DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0013
THE
BOSPHORUS AND THE DANUBE,
INTRODUCTION.
Never, since the close of the seventeenth century, when the troops of Soliman,
on their way to besiege Vienna, were overcome by the prowess of the gallant
and ill-requited Sobiesky, have the eyes of all civilized Europe been turned
with such absorbing interest towards the " Bosphorus" and the " Danube" as at
the present moment ; a consideration which has induced the Publisher of the two
volumes, of which a reprint is here offered to the public, to form of what were
originally two distinct works, written by different hands, and produced at different
periods, one continuous tableau of the theatre of impending war.
From the foundation of the Russian empire, the possession of Constantinople
has ever been the steady and unwearied ambition of its rulers ; an ambition which
has descended like an heirloom from generation to generation, earnest, unabated,
and unchanged. It was in the heart of Peter the Great, when he dictated that
famous clause in his will which enjoined upon his successors the duty of persist-
ance in this one settled purpose; it was in the heart of Catherine, when she
caused to be inscribed upon the eastern gate of her capital, Gate of Constantinople;
and ably and resolutely has the system been followed up even to the present hour.
In 1815, Russia signed, in conjunction with the other great powers, the
Treaties which were to secure the equilibrium of Europe; and when, less than
seven years afterwards, the revolution broke out in Greece, she co-operated with
England and France in rescuing that monarchy from Moslem rule; and thus
secured to herself the gratitude and allegiance of her co-religionists. This accom-
plished, she, only two years subsequently, declared war on her own account
against the Porte; and at its conclusion made herself mistress, by the Treaty of
Adrianople, of Turkish Armenia, (thereby aggrandizing the power and influence
of the Czar in Asia,) and of the three Danubian provinces of Servia, Moldavia,
and Wallachia, which brought her to the very threshold of the coveted city.
'a
BOSPHORUS AND THE DANUBE,
INTRODUCTION.
Never, since the close of the seventeenth century, when the troops of Soliman,
on their way to besiege Vienna, were overcome by the prowess of the gallant
and ill-requited Sobiesky, have the eyes of all civilized Europe been turned
with such absorbing interest towards the " Bosphorus" and the " Danube" as at
the present moment ; a consideration which has induced the Publisher of the two
volumes, of which a reprint is here offered to the public, to form of what were
originally two distinct works, written by different hands, and produced at different
periods, one continuous tableau of the theatre of impending war.
From the foundation of the Russian empire, the possession of Constantinople
has ever been the steady and unwearied ambition of its rulers ; an ambition which
has descended like an heirloom from generation to generation, earnest, unabated,
and unchanged. It was in the heart of Peter the Great, when he dictated that
famous clause in his will which enjoined upon his successors the duty of persist-
ance in this one settled purpose; it was in the heart of Catherine, when she
caused to be inscribed upon the eastern gate of her capital, Gate of Constantinople;
and ably and resolutely has the system been followed up even to the present hour.
In 1815, Russia signed, in conjunction with the other great powers, the
Treaties which were to secure the equilibrium of Europe; and when, less than
seven years afterwards, the revolution broke out in Greece, she co-operated with
England and France in rescuing that monarchy from Moslem rule; and thus
secured to herself the gratitude and allegiance of her co-religionists. This accom-
plished, she, only two years subsequently, declared war on her own account
against the Porte; and at its conclusion made herself mistress, by the Treaty of
Adrianople, of Turkish Armenia, (thereby aggrandizing the power and influence
of the Czar in Asia,) and of the three Danubian provinces of Servia, Moldavia,
and Wallachia, which brought her to the very threshold of the coveted city.
'a