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The MILITARY COSTUME OF TURKEY.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS McLEAN JANUARY 1, 1813From drawings by Octavien Dalvimart (d'Alvimart), engraved by F.H. Clark
PLATE XVI.
MAMELUKE OF THE GRAND SEIGNIOR.
Source: NYPL
Nearly all the posts of honour and profit under the Turkish Government are filled by such as have received their education in the college at Pera. To this place boys are forwarded by the Pachas of the different provinces as presents to the Grand Seignior, who, after receiving proofs of their advancement, employs them in or about the Seraglio. Their progressive official duties are performed by being pages or attendants in the three chambers, after which they are employed about the person of the Sultan, and are subsequently elevated by their superior merits, favouritism, or intrigue. The ties of consanguinity being entirely removed, advancement to the notice of the Sultan depends chiefly on chances, in which real merit has frequently little concern; but such is the policy of the Turkish Court. He who was once a slave, may by an influence where it should not be permitted to exist, become master of the treasures and destiny of the Ottoman Empire.