OF THE TURKISH MONARCHY. 



27 



tion which preceded his death, the Janissaries destroyed the mathe- 

 matical school instituted by him. The prejudices and ignorance of 

 these troops lead them to resist all plans of improvement ; the endea- 

 vours of Bonneval and De Tott to introduce European discipline in 

 the Turkish armies were opposed by them ; and they have viewed 

 with jealousy alterations suggested even by their own countrymen. 

 Experience has confirmed the truth of this observation made by Har- 

 rington, " that the wound in the monarchy, incured and incurable, 

 " is the power which the Janissaries* have of exciting sedition." 

 It is a power the more dangerous, as it is without controul ; and while 

 they continue to exist, the state contains in itself a source of weak- 

 ness and decay. 



The only method by which the Sultan of this empire could re- 

 establish his authority in the capital and the provinces, check the 

 incursions of those numerous hordes and tribes which infest them, 

 and inspire the rebellious governors with respect, would be by the 

 formation of an army-f-, modelled on the European system, and kept 

 in constant pay. " There should always," says Montesquieu, " be a 

 " trusty body of troops around the despotic Prince, ready to fall in- 

 " stantly upon any part of the empire that might chance to waver." 

 But the number of the Janissaries in the capital, and of those who in 

 the different cities of the empire are enrolled in that militia is so great, 

 that, as they might reasonably dread a diminution of their influence, 

 they would continue to oppose such an establishment. The governors 

 who are aiming at independence, unwilling to see themselves stripped 



* Murad the Third, dared not go out of the Seraglio for two years, on account of the 

 constant sedition of the soldiers. D'Ohsson. " II n'y a point de nation au monde, qui 

 " parle plus avantageusement de ses monarques, et de l'obeissance qui leur est due, 

 " que les Turcs ; et neanmoins, si nous consultons l'histoire, nous trouverons qu'il n'y a 

 " point de monarques, dont l'autorite soit plus fragile, que celledes Empereurs Ottomans." 

 Bayle. Diet. Art. Osman. Note B. 



f " Whoever examines with attention the improvements which Peter the Great intro- 

 duced into the Russian empire, will find, that they almost all resolve themselves into the 

 establishment of a well-regulated standing army." Adam Smith's W. of N. vol. in. p. 68 



E 2 



