w, are
soldiers, to whom the extension of the empire and the propagation of
their faith were the avowed objects of warfare. They may be regarded,
wherever they have conquered, as military colonists, exercising great
tyranny, and treating all vanquished subjects with contempt. The
government has ever been a pure despotism, and both the executive and
legislative authorities have been vested in the sultan. He is the sole
fountain of honor; for, in Turkey, birth confers no privilege. His
actions are regarded as prescribed by an inevitable fate, and his
subjects suffer with resignation. The evils of despotism are
aggravated by the ignorance and effeminacy of those to whom power is
intrusted, although the grand vizier, who is the prime minister of the
empire, is generally a man of great experience and talent. All the
laws of the country are founded upon the precepts of the Koran, the
example of Mohammed, the precepts of the four first caliphs, and the
decision of learned doctors upon disputed cases. Justice is
administered promptly, but without much regard to equity or mercy; and
the course of the grand vizier is generally marked with blood. The
character of the people partakes of the nature of their government,
religion, and climate. They are arrogant, ignorant, and austere;
passing from devotion to obscenity; fastidiously abstemious in some
things, and grossly sensual in others. They have cherished the virtues
of hospitality, and are fond of conversation but their domestic life
is spent in voluptuous idleness, and is dull and insipid compared with
that of Europeans. But the Turks have degenerated. In the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, they were simple, brave, and religious. They
founded an immense empire on the ruins of Asiatic monarchies, and
filled the world with the terror of their arms. For two hundred years
their power has been retrograding, and there is much reason now to
believe that a total eclipse of their glory is soon to take place.

* * * * *

REFERENCES.--See Knolle's History of Turkey. Eton's Survey
of the Turkish Empire. Upham's History of the Ottoman
Empire. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Heeren's Modern History.
Madden's Travels in Turkey. Russell's Modern Europe. Life of
Catharine II.

CHAPTER XXVII.

REIGN OF GEORGE III. TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM PITT.

Great subjects were discussed in England, and great events happened in
Americ