TURKEY IN EUROPE, 5ft9 



Opposite to the seraglio, on the Asiatic side, and about a mile and 

 a. half distant across the water, is Scutari, adorned with a royal 

 mosque, and a pleasant house of the grand-seignor. On the brow of an, 

 adjacent hill is a grand prospect, embracing in one view the city of 

 Constantinople, the suburbs Galata and Pera, the small seas of the 

 Bosphorus and Propontis, with the adjacent countries on each shore. 



Adrianople, the second city of European Turkey, is situate on the 

 Maritza, or ancient Hebrus, about 140 miles north-west of Constanti- 

 nople. It is of a circular form, and surrounded by a wall and towerss. 

 it contains several splended mosques. The seraglio, or palace, is plea- 

 santly situated, being separated from the city by the small river Ar- 

 da, and commanding an extensive view of the country, which is fertile, 

 and celebrated for its excellent vines. The number of inhabitants in 

 Adrianople is about 80,000= The other principal cities are Silistria, 

 in Bulgaria, with about 60,000 inhabitants ; Philippi, on the river 

 Maritz, with 120,000 inhabitants ; Saloniki, in Macedonia, 62,000 ; Se- 

 rajo, the capital of Bosnia, 48,000 ; Janna, in Thessaly, 30,000 ; Seres ? . 

 in Macedonia, 30,000 ; Larissa, in Thessaly, 20,000, and Belgrade, 

 the capital of Servia, which has been repeatedly taken and re-taken 

 by the Austrians and Turks, and contains about 25,000 inhabitants. 



Commerce and manufactures. ...These objects are little attended 

 to in the Turkish dominions. The nature of the government des- 

 troys that happy security which is the mother of arts, industry, and 

 commerce, and such is the debasement of the human mind, when 

 borne down by tyranny and oppression, that all the great advantages 

 of commerce, which nature has, as it were, thrown under the feet of 

 the inhabitants by their situation, are here totally neglected. The ad- 

 vantages of Tyre, Sidon, and Alexandria, and all those countries which 

 carried on the commerce of the ancient world, are overlooked. The 

 Turks command the navigation of the Red Sea, which opens a com- 

 munication with the Southern Ocean, and presents them with all the 

 riches of the Indies. Whoever looks on a map of Turkey, must ad- 

 mire the situation of their capital, upon a narrow strait that separates 

 Europe from Asia, and communicates on the south with the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea, thereby opening a passage to all the European nations, as 

 well as the coast of Africa. The same strait, communicating north- 

 wards with the Black Sea, opens a passage, by means of the Danube, 

 and other ereat rivers, into the interior parts of Germany, Poland, and 

 Russia. 



In this extensive empire, where all the commodities necessary for 

 the largest plan of industry and commerce are produced, the Turks 

 content themselves with manufacturing cottons, carpels, leather, and 

 so?p. The most valuable of their commodities, such as silk, a variety 

 of drugs, and dyeing stuffs, they generally export without giving them 

 much additional value by their own labour. The internal commerce 

 ©1 the empire is extremely small, and managed only by Jews and Ar= 

 menians. In their traffic with Europe, the Turks are altogether pas- 

 sive. The English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans, resort hi- 

 ther with their commodities, and bring back those of Turkey in the 

 same bottoms. They seldom attempt any distant voyages, and are 

 possessed only of a few coasting vessels in the Asiatic Turkey, their 

 chief royal navy lying on the side of Europe. The inattention of the 

 Turks to objects of commerce, is perhaps the best security to their 

 government. The balance of power established among the princes 

 of Europe, and their jealousies of one another, secure to the Turks the 



