542      CONSTANTINOPLE  OLD  AND  NEW

Here,  I  think,  we  come  very  near  the  root  of  his  diffi-
culties. Not  only  has  he  paid,  not  only  does  he  continue
and  will  he  long  continue  to  pay,  the  price  of  the  invader,
incessantly  preoccupied  as  he  is  with  questions  of  internal
order.  He  created  a  form  of  government  which  could
not  last.  At  its  most  successful  period  it  depended  on
the  spoils  of  war  —  not  only  in  treasure  but  in  tribute-
boys,  carefully  chosen  for  the  most  famous  corps  of  the
army  and  for  the  highest  executive  posts  in  the  empire.
This  form  of  government  was  highly  efficient  so  long  as
the  frontiers  of  the  empire  continued  to  advance.  But  it
was  not  self-contained,  and  it  kept  the  native-born  Turk
from  developing  normal  habits  and  traditions  of  govern-
ment. The  traditions  it  chiefly  fostered  in  him  were
those  of  plunder  and  idleness.  Much  of  the  proverbial
readiness  of  Turks  in  office  to  receive  "presents"  is  less
a  matter  of  dishonesty  than  the  persistence  of  a  time-
honoured  system  of  making  a  Hving  in  irregular  ways.
