Chapter XV: Part 15

In the vicinity of the place where the confederates vanquished the German or Croatian army there were two fortresses or castles, which were under the dominion of the Pope. The names of these fortresses or castles were Súnbúrhil and Karmand, which the confederate army reduced, and slew every living German it found in them. Afterwards ten thousand of these same confederates marched in the direction of Vienna and Allemagne on a predatory excursion, and after having ravaged the countries through which they passed, they returned in triumph. The quantity of spoil and number of prisoners which they brought back with them, it is impossible to estimate. Very many of the German nobility were among the captives, and the Hungarian gentry were glad to come and join the camp of the confederates. Nevertheless Zerín Oghlí, and Bekár Oghlí, were not among those who thus joined the camp of the conquerors. These two Hungarian chiefs considered it beneath their dignity to bow to Botchkai’s general, one of the two chief commanders of the confederates, but they sent some of their chief captains as their proxies.

_Mohammed Páshá, the son of Sinán Páshá, killed._

Mohammed Páshá, son of Sinán Páshá, in consequence of his having been disappointed in his views of the government of Syria, through the ill will of Jeghala Zádeh, commander-in-chief of the eastern provinces, he petitioned the court of Constantinople, and complained against the serdár. That court, however, was pleased to confer Syria on Osmán Páshá in preference to him or any one else. When Mohammed Páshá learned that Osmán was appointed to Syria, he set out in great haste and wrath for Constantinople, where he meant to prefer his own claims. One day he entered into conversation with the vezírs, as they sat in council, about his own affairs; but he was reminded of the maladministration he himself had been guilty of in the places where he had acted as válí or governor. As he was retiring from the presence of this council, more disposed to accuse him than to hear his complaints, he was called back and conducted into the royal presence. Here he was strictly interrogated as to his own conduct, but having been unable to answer the interrogatories which had been put to him, he was put to death in the royal presence without any further ceremony.

_The emperor, whilst at Adrianople, hears further intelligence as to the state of the rebellion in Anatolia._

On the 1st of Jemadi I. the emperor went on a hunting excursion to Chetalmah, and thence, in three days, to Adrianople. He was only eight days in this city, where he had begun to distribute favours, when he received intelligence of the state and progress of the rebellion and disaffection which reigned in the province of Anatolia. In consequence, therefore, of the above unpleasant intelligence, he set out from Adrianople, reached the metropolis in six days, and immediately adopted means for curbing the rebellion and for chastising the rebels in Anatolia.

Nesúh Páshá, who last year had been transferred from the government of Haleb, was created commander of the troops employed against the insurgents in Anatolia. Indeed, it was considered of the utmost importance, by the government of Constantinople, that a vezír should be appointed to each of the eastern provinces, in order to check and subdue any spirit of rebellion which might arise, and which, in fact, seems to have been very generally the case with them all. Dávud Páshá, it will be remembered, was appointed to the east, but in consequence of his having evinced some inability or weakness he was laid aside, and Kijdehán Alí Páshá was raised to the government of Anatolia in his stead. He also, it will likewise be remembered, was ordered to join his troops to those of Nesúh Páshá, and after they (_i.e._ he and Nesúh Páshá) had succeeded in crushing the rebellion in Anatolia, they were then to join Jeghala Zádeh, who acted as commander-in-chief against the Persians.

We have to relate, however, that Nesúh Páshá, and the troops under his command, sustained a serious defeat at the bridge of Bolawadin. At this bridge Nesúh, on the 1st of Rajab, was met by one Túyel, who headed a body of insurgents: the one army was at one end and the other at the other. Nesúh made all the preparations his circumstances could allow for commencing an engagement, putting his foot and horse in order of battle. The sound of his drums and trumpets reached the very parapets of heaven: his artillery was drawn up in regular order, and made to face the enemy. Nesúh thought his formidable appearance would have deterred the insurgents from ever attempting the bridge or river; but he was mistaken. The cavalry of these long-tailed and curiously-turbanned heretics had scarcely begun to move, than they instantly crossed the river or bog and put their swords and spears into immediate requisition against Nesúh’s cavalry. These, as well as the whole of the rest of the Osmánlí army, gave way; most of them were cut to pieces, and those who fell into the hands of these barbarians were dragged into the presence of Túyel, where, for the most part at least, they suffered a more ignominious death: Nesúh himself was indebted to the swiftness of his horse for the safety of his life. He fled, and never checked the bridle of his charger till he reached a place called Bekár-báshí, in the city of Seyed.

Túyel, who was left master of the field, and of the whole baggage of the conquered Osmánlís, set fire to the city of Bolawadin, massacred the whole of its inhabitants with the utmost ferociousness, and desolated the whole of that region from one end to the other.

Nesúh Páshá, after resting himself about two days, went to Kutahia, where Kijdehán, against whom he entertained an old grudge, then was, laid the whole blame of his defeat on his shoulders, and slew the innocent without mercy.

Kijdehán was a man that possessed a bitter and scurrilous tongue, and who spared nobody. To escape, therefore, the reproaches of his tongue, _i.e._ that he and those of his men who, like himself, had escaped the general carnage, might not be made the subjects of his ridicule and bitter reproach, he slew him. This, also, is asserted in the Fezliké, that, before this, and prior to the defeat he had sustained at the bridge of Bolawadin, he most unworthily, as well as unjustly, traduced the character of the inestimable and highly-respected Mohammed Chávush of Caramania, whom he crucified at Iconium, where he had met with him. This Mohammed Chávush was son to Karah Alí, and was raised to the situation he held in Caramania from the Chávush báshás.

Well aware that his conduct and ill fame would eventually reach the ears of the emperor, and that his displeasure might easily be excited against him, so as to make him the object of his vengeance, he, in order to prevent these results, determined on going to Constantinople. Accordingly he set out for Scutari, and thence to the Sublime Porte: went to the royal palace, and caused it to be announced that he had come from Anatolia to implore further aid to be sent to that quarter. Having been called to enter the royal presence, he gave such a representation of the state of matters as actually succeeded in inclining the emperor to cross over into Anatolia and take a personal share in the war with the insurgents. He, therefore, called together the khoaja effendí, the reverend mufti and the vezírs, and confronted them with Nesúh Páshá, in order to converse on the subject with him. At this interview with Nesúh, however, there was much disputing and great contention. All were opposed to the emperor’s determination; but he himself remained inflexible. The emperor’s best friends used their utmost efforts to dissuade him from the purpose he had formed, by endeavouring to point out to him a variety of dangers; but all in vain, and the consequence was, when they saw he could not be moved from his resolution, they all withdrew very much displeased. The vezírs, however, commenced making the necessary preparations for the emperor’s intended journey, but at the same time used a variety of methods, such as representing to him that the fleet had not arrived, and that at any rate the season for safe sailing was fast passing away, in order, if possible, to induce him to alter his mind; but all to no purpose. The emperor, notwithstanding all the efforts which had been employed to dissuade him from his undertaking; notwithstanding, also, that the winter had fully set in, and the roughness of the sea, he continued bent on proceeding. A royal firmán was sent off to Nukásh Hasan Páshá to have the palace at Brúsa in a state of complete preparation for the arrival of his majesty, and Dervísh Aghá, bostánjí báshí, who was afterwards created a vezír, but subsequently assassinated, was appointed commandant of Istámbol.

In the meantime, however, the empress-mother took her journey to the other world, and her remains were conducted by her royal son and the great men of the state, to St. Sophia, where the funeral service was performed. They were afterwards interred in the tomb of Sultán Mohammed III., on which occasion charities and alms deeds were attended to in behalf of the deceased.

It was thought that the death of his mother might have so affected the sultán as to cause him to give up all thoughts of his intended expedition into Anatolia; but it had no such effect. On the seventh day after his mother’s decease, he became quite impatient, ordered the only three galleys which were then in the harbour to be held in readiness, and on the 2d day of Rajab he set sail for Brúsa. On the day after his arrival in Brúsa, he summoned his vezírs, the military judges, and other magnates, to assemble in council in the royal palace of that place, where he himself was. Súfí Sinán Páshá, the káímakám, who had taken no active hand in making preparations for the emperor’s expedition, was not called, or if called, did not attend. Dávud Páshá and Nesúh Páshá had both been previously sent to keep possession of two places on the frontiers. Mohammed Páshá, son of Ové Páshá, likewise made no movement towards Brúsa, but he wrote to the emperor’s chaplain, informing him that he had twenty thousand troops in full readiness. “If I shall be called,” said he, in his communication to the royal chaplain, “to be exalted to the vezírship, without either the aid of troops or apparatus from the government, I will go, and to the utmost of my power, endeavour to reduce the insurgents.” The title of vezír, and the appointment to the chief command, was forthwith sent him, and he was invited to wait on his majesty in his palace at Brúsa, in order that his majesty might confer with him respecting the enemy against whom he was to proceed. Mohammed, however, acknowledged neither the one nor the other of these royal intimations; nor did he think it worth his while to come to Brúsa to wait on his benefactor; or to proceed a single step against the insurgents. On the contrary, he went to Gúzel Hisár, where he gave himself up to every variety of pleasure. The reverend tutor felt disgrace and grief at the shameful way the cunning páshá had duped him, and, in fact, poor Khoaja Effendí, in consequence of this, most completely lost his influence with the emperor.

On the 14th of the last mentioned month (_viz._ Rajab), about four or five thousand spáhís, who had fled to Anatolia to escape the vengeance of Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, which had been excited against them in consequence of the tumult which the spáhí legion had raised in Constantinople in the days of the late emperor, and for which many of their superiors had been put to death, returned to their obedience, and were again received into favour. These spáhís were as great rebels as any in Anatolia, and committed every species of robbery and spoliation. On making their submission they appeared armed and accoutred before Súfí Sinán Páshá, the vezírs and the military judges, and preferred the grounds on which they conceived they had been aggrieved, and which had led them to act as they had done. Their case was laid before his majesty, who not only forgave them, but also restored their officers to their former situations, rewarded them with tokens of favour by conferring robes on them, distributed to them their pay, and dividing them into two bodies sent one division to Kutahia to remain under the orders of Dávud Páshá, and the other under Nesúh Páshá.

Dervísh Aghá, who had been appointed in his majesty’s absence to the commandership of Constantinople, was forbidden to exercise any further authority in that capacity, on account of some misconduct which he had been guilty of. Mustafa Páshá, one of the vezírs, was sent back to act in his stead.

On the 16th his majesty, after having paid a visit to the sepulchres of his ancestors, and the tombs of the venerable saints, returned and bathed himself in a fountain. On the 19th he set sail from Modanieh, and arrived in the imperial city on the same day.

_An overture made to Túyel._

On the 9th of Shabán of this year, a conciliatory letter was sent to Túyel, the chief ring-leader among the insurgents, and also the offer of a beglerbegship; but no answer as to his having accepted the offer made to him, was returned: on the contrary, acting under the influence of his brother, his violence and cruelty increased beyond all bounds. The káímakám, in order to put a stop to the enormities which this rebel and others were guilty of, and which were every day increasing, tried to ensnare this terrible rebel. To induce him to throw down the weapons of his rebellion, the deputy proposed joining Anatolia, Sivás, and Haleb into one, and to offer the government of these united districts to Túyel. When the deputy presented this proposal, and also a letter he had received from Túyel, on the 17th of the last mentioned month, for his majesty’s approbation, however, he met with a serious repulse, and for his temerity was turned out of office. Khezer Páshá was raised to the deputyship.

On the 24th, the chief butler, Mohammed Aghá, was raised to the government of Syria. On the 9th of Ramazán, the bostánjí báshí, Dervísh Aghá, was created admiral: he was highly esteemed by the emperor. On the 9th of Shevál, the cazí of Constantinople, Rezván Effendí, was degraded, and Hasan Effendí, son of Akhí, succeeded him in the cazíship.

_The grand vezír, Mohammed Páshá, is recalled to Constantinople._

When tidings of the disgrace and ignominy which befell Jeghala Zádeh in the east, and of his death at Diárbeker, had reached the royal ear, it was resolved on, in council, to send a statement of the affairs of the east to Mohammed Páshá, the commander-in-chief at Belgrade, and to request him to return to Constantinople, in order that he might proceed to the east and take the command of the troops there. In the royal communication which, in conformity to the above resolution was sent to him, it was thus stated: that in the event of his declining to accept the proposal sent him, he might remain where he was, but only in the character of second vezír, and to return the seals of office. But before these communications had reached the grand vezír he had petitioned to be allowed to return to the seat of government.

_A commotion among the Janissaries and Spáhís._

A little after the commencement of the month of Ramazán, the janissaries, in consequence of not having received the pay and clothing that were due to them, began to show signs of impatience and insolence. The spáhís, following their example, the very next day began to talk loudly about their own dues, and soon acquired a most dangerous aspect. Without ceremony, and in no way intimidated by their vicinity to the royal palace, they threw stones at their officers before its very gate, gave the most abusive language to the treasurer, and threatened him in no measured terms. They complained of the person who had formerly weighed out their money to them, and got him turned out of office. His friends, however, interfered, and asked the reason of depriving him of his official situation, but to no purpose. The discontent and tumult increased, and at length reached the ears of the emperor. On the 23d of Ramazán, early in the morning, the emperor, dressed in a scarlet robe, very indicative of the state of his mind, for he was enraged, came forth and sat down in Báyazíd’s portico; called together his vezírs, ághás, notaries, and other principal officers, and delivered a very warm and animated speech, in their hearing, to the mob; and in which he severely rebuked them. He said, that though he had written to them, that so soon as his treasurer, who was engaged in collecting the taxes, should return, their wages and all their just rights would be punctually attended to, they, instead of giving credit to his royal word, as they ought to have done, and behaving themselves orderly, became unruly, turbulent, and abusive, and that, too, before the very portals of his palace.

The multitude, at hearing the emperor’s speech, were completely confounded, and not one of them was able to say a single word in reply, or in justification of the conduct they had manifested. One Yúsuf Aghá, however, head of the Moghreb and Yemin regiments, advanced and thus addressed his majesty. “May it please your majesty, the sole cause of the unreasonable conduct which has been manifested is attributable to the slaves brought up in the royal haram, and those foreigners who have been introduced into the spáhí legion at the request of the khán of the Crimea.” His majesty, on hearing the sentiments expressed by Yúsuf Aghá, enquired the names of the persons who had excited the irregularity and tumult which had prevailed. The vezír pointed out to him the ringleaders, and immediately a sign was given to take vengeance on them for their folly and temerity. Shahbáz Aghá, chief of the salihdárs; Koorgha Zádeh, notary to the spáhí legion; and Yek Cheshm Mohammed Effendí, were made the objects of imperial vengeance on this occasion. Others who had been involved in the same condemnation with the above were also visited with a similar punishment. The comptroller of the cavalry, after he was conducted to the place of execution, escaped the death which awaited him by the intervention of the grand vezír, who interceded in his behalf. The ketkhodá of the spáhís escaped in a similar way.

The grand sultán, after these various instances of his severity and justice, concluded his harangue by warning the tumultuous soldiery (spáhís) of their danger; assuring them, that if ever afterwards they should manifest a similar spirit of insubordination, he would take vengeance on their whole legion; and dismissed the crowd, desiring them at the same time to remove the bodies of their companions from the place of execution.

The officers belonging to the spáhís were all changed; and the treasurer, Etmekjí Zádeh, no sooner arrived than the wages of the spáhí troops were forthwith paid them.

_The commander-in-chief arrives at Constantinople._

When the hostilities which for a long time had raged on the frontiers of Hungary, had ceased to threaten the peace and security of the Ottoman dominions, the rebellion in Anatolia began to wear a much more serious aspect than it had done at any former period. The grand vezír, Mohammed Páshá, as we formerly mentioned, was fixed on to take the chief command in Anatolia, with the view of bringing the troubles of that country to a termination. The celebrated Mohammed Páshá no sooner received the royal intimation on this head than he appointed Teryákí Páshá, beglerbeg of Romeili, as his deputy at Belgrade, whither he had called him; and Kúski Mohammed Effendí as defterdár in his absence. Having committed the management of the affairs of the frontiers to these two officers, he left Belgrade on the fourth day of the grand festival (_i.e._ Easter), and arrived at the Sublime Porte on the 7th of Dhu’l Kadah, when his majesty showed him every token of esteem and respect.

_Delí Hasan killed at Temisvar._

We have had frequent occasion to advert to the history of Delí Hasan, the brother of Karah Yázijí (Scrivano). We have mentioned how he had been raised to the government of Bosnia; the evil deeds he had been there guilty of; his expulsion thence; and his subsequent appointment to the government of Temisvar. Here he acted nearly two years in the character of válí, and had it in his power, by good conduct, to remove the unfavourable impressions which his former deportment had but too justly given rise to.

After the reduction of Osterghún, his excellency the commander-in-chief, sent word to the inhabitants of Temisvar to have an eye on Delí Hasan, and to watch his movements. This hint was enough. One day some of the garrison of Temisvar went out as if they had meant to follow the chase, but instead of this fell upon Delí Hasan and his suite, the latter of whom they killed. Delí Hasan fled to Belgrade, where Ghází Hasan Páshá, the káímakám, received him as his guest. He afterwards, however, placed him within the fortress, and sent an account of his arrival at Belgrade to Constantinople; whence a sentence of death against Delí Hasan, his brother’s son, Kúchuk Beg, was instantly returned, and both of them underwent that sentence accordingly.

It has been reported, that whilst Delí Hasan was in Bosnia, he had attempted a most daring crime against the Ottoman government, which however had failed. As this story is not less wonderful in its development than it was audacious in its contrivance, we shall here relate it. Delí Hasan, it would appear, wrote letters to the Venetians and to the pope, asking them to have a fleet in readiness opposite the fortress of Rasna; promising, in these letters, that he would deliver up that fortress to them, and that he would afterwards reduce several other places of strength on the shores of the Archipelago, and deliver them over to them also; but it was necessary, he added, that they should pay him a hundred thousand pieces of gold in advance. It was in this manner he proposed to stipulate with the enemy. No answer to these proposals having reached him whilst he was in Bosnia, he, after his translation to Temisvar, hired a fellow for a hundred pieces of gold, and sent him off with a duplicate of his former communications to the two parties above-mentioned. This hired peasant, or whatever he was, instead of fulfilling his engagement, went and waited upon Murád Páshá, the then commander-in-chief, told him all he knew, and showed him Delí Hasan’s letters. The commander desired him to proceed without delay and deliver them in the proper quarter, but to be sure to call on him when he returned. The messenger set out as he had been desired, and delivered his papers in the manner he had been directed: when the king of Spain and the pope sent, each of them, an agent along with Delí Hasan’s messenger, who was to communicate to him the views of these personages. These two agents and the messenger reached Zimnún, where the two former took up their lodgings in a certain house, whilst the latter proceeded to inform the authorities of their arrival, and the purport of their message: and which, among other things, went on to say, that they, the bearers, were the accredited agents of the two personages formerly mentioned, that the words of these men might be as much relied on as if they had been heard proceeding from the lips of their principals; that they had sworn fidelity to the trust reposed in them, and that, therefore, every apprehension of fraud being practised ought to be banished. Such, in fact, was the story these agents themselves delivered before Abdí Alí, Murád Páshá’s deputy, whom they actually supposed was Delí Hasan himself. These messengers, or agents, were moreover commissioned to say, that as soon as they returned with an answer to the pope and the king of Spain, a draft on the Franks residing in Belgrade for one hundred thousand pieces of gold would be instantly sent to Delí Hasan. Such is the version of this story: and it is hardly necessary to say that these two accredited infidels were immediately put to death.

Tobacco, which had been introduced in Turkey from Frangistan, had been made the subject of much discussion, and seems, this year, through the bitter contention which the use of it had occasioned, to have become more in vogue that at any former period since its introduction; though it had been productive of certain evil to those who received it, or who had any thing to do with it.

_Concerning the grand vezír, Lálá Mohammed Páshá.—His death.—Dervísh Páshá raised to the vezírship._

Lálá Mohammed Páshá, the grand vezír and commander-in-chief, the reader will remember, returned to Constantinople: and though the affairs between Austria and the Sublime Porte had not been finally settled, yet such was the necessity of restoring the peace and tranquility of Anatolia, that every other consideration was made subservient to this. It was maintained, in a council held in the imperial presence, to be of paramount importance that two chief commanders should be appointed: the one to proceed to the frontiers of Hungary, the other to the east; that the grand vezír, in order to have it in his power to send efficient supplies to both quarters, should remain at the seat of government, and there discharge the duties of his high office.

In this council reference was made to the inefficiency, ill-management, and ill-success of former commanders in the east, and therefore the members of the council proposed Nesúh Páshá as the person who was by far the most competent to perform the duties of commander-in-chief in the east. It was moreover alleged in his favour, that he was son-in-law to the emperor; a circumstance which could not fail, it was said, to secure the affections of the Kurds. Nesúh was, accordingly, made third vezír and commander-in-chief of the forces in the eastern provinces; and Murád Páshá was appointed to the command and management of the affairs on the frontiers of Hungary. After these deliberations had been fully attended to, the emperor expressed his approbation of the resolutions which had been adopted, and issued orders for drawing out a commission for each of the two newly-elected commanders, defining the power and authority they were to exercise. The government of Baghdád was annexed to the vezírship and dominion already possessed by Nesúh, and he was, moreover, made commander-in-chief against the Persians. The válí of Romeili, and the princes of the borders, with their respective armies, were ordered to march towards Hungary. The government of Aleppo was conferred on Hasan, ághá of the janissaries, who was expected to repress the disturbances which afflicted that portion of the Ottoman dominions. The káímakám, Khezer Páshá, was appointed to the guardianship of the fortresses on the Danube.

The grand vezír, the heroic Lálá Mohammed Páshá who most scrupulously attended to all these new arrangements was, notwithstanding, thwarted in some of his purposes by Dervísh Páshá, who had succeeded to the admiralship in the room of Jeghala Zádeh. By his intrigues the brother of Tarnákjí Hasan Aghá was deprived of his ágháship, and ordered to proceed to the government of Aleppo, although the grand vezír intended to confer on him the province of Romeili as a reward for his heroism at the taking of Osterghún, of which he was the principal cause. Dervísh was obstinate, and conferred, or was the means of conferring, the ágháship of the janissaries on Maryol Hasan Aghá. Poor Hasan Páshá was obliged to set out for Aleppo, and had scarcely got to Adrianople, which was about half-way, when he was attacked by a monstrous rebel of the name of Jemshíd, who murdered him.

Dervísh Páshá, still bent on evil purposes, expressed his disapprobation of the appointments conferred on Nesúh Páshá; and, in short, wrought so effectually on the mind of the emperor by his representations, that he succeeded in procuring him to issue an order for the grand vezír himself to repair to the east and take the chief command in that quarter. When Mohammed Páshá entered the council, the emperor addressed him by saying that it was found necessary that he (the grand vezír) should be the person who should take the command of the forces employed against Persia, and ordered him to commence preparations for the journey. He concluded this speech by saying farther: that it was expected that this year a peace with Austria would be concluded. The grand vezír, when he heard the emperor’s sentiments, was speechless and confounded. The emperor repeated his commands, and the vezír, without making any reply, returned to his own house, where he in vain endeavoured to collect his thoughts and calm the agitation of his mind.

On the following morning Nesúh Páshá waited on him to congratulate him on his appointment, and spoke to him in as consolatary and soothing a manner as he was able. “Let us,” said he, “go together: let us render all the services we can for the welfare of our country: God willing, you will find in Asia so many things to comfort and delight you as will cause you to forget your northern campaigns.” Nesúh, by this mode of address, succeeded in bringing the mind of the afflicted grand vezír to some degree of peace and tranquillity.

In the council above alluded to, Dervísh Páshá preferred several accusations against the grand vezír, but which he, the grand vezír, rebutted by giving a circumstantial relation of all the services in which he had been engaged, and concluded by saying he had some reason to fear that the negociations with Austria might still prove abortive—“and thus,” said he, weeping, “our last twelve years of war will end in nothing.” He again requested the emperor to permit him to proceed to the frontiers of Hungary and conclude the peace, the preliminaries of which had been entered into during his own active service in the north. Nesúh, he said, was the emperor’s son-in-law, was every way competent for accomplishing the emperor’s wishes in the east, and therefore earnestly besought the grand Sultán to stand by his first appointment. All, however, was in vain. The emperor remained inflexible, and forced Lálá Mohammed Páshá, whether he would or not, to erect his tent at Scutari. In consequence of these circumstances, so repugnant to the mind of the grand vezír, as well as others which carried along with them their vexations, his health became very much impaired, and yet notwithstanding, he was forced that very week, by repeated orders, to repair to Scutari. It so happened, in the providence of God, however, that whilst he was presiding in his own diván he was struck by a paralytic stroke. His ághás carried him to his tent, and immediately his physicians were called in to administer what aid they were able. An account of this circumstance reached the metropolis, when the wicked Dervísh Páshá had the audacity to represent to his majesty that the grand vezír’s disease was wholly feigned; and instigated him to send a violent and threatening letter to Lálá Mohammed Páshá, the very next day, accusing him of feigning himself unwell, and ordering him, in the most peremptory manner, to begin his march without delay.

The afflicted Lálá Mohammed Páshá caused a humble petition to be written out and laid before his majesty; in which he stated that he required above all things, if his majesty entertained any doubts as to the ill state of his health, that he would send any one of his most confidential servants to see him, and report accordingly. It was utterly impossible for him, in his weak state of health, he said, to leave Scutari unless he was carried in a couch. The emperor was induced by this to send the ághá of the palace to the prime minister, who, when he returned, informed his majesty that the minister was so very weak as to be under the necessity of keeping his bed; in short, that he was seriously and dangerously ill. When his majesty received this report of his minister’s state of health he ceased pressing him any farther.

When the official messenger above referred to first waited on the prime minister, he, the minister, became so much affected that he could not restrain his tears. “Are my services,” said he, in the bitterness of his spirit, “are my services to my country so little thought of that doubts of my veracity should be entertained? Kiss the border of my emperor’s robe when you return, and tell him the weak state in which I am. When I die I leave behind me six orphans, and I hope God will reward the emperor for whatever kindness and favour he may show to them.” The officer, on hearing the grand vezír express himself thus, and having had besides the evidence of his senses to convince him of the dangerous state of his health, he, too, was so overcome with sorrow that he returned to his master, the grand Sultán, and declared to him, weeping, that the worth of this minister was unknown, and therefore not appreciated. “Why is it,” continued the ághá of the palace, “that your majesty has hearkened to the calumny of his enemies? The consequence is, you see, that he is likely to be prematurely cut off.” The answer to all this was, that if he died another would be found to fill his place.

On the third day of this grand vezír’s illness—an illness, there is every reason to believe, wholly occasioned by the treatment of the emperor—his troubles terminated with his life: he gave up the ghost. The rest of the vezírs, the great men of the state, and ulemá, assembled together and attended his remains to the temple of Sultán Mohammed Ghází, where the funeral service was performed; and he was afterwards interred in his own burial ground in the neighbourhood of Abí-eyúb. Among the procession which accompanied the bier of Lálá Mohammed Páshá to the place of interment, was Dervísh Páshá, the lord high admiral of the Turkish fleet, the bitter and relentless enemy of the deceased, but who had his eye on the premiership. He returned to his own house, joyfully anticipating that the seals of office would be conferred on himself. This was what he wished and what he strived for, but at the expense of every honest virtue and upright feeling.

Muftí Siná-allah Effendí relates, that a Portuguese physician who attended Lálá Mohammed Páshá in his illness, had, through the instrumentality of Dervísh Páshá, administered to him, in the form of medicine, what proved mortal to the patient.

When the testament of the late grand vezír was presented to the emperor, he ordered the sums of money that were mentioned in it to be applied to the defraying of the war, but the rest of his effects he permitted to be given to the afflicted children of the deceased. Out of one hundred and fifty thousand ducats and one hundred yúks of dollars, which had belonged to Lálá Mohammed Páshá, and which had been seized at the instigation of Dervísh Páshá for the purpose above explained, only a small portion of his extensive wealth fell to the share of his helpless orphans.

The wicked Dervísh Páshá now arrived at the summit of his wishes. The seals were no sooner conferred on him than he recommended Ja’fer Páshá, the European, who had been three times beglerbeg of Cyprus, to succeed to his vacant situation in the admiralty, and spoke of him as being very skilful in naval affairs. Ja’fer Páshá was, in consequence, appointed lord high admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the room of Dervísh Páshá, who had succeeded to the grand vezírship.

When the new prime minister first took his seat in the diván after his elevation to the premiership, he intimated to the chávush báshí that the members of the diván were not to view him in the light of former ministers, “Whoever puts off a poor man’s case till tomorrow, when it ought to be attended to to-day,” said this fierce minister, “shall have his head cut off: _that_,” continued he solemnly opening a book, “shall be his fate, and from which he shall in nowise escape.”

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1015, H.

On the afternoon of the same day the son of an aged man who had retired from his beglerbegship was beheaded, and his property seized by the avaricious Dervísh; but though all who witnessed this cruel transaction hesitated not to speak of it as an act of foul murder, yet it had not the effect of preventing a concourse of nobles and grandees coming to congratulate the new grand vezír on his elevation to the premiership. On the third day after Dervísh Páshá’s exaltation, the emperor’s chaplain waited on him to pay his respects; and the mufti effendí, the Moslem high priest, after having performed the public service at the mosque, waited on the prime minister and kindly joined with him in his afternoon devotions. When the reverend mufti was about to retire, the grand vezír informed him that there would be no public diván on the following day, but that a council would be held in the royal presence, and at which he invited him to be present. The reverend high priest bowed and promised to attend.

Next morning the whole of the ministers and the reverend effendís met in council in the imperial presence, and after listening to the opening speech of the emperor, they were informed that it was then too far in the season to prosecute any farther, that year, the object which he had in view in ordering preparations in behalf of Anatolia and the east; and then added, that it would be far more advisable to let things remain as they then were until the following year, when the preparations alluded to would be again resumed. The council, on hearing these sentiments uttered, were struck dumb with surprise. At length the mufti effendí spoke. “With indecent impatience, certainly,” said the reverend prelate, “your slave (Lálá Mohammed Páshá) was hurried in the work of preparation for the war in the east, and contrary to the views of almost all here present, his tent was ordered to be erected at Scutari. Is it prudent, think you, sire, to call back to Constantinople the camp there established? Rather let the commander-in-chief (probably Nesúh) go on to Aleppo; there winter, and make preparations for commencing, in the spring, hostilities against the Persians.” His majesty to this replied, by asking him what advantage he thought would accrue from following that advice. “ Why,” rejoined the reverend prelate, “the advantage which will accrue is this: the royal camp will not have gone forth for no purpose: the royal pavilion (the serdár’s tent) will not have been erected in the sight of friend and foe in vain. When Sultán Soleimán Khán went to the Nakhcheván war he wintered at Aleppo, and when the following spring arrived, he marched to the east. Such is the method which ought now to be pursued.” The emperor again enquired what good he supposed or imagined would result from following the course he had pointed out. The reverend mufti hastily replied: “was it creditable that a Moslem army, encamped at Scutari, and ready for entering into the scene of action, should be recalled before that army had accomplished the purpose for which it had been assembled? At least, should not that army, I ask, even though it should accomplish nothing more, be sent to protect our possessions in the east?” The emperor, pressed by the reasoning of the high priest, answered, that Ferhád Páshá might proceed with a few troops, and take the camp at Scutari along with him. “Well, then,” asked Siná-allah Effendí, “shall not a sum of money be allowed for the purpose of purchasing provisions for them?” The emperor briefly answered, “that there was no money in the treasury; and whence,” said he, “can I furnish money for that purpose?” The reverend prelate, still persevering in pressing the emperor, asked if the treasury of Egypt might not afford a supply. “That,” rejoined the emperor, “is for our private expenses; we cannot part with the funds supplied from that quarter.” “Why, then,” continued the high priest, and without being in the least awed or terrified, “how did your ancestor, Sultán Soleimán Khán, do when he went to the war at Sigetwar at a time when his treasury was drained? Thus: he took all the gold and silver vessels which were in the royal house, sent them to the mint, caused them to be melted down into specie, and thus provided himself with the means of paying the expense of the war. Doubtless,” added the bold and fearless priest, “doubtless, the treasury of Egypt can well afford to advance the sum requisite for the object now proposed.” The emperor knit his brow and thus addressed the mufti: “Thou dost not comprehend my meaning, effendí; thou understandest not my words. Times are not always alike. The circumstance you refer to was requisite for that time. Why is it that you assume the present exigency to be similar to that which existed at the period you have mentioned?” The menla, perceiving his oratory had made no impression on the mind of the emperor, rose up with the rest of the counsellors and departed.

Kátib Chelebí says, in his Fezliké, that Hasan Beg Zádeh has recorded this story in his history as a well authenticated fact. The circumstance referred to in the reign of Soleimán and that now related, can admit, we think, of no comparison, and it would be an error in judgment to suppose them similar. The opinion of the emperor, as expressed in the conversation we have related, seems to have been incontestably correct.

Dervísh Páshá was very much offended at the bold and fearless way in which the reverend mufti expressed himself in the above council; he perceived, or thought he perceived, the mufti had laboured hard to get him sent off to the eastern provinces. So much, indeed, did this evil-minded vezír feel himself aggrieved by the sentiments expressed by the mufti, that he determined on getting him deprived of his theological prerogative of issuing fetwas; a difficulty, however, presented itself, to get rid of which he was much puzzled. “If,” thought he, “I make Khoaja Zádeh mufti (the emperor’s chaplain), his two brothers, already in power, will form a union with him, and then they will deny me the liberty of speech.” This thought had the effect of making him change his mind with regard to Khoaja Zádeh, and he at last raised Abulmeymín Mustafa Effendí, a second time, to the sacred office of mufti.

Although Dervísh Páshá had used every method he could contrive, however unworthy, of getting the late grand vezír, Lálá Mohammed Páshá, sent to the eastern provinces, yet he himself, now that he was made grand vezír, manifested the utmost unwillingness to undertake the task he wished so earnestly to impose upon his predecessor. Being, as he thought, secure in the premiership, and courted by all ranks of men, he became lavish in his promises, and exposed himself to the art and cunning of sycophants who crowded round him. One of the thousand flatterers who sounded his praises, and who was anxious to be put in possession of a good situation, when talking with him one day, went the length, in his fulsome adulations, thus to address him: “My lord, thou art the sun that illuminates the world, which scatters a reviving light throughout all regions, and which removes the darkness from the world.” This contemptible, mean fellow, who ascribed to him epithets which only belong to God, he promoted to a situation of honour and emolument; demonstrations that this sort of flattery and adulation was pleasing to his heart and suitable to the state of his mind.

To escape the fatigues incident to a military life, he found or invented means to prevent his being sent to take command of the Ottoman armies, and got the emperor to favour his remaining at home. What he himself declined he transferred to another. Ferhád Páshá was fixed on to take the command of the troops destined for the east, which were still encamped at Scutari. Ferhád’s inexperience and unfitness for the important office assigned him was but too evident to every one; but to promote his own views and purposes Dervísh Páshá got this man appointed commander-in-chief, notwithstanding his utter unfitness for so great an undertaking as that of commanding the army of the east against the enemies of the Ottoman empire.

Ferhád passed over to Scutari on the 4th of the month Sefer. Osmán Aghá, ketkhodá of the janissaries, with 10,000 troops, six companies of artillery, and the provincial troops of Caramania and Sivás, were all to act under his command.

This expedition, however, as might have been anticipated, failed. Want of generalship in the commander, added to the absence of common feeling between him and his various troops; his ignorance, rashness, and scurrility of tongue, all contributed to estrange the troops from him. A violent contention having taken place between him and the spáhís, they raised a commotion about their pay, and attacked his tent with stones, and soon demolished it. With the exception of these disgraceful scenes to which we have here adverted, this expedition achieved nothing worthy of remark. A certain writer, Mahmúd Chelebí, relates, that when this mad Ferhád went to Brúsa, he collected about him a number of necessitous adventurers, and, when remonstrated with respecting this, he was accustomed to reply in the most harsh and profane language. In other respects his conduct was also similar: his troops dispersed; some of them having received no pay, were obliged to proceed to Turkey to receive it; and he himself, after being degraded, took up his residence at Iconium, where he died of grief.

_Dervísh Páshá is murdered.—Murád Páshá is made grand vezír._

Ferhád Páshá, we have seen, was sent to take the command of the war in the east, and Dervísh Páshá, the grand vezír, remained at home. In consequence of his utter want of the talents and skill of a general, and his total unfitness, in every respect, for the important office assigned him, Ferhád failed most deplorably in obtaining the least advantage; on the contrary, his conduct was productive of the most serious evils. Kilmamemkila, the son of Kalander, a noted rebel, during the time Ferhád was commander-in-chief, entered into Aydin and Sarúkhán (sanjáks of Anatolia), where he committed the most dreadful outrages and violence. A number of the inhabitants hastened to Constantinople and complained bitterly to the emperor against Ferhád and his adventurers, who, they said, tyrannized over them and oppressed them. These evils, of course, were attributed, in the first instance, to the maladministration of the grand vezír, who, instead of having taken upon himself the charge of the expedition, had sent Ferhád, of whom we have heard so much, to supply his place. The eyes of the people began to be opened to see and to appreciate the conduct of the prime minister, and in their hearts they became totally opposed to him, and those who had the nearest approach to his majesty’s ear began to urge his removal. The late reverend mufti, Siná-allah Effendí, who, for having spoken his mind freely and openly, the reader will remember, had been turned out of the muftiship, was now again, a third time, installed into that high office, which Abulmeymín Mustafa Effendí had scarcely enjoyed three months. Things now began to wear a new aspect. The maladministration of the grand vezír could no longer be concealed or connived at. The excesses of Dervísh Páshá and his wicked government were represented to his majesty, who had hitherto favoured his minister. These things, with the complaints which had reached him from Anatolia, greatly excited his displeasure; and so clear and evident did his minister’s guilty conduct appear, that he became as much opposed to him as he had previously been swayed by his advice. The emperor, now thoroughly satisfied of the maladministration of his minister, summoned the reverend mufti and the reverend professors, in order to converse with them respecting the grand vezír’s conduct and mismanagement, and to consult with them as to the person most competent to fill the office of premier. This consultation, as might easily have been foreseen, terminated unfavourably to the interests of the grand vezír, who soon afterwards expiated his crimes by the forfeiture of his life. A hare’s sleep (_i.e._ a false promise) having been given to him, he was, for a short time, flattered and caressed, until he was one day called to the royal palace, when he was suddenly assassinated by the bostánjís. It is said that he was first strangled with a tent-rope, but a short time after a movement being perceived in his feet, the emperor drew his dagger and cut his throat.

_The cause of his death more particularly related._

We have already adverted to the wicked and fraudulent methods which Dervísh practised during his short vezírship, and for which he suffered the just reward: the following assisted to accelerate his miserable end. One of those Jews usually employed by the grandees was engaged in the service of Dervísh Páshá, and, owing to the fidelity with which he served his master, he succeeded in securing a very near access to him. It was a practice among these Jews, when any of them were thus employed, to keep an account of what they expended as well as of what they received. The Jew just referred to kept an account of this kind, and the páshá, his master, had every confidence in his integrity and honesty, and, in short, intrusted him with all his money transactions. Dervísh Páshá having begun to build a palace, the outlay was wholly left to the management of this agent. When it was nearly finished, he asked the Jew, his factor, for an account of the expenditure, which was instantly put into his hand. The páshá, on looking over the various items, perceived that a very large sum had already been expended, and remarked with astonishment, knitting his brows, that such was the case, for he was an avaricious, regardless, fraudulent man. The Jew, conscious of his own honesty, and that he had acted according to the rules which had been prescribed for his conduct, became greatly enraged, especially when he perceived that the páshá was seeking his ruin, and therefore he at once hit on the following cunning stratagem by which he might be revenged on his unjust master. He took back the statement of accounts, and, in the presence of the páshá, tore it in pieces and threw it into the fire, saying, it was not with a view of robbing his master that he kept a statement of the outlay, for the whole belonged to him, whose servant he was. “Is it not well known to you,” added he, “that whatever I may have gained by acting as your factor, I have not appropriated the least part of it to my own use? Nevertheless, if you inquire what has been expended, the answer is easy: I have kept a statement of the expenses, but the páshá has deceived himself, and has been negligent.” The foolish but avaricious páshá believed the Jew and dismissed him, but the Jew had not yet done with him. He instantly set about laying a stratagem, as already hinted, for ensnaring his obnoxious master. In order to accomplish this, he instructed some labourers, who were employed at the páshá’s palace, to dig, by night, underneath the ground, a passage from the páshá’s palace to the wall of the imperial treasury. And although several men were employed, during the night, in digging out this subterraneous passage, yet none, except those in the secret, were aware of it. When the mouth of the passage was finished, he caused them to build it up with stones, and then ordered them to retire. The malicious Jew, after having succeeded thus far in his mischievous plan, entered into a secret alliance with the kapú ághá, a collector of taxes, and an enemy to Dervísh Páshá, to whom he communicated the whole secret, and whom, by making him splendid presents, he gained to act along with him in the sequel of this mystery. The Jew, after this, wrote a letter to the kapú ághá, wherein he secretly, as it were, accused the páshá of dishonest practices, and described to him the subterraneous passage above-mentioned. The kapú ághá informed his majesty of the fact; and he, believing the account to be correct, especially when he considered the numerous complaints which had already been lodged against the páshá, was roused to indignation against his treacherous and deceitful minister, and caused him to be slain.