The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1855-04-28
VISIT TO THE SERAGLIO PALACE.

To visit the mosques and seraglio Palace
firnan or permit must be had from the
Government, and that is paid for roundly.
IN officer or two must attend with his sword
and staff, and they must be fed well. Then
at every mosque and other sacred place you
visit there are servants to be feed, and if
party get through the days excursion for
forty dollars they do very we'll. Mr. Brown,
the Dragonan Of the United States Legation
kindly procured us tirman and sent his
own cevasse to lead u.s. The Government
sent another, so that we were well provided
with an escort. Several fades joined etr
party, and added largely to the pleasure of
that delightful and interesting day.
Where the Golden Horn sets up from the
Bosphorus the old city of Byzantum stood,
and Mohammcd II. selected his unrivalled
site for his palace, and laid out the grounds
and prepared a residence that had no equal
in the Eastern world. Armed scntinels ad-
mittcd lis by the great pavilion, which is call
cd the Porte-a gate, and from this the Otto
man Empire takes its name. Fifty men are
the usual guard at this door.-We were at
once i'll the midst of a vast courtyard Nhc
whole palace grounds are three miles III cir
cut, and passing across it we were conduct
ed into the palace. A flight of stairs brought
us to the audience-chamber, a wide apart
ment, carpeted and surrounded with rich
dlyan. The throne room was furnished with
chairs and sofas, showing conformity to
Western customs.
Another and another chamber, and we
entered the Sutan's bath--luxuriously fitted
up, but without some of the contrivanccs for
comfort which the poorer people enjoy. a
brass bar across q door we We're passing told
us, or at least the guides informed us, that
this was the entrance TO the harem No
proianc foot may cross that Threshold. No
man but the husband is alowed to enter the
Turk S apartment for his wives.--Rut a long
gallery opening near, was now entered, hung
on one side with engrayings, chiefly of Napo-
Icons battles; and on the other side. a row
of windows looked out on the court. This is
the hall in which the hundred and fifty wives
Of the Sultan are daily assembled for the
amusement Of their common lord. Here
each of them may exert her art to win his
favor: and it is said that he drops his hand
kerchicf at the feet of the one who has been
the most successful.
Through this hall We We're led along to
the private armory CT the Sultan, and while
admiring the pistols, swords, dirks, yatahans
clmctcrS, sabreS, ETC., of elegant workman
ship, adorned with gold and precious stones,
my attention was called to an adjoining
apartment the Sultans bcdchamhcr. Two
lanlzarics with hayonctcd guns stood before
the open door, and permitted me to look In,
but not enter. 1t was reported among the
company in the other room, that gentlemen
were not allowed to go I'M and the ladies
prcsuming privilege, FASTENED to step in,
but the crossed guns of the guards brought
them to a sudden halt on the threshold. We
could see the magnificent couch and its gold
and crimson damask canopy, and the sump-
tuous furniture of the chamber where the
most uneasy man in the Turkish Empire has
often sought i'll vain for sleep, that comes
unwocd to him who earns it with the sweat
of his brow, and does not wear crown.
In the gardens of the palace, and near the
waters edge, are many beautiful but small
cottages, which from time to time have been
erected at the desire of one or another of the
Sultan's favorite wivcs.-Fitted up according
to the taste of each fair inmate, we could see
in the low windows that open on the walks
that they were very elegant andvcry oriental
The Sultan has the range of them ALL as
cages in which his pet birds are confined
And then we gathered some flowers, for in
the last of December the roses were in full
bloom IN the open air, and every thing was
fresh and green as May. Underneath the
palace was the kitchen, and fires going as if
an army We're to be fed from the great ranges
and furnaces on which the dinner was even
now cooking. Some Of the pastry was serv-
ed to us. and proved to be excellent, though
we did eat in the kitchen.
Won Hammer says that there are nine sew
cral kitchens and that forty thousand oxen
are yearly killed here and cooked, 200 sheep
daily 100 lambs or goats, and $50 fowls
But the Sultan does not reside in the Sera-
Clio; he is at one of the many palaces along
the Bosphorus and the cooking now in pro-
cess was merely for the rctaincrs of the pal
ace. Ills future residence will be III the mar
bic palace on the Bosphorus.
thousand horses stand in the royal
stables, which we passed on our way out;
and the harness and trappings, covered with
]ewelry, are displayed i'll room over the
stalls.
1t required an hour to look through the
old hrmory containing one of the rarest and
richest collections ofhelmet, greaves, breast
plates in form of stars guns of strange pat
terms in use before locks were invented, and
implements of war now obsolete, but terribly
effective in their day, aud very curious now.
The stacks of arms all ready for uso were
fast diminishing by the daily demand for the
war; and probably some of the poor fellows
that came OH the steamer with me, were by
this time equipped from this armory and
marching to the field. In the gallery was a
collection of the famous swords of successive
Sultan's, from the splendid Damascus blade
of Mohammed.II. Here. too, are the keys
of all the cities of Turkey, mounted with gold
and deposited in token Of their fealty to the
Porte. For days one might be amused and
instructed among these extraordinary gath
erings of ancient and modern times.-Prime'S
1'rarels IN Europe and the East.
LOUIS NAPOLEON IN ENGLAND.-lt is high
ly pro babe that by this time Louis Napo-
leon and his consort are both in England, as
| they had aetel mined to visit the British me-