The presence of Sead Eddin in Venice

But there is no evidence to prove that even any of the leaders had any certain knowledge that a treaty had been signed, by which the services of the Venetians in carrying the army to Egypt had become impossible. The presence of Sead Eddin in Venice, in July, 1202, possibly gave rise to doubts as to the good faith of the republic, though the presence of an envoy from the sultan may have been concealed or may have been disregarded amid the multitude of visitors to the great centre of Eastern trade in Western Europe. If such doubts arose, the conduct of the Venetians to the Crusaders while at Lido increased them, while the attack upon Zara brought conviction into the minds of a large body of the army that they were not being fairly dealt with by the Venetians.

It is probable that the belief that Venice was not acting fairly was one of the causes of the ill-feeling which showed itself in the riot between the Venetians and the Crusaders within a week after the occupation of the city. But the secret of the treaty was well kept. The interest of Dandolo was, on the one hand, not to allow its provisions to transpire, and, on the other, to take advantage of every circumstance in order to divert the attention of the Crusaders from Egypt. Henceforward, and without any explanation being suggested, we find that the Crusaders speak rather of going to Syria than to Egypt.

The arrival of a smaller number of Crusaders in Venice than had been contracted for gave a plausible excuse to Dandolo, first, to delay the departure of the expedition, then to divert it towards Zara, and afterwards to keep it there during the winter. We have seen that he entirely succeeded. From the ratification of the treaty with the Sultan of Egypt, in July, 1202, the intention was to divert the expedition from its intended attack upon Egypt, the weakest and at the same time the most important point under Moslem sway.

Palaces of Bucoleon and Blachern

The greater portion of these objects formed part of the plunder of the city which was collected during the first few days after its capture, and which was officially divided among the invaders. Three eighths were allotted to the clergy and monks who accompanied the Crusaders; the remainder were bought or otherwise acquired subsequently, mostly by private persons. The officially certified relics first mentioned seemed to have come chiefly from the imperial palaces of Bucoleon and Blachern. Many of those which were collected after the scramble of the first few days were certified with imperial golden bulls. When they reached their destination they were received with great honor and ceremony. Princes attended and took part in the solemn procession which met them on their way to the church, where, with solemn rites, they were to be deposited. A sermon often followed, relating to the events with which the relic was supposed to be connected. In many instances an annual festival was appointed to celebrate the arrival of the relic, and occasionally the gift was made conditional upon the establishment of such annual festival in its honor.

Lessons from the Old or New Testament

Lessons from the Old or New Testament appropriate to the saint, a relic of whom had been received, were selected for public reading on such festivals. Special services were framed to commemorate the event. Hymns were composed in honor of the relic. In the case of the monastery of Selincourt, where a sacred tear of Christ had been carried, the name was changed, through the reception of this relic, to that of the monastery of the Sacred Tear. A few of the more important objects of the same kind may be mentioned in order to show both the quantity which were received in the West and the honor with which they were regarded.

The Venetians are accused by the author of the “ Continuation of William of Tyre” of having taken an undue share of the spoil and of having concealed it in their ships. Many of the beautiful objects which had adorned the Church of the Divine Wisdom went to decorate St. Mark’s. The high-altar of that church, with its columns of marble and its bronze gates, was one of the most valuable acquisitions. The Venetian church obtained also many pieces of sculpture, pictures, gold and silver vessels, and a mass of church furniture. The Venetians obtained the famous picture of the Virgin which was painted by St. Luke under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

The Marmora and the Golden Horn are deep enough

The tieless waters of the Marmora and the Golden Horn are deep enough within ten feet of the walls to float larger vessels than the great galleys of the Venetians. The procession crossed the Bosphorus. The walls were crowded with spectators. The boats went quite near and then stopped. “ Here,” proclaimed some one on board the galley containing Alexis—“here is your rightful lord. We have not come to do you any harm. We will protect you if you do what you ought. He whom you obey rules you wrongfully against God and law. You know how disloyally he behaved to his lord and his brother, how he put out his eyes and usurped his empire. Here is the real heir. If you do not acknowledge him we will do the worst we can against you.”

The proclamation was received with laughter. The only answer given, and that in derision, was, “ We know nothing about him. Who is he?”

The Crusaders returned to Scutari

The Crusaders returned to Scutari. Next day a parliament was held to consider what steps should be for an attack, taken for attacking the city. It was agreed that the army should be divided into seven parts. Baldwin of Flanders was appointed to lead the van, because of the great number of archers and crossbowmen who were under his command. The Marquis of Montferrat was to bring up the rear with the Lombards, Tuscans, Germans, and men from the country between Mont Cenis and Lyons.

The business in hand was felt to be a serious one. There was apparently no longer any disaffection. The consciences of all had been quieted or their scruples overcome by the prospect of rich booty. All that remained was to fulfil their part of the contract and to receive their reward. But many a stout heart quailed at the prospect of the difficult undertaking before them.

The magistrates present were themselves

Some of the magistrates present were themselves asked to become emperor. A second and a third day were spent in these meetings. Finally the choice fell upon a Toung man named Nicolas Kanabos, who was, however, chosen against his will. Alexis and Isaac knew what was going on, but were powerless. Isaac was ill. Alexis, alarmed for himself, seeing that whoever the next emperor might be the citizens were at least determined that he should no longer reign, feeling that power was rapidly slipping away from him, and that but for the presence of his foreign guards his own life would be in immediate danger, took what under the circumstances was perhaps a natural act, but what was nevertheless justly regarded by the citizens as an act of treason. lie sent to the Marquis of Montferrat, and invited him to fill the palace of Blachern with Frenchmen and Italians, in order to defend his life and maintain him on the throne. This treason to the city cost him both his throne and his life.

Mourtzouphlos decided

On hearing of what Alexis had done, Mourtzouphlos decided that the time had come for him to act. The new emperor minister of finance was in his favor, but the imperial guard of the Warings, who knew that their duty was to defend the emperor, constituted a serious obstacle to any attack on the occupant of the throne. It is probable that, as foreign mercenaries, they were by no means favorably regarded by the people. The very fidelity for which, as we have seen, they were so justly esteemed by the imperial family, even in the time of Anna, made their opposition on the present occasion the more probable. The object of Mourtzouphlos was now to secure the person of Alexis, either by inducing him to leave the palace or by withdrawing the Warings themselves. The latter course was found to be the easier. The Warings were therefore deceived, and led to believe that in leaving the palace they were to fight for Alexis.

The empire resemble that of the Ottoman Turks

Rodeos the fall of the empire resemble that of the Ottoman Turks. The rule of the first fell after long two empires centuries of struggles with external enemies, and after a long period of success which had helped to demoralize the conquerors. Its rule had been weakened by dynastic struggles, due in part to the fact that the people were progressive, and that a more modern form of government —that of oligarchy—was being evolved from the older one of an absolute sovereign with divine attributes.

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire has lost successively its possessions in South Russia, in Hungary, in Roumania, Servia, Greece, Bulgaria, Asia Minor, and Africa in consequence of the incapacity of its rulers to govern, and, above all, of their powerlessness to absorb conquered races or acquire the habits of commerce, manufacture, or civilization. One empire fell, after an honorable existence of eleven centuries, the most civilized power in Europe; the other, inheriting such civilization, has been powerful only to destroy, and will leave its territories far in the rear of the least progressive country in Europe, and Constantinople the most backward of European capitals.

So long as the armies of the present rulers were fed from the boundless supplies of men in Central Asia, so long as the harems were filled with European captives, and the supply of rulers kept up from Christian sources on the female side, so long was their military triumph secure, and their government at least better than organized brigandage. When these supplies were cut off and the Turkish race and religion were left to their own resources, decline immediately commenced, and is rapidly bringing the rule of the Ottoman Turk to its end.

The essential difference between the condition of the Em- signs of bet- Vire even under the Comneni and that of the Turk- ter things. jsh Empire is to be found in the results produced respectively by the religion of Christ and of Mahomet. The Christianity of the empire would have provided a means of regeneration, or would not have prevented the natural spirit of the population from developing itself. The religion of the Ottoman Turks is a hinderance to advancement. I am fully alive to the low condition into which the Orthodox Church has now fallen, though it was by no means so low seven hundred years ago.

But I repeat, that if that Church had fallen as low as that of Abyssinia, it would still, as a philosophical system accepted and entirely believed in by the people, be superior as a civilizing force to Mahometanism Visit Bulgaria, because at least it would not have been a hinderance to progress. As a fact, however, the Greek Church was still the preacher of morality, the torch-bearer of civilization, and the faithful guardian of the treasures of ancient Greece.

Nicetas Choniate

The monks of Mount Athos were already multiplying the manuscripts which were to bring about a revival of learning in the West. Amidst the general indifference to public morality, priests and monks could be found whose lives and teaching were long protests against the general corruption. The work of Nicetas Choniate, our principal Greek authority on the history of the Latin conquest, is imbued with a religious spirit — religious in the sense that he believed that God rules the world and will punish national immorality, that morality implies progress and immorality the reverse.

He and others with him protested in the strongest manner against the corruption in government, the dissoluteness of the court, the absence of morality in statesmanship. In reading the history of his own times we are apt sometimes to forget that these protests were written in the thirteenth and not in the nineteenth century. The abuses in the State and the cruelty of the emperors were hateful to him. But for the fact that we meet with passages showing that his religion partook of the superstition of his age, we should hardly remember that he was the contemporary of what he records.

The very discontent, amounting to querulousness, which runs through the whole of his narrative, and which is found in other contemporary, or nearly contemporary, writers, is one of the most hopeful signs of his time. That he and so many of his contemporaries were profoundly dissatisfied with the condition of the empire gives reasonable hope that, had the Latin invasion turned out otherwise than it did, there would have been a national movement towards reform or revolution. This movement, as in Western Europe, would probably have first been felt in religion, and the Eastern Church might again have taken the lead in shaping the creed of Western Europe. For, in spite of the subserviency into which the Church had fallen, its nominal masters were obliged to respect the opinion of its governing bodies.

The imperial shores had become the prey of every pirate

The weakness of the empire, and particularly at sea, from the accession of Isaac the Second, had become clear to every Italian state. The imperial shores had become the prey of every pirate who chose to attack them. Pisans and Venetians, though during the last fifteen years of the century almost constantly fighting against each other, occasionally united in piratical attacks upon the empire, while they regarded Constantinople as neutral ground.

The ill-feeling between the Greeks and Venetians

Put while the hostility which had been growing between the empire and the Italian states generally greatly weakened the former, that displayed by Venice was the strongest, and contributed most largely to the capture of Constantinople. The ill-feeling between the Greeks and Venetians had gained great strength with the grant of concessions to Pisans and other Italian states in the time of Manuel. It had been increased by several events in the same reign, until, in 1171, in a moment of irritation, all the Venetians in the empire wTere arrested and their property placed under sequester. A short war with but hotly contested war followed. In the following year the republic sent a fleet of a hundred vessels to attack the imperial forces in Dalmatia.

Pagusa surrendered on the second day of the siege. Dalmatia was conquered. Negropont, Chios, Scyros, and other places were pillaged. For a while everything seemed to be going in favor of the republic. Everywhere, however, the Venetians were opposed by the inhabitants. A portion of the Venetian fleet was destroyed by that of the empire, but the rest occupied itself during the next three years in piratical attacks on the islands of the Egean. Aid was given on every hand to the enemies of the empire. The Serbians were subsidized.

A great number in the Golden Horn

A band of Latins seized forty-four galleys which they found in the harbor, while another took possession of ships, of which there were a great number in the Golden Horn, and fled. The sick, the aged, and those who did not believe that a massacre was likely, remained behind. Of these some fought in the defence of their property, but were soon overpowered.

Four thousand of both sexes, says William of Tyre, were sold by the Greeks to the Turks and to other infidel peoples. Few were spared. Women and children fell victims to an indiscriminate and reckless fury. The forces of Andronicos joined the mob and took part in a general pillage of the Latin quarter. The priests were struck down in the churches which Manuel had allowed them to build. The sick in the hospital of St. John were dragged from their beds or were burned in the building. The Latin quarters, after being pillaged, were destroyed.

Cardinal John, who had been sent to negotiate for the union of the churches, was beheaded. His head was tied to a dog’s tail and sent spinning about the streets. The reports of the Western writers are doubtless exaggerated, but it is evident that the massacre was an insensate outbreak of mob violence, and caused a great amount of just anger in Italy and Sicily, and it was natural that the countrymen of the sufferers should be ready to avenge their death.

Cousin of King William

Tancred, the cousin of King William, was appointed leader Tancred a an expedition against the empire, having among leader that of avenging the outrages of 11S2.

In 11S5 he seized Dnrazzo, which we have already seen attacked by the grandfathers of the present invaders. More successful than Bohemund, he captured it, and then pushed boldly across the peninsula to Salonica. Aided by sack orsaio his fleet, he took the city by assault after a siege of nine days. The slaughter of the Greeks was great,

while the loss of the Sicilians was not more than 3000. The city was sacked in the fashion for which the Normans had obtained an unenviable renown.

Dissatisfied with the events

There was, however, a strong party in the city which was dissatisfied with the events of the last few days. The treachery of one brother to another, the abandonment of the enterprise against the one mies who had taken possession of the Balkans, the panderings to the mob and the soldiery, and the lavish way in which the imperial treasures had been distributed, disgusted men of sense and especially the well-to-do classes. This disgust was increased when it was seen that the new emperor cared for nothing but his own pleasures, that the interests of commerce were disregarded, that the government was left in the hands of his favorites, and that his lavish profusion in squandering what should have been employed for the use of the state forced him to levy new taxes.

The ease with which Alexis had obtained the throne increased the supply of pretenders. Three months after his accession the news arrived that another Alexis had arisen in Cilicia, who claimed to be the son of Manuel; that the Sultan of Angora had received him favorably, and professed to believe him to be the boy-emperor Alexis, who had been strangled by Andronicos. The emperor took the field against him, but after two months of unsuccessful warfare he returned to Constantinople. The pretender, however, was shortly afterwards killed.

Pursuit of the false Alexis

While the emperor had been in pursuit of the false Alexis, the Wallachs, still under Asan and Peter, had at with the tacked the imperial troops, had cut them to pieces, a a ’ and had captured their leader. The emperor sent a new army to repel their attacks, but the imperial troops were again beaten and their leader captured. Alexis then sent his son-in-law Isaac, who fought valiantly, but was likewise defeated and captured, and brought before Asan.

Shortly afterwards, however, this leader was himself assassinated by his nephew John, who then found it necessary to ask the assistance of the emperor against Peter. The war dragged on with little credit to the imperial troops. Their leader died in captivity, the troops were unwilling to continue a mountain warfare where the enemy had a great advantage in his knowledge of the country and was gaining ground every day. In the midst of it Peter himself was killed by one of his own followers.

Among people whose political education

Amid the follies of the empress and her lover, it was natural that the inhabitants of the capital should turn their thoughts to this adventurer. His very vices had been those which, among a people whose political education is but slightly advanced, help to make a prince popular. lie was believed to be fearless and resolute. He was known ostentatiously to despise luxury. He disregarded the ordinary pleasures of the table, was sober and abstemious. His rule could hardly be expected to be worse than that of a child emperor and his foolish, if not profligate, mother. His foolhardiness and hie wild adventures were regarded as the faults of youth, which by this time had probably passed away.

As soon as Andronicos heard of the divisions in the court he saw that his chance was come. Apparently on his last submission he had taken the oath which he had refused on a former occasion. The terms of this oath bound him to oppose with all his power anything which tended to the dishonor or was against the interest of the emperor.

He was careful to keep the letter of his oath and scrounge intrigueslously anxious to seem to regard it, but he was also for the throne. crafty enough to avail himself of its terms to compass his own purpose. He wrote to the young emperor, to the patriarch, and to others in authority, that, in honor of the memory of Manuel, he wished to put an end to the open profligacy of the court and to get rid of the protosebastos. Nicetas says that as his letters were full of quotations from St. Paul, and gave the impression that he was sincere, they produced a very marked effect, and caused many to believe that he was anxious mainly for the salvation of the state and the welfare of the young prince.

Journey to Constantinople

On his journey to Constantinople he everywhere made the same professions, and was in consequence welcomed by the people, was received with imperial honors, and increased the number of his followers. Pew were found to resist the patriotic professions of one who seemed to burn with zeal for the public weal, and who professed to have no other design than that of setting the child emperor free. His first check was at Nicsea, a city which is about seventy miles from the capital.

Plunder of comparatively civilized provinces.

The invaders, though often defeated, were as continually reinforced by new emigrants, tempted by the rich rewards to be obtained by the sack of wealthy cities and the plunder of comparatively civilized provinces. The city of Arsen was the principal object of one of these attacks. It had long been the great city of Eastern Asia Minor, the centre of Asiatic trade, the depot for merchandise transmitted overland from Persia and India to the Eastern empire and Europe generally. It was full of warehouses belonging to Armenians and Syrians, and is said to have contained 800 churches and

300,0 people. Having failed to capture the city, Togrul’s general succeeded in burning it. The destruction of so much wealth struck a fatal blow at Armenian commerce, and was the first of a long series of acts of destruction by which the Turks have marked the whole course of their dealings with Indo- Germanie peoples, and have converted some of the richest and most populous cities and provinces in the world into comparative deserts. The Armenians fought bravely even after the destruction of Arsen. Togrul’s army met them in great force in 10IS, and a battle was fought, which, though indecisive, compelled the general to change his plan of attack upon Asia Minor. In the same year Togrul in person invaded the provinces of the Emperor of Constantinople.

The independent principality of Kars was attacked by him, and the Armenians were defeated, but in an attack upon Manzikert Togrul was compelled to retire into Persia. In 1052 he again invaded the empire, but the Greeks, with the aid of the “Wirings, or, as they are generally called by the Byzantine writers, the Varangians, marched to meet him in such force that the invaders did not venture to give battle. Eight years later he again attempted an invasion of the empire on the frontier of Mesopotamia, but without any decisive result.

Togrul had, however, obtained a success which added He becomes greatly to his influence over his followers and over caliph. Mahometans generally. There were rival claimants for the caliphate, one of whom resided at Bagdad, the other in Egypt. Togrul threw the weight of his influence in favor of the Bagdad claimant, defeated and executed the chief of a rebellion against him, and then contrived to have himself named as the temporal substitute of the caliph lie thus became the Commander of the Faithful and Protector of the Mussulmans. Togrul died in 1003.

His successor was Alparslan

His successor was Alparslan, “the Strong Lion,” who reigned from 1063 to 1073. It is unnecessary for my purpose to attempt to follow in detail the career of this sultan—a career which was one long series of attacks upon the dominions of the empire in Asia Minor and upon the neighboring states of Georgia and Armenia balkan tours. The latter had developed a large amount of industry, commerce, and civilization. Ani, the capital of Armenia, was taken by storm in 106L The Prince of Kars, in consequence of its capture, made a degrading submission, and was allowed to retain his principality as a vassal under the sultan. Shortly afterwards he ceded his territories to the emperor in exchange for the city of Tzamandos.

The inhabitants of Kars, feeling that there was no security against the next Moslem invasion, fled westwards into Cappadocia or southwards to their brethren, who were yet to make a bold stand for independence under their native princes. In 1070 Alparslan besieged and captured Manzikert. Various small principalities were established, the rulers of which endeavored unsuccessfully to stem the advance of the Seljuks.

The barriers of the border states being thus broken down, They nttnek the Turkish hordes began to pour into the dominions Asia Minor of the emperor in an irresistible flood. The condition of Asia Minor offered a strong temptation to the in- its present vapers. We know it to-day as a country which condition. does no£ contain a single city except Smyrna that would be considered as of third or fourth rank in England, France, or Germany.

Smyrna is, indeed, rich and flourishing because of its irrepressible Greek population, and of its having had for centuries large colonies of Franks who, by means of the capitulations, are not under the curse of Turkish rule. Elsewhere the fertile districts of Asia Minor lie idle for want of roads to convey the produce to market. The absence of security for life and property makes the people careless about producing more than is necessary for the supply of their scanty needs. Famine, in some districts, recurs periodically, while there is abundance at no great distance. Everywhere the people are poverty-stricken and wretched.

Civil and Religious Liberty

APPENDIX.

THE compiler of these Memoirs, while engaged in their prep-, aration, furnished for the “Princeton Review” (October, 1875) a historical sketch of the action of the Turkish government on the subject of “ Civil and Religious Liberty ” during the present century. The official documents, which were gathered from various sources, are transferred to these pages, as having special interest in connection with the subject of this volume. It is believed that they are not elsewhere accessible in this complete and continuous form. They were all issued during the residence of Dr. Goodell at Constantinople. The first document, the history of which is given at page 240 of the Memoirs, is the Ilatti Sherif of Gul Hane, issued by the Sultan, Abdul Medjid, Nov. 3, 1839.

HATTI SHERIF OF GUL HANE.

It is well known that, during the early ages of the Ottoman Monarchy, the glorious precepts of the Koran and the laws of the Empire were ever held in honor. In consequence of this the Empire increased in strength and greatness, and all the population, without exception, acquired a high degree of welfare and prosperity.

For one hundred and fifty years a succession of incidents and various causes has checked this obedience to the sacred code of the law, and to the regulations which emanate from it, and the previous internal strength and prosperity have been converted into weakness and poverty; for, in truth, an empire loses all its stability when it ceases to observe its laws.

These considerations have been ever present to our mind, and since the day of our accession to the throne the thought of the public good, of the amelioration of the condition of the provinces, and the alleviation of the national burdens, have not ceased to claim our entire attention. If we take into consideration the geographical position of the Ottoman Provinces, the fertility of the soil, and the aptness and intelligence of the inhabitants, we shall attain the conviction that, by applying ourselves to discover efficacious methods, the result which, with the aid of God, we hope to obtain, will be realized within a few years.

Mrs. Van Lennep at Smyrna

The Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Bird, who sailed with us from America, and were our associates at Beyrout, still survive. Two of their children are engaged in the missionary work, — a son, Mr. William Bird, on Mount Lebanon, and a daughter, Mrs. Van Lennep, at Smyrna, and all their other children are occupying posts of usefulness.

Of all the missionaries of this Board I think of but three who are older than myself, — the Rev. Mr. Thurston, of the Sandwich Islands, whom I knew at the Theological Seminary, Andover; the Rev. Levi Spaulding, in India, whom I knew both at Dartmouth College and at Andover; and the Rev. Dr. King, of Athens, whom I knew at Andover, and who, with his fellow-laborer, Pliny Eisk, welcomed us to Beyrout.

And may I ask your special prayers for us poor old men?

for though we are almost through the wilderness, and are even now in sight of the promised land, yet we remember that the children of Israel, after they had been wandering in the wilderness forty years, and were already on the very borders of the land long desired, and could actually look over and see the green fields and vine-clad hills, yet even there many of them perished. Pray for us, beloved friends, that we may not fall after the same example of unbelief.

Fisk and Parsons of former times

We die, but God will surely visit you. Fisk and Parsons of former times, and the beloved Dodd and Morgan of the present, were not suffered to continue, by reason of death. But Jesus lives; His cause is marching on and His kingdom is near, and still nearer coming; and of that kingdom, yea, and of the increase of that kingdom, there shall be no end.

With this faith, and in the midst of all these bright hopes, I now retire from active service, but still desiring to be useful, and begging your committee to point out to me, from time to time, any way in which they may think I can render some small service.

May you, honored sir, long be spared to preside over this great body on these joyful occasions. And may you, and all this congregation, see the eternal good of God’s chosen, and rejoice with His inheritance.

Your aged, very affectionate, but very unworthy fellow- laborer in Christ Jesus, our Lord,

W. GOODELL.

Possession of the Danubian Provinces

The Russian army, in July, 1853, took possession of the Danubian Provinces, and thus commenced hostilities, the Ottoman Porte making a formal declaration of war on the 1st of October.

Early in the following year the missionaries at Constantinople set apart a day for fasting and prayer with reference to this matter, and the day was observed with deep solemnity not only by those immediately connected with the mission, but by the friends of the cause from different countries, who were resident or sojourning at the capital.

Special prayer was offered in behalf of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe (formerly Sir Stratford Canning), the British ambassador, that he might be endued with the spirit of wisdom in conducting his important negotiations, and that, in counselling the Sultan, he too might have counsel given to him from above. Never before had the position of this representative of the British government and devoted friend of the cause of Christ been so responsible, and never before did he hold such influential relations to the Porte.

In 1854, when the governments of England, France, and Sardinia made common cause with the Ottoman government for the sake of putting a check on the ambition of Russia, and sent their armies to Turkey and the Crimea, apprehensions of the disastrous effect of the war upon the missionary work were not dissipated, but rather increased. As these large armies came pouring into the capital, and its suburbs became as it were one great camp, it was natural to fear that such a state of things would seriously interfere with the work. But in the midst of war God spread a shield over His servants. At no previous period had they prosecuted their labors in greater quietness and peace, or with clearer evidence of the divine presence and blessing.

Sacred Edict

The war was still further overruled for the furtherance of the Gospel by becoming the occasion, if not the actual means, of securing another important concession from the Turkish government on the subject of religious liberty, a new Magna Charta for the Christian subjects of the Porte. This is known as the Ifatti Sherif (Sacred Edict), or Haiti Huma- youn (Imperial Edict) of 185G, and was issued on the authority of the Sultan himself.

It was generally regarded at the time as a complete guarantee of religious liberty to all the subjects of the Ottoman Porte, of whatever creed, and an assurance that no Mohammedan who chose to become a Christian should suffer on that account. But it has always been questionable whether the Turkish government, whose dealings are so often marked by duplicity, the prevailing sin of Orientals, really intended that it should have such an unlimited significance. Events of more recent occurrence give greater strength to such doubts, if they do not prove that the Porte intended only to make more secure the rights and privileges of those who were nominal Christians before.

Absolutely required by the necessities of the case

So, when churches began to be organized, he felt that it would be no charity, but a positive injury, for the mission to assume the entire control, or become responsible for the expenses, any farther than was absolutely required by the necessities of the case. Native pastors, instead of missionaries, were placed over the churches; the people took part in their government; and they were encouraged to contribute according to their ability to the support of the pastors, and to other needful expenses in maintaining the institutions of the Gospel. Soon after the organization of the first church, Mr. Goodell says: —

“ Recently their pastor was in straitened circumstances, and applied to us for relief. We told the church it was tlieir duty to see that their pastor did not suffer, and we informed them of the donation parties in New England. They immediately took up the subject in a business-like style, and appointed committees to receive contributions for the relief of their pastor. One member of the female seminary was appointed to receive what the pupils were disposed to give; and, to our great surprise and gratitude, they brought forward of their own accord between three and four dollars.

The next day I spoke to them on the privilege and duty of their doing something regularly to maintain the institutions of religion among themselves. I told them that after this year the pastor would not probably look to us for any part of his salary, but would look to his church and congregation for the whole, and that they must be ready to do their part. In the evening they all came running to me with money in their hands, — their first payment for this object. I afterwards told the deacons of the church that, if they would now undertake to support their own pastor, I was sure these poor girls could with their needles, even while members of the school, raise one-thirtieth, if not one-twentieth, of the funds necessary.”

Having made a visit to the interior, where churches had been organized, he wrote: —

Importance of supporting

“ In this visit we labored to impress on the minds of the churches the importance of supporting entirely their own pastors; and not only so, but of themselves contributing also to send the Gospel to those who were more destitute than themselves. We told them how the ladies in a certain town in Connecticut once built a meeting-house by raising onions; and we charged every husband who owned a garden to give his wife a corner of it, that site might at once begin to work in it for Christ.

We told them of a town in Massachusetts, in which the good people in a time of great distress contrived to support their pastor by sharing with him whatever they had for themselves, one and another sending to him three candles, thirty nails, some beans, a few hops, two quarts of milk, cloth for a shirt, a broom, half a dozen pigeons bulgaria holidays. We told them that, if there should be an increase of fifteen or twenty to their families ‘ by ordinary generation ’ during the year, they would be able to support them all without asking for the charities of their brethren; and could they not therefore support one whom God had now sent them? ”

Control as speedily as possible

On the still more important branch of this subject, that of educating the people to an independence of foreign direction, by withdrawing that control as speedily as possible, he wrote to the Secretary of the Hoard, in reply to a communication on the subject: —

CONSTANTINOPLE, Oct. 7, 1848.

MY DEAR BROTHER, — I hope you may not find it necessary to curtail us in our expenses next year; but, should you have to do it, would it not be better to leave it to us to decide in what particular department of our labors this curtailment must be made, than for the committee to do it at such a distance? It is of course for them to name the sum, if in the providence of God a sum must be named; but ought it not, of course, to be expected that we should be more capable of knowing than they, where the reduction will appear likely to produce the least possible injury to the cause?

With the drift of your letter to the mission I was much pleased, and I hope you will follow it up with others, urging us not to keep native helpers in the background for the sake of rendering ourselves apparently indispensable to the work, nor to delay settling native pastors, lest we ourselves should be found to be no longer necessary.

Specimen of epistolary composition

On the 4th of July, 1843, the venerable father of Mr. Goodell died at the home of his son in Copley, Ohio, whither he had removed a few years previous. The letter which Mr. Goodell wrote to his brother on receiving the intelligence was inserted at the commencement of these Memoirs. It is not only a touching tribute of filial affection, showing that the heart of the writer was as fresh and tender in its love as in the days of his boyhood, but, as a specimen of epistolary composition, and for the spirit of glowing, Scriptural piety that it breathes, it will bear many perusals. The Bev. Dr. William Adams, in quoting it in his introduction to “ The Old and the Kew,” says, “ We know not which to admire the most, — its purity of taste, its depth of pathos, or its simplicity of piety.”

Official despatch

In August, 1843, occurred an event which in its results had an important influence upon the cause of religious liberty in Turkey, and an important bearing upon the mission work in that country. The circumstances are detailed as follows in an official despatch to his government by Sir Stratford Canning, the English ambassador: —

“Buyuk-Dere, August 27, 1813. Within the last few days an execution has taken place at Constantinople, under circumstances which have occasioned much excitement and indignation among the Christian inhabitants. The sufferer was an Armenian youth of eighteen or twenty years, who, having under fear of punishment declared himself a Turk, went to the island of Syra, and, returning after an absence of some length, resumed his former religion.

Apprehensive of the danger, but resolved not to deny his real faith a second time, he kept out of sight, till accident betrayed him to the police, and he was then thrown into prison. In spite of threats, promises, and blows, he there maintained his resolution, refused to save his life by a fresh disavowal of Christianity, and was finally decapitated in one of the most frequented parts of the city with circumstances of great barbarity.”

According to the customs of New England

You will be gratified to hear that, according to the customs of New England, and, I suppose, of the United States generally, I have a bath every morning; and, though I am not altogether pleased with the custom, and sometimes cannot refrain from shedding tears, yet I consider it far preferable to that which prevails among the Armenians of Constantinople. These, on the birth of a child, immediately scarify its arms, back, legs, with a lancet, put on salt, and swathe it close, and thus let it remain for days, weeks, and I do not know but months, without unswathing. Whether they salt down the child in order to preserve it, or whether the object is to get all the old Adam out of its blood, I must confess my ignorance; but, at any rate, a daily purification by water must, it appears to me, be unspeakably better.

I wish to be properly remembered to all my uncles, aunts, and cousins in the land of my forefathers. Would it were in my power to tell you my name, but really I am not so rich as to possess one; and whether I am to be Jemima, Keren-happuch, or something else, I have not the least iiea; and all my friends here seem to be at as great a loss about itras I myself. But though my name is not yet written on earth, I hope it is already enrolled in heaven; and oh, may it never be blotted from the book of life!

And as to yourself, I presume you will know perfectly well who I am, and for whom you must pray, when I subscribe myself

THE LITTLE DAUGHTER OP YOUR SON TV. G.

Another letter was written by Mr. Goodell, as amanuensis for a son just born, to one of the officers of the American Board, whose name had been given to the child: —-

MY DEAR SIR, — I joined this mission on the 20th ult., and, though I was not wholly unexpected, yet I arrived at so early an hour in the morning as to take some of the missionary circle by surprise. For the present I board in Mr. Goodell’s family, which seems to be the case with all new missionaries, till they have learnt something of the language, with the manners and customs of the people; and this whether they are to remain permanently at Constantinople, or whether they are to pass on after a while to the regions beyond.

The Dairyman’s Daughter

“ According to an official statement, it appears that from the year 1822 to 1829 there were issued from the Malta printing-press 250,000 copies of various religious works, containing more than ten millions of pages in Greek, Italian, and Turkish, with Armenian characters. It is a subject of regret that such benevolent efforts should in some instances have taken a wrong direction. Nearly forty thousand dollars have been expended upon works which are as unintelligible to the Greeks or Turks as a Pelham novel would be toSplit Leg ’ or ‘ The Black Hawk.’

The Arabian Nights

The remedy, however, is easy. Instead of translating The Dairyman’s Daughter,’ and other tracts of a similar character, let the missionaries be instructed to compose on the spot short stories filled with local allusions, and naturally arising out of the scenes and manners around them. Let them write something in the style of the Arabian Nights,’ always, however, with a moral end and aim, and they will be read with avidity.” — Sketches of Turkey, p. 287.

The very tract here specified as unsuited to accomplish any good among the Orientals was the one which God had chosen to employ in the conversion of these two priests, and which was instrumental in inaugurating, without any other apparent means, a religious revival and reformation in the interior of Turkey.

In his journal he makes the following reflections upon the death of a daughter of the Sultan: —

July 3. The Sultan’s second daughter, who was married two years ago to Said Pasha, died last night, and was buried early this morning. I feel reproved for not having prayed more in time past for the Sultan and his family. We enjoy protection and great peace and quietness under his reign, and in what better way can we repay him than by remembering him and his sons and daughters in our intercessions? They suffer pain and affliction, and they must die as well as others; and, in a dying hour, where can they look for comfort if they know not the power of the Gospel?

From the old farm in Templeton

For the dried-apple sent me by your beloved daughter, from the old farm in Templeton, will you return her my warmest thanks? I brought it with me on my return from Broosa, and wish to assure her that it was very acceptable.

Will you remember me also to your new minister? I once saw him, though he may not recollect me. May he have an unction from the Holy One, and his labors be greatly blessed!

I almost forgot to say that while at Broosa I rode out to see the spot where your beloved children will probably find their last resting-place. It is very retired and romantic, away from the noise of men; and a sweeter spot one need not desire to lie in till the bright morning of the resurrection.

Mrs. Goodell unites in Christian love to all your dear family. Will you remember us and our six little ones in your prayers?

Yours truly and affectionately,

W. GOODELL.

In a communication to the Board, he related some of the incidents of his journey, which are inserted as showing the condition of the interior and the character of the government: —

“Constantinople, July 25, 1837. I left this for Broosa on the 7 th of June, and returned on the 19 th. Broosa is about twenty miles from Mondania, which is a seaport town, situated on the southern shore of the Marmora; and, as the Sea of Marmora is here, including the gulf, full sixty miles across, Broosa cannot be less than eighty miles from Constantinople. I left home at five o’clock in the evening in an open boat, and arrived at Broosa on horseback before the middle of the following day.

Broosa to Constantinople

“ The return from Broosa to Constantinople is often a more serious matter; for, as the north are the prevailing winds, it is necessary in such cases to row all the way back; and, should the wind be strong, a detention at Mondania, or at some place (perhaps an uninhabited one) on the way, may be the consequence. This has happened to myself more than once; and it requires all the patience one can command to keep himself quiet in a place where he can do nothing, enjoy nothing, and perchance find nothing to eat.

“ On the present occasion I was detained from a cause of a still more serious nature. An order had just come from Constantinople to Mondania for a hundred Greeks; and, as it appeared they were designed for the Sultan’s navy, they were particularly sought for from among the boatmen. As might be expected, therefore, the boatmen fled in every direction, and, as they were all Greeks, not a boat could, of course, be found. I went to the governor; but he only exhorted me to patience. The plague was raging in the place, and every hour seemed to me as long as a day.

Turkish guard offered

Not Ibrahim and all his conquests, nor the presence of the Russian fleet, with all the uncertainty hanging over the subject of their departure, have produced any thing like it. The Perotes, in particular, will now have subject-matter of conversation for a whole month to come; while all good papists among them will feel bound to place additional candles before the Virgin, in token of their gratitude for her timely interference in saving them from antichrist. And were it not for ourselves, they might now hope that ‘ the land would have rest for forty years.’

“ These men, it is said, went one day last week and stood in a conspicuous place to see the Sultan, and, when he passed along, they remained like statues, not showing the least sign of respect; but, whenever they saw a female, of whatever age or of whatever nation, they would run to her, even in sight of the Sultan himself, throw off their caps, bow down before her, gaze upon her face, and compare her features with the model of female beauty they had in their hand, in order to ascertain whether the individual they had accosted were the female messiah.

Now, you know, even the common Turks do not consider it very genteel, to say the least, for strangers to take such liberties with their wives and daughters. And the high Sultan was so indignant to see them give to the harem of his subjects that honor which he considers due to him alone, and give it, too, in a manner which would shock common decency even in civilized countries, where woman is accustomed to receive attention, that he ordered them to be arrested and thrown into prison.

“ A multitude of people of all nations were assembled to see them off. The Turkish guard offered them no abuse, nor did they allow any others to insult them. The Turks carried their baggage on board with as much gravity as they would charcoal, and the prisoners, thirteen in all, walked out two and two and embarked. They were all dressed in livery, having red pantaloons fitting as tight to the legs as their skin; neat boots, reaching liali’-way up to the knee; a sort of Albanian petticoat, though much less full and much shorter, not reaching half-way down to the knee; a girdle round the waist; black cloaks thrown over their shoulders and tied before; red, three-cornered caps on their heads; their beards long; and their hair, like that of Nazarites, hanging over their shoulders. They were all young men, with interesting countenances, and they appeared perfectly at their ease.

“ After they were gone, I asked the captain of the port, from whose office they had just been conveyed on board, Who were these singular-looking men you have been sending away? ’ lie replied, They are Frenchmen Istiklal Street and Taksim Square, whose father is imprisoned in Paris, and who came here to look round in our harems for their mother.’ They certainly displayed great ignorance of the customs of the country, and a great want of common sense, to say no more; but when men turn away their ears from the truth, and are turned into fables,’ what can be expected but that, like wicked men and seducers, they should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.’

They are called missionaries by the people here, which is, of course, not much to our honor. Yesterday I was in a store at Pera, and heard several persons conversing about the imprisonment of these thirteen. I told them I had understood that there were twenty-four of them in all.No,’ replied a flippant clerk, whom I took to be a papal Armenian, ‘ there are only thirteen of these; the Americans at Orta Keuy are bashkah,’ i.e., not the same; different. Some of those present must, I think, have known that I belonged to the bashhah; but they said nothing.”

Proclaimed extensively among the people

But although they had found the land and the people in such a state when they entered the country, seldom has missionary work been crowned so speedily with such encouraging results. The Gospel had not only been proclaimed extensively among the people, but from among the Armenians, Greeks, and Maronites, men had been raised up who were preaching the truth faithfully and fearlessly from house to house; schools had been established, in which hundreds of children and adults of both sexes were taught; a decided impression had been made upon the Oriental prejudice against the education of women; tracts had been widely distributed, which were eagerly read and discussed by a people peculiarly given to controversy; a spirit of inquiry, although in the main accompanied by a spirit of opposition, had been extensively excited; all classes of people, of all nationalities, had been aroused, — Armenians, Greek and Roman Catholics, including Maronites and Mohammedans, — moved as much, perhaps, by the zealous opposition of their religious teachers as by the truth itself, but thoroughly aroused to the consciousness that a new clement of power had been introduced among them.

All these were exceedingly hopeful indications; and sad was the disappointment when those who had begun to see the fruit of their labors were called to abandon the field and leave the harvest to perish. They left, however, in the full expectation of returning as soon as the political storm which was passing over the land should subside.

From Beyrout to Malta

The voyage from Beyrout to Malta was far from pleasant. There were in all twenty-one persons, besides the ship’s company, crowded together in a little Austrian trabaccolo of a hundred tons. Only about half the number could get into the cabin at once. They were obliged to live and take their meals chiefly on deck in all kinds of weather, without table or chairs; and when, after being thirty days at sea, the vessel reached port, they were obliged to go into quarantine for thirty days more.

From the lazaretto at Malta Mr. Goodell wrote to a friend in America: —

“ It grieves me to say that all our missionary operations in Syria are at present suspended, and ‘all our pleasant things laid waste.’ The step we have taken in securing a temporary asylum in this island will not probably be altogether unexpected, if you have had an eye to the political tempest that has been for several months gathering in the East, though you may not have seen and heard so distinctly as we have the lightnings and thundering which gave a more fearful aspect to the impending storm.

Turkish womanhood has exchanged the brightness of summer

But this feast of colour has ended, and the world of Turkish womanhood has exchanged the brightness of summer for the sober tints of autumn. The yashmak is now universally discarded, except by the ladies of the imperial household who are still required to wear it, as well as a black feredjd; the only bit of bright colour permitted being in the matter of the headkerchief of tulle they wear under the yashmak.

In the costume of the mass of Turkish women, the feredjd has been replaced by the charshaf, a mantle worn over the head and about the body down to the feet, drawn in slightly at the waist. The material and the colour of the garment differ according to the means and taste of the wearer, but the colour is always quiet and subdued. To the portion of the charshaf above the eyes a dark veil is attached, and this can be worn over the face, or thrown back over the head, as the wearer pleases. When thrown back, a Turkish lady’s face is seen as plainly as that of her European sister.

Defy artistic arrangement and effect

The charshaf may also be made of two pieces of cloth in order to secure a better fit, and although the garb might seem to defy artistic arrangement and effect, it is often very becoming and graceful It would appear that the charshaf was the original dress of Turkish women, with the important difference from the present fashion that the veil could not be thrown back, and was furnished with two holes for the eyes, as among Moslem women to-day in Persia and India. The yashmak, it is said, came into vogue at the time of the Conquest, being an adaptation of the veil worn then by women of the Christian peoples of the land. Its abandonment for the sake of a style which permits greater freedom is a sign of progress. But the change, which was made some thirty years ago, roused considerable opposition. Merchants in the bazaars objected to it, because a charshaf required less material to be made up than a feredj£, and consequently injured trade.

Three Years in Constantinople

A fresh eye is quick to detect distinctions and peculiarities. On the other hand, “ an old resident,” on the same principle, is more deeply impressed by the changes which have been wrought in the life and aspect of the city of his abode, since the days of his early recollections. To the visitor the old is new, and the new is old; while to the resident the old is familiar, and the new is strange.

If the former observer has the advantage of seeing things from a more striking and picturesque point of view, the latter is closer to fact and truth. Colonel White, writing in 1844, in his interesting book, Three Years in Constantinople, which such a competent authority as Sir Henry Layard pronounced to be the best work on Turkish life, said, that if a certain policy were pursued, “fifty years cannot elapse ere travellers will flock to Constantinople in search for relics of Moslem institutions with as much eagerness as they now seek for vestiges of Christian or Pagan antiquities. ” It would be an exaggeration to say that this prophecy has been literally fulfilled.

But events have verified its forecast to such an extent, that one is tempted to assume the prophet’s mantle, and predict that Colonel White’s words will come to pass in the next half-century. At any rate, if the world here has moved slowly, it has moved very far. The descriptions of Constantinople in such works as Miss Pardoe’s City of the Sultan, and Colonel White’s Three Years in Constantinople, seem to-day descriptions of another city.

Christian populations

In the political situation, in the matter of education both among the Turks and the Christian populations, the changes are simply enormous. This is, however, not the place to expatiate upon these serious topics, although it is only by their consideration that the greatness and far-reaching consequences of the new state of things can be properly appreciated. But look at the change in the matter of dress. Where is now the variety of costume, where the brightness of colour that made the movement of the population at all times a procession in gala dress? So far as her garb is concerned, a Turkish woman to-day is a sere and withered leaf.

Constantinopolis Christiana

It is very natural, when thoughtful men tread the road which skirts these ancient fortifications, that the mind should be profoundly impressed by the vanity of earthly might and greatness. On the one hand, the way is strewn with the wreck and ruin of ramparts once deemed impregnable:

O’er each mouldering tower,

Dim with the mist of years, grey flits the shade of power.

On the other hand, stretch great silent cemeteries, beneath whose dark cypresses lies the dust of a dead multitude more than can be numbered. As one has expressed the feeling awakened by this spectacle of wreckage and mortality, “ It is walking through the valley of the Shadow of Death.” And yet, seeing there must be an end to all things, is it not wiser and more just to dwell rather upon the glory that crowns these bulwarks for their long defence of the civilised life of the world?

For a full account of the Turkish Conquest, see E. Pears’ Tht Destruction of the Greek Empire.

AMONG THE CHURCHES OF THE CITY

Constantinople was a city of churches. Clavijo, the Spanish envoy, who visited the city in 1408, was assured that it was hallowed by the presence of no less than 8000 sanctuaries, counting large and smalL This was obviously an exaggeration, intended to impress the stranger s mind with a due sense of the city’s grandeur and sacredness.

Ducange in his great work, Constantinopolis Christiana, gives the names of some 400 churches mentioned by the Byzantine authors whose works he had examined. But a wider acquaintance with Byzantine literature since the time of that great student of the antiquities of Constantinople has discovered the names of many churches not upon his list It is therefore impossible to reach exact figures here, and we must be content with the vague statement that the number was so large as to form a striking feature of the city’s aspect This was only what might be expected in a city where the number of churches would be determined not only by the ordinary religious needs of a devout population, but also by the demands of the many monasteries which sought security from violence behind the bulwarks of the capital, notwithstanding the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, encountered there.

Ivailo declared

In the style of mediaeval superstition, Ivailo declared that he had heard a voice from heaven ordering him to save his people from those who looted and tortured them. The peasant volunteers in his army, who had risen to defend their land and homes from the foreign invaders, turned into an insurgent army which captured a number of feudal castles, storehouses for food and arms and was headed for the capital. The tsar, who had not dared come out of Turnovo’s walls while Ivailo’s peasant forces were shedding their blood to repel the Tartars, rallied his army and set out against Ivailo’s ‘rabble’. The latter, steeled in the cruel battles with the Tartar hordes, defeated the army of the Tsar in the very first encounter. The Tsar himself fell in the battle.

The peasant leader entered Turnovo triumphantly, welcomed enthusiastically by the people and with servile homage paid him by the boyars, who were scared to death. A. Crown Council, hastily convened, proclaimed Ivailo Tsar and the widowed Tsarina changed her mourning for a wedding dress. The ‘idyll’ in Turnovo, howevei, did not last long. The Tartar hordes of Nogai again invaded the country from the north and Ivailo had very soon to exchange his royal mantle and the splendour of his court for the hardships of army life.

Byzantine government

In a great number of bloody battles which lasted for over two years, the ‘peasant Tsar’ succeeded in chasing the Tartars away; but while his courageous soldiers were defending their country’s independence, a boyar revolt was coming to a head in the capital. With the help of the cunning Tsarina the boyars had come into contact with the Byzantine government, and asked for help against Ivailo. The Byzantine troops passed the Balkan Range without encountering any resistance, and the boyars themselves opened to them the gates of Turnovo. Ivailo’s army defeated the Byzantines, but mercenaries hired by the boyars attacked him from behind. Ivailo escaped to his previous adversaries – the Tartars – and found his death there. An end was thus put in 1280 to the peasant uprising in Bulgaria.

In spite of its tragic end, Ivailo’s uprising is a fact of great importance not only for Bulgarian, but also for Euro-pean history. It is the earliest known organized peasant anti-feudal uprising of such a scale and scope in Europe, and Ivailo was the first peasant leader in those days who succeeded in seizing state power and in holding it for more than three years. Credit is also due to the Bulgarian peasants who had risen in revolt against feudal exploitation, for having barred with their blood the way of the Tartar hordes to Bulgaria and for having weakened their pressure against the Balkans and Central Europe.

Newspapers and magazines from all over Europe

The atrocities committed in Bulgaria became the most popular subject tackled by the European press. More than 200 prestigious newspapers and magazines from all over Europe in some 3, 000 articles and reports gave coverage of the bloody events in Bulgaria. Besides the above- mentioned investigators, most helpful for the cause of Bulgaria were Edwin Piers, the Constantinople correspondent of the Daily News, the French consuls in Sofia and Plovdiv Le Gay and DTstria, Emil de Girardin, editor in the La France newspaper, Ives de Woestin, correspondent of Le Figaro, the Italian consuls in Sofia and Plovdiv Vito Positano and Takela, to mention but a few.

A powerful movement in defence of the Bulgarian people who had proved with their own blood that they were worthy of living in freedom, was set afoot in a number of countries. This movement acquired the greatest dimensions in Russia. The ‘Otechestvennye Zapiski’ magazine wrote: ‘No one here would think, listen, speak or read about anything but the developments on the other side of the Danube’. As the great Bulgarian historian Professor Marin Drinov, who was working at that time in Kharkov, wrote, Russia was shaken ‘by one of those movements which involve the whole Russian people only at the greatest moments of their historical life.’

Government of Disraeli

The conservative government of Disraeli was benevolently neutral with regard to Turkey during the up-rising, which determined the widespread movement in defence of the Bulgarian people in Britain. More than 250 meetings were held throughout the country and hundreds of telegrams of protest were addressed to the government. The leader of the opposition, Liberal Party William Gladstone, made scores of speeches and published in a mass circulation the booklets ‘The Bulgarian Horrors and the Eastern Question’ and ‘Lessons in Slaughtering’. Relief funds were collected to help the Bulgarian population. Particularly active in this campaign was Lady Strangford, who Lad visited Bulgaria.

The movement in defence of the Bulgarians developed in a number of other countries, too: Romania, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Croatia, Germany. Girar- din’s pamphlet ‘Europe’s Disgrace’, published in France, went through several printings. The brightest minds of the epoch – Darwin, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Nekrassov, Dostoyevsky, Mendeleev, Sechenov, Garibaldi and many others spoke ardently in defence of the Bulgarian people. On August 29, L876 the great writer and humanist Victor Hugo pronounced his celebrated speech in the French Parliament, calling upon the governments to take measures to put an end to the sufferings of the heroic Bulgarian people.

King looked displeased at these words

The King looked displeased at these words, as they did not accord with his enlightened understanding, and lie observed that an evil root will not thrive in a goodly shade. “To educate the worthless, is like throwing a walnut upon a dome: it is better to eradicate them ‘altogether; for to extinguish the fire and suffer a spark to remain, or to kill the snake and preserve the young, is not acting like a wise man. Though the clouds should pour down the water of life, you would never gather fruit from the branch of the willow. Waste not your time on low people, for we can never obtain sugar from the reed.” When the Vizier heard these words, lie reluctantly approved of them, and praised the King for liis just observation, saying, “May the King live for ever!

Nothing can be more true than what my lord hath pronounced, that if he had continued with those wicked wretches, he would naturally have fallen into their evil courses, and would have become one of them; but your servant entertains hopes, that this boy, by associating with men of probity, will receive instruction, and imbibe virtuous sentiments; for being but a child, his principles cannot be tainted with the lawless and inimical disposition of that banditti; for in the Hadees it is recorded: ‘ Of a truth every one is born with a disposition to Islamism, and it is owing to his parents his becoming a Jew, a Christian, or a Majoosie.’

Lot’s wife associated with the wicked, and his posterity forfeited the gift of prophecy; but the dog of the companions of the cave, by long converse with the virtuous, became a rational creature.” The Vizier having thus concluded his speech, some of the courtiers joined in his petition, till at length the King spared the life of the youth, and said, “I grant your request, although I disapproved of it. Know you not what Zal said to Rustam? Consider not any enemy as weak and contemptible. I have frequently seen water issue from a small spring, which so increased in its course, that it carried away the camel with his load.” Summarily, the Vizier took the youth into his family, and educated him with kindness and attention. An able master was appointed his tutor, who taught him how to ask a question, and return an answer with elegance, together with all the accomplishments requisite for court, so that his manners met with general approbation.

Journey unexpectedly happened

TALE VII

A person who had not seen his friend for a long time said, “Where have you been whilst I was so anxious to hear of you? ” He answered, “It is better to desire than to loathe. You have come late, 0 intoxicated idol; I will not let you escape from me again quickly. It is, however, better to see a sweetheart after intervals of absence, than to be satiated with a continuance of her company. The mistress, when she comes accompanied by my rivals, can only do so to torment me, because such society must excite envy and contention. When thou comest to visit me accompanied by my rivals, although you appear peaceable yet your attention is hostile. If my mistress associates with my rival only for an instant, I shall soon die of jealousy.” Smiling he replied, “0 Sady, I am the candle of the assembly, what is it to me if the moth will consume itself? ”

TALE VIII

I remember that in former times I associated so continually with a friend, that we were like double almond. A journey unexpectedly happened. When I returned, he began to reproach me for having been so long absent without sending a messenger, I replied, “It seemed distressing to me that the eyes of a courier should be enlightened by your countenance, whilst I was deprived of that happiness, Tell my old friend not to impose a vow upon me, for I would not vow to relinquish him not from the dread of a sword, I cannot endure the thoughts of any one seeing you to satiety. Again I say, it is impossible for any one to be satiated with your company,”

Travelled the whole night with the caravan

TALE XXVI

I recollect that once I had travelled the whole night with the caravan, and in the morning had gone to sleep by the side of a desert; a distracted man, who had accompanied us in the journey, set up a cry, took the road of the desert, and did not enjoy a moment’s repose. When it was day, I asked him what was the matter? He replied, “I heard the nightingales on the trees, the partridges in the mountains, the frogs in the water, and the brutes in the desert, uttering their plaintive notes and doleful lamentation. I reflected that it did not become a human being, through neglect of my duty, to be asleep, whilst other creatures were celebrating the praises of God.”

Last night, towards morning, the lamentations of a bird deprived me of reason, patience, power, and sensation. When my voice reached the ears of a sincere friend he said, “I could not have believed that the notes of a bird would in such a manner have deprived you of your senses participants independently optimize.” I replied, “It is not consistent with the laws of human nature, that whilst a bird is reciting the praises of God, 1 should be silent.”

TALE XXVII

Once I travelled to Ilejaz along with some young men of virtuous disposition, who had been my intimate friends and constant companions. Frequently, in their mirth, they recited spiritual verses. There happened to be in the party an Abid, who thought unfavourably of the morals of Durweshes, being ignorant of their sufferings. At length we arrived at the grove of palm-trees of Beni Hullal, when a boy of dark complexion came out of one of the Arab families, and sang in such a strain as arrested the b’rds in their flight through the air. 1 beheld the Abid’s camel dancing; and, after flinging his rider, he took the road of the desert, I said, “0 Shaikh, those strains delighted the brutes, but made no impression on you; knowest thou what the nightingale of the morning said to me?

What kind of a man art thou, who are ignorant of love P ’ The camel is thrown into ecstacy by the Arabic verses, for which if thou hast no relish, thou art a cross-grained brute. When the camel is captivated wTith ecstatic phrenzy, that man who can be insensible is an ass. The wind blowing over the plains causes the tender branches of the ban-tree to bend before it, but affects not the hard stone. Every thing that you behold is exclaiming the praises of God, as is well known unto the understanding heart: not only the nightingale and the rose-bush are chanting praises to God, but every thorn is a tongue to extol him.”

The habit of a Durwesh

TALE XX

I saw, sitting in a company, a certain person who wore the habit of a Durwesh, but without possessing the disposition of one; and being inclined to be querulous, he had opened the book of complaint, and began censuring the rich. The discourse was turning on this point, that Durweshes have not the means, and the rich not the inclination to be charitable. Those possessed of liberal minds have no command of money, and the wealthy worldlings have no munificence.

To me, who owe my support to the bounty of the great, this language was not at all grateful. I said, “0 my friend, the rich are the revenue of the poor, a store-house for the recluse, the pilgrim’s hope, and the asylum of travellers. They are the bearers of burthens for the relief of others.* Themselves eat along with their dependants and inferiors, and the remainder of their bounty is applied to the relief of widows, aged people, relations, and neighbours.

The rich are charged with pious dedications, the performance of vows, tlie rites of hospitality, alms, offerings, the manumission of slaves, gifts, and sacrifices. By what means can you attain to their power, who can perform only your genuflexions, and even those with a hundred difficulties? The rich perform both moral and religious duties in the most perfect manner, because they possess wealth, out of which they bestow alms: their garments are clean, and their reputation spotless, with minds void of care. For the power of obedience is found in good meals, the truth of worship in a clean garment.

For what strength can there be with an empty stomach? What bounty from an empty hand? How can the fettered feet walk? And from the hungry belly, what munificence can be expected? He sleeps uneasily at night, who knows not how to provide for the morrow. The ants store up in summer, that in winter they may enjoy rest. Leisure and poverty are not found together, and satisfaction dwelletli not with distress. One is standing up to evening prayers, whilst the other is sitting down wishing for his supper. How can these two be compared together?

Sophia in the quarter of Balat

What a contrast to the days when the chiefs of the Eastern Church were enthroned under the dome of S. Sophia in the quarter of Balat, and at Haskeui on the opposite shore, are large settlements of Jews, to whose lowly dwellings belongs the historical interest that they are the homes of the descendants of the Jews who were expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, and found refuge here among Moslems from persecution by Christians. They still use the Spanish language, although not with the music of the speech of Castile.

The suburb of Eyoub at the foot of the hills at the head of the Golden Horn, and the meadows beside the fresh-water streams which enter the harbour at that point (the Sweet Waters of Europe) are interesting to all who delight in Oriental scenes. No quarter in or around the city is so Turkish in its appearance and spirit as the suburb of Eyoub. It contains the reputed grave of Eyoub, the standard-bearer of Mahomet, who was present at the first siege of Constantinople (678-678) by the Saracens, and who died during its course.

The grave was identified, so it is believed, in 1458, when the city fell at last into Turkish hands, and the mosque erected over the tomb is the sanctuary in which Sultans, upon their accession to the throne, gird on the sword which constitutes them sovereigns of the Ottoman Empire, and standard-bearers of Islam. It is a ceremony which embodies the inmost idea of a Moslem State. No Christian is permitted to enter the mosque. On a recent occasion the veneration in which the edifice is held served a noble purpose. During the massacres of 1896, a crowd of Armenians took refuge in the court of the mosque, with the courage of despair. A wild mob followed, intent upon the death of the fugitives. A terrible scene seemed inevitable.

When, at the critical moment, the imaum of the mosque appeared, and forbade the desecration of the holy ground by the shedding of blood upon it The appeal was irresistible. The horde of murderers bowed to the command to be gone, and their intended victims were allowed to escape. The sacred associations of the suburb have made burial in its soil to be esteemed a great honour, and, accordingly, many distinguished Turkish personages have been laid to rest here from early times. The old turbaned tombstones, inscribed with Arabic letters, painted with floral designs, shaded by trees and overrun by climbing plants, form as picturesque a cemetery as one can wish to see. The influence of the suburb is not weakened by the fact that it enters into the life of Turkish children by being a great factory of their toys.

The hill above Eyoub commands a magnificent view of the Golden Horn and the city. As to the scene in the valley of the Sweet Waters, where Turkish ladies gather on Fridays in early spring, it is no longer what it once was. The exchange of native vehicles for carriages such as may be seen in Paris or London, and the general use by Turkish ladies of quiet colours in their mantles and head-dress instead of bright hues, have robbed the spectacle of almost all its gaiety, originality, and decorative effect The scene offers now rather a study in the transformation of the Turkish woman, than a presentation of her peculiar aspect and character tour packages balkan. Still, as the change is not complete, a stranger may yet find pleasure in seeing what vestiges of former manners and customs have not disappeared.

Accompanied the Fourth Crusade

Of the historical events of which the Golden Horn has been the theatre, the most important are: first, the attack upon the walls along this side of the city, in 1203, and again in 1204, by the Venetian fleet which accompanied the Fourth Crusade; second, the transportation by Sultan Mehemet into its waters in 1458, of warships over the hill that separates the harbour from the Bosporus. The movements of the Venetian fleet and of the army which accompanied it can be followed step by step, so minute is the description of Ville – Hardouin and so unaltered the topography of the country. Upon approaching the city the invaders put in at San Stefano, now a favourite suburban resort upon the Sea of Marmora.

A south wind carried them next to Scutari. From that point they crossed to the bay now occupied by the Palace of Dolma Bagtchd, near Beshiktash. There the army landed, and advancing along the shore attacked the tower to which the northern end of the chain across the harbour’s mouth was fastened. Upon the capture of the tower after a feeble resistance, the chain was cut, and the fleet of Venice under the command of Dandolo, flying the ensign of S. Mark, rode into the Golden Horn and made for the head of the harbour.

Emperor is a god upon eart

Then, surveying the city’s situation, the movement of ships coming and going, the splendid fortifications, the crowded population made up of various nationalities, like streams coming from different directions to gush from the same fountain, the well-ordered troops, he exclaimed, “ Verily, the Emperor is a god upon earth; whoso lifts a hand against him is guilty of his own blood.” Upon the death of Athanaric, which occurred about a fortnight after he reached Constantinople, Theodosius buried the body of his guest with royal honours in the Church of the Holy Apostles, and, by this act of chivalrous courtesy, bound the Goths more firmly to his side.

The barbarians, however, were by no means the only disturbers of the peace of the Empire with whom Theodosius found it necessary to deal. Society in the Roman world was distracted by the conflict between pagans and Christians on the one hand, and by the keener strife between Christian sects on the other, and it was the ambition of Theodosius to calm these troubled waters.

Empire was comparatively an easy task

For this laudable end he employed the questionable means of edicts for the violent suppression of heathenism and heresy. To destroy the old faith of the Empire was comparatively an easy task, although it involved him in a war with the pagan party in the West But to uproot the tares of heresy was a more formidable undertaking; they were so numerous, vigorous, and difficult to distinguish from the true wheat For the space of forty years, the views of Arius on the Person of Christ had prevailed in Constantinople, and the churches of the city were in the hands of that theological party.

Only in one small chapel, the Church of Anastasia, was the Creed of Nicaea upheld there by Gregory of Nazianzus, and despite his eloquence he was a voice crying in the wilderness. But Theodosius, having been won over to the Nicene Creed, determined to make it the creed of the State.

History of electrification

That was mainly due to the increased share of industry, mainly due to the high energy-intensive character of metallurgical and chemical industries.

Industry

The other economic branches, such as transport, communications, agriculture and construction, had a small share in electricity consumption. The Bulgarian railways electrification started in 1963 and all main railways were electrified during the years that followed.

It is worth noting that by the end of the period reviewed (1970) all settlements in the country had been electrified. 5298 population centers (93.9%), giving residence to 99.6% of the Bulgarian population, were electrified.

In terms of operation, at the beginning of the fifties a dis-patching service was created. Over the years that fol-lowed, it developed at three levels: National Dispatching Center in Sofia, regional dispatching centers (Sofia, Plovdiv and Gorna Oryahovitsa), and district dispatching units at the electricity supply enterprises and their branches. An automatic dispatching service and a telecommunication system covered 35 of the most important sites. Automatic frequency control system and exchange capacity control system were modeled.

By 1970, with the overall electrification of the country, the daily load curve of the electrification system consid-erably changed by seasons and time of the day.

The ratio between maximum and minimum loads signifi-cantly increased. In December 1970 the average monthly load minimum was 48°/o of the maximum, and the average annual load was about 40%. That necessitated the construction of load-following power plants, including pumped-storage hydro power plants.

Load curves on typical days in August and December I 971

During the reviewed period 1948-1970 the electrification in Bulgaria developed at a considerably high rate thanks to the following four main factors:

1.Nationalization of electrification.

2.Increasing the number of graduates of the State Technical University-engineers and architects of all specialties, as well as opening of technical schools for technicians training.

3.Faster development of national electrical industry in order to meet the requirements of the country and exports to other countries.

4.Establishment of Energoproject in 1948 – research institute of project investigations and engineering design. This institute became the center for training experts not only for the Bulgarian electrification, but for project engineering and construction abroad, as well. A number of other specialized research institutes also appeared in that field, closely connected with electrification, such as the Research and Design Institute of Electrical Industry, Techenergo.

Bulgarian hands and Bulgarian attacks

The strategic value of Yeles was fully appreciated by the Bulgarian commanders, and heavy reinforcements were evidently poured into the Yardar trench at that point. All efforts of the Allied armies failed to achieve their purpose; Yeles remained in Bulgarian hands and Bulgarian attacks on the poorly equipped Serbs defending Katchanik gorge proceeded without serious interruption. When it became apparent that the Katchanik position could not long be held, the Serbian armies at the north and east fell back toward the Ipek basin, while those farther south retired on the Monastir basin.

All danger to the Teutonic occupation of the Morava- Yardar trench north of Yeles was thus removed, and the remainder of the campaign consisted in squeezing the remnants of the shattered Serb forces and their Montenegrin allies westward through Albania and southward through Montenegro to the sea; and in driving the Anglo-French army and the Serbs near Monastir back upon the Saloniki defenses. The first of these movements progressed with exceeding slowness because of the difficult character of the country; and the terrors of the Serbian retreat over rugged mule paths and through wild mountain gorges in the cold and snow of winter can scarcely be imagined. But from the standpoint of strategic geography the second movement alone merits special consideration.

Yardar valley toward Veles

When the French and English pushed up the Yardar valley toward Veles they seized as their base for a great armed camp the triangle of mountainous ground lying between the Yardar Biver and one of its tributaries known as the Tsrna, the latter a stream which must not be confused with the river of same name emptying into the Trinok in northeastern Serbia. The position had certain topographic advantages which enabled it to be held for a long time in the face of superior forces; but suffered from one serious disadvantage which ultimately compelled its evacuation. Both the mountain ridges and the river trenches afforded admirable natural defenses. The gorge of the Tsrna is steepsided and the stream unfordable.

The only practicable bridge, a few miles above the river’s mouth, was destroyed by the French after they had failed in an effort to move westward and join the Serbs, who were fighting at Babuna Pass to prevent the Bulgars from getting into Monastir basin. For defensive purposes the larger Yardar Biver, protecting the east side of the triangle, was strategically important, because it is both wide and unfordable and its valley is steepsided,—in one place a veritable gorge.

Napkin carried by the same person twice

I said everything I could to testify my gratitude, and presented him at the same time with a remarkable telescope, with which he was very much delighted ; the more so, as he had lately broken the only one in his possession, and had not had an opportunity of replacing it. I likewise presented him with a pistol which from its peculiar construction could fire seven balls one after another, with one loading; it cost me one hundred guineas. But Capitan Pasha, not wishing to be behind hand with me in point of generosity, sent me the following day a most beautiful pelice, and a whole bottle of otto de rose, which in England as well as in Turkey is worth four hundred pounds, as it required no less than twelve acres of roses to produce that quantity.

We were then served by a vast number of attendants with fifty different kinds of refreshments, such as cakes, sweetmeats, etc. Each article was served by a different servant, all dressed in the richest robes of embroidered satin : another slave carried an embroidered muslin napkin richly ornamented with gold and silver fringe and spangles : nor was a napkin carried by the same person twice, and this was changed as often as a different kind of sweetmeats was offered ; this sort of luxury being carried so far that we were not permitted even to wipe ourselves a second time with the same napkin. There could not be less than two hundred attendants, all armed with a fine case of pistols, and a sabre large and sharp enough to cut off the head of an ox.

After this procession of sweetmeats, coffee was served, and then otto of roses to perfume the beard. Pipes came afterwards, and I having by this time learned to smoke, shewed myself quite an adept in the art. Having stayed about an hour and a quarter, we took our leave and asked permission to see the Pasha’s stables, which he readily granted, and which was considered as the greatest honour he could pay us ; as the Turks, among other superstitious notions, firmly believe that if a Christian cast his eyes on their children and horses, the two principal objects of their affection and attention, they are thereby exposed to the danger of losing their eyes.

Assistance of ropes

We descended from this first great apartment, by the assistance of ropes, about sixty fathoms lower, where we landed ourselves in nearly the same kind of chamber we had left above. Having provided ourselves with straw, we had it lighted, and in a few moments the whole place was illuminated. Reversed pyramids of petrified water, thirty and forty feet in length, hanging from the ceiling everywhere, and reflecting the light in different colours, had the most beautiful appearance, and struck the imagination with the most sublime ideas. The air still retained its salubrity, and the only unpleasant circumstance that occurred to us was the number of bats, which everywhere flew against us and interrupted our solitary meditations.

We remained in this second chamber till all our straw was consumed, and then proceeded on our journey by the help of ropes which were fastened at the entrance. We descended almost perpendicularly fifty fathoms. I now began to find my body rather heavy for my arms to support much longer ; and with some impatience asked my guide below me whether we should soon get to the bottom. He answered me that we had already reached it. I made haste to follow him, and soon found myself on my legs. I remained some time panting for breath and much exhausted. As soon as my friend W— had joined me, the rest of the party having already deserted us, we proceeded to the spot which our guide informed us was the bottom.

This last apartment was not half the size of the other two, and the crystallizations had totally altered their form. Instead of the long petrified icicles, the whole ceiling and sides of this chamber appeared covered with large bunches of grapes, of different colours, red, white and blue, as exact as if the fruit itself had been hung up everywhere. I broke off several, and have kept them since as a great curiosity.

Our guide now told us that we had seen all that was worth visiting, and advised us, on account of the foulness of the air, to go no lower. I asked him if he had ever known anyone to have gone farther. He said he had himself gone about twenty feet lower, and afterwards found it impossible to proceed, as the passage became too small for a man’s body. I was however determined to go on, and lighting a new torch, I ordered him to lead the way. We descended with much difficulty, as the air began to be quite mephitic. Our torches went out, but happily we had left a large flambeau burning at the entrance of the second cave, which my guide was obliged to fetch, leaving me all the time in the dark. I began to be much incommoded with the damp, as we were in the most violent heat, occasioned by the hard exercise of lowering ourselves by ropes.

Greater abundance

I saw nothing here so curious as what we left some hundred feet above our heads : the crystallizations were smaller, and the water in greater abundance, dropping from all quarters. Our guide was pressing us to return, when I perceived a small aperture, which he wished to prevent my seeing. I asked him why he had not shewn it. He said that no one had ever been lower, except the two soldiers, who two years ago, had attempted to force themselves into this hole ; that, indeed, they had succeeded in getting in, but never found their way back.

On examining the size of the hole, I thought it sufficiently large for the dimensions of my body. I thrust my head and shoulders into it medicine and art, and perceived that at the distance of five or six feet it took a different direction, and appeared to go perpendicularly downwards. I ascertained this fact by throwing my torch into it, which disappeared suddenly : we heard it for some seconds falling with a hollow noise, which at last subsided, and on looking into the hole, I perceived a very clear light at a great distance. I was therefore determined to endeavour to proceed a little farther, and if possible to go to the bottom.

When we examined our rope we found that we had only about the sixth part of the two hundred fathoms remaining. I fixed it round my shoulders and between my legs, and began to let myself down : the hole grew so small that it required much strength and resolution to proceed. I did not lose courage, but forcing myself forward I found I was, after a struggle of a few minutes, as low as the torch, and to my great surprise at the bottom, where no human being had ever yet been.

Supplementing and completing Whaley’s

The second additional MS. has an interest and importance of quite another kind, being an independent account of the Journey to Jerusalem written by Capt. Hugh Moore, Buck Whaley’s travelling companion from Gibraltar to the Holy City, and from thence back to Dublin. This MS. was written on board ship, as the writer mentions, and it has been preserved in the author’s family ever since. Mr. H. Armytage Moore, of Rowal lane, co. Down, the grandson of the writer, has generously lent it to me for the purpose of supplementing and completing Whaley’s own account of this portion of the Memoirs.

A peculiar value is given to this MS. by the fact that in it there is no attempt to conceal the names of the persons with whom the travellers came in contact ; and with its assistance I have been enabled to fill up a large number of blanks which occur in Whaley’s narrative, or to confirm conjectural additions which I had already made from other sources of information. Some extracts from the original will be found in the Appendix. It commences at Gibraltar on the 6th November, 1788, and covers much the same ground as Whaley’s journal as far as St. Jean d’Acre on the return journey from Jerusalem. Here it comes to an end somewhat abruptly. That it is incomplete is shown by the interesting Itinerary which is found on one of its last pages, and which contains a resume of the entire journey, with dates and distances, from Gibraltar to Jerusalem and from thence to Dublin.

Quite different from Whaley’s

The language used in this journal of Capt. Moore is quite different from Whaley’s ; but now and again there are passages which show that one of the writers must have copied from the other, or that both had incorporated material derived from a common source. Moore’s account of Constantinople, its public buildings, antiquities, and other objects of interest, occupying some forty pages of the MS., is all in French, transcribed, as he says himself, from “ an Itineraire ” made by Mons. Grand, “ a young Frenchman of observation ” to whom he had been introduced by Sir Robert Ainslie, the British Ambassador at the time.

By way of explanation for its insertion, he states that he had himself been prevented from getting more than a cursory view of the Turkish capital owing to his constant attendance upon his comrade Whaley, who was an invalid during most of the time they spent there. Whaley’s own description of much that he saw in Constantinople must necessarily have been derived largely from second-hand information, as he was obviously less able to go about the city than Capt. Moore.

People to Christianity

Ultimately he was defeated; then followed the conversion of his people to Christianity, which for a period restrained their barbarous rapacity; after this, for two centuries, they were under the yoke and bondage of the Tartars; but the prophecy, or rather the omen, remains, and the whole world has learned to acquiesce in the probability of its fulfilment. The wonder rather is, that that fulfilment has been so long delayed. The Russians, whose wishes would inspire their hopes, are not solitary in their anticipations: the historian, from ‘ whom I have borrowed this sketch of their past attempts, writing at the end of last century, records his own Gibbon.

expectation of the event. “ Perhaps,” he says, “ the present generation may yet behold the accomplishment of a . . . prediction, of which the style is unambiguous ana^unquestionable”. The Turks themselves have long been under the shadow of its influence; even as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, when they were powerful, and Austria and Poland also, and Russia distant and comparatively feeble, a traveller tells us, that “ of all the princes of Christendom, there was none whom the Turks so much feared, as the Czar of Muscovy”.

Favour of Russia

This apprehension has ever been on the increase; in favour of Russia they made the first formal renunciation of territory which had been consecrated to Islamism by the solemnities of religion, a circumstance which has sunk deep into their imaginations; there is an enigmatical inscription on the tomb of the Great Constantine, to the effect that “ the yellow-haired race shall overthrow Ismael”; moreover, ever since their defeats by the Emperor Leopold, they have had a surmise that the true footing of their faith is in Asia; and so strong is the popular feeling on the subject, that in consequence their favourite cemetery is at Scutari on the Asiatic coast.