A\IURATII, or AIORAD II. the tenth of the Turkish emperors, was the eldest son of Mahomet I. whom he succeeded in the 824th year of the Hegira, A. D. 1421. His reign was disturbed in its commencement by tu mults and war. His uncle Mustapha, the youngest of the sons of Bajazet, became his rival for the throne ; and having made himself master of Gallipoli, entered Adrianople in triumph, where he was solemnly crowned. Amurath hastened to oppose him, and, besieging Adri anople with vigour, compelled his uncle to 11y to the mountains, where he was overtaken and slain. To re venge himself upon John l'aktologus, the Greek em peror, who had supported Mustapha in his rebellion, the sultan immediately invested Constantinople ; but the vigorous resistance of the inhabitants obliged him to raise the siege, and to hearken to proposals for peace. Scarcely had lie returned from this enterprise, when a new rebellion was excited by Mustapha, his younger brother, who had been instigated to revolt by the empe ror, and the prince of Caramania. The sultan found means to bribe Mustapha's governor, who informed him exactly of all his movements and schemes; and the un fortunate prince, being thus surprized, was strangled in the presence of his brother. The Greek and the Cara manian, to obviate the resentment of the injured sultan, sued submissively for peace, which they obtained on the most severe and humiliating- terms. Among these it was stipulated, that the Greeks should demolish the great wall, six miles in length, which secured the isth mus of Corinth, and which had been built with the ex press consent of sultan Mahomet.
These internal commotions and foreign wars induced Amurath to direct his attention to the state and disci pline of his army. Every spahi that ventured, when summoned to muster, to send his servant, instead of coming in person, or that did not appear with proper equipage, and range himself under his proper standard, was immediately deprived of his timar, and of every military privilege; and that the Janizarics might be completely devoted to the sultan, he ordered that they should all be the children of Christians, and should be taken from their parents while yet too young to have imbibed any religious partiality; and, being maintained and educated in the seraglio, under the immediate care of the sultan himself, should be accustomed to regard him as their only parent. By these regulations, the
Turkish army was rendered the finest in the world ; and in the hands of such an enterprizing and warlike monarch as Amurath, became the dread and the scourge of every neighbouring.. country. The Greek emperor and the Venetian republic were in their turns assailed and conquered ; the sovereign of Albania was compel led to surrender his capital, and to give as hostages his three sons, one of whom was the celebrated Scander beg; and the rebellion of Karaman Ogli was speedily quelled. In his expedition against Hungary he was less successful; his army was repeatedly routed by John Hunniadcs, governor of Transylvania, who forced him to raise the siege of Belgrade ; and when he made a second irruption into the Hungarian dominions, he was again defeated by the same able general. Servia was more easily subdued; but was restored by Amurath when he formed a treaty of peace with Hungary and Poland ; on which occasion it was stipulated, that nei ther party should cross the Danube, to carry war into the dominions of the other.
Having thus secured the tranquillity of his empire, Amurath resolved to withdraw from the tumult and the glare of public life, into the still shade of retirement. " Were not his motives," says Ali- Gibbon, " debased by an alloy of superstition, we must praise the royal philosopher, who, at the age of forty, could discern the vanity of human greatness. Resigning the sceptre to his son, he retired to the pleasant residence of Magne sia; but he retired to the society of saints and hermits." For ourselves, we must own, that our admiration of the royal philosopher's magnanimity is rather heightened by the religious sentiments which mingled with his contempt of human greatness. It were too much to expect, that the descendant of Mahomet, the sworn protector and champion of his religion, should be supe rior to the superstitions by which that religion is de based ; but surely a sovereign, disgusted with the va nity of even imperial grandeur, could not employ his moments of retirement in a more rational a mire. dignified manner, than in acknowledging, by habitual homage, the infinite of hunt, who is Lord 01 Lords, and King of Kings.