national calamity should arrive, they will call the same 

 Mahmoud an infidel, and the word will depose him ; while 

 their history will supply them with a recent precedent. 

 Selim never meddled with religious rites or religious absti- 

 nence; his innovations extended no farther than military 

 improvement, and all lie. did received the muphty's bene- 

 diction ; "but when the rebels who sought to depose that 

 prince asked the same authority " Whether the emperor 

 deserved to be left upon the throne, who by his conduct 

 and his laws subverted the religious principles of the 

 Koran," the chief of the Ulemas formally pronounced 

 " No: God knoweth-best." 



The military reforms of Mahmoud are as insecure as 

 his disregard of military scruples is impolitic : the Jani- 

 zaries, with all their faults, contributed to preserve the 

 integrity of the empire; they were not able to defend it 

 from without, but they often saved it from internal dissolu- 

 tion ; they were dangerous to the sovereign, but still more 

 dangerous to the beys and pashas ; they never forgot that 

 they were imperial troops, and never arrayed themselves 

 against their prince, unless in defence of their corporate 

 interests. An organised army, on the other hand, is easily 

 swayed by its leader, and, if regularly paid, may be always 

 controlled by a conspiracy of officers: The sultan cannot 

 lead against European armies the riotous levies of the beys 

 and pashas, nor the raw conscriptions of Egypt and Nubia. 

 The language of exhortation with which Busbequius sought 

 to animate the European states in their early contests with 

 the Ottomans, may now be addressed to the latter : " Arma 

 vero ! arma, non fortuita neque tumultuaria, nee procul 

 quaesita, sed vostra, sed expedita, sed magno judicio, mag- 

 naque ratione delecta, instructa, et exculta." An organised 

 army only can supply the place of the Janizaries ; but can 

 the sultan create an organised army? can he adopt the 

 tactics of Europe ? an organised army can only exist in an 

 organised state; where this is all anarchy and corruption, 

 can the other be all discipline and good order ? The tactics 

 of modern Europe require much knowledge, both theoretical 

 and practical ; they require much arrangement, steady fore- 

 sight and regular resources ; but where will Mahmoud find 



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