Levant, and, in a short time, by the easy communication the French will
establish with the East-Indies, by the way of the Isthmus of Suez, they
will give a fatal blow to our India trade also.
To prevent these schemes from succeeding, our first object is to
countenance the Spaniards in opposing the entrance of the Russian fleet
into the Mediterranean; since, if the Turks can bring their whole force
to act towards the north, I do not think, now that their fleet has such
a decided superiority on the Black Sea, that they have much to fear in
the present state of Europe. The King of Sweden, were he countenanced,
is well disposed to take an open part in their favour; and this
countenance the King of Prussia will undoubtedly afford him.
As to Europe's having any thing to dread from the Turks extending their
conquest, the idea is absurd. Their Empire is already larger than they
well can keep in order; and, from the nature of their government, the
more they extend it, the more will it be weakened. Their army may make
irruptions, but must soon return to its proper bounds.
They do not, like the Romans, incorporate the vanquished with the
conquerors, so as, in time, to become one people, and to increase in
numbers as they increase in territory. On the contrary, the farther the
Turk advances in Europe, the more he augments the number of his
rebellious subjects, and by dispersing, he weakens his own.
Constantinople excluded, the Grand Signior's subjects in Europe are
computed at eight Greeks to one Turk. Totally different in language,
manners, and religion, a natural antipathy is bred between them. The
Turk spurns the Greek as an impious dastard. The Greek, urged by
revenge, is ever ripe for a revolt, and ready to join the first
invaders.
If we consider this striking circumstance, and the success of the
Russians in the last war, it may be imagined, that on the Emperor's
taking the field, the Turks will very soon be driven out of Europe; and
of this our factory here are in the highest apprehension. But we must at
the same time recollect, that it was England who gave force to Russia,
in the manner I before related, and that this force, if it does not now
oppose her, will, at least, not operate in her favor.
Monsieur St. Felix arrived here lately with a squadron of frigates and
sloops, eight in number. The Governor immediately sent to the French
Consul to know the meaning of so many men of war coming to this port. M.
Amoreux answered, that they only came in for refreshments. Whether or
not it was in consequence of this message, I cannot take upon me to
affirm, but the majority of the French squadron put to sea in the course
of the two following days. This, I think, confirms that a jealousy of
France exists in the minds of the Turks.
LETTER XVII.
TO CAPTAIN SMITH.
Smyrna, January 15th, 1788.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
To gain some little knowledge of the interior country, and, at the same
time, to pay a compliment to St. Paul, we took a journey by land to
Ephesus, the inhabitants of which, you may remember, were honoured with
an Epistle from him, and with having his son Timothy for a Bishop. It is
barely forty miles from hence; but the Turks never going beyond a foot
pace in travelling, we made it a journey of two days. We had six horses
for ourselves, and as many for our guides, janizary, and servants. We
were obliged to carry all our provisions with us, even bread. Water we
found in abundance; and such is the attention of the Turks to this
valuable article of life, that we came to several excellent fountains
when there was nothing like an habitation to be seen. The greater part
of the road is execrably bad; and the country, though in general
fertile, is too thinly peopled to be much cultivated.
The few inhabitants we saw in the second day's journey were wretchedly
poor. You recollect that this is the freezing month of January, and that
the winter here, though short, is, for a few weeks, much more severe
than one would expect in so southern a latitude.
Our road led us by a fountain, where, in this cold weather, some women
were washing. None of them were completely clothed; and one poor girl
had, for her only covering, a piece of an old blanket, with two holes
torn in the upper end of it, through which, instead of sleeves, she put
her arms. It was too small to cover her chest, too short to reach below
her waist; and it was with difficulty that, by holding the lower corners
in her two hands, she made them meet.
A young female, in an attire so little adapted to the tenderness of her
sex, and to the inclemency of the season, moved one's very soul. I do
not know that I touched the reins, and yet my horse stopt with his head
towards her. My eye involuntarily fixed itself upon her; and, to the
latest moment of my life, I shall never forget her figure. She is above
the middle size, and her limbs did not seem formed for so exposed a
situation. The sun had tanned her face; but her skin was smooth, and
naturally delicate, and her features of that mould, that, had she been
born to a more happy lot, she might have been reckoned a perfect beauty.
It was impossible to behold such an object without emotion. My horse now
advanced to her feet, and my friend approached her at the same moment.
Each searched his pockets, and presented the little silver they
contained. No hand could be spared to receive it. In our anxiety to
relieve her distress, we had forgot the trial to which we had exposed
her modesty. The blushing maid stood motionless; but, encouraged by the
sympathy and charity marked in our approach, she ventured to raise her
head.--Her eyes were turned towards us.--The tear of gratitude was
swelling in them.--She gave but one glance.--Her face was instantly
reverted to the ground.--She could not speak.
Such unexpected modesty, in so exposed a situation, filled me with
astonishment and veneration. How much did I wish to take her in my arms,
and, by a kiss of affection, to express the sympathy I bore in her
distress. How did I execrate the parsimony that had prevented my having
about me all the money I possessed.--How earnestly did I wish to remove
her to a more sheltered fate, where her beauty and her modesty might be
better known and admired.
Led away by these inclinations, I was preparing to alight. The timid
virgin drew back. By signs of respect, she again raised her eyes.
Charity was so forcibly petitioning in them, that the money which her
figure at first sight drew from my pocket, now dropt at her feet. The
reins fell from my hand. My horse inclined to the road. I would with joy
have turned him back; but I recollected my inability to relieve her.--I
am only a Soldier of Fortune, and subsist but by the bounty of my
Sovereign: a bounty which, though much superior to what my humble
services entitle me to expect, is, alas! too insufficient to support the
appearance required from an Officer, and often compels the military
Philanthrope to suppress every charitable emotion.
The road being but little frequented, the caravansera, or public inn, we
stopped at the first night of our journey, was nothing but a large
hovel, one end of which was appropriated to travellers, and the other,
without any partition, to their cattle: but we were fortunate enough to
be accommodated with a Greek hut, where, with the assistance of a good
fire, we passed a tolerable night.
At Ephesus we were not so lucky. We were obliged to sleep promiscuously
among the Turks, one or other of whom was smoking all night long. I
observed that they eat very little, but that, after every nap, they took
a pipe, and a sip of coffee: I say, a sip; for the Turkish cups are
scarce bigger than a walnut shell; but of these they drink an amazing
number, and their coffee is always exceedingly strong.
We were heartily rejoiced when we returned to our old Greek hut on the
road, but, to our great disappointment, found it possessed by a Turk.
Luckily, he expressed a great desire to taste our beer; and we seized
this opportunity to get rid of him, by desiring our janizary to invite
him to partake of a bottle of it at the caravansera. A janizary's
invitation is only a civil command; but we did not choose to make use of
his authority until we could give the Turk a satisfactory compensation.
Mahomet forbade the use of wine; but his followers do not conceive
themselves to be prohibited the use of other fermented liquors. In
general, they are very fond of porter and beer of all kinds, drinking as
much of it as they can get; and some of them, indeed, are not very
scrupulous about wine.
After the Turk was gone, not dreaming of the danger that was hanging
over us, we slept very comfortably for some hours; but, before
day-light, we were roused by flakes of fire falling upon our bodies from
the roof. No water being at hand, the whole hut was soon in a blaze,
and, in a few minutes, burnt to the ground.
This unlucky accident was occasioned by our own fire, which heated the
mud flue that served as a chimney, to such a degree, that it
communicated to the thatched roof, which was half burnt through before
we awoke. Very fortunately, none of us had taken off our clothes; for we
carried no bedding, and nothing of the kind was to be got.
The Turks in the Caravansera remained quiet spectators of this
catastrophe. At the moment when we found that all our efforts to
extinguish the flames were ineffectual, my eye turning towards the
Mussulmen, found them smoking, and seemingly quite unconcerned.
Determined not to be outdone by them in coolness, I seated myself in the
middle of them, and, being provided with the materials, instantly began
shaving myself, to their no small astonishment, and the equal delight of
the boys of our party, who have turned this anecdote into a pleasant
story, which is my only reason for mentioning it.
You of course recollect that the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, which was
one of the wonders of the world, was destroyed on the very day that
Alexander was born, [Sidenote: A. A. C. 356] by a sacrilegious wretch,
to render himself remembered by posterity. We found many ruins, and
among the rest, a superb pile quite overturned, which we concluded was
the remains of this celebrated temple. The columns were all broken. The
most entire piece was forty-two feet in length, and eighteen in
circumference. This and the rest of the columns, were every one hewn out
of single blocks of marble; but notwithstanding the immense size and
value of these materials several antiquarians will not allow them to
have belonged to the real Temple of Diana.
It is not my purpose to dispute with these learned gentlemen, I shall
only observe, that none of them have made the columns of this Temple
more than sixty feet high.
According to Palladio's measurement of the pillars to the portico of the
celebrated Rotunda at Rome, which has universally been accepted as a
proper standard, the height of the Corinthian column is twenty modules.
A circumference of eighteen feet gives a module of three feet, and in
common arithmetic, twenty of these give sixty. On these proportions
then, the fragment I mention formed a column of the exact height handed
down to us of those of the Temple of Diana.
But people who wish to diminish the consequence of the pile I am
mentioning, may say that Palladio's proportions are liable to
exceptions, which I will readily admit, that I may ask, whether it is
possible, by any proportions, to make a column less than sixty feet high
of a base and capital, in addition to a shaft, a fragment of which is
forty-two feet in length?
If either of the positions I take up be admitted, those antiquarians who
will not allow this magnificent pile of ruins to have belonged to the
Temple of Diana, must at least confess, that these superb fragments must
have formed an edifice equal to it, both in size and grandeur.
We also saw the remains of St. John's Church, now converted into a
Turkish Mosque. Part of the aqueduct, and many other vestiges of the
once noble city of Ephesus, are still to be seen. But in lieu of the
Blessed Virgin, St. Paul, St. John, Kings, Princes, and Heroes, who
rendered it so famous, both in sacred and profane history, its
inhabitants are now reduced to a few miserable peasants.
We met no manner of interruption on the road, notwithstanding this is a
time when the Government, naturally weak, is obliged to suffer a kind of
licentiousness, in order to keep the rabble in good humour, and to
complete the new levies.
Never was there a more popular war than the present. The Turks, from
every part of this immense Empire, are preparing to join the grand army.
The suspicions against the Emperor of Germany increase every day; but
from the zeal and spirit with which every Mussulman enters into the
cause, one is almost led to imagine, that the Ottomans will make a
tolerable stand against the powerful enemies by which they will be
attacked.
It is fortunate for the Porte, that at this crisis her Ministers are
avowedly the best that ever governed Turkey. The Grand Vizir is young
and vigorous, and a pupil of the celebrated Hassan, now Captain Bashaw,
or Lord High Admiral, who is just returned from Egypt crowned with
victory. He had been sent there with the fleet, and an army also under
his command, to subdue the rebel Beys, in which, notwithstanding the
intrigues of the Russians, he happily succeeded, and, by additional
proofs of courage and address, has added fresh laurels to his former
fame.
The Vice-Admiral, who commanded at Constantinople in his absence, was
sent to destroy six Russian men of war, which being dismasted in the
storm that had obliged Captain Teesdale to give himself up to the Turks,
had anchored on the coast of the Black Sea, and seemed to promise an
easy conquest. But, to the great disappointment of the Porte, they had
time to refit and get off; and as their escaping was said to be owing to
want of exertion in the Turkish Vice-Admiral, he was banished
immediately after his return to Constantinople, and afterwards brought
back and beheaded.
The Captain Bashaw is equipping the fleet with all possible dispatch,
and will sail early in the spring, with a force that will compel the
Russian squadron on the Black Sea to act on the defensive, unless their
fleet from the Baltic is permitted to enter the Mediterranean, and make
a diversion to the southward. But as this would be entirely depriving
the Porte of every prospect of opposing, with any success, the
machinations of her enemies, England certainly can never permit so
decisive a step to be taken in favor of the ambitious, and to us,
destructive views of the two Imperial Courts.
The Reis Effendi, or Principal Secretary of State, is said to possess
sufficient abilities to fill that office in any country in Europe. The
following anecdote of him, will give you an idea of his opinion of
France and England. The spirited conduct of our Court during the late
disturbances in Holland, reflects the greatest honor on the King and his
Ministers; and it is said, that Sir Robert Ainslie, our Ambassador at
the Porte, with his usual patriotic attention to the honor and interest
of his country, drew up a short narrative of that important business,
and delivered it to the Porte.
At an audience afterwards given to Sir Robert, the Turkish Ministry
congratulated his Excellency on the distinguished success of his Court,
and the Reis Effendi, I am told, made these observations, "You have
acted with all your usual courage--but with more than your usual wisdom.
You have carried your point without bloodshed, and have left the French
to fight among themselves."
The last sentence occasioned some surprise; but by what I learn from the
French officers who are just arrived, a violent convulsion in France is
not far distant, and the Reis Effendi bids fair to prove by it, his
profound knowledge of the interior state of that kingdom, a knowledge
which Turkish Ministers are not generally expected to possess, at least
of nations that are not their immediate neighbours.
An army of observation is forming on the Banks of the Danube, to watch
the motions of the Germans, whose hostile declaration is hourly
expected. The Baron de Herbert has given himself great airs in the
Divan, and threatened vengeance on the Porte, for daring to attack the
ally of the Emperor, his master. The Turks treated these threats with
the contempt such impertinence deserved; but at the same time, with
great gravity and wisdom, they informed the Baron, that they were aware
of the power of the Emperor, and would be sorry to see it exerted
against them; but still that, trusting to the equity of Europe, they
were determined to risk this unequal conflict, rather than submit to
those incessant encroachments, which, by daily weakening the Porte, and
increasing the power of the two Imperial Courts, must end, if unopposed,
in the total subversion of the Ottoman Empire.
The Emperor seems convinced that threats will not avail, and even at
this late season, daily accounts arrive of the march of his troops
towards the frontiers.
Constant skirmishes are happening between the Turks and the Russians on
the borders of the Crimea; and since my last letter, the Porte have
received information of the capture of twelve hundred Russians, and of
the Island of Taman being taken by the Tartars of Kuban. The possession
of this island is of great consequence to the Turks, since it forms the
east side of the straits of Wosphor Zabach, which connect the Black Sea
with the sea of Azof.
To balance this success, the French, and other enemies of the Porte,
give out that a General Sekell, with a corps of Russians, has routed a
detachment of these same Tartars, in the vicinity of Mount Caucasus. The
season, however, is too far advanced for any thing decisive to be done.
In April the Grand Vizir will take the field in earnest; but in the mean
while the Moscovite troops are gathering towards Turkey, on the banks of
the Dnieper, the Bog, and the Dniester; and if the Emperor engages the
attention of the Ottoman grand army, the Russian Generals will begin the
ensuing campaign with the siege of Oczakow, and the invasion of
Moldavia. Prince Potemkin will direct the former, Count Romanzow the
latter; and unless some other power interferes, it is not difficult to
foresee, that the Imperial Courts will soon accomplish all their
ambitious schemes against this brave, but unenlightened people.
LETTER XVIII.
TO CAPTAIN SMITH.
Athens, Jan. 29th, 1788.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
We took leave of our Smyrna friends on the 19th of January, and having
passed Scio, Lesbos, and Ipsera, were off Scyros on the 21st. We wished
to visit this island, because it contains the tomb of Theseus, who
killed the monster of Crete, and carried off the beauteous Ariadne; but
the wind not permitting us to fetch it, we continued our course by
Negropont, Longa, and the Promontory of Sunium. But the next morning the
wind blew so strong against us, that finding it in vain to oppose it, we
crossed the Sinus Sironicus, and anchored among the little islands of
Idra. The weather continued bad for three days; it drove all the wild
fowl to the shore, and afforded us excellent shooting, which compensated
our delay.
On the 25th we again got under way, and the day after entered the
Pyræus, the port of this celebrated city. What emotion must one feel on
entering the ruins of a capital, which, from a small [Sidenote: A. A. C.
1556.] village, first formed into a regular government by Cecrops,
became so flourishing, and so populous a state, that its citizens alone,
in the famous battle of Marathon, delivered all Greece from the yoke of
the Persians.
Xerxes was so little discouraged by the misfortunes of his father, that
the moment he ascended his throne, he determined to make a second
attempt. His army is said to have exceeded a million of men; and the
number of his fleet was in proportion to the multitude of his troops. On
his entering Upper Greece, most of the states, intimidated by the
immensity of his armament, submitted to the enemy. The Peloponnesians
having the advantage of inhabiting a country almost an island, and only
assailable at the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, etermined to defend
themselves. Themistocles infused the same spirit into the Athenians, and
promoted the recall of his rival, Aristides. Their allies thinking it in
vain to oppose the Persians beyond the Peloponnesus, wished all their
forces to retire within the Isthmus. But the Athenians, encouraged by
their former victory, bravely resolved once more to become the champions
of Greece, and oppose the enemy before he entered Attica. Having brought
the allies into this resolution, a detachment under Leonidas, King of
Sparta, took possession of the pass of Thermopylæ, and for some time
supported themselves against all the efforts of Xerxes, and his
innumerable host. But a secret path being treacherously discovered to
the enemy, Leonidas was surprised in the morning by seeing the Persians
in possession of the heights above him.
Xerxes had now gained a decisive advantage; but the laws of Sparta not
permitting its citizens to retreat, Leonidas sent back all his
detachment, except three hundred, who were natives of that city. With
these he devoted himself [Sidenote: A. A. C. 480.] to the service of his
country, and falling upon the invaders, made a prodigious slaughter
among them; but fresh numbers continually supplying the place of the
slain, this great and gallant Prince was at last overpowered, and died
with his heroic associates, in the midst of thousands of their enemies.
In this juncture, the Athenians consulted the Oracle, and were desired
to trust to their wooden walls. Themistocles persuaded all those who
were capable of bearing arms to embark in the fleet; the women and
children were removed; and the town, abandoned to the enemy, fell a prey
to the barbarians.
The fleet was assembled in the straits, within the Island of Salamis.
Xerxes, who already talked of nothing but of extirpating the Greeks, by
seizing their ships, flattered himself that he had now an opportunity of
destroying them all at one blow. He therefore rashly attacked them in
this narrow pass; but he soon found the superiority of the Grecian
Admirals, who, by the excellence of their disposition, brought a much
greater number of ships into action than the Persians could oppose at
one time. Their van was of course defeated, which threw a general panick
into the barbarians, and ended in a complete victory on the side of the
Greeks.
The Persian King, who beheld the battle of Salamis from a neighbouring
height, finding himself unable to support his immense army, after the
loss of his fleet, retreated with the utmost precipitation. But before
he quitted Greece, he gave Mardonius the command of a large detachment,
to secure part of his conquests; but these being some months afterwards
entirely defeated by Pausanias and Aristides at Platæa, and most of the
troops the King carried with him having perished in the retreat, the
Grecians pursued him into Asia.
Athens now rose, by rapid strides, to its highest lustre. Themistocles
augmented the navy, rebuilt the city, fortified the Pyræus, and joined
it to the town, which is four miles distant, by a strong fortified wall.
His grand object was to throw the whole power of Greece into the hands
of the Athenians; but the steps by which he proposed to attain this end,
were so much disapproved, that he was banished. Accused afterwards of
being concerned in the conspiracy of Pausanias, the Lacedemonian
Admiral, for delivering Greece into the hands of the Persians, he was
obliged to fly his country; and being pursued from place to place,
although innocent of the charge preferred against him, he was at last
compelled to take refuge at the Court of Persia.