Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/230

 212 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. penses. They went forth, says JSTicetas, like the apostles, " with- out scrip or purse," the emperor knowing they could not afford to be honest, but that they would bring tribute to the palace. Churches were robbed. The sacred vessels were taken for the use of the palace. The rich ornaments and precious stones let into the binding of the Gospels were despoiled. Liturgies and crosses were stripped in order to supply necklaces and bracelets. When the ostentatious Isaac was replaced by Alexis the Third, it was found that the new emperor gave himself up to idleness, under the impression that work was inconsistent with the dignity of an emperor. The organization for administering the government through- out the empire, including that of the administration of jus- tice, borrowed from Old Rome, remained almost unaltered as to form. The law was still almost as excellent as ever, but its administration was too often corrupt. The situation had become very much as if English law were to be trans- ferred to the people of an Asiatic state, and left to them alone to develop. There would be subtileness and ability enough to work out any number of legal problems, but it is, to say the least, doubtful whether such securities as habeas corpus and trial by jury, which are spontaneous growths due to the determination of the race to secure individual liberty, could continue without the ever-jealous spirit of Englishmen, continually on the watch to prevent violations of the rights of which they are the safeguard. The race which has created them may be trusted to guard them. It is questionable whether another race would be either likely to appreciate or to show the spirit necessary to preserve them. So in the East, the ad- ministrative system of the Elder Eome was being worked in the empire under the New Rome by rulers whose later his- tory, at least, had been far different from that of its creators. So long as there were a sufficient number of men who had come under Latin influence, or who retained the old Greek spirit, the system worked welL But the Latin spirit had gone out of the ruling race, as the Greek municipal spirit had also been to a great extent crushed out in the provinces. It looks at times as if nothing but the forms of the old organization