tle more was required for the consolidation of a powerful monarchy than the reduction of some municipal republics, and the subjugation of the now enfeebled horde on the Don. These conditions were soon realized. In 1481, Ivan, assuming the title of Czar, announced himself as an independent sovereign to the states of Christendom; and the EMPIRE OF RUSSIA was formed.

league against the infidels of Constantinople. His country, however, was as yet in no condition to play the part desired; nor was it, indeed, until the days of Peter the Great, that Russian vessels, after a lapse of nearly eight centuries, again swam the sea of Azov. Still, the future was preparing. The peace of Carlowitz, in 1699, terminated the last of those Turkish wars by which European freedom was conceived to be threatened. It actually included Russia; and thus was Russia, for the first time, brought seriously into hostile contact with the Porte. It may be even added, that the terms of the treaty were honorable to Peter; nevertheless, although the ascendency of the Imperialist over the Ottoman arms had now been conclusively decided, some time further was to elapse before this superiority was shared by Russia also.

The Turkish Empire entered upon the eighteenth century considerably damaged by the last campaigns. Its forces had been relatively, though not, perhaps, actually weakened; but its reputation was most seriously diminished. Nevertheless, this very circumstance probably contributed, by finally removing all dread of its aggressions, to promote that peculiar interest which the cabinets of Europe now began to take in its political fortunes. It was, however, the progress of Russia alone which modified the estimation of Turkey among the western states; and we shall best understand this gradual revolution of opinion by observing the respective positions of the Porte and its new rival at the close of the several wars by which this century was distinguished. should be recollected that the direct influence of Turkey, at this period, upon the European system, was almost exclusively confined to the northern states. The secret inspiration of France was,

It

It is very remarkable that even this remote and peculiar state, which then gave so little promise of its future destiny, should thus have been apparently consolidated at the same period which witnessed the definite formation of so many of the European kingdoms. Ivan the Great was contemporary with Maximilian of Austria, with Ferdinand of Spain, and with Louis XI. of France. And circumstances, arising immediately from the events before us, seemed at one moment to favor, in no small degree, the ultimate development of the new dominion. Constantinople, the early patroness of Russian progress and civilization, from which the recollections of the people had never, even by the intruding Tartars, been wholly estranged, had now, in her original capacity and influence, become extinct, and was occupied by aliens in religion and race. We may perhaps say, indeed, that this catastrophe was more sincerely felt in Russia than in any other part of Christendom. To the high gratification of his subjects, Ivan raised Sophia, the last of the Greek princesses, to a share of his throne and bed; adopted as the ensign of his state the two-headed eagle, which, by a strange vicissitude, had now been replaced at Constantinople by the old crescent of pagan Byzantium; and appeared, by his alliance and his sympathies, to have acquired some of the dignity and pretensions of the emperors of the Greeks. Detached, in this manner, from its orig-indeed, perceptible in the decisions of the Divan; inal connection with the East, the Russian monarchy acquired rather a European than an Asiatic aspect an exchange undoubtedly conducive to its eventual advancement. Its penanee, however, was not yet done. At this critical juncture, when everything appeared to promise the speedy growth of the new power, the old stock of Rurik, after seven centuries and a half of existence, failed in the third generation from the great Ivan; and a succession of usurpers, invaders, and pretenders, for fifteen years, during which interregnum the country narrowly escaped annexation to Poland, threw back the rising monarchy into a condition scarcely better than that from which it had emerged. At length, in 1613, the election of Michael Romanoff to the vacant throne provided Russia anew with a royal stock; and the fated antagonist of the house of Othman was finally established in policy and power.

But for the retarding circumstances to which we have referred, it is probable that the relations between Turkey and Christendom would have been changed at a much earlier period by the menacing attitude of Russian dominion. Alexis, the second of the Romanoffs, suggested, even in the middle of the seventeenth century, the formation of a holy

but it was only on the banks of the Vistula and the shores of the Baltic that the vibrations of Ottoman struggles were practically felt. Acting on Russia and Poland through the medium of Cossack and Tartar hordes, which carried their allegiance and their disorder to all those countries in turn-on Prussia and Sweden through Poland, and on Denmark through Russia-the Turkish Empire found itself connected with the less important moiety of Christendom-its relations with the Great Powers of the West being mainly suggested by its capacities for annoying Austria. In the wars, therefore, of the Spanish succession, as in the other great European contests, the Ottoman Empire was in no ways directly mixed. Though its councils, as we shall presently see, became more and more exposed to the intrigues of diplomatists, yet so lordly was the indifference of the Porte to such opportunities, and so capricious and uncertain was its disposition, that no extensive combination could be safely based on its probable demeanor.

When the division of Europe with which it was most immediately concerned had been convulsed by the enterprises of Charles XII. of Sweden, it took no original part in the quarrel; but

condescended to acknowledge an "empress" in the Czarina; and an explicit stipulation was introduced for the annulment of all previous conventions, agreements, and concessions, and the recognition of this treaty as solely defining the relations which were to subsist thereafter between the contracting powers.

After this, all, excepting the actual conquest of the Ottoman Empire, may be said to be virtually over. In fact, even the last war had been commenced with the definite expectation of despoiling the Porte of some, at least, of its European possessions—so precipitate had been its decline. Turkey was now fairly on the descending limb of her orbit; and it seemed easy to calculate the speed with which she was hastening to her setting. True to her ancient policy, if such a term can be applied to a strange combination of ignorance, highmindedness, and disdain, the Porte took no part in the wars which embroiled its old antagonist at the demise, in 1740, of the imperial crown; or in the seven years' hostilities which afterwards ensued. On the contrary, it actually proffered its disinterested mediation to the bellig erents, and voluntarily despatched to the court of

when, after the defeat of Pultawa, the vanquished which, even if Turkey did not retrograde, yet Rushero sought refuge at Bender, the peace of Car- sia must continue to advance-and the distance be lowitz was summarily broken, in behalf of a sov-tween them must yearly increase. Even the terms ereign whose inferiority to his adversary had been of the particular treaty which followed immeexposed before all the world. It would be a work diately upon the peace of Belgrade, showed the of some interest to ascertain how far the Divan change of relationship between them. The terriwas actually influenced by any considerations re-torial arrangements were not greatly to the disadspecting Russian aggrandizement, and whether, vantage of the Porte; but the haughty Ottoman upon this early occasion, its deliberations were swayed by the maxims of more modern policy. That it was not so influenced, to any very great extent, we may perhaps infer from its promptitude in engaging the Czar, and from the justification which such confidence received on the Pruth. Peter was there completely discomfited; and, although the Swedish king gained nothing in the end, the advantages obtained by the Turks over the Russians appeared, in 1711, quite decisive on the comparative strength of the two parties. In 1724, however, the Divan had begun to look with jealousy, if not apprehension, upon the growth of Russia; and war was only averted by the good offices of the French court. Its ambassador, on this occasion, represented to the Porte, remarkably enough, that the aggrandizement of Russia could be in no wise injurious to the Ottoman interests; but that, on the contrary, it would supply a counterpoise against Austria, the natural enemy of Mahometan power. It is said that Peter the Great bequeathed certain cabinet traditions for effacing what he considered to be the humiliating features of the treaty of the Pruth; and it is at any rate clear, that when the accession of the Empress Anne introduced fresh spirit into the Russian counsels, an opportunity | Vienna assurances of its unaltered amity. The was promptly found to renew hostilities with the Ottomans. Indeed, the cabinet of St. Petersburgh appears to have even now almost succeeded to the imperious carriage of the Porte itself. Though, twenty years later, such was the condition of the country, that one of the most intelligent of French diplomatists described it as a country liable, at any moment, to relapse into barbarism, and on that ground disqualified for any permanent alliances; yet it already assumed all the airs of supremacy, so far as even to contest the ancient precedence of France. The war from 1735 to 1739, which now ensued, proved the hinging point in the military fortunes of Turkey. It cannot certainly be termed discreditable in its conduct. Since, notwithstand-years, of Russian power, that the germs of all its ing that it was actually engaged in Persia with the formidable Nadir Shah, the Porte was still able to show a resolute front to Munnich in the Crimea, and to the Count de Wallis on the Danube, and at length drove the Austrians to a precipitate peace under the walls of Belgrade. But though the honor of the Ottoman arms was thus far unexpectedly maintained, and though no advantage was ever gained against them without a desperate struggle, it was nevertheless demonstrated, by the results of the campaign, that the rising power of Russia had at length reached an equality with that of Turkey; nor could it be much longer doubtful with which the superiority would rest for the future. The point had now been reached after

question on which peace was at last broken was that of expiring Poland. To say that the Divan was mainly influenced in this movement by sentiments of sympathy or generosity, would be saying too much; but, so blind was it to the changes which time had wrought in the relative strength of the parties, that, in 1768, it deliberately and of its own accord declared war upon Russia. The campaigns which followed, speedily demonstrated the fatal folly of such a proceeding. The position of Turkey had, for nearly half a century, been defensive, and its vulnerable points were now fully exposed. On the other hand, so steady and rapid had been the advance, in the last thirty

subsequent pretensions were already visible, with their consequences, in this, the first war after the peace of Belgrade. Russian squadrons immediately scoured the Archipelago; Russian missionaries excited the Greek subjects of the Porte to rebellion; Russian agents tampered with the refractory governors of Egypt. So settled was the confidence of Catharine II. in the superiority of her admirably disciplined troops, that the vast hosts of the Ottomans were deliberately met by one eighth of their numbers—and with perfect success. The Turks were driven out of Wallachia and Moldavia; the Danube was crossed; the fortresses of its southern bank invested; and the Ottoman communications intercepted between the

famous camp of Schumla and its magazines at |dinate pride of the Ottoman sultans. In respect Varna. of arrogance, however, the French monarchs were nearly a match for their oriental allies. They exacted from the Porte the title of " Padischah," or Emperor; and, in the conduct of such of their ambassadors as Marcheville and Ferriol, it is difficult to trace much superiority over the uncivilized envoys of the Porte. But as the preponderance of the Ottoman power gradually decreased, this indefinite influence of France assumed a more positive form and scope, and at length, in the

And now, for the first time, were the general apprehensions of Christendom excited, on behalf of the Turks. Austria, though both previously and subsequently allured by a proposal for sharing the expected spoils, discerned a new danger and a new policy, while England and France acquired new motives of interest; and even Prussia acknowledged her concern. What adds to the significance of this agitation is, that it was of no avail. Catharine proudly rejected all interven-wars of Louis le Grand, it was visibly established. tion; and, at her own time and upon her own terms, dictated the treaty of Kainardgi, which carried the old frontier of Peter the Great on to the banks of the Bug.

So ambitious a monarch could not overlook a power of which so much use was to be made in a variety of ways. The Most Christian King had been forced indeed, for very decency, to despatch This was the first advancement of the bounda- certain succors to the emperor at the moment ries of Russia to the south; and we may convey when the infidel was actually menacing Vienna; an intelligible idea of the system commenced, on but his agents were all the while busy at Conthis occasion, by merely enumerating the stages stantinople; and in the delay of the pacification of its progress from those days to the present. with which at length the war and the century Between the channels of the Dnieper and the were terminated, the interested action of a westDanube three smaller streams fall in parallel di- ern power was, for the first time, notoriously rections into the waters of the Euxine-the Bug, traceable. After this period, the necessities or the Dniester, and the Pruth. In the time of liabilities of the Ottoman state, in this respect, Peter, the Russian frontier had been formed by became matter of common recognition; and so the Dnieper; in 1774, it was carried, as we have regularly during the next hundred years did all said, to the Bug; in 1792 to the Dniester; in the great powers of Europe, according to their 1812 to the Pruth; and in 1829, the line was successive ascendencies or opportunities, claim a made to include the mouths of the Danube. These right of interference and mediation in the negotiadvances represent, of course, grave contests and ations and treaties of the Porte, that the conduct serious cost. In 1784, Catharine had so far ven- of Catharine II., in disallowing such intervention tured on the rights of the strongest, as to annex between her and her enemy, was conceived to the Crimea to her dominion, by the simple author- indicate an extraordinary degree of presumption. ity of an imperial ukase. But by her menacing These intercessions, however, had not yet been parades in these regions, and by her haughty in- dictated or determined by any general alarm at scription" the route to Byzantium"-over one the aggrandizement of Russia; they originated in of the gates of Kherson, she at length exasperated the prospect of advantage which each state disthe still ferocious Ottomans beyond the bounds of cerned in communicating the impress of its own patience and war was again declared by the interests to the engagements of a nation dissoPorte. The campaigns of Potemkin and Suwar-ciated by creed, position, and character, from the row-the capture of Oczakoff-and the storm of ordinary politics of Christendom. Even after Ismail, followed. The results we have already Turkey ceased to be an aggressive power, it still named. retained the capacity of effecting, on emergencies, What we are now, however, desirous of notic-most serious diversions-and of granting commering, is not so much the protracted struggle be- cial privileges of no trifling value. It became in tween Turkish desperation and Russian strength, fact a state, which, though not secluded from the as the political persuasions which the development rights of political community, was yet so practiof these facts contributed to generate in Europe.cally withdrawn from the sphere of ordinary We drew attention, at an early stage of our re- combinations, as to appear like a ready-made inmarks, to the influence originally sought for, strument for all collateral purposes. Its disdainthough with great submissiveness and timidity, by ful chivalry and its passionate caprices were well the emissaries of France at the court of the sultan. known; nor was there any cabinet of importance There was, we may here observe, a singular con- which did not appreciate the possible services they venience in the alliance to which the Porte had might confer. At the Pruth, the mediating been thus incidentally led. The King of France powers were England and Poland; at Belgrade, was far enough removed to be beyond the risk of the mission devolved upon France. Prussia was collision; the traditional connection of his cabinet characteristically introduced to the Divan by the with the affairs of Poland, and its peculiar author-admiration of the Ottoman for the personal qualiity with the Order of St. John, gave him frequent ties of the Great Frederic. The state of things opportunities of serviceable mediation, while his disclosed by Romanzoff's campaigns, transformed position, as the first hereditary monarch of the even Austria into an intercessor on behalf of the Christian world, was such as to gratify the inor-Turks; and in 1792 the cabinets of London and

Berlin found themselves zealously coöperating for the same end. Other scenes, however, were now at hand.

always favorably disposed towards Turkey, had now become its most obvious councillor and friend. Into the particulars of the engagements which folThe position of Turkey, at the opening of those lowed we need not enter. It will be enough to eventful days which changed the face of Europe observe, that by this measure the French governby and through the French revolution, was briefly ment rudely snapped asunder an alliance of two this:-She had escaped the imminency of peril. centuries and a half; that the protectorate, thus The last wars had conclusively established both lost, passed virtually to England; and that the the gigantic strength of Russia and the uses to ultimate effects of the enterprise threatened little which it would probably be applied. Catharine less than the transfer to this country of the credit, did not condescend to disguise her ambition or her influence, and privileges, which France, for so hopes. She openly discussed the project of re-long a period, had enjoyed in the dominions of storing a Greek empire at Constantinople for the the Porte.

the forces of the latter power were opportunely disengaged to assist towards the issue of the Moscow campaign. We touch but cursorily on these events, since, however momentous in themselves, they but indirectly affect the question before us. What is chiefly to be remarked is, that Turkey, during this period, was received with more universal consent, and on a more legitimate footing than before,

benefit of her successors; and revived the auspi- The new impulse, however, thus communicated cious name of Constantine in a prince of her royal to the policy of the Divan was by no means undishouse. Nor, although the fate of Poland had turbed. The vicissitudes of the great war soon alarmed the statesmen of Europe, was it by any furnished so adroit a negotiator as Napoleon with means certain that any peremptory arbitration could opportunities of reviving or remodelling the alliat this time have been interposed between Russia ances of the old monarchy; and so well were his and her prey. In 1791, Pitt had found himself intrigues seconded by the impolicy of our own totally unsupported in his proposition to equip a proceedings that, in 1807, the Dardanelles were squadron of observation for the Dardanelles; the forced by an English fleet while the defence of functions of France, the old and, nominally at least, Constantinople was directed by a minister of France. the natural ally of the Porte, were entirely sus- The publication of the secret compact between pended; and the complicity and spoils of Polish | Alexander and Napoleon at Tilsit, once more, and dismemberment furnished the northern courts with more conclusively, estranged the Porte from its irresistible arguments and temptations. Already, French connections; and at length, by a concerted in fact, had the partition of Turkey been deliber-pacification between Turkey and Russia in 1812, ately canvassed, as a preferable alternative to its absorption; and although subsequent events showed that the Ottomans were by no means so defenceless as they were presumed to be, yet it may be doubted whether they would not have been thrown wholly for support at this time on their own fanatical courage. Even ten years earlier, France, acting always as the confidential friend of Turkey, had intimated to the Divan, that in any future war it would proba-into the community of European states, and that bly be vain to look to Europe for diversion or aid; the part assigned to her in their general federative and the inclinations of Austria to participate rather policy partook more of a regular character. On in the plunder than in the prevention of the deed the other hand, although certain obligations were were sufficiently known. From these hazards, in this way contracted towards the Porte by the however, the Porte was now relieved. The gov-European states, yet its fated antagonist was more ernments of Europe were fain to pause in their than proportionately strengthened by the operation traditional careers; and the same circumstances which had exempted the Ottoman Empire from any share in the great wars of the century just expiring, secured it also in a similar immunity from the revolutionary tempests by which a new order of things was ushered in. At length, after six years' neutrality, the passions of the Porte were violently roused by the ambition of the Directory.

The ancient interests of France in these regions of the world were characteristically symbolized in her revolutionary counsels, by a descent upon Egypt! The results of this famous expedition were, in many points of view, remarkable; and in none more than those immediately connected with the subject under review. Unable to comprehend either the revolution or its consequences, the Porte could at least discern that its oldest ally was deliberately proposing to rob it of its fairest province. It accordingly declared war against France; and, as a natural sequel of such a determination, drew more and more closely to Great Britain, which,

of the same causes. So conspicuous and substantial had been the services of Russia in the struggle of Europe against Napoleon, and so entirely was the continental policy of the court of St. Petersburgh now identified with that of the other great powers, that the attitude of the Czar became far more formidable than before; and results, which we need scarcely recapitulate, proved what substantial grounds there were for the growing apprehensions of the Divan.

What is called, indeed, "the Eastern Question," may be said to have been fully constituted at the close of the war. The opinion still survived, and, in fact, since the days of Catharine II., seemed gradually to have been confirmed, that the national existence of Turkey had reached its appointed term, and could only be protracted by the artificial suspense which the jealousies of Europe might combine to create. An element too of singular importance in the question now made itself visible. An interest was claimed,

whether sincerely or otherwise, yet with great [last phantom representative of the Abbasides, conplausibility, by the Christian powers of Europe in veyed no insignificant authority to the Commander the Christian subjects of the Porte; and as these of the Faithful. In virtue of this title, the suwere mostly members of the Greek church, the premacy of the Sublime Porte was recognized by sympathies and pretensions of Russia naturally all the orthodox Mussulman world; so that an assumed a peculiar prominence. The liberation appeal, based upon the obligations involved in it, of Greece, and the incidents, whether of argument was' actually, in 1799, transmitted to Constantinoor violence, attending its accomplishment, furnish ple from Seringapatam. a sufficient exemplification of the views and con- It is a remarkable feature in the history of the siderations which were thus introduced upon the Ottoman and Russian empires, that the destinies political stage, and which, it is evident, have ever of both should be matter of long-descended tradisince been steadily increasing in significance and tion and common acceptance in the minds of the weight. Still, a strong counterpoise remained in people. Though the establishment of the Turks the conviction, felt by all European cabinets but in Europe is now of such respectable antiquity one, that the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire, that its fourth, and perhaps fated centenary draws in its substantial integrity, was necessary to the nigh, and though their rights of dominion have prospective peace of Europe; and although this acquired a title beyond that of mere prescription, sentiment might, in some quarters, be reducible yet the nation itself, as has been observed by an into a simple objection to a monopoly of the spoil, historian not often distinguished by such felicitous yet the difficulties of a partition were so great brevity of expression, is still only "encamped" that, eventually, all parties coincided in a resolu- on its conquests. They have never comported tion to stave off the crisis, and postpone a question themselves, either politically or socially, as if which they were unable to solve-with any satisfaction to themselves.

they anticipated in Europe any continuing home. Ottoman legends relate how a belief arose, even Such, then, is the position of the Ottoman Em- in the very hour of conquest, that the banner of pire. Prostrate, to all appearance, at the feet of the Cross would again be some day carried to the its vigilant and redoubtable foe, it is maintained, brink of the Straits; and it is said that this misin a precarious security, by the jealousies rather giving is traceable in the selection of the Asiatic than the sympathies of surrounding nations; for shore for the final resting-place of true believers. although, on more than one occasion, it has ex- It is certain, too, that from the first definite appahibited an unlooked-for vitality in the hour of rition of the Russian Empire, they instinctively peril, yet the experience of recent years forbids recognized the antagonists of Fate. Europe had all further reliance on such resources. The hardly learned the titles of the Czar when the Danube and the Balkan are no longer barriers. gaze of the Porte was uneasily directed to the Adrianople has been already once reached; and between that city to Constantinople there intervenes but a step.

new metropolis on the Neva; throughout the whole century, notwithstanding its chequered incidents, the impression was never weakened; and to this day the inhabitants of Constantinople point out the particular gate by which the Muscovite troops are to enter the City of Promise. Nor are the traditions less vivid on the other side. Although the visible ambition of the Imperial Court may have been generated by the creations of Peter and the conquests of Catharine, yet the impressions popularly current flow from an earlier and a less corrupted source. The ancient relations of Russia with the capital of the Cæsars, the early hostilities, the subsequent alliances, and the presumed inheritance of Ivan, are all matter of national legend; and combine, with the appeal to religion and the incitements of pride, to make the recovery of Constantinople from the Ottoman appear an obligatory as well as a predestined work. The spirit in which the Russian legions would march to the Bosphorus would, probably, differ little from that in which Grenada was invested by the levies of Castile.

Historians have frequently indulged in speculations upon the causes of this decline. But the question lies, we think, within narrow limits. It is less the decay of one of the antagonists, than the growth of the other, which has so disturbed the balance between them. The armies which were overthrown by the Bajazets and the Amuraths bore no comparison to those encountered by Mahmood; nor is it probable that the Great Solyman, in the height of his power, could have ever made head against such a force as that now wielded by the reigning Czar. Turkey, in short, has been stationary, while other nations have advanced. This is one of the consequences due mainly to the character of the national religion; though it would be incorrect to attribute to this most important influence results exclusively prejudicial. It is true that fanaticism has produced social insecurity as well as political stagnation, and that the false prophets of Ottoman history have been more numerous and successful than the Yet, with all these palliatives of conquest, and pretenders or usurpers of any other history what- all this semblance of warrant, it is unquestionable But, on the other hand, the sanctity which that the sentiments which the occupation of Conthe theocratic principle communicated to the reign- stantinople by Russia might awaken in the cabiing house has proved its inviolable safeguard in nets of Europe would be seconded by the opinion the crisis of revolution; and the reversion of the of every people between the Vistula and the holy Kalifate, which Selim I. secured from the Atlantic. Though the Turks, even in the fourth VOL. XXIV. 27

ever.

CCCII.

LIVING AGE.