Part 46

All the efforts employed this year against the Persians, as we have seen, ended in disappointment, disgrace, and loss. The failure of the vast army conducted by Mohammed Páshá against a place of such little importance as Reván, being only a fortress of clay, and the great expense which this expedition had occasioned, created a tremendous stir at Constantinople. The emperor was no sooner informed of the disasters which his army had experienced, and of the utter failure of the expedition, which were wholly to be attributed to the want of proper skill in the commander-in-chief, his own son-in-law, Mohammed Páshá, than his mind was much hurt, and he immediately determined on deposing him. With this view, and in this state of mind, he assembled the mufti and all his ministers in the imperial gardens, in order to consult them on the state of public affairs. Etmekjí Zádeh, who, it will be remembered, had succeeded Gúrjí Mohammed Páshá in the deputyship of Constantinople, became exalted in his own imagination at the chance, as he thought, of his succeeding Mohammed Páshá in all his offices. In the pride and vanity of his heart he proceeded to the place of deliberation. Before he reached it, however, the reverend mufti had an interview with his majesty, who informed him of the purpose he had formed of conferring the high and important offices of grand vezír and commander-in-chief of the army on one of his vezírs, and asked him to tell him who he thought was worthy of being raised to these high dignities. The mufti replied, “That as Etmekjí Zádeh filled the office of deputy of Constantinople, the honour might, perhaps, belong to him.” “That may be true,” said his majesty in return; “but he has been sometimes guilty of falsehood, and such a person is not fit to hold the premiership.” The reverend prelate approved of the sentiments expressed by his majesty, and then added, “that Etmekjí Zádeh was not only a liar, but also a wicked tyrant.” “Mention, then,” said his majesty, “some other one.” The reverend prelate without any hesitation recommended Khalíl Páshá, “an officer,” he said, “who, as he knew, had gained to himself, by his bravery and skill in the navy, signal honours, and was every way worthy as well as competent for holding the high offices now vacant.” “That,” said his majesty, “is the very man I have been thinking of.” The reverend prelate now took his leave of his royal master, and had scarcely gone out when Etmekjí Zádeh came in, to whom the emperor put the same question he had put to the mufti. “Please your majesty,” replied Etmekjí, “I am at your service, and am willing to sacrifice my life in the service of the crown.” The emperor was silent, and the other thinking this silence on the part of the emperor betokened his majesty’s selection of himself, he went out. Khalíl Páshá now entered, when his majesty saluted him by informing him that he was appointed grand vezír and commander-in-chief: “The seals shall be sent after you,” added the emperor. Khalíl kissed his majesty’s hand for the honours he had conferred on him, and returned to his own mansion: so did also the other vezírs, but none of them knew any thing of the appointment of Khalíl Páshá.

Etmekjí Zádeh, full of the idea of being raised to the premiership, as he vainly thought, got his table spread out and covered with all sorts of viands for his friends, and impatiently waited for the arrival of the seals, which he believed would be sent him. But he waited in vain: they were sent to Khalíl Páshá. This fact was soon announced to Etmekjí, even at the very time he was regaling himself with his friends, as before hinted, and which had such a paralyzing effect on the constitution of Etmekjí, that his hands refused to touch the food which stood before him. His friends were all struck with surprise: they wondered at the sudden change which had appeared in their host: they were silent and retired. This unexpected piece of information was first communicated by a messenger who came to call the Reïs effendí, one of Etmekjí Zádeh’s guests, desiring him to wait on the new minister.

Hasan Aghá, son-in-law to Mesli Aghá, ághá of the janissaries, who fell before Reván, was, though only a kúl ketkhodá, appointed to succeed his father-in-law; but this appointment not meeting with his majesty’s approbation, Hasan Aghá, bostánjí báshí, was appointed to the command of the janissaries, and was sent off to Erzerúm, where the janissaries then were.

_The Persian ambassador is imprisoned._

As soon as the sháh of Persia had learned that a mighty army was marching against his dominions, he sent off an ambassador, as before related, not with two years’ tribute of silk and presents, which he owed, but with one year’s only. On the arrival of the ambassador in the city of felicity (Constantinople), accommodations were afforded him, but the usual honours were denied. In fact, the monarch was so much enraged, that he afterwards sent him to the Seven Towers.

In the meantime the new grand vezír was busily employed in making preparations for renewing the war against Persia, and an imperial letter, with money for the journey, was sent to the khán of the Crimea, Ján Beg, calling upon him to join the royal camp with a Tátár army.

The disappointed Etmekjí Zádeh entered into wicked and treacherous designs against the new grand vezír. One of his creatures was brought before the diván for having murdered a servant who had belonged to the prime minister, for which he was instantly dispatched by order of the emperor. Etmekjí himself was notorious for his acts of corruption, and was therefore banished the seat of government.

The preparations for renewing the war being fully completed, the grand vezír and commander-in-chief, with his newly organized army, passed over to Scutari. Etmekjí Zádeh’s ambition was again awakened; he thought he should now be made káímakám of Constantinople, which office he lately held; but he was again disappointed, for the emperor had conferred that responsible situation on Súfí Mohammed Páshá, governor of Buda, who was instantly recalled and installed. Etmekjí Zádeh could bear his disappointments no longer, and overcome with grief he was taken ill. But we must, for a little, advert to some other events which claim our attention.

The governor of Kaniza, Ahmed Páshá, Ghraj-ban Gasper, who had been raised to the principality of the island of Naxia, and the hákim of Prague arrived in Constantinople with credentials from the emperor Mathias, requesting a conference with respect to the late treaty of peace. It would appear that before the treaty was finally settled the commandant of Buda, Alí Páshá, was removed from the frontiers, and Hasan Páshá was appointed in his stead; the latter, not knowing the advance which had been made towards laying a foundation for a solid peace, disturbed the tranquillity of the country in several instances, and committed some serious evils besides. However, he died, and Alí Páshá, at the establishment of the peace, being again re-appointed to the government of Buda, not only restored peace and good order, but also settled the boundaries of the villages belonging to both countries, and the payment of all dues, as they had been in the days of Soleimán. It was in reference to these and similar matters that the personages before-mentioned came to Constantinople, in order that they, along with Charizghal, the Austrian ambassador at the court of Constantinople, might be able to arrange matters in conformity to the articles of the peace.

_Iskander Páshá marches against the Cossacks._

The emperor having determined on rooting out the troublesome and factious Cossacks on the Black Sea, ordered his fleet to be in readiness, and commanded Iskander Páshá, governor of Bosnia, to conduct the Romeilian troops by land against them; but both the expeditions against the Cossacks did not proceed till after the new year. About this time the Transylvanian ambassador arrived, and informed the government of Turkey, that certain German princes who had committed violence and robbery on the borders of Transylvania, but who had been severely chastised, and obliged to retire in disgrace, were again threatening to invade that country with their collective force. The Osmánlí government, in order to maintain its guardianship over that country, and to awe the invaders, sent a number of troops towards its frontiers, and wrote for an explanation to the Austrian ambassador at the court of Constantinople. The ambassador replied, that his master was wholly ignorant of the fact. The Ottoman emperor was unwilling to enter into any hostile attitude, but found it requisite to support his allies; especially as one of the engagements entered into with the emperor of Austria was in favour of Transylvania. The emperor, therefore, in accordance with his own peculiar engagements with Transylvania, wrote to Iskander Páshá, who had been appointed to conduct the land expedition against the Cossacks, to take fifteen thousand of the troops, foot and horse, under his own command, conduct them in person, or give the command to some other fit officer, and oppose the threatened invasion of Transylvania. “You are by all means,” said the emperor in his letter, “to deliver out of their hands the fortress of Yanovah.”

In Petcheví’s narrative it is said that Dúmnah, the widow of Eremia (Jeremiah), the former voivoda of Moldavia, had great possessions in Poland, and that an infidel of the name of Korsákí, of the race of Russian and Polish nobles, was her son-in-law. This Korsákí, wishing to recover Moldavia for her youngest son, raised an army of twenty thousand native Russian vagabonds, and another of as many Poles, entered Moldavia, took possession of that province, and thrust out Stephan, whom the Osmánlí government had fixed there as voivoda of the country. To reinstate the ex-voivoda, Serkosh Ibrahím Páshá, governor of Silistria, the begs of Bender and Akkerman, and a Tátár army were instantly dispatched; but were completely defeated and routed in the very first engagement. At this time, Iskander Páshá, who had been removed from Agria, was employed in some service in Constantinople. The káímakám, Gúrjí Mohammed Páshá, appointed him governor of Bosnia; and afterwards sent him into Moldavia with the Bosnian, Serm, Semendrian, Alájahisár and Walehet troops. Ibrahím Páshá, with the Silistrian troops, was ordered to join Iskander’s camp. Iskander Páshá, having penetrated into Moldavia with his mighty force, met with the army of Dúmnah, headed by Korsákí, her son-in-law, near a village called Istaphanish, where a most sanguinary battle took place, but in which the Moslems were triumphant. The two sons of Dúmnah, and her son-in-law Korsákí, were made prisoners; and all the three, along with five hundred Cossacks who carried muskets, were sent bound in chains to Constantinople. So many living prisoners had not, in modern times, been presented before the royal diván.

Iskander Páshá, the conquering Iskander, was every where hailed as the deliverer of the country: he again placed the ex-voivoda Istaphan in his former government, and succeeded in restoring peace and good order. It is worthy of remark, before closing the events of this year, that the daughter of Dúmnah, the wife of Korsákí, a woman of extraordinary excellence, fell into the hands of a Tátár, and could no where be found. She was, however, afterwards ransomed for thirty thousand dollars, and was found pregnant by the Tátár, to whom she had borne two daughters; a circumstance which, for a time, was much talked of both in Poland and amongst the Moslems.

_The grand vezír and commander-in-chief goes to Diárbeker, where he winters.—Ján Beg Gheráí, the khán of Crimea, joins the royal camp._

On the 8th of Jemadi II. the grand vezír and commander-in-chief passed over with a splendid army to Scutari; but because of the great distance of the Persian frontiers he was ordered to winter at Diárbeker. On arriving in this city he was informed that his highness the khán of the Crimea, Ján Beg Gheráí, had left Kaffa with an army forty thousand strong, and that he was on his march to join the grand army. The commanding general, however, sent him word, that before joining the royal camp at Diárbeker he should ravage the frontier territories of Persia, _viz._ Gunjah, Nakhcheván, and Jelha; which he did, carrying off about a thousand captives, and as many cattle. On approaching the royal camp, the grand vezír and commander-in-chief went out to meet his highness the khán of the Crimea, and conducted him to his tent. After the table was removed, the grand vezír presented his highness the khán, in the name of the emperor, with a splendidly ornamented sword, a steed richly caparisoned, and five thousand pieces of gold, for the purpose of covering his expences in the war. His mirzás were also presented with robes of honour: the Osmánlí beglerbegs bowed and did obeisance in his presence, and then conducted him to his own camp. After a day or two the island of Ebn Omar, in the jurisdiction of Mír Sheríf Páshá, was assigned to him and his Tátár army for winter-quarters.

_A division is sent to protect Gúrjistán (Georgia) from the grasp of the heretics._

In the meantime the governor of Gúrili sent letters to the commanding general, informing him of the intention of the kizilbáshes of subduing the province of Gúrjistán (Georgia). The general, in order to afford protection to Gúrjistán, sent the beglerbeg of Batum, Omar Páshá, and his provincial troops; also Murteza Beg, beg of Childer, Sefer Páshá, and other chiefs of that nation; and the emírs of Gúrilí, of Dadyou, and of Askukbásh, with their respective provincial troops, to the aid of the Georgians. Moreover, the whole of the janissaries in Erzerúm and in Trebizond, with their respective officers, and the governors of Dághistán, were ordered to join the camp of Omar Páshá, to whom the chief command was committed.

_Iskander Páshá concludes a peace with the Cossacks._

Iskander Páshá, who had been appointed to chastise the Cossacks on the borders of the Black Sea, but who had been called away to support the Transylvanian kingdom against the aggressions of some German princes, now, accompanied by Betlan Gabor, and the voivadas of Valachia and Moldavia, with their respective armies, besides a division which he himself conducted from Buda, advanced so far as a palanka, called Búdila, on the banks of the Túrla (Tyras), which runs through Moldavia. The hettman of the Poles, and Istanislar Zulghosh, commander-in-chief and minister of Sigismund, king of Poland, with a Polish army, were posted at a place called Bazuja. As both armies were on the eve of commencing the work of death, ambassadors from both sides entered opportunely into a reciprocal conference with regard to the conduct of the Cossacks, and the result was: 1st, That the hettman became security for the Cossacks, that they should no more enter the Black Sea by the river Ouzi, and vex or molest the Moslem population residing on its shores. 2d, That they should never again invade the kingdoms of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Valachia. 3d, That they should never permit Hootaba Oghlí Shirnán, nor any other to pass through their territories with the view of disturbing the peace and tranquillity of any or all of these kingdoms or countries. He agreed, moreover, in the fourth place, that the gifts and presents usually sent to the khán should be punctually remitted as in former times. All these stipulations, which the hettman agreed to guarantee, were signed by himself and other responsible persons in his camp; were also written out in the Turkish and Polish languages, and a copy of them sent with his ambassador to the court of Constantinople. It was agreed by Iskander Páshá, on the part of the Tátárs, that they should not invade or molest the territories of Poland. These stipulations, on both sides, were ratified and signed on the 6th of Ramazán of this present year, when commercial intercourse was again opened between the countries included in this treaty.

This year the emperor of Austria sent his most favoured minister, the governor or kapúdán of the city of Prague, to Constantinople with his tribute of gifts and presents to the emperor of the Ottomans. The Austrian ambassador having been required to remain at Constantinople till the commissioners formerly mentioned had come to an amicable conclusion with respect to the affairs which had called them together, did so, until he was required by letters to repair to the borders, as affairs were on the eve of being settled. He accordingly set out for Buda, where the commissioners then were, and, after every thing was finally settled, he was permitted to return to his own country.

_Concerning the naval affairs of this year._

The lord high-admiral, Alí Páshá, with the view of distressing the infidel coasts, sailed for the Mediterranean with the Turkish fleet. He foolishly neglected, before going to sea, to condemn such of his ships as were not sea-worthy; and, as if he had been educated for the naval service, he set sail of his own accord. On the evening of the 20th of Shabán, as he reached the wide and extended ocean, a tremendous hurricane arose which soon forced the vessels of the fleet to separate from each other. On the following morning, the hurricane still continuing, he perceived this to have been the case: four ships, containing ammunition and arms, two galleys having janissaries on board, besides five other vessels, were wrecked, and every soul on board of them perished. Two large vessels and one galley were driven by the winds to the coasts of Tripoli West, but were not injured. The galley which had a company of troops on board, for seven days and as many nights was driven at the mercy of the tempest. Soídán Oghlí, who at this time was beg of Tripoli, supplied these vessels with every thing that they required, and sent them back. After a period of twenty-days the remaining part of the scattered fleet collected round the kapúdán, at Corone, when it was discovered that eleven vessels had perished. The time for sailing being now over, the fleet returned to the port of Constantinople in the month of Dhu’l Kaddah.

_Death of Sultán Ahmed Khán.—Sultán Mustafa Khán is inaugurated._

The disease of the stomach, by which his majesty had been afflicted, became, during the first ten days of the month of Dhu’l Kaddah, so much increased as entirely to resist the skill of the physicians; and on Thursday night (_i.e._ the night preceding Thursday), the 23d of Dhu’l Kaddah (November 17th, 1617), he passed into the eternal world.

In consequence of the tender age of the heir-apparent, his uncle, Sultán Mustafa, in conformity to his deceased brother’s own choice and agreement, succeeded to the throne of the Ottoman empire. Before the hour of morning prayers, therefore, the káímakám or deputy of Constantinople, Mohammed Páshá, the reverend mufti, Isaád Effendí, and the other nobles and grandees of the state, assembling together in the royal diván, prepared a chair of state; and on Thursday the 12th of Teshrín Sání (November), Sultán Mustafa ascended the throne of the khalifat, and was solemnly inaugurated by the assembled nobles and grandees; heralds being sent to proclaim the same in the royal mosques. On the same day, the remains of Sultán Ahmed Khán were carried out into the court of the palace, whence, after the metropolitan priest had performed the funeral obsequies, they were borne to the place of interment, accompanied by all the vezírs and grandees, walking on foot and dressed in mourning.

_Character of Sultán Ahmed Khán._

The pious royal defunct was a prince who, discarding envy, was the protector and encourager of the learned and the lovers of concord. He was the friend and support of the neglected, infirm, and poor, who were obedient to the laws, and of those who rooted out wickedness and heresy. He ascended the throne of his illustrious progenitors when he was only fourteen, and reigned fourteen years. His gracious but powerful firmáns were some of the benefits he conferred, and his reign is embalmed in the pages of poetry as the most prosperous. He was a zealous and active emperor, who incessantly manifested his good disposition.

It is related by Shábán Deddán, who had performed the office of washing the emperor, that he had perceived in the emperor’s beard two white hairs, which he (the emperor) during his life time would not allow to be extracted. “When with astonishment, and desirous of information, I showed them to his nearest relatives,” says Deddán, “they informed me, that these two hairs began to appear after the commander-in-chief had been sent against the Persians.” He was a prince who was kind to persons of every class, whose conduct deserved to be esteemed. In short, religion prospered during his reign. The benefits he conferred on Medina and Mecca exceeded those of all his predecessors. He purchased the two palaces in the At Meidán, belonging to Ahmed Páshá and Mohammed Páshá, on the area of which he caused a splendid temple to be built, which has not its equal on the face of the earth. In the galleries, on the tops of its six minarets, are shown the number of the Osmánlí Sultáns who have reigned; and from which also the Moslem muezzíns (public criers) proclaim the joys of paradise. Its lamps are all suspended: some of them are covered over with gold, and others are ornamented with gems. Both within and without, the utmost skill of the artist has been expended. This unequalled temple is very lofty. Some of the beautiful buildings which surround it are also memorials of the royal founder.

_Concerning Sultán Ahmed Khán’s sons._

Sultán Mustafa Khán, the paternal uncle of the heir-apparent, Sultán Osmán Khán, who afterwards fell a martyr in a tumult of the people, mounted the Ottoman throne. The mother of Osmán was a noble and august lady, and the principal concubine of his father. The royal offspring, Sultán Mohammed, when preparing for the northern wars, was, through the perfidy of Osmán, murdered. Sultán Murád Khán, the conqueror of Baghdád, another of the royal princes, became sáhibkirán (emperor). His august mother, called the Moon-faced, was a favourite of Ahmed his father. Sultán Báyazíd was born three months later than Murád, and died a martyr. Sultán Soleimán shared the same fate with Báyazíd, and in the same year. Sultán Kásim was as successful in arms as Murád had been. His mother was also a favourite of the deceased emperor. Ibrahím became emperor, as we shall afterwards see. His mother, like those already mentioned, was a favourite of Ahmed.

_Vezírs who were contemporary with Sultán Ahmed Khán._