civilization which they nurtured and sent forth ; and who, 

 though long deprived of their heritage, are indisputably 

 lineal heirs to the fairest prerogatives of humanity. 

 The empire of the Turks, who, a*s Knolles energetically 

 expresses it, "stuck not in their devilish policy to 

 break and infringe the laws of nature and of nations," 

 has been gradually wasted by its inherent vices, 

 and its fall will illustrate to future politicians the 

 instability of ill and the weak vitality of despotic power. 

 Havoc and devastation always attended the march of the 

 Turks; and as they never acquired industrious habits, and 

 dissipated quickly what they obtained by force, the wealth 

 of their tributary subjects soon began to decline. Two cen- 

 turies ago the condition of the Ottoman empire is e ] o- 

 quently described by old Sandys : 



"Those rich lands, at this present, remain waste and 

 overgrown with bushes, receptacles of wild beasts, of 

 thieves and murderers ; large territories dispeopled or thinly 

 inhabited ; goodly cities made desolate ; sumptuous build- 

 ings become ruins; glorious temples either subverted or 

 prostituted to impiety ; true religion discountenanced or 

 oppressed; all nobility extinguished; no light of learning 

 permitted nor virtue cherished ; violence and rapine insult- 

 ing over all, and leaving no security save to an abject mind 

 and unlookt-on poverty." 



Such was the state of Turkey in its most fortunate 

 period; and since that was written ruin and depopulation 

 have made a rapid progress; licentiousness and cruelty 

 have increased with the misery of the people ; the disgraces 

 of the empire have soured the national temper of the Turks ; 

 their predicted expulsion from Europe has rendered them 

 more gloomy ; the revolt of the Greeks has awakened their 

 bigotry; robbers lay waste the provinces and incendiaries 

 the towns; nothing is to be seen in their expiring empire 

 but anarchy and riot, massacre and spoliation, smoking 

 ruins and human torture : 



" crudelis ubique 

 Luctus; ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago." 



" Un pareil Etat," says Montesquieu, "sera dans la 

 meilleure situation lorsqu'il pourra se regarder comme 



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