The reigning emperor, John Palseologus, succumbed to his demands, aud purchased his alliance by the annual payment of a considerable tribute. Murad was, beyond many of his line, observant of his oaths, and during the whole of his long reign of thirty years the Byzantine city enjoyed the unusual privilege of an assured immunity from all Turkish aggression. All this, however, quickly changed on the accession of his more resolute son. Muhammad II., who succeeded him, and whose great ambition was to make the Byzantine capital the chief seat of his dominion, on some slight pretext abrogated the treaty of his father, and announced his intention to build a fort on the European side of the Bosporus. This threat he carried into execution, and the Castle of Burnell Hissar ( Citadel of Europe ’), opposite the ‘ Citadel of Asia,’ remains intact to the present day, as an ornament of the Bosporus, and a proof of the substantial character of the Turkish construction. In the spring of 1453 Muhammad II. environed the city with his troops.
His army consisted of 60,000 horse and 20,000 foot, while Constantine, the reigning emperor, could only muster 5000 native soldiers and a band of 2000 Genoese mercenaries, under a noble Genoese leader, John Justiniani. Of the triangle which composes the site of the city, the two sides along the sea were considered inaccessible, and the attack was, therefore, directed against the third or land side, which was protected by a double wall and deep ditch extending across the promontory from sea to sea. A desperate and persevering courage was shown both by the besiegers and besieged, but the city at last fell into the hands of Muhammad II., after a forty days’ struggle.
Muhammad with the possession of Constantinople
The thirst for conquest was not satisfied in Muhammad with the possession of Constantinople. His daily cry was, ‘ First Belgrade and then Rhodes,’ both of which places he hoped to gain as steps to a firmer footing in Christendom. But he was repelled from both, and his aspirations for further conquest were thus frustrated and restrained. Within half a century his successor, Suleiman the Magnificent, effected at a mighty cost the subjugation of Rhodes, but thereby made no progress towards dominion in Europe. He was repulsed with ignominy by La Yalette and his heroes from the attempted conquest of Malta, while the victorious squadrons of Venice, Genoa and Spain, under Don John of Austria, in the great naval battle of Lepanto, on the 5th of October 1571, finally extinguished all fear of the establishment of Muhammadan rule in the West. From that time the Turks have had enough to do in maintaining the integrity of their own empire guided istanbul tours. Thus the great victory of Muhammad II. has been comparatively barren of results. It extinguished indeed the Byzantine Empire, already long ripe through its own corruption for destruction; but the capture of Constantinople may be rightly described as at once the culminating glory of the Ottoman Sultans, and their last successful attempt at permanent conquests within the precincts of Eastern or Western Christendom.
Government.—The Government of Turkey has oden, from the time of the foundation of the Turkish Empire in 1326, an absolute monarchy, the Sultan being absolute ruler of his people and head of the Muhammadan religion. But since the 23rd of July 1908, owing to an army insurrection, and the dethronement of Sultan Abd-ul- Hamid Khan II., it has been changed into a Constitutional Monarchy. It consists of the Sultan, the Grand Vizier (Prime Minister), ten Cabinet Ministers, the Senate, and the Parliament. The Sultan’s accession to the throne is hereditary and goes to the eldest male of the family. The Grand Vizier and the Senators are appointed by the Sultan ; the Cabinet Ministers by the Grand Vizier, and the Deputies are elected by the people, one Deputy elected for every 50,000 male inhabitants.
