Okhrana

“ On the same train journeyed also three members of the secret police, ostensibly to protect, but really, as I well understood, to spy upon me. Their presence the Empress, who came in the pouring rain to see the train off from the station, was powerless to forbid, as she herself was constantly under the surveillance of the dread Okhrana. Our train traveled slowly, taking five days from Petrograd to{134} the Black Sea. But this we did not mind as we were very comfortable, the weather became beautiful, and our frequent stops at Moscow and towns farther south were full of interest. ”

“ He left to Orkhan the inheritance of Nicaea and Nicomedia unconquered; a state without laws, coinage, and definite boundaries; a people just beginning to awaken to a national consciousness; and hostile neighbours far more powerful than himself. [90] Orkhan found himself without seaport, ships, or sailors. His fighting men were regarded among his Turkish rivals as poor material for an army. [91] Even the chieftainship of the Osmanlis had not come to him by mere right of birth. ”

“ I am told that the Osmanlis are treacherous men, whose hearts know only hatred and whose heads are filled with base thoughts.’ [130] In another place Shehabeddin records that Orkhan has in the field 25,000 horsemen who are fighting daily the prince of Constantinople. ‘The Greek emperor is eager to buy the goodwill of Orkhan by paying him a monthly tribute.’ Orkhan sends expeditions into Europe, ‘where waves of blood flow’. [131]
V
The first Ottoman legislation, and the organization of the army, is attributed by tradition to Orkhan’s brother, Alaeddin, rather than to the emir himself. ”

“ Okba then planted his lance in the ground, and called out ‘Here is your Kerouan’ (caravan, or resting-place) , thus giving the name to the new city. He himself traced out the foundation of the governor’s palace, and of the great mosque, the true position of the Kibla, or direction of Mecca, which was miraculously communicated to him by God. In most mosques the Imam, when leading the public prayers, turns ostentatiously a little on one side or the other, as if facing Mecca with even greater exactitude than the building itself ”

“ There seems to be no basis for the characterization of Orkhan which the early western historians handed down to posterity. He was neither vicious nor cruel nor deceitful. His three striking characteristics were those which mark all men who have accomplished a great work in history, oneness of purpose, inexhaustible energy, and an unlimited capacity for detail. He began life as a village lad of an obscure tribe. After a public career of sixty years he died, the brother-in-law of the emperor of Byzantium, the friend and ally of Genoa, and potentially master of Thrace. ”

“ Eight hours’ ride from Amikh brought me to the large Armenian convent of Yedi Klissia, or the seven churches, built of substantial stone masonry, and inclosing a spacious courtyard planted with trees. It has more the appearance of a caravanserai than that of a place of religious retreat, and is beautifully situated near the mouth of a wooded ravine, half-way up a bold mountain, which ends in snowy peaks. Spread beneath it is a blue lake and a smiling plain, and the city, with its bold castellated rock, and its turreted walls half hid in gardens and orchards. ”

“ It is with Othman's son Orkhan that the Ottoman Empire really begins. He threw off his nominal allegiance to the Sultan [of Iconium] , though he still bore only the title of Emir. And in his time the Ottomans first made good their footing in Europe. But while his dominion was still only Asiatic, Orkhan began one institution which did more than anything else firmly to establish the Ottoman power. This was the institution of the tribute children. By the law of Mahomet ... the unbeliever is allowed to purchase life, property, and the exercise of his religion, by the payment of tribute. ”

“ The futile agitation in Europe against the reawakening{86} of Islam did not in any way hurt Orkhan. On the contrary it helped him greatly. Just as the petty conflict of Andronicus III with Phocaea in 1336 had diverted Orkhan’s powerful southern neighbours, this interference of the Pope, and the activity of Rhodes and Venice, contributed to the prosperity and growth of the Osmanlis by striking a blow at his most dangerous rivals, the Emirs of Sarukhan, Aïdin, and Hamid. After 1340 Orkhan was ready to extend his dominion into Europe. ”

“ The north-east is the Moslem quarter, the north-west the Christian quarter, the south-west the Armenian, and the south-east the Jewish. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is, of course, in the Christian quarter, where also we have the Latin Convent, very conspicuous from its lofty position near the north-west angle of the city. In the Moslem quarter is the Serai or palace, and most of the Consulates, and the beautiful little Church of St Anne. The Armenian Convent, the largest building in the city, occupies a noble site on the south-western hill. ”

“ The Lady of the Mongols, as the Greeks called her, was the first member of her house whom the founder of the house of Osman had seen, and she treated him so contemptuously that he paid her back by capturing the city of Nicæa as a base for his future operations against the empire of her fathers. When, less than two hundred years later, the descendant of Osman took the capital of the Palæologi and built there his great mosque, he made a present of St. Mary the Mongolian to his Greek architect. So it is that the Greeks have always been able to retain possession of the church. ”

“ Passing through the enclosure of the ruinous walled city, which recalled the Kala or Ottoman fortress at Akhlat, we encamped among the gardens of the more modern quarter.2 The trees are well grown, and provided us with deep shade. At least one considerable stream descends from the interior; the oasis is of some extent. Early next day we made our way in the lightest of clothing from our tents in the heart of the orchards to the margin of the shore. It was some little distance, but the walk was all that we could wish. The morning is the time to enjoy the picturesqueness of any Eastern town. ”

“ But ’tis sacrilege to dare to lift the veil which hides the sanctuary of Ra from all but his priests. Then she frowned and would not smile, refused to look on him again, vowed a more devoted artisan would in future receive her commands. And he, poor weak fool, swore an oath that he would do her bidding. After that she smiled again and Amen-het went to Men-ne-fer, and at dead of night his sacrilegious foot trod the inner sanctuary of Ra, the all-creating god, in order to find a graceful design for a lamp for the bathroom of Princess Neit-akrit. ”

“ At last, when the besieged had well considered the obstinacy of the Saracens; who, they had good reason to believe, would never raise the siege till they had taken the city, whatever time it took up, or whatever pains it might cost them; Sophronius the patriarch went to the wall, and by an interpreter discoursed with Abu Obeidah, telling him, that Jerusalem was the holy city, and whoever came into the holy land with any hostile intent, would render himself obnoxious to the divine displeasure. ”

“ Osman and Orkhan were able to build up a race and a nation without notice and, consequently, without hindrance. For their little corner of Asia Minor had been abandoned by the Byzantines. Since the days when Nicaea became the capital of the empire, after the Latin conquest of Constantinople, its commercial relations with Europe were interrupted. None knew or cared about the rise of the Osmanlis until they appeared in Thrace. Orkhan had assured himself of his inheritance by patient waiting. Of Murad immediate action was demanded. ”

“ From Abu Obeidah Ebn Aljerahh, lieutenant in Syria to the emperor of the faithful Omar, Ebn Al Khattab (whom God bless) , and general of his forces. The most mighty God hath conquered several places by our hands; wherefore do not let the greatness of your city, nor the strength of your buildings, nor the plenty of your stores, nor the bigness of your bodies, deceive you: for your city is no more in your hands, when we come to war against it, than if we should set a pot upon a stone in the midst of our camp, and all the army should come round about, to take every one of them a mouthful. ”

“ The captive was carried before the governor, who seeing him, said: ‘The slaughter of this man would be an evil; but his return to the Mussulmans would be a calamity: can he not be persuaded to embrace Christianity, and become an auxiliary and helper?’ A Greek patriarch who was present, answered him, and said, ‘O Emir, I will tempt him to apostacy; for the Arabs are exceedingly fond of women, and I have a daughter endowed with perfect beauty, who shall seduce him. The governor, thereupon, gave the prisoner into His charge, and the patriarch conveyed him to his house ”

“ To their left, as the road turned in zig-zag to the east, was the marvellous town which the traveller who has seen Palestine likens to Jerusalem, so steep and high and straight is the crest of warm brown and orange precipice on which it stands, so deep the valleys round it, so strange and complete the fusion between the city and the rock, so conspicuous the place of the great cathedral, which is Orvieto, as the Temple was Zion. ”

“ The first regiment of professional Ottoman soldiery was recruited by him and embodied later by Orkhan, his son, from Greek and other Christian-born youths, who, forced to apostatize, were educated as Imperial slaves in imitation of the Mamelukes, constituted more than a century earlier in Egypt, and now masters where they had been bondmen. It is not indeed for nothing that Osman’s latest successor, and all who hold by him, distinguish themselves from other peoples by his name. ”

“ That of Uftádí Efendí, in the inner castle, of Khalvetí dervíshes. That of Abdál Murád Sultán of the Begtáshís, men fervent in piety, who bareheaded and barefooted with open breasts, wait upon the Moslims who frequent this delightful walk; it was built by Orkhán and possesses more than a thousand kettles, pans, and copper vessels; visitors perform their devotions here. That of Sheikh Kílí near the camel-driver’s station, the dervishes are Begtáshís and very poor, having no endowment, it was built by Sultán Orkhán. That of Abdál Sultán Mússa built by the same. ”

“ Except in Albania and Bosnia, where the old nobility were to preserve their lands by conversion to Islam, there were no local traditions to prevent such a scheme by necessitating the dispossession of former great landowners. The{77} Seljuks, the Crusaders, and the Mongols in Asia Minor, the Catalans, the Bulgarians, the Serbians and the civil wars between the emperors in Macedonia and Thrace, the hangers-on of the Fourth Crusade in Thessaly, Greece, and the Aegaean Islands, had made so clean a sweep of the old aristocracy, attached to the soil, that Orkhan’s idea was feasible. ”

“ Orkhan was the organizer of the Ottoman army. He and{82} his successor Murad laid the foundations of a military power which was without rival for two centuries. Although there is no ground for the claim of many historians that the Osmanlis were a hundred years ahead of Europe in organizing a standing army, [154] they were certainly pioneers in the complete organization of an army on a permanent war footing. Orkhan understood well the principle qui se laisse payer se laisse commander thirty years before Charles V of France. ”

“ As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. Ideals are lost when the goal is reached. Decay sets in when the struggle for existence ceases.
Pressed on the one side by his Turkish neighbours and on the other by the danger of including in his dominions a large and unassimilated mass of Christians, Orkhan was wise enough to desist from any attempt at forcible conversion. ”

“ At the same time, when viewed from the exterior, the main dome rises large, bold and commanding, with nothing of the squat appearance that mars the dome of St Sophia, with nothing of the petty prettiness of the little domes perched on the drums of the later Byzantine churches. The great mosques express the spirit of the days when the Ottoman empire was still mighty and ambitious. ”

“ Orkhan was inflexible. He had now become the overlord of the Byzantine emperor. In March 1359 the successor of Constantine went as a vassal to meet his Ottoman suzerain at Scutari. He appeased the wrath of Orkhan only by agreeing to pay a half of Halil’s ransom, and by signing a treaty of peace that was a virtual acceptance of the new status quo in Thrace. The peace was to be sealed by the betrothal of his ten-year-old daughter to Halil. It was as errand boy of Orkhan that John V made one more trip to Phocaea, paid one hundred thousand pieces of gold for Halil, and brought him to Nicaea. ”

“ By 1336 Orchan had included all North-Western Asia Minor in the Ottoman Empire, and the next twenty years of peace he devoted to the work of perfecting the military organization and consolidating the resources of his newly-acquired territories; in this his brother Ala-ed-din loyally supported him. Thus in the middle of the fourteenth century we find two empires face to face, separated only by the narrow channel of the Bosphorus. On the Asiatic side the Ottoman Empire, homogeneous, for all its subjects were of the same race, strong and united ”

“ Four Armenian monks had left the Convent of St. Lazarus at Venice, having found the abbot's tyranny unbearable. They had wealthy relations at Constantinople, and laughed the excommunication of their late tyrant to scorn. They sought asylum at Vienna, promising to make themselves useful to the State by establishing an Armenian press to furnish all the Armenian convents with books. They engaged to sink a capital of a million florins if they were allowed to settle in Austria, to found their press, and to buy or build a convent, where they proposed to live in community but without any abbot. ”