the absolute masters
of the empire. They pulled down and set up sultans at their will; their
valor had departed, but their unconquerable pride remained as part of
their heritage. Their ranks were filled with crowds of Greeks, Jews, and
Moslems, without discipline and without order. Many who had purchased
the privilege of being numbered in this formidable body, lived outside
of the barracks, and assembled only on pay day or in times of tumult and
rebellion. They despised all laws, civil and religious, and were a
constant source of annoyance to the people, whose lives and property
were at their mercy. Such were the subjects upon whom Mahmoud was to
operate. In the destruction of the Strelitzes and the Janissaries, Peter
and Mahmoud may be compared to two physicians: one practises on a
healthy savage, while the other attempts to cut out a malignant cancer
reaching the vitals, from the pampered sensualist. In annihilating these
troops, as in his other reforms, Mahmoud began where he should have
ended his labors; he mistook the end for the means.

Had he stopped with this act of violence, his supporters might defend
him on the doubtful ground of expediency; but he did not stop here. For
centuries the tyranny of the sultans had been restrained by the
derebeys, or lords of the valleys. They had been confirmed in the
possession of their lands by Mohammed II, from which time they had
continued to pay tribute to the sultan, and furnished him with quotas of
troops. The sultan had no control over their lives or property. The
subjects who tilled the productive lands of the valleys were suitably
rewarded for their labor. The happiest and wealthiest peasants of the
empire were found among the vassals of the beys, to whom they showed
great devotion. These feudal lords, at a moment's warning, could summon
twenty thousand men before their palace gates. They furnished the
greater part of the sultan's cavalry force in war; and, unlike the
pashas, had never raised the standard of rebellion; they had never
wished for revolutions, and had never sanctioned insurrections. The
possession of their property was guaranteed to them by inheritance, and
they had no need of money with which to bribe the Sublime Porte.

Mahmoud was bent on depriving them of their wealth and curtailing their
privileges. They were rich, did not bribe him, and held hereditary
possessions. These were unpardonable crimes in the sight of this
exemplary reformer. The beys, w