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

THE FIRST SEVEN SULTANS
It had been a Christian church for 1,100 years; it has been a,
mosque for 4'20. (1873.)
Having won the great prize, having now a glorious capital in
the centre of his Empire, standing with one foot upon Europe, the
other upon Asia, the one and almost only redeeming trait in the
cruel and se-ingai,nary character of Mo.hammned II. was strikingly
displayed. He savw the great capital a desolation; his followers
were soldiers, not citizens, and he resolved to call in Christian
inhabitants to fill it with industry arnd wealth. He declared
himself the special protector of his Chriatian subjects. He
ordered the election of a Patriarch to be made according to the
rules and precedents of the Greek Church, tand he was inducted
into office with pomp and ceremony in the presence of the court;
the Sultan himself assuring them of his protection and friendship. The immunities then granted by him remain intact to
this day. Ccnstantinople rose rapidly from its ruins. Churches
were cha,nged to mosques, palaces and baths were built. Industry and commerce were encouraged. The long, desolated fields
of Roomelie were clothed again with flocks and villages. The
rayah peasantry, although still exposed to the atrocious injustice of
having their finest children carried off to the palace and to recruit
the Janizary corps, eDjoyed a degree of peace, safety and freedom which had been unknown under the Greek Empire, with
its constant internal feuds and wars with its neighbors. Having
to some extent repaired and adorned the ruined capital, the
Sultan turned his attentio.n to other coinquests. The little kingdoms of Trebizond, Servia, Bosnia, Albania, Moldavia, the
MIorea, Negropont, qephalonie, Lesbos, Lemnos, Imbros, were
added to his dominions. His wars were characterized by the
most savage barbariti,es, and the most flagrant violations of
faith. His armies often suffered terrible and bloody defeats.
He failed in all his efforts to subdue Scanderbeg and to take the
island of RBhodes from the Knights of St. John; but still he
earned well the iname of "Conqueror," by which he is always
designated by tllhe Mns ulman historians. Iie was statesman as
well as warrior, and the religious and military code of law is
nearly as he left it. Thle murder of brothers, and all relatives
thlat might endanger the peace, was matde legitimate by him to
every Sultan on ascendit.ng the throne. The dark stains upon
his otiherwis-e brilliant character, are his remorseless cruelty, his
[Janu ary,
62