THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



OF 



POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND THE BELLES LETTRES. 



Vol. YIII.] DECEMBER, 1829. [No. 48. 



POLITICS AND PROSPECTS OF RUSSIA. 



The fate of the Sultan is inevitable : he must go down ; the ruin of his 

 empire is as palpable as if it were written on his turban. 



The grand question with mankind now is, what result is to follow from 

 this sudden and tremendous shock to the established system of Europe ? 

 The question is vital to England in her immediate interests ; for, by- 

 bringing Russia into the rank of a great naval power, it brings her into 

 chrect contest with us as the Rulers of the Seas ; and it is no less essential 

 to her continental interests, as it threatens the overthrow of that balance 

 to be whose Protector has been the glory and the security of England. 



The facts of Turkish ruin are unanswerable. The Sultan has found 

 himself unable to resist the complete occupation of his dominions, up to 

 the gates of his capital. He has saved his capital only by the entreaty of 

 the foreio-n ambassadors. He has not been able to send out a single sol- 

 dier since the passage of the Balkan, to save his subjects from plunder or 

 insult, even under his own eyes. He has not been able to defend himseli 

 from even his own disbanded troops, and has been on the point of solicit- 

 ing the aid of his enemy to keep the peace of his capital. He has not 

 been able to make his soldiers take the field, nor to restrain his pashas 

 from keeping it at their will, from scoffing at the baseness of his sur- 

 render and from warring on their own account. The retreat of the 

 enemy has been as little influenced by the Sultan, as their advance was 

 impeded by his activity. And, it is to be remembered, that this extraor- 

 dinary torpor cannot have proceeded from the personal character of the 

 Sultan, but from his circumstances. His previous career was eminent for 

 activity, for desperate courage, and for that more unexpected superiority 

 to his age and country, which made him eager to adopt the inv^itions of 

 European science and war. He was the most European of all Turks ; a 

 vigorous, sagacious, daring, and remorseless sovereign ; Turkey had not 

 seen such a sovereign for a hundred years. 



The true reasoning from those unquestionable facts, is, not that JMah- 

 moud liad suddenly changed his character, but that his means had sunk 

 away • that the ground broke down under his feet— that the whole fabric 

 M.M. New Sales.— .Yoh.\ III. No. 48. 4 G 



