Kismet: Or, The Doom of Turkey

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Thomas Bosworth, 1853 - 452 pages

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Page 116 - ... this fine country — its resources neglected, its fields lying waste, its towns in ruins, its population decaying, and not only the traces of human labour, but of human existence, every day becoming obliterated; in fine, when I saw all the people about them advancing in the arts of civilized life, while they alone •were stationary, and the European Turk of this day differing little from his Asiatic ancestor, except only...
Page 251 - Thus are the blessings of a mild climate, a fertile soil, and a beautiful country, rendered nugatory, and both the capital and the provinces left in a state of decay and depopulation by the measures of a government as ignorant as tyrannical. The native peasantry of Moldavia, Wallachia and Bulgaria have, under all circumstances, been described as a quiet, unoffending, and industrious people.
Page 216 - ... excited by anger, had not said a word against the Koran or the Prophet. But the testimony of these Christians could not be taken against Mussulman witnesses, and Kara Ali, the Turk, was provided with two false witnesses, one being Shakir Bey, his own son-in-law, and the other Otuz-Bir Oglou-Achmet-Bey. The pair were false witnesses of notoriety, and generally reputed to be the two greatest scoundrels of the town. There were scores upon scores of people who had seen them at the coffee-house in...
Page 201 - It is well seen, O God, how thou goest : how thou, my God and King, goest in the sanctuary. 25 The singers go before, the minstrels follow after : in the midst are the damsels playing with the timbrels.
Page 13 - an enlightened sovereign, far from attempting to introduce among them anything of European practice, would rather seek to develope those peculiar qualities, of which the germ evidently exists in these extraordinary people.' There is something in this ; but after all, there is no efficient force like that of a regular army. The spahis, like the cossacks, were wild and disorderly in their attacks, spreading themselves in small bodies, among the rocks and bushes, dashing down narrow passes, and, thiough...
Page 268 - Kadir, though still occupied, has been partly destroyed by. an inundation, and probably will never be repaired. This I have upon the testimony of others, for I did not myself visit it. The present number of mosques is about fifty, and many of these are in so ruinous a condition that prayer is no longer offered in them. The endowments of such have been seized upon by government and...
Page 399 - Mussulman sabre is broken — the Osmanlees will be driven out of Europe by the ghiaours, and driven through Asia to the regions from which they first sprung. It is kismet! We cannot resist Destiny...
Page 114 - ... together ; for on their side there is a mighty, strong, and wealthy empire, great armies, experience in war, a veteran soldiery, a long series of victories, patience in toil, concord, order, discipline, frugality, and vigilance. On our side there is public want, private...
Page 92 - ... edifice was to be the Medical College. No harsh criticism could apply to the liberality of the young Sultan in providing the sums necessary for stocking the establishment with implements, museums, cabinets, and other means and facilities of study. All the last improved implements of Paris, London, and Vienna, were to be found in the Galata Serai. There was a small, but not bad botanical garden. There was a Natural History museum, with a collection of geological specimens attached ; there was...
Page 261 - The honourable gentleman is wholly misinformed as to the state of Turkey for the last thirty years. I assert, without fear of contradiction, that Turkey, so far from having gone back within the last thirty years, has made greater progress and improvement, in every possible way, than perhaps was ever made by any other country during the same period. Compare the condition of Turkey now with what it was in the reign of Sultan Mahmoud, either with regard to the system of government, as bearing upon the...

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