which was to continue for the space of ten years longer his Mother who was the first Sultana assisted with the Counsel of twelve Pashaws took upon her self the Regency and in the first place resolved to continue the War against the Venetians which Ibrahim intended to conclude having engaged himself far in a Treaty of Peace with the Bailo or Ambassadour which resided at the Port for that Republick Whilst these matters were transacting and preparations making to prosecute the War the malignant humours of the Empire began to ferment unto that degree as affected the Body Politick at first with unnatural heats which soon afterwards proceeded to a Feaver and then to a dangerous Convulsion The ill-affected Part was the Militia which is the heart and principal of the life of that Government For the Spahees and the Janisaries being the Horse and Foot entred into a desperate controversie The first judged it their Duty to revenge the Death of their Soveraign Sultan Ibrahim and in order thereunto demanded the Head of the Great Vizier as the Chief Authour and Contriver of the death of his Lord and Master The others being conscious to themselves of having by their Armes carried on the Conspiracy not only declared their resolutions to defend the Vizier but owned that what he had acted was by their order and at their request and instigation The Spahees being highly provoked with this declaration swelled with anger and malice against the Janisaries and both sides being equally proud and rich could not bear each others reproaches The Spahees being Men of Estates in Land looked on themselves as the Gentry and to have the greatest share in the concernment of the Empire The Janisaries living regularly in their Chambers or Martial Colledges looked on themselves as the better Souldiers and the more formidable Party and the truth is both of them were proceeded to that height of Command and Authority in Government that had they not been suppressed by the cruel hand and bloody disposition of Kuperlee as shall be more largely related hereafter this Empire was then in danger of falling into as many Divisions as there were at that time Pashaws or great Captains The cause hereof proceeded from the warlike disposition of Sultan Morat who being the most Martial Man of his Age preferred none but Men of great courage and such as had signalized their valour by undoubted proofs And such Men as these he loaded with honour and raised them to the highest and most eminent charges in the Government But Morat dying soon afterwards these Great Men had time to enrich themselves during the gentle and easie Reign of Sultan Ibrahim which being seconded by the Minority of this Young Sultan their pride knew no bounds either of Modesty towards their Commanders or Reverence towards their Sultan Hence it was that the Souldiery dividing so great a Sedition arose amongst them that at last they came to blows resolving to decide the controversie by the Sword But the Quarrels of Turks amongst themselves not being commonly of long durance the Care and Vigilance of the Magistrates prevented all open defiance in the Field but yet could not so pacifie their Animosities but that several Skirmishes or Rencounters passed between them in the Streets wherein the Spahees were always worsted and at length were forced to abandon the City scarce daring for some time to owne the name of Spahee within the Walls of Constantinople These disturbances gave the Venetians some hopes to accomodate their Peace with better advantage but the Reply to this Proposition was more fierce and positive than ever and so ill resented that the Bailo going from his Audience was on the 27th of April seized on and with all his Retinue clapped into Prison and Chains being sent to those Castles which are scituate on the Bosphorus in the middle way between Constantinople and the Black Sea But this furious severity by the intercession of other Christian Ministers continued not long before the Bailo received more gentle Treatment by the Sacrisice which the Turks made unto themselves of Grillo his Interpreter who being called down from the presence of the Bailo was immediately by two Officers strangled and his Body thrown out at the Window of the Castle the which act though it may seem unjust and barbarous to us hath yet been frequently practised amongst the Turks being to this day their common use to threaten the Druggermen or Interpreters which is the cause that they often mince or wholly alter the sense or meaning of their Masters on those occasions when words are spoken by them ungrateful to the Turks The Turks bearing this disdain to the Venetians laboured to re-enforce their Armies in Candia and supply them with Ammunition and Provisions and though the Venetians lay before the Mouth of the Dardanelles to intercept all succours which might be carried thither yet the Turks notwithstanding their Divisions having recruited their Fleet with forty Gallies and ten Great Ships broke through the Venetians and in despight of them convoyed five Gallies laden with Souldiers and Ammunition and landed them safe at Canea and about the same time six Gallies and ten Ships of Barbary entered into the Port of Suda The General which commanded in chief was named Chusaein Pasha a Person of great courage and experience he had for some time besieged the City of Candia but for want of Men and Ammunition was forced to rise from that place and retire to Canea and Retimo whilst in the mean time the Candiots received recruits of Men and supply of Provisions improving their leisure time to fortifie their Town with such works as rendred it almost impregnable and made it become the Wonder and Discourse of the World after some years succeeding Nor was the War only carried on in Candia but also in Dalmatia Morea Bosna and Albania For Foscolo the General of Venice designing to force some Corn from the Parts of Castel-nuovo he landed some Men there but was so ill received by the Turks that he was forced to retreat unto his Vessels with great disorder and no less dishonour But he had better fortune in the Parts of Bosna where he repulsed the Enemy to the very Gates of Sarsay the Capital City of that Province and took upon composition the Fortress of Risano which is scituate between Cataro and Castel-nuovo but at length the Turks receiving an additional aid of fifteen or sixteen thousand men the Venetians were forced to quit their new Conquests and retire into their own Country During the time that these Affairs were in agitation the young Emperour was proclaimed and his Inauguration celebrated with the usual Ceremonies but with rejoycings and hopes extraordinary who being yet scarcely arrived to eight years of Age many mutinies and troubles arose in divers Parts of the Empire as in Damascus Syria Anatolia and other Countries where the Pashaws refused to pay in the customary Taxes and Tribute declaring that they would keep the money in their hands during
encounter with the more favourable terms and advantage at the Port. Notwithstanding which offices of kindness Dervis Bei without farther loss of time passed up to Constantinople bringing his Gally in without Lantern shot thorough ill treated and shattered feigning himself also to be wounded related that he had lost forty four Levents and seventy seven Slaves which were killed and that all the Haratch or Tribute-money which was collected for the Grand Signiors service from the several Islands was robbed and embezled by these Candiots His complaints were aggravated by many circumstances and being assisted with the clamours of other Beys or Captains of Gallies the noise and dispute was exceeding high in the Divan urging that the Venetians were obliged to make good a loss which they had caused rather out of malice than mistake At that time Georgio Giustiniano resided at Constantinople for the most Serene Republick who to oppose the high clamours of these Complainants shewed courage and accompanied his answers with prudence and resolution which are often very convincing in the Turkish Court They alledged that the Peace was broken he answered That it would not be the first time and that they ought not to yield entire credit to the relation of persons passionate and partial in their own cause that such accidents as these were as ordinary and common in the World as cold and heat as fair and foul weather and that so soon as the errour was discovered and the Gally known not to belong to Barbary but to the Grand Signior it was punctually and entirely restored with all the excuses imaginable In short this business which had so bad an aspect at the first by the dexterity of this Minister and giving something to Dervis Bei whereby to stop his mouth the complaint ceased and all farther proceedings were superseded The Wars in Persia being unsuccessful it was proposed in Council that a Peace should be made if possible with Abassa Pasha that his demands whatsoever they were should be granted and promises given him of Honours and Preferment but the inveterate enmity and hate which the Janisaries bore him and the difficulty there was to perswade Abassa that the overtures made him were free and candid and not mixed with treachery and design were obstructions not to be obviated or overcome Wherefore Abassa keeping mutual Intelligence with the Persians and receiving assistance and succours from them was become very formidable and strong and the Town of Erzirum well fortified with Works and a numerous Garrison Howsoever the Janisaries his mortal Enemies pressing the Vizier to proceed against him at length obliged him to besiege the place which having done and closely begirt it the most forward and brave amongst the Janisaries were the first to scale the Walls but were repulsed by the valour of stout and resolute Souldiers for they knowing that there was no other safety but in their Arms and no other mercy than an ignominious death being the just reward of their Rebellion refused to give or to receive quarter wherefore they made frequent Sallies on the Enemy and as many Janisaries of them as they took Prisoners they immediately hanged about the Walls as a spectacle of horrour to their Associates This resolution and cruelty deterred the Turks from their frequent assaults and storms made upon the Town and the many Batteries and Fortifications rendred the place almost impregnable so that there seemed no other hopes to remajn but to overcome them by a long Siege and Famine but Abassa had so well provided against this danger with such plenty of provisions that the Turkish Army began to be more straitned for want of sustenance than the besieged so that becoming weary and discouraged amidst so many difficulties they raised the Siege with such disorder and haste that they left several Pieces of Cannon behind them and retiring with some confusion were charged in the Rear so that many Janisaries fell a Sacrisice to the hate and revenge of the Enemy The News of this success coming to Constantinople was ill received but the disaster thereof according to the usual custom was attributed to the Vizier who was General for which cause he was deprived of his Office and the Selictar Aga who carries the Sword before the Grand Signior was put into his place a person of a fierce bloody and cruel disposition To these new troubles were added out of Tartary For Mahomet the King of that Country exalted to the Princely Dignity as we have already declared by the favour and Election of that People though contrary to the sense and pleasure of the Port was now fallen from the good esteem which they conceived for him because he gave some hinderance to their usual Incursions on the Polonians and Cosacks out of memory and gratitude to the assistance they had contributed towards his Election for which reason being as it were famished for want of their usual depredations they refused to obey his Commands and then openly threw off their Obedience to him as their Prince The Turks who always envied this Dignity to Mahomet rejoyced to see this discord between him and his People and therefore thought it time to make use of this occasion to re-instate Gherey the elder Brother into the possession of his Kingdom whom the Turks for his better security having placed at Rhodes the usual Retirement of the Tartarian Princes dispatched a Squadron of Gallies to fetch him from thence to Constantinople where being arrived he was received with a magnificent and Princely Entertainment by the Sultan that so the Fame thereof forerunning his arrival in Tartary the people might be better prepared to concur with the Port in their acceptance of him for their King He was afterwards conducted to Caffa the Grand Signiors Town in Tartary with a strong Fleet of fifty Gallies where at his first landing he was received by Cant-Emir a rich and powerful Tartar and Chief of the Turkish Faction and by many others with great honour and solemnity with whom also a considerable Party most willingly engaged But the Cosacks of Poland and Circassians friends to Mahomet the Brother joyning their Troops to his Forces became too strong for the Turks for giving them Battle near the Inclosures of the Danube at a place called Bandet they defeated them and killed three or four thousand of their men putting all to Fire and Sword round about and entring on the Seas with their Fleet of Boats took five of the Turkish Gallies with which ill success the Tartars which took part with Cant-Emir being discouraged abandoned their Colours and fled so that Cant-Emir was forced to take Sanctuary in Caffa which being a Town belonging to the Grand Signior it was hoped that the reverence they owed to that Name would cause them to refrain all violence thereunto But the Tartars provoked by this late effusion of blood lost all respect to that Government so that besieging the Town they assaulted and took it and therein the
Claudiopolis Somoswar Sechilhid Clewar aliàs Coloswar and Betlem with some other Towns and Fortresses The Turks on the other side under the Command of Ali Pasha penetrate into the very Center of Transilvania and conceiving a jealousie of War from the passages before mentioned lost no time to take their advantages so that the Pasha of Varadin not contenting himself with that Country and limits formerly prescribed for maintenance of his Fortress adjoined to his Jurisdiction what Villages and Towns he thought fit whilst the poor Prince Michael Apafi though made by the Turks durst not lift a hand or interpose the least Obstacle or Impediment to his quiet progress or peaceable possession which so harrassed the people of the Country and wrought that misery and destruction therein that the Prince deprived of his power in Government and disabled by oppression to pay his Annual Tribute had no hopes of redress but from the assistance of Divine Providence governing the hearts of Christians and Turks to compassionate the misery of his Country Wherefore he craved the assistance of the Emperour and of the King of Poland acquainting other Christian Princes more remote of the sad estate of the Christian Cause He sent also his Ambassadours to the Port with most submissive Letters to the Vizier complaining against the Pasha of Varadin and craving his Commands for retirement of his Army within their due and ancient bounds Letters were also directed to the Publick Representatives of Christian Princes residing at Constantinople one of which was directed to the Earl of Winchelsea his Majesties Ambassadour which being that which may conduce to the more full understanding of the present deplorable Condition of Transilvania I thought fit to be here mentioned Excellentissime Domine Amice observandlssime AFflictiones Regni Transilvaniae quibus per complures annos justo Dei Judicio castigatur toti Orbi Christiano manifestae sunt nec possumus non fateri inter duos Potentissimos Monarchas adeò indies hoc Regnum coangustari ut nisi extraordinariâ Dei clementiâ aliquod subsequatur levamen vix immo ne vix quidem din duraturum credamus Sed ut adrem proximiùs collimemus Potentissimus Imperator per Legatos Regni nostros nunc reduces Clementissimum suum patrocinium pollicetur interim autem Passa Varadinensis non contentus Villis ac Pagis ad dictam Arcem pertinentibus usque ad meditullium planè Transilvaniae metu Mortis integras ad deditionem cogit Regiones quae nunquam eidem Arci applicatae fuerant nee possibile est Principatum Transilvaniae iis ademptis ulterius persistere Tributúmque annuum persolvere posse Qua de re tam Potentissimum Imperatorem quam Supremum Vezirium denuò requirere cogimur vestram quocirca Excellentissimam Dominationem confidenter rogamus eo quo convenientius putaverit modo continuò nostro Oratori opitulari eáque quâ pollet Authoritate Causam promovere ne gravetur rem non saltem Transilvaniae verùm quoque Christianitati perutilem factura nósque ad vincula amicitiae arctissimè devinctura cui felicem vitam precamur manemus indubitati Datum in Castris ad Pagum Koczard positis die 26 Septembris An. Dom. 1662. Excellentissimae Dominationis vestrae Amicus Benevolus Michael Apafi In English thus Most Excellent Lord and most worthy Friend THE Miseries of Transilvania with which for many years by the just Judgment of God we have been afflicted are manifest to all the Christian World Nor can we but confess how between two most Potent Monarchs our Principality is so daily straitned that unless through the extraordinary mercy of God we obtain some relief we believe not our selves longer able to subsist But to come nearer to our business The Most Potent Emperour by his own Ambassadours and ours now lately returned hath promised us his most Gracious Protection yet notwithstanding the Pasha of Varadin not content with the Towns and Villages appropriated unto his Castle hath entered into the very middle of Transilvania and hath compelled for fear of death those Provinces entirely to yield themselves which never before were belonging to his Fortresses which being taken away it is impossible for the Principality of Transilvania longer to subsist and pay its annual Tribute Wherefore we are constrained again to beseech the most Potent Emperour and the Supreme Vizier as also we confidently desire your Excellencie in that manner which your Excellencie judges most convenient to be assistant to our Agent and with your Authority to countenance our Cause in which your Excellencie will not only perform a matter beneficial to Transilvania but to all Christendom and oblige us for ever with the Bonds of friendship and praying for all happiness of Life and Prosperity to your Excellencie we remain your undoubted Friend Given in our Camp at the Village Koczard the five and twentieth day of September 1662. Your Excellencies Loving Friend Michael Apafi This Letter was received by his Majesties Ambassadour with that humanity as was agreeable to his noble Nature and with that sense of the Christian Cause as became a religious Minister of the Faiths Defendor and an Answer returned thereunto full of affectionate Piety and Compassion But it was feared that the time was elapsed and the Disease proceeded too far to admit a gentle Cure For it could not probably be expected that the Vizier should upon fair words or perswasions or by the force of passionate and Rhetorical expressions be induced to let slip the fair opportunity of an intire and total subjection of Transilvania And the truth is herein lay the ground of the great Quarrel between these two Emperours for ever since the Defeat of Chimianus or as the Transilvanians call him Kemenius the Turk swallowing in his thoughts the intire subjection of that Country designed to reduce it to the Government of a Pasha rather than of a Christian Prince though elected at the Ottoman Port and in order thereunto advanced beyond the Limits of the ancient bounds and pitched his Camp in the very Bowels of the Country These proceedings giving matter of jealousie to all the Captains of the bordering Christians the Count Serini first hastned the finishing of his Fort as much as was possible and next according to his example the Imperialists in all parts of the Borders fortified their Towns and Castles and reinforced their Garisons which was answered by the Turks in the like preparations And thus mutual fears and jealousies effected that ill Correspondence in which the State of Affairs then remained And since Transilvania is the present Scene of Action it will not be much from our purpose to digress a little in declaring the state of that miserable Principality and by what ways and means the Turks encreased their Tribute and encroached on their Liberties the which Relation I received from one of the Transilvanian Agents to this effect In the time of Sultan Solyman Transilvania was governed by her own Laws and her
the Earth by Assistants about him two other Cavaliers were wounded with Granadoes and the Cavalier Feuillere who carried the Standard of Malta was shot into the Eye with a Musket The Proveditor General Corndro serving at the repair of the Breach was so wounded in the Belly by a Granado that his Bowels burst of which he died in three hours and with a piece of the same Granado the Count Vignole a French Gentleman of great Valour was likewise slain And so hotly the Turks plyed this Breach that from the 28 th of May to the 2 d of June they sprang five Mines which brake all the Palisades of the Christians the which the Turks seconded with that fury and mettle as if they intended to win the place and make an end of their work before the arrival of the Forces expected from Christendom And this Post was now grown so dangerous and weak that the Captain General the Marquess of Montbrun and all the chief Officers took up their Quarters at this place where his Excellency kept an open Table and the Marquess took up his Lodgings at Night that so the other Officers might have no excuse on account of attendances or orders to abandon these Quarters The Princes of Christendom all this time forgot not their besieged Brethren in Candia Popo Clement the IX pressed the most Christian King to make ready his succours in due time who had already himself prepared all things and elected the Duke of Beaufort his General of all the Forces by Sea whether of French or other Nations This Duke like a couragious and brave Prince thinking it little glory to command at Sea where the Enemy was of an inferiour and unable Force to encounter him did therefore desire Licence from his King to make tryal of his Fortune in the Field where he might evidence his Valour in the face of the Infidels and signalize his Fame either by Death or Victory The King unwilling to hazard so worthy a person of his bloud out of his due Command in the rank of an ordinary Souldier at first denied his requests but the Pope interceding for him whose General he was with holy Arguments and devout Contemplations of Martyrdom and Glory of dying for the Christian Cause at length obtained a concession from the King who of himself was flexible to so pious a request esteeming it unholy to deprive his Kinsman either of the Palm of a Martyr or the Lawrel of a Conqueror The Summer being come and all things provided the Duke ascended his Ship at Tolon a City in Provence the 6 th of June New-style with about seven thousand Land Souldiers commanded by the Duke of Navaille with the Marshals Lebret and Golbert and several other Worthies and Heroes of undaunted Courage and arrived before the Town of Candia the 19 th of the same Month having casually encountred together in the Seas on the 17 th with fourteen Sail of Venetian Ships laden with Horse and Ammunition to mount the Troops and relieve the Town which happy encounter and speedy passage seemed a happy Omen of the future success The appearance of this succour seemed to the Besieged as sent from Heaven and administred unto them new hopes and courage and the salutes passed between the Town and the Fleet with the usual Ceremonies and all the imaginable testimonies of joy and triumph No sooner were they arrived than the two Generals with other principal Officers immediately in their Shallops took the best view and survey they could of the Enemies Camp and the Condition of the Besieged in which whilst they entertained themselves they espied a small Vessel making towards them with S t Mark 's Colours in which was the famous Engineer Signior Castellano dispatched by the Captain General Morosini with an exact plat of the Town and disposition of the Turkish Camp which being particularly viewed and considered it was evident That if the Turks should make some very forcible Attempt before the new Forces could be landed as it was very probable they might they would put all in hazard of being lost wherefore the Captain General pressed to have some succours immediately supplied to be assistant in that case of extremity To which the Duke of Navailles immediately consented and landed himself that Night in person with sufficient Force to mount the Guard on the Breach of S t Andrea whose first Retrenchment was continually battered by the Turks and though there was a second Retrenchment in hand yet time being required for compleating thereof that part of the Town would be reduced to its ultimate hazard for should the Enemy spring a Mine which they feared was already formed under the present Work it would lay all open and naked without other Fortification The Duke being ashoar was received by Morosini with all demonstrations of Civility and Respect due to a personage of his Quality and Employment and with a welcome suitable to the present extremity of his Affairs all Ceremonies and Complements were soon passed over the urgency of matters not permitting them time to be long impertinent so that falling into the Discourse of the common safety it was resolved that the succours should be immediately landed which was performed with that diligence and expedition that in two days the whole Army came safe on shore excepting only some few cut short by shot from the Enemies Camp On the 23 d the Generals and other Officers held a Council of War amongst whom was also the Marquess of S t Andrea and did unanimously conclude that the Town was no longer tenable or to be maintained unless by some extraordinary enterprize attempted on the Enemy and by some furious Sally performed with resolution and stratagems of War in order unto which it was resolved That the 27 th should be the day of sally both with Horse and Foot and that the Fleet not to lose their part in this action should play with their great Guns on that side of the Turkish Army which lay incamped on the Quarters of St. Andrea All the Forces were landed on the 26 th and the whole night following was spent in preparations for the next days sally the Army being drawn up made four Batalions the first called the Admirals commanded by the Sieurs Martel Vandre and Gravier the second was the Vice-Admirals commanded by the Sieurs de la Mothe and Planta the third was the Rere-Admirals under Command of Chevalier de Bouillion Gabaret and the Chevalier Dailly the fourth was the Batalion of the Sieur d'Almeras commanded under him by the Sieurs Panetier de la Rogue Fontier Bitault and the Chevalier de Nemond and on the left hand of these aforesaid Batalions the Guards of the Duke of Beaufort were disposed The Duke of Beaufort unwilling to be a Spectator in this glorious Action without bearing a part in his own person after he had given order to the Fleet to accost the shore on the side of St. Andrea as near
of the near approach of the Excellentissimo Alvise de Molino Ambassadour from the Venetian Republick with propositions of peace But the Turks before they would admit the Embassy or the person which brought it to a nearer approach than a Days Journey from the Court would be resolved first whether he brought with him the Keys of Candia To which it was replied by the Interpreter That he was not able to give them satisfaction in that particular being but a mean and ordinary servant to whom the Secrets of State and resolutions of great men were not committed his Office being only to render faithfully the words and sence of his Masters and not to enter into the private thoughts and Cabinet of their Counsels To which the Chimacam proudly and barbarously made answer Go tell thy Master that unless he brings the Keys of Candia thy head shall pay for it And that he presume not in person to approach nearer unto this Court So the Ambassadour remained at a distance for some weeks and at length was transferred over to the Vizier at Candia who being more ready to hearken to propositions in hopes by some overture or other to hook in Candia gave an easie Audience to the Ambassadour and controverted several Articles and Propositions with all freedom and patience So that on the Venetians part the Surrender of Suda was offered and a Sum of money in compensation of the War The Vizier on the other side would be contented with nothing less than the Surrender of Candia and in lieu thereof to grant a Licence to rebuild Paleo-Castro an ancient Fortress But the Fortress it self of Candia being the prize and aim of both nothing could be concluded without that so that the Ambassadour in fine declared plainly That the City of Candia was maintained and defended by the Armes of Foreign Princes without whose consent it could not be resigned all the rest of the Island should be the reward of their bloud and labour only Candia was capable of no Conditions but what were imposed on it by force of Armes The Vizier whose honour could be salved and the glory of the Ottoman Empire maintained at no other rate than the subjection of Candia would hearken to no other terms or proposals so that the Treaty broke off and the Ambassadour returned to Canea there to remain until farther Overtures of an Accommodation should present It was now towards the depth of Winter when three men of War and a Fire-Ship sent by the most Christian King steered up the Hellespont with words and boastings as full of Wind as their Sails and being arrived at Constantinople vaunting of their Force as if sufficient to subdue the Turkish Dominions they uttered certain rumours that they were come to revenge the late affront offered to their Merchants to cause that money to be repaid which in late and frequent Avanias had been extorted from their Nation and to renew their Capitulations with more advantageous terms As namely That their Customs from 5 be reduced to 3 per Cent. as the English Dutch and Genoeses pay That their King be treated by the Sultan with the equal Presents and Gifts according to the Custom used with the Emperour and that at all times interchangeably Ambassadours be sent to reside in each others Dominions with other propositions which seemed as extravagant to the Turks as they appeared to others vain and to have no foundation but in the report of the Vulgar But that which was reported by the most judicious concerning these Ships was That his most Christian Majesty being made to understand perfectly the affronts put on his Nation by the Turks and not fully satisfied as is supposed with the respect they had shown to his Ambassador at Constantinople made it the chief Design of his Ships to withdraw him from thence supposing it a less diminution to his honour to have the person of his Agent subjected to affronts than of his Ambassadour to which it was imagined he might be obnoxious in consideration of those great supplies which were in the following year designed for Candia In what manner soever the Turks deemed of this appearance of Men of War to hector and brave them at their Imperial City they did yet for the present cunningly dissemble the matter giving the French fair words and what plenty of Provisions their occasions did require In what manner this Affair was transacted I shall not adventure to relate nor is it well or certainly known Yet not long after came Orders for the Ambassadour to repair to the Court at Larissa and that until the Grand Signior's pleasure was farther known the Ships of War were to be detained The Commander in chief called Monsieur d' Almeras was not a little trou bled to have his Ships thus embargued and labouring in his thoughts between the time limited in his Instructions by his Master and the restraint by the Turks he once bravely resolved to hazard his passage through the Castles but protracting the execution thereof from day to day even until the end of April at length Licence came for their departure and Orders to repair unto Vola near Larissa there to take an Ambassadour or Agent or Envoyé from the Sultan to their King For it seems the Vizier had intimated to the Grand Signior That it was not time to disgust the French King and to bring him under the notion of a declared and publick Enemy or at least to irritate him so far as might provoke him to send greater Forces than perhaps he designed the next year for Candia and that he ought to comply with the present conjuncture and salve that up for a time which he might afterwards open at his pleasure This counsel seeming reasonable to the Grand Signior and agreeable to the present necessity he ordered as I was credibly informed a thousand Dollars only to adorn his Ambassadour so pitifully do the Turks esteem of Christian Princes and so highly do they value themselves as if a Message from them would be reverenced in Christendom as a favour though brought by a Porter or a Slave But the French Ambassadour considering this allowance too mean a provision for a person qualified to appear before his Master did as it is said out of his own Purse and generous Soul contribute a far greater Sum with two Vests of Sables towards his better Equipage In this manner the Sultan dissembling an appearance of good correspondence with his Christian Majesty dispatched away his Envoyé on the Ships of War being a Person in quality of a Mutafaraca one of the same degree with a Chaous to expostulate with the King concerning several Particulars and especially his Reasons for sending for his Ambassadour without sending another according to ancient custom to supply his Office wondering much at this sudden alteration of friendship without any cause given on the Ottoman side and with these smooth and fair words the Turks imagined they might charm the Spirit of the
King for a while and suspend his Succours from Candia until at last it were beyond his power and wisdom to relieve In the mean time the Ambassadour from the most Christian King was detained as a Hostage for the other of whose return we shall speak in its due place Towards the end of this year Sir Daniel Harvey Lord Ambassador from His Majesty of Great Britain arrived at Constantinople succeeding in the place of the Earl of Winchelsea who could not obtain Audience with the G. Signior until the end of the following year by reason of the Sultans unsetled abode and far distance who at length coming to Salonica summoned the Ambassadour thither and there conferred on him the usual Ceremonies and Honours due to the Ambassadour at sirst Reception Candia was now hardly assailed in four places viz. on the side of Betlem Panigra St. Andrea and Sabionera These places being twice stormed in which the Turks lost thirty thousand men so many Mines and Fornelli were fired that the ground lay open like a vast abyss with strange heaps of confused and undigested Earth and hindred the Enemy from approaching to the Wall but Sabionera and St. Andrea being esteemed the most weak because they were not sortified by any considerable Out-works or compassed with any depth of Ditch were pressed and forced upon by the Turk with more violence than any parts of the City The Enemy having by their great number of Pioniers elevated the confused Earth they formed some Batteries fortifying them and sheltering their people with Sacks of Wool and a Labyrinth as we may say of Redoubts they advanced foot by foot upon the Revelin of St. Andrea being destitute of all Mines to stop their proceedings and having at length blown up the Revelin and with fire and earth having taken the Out-work they penetrated into the Ditch which was not deep with four Traverses and came now to the very foot of the wall of the Bulwark fortified with eighteen pieces of Cannon six of which carrying fifty pound Bullet shot into the Ditch eight flanked that side which was opposite to Panigra and four on that part towards the Revelin of St. Spirito notwithstanding which they stormed the Walls in nine places And beginning to make a breach by firing certain Mines which opened a wideness of forty two paces at the point of that Bulwark and continuing their breaches towards the Sea breaking in their way the Front of the Fort Priulo they proceeded almost to the Gate of St. Andrea and opened forty eight paces more in all ninety paces Afterwards they ruined the remainder of the Wall and that which was called the Scotch Fort to the very Sea so that the Christians were forced to retire from their Out-works and contract their Precincts to the Walls of the City To add unto the misery of this place an unfortunate shot from the Turks Camp entred that Magazine which was near St. Peters Church where the artificial Fires were made and meeting several shells of Granadoes already charged with thirty Barrels of Powder all took fire and blew into the air and burned all the houses which were near thereunto At this unlucky accident the Besieged fearing a general assault and seeing the Turkish Horse draw into a Body near Sabionera the whole Garrison ran to the Walls but no farther Attempt being made towards evening they blew up a Lodge of the Enemy with all the people that were therein Anno Christi 1669. Hegeira 1080. TOwards the end of the last Year and at the beginning of this the Turks began to open their eyes and find themselves defrauded with the grossest cheat that ever was imposed on a people who had either reason or humanity For now three or four years had ran on that the French Dutch Italians and other Nations had introduced into all parts of the Turkish Dominions unless in those East-ward as Aleppo and farther a sort of small Money called by some Luigini by others Ottavi and by the Turks Temins worth about five pence English which appearing pleasant and bright to the eye and commodious for change and common expences so bewitched the Commonalty that Pieces of Eight Zaichins and other merchantable Money were laid aside as neither currant or valuable At first about nine years past they were of good and warrantable Silver but afterwards with time by little and little grew worse and of baser alloy at length the people doting more and more upon them they came coarser every day than other and being still currantly passable every person that was failed and of bad reputation entred into the Trade who knowing no bounds of honesty or of gain composed their Money wholly of Copper or coarser Metals with a fair gloss and resemblance of Silver buying therewith the Commodities of the Country and at length amassed up all the Gold Silver and whatsoever came to hand was the price of their false and bastard Coin with which they filled and abused all Asia nor was this Money only of one Mint but of divers Stamps and Mottoes reproachful to the Turks and it is pity they had not wit enough to understand them as namely Voluit hanc Asia mercem De procul pretium ejus and such like which were so various that many who had the curiosity to make a collection of them found no less than an hundred and twenty several Stamps The Commonalty still enamoured with the brightness of their colour and commodiousness of their change little reflected on the ill consequence to the generality having seldom more than to supply their daily wants And the Officers of the Customs finding a benefit extraordinary to themselves upon the vast Sums of Money imported little cared how it fared with the publick In the mean time the whole currant of Merchandise in the Levant was dispossessed of its ordinary and true chanel for vast quantities or a glut of Turkish Goods filled all Christendom the prices low and cheap and no profit to any Merchant dealing upon the square or upon the old and legal way of Traffick At Ligorne and other parts of Italy complaints were made That the Silver and Bullion of the Country were melted down to make a composition with baser Metals for Turkie and exchanged for decaying and perishable Commodities In short no man seemed satisfied with the Trade and yet the World like their sins which they disapprove pursued it with all heat and violence imaginable This Trade being thus over-laid and vast heaps of adulterate Money imported daily worse and worse caused the Jews and other Merchants at first to except against some sorts and admit of others This seruple together with the prohibition of them two years before by the English Factory at Smyrna obliging themselves unto the Levant Company under a considerable penalty not to receive this money for Cloth or other Commodities of the growth of England together with the circumspection and contrivance of the English Consul awakened sirst the blind