SIR JOHN’S “TICKLISH CONDITION”
Our Ambassador bad every right to expect that the ransom he had
paid down would be accepted by Kara Mustafa as a price of immunity
from persecution for the remainder of his sojourn in Turkey. But it
was not to be. Kara Mustafa had in store for him another tempest--a
tempest beside which all those he had outlived might seem as spells
of fine weather. It arose, by a singular irony, out of the very
event which had once filled him with so much pride and so many
hopes of a serene and prosperous career at the Ottoman Court.
It will be remembered that the late Grand Vizir had relieved Finch
from the importunities of the Pasha of Tunis by sending that worthy
to a Governorship in the utmost confines of Arabia--somewhere
beyond Egypt--near Ethiopia: nobody exactly knew where, but
everybody earnestly hoped that, wherever his place of honourable
exile was, he would never quit it. Finch, as we know, had not
forgotten him: every now and again, in moments of depression,
thoughts of the Pasha forced themselves upon his mind; and these
apprehensions, once vague, had become particularly vivid of late.
The thing which Sir John feared came to pass at last.
Towards the end of June 1680 the Pasha returned to Constantinople
with his grievance, which, carefully nursed in the tropical climate
of his residence, had grown to gigantic dimensions. In 1674 he had
simply desired that the Ambassador should procure restitution of
his remaining goods from the corsair. Now he demands them from him.
Moreover, now he alleges his loss to be far greater than he had
represented it before, and, indeed, greater than it could possibly
be.
He began by applying to the Vizir’s Kehayah, to the Rais Effendi,
and to the Chaoush-bashi. Sir John sent to them a Dragoman who
set forth his case, relating all that he had done for the Pasha
in Italy and Malta out of sheer courtesy. The Ministers appeared
fully convinced, and Finch thought that the story had ended;
but it was only beginning. The plaintiff, disappointed with the
result of his first step, addressed himself directly to the Vizir,
who appointed the same three officers to hear the Pasha and the
Ambassador face to face, and to report to him. Finch confronted
the Pasha accordingly; the plaintiff’s demands and his own defence
were heard, and, to all seeming, the case went wholly as he wished:
the Rais Effendi undertook to obtain a favourable verdict from the
Vizir for a trifle of two purses, that is, a thousand dollars,
which sum was promised to be paid when sentence had been issued.
On receipt of the report, the Vizir, as was anticipated, announced
that he must take cognisance of the cause himself, and summoned
both parties to appear before his tribunal.
Friday, September 3rd, Sir John goes to the Divan, and finds the
Grand Vizir seated on the bench with the two Cadileskers, or Chief
Justices of Europe and Asia. All the great Ministers of the Porte
are also present. Kara Mustafa opens the proceedings by bidding
the Pasha produce the list of his losses, and saying that, if the
plaintiff can prove his claim, he will find him a paymaster and
clap up the Ambassador in the Seven Towers. The list is produced
and read out: it amounts to 700 purses, or 350,000 dollars! The
reading over, Finch asks: “Who has taken all those goods?” “The
Corsair,” answers the Pasha. “He that has taken them, let him
restore them”--a good retort; but it does not seem to please the
Grand Vizir.
“Ambassador,” he breaks in sharply, “you and all other ambassadors
are sent hither by your respective princes to answer for the lives
and estates of all Mussulmans all over the world that are endamaged
or suffer by your respective subjects, and you are here a hostage
to answer for all damage done by Englishmen all over the world.”
Sir John, “knowing how subitaneous the Visir is in all his motions
and not judging it prudent to provoke him at first,” would fain
decline a direct answer to that strange doctrine--strange, yet,
from the Turkish point of view, perfectly orthodox. But as Kara
Mustafa, with great heat, calls for an answer, he replies:
“The Gran Signor is a Great Emperour and yet He cannot secure His
ships from Gran Cairo from the Corsaros, nor His Caravans by land
from the Arabians, both being often robbed. Neither can my Master
secure His own subjects or the Gran Signor’s from pirates; for none
but God Almighty could doe it.”
This soft answer turned away the Vizir’s wrath, and the case went
on.
Finch pleads that he is not in the least concerned in the Pasha’s
losses, seeing that the ship from which his goods were taken was
no English ship, and the captain, a renegade of his country and
religion settled and married at Leghorn, was the Great Duke’s
subject. But even supposing, for the sake of argument, that he
were concerned? Here is the discharge by which the Pasha’s own
Procurator released Captain Chaplyn and all Englishmen from any
liability in the matter.
How that discharge had been obtained we know already; also the
statement that the _Mediterranean_ was no English ship was less
accurate than we could have wished. But Sir John is here to defend
a case, not to speak the truth; and, it must be owned, he defends
it as one to the manner born. Unfortunately, the Grand Vizir has no
taste for dialectics. A Turk had come to grief whilst travelling
under the English flag, and the English Nation was bound to
indemnify him: that is the sum and substance of the whole matter,
in accordance with the traditional Turkish view[259]--a view to
which, in the present instance, the English Government appeared
to lend colour by recovering part of the Pasha’s property: if
part, why not the whole? Finch, too, by dwelling on the point of
the ship’s and captain’s nationality, did he not implicitly admit
the validity of that view? Therefore, the Vizir, breaks into the
argument by ordering the Ambassador to write to his King to cause
full restitution of the Pasha’s goods. Sir John answers that what
His Majesty had already done was done out of kindness and not from
any obligation; it would be useless to trouble His Majesty. But
Kara Mustafa insists with so much vehemence that Sir John has to
say, if His Excellency so commands, he will write, though nothing
can come of it, as it is impossible to find what pirates and
thieves have stolen. The Vizir presses the matter no further, and
the case goes on.
The Pasha denies that the Aga in question was his Procurator. Finch
produces a document under the Pasha’s own hand and seal, drawn up
at Constantinople before a Cadi, in which he recognised him as
such. This unexpected stroke disconcerts the Pasha, but it does not
disarm him. Changing his ground, he denies that he has received
any of the goods recovered at Leghorn or Malta. Finch produces the
receipt which the Pasha had given to his Aga. Unabashed, the Pasha
changes his ground again and alleges that the English Consul at
Tunis had given him a _Hoggiet_, guaranteeing the property laden on
Captain Chaplyn’s ship: but for that guarantee, he says, he would
have gone overland. Finch replies, First, that the Barbary Coast
is not under his jurisdiction and therefore the Consul must answer
for himself; Secondly, that, even if the Consul were under him,
an inferior could not bind his superior, any more than any Pasha
in the Empire could bind the Grand Vizir; Lastly, that he cannot
believe that any Consul of His Majesty’s would become surety.
Therefore he asks to see the _Hoggiet_. The Pasha says that it was
taken from him with the rest of his property. Finch retorts that a
document of such importance could easily have been carried about
him, and that, though he is not concerned in the loss of his gold
and jewels, yet it is probable he has lost neither, since he had
time to carry out of the ship five boatloads of goods before the
Corsair came up with the _Mediterranean_, and men do not usually
leave gold and jewels to the last. This the Pasha does not deny;
but changes his ground once more by denouncing the Captain. Finch
replies that, although he is not answerable for the Captain, yet
he had brought him along with him to answer for himself: Captain
Chaplyn had stayed at Smyrna seven months, and the Pasha’s
Procurator had given him, before a Cadi, a certificate of good
conduct.
At this point the Cadilesker who was to pronounce judgment began
to write down his verdict. But the Vizir stopped him, saying
that the case could not be decided at one hearing. Finch “much
misliked” this; but, of course, he could do nothing. So the case
was adjourned.
In spite of that ominous move, the Ambassador left the Court not
without hopes: both the Cadileskers had throughout declared for
him, and the Vizir had distributed his thunders pretty evenly
between the litigants. He was not, however, allowed to continue in
this hopeful state of mind long. Next day, the Vizir’s Kehayah and
Rais Effendi sent for his Dragoman and told him that a very large
sum was demanded from the Ambassador: the Pasha, who governed Tunis
during an insurrection, had raised his great fortune by plundering
rebels and, in addition, had given the whole of it to the Grand
Signor: therefore, the Vizir would expect a good deal to rid him
of this claim. Sir John’s answer was that “he could as a gentleman
thank his friends, but could not as an Ambassador treat by way of
contract for an asper.” This brought a milder demand: 15 purses for
the Vizir and 7 for the other Ministers--altogether 11,000 dollars.
To those who made it, this demand no doubt appeared moderate,
considering the amount of the claim involved; but our Ambassador
thought it monstrous, considering that the claim was nothing but
a false pretence. Besides, would compliance really free him from
further molestation? Sir John did not believe it would. He knew
the Turks too well by now, and simply looked upon these overtures
as a new example of “their old way of inviting a man to treat
and then screwing him up to what they please.” So he returned a
categorical answer in writing to the effect that he was in no way
to blame; he had not only a most just cause, but also a cause
full of merit; that this suit was directed against the King his
master, the merchants being not in the least concerned in it, and
that, consequently, he could not treat for a single asper; but to
those who should free him from this injurious pretension, when
the business was done, he could and would show his gratitude.
“So,” he concluded, “remitting my selfe to the justice of the Gran
Visir, I implore the Divine Protection, and shall acquiesce in His
Holy Will, happen what will.” In answer to this, the Kehayah sent
Finch word that he should repent his rejection of the proposed
adjustment.[260]
That, indeed, was the opinion of the English merchants, too. So
far from not being in the least concerned in the matter, they were
terribly interested, and warned the Ambassador that, if the Vizir’s
mouth was not stopped at once, they might have to pay very heavily
in the end. Some even reproached him for driving the Company to a
dangerous precipice. But the Ambassador, having been censured by
the Company for his other adjustments, was this time determined to
stand firm at all hazards and let Kara Mustafa do his worst.[261]
Some twenty-four days passed, and then the Vizir’s Jew came to
inform Sir John “with many threats intermingled” of the resolution
taken at the Porte--that he should enter into negotiations for
an agreement. Sir John referred the emissary to his former
declaration, adding that, far from seeing any reason to recede from
it, he must confirm and ratify it again, “and the rather because
since the writing I had receivd positive orders from England not to
enter into any contract”--he could not make one step further: the
Vizir “might doe what he pleasd.” “Thus,” he reported on September
29th, “stands this case, either victory or imprisonment of my
person is like to be the result of it.”[262]
It is impossible to contemplate without admiration the intrepidity
with which Finch faced the alternative before him. Happen what
might, he had decided to hold out, and the only effect which the
expostulations of the English and the threats of the Turks produced
on his decision was to strengthen it. Courage, as we have seen,
was by no means a conspicuous feature of Sir John’s character; yet
on this occasion he displayed all the steadfastness of a hardened
fighter. He would not let the Turks lure or intimidate him on to
ground which no Ambassador could consent to occupy without grave
detriment to the interests confided to him. The question was vital
“not onely in regard of the Great Summe which under all the
variety of demands is at the lowest very high: but in regard it is
a Precedent of pernicious consequence to Our Commerce, so long as
this Visir livs.”[263]
Kara Mustafa’s choler at this calm defiance is not inconceivable.
It behoved him to teach the English, as he had taught other
Giaours, what they got by defying his thunder. You refused all
terms of peace? You shall have war.
On October 1st the Ambassador was once more summoned before the
Grand Vizir’s tribunal--to plead the same cause for the third and
last time. He went, accompanied by five of the leading English
merchants and his Dragomans. What his emotions were as he went we
know from his own mouth. Victory or imprisonment, he had said, with
a certain glow of internal pride--like that of a resolute pilot
amid the piled tempests. But Sir John was not either a hero or a
martyr by nature: he was merely a man with a sense of duty--which
does not exclude other senses. With perfect frankness he confesses
that “When I went to the Tryall, accompanyd’ onely with five of
the chief of the Factory, wee all, and our Druggermen too, had
apprehensions of imprisonment.”
The manner in which the proceedings were conducted was not
calculated to reassure the defendants. The Pasha’s claim had in
the interval risen to the colossal figure of 1000 purses, that
is, half-a-million dollars: so much for this, so much for that.
He went on specifying the various items, until the Grand Vizir
himself ordered him to stop--he had heard enough. Then turning
to the Ambassador, he asked for his answer. Sir John’s answer
was the same as before: a flat denial of responsibility, backed
with the familiar arguments. But how poor is the eloquence of him
who advocates a cause which we disapprove: how inadmissible his
statements, how unconvincing his reasons! Kara Mustafa, who had put
on his most thunderous look for the occasion, overruled everything
that might be said for the defence with such truculence, that
“when wee saw how prodigiously things were carry’d against us, wee
thought imprisonment unavoidable”--we already saw ourselves in the
cell of the condemned....
In this fearful emergency Sir John had an inspiration--one of
those inspirations that panic sometimes begets. It occurred to him
suddenly to beg for time to write home for instructions. Contrary
to his own expectation, Kara Mustafa agreed to suspend proceedings
till the end of February--five months being necessary for an
interchange of communications between Constantinople and London.
This prompt assent could easily be accounted for. In Turkey a
request for time was commonly understood to be equivalent to a hint
that the party had a mind to come to terms.[264] Certainly so the
Grand Vizir understood it, though Sir John, far from suspecting the
construction put upon his words, congratulated himself upon his
strategy. “Had I not thus prevented the pronouncing of sentence,”
he wrote next morning, “Wee had all not onely bin clapd’ up
in prison, but the estates also of the Levant Company had bin
violently seizd’ till I had complyd’ with the summe.” It was
not, to be sure, an acquittal, but it was the next best thing--a
respite. “Now I must say with the Italian, _chi da tempo, da vita_.
I should think that, when the five moneths are expird’, it would
not be hard to get three moneths more, though I doe not say that
it is to be relyd’ upon for who knows this Visir.” Thus checking
his own elation, he went on to press for his supersession. He
had occupied that thorny seat on the Bosphorus long enough; it
was time that somebody else had his turn. “I believe,” he told
the Secretary of State, “most men will be of opinion that a new
Ambassadour, accompanyd’ with particular orders and fresh Letters
from His Majesty relating to this case, will, in so palpably a just
cause, make the false pretensions of the Bassà of Tunis wholely
vanish.”[265]
People at home entirely agreed that a new broom was needed to clear
up the mess in Stambul, and steps had already been taken to provide
one. After some discussion on the advisability of sending out an
ambassador at all whilst Kara Mustafa raged in Turkey, the Levant
Merchants, at a Court held on October 3rd, 1679, had decided to
take the risk; six months later they petitioned the King to order
Sir John Finch’s return, so that they might select a successor;
and, having obtained the King’s permission so to do, they took a
ballot on April 22nd, 1680.[266]
It is a very curious thing that, though the Constantinople Embassy
was a byword for difficulty and even for danger in the diplomatic
world, and though few of its tenants had not, sooner or later,
begged for recall as for an inestimable boon, yet there never
were wanting keen candidates: the pay and perquisites offered an
irresistible attraction, and, apparently, each would-be ambassador
flattered himself that Fortune would prove kinder to him than she
had done to his predecessors. No fewer than eight individuals
(some of whom ought to have known better) were eager to step into
Sir John’s tight shoes. One of these was our friend Paul Rycaut.
As soon as the recall of Finch was decided upon, the ex-Consul,
encouraged by his former chief Lord Winchilsea with assurances that
“neither his person nor endeavours towards this promotion would
be displeasing to his Majesty,” hastened to put in a claim with
the Crown, dwelling on his past services, his qualifications, and
“the knowne loyaltie of his family.” At the same time he canvassed
the Levant Company, which, on his return home, had acknowledged
its obligations to him with a gratuity. Everything tended to make
Rycaut think that “he stood as faire in the nomination as any
person whatsoever.” But suddenly the Earl of Berkeley, Governor of
the Company, put an end to Rycaut’s expectations by announcing that
the King did not wish that any one who had lived in Turkey “under
a lesse degree and qualitie then that of an Ambassadour” should be
chosen.[267]
Another aspirant was the Hon. Dudley North. He also felt sure that,
with all his experience of Turkey, he would be able to do the
nation better service there than anyone else. But his aspirations
never got beyond the stage of aspirations. Before leaving
Constantinople he had sounded his brothers, and they laughed him
out of the project by telling him that he knew “as little of London
and interest at Court here, as they did of Constantinople and
the Turkish Court there.”[268] This, in fact, was the one fatal
objection to North, as it was to Rycaut. Either of these gentlemen
would have made an ideal envoy at the Porte: no contemporary
Englishman could be compared with either in all the essential
qualifications for the post. But neither stood the slightest
chance; for neither possessed the influence (or, as they said in
those days, the “interest”) without which qualifications then, as
now, were of little account.
The other six suitors were men of weight in Court and commercial
circles: Sir Thomas Thynne, Mr Thomas Neale, Major Knatchbull,
Sir Phi. Matthewes, Sir Richard Deereham, and Lord Chandos. The
last-named candidate was particularly well furnished with the
qualifications that count. On one hand, he was connected, though
remotely, with the Earl of Berkeley, Governor of the Company, and
on the other, very closely, with Sir Henry Barnard, an influential
Turkey Merchant whose daughter he had married. To these merits
Chandos had just added by taking his freedom of the Company.
Thus amply supported, he made no secret of his hopes to get the
appointment; and the event showed that he was right. In the ballot
mentioned, he was chosen by 72 voices as against the 55 given for
Sir Thomas Thynne. There was some little doubt whether the King
would confirm the choice, for Chandos was one of the “petitioning
lords”--that is, one of the band of politicians who at that time
of extreme party virulence were bitterly hated by the Court and
its adherents for ventilating their views in the form of petitions
addressed to the Crown: a hate which they repaid with generous
interest, the nation being, in fact, divided into “Petitioners”
and their “Abhorrers,” epithets equivalent to those of “Whig” and
“Tory” that were just coming into fashion. Although the King could
not punish these importunate patriots, he was not obliged to show
them any preference. But, in truth, the very argument used to
the disadvantage of Chandos was a very strong one in his favour.
Charles at that particular moment had every reason to conciliate
the popular party. He therefore magnanimously forgave Chandos
his little indiscretion, and before the end of the year 1680 the
Letters which accredited “Our Right Trusty and well belov’d James
Lord Chandos, Baron of Sudely and one of the Peeres of this Our
Kingdome of England” to the Porte, were signed at Whitehall.[269]
Meanwhile Sir John at Constantinople had enough to keep him busy.
Two days had hardly elapsed since the adjournment of the case,
when he received from Kara Mustafa’s Kehayah a request not to
write to his king, as the Pasha of Tunis would appear against
him no more--the Grand Vizir had freed him wholly from that
suit--wherefore he expected a present commensurate with the service
rendered. This was, of course, the logical sequel to the grant of
time. Kara Mustafa in putting forward his demand was simply asking,
in perfect good faith, for the fulfilment of what he imagined
to be a tacit understanding. Sir John, as we have seen, had
neither understood himself nor had he asked some more experienced
Englishman to enlighten him. So he also in perfect good faith
answered that, as to not writing, he could not oblige the Vizir,
having already done so. As to his being wholly freed, he could
not think himself clear of the Pasha’s pretensions until he had
a formal sentence given in his favour, and a copy of it delivered
to him. Had that been done, the Grand Vizir would not have found
him wanting in due acknowledgments, but, as things stood, he was
far from having any such security. Although he had appealed to the
Capitulations, and to the Pasha’s own acquittances, he had been
overruled on every point; nay, indeed, he had not heard one word in
his favour except from the Cadilesker, who had rejected the Pasha’s
witnesses. In the circumstances, he was “out of all capacity of
answering the Visir’s expectation.”
The Kehayah, shocked at the Giaour’s perfidy, sent him word
that he would make him, some way or other, pay the sum demanded
thrice over, and drove his Dragomans out of the room with the
coarsest abuse, calling them “infidels” and “dogs.” The wretched
Interpreters fled in dread of being drubbed. Sir John’s feelings on
hearing of this--who could paint them better than he?
In great amazement, the Ambassador sat down to give an exhaustive
account of what had happened to both Secretaries of State at once,
so that, if the Earl of Sunderland should be too preoccupied,
he might at least secure the attention of Sir Leoline Jenkins.
To Sunderland he writes: “My Lord, affayrs in this Court are
incredible, indicible, nay really inconceivable. What is true
to-day, is not true to-morrow. No promise is strong enough to bind.
No reasons, be they never so cogent, powerfull enough to perswade.
Impetuous passion, accompanyd’ with avarice, over rules all Laws
and Capitulations....”[270]
The letter to Jenkins is even more pregnant with comments which
depict the writer’s mental condition: “This is the State of things.
I pray Acquaint his Majesty with it, that the Ambassadour here may
be sure not to want Positive Orders and Directions, how to proceed
by the end of February; that being the uttmost Time limited by the
Visir. Nay Truly, The Violence of the Times here is such that I
know not whether they will have Patience with me till the 150 dayes
from the first of October are expired. For it may justly be feard,
That by the Turkish Violence offerd’ to my Person, and to the
Estates of the Kings Subjects under my Protection here, that I may
be compelld’ to doe that, which is abhorrent to the Trust reposd’
in me, and my own reason. I have twice in Person appeard’ before
this Visir in Publick Divan, a thing that no Publick Minister ever
yet durst doe under this Visir, though His Prince was attacqud’.
In these Appearances I may modestly say, I usd’ some resolution
even when the Visir expressd’ much anger: I gott from Him 150 dayes
respite, which I believe He now repents to have granted, thinking
that all Ministers will from this Precedent, make the like plea
when any demands are made upon them.”
He had written thus far when the Dragomans whom he had sent to
the Porte about the present, given in accordance with the usual
etiquette by all ambassadors at the Bairam, returned and told
him that the Kehayah had said curtly, They had no need of his
presents. If a Turk’s demand for bakshish was disturbing, his
refusal of bakshish was terrifying. It was an act which, as the
poor Ambassador added in his despatch, “every one that knows
Turky, knows how to interpret.” It meant the Seven Towers. At the
best that Ottoman Bastille was a miserable gaol, and even robust
ambassadors had been known to contract in it mortal diseases. Sir
John was anything but robust. The possibility that at any moment he
might find himself shut up in that hideous prison--his body wasting
away with sickness and his soul withering with hope of deliverance
deferred--was more than he could bear. He closed his despatch with
a heart-rending cry, which seems still to ring in the reader’s
ear across the gulf of the dead centuries: “God Almighty protect
me!”[271]
Shortly afterwards the Grand Signor left for Adrianople, followed
by the Grand Vizir and his Kehayah, whose parting words to Sir
John’s Dragoman were: “Let your Ambassador vaunt that he has
outwitted us.” Outwitted them! when? how? Incredible though it
will sound, Sir John even now has no inkling of the tragedy of
cross-purposes in which he has entangled himself: so utterly out of
touch, after seven years’ residence in Turkey, he remains not only
with the Turks and their ways, but also with his own countrymen.
Any factor at Galata could have solved the riddle for him; his
Dragomans likewise. But Sir John is too aloof to ask them for a
solution, and they do not volunteer one, because obviously they
think that he has, indeed, outwitted the Vizir. Thus, while the
world about him admires his astuteness, Sir John dolefully wonders
what the meaning of that cryptic utterance may be. “I am apt to
believe,” he repeats, “that the Visir was surprisd’ in granting me
5 moneths time; Upon second thoughts imagining that all Ministers
would, upon all demands, from this Precedent, recurr to the same
Expedient, which made the Kehaiah tell my Druggerman when he
parted, in anger, Let your Ambassadour vaunt that he has outwitted
us.” The more he thinks it over, the more probable does this
explanation appear to Sir John. But, however that may be, “these
things being thus, Wee are not to expect now (what I insinuated in
my first letter as possible) any prorogation of time, but rigorous
Proceeding. In the meantime how they will deal with Me or the
Merchants by their forgery’s and Avanias, God know’s; for the Visir
I fear sayes within Himselfe Who has resisted My Will? But at the
best if His Majesty’s Commands and Directions accompanyd’ with His
Letters to the Visir arrive not by the 27th of February next, The
Ambassadour here will be at a great losse.”[272]
Sir John casts about for some means of conjuring away the storm he
sees hanging over his head. At length an idea comes to him: those
Bairam presents--true, the Kehayah had rejected them once; but
what if we paid him the respect of sending them a day’s journey
after him, “accompanyd’ with the addition of a rare pendulum, an
excellent gold watch, and a long Perspective glasse”? Surely, such
an act of humility could not fail to soften even an unspeakable
Kehayah’s heart. But alas! the Kehayah is uncajoleable: he
dismisses both the olive branch and the dove that brought it with
contumely.
The days drag on, and the face of things remains as black as
ever. It is the beginning of November. A month ago Sir John,
buoyed up by his imaginary respite, was proud to feel that he had
“carry’d this case so high”--that he had made good his bit of
resolution--that he was the one mortal who had prevailed, if but
for a short season, against the fiend incarnate. But he does not
feel at all proud now. The disdainful silence of the Porte somehow
cows him more than the vehemence to which he had been subjected
before. He lives trembling at what this silence may portend.
Utterly mystified and profoundly alarmed, he sends one of his
Dragomans to the friendly Hussein Aga “to penetrate into the sense
of the Court.” The Customer, being the last man who took leave of
the Kehayah, would probably know what dark designs lay behind that
cryptic utterance. The Dragoman returned just as Sir John finished
his report. We have the result in a Postscript. Before the emissary
opened his mouth, Hussein of his own accord said that he had
twice spoken to the Kehayah, telling him that the King of England
had suspended commerce with Turkey (he had the news from the
Hollanders) and that now he might as well throw up his office and
shut up the Custom-House, as the English were the only people who
brought any considerable profit to it. That, he said, had made the
Kehayah pause, but had not elicited one word. Next day, he added,
he told the Kislar Aga, or Chief of the Black Eunuchs, the same
thing. He concluded by sending Finch a message to the effect that
he did well to keep up his resolution, for “things at last would
end well.”[273]
The Customer’s information was correct: the Levant Company
had decided at a General Court to suspend commerce with
Constantinople and Smyrna temporarily, in order to “take from
before the Turks those baits and occasion of temptations which
the vastness of our trade hath of late years administered.” This
resolution they submitted to the King and his Privy Council, for
approval, justifying it by a minute account of “the many grievous
oppressions” which the English merchants and Ambassador “of late
years have sustained and at present labour under in Turkey, by the
corruption of the Vizir Azem and other Turkish officers.”[274]
It was a measure which several times in the past, at periods of
similar stress, had been proposed as the only remedy for Turkish
greed. But it had never yet been tried, with the result that the
Turks, arguing that either the trade was lucrative enough to bear
any amount of squeezing or that the English could not subsist
without it (in the words of a Cromwellian Consul, “that if they
should bore out our eyes to-day, yet we would return to trade with
them again to-morrow”), set no limit to their rapacity.
It remained to be seen whether the remedy would prove efficacious
now. Certainly the impression which the news of the strike
had made on the Kehayah, “if true,” was encouraging. Also the
Customer’s friendly message was comforting. These things revived
Sir John’s drooping spirits somewhat. But they did not quite
exorcise the anxiety that was gnawing at his heart. At no time
since the Grand Vizir first declared war on him had the hope of
peace seemed more remote. The only consolation Sir John had in his
affliction was the knowledge that he was not the only sufferer.
All his colleagues were in the same ticklish condition. The Dutch
Minister’s difficulties have been described. The Bailo of Venice,
notwithstanding the vast sums Kara Mustafa had already wrung from
him, was faced with a fresh claim on his purse. The Resident of
Genoa likewise groaned under another “avania.” Only the French
Ambassador seemed exempt: though, after a full twelvemonth, he
still continued to refuse audience unless he had it on the Soffah,
nothing, “to all men’s astonishment,” had happened to him: yet
even his position was so precarious that he bitterly repented
having brought his lady and his daughter, an only child, with
him.[275] Sir John noted the troubles of his neighbours with all
the fortitude with which we note other people’s troubles; but, as
the days went by, he was less able to endure his own.
Thus matters stood till the end of November--when the situation
underwent a sudden change.
FOOTNOTES:
[259] See Appendix XV.
[260] Finch to Jenkins, Sept. 24, 1680, _S.P. Turkey_, 19.
[261] The Same to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12, 1680; _Life of Dudley
North_, p. 95.
[262] Finch to Jenkins, Sept. 29.
[263] The Same to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12.
[264] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 97.
[265] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12.
[266] _Register_ (_S.P. Levant Company_, 145), p. 71; _Hist. MSS.
Com. Seventh Report_, pp. 475, 478.
[267] “To the King’s most Excellent Majestie: The humble petition
of Paul Ricaut late Consul of Smyrna,” _S.P. Turkey_, 19.
[268] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 114.
[269] _Register_, pp. 95 foll.
[270] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 8-18.
[271] The Same to Jenkins, Oct. 8-18.
[272] The Same to Sunderland, Nov. 6-16.
[273] _Ibid._
[274] _Register_, pp. 73-81.
[275] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 8-18, Nov. 6-16.