but one of those wandering ridges, which running from the high Balkans,
like the fibres of some gigantic tree, are the branches of those roots
by which they seem fastened to the level ground, and its picturesque
and romantic features are different from the usual character of the
level country. The plain from hence to Adrianople, and to the sea,
is generally a flat surface of immense extent. These village-crowned
peaks are called, both here and in the neighbouring country of Macedon,
meteors, or “appearances in the air.” They are usually chosen as the
site of Greek convents, and sometimes ascended by a basket let down
with cords, in which the visitor is drawn up. The sides of the hills,
in every accessible spot, are covered with vineyards, from which the
city of Adrianople is supplied with grapes of an excellent quality.
[Illustration: T. Allom. S. Fisher.
CAVALRY BARRACKS ON THE BOSPHORUS.]
The feudal tenure by which the conquered lands were held by those
to whom the victorious Sultan assigned them, were called Zaims and
Timariots. This obliged every man to furnish a certain number of
mounted followers, to take the field when called upon, and formed the
first cavalry enrolled for military service by the Turks. But to these
were added more efficient bodies, paid from the treasury, and enrolled
as regular troops−-these were called Selictarli and Spahi.
Selictarli, which literally means “men of the sword,” were the oldest
and earliest corps, and owed their origin to Ali, the fourth caliph of
the Osmanli race. To their care was entrusted the defence of the sacred
person of the Sultan; they formed his immediate body-guard, and were
distinguished by a standard of bright red as their ensign. But in the
reign of Mahomet III., during a sanguinary combat, they were seized
with a sudden panic, and abandoned their sovereign. Unable to rally
the Selictars, he called on the grooms who attended their horses, who
at once obeyed his summons, and rescued him from the danger. To punish
the one, and reward the other, he formed a new corps of these grooms,
conferred upon them the scarlet standard, while their masters were
obliged to adopt one of yellow, as a mark of their degradation; and he
called his new corps “Spahis,” that is, simple cavaliers, without Zaim
or Timar.
On their first appointment, their arms were bows and arrows, with
sabres, and a lance called a dgerid. They preferred these to pistols
or carbines, for, said they, “firearms expend themselves in the air,
but sabres and lances prostrate on the ground.” The dgerid was a short
lance, which they darted with unerring aim at full speed; to this
day, representations of their ancient combat with this weapon, form a
distinguished part of their athletic sports. They hurl pointless lances
at each other as they pass at full speed, and, stooping to the ground
from their saddle-bow, recover them without dismounting, or slackening
their pace; to these were attached certain adventurers called Gionuli,
or “volunteers.” They watched the death of a Timariot, and immediately
took his place, and succeeded to his Timar. So desperate and sanguinary
were the combats, on one occasion, that in a few hours the same
Timar passed through seven gionuli, who were all brief proprietors
of a landed estate in succession, before they died. It remained in
possession of the eighth who survived the battle.
But the most desperate and extraordinary of this cavalry, are the
Delhi, or Deliler, which literally means “madmen,” a name their conduct
well entitles them to bear. They are generally recruited from Servia
and Croatia, and are of robust stature, and fierce and formidable
aspect. This they endeavour to increase by their dress: their helmets
are formed of a leopard’s head and jaws, with the skin hanging down
to their shoulders; and this is surmounted by the beak, wings, and
tail of an eagle, united with threads of iron. Their vests are skins
of lions, and their trousers the hides of bears with the shaggy hair
outside. They despise the crooked sabre of the Spahi, but carry a
target and a serrated lance of great weight and size. These men rush
on their enemies with the most reckless impetuosity; and, should any
of them hesitate at the most hopeless and desperate attack, they are
dishonoured for ever.
All these are perhaps the best mountain-horsemen in the world,
though nothing can be more unfavourable to their firm seat and rapid
evolutions than their whole equipment. Their saddles are heavy masses
of wood, like pack-saddles, peaked before and behind, and seem to be
the most awkward and uneasy in the way they use them. Their stirrups
are very short, and their stirrup-irons very cumbrous, resembling
the blades of fire-shovels, the angles of which they use to goad on
the horse, as they have no spurs. This heavy and awkward apparatus
is not secured on the horse by regular girths, but tied with thongs
of leather, which are continually breaking and out of order. On this
insecure seat the rider sits tottering, with his knees approaching to
his chin; yet there never were more bold and dexterous horsemen, in the
most difficult and dangerous places. When trooped together they observe
little order, yet they act in concert with surprising regularity and
effect, particularly on broken ground and mountain-passes, seemingly
impracticable to European cavalry. They drive at full speed through
beds of torrents, and up and down steep acclivities, and suddenly
appear on the flanks or rear of their enemies, after passing rapidly
through places where it was supposed impossible for a horseman to move.
Such had been the general character of Turkish cavalry, but the Sultan,
in his military reforms, obliterated the characteristic distinction
of each corps, and amalgamated them all to an uniformity of European
discipline. He one day saw a restive horse baffle all the attempts of
his rider to reduce him to obedience, and finally throw him to the
ground. There happened to be standing near, an Italian adventurer,
named Calosso, who had come to Constantinople in search of fortune,
with many of his countrymen. He seized the unruly animal by the
bridle, disencumbered him of his awkward ponderous saddle, mounted
him bare-backed, and presently reclaimed him to a state of perfect
discipline. His dexterity attracted the notice of the sovereign, who
at once availed himself of his abilities. He first put himself under
his care, and learned the art of European manège, at considerable
personal risk. He cast away the wooden pack-saddle, and set his cavalry
an example by mounting himself on a bare-backed horse. The sudden
transition from a lofty seat, where the limbs were confined and fixed
to the horse by a wooden frame, and the legs supported by firm pressure
on a broad stirrup, to the sharp spine of a beast without either
saddle or stirrup, was scarcely tolerable; and the imperial recruit
would have been often precipitated to the ground, but for the aid of
his Italian instructor, who was always at hand to support him. Yet
he persevered with his usual determination, and he became in a short
time an accomplished European horseman, and induced his subjects to
follow his example. There was no European usage which a Turk found it
more difficult to adopt than this. A short stirrup was congenial, and
in keeping with all his other habits. When he sat, his legs were not
properly pendent, but turned, as it were, under him, and he preserved
on his pack-saddle nearly the same position as he occupied at ease on
his divan. His first sensations, therefore, in his new position, with
his legs stretched down, were those of discomfort and insecurity; and
the first training of a squadron of Turkish cavalry, was one of the
most difficult reforms the Sultan had to encounter.
Our illustration presents the magnificent barracks built for the
cavalry on the shores of the Bosphorus. Kislas, or “barracks,” are
among the largest and most striking edifices seen round Constantinople.
The first object seen on approaching the Bosphorus is the vast barrack
at Scutari; and on the opposite hill, over the hanging grounds, at
Dolma Baktche an equally large one. A splendid edifice of this kind
existed at Levend Chiflik; but in the sanguinary conflict which took
place between the military on the establishing of the Nizam Djeddit, or
“new corps,” this noble edifice, with others, was razed to the ground.
But of all the barracks round the city, that erected for the cavalry is
the most decorated, and forms one of the most striking objects which
ornament the lovely Bosphorus.
[Illustration: T. Allom. F. W. Topham.
ENTRANCE TO THE DIVAN, CONSTANTINOPLE.]
The Divan is not only a court of justice, but of legislature and
diplomacy. It is here that laws are made, suits decided, firmans
issued, troops paid, and the representatives of sovereigns made fit to
be introduced to the august presence of the Sultan.
The chamber where all those affairs are transacted is a room in a small
detached edifice surmounted by two domes, in the interior court of
the seraglio. It is quite naked, with no furniture but a wooden bench
running along the wall, about two or three feet high, covered with
cushions. This long and fixed sofa is the furniture of every house. It
is called a Divan, and gives its name peculiarly to this apartment.
This chamber has no doors to shut at the entrance, for, as it is a
court of justice, it is supposed to be always open, inviting all the
world to enter it, and never to be closed against any suitor. Opposite
the entrance is a moulding forming an arcade, round the summit of
which is written in letters of gold, a confession of faith from the
Koran, and beneath it is the seat of the judges. On the wall on the
south is represented the form of an altar, to which suitors in any
cause turn themselves, and, on a signal given by the crier, address
prayers for the success of their suit, as to the Al-Caaba at Mecca. The
grand vizir is obliged to administer justice in this hall four times a
week−-Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
As the Koran is the repository of the civil as well as the religious
code of the empire, all suits are decided here by its authority.
Attached to most mosques, are medresis or “colleges,” where students
are instructed in law as well as divinity, by muderis or “professors.”
When qualified by a certain course of study, they are despatched to the
towns and villages in every part of the empire, where they become the
mollas, naibs, and cadis, or various “judges,” appointed to dispense
justice, founding all their decrees on the precepts of the Koran. Of
these there are two considered as superiors, and named Cadileskers, one
for the northern portions of the empire, called Roumeli Cadilesker,
or “the supreme judge of Europe;” the other for the southern, called
Anadoli Cadilesker, or “the supreme judge of Asia.” A third, who
decides in ecclesiastical matters only, is called Istambol Effendi,
or “judge of the capital.” These, particularly the two former, are
always the assessors of the grand vizir in the Divan, and form with
him the grand tribunal of the empire. From the earliest period of
Oriental usage, the right hand has been deemed the post of honour, but
the thing is reversed in matters connected with the law. The Turks
are particularly tenacious of position as indicating distinction. The
Cadilesker Anadoli sits on his left hand, and the Cadilesker Roumeli
on his right, and the same precedence is rigidly observed among the
suitors of the court. The judges, when constituting this tribunal, do
not sit with their legs folded under them, as is the universal practice
of all Orientals, but their legs are suffered to hang down and rest on
a footstool, and it is thus the sultan himself receives the ambassadors
of foreign powers. It is a deviation from the ordinary position, which
is supposed to confer seriousness and dignity on any important occasion.
When a Turk goes to law, he first proceeds to an arzuhalgee; this is
a kind of attorney, or licensed scrivener, who holds an office in
various parts of the city, and who alone is permitted to undertake a
statement of a case. So tenacious of this privilege is the arzuhalgee,
that no officer of state, however competent his ability or high his
station, can draw up a process for himself, but must apply to this
scrivener. To him the plaintiff goes, and he draws up for him an
arzuhal, which is not a detail of lengthened repetitions, but literally
a brief, containing a statement of the case in a few words. With this
he proceeds early in the morning to the Divan, on one of the appointed
days of session, and he is ranged with other suitors in two long lines,
awaiting for sunrise, when the grand vizir attends to open the court.
On his arrival, he passes up the lane formed by the suitors, and,
having arrived at the Divan, a small table covered with a cloth of gold
is laid before him, and the court opens. The first suitor on the left
has the precedence. He presents his arzuhal to a chaoush or officer
in attendance, who hands it to the chaoush bashee, and by him it is
laid before the buyuk teskiergee, or “great receiver of memorials,”
who stands on the left hand of the grand vizir. He reads out the
plaintiff’s case with a loud voice, and the defendant is called on for
a reply. Here is none of the tedious formulas of European pleaders, no
exhibitions of forensic eloquence, none of “the law’s delay.” Should
it appear that any attempt was made to entangle the subject in legal
quibbles, or lengthen it unnecessarily, so that justice maybe either
defeated or deferred, the parties are liable to be bastinadoed on the
spot, at the discretion of the judge.
Two witnesses are required to establish a fact, and never more. If it
be a case of debt, the simple promise of the debtor is sufficient,
either written and marked with his seal, or, if verbal, attested by
witnesses. The parties generally plead their own cause; the judges,
without reference to any code but the Koran, consider the simple facts.
Having decided, they give sentence, which is submitted to the grand
vizir; and, if it coincide with his own opinion, which is generally the
case, he writes at the bottom of the arzuhal the word Sah, “surely.”
If, on the contrary, he dissents, he writes his own decree, and the
parties are dismissed with a hujet, or “sentence of the grand vizir,”
which is final. It is on these occasions only, that disputation takes
place in a Turkish court of justice; for if the cadileskers are
supposed capable, either through ignorance or design, of pronouncing an
unjust decree, they are degraded, and never suffered again to hold any
place of trust. They, therefore, defend their opinions with obstinacy,
and the court resounds, not with the pleadings of lawyers, but the
disputation of the judges. Proceeding thus from left to right, the
cases are summarily decided till it is dark, or they are all disposed
of; and as justice may not be deferred by the intervention of any
avoidable delay, the members of the court dine where they sit. A frugal
meal is brought in at midday and despatched in a few minutes.
Such is the process when the Divan is a court of justice; but when
it becomes a Galibé Divan, or “council chamber,” all the affairs of
state become objects of its deliberation or discussion. This is held
on Sundays and Mondays. Here the grand vizir and cadileskers also sit,
assisted by the reis effendi, or “minister for foreign affairs,” the
mufti, or “chief of ecclesiastical affairs,” and the agas, “or heads
of the military departments.” When the first dawn of European light
opened upon Turkey, this council of despotism made some approximation
to a popular representation. In the difficulties that surrounded the
state at the commencement of the Greek revolution, the embarrassed
but enlightened Sultan invited the mutelins or “paymasters” of the
different Janissary corps, and also deputies from the esnaffs or
“corporations” of trades, to become members, and, as these were taken
from the respectable class of citizens, they were fair representatives
of their opinions to a certain extent, and so formed the first Turkish
parliament.
The Sultan introduced another innovation also into the mysterious
proceedings of the Divan. It was not usual for the sovereign to appear
personally there, but whenever an affair was discussed, the grand vizir
appeared before him, with the members of the council, in an apartment
of the seraglio, and there took his directions. But, though he was
seemingly absent, it was known that he was always present on any affair
of importance. There stands at the back of the Divan, some distance
above the heads of those who sit on it, a projection like a bow-window
from the wall. This is covered with gilded lattice-work, and concealed
by curtains drawn behind. It is called the Sha Nichin or “sultan’s
seat,” and here he ensconced himself, and heard and saw whatever was
going on below. As the curtain was usually drawn, it was not known
to a certainty when he was there or not, but he was dreaded like the
tyrant of Syracuse, as always listening, and sometimes detected by the
angry gleam of an eye glancing through the lattice, and denouncing
vengeance on some obnoxious member of the council. It is for this
reason called “the dangerous window,” and looked up to with awe and
terror from below. Many anecdotes are told of this Sha Nichin. Achmet
I. who is said to be its inventor, constantly watched the proceedings
of the Divan from hence, when it was supposed he was buried in sensual
indulgences in the remote recesses of the seraglio. One day, when a
court of justice was held, a soldier presented an arzuhal to the grand
vizir, and, supposing it was treated with neglect, and himself with
injustice, he drew his yatagan, and suddenly plunged it into his body.
The chaoushs and others cast themselves upon the assassin, and were
about to cut him to pieces, when the curtain of the Sha Nichin was
drawn aside, and the voice of the Sultan was heard like thunder issuing
from it. He commanded them to desist, and, stepping down, he himself
examined the man’s case, with the bleeding body of the grand vizir on
the Divan beside him. He thought he had reason to suppose the sentence
was unjust, and the delinquent had provocation; so he dismissed the
soldier as an injured man, and caused the body of the grand vizir to be
cast into the sea as an unjust judge.
Another use of the Divan is, that it is the place where the troops,
particularly the janissaries, received their pay. On these occasions
men bring in small leathern bags of piasters, which they pile on the
floor, till they form heaps three or four feet high, and ten or twelve
long. When these are all laid, and the whole amount of pay ready, the
grand vizir sends a sealed paper to the Sultan, notifying that large
sums of money are lying before him on the ground, and humbly entreating
to know what it is his pleasure to do with it. The chaoush returns
after some delay, with an iron-shod pole, which he strikes loudly on
the pavement, to announce his approach with the answer to the important
question, and presents a huge packet to the vizir, which he receives
with profound reverence, first pressing it to his forehead and then to
his lips. Having read the communication, he announces aloud, that it is
the Sultan’s pleasure that all the heaps of coin shall be distributed
among the soldiers, detachments of whom are in attendance for the
purpose. The bags are then brought out, and laid on the flags in front
of the Divan. And now succeeds a scene of puerile enjoyment, which none
but a Turk could relish. Certain dishes filled with smoking pilaff of
soft rice, are laid at different distances, beside the heaps of coin;
and at a signal given, the soldiers start, some to seize one, and
some the other, and some both. There are then seen grave old men with
long grizzled beards, all smeared with greasy rice, struggling with
boys, and rolling over each other on the ground. This folly is highly
relished by the sages on the Divan within, who look on with delight
till all the bags of money and plates of rice have disappeared.
The last ceremony of the Divan is the reception of ministers of
foreign powers, who come here to be duly made fit for presentation
to the Sultan. On the day appointed they and their suits assemble
at an early hour in the morning, and all the process of deciding
causes, distributing money, and running for pilaff, is ostentatiously
displayed before them, in order to dazzle, astonish, and impress on
those stranger-infidels a high opinion of Turkish superiority. They
are allowed to enter the Divan seemingly as spectators, and are left
standing in the crowd without notice or respect. On rare occasions,
the tired ambassador, if he be from a favoured nation, is allowed
a joint-stool to sit on; but such an indulgence is not permitted
to the rest: secretaries of legation, dragomans, consuls, &c. are
kept standing for several hours, till the whole of the exhibition is
displayed. It is then notified to the Sultan, that some giaours are
in the Divan, and, on inquiring into their business, that they humbly
crave to be admitted into his sublime presence, to prostrate themselves
before him. It is now that orders are given to feed, wash, and clothe
them, and it is notified that when they are fit to be seen, they will
be admitted; and this is done accordingly. Joint-stools are brought in,
on which are placed metal trays, without cloth, knife, or fork; and
every one helps himself with his fingers, including the ambassador.
After this scrambling and tumultuous refreshment, water is poured on
the smeared and greasy persons who partake of it. They are then led
forth to a large tree in the court, where a heap of pellises of various
qualities lie on the pavement, shaken out of bags in which they were
brought. From this, every person to be admitted to the presence takes
one, and, having wrapped himself in it, he is seized by the collar,
and dragged into the presence of the Sultan, as we have elsewhere
noticed. Such were the unseemly ceremonies used on these occasions
only a few years ago; but, like other Turkish barbarisms, they are
daily disappearing, and the introduction of the representative of one
sovereign to the audience of another, is approaching to the decorum of
European usages.
Our illustration presents the gate Capi Arasi, leading from the first
to the second court of the seraglio, where the Divan is held, and so
it is the entrance to it. It is also the place where delinquents are
led for punishment, and thus originated the Turkish expression of a
man deserving to be sent “between gates,” which the name Capi Arasi
signifies. Here it is that the executioners sit, and the implements
of their trade hang on the walls round about them, forming a horrid
combination. Yet it was here, and in this company, that foreign
ambassadors were obliged to wait till orders were issued to admit them
into the court of the Divan. Crowds of hateful dogs are usually seen
here. As they are called “the consummators of Turkish justice,” by
lacerating and devouring the bodies of criminals exposed in the streets
after decapitation, so, as it were by instinct, they seem fond of
congregating with their fellow-executioners.
[Illustration: T. Allom. J. Jenkins.
THE MEDÂK, OR EASTERN STORY-TELLER.
CONSTANTINOPLE.]
The Turks have no theatres where various persons habited in appropriate
costume represent the manners, usages, and feelings of real life,
among artificial scenery, which imitates objects of nature and art;
they have no resemblance of woods, or gardens, or streets, or houses,
where men and women, supporting various characters, meet as in the
daily intercourse of society, and every thing combines to create the
delusions of dramatic representation. All these things are considered
as coming under the prohibition of making the likeness of anything; and
proscribed, with the art of painting, as idolatrous representations.
They have, however, occasionally something approaching to our plays;
where more than one character appears in a naked room, or in the
open air, in front of a kiosk, while the spectators look from the
windows, or form a circle round the performers. On these occasions
some very gross indecencies take place, and the gravity and sense of
decorum of a Turk is laid aside. They permit, and seem to enjoy, in
these representations, a violation of morals and propriety, which, in
real life, they would punish with the greatest severity. The sultans
themselves are often present at such exhibitions, and set the example
of encouraging them.