_Shah_, and in Arabic _Sultan_,
all meaning, _in extensu_, the same, viz. King, Sovereign, or Prince. He
reigns over one of the most extensive empires of the world, all possessed
or acquired by inheritance from his ancestors, who obtained it by
conquest.

Until the reign of the late Sultan, Mahmoud the Second, the Ottoman
sovereigns had their residence in _the_ "Seraglio" before alluded to, in
the city of Constantinople. Its high walls were not, however, sufficiently
strong to protect them against the violence of the Janizaries, and after
their destruction the remembrance of the scenes of their cruelty induced
the late and present Sultan to forsake it for the safer and more agreeable
banks of the Bosphorus. The extensive and very picturesque buildings of
the Seraglio are now left to decay; they offer only the spectacle of the
"dark ages" of Turkey, gloomy in their aspect, as in their history, and
yet occupying one of the most favored spots in the world, on which the
eyes of the traveler are fixed as by a charm in approaching the great
capital of the East, and on which they dwell with a parting feeling of
regret as he bids the magnificent "City of the Sultan" farewell.

On the Bosphorus are two splendid palaces, one on the Asiatic and the
other on the European shore. The first is called _Beylerbey_, "Prince of
Princes," the latter _Teheragian_, "The Lights." Both are beautiful
edifices, in excellent taste; and, as architecture has done in all ages,
they serve to show the advance of the people who erected them in the
noblest of the arts.

The Turkish Sultan, in theory, is a despotic sovereign, while in practice
he is a very paternal one. As the supreme head of the government, he may
exercise unlimited power; few checks exist to preserve the lives and
property of his subjects against an influence which he _might_ exercise
over them. His ancestors conquered the country, and subjugated its
inhabitants to _his_ rule with _his_ troops; consequently it all belonged
to him, and could only be possessed by _his_ gift: thus, in fact, the
empire is his, and the concessions made by him to his subjects are
free-will offerings, which are not drawn from him by compulsion on their
part, but are grants on his, in behalf of reform and civilization. The
feudal system of land-tenure was abolished by his father, and there is now
scarcely a feature of it remaining. It is several years since the present
Sultan spontaneously renounced all the