Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-08-15
TURKEYS BIG WALLS
THE POWERS STUDY THOSE WHICH
ENCOMPASS COysTANTINOPLE.
ATTACK WOULD Be ALMOST SAGRILEGE
They Were BcsieEed by Mohnmmed
NenrIy Five Centuries Ago-Buiit
Inv the Great Thcodosius-Time
ana the Earthquakes

Correspondence Of the Dispatch)
CONsTANTINOPLE. July 2O.-The eyes
y the world have been turned on thiS
.articular portion Of Europe with great
.,,orest Of late. The wiles of the Sultan
n putting off the concert of Powers de-
.,snds in regard 10 the settlement of the
erms of peace with Greece have led TO
he report that the Pearl Of the orient
yould be besieged in his walled city ana
forced TO accede TO the demands.
While the modern European armies
would doubtless find Constantinople ana
;ts walls an easy conquest, there was
zine when for decades they proved an
fmnassable barrier. These walls are OF
,raat historic interest and a neyer-ending
source of wonderment to visitors. inc
walk OF between four and five miles out
side and along the landward walls Oh
Constantinople is one Of the historic
walks of Europe. The long double line
Of majestic towers, now dropping into the
ouiet valley. and then rising as in
stately march to the crest or the NIL
that cannot be surpassed
The history of COnstantinople ITSELF
until its final capture in 1853 by the ONO
man Turks under the great Mohammeu,
is LITTLE more than one long, continuous
record OF the many siegeS Whlcn the90
famous walls have sustained. twenty
three times-historic records say-haNc
the walls of Theodosius been long anu
furiously beseged by Huns and Sclavs'
bv Persians and Avars, by ARABS ana bul-
parians; by Russians, Genoese, and Nene,
tians; by Crusaders and Latlns anu anu
creeks. and. finally, by the ottoman
turks The tremendous breaches these
warriors made are now hanked with IVY
and laburnum, acacias and judas trees
The battlemented walls and the stately
towers to-day stand silent, and all around
nv moat and gate and tower Rhe plahe
crows high where once the legionS trod'
Where the neighboring Marmora, on
summer day, like a pavement OF tul-
oIoise washes with her quiet blue waters
the marbled seaward towers, many pfouu
and classic navies have shouted anu
erappled underneath clouules7 ShiS''
Manv royal argosy lies far beneath me
TRANQUIL surface-many navy OIL the u"'
of old. ....,,rro,
The great earthquake which occurred
Z lUnstdIl4llDN4t
tIe damage to St Sophia, but dld not
Kermit the famous and picturesque wallS
70 remain uniniurcd. L noted Afterwards
that the Golden Gate of the Seven Io"erS
and the Edirnen Kapusi-the. Adrlahopio
Cato--suffered especially; but nature, as
a. trvino TO make amends, has already
beo7,n 10 heal over the naked WOUNDS
with her kindly and prolinc grown VI
ivy and creepers. 49,.
The imperial city or Constahlihe INC
Great is in the form Of TRANCE plu Ii'-
ed at the apex, when Is htineu %,
point and lies towards the East. Oh
the northern side is the Golden Horn
dividine STEAMBOAT from cera ana ga
lota. on the southern is the Sea OF MAT
,oora These are natural boundaries ana
so The city is limited by the sea anu
its inlet on all sides, except the "So..
rho western boundary or the city nd'
for nearly 1900 years consisted Vi nv
ouadrliple line of walls "hich lhe -
man Emperor TheodosiuS H. coH9'i W
ed in the year Az OF the Chi lstI''l - 80,
( These walls run almost u,ieO -
| and south from the citadel anu po'''. -
! 90 t2Iacbernas on the Golden Horn "
tho citadel of Heptapyrsioh' OF ~
/ Kouleh or the Seven Towers Oh 'N0
Sea Of Marmora. k.-,,eoa
,Tbe citadel of Blachernae Is fortiheu
! nv the somewhat complex "dliS
! Manuel Comnenus. Heraclus, ana Leo
the Armenian; and It has hVe to"el'' u
which those OF Arenas ana ls@"1 - 49,,
| eelus are the most interesting, en- -,
s,orto,t In the eleventh and tweltth
! centuries. under the Enpeiots TieH n-'
ana Manuel Comment and their success
60 ors the palace of Blachernae became
! o,,ins 20 it's strong and beautitul posi-
ion the fayorite Imperial reside nee
Ntonv historic and diplomatic scenes nave
| been witnessed within its massive Wdii''
'0@'' CAPTURE BY CRUSADERS.
| 11,storian and novelist alike record that
- were held the momentous interviews
i,otr,een the Greek Emperor AleXius COM
,,e,rs peter tho Hermit. the instgator.
"a C,odfrev de Bouillon, the leader. OF
| Inc first Crusade. during the winter u
lOa;-'9I Here. too, In lzVS, the le"uel
az the Fourth Crusade carried on neso
tiations with the dethroheu Hn'p'Io'
Isaac Angelus, which resulted III 'lo c.
- ,,,der the blind old Venetian Dose
LIZ, Dandalo. and the restoration OF
! ~ ir,,risoned monarch 10 his throne
THE tribunal of Valens, or the so-calleo
| poIaco of Relisarius-th0 great general
! of observation-disclosures at the inner corner
| Of the Castellum or Citadel OF ban
chernae. Just where the long walls and
moat OF Theodosius begin TO run towards
the south. 1t is one Of the few remain
inc specimens Of pure Byzantine
civil architecture. and upon this style th p,
Venetian palaces were probably moulded
From this point the moat and the Ions
linz ~ Theodosian walls begin. and ex-
tend to the Marmora, nearly four miles
avay. The inner wall. about thirty-sh
feet high and sixteen feet thick: wa
nanked with ZIG towers about lou tee'
apart. and OF this number 100 remain
The outer wall, about thirty-one feet mgr