CAPTURE OF CONsTANTINoPLE BY THE

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IOuO OA tbO tbOSt AuSOtOSNbttS uuO ouCNt- ing articles in Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,is that in which the Historian narrates the particulars of the Siege ofthe capital of the Eastern Empire by the Turks, under the command of Ma homet II, in the year 1458. The whole chapter is too long for insertion in our CO., lumns: but the following extl acts will be read with pleasure, at the present period, when ConStantinople is menacsd by the the three great powers of Europe.-Jour. Com.

 "After siege of forty days" says the historian, the fate of Constantinople no longer could be averted. The diminutive garrison was exhausted by double attack ; the Notifications which had stood for ages against hostile violence, were dismantled by the Ottoman cannon; many breaches were opened /; and near the gate of St. Ro- manus, feur towers had been levelled with the ground.

 Several days were employed by the sul- tan in the preparations for the assault, ,and a respite was granted by his favorite sci- ence of astrology, which had fixed on the 10th of May, as the fortunate and fatal hour. On the evening of the 27th he is- sued his fatal orders, assembled in the pre- seRce of his military chiefs, and dispersed his heralds through the camp, to proclaim the duty and motives of the perilous enter- prise. In this holy warfare, the Moslems were exhorted to purify their minds with prayer, their bodies with several ablutions and to abstain from food till the close of the ensuing day. A crowd of dervisIes visited the tents, to instil the desire of mar tyrdom, and the assurance of spending an immortal youth in the midst of gardens & rivers of Paradise, and in the embraces of dark-eyed virgins. Yet Mahomet princi- pally trusted to the efficacy of temporal & visible rewards. A double pay was prom ised to victorious troops. 'The city and buildings said Mahomet, are mine but I resign to your valour the captives and the spoil, the treasures of gold and beauty; be rich and happy. Many are the provinc- es of my empire; the intrepid soldier who first ascends the walls of Constantinople, shall be rewarded with the fairest and most wealthy and my gratitude shall accumu- late his honors and fortune above his most sanguine hopes.' Such various and potent motives difused among the Turks gene- ral ardor, regardless of life, and impatient for action; the Moslem camp re-echoed with the shouts of" God is God, there is but one God, and Mahomet is the apostle of God !" and the sea and land from Gall ata to the Seven Towers, were illuminated by their nocturnal fires.

 In the confusion of darkness, an assail- ant may sometimes succeed but in this attack, the military judgment and astrolog- ical knowledge of Mahomet advised him to expect the morning, the memorable 29th of May, in l45s. The preceding night had been strenuousl y employed; the can- non, the troops and the fascines were ad- vanced to the edge of the ditch, which in many parts presented smooth and level passage to the breach; and his fourscore gallies almost touched with their prows and their scaling ladders, tho less defensible wall of the harbor. At day-break, with the customary signal of the morning gun, the Turks assaulted the city by sea and by land and the similtude of twined or twisted thread has been applied to the closeness and continuity of their line of ar- tack. The foremost rank consisted ofthe host, voluntary crowd, who fought with out order or command of the feebleness of age, or childhood, of peasants and va grants, and of all who had joined the camp in the blind hope of plunder and martyr dom. The common impulse drove them onwards to the wall; the most audacious to climb were instantly precipitated and not dart, not bullet of the Christians was idly wasted on the accumulated tArong. But their strength and ammunition were exhausted in this laborious defence the ditch was filled with the bodies of the kil- led and wounded they supported the footsteps of their companions; and of this devoted vanguard death was useful as life. Under their respective bashaws and san- jaks, the troops of Anatolia and Romania were successfully led to the charge their progress was various and doubtful; but af- ter conflict of two hours, the Greeks still maintained their advantage: and the voice of the emperor was heard, encoura- ging his soldiers to achieve, by last effort the deliverance of their country. In that fatal moment, the Janizaries arose, fresh, vigorous and invincible. The Sultan him. self, on horseback, with an iron mace in his hand, was the spectator and judge of sbo;. x,o1.,ur. ho vuac currOuoIod h., tnn