find, that, in the 
 third class, " The Greeks of Macedonia &c., are robust, courageous, a/idsoiimiliat 
 ferocious." (p. 34^.) " Those of Athens and Attica are still remarkably witty 
 and sharp. All the islanders are lively and gay, fond of singing and dancing to an 
 excess, affable, hospitable, and goodnatured; in short they are the best." ' 
 
 I must here be permitted to ob.serve, that the travellers ivho have visited Aihen."!, and 
 Uw Greek islands, do not give tmqualificd praise to their inconsiderable population. 
 Toumcfort, Spon, and Whelcr, made the complete tour of these islands, and faithlully 
 flescribe the inhabitants, as a low, plodding, persecuted, and miserable race : — But to- 
 
 rctuvn to Mr. Eton. 
 
 3
 
 7^ 
 
 difficult to imagine, that the want of success in one short catn- 
 paigti could have struck the Turkish troops with such a panic, 
 or have suggested to them apprehensions, which, at that time, 
 must to all others have appeared groundless. 
 
 The revolt of the Cossaks from the dominion of the Porte, was "''•'"^' °^ 
 the cause of the first war between the Russians and Turks : and a u"o!Ir of 
 review of the few events of that war will serve, in some degree, to ""^'' ^' 
 explain the motives of that well-founded apprehension of the grow- 
 ing power of Russia, which was then first suggested.* The fol- 
 lowing passage from Voltaire describes the state of the Cossaks, 
 at the period now alluded to. 
 
 " The Cossaks inhabit the Ukraine, a country situate between 
 iiittle Tartary, Poland, and Russia. It extends from north to 
 south, about a hundred leagues, and as many from east to west. 
 The Borysthenes, or Dnieper, which runs through it from north- 
 
 " The Greeks of the Morca are much given to piracy." " Those of Albania and 
 Epims, and the mountaineers in general are a very ^vavlike, brave people, hut very 
 savage, and make little scruple of killing and robbing travellers." (p. 346.) 
 
 Such is Mr. Eton's picture of the Greeks, from whose future alliance Great Britain 
 is to promise herself such certain advantages. " Allies, who long ago would have en- 
 abled his Majest)- and the Emperor, in all human jiroljabiiity, to have humbled a foe, 
 which now threatens all Europe with total subversion." (p. 371.) 
 
 f Voyage fait aux annecs 1675 et 1676 par .Jacob Spon, Doetcur medcciiij 
 -aggrege a Lyons, et George ^'lleler, gentilhomme Anglois p. 270, ed. 1679. 
 
 * A. C. 1675.
 
 76 
 
 vest to soutli east, divides it into two equal parts. The northern 
 provinces of the Ukraine are rich and cxdtivated. Its southern 
 part which lies in the forty-eighth degree of latitude is the most 
 fertile, hut the most desert, country in the world. A had govern- 
 ment counteracts the hounties of Nature. Tlie few inhabitants on 
 the borders of Little Tartary neither plant nor sow ; because their 
 country is open to the ravages of the Tartars and the Moldavians, 
 nations of robbers, who would destroy their harvests, and pillage 
 their houses. The Cossaks have always aspired after indepen- 
 dence ; but the situation of their country, surrounded by the do- 
 minions of Russia, Turkey, and Poland, reduces them to the condi- 
 tion of dependent allies of one or other of these great states."* 
 
 The Cossaks, though a nation of Christians, resembled the Tar- 
 tars, in their modes of life, and predatory warfare. Their Hetman, 
 T)oroshenskoi, had revolted from Poland, and sought the protec- 
 tion of the Ottoman Porte ; but, piqued at the refusal of Mahomet 
 the Fourth to employ him in his expedition against the Poles, he 
 had subjected his nation to Russia, with an army of sixty thou- 
 sand men of approved valour. The Czar, who, besides gaining 
 over such powerful auxiliaries and obtaining an extension of terri- 
 tory beyond the Dnieper, secured his own frontiers from their in- 
 cursions, willingly accepted their allegiance, and promised to pro- 
 tect them against their enemies. The honour of the sultan, and 
 the safety of his empire, (for the Cossaks had sometimes extended 
 
 * Ilistoire de Charles XII, Hoi de Suede, liv. iv.
 
 77 
 
 their depredations even into the siiburbi of Constantinople*) com- 
 pelled him to revenge this breach of faith : But, though the Rus- 
 sian power at that time was despised by the Turks, a war in an 
 unknown and inhospitable country, where cold and hunger would 
 impede the progress, and waste the strength, ol an invading army, 
 was reluctantly resolved upon ; and not actually begun till all 
 means of reconciliation with the Cossaks had failed. Sixty thou- 
 sand Russians and Cossaks, entrenched near the capital of the 
 Ukraine, prevented the junction of the Tartars with the Turks. 
 The Turks, alarmed at the defeat and slaughter of their confede- 
 rates, and not daring to risk an engagement, fled with precipita- 
 tion, and repassed the Bogh. The Turkish perseverance was soon 
 exhausted by difficulties : and the vizir was eager to conclude a 
 war, in which success could only be procured by the endurance of 
 hardships, which he thought too severe for mortalsf. Fortune 
 
 * Chardin's Travels, pp. 48. 64, 65. — The fortress of Oczacow, at the entrance of 
 the liman formed by the confluence of tlie Dnieper and the Bogh, was built to prevent 
 the piracies and incursions of the Cossaks on the Euxine sea. 
 
 t Gantemir's Ottoman History, p. 291. — Voltaire describes the country to the east, 
 between Grodno and the Borysthenes, as covered with marshes, deserts, and immense 
 forests. It was here that Charles the Twelfth and the Czar carried on war, in the 
 middle of the winter of 1709. The Swedes and the Russians, each led on by their 
 Avarlike sovereign, accounted all seasons alike. The importance and the difficulties of 
 the campaign were expressed by Charles on a medal, prematurely struck after the 
 battle of Hollosin, " Silvae, paludes, aggeres, ho?tes, victi ;" for the rigours of the sea- 
 son were so great, that, in one march, the king lost two thousand men by the severity 
 of the cold, and his army was so much reduced, during the winter, that he was forced 
 to yield his laurels to the Czar, at the battle of Pultowa. I travelled through the 
 Ukraine in the summer of 1 805, and witnessed the general truth of Voltaire's descrip- 
 tion of its physical geography, and its exuberant fertility.
 
 78 
 
 was now beginnijig to abandon the Ottoman arms in other quar- 
 ters ; and the despondency of the Turks, which Spon had observed, 
 might be founded on tlie remark, that the first formal renunciation 
 of territory, which liad been consecrated to Islamism by khiitbc 
 and ezanii, was made to an hitherto-unknown enemy, against 
 ■whom attack could not, in any age, avail*, and whose means of 
 overpowering resistance must have been exaggerated in their minds, 
 if calculated, according to the Tartar reports, from the extent of 
 his dominions. The sense of their danger must, however, have 
 been confused and inaccurate, or the heroic wife of Peter the 
 Gh'eat could not so easily liave rescued the Russian empire, from 
 the imminent danger M'hich threatened it at the battle of the 
 Pruth.f The g^enius of the Ottoman empire slumbered at the 
 
 * Darius Ilystaspes boldly invaded the Scythian wilds 513 years before Christ, 
 with 700,000 men. His army, exposed during five months to hunger and thirst and 
 the darts of a flying enemy, lost the greatest part of its strength, and would have been 
 wholly destroyed, if the adviee of IVliltiades, to destroy the bridge of boats on the Da- 
 nube, had not been rejected. While Darius \vas regretting the temerity of his imder- 
 taking, an ambassador from the kings of Scythia aiTived, who, being introduced to the 
 Persian monarch, delivered, in solemn silence, the gifts of his masters, which consisted 
 of a bird, a frog, a mouse, and five arrows. The situation of Darius, and his experience 
 of unavailing hardships, made verbal explanation unnece.<sary : he hastily withdrew his' 
 troops, and abandoned his schemes of Scythian conquest. (Herodot. L. iv.) 
 
 t The Czar, relying on the succours promised him by Cantrmir, the nbcl-prince of 
 Moldavia, had penetrated far into that country, when he found himself on the banks of 
 the Pruth, surrounded by an army of 200,000 Turks and Tartars: his own troops, 
 winch at first had only consisted of 80,000 men, were reduced by desertions to less 
 than :30,000, exhausted by fatigue and in absolute want of provisions and forage. In 
 this situation, after giving orders for a general attack at daybreak, the Czar had retired 
 to his tent, anticipating in an agony of despair the event of so unequal a battle. The 
 Czarina alone dared to disobey his orders and break in upon his retirement : she had
 
 79 
 
 signing of the treaty, and seems still desirous of perpetuating his 
 lethargy, till the accomplishment of its destinies. Every event 
 has since confirmed the forebodings of the Turks, and increased 
 their apprehensions ; and it seems now to be a popular opinion, 
 that the city, abounding in faith*, will shortly be contaminated by 
 the presence, and polluted by the supremacy, of the emperor of 
 Russia t- But though such an accession of territory might gratify 
 
 summoned a council of the general officers, and had prepared a letter for the grand 
 vizir with proposals for peace j this letter she prevailed upon Peter to sign, and collect- 
 ing all her money and jewels, slie immediately dispatched an officer to the Turkish 
 camp. Her negotiations were so successful, that in spile of the remonstrances of the 
 Swedish king and the intrigues of his agent Poniatowsky, the treaty was begun, con- 
 cluded, and signed on the 2 1st of July, 1711. The Czar stipulated to surrender the 
 Ibrtresses on the sea of Azoff, which had been ceded to him at tlie peace of Carlovitz in 
 IlOO, but he never performed his engagements. In the ukaze, or imperial proclama- 
 tion, by which he afterwards solemnly admitted Catlierine to a participation of the 
 sovereignty and the honours of the coronation, he acknowledges with gratitude the im- 
 portant services which she had rendered to the Russian nation on this memorable 
 occasion. Voltaire, Histoire de Charles XII, Iloi de Suede, liv. v. 
 
 "* ISLAMBOL, one of the names of Constantinople. 
 
 t Mr. Eton says, (p. 200.) " they have among them a prophecy, that the sons of 
 j;<,'//ow/!fis,. which they interpret to he the Russians, are to take Constantinople." The 
 expression of the sons of yellowness certainly gives this assertion somewhat of an oriental 
 tinge: but the truth is, that the Turks, ever since their defeats by the emperor Leopold, 
 {see Cantemir, p. 244'.) have among them a persuasion lh."t their footing in F.urupt; is 
 unstable, and that Asia is the country in v.hicl'. the true faith will longest flourish. 
 
 It is much to be regretted, that Dr. Wittman should have sullied his interesting 
 journal by the insertion of the idle tales which ig-norant interpreters in>ent, to aiiiu.>s 
 the idle curiosity of their masters. I do not deny that a Turk, in a moment nf dpji- 
 ptndency, may have believed the existence of the tradition, mentioned in page 233.; 
 but t doubt that any Turk invented it. There is nothing Turkish in the couiposition.
 
 Kussia ; 
 
 80 
 co.Hrquen- 1|,<. anibitioii of tlic sovercio'n, yet the interest of the Russian 
 
 c.i-s of the o J .. 
 
 Tu"-k'yto°^"obility strongly militates against it. The imagination can 
 scarcely contemplate a power, which, from the frozen marshes of 
 the Neva, shall equally extend its icy sceptre over the savages of 
 Tchouski Noss, and the glowing inhabitants of the Arabian deserts.' 
 Nevertheless, the establishment of such a power, if the idea can 
 be realized, would follow from the annexation of Thrace to Russia: 
 for what means could then be employed to stop its further pro- 
 gress? the Black Sea would furnish a navy, which would com- 
 mand the Mediterranean ; and the resistance of Asiatic troops 
 Avould scarcely retard the march of a hardy and strictly disciplined 
 soldiery. The consequence of such extension of dominion wl^dd 
 be, either the division of the Russian empire into Northern and 
 Southern ; or, the seat of government, being removed to a more 
 genial climate, the North Avould again be neglected, and relapse 
 into its former barbarism. Sweden might then discover that con- 
 quest, except it be founded in justice, cannot be legally retained ; 
 and might demand the restitution of its ceded provinces. Civiliza- 
 tion, which all the cares of a vigilant government cannot natura- 
 lize in Russia, and which, among the people, has made almost 
 no progress, Avould again submit to the benumbing influence of 
 the climate ; and an eternal separation, except for the purposes of 
 a limited commerce, would be established between the Northern 
 and Southern worlds. Mr. Eton, from his situation at St. Peters- 
 burgh, must have possessed superior advantages, in studying the 
 
 except the ignorance, which does not discover, in the extent of the intervening coiintrj'j 
 a single point of resistance, between the right bank of the Dniester, and the walls oi" 
 Constantinople. 
 
 I
 
 81 
 
 the politics of the Russian cabinet : and the colossus of power, which 
 the utmost stretch of au ordinary imagination can scarcely com- 
 prehend, shrinks into a diminutive stature, when compared with 
 the gigantic proportions of what Mr. Eton assures us, was actually 
 premeditated. "The empress's vast views of aggrandizement ex- 
 tended to the conquest of all European Turkey ; the re-establish- 
 ment of the Greek empire, and placing her grandson Constantine 
 on the throne of Constantinople ; of making Egypt an indepen- 
 dent state ; of incorporating Poland into her own empire ; of 
 making a conquest of Japan and a part of China, and establishing 
 a navalpower in those seas*." 
 
 Volney and other speculative political writers, considering the to the othe. 
 
 states of 
 
 events, which they themselves had predicted, as inevitable, have ^'^"™p''' 
 
 > J X ^ ' and to the 
 
 Otto 
 
 felicitated mankind on the augmentation of happiness, which must^Jlj 
 necessarily ensue, on the accomplishment of their prophecies. 
 Our fancy is dazzled, and our reason is subjugated, by the fascina- 
 tion of their descriptive eloquence, and the subtlety of their argu- 
 ments. The dislike of other Christian states to so dangerous an 
 innovation is soothed by the suggestion, that nothing is to be ap- 
 prehended from triumphant Christianity ; and opposition is silen- 
 ced, by representing resistance as vain. " Russia," we are told, 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish Empire, preface, p. xi. — And what next ? was the sensible, 
 ttioiicth natural question of Pyrrhus's secretary, when his ma«ter had unfolded to him a 
 similar s( heme of conquest : certainly, if the enjoyment or the communication of happi- 
 ness be the ultimate end and highest gratification of life, the epicurean philanthropist, 
 instead of feeling himself circumscribed by the line of the Russian frontiers, might find 
 ample space for exhibiting his good-will towards men, without even descending from the 
 tieightb of the little republic of St. Marino. 
 
 M 
 
 man 
 
 )jecti.
 
 82 
 
 *' is now possessed of all the means, so long and so perseveringty 
 pursued from the time Peter the First took Asoph to this day, of 
 annihilating the monstrous and unwieldy despotism of the Otto- 
 man sceptre in Europe. The empress has also conceived the vast 
 and generous design of delivering Greece from its bondage, and 
 of establishing it under a prince of its own religion, as a free and 
 independent nation." — " Another war must totally extinguish the 
 Turkish power in Europe; an event desirable to most Christian 
 nations, and particularly to Great Britain." Poussielgue, who 
 accompanied the French expedition to Egypt, and whose talents 
 are confessed, as well by the commander in chief, as by the Eng- ^ 
 lish editor of the intercepted correspondence, professes a contrary 
 opinion, " It must eternally be the interest of France, of England, 
 of Prussia, and even of the Emperor, to oppose the downfal of the 
 Ottoman empire*." I will not undertake to determine the degree 
 of respect which may be due to these different authorities, nor will 
 I examine how far the circumstances, which have arisen since 
 the publication of these opinions, may have diminished the means, 
 affected the interests, or changed the dispositions, of the states of 
 Europe. But I question whether either religion or humanity would 
 feel much cause for triumph, in the extension of the Russian 
 power, or the enlargement of the pale of their church. I have 
 Russian obscrvcd the Greek religion in Russia and in Turkey : I am indeed 
 unlearned in its peculiar doctrines; but, judging of it from its 
 practice, I confess it to be justly characterized, as a leprous com- 
 
 * Volney, Considerations sur la guerre actuelle des Turcs. 
 
 Survey of the Turkish Empire, pp. 193. 397. 
 
 Intercepted Correspondence from Egypt, part 3d, London, 1800. 
 
 <;liurch.
 
 83 
 
 position of ignorance, superstition, and fanaticism*. Voltaire de- 
 scribes, as antiquated superstitions which the reformation, intro- 
 duced by Peter the Great, had abolished, some customs and opi- 
 nions, so extraordinary, that human reason cannot be believed, by 
 civilized man, to be capable of the degradation of admitting 
 them, t I myself have met with Russians, among whom intoxi- 
 cation seems a precept of their religion ; but who would suffer 
 martyrdom, rather than smoke tobacco, because the holy scrip- 
 ture declares that that which enters into the mouth of man does 
 not defile him ; but only that which comes out of his mouth. 
 These are men of the old uncorrupted sect, who break the uni- 
 formity of a street, rather than perform their devotions in a temple 
 which is not built due east and west ; who wear their beards in 
 spite of Peter the Great ; and who drink brandy, with as much 
 devotion as that monarch himself. Many, even of the reformed 
 Russian church, are scrupulous of eating pigeons, because the 
 holy spirit is represented under the form of a dove. Their con- 
 fession is a mockery, if not even an encouragement to iniquity. 
 The priest recites a catalogue of sins, and the penitent roundly 
 confesses himself guilty of the whole, and removes the whole load 
 from his conscience, by obtaining one general absolution. The 
 priests are ignorant and base beyond what can be imagined : I 
 Iiave more than once turned away with disgust from the clergy of 
 
 * Voyage a CVmstantinople, p. 217. — Such an assertion may be thouj;lit too general 
 and. too severe, llie truth of it may even be doubteil, by those v, ho have not seen 
 llussia, as the state of rehgion in no country in Christendom can prepare a traveller for 
 what he will there observe. 
 
 t Histoire de Charles XII, liv. 1,
 
 8i 
 
 a parish, staggering from house to house, to confer their Eastef 
 benediction on their flock, and to compliment them on the return 
 of the festival in repeated draughts of brandy*. These reproaches 
 do not indeed attach to the Greeks of Turkey. They have, in 
 some degree, veiled the deformity of their opinions : but, though 
 less offensive, they are scarcely less absurd. Both the Russian and 
 Turkish divisions of the Greek church unite, in refusing the very 
 name of Christian, to men of other communions. 
 
 Eussian go- J asscnt to the opinion of Mr. Eton, that the court of Russia is 
 sufficiently justified in taking possession of both Tartaries, and re- 
 ducing the inhabitants to something like social order and subordi- 
 nation. The safety of Russia required i.t : the Tartars were con- 
 stantly making incursions into Russia, Poland, and Moldavia, to 
 carry off the inhabitants, and plunder and burn the villages. The 
 ramparts of the Tartars were their deserts : their retreats were ia 
 the boundless expanse of their naked plains : it was difficult to> 
 conquer, or to check them : the idleness and independence of their 
 mode of life were insuperable difficulties to their settling and be- 
 coming cultivators i want and privations were accounted slight 
 inconveniencies, compared to peaceable, laborious, and unagitated, 
 life ; nothing could be offered them, equivalent to the pleasures- 
 and advantages of rapine and freedom : wherever there was booty, 
 there they discovered enemies ; and their enemies themselves con- 
 
 * The patriarch of Georgia, a prelate of the Greek communion, is reported by 
 Chardin (p. 191.) to have declared, " that he, who was not absolutely drunk at great 
 festivals, such as Easter and Christmas, could not be a good Christian, and deserved to 
 be cxconimunic^ited."
 
 85 
 
 jtituted their most valuable booty. But, though a change of life 
 might be a severe punishment to their captives, they never treated 
 them with intentional severity ; they either sold them, or em- 
 ployed them, under the care of their women, in menial services, 
 in keeping their flocks, or in pitching and removing their tents. 
 The slaves, however, shared only the same hard fare which satisfied 
 their masters, and experienced from them neither haughtiness, nor 
 ill usage. The conquest of the Tartars was in some degree neces- 
 sitated by the geographical position of Russia, and it is probable 
 that the sum of human happiness is increased by their subjugation. 
 It may, however, admit of a doubt, whether the same beneficial 
 consequences would attend the further conquests of Russia, and 
 the establishment of its government over the Avide and various 
 countries, which have already been enumerated. In the opinion 
 of Mr. Eton, there are two kinds of good government, placed, it 
 is true, at opposite extremes of the scale ; but both equally con- 
 ducive to happiness, and between which there is no medium. 
 " A nation must be perfectly free, or perfectly passive." "Liberty," 
 he says, " has been no where understood, no, not in Athens, but 
 in this happy island." And if in this respect he be in an error, 
 the motive is commendable. But though Mr. Eton does not mean 
 to recommend for imitation the other state oi perfect government, 
 as established in Russia, since unfortunately those, who have once 
 removed from it, cannot go back again ; yet he affirms, that the 
 whole mass of the people is more happy in Russia, than any he 
 has seen in three parts of the globe : " because there, the peasantry 
 look upon the monarch as a divinity, stiling him God. of the earth, 
 Zemnoi bog; ignorant of any government but a despotic sceptre^
 
 S6 
 
 and of any condition but vassalage ; happily deprived of all means 
 of eoil information. The soldiery, content with rye-biscuit and 
 water ; the nobility, unable to offer the least opposition to the 
 croM'n, depending on it for every honourable distinction of rank, 
 civil or military, conferred, but not inherited, and which he who 
 bestows can take away, while they who suffer must bless his name. 
 There is no law but the express command of the monarch, who 
 can debase the highest subject to the condition of a slave, or raise 
 the lowest to the first dignity of the empire. But this autocratic 
 sceptre exercises no despotism over the subject insulting to man- 
 kind : the Russian monarch is not, like the stupid Ottoman, seated 
 on a throne involved in black clouds of Ignorance, supported by 
 cruelty on one hand, and by superstition on the other, at wdiose 
 feet sits terror, and below terror death."* 
 
 Such is Mr. Eton's picture of a real, not an imaginary', Utopia. 
 Fortunately, he does not descend to the minutise of the blessings 
 which we, equally happy Britons, enjoy : but let us endeavour to 
 suppress envy, and while we rejoice in the consummate happiness of 
 thirty millions of people, let us rejoice no less in Mr. Eton's assu- 
 rance, " that other jiatiofis, being once remonedfrom such comforts, 
 need never expect to enjoy thcm."-\ 
 
 * Survey of the Tuikish <ni])irc, p. 433.^ — This happy system of govenimfnt wa*, 
 in part, formerly enjoyed Wy I'uland. " La le paysan ne seme point pmir lui, iiiai* 
 poiir I'es fcisitie'.irs, a qui, liii, son clianip, el le travail de ses mains, appartiennent, et 
 <jiii pcuvtiit le \< iiihe tt I'egoii^er a\ee le bi'tail de la terre." (Hist, de Charles XII. 
 Jiv. 2.) 
 
 + Two years after writing this eiilogium on the Russian government, Mr. F.ton 
 motf l-.i- ,>i'.>-i. . ripi, iLoi^-jdi botii were publibhed logellier. '] he Kmjjress Catherine
 
 S7 
 
 As the Ottoman Porte has long since abandoned all schemes of '/"^mina- 
 
 ■^ lion of thn 
 
 ambition, and religiously observes its treaties with the neighbour- j|Jj|"'''"' 
 ing states, the expulsion of the Turks from Europe must be founded Tm'kl'!' ' 
 only on some of the following ostensible reasons : either, because 
 they are not Christians ; or, because their title to the dominion of 
 their vast empire, though acknowledged by every potentate in the 
 world, must now be submitted to examination, as to its justice ; 
 or, because their government is despotic, and a great proportion of 
 their subjects are deprived of the exercise and enjoyment of civil 
 liberty, on account of their dissenting from the established predo- 
 minant religion*. Upon the same principles may the invasion of 
 a regenerating army be justified in any other country, wherein the 
 reins of government are as loosely held, and as unskilfully managed, 
 as in Turkey. I do not, indeed, believe that any European power 
 
 was then dead; and we are now told, " that it is time the voice of truth shall be heard. 
 It is only in foreign politics that she appears great: as to the internal government of 
 the empire, it was left to the great officers, and they inordinately abused their power 
 with impunity. Hence a most scandalous negligence, and corruption in the manage- 
 ment of affairs in every departmertt, and a general relaxation of government, from 
 Petersburgh to Kamschatka." (p. 450.) " She knew their conduct ; but was deaf, and 
 almost inaccessible, to complaint." (p. 451.) "The institution of general govern- 
 ments was a new burthen on the people of fifty millions of roubles, more than the 
 ancient simple regulation.':, a sum, equal to three fourths of the whole revenue of tlie 
 empire. The increase of vexation was still greater." (p. 45 1 .) 
 
 * Busbequius indeed gives another reason, which, whether it be so openly avowed 
 or not, will be the chief inducement for carrying into execution " the vast and generous 
 design" of conquering Turkey. " Sed si nee laudis nee honesti pulchritudo aniino.<( 
 torpentes inflammavit; certe utilitas, cujus hodie prima ratio ducitur, moveri potuit, ut 
 loca tarn pra;clara, tantisque commoditatibus et opportunitatibus plena, Barbaris erepta, 
 anohis potius, quam ah aliUveUemuspomderi," (Epist. i. p. 43.)
 
 S8 
 
 would publish a manifesto, grounded on such puerile arguments. 
 If the invasion of Turkey be commanded, the ratio ultima I'eginn 
 will silence argument, and enforce conviction on those, who can- 
 not immediately comprehend that the conqueror is acting for their 
 benefit. Besides, if the Turkish title to dominion in Europe be ill- 
 founded, I do not see how the case is altered by the interposition 
 <»f the Bosphorus and the Hellespont. Asia Minor formed no less 
 than Thrace, a part of the Roman empire, subjected to Rome by 
 unprovoked invasion, by forced or forged concession, and all the 
 arts which the most civilizetl nations resort to in practice, for the 
 extension of territory. The reasoning against the Turkish power 
 applies no less to Asia than to Europe. And must we recur to 
 mouldy records, to ascertain in what corner of the world the Turks 
 are to be consigned to peace and oblivion ? * Must they ramble 
 about in search of Eden, the first seat of the common ancestors of 
 mankind? or retrace their steps to Selinginskoy, whence M. Bail- 
 lie deduces the origin of human learning ? or must the summary 
 Roman method be resorted to, and peace be proclaimed, only when 
 their countrv is reduced to a solitude rt 
 
 ji.motencss -^j,g Chcvalier D'Ohssou is of opinion, that a revolution of prin- 
 ration. piple, and ti change in the system of government, may easily be 
 
 iU " We wislie<l," says Olivier, (p. 192.) " that the Turks might be forced to return 
 to tlie xvild and distant countries whence they issued." 
 
 t " Ul)i solitudinem faciiint^ pacein appellant." (Galgaci Orat. in Taciti Vit. 
 Affric. c. 30.)
 
 89 
 
 nitroduced into Turkey. It only requires a sultan, free from pre- 
 judices, superior to the institutions of his country, and the influence 
 of education ; assisted by a mufti, animated with the same zeal for 
 the public good ; and seconded in his views by a vizir of pru- 
 dence, courage, and probity.* lie ought to have known that the 
 revolution of many ages cannot be expected to produce such an 
 assemblage of virtuous and vigorous minds, endowed with know- 
 ledge so diametrically opposite to the principles of their education. 
 The example of Peter the Great, who for a time divested himself 
 of the pomp and power of sovereignty, in order to study the 
 sciences and the art of government in countries more advanced in 
 civilization than his own, is a singular phenomenon in the history 
 of mankind ; and a similar instance must not be expected to recur 
 in every thousand years. Conjectures are not to be assumed as 
 facts ; neither can T presume to venture any opinion on the pro- 
 bability of either event; though I sincerely wish, that the punish- 
 ment, which Volney denounces against the empire of the Otto- 
 mans, may be averted, either by their own prudence or by provi- 
 dence. According to this author, " the sultan, equally affected 
 with the same ignorance as his people, will continue to vegetate 
 in his palace ; women and eunuchs Avill continue to appoint to 
 offices and places ; and governments will be publicly offered to 
 sale. The pashas will pillage the subjects, and impoverish the 
 provinces ; the divan will follow its maxims of haughtiness and 
 intolerance ; the people will be instigated by fanaticism ; the 
 
 * Tableau General, Discours preliminaire, p. xxxiii. 
 
 N
 
 90 
 
 oenerals will carry on war without intelligence, and conlinuc to 
 lose battles, until this incoherent edifice of power, shaken to its 
 basis, deprived of its support, and losing its equilibrium, shall fall, 
 and astonish the world with another instance of mighty ruin.* 
 
 * Considerations sur la guerre actuelle des Turcs.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Code of laws. — Authointy and prerogatives of the sultan : — His 
 vicegerents; — His titles, — personal sanctity, — and absolute pow- 
 er. — Laws of succession. — Princes of the blood. — The Ulema, or 
 law-officers: — their classes, — privileges, — -functions and power — 
 inviolability, — submissioti to government. — Nature of the fetwa. 
 ■ — Order of legal dignities. — The priesthood. — Grand Vizir. — 
 Divan, or council of state. — Sublime Porte, or Ottoman cabinet. 
 — Domestic and foreign administration. — Government of pro- 
 vinces. — Revenues of pashas : — their modes of life : — precarious- 
 iiess of their offices. — Hazne, or sultans treasure. — Reflection 
 on the sultans direct interference in government,' — in adminis- 
 tering justice, — in conducting war. — Subjection of the people. 
 — Political, civil, and religious distinctions. — Means of redress 
 against tyranny and oppressiotz. 
 
 1 HE Ottoman empire is governed by a code of laws called Code ef 
 multeka, founded on the precepts of the koran, the oral laws of 
 the prophet, his usages or his opinions ; together with, the sen- 
 
 ia^vi.
 
 S2 
 
 tences and decisions of the early caliphs, and the doctors of the 
 first ages of Islamism. This code is a general collection of laws 
 relating to religious, civil, criminal, political, and military affairs; 
 all equally respected, as being theocratical, canonical, and im- 
 nuitable ; though obligatory in different degrees, according to 
 the authority which accompanies each precept. In some in- 
 stances it imposes a duty of eternal obligation, as being a 
 transcript of the divine will, extracted from the registers of 
 heaven, and revealed to IMahomet : in others it invites to an 
 imitation of the great apostle in his life and conduct. To slight 
 the example is indeed blameable, but does not entail upon the de- 
 linquent the imputatipn or penalty of guilt ; and a still inferior 
 authority accompanies the decisions of doctors on questions, 
 which have arisen since the death of the prophet*. This sacred 
 
 * Of the first kind, are the interdictions of the use of wine, the flesh of hogs, the 
 blood of animals, &c. &c. — Of the second kind, are the prohibitions against clothes 
 made of silk, vessels of gold or silver, &c. &c. — and of the third, the opinions respect? 
 jng the use of opiuiTi, coffee, tobacco, &c. &c. 
 
 Le teste du cotir'ann et celui du hadiss, recueil de toutes les lois orales de Moham- 
 med, portent le nom de nass, qui signifie le texte par excellence ; et leurs commen- 
 taires celui de tefiir. Le texte de tous les ouvrages theologiques et canoniqiies qui ont 
 ete fails d'apres I'esprit de ces deux premiers lixTes, s'appelle rnetltn : les commentaire* 
 qui les accompagnent, scherhh ; les explications qui en ont ete faites depuis, hascfiii/e, et 
 telles qui leur servent encore de developpement, ialikatk. Le code multeka qui 
 cmbrasse I'lmiversalite de la legislation religieuse est le resume de cette immensite 
 d'ouvrages. (Tab. Gen. V. i. p. 326.) 
 
 M. Ruflfin, on the authority of M. le Comte de St. Priest, denies that the multeka 
 is a code, since it is only the sum of the opinions of an infinite number of commen- 
 tators, who never made one single law. " If the koran," he says, " be not the code 
 of the Mahometans, they have none, and have at jnost only a jurispr.idtnce." (De 
 Tott, Appendix, p. 41.)
 
 93 
 
 deoosit h confided to the sultan in his cliaracter of cah'ph and *«""'»■"> 
 
 I ' and pierog-. 
 
 chief imam ; and he is invested with the sovereign executive "',',1!^^"'^""' 
 conunand.* On matters unforeseen, or unprovided for by the 
 iirst promulgators of the law, the sultan pronounces, as the 
 interest of religion, and the advantage or honour of the state 
 require. f These imperial decrees {pv khatt'y sherif,') considered 
 as emanations from human authority, are susceptible of modi- 
 fication, or even of abolition, and remain in force only during 
 the pleasure of the sultan or his successors. They cannot how- 
 ever be revoked or annulled on slight grounds, or without suf- 
 ficient reason ; for it is believed by the multitude that what is said 
 or done bythe sultans is so firm, as not to be retracted on any 
 human account.:{: 
 
 * Tlie title of Caliph, so important in the eyes of Islamism, as conferring the 
 powers of sovereign pontiff, administrator of justice, and doctor of legislation, was 
 obtained for the princes of the Ottoman dynasty by Selim the First, on the conquest of 
 Egypt. The rights of the caliphat had indeed been exercised by his ancestors fronv 
 the first foundation of the monarchy ; but under titles which indicated only the tem- 
 poral power, such as beif, emir, and sultan. 
 
 ■f La legislation religieuse donne expressement aux sultans, en qualite d'imams 
 tuprt-mes, la liberie de suivre, dans les affaires publiques, ce que les temps et les cir- 
 constances peuvent exiger pour le bien de I'etat et I'interet general du peuple 
 Musulman. (Tab. Gen. Introduction, p. 44.) 
 
 X The grand signer's signature called tughra is affixed by a proper officer, nishanji 
 pasha, not at the bottom, but at the beginning, over the first line of the mandate. It 
 the emperor intends a more than ordinary confirmation, he writes with his own hand 
 over the tughra, " according to the underwritten be it done." Such a khatt'y sherif is 
 held in great veneration by the Turks, who religiously kiss it when tbey touch it, ami 
 wipe off the dust on their cheeks.
 
 enu. 
 
 S4 
 
 Hm»ieeg2r- TJig sultan's delegates are the sheik islam or mufti, chief minis- 
 ter of the legal, the judicial, and the religious power ; and the 
 o-rand vizir, Avho as keeper of the seal of the empire, exercises 
 all the temporal authority and presides over the political admi- 
 nistration. ]\rr. Eton misapprehends the nature of this division of 
 power, as well as the power itself. He says, " The Ottoman 
 princes committed a political error, when they resigned the spiri- 
 tual supremacy into the hands of the theological lawyers, who 
 now share with the sovereign the direct exercise of the legislative, 
 txeciitive, KnA judicial poxocrs."* Eut an appeal to history, or an 
 observation of the actual state of things, will shew that the 
 legislative power, (if indeed it can be said to be exercised at all in 
 Turkey,) as also the executive power, reside only in the sovereign. f 
 The theological lawyers, as will be hereafter shewn, are invested 
 only with the interpretation of the law, and the administration of 
 justice between the citizens. J: 
 
 His titiss, 
 
 At court, when mention is made of the sultan, the appellation 
 of alem-penah (refuge of the world) is usually added to his title of 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish emph'c, pp. 20, 21. 
 
 t The sultan's titles of radishah-hlam, emperor of islamism, Imam-nl-MusUminn, 
 pontine of Mussulmans, Sultan Dinn, protector of the faith, confirm the assertion in 
 the text. 
 
 r- 
 
 % L'office des mmiftis consiste, non pas a interpreter a leur gre les prcccptes du 
 cour'onn ft les lois canojiiqiies, mais a les annoncer, a les puhlier, a les faire coniioitre 
 a tous ceux qui ont recours a leurs limiiercs. (Tal). Gen. V. iv. p. 496.) 
 
 For the history and move detailed account of the code mdtcka, see the introduction 
 to D'Oh^son's Tableau GcnOral, pp. 1 — 24.
 
 padishah, or emperor. His loftiest title, and the most esteemed, 
 because given to him by the kings of Persia, is zil-ullah (shadow 
 of God ;) and the one the most remote from our manners, thougli 
 common among all ranks of his subjects, is hunkiar (the muii- 
 slayer) ; which is given to him, not, as has been asserted, because 
 " in the regular administration of government, he executes 
 criminal justice by himself, without process or formality,"* but 
 because the law has invested him alone with absolute power over 
 the lives of his subjects. The Turkish casuists indeed attribute to personal 
 
 sanctity, 
 
 the emperor a character of holiness, which no immoral conduct 
 can destroy ; and as he is supposed to perform many actions 
 by divine impulse, of which the reasons or motives are inscrutable 
 to human wisdom, they allow that he may kill fourteen persons 
 every day, without assigning a cause, or without imputation of 
 tyranny.! Death by his hand, or by his order, if submitted to 
 "without resi^,tancc, confers martyrdom ; and some, after passing 
 their lives in .iis service, are reported to have aspired to the 
 honour of such a consummation, as a title to eternal felicity. .[; 
 His power, iu the opinion of their most learned civilians, is re-iutepowe; 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 30. 
 
 t Les vices ni la tyrannic d'un imam n'exigent pas sa deposition. (Tab. Gen. 
 V. l.p. 288.) 
 
 Cantemir, p. 7 1 . Note. 
 
 Rycaut says that " the grand signor can never be deposed or made accountable to 
 any for his crimes, whilst he destroys cauK/es^, of his subjects, under Uie number of 
 a thousand a day." (Present state of the Ottoman empire, p. 7.) 
 
 X Kycaut, p. 8.
 
 96 
 
 stricted only in the observance of the religious institutions ; for 
 in civil and political matters, the law admits such a latitude of 
 interpretation, that his will alone is sovereign, and is subject 
 neither to controul nor censure. 
 
 The sultan is the universal proprietor of all tlie immovable 
 wealth in the empire, except the funds destined to pious pur- 
 poses.* He is however restrained, both by law and custom, in 
 the exercise of this right over the property of subjects not imme- 
 diately employed in the service of government, and it is only in 
 default of natural heirs that such property lapses to the crown. "j" 
 The sultan is also the sole fountain of honour : from his pleasure 
 flows all dignity, all nobility, 'and all power. Birth confers no 
 privilege : he raises to honour, or debases, Avhom he pleases : 
 he seldom interposes his authority in the ordinary course of 
 affairs ; but he decides upon the conduct of his ministers or 
 his lieutenants with military promptitude, and with military severi 
 ty ; and indeed the constant interference of absolute authority, 
 threatening in its denunciations, and rigorous in its exercise, 
 
 * Haec ditio, in munus aut feudum nulli tradita, sed unius tantum nutui parens, 
 &c. (Montalbani, Rer. Turc. Comment in Turc. imp. statu, ap. Elzevir, p. 39.) 
 
 t Sultan Soliman respected the private property of a Jew, who reftised to sell a 
 house of small value in the centre of a piece of ground which he had pitched upon to 
 build his mosqne. De Tott, who relates the anecdote (V. l.p. 152.) says, that 
 " he consulted the mufti and obtained it by a just sentence." But though I do no^ 
 wish to detract from the merit of such moderation, I must suppose the sultan in this 
 instance, to have been apprehensive lest prayers, offered up on a ground possessed by 
 violence, sliould be rejected by tlic Jusi.
 
 97 
 
 seems necessary for enforcing the obedience of governors, in- 
 vested witli sovereign authority, throughout an empire so widely 
 extended.* 
 
 It is a constitutional maxim that the Ottoman empire' never f'*"" »<■ 
 
 ' succesiioi 
 
 falls to the spindle. The succession is established in the two 
 principal branches of the families of the Oguzian tribe, the 
 Othmanidfe and the Jenghizians. In case of failure in the 
 Ottoman race, a successor to the empire must be chosen from 
 the sovereign family of the Crim Tartars, which is derived 
 from the same common stock. f The prevalence of this pre- 
 judice, and the singular veneration of tl\e Turks for the reigning 
 family are the chief, if not the only support of the Ottoman 
 power. The janizaries, no less powerful and no less licenti- 
 ous than the prtetorians, have dethroned, but have never usurp- 
 ed the privilege of electing an emperor. The reaction of the 
 same principle, while it tends to the stability of the throne. 
 
 * Mr. Eton say?, (p. 27.) " tlie i'onns of administration are purely military. 
 This is so thoroughly the case, that the grand seignior is still supposed to reign, as 
 formerly, in the midst of his camp ; he even dates his public acts from his imperial 
 stirrup." I have searclied with some care for the authority on whicli Mr. Eton 
 quotes this fact; but 1 am still compelled to leave to him the " onus probandi." 
 
 + Cantemir's history, Preface, pp. 1 i, 15. Rycaut, p. 58. " Point de felicite," 
 ^ays the prophet himself, " point de salut pour un peuple gouverne par une femme ! 
 Ces paroles sont devenues depuis une loi fondamentale, et une des premieres majiinie^ 
 deJ'etat." (Tab. Gen. V. 1. \>. 215.) 
 
 o
 
 98 
 
 contributes no less to the personal safety of the great officers 
 of government. 
 
 The jealousy of the sultan can never be excited against his- 
 vizirs or his generals ; nor can the ambition of a subject ever 
 dare to aspire above the footsteps of the throne. The imperial 
 majesty slumbers in the arms of a minister, who is invested 
 with all the pomp and all the power of royalty ; to whom nothing 
 is left to covet except the imperial dignity, and whose precarious 
 existence is dependent on the favour of his master.* Yet though 
 every motive of ambition and self preservation, together with the 
 possession of such ample means, may seem to suggest the consum- 
 mation of treason and rebellion, the Ottoman annals do not 
 record an attempt, or any intimation of an attempt to transfer 
 the sacred diadem to a private head. The unity of the sovereignty 
 is essential to the very existence of a Mussulman community. 
 The Mahometan church acknowledges no legitimate form of 
 government except the monarchical, because of the necessary 
 union of the sacerdotal with the temporal power. It admits 
 of no division of authority, no partition of dominion : the 
 sovereign power is irreconcileable with curtailment or association^ 
 and like the state which is subject to its sway, is one and in- 
 divisible. Cara Mustafa Pasha, the vizir who conducted the 
 siege of Vienna in the reign of Mahomet the Fourth, is indeed 
 
 * Cum nihil tk amplius, prseter imperatoriura fastigium, quod concupiscere 
 Vizirius posse videatur : tunc levissima quaque de causa vel suminovetur ab onere, vel 
 jntetficitur. t^lontalbanus, ap. ]ilzivix, p. 1 9.)
 
 99 
 
 accused by historians of the design of assuming to himself the 
 title of sultan of Vienna, and founding a Mussulman empire in 
 the west.* The charge of treachery, against an unsuccessful 
 general, is easily credited. His attempt is reprobated by the 
 Turks ; but the authenticity of the accusation may be questioned, 
 as it rests merely on the report of a rival, and is not supported 
 by the evidence of any overt act. The empire does not descend 
 in a right line from father to son, but devolves to the oldest 
 surviving male of the Imperial family ; as in the instance of the 
 reigning emperor, who ascended the throne to the exclusion of his 
 cousins, the sons of Abdulhamid, his immediate predecessor. 
 This law, which was intended to guard against the inconveniences 
 of a minor's reign, is so far religiously observed ; but the right of 
 seniority even among princes of mature age, has not always been 
 respected. Osman, the founder of the monarchy, was the first 
 who deviated from its observance : on his death-bed he appointed 
 his second son Orchan to succeed him, instead of Aladin Pasha, 
 who was set aside, because of his love for retirement, and his 
 attachment to speculative studies. f The presumptiv^e heirs to ^"^"^^j^^^'' 
 the empire live in honourable confinement in the palace called 
 eski serai, and are placed by the law under the more especial 
 protection of the janizar aga (general of the janizaries), whose 
 duty it is to guard them from the cruelty or jealousy of the 
 sultan : hence he is honoured by them with the name of Ma, 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 304. 
 
 t Tab. Gcii.V. l.p. 2S4.
 
 100 
 
 tutor or foster-father.* The custom of iinprlsonhig the miner 
 princes is repugnant to the spirit of Mussuhnan legislation, and 
 is a law of the seraglio, dictated by fear and cruelty, the ruling 
 passions of an eifeminate tyrant. These victims of corrupt 
 political institution are sequestered from general society, except 
 •when they momentarily quit their prison during the festival of the 
 bdiram, in order to present their homage to the sultan. Sensual 
 gratifications, it has been said, constitute their only enjoyments.; 
 but sensual pleasures are an inadequate compensation for the 
 want of liberty, and even these are embittered by the reflection, 
 if men so educated are capable of reflection, that the oifspring of 
 their luxury is condemned to be torn from the first embraces 
 of its parents by the hands of an inexorable assassin. f 
 
 Thcuiema Thc ulcma, the perpetual and hereditary guardians of the reli- 
 ^ce*s: gion and laws of the empire, from which order the mufti is 
 
 * Lord Sandwich says, (p. 210.) that " Upon the deatli of one of these princes, the 
 janizar aga, with the cut kiahyasi, and the two cadileskers, go to the seraglio, where 
 they examine tlie corpse naked, in order to discover if there are any marks of violence.'' 
 
 f Dr. Pouqueville (Voyages, V. ii. p. 164.) affirms that " the noblest passions 
 of the Ottoman princes are disignedlj/ paxerted during their imprisonment in the 
 eski serai." But on what authority does he assert such calumny ? Cliarlos the 
 Twelfth, of Sweden, gives us a useful caution, against admitting reports on the mere 
 credit of a traveller in Turkey. " M. Fabrice ayant dit a sa Majeste," says M. de 
 la Motraye (Voyages, V. ii. p. 11), " que j'etois un voyageur, die lui rcpondit en 
 .souriant, J'ai rcmarque que Ics voyageurs usent du privilege dcs poiites, et nous en 
 donnent bien a gardtr."
 
 roi 
 
 d^osen, form a body liiglily respected and powerful.* Tlic **"*'>■ ^•■"'«' 
 venerable title of «</t'??2«, (which signifies doctors or learned men) 
 is common to the whole order, which is however divided into 
 three distinct classes, comprehending indeed the ministers of 
 religion, but distinguishing them from the foickahlia, or juriscon- 
 sults, who are again subdivided into muftis, or doctors of law, 
 and cadis or ministers of justice. 
 
 From the influence of this order of men with the people, they prmioies, 
 have sometimes been used by the heads of factions to stir up 
 rebellion, to direct the public opinion against the throne, and 
 to justify subsequent usurpation, but though, when united with 
 the janizaries, they may occasionally have thwarted the measures 
 of government, their power is little formidable in itself. The 
 honour and the prerogatives of their order, which form an 
 enviable distinction between the ulema and the other classes of 
 the nation, give them an important rank in the state, and a 
 powerful ascendancy over the minds as well of the court, us the 
 people. They pay no taxes or public imposts, and by a peculiar 
 privilege their property is hereditary in their families, and is not 
 liable to arbitrary confiscations. The preservation of these rio-hts 
 
 * The dignity is perpetual and hereditary, not in individuals but in tlie order. 
 " Autrefois" says D'Ohsson (V. iv. p. 545) " ces offices etoient perpetuels, mais 
 vers la fin du siecle dernier I'etat les rendit amovibles, comme fe sont toutes les 
 charges civiles et politiques. — Aujourdhui ces emplois sont annuels." Rycaut had 
 properly described the offices of the ulema, accordingly as they were held when he 
 wrote in tlie middle of the seventeenth century, and Sir James Porter, wlw copied; 
 from him, M'as not aware of the change which had taken place. 
 
 1
 
 102 
 
 and immunities consequently unites the rich and powerful families 
 of the ulema, and makes them forget their mutual jealousies, and 
 relinquish their schemes of private ambition, whenever it is 
 thought necessary to guard against a common danger. Des- 
 potism has sufficient range without invading their privileges, and 
 the Jeizms o( the mufti, in unison with the wishes of government, 
 have never been refused, but when the sceptre was falling from 
 the grasp of an unsuccessful or enervated sovereign. 
 
 The power of the ulema has been much magnified by different 
 writers. Those however who have latterly observed them, have 
 noticed what they suppose to be the declension of their influence, 
 and have imagined causes to account for it: formerly, it is said, 
 they admitted no one into their order, not even of the first pashas 
 families, who was not recommended by some extraordinary merit ; 
 but now the sultan creates ulema at his pleasure, and these ap- 
 pointments, where favour supersedes desert, have diminished 
 the consideration which they once enjoyed. The children o^moUas 
 are adm itted into the body of ulema with the consent of the 
 sheik islam ; but it requires an express order of the sovereign 
 to obtain admission for the children of other families, however 
 illustrious from their rank or dignities. It is nevertheless by such 
 that the superior offices are usually filled, though the custom is 
 by no means an innovation, as it has existed as long as the 
 monarchy itself. 
 
 An error of the first consequence, and which has misled most 
 
 functions 
 
 andpowets, wiitcrs iu thcir speculations on the nature of the Turkish govern-
 
 103 
 
 nient, is that which represents the ulema as the ministers of reli- 
 gion, exercising controul over the minds of men, still more 
 unlimited than that of the Christian clergy, in the darkest ageSj 
 and in the plenitude of their temporal power. The functions of 
 the ulema, the doctors and expounders of the law, are liowever 
 perfectly distinct and unconnected with those of the imams or 
 immediate ministers of religion. These do not even belong to 
 the order of the ulcnia, in the restricted meaning and general 
 acceptation of the word: their service is confined to the mosques, 
 and to the duties and ceremonies of public worship.* Mr. Eton, 
 however, calls the ulema "a powerful priesthood : — the teachers 
 of religion, combining the offices of priest and lawyer; — possessing 
 like the priests under the Jewish theocracy, the oracles both of law 
 and religion, and uniting in themselves the power of two great 
 corporations, those of the law and of the church. "f Sir James 
 Porter considers the ulema as " equal, if not superior to any 
 nobility," and balancing the power of the sovereign. " Their 
 persons,*' he says, '"' are sacred," and " they can, separaieh/, by 
 availing themselves of the implicit respect of the people and the 
 soldiery, rouse them to arras, mark out the point of limitation 
 transgressed by the prince, and proceed to a .formal deposition ; 
 nay, of such high importance is their intermediate poMer in the 
 
 * This distinction of powers is plainly inferred in the following passage : " Ui; 
 imam raineur n'a le droit d'exercer par kii-meme aucunes fonctions relatives a I'imameth, 
 m de faii'e aucun acte juridique ; prive de ce droit, il ne peut le deferer ni aux khatik' 
 et aux imanis-pretres, pour l't;xercice de la- r(rliqion, ni aux mol'MS et aux cadjis pour I'ud- 
 minlftratlon de la justice." (Tab. Gen. V. i. p. 276.) 
 
 ]• Survey of the TuiTivisli empire, pp.20. 37. 121.
 
 104 
 
 state, that a grand signer can never be deposed without tlieir coh- 
 currence."* Mr. Eton says, that "if the sultan were to omit 
 the indispensable preliminary of theye^ato any political act, the 
 mufti, niotu proprio, would declare him an infidel. "t And Peys- 
 sonnel asserts that the power of the ulema, counterbalancing that 
 of the sovereign, takes from the Ottoman government the charac- 
 ter of arbitrary power, for with such a constitutional check there 
 can be no despotism. J 
 
 invioiabi- De Tott, mth the best possible means of acquiring information 
 during his stay in Turkey, surveyed but superficially the people he 
 professes to describe, and wrote his memoirs under the influence of 
 prejudice. I appeal therefore to his authority, only when it is 
 confirmed by the testimony of history, or by my own observation. 
 We may, however, witli sufficient accuracy, ascertain from his 
 report, to what extent the profession of these gentlemen renders 
 their persons inviolable, and their characters sacred. " Indeed," 
 says he, " though the ulema can interpret the law as they please, 
 and animate the people against their sovereign, he, on the other 
 hand, can with a single word depose the mufti, banish him, and 
 even put him to death, with as many of the ulema as may fall 
 under his displeasure, "§ The law, it is said, authorises the sultan 
 
 * Observations on the religion, laws, government, &c. -of tlie Turks, preface, p. 33- 
 
 t Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 24. 
 
 I Strictures and Remarks on De Toti's memoirs, p. 208, 
 
 ^§ Dc Tott, Memoirs, V. i. p. J 89.
 
 to banish the ulema, but not to put tliem to death : and if any 
 part of the law could, by the collective or separate efforts of its 
 ministers, be kept inviolate, it certainly would be that article, 
 ■which so much interests themselves ; and yet we find that Murad 
 the Fourth commanded a mufti to be pounded to death in a marble 
 mortar, and justified this extraordinary punishment by saying, 
 that '* the heads whuse dignity exempts them fiom the sword, 
 ought to be struck with the pestle."* Nor is the respect of the 
 people or the soldiery so implicit, but that they have exercised, in all 
 its atrocity, their sovereign power against the ulema, who had in- 
 curred their high displeasure. During an insurrection in the 
 reign of Mustafa the Second, not only they put to death, with 
 horrid cruelties, a mufti who had, in their judgment, misled the 
 sultan ; but they went so far as to excommunicate him, denied 
 him the rights of sepulture, and delivered his mangled body to be 
 insulted over by the mock ceremonies of a Greek priest, f An 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 184, note. — The fact is mentioned by Cantemir, though he does 
 not quote his authority for it. D'Ohsson acknowledges it to be a popular tradition 
 among the Turks, that this punishment is reserved for criminal or refractory members 
 of the ulema ; but he can discover no example in the annals of the Ottoman monarchy 
 of its having been executed. (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 604.) 
 
 It has been said that the marble mortar, appropriated to the express purpose of 
 braying the bones of tlie ulema, was deposited in the seven towers (Rycaut, p. 107.)^ 
 but Dr. Pouqueville, who was himself confined as a state prisoner in that fortress, 
 assures us (Voyages, V. ii. p. 80.) of the contrary, " tandisque le plus grand nombrc 
 <\cs Turcs assUrent qu'il est dans le serail, efque les hflmmes les plus raisonnables pen- 
 sent qu'il n'existe pa.s, et que c'est un etre de terreur qu'on nc connoit plus depviis bien 
 «ies siecles. 
 
 1 Cantemir, p. 4.17- De la Motraye. V. i. p. 33?. 
 
 P
 
 106 
 
 ancient prejudice, founded on the respect due to religion and its 
 ministers, protects individuals of the order of the ulema from judi- 
 cial inflictions entailing infamy or dishonour. Imprisonment or 
 exile arc the only punishments to which they are now exposed, 
 unless the enormity of their offence be such, as to require severer 
 reprobation, and even then, before government denounces its sen- 
 tence against the criminal, it compels him to abdicate his profes- 
 sion, and to quit the turban which particularly distinguishes it 
 
 submission It js ilifficult to account for the introduction of the opinion, that 
 
 to govern- 
 
 ""'*• the powers of the Ottoman sovereigns and the i\Iussulman hierarchy 
 are in a state of continual opposition and warfare. " These two 
 powers," says DeTott, " have the same source, and it is easy to 
 perceive the disagreement and contention which must arise, since 
 their right is equal, and their interests different."* The abstract 
 power of the ulema, as well as that of every corporation necessary 
 for upholding society under any particular form, must consequently 
 have the same common basis as the monarchical power ; the fun- 
 damental laws, or constitutional usages of the empire. But, 
 though derived from the same source, there is this essential diffe- 
 rence between them, that, in the one instance, the constitution, 
 having established the order of succession, interferes no further in 
 the election of the individual, who is to exercise the sovereign 
 authority ; while it leaves to the discretion of the monarch, the 
 partition and appropriation to individuals of the authority to be 
 exercised by the different members, of a corporatiou : so tliat 
 
 * Wemoirs, V, i. p. 28.
 
 107 
 
 though it be admitted that the power of the ulenia is co-existent 
 witli the constitution, yet no individual of that body can hold it 
 immediately, or otherwise than from the good pleasure of the sul- 
 tan ; nor can he legally exert it, independently of, and still less, 
 contrarily to, his pleasure. Can men thus dependent on the 
 caprice of the sultan, not only for their appointment and conti- 
 nuance in office, but for their existence, form a balance to his 
 power, which is founded on the absolute command of the empire, 
 and the influence which its universal patronage must bestow ? 
 Rycaut properly estimates this so much vaunted constitutional 
 check. " Though the mufti," he says, "is many times, for cus- 
 tom, formality, and satisfaction of the people consulted with, yet 
 when his sentences have not been agreeable to the designs intended, 
 I have known him in an instant thrown from his office to make 
 room for another oracle better prepared for the purpose of his 
 master."* And indeed it is admitted by Mr. Eton, that "the 
 power which the sultan has reserved to himself of nominating and 
 deposing the mufti, creates for him, among the ulema, as many 
 partisans as there are candidates aspiring to the pontificate, "t that 
 is, the whole body of the ulema, unless we suppose that the doctors 
 
 * Present state of the Ottoman empire, p. 6. — An anonymous writer, who appears 
 to have filled the honourable station of bailo, or ambassador from the Venetian republic 
 to the Ottoman porte, in a memoir addressed to the senate, 4escribes the authority of 
 the mufti as a passive instrument in the hands of government. " Id tamen non igno- 
 randum est, hunc Moiftini perpetuo adulari principi, et ad ejus placita opinionem suaro 
 accomodare, suasque sententias ex temporum opporlunitate immutare." De urbe 
 Const, et imp. Turc. relatio incerti apud Honorium in Turc. imp. statu ap. Elzevjr< 
 p. 136. 
 
 t Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 23. 
 
 IT
 
 108 
 
 of Islamism, the followers of the ambitious Mahomet, are less, 
 aspiring than the humble professors of more self-denying doctrines. 
 
 It is inconceivable on what is founded the assertion that the 
 interests of the ulema are different from those of the sultan : they 
 neither legislate nor execute the laws; but merely expound them, 
 administer justice, and settle differences between individuals, giving 
 sentence according to law, with a latitude of interpretation which 
 is indeed allowed them, but which is regulated by precedent, and 
 the usages of their tribunal, and checked by the right of appeal, 
 which in cases of irregularity or injustice, is left open to either 
 party, from their decision, to the sovereign in council, where the 
 vizir his representative confirms or reverses the sentence.* Their 
 power can scarcely be supposed to interfere with any act of tht? 
 sultan, as in cases of treason, or which in any manner regard his 
 authority, he decides for himself, without reference or appeal to 
 Nature of them. Wc are told that the a:i"and signor cannot sign a treaty of 
 
 Ihffetwa. h to O J 
 
 peace withoift their consent, and in the same sense it may be said„ 
 that the signature of a minister is necessary to give validity to the 
 proclamation of a Christian prince ; but if the sultan require the 
 public sanction of the mufti to any political act, can we doubt 
 whether, if the mufti refused his approbation, the sultan would 
 hesitate between annulling the act, or deposing the mufti ? If a 
 
 * " Tlie prime vizir, as he is the representative of the grand signer, so he is the 
 head or mouth of the lawj to him appeals may be made, and any one may decline the 
 ordinary course of justice, to have his case decided by his determination — by virtue of 
 his unlimited power he can reverse the verdict and determine as he pleases." (Bycaut^ 
 p. 44.)
 
 109 
 
 successful usurper wish to gloss over his rebellion by zfetwa, would 
 he relinquish the sovereignty, or not rather re-instate the marble 
 mortar, if the mufti |)ersisted in his loyalty?* That the fetwa is 
 not even an indispensable preliminary is evident ; for in the reign 
 of Mahomet the Fourth, when the mufti joined with the dowagar 
 empress in protesting against an unjust infraction of the treaty 
 made with the emperor of Germany, his opinion was over-ruled by 
 the vizir and the army ; and war, unfortunately for the Ottoman 
 empire, was resolved upon.^ Neither religion, nor the law, nor 
 
 * " To this body," says Sir James Porter (preface, p. 33.) "the grand signor ap- 
 peals for a sanction to every important act of state, whether relative to peace or war; 
 and in every criminal cause, even in tliose in which his own servants are concerned, he 
 cannot take the life of a single subject, without the mufti's decree." 
 
 A Constantinople, quelque despotique que soit le grand seigneur, il ne pent sous- 
 crire a un projet de paix, sans I'avis du mufti ct le consentement des gens de loi." 
 (Hist, des negociations pour la paix conclue a Belgrade, V. i. p. 157.) 
 
 " In rebus politicis," says the Venetian bailo (Relatio, p. 136.) with a more pro- 
 found, knowledge of the subject than the English ambassador, " princeps ejusdem 
 (sc. mortlis) autoritate utitur ut sejustwn ac rdigiosum ostcntet. Ipsius enim petit re- 
 sponsum cum de bello liostibus inferendo, turn etiam de ca;teris quibuscunque rebus, 
 quse ad imperium spectent : quo scihcet religionis medio subditos disponit promptius 
 ad sua jussa peragenda." 
 
 t Tlie Ottoman court long deliberated whether they should grant assistance to 
 Tekelij.who ha.d revolted from the emperor of Germany and engaged almost all the 
 people of Hungary in his rebellion, or whether the rebels should be only supported in a, 
 private manner, until the twenty years truce, made by Kioprili Ahmed Pasha, should 
 be expired. The latter opinion was approved by all the ulema, together with tiie 
 sultana-mother, who declared it to be unjust to wage war with a prince, w ho had given 
 no cause of complaint, but had hitherto strictly observetl the conditions of the tmce. 
 (Cantemir, p. 296.) 1 willingly take this opportunity of shewing that breach of faitli 
 ■with Christians is not systematic with theTurksj in contradiction md^eed of the asser- 
 tions of Baron Busbek (de re mil. cont, Tur. inst, tons, p 271.) and of IMr. Eton, but
 
 510 
 
 the political constitution of the empii-e, impose upon the monarch 
 the obligation of consulting the mufti on the more important 
 affairs of state, or on the ordinary acts of his government. Piety, 
 or superstitious M'eakness, or more properly an habitual conformity 
 Av'ith established practice, induces the sultan to appeal in general to 
 the approbation of the legal authorities ; but in most instances such 
 proceedings are rather dictated by caution and policy, especially in 
 troublesome times, or in novel and hazardous enterprises. The 
 determination of the sultan, if justified by the unanimous opinion 
 of the chiefs of the ulema, obtains more implicit respect from the 
 people ; and being thus supported by the authority of divine and 
 human law, removes from the sovereign and his ministers all re- 
 sponsibility as to the evils which may eventually result from it. 
 Princes of more haughty temper and greater firmness of character, 
 suchasSelim the First, and Murad the Fourth, have, notwithstand- 
 ing, placed themselves above such considerations, and not only 
 neglected these formalities, but treated with disdain the wisdom 
 and tlie counsels of the mufti and ulema.* 
 
 On the whole, though, when goaded on by a turbulent soldiery 
 against an irresolute er luxurious prince, their holy clamour may 
 have increased the uproar of insurrection, yet never in any period 
 
 in unison with the opinion of the Turkish populace, who attributed to the peijury of the 
 porte the ill success of the expedition af;ainst Vienna, and afterwards dethroned the 
 sultan for having broken the peace before the expiration of the truce. 
 
 * Tableau General, V. iv. p. 513,
 
 of their history, did the gentlemen of the ulema, either collectively, 
 or separately, motu proprio, dispose of the Ottoman sceptre.* 
 
 Much outward honour, and many important functions are be- order of 
 
 "^ ' If'galdigni. 
 
 Stowed upon the ulema. They are educated under the care of pro- '''^" 
 fessors, called muderrks, in the academies, called tnedresses, annexed 
 to the Jamis^ or greater mosques, and chiefly of royal foundation. 
 From these schools are chosen the mehkkeme kiaiibi, or clerks of 
 tribunals; fta'iOs, or substitutes of the judges; cadis, or judges of 
 lesser towns; mollas, or judges of the principal towns or cities; 
 the istambol effendi, judge and inspector general over the city of 
 Constantinople; next to whom are the two cazy-askcrs, or supreme 
 judges of Romelia and Anatolia, who sit in the divan on the right 
 hand of the vizir : ami the highest in dignity is the vmjti, who is 
 also called skcik islam, prelate of orthodoxy, VM(}ifetxva saftibi, giver 
 of judgmients. The mufti always performs the ceremony of gird- 
 ing on the sabre, which answers to our coronation. He alone has 
 the honour of kissing the sultan's left shoulder ; and the sultan 
 rises up, and advances seven steps towards him ; whereas the vizir, 
 who is met only with three steps, with more profound reverence 
 kisses the hem of his garment. -|- 
 
 * Rycawt, (p. 19.) in his account of a popular tumult at Constantinople during the 
 
 ^minority of Mahomet the Fourth, gives an instance of the passive compliance of a mufti. 
 
 " He feared," says he, " that if he gave not his concurrence, he himself should be 
 
 killed, and the ralher because he overheard a discourse to that effect. — Pen and ink. 
 
 being brought, the mufti wTote the sentence." 
 
 ft 
 t Cantemir, p. 36. note. — " De tous les grands de I'efinpire, les oulemas du premier 
 erdre, tels que le mauplihj et les cazi-askert, sont les seuk qui aient la liberie d'aller ert 
 
 L
 
 112 
 
 Thf_pricst- Ti)e mere recapitulation of the degrees, by which the students 
 of the colleges rise to the highest professional dignities, must shew 
 that the ulema are wholly unconnected with the ecclesiastical 
 order. The ministers of rcligion, indeed, receive their education 
 in common with the ulema in the colleges, and together they form 
 the class of students, called softa:* but, when they have once 
 entered upon the ministry, so distinct are they from the body of 
 lawyers, that they are even arranged under a separate jurisdiction. 
 The kialar aga, or chief of the black eunuchs, and not the mufti, 
 is the delegate of the sultan's authority in the ecclesiastical de- 
 partment ; for it is he who is superintendant of all the royal 
 mosques, and receiver of their rents and endowments. To each 
 of these he constitutes an officer named mutevelli, or administrator, 
 who collects the revenues, and disburses the necessary expences for 
 keeping the buildings in repair, maintaining the priests, and pro- 
 viding whatever the splendour of public worship requires. The 
 offices' in the Turkish government, partaking of their peculiar 
 policy, cannot be properly compared to any similar ones among 
 Europeans ; and much misapprehension has been occasioned by 
 the attempt to render every foreign custom or establishment intel- 
 ligible by comparison. Cantemir says we may compare the jnujti 
 
 voiture. Celle du motiphty est couverte <le drap wrt, et celles des cazi-askers le sont de 
 drap rouge. (Tab. Gtn. V. iv. p. 1 8 1 .) 
 
 * " Parvenu a un certain age, et a «n degre suffisant de connoissances, tout softa est 
 maltre d'tmbrasser a son gre ou le ministere de la religion, ou le ministere de la loi, ou 
 le ministere de la justice. Lcs deux pr<Aiiers etats n'oflrent a I'ambition qu'une car- 
 r'lere assez bomee, mais aussi ceux qui se dcstinent au troisicmc, sont tenus A dc plus 
 Jongues etudes et soumis a des formalites phis rigoureuses." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 487.) 
 
 3
 
 us 
 
 to the pope, the cazv-asker to a patriarch, the violla to an arch- 
 bishop or metropolitan, the cadi to a bisliop ; and to complete the 
 hierarch}-, lie overlooks the separation of the professions, and com- 
 pares the imam to a priest and the danischmend or scholars to oiir 
 deacons. With equal propriety he might compare the sovereign 
 inanslayer of the Ottomans with the first magistrate, the beneficent 
 father, of a great, enlightened, and high-spirited people.* 
 
 Montesqiueu justly observes, that the seraglio of a despotic prince ^-^n^- 
 
 ^ vizir. 
 
 is always increased in proportion to the extent of his dominions, 
 and consequently the greater his empire, the more is he detached 
 by the seductions of pleasure from the cares of government. The 
 establishment of a vizir is therefore a fundamental law of despotism. 
 That such has been universally the custom of the East, is proved 
 by history,! and the concurring testimony of travellers; and still 
 
 * Cantetnir, p. 32. note. — The merit of this notable discovery is not due to Can- 
 temir : he is however accountable for the greater absurdity of having adopted it. I 
 find it first mentioned by Leunclavius, (In Turc. imp. statu ap. Elzevir, p. 201.) 
 " Ludovicus Bassanus Jadrensis in hunc modum comparat eos cum nostris ecclesias- 
 ticis. Primum, mvphtim dicit esse inter ipsos instar vel papK vel patriarchoe Grseco- 
 rum. Quippe juris omnis et sacrorum rex est, uti veteres etiam Romani lo«juebantur. 
 Huie proximi sunt cadckscheri, id est, supremi jndices, qui Arabum Maurorumque 
 lingua dicuntur cadi asker. Bassanus hos cum archiepiscopis nostris comparat. 
 Sequuntur aadii, veluti proximum post archiepiscopos locum obtinent episcopi. Secun- 
 dum hos sunt hoggia, qui seniores dicuntur, ut Grtecis et nostris presbyteri. Excipiunt 
 hoggias talismtmi, ceu presbyteros diaconi. Ultimi sunt dervisii, qui monachis nostris 
 respondent. Talismmi Mahumetanos ad preces interdiu et noctu quinquies dicendas 
 excitant. Clepsydris veteri more Graecorum utuntur, ad distinguenda tam diurna 
 tpiam nocturna temporum spatia." 
 
 t " And agaia Pfajaao said to Joseph ; Behold, I have appointed thee over th«. 
 
 Q
 
 114 
 
 more by a game of eastern invention, the origin of which is lost 
 in the darkness of antiquity. In the game of chess the moves of 
 the king are made solely Avith a view to his own personal safety, 
 while the vizir (which is the original name of the piece we call the 
 queen) moves rapidly in every direction, and regulates, and con- 
 ducts the campaign.* 
 
 The vizir azem, in the full exercise of his authority, is restrained- 
 only by the will of his master, and the fundamental religious laws 
 of the empire.t His responsibility is equal to the importance of 
 his office ; and the evils which result, either from injudicious admi- 
 nistration, or from misfortunes which no prudence can constantly 
 avert, are equally imputed to liim.:}: Subject to certain forms, 
 
 whole land of Egypt. And he took his ring from his o^vn hand, and gave it into his 
 hand : And the king said to Joseph : I am Pharao : without thy commandment no 
 man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Genesis, chap. 41. ver. 41, 
 
 42. 44. 
 
 * The latin name latrunculus seema evidently a derivation from the Persian satTarij^ 
 by merely giving it a latin termination, and by changing the first letter : as is at this 
 day the custom of the Turks, in order to give to a foreign word a signification in their 
 own language. 
 
 The Swedish king, Charles the Twelfth, endeavoured to correct this sluggishness, so 
 dishonourable in his opinion to the regal character : but habits are stubborn tilings, and 
 the sultan, when forced into action, did but accelerate the loss of the battle. (Voltaire, 
 Histoire de Charles XII. liv. iv.) 
 
 t " Nihil aliud vezirio prsescribitur, quam ut videat nc imperium aut imperator aliquid 
 detrimcnti patiatur." (Montalbanus in Turc. imp. statu ap. Elzevir, p. 28.) 
 
 X " Le premier ministre a le plus grand intertt de voir par lui-meme I'etat des come- 
 stibles, et d'inspecter la conduite des magistrats qui y sont preposes, Sa surete perso- 
 nelle en depend j parcequ'en qualite de vicaire du sultan, et dc lieu-tenant general de
 
 J!.> 
 
 when he proceeds against men united with the great or powerful 
 associations of the state, he exercises over all the dreadful power of 
 life and death. In time of war he commands the armies, and a 
 cdimaccmi, or lieutenant, U appointed in his stead for the home 
 administration. 
 
 The s;rand vizir is the ostensible president of the </ii/-rt« or g-reat niran.or 
 
 council ot 
 
 council, which on solemn occasions is called upon to direct the ■*'»'<'• 
 sovereign by their advice. The sultan himself, though present or 
 supposed to be present behind a curtain or latticed window, takes 
 no active part in their deliberations.* Formerly the divan was 
 composed, besides the grand vizir, of six officers, caMQdkubbe vizirs 
 
 I'empire, il en est responsable, et envers le souvcrain et envers le peuple, dont le mecon- 
 tentement et les clameurs, dans des momens de disette ou de calamite publique, n'ecla- 
 tent jamais que contre sa personne ct son administiation." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 45.) 
 
 * " Dominus ipse — nullam in consilio sententiam profert, sed velo tantum discretus, 
 quod visum adimat, aditum non interdicat, silentio consulentes observat." (Montalban. 
 ap. Elzevir, p. 5.) 
 
 " Suleyman, qui assistoit au divan, c'est-a-dire, derriere la jalousie placee au dessus 
 du siege du grand-vezir, entendoit tout, &c." (Tab. Gen.'V. i. p. 156.) 
 
 The spirit of the customs and institutions of the Ottomans eludes the transient obser- 
 vation of travellers. This latticed window which conceals the grand signor while he 
 overlooks the divan, and which is essential to the nature of the Ottoman government 
 (ne habeant quem sequantnr, vel ne revereantur imprudentes ab eo dissidere. Mon- 
 talban. p. 5.), is supposed by some gentlemen, who have been admitted in the suite of 
 «n ambassador, to be there for no other reason than to give the sultan an opportunity 
 of " gi-atifying an unprincely curiosity" by peeping at foreign ministers. De Tott 
 •fV. i. p. 23.) still more ridiculously asserts that he is placed there from the mutual fear 
 «f himself and his vizirs, as in that Bituation he can neither assassinate nor be assassi- 
 nated.
 
 from the hall in the seraglio where they usually hold their sit- 
 tings : their powers were limited to sanction, though not to direct 
 the measures pf government.* Of late years the council has in- 
 fringed upon the authority, but diminished the responsibility of 
 the vizir, and has assumed a dictatorial and restrictive voice on 
 questions of public importance.! The subordinate members of the 
 divan are now the capudan pasha, or lord high admiral ; the two 
 cazT/'Oskers; the grand treasurer of the empire; the second trea- 
 surer, chief of the war department; the grand purveyor; and the 
 nishandji effendi, who affixes the iughra, or cypher of the grands 
 signer, to public acts. J 
 
 Mr. Eton, who could have known the grand council only pre^ 
 viously to the infusion of aristocratical principles into its compo- 
 sition, describes it, however, as discussing every important act 
 of government, and deciding by a plurality of votes. But Mr. 
 
 * The nullity of the constitutional powers of the great council may be judged of 
 from the following passage in Rycaut, (p. 44.) " The vizirs of the bendi, because their, 
 riches arc but moderate, and the office they are in treats not much with the dangerous ■ 
 parts of the state, live long without en^-y or emulation, or being subject to that incon- 
 stancy of fortune and alteration, to which greater degrees of place are exposed." 
 
 t This change in the system of government, /row ichkh no benefit Ms hitherto resulted 
 to the state, was efiected soon after the close of the last Russian war, by the triumvirate, 
 as it T»as sometimes called, consisting of Raschid, the re'is effendi, Tchelebi Effendi, 
 minister of the war department, and Yusuf Aga, favourite and .steward of die dowager 
 empress. 
 
 J I do not offer this as a correct list of the cabinet ministers of the present day : they 
 arc so described in an account, printed at Constantinople, of the first audience of 
 M. Veminac, envoy from the French republic to the Ottoman Porte in the year 17?6. 
 
 1
 
 117 
 
 Eton is predeterniinctl thafr the ulema are priests, and that the in- 
 terference of ecclesiastics in the affairs of government is both inju- 
 rious to the subject and odious to the sovereign : In his opinion 
 the fohy of submitting to their guidance has, in no instance, ap- 
 peared more disgustingly conspicuous, than in the Turkish nation; 
 and an no scene are the mutual contentions of the sultan and the 
 ulema carried on with more virulence than in the divan, which 
 " as its membei's are swayed either by the party of the sultan, or 
 by that of the priesthood, serves to determine the relative power of 
 these two distinct bodies."* The cazy-askers, the only members; 
 of the ulema who have seats in the divan, are not, however, the 
 representatives of the priesthood, but, as their name imports, the 
 judges of the army ; a dignity created by Murad the First, and 
 after the taking of Constantinople, divided between two magi- 
 strates by MaRomet the Second. He first summoned them to assist 
 in the dehberations of his council, which until that period had' 
 consisted only of four vizirs : but he limited their functions to 
 that of superintending, in the presence and under the controul of 
 the grand vizir, the judicial proceedings of his sovereign tribunal. 
 The mufti, though head of the law and the Ottoman magistracy,- 
 never attends the divan, as it is thought derogatory to his dignity 
 to exercise any judicial power. 
 
 The palace ef the grand vizir, by a metaphor familiar tosuuimc 
 
 « , „ Porte, or 
 
 most of the Eastern languages, is called the porte, or king's *^""°'an- 
 
 ° ^ r > & cabinet. 
 
 * 'A' 
 
 Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 2 Si
 
 118 
 
 gate,* and hence the Ottoman court assumes the name of the 
 Suhhnie Porte in all puhhc transactions. It has been said that thii 
 appellation is derived from the gate of the seraglio, Bab-humdiun ; 
 and Dr. Dallaway in some degree confirms it, by asserting that the 
 Sublime Porte resembles a bastion, t But, tiiough it be true that, 
 in the east, the gate of a palace is the principal and most magnifi- 
 cent part of the building, and under its vestibule the princes and 
 nobles, like the chief of a horde of Arabs at the door of his tent, 
 •xercise hospitality and administer justice; yet the inconvenience 
 of such a situation for transacting the business of a great empire, 
 must soon have suggested the necessity of a separate establishment 
 for the vizir. The name of the porte was, howevei', continued to 
 that part of the city to which the public business was transferred, 
 because of the sameness of its political uses, and from its continu- 
 ing to serve as the door of communication between the sultan and 
 his subjects.;}: The Sublime Porte, however, so little resembles a 
 
 * " Der, mot persan, qui sigiiifie porte, designe dans tout Torient la cour d'ua 
 prince souverain," (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 99.) 
 
 t Sec Constantinople ancient and modern, p. 20. See also a conjecture on the 
 hundred gates of Thebes, in a note in Volney's Ruins. 
 
 'J'he comparison indeed is unfortunate, for there is no part of fortification which the 
 imperial gate less resembles than a bastion. 
 
 I Mr. Eton, though he had passed through Constantinople, appears ignorant even 
 of //ic- local situation of the palace called the porte. He says (p. 2C.) " All the business 
 «f government is transacted in the seraglio : the council itself is called the divan, and the 
 place of public audience the porte, or gate." (p. 21.) " Beside* llie vizir, all the other 
 great public oflicers of the empire, rtsideut at Coostantinople, inhabit the seraglio, or 
 at least have their offices there."
 
 119 
 
 bastion, that it even follows the person of the sovereign ; and Soli- 
 man the First, in conformity with this opinion, when at the head 
 of his army in Persia he ordered an officer convicted of treachery 
 to be sent to him for punishment, directed that he should be 
 brought in irons to the porte.* 
 
 The vizir azem, whose most important duty is to keep the Domestic 
 
 , . . ... ^Tid forei^.iL 
 
 empire and capital quiet, gives public audience every day in ad.ninistra, 
 
 "" fion. 
 
 his own divan at the porte for the administration of justice, 
 and the decision of controversies among the grand sio-nor's- 
 subjects. He is assisted, on certain fixed days, by the two cazy^ 
 askei's, or by the istamboi effendi, and the mollas of Eyub, Galata, 
 and Scutari. t The rcis effendi, among other important duties, 
 
 Mr. Griffiths, who was engaged in making observations " on the same subject and 
 occurrences, and at the same time" as Mr. Eton, (see Travels, page 168.) difTers how- 
 ever, in this instance, so far from him in the resuh of his researches, as to mistake the 
 forte or gate, for the port or harbour. (Page 174, hne 1 8.) 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 209. 
 
 f The constitutional power of the vizir, or that pow«r which best fiarmonizes witFi 
 a despotic establishment, is admirably represented by a foreign resident at the porte, 
 during the reign of Sehm the Second, (A. C. 1566 — 1575.) I shall not be sus- 
 pected of pleading the cause of despotism when I declare it to be my opinion, (found- 
 ed on events which I myself have witnessed in Turkey) that more beneficial, or rather 
 less injurious, consequences result from its being maintained in its integrity, than when 
 it is impeded in its progress, and checked in its exercise by institutions so foreign to 
 its nature, as the newly created commission ai nizami djedid ; a commission which 
 takes away the chief and only support of despotism, its promptitude and inflexibility 
 of decision ; whicli enfeebles the energies of government ; creates an interest foreigrv 
 to that of the monarch, and opens a wider field for corruption.
 
 JED 
 
 •performs the functions of secretary of state for foreign affairs, 
 and has subordinate to him in that department the dragoman 
 of the porte, a Greek interpreter, of one of the noble famihes, 
 whose next promotion is usually to the principality of Wallachia 
 or Moldavia. All the great officers of state remain, during 
 the day onl}', at the vizir's palace, and superintend the affairs of 
 their several departments. 
 
 lliose who love to represent the Turks as a horde of barbarians, 
 living without order, without laws, and witliout morality, and 
 sinking under the debilitating yoke of arbitrary power, describe 
 the porte " as a cabinet, not under the guidance of enlightened 
 politicians, but a set of wretches^ continually fluctuating between 
 the hope of amassing plunder by means of war, and enjoying 
 it in the tranquillity of peace."* We are, however, compelled 
 TO acquit them of the absurdity of acting upon such principles ; 
 for surely no minister of state was ever so little enlightened, 
 
 ■" In illo imperio alia non est auris, ad quam propositiones, responsiones, et mandata, 
 novitates omr.es, quas ex tot regnis nuntiantur, referantur. Ipse solus omnia munera, 
 omnes gradus, officia omnia et honores imperii totius, .qui nihilommus infiniti esse 
 videntur, distribuit. Solus audit, solus consulilur, et legatis respondet solus, oiiinibus- 
 que regnis providet, omniaque ipse ordinat : ad postremum ab ipso cuncta civilia, 
 rriminalia, politica dependent ; iieque aliud quain capitis ejus consilium attenditur, 
 a'.lamen in tanta auctoritaie, cum timore, ac summo respectu, minimam quamque 
 rem tractat, nempe quia variabilem principis naturam suosque aemulos pussas veretur, 
 
 (De Urbe Const, et, imp. Turc. relatio incerti apud Honovium. in Turc. impf. 
 •'.alu. ap. Elzevir, p. 133.) 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 108.
 
 129 
 
 as to renounce the solid emoluments of his office for so precariou;, 
 an advantage as tlie booty he might acquire by war and plunder. 
 Indeed, we know from better authority that the Turkish ministers 
 are sufficiently sagacious, and understand so well the interests 
 of their own country, that few can over-reach them in their 
 treaties.* Tlie failings they are reproached with are not peculiar 
 to Turkish statesmen, though it be admitted that with them the 
 preservation of their own authority is paramount to every con- 
 sideration, and that to urge the interest of the empire is use- 
 less, if their personal advantage or safety be endangered by the 
 measure, f 
 
 The frequent changes, in the higher departments, occasion 
 very little interruption in the order of public business : the dif- 
 ferent offices are accurately and minutely subdivided : every 
 thing is transacted with admirable conciseness, exactness, and 
 dispatch ; and the inferior officers continue unaffected by the 
 removal of their superiors.;]; 
 
 * Rycaut, p. 32. 
 
 t See Observations on the religion, kc. of tlie Turks, p. 120. 
 
 X " lis ne connaissent point cct encombrement d'ecritures, rette multitude de 
 lettres, de placets et de requetes, qui inondent les cabinets des ministres de I'Europe. 
 Un simple carre de papier renferme I'ordre laconique d'un vezir, qui sanctionne ou 
 rejette un aote. Les eonimis, assis sur un sopha, les jambes croisees, la pipe a la 
 bouche, fument et ecrivent tout a la fois. Un simple carreau leur tient lieu de table, 
 et «ne petite boite est le secretaire oii ils renferment leur papier, I'encre, et la plume 
 de roseau dont ils se servent, el ils travaillent aussi machiualemcnt qu'ils fument." 
 <Pouquevil]e,V. ii. p. 202.) 
 
 R
 
 123 
 Govern- Until the reign of Soliman tlie First, the sons and brothenj 
 
 ment of 
 
 provinces, ^f j.},g veiguing empcrors were intrusted with the government 
 of provinces ; but the frequent rebellion of Sohman's children 
 and the necessity he was under of punishing his fourth son 
 Mustcifa with death, occasioned him to ordain by law, that in 
 future they should be confined in the palace, called eski serai^ 
 until, in the order of events, they might be called to the suc- 
 cession. The greater governments are now confided to the sultan's, 
 lieutenants, who are honoured with the title of beykrbey, or 
 prince of princes, because they exert a superior jurisdiction, 
 over the governments administered by the pashas, the beys, and 
 the sanjacs. These different governments are distinguished by 
 the names of pashalik, musselhnlik, mivodalik and agaltk. Those 
 of the greatest extent are the pashaUks, and agaliks are the small- 
 est.* But though unequal in point of dignity, there exists 
 no subordination between the magistrates who preside over the 
 greater, or lesser divisions of dominion. Every governor is con- 
 sidered as representing the sovereign within the limits of his own 
 jurisdiction, is invested with his authority, and exercises his 
 prerogatives in all their plenitude. Contentious jurisdiction, the 
 power to determine differences between the subjects, is left to 
 the cadi, in conformity with the fundamental principles of Mus- 
 
 * The agas assume the title of hey, thougli it properly belongs to governors of a 
 rank superior to their own. Tiie following is the order of precedency : first the vizir 
 azem or grand vizir : next to him the pas)ia of three tails, wlio lias also the title of 
 vizir ; the pasha of two tails ; the ha/ who is honoured only with one herse-tail ; and- 
 the aga, or military governor of a district who has the sanjak or standard.
 
 123 
 
 sulmaii governmcntj and in imitation of the practice of the 
 jsultan. 
 
 Their revenues arise from certain fixed imposts on the cities, Revenue 
 
 of pashas : 
 
 towns, and villages, of their district, in some instances levied 
 immediately by themselves, and, in less independent governments, 
 intermediately by officers of the sultan. 
 
 It Avould be impossible exactly to describe the various means of 
 •collecting wealth, employed by governors, exercising such ab- 
 solute powers. Though despotism may be more severely felt in 
 the provinces, as redress is more difficult, yet we should hesitate 
 before we admit the exaggerated assertion, " that the principal 
 occupation of every pasha is to suck out the very vitals of his 
 province."* The real worth of pashaliks is indeed in proportion 
 to the number of tributary inhabitants, with respect to whom, 
 the Turkish officers may abuse their power, and indulge their 
 avarice, so as to extort from them all that exceeds the first wants 
 of life. 
 
 This matter will however be best elucidated by a particular 
 example, for which I am indebted to a gentleman who held 
 the office of French consul at Salonica, and who has written 
 on Turkish affairs with more truth, and more intelligence of the 
 subject, than any author \vhose works I have consulted. " The 
 pasha of Salonica," says ]\f. Beaujour, " holds by direct tenure 
 about twenty villages, from which he receives the tenths of their 
 
 ■* Survey of tlie Turkish empire, p. 53.
 
 124 
 
 yearly produce ; this revenue he farms for about sixty or seventy 
 thousand piastres : he collects, besides, at least an equal sura 
 from casualties : he makes by avanias or extortions, a hundred 
 thousand piastres, and if he be not a man of singular humanity, 
 he Qfives even a jjreater extension to this branch of revenue : 
 if he be covetous and rapacious, he absorbs the riches of the 
 country. Mustafa Pasha, brother-in-law to the sultan, who 
 governed Salon ica in the year 1799, remitted to the sultana, 
 his wife, a monthly pension of fifteen thousand piastres : his 
 household establishment consisted of five hundred men, and 
 a hundred and fifty horses, the maintenance of which must have 
 been attended with at least an equal expense. So that the 
 pashalik yielded to him a revenue of three hundred and sixty 
 thousand piastres, (or twenty four thousand pounds sterling) 
 without having recourse to compulsory or tyrannical measures ; 
 for, in the opinion of the inhabitants, he was accounted humane 
 and disinterested, which I also," continues M. Beaujour, "can 
 affirm to be true from my own knowledge and experience of his 
 character and conduct,"* 
 
 To the Mussulman inhabitants, who are protected by the civil 
 or military associations to which they are united, and whose 
 
 * Tableau du commerce de la GrecCj V. i. p. 47. 
 
 " Les revenus Ics plus reels <lu pacha sont des dotations, consistantes en fcrraes 
 attacliees a sa place; les requisitions en chevaux, meubles et denrees qu'il peut exiger; 
 J;i succession des fonctionnaives publics, dont les biens retournent au sultan, en cas dfe 
 inort ; I'installation dts evcques, celles des papas (prcttes Grecs.) ; enfin, ]es aumitt 
 (jui sont, pour tout homme en piace, une miBe qui rend en raisori de I'avidite et des- 
 extortions toujours impunies," (Pouqueville, V. i. p. 2^9.)
 
 125 
 
 complaints can always reach the throne, no jurisdiction can be 
 more mild and paternal; no government more humane.* The 
 Turkish, as well as the tiibutary cultivators, pay a quit rent, 
 in consideration of which, the Turks at least, are free and indepen- 
 dent. No people are less oppressed, or less subject to contri- 
 butions : their conduct is submitted to no controul, but that 
 of partial and indulgent law : Their rivers, their plains, and their 
 forests are common prop^erty ; and all have the right of hunting, 
 shooting, and fishing. 
 
 The mode of life and occupations of a pasha, governor of^^g^^j; 
 a province, are correctly described by Dr. Pouqueville, who during '''^^' 
 liis detention in the Morea as a prisoner of war, lived in the 
 palace of the pasha of Tripolitza, and was employed as physician 
 to his household. " They rise," he says, " at daybreak to 
 perform their morning devotions, which are preceded by ablution. 
 Pipes and coffee are then served. The pasha sometimes mounts 
 his horse, and amuses himself with seeing his pages exercise the 
 
 * In tlie provinces the. interests of the Turkish community are protected by a 
 council composed of the ayans, or overseers, who are men of the greatest power and 
 influence m the district. The word (lyan properly signifies eyes, and denotes in a 
 jigurative manner, the duties of these public guardians ; but integrity is not the distin- 
 guishing virtue of a Turk in office ; and the ai/ans too frequently connive at, and even 
 perpetiate injustice. " On appelle a ce conseil dans les affaires- importantes, ini^ou 
 deux vieillards de chaque orta de janissaires." " Tout Turc est ici (a Salonique) 
 janissaire et tout janissaire est soldat." (Beaujour, V. i. pp. 48, 52.) ^ 
 
 Chaque art, chaque metier est soumis k des loix particulieres ; et ceux 'qui les 
 exercent ferment des corporations distinctes et separees, sous le nom d'cssnaf. (Tab. 
 Gen. V. iy. p. 228.)
 
 126 
 
 dgerid, and sometimes he gives public audiences. He then 
 administers justice in person, and pronounces judgment on 
 whatever regards the pubHc government : he imposes fines or 
 penalties, sentences to the bastinado or the gallows, condemns 
 or acquits, according to his pleasure ; for all power is in his 
 hands. At noon, public prayers and dinner : at three hours 
 after mid-day, prayers again, military parade and music. He 
 then enters his selamlik or drawing-room, receives visits, and 
 amuses himself with listening to storytellers, or with laughing 
 at the grimaces and antics of his buffoons and jesters, or with 
 chanting verses of the koran. At sun-set prayers and supper, 
 and afterwards pipes and coflfee. An hour and a half after the 
 close of the day he performs his fifth and concluding devotions ; 
 and immediately the military music sounds the retreat, and the 
 whole family retires to rest."* The agas, at least those in Ma- 
 cedonia, reside in their castles, surrounded by a guard of Al- 
 banians, and live in a state of constant warfare with each other, 
 like the ancient barons. The victorious aga burns the plantations 
 of his enemy, and carries away whatever he can seize upon, 
 his wives or his cattle. Their ravages are seldom intermitted, 
 or their animosities suspended, except during certain festivals 
 of their religion, which operate in the same beneficial manner, 
 though they occur less frequently than what was formerly 
 denominated the truce of God, the pious invention of the Chris- 
 
 * VoyageB en Morce, a Constantinople, et en Albanie, V. i. p. 53. 
 
 3
 
 127 
 
 tian clergy to resfraiti the mutual contentions &f the feudal 
 nobility.* 
 
 All the officers of government owe their appointment to the precnriowi 
 
 _ , , lien's ofXh<iic 
 
 sole favour of the sultan, without respect to birth, talents, services, office. 
 or experience of business. They are deposed or punished without 
 the liberty of complaint or remonstrance ; and, at their death, 
 the state inherits their property. Such is the constitution of 
 arbitrary power : but the immediate appointments of the sultan 
 must necessarily be confined within the narrow circle of his 
 personal acquaintance, which scarcely extends beyond the limits 
 of his palace: the nomination to offices is consequently delegated 
 to his ministers and favourites. It is a fact of public notoriety 
 that governments of every description are sold at the porte ; they 
 are held for the term of one year only, and at the ensuing bdiram 
 the leases must be renewed, or transferred to a less parsimonious 
 competitor. In the public registers the precise value of every 
 important post under government is recorded ; and the regular 
 remittance of the taxes and tribute is the only acknowledged 
 criterion of upright administration. If the stipulated revenue 
 duly enter into the coffers of government, no enquiry is made 
 ■whether it has been collected by harsh or by lenient measures, 
 whether it has been extorted by tyranny and oppression from 
 a wretched and diminished population, or willingly contributed' 
 from the superabundance of private wealth,' as a homage to 
 virtuous administration. Hence it is that s>-overnors of distant 
 
 &^ 
 
 * See Tableau du commerce dela Grece, V. L p. 5€.
 
 12S 
 
 provinces, availing of the resources of their districts, have, in 
 frequent instances, so firmly established themselves as to resist 
 efficaciously the right of the sovereign to eject or dispossess 
 
 ■J 
 
 ^em. When a pasha, from a sense of his own strength or of 
 the weakness of government, aspires to independency, he with- 
 holds the contributions due to the porte : he however negotiates 
 while he threatens, and if the attempt fails of checking his 
 insolence by the interposition of a capigi bashi as an executioner, 
 the same officer is commissioned on the part of the sultan to 
 confirm him in his dignity, to sanction, and even to recompense 
 his revolt by conferring on him additional honours. In this man- 
 ner the pashas of Scutari and Yanina in Europe, and of Bagdad, 
 and Damascus in Asia, besides several others, have made them- 
 selves independent of the porte, in one sense only, and may 
 perhaps succeed in rendering their fiefs hereditary in their fami- 
 lies,* This conduct which in Christendom would be called 
 rebellion, the porte in its parental kindness considers rather as 
 the caprice of a splenetic child. Its maxim is to yield to neces- 
 sity, and to sooth the undutiful subject, instead of irritating 
 him into avowed rebellion : but the contempt of its authority 
 leaves an indelible impression. While they accumulate honours 
 on the fortunate usurper, they constantly keep in view the 
 
 * Depuis le regne d'Abdnl-hamid, qui est IVpoque d'une plus grande acceleration 
 dans la decadence de I'empire Ottoman, les agrdilcs de la Grece sont souvent conquis 
 de vivo force par dcs avtnturieis Albanais. I.a Porte donnc alors riiivcstiture qu'elle 
 ne peut reCuser. Quelquesuns de ces iigus heureux ont mrine usurpe d:ins ces dcmiers 
 teins Aea vairodalih ; et a juger de leur coiidnitc I'utiiie ] ar lii inanlcrc dont ils ont 
 debute dans leur entreprise, il est a craiudrc qu'ils a'tu\ aliisscnt bicjitot dcs p:ich<ilili:i. 
 (Beaujour, V. i. p. 12.)
 
 129 
 
 lieinoiisuess of his offence ; and if once his circumspection is 
 lulled to sleep, if once he can be seduced by the allurements of 
 ambitioH to abandon his strong holds, and to accept of a govern- 
 ment of a higher order, the tardy but persevering minister of 
 vengeance unexpectedly presents himself, and terminates his 
 golden prospects in death,* On the invasion of Egypt by the 
 French, the pashas of several important provinces were considered 
 as in open rebellion against the porte, yet, though each asserted 
 bis independence, none of them refused to obey the summons of 
 government, and to furnish their contingent of troops : f nor 
 are they obedient in this respect only ; each of them maintains 
 at court his agent or capi kiahi/a, through whom he. regularly 
 remits the taxes, due to the miri, and through whom lie solicits, 
 as a token that he has not incurred his sovereign's displeasure, 
 tlie honour of being legally appointed to collect the hai^atch^ 
 
 * This mode of proceeding is proverbially said by the Turks to ibe fitmting the hare 
 in a waggon dravrn bj/ oxen. 
 
 t Dr. Pouqueville, (p. 179.) in describing the preparations for war ac;ainst the 
 French in the year" 1 800, enumerates the reinforcements which were to be sent from 
 the different provinces to the grand vizir's army. It is curious that in the following list 
 he merely recapitulates those provinces, which in a preceding note (p. 176.) he hud 
 pronounced to be in rebellion, 
 
 " Le pacha de Bagdad va se soumeltre, i'l conduit une armee levee sur Ics bords de 
 I'Euphrate ; le pacha de^Damas, enneini jure du nom Frangais, commande des forces 
 considerables ; le farouche Djezzar ^ rassemble vingt mille hommes ; les bords du 
 Jourdain doivent voir tant de guerriers reunis sous les ordres du vezir supreme. La 
 Mecque, Medine, les Arabes se sout armcs et traversent la mer Rouge. Unis 
 aux Nubiens et aux sheiks de la Haute Egypte, ils attaqueront les Franyais dans le 
 Said.
 
 J 30 
 
 or poll-tax levied on the rayahs, within his own juri3<liction.. 
 There are however some fiefs, as well in Europe as in Asia, which 
 liv original donation are liereuitarv in certain families. Mehemnied 
 Bey was created hy Selim the First, beylerbcy of Diarbekir, and 
 the province was given to him malikiaue, that is, for the term 
 of his own life, and with the privilege of transmitting it 
 by descent to his male children. In this manner Cara Osman 
 Oglu governs at Magnesia in Asia Minor, and the family of the 
 Ghavrinos, who conquered Macedonia, still possess several agalihs- 
 in that province by virtue of similar concessions.* 
 
 It has been said, and no assertion has been more generally 
 credited, that no sooner liave they amassed property, than they 
 are cut off by the sultan, in order to enrich his own treasury. 
 It is however difficult to suppose that avarice, the mere desire 
 of hoarding up treasures, can ever be the vice of an Ottoniaa 
 sovereign ; and it would be difficult to prove, in the whole 
 history of the empire, that a sultan was ever actuated by such a 
 sordid motive. It must be recollected that the iniri or public 
 treasury, and not the sultan, is heir to the officers of government. 
 The sultan, whose private wealth exceeds the bounds of his 
 caprice, is restrained from direct misapplication of the public 
 funds, which are reserved for the exigencies of the state. The 
 courtiers, indeed, may inflame the mind of their master against 
 a wealthy pasha, whom they wish to supplant ; but unless he 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 153. Tab. Gen. Y. ii. p. 533. Beaiijour, TA. du commerce de 
 la Grece, V. i. p. 11.
 
 151 
 
 rrs in making too sparing a distribution of his presents, the 
 •courtiers and ministers of state derive more benefit from his gifts, 
 than they could hope for from confiscation. 
 
 It would appear, from the credidity with which the most "■]^"'^*" 
 improbable stories are received by the most sensible men, that ''"'=*""'=• 
 a longer residence in a country than a traveller usually allows 
 himself, is necessary to familiarize him with foreign customs, 
 so as even to enable him to draw pure information from the best 
 sources. Lord Sandwich, the posthumous publication of whose 
 voyage round the IMediterranean is honourable to iris memory, 
 and ranks him in the first class of travellers iu Turkey, has 
 notwithstanding admittetl, without hesitation, an account of the 
 sultan's private property, which surpasses belief. " To con- 
 ceive," says his Lordship, " the almost incredible value of this 
 immense ti'easure, it will be necessary to figure to oneself Me tw^^ 
 riches of the "whole series of the Greek emperors, which, together 
 with their capital, fell into the hands of Sultan Mahomet ; 
 as also the wealth of the many conquered provinces, annexed 
 to the Turkish empire, besides all the magnificent presents, that 
 have, for these many ages, been made by different sovereigns, 
 who have been desirous of paying their court to the chiefs of this 
 powerful monarchy : which, being daily increased by the con- 
 tinual forfeitures of the pashas and vizirs, must undoubtedly 
 (constitute a treasure of an inestimable value." * 
 
 * Voyage round tlie MediteiTanean in the years 1738, and 1739. p.' 175. 
 
 " Every sultan leave-; what is called his treasure in the vaults of the seraglio, and 
 
 3
 
 132 
 
 If for a moment ve can credit the history of such an useless 
 accumulation of the M-ealth of ages, and the spoik of the world, 
 we must at least extend to the Greek emperors themselves, and 
 even load M'ith additional severity, the reproaches which Dr. 
 Johnson so beautifully expresses against their subjects. 
 
 " That wealth, too sacred for their country's use ! 
 That wealth, too pleasing to be lost for freedom ! 
 That wealth, which, granted to their weeping prince, 
 Had rang'd embattled nations at their gates : 
 But, thus reserv'd to lure the wolves of Turkey, 
 Adds shame to grief, and infamy to ruin." 
 
 Hctifciions In tiie history of the former ages of the Ottoman empire, we find 
 
 on the sul- "' ^ ' 
 
 S^erfer-""^' that the sultans frequently interfered in the ordinary administra- 
 gov!m- tion of government, and generally headed their armies in person. 
 
 luent. 
 
 But whatever advantages the Roman world might derive from the 
 superintendancc of such enlightened emperors, as Trajan or the 
 Antonines, the ignorant zeal of the Turkish sultans only heightened 
 the evils and horrors of despotism. What advantage could, in- 
 deed, be expected from the superficial enquiry, and hasty decision, 
 of men ignorant of the first principles of justice, intoxicated with 
 
 every sultan lliinks it a duty to leave as^ considerable a sum as he can, — they attach. 
 €ven a vanity to it." (Survey of the Turkish Empire, p. 52.) 
 
 " Riches, — amassed and piled up in several rooms in the scragllo^of which there 
 have been collections and additions in the time almost of every emperor, distinguished 
 and divided by the names of the sultans, through whose industry and frugality they bad. 
 been acquired." (Rycaut, p. 36. J
 
 133 
 
 absolute power, and whose ears no renvonstrance against their own 
 conduct had ever reached, except such as is faintly conveyed in the 
 groans of niiserahle men ? A vizir may be cliecked in the exertion 
 of his delegated authority by the apprehension that truth, or ca- 
 lumny, may disclose, or blacken, his conduct to his master; but 
 the will of a tyrannical monarch can only be restrained by the 
 menaces of religion, and the dread of insurrection, which scarcely 
 even enter into his contemplation, until announced by the approach 
 
 of death, or by popular tumult. Though the sovereign, on hisinadmini- 
 
 stpritjg jus- 
 tribunal, be superior to any consideration of personal interest; yet^*^"' 
 
 the mind of a despot is not less assailable by motives foreign to the 
 abstract merit of the cause, than that of a plebeian judge. Though 
 he be sincere in the investigation of truth, yet the boldness of 
 conscious integrity may to him appear shameless effrontery ; the 
 adherence to truth, obstinacy in error; and the perturbation of 
 modesty, the confusion of guilt. Would calumniated innocence 
 dare to exert her eloquence before such a tribunal? could she liope 
 to smooth the angry brow, to dispel the cloud of prejudice, and to 
 inspire the mind with candour to condemn a precipitate judgment, 
 or to retract a hasty sentence? The despotic judge will appeal in 
 vain for guidance to the learned and the wise. Even the ministers 
 of religion resign the inflexibility of their virtue, and become the 
 obsequious instruments of the will of the monarch. So, vvhen Soli- 
 man antl Peter, the legislators of Tuikey and Russia, determined 
 to put their sons to death, they found no difficulty in obtaining the 
 fetwa of the mufti^ or the sentence of the patriarch. 
 
 In tkeir eagerness to do justice, some of the wisest sultans have
 
 134 
 
 been hurried into cruel and disproportioned retaliation : as Soli- 
 man the First, who not being able to apprehend some Albanians 
 who had committed theft and murder, ordered all of that nation in 
 Constantinople to be sought after to a man, and put to death, for 
 the crime of their countrymen ; and again, because the molla and 
 cadis were killed at Aleppo by the populace, he sent an army, to 
 put to death indistinctly, all the inhabitants, without enquiry after 
 the perpetrators of the murder.* Theodosius, a wise, humane, and 
 Christian emperor, and the republic of Athens, the most enlight- 
 ened and the most liberal of nations, had precipitately authorized 
 similar excesses. The evils of rashness are aggravated in Turkey, 
 by the irrevocability of the sovereign's sentence. The brow of the 
 tyrant may express, as Soliman's did to the penetration of Busbe- 
 quius, the anguish of his mind : but the sultan cannot, like Theo- 
 dosius, expiate criminality by public penance, or arrest it in its 
 execution like the Athenians. Let me pay a tribute to the memory 
 of this illustrious people. The general assembly of Athens had 
 condemned to death, in one undistinguishing sentence, the inha- 
 bitants of Mitylcne in the island of Lesbos ; but a single night's 
 reflection produced repentance and remorse : the orders for the 
 execution were already dispatched, when the assembly resumed its 
 sitting, to discuss the justice and propriety of its own decisions. 
 With what ingenuousness did they confess their fault, with what 
 eagerness did they proceed to repair it, and with what celerity was 
 the galley dispatched to' Lesbos, with the mitigated sentence? 
 )low truly great and amiable was this people ! The world can pro- 
 
 * Canteinir, p. 183,
 
 13S 
 
 dace but this solitary instance of unforced repentance in a popular 
 assembly. When criminality is subdivided, it is lightly felt ; but 
 every Athenian citizen acknowledged the whole guilt of this public- 
 act of injustice, in which he had concurred. Who, from such 
 examples, would wish that absolute power should be confided to 
 the feeble hands, and erring judgments of mortals, either separately 
 or collectively ? Rather let it riot, in the comparatively innocent 
 luxuries of the seraglio, than aim at augmenting the happiness of 
 a nation, by the best intended administration of government. 
 
 The sense of duty in an Ottoman sultan, may be jtidged of by 
 the objects, which Soliman wished to be able to accomplish ; the 
 building of the mosque which bears his name, the reconstruction 
 of Valens's aqueducts, and the conquest of Vienna ;* objects, 
 which in his judgment, were most highly conducive to the glory 
 of God, the comfort of true believers, and the extirpation of false 
 doctrine, heresy, and error. The sultan still presides, or is sup- 
 posed to preside, in his own tribunal, ghalibc divan, which is held 
 every Tuesday; but the whole is a harmless shadow of former 
 visage. The affairs are of little consequence, though every thing 
 is conducted with shew, and ceremony, and ostentation. For the 
 edification of the people, and as u convincing proof that the grand 
 signor interests himself in the concerns of his subjects, the vizir is 
 frequently summoned during the course of a trial to attend his 
 sovereign, and receive his instructions, as to the sentence. At the 
 beginning of a reign, to impress his good city of Constantinople 
 
 * Busbeq. Epist. p. 264,
 
 "^ 136 
 
 ^vlth a favourable opinion of iheir new monarch, some human 
 sacrifices are constantly offered. Sometimes a Mussuln'an, in- 
 vested with an ofiice of emolument, who may have formerly incur- 
 red the displeasure of some of the new favourites, is brought for- 
 Mar<], accused by his sovereign of malversation, and beheaded in 
 his presence: or more frequently an infidel, who by wearing slip- 
 pers of a forbidden colour, is presumed to have usurped the privi- 
 leges of the jNIussuhnan people, is punished with death, and 
 trampled upon for three days in the public street. 
 
 la-j war. 
 
 in conduct- W-hen tlic sultans headed their armies, the fruits of the earth 
 failed, and the face of nature witherejd at their approach. Busbe- 
 quius had traversed the conquests of Solimau : " the corn," says 
 he, " which such a calamity has depressed, will never again rear 
 its head."* Their voice was the voice of desolation; their lan- 
 guage, extermination and death. " The city," said the agonizing 
 Sultan, with heart- felt regret, " the city M'hose hearth is to be 
 extinguished, is not yet taken:" and, on his death bed, he devoutly 
 addresses " the God of all worlds, the sovereign and lord of all 
 creatures, to have pity on the host of the faithful, and graciously 
 assist them, in accomplishing" — this work of hclLf According 
 to their belief, no war should be undertaken without a just cause ; 
 but the propagation of the faith was the broad mantle, which 
 covered, from themselves, every unjust and dishonourable motive. 
 Hence their wars have all lia<l the character of religious Avars, and 
 
 * Busbeq. de re mil. cont. Tur. instit. consilium, p. 273. 
 •f Cantemir, p. 215.
 
 137 
 
 they rushed out, glowing with a hoi}- zeal, to murder the aged 
 parent, and the l\elpless infant; ijut reserved their mercy for the 
 tender maidens, who, as vessels which had providentially escaped 
 contamination, were capable of being a])plied to holy ourposes. 
 To the noble feelings of sovereigns on these glorious occasions, we 
 are to attribute the murderings of Jenghiz Khan, and the compara- 
 tive clemency of Tamerlane. The warrior is indeed placed be- 
 tween heroism and crime, and the best conquerors hold but a 
 middle rank between cruelty and justice. We may be shocked at 
 the severities exercised by them, yet since the world has agreed to 
 worship conquerors, we are wrong in imputing to them the evils 
 inseparable from war, and expecting from them the mild virtues of 
 Numa Pompilius. Let us not, however, regret, that, since the 
 decline of the military spirit among the Turks, their sovereigns, 
 soraewhat less enamoured than formerly of the glories of warfare, 
 have sacrificed their fame to their repose, and sunk into insignifi- 
 cance in the voluptuous gratifications of the harem. 
 
 The Turks, indulgent to the follies, the vices, and even the 
 crimes of their sultans, are nevertheless severe in arraigning the 
 conduct of those, whom they consider as too much addicted to the 
 pleasures of the chace. I am at a loss to account for an intolerance 
 so singular and so little agreeable to reason, unless perhaps it owes 
 its origin to one of the popular sayings, wliich are familiarly and 
 generally used in ordinary conversation among the Turks, as 
 among all the eastern nations, although, in many instances, their 
 authority is owing rather to a certain alliteration or a jingle ot 
 syllables, than to the shrewdness or profoundness of the thought 
 
 T
 
 338 
 
 which they infold. " He that kills a sportsman or a gamester," 
 says the proverb, " shall be accounted a hero :" and assuming this 
 as an irrefragable truth, the ulema, when they were put forward to 
 foment rebellion against the unfortunate Mahomet the Fourth, 
 ^ep^esented to the people that the divine wrath against the 
 Ottoman nation was manifest, since the sultan was become sa 
 infatuated, as to suppose that the bounds of the Ottoman empire, 
 which had been extended by the labours and the blood of so many 
 IMussuhnans, covdd be defended by hounds and falcons.* 
 
 Subjection In thc Opinion of Mussulmans, the law of the Koran is no less 
 
 of the pi^o- 
 
 pie. binding on the prince than on the meanest of his people. While 
 
 this law is religiously observed, and history furnishes no instance 
 of its infringement in any essential point, the devotion of the sub- 
 ject corresponds with the unlimited authority of the monarch i 
 every one acknowledges obedience to the absolute power of the 
 sultan, and every one practises it. The rebellion of pashas, as 
 has been shewn, is not an abnegation of the sultan's authority ; 
 for they always name him with reverence and obey his commands, 
 except when he requires the resignation of their own power, or the 
 weakening of their own stability : their revolt affects only the 
 ministers and courtiers, who indeed suffer by the independence 
 of a pasha, as they are thereby deprived of their dues of office, 
 and the annual presents which ihcy are entitled to on every new 
 
 ♦ appointment. Submission to the sultan, both as spiritual and: 
 
 temporal, chief, is universal in theory, but from the remoteness 
 
 * Cantemirjp. 337.
 
 13^ 
 
 and indistinctness of its proper object, it is naturally trartsferred 
 to more immediate superiors. Yet we have seen the body-guard of 
 an usurper stopped in the act of taking vengeance on an assassin, 
 by his producing the sultan's mandate for the execution of their 
 master. Armed with this alone, he gains admissiotl into the 
 household, or insinuates himself into the confidence, of a rebel. 
 Relying on no other protection, he disregards the fierce aspect 
 of his myrmidons, and their professions of inviolable attachment : 
 he singles out his object from the midst of them, he aims his 
 blow, and, if it be well directed, the baseless structure of power 
 is in one instant demolished, and the current of popular loyalty, 
 no longer obstructed, re-assumes its legitimate direction. I have 
 heard that the officers of the sultan proceeding on such commis- 
 sions, have been detected, and have themselves undergone the 
 punishment which they were ordered to inflict i but I recollect no 
 instance of any one having suffered from the effects of resentment 
 after the accomplishment of his errand : like the children of 
 the Spartans, they are punished only for the failure of their 
 stratagems. 
 
 The enthusiasm of loyalty may have prompted individuals to 
 romantic proofs of their attachment to the person of their so- 
 vereign ; but I do not dare to confirm the assertion of Rycaut, 
 that they carry their obedience to such an extreme, as to per- 
 form whatsoever the sultan signifies to be his pleasure, " though 
 he command whole armies- of them to precipitate themselves 
 from a rock, or build a bridge with piles of their bodies for him to
 
 140 
 
 pass rivers, or to kill one another to afford him pastime and 
 pleasure."* 
 
 The education of young men in the seraglio is represented 
 as the systematic warping of the mind, to the principles of 
 slavery ; and, as it is asserted, that young men so educated are 
 destined to fill the highest posts of honour, and to undertake the 
 government of provinces, it is concluded, that the prejudice of 
 absolute resignation to the Avill of the sultan is by their means 
 universally diffused throughout the empire, f 
 
 This however is erroneous ; for, comparatively speaking, few 
 are selected from among the pages to fill these important situations. 
 Young men, whose chief recommendation in the first instance is 
 their personal comeliness, are admitted into the colleges of the 
 ichoglans, of which one is within the walls of the imperial palace^ 
 and the other, called Galata serai, is in the suburb of Pera. They 
 are educated under the care of masters appointed by the chief of 
 the white eunuchs, capi age, at the private expence of the sultan : 
 
 * I do not know whether Rycaut is to be understood as asserting, in tlie following 
 passage, that he himself had witnessed' such extravagancies; but whatever construction 
 it may bear, my opinion as to the fact in question remains the same. " Je ne crois 
 pas meme les temoins oculaires, quand ils me disent des thosesque le sens commua, 
 desavoue." 
 
 " They that have been where they have seen and knonn the manner of this blind- 
 obedience, may well cry out, O homines ad sefvitutem paratos!" (Present state of 
 the Ottoman empire, p. 9.) 
 
 t Rycaut, Present state of tlie Ottoman Empire, Chap, iii— v.
 
 141 
 
 but the object of the institution is not to prepare men for holding 
 the highest offices of the state, but merely to educate pages for 
 the service of the court. 
 
 The greatest number of them never quit the seraglio, and some 
 even grow grey in the colleges. Their education is suitable to 
 their future destination, that of a Turkish courtier : they are 
 taught to please by the graces of their person and manners, and 
 the politeness of their conversation and diction : passive obedience 
 is the lesson which is constantly inculcated, and such severe 
 chastisement is inflicted for the commission of the slightest fault, 
 that he who has passed through the several degrees, may be truly 
 said to have his passions mortified, and his manners moulded to 
 slavery. The highest dignity in the seraglio to which they can 
 attain is that of coltiik vizir, a compound word, which denotes, 
 both their actual privilege of supporting the sultan imder the arm, 
 and assisting him when he mounts on horseback, and also indi- 
 cates, by anticipation, the rank which they are entitled to hold 
 on their being dismissed from attendance on the emperor's person. 
 Only the pages, who by merit or favour and by length of services 
 have arrived at the dignity of coltuk vizir, have a prospect of 
 being raised on vacancies to the post of pasha of three tails : 
 but though, when they quit the court, they have as much power 
 in their respective pashaliks as other governors, yet they are 
 distinguished by an opprobrious appellation, expressive of their 
 want of experience in civil and military affairs, from those who 
 have raised themselves by their courage and implied virtues.
 
 142 
 
 The national education, or rather the national manners, by no 
 means inculcate a slavish disposition. The Ottoman government 
 is in its exercise, a military aristocracy, where every Mussulmaa 
 imbibes some portion of the haughtiness of the military character 
 ■with respect to those who are deprived of the use of arms, but is 
 ■courtly and civil to his comrades, and obedient and respectful to 
 his superiors. Accordingly we distinguish in the Turks the 
 leading features of aristocracy, " pride in their port, defiance 
 in their e3'e," but candour in their character, and generosity i a 
 their conduct. The disposition of mind generated by aristocracy 
 is unquestionably preferable to that produced by slavish habits ; 
 and on the most superficial view, as well as on a more intimate 
 acquaintance with the various classes of men who acknowledge 
 the authority of the Ottoman sultans, we cannot hesitate in 
 assenting: to the truth of the remark that the Turks are the 
 Political, best people in their empire.* The Mussulman law divides into 
 
 civH, and ' 
 
 tw o classes all the inhabitants of the earth : those who pro- 
 fess the faith of IMahomet, are called without distinction 
 of rites, sects, heresies, or opinions, by the general name of 
 imisslim, an arabic word signifying a person resigned to God ; 
 tiie dual of which is Viusuima7i, and the plural musUnilnn : the 
 nations who deny the divine mission, and reject the doctrine, 
 of the prophet are confounded under the common denomination 
 of keajir, iniidel or blasphemer, a -wretch wandering in darkness, 
 whose eyes arc shut to the light of revelation. Thus all infidels 
 form but one and the same j)cople. The inhabitants of the Otto- 
 man empire and the nations by which they are surrounded, are, 
 
 * See Observations on the religion, laws, &c, of the Turks, p. 7-3, 
 
 1 
 
 roliainiis 
 <listinc-
 
 145 
 
 however, discriininated with greater accuracy : the infidels subject- 
 to their dominion and paying tlie capitation tax, whether Chris- 
 tians, Jews, or Pagans, are called zimmys :■ strangers, who, 
 relying on the faith of treaties and the acknowledged laws 
 of nations, either pass through their territories or reside within 
 the empire are called musteeminns, (men who have solicited mer- 
 cy) : it is liowever presumable that such expressions are not 
 meant to convey insult to foreign nations, as they are also applied 
 to Mussulmans travelling beyond the empire or settled abroad : 
 nations unconnected by treaty, or in actual hostility with the 
 Ottoman porte, are described under the common denomination 
 of harby, a word derived from harb, which signifies war. These 
 expressions which it must be confessed are harsh and unbecom- 
 ing, are to be attributed rather to the primitive Mussulmans, 
 from whom they were borrowed, than to the Ottomans them- 
 selves, although the Turks, in common with all nation* pro- 
 fessing the same faith, still adhere to the use of them. The 
 etymology and true meaning of the terms are unknown to the 
 greatest part of the people ; and it should be perhaps recollected, 
 in extenuation of the conduct of the Turks in this respect, that 
 modes of expression scarcely less offensive have prevailed among 
 the people whom we are taught to admire and to reverence, who 
 distinguished, with no less pride than the Turks themselves, 
 between Greeks and Barbarians, Jews and Gentiles. The Turkisli. 
 national appellation is osmanli, which we translate Ottoman :: 
 the word Turk is not unknown to them, but is applied only to per- 
 sons of rustic and uncivilized manners. A rayah is an Ottomaii 
 s-ubject of any nation, liable ta the haratch or capitation tax- : the
 
 144 
 
 Turkish peasantry are properly comprehended under the general 
 jiaiue of rayahs, though in the modern and more common accep- 
 tation of the word, it is restricted to that class of subjects whom 
 the law denominates zimmys. G/iiaour is the opprobrious expres- 
 sion which the Turks address to infidels ; but the M'ord appears to 
 have been originally guebre, or worshipper of hie. The Persian 
 lieretics are distinguished from the simni, (or orthodox) by the 
 name of schiys, a name odious to the Turks, as they are taught 
 to believe it to be more meritorious in the sight of God, to 
 kill ill war a single Persian, than seventy infidels of any other 
 religion.* 
 
 o 
 
 Means of 
 
 redress 
 
 acainst 
 
 When the inhabitants of a city or a province are dissatisfied 
 t'yr^annV ^^'Jth the pasha, they present their complaints at the porte in a 
 iion. ■ memorial or petition, called arz mahzar : but unless they accom- 
 pany it with a larger sum than the pasha finds it convenient to give 
 for his re-appointment, they seldom succeed in their application 
 for his removal. Contestations of this public nature, as well 
 as those between private individuals, are determined, not by the 
 evidence of facts or the force of arguments, but by the specific 
 quantity of gold which either party can produce in support of 
 
 his cause. In the capital, inaccessible as the sultan personally 
 is to the complaints of his people (since all memorials on what 
 
 business soever ought first to pass through the hands of the grand 
 
 ■* " Alia res est, inquit Rustanu$. Nos enim ne sis nescius, magis aversamur 
 Persas, magis profanoB Jialiemui quam vos Christianos." (Busbeq. EpisU iii. p.
 
 145 
 
 vizir,) his attention is notwithstanding sometimes aroused by the 
 clamours, and other unequivocal proceedings of his turbulent sub- 
 jects. In his passage to the mosque every Friday, he rcceivx's, 
 through the hands of one of his attendants, whatever petitions 
 are presented to him. It was in this manner that M. de Ville- 
 longue succeeded in delivering into the hands of Sultan Ahmed 
 an accusation, in the name of Charles the Twelfth, against the 
 vizir and the principal ministers of state, which was supposed to 
 have effected the complete change in the Turkish cabinet, which 
 soon after took place. Rycaut mentions a method of appeal to 
 the grand signor which ancient custom had tolerated, but which 
 I apprehend is now disused, as I never heard of its being prac- 
 tised. " The aggrieved person," he says, " putting fire on his 
 head, enters the seraglio, runs in haste, and can be stopped by 
 nobody until he comes to the presence of the grand signor, to 
 whom he has licence to declare his wrong."* The method 
 which is most commonly adopted, and which I have«een followed 
 up with the most persevering obstinacy, is to set fire to different 
 parts of the city : when it is discovered from their frequency that 
 these fires are not accidental, the sultan feels alarm, enquires into the 
 cause of the public discontent, discovers it through his emissaries 
 from public conversation, and is ultimately compelled to yield 
 to the wishes of the factious. Insurrection is the misfortune 
 to which unlimited power is most subject : it is frequcntlv the 
 work of an instant, the produce of accident ; but when once 
 
 * Present state of the Ottoman empire, p. 46. 
 
 u
 
 146 
 
 excited, it seldom stop at the redress of grievances : the m- 
 surgents must be subdued by force, or the monarch must descend 
 from his throne : happy if he may be allowed to wear out the 
 remainder of his days in the vacant prison of his successor.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW, 
 
 I 
 Practice of the courts of law. — Administration of civil law. — Mehh' 
 keme or tribunal. — False witnesses. — Inacciiracy of investigation. 
 — Privilege of Europea?is. — Avania.- — Proceedings in criminal 
 cases. — Torture. 
 
 It has been asserted that " it is the general characteristic of the Practice o{ 
 
 tlie courts 
 
 Turkish government to be loaded with forms and regulations, •*'^'**- 
 which are of no effectual service." How little this censure is 
 applicable to the Turkish courts of law, is evident from the simpli- 
 city with which law-suits are conducted in the divan haneh, or vizir's 
 tribunal. Before the vizir takes his seat, all the parties assembled 
 in court are ranged in two rows, Avith a chaoush at their head. 
 The trial begins by reading the case of the plaintiff who is first in 
 order of precedence ; after which, both parties arc publicly heard; 
 a proper officer of the court briefly sums up the whole matter, and 
 declares what sentence, according to the divine judgment, ought 
 to be passed. If the vizir approves the sentence, it is inserted ip
 
 U8 
 
 the vacant space of the arzuhal (or petition), and is confirmed by 
 the vizir's signature. The arzuhal itself, be the case ever so intri- 
 cate, must be comprised in about half a page, in order that room 
 may be left on the other half, for inserting the substance of the 
 consultation on the subject, and the ilam (or sentence) of the judge. 
 J)uring the examination of one case, the parties and papers, neces- 
 sary for elucidating the next in order, are put in a state of prepa- 
 ration ; so that a new cause immediately commences ; and so on 
 until all are dispatched. An oda (or company) of janizaries is 
 appointed to guard the vizir's palace ; and they are employed to 
 bring accused persons into court, and to watch over the prisoners. 
 They are called fuukzu); from their office, and the nature of it 
 may be judged of from the form of a citation. "Go," says the 
 miihziir aga, "and order such a person immediately to appear; 
 if he hesitate to obey the summons, cleave him through the head 
 and the eyes, and produce him in that state." 
 
 Admini- It is erroneous to suppose "that the judges are not bound by 
 
 stration of 
 
 i-jviiiaw. any preceding decrees, but that they have the application of the 
 law in their own breasts, "for on the contrary the code multeka, 
 ever since the period of its compilation in the reign of Soliman the 
 First, is almost the only book made use of by the cazy-askers, the 
 mollas, the cadis, and the ndibs, in all the tribunals and courts of 
 law thioughout the whole extent of the Ottoman empire. It is 
 expressly enjoined to the cadis, in the sultan's diploma which in- 
 vests them with their judicial powers, to follow the most prevail- 
 ing opinions of the Imams Ilancfys in the administration of justice; 
 auci although the instructions given to the mollits are not so ex-
 
 J49 
 
 pllcit in this respect, they are nevertheless restricted to tlie obser- 
 vance of the same rule in their practice. Sir James Porter says 
 " it is not the Turkish laws, but a corrupt administration of them, 
 which brings opprobrium on the empire." But the most necessary 
 la^vs, and without which any code is defective, are those which pro- 
 vide for, and secure an upright administration. In Turkey the 
 laws indeed are simple, and by no means numerous ; and the 
 forms are little complicated. Their administration, however, dif- 
 fers according to the circumstances of the parties, or their rank in 
 a political point of view. The Turk has rarely to complain of in- 
 justice; and, generally speaking, the decision of the judges in 
 causes wherein both parties are Mussulmans is unbiassed. Public 
 opinion, which is no where more free or more energetic than 
 among the Turks, checks the voluntary commission of any injus-. 
 tice with respect to them. I have seen the cazy-asker in his owa, 
 tribunal, abused by women, Avith a licence, which nothing could 
 equal, but the patience and submission with which he bore it, 
 while the inferior officers were endeavouring to pacify them, and, 
 gently get them out of the court. 
 
 In Constantinople every district has its mehhkeme,'* in which a Mehhkime 
 
 1 1 1 1 • ••/ • n^i or tribunal. 
 
 cadi, attended by his iiaio, sits, and hears causes. These mag'i 
 strates, as well as those of the superior classes, hear and determine 
 all causes, civil and criminal. They also take cognizance of wha', 
 ever relates to ecclesiastical dogmas, rites, morality, or discipline 
 
 * Mehltkeme, the name of the Turkish tribunals, is derived from .tiie word haJcimi _ 
 and it signifies the sanctuary of justice.
 
 They judge all suits respecting the vacufs (or church possessions) 
 M-ithin their respective jurisdictions. They perform moreover all 
 the functions of a public notary ; and they legalize and register 
 marriage-contracts, powers of attorney, wills, and covenants of 
 every kind. 
 
 Nothing can be more simple and expeditious than the forms of 
 proceeding in all the Turkish courts. Each party represents his 
 case, unassisted by counsellors, advocates, or pleaders of any kind, 
 and supports his statement by the production of evidence. The 
 deposition of two competent witnesses is admitted as complete legal 
 proof, in all cases whatever, whether concerning property, reputa- 
 tion, or life. 
 
 The fctxva in civil causes should be considered, rather as the 
 opinion of counsel on a case, than the sentence of a judge. I 
 once saw a.feixva produced by the plaintiff on a trial, while I was 
 attending at the house of a magistrate. He read it with great re- 
 spect, and commended the justness of it; but " I am mufti here," 
 said he, and placing it under the cushion on M'hich he sat, deter- 
 mined the cause, without any appeal or reference to it* Another 
 opinion of the mufti, as I was told, was produced in court, in a 
 case in point, and the person appealing to it, said, " such is the 
 will of God." " Be it so," said the cadi, " but if the will of God 
 were to be always observed, the world would stand still." 
 
 * It must be observed, that the rmfftis, or doctors of the law, occupy only the second 
 rank in the Mussulman hierarchy. In every city of the Ottoman empire, with the 
 exception of the capital alone, they yield the precedency to the cadis or judges.
 
 The Christian and Jewish subjects of the emj)ire arc an incx- '"^'s'^ «'»• 
 haustible treasure to o-ovcrnment and to individuals. Imoui this 
 source a tribe oF extortioners, false M'itnesses, pleaders, and em- 
 broilers, all who are too idle to dig-, and too proud to beg, draw, 
 without the imputation of infamy, the means of subsistence. It 
 is impossible to conceive an idea of the etfrontery of the false wit- 
 nesses, who are encouraged by impunity.* The vizir alone can 
 punish them : the other magistrates are compelled to pronounce 
 according to their deposition, unless they can detect them in du- 
 plicity, or embarrass them by their questions. 
 
 The executors of a person under the English protection claimed 
 from a certain sultana the payment of a sum of money, in virtue 
 of a written obligation certifying the loan.f The defendant denied 
 the debt, alledging that she had paid the principal before the de- 
 cease of the claimant ; but that he had detained the notes and 
 pledges, with a view of compelling her to pay interest, which she 
 had resisted, on the ground of its being contrary to the divine 
 
 * The punishment appointed for a false witness is only the shame of being led 
 tiirough the streets seated upon an ass with his face towards the animal's tail. But even 
 this punishment, which cannot be supposed to liave much effect upon such abandoned 
 profligates, is scarcely ever put in execution. 
 
 Busbequius supposed that the Turkish false evidences were actuated only by hatred 
 against Christians. " Turcae magnae pietatis loco ducunt dicere falsum testimoniuni 
 adversus hominem Christianuni. Non expectant ut rogentur; mjussi adsunt, seque 
 ultro ingerunt." (Epist. iv. p. 227.) 
 
 t Among the Mahometans written testimony is of no avail, when opposed by living 
 witnesses. But the treaties with all the Christian powers set aside this law in favour of 
 their subjects, who are accordingly allowed to support their claims by written evidence.
 
 law. Her witnesses asserted, that the money hadljeen paid to the 
 deceased in their presence: the judge affected to give credit to 
 their testimony, and urged to the plaintiffs the necessity of admit- 
 ting so clear a proof; but, suddenly turning to the witnesses, 
 "What," said he, "was the name of th-e deceased merchant's 
 father?" The abruptness of the question threw them off their 
 guard, and they confessed they could not tell. " Not tell," said 
 the judge, "how then can you expect that I shall admit your 
 evidence ?" and immediately ordered an ilam in favour of the 
 plaintiff. 
 
 The judge was indeed authorized by the usage of the Turks to 
 requiie the witnesses knowledge of such particulars ; for as they 
 have not among them surnames or family distinctions, it becomes 
 necessary, in order to prevent confusion, to insert in a contract 
 or official instrument not only the names of the parties, but also 
 those of their parents. I have heard it asserted, that the judge is 
 supposed to invalidate the testimony of a witness, if he can put to 
 him any question whatever relating to the business in discussion, 
 which the latter is found unable to reply to. In the case which I 
 have related, the judge had been precojivinced o? the futility of the 
 defence, or he would not so readily have determined upon the case. 
 
 Peyssonel, in his zeal to vindicate the Turks, attempts even to 
 excuse their toleration of false witnesses. " Testimony," he says, 
 *' is the basis of all proceedings in criminal aflairs, and is of great 
 weight in civil affairs. Among all people, unfortunately, false 
 witnesses are every where too numerous." But it is in Turkey
 
 153 
 
 alone that the profession Is avowed, and the individual personally 
 known in every tribunal. The prompt decision of the Turkish inarouracyi 
 
 ■^ ' ' of investi - 
 
 tribunals has been praised by men, who may have observed, that^*''°"- 
 patience and property are frequently absorbed by the forms, delays, 
 and expences, attending law-suits in Christian countries ; but who 
 have not reflected, that where injustice is authorized, promptitude 
 of decision only assimilates it the more to an act of violence. 
 Some idea may be formed of the precipitancy with which law-suits 
 are determined in Turkey, by the following instance. Cantemir, 
 in commendation of the vizir Chorluly Ali Pasha, with whom he 
 was personally acquainted, says that " when he was sitting in the 
 divan no one could behold him without admiration ; for he was a 
 person of so much quickness and dexterity, that he could attend 
 to three things at once, as if he had divided himself into three 
 parts. For the quicker dispatch of business, he ordered two peti- 
 tions to be read at the same time, and understood each cause as 
 perfectly as if he had heard it three or four times, giving there- 
 upon a suitable sentence. In the mean time he hearkened to others 
 that were pleading before the cazy-asker, and delivering back the 
 arziihal to him, told him what sentence he was to give. He was 
 so great a lover of justice, that many afhrm he never gave an un- 
 just sentence."* The European merchant, obliged to appeal to 
 the laws of the country, is, equally Avith the rayah, exposed to 
 the consequences of their venal administration, and must hope for 
 success, not from the justice of his cause, but from undue influence, 
 or from bribery. Hence their aversion from carrying their dis- 
 
 ^ Cantemir'? Ottoman History, p. 446, note, 
 
 X
 
 154. 
 
 putes before the judges, and hence also credit and confidence, the^ 
 bases of commerce, are undermined and destroyed.* 
 
 Privilege- In civil causcs, the Europeans, in virtue of the capitulations, 
 
 of Euro- * * 
 
 peans. p^y thrcc pcf ceut. on the amount of the sum which constitutes 
 their claim : the subjects of the country pay ten per cent. But, 
 as the gainer pays the costs of suit, in order that the judge may 
 not lose his fees, the privilege granted to the European is in 
 
 A»ania. fact a disadvantage. The evil consequences of the gainer being 
 burthened with the expences of a law-suit, besides the injustice of 
 such a mode of satisfying the court, are evident. A Turk will 
 institute a vexatious suit against a rayah, in which he risks nothing, 
 and may eventually avail himself of all the uncertainty of the law : 
 the rayah is placed in a dilemma, from which he cannot escape 
 ■without injury : he may be unsuccessful in his suit ; and the least 
 disadvantage he can hope for, is the payment of the costs ; so that 
 in most cases, he finds it expedient to compouiKl the business. 
 I knew a person, against whom an annual claim was made for a 
 xoom in the upper part of a house, which he had built himself. 
 He had bought off the first action ; and this concession was con- 
 strued, by the opposite party, into an acknowledgment of his right, 
 and the rayah was subjected, in consequence of it, to the payment 
 
 * A fetwa extracted by the Chevalier D'Ohsson from the collection, published by 
 the Mufti Bchhdje Abd'ullah cfTendy, vill shew how precarious are the uicaiis which 
 an European can employ to obtain justice in Turkey. 
 
 •' If Zeid, a stranger in a Mussulman country, havinef a law-suit with Anir, offers in 
 favour of his cause the evidence of Bekir and Bcschir, both of them strangers, can their 
 ■depositionsbereceived injustice?— Answer. No." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 526.)
 
 inc;s 111 cn- 
 al cases. 
 
 155 
 
 of a tribute till his death. This species of robbery, which consti- 
 tutes the chief riches of the Turkish populace in the great cities, 
 is distinguished by the name of avania. The law indeed is equal, 
 and, in the true spirit of it, extends the same protection to the be- 
 liever and the infidel ; but, in its administration, the household of 
 Jaith enjoys peculiar privileges.* The testimony of a Mussulman 
 outweighs the clearest proof which a rayah can adduce,! and a 
 conviction of peijury, which entails severe, if not capital, punish- 
 ment on the one, procures for the other, but a gentle admonition 
 to combine circumstances with less confusion in future. Although ProcRpd- 
 capital executions are frequent in Turkey, criminal justice can'"'" 
 scarcely be said to be administered at all. The life of man, con- 
 cerning which no deliberation can be too long, is hastily sentenced 
 away, without reflection, according to the influence of passion, or 
 
 * The Mahometans themselves seldom seek legal redress for an insult. If not able 
 to take revenge with their own hand, they quietly submit to the oppression. Much less 
 <'an a stranger expect justice: for, even if the judge were disposed to sacrifice his na- 
 tional prejudices to the duty of his office, the suffering party is induced by secret insi- 
 jiualions, and indirect menaces, to abandon his suit, and prefer suffering in silence. 
 
 + The superior validity of a Mussulman's testimony will be more evident from the 
 following examples. The emperor, Bajazet the First, who was much addicted to wine 
 and debauchery, submitted to a reprimand from the cadi of Bnjsa, who refused to 
 admit his evidence, because he neglected to perform the fi\ e daily prayers in common 
 with the faithful. 
 
 " Les Musulmans non-circoncis semblent porter une sorte de reprobation aux yeuv 
 des auti-es Musulmans. On les appelle akkf, et dans differentes matieres, soit civiles, 
 soit criminelles, leur temoignage n'est jamais recevable." (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 287.) 
 
 Such defects, which can invalidate the testimony of a Mussulman, must necessarily 
 operate with much greater force against that of a Christian, who lives habitually and 
 ■constantly in a state of reprobation.
 
 156 
 
 the impulse of the moment. A complaint was preferred to tha- 
 vizir, against some soldiers, who had insulted the gentlemen of 
 the Russian embassy : the vizir made a horizontal niiOtion with his 
 hand, and before the conference was over, seven heads were rolled 
 from a sack at the feet of prince Repnin.* A man, caught in the 
 act of pilfering property during a fire, has been thrown into the 
 flames by order of the vizir. | A housebreaker, detected in robbery, 
 is hanged up, without process, at the door of the house he has 
 robbed. Shopkeepers, or dealers, convicted of using false weights 
 or measures, are fined, bastinadoed, or nailed by the car to thei? 
 own door-posts: but punishment is frequently inflicted on the in^ 
 nocent, while the guilty enjoy the fruits of criminality. A Swedish 
 gentleman of mj a-cquaintance, walking one day in the streets of 
 Constantinople, saw the body of an Armenian, hanging in the 
 front of a baker's shop. He inquired of a by-stander, for what 
 crime the poor wretch bad suffered. " The vizir," said he, " iii 
 passing by early m the morning, stopped and ordered the loaves to 
 be weighed ; and finding them short of weight, immediately ordered 
 the execution of the person in the shop." " Good God," said the 
 Swede, " how severe a punishment for so slight a crime!" " It- 
 
 * See Voyatre a Constantinople, p. 166. — I give this story on riie credit of a French 
 gentleman, whom I saw at Constantinople, but whose name I have in vain endeavoured 
 to recollect He travelled in company with Emile Gaudin, wlio afterwards ofiiciattd 
 as secretary to the council ol' five hundred in the memorable sitting at St. Cloud. I' 
 have also heard other instances of similar atrocities. 
 
 t De Tott (p. 20,) ridiculoHbly says that " they consider this death as little ditltrciH. 
 from dying in their beds, because they often see a multitude of unliappy wretches periahr. 
 accidentally in the same manner." 
 
 I.
 
 157 
 
 was thought severe," replied the Turk, " for the Christian was but 
 a servant, whose wages were twenty /;«?'«* a day, and whose master 
 derived the whole benefit from the deficiency in the weight of the 
 bread." And yet other Armenians had already occupied the 
 vacant place, and were serving the customers with the greatest 
 indifference. In September, 1795, theGreekSj who had been taken 
 on board Lambro's squadron in the Archipelago, were brought to 
 Constantinople, and several of them were hanged- on the yard-arms, 
 or under the bowsprits, of the prizes. Others were detained a 
 few days in prison, and at length led out, and separately executed, 
 at the corners of different streets in Constantinople. A personj 
 who was accidentally present, told me, that they were driven along 
 by the Turks, with the most unfeeling barbarity : by a push on tlie 
 back the criminal fell on his knees, with one stroke of a knife his 
 heatl was cut off, the body fell forward, the head, was throM'n be- 
 tween the legs, and the executioner passed on, to inflict the same 
 punishment on the others. A prisoner in the bagnio, during the 
 last Russian war, was witness to the execution of two Turks, who 
 for some crime had been condemned to die. The order for their 
 death was concealed from them, the gaoler congratulated them, on 
 their dehverance : " Go," said he to one of them, "thank God 
 you are free." And as the man stooped to pass through a low 
 door, a cord was thrown about his neck, and he was instantly 
 strangled. The other was told to sit down, that his irons might 
 be knocked off; and was strangled, while the smitliwas perform- 
 ing the work.* 
 
 * See the account of the revolution at Constantinople in the year 1730, .publislied' 
 jn Loi d Sandwich's Tour, which beai-s every mark of authenticity and correctness..
 
 158 
 
 Laws for preveiiting the abuse of authority in parents or masteis, 
 and the exertion of individual revenge, either do not exist in Tur- 
 key, or are slightly enforced, and easily evaded. " JMurder," 
 says Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, " is never pursued with the 
 king's oflicers, as with us. 'Tis the business of the next relations 
 to revenge the dead person; and if they like better to compound 
 tlie matter for money (as tliey generally do) there is no more said 
 of it." It is indeed true that the robber and the murderer, al- 
 though when detected in the commission of the crime, they are 
 hanged up, or shot, or impaled without mercy ; yet, if they escape 
 the first fury of pursuit, ar wish to retreat with their earnings into 
 society, they are readmitted without difficulty, and almost without 
 a reflection on their past conduct. 
 
 A Greek calpha (or builder^ in the service of the present sultan, 
 died in the month of June, 179-, leaving about twenty thousand 
 pounds sterling, M'hich he had amassed during his continuance in 
 employment. His efi'ects were seized by government, as is usual, 
 on the supposition of their having been gained in its service. His 
 widow, reduced from afiluence, in the first transports of her grief, 
 accused her son of the murder of his father. The young man had 
 intrigued with a servant girl of the family, and would have mar- 
 ried her; but the father, to prevent it, had dismissed her from liis 
 service. Upon his mother's accusation, he was imprisoned, and 
 would have suffered ; but the mother's tenderness awoke, and her 
 
 Tho same illusory method of proceeding vas employed to take away the lives oftlie 
 <chicf courtiers, who were obnoxious to the rebels.
 
 159 . 
 
 conscience was alarmed : she threw lierself at the feet of the judge, 
 retracted all she had before said, accused herself of precipitancy, 
 occasioned by grief for the sudden death of her husband, and now 
 as strongly asserted her son's innocence. The judge, however, 
 was hard to be convinced : he had his doubts and scruples, which 
 there remained but one mode of dispelling. The remains of her 
 husband's fortune, which her prudence had preserved from the 
 vi<>"ilance of government, afforded the only hope of carrying home 
 conviction to the breast of the conscientious judge ; and the sa- • 
 crifice of two thousand pounds was the great engine for reversing 
 the decree. 
 
 Torture is secretly, but not unfrequently, practisal. The motive Tomir*. 
 for inflicting it is generally to extort the confession of concealed 
 property ; and the scene of these inhuman proceedings, is a building 
 within the walls of the Seraglio, called the Oven, because it was 
 formerly used as such by the bostmigis. The rich rayahs are fre- 
 quently employed as bankers to the vizir and other great officers 
 of state, a charge hazardous at best, and not unfrequently fatal; 
 for though the advantages of it are great, and the influence it pro- 
 cures, flattering to vain or ambitious men ; yet they are exposed 
 to the prying eyes of a suspicious court, and usually are involved 
 in the ruin of their employer. The minister, knowing how uncer- 
 tain is his continuance in office, and apprehensive that his riches 
 will be swallowed up in his disgrace, secretly lodges money with 
 some confidential person, from whom, through caution, he takes 
 no written acknowledgment. This he keeps in reserve against 
 the evil hour, or should his life terminate with his otnce, directs 
 
 6
 
 ICO 
 
 the disposal of it to those, for M-hom no provision can legally be 
 made. Tlierefore, at the deposition of a public minister, his bank- 
 ers, and others suspected of intimacy with him, are applied to for 
 tlie delivery of all they possess in his name. If the sum fall 
 short of expectation, they are tortured, till they either confess they 
 have more, or supply the sum required from their own capitals. 
 Jjut, if they are rich, even this confession does not always save 
 their lives. I was acquainted with an Armenian, who had been con- 
 fined and tortur-ed into the renunciation of all hisliereditary and ac- 
 quired property.* His partner, more resolute, had resisted, to death, 
 all the horrible means employed to force him to a confession, and 
 thereby left his family in affluence. I have listened with horror to 
 •the relation of their Slitherings, which were aggravated by the con- 
 stant presence of the executioner, who would insultingly complain 
 of the fatigue of his mornings duty, and exact from them the most 
 menial services, and at every repast dip into tlie same dish with 
 them, his hand reeking with their blood. 
 
 -- This was Couleli, banker to Racub Pashas wlwse suDei'ings arc mentioned by De 
 
 Tott, p. 1 87.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 JMILITARY FORCE OF THE OTTOxMANS. 
 
 Military divisions of the empire. — Teudal system of the Ottomans. 
 — Ziamets and timars. — Janizaries. — Agemoglans.—Other bodies 
 of infantry receiving pay from the Porte; — topgis, — gebegis, — 
 sakkas. — Cavalry receiving pay from the Porte. — Serratculy 
 or troops receiving pay from the pashas. — Order of encamp- 
 inent. — Tents and camp-equipage. — ]\Iethod of supplying the 
 army with provisions. — Order of inarch and battle. — Modes of 
 fighting, — and of defending their fortresses. — Recapitulation. 
 Turkish laws of zvar. — l^eatment qf^ prisoners. — Turkish 7iavy. 
 
 XHE military establishment of the Turkish empire is an exten- Miiitaiy 
 
 divisioiij of 
 
 sive militia, which was exceedingly formidable before standing t'leL-nnjiro. 
 armies were introduced among other nations, and when the con- 
 stant practice of war had inured the Ottomans to hardships, 
 taught them discipline, and familiarized them Mith danger. 
 Their maintenance was provided for by a suitable allotment of 
 
 land, according to the feudal system. The empire was divided 
 
 Y
 
 . 16S 
 
 into the great and lesser pashaliks, wTiose governors united the 
 military with the administrative powers. 
 
 The beylerbeys, considered as military commanders, were sub- 
 ordinate only to the vizir. The pashas, according to their dig- 
 nity and the extent of their districts, summoned to their standards 
 the beys and the agas, possessors of lordships under the names 
 of ziamet and timar ; besides whom, there was generally a crowd 
 of needy or fanatical adventurers, who repaired to the place of 
 rendezvous, equipped and armed according to their means or 
 their fancy.* 
 
 rf«(?ai "^^^^ feudal system, as established in Turkey, though it resem- 
 
 •he'otto- bled in its leading features that which was introduced in all those 
 parts of Europe where the Northern nations settled themselves, 
 was in several particulars essentially different from it. In those 
 countries the victorious chief assigned to his principal officers 
 extensive tracts of land, which they subdivided among their 
 inferior officers, and they again to the soldiers ; each superior 
 exacting from his immediate vassal the same fealty, by which 
 he had bound himself to his own immediate superior, whether 
 the sovereign or a mesne lord. Hence arose the great power 
 of the barons, in whose defence, or at whose instigation their 
 subordinate vassals have sometimes taken up arms, in opposition 
 
 * A pashalik is divided, as to the military part, into districts called sanjacs. Tlie 
 Kinjac bey assembles the janizaries, spahis, zaims, and timariots, of his jurisdiction, 
 and waits the orders of the pasha.
 
 163 
 
 to, or in defiance of, the authority of their common sovereign. 
 In Turkey all the land is held immediately from the sultan, and 
 aii grants, on the demise of the incumbent, vest anew in him. 
 The reciprocal feudal obligations, which confirmed and cemented 
 the relations between the nobles and their vassals, are there 
 unknown : so that between the pashas and the inferior feudal 
 proprietors, there exists no tie of generosity and benevolence 
 on the one hand, or of gratitude and affection on the other ; and 
 though there be indeed subordination of rank, there is no con- 
 catenation of dependence. When inconveniences were felt 
 from the abuse of the power of the lords, and the oppressed 
 vassals, though they obeyed the summons to the field, yet were 
 indifferent and even hostile to the cause they were engaged in, a 
 remedy was adopted in several European states, by making the 
 fiefs hereditary, and taxing the lands with the condition of fur- 
 nishing a certain number of soldiers, armed and equipped ; so 
 that a numerous and powerful army was instantly assembled, 
 and at once ready for action. In this asra of the feudal history, 
 when knight-service Avas introduced, the system more resembled 
 that of Turkey, except that there the grants always continued 
 precarious, and dependent on the pleasure of the sultan, as 
 universal proprietor. Vassalage, properly speaking, did not exist, 
 as all were equally crown-vassals ; and from their being indepen- 
 dent of each other, they never could form a counterpoise to the 
 power of the sovereign.* 
 
 * Ces gouvernemens ne sont point distribues hierarchiquement, mais ils soiUin- 
 4ependans les uns des autres. (Beaujour. Tab. du commerce de la Grece. V. i. p. 10.) 
 
 5
 
 164 
 
 ziniiiets On ti^g conquest of a country the most powerful amoii": the 
 
 and tmiars. ' ^ j o 
 
 ancient inhabitants either fled, or M'ere removed by death from 
 giving umbrage or jealousy to their new masters : a new race of 
 Turkish colonists supplied their places, and exacted the services 
 and received the homage of the conquered people. The lands of 
 these newly created ziamets and timars were cultivated by the 
 rayahs, who paid to the lord of the manor, as the rent of their 
 farms, the tenths of the produce and the increase of their stock. 
 To the people of Europe, who were groaning under the tyranny 
 and rapacity of tlie nobles, such terms appeared advantageous, 
 and such servitude light. " I have seen," says a contemporary 
 "Writer, " multitudes of Hungarian rustics set fire to their cot- 
 tages, and fly M'ith their wives and children, their cattle and 
 instruments of labour, to the Turkish territories, where they knew 
 that besides the payment of the tenths they would be subject 
 to no imposts or vexations."* 
 
 According to the cano7i name (or imperial constitutions') com- 
 piled by order of Soliman the First, the number of ziamets (or 
 estates comprehending five hundred acres of land or upwards,) 
 amounted to three thousand one hundred and ninety two ; and 
 • the number of timars (or estates containing from three to five 
 hundred acres of land,) amounted to fifty thousand one hundred 
 and sixty; and tlic wliole furnished a revenue of nearly four 
 
 * Lcunclavius. apud Elzevir, in Turc. imp. statu, p. 85. 
 
 " Domino tinian-otic fleciniam tantimi fiugiim animaliumque prsbcnt, ac nihil 
 vilti'a tenciilur. (INIontalbauus. ap. IClzcvir, p. dS.) 
 
 7
 
 165 
 
 millions of rix-dollars, M'hicli was appropriated to the maintenance 
 of an army of upwards of a hundred and fifty thousand men.* 
 Each of the feudal lords, whether zdirns or timarlots, were en- 
 joined by the cliarter by which they held their estates, to pro- 
 ceed to war on the summons of the sultan, to remain encamped, 
 and after the campaign to return home, at their own charge, 
 maiataining also their stipulated contingents of cavalry or infan- 
 try. In case of disobedience, or neglect to join the standard of 
 their district, the feudal lords of Asia were _ fined the amount 
 of one years revenue, and the timariots of Europe were punished 
 by being deprived of their rank and emoluments during two 
 years. \ By this institution the sultan was provided with an 
 inexhaustible supply of soldiers, continually augmenting a^ the 
 empire became more extended, and Mas thereliy enabled not only 
 to carry on war without any additional expence, but even to 
 derive from war itself the means of increasing his finances:]: 
 
 * Marsigli. Stato militare dell' imperio Ottomanno. V. i. p. 134. " Equites 
 enim centum qiiadraginta quinque milk dctinet : quorum octaaginta mille quasi in 
 hybernis per Europani distributi sunt, cseteii quinquaginta mille per Asiam. II i sunt 
 qui spachi timarrotae vocanlur ; quia non annuo stipendio pecuniario sustentanturj scd 
 assignatis agvis detinentur en pacto, ut lot equos ad bellum alant quot agrorum assig- 
 natorum propbrtio postulat. (De urbe Constant, et imp. Turc. relatio incerli apud 
 Honorium in Turc. imp. statu ap. Lizevir, p. 117.) 
 
 ■Olivier (V. i. p. 190.) says, " it is computed that tliere are in the European part 
 of the empire 914 zauns and 8356 thiiais : the number in Asia is nearly the same : 
 and the whole furnish a militia of above 60,000 n>en." — Mr. Eton, whose statement 
 is incorrect, though perlfaps not entirely imaginary, reckons 132,000 men. (Hurvey 
 of the Turkish empire, p. 65.) 
 
 t Marsigli. V. i. p. 95. % Monlalbanus ap. Elzevir, pp. 16, 17, 25.
 
 166 
 
 for whenever vacancies happen, wliether from death or forfeiture, 
 the sultan immediately becomes invested with the power of filling 
 them up with new appointments ; and it is asserted that the same 
 lordship has been eight times successively disposed of in the course 
 of one campaign. During the continuance of the war the ziamets 
 and timars are granted to those among the volunteers, who in 
 hopes of obtaining such rewards have signalized their valour ; 
 but it is probable that the number which remains to be disposed 
 of at the peace, according to the usual traffic of the porte, must 
 always be considerable. 
 
 All the lands were not however exhausted by these partitions : 
 the revenues of some were appropriated to mosques, to the great 
 officers of state, to the mother and mistresses of the sultan, or 
 to children of the Imperial family ; and the residue burthened 
 with a territorial impost or land-tax, was left by an undefined 
 tenure to the ancient proprietors. These, if Mussulmans, had 
 the privilege of going to war: otliers, whether Turks or infidels, 
 who, from choice, or from civil incapacity, devoted themselves 
 exclusively to the arts of peace, and enjoyed their estates under 
 the common protection of the crown, were called heledis, or 
 rayahs, and their military service was commuted by a tribute. 
 The Mussulman pioprietors of this description thus formed the 
 national, and the feudal proprietors, the feudal rnilitia. Enthusi- 
 asm and the hopes of reward or plunder formerly collected and 
 held together the great bodies of men, whom the Ottoman 
 sovereigns Avere enabled to call into the field : but now, as it 
 has been justly stated, if their enthusiasm do not even evaporate
 
 167 
 
 during the preparation for the expedition, it seldom survives 
 their arrival at the camp, where they soon learn the difficulty of 
 conquering, and the greater probability of being overpowered 
 and plundered by the infidels.* Upon a declaration of war, all 
 the inhabitants of a district, from sixteen to sixty, are summoned 
 to join the standard of the pasha, and to rendezvous at a certain 
 place. The feudal soldiery join from duty, and the obligations of 
 their charter ; but the national militia consult their inclination, 
 both as to the nature, and the term of their service. If 
 they like the war, or the commanders, they join the army ; 
 but are not, even then, obliged to serve out the campaign.']' 
 The feudal institutions were once considered with justice as the 
 chief support of the empire : but the services of neither militia 
 can now be depended uj)on when required, nor are they as ad- 
 vantageous, when obtained, as they formerly were. There is 
 a general disinclination to the military service, and the obligation 
 to remain in the field is not permanent even upon the feudal 
 troops. Their expeditions are regulated by the festivals of the 
 Christian saints, George and Demetrius, whom they denote by 
 the names of Hydyrliz and Cassim. A soldier is punished by 
 
 * See Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 69. 
 
 + " Le gouvernement mihtaire est devenu la constitution fondamentale de tous Ics 
 ^tats Musulmans. Chaque individu s'y reconnoit soldat : toujours il est pret a 
 prendre les armes et a marcher sous I'etendard du prophete. On doit enfin considerer 
 la nation entiere comme un grand corps d'armee dont le souverain est le generalis- 
 sime." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 202.) See also, Observations on the religion, law, &c. 
 •f the Turks, Preface, p. sxv.)
 
 168 
 
 mulct or disgrace, who delays to join the army beyond the twenty- 
 third of April, old stile ; but having served to the twenty-sixth 
 of October, the judge of the camp cannot refuse him his certificate, 
 and he may return to his home without being subject to pain 
 or penalty.* This radical defect, according to the modern system 
 of warfare, vitiates, or rather annihilates, the utility of the institu- 
 tion ; and, though the sultans have not yet claimed the right 
 of imposing taxes as a substitute for that of commanding the 
 services of their subjects, they are nevertheless forced to maintain 
 a standing army. 
 
 Janizaries Jhe military order of the janizaries was instituted in the year 
 768 of the Hegira, or 1362 of the Christian ^ra. They were first 
 formed into a body of twelve thousand men, composed of captive 
 Christians, of whom a fifth part, chosen from amongst the most 
 comely and most robust, were appropriated to the service of the 
 emperor. Their education, from their childhood, was such as to 
 inspire them with courage and hardiness, and obedience to the 
 strictest military discipline. ITagi Bektash, a religious Turk, 
 famous for his miracles and prophecies, gave his benediction 
 to the corps, at the request of Sultan Murad. Placing the sleeve 
 
 * C ante 111 ir, p. 247. " Hybernam abnuunt mililiam." {Montalban. ap. Elzevir. 
 p. 26.) If Dr. AV'ittman had been acquainted with this circumstance, he would 
 have been enabled to account for a conduct, ■which he has misrepresented from the 
 want of such previous knowlidge. " November '25tli. There liad been latterly fre- 
 quent (/<.'i(T;/o«.v, both from tlie great encampment at Jafla, and from that of El-Arish. 
 It ought, notwithstanding, to be observed, that these ihscrlions were not to the common 
 enemy, but into the interior of the country. It frtniuently happened that the ti'oops 
 went oli'in large bodies." (Travels, p. 191.)
 
 \69 
 
 of his gown on one of tlicir heads, he prophesied " that tlicir 
 liand should he victorious, tlieir sword keen, ami their spear 
 hang over the heads of their enemies : " and his prediction was 
 literally fLdfiUed, as long as victory depended on personal prowess, 
 together with the skilful management of hand-arms. Their 
 common general is the jauizar aga, whose court and palace are in 
 the capital. His rank gives him access to his sovereign, whom 
 he is privileged to assist in public ceremonies, as he alights from 
 his horse. His power over the subalterns is unlimited, and super- 
 sedes that of the civil magistrate, and even of the vizir. All 
 promotions depend on him, and he is empowered to inflict 
 punishment, even to death, upon the disobedient soldiery. 
 
 Of the janizaries, those who are quartered in their odas 
 (or barracks) at Constantinople, those who are in garrison, and 
 vho have followed their kettle, are entitled to pay. Their num- 
 ber, according to the disbursements of the treasury, is forty 
 thousand. In time of peace they watch over and secure the 
 public and domestic tranquillity in the frontier and garrison 
 towns, and exercise all the functions of police officers. 
 
 The janizaries have the privilege of being judged and punished 
 for misconduct by their own officers. The lieutenant of the 
 company has power to put them under arrest : the place of their 
 confinement is the kitchen, where they are left in irons under 
 the charge of the cook. The captain may sentence them to the 
 bastinado, and the sentence is executed under the inspection 
 of the lieutenant. The time of inflicting the punishment is after 
 
 Z
 
 170 
 
 the evening prayer : the offender is conducted to an inner cham- 
 ber, and stretched out with his face towards the ground : two 
 of the oklest janizaries hold him down by the neck and the feet. 
 The veJiil ha7'dj (or commissary) attends with a lighted candle ; 
 and care is taken, in distributing the blows, which seldom exceed 
 forty, not to disable the sufferer from marching. After the 
 execution of the sentence, the lieutenant exhorts the by-stand- 
 ers to avoid the commission of such faults, as have subjected 
 their comrade to a disgraceful and rigorous chastisement. When 
 a janizary is sentenced to death, it is customary, (out of respect 
 to the corps which ought to be kept exempt from ignominy) 
 to strike his name off the lists before his execution. Whatever 
 crime he may have committed, his punishment is invariably that 
 of strangling. At Constantinople the execution is always per- 
 formed with the greatest secrecy, and the body is thrown into the 
 sea and carried away by the current of the Bosphorus. In 
 provincial towns the custom is still continued of announcing the 
 death of a janizary by firing a gun ; but it has long since been 
 abolished in the capital.* 
 
 The muster-rolls of the janizaries, as well as those of every 
 
 * Marsigli, V. i. p. 75. 'What sliall we say to Dr. Pouqiieville ? He has worked 
 up in his best manner a pathetic representation of his own feehngs, when in the middle 
 of a fine night, just after the equinox of autumn, his meditations in the garden of the 
 Seven Towers were interrupted by the report of a gun. I confess myself unequal to 
 the task of doing justice by a translation to the doctor's description of the beauty of the 
 scene, — tlie moon suspended like a chniulclicr in the starry vault of the sky, the oscil- 
 lation of the waters of the Bosphorus, and the universal stillness of nature. The 
 doctor was giving a loose to his imagination : he was thinking of the gaieties of Paris 
 ;ind the comforts of a family ])arty, when suddenly his cars were struck with the noise
 
 171 
 
 corps of Ottoman troops, magnify their numbers beyond tbe 
 truth, for the privileges annexed to the military profession 
 engage most of the Mussulmans to enrol themselves ; but 
 those who do not join their standard, are called yamaks and 
 receive no pay. The reason of their attaching themselves to 
 military bodies, is this ; the Turkish population is divided into 
 askeris (or warriors,) and bdcdis (citizens or townsmen,) and 
 according to the law, a Mahometan, unconnected with any 
 military corps, is equally with infidels, subject to the capitation 
 
 of a cannon, and liis liair still stands on end at tlie recollection. The tenderhearted 
 doctor immediately conjectured it to be a signal of distress from a vessel which \va« 
 swfiering shipwreck, (an idea which could have occurred to no other mortal beside* 
 himself, in a night such as that which he has just described :) but another gun whicli 
 re-echoed along the shores of Europe and Asia, disconcerted the doctor so much that 
 he applied to the guards in order to learn the cause of it : and " they told him that this 
 dreadful language of battles announced to the vizir, who was sleeping in his liarem, 
 the execution of his orders. Some janizaries had just undergone the punishment of 
 death ; and their bodies delivered to the maddening currents of the Bosphorus already 
 rolled down the Propontis. The number of guns," the doctor observes, " con-es- 
 ponded with that of the persons executed." (Voyages en Moree, &c. V. ii. p. 140.) 
 I am .sorry that trutli compels me to dissipate so pleasing a fiction. 1 myself was at 
 Constantinople at the period which Dr. Pouqueville has fixed upon as the date of this 
 event, and I kitoiv that no guns xt;ere fired in the niglit ; for so unusual a circumstance 
 would have excited universal alarm, and would have furnished conversation to the 
 whole town. And again even though the doctor might not have known that the 
 junitar aga alone has power to condemn a janizary to death, and that such executions 
 are secretly perfonned in the capital, yet the guard could not have been so ill informed 
 as to have misled him into such inaccuracies ; and the doctor himself must certainly 
 have known that the vizir, instead of slumbering in his harem, was in all probability 
 kept waking with anxiety in the camp of Jaffa, and brooding over the inefficiency of 
 liis army.
 
 172 
 
 tax, ami miust equally contribute to all iuiiposts on the cities, 
 tovvns, or villa;g<?s,; and though this law be not rigorously en- 
 forced, it still engages most Turks to enrol themselves. The 
 embodied janizai'ies follow the canons of Sultan Solimaii for their 
 vegijlation aud discipline ; but the yamaks, who though enrolled, 
 arc not embodied into odus, are dispersed throughout the empire, 
 living as burghers, mixed with the people, and following different 
 trades and professions, or idle vagabonds, or at best but labouring 
 peasants. 
 
 It is said that " the preservation of their colours in battle is not 
 an affair of such momentous concern with the janizaries, as that 
 of the two large copper kettles which are constantly placed in the 
 front of the tents of each regiment, and which are accompanied by 
 a skimmer, a ladle, and a kind of halbert. On a marcli their 
 kettles are carried in front of each respective regiment, and the 
 company who should suffer them to be taken by the enemy, would 
 be covered wirli infamy." It is from this practice, says De Tott, 
 that the colonel is called the giver of soup, the major is stiled head 
 of t}ie kitchen, and the scullions and renter- bearers are adjutants. 
 But De Tott, who was himself enrolled in the company of janiza- 
 lies who were garrisoned at Pereco]), should have known better, or 
 should have disdained to sacrifice truth to such a pitiful jest. The 
 captain or commander of a company, is indeed called tchorhaji, 
 probably from his superintending tlie distribution of the daily ration.'i 
 of soup to the men, but no otlicr subaltern officer is distinguished 
 
 by a name denoting menial occupations. The cook is simply 
 
 7
 
 173 
 
 called by liis proper a])pclI:atioii, although he occaiioua,lly acis in 
 tlae- capacity of a gaoler.* 
 i 
 
 The writers on Turkish affairs have been led into misrepresenta- 
 tion on this, as well as on every part of the Turkish institutions, 
 by taking toe confused a view of the subject. Sir James Porter 
 considers the army to be con)'posed of the body of the people, and 
 the janizaries to amount to two or three hundred thousand men, 
 independently of those who get themselves enrolled to enjoy the pri- 
 vileges. Peyssonnel supposes they may consist of many millions: 
 Baron De Tott calculates them to be four hundred thousand : and 
 finally jNIr. Eton, who has made his calculation "from the cob- 
 curring testimony of several persons who had the most intimate 
 acquaintance with it, from an application of many years, and with 
 means of acquiring the best information," determines them to be 
 an hundred and thirteen thousand four hundred. Cut the number 
 of effective janizaries is best determined by the amount of their 
 pay. Two thousand four hundred purses are issued every six 
 months from the treasury; a sum which allows thirty piastres a 
 man for an army calculated at forty thousand. This allowance, 
 
 * (See Marsigli. V. i. p. C9. Dr. Wittman's Travels, p. 236. Dp Tott's Memoirs, 
 V. ii.p. 70, and V. iii. p. 106.) The officers helonging to eacli company of jani;^anes 
 are distinguished by the following names. Tc/iorbaji, or captain ; odu bas/ii, lieutenant 
 (literally the head of the chamber;) vekil Imrdj, comxnus\Ty; buiractcr, ensign; buJi 
 eski, standard-bearer (literally the head of the veterans, from the office being gene- 
 rally conferred on the oldest janizary of the company); and nschgi, or cook. The 
 superior officers, from the janizar uga to the chaous (who may be considered as an 
 adjutant), have titles which accurately express the nature or duties of their respective 
 posts.
 
 174 
 
 Mhich is commonh' distributed to them in quarterly payments, was 
 equal at the institution of the corps to about a shiUing sterling a 
 day ; but it is now reduced by the debasement of the coin to 
 about one quarter of its original value.* 
 
 * Observations on the religion, laws, &c. of the Turks, Preface, pp. xxiii, xxiv. and 
 xxviii. Pej-ssonnel's Strictures and renaarks on DeTott's Memoirs, appendix, p. 259. 
 De Tott, V. iii. p. 134-. Survey of the Turkisli empire, p. G5. 
 
 I have quoted the precise words with which Mr. Eton prefaces his estimate of the 
 militaiy force of the Turks : I have however discovered with no small degree of surprize 
 lliat the estimate itself is (with the addition indeed of 35 men to every four companies) a 
 co[)y of a schedule which was published in a work entitled " Tlie present state of the 
 Ottoman empire, translated from the French manuscript of Elias Habesci, many years 
 resident at Constantinople in the service of the Grand Signor. London, 1784." Now 
 \\ ho is Elias Habesci, on whose labours INlr. Eton founds his claim to the gratitude of the 
 public ? An ignorant impostor, who calls himself a Greek, and yet pretends to have 
 TVTitten his v/ork originally in the Arabic language (preface, p. iv.); who abuses the 
 nation to which he pretends to belong, and even dares to say (p. 367.) that " their 
 priests are the most abominable race of 7nen upon eartli ;" an idea which perhaps was 
 never conceived, and certainly was never expressed by a Greek of Constantinople. 
 But this pseudo-greek beti'ays himself by his language; he compares the Porte to West- 
 ininster-Hall, and tells us that the Bosphorus is somewhat broader tiian the Thames at 
 London (p. 354). His ignorance is unparalleled : He says (p. 422.) the city of Con- 
 stantinople has Moldavia for its boundary to the North; the Hellespont and the Black 
 Sea on the East; Bulgaria and part of Macedonia on the West; the jEgean Sea on 
 ■the South." It would be an insidt to counnon sense to make further extracts from 
 .such a Mork, and I even feel it necessary byway of apology to explain, in some degree, 
 the moti\es which have induced me to di-aw such a ^vretched performance from the 
 obscurity into which it seems to have fallen immediately on its publication. / have 
 liiscovcrcd the author hi/ the internal evidence of the hook itself: but to name him would 
 be to hold him up not only to general contempt, but to general indignation ; for the bodk 
 is the work of an assassin, who from his dark retreat has directed his envenomed shafts 
 against private reputation and the peace of domestic life. I do not however extend 
 this censure t) the author of another publication under the name of Elias Habesci, printed 
 ut Calcutta; a chaos of absurdities, which, fo the disgrace of the Engli.sh naino in 
 India, is dedicated, by permission, to Earl Cornwallis. This author confesses tlial lii$
 
 17-5 
 
 In Constantinople the janizaries receive their pay within tlie 
 second court of the seraglio. The money, Avhich is put in bags 
 of yellow leather, each of which contains five hundred piastres, is 
 first brought into the divan, and the purses arc piled up in heaps 
 before the vizir: it is then told out and distributed in proportionate 
 lots to the tchorbajis of the different odas. The bags composing 
 each of these lots are laid on the pavement before the door of the 
 divan, and on a signal being given, the janizaries of the company 
 appointed to receive them rush forward, and each man endeavours 
 to collect as many purses as possible, although he derives no other 
 advantage from it, than the honour of carrying them on his shoul- 
 der to the barracks, where the distribution of their pay is made to 
 the privates. 
 
 An indiscriminate censure has been passed on the whole body 
 of janizaries, from an observation of that part which is only nomi- 
 nally attached to it. Their degeneracy is differently accounted 
 for ; by some it is attributed to their being for the greater part 
 married and settled ; to their practising mechanical arts; to their 
 being allowed to exempt themselves from tnilitary service for 
 money, or under various pretences ; to their enrolling their children 
 in their company or oda ; and to their being enervated by the 
 
 real name is not Elias Habesci, M'hich he says is an enigma (thougli probably he mean.>> 
 an anagram) on Sahib-el-Sicia, which in the Arabic language, he tells us, means friencl 
 of the unfortunate, but I believe we need not seek for its derivation in the Arabic Ian- 
 guage : alias A. B. C. is the ridiculous conceit which has seduced tliis " par nobite 
 fratrum" into the unbecoming practices which I earnestly desire they may now 
 repent of.
 
 17G 
 
 luxury of the capital and weakened by indolence.*^' But indivi- 
 dually considered, the janizaries are in no respect inferior to the 
 Christian soldiers, either in bodily strength, in the capacity of 
 supporting fatigue, or in promptitude of obedience to their ofticers. 
 The luxury of the capital, the least luxurious in Europe, cau 
 scarcely have an enervating effect on men, whose pay, even when, 
 augmented by the profits of labour, can with difficulty procure 
 them the necessaries of life. I rather impute their present inferio- 
 rity to the insufficiency of the constitutional laws of their establish- 
 ment, wliicli, from the prejudice against innovation, it has been 
 found impossible to new-model, and wliich did not provide for 
 future improvement, proportionate to the progress of European 
 tactics. Their ancient discipline has been relaxed from an expe- 
 rience of its insufficiency ; and their past reputation has now no 
 other support than native valour and enthusiasm, dispirited and 
 overawed by the wonders of modern warfare, and the acknow- 
 ledged superiority of European sciences. The sultans themselves 
 have been accused of bastardizing and rendering contemptible the 
 corps of janizaries, by cutting off the most eminent of their leaders, 
 and supplying their places with the meanest creatures of their 
 court, and by introducing-among the soldiery men occupied in the 
 
 * I have copied these reproaches verhniim from the works of modern travellers ; but 
 tlie rcproaclRS themselves are not of modern invention, for I find them expressed to the 
 same eIRct in a treatise (I'-x politeia regia) in Elzevir's collection. " Ha.>c militia nostro 
 ti;mpore multum eviluit, quia etiam Turcffi in janizzaros assumuntur, sunt et Asiatici, 
 iiuiiin jiriiiinui noii ahi <iuam Christiani EuropEe admitterentur : deinde, quia uxores 
 (lucunt, prater aiitiquinii morem, ncc id ipsis vetituui est : tum, qiiod propter lonsjain 
 morain Conslantinopoli {(jua iioii alia urhs lu/igi.s est dcliciis dcdiUi) multum vikierunt : 
 tegniorcs insolentes, imo intolerabiles evaserunt,"
 
 U1 
 
 lowest employments, and stained with the most infamous crimes, 
 till at length they have succeeded, in extinguishing every spark of 
 that fire which they dreaded.* The historical event, to which 
 Mr. Eton seems to allude, is the conduct of Ahmed the Third, 
 who in the year 1703 succeeded to the throne, after the deposition 
 of his brother Mustafa. The dethroned sultan communicated to 
 his successor, together with the tidings of his elevation, the ad- 
 monition not to suffer the treacherous rebels, the instruments of 
 his advancement, to escape with impunity; and although Ahmed, 
 by inheriting his resentment, certainly contributed to the debility 
 of the empire, yet his revenge was directed, not against the insti- 
 tution of the janizaries, but against the promoters of the insurrec- 
 tion, in whatever department of the state, who might be tempted, 
 by the success of their late rebellion, to plot new treason against 
 himself t ^^^ learn indeed from history, that the power, and 
 consequent insolence, of the janizaries have frequently excited in 
 the sultans apprehensions as to their personal safety, and have in- 
 duced them to attempt by secret and insidious measures to weaken 
 their authority, or even to abolish the order. Osman the Second 
 was suspected of concealing, under the avowed intention of per- 
 forming the pilgrimage to Mecca and of paying his devotions at 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 29. 
 
 t Le nouveau sultan, pour toute recompense d'une couronne qu'il devoit aux mini- 
 stres, aux generaux, aux officiers des janissaires, enfin a ceux qui avoient eu part a la 
 revolution, les fit tous perir les uns apres les autres, de peur qu'un jour ils n'en tentassent 
 une seconde. Par le sacrifice de tant de braves gens il aftbiblit les forces de I'empire; 
 mais il affermit son trone, du moins pour quelques annees. (Voltaire, Hist, de 
 Charles XII, liv. iv.) 
 
 A a
 
 178 
 
 the tomb of Mahomet, the design of aiming at the destruction of 
 the corps of janizaries with the aid of a new militia, which he pur- 
 posed to establish in Egypt. The ulema, the ministers of state, 
 and the officers of the army, remonstrated in vain : the sultan per- 
 sisted in his pious design ; but his violent deposition and prema- 
 ture death more firmly rivetted the power, and confirmed the arro- 
 gance, of the janizaries.* Mahomet the Fourth, urged by similar 
 motives of jealousy, is said to have given the first mortal blow to 
 the power and reputation of the janizaries. By the advice of his 
 grand vizir Kioprili Oglu, he connived at the introduction of 
 abuses into their establishment. The daily exercises of the dif- 
 ferent companies were no longer rigorously enforced, nor the re- 
 views at stated periods regularly observed. The soldiers relaxed 
 into indolence :t they consumed in sloth and dissipation the hours 
 ■which ought to have been devoted to discipline and the military 
 duties : they even quitted the laborious exercise of arms to follow 
 mechanical or other lucrative occupations.^ Count Marsigli, who 
 surveyed the military state of the Ottoman empire in the camps 
 and capital of Mahomet the Fourth, attributes to this cause the 
 discredit into which the janizaries had already fallen. He must 
 indeed be allowed to be a competent judge of the effects of that 
 negligence which he condemns ; but he may perhaps err in attri- 
 buting to ISIahomefs jealousy or timidity the deterioration of this 
 
 * Tableau General, V. i. p. 409. 
 
 t " Ut armorum desuetudiiie longa imbelles rcdderentw : amant namque otia 
 Turca." (Montalban. ap. Elzevir, p. 98.) 
 
 X Stato militare dell' imptrio OtlomaiiBo, V. ji. p. 5,
 
 179 
 
 militaty order. The whole reign of Sultan Mahomet was passed 
 in war, and his authority with the army was so great, that when 
 at last he was irritated by the obstacles and delays which had pro- 
 tracted the siege of Candia, he ordered it to be proclaimed in the 
 camp, that not a soldier should appear in his presence alive, unless 
 the city was taken: and such was the effect of his menace, that 
 the Turks by a more vigorous effort effected the reduction of a 
 city, which had occupied the chief force of the empire during the 
 space of thirty years.* It is possible that the discipline of the jani- 
 zaries was less attended to under Mahomet, and that less care was 
 bestow^ed on the choice and education of recruits; but I think it 
 by no means probable that his conduct was dictated by fear, or 
 by a studied design to enfeeble the forces of his empire, t 
 
 To the eare which was formerly bestowed on an habitual prepa- Ajem^ 
 ration of the noviciate for the hardships of the mihtary life, and to 
 the strictness and severity of subsequent discipline, may be 
 ascribed the martial character and long supported reputation of 
 the janizaries. The boy destined to be enrolled in this honourable 
 
 * Cantemir's Ottoman history, p. 258, note. 
 
 t Tlie Venetian bailo (who appears from a passage in his memorial, p. 117, to 
 liave written it soon after the conquest of Cyprus in the reign of Selim the Second, and 
 more than a century before the vizirship-of KiopriU Oglu) describes the janizaries as 
 having already fallen from the virtue and merit of their predecessors ; and consequently, 
 as their debasement was confessedly gi'adual, it cannot be wholly imputed to Mahomet 
 the Fourth. " Antiquam nihilominus virtutem deserentes, paulatim corrumpi videntur: 
 propterea quod plerique Turcarum filii, qui militai'iter educati non sunt, ad hujusraodi 
 «iilitiam passim admittuntur; ac proinde ita perfecti non evadui)t, ut veteres fuere 
 janizzari, quires admuandas gessere." (Relat. incert. ap. Elzevir, p. 122.)
 
 180 
 
 corps, was chosen because of his athletic make anri vigorous con- 
 stitution : he was instructed and trained with as much care as were 
 the Roman soldiers. The corps of agemoglans was the great school 
 Avhence alone it was lawful to select recruits for the army of the 
 janizaries.* When once enrolled in the books of the agemoglans, 
 tlie youth were placed in the service of the prince or his pashas, 
 or delivered over for a term of years to serve under the Mussulman 
 peasantry in the labours of agriculture, and to be initiated in the 
 doctrines of islamism : their bodies were thus strengthened by 
 labour to resist the inclemencies of the seasons, and to undergo 
 the fatigues of \yar : they were inured by penury and abstinence to 
 support hunger and thirst, and prepared for obedience by the rigours 
 of servitude. Their masters were summoned to produce thena 
 whenever the service required supplies, and they were drafted into 
 the chambers or companies of the janizaries. Those who had been 
 received into the sultan's household, were employed in the laborious 
 services of the seraglio ; in cleaving wood for the use of the kit- 
 chen, or in rowing the gallies across the Propontis to load and 
 transport from the coasts of Asia Minor, the materials necessary 
 for the repairs of the palace or the construction of public edifices : 
 six hundred were employed under the carpenters and caulkers in 
 the imperial dock-yards : and upwards often thousand, under the 
 name of bostanjis or gardeners, were distributed in the seraglio, 
 and other palaces of the sultan in Asia and Europe. On the first 
 
 * It is ordained in the constitutional laws, established by Sultan Murad the founder 
 of the institution of tlie janizaries, that no one shall be received into tlie corps, unless he 
 be of the race of the ttTi-cmcs, (tributary children) and have been previously educated 
 among the ugemo^lans. (See Marsigh'a military state of the Ottoman empire, p. 67.)
 
 181 
 
 acfmission of a recruit among the janizaries, lie perfornterl the me- 
 nial services of the kitchen and offices ; but at the same time he 
 was daily initiated in military exericises and the use of arms, by 
 the most skilful of his comrades. His pay was gradually aug- 
 mented, but he was not admitted to a perfect equality with the 
 other janizaries, or considered deserving of the pay of a veteran, 
 until he had signalized his courage in actual warfare.* A spirit of 
 emulation was thus diffused among the troops, and cherished by 
 successive promotions ; nor were military honours their only re^ 
 eompense : there are examples in history of men being raised from 
 the ranks to the highest dignities in the state, and Soliman the 
 First even gave his sister in marriage to Ibrahim, whom, from a 
 private of the ninth company of janizaries, he had created grand 
 vizir, t 
 
 It is the opinion of an impartial observer that " the janizaries 
 of the present day, however they may have relaxed from the dis- 
 eipline which in ancient times rendered them so formidable, may 
 still be considered as the most select and regular of the Turkish 
 troops : They are at the same time better and more uniformly 
 dressed and equipped than the other soldiers.":]: 
 
 * See Busbeq. de re mil. cont. Tur. instit. consilium.' — " Mittit quotannis Turca- 
 rum princeps ceri.0^ homines in diversas provincias, qui de paucis e Christianis homini- 
 bus natis, tertiuni aut quartum quemque legant," &.c. (pp. 298— 303.) See also. 
 Marsigli, V. i. p. T7. and Rycaut, p. 40. 
 
 t Cantem.i-'s Ottoman history, p. 178, 
 
 X Dr. V/ittman's Travels, p. 235. 
 1
 
 182 
 
 The body of janizaries is divided into a hundred and ninety six 
 companies, which are distinguished by the devices ou their colours, 
 and by numerical order, according to the arrangement of their re- 
 spective chambers in the barracks at Constantinople and that of 
 their tents in the field: certain companies have likewise nanjes 
 descriptive of the offices which they hold in the court of the sultan, 
 and the privileges with which they are honoured.* Some com- 
 panies, from the merit of former services, enjoy a kind of heredi- 
 tary pre-eminence, particularly the thirty-first. The order of ja- 
 nizaries furnishes also the only example of public anathema, or 
 excommunication, in the whole history of the Ottomans. In the 
 insurrection, which dethroned Osman tlie Second, a soldier of the 
 sixty-fifth dared to lift his impious baud against the person of his 
 fallen monarch, and insulted over bis misfortune in the public 
 streets of the city. Murad the Fourth, the brother and successor 
 of Osman, punished the sacrilege, by annihilating the company. 
 Tiie memory of the crime and the punishment is preserved and 
 renewed twice in every month : on the Wednesday, when the 
 distribution of candles is made to the different chambers, the sixty- 
 
 * The janizaries of the 64th are called zagargis, keepers of the sultaii's hounds: 
 the 7 1st are called samsongis, keepers of the niastifls : In like manner the timiagis, 
 keepers of the grey-hounds and falcons, are the 68th company. The seymaiy ovgilar, 
 huntsmen or sportsmen, are Uie 14th, 36th, and 49th. The captain of the 35th must 
 have previoasly passed through all the ranks and offices of the company ; and the oda 
 bushi or lieutenant of the same company is the only one of that rank to whom it is per- 
 mitted to marry. The solala of the 62d and 63d march on tach siJc- of the sultan: 
 their name, which is derived from sol the left hand, is given to them from theii- being 
 equally expert in the use of their bows with either hand, so as never to turn their back 
 towards the .sultan. (See Marsigli, V. i. p. 71.)
 
 183 
 
 fifth is summoned to receive its ration ; but at the second citation, 
 an officer solemnly pronounces, " Let its voice be silenced : let it 
 utterly perish."* 
 
 The janizaries form the principal branch of that division of the other 
 
 bodies of 
 
 Turkish army which is distinguished from the toprakly, or feudal '"fantry 
 
 i -^ receiving 
 
 militia, by the appellation oi capkuly, a word which properly sig- {'^^ *^^". 
 nifies a slave of the Porte, but which nearly corresponds with the 
 modern term of soldier, inasmuch as it denotes that class of troops 
 who receive their pay from the treasury of the prince. Next to the topgis, 
 janizaries, the most important military establishment upheld by the 
 Ottoman porte is that of the topgis, (gunners or artillery-men) 
 whose number is not fi.xed in the canon name of Sultan Soliman, but 
 who, in the account of a modern traveller who possessed talents of 
 the first rank and all the means of acquiring information, are 
 stated to consist of thirty thousand men, dispersed throughout the 
 empire like the janizaries, and obliged to join their standard when. 
 
 * Tableau General, V. i. p. 299. — It would be an injustice to the body of the Jani- 
 zaries, were I thus to leave them under the imputation of mutiny and rebellion, without 
 extenuating, in some degree, the conduct which stains the annals of their earlier history, . 
 by confronting it with that of the modern janizaries. Dr. Wittman (p. 206.) relates 
 tlie circumstances of an insun-ection occasioned by a scarcity in the camp at Jaffa. 
 " In tha midst of their discontent they were willing, they ssud, to agree to two things, . 
 namely, that the English should have barley for their horses, because they were good 
 friends; and that the horses which drew the guns should also be furnished with pro- 
 vender, as such a supply was necessary to the pubUc service : but they could not con-- 
 sent that any part of what was in store should be issued for the use of the great offi.cers 
 of state, as thty could afford to make the requisite purchases." 
 
 5;
 
 1S4. 
 
 ordei-ed.* Their general Is the topgi bashi, \\\\o exerts absohite 
 authority over those employed under him in the different depart- 
 ments. The barracks of the topgis, and the principal foundery of 
 cannon, are situated on the northern shore at the entrance of the 
 harbour of Constantinople, opposite to the Seraglio, in the district 
 called Tophana. The superintendance of the topgi bashi extends 
 to all the fortresses and garrison-towns of the empire, which he 
 supplies, according to the orders of the grand vizir, with artillery 
 stores and ammunition, and keeps a register of the state of their 
 respective magazines. The service of the topgis is not confined to 
 the exercise of the great guns : part of them are employed in the 
 foundery, and others form a corps of artificers, and construct gun- 
 carriages and artillery waggons. De Tott describes the topgis as 
 being subject to no discipline and never embodied, although forty 
 thousand were enrolled and paid. It is to himself, we are told, 
 that the Turks are indebted for the establishment of a new corps of 
 artillery, for whose regulation he drew up a code, which was sanc- 
 tioned with all due formality by the grand signor. I know not 
 "whether this account be exact or not ; but certain it is that the 
 Turkish topgis of the present day, compared with those whom De 
 Tott describes, are prodigies of improvement. "The officers of the 
 British military detachment witnessed the artillery practice, and 
 found it better than they had been led to expect. The Turkish 
 artillery-men beat down the target several times, and their mortar- 
 practice was by no means contemptible."'}" 
 
 * Olivier, Travels in tlie OUoman empire, Egypt, and Persia, V. i. p. 195. 
 t De Tott, V. iii. p. 132. Dr. Wittman's Travels, p. 8.
 
 185 
 
 The gebegis, or armourers have their barracks in Constantinople gebegis. 
 near the mosque of Sancta Sophia : they are divided into sixty 
 odas: they guard the public arsenal or repository of arms, gebhanS, 
 and their duty is to furbish and keep in proper order the different 
 warlike instruments, and to distribute them on the day of battle to 
 the janizaries. Their number is not correctly ascertained, but the 
 sum appropriated for their annual pay is registered in the cattoit 
 name at a hundred and ninety-two purses, or ninety-six thousand 
 rixdollars.* 
 
 "The Ottomans," says Dr.Wittman, "have introduced into their sakus. 
 armies, among other beneficial regulations, the establishment of a 
 corps of sakkas, or water-carriers, who attend in the field and on a ' 
 
 march to supply the troops with water." Their number is unfixed, 
 and they have no ])articular officers among them ; but they obey 
 the officer of the company to which they are attached. They carry 
 water in leathern budgets slung across a horse, and as the con- 
 sumption of water in a Turkish camp is prodigious, because of the 
 frequent ablutions which the Mahometan religion enjoins, the 
 sakkas are in constant activity, and are distinguishable, even in a 
 Turkish army, by the darker tinge of their complexion.f 
 
 Among the capiculy are also to be comprehended a corps of carairy ni- 
 
 ^ ceiving pay 
 
 cavalry, consistmg of fifteen thousand men, divided into spahis of from the 
 
 ^ porte. 
 
 * Marsigli, V. i. p. 82. 
 t Dr. Wittman's Travels, ^ 303. IVIarsigli, V. i. p. 80. 
 
 Bb
 
 186 
 
 the right, and left, wing, and distinguished by their red, or yeHow, 
 standards : they are paid out of the public treasury, from which,< 
 two thousand and seventy purses are annually issued, and distri- 
 buted a,mong them in quarterly payments. The reputation of the. 
 Turkish cavalry has thrown lustre on the history of their armies> 
 and perhaps, when in its most flourishing state, it was not inferior 
 to that of the Mamelukes, which Denon calls the best cavalry of 
 the East, and perhaps of the v/hole world.* 
 
 serratcuiy The pashas of the provinces, from funds specifically appropriated 
 
 or troops 
 
 receiving {q that purposc, Icvy corps of provincial troops, called serratcuiy, 
 thepashai. j.^ aggigt j^ jhc Operation? of the grand army and to serve in the 
 fortresses: these are not kept up in constant pay, but embodied 
 only in time of war or during the march of an army : they consist 
 oS azaps, or pioneers; lagumjis, or miners; and hissarlis, who 
 assist the topgis in the artillery service. 
 
 This great assemblage of force is however now felt and acknow- 
 ledged to be insufficient, either for external defence, or for insuring, 
 domestic tranquillity ; and the new troops, which have been succes- 
 sively embodied, (among whom European tactics have, of late 
 years, been partially but imperfectly introduced,) offer, rather a. 
 ■10'P, prospect of meditated improvement, than any actual amelioration 
 
 of their military system. Mahnaud Eftendi, who was secretary of 
 
 * Nothing can convey a better idea of the perfection of each mode of discipUnCj. 
 ihe Turkiih and the modem European, than the description of a battle fought near. 
 Sediman in Upper Egypt between the French troops under General Dcssaix and the. 
 Mamelukes and Arabs under Mural Bey. (See Denon, V. i. p. 238.).
 
 187 
 
 the Turkish embassy in London, and since promoted to the dignity 
 of rep ejfcndi, printed, and published at Constantinople, an ac- 
 count of the military establishments of the empire, in the French 
 language ; but their effective force may be better estimated from 
 the inefficiency of their operations in conjunction with the allies 
 during the late Egyptian campaign. 
 
 General Koehler, who afterwards commanded the British detach- o.derof 
 
 . . . , 1- ■ • encamp- 
 
 ment which joined the grand vizir s army m the expedition against menu 
 
 the French in Egypt, mentioned to me that he had made enquiry 
 of a renegado from our own country named Inguiliz Mustafa, as to 
 the order observed in the arrangement of a Turkish camp, and 
 that Mustafa answered only by scattering about on the table a 
 quantity of the small pieces of Turkish money called paras. But 
 Mustafa, from a long residence among the Turks, had adopted so 
 much of the figurative inaccuracy of Oriental language, that he 
 willingly sacrificed a considerable portion of truth to the preserva- 
 tion of a jest, or a conceit. As such his reply must be allowed to 
 possess some merit, particularly as it does not ill describe that 
 general state of confusion which has been observed of late years to 
 exist in the camps of the Ottomans ; but we shall fall into error if 
 we adopt as a logical truth, what should be considered only as a 
 figure of burlesque rhetoric. 
 
 ' * The Turkish troops at Jaffa were observed to be encamped in 
 the most confused and irregular manner, without any order in the 
 positions they occupied ; each individual having pitched his tent 
 on the spot which was most agreeable to his inclination. The
 
 188 
 
 only regulation, that seemed to border somewhat on system, wa* 
 that each pasha was surrounded by his own men. The carcasses- 
 of dead animals, such as camels and horses, were scattered in great 
 abundance among the tents, and mouldered away without giving 
 the smallest concern, or occasioning any apparent inconvenience 
 to the Turkish soldiery."* It may perhaps be thought not unin- 
 teresting to confront with this description of the last Turkish, 
 camp which was formed, (and which I am convinced is literally 
 accurate,) the account of Soliman's camp, as described by Baron 
 Busbek, who surveyed it, by permission of the grand vizir, in the 
 disguise of an Oriental dress, which allowed him full opportunity 
 for making observations, and screened him at the same time from 
 the impertinent curiosity of the Turkish soldiers. He found the 
 different bodies of infantry and cavalry arranged in the most ad- 
 mirable order : the most respectful silence and decency of beha- 
 viour prevailed in the camp: there was no brawling or contention^ 
 no drunkenness or licentiousness. But that which he chiefly 
 commends, is their great attention to cleanliness : every thing, her 
 says, which could offend the senses was carefully removed out of 
 sight, or buried in the earth.f 
 
 When the formation of a camp is determined upon, for the 
 purpose of assembling together an army previously to its march- 
 ing to the scene of action, a proclamation is issued to all the 
 pashas and military governors, summoning them to repair to the 
 Imperial standard, with their respective bodies of troops. 
 
 * ^r. Wjltman's Travels, pp. 121. 123, t Biisbeq. Epist. p. 167.
 
 189 
 
 According to an invariable rule, when the sultan or the grand 
 vizir takes the field, their tents are pitched on the plains nearest 
 to the imperial residence, and on that continent in which the 
 war is to be prosecuted r the place of general rendezvous is indi- 
 cated by their standards, consisting of seven, or of five, horse- 
 tails. The troops from the different provinces muster at the 
 appointed time, and arrive at the destined place, either singly, 
 or in small bands formed from motives of private convenience 
 and held together by mutual consent : so that this operation 
 among the Turks, because of the little order observed in it, 
 cannot be considered as a military movement. 
 
 The routes of the troops from the most distant provinces are 
 traced out according to the direction of the high roads. The 
 pasha of Anatolia, when the war is in Europe, crosses the Bos-, 
 phorus from Scutari, and forms his camp in the environs of 
 Constantinople, keeping the city on his left hand. The troops 
 df Media cross the Hellespont at Gallipoli, and leaving Adria- 
 nople on their right, march towards Philippopolis where tbey wait 
 for, or join, the grand army. Those from Aleppo, Damascus, 
 and Egypt, embark at the nearest sea ports and proceed to 
 Salonica in Macedonia : their cavalry however performs the 
 journey by land, and passes over kito Europe through Gallipoli. 
 
 From Salonica the Asiatic and Egyptian troops continue their 
 march through the city of Sophia, and the valley formed by the 
 river Vardar, to the borders of Lower Albania, where they encamp 
 in the plains of Nissa, and are joined by the Albanians who
 
 190 
 
 descend from the high mountains of their piovince. Those of 
 Bosnia cross the Save at Prod; and are joined by different 
 small companies of Sclavonians, with whom they proceed to the 
 oeneral rendezvous. Rycaut asserts, that " no abuses are com- 
 mitted on the people in the march of a Turkish army ; all is 
 bouglit and paid with money, as by travellers that are guests at 
 an inn ; there are no complaints by mothers of the rape of their 
 virgin daughters, no violences or robberies offered on the in- 
 habitants." And it must be observed that Rycaut spake from 
 experience ; ror he was sent by the English ambasador, the Earl 
 of Winchelsea, to meet the grand vizir on his return from the wars 
 in Hungary, and he not only remained several days in the camp, 
 but returned together with the army from Belgrade in Sefvia, 
 to Adrianople.* But though the presence of the vizir, and the 
 severity of the discipline established by him, might, in this 
 instance, have enforced due subordination and proper conduct, 
 during the march of his army, yet a contrary practice seems 
 not only to have prevailed, but even to have been connived at 
 by government, during the irregular marches of troops to join 
 the great body of the army. Their progress has been compared' 
 to that of a torrent of burning lava : I have myself seen a small 
 part of the devastation which they occasion, and have witnessed 
 the cruelties which they commit. It is true that in their journies 
 they avoid molesting the Turkish inhabitants, but they enter into 
 the villages and the cottages of the rayahs as into their own houses, 
 and not only apply to their own use or to their own pleasure 
 
 * Present state of tlic Ottoman Empire, p. 205.
 
 r.Qi 
 
 whatever attracts their attention, but exact a pecuniaiy recom- 
 pense for the wear of their twth, in return for their violation of 
 the riglits of hospitahty. This I have seen ; and I have also 
 seen the inhabitants of a populous village abandon their houses, 
 and fly to the mountains or the woods with their families and' 
 household furniture, and disperse their herds of cattle, and bury 
 their corn in pits, to avoid the ravages of a company of twenty 
 warriors of whose approach they had received previous notice. 
 
 The troops destined to compose the Ottoman army under the 
 command of the pashas, beys,, and other officers, are already 
 in full march on every side to reach the place assigned them fov 
 a rendezvous, when the grand vizir, in the beginning of the 
 month of May, takes public leave of the sultan, and proceeds to 
 his head quarters in the camp, with a suite of about three or four 
 thousand men. " It is inipossible," says Dr. Wittman, " to 
 contemplate these pompous ceremonies, and not to contrast them 
 with the secrecy and silence, with which the first movements 
 of European armies are undertaken. It must be a trifling nation 
 which can delay an expedition of importance, even for a single 
 day, lest some little rite or ceremony should be omitted ; and 
 it is truly impolitic thus to advertise an enemy, for even months 
 beforehand, of the advance of an army."* The observation 
 such as it is, is not to be attributed to Dr. Wittman, for he 
 had not arrived at Constantinople when the vizir passed over 
 to the camp at Scutari : but the charge against the Turks appean-i 
 
 * Dr. Wittman's Travels,, p. 10.
 
 192 
 
 frivolous and unfounded, for whatever ceremonies may precede 
 the vizir's quitting the capital in order to put himself at the head 
 of the army, they do not serve to convey more speedy or more 
 correct intelligence of such an event, than an official notice to the 
 same effect in the court gazette : and to require that tiie vizir 
 and the grand army should steal out from the extremity of Europe, 
 and fall unawares upon a vigilant enemy on the confines of Africa, 
 is, I think, imposing on the Turks a task, which the most wily 
 Christian general Avould find it impossible to peiform. 
 
 The grand vizir first encamps in the neighbourhood of Con- 
 stantinople, in the plains about Daout Pasha. The office of 
 conakgi bashi, corresponds with that of quarter-master-general in 
 our'service. Tlie importance of his duties must be evident, when 
 it is considered how much the safety and prosperity of an army 
 depends upon an intelligent system of castrametation. Every 
 body knows that a camp planned by able and experienced generals 
 is as the order of battle : but that of the Turks is too frequently 
 only a confused heap of tents and baggage, traced out in the 
 form of a crescent, but huddled together without order or regu- 
 larity. Sucli negligence, which nothing can excuse, becomes 
 more deserving of censure, when it is considered that it is a 
 dereliction of ancient practice, a deviation from the military 
 statutes of their ancestors. The conukgi baslii having received his 
 orders from the vizir, or in the vizir's absence from the seraskkr, 
 (or general in chief), proceeds to trace out the camp, accompanied 
 by the conakgis of the different pashas. The written orders de- 
 livered to the coiiakgi basin relate only to the distribution of the
 
 193 
 
 janizaries, the infantry of the serratculy, the artillery, and tlie 
 cavalry of the capiculy. As for the toprakly cavalry, the ammuni- 
 tion and provision waggons, and the head-quarters of the grand 
 vizir, their stations are always uniformly ascertained, whatever 
 may be the general plan of the camp. The central point, and 
 that which determines the relative position of every other part 
 of the army, is the tent called leykk tchadir, (tent of the stork.) 
 It is higher than any other tent, and is erected on a single pole, 
 which is painted red and supports a ball or globe of the same 
 colour. Under the leykk tchadir the divan assembles, the coun- 
 cils of war are held, and justice is administered. In the front-of ' 
 it is the place of public execution, where death or lighter punish- 
 ments are inflicted ; and there also the heads are exposed of those 
 who have been put to death in the provinces. 
 
 When the sultan takes the field the kykk tchadir is covered 
 with cloth of different colours, white, green, and red. When 
 His Highness does not head the army, the tent of the grand 
 vizir, which is formed on the same plan as that of the sultan, 
 is situated immediately behind the kykk tchadir ; the tents of 
 the officers of his household, and the extensive stables for his 
 horses are adjoining to the head-quarters. The military chests are 
 piled up in front of the kykk tchadii\ The officers of the 
 treasury and the chancery, the cazy-askcrs, the imams, and the 
 kubbe vizirs occupy tents disposed in right lines, so as to form 
 streets leading to the vizir's pavillion. The baggage and ammuni- 
 tion waggons are placed in a circle, which encloses the head- 
 quarters of the grand vizir, and the body of the camp. 
 
 C c
 
 194 
 
 The spahis of the capktdy are divided into two bodies, and 
 posted on the right and left wings ; the artillery and the toprakly 
 infantry form a line in front ; and the toprakli/ cavalry, headed 
 by their respective pashas, are arranged in a semicircle, which 
 makes the exterior boundary of the camp. Between the head- 
 quarters and the advanced guard, which is commanded by the 
 janhar aga, are two corps of cavalry, whose horses are kept 
 constantly saddled : the camp of the rear guard is also removed to 
 a certain distance from the main body. 
 
 Such was formerly the general arrangement of the camp, which 
 has been admired by military observers for the grandeur of it* 
 appearance, which corresponded with that of a beautiful city : the 
 tents of the chief officers resembling the palaces and mosques, 
 those of the soldiers the private houses, while those of the trades- 
 men were disposed in imitation of a bazai' or market place. But 
 as to any order in the arrangement of the tents, it appears to 
 have been unknown or disregarded : they were turned to the right 
 or the left, according to accident or caprice, and the tents of 
 the pashas themselves, though distinguished from those of the 
 privates by their shape and size, and the ensigns of their dignity 
 which were planted in front of them, indicated nevertheless the 
 same contempt of method and regularity. 
 
 icnfsand The Stately pavilKon of the grand vizir is not less distinguished 
 
 pagu. from those of the principal officers of the porte, by richness of 
 
 ornament, than by its spacious dimensions. It has been described 
 
 as surpassing the magnificence of a palace : the materials being
 
 1J)5 
 
 of the TOOst costly stuffs, and the furniture resplendent with gold 
 and jewels. For though the precepts of the Mahometan religion 
 prohibit the men from indulging in the vanity and luxury of 
 personal ornament, yet the Turks display in their armies a mag-' 
 nificence, inversely proportionate to the modesty of their usual 
 appearance. The officers of the cavalry are mounted on horses, 
 whose harness is studded with gold and silver, and covered with 
 housings of the most costly embroidery. The arms, the chief 
 Loast of the soldier, are in most instances provided by himself, and 
 adorned with a profusion of expence. 
 
 The insignia of a vizir, governor of a province, are — the alem, 
 a large broad standard, the staff* of which, instead of a spear-head, 
 is surmounted with a silver plate in the form of a crescent,—- 
 ■the tabl, or military music, consisting of nine drums, nine fifes, 
 seven trumpets, and four cymbals, — the fugh, consisting of three 
 horse-tails artificially plaited, — one sa?ijak, or standard, of green 
 silk, and of the same form and size ^vith Mahomet's standard, 
 — and two large standards called bairah Other pashas, who are 
 not honoured with the tit!e of vizir, have two horse-tails with 
 the other insignia. A bey with the standard has but one horse- 
 tail. Others of an inferior order, called sanjak-beys, are allowed 
 ■only one sanjak and no horse-tails. 
 
 The bash-tchadir, or pavillion of the grand vizir erected in 
 the body of the camp, is encircled . by canvas, so disposed 
 as to resemble in some degree the "walls and battlements of 
 a, castle, and so hioh as not to be overlooked. The chief
 
 196 
 
 advantage of this kind of intrenchmcnt is, however, that it 
 prevents the inconvenience or disturbance which might be occa- 
 sioned by men or other animals stumbling in the night time 
 over the cords of the tent. 
 
 The pashas also surround their tents with an enclosure of the 
 same kind, but only breast high, lest by too close aa imitatioa 
 of the magnificence of the vizir, they might seem to fail in the 
 respect which is due to his exalted station. The tents are heavy 
 and bulky : the conveyance of them occupies a considerable 
 number of camels, horses, and mules, besides waggons drawn 
 by oxen and buffaloes ; so that if we form our opinion of the 
 expedition of the Turks in their military operations from the 
 nature of the animals which they employ, it must necessarily 
 be unfavourable. As it requires a length of time to erect these 
 moveable palaces, it is customary to have always two sets of tents, 
 one of which is sent on the day before, so as to be prepared and 
 ready for the reception of the grand vizir and the pashas on 
 their arrival. The exterior ornaments of the bash tchadir, are a 
 globe of gilded copper supporting a crescent, and a green cotton 
 cloth which is spread over the upper part of the tent : the stakes 
 and props arc painted of the same colour ; and an ornament 
 peculiar to the grand vizir's tent, which no other officer however 
 elevated in dignity dares assume, are garlands or festoons of 
 crimson fringe, which are suspended between tlie stakes of the 
 exterior enclosure, and the poles or columns which support the 
 tent»
 
 197 
 
 The grand vizir's tent is open towards the direction of the 
 line of march of the army, and his tughs, or horse-tails, are plant- 
 ed on each side of the entrance. The scround in the inside of 
 the tent is covered over with carpets, and surrounded on three 
 sides with an elegant sopha. It is hung round with a kind of 
 patchwork tapestry, composed of di/Tcrent pieces of stuffs of 
 various colours, sewed together so as to represent wreaths of 
 flowers and branches of trees. All the other tents of the people 
 of rank are decorated in the same taste, and furnished in the 
 same manner, but with more or less splendour, according to the 
 dignity and authority of those who occupy them. Even the 
 tents of the common men have their sheep skins, and cush- 
 ions stuffed with wool or hemp, which answer the purposes of 
 a sopha. 
 
 The due supply of the army with provisions, as it is an object Methoaaf 
 
 •upplyin^ 
 
 of the first importance, was formerly resrulated with iudo'ment theanny 
 and enforced with severity. Proper officers were appointed, and ^""'*" 
 furnished with money, to procure, from the provinces nearest to 
 the seat of war, the cattle and other necessary provisions, at a 
 maximum fixed by the sultan's order. The pashas provided for 
 themselves and their followers on the same terms as the sultan, 
 who only furnished them with waggons, and other means of 
 conveyance. But it appears from the report of Baron de To.tf^ 
 that such is the ignorance or want of foresight of the commandei's, 
 that in their late campaigns, this essential duty Mas so ill per- 
 formed, that the Ottoman army was always placed in the extremes 
 of excess and waste, or of want and discontent j and Dr. Witt-
 
 198 
 
 man likewise observed in the camp at Jaffa, that every essential 
 arrangement in the estabhshment of d6p6ts and magazines M'as 
 neglected. 
 
 Busbeqnius, in his survey of the Turkish camp, examined the 
 state of the butchery, where sheep and cattle were killed and 
 distributed to the janizaries. He expressed surprize at the small 
 quantity of animal food consumed by them, for there were not 
 more than four or five sheep for upwards of four thousand men : 
 he was told that in general they preferred making use of the stock 
 of provisions brought from Constantinople ; and on enquiring 
 of what those provisions consisted, they pointed out to him a 
 janizary, who was preparing in an earthen dish a mixture, of 
 different kinds of vegetables with a sauce of vinegar and salt. 
 " But hunger," says Busbequius, "gave it its truest seasoning, 
 and to the abstemious soldier it appeared more delicious than 
 pheasants and partridges to pampered luxury." His drink was 
 the wholesome beverage of nature. Wine was strictly prohibited 
 to be brought into the camp, and so sensible were the Turks 
 of the irregularities which the free use of wine introduces among 
 soldiers, that officers were usually dispatched to shut up the 
 taverns, and to forbid by proclamation the sale of wine, in any 
 town through which the army was to pass. The provisions 
 fiYinishcd at the cxpence of government are, flour, bread, biscuit, 
 rice, hilgur (or husked wheat), butter, and meat, for the men, 
 and barley for the horses. When circumstances permit they bake 
 fresh bread every day, in ovens dug in the earth, and distribute 
 it to the soldiers in portions of a hundred drachms (somewhat less
 
 199 
 
 tlian three quarters of a pound) per day : at other times they 
 serve out biscuit, of which fifty drachms are a man's allowance, 
 besides sixty drachms of beef or mutton, twenty five of butter, 
 and fifty of rice or bulgur. The cook of each company of 
 janizaries receives the total of the rations, and distributes them 
 in two meals, one at eleven in the morning, and another at sevea 
 in the evening, to messes consisting of seven or eight persons. 
 In addition to the ration which is regularly allowed them, they 
 receive a moderate pay, which does not exceed a crown per 
 month. 
 
 An authentic document, preserved by Count Marsigli, will best^rderof 
 
 ' ' •' ° ' march and 
 
 explain the order of march, as it was formerly observed by a**""^" 
 Turkish army. The advanced guard, consisting of Tartars and 
 other irregular troops, were supported by the pashas of Romelia and 
 Anatolia, and M'ere placed under their command. The seraslder, 
 or lieutenant general of the vizir, followed with the troops and 
 the pashas of Erzerum and Bosnia, Immediately after the'*^! came 
 the janizar aga at the head of all the odas of janizaries. Then 
 came the topgi bashi with the artillery, and the gehegis with the 
 ammunition. The infantry of the provinces escorted their pro- 
 vision waggons. The beylerbeys and pashas followed in the rear 
 of the provincial infantry. The capiculy spahis, of both the 
 red and yellow standards, followed the provincial cavalry. Then 
 came the grand vizii> with the officers of the court a.nd the 
 ministers of state, who accompanj' him in his military expeditions. 
 The provision waggons, each of them escorted by three foot 
 soldiers, and the other baggage waggons were under the care of
 
 200 
 
 the commander of the rear guard, who accompanied them to the 
 camp, and who closed the march with four thousand men. The 
 piiUtary march of the grand army is regulated hy the vizir, whose 
 orders are committed to writing by the clerks of his chancery, 
 and are distributed to the different commauders by the ofticers 
 under fehe controul of the chaous basin. 
 
 When the Turkish army marches through the sultans do- 
 minions they observe so little order, that provided every man 
 arrives at the camp in time for the evening prayers, each may 
 pursue his march alone, or in companj-, in the manner most agree- 
 able to himself, and may stop to rest himself on the road where- 
 ever he pleases. The advanced guard usually consists of five or 
 six thousand horse, of the best troops in the army : their com- 
 mander is called the kliarcagy bashi : they are usually seven or 
 eight leagues before the main body, and if there be Tartars in the 
 army they disperse themselves on all sides, and pillage wherever 
 they pass. 
 
 The ala'i, or marshalling of the troops, is a march of ceremony, 
 in which the Ottomans display the greatest pomp and magnifi- 
 cence. When the pashas arrive at the place of general rendez; 
 vous, they each perform their respective ala'i, which answers to a 
 review : but in the general ala'i the whole army is divided into 
 five parts ; the right and left wings, sagh col and sol col : the 
 main body, dib aldi : the \dM, kharcagy ; and the rear, dondar. 
 In the front are the serdcn guiechdi, followed by the janizaries 
 Jed on by their aga. After these, the great guns, guarded and 
 
 5
 
 201 
 
 served by the topgis and gehegis : then the vizir, with his court 
 and seghani, or guards of the baggage ; on his right hand, the 
 Asiatic horse, and on his left, the European. After the vizir 
 comes the emperor, surrounded by his courtiers and his body 
 guard of bostangis ; the spahis of the red standard on his right, 
 and on his left the spahis of the yellow. Then follow the military 
 chests and provision waggons, with the company of merchants 
 and artificers, who, by the imperial mandate, follow the camp, 
 and furnish all the conveniences and luxuries of a cit} \ The 
 dondai', or bringers back, form the rear, and close the ceremony. 
 
 Their ancient order of battle was to form a kind of pyramid, 
 the point of which was presented to the enemy. Few vacancies 
 were left in the main body of the army, as the evolutions were 
 chiefly made on the wings. The serden guiechdi bashi at the 
 head of his desperadoes, consisting of about a thousand horse 
 taken indifferently from the capiculy or the feudal troops, always 
 formed the extreme point. They were supported by the beyler- 
 beys of Romeha and Anatolia; the first on the right, and the 
 second on the left, at the head of the European and Asiatic 
 troops. The pashas commanding the militia of the distant pro- 
 vinces occupied the middle space. The grand vizir, with the 
 hifantry and artillery, formed the centre of the base ; the timariots 
 and zaims, the extremities ; and a corps de reserve, composed 
 of spahis, terminated the whole. AVith this arrangement they 
 •marched to the attack, or they received the shock of the enemy. 
 The serden guiechdi animated each other M'ith their .M'ar shout of 
 Allah, allah. If after tjuee repeated charges they failed in 
 
 D d
 
 202 
 
 making an impression on the enemies line, tliey spread out to 
 the right and left, and opened a greater front, which in like 
 manner gradually enlarged itself if it became necessary. If they 
 succeeded in breaking the first battalions, they took in flank 
 those wlio had not been exposed to their onset.* 
 
 A spirit of eniulation prevailed between the troops of Asia 
 and Europe. Those who had been repulsedand dispersed made 
 the greatest efforts in order to rally and return to the charge. 
 If the cavalry Mas broken and scattered, the artillery opened 
 upon the enemy, and by keeping up a heavy fire, gave time to 
 the fugitives to recover themselves : there have been instances 
 where they have renewed the fight with such a desperate valour, 
 as even to snatch the victory from the hands of the enemy. It 
 has also happened that the rear guard, engaged by oath to shed 
 the last drop of blood in defence of the sacred standard of 
 the prophet, has opposed the enemy with such determination 
 as to give time to the broken troops to form anew, and thereby 
 become masters of the field of battle. It is said to be from the 
 jealousy of the other troops, who frequently saw the vanguard 
 carry off all the honour of the victory, that this order of bat- 
 
 * Serden guieckdi signifies persons devoted to desperate undertakings. In theTurkish 
 armies they form what in other countries are called enfuns perdus, or the forlorn hope. 
 iMeninski explains the word in his dictionary by " caput non curans, exponcns, 
 voliiiitanus." They are betttr known by the name of dellii, which, as Rycaul justly 
 says, signifies as much as a mad fellow-or a Hector. They arc however brave, 
 ietermined, and enterprising. Those who enlist among the serden gukchdi receiTe an 
 attgmeiitation of us aspers a day for each campaign.
 
 203 
 
 tie was changed for that of a cresceiat ; and to this alteratiou 
 their own chiefs have attrihuted the ill success of the Ottoman 
 arms. 
 
 The Turkish method of warfare is described by a traveller, who Modes of 
 
 . Jightinj, 
 
 observed it during the last year of the war agamst Austria and 
 Russia, The Turks, he says, who are represented as not possessing 
 common sense in military affairs, nevertheless carry on war with 
 some kind of method. They disperse themselves about, in order 
 tlmt the fire of the enemies battalions or artillery may not be di- 
 rected against them : they take their aim with admirable precision, 
 and direct their fire always against men collected in a body ; mask- 
 ing their own manoeuvres by their incessant firing : sometimes 
 they intrench themselves in ravins or hollows, or conceal them., 
 selves upon trees ; at other times they advance in several small 
 companies, consisting of forty or fifty men, carrying a banderole or 
 little flag, which they fix onwards in order to gain ground : the 
 most advanced kneel down and fire, and fall back to reload their 
 pieces ; supporting each other in this manner, until upon an advan- 
 tage, the}' rush forward, and advance their standard progressively. 
 Such is their constant method ; the different small bodies carefully 
 observing a line or order in their progress, so as not to cover each 
 other. The repeated shoutings and cries of Allah encourage the 
 Mussulmans, and together with the immediate decapitation of the 
 wounded who fall into their power, produce an eflfect which some- 
 times alarms and disheartens the Christian soldier.* Dr. Witt- 
 
 * " L'instinct des Turcs, qui vaut souvent mieux que I'esprit des Chretiens, les rend
 
 and of de- 
 fending 
 their for- 
 tresses. 
 
 20-i 
 
 man condemns the employment of such a multiplicity of standards, 
 banners, and flags, wliich, he says, the Turks suppose to have the 
 effect of inspiring the enemy with terror and dismay : but as it 
 ai)pears from his journal that he had no opportunity of observing 
 the Turks when actually engaged with the enemy, he probably 
 may have exaggerated the inconvenience of these standards, thougli 
 he justly stiles them trivial objects ; yet perhaps they do not in any 
 considerable degree diminish the effective force which otherwise 
 would be brought into action, nor do they seem to shackle and 
 impede the military operations in the field of battle.* 
 
 I have heard Russian officers speak with eulogium of the active 
 valour and address of the Turks, in their skirmishes Avith the loose 
 troops and Cossaks, and of their persevering courage in the defence 
 of their fortresses : but it requires the actual presence of danger to 
 induce them to use precaution, or to introduce regularity into the 
 performance of military duty in their garrisons. When the Rus- 
 sian army was approaching Ismael, General Suwarow, wishing to 
 know the state of defence in the Turkish fortress, dispatched a few 
 Cossaks, with orders to seize and bring away some person of the 
 garrison. The Cossaks, under favour of the night, approached 
 close to the wall of a battery, where the Turkish sentinel, after 
 
 adroits el capables de faire tousles metiers a la guerre. Mais ils n'ontque la premiere 
 reflexion : ils ne sont pas susceptibles de la secomle, et apres avoir depense leur mo- 
 ment de bon sens, asscz juste, assez adroit, ils tienncnt du fou et de Tenfant." (Voyage 
 a Constantinople, p. 11*7.) 
 
 * See Dr. Wittman's Travels, p. 232.
 
 £05 
 
 having finished hh pipe, was sitting cross-legged on one of the 
 guns, and amusing himself witli singing: his entertainment was 
 interrupted by a rope with a slip knot, with which they pulled 
 him to the ground, and dragged him away to the Russian head 
 quarters. An oihcer, who was present, assured me, that when the 
 man's apprehensions as to his personal safety were removed, he in- 
 dulged in a hearty fit of laughter at the ridiculousness of his own 
 capture. 
 
 If we may credit the Baron de Tott, (and as far as my observa- Recapiw- 
 tion guides me, his sprightly egotisms possess more veracity, than 
 his remarks shew candour or judgment), we should place but little 
 confidence in any of the tables, which some authors have exhibited, 
 as a view of the effective military force of the Turks. Indeed what 
 information can a stranger hope to derive from any means within 
 his reach, when the vizir was obhged, in order to ascertain the 
 state of his own army, to have recourse to the reports in the Vienna 
 gazette.* If we reflect upon the disorders, which have been before 
 enumerated as having insinuated themselves into the Turkish 
 armies, and the confusion which is inseparable from them, we 
 must feel convinced, that although the Turkish nation he indivi- 
 dually brave, yet it is less to be won-dered at that they are ineffi- 
 cient when united, than that they do not disband immediately after 
 being collected together. According to the modern system of 
 politics, which exhausts the wealth of the independent kingdoms 
 of Europe by the necessary expences of maintaining a standing 
 
 * De Tott's Memoirs, V. iii. p. 18L
 
 206 
 
 army, (greater in many instances than was formerly thought ne- 
 cessary for the defence of the Roman empire in the three parts of 
 globe), the military power of the Turks may perhaps be considered 
 as disproportionate to the vast extent of their dominions. Mar- 
 siffli calculated the total effective force of their armies, or that 
 which could be brought into service against a foreign enemy, at 
 about a hundred and sixty thousand men, after deducting for 
 those whom the public safety requires to be employed in the pro- 
 vinces and in guarding the high roads, and allowing for the frau- 
 dulent returns of the toprakly militia; an abuse which is now be- 
 come so familiar, that in ordering- levies the state itself scai-cely 
 dares to count upon raising more than half the number of men 
 who are entered upon the public registers.* The capiculy are the 
 
 * I am justified in rejecting as inaccurate the details of the Turkish mihtarj- force a$ 
 published by Mr. Eton, but I acknowledge the justness of his concluding censure of 
 their armies, (Survey, p. 72.) in which we find " none of those numerous details of a 
 well-organized body, necessary to give quickness, strength, and regularity, to its actions, 
 to avoid confusion, to repair damages, to apply every part to some use : nothing, as 
 with us, the result of reasoning and combination, no systematic attack, defence, or 
 retreat, no accident foreseen or provided for." 
 
 Marsigli, whose calculation though made a centmy ago is perhaps the most correct 
 of any which have hitherto been published, divides the whole military force of the 
 Ottoinans mto two classes, and estimates the number of each as follows. 
 
 The capieuly consists of infantry and cavalry : the infantry, composed of janizaries, 
 agcmoglans, topgis, gebegis, and sak/cas, amounts to 58,864 men, of whom 21,426 Jani- 
 ziiries are required for the garrisons and frontier U)« ns : the cavalry, consisting of 
 epuliis and chaouscs, amounts to 15,284. The feudal militia, or the total of the con- 
 tingents of all thti pasha) iks, the ziamets, and iht timurs, amounts to 126,292: besides 
 wtiich the Tartars formerly furnished 12,000 tributary soldiers; and the principalities 
 of Moldavia and Wallachia 8000 men, but tlicsc should not be considered as soldiers, 
 as they were cliiefly employed in senile labour, and many of them carried only a spade
 
 207 
 
 only part of the Turkish armies susceptible of such improvement 
 in discipline and tactics, as to become capable of opposing in the 
 field the regailar troops of Christendom ; and their numbei", from 
 the limited reveinues of the sultan, must always be inadequate to 
 any great undertaking, or any efficacious resistance. The topraktif 
 soldiery, being untaught and undisciplined, do not seem to merit 
 a higher estimation than the provincial militia of the Christian 
 states, and, on a review of the disposable force of the Ottoman 
 empire, should scarcely be taken into account ; but to an invading 
 army they oppose a resistance by no means to be despised. Every 
 motive of enthusiasm, patriotism, and private interest, confirms the 
 aversion of the Turks to the dominion of foreigners. In our own 
 time the inhabitants of Bosnia, Albania, and Croatia, a hardy and 
 ■warlike race, have successfully defended their religion and their 
 country aj^ainst the disciplined troops of the Emperor of Ger- 
 many : and the French armies in Egypt met with more obstinate 
 resistance from an armed yeomanry, than they have since expe- 
 rienced in traversing the most warlike countries of Europe. The 
 volunteers of Mecca, undismayed at the conquest of Lower Egypt, 
 came, at their own risk and their own expence, to attack a people 
 of infidels. Armed with their lances, their daggers, and their fire- 
 arms, they attacked M'ith courage and resisted \vith obstinacy: 
 though mortally wounded their zeal and iheir animosity were un- 
 abated : and Denon saw one of these deterrtiiried patriots -wound 
 two French soldiers, while they held him, pierced through the body 
 
 and picckaxe. The serratculy cannot be calcnlatedj as they were enMsted only in time 
 
 of war, and in such numbers as the service required. (See Stato militare dell'imp^rio 
 
 Ottomanno, V.i. pp. 90. 134.) 
 
 5
 
 208 
 
 -with their bayonets, against a wall. It is pleasing to contrast the 
 energies of an independent people with the slavish submission of 
 those, who see nothing but a change of governors in the subjuga- 
 tion of their country. The fellahs of Egypt, a race of people still 
 more abject than the rayahs of Turkey, withiield their contribu- 
 tions from the French, as they formerly had done from the Mame- 
 lukes, until they discovered by the blows M-hich were inflicted oa 
 thera, that the rights of their former tyrants M'ere transferred to 
 their conquerors. But the ojaldi, or householders, no less than the 
 feudal proprietors, fought with valour, undiminished by the want 
 of success, from the ruined walls of Alexandria, to the ancient 
 lioman frontier of Syene. The language of the historian bears 
 unequivocal testimony to their patriotic virtue. Alexandria was 
 taken by storm : the besiegers left two hundred soldiers in the 
 breach, through which they entered : but of the besieged none 
 fled, they fell with glory on the spot which they had failed in de- 
 fending. * With such examples before our eyes, we may be per- 
 mitted to question the facility of subduing a people, whose coun- 
 try, from its very nature, must encourage their exertions and 
 protect their independence. "The allied nations of Europe have 
 only to march," says Count INIarsigli, "their greatest difficulty 
 will be to divide the conquered country."! -^"t though we 
 now discover, since the blaze of the Ottoman power has subsided, 
 that their former conquests were the chastisements of divine jus- 
 tice for the sins of Christendom, and that the sultans never were, 
 
 * Denon, Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egyple, V. i. pp. 48. 223. 
 t Stato militarcdeir impcho Ottomanno, V. li. p. 199,
 
 209 
 
 and never will be, strong hi their own might ; yet it perhaps still 
 remains to be discovered whether a people, who would refuse to 
 obey even their sultans if they ordered them to renounce their 
 possessions in favour of a stranger, and whose country from the 
 difficulty of forming magazines affords no facilities to the invader, 
 — whether such a people, in spite of the acknowledged debility 
 of the empire, would not give ambition cause to repent of its 
 insatiable thirst of conquest. 
 
 War, in its mildest form, is a continual violation of justice and rurki'.h 
 
 lawsufwai. 
 
 humanity : but the Turks have been reproached with systematic 
 cruelty, and premeditated breach of faith. It is however untrue, 
 that the Turkish laws of warfare condemn all the prisoners to 
 death ; for captives were always esteemed the most valuable part 
 of the booty, and quarter was seldom refused to the submissive, 
 unless danger was apprehended from the number of the prisoners, 
 or the irruption of an enemy prevented their being carried 
 off. All the riches of a city taken by storm are usually promised 
 by the emperors to the soldiers, and they reserve to themselves 
 only the buildings and the government. To this cause is to be 
 attributed the too frequent breach of treaty, or the murdering of 
 prisoners contrary to capitulation. Cantemir says, that "if a 
 garrison aie to lay down their arms, and only a knife or a hatchet is 
 found on any one, the Turks immediately call out, that the treaty 
 is broken, and butcher their defenceless enemies." But though it 
 be certainly better for Christians to perish fighting, and with arms 
 in their hands, than to experience such treachery; yet, even in 
 these instances, the chiefs must be acquitted of duplicity. Sub- 
 
 Ee
 
 210 ' 
 
 ordination, at such moments, is loose, and the commanders, even 
 the sultans themselves, must frequently have been compelled ta 
 vield to the violence of the soldiery ; who, as their chief object 
 was plunder, naust, when the danger was past, have seen with 
 regret the prof>erty slip out of their hands, and endeavour by arti- 
 fice to recover it.* The infraction of the treaty, made by Maho- 
 met the Fourth with tlie emperor of Germany, is supposed, by 
 pious Mussulmans, to have been the effective cause of all the sub- 
 sequent disgrace of their armies, and the misfortunes of their 
 empire : therefore I doubt, and even venture to contradict, the 
 assertion, " that tliis sentence of the ulema, with thousands more 
 of the same kind, stands on record, that a treaty, made with the 
 enemies of God and his prophet, might be broken ; there being 
 nothing so worthy a Mahometan, as to undertake the entire de- 
 struction of Christians, "f 
 
 The treatment of prisoners, considered as private pj'operty, con- 
 sequently varies according to the passions of the captor : that of 
 public prisoners is indeed deserving of reprobation. I have seen 
 them, in the bagnio, loaded with irons, coupled with the vilest 
 felons, and beaten to common labour, with the same undistinguish- 
 ing inhumanity. The prisoners of their own nation are abandoned 
 
 * " Ce n'est pas aiix principes du cour^ann qu'il faut attribiier les exces qui tcur 
 sont justement reproches; ils sont I'effet necessaire de I'insubordination des troupes, Ue 
 la ferocite <lu soldat, sur-tont quand il est victoricux, et d'unc foule do circonstancea 
 absolumcnt ctrangcres aux lois dc I'Islamisme." (Tab. Gen. V. iv, p. 303.) 
 
 t Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 109. 
 
 3
 
 211 
 
 to tlie mercy of their enemies : the Turkish government expresses 
 no anxiety as to their fate : they are neither ransomed, nor ex- 
 changed : and their Christian conquerors condemn them to a state 
 of slavery, with no compassion to alleviate their sufferings, and no 
 Iiope, however distant, of deliverance.* 
 
 The Turkish forces at sea have always been contemptible. Turkish 
 
 navy. 
 
 During the siege of Constantinople, their navy, consisting of three 
 hundred vessels, was baffled by one Imperial, and four Genoese, 
 ships, which threw succours of men and supplies of provisions into 
 the capital. Sandys says " that they did not hazard the revenue 
 of Egypt by sea, for fear of the Florentines, who, with six ships, 
 had kept the bottom of the Straits for three years. " Their disas- 
 ters, in their several sea-fights with the Venetians and the Russians, 
 are well known ; and in their late co-operation with the English, 
 during the Egyptian campaign, the contrast was striking, between 
 
 * Denon thus describes the joy of the Turkish prisoners in Malta on being released 
 by the French. " Pour prendre une idee de leur extreme satisfaction dans cette cir- 
 constance, il faut savoir que leur gouvcrnenient lie les rachetoit et ne les echanneoit 
 jamais, que leur esclavage n'etoit adouci par aucun espoir; ils ne pouvoient pas meme 
 rever la fin de leurs peines." (V. i. p. 21.) 
 
 As I haw not had the advantage of travelling in Italy, I must quote Mr. Griffiths 
 with caution. He says, (p. 1 1.) that in the prisons of Genoa " he beheld the very 
 lowest pitch of human wretchedness and degradation ! A number of aged Turks were 
 chained to the wall in stone recesses, at a short distance from each other; and some, 
 still more aged, in cells, so low that they were never able to stand upright ! Many of 
 these men of misery appeared to have lost all sense or recollection; and one, who ])ar- 
 tic liarly attracted my attention, had counted no less than twenty-seven years of 
 captivity."
 
 212 
 
 the beauty of tlieir ships, ami the ignorance and timidity of their 
 officers and people. 
 
 Tilr. Eton, and ]Mr. Griffitlis in a still more recent publication, 
 venture to describe the present state of the Turkish navy, from the 
 remarks of Baron de Tott, or from their own transient observation, 
 made twenty years ago. The Turks, indeed, although the canon 
 vamt of Sultan Soliman contains many regulations for the improve- 
 ment of their navy, yet considered it as an object of inferior 
 importance, until the destruction of their fleet by the Russians 
 in the harbour of Tcheshmeh. Since that event the government 
 has always occupied itself seriously in the establishment of a 
 respectable naval force, and the zeal which the celebrated Hassan 
 Pasha first displayed in this branch of service, has been inherited 
 by all who have succeeded him in the post of capiidan pasha : so 
 that now such language as the following cannot be applied with 
 truth to any department of the marine service of the Ottomans. 
 " High-decked vessels, the lower tier laid under water with the 
 least wind, entangled rigging, bad cordage and pullies, thirty 
 men in the gun-room to move the tiller, encumbered decks, and 
 guns without equality in the calibre." * 
 
 I went on board some ships of war on their return from a 
 cruise in the Black Sea, in the year 1790, and certainly saw 
 a confusion which it is impossible to describe. It was a perfect 
 
 * See Db Tott's Memoirs, V. iii. p. 20.
 
 213 
 
 bazar, or market place, and shops were erected all round the 
 between -decks, with no apparent intention of removing them. 
 De Tott says, with an affected levity, which is highly unbecoming 
 •when describing the manners of a nation, " that the proposition 
 to lower the decks was rejected, on account of the height of their 
 turbans, and that of raising the mast, because it would occa- 
 sion the vessel to heel, and incommode the crew.''* But the fault 
 was in those who suggested such improvements, without suf- 
 ficiently correcting the pertness of manner, which outweighed, 
 at least in the estimation of Turks, the merit of their advice. 
 Why should improvements, so evidently necessary, have been 
 rejected, at the same period, M'hen, upon proposing a new school 
 for mathematics, it was immediately established. Upon pointing 
 out the use of the bayonet, the bayonet was adopted. Upon De 
 Tott's suggestion, a machine was erected for masting vessels. 
 A new foundery of cannon was built. A body of artillery-men 
 was instituted, and forts were erected on the northern shores 
 of the Bosphorus, to secure the passage of the Black Sea. The 
 mildness of manners of a French ship-builder of the name of Le 
 Brun,t wliovn Hussein Pasha engaged in the Ottoman service, 
 removed every obstacle to the exertion of his great abilities, and 
 
 * Memoirs, V. iii.p. 178. 
 
 f This gentleman is now in the service of the emperor of Russia. His talents may- 
 be appreciated by Englidimen, as he built the Commerce de Marseilles, a first-rate- 
 ship of very large dimensions, now in our service.
 
 214 
 
 in a short space of time a complete reform was introduced into 
 the department, which he superintended. 
 
 Their navy now consists of several good ships, built by Eu- 
 ropeans, or from European models, but manned by people unaccus- 
 tomed to the sea. They have not yet formed any plan for educating 
 and training up seamen, though the Propontis is well adapted for na- 
 val evolutions, and might be made an excellent school of practical 
 avigatioii. Their officers, not having passed through the different 
 ranks, merit no higher estimation than the common men ; indeed 
 almost the whole business of the ship is performed by the slaves, 
 or by Greeks who are retained upon wages. Those accustomed 
 to the strict subordination, and punctilious formalities established 
 in the armies and navies of other European powers, may snnle 
 perhaps at hearing, that the captain of a man of war has been 
 cuffed in public by the admiral's own hand for a slight offence.* 
 I remember too to have seen a journal kept by an Englishman, 
 
 * " Dans tous, ce caractere fier et hautain se porte, a la moindre occasion, a une 
 petulance incroyable. Rien chez eux n'arrete les elans de la nature, nieme panni les 
 hommes de la plus grande distinction. Dans son cmportement le pere, le niaii, lo 
 maitre, le patron, le general, I'officier, I'liomme public, I'homme priv^, se fait le plus 
 souvent justice lui-meme, soit en frappant de la main ou du baton I'objet de sa 
 colere, soit en I'efiVayant par des menaces accompagnees d'injures les plus 
 atroces. C'est alors qu'ils ])rodiguent sans menagement les epillictes de dinyisk, 
 imannniz, homme sans foi, sans loi ; de kxaroiir et de kfatir, intuli le, hlasphe- 
 mateur ; de kiopek et de domoii:, rliien, pore; mais sur-tout le jureuienl national 
 anassiny sikeim, que la decence nc nous |>€niict pas de traduirc," ('lab. Gen. V iv. 
 p. 371.)
 
 SI5 
 
 (an adventurer who served on board the Turkish fleet in the 
 Black Sea, during a cruise in the year 1790,) which contained 
 the following remark. " This day the admiral amused himself 
 with playing at chess on the quarter-deck with a common 
 sailor."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FINANCES OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND REVENUES OF THE 
 
 SULTAN. 
 
 System of finance under the feudal government. — Divisions of the 
 Turkish exchequer. — Public treasury. — Sources of revenue; — 
 land-tar, — property-tax, — custo7ns, — poll-tax, — monopoly, — vimes, 
 • — escheats and forfeitures, — coinage, — tribute. — Expenditure of 
 the public treasure. — Sultans revenues, fixed and casual. — 
 Doweries and pensions. — Nisami djedid. 
 
 System of In reviewing the state of the Turkish finances, it must first of all 
 undorthe bc consiclcred, that many of the expences with which tlie treasu- 
 
 feudal go- " 
 
 Tcrnment. j-jeg of morc regular governments are burthened, are there sufficiently 
 provided for by the arrangements of the feudal system ; and indeed, 
 according to the spirit of its original institution, every establish- 
 ment, whether calculated for internal utility, or for defence against 
 foreign enemies, was upheld by a competent assignment of landed 
 property. Perhaps the chief inducement for the adoption of the 
 feudal system, with a warlike people unskilled in the art of con-
 
 '217 
 
 tlucting financial operations, was that it enabled them to support 
 their numerous armies without levying taxes for their pay. An 
 assignment of lands, involving the condition that the possessor 
 shall remain in readiness to take the field at the call of the sove- 
 reign, is in itself a military pay ; and the Turkish exchequer issued 
 no other to its soldiery until the institution of the corps of jani- 
 zaries.* In like manner, the condition of keeping in order the 
 national establishments was imposed on the governors of the pro- 
 vinces to the extent of their jurisdiction ; and adequate assign- 
 ments of the national domain were made to them for the purpose: 
 hence neither the army, nor the administration of justice, tlic 
 police, public worship, the building or repairing of public edifices, 
 fortresses, mosques, arsenals, bridges, nor high roads, are kept up 
 in the provinces at the expense of the grand signor. The esta- 
 blishment of the janizaries was first superinduced upon the general 
 plan. Being considered as the body-guards, or standing army, of 
 the sultan, their head quarters and fixed residence were in his 
 capital, and they were maintained from his treasury as a part of 
 the Imperial household. The necessity of a naval force when the 
 conquest of Constantinople was projected, obliged the sultan to 
 assign a portion of his peculiar treasure for its creation and main- 
 tenance : but, besides the marine forces, the janizaries and other 
 similar bodies of regular troops, no other parts of the national 
 establishments were supported from the Imperial treasury. 
 
 * Hie rerum est ordo, haec distributio — »ic ut fociles inexhausteeque bello copia 
 adsint, quotidianEeque pro eisdem alendis pecunio' cura leveliir imperator, ut. jiidlum ol> 
 1)61111111 consueta ex magnificentia vel suinplibus quicqnam intermittcre cogatiir. 
 {Montalban. ap. Elzevir, p. 16.) 
 
 Ff
 
 218 
 Divisions r,t 'i"he Turkish exchequer consists of two parts; the miri, whicli is 
 
 the lurki.-.!! ' 
 
 »«hr.iM.i. p,;-,pioye(i in collecting and receiving the public revenues and in 
 disbursing such sums as the public service requires, and the haztie or 
 sultan's treasury. The former under the administration of the 
 deftei-dar effendi, and the latter under that of the hazne vekili, a 
 black eunuch second in official rank to the Msk}- aga. The reve- 
 nues of each may be divided into fixed and casual : those of the 
 miri are generally estimated at three millions three hundred and 
 seventy-five thousand pounds sterling, communibus annis.* Mr. 
 Eton has given a schedule of the revenue in greater detail, which, 
 in result, somewhat exceeds the sum allowed by Cantemir, and 
 which wants only the merit of accuracy. t I do not pretend to 
 give a correct account of the Turkish finances, and I believe few 
 Europeans in Turkey possess the means of obtaining it : but as 
 
 * I have taten this amount of the Turkish finances from Cantemir, who ihdeed says 
 (p. no, note), that in his time " there were brought yearly into the two treasuries 
 iwenty-seven thousand purses, each containing five hundred rixdollars :" but as I find 
 that Count Marsigli, who appears to have had access to the public registers, estimates 
 the revenues of the miri alone at 28,272 purses, (See stato milit. V. ii. p. 179.) 
 ( must suppose the apparent disagreement in their computations to be occasioned only 
 by an inaccuracy of expression. De Tolt (V. iii. p. 135.) agrees with Cantemir, and 
 fixes the revenue at 3,900,000/. sterling. Olivier says (V. i. p. 24.) that the revenues, 
 of the miri and the sultan, which are annually paid into the treasuries of Constantinople, 
 amount to 150 millions of livres, besides 50 millions from the revenues of mosques and 
 from casual sources. Motraye (V. i. p. 255.) calculates the total receipts of botii 
 treasuries at 36,000,000 of piastres, or 9,000,000/. sterling according to the value of 
 Turkish money in his time. 
 
 t " Total of the revenue of the empire, or public treasury called the miri, 
 44,942,500 piastres, or about 4,494,250/. steiliiig." (Survey of the Turkish empire, 
 p. 47.) 
 
 1
 
 219 
 
 Mr. Eton declares "that he reasons only from facts, and trusts 
 the impartial reader will draw the same conclusions," it may per- 
 haps not be thought superfluous to examine the merit of the facts 
 themselves, which form the basis of his reasonings. 
 
 Mr. Eton comprehends among the sources of revenue collected 
 by the 7niri, in the rear of a formidable list of Turkish words, lta7'e- 
 meln hasinesi, and sherifein hasinesi : but as far as can be collected 
 from the meaning of the words themselves, they must signify the 
 rents of vavuf, or pious donations for the support of mosques and 
 the service of religion in the holy city of Mecca, which are admi- 
 nistered by the chief eunuch : they are however by no means under 
 the controul of the officers of either of the departments of the 
 exchequer ; the miri or the haziw. The coffer in which the reve- 
 nues of the vacufs are collected, to the amount of several millions, 
 is called harhneinn dolaby, and is deposited in the seraglio under 
 the care of the kislar aga, and strictly guarded. It is wrong to 
 represent these treasures as " sums taken from the active and 
 efficient capital of the nation, and either wholly unemployed, or 
 appropriated to uses which cannot be supposed to have a very 
 direct relation to the necessities of the state ;" foi-, on the contrary, 
 without deviating from the intentions of the founders, or violating 
 the essential clauses of their charters, that part of the revenue ot 
 vacufs which remains after the religious uses are satisfied, miglit 
 aiibrd essential succour to the state, if economy and fidelity were 
 employed in administering it. In times of public distress the 
 sultans occasionally apply these funds to the necessities of govern- 
 ment, but under the form of a loan and the solemn engagement of
 
 £20 
 
 the minister of finauce, who, in the name of the sultan and the 
 empire, binds the state to the payment of so sacred a debt.* — The 
 haratch, or capitation tax imposed on the rayalis, is improperly 
 called by Mr. Eton " the annual redemption of the lives of all the 
 males above fifteen years of age, who do not profess the Mahometan 
 religion :"t — he inserts among the cities and places which contri- 
 bute to the haratch, " the Morea and its five jurisdictions ;"J and 
 
 * See Survey of the Turkish empire, pp. 40, 41. Tableau General, V. ii. p. 541. 
 
 The grand vizir Kioprili Mustafa Paslia first brought the treasures o{ the jamis into- 
 the public treasury : and when the mutcvelli/ charged him with sacrilege, he insisted 
 that the wealth, designed for religious uses, ought to be employed in maintaining the 
 defendersof the holy edifices. (Cantemir, p. 367.) 
 
 t See Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 41. — It is with much regret that I feel 
 myself compelled, from a respect for truth, to declare that Dr. Wittman's account of a 
 conversation which he held with me at Buyukdere (see Travels, p. 28 ) is wholly in- 
 accurate. A person who, like myself, had resided many years in Turkey, could never 
 have " comprehended under the general denomination of rm/ah, the Greek and Arme- 
 nian subjects of the grand signer and even/ description of Franks." Still less could I 
 have so far adopted ]\Ir. Eton's- errors, and even have borrowed his language, as to 
 assert " that the haratch is considered as the redemption of the heads of the ruyahs, 
 which were forfeited in perpetuity by their subjugated ancestors." The haratch is 
 simply a poll-tax, of the same nature as that imposed upon the English in the reign of 
 Richard the Second : it is levied not only on the Greeks and Armenians, who were 
 conquered by the Turks, but also on the Jews, who were protected by Turkish hospi- 
 tality when they fled from the persecutions of the Christians. 
 
 Dr. Wittman has also made me pronounce a very florid panegyric on the modern 
 Greeks; but though I had read Mr. Eton's. work while I was in Turkey, yet it had 
 made so light an impression on my memory, that I uuist have spoken from the same 
 inspiration as himself, if 1 could have amused Dr. Wittman by the misrepresentations 
 which he has attributed to me. 
 
 X Dr. Pouqvicville possessed means of obtaining informalion rcsjiccting the Morca 
 superior to those of preceding tra\ellers, and therefore his testimony must, at present.
 
 221 
 
 he taxes separately Napoli d'l Ilomania, thougli a city of the Mo- 
 rea, and consequently witlun those jurisdictions.* — Oczacow is 
 said to have furnished ninety purses ; though Oczacow was a for- 
 tress garrisoned only by Turks, who consequently were not liable 
 to the capitation. — But, what is singularly ridiculous is that he 
 estimates the contributions from the body of gypsies, to be almost 
 equal to that from the city of Constantinople and its environs.f — 
 
 be admitted as conclusive. Now it appears that the Morea, instead of containing five 
 separate jurisdictions, is united under the jurisdiction of a pasha of three tails, and sub- 
 divided into twenty-four cantons, governed by codja baslils or elders, (See Voyages 
 en Moree, &c. V. i. p. 67.) — The whole of Greece is divided into four great pashuliks; 
 Tripolizza, Egripo or Negropont (the ancient Euboea), Yanina, and Salonica. The 
 pashalik of Tripolizza comprises all the Morea; that of Egripo, the island whence it 
 derives its name, besides Bceotia and the eastern part of Phocis ; Yanina, the whole of 
 Epirus; and Salonica, the southern division of Macedonia. The north of Macedonia 
 is governed by heys; Naupactus (or Lepanto) gives to its governor the title of pasha; 
 Athens and Li vadia are administered by vaivodas; Larissa by a musselim ; and Za- 
 gora (the ancient Magnesia) by its own primates. Picria is dependent on the aga of 
 Katherin, who now niles over Olympus in the place of Jupiter. (See Beaujour, Tab. 
 du commerce dela Grece, V. i. p. 24.). 
 
 * It IS a curious circumstance that the schedule of the Turkish finances and the Me- 
 moirs of the Baron de Tott should both contain so gross a geographical error. The 
 Turks know that the peninsula of the Morea is not formed by the Gulf of Napoli,. but 
 by the Gulfs of Lepanto and Egina, which by almost meeting make the Isthmus of 
 Corinth. Could Mr. Eton's deference for the Baron deTott seduce him into a belief 
 that " the peninsula of the Morea is formed by the Gulf of Lepanto, and by that 
 ■which takes its name from the city of Napoli di Romania which stands at the bottom 
 of it?" (See De Tott's Memoirs, V. iv. p. 150.) 
 
 t 1 suspect that the schedule itself is an irfcorrect copy of some account composed 
 by the Russian mission at Constantinople, by orders from the court of St. Petersburg, 
 as it seems calculated to convey to the empress a contemptible idea of the Ottoman: 
 empire, by stating the number of male gypsies, above fifteen years of^ge, at 336,250^
 
 222 
 
 Confiscation and inheiitances, the spuiige, which we have been 
 taught to beheve is the chief engine by which the grand signor 
 absorbs the weahh of his subjects, yields under the pressure of his 
 mighty hand, only one thousand three hundred and twenty-seven 
 purses (about forty thousand pounds sterling), an inconsiderable 
 drop, compared to the rivers of wealth which flow through every 
 province of his extensive dominions. 
 
 The consequences which Mr. Eton deduces fioni his statement 
 arc, that " the present state of the Turkish finances is incompa- 
 tible with the permanence or prosperity of the state, and that the 
 future prospect is still less promising." " The expenditure," he 
 says, " has so much increased that it is not probable the mm can 
 discharge its debts without a donation from the treasury of the 
 sultan, a measure which does not enter into the policy of the 
 seraglio. Here then we are to consider the probable consequences 
 (if a deficiency in its treasury, to a government which knows 
 nothing of the financial provisions of modern politics, and conse- , 
 <)uently will be totally unprepared for such a conjuncture." 
 
 To those who are unacquainted with the natural and abundant 
 fertility of the Turkish "provinces in general, it rnay indeed ajipear 
 that the revenues of the sultan are insufficient for the support of 
 his armies, and the maintenance of his establishments; but when 
 it is recollected, that the Turks are from their infancy habituated 
 to privations which to the European soldier would be intolerable, 
 that wine and other spirituous or fermented liquors are prohibited 
 in their camps, that to them a moderate ration of bread or Indian
 
 223 
 
 corn with a few black olives is a delicious and ample repast, that 
 most of them neither carry knapsacks nor have they the least 
 occasion for them, and that even the want of a tent is scarcely felt 
 as an inconvenience to them, accustomed as they are to sleep in 
 the open air enveloped in their thick capots or cloaks ; when all these 
 thlno-s are taken into consideration it must be evident, that the 
 Porte can keep in the field an army of a hundred thousand men, 
 Avith less expense than any prince in Christendom can maintain a 
 third of the number. I instance only the standing army, which 
 the Turks, in imitation of the European states, feel the necessity of 
 augmenting, for every other establishment of magnificence or 
 use may be still supported by the means which were originally- 
 assigned for that purpose, and which, though indeed diminished, 
 are not inadequate to their object. 
 
 Under the general controul of the defterdar effendi, there are 'ubii.- 
 
 treasmy. 
 
 thirty three offices, or chanceries, each superintended by its 
 proper officer: in these are collected all the income, tribute, 
 and customs of the empire ; and thence the different expenditures 
 are issued. 
 
 revenue ; 
 
 The chief sources of revenue are — The miri, or territorial impost 
 levied on the whole empire, which is one tenth of the produce 'ami tax, 
 of lands. The whole of this tax, though registered in the books 
 of the office, and calculated at about twenty millions sterling, 
 is not paid into tht; Imperial treasury : the greater part is detained 
 in the provinces, and regularly accounted fur among the expenses 
 of administration, and keeping up the national establishments.
 
 224 
 
 The casy-asher of Romelia takes cognizance of whatever concerns 
 tlie exchequer: the miri kiatibi, one of his deputies, holds his 
 court in the office of the defterdar ejfendi, and judges definitively 
 all fiscal suits.* 
 
 property Rajahs, or persons subject to the payment of the haratch, pay also 
 a tax on moveables : it is levied on their personal property and the 
 produce of their industry; on hearths or houses, farms, warehouses, 
 and shops : it appears to be unequally and arbitrarily imposed, and 
 is estimated by those who pay it at a quarter of the clear produce of 
 their gains. Women are exempt from payment of the haratch, but 
 their property, consisting either of lands or merchandize, is equally 
 Mith that of the men, subject to the payment of both these taxes.']" 
 
 customs, The customs on the importation and exportation of merchandize 
 form another principal branch of revenue. They are chiefly farmed, 
 and are collected throughout the empire with mildness and mode- 
 ration. " These legal imposts," Mr. Eton says, " are but a 
 small part of what the merchant pays. Foreigners indeed," 
 continues he, " are, in all countries, more liable to imposition 
 than the natives." But from this general accusation he should 
 have excepted Turkey, as there the Frank merchant pays only 
 three per cent, on the value of his importations, and has the 
 privilege, if grieved by an over estimation, of paying in kind. 
 
 * Sec Bt-aujour, Tab. du rdnimi rcc ile la Grece, V. i. p. 46. Canlemir's Otto- 
 man history, p. 307. note. Olivier says, (V. i. p. 190.) that the quit rent paid by the 
 Mussulman subjects amounts to one seventh of the produce of their land^, and that 
 I)aid by the raya/is to one fifth. 
 
 t See Pouqueville, Voyages en Morec, &c. V. i. p. 232.
 
 225 
 
 Tlie natives, or at least the rayahs are taxed five per cent., and 
 are sometimes farther imposed upon by an unfair evaluation. * 
 
 The haratch, or capitation tax on rayahs, is felt as a grievance p»ii-tax, 
 only from the mode of colkcting it, which subjects the passenger 
 in the public streets to the repeated and insolent examination of 
 his certificate by the tax-gatherers. The male Christian and Jew 
 subjects pay the haratch from the age of twelve years to their 
 death. The heaviest contribution does not exceed thirteen 
 piastres a year, the lightest is four piastres, and they are rated 
 according to the rank in life and circumstances of tlie subject. 
 The sum levied on individuals in consequence of this exaction 
 has varied at different periods, and the age at which persons 
 become liable to the payment of it is, even at this time, so unde- 
 termined, that in the provinces, the male children born in the 
 cities are not rated until they are eight years old, while those in 
 the villages pay it from the age of five years. Cantemir says, 
 that it is enjoined by the law of the Koran, that every male 
 shall pay yearly thirteen drachms of pure silver wlien he becomes 
 of a ripe age, and chooses to remain a subject of the empire 
 without behig obliged to profess the INIahometan religion. Under 
 the first Turkish emperors of Constantinople this sum was increas- 
 ed to three rix dollars, and -was augmented or diminished at 
 
 * See Survey of the Turkisli empire, p. 56. 
 
 Rara per imperium vectigalia, exigimcinc portoria, li»c defraudantibus, geminan- 
 dum est tautum vectigal debituin. (iMontalbaniis, ap. Elzevir, p. 41.) 
 
 " Tous les negocians Europeens etablis a Constantinople et dans les principalcs 
 cchelks du Levant, paient des droits beaucoiip plus niodiques que les nationaux eux- 
 memes. (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 211,.) See also on the subject of the custom-duties, 
 Chardin's Travels, p. 72, and Peyssonnel in refutation of De Tott, (Api^endix, p. 209.)
 
 226 
 
 pleasure under their successors, until the grand vizir KiopriU 
 J\lustaf;i Pasha established three proportionate rates of payment, 
 and ordered that rayahs of the first class should pay annually ten 
 piastres, those of middling fortunes six, and the poorer sort three 
 piastres, and this regulation was generally observed. INIotraye 
 travelled in the IMorea after it had been ceded to the Venetians by 
 the treaty of Carlovitz, and heard the Greeks, as Sandys predicted 
 they would, regret the dominion of their former masters. " When 
 we obeyed the Turks," said they, " we enjoyed all possible liberty 
 on paying the moderate contribution of three or four crowns, which 
 to the most opulent among us was never increased above ten. No 
 greater burthens were imposed upon us either in peace or war, 
 and on these terms we were indulged in the free exercise of our 
 religion, and the practice of our respective professions."* 
 
 * " A I'egardde leurs femtnes et de leurs filles, quelque riches qu'elles soient, elles 
 rn sont toujours exemptes, et leurs gardens ne le payent que lorsqu'ils sont censes 
 en etat de gagner leur vie." (See Voyages de M. de la Motraye, V. i. pp. '234, 
 319.) 
 
 " Quand le pere d'un petit Grec veut chicaner, les percepteurs mesurent la tete de 
 I'enfant avec une corde qui leur sert de toise ; et conime ils peuvent raccourcir la corde 
 a volonte, le pauvre Grec a toujours tort. Ces percepteurs sont des vieillards qui ont 
 Foeil si exerce, qu'ils lisent la condition d'un homme sur sa physiononiie. Jamais uu 
 seul raya ne leur echappe ; inais ils ne demandent jamais deux fois le haratch au ineme 
 individu. — Le taiix du haratch varie suivant la richesse. (A Salonique) 1600 indivi- 
 dus paient 11 piastres; 2500, 6 piastres; et 2000, 2 piastres ^." (Bcaujour, Tab. 
 du commerce de la Grece. V. i. p. 51.) 
 
 " If a Christian or a .Jew asks the mufti by a fetwa, how much tribute he is to pay 
 yearly ? he will be told, that according to the law of the Koran, he is to pay but thirteen 
 drachms of jmre silver. But if, relying upon this, he refuses to comply with the 
 other impositions laid upon him, he will immediately be seized, and the same mufti 
 will justify by a fetwa, the punishment which will be inflicted on liiiu for his disobe- 
 dience to the sultan's commands." (Cantemir, p. 366. note.) 
 
 €
 
 227 
 
 If the total produce of this tax could be accurately ascertained, 
 it would still form but an unsteady basis, on which to found our 
 calculations as to the number of the tributary subjects of the 
 Turkish empire : for with respect to many districts, the contribu- 
 tions which are levied upon the rayahs and paid into the sultan's 
 exchequer are invariably the same, M'hatever be the state of 
 population ; and are at this day equal in amount to what they were 
 wlien they were first established on the conquest of the country. 
 
 ' The price of each certificate consequently varies in proportion 
 to the number of the tributary inhabitants of a district : accoid- 
 ingiy we find, on comparing the price of the haratch in the island 
 of Cyprus with that in the most fertile parts of Thessaly, (which 
 two places exhibit the extremes of population in Turkey), that 
 Avhile individuals in Cyprus are taxed twelve piastres, the rayaht 
 of Thessaly pay only two piastres and a half per head. This 
 however is not the case in the capital : the rayahs there have beea 
 denominated free and happy, when their condition has been com- 
 pared with that of the tributary subjects who are placed at a 
 greater distance from the centre of this vast monarchy. The 
 payment of the legal taxes is indeed enforced with no less rigour 
 than in the remotest provinces, but the niore immediate presence 
 of tlie sovereign protects the rayahs from extortions practised in 
 the name, and under the authority, of government. The amount 
 of the capitation tax is therefore levied on the inhabitants of the 
 inetropolis in its due and legal proportions, and being carried to 
 account in the public registers conformably with the -certificates 
 issued, must represent with tolerable precision the state of the
 
 225 
 
 rayah population within the circuit or jurisdiction of the capital; 
 and if it do not enable us to ascertain the number of the inhabit- 
 ants, may at least assist us in forming a judgment on the accu- 
 racy of results from other calculations. Now it has been asserted 
 in a late publication, that the total population of the city of 
 Constantinople does not amount to three hundred thousand souls, 
 and this conclusion is said to be drawn from calculations faunded 
 on the annual consumption of corn, and cattle ; the number ot 
 deaths within the city, and the extent of ground which it occupies. 
 But the same author has ascertained the receipts of the haratch 
 in Constantinople and its environs to be two thousand nine 
 hundred and sixteen purses, or about a million and a half of 
 piastres ; therefore, on taking six piastres as the medium contributi- 
 on, and gne rayah in four as subject to this tax, we shall find that 
 the number af tributary inhabitants alone, which is confessedly in- 
 ferior to that of the Mahometans, amounts nearly to a million of 
 souls. Again if we compare the result of the receipts of the haratch 
 for Romelia and Anatolia with the total population of the empire, 
 according to the statements of both as given by the same author, 
 we shall be scarcely less astonished at their divergency. The total 
 of the revenues arising from the haratch is asserted to be about 
 twenty millions of piastres, which, according to the proportion 
 before established, should correspond with a population of between 
 thirteen and fourteen millions : but what a vast disagreement 
 between this conclusion, which respects the rayahs alonej and 
 the total population of the Ottoman empire, as estimated by the 
 same author! " If we take it for granted," he says, " that 
 there were fifty millions of people on the continent two centuriea
 
 225 
 
 ago," (which indeed must be considered as the maximum of the 
 population of Turkey when in its most flourishing state), " that 
 the births are to the burials as twelve to ten, or that one in thirty 
 six die every year in the common course of mortality, or that 
 the number of births to the living are as one to twenty six, twenty 
 seven, or twenty eight, or any calculation more favourable to the 
 increase of population, we shall still find the mortality occasioned 
 by the plague, taken on an average, v/ould reduce these fifty 
 millions to little more than ten at this day."* But the progress 
 of depopulation, in countries so productive and so favourably situ- 
 ated as are those which compose the Ottoman empiie, is in- 
 finitely over-rated in this calculation. The errors of govern- 
 ment, to which even the existence of the plague is to be 
 attributed, are combated and extenuated by the vigorous 
 fecundity of nature : under the most faulty and depraved 
 system of administration, a genial climate and a luxuriant soil 
 animate the human race to bear up against tyranny and op- 
 pression ; and in spite of all the excesses of arbitrary power, 
 the intolerance of fanaticism, and the madness of superstition, 
 the bounties of nature diffused over the smiling vallies of Europe 
 and Asia, continue to encourage industry and alleviate labour ; 
 and sooth almost into the forgetfulness of misery, au inex- 
 haustible succession of native inhabitants. 
 
 The public treasury is also augmented by the produce ofmonoi,»!y, 
 monopolies, as in the instance of bread-corn, which the grand 
 
 * See Survey of the Turkish empire, pp. 41, 45, 272, 279, 280, 2S3,
 
 230 
 
 signer receives from the provinces, at a very low rate, and sells 
 out iu retail to the bakers, at such prices as he thinks proper 
 to fix. 
 
 The general evils of vicious administration are augmented by 
 the limitations which arc imposed by government, not only on the 
 exportation of native produce necessary for the support of life, 
 hut on its free circulation througli the diflPerent parts of the 
 Turkish empire : and no regulation is more injudicious than the 
 arbitrary fixation of the price and other conditions of sale between 
 the dealer and the purchaser. The corn-trade at Constantinople 
 is under tlie inspection of the istambol effendi, a magistrate of the 
 order of tilema, to whom is confided the ordinary government and 
 civil jurisdiction of the metropolis : his ??aei presides in the office 
 called iin capaii, which is situated on the shore of the harbour 
 between the Seraglio point, and the Fanal. All sliips loaded 
 Av'ith grain, Avhether from the Black Sea or the Archipelago, dis- 
 charge their cargoes at this wharf. The nchb keeps a register of 
 the quantity delivered, and after fixing the price to the merchant, 
 distributes the corn to the bakers in such quantities and on such 
 terms as he judges proper. Private monopolies are not tolerated ; 
 and indeed the primary motive of government in subjecting the 
 corn trade to such pernicious regulations, was to prevent the evils 
 arising from forestalling the necessary articles of human subsis- 
 tence. Xo individual is therefore permitted to lay up corn in his 
 magazines in order to resell it with greater profit, and there are 
 not even any granaries or warehouses in Constantinople properl3'
 
 231 
 
 constructed for such speculations.* Among the many incon- 
 veniences of this system may be reckoned, the long detention of 
 merchant vessels to the great detriment of their cargoes, the vio- 
 lent measures which are occasionally employed, to compel the 
 bakers to receive a larger quantity of corn, than the sheds, which 
 serve them instead of warehouses, are fitted to preserve from injury, 
 and the inevitable consequence of unwholesome bread being some- 
 times distributed to the public ; not to mention the losses sus- 
 tained, in the frequent fires which desolate the capital of the 
 empire, from the destruction of^ great quantities of corn thus 
 exposed in wooden buildings. Since the treaty of Kainargik, 
 Avhich opened the Black Sea to the commerce of foreign nations, 
 vessels which have taken in cargoes from the Russian ports, or 
 have loaded the produce of Hungary brought down the Danube, 
 are allowed the free passage of the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, 
 in order to convey their merchandize to the sea-ports of the Medi- 
 terranean, if it be not found advantageous to dispose of the cargoes 
 to the miri at Constantinople. This privilege of treating with the 
 ytdri, instead of being forced to submit to terms calculated only 
 with a view to the convenience or benefit of government, is so im- 
 portant, that I have known ships, which had surreptitiously loaded 
 
 * " Les Turcs sont aussi extremement circonspects sur la vente des blcd.5. 11 est 
 flefendu sur peine de la vie d'en transporter hors du pays, ii'y meme d'en vendre dans 
 les maisons particulieres, et poiir enipcchcr que cela ne puisse arriver on met di'S 
 gardes dans Te marche public, qui n'cn lais»ent point emporter a moins qu'on n'ait un 
 billet du naib ou lieutenant de police, qui ne permet jamais un achat de plus de quatre 
 muids a la fois ; et si un paysan etoit convaincu d'avoir vendu son bled a un Chretien, 
 il n'en seroit pas quitte pour cin biens coups de baton." (Dumont, Nouveau voyage 
 au Levant. A la Haye 1694, p. 165.)
 
 S32 
 
 wheat, the produce of the Turkish provinces, to come to the 
 Russian port of Odessa, and subject themselves to the delays and 
 expenses of performing quarantine, paying the harbour fees and 
 custom-house duties, for no other purpose than to obtain a certifi- 
 cate of their cargo being the produce of Russia, and thereby 
 rescuing it from the vexations and extortions of the officers of the 
 Turkish miri. 
 
 The provinces the most fertile in grain, such as Volo, Salonica, 
 Rodosto, Cara Agliatz, Varna, &c., are obliged to furnish to the 
 officers of the grand signor a quantity of wheat, equal to about 
 the twelfth part of the produce of their harvests. This contribu- 
 tion is called isiira : the officers commissioned to collect the 
 emperor's dues (who are usually the capigi bashis, or chamberlains 
 of his court) are called istiragi, or mubdiagi which signifies a 
 purchaser on public account. The istiragi, on receiving the 
 corn from the proprietor, pays him at the rate o? twenty paras 
 for every killo, (a measure containing about sixty pounds 
 weight.) The total quantity of corn thus purchased for the 
 supply of the capital amounts to about a million of killoes 
 annually. It is sent by sea to Constantinople, and lodged 
 in public granaries situated on the north side of the harbour 
 near the arsenal. As this stock is considered to be a resource 
 against times of scarcity, it is not distributed till it begins to be 
 damaged, unless when it can be sold with considerable benefit. 
 Indeed, as the ordinary price of wheat is three or four piastres the 
 killo, th€ advantage to government, after making ample allow- 
 ance for the freight and charges, cannot, under any circum-
 
 233 
 
 stances, be estimated at less than two or three njiUions of piastres.* 
 The istiragi also derives considerable profit from his office : for 
 though he is reimbursed by government only at the same rate at 
 which he pays for the corn, so that he does not benefit by tlic 
 price, he gains considerably by the measure, which is always 
 
 * The imposition of the istira is not in all cases to be considered as a peculiar 
 hardship on the provinces liable to this contiibution. The territory in Macedonia 
 ceded by Miirad the Second, to his General Gazi Ghavrinos, Mas freed from every 
 other tax or contribution, except that of the f«/»ra, and is transmitted to the descend- 
 ants of this illustrious family with the same franchises. The Ghavrinos have so well 
 supported the reputation of their great ancestor, that to this day one of their family is 
 commonly appointed istiragi of the district of Salonita, which comprises the territory 
 situated chiefly between the Vardar and the St-rymon. 
 
 The Turks, in imposing on the provinces a contribution of corn for the supply of 
 the capital, did but adopt a custom which had received the sanction of botli tiie East- 
 ern and Western emperors. Africa poui'ed out lier rich harvests as an homage to her 
 conquerors, and Constantine imposed on tJie industrious husbandmen of Egypt an 
 aanual tribute of corn, which served only to nourish a spirit of faction and licentious- 
 ness in the indolent populace of his new capital. (See Gibbon, V. iii. p. 27.) 
 
 1 have instanced only the contribution of bread-corn; but the Turkish government 
 purchases m like manner, from several of the provinces, other necessary articles of 
 consumption. In the spring of every year a company of purchasers, composed of 
 Turks and Greeks, airive in the two provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, ^^•ith 
 firmans from the Porte, and buy up, in the most vexatious and oppressive manner, 
 five or six hundred thousand sheep, for the use of the corps of janizaries, and the 
 households of the sultan and his principal officers ; others, under the name of cupanli, 
 authorized by letters of the grand vizir, purchase butter, cheese, wax, tano\v, aud 
 smoaked provisions, at their own price. In these two provinces, the fat of up\\ ards of 
 80,000 oxen, sheep, and goats, is melted down eveiy year, to supply the capital with 
 tallow. The wretched inhabitants are also foibiilJen to export their corn, from any 
 other ports than Galatz and Ibrail on the Danube, where the Turkish mercljants 
 {chiefly the Lazes of Trebizond, a race of iiien infamous for their cruelty and injustice,^ 
 make their purchases with less regard to honesty and good faith, than even tiie agents 
 of government. (See Osservazioni storiche, natiirali, e poliliche, intorno la \'alachia, 
 e Moldavia. Napoli, 1788. p. 1:jO— 123.) 
 
 H h
 
 234 
 
 /heaped up when he receives the corn, and scanty when he delivers 
 it into the sultan's granaries. He is besides authorized to receive, 
 for hii^ own account, and at the same rate as government, a quan- 
 tity of wheat equal to the tenth part of the public ist'ira, this 
 he immediately resells at two piastres tlie killo, and consequently 
 obtains a clear profit of three hundred per cent. These may be 
 considered as the legal profits of his office ; but, besides extorting, 
 money from the proprietors by harassing them with arbitrary ex- 
 actions, and forcing them to carry the amount of their contribu- 
 tion to the seaport at their own cost, the istiragi, in contempt 
 of the duties of his office, generally sells a tenth or a fifteenth 
 part of the public corn, for which he substitutes an equal quantity' 
 of barley, rye, or even chaff; and he flequently deteriorates the 
 remaining corn by swelliug it with sea water, or the vapour of 
 boiling vinegar, in order to conceal his fraud. These and other 
 similar malversations are generally connived at by the superintend- 
 ing magistrates of the department ; and they must be carried to a 
 glaring excess indeecl;^ before they bring down any punishment 
 on the offisnder. 
 
 Though punishment may remove a faithless steward, it by no 
 means insures the fidelity of his successor ; the excess of pecula- 
 tion is even resorted to as a precedent ; the same nefarious^ 
 practices are continued, and hence, as is generally observed in 
 Constantinople, the corn served out by government is inferior in its 
 quality and condition tathat purchased from private merchants.* 
 
 * See Tableau Geneial, V. iv. p. 220. Tab. du commerce de la Grkc, V. k 
 p. 111.
 
 235 
 
 Tlie produce of mines is carried to the public treasury, or^''^^', 
 partially assigned, as in the instance of the copper mines of Diar- 
 bekir, to the use of the Imperial establishments, the arsenals, 
 and founderies, at Constantinople. It is certain that several of 
 the chains of mountains which bound or intersect the Turkish 
 provinces contain mines, not only of the useful, but of the preci- 
 ous, metals. The torrents which fall from the Transilvaniaii 
 Alps, or Carpathian mountains, are impregnated with particles of 
 different metals : the chingaKchs, a race of gypsies who are very 
 numerous in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, collect 
 from the beds of the rivers pellets of gold, mixed with a small 
 quantity of silver ; by means of which they are enabled to pay 
 iuto the prince's treasury, the annual tribute of u drachm of gold, 
 imposed on each man. The ignorance of the people in the art 
 of working mines with economy is perhaps one cause of the neg- 
 lect with Avhich the Ottomans appear to treat this source of 
 'wealth ; but the chief obstacle to exploration is the rapacity 
 of government, which would seize upon the advantages of any 
 new discovery, and subject the provincialists to the unrecom- 
 pensed labour of opening the mines, and extracting the ores.* 
 
 * De Tott, (V. ii. p. 1 04.) imputes to this cause the neglect of the gold mines of Tcha- 
 dir dagh in the Crimea, which at that time ackn«wledged the sovereignty of thePorte. 
 
 " In molti siti (dei moiiti Carpazzi) vi sono tutti gl'indizi di minerali ; niolte 
 acque sono impregnate di particelli di diversi metalli ; in tutti i fiumi si trovano 
 pagliette d'oro inescolato con un poco d'argcuto, che sono raccolte dai zingnri, 
 essendo obbligato ogni uomo di costoro di portarne una dramma I'anno al 
 tesoro del principe. Ultimamente nell'angolo della Moldavia che era appar- 
 tiene all' Iniperatore," (oioe la Buccovina ceduta dalla Porta Ottomana alia 
 casa d' Austria I'anno mC,) si sono poste in valore delle miniere di ferro." (Osser- 
 vazioni storic^he, naturali, e politiche intorno la Valachia, e Moldavia, p. H09.) 
 
 For an account of tlie gold mines at Crenidte in Macedonia, see Diodor. 1. xvi. c. 9. 
 Justin, 1. viii. c. 3. or Gillies's History of ancient Greece, V. iv. p. SI.
 
 23G 
 fs^^p»ts It lias already been observed, that the patronage of the whole 
 
 atifl forfci- ^ i i 1 1 ^ i • • 
 
 tares, CRipire annually reverts to the crown, and thatau posts of dignity of 
 emolument are conferred anew at the festival of bairam, according 
 to purchase or favour : the advantages arising from this immense 
 sale of offices cannot however be considered as a revenue to 
 the state, since both the purchase-money and the fees on new 
 appointments are distributed without passing through the public 
 treasury.* In like manner, the profits arising from the escheats 
 and forfeitures of the lands held by the zdims and timariots are but 
 indirectly advantageous to government, for though they relieve 
 the state in some degree from the expenses of paying its officers, 
 they cannot be considered as a branch of revenue. t Confisca- 
 tions, however, belong of right to the miri, or public treasury, as 
 every Mussulman subject, exercising an employment of what 
 nature soever under government, virtually stipulates that the sove- 
 
 * De Tolt says (V. i. p. 83.) that the grand signor stipulated, that his share of the 
 profits, arising from the appointment of Bishop L'ahnico to the patriarchate of Con- 
 stantinople, should be paid to himself in new sequins, and that he aftenvards divided 
 them with his niece. But some better authority than De Tott's seems requisite for 
 giving credit to the secret history of the seraglio. 
 
 + Dr. Dallaway (p. 37.) says that " tlie officers of state have neither salary aor 
 pension :" — Mr. Eton (.Schedule, No. 2.) even .subjects the vizir and other ministers 
 to the aimuaJ payment of 1800 purses for their offices. Cantemir (p. 14T.) as-^ierts 
 from his own knowledge that the defierdar ^atdi receives 200,000 imperials, and pays 
 50,000 to the officer of his department immediately under hinij kictchuda bej/. But 
 the grarnl vizir, he says, may justly get every year six hundred thousand imperials^ 
 exclusively of presents. Rycaut(p. 57.) instances a reia ejf'endi, who was executed for 
 some conspiracy against the grand vizir, and left so great a treasure arising from the 
 tinu lumeiits of 1ms oiTicc, (all of which was confiscated to the grand signor) that it 
 would lia\eli' tt sufficient to enrich and raise his prince, had he been impoverished^ 
 iuul is a dccLning condition. — See also Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 53i9.
 
 237 
 
 reign shall inherit the whole of his property at his deaith. 'Die 
 greatest part of the wealth of the nation must consequently pas& 
 through the coffers of government in the course of a single gene- 
 ration ; and though the receipts of each year taken separately 
 may vary considerably, yet the amount of a certain number of 
 years must be uniform, and may be calculated with tolerable pre- 
 cision in estimating the revenues of the Turkish exchequer.* The 
 ulema are the only agents of government who are not subject to 
 this law : by a peculiar privilege they may bequeath their property 
 to their natural descendants. In all cases, whether of confiscation 
 or inheritance, the property of the wife or the widow is considered 
 as belonging to her exclusively, and is not transferred to the public 
 use. A Mussulman, holding no administrative or military ap- 
 pointment under government, is allowed to dispose of his posses- 
 sions by will if if he has children or relations he is compelled by 
 tlie law to leave two thirds of his property to them ; but if he ha* 
 no heirs, he may then dispose, to whom and in such manner as he 
 pleases, of the whole of his personal property, and of such part of 
 
 '' * Marsigli, (whose account of tlie revenues of the Ottoman empire, V. i. pp. 52, 
 55, is very confused and inaccurate) says that the wealth of pashas, on their decease or 
 deposition, passes into the cofi'er destined to supply the private wants of the sultan, 
 which is under the care of the kaznadar hashi, or sultan's private treasurer, a black 
 eunuch of the seraglio. I have ventured to contradict him from my own ex[)prier.ce, 
 as I have observed in many instances that property lapsing to government by confisca- 
 tion or inheritance is always seized upon in tire name of the tiiiri. 
 
 t It is to be observed that the company in which a janizary is enrolled inherits bi& 
 effects at his death. The coffer of each company is placed under the protection of the 
 captain, lieutenant, commissary, and ensign : the monies thus collected are conf;idered 
 sis a public fund, and are employed for the relief of the sick and aged, ihe ransom of 
 captives, the purchase of tents, harness, and such implements as the service requires.
 
 23S 
 
 his r-eal property, as is termed mulk, or free, in opposition to vacitf, 
 or that which is mortgaged to religious uses. On the death of any 
 person, who has left no will, and whose legitimate heirs are un- 
 known, the ?«/?7 interferes, and holds the unclaimed property in 
 behalf of the absent or unknown proprietors. There is, however, a 
 want of precision, if not in the letter of the law, at least in the 
 usual course of proceeding, especially in the concerns of the 
 rayahs ; for I have known the property of Armenian subjects 
 forcibly taken from them during their lifetime, and disposed of to 
 other persons, or seized upon at their death to the exclusion of the 
 widow and orphans.* 
 
 eoinage, jj^^j jj^j^H jg uudcr the direction of the zarpkatm eimiiii, who farms 
 the bullion at the rate of deli\ ering a certain number of purses 
 daily into the treasury : it is consequently a profit to the state. t 
 The alteration and debasement of the coin was long since resorted 
 to as a branch of revenue by the Ottoman sultans. I learned 
 
 * The instances to \vliii;h I more particularly allude, are thofe of a rich Armenian 
 banker of tlie name of Sakka Oglu, whose widow was stripped of atl her husband's 
 property because he had left no children. Another Armenian banker named Raphael 
 ]\lurat, with whom I was acquainted, lost his house in the fire at Pera in 1799. An 
 Italian physician of the name of Ruini, knowing that /Murat, because of great losses 
 which he had sustained, could not immediately rebuild his house, asked a grant of the 
 ground from Tchelebi KflVndi, whose family he attended, au'l built a hou;>e upon it 
 for himself, in contempt of common h<jnest}', and m spite of the reclamations of the 
 injured rai/uh. 
 
 t " Le droit du khouthi: ct celui dc faire battre monnoie, ont de tout temps forme 
 1m seuls droits r%aliens des potcntats Mahometans, chez lesquels le litre le plus carac- 
 ^eriatique de lautorite supreme est encore aujourd'hui cclui de Sahhib khnutlw ve sikke, 
 e'est a. dire, possesseur des droits da khoutbi tt dc la monnoie." (Tab. Grn. V^ ii. 
 p. 207.) 
 
 3
 
 259 
 
 from a Polish merchant at Lcinberg in Galicia, that the Turkish 
 coin which he received from INIoklavia as a remittance in the year 
 1797, contained only fifteen thirty-second parts of pure silver ; and 
 it has been since further adulterated every year.* 
 
 The Ottoman government is not sufficiently enlightened to per- 
 ceive the inconveniences and injury which commerce sustains by 
 such continual fluctuation in the value of the common standard. 
 When the vizir Kioprili held the reins of government, he was ad- 
 vised by certain Cluistians to coin mangurs of an inferior intrinsic 
 
 * Dr. Wittman (Ti-avels, pp. 3T. 367.) says that the silver coin of Constantinople 
 contains thirty hundredth parts of pure silver, and that of Cairo only twenty-five. — At 
 the time when Theodorus Spanduginus wrote his account of Turkey (soon after the 
 year 1 500) 8 pieces of the copper coin called mangur were equal in value to a silver 
 asper: 4 aspers to 1 drachm: 9 drachn.t or 36 aspers to a German 'haler: the sitl- 
 taniu, [p. gold coin containing 45 aspers), was eq\ial in weight and in fineness to the 
 Venetian sequin. — When Leunclaviiis wrote his Pandect^ the prices of things, he says, 
 had increased so much, in consequence of the burthens of the Persian war and other 
 causes, that after the lapse of forty or fifty years, 1 asper was e.xchanged for 24 mangurs; 
 5 aspers made 1 drachm; 12 drachms a German thaler; one thaler and an half, a 
 Venetian sequin or 90 aspers. So that 1 drachm of 5 aspers was equal to 6 kreutzersj 
 iO drachms or 50 aspers to 1 florin; 12 drachms or 60 aspers to 1 thaler; and very 
 soon after the thaler rose even to 80 aspers. {See Leunclavius's treatise " De variis 
 monetis" in Elzevir's collection, p. ITS.) — Marsigli (in his chapter Delle monete d'oro, 
 d'argento, e di rame, che si battono d'entro llmpero^ Ottomanno, V. i. ]>. 45.) says 
 tliat mangurs and ghediks are tlie only copper money in use : the silver coin consists of 
 aspers, paras, beshliks, onliks, and sotottas (or piastres) : the sher/Jf's (or ducats) are of 
 gold. The following table will shew their relative value : 4 mangurs maV-e I asper, 
 3 aspers 1 para, (iesA/ji- expresses five, and oh/^Vc ten para- )• SOparas 1 sololta, 260 paras 
 ■an Hungarian ducat. — The money at present in use in the Turkish empire is divided 
 into paras, and giirush (or piastre?) which consist of forty paras. Tiie coin bears no 
 other impression than that of the titles of the reigning sultan, the date of tbe year of the 
 Hegira, and the name of the city where rt was struck. According, to the present r-atesr 
 fifteen piastres per pound sterling Qjay be considered as thr par of exchange.
 
 £40 
 
 value to those at that time in currency, and to give them a higher 
 value in circulation, ordering that two viangtirs should be received 
 for an (isper. By these means he relieved the state from its tem- 
 porary embarrassments, but introduced at the same time so 
 much confusion among the dealings of the people, that the 
 populace and military of Constantinople were forced into insur- 
 rection.* The treasury derived a further profit from establishing 
 two different rates for receiving, and issuing, payments. In the 
 payment of tribute from the provinces the rix dollar was passed only 
 at eighty aspers, but was reckoned at a hundred and twenty aspers 
 in all disbursements of the public money. The profit to the state 
 was however momentary and illusory; but ministers amassed 
 wealth, and the subjects were ruined. 
 
 tribute. The tribute paid by the princes, or vaivodas, of Wallachia and 
 
 Moldavia may be considered as a substitute for the territorial 
 impost, the haratch, and all other taxes: it is annually paid into 
 the 7niri or public treasury. The tribute is however but a small 
 part of the contributions exacted from both principalities. The 
 yearly purchase of the confirmation of the princes authority, the 
 presents at bdiram to the sultan and the officers of the porte, and 
 the expenccs of maintaining agents to counteract the schemes of 
 their rivals, and maintain their influence with ministry and the 
 courtiers, absorb the greatest part of the reveuues.f The tribute 
 
 * " Me prcsente," says Marsigli, from whose work (V. i. p. 46.) I have extracted 
 the passage. 
 
 + " Vallachorura, MoUlarumque principcs — tributa pendunt, pecunianue compa-
 
 241 
 
 originally stipulated to be paid by the principality of Moldavia, 
 which voluntarily submitted' itself to the sultans, was four thou- 
 sand crowns ; but the great disparity between the contracting 
 parties, and the want of a guarantee to the- treaty, consequently 
 left the Moldavians at the mercy of a master. The tribute in the 
 year 1770 was only sixty-five thousand piastres, while the presents 
 which accompanied it exceeded half a miUion. Wallachia was 
 reduced by the arms of the Ottomans : its subjection is not how- 
 ever more galling than that of Moldavia : the tribute in the year 
 1782 amounted to three hundred thousand piastres, and together 
 with the indirect expenses and the charges of administration, 
 bor^ nearly the same proportion to the total expenditure of the 
 principality, as those of Moldavia.* The government of both 
 principalities, as exercised over the miserable inhabitants by the 
 
 ratas dignitates pecunia tueri coguntur, unde maximis semper conflictantur curis, ne 
 artibus iisdem a se feliciter in antecessores experlis, a proviiicia extrudantur, et no\a 
 onera subire vel ob calumnias perire compellantur." (Montalban. ap. Elzevir, p. 21.) 
 
 * See Cantemir, pp. 186, 181, 1.88. Prince Cantemir governed Moldavia, and 
 therefore must have written this part of his history with a perfect knowledge of the sub- 
 ject : he feelingly says, " that though at present there are paid into the Imperial 
 treasury sixty thousand crowns by way of tribute, and twenty-four thousand as an 
 -Easter offering, many more are exacted by tlicse insatiable blood-suckers. For a.i 
 there is no law against avarice, so there is no end of the Turkish demands and extor- 
 tions. All depends on the will of the prime vizir, and to make any remonstrance 
 against liis pleasure is deemed capital." — See also Osservazioni storidie, naturali, e 
 politiche, intorno la Valachia, e Moldavia, pp. 185. 199. — Rycaut, Present state of 
 the Ottoman empire, chap. xiv. — INIarsigli (V. i. p. 55.) says that the tributes of W^al- 
 lachia and Moldavia are not mentioned in the canon name, because they are chiefly 
 -designed as perquisites of office to the vizir : he estimates the part which is paid int» 
 the treasury at 820 purses. 
 
 I i
 
 242 
 
 Greek princes and their dependents, is a monster in politics. A 
 Turkish pasha, when compared with the Greek thus suddenly 
 elevated from abject slavery to absolute command, seems almost 
 to merit the title of the father of his country. The extor- 
 tions of these tax-gatherers, rather than rulers, are greater than 
 any I have seen or heard of in the Turkish provinces ; and the 
 most melancholy and humiliating change which ever I have wit- 
 nessed, is that of the Dacians, the most warlike of men,* (whose 
 generous exertions in defence of their country are perpetuated ia 
 the historical column of the emperor Trajan), sunk, under the 
 sceptre of Christians, into the most servile and timid race of 
 people that can be imagined ; while under the yoke of the Otto- 
 mans, galling as it must appear to men who know and value 
 liberty, every class of conquered people retains something of its 
 ancient characteristics, and even the Jews attain to a greater de- 
 gree of respectability than they seem to have reached in other 
 countries. j The little republic of Ragusa, which foresaw the 
 greatness of the Ottoman power while yet in its infancy, has flou- 
 rished for centuries under the protection of the Porte, and pays an 
 anivoal tribute of twelve thousand five hundred sequins in token of 
 submission. :]; An important branch of revenue, which it is how- 
 ever difficult to calculate with precision, is a tax upon certain pro- 
 
 * Gibbon, V. i. p. 8. t Dallaway, p. 3S?. 
 
 X Rycaut says (p. 65.) tliat the couiinunity of Ragusa, a town in Dalmatia anciently 
 caUcd Kpidaurus, sent ambassadors to Sultan Orchan desiring to become bis tributa- 
 ries, and to receive his powerful protection. The tre.ity has been rclij^iously ohserveiJ 
 by tlie l\irks : the tribute then established has never been augmented, nor the privi- 
 leges and immunities granted them, infringed.
 
 243 
 
 vinces which is levied in kind. The object of it, so far as regards 
 the pubhc, is to provide materials for keeping up the navy; besides 
 furnishing stores and provisions necessary for the service of the 
 sultan's household. The benefit which the treasury deiivcs from 
 .this source has been estimated at two thousand /;M;'ie*; but when 
 it is considered that almost all the materials necessary for the arse- 
 nal are provided by contributions of this nature ^from the provinces, 
 and that the dock-yards and store-rooms are so abundantly pro- 
 vided as to excite the admiration of strangers, it is evident that 
 the means of keeping on foot a navy, consisting of fifteen ships of 
 the line and as many frigates, are by no means over-rated at a 
 million of piastres.* 
 
 The treasure thus collected, over Avhich the defta'dar effendi F.^-pmcti- 
 
 ''^ tnroofthe 
 
 presides, is called beith-ul-mali mudimbw, or the public money of ''^"^J,'^''^''''^*" 
 
 * " The district called Kogia, situated on the gulf of Ismit in the Propontis, sends 
 £21,000 pieces of timber : Smyrna, Salonica, and the Asiatic provinces on tlie Black 
 Sea, 12,050 kintals of hemp (each kintal weighing; 120 pounds) : Caira 1000 kintals 
 of tow, 100 jars of lintseed oil, 2000 pieces of sail-cloth, and 40 kintals of sewing 
 twine: Athens 1500 ells of sail-cloth : Samakofl' (on the Black Sea) 1395 kintals of 
 bar iron : Salonica 2000 ells of woollen cloth, (which was formerly used in making 
 awnings for the gallies) : Karaboghaz, Boli, and Isiiic, 2430 oars for the gallics, and 
 .5200 kintals of boxwood : Sultania and Osar 500 kintals of tar," &c. See Marsigli, 
 V. i. pp. 52. 56. 150. V. ii. p. 119.) 
 
 " Je parcourus successivement la salle des coupes, situee dans le jour le plus fa\ar- 
 able, pour les dcsseins en grand qu'on y execute; je pus me convamcre de I'etat des 
 <:hantiers qui etoient parfaitement approvisionnes, aussi bien que les magazins de la 
 marine. On s'etonne comment la Porte, sans plan do finances, avec des revenus que 
 les revoltes des pachas reudent incertains, fait face a. ses depenses, sau') ibrmor d'em- 
 |)ruiit." fPuuqucville, ^'oyagcs cu INIoree, S^c. V. ii. p. 210.)
 
 the Mussulmans, no part of which the emperor himself can expend 
 without the most urgent necessity, or apply to his own private 
 use without danger. The law is so strict in this respect that it is 
 not even permitted to the sultan to appropriate to pious uses any 
 part of the money consecrated to the necessities of the state. It is 
 for this reason that the Imperial mosques are founded chiefly hy 
 sultans who have obtained victories and made conquests, and who 
 are therefore presumed to devote the spoils of war, gained from 
 the enemies of their religion, to the service of public worship^ the 
 instruction of youth, and the relief of the poor. Tiiis is inva- 
 riably the case with respect to all the Imperial mosques built within 
 the walls of Constantinople. The sultans, who not having 
 merited the surname of gazi, or conqueror, are yet desirous of per- 
 petuating their memory by founding a mosque from the savings of 
 their household expenses, usually build it in Scutari on the oppor 
 site coast of Asia, or in some other city in the neighbourhood of the 
 Imperial residence. The disbursements of the miri chiefty relate 
 to the military stipends of the capiculy and their dependencies, 
 the salaries and maintenance of the officers and workmen of the 
 arsenal, and the purchase of such materials or stores necessary for 
 the building, repairing, or equipment, of vessels as the country 
 does not furnish, or the skill of the inhabitants enable them to 
 manufacture. The tei'shana eimini, or steward of the arsenal, has 
 the care of providing all necessaries for the navy and superintends 
 the receipts and expenditures, as the iophana nazeri regulates 
 all the expenses of the ordinance: the miri also provides for 
 the fortifying or keeping in repair the walls and buildings iie~
 
 245 
 
 cessary for the tlefence of the capita), besides a variety of current 
 expenses.* 
 
 The treasure called icJi, hazn6, which is devoted to the private s.iita«'s 
 uses of the sultan, is administered by the officers of his household. '^'^'"""''''' 
 The Imperial domains, liass Intmdiun, furnish the fixed part of thi&fixcd 
 revenue, and it has other eventual sources of augmentation. The and casual. 
 sultan condescends to accept presents from his servants on certain 
 festivals, or on occasion of great solemnities, such as the birth or 
 circumcLsioa of a son.f On the nomination to great offices he 
 
 * Mr. Griffiths has copied " from the estimable labours of his friend Mr. Eton" 
 thirteen quarto pages on the subject of the Turkish finances. Such undistin- 
 guishing commendation, as it gives no additional importance to those labours, 
 does not deter me from observing that his schedule of the annual expenditure is 
 equally liable to objection with that of the revenues. " Tlie expenditure of the 
 miri," he says, (p. 40.) " embraces a variety of objects, viz. the expenses of the 
 army and navy, in war as well as peace; the pay of all officers, civil and mili- 
 tary; the erecting and repairing of fortifications, of public edifices, high roadsy 
 bridges, &c. together with a great part of the expenses of the sultan's household, and 
 several other extraordinary disbursements." I avoid as superfluous the pointing out 
 with how many restrictions each of these assertions is to be received; and 1 shall only 
 observe, that, in the more detailed account of the annual expenditure of the miri, 
 (p. 48.) there appears to me the insertion of a wilful error: — the pay of the garrison at 
 Viddin is ])ut down at \2 50 purses, tliat of all the other fortresses in the Ottoman 
 empire 18,000, besides the pay of those who. guard the Danube 3j21. — But whv i& 
 Viddin, a fortress on the Danube, thus honoured by a distinction from all the other 
 fortresses in the Ottoman empire ? Viddin is not a frontier garrison of singular impor- 
 tance in the ordinary state of ailairs in Turkey : but \'iddin, at tlie time when Mr.' 
 Eton published his- work, was noised. in Europe because of the rebellion of Passwar* 
 Oglu. 
 
 +. " II est d' usage d'envoyer, en ces occa.'iions, des lettres circulaires au-x/ja^c/ifli-, aux 
 gouverneurs, aux intendans, aux.magistrats de toutcs les provinces €t de toutes les grandes ■ 
 Yiiks de I'empire. Par ces lettres, le sultan leur fait part de la ceremonie, et les iuuite 
 
 3
 
 246 
 
 receives, under the name ofpeshkesh or gift, a pecuniary homage, 
 proportioned to the dignity conferred. It is a common opinion 
 that the sultan's revenues are so ample as to enable him, after pro- 
 viding for all the expenses of the court and household, to put 
 aside a considerable sum of money every year; and we are even 
 told by respectable authors, that " after the death of every sultan, 
 the treasure so amassed is inclosed in a certain chamber shut with 
 an iron gate, the key-hole of which is stopped with lead, and over 
 the gate is written in letters of gold, " The treasure of such a sul- 
 ■ tan."' I am unwiUing to believe the assertion, tliough unable to 
 contradict it, on the authority of more correct information obtained 
 by my own enquiries.* This however may safely be credited, that 
 there can never be a deficiency in the sultan's treasury, nor can 
 it ever be found inadequate to the purposes of its establishment, so 
 long as it is carefully guarded from dilapidation on the part of 
 the administrators, and the state continues free from public com- 
 motions, Avhich alone can prevent the collection, and retard the 
 
 a s'y trouver. lis y assistent en eflet par des substituts qui, ce jour-la, les representent 
 u la cour, et font en leur noin de riclifcs presens au jeune prince, en signe d'hommage 
 etde servitude." (Tab. Geu. V. ii. p. 289.) 
 
 Cantcniir (p. 281.) estimates the presents, sent to the emperors on the circumcision 
 of their sons, as equal to half the yearly tribute of the empire. 
 
 * Rycairt, Present state of the Ottoman empire, p. 57. — I may indeed appeal to 
 the respectal)le authority of the A^enttian ambassador, \\ ho, in his memoir to the senate, 
 when speaking on the subject of the sultan's treasure, says, in opposition to the vulgar 
 report of there beinj;- an annual saving of two millions of sequins, " Quoe res parum 
 credihilis niihi visa est, ([uia rex ille in tolo suo impcrio niillas habet auiifodinas, e: ah 
 ejiism iniftrit repuv^nantin inttlUxi." (De urhe C'onstant. ct imp. I'urc. relatio inceiti 
 aii Honorimn inTurc. imi>. statu ap. Elzevir, p. 128.)
 
 247 
 
 remittance, of the revenues. Its riches are not to be estimated by 
 the amount of its receipts in specie. The purveyances made upon 
 the provinces comprehend every article of provision, sufficient for 
 the numerous train of attendants attached to the court. Egypt 
 sends an ample contribution of rice, sugar, coffee, drugs, and 
 spices, from the produce of its own fiehls, or the commerce of 
 Arabia and India. The mastic produced in Scio, which is so con- 
 siderable as to give its name sakis to the island, is reserved for the 
 use of the Seraglio and the harem, with the exception of that part 
 only which is allowed to the Turkish collectors and officers. It 
 may be asserted that the supplies from the provinces are such, that 
 nothing which the empire produces is ever bought Avilh money for 
 the service of the seraglio. 
 
 The establishment of the female branches of the Imperial family 
 is, in a great degree, imposed upon vizirs or pashas, who are honour- 
 ed by an alliance with their master. The mother of the Sultan 
 supports her dignity by an appanage adequate to lier rank. The 
 administration of it is confided to an otBcer of importance in the 
 state, under the name of valide kiahyasi, (stewaid to the empress 
 dowager). Her revenues are called pashmaklik, (samlal mone}'), 
 and consist of streets in the metropolis or provincial cities, of towns, 
 A'illages, and islands, throughout the whole empire. All the 
 taxes and dues of the domains thus set apart for the maintenance 
 of the sultanas are annually rented to the i)est bidder among pri- 
 vate purchasers. In these districts the pasha of the province exer- 
 cises no authority, except so far as regards the general police ; 
 since the revenues belong exclusively to the sultanas, and are col-
 
 248 
 
 lectedby the farmers, mIio are generally the vahodas or m:igist\ates. 
 The inhabitants are not however exempt from taxation, in case 
 of extraordinary impositions, or war-taxes levied by order of go- 
 vernment 
 
 Kizami Attempts ha\-e been made, since the establishment of the nizami 
 
 djedid, to draw into greater utility, by the imposition of an excise 
 tax, the vast financial resources which exist in the empire. This 
 tax was created in order to produce a fund for the support of the 
 great addition to the standing military force ; a plan which has 
 been first carried into execution by the present sultan. But whe- 
 ther from the want of clear views on the subject, or from the gene- 
 ral aversion of the Turks to innovation, much disgust has been 
 excited, and even insurrection. The scheme, however, is not yet 
 abandoned, although it has by no means acquired solidity : but 
 the standing army of the sultan, which is slowly improving in 
 .discipline, can alone give vigour to the system.* 
 
 * According to the regulations of tlie nizami djedid, every head of lesser cattle is 
 taxed apai-n, an ox jtays a piastre, wine two parrti the oke, (a quantity equal to two 
 pounds and three quarters English), jaAj or brandy, {our paras thuoke: and in like 
 .proportion the excise law extends to every object of stock and production.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RELIGION, MORALS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF TILE 
 
 TURKS. 
 
 Phijskal constitutions and general habit s.^-AIoral and religious 
 education. — Popular belief, and practice. — Priests. — Dervishes. — 
 Emirs. — Pilgrimage to Mecca. — Predestination. — Invocation of 
 saints. — Belief in the efficacy of amulets, relics, atid enchantmeiits. 
 
 — Faith in omens and dreams. Prejudice against pictures. — 
 
 Punishment of apostacy. — Morality.- — Prosdytism. — Modes of 
 proposing the faith to unbelievers. — Public charities. — Hospitality 
 and alms. — Tenderness towards brute -animals. — Character of 
 the Turks; — their austerity, — ii-ritability of temper, — intem- 
 perajicc in the use of xcine, — and opium, — covetousness, — am- 
 bition, — hypocrisy, — behaviour to strangers. — Virtues of the 
 
 middle class. — Clothing of the Turks. The rearm bath. 
 
 Turkish luxuries and amusements : — conversation, — story-telling, 
 — ombres chinoises,- — -dancers and gladiators, — athletic exercises. 
 
 General health. The plague. Mouniing. Interments 
 
 <md funeral monuments. 
 
 iHE Turks are of a grave and saturnine cast; they are iii 
 general well made, and robust ; patient of hunger and privations; 
 
 K k .
 
 250 
 
 Pnysicai capable of endurino' the hardships of military service, but not 
 '"eiRrai"* much inclined to habits of industry. The early hours and regular 
 lives of their mothers, their own habitual temperance, and general 
 freedom from violent passions, give them good health and un- 
 distorted features. Their way of living is simple and domestic : 
 they prefer apathy and indolence to active enjoyments ; but when 
 moved by a powerful stimulus they sometimes indulge in pleasures, 
 to excess. * 
 
 Mora! and Thc moral charactcf is fundamentally formed in infancy and 
 
 religious ' "^ 
 
 education. chiUlhood, not by precept, so much as by the absence of evil ;:, 
 
 * " Pauci exeroendo agro vel aliis artibus tolerare vitam. Non enim arare terrami 
 aut expectare annum tarn facile persuaseris, quam vocare hostes, et vulnera mereri. 
 Pigrum et iners oninino videtur sudore acquirere quod possit sanguine parari."' 
 Montalban, ap. Elzevir, p. 24.) 
 
 Denon in his review of the different physiognomies of the inhabitants of Egypt,, 
 says, " Les Turcs ont des beautcs plus graves avec des formes plus molles ; leurs 
 paupieres epaisses kissent peu d'expression d leurs yeux : le nez gras, de belles-, 
 bouches bien bordees, et de longues barbes touffues, un teint moins basane, un cou. 
 nourri, toute 1' habitude du corps grave et lourde. — A parler en artiste on ne pent faire 
 de leur beaute que la beaute d'Lin Turc." (Voyage, &c. V. i. p. 1 40.) 
 
 De Tott, in his preliminary discourse, supposes that their fibres are relaxed, andi 
 their bodies enfeebltd, by the heat of the climate. Can the climate of Thrace, tiie 
 country which produced the gigantic Maximin, whose extraordinary strength and* 
 courage, procured to him from tlie Roman armies, the names of Ajax and Hercules 
 and even the imperial dignity, be supposed to relax the fibres of its inhabitants ? 
 What more convincing proof can be given of the natural strength of their constitution, 
 than the instance which De Tott relates, of a Tmk drinking off two bottles 
 of lavender water, without jntoxicatioft or injury to himself? (See Memoirs 
 V. .. p. 3.)
 
 151 
 
 for the Turks receive their early education under the care of 
 their mothers and their female attendants, who are seckided 
 from the promiscuous society of men, and removed from the 
 contagion of corrupt example. Their religion, which is simple, 
 Is taught them by their parents in the harem. The minds of 
 the children, as in other countries, are instructed in the dogmas 
 of a particular system : they are inflated with the superiority 
 of their own situation, in a religious sense ; and they are taught 
 to indulge in the contemplation of it, and in a contempt border- 
 ing on hatred, for the professors of every other religion. The Popular 
 
 btlicfand 
 
 revelations of heaven, and the precepts of the prophet equal- p^ctice. 
 ly inculcate on the minds of Mussulmans, this exalted idea 
 of themselves, and this sentiment of disdain and aversion for 
 strangers to their faith. " The prayers of the infidel are not 
 prayers, but wanderings," says the Koran. " I withdraw my 
 foot, and turn away my face," says IMahomet, " from a society 
 in which the faithful are mixed with the ungodly." Nor is the 
 uncharitableness of the sentiment extinguished, or even weakened, 
 by the death of its object. " Pray not for those whose death 
 is eternal," is a precept of the Mahometan church, " and 
 defile not thy feet by passing over the graves of men, the enemies 
 of God and his prophet." These commandments are precise 
 and positive : they regulate the principles and the conduct of all 
 classes of Mussulmans. It is vain to suppose their pernicious and 
 uncharitable tendency counteracted by passages of scripture 
 which breathe a milder spirit, or by the example of the prophet, 
 who is known to have frequented the society of unbelievers and 
 pagans. The Mahometan, who has risen above the prevailing
 
 252 
 
 prejudices of his reUgion and country, will alone appeal to these 
 more tolerant precepts, in order to justify his conduct to his owit 
 heart, or to sanction it in the eyes of the public : but the vulgar 
 mind, the great majority of the nation in every class of society,, 
 •will, always be chained down to the observance of the most- 
 ^ intolerant precepts of religion. * 
 
 The iiamaz, the prayer the most obligatory on Mussulinans,. 
 and the most pleasing to the Supreme Being, is chiefly a confession.- 
 of the divine attributes, and of tile nothingness of man ; a solemn^ 
 
 ■' In the reign of Abcrulikh the Thii'il, surn.imed IVIeemoimn, Bagdad was aflflicted 
 with a great drought. The caliph enjoined a piiMic penance, and went himself iiv. 
 j)rocession, at the head of. his Mussulman subjects, to perform in. the.neigjibouring, 
 plains, the prayers prescribed by religion on such occasions. The ceremony was 
 repeated on three succeeding days, birt without eftect; Heaven withheld its bkss- 
 iiigs, and rejected their petitions. The. caliph tlien ordered the Jews and Christians» 
 to unite their suppLcations with those of the faithful ; when ,lo ! to the great scandal of- 
 Islamism, the rain fell in abundance, the earth was refreshed, but the caliph was 
 astounded. He felt the affront even more than he acknowledged the favour, and his 
 faith staggered ^vith resentment. The uknia were assembled, and the caliph proposed- 
 liis doubts; when a reverend doctor, no less learned than pious, arose, .and enforcing. 
 his reasoning with the seductions of eloquence, calmed his disquietude, and brought 
 him back into the, stedfestness of truth. The Mahometan doctors attribute to inspira- 
 tion the discourse which he pronounced. " What is there," said the holy man, " -so. 
 extraordinary in this event, or so inimical to the religion of Mahomet. God," con- 
 tinued he, " so loves the Mussulmans his chosen people, tiwir prayers and their 
 petitions arc so grateful to his ear, that he even abstains from an immediute compliance 
 with their request, to compel them to renew their pious addresses : but the voice of. 
 infidels is harsh and dissonant ; and if he grant their petitions, it is from disgust 
 at their nauseous supplications, and to rid himself of their importunities."' (Tab- 
 Cm-jj, V. ii. p. 250.)
 
 act of homage and gratitude to tlie eternal majesty. The faitlifui 
 are forbidden to ask of God the temporal blessings of this frail 
 and perishable life : the only legitimate object of the namaz is. 
 to adore the Supreme Being, by praying for spiritual gifts and- 
 the ineffable advantages of eternal felicity, * Confident in the. 
 efficacy of belief and the virtue of prayer aad legal purification,, 
 the Mussulmans feel no humility because of the imperfectiona 
 of human nature, and no repentance because of actual trans- 
 gressions, f: The unity of the Supreme Being, and the. divine 
 mission of the prophet, are all that are insisted, on as necessary 
 to justification with God ; X. ^"^^ -is these imply no conti'adiction, 
 
 * See Tableau General, V. ii. pp. 70— DP. 
 
 " The prophet himself was so filled with divine love, when lie performed his 
 devotions, that his pure and holy heart was said to boil like water in a canklroii on a ■ 
 strong fire." (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 76.) 
 
 f That is, no repentance considered as ai> act of tlie raind, for they- have ra^iy- 
 penitential rites and ceremonies.^ 
 
 X' Nous croyons, nous confessons, nous attest ons, rju'il n'y a de Dieu que Diei» 
 seul, Dieu unique, lequel n'admet point d'associatioii en lui ; croyance heureuse d laqudla 
 
 est attacliie ttt bcatitucU vcleste. D'apres ce principe, quiconque meurt dans la foi 
 
 Musulmane est sur^ de gagner le ciel. Est^ril charge de peches, a-t-il transgresse la 
 loi, a-t-il neglige le culte etia pratique des bonnes oeuvresj il ne s'expose qu' a des 
 peines toujours soumises a la volonte supreme du Createur, qui est le niaitre der 
 pardonner entierenaent les plus grands- crimes, , comme de punir* severeinent les 
 moindres fautes. Or le Musulnian pecheur venant a etre range dans la dasse des 
 wtfans rebelles qui ont cncouru les chiltimens du pere celeste, eprouve les tourmens 
 qui lui sont destines pour I'expiation de ses peches. Ainsi purifie par le feu de I'enfer, 
 il se trouve en etat de paroitre devant la face de son createur, et de jouir dans !a 
 societe des elua, xia bonheur qui leur appartient, (Tab. Gen. V. -i. p. 146. V. -iLi. 
 p. 214.),
 
 234 
 
 and involve no mystery, tlie mind seems to comprehend both 
 points without an effort, and to hold them with steadi- 
 ness. Hence their consciences are never alarmeci at tlie weak- 
 ness or insufficiency of their faith ; nor can they ever doubt 
 of their acceptance with God. Their religion consoles and 
 elevates them through life, and never disturbs their dying 
 moments. * 
 
 Many of the learned Turks are said to refuse an implicit 
 belief to all the mii-acles recorded ia the Koran ;f but none 
 
 The heresy of the Kharidjys, against which the caliph Ali displayed a zeal whigh 
 "Occasioned his death, consisted chiefly in the doctrine, that enormous sins counteract 
 and even annul, faith, whicli can only be meritorious when accompanied with the 
 constant practice ^^f morality. 
 
 i 
 * The death of the vizir Ahmed Pasha by order of Saltan Soliman, as related by 
 
 Baron Busbek (Epist. ii, p. 90), is a remarkable instance of Turkish fortitude. 
 
 Cum mane in divanum venisset, mox art'uit qui ei regis nomine mortem indiceret, 
 
 qui nuncius Achomatem haud multo magis commovit, ut erat incredibili magnitu- 
 
 dine animi, quam si nihil ad ipsum pertineret. Camificem tantum munus suum 
 
 exequi parantem, a se repulit, haud convenire existimans tanto honore modo usuni 
 
 pollutis illius manibus atti-ectari ; cumque oculos ad eos qui adstabant circumtulisset, 
 
 hominem honestum, sibi amicum, oravit, ut hoc sibi daret, ut ejus manibus necaretur, 
 
 futurum id sibi magni et postremi muneris loco ; quod ille, etiam. atque etiam rogatus, 
 
 non recusavit. Venmi Achomates eum monuit, ne statim atque una vice astricto ner\o 
 
 se suHbcaret, -scd eo remisso, semel respirare pateretur ; quo facto, nervum adduceret 
 
 :donec exanimaretur." 
 
 + The minutiie of Turkish belief, are indeed as little reconcikable to common 
 «nse, as the fables of ancient mythology. But as Voltaire justly obseiTcs, " Le» 
 Turcs senses rient de ces beliaes subtiles ; les jeuncB femine» n'y pensent j)as ; les 
 wieilles devotes y croient."
 
 S55 
 
 »f them so far contradict the national prejudices, as publicly 
 to withhold their assent. * An cffendi, skilled in mathematics, 
 was asked, how he could believe, that Mahomet broke the star or 
 the moon, and caught half of it falling from heaven, ia his sleeve. 
 He replied, that indeed in the course of nature it could not be 
 done, nay was contrary to it ; but as the miracle is in the Koraa 
 affirmed to be wrought, he resigned his reason, and embraced the 
 miracle ; for, added he, God can do whatever he pleases, f They 
 admit with equal facility the wonderful stories related by Chris- 
 tians, and on some occasions conform in their conduct to the 
 popular prejudices even of these people ; as in the instance given 
 by Cantemir, of the lord of a village, who suffered no work to be 
 done on St. Phocas's day, because formerly the saint, in revenge 
 for the profanation of his festival, had burnt their standing 
 corn. [^ The opinion, that sanctity of life, independently of any 
 
 * Kliodjea Behhay'ud-dinn Nakschibendy, the greatest saint of Turkistan, 
 bequeathed to the faithful this maxim, for the regulation of their conduct : " the- 
 exterior for the world, the interior for God." (Tab. Gen. V. i. p. 307.) 
 
 + The story is from Cantemir, who affirms (Ottoman History, p. 31. note.) that 
 he himself held this conversation with the effendi ; and his general veracity is proved. 
 fiiom the internal testimony of his writings. Cantemir, however, shews himself in. 
 Ifais, as well as in other instances, to be but superficially acquainted with the Koran; 
 «r at least to have read it under that prejudice of which a Greek can never divest 
 himself. The story of the fraction of the moon, is in the 54th chapter of the Koran ; 
 and it is alluded to in the Tableau General, V. i. p. 199, and V. iii. p. 295. See 
 also Gibbon's Roman History, V. 9. p. -72. 
 
 ^ " lis ne se livrent a aucun acta exterieur de devotion envers Jesus Christ ; 
 wais aussi ne se permettent-ils jamais la moindre irreverence; ni ineme le deplace-
 
 256 
 
 ])articular religious persuasion, is sufficient for salvation, is silent- 
 ly embraced by a few liberal Turks, though it is condemned by 
 the Mahometan church as a heresy.* 
 
 It has been T)bserved, that in all ages, men satiated with en- 
 joyments; are most inclined to become atheists ; and men the 
 most to be pitied are superstitious. But atheism, either specula- 
 tive or practical, is a vice which is rare among the Turks ; for 
 •when the doctrines of the existence of God, and the immorta- 
 lity of the soul have been implanted in the mind by early educa- 
 tion, they cannot be eradicated, xinless; perhaps, "by intense 
 and perverted study and reflection, of which the Turks, from 
 habitual indolence, are incapable, f The terrors of conscience, 
 
 nf.cnt d'aucune relique Chretientie. Ce setoit, diseht-ilsj attiier sUr nous la coKrc 
 •€t lu malediction de ce grand propliete." (Tab. Gen. V. li. p. 401.) 
 
 ■-* Busbequii, Epist. iii. p. 12fi. 
 
 t CeiK meme qui ne sent pas bltfi-convaiftcus de i'apostolat du prophete, n'en sont 
 'pas moins attaches au dogma de I'unite de I'etre supreme, ni moins penetres de son 
 fxislence Bt de ses attributs infmi.^. (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 464 ) 
 
 I find myself at A-ariance, both in my tisser tions and my reasoning, with Sir James 
 Porter; who sjys (p. 39.) " tiiat it is certain there arc among the Turks niany phi- 
 losophicdi iriiiids : — th;it they liavc the whole sj'stenis of the Aristotelian and Epicurean 
 philosophy transliited into iheh* own language ; and finding the latter, vjhich tlity 
 fail ilic Dimocrliic, to cut more eflectually at the root, and to be more conformable 
 to their present indolence, ease, aiid security, they gcnerallij tidopt it ; so that, perhap.e, 
 without their knowing it, tluy are at once perfect atheists and professed Mahometans. 
 Sui)crstiticn, and its train," conliuues Sir James Porter, " arc a true basis for 
 iilheisui ; there is no luediuui ; from the one extreme the mind is forcibU', though 
 unperceplibly, driven to the other : hence t'le Tt'ds easili/.plunge into it."
 
 257 
 
 which generate m the vicious and profligate, a wish to dis- 
 believe, and at last, perhaps, a trembling hope that they do 
 disbelieve these doctrines, operate but little on tlie miuils of 
 men who are firmly convinced, that the divine favour is never 
 ■withdrawn from those, who are stedfast in their profession of faith 
 and constant in the practice of the ceremonies of religion. The 
 belief and performance of both are simple and easy, and not 
 only may exist unconnected with virtue, but may even expiate 
 vicious conduct. Hence that tranquillity with respect to futurity 
 which never abandons the Turk : and hence his neglect of pallia- 
 tives for an evil, of which, so far as regards himself as a believer, 
 he cannot consistently suspect the existence. 
 
 The popular religion of the Turks consists in belief, prayers, 
 ablutions, and fastings at stated periods. 
 
 They are called to namaz (prayers) five times a day, by the 
 muezzitm (chanter), who recites, from the highest tower of the 
 
 Sir James Porter, who vas so little acquainted with the Turkish language as to 
 assert, " that it is composed of the very dregs of the Persian and Arabiaa tongues," 
 cannot be supposed to have derived his information from the purest sources. It 
 appears indeed to have been communicated to him by his dragomans, (mere men 
 of words, who are always pi'epared to answer every question, on every subject, 
 rather than confess their ignorance, and who always accommodate theif answers to the 
 v;ishes of the enquirer,) and as such, it may be dismissed without further remark. I 
 am much disposed to doubt, that superstition necessarily leads to atheism ; but 
 it is unnecessary to discuss the merits of the position, as fanaticism, and notsupei-stition, 
 is the prominent feature of the Mahometan religion. 
 
 LI
 
 £58 
 
 jami, the hymn ezann, containing a confession of faith, in the 
 
 following form. " God most high ! I bear witness that there is 
 
 no God but God ; I bear witness that Mahomet is the prophet 
 
 > 
 of God. Come to prayer ; come to tiie asylum of salvation. 
 
 Great God ! There is no God but God." 
 
 The canonical hours for the morning prayer are from the first 
 dawning of the day to sun- rise. This prayer was first performed 
 by Adam on his expulsion from Paradise, when he returned thanks 
 to God on being delivered from the darkness of nioht, and aaain 
 permitted to behold the approach of day. Towards the conclusion 
 of the morning ezann, the muezzinn exhorts the faithful to be 
 diligent in their devotions, by repeating immediately after the 
 words, come to the asylum of salvation, " prayer is preferable 
 to sleep, prayer is preferable to sleep." 'J he iiamaz of noon, 
 which may be said at any period of the interval between the 
 meridian and the next succeeding nmnaz, was instituted by 
 Abraham after his purposed sacrifice of his son Isaac. The 
 afternoon namaz. in which the propliet Jonas first expressed his 
 gratitude on being cast up from the belly of the whale, begins 
 when the shadow projected on the dial is of twice the length of 
 the gnomon ; and it may be said as long as the sun continues 
 above the horizon. Tlie evening prayer is believed by Maho- 
 metans to have been instituted by Jesus Christ : the hours 
 appointed for the performance of this namaz are from the setting 
 of the sun to complete nocturnal darkness, when the night prayer is
 
 '259 
 
 performed, in imitation of Moses. On Friday, wliich is conse- 
 crtaed to public worship in commemoration of tlic cred'.iou of 
 man, the Mahometans recite an additional naniciz, and a prayer 
 salatW ul-JJuma between sunrising and noon. 
 
 In the vamaz there are several prostrations, some of which 
 must not on any account be omitted, h(t\n^^farz, or the immediate 
 command of God : others may be omitted, though not without 
 some degree of sin, being sutmeth, institutions of the prophet, 
 or rather an imitation of his practice. * 
 
 The Turks admit of purgatory, in which the believer is to 
 repeat the prayers which he omitted in his life time, or neglected 
 to say at the appointed times. They assert that the sinful soul 
 is greatly benefited by the prayers of the living, and still more 
 so by the reading of the Koran, whereby the angel Gabriel is 
 assisted in guarding the soul from the devils, during the forty days 
 of its hovering about the grave wherein the body is laid. 
 
 The ahdest, or ablution of the hands, face, mouth, head, neck, 
 amis, and feet, accompanied with suitable prayers, is performed by 
 the Turks in a particular manner to distinguish them from the 
 Persians, and is an indispensable preparation to the namaz or 
 
 * Busbequius misrepresents the devotions of the Turks, when he says, (Epist iii. 
 J), ns.) " Sacerdote Mahumetis nomen pronunciante, pariter una omnes capita 
 ad genua usque submittebant. Cum nomen Dei proferetur, in faciem vfnprabundi 
 procidebant, et terram deosculabantur."
 
 260 
 
 prayer. * Ghoiissoul is the purification of the whole body, in 
 cases which are specified in the religious code of the ]\Iaho- 
 metans. GhassI, or simple washing, is ordered for remov- 
 ing any visible or substantial impurity, from the clothes or 
 the person, of a nature to invalidate or annul the virtue of 
 praj'er. 
 
 The fast of the month of ramazati consists in abstaining 
 from food or drink, or any gratification of the senses, during 
 the whole time of the sun's continuance above the horizon. 
 
 Priests. The immediate ministers of religion make no part of the body 
 
 of ulema. In the larger mosques there are sheiks, or preachers ; 
 Matibs, readers or deacons, who, in imitation of the prophet 
 and caliphs, and in the name and under the sacerdotal authority 
 of the sultan, discharge the functions of the imameth or high 
 priestliood ; imams, M'ho recite the iiamaz ; and miiezz'tnns, ■who 
 summon the people to prayers; besides cai/i/'mis or sextons. In 
 
 * " A reis effendi, or secretary of state, reputed of great ability and learning, sent 
 for a Christian dragoman, or interpreter, on very urgent business ; he attended, and 
 found the secretary deeply engaged in dispute with his son-in-law on the important 
 question, to what exact height their hands or arms, feet or legs, should be washed, to 
 render themselves truly acceptable to God/' (Observations on the Religion, &c. of 
 the Turks, p. 9.) Such is Sir Janies Porter's story, who boasts of his superior means 
 of obtaining information, and yet we see fell into the error of believing a dragoman. 
 Now the mode of performing all the ablutions is so minutely described, and in several 
 instances with that naivete which modern European manners will scarcely toler- 
 ate, that no doubt or dispute can possibly arise between IVhissulmans on tliis. 
 subject. ^
 
 2G1 
 
 villages, or small parishes, the duties of the whole are performed 
 by the imam, who is sometimes also the hogia, or schoolmaster for 
 the children : but he owes this appointment to his being the 
 only person possessing sufiicient leisure or the necessary quali- 
 fications. 
 
 The ministers of religion throughout the Turkish empire are 
 isubordinate to the civil magistrate, who exercises over them the 
 powers of a diocesan. He has the privilege of superseding and 
 removing those whose conduct is reproachable, or who are unequal 
 to the dignified discharge of the duties of their office. The magi- 
 strates themselves may, whenever they judge proper, perform all 
 the sacerdotal functions, and it is in virtue of this prerogative, 
 joined to the influence which they derive from their judicial 
 power and their riches, that they have so marked a pre-eminence, 
 and so preponderant an authority, over the ministers of public 
 worship. 
 
 The priests in their habits of life are not distinguished from 
 other citizens : they live in the same society and engage in the 
 same pursuits : * they sacrifice no comforts, and are compelled to 
 no acts of self-denial : their influence on society is entirely de- 
 pendent on their reputation for learning and talents, or gravity 
 
 * When Baron de Tott was fortifying the Dardanelles, the pasha strongly recom- 
 mended to his notice a muezzinn, or crier of a mosque, as a man who had a surprising 
 genius for tlirowing bomhs, and to whom lie intended to give the post of fi)'it 
 bombatdeer. (Memoirs, V. ii. p. 53.)
 
 262 
 
 and moral conduct. They are seldom the professed instructors of 
 youth, much less of men, and by no means are tluy considered 
 as the directors of conscience. They merely cliant aloud the 
 church service, and perforin offices, which the master of a family 
 or the oldest person in company, as frequently, and as consisteiit- 
 I3', performs as themselves. Tlie Turks know nothing of those 
 expiatory ceremonies which give so much influence to the priest- 
 hood : all the practices of their rc^ligion can be, and are, perform- 
 ed without the interference of the priests.* 
 
 Dfirrishes. The institution of the different orclevfi of dervishes is foreign to 
 the genuine spirit of the Mahometan religion. Some of the Otto- 
 man ministers have even attempted their suppression ; but the 
 vulgar, who certainly consider their ceremonies as of the nature 
 of incantation, submit to their caprices, and court their benedic- 
 tiou by respect and liberality. f 
 
 * " On enlretient dans les hotels publics, dans les grandes maisons, des imams et 
 des muezzinns particuliers, a titre de chapelains ou d'aumoniers. Ces mutzzinn* 
 annoncent Yezann sur !e bant de IVscalier ou vers la porte de ia piece destinee a la 
 priere, se mettent eiisuite dans une dts lignes de I'assemblee, ou ils recilent la seconde 
 annonce, ikumetk ; apres quoi \'imam, (.lace cotnme dans les temple? a la tete du 
 corps, commence le namuz Ces ministrcs particuliers n'ont rien de commun avec 
 les ministrcs publics voue;; au service des mosquees. C'e sont dt simples citoyens, 
 noHimes par les cliffs des famitlen, sous le nom et I'axitorite desqueh Us president d 
 ce religeux exercice, comme ai/ant eux-memes le droit de s'cn ucquitler en personne. 
 Cette prerogative rst counnune a tout Musulman dans les asscmbiees particulierts." 
 (Tab. Gen. V.ii. p. US.) 
 
 t I apply the epithet vtil^ar to the character of the mind, the constituent part of 
 the man, rather than to the rank in life ; for Selitn the First, the conqueror of Egypt, 
 
 I
 
 The M'onl dervish, derived from tlie Persian and signifying 
 tlie tlueshold of a door, the spirir of humility, has been improper- 
 ly translated monk, since some of the orders are allowed to marry, 
 and none profess celibacy. In the Ottoman empire there are 
 thirty-two distinct orders. Ilagi Bektash, a sheik of distinguished 
 piety, founded among the Turks the order which still bears hi* 
 name : the institution and the memory of tl e saint are in high 
 repute in Turkey, because of their connection with the military 
 order of the janizaries, mIio were consecrated and named by Ilagi 
 Eektash. Eight dervishes of this order are lodged and maintained 
 in the barracks at Constantinople : their office is to offer up 
 prayers every night and morning for the prosperity of the empire, 
 an<l the succe-^s of its arms. In public ceremonies they march on 
 foot before the horse of the Janizar aga, the chief of them con- 
 stantly repeating with a loud voice ktrim-iilluh (merciful God) 
 to which the others reply in chorus by the word hou. f The 
 
 was himself no less a slave to this absurd superstition than the meanest of his subjects. 
 When he had made hiaiself master of Syria, his gnalest anxiety was to seek out, 
 and heap presents and benefits on, the sheiks and (Jervis/ws, in hopes of being aided 
 in his future expeditions by their blessings and prayers. His devotion led him to 
 visit an anchorite, who dwelt in a corner of the mosque of Damascus. The sultan 
 bowed himself down be'bre the saint, and stood in tl.e hi.mblest attitude, not daring to 
 break silence : the piui.s solitary, on the other hand, held his peace from respect for the 
 monarch. After a long pause an officer of the court broke the charm, and reheved 
 them both from this ridiculous state of suspence ; but Selira, before he dared to solicit 
 the prayers of the shak for the prosperity of the Ottoman arms, severely rebuked the 
 favourite for his unholy impatience. (See Tableau General, V. i p. 312.) 
 
 * The exclamation y;t-hou, (he who is) is an acknowledgfrn ut of the eternal 
 existence of God ; of the same gignification as Jehovah among tlie Hebrews.
 
 264 
 
 meK-kti turn round in their dances for a long continuance, * and 
 cultivate vocal and instrumental music ; and their neUi (pipe- 
 made of an Indian reed) is exceedingly sweet. The cadri, or 
 howling dervishes, repeat the name of God so long, and with such 
 vehemence, that at last they fall down, exhausted with fatigue 
 and foaming at the mouth. The novitiate of these fellows is 
 degrading and painful. Uve'is, the founder of a sect in the first 
 century of the hegira, required of his followers to draw all their 
 teeth, in honour of the prophet, who lost two of his teeth at the 
 battle of Ohud.f So severe a probation left no room for hypo- 
 ciisy; and the weakness of human nature gradually operated the 
 extinction of this sect ; but the institutions of the dervishes are 
 upheld and perpetuated by the generally received opinion, that 
 there exists continually among Mussulmans the legion of three 
 hundred and fifty-six saints, which is composed of the members 
 of these different fraternities, and which constitutes, in an invisible 
 manner, that spiritual and celestial order, which is consecrated un- 
 der the august name of ghavs alem, refuge of the world. Enthu- 
 siastic and pious Mahometans apprehend, that the abolition of the 
 order of dervishes would draw down upon the empire and the 
 
 * Volney asserts that " the sacred dances of the dervishes are an imitation of, the 
 movements of the stars." (See Voyages en Syrie, et en Kgypte, V. ii. p. 289* 
 note.) The Turks however certainly do not tliink so, or they would be guiUy of 
 idolatry in being spectators^ of them. Tlie dances of the dervishes more aptly repre- 
 sent the confusion of an enthusiast's ideas, than the oi-der of the heavenly bodies, 
 whicii indeed may, with no greater impropriety, be considered as the prototype of our 
 national hornpipe. 
 
 t Tableau General, V. iv. p. 620.
 
 2Gj 
 
 faithful tlie curses of this holy association ; and the boldest frce- 
 tiiinkers consider this mixture of austerity and immorality, of 
 devotion and profaneness^ as a mystery which the Mussulman 
 should adore in silence. 
 
 The emirs derive tlieir descent from Fatima, the daughter of Emirs. 
 Maliomet ; they are sometimes called cv/adi rcsul ullah, sons of tlie 
 prophet of God, and in their pilgrimage to his shrine at Medina, 
 they invoke him by the name of their ancestor. They are dis- 
 persed all over the empire, and through every rank in society ; 
 and they are distinguished Iiy wearing a green turban. Cautemir 
 relates, that " a circumstance hardly credible, but however true, is 
 observed in this family. The emirs before their fortieth year are 
 men of the greatest gravity, learning, and wisdom ; but after that, 
 if they arc not quite fools, yet they discover some sign of levity 
 and stupidity.''* Our countryman Sandys too asserts, " that 
 there lives not a race of ill-favoureder people, branded, perhaps by 
 God, for the sinne of their seducing ancestor, and their own 
 own wicked assuming of hereditary holiness. '"t The Turks, on the 
 contrary, believe that a true emir can have no corporal defect or 
 blemish, as the whole race is constantly favoured with the grace 
 and protection of the prophet. I am compelled however to de- 
 clare, that the emirs difler neither in intellects nor features, nor 
 any other mark of distinction, except their head-dress, from their 
 fellow-citizens ; the miracle would therefore be contradicted by the 
 observation of the present day, and to admit its authenticity at 
 
 * Cantemir's Ottoman Histoiy, p. 94, note. t Sandys's Travels, p. 64- 
 
 M m
 
 any period, we are reduced to tlie dilemma of aliowtng a still 
 greater miracle, the undeviating fidelity of all the mistresses oT 
 this ili-favmued race smce the days of the inceu.se-brcathing 
 Fatima.* 
 
 Fiiirrimage Thc fiddj, or pilgiimagc to iMecea, is the pritici{>aract of devo- 
 tlon, and is accounted so meritorious as to cancel, and obtain a 
 remission of, even the greatest sins. All Mussulmans, both male 
 and female, of free condition, having attained the age of majority, 
 and being in health both of body and mind, are commanded by 
 the Koran to undertake this jotuney once in ibeir lives, and that 
 4t a time when their substance is such, that half of it will suffice 
 for the expense of the pilgrimage, and the other half is to be left 
 behind for an honest subsistence at their return. The Koran de- 
 clares, that the performance of the pilgrimage to the temple of the 
 Lord is a duty imposed on all Mussulmans. " Those who neglect 
 it hurt themselves alone, for the defection of the universe cannot 
 diminish the happiness of the Self-existent." INIahomet enforces 
 this duty on his followers, by pronouncing those who die in the 
 •wilful neglect of it to be no less liable to perdition than Jews and 
 Christians : and the caliph Omar was so firmly persuaded of its 
 indispensable necessity, that he not only refused the name of Mus- 
 
 ■* " te prophet* a» retoiir de ses expeditions guerriores ne manquoit jamais dc 
 donner a Fatbiraa, sa fille, dts iriarques de sa temlresse, ct de lui baiser k front, en 
 disant chaque fois, qu'il sciuoit en elle I'odeur dti paradis." (Tab. G<''n. V. iv. p. 264.) 
 
 " Quando" (says the prophet himself) " quando subit mihi desiderium paradisi,. 
 esrulor earn, et ingcro linjjuam meam in os ejus," (Maracci, Version and Coniutatioiv. 
 •f Ui« lioran, V. i. g. 32.)
 
 t67 
 
 milnians to those who neglected to perform their pilgrimage, but 
 even declared, that if the wretches were known to him, he Mould 
 burn their property, their houses, and their persons, as a punish- 
 ment for their impiety. There ar(^, however, certain impediments 
 acknowledged to be legitimate : the slave, the minor, the infirm, 
 the insane, and tiie poor, arejustifietl before God for the nou- 
 pcrforniDnce of this religious duty. Nor is the believer compelled 
 to expose himself to imniinent danger ; nor the woman allowed to 
 undertake the journey, except under the guardianship of her hus- 
 band or near relation, who may defend her person and her honour 
 from attack or insult.* 
 
 Tlie black stone, the chief object of the pilgrimage to Mecca, is 
 trailed by the prophet a ruby of Paradise. "Verily," says he, 
 *' it shall be called «pon at the last day; it shall sec; it shall 
 speak, antl bear witness of those who shall have touclied it in truth 
 and sincerity of heart." This stone is the pledge of that covenant, 
 which was entered into betMcen the great Creator, and all the 
 orders of spiritual existence. " Am not I your Go<l r" said the 
 Supreme Being at the moment of the creation, and all replied, 
 *' Yes, thou art." This act of universal faith was deposited in the 
 centre of the stone; and at the last judgment its testimony will 
 
 * Mr. Eton complains that tlie Turks do not ti'arel. H« sajrs (p. 19fi,) "This 
 great source of expansion and improvement to the mind is entirely checked by the arro- 
 gant spirit of their religion." But does net their reli;^ion, on the contrary, bj' enjoin- 
 ing the pilgrimage to Mecca, promote travelling, and bring Mahometans, even from 
 3 iidia and the extremities of Africa, to meet in one great assembly in that city ?
 
 £68 
 
 confound those, who have slighted, or have been perverted froin, 
 the purity of their original belief. 
 
 Thus, say the I\fahometan doctors, it is demonstrated, that 
 Islamisni is congenial to the nature of man ; and human reason, 
 unsubdued by human sophistry, must yield immediate assent to 
 the divinity of its doctrines. But happy, in the opinion of tlie 
 faithful, are those who have confirmed witli their lips, and by their 
 devout kisses, their strict adherence to the first and most holy of 
 their engagements. They are honoured, during the remainder of 
 their lives, with the veneration of their fellow citizens ; they 
 are distinguished by the appellation of hagi ; and their beards, 
 consecrated by their devotion, are carefully nourished in their full 
 growth, visible tokens of their obedience to the precepts, and re- 
 spect for the example of the prophet. These advantages, which the 
 frigid devotion of Europeans is almost incapable of appreciating, 
 can only be conceived when we estimate the exertions employed 
 to obtain them ; wlien we consider the nature and extent of the 
 country which the pilgrims are obliged to traverse, the sufferings 
 and privations which they must undergo in tlieir long and terrible 
 journies, and the mental energies which must be incited in order 
 to rouse Oriental indolence to such a perilous and fatiguing enter- 
 prise. The African pilgrims returned through Cairo while the 
 French were in possession ©f the country, worn to the bones with 
 hunger and misery, so that one could with difiicuity be distin- 
 guished from the other ; as meagre as the desarts were arid, as 
 extenuated as prisoners forgotten in their dungeons.* 
 
 * Sec Denon, Voyage ilans la basse et la haute Egyptc, V, i. p. 144.
 
 2Gg 
 
 Every person is believed to bear on liis forehead, in characters pr^ostina- 
 
 tion. 
 
 not legible indeed by man, but inscribed by tlie finger of God, the 
 accidents of his life, and tlie appointed time of his death ; and 
 nothing, good or cv;! can happen contrary to the divine decree. 
 Hence their coininon sayings, such as, Acajak can damarda dour- 
 vuiz, " The blood predestined to flow will not remain in the artery." 
 Yet they allow a free-will in man, in order that infidels may be 
 left without excuse at the last judgment. " All," they say, " may 
 be saved who will ; but no man is saved, whom God has not des- 
 tined to salvation."'* 
 
 * " Le Musulman qui voit sa fortune reduite en cendres ou enlevee par une niaiu 
 avide, I'lndividu tVappLi de la contai;ion, le marin qui perit au pied d'un rocher par 
 I'inhabilite du pilote, le malade vicliiao i\° I'lgnorance d'un empirique, le sujet enfiii 
 quise voit errase sous le poids d'une autorite arbitraire, lous se soumettent a leurmal- 
 heureux sort avec une egale resignation. Le moindre murmure est taxe d'irreligion, 
 d'attentat, de doute criminelle conUe les decrcts celestes, lis regardent leur meur- 
 trier, 1'auteur de kur infijrlune, comme un iiistmment rntre les mains de la Providence, 
 qui exerce sur eux I'an'ct irrevocable de leur destint':e, airet, disent-ils, ecrit sur leur. 
 front des avant leur naissance, et dont rcvenemenl e>t par-Ui meiiie au dessusde toute 
 sagesse et de toute prevoyance humaine. C"e fatalisir.e est consacre sous le nom de 
 takdir on khsmcth ; dans tous les tvenemcns! de la vie, heureux ou malheureux, ces 
 mots sent toujours dans la bouche dcs Musulmans de toutes les classes et de toutes lea 
 conditions." (Tab. Gen. V. i. p. 169.) 
 
 " Que le musulman essuye une grande perte ; qu'il soit depouiile, ruine, il dit tran- 
 quillement : C'etoit ecrit, et avec ce mot il passe sans murmure de I'dpuience a tu 
 misere : qu'il soit au lit de la mort, rien n'allere sa securite ; il fait son ablution, sa 
 priere; il a confiance en Dieu et au Proplicte; il dit avec calmc a son fils : Tourne- 
 moi la tete vers la Mckke, et il meur! en paix." (Voint-y, Voyages en Syne et en 
 Egyptc, V. ii. p. 331.) 
 
 " Thougb die Mahometan law obliges them not to abandon the city, nor their 
 houses, nor to avoid the conversation of men infected vith the pestilence where their 
 business or calling employs them, yet they are counselled not to frequent a conta- 
 gious habitation, where they have no lawful afi'.iir to invite them." (Rv caut, p. 1 16.)
 
 270 
 
 Tlie doctrine of fatalism, which is sufficiently powerful, when 
 concurring with their natural indolence, to prevent their taking 
 the necessary precautions for guarding against the infection of 
 the plague, is however too weak to withstand actual and imminent 
 danger. They expose themselves to contagion with indifference ; 
 hut have precipitated themselves into impassable torrents, and 
 even into the sea, to avoid the fire or tlie bayonet of their enemies. 
 
 It is ditBcult to ascertain their precise opinion of this fatality. 
 They say it over-rules human purposes, and seem to think, that it 
 blindly follows the direction it has received, overturning or disre- 
 garding circumstances, which in the natural order of events should 
 have diverted its course ; and that sometimes it adheres so closely 
 to the letter of the sentence it is commissioned to execute, as to 
 mistake the real spiiit and intent of it. I\fy house was burnt 
 down ; and a Turk of my acquaintance made nie a visit of condo- 
 lence. " A misfortune," said he, " was predestined to you. 
 Thank God. It was directed against your head ; but it has fallen 
 only on jour property." A pasha, to whom mischief seemed to be 
 portended, has been removetl from his office, in order that the 
 threatened calamity might affect only himself, and be averted 
 from the public* 
 
 The doctrine of predestination obtained much credit as the nurse 
 of heroism, while success was its concomitant in the Ottoman armies; 
 
 * " Constat aliquando amotos ah officio bacsas propter eqiii lapfiini, ac si magni' 
 alicMJtis iuforfiinii iil portrntiim ossrt, quod abroijatione officii a puiilica ralamitatc in 
 lapiit j)ri\utnin ;<\crruni;aictur." (Busbequii, Kpist. i. p. it.) 
 
 3
 
 271 
 
 and it was considered as being peculiarly calculated to inspire aiid 
 perpetuate military ardour. It is indeed true, that, in countries 
 where it j)revails, it must be a powerful engine in the hands of 
 government for raising or recruiting armies, as it supplies unan- 
 swerable arguments to call men into the field ; but I d»ubt its 
 efficacy to convince the coward that he is not more exposed ta 
 danger or death in the front of battle than iu camp or in quarters. 
 In the heat of a'ction while flushed with success, their situation 
 alone is of itself fully sufficient ta inspire soldiers with all the ne- 
 cessary impetuosity. If predestination could urge motives for the 
 unceasing exertion of their energies, when they are dejected by 
 misfortune and dispirited by unconquerable resistance, the national 
 prejudice would indeed be most valuable. But, on the contrary, 
 the certainty of dying, the firm persuasion that we are arrived at 
 the term of life, so far from preparing us for resisting death, only 
 relaxes our endeavours to protract our existence, Religimi, indeed, 
 teaches that the sentence inscribed on men's foreheads is illeaible 
 to themselves and to their fellow-moitals ; but, iu the moment of 
 despondency, all pretend to dccypher it. The janizaries, after 
 three unsuccessful attacks, are persuaded that they are fighting 
 against Providence, and cannot legally be compelled to attempt a 
 fourth.* The timid sultan, alarmed at the progress and insolence 
 of rebellion, imagines he hears the decree of Godwin the voice of 
 popular tumult : and a treacherous courtier, who has succeeded in 
 effecting the ruin of a colleague, produces the sovereign's ordet foj- 
 
 * Cantemir's OHemao bietory, p. "10, rot*-.
 
 his dcall), as the appointment of divine Providence, which a !Mijs- 
 ^tihiiati siiould adore, instead of resisting?. 
 
 o' 
 
 jnvncatiuu The Tuiics owH it to bc meritorious and decent to reverence all 
 departed saints, and religiously visit their monuments : but they 
 are chiefly commanded by their law to invoke the names of Maho- 
 met, antl the four caliphs his immediate successors, and to write 
 them in lieat characters on tablets, which they hang up in the 
 mosqucb and other buildings. The blessings of Paradise they sup- 
 pose to bc in common, and therefore assign no particular station to 
 tiicir saints ; and they deny to all, except jNIahomet himself, any 
 compassion for human miseries, as thinking it would be a hind- 
 rance to the perfect felicity at which they are arrived :* yet the 
 weak and the vulgar admire in living itleots an enthusiastic devo- 
 tion, an insensibility to the enjoyments and conveniences of life, 
 and the voluntary adoption of evil. After the decease of these 
 imaginary favourites of heaven, they hang about their tombs their 
 
 * Cantemir's Ottoman history, p. 124-, note. 
 
 Such indeed appears to bc the popular opinion : and the Mahometan pronounces 
 •neither the election nor the reprobation of any mortal, except those whom tiie prophet 
 hiniseU'has declared to be ni the enjoyment of beatitude. Tlieje are ten persons, wlio 
 were co-operators Avith tlie projjhel, liis apostles or his scribes, and ehietly the lour 
 caliph.s his immediate successors. On them, indeed, he has conferred a weight of 
 {•lory, sufficient to mak<! the stoutest of them tremble. " lis ont pour partake les re- 
 pfions les plus elevees et les plus enchantees du ciel. La felicite, dont.ils jouisscnt dans 
 oe sejour ravissant, est au dessus de I'intelligence luunaine. L'Eternel a destine a 
 riiacun d'eux soixtiiite-dix pavilions luperbes, tous eclatans d'or et de pierreries : chaciin 
 de ces pavilions immenscs est ^ariii de sept cents lits eblouissans, et chuque lit est en- 
 toure 4e sept cents houri/s ou vierjjes celestes." (Tab. Gen. V. i. p. 318.)
 
 273 
 
 votive offerings, for the cure of diseases, and the removing of 
 sterility and impotence.* 
 
 They have contidence in amulets and charms for preventing or Belief in 
 delivering from mischief; and as they sometimes charitably re- of"'""''-'"'. 
 
 "" rclirs, and 
 
 enchaut- 
 
 * Locke, in liis Essay concerning human understanding,, (book i. cli. 3. § 9.) has 
 quoted from the voyage of Baumgarten, in the language in which it was puUislied, a 
 passage concerning the saints who are canonized among the Turks, similar to the fol- 
 lowing story from Leunclavius, which Mr. Eton has presented to his readers in all the 
 nudity of the English idiom ; and yet, I must confess, I doubt the accuracy of the 
 information. The indecencies of the Egyptian saints, (and those sufficiently disgust- 
 ing), are indeed mentioned by modern travellers, but it would require undeniable testi- 
 mony to reconcile me to the belief of such depravity being not only tolerated but 
 approved. " Veniebant ad nos Constantinopolim ex ^gypto,, Sebaslianus ab Haun- 
 sperg, et Johannes a Salagasto, viri nobiles. Ilorum alter Salagastius nobis narrabat, 
 Alexandria;, quum istic ipse degeret, hujusmodi quemdam sanctum virum opinione 
 Mahumetanorum, quum jjrre foribus balnei muliebris stans eseuntem e balneo foemi- 
 nam quandam attentius intuitus esset, in earn furore quasi cjuodam correptum invo- 
 lasse, ac protinus humi prostratam, nee admodum fortasse repugnantem, in oculis 
 omnium compressisse. Maritum eo facto se beatum duxisse, quod vir sanctus, impulsu 
 divino, priE aliis cum uxore sua coivisset." It must be recollected that the manners of 
 the Orientals are less changeable than those of the European nations, so that what 
 was true in the time of Leunclavius would still be found to exist with little or no modi- 
 fication : now Denon, who had the best opportunities of obsei-ving the manners of the 
 Egyptians, and who certainly would not have passed over so striking, a peculiarity, 
 gives us however reason to suspect, from his silence on the subject, that both Locke and 
 Leunclavius have been misled by inaccurate or exaggerated information. " Tiie 
 greatest part of ine santons," says Denon, " pass their lives crouched in the angle of a 
 wall, incessantly repeating the word allaJi, and receiving, without returning tlianks, the 
 means of subsistence. Others beat themselves on the head with stones : others again, 
 cnly tell their beads and sing hymns ; while the most fanatic remain motionless, naked 
 without being indecent, exposed to the violent rays of the sun without shewing any feel- 
 ing of uneasiness, and receiving charity without expressing satisfaction." (See Voyage, 
 &c. V. i. p. 231. V. iii. p. 45.) 
 
 Nn.
 
 274 
 
 commend the use of them to strangers, they must suppose their 
 virtue to operate independent of belief in Islamism.* 
 
 That virtue may be communicated to inanimate matter from its 
 contact with the persons of saints, or from having been used for 
 the purposes of religion, has been an opinion universally received 
 among Christians and Turks. The sanjac sherif, or standard of 
 Mahomet, M'hich no unbeliever should look upon with impunity, 
 is considered as the palladium of the empire. In time of peace it 
 is deposited in a kind of chapel within the seraglio, and religiously 
 guarded, together with the other relics of the prophet. When the 
 sultan in person, or the grand vizir, leads the armies against the 
 enemies of the faith, the saiijac she7'/fh taken out of its shrine with 
 great ceremony and many prayers, and carried to the camp, where 
 a superb tent is erected for its reception, and forty officers, chosen 
 from the capigis, or chamberlains of the palace, are appointed to 
 carry it by turns. It is placed under the pr6tection of all the pos- 
 sessors of military fiefs, and more especially confided to the care of 
 four regiments, which derive their name from tlie performance of 
 this service. The whole Mussulman population poured out from 
 the city to salute it, on its safe return from the late Russian war. 
 I was deterred from going myself, because of the danger which 
 had attended some Christian spectators on a former occasion ; but 
 I M'as desirous of learnina; from a Turk \\\x\\ whom I was ac- 
 
 s 
 
 * Among the ignorant mliubitants of Turkey there seems to he a conimnnity of the 
 advantages of talismans. I have kno\i n a .lew apply a Veiitlian siciuin to an obstinate 
 ulcer; a remedy which had beeii recommended Id him hy a Greek Clu'istian out of 
 respect for the figures of the Virgin and Ihc Infant.
 
 275 
 
 ■ quaintcd, what this famous standard was. He evaded my ques- 
 tion by assuring me that he was seized with a tremor when he 
 beheld it, so as not to be able to gaze stedfastly upon it ; and was 
 displeased with my rallying him on the firmer nerves of the enemies 
 of the Mussulman faith.* The veil, which is annually seiit by 
 the sultan for covering the caaba of Mecca, becomes intrinsically 
 holy, and is distributed over the empire as the most valuable gift. 
 A slip of it is sewed into the pall, which is furnished from the 
 mosques at funerals. Pieces of it are worn by the faithful, as one 
 of the means of grace, and an assurance of the divine protection ; 
 and these perishable materiak accompany their fond possessors to 
 the grave, as tokens of undeviating attachment to Islamism. 
 
 The belief of the baneful effects of the evil eye and of envious 
 commendation, is prevalent among all ranks and sects of people; 
 and as it has reigned from remote antiquity in the countries which 
 the Ottomans possess, they may be supposed rather to have 
 adopted than introduced it. Virgil's shepherd attributes to the 
 malicious glances of an enemy the diseased appearance of his 
 flock ; and Pliny relates, that the Thessalian sorcerers destroyed^ 
 whole harvests by speaking well of them. In Turkey, the barge 
 of state of the sultan, as well as the pile of firewood in the court- 
 yard of a public bath, is preserved from accident by a head of gar- 
 lick. Every object, which can possibly attract attention, or ex- 
 cite jealousy, is secured by some counteracting influence. The^ 
 
 * I confess I do not feel less respect for this sacred standard from knowing, tlial, in 
 its original destination, it served as the curtain of the chamber-door of AiscUe, the fa.-- 
 vorite wife of the uxorious Mahomet. (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 379.)
 
 276 
 
 eye of the malicious observer is seduced into benediction by tlic 
 sacred exclamation masch-allah, written in conspicuous characters, 
 and placed the most obviously to view in the front of a house. 
 The horse carries his rider with safety among the envious popu- 
 lace, while a string of blue beads dangles on his chest.* But the 
 anxious mother doubts even the effect of the talisman, and spits in 
 her infant's face, that it may escape unhurt from the admiration of 
 the childless, or the jealousy of less happy parents. I 
 
 raithiu Islamism, which operated such astonishing revolutions in the 
 
 omens aud 
 
 dreams, nioral and political state of society, was nevertheless forced to 
 bend under the influence of the irrational opinions which had im- 
 
 * " Omnibus (pullis equinis) cervicem ambit, veluti monile, fascia amuletis plena, 
 adversus fascinium quod proecipue metuitur." (Busbequii, Epist. iii. p. 110.) A French 
 w Titer, pleasantly enougli, compares these talismans to the conductors placed on build- 
 ings in order to carry oft" lightning. 
 
 t It is an opinion in Turkey (more common, indeed, among the Greek islanders) 
 that a rival, by repeating certain mystical words, or performing certain magical cere- 
 monies, at the moment of the celebration of marriage, can disappoint the wishes of the 
 parties by suspending the exercise of virility. 
 
 " Ami lecteur, vous avez quel(iuefa»s 
 
 Oui conter qu'on nouait raiguillette. 
 
 Cest une etrange et terrible recette." 
 Such opinions have been adduced in all countries, in order to account for the tempo- 
 rary embarrassment, sometimes occasioned by tlie novelty of situation. I knew an 
 instance of a young and vigorous Turk, who, imputing the insipidity of his honey- 
 moon to the influence of sorcery, crossed the Bospliorus, in order to consult a dervish, 
 renowned for his skill in balTling the arts of the devil. Unfortunately tiie success of 
 the experiment could never be known. A sudden squall of wind overset the boat, 
 within sight of his native villagf, and left his unfortunate widow to bewail her vir- 
 ginity.
 
 277 
 
 memorially prevailed among the nations of Arabia ; and Maho- 
 niet, the destroyer of idolatry, fuhninated in vain against the illu- 
 sions of magic, and dreams, and augury. The Turks are super- 
 stitious observers of omens, and think that the pure soul of a 
 Mussulman foresees, and is admonished of, future events in his 
 dreams. They carefully notice the first expressions, or the first 
 action, of their new sultan on his accession to the throne, and 
 thence predict his character and future government. Murad the 
 Third, having heard of his father's death, set out from Magnesia, 
 the capital of the province which he governed, and arrived in the 
 night at the seraglio. The officers of the court and the ministers 
 of state did homage before his throne, and listened with anxiety 
 to tlie first words which he might utter. " I am hungry," said 
 the sultan, " let me have something to eat." Every one was 
 immediately seized with horror and dismay, and foresaw, at the 
 very commencement of so inauspicious a reign, the famines, the 
 wars, and civil dissentions, which disturbed and desolated the 
 empire during the whole period of its continuance. 
 
 The Pei-sians paint whole pictures, and commonly insert them Prejudicj 
 in their historical writings. But the Turks, in general, consider picture*, 
 it unlawful to paint, though not to describe in words, any other 
 parts of the human body than the hands and feet of Mahomet, the 
 body of the prophet being always concealed by the wings of legions 
 of angels ; and they firmly believe that angels can enter no house 
 where there are portraits of men.* The Mussulman, in the per- 
 
 " The iVIahometan religion," says Mr. Eton, " has no medium of communication 
 uitli the arts, and is fundamentally gloomy." (pp.194. 196.). If Mr. Eton means
 
 278 - 
 
 formance of the namas, is ordered to throw ofl' any parts of hi* 
 dress which are made of stuffs on which are represented the figures 
 of men or other animals ; and to turn his face, during his devo- 
 tions, from the sight of portraits ov pictures, unless they describe 
 only the heads of irrational animals, or pieces of inanimate nature : 
 but foreign coin, though hearing the impression of human figures, 
 does hot invalidate their prayers, and may be carried about them 
 even during their journey to the holy city of Mecca. Tlie stand- 
 ards of many of the companies of janizaries, the ships of war, and 
 even the coffee-houses and shops of tradesmen, are decorated with 
 rude and grotesque representations of birds and quadrupeds, and 
 the barge of the sultan supports a golden eagle on its prow.* We 
 have the authority of Prince Cantemir and the Chevalier d'Ohsson, 
 for the existence of a regular series of the portraits of all the Otto- 
 man sovereigns in the seraglio ; and I have seen a pocket-book 
 belonging to the present sultan, containing engraved portraits of 
 
 the arts ef painting and statuary, he is right; for they are banished from the mosque as 
 rigorousty as from the sjTiagogues of the Jews, or the churches of several denomina- 
 tions of Christians. But, as the subjects, on which these arts are generally exercised 
 in the churches of the Christians who admit the use of them, are tortures and death, it 
 may be apprehended that they throw somewhat of gloom, even upon our holy religion. 
 Architecture and the ornamental arts are consecrated as much to Islamism as to Chris- 
 tianity. But such is the connection between tiie arts, that all become vitiated in prac- 
 tice from tlie partial exclusion of any one of them. 
 
 ■* " Nous citerons encore I'usage constant et general des ombres chmoiscs, et le 
 debit continuel, quoique toujours clandestin, de figures d'hommes et de femmes dessi- 
 nees sur du papier. Les obscenites qu'ellcs representent sont tellement du godt tie la 
 ration, que ceiix qui paroissent avoir le ])lus de repugnance pour les productions du 
 pinceau, ne se font pas scrupiile dc remplir leurs poile-lcudles dc ces dcssins scauda- 
 leux." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. -HO.)
 
 279 
 
 tlie most distinguished characters of our own time. It was sent to 
 Sir Sidney Smith, that he might communicate some historical anec- 
 dotes of Admiral Lord Nelson : and I remarked among the prints, 
 the likenesses of Louis the Sixteenth, Catherine the Second, and 
 Marshal Suwarow. 
 
 The Turks are not only encouraged to persevere in the profes- Pimish- 
 
 inenl of 
 
 sion of the orthodox faith by civil distinctions and the assurance of aposucy. 
 paradise, but are deterred from apostacy by the temporal punish- 
 ments denounced against it. Those who abjure the Mahometan 
 faith are stigmatized by the law M'ith the appellation of murtedds, 
 and to them no clemency can be shewn : they cannot sink into 
 the class of zimmys or tributary subjects, and redeem their fault by 
 the payment of the capitation-tax. Nothing can deliver them 
 from death, but the abjuration of their errors, and a renewal of 
 their faith in the doctrines of Islamism. " If the rites of the esta- 
 blished religion are performed, and a convenient conformity ob- 
 served, the Turks inquire no farther about it," and an inclination 
 to change is indeed so rarely avowed, as almost to authorize the 
 assertion that " executions, tortures, pains, and penalties, inflicted 
 on account of religion, are never heard of among them."* The 
 loss of the apostate's head has, however, in some rare instances, 
 been the penalty of ])rcferring the Gospel to the Koran."}" 
 
 * ObseiTations on the religion, &c. of the Turks, p. 33. 
 
 t Cantemir's Ottoman history, p. 181. — ^Tableau General, V. i. p. ,153. — See also 
 (in V. iii. p. 175.) the history of the punijslmient of the first apostate Abdullah ibii- 
 Helal by order of Mahomet himself. 
 
 5
 
 280 
 
 Morality. Lcssons of morality are communicated to the Turkish youth in 
 proverbs and parables ; a mode of instruction than which nothing 
 can be conceived more equivocal and injudicious. An infinite 
 number of sayings have obtained credit and authority among the 
 Turks ; and though abstractedly good, a colour may be given, 
 under their sanction, to actions of the most perverse tendency. 
 The conciseness of a proverb occasions tlie wrong application of 
 it more easily to escape detection : it dazzles by the neatness of its 
 expression ; and the opponent, perplexed and unable to reply, 
 finds himself outwitted, and imagines himself to be convinced. '^" 
 The mischief is greater when the quotation is from scripture, 
 whose authority is too sacred to be questioned ; and few suspect 
 that a sentence may bear a contrary signification, when separated 
 from the context. The Turkish morality, however, though imper- 
 fect and limited, is not fundamentally perverted, except with 
 respect to unbelievers. 
 
 titm. 
 
 proieiy. Of all good works, zeal for the propagation of the faith seems to 
 be esteemed the most meritorious. No requiem is necessary for 
 the souls of men slain in war, for they have conquered Paradise by 
 martyrdom. Their funeral rites are different from those of men 
 deceased according to the order of nature : they require neither 
 ablution norburying-sheet : the blood with which they are covered 
 stands in the stead of legal purifications. " Wash not their 
 bodies," says the prophet, " every wound which they bear will 
 smell sweeter than musk in the day of judgment." 
 
 * 1 might quote the example of Sancho Pan^a, to shew of how little use is this con- 
 -«cntrated wisdom of ages in the conduct of common hfc.
 
 381 
 
 " If a man's feet have been sprinkled with dust in the path of 
 the Lord, him Avill God preserve iVom hell-fire," is one of the 
 hadiss, or oracular sayings of the prophet. Bajazet the Second, 
 understanding the passage in its literal sense, carefully collected 
 the dust, which had adhered to his clothes during his military ex- 
 peditions, and in his last moments conjured the by-standers to 
 make a brick of it, and place it in his coffin under his right arm, 
 instead of a cushion.* 
 
 If to the duty of extending Mahonietanism were added the Modes of 
 
 proposing 
 
 vanity of making converts, and if the Turks had possessed the "'« fa'""" 
 
 uiibelievere. 
 
 same spirit of loquacity and argumentation as the Greeks, the 
 situation of those who survived the independence of their empire 
 would have been deplorable indeed. In the ordinary commerce 
 of life, every question among the Greeks, during their domestic 
 discussions of the subtleties of their faith, was answered by an ex- 
 position of some mysterious and intricate doctrine. | But how 
 much more would such impertinence, on the part of the Turks, 
 have been aggravated by the political superiority of the teacher to 
 his scholar. Fortunately, the contemplation of his own excellence 
 gives the INIahometan only the sentiment of pride: he performs an 
 act of charity in proposing his faith to the acceptance of the un- 
 
 * Cantemir's Ottoman history, p. 142. 
 
 t " If you desire a man to change a piece of silver, lie informs you, wherein tlie 
 Son dillers from the Father : if you ask the price of a loaf, you are told, by way of 
 reply, that the Son is inferior to the Father; and if you enquire whether the bath is 
 ready, the answer is, that the Son was made out of nothing." ( Jortin's Remark* on 
 Eccles. hiat. V. w. p. T 1 .) 
 
 Oo
 
 initiated ; but Ills ^iitideiiCe in it is too firm for him to derive 
 vanity from multiplying its adherents. " The conversion of 
 the heart," say the INIussulmans, "belongs to God alone:"' and. 
 though, from motives of duty, they hold out to strangers the ad- 
 vantages of adopting their faith, they do Hot disturb the harmony 
 of social intercourse by disputation on its superiority, or by so- 
 phistry in its defence. They think they have done enough when 
 they have cast the seed ; and they leave it to produce fruit in its 
 own good time.* 
 
 In their public prayers the Mahometans never ask of God the 
 conversion of other people. But in private it frequently happens 
 that a pious Turk, instigated by zeal or by personal attachment to 
 a Christian or a Jew, hfts up his hands, and exclaims, " Great 
 God ! enlighten this infidel, and graciously dispose his heart to 
 embrace thy holy religion.'* When devout persons, from a sense 
 of duty, propose their faith to the acceptance of a youth, whom 
 they esteem for his talents or his knowledge, they do it with a 
 smiling air, and in words carefully studied so as not to give offence.. 
 The zeal of the missionary is bounded by the lules of good breed- 
 ing ; and a vague answer, or the abstaining from a reply, is re- 
 ceived as an indication that the subject ought not to be resumed. 
 The doctrine of Mahomet owes its progress less to persuasion 
 than to force. The scimitar was the powerful instrument employed 
 for extending it. The Jews and Christians are distinguished by 
 
 * " Turcse pietati el officio sue convenire existimant, ul homini Chrisiiano, de quo 
 bene sentiant, sacronim et religionis sute comiminioneui semel deferant, ut serveht, si. 
 possint, ccrto exitio destinatuin." (Busbefjuii, Epitst. iii. p. 126.)
 
 '283 
 
 the name of kitahy, people of the book or possessors of scripture, 
 from the idolater, whether worshipper of the he9,venly bodies, or of 
 fire, or of idols. The operation of the scimitar, with respect to 
 them, extended no farther than to overcome the stubbornness of 
 their hearts, and to dispose them to listen with submission, if not 
 with conviction, to the reasoning of the doctors. Only the heathen 
 and the idolater were threatened with extermination ; while the 
 writings of the Old and New Testament, revered even by ]\Iaho- 
 metans, were sacred titles, which established a distant relationship 
 between the disciples of the law and the gospel, and their con- 
 querors.* The Doric dimensions of the Jewish column are to be 
 lengthened according to the rules of evangelical proportion, to be 
 fitted to receive the Corinthian capital of Mahometan perfection ; 
 
 * " The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars and 
 plfinets, on tlie I'ationsil principle that whatever rises must set, that whatever is born 
 must die, that whatever is corruptible must decay and perish." — " Tiie chain of inspi- 
 ration was prolonged from the fall of Adam to the promulgation of the Koran. 
 During tliat period — six legislators of transcendent brightness ha^ e announced to man- 
 kind the six successive revelations of various rites, but of one immutable reliciori. 
 The authority and station of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ, and Mahomet, 
 rise in just gradation above each other ; but whosoever hates or rejects any one of the 
 prophets is numbered with the infidels." (Gibbon's Rom. Hist. V. ix. pp. 262, 263, 
 264.) 
 
 The stranger, and even the Mussulman, who utters blasphemy against either Moses 
 or Jesus Christ, is sentenced to death by the law. (See a.fenva to this effect, extracted 
 by D'Olisson |K>m the collection published by the mufti Behhdje Abd'iillah EfTendi, 
 in the Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 520.) 
 
 The conversion of a Jew is not reputed sincere and real ; " because," say the Musr 
 sulman doctors, " he rejects Jesus Christ, which alone constitutes an act of heinou* 
 MiniJiiety."
 
 284 
 
 but the spot, on which it is to be erected, must first be cleared by 
 fire and the sword from the rank luxuriance of polytheism.* 
 
 A difficulty which checked, in some instances, the progress of 
 Christianity among the barbarians, was ingeniously eluded by the 
 author of Islamism. In the moment of agony, when the powers 
 of the body and the faculty of speech can no longer be exerted, it 
 is still allowed that a sudden ray of divine inspiration may break 
 in, and dispose the soul to a mental acknowledgment of the truth ; 
 which tardy conversion eflfectually secures the proselyte from final 
 perdition. t No convert is called upon to suppose, or to admit, 
 the damnation of his ancestors : the Jew and the Christian are 
 spared the mortification of recanting former errors, or making re- 
 trograde motions, the most difficult of any in matters of religion.:]: 
 
 * " Kill and exterminate all the muschrikinns" is a precept of the Koran. Muschri- 
 kinn is an Arabic word, signifying worshippers of plurality. Where Islamism is pi'e- 
 dominaut, the command has sometimes been executed literally and to the full extent of 
 its meaning. But where the Mahometan church bends under a foreign yoke, the 
 meaning is restricted to the Arabian pagans. 
 
 t " C'est I'etat oii se ti-ouvent les hommes au moment de leur mort, qui met le sceau 
 a leur caractere de fidelite au d'infidelite. Quelle qu'ait ete leur vie passee, elle n'y 
 influe pour rien. Ainsi quiconque auroit vecu toute sa vie infidele, s'il se converlit, est 
 d^s-lors repute fidele." — " La recitation de la confession de foi (qu'il snflit que I'ago- 
 nisant fasse d'intention) met le sceau au salut eternel, selon cet oracle du prophcte : 
 Celui donl ces paroles, II n'y a point de Dieu si non Dicu, sont les cffirnieres que sa 
 boucfae profere, a certainement le paradis pour partage." (Tab. Gen. V. i. p. 165. 
 V. ii. p. 296.) 
 
 X " The heroes of the North had submitted, with some reluctance, to believe that 
 all their ancestors were in hell :" But " Radbod, king of the Frisons was so much
 
 285 
 
 The alternative offered to the nations who had submitted to the 
 sabre, was, cither conversion tothe rehgion of the conquerors, or 
 tribute as the price of retaining their own. Only the idolaters, 
 the Sabians, and tlie disciples of Zoroaster were excluded from 
 the indulgence granted to the professors, of every other religion. 
 No community of opinion or belief connected them with the Ma- 
 hometans ; and extirpation appeared the only security against the 
 propagation of their infectious doctrines. 
 
 The professors of IsTamism, in the genuine spirit of piety, con- PuWic 
 sider that religion is best characterized by acts of public utility. 
 They have been accused of ostentation in their charities, and of 
 being actuated only by the spirit of pride oj superstition ; but it 
 is surely a pardonable, if not even a laudable, superstition, to sup- 
 pose the Author of all good looking with complacency on the 
 humble imitation of his perfections ; and a justifiable pride, to feel 
 the heart swell upon seeing the weary and the hungry fed and re- 
 freshed, the ignorant instructed, and the sick healed, by our bene- 
 ficence. A khan or caravanserai for the accommodation of tra- 
 vellers,* a mosque with its schools and hospitals, a fountain, a 
 
 scandalized by this rash declaration of a missionary, that he drew back bis foot, after 
 he had entered the baptismal fount." (Gibbon's Rom. Hist. V. vi. p. 278.) 
 
 * The best description of the public buildings called caravanserais is gi\en by Bus- 
 bequius (Epist. i. p. 17.) " Diverti in diversorium publicum. Caravansarai Turcae 
 vocant. Hoc genus in ea regione usitatissimum. Vastum est oedificium, longius 
 aliquanto quam latius, in cujus medio patet area ponendis sarcinis, et camelis, mulis, 
 can'isque collocandis. Hanc aream plerumque circumcirca murus ambit, tres plus 
 minus pedes altus, parietij quo totum sedificium clauditur, hwrens et intedificatus.
 
 286 
 
 bridge, or a public road, cannot be unostentatiously established, 
 without abridging their utility. "We must not attribute their 
 erection," says Mr. Eton, " to patriotism or public spirit.'* Be 
 it so : but I have galloped across a scorching desert, in hopes of 
 discovering a fountain to allay the thirst of myself and my horse, 
 and have blessed the philanthropy which had searched out, and 
 erected a laonument on, the only spot which furnished water. 
 Baron de Tott asserts, that " the namaz giahs, or places for ablu- 
 tion and pra}er erected on the road side, are worth a great number 
 of indulgences, for which the Turks, who obtain them, find a ready 
 sale."-f- But the Turks are unacquainted with indulgences : they 
 
 Ejus muri summa superficies sequa esl, patetque in latittidinem pedes circiter quatuor. 
 Hie Turcarum cubilia sunt; hie cccnacula; hie rem expediunt culinariam (nam ia 
 pariete, quo totum aedificium contineri dixi, foci subinde sunt inaedificati) nulla re a 
 camelis, equis, reliquisque jumentis, alia sejuncti, quam ejus imiri spatio, quinimo ad 
 muri pedem ita ligatos habent equos, ut capite ei tota cervice supra «iun emineant; 
 dominisque se calefacientibus aut etiam ccenantibus adstent, vcluti ministri; interduni 
 panein vel malum, sive quid aliud, de manu eorum capiunt. In eodem miiro lectos 
 sibi sternunt. Tapetem in primls explicant, quern ea de causa aptatum epliippiis fere 
 circumf'enmt : huic injiciunt penulam : cervical prtebet equestris sella. Veste talari 
 pellibus sufliilta, qua vestiuntur diu, teguntur noctu. 8ic illi soninum capiunt nullis 
 lacessitum blandimentis. Nihil ibi secreti : omnia fiunt in propatulo, neque quic- 
 quam ab omnium conspectu, nisi noctis tenebris, submovetur." 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish empire, p. 121. 
 
 t De Toll's Memoirs, V.i. p. 154. 
 
 The numoi giulis consist of a kind of altar, a monument of stone decorated with the 
 figure of a lamp rn colours oi- in low relief, which serves to point out the direction of the 
 temple of Mecca, the icebla or visible point of the horizon to which tlie eye and the 
 thought should be directed during; tlw exercise of prayer. These signals, erected in 
 imitation of those which regulate tlie poeitione of the faithful in every mosque aaid 
 
 1
 
 287 
 
 indeed allow that the merit of good works may be transferred or 
 sold ; and then- historians relate that Sultan Bajazet, after vainly 
 endeavouring to prevail on a pasha to yield to him the merit of 
 having erected a bridge over a torrent M'hich interrupted the com- 
 munication between Constantinople and Adrianople, struck off the 
 pasha's head, swam across the torrent at the hazard of his life, and 
 ordered his array to halt till the waters had abated.* 
 
 Hospitality to strangers and giving alms to the poor, are virtues Hospitality 
 to which the Oriental nations are much habituated. In imitation 
 of the patriarchs, and with unaffected simplicity, the tables of the 
 rich and great are daily open to all who can with propriety present 
 themselves; while inferior persons of every class range themselves 
 around the tables of the officers of their household and their do- 
 mestics ; and the fragments are distributed at the door to the poor 
 and the hungry. A servant would blush at the idea of making a 
 perquisite of them ; even the peasant will offer the corner of his 
 hut to the traveller, and rather than refuse him a welcome, will put 
 himself to considerable inconvenience to entertain him. The 
 right of proprietorship is seldom exerted to exclude from a garden, 
 •an orchard, or a vineyard, any person who may choose to enter 
 them, and to pluck and eat the herbs or the fruit. I will not 
 
 almost in every private house, are usually elevated on a platform or terrace, adjoining 
 to a well or a fountain, and shaded with trees. I can assert from my own expei'ience, 
 that the traveller in Tiu-key meets with no objects which excite in him more agreeable 
 sensations than these pious or philanthropic establishments. 
 
 * Cantemir's Ottoman history, p, 171.
 
 288 
 •ituiienipss wholly attribute to the same principle their tenderness to the infe- 
 
 tauards 
 
 biuteani- j-jq,. classcs of animals, as in some cases they seem to be restrained 
 from molesting or destroying them, as much by indolence as hu- 
 manity.* The dog, as an unclean animal whose contact produces 
 legal defilement, is rigorously excluded from their dwellings and 
 the courts of their mosques. But they allow -dogs to increase in ' 
 their streets till they become an intolerable nuisance, even in the 
 day time, and are really a formidable evil to those, who have occa- 
 sion to pass through the Turkish quarter of the town at night. 
 These animals have divided the city into districts. They jealously 
 guard from encroachment the imaginary line which bounds their 
 native territory ; and they never transgress it, either in their pur- 
 suit of an invading dog, or in their attack on the passenger, whom 
 they deliver over at their frontier to be worried by the neighbouring- 
 pack. -j- Constantinople may be considered as the paradise of 
 
 * Tlie question scarcely appears tleserv ing of a controversy. De Tott, whose object 
 in writing his memoirs was to debase the Turkish character, imputes to a childish 
 fondness for amusement their care of providing fooifor cats and dogs. (See Memoirs, 
 V. i. p. 212.) D'Ohsson, on the other liand, asserts, (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p, 25.) " that 
 they are restrained from ill-treating brute animals by a principle of compassion, the 
 intluence of which is so prevalent among them, that, according to the Turkish histo- 
 rians, many of the earlier princes, who were unable to resist their inclination for hunt- 
 ing, condemned themselves, from a scruple of conscience, to give away in alms to the 
 poor the value of tlie game which they killed." Certain it is that no one is allowed to 
 overload beasts of burthen, or to use them with cruelty. Every person who has lived 
 in Constantinople must have remarked, that the city guards frequently interfere, (and 
 have a right to do so), and insist upon an overloaded horse or a mule being eased of his 
 burthen. ;"'/Vv. 
 
 t The law of the Koran prohibits the slaughter of dogs and other domestic animals, 
 €.xccpt such as are fit for food. Hut, as I have observed also in Tailary and in several
 
 289 
 
 birds: tlie cloves feed unmolested on the corn ^vluch is conveyed 
 in open lighters across the harbour, and they feed with such a con- 
 fidence of safety that tliey scarcely yield a passage to the boatmen 
 or labourers. The confused noise of the harbour is increased by 
 the clang of sea-birds : to shoot at them, in the neighbourhood of 
 the city, would be rash ; and even in the villages on the Bospho- 
 rus inhabited by Franks, where the Turks can only censure, they 
 never fail to reproach the murdering of them as wanton cruelty.* 
 
 cities of Russia, that the streets are filled with filthy and unowned dogs, I suppose that 
 (he Turkish toleration of them proceeds rather from custom than precept. In tTic 
 capital of Turkey dogs are not without their use : they devour every digestible offal, with 
 which the streets would otherwise be contaminated. Indeed, it is chiefly owing to 
 them, and the declivities on which the city is built, that some degree of exterior clean- 
 liness is preserved. The ordure of dogs is an useful article in the manufacture of 
 Morocco leather. All the supposed causes of canine madness seem to exist in the 
 greatest abundance in Turkey, yet that dreadful calamity is entirely unknown. 
 
 Nassuh Pasha, grand vizir to Ahmed the First, from some motive of superstition 
 which he never chose to explain, removed all the dogs from the streets of Constauti- 
 nople, and sent them over by boat-loads to the opposite coast of Asia, 
 
 * " lis resardent comme une inhumanite criminelle, non seulement Taction de tuer 
 les animaux, mais encore celle de les priver de leur liberte, sur-tout ceux dont la chair 
 est interdite sur leur table. Plusieurs les achetent et les delivrent ainsi des mains de? 
 chasseurs. On voit dans toutes les villcs des cages remplies d'oiseaux que Ton vend 
 sous le nom d'azad-coucltlm/, c'est-a-dire, oiseaux a alfranchir, dont les devoLs paient lu 
 valeur pour les remettre en liberte." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 309.) 
 
 " Est e regione diversorii nostri procera platanus, amplitudine ramorum et opacitate 
 frondium spectanda : sub ea interdum consistunt aucupes, cum iiiagno avicularum 
 Humero : .iccedunt multi, et parvo sere captivos redimunt, quas singulatim deinceps 
 tnanu emittunt. Illae fere in platanum subvolant, ubi se a carceris squallore et sordibus 
 purgant, pinnasqiie explicant, pipilantcs interim : Turn Turcse qui redemerunt, nudin', 
 inquiunt alter alteri, iit sibi gratulatur, et mihl giatias agit ? Quid ergo } Adeone Py- 
 thagorjei Turcse, ut omne animal aj)ud cos ^acrosanctum sit, nuHoquc ve-cantur ' 
 
 ' Pp
 
 200 
 
 The hog alone, of all animals, excites in the Turks a sense of loatlv^ 
 ing and abhorrence ; and though permitted in the infidel quarters 
 of some provincial towns, is scrupulously ba.nished from the capital 
 and its suburbs. The hog, however, is a creature destined by 
 nature to live in filth and mire, and to- cleanse the neighbourhood 
 of the habitations of men ; and it may be worth inquiry, whether 
 the absence of so useful an animal, by deranging the order of 
 nature, may not tend to the production, or facilitate the progress^ 
 of the plague.* 
 
 Character ^hc pliysicaT effect of climate upon the character, though its 
 
 Turks J operation cannot be wholly denied, is yet so much over-ruled by 
 moral causes, that they alone form the line of demarcation between 
 
 theirauste- the different inhabitants of tbi* great empire. The austerity of 
 the Mahometan religion gives to its votaries a certain moroseness 
 of character, which, towards persons of a different persuasion, is- 
 heightened into superciliousness. The gravity of deportment, 
 ■which such a religion necessarily generates, is left without its pro- 
 per corrective, the gayety inspired by the presence and conversa- 
 
 imfabiiity tion of womcu. The Turk is usually placid, hypochondriac, and 
 
 •f temper, 
 
 Minime, imo fere a nullo abstinent, quod' sit apposilum, sive elixo sive assafo. Ovem 
 quidem laniena; nasci dicunt, sed' non ferunt ex earum cruciatu et tormento voluptatem 
 quxri. Minores quidem aves, quarum cantu rura campique celebrantur, sunt qui nulla. 
 iat)«>rie adduci queant ut interficiant; imo ut caveis inclusas teneant, nimiam libertati. 
 earum injuriam sic fieri existimantfs. Sed non est omnibus una senter.tia." (Busbe- 
 quii, Epist. iii. p. 119;) 
 
 * An exception is made in favour oftlie " corpsdiplomatiqiie," to whom a firman is 
 granted for tiic admission of hogs into tiie district of PtTa during the Carnival. But 
 they make their entry at midnight, and by the light of torches.
 
 291 
 
 tiniinpassioned ; but, when the customary sedateness of his tempef 
 is ruffled, his passions, unsoftened in their expression by the in- 
 fluence of female manners, are furious and uncontroulable. The 
 individual seems possessed with all the ungovernable fury of a 
 multitude ; and all ties, all attachments, all natural and moral 
 obligations, are forgotten or trampled upon, till his rage is appeased 
 or subsides. De Tott represents them as " seeking celebrity by 
 niurder, without having courage to commit it deliberately, and de- 
 riving from intoxication only sufficient resolution for such a 
 crune."* But intoxication itself is a vice so rare among the 
 Turks, that it is evident De Tott must have drawn his general 
 conclusion from some particular instance. It has been asserted, 
 with more truth, by a more ancient author than De Tott, that 
 "brawls and quarrels are rare among the Turks : assassinations 
 are unheard of; and though among men striving onward in the 
 same career there must necessarily exist a spirit of envy and secret 
 rancour, yet the base means of supplanting a rival candidate by 
 slander and detraction are seldom resorted to."j- The point of 
 honour so much insisted upon, and so pernicious in its conse- 
 quences, among Europeans, exerts a very feeble influence over 
 the minds of the Turks. De Tott's observation applies rather to 
 the Italians or the Greeks of the Ionian islands,;]: than to the 
 
 * Memoirs, V. i. p. 14. f Montalbanus, apud Elzevir, p. 39. 
 
 J " The Greeks of Zante in habit imitate the Italians, but transcend them in their 
 revenges — they make more conscience to break a fast, than to comniit a murther. — 
 But cowardice is jomed witli their cruelty, who dare do nothing but suddenly, upon 
 advantages, and are ever privately armed." (Sandys's Travels, p. 1.)
 
 o-aQ. 
 
 Turks, among whom it is certain that anger generally evaporates 
 in terms of reproach. The practice of duelling is confined to the 
 soldiers and gaVmigis (or marines), if a combat can deserve the 
 name of duel, wliich for the most part is decided on the spot where 
 the offence was given, and with such weapons as are nearest at 
 hand, or the parties may happen to wear, whether knives, or swords, 
 or pistols. The man of rank may insult his inferior by words or 
 even blows ; and as the one derives impunity from his situation, 
 so the other feels no farther than the real, or physical, extent of 
 the injury. An affront received from an equal is retorted without 
 any variation of form, and is almost immediately forgotten, if the 
 friends of the parties interfere and propose a reconciliation. There 
 must indeed be some exceptions to this remark, though they occur 
 so rarely, that I cannot recollect to have heard a single instance 
 which can justify the general assertion of Sir James Porter, that 
 " they are vindictive beyond conception, perpetuating revenge 
 through successive generations :"* and indeed we may appeal to 
 the general experience of human nature, whether such a temper 
 be not inconsistent Mith the constitutional apathy of the Turks ; 
 or whether the resentment, which bursts out in sudden fury, be 
 not generally of very short duration. D'Ohsson indeed asserts, 
 that individuals have exhibited such depravity of heart, as to 
 cherish their piojccts of vengeance, and sacriftce with unrelenting* 
 barbarity the object of their resentment after an interval of forty 
 years, f I cannot question a fact supported by such respectable 
 
 * Observations on tlie religion, &c. of the Turks, p. b. 
 t Tableau General, V. iv. p. 4"4,
 
 399 
 
 testimony ; neither can I consider it as an illustration of tlse na- 
 tional character, but rather as a departure from that conduct which 
 the Mussulman law, and the manners of the Ottoman people, more 
 naturally generate. If the circumstances of the ease had been 
 more fully explained, I have little doubt but we should discover, 
 that this long continued anger of the Turk had been first excited 
 by the insolence of a rayah, the creature or the favourite of a man 
 in power. An affront of this nature is seldom forgotten, but is 
 indeed as rarely given ; for the rayah, however puffed up with- 
 arrogance towards his fellows, cautiously avoids the expression of 
 superiority towards a Turk even in the humblest situation, as 
 knowing, that in the ordinary course of e\Tnts he may be raised to 
 posts of the highest dignity. But if we admit among the features- 
 of the national character an implacability of temper, we may op- 
 pose to it, and in instances more frequently exhibited, the moral 
 quality of gratitude. A benefit conferred on a Turk is seldom for- 
 gotten ; the greater his elevation, the more does he feel and ac- 
 knowledge the desire and the duty of repaying benefits. " I have 
 received kindness from him in the days of iiumiliation and distress: 
 \ have eaten his bread and his salt :" and the obligation, so simply 
 yet so energetically expressed, is sacred and never to be annulled. 
 
 Drunkenness is condemned by the Mussulman law and the cus- intrmpe- 
 
 rancf m ifae 
 
 toms of the Ottoman nation. It is, however, considered but as a >"cotw,i„, 
 v«nial crime, and has been indulged in by some of their greatest 
 sultans. Selim the Second was so addicted to it, that he even ob- 
 tained the surname of Mest, or the Drunkard ; but the Turkish 
 
 historians observe, in extenuation of his excesses, that they never 
 
 7'
 
 294 
 
 caused him to omit his daily prayers. Intemperance in wine had 
 come to such an ungovernable excess among the Turks in the reign 
 of Soliman the First, that that virtuous prince, says D'Ohsson, was 
 obliged to have recourse to the most rigorous jjcnalties to check 
 the use of it. He carried his severity even so far, as to order 
 melted lead to be poured down the throats of the obstinate trans- 
 gressors of the precepts of the Koran. But, as a Turkish writer 
 has well observed, " the religion of a nation- is as the religion of 
 tiie monarch :" for Selim the Drunkard, the son and immediate 
 successor of Soliman, seduced the nation by his example into the 
 most unblushing debauchery. " Let others put their trust in 
 man," said the jovial sultan, "I throw myself into the arms of 
 tlie Almighty, and resign myself to his immutable decrees. I 
 think only of the pleasures of the day, and have no care for futu- 
 rity." Murad the Fourth, seduced by the gayety and example of 
 Becri Mustafa, not only drank wine in public, but allowed the free 
 use of it to his subjects, and even compelled the mufti and cazy- 
 asket's to drink with him. 
 
 The practice of drinking wine is generally reprobated ; but as 
 
 drinking a large quantity entails no greater curse than moderation, 
 
 those who have once transgressed, proceed without further scruple 
 
 to perfect ebriety. Cusbequius saw an old man at Constantinople, 
 
 who, when he took the glass in his hand, summoned his soul to 
 
 take refuge in some corner of his body, or to quit it entirel}', and 
 
 thereby avoid partaking of his crime or being polluted. I myself 
 
 have frequently observed an habitual drunkard carefully remove his 
 
 mustaches from defilement, and, after a hearty draught, distort 
 
 6
 
 £95 
 
 hh face, as though he had been taking niedicine. Tlie prophet 
 lias declared, that the pens of the two recording angels are unem- 
 ployed upon the actions of men in certain situations of life; of 
 those who sleep, until they awake; of minors, until the full matu- 
 rity of their reason ; and of madmen, until they be restored to 
 their senses. I conclude, rather indeed from the conduct of the 
 Turks than from the glosses of the Mussulman doctors, that the 
 drunkard, the voluntary madman, is also considered as not morally 
 accountable for his conduct until his phrenzy be dissipated. 
 
 Those who intoxicate themselves with opium are stigmatized and c.pium, 
 with the appellation of teriaki. The usual effects of that drug arc 
 that it exhilarates, lulls, and proportionally depresses, those who 
 habituate themselves to it, and brings on premature decrepitude 
 and ideotism. To some it is by habit rendered so necessary, that 
 the fast of the month Ramazan, during, which they are deprived of 
 it in the day time, becomes a serious penance. I have been assured 
 by a Turk, but 1 do not warrant his assertion, that in order to 
 alleviate their sufferings, they swallow, besides their usual pill at 
 the morning ezami, a certain number of pills wrapt up in several 
 folds of paper, which they calculate will resist the powers of the 
 stomach for different lengths of time, and be dissolved in due 
 rotation, so as to correspond with their usual allowance. Dr. 
 Pouqueville cites a still more remarkable fact, which, although he 
 omitted to confirm it by his own inquiries, he says cannot reason- 
 ably be questioned since every body agrees in asserting its truth. 
 M. M. Ruffin and Dantan (both dragomans attached to the ser- 
 vice of the French legation, and both worthy members of the corps-
 
 to which they belong), assured him, that in the year 1800 there 
 existed in Constantinople, a Turk known to the whole town under 
 the name oi Sukyman yeyai, or Soiunan the taker of corrosive subli- 
 mate. " This man,"' says Dr. Pouqueville, " was a rare instance 
 of longevity. He was nearly an hundred years old when I was in 
 Constantinople. In his early youth he had habituated himself to 
 take opium, till at last, though he augmented his dose, it failed in 
 producing its effect. He had heard of corrosive sublimate, and 
 substituted the daily use of it to that of opium : his dose exceeded a 
 drachm, and he had regularly taken it tor upwards of thirty years." 
 I am less acquainted than Dr. Pouqueville with the effects com- 
 monly produced by corrosive sublimate : but without indulging in 
 scepticism as to the marvellous part of the story, I cannot persuade 
 myself (unless it be an acknowledged quality of corrosive subli- 
 mate to exhilarate in the manner of opium) that even a Turk would 
 gratuitously persist for thirty years, in the daily custom of swallow- 
 ing a nauseous and poisonous draught.* 
 
 * Voyage en Moree, &c. V. ii. p. 125. 
 
 I ought not however to omit pointing out some inconsistencies in the storj' which are 
 so glaring, that it is wondtrt'ul how they could have escaped Dr. Pouque\ ille's notice. 
 " The first essay of this taker of corrosive sublimate was made in the shop of a Jewish 
 apotliecarj'. Suleyman called for a drachm of the mineral, diluted it in a glass of 
 water, and drank it off) to the astonishment and terror of the apothecary, who was 
 alarmed lest he should be accused of poisoning a Turk.: he shut up his shop, and was 
 filled with anxiety when he reflected on the consequences which lie expected must ne- 
 cessarily ensue. But the next day, great was his surprize at the re-appearance of 
 Suleyman, who came to his shop for a repetition of his dose." Now the shutting up of 
 his shop must be understood as the act of absconding, for if it mean that he merely 
 closed his window-shutters to open them again the next morning, this circumstance 
 indicated no appreliension of danger, neither can it be considered as a precautionary
 
 1i97 
 The custom of receiving and making* presents is consecrated covetom. 
 
 nesK, 
 
 among the Oriental nations by immemorial practice, so that it 
 seems to have acquired the force and inviolability of a law. 
 ■" Whoever has dealings with the Turks," says Busbequius, " must 
 open his purse from the first moment of his passing their frontiers, 
 and keep it in constant activity during his residence in their 
 country. By no other means can the Turkish austerity be relaxed, 
 or their aversion to foreigners removed. .Without this charm it 
 would be a vain attempt to sooth or to render tkem tractable. The 
 stranger owes his safety among them only to the influence of 
 money: without it, he would experience as few comforts, as in 
 
 measure, and should not have been mentioned. But how can we reconcile the cir« 
 cumstancc of tlie apothecary's fliglit with tliat of his personal attendance in the sliop on 
 the very nextmornino;? Thisabsurd story gives me an opportunity, not only of shewing 
 that Dr. Pouqueville has listened with too much credulity to the idle tales of drago- 
 mans, but also that he has listened with too much complacency to the suggestions of 
 vanity, in over-rating his own acquirements. Dr. Pouqueville takes occasion (V. ii. 
 p. 218.) in relating another storj', {which in }>ij/ conscience I believe to be no less false 
 than this of Suleyman) to insinuate that he speaks the Turkish language with so much 
 ■fluency as to astonish even the natives. But in the story of the taker of corrosive subli- 
 7Mfi<e, he evidently demonstrates that he is wholly ignorant of the Turkish language. 
 Sukynian yej/en, he tells us, means Sukynian the taker of corrosive sublimate. To the 
 reader unskilled in eastern literature, it must appear no less curious than it did to Mc»- 
 iierc's " bourgeois gentilhomme," that the Turkish language should be so concise and 
 comprehensive, as to express in a single word a whole complex sentence. Suleyman is 
 the proper name of the hero of the farce, so that consequently the secret of this extra^ 
 •ordinary strength of stuuiach must be sought after in a cai'efid analj"sis of the word 
 yei/en. Now yeyen is the particijile present of the active verb yemek, " to eat," and 
 simply signifies " eating." " Soliman the eater, or the glutton," is the only interpre- 
 tation which the words will admit of, but even that is ill-expressed in Turkish by Sulty.. 
 man ycj/cn. 
 
 Q q
 
 29» 
 
 travelling over solitudes condemned by nature to tlie extremes of 
 heat or cold."* Busbequius's judgment in this instance has sub- 
 mitted to the guidance of his rhetoric, and he has been hurried 
 into exaggeration. Foreign ministers of the present day express 
 less disapprobation of the gentle importunities of the Turks, and 
 feel less regret at the necessity of keeping their coffers continually 
 open : an Enghshman can, indeed, scarcely read without blushing 
 for the honour of his country, the long detail and wearisome repe- 
 tition of presents '.ecorded in Dr. Wittman's journal; of snuff 
 boxes and pelisses, of shawls and gown pieces, ©f sheep and even of 
 money, which, in some instances, appear to have been expected 
 with a greater degree of confidence than is consistent with the 
 nature of a free gift. Among the Turks, presents from a person of 
 equal rank .or fortune are considered to denote pure and disinte- 
 rested affection : the great receive them from their inferiors as 
 marks of homage and respect, and confer them in token of favouE 
 or beneficence.t Their political institutions suppose the venality 
 of every subdivision of government ; and hence the national cha- 
 racter for avarice. The subjection of the rayahs furnishes them with 
 the means of satisfying this passion ; hence they consider their in- 
 fluence, their authority, the powers of their mind, and the force of 
 their arm, as proper objects of barter in affairs between or against 
 
 * Busbequii Epi^t. i. p. 26. 
 
 + " Si, a une epoque quelconque, un musulman a re^u un bienfait ou une marqwe 
 de gtnercB; e, il s'en fait un droit pour I'avenir, et crie a I'injustice si Ton vienja. 
 clian^'crde conduite dans une autre occasion." {Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 313.)
 
 299 
 
 infidels, without regarding the action in a moral point of view : * 
 and if Aristotle's judgment could he so biassed by the corrupt in- 
 stitutions of Greece, as to conclude from them, that Nature had 
 ordained the barbarians to be slaves, can we wonder that such 
 shallow reasoners as the Turks should consider the abuse which 
 they make of their power as sanctioned by the divine approbation, 
 from the very circumstance of its existing ; and should exercise it 
 to their own advantage, whenever the weaknesses and vices, the 
 follies and crimes, of the rayahs afford them the means of ac- 
 quiring wealth ? It is in these instances that they shew their hypo- 
 crisy, and will express all the benevolence of virtue, while acting 
 only from sordid and selfish motives. In higher life and public 
 stations, these vices attain a greater extension ; and the crimes 
 which flow from them sometimes excite horror in indifferent audi- 
 tors, but never produce remorse in the perpetrators, f 
 
 * " Tantos longinqui lemporis felicitas huic geiiti spiritus fecit, ut nihil iniquum 
 putet quod velit, nihil ^Equuin quod nolit." (Busbequii Epist. ii. p. 19.) 
 
 t Petraichi, a Greek banker, had so far insinuated himself into the good graces of 
 the court, that lie was permitted to have access to the sultan. The celebrated Hassan, 
 the capudwi pasha, had a dragoman named Mavroyeni, a native of one of the islands in 
 the Archipelago, whom he wished to promote to the principality of ^^'allachia. But 
 as Mavroyeni was of pletieiau birth, the Greek nobility \iolently opposed the innoia- 
 tion; and tliey pre\ailed upon Petraichi to exert his influence to avert an appointment 
 so degrading to them, and so injurious to their interests. But the power of Hassan 
 Pasha prevailed, and the unft)rtunate Peti-aichi was beheaded in the outer court of the 
 seraglio, while clinging to the stirrup of Mavroyeni, and soliciting his interposition for 
 a pardon, ^\hich is never refitscd to' a prince on the day of his inauguration.
 
 300 
 
 ambition, fhe pursuit of their own interest exerts their sagacity, and 
 stimulates their industry. But in general it may be observed, 
 that the interest of the moment, and not the permanent good 
 of themselves or of society, is the standard of their actions. 
 The ambitious man, cautious, cunning, and persevering, moves 
 forward to the attainment of his object with undivided attention ; 
 and is not checked in his progress or pursuits, by the inferior con- 
 siderations of consanguinity, friendship, or gratitude. Such, 
 however, is the character of ambition in all countries ; and it is 
 not in Turkey alone, that power has been raised on the ruin of a 
 patron, or a benefactor. 
 
 hypocrisy, The Turk, iiBcorrupted by public employments, considers sin- 
 cerity as the basis of all virtue, and his word as sacred. But the 
 Turkish courtier veils his purposes with the most impenetrable 
 dissimulation ; and the keenest observation cannot detect the 
 tumult of his mind, in the interval between the first project and 
 the commission of a crime, on which his life or liis fortune 
 depends.* 
 
 * The late Lord High Admiral, Hussein Pasha, commanded the expedition 
 against the rebel governor of WidcUn, and failed, as Olivier justly observes, " because 
 he was in want of men capable of directing a siege, and soldiers better disposed for 
 supportiiig the cause." It was thereupon determined, that Alo Pasha, who had joined 
 the army with his feudal and provincial troops, should be accused before Uie sultan as 
 a traitor, and the want of success in the war be imputed to hiin. Husfcin invited him 
 to dinner ; and while the unfortunate Alo was washing his hands after the repast, and 
 the servant spreading out a napkin before him, Hussein Pasha took up a short cara- 
 bine, which was ready loaded, and shot him dead upon the sopha.'
 
 301 
 The IMussulmans, courteous and humane in their intercourse'"^''"'''''*' 
 
 to strao- 
 
 Tvith each other, sternly refuse to unbelievers the salutation of"'*"' 
 peace. " Hence," says Cantemir, " Christian princes may easily 
 imagine how infirm is the peace they can promise themselves 
 from the Turks." * But the conclusion is erroneous ; for they do 
 do not refuse temporal peace, but that " which the world cannot 
 give," and which, consistently with their religious opinion, they 
 must suppose to be exclusively attached to a belief in Islamism. 
 
 The common people, more bigoted to their dogmas, express 
 more bluntly their sense of superiority over the Christians ; but it 
 is false that even they return the address of a Christian with insult. 
 The formulary of compliments is indeed different : believers re- 
 cognize each other by the benediction, sanctified by the arch-angel 
 Rafael in his address to Mahomet, selam aleylnim, the peace of 
 God be upon thee ; but they reply to the civilities of an unbe- 
 liever by the polite and charitable expression, ahbetin hayr ola, 
 may thy end be happy. Dr. Dallaway says, " I have observed 
 a Turk lay aside his moroseness, and become affable and commu- 
 nicative, M'ben he can do so without stepping from his dignity." 
 I think, indeed, it would be difficult to produce, from the history 
 of any people, an instance of more dignified courtesy, than Avas 
 exhibited in the reception given by Ised Bey to Baron de Tott. 
 Ised Bey was promoted to the rank of grand vizir ; and on the third 
 day after his installation the Baron v.eut to the Porte to pay his. 
 respects. They had served together in the army, and were 
 
 * Cantemir, p. 76. note^
 
 302 
 
 familiarly acquainted : but De Tott, instead of presuming upon 
 former intimacy, placed himself upon the sopha at a respectful 
 distance. " How, my old friend," said the vizir, " are you 
 afraid to approach me ? " Then opening his pelisse, and spread- 
 ing it on the sopha, " sit down," said he, " on that fur; that 
 is your proper place : though you have forgotten, it ought not 
 to escape my memory." The multitude, says De Tott, who al- 
 ways act from first impressions, immediately exclaimed, with a 
 kind of enthusiasm, " long live our new master."* Mr, Eton, 
 pleasantly and accurately enough, compares the general behaviour 
 of a Turk to a Christian, with that of a German baron to his 
 vassal. But if a Turk, as not unfrequently happens, rises above 
 the prejudices and institutions 'of his country, he then, in his 
 commerce with infidels, divests himself of his predominant 
 passions, and exercises towards them the same virtues which 
 rco'ulatc his transactions vvitli men of his own religion. t 
 
 * De Toll's Memoirs, V. iii. p. 201. 
 
 t Mr. Eton relates a story, calculated, in liin opinion, to expose the incorrigible 
 boorislmess of the Turks, and their contempt of foreign nations. " A Turkish prisoner 
 met a Russian officer in the streets of Cherson, and, as the dirt in the streets was over 
 the shoes, made signs for the officer to make way for him on the pavement. The 
 officer, not being a violent man, only beckoned to a soldier, who pushed him headlong off 
 the pavement. The governor of the town, vi\m sau the whole, irprimand,-d the Turk, 
 and threatened him with the same treatment as tlie l^ussian prisoners endure at C'on- 
 stanlinoplc. The Turk's answer was, " they are infidels, l)ut 1 am a Mussuhnan ;" 
 and this procured him an udditiowd drubbing." (Survey, p. 111.) 'J'<> me, who 
 have li\ed familiarly with the Russian officers, who know Cherson, and know that 
 there is no pavement there, the whole story appears ratlier " nn conte en I'air," than 
 a picture of manners- Yet if it be not absolutely an iineution, I appichcnd the Turk
 
 303 
 
 The external manners of good breeding among the Turks entirely 
 differ from those established in the other countries of Europe. 
 The uncovering of the head, which, with us is considered as the 
 expression of reverence and respect, is ridiculed or reprobated 
 among them, as an act of folly, or as indicating a contempt of 
 propriety and decenc3\ These and similar opinions are univer- 
 sal ; and hence the Turks are more strongly attached to the ob- 
 servance of their own peculiar customs. 
 
 Their usual form of salutation is natural and graceful. In greet- 
 ing an equal, they put the hand on the heart : in addressing a 
 superior, they apply the right hand first to the mouth, and then to 
 the forehead : when a Turk presents himself before a man of rank 
 and dignity, he makes a profound inclination of his body, extends 
 his right hand first towards the ground, and then raises it to his 
 mouth and forehead : in the presence of the sovereign, he must even 
 touch the ground before lifting the hand to the head. The air of 
 gravity and decorum of exterior, which are common to the Ottomans, 
 give considerable dignity to this ceremonious expression of hom- 
 age or civility ; and its effect is further improved by the grandeur 
 of their ample and flowing garments. Children and subalterns 
 express submission to their parents, and chiefs, by kissing their 
 robe : if-the superior withdraws his robe and presents his hand, and 
 
 intended to reproach his coimtiymeii ^\itli behaving to their prisoners unhke Mussul- 
 mans. His answer was probably oidar ghiaour doitrlur, ben musluman em which indeed 
 is literally such as Mr. Eton has represented it, yet it admits more rtaturally of the 
 interpretation which I have supposed : for had the Turk meant to insult the Russians, 
 he would have said, " you" (and not they) " are infidels," siz ghiaour sounouz. 
 
 3
 
 304 . 
 
 iBore especially the palm of his hand, it is received as a mark of 
 distinguished favour. The kiss of religious fraternity is inter- 
 changed only at the two festivals of bdiram. At other times, they 
 figuratively express parental or filial affection by extending the 
 hand toward the chin or the beard of the person, and then ap- 
 plying it to their own mouths. The father of a family, and the 
 man of elevated rank, never rise from their seats to receive either 
 their children, or inferiors ; and by parity of reasoning, no Mus- 
 sulman rises to salute an infidel whatever be his situation in life : 
 A guest of distinction, is received at the foot of the stairs by two 
 officers of the household, who support him under the arm as far as 
 the entrance of the visiting chamber, where the master of the house 
 advances to meet him, if his rank entitles him to such marks of 
 respect. At his departure, the master of the house rises with him, 
 and accompanies him to the door of the apartment, walking, not 
 on his right or left side, but a iew paces before him. After ex- 
 changing compliments, the stranger is reconducted by the pages 
 to his horse or his barge. 
 
 Every traveller must have noticed, (though Dumont appears to 
 
 be the first who has recorded the observation,) that the Turkish 
 
 usages contrast in a sincrular manner with our own. This dis- 
 ci o . 
 
 similitude, which pervades the whole of their habits, is so general, 
 even in things of apparent insignificance, as almost to inilicate 
 design rather than accident. The whole exterior of the oriental 
 is different from ours. The European stands firm and erect, his 
 head drawn back, his chest protruded, the point of the foot turned 
 outwards, and the kuees straight. The attitude of the Turk is less
 
 305 
 
 remote from nature, and in eacli of these respects approaches 
 nearer to the models which the ancient statuaries appear 
 to have copied. Their robes are large and loose, entirely con- 
 cealing the contour of the human form, encumbering motion, 
 and ill-adapted to manly exercise. Our close and short dresses, 
 calculated for promptitude of action, appear in their eyes to be 
 wanting both in dignity and modesty. They reverence the beard 
 as the symbol of manhood and the token of independence, but 
 they practice depilation of the body from motives of cleanliness. 
 In performing their dev^otions, or on entering a dwelling, they take 
 off their shoes. In inviting a person to approach them, they use 
 what with us is considered as a repulsive motion of the hand. la 
 writing they trace the lines from right to left. The master of a 
 house does the honours of his table by serving himself first from 
 the dish : he drinks without noticing the company, and they wish 
 him health when he has finished his draught. They lie down to 
 sleep in their clothes. They affect a grave and phlegmatic ex- 
 terior : their amusements are all of the tranquil kind : they con- 
 found with folly the noisy expression of gayety : their utterance 
 is slow and deliberate ; they even feel satisfaction in silence : they 
 attach the idea of niajesty to slowness of motion : they pass in re- 
 pose all the moments of their life which are not occupied in 
 serious business : they retire early to rest ; and they rise before 
 the sun. 
 
 It has exercised much speculation, to discover whence could 
 originate such a total diversity of customs and ceremonies among 
 
 R r
 
 306' 
 
 creatures possesi^ing- tiie same common nature, placed iiiuler similar 
 circumstances, feeling tlie same wants, and actuated by the same 
 appetites and pa-isions. I'o some it appears to constitute the 
 orand characteristic of the two separate classes which may be 
 <listinguished among the inhabitants of the earth. The great 
 family of mankind has been considered as susceptible of being' 
 divided into Europeans and Asiatics, rather from their discriminate 
 sets of habits and moral qualities, than from the position of the 
 countries which they inhabit on the surface of the globe ; and it 
 is perhaps from respect for the authority on which this opinion is 
 founded, that Dr. Pouquevilie determines the Turks to belong in 
 no respect to Europe, except from the corner of it which they oc- 
 cupy.* His assertion is indeed further corroborated by' the modes 
 of speech which are familiar among the Frank inhabitants of Con- 
 stantinople, who feel themselves seduced, or compelled, from the ir- 
 reconcileable nature of the objects which surround them with their 
 ideas of European existencies, to apply the term Europe almost 
 exclusively to those countries which are more correctly denomina- 
 ted Christendom. The observation itself marks penetration and. 
 discernment, as well as extensive experience and study of men and 
 maimers ; but the expression appears to be incorrect and imper- 
 fect, inasmuch as it seems to attribute to climate and geographical 
 situation, what should rather be sought for in the social institu- 
 tions ; in government, religion, and domestic economy, which 
 exert a more general and uniform influence. 
 
 * Voyages en Moree,&c. V. ij, p. 1 i2. 
 1
 
 307 
 
 The nations of antiquity, if compared with those of modern 
 Europe, will be found to possess many of those peculiarities which 
 ve have chosen to consider as exclusively characteristic of the 
 Asiatics. The loose garments, the long beards, the gravity of 
 manners, the custom of reclining upon couches during meals, the 
 habitual use of tlie warm bath, and several other rnstances of 
 similarit}', may be traced among the Greeks and the Romans. 
 European manners have but of late j^ears been partially in- 
 grafted on those of Russia. The Polish and Hungarian nations 
 still exhibit traces of their Asiatic oric-in. It is onlv among the 
 unmixed Celtic and Teutonic nations, that we discover a distinct 
 and peculiar S3'stem of manners. It is evident therefore, since we 
 find, even in m.any countries of Europe, the manners of both con- 
 tinents thus blended together, that the great characteristical dis- 
 tinction which has been observed, is independent of the arbitrary 
 arrangements of geographers, and not less so of the natural divi- 
 sions of latitudes and climates. Tlie theory of Montesquieu, 
 that not only inertness of body and indolence of mind, but also 
 a spirit of submission to injury and obedience to tyranny, are 
 naturally and necessarily induced by the heat of the climate, 
 is sufficiently refuted by history, by actual observation, and by 
 reason. The first and most powerful incentives to action are the 
 wants of human nature : if the savage live in a country in which 
 these may be easily supplied, his activity will relax, unless new 
 desires provoke new exertions. For natural wants have their limits, 
 and in the midst of abundance the primary motives to the exercise of 
 the mental or bodily faculties must cease to operate on the accom-
 
 308 
 
 plisbment of tbtir object. If it raiuire the unremitting ex- 
 ertions of buman labour to ai.sure a scanty subsistence, greater 
 industry will indeed be employed, but the labouring savage will 
 scarcely attain to any mental superiority over bis more indolent 
 fellow: the latter can be animated to thought or labour only by 
 factitious desires or artificial wants ; and these must owe their 
 creation and developement to the influence of female society : but, 
 if by the civil institutions women are condemned to a subservient 
 rank and insulated situation, if they be confined to their respective 
 families, and controuled by the superiority of the men, their influ- 
 ence in modifying the national manners will be partial and limited,, 
 and ineffectual to generate improvement. Such however was the 
 state of women, throughout the whole of Asia, whether in the 
 burning peninsula of India, or on the bleak and frozen platform of 
 Tartary. Such too it was, though somewhat in a less degree, in 
 Greece and in Rome; and such it may still be observed to sub- 
 sist in a great part of Russia. In the Sarmatian and Hunnish 
 nations some traces of the system may even now be discovered 
 among the people ; and the Spaniards, though of European origin, 
 resemble in many respects the Asiatic family, from their having 
 adopted from the Arabs their system of secluding women from 
 mixed society. The ancient Germans, on the contrary, respected 
 and honoured women : the developement of this principle produced 
 the almost idolatrous gallantry of the Chevaliers ; the influence of 
 it has extended to the present day, and by supplying, an endless 
 motive to exertion, has produced the modern European character. 
 This cause indeed appears adequate to the production of that 
 peculiar cast of character which distinguishes the European from
 
 309 
 
 the Asiatic. We court the attention of women by contrasting 
 our appearance with theirs. The muscular strength of the man is 
 not to be concealed under a load of effeminate drapery : the 
 guardians and protectors of women should make a proud display 
 of their superior strength. We sacrifice to their taste or caprice 
 the beard, the distinctive ornament of our sex, the pride and boast 
 of perfect manhood; we assume a form less calculated to inspire 
 respect and awe, but more compatible with female playfulness ; and. 
 we endeavour, even in advanced age, to exhibit some faint resem- 
 blance of that happier and earlier period of life, which is pe- 
 culiarly devoted to the service of the ladies, and blessed with 
 their approbation. While in Turkey the naked front of age 
 is imposed even upon the young men, with us the hyacin- 
 thine locks of youth conceal the ravages of time ; and the 
 renerable graces of aid age yield to the vain attempt (absurd 
 were it not ennobled by the motive) of still continuing to please. 
 The sportiveness of youth is mimicked till it becomes ridiculous, 
 because the temper of Avomen is averse from gravity. It would 
 be unnecessary to notice through all its effects the habitual inter- 
 course of men with women. Whatever distinguishes the European 
 from the Asiatic may be traced to this source, even that cleanli- 
 ness of anticipation which prevails in Europe, and to which is 
 substituted in Asia a periodical lustration from accumulated defile- 
 ment. 
 
 It has already been shewn, that erroneous regulations concern- 
 ing women had introduced into Europe the manners of Asia, and we 
 may observe from history, that in those cities of Asia where thti
 
 310 
 
 ricour of these institutions had been unseasonably relaxed,, a Jisso- 
 luteness of manners prevailed, the necessary consequence of adopt- 
 ing, without due preparation, European manners, which can only be 
 preserved in their purity when they are the natural result of refine- 
 ment. In Antioch, the capital of the East, a contempt for femals 
 modesty and reverent age (the extremes into which European 
 manners are most liable to fall) announced the general corruption. 
 Tlie beard of the emperor Juhan became the subject of derision. 
 The love of spectacles was the taste : private luxury and public 
 amusements consumed the fortunes of the citizens and the public 
 revenues : the licentiousness of the Greek was blended with the 
 hereditary softness of the Syrian, and the natives indulged in the 
 most intemperate enjoyment of tranquillity and opulence.* 
 
 The preposterous civilization introduced into Russia generated 
 similar consequences, and the court of Catherine the Second can 
 be distinguished from the capital of Syria only by the grosser 
 character of its debaucheries. In Russia the restraints under 
 which women had lived for ages were suddenly broken down : the 
 inconsiderate zeal of the reformers forced them into public life, 
 and imposed on them the task of tempering and correcting the 
 boorishness of men. But that superiority of reason, M-hich women 
 from their natural delicacy and temperance are observed to retain 
 in countries where the immoderate use of intoxicating liquors is the 
 habitual vice of men ; that purity of conduct and innocence, which 
 seclusion no less tends to produce than virtuous principles ; those 
 
 * See Gibbon'^ Roman Ilistorj-, V. iv. p. 144.
 
 aw 
 
 Kiikl virtues, which ornainent ami leiiue domestic life; were un- 
 equal to stem the torrent of public corruptioiu 
 
 The women, without principles of conduct adapted to public 
 life or the new situation in which they were placed, without com- 
 bination of means or concert among themselves, necessarily sunk 
 under the influence of the general contagion ; and the secret his- 
 tory of St. Petersburg presents us with a disgusting assemblage of 
 the most deffradino' vices of men, rendered more odious from bcinir 
 exhibited under a female form. In all climates and all countries 
 where women exert their due influence, urbanity and civilization 
 will be carried to the highest possible pitch. The improvement of 
 society will always be adequate to the justice and wisdom of its 
 institutions respecting women. In Laceda^mon alone of all the 
 states of .Greece the women were peculiarly honoured : and Xeno- 
 phon declares, that the Spartans were superior to other men in the 
 excellencies of mind and body. Where women are degraded 
 from their rank in society, the European sinks into the Turk. 
 Where the morality of women is perverted, the serious and manly 
 virtues become the subject of ridicule. We triumph in our ac- 
 knowledged superiority over the Asiatics, but we must, in justice, 
 depose our laurels, like the heroes of chivalry, at the feet of our 
 mistresses. If we are destined by nature to advance nearer 
 towards perfection, our energies can be excited only by the hope 
 of gaining their favour and meriting their esteem. 
 
 It is in the middle rank of life, among men subsisting by their virtues, of 
 
 the mUlilip 
 
 own industry, and equally removed from poverty and riches, thatc'ass.
 
 312 
 
 we must look for the national character : and among the Turks 
 of this class, the domestic and social virtues are united -with 
 knowledge adequate to their wants, and with patriarchal urbanity 
 ofmanners. Honesty is the characteristic of the Turkish mer- 
 chant, and distinguishes him from the Jew, the Greek, and the 
 Armenian, against whose artifices no precaution can suffice. In 
 the Turkish villages, where there is no mixture of Greeks, inno- 
 cence' of life and simplicity of manners are conspicuous, and 
 voguery and deceit are unknown. 
 
 Intolerance is necessarily connected with a religion founded 
 on doo-mas, and which pretends exclusively to truth and inful- 
 libilitv. The haughty conceit of superiority appears as strong in 
 the abject Jew, or the Christian puritan, as in the most bigoted 
 Turk: and if in our own country it be now discoverable only in 
 the rusticity of vulgar life, we must attribute the concealment, 
 not the absence, of it rather to the influence of manners and 
 philosophy, than to the spiiit of religion however mild. 
 
 Clothing of 
 
 tUe Turks. ^„ . f , • i , ^ r- , • 
 
 The Turk of the capiti are somewhat removed from the sim- 
 plicity of nature in their n)0(le of cloathing their new-born in- 
 fants, M'hom they bind and swaddle, so as necessarily to obstruct 
 the motion of the piin<:ipal organs of life, and to cxhaiibt them 
 v/ith excessive perspiration ; but they do not attempt by art or 
 dress to correct or improve tlic human shape : the clothes of 
 persons of both sexes and of all ages, though more in quantity 
 than the climate seems to require, are free from ligatures. 
 They neither coniine the neck nor the waist, the wrist, the
 
 313 
 
 knees, nor the feet;* and though their clothes may encumber 
 them in quick motion, yet they sit easily and gracefully upon them 
 when walking with their usual gravity, or when reclining on the 
 sopha. The turban is, however, a part of the Turkish dress which 
 is not recommended by any convenience. It is apt to overheat the 
 head by its bulk and weight ; and its form is exceedingly inconve- 
 nient to a people, whose chief exercise and diversion are in 
 horsemanship, f 
 
 The use of the warm bath is universal among persons of both Tiie -watm 
 
 ° ^ bath, 
 
 sexes, and all classes, as well for the purposes of purification from 
 worldly and carnal stains, as for health and cleanliness. Some 
 
 * Doctor Buchan says, in his Domestic MeJirine, that " ahnost nine tenths of 
 mankind are troubled with corns : a disease tliat is seldom or never occasioned but by 
 strait shoes." It is certain that no such trouble is known in Turkey, where a dispro- 
 portionate smallness of the foot is so far from being thought beautiful, that every body 
 has shoes much larger than his feet, and thereby preserves through life the proper form 
 and free use of his toes ; advantages which, according to Doctor Buchan, the natives 
 of tliis country enjoy only for a few months after their birth. 
 
 t Le turban dont on se couvre la tete, sert a caracteriser les diverses classes de la 
 nation, et les fonctions des officiers publics. For a particular description of the Turk- 
 ish costume, see Tab. Gen. V. iv. Chap. ii. § 2. 
 
 " Les citoyens de Constantinople et ceux des provinces Europeennes n'emploient 
 communement a leurs turbans que de la mousseline blanche. Les Arabes se ser\'ent 
 d'une toile bigarree ou teinte d'une seule couleur, ainsi que les Egyptians, les Syriens 
 et les habitans de quelques contrees Asiatiques. Les Barbaresques s'en tiennent de 
 preference a ime etoffe de soie gamie de fds d'or. Les Tatars n'ont jamais porta 
 qu'un bonnet de drap vert, avec une bordure de peau d'Astracan. Enfin dans 
 quelques cantons de I'empire, les Mahometans se couvrent la tete d'un bonnet de draj 
 
 S s
 
 314. 
 
 writers are of opinion that it induces, among the women, a habit 
 of too great relaxation. But in the men, it certainly developes 
 and invigorates the powers of the body. The Russians have the 
 custom of plunging themselves into cold water, immediately on 
 coming out of the hot bath ; which I have seen them do (and I 
 must confess with sonie degree of astonishment) in the severest 
 rigour of the winter, and exposed to a bleak north east wind. 
 Busbequius's physician, an Hungarian, used the same as a medi- 
 cine at Constantinople ; * but such custom, if at all practised 
 among the Turks, is unusuak 
 
 The habitual use of the vapour bath is peculiar to that great 
 Scythian family, from the Tartar branch of which the Turks derive 
 their origin. The Greeks and Romans, whose language from its 
 resemblance to the modern Russian in terms essential to the very 
 existence of society, proves a preceding relationship,|used thewarm 
 
 garni de colon, sans mousseline. Quant aux sujets etrangers a I'lslaniismc, ils sent 
 tous obliges de porter un grand bonnet de peau de inouton noir, adpuck, on de sc 
 couvrir la tete d'une toile de couleur foncee. Cette derniere oetfllire est prcsqvie 
 generale en Egypte, en Syrie, et dans la plupart des provinces Asiatiques. l,es 
 insulaires Grecs de I'Archipel portent communement un bonnet de laine rouge au 
 blanc." 
 
 * " Idem me a balneo exeunlem frigida (aqua) perfundebat; quas res, ctsi erat 
 molesta, magnopere juvabat." (Busbequii Epi.st. i. p. 68.) 
 
 t See the preface to L'Eveque's History of Russia. In pddition to bis examples, 
 I need only mention tlie word /ios//.s, which, as we learn from Cicero, (OHic. L i 
 c. 12.) had formerly signified a sirnger ; and in the Russian language it is stU used, 
 with a guttural sound of tiie h, in the same sense. The English word gui st seems to 
 be <lerived from the same source. (Sec Bcrnardi Etymologicon, vo. guest.)
 
 315 
 
 bath, as it is still used in the Russian and Turkish empires, from the 
 northern extremities of Europe to the neighbourhood of the tropic ; 
 while the Gothic families, who overspread and settled in the 
 Western empire, suffered the vapour baths to fall into disuse.* But 
 the custom itself is certainly derived from the North : the inhabit- 
 ants of the temperate climates, and still more those in the Southern 
 latitudes, would naturally prefer the refreshment of cold bathing. 
 The Turks, however, whether they adopted or inherited the custom^ 
 found it established in the Eastern empire, and perpetuated the use 
 of it. 
 
 The public baths are elegant and noble structures, built with 
 hewn stones ; the inner chambers are capacious, and paved with 
 slabs of the rarest and most beautiful marble. Savary has descri- 
 bed the luxuries of an Oriental bath with an enthusiasm, which 
 nothing that I have experienced enables me to account for. A 
 very comfortable sensation is communicated during the continu- 
 ance in the heated rooms, and it is heightened into luxury, Avhen 
 the bather reposes himself on a couch after the ablution. But 
 delicious repose, though the highest gratification to a Turk, can 
 be considered by the European only as rest from pain, and can 
 never excite the raptures of actual pleasure. 
 
 * The country of the ancient Germans is described by Tacitus as covered with 
 voods and marshes, and the climate humid and unpleasant. The inhabitants on 
 rising from sleep washed themselves witli warm water because of the long duration of 
 the winter : but in a moist and foggy country, where the body is naturally saturated 
 with humidity, the use of the vapour bath is necessitated neither by luxury nor 
 utility.
 
 3\6 
 
 A Turkish bath consists of several apartments: the entrance is into a 
 spacious and lofty hall, lighted from above : round the sides are high 
 and broadbenches, on which mattresses and cushions are arranged • 
 here the bather undresses, wraps a napkin about his waist, and puts 
 on a pair of wooden sandals, before going into the bathing rooms. 
 
 The first chamber is but moderately warm, and is preparatory to 
 the heat of the inner room, which is vaulted, and receives lightfrom 
 the dome. In the middle of the room is a marble estrade, elevated 
 a few inches : on this the bather stretches himself at full length, 
 and an attendant moulds or kneads the body with his hand for a 
 considerable length of time. After this operation the bather is 
 conducted into one of the alcoves or recesses, where there is a basin, 
 supplied by pipes with streams of hot and cold water : the body 
 and limbs are thoroughly cleansed by aieans of friction with a 
 horse-hair bag, and washed and rubbed with a lather of perfumed 
 soap. Here the operation ends : the batlier stays a few minutes in 
 the middle chamber, and covers himself with dry cotton napkins ; 
 thus prepared he issues out into the hall, and lies down on his 
 bed for about half an hour. 
 
 uix'uri« 1'^^ Turk, stretched at his ease in his pavillion on the banks of 
 mrn^r""*' the Bosphorus, glides down the stream of existence without reflec- 
 tion on the past, and without anxiety for the future. Ilis life is 
 one continued and unvaried reverie. To his imagination the 
 whole universe appears occupied in procuring him pleasure. The 
 luxuriance of nature, and the labours of a tributary people spread
 
 317 
 
 out before him whatever can excite or gratify the senses ; and 
 every wind wafts to him the productions of the world, enriched 
 by the arts, and improved by tlie taste, of the industrious Eu- 
 ropeans. 
 
 The luxuries of a Turkish life would sink however in the estima- 
 tion of most people, on a comparison with the artificial enjoyments 
 of Europe. Their houses are built in contempt of the rules of 
 architecture : their gardens are laid out without order, and with 
 little taste : their furniture is simple, and suited rather to the 
 habits of a military or vagrant people, than to the usages of settled 
 life : their meals are frugal, and neither enlivened by wine nor 
 conversation. Every custom invites to repose, and every object 
 inspires an indolent voluptuousness. Their delight is to recline on 
 the soft verdure under the shade of trees, and to muse without fix- 
 ing their attention, lulled by the tinkling of a fountain or the 
 murmuring of a rivulet, and inhaling through their pipe a gently 
 inebriating vapour. Such pleasures, the highest which the rich can 
 rnjoy, are equally within the reach of the artisan or the peasant. 
 Under their own vines and their own fig-trees, they equally feel 
 the pride of independence, and the uninterrupted sweets of do- 
 mestic comfort. If they enjoy not the anxieties of courtshipj and 
 the triumph over coyness and modesty, their desires ar€ inflamed 
 and their passions are heightened, by the grace of motion, the 
 elegance and suppleness of form, and the beautiful symmetry of 
 shape and features. The education and modes of life of their 
 women, though certainly too confined and too limited to domestic 
 objects for the cultivation of talents. which exercise and invigorate
 
 Conrersa- 
 tion. 
 
 Story- 
 tellius 
 
 318 
 
 the powers of the mind, yet leave them all the charms which can 
 result from nature, and sentiment, and truth. 
 
 The Turks particularly delight in conversation ; and their col- 
 loquial intercourse is ornamented with all the graces of a manly 
 and polished style. Nothing can convey a more favourable idea 
 of Turkish urbanity than to observe the natural and becoming 
 gravity, the decent raillery, the sprightly turns of expression, and 
 the genuine wit, with which they carry on discourse. In the long 
 evenings of Ramazan a meddhc, or professed story-teller, Kv'iW enter- 
 tain a large company in private assemblies, or in coffee-houses, with 
 histories, which sometimes are pleasingly marvellous, as those 
 of the Arabian nights, sometimes a ludicrous representation of 
 foreign or rustic manners, and sometimes political satyr. Even 
 thfe common people listen to them with pleasure, and criticize with 
 taste and judgment the construction of the fable, the intricacy and 
 developement of the intrigue, the style and sentiments, the lan- 
 s:ua2:e and the elocution. 
 
 Ombres The Standard of delicacy varies so much in different countries, 
 
 Chinoiscs. 
 
 and even among the same people at different times, that it may be 
 unfair to judge of past ages, or of foreign manners, bj a strict 
 comparison with our own established • maxims. The Ombres 
 Ch'moises, which in Turkey supply the want of dramatic exhibi- 
 tions, arc chiefly reserved for the entertainment of retired leisure. 
 I have also seen them sometimes from the window of a coffee-house 
 in a public street ; though I confess I did not partakeof the satisfac- 
 tion which the populace so repeatedly expressed, at indecencies too
 
 319 
 
 ludicrously absuid to excite any other feelinsr than derision or dis- Dancers 
 
 and gladia- 
 
 gust. Young men, born in the Greek islands of the Archipelago, '°'^^' 
 exercise the infamous profession of public dancers : they chiefly 
 perform in the wine houses in Galata ; but they, as well as public 
 gladiators, who attack and defend themselves with a sword and a 
 shield, are frequently hired to enliven the entertainment given at 
 a marriage or a circumcision. The female dancers are Turkish 
 women, of whom I know" nothing but from description, and the 
 imitation of their manner by other women.* 
 
 Of other public amusements of which the Turks are willins *"'''=''= 
 
 ° exercise*. 
 
 spectators, the chief is wrestling. Sandys describes this game as 
 he saw it at Acre in Syria. " Here wrastle they in breeches of oyled 
 leather, close to their thighs : their bodies naked and anointed 
 
 * " Les baladins tschenngny font consister leur talent, non a varier et a perfection- 
 ner leiirs pas, mais a prendre diflerentes altitudes des plus obscenes. Plus ils y excel- 
 knt, plus ils sunt distingues dans la troupe et reclierthes par la multitude." (Tab- 
 Gen. V. iv. p. 424.) " La danse n'etoit ni la peinture de la joie ni celle de la gaiete, 
 mais celle d'une volupte qui arrive tres rapidement a una lascivete d'autant plus 
 degoutante, que les acteurs, toujours inascidins, expriment de la maniere la plus in- 
 decente les scenes que I'amour nieme ne permct aux deux sexes que dans I'ombre du 
 mystere." (Denon, Voyage en Egypte, V. i. p. 13 j.) 
 
 " Les danseuses, — virtues assez lestement, la tete toujours a demi couverte d'un 
 voile, des castagntjttes a la main, et les yeux tantol languissans, tantot etincelans, — 
 KC livrent avec plus d'expression encore que les jeunes baladins aux attitudes les plus 
 libres et les plus obscenes." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 426.) " Leur danse (celle des 
 femmes almes,) fut d'abord voluptueuse ; mais bientot elle devint lascive : ce ne fut 
 plus que I'expression grossiere et indecente de Temportement des sens. Une scene 
 d'ivresse termina la danse." (Denon, V. i. p. 154.)
 
 320 
 
 iaccording- to the ancient use, derived, as it should seem by Virgil, 
 from the Trojans. * They rather fall by consent than by slight 
 or violence." In Turkey the contest in wrestling is not, however, 
 decided by a fall : the victory is determined by one of the parties 
 being thrown on his back, and held in that posture, while his ad- 
 versary recovers his feet. When the wrestlers have finished the 
 combat, or exhausted their strength, they give each other the kiss 
 of peace. 
 
 To ride on horseback and to throw the djerid, a sort of light 
 javelin, are considered as the necessary accomplishments of a 
 Turkish gentleman. They are excellent horsemen, and throw the 
 djerid with admirable dexterity and force. I know of no exercises 
 fitter to give grace, strength, and agility to the body.f The 
 young men contend with each other for superiority in exercises of 
 force or address. A common amusement is to lift a weighty stone 
 on the palm of the hand, and after running with it a few paces, to 
 throw it to the greatest possible distance. 
 
 * " Exercent patrias oleo labente palfestras 
 
 Nudati socii." (jEn. 1. iii. v. 281.) 
 
 t " Djerid signifie proprement roseau : ce nom se donne en general a tout baton 
 qii'on lance i la main, selon des principes qui ont du etre ceux des Remains pour le 
 piium. — Armes de ce trait, les cavaliers entrent en lice, et courant a toute bride, ils sc 
 le lancent d'assez loin. Sitot lance, I'agresseur toume bride, et celui qui fuit, poursuit 
 cl jette a son tour. Mais ce plaisir est dangereux, car il y a des bras qui lancent avec 
 tant de roideur, que souvent le coup blesse, et mcme dcvient mortel." (Volucy, 
 Voyage en Syrie el en Egypte, V. i. chap. x. § 4.)
 
 321 
 
 Physicians liavc observed, that " with no people is lonnfc\ ity Jj'"""''' 
 more common or extended, nor health more constant ; " and if we 
 except the plague, that " Constantinople is not 'exposed to local 
 disorders."* It may, however, he observed that the symptoms ofrhopiaju^ 
 the plague are so inaccurately defined, that it would be a source of 
 endless error to attempt to relate all the pha:nomena of its appear- 
 ances. For my own part, without being so sceptical as Busbe- 
 quius's physician, I am convinced, that the report of an aj)pcar- 
 ance of the plague is, in nine instances out of ten, a confession of 
 ignorance on the part of the physician, or an over-anxiety on the 
 part of the master of a family, who is desirous of removing a dis- 
 eased servant, of the nature of whose malady he is ignorant, and 
 consequently apprehensive. It would be superfluous for me to at- 
 tempt to add any thing to the observations of the physicians, who 
 have studied this disorder in Turkey or Egypt : though I may 
 truly assert, that at Constantinople it excites but little alarm. I 
 have myself, inadvertently however, made a visit to a person, who 
 was afterwards pronounced to have died of the plague: I sat for 
 some time by his bed-side, and even took him by the hand : and 
 as I gave way to no apprehension, I escaped without inconveni- 
 ence. A curious fact accidentally came to my knowledge, and if 
 
 * Dr. Dallaway, p. 16. Dr. Olivier, V. i. p. 157. " The Turks are certainly 
 not subject to the multitude of diseases which infest some other nations. Sores and 
 wounds are managed and healed with more facility." (Dr. \\'ittmaB's Travels, 
 p. 48.) 
 
 See also an observation to the same efflxt in Dr. Pouqueville's Travels, V. ii. 
 p, 128. 
 
 T t
 
 222 
 
 the conduct be not considered as the effect of blind inconsiderate 
 resentment and thirst of revenge, it may serve to illustrate, tbouc^h 
 it cannot explain, the Turkish opinion of the doctrine of predes- 
 tination. Major General Stuart had executed the orders of 
 General Hutchinson, in expressing to the capudun pasha, more 
 forcibly than by words, the resentment, which honouiable men 
 must iiave felt at so flagrant a violation of the most sacred oblio-a- 
 tions, as that of the murder of the beys of Egypt for whose safety 
 the British lionour had been pledged. After the termination of 
 the war General Stuart was again sent by the British government 
 on a mission to Egypt ; and on passing through Constantinople 
 he had an audience of the principal officers of state, and among 
 others of the capudan pasha. Hussein had not forgotten the disci- 
 pline which he uiderwent in Egypt, and in appointing a day for 
 the reception of General Stuart at the arsenal, he meditated a sin- 
 gular scheme of vengeance. The plague raged with some vio- 
 lence, and the pasha ordered two persons dangerously ill to be 
 brought to die in a small chamber, which was kept closely shut up 
 till General Stuart should come. In this room the pasha received 
 his visitors, with a confidence, as to himself, in over-ruling fatalism 
 v/hich it is difficult to account for. He wa.s, however, disappoint- 
 ed in the event ; for his preparations produced no farther mischief, 
 than alarm to the Greek prince Callimachi, who being acquainted 
 with the ciicumstance, reluctantly performed the office of inter- 
 preter. I learned the story on the following day from a lady who 
 visited the princes family, and had heard it from his own mouth.* 
 
 • Tb^re siill hangs 07C7 this infamou| transaction, the murder of the Mameluke
 
 323 
 
 A person infected with the plague should endeavour to reniov« 
 from his mind all vain terrors and pusillanimous apprehensions, 
 should suhinit to necessity with calm resignation, and view even 
 the approaches of death with steadiness and tranquillity. In no 
 disease is the agency of the imagination more powerful to ward off. 
 or to induce, the greatest danger. I knew a lady, who sickened 
 immediately and died with all the symptoms of the plague, on being 
 informed that a person, whom she had visited several days before, 
 was dead of that disorder. The Turks from temperance,rfrom con- 
 sequent robustness of constitution, and from firmness of mind, 
 frequently escape after infection.* In the Greek hospital, which 
 is served by priests, the patient receives no assistance, unless from 
 
 I 
 
 beys, a cloud of mystery wViich time perhaps will dispel. Dr. Wittman's journal 
 exculpates tlie aipitdnn pasha from being the sole author of this treachery : it was done, 
 as he learned at Cairo, by order of the sultan. Certain it is that the scheme was 
 laid at Constantinople. On its failure Mr. Straton, secretary of the British embassy 
 at Constantinople, went to Egypt with a view to the reconciliation of the Turks and 
 Mamelukes; but the latter thwarted the intentions of the negociators, by privately 
 quitting Giza, and removing, for greater safety, to Upper Egj'pt. (See Dr. Witt- 
 man's Travels, pp. 381, 383, 386, 394, 395.) 
 
 * " Fortem posce animum, et mortis timore carentem," should be the advice of 
 the physician to. a patient attacked by the plague. Fear not only disposes the body to 
 the influence of the contagion, but counteracts all the means of cure. " La crainte 
 et la contagion sont une meme chose, dit Vanhelmont. Gaubius met en doute si kg 
 peureux seuls ne sent pas exposes aux epidemics." (Pouqueville, Voyage en Moree, 
 &c. v. i. p. 402.) 
 
 The particular example adduced by Dr. Pouqueville in confirmation of this theory 
 (V. i. p. 4n.) I consider rather as a prolongation of his dedicatory epistle, than as aii 
 historical fact; although instances of such conduct, which the Doctor challenges historj'^ 
 to parallel, are so common in Turkey as to occur daily, and to pass unobserved, 
 
 6
 
 324 
 
 the consolations of religion. Various methods of treatment have 
 been used with different success ; but no medicine, or mode of 
 treatment, has yet gained an established reputation. Busbequius's 
 physician, who indeed seems to have doubled of the existence of 
 the plague as a distinct disorder, considered scordloii, or wild 
 garlick, as a sovereign remedy, and applied it ethcaciously as 
 such. Mr. Baldwin recommended friction with oil, and au oiled 
 shirt. * Dr. ViiUi, a Milanese, who obtained a more intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the plague by inoculating himself, observed that 
 indigo operated as a preventive. Whatever researches, however, 
 are made, must come from foreigners: the Turkish indifference 
 counteracts all efforts to subdue the plague, and there is no inter- 
 ference of the police, even to prevent the Greek priests of the hos- 
 pital from continuing the infamous traffic of selling the clothes of ^ 
 the persons who have died under their care.'l' 
 
 * " A copious and comfortable perspiration was the result of this friction." — 
 " Although I have to lament the failure of the oil in the cure of the plague, in the 
 case of Gunner Cowden the artillery-nian, yet I am induced to think it was useful in 
 preventing infection to the three men confined in the lazaretto tttit." (Dr. Wittman's 
 Travels, pp. 487, 488.) Mr. Jackson in his history of the coiinnerce of the Mediter- 
 ranean, (p. 64.) says, that the coolies, or porters employed Lu the oil stores in the king- 
 dom of Tunis, seldom eat any thing but bread and oil : they smear themselves all 
 •ver with oil, and their coat is always well soaked with it. 'I'hou^^h the plat;-ue fre- 
 quently rages in Tunis in the most frightful manner, de-^tr^rying many thousands of 
 *iie inhabitants, yet there never was kiijwn au instance of any of the cuoiics bv'm'^ 
 affected by it." 
 
 t " Garlick, vinegar, opiutn, laudanum, mercurj', porftjmcsi, and, according to 
 Some, wine and strong iiijuors, arc preser/ativcs against the plague, Panac|as, cordia!.^^ 
 a light vegetable diet, and a strict regimen arc usually cmployt.d as the means of cure-
 
 325 
 
 Europeans have sometimes ascribed the frequent appearance of 
 the plague to a neglect of cleanliness. Ou the contrary I iiave 
 always observed among tlie Turks the greatest attention to the 
 performance of this duty, and am surprised to find in the writings 
 of some respectable travellers, accusations of the contrary habit. 
 When attention to personal cleanliness is prescribed by religion, 
 we do indeed observe that, although the letter of the precept be not 
 transgressed, yet it is seldom strictly complied with according to 
 the intention of the lawgiver. It is, however, difficult to suppose, 
 that the charge of slovenly filthiness can really attach to persons 
 who wash their faces and limbs five times every day, and perforin 
 the ablution of the whole body once at least in every week.* In 
 the interior of the Turkish houses the greatest attention is paid to 
 cleanliness : the chamber floors are carpeted, or covered with 
 Egyptian matting ; and though it be a general custom to leave at 
 the foot of the staircase the boots or sandals, so that the halls and 
 galleries are seldom soiled or dirtied, yet' the floorings of the 
 houses are regularly washed every M'eek. A traveller (who it may 
 be supposed has taken up the opinion too hastily, since he des- 
 cribes the habits of the Turks from the state of a muddy Thracian 
 village in the winter season) concludes, that they live in the midst 
 
 Broth is pernicious, and bleeding is almost always fatal. The patient seldom suffers 
 beyond the third or fourth day ; and out of an hundred infected persons, scarcely eight 
 or ten escape death." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 38q4 
 
 * " It is however to be wished," says D'Ohsson, (V. iv. p. 382j " that they 
 would more frequently change their linen, and employ for somt other parts of tl*e jr 
 dress only such stuffs as are capable of being washed."
 
 826 
 
 of filth, breathing the very miasmata of the plague ; and that the 
 cause of this disease need not be sought for elsewhere than in their 
 abominable negligence and nastiness. * So rash a judgment 
 would seem scarcely to deserve the labour of confutation, were it 
 not that the charge which it contains is implied in some degree 
 by D'Ohsson himself, from his arranging his observations respect- 
 ing the plague under the head of " cleanliness," and more di- 
 rectly countenanced by his admitting the suggestion, that " in 
 Thrace this epidemical scourge may derive its existence from the 
 unwholesome food and uncleanly habits of the people."! I can 
 only account for the seeming incongruity of D'Ohsson's remarks' 
 in the chapter to which I allude, from the circumstance of his 
 work having been prepared for publication by a native Frenchman, 
 who has incorporated in the general plan, opinions on this sub- ' 
 ject gathered from his own studies, without sufficiently attend- 
 
 * See Voyage a Constantinople, p. 143. 
 
 t After having asserted, that " rien n'egale leur attention, dans I'un et I'autre sexe 
 a se laver ct a se baigner presque tons les jours, tant pour sutisfaire leur gout partkulier 
 que pour obeir a la loi des lustrations :" — that " les niaisons, les hotels publics, les 
 cafes, les boutiques, les magazins, les ateliers, les bains, &.c. presentent par-tout un air 
 de proprete ;" D'Ohsson expresses a natural astonishment that Europeans should 
 judge so unfavourably of tlie Ottomans, as to attribute to their inattention to cleanli- 
 ness the periodical return of the plague and other epidemical distempers ; and yet, 
 in the very next page, the sentence occurs which I have inserted in the text. " II 
 r'entre pas dans le plan de notre travail, et les bomes de nos connoissances ne nous le 
 permettent pas d'ailleurs, d'examiner si dans la Thrace cette funeste epidemic n'auroit 
 pas pour principe la niauvaise nourriture et la mul-proprete dis liabitans," (See Tab. 
 Gen. V. iv. pp. 382. 383, 384.)
 
 327 
 
 ins: to tlieir incolieiency \vltli the result of D'Ohsson's observa- 
 
 tions.* 
 
 If tlie cai'se of the plap;uc could be accurately ascertained, 
 reason and nature would point out the means of prevention and 
 cure. The ancients, both Jews and Gentiles, confessed their 
 ignorance of its origin, hy calling it " the sacred malady," and 
 considering it as an emanation of the divine wrath. The modern 
 Greeks call the lAa^^ue thanatiko, " the deadly," and the Turks 
 from an opinion that its true name is an unlucky omen, more 
 frequently call it rnubarek, " the propitious," from the same mo- 
 tive that the Greeks denominated the Furies Eumenides, a name 
 of sinular signitication. Volney, though he knew no parts of the 
 Turkish empire besides Egypt and Syria, asserts that Constanti- 
 nople is the birth-place and principal seat of the plague, where it 
 is perpetuated by the blind negligence of the Turks. But this 
 opinion is controverted hy the fact, that many of the French sol- 
 
 * " I have been informed, though I do not recollect by whom, that the unfortunate 
 Rabaut de Saint-Etienne revised the " Tableau general de Tempire Othoman." 
 He has indeed inscribed his name, as it were, in the preliminary discourse, where he 
 particularly alludes to the favourite hypothesis ofM. Eailly and himself, the existence 
 of that primitive people from whom the most ancient nations, whose uiemorials or 
 ■whose names have been transmitted to the present age, collected the fragments of 
 gCtence, which it is probable themselves had not discovered, since they were unable to 
 reconstruct tliem, and which their predecessors alone seem to liave formed into a 
 connected system. " On admire," says the author of the Discours Preliminaire, 
 (whom no one that knows, can suspect to be, D'Ohsson.) "On admire les progres 
 rapidcs de ITurope Chretienne dans toutes les parties des sciences. Eije a repandu la 
 luisaiere sur les ages les plus reculet de I'autiquite, dissipi les tvne'jm qui iciejrcient le 
 berceau des ancuns pciiples ; &c."
 
 328 
 
 diers fell victims to the ravages of the plague during the period 
 vhen Eg\pt remained in the power of the French, when its ports 
 were blockaded, and all communication with other nations was 
 cut off; M'hile at the same time Constantinople was in a great 
 measure free from the infection. The insalubrious state of a coun- 
 try and the impurity of the atmosphere seem best to account for 
 the existence, or introduction, of the plague : but in inhabited 
 countries, these physical evils are induced chiefly from moral 
 causes. If the error of Agamemnon, the crime of a moment, drew 
 <lown upon the Grecian army the vengeance of Apollo ; if the sin 
 of David brought pestilence upon the innocent house of Israel ; 
 how much more must the despotism of the Turkish government, 
 d system which nature revolts at, excite the anger of heaven, and 
 provoke the reflux of augmented evil. On every page of the 
 Ottoman history is inscribed this instructive lesson, that not only 
 The moral happiness of a nation is diminished, but even the sources 
 of physical blessings are contaminated, in exact proportion to the 
 injustice of its political institutions. " General health," says 
 Raimond, " is inconsistent with extreme servitude." Under a 
 tyrannical or vitiated government the culture of the earth is in a 
 great degree neglected ; the morasses are undrained, and the stag- 
 nant waters generate and diffuse corruption ; the people's labour is 
 limited to procure only the necessary means of supporting animal 
 life ; their food is insufficient and unwholesome ; their cottages arc 
 low and humid ; their habitations are lurking places, chosen M'ith 
 no regard to healthiness of situation. It is in such countries that 
 we find the plague and the leprosy, with all their horrible con-
 
 329 
 
 coiTiitants, raised to an emincuce supciior even to that of the 
 tyrant, and suhjecting alike to their sway the oppressor and the 
 oppressed. In Greece, while its inhahitants breathed freedom, the 
 plague was transient or unknown. In Egypt, while wisdom tem- 
 pered the harshness of its laws, the wind of the desert blew only 
 temporary destruction ;* and though the periodical inundations of 
 the Nile covered the whole surface of its valley, yet human industry, 
 stimulated and encouraged by a provident government, drew fat- 
 ness from its luxuriance, but averted the noxious effects of its 
 exhalations. It has been calculated that during the existence of 
 the Roman republic, a mean period of twenty-one years elapsed 
 between each return of those epidemical distempers, which, from 
 their general diffusion over Italy and Europe, and their fatal con- 
 sequencesj may in some degree be denominated pestilential. From 
 Augustus Cassar to the year of Christ 1680, there were ninety- 
 seven plagues ; but the mean interval between each is reduced to 
 the term^of seventeen years. Since that period, the piogress of 
 civilization among the states of Europe has re-established order in 
 government, and opposed a barrier to epidemical disorders. The 
 period in the history of Europe the most fertile in calamities, lies 
 between the years IO6O and 1480, and is marked with thirty-two 
 destructive plagues : their common interval is twelve years. But 
 in the fourteenth century, the age when disorder and distress had at- 
 tained their greatest height, Europe had been wasted with fourteen : 
 
 * " Seroit-il hors de Traisemblance de dire que la peste est une emanation mortifire , 
 du vent de lamm." (Pouqueville, V. i. p. 406.) 
 
 Uu
 
 G30 
 
 fatal and almost universal plagues. In the two next succeeding 
 centuries governments began to re-assume their vigour, and re- 
 movetl to a greater distance this common curse of the human race, 
 the scourge of tyranny in governors, no less than of slavish sub- 
 mission in the people. In the seventeenth century the plague 
 became still less frequent, until at length it has entirely disappear- 
 ed from civilized and Christian Europe : and if Europeans still 
 possess wisdom and virtue sufficient to secure their liberties on a 
 solid basis, we may confidently hope that its ravages will be eter- 
 nally removed from our borders. May Englishmen at least, 
 since liberty has fixed her favourite residence in this happy island, 
 still listen to her salutary admonitions, and cherish, in its first 
 principles, that vigour of mind and body which she alone can be- 
 stow. Hygeia herself is but the handmaid of liberty. The sacri- 
 fice which she requires, the incense whose fragrance she most 
 delights in, is the happiness of her votaries ; the gayety of youth, 
 the temperate cheerfulness of manhood, and the serene comforts of 
 declining life. It is she alone, whose breath disperses the noxious 
 vapours, whose smile dispels contagion from the atmosphere, who 
 spreads her plentiful table, and invites her children to that tempe- 
 rate luxury, that semi-epicurism which best contributes to habitual 
 cheerfulness, and is the acknowledged preventive of infection and 
 disease. * 
 
 * I am chiefly indebted to Raimond, as well for the facts as the reasoning respect- 
 ing the origin of the plague. (See Histoire de I'elephantiasis, page 104, quoted by 
 IV. PouqueviUe in his chapter " De la pcste," V. i. p. 419.)
 
 33f 
 
 Mourning, or any external expressian of grief, is considered as Moumine. 
 a murmuring against the dispensations of Providence, and repro- 
 bated by law and custom. The mother, however, is allowed! to- 
 lament the death of her son, and to mourn for tEree days ; an'ct 
 though all restrain their feelings, and at most indulge in melan- 
 choly, yet they decorate the tombstones of their parents, their chil- 
 dren, or their friends, with epitaphs expressive of their fondness^ 
 and affection, of regret for their loss, and their hopelessness of find- 
 ing any further enjoyment in this world. They divert their melan- 
 choly by prayers, and other acts of devotion, for the relief of 
 the departed soul ; and are frequently seen, kneeling by the- 
 side of a new made grave, and performing their pious superero- 
 gations.* 
 
 They hasten to relieve the sufferings of the soul on its quittlng^ intermsnts 
 
 and funeral' 
 
 the body, by almost immediate interment, and never willingly de- 
 
 moim- 
 mt-nts. 
 
 * The prayer peculiarly consecrated to the burial service of the INIahometans is as 
 follmvs. " Have mercy, O God; on the living and dead, the present and absent; 
 the great and small, the males and' females, among thy servants. May those to whom. 
 thou hast given life, live and die in the belief and profession of Islamisni. May this 
 thy servant deceased enjoy through thy mercy peace and rest. Pour upon him the 
 blessings of thy grace and favour. Increase the merit of his good deeds if lie be found 
 in the number of the just, and blot out his iniquities if he have sinned before thee. 
 Grant him, O God, peace and salvation, let him approach, and- continually dwelt 
 before, thy eternal throne. Save him from the torments of the tomb, and the punish- 
 ment of everlasting fire. Let him be numbered among the blessed in Paradise. Let 
 his tomb be a. place of refreshment and. delight. Have mercy upon him, O thuu^ 
 whose attribute is mercy."
 
 332 
 
 fer the burial till the morrow of the decease.* Such precipitation 
 must sometimes be productive of the most dreadful consequences; 
 and the evil is further extended by the practice being imitated by 
 the Jews, and the Greek and Armenian Christians. 
 
 The Turks conceal the body, during its passage to the burying 
 ground, under a shell or coffin, called tabut, at the head of which 
 is the turban, or muslin, denoting the rank, or sex, of the person. 
 It is carried to the grave by the friends of the deceased ; a duty 
 enjoined by the prophet, who has declared that he who carries a 
 dead body the space of forty paces, procures for himself the expia- 
 tion of a great sin. The graves are shallow, and the body is pro- 
 tected from the immediate pressure of the earth, by thin boards 
 placed over it obliquely. The Greeks and Armenians carry the 
 body through the streets <lressed up in its greatest finery, and on 
 the burying ground enfold it in a winding sheet. I have myself 
 met a procession, returning with the body of a Greek exposed on a 
 bier, which, on the brink of the grave, had given signs of life ; and 
 I have heard of bodies being interred, notwithstanding unequivo- 
 cal symptoms of animation. Tic Tott, with his usual levity 
 and exaggeration, says, that " in the Turkish burying grounds 
 the voices of sojne unhappy people have been heard from be- 
 
 * " On ne doit pas differer la sepulture d^un fidele decede; et cela en vertu de ces 
 paroles divines " llatez-vous d'inhumer vos morts, |)our qu'ils puissent jouir aussitot 
 de la beatitude eternelle, s'ils sont decedes dans la vcrtu et dans I'l'lection ; et qu'au 
 contraire, s'ils sont morts dans le vice ot dans la reprobation, vous ecartiez loin dc 
 90W des ames condamnees au feu de IVnfer." (Tab. Gen. V. ii. p. 298.)
 
 355 
 
 neath ; and they were left to perish for want of immediate relief, 
 which was withheld that the fees of interment might not be re- 
 stored." 
 
 The tomb-stone at the head of a man's grave is erect, and 
 decorated with a turban carved in stone, which distinguishes it 
 from that of a woman. The cemetery is a wood of cypresses, 
 as a tree is planted near every new grave. All persons, except 
 the sultaii's families and some few of high rank, are buried with- 
 out the cities ; and as a grave is never again opened, a vast tract 
 of the country is occupied by the burying fields, among which one 
 at the head of the harbour, supposed to contain the remains of 
 Ayub, a companion of Mahomet, who fell in the first siege of 
 Constantinople by the Arabs, and was esteemed a saint and 
 martyr, is distinguished by a great number of elegant Mausolea. 
 Those on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus are preferred by many 
 persons, because the holy cities of ^Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, 
 and Damascus are situated in that quarter of the world. 
 
 The epitaphs contain the name and quality of the deceased, the 
 day of his death, and an exhortation to the passenger to repeat the 
 introductory chapter of the Koran, fatihha : they represent deatii 
 as the term of human misery, congratulate the deceased on his 
 happiness, and compare his soul to a nightingale of paradise. 
 " May the Eternal deign to envelop his soul in a cloud of 
 mercy and gladness, and cover his tomb with the brightness of 
 .divine light." Qn the tomb-stones of their children, the parents
 
 bewail their affliction, and complain that death has plucked the 
 rose from the garden of beauty, has torn the tender branch from 
 the parent stock, and left a father and a mother to consume the 
 remainder of their lives in grief and bitterness.
 
 CHAPTER VII r. 
 
 WOMEN, AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 
 
 Distribution of apartments in Turkish families. —Subjection of the 
 zvomen; — attd their privileges. — Marriage. — Polygamy and di- 
 vorce. — Reciprocal duties of the husband and wfe. — Domestic 
 arrangements. — Household establishment of the women. — Home 
 furniture, and mode of life. — Amuseincnts, — occupations,— and 
 character of the Turkish women. — Primary motived for the 
 seclusion of women.- — Inquiry as to its effects in promoting mar- 
 riages, — in enforcing the observance of the conjugal duties, — in 
 influencing the public character. — Persons and dress of the women. 
 — Harems of Turkish gentlemeri, — and grandees. — Imperial hd- 
 rem. — Titles and degrees of precedency among the ladies. — Domes- 
 tics and guards of honour. — State of the women.~^The slave- 
 market. — Public women. — Emiuchs. 
 
 1 HE Turks, in their families, allot certain apartments to the oistribu. 
 
 I'll !•• -11 1 /• ''"" "^ 
 
 women, which they distmguish by the name of harem, a word sig- apartments 
 
 in Turkish 
 
 nifying a sacred retreat, a place of privacy apd security, from fa""'''*- 
 which all men are excluded except the master of the family. 
 Access is interdicted even to the nearest male relations of the
 
 336 
 
 woman, except at seasons of public, or on occasions of private^ 
 rejoicing, when the father and father-in-law, the brothers, and the 
 uncles are admitted to offer their congratulations in a short and 
 ceremonious visit.* The women in Turkey are thus strictly con- 
 fined to the society of their own sex, and the very i'cw males whom 
 the law allows them to see with impunity. The apartments of 
 the men are called sclamliJ,-, or apartments for. the reception of 
 visitors, t 
 
 Subjection xhe European, familiarized witli the idea of the natural equality 
 wumeni ^£ j.|^g scxcs, looks with pity on the situation of the women, 
 throughout the Turkish empire, and almost the whole continent 
 of Asia : he sees them degraded from being the associates of man 
 and the softeners of his manners, to the rank of the mere creatures 
 of his will and the slaves to his appetite. Controlled in all tlieir 
 inclinations, restrained in all their actions, watched over with in- 
 delicate observance, and forcibly constrained to regulate their life 
 and behaviour, so as to obtain the partial, and slightly determined, 
 favour of an imperious, and perhaps a detested, master ; exposed 
 to insult and caprice, to the torment of jealousy, or the hopeless- 
 ness of ungratified desire ; in some instances, torn from their pa- 
 
 * " Fratribus quidem earum videndi facultas permittitur : at maritorum frdtribiis 
 uon item." (Busbequii Epist. iii. p. 121.) 
 
 " Les plus proches parens, tels que ICs freres, les oncles, les beaux-peres, n'y sont re^us 
 qu'dcertaiues epoques de I'annee, c'est-a-dire, dans les deux fetes de beyrtim, et a I'occa'- 
 «ion des noces, des couches, et de k circoncision des enfans." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 3 1 8.) 
 
 t The word harem signifies not only the women's apartments, but also the ftmald 
 part of a 1'urkisli family taken collectively.
 
 337 
 
 rents, from the guardians of their infancy, and the companions of 
 their youth, cut off from ho])es, innocently hut imprudently in- 
 dulged, exposed to sale like the inferior classes of animals, and 
 fluctuating, according to the will of their lord, between the situa- 
 tion of his servant or his mistress. In the most favourable point 
 of view, the woman's situation appears little enviable: her husband, 
 though constant in his affection, and dear to her from motives of 
 gratitude and dut}', is her only male acquaintance ; and he must 
 of necessity be frequently absent from her. She cannot be seen 
 abroad with him, nor he remain constantly at home with her ; his 
 occupations or his amusements will draw him from the listless and 
 unvaried scene of the harem; while his wife, without any know- 
 ledge of literature or the arts, has no relief but in the duties of her 
 household and family. The care of her person, more than per- 
 sonal comfort requires, must be irksome, since, however adorned, 
 it can excite no other passion than envy in female bosoms. 
 
 To an European lady, duties so exercised must appear painful, 
 and such pleasures insipid. To drink coffee and eat sweetmeats, 
 to play at chess and view the ludicrous movements of a puppet- 
 shew, to perform ablutions and repeat set forms of prayer, would 
 augment, instead of dissipating, the wearisomeness of existence : 
 and yet, from the earliest period of history, the women of Asia 
 have submitted, without a murmur, to these rigorous institutions ; 
 and the same, or nearly the same system was established in Athens 
 and in Rome, and subsisted, till the degeneracy of manners and 
 the progress of luxury had tarnished the glory, and sapped the 
 foundations of these illustrious republics. 
 
 Xx
 
 338 
 ar.j their jj jg gij incontrovcitible truth, that western Europe 8\ves ks~ 
 
 privileges. 
 
 high refinement to the liberty of women, and their consequent in- 
 fluence on public manners. But I by no means think that the 
 happiness of Asia would be increased, or its virtue improved, by 
 such an adoption of European customs. Nay I even suspect that, 
 could so important a change be brought about, the women would 
 have little reason to congratulate themselves upon it. It must not 
 be supposed that the Turkish women are confined to their houses ; 
 on the contrary, women of all ranks indulge themselves in frequent 
 parties abroad, on foot, in boats, or in carriages. At every public 
 exhibition, except it be of such a nature that women cannot with 
 propriety appear at it, they form the most numerous part of the spec- 
 tators, and always occupy the most advantageous situation.* If the 
 
 * " The ladies go in coaches to see the camp as eag'erly as ours did to that of Hyde- 
 park." (Lady M. W. Montagu's LeUers, V. ii. p. 181.) 
 
 The manners of the Orientals are so strict in every thing which regards the women, 
 that no information on this subject can be obtained by inquiries. It must be by ex- 
 perience and observation alone that tlie historian can hope to obtain a glimpse of 
 the Turkish economy. I would not advise the traveller to repeat the bold experiment 
 of Mr. Gell, and explore at an unseasonable hour, and with some little infringement of 
 thelawsof hospitahty, the secrets of the harem. The imitation of Ranger should I think 
 be confined to our theatres : but, unless the observer possess something of the " quid- 
 libet audendi" of Europeans, he will be liable to fall into the same errors as D'Ohsson, 
 who, bom arayah, and educated in slavish principles, coidd never dare to fix his eyes 
 upon a Turkish woman, nor divest himself of respect for the cudgel, the symbol of 
 Turkish authority. " Women of a certain rank," he says, (V. iv. p. 321.) " seldom, 
 appear in public : they even consider it as derogatory to their dignity to go abroad, 
 unless they are obliged to do so by some indispensable necessity. One seldom meets 
 any Turkish women in the streets, except those of the inferior classes, and tliey arc 
 always closely veiled, observing the strictest circumspection, and never speaking to any 
 person, even their nearest relations if they should chance to meet them. It would be 
 
 1
 
 . -339 
 
 women are deprived of the society of the men, they suffer no more 
 than tlie men do from want of intercourse with them. The mar- 
 ried women are mistresses of all the domestic arrangements, aic 
 perfectly uncontrolled in the selection of their female acquaintance, 
 and in the choice of suitable amusements. The possessions of the 
 wife, whether originally her own or the gift of her husband, are 
 sacredly preserved as her exclusive property, and can upon no ac- 
 count be reclaimed by the husband, or be confiscated to the state, 
 though the whole of his fortune, and even his life, be doomed to 
 forfeiture.* Instances have even occurred where the husband, bv 
 making over a great part of his property to his wife in order to pre- 
 serve it from the grasp of power, has become dependent upon her 
 for his very subsistence. The wife may bequeath the whole of her 
 property, however acquired, by will, free of any restraint or limi- 
 tation. In case of her dying intestate, the law allots a certain 
 proportion of her estate to the surviving husband, and regulates 
 the disposal of the remainder among the relations of the deceased. 
 
 the height of indecency in a man to stop and gaze at them ; and if he should so far for- 
 get himself as to utter an equivocal expression, or take the least liberty, nothing could 
 save him from the pursuit of the city-guards, or the resentment of the people, who 
 would beat him to death as a just punishment for his indecent temerity." 
 
 * " Upon the whole," say* Lady M. W. Montagu (V. ii. p. 124.) " I look upon 
 the Turkish women, as the only free people in tlie empire : the very divan pays respect 
 to them, and the grand signor himself, when a pasha is executed, never violates the 
 privileges of the harem, (or women's apartments), which remains unsearched, and entire 
 to tlje widow. They are queens of their slaves, whom tlie husband has no permi-v-ion 
 so much as to look upon, except it be an old woman or two that his lady chooses" — 
 " neither have they much to apprehend from the resentment of their husbands, thos^ 
 ladies tfcat are rich having all the money in their own hjmds."
 
 340 
 
 If the wife has never been gratified with the assiduities and adula- 
 tion of courtsliip and gallantry, she is however recompensed by 
 the respect and attentions of her children; for from the sovereign 
 to the lowest subject, the name of mother is never mentioned but 
 M-ith reverence, and the filial duties towards her are performed with 
 the warmest aiFection.* 
 
 Marriage. IMarriagc is considered by the Turks merely as a civil contract. 
 It receives its validity from the authority and registration of the 
 cadi, or the magistrate of the district before whom it is solemnized, 
 not however by the parties themselves, as neither the bride, nor 
 any female, attends at the ceremony : the deed is executed by 
 - proxies, and signed by witnesses, who are usually the nearest rela- 
 tions of the two families, the imam of the parish, and a few friends 
 of the parties. The presence of the imam, or priest, is essential in 
 no other respect ; though, in order to give additional solemnity to 
 the ceremony, he is generally employed to pronounce a nuptial 
 benediction on the new married couple. The contract of mar- 
 riage, which is drawn up with due formality, contains a stipulation 
 of the dowery to be settled on the wife, in the event of her surviv- 
 ing her husband or being repudiated by him, and also an account 
 
 * The duty of children towards their parents is acknowledged and inculcated both 
 by the precepts of the Koran, and the example of Mahomet. In his early infency he 
 was deprived of his fadier, his mother, and his grandfather; but one of the few miracles 
 ^ which he performed was calling his mother Emineh from the tomb, in order that she 
 
 might believe in his mission, and be no longer excluded from the enjoyment of para- 
 dise. (Tab. Gen. V. i. p. 199.) " The decree of Mahomet," says Gibbon, (Rom-. 
 Hist. V. ix. p. 323.) " that, in the sale of captives, the mothers should never be sepa- 
 rated from their children, may suspend or mederate the censure of the historian."
 
 341 
 
 of the marriage portion .and otlier property belonging to Iici, 
 which, in case of her death or separation, must be restored or ac- 
 counted for agreeably to the inventory. Marriage differs from 
 concubinage only in this stipulation of adowery, or settlement on 
 the wife : and the privilege it confers on the woman is onlv the 
 establishment of her claim, exclusively, to tlie caresses of her hus- 
 band on the evening of djiimm 'a guiun. If this duty be complied 
 with, his irregularity at other times is not legally a ground of com- 
 plaint.* The children of the bondswomen and the free are equally 
 legitimate.! In addition to marriage and concubinage, there is 
 another peculiar mode of cohabitation in Turkey, which indeed is 
 little resoi'ted to : this is called kapin, and is a contract, obligatory 
 
 * Djumm 'a guiun is the name of the day which commences at sunset on Thursday, 
 and ends at the same hour on Friday. 
 
 " Una nox singuhs hebdomadibus diei Veneris apud eos festi, uxori reservatur, quaj 
 sine querela defraudare earn maritus non potest; cffiterai noctes ejus arbitrii sunt." 
 (Busbequii Epist. iii. p. 122.) 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Irene, who proposed, when she should be queen, to restore the splen- 
 dour of the cities, rebuild the palaces, and even authorize the public exercise of the 
 religion, of the Greeks, was not aware of the very limited portion of authority to be 
 confen-ed upon her by her marriage with the sultan. 
 
 t " There are many among the Tarks," says D'Ohsson, (V. iv. p. 343.) " who 
 prefer the society of their female slaves to the restraints of matrimony. In Europe 
 these women are improperly termed concubines, since their connection with their mas- 
 ters is permitted, and their children are no less legitimate than those of the wife." I 
 •know not whether the circumstances mentioned by D'Ohsson will be considered as 
 sufficient to remove all slur or reproach from the character of these ladies, and I carmot 
 suppose that he attaches the same ideas to his words, as Europeans usually do, when 
 he asserts, (p. 346.) that " to live with a mistress is an irregularity unknown among 
 Mahometans."
 
 nd di- 
 
 342 
 
 on the parties for a limited time, fixing the period of their -union 
 and the conditions of their separation, and recognizing the duties 
 to be performed by the father towards the children. 
 
 Toiy-amy Polygamy and divorce are authorized by the law of Mahomet , 
 but the Turks, without much speculative reasoning on the subject, 
 seldom resort in practice to institutions so injurious to the interests 
 of society. In instances of polygamj^ all the wives are either pur- 
 chased slaves, or women of an inferior condition to the husband, 
 and they rank in estimation according to the number, or the sex, of 
 their children : but if a man has married a woman of equal rank 
 with himself, she constantly retains her dignity : and if she admit 
 of rivals, which is frequently guarded against by the marriage con- 
 tract, they either have a separate and inferior establishment in the 
 same harem, or live with her as her servants.* 
 
 Divorces seldom take place : incompatibility of temper is the less 
 felt as the parties do not from custom live much together. The 
 usual, and only allowable, cause for divorce in our country would 
 meet with severer reprobation in Turkey, and the marriage would 
 be dissolved by the death of the party offending. The husband 
 who inflicts the punishment of instant death on his inconstant 
 wife, is not only held innocent by the law, but may even found his 
 
 * " Lorsque k harem est compos'^ de plusieurs fenimes, chacune a sa table parti- 
 eull^re, attcndu que, dans I'econoinie doniestique, tout est absolument distinct et 
 )<cpare entre elles. Cet ordru eloit necessaire pour eviter les tristes efllets de la jalousie 
 <:t de la rivalite. II est pcu d'exemples que deux feinmes vivent ensemble." (Tab. 
 Gen. V. iv. p. 31.)
 
 343 
 
 claim to the inheritance of her property on the murder which he 
 himself has committed.* Sterihty, which entails more disgrace 
 among the Turks than with us, is the chief cause of divorces. The 
 wife too, if she have cause to complain either of neglect of conju- 
 gal duties on the part of her husband, or of the want of the neces- 
 saries of life, or of the commission or apprehension of violence, 
 may appeal to the law and obtain a divorce f The husband who 
 has formally repudiated his wife, cannot take her again vmtil she 
 have been remarried and again divorced. The law not only jus- 
 tifies whatever means a woman may employ to preserve herself 
 from shame or injury, but even commands her to employ poison, 
 if it be necessary, in order to defend her honour from violence. 
 
 * Merry and forgiveness are however recommended by the example of the prophet. 
 His favourite wife Aische or Ayesha, (between ^^hose age and that of Mahomet there 
 was indeed a disparity of forty years,) inconsiderately stepped from the litter in which 
 she usually followed her husband in his military expeditions, and absented herself for a 
 Hioment in a neighbouring wood. Neither the venerable character of her husband, 
 nor the purity of her own intentions could preserve her conduct from calumny. The 
 prophet divorced her on his return to Medina; but after a few days, re-admitted her 
 to his embraces, on being assured of her innocence by a divine revelation ayeth. The 
 heretical Persians still persist in traducing her reputation; but the Turks religiously 
 reject tlie insinuation, that her fond husband was only duped into the disbelief of her 
 infidelity. 
 
 t " In causis quibus divortium mulieribus permissum hte continentur : si mariti 
 debitis eas alimentis fraudent; item si prseter naturte prsescriptum (quod nefas Turcis 
 familiare) eis abuti conentur. Tunc ad judicem profectse se non posse diutius apud 
 maritum manere testantur : judice causam queerente, nihil respondent, sed exutumpede 
 calceum invertunt. Id judici abominandas veneris indicium est." (Busbeqini Epist. iii, 
 p. 122.)
 
 344 
 
 The same privilege is extended to the wife, who after having been 
 separated from her husband by the ceremony of divorce, finds her- 
 self compelled to resist his usurpation of the privileges which he has 
 renounced. 
 
 Reciprocal Mahouiet himsclf, a man of warm imagination, disposed to en- 
 
 tluties of .,.,,. 
 
 thehus- ihusiasm which necessarily heightens the passions, and naturally 
 
 band und 
 
 ^''^''- a lover of women, did not deprive them of the rank and honour 
 due to them, either in civil society, or in the enjoyment of para- 
 dise. The Koran expressly declares, that in the future distribution 
 of rewards and punishments, God will make no distinction of 
 sexes ; but the prophet does not insult the modesty of women by 
 unveiling to their imagination a paradise of sensual pleasures. The 
 dangerous secret was left to be divulged in modern times, and the 
 grave president Montesquieu has exhibited, in his description of 
 the female elysium, all the aids and instruments of luxury. A 
 meadow of lively verdure enamelled with beautiful flowers first 
 receives the victim who has escaped from an earthly harem, a rivu- 
 let meanders through the midst of it, the birds warble through the 
 surrounding groves, and a superb palace, placed in a magnificent 
 garden, terminates the prospect, and contains within its walls the 
 company of celestial youths, whose occupation through eternity is 
 only to contribute to her amusement.* JMahomet, knowing the 
 influence of women over men, exhorted liis followers not to marry 
 
 * Lettres Persannes, lettre cxli. " .le vous demande grace, leur disoit Zulema, car 
 je vois bien que vous ^tes gens a n'en demander jamais."
 
 '3A5 
 
 unconverted polytlieists ;* but he provided for the connubial hap- 
 piness of the female believers by'enforcing on their husbands the 
 sanctity of the conjugal embrace, and the sin of neglecting it. 
 The man is reminded of the necessity of performing this sacred 
 duty by the comparison which is drawn between it and our daily 
 and necessary occupations. " Your wives," says the writer of 
 the Koran, "are as your garments;" garments, not to be laid 
 aside even in the month of Ramazan, the season of fastino- and 
 penitence: and, in another passage, " Your wives are your tillaoe, 
 labour therein for the good of your souls. "t The wives are en- 
 joined to honour their husbands ; but the husband is instructed to 
 return the honour, diminished however by one degree, a gradation 
 not very easily to be ascertained. The harsh measure divorce is 
 recommended to be tempered by the gentleness and politeness of 
 the method of effecting it, and softened by benefits and presents. 
 Whatever has been given to the wives they retain ; and after wait- 
 ing the legal period of four months, or a longer period of conven- 
 tion during which their maintenance is provided for, they are at 
 liberty to seek for a more sedulous, or less capricious partner. 
 
 * Mussulmans are strictly prohibited from forming' alliances with idolaters. The 
 faitliful may marry Jewish or Christian women, and their children must be Mussul- 
 mans; but the female believer is forbidden to imite herself with au infidel. 
 
 + " Voila des preceptes qui rendent la vie d'un veritable Musulman bien laborieuse. 
 Celui qui a les quatre femmes etablies par la loi et seulement autant de concubines, ou 
 d'esclaves, ne doit-il pas etre accable de tant de vetemens ?" (Lett. Pers. lettre cxiv.) 
 
 " Non e cosa, che non tentino pel fomite alia libidine, valendosi fuor di misura 
 d'ogni rimedio violento, che a quell' intento non giova; e pregiudica alia salute." 
 (Marsigli, Stato milit. dell' unp. Ottom. V. i. p. 37) 
 
 Yy
 
 346 
 DomestiL- Huiiie supposcs that the Asiatic manners are destructive of social 
 
 arrange- * . , ^ . , 
 
 ments. intcrcourse, and that no one dares introduce a friend to his house 
 or table, lest he should bring home a rival : but in this he is mis- 
 taken. The household establishments are separate and uncon- 
 nected ; and the Turk, like Hume's epicurean, quits the conversa- 
 tion of his friends and the pleasures of the table, for the company 
 of his wife or mistress in a distinct suite of apartments. 
 
 Household An incorrect and humiliating idea is conveyed, though perhaps 
 ment of the unintentionally, of the Turkish harem, by the assertion, that 
 
 ■women. 
 
 " females among the Turks lead a gregarious life, and are associated 
 together in small apartments."* A numerous harem can however 
 be collected only in the palaces of the richest and greatest of the 
 Turks, and whatever privations, in other respects, the women may 
 suffer, they are certainly not huddled together as a flock, nor 
 House fur- peuucd up iu Small apartments. In a Turkish house there are no 
 
 niture, and 
 
 mode of chambers exclusively appropriated as bed rooms : the usual May 
 of sleeping is on a light mattress, which is spread on the sopha or 
 in the middle of the chamber, and sometimes in the gallery, ac- 
 cording to the season of the year and the temperature of the weather. 
 Neither men nor women lie down completely undressed, but have 
 night-dresses, resembling, e.Kcept in the inferior quality of the ma- 
 terials, the under-clothes which they wear in the day. Tlie bed- 
 furniture, which in its greatest perfection consists but of a quilted 
 coverlet, a sheet, and a pillow, is laid up during the day iu a closet 
 or press which every chamber is provided with. Every room in a 
 
 '^ Dallaway, Constant, ancient and modern, p. 107. 
 
 life.
 
 347 
 
 Turkish house serves for every purpose; and the furniture in all 
 differs only in fineness of quality or richness of ornament. The 
 sopha extends round three sides of the cliamber on a frame raised 
 a few inches from tlic floor. The minder, or mattresses, as well as 
 the cushions, are stuffed with wool, and smaller cushions for the 
 more distinguished guests are filled with cotton. The macat, or 
 covering, is of woollen or silk stuff", bordered with a deep fringe ; 
 and the cushions are of velvet, or of gold and silver tissue. The 
 floor is covered, according to the season, with carpets or Egyptian 
 matting, except a small part near the entrance where the papucliesy 
 or slippers, are put off'. The use of chairs and tables is almost un- 
 known. The dinner is served up on a large circular tray of copper, 
 tinned, which is placed on a low stool, at a corner of the sopha, 
 and the guests sit round it cross-legged, the youngest or least ho- 
 nourable sitting on cushions placed on the floor. In the ladies 
 apartments the tanndiir usually occupies the corner of the sopha 
 during the winter months, and besides being used for warmth, 
 answers all the purposes of a table and a toilette. In most houses 
 there is no chimney except in the kitchen. Persons of rank or 
 property easily brave the severity of the winter in their spacious 
 apartments, wrapt up in the most costly and comfortable furs : 
 sometimes a chafing dish, called inangal, is placed in the centre of 
 the chamber ; but the use of the tanndur is general in the boudoirs 
 of the harem. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu has described this 
 singular invention, which I beheve is peculiar to Constantinople 
 and its neighbourhood, as the use of it does not extend beyond the 
 sea-coast of Asia Minor, nor to the northward beyond the Danube. 
 Its heat, which is confined under coverlets, is moderate and agree-
 
 meuts. 
 
 348 
 
 able ; but being unequally difFused, and directed chiefly to the legs 
 and feet, besides injuriously affecting those parts, disposes the body 
 more easily to catch cold.* 
 
 Amuse- SiTioking Is an universal custom in the Turkish harem, but Lady- 
 
 Mary Wortley Montagu prudently excludes so disgusting a parti- 
 cular from her portrait of the Turkish ladies. I cannot assert from 
 experience, that the most offensive consequence of this custom is 
 corrected by the chewing of masttc, which it is supposed whitens 
 and preserves the teeth, and by stimulating the salival glands, 
 assists digestion. Coffee and confections, which in Turkey are 
 delicious, are taken as elegant and necessary refreshments, and are 
 always presented to visitors. Sherbet and perfumes are more cere- 
 moniously introduced, as denoting greater respectf 
 
 * The tanndur is in the form of a table, of the height of two cfc tliree feet, with a bot- 
 tom on which is placed a chafing dish of earthenware or copper, containing a small quan- 
 tity of hot ashes. The company sit around it with their legs under the carpet or quilted 
 coverlet, which is thrown over it. D'Ohsson supposes that European ladies would 
 ■willingly adopt it, and would experience less inconvenience from the moderate heat of 
 the tanndur than from the brisk action of the chimney-fire. Olivier, who was at Pera 
 in the year 1794 when the French were separated from " la bonne societe," describes 
 the abuses of this utensil in the families of the inferior Greeks and Franks. (See Lady 
 M. W. Montagu's Letters, V. ii. p. 219. Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 115. Olivier's Travels, 
 v. i. p. 149. 
 
 + Doctor Rallaway visited the palace of Bey Khan Sultan on tl>e European shore 
 of the Bosplwrus, " where," he says, (p. 140.) *' a confection of exquisite flavour was 
 offered, called the consene of rubies, as well from the richness of the other ingredients, 
 as that pounded rubies were a part of iho composition. So capricious are their prepara- 
 tions in the confectionary art" The fact, since Doctor Dallaway asserts it, cannot be 
 called in question j but we muiit sucdy admire the dura iUu of the delicate sultana.
 
 549 
 
 The more elegant occupations of the harem are working in em- oeoupa- 
 broidery, and superintending the education of young ladies, who 
 are taught to express themselves with the greatest purity and cor- 
 rectness of language, to read, and to write a neat and legible hand. 
 These qualifications are indispensable to the education of a lady of 
 fashion ; and singing, dancing, and music are also considered as 
 polite accomplishments. Whether their dances be of the same 
 character as those of the professed actresses I cannot pretend to 
 determine : they certainly are not all so, and I should think they 
 rather resemble the romaika, or choral dances of the Greek 
 women.* 
 
 Such are the studies and qualifications of young ladies of the su-andcharac, 
 perior ranks, whose leisure and fortune enable them to acquire i"i-kish 
 
 women, 
 
 those elegant arts which constitute the distino-uishins; characteris- 
 
 D'Ohsson (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 73.) mentions a similar composition, djewahir-nMdjouny, 
 electuary of precious stones : but I am so incredulous as to suppose that both these 
 gentlemen have been misled by a sounding name. I indeed discover from the writ- 
 rags of the Christian historians of the Ottoman empire, tliat pounded diamonds have 
 sometimes been made use of by the sultans ; for it is related that Selim the First admi- 
 nistered a dose of this confection to his father, by the hands of a Jewish physician whose 
 head he immediately caused to be cut off, and so efficacious was this preparation in 
 the confectionary art, that Bajazet died on the road before he could reach Demotica 
 the place of his banishment. (See D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 801.) 
 
 * The account here given differs considerably from that of the Chevalier D'Ohsson. 
 (See Tab. Cu-n. V. iv. p. 333.) But as I have it from persons engaged to give lessont; 
 to young ladies in th« empress-dowager's palace, I think there can be no reason to doubt 
 the veracity of it.
 
 SoO 
 
 lies of polished society, or vender them dehghtful companions in 
 retirement. They are also most carefully instructed in the deco- 
 rum of manners and every thing belonging to the dignity of their 
 rank in life, as well as in those arts which add poignancy to their 
 personal attractions. The amiable character of their sex is not 
 perverted by their institutions ; and if their soft and voluptuous 
 caresses excite desire, the flame is cherished and refined by tlieir 
 native delicacy, their gentleness and modesty, and their engaging 
 sensibility. They are endeared to their husbands by the exercise 
 of all the conjugal and parental duties, and the charm which they 
 diffuse over every circumstance and change of life. Can we refuse 
 them the virtues of compassion and humanity, when Denon tells 
 us, that, during the insurrection at Cairo, an old lady in the 
 neighbourhood, in spite of national resentment and religious pre- 
 judices, offered her harem to a number of Frenchmen as an 
 asylum against the fury of the populace?* Or can any thing more 
 excite our admiration of the Turkish women than the heroic beha- 
 viour of those who survived the storming of Oczacow ? It was on 
 the festival of Saint Nicholas in the month of December, in a win- 
 ter unusually severe, that about four hundred Turkish women 
 ■were put under the superintendance of Mr. Eton, and huddled 
 together under tents, though it froze exceedingly hard, and they 
 suffered dreadfully from cold and nakedness. " I observed," 
 «ays Mr. Eton, " that there remained a perfect silence among 
 lliem : not one Moman weeping or lamenting, at least loudly, 
 
 * DeiKHi, Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte, V. i. p. 205.
 
 351 
 
 though every one perhaps had lost a parent, a child, or a hus- 
 band."* 
 
 In the early state of Turkish society, while the men were em- Primary 
 ployed in the lahours of the field or the exercise of the chace, the *^'- s«iu" 
 
 sicin of 
 
 women were devoted exclusively to domestic occupations. The "'"""^■°- 
 same habits of separation continued, when their modes of life, in 
 other respects, were changed : and the precepts of their new reli- 
 gion defined with rigour the duties to be observed by either sex. 
 But the precautions used In Turkey to conceal the women from 
 the public view, whether the custom originated with themselves or 
 
 * See Survey of the Tuikisli empire, p. 120. Prince Potemkin, according to Mr. 
 Eton (p. 118.), was a very luimane man: but had Mr. Eton himself a correct idea of 
 humanity, when he tells us, that this humane man " might have taken the fortress on 
 the first of .f uly, but purposely protracted the siege, thougli he saw his own troops 
 perishing from the excess of the cold r" (Pref. p. xiii.) " As 1 spoke Turkish," says 
 Mr. Eton, " I had the guard of that post, and the superintendance of the women that 
 night." Here is a strong and positive assertion, on the accuracy of which must de- 
 pend our confidence in Mr. Eton's qualifications, and our belief in the general correct- 
 ness of his statements. Now Mr. Eton relates, that when the Russian officers came to 
 distribute the prisoners in different parts, some Turks objected to the separation of 
 friends and relations, but several of the women said to the Tui-ks, let iliem do as iliey 
 will, they are our masters now, " In tlie two first words," says Mr. Eton, (p. 118.) 
 " they expressed the same notion of their superiority as the men had done, but the re- 
 mainder of the sentence is not uncharacteristic of Turkish women in general." Wliat 
 Mr. Eton really means by this sly insinuation, he alone can explain. I shall confine 
 myself to a philological remark. The Turkish verbs are not conjugated, as ours, by 
 means of auxiliaries : the two first words are no more expressed in Turkish, in the 
 phrase " let them do," than they are in Latin. Etsinler is the third person plural of 
 tlie imperative of the verb etmek (to do) : and I think it would puzzl'e Mr. Eton to 
 point out in which of the three component syllables of tliis word he was able to detect 
 that expression of superiority, at which himself and the humane Russians were so muck 
 oiTended.
 
 352 
 
 was adopted from other nations, are less to be attributed to jea- 
 lousy and suspicion, than to respect for the persons, and reverence 
 for the modesty, of women ; and they are perhaps to be considered 
 as an homage to female beauty, which the Turks think no man 
 can behold with indifference, or with mental purity. In their 
 houses tlie women are screened from intrusive curiosity, and their 
 dress, when abroad, without any pretensions to elegance, muffles 
 their bodies, and seems purposely designed for concealment. The 
 thin covering of muslin which veils only a part of their faces, 
 leaves them, however, perfectly free to observe the persons of the 
 men. If jealousy dictated such a disguise, it could not more 
 eflfectually have defeated its own purposes ; for the spirit of in- 
 trigue could scarcely suggest a more happy expedient to elude 
 vigilance, and to deceive, without alarming, suspicion. The 
 means of preventing indiscretion by watching over the women's 
 conduct must necessarily be limited to the idle, or the rich ; so 
 that, if there be equal virtue in Turkey as in Christendom, there is 
 at least equal merit. 
 
 Inquiry as I" ^ gcucral survey of the Turkish empire, there are perhaps as 
 
 10 its fffcots _ . n • 1 • , • , 
 
 iiipromot- icw unmanicd persons or either sex, as m other countries ; so that 
 
 ine m.'ir- 
 
 riag s. the seclusion of women does not appear to operate as an impedi- 
 ment to matrimony: for though ambitious men defer their domes- 
 tic establishments till they have advanced or secured their fortunes, 
 yet the husbandman, the artisan, and the tradesman generally 
 contract marriage as a preliminary to their settling tliemsclves in 
 business. Indeed it would not be allowed to an unmaiTied man, 
 or which is considered as the same thing, to a person who has no
 
 353 
 
 woman in his family, to keep a house and an independent establish- 
 ment in Constantinople. The evil then extends no farther, than 
 to restrain girls from general conversation, and to confine the 
 attention of wives to their conjugal duties. It cannot by any 
 means be complained of as a hardship upon the women, or a par- 
 tiality to the other sex. 
 
 "The morality of Turkish women," says Lady Mary Wortley i,, enforc- 
 er , t • -I 111 • -1 '"S "i6 ol>- 
 
 JMontagu, " is as with us, and they do not commit one crmie thesewamcof 
 
 the ci)nju- 
 
 less for not being Christians :" but intrigues, except among the s^' ''"'if^s* 
 indigent who are not overlooked by servants or duennas, are at- 
 tended with obstacles not easily surmounted.* Some authors men- 
 tion the bath as a rendezvous of lovers, but I do not hesitate to 
 assert, that no assignation was ever made at a public bath.f 
 
 * I point out, without commenting on, the incorrectness or the exaggeration in 
 D'Ohsson's account of whatever relates to the Turkish women. 
 
 " On voit qu'il est presque impossible aux femmes de manquer aux lois de la de- 
 cence et de la pudeur, si naturelles d'aillcurs a leur sexe. Renfermees dans leur appane- 
 ment, a peine y respircnt-elles tin airUbre; toutes les croisees qui donnent au-dehors ou 
 sur la cour dela maison, sont garniisde ce qu'on appelle ailleius si impropremenl des 
 jalousies. Celles qui ont un jardin n'ont pas nienie la liberie de s'y promener en tout 
 temps. Pour la leur accorder, il faut ctre sur qu'elles n'y rencontreront jamais les pas 
 d'un mortcl. Veulent-elles aller au bain public, voir leurs parentes, faire des emplettes, 
 ou sp promener, elles sont toujours accompagnees des autres dames de la maison, suivies 
 de Icurs esclaves et gardees {jar des eunuques, ou par des domestiques specialemcnt 
 preposes pour cet objet. Excepte celles qui sont avancees en age, aucune ne peut 
 aller a la mosquee : d'accord avec les mceurs, la loi les ea dispense." (Tab. Gen. 
 V. iv. p, "320.) 
 
 t This mistake, I apprehend, may be ti'aced to a defective quotation from Busbe- 
 quius^ who says (Epist. iii. p. 123.) " MuUeres inter se amant, conciliatrices vero nefa- 
 riorum amorum sunt balnese." 
 
 Z z
 
 354 
 
 Others mention Jewesses and Armenian women as the conductors 
 of intrigues, and they allege that correspondence is carried on be- 
 tween the lovers by means of the flowers of a nosegay. Such 
 means are indeed possible, and so are a thousand others, which 
 have been, and no doubt are, daily resorted to in Constantinople, 
 as in every populous and luxurious capital. 
 
 If a Christian be detected in a criminal intercourse with a Tur- 
 kish M'oman, he is obliged not only to mairy her, but to espouse 
 her religion, otherwise he is irremissibly condemned to death.* 
 The only intrigue with a foreigner ever mentioned to me on un- 
 doubted authority, and with circumstances analagous to Turkish 
 customs, was with an English officer, employed in the Turkish 
 service at Ruschiuk on the Danube during the last Russian war ; 
 and nothing could be more simple than its contrivance. The 
 lady, who knew no language but the Turkish, came to the house 
 of the officer, whose knowledge of the language did not facilitate 
 communication between them ; the exposure of a beautiful face ex- 
 plained the motive of her visit. Their intimacy was detected, and 
 the gentleman sought protection from Sir Robert Murray Keith, 
 who was then negociating the peace at Sistove ; and the lady, as 
 he afterwards heard, justified her conduct, or at least was pardoned 
 by her husband. 
 
 * Lord Sandwich says, (p. I58.)tliat "their measures for procuring opportunities 
 ■of frequent interviews are always so well laid, that a discovery is next to impossible." 
 But, as his Lordship candidly confesses that he does not speak from his own experience, 
 Iiis testimony only authorizes a suspicion, that a secret so well kept has no foundation 
 in realitv.
 
 355 
 
 It cannot be denied that the severity of the Turkish institutions '" influen- 
 cing the 
 
 must be productive of incorrectness of taste, and irregularity of p"''''^ '^''*' 
 
 I ' o J racter. 
 
 conduct in both sexes.* Whether these partial inconveniences 
 are overbalanced by more general advantages, M'ould be a matter 
 of great difficulty and delicacy to decide. The great corrective 
 of public depravity is domestic manners, and if the women be too 
 scrupulously, yet they are effectually, removed from the chief se- 
 ductions to irregularity. The interior of their houses is pure and 
 untainted with vice and obscenity. Domestic virtue is honoured 
 with public approbation, and misconduct is censured with unre- 
 lenting severity. 
 
 We are told that pleasure is the chief duty o?" Turkish wives : 
 and it may be true of the wives of the voluptuous ; yet even these 
 shew at least so much reverence to their children and their fami- 
 lies, as to conceal from observation the workings of the passions, 
 and sacrifice so little duty that few mothers neglect the care of 
 their infants-t Those, Avho have observed them in their families, 
 
 * " Cum vero vulgus mulierum promiscuis sui sexus balneis utatur, eo plures, cum 
 sense turn liberoe, aggregantur; in qiilbus puellae niultae sunt eximia forma, ex diversis- • 
 orbis regionibus variis casibus collectae, qua; cum nudae ut in balnei:; reliquarum oculis 
 €xponantur, miros in quibusdatn excitant amores, nihilo minores quam quibus apud 
 nos adolescentium animos virgines commovent." (Busbequii Epist. iii. p. 122.) 
 
 " Quod de mulieribus, idem et de pueris sentiunt, quorum amoribus, si qua alia gen?, 
 ffraecipue Turcte indulgent" (Georgii Dousse iter Constant, ap. Gronovium, V. vi. 
 p. 3350.) 
 
 t " Toutes les meres, en general, sans en excepter les sultanes, nourissent elles- 
 Biemcs leursenfaas." (Tab. Gen. V. iv. p. 331.) 
 
 Mahomet himself is never more amiable than when he enforces this pleasing dut}\
 
 356 
 
 acknowledge that their highest pleasures are the caresses of an 
 infant whom they nourish with their milk. The harem is indeed 
 susceptihle of v^oluptuousness : Lady M. W. Montagu has de- 
 ^scribed it with accuracy, though not witliout enthusiasm ; but the 
 president Montesquieu has heightened its enjoyments with all the 
 jrlowofa heated ima2;ination.* We must however acknowledge 
 
 " The kiss given by an infant to its mother equals in sweetness that which we shall 
 imprint on the threshold of paradise." 
 
 * See a description of Lady Mary's visit to Fatima, in her letter vritten from 
 Adrianople to the Countess of Mar. (V. ii. p. 1C8.) " I could not help thinking I had 
 been sometime in Mahomet's paradise so much was I charmed with what I had seen." 
 
 See Lettres Persannes, lettre iii. — " Zachi a Usbek." 
 
 " J'errois d'appartemens en appartemens, te cherchant toujours, et ne te trouvant 
 
 jamais; mais rencontrant par-tout un cruel souvenir de ma felicite passee. Tantotje 
 
 me voyois en ce lieu ou, pour la premiere fois de ma vie, je te regus dans mes bras; 
 
 tantot dans celui ou tu decidas cette fameuse querelle entre tes femmes. Cliacune de 
 
 nous se pretendoit superieure aux autres en beaute : nous nous presentames devant 
 
 loi, apies avoir epuise tout ce que Timagination pcut fournir de parures et d'ornemens : 
 
 tu vis avec plaisir les miracles de notre art; tu admuas jusqu'ou nous avoit emporlees 
 
 I'ardeurde te plaire. Mais tu fis bientot cedcr ces charmes empruntes a des graces 
 
 plus natuielles; tu detruisis tout notre ouvrage : ii fallut nous depouiller de ces orne- 
 
 inens. qui t'etoient devcnus incommodes; il fallut paroitre a ta vue dans la simplicite 
 
 de la nature. Je comptai pour rien la pudeur; je ne pensai qu'a ma gloire. Heureux 
 
 Usbek! que de charmes furent etales 4 tes yeux ! Nous te vlmes long- temps errer d'en- 
 
 chantemens en enchanteniens; ton amc inccrtaine demcura long-temp> sans se fixer; 
 
 chaque grace nouvclle te demandoit un tribut : nous fumes en un moment toutes couver- 
 
 tes de tes baisers : tu portas tes curieux regards dans les lieux les plus secrets ; tu nous fu 
 
 passer, en un instant, dans mille situations difterentes; toujours de nouveaux coninian- 
 
 demens, etune obeissancc toujo\a-s nouvclle. Je te I'avoue, Usbek; unc passion encore 
 
 plus vive que rambitiou uie fit souhaiter de tc plaire. Je me vis insensiblemont dcvtnir 
 
 la maitresse de ton coeur: tu me pris, tu me quittas ; tu revins a. moi, et je sus te rete- 
 
 nir : le trioinphe fut tout po\ir moi, et le destspoir pour mes rivales : il nous sembla que 
 
 uous iiiasions seuls dans le nionde; tout ce qm nous entouroit ne fut plus digne de noui 
 
 6
 
 O.iJ 
 
 that its pleasures admit of degrees ; or v/e must doubt the bold 
 assertion of De Tott, tliat "Turkish women contribute but little 
 to the pleasures of their possessor, whom the harem only inspires 
 with disgust."* Mr. Eton asserts, that " the husband regards 
 his wives only as the instruments of his pleasures, and seeks their 
 society with no other view." But can the heart of the Turk be 
 supposed to deviate so far from the usual course of human natuie, 
 as to be shut against the endearments of which marriage is the 
 source? AVith whatever view, or under the influence of whatever 
 passion, he may have formed his harem, the various affections must 
 have their turn ; the husband, the father, and the friend, must suc- 
 ceed to the lover, and from these social affections must spring, in 
 due order, the high and noble passions, which Mr. Eton justly 
 attributes to the influence of female society. 
 
 " The women," it is rashly asserted, " cannot be desirable com- 
 panions to the man, because they have no cultivation of mind, 
 and are stupid and solitary. '"t But the education of women of 
 every rank is, at least, suitable to the manners of that particular 
 state of society in which they move, and leaves them no inferiority 
 with respect to their husbands. We do wrong to expect among 
 
 occuper. Plut au ciel que mes rivales eussent eu le courage de rester temoins de toutes 
 les marques d'amoiir que je reyus de toi ! Si elles avoient bien vu mes transports, elks 
 auroient senti la difference qu'il y a de mon amour au leur; elles auroient vu que, si 
 elles pouvoient disputer avec moi de charmes, elles ne pouvoient pas disputer de sensi- 
 bilite." 
 
 * See Memoirs, preliminai-y discourse, p. xxiii, 
 
 t See Survey of the Tmkish empire, p. 242.
 
 358 
 
 women of the lower classes much useful or ornamental knowledae; 
 but though the fleeting images of daily occurrences alone occupy 
 their reflection, yet their domestic and family concerns are dis- 
 cussed with no less interest by their husbands, than by themselves. 
 " It must be confessed, " says the Chevalier d'Ohsson, " that the 
 way of life of the Mahometan women, estimable as it makes then> 
 in the eyes of their husbands, and dear to their families, deprives 
 them, however, of the means of acquiring those qualifications, 
 which heighten the personal and mental attractions. But not- 
 withstanding the few advantages which they derive from education, 
 nature abundantly compensates for the neglect. The Turkish 
 women seem to inherit acuteness of discernment, and delicacy of 
 taste and judgment. Their deportment and manners are graceful 
 and amiable, their conversation chaste and unaffected. I have 
 occasionally met with ladies of quality at the hotels of the ministers 
 or magistrates, and I have admired the purity of their language, 
 their easy elocution, the refinement of their thoughts, the noble- 
 ness of their style, and the grace which accompanied their words 
 and actions."* 
 
 ?mons The Turkish women are beautiful, though their beauty is of a 
 ofthowo- different character from that of women in the northern climates of 
 
 men. 
 
 Europe. Their dress, Avhen abroad, is little calculated to expose 
 to advantage the elegant proportions of shape, which when young 
 they possess, but from various circumstances in their manner of 
 
 » See Tableau Genera), V. iv. p. 337.
 
 359 
 
 living, do not so generally preserve as the women of the other 
 parts of Europe.* 
 
 Restricted as the women are to a partial intercourse with people 
 of either sex, it is not to be expected that the fashion of dress is 
 subject to such continual variations as in the Christian part of 
 
 * De Tott seems to deny them beauty. He went unexpectedly into Uie apartment 
 of Madame de Tott, when she was receiving a visit from some Turkish ladies. " The 
 outcry was general ; but only those who were old hurried themselves to cover their faces : 
 however, I thought it great vanity in the young ones to make no more haste." " They 
 are exposed in their hot baths to all the inconveniences of a forced perspiration, so 
 frequently repeated as to destroy the freshness of the complexion and the grace of the 
 features, even before they are mairiageable." (P. 45, and preliminary discourse, p. 27.) 
 
 It has been the peculiar fate of the Turkish ladies to be described by writers, who 
 were under the influence of prejudice or partiality. Lord Sandwich says, " We may 
 venture to affirm" (and it is rather a bold assertion, as it is founded on the opinion of 
 other people) " that a person, who had ever experienced an intrigue with a Turkish 
 woman, would have no further taste for the ladies of any other country, whom they 
 would find in every particular so much their inferiors. The cleanliness and sweetness 
 of their bodies, their advantageous dress, which seems made purposely to inspire the 
 warmest desires, the tenderness of their expressions, their words, and actions, which 
 seem enough to declare the unfeigned sentiments of their hearts, their grace, air, and 
 beauty, are sufficient to captivate the most unconquerable breast; while their sincerity 
 and unequalkd conslancy are capable of fixing their lovers affections." (p. 158.) 
 
 I prefer Lady M. W. Montagu's description of them to that of other travellers, as 
 however highly it may be coloured, it is the only one certainly drawn from life. — 
 " Tliey v/alked about with the same majestic grace which Milton describes our general 
 mother with. There were many amongst them, as exactly proportioned as ever any 
 goddess was drawn by the pencil of a Guido or a Titian, and most of their skins shin- 
 ingly white, only adorned by their beautiful hair, divided into many tresses, hanging on 
 their shoulders, braided either with pearl or ribbons, perfectly representing the figure^ 
 of the graces. I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I have often made, that, 
 if it were the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly observed." (V. ii. p. 94.) 
 
 O
 
 360 
 
 Europe : and, as the taste of the country is less refined than vitlt 
 us, tlie women have not yet learned to substitute neatness for 
 magnificence. Their dresses are made of the ricliest stuffs of 
 India and Cachemire, which being too costly to be frequently 
 changed, and incapable of being washed, continue in use for a 
 much longer period than they can possibly preserve the freshness 
 which delicacy requires. Another indispensable article of elegant 
 dress in all seasons is fur: but an animal substance, M'hich is in a 
 slate of continual decay, however it may display the riches of the 
 wearer, is ill-calculated to convey an idea of delicacy. 
 
 Harems of The harcnis of private gentlemen have been frequently visited 
 
 Turkish 
 
 gentlemen, by European physicians, and from none of their descriptions do 
 they appear to be the scenes of vice and debauchery. Few men 
 wish to avail themselves of the licence, which the law allows them, 
 of increasing the number of their wives ; and the slaves in general 
 are not the mistresses of the husband, but the servants or compa- 
 nions of the wife. The right of the master or mistress is mildly 
 exercised in Turkey, and slavery is perhaps the readiest road to 
 honours and preferments : the European prejudices Mith respect 
 to birth are unknown or disregarded, and the male or female slave 
 is frequently incorporated with the family by marriage with the sou 
 or daughter of the master. 
 
 anil gran- Thc harcm in the palaces of the emperor and the great officers of 
 
 dees, 
 
 state is guarded by eunuchs, black, aud deformed, M-hether from 
 nature, or the eflfect of the mutilation. Though I do not pretend 
 to have obtained particular information as to the jurisdiction of
 
 361 
 
 the interior of the Imperial harem, yet I may venture to assert, 
 that these eunuchs, so formidably represented by Montesquieu, 
 officiate only as guards of honour : they neither perform menial 
 offices, nor are they employed about the persons of the ladies. 
 Much less are they invested with command, or do they consider 
 that they are especially appointed to watch over the virtue of the 
 women.* 
 
 No part of the Turkish institutions or establishments has so impeiiai 
 
 • • n n • harem. 
 
 strongly excited the curiosity of foreigners as the harem of the 
 Seraglio, concerning which, as no foreigner can be admitted 
 under any pretence whatever, no direct information can be ob- 
 tained ;t nor indeed information of any kind, except what may 
 be learned by means of ladies, who, having themselves constituted 
 part of the Imperial harem, have been afterwards married to the 
 great officers of the court. D'Ohsson learned, and has communi- 
 cated, some interesting particulars, which he expressly acknow- 
 
 * " It may be perceived in this relation, that the eunuchs were more under the com- 
 mand of the sultana than disposed to contradict her. These beings are in Turkey only 
 an article of luxury, and scarcely met with, but in the Seraglio of the Grand Signer 
 aud those of the sultanas." (De Tott, V. i. p. 77.) 
 
 A passage in Lady M. 'W. Montagu's letters seems to contradict this opinion. But 
 though the fact cannot be doubted, the inference to be drawn from it sliould be exactly 
 the reverse. Speaking of Hafite Sultan, her Ladysliip says, " She has no black 
 eunuchs for her guard, her liusband being obliged to respect her as a queen, and not to 
 inquire at all into what is done in her apartments." 
 
 f " Quant au serail, il est impossible d'y penetrer : aucune Europeenne, aucune 
 Ainbassadrice ne peut se flatter d'avoir reussi dans ses tcntatives a cet cgard." (Tab. 
 C":n.V. iv. p. 328.) 
 
 3 A
 
 563 
 
 JeJo'es to have derived from this source:* Lady ^lary Wortley 
 Montagu conversed on the subject with the widow of Sultan Mus- 
 tafa : other writers have conjectured, and in general have presented 
 to therr readers a gloomy and disgusting picture. 
 
 I^ady Mary has been accused by almost every subsequent writer, 
 (and with tlie greatest acrimony by those whose writings contrast 
 the most strongly with her elegant compositionsf) of having as- 
 serted the untruth, that she had been admitted into the harem of 
 the Seraglio. I willingly take this opportunity of declaring, from 
 my own knowledge of Turkey and its various inhabitants, that, 
 as her Ladyship's letters excel all other descriptions in the graceful 
 simplicity of their stile, soher account of the Turkish manners, in. 
 
 * " Je dois les details qui concementles sultanes, les cadinns, et le harem imperial, 
 aux filles esclaves du serail. On sait que plusieurs d'entre elles peuvent cbtenir leiir 
 liberte apresquelques annees- de service; qu'alors elles quittent le palais imperial pour 
 ctre donnees en mariage a des officiers de la cour, qui les recherchent toujours avec cet 
 interet qu'inspir* I'espoir de s'avancer par ieur credit et leurs soUicitations aupres des 
 sultanes et des dames dont elles sonL les creatures. C'est par ces offieiers, et par les 
 femmes Chretiennes, qui ont la facilite de se menager un acces libre aupres d'elles du 
 moment qu'elles sonthors du serail, quej'ai rectifie les idees fausseset erroneesdontje 
 nie nourissois moi-mcme sur tout ce qui concenie les sultanes, les dames, et le harem du 
 Grand Seigpeur." (Tab. Gen. discours prelilninaire, p. ix.) 
 
 t De Tott (preliminary discourse, p. xv.) questions the authenticity of Lady Mary's 
 letters : he calls them " the pretended letters of Lady Montagu/' — " They were en- 
 tertaining," he says, (p. 161.) " and this was all tlie author desired, and the public is 
 never severe on the errors by which it is amused." Even Mr. Eton presumes to accuse 
 her Ladyship of an inattention to tnrth and accuracy. " I am sensible," he says, 
 (prefa( e, p. iv.) " that I may be accused of treating the Tuite too severely, and parti- 
 cularly by those who admire Lady Worlley Montagu's elegant descriptions, and simi-- 
 lar productions of a warm imagination." 
 £
 
 363 
 
 that higher circle In which she surveyed them, is wonderfully cor- 
 rect. I might indeed challenge her detractors to point out any 
 passage of her writings from Turkey, which could not satisfacto- 
 rily be proved to be true ; but I confine myself to the refutation 
 of that censure which is connected with the present subject, the 
 liarem in the Imperial palace. " I have taken care," says her 
 Ladyship, " to see as much of the Seraglio as is to be seen ;" upon 
 which the late editor of her letters observes in a note, that " it is 
 evident Lady M. W. Montagu did not mean to assert, that she 
 had seen the interior of the Seraglio at Constantinople. She had 
 certainly seen that at Adrianople," he says, "in which circum- 
 stance the error has originated." I have, however, perused the 
 letters with attention, and I do not find it insinuated in any pas- 
 sage of them, that she had seen the interior of either of the Impe- 
 rial harems. It is true that she dined at Adrianople with the grand 
 vizir's lady, and afterwards visited Fatima, the wife of the kiahya- 
 bey, or minister of the interior. But it is evident, that neither of 
 these ladies lived in the Seraglio : and indeed, in her last letter 
 from Adrianople, she says, " The Seraglio does not seem a very 
 magnificent palace : but the gardens are very large, plentifully 
 snipplied with water, and full of trees, xi^hich is all I know of thenij 
 having never been in thetn." These expressions certainly impl}', 
 that she had not even seen all that was to be seen of this palace. 
 At Constantinople Lady Mary went to see the Sultana Hafite, who 
 had been compelled by an absolute order to leave the Seraglio fifteen 
 years before her Ladyship's acquaintance with her. It was there- 
 fore from conversation with these ladies, and not from ah actual
 
 364- 
 
 visit to the Seraglio, that she collected her information respecting 
 certain customs of the Imperial harem.* 
 
 Dr. Pouqueville was introduced, by means of a German who 
 was employed to keep in order the gardens of the Seraglio, into 
 that part of the harem called the summer apartments, at the time 
 when they were not occupied, as the ladies were removed to one of 
 the emperor's country seats on the shore of the Bosphorus. " An 
 event unheard of before," says Dr. Pouqueville in the pride of his 
 heart, "that a traveller had penetrated into the interior of the 
 Grand Signor's palace, and even into his harem, "f But the Doctor 
 is mistaken, for M. de la Motraye, more than a century ago, went 
 even farther into the harem than he appears to have done. J Both 
 of them describe, and no doubt with accuracy, the topography of 
 the Seraglio, its buildings, and the apartments into which they 
 were admitted. But Dr. Pouqueville had read the letters of Lady 
 M. W. Montagu, and firmly believed, from his respect for her 
 authority, that he should meet with walls incrusted with emeralds 
 and sapphires, with parterres enamelled with variegated flowers, in 
 
 * See Works of the Right Honourable Lady M. W. Montagu, V. ii. pp. 188, 
 246. 
 
 + See Voyage en Moree, &c. V. ii. p. 238, note. 
 
 X See Voyages du Sieur de la Motraye, V. i. p. 220. 
 
 Dr. Pouqueville indeed supports his assertion with no better authority than that of 
 his friend the German gardener, who himself had been but a few months in the Grand. 
 Signor's service. — " Notre introducteur nous assura que nous etions les seuls Euro- 
 ptens qui y eussent jusqu'a ce jour penetrii." (Voyages, V. ii. p. 260.)
 
 365 
 
 sliort with all the wonders of enchantment. The labours of his 
 German friend correspoiKled, however, so little with his precon- 
 ceived ideas, that the mere sight of the melancholy garden dissi- 
 pated the illusion. " / cursed the woman from my heart,''' says 
 the ill-mannerly disciple of E iculapius. And why did he so ? 
 Why does he offend the ears of Majesty (for his travels are dedi- 
 cated to the emperor Napoleon) with such coarse and ungentle- 
 manly expressions ; with language which writers in the happier 
 days of French literature would have disowned, which Lewis the 
 Fourteenth would liave spurned? Truly, because our illustrious 
 countrywoman, in her description of a lady's boudoir, does not 
 exactly convey the idea of a garden in the sultan's palace. 
 
 The passage, which has provoked the anger of Dr. Pouqueville 
 against Lady Mary, even to indecency, is the following, from her 
 letter to the Countess of Mar. " What would you say, if I told 
 you that I had been in a harem Mhere the winter apartment was 
 wainscoted with inlaid work of mother-of-pearl, ivory of different 
 colours, and olive wood, exactly like the little boxes you have 
 seen brought out of this country ; and in whose rooms designed 
 for summer the walls are all crusted with japan china, the roofs 
 gilt, and the floors spread with the finest Persian carpets ? yet 
 there is nothing more true : such is the palace of my lovely friend, 
 the fair Fatima, whom I was acquainted with at Adrianople."* 
 Now I aver, from what I myself have frequently seen-, that there 
 is. no exaggeration in this description. But Lady Mary's reputa- 
 
 * Ste Works of the Right Honourable Lady M. W: Montagu, V, ii. p. 234.
 
 266 
 
 tioii for veracity shall not depend on my assertion only : an ac- 
 knowledgment of the consistency of her descriptions with truth 
 might easily be extorted even from her detractors : D'Ohsson, 
 however, with whom imagination is dormant, is alone sufficient to 
 silence calumny, and to confirm the accuracy of her Ladyship's 
 observations. " In the harems of the opulent," he says, " there 
 is a great display of luxury and ornament: in each of them there 
 are generally three or four chambers, the cielings and wainscotings 
 of which are of olive or walnut-tree wood decorated with carved 
 M'ork, or the walls are incrusted with jnother-of-pearl, ivory, ox 
 porcelain of China or Japan."* 
 
 * Tableau Gent'ral, V. iv. p. ITS. 
 
 Dr. Dallaway, in describing the palace of Bey-han Sultan, says veiy justly, that 
 "simplicity or science of ornament is not understood by them; for all that they at- 
 tempt is brilliancy produced by a quantity of colours and gilding." (Constant, ancient 
 and modern, p. 139.) — Motraye, in describing the apartments of the harem, where he 
 accompanied a watch-maker, as his assistant, who was employed to regulate the clocks, 
 says, that the eunuch who received them at the entrance of the harem, conducted them 
 into a hall which appeared to be the chief and most agreeable apartment in the palace. 
 " Cette salle est incrustee de porcelaines fines; et le lambris dore et azure qui orne le 
 fond d'une coupole qui regne audessus, est des plus riches, aussi bien que celui de tout 
 le plafond. Une fontaine artificielle et jaillissante, dont le bassin est d'un precieux 
 marbre verd qui m'a paru serpentin ou jaspe, s'elcvoit directement au milieu, sous le 
 dome." — " Nous tra\crsames diverses belles salks, ct chambres, foulant aux pieds Ics 
 riches tapis de Perse-etendus presque par tout, et en assez grand nombre pour nous 
 faire juger du reste. Je me trouvai la tete si pleine de sophas, de precieux plafonds, de 
 meubles superbes, en un mot, d'une si grande confusion de materiaux magnifiques, mais 
 irreguliercinent disposes, au moins selon notre gout, quil seroit dilTicile d'cn doiuicr 
 une idee claire." (Voyages, V. i. pp. 220. 222.) Even Dr. Pouqueville confesses 
 himself to have been agretably siiriirixtd with the elegance and beauty of tiic kcosk; or 
 paviUion of the grand signor: the richness of the gilding, the decorations, and the fur- 
 niture were all deserving of admiration; and the prospect from it was delightful. .So
 
 Dr. Pouqueville, by the censure which he has thus unjustly cast 
 on Lady Mary Wortley IMontagu, seems to challenge a compari- 
 son between his own and her Ladyships observations on the Turk- 
 ish harems. But they appear to have viewed similar objects under 
 the influence of such different feelings, that scarcely any common 
 features of resemblance can be discovered in their representations. 
 On approaching the gate which opened to the winter apartments of 
 the grand signer's ladies, the doctor's curiosity was strongly exci- 
 ted by the desire of discovering something of this retreat which 
 none but the sultan and his black eunuchs are permitted to ex- 
 plore : it wa^ then that an idea occurred to him with so much force, 
 *' that there are no dangers," he says, " to which he should not 
 willingly have exposed himself, if he could have hoped by braving 
 them to obtain a sight" — of what ? Of the women no doubt ; for 
 a Frenchman, in such a situation, could have thought of nothing 
 else. Alas ! no. The doctor's wishes extended no farther than to 
 obtain a sight of the mouldy remains of the library of the Eastern 
 emperors. He was at length conducted to the apartment of the 
 female slaves : the massy key of the iron gate through which he 
 entered, and the grating noise of the door turning on its hinges, 
 astonished him for a moment : the idea of a black eunuch armed 
 with his dagger, and the hundred deaths which he Avould have in- 
 flicted, occurred indeed, but did not damp the doctor's ardour, for 
 he recollected that all the eunuchs had followed the sultan to his 
 
 that from the concurring testimony of all the travellers who ha\*e written on the sub- 
 ject, it appears, that Lady INIary's description of Fatima's apartments might apply, and 
 «ertainly witliout exagger?,Uon, to the Imperial harem.
 
 368 
 
 country palace. " I felt a lively emotion of sorrow," says Dr. 
 Pouqueville, " when I reflected on the deplorable condition of 
 tliese unfortunate girls ; for I found, on calculating the dimensions 
 of the apartment, that there was space sufficient for upwards of 
 three hundred and fifty beds, and I thought of the mephitical ex- 
 halations with which the air of the chamber must be contamina- 
 ted."* Was ever man before occupied with such thoughts in 
 such a situation ? Caro Signor dottore, lascia le donne e studia 
 la matematica/\ 
 
 f 
 
 \ 
 
 Titles and j(. jg j^nown that the Grand Signor from an indeterminate num- 
 among'th7 ^61" of fcmalc slavcs, \ selects his favourites, who are distinguished 
 by the title of cad'inn and by some authors are limited to seven. 
 The mother of a boy is called hasseky, unless the boy die, in which 
 event she descends to her former rank. The cadinns, or wives, of 
 a deceased or deposed sultan are all removed from the Imperial 
 harem to the Eski Serai, a palace in the middle of the city built by 
 Mahomet the Second ; except the valide sultan, or dowager em- 
 
 * See Voyages en Moree, &c. V. ii. pp. 249, 251,253. 
 
 + See Confessions de Jean-Jaques Rousseau, liv. vii. 
 
 J " Neither the Greeks, the Armenians, nor even the Jews, are, any more than 
 the Turks, subjected to a natural slavery. Tlie despotism ol' the sultan cannot seize 
 llie person of any young girl, wliatever desires siie may have excited in his breast. 
 Though there may still be found among the Grecian women as beavitiful forms as those 
 vlurh served as models to Fraxitclc^, no example of such an outrage is furnished 
 by the Turkish annals." (De Tott, prelimina.'-y discourse, p. 28.) See Gibbon, 
 Yd. 2. p. 240, note 81, for a most odious seizure of wives and virgins by the llotnun 
 emperor Maximin.
 
 56i) 
 
 press, the mother of the reigning sultan, who has her liberty, a 
 palace, and revenues to support a suitable establishment. But the 
 hassckies, or those who have a son living, are treated with marked 
 respect, as, in the natural order of events, they may become val'ulc. 
 The title of sultan, though from courtesy it may be given to the 
 hassekics, is, strictly speaking, appropriatetl to the empress dow- 
 ager, and the sons and daughters of the Imperial family. ^^ All 
 the other ladies of the Seraglio are comprehended under the general 
 name of odaliks, or slaves of the household. 
 
 The klslar aga chief of the black eunuchs is one of the greatest Dnmestirs 
 personages of the empu-e.'r Independently of his authority in the "f ''on'^""-' 
 harem he has the superintendance of all the Imperial mosques, and 
 is charged with the general administration of all the pious founda- 
 tions which relate to them. The hazm vekili, or keeper of the 
 privy purse, is next in rank to the kislar aga and succeeds to his 
 post on a vacancy : the inferior black eunuchs are said to amount 
 to about three or four hundred ; and Olivier asserts, that they are 
 " malicious and peevish, tormented by their impotence, cursing 
 their nullity and endeavouring to thwart the female slaves entrust- 
 
 * The title of sultan precedes the name of a prince, as Sultan Selim, and follows 
 that of a princess, as Aische Sultan. In common discourse the word sultan, with a 
 prenoun affixed, is applied to any person, as Sultanem, my Lord or Sir : but when 
 used absolutely, it signifies only the emperor, 
 
 t The sultan in an official paper of the greatest solemnity calls the kislar agasi " the 
 most illustrious of the officers who approach my august person, and worthy of the con- 
 lidenceofmonarchs and of sovereigns." (Tab. Gen. V. iii, p. 308.) 
 
 3 B
 
 370 
 
 cd to their charge."* It has beea said by Lady M. W. Montagu, 
 and repeated by subsequent writers, that the preference of tlie sul- 
 tan is ahcays officially communicated to the female slaves by the 
 hislar aga ; but I doubt the accuracy of her Ladyship's informa- 
 tion, for, although some ceremony may be observed on the first 
 admission of a lady to the honour of the Imperial bed, it is im- 
 probable that the sultan shsuld use more deliberation than any 
 of his subjects : hke them he acts according to the impulse of the 
 moment, and may occasionally express his sovereign will by throw- 
 ing a handkerchief or by sending an eunuch as his emissary, and 
 sometimes, like Homer's Jupiter, may be surprised into unpremedi- 
 tated dalliance.! 
 
 The white eunuchs are employed without the harem, and have 
 the charge of the gates of the Seraglio, but they neither approach 
 the women, nor arrive at offices more honourable or lucrative 
 
 * Oliviei-'s Travels, V. i. p. 28. 
 
 t Cantemir, though better acquainted with the Turkish customs than any other 
 historian, and quoting, in general, only from good authorities, has rather too lightly 
 adopted the popular errors respecting the secrets of the harem. " If tiie sultan loves 
 any of the women more than the I'est, he can set the croxin upon her head, and she is 
 thenceforward called Husscid Sultana. The other concubines of the sultan cannot liave 
 access to him, un.less they are sent for, but the Hasseki may go in to the sultan with- 
 out being sent for." (p. 29T, note Z(i.) " The sultan is forbidden, by the lawsof tlie 
 Seraglio, to lie with any of the women kept there mthout his mother's consent. Every 
 day, during the feast of bairani, the Sultana mother presents a beaiitiful virgin, well 
 <;ducated> richly dressed, and adorned witli precious stones, for her son's use. And, 
 though the vizir aad tlie other pashas send among other things, young virgins for 
 presents to the emperej, be never touches any one of them, unless *he ia brought to
 
 371 
 
 than the superintendance of the education of the pages. The chief 
 of the white eunuchs is called capu agasi. 
 
 From the gloominess of the exterior, some authors have conjee- state oi the 
 
 women. 
 
 tured and lamented the misery of the beautiful prisoners, " con- 
 demned not only to long privations, to know of love only what is 
 to excite in them desires ; but even deprived of opening their 
 hearts in the bosom of friendship." * For my own part I confess 
 that I prefer the livelier picture drawn by Marmontel, and notwith- 
 standing some inaccuracy in costume, I enjoy greater satisfaction 
 in contemplating the grave and magnificent Soliman, sipping tea 
 with his sprightly French mistress, than in surveying the sombre 
 productions of equally fanciful pencils, t 
 
 him by his mother. If the suUan has a mind to choose a concubine unknown to his 
 mother, he may indeed do it without opposition ; but he is considered as acting con- 
 trary to the rules of the Seragho, and against his mother's honour." (p. 296. 
 note 36.) 
 
 * See OHvicr's Travels, V. i. p. 29. 
 
 t The marriage of Sultan Soliman with his slave " a nez retrousse," which 
 is the subject of one of Marmontcl's Contes moraux, has some real foundation 
 in history; and the other incidents of the fable are justified by tradition. We 
 learn from Busbequius, that Roxalana, having borne a son to the emperor, availed 
 herself of the law which enfranchizes the mother of a mussulman, and refused 
 her further favours to her lover, except on condition of his marrying her. The 
 ceremony had gone into disuse, ever since the captive Sultan Bajazet had been 
 jnsulted by the ignominious treatment of his wife in the camp of Timour (or 
 Tamerlane.) Cantemir accounts for the title of padishah being given at the Porte to 
 the king of France, though it is given to no other Christian prince, by the following 
 story which he received from the Tuiks. " A grand-daughter of the king of France, 
 having vowed a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, was taken near Cyprus by Turkish pirates
 
 372 
 
 But though we cannot penetrate into the secrets of the Imperia} 
 palace, we may learu with accuracy from Lady Mary the state of 
 the harems of other great personages of the empire. She visited the 
 wives of the grand vizir and the minister of the interior, whose ha- 
 rems would undoubtedly be modelledi upon the same plan as that of 
 the Seraglio ; but she heard no expression of discontent or dissatis- 
 faction, no complaint of tyranny or restriction, no regret that the 
 knowledge of love was imperfectly communicated to them. She 
 afterwards visited Hafit<!, wido^^' of Sultan Mustafa, remarried by 
 order of the reigning emperor to Bekir Effendi, secretary of state. 
 Lady Mary's description of the Sultana's establishment, of her 
 dress, of her attendants, and the elegance of the entertainment, is 
 such, as she herself apprehends will appear to have received many 
 embellishments from her liand, and will look too like the Arabian 
 tales : yet the Sultana herself was insensible to any pleasure, but 
 the recollection of the Imperial harem. " She never mentioned 
 the Sultan without tears in her eyes. My past happiness, said she, 
 (and there was no affectation in tliese words) appears a dream ta 
 ine; yet I cannot forget that I was beloved by the greatest and 
 most lovely of mankind." 
 
 The odaliks, or ladies of the household are by no means con- 
 demned to a state of hopeless, or interminable, virginity. They 
 
 and presented to Soliman. On account of her birth and beauty she vas placed 
 among the most beloved concubinef^, and so powerfully attracted ihe sultan's affcclion 
 by her French airs and love rerses, that she had an absolute influence over him, and 
 managed al! aflairs as she thought proper." (p. 206, note 77.)
 
 373 
 
 are sought in marriage by the officers of state, by the governors of 
 provinces, by the courtiers, and by all who are stimulated by am- 
 bition to aspire at preferment, or who seek security under the pat- 
 ronage of the cadinns and sultanas : for from the recesses of the 
 harem, the ladies influence public affairs, nominate to places and 
 favours, and avert or direct punishments.* 
 
 This assembly of beautiful women (for as such we may venture 
 to describe it, since none but virgins of consummate beauty are 
 esteemed worthy of being admitted into the Imperial harem,) is 
 composed of slaves " as far fetched," says Rycaut, " as the Turk 
 commands or the wandering Tartar makes his excursions ; " and 
 chiefly from Georgia and Circassia. Peyssonnel indeed asserts, 
 that Circassians alone have the honour of sharing the Imperial 
 bed, from which the Georgians are rigorously excluded, ever since 
 a sultan, about a century ago, when "at length the morn and cold 
 indifference came," fiistidiously took ofiencc at some unguarded 
 expressions which fell from his Georgian mistress, and declared 
 
 * Dr. Pouqueville, from surveying an empty bed chamber, has ventured to asser^ 
 that ht had examined into all the details of the wretched life of the ladies of the 
 Seraglio. He found a few rags in the corner of a closet, and he demonstrates from , 
 them, that there can be no magnificence in the dress of the odaliks. — The furniture 
 liad been removed to other apartments, and thence he concludes that their furniture 
 must be mean, and that their tables are ill-served, lie observed nothing remarkable 
 in tiie flooring, the walls, or the cieling, and thence proceeds to shew, that when the 
 rooms are lighted up in an evening, a few scattered tapers of yellow wax, on high 
 candlesticks, give a faint light, whose reQection only adds to the gloom of darkness. 
 (See Voyage en Moree, &c. V. ii. p. 253). If this mode of reasoning be legitimate, 
 there seems no possibility of preventing Dr. Pouqueville from drawing any conclusion. . 
 from any premises.
 
 574 
 
 with an oath, that no gul from that country should ever again be 
 received into tlie bed of himself or his successors. But lovers per- 
 juries are the jest of heaven, * and if venial under any circumstan- 
 ces, must be peculiarly so in the present instance ; for Chardin, 
 who travelled through the country, affirms that the Georgians are 
 the handsomest race of people not only in the East, but even in the 
 world : he never saw an ugly face in persons of either sex, but 
 many, on the contrary, that were angelical. Nature has endowed 
 the Georgian women with peculiar graces : they are tall and finely 
 shaped ; their features and complexion, their slender waists and 
 graceful carriage, are indescribably beautiful. " I avef that it is 
 impossible," says Chardin, " to see them Avithout loving them." 
 Nothing indeed can be more ridiculous than Peyssonnefs story, f 
 and it may be dismissed among the numberless absurdities which 
 are related concerning the ceremonies and usages of the Imperial 
 harem ; the custom of creeping in at the bed's foot, the intrigues 
 and jealousies of the ladles, their mutual poisonings, strangUngs, 
 
 * The exclamation of Mademoiselle de I'Enclos, " Ad, le beau billet qu'a De la 
 Chartres !" gives, 1 am afraid, the just measure of the compunction whick is usually 
 felt upon such occasions. 
 
 + The Circassian girl, according to Peyssonnel, entailed upon her nation the 
 privilege of keeping up the Ottoman race by the delicacy of her reply to the 
 sultan's inquiries. He asked if it was almost day, an<l she answered, that " she 
 perceived the approach of Aurora, for already the morning zephyr wantoned in her 
 hair." But this pretty allusion to pagan mythology must have been unintelligible 
 to the sultan. Besides I may afllrm from my own experience, that during the 
 summer season (when it is not unusual at Constantinople for persons to sleep, as 
 the sultan appears to have done, with the windows open) the morning breeze does 
 not begin till several hours afler sumise.
 
 S75 
 
 and drownings, the precedency established among them by the 
 kislar agasi, their visits of ceremony, the incessant homage of their 
 subordinate companions, and the supine happiness, which travellers, 
 who have never spoken to a Turkish woman, affirm to be all that 
 they are qualified to experience.* 
 
 For the ^ratification of the faithful, a market of female slaves avrat "J^^'f «- 
 
 •-5 ■' market. 
 
 hazar is established in the capital.'!" Formerly not only Mahometans, 
 but even Jews and Christians might purchase women for domestic 
 purposes or worldly pleasure : and Sandys says, that the custom, (be- 
 ing prohibited only by our religion,) was general among the Franks. 
 The frail virtue of the Western Christians is, however, at the pre- 
 sent day powerfully supported by the temporal authority of the 
 civil magistrate, and the custom of lying alone, which was almost 
 discarded in Sandys's time, is less rare among them than it appears 
 to have been formerly. :{: All except Turks are now not only ex- 
 cluded from the slave-market, but are prohibited from retaining 
 slaves. 
 
 The slave-market is a quadrangle, surrounded by a covered gal- 
 lery, and ranges of small and separate apartments. It has been 
 
 * " On imprimc tous les jours cent sottises semblables sur les coutumes des 
 Orientaux, et pour un voyageur comme Chardin, que de voyagelir* €oinme Paul 
 Lucas." (Voltaire, Hist, de Charles xii, preface.) 
 
 + A Turkish ambassador at a foreign court was once asked how Ihey made love 
 in liis country ? We do not make love, he replied, we purchase it readymade. 
 
 X See Sandys's Travels, p. 85,
 
 376 
 
 said, that the practices of the owners towards their slaves are re- 
 pugnant to humanity and decency ; but it is more reasonable to 
 suppose, that, as avarice must be the predominant passion of the 
 slave-merchant, he must consequently observe towards the girls a 
 very opposite line of conduct, were it only from motives of self- 
 interest. I once made a voyage in a Turkish vessel, in which a 
 slave-merchant had also taken his passage >\'ith two females, and 
 liis treatment of them was such, that if I had been ignorant of his 
 motive, I should have admired his humanity. At another time, 
 in travelling by land, I passed a day in a khan, on the borders of 
 the Danube, in which a considerable number of female slaves were 
 lodged, and I observed that they were waited upon by their owners 
 with all the assiduity of domestics. 
 
 The manner of purchasing slaves is described in the plain and 
 imaffected narrative of a German merchant, which, as I have been 
 able to ascertain its general authenticity, may be relied upon as 
 correct in this particular. He arrived at Kaflfa, in the Crimea, 
 which was formerly the principal mart of slaves, and hearing that an 
 Armenian had a Georgian and two Circassian girls to dispose of, 
 feigned an intention of purchasing them, in order to gratify his cu- 
 riosity and to ascertain the mode of conducting such bargains. The 
 girls were introduced to him one after another, A Circassian maiden, 
 eighteen years old, was the first who presented herself : she was 
 well dressed, and her face was covered with a veil. She advanced 
 towards the German, bowed down and kissed his hand : by order 
 of her master she walked backwards and forwards in the chamber 
 to shew her shape and the easiness of her gait and carriage ; her
 
 377 
 
 foot was small, and her gesture agreeable. When she took off her 
 veil, she displayed a bust of the most attractive beauty. She rub- 
 bed her cheeks \^ith a wet napkin to prove that she had not used 
 art to heighten her complexion, and she opened her inviting lips 
 to shew a regular set of teeth of pearly whiteness. The German 
 was permitted to feel her pulse that he might be convinced of the 
 good state of her health and constitution. She was then ordered 
 to retire while the merchants deliberated upon the bargain. The 
 price of this beautiful girl was four thousand piastres.* 
 
 * 4,000 piastres were at tliat time equal to 4,500 ilorins of Vienna. See Voyage 
 de Nicliolas-Erncst Kleeniaiij fait dans les annees 17G8, 1769 and ITTO. A 
 Neufchatel, 1180, p. 141, 143. 
 
 Olivier examined the slave-market in virtue of afirnum, or special order from l!;e 
 Porte. Dr. Pouqucville, in ttie eag-erness of investigation, rushed in and was pushed 
 •out again by one of the guards. The short interval between the doctor's intrusion 
 and his ejection was hovvever sufficient, with the aid of an active imagination, to 
 enable him to observe and to describe the building which surrounds the quadrangle,, 
 and the portico or gallery, under which the slaves are exposed for sale in wet weatlier, 
 seated on a bench placed against the wall of their apartments. The women were 
 divided into small parties or lots of fifteen each, seated on mats, cross-legged, in the 
 middle of the quadrangle : their robes, wliich were made of a coarse white woolh n 
 cloth, annoimced theii" sad condition ; but they seemed scarcely aiTected by it, for 
 tliey were laughing and indulging in the most vehement loquacity. As tlie rays of 
 the sun were beginning to dart upon the open part of the quadrangle, their keepers 
 were driving them under the portico, v.liere they still continued singing with great, 
 gayety. There were tliree or four liundred of them ; but Dr. Pouqueville, thougln 
 he remarked that some of them liad llaxen hair and blue eyes, yet found none of 
 them deserving the high reputation of the Georgians and Ciicassians : they were for 
 the most part corpulent U'omeij, and their complection was of a dead white. The 
 Turkish purchasers examined them merely to ascertain their qualities as animals, 
 they selected the sleekest and best conditioned from the diflerent groups and besides 
 ijundling them and examining iheir m.ike and .size, subjected Ihcir mouths, iheir- 
 
 3 c
 
 women. 
 
 378 
 
 PubKc Women who give themselves up to debauchery from mercenary 
 
 motives, are sometimes treated with severity by the officers of 
 pohce, and sometimes with cruelty by their jealous or satiated 
 paramours.* " It will hardly be believed," says D'Ohsson,. 
 " that forty Mahometan women of this description are not to be 
 found in all the city of Constantinople :"t nor indeed do I believe 
 it, for I have met with a greater number in the course of a single 
 day, nor is their conduct so reserved but that they may easily be 
 distinguished from other women in the public streets by their gait 
 and gesture. The Turkish police is severe without being exact. 
 There are instances of so venial a crime being punished by tieing 
 •up the unfortunate woman in a sack ami throwing her into the: 
 sea. J 
 
 teeth, and whatever chiefly engages attention, to a critical scrutiny. The doctor 
 was preparing to follow, if not to imitate, the purchasers; but the poignard, the 
 eaths, and the menaces of the guard checked his curiosity, and, on being turned out, . 
 his steps conducted him juUuraltj/ to pay his tribute of admiration to the mosque of 
 Sancta Sophia! (See Voyage en Moree, &c. V. ii. p. 112.) 
 
 * I have frequently heard during my residence in Pera, of atrocities such .as Lady- 
 jVI. W. Montagu mentions. (V. iii. p. 1.) " About two months ago, there vas 
 found at day break, not very far from my liouse, the bleeding body of a yoiuig woman- 
 naked, only wrapped in a coarse sheet, with two wounds of a knife, one in her side 
 and another in her breast. — Very little inquiiy was made about the murderer, and; 
 the corpse was privately buried without noise.'^ 
 
 t Tableau General, V. iv. p. 348. 
 
 J Busbequius, however, justly remark*, (Epist. iii. p. 123.) " Turcte in occulta^ 
 flagitia non valde inquirunt, ne locum aperianl calumnia; : manifestaria et comperta. 
 graviter puniunt."
 
 379 
 
 The situation of the guardians of women in Turkey lias justly Eunuehi. 
 lieen observed to be the most pitiable tliat can be imagined. 
 Separated from themselves, exposed to all the force of the passions, 
 surrounded with every object which can excite desire, and humbled 
 •and irritated with the unceasing reflection on their own insig- 
 nificance. Montesquieu, indeed, heightens their distress by unAcil- 
 ing to them every charm, and insults their weakness by trusting 
 to their hands, in the most minute detail, the office of preparing 
 pleasures for the tyrant who has annihilated their own. It would 
 indeed be a needless aggravation of their unhappiness to compel 
 them to live with young and beautiful women, to banish the female 
 servants from the harem, and to trust to their awkward hands tlie 
 dressing and undressing, the bathing, the perfuming, and the 
 adorning of every object of their master's affections. What a 
 ridiculous picture is presented of the Imperial harem, if we allow 
 ourselves to suppose the eunuchs, on the one hand, teazing the 
 women in order to please their master, vexing them from malice 
 and peevishness, and the sentiment of their own nullity,* and, on 
 the other hand, the ladies racking their invention to revenge them- 
 selves on the eunuchs, disturbing their repose, and breaking 
 their sleep, with trifling messages, and capricious orders, con- 
 demning them to the vilest and most degrading ofl[ices, and 
 obliging them to perform a wearisome penance for their severity 
 behind the door of their chamber; both parties mutually insult- 
 ing, and mutually fearing each other : careful only to observe 
 the strict line of duty, traced out for both, the least infringement 
 
 * See Olivier's Travels, V. i. p. 1 14. 
 
 5
 
 680 
 
 of which subjects the one to corporal chastisement, and authorizes 
 the other to inflict it, and punish disobedience by a whipping* 
 Common sense will not allow us to admit the existence of so 
 childish an establishment ; and it would be useless to exercise con- 
 jecture on the insipid relation of the eunuchs to the women: yet 
 if the presence of women be so painful to them, how arc we to 
 account for the conduct of the kislar aga, who seemingly in 
 mockery of our shallow reasoning, has chosen, as a relaxation from 
 the fatigues of the Imperial harem, an establishment of the same 
 nature for private and domestic amusement. I would not be 
 thought guilty of the profaneness of prying into the mysteries of 
 the nuptial chamber, or reveahug, in unhallowed expressions, its 
 pure and uucontaminated delights ; but in relating the following 
 anecdote of the kislar ago, I pay but a just tribute to that innate 
 principle of virility which " smiles at the drawn dagger, and 
 defies its point." A lady, in his harem, was indisposedy'rom excess 
 of affection, and a Tuscan gentleman, surgeon to the grand signor, 
 Tfvas sent for and consulted on the occaiion. On making his re- 
 
 * See Montesquieu's Lettres Persannes, lettres ii, ir, cxlviii, cliii, clvii. In the 
 second letter is described the ordinary authority of the eunuchs : in the ninth letter 
 the chief eunuch bewails the horrors, the inconveniences, the dangers, and the privi- 
 leges, of hi« situation : here he complains of the whipping which he received at the 
 instigation of one of the faWourites. " Le jour cjiie je fiis fouette si indignement 
 autuur du strail, qu'avois-je fait ;" In the 148tli, and the 153rd letters he is invested 
 by his niai^tf r (a private gentleman) with extraordinary authority, and the power of 
 life and dtath. But th.e most ludicrous exertion of his authority is in the i57th 
 letter. " Zithi a U-sbek." — " O ciel ! ua barbaie m'a ouUagee jusques dans la 
 nianiere de me punir ! II ni'a iiifligc ce chatiment qui coniinence par alarmer la 
 piuUur; ce chafimcnt qui met dans I'liuinihation extreme j ce cliatimcnt qui ramenc, 
 pour ainsi dire, a rcnfantc."
 
 381 
 
 port to the kislar aga, he repeated, like an experienced courtier, 
 the endearing expressions which the lady had uttered : the eunuch 
 was enraptured, and interrupted the relation, by exclaiming in his 
 childish treble, kouzoum, djyerim, djanein, expressions equivalent 
 to my lif^,', my soul, my dear lambkin ; and kissed the lady ia 
 imagination with all the rapture of real passion.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA, 
 
 Syste.m of Turkish government towards the tributary subjects.^— 
 Poxvers and immunities of the clergy. — Offices of emolument con- 
 f erred on the rayahs. — Peculiar advantages of the Greeks. — 
 Cause, — and consequences of this distinction. — Exceptions to the 
 usual mode of Turkish government. — Dacia. — Geography of 
 Molda-cia and TVallachia : — their departments and dioceses : — 
 seasons, air, and soil : — husbandry and natural productions : — 
 appearance of the country. — Constitution and moral qualities 
 of the inhabitants. — Civil distinctions. — Constitution and govern- 
 ment. — Vaivoda or prince : — cere^nony of inauguration ; — court, 
 officers of state, and body-guards. — Divan or council: — its de- 
 partments. — Boyars or nobility. — Powei^s of the divan. — Classes 
 and privileges of the boyars. — Turkish jnagistrates. — Officers 
 civil and military. — Laws and police. — Revenue and taxes. — 
 Capital cities. — Public establishments. — Manners of the Greeks 
 and the boyars. — Deposed princes. — Foreign relations. 
 
 -Uuring the progressive aggrandizement of the Turkish power, 
 the constant policy of government, in the conquered countries
 
 385 
 
 "wliieh were incorporated with their empire, was to expel from systsm of' 
 their estates the nobles and great landed proprietors, and to make ^,Z""^. 
 a new division of the lands according to the arrangements of their trib" 1^.7° 
 peciUiar civil and military system. Under the equal pressure of 
 this new despotism, every idea of nobility, and all traces of dis- 
 tinction were effaced from the memory of the inhabitants ; and, 
 after a very few generations, the posterity of the ancient families 
 could no longer be recognized among the mass of conquered sub- 
 jects. These were reduced to one common state of servitude : 
 their talents were exerted only to procure them the necessary 
 means of subsistence, and were confined to the labours of agricul- 
 ture, the exercise of the mechanical arts, and the dealings of com- 
 merce. The abolition of civil or honourable distinctions, of all 
 which was derived from former institutions, or which would tend 
 to perpetuate the memory of past independence, was inevitable, 
 aince their existence was incompatible with the safety of the new 
 sovernment.* 
 
 o 
 
 The power of the clergy, great as was their authority over the 
 
 * " The families are so fallen from their former splendour, that they look more like 
 liusbandmen than nobles." Cantemir, p. 186. note. 
 
 " Hie n)jh> in mentem venit. quam levis et infirma res sit, quae- v-ulgo- perhibetur, 
 nobilitas. Nam cum de puellis quibusdam, quae liberaliore erant forma, scire vellem,, 
 mini quo essent genere, audiebam eas a summis ejus gentis satrapis originem ducere, 
 aut etiam regium esse genus, jam bubulco aut opilioni desponsas. Sic in regno Turca- 
 rum jacet nobilitas. Vidi item postea aliis locis Cantacuzenorum et PaliEologorum , 
 imperatorii generis reliquias, contemptius inter Turcas degentes quam vixit DionysiuSi , 
 Corintlii." (Bu^bequii Epist, i. p. 23.)
 
 584 
 
 T:^Hmit"et """ds of thcii* foUowcrs, odious as it must have appeared to zealots 
 cierg^. professing doctrines repugnant to theirs, excited, however, neither 
 jealousy nor animosity. To a government whose system was to 
 humble and debilitate, the influence of the clergy, detached as 
 they were from the common concerns of life, and unconnected in 
 a community of interests with their fellow subjects, presented a 
 powerful engine of state, a passive instrument in the hands of op- 
 pression, which would serve to reconcile their disciples to patience 
 under persecution, and submission to injury, and would secure the 
 obedience of the conquered people. The Oitomans treated with 
 the clergy iu their corporate capacity as with a civil power, repre- 
 sentative not merely of the sect, but of the nation, over which they 
 had until then exerted only a spiritual authority. Their privileges 
 were confirmed, and their powers augmented ; they were invested 
 with temporal authority, were appointed the political overseers of 
 their flock, and were the only authorized and acknowledged orgaa 
 of the people.* 
 
 * " Les Turcs traiterent avec le patriarche Gennadius comme avec une puis- 
 sance ; ils I'admirent dans leur conseil, et en lui rendant sa digiiite ils s'assurerent de 
 I'obeissance du pcupk entier qu'ils venoient de conquerir." (Chevalier, Voyage de 
 la Piopontide et du Pont-Euxin, V. i. p. 1 17.) 
 
 " The influence of the Patriarch with the Porte is very extensive, as far as his own 
 nation is concerned. His memorials are never denied, and he can, in fact, command 
 the death, tl>e exile, imprisonment for life, deposition from offices, or pecuniary fine of 
 any Greek he may be inclined to punish with rigour, or who has treated liis authority 
 with contempt." (Dallawuy, p. 101.) 
 
 The Arnuiiian patriarch and the khakham basin, or chief rabbin of the .Tews, 
 are in like manucr the temporal and spiritual heads of their respective commu- 
 liitics.
 
 385 
 The pride or the indolence of the Turks, wliich made theni dis- om.-esof 
 
 emuluiiieiit 
 
 dain or rendered them averse from attendins; to the details of busi- ^''f""'-'* 
 
 ^ on the 
 
 ness, encouraged a mercenary emulation among the rayahs, to ">'*'"'• 
 whom they confided the administration of several lucrative, though 
 subaltern, departments. The rayahs thus became the bankers, tlie 
 merchants, the contractors, the agents, of the Porte, of the pashas, 
 and of the farmers of the different branches of the revenue.* Cus- 
 tom and precedent, which in Turkey soon acquire the force of law, 
 have hence confirmed to the Jews the offices of collecting the cus- 
 tom dues, and purchasing whatever is required for the use of the 
 Seraglio, and to the Armenians the direction of the mint ; but 
 these are the highest civil employments to which either of them 
 can attain. 
 
 It has been supposed that the Turks, to console the Greek de- p^cuiiir 
 scendents of the Imperial family for the loss of empire, had bestow- of Ih"'**''' 
 
 Greeks. 
 
 ed on them the government of the two principalities of Wallachia 
 and Moldavia; an error which appears to have no other foundation 
 
 * Si les Turcs, ou pliitot si !es codja-hadds qui les representent, n'opprimoient pa^ 
 les Grecs de ceUe plage, Vostitza deviendroit la plus opulente ville de la Moree 
 Mais les Grecs ont leurs plus grands ennemis parmi eux. Ce sont ces codja-bachis, 
 Grecs d'origme, prosternes aux pieds des Turcs, qui vexeiU avec plus de durete ceux 
 qu'ils devroieut cherir et consoler. Par leur insolence, par leur fierte, et par la 
 bassesse qTiiles caracterisent eminemment, ils ont etabli une ligne de demarcation entro 
 eux et la nation Grecqiie. Espece degeneree, ils ont tous les vices des esclavcs, el ne 
 se dedommagent des humiliations que les Turcs leur prodiguent qu'en exer^ant le 
 monopole, la delation, el le brigandage le plus revoltant. Dans les temples ils 
 occupent la place voisine de I'autel, ils y deploient I'orgueil du Pharisien, conten:* 
 d'une tiiste prerogative achetee au prix du bonheur de leiTs compatriotes." (Pouquo- 
 ville, V. i. p 106.) 
 
 3 D
 
 3S6 
 
 tliau the a'isumptlon of tlie iilu.striotis name of C:tutacuzenus by 
 two persons of obscure family, boni iip.\'allacliia, ulio Mere raised to 
 the administration of that principality in tlie seventeentli century.* 
 It a|)pcars, on the contrary, that tlie fnst prince of \\'allacliia of 
 Greek extraction, was Nicholas Mavrocordato, son of Alexander,tlie 
 ciiicf interpreter of the Otttjman court, who had been appointed m in is- 
 tprplenipotentiary of the Porte at the congress of Carlovitz,in ]G9g>, 
 ■\vjth tjie title of bcjj and maltrcvii csrar, or he to wliom secrets arc 
 repealed : j" since tliat period tlie Greeks, by their su[)erior talent 
 for intrigue, ami perhaps their greater genius for managing state 
 aftairs, have retained among themselves tlie succession to both 
 principalities, which may now be considered in some degree as a 
 national inheritance. To the Greeks, a one among the rayahs, is 
 reserved the nomination to posts of honour, if honour in their 
 situation be not inconsistent with public employment. 
 
 Ca.i-r, If an inquiry be made into the origin of this distinction between 
 
 the privileges conferred on the Greeks and the other tributary sub- 
 jects of the Grand Signor, it will tend perhaps to diminish, or to 
 tarnish in our eyes, the little specious honour which the Greeks 
 may derive from it. The office of dragoman of the Porte, or 
 court- interpreter, was- held originally by renegadoes, or apostate 
 Christians, as we find that Ibrahim, by birth a Pole, Avas interpret- 
 er during the embassy of Busbcquius ; and S))on mentions another 
 
 * See Canteniir's Ottoman history, p. STl, note 
 t See Osservazioni storichc, nafur.ili c politiche intorno lu A'alachia c MoUli»vi:»j 
 
 p. m.
 
 387 
 
 wliosc Polish name was Albcrtus Bubovius, who commiuiicated to 
 Kycaut tlic materials from which lie coini)C).sc'cl lii.s state of the Otto- 
 iiuui Empire, liut cliuiug- the siege of Caudia, the Greek physician- 
 of the grand \izir Kioprili so eiuleaied himself to the Turks In" 
 liis important services, that he was appointed dragoman of tlic 
 Porte. 
 
 The Ottoman troops, tired and spiritless, reduced almost to des- 
 pair b}' the length of the siege and the new obstacles which the 
 garrison continually opposed to them, began to murmur that the 
 strength of the nation should be wasted against an impregnable 
 city. The vizir, though urged l)y the positive threats of the sultau 
 on the one hand, was thwarted by the discontent of the soldiery, 
 and could with ililliculty restrain them from open sedition. In 
 tliis ililemma, his distress was increased almost to despair by the 
 intelligence, that the French were coming to the relief oi' Candia 
 with a fleet and army. The artifices of Panayot, his physician, 
 not onlv delivered the vizir from his embarrassed situation, but 
 induced the Venetian commander to surrender the city. " I 
 have projected," says the artful Greek, " to invite I\Ioro5i;ii the 
 governor to a private parley, and to admonish him as a friend not 
 to trust to the French fleet, because their designs are Avorse than 
 than those of the Turks, I shall easily gain credit as veil by my 
 known piofession of the Christian religion, as by my tl^igned zeal 
 for the welfare of Christendom, and hope to inspire lii'.u with the 
 puipose of surrendering the city." The success of his project 
 established the credit of Panayot iu the Turkish court, " which 
 was so great," savs Cantcmir " that no Christian bei'ore him ever
 
 588 
 
 did, and none, it is believed, ever will, enjoy the like." At his 
 death, which happened during the expedition against Kaininiec, 
 he requested and obtained that his body should be sent for burial 
 to Constantinople, an honour usually granted to the sultans alone. 
 His death was lamented, and his services were publicly acknow- 
 Icdo-ed, by the vizir ; and his merit is imputed to his nation and 
 successors.* 
 
 Alexander Mavrocordato succeeded, by similar arts, to the same 
 honours as Panayot. By his influence he promoted, first to the 
 principality of Moldavia and afterwards to that ofWallachia, his 
 son Nicholas, who in the true spirit of an enfranchized slave, 
 merited by his tyranny and the vexations of his government a 
 comparison with Nero. 
 
 »nd conse- Thc post of court-intcrpreter and the appointment to the two 
 thisdis-" principalities excited the ambition of the Greeks; and many for- 
 
 tinction. 1 . 1 1 1 • 1 M 1 1 
 
 sook the routes of vulgar mdustry, and sent then- children to study 
 physic and foreign languages in the universities of Italy. The 
 flame spread, and a spirit of intrigue was communicated to the 
 Greeks: those who were possessed of wealth and talents assisted their 
 claim to precedency by forged genealogies, and prepared their way 
 to power by fraud or violence, unrestrained by the common pre- 
 cepts or principles of morality, f Tlae offices in the different 
 
 * See Cantemir's Ottoman history, p. 258, note. 
 
 t Gika, prince ofWallacliia ^is dvprived of his dignity by the indirect practice*
 
 389 
 
 tiepartments of government were insufficient to employ, and in- 
 adequate to satisfy, the crowd t»t claimants who presented them- 
 selves. The foiled competitors, wl>o obtained at least by their 
 defeat the means of undermining their absent rivals, alternately 
 protruded each other from power ; the ministers of the Porte en- 
 couraged the ambitious pretensions of all parties, and malti|)lied 
 their own emoluments by a rapid mutation of offices. The Turk- 
 ish government, impartial in its choice, measured merit only by 
 the golden standard, and reconciled its implied promises of sup- 
 port with its wishes to advance a rival, by the interposition of the 
 knife or the bowstring, the gibbet or poison. Hence arose a 
 Greek nobility and gentry, attached to the distinguished houses 
 by interest or consanguinity, and continually occupied in plots 
 and cabals. These men have forsaken their workshops and ware- 
 houses, and pass their lives in aspiring after, or in abusing, au- 
 thority ; or in wasting in tremulous luxury and ostentation the 
 fruits of rapine and extortion. 
 
 The order of government, which the Turks substituted in the Exocptions 
 
 to the usu»i 
 
 place of the abolished institutions throughout their new con- "ufi^is'h 
 quests, has been already explained. Their system, which appears mJnt? 
 to have been adopted because the chief wants of the state were 
 thereby provided for without any diminution of the public trea- 
 
 of his son Gregory, who resided at Constantinople as his father's capu kiahya, or agent 
 at the Ottoman Porte. " He told the vizir, that his father was old and sometimes 
 had not the use of his senses; by which means he got him turned out,, and was ap- 
 pointed prince of Wallachia in his room," (See Cantemii"'s Ottoman history, p. 278. 
 note.)
 
 590 
 
 .iuirc, lUKl^vith great satisfaction fo tlie military themselves, was 
 hou'tvcr deviated IVom in some few instances, and chiefly in the 
 constitntion of government established in the tributary provinces 
 of l-'gypt, M'allaehia, and Moldavia. Selini rather capitulated 
 Avith the ^Mamelukes than coiujnert'd them : he left the internal 
 government of Eg\pt to the bcj/s; and endeavoured to balance 
 their power by the authority of the paslia, his vicegerent. '\Val- 
 hichia submitted to the force of the Ottoman arms in the year 
 141 8. ]Moldavia surrendered its liberties to Soliman the First, in 
 1 ji?(j. But before describing the government and present state of 
 a country which is now become of the highest importance in the 
 politics of Europe, it will be necessary to take a rapid survey of 
 its past history, to point out its geographical position, and to 
 describe the nature and quality of the ,s<jil, climate, and inhabit- 
 auti, 
 
 Dada. Dacia was annexed to the Roman empire in the reign of Trajan, 
 
 after an obstinate contention during five years with the fierceness 
 and strength of the Barbarians, and the unconquerable patriotism 
 of their king Dccebalus. The labours of this warfare are still re- 
 corded on the column which Trajan erected in his forum at Rome, 
 as a uionuinent of his Dacian victories. 
 
 The province of Dacia comprehended the countries situated be- 
 yond the Danube, and distinguished in modern geography by the 
 names of JNIoldavia, AV'allachia, Transylvania, and the Bannat of 
 Teraeswar. In the year '2/0 the emperor Aurelian rdinciuished 
 the sovereignty of the Trausdanubian provinces, and withdrew the
 
 3i)\ 
 
 Roman troops an<I cofonlsts to his new province of hither Ducia. 
 Such ot" the inhabitants .is chose to remain hecame incorporateil 
 uith the Goths, and served as the medium of intercourse between 
 tlicir brctlucu on tlic other side of the river, antf these new set- 
 tlers. Tlie pohcy ofAureiian was justified by the event, and tiic 
 extensive province, M'hich tlie Romans had been unable to defend, 
 opposed during a long- period a firm barrier, after it became inde- 
 pendent, against the incursions of the savages of the North. 
 
 Dacia continued in the possessian of the Barbarians, who alter- 
 nately yielded to, or incorporated with, successive hordes of more 
 powerful invaders. During the declining state of tJie Roman 
 empire, the inhabitants of Dacia subsisted in peace or war, by 
 pasturage and pillage. They issued out occasionally from their 
 woody retreats, crossed the Danube in their light boats made out of 
 a single tree, and marked their inroads into Bulgaria and Thrace 
 with blood and ruin, even to the suburbs of Constantinople. 
 
 When the dominions of the Crothic king were invaded bv the 
 Iluns, whom, from their greater fierceness, (lie Goths themselves 
 denominated Barbarians, the Visigoths under Athanaric occupied 
 in their retreat the country M'hicli lies between the mountains, the 
 Pruth and the Danube ; and were preparing to defend it by the 
 construction of strong lines : but the dismayed Goths, distrust- 
 ing their own valour and their means of resistance, implored the 
 protection of the emperor Valens, and obtained permission to cross 
 the Danube : they Mere received as guests and settlers in the Ro-
 
 35£ 
 
 man empire, \sliich they afterwards so powerfully contributed to 
 subvert. 
 
 Tbe treaty of peace which Attila, king of the Huns, dictated to 
 the Eomans, confirmed his sovereignty over those countries, and 
 stipulated that, for the convenience of his Dacian subjects, a safe 
 and plentiful market should be established on the Southern bank of 
 the Danube. After the death of Attila and the extinction of his 
 empire, Dacia became the seat of anew but transitory power, erect- 
 ed under Ardaric, king of the Gepidaj. Eatou, grandson of Jen- 
 ghiz Khan, although he carried his arms into these provinces, 
 appears not to have disturbed the general government, which 
 was that of petty princes under the protection of the kings of 
 Hungary. 
 
 In the leign of Ladislaus the First, Radulus, or Radulphus, sur- 
 named the Swarthy, erected into a principality the country situated 
 between the Siret and the Alt, m hich is now called Wallachia Pro- 
 per. The bannat of Crajova, or Lower Wallachia, continued de- 
 pendent on the kings of Hungary, and was given to the knights 
 of Jerusalem, who, under thetitle oi bans or vice-roys, governed the 
 country, and afforded protection to pilgrims passing from Ger- 
 many to the Holy Land. Bogdan, or Theodosius, assumed the 
 government of Moldavia. Both principalities were originally held 
 as fiefs of the kingdom of Hungary ; but when afterwards they 
 had increased in strength, and had formed alliances with the kings 
 of Poland, they assumed independency. 5
 
 393 
 
 According to Cantemir, Stephen, prince of Moldavia, alarmed 
 at the conquests of the Turks over the Hungarians, the Tartars, 
 and the Wallachians, and fearing to rely either on the Poles or the 
 Germans, advised with his last breath the surrender of his coun- 
 try to the Ottoman power in the name of a lief, if the inhabit- 
 ants could obtain peace on honourable terms, together with the pre- 
 servation of their civil and ecclesiastical laws. Soliman accepted 
 their homage; for the Turks aimed at nothing more than to sub- 
 ject an enemy to the payment of a small sum of money under what- 
 ever name, which, having once obtained, they soon found means; 
 of reducing to a real tribute. He left them the privilege of elect- 
 ing their own governors on every vacancy, subject to the approba- 
 tion of tlie Porte, a privilege which both principalities appear to 
 have enjoyed and abused, until the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. Since that period the boyars are no longer consulted in 
 the choice of their governors, and the scene of intrigue is trans- 
 ferred from Yassy and Bukarest to the Porte, and the Fanal of 
 Constantinople.* 
 
 Temeswar and Transylvania are now annexed to the dominions 
 
 * See Cantemir's Ottoman history, p. 202. note. 
 
 Demetrius Cantemir himself, on the death of his father Constantine, in 1603, 
 was chosen his successor by the unanimous voice of the Moldavian hoyars, but the 
 election was not at tl^at time confirmed by the Porte. On tlie rebellion of Cantemir 
 and his flight into Russia, the Porte withdrew the privilege, and has continued, since 
 that time, to appoint the princes both to Moldavia and Vv'allachia without consulting 
 the boT/ars. •• They formerly contended for their privileges," says Cantemir, " but 
 now the tyranny of the Turks forces them to submit not only tl^eir timber, but their 
 heads, to the axe." 
 
 3 E
 
 3f>4 
 f.cogiapi.y of ^]j£ liouse of Austrla ; and Moldavia and Wallachia to those of 
 
 of Mo Ida - 
 
 AVaMachia. 1^^^^ Portc. Tlif-ic two piincipalities, (wliich lie between 43°. 40'. 
 and 48°. 50'. North latitude, and «3°. and 2.'/. 30'. East longitude, J 
 are divided from Poland by the Dniester, and the small tract oi 
 country called Buckovina, which has been ceded to the house of 
 Austria. The Carpathian mountains separate them from Transyl- 
 vania and the Bannat, the Danube from Bulgaria, and the Pruth 
 from the desert of Bessarabia. Tbe course of the Siret, which 
 descends from the Carpathians and falls into the Danube between 
 Ibrail and Galatz, fixes the respective boundaries of the princi- 
 palities. . 
 
 The inhabitants distinguish that part of ancient Dacia which is 
 tributary to the Ottoman Porte by the name of Za7-a Rumanesca, 
 or the Roman empire. The Turkish name is IJiak, a corrupt pro^ 
 iiunciation of Wallachia, though Moldavia is frequently called 
 Bogdan, a word derived, according to DTIerbelot, from the Sckr 
 vouian name of the Christian princes of Moesia. By way. of dis- 
 tinction, Moldavia is also called Cam TJlak, and M'allachia Ak 
 Jfuik* 
 
 * The Turkish narne of Moldavia has given rise to a mistake which originated with 
 Leunclavius, (who appears to have been but imperfectly acquainted with tiie Turkish 
 language) and which has been propagated by succeeding ti'avellers from that undue 
 deference, which, in many instances, I have observed is shewn to authors wliose works 
 are written in Latin. " Moldavia," he says, " is called by the Turks Carabogdunia, 
 which signifies the land of black Kheal, because Uie country abounds w illi wheat that 
 is black." I am so little versed in agricultural affairs as to be ignorant even of the 
 existence of black wheat j but I may venture to afhrm, that tlie name of Cuia Bogdan
 
 395 
 
 Both provinces are Intersected by the numberless torrents which 
 have their sources in the Carpathian mountains, and augment 
 the stream of tlie Danube. Their fountains determine the natural 
 limits between Austrian and Turkish Dacia : those which flow to 
 the South belonging to Wallachia, and the Northern streams to 
 Transylvania. 
 
 From the snowy summit of the Carpathian ridge the mountain, 
 covered with lofty M'oods, gradually declines, and extends its skirts 
 
 by no means warrants the assertion that black ivlteat abounds in ]VIolJa\ia. To 
 enquire into the reason of the term black being- applied to this division of the 
 country would be an useless labour; and I have indeed pointed o>it Leunclavius's 
 eiTor, chiefly because it gi\'es me an opportunity of introducing' an o'lservation, ^\hich 
 seems to suggest matter of inquiry as to the earlier hist<.''y of the Turkish nation. 
 BogdcM, the name of a man, signifies, m the Sclavonic language, " the gift of God," 
 &nd is synoninious with the Greek Thcodosiiis, or the Italian Diochiti. Rut the 
 Turkish name for wheat is bogdiiy, whicli equally implies " the gift of God;" and 
 as it is not derived from words radically Turkisii, it supports the conjecture, that 
 the knowledge of this usefid grain was communicated to the Turks by the Scla- 
 vonic nations who inhabited the coimtry on the Noith of the Caucasus, whitlier 
 the Twks, at a very remote period, appear to have retired, and to have lived so 
 secluded from intercourse with other people, as either to have forgotten the use 
 of bread and flie very name of wheat, or at least to have been so long deprived 
 of it, that, on its being restored to them, they adopted for it a new name, not 
 expressive of its qualities, but of their own gratitude. It has also occurred to me, 
 (though I found no hypothesis on what is perhaps only an accidental resemblance,) 
 that the Tuscan word migur bears great affinity to the Turkish oughoui; " auspicious, 
 of good omen :" and I think it not improbable that the Turks (whose general 
 manners, and situation relatively to Persia, 1 figure to myself as resembling those 
 described by Voltaire in his tragedy of the Scythians) cultivated augxiry and divi- 
 nation, like the Druids, the Epirots, and otlier people inhabiting deep and romantic 
 forest*.
 
 396 
 
 uver tiie country, forming the sublimest and most romantic sce- 
 nery, terminating iu hills covered with vineyards, and opening 
 into bays and vallies of the greatest fertility and beauty. Great 
 part of the remaining space of country towards the Danube is a 
 level and marshy plain. 
 
 The southern frontier of IMoklavia is comprized between the 
 mouths of the Siret and the Pruth, and possesses the advantage of 
 a port accessible to merchant ships of the greatest burthen. 
 
 Both provinces abound in rich pastures and extensive forests, 
 and are watered with innumerable streams and rivers ; many of 
 which are, or might be made, navigable. 
 
 The political division of Wallachia is into seventeen circles, and 
 andTo-'' that of Moldavia into twenty. The hierarchal division of Walla- 
 chia is into three dioceses, over which the metropolitan or arch- 
 bishop of Bukarest, and two bishops, exercise ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction. Moldavia has an archbishop and three bishops. The 
 convents and churches are oppressively numerous : they almost 
 cover the face of the country, and every where occupy the best 
 situations. 
 
 their de- 
 
 ceses 
 
 air, and 
 soil : 
 
 seasons, The winter is long and extraordinarily severe, particularly in 
 
 Moldavia, which is exposed to the first fury of the north-east wind, 
 rendered more keen by its passage over an immense and snowy 
 tract of level and open country. The water in the deepest wells
 
 S97 
 
 has sometimes been known to freeze, and the Danube to be covcrcii 
 with ice of prodigious thickness. The spring begins in April. lu 
 June the south-west wind occasions periodical returns of rain, 
 thunder and hghtning, at nearly the same hour, for a short conti- 
 nuance. In this month the soutli M'iud, by increasing the melting 
 of the snow on the mountains, sometimes occasions inundations. 
 In July and August tlie heats are excessive, but the nights are 
 cold. The rainy season returns in September, and the most de- 
 lightful and temperate weather succeeds, and continues to the 
 middle of November. About this time the north-east wind first 
 announces the winter, and. sometimes introduces it by a heavy fall 
 of snow. 
 
 The city of Bukarest was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 
 the year 1802, but such calamities are rarely felt in either princi- 
 pality. The air in general is pure and wholesome, and the soil is 
 proper for the production of every species of grain and pulse.'* 
 The cultivation of the vine is general on the slopes of hills which husbandry 
 
 " and natural 
 
 aiford a suitable exposition. The wine, though made without art, f[°^^f' 
 is pleasant and wholesome. It is exported in great quantities to 
 
 * They commonly plough with six oxen and make a very deep furrow. Tliey 
 never employ manure ; but after a. crop of corn leave the land fallow for a season, and 
 then sow it, either with wheat, or barley, or Indian corn. In virgin land,' of which 
 from the neglect of culture there is much in both provinces, they plant cabbages the 
 first year, which grow to a prodigious size, or cucumbers which succeed equally well. 
 By these means they extract and temper tije salts with which such lands abound, and 
 besides destroy the weeds and herbs, whose growth is checked by the spreading leaves- 
 of both plants which prevent their coming to seed. (See Osservazioni, &c. p. 55.)
 
 398 
 
 Russia and Transylvania. Its strength and spirit are increased by 
 a process, common among the rich proprietors, and practised also 
 in Russia. At the first approach of a severe cold tlie wine butts 
 are exposed to the severity of the weather in the open air : m a few 
 nights, the body of wine is encircled uitli a tliick crust of ice : this 
 is perforated by means of a hot iron, and the wine, thus deprived of 
 its aqueous paits, is drawn off clear, strong, and capable of being 
 preserved for a long time. The wines somewhat resemble the light 
 Provence v ine, called cassis, they may he drunk even to ebriety 
 without injury to the general health. The wlieat in both principa- 
 lities is excellent : its quality is between the liard red wheat and 
 tlie wliitc and mealy. The season of harvest is in the month of 
 June. Barley is the common food of horses, as well in Wallachia 
 ajid Moldavia, uis throughout tlie Turkish dominions. Oats and 
 r\e are rarely sown. Indian corn is much cultivated because of 
 its nutritious quality and abundant produce : it also requires less 
 labour, and being sown h\ the spring is less exposed to accident 
 and less liable to disappoint the hopes of the farmer. The moun- 
 tains and the plains are covered or diversified with -woods and forests 
 of the most useful trees. The oak is frequently seen of two or 
 . three feet . in diameter, and furnishes timber solid and compact : 
 the. pines and firs are. common on the mountains. There are be- 
 sides beeches, maples, elms, and aslics of different kinds, limes, 
 poplars, walnut find white mulberry-trees, of which last kind there 
 are many plantations for the purpose of feeding silk worms. The 
 .woods. formed of tlicsc majestic trees are peopled with innumerable 
 rraces of singing birds. The note of the nightingale is sweeter an<l
 
 S99 
 
 more frequent in the forests of Wallacliia than in any other part of 
 Europe, and its melody heightens the charm which is experienced 
 in traveUiug through that country in the beautiful evenings of the 
 summer season. The fruit trees which are the most common, are 
 the apple, one of which appears natural to the climate ; it bears, 
 without culture, a fruit called domniasca, which is perhaps t!ie 
 finest in Europe, both for size, odour, and flavour : the pear, tlie 
 plum, the cherry, the peach, the service, the walnut, and the hazel 
 nut, come to great perfection with little culture. The climate is 
 however unfavourable to the growth both of the olive and the figr 
 tree. The wood strawberry is every where to b? met with, and the 
 air is perfumed with wild flowers and aromatic herbs. Asparagus 
 is the natural produce of the soil, the musIiTooms are plentiful and 
 of excellent quality ; the cucumbers, the melons, and water- 
 melons form a chief article of food to the common people; the 
 Ciibhage spreads to an enormous size, and the Jerusalem. artichoke., 
 yer ehmisi, thrises and is propagated with little labour or attention. 
 The chief source of wealth in both principalities is, however, their 
 abundant and nutritive pasturages. The sheep and goats in Wal- 
 lacliia are estimated at four millions: these. are driven, at different 
 seasons of the year, from, the banks of the Danube to the summit 
 of tlie Carpathian mountains : the flesh is excellent, and the annual 
 exportation of wool into Germany amounts to several thousand 
 bales. The oxen, and principally those of Moldavia, arc large 
 and fleshy : a great number are sold into Silesia and other foreign 
 countries. The buffalo thrives in Wallachia, though it must be 
 carefully tended, as it suffers equally from, the excessive heat of 
 summer and the cold of winter. This animal is of the hio-hest
 
 400 
 
 utility as well from its prodigious strength, as from the abundance 
 and nutritious quality of its milk. There are various breeds of 
 horses : the best races, which are those of Moldavia, are bought 
 up in great numbers for the service of the Austrian and Prussian 
 cavalry : they are well shaped, are remarkable for the soundness 
 of their hoofs, and possess both spirit and docility. The carriage 
 and draft horses are small but active, and capable of resisting 
 fatigue. They live in the open air in all seasons, and in the win- 
 ter when the ground is covered with snow, are frequently attacked 
 by the wolves, who come in great numbers, and when pressed by 
 luuiger are frequently destructive, not only to the herds and flocks, 
 but to the traveller and the inhabitant.* Domestic fowls, and 
 game of all kinds are in great plenty : Water birds are numerous 
 on the lakes and the Danube, -which also abound with vaTrious kinds 
 of fish. Deer and Avild goats are frequent on the mountains, and 
 the hares are in such numbers in the plains, that the peasants in 
 Wallachia and Moldavia are said to hunt down upwards of half a 
 niiUion with their dogs, when the fall of snow through the M'inter 
 is considerable. The honey and wax are of the finest quality : the 
 climate and country seem indeed peculiarly favourable to the noble 
 insect which produces them. The mineral productions are natural 
 tar, salt, and nitre: the prince of JNIoldavia is obliged to send every 
 
 * In the studs tliere is generally a stallion to ten mares who serves them as giiar- 
 dian and conductor. When a stiid is attacked by the wolves, the stallions assemble, 
 and collect together the mares and foals by their loud and repeated neighings : the 
 mares form a circle round the foals, willi tlicir heads turned towards the centi-e : the 
 stallions arrange themselves on difl'erent points, and repel the wolves with their heels 
 ii' they are bold enough to attack them, and generally dcli-nd themselves so vigorously 
 .that the wolves are forced to retreat. (Sec Osservazioiii, &c. p. 19.) 
 
 1
 
 401 
 
 year to Constantinople a contribution of twenty thousand okcs, or 
 twenty five tons, of nitre. The riches contained in the bowels of 
 the earth and the vast range of the Carpathian mountains are how- 
 ever unexplored, though there are several indications of their con- 
 taining metallic substances. * 
 
 The attention of the traveller is wholly absorbed in contemplat- appearance 
 ing the beauty of the varying landscape, and the fertility of the '^''""''^y- 
 soil, which is improved by a rich, though inadequate, cultivation. 
 De Tott compares Moldavia to the province of Burgundy. I have 
 traversed both principalities in every direction, and retrace with 
 the greatest pleasure the impressions left on my memory by theii' 
 grand and romantic scenery ; the torrents rushing down the pre- 
 cipices and winding through the vallies, the delightful fragrance 
 of the lime flower and the herbs crushed by the browzing flock, 
 the solitary hut of the siiepherd on the brow of the mountain, the 
 mountain itself rising far above the clouds, covered over its whole 
 surface, except iu'the snowy regions, with a deep bed of vegetable 
 earth, and every where adorned with lofty and majestic forest 
 trees, or with rich and lively verdure. 
 
 The locusts, the curse to which countries are most exposed 
 where nature has been most prodigal of her gifts, sometimes infest 
 and spread desolation over this beautiful country. They even 
 pass the lofty ridge of the Carpathian mountains, and light upon 
 Transylvania, where a provident government has even called out 
 its regiments to disperse and destroy them with the report of can- 
 non, and the smoke of gunpowder. 
 
 3F
 
 402 
 censtitvi- The Dacians were the ir.ost warlike of men. I treasure up suclv 
 
 tion and . . . . — 
 
 moral qua- facts, becausc they scrve to strengthen the conviction which I 
 
 litiis of the 
 
 inhabitants, j^ave rcceivecl from surveying the manners of many people, that of 
 all the evils which can possibly befal a state, the worst is subjec- 
 tion to a foreign power. The modern inliabitants, instead of the 
 rude and hardy virtues which distinguished their barbarian ances- 
 tors, instead of the dignified manliness which constituted the 
 Roman character, retain only a stubbornness in refusing what 
 they know will be wrested from them, an obstinacy in withholding 
 what they dare not defend : they seem to think it folly to yield, 
 until they have been beaten, though they do not even dream of 
 making resistance.* 
 
 * Virgil, Mn. 1. viii. v. 728. calls them the unconquered Dacians, and seeais to 
 compare their onset with the impetuous course of a rapid river. 
 
 Indomitique Dacie, et pontem indignatus Araxes. 
 
 Tacitus, Gerinania, c. 1. says they were separated from the warlike Germans by the 
 mutual dread of invading each other : — nor did they entirely lose their character for 
 bravery until they fell under the unheard-of ignominy of being tyrannized over by a 
 foreign slave. Cantemir (pp. 125. 188. 325.) and Montalbanus (ap. Elzevir, p. 90.) 
 speak of them as firee-booters and pirates, both by land and sea ; and as uniting their 
 forces, under tl»e command of their own princes, with tliose of the Turks in their mili- 
 tary expeditions. Marsigli (V. i. p. 101.) says that each principality was bound to 
 furnish a corps of cavalry, though he was told by the Turks themselves, that they con- 
 sidered them to be useful only in relieving tlieir own troops from unpleasant services. 
 . " Quos, velut ad hebetandas hostium vires et furorem, in praclia primos impellunt — vile 
 istorum damnum reputantibus Turcis." (Montalbanus, p. 21.) And yet they must 
 have been of great utility, as irregular cavalry, in Turkish warfare. " Tartaronim 
 more incedunt, ac pra;liantur, vacuos binos aut tres equos singuli trahentes, quos uno 
 alterove fesso mutuant ; in excursionibus id circo veloces famam adventu ipso prseve- 
 nientes. Tartarorum item ex consuetudine armantur. — Feroces, adversusque omnia 
 steva firmati sunt : pace infidi, hello non spernendi."
 
 403 
 
 The peasants call themselves Rumun, or Roman, a term of re- 
 proach, which distinguishes them from the boyarsov nobles. Their 
 language is a corruption of the latin, somewhat resembling the 
 Italian, but considerably more debased by barbarian mixture. 
 
 The appearance of the modern inhabitants in their summer dress 
 is precisely such as that of the ancients, as represented on Trajan'* 
 column. A savage figure dressed in a shirt of coarse linen girt 
 rouiid the waist, and a pair of long drawers ; a hatchet hanging at 
 tfie girdle, a sheep skin thrown over the left shoulder and fastened 
 on the breast, and sandals of undressed leather on the feet. Their 
 exterior contrasts extraordinarily with their pusillanimity ; for they 
 are humbled by slavery, even into the belief that they are weak. 
 The few Turks who travel through their country, the Greeks who 
 pillage rather than govern it, the Germans and Russians who 
 generally occupy it at the first opening of the campaign, all employ 
 the same coercive measures. An Austrian corporal distributes 
 blows, before he condescends to explain in what manner he must 
 be obeyed. The necessary consequence of such mode of proceed- 
 ing is, that the traveller in these countries can seldom procure for 
 himself any convenience or accommodation beyond the common 
 necessaries, ami these he must frequently think a luxury. Every 
 one flies at his approach, if he be attended by the officers of the 
 prince, and if no one remains to be beaten, he can with difiiculty 
 obtain the common comforts of fire and straw, to dress his food or 
 to make his bed. De Tott describes such treatment as necessary, 
 and indeed few people in authority have recourse to any other. 
 I however hazarded an experiment. I travelled with a French
 
 40+ 
 
 gentleman from Constantinople to Vienna. On leaving Bukarest 
 the prince had insisted on our taking an escort of three soldiers of 
 his body guard, and our arrival in the villages on the road conse- 
 quently spread tlie usual alarm, and excited the usual distrust ; but 
 nothing was more easy than tore-establish confidence, a few paras 
 given to the children, or if none were there, a few paras to the 
 peasant with orders to buy without limitation a small quantity of i 
 the best wine in the village, and a little present on his return, as it; 
 convinced the villagers that we meant to extort nothing, procured 
 us abundance. 1 never experienced more ready service, and 
 though the extraordinary expense was too trifling to be noticed^ 
 we never left a house M'ithout being attended by the whole family, 
 and sometimes by all the men in the village, who voluntarily sup- 
 ported our carriage across the rugged or quaggy passages at the 
 entrance of it. 
 
 The predominant religion in both principalities is that of the 
 Greek church. The inhabitants are indeed attached to its rites 
 and ceremonies, and tremble at its denunciations ; but it does not 
 appear, perhaps because their priests tyrannize over them no less 
 than their temporal superiors, that they feel for their religion the 
 same ardour of affection which I have observed among the Greeks 
 in Turkey. Religion, indeed, when administered, not by an equal 
 or a fellow sufferer but by a master, has not the mild and beneficent 
 character which endears it to its votaries. The ringing of bells, 
 or beating with two wooden hammers on a long piece of wood 
 suspended in the belfries, is the most troublesome expression of 
 their devotion. On the morning of a great holiday the clatter is
 
 405 
 
 inconceivable in the city of Bukarest, where indeed there are more- 
 duuches and convents than would sufiice for all the parishes in 
 both principalities. The chief amusement of the people on their 
 holidays is dancing : the Wallach dance is an expression of lan- 
 guor : the air is simple and monotonous, and the gesture a careless 
 voluptuousness : the dancing couple hold each other by the hands, 
 which they lift above their heads, the step is a motion alternately 
 backwards and forwards, corresponding with the expression of 
 compliance and refusal, repeated, without variation, through a 
 courtship of three quarters of an hour.* The basis of their food is 
 a thick pottage, made with the meal of Indian corn, which they 
 call mamallka, a wholesome and nutritious diet. 
 
 The inhabitants of the mountains are afflicted with the same 
 glandular accretion as is observed in the Alps: its appearance is 
 disgusting, and is so far from being considered as a beauty by the 
 natives, that the dress of the women is purposely calculated to con- 
 ceal the neck and the throat. In its excess it produces the effect 
 of absorbing all that is human, as well in the mind, as the body, 
 of the wretches who are afflicted with it: they are perfect idiots. 
 I remember the uneasy sensation Avhich I experienced, when after 
 a long and fatiguing journey we reached our resting place in a 
 village among the mountains. The inhabitants of a dark cottage 
 were dislodged to make room for us, and I had ordered the cham- 
 ber which we were to occupy to be cleared and swept, but on ap- 
 proaching the fire I observed a person sitting among the embers 
 
 * See Voyage a Constantinople, p. 1 17.
 
 406 
 
 on- the hearth. I was peevish, if not angry with the peasant, who 
 immediately drew from the chimney corner by the nape of the 
 neck — a naked mummy, for so it appeared to me : the body wasted 
 to supply the enormous excrescence on the neck, the spindle shanks 
 shrunk up, the long arms hanging down the sides, and shewing 
 no sign of life except a vacant and frightful stare. I confess I felt 
 horror. I was stung with remorse at depriving the poor creature 
 of the only comforts which it seemed capable of enjoying ; but my 
 humanity yielded to stronger and more selfish feelings, and I could 
 not resolve to eat and to sleep in such company. 
 
 In the plains the natives seldom attain to the age of seventy 
 years, they are even old at sixty ; but this is owing to other causes 
 than the climate, for chronical diseases are unknown, and bilious 
 and intermittent fevers, though frequent, are seldom fatal, 
 
 •civil ais- The number of inhabitants in both principalities is calculated to 
 
 tinctioiis. 
 
 amount to a million of souls ; a population very inadequate to a 
 territory of such extent, so fertile, and so rich in the variety of its 
 productions. If the inhabitants enjoyed the blessings of regular 
 government, if their industry was unshackled, and the fruits of 
 their labour were secured to them, their numbers would speedily 
 and necessarily increase from the great facility of obtaining a com- 
 fortable subsistence. They possess the unalienable riches of nature, 
 which, far from being exhausted, would multiply even beyond the 
 ■demands of an increasing population. 
 
 The subjects of the country, exclusively of the privileged classes
 
 407 
 
 of boyars and ecclesiastics, arc the rumuns, (Moldavian and Wal- 
 lachian peasantry and burgliers), and the still more abject class of 
 chingane/ts or gypsies : these people are distinguished by the pecu- 
 liar Ethiopian cast of features and complection which marks their 
 race in every country in Europe ; they are for the most part do- 
 mestic slaves, the coachmens, cook, confectioners, bakers, and 
 menial servants, of the nobility ; bandied about according to the 
 caprice of their brutal mastere, and beaten wantonly and unmerci- 
 fully : themselves are the lowest of mankind : a propensity to irre- 
 gular desires indicates itself from their tender years; they are of a 
 spiteful and malignant disposition, slovenly in their habits, and 
 universally pilferers. Those of the ckhiganehs who are free, breed 
 cattle and horses, manufacture spoons, or other household utensils, 
 of wood, and carry on a small traffic in articles of common use and^ 
 little value. Offences of a serious nature, such as the stealing of 
 cattle, high-way robberies, and assassinations are generally traced 
 to the chinganehs. 
 
 The rumuns are indeed' burthened and oppressed with imposts 
 and taxes, but they are protected in their persons, by the law, from 
 the capricious ill-usage of individuals and private men. The mu- 
 nicipal magistrates and the officers of government are alone em- 
 powered to inflict corporal punishment. The rumuns cultivate the 
 lands of the boyars and other proprietors, and pay a tenth part of 
 the prodjice to the land-holder. If they are dissatisfied with their 
 master, they quit their habitations, and pass over to the estate of 
 another with their famihes and moveables. But the exactions of 
 a rapacious government cannot be warded off or eluded, "As I
 
 408 
 
 traversed IMoUlavia," says DeTott, " I beheld them gathering the 
 eleventh capitation for the year, although it was then but the 
 month of October."* Under such oppressions, where every one is 
 forced to contribute in proportion to his profits, they naturally 
 avoid labour, of which they cannot hope to reap the fruits ; they 
 exert no ingenuity, and apply themselves to no new branches of 
 industry ; they scarcely even retain the practice of those arts Avhich 
 are most essentially necessary : the mechanical arts are left to 
 foreigners from the neighbouring states, who are protected from 
 injustice by the influence of their own governments : the natives 
 become indolent, because they cannot ameliorate their condition 
 by exertion, as they become treacherous, because treachery is con- 
 stantly employed to discover, and extort from them, their scanty- 
 savings. Their features are contracted by care and anxiety ; their 
 bodies are debilitated by idleness and deficiency of nutriment ; and 
 drunkenness, as it lightens the immediate pressure of misery, com- 
 pletes in them the debasement of the distinguishing faculties of 
 rational nature. 
 
 constitu- The form of government established in both principalities is that 
 
 tion and 
 
 govern- of a limited monarchy. The prmce represents the sovereign, and 
 
 <nent. 
 
 the divan, which is composed of the principal boyars, the senate. 
 The power of theprince is, however, only controllable in his financial 
 operations, in fixing the rate of contributions, or determining the 
 anode of raisins; them : these must be conducted \iith the advice 
 
 * Memoiri, V. ii. p. 29.
 
 409 
 
 ami consent of the council, and if tliey are unanimous, they over- 
 rule the opinion of the prince. 
 
 The prince, though restrained in the power of levying arhitraryvaWoda ok 
 
 prince; 
 
 exactions, is invested in every other respect with regal, though pre- 
 carious, authority. He assumes the state and magnificence of a 
 sovereign. The Porte confers on him the title of vaeuoifa, a Scla- 
 vonic name originally signifying the general of an army, but givxn 
 by the kings of Poland to the governors of provnices. The dress 
 of ceremony of the princes of Moldavia and Wallachia differs from 
 that of the Turkish governors only in the covering of the head. 
 They formerly wore in their caps the sorgudj, or plume of heron's 
 feathers set in a crest of diamonds, in imitation of the Ottoman 
 sultans ; but at the present day, though they adorn witli these in- 
 signia their portraits which are suspended in the churches, yet they 
 are careful not to offend the scrupulous eyes of the Mussulmans. 
 
 The prince holds a court every day, where he sits for a short time, 
 surrounded by his officers, to administer justice and to decide con- 
 troversies between his subjects. His commands are received with 
 the most obsequious deference : he has full power of life and death 
 over all ; and infli(!?ts whatever punishment he pleases on the guilty 
 or the disobedient. No complaints are received at the Ottoman 
 Porte against this authorized agent of government, even for the 
 murder of an innocent person, whatever may have been his rank ia 
 society. The staff of authority is always placed beside the throne, 
 and if the prince be of a choleric and impetuous disposition, it ex- 
 cites no surprize to see him yield to the emotions of anger, and 
 
 3 G
 
 410 
 
 apply with his own hand, an adequate number of blows to the 
 heads or shoulders of his principal courtiers or ministers of state.* 
 He appoints to the administration of the royal domains according 
 to his own pleasure, and disposes of the revenues of the lands and 
 villages for his own purposes. 
 
 ceremony Thc ])rinces of Moldavia and Wallachia receive their investiture 
 
 of inaugu- 
 
 lation, j^j (.|jg Poite with the pomp and ceremonies usually observed on 
 creating pashas and vizirs. The kukka, or military crest, is put 
 on their heads by the muhzur aga, an officer of the janizaries at- 
 tached to the service of the grand vizir, and the robe of honour is 
 put on them by the vizir himself. They are honoured with the 
 standards and military music, and make their oaths of allegiance 
 and fidelity in the presence of the sultan, to whom they are intro- 
 duced with the ceremonies usual at a public audience. 
 
 * See Osservazioni, &c. p. 161. 
 
 I was at Yassy when punisliment was inflicted on the cassab baslii, a boyar of the 
 first class, ^\ho had undertaken the contract for supplying thc city with animal food, 
 and against whom complaints had been carried before the prince, because of the un- 
 wholesome quality of the provisions which he furnished. I was not indeed present at 
 this exhibition of executive discipline, but the story was related in the company of 
 persons who acknowledged the circumstances of it to be conformable to the usages of 
 the court. The boyar was led into the great hall of the palace, and immediately 
 threw him'^elf at the feet of the prince, as he advanced towards him holding in his 
 hand his sceptre or staff of authority. The prince, however, continued for some time 
 to distribute his blows at random on the body of the culprit, retreating all the while in 
 order to prevent the boyar, wliokcpt crawling afur him, from kissing his feet, and ob- 
 taining forgivemss before he had surticiently expiated his olJinte. I went purposely 
 to the shambles on the next day, and saw full proof of his Highncss's udnujnitions 
 having produced a very salutary efTect.
 
 411 
 
 From the seraglio they go in solemn and ostentatious procession 
 to the patriarchal churcli, where prayers and ceremonies aic per- 
 formed similar to those which were formerly observed at the inau- 
 guration of the Greek emperors. They arc accompanied to their 
 principalities by the Turkish officers appointed to install them. 
 They make their public entry into the capital of their new so- 
 vereignty with a great display of magnificence, attended by the 
 metropolitan and dignified ecclesiastics, the members.of the divan, 
 and the chief boyars. They assume, from the ceremonies which arc 
 practised, the title of " God's Anointed;" but this vain pageant, 
 this painted bubble, raised by intrigue, by purchase, or by favour, 
 dependent on a breath, removable at the will of a tyrant, and 
 reducible to its original nothing, is conducted to a mimic throne 
 by the Turkish officer, who witnesses and ridicules the vanity of 
 the slave, whom his hand raises to authority and invests with 
 dignity.* 
 
 The court of the prince is composed of persons in ofllice and the court, 
 provincial nobility, but more especially of the flock of harpies, 
 who, forsaking the shores of the Bosphorus under the auspices 
 of the new fangled sovereign, have lighted on the tables, and 
 sate their ravenous appetites with the substance, ef Avretches more 
 hopeless of relief, and no less worn by hunger and misery, than 
 Phineus himself. It is difficult to recognize the abject rayah in 
 the Greek sillily basking in the blaze of Oriental pomp, and in- 
 dulging in all the pride and insolence of authority and office. A 
 splendid equipage, a train of servants, power to oppress, and the 
 
 * See Canterair's Ottoman history, p. 189. note.
 
 4l!S 
 
 means of extortion develope all the vices of character which 
 penury and servile dependence had hefore depressed. The Greek, 
 who at Constantinople had excited pity or contempt, raises dis- 
 gust and abhorrence at Bukarest and Yassy. It will naturally be 
 imagined, that a court thus vitiated in its constituent parts can- 
 not exhibit an assemblage of elegance and urbanity : great indeed 
 must be the apathyof the European spectator, who can witness, with- 
 out experiencing correspondent emotions, the ridiculous combinati- 
 on of all that is grotesque in ceremony, with all that is vulgar in man- 
 ners ; all that is fulsome in adulation, with all that is contemptible 
 in vanity, and hateful in overbearing self-sufficiency. Idleness and 
 vanity have introduced and established the custom, in the capitals 
 of each principality, of passing the morning in attendance at the 
 prince's levee. The apes of fashion crowd the court, and fill up 
 the vacancy of their lives by conversation void of interest, and the 
 awkward display of self-importance ; and so contagious is the ex- 
 ample, that even the foreign merchants hurry from their avocations 
 to present themselves at the palace of the prince, lest perhaps 
 their servants should disdain to wear a livery which is not exposed 
 every day in the avenues of the court. 
 
 officer* of The chief officer of the court is the postelnik, or marshal : he is 
 usually a Greek, and is the chief medium of communication with 
 the prince, as well on subjects of business, as for the distribution 
 of favours. He carries the mace before the prince in public cere- 
 monies, and remains standing on the side of the throne. The 
 commisso, or master of the horse, is also a Greek: his most important 
 function is on the festival of Saint George, when, in imitation of 
 
 vUte
 
 413 
 
 the customs of the Ottoman court, the hotses are led out to grass : 
 the commisso closes the procession, mounted on the horse which the 
 prince on the day of his public audience had been honoured with 
 from the Sultan's stables, and which, as well in the stables as in all 
 public ceremonies, occupies, in right of its former master, tlie 
 place of honour. The grammaticos, or Greek secretary, corres- 
 ponds with the prince's residents at the Porte on public business, 
 and employs a great number of subaltern clerks in writing official 
 and complimentary letters to the public agents in the principality 
 and the neighbouring province. The poi'tar-bashi officiates 
 as master of the ceremonies- to all Turks of distinction : he 
 introduces them to the prince's audience, and carefully attends 
 to the performance of all the honours and services which they 
 are qualified to expect or require. These, as also the chief boyars 
 and other great officers, wear their beards. 
 
 The prince's body guard consists of delhis, and tufenkgis (mus- aid body- 
 guards. 
 
 queteers). These men are chiefly Albanians of the Greek commu- 
 nion, who, like their Mahometan countrymen, enlist as mercenaries 
 in service of whatever nature which offers a proportionate reward : 
 they interfere in all the intestine dissentions of the empire, and 
 they unite with the bands of robbers who infest the Turkish pro- 
 vinces. The Albanians, whose ancestors embraced the religion of 
 Mahomet only to avoid the greater evil of a general proscription^ 
 are neghgent in their observance of its practices, and unsteady in 
 their belief. Professed Mahometans have even related to me the 
 miracles of Christian saints in behalf of the independence of their
 
 414 
 
 country when it was invaded by the Turks, though Mahometan Al- 
 Imnians disdain to accept of service under a Christian. Those who 
 are engaged in the service of the princes are fellows of determined 
 courage, expert in the use of their fire-arms, and marked with scars 
 gained in war or robbery : they seem indeed scarcely to make any 
 distinction between these difterent professions, but, as both are 
 dangerous, so they esteem them almost equally honourable. Some 
 Christian Albanians, who served as an escort to a Greek prince 
 with whom I once travelled through a part of Turkey, boasted of 
 their atchievements in plundering the caravans, and pointed out to 
 me the spot where they had lain in ambuscade in one of the defiles 
 of the Haemus, biilkan. Frince Ipsilanti, to reward the fidelity of a 
 Sclavouian who had served him as a gardener, raised a company 
 of Sclavonians, on his being appointed to the principality of Wal- 
 lachia in 1802, and these men do duty in his palace at Bukarest, 
 and officiate as his body-guard. Their insolence surpasses even 
 that of the Turkish soldiery. I saw a party of these lawless ruf- 
 fians returning in triumph from having avenged the honour of 
 their corps by the infliction of a degrading punishment on a boyar. 
 One of their company had pursued a girl into the house of her 
 master, but had been forced to abandon the pursuit, and after 
 some rough treatment, which his behaviour necessitated, had been 
 thrust out of the house by the servants of the family. The crime 
 was expiated, under the authorization of the prince himself, by the 
 boyar publicly undergoing in the court-yard of his own house, and 
 in the presence of the populace, the punisliment of the bastinado 
 on the soles of his feet.
 
 415 
 
 The president of the divan in each principality is the archbishop Divan or 
 or metropolitan, who is considered as the head and oracle of the 
 law, because of the ascendancy of his sacred character over the 
 minds of an uncultivated and superstitious people. The other 
 members of the divan are the great public functionaries, whose 
 titles of dvornik-mare, logotheti-marc, spathari or hetman, vcstiar- 
 marc, &c. correspond with those of chief justice, chancellor, gene- 
 ralissimo, and treasurer. Many of these officers are men of tlie 
 first class of nobility, and natives of the country, especially the 
 treasurer, in whose situation an intimate acquaintance with the 
 financial resources, and the most efficacious methods of extortion 
 is essentially necessary. The inferior members of the divan have 
 no voice either in deliberating, or in deciding, on any measure ; 
 they merely affix their signature to all public acts. 
 
 The divan is the high court of judicature. It receives appeals '^^'J^^^";'"' 
 from the inferior tribunals, and its sentence, if confirmed by the 
 prince in the extraordinary sitting which is held twice in every 
 M-eek, is final. The criminal tribunal is composed of noblemen of 
 the second class, who must have passed through the inferior 
 offices of the divan. All criminal proceedings are examined every 
 Saturday by the prince himself, who is attended on this occasion by 
 the armasc, or governor of the public prisons. The usual punishr 
 nients for slight oft'ences are M'hipping, or public labour for a 
 length of time proportioned to the nature of the crime : in instan- 
 ces of greater enormities the guilty person is punished with the loss 
 of his ears, and is sentenced to work in the salt mines for the re- 
 
 5
 
 416 
 
 niainder of his life. The punishment of death, thougJi not wholly 
 abo'.islied, is rarely inflicted; but when the circumstances of the 
 case seem to render necessary so dreadful an example, the law has 
 expressly ordained, that the governor of the public prisons, even 
 after the sentence of death against the criminal has been deliver- 
 ed to him in writing, shall present himself before the prince 
 three several times, and at each time shall repeat the solemn in- 
 quiry, whether the prince persists in his determination of shedding 
 human blood. If this wise and salutary regulation be due to 
 Prince Alexander Ipsilanti, it is just that his name descend to pos- 
 terity among those of the benefactors of mankind ; and if his suc- 
 cessors suffer it to fall into disuse or to degenerate into a form of 
 office, they will deserve the hatred of all good men, and their me- 
 mory will be held in execration.* 
 
 Royars or The boyars, who compose the divan, and who arrogantly assume 
 the rank and honours of hereditary grandees of the country, are 
 in reality only rich proprietors and unfeeling tax-gatherers. The 
 boyars of the most ancient families indeed assert, that they are the 
 descendants of the Slavi, and are of a distinct race from the peo- 
 ple, who have sprung from the alliances of the Romans with the 
 original Dacians ; but the chief distinction among the nobles is 
 their wealth and possessions. The great majority of the Mol- 
 davian and Wallachian nobility owe their creation to the sultan's 
 vaivodas, for even these ephemeral beings, these fleeting shadows of 
 royalty, are presunied to confer by their breath a permanency of 
 
 * See O»scrvaztoni, &c. p. 149.
 
 417- 
 
 dignity ; and the man whom once they have delighted to honour, 
 retains, after his removal from office, the title, the honours, and 
 even the privileges of nobility. 
 
 The collective powers of the nobles, considered as a corporate Powers of 
 
 UicUiTan. 
 
 body represented by the divan or great councd, are specious and 
 nugatory. The divan indeed appears to intermeddle in the ma- 
 nagement of public affairs, but it possesses no real authority ; for 
 every thing is in fact conducted by the prince and his ministers. 
 The divan is more especially authorized to superintend and control 
 the receipts and expenditures of the public treasure, and the sig- 
 natures of its members are necessary to give authenticity to the 
 annual statement of the accounts. Yet their signatures are a mere 
 formality, which in fact serves no other purpose than to prevent 
 the boyars from making representations to the Porte against the 
 prince's government, as it virtually annuls any accusation on their 
 part of his having harassed the country by oppressive taxes, or 
 levied contributions without their concurrence. 
 
 The Greeks, who share among themselves the magistracies and classes and 
 
 privilege* 
 
 Other public employments of wealth and dignity, are all removed ^^""^^ 
 from office when their patron is deposed, and are obliged to quit 
 the province, unless they can obtain the consent of his successor 
 to their remaining behind, in which case they engage themselves 
 by a solemn oath not to interfere with, or obstruct, the operations 
 of his government, nor to carry on plots or intrigues against his 
 person and authority. If they have married women of the coun- 
 try possessed of landed estates, and have continued peaceable and 
 
 S H
 
 418 
 
 undisturbed through three successive reigns, they are reputed to 
 have become naturalized, and rank among the boyars or nobility. 
 The nobility, as well as the secular and monastic clergy, are 
 exempt, except in the event of extraordinary demands, from all 
 imposts, taxes, and contributions whatever. The boyars in their 
 individual capacity, tremble before the authority of the prince : 
 they cross themselves when they enter the palace, in order to avert 
 the dangers which beset them : on approaching the presence cham- 
 ber they compose their features and attitude into the expression of 
 servile respect : few among them are permitted to kiss the prince's 
 hand, and many esteem it an honour to be allowed to touch his 
 robe, or hisfeet. 
 
 Turkish There are no Turkish garrisons in the interior of either prin- 
 te». cipality. They are, however, surrounded by fortresses, both on 
 
 the Danube and the Dniester, which are commanded and garrison- 
 ed by Turks, who also exercise a civil jurisdiction over the sur- 
 rounding territory to a certain extent.* 
 
 * Chotin, is situated on the Dniester, at the foot of the mountain which stands on 
 the right side of the river over against Kaminiec. It was formerly considered as the 
 bulwark of the Turkish empire against the Russians and Poles, though De Tott, who 
 examined its fortifications, was of opinion, that it could not hold out three days 
 against a regular attack. The pashalik of Chotin, is separated from Moldavia by 
 the Prutli. — Bender, in Bessarabia, is famous in modern history for being the chief 
 residence of Cliarles the Tvelfth after his defeat at the battle of Pulto«a. The 
 Roman military road terminated at Bender, or Tigine. Since the Dniester has 
 become the frontier of the Turkish and Russian empires, the Russians have built 
 the town and fortress of TjTaspol on the side of the river opposite to Bender. — 
 Akkiennun, which is also called Bielgoiod, is at the mouth of the Dniester. The 
 Russians have built, and fortified a town on the opposite shore, to wlUch they have 
 
 5
 
 419 
 
 Tlie jurisdiction of the princes of MoUTaviea and Wallachia do 
 not extend to the waters of the Danube, so that there is, of neces- 
 sity, a Turkish magistrate constantly residing at Galatz, in order 
 to determine disputes or Htigations which may arise between the 
 natives and Mussulman traders, and to punish offences committed 
 beyond the boundaries of the prince's territories. It is not per- 
 mitted to Mussulmans to make a fixed residence in either princi- 
 pality. Those whom commercial or state affairs occasion to pass 
 through, or make a short abode in, the country, are lodged in the 
 khans or hotels expressly built for their accommodation in Yassy 
 and Bukarest, which are maintained at the expense of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The divan effendi, or Turkish secretary, is the only Mussulman 
 in the service of the prince. His business is to write official dis- 
 patches to the Ottoman Porte, to read and translate the firmans or 
 orders of government, and to give judgment, (jointly, if required, 
 
 given the name of Ovidiopol, from a supposition (founded on a misnomer of the 
 Moldavians, who call a lake near Akkierman Lacul Oviduhd, and reasoning too 
 futile to require confutation), that it was the place of the banishment and death of the 
 Roman poet. Killa is situated, at about three leagues fi'om the Black Sea, on 
 the left bank of one of the five mouths of the Danube, which, as well as the right 
 branch, is navigable for vessels of great burthen. — Ismael, in Bessarabia, is situated 
 on the North side of the Danube ; it was here that the merciless Suwarow massacred, 
 without distinction of age or sex, the garrison and the inhabitants, after carrying the 
 place by storm in 1190. — Ibrdil is situated in Wallachia in the angle formed by the 
 Siret and the Danube. — Girgova is also in Wallachia, opposite to Ruschiuk. The 
 Austrian troops who had taken possession of this fortress during the last war, were 
 surprised and driven from it by the Turks, who crossed the Danube, and attacked 
 them in the night.
 
 420 
 
 with a cadi dispatched for the purpose from one of the neighbour- 
 ing fortresses,) in all disputes, in which the interests of Mussul- 
 mans are involved. The divan effendi, though ostensibly an agent 
 of the prince, and receiving a large salary for his services, is 
 however to be considered rather as an officer of the Porte, and an 
 authorized inspector over the prince's conduct. His influence is 
 consequently great, and by overawing the prince by his presence, 
 he assures the observance of that submission and respect for the 
 turban, which is the first and most durable impression on the 
 minds of the Greeks. 
 
 Officers The commander in chief of the national force is named hetman 
 
 civil and 
 
 military, iji Moldavia, and spathari in Wallachia. The militia in each prin- 
 cipality is estimated at six thousand men, infantry and cavalry. 
 Once a year each man receives a sufficient quantity of cloth for a 
 vest or outward garment : their horses, arms, and accoutrements, 
 are provided at their own expense. The advantage which they de- 
 rive from their profession is an exemption from taxation ; but no" 
 thing can be imagined more vile and contemptible than such a 
 soldiery. They are coirmanded by captains appointed by the 
 hetman or spathari, and are dispersed in the capitals and in difl'er- 
 cnt posts in both provinces. 
 
 As military governor of the capital the hetman is honoured with 
 the neuheth or Moldavian music* He holds a court, and has a 
 
 * The princes, as well as tlic Tuiki sh pas-lias, have a band of Turkish musicians, 
 who jjlay military music every afternoon in the court-yard of the palace.
 
 421 
 
 prison in his own house ; he is empowered to inflict corporal chas- 
 tisement or pecuniary fine: his oflice is consequently lucrative, 
 and his authority extensive, and being next in dignity to that of 
 the prince, is usually conferred on a Greek, a relation or favourite 
 of the reigning prince. 
 
 The logofhetis are the heads of the office of chancery : they keep 
 the public registers, issue all diplomas, and have an immediate 
 jurisdiction over the numerous convents and the recluse of both 
 sexes. The cX\\tilogotheti \s keeper of the great seal. The arms 
 of Moldavia are the head of an ox. Those of Wallachia, a raven 
 standing on a hill, holding a cross in its beak, between the sun, 
 and moon. 
 
 The dvormks, or chief judges, are men versed in the practices 
 of the divan and courts of law, and acquainted with the laws and 
 usages of the country. They name the judges of the departments. 
 
 The vestlari, or grand treasurer, is removable from office as well 
 as the other ministers of state ; but the third treasurer, who princi- 
 pally conducts the business, and whose situation requires expe- 
 rience and local knowledge, is considered as permanently possess- 
 ed of his oflice. 
 
 The arniasc, or governor of the public prisons, exercises aix. 
 immediate jurisdiction over the chinganehs or gypsies.
 
 422 
 laws and jijg ^^ws of Moldavia and Wallachia are professedly those of 
 
 police. * •' 
 
 the code of Justiaian, but they are neither studied, understood, 
 nor followed. All suits are determined according to precedent 
 and established usage, which are unwritten and arbitrary. The 
 judges constantly refer to the practices of the court and caprici- 
 ous traditions, so that all decisions are ultimately left at the mercy 
 of the reigning prince. Hence naturally arise confusion and dis- 
 order ; for as the sentence of a prince is not binding on his succes- 
 sor, contestations are interminable, and are continually repro- 
 duced. Suitors present their petitions to the prince in public or 
 in private, according to the rank of the petitioner, the nature of the 
 case, or the character of the prince. These memorials are read by 
 til© third chancellor, docketed, and referred to the appropriate tri- 
 bunal, or to a prelate, if the case properly falls under the cogniz- 
 ance of an ecclesiastical judge. If the parties acquiesce in the 
 sentence, it is definitive ; otherwise appeal is left open to the divan, 
 and thence again to the prince in council. 
 
 The aga, general of infantry, is also lieutenant of police: his 
 inspection extends over the capital, its suburbs, and the neigh- 
 bouring district. Ke is the intendant general of commerce, makes 
 inquisition into the state of the public markets, examines the 
 weights and measures, and the' quality of the provisions exposed 
 to sale. He punishes fraud in the dealers ; and being always at- 
 tended by his officers, inflicts the bastinado summarily, and in the 
 public streets. He also exercises a severe and vexatious jurisdic- 
 tion over the miserable women who purchase from him and his
 
 4€5 
 
 minions the privilege of living in the avowed profession of in- 
 famy. 
 
 The isprav7iic is the civil magistrate of the capital, whose duty 
 is also to levy the contributions in kind which are furnished by 
 both provinces for the use of the city of Constantinople. 
 
 The chief sources of revenue are the capitation tax, the salt- ''^."t""* . 
 
 '^ ' and taxtis* 
 
 mines, the custom duties, and the taxes on pasturage, bees, wine, 
 and tobacco. The capitation in Moldavia is collected every month, 
 and in Wallachia every three months. The inhabitants are taxed, 
 not individually, but by communities or villages : they fix among 
 themselves the rate of each man's contribution, and pay it by the 
 hands of the head-borough, porcalabo, a word which seems to be 
 derived from the latin parochus, as it denotes the exercise of the 
 same functions. When a community is taxed beyond its means, 
 the inhabitants represent their grievances to the ispravnic of the 
 district, and if their complaint be disregarded, they have no alter- 
 native but in abandoning their village, and dispersing themselves 
 in different parts of the country. 
 
 The custom of farming the taxes is universal : the contractors 
 advance a certain portion of the purchase money, and engage to 
 complete their payments by instalments. As the defenceless pea- 
 santry are alone liable to taxation, the farmers, or contractors, 
 are under no restrictions as to the means to be employed in col- 
 lecting the taxes, but are empowered to exercise every expedient.
 
 cities. 
 
 424 
 
 ^'hich fraud or violence may dictate, in order to extort the last 
 mite from the oppressed subject.* 
 
 , The chief expenses are the charges of the national government, 
 the payment of the tribute, and the annual presents to the sultan 
 and the ministers of the Porte. The surplus which remains to the 
 prince, is said to amount to a miUion of piastres ; but it is liable 
 to incalculable deductions for the expenses of maintaining his 
 agents at the Porte, and the secret services which the ambition of 
 rival candidates makes essentially necessary. 
 
 Capital Xlie capital city of the principality of Wallachia is Bukarest, 
 
 and that of Moldavia is Yassy. Bukarest is situated on the Dum- 
 bovitza, a small river, not navigable except for floats and rafts; 
 and Yassy is situated on the Baslui, which runs into the Pruth, 
 
 * The produce of the farms of the different taxes in Wallachia (in the year 
 1782) and in Moldavia (in the year 1785) was as follows, 
 
 Wallachia. Moldavia. 
 
 Poll-tax on the peasantry - - - Piastres. 2,200,000 1,775,000 
 
 Poll-tax on the masili, (small land-holders) and the | ^^„ q„q 05 noo 
 
 merchants -....-) 
 
 Poll-tax on 13,000 emigrant families from Transylvania, ) 140 000 
 
 who pay less than the natives - - - ) 
 
 Saltmines 300,000 300,000 
 
 Custom duties ....... 200,000 200,000 
 
 Tax on the pasturage of sheep and cattle - - 280,000 170,000 
 
 Tax on bees 70,000 120,000 
 
 Tax on wine 60,000 200,000 
 
 Tax on tobacco, &c. <''0,000 50,000 
 
 3,510,000 2,840,000
 
 425 
 
 Both cities resemble extensive villages, rather than the seats of 
 government. In each, the churches and convents form the most 
 conspicuous feature ; and the palaces of the boyars, surrounded 
 with their spacious courts and gardens, contrast in an unpleasing 
 manner with the habitations of the people which bespeak the 
 utmost misery. The walls of the religious houses are covered 
 with grotesque representations of saints and the histories of their 
 miracles. The churches are heavy and inelegant buildings, be-- 
 decked, in their inside, with pictures which, though they may per- 
 haps inspire devotion, yet more certainly tend to vitiate the taste 
 and judgment. In the cathedral church, a throne is erected for 
 the prince, and another, somewhat lower and less elegant, for the 
 princess. The monasteries and convents, being surrounded with 
 solid and lofty walls, serve as retreats to the inhabitants in times 
 of danger, and secure the more valuable property of the merchant 
 from fire and plunder. The houses of the principal boyars are 
 built for the most part of brick, plastered and white-washed. It 
 was formerly the custom to cover the roofs of the houses with 
 shingles, but the use of tiles is now become more general. The 
 principal rooms are heated, as in Russia, Poland, and German v, 
 with stoves. The bazar, or general market, consists of several streets 
 covered with a shed : the shops are numerous, and are generally 
 well supplied with merchandize and wares of every kind. There 
 are also shops in several of the principal streets, but the most 
 numerous, and the most frequented, are the taverns and cellars, 
 in which the common people become familiarized with the practice 
 of every kind of debauchery, and the inordinate use of wine and 
 
 ardent spirits. 
 
 3 I
 
 426 
 
 On entering the cities of Bukaresi and Yassy the traveller ob-^ 
 serves the singular and extravagant eiistom of flooring the streets, 
 with thick beams of the finest oalv, which form a kind of wgodetv 
 bridge. Nothing can more strikingly indicate the im{M-ovudei]it, 
 character of despotism than such a custom. With the iiio,$t con- 
 stant care, it would be difficult to remedy the eftect pf <;ontinual 
 decay, which makes the passage of the streets inconvenient, 
 to those who go in carriages, and even dangerous to the foot, 
 passengers. The waste of so much fine timber, which must be, 
 replaced throughout the whole city every five or six years» 
 cannot be justified by any necessity. The inhabitants indeed have, 
 Jjeen. taught to believe and to repeat, that it is impracticable to lay 
 a, solid pavement on a boggy soil ; but it will with difficulty be ad- 
 mitted, that the peculiar nature of the soil should oppose the same 
 obstacles in two cities so distant from each other as Bukarest and 
 Yassy, and whick exist in no other part of Europe. The short- 
 sightedness of despotism, which impoverishes posterity to diminish 
 the expense of the present day, which endeavours to proportion its 
 labour to the term of its own existence, can alone reconcile it- 
 self to the employment of measures so destructive of the wealth 
 and prosperity of the country. Another consequence which natu- 
 rally results from this wasteful application of palliatives to an evil 
 so easily to be removed, is that the air of both capitals is neces- 
 sarily polluted with the vapours of the filth and stagnant waters 
 Avbich collect under the flooring of the streets. Hence both 
 Bukarest and Yassy arc rendered unwholesome, and the inhabit- 
 ants are constantly afflicted with intermittent, bilious, and putrid, 
 fevers. None but the common people stir out on foot: an equi-
 
 page is indeed aii article of necessity, as much As of luxuiy, but. 
 the motion experienced in going in a carriage, (wherever the 
 streets, as it continnally happens, are out of repair, ) requires 'the 
 passenger to be constantly on his guard ; for the horses Occasion- 
 ally plunge as deep as their chests into a bog Of fdthy water, in 
 almost every street of the city, except that which leads to the 
 prince's palace ; and it is as much M'ith a view to prevent incon- 
 venience or danger from this circumstance, as from etiquette, that 
 men of a certain rank, and the foreign consuls, are preceded by 
 servants, carrying before theiv carriages a kind of torch viaschallah 
 peculiar to those countries, which burns several hours in the hard- 
 est shower of rain without being extinguished. 
 
 Yassy is surrounded by hills of the greatest beauty which afford 
 the finest situations for country seats, but which, in most instahces, 
 are occupied by monasteries. 
 
 In matters of l-eligion the government of both principalities, in 
 imitation of, or in obedience to, the Turkish maxims, exercises 
 toleration. The -catholics are numerous, and are distinguished 
 from the other inhabitants b^- the greater regularity of their 
 conduct. The cath6li(?s wei-e formerly tinder the protection 
 of the kings of Poland, but as it was stipulated in the treaty 
 of Yassy that foreigners should not possess landed property, 
 their religion was placed under the common protection of the 
 national government. All oth^r sects and religions are equally 
 tolerated : the Lutheitins have a church in Bukarest, and the Jc^^ 
 a great number of synagogues in both provinces.
 
 ■stahlisb 
 menu, 
 
 42& 
 
 Public 111 Yassy, as well as in Bukarest, there are physicians main- 
 
 tained at the expense of the public, to whom every inhabitant is 
 authorized to apply for advice or assistance i there are also public 
 hospitals, but the lowest state of misery can scarcely induce the 
 diseased to apply for admission : public institutions of this nature 
 cannot indeed be expected to produce beneficial effects in so de- 
 praved a state of society. Education is in the hands of the priests, 
 but the whole of their knowledge is comprised in absurd and su- 
 perstitious opinions, and the morality which they inculcate is 
 slavish and unmanly. 
 
 The princes are compelled, for the convenience of the officers 
 and messengers of the Turkish government, to keep up a numerous 
 establishment of post horses. The post houses in both principali- 
 ties are usually at the distance of four hours, or leagues, from 
 each other. The mode of travelling post is in a light cart drawn 
 by four horses : it is indeed e^cpeditious, but fatiguing and un- 
 pleasant, as the traveller is inevitably bespattered with mud, or 
 covered with dust, and the post carriages, which are slightly con- 
 structed, and only held together with wooden pegs, continually 
 break down, and are easily overturned. The expense of travelling 
 post is but ten aspers an hour for each horse, or about two shillings 
 of our money for a stage of twelve miles with four horses. The 
 roads, in certain seasons of the year, are so bad, that I entered 
 Bukarest with thirteen horses harnessed to the same carriage, 
 which, through the greatest part of Germany, had only required 
 two. The cabinet couriers, Avhom the princes dispatch to Con-
 
 429 
 
 stantinople, are called calarasch : others, who are employed only 
 in the principalities, are called lipcan. 
 
 The education of the boyars is little superior in point of real Mannersof 
 
 •' * the Greeks 
 
 Utility to that of the common people. The children are instructed *"** ''"J'^"* 
 by priests in the houses of their parents, and are surrounded by 
 chhiganehx, who corrupt them by abject servility, and a base com- 
 pliance with all their caprices. Formed by such tutors they issue 
 out into a world of hypocrisy and vice, without one just principle 
 to regulate their conduct, without one generous purpose, or ho- 
 nourable sentiment. They adopt indiscriminately the vices of the 
 Greeks without inheriting the Greek vivacity, or veiling them 
 with that delicacy which the Greeks have not wholly relinquished. 
 They confound whatever is most degrading in luxury with the fair 
 fruit of civilization, and in their rude adoption of European man- 
 ners, they plunge into promiscuous debauchery, and indulge to 
 excess in an unprincipled passion of gaming. Like the Poles and 
 Hungarians the boyars inherit a taste for magnificent dresses and 
 splendid equipages : they love balls and public entertainments, 
 but their assemblies are rude and tumultuous. Their tables are 
 open to every person of their acquaintance, but are inelegantly 
 served. In the cities they are forbidden to form connections of - 
 intimacy, or even to keep up intercourse, with strangers; but I 
 have occasionally lodged for a night in their country seats, and 
 was always received and treated by them with a plain but decent 
 hospitality. 
 
 The Greeks adopt a more than Asiatic luxury : they sleep after
 
 priuc 
 
 430 
 
 tlinner on tlieir sophas, whilst a female servant fans away the flies 
 and refreshes the air which they breathe : they exact from their 
 attendants the respect and homage which they have observed to 
 be paitl to the Turkish grandees ; but feeling within themselves 
 no consciousness of personal worth or importance, they cannot 
 command with Turkish dignity, and the petulance of vanity be- 
 trays itself in harsh expressions, and insulting behaviour, to their 
 inferiors. 
 
 Deposed On tlic death or deposition of a prince the divan assembles, and 
 immediately assumes the administration of the public affairs. All 
 the creatures or dependents of the prince are removed from office, 
 and other i>ersons are appointed who continue in authority until 
 the arrival of his successor. The caimacam, or lieutenant of the 
 newly created prince announces the nomination of his master, but 
 docs not interfere in the affaii-s of government, farther than in 
 6"upenntending the collection of the prince's revenues. The fallen 
 sovereio-n is immediately forsaken by his courtiers, is always treated 
 with neglect, and sometimes with insult and reviling. He returns 
 privately, and Without pomp, to Constantinople, where he retires 
 to his seat in the Fanal or on the shores of the Bosphorus. With 
 the usual modesty of rayahs the princes reassume their former 
 habits of submission, and the exterior of humility. They are 
 followed in the streets only by a single servant ; but at home they 
 are surrounded by a princely and titled household : they allot to 
 particular officers distinct portions of service, and pass the day in 
 planning new schemes of ambition, or in receiving the secret 
 iiomaere of their clients and vassals.
 
 431 
 
 lu virtue of a clause in tUe $ixtcentb aaticle of the treaty of Foreig, 
 peace, concluded at Kainargik, on the twenty-first of July 1774, 
 the court of Russia obtained a right of interference in the internal 
 ajdui in 1st ration of government in both principalities, and the Rus- 
 sian ambassadors at the Porte were authorized to superintend, and 
 to coii.tiQl by their repi;esentations, even the arrangements of the 
 Turkish cabinet respecting Moldavia and Wallachia. The same 
 treaty granted to Russia, in like manner as to other favoured na- 
 tions, the privilege of aj)pointing consuls or commercial agents in 
 any port oi city throughout the sultan's dominions. The Ottoman 
 Porte resisted, however, for a long time, the assumption, that this- 
 privilege extended to the inland provinces situated beyond the 
 Danube. After long discussions the two Imperial courts of Vienna 
 and St. Petersburg finally established their pretensions, and in the 
 year 1781 obtained from the Porte a formal acknowledgment of 
 their right to appoint resident ministers in the capitals of Moldavia 
 and Wallachia. The princes themselves had secretly fomented 
 the opposition made by the Porte, and had thrown obstacles in the 
 way of the negociation, from an apprehension that they themselves 
 would be restricted in the exercise of their prerogative over their 
 subjects, by their conduct being thus submitted to the inspection 
 and censure of foreigners. When the concession could, however, 
 be no longer withheld, they endeavoured to console themselves for 
 the diminution of authority by the incense which was thus offered 
 to their vanity, in assimilating them, by these new and extraordi- 
 nary appointments, to tlie sovereigns of the independent states of 
 Europe. They consequently received the Imperial consuls with
 
 / 
 
 432 
 
 all the forms and ceremonies usually observed by the Ottomans at 
 the public audience of foreign ambassadors.* 
 
 The house of Austria, the chief object of whose government is 
 the welfare and prosperity of its subjects, prescribed to its agents, 
 as their principal duty, the care of improving and extending the 
 national commerce. Various grants and privileges were obtained 
 from the Porte, and equitable regulations were established to pro- 
 tect the persons and property of the Austrian subjects, both mer- 
 chants and graziers, in each principality. 
 
 The commerce of Russia with the states of Turkey, though by 
 no means inconsiderable, was, however, an object of but inferior 
 importance to a government occupied in schemes of conquest and 
 aggrandizement. It has been indeed unequivocally expressed, on 
 several occasions, that the possession of both provinces entered 
 into the views of the court of St. Petersburg. On the breaking 
 out of the war between Russia and the Porte in the year 1711, 
 Demetrius Cantemir M^as named to the principality of Moldavia, 
 
 * G<?rmany and Russia were the only countries that availed of this privilege, (which 
 is common to all the European powers who have treaties with the Ottoman Porte), 
 until the French National Convention appointed as their representative a Greek of the 
 name of Stamati, who had previously figured at the bar of the Assembly, in the pro- 
 cession -of the deputies of the luiman race which was headed by Anacharsis ClooL'*. 
 Citizen Stamati was however personally objectionable, and the Ottoman ministers re- 
 fused to ratify the privileges conferred on an enfranchized rayah. A native French- 
 man was therefore named consul at Bukarest in lT95, and the appointment has been 
 regularly continued. The English ambassador at Constantinople also names an agent 
 for the express purpose of forwarding the over-land dispatches of the East India com- 
 jiany. ^ 
 
 \
 
 433 
 
 from the reliance of the Turkish cabinet on his talents for war and 
 his tried fidelity. Cantemir, however, had scarcely taken posses- 
 sion of his government than he sent a trusty messenger to the 
 Czar with an offer of himself and his principality ; " esteeming it 
 better to suffer with Christ, than to wait for the deceitful treasures 
 of Egypt." Such is the specious colouring with which the histo- 
 rian endeavours to gloss over his own rebellion, but it may perhaps 
 be doubted whet])cr he was not actuated equally by the allurements 
 of personal ambition, as by zeal for the interests of the Christian 
 religion : for he had carefully stipulated in his treaty with the 
 Czar, that the sovereignty of Moldavia, which Avas to be restored 
 to its ancient extent, should be made hereditary in his family, 
 under the auspices of the Russian monarchs. His Christian sub- 
 jects listened no less than their prince to the suggestions of pru- 
 dence, and preferred the dominion of the Porte to that of the 
 Russians, whose inhumanity they had frequently experienced. 
 The ill-success of the war thwarted the ambitious views of the 
 Russian monarch, and Cantemir himself was saved from the re- 
 sentment of the Turks only by the honourable pertinacitj' of Peter, 
 who refused to surrender him ; and by the artifice of the Czarina, 
 ■who concealed him in her own carriage and asserted tliat he had 
 quitted the camp.* 
 
 In the year 1770, when IMoldavia was occupied by the Russian 
 
 * See Voltaire, Hist, de Charles XII, liv. 5. — Caniemii's Ottoman History. 
 p. ■1-52.-— Life of Demetrius Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia. 
 
 3 K
 
 434 
 
 troops under Field ^larshal Count Romanzoff", lier Imperial ma- 
 jesty, by her public letters which were read six times in all the 
 churches, declared that the principality should remain eternally 
 under her protection, and be no more subjected to the Turkish 
 yoke.* Circumstances, however, compelled her to desist from 
 her pretensions, and Bessarabia, Moldavia, and Wallachia were re- 
 stored to the Ottoman Porte by the treaty of Kainargik. Some 
 vague clauses were however inserted in order to guaranty to the 
 inhabitants their ancient privileges, and to authorize the media- 
 tion of the Russian government in their behalf These clauses 
 were ratified, the rights and duties of the subjects were more fully 
 explained, and the guarantee of Russia acknowledged, by a khatfy 
 sher'if, or proclamation signed by the sultan, dated in the year 
 1784. The treaty of Yassy stipulated a further abridgment of llie 
 sovereignty of the Porte over the pinnces and the tributary inhabi- 
 tants ; but the Turks, who submitted with reluctance to the humi- 
 liation, have eluded a strict compliance with their engagements, 
 and by their continual infractions of the treaty have furnished the 
 Russians with endless subjects of complaint and remonstrance. 
 The last act of Russia'^s interference was in the year 1802, when 
 Prince Ipsilanti was promoted to the government of Wallachia, 
 and Prince Murusi to that of Moldavia, with the express condition, 
 which was obtained throngh the ncgociations of the Russian mi- 
 nister at the Porte, that neither of them should be removed fi om 
 office, if they were not proved guilty of an otfcnce that the Russian 
 
 * See 06S€r\'a2ioni, &c. p. 193, note. 
 
 i
 
 43.5 
 
 minister should allow to be of a nature wliicli justified their depo- 
 sition. It must however be confessed, that such a state of things 
 has by no means contributed to the advantage either of the gover- 
 nors or the people. Tlie Porte is insulted by the limitations im- 
 posed on the ostensible exercise of its sovereign authority, but is 
 not restrained in its vexations over the inhabitants. It is vain 
 indeed to expect that the interference of foreign power between a 
 prince and liis subjects can ever be productive of beneficial eflt'ects. 
 But it may be questioned, whether it ever entered into the contem- 
 plation of the Russian cabinet to ameliorate the condition of the in- 
 habitants of ^loldavia and Wallachia, since no instance can be pro- 
 duced of any exertion of influence on the part of the Russian con- 
 suls to alleviate the distresses of the people, to check and restrain 
 the tyranny of the Greeks, or to promote any plan of permanent 
 benefit to the oppressed inhabitants. 
 
 The present eventful crisis involves the fate of the world. On 
 the decision of the question which is now at issue respecting Mol- 
 davia and Wallachia depends the existence of the Ottoman em- 
 pire. These provinces cannot long remain under a divided sove- 
 reignty, nor can they raise themselves to independency on the power- 
 ful empires which surround them on every side. If they be restored 
 to the Ottoman Porte, they must still owe their preservation to 
 foreign influence, because of the weakness of the Turkish govern- 
 ment. Under the dominion of Austria they Avould oppose an in- 
 surmountable barrier to the further progress of Russia. If they 
 remain annexed to the Russian empire, the Danube will roll in
 
 436 
 
 vain between the Turks and their inveterate enemies ; the dissolu- 
 tion of the Ottoman power will inevitably follow : an event which 
 in its consequences cannot he contemplated without exciting the 
 most serious apprehensions. 
 
 G. WoDilfall, rrmiir, 
 Paitriiostcr-row.
 
 
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