24 CAUSES OF THE WEAKNESS AND DECLINE 



bloodsuckers had continued. 'Eav Je tovtovs Mvopaio-Ttxg utyeXvi eTepot 

 eXSovTez irtivMTtg pov to Xomov a.7fia. Arist. Rhet. lib. 11. 



The causes of that great change in the situation of some of the 

 states of Europe, during the three last centuries, are to be found in 

 the commercial spirit by which they have been actuated, and the pro- 

 pagation of knowledge by means of the press. The intercourse with 

 the Christian states must be very much enlarged before the condition 

 of the Asiatic part of the empire can be affected by the former, and 

 any alteration introduced by means of the latter will proceed by slow 

 degrees. The little proficiency made by the Turks in subjects of a 

 mathematical, geographical, and political nature, arises from the want 

 of encouragement on the part of the government. Law and theo- 

 logy* alone occupy the attention of the students in the colleges or 

 Medresses. Acquisitions of knowledge are not discouraged by the 

 Koran. " The ink of the learned," said Mahomet, " and the blood 

 " of martyrs are of equal value in the sight of Heaven." But the 

 general improvement of the empire has been retarded by the custom 

 of confining within the walls of the Seraglio the hereditary Princes of 

 the Turkish throne, and thus secluding them from the world, and 

 shutting out the means of acquiring knowledge. Literature seems 

 to have met with more encouragement and protection from the Sul- 

 tans of former ages. " Be the support of the Faith, and protector of 

 " the Sciences t?" were among the last words of Osman the First, to 

 his successor Orkhan. In the sermon entitled Koutbe, a divine bene- 

 diction is implored on the orthodox Caliphs who were endowed with 

 learning, virtue, and sanctity. There are thirty-five public libraries 



* " Theology and jurisprudence, comprehending scholastic divinity and the voluminous 

 " commentaries on the Koran and the Sonna, constitute the principal object of Moham- 

 " medan study." Russell's Aleppo, ii. 



f " It is a ridiculous notion which prevails among us," says Sir W. Jones, " that igno- 

 " ranee is a principle of the Mohammedan religion, and that the Koran instructs the 

 " Turks not to be instructed." Discourse on History of the Turks, p. 501. " Mahom- 

 " med not only permitted but advised his people to apply themselves to learning." Id. 

 See Lord Teignmouth's Life of Sir W. Jones, p. 501. 



