disappointments which he had met with. On his first appearance in
public life he was employed as a collector of taxes at Adrianople, and
by degrees rose to one of the most important offices in the state,
that of lord high treasurer: which office he held for several years,
till he was created káímakám of Constantinople. When Oghuz Mohammed
Páshá, the emperor’s son-in-law, was deposed, and Khalíl Páshá, lord
high admiral of the fleet, succeeded him in the premiership, Etmekjí
Zádeh felt as if he had been neglected because that office had not been
conferred on himself. When this same minister went afterwards on the
expedition against the Persians, Etmekjí thought and expected he would
again be made deputy of the Sublime Porte; but the appointment of Súfí
Mohammed Páshá to this office showed him his expectations had been
vain. The consequence was, that he became sorrowful and dangerously
ill. His illness increased with his grief, and after giving a hundred
_yúks_ of money for the purpose of repairing the fortress of Uzí, and
for erecting a fortification at Kilbúrún on the opposite side, and
nominating the reverend mufti his executor for paying such sums of
money as he had appropriated for pious purposes, he died about the
beginning of the following year. A thousand _yúks_ of money which
had not been disposed of before his death were appropriated to the
imperial coffers. He was interred in the tomb of the honourable Mahmúd
Effendí of Scutari, who had performed the funeral service in Báyazíd’s
mosque. A school in Constantinople, an inn in Adrianople, an unfinished
edifice, besides several other buildings for benevolent purposes, are
monuments of his generosity. He was one of the most celebrated men of
his day.
_On the state of the coin._
About the commencement of the month of Moharrem of this year a firmán
was issued to coin new silver coin and the piece of ten aspres, and
Beker Effendí, the second defterdár, was made inspector of the mint.
By means of a sum of ten purses of gold he established other mints in
other parts of the empire. After a certain time had elapsed, the new
coin was ordered to be put in circulation, and the old condemned. The
new coin having been discovered to be deficient, however, the old,
which possessed full weight, was again allowed to come into use.
_The seals of the premiership are again conferred on Mohammed Páshá,
the emperor’s son-in-law._
Súfí Mohammed Páshá was, at the time of Sultán Osmán Khán’s
inauguration, deputy of the Sublime Porte; but for some mismanagement
of which he had been guilty at the ceremonies which took place on that
occasion, and for the vast treasures he, for want of judgment, had
expended at that time, was disgraced and turned out of office, and
Mohammed Páshá, the emperor’s son-in-law, was made káímakám in his
stead. The reverend mufti, who had been implicated in the affair of the
late deputy, Súfí Mohammed Páshá, was removed by the emperor from being
head of religion and science, whilst that distinguished honour was
conferred on his own chaplain, Omar Khoaja: the reverend mufti, Isaád
Effendí, retaining only the prerogative of issuing _fetvás_. About the
beginning of the month of Sefer this year, Khalíl Páshá, in consequence
of the want of skill and good generalship which he had manifested
in the late war with the Persians, was formally deposed, and the
káímakám or deputy of the Sublime Porte, Mohammed Páshá, the emperor’s
son-in-law, was created grand vezír in his stead. When Khalíl Páshá
reached Scutari on his way back, he was presented with the government
of Syria, which, however, he declined: he preferred retiring with two
domestics into a cell in Mohammed Effendí’s convent, alleging that he
was an old man of the poor and indigent ancient sheíkhs, and wished for
no new preferment. By Mohammed Effendí’s intercession in his behalf,
however, his fault was overlooked.
_The arrival of a Persian ambassador._
In the month of Jemadi I., the Persian ambassador, Búrún Kásim,
sometimes called Kásim Beg, but in his credentials, Alí Sultán
Khalífeh, arrived at Scutari with one hundred loads of silk, four
elephants, and one rhinoceros, with other gifts for the emperor of
the Ottomans. From Scutari he passed over to the imperial city, and
was lodged in the palace of Pertev Páshá. His letter to the emperor
specified, in all its various ramifications, the treaty signed by
Khalíl Páshá.
_A remarkable phenomenon._
In a communication from Mohammed Páshá, commandant of Buda, it was
stated, that one afternoon, about the middle of the month of Shabán
there appeared, in the German peleponesus on the north of Hungary,
a black circular cloud, from which blood dropped like rain. This
atmospheric appearance was accompanied by a most tremendous burst
of thunder, and in the cloud there was seen the appearance of fiery
crosses. After this cloud had condensed itself, a great quantity of
smoke began to issue from it in all directions; and shortly afterwards
another tremendous burst of thunder was heard. Those who heard it were
stupified and confounded: the cattle in the field fell upon their
knees, turned their heads towards the heavens, and then fled wild
in all directions, many of which were never afterwards found. Some
short time after the last burst of thunder, three successive sounds
were heard issuing from the heavens, which, from their hideousness,
might have awakened the dead. From this cloud, also, descended black
round hail or balls, about the size of a cubit, which rolled along the
ground. Some of these hail-stones which were taken up weighed three
kintals.
_Betlan Gabor._
After Betlan Gabor had been fully established in the government of
Transylvania, he accompanied Iskander Páshá in his expedition against
the Poles, on which occasion he led ten thousand foot and twelve
thousand horse into the country of Moldavia, near the fortress of
Sordukna; but, in consequence of the peace which on that occasion was
entered into with the ambassador of the king of Poland, he returned
home with his troops.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See preface to a translation of the Maritime Wars of the Turks, by
James Mitchell.
[2] Author of the Maritime Wars of the Turks, and other celebrated
works in Turkish.
[3] بيمارم اي اجل بوكيجه بكله يانم آل
[4] ناصيمده كاتب قدرة نه يازدي بلمدم
آه كيم بوكلشن عالمده هركز كو لدم
[5] Ancient heroes of Persian fable.
[6] Why Agria is thus termed cannot be discovered; but it is probable
the writer meant to convey the idea, that the success which attended
the Moslem arms at that place, only led the Osmánlís into all the
misfortunes which afterwards befell them.
[7] A wakáyat is about 2-1/4 lb.
[8] A kantar is about 120 lb. weight.
[9] سحر سامري, or the magic of Samri, who, according to Mohammed,
induced the children of Israel to worship the golden calf in the
absence of Moses.
[10] The translator feels at a loss to discover who this valas pádisháh
was, but thinks the writer meant to convey some sentiment under the
form of a metaphor. The words of the text are:
ولاس پادشاهي ابراهيم خان بوسالده شاه عباس بنچه سنه كرفتار اولمشدر
[11] This was Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, the grand vezír, when on his way to
Constantinople. It will be remembered under what circumstances he gave
up the chief command to Mohammed Páshá at Buda; and also that Pest was
at that time in the hands of the enemy. It is to the subsequent history
of the contest between the Musselmans and the Austrians that the writer
seeks now to draw the attention of his reader.
[12] The vezírs of the kubba or cupola are those immediately under the
grand vezír.
[13] A work on Mohammedan jurisprudence.
[14] Thus did his majesty verify his threatening to Sárukjí Páshá,
when, after appointing him to the deputyship, he pointed to the dead
carcass of Kásim Páshá.
[15] A Mohamedan writer, usually called by the first of these
appellations, and frequently quoted by Naima in this history.
[16] There is something irrelevant in this. Botchkai is represented
as having been raised to the sovereignty of Hungary, and not of
Transylvania. The first of these is written مجار Majar, which is
Hungary; and the second اردل Ardil, which is Transylvania, and
which is said in the text to have been supplied with a new sovereign
in room of Botchkai, who was created king of Majar or Hungary by the
Ottoman emperor. But it seems not unlikely that by Majar, lower Hungary
is meant, and of which Ardil or Transylvania was considered a portion.
We find the word هونغاريا _Hungaria_ employed, a few sentences
afterwards, to mean the country of which the emperor of Austria’s
brother was duke.
[17] Probably Paul V., who was certainly capable of doing what Naima
here asserts. He has been charged by others of having fostered civil
war in Bohemia, Hungary, England, France, and Germany.
[18] Rodolph II.; but his name is not mentioned in the text.
[19] اژدر هاي دم بريده
[20] A sort of military farmers, who rented the revenues of Egypt.
[21] A yúk is about 1,000 dollars.
[22] A gold coin, a drachm and a half weight.
[23] The night of power, the 27th of Ramazán, when the koran began to
descend from heaven.
[24] Russian pilgrims either going to or coming from Jerusalem.
[25] The letters which had been sent from the fleet stated that the
descent had been altogether sudden and unexpected at first. The fleet,
these letters said, on arriving before or opposite a monastery on the
island not far from the city, the admiral forbade Mímí Beg to leave his
ship; but he landed his janissaries and other troops, who as soon as
they individually reached the shore, such was their eagerness, cried
out _Allah! Allah!_ as they proceeded; which so alarmed the inhabitants
that they all fled into the city with their servants. The Moslems, on
reaching the monastery, were obliged, by reason of the cannon which
played upon them from the fortress, to give up; and because they
found it impracticable to keep the footing they had gained, they were
constrained to return to their vessels. Forty or fifty were left on the
island, but they effected no good whatever. The fleet, we are told on
the same authority, seized, between Messina and Malta, on its return,
a vessel, the crew of which informed the admiral that the twenty-seven
ships he had been in quest of had entered Messina, where there were
several other vessels belonging to the enemy.
[26] A rude race living in the mountains of Lebanon and in Kúrdistán.
[27] Búrún signifies nose.
END
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