Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-11-21
THURSDAY MORNING, 81, 1889.

two great fleets encountered each other in the Gulf
ofLepanto, and an engagement ensued more mem
orable than any naval hght that had happened since
the battle Of Actium. The allied hees under Doa
John was victorious-the Turks were wholly dis
com6ted. losing over one hundred and fifty ships,
and fifteen thousand slain-among whom was Ali,
their Admiral. This great victory saved Christen-
dom, or q, least the whole South Of Europe. from
being overrua by the in6dels. and checked the fur
Their advance Of Turkish power for more than a cen
fury.
account; q soldier there lost his left arm by The
stroke of a sabre: but that soldier was Cersanfes. 1t
10 a striking instance Of the ~undying power Of geni-
US, that this incident happening to a private IN the
ranks, has given celebrity to q conflict IN which tho
fate Of Christian Europe hung suspended on the un-
certain issue ; and doubtless there are hundreds
| who remember Lepanto as the place where the au-
thor Of Don Quixotte was wounded, without calling
to mind that Don John Of Austria commanded in
| the battle, or that Ali was slain, and his head stuck
on the flagstaff Of the Admira's mast.
After the terrible overthrow OF Lepanto, the
Turks made no great attempts at conquesti in Eu-
rope for q hundred years OF more, although wars
occurred at various times between them and the We
nitians, and their otheE neighbors the foles END
Hungarians. At length, about the middle ct the
seventeenth century, the conquering propensity OF
the Ottoman race again broke forth, backed by the
whole power of the empire. A mighty array swept
over Hungary, and moving up the Danube, pene-
trated to Vienna, and laid siege To that imperial ct-
ty. Here success had we'll nigh crowned their ef-
forts-vienna was on the point Of falling, when
John Sobieski, the heroic king of Poland, came to
its relief, compelled the Turks to raise the siege.
and defeated them in battle with prodigious slaugh-
ter. This fearful invasion had been excited and
stimulated by Louis xiv. Of France, who scrnpied
not to use the Turks as the instruments OF his ami
mostly against the house Of Austria.
From this time forward the Turks ceased to be
a formidable power in Europe. The energy of the
race had expended its rude force all internal cle-
ments of strength had been developed the princi-
ples Of their religion, carried to their full ultimates,
had maturcd the evils inherent therein. and the
mighty body of the Ottoman empire lay like an UNI
wieldy monster ~relapsing into a state OF torpidity.
From being the invader, Turkey was now called
upon to repel nvasions--for the power OF Russia
was on the increase since the days OF Peter the
Great and as the ascending star OF that northen
colossus rose towards the elimination, the crescent
droored AMI sent forth a paler ray. The essential
principle Of the Turkish Constitution-that unity OF
mower which concentrates all the energies Of the
State, and puts them under the guidance OF an indi-
vidual will-however admirably adapted it may be
for conquest and military operations, is altogether
unsuited to the enlargement and prosperous growth
of a nation in peace. The great mass OF the peo-
pie are of the only order which is tolerated in the
empire-the lowest; and as there IS no middle
nor aristocratical class, how can there be any ex-
pansion or elevation of the servilc multitude /
Slaves they were born, and slaves they must re-
main. From this rank the officers Of the empire
are chosen, from the Grand Vixier ~downwards; anil
as they are raised from it by the will of the Sultan,
they can be- thrust back to It again at his plea
sure. 1t is a maxim of Turkish policy that there
should be no man or class in the State which the
monarch may not destroy without danger to him
self. Perhaps the principle Of despotism has never
been carried out more fully in its nakedness any
where than in Turkey. And now that the energy
of that principle is exhausted, there is not recuper-
alive power enough in the other elements OF the ma
tional body to bring about a wholesome reaction.
The declension and dissolution of an empire like
the Turkish must, therefore,, be more rapid and
complete than would be likely to happen 10 a ma
ton possessing vitality In all its members and ex-
tremities. When, for example, in France, the dss-
potic principle was carried to its extreme, under
Louis XIV. and his two immediate successors, the
revolution which followed brought into action a new
spirit, powerful and deep seated, which was evol-
we'd from the agitated elements Of the middle and
lower classes. The history of Turkey, from the
close of the seventeenth century, exhibits a success
sion of misfortunes, uninterrupted by any perma'
nent success. Many of her best provinces have
been appropriated by Russia; Greece has been torn
from herj the Bsrbary STATES acknowledge no more
than a nominal subsection, and hardly that; while
at the present moment, Egypt and Syria, under a
rebelious Pasha, so far from confessing allegiance
TO the Porte, are threatning destruction to Constan-
tinople. The effects Of Mahmoud's efforts TO re-
s~uscitate the empire seem to have ceased with his
own life. as they depended in fact from the FIRST
upon his individual energy, which found little re-
spouse in the Thoughts and feelings OF his subjects
A complete history Of the followers of Mshornet
so far as it has reference to the affairs Of modern
Europe and Christianity, Is yet, we believe, an un-
written work. Three times has the safety Of Chris
tendon been jeoparded By collision with them
The first great era was when the Saracens, over.
running Syria, Egypt, and Northern Africa, crossed
over into Spain, and, possessing themselves OF the
kingdom, (save o mountainous regions where
the brave Pelayo preserved the spark Of Spanish
liberty,) penetrated through the Pyrenees. and
marched into the heart of France. Here between
Tours and Poictiers, they were met and defeated
By Charles Martel, in one of the bloodiest battles on
record. One million men are said to have fallen
in the fight. The two other epochs have been al
ready mentioned-one when the conquests of the
Ottoman race were checked at the battle of Lepan-
to; the other, when John Sobieski repulsed the
Turks under the walls of Vienna. 1t is curious to
speculate upon what would have been the aspect Of
Europe now, if these battles had terminated differ