RESTORATION OF THE GREEK EMPIRE. 275 King Otho be advanced to the throne of Constantinople; let the Turks be driven out of Europe, and let the natural energies, and the quiet habits of industry that distinguish the present Greek subjects of the Porte be again brought into play, and be no longer pressed down by the arbitrary spirit of an eastern despotism. The nations of Europe are becoming too enlightened, and the principles of government are becoming too well understood longer to permit these fair provinces of Europe to languish under Turkish misrule. They have a right to interfere between the oppressor and the oppressed, between the strong man armed and his defenceless victim. But the European nations are too jealous of each other to interfere with effect; mutual ambitious designs would be suspected, and the measures of one power would be thwarted by another; and the infallible result is, that Constantinople will fall into the hands of Russia. The only possible way to prevent it, will be to drive out the Turks, and re-establish a Greek government. The population of Turkey has been constantly diminishing, and from the want of a census, it is difficult to form an accurate computation of its amount. According to Mr. Hassel in 1823, there were in European Turkey 3,091,000 Greeks, 2,342,000 Turks, other nations 3,936,400. So Classing the numbers according to the religious division, there were of Mussulmen 2,889,000, of Greek Christians 5,880,000, Armenian Catholics 310,000, Armenians 85,000, Jews 312,000. that little better than two millions of Turks are allowed to tyrannize over the rest of the population, and to destroy the resources of the country. June 19th. In the afternoon we entered one of our favourite little swift boats and rowed along the maritime walls of Constantinople, bordering the Propontis. We marked several of the ruined towers which were constructed by the Greek emperors, and as we came towards the triple row of walls which protected the ancient capital of the Cæsars on the land side, we observed large loose masses of stone lying in the sea, which are doubtless those alluded to by Codinus in the following passage. "Concerning those immense stones which are situate without the maritime wall. When Constantine built the city, as almost the whole site was rocky, they were obliged in places to plane off the summits of the rocks to allow of the construction of the buildings, and these being rolled down into the sea and cast about on all THE MARITIME WALLS. 277 sides, fortified the whole shore against the attacks of the waves, and these large stones were so taken advantage of in the construction of the maritime walls, that the boisterous waves were made to break against them, and thus flow on tranquilly to the walls."* Halting at the last tower, we took a farewell of the triple line of walls on the land side, which so long protected the capital of the east from the warlike hordes of the Scythians, the Saracens, the Persians, the Avars, the Tartars, the Russians, the Latins, and the Turks, now crumbling to pieces, covered with green trees, and tenanted by storks and owls. "The walls and gates of Constantinople," says Chrysoloras in his letter, " may be compared with those of Babylon. The towers are many; each tower is a solid and lofty structure and the second wall, the outer fortification, would be sufficient for the defence and dignity of an ordinary capital. A broad and rapid stream may be introduced into the ditches, and the artificial island may be encompassed like Athens, by land or water." Upper portions of the maritime wall are modern, of Turkish construction. Rowing towards a small door, we landed on some wooden planks and entered the town. At a short * Codinus de Antiq. p. 63. distance from the walls I observed a space of many acres converted into a garden, and entering a doorway, I was surprised with a vast quantity of ruins extending for near a quarter of a mile, consisting of massive stone walls and arches curving round in a circle; there were arches formed too in the maritime walls which bordered the garden, and two square towers with arches one over the other, I could obtain no information whatever concerning these ruins, but supposed them to be remnants of a circus. We crossed right through Constantinople, by numerous winding disgusting streets, bordered by the meanest houses and tottering decayed wooden habitations, to the shores of the harbour, Our cicerone meeting with a friend, went to have a puff at his pipe as we passed along, and I flung a stick at a dog who rushed at me from a butcher's shop, and knocked him head over heels, to the great indignation of the Turks. We took boat at the Golden Horn and crossed over to Galata. The shipping that one sees in the harbour is at first sight calculated to give one a favourable idea of the commerce of Constantinople, but these ships have no connection with the prosperity of the place. The commodities that are exchanged come from distant countries, and do not awaken the industry of the native cultivators; the productions of PORTERS. TURKISH FATALISM. 279 Poland, the Ukraine, Russia, and Siberia are here exchanged for the cutlery, cloth, tin, watches, and glass-ware from England, the silks of France, and the linen of Germany; the commerce is sustained by foreigners, and the Turks derive little advantage from their enterprise and industry. The rambler in the streets and lanes of Galata and Constantinople near the waterside must keep, according to the proverb, "all his eyes about him," or he runs a shrewd chance of losing one or both of them. Porters with long strips of wood and quivering bars of iron pass and repass through the dark thoroughfares, looking neither to the right nor left-they come on at a sort of run, and if, as is often the case, any accident occur, there is neither redress nor pity. Nearly the whole breadth of the narrow lane is sometimes occupied with crowds of these men, bearing along large wooden packages, or immense casks of merchandize slung on elastic poles, and carried on the shoulders of twelve or sixteen at a time. Let the passer by, then, keep his wits about him, or he will find himself knocked into the mire or trodden under foot. "It is fateit is the will of God," cry the porters, and trot on with their load. "Fatis agimur: cedite fatis; |