Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1865-03-22


above the age of seven. He carried them
to the court Of the grand seignior, a. 1.-THE,
as it were, of the subjects. The captiyes
taken in war by the pachas, and presented
by them to the sultan, included Poles, Be-:
hemians, Russians, Italians, and Germans.
These recruits were. divided into two clas-
ses. Those who composed the one, espe:
cially in the earlier periods, were sent to
Natolia, where they were trained to agri-
cultural labor, and instructed in the Mus
sulman faith; or they were retained about
the seraglio, where they carried wood and
water, and were employed in the gardens,
in the boats, or upon the public buildings,
always under the direction of.an overseer,
who with stick compelled them to work.
The others, in whom traces of a higher
character were discernible, were placed
in one OF the four seraglios of Adrianople
or Galata, or the old or new one at Con-
stantinople. Here they were lightly clad
in linen or in cloth of Saloniki, with caps
Of Prusa cloth. Teachers came every
morning, who remained with them until
evening, and taught them to read and
write. At particular time they were all
circumcised. Those who had performed
hard labor were undergraduates. Those
who were educated in the seragios be-.
came either spahis, Or higher officers of
state. Both classes were kept under a
strict discipline. The former, particular
ly, were accustomed to privation of food,
drink and comfortable clothing, and to
hard labor. They were exercised in shoot
ing with the bow and harquebuss by day,
and spent the night in long lighted hall,
with an oyerseer, who walked up and
down, and permitted no one to stir.
When they were received into the corps
Of the janizaries, they were placed in
cloister-like barracks, in which the differ
ent odas or ortas lived so entirely in
common, that the military dignities were
called from their soups and Kitchens
Here not only the younger continued to
obey the elders in silence and submission,
but all were governed with such strict
| ness that no one was permitted TO spend
the night abroad, and whoever was pun
ished was compelled to kiss the hand of
him who inflicted the punishment. The
younger portion in the seragios were kept
not less strictly, every ten being commit
ted to the care Of an inexorable eunuch.
They were employed in similar exercises,
but likewise in study. The grand seiguor
permitted them to leave the seraglio ev-
cry three years. Those who chose to re-
main, assembled, according to aheir age,
IN the Immediate service of their master,
from chamber to chamber, and to con-
stantly greater pay, till they attained,
perhaps, to one OF the four great posts of
the innermost chamber, from which the
way to The dignity Of beglerbeg, OF a
captain deiri (that is, an admiralty or even
OF vizier, was open. Those, on the con-
trary, who took advantage Of this permis-
sion, entered, each one according to his
| previous rank, into the first four corps of
the paid spahis, who were in the innmedi-
ate service Of the sultan, and in whom he
confided more than in his other body
guards. This institution fully satisfied ex-
pectation. An Austrian ambassador at
the court of Soliman, Busbequius, whose
accounts are to be perfectly relied on,
speaks Of the strict discipline of these jani-
zaries, which made them appear at ohe
time like monks, and at another like statues,
oftheir simple dress, with only few heron's
! feathers for an ornament to their heads and
temperate life. They would not suffer one
among them, who had grown up in the
indulgences of home. This corps has in
many instances been the salvation of the
empire. The battle of Varna, the founda-
ton of the Ottoman greatness, would not
have been gained without them. At Cas-
sova, the kumelian and Natolian troops
had already fled before the deyil, as they
called John Hunniades, yet the ianizaries
obtained the victory. It was their boast
that they had never fled in battle; and
Lazarus Suendius, for long time Ger.
man general against them, confessed the
truth Of this assertion. In all accounts
they were called the nerve and the sinew
OF the Ottoman army. 1t is worthy of re-
mark, that this invincible infantry of the
East was formed about the same time Gin
1869 as the not less invincible Swiss in
fantry. The former, however, was com
posed of slaves, and the latter of free
mountaineers. ...
The whole body was divided into fou
squadrons, each containing certain mum
| Der of ortas (troops.) Each o,ta, in Con
stantinople, was supposed to have 100 men
elsewhere, 200 or 300. In time of war
the complement was 500 men. The regi
mental rolls produced on the pay day
made the whole number of the corps 1870,
600; but those lists were never correct
! and they comprehended all in actual ser
vice, the supernnmeraries who lived b,
their trades and calings, and succeeded
in case of vacancies, and the honorar,
members. Three years service gave
right to pay in time of peace. AS the gov
eminent furnished only small aHowanc
OF provisions, and clothing for IL, 600 men
the privates were suffered to work at thei
trades. All the men Of one regiment wer
bakers, all those Of two others butchers
| Il. all han