CIA P. and ambitious efforts, fhould have tranfgreffed LXVIII. the standard of moderation. A Turkish cannon,

Mahomet II. forms the fiege of Conftantinople, A.D. 1453,

April 6.

more enormous than that of Mahomet, ftill guards the entrance of the Dardanelles; and if the use be inconvenient, it has been found on a late trial that the effect was far from contemptible. A ftone bullet of eleven hundred pounds weight was once difcharged with three hundred and thirty pounds of powder; at the diftance of fix hundred yards it fhivered into three rocky fragments, traverfed the ftreight, and, leaving the waters in a foam, again rose and bounded against the oppofite hill.

While Mahomet threatened the capital of the East, the Greek emperor implored with fervent prayers the affiftance of earth and heaven. But the invifible powers were deaf to his fupplications; and Christendom beheld with indifference the fall of Conftantinople, while fhe derived at leaft fome promife of fupply from the jealous and temporal policy of the fultan of Egypt. Some states were too weak, and others too remote; by fome the danger was confidered as imaginary, by others as inevitable: the Western princes were involved in their endless and domeftic quarrels; and the Roman pontiff was exafperated by the falfehood or obstinacy of the Greeks. Inftead of employing in their favour the arms and treafures of Italy, Nicholas the fifth had foretold their approaching ruin; and his honour was engaged in the accomplishment of his prophecy. Perhaps he

was

LXVIII.

was foftened by the laft extremity of their diftrefs; c HAB but his compaffion was tardy; his efforts were faint and unavailing; and Conftantinople had fallen, before the fquadrons of Genoa and Venice could fail from their harbours ". Even the princes of the Morea and of the Greek islands affected a cold neutrality: the Genoefe colony of Galata negociated a private treaty; and the fultan indulged them in the delufive hope, that by his clemency they might furvive the ruin of the empire. A plebeian crowd, and fome Byzantine nobles, bafely withdrew from the danger of their country; and the avarice of the rich denied the emperor, and referved for the Turks, the fecret treasures which might have raised in their defence whole armies of mercenaries". The indigent and folitary prince prepared however to fuftain his formidable adverfary; but if his courage were equal to the peril, his ftrength was inadequate to the conteft. In the beginning of the fpring, the Turkish vanguard fwept the towns and vil lages as far as the gates of Conftantinople: fubmiffion was fpared and protected; whatever prefumed to refift was exterminated with fire and fword. The Greek places on the Black Sea, Mefembria, Acheloum, and Bizon, furrendered on the first fummons; Selybria alone deferved the honours of a fiege or blockade; and the bold inhabitants, while they were invefted by land, launched their boats, pillaged the oppofite coaft of Cyzicus, and fold their captives in the public VOL. XII.

G

CHAP. market. But on the approach of Mahomet himLXVIII. felf all was filent and proftrate: he first halted at the distance of five miles: and from thence advancing in battle array, planted before the gate of St. Romanus the Imperial ftandard; and, on the fixth day of April, formed the memorable fiege of Conftantinople.

Forces of the
Turks.

The troops of Afia and Europe extended on the right and left from the Propontis to the harbour: the Janizaries in the front were stationed before the fultan's tent; the Ottoman line was covered by a deep intrenchment, and a fubordinate army inclosed the fuburb of Galata, and watched the doubtful faith of the Genocfe. The inquifitive Philelphus, who refided in Greece about thirty years, before the fiege, is confident, that all the Turkish forces, of any name or value, could not exceed the number of fixty thousand horfe and twenty thousand foot; and he upbraids the pufillanimity of the nations, who had tamely yielded to an handful of Barbarians. Such indeed might be the regular establishment of the Capiculi, the troops of the Porte, who marched with the prince, and were paid from his royal treasury. But the bafhaws, in their respective governments, maintained or levied a provincial militia; many lands were held by a military tenure; many volunteers were attracted by the hope of fpoil; and the found of the holy trumpet invited a fwarm of hungry and fearlefs fanatics, who might contribute at leaft to multiply the terrors, and in a first attack to blunt the fwords,

LXVIII.

Greeks.

of the Chriftians. The whole mafs of the Turk- CHA P. ifh powers is magnified by Ducas, Calcocondyles, and Leonard of Chios, to the amount of three or four hundred thousand men; but Phranza was a lefs remote and more accurate judge; and his precife definition of two hundred and fiftyeight thousand does not exceed the measure of experience and probability ". The navy of the befiegers was lefs formidable: the Propontis was overfpread with, three hundred and twenty fail; but of these no more than eighteen could be rated as gallies of war; and the far greater part must be degraded to the condition of ftoreships and transports, which poured into the camp freth fupplies of men, ammunition, and provifions. In her laft decay, Conftantinople was ftill of the peopled with more than an hundred thousand inhabitants; but thefe numbers, are found in the accounts, not of war, but of captivity; and they moftly confifted of mechanics, of priests, of women, and of men devoid of that spirit which even women have fometimes exerted for the common fafety. I can fuppofe, I could almoft excuse, the reluctance of fubjects to ferve on a distant frontier, at the will of a tyrant; but the man who dares not expofe his life in the defence of his children and his property has loft in society the first and most active energies of nature. By the emperor's command, a particular enquiry had been made through the streets and houses, how many of the citizens, or even of the monks, were able and willing to bear arms for their country. The

CHA P. lifts were entrusted to Phranza "; and, after a LXVII. diligent addition, he informed his master, with

Falfe union

of the two

grief and furprise, that the national defence was reduced to four thousand nine hundred and feventy Romans. Between Constantine and his faithful minifter, this comfortless fecret was preferved; and a fufficient proportion of fhields, crossbows, and mufkets, was diftributed from the arsenal to the city bands. They derived fome acceffion from a body of two thousand strangers, under the command of John Juftiniani, a noble Genoefe; a liberal donative was advanced to these auxiliaries; and a princely recompence, the ifle of Lemnos, was promised to the valour and victory of their chief. A ftrong chain was drawn across the mouth of the harbour: it was Supported by fome Greek and Italian veffels of war and merchandife; and the fhips of every Christian nation, that fucceffively arrived from Candia and the Black Sea, were detained for the public fervice. Against the powers of the Ottoman empire, a city of the extent of thirteen, perhaps of fixteen, miles was defended by a fcanty garrison of feven or eight thoufand foldiers. Europe and Afia were open to the befiegers; but the strength and provifions of the Greeks must sustain a daily decrease; nor could they indulge the expectation of any foreign succour or fupply.

The primitive Romans would have drawn their fwords in the refolution of death or conquest. A. D. 1452, The primitive Chriftians might have embraced

churches.

Dec. 12.