ABSTRACT
In 1798 the British writer William Eton painted a lurid picture of Ottoman military captivity:
They have a right, as they imagine, to put to death all their prisoners, of whatever age or sex, whether they throw down their arms, capitulate, or by whatever method they are taken, and this right extends, not only to the moment of capture, but for ever afterward, unless the captive embrace the Mahometan religion … [this] barbarous law … is not indeed always practised, but it is not humanity which prevents it; avarice or brutal desire are the causes of prolonging to the slave a miserable existence. 2
