the time. A high and a hard hand could alone keep down freedom, or prevent the rising of anarchy. And, notwithstanding the league of monarchs, only six years elapsed-from 1814 to 1820-a period repeatedly referred to in the preceding extracts, till three revolutions burst forth in the Roman Catholic kingdoms of Europe, and gave to "the constitutionalists" in Spain, Portugal, and Naples a brief suspense from their bondage, which lasted in the two former kingdoms for the space of three years, when a counter-revolution in Portugal and the invasion of Spain by the French, under the Bourbons, rivetted the chains anew, and aggravated their woes. During this very period from 1820 to 1823of the partially suspended operation of the fifth vial, the sixth vial, it would seem, began to be poured out. From a state of previous quiescence, those commotions of the Turkish empire then originated, which, followed as they have been by convulsion after convulsion, have already put its existence to the stake. The locality of the third vial-that of the rivers and fountains of waters-is not more precisely determined by that of the third trumpet, defined in the same words, than the sphère of the fifth vial is identified with that of the fifth trumpet. And the sixth angel sounded; and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. Rev. ix. 13-15. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. Rev. xvi. 12. The Turkish empire, under the same designation which it had previously borne, is here manifestly represented anew. Its early history and establishment in Europe, by the taking of Constantinople, have been already related. Its existence ceased not, nor did the woe pass away, when the period was completed during which the Turks were "prepared to slay" but we have now to look on it again in another form, than sweeping over countries like a whirlwind, and overflowing them with myriads of horsemen; and the time is come that we have to resume its history, with the prophetic record before us, of a very different fate. Symbolized by the Euphrates, the fall, and finally the dissolution of the Turkish empire, are marked by the drying up of waters. The significancy of the figure is interpreted in another vision. The waters which thou sawest are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, Rev. xviii. 15. The extinction or subversion of the empire of the Turks, would be like the drying up of a great river-the people like the waters. From first to last prophecy needs no comment but the history which it prefigured, or plainly foretold. The year 1820 was distinguished by three revolutions in the Catholic kingdoms of Europe, a brief intermission of the vial of wrath; but the darkness did not pass away, and the misery soon returned, and neither have yet disappeared from the kingdom of the beast. But, the scene being changed, we may look from the west unto the east, to see whether the fifth vial began to be poured out on the empire of Turkey, at the time when some rays of hope first seemed to penetrate the gloom that rested on the Roman Catholic kingdoms of Europe. Though their place be different, there is no historical chasm left between the fifth vial and the sixth. The Ottoman empire, by a long and unwonted good fortune, found itself, at the commencement of the era (or of 1820) freed at once from foreign war and domestic rebellion.. This opportunity it was determined to employ against one who had long been considered rather as an enemy than a subject. Ali Pacha became master not only of the whole of Albania, but of Suli, the ancient Epirus, and of Livadia or Thessaly. His dominion reached from the Adriatic to the frontier of Macedonia, and comprised a population of nearly two millions of souls. Considerable, however, as it was, it could ill enable him to contend with the whole force of the Turkish empire, now (1820) united against him. Ali and his sons were successively defeated; but the death of the Turkish commander-in-chief “spread a general discouragement through the army. A Turkish force, composed chiefly of tumultuary militia, soon melts away, when it is not fed by success and plunder. In the beginning of December, Chourschid (the Turkish general) found his army so reduced by desertion, and so destitute of supplies and provisions, that he was obliged to retreat to Arta. Ali again came forth, and could again cherish the hope of retrieving his fortune."+ "It is certain, that the rebellion of Ali Pacha determined, more than any known event, the period of (the Greek) insurrection; as if that monstrous spawn of despotism had been reserved to make, before he perished, one involuntary atonement to liberty for the outrages which he had employed his long life in inflicting upon her. Let us examine the facts for one instant. In the summer of 1820, Ali * Annual Register for 1820, Lond. p. 316. † Ibid. 317. declared his independence; and in September, the siege of Yanina commenced; in October, the landers called in their merchant ships; in November, the Suliots returned to their country from the Ionioan islands, and raised the standard of rebellion, in alliance with their former persecutor, against the Sublime Porte; in February 1821, Hourshid Pacha arrived before Yanina, from the Morea, leaving that country almost destitute of Turkish soldiers. Shortly after his arrival various Greeks who were in the service of Ali Pacha, left Yanina, and returned to their homes, where they hoped very speedily to be more actively employed; and in the first days of the April following, the insurrection did, in fact, break out at Patras."* "In 1821, Turkey presented a scene of continued disorder. The successful resistance of the Pacha of Albania had given encouragement to the enemies of the Turkish yoke to venture upon open hostilities; and in the beginning of March, (1821,) insurrections broke out in various provinces of the empire."t Theodore, a native of Bulgaria, at the head of 10,000 insurgents, raised the standard of revolt in Wallachia. The Boyars, or chiefs, fled before them. They entered Bucharest, the capital, and took entire possession of it; and the "appearance of Bucharest was that of a town delivered into the hands of a merciless enemy, and daily scenes of disorders and atrocities took place." Prince Ypsilanti revolted in Moldavia; and "the news of his insurrection excited general consternation." "The alarm was raised to a still greater height by the intelligence of the insurrection which had broken out in every part of Greece. The people of the Morea were in arms: their chiefs had formed themselves into the senate of Calamata; *Waddington's Visit to Greece, Introd. pp. 7, 8. Candia had refused the usual tribute; the islands of the Archipelago had thrown off the yoke, and were fitting out fleets to cruise against their tyrants. The government and populace of Constantinople exhibited the most violent exacerbation."* "Moldavia and Wallachia were reduced; but the insurgent Greeks were more formidable than ever. So early as the month of May, the Greek fleet had the command of the Archipelago. In June their naval force was estimated at 250 vessels, which formed four squadrons. The war in the Morea was a series of bloody skirmishes. The Greeks rose successively on a multitude of different points; and the Turks, unable to keep the field against their opponents, defended themselves in their fortresses. Many of these were reduced, generally through famine. The revolt had spread far to the north. Thessaly, Ætolia, Acarnania, and Epirus, were in a state of insurrection." A national congress was convoked at Epidaurus. "In September 1821, two irruptions were made into the Turkish dominions by the Persian princes Mahomed Ali Mirza, and Abbas Mirza. The former penetrated into the province of Bagdad; the latter into that of Erzerum. This invasion, occurring at such a moment, might have given a mortal blow to the Ottoman power in Asia. This year, (1821) may be regarded as the date of the final extinction of the Mamelukes." The Prince Royal of Persia, towards the close of summer 1821, having "marched a strong body of troops into the province of Wan, a district situated on the eastern banks of the Euphrates, the invaders advanced as far as the town of Bayazid, a considerable station on the road from Tebriz to Constantin * Ann. Reg. pp. 247, 248. Ibid. pp. 254, 255. Ibid. p. 256. |