Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II CONDITION OF TURKEY ON ACCESSION OF ABDUL HAMID Empire in course of disintegration; its extent; internal organisation; almost purely military; influence of Janissaries ; their destruction in 1826; improvements in Army; introduction of foreign officers; Bashi Bazuks ; Military and Naval Schools established ; civil organisation ; condition of Turkish finances; corruption in administration; administration of justice; Courts of the Patriarchates ; Commercial and other Codes and Courts of Law; Land Court; public education; more advanced among non-Moslem than Moslem communities; railways and roads; relations between Moslems and Christians; industries. In endeavouring to sketch the condition of the Turkish Empire on Abdul Hamid's accession it is convenient to consider (i) Its extent, and (2) Its internal organisation. (l) In reference to its extent, the reader should never forget that the Empire was in course of disintegration. Its growth after the capture of Constantinople in 1453 had been steady. The whole of the Balkan Peninsula had passed under Ottoman rule. The Empire continued to enlarge its territory until 1683. After 1453 Belgrade, Mohacz and Buda had witnessed the triumph of the Crescent; the Crimea and another large district in Southern Russia owned the sway of the Sultan. Every country on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, from Egypt to the Atlantic, recognised him as Sovereign. Until 1683, when John Sobieski, King of Poland, compelled the Turks to raise the siege of Vienna, Turkish progress had continued almost unchecked. Readers will recall Macaulay's statement in the chapter on the condition.of England in 1685, that the first question asked of a traveller from the Continent was, what was the progress made by the Grand Turk ? for Turkish advance ... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.