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"that of Vienna. That part of the Turkish em"pire, which adjoins to Austria, is inhabited by

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a warlike and hardy race of men: and, inspirited "as they are by a fanatic devotion to their reli

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gion, their chiefs, acting in unison for that ob

ject and that object alone, have had no difficulty "in preventing the Austrian armies from ad"vancing far into a country, where there are no roads, where provisions are very scarce, and "where the defiles, even without opposition, "would be almost impassable.

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"The Russians, on the contrary, have the Mol"davians and Wallachians for their neighbours: "and these are not only proverbially the most "timid of men, but, as professors of the Greek "religion, they are naturally the secret enemies "of the Porte though still its subjects. Those "two provinces, open on all sides and throughout

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easy of access, have of course been immediately

overrun; and the conquest of them has more"over been facilitated by the nature of the Turkish "armies which the Russians have had to combat. "As no reliance could be placed by the Porte on "the Moldavians and Wallachians, it has been "found necessary to attempt the defence of the "provinces which they inhabit by transporting

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"into them armies of real Turks. But those ar"mies were only to be procured by assembling "into one mass the quotas of men which the "Pachas in Asia have been willing to furnish: "which men being the most lawless, the worst

disciplined, and the least warlike of all the grand "Signior's subjects, and being in addition always "anxious to return to their own homes with the "plunder they may have amassed, it is easily to "be understood, that the celebrated victories of "the Russians might be cheaply purchased. It "is likewise to be recollected, that, when the "Russians, having crossed the Danube, came to

be opposed to Turks who belonged to the pro"vinces which they had to defend, they then "uniformly met with a resistance which often"times obliged them to recross the river, or else by checking their progress produced in general a desire for peace.

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"It has been with a view to give some general "idea of the means of defence which the Turks

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possess, that I have endeavoured to explain the

cause of that very different fortune, which the "courts of Petersburgh and Vienna, ́ in their "Turkish wars, have usually met with. I have "not presumed to say, whether French armies

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might be able to make a successful invasion, and "thereby produce the long looked for overthrow "of the Ottoman empire: but I have thought it "right to attempt to prove to you, that, barbarous "and grossly ignorant as the Turks still are, there "are reasons for expecting, that the bravest and "best disciplined armies might fail if they en"tangled themselves in a country where it is pos"sible that modern tactics might afford no resource. And I ought to add, that the expe"rience of this last Russian war has not contra"dicted the events of former ones. It will have "been obvious even from the newspaper accounts, "that the Russians obtained no advantages over "the Turks and I have since happened to learn "from a person, who during the whole war was

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at the Russian head-quarters, that there was "scarcely any action between the two armies in "which the Turks were not victorious. They are "indeed, when acting separately or in small bodies, as brave and as likely to be successful as

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any troops whatever: and, if our hopes for Spain are chiefly to depend upon the inaccessible na"ture of the country, there would, I think, as things now are, be still greater reason to ex

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"Turkey more than human means would be re"quired.

"The Turks, it is true, are ignorant in the ex"treme; and, in the military art in particular, "as far at least as it depends on science, they have "not kept pace with any of their neighbours: but,

on the other hand, they have, as I have already "observed, a country to defend, which, even left "to itself, must from the nature of it impede the "progress of all large bodies of men; it is the evi"dent policy of all their chiefs to unite, for the "preservation of their own power and independ

ence, against every invading enemy; and, more • than all, they have a religion to protect, which "inflames them, against those whom they consider "as wicked unbelievers.

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Although you did not specify, when you made inquiries concerning Turkish politics, what was "the particular information which you wished to "obtain, yet I take it for granted, that

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you were anxious to learn to which of the powers of Eu

rope the Porte is at present the best disposed. "If that were the object of your inquiry, I believe "I might satisfy you in a few words.

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"In former times, and before the invasion of Buonaparte's army, the French were the people,

"who

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"who beyond all comparison were the most liked, respected, and considered. The English till that period were but little known, and less thought of; but our victories over the French naturally "raised us in the estimation of the Turks, though "at the same time they in some degree caused "them to be jealous of us. It certainly mortified "the Ottoman pride to be under the necessity of recovering Egypt by efforts not their own: and, will remember that that country was not " evacuated by us as soon as had been at first ex

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as you

pected, and as while we remained there we kept

up a suspicious intimacy with the Beys, it was "not perhaps unnatural for the Porte to be appre"hensive that we might become as dangerous as "the first invaders. Indeed I had reason to per"ceive, during the whole of my residence, that "that jealousy thus excited had never quite sub"sided: but however we were still able to main"tain the superiority of our influence; and I be"lieve I may venture to say, that, notwithstand"ing the battles of Austerlitz and of Jena, we "might have continued to maintain it, if it had "not been then unfortunately the necessary policy "of our court to alienate and disgust the Turks by our unreserved support of Russia.

VOL. I.

с

"But

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