HISTORY THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

II

FROM THE CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE

TO

THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO (1571).

 

BAJAZET (BEYAZID) II. 1447-1512 AD.

Bajazet II who succeeded Mahomet, attested the sincerity of his religion and his faith in the prophet, by a pilgrimage to Mecca; nor would he be dissuaded from this pious mission by the intelligence of his advancement to the throne. He recommended his son Korkud as his substitute, who dutifully resigned the scepter on his father's return.

The commencement of the reign of Bajazet was disturbed by the pretensions of his brother Djem; and as ambition is seldom without an excuse, he founded his claim to dominion upon his being born the son of an emperor, whereas Bajazet was born before his father Mahomet had ascended the throne. Prince Djem was one of the most accomplished men of his nation. Skilled in literature and eloquence, he was endowed with prudence and magnanimity; but his desire to reign involved him in a series of misfortunes which terminated only with his life. He raised his standard at Bursa, but his army was annihilated by the grand vizier Achmet, and he fled to Egypt, and was received kindly by the Sultan and supplied with money. After a variety of fortune he took refuge in Italy; but the Roman pontiff, the infamous Alexander VII corrupted by the gold of Bajazet, administered poison to his unsuspecting guest.

The army of Bajazet under the vizier Achmet was everywhere successful. He overran Moldavia and subjected it to tribute; and penetrating into Cilicia, overthrew the Caramanian prince and his Mameluke auxiliaries on the plains of Tarsus, and established the dominion of Bajazet over the whole sea-coast as far as the Syrian gates. The valor and talents of Achmet were fatal to his life. He was the idol of the Janissaries whose turbulence and tumults he alone could control. Those very qualities which rendered Achmet worthy of the first honors of the state, served only to excite the suspicion and jealousy of Bajazet, who resolved to destroy him; and he soon secretly accomplished his perfidious design. By this act, Bajazet, instead of adding to his security, cast from under him the firmest pillar of his throne; and he exposed himself to the fierce resentment of an unbridled soldiery, who now felt their influence in the government, and who continued for upwards of four centuries to break the energies and interrupt the happiness and prosperity of the empire.

The increasing power of the Turks was not only beheld with apprehension in Europe, but it excited the jealousy of the Mameluke sovereigns of Egypt, who embraced every opportunity of fomenting and encouraging rebellion in their dependencies in Asia Minor. Bajazet was aware of this hostile feeling; and he was further incensed by the protection which Kaite-bey afforded to his brother Djem. Thus was laid the foundation of a quarrel which occasioned much bloodshed in this and the following reign, and ended in the total overthrow of the Mameluke sovereignty in Egypt.

Bajazet resolved to invade Syria, but he was anticipated by the Mamelukes, who encountered him in the vicinity of Mount Taurus. Bajazet sustained a severe defeat, and was compelled to retire after the loss of two-thirds of his army and all his baggage and cannon. The fleet which accompanied the march of the army was equally unfortunate. It encountered a storm, and was totally wrecked at the mouth of the river Orontes.

The Mamelukes were originally Circassian slaves, and like the Janissaries of the Turks, formed the choicest troops of the Egyptian sovereigns. They were regularly recruited from Circassia; and by degrees they grew so formidable to their masters that they became the dispensers of the scepter of Egypt. The reigning dynasty was set aside, and they raised one of their own nation to the throne. The Mameluke reign in Egypt continued for upwards of a century. The reinforcements of the Mamelukes being almost exhaustless, the talents and enterprise of Bajazet enabled him to form a scheme by which the supply of Circassian slaves would be entirely cut off, and the subjugation of Egypt thereby the more easily accomplished. He made a treaty with the Sultan of Egypt, by which he restored the conquests he had made two years before in Cilicia, and then led his army into Circassia. Seven years were occupied in the reduction of this country. A line of posts was established between Erzurum and Derbend on the Caspian, by which the emigration of the inhabitants was completely prevented.

According to the unanimous suffrage of naturalists and travelers, it is in the adjacent climates of Georgia, Circassia, and Mingrelia, that nature has placed, at least to our eyes, the model of beauty, in the shape of the limbs, the color of the skin, the symmetry of the features, and the expression of the countenance. According to the destination of the two sexes, the men, it has been remarked, seem formed for action, the women for love; and the perpetual supply of females from the mountains of the Caucasus, has purified the blood and improved the southern nations of Asia. These countries have long maintained an exportation of slaves, and they furnish a regular supply for the markets of Constantinople.

Bajazet adopted no ulterior measures with respect to Egypt. His attention was called to the Venetians, with whom grounds of quarrel regarding their commercial rights were constantly occurring. Their fleets met at Sapienza in the Archipelago, when the Venetians were defeated with great loss, and the victors became masters of Lepanto and Modox. The Turks at the same time invaded Italy, and ravaged Friuli; but they received a severe check from Gonsalvo, the famous Cid, who drove their fleet into the Hellespont and destroyed a number of their ships.

Bajazet, though naturally averse to war was at the same time a successful soldier; and he seems only to have taken up arms when demanded by the exigencies of the state. He zealously promoted literature and the arts; and now being at peace with all his neighbors, he devoted himself to the study of the religious and philosophical literature of Islamism. His peaceful studies were interrupted by the rebellion of Schetian Kuli, the founder of a sect of Mahometan heretics. This impostor took the common method of acquiring a character for sanctity by the austerities of his life, and by his retirement from the world in a secret cave. No religion, either divine or human, has ever yet been so deeply rooted in the human mind as to prevent its adherents from being misled by artful impostors. This Schetian Kuli had collected such a number of followers, that not contented with attempting the conversion of his countrymen, he took up arms to revolutionize the state; but being defeated in several engagements by the troops of Bajazet, he fled to Persia, and converted to his opinions the sovereign of that country and most of his subjects.

The ties of parental affection appear to have become languid or altogether dead in the Turkish princes. Bajazet was indulging his love of retirement and contemplating measures to raise his son Achmet to the throne, when his youngest son Selim, supported by the Janissaries, snatched the scepter from his grasp, and followed up his rebellion by the murder of his father, AD 1511, and the thirtieth of his reign.

SELIM- 1512-1520 AD.

The character and disposition of Selim, as exhibited in his unnatural rebellion, and the murder of his father, require little illustration. But as if not content with the enormities he had already committed, he began by providing for the stability of his throne, by devoting to death all his brothers and nephews.

The Sunnites, who were believed by the Turks to be the only orthodox believers, and whose mosques had been destroyed by Ismail, the Shah of Persia, who had adopted the heresies of Schetian, established a religious animosity mingled with personal jealousy and national aggrandizement, between two of the most powerful sovereigns of Islamism, which continued to be prosecuted for two centuries with all the bitterness which sectarian rancor could inspire. The fiery Janissaries were fit and willing instruments in the hands of Selim for the gratification of his relentless and cruel disposition.

Selim prepared to encounter his antagonist, and assembled a great army on the plains of Erzurum. His troops were subjected to great suffering in crossing the mountainous deserts of Ararat, and he had well nigh fallen a victim to their resentment. The appearance of the enemy has often revived the drooping courage of soldiers, and renewed their attachment to their commander. The appearance of the Persian host saved perhaps the life of Selim; but it was not a spirit of heroism that restrained the murmurs and roused the courage of the Janissaries. The Persian forces appeared glittering with gold and precious stones, and attended by numerous beasts of burden, and cupidity and the love of plunder produced that effect on the troops of Selim, which true bravery and the honor of the soldier could not accomplish. Thus the splendid trappings of the Persian army not only brought about its destruction by the useless impediments which they must necessarily have imposed upon its evolutions, but by the effects which the exhibition of all this riches produced.

The armies met on the plains of Calderon, AD 1514. The Turks obtained the victory, but so dearly was it bought, that they called it “the day of judgment”. An immense booty fell into the hands of the Ottomans; but their retreat was disastrous, and Selim with difficulty rescued his army from the attacks of the Kurdish mountaineers. The energy of Selim was in no way abated by this disaster, and he arose from the conflict with renewed strength. He again prepared for the invasion of Persia, by subduing the vast peninsula between the Euphrates and Tigris; and by these important conquests he opened an easy access into the dominions of Ismail. The Sultan of Egypt could not be induced to detach his alliance with Persia, and Selim being afraid to leave so powerful a sovereign behind him, advanced into Syria, and encamped on the plains of Aleppo. Selim was saved from impending ruin by the treachery of the governor of Aleppo who deserted from the enemy, and was thus enabled to rally his forces and bring his artillery into action, which made great havoc among the Mameluke squadrons. These troops were compelled to retire with the loss of their Sultan, and the Ottoman army marched to Cairo, when, after another obstinate but decisive encounter, the power of the Mamelukes was annihilated, and the new Sultan was hanged on the gates of Cairo by the orders of Selim.

Egypt being thus in the power of the Turks, Selim established the government in twenty-four beys, whose authority was subjected to a council of regency, supported by a standing army of 20,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry. Syria and Palestine were converted into Ottoman pachaliks; the scherif of Mecca proffered to him the keys of the holy city; and the Arabs of the desert submitted to his sovereign authority. On the return of the inexorable Selim, an ambassador from Persia met him at Aleppo, and endeavored by presents and flattery to avert his hostility to the Persian King; but Selim swore that he would subvert the Persian empire, and extinguish a race odious to God and man. Persia, however, was saved by the death of Selim, who died after forty days of severe suffering. Selim obtained for the Ottoman Sultans the title of Caliph, which confers the highest influence and supremacy. It is scarcely possible to imagine human nature reduced to such a state of degradation as to have tamely submitted to the cruelties of Selim. The laws of war and the duties of a commander require from him prompt and energetic measures for restraining the passions and preserving the subordination of the soldiers, which, in civil life, would be justly entitled to the epithet of barbarous. The conqueror or usurper may find in his own mind an excuse for the greatest of political crimes, and may impose upon the minds and persons of his subjects the yoke of slavery, and subject them to punishment and death, on the plea of expediency; but the sovereign or the soldier who orders the victims of his displeasure to instantaneous execution, merely through caprice or the love of slaughter, deserves the unmitigated execration of mankind.

Such was the conduct of Selim. When he first prepared for war, his vizier inquired in what quarter he should erect his tents, for which he was instantly strangled. His successor repeated the same question, and met with the same fate; but the third pitched the tents towards the four points of the compass, and when the Sultan demanded where his camp was fixed; “Everywhere”, said the vizier, “thy soldiers will follow thee everywhere thou shalt lead”. “Behold”, said the tyrant, “how the death of two has procured me a capital vizier”. Upon another occasion, upon his march to Cairo, one of his officers presumed to ask when they should enter a certain village, “When God pleases”, said the Sultan, “but for thee it is my pleasure that thou stay here”, and immediately ordered his head to be struck off. The character of a despot and a conqueror united in the same person, is generally attended with the most unhappy results: and successful conquest coupled with unrestrained power, has invariably produced the worst effects upon the human mind. Ancient as well as modern history illustrate this truth. Hence we need not wonder that we find in Selim, united with the most wanton and capricious cruelty, all the qualities which constitute a great warrior, and some of those accomplishments that adorn the human mind, and add an imperishable luster to a throne. He is said to have been distinguished for his attainments in the literature and philosophy of his age; and the following inscription in Arabic verse, written by himself, and placed upon the pavilion of the Kilometer, which he constructed and embellished, testifies to his genius and to the correctness of his views regarding the great disposer of human affairs. “All the riches and possessions of men belong to God, who alone disposes of them according to his will. He overturns the throne of the conqueror, and scatters the treasures of the lords of the Nile. If man could claim for his own the smallest particle of matter, the sovereignty of the world would be divided between God and his creature”.

Selim was the most successful general of his time, and during his short reign added more territory to the Ottoman empire than any of his predecessors. He died, AD 1519, after a short reign of 8 years.

SOLIMAN I- 1520-1566.

Soliman succeeded to the Ottoman throne, and like his predecessors, easily found an excuse for the invasion of the neighboring states. The submission of Persia and the conquest of Egypt enabled him to turn his whole forces against the Christians, with whom the followers of Mahomet were in continual antagonism. An insult offered to his ambassador at the court of Hungary, afforded him a pretext for war. Belgrade, the bulwark of Hungary, before which the Turkish arms had been so frequently discomfited, fell through treachery after a short siege of four weeks. The capture of this important stronghold opened up a passage into Hungary. But the time of service of a great part of his troops had expired, and as they were unwilling to remain longer in service, the conqueror of Belgrade was compelled to return to Constantinople. Had Soliman been enabled to have taken advantage of the divisions which then agitated Christendom, he might have planted the crescent on the walls of Vienna.

The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who occupied the island of Rhodes, the avowed enemies of the Ottomans, and acknowledged to be the chief defense of Italy against the fleets and armies of the Turks, attracted the ambition of Soliman. Thither he directed his power, and with an army of 200,000 men, and a fleet of 400 sail, appeared against this small state, defended by a garrison of 5,000 soldiers and 600 knights under the command of the Grand Master, whose valor and wisdom rendered him worthy of the station at this dangerous juncture. He dispatched messengers to all the Christian courts, imploring their aid against the common enemy. But although every prince of the age acknowledged Rhodes to be the bulwark of Christendom in the east; though Adrian, with a zeal which became the head and father of the church, exhorted the contending powers to forget their private quarrels, and by uniting their arms to prevent the infidels from destroying a society which did honor to the Christian name; yet so implacable was the animosity of Charles V and Francis I, that, regardless of the danger to which they exposed all Europe, they suffered Soliman to carry on his operations against Rhodes without disturbance. The Grand Master, after incredible efforts of courage, patience, and military conduct during a siege of six months, was obliged at last to yield to numbers; and having obtained from the Sultan, who admired and respected his virtue, an honorable capitulation, he surrendered the town, which was reduced to a heap of rubbish and destitute of every resource. Charles and Francis endeavored to throw the blame on each other; but Europe, with great justice, imputed it equally to both. The emperor Charles, by way of reparation, granted the Knights of St. John the small island of Malta, in which they fixed their residence, retaining, though with less power and splendor, their ancient spirit and implacable enmity to the infidels.

Soliman having restored tranquility to Egypt, which had been distracted by the rebellion of his pachas, again turned his steps towards Hungary, which, during a long life, continued to be the principal scene of his triumphs and his shame. His army consisted of 200,000 men; and Lewis II, King of that country and Bohemia, a weak and inexperienced prince, advanced to meet Soliman with a force which did not amount to 30,000. With a still more unpardonable imprudence, he gave the command of these troops to a Franciscan monk. This awkward general, in the dress of his order, marched at the head of the army; and hurried on by his own presumption and the impetuosity of his nobles, he fought the fatal battle of Mohatz, in which the King, the flower of the Hungarian nobility, and upwards of 20,000 men fell the victims of his folly and misconduct. Soliman, after this victory, seized and kept possession of several towns of the greatest strength in the south of Hungary, and over­running the rest of the country, carried two hundred thousand persons into captivity.

An insurrection which took place in Anatolia threatened to separate this province from the Turkish empire. The suppression of this rebellion occupied Soliman three years, during which Buda was retaken by the Hungarians. At this period Hungary was distracted by a disputed succession between Zapoli Waywode of Transylvania, and Ferdinand the Archduke of Austria. The claims of Ferdinand, although well founded, had they not been powerfully supported would have met with little regard. The feudal institutions in Hungary and Bohemia existed in such vigor that the crowns were still elective. But his own merit, the necessity of choosing a prince able to afford his subjects some additional protection against the Turkish arms which they so greatly dreaded, together with other circumstances, overcame the prejudices which the Hungarians had conceived against the archduke as a foreigner, at length secured Ferdinand the throne of Hungary. The states of Bohemia imitated the example of the neighboring kingdom. Zapoli, unable to cope with his rival, sought the protection of the Turkish Sultan, and offered to hold the kingdom as a fief of the Ottoman crown. Soliman gladly accepted his submission, and proceeded to Hungary under pretence of recovering the kingdom in behalf of his vassal. Buda surrendered at his approach. The principal fortresses of the Danube also yielded without opposition, and he sat down before Vienna with an army whose tents covered a space of six miles. Thirty days spent in almost continual assaults, and the loss of 80,000 of his bravest troops, compelled him to retire from before the Austrian capital. The valor of the Germans, the prudent conduct of Ferdinand, and the treachery of the Vizier, all contributed to this result.

Exasperated by the dishonor done to his arms, Soliman assembled an army of 300,000 men, and marched without opposition to the confines of Germany, where he was stopped by the small fortress of Guntz. The emperor Charles having received intelligence of Soliman's having entered Hungary, made preparations for the defense of the empire. The Protestants, as a testimony of their gratitude to the emperor, exerted themselves with extraordinary zeal, and brought into the field forces which exceeded the number required of them. The Catholics imitated their example. They were joined also by a body of Spanish and Italian veterans; by some heavy armed cavalry from the Low Countries, and by troops which Ferdinand had raised in Bohemia, Austria, and his other territories. The army thus brought together, amounted in all to ninety thousand disciplined foot, and thirty thousand horse, besides a prodigious swarm of irregulars. Of this vast army, worthy of the first prince in Christendom, the emperor took the command in person; and mankind waited in suspense the issue of a decisive battle between the two greatest monarchs in the world. But each of them dreading the other's good fortune, they both conducted their operations with such caution, that the campaign ended without any memorable event. Soliman, finding it impossible to gain ground upon an enemy always on his guard, marched back to Constantinople. It is remarkable that in such a martial age, this was the first time Charles, who had already carried on such extensive wars, appeared at the head of his troops. To have opposed such a general as Soliman was no small honor; to have obliged him to retire, merited considerable praise. But the world expected, and had reason to anticipate, from both more decisive conduct.

The habits of ages appear to have rendered war the natural state of the Turkish nation. But, indeed, the history of all the great eastern empires, whose policy the Turks carried down to a late period, presents an uninterrupted succession of conquest or disaster. Soliman, to repair the disgrace which fell upon his arms, turned his attention towards Persia, and advancing to Taurus, awaited the approach of the enemy. His troops were attacked by the Persians, when intent on plunder. Many of them were slain and taken captive. This campaign, although destructive to the greater part of the Ottoman army, was attended with important conquests. The opulent city of Bagdad and its dependencies fell before the arms of Soliman; these he converted into a Turkish province, which still continues to be the eastern bulwark of the empire.

While Soliman pursued his conquests in the east, he was not unmindful of the extension of his power in other directions. The states of Barbary, including the kingdoms of Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis, were inhabited by a mixed race of Arabs and Moors, all zealous professors of the Mahometan religion, and inflamed against Christianity with a bigoted hatred proportional to their ignorance and barbarous manners. About the beginning of the sixteenth century a sudden revolution happened, which rendered these states formidable to the Europeans. The inhabitants of these kingdoms were daring, inconsistent, and treacherous, and they have justly been called the piratical states, which occupation many of the people pursued. This revolution was brought about by persons whose rank in life entitled them to act no such illustrious part. Houre and Hayradin, natives of the isle of Lesbos, joined a crew of pirates, and by their valor soon rendered themselves so formidable, that their names became terrible from the Dardanelles to Gibraltar. Their ambition increased with their fame; and while acting as corsairs, they adopted the ideas and acquired the talents of conquerors. Houre, called Barbarossa, from the red color of his beard, was admiral, and Hayradin second in command, but with almost equal authority.

The prizes which they took on the coast of Spain and Italy were often carried into the ports of Barbary, and from their own liberality and the prodigality of their crews, they were welcome guests at every place they touched. The near proximity of the ports of Barbary to the richest states of Christendom made the Turks desirous of an establishment in this country. An opportunity soon presented itself, which they did not overlook. The King of Algiers was so ill advised as to apply to Barbarossa for his assistance, to enable him to wrest the fort of Oran from the Spanish government, which had been built not far from his capital. Barbarossa gladly accepted the invitation; and leaving the fleet in charge of Hayradin, marched at the head of 5,000 men to Algiers, where he was received as their deliverer. The Moors did not suspect him of any bad intentions; nor were they capable of opposing him. Barbarossa secretly murdered the monarch which he had come to assist, and proclaimed himself King of Algiers. Not satisfied with the throne of Algiers, he attacked the neighboring states, while he continued to infest the coast of Spain and Italy with fleets that resembled the armaments of a great monarch, rather than the light squadrons of a corsair. At last the governor of Oran received the assistance of a sufficient number of troops to attack Barbarossa, and after several defeats, he was overtaken and slain. Hayradin, known also by the name of Barbarossa, assumed the scepter of Algiers; and as a precautionary measure against the expected attacks of the Christians, he put his dominions under the protection of the Sultan. Soliman offered him the command of the Turkish fleet; and Barbarossa repairing to Constantinople, and mingling the arts of a courtier with the boldness of a corsair, gained the entire confidence of the Sultan and his Vizier. Barbarossa communicated a scheme which he had formed of making himself master of Tunis, and he obtained whatever he demanded for carrying it into execution. Barbarossa getting possession of Al Rashid, one of the sons of the late monarch, easily persuaded him to visit Constantinople, by promising him the assistance of Soliman, whom he represented as the most just and generous of monarchs. Soliman with much facility approved of the perfidious design of Barbarossa, and as Al Rashid was going to embark, he was shut up in the seraglio by the orders of the Sultan, and was never heard of more. Barbarossa sailed with a fleet of 250 vessels towards Africa, and ravaging the coast of Italy, and spreading terror through every part of that country, he appeared before Tunis; and landing his men, gave out that he came to assert the right of Al Rashid, whom he pretended to have left sick on board his galley. This base proceeding was successful; and the people of Tunis were compelled to acknowledge Soliman as their master. The power of Barbarossa was now very great. The town and port of Goletta were put in a posture of defense, and he carried on his depredations against the Christians with more destructive violence than ever.

Charles was now resolved to revenge the outrages committed against his subjects in Spain and Italy, and he prepared to undertake the enterprise. A Flemish fleet carried from the ports of the Low Countries a body of German infantry: the gallies of Sicily and Naples took on board the veteran bands of Italians and Spaniards. The emperor himself carrying with him the flower of the Spanish nobility, embarked at Barcelona. The Pope furnished all the assistance in his power to this pious enterprise; and the order of Malta fitted out a small squadron for the occasion. On the 16th July, 1535, the fleet, consisting of 500 vessels, having on board 30,000 regular troops, set sail from Cagliari, in Sardinia, and after a prosperous navigation landed within sight of Tunis. Barbarossa behaved on this occasion as an accomplished politician and a warrior; but his tumultuary force was not able to resist the formidable power of Charles. Goletta fell, and the emperor became master of Barbarossa's fleet, consisting of 87 gallies and galliots, together with his arsenal and 300 brass cannon—a prodigious number in that age, and a remarkable proof of the strength of that fort and the Corsair's power. The army of Barbarossa having been defeated, Tunis surrendered to the arms of Charles; Barbarossa himself escaped.

This narrative belongs more to European than to Turkish history; but it nevertheless exhibits the policy of the Sultans, and the unscrupulous measures which they were ever ready to adopt to extend their conquests. The Christian powers at this period began to assert that supremacy which they have ever since maintained; and during the reign of the Emperor Charles V when Europe was agitated by the reformation of Luther, the Turkish empire reached its highest point of prosperity. But Charles still dreaded the power of the Turkish arms; and what rendered them still more formidable, was the league which Soliman had entered into with Francis king of the French, in which Soliman engaged to invade the kingdom of Naples, and to attack the king of Hungary, while Francis undertook to enter the Milanese. Soliman performed what was incumbent on him. Barbarossa appeared with a great fleet on the coast of Naples, and filled that kingdom with consternation, and plundered the adjacent country. The arrival of the Pope's gallies and a squadron of the Venetian fleet, made it prudent for him to retire. In Hungary the Turks were more formidable. Mahomet their general defeated the Germans in a great battle at Essek on the Drave. Happily for Christendom, it was not in Francis' power to assemble an army strong enough to enter the Milanese; and thus Italy was saved from the calamities of a new war, and the desolating rage of the Turkish arms.

The infant son of John Zapoli had been recognized, on the death of his father, by the greatest part of the Hungarian nobility; and was crowned at Buda, under the name of Stephen; and when Ferdinand disputed his claim, the queen appealed to Soliman for his assistance in behalf of his vassal. Ferdinand also offered to accept the crown of Hungary under the same ignominious condition of paying tribute to the Ottoman Porte, by which John held it. But the Sultan seeing the advantages resulting from espousing the interests of the young king, promised him his protection; and commanding one army to advance towards Hungary, he himself followed with another. The queen, a woman of masculine courage, ambition and magnanimity, had committed the care of her son to Martinuzzi, a man who by the variety and extent of his talents was fitted to act a superior part in bustling and active times. The king and his mother were shut up in Buda, of which the Germans had formed the siege; but Martinuzzi having drawn thither the strength of the Hungarian nobility, defended the town till the Turkish forces came up to its relief. They instantly attacked the Germans, and defeated them with great slaughter.

Soliman soon after joined his victorious troops; and being unable to resist the alluring opportunity of seizing the kingdom while possessed by a woman and an infant, he added Hungary to the Ottoman dominions. What he planned ungenerously, he executed by fraud. He requested the queen to send her son to his camp, and invited the chief of the nobility to an entertainment there. He seized the gates of Buda; sent the queen with her son to Transylvania, and appointed a pasha to preside in Buda, with a large body of soldiers. Nor had the tears of the unhappy queen, or the entreaties of Martinuzzi, any influence to change the inflexible determination of the Sultan.

Hungary continued to be torn by conflicting pretensions, till it fell almost totally under the sway of Soliman. Charles, who had been carrying on negotiations with the Porte, at last concluded a truce of five years, by which each should retain possession of what he held in Hungary, and Ferdinand, as a sacrifice to the pride of the Sultan, submitted to pay a tribute of fifty thousand crowns. In the meantime, the fleet under Barbarossa ravaged the coast of Italy, and shortly after, the lilies of France and the crescent of Mahomet appeared in conjunction against the fortress of Nice, on which the cross of Savoy was displayed.

Ferdinand's attention was turned so entirely towards the affairs of Germany, that he made no attempt to recover Hungary, although a favorable opportunity for the purpose presented itself, as Soliman was engaged in a war with Persia, and involved in domestic calamities which engrossed and disturbed his mind. Soliman, though distinguished by many accomplishments from the other Ottoman princes, had all the passions peculiar to that violent and haughty race. He was jealous of his authority, sudden as well as furious in his anger, and susceptible of all that rage and love which reign in the east, and often produce the most wild and tragical effects.

A circumstance occurred about this period in the domestic history of Soliman, which conveys a striking idea not only of the character of Soliman himself, but serves to illustrate the characters of the Turkish Sultans generally. Such tragical scenes, productive of so deep distress, seldom occur but in the history of the great monarchies of the East, where the warmth of the climate seems to give every emotion of the heart its greatest force, and the absolute power of sovereigns accustoms and enables them to gratify all their passions without control.

The favorite mistress of Soliman was a Circassian slave, of exquisite beauty, who bore him a son called Mustapha, who, on account of his birthright, was destined to be the heir of the Ottoman throne.

Roxalana, a Russian captive, soon supplanted the Circassian, and gained the Sultan's heart. She kept possession of his love without any rival for many years, during which she brought him several sons and one daughter. All the happiness which she derived from the unbounded sway that she had acquired over a monarch whom one half of the world revered or dreaded, was embittered by perpetual reflections on Mustapha's accession to the throne, and the certain death of her sons, who, she foresaw, would be immediately sacrificed, according to the barbarous jealousy of Turkish policy, to the safety of the new emperor. Roxalana dwelt continually on this melancholy idea, and looked upon Mustapha as the enemy of her children. She gradually conceived a hatred for him, which prompted her to wish his destruction, in order to secure for one of her sons the throne that was destined for Mustapha. Nor did she want ambition for such an enterprise, nor arts to carry it into execution. Having prevailed upon the Sultan to give her only daughter in marriage to the Grand Vizier Bustan, she disclosed her secret to that crafty minister, who readily co­operated with her, it being his interest to aggrandize that branch of the royal line to which he was so nearly allied.

By every scheme which ingenuity could suggest, and the most artful policy could execute, Roxalana endeavored to strengthen, if possible, her power over the Sultan. Soliman being absent with the army, she seemed to be overwhelmed with sorrow, and to sink into the deepest melancholy, as if she had been disgusted with life and all its enjoyments. Soliman discovered all the solicitude of a lover to remove it; and by writing under his hand, declared her a free woman.

The Sultan, on his return to Constantinople, sent an eunuch, according to the custom of the seraglio, to bring her to partake of his bed. Roxalana refused to accompany the eunuch, declaring that what was an honor while a slave, became a crime in a free woman, and that she would not involve either herself or the Sultan in the guilt that must be contracted by an open violation of the law of the prophet. Soliman, whose passion became inflamed by this affected delicacy, had recourse to the Mufti for his direction. He replied agreeably to the Koran, that Roxalana's scruples were well founded; but added artfully, in words which Bustan had taught him to use, that the difficulty might be removed by the Sultan espousing her as his lawful wife. The amorous monarch closed eagerly with the proposal, although it had been a maxim of policy, since the time of Bajazet the First, that the sultans should admit none to their beds but slaves, whose dishonor could not bring any stain upon their house. This step convinced Roxalana of her unbounded influence over the Sultan's heart, and emboldened her to prosecute the scheme which she had formed in order to destroy Mustapha. This young prince, according to the practice of the sultans in that age, had been entrusted with the government of several provinces, and was invested with the administration in Diarbekir, the ancient Mesopotamia, which Soliman had wrested from the Persian empire. In all his different commands Mustapha had conducted him­self with great prudence and moderation as well as justice; and he displayed such valor and generosity, as rendered him the favorite of the people and the idol of the soldiery. There was no folly nor vice which could be brought against Mustapha, Roxalana's malevolence was more refined; she made his virtues engines for his destruction. She praised to Soliman the splendid qualities of his son; she celebrated his courage, his liberality, his popular arts, with malicious and exaggerated praise. These encomiums were often repeated, and the Sultan began to hear them with uneasiness; suspicion of his son began to mingle with his former esteem; by degrees he came to view him with jealous fear; she artfully introduced some discourse touching the rebellion of his father Selim against Bajazet his grandfather; she took notice of the bravery of the troops under Mustapha's command, and of the nearness of Diarbekir to the territories of the Persian Sophi, Soliman's mortal enemy. By these arts, whatever remained of paternal tenderness was gradually ex­tinguished, and such passions were kindled in the breast of the Sultan, as gave all Roxalana's malignant suggestions the color not only of probability but truth. His suspicions and fear of Mustapha settled into deep-rooted hatred. He appointed spies to observe and report all his words and actions; he watched and stood on his guard against him as his most dangerous enemy. The Sultan's heart being thus alienated from Mustapha, Roxalana prevailed upon Soliman to allow her own sons to appear at court; and although this was contrary to the practice of that age, the monarch granted her request. To the intrigues of Roxalana, Bustan added an artifice equally subtle, which completed the Sultan's delusion and fear. He wrote to the Pashas of the provinces adjacent to Diarbekir, with all the appearance of zeal for their interest, instructing them to send intelligence of all Mustapha's proceedings, and that nothing could be more acceptable to the Sultan, than to receive favorable accounts of his son, whom he destined to sustain the glory of the Ottoman name. The Pashas filled their letters with studied but fatal panegyrics of Mustapha, representing him as a prince worthy to succeed such a father, and as one who might emulate, perhaps equal, his fame. These letters were industriously shown to Soliman; and such was the effect they produced on a mind already shaken by jealousy and fear, that he fancied he already saw the prince and his officers assaulting the throne with rebellious arms; and he determined, while it was yet in his power, to anticipate the blow, and to secure his own safety by his son's death.

For this purpose, though under the pretence of renewing the war against Persia, he ordered Bustan to march to Diarbekir with a numerous army, and to rid him of a son whose life was inconsistent with his own safety. But the crafty minister did not wish himself to put this cruel command into execution. As soon as he arrived in Syria, he wrote to Soliman that the danger was imminent, and called for his immediate presence; that the camp was full of Mustapha's emissaries; that the soldiers were corrupted; that Mustapha was about to be married to a daughter of the Persian monarch; that the Sultan alone, under the circumstances, had power to carry his resolution into execution.

The last and most envenomed of all the calumnies of Roxalana and Bustan had the desired effect. Soliman had conceived an inveterate abhorrence of the Persians; and the charge of courting the friendship of the Sophi, threw him into the wildest transports of rage. He hastened to Syria with all the impatience of fear and revenge. As soon as he had joined his army, and had concerted measures with Bustan, he sent a messenger to his son, requiring him immediately to repair to his presence. Mustapha was no stran­ger to the machinations of his stepmother, or to Bustan’s malice, or to his father's violent temper; but conscious of his own innocence, he hastened to Aleppo. The moment he arrived, he was introduced into the Sultan's tent; he observed nothing that could give him alarm; no crowd of attendants, no body of armed guards were there; the same silence as usual reigned in the Sultan's apartments. In a few minutes, however, several mutes appeared, at the sight of whom, Mustapha cried with a loud voice, “Lo, my death!” and attempted to fly. The mutes seized him: he struggled and resisted, and eagerly demanded to see the Sultan. Despair, and hope of protection from the soldiers if he could escape, animated him with extraordinary courage, and for some time he baffled the efforts of his executioners. Soliman was within hearing of his son's cries; and impatient of this delay of his revenge, and struck with terror at the thought of Mustapha's escape, he drew aside the curtain which divided the tent, and thrusting in his head, darted a fierce look towards the mutes, and with wild and threatening gestures, seemed to condemn their sloth and timidity. At the sight of his father's unrelenting countenance, Mustapha’s strength forsook him: the mutes fastened the bowstring about his neck, and in a moment put an end to his life. The dead body was exposed before the Sultan's tent. The soldiers gathering round it, contemplated the mournful object with sorrow and indignation, and were ready, if a leader had not been a wanting, to have broken out into the wildest excess of rage. They retired to their tents, and bewailed in secret the cruel fate of their favorite; nor did any of them taste bread or even water during the remainder of the day. Next morning the same silence reigned in the camp; and Soliman fearing that some dreadful storm would follow the calm, dismissed Bustan, agreeable to a private arrangement, and raised Achmet, a brave officer, and beloved by the soldiers, to the dignity of Grand Vizier. The resentment of the soldiers gradually subsided, and the name of Mustapha began to be forgotten. Achmet was strangled by the Sultan's command, and Bustan reinstated in the office of Vizier. The designs of Roxalana and Bustan were not yet completed. The race of Mustapha must be exterminated; and for that purpose they employed the same arts to inspire Soliman with fear, lest the only son of Mustapha should grow up to avenge his father's death. Soliman issued the order, and it was executed with barbarous zeal, by an eunuch who was chosen for that purpose. No rival was left to dispute the Ottoman throne with the sons of Roxalana.

But the domestic peace of Soliman and Roxalana was not secured by the death of Mustapha. Their sons, Bajazet and Selim, now commenced a career of mutual hatred and rivalry, which led to an event in which the cruelty of Soliman and the perfect wickedness of Roxalana were equally conspicuous. Bajazet, who had been appointed governor of Iconium, in order to forward his sinister views, permitted an impostor, who had raised a rumor that Mustapha was still alive, to levy troops in his government. The whole empire was menaced with a revolution: Soliman seized the impostor, who in despair avowed the part taken by Bajazet. The tears of Roxalana preserved him from the vengeance of his father; but Soliman's passions neither wore away nor were forgotten. Bajazet thus being an object of suspicion, Roxalana secretly inclined to her younger son Selim; and Bajazet, in order to secure his own safety and maintain his right to the throne, levied a body of troops, and prepared to attack his brother Selim in his government of Amasia. Proscribed at length by Soliman, the unfortunate prince threw himself under the protection of the Persian Sophi. No event of his reign excited greater rage in the mind of Soliman. He prepared for war; but the arts of Roxalana saved him from this alternative. She bribed the Persian minister, and the life of the prince was made the price of a strict union between the two states. Magnificent presents, and six hundred thousand crowns of gold, were presented to the Shah, as the stipulated sum for the part he had promised to act. Hassan, who had been brought up with Bajazet from his youth, was the envoy appointed by Soliman to accomplish his revolting design. On his arrival in Persia, Hassan found Bajazet so pale and wan, and his hair and beard so overgrown, that he could not recognize him; and Hassan was compelled to strangle with his own hand the companion of his youth to appease the fears of Soliman. The four sons of Bajazet were involved in the father's destiny; and the sepulcher of the Ottoman race was again opened, to receive the murdered victims of an entire descent. Selim was declared prince of Amasia, a title thenceforth at­tached to the presumptive heir of the Ottoman throne.

These scenes of domestic discord were followed by events of a pacific character, unknown to any other part of the long and brilliant reign of Soliman, during which he displayed those great qualities of wisdom and bounty which have been the theme of admiration of the Ottoman people. But while engaged with his enlightened legislative measures, he did not neglect to attend to his finances, and to complete the numbers and add to the efficiency of his army.

An incident more personal than national, which excited the flames of a new war, rendered these precautionary measures not needless.

In the year 1558, Charles V, who had filled the world with his renown, resigned his dominions, and retired to pass the remainder of his life in preparing for eternity. Ferdinand, his brother, succeeded Charles in the empire. The states of Barbary now constituted a portion of the Ottoman empire, whence Soliman drew many of his most experienced officers. Barbarossa was no more; but he was succeeded by Dragut, a chief no less skilful and daring. His enterprises again excited a Christian league to extinguish his power, and a Spanish force was landed on the coast of Tripoli. A panic seized the Christian fleet, and they were entirely overthrown; and the army on shore, unable to embark, surrendered themselves captives. Soliman, on the arrival of the victorious fleet, proceeded to the mosque to return thanks for his triumph, when he exhibited all that dignity and composure which formed a remarkable feature in his character; and he witnessed from the garden of the seraglio the triumphant entry into port of his fleet with the captives. The knights of Malta had been foremost in this Christian league; and Soliman, enraged at those heroic warriors, and the constant vigilance which their enterprise and daring required of him, resolved to crush them altogether.

A naval armament of 200 sail, carrying an army of 30,000 men, was destined for this enterprise. The defense, conducted by La Valette, covered the Knights with honor, notwithstanding the obstinacy and the determined fury which characterized Turkish warfare. The viceroy of Sicily arriving with 10,000 men, obliged the Turks to retire with precipitation, with the loss of 24,000 men, after a siege of five months. Dragut who was much regretted by the Sultan, was amongst the number of the slain.

Hungary was at this time rent in pieces by three conflicting parties—the officers of Soliman, and of the emperor Maximilian the second, and the pretensions of Stephen, son of Isabella, Waiwode of Transylvania. Isabella had ceded Transylvania to the Turks; and in lieu of that province and her pretensions to the crown of Hungary, received a yearly pension of 100,000 ducats, and retired into Poland, her native country. Soliman perceiving that he could not succeed in the designs he had cherished unless he overcame the emperor, resolved, notwithstanding his advanced age, to proceed against the enemy. Meantime the Pasha of Buda aided the Waiwode’s cause, by carrying on the siege of Buda, but was compelled to retire. Soliman was in the seventy-sixth year of his age; but years had not abated either his courage or ambition. He collected an army of 200,000 men, on the plains of Adrianople; and never had an army of so splendid a character been displayed to the world. He poured this vast force upon the devastated provinces of Hungary. The Sultan was encircled by the most imposing pomp. But amid all this splendor, and placed on the very pinnacle of human grandeur and power, the pallidness of his countenance foretold that, while he advanced to victory, with his triumph he would find a tomb.

The inconsiderable fortress of Zigith, situated on the confines of Hungary, was built in a morass, and joined to the land by a causeway, which was defended by solid bastions. The indomitable spirit of the governor, with a small force of only 600 men, resisted the attacks and bribes of Soliman, who, with an army of 150,000 men and 100 pieces of ordinance, advanced against the fortress. The 29th of August, the anniversary of the battle of Mohatz, was chosen for the assault. The approach was defended inch by inch with incredible bravery. The Janissaries were thrown down headlong from a steep breach, crushed under pieces of rock, and scorched by torrents of boiling oil which the besieged were continually throwing down upon them. The Sultan, enraged at the delay caused by such a small fortress, threatened to cast the heads of his generals into the ditch of Zigith if they did not take the place. But all their efforts were unavailing; and the Sultan returning to his tent, filled with grief and despair, was seized by a fit of apoplexy, which in a few minutes terminated his life.

The Vizier Mehemet concealed the death of Soliman, and continued to press the siege. Meanwhile, he had sent for Selim to take possession of the throne. A magazine having taken fire, the heroic defenders of Zigith were compelled to leave the ruinous heap which they had so gloriously defended. The governor, Count de Serino, preferring death to the ignominy, of defeat, dressed himself in his richest clothes and exhorting his followers not to receive quarter, threw open the gates, and at the head of his heroic band rushed upon the enemy. They caused great slaughter; but the Janissaries closing around them; they were overwhelmed by numbers, and two only, who recovered of their wounds, ended their lives in slavery.

It was the peculiar glory of the period in which Soliman occupied the Ottoman throne, to produce the most illustrious monarchs who have at any one time appeared in Europe. Charles V, Francis I, Henry VIII, and Soliman, were each of them possessed of talents which might have rendered any age in which they happened to flourish conspicuous. But such a constellation of great princes shed uncommon luster on the sixteenth century. In every contest, great power as well as great abilities were set in opposition; the efforts of valor and conduct on one side, counterbalanced by an equal exertion of the same qualities on the other, occasioned such a variety of events as renders the history of that period interesting. But the most remarkable was the commencement of that reformation in religion which rescued one part of Europe from the Papal yoke, mitigated its rigors in the other, and produced a revolution in the sentiments of mankind, the greatest and most beneficial that has happened since the publication of Christianity.

Soliman is known chiefly as a conqueror, but is celebrated in the Turkish annals as a great lawgiver, who established order and police in the empire, and governed during his long reign with no less authority than wisdom. During this reign, the Ottoman government seems to have attained the highest perfection of which its constitution is capable; and the Turkish troops possessed every advantage which arises from fortitude and bravery, and superiority in military discipline. The authors of the sixteenth century almost unanimously, and with mingled feelings of fear and regret, represent the Turks as far superior to the Christians both in the knowledge and in the practice of the arts of war.

Soliman first brought the finances and military establishment of the empire into a regular form; and although the revenue was far from being considerable, he supplied the defect by an attentive and severe economy. He divided the military force into two divisions; the soldiery of the Porte—for standing army, and the soldiers appointed to guard the frontiers, numbering about 150,000 men. When these were added to the soldiers of the Porte, they formed a military power greatly superior to any other state in Christendom. The frontier army consisted of soldiers to whom were given grants of land, in return for which military service was to be performed. In his book of regulations he fixed with great accuracy the extent of these lands in each province of his empire, and the number of soldiers each grant should bring into the field, and the pay which they should receive while engaged in service, and regulated everything relating to their discipline, their arms, and the nature of their service. He caused also a compilation to be made of all the maxims and regulations of his predecessors, on subjects of political economy; he strictly defined the duties, privileges, and powers of governors, commanders, and public functionaries; and he assigned to every public functionary his rank at court, in the city, and in the army. The work which he had thus finished, seemed to himself a compendium of human wisdom; he contemplated it with the fondness of a parent; and conceiving it susceptible of no further improvement, he endeavored to secure its perpetual duration.

The Ottoman court under Soliman exhibited a degree of splendor far removed from the bigoted habits of its former masters; and he held a distinguished rank, among the contemporary princes of Europe. He has been termed the glory of the Ottoman empire; but with Soliman, its glory departed; for while the current of civilization and improvement had set in among the nations of Western Europe, it was repelled by the barrier of Ottoman pride. After the reign of Soliman, the Turks no longer continued to be the terror of Christendom. The decay of the empire can be traced to internal as well as external causes. The arrogance and bigotry of the Turks led them to believe that the institutions of Soliman were perfect, and that therefore they were susceptible of no improvement. Previous to his reign the princes of the blood were early trained to war and business, and generally before they ascended the throne, had governed provinces and commanded armies, and were in a great measure prepared for a more responsible power. But the princes were now confined to the retirement and obscurity of the harem, and when called to the throne were entirely ignorant of everything that pertains to war and government, and were naturally looked upon with contempt by the soldiers, that first and most necessary arm in a despotic government.

During a period of nearly three centuries, the armies of Turkey had been commanded by sultans that emulated each other in military genius, so that conquest became a necessary element in sustaining the traditional glory of the empire, and maintaining Turkish ascendency in Europe. After the death of Soliman, the military talents of the sultans and the bravery and discipline of the soldiers no longer sustained their wonted reputation; while the rapid progress of civilization and improvement in the nations of Christendom, which began about this period, put an end for ever to Mahometan aggression. 

SELIM II. 1566-1574 AD.

The only remaining son of Soliman, ascended the throne AD 1566, in the 42d year of his age. The Ottoman empire had cause to regret the change. Confusion and profligacy succeeded to strict rules of civil order: the laws ceased to be respected, and military discipline began to lose its vigor. It was well known that Selim was addicted to wine and convivial pleasures, and he took no pains to conceal his excesses from the people. Drunkenness, a crime almost unknown amongst the Turkish sovereigns, and extremely rare amongst the people, began to be looked upon with indifference; and when Selim arrived to take possession of the throne, he drank wine openly, which was hailed with joy by the populace. So strictly had the prohibition of the prophet against the use of wine hitherto been observed, that the act for which Selim was applauded, cost Soliman the son of Bajazet his life. Meantime the Grand Vizier dreading the mutinous character of the Janissaries, kept the death of Soliman concealed, and the usual state was observed in the imperial household. The dead body of the emperor was conveyed on a horse litter covered with a cloth of gold; and it was supposed that he was merely suffering from a fit of the gout to which he was subject. Mehemet led the Turkish army, as if by the Sultan's order, towards Constantinople, and it was in the plains of Belgrade that Selim met the army and the remains of his father. The news of the death of the emperor was received by the soldiers, especially by the Janissaries, with profound grief; their next feeling was that of revolt. The body of Soliman was deposited in the magnificent mosque which, after its founder, bears the name of Solimania. To make a pilgrimage to this tomb is still considered meritorious in a devout Musulman, not only in admiration of the splendid qualities of Soliman, but especially as he is esteemed to have been a peculiar favorite of heaven.

The imprudence of Selim soon became as manifest as his vices. No sooner had he returned from the funeral of his father, than he resolved to show himself to his subjects with the splendor of his predecessor. On this occasion the person of Selim was guarded by the chief officers of the seraglio to the exclusion of the Janissaries, who alone claimed that peculiar honor. Already dissatisfied at having lost their usual donation, on the accession of a new emperor, this mutinous body resolved to regain their lost honor and their accustomed rights. No sooner had the royal procession left the palace, than they barricaded it against his return; nor could the sovereign re-enter the imperial residence but by a compliance with their demands. The martial and energetic princes whose actions we have recorded, possessed that ascendency over the soldiers which usually accompanies military genius; but the excesses and indolence of Selim rendered him contemptible in the estimation of the army. He was not, however, ignorant that the constant occupation of his vast forces was necessary, if he wished to indulge in luxury and repose; and that an empire gained by the sword can suffer no contraction. The Turkish government being purely military, it was constructed only for conquest; and therefore it possessed no renovating plan of conservation or of improvement in its framework. The provinces conquered by the Turks were maintained by force, and were severally parceled out to the government of military vassals; and the accession of new subjects continually created causes for new war. In these circumstances, Selim was of all men the most unfit for the government of his extensive empire, or to maintain the discipline of the impatient and turbulent Janissaries, which even the vigorous hand of Soliman or of Selim I could scarcely restrain. But Mehemet, who had been the Grand Vizier of Soliman, and who exercised supreme authority under him throughout his reign, was capable, in a great measure, of supplying the defects of Selim. The Janissaries having returned to their duty and allegiance, the Vizier employed a portion of them to repress a rebellion among the powerful Arab tribes of Beni-Omer, inhabiting the deserts towards Bagdad. The rebellion was crushed; but these demonstrations of hostilities on the part of the Persian sectaries, made the Turkish government anxious to conclude a peace with the Emperor Maximilian, that it might direct thither its undivided forces. After a train of studied delays, a treaty was signed upon the condition of each party retaining what it had; and that a yearly tribute should be paid by Hungary. The Waiwode of Transylvania had concluded a mutual treaty with Austria, that that province should fail to Austria at his decease; which was guaranteed in the treaty between the Sultan and the Emperor. This beautiful and fertile province has since continued to belong to Austria.

An intense hatred had long been nourished between the Turks and Persians; and the impulse of the Turkish nation, rather than the indolent Selim, recommenced a war which the genius of his father could not bring to a successful issue. The sandy deserts of Persia being the chief defense of that country against the arms of Turkey, the Vizier resolved to open a passage for his master's fleets to the centre of the Persian empire, by the execution of a design worthy of the enlightened genius of more modern times.

The two great rivers of the north of Europe, the Don and the Volga, after having watered the provinces of Poland and of Russia, appear on the point of junction; but the Don suddenly turns to the right, and the Volga to the left. The former, after having bathed the walls of Azof, loses itself in the marshes of the Palus Maeotis; and the latter pours its mighty mass of waters, by sixty-five mouths, into the Caspian sea, after receiving the tribute of forty-eight rivers, and running a course of thirteen hundred leagues. A space of thirty miles separates these two streams, at their nearest point of junction, and by cutting a canal through this space, a navigable route would be formed with the Bosphorus and the Caspian sea. Selim undertook the execution of this splendid design. Being master of Azof, he sent up the Don a fleet conveying 5,000 Janissaries and 3,000 workmen; and an army of 80,000 men was destined to follow their footsteps. The Janissaries, impatient for war, aided the labors of the workmen, and a body of troops was detached to take possession of the city of Astracan, on the northern shore of the Caspian, and at the principal mouth of the Volga where the canal was to terminate. But Astracan was defended by a race capable of keeping their possessions; a people whose name had not yet reached the knowledge of the invaders, but from this moment never to be separated in history. Such was the first collision between the Turks and Russians.

A thousand years have elapsed since the Russians intermingled themselves with a part of those Slaves or Slavonians, who from the east migrated into the north, and after having settled on the shores of the Caspian Sea, spread themselves over different parts of Europe. The real origin of the Slavonians is unknown. Russian historians pretend to trace the origin of the Slavonians from Saklab, and of the Russians from Rouss, both of them sons of Japhet, the youngest of the children of Noah. But it appears more consistent with historical accuracy, to say that they both sprung from that innumerable family of Huns, whose armies, like destructive torrents, inundated the most beautiful countries of Asia and of Europe, and accelerated the downfall of the Roman empire.

At the commencement of the fifth century, the Slavonians erected the city of Novogorod, and upon the banks of the Dnieper the foundation of Kiev was laid. The former was for long the metropolis of the Slavonians, and the latter that of the Russians. These two cities continued to emulate each other in commerce and in war. Kii, the founder of Kiev, carried his victorious arms as far as the Sea of Marmora. The commerce of Novogorod rendered her every day more flourishing, and she imposed her yoke on various nations contiguous to her territory; and she proudly inscribed on her banners, "Who shall dare to attack God and Novogorod the great?" The government was democratical, and every one had a right to aspire to authority, and to employ himself in the affairs of the state, as they all possessed alike the power of increasing their private fortune by commerce. But in the bosom of prosperity and equality, they knew not how to be either happy or free. They had riches, but they had not the art of enjoying them; ambition, but not prudence; and the pride of commanding without the expectation of being obeyed. Their quarrels usually terminated in blood; and to put a stop to the anarchy which prevailed, they applied for foreign aid. Bourik, distinguished among the pirates of the Baltic, obeyed the summons, and about the middle of the ninth century arrived at the head of an unknown horde, to establish peace and servitude among the Novogorodians.

Bourik died after a short reign of seven years. He had but one son, who was named Igor, and he was left in care of Oleg, his kinsman. Oleg employed himself in extending the boundaries of the state. He made himself master of Smolensko by force, and Kiev by treachery, and by the massacre of the princes who reigned there. He established his residence at Kiev; and AD 904 armed a fleet of two thousand boats, with which he proceeded to lay Constantinople under tribute. In this audacious and barbarous expedition, the Russians abandoned themselves to every excess, and committed all the crimes which could possibly disgrace the most ferocious of conquerors. In this expedition they overcame obstacles which, considering the rudeness of their government and their ignorance of arts, appear to be difficult, if not insurmountable; but their success will excite less astonishment, if we recollect that other pirates and robbers, who like them had but a few crazy skiffs, several times vanquished England and ravaged the coasts of France; and that at a later period, the freebooters with their little canoes, for a long time caused the conquerors of the new world to tremble.

Igor gave proof that he was a worthy pupil of Oleg. He fitted out a fleet of the incredible number of ten thousand vessels, and four hundred thousand warriors, with the intention of laying waste the empire of the East; and he deluged with blood, Pontus, Bithynia and Paphlagonia. There is no species of cruelty which the Russians did not exercise against the wretched inhabitants of these countries. The Greeks, however, were at last successful. The Russian fleet was destroyed; and this barbarian led back to his capital only a third of the numerous army with which he set out. A second expedition proved less unfortunate; and the Greek emperor chose rather to pay a tribute to Igor, than to attempt to vanquish him.

Alga, the wife of Igor, was at the death of this prince, left in charge of the government of his states. She showed herself to be no less barbarous than he had been, and she was more perfidious and more superstitious. In her old age she embraced Christianity; but her conversion was neither imitated by her subjects, nor even by her son, to whom she yielded up the throne.

The example of embracing Christianity, exhibited by Walodimar I, the fourth in descent from Rourik, had a greater effect. After having passed the most considerable portion of his life in the fury of carnage, and in the delusion of idolatry, he took a fancy, in order to gratify alike his ambition and his lust, to espouse the sister of the emperor of Constantinople, who durst not refuse her to him, and to become a Christian, according to the Greek rites. He caused himself to be baptized, and commanded his subjects to do the same. Influenced by novelty, or perhaps by fear, every one hastened to obey the summons.

There is every reason to reject, as altogether fabulous, the history of the origin and settlement, and of the feuds and conquests of the Russians and Slavonians, as neither the Russians nor the Slavonians even possessed an alphabet, and therefore could not set down in writing those events of which they were the authors. They appear in the Byzantine annals in the year 851, before which their history is not entitled to be regarded as authentic. Until the year 988, the Russians and Slavonians had several deities, of which the principal was Peroun, whom they believed hurled the thunder, and regulated at his pleasure all the celestial phenomena, and to whom they frequently sacrificed human victims. Koupalo was the god of plenty and of harvests; and his worshippers did not bedew his altars with blood; nor those of Lada, whom they regarded as the goddess of love. Other divinities protected flocks, or presided over war, navigation, sleep and riches. This mythology resembles that of Greece, or may be supposed to be an imitation of it; but it does not appear how these ignorant barbarians acquired or when they adopted this mythology; and it can scarcely be supposed that they had the knowledge or the means to enable them to adopt it from the Grecian annals.

The human mind in all ages and nations, in its progress from the savage state to civilization, presents a remarkable resemblance; and mankind in widely different eras, and in the opposite hemispheres of the globe, have conceived similar superstitions and discovered nearly approximating methods, according to the circumstances in which they have been placed, to enable them to procure the necessaries and even the comforts of life. It is not unlikely, therefore, that a religion akin to the mere outlines of the Grecian mythology may have arisen in the deserts of Russia or of Tartary.

But whencesoever the Slavonians derived their mythology whether it was the invention of their prophets or early priesthood, or adopted from some superior race, it may fairly be regarded as a measure by which to gauge their intellectual and moral capabilities. If it was the reflection of their own intelligence, it evinces that the race possessed originally high natural endowments; or if adopted from some foreign source, it is still an index, that at a very early period they possessed susceptibilities of a high order, capable of the comparative civilization which has since marked their history. It appears, indeed, to be a law applicable to all the different races and tribes of mankind, that the higher and larger the form of religious belief, the more elevated is the intelligence, and the more rapidly such races advance in the sciences and the arts of life. Accordingly, we find that those races who have embraced Fetich worship, are unmarked by any distinctive signs of progress, and have little more history than the wild animals by which they are surrounded. The idea, indeed, of there existing a superintending power, such as that entertained by the Slavonic race, for every class of natural and moral phenomena, bespeaks at once a lofty intelligence, and hence indicates a range of thought in other directions, which required only superior opportunities to develop and mature.

Walodimar was not long in giving a proof of the impotency of the idols which he had so long adored. He ordered that of Peroun to be fastened to the tail of a horse, who drew it to the banks of the Dnieper, when a dozen of soldiers beat it with a stick and threw it into the river. The god made no resistance, and Walodimar applauded the act.

It is needless to review the actions of a crowd of princes who ruled during the first four centuries of which Russian history makes mention, whose only object seems to have been to tyrannize over their subjects, and to disturb their neighbors. Their history presents only a constant succession of iniquitous aggressions, of atrocious combats, and of absurd superstitions. We could only exhibit the most perfidious treachery concealed under a veil of sincerity; brother murdered by the hand of brother; ignorance pouring forth accusations of sorcery, and causing its victims to perish by the fire and by the sword; old age and infancy butchered without mercy, and the conquered loaded with chains. The reign of one of those barbarians exhibits a type of all the rest; for each resembles another in ambition and ferocity.

But a great revolution in the year 1220 interrupted for a time their tyranny, without altering their character. This was produced by the irruptions of the Tartars or Mongols, under Genghis-Khan, who of all conquerors has farthest extended the power of his arms. But it was reserved for Batou-Sagin, grandson of Genghis, entirely to subjugate Russia. In those bloody invasions the Tartars renewed all those excesses, of which the Russians so many times had set the example. They reduced to ashes a great number of cities and villages, and massacred not only the inhabitants who made the slightest resistance, but frequently those who submitted and implored their pity. The Russians continued during three centuries to be vassals of the Tartars.

About the middle of the fifteenth century, Ivan Wassilowitch emancipated Russia from the Tartar yoke. Ivan II, the contemporary of Selim the Sultan of Turkey, had distinguished his reign by the conquest of the kingdoms of Casan and Astracan; and it was this redoubtable foe whom Selim unwittingly proceeded to provoke. The canal for uniting the Don and the Volga was making rapid progress, when 5,000 Russians unexpectedly attacked those engaged in the works. The Janissaries and workmen, taken by surprise, were slaughtered without resistance. This unexpected enemy, coupled with other causes, put an end to the splendid enterprise of the Ottoman Sultan.

The Musulman faith requires that a certain prayer should be offered in the third portion of the night; but in those countries where a short interval interposes between the setting and rising of the sun, induced the Turks to believe that the regions of the north were absolutely interdicted to true Musulmans. The jealousy also of a chief who, fearing that the completion of the canal would render the service and alliance of the Tartar Khans less necessary, artfully spread a rumor exaggerating the suffering of the troops in these forlorn climates; and to complete the alarm, the Tartars lamented the loss of their companions in the same faith, called to labor in a climate where the shortness of the night, and the quick appearance of the orb of light above the horizon after midnight, left the Musulmans, during the months of summer, no midnight period for their stipulated prayers. Menaces and promises were equally vain; the soldiers and laborers deserted, and this great project of uniting the west with the east was finally abandoned.

The design of uniting Europe and Asia, by joining the Caspian with the Bosphorus, had indeed been conceived long before the time of Selim. Seleucus Nicator, ages before, had planned the junction of the Euxine with the Cimmerian Bosphorus. When the Turkish government attempted the measure, it had become of the greatest importance to that empire both in a military and commercial point of view. It would have enabled the Turks to have the more easily invaded and subdued Persia, and to have held in check all those numerous tribes which inhabited those regions to the north of the Euxine and Caspian seas. The rich commerce of India had already found another way to Europe by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope; and had the European seas been more nearly approximated to the Indus, by opening a navigable route from the Euxine to the Caspian, and to the river Oxis, Turkey, in the hands of a commercial and industrious people, might have still retained a great part of the lucrative traffic of the East. But the Turks, under the influence of superstition, and enslaved to a tax of nocturnal prayers, abandoned the noblest enterprise they had ever undertaken, upon a trifling and accidental reverse of their arms. This project was conceived by Cassim Pasha, the same individual who constructed, by his liberality, the quarter of Constantinople which bears his name. To Turkey only one immediate advantage marked this enterprise: a horde of 30,000 Tartars, friendly to the Turks, abjured the Russian scepter, and came to tenant the banks of the Don.

Selim might endeavor to efface from his mind the vexation which he felt from the failure of the scheme to unite the Don with the Volga: he might ascribe the failure to superhuman causes, and thus find an excuse for his own weakness and the superstition of his subjects. But whatever might have been his feelings, his indolent mind was roused to a state of temporary activity; and he meditated a design marked by all the perfidy of the age in which he lived. The Ottoman Porte and the Venetians were at peace; but treaties were mere truces to be broken when convenient, and could be disposed of by a festa of the Mufti. In direct opposition to his grand vizier, Selim decided to attack Cyprus.

Cyprus, a large and beautiful island in the Levant, is situated at nearly an equal distance from Caramania on the north, and Syria on the east. It is about 70 leagues in length, and about 30 in its greatest breadth from north to south. This island was in a peculiar manner consecrated to Venus, the mother of the graces, the loves, and the pleasures. She was called by the poets not only the Cyprian but the Paphian queen, because she was worshipped by the whole island, but especially by the inhabitants of Paphos, one of its most populous cities, where an hundred altars daily smoked with male animals offered in sacrifice, and perfumed with the richest odours of Arabian incense. Paphos, Idalia, and Amathonte combine in their very names the tones of voluptuousness. Thirty cities had embellished ancient Cyprus, but in 1570 they were to be chiefly traced by their ruins. Yet the island even then maintained a numerous population, as attested by a list of 1,500 villages. The city of Constanza was built on the remains of Salamine, while Buffo recalls, in its name, the celebrated Paphos. Simisso can be very imperfectly traced in Amathonte; and Idalia is only to be known from a few obscure ruins under the name of Dalin. Nicosia and Famagousta, the two principal modern cities in the island, are the representatives of the ancient Ledra and of Arsinoe. Nicosia occupies the centre of the island, while Famagousta stands on the shore opposite to the coast of Syria.

Since the conquest of Cyprus by the Turks, its most valuable productions and riches have vanished, and its inhabitants have gradually fallen from the high station which they held while under the Venetians, to the most abject state of apathy and indolence. “The rigors of an oppressive domination”, says M. Sonnini, “have shed their baneful influence over fields, arts, and men. Valleys once shaded by useful or agreeable trees, which culture enriched with harvests of every species, or adorned with verdure and flowers, now remain uncultivated, and overrun with brambles, and other stubborn, meagre, and useless plants. One may travel whole days in plains deserted and abandoned to that mournful and pernicious fecundity, which on lands impatient to produce, is sterility's constant companion”. The account which Dr. Clarke has given us of the present state of this island is equally melancholy, and affords a striking lesson of the effects of a tyrannical and selfish policy.

Mustapha Pasha, the adviser of the war, and the rival of the Vizier-Azem, led the army, and the celebrated Piali, the successor of Barbarossa and Dragut, commanded the fleet destined for the expedition against Cyprus. The fortifications of Famagousta being in a dilapidated state, presented the most vulnerable point of attack; but Mustapha, in order to gratify the greedy and ferocious Janissaries, obstinately resolved upon besieging Nicosia, the capital of the kingdom, the celebrated abode of the kings of Cyprus. The riches of Nicosia presented a lure to the rapacious Turks. The siege lasted fourteen days, and was remarkable for the display of that valor and obstinacy characteristic of Turkish assaults. The city was carried by force, and the inhabitants experienced all the horrors of unrestrained and ruthless cruelty. Twenty thousand Christians of both sexes perished; and the interesting residence of so many illustrious kings sunk into the obscurity of a Turkish pashalic.

The short interval occupied in the siege of Nicosia had been employed by Bragandino in strengthening the defenses of Famagousta, the siege of which commenced in April and was protracted to June, by the bravery of its heroic defenders. The usual system of assault and bloodshed marked the attack and defense, and every effort of Mustapha proved unavailing to overcome the devotion and energy of the defenders. After the means of subsistence had entirely disappeared, dogs, rats, and the most disgusting matter were used for food; and every hope of succor having failed, Bragandino capitulated upon the pledge of safety and liberty to depart. This solemn stipulation was speedily broken by the perfidious Mustapha, and the heroic Bragandino, after the most cruel insults, was inhumanly flayed alive. The remainder of the island surrendered, and the whole of Cyprus thus became annexed from thenceforth to the Ottoman empire.

The honor and public spirit of Europe were involved in this unequal contest; but the Christian states, engaged in private wars, forgot alike their interest and their duty, and they allowed this bulwark of Christendom in the east to be finally torn from them. When we consider the length that this small maritime state held out against the undivided strength of the Ottoman empire, it appears evident that the assistance of a friendly fleet would have saved this beautiful island from Mahometan dominion.

But the fall of Cyprus at last roused the western states from their slumber; and a sense of danger rather than a feeling of patriotism, healed for a moment their jealousies, and a league was formed between the Roman pontiff, King Philip II, and the Venetian republic, for their mutual defense.

Prompted by his successful attack upon Cyprus, and taking advantage of the discord which prevailed amongst the Christian sovereigns, Selim was planning the recovery of Tunis, when he heard of the approach of a hostile fleet, upon which the Ottoman fleet imprudently entered the Gulf of Lepanto. The roadstead of Lepanto, the scene of the battle of Actium, between Augustus and Mark Antony, which decided the fate of the Roman world, was destined to be the theatre of the most splendid naval victory of this period. The Venetians, who had suffered by the delays of the Christians, and exasperated by the scandal which the loss of Cyprus brought upon them, despaired of benefiting by the league; but as if destined to reward past misfortunes, the whole Turkish fleet, consisting of 200 galleys and 66 frigates or brigantines, lay open to attack. Don John of Austria, brother of Philip II King of Spain, at the head of the allied fleet, prepared to seize the propitious opportunity. The sea seemed covered with vessels ready for the encounter. Ali, who commanded the Ottoman fleet, had arranged it in three divisions: himself with Partau, a celebrated corsair, occupied the centre; the squadron of the right was commanded by Siroc, and the left division by the King of Algiers. The Christian fleet consisted of nearly the same number of vessels: Don John took the centre; Doria led the right; a noble Venetian commanded the left. Don John, surrounded by the flower of Italy, of Spain, and of the Knights of Malta, directed the attack. Shouts of acclamation arose from the impatient combatants; and at seven in the morning the battle commenced with great fury. A Venetian inflicted the first blow by sinking the galley of Siroc. The Spaniards, emulating the Venetian, opened a terrible fire upon the Ottoman's centre; Ali fell by a cannon ball; and the Spaniards witnessing his death, attacked his vessel, boarded her and massacred the crew, and the standard of the cross, supplanting that of the crescent, waved from the mast of the admiral's galley. At this glorious sight, a universal exclamation of victory burst from the Christian fleet; and the Turks, as if thunderstruck by the unusual circumstance, suffered themselves to be overthrown and massacred almost without resistance. The galleys of the King of Algiers alone escaped from the general destruction.

Occheali was engaging the vessels in the left wing, when the cries of victory and the closing of the centre on his division warned him of his danger. He passed on with undaunted courage, followed by thirty galleys, through the whole centre of the Christian fleet, and gained the open sea. This division was the sole relic of the Turkish navy. The Ottomans had not received so signal a defeat since the overthrow of Bajazet. The Christians took 161 galleys and 12 frigates. They were occupied a fortnight in dividing the spoil, during which they were often on the point of turning their arms against each other. Never was such an opportunity of humbling a dangerous and aggressive people permitted to pass away. The consequences which might have followed the appearance of the confederates before the walls of Constantinople might have produced the most important results; but Philip, the most gloomy and jealous of sovereigns, had no wish to strengthen the Venetian states; and the results of a victory which might have fixed the maritime superiority of Western Europe, was only the capture of one or two useless islands. The battle of Lepanto closed for the year the naval campaign.

Notwithstanding, however, the apathy of the Christians, the glory of such a victory spread terror throughout the Ottoman states, and restored the courage of the confederates.

Selim sank into the deepest grief; but he lost no time in preparing to encounter the dangers which seemed to await him. Fifteen thousand persons were forwarded to strengthen the fortifications of the Dardanelles, and redoubts were formed on the ruins of the tomb of Hecuba, opposite to the Cape of Ajax on the Sigean promontory. The alarmed populace watched for the appearance of the hostile fleet on the waters of the Propontis. Meanwhile Occhiali arrived with his small division of the armament; and at this crisis the undaunted valor of the Corsair King was worth more than a fleet to the Turkish cause. He revived the spirits of the emperor and the people by undertaking to defend the capital; and the sovereign, whose gratitude was excited, perhaps by fear, proclaimed him Capitan Pasha on the spot. The energetic Occhiali knew better how to repair a disaster, than the confederates did to improve their success. The Ulema contributed their treasures: workmen, sailors, and soldiers were collected from Asia, Africa, and Europe; the forests on the Black Sea supplied timber; the shipwrights of Constantinople worked at the same time upon the hulls, the rigging, the sails, and the masts of the vessels; and in less than six months, 200 galleys, well equipped, covered the port of the capital.

The grand vizier exhibited to the Venetian minister upon this occasion, the dignified self-possession with which the Turkish government officially treats the most serious disaster. This minister having demanded an audience of Mehemet, he could not repress the lurking indications of rejoicing which such a victory afforded him. “Learn”, said the haughty and quick-sighted Ottoman, “that the loss of a fleet to my master the Sultan, is as the beard of a man which grows the faster for the shaving; but the loss of Cyprus to Venice, is as an arm cut off from the body which no art can replace”. Occhiali, who was without doubt the preserver of the empire, was the pupil of Barbarossa, and in the service of the Sultan, his talents and valor elevated him to the highest rank. Upon his elevation he took the title of Kilig or the sword. Constantinople is indebted to him for the beautiful mosque of Tophana, which he is said to have finished with surprising expedition; and it is even asserted that the first story was completed in a night. The capital rang with wonder. Kilig, who seems to have united the arts of the courtier to the valor of the warrior, said to the Sultan, “this building is erected solely by the hands of the slaves of your galleys; what therefore may you not expect from our united efforts, when by your will they are directed against your enemies?”

The maritime strength of Turkey being regenerated by the talents of Kilig, he put to sea with his new fleet, and braved the force of the confederates on their own coast. Philip II, the chief of the confederates, withdrew his squadrons, and the Venetians were compelled to make peace with the loss of Cyprus and part of Dalmatia.

The distant provinces of the Turkish empire were a continual source of anxiety to the Sultans; and about this period, a formidable insurrection broke out in Moldavia, which, however, was subdued. Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte; and with the view of increasing his power in the Mediterranean sea, Selim contemplated the reduction of Malta; but he was carried off by fever in the ninth year of his reign. Overcome by indolence and superstition, this prince devoted himself to wine and pleasure; and worn out by early intemperance and debauchery, he became a prey to superstitious fears, which so affected his mind, that a morbid melancholy shortened his life.

Selim left to his son Amurath, an empire improved by the accession of the beautiful island of Cyprus. In Africa the Pillars of Hercules marked its boundary, Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers having voluntarily ranged themselves under the shadow of the Ottoman throne. In Europe, on the side of Moldavia, the frontiers stretched to Podolia; and in Dalmatia, the empire was limited by Zara, Spalatro, and Sibenco, the Ottoman frontiers embracing the strong chain of mountains which close up these important places.

But the Ottoman empire now began to hasten to decay. Its feeble-minded monarchs became the slaves of the turbulent soldiery. The rich provinces of Asia Minor were desolated by rebellions. Its treasury was exhausted, and its armies were consumed in the swamps of Hungary or in the arid deserts of Persia. Surrounded by formidable enemies, whose numbers and power daily increased, and torn by intestine divisions, it now appeared impossible that Turkey could long retain that supremacy which the valor of her armies had acquired.

The English about this period, without perhaps any mutual communication with the Turks, or without entertaining any spirit of rivalry towards them, endeavored by a different route than that proposed by the Sultan Selim, to establish a commerce with the East.

Queen Elizabeth, sensible how much the defense and prosperity of her kingdom depended on its naval power, was desirous to encourage commerce and navigation. The communication with Muscovy had been opened in Queen Mary's time by the discovery of the passage to Archangel; but the commerce to that country did not begin to be carried on till about the year 1560. The Queen obtained from the Czar an exclusive patent to the English for the whole trade of Muscovy; and she entered into a national as well as a personal alliance with him. This Czar was John Basilides, a furious tyrant, who, continually suspecting the revolt of his subjects, stipulated to have a safe retreat and protection in England. In order the better to ensure this resource he proposed to marry an English woman; and the Queen intended to have sent him Lady Ann Hastings, daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon, but when the lady was informed of the barbarous manners of the country, she wisely declined purchasing an empire at the expense of her ease and safety.

The English, encouraged by the privileges which they had obtained, ventured farther into those countries than any European had formerly done. They transported their goods along the Dwina in boats made of one entire tree, which they towed and rowed up the stream as far as Walogda. Thence they carried their commodities seven days’ journey by land to Yeraslau, and then down the Volga to Astracan. At Astracan they built ships, crossed the Caspian Sea, and distributed their manufactures in Persia.

The English trade with Turkey commenced a few years later; and that commerce was immediately confined to a company by Queen Elizabeth. Before that time the Grand Signior had always conceived England to be a dependant province of France; but having heard of the Queen's power and reputation, he gave a good reception to the English, and even granted them larger privileges than he had given to the French.

After the death of Basilides, his son Theodore revoked the patent which the English enjoyed for a monopoly of the Russian trade. When the Queen remonstrated against this innovation, he told her ministers that princes must carry an indifferent hand as well between their subjects as between foreigners; and not convert trade, which by the laws of nations ought to be common to all, into a monopoly for the private gain of a few. So much juster notions of commerce were entertained by this barbarian than appear in the conduct of the renowned Queen Elizabeth!

The greatest activity prevailed at this period throughout the different states of Europe in extending and improving their commercial relations. The spirit of the age indeed was strongly bent on naval and military enterprises; many successful attempts were made for the discovery of new countries, and thus many additional branches of foreign commerce were opened up to the different mercantile states of Europe. England, especially, had fairly embarked in a career of enterprise, which with characteristic energy she has ever since continued to pursue.

None of the advantages arising to Europe from an increased spirit of enterprise and inquiry extended to Turkey. The Turks, indeed, continued to gain great but temporary victories by land and sea, and they maintained for a time, with the exception of some trifling reverses, not only the integrity, but extended the boundaries of their empire.

The prosperity of a nation like that of Turkey, which depends, in a great measure, upon the character and military talents of the chief, must necessarily be liable to great fluctuations. Hence Turkey, according to the character of its rulers, might fall at once from the height of its civil and military prosperity, to a state of comparative weakness and disorganization. Such, indeed, must be the fate of every country which does not contain within itself the seeds of social and political regeneration.