vernment have in contemplation for the management of that vast dominion, will sever it from the British Empire before any danger is felt from external foes; and long ere the Moscovite eagles are seen on the banks of the Indus, the insane measures of the Ten Pounders will have banished the British standards from the plains of Hindostan.

Every thing, in short, announces that the external weight and foreign importance of Great Britain are irrecoverably lost; and that the passing of the Reform Bill has truly been the death-warrant of the British Empire. The Russians are at Constantinople! the menaces, the entreaties of England, are alike disregarded; and the ruler of the seas has submitted in two years to descend to the rank of a second-rate power. That which a hundred defeats could have hardly effected to old England, is the very first result of the innovating system upon which new England has entered. The Russians are at Constantinople! How would the shade of Chatham, or Pitt, or Fox thrill at the announcement! But it makes no sort of impression on the English people as little as the robbery of the Portuguese fleet by the French, or the surrender of the citadel of Antwerp to the son-in-law of LouisPhilippe. In this country we have arrived, in an inconceivably short space of time, at that weakness, disunion, and indifference to all but revolutionary objects, which is at once the forerunner and the cause of national ruin.

But leaving these mournful topics, it is more instructive to turn to the causes which have precipitated, in so short a space of time, the fall of the Turkish Empire. Few more curious or extraordinary phenomena are to be met with in the page of history. It will be found that the Ottomans have fallen a victim to the same passion for innovation and reform which have proved so ruinous both in this and a neighbouring country; and that, while the bulwarks of Turkey were thrown down by the rude hand of Mahmoud, the States of Western Europe were disabled, by the same frantic course, from rendering him any effectual aid. How well in every age has the spirit of Jacobinism and revolutionary passion aided the

march, and hastened the growth of Russia!

The fact of the long duration of Turkey, in the midst of the monarchies of Europe, and the stubborn resistance which she opposed for a series of ages to the attacks of the two greatest of its military powers, is of itself sufficient to demonstrate that the accounts on which we had been accustomed to rely of the condition of the Ottoman Empire were partial or exaggerated. No fact is so universally demonstrated by history as the rapid and irrecoverable decline of barbarous powers, when the career of conquest is once terminated. Where is now the Empire of the Caliphs or the Moors? What has survived of the conquests, one hundred years ago, of Nadir Shah? How long did the Empire of Aurengzebe, the throne of the Great Mogul, resist the attacks of England, even at the distance of ten thousand miles from the parent state? How then did it happen that Turkey so long resisted the spoiler? What conservative principle has enabled the Osmanleys so long to avoid the degradation which so rapidly overtakes all barbarous and despotic empires; and what has communicated to their vast empire a portion of the undecaying vigour which has hitherto been considered as the grand characteristic of European civilisation? The answer to these questions will both unfold the real causes of the long endurance, and at length the sudden fall, of the Turkish Empire.

Though the Osmanleys were an Asiatic power, and ruled entirely on the principles of Asiatic despotism, yet their conquests were effected in Europe, or in those parts of Asia in which, from the influence of the Crusades, or of the Roman institutions which survived their invasion, a certain degree of European civilisation remained. It is difficult utterly to exterminate the institutions of a country where they have been long established; those of the Christian provinces of the Roman Empire have in part survived all the dreadful tempests which for the last six centuries have passed over their surface. It is these remnants of civilisation, it is the institutions which still linger among the vanquished people, which have so long preserved the Turkish

ed.

The devotion of the dependents of the dere beys was great at a whistle, the Car'osman-Oglous, the Tchapan-Oglous, the Ellezar-Oglous, (the principal Asiatic families that survive,) could raise, each, from ten thousand to twenty thousand horsemen, and equip them. Hence the facility with which the Sultans, up to the present century, drew such large bodies of cavalry into the field. The dere boys have always furnished, and maintained, the greatest part; and there is not one instance, since the conquest of Constantinople, of one of these great families raising the standard of revolt. The pashas invariably have. The reasons, respectively, are obvious. The dere bey was sure of keeping his possessions by right; the pasha of losing his by custom, unless he had money to bribe the Porte, or force to intimidate it.

provinces from decay; and it is these ancient bulwarks, which the innovating passions of Mahmoud have now destroyed.

1. The first circumstance which upheld, amidst its numerous defects, the Ottoman Empire, was the rights conceded on the first conquest of the country by Mahomet to the dere beys or ancient nobles of Asia Minor, and which the succeeding Sultans have been careful to maintain inviolate. These dere beys all capitulated with the conqueror, and obtained the important privileges of retaining their lands in perpetuity for their descendants, and of paying a fixed tribute in money and men to the Sultan. In other words, they were a hereditary noblesse; and as they constituted the great strength of the empire in its Asiatic provinces, they have preserved their privilege through all succeeding reigns. The following is the description given of them by the intelligent traveller whose work is prefixed to this article:

"The dere beys," says Mr Slade, "literally lords of the valleys, an expression peculiarly adapted to the country, which presents a series of oval valleys, surrounded by ramparts of hills, were the original possessors of those parts of Asia Minor, which submitted, under feudal conditions, to the Ottomans. Between the conquest of Brussa and the conquest of Constantinople, a lapse of more than a century, chequered by the episode of Tamerlane, their faith was precarious; but after the latter event, Mahomet II. bound their submission, and finally settled the terms of their existence. He confirmed them in their lands, subject, however, to tribute, and to quotas of troops in war; and he absolved the head of each family for ever from personal service. The last clause was the most important, as thereby the Sultan had no power over their lives, nor consequently, could be their heirs, that despotic power being lawful over those only in the actual service of the Porte. The families of the dere beys, therefore, became neither impoverished nor extinct. It would be dealing in truisms to enumerate the advantages enjoyed by the

districts of these noblemen over the rest of the empire; they were oases in the desert: their owners had more than a life interest in the soil, they were born and lived among the people, and, being hereditarily rich, had no occasion to create a private fortune, each year, after the tribute due was levied. Whereas, in a pashalick, the people are strained every year to double or treble the amount of the impost, since the pasha, who pays for his situation, must also be enrich

These provincial nobles, whose rights had been respected during four centuries, by a series of twenty-four sovereigns, had two crimes in the eyes of Mahmoud II.: they held their property from their ancestors, and they had riches. To alter the tenure of the former, the destination of the latter, was his object. The dere beys-unlike the seraglio dependents, brought up to distrust their own shadows-had no causes for suspicion, and therefore became easy dupes of the grossest treachery. The unbending spirits were removed to another world, the flexible were Some few await despoiled of their wealth.

their turn, or, their eyes opened, prepare to resist oppression. Car'osman Oglou, for example, was summoned to Constantinople, where expensive employments, forced on him during several years, reduced his ready cash; while a follower of the seraglio resided at his city of Magnesia, to collect his revenues. His peasants, in consequence, ceased to cultivate their lands, from whence they no longer hoped to reap profit; and his once flourishing possessions soon became as desolate as any which had always been under the gripe of pashas."

This passage throws the strongest light on the former condition of the Turkish Empire. They possessed an hereditary noblesse in their Asiatic provinces; a body of men whose interests were permanent; who enjoyed their rights by succession, and, rested in preserving their possessions therefore, were permanently intefrom spoliation. It was their feudal tenantry who flocked in such multitudes to the standard of Mahomet when any great crisis occurred, and formed those vast armies who so often astonished the European powers, and struck terror into the boldest hearts in Christendom. These hereditary nobles, however, the bones of

the empire, whose estates were exempt from the tyranny of the Pashas, have been destroyed by Mahmoud. Hence the disaffection of the Asiatic provinces, and the readiness with which they opened their arms to the liberating standards of Mehemet Ali. It is the nature of innovation, whether enforced by the despotism of a sultan or a democracy, to destroy in its fervour the institutions on which public freedom is founded.

2. The next circumstance which contributed to mitigate the severity of Ottoman oppression was the privileges of the provincial cities, chiefly in Europe, which consisted in being governed by magistrates elected by the people themselves from among their chief citizens. This privilege, a relic of the rights of the Municipia over the whole Roman Empire, was established in all the great towns; and its importance in moderating the otherwise intolerable weight of Ottoman oppression was incalculable. The Pashas or temporary rulers appointed by the Sultan had no authority, or only a partial one in these free cities, and hence they formed nearly as complete an asylum for industry in Europe as the estates of the dere beys did in Asia. This important right, however, could not escape the reforming passion of Mahmoud; and it was accordingly

overturned.

"In conjunction with subverting the dere beys, Mahmoud attacked the privileges of the great provincial cities, (principally in Europe,) which consisted in the election of ayans (magistrates) by the people, from among the notables. Some cities were solely governed by them, and in those ruled by pashas, they had, in most cases, sufficient influence to restrain somewhat the full career of despotism. They were the protectors of rayas, as well as of Mussulmans, and, for their own sakes, resisted exorbitant imposts. The change in the cities where their authority has been abolished (Adrianople, e. g.) is deplorable; trade has since languished, and population has diminished. They were instituted by Solyman (the lawgiver), and the protection which they have invariably afforded the Christian subjects of the Porte, entitles them to a Christian's good word. Their crime, that of the dere beys, was being possessed of authority not emanating from the Sultan.

would have truly reformed his empire, by restoring it to its brightest state, have gained the love of his subjects, and the applauses of humanity. By the contrary proceeding, subverting two bulwarks (though dilapidated) of national prosperity—a provincial nobility and magistracy-he has shewn himself a selfish tyrant."

"Had Mahmoud II. intrusted the government of the provinces to the dere beys, and strengthened the authority of the ayans, he

3. In addition to an hereditary nobility in the dere beys, and the privileges of corporations in the right of electing their ayans, the Mussulmans possessed a powerful portant body in the Ottoman domihierarchy in the ulema; a most imnions, and whose privileges have gone far to limit the extent of its ant institution has been little underdespotic government. This importhave contributed in a most importstood hitherto in Europe; but they ant manner to mitigate the severity of the Sultan in those classes who enjoyed no special protection.

A

"In each of the Turkish cities," says Mr Slade, "reside a muphti and a mollah. knowledge of Arabic, so as to be able to read the Koran in the original, is considered sufficient for the former, but the latter must have run a legal career in one of the medressehs, (universities of Constantinople.) After thirty years probation in a medresseh, the student becomes of the class of muderis, (doctors at law,) from which are chosen the mollahs, comprehended under the name of Students who accept the inferior judicial appointments can never become of the ulema.

ulema.

"The ulema is divided into three classes, according to a scale of the cities of the empire. The first class consists of the caziaskers, (chief judges of Europe and Asia ;) the Stamboul effendisi, (mayor of Constantinople;) the mollahs qualified to act at Mecca, at Medina, at Jerusalem, at Bagdat, at Salonica, at Aleppo, at Damascus, at Brussa, at Cairo, at Smyrna, at Cogni, at Galata, at Scutari. The second class consists of the mollahs qualified to act at the twelve cities of next importance. The third class at ten inferior cities. The administration of minor towns is intrusted to cadis, who are nominated by the cazi-askers in their respective jurisdictions, a patronage which produces great wealth to these two officers.

"In consequence of these powers the mollah of a city may prove as great a pest as a needy pasha; but as the mollahs are hereditarily wealthy, they are generally moderate in their perquisitions, and often pretect the people against the extortions of the pashas. The cadis, however, of the minor

blind its votaries to the effects of the measures it advocates, that the ulema has long been singled out for destruction by the reforming Sultan, and the change is warmly supported by many of the inconsiderate Franks who dwell in the East. Such is the aversion of men of every faith to the vesting of property or influence in the church, that they would willingly see this one of the last barriers which exist against arbitrary power done away. The power of the Sultan, great as it is, has not yet ventured on this great innovation; but it is well known that he meditates it, and it is the knowledge of this circumstance which is one great cause of the extreme unpopularity which has rendered his government unable to obtain any considerable resources from his immense dominions.

4. In every part of the empire, the superior felicity and well-being of the peasantry in the mountains is conspicuous, and has long attracted the attention of travellers. Clarke observed it in the mountains of Greece, Mariti and others in Syria and Asia Minor, and Mr Slade and Mr Walsh in the Balkan, and the hilly country of Bulgaria. "No peasantry in the world," says the former," are so well off as that of Bulgaria. The lowest of them has abundance of every thing-meat, poultry, eggs, milk, rice, cheese, wine, bread, good clothing, a warm dwelling, and a horse to ride. It is true he has no newspaper to kindle his passions, nor a knife and fork to eat with, nor a bedstead to lie on; but these are the customs of the country, and a pacha is equally unhappy. Where, then, is the tyranny under which the Christian subjects of the Porte are generally supposed to groan? Not among the Bulgarians certainly. I wish that in every country a traveller could pass from one end to the other, and find a good supper and a warm fire in every cottage, as he can in this part of European Turkey."* This description applies generally to almost all the mountainous provinces of the Ottoman Empire, and in an especial manner to the peasants of Parnassus and Olympia, as described by Clarke. As a contrast to this de

lightful state of society, we may quote the same traveller's account of the plains of Romelia. "Romelia, if cultivated, would become the granary of the East, whereas Constantinople depends on Odessa for daily bread. The burial-grounds, choked with weeds and underwood, constantly occurring in every traveller's route, far remote from habitations, are eloquent testimonials of continued depopulation. The living too are far apart; a town every fifty miles, and a village every ten miles, is close, and horsemen meeting on the highway regard each other as objects of curiosity. The cause of this depopulation is to be found in the pernicious government of the Ottomans." The cause of this remarkable difference lies in the fact, that the Ottoman oppression has never yet fully extended into the mountainous parts of its dominions; and, consequently, they remained like permanent veins of prosperity, intersecting the country in every direction, amidst the desolation which generally prevailed in the pashalicks of the plain.

* Slade, ii, 97.

5. The Janissaries were another institution which upheld the Turkish Empire. They formed a regular standing army, who, although at times extremely formidable to the Sultan, and exercising their influence with all the haughtiness of Prætorian guards, were yet of essential service in repelling the invasion of the Christian Powers. The strength of the Ottoman armies consisted in the Janissaries, and the delhis and spahis; the former being the regular force, the latter the contingents of the dere beys. Every battle-field, from Constantinople to Vienna, can tell of the valour of the Janissaries, long and justly regarded as the bulwark of the empire; and the Russian battalions, with all their firmness, were frequently broken, even in the last war, by the desperate charge of the delhis. Now, however, both are destroyed; the vigorous severity of the Sultan has annihilated the dreaded battalions of the former-the ruin of the dere beys has closed the supply of the latter. In these violent and impolitic reforms is to be found

† Ibid. 15.