order, is Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honour, Knight of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, of the Spanish Order of Charles III, and Isabella the Catholic, of the Dutch Order of the Lion of the Netherlands, of the Order of Leopold of Belgium, of the Swedish Order of the Sword, &c. THE TURKISH ARMY. ALTHOUGH the new organization of the Ottoman army was only established in the year 1843, the first attempts which were made date from an anterior time, and evidence the first progressive steps taken by Turkey in the path of reform. In truth, when the Ottoman empire commenced to sink, after the treaty of Carlowitz, the first symptom by which its decline was manifested was the inferiority of its armies in the presence of the regular and disciplined troops of the West. The Turks were unable to carry on the contest longer, and the moment arrived when the choice was left them, either to perish, or to obtain from Europe lessons in that art in which they had been themselves her first masters. When Sultan Selim undertook, in 1796, the task of creating a corps of troops exercised and disciplined in the European fashion, the old organization was still in existence, although in principle it had undergone numerous modifications. The military forces of Turkey consisted, as in the time of Montecuculi, of imperial soldiers and auxiliary troops; the former receiving regular pay, or maintained by the timars and other military tenures; the others subsisting on the booty captured from the enemy. We have already seen that the Sipahis, who formed the principal strength of the Ottoman cavalry, were bound to reside on their fiefs, and to proceed to the campaign when required with a body of cavalry proportioned to the size of the fief, at the rate of one horseman for every three thousand aspres of revenue. The fiefs could only be conferred on the sons of Sipahis, and on each vacancy the candidates were bound to prove their descent by the testimony of two Zaïms and two Timariotes. The promotion of the feudatories was regulated by the service they performed on the battle-field; whoever brought in the head of an enemy received an augmentation of his revenue of nearly 10 per cent.; fifteen heads established a claim to a more exclusive fief. This powerful body existed in full vigour till the time of Soliman, when the fiefs furnished at least 200,000 horsemen. But from this date, which was the culminating point of the Ottoman power, and, consequently, the commencement of its decline, this number gradually decreased. The majority of the fiefs were sold, the holders no longer marched in person, and purchased their discharge from furnishing their contingents by paying the treasury an indemnity of 50 |