Hoxton. T. Ward.
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[1] From the time of Alcibiades to the reign of Mahommed
II., Constantinople has undergone twenty-four sieges.
(For the Mirror.)
Mahomet II., soon after he mounted the Turkish throne,
resolved to achieve some glorious action, that he
might surpass the fame of his predecessors; and nothing
appeared so compatible with his ambition as the gaining
of Constantinople, and the total subversion of the
Greek empire, which at that period was in a very precarious
condition. The sultan, therefore, made vast preparations,
which the Greek emperor, Constantine VIII., perceiving,
he solicited the aid of several Christian princes,
especially of Pope Nicholas V. and the king of Naples;
but they all, in a most unaccountable manner,
excused themselves. Being thus disappointed,
the emperor laid an embargo on all vessels within his
ports, so that he added about three thousand veterans
of different nations to the garrison of his imperial
city, which before consisted of only six thousand
Greeks.
In the spring of 1453, Mahomet set forward, with an
army of three hundred thousand men, for Constantinople,
which city, on the ninth day of April, was closely
invested by land. The Turkish galleys would have
done the same by sea, had not the emperor been extremely
vigilant, for he caused the haven to be strongly chained
from Constantinople to Pera, having within the chain
his whole strength of shipping. The Turks, on
the land side, erected towers, cast up trenches, and
raised batteries; from these works they carried on
their attacks with great fury, and made several breaches,
which, however, the besieged repaired with much industry,
at the same time repulsing their enemies with artillery.
This unexpected bravery greatly enraged Mahomet, who
loudly exclaimed, “It is neither the Grecians’
skill nor courage, but the Franks, that defend the
city.” Affairs stood thus, when a renegado
Christian informed the sultan how he might bring part
of his fleet over land to the very haven of Constantinople.
Mahomet, who began to despair of taking the city,
determined to put the project of the renegado into
execution; and he therefore committed the charge of
it to a famous bassa, who, with wonderful labour,
brought seventy vessels out of the Bosphorus, up a
steep hill, the space of eight miles, to the haven
of the city. The Turks, being thus miraculously
possessed of the haven, assaulted the city also on
that side; but their whole fleet was shamefully routed,
and ten thousand of their men were killed. Yet
this loss, instead of depressing their spirits, increased
their courage, and on the twenty-ninth of May, early
in the morning, they approached the walls with greater
violence than ever; but so undaunted was the resolution
of the Christians, that they repulsed their assailants
with prodigious slaughter for a considerable time.
