In the midst of so much territorial complexity and among so many peoples which enjoyed different rights, what unifying institutions did the Ottoman Empire possess? In the largest sense, the government included every organization that could lay claim to any public character, and all of these must be brought into view if there is to be a complete understanding of the conditions. In the first place, however, it is necessary to discover and comprehend the genuinely great and powerful institutions. These were two, and not, as is essential to the modern conception of the state, a single one. Each was, it is true, composed of several parts, which may be regarded as distinct institutions in themselves; and yet each had an inherent unity that must be firmly grasped and held if the situation is to be understood. If names must be assigned to these two great composite institutions, the nearest approximation would perhaps be to call them State and Church. But these words give no adequate idea of them, since each embraced a little less and at the same time far more than is included in the conception of the corresponding Western institutions. They will therefore be described and discussed as the “Ottoman Ruling Institution,” and the “Moslem Institution of the Ottoman Empire.” The character of each and the distinction between them will become clear as they are explained in detail. For the present, a brief statement of the composition of each and of its function in the government of the empire will suffice. The Ottoman Ruling Institution included the sultan and his family, the officers of his household, the executive officers of the government, the standing army composed of cavalry and infantry, and a large body of young men who were being educated for service in the standing army, the court, and the government. These men wielded the sword, the pen, and the scepter. They conducted the whole of the government except the mere rendering of justice in matters that were controlled by the Sacred Law, and those limited functions that were left in the hands of subject and foreign groups of non-Moslems. The most vital and characteristic features of this institution were, first, that its personnel consisted, with few exceptions, of men born of Christian parents or of the sons of such; and, second, that almost every member of the Institution came into it as the sultan’s slave, and remained the sultan’s slave throughout life no matter to what height of wealth, power, and greatness he might attain.