700 



TURKEY. 



her of different lutiwis. which mutually hate and 

 despise each other, and are held together merely by 

 fear and force. 1. The lords of the country are 

 all Sunnites, as the Arabs, Tartars and Turcomans, 

 and particularly the Ottoman Turks, a people of 

 great natural vigour, and inflamed with political 

 and religious enthusiasm. They are most numer- 

 o.i> in tin- northern provinces of Asia. They 

 despise unbelievers, looking upon them as dogs and 

 swine, and continue to act the part of the first 

 savage conquerors. The character of this people 

 shows extraordinary inconsistencies. They are, at 

 the same time, according to circumstances, brave 

 and cowardly, mild and savage, strong and weak, 

 enterprising and sluggish, sensual and hardy. The 

 great men at court, in the army, and in the pro- 

 vinces, are proud and cringing, suspicious and un- 

 grateful. In general, the Turks are as ignorant as 

 they are indifferent and insensible. They make no 

 provision for posterity. No nation is more fully 

 convinced than the Turks, that all upon earth is 

 subject to change. 2. The Turcomans (see Tur- 

 romama), in Armenia, Natolia and on the rivers of 

 the interior. 3. The Tartars, who have migrated 

 from the Crimea to the provinces on the Danube. 

 4. Arabs. 5. Curds. G. Greeks; among whom 

 are the Suliots, in the ancient Epirus. 7. Arme- 

 nians (see Armenia"), scattered through the pro- 

 vinces as merchants and mechanics. 8. Sclavoni- 

 ans, in several tribes, as the Albanians or Arnaouts; 

 Bosniacs, in Bosnia, in part Mohammedans, part 

 Catholic Christians ; Servians or Rascians (see Ser- 

 via~); Bulgarians; Montenegrins. 10. Druses, on 

 the Lebanon. 11. Jews. 12. Walachians. 13. 

 'Gypsies, and several small tribes, of unknown ori- 

 gin principally in the mountains in Asia. The 

 written and court language is Arabic. See Turk- 

 ish Language and Literature. 



In Constantinople, there are Greek, Armenian, 

 Jewish and Turkish printing presses; but, in all 

 the cities, a great number of scribes (kodjakians) 

 are occupied in transcribing the almanacs, the Koran, 

 fee. They form, in Constantinople, a powerful 

 body. The ulema, or body of lawyers, who belong 

 to the religious order, is almost exclusively in pos- 

 session of the learning. Ptolemy is still their 

 guide in geography, and Aristotle in physics and 

 natural history. A historiographer is appointed at 

 the court of the sultan, and a court astrologer is 

 consulted on matters of state. Painting and sculp- 

 ture are neglected, because the Koran forbids the 

 imitation of the human form. The music is noisy 

 and without taste, but there are good female 

 dancers.* The constitution rests upon seven col- 

 lections of political laws (Kanunnume'), and is alto- 

 puiber Oriental. The padishah, as caliph, unites 

 the highest spiritual dignity with the supreme se- 

 cular power. He has unlimited control over the 

 property and lives of his subjects, especially of the 

 highest officers of state, whom he can remove or 

 1 1 tit to death at will. They kiss the bow-string 

 which he sends them, and it is what they may all 

 look forward to. The sultan makes laws without 

 being himself subject to them. The Koran and 

 the fear of public opinion, when it speaks by the 



* The present sultan has not only endeavoured to introduce 

 European customs and tactics, bat has appointed a librarian to 

 tbp library of the Hamadirge mosque, iu Medina, with orders 

 for the preparation of a catalogue and the adoption of mea- 

 Bres for the preservation and increase of the library'. A news- 

 paper is now likewise printed at Constantinople in French and 

 Turkish (Moniteur Ottoman), and another iu Crete, in Turk- 

 ich and Greek. 



voice of rebellion, alone restrain his will. All hi 

 subjects are equal in his eyes, for they are all slaves. 

 A French historian calls the Turkish government 

 n despotisme absolu, tempers par le regicide. The 

 people have no rights. Merit, or favour, or in- 

 trigue, can raise the lowest to the highest stations. 

 There is no hereditary nobility. The succession 

 to the throne is hereditary in the family of Osmun ; 

 the will of the people and of the janizaries has 

 often decided upon the individual. On the extinc- 

 tion of the male posterity of Osman, the right to 

 the throne passes into the family of the former 

 Tartar khan. Women are excluded from the suc- 

 cession. The padishah is not crowned ; he is 

 merely girded with the sword of Osman, after he 

 has sworn to uphold the religion of Mohammed. 

 The women of his harem are, for the most part, 

 Circassians or Georgians: a free-born woman can- 

 not enter the harem as an odalic. Since Ibrahim, 

 the sultans have been accustomed to choose from 

 among them seven wives (cadin). She who first 

 bears a son is called chakessi sultana; the other 

 mothers of the princes have the name of sultana 

 chassecki. The mother of the reigning sultan, or 

 the sultana valide, enjoys great privileges. She is 

 not confined in the apartments of the Eski seraglio, 

 and has a yearly pension of 500,000 piasters. (See 

 Harem, and Sultan.) The princes are usually 

 brought up in confinement, among the eunuchs and 

 odalics. Each learns a mechanic art or handicraft, 

 but they never acquire the knowledge which would 

 fit them to rule. They have no prospect but, the 

 throne or death in prison. The daughters of the 

 sultan have the title of sultana, and, while yet in 

 the cradle, are married to viziers, pachas, and other 

 great officers ; but their male posterity, by a law of 

 the empire, are condemned to death from their 

 birth. The court establishment, with all the eu- 

 nuchs, women, guards, &c., includes 10,000 per- 

 sons. The external court consists of the atten- 

 dants of the grand master of the seraglio, seven " 

 chamberlains, the court officers, a body-guard of 

 2000 men, (the bostangi was dissolved in 1826), 

 the confidants or titular dignitaries, to which class 

 belong the mutes, the dwarfs, the musicians, the 

 masters of audience, the masters of the stirrup, and 

 the viziers of the shoulder. (See Seraglio.) The 

 inner court establishment consists of the harem, 

 with its women, white and black eunuchs (whose 

 chiefs, the kislar and capi aga, possess great influ- 

 ence), the grand vizier, and the sublime porte, 

 which form the two cabinets of the kiaga beg, or 

 minister of the interior, and of the reis effendi, or 

 minister of foreign affairs. The title of the present 

 padishah is " Sultan, son of a sultan, chakan, son 

 of a chakan, sultan Mahmoud II. khan, son of the 

 victorious Abd-ul-Hamid, by the infinite grace of 

 the Creator of the world and the eternal Being, 

 and through the mediation and great miracles of 

 Mohammed Mustapha, the greatest of prophets, 

 upon whom rest the blessing of God, servant and 

 master of the cities of Mecca, Medina, and Kods 

 (Jerusalem), towards which all men turn their 

 faces when they pray, padishah of the three 

 great cities of Istambul, Edreneh (Adrianople), and 

 Bursa, which all princes regard with envy," &c. 

 The arms assumed by Mahmoud II., after the con- 

 quest of Constantinople, are a silver crescent in a 

 green shield. Selim III., in 1799, after Nelson's 

 victory of the Nile, founded the order of the cres- 

 cent, in three classes, for Franks, which has been 

 conferred on Nelson, Sebastiani, and other foreign- 



