well acquainted. We shall, therefore, only rapidly glance at the present
condition of Syria, as on the causes that led to the astonishing success
of a campaign that at one time threatened to construct, upon a new
basis, the political geography of the East.

In contemplating the state of degradation and impotency into which have
fallen Syria, and that vast Peninsula which extends westward of the
Euphrates, after having occupied so proud a place in the page of
history, from the earliest traditionary periods down to the time when
the Turkish Sultans abandoned Broussa for Adrianople, we naturally
inquire what has become of the intellectual inheritance which the
ancient inhabitants of these countries left behind them? Where are the
successors of the skilful workmen of Damascus, of Mossul, and of Angora;
the navigators of Phoenicia, the artists of Ionia, and the wise men of
Chaldea? Several distinct characters of civilisation have successively
flourished in this part of Asia. To the primitive ages, to the reign of
the Pelasgi, correspond the subterraneous excavations of Macri, and the
Phrygian monuments of Seidi Gazi; to the Babylonian power, the ruins of
Bagdad, and the artificial mountains of Van; to the Hellenic period,
the baths, the amphitheatres, and the ruins which strew the coast of the
Archipelago; to the Roman empire, the military roads which traverse in
every direction the whole Peninsula; to the Greeks of the middle ages,
the church of Iznik.

And now that Mussulman civilisation, which at its brightest periods
produced the beautiful mosque of the Sultan Bayazid at Amasia, is at
its last gasp; for we can, with safety, affirm that not a single grand
thought, either social, religious, or political, any longer connects
together the four millions of inhabitants which the Porte numbers in
this part of her dominions. All unity has disappeared, and the Asmoulis,
who compose the predominating race, no longer obey but some old habits
and recollections. The downfall of the Janizary system destroyed their
last connecting link. Forgetting that their destiny was conquest--that
they were only encamped in the land--that they had received a military
organisation for a permanent state of warfare--that their headquarters
was Constantinople--they have become attached to the soil, and shut
themselves up in their harems, have established a feudal system, are
divided among themselves by hereditary enmities, and their contempt for
forei