194 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Bonaparte's newly formed kingdom 

 of Italy, or circling the brows of a 

 favourite or a brother! Happy 

 will it be, if the occiijiation of Si- 

 cily, by the British forces in the 

 .Mediterranean, shall prevent that 

 fair portion of the Neapolitan do- 

 minion from sharing the same fate, 

 and becoming equally the prey of 

 the, rapacious enslaver of the nati- 

 ons of the earth ! 



When we (urn our ryes towards 

 Turki:y, we beiiold, in a state of 

 decay ai)d delapidation, one of ihe 

 prolldes^ i'iibrics ever raised by the 

 ambition ol man This vast empire, 

 which has so often, and, compara- 

 tively speaking, so recently threat- 

 ened all flurope with the intolera- 

 ble yoke of her oppression, and 

 whose conquests, when in youthful 

 vigour, united Christendom found 

 it difficult to limit, has, at length, 

 reached the last stage of decrepi- 

 lude-and weakness, and its dissolu- 

 tion most certainly must be near at 

 hand. It is, perhaps, the nature 

 of a government,, purely military, 

 to flourish only when the s%vord is 

 drawn ; and that the last hour of 

 its conquests is the first of its decay. 

 At least we should so reason from 

 tlie example which this once great 

 empire alVords. So long as its sub- 

 jects were led info the field by 

 their warlike sovereigns, to the 

 plunder and possession of the finest 

 provinces of the earth, so long did 

 their enthusiasm lead them to the 

 greatest achievements, and their va- 

 lour and success were commensu- 

 rate. But when some checks which 

 were given to their further progress 

 in Europe, principally owing to 

 the military genius and patriotism 

 of a tew individuals, had disposed 

 a new race of less heroic princes 

 to incline towards peace with their 



neighbours, and to rest content 

 with the enormous dominion their 

 predecessors had acquired, from 

 that moment their consequence, 

 among the states of Europe, has 

 declined. Their internal polity, 

 unfavourable to the arts of peace, 

 commerce, and manufactures, has 

 led to barbaious oaction and the 

 oppression of their subjects ; their 

 want of exertion and employment 

 has been equally conducive to indis- 

 cipline and the absence of every 

 military virtue in their soldiery; 

 while the most wretched intrigue 

 constantly sways the councils of 

 the Sublime Porte. 



Thus circumstanced, it cannot be 

 matter of wonder that,in the course 

 of the present year, the distant do- 

 minions, acknowledging a fealty 

 and paying a tribute to the Porte, 

 should not only have thrown off 

 their allegiance, but have actually 

 asserted their independence by 

 their appearance in arms. Egypt 

 in Africa, Syria in Asia, Cyprus in 

 the IMediterrancan, and berviawith 

 the adjacent provinces on the con- 

 tinent of Europe, were all at one and 

 the same period in a state of actual 

 revolt ; accommodations of the 

 most disgraceful nature, and ruinouik 

 t o the government, for the present, 

 allayed the greater part of those 

 ferments, of the extent of which we 

 may judge when even Adrianople, 

 the second city of the Turkish do- 

 minion, in Europe, w as threatened, 

 at its gates, by the Servian insur. 

 gents ! 



It may well be supposed that 

 under such circumstances the im- 

 possibilit}' of Turkey acting as an 

 independent power, was well ap- 

 preciated by her most formidable 

 rival and her most dreaded enemy. 

 Russia, in such a conjuncture, vvas 



not 



