A LULL IN THE STORM
“God be praisd’ that I can once write your Lordship Good Newes out
of Turky: the Kehaiah of the Gran Visir is cut off!”--with these
words Sir John Finch began his next despatch; and then went on to
describe “the occasion of the fall of this Tyrant and worst of Men”
as follows.
Whilst hunting in the Thracian plain, the Grand Signor had learnt
that at Constantinople, despite his edicts against drunkenness,
_boza_--a fermented liquor made from millet-seed--was openly sold!
In a transport of prohibitionist frenzy, the Sultan ordered all
the _boza_-vessels to be smashed. Whereupon the _boza_-sellers
submitted to His Majesty a protest: They had not only paid to
the Vizir’s Kehayah 70 purses for their license, but also bound
themselves to pay a similar sum every six months; further, the
Kehayah had created a Head for their Guild and vested him with one
of the Grand Signor’s _kaftans_: was it just, after such a solemn
and costly recognition of their trade, that they should have their
vessels smashed? When the Hunter heard this, his rage knew no
bounds. It was then for this--to enrich a miserable Kehayah--that
he had deprived himself of the 400 purses per annum which the
wine-tax yielded him! Let his head fly off--and straightway the
Kehayah’s head flew off.
Truly a fine piece of work; no finer done in Turkey for many a
year; and the fruits of it manifold, immediate and remote, tangible
and otherwise. Take this, for a beginning: “His Hoggera’s and
Houses Seald’ Up, and His whole Estate confiscated to the Gran
Signor. As yett they have onely opend’ one Hoggera, where they
found in ready mony 700 Purses, and 500 Purses in rich Persian
furniture: They goe on dayly opening the rest, and at last They
intend to open His Mansion House. The expectation is of finding
No lesse then 3,000 Purses in all; from which hopes if they fall
or find any clancular Imbezzlements, they have in hold His two
Treasurers, Him of Adrianople, and the other of this Place, who
will be forcd’ by Torture to confesse all.” This is the sum-total:
three thousand purses (or a million and a half dollars) amassed
in three years! Lost in as few minutes! No people in the world
ever were more greedy of wealth than Turkish pashas--or less
certain of its enjoyment. But on these aspects of the work--the
economic and the moral--Sir John is silent: he feels, perchance,
that little which is new can be said of the one, and little which
is helpful of the other. Instead, he gives us a glimpse into the
fiend incarnate’s invisible world, which so long submissive had
thus suddenly risen in revolt. Let us, for Sir John’s sake, and to
illustrate the situation, quote:
“The Visir was extreamly Jealous of two Great Men about the Gran
Signor: Soliman, Kehaiah to the former Visir and Master of the
Horse at present to the Gran Signor, was one; and the Kisler Aga,
the Black Eunuch, was the other. The former, the Visir endeavourd’
to have removed by preferring Him to great Bassalikes. Against the
latter He had workd’ so farr, that He had separated Him from the
Gran Signor and the Queen Regent in this present removall of the
Court, under pretence of giving Him the Honour of conducting the
Queen Mother to Adrianople. But the Kisler Aga was not without a
true friend, the Gran Signor’s Secretary, who had Confidence and
Witt, and He took upon Him to acquaint the Emperour, that there
were dayly Quarrells amongst His Women and that till the Kisler Aga
returnd’, things would never be in good Order. Hereupon the Gran
Signor gives order for His returne and He came doubly armd’, First
with Presents to the Gran Signor of the value of Seventy Purses
to regain His favour; for which the Emperour said to Him, Thou
art now Twice My Sonne; then in the Second Place, He caused Seven
Men to appear with an Arrs [Memorial] to the Gran Signor, wherein
was expressed’, That His Majesty having deprived Himselfe of 400
Purses Per Annum, which the Custome of Wines did yield Him, to the
End that the Mussulmen might not be drunk and kill each other,
that His Ministers had introducd’ and licensed the publick Selling
of Boza.” Hence that smashing of _boza_-vessels and flying off of
Kehayah-heads: followed, in the orthodox Turkish course, by sealing
up of dollar-crammed hoggeras and houses: a sequence as inevitable
as any ever planned by a Harem-bred brain.
Going deeper into this Oriental labyrinth of plots, stratagems,
and spoils, our Ambassador adds, though as a thing “which I cannot
averr for certain,” that secret information of the Imperial
rage had been conveyed in advance to the Vizir by one of his
creatures, and that Kara Mustafa, to exonerate himself and to
prevent awkward revelations, hastened, before the fatal command
arrived, to give a striking demonstration of his public spirit by
cutting off his Kehayah’s head and sending it to the Grand Signor.
Probable enough! Not the least use of the delegation of powers in
which the Ottoman polity delighted was to provide a superior with
a handy scape-goat--some one upon whom, on emergency, he could
shift the responsibility and the odium. The Grand Signor had such
a convenient deputy in his Grand Vizir, the Grand Vizir in his
Kehayah, and so every other grandee. For the rest, this was not the
first time Kara Mustafa had saved his own head by offering up to
justice that of another.[276] “But be it as it will,”--what really
concerns us--“Dead He is, and a great Blow given by it to the Gran
Visir; and many thinke that now the Gran Signor hath once Tasted
of Blood that the Sword will not stop here: Nay further the Gran
Signor Himselfe hath placd’ a New Kehaiah about the Visir who was
an Officer of the last Visir and had the reputation of a Man of
great Integrity; and when the Gran Signor conferrd’ the Charge upon
Him, He told Him, Look you to it that things of this Nature doe not
passe, else Your Head shall answer for it as Your Predecessours
has done. All Men from this one Action expect a great change of
Affayrs so that what were judgd’ Impossibility’s before become
Now possibility’s, and possibility’s become Now Probability’s in
effecting any thing. The French Ambassadour may Now at last in all
likelyhood obtain His Audience upon the Saffà, and Our Affayrs Now
give Us also a better prospect.” The age of thunder has gone--the
lightnings of Kara Mustafa are extinguished for ever! Never,
never more shall we tremble at thoughts of the Seven Towers. The
spirit of servitude is dead: hail to Freedom, the nurse of manly
sentiment, of that sensibility to “puntiglios,” which feels a
slight like a wound. The King my Master’s honour will once again
become a reality, instead of a mockery. All this, and much more of
the same exalted nature, we may credibly suppose, radiated through
Sir John’s mind, as he concluded: “I hope Your Lordship will Every
Day hear better Newes and that My Successour will find as great a
Calme as I have done a Storm.”[277]
In all this one thing stands conspicuous--not by its presence.
The opposition to Kara Mustafa in the Seraglio is led by our
“good friend” the late Vizir’s Kehayah, and by the Kislar Aga
who, as we have heard, had with that other good friend of ours,
the Customer, a pointed talk about our grievances on the very eve
of our great enemy’s fall. It is impossible to avoid the surmise
that our grievances and the consequent peril to the Grand Signor’s
revenue had contributed something towards the Imperial fire which
consumed the Kehayah. Yet in vain do we search our Ambassador’s
reports for any hint that he played the humblest part in bringing
about the happy conflagration; or for any indication that he
tried to feed it, once kindled by others. Some presents to the
“Queen Regent”--such as Elizabeth’s envoys knew so well how to
distribute--one imagines, would not have come amiss. Sir John has
here an excellent opportunity of reaching the Grand Signor behind
the Grand Vizir’s back; and Sir John does not even see, much less
stretch forth to seize it! Not to do, but to look on: commenting,
chorus-like, upon the wonderful ways of Providence, speculating
upon the benefits that may accrue to him from a situation he
has neither helped to create nor to consolidate--such is his
function in the drama of life. Does not here, in this monumental
inadequacy, properly lie the source of the maltreatments and all
the other “sinister Accidents” that befell us ever since that
thrice-unfortunate strategic retreat to our bed?
However, in his prognostications, at least, Sir John was not
wholly wrong. The fall of his Kehayah had a sobering effect upon
Kara Mustafa. It revealed to him the limits of his power and the
existence within the Seraglio of elements of danger hitherto
unsuspected. With such an example staring him in the face, it
was incumbent upon the Vizir to avoid all actions likely to
furnish those hostile elements with handles against him: such,
for instance, as the persecution of foreign Ministers. The result
was a holiday for the Diplomatic Corps. Their Excellencies took
advantage of the relief so miraculously vouchsafed them to renew
their petty squabbles. Sir John as usual was among the first in
the fray. The quarrel was with the representative of Holland: it
was, of course, about a point of honour. Let him relate it himself:
“According to the Custome sending my Druggerman to wish Him a
happy Christmasse (his Christmasse falling Ten dayes before Ours)
He Detaind’ Him above half an houre in Expectation of an Answer,
and at last His Secretary came out and askd’ my Druggerman what He
came for, who saying that He came to His Excellency from me to wish
Him Le buone Feste, the Secretary told Him That His Master being
now an Ambassadour could not receive a Druggerman but expected My
Secretary and so sent Him away, My Druggerman with a smile telling
Him, that He just then came from performing the same office to the
Holland Ambassadour’s Superiours, for indeed I had sent Him before
to the Ambassadour of Venice who receivd’ Him with respect, and
afterwards to the Ambassadour of France who was not inferiour in
his Civility’s. And really, My Lord, it hath bin a custome near
thirty yeares for the Ambassadours to send reciprocally to each
other upon this Ceremony their Druggermen, as my Druggermen under
their hands have attested to me.... The French Ambassadour is at
irreconcilable odds with him, for diverse other neglects He hath
receivd’ from this Holland Minister, and the Venetian Ambassadour
is no lesse sensible of the disrespects placd’ upon Him. As for
my own Part, I found in few dayes some way of expressing my
resentment, for some Holland Merchants comming to wish me a happy
Christmasse, I bid my Secretary thank them for their Civility, but
withall to tell them that my Character would not permitt me to
receive any that depended upon the Holland Ambassadour S. Justinus
Collyer, till he had made reparation for the publick disrespect
shown to my Character. In short the Truth is My Lord, that when
He was Resident onely, He would make himselfe equall to me in
challenging Visit for Visit: And now He is but half an Ambassadour
He would make Himselfe Superiour to Us all, in pretending that Wee
must send Him a Secretary; when Wee three are well satisfyd’ with
the sending of Our Druggermen to each other.”[278]
In this ridiculous way Sir John Finch began the new year--to such
account he turned the calm Providence had vouchsafed him. However,
the calm continued, and our Ambassador went on anticipating all
manner of blessings therefrom, even “it may be hopd’ that My Lord
Chandos is now also in some possibility of procuring reparation
for what is past.” Kara Mustafa did nothing to discourage such
anticipations. Quite the contrary. Here is an instance. Early in
February, Sir John, understanding from the letters which reached
the merchants that Lord Chandos was not likely to arrive, at
soonest, before the middle of March, and the time assigned by the
Vizir in the case of the Pasha of Tunis expiring at the end of
February, thought it necessary to despatch a Dragoman to Adrianople
with a letter for the Grand Vizir: “acquainting Him that the King
My Master, upon the account of the many Sinister Accidents that
befell Me in this Charge, had namd’ a New Ambassadour to succeed
Me, who was like to come fully instructed; Therefore I desird’ the
Visir that there might be no further proceeding in that Case till
the arrivall of my Successour. To which the Visir readily assented,
and that with some Ceremony also, patiently hearing my Druggerman.
It is the opinion of all Men, that the fury of this Great Storm is
blown over. So great and suddain a change does the taking away one
Kehaiah’s Head make in this Vast Empire.”[279]
When, towards the end of March, the Court returned to
Constantinople, Kara Mustafa still lay under this strange spell
of uncongenial geniality. Indeed, he was more genial than ever.
Sir John had another proof of his curious conversion: “For all
the Ministers here sending Him in their Presents at His return,
I was forcd’ to follow their Example, having more need of Him
then all the rest putt together; which, though it was but a small
one, He receivd’ with great kindnesse, presenting my Druggerman
Ten Dollars, though never before He had given Him a Penny.”[280]
Dollars instead of a drubbing: the Dragoman must have nearly
fainted. A change, indeed!
The subordinate officials, as always, took their cue from their
Chief. About a month later Sir John wrote to the Levant Company:
“I receivd’ two messages at different times from the Rais Affendi,
both to this effect: That I might rest quyett with a contented
Heart, in regard that the Bassà of Tunis should give Me No Trouble,
He having His beard in His Hand. A third passe was also made to Me,
which was, That the Rais Affendi seeing My Druggerman, calld’ to
Him and askd’ whether the Ambassadour of England had any occasion
of His service. Laying these things together I sent My Druggerman
with this message, That I was extreamly obligd’ to Him for His
Civilitys, and that reciprocally I desird’ to know wherein I could
any way’s testify my respects to Him; And as to that repeated
message sent Me, that neither I nor My Successour need to fear,
He having the Bassà of Tunis his beard in His Hand, I desird’ Him
more particularly to explain it to Me; I having still the power
in My Hand to gratify them that should doe me right, and revenge
My Cause, though I could, not treat about it. Upon this I receivd’
the following answer: That until the new Ambassadour was arrivd’
at Smyrna, He could not unfold and open Himselfe fully; but that
in the very moment I sent Him notice of my Successour’s arrivall
there, that He and I should adjust it here.
“What the meaning of this message was I did not then understand,
nor doe not as yett fully comprehend. Most certain it is that they
doe not yett fully believe that I have a Successour upon the way.
Neverthelesse I made this return to Him: In the first place, I
thankd’ Him for the Civill offices past in behalfe of My selfe and
My Successour; and that in case the same Powers rested in Me upon
the arrivall of my Successour which now I am invested withall,
that I should make use of His favour; but not knowing whether
His Majesty’s fresh Commands may wholely devest me from power of
acting, in case they did I should pray His Excuse, and begg from
Him the same acts of kindnesse towards My Successour.”[281]
But strong as was Sir John’s desire to believe in the permanence
of the change, it did not quite befool him. Notwithstanding these
promising appearances, he knew too well that, until the harbour was
reached, there could be no sleep with safety. He therefore kept a
vigilant eye on the horizon, ready to note every disquieting sign.
Such signs became visible before spring was far advanced. The Grand
Signor had been prevailed upon to send his Master of the Horse,
Kara Mustafa’s sworn enemy, away to Mecca--“to see that place
repayrd’.” From this and several other circumstances our Ambassador
deducts, with such sensations as may be imagined, that the Vizir,
“after the last violent shock, beginns to take firm root again.”
In proportion as he regains confidence, Kara Mustafa recovers his
natural amiability. Only, pending complete rehabilitation, he deems
it expedient to go slowly: where delay was necessary Kara Mustafa
could display the most indefatigable patience. Sir John by this
time has learnt to read the Vizir pretty accurately. Personally he
has nothing to complain of; but his colleagues have. In the past
every indication of differential treatment was for him a ground for
exultation, for self-glorification. He knows better now: “like a
Bear that hath bin freshly bated, I am left to some repose that I
might recover strength, whilst other Ministers are brought upon the
Theatre.” He proceeds to describe the performance. His reports are
coloured by prejudice; but it may well be asked whether reporters
of any kind ever have described, or could ever have been reasonably
expected to describe, much more than the ways in which facts
impinge on their own individual minds.
“As to the Holland Resident or Ambassadour, for as yet I know not
what to call Him, His Intrigues upon the score of his new sought
for Honour alwayes encreasing, and his Titles alwayes diminishing;
His Condition is this. By the last conveyance He receivd’ Letters
of Credence from the States His Masters to the Visir owning Him
for their Ambassadour; upon which He demands Audience of the
Visir, and Having obtaind’ it, He carryd’ with Him the Presents
of an Ambassadour, viz. 20 Vests, and 2 gold watches. The Visir
receives his Presents and bids the Rais Affendi or Chancellour
take his Papers; but tells Him that the G. Visir had no power
of constituting Ambassadours and that it was presumption in Him
to thinke He could, that the G. Signor must have his Letters of
Credence and Presents also, and that He must give a Talkish or
Memoriall to the Gran Signor of this Proceeding of the Dutch
Minister. So He was dismissd’ without so much as receiving One
Vest, or being perfumd’ which is the characteristicall distinction
of the reception of an Ambassadour from that of a Resident. The
World knows what this meanes, which is mony, and his Enemys say
(for I thinke He hath not one friend) that the Summe will amount
to 50,000 Dollars; but though mony will be the conclusion of it,
yet a farr lesse summe will doe the buisenesse.” From the tone of
this lively narrative it is plain that Sir John had not forgiven
Collyer the disrespect he had placed upon him at Christmas. On
the contrary, he had since had fresh causes for annoyance, some
of which he shared with the Dutchman’s other colleagues and some
were peculiar to himself. It appears that, at the audience just
mentioned, Collyer, before he sat down, kissed the Vizir’s vest,
and, moreover, instead of giving the Vizir the usual appellation
of Excellency, he bestowed upon him the title of Highness. For
these concessions “all the Ambassadours vehemently exclaim against
Him”--“And I have particular Reason to complain of Him for the
Visir asking Him, What Newes, He told Him that England was in
Civill Warrs and like to be ruind’; the Duke of Yorke being retired
into Scotland, whither His Most Christian Majesty had ordred a
Fleet in His assistance, but that the States His Masters had ordred
60 sayl of Men of Warr to helpe the Protestants of England against
His Royall Highnesse and the Roman Catholicks.”[282]
In view of these grievances, how could Sir John sympathise with the
Dutchman’s distress? No such animosity clouds his account of the
French Ambassador’s predicament.
M. de Guilleragues, after defying the Grand Vizir for eighteen
months, had resolved to force a decision--as he might have said,
_brusquer un dénouement_. Letters from his King had reached him
for the Grand Signor and the Grand Vizir. In these letters Louis
disavowed M. de Nointel’s surrender, demanded audience for his
Ambassador on the Soffah, declaring that he would not be satisfied
with less, and, in case of refusal, requested leave for him to
return home. Guilleragues informed Kara Mustafa through his
Dragoman of the arrival of these letters and said that, if the
Vizir would not give him audience on the Soffah, he would not
present them in person, but deliver them through his Secretary.
The Vizir answered that he could not grant the Soffah; and as to
the Secretary, he would not do the Grand Signor and His Majesty of
France the disrespect to receive Royal letters by other hands than
those of the Ambassador. This passage of arms had taken place in
March, while Kara Mustafa’s position was still shaken;[283] and
Guilleragues was so confident of victory that he put himself to the
expense of rigging out his attendants in new rich liveries, and
made many of his gentlemen provide costly clothes for the Audience.
But all his thrusts were skilfully parried by Kara Mustafa, who now
brought the duel to a halt by telling Guilleragues that, “If he
would have audience, he must receive it as the other Ministers had
done, or be gone.”[284] There was a deadlock.
The whole of Constantinople, from both banks of the Golden Horn,
watched this queer combat for a foot-high eminence with breathless
interest: Stambul gnashing its teeth at the Giaour’s unheard-of
impudence; Pera rejoicing, as openly as it dared, at his prowess.
For the Soffah was a symbol. To the Turks it typified their
superiority, to the Franks their abasement. Therefore all Franks,
irrespective of nationality, saw in M. de Guilleragues their
gallant champion. Like a paladin of olden times he stood forth as a
defender of Christendom and its dignity against the arrogant hosts
of Islam. In fighting for the Soffah, the Ambassador of France
fought the battle of Europe. The anxiety was universal; but no one
felt more anxious than Sir John Finch. To him the recrudescence
of Kara Mustafa’s obduracy was of ill augury for his own affairs:
“Methink’s,” he wrote with reference to the Pasha of Tunis case,
“the Visir should be enclind’ to something of Temper in this
Concern.”[285]
In the midst of these melodramatic doings, news came that Lord
Chandos had reached Smyrna in the _Oxford_. Immediately Finch sent
a special messenger to inform him of the Rais Effendi’s mysterious
overtures and to ask for guidance in the matter without delay. “The
noble Lord’s answer from thence was that he was hastening all he
could to communicate to me His Majesty’s Commands and the Company’s
Instructions, adding that he feard’ our latitude was not great
on the submissive part.”[286] On receipt of this reply, Sir John
notified the Rais Effendi that his successor was at Smyrna and that
he hourly expected him at Pera: the pulling of the Pasha’s beard
would have to be put off for a while. That and all other operations
henceforth passed out of his hands.
For the first time after many years Sir John felt able to breathe.
But patience to a man in a state of suspense is difficult. He
counted the days, the hours, he consulted the weather prophets: it
was the time of year when the Etesian winds setting N.E. rendered
navigation in that corner of the Mediterranean exceedingly slow.
The ship, faced by a thousand snares of sea and land, had to
struggle along the Asia Minor coast, continually tacking and taking
careful soundings, frequently casting and weighing anchor, and
casting it again--now before Mytilene, now before Tenedos, until
after a whole week’s voyage from Smyrna it reached Gallipoli--there
to meet the millrace of the Dardanelles. So fierce was the current
in that season and, owing to the tortuous nature of the channel, so
dangerous, that ships had to wait at the mouth of the Hellespont
for the wind to change before they could even enter the Straits.
Sometimes they had to wait so long that, it is said, in Byzantine
times, the corn which was transported from Egypt to Constantinople
rotted on board. Sir John could not wait: “I long for dispatch, all
delay being a just ground (if any can be so) of impatience.”[287]
The moment he heard that the _Oxford_ had arrived at Gallipoli,
he sent thither a brigantine with twenty oars and four boats to
expedite the last stage of Lord Chandos’s journey. His Lordship, no
less sensible of the need of dispatch, promptly left the _Oxford_
at Gallipoli and with a few servants performed the last 125 miles
in the brigantine, landing at Constantinople incognito on Friday,
July 22nd, “to my no small joy.”[288]
Of course, Sir John could not get away at once. The Pasha of
Tunis’s beard had to be pulled first. Until that operation was
over, he was practically a prisoner. But he relied on Lord Chandos
to release him from captivity.
The new Ambassador came armed with a double set of Letters of
Credence from the King, two addressed to the Grand Signor and two
to the Grand Vizir: the one set was couched in milder, the other
in sterner terms; and his instructions were to present the one or
the other, as he should think most suitable to the actual posture
of affairs and most likely to achieve the end in view--namely,
security for the present, guarantees for the future, and, if
possible, reparation for the past: all this had to be managed
with due regard to “the frowardness of the present Ministers and
the state of a fixed and Radicated Tyranny.” Courage tempered by
circumspection was the word. But a postscript to his Instructions,
dictated by the Levant Company, empowered the Ambassador, in
case “the Vizier doth persist in his great oppressions upon Our
Subjects,” to acquaint him (and the Grand Signor, too, if need be)
that he would only remain at the Porte until he should receive
final directions from home “how to dispose of Our Subjects and
their Trade for the future.”[289] This, translated into plain
language, amounted to a threat of a rupture of relations.
Long has the Majesty of England suffered insult and injury meekly.
But now it would seem meekness had reached its uttermost limit: an
august Monarch, a Most Honourable Privy Council--nay, a Company
of timorous traders itself--in their despair, had taken to a new
course: we were to make a solemn final remonstrance and appeal for
justice; failing which, we were to fling down the wet and worthless
piece of parchment at the Grand Signor’s feet, and depart shaking
the dust of his dominions off ours--or, perhaps, not to depart,
but to stay on under entirely new conditions: our ambassadors
unaffronted, our merchants going to market sure that they shall
come back unplundered? or, horrible thought! to fall once more
under the yoke, our remonstrances and veiled menaces alike
ending--in smoke?
FOOTNOTES:
[276] When Governor of Erzerum, he had by his oppression driven the
inhabitants to complain to the Sultan. Ahmed Kuprili shielded him
as a kinsman: so the fault was laid upon the Governor’s Kehayah,
who lost his head, while Kara Mustafa lost only his post. See Finch
to Coventry, inclosure in despatch of May 26, S.V. 1677, _Coventry
Papers_.
[277] Finch to Sunderland, Dec. 3-13, 1680, _S.P. Turkey_, 19.
[278] Finch to Sunderland, Jan. 1-11, 1680-81.
[279] The Same to the Same, Feb. 9-19, 1680-81.
[280] The Same to the Same, April 12-22, 1681.
[281] Finch to the Levant Company, May 9-19, 1681.
[282] Finch to Jenkins, May 10-20. The law of retaliation may be
pleaded in extenuation of Collyer’s garrulity; and, at any rate,
what he told the Vizir was the common talk of Europe. The actual
facts were as follows: Just then the Duke of York had “obtained
leave to retire to Scotland, under pretence still of quieting the
apprehensions of the English nation, but in reality with a view of
securing that Kingdom in his interests.”--Hume, vol. viii. p. 118.
[283] Finch to Sunderland, April 12-22.
[284] The Same to Jenkins, May 10-20.
[285] The Same to the Levant Company, May 9-19.
[286] The Same to Jenkins, July 25.
[287] The Same to Jenkins, July 25.
[288] _Ibid._
[289] “The Humble Addresse of the Company” “to the King’s most
Excelent Majestie and to the Lords of his most Honourable
Privy Councill,” dated Oct. 27, 1680, _Register_ (_S.P. Levant
Company_, 145), p. 81. The same Register contains the Company’s
and the King’s Instructions to Chandos, the latter dated Dec.
29; the former Jan. 28 (pp. 82-95); copies of the two sets of
Credentials, dated Dec. 29 (pp. 95-101); also a supplementary
letter from Charles to the Sultan, dated Jan. 24, (pp. 103-4)
dealing exclusively with the Pasha of Tunis affair, and demanding
“the said Pasha and his false witnesses to be brought to condigne
punishment.” In his sterner Letter of Credence, Charles desires
the Grand Signor “to make enquiry” into, “besides many other
insupportable greivances,” the taking away “of those Imperiall
Capitulations which are the onely security of their Trade” and “to
doe Justice upon all such as shall be found culpable therein.”