the missionary and educational character of the greater households, but they would not dare attempt any imitation of the military features. Further, the whole Ottoman system so discouraged great accumulations of wealth that private citizens could never hope to compete with the power of officials and of the sultan. CHARACTER OF OTTOMAN SLAVERY Ottoman slavery was a very different institution from that which Anglo-Saxons have practised. In it there could ordinarily be no color-line, and therefore no ineffaceable distinction. Where difference in color existed it counted for nothing, by old Islamic customs. Nor did the fact of slavery impart any indelible taint. Islam knew slave and free;[145] in the Ottoman Empire, at least, it knew no intermediate class of freedmen.[146] The sultan seems never to have emancipated his slaves, probably because of a lingering Oriental theory, foreign to Mohammedanism,[147] that all his subjects were his slaves. Private citizens had the power of emancipation,[148] and they often exercised it as a meritorious act. The slave who was set free was immediately in possession of full rights.[149] Slavery had therefore no inherent quality. It was merely an accidental misfortune from which complete recovery was possible. The idea of Aristotle, that some men are born to be slaves, was wholly absent. Where no permanent wall of separation exists, natural human affection can have free play. The Moslem religion teaches kindness and benevolence to all but armed enemies of the faith.[150] Moslem masters, in constant personal association with persons whose condition led them to strive to please, were apt to become very friendly toward them. Such friendliness often led to warm affection and the bestowal of benefits. Emancipation was one of these; and, further, not only the sultan but many of his subjects did not hesitate to give their daughters in marriage to worthy slaves.[151] A slave was often beloved above a son;[152] it was felt that, while a son possessed a character which was more or less a matter of chance, a slave had been selected. Thus it is clear why the sultan’s slaves were sometimes called his children,[153] and why the title of _kul_ was prized.[154] Suleiman was a stern, and sometimes a cruel parent to his great family; but he was as just in rewarding as in punishing, and it is not surprising that all his slaves were true to him.[155] Thus was woven what has well been termed “a wonderful fabric of slavery.”[156] History may have known as large a slave-family, but certainly none that was more powerful and honorable, better provided for and rewarded, more obedient and more contented. CHAPTER III THE RULING INSTITUTION: AS MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM I. THE MISSIONARY MOTIVE