“The emperor of the Turks has ordinarily no other ordinances and no other laws which regulate justice, the state, and religion, than the Koran; so that, as the arms and the forces are wholly reposed in the hands of persons all born Christians, so, as I have already said, the administration of the laws is all solely in the hands of those who are born Turks, who bring up their sons in the service of the mosques, where they learn the Koran, until being come of age they are made _kazis_ of the land, who are like our _podestas_, and administer justice, although the execution remains in the hands of those who wield arms.... “I have taken much space to demonstrate to your most excellent Signory how the government of this empire is wholly reposed in the hands of slaves born Christians, this appearing to me a matter for much consideration....”[72] Gianfrancesco Morosini, Venetian _Bailo_ at Constantinople from 1582 to 1585, later made a cardinal of the Roman church, yields to none in the fulness and depth of his observation of the Turks. He too distinguishes clearly the great institutions:— “There are two sorts of Turks: one of these is composed of natives born of Turkish fathers, and the other of renegades, who are sons of Christian fathers, taken violently in the depredations which his fleets and sailors are accustomed to make on Christian territories, or levied in his own territory by force of hand from the subjects and non-Moslem tax-payers (_carzeri_) of the Signor, who while boys are by allurement or by force circumcised and made Turks.... Not only does the greater part of the soldiery of the Turks consist of these renegades, but in yet greater proportion all the principal offices of the Porte are wont to be given to them, from the grand vizier to the lowest chief of this soldiery, it being established by ancient custom that the sons of Turks cannot have these positions.... “To the native Turks are reserved then the governing of the mosques, the judging of civil and criminal cases, and the office of the chancery: from these are taken the _kazis_ and the _kaziaskers_, the teachers (_hojas_), and their _Mufti_, who is the head of their false religion; and the _kazis_ are like podestas, and render justice to every one, and the _kaziaskers_ are like judges of appeal from these _kazis_....” “The renegades are all slaves and take great pride in being able to say, ‘I am a slave of the Grand Signor’; since they know that this is a lordship or a republic of slaves, where it is theirs to command.”[73] Lorenzo Bernardo was _Bailo_ of Venice in Constantinople from 1584 to 1587. After a second period of service in 1591 and 1592 he presented the longest extant report to the Venetian senate on the Ottoman Empire. After describing the principal officers of the Ottoman government at the time he says in his involved style:—