Elias John Wilkinson Gibb

“ The mesnevi, the kasida, and the ghazel, all of them, so far at least as the Ottomans are concerned, Persian, were the favourite verse-forms of the old poets. A mesnevi is a poem written in rhyming couplets, and is usually narrative in subject. The kasida and the ghazel are both mouorhythmic ; the first as a rule celebrates the praises of some great man, while the second discourses of the joys and woes of love. Why Persian rather than Arabian or any other literature became the model of Ottoman writers is explained by the early history of the race (see TURKS) . ”

“ The treaty of Belgrade, which was signed on 1st September 1739, restored to the Porte Belgrade and Orsova, with the portions of Servia, Bosnia, and Walachia which it had ceded to Austria at the peace of Passarowitz. Russia, unable to continue the war with a victorious Turkish army ready to fall upon its flank, had to conclude peace on very moderate terms. It received Azoff, but under a stipulation that the fortifications should be razed, and that no Russian vessels of war should be kept either on the Black Sea or on the Sea of Azoff. ”

“ Asiatic Turkey is conterminous on the east with Russia and Persia ; in the south-west it encloses on the west, north, and north-east the independent part of Arabia. Towards Egypt the frontier is a conventional line drawn from Akabah at the head of the Gulf of Akabah north-westwards to the little port of El Arish on the Mediterranean. Elsewhere Asiatic Turkey enjoys the ad vantage of a sea frontage, being washed in the north-west and west by the Euxine, JEgean, and Mediterranean, in the south-west by the Red Sea, and in the south-east by the Persian Gulf. ”

“ Though frequently compelled to engage in defensive wars, Bayezid was of a peace-loving and unambitious disposition, and a few towns in the Morea were all the additions made to the empire while he was on the throne. It was during his reign, however, that the Ottoman fleet began to be formidable to Christendom, the desperate battle off Sapienza, won by Kemal Re is against the Venetians, being the first of the Turkish naval victories over the Mediterranean powers. ”

“ The fiscal system of the Turks, if it were really carried into effect, would be by no means bad ; but like every other depart ment of the government it is ruined by the utter corruption that prevails in every branch of the administration from top to bottom. ”

“ While Hypsilanti, grandson of a hospodar of Moldavia who had been put to death by the Porte, raised the standard of revolt in Moldavia, asserting that Russia had promised the Christians its support, the Greeks of Greek re- the Morea rose and exterminated the Turkish population among them. Hypsilanti was soon crushed ; and the ris ing in the Morea was answered by massacres of the Greeks in the principal cities of the empire, and by the execution of Gregory, patriarch of Constantinople, the head of the Greek Church. These deeds of violence excited the utmost indignation in Russia. ”

“ Bosnia and Montenegro took up arms. Servia got rid of its Turkish garrisons. Crete fought long for its independence, and seemed for a moment likely to be united to Greece under the auspices of the powers ; but it was ultimately abandoned to its Turkish masters. The overthrow of France in the war of 1870 and the consequent isolation of England led Russia to declare the provision of the treaty of Paris which excluded its ships of war and its arsenals from the Black Sea to be no longer in force. ”

“ Bulgaria south of the Balkans was made into a province, with the title of Eastern Roumelia, subject to the authority of the sultan, but with a Christian governor and an autonomous administration. Austria received Bosnia and Herzegovina. The territory ceded to Servia and Montenegro by the treaty of San Stefano, as well as that ceded to Russia in Asia, was somewhat diminished. The Porte was advised to make some cession of territory to Greece, and the line of frontier subsequently recom mended gave to Greece Janina as well as Thessaly. The usual promises of organic reform were made by Turkey. ”

“ Suleyman I., who succeeded his father Selim as sultan, had not been long on the throne before he found himself involved in a war with the king of Hungary. He marched northwards with a powerful army and wrested from the enemy several places of importance, including the strongly fortified city of Belgrade. Having left a large garrison in this city, which was regarded as the key to the Chris tian lands north of the Danube, the sultan returned to Constantinople, where he continued his father s work of creating a strong and efficient Ottoman fleet. ”

“ ASIATIC TURKEY. The mainstay of the Ottoman dynasty is the Asiatic portion of the Bound- empire, where the Mohammedan religion is absolutely predominant, aries. and where the naturally vigorous and robust Turki race forms in Asia Minor a compact mass of many millions, far outnumbering any other single ethnical element and probably equalling all taken collectively. Here also, with the unimportant exception of the islands of Samos and Cyprus and the somewhat privileged district of Lebanon, all the Turkish possessions constitute vilayets directly controlled by the Porte. ”

“ HISTORY. his enemy, the sultan invested Constantinople, but he was compelled to relinquish the siege in order to subdue a revolt headed by his brother, which had broken out in Asia. Murad again annexed all the Turkish principali ties which had been restored by Tirniir, except those of Kizil Ahmedli and Karaman, which did not finally become incorporated with the empire till the time of Muhammed II. The Turks were now called upon to face the most formidable Christian enemy they had yet encountered, namely Hunyady, the illegitimate son of Sigismund, king of Hungary. ”

“ These successes alarmed the Christian princes, who determined to make a vigorous effort to drive the Turks back into Asia. The kings of Bosnia, Hungary, and Servia accordingly marched with a large army upon Adrianople, but were surprised during the night and completely defeated by an inferior Turkish force. Some time after this victory Murad returned to Asia, where he celebrated the wedding of his son Bayezid with the daughter of the prince of Kermiyan, a large portion of whose territory was made over to the Osmanli monarch as the dower of the bride. ”

“ Mtirad Murad III., who now succeeded to the Ottoman throne, was no improvement upon his father ; he ruled in name only, all real power being in the hands of worthless favour ites. As a natural consequence the empire began rapidly to decay ; corruption infected all ranks of official society, the sultan himself selling his favours for bribes; while the other great curse of old Turkey, military insubordina tion, showed itself in a more threatening aspect than ever. The janissaries mutinied on several occasions, and each time compelled the weak Murad to accede to their demand. ”

“ Each power pledged itself to render assistance to the other not only against the attack of an external enemy but wherever its peace and security might be en dangered. Another article declared that, in order to diminish the burdens of the Porte, the czar would not demand the material help to which the treaty entitled him, but that in lieu thereof the Porte undertook, when ever Russia should be at war, to close the Dardanelles to the war-ships of all nations. ”

“ Twenty -one out of the thirty -four sovereigns who have occupied the throne of Osman have left verses, and among these Selim I. stands out, not merely as the greatest ruler, warrior, and statesman, but also as the most gifted and most original poet. His work is unhappily for the greater part in the Persian language ; the excellence of what he has done in Turkish makes us regret that he did so little. The most prominent man of letters under Selim 1. was the legist Kemal Pasha-zada, fre quently called Ibn-Kemal, who distinguished himself in both prose and verse. ”

“ Here the vizier blockaded him, and after two days severe fighting compelled him to surrender with all his army. By the treaty which followed the czar pledged himself, among other things, to restore the fortress of Azoff and all its dependencies to the sultan, and to grant the king of Sweden a free and safe passage to his own country through the Muscovite dominions. ”

“ Meanwhile Russian and Turkish forces were opposed in Asia. Ears maintained a gallant defence, but succumbed to famine two months after the fall of Sebastopol. The peace of Paris followed, in which Russia ceded to Turkey the portion of Bessarabia adjacent to the mouth of the Danube. The Black Sea was neutralized, Russia and the Porte alike engaging to keep no war-ships and to maintain no arsenals there. The exclusive pro tectorate of Russia over the Danubian principalities was abolished, and the autonomy of these provinces, as well as of Servia, placed under the guarantee of all the powers. ”

“ To show how light he held this menace, 'Osmán assembled an army forthwith, marched to Nicæa and thence to the Bosphorus, laying waste the country as he went and taking possession of a number of towns and villages. Michael, called by the Turkish historians Kösa Míkhál or Michael Scantbeard, the governor of one of these, embraced Islám and became one of the most trusted officers of 'Osmán and of his son and successor Orkhan. The descendants of this Michael were the hereditary commanders of the aḳinjis, a corps of light cavalry who played a great part in the early Ottoman wars. ”

“ It was the descendants of those Persianized Seljuks whom the early Ottomans found ruling in Asia Minor on their arrival there. What had happened to the Seljuks two centuries before happened to the Ottomans now : the less civilized race adopted the culture of the more civilized ; and, as the Seljuk empire fell to pieces and the Ottoman came gradually to occupy its place, the sons of men who had called themselves Seljuks began thenceforth to look upon themselves as Ottomans. ”

“ Austria now joined Russia, and the Porte had to sustain a war in Servia and Bosnia as well as on the coasts of the Black Sea. The double combat was carried on with very different results. While the Russians won victory after victory, and finally penetrated into the heart of Moldavia, the Austrians were defeated and driven across the Danube. On their advancing from Belgrade in the summer of 1739 they were defeated with great loss at Krotzka, and compelled to sue for peace. ”

“ This famous general, after having inflicted several severe though not very important defeats upon his adversaries, invaded European Turkey with a large army of Hungarians, Poles, Servians, Bosnians, Walachians, and Frankish crusaders, the last-named being under the command of Cardinal Julian. The Ottoman army was utterly routed, Sophia taken, and the chain of the Balkans forced ; and Murad was compelled to sign a treaty for ten years, by which he resigned all claims to Servia and gave over Walachia to Hungary. ”

“ It ought to be premised that the poetry of the old school is greatly superior to the prose. Ottoman literature may be said to open with a few mystic lines, the work of Sultan Veled, son of Maulana Jelal-ud-Din, the author of the great Persian poem the Mathnawl. Sultan Veled flourished during the reign of Osman I., though he did not reside in the territory under the rule of that prince. ”

“ Bulgaria was constituted an autonomous state, though tributary to the Porte, and was defined so as to extend to the ^Egean Sea and to include the greater part of the country between the Balkans and the coast. Crete, Thessaly, and Epirus were to receive the necessary reforms at the hands of a European com mission. To this treaty Great Britain refused to give its assent, and vigorous preparations were made for war. The fleet was at the Dardanelles, and Indian troops were brought to Malta. Russia could no longer count on the neutrality of Austria. ”

“ Greece was to remain tributary to the sultan, but to be governed by its own elected authorities and to be independent in its com mercial relations. The surviving Turkish population was to be removed from Greece ; all property belonging to Turks, whether on the continent or the islands, was to be purchased by the Greeks. This protocol was developed into the treaty of London between England, Russia, and France, signed in July 1827, by which the three powers bound themselves to put an end to the conflict in the East. ”

“ Having thoroughly established his authority in his capital of Yeni Shehr, Osman began to wrest from the Greeks many of the neighbouring towns and strongholds, among others Ayina Göl and Ḳoyun Ḥiṣári, routing before the last named a large Byzantine army. He then turned his attention to the administration of his state, and such was the feeling of security he succeeded in establishing that large numbers of people from the surrounding districts flocked into his dominions and became his subjects. ”

“ As Mehemet AH refused to give up his conquests, an Anglo-Austrian naval squadron was sent to co-operate with a Turkish force in attacking the coast-towns of Syria. Acre was captured, and Ibrahim, assailed by the mountain tribes of the interior, was forced to retire to Egypt. A convention made between Mehemet and Sir Charles Napier, who had appeared at Alexandria with part of the fleet, formed the basis of the ultimate settlement, by which Mehemet, after formal submission to the sultan, was recognized as hereditary governor of Egypt. ”

“ Large sums are freely contributed for the establishment and support of good schools, and the cause of national education is seldom forgotten in the legacies of patriotic Anatolian Greeks. Even the Turks are be stirring themselves in this respect, and great progress has been made during the last twenty years in the Erzeroum vilayet. ”

“ Hence the vast majority of the people whom we are accustomed to think of as Ottomans are so only by adoption, being really the descendants of Seljuks or Seljiikian subjects, who had derived from Persia whatever they possessed of civilization or of literary taste. ”