Kings & rulers > History of the reign of the Emperor Charles V. > Volume 1

202
A VIEW OF THE
§ 3*
the authority of the prince, and ferve not only
as a barrier againll the exceft'es of his caprice,
but Hand as an intermediate order between him
and the people. Under the Turkilh government,
the political condition of every fubjeft is equal.
To be employed in the fervice of the fultan, is
the only circumftance that confers diltindfion.
Even this diftindtion is rather official than perfo-
nal, and fo clofely annexed to the Hat ion in which
any individual ferves, that it is fcarcely commu¬
nicated to the perfons of thofe who are placed
in them. The highelt dignity in the empire
does not give any rank or pre-eminence to the
family of him who enjoys it. As.every man,
before he is raifed to any ftation of authority,
mull go through the preparatory difcipline of a
long and fervile obedience °, the moment he is
deprived of power, he and his pofterity return to
the fame condition with other fubjedts, and fink
back into obfcurity. It is the diftinguiftiing and
odious charadteriltic of Eaftern defpotifm, that it
annihilates all other ranks of men, in order to
exalt the monarch ; that it leaves nothing to
the former, while it gives every thing to the
latter; that it endeavours to fix in the minds
of thofe who are fubjedt to it, the idea of no
relation between men, but that of a mailer and
of a Have, the former deilined to command and
to punifli, the latter formed to tremble and to
obey [UU].
But as there are circumftances which frequently
obllrudl or defeat the falutary effedis of the bell-
regulated governments, there are others which
contribute to mitigate the evils of the moll de-
° State of the Turkiih Empiie by Rycaut, p. 25.
[UUJ Note XLIlZ.
fedtive