Villehardouin’s irritation at the suggestion

On that side the current is always much too strong to allow vessels to be anchored with any amount of steadiness, or even safety. Villehardouin’s irritation at the suggestion shows how bitter the opposition still continued. There were some present, he says, who would have been very well content that the current or a wind—no matter what—should have dispersed the vessels, provided that they themselves could have left the country and have gone on their way.

It was at length decided that the two following days, the 10th and 11th, should be devoted to repairing their snit decided damages, and that a second assault should be delivered on the 12th. The previous day was a Sunday, and Boniface and Dandolo made use of it to appease the discontent in the rank and file of the army. Once more, as at Corfu and before the first attack upon the city, the bishops and abbots were set to work to preach against the Greeks. They urged that the war was just, because Mourtzouphlos was a traitor and a murderer, a man more disloyal than Judas; that the Greeks had been disobedient to Home, and had perversely been guilty of schism in refusing to recognize the supremacy of the Pope, and that Innocent himself desired the union of the two churches.

They saw in the defeat the vengeance of God on account of the sins of the Crusaders. The loose women were ordered out of the camp, and for better security were shipped and sent far away. Confession and communion were enjoined, and, in short, all that the clergy could do was done to prove that the cause was just, to quiet the discontented, and to occupy them until the attack next day.

Industriously repairing

The warriors had in the meantime been industriously repairing their ships and their machines of war. A slight, but not unimportant, change of tactics had been suggested by the assault on the 9th. Each transport had been assigned to a separate tower. The number of men who could fight from the gangways or platforms thrown out from the tops had been found insufficient to hold their own against the defenders.

Venetiau transports was to be renewed

And remember that so good an arrangement was never offered, and he who refuses it will show that he has no wish for conquest.” These are the terms of the proposal as given by Villehardouin. There were other conditions which regarded the Venetians, and which may on that account have been omitted by the marshal. The advances made to the republic were to be repaid. The contract for the freight of the Venetiau transports was to be renewed for another year on its expiration in June, and the republic was to receive one hundred thousand marks.

The messengers had brought with them letters from Philip, ordering the Germans under his rule, under strict injunctions, to support the proposal for the restoration of Alexis. He promised the French and Flemings that, if Alexis should come to his own, he would always keep open a road through Romania safe and free.

Villehardouin insists

The meeting was adjourned until the next day. When it took place the division of opinion among the barons became at once evident. The Abbot of Vaux, who represented the party which Villehardouin insists was desirous of breaking up the army, declared that he and his friends would not agree to the proposal, though even this writer tells us that they gave as their reason that they had not left their homes for such work as that proposed, and that they wished to go to Syria. Those, says Gunther, who were anxious for the success of the Cross earnestly dissuaded the rest from accepting the proposals of Philip. They urged that the restoration could not be effected without bloodshed. The plan, says this writer, seemed foolish and dishonest; foolish, because a few foreigners were not likely to take a city so well fortified and so populous, and where there was sure to be much slaughter; dishonest,
because they were departing from the holy purpose to which they had pledged themselves.

The prize out of the hands of Isaac

In a night all this was changed. The oppressor had fled. The Crusaders learned that one who had been oppressed far more than the youth among them had been brought out from his dungeon, and was now occupying the throne of which he had been wrongfully deprived. The first order was to arm, the first thought probably to snatch the prize out of the hands of Isaac. Reflection, however, soon convinced the party of Philip that this could not be done at once. For the moment they would have to acquiesce in the settlement which had been arrived at.

The simple-minded Crusaders would be unable to find fault with the citizens for placing the father of Alexis on the throne, of which he undoubtedly was, according to Western notions, the rightful occupant. The only pretext for remaining in Constantinople would henceforward be that they wished to be paid according to their bargain. Isaac had sent word, says Villehardouin, that he was willing to ratify the promises that had been made by his son.

Alexis to escape Deputation

Boniface was probably unwilling to allow Alexis to escape Deputation from his influence, but replied that the heir to the tioiTemers1″ throne would not be permitted to enter the city un- the city. Till these promises had been formally confirmed by the father. Accordingly Villehardouin himself and Matthew of [Montmorency, chosen to represent the Crusaders, with two Venetians, were sent to convey a reply to this effect to Isaac. At the gate of the city the messengers dismounted, and passed through a lane guarded on each side by Warings, les Anglois et les Danois, with their axes, to the palace of Blachern. When they entered they saw before them Isaac and his wife, the sister of the King of Hungary. The messengers, after being received with every honor, told the emperor that they wished to

speak to him in private on behalf of his son and the leaders of the army. Accordingly the emperor, his wife, the chancellor, and the interpreter, with the four messengers, passed into a private room. It had previously been arranged that Villehar- douin should speak on behalf of the messengers, and he gives us the substance of what he said.

Dandolo from dilator in the fourth crusade

Dandolo from dilator in the fourth crusade. His personal influence was immense. We have already seen that his hatred of the New Home was intense, that he had to revenge private injuries as well as the wrongs of Venice. From the moment when he took the Cross he towers above all the leaders in the great host which his fleet was shortly to transport to the Bosphorus. The venerable figure of the old man at the altar pledging himself to go with the Crusaders and to share their fortunes imposed on many. Others, however, reflected that he had not entertained the idea of going with the army until the proposal to attack Zara had been accepted, and such distrusted his newborn enthusiasm for Christianity.

A brave man

A brave man “de bien grand cecum,” says Villehardouin but one also who knew the interests of Venice and cared for nothing else; a statesman of the Italian type before Mazzini and Cavour had taught or shown a more excellent model. Capable of venturing upon bold and dangerous enterprises, he had all the ability necessary to carry them through. Self-reliant to the last day of his long life, he was yet able to avoid arousing the easily awakened jealousy of the Venetian oligarchs. lie was virtually dictator of Venice, and possessed the entire confidence of the republic through his successful management of its affairs. lie intrigued, kept his plans secret from his countrymen, deceived the Crusaders, and yet always succeeded in his designs.

Lying and intrigue were indeed held to be fair by the rules of that Italian statesmanship which Machiavel reduced to a science.. The best Italian statesman was the one who could best succeed in the purpose he had taken in hand. That faith should be broken, that craftiness should be continually necessary, were merely the incidents necessary to success. In Venetian politics right or wrong had no meaning, except in the sense that everything which advanced Venetian interests was right, everything which made against them was wrong.

Life among the wealthier classes of Constantinople

Life among the wealthier classes of Constantinople and its Constantino neighborhood must have been, on the whole, very pie a city of pleasant. There were villas on the neighboring shores of the Bosphorus, on the Marmora towards San Stefano, and on the shore beyond Chalcedon, where one might escape from the great heat of summer and spend half the year in a country life, while the well-built palaces of the city were warm and comfortable in winter. The inhabitants appreciated these privileges and were proud of the Queen of Cities. The Byzantine noble, when compelled to leave it, longed to be back again. He loved the sacred city and the Marmora, where the zephyrs blew so softly, where the fountains were so pleasant, the baths so delicious, where the dolphins and other varieties of fish disported themselves on the surface of the waters, and where the nightingales and other singing birds made delightful music for those who flocked from all parts of the world to hear it. Constantinople was a city of business, but it was likewise a city of pleasure.

Every-thing that wealth could buy could be secured within its walls. As in our own days men who have acquired money in remote regions flock to Paris or London to take part in the luxurious life of these capitals, so the Cyprian, the islander, the trader from many a remote province or country, went to Constantinople as the place where he could make the best investment of his money in pleasure. But the inhabitant of what the Western writers then called Romania had a greater inducement to go to Constantinople than the inhabitant of Manchester or Marseilles to go to London and Paris. Property is, in modern times, as safe in these provincial cities as in the capitals of the countries in which they are situated, but property at Smyrna or elsewhere in Asia Minor was liable to attacks from the Turks; property in Mitylene or others of the islands of the Aegean and along the seaboard of the empire had to be continually protected from the pirates who were already infesting the neighboring seas.

As so secure as Constantinople

No city was regarded as so secure as Constantinople, and amid this security the wealthy man could find rarer silks, finer linen, and purer dyed purple, richer furs, dishes of greater delicacy, and wines of more rare and costly vintage than in the provinces. Precious stones and jewelry of every kind, including those ropes of pearls which are yet to be seen in daily wear at Damascus and other remote cities of Turkey, and to the display of which the inhabitants of Eastern Europe, like those of Asia, have always attached great importance, might be more safely worn, could be shown to more people Visit Bulgaria, and would be more highly appreciated than in the provincial towns.

The Crusaders regarded the luxurious dresses of the Bjrzantines as marks of effeminacy, just as a Turcoman horde clothed in sheepskin, marching upon Paris, would bo sure to regard the luxury of the capital as a sign that the manliness had departed from the nation. The Byzantines looked on the rough and ill-dressed Crusaders as rude and uncouth barbarians, unskilled in science, ignorant of art and literature, and entire strangers to the luxuries of civilization. The Crusaders are never weary of calling attention to the luxury and the wealth of the inhabitants of Constantinople, and Nicetas himself, the chief Byzantine historian of this period, tells several stories against his own countrymen of the fault found by the Crusaders with the effeminate character of this luxury. We may be sure, however, that the Byzantine point of view was far different. All the pleasures of nature and of art were his.

The climate was safe from the great heat

The climate was safe from the great heat of Smyrna or the cold of even a few miles farther north on the Black, that is, the rough, bleak, Sea. The Golden Horn, the Marmora, and the Bosphorus were bright during six or seven months of the year with gayly decked and graceful caiques, probably not much unlike their present representatives, except that they were higher in the stem and stern, and thus more graceful in form. Carefully trained oarsmen from the Greek islands or from the neighboring shores were to be had at a cheap rate, and each noble family had its own crews with gay distinctive badges. The ruins
now existing in the neighborhood of Constantinople show how largely the nobles led a villa life on the borders of the sea.

No city in the world is so largely gifted by nature with the requirements for a happy life. The bright sky, the blue, tideless waters of the Marmora, the vine-producing shores, the forests which even yet have not been so far destroyed as to drive away the nightingale, the flights of quail which pass the city twice every year and still fall occasionally in the streets of Constantinople, the never-failing supply of fish and other food, the presence of birds of beautiful plumage and song, all contributed to the joyous life of this city of pleasure.

Magnanimous concessions made by far-sighted sultans of Turkey

Still less is it a system, as it is often said to be, of magnanimous concessions made by far-sighted sultans of Turkey in order to encourage foreigners to trade with and reside in the empire. The capitulations were neither badges of inferiority imposed on foreigners, as they have often been described, nor proofs of exceptional wisdom peculiar to the sultans. As a fact, foreigners have never held so important a position in the capital under Ottoman rule as under that of the Christian emperors, and especially at the close of the twelfth century. AVhile the native population has probably remained stationary during the last six centuries, the foreign population was probably never so large as at that period.

I now propose to point out what were the principal colonies of foreigners which existed in Constantinople, and in other of the important cities of the empire, at the time immediately preceding the Latin conquest.
The Warings.

Among the foreigners who had been longest established in Constantinople in 1201: were the Warings, or Varangians.

They were kinsmen of our own, and on this account latcdto Eug- may be allowed a fuller description than the immediate object in hand would justify. Tacitus speaks of “Angli et Varini,”1 the English and the Warings. Loth were, in his time, the inhabitants of the country south of the Baltic, or, as it came to be called at a later period, the Waring Sea. When the great movement began which caused the English to emigrate to Britain, some of the Warings took part in it. With them also were others whom Bede speaks of as Rugians or Russians.

Warwick or Waeringwick

At a later period the name Waring and Russian appears to have been applied indifferently to the same people, the truth possibly being, as the Russian monk Nestor says, that some of the Warings were called Russians. Many traces of Waring emigration into England exist, of which the names of Warwick or Waeringwick, Warn- ford, and Warington are examples. The record of their history shows them to be closely akin to the English, though whether through the Teutonic or the Norse element of our people may be open to doubt. Their appearance was like that of Englishmen or Danes. Their language was virtually the same. Their exploits at sea, their legends, their habits, their very names, all convey the irresistible impression that we are reading of the kinsmen of our ancestors.

the Byzantines sought to deceive them

But they could get to the root of the matter, could recognize, in spite of the shower of words with which the Byzantines sought to deceive them, what was right and what was wrong. They lost patience occasionally, and when they saw that their opponents were endeavoring to entangle them in words, boldly told them that they were not to be thus deceived. Man for man, they felt themselves stronger than the Byzantines, and with the contempt of ignorance despised them on account of their wealth and learning. On the other hand, the Byzantines wrote and spoke of them as barbarians, recognized their superiority in strength and energy, but thought of them in return as ignorant men and as fanatics.

The disastrous failures of the second and third crusades were attributed, for the most part unjustly, to the intrigues and hostility of the Emperor of the Kew Borne. In the
second crusade, which commenced in HIT, the armies of the Cross were led, respectively, by Conrad, the first with the sec- Swabian kin”, and founder of the line of fewabian oud crusade emperors of the western division of the Koman Empire, and by Louis VII. of France.

Crusaders would be well received

Conrad’s army was the first to reach the dominions under the rule of Constantinople. There was fair reason to believe that the Crusaders would be well received. The Eastern Empire, even more than the West, was at this time interested in resisting and driving back the various Moslem races that had already swamped so considerable a part of its territory, and had invited the Crusaders to share in this task.

Moreover, Conrad and Manuel, the reigning Byzantine emperor, had married sisters, and family affection might have aided the two to work harmoniously together. But the brothers-in-law were jealous of each other, and family quarrels added fuel to the unfriendly feeling which soon displayed itself. It must be noticed, in fairness to the empire, that it was hardly possible that the Western army should march across the Balkan peninsula without giving cause for dissatisfaction.

Slavic race upon the same road

The conversion of .Russia to Christianity, the great glory of the Orthodox Church, had placed the Slavic race upon the same road. Patchinaks, Comans, and Uzes would have also felt the influence of the New Rome, which might, indeed, have been powerful enough to recover Asia Minor had its existence not been brought to an end. The warfare of the empire in Asia Minor during the century and a half preceding 1200 was hardly more severe or constant than was that which she had to wage against the hordes still pressing into the Balkan peninsula from the northeast and against their predecessors, whom she was succeeding gradually in reducing to the habits of civilized life.

The imperial city stood firm as a rock amid the moving masses of people about her, the centre and source of good government; the teacher by means of commerce, of law, and of civilization ; subduing one horde only to find others coming to the front; reducing finally all to subjection, only to begin again with new immigrants. Much of her wealth and of her strength was spent in this work, for it was long and continuous.

While security and peace remained in the capital, while all the efforts of Arabs and others had failed before her walls, while in the Egean and the Marmora she had preserved a security for life and property which enabled her nobles to live in their splendid villas in security and her merchants to pass unmolested, and made all men in the east of Europe and the west of Asia look to her walls as the one absolutely safe deposit for their wealth, the empire itself had, during long centuries, never known peace. While the Teutonic and the Latin races behind her were developing their strength, forming themselves into nations, making progress in civilization, she was fighting their battles against Asiatic barbarians.

Count Baldwin or Aldwin and Kichard

Alexis Comnenos, who had urged the Sicilians to undertake the expedition and had accompanied them, was taken prisoner and blinded. Those who could took ship and endeavored to escape. A storm destroyed many and drove others back, who were slaughtered by the people whom they had grievously wronged.

In the engagement of Demetriza the two leaders, Count Baldwin, or Aldwin, and Kichard, the brother-in-law7 of Tan- cred, We’re made prisoners. They were sent to the capital, and, when brought into the presence of the emperor, behaved themselves with characteristic insolence. The emperor, clothed in imperial purple set with pearls, seated on his throne of gold, and surrounded by his guard, ordered his distinguished prisoners to be brought before him.

He asked Baldwin why he had written in reply to the anointed of the Lord1 letters which were full of insolence. Baldwin answered by expressing his contempt for the emperor, remarked that the imperial sword was good enough against effeminate and unarmored bodies, alluding to the death of Ilagiochristophorides, and told him that, instead of being used to wear a helmet and armor and to sleep in the open air under his shield, he had been brought up tenderly, had feared to be whipped by his tutor, and was a stranger to the noise of war or the call of the trumpet to battle.

He volunteered the advice that the best thing the emperor could do would be to lay aside his crown, and give it and the other imperial insignia to a prince who could win battles, and to be careful to keep in the good graces of such a prince. The emperor appears to have taken the insolence good-naturedly, and on Baldwin afterwards endeavoring to explain away his offensive language, and on his flattering the emperor, he and Bichard were sent back to prison. Shortly afterwards Baldwin was set at liberty, on his consenting never again to give aid to those who were fighting against Isaac, their grievances, were treated as barbarians and otherwise insulted, returned to the mountains, and were soon at the head of a formidable movement.

Other non-Mussulman sects

The equality of taxes entailing equality of burdens, as equality of duties entails that of rights, Christian subjects, and those of other non-Mussulman sects, as it has been already decided, shall, as well as Mussulmans, be subject to the obligations of the Law of Recruitment. The principle of obtaining substitutes, or of purchasing exemption, shall be admitted. A complete law shall be published, with as little delay as possible, respecting the admission into and service in the army of Christian and other non-Mussulman subjects.

Proceedings shall be taken for a reform in the constitution of the provincial and communal councils, in order to insure fairness in the choice of the deputies of the Mussulman, Christian, and other communities, and freedom of voting in the councils. My Sublime Porte will take into consideration the adoption of the most effectual means for ascertaining exactly and for controlling the result of the deliberations of the decisions arrived at.

As the laws regulating the purchase, sale, and disposal of real property are common to all the subjects of my Empire, it shall be lawful for foreigners to possess landed property in my dominions, conforming themselves to the laws and police regulations, and bearing the same charges as the native inhabitants, and after arrangements have been come to with foreign powers.

Distinction of class or of religion

The taxes are to be levied under the same denomination from all the subjects of my Empire, without distinction of class or of religion. The most prompt and energetic means for remedying the abuses in collecting the taxes, and especially the tithes, shall be considered. The system of direct collection shall gradually, and as soon as possible, be substituted for the plan of farming, in all the branches of the revenues of the State. As long as the present system remains in force, all agents of the government and all members of the Medjlis shall be forbidden, under the severest penalties, to become lessees of any farming contracts which are announced for public competition, or to have any beneficial interest in carrying them out. The local taxes shall, as far as possible, be so imposed as not to affect the sources of production, or to hinder the progress of internal commerce.

Works of public utility shall receive a suitable endowment, part of which shall be raised from private and special taxes, levied in the provinces which shall have the benefit of the advantages arising from the establishment of ways of communication by land and sea.

Scrupulously observed

A special law having been already passed, which declares that the budget of the revenue and expenditure of* the State shall be drawn up and made known every year, the said law shall be most scrupulously observed. Proceedings shall be taken for revising the emoluments attached to each office.

The heads of each community and a delegate, designated by my Sublime Porte, shall be summoned to take part in the deliberations of the Supreme Council of Justice on all occasions which might interest the generality of the subjects of my Empire. They shall be summoned specially for this purpose by my Grand Vizier. The delegates shall hold office for one year; they shall be sworn on entering upon their duties. All the members of the Council, at the ordinary and extraordinary meetings, shall freely give then opinions and their votes, and no one shall ever annoy them on this aiccount.

The laws against corruption, extortion, or malversation shall apply, according to the legal forms, to all the subjects of my Empire, whatever maj be their class and tne nature of their duties.

Steps shall be taken for the formation of banks and other similar institutions, so as to effect a reform in the monetary and financial system, as well as to create funds to be employed in augmenting the sources of the material wealth of my Empire bulgaria private tours.

Steps shall also be taken for the formation of roads and canals to increase the facilities of communication and increase the sources of the wealth of the country. Ever}” thing that can impede commerce or agriculture shall be abolished. To accomplish these objects, means shall be sought to profit by the science, the art, and the funds of Europe, and thus gradually to execute them.

_ Such being my wishes and my commands, you, who are my Grand Vizier, will, according to custom, cause this Imperial Firman to be published in my Capital, and in all parts of my Empire; and you will watch attentively and take all the necessary measures that all the orders which it contains be henceforth carried out with the most rigorous punctuality.

The Hatti Humayoun was communicated by the Sultan to the representatives of Great Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, who met, in February, 1856, to form the Treaty of Paris. The following is an extract from the Treaty: —

Imperial Majesty the Sultan

“NINTH ARTICLE. —His Imperial Majesty the Sultan having, in his constant solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a Firman, which, while ameliorating their condition, without distinction of religion or race, records his generous intentions towards the Christian population of his Empire; and wishing to give a further proof of his sentiments in that respect, has resolved to communicate to the Contracting Parties the said Firman emanating spontaneously from his sovereign will.

“ The Contracting Powers recognize the high value of this communication. It is clearly understood that it cannot in any case give to said Powers the right to interfere, either collectively or separately, in the relations of His Majesty the Sultan with his subjects, nor in the internal administration of his Empire.”