TURKEY IN ASIA. 17 



left, at nine o'clock, of a town, a castle, and a fine fleet, which had 

 been all in existence at one the same morning. 



Some of the principal military transactions by land, in the war be- 

 tween Russia and Turkey, having been already noticed in our account 

 of the lormer empire, we shall here only add, that, after a most unfor- 

 tunate war on the side of the Turks, peace was at length concluded 

 between them and the Russians, on the 21st of July 1774, a few 

 months after the accession oi Achmet IV. The emperor Mustapha 

 III, left a son, then only in his 13th year; but as he was too young 

 to manage the reins of government in the then critical situation of 

 the Turkish affairs, Mustapha appointed his brother, the late em- 

 peror, to succeed him in the throne ; and to this prince, under the 

 strongest terms of recommendation, he confided the care of his in- 

 fant son. 



Tne perseverance of the Turks, supplied by their numerous Asiatic 

 armies, and their implicit submission to their officers, rather than an 

 excellency in military discipline or courage in war, have been the 

 great springs of those successes which have rendered their empire 

 so formidable. The extension, as well as duration of their empire, 

 may indeed" be in some measure owing to the military institution of 

 the janisaries, a corps originally composed of children of such Chris- 

 tian parents as could not pay their taxes. Tiiese, being collected 

 together, were formed to the exercise of arms under the eyes of 

 their officers in the seraglio. They were generally in number about 

 40,000 ; and so excellent was their discipline, that they were deemed 

 invincible ; and they still continue the flower of the Turkish armies : 

 but the Ottoman power is in a declining state. The political state of 

 Europe, and the jealousies that subsist among its princes, is now the 

 surest basis of this empire, and the principal reason why the finest 

 provinces in the world are suffered to remain any longer in the pos- 

 session of those haughty infidels. 



Notwithstanding the peace which was established in 1774, between 

 Russia and the Porte, various sources of discord having been left 

 open, very little tranquillity could subsist between them. For an 

 account of these we refer our readers to our historical narrative of 

 the former empire. Towards the latter end of the year 1786, the 

 Turks seem to have adopted a regular system of indirect hostility 

 against Russia, which was continually making such encroachments, 

 as made the Turks resolve to try again the fortune of war. Scarcely 

 had the empress returned from the splendid journey which she made 

 to Cherson, before a declaration of Turkish hostilities was announced 

 at St. Petersburgh. What part the emperor of Germany would take 

 in this war was not at first known. The capriciousness of his charac- 

 ter kept the spirit of curiosity in suspense for some little time ; but 

 he soon declared himself determined to support all the claims which 

 Russia had upon the Porte. 



Instead of being disheartened at the formidable appearance of the 

 confederacy formed against them, the Turks applied themselves with 

 redoubled ardour to prepare for resistance. But an event that seems 

 greatly to have contributed to the ill success experienced by the 

 crescent in the year 1789, was the death of Achmet the Fourth, on 

 the 7th of April. 



This prince, if we make suitable allowances for the disadvantages 

 under which he laboured as a despotic monarch, and the prejudices 

 of his country, may be allowed to have possessed some claim to our 



Vol. II. D 



