Fortreſſes and richeſt Provinces. But it is plain theſe were not the Cauſes but the Effects of their decay'd Valour and Diſcipline, by which they have by degrees loſt all their Conqueſts in Perſia, and their Territories round the black Sea, together with the greateſt part of Tranſilvania, Moldavia and Wallachia, and almoſt to the Gates of Adrianople.
Nor is it their Land Forces only that have thus declin'd, for their naval Power which was anciently ſo formidable is now ſo prodigiouſly ſunk, ſince the Defect of their Fleet by the Engliſh Squadron in 1876, and in the Sea-fight with the Dutch ten Years afterwards, that beſides their loſing both Crete and Cyprus to the Pope and Venetians, they have loſt all Intereſt and Influence, with their old Dependants of Tunis and Algiers. Nay, the very Knights of Malta, have ſince ſo often burnt and taken their greateſt Galeaſſes, that their few Gallies and Ships of War that remain to them, dare hardly ſail now out of ſight of the Dardanelles, to collect the little Tribute of the neighbouring Iſlands, which are every Day revolting to them and the Venetians, and refuſing the Payment of their old Capitation Tax.
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