14 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



generally styled Caliphs of Syria, their capital being 

 Damascus ; while the Abbassides are known in his- 

 tory as the Caliphs of Bagdad, the city to which 

 they transferred their court. In the rise of the 

 Mohammedan monarchy, the empire, however me- 

 naced by revolt, was still one and undivided ; but in 

 its decline and fall this indivisibility ceased, and the 

 Moslems beheld three independent sovereignties 

 erected, towards the close of the eighth century, 

 within different parts of their dominions, one seat- 

 ed at Bagdad, another in Egypt and Africa, and a 

 third in Spain. 



The house of Abbas, whose accession to the throne 

 was attended with circumstances of such unparal- 

 leled cruelty as to procure for its first caliph the 

 epithet of Al Saffah or the Sanguinary, ruled over 

 the Eastern World with various degrees of autho- 

 rity for a period of five hundred years. The first 

 century beheld their power undiminished ; though 

 the dismemberment of several provinces showed 

 that their government was inherently weak, and 

 that the unwieldy fabric could not long maintain 

 its stability. Like other great nations of antiquity, 

 the policy of the Saracens seemed better adapted for 

 the acquisition of empire than for its preservation ; 

 and though, by a surprising effort of arms, they had 

 compelled the world to acknowledge the might of 

 the Commander of the Faithful, they could not in- 

 fuse into their system those principles of wholesome 

 and vigorous administration essential to its perpe- 

 tuity. The incessant workings of faction made it 

 necessary to invest the lieutenants of provinces with 

 absolute command ; and these, as the monarchy 

 grew feeble and degenerate, were enabled to make 



