Some now thought that this crushing defeat should be followed by an immediate attack on Constantinople. The season, however, was far advanced, and it was decided to postpone further operations until the spring. The delay was fatal. An attempt was made to buy over Uluch Ali, a Calabrian renegade, who had not forgotten his Christian parents from whom he had been separated in youth. The offer was declined, and Uluch shortly took the command of the new fleet which the Turks had put on the sea with remarkable rapidity. Far different was the conduct of the allies. In Spain there was the usual procrastination. Nor were the interests of Spain and Venice the same; Philip desired to turn against the Moors of Africa, and extend his conquests there; Venice only cared to strengthen her position in the Levant. In vain did the aged Pontiff attempt to reconcile these conflicting views. He died in the following May, and although Philip’s fears, that a Pope in the French interest would succeed him, were removed by the election of Cardinal Buoncampagno (Gregory XIII.), the papal ‘Briefs of Fire’ were not of much avail. The allies, indeed, at last sent out another expedition under Don John, which found the Turkish fleet off Modon on October 7, 1572, the anniversary of the victory of Lepanto. But Uluch Ali declined the contest; he remained under the guns of the fortress, and at the end of the month the allies again dispersed. In the following March all hope of concerted action was destroyed by the news that Venice had come to terms with the Sultan; she surrendered Cyprus, and agreed to pay a three years’ tribute to the Porte. The Turks could scarcely have hoped for better terms if they had won the battle of Lepanto. | Don John reduces Tunis, Oct. 1573; but it and Goletta | are retaken by Uluch Ali, Sept. 1574. | The victory of Lepanto a barren victory. Deserted by his allies, Don John, in the following October, sailed to the African coast and easily reduced the town of Tunis. He now dreamt of obtaining the investiture of the African kingdom from his half-brother. The jealousy of Philip was instantly aroused; he urged that the fortresses of Tunis and Goletta should be dismantled, and, although this was not done, they were left with such an insufficient force that Uluch Ali had little difficulty not only in retaking Tunis, but in reducing the fortress of Goletta (Sept. 1574). Such were the miserable results of the victory of Lepanto. It did not save the island of Cyprus, which henceforth belonged to the Porte; it was followed by the loss of Goletta, one of the few remaining conquests of Charles V. on the coast of Africa; it only served to display once more the jealousies of the European nations; and if for seventy years the Turks made no further advance, and never again seriously threatened the south-western shores of Europe, this was due far more to the internal decay of the Ottoman Empire, than to the victory of Lepanto itself.