Yúsuf Páshá and Mesli returned, two hundred camel-loads of property
which had belonged to these two men having been regularly registered
and taken possession of. The emperor, on hearing of this, remarked
to Murád Páshá, the grand vezír, how successful they had been; not
only in vanquishing the two potent enemies above alluded to, but in
being also able to replace, in a great measure, the funds which had
been expended in fitting out the expedition, by the spoil which had
fallen into their hands. But the grand vezír, notwithstanding all he
had done, had still many enemies. Mustafa Aghá, ághá of the palace;
the lord high treasurer, Ahmed Páshá, or Etmekjí Zádeh; and Mustafa
Páshá, who had formerly been governor of Constantinople, took every
opportunity they could to injure him. They talked amongst themselves,
and in the presence of others, that Murád Páshá was entirely averse
to his being employed against the Persians. “He is an old frail man,”
they said (sneeringly), “and the emperor will not force him.” A hint
of this conversation was communicated to his majesty by Muftí Mohammed
Effendí. The emperor was displeased at the liberty they had taken with
his vezír, and said, “He was a warrior, a most worthy hájí, and a
most active and useful vezír: he restored all Anatolia to peace and
tranquillity: he overcame and defeated the rebels, and delivered the
country of the two formidable rebel-chiefs mentioned at the head of
this section: he performed and achieved great deeds; and nothing but
envy,” continued his majesty, “could have induced them so to speak of
him. That he was by no means pleased with the liberty they had taken,
and that the vezír might either go or stay, as he himself saw fit.”
This strong expression of his majesty’s disposition silenced, for the
time at least, the vezír’s enemies.
After a stay of four complete months at Scutari, the troops returned to
Constantinople just about the time of the full moon of the following
or fifth month, and seven days before the commencement of autumn, or
the time for entering into winter-quarters. Preparations for commencing
hostilities against Persia in the following spring were immediately
begun and attended to during the interval.
_Concerning the naval operations of the lord high admiral, Khalíl
Páshá.—Karah Jehennem taken._
When Kapúdán (or lord high admiral of the Turkish fleet) Khalíl Páshá
sailed this year for the Mediterranean, and after he had cruised round
the largest cape or promontory of Silivria, the second station from the
metropolis, an Algerine vessel, commanded by a Genoese, met a Spanish
pinnace, which had on board the son of the infidel viceroy of Sicily,
a relative of the king of Spain, and about five hundred soldiers. This
pinnace was destined to convey the young man to see his high relative,
the king of Spain, and to carry certain valuable presents to the same.
The soldiers, of course, were sent as a guard to both. When this
pinnace met with the Algerine vessel, a most desperate battle ensued,
which terminated in the capture of the former. Every living infidel
found in this vessel, and the whole of the presents before mentioned,
were according to custom distributed amongst the conquerors. The youth
referred to was carried and delivered as a present to his majesty the
Ottoman emperor. The person who had brought him to the admiral of the
Turkish fleet received handsome rewards for having done so; and the
young slave, after he was carried to Constantinople, and actually
presented before the emperor, was instructed in the Moslem religion,
which he readily embraced, and was placed in a special chamber of the
palace.
The Turkish fleet now proceeded to Scio, where the admiral received
intimation that six mountain-like vessels (of war), belonging to some
of the infidel powers, had arrived from Egypt, and were then before
Cyprus. The admiral went immediately in pursuit of them; but heard
or saw nothing more of them till he arrived before the haven of Báf,
where he was informed that they had sailed to the coast of Syria, and
had done some mischief in several places. The admiral, Khalíl Páshá,
hastened with all the speed he could make, and by break of day he
descried their top-sails, when they appeared to be about thirty miles
distant. At mid-day, or some little time after it, he made up to them,
when a tremendous cannonading commenced from both sides, which was
continued till night intervened. The Turkish admiral, though night
did come on, never slackened his movements, but continued to keep up
with them, whilst the enemy, manifesting no symptoms of fear whatever,
lighted up their lanterns, and made all the sail they were able.
Day-light no sooner arrived, however, than the battle again commenced.
A certain person in the Turkish fleet, a corsair, who had been brought
from Barbary by the emperor, and on whom he had conferred the sanják
in the Morea, came along the admiral’s ship, and advised him not to
come into close contact with the enemy, but to continue playing upon
them at some distance. This advice was attended to, and in a short
time their masts and rigging were shattered and destroyed, and they
themselves totally disabled. In this state they were boarded, and the
troops on board, five hundred in number, one hundred and sixty guns,
and two thousand muskets, were all seized and disposed of. Four of
these captured vessels were conducted to Tamagusta (in Cyprus). One of
the three vessels, which was called Karah Jehennem (Black-hell), and
resembled a lofty castle, was sent to Constantinople as a trophy of the
admiral’s victory. The admiral, after having gained this victory, made
the circuit of Sidon, Bairut, Alexandretta near Aleppo, and Tripoli,
but did not meet any of the enemy in the whole of this tract. He
returned to Tamagusta, took in provisions, and then set sail for the
port of Constantinople, where a royal letter and a sable robe, tokens
of his sovereign’s approbation, awaited his arrival. He also had the
honour of kissing the royal hand, and was raised to the rank of vezír.
On the 9th of Rajab, in this year, the digging of the foundation of the
noble mosque of Ahmed Sultán, in the At Maidán, was commenced; and on
the 8th of Shevál all the ulemá, vezírs, sheíkhs, and seyeds, assembled
together to celebrate the ceremony of laying the first stone.
_Ancient treaty with France renewed._
Franciscus Sawari, ambassador of Haricus, king of France (Henry IV.),
at the court of Constantinople, at this time presented a request,
that the existing treaty of friendship between the Ottoman emperor
and the king of France should again be renewed. This was done; and
the treaty which was entered into during the reign of the late Sultán
Mohammed Khán formed the basis of the new one. By the new treaty, or
rather, by this renewed treaty, it was stipulated among other things
as follows: 1. That not only British and Venetian vessels, but also
those of Genoa, of Portugal, of the two Sicilies, of Ancona, of Spain,
and of Florence, trading to Turkey, should be permitted to do so only
under the French flag; and that the commanders of all such vessels
were to announce their arrival to the French consul of the place or
port to which they might come for the purpose of trade. 2. That all
persons belonging to France, going to visit Jerusalem, or the monks
living at the Holy Sepulchre, or returning from the same, were to be
allowed to go and return without molestation or interruption. 3. That
the prohibition laid on spun and unspun cotton and on morocco-leather,
during the reign of Soleimán, was to be removed. 4. The prohibition
laid on bee’s-wax and hides in the days of Mohammed Khán was also to
be removed. 5. That all such specie as traders brought along with them
was to be received at its usual or current value. 6. Vessels belonging
to the French government, employed in carrying provisions from one
country unfriendly to Turkey to another country of that description,
were, though discovered by Turkish ships, to be allowed to pass
unmolested; and, in the event of any vessel belonging to a French
subject being seized whilst carrying provisions from any part of the
Ottoman dominions, it was to be set at liberty, its freight was to
remain untouched, and no more, than three hundred _akchas_ were to be
levied on the articles of lading. 7. French vessels entering into any
of the havens belonging to the Barbary states were to be respected;
and gunpowder, lead, sail-cloth, or any other articles which might be
needed, were to be furnished them: for, formerly, the Algerines were
in the habit of kidnapping and making slaves of French merchants, and
seizing their property. Frequent prohibitions against this practice
had been issued during the reign of Sultán Mohammed Khán; and the
governor, who happened to be in office when an aggression of this kind
took place, was deposed, and ordered to make full restitution. 8.
Fishing vessels were to be allowed to fish, and also to take coral on
the coasts of Algiers and Tunis. 9. All interpreters belonging to the
French embassy were, according to ancient custom, to be free from all
kinds of imposts or taxes. 10. French subjects, on paying the just dues
to their ambassadors and consuls, were to have all disputes which might
arise settled by them: they were to oppress or injure none. 11. Those
having a dispute or law-suit with any consul, the dispute or law-suit
was to be settled in Turkey. 12. The French ambassador on entering into
the royal diván, or into the privy-council, was to have precedence,
according to ancient custom, of the Spanish, and all other ambassadors
whatever. 13. When a French prisoner or captive was discovered, and the
consul declared him to be so, then his master or owner was to send him
to Constantinople, where his case was to be thoroughly investigated.
14. Frenchmen, or persons belonging to any country subject to France,
living in Turkey, were not to be required to pay a poll-tax. 15.
Frenchmen living at any of the sea-ports belonging to Turkey, were not
to be prohibited from appointing their own consuls; and such consuls
were to be free from all taxes whatever. 16. If a dispute should happen
to arise with a French trader, and an appeal was made to a cazí, the
cazí was not to decide, unless the French trader had an interpreter
present to interpret for him. 18. French ships sailing to or from
Constantinople were to meet with no hindrances in the Dardanelles, or
force or violence from any Turkish ship, whether of war or not, in the
open or high seas. A friendly intercourse between vessels belonging to
both nations, was to be faithfully observed. The end or conclusion of
the treaty.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1019, H.
_The grand vezír and commander-in-chief, Murád Páshá, goes to Tabríz._
The victorious hero, the grand vezír and commander-in-chief, Murád
Páshá, having fully completed all his preparations for opening the
campaign in the east, re-appointed Gúrjí Mohammed Páshá governor of
Constantinople, and passed over with his brilliant army to Scutari, on
the 5th of the month Sefer. The commanding general, impatiently anxious
to march against Persia, left Scutari about the beginning of Rabia
I., and reaching the frontiers of that country, he was joined by the
various beglerbegs with their respective troops, who had been appointed
for this war. His army, in a short time, became greatly increased.
Having heard that the sháh of Persia intended to take up his position
in the vicinity of Tabríz, and as the winter season was nigh at hand,
he hastened towards that place with all the speed he was able, and
was not long in arriving in its neighbourhood. The inhabitants having
all fled, and left the city exposed and desolate, the orthodox troops
entered, and demolished or set fire to its buildings. The sháh having
advanced nearer, shewed a disposition to try his strength, and posted
himself upon a hill near the city. It was not long, however, before
his courage forsook him; for in a general engagement, in which he was
soon involved, his troops were defeated and put to flight, leaving the
field to the victorious Moslems. Finding it therefore dangerous to
stay much longer, and seeing that the winter was fast approaching, he
felt it necessary to seek a place of repose and safety for himself and
his army. In this way, and for these reasons, the war was necessarily
postponed till the following year. In the meantime, however, the
orthodox army did all the mischief they could to the enemy’s country,
and then returned, when his excellency the commanding general, Murád
Páshá, went with the household troops to Diárbeker.
After defeating the sháh, his excellency, Murád Páshá, sent him a
letter, to which the following was received as answer: “You say that
we have violated the agreement made in the days of Sháh Ismael II. He
was not long enough at the helm of affairs to cause any rupture. Your
governors on the frontiers having coveted the goods of our merchants,
have murdered several of them. We have represented our grievances to
your august majesty, the emperor, but no redress whatever has been
afforded. The honour of our dignity cannot endure this, especially
as we are now come, by the grace of God, into the possession of our
paternal hereditary dominions. We have been braved by a Tátár army.
Formerly, Islám Gheráí and Ghází Gheráí brought their armies as far
as Shirván, but were defeated by the kizilbáshes, and the two kháns
made prisoners. If they should again attempt a similar invasion, they
shall pay dearly for it; they shall meet their reward. The great wealth
which the emperor of the Osmánlís can command is not unknown to us. We
also have our heroes. The sight of your numerous hosts will not move
them. If it be thought proper to abide by the conditions granted by
Sultán Soleímán Khán to Tahmasp, my grandfather, then I am his august
majesty’s servant. When one is not brave and bold in his hostility,
his friendship is not to be depended on. Our friendship may be
contemplated. If, therefore, you are not satisfied, then let that which
is behind the curtain of fate discover itself—Farewell.”
His excellency, the grand vezír, wrote thus in reply: “You say you are
braved or threatened by a vain-glorious army of Tátárs. A Tátár is
like any other servant of the emperor. Though the two kháns were made
prisoners, yet there is nothing strange or surprising in that. It has
happened, not unfrequently, in the history of past events, that the
vanquished have sometimes become conquerors. If you compute the number
of those belonging to you who have been made captives, your motive for
protracting hostilities must arise from some other cause; as that the
power of the emperor appeared to have become less, or that he needed
to make an apology. I also am a servant of the emperor. I have some
hope my sentiments will have a good effect. I have entered in between
you with the view of effecting a reconciliation. So soon, then, as the
line of boundaries can be settled as it was formerly, I shall return:
otherwise it is not his majesty’s pleasure that one of the name of
Abbás should remain a sovereign in the palace of the world. How many
years has the Moslem army wintered in this quarter? The secret decrees
of fate are seemingly developed or developing by this fact. God seems
ready to take vengeance.”
Some time before this answer was sent, however, Murád received a
letter from the sháh by Shams-ud-dín Mohammed Aghá, proposing terms of
peace. The grand vezír, after a long consultation about this matter,
returned an answer by one Khair-ud-dín Chávush, whom he sent along with
the sháh’s messenger when he returned. Very near a whole year passed
away, however, before the sháh deigned to return any answer to the
grand vezír’s communications; but on the 27th of Jemadi II., when the
Moslem army, numerous as the stars, arrived at Erzerúm with the view of
protecting and defending the imperial possessions secured by treaty to
the Ottoman government in the days of Sultán Murád Khán, at this date
Khair-ud-dín Chávush and Mohammed Aghá arrived, bringing with them a
letter from the sháh. This letter contained hardly any thing more than
what his former one did respecting the grounds of complaint, which
we need not again repeat. Suffice it to say, that the correspondence
on both sides was carried on to a great length. It was said, that if
there existed a real desire to promote an agreement, it should be in
accordance with those stipulations entered into during former reigns;
but it is quite evident the emperor had no intention of entering into
engagements which would strip him of his possessions in those quarters
which had been conquered during the reign of Sultán Murád Khán.
_Other events of this year._
On the 2d of Rabia I., when the commanding-general removed from Scutari
and had arrived at Mai dipa, he received intelligence of the death
of his highness, Ahmed Gheráí, khán of the Crimea, and by his kind
interference Jánbeg Gheráí was raised to the khánship. On the 15th of
Rabia II. the ornamenting, repairing, and beautifying of the Kaaba and
its dependencies were finished, which cost in all 18,141 miscals.[22]
The work was commenced last year and finished in this.
The lord high admiral, Khalíl Páshá, having again put to sea with the
royal fleet, he appointed Mímí Beg, beg of Rhodes, chief over a number
of other begs, and dispatched him off in one of the vessels which
had been destined for conveying provisions from Alexandria. Mímí Beg
accomplished the task assigned to him, and afterwards fell in with an
enemy’s ship of war at a place called Funka, which he soon disabled
and sunk. Khalíl Páshá himself, whilst continuing his cruizing voyage
after vessels belonging to the infidels, pursued his course along
Negropont, Modon, and Navarin. At one or other of these places he
received intelligence from Mímí Beg, that five large vessels belonging
to Tuscany were somewhere at sea near Cyprus. The admiral immediately
steered away from the shores of the Morea towards Cyprus, which place
he reached about the commencement of Rajab after a sail of eight days,
and discovered the above vessels before Oghuz Búrni, near Báf, watching
the arrival of the Egyptian fleet. The admiral, Khalíl Páshá, now
prepared for battle; but in consequence of a heavy gale of wind which
suddenly arose, he found it impossible, notwithstanding his utmost
efforts, to come into actual contact with them. Night came on; the wind
became more fierce and boisterous, and by daylight on the following
morning no traces of the enemy’s vessels could be discovered; nor was
it known whither they had steered. The Turkish admiral now directed his
course towards the island of Rhodes, and during the voyage picked up
a straggling adventurer and one or two of the enemy’s ships. Soleimán
Páshá, also, whom he had ordered away with ten vessels in search of the
Tuscany ships, returned with two corsairs and two other vessels which
he had taken in the roads of Messina and Malta, and joined the Turkish
fleet, which directed its course to the port of Constantinople, having
about eight prizes and a hundred captives to grace its entrance into
that port; and when the admiral presented himself before the exalted
diván, orders were given to confer on him a robe of honour for the
services which he had rendered.
During the winter of this year messengers from the sháh arrived with
letters containing humble proposals of peace, offering, at the same
time, as one of the conditions, to pay an annual tax of two hundred
yúks (loads) of silk for those provinces which had been wrested out of
his hands, though they formerly formed part of the Persian dominions.
He also requested that the government of Turkey, if it pleased, might
have a beglerbeg over those provinces. The sagacious Murád Páshá wrote
a report of these offers, and sent it along with the sháh’s messengers
to the court of Constantinople. The purpose of his sending these
ambassadors to the court of Istámbol was to excite the sháh’s hopes,
and thus give him a hare’s sleep, while, in fact, he was meditating the
devastation of the country on the return of spring.
_The death of Murád Páshá, grand vezír and commander-in-chief.—Nesúh
Páshá succeeds to the premiership._
At the time his excellency, the grand vezír and commander-in-chief,
Murád Páshá, went to Tabríz, the válí of Diárbeker, Nesúh Páshá, sent
a private letter to the emperor, stating that if he would remove Murád
Páshá out of the premiership, and confer the seals on himself, he
would, in return, make him a present of forty thousand gold pieces
in ready money, and bear the expense, besides, of the increase of
provisions which was to be made to the army. This letter the emperor
enclosed in a government despatch for Murád Páshá, and sent it off
by a courier. The commanding-general was no doubt surprised when he
read the document which had been sent to him, and immediately sent for
Nesúh. Nesúh, no way aware of the reason for which he had been invited,
appeared before the grand vezír without suspicion. The latter handed to
him his own letter to the emperor, and asked him if he could recognize
the hand-writing. Nesúh, a bold and fearless Albanian, replied,
without a moment’s hesitation, it was his. “You ought, then,” said the
commanding-general, “to advance the gold you have promised, and provide
the provisions for the army which you have also stipulated.” Nesúh, no
way embarrassed, showed his readiness to comply. Those officers who
surrounded Murád Páshá, on this occasion, seemed very much surprised
at what had transpired, and said, that many a commanding-general would
have punished with death a fault much less than that which Nesúh had
committed. “You are certainly,” said they, in their surprise and
indignation, “seeking to compass this base and worthless hypocrite’s
destruction?” His excellency, the commanding-general, with his usual
prudence and good-nature, denied having entertained any such intention.
“On the contrary,” said he, “a bold, active and dexterous man of this
kind may be very useful to the government; and what he has offered to
do may prove to be of advantage.” He added a few more remarks which
were intended to make an impression on the mind of his rival.
The winter-months passed away, and the time for again marching against
the heretical sháh approached. The commander-in-chief caused his
pavilion to be erected on the outside of the walls of Diárbeker.
This very movement, inasmuch as it presaged hostility, alarmed the
sháh to such a degree that he again sent to the commanding general
a supplicating letter, similar to that he had formerly sent him,
praying for a cessation of hostilities. The illustrious commander
amused him with hopes, but was all the while making preparations for
commencing the attack. But in the midst of all this, it pleased God
to remove him by death. This event took place on the 25th of Jemadi
I.; and Mohammed Aghá, ághá of the janissaries, was, in conformity to
Murád’s own desire, expressed some time before his death, appointed
by the government, in the mean time, to take the command of the army.
When Nesúh Páshá’s friends heard of Murád’s death, they used their
utmost efforts to get him into the premiership, the great object of
his ambition. On the 12th of the following month the wishes of both
were realized by the seals of office being sent to Nesúh. He was made
commander-in-chief of the forces at the same time.
The new grand vezír commenced his career in manifesting the same
determined hostility against the sháh that his predecessor had done.
This, of course, doubly increased the fears of the Persian king (the
subversion of whose dominions had been the ardent desire of Murád
Páshá), and led him to repeat his former intreaties: promising, at
the same time, to submit to that subjection to the Ottoman emperor
which had formerly been yielded to that monarch. But before these last
proffers had been announced at Constantinople, the sháh requested to
be allowed some delay to provide the quantity of silk which he had
stipulated. This petition was incautiously listened to by the new
minister, who, by this time, had disbanded his army. He was, moreover,
much to blame for permitting the sháh’s ambassadors to proceed to
Constantinople. They, themselves, were importunate in demanding from
the grand vezír permission to proceed thither on the object of their
embassy, alleging that on the frontiers no proper settlement between
the two countries could be effected; but by some inexplicable conduct
of the new grand vezír, a whole year passed away before matters were
fully and properly adjusted.