The Eastern Empire. ROM E. The Eastern Empire. 
336 
and made him very important cessions and restitutions. These 
conditions, so ignominious to the Turks, occasioned the en¬ 
mity of Mousa, another son of the deceased sultan, and the 
Mahometans renewed their hostile attempts on the capital. 
Manuel, instead of fomenting the discords of the Moslems, 
now sided with Mahomet, the most formidable of the sons 
of Bajazet, entertained him in his palace, and assisted his 
views. The gratitude of Mahomet only expired with his 
life; and in his last moments he bequeathed his younger 
sons to the protection of the Greek emperor. But the divan 
rescinded the appointment, and determined that the royal 
youths should never be abandoned to the orthodoxy of a 
Christian dog. A schism took place in the councils of the 
Byzantine court; and Mustapha, who had long been de¬ 
tained as a captive hostage at Constantinople, was allowed 
to ascend the throne of Romania. 
The negotiation of the Greek emperor with Mustapha, 
aroused the resentment of his rival Amurath, and the vic¬ 
tory of that prince over the sovereign of Romania, was 
followed by the siege of Constantinople. The prospect of 
plunder and of the crown of martyrdom, drew together two 
hundred thousand Turks, who invested the city; but a 
domestic revolt recalled the sultan to the protection of 
Boursa, and for thirty years suspended the fate of the By¬ 
zantine empire. 
The aged Manuel, oppressed with years and wearied with 
cares, submitted to the stroke of death, without beholding, 
though not without anticipating, the ruin of his empire and 
religion; and his son, John Palaeologus, was permitted to 
ascend the vacant throne on the payment of a large annual 
tribute, and the cession of the greatest part of his remaining 
dominions. 
Whenever the Byzantine princes were encompassed with 
difficulties, or pressed by imminent danger, it had long been 
their practice to court the alliance, and implore the protec¬ 
tion of the pope and the Latins; but no sooner did their 
calamities subside, than they uniformly returned to their ge¬ 
nuine hatred and contempt for the idolaters of the West. 
John Palaeologus, the Elder, alarmed at once by foreign 
invasion and domestic insurrection, in order to obtain relief, 
subscribed a treaty, and submitted to an oath of fidelity and 
obedience to the Roman pontiff. The humiliating terms, 
however, were never putin execution; but when the Tur¬ 
kish torrent was only resisted by the walls of Constantinople, 
the desponding emperor embarked for Venice, with the 
hopes of rousing by his presence the cold compassion of 
the princes of the West. 
Urban the Fifth at that time wore the tiara, and on re¬ 
ceiving the submission of Palaeologus to the supremacy of the 
holy see, endeavoured to rekindle the zeal of the Christians 
of the West in favour of his proselyte. But the season of 
crusades was past; and the emperor returned without ac¬ 
complishing any thing. Ilis son Manuel had likewise visited 
the courts of the West, to implore assistance against the 
overwhelming Turks. At Venice, Paris, and London, he 
was pitied, praised, and entertained; but was more befriend¬ 
ed by events which he could not have foreseen, than by his 
Christian brethren. 
When John Palaeologus the Second ascended the throne, 
the avarice and vices of the Roman pontiffs had scandalized 
the clergy themselves, and the council of Basil, supported by 
several of the powers of the West, declared that the repre¬ 
sentatives of the. church had a paramount authority over the 
pope himself. The concurrence of the emperor and pa¬ 
triarch of Constantinople was eagerly solicited; but pope 
Eugenius, sensible of the importance of gaining over the 
Greeks to his party, made the most splendid proposals, 
which, after some hesitation, were accepted. The union of 
the Greek and Latin churches was effected by intrigue; but 
the subjects of Palaeologus received him on his return from 
the council, with a general murmur of discontent. The very 
subscribing ecclesiastics, instead of justifying their conduct, 
deplored their weakness. “ Alas! we have been seduced by 
distress, by fraud, and by the hopes and fears of a transitory 
life. The hand that has signed the union should be cut 
off; and the tongue that has pronounced the Latin creed 
deserves to be torn from the root,” was the answer they re¬ 
turned to the taunting question, “ What had been the event 
of the Italian synod ?” 
But while Eugenius triumphed in the union of the Greeks, 
his party was contracted to the palace of Constantinople, 
and even there the zeal of Palaeologus was already cooled, 
and his brother Constantine was ready to draw the sword in 
defence of the national religion; while sultan Amurath be¬ 
held with a jealous eye, the outward reconciliation that had 
taken place between the Latins and the Greeks. 
The danger that threatened not only the Byzantine em¬ 
pire, but Christendom, from the Turks, made Eugenius 
anxious to render the promised assistance to Palaeologus; but 
though he exerted all his influence to raise a general crusade, 
the most important accessions he obtained, were the king¬ 
doms of Hungary and Poland, united under the authority 
of Ladislaus, and animated by the valour and fame of John 
Huniades, the hero of his age. Yet notwithstanding the 
advantages gained by this consummate soldier, and the 
powerful diversion he made, the Greek emperor was com¬ 
pelled to enter into a humiliating treaty with the Turks, and 
submit to dishonourable conditions. 
The chagrin Palaeologus endured on this account, the 
schisms which distracted his subjects, the loss of his empress 
whom he tenderly loved, and the insolence of Amurath, 
who rose in his pretensions with every concession that was 
made him, all conspired to undermine his constitution, and 
to sink him into an untimely grave, in the twenty-seventh 
year of his reign. 
The senate, the soldiers, the clergy, and the people, were 
unanimous in supporting the pretensions of his brother 
Constantine; but as a proof of the humiliation of the Greek 
emperors, this was not judged sufficient, without the appro¬ 
bation of the sultan of the Turks, which was graciously 
accorded. 
Amurath soon resigned his breath, and was succeeded by 
Mahomet the Second. The attention of this prince was 
incessantly fixed on Constantinople ; and he frequently de¬ 
clared that no promises ought to bind the faithful against 
the interest and the duty of their religion. Being irritated 
by the imprudence of the Byzantine ambassadors, he avail¬ 
ed himself of the opportunity winch was given to indulge 
his designs ; and resolved to erect a strong castle on the side 
of the Bosphorus, facing a fortification on the Asiatic shore, 
which had been raised by his grandfather. 
Only five miles distant from the capital of the Greek em¬ 
pire, on a spot called Asomaton, a thousand builders were 
ordered to assemble early in the spring. The imperial am¬ 
bassadors did not fail to represent that this double fortifica¬ 
tion would be a violation of existing treaties, and that it 
would command the streight, and intercept at discretion the 
very subsistence of Constantinople. “ I form no enterprise,” 
replied the sultan, “ against the city ; but the empire of 
Constantinople is measured by her walls. Have ye right, 
have ye power, to control my actions on my own ground ?• 
for that ground is my own. As far as the shores of the Bos¬ 
phorus, Asia is inhabited by the Turks, and Europe is de¬ 
serted by the Romans. Return and inform your sovereign, 
that the present Ottoman is far different from his predecessors; 
that his resolutions surpass their wishes; and that he performs 
more than they could resolve. Return in safety; but the 
next who delivers a similar message may expect to be flayed 
alive.” 
After this menace, Constantine would have had recourse 
to arms, but his ministers advised him to suffer Mahomet to 
fix on himself the charge of aggression, and to depend on 
chance and time for the accomplishment of his udshes. 
Meanwhile the hostile fort was carried on with great expe¬ 
dition, and was constructed of great strength. Constantine 
had requested a Turkish guard to protect the fields of his 
subjects from being consumed by the artificers or their cattle ; 
but this guard was in fact stationed to defend their brethren, 
if molested by the Christians. The two nations soon became 
embroiled by w ; anton annoyance on one side, and just re¬ 
sentment 
