expense of the rural cultivators who are | days after he had been at the head of toiling at the plough, which is the great an army apparently capable of coninducement that attracts such multi- quering the world. tudes from the country to the great towns. When once there, they never go back; rural labour is ever insupportable to those who have once tasted the varieties and excitement of urban life. But this vast abstraction of robust hands from country labour to urban indolence, an evil in every country, is doubly so in one like Turkey, labouring under the scourge of a scanty and declining rural population.

35. Hence the history of Turkey presents the most extraordinary vicissi tudes of fortune, and has oscillated alternately from the most prosperous to the most adverse circumstances. Mahomet II. stormed Constantinople in 1453, and ere long he had subdued Greece, and extended his dominion from the Adriatic to the Crimea ; Selim I., in 1517, conquered Egypt, Syria, and Rhodes; and in 1529, Hungary, torn by civil dissensions, opened to Soliman II. the road to Vienna. Soon after Cyprus yielded to Selim, but here the star of the Crescent was arrested. The battle of Lepanto, in 1571, checked for ever their naval progress; the siege of Malta put a limit to their conquests in the Mediterranean. Azof, in the north of the empire, acquired in 1642, was successively lost and regained ; Vienna, again besieged in 1683 by 150,000 Turks, beheld their total defeat by the arms of John Sobieski. The Ottoman arms yielded in several campaigns to the scientific manœuvres and daring valour of Prince Eugene, and Austria made great acquisitions from them by the treaties of 1699 and 1718, but she lost them all by the disgraceful peace of 1739. Long victorious over the Turks under the banners of Marshal Mornich, the Russians, under Peter the Great, were reduced to capitulate, in 1711, on the Pruth, to the Ottoman forces, and purchase a disgraceful retreat by the abandonment of all their

34. It results necessarily from this peculiar and anomalous position of the Turkish empire, that its political and military strength varies extremely from time to time, and depends rather on casual fits of excitement or sudden fits of passion, than any lasting strength or permanent resources. When a sultan of great vigour or military capacity is at the head of affairs, and the nation is excited by the prospect of glory or pillage, or when the religious feelings of the people are violently excited against the infidels, nearly the whole race of the Osmanlis run to arms, and the grand-vizier finds himself at the head of a mighty host, which has often proved for the time irresistible by the utmost strength of the Western powers. It was thus that Rhodes was conquered in 1517 from its valiant chevaliers by Selim I.; and Vienna besieged by Soliman II., in 1529; and Candia conquered by Mahomet IV.; and Vienna again besieged, and saved from destruction only by John Sobieski, in 1683. On many of these occasions the grand-conquests. The Morea was conquered vizier found himself at the head of 150,000 men, whose desperate onset in the field was equalled only by the skill with which they wielded their weapons. But as these efforts were founded on passing excitement, not durable strength or lasting policy, they were seldom of long duration: a single considerable reverse was generally sufficient to disperse the mighty host, which was held together only by the fervour of fanaticism, or the lust of plunder; and the grand-vizier often found himself wholly deserted, a few

from them by the Venetians in 1699, though soon after regained, and the conquest of Bagdad seemed to announce their decisive superiority in Asia over the Persians. Yet were these great successes, which filled all Europe with dread, and seemed to presage for them almost universal dominion, soon followed by still greater disasters. The growing strength of Russia rose up in appalling vigour beside the at length declining resources of the Osmanlis. Romanzoff crossed the Danube, and carried the ravages of

war to the foot of the Balkan; the Heet of Orloff made the circuit of Europe, and consigned the Turkish squadron to the flames in the Bay of Tehesme; the Morea took up arms in 1783, and for a time acknowledged the sceptre of Russia; and nothing but the intervention of France and England preserved the empire from dismemberment, when threatened with the combined armies of Russia and Austria, two hundred thousand strong, immediately before the French Revolution. The war of 1808 still more clearly revealed the increasing weakness of the Ottomans. Russia alone proved more than a match for Turkey. Wallachia and Moldavia were by a formal ukase incorporated with the dominions of the Czar, and nothing but the invasion of Napoleon in 1812 obliged the Cabinet of St Petersburg to acknowledge for a season the Pruth as the frontier stream of the two empires.

bellious satraps. Czerny George and Prince Molosch, at the head of the strength of Servia, maintained a prolonged contest with the Ottoman forces, which terminated, in recent times, in its nominal submission and real independence. Ali Pacha, the "Lion of Janina," long set the whole power of the Sultan at defiance, and was only subdued at length by treachery. Wallachia and Moldavia, under their elective hospodars, are only bound to pay a fixed tribute to the Sultan, and are rather the subjects of the Czar than the Porte; and the Pacha of Egypt, by whose aid alone the balance was cast against the Greeks in 1827, brought the dominions of the Osmanlis to the verge of ruin a few years after, from whence they were rescued by the intervention, still more perilous, of Russia. The empire of the Turks would, from these causes of weakness, have long since fallen to pieces were it not for the jealousies of the Euro36. One great cause of these extra-pean powers, who interpose, before it ordinary mutations of fortune is, that the Ottoman empire is not one state, in the European sense of the word; that is, a united dominion, ruled by one government, obliged to obey its direct mandates, and contributing all its resources to its support: it is rathering an aggregate of separate states, owing only a nominal allegiance to the central power, and yielding it effective support only when the vigour and capacity of the ruling Sultan, or the strong tide of passing enthusiasm, leaves them no alternative but to render it. The pachas, especially the more distant and powerful ones, are often in substance independent; they pay only a fixed tribute to the Sultan, generally inconsiderable compared to the sum which they contrive to exact from their subjects; they are bound to send, in case of need, a certain body of troops to his support, but it is generally delayed as long as possible, and when it does arrive, like the contingents of the German princes, it seldom gives any effective aid to the forces of the empire. Many of the bloodiest and most desperate wars the Porte has ever carried on, have been with its own re

is too late, to prevent Constantinople from falling into the hands of any of their number, and the strength and incomparable situation of that capital itself, which, in modern as in ancient times, has singly supported the totterfabric of the empire for more than one century.

37. CONSTANTINOPLE, one of the most celebrated and finely situated. capitals in the world, has exercised perhaps a more important influence on the fortunes of the species than any other city in existence in modern times. It broke in pieces the vast fabric of the Roman empire, and was the principal cause of the fall of its western division; for after the charms of the Bosphorus had rendered its shores the head of empire, the forces of the West were no longer able to make head against the increasing strength of the barbarians. Singly, by its native strength and incomparable situation, it supported the Empire of the East for a thousand years after Rome had yielded to the assault of Alaric, and preserved the precious seeds of ancient genius till the mind of Europe was prepared for their reception. It

diverted the Latin Crusaders from the | in close profusion, in the Golden Horn: shores of Palestine, and occasioned the "the meteor flag of England" and the downfall of the Empire of the East by rising star of America, the tricolor of the ruthless arms of the Franks; it at- France and the eagles of Russia, the tracted afterwards the Osmanlis from aged ensigns of Europe and the infant the centre of Asia, and brought about sails of Australia. Hers is the only their lasting settlement in the finest commerce in the world which never provinces of Europe. It has since been can fail, and ever must rise superior to the object of ceaseless ambition and all the changes of Fortune; for the incontention to the principal European creasing numbers and energy of northpowers. A kingdom in itself, it is ern only renders the greater the demand more coveted than many realms. Aus- for the boundless agricultural produetria and Russia have alternately united tions of southern Europe, and every and contended for the splendid prize; addition to the riches and luxury of it broke up the alliance of Erfurth, and the West only augments the traffic brought the arms of Napoleon to Mos- which must ever subsist between it cow; and in these days it has dis- and the regions of the sun. solved all former confederacies, created new ones, and brought the forces of England and France to the Crimea, to avert the threatened seizure of the matchless city by the armies of the Czar.

38. It is no wonder that Constantinople has ever since its foundation exercised so great an influence on the fortunes of the species, for its local advantages are unique, and its situation must ever render it the most important city in the Old World. Situated on the confines of Europe and Asia, with a noble harbour, it at the same time centres in itself the trade of the richest parts of the globe; commanding the sole outlet from the Euxine into the Mediterranean, it of necessity sees the commerce of the three quarters of the globe pass under its walls. The Danube wafts to its quays the productions of Germany, Hungary, and northern Turkey; the Volga, the agricultural riches of the Ukraine and the immense plains of southern Russia; the Kuban, of the mountain tribes of the Caucasus; caravans, traversing the Taurus and the deserts of Mesopotamia, convey to it the riches of Central Asia and the distant productions of India; the waters of the Mediterranean afford a field for the vast commerce of the nations which lie along its peopled shores; while the more distant manufactures of Britain and the United States of America find an inlet through the Straits of GibralThe pendants of all the nations of the earth are to be seen side by side,

tar.

39. The local facilities, strength of situation, and beauty of Constantinople, are commensurate to these inmense advantages of its geographical position. Situated on a triangle, two sides of which are washed by the sea, it is protected by water on all sides, excepting the base, to which the whole strength of the place only requires to be directed. The harbour, called the "Golden Horn," formed by a large in-i let of the sea, eight miles in length, on the northern side of the city, is at once so deep as to admit of three-deckers lying close to the quay, so capacious as to admit all the navies of Europe into its bosom, and so narrow at its entrance as to be capable of being closed by a chain drawn across its mouth. The apex of the triangle is formed by the far-famed Seraglio, or Palace of the Sultans, in itself a city, embracing within its ample circuit the luxurious apartments in which the beauties of the East alternate between the pastimes of children and the jealousies of women, and the shady gardens, where, beneath venerable cedars and plane-trees, fountains of living water cool the sultry air with their ceaseless flow. The city itself, standing on this triangular space, is surrounded by the ancient walls of Constantine, nine thousand eight hundred toises, or about twelve English miles, in circuit, and in most places in exactly the state in which they were left, when the ancient masters of the world resigned the sceptre of the East to the Osmanli conquerors. The breach

3 still to be seen in the walls, made by | siderably dispels the illusion, and rehe cannon of Mahomet, by which the veals, under this splendid exterior, in urks burst into the city. In many a larger proportion than usual, the evils laces, huge plane-trees, of equal an- and sufferings of humanity. Built in iquity, overshadow even these vast great part of wood, in crowded streets valls by their boughs; and in others, and contracted habitations, it is, in vy, the growth of centuries, attests ordinary times, in most places, dirty t once the antiquity of the structure and unhealthy, and often subject to nd the negligence or superstition of the most dreadful conflagrations. The he modern masters of the city. plague is its annual, frightful fires its almost triennial, visitant. On the 2d September 1831, a fire broke out, which, before it was extinguished, had consumed eighteen thousand houses, and turned adrift upon the world nearly a hundred thousand persons. Conflagrations, however, are so frequent, that, except when they extend to these terrific dimensions, they excite very little attention. The population of the city varies much from time to time, with the ravages of pestilence, or the terrors of conflagration. In one quarterthat of the Fanar--the principal Greek families reside, many of whom have acquired in trade and commerce very considerable fortunes. They are the "sad remains of the Byzantine noblesse, who, trembling under the sabre of the Mussulmans, give themselves the titles of princes, purchase from the Porte the temporary sovereignty of Wallachia and Moldavia, seek riches in every possible way, crouch before power, and convey to this day a faithful image of the Lower Empire."

40. No words can express the beauty of the city of Constantinople, with its charming suburbs of Pera, Galata, and Scutari, when seen from the waters on the opposite shore of the Hellespont. Situated on a cluster of low hills, which there border the Sea of Marmora, it presents an assemblage of charming objects, such as are not to be seen in a similar space in any other part of the world. It has not the magnificent background of the Bay of Naples, nor the castellated majesty of Genoa; but in the unity of the scene, the harmony of all its parts, and the homogeneous nature of the emotion it awakens, it is superior to either. The effect is perfect; the panorama, as seen from the bay, is complete. To the north, the majestic entrance of the Bosphorusthe waters of which are covered with cuïques, while its shores exhibit alternately the wildness of the savage forest and the riches of cultivated society kindles the imagination with the idea of unseen beauties; to the east, the suburb of Scutari, in itself a city, with its successive ranges of terraces and palaces, the abodes of European opulence and splendour; to the west, the superb entrance of the Golden Horn, crowded with vessels, and the dense piles of the city itself, rising one above another in successive gradations, surmounted by the domes of a hundred mosques, among which the cupola of St Sophia and the minarets of that of Sultan Achmet appear conspicuous; while to the south the view is closed by the beautiful Point of the Seraglio, its massy structures guarded with jealous care, half obscured by the stately trees which adorn its gardens, and dip their leafy branches in the cool stream of the Dardanelles.

41. A nearer approach, however, con

42. The population of Constantinople, with its adjunct suburbs, is nearly 900,000; and the proportion of women to men is very nearly the same as in the capitals of western Europe, the former domiciled being 388,000, and the latter only 361,000. The former comprises 42,000 female slaves. This is a very curious fact, because it demonstrates that polygamy, as common sense might long ago have told us, is scarcely an evil affecting the mass of society, however dreadful with reference to the peace of families and education of youth; for the excess of women above men is not so great as it is in London or Paris, or any other of the capitals of Europe. Nature has chained man, in general, by the strongest of all lawsthat of necessity-to a single wife. A

harem, like a stud of racers or hunters, | stately line-of-battle ships which lay can be kept only by the affluent.* at the entrance of the Bosphorus, to 43. The quarter from which this guard the approach to the capital from magnificent city is most assailable is the assaults of Russia. The Czar had the sea; and the expedition of Sir John no seamen of his own who could comDuckworth in 1807, however unfortu- pete on their native element with the nate in its final results, from the tar- Greek islanders; his vessels were for diness with which its operations were the most part manned by them: a war conducted, yet revealed its inherent at sea between him and the Porte was weakness, and proved that it might be like one between England and Amebrought to subjection, despite the cas- rica; the same race of seamen were tles of Europe and Asia, by the vigor- seen on both sides. Under the influous assault of a great maritime power. ence of these favourable circumstances, But in this respect the Turks had long the islands of the Archipelago had the advantage of the Russians, from made unexampled strides in populathe admirable skill of the Greek sailors tion, riches, and strength; the level who manned their fleet. These hardy fields of Scio were covered with or seamen, as expert now as when they chards, vineyards, gardens, and villas, rolled back the tide of Persian invasion where one hundred thousand Chrisin the Straits of Salamis, constituted tians, freed from the Ottoman yoke, the real strength of Turkey. Engross- dwelt in peace and happiness; the ing nearly the whole trade of the Euxine rocks of Hydra and Ipsara bristled with and the Archipelago, they had covered cannon, which defended the once dethese seas with their sails, and been sert isles, where fifty thousand industrained to hardihood and daring amidst trious citizens were enriched by the their frequent storms. Their principal activity of commerce; while the trade naval establishments, Hydra, Spezzia, of the islands, carried on in 600 vesand Ipsara, had become great seaports, sels, bearing 6000 guns, and navigated where an immense commerce was car- by 18,000 seamen, maintained the busy ried on, and which, from the entire de- and increasing multitude in comfort pendence of Constantinople upon their and affluence.† seamen for supplies in peace and defence in war, had for long practically enjoyed the blessings of independence. Their barks conveyed the 1,500,000 bushels of grain annually from Egypt and Odessa to the mouths of the Danube, which supplied the metropolis with food; their seamen manned the

44. The chief military strength of Turkey, as is well known, till very recent times, consisted in the JANIZARIES-a sort of standing army of great vigour and courage, established in the capital and the principal towns of the empire. They were originally formed from the sons of Christians, chiefly in

+"M. Pouqueville evalue la marine marchande de toutes les isles Grècques à 615 bâtimens, sans compter les polacres, barques pontées, montées par 17,526 marins et armées de 5847 canons. On a vu dans la discussion de la loi des grains en France, qu'en 1817 et 1818 il n'y avait moins de 400 ou 500 bâtimens Grecs employés au transport des grains de la Mer Noire."-Annuaire Historique, iv. 388, note.