III. SECT. Constantinople by storm, and established the seat of their government in that Imperial city. Greece, Moldavia, Wallachia, and the other provinces of the ancient kingdoms of Thrace and Macedonia, together with part of Hungary, were subjected to their power. Its despotic genius. BUT though the seat of the Turkish government was fixed in Europe, and the sultans obtained possession of such extensive dominions in that quarter of the globe, the genius of their policy continued to be purely Asiatic; and may be properly termed a despotism, in contradistinction to those monarchical and republican forms of government which we have been hitherto contemplating. The supreme power was vested in sultans of the Ottoman race, that blood being deemed so sacred, that no other was thought worthy of the throne. From this elevation, these sovereigns could look down and behold all their subjects reduced to the same level before them. The maxims of Turkish policy do not authorise any of those institutions, which, in other countries, limit the exercise, or moderate the rigour of monarchical power; they admit neither of any great court with constitutional and permanent jurisdiction to interpose, both in enacting laws, and in superintending the execution of them; nor of a body of hereditary nobles, whose sense of their own pre-eminence, whose consciousness of what is due to their rank and character, whose jealousy of their privileges circumscribe the authority of the prince, and serve not only as a barrier against the excesses of his caprice, but III. stand as an intermediate order between him and SECT. the people. Under the Turkish government, the political condition of every subject is equal. To be employed in the service of the Sultan is the only circumstance that confers distinction. Even this distinction is rather official than personal, and so closely annexed to the station in which any individual serves, that it is scarcely communicated to the persons of those who are placed in them. The highest dignity in the empire does not give any rank or pre-eminence to the family of him who enjoys it. As every man, before he is raised to any station of authority, must go through the preparatory discipline of a long and servile obedience*, the moment he is deprived of power, he and his posterity return to the same condition with other subjects, and sink back into obscurity. It is the distinguishing and odious characteristic of Eastern despotism, that it annihilates all other ranks of men, in order to exalt the monarch; that it leaves nothing to the former, while it gives every thing to the latter; that it endeavours to fix in the minds of those who are subject to it, the idea of no relation between men, but that of a master and of a slave, the former destined to command and to punish, the latter formed to tremble and obey [UU]. the Sultan BUT as there are circumstances which fre- Power of quently obstruct or defeat the salutary effects of limited by the best regulated governments, there are others religion; which contribute to mitigate the evils of the most * State of the Turkish Empire by Rycaut, p. 25. [UV] NOTE XLIII. III. SECT. defective forms of policy. There can, indeed, be no constitutional restraints upon the will of a prince in a despotic government; but there may be such as are accidental. Absolute as the Tur- • kish Sultans are, they feel themselves circumscribed both by religion, the principle on which their authority is founded*, and by the army, the instrument which they must employ in order to maintain it. Wherever religion interposes, the will of the sovereign.must submit to its decrees. When the Koran hath prescribed any religious rite, hath enjoined any moral duty, or hath confirmed by its sanction any political maxim, the command of the Sultan cannot overturn that which an higher authority hath established. The chief restriction, however, on the will of the Sultans, is imposed by and by the the military power. An armed force must surround the throne of every despot, to maintain his authority, and to execute his commands. As the Turks extended their empire over nations which they did not exterminate, but reduce to subjection, they found it necessary to render their military Origin of establishment numerous and formidable. Amurah, their third Sultan, in order to form a body of troops A. D. 1362. devoted to his will, that might serve as the immediate guards of his person and dignity, commanded his officers to seize annually, as the Imperial property, the fifth part of the youth taken in war. These, after being instructed in the Mahometan religion, inured to obedience by severe discipline, and trained to warlike exercises, were formed into a body distinguished by the name of Janizaries, military. the Jani zaries. III. or new soldiers. Every sentiment which enthu- SECT. siasm can inspire, every mark of distinction that the favour of the prince could confer, were employed in order to animate this body with martial ardour, and with a consciousness of its own preeminence*. The Janizaries soon became the chief strength and pride of the Ottoman armies; and, by their number as well as reputation, were distinguished above all the troops, whose duty it was to attend on the person of the Sultans [xx]. influence in govern ment. THUS, as the supreme power in every society is Their vast possessed by those who have arms in their hands, the Turkish this formidable body of soldiers, destined to be the instruments of enlarging the Sultan's authority, acquired, at the same time, the means of controuling it. The Janizaries in Constantinople, like the Prætorian bands in ancient Rome, quickly perceived all the advantages which they derived from being stationed in the capital; from their union under one standard; and from being masters of the person of the prince. The Sultans became no less sensible of their influence and importance. The Capiculy, or soldiery of the Porte, was the only power in the empire that a Sultan or his visier had reason to dread. To preserve the fidelity and attachment of the Janizaries, was the great art of government, and the principal object of attention in the policy of the Ottoman court. Under a monarch, whose abilities and vigour of mind fit him for command, they are ob * Prince Cantemir's History of the Othman Empire, p. 87. [XX] NOTE XLIV. SECT. sequious instruments; execute whatever he enIII. joins; and render his power irresistible. Under Progress of the Turks towards dominion. feeble princes, or such as are unfortunate, they become turbulent and mutinous; assume the tone of masters; degrade and exalt Sultans at pleasure; and teach those to tremble; on whose nod, at other times, life and death depend. FROM Mahomet II. who took Constantinople, to Solyman the magnificent, who began his reign a few months after Charles V. was placed on the Imperial throne of Germany, a succession of illustrious princes ruled over the Turkish empire. By their great abilities, they kept their subjects of every order, military as well as civil, submissive to government; and had the absolute command of whatever force their vast empire was able to exert. Solyman, in particular, who is known to the Christians chiefly as a conqueror, but is celebrated in the Turkish annals as the great lawgiver who established order and police in their empire, governed during his long reign, with no less authority than wisdom. He divided his dominions into several districts; he appointed the number of soldiers which each should furnish; he appropriated a certain proportion of the land in every province, for their maintenance; he regulated, with a minute accuracy, every thing relative to their discipline, their arms, and the nature of their service. He put the finances of the empire into an orderly train of administration; and, though the taxes in the Turkish dominions, as well as in the other despotic monarchies of the |