Relieved now from every legitimate rival, and in censed by the encouragement given by the Greeks to the claims of his brother and pretended uncle, Amurath resolved to direct the whole strength of his empire against the capital; but he was con tinually diverted from his purpose by the rebellions of the Caramanian emirs on the one hand, and the incursions of the Hungarians on the other. The former were easily reduced, but the Hungarians, led by John Huniades, proved a more formidable foe; and Amurath was compelled to retire with dis grace from before Belgrade after a siege of six months, during which he lost many troops, " not only by the plague," says a Greek historian, " but by engines, cast in the form of tubes, which by means of a dust, composed of nitre, sulphur, and charcoal, shot out balls of lead, five or ten together, each as big as a walnut." The resistance of the Hungarians led to a truce of ten years, in which it was stipulated that neither nation should cross the Danube for the purposes of war. .Amurath, how ever, conquered a great part of Greece, took Thes salonica by storm, putting the garrison to the sword, and carrying the inhabitants into captivity; and compelled the emperor to deliver up the cities which he held upon the Black Sea, and become his tributary.
The Ottoman dominions being now in profound peace, Amurath resigned his sceptre into the hands of his son Mahomet, a youth of only fifteen years of age. and retired to Magnesia, a beautiful resi Bence not far from Smyrna. Scarcely, however, had he begun to taste the sweets of retirement, when the restless Caramanians, who had been so often subdued, and as often pardoned, taking advantage of the present juncture, invaded Anatolia. Ladis laus, king of Hungary, also instigated by the pope, and in defiance of a most solemn treaty, passed the Danube with a numeoous army composed of various christian nations, and commanded, under the king, by the valiant Huniades. The young sultan, sur rounded with enemies, and without experience, yielded to the advice of his counsellors to entreat his father to resume the reins of government, and to defend the throne at this alarming crisis. Amu rath reluctantly complied, hastened to Adrianople, and led his troops by forced marches to the shores of the Euxine, where the christian army lay en camped. The battle of Varna deprived Ladislaus of his army and his life, a just retribution, say the Turks, for the violation of his word and oath. The Ottoman monarch shortly after again withdrew from the cares of royalty to his solitude at Magne sia ; but the feeble hand of his son was unable to restrain the licentiousness of the janissaries. Adri anople became a prey to domestic faction, and Amu rath again resumed the sceptre, which he held until his death. During his latter years he was engaged in constant hostilities with George Castriot, called Scanderbeg by the Turks, the prince of Albania, who had been educated at the court of Adrianople, and had served for many years in the Turkish army; but before the battle of Varna had raised the stand ard of revolt in his native province, and now com manded the army of the states of Epirus. The va lour and experience of Amurath were foiled by the Albanian chief. His mighty army was driven with shame and loss from the walls of Croya, the resi dence and capital of the Castriots; and for twenty three years Scanderbeg resisted the undivided force of the Ottoman empire. The Hungarians, under Huniades, were again routed with great slaughter on the plains of Cassova; but the reduction of Al bania he left as a legacy to his successor, saying with his dying breath, after urging him to the con quest of Epirus, " Wherefore, my son, thou shalt receive from me this sceptre and these royal en signs; but above all things, I leave unto you this enemy." Amurath has received encomiums, both from Greek and Turkish historians. He was a just and valiant prince, moderate in victory, and ever ready to grant peace to the vanquished. He was not only learned himself, but a great encourager of learning and science in others. Strictly religious, he was never known to violate his word, and his charity was liberal and extensive. " Every year," says Can timir, " he gave 1000 pieces of gold to the sons of the prophet, and sent 2500 to the religious persons at Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem." Mahomet II. commenced his reign with the mur der of his two infant brothers; and the first object of his ambition was the capture of Constantinople. That city with its suburbs comprised the domin ions of Constantine Palceologus, its reigning empe ror. Its inhabitants were distracted by religious divisions. Some were anxious for their union with the Romish church, while others declared that they would rather see the turban of Mahomet in the church of St. Sophia than the pope's cap; and when Constantine sent ambassadors to Rome to demand succours, and complete the union of the two churches, the pope, suspecting his sincerity, re fused all assistance. The eastern empire was thus abandoned to its fate, and Christendom beheld its fall with indifference.
The site of the city of Constantinople forms an equilateral triangle, having on the south the sea of Marmora, and on the north-east the gulf of Keras, which forms the port or harbour. On the land side it was defended by a double wall and a ditch 100 feet deep, and 200 wide; and the harbour was se cured by a strong chain drawn across from the Fair-gate to Galata, and protected by eight large ships. Had this city been garrisoned according to
its capability, it might have defied every attempt for its subjugation; but out of 100,000 inhabitants scarcely 5000 could be found willing to man the ramparts in defence of all that was dear to them. 'These, with a reinforcement of 2000 Latins under John Justinian, a noble Genoese and a skilful war rior, formed its sole defence against 250,000 Mos lems, instigated by religious fanaticism and the hopes of plunder. But the heroic valour of Con stantine was worthy the best days of Rome, and though almost hopeless of success, he resolved to die in the cause of religion and honour. Anxious, however, to save the lives of his people, and desi rous of peace upon any conditions short of the sur render of his capital, he proposed to pay whatever tribute the Moslem might impose. But Mahomet could too well appreciate the situation of Constan tinople as the centre of a mighty empire, and his ambition would be satisfied with nothing less. He offered the Morea as an equivalent to the emperor, and to the people a free toleration or a safe depar ture. Constantine rejected the degrading compro mise, and answered with firm resignation and he roic resolution, " My trust is in God alone; if it should please him to mollify your heart, I shall re joice in the happy change; if he delivers the city into your hands, I submit without a murmur to his holy will. But until the judge of the earth shall pronounce between us, it is my duty to live and die in the defence of my people." The Turkish army extended from the Propontis to the harbour, and all the genius and valour of Mahomet were employed in the attack; hut they were met by the little garrison with equal skill and bravery, and who made such an obstinate resist ance that all his efforts on the land side were un availing. In order, therefore, to make a double at tack, and as the barrier to the harbour was impene trable, he formed the wonderful project of trans porting by land his lighter vessels and military stores from the Bosphorus to the higher parts of the harbour. A road was opened behind Galata, through brush-wood and over hills; and seventy gallies, drawn forward by the power of men and pullies, were launched into the shallow waters of the harbour, where the heavy vessels of the Greeks could offer no molestation. Being thus provided with the means of attack against a more vulnerable part of the city, and having opened several breaches in the wall by his enormous cannon, Mahomet pre pared his army for a general assault. He inspired his troops by setting before them the joys of para dise if they fell, and the certainty of plunder if they survived. " The city and its buildings I claim for my own; but I resign to your valour the captives and the spoil; and the intrepid soldier who first as cends the wall, will I reward with the government of the fairest and most wealthy province of my em pire." The decisive attack commenced at day break on the 29th of May 1543. Mahomet on horse back, and with an iron mace in his hand, encour aged his soldiers to enter the breach, which was bravely defended against fearful odds by the empe ror and Justinian. The latter being wounded retired from the fight, and Constantine fell in the breach, covered with heaps of slain. His death spread con sternation among the Greeks, who fled towards the city, pursued by the victorious Turks, and Con stantinople was irretrievably lost to the christians. The sultan, attended by his paellas and guards, passed in triumph through the gate of St. Romanus. The inhabitants were devoted to slavery or ransom, and their treasures became the lawful spoil of the conquerors. All the public buildings were pre served, and the principal churches stripped of their images and ornaments, were transformed into mosques by worship and purifications.
The capture of Constantinople seemed only to whet the appetite of Mahomet for farther dominion, and his ambition grasped at all the territories which formerly owned the first Constantine as their lord. Servia acknowledged his power by an annual tri bute; but he was repulsed from Belgrade by John Huniades, with the discomfiture of his army and the destruction of his fleet. In this engagement Alahomet was severely wounded, and carried for dead into his tent; and Huniades survived his vic tory only about a month.
The defeat before Belgrade did not check, but only made the Ottoman sultan diverge a little from his course, and he turned his arms towards Greece. Demetrius and Thomas, the surviving brothers of the emperor Constantine, held the sovereignty in the Morea; but partly by force and partly by fraud he extinguished the authority of the Paleologi in that country; and the emperor of Trebisond, over come with terror, resigned, at the first summons, his capital and kingdom into the hands of Mahomet, for which submission he was rewarded by an un timely death.
In Scanderbeg however, the hated enemy of his house, Mahomet found a foe whom neither promises nor threats could detach from his love of national independence, and whose undaunted valour and military skill have stamped him as one of the great est champions of his time. Year after year the Turkish armies were routed and dispersed in the mountains of Albania. Baffled in every attempt to overcome his enemy by force, Mahomet endeavour ed to get rid of Scanderbeg by assassination. This design however, having also failed, he marched in