It may seem a contradiction in terms to speak of a despotism as limited; yet a little reflection will show that there never has existed and never can exist a despotism that is not limited. In what land has the will of one man been obeyed instantly, everywhere, and by all? In what land have there not been stubborn traditions, ineradicable prejudices, and powerful organizations, which have blocked the way of the despot as effectively as lofty mountains and stormy channels? The great limitation upon the power of the Ottoman sultan was the _Sheri_, or Sacred Law of Islam, which claimed to be wholly above him and beyond his alteration.[31] He might by act of violence transgress its provisions, but he had even then done it no damage; it was still what it had always been. And he knew well that his transgressions must not be too many, and must not at all touch certain matters, else he would be declared to have forfeited the throne.[32] The Sacred Law divided with him the allegiance of his Mohammedan subjects; it demanded to be consulted before he removed the head of a criminal,[33] or went to war with an enemy;[34] it took for itself the revenues of a large share of his lands, and so controlled the imposition of general taxation as seriously to embarrass his finances; it even protected his Christian subjects from all efforts of his to bring them forcibly under its sway;[35] it entered into his very spirit and persuaded him to relinquish harmless pleasures,[36] while it supported him in the execution of able and worthy brothers and sons.[37] The _Sheri_ was a form of rigid constitution which by its own provisions was incapable of amendment. It purported to regulate for all time the matters included in its scope. Open to a small measure of modification by juristic interpretation, it was probably on the whole as changeless a system as has ever prevailed among men. The sovereign had no right to modify it in the least respect. Nor was the Sacred Law the only real limitation upon the sultan’s power. Although he was not bound to observe the legislation of his ancestors or maintain their institutions,[38] yet he could not lightly destroy what he must at once replace. Some of their laws he might cease to observe, some institutions he might neglect, improve, or reform; but the main substance of their work was too useful and too well-established to be undone. Suleiman bears the name of Legislator (_El Kanuni_); but in his case it was even more true than in similar instances in other lands that he did not so much ordain and create anew as rearrange and put in order, reorganize and regulate.