FALL OF THE EMPIRE INEVITABLE. 143 



long as possible for the preservation of the balance 

 of power, and to prevent the far greater evil of 

 endless and bloody contentions amongst them- 

 selves for the detached portions, her fall may be 

 gradual ; limb after limb may be severed from her 

 without occasioning any great commotion, but 

 come the time must and will when her influence, 

 stability, and strength, dwindled away to a shadow, 

 will become entirely exhausted, and the Ottoman 

 Empire will be no more. 



That her fall may be gradual, is earnestly to be 

 desired ; but to prevent her fall is impossible. We 

 may alleviate the sufferings of the dying patient, 

 and prevent her immediate decease ; but to restore 

 her to health is out of the question. 



Great Britain may further the cause of human- 

 ity by exerting her influence to introduce civili- 

 zation amongst the Turks, but she ought not 

 to forget that a great portion of their enslaved 

 population professes the same faith with herself 

 — that it is a Christian population oppressed by 

 the tyrannical rule of a heathen despot, — and that 

 if it be her policy to keep them under Turkish 

 rule, she is bound to use her influence to render 

 the yoke which they bear less insupportable. 



