The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-17 00:00:00

THE tustioN JOURNALS.
DAILY EXTRACTS FROM THE MORNING PAPERS.
JULY 17, 1896

[THE TIMES.j
The late military revolution at Constantiuople ap-
, pears to haveiteen of a more deeidacharacter, and to
hate led to more important eoesetelences, than we at
first conceived or anticipated. The corps of Janis.-
saries; whiett has so': long kept' the 'Government in
alatin by its mutinous glint--whichhas lveakeeed the
empire r by', its insubordination and oppressions, and
exNeisted the Treasury by its Useless exactions, would
appear, from - the aeepunte in. the French papers, to
have seen its influence entirely extiuguislied in the
l'utlaelt capital. Its barracks are said to .have been
'irnteitterekiments- dissolved, and its privileges sup-
- tl. If any reliance can be placed on these
the force of the. Janissaries is entirely
crushed at the seat of Government, where it was
most dreaded; anti it: only remains to he seen
whether the terror of the example, and the inerc:ised
4retion of a victorious Government, will extend tie ir
influence to the distant provinces, and be equally felt
over the frontier garrisons; chiefly Occupied -by this
species of troops. If this be the ease; the friends of
the. present Sultan have executed a task which has in
vain been attempted for the. last two centuries---thestandard of the.P.ceehethas been unfurled for once to
save the ene i!e—ene. of the great obstacles to
Vint-leen iii orevements has been removed—and
fereeng an army after the rules of civilized
lee' , may not limit her progress to a simple elienge
in her military establishments, but be led to make far-
ther progress in the arts of eiviiiioion. If, on the
other hand, the remnant of the prescribed troops still
bold out, as it is!kaid, in the Seven 'I owers, and if
their numerous detachments, stationed in the chief
cities of the empire, resolve to maintain their ancient
privileges, this barbarous and oppressive Government
must be so much weakened by internal dissension as
to hold out the fairest prospect for the independence
of the Greeks. Improvement and civilization fur Turkey
may thus spring from the -immediate suppreseion of
the revolt; or freedom ip oppreeAd Christians must
result from its extended and protracted violente.
The establishment of the Janissaries; which has thus
been suppressed (so far as the deeret of the Sultan
Foes), has played, as our readers are aware, a most
unportaut part, both during the glory• amt weak.
ness of, time Turkish power, in extending its
greatness or 'aceelerating its decay. It is true that
the 'Pinkish hordes had left their ;naive wilds two
centuries before its creation, and had extended
their may from the head of ' A.Sia to the eastern
part of Europe. Like the other barbarienS Who este •
blished themselves on the ruins of Greek' and Roman
civilliation, war was their trade, plunder their
sup-
port, and massacre or conquest their pride and glory,:
Ilut like them, too, their empire might have fallen to
pieces, and their Military force Might have been
divided among so.many Aids as to cease to be •.1
gerous, had the institutunt,or the Jeniemaries, :Or the
establishment of permanent troops, not occurred to
one of their most celebrated Princes. When
" A mu-
fath I. bad made a successful irruption into the pro-
vineea on the Danube, he was advised to inieePorate
a body of his youthful (eiptivee into Lis twiny, instead
of loOkilT.for new recruits to the origina w 1... at of his
tribe. " fire advice wile followed," eilpm.Nie: Gibb Oil,
4, the edict was p1:00414)0 3 , many: 0-0u4a,w34,
E urtive in 4' ihrCii l'.(lucittx•A ilr religiou and WWI;
and the new militia was cousecrated end namedby
celebrated •Dervieh. Stending hi the fieint of their
ranks, he stretched the sleeve of' hie gown over the
head of the foremost soldier,' and his blessing' veyi
livered in these words Let them b ealltd
or new eoltliere) ; may, their
countenance he ever bri„elit ; their hand victorious;
thOrsword keen. May their, altar eilways hang over
the ieads of their rnemiee,, atid,,WheeeSoever they go
may they, return ,evith,4l. tvhite Are Suet,, he /Ode,
was the! origin, of, these,hauglity .troope---the terror of
the )fiationise and eimietiniee of the Sultan; them-
selves." For two hundred 'year:l—namely, from the
end of the. fourteenth to that of the ,eixteenth cen-
tury, the foree dint; obtainett ineortiorating iii
the ithreeniman .army the -fifth of Christian cap-
tive youths, and the tenth of the youth; of the
conquered villages, with time. Steven of the Sultan,
composed the flower of the Turkish airniee.; and 'so
long'as the first &titans milled their maim! limn the
heart of their campe, and deelared their decrees filer the
" imperial eeirrup," their obedience was secured; aids,
there never was ar litter ilearinnent of war and cow.
Twat,' ‘Vlicit the. :iovere,igns of EurOpe'llati mei' yet no
standing aendeainured end possessed of
experience—when there was no concert among the
Powers—aud. when, eonsequently.' they could carry
on no great,vombined operatiOn—the force of a body
of troops like the .litimiieeniem, Who added the disci-
plhie experience of veterans to the obedience of
fatueured .slaves, and the burning' enthusiasm' of new
'enlivens, was irresistible.. In this period, eceordiegly
all • the great successes 41f Ow' Turkish army were
But when the Sultana began to prefer: the
pleasures of indolence to time -sisions of ambition, and
exchanged the toils of the camp 'for the debaucheries
•-; •., .
-of the harem, the dieeipline of the corp,i 14.X.C(.1, and
its arms became more dengerous te the Miiesters than
to the enemies of Government. A great variety of
attenibts have einem been wade to eupprelie ; and in
these- attempts both Sultans, Greud'N'iziers, and inkti
riorVinietere, have heen deposal or nus,4saCred. The
impettrint services which the Janissaries, at filed ren,
tiered to the erupire, he extending its limits Or in-
creating its sectirTev, eroemed them those eetraordi-
tar, nrivileeeeZvi,a r eurvived their glory and their
eiefeeteis. Ile !hest:, oriole es they were entitled to
eto mit:lnter eine or the person beyond the
mg;,l; they formed the garrison of the regular-for-
skiee, the. -keys of which could only be in-
sted to their' chiefs; they enjoyed certain tee
4iollB ltT the capital; :trhey drew continued pay;
were entitled to pentilotui on their retirement.
'or the last two centuries, or since. those
ntages were accompanied with few of the dangers
ietieS of service, Christian Mae* or prisonere of
;„„e no longer required tq yeernit.,.the corpe.--
than double the, number of Museuhriana Came
its/Jibed OW its muster-rang
.tkin. actually, en-
tile. Sultan
s' reeks-. "It was' the policy of
••• 'le Fton debaee this torus.
says :. ,
afore permittee the lowest mei most, iti a.mous
lople to enrol themselves. ,lanwsaneh,i3ut7--
heir ,number has been greatly styelled
eetee bee been More thitn pr.oportionably ue
tei teener of them arc notoroeusly stegmatised
m
dice theft, osiersosiersthe vile 4 . whilst_
reatett by.e city life,; and time practice Pf the
es, have no.e.n
; military "but the name of
g _
The number of theee troops was cider=
-
ie wane authority, in the ea, 179 J
4)0, They, composed the only regular ef-

and

-F

:viva

or fat

Witr

.Vlore.

to be i
tereti it
Alahmt.
Ile diet
of the p,
hence t
their chili

l
gra(e 1
for colvio
ahem, en(
[oNvot trp4
Itudstatry."
ated, by ti
bout 113,(