The First Seven Sultans of the Ottoman Dynasty [pp. 42-64]

THE FIRST SEYEN SULTANS
value against any interest or pleasure. These characteristics
were steadily confirmed and developed through the whole course
of his life of conquest and blood. He came to the throne with
one dream of glory to inspire all his actions. This was the taking of Constantinople, and making it the capital of his empire.
It had been unsuccessfully besieged about fifty times; four times
by his own ancestors, and was called the impregnable. He resolved that the fifth Ottoman siege should be the last. He had
the most powerful artillery in the world, and he could demolish
walls unassailable by other means. Hie established the most
friendly relations possible with other powers, that he might be
able to 4rect his whole force upon Constantinople.
In March 1452, he commenced the building of the fortress of
P,Ioomelie Hissar, on the European bank of the Bosphorus, right
opposite the Asiatic Hissar built by Bajazid Yilderim. It was
finished by 6,000 workmen in three months, and mounted by
heavier cannon than had ever been used. A Yenetian vessel,
attempting to run the blockade, was sunk by a single ball, 18
inches in diameter. The sailors gained the shore, and were flayed
alive by MIohammned's orders. The Byzantir)e Emperor, Constantine Paleologus, having exhausted all measures, even the
most humiliatinig, to keep the peace, saw that he had nothing
left but to prepare for war. His empire was reduced to the most
pitiable condition. It had not only lost everything in Asia, but
almost everything in Europe. Adrianople had become the Turkish
capital. The Turks had overrun the whole of Thrace. They
held both banks of the Bosphorus, and both shores of the Maarmora. Whatever of Macedonia, Epirus, Greece and the Greek
Islands, was still Byzantine, was separated from the capital, and
destitute of all patriotism, unity and virtue. Religion had become a drivelling superstition, and civilization was with the
Osmanlees. The Emperor sent embassies to all the courts of
Europe for aid. He promised the Pope adherence to the Papal
See, if he would only aid him; but not one of the powers of Europe thought his empire worth helping, and the judgment was
correct. It was past remedy. The only redeeming feature was
the resolution with which the ill-starred Emperor prepared to
meet the coming doom. The Sultan retired to pass the winter
of 1452-53 at Adrianople, doubtful yet determined, moody and
irascible, often plunging his scimitar into the hearts of faithful
60
[January,