Security and Glory depended on the execution of certain Maximes which he had framed to himself he was chalking out to his Son such undoubted Rules and Doctrines of Government as would certainly tend to the glory and prosperity of the Empire being abundantly satisfied that his Son was faithful prudent and active But three things he particularly recommended to his Majesty 1. Never to give Ear to the Counsels and Advices of Women 2. To amass what Treasure he could possible into his Coffers though with Oppression and impoverishment of his people 3. To be continually on horse-back and keep his Armies in constant Action On the 19 th of October Kuperlee having ended his days whose Disease was Old Age and a Gangrene in his Legs his Son by Hattesheriff or the Grand Signior's Patent under his hand taking the Seal was constituted Vizier in the place of his Father to the admiration and disappointment of the graver Seniors who were discontented not only to perceive themselves neglected but that person also to supplant them who was judged uncapable of the office according to the Canon and ancient Precedents of this Government The Body of Kuperlee was transported to Constantinople where in his life time he had erected a very stately and magnificent Structure as his Monument over the Grave or Vault where he designed to be interred In his life time he had filled it with Corn which daily was distributed to the poor and being emptied after his death received his Corps over which a small Mosch was endowed with Oyl for Lamps and maintenance of certain Talismans and Softaes to make Prayers and Offerings for his Soul The Father being thus interred Ahmet his Son began to contrive his own establishment and to settle his Greatness on the foundation of his Fathers Rules of Policy from whom not to degenerate in cruelty of Nature or leave his Legacies unpaid to those he had proscribed he in the first place sacrificed the Blood of the Pasha of Magnatia to his Fathers Ghost with some other petty attendances so that the World perceived that they had changed the Vizier but not his tyranny or at least the same spirit of the Father seemed to be renewed and transmitted again into the Person of the Son But more difficult it was to obtain the like success against Mortaza the Pasha of Babylon and the Kayah-begh or Lieutenant General of the Janisaries who were long before as we have said marked out for destruction by his Father For the first was the most powerful Pasha of all Asia vigilant and active and had done and merited great rewards from his Master and particularly in decoying and cutting off the head of the Grand Rebel Asan Pasha who dared the Sultan at the Gates of his Seraglio but understanding the ill will of the house of Kuperlee against him stood always on his Guard lodging without the Walls of the City and under the protection of his Armes and Souldiers who were greatly affected to the generosity of his Person so that though many attempts were made upon him and that Officers or Executioners came from the Court openly tendring from the Sultan the Present of a Sword and Vest of Sables the usual Signals of the Ottoman Grace but privately bringing a Bow-string or a Halter yet they were all entertained at a distance and returned again with the same dissimulation they had used in their feigned Addresses In like manner the Kayah-begh an ancient prudent and experienced Commander beloved by the Souldiery and secured by the Priviledge of his Office for a Kayah-begh cannot be cut off during his Command without infringement of the honour and order of the Janisaries preserved still his Station and Command in despight of the Viziers hate and endeavours But what could not be done by mere vertue of the Absolute Power was effected under the appearance of honour and favour of the Sultan who by his Royal Commission having made him Pasha of Damascus he was at the same instant deprived of his Military Power and Priviledge and lay now naked and exposed to the Arbitrary Pleasure and will of his Adversary Nor could his prayers or tears incline the Grand Signiors mind to reverse his Order who together with the Vizier rather inforced it with the specious pretext of Favour and Grace for his former merits and with commendation of his Abilities agreeable to the importance of so considerable a Government encreased the just suspicion of Solyman for so the Kayah-begh was called not being ignorant of the Turkish Proverb A Kayah-begh is like a Fish in the Water which out of its Element immediately dies Howsoever ut finis omnium cum dominante grates agit he acknowledges the favour of his Master and gave thanks for it according to the Duty of a good Subject who ought to acquiesce in the sentence of his Prince which though never so full of severity ought to be believed and called Clemency The Vizier now hasted Solyman Pasha to depart with all expedition not allowing him above four or five days time to make preparations for so long a Journey which otherwise he would have prolonged as one like the rest of Mankind desirous to protract the thread of Life imagining that in his journey at some distance where his Death might be most obscure and least noted the Edict of the Grand Signior might overtake him and find a Grave for him in some solitary Desert or unfrequented Mountain Wherefore he made one day an Address to the Vizier under pretence of taking his last furewel and freely acquainted him with his apprehension and his fears desiring that he would deal as frankly with him in letting him know the utmost of his Fate for that now he was in his hand and was so good a Proficient in the Mahometan Religion as to oppose nothing which was his Destiny or inconsistent with the Decree of the Sultan The Vizier reverencing the Years and pitying the Condition of so worthy a Commander abased solely by his Power bid him be of good cheer assuring him of his Life so long as he acted nothing contrary unto his which he confirmed by Vows and all imaginable Protestations encouraging him to proceed forward to his Government with those cheerful Words and Assurances that Solyman Pasha taking his farewel with more ease of mind and confidence of Life departed Adrianople in three days after his delignment to the new Office But not many days Journey had he advanced into Asia before the G. Signiors and Viziers Commands over-took him altering his design for Damaseus and instead thereof ordered him a Pilgrimage unto Mecha and exile into the remote and desert parts of Arabia until he should be thought worthy to be re-called by that power which banished him In like manner some few days after the Mufti being on a Friday seated in his place in the Mosch of Sultan Selim a very noble and famous Fabrick and attending there the G. Signiors entrance that he
into his place Sultan Morat Brother to Osman who was murthered the year before The principal Actors in this contrivance were Kiosem the Mother of Morat and the Mufti but in the execution hereof three difficulties occurred The sirst was Chusaein Pasha the Great Vizier who by reason of the inabilities of Mustapha being become absolute Lord and Soveraign of all would be unwilling to assent unto that Proposition which might degrade him of his Dignity and divest him of his Power A second obstacle was the fancy and humor of the Souldiery who having with much zeal and passion exalted Mustapha to the Throne it might be doubted that in maintenance of the same humor they would with equal obstinacy persevere in their Election A third was the poverty or low ebb of the Exchequer which at that time was in no capacity to supply that Donative to the Souldiery which was usual and customary at the Inauguration of every Sultan To forward and hasten this change and ripen this Plot the News of the Rebellion of Abassa did much contribute who with a Body of fifteen thousand Horse roved over all the Plains of Kara-hisar calling himself Avenger of Sultan Osmans Murder and Enemy of the Janisaries by whose Mutiny and Conspiracy he was put to death in satisfaction for which he not only killed all Janisaries which fell into his hands but their wives children and those allied to them he destroyed with implacable malice and bloody rage Upon this advice the Janisaries at Constantinople being moved with equal fury and desire of revenge applied themselves to their Aga proposing a speedy union with the Spahees for suppressing this Rebellion before time gave it greater growth and made the humor more stubborn and difficult to be purged At the same time also came Letters from Cicala Pasha who was dispeeded into Asia with a strong Party to give a stop to the farther progress and advance of Abassa advising that upon his near approach to the Enemy so general a fear possessed his Souldiery that most of them disbanded and forsook their Colours and that at present he had no more than five hundred Janisaries and two hundred Spahees under his Command which he found to be an unequal match to contend with the increasing power of Abassa This Intelligence served happily the occasion of the Mufti Vizier and Aga to give a turn to the desired change and supplied them with an answer to the Janisaries that they were ready to yield compliance unto their Address but that the incapacity of their Soveraign obstructed their proceedings and that the defect in the principal wheel disordered all the motions of good Government At which reply the Janisaries becoming more unquiet assembled themselves in a tumultuous manner at the Mosch of Sultan Solyman where making an Ayack Divan so called because they sit not down but stand on their legs to denote the present haste and urgency of their affair it was enacted by an unanimous consent of the Civil and Military power That young Morat or Amurat should be promoted to the Throne and that Mustapha should be deposed and because the Exchequer was at its lowest ebb and wholly exhausted by miscarriage of the Officers the Souldiers were contented to dispense with their Donative which they relinquished in consideration of the publick good reserving still their Title and Claim thereunto at times of a more happy Inauguration With this News the Vizier immediately mounted on Horse-back to signifie this universal Decree to Mustapha but he found him so stupid as if he had been insensible of the Message and his Mother wanting power to resist this strong convulsion gave way to necessity and seemed to embrace what she could not oppose Thus Mustapha falling from the Heaven of his Throne to the Abyss of his Prison seemed to return unto his centre for being only by the wild-fire of Fortune carried as far aloft as the force of popular powder could reach he afterwards by the meer weight of his earthly temper returned with the like quickness of motion to the place from whence he ascended Hereupon Sultan Amurat a Youth of about fourteen years of age was brought forth to the people and placed in the Throne with all the acclamations and rejoycings of the people And being taught by his Mother in a feigned manner to refuse acceptance of the Empire he pretended that the Exchequer was exhausted and that therefore he was not able to demonstrate the affection and esteem he had for them and that since they had killed their former Sultans he was fearful lest the tenderness of his age should betray him to the like violence but the Souldiery having not the patience to hearken to his excuses immediately carried him to the Divan where having cloathed him in white they seated him on a Safraw erected with four Pillars studded with precious Stones the Covering of which was of Crimson Velvet richly embroidered with Gold and Oriental Pearl And being so seated the Mufti with all reverence approached and kissed his hand and then turning to the people he demanded of them if they were contented with that Prince whom they now beheld in the Seat of the Ottoman Kings to which they having given assent by their loud acclamations Morat with a becoming gravity encharged the Mufti to take care that Justice and the Law be executed and so retired to his Lodgings with general satisfaction The next morning he was carried by Water to the Mosch of Jub in the Suburbs of Constantinople where according to the Solemnity of the Ottoman Empire having performed his Corban or Sacrifice and having his Cemiter girt to his side by the Emirsheriff he mounted on Horse-back and with a magnificent Train entred by the Gate of Adrianople In the mean time Mustapha who was more worthy to bear a Fools Cap than an Imperial Diadem was conducted to Prison and more narrowly guarded than formerly howsoever no man offered to take away his life the persons of Fools and Idiots being sacred in esteem of the Turks and the least injury offered to them accounted irreligious and unlucky Morat was of a lively countenance full-fac'd dark hair of a black and lively eye ruddy and sanguine Complexion and in every degree of a promising and hopeful Aspect but his exteriour appearance did not correspond with the internal cruelty of his violent Spirit having some similitude with the Swan which hath white feathers and black flesh The Great Vizier who assisted at this Solemnity was as we have said Chusaein Pasha a person of self-interest who had wasted and consumed the Treasury and converted a great part thereof to his own benefit he was a Tyrant hated of all men and supported himself by no other Art than bribing of the Souldiery and to his other Crimes he added that of having unjustly persecuted Halil Pasha and deprived him of his Office his power not reaching to the taking away his life which being reserved for better times he was again recalled
so great a Captain that could contend with the Port and put all Asta into disturbance and in conclusion could make the same Arms serve his Master which had lately before given a check and stop to all the Ottoman Force The Vizier was the first introduced to the Royal Presence where being graciously received he was presented with a Vest of Sables and a Cemiter set with Jewels Abassa was afterwards admitted and having performed his obeisance by touching the ground with his forehead after their fashion he declared that he never was other than a faithful Vassal to the Sultan and that he had taken up Arms for his sake that he might subjugate the insolence of the Janisaries and with their blood revenge the death and sacrifice to the Ghost of his murdered Brother Osman that they might learn to reverence their Princes for the suture and learn to know how sacred the blood is of their Soveraign The Grand Signior seemed kindly to accept this Apology and as a token thereof bestowed three Vests upon him which was a treble Honour of that kind and made him Pasha of Bosna on which employment he immediately entred and though when such Offices are bestowed it is commonly the custom for that person who is invested in the Employment given to kiss the sleeve of the Grand Signior publickly by way of thanks yet lest such demonstration of Honour should ill afsect the eyes of the Janisaries and cause murmuring and repinings amongst the most envious of the Souldiery his last Audience was designed privately and his Dispatch procured in more secret and familiar manner and therefore more obliging than was usual To yield some assistance to the present growing Charges of the Empire the Vizier imposed a heavy Tax on the Christians and Jews on the first it was levied with all severity but the Jews found more favour by their Arts and secret management of Affairs for they are a people of some Authority and Power in Turkie they are cursed by particular persons but caressed by the generality they are Slaves in all Countries and yet acquire somewhat of Mastership and Propriety they are Vagabonds and yet every Country is their own they cannot buy Lands and yet daily increase their Fortunes they multiply in abundance because they all marry and are not destroyed by Wars they are great Confidents of the Turks and Enemies to the Christians In short covetousness in Constantinople is like a publick Courtisan to whom the Jews are the Panders and Ruflians The Grand Signior passing one day through the streets unhappily met with the Ambassadour of the Prince of Transylvania who because he did not immediately descend from his Horse in token of reverence he caused him and his whole Family to be imprisoned but being afterwards excused by the Chimacam to have only been a matter of inadvertency his omission was pardoned and so released from his restraint The Souldiery having for a long time been governed by a loose and gentle hand continued their licentious way of living committing many outrages on the Merchants and Inhabitants of Constantinople against which many Decrees having been published and Proclamations made without any effect or notice of the Souldiery the Vizier was unwilling to dally longer and therefore taking a Spahee and a Janisary hanged them up and cut off their Heads and with such course and method of severity he so abated the haughty stomachs of the Souldiers already mortified by the assumption of Abassa into favour that they began to yield unto Command and to behold their Rulers with an eye of respect as those which were seated in some degree above themselves for till now there was scarce a common Janisary but who thought himself to be the Creator or Elector of his General and therefore to be little inferiour to him in Power and Dignity And as this Vizier was severe towards the Souldiery so he demeaned himself with equal rigour towards the Pasha's and Grandees of the Court which though it was an humor in the Vizier at that conjuncture laudable and necessary yet it procured him such enmity as removed him at a distance and caused him to be sent into Persia to command the Army and by that means to expose him to the hazard and difficulties of doubtful success in a dangerous War The Vizier being departed the Grand Signior appeared in publick on Horse-back together with his Brother by his side an unusual sight amongst the Turks but the Queen-Mother who in absence of the Vizier ruled much commanded that it should be so the Grand Signior had this year a Son born which caused great rejoycing at Constantinople because there were few Males at that time surviving of the Ottoman Line but scarce was the Festival ended before the Child died But let us now for a while withdraw our Discourse from the Wars of Persia and look to the Actions in Poland and Transylvania Mehmet the late King of Tartary who was so displeasing to the Port as we have already related was now dead to whom succeeded a Kinsman of his called Fembeg Gheray universally pleasing and acceptable to that people This new King to demonstrate his prowess and to act something acceptable to the Port dispeeded forty thousand Horse into Podolia and Russia to sack and ravage the Country which dividing themselves into several Parties made their Incursions as far as Socal But in the mean time the Polonians and Cosacks having formed a strong Body of Horse under the Command of Stephen Chmieleskie met them at their return near to Burstinow where they gave them a total overthrow and in like manner Stanislaus Lubomiski encountred another Party and overthrow them leaving thirty thousand slain on the place and taking two thousand Prisoners amongst which was the younger Brother of the Tartar King This defeat as it was the greatest that ever was given to the Tartars so it is probable that had it been well prosecuted at that time by the Polonians they might have entred the Chersonesus Tauricus and without much opposition have put an end to that Kingdom but Sigismond King of Poland had other designs in hand such mixed Monarchies as that being better able to defend their own Dominions than to acquire or conquer others To this News ill received at Constantinople supervened the unexpected death of Bethlem Gabor unexpected I say because that though he had been long labouring under the diseases of Dropsie and Asthma yet the greatness of his Soul and activeness of his Spirit mastered for a long time his indisposition so that he seldom or never omitted his Counsels and business and to the very time of his death was meditating and contriving designs whereby to preserve his Dominions and enlarge them And indeed the Government of Transylvania required no less than such a stirring Spirit for being seated between two such powerful Monarchs as the Emperour and the Turk there was need of dexterity and courage to steer between the rocks of such opposite Interests
the minority of the Grand Signior and that when he came to Age of Government they would be accountable to him both for the principal and for the improvement The Turks in Hungary making incursions into the Territories of the Emperour were overthrown by the Count Forgatz near Buda where the Pasha was taken Prisoner and his Son slain Nor better fortune had they in the Assault they made on the Fortress of Clissa where having lost five thousand Men they were forced to retire with great dishonour The Cossacks also in this conjuncture grew more bold so that they covered the Black Sea with their Boats doing great damage to the Saicks and other Vessels which traded in that Sea and at length came up the Bosphorus above Therapea giving a great Alarm with much fear and confusion to all Constantinople Amidst these misfortunes intestine troubles and new disorders arose in the Ottoman-Empire For as commonly all the blame of miscarriages and ill successes in Turkie are cast upon the head of the Commander in chief so the Enemies of the Great Vizier took the advantage in this conjuncture to reproach his ill Government and carried the accusation so far as to depose him from his Charge and Office in whose place the Aga or General of the Janisaries succeeded The Spahees in Asia being displeased with this Election assembled in a Body of seven or eight thousand and marched towards Constantinople pretending to revenge the death of Sultan Ibrahim their numbers daily encreasing the Divan very much feared lest the Party which favoured the Spahees in Constantinople should join themselves to the Asian Mutineers to prevent which it was judged good reason and policy to anticipate the Justice they demanded by taking away the Life of the deposed Vizier which being easily assented unto and without much hesitation performed gave some little stop to the fury and heats of the Spahees Notwithstanding all which as the Divisions which the Turks entertain amongst themselves were never so great as to afford the Christians any advantage thereby so the Venetians did not reap any benefit from these Quarrels but on the contrary the Turks studiously attended to their Affairs in Candia passing thither with sixty Gallies thirty great Ships and twenty five other smaller Vessels laden with Men and all sorts of Provisions and Ammunition for War so that in this year 1649. the Affairs of the Turks remained in that Island in this happy and hopeful posture Amongst these Ships were thirteen English which the Turks took up at Smyrna and forced into their service For though the Ambassadour Sir Thomas Bendysh then resident at Constantinople opposed the engagement of these Ships what was possible and also the Commanders and Seamen were very unwilling and dissatisfied to undertake the design yet the Turks with menaces and promises of reward forced them to carry Men and Ammunition to Candia so that making a Vertue of Necessity they complyed with that which they could not resist ANNO 1650. CHusaein Pasha Governour of the Island of Candia having received these succours and recruits resolved to besiege the Chief City of Candia to which intent drawing out from the Ships and Garisons of Retimo and Canea what men he was able he formed an Army of thirty thousand Men with which he marched and pitched before the Town He was provided also with twelve pieces of Cannon four thousand Sacks of Wooll three thousand Ladders and with a good quantity of Granadoes with this force he attaqued the City in two places viz. on the Forts of Martinengo and Mocenigo and pressed so hard on the latter that notwithstanding the generous resistance of the Defendants he won the Fort and there planted the Ottoman Colours fortifying it with more Cannon and a good number of Men. Count Coloredo Governour of that place was then sick the Garrison very weak and things reduced to the last terms of extremity when General Balbiani Admiral of Malta arrived with six Gallies and there landed 600. Men and 60. Knights which with great Courage mounted the Guard of the Fort Martinengo which was the place of most danger and honour The Turks excited with a desire to welcome the new Guests made three desperate and furious assaults on this Fort but were with equal valour repulsed by the Defendants at which disgrace and foil being highly enraged they resolved on a fourth attempt which they pursued with that Courage and Success that the Venetians were forced to give way to their violence with the slaughter almost of all those which defended this Fort until the Cavaliers of Malta who having no greater glory nor readier will than to spill their bloud for the Christian Cause rallied all the force they were able and made so prosperous an Attaque upon the Fort that they recovered it again with the bloud and destruction of all those who defended it but they enjoyed it not long before the Turks regained it with the like success and slaughter which variety of Fortune the Venetians being sensible of and that they could not bear such costly interchanges with the Turk had recourse to their ultimate remedy of Mines which succeeded so happily that the whole Fort was carried into the Air and therewith 2000. good Souldiers of the Turks with which destruction and other repulses in divers places they were so weakned and discouraged that they raised the Siege on the sifth of October new Stile In this Interim the Tartar Han called the Krim demanded the Guardianship of the young Sultan as of right belonging unto him but the Council answered hereunto that their Master was already in better hands than those into which they desired to transfer him and that his Grandmother and the Divan wanted neither wisdom nor fidelity to direct his affairs with which answer the Tartar being forced to remain satisfied was able to revenge himself no farther than by exciting the Cossacks to infest the Seas which gave some diversion to those Armes which otherwise had all been employed against the Venetians But these designs from Tartary did little trouble the Council in comparison of that spirit of Discord which was arisen between the Spahees and the Janisaries for both parties being emulous of each others greatness endeavoured on all occasions to elevate their Chief Commanders to the highest and most profitable places of the Empire which dissention touching the principal Ministers of State who were all ongaged on one side or the other administred great troubles and retarded the execution and success of all the grand designs of the Empire Nor was it of less importance and dishonour to the Divan that their Fleet was hindered passage by the Venetians who blocked up the Mouth of the Dardanelles whereby all intercourse with Candia was interrupted but being resolved to remove this obstacle they commanded the Captain Pasha to force his passage which he accordingly performing was so warmly received that he quickly lost two Gallies and after much bloud and loss on both sides was forced at
Plea or Endictment struck off his Head and threw his Body into the Sea on pretence that he was sent thither as a Spy for his Master and to give Intelligence and a beginning to Rebellion These were his colours and allegations for his deserved Death for Governours though never so wicked and so absolute and that have no need to render any other cause to the World of their actions than their own will yet esteem it necessary to act under the specious guise of justice and in the good opinion of the multitude The Aga of Babylon encountred the same Fortune for Mortaza giving place he thought it sit for himself to do the like resolving for Constantinople but being intercepted in his Journey by the new Pasha his Head was struck off and his Journey shortned But that which again renewed the trouble and fears of the Vizier was a report that the late Kahya-begh degraded at Adrianople was secretly returned to the City and lived concealed giving such Orders to the Janizaries as tended to Mutiny and Insurrection and that the pretences and reports of his being gone to Damascus and thence in his holy Pilgrimage to Mecha were but all false stories to conceal his Residence at Constantinople This set the Vizier all on fire and made him tremble with the thoughts of it wherefore search was made for him day and night but not found for in reality he was gone on his designed Journey only it was the misfortune of his Kahya or Steward as before it was of Mortaza's Emaum to fall into the Viziers hands who being beaten to confess where his Master was died afterwards of the blows But notwithstanding that Mortaza was fled yet the Vizier laid not aside his fears and thoughts concerning him not knowing how soon he might be recalled home and seated in his place of which various Examples are extant in Turkish History And therefore he sent orders to Mahomet Pasha his late Kahya now Pasha of Darbiquier as General with the knowledge and consent of the Grand Signior and to the Pashaws of Aleppo Erzirum and others near adjacent to prepare and assemble what Force was necessary to constrain the King of the Curdi to surrender Mortaza into their hands But whilst these matters were in agitation some unexpected troubles in Georgia diverted their Armes and held them for some time in suspense not knowing what the issue might be The Original and Ground thereof was this After Sultan Solyman had taken Erzirum it was agreed in the Capitulations between the Turks and Persians that of the seven Provinces of Georgia anciently called Iberia but now as supposed to have received the Denomination from St. George the Cappadocian Martyr there had in great esteem and reverence three should be tributaries to the Turk and three to the Persian all governed by Achic-bash as head and supreme Prince to whom the seventh should also be subjected without acknowledgment to either In payment of which tribute they continued most willingly lest for default thereof the importation of Salt of which their Provinces afford none should be hindred either from the Turkish or Persian Dominion And now it happened that Achic-bash dying his Wife married again who to gratifie her new Lover was contented to have the eyes of her Son put out who was the lawful Heir to the Government This Fact was so hainously received by the Princes of the three Provinces under the Persian that with common consent they elected one to succeed Achic-bash and extorted the power out of the hands of the Amorous Traitour The Princes of the three Provinces under the Turk alarm'd hereat made insurrection resolving rather than any Foreigner to set up one of the Kindred of Achic-bash which the Persian Provinces better understanding approved likewise and for confirmation and maintenance of their choice assembled an Army of threescore thousand men The Pashaws tending towards Curdi were surprized in their March with the news of these disturbances in Georgia and not rightly apprehending the causes of these sudden commotions gave an arrest to the progress of their Armes inclining towards the Parts of Georgia to be in a readiness to suppress all designs against the Ottoman Dominions so that the thoughts of War against the Curdi was for some time laid aside The news of these troubles did also alarm the Port with which also came a report That six hundred Tents of the Kuzilbashees which are the best sort of Persian Horsemen were pitched nigh the Consines of the Grand Signiors Territories so that Orders were dispatched to the aforesaid Pashaws to watch the motion and issue of those Affairs but those storms blowing over by the establishment of Achic-bash the Turkish Forces proceeded on their first design against Mortaza marching to the pass of the Country of the Curdi which is very steep asperous and rough The whole Kingdom being as it were one Mountain of dangerous and difficult access hath hitherto preserved the Inhabitants from the Ottoman Subjection The entrance thereunto being strong by Nature is also fortified with several Castles the chief of which possessed by Mortaza is called Zizri and the people thereabouts Zezidi The Turkish Army being arrived at this pass Mahomet the Pasha of Darbiquier appointed General as we have said before ordered five hundred of his select men to enter within the pass which the Curdi perceiving with little opposition put to slight being so commanded by the General The unadvised Curdi cagerly pursuing the enemy left the pass naked and undefended supposing their whole victory and success to consist in the Rout of those few whereupon the Turkish Army wisely possessed the pass and got between the Curdi and their place of Retreat and laying the Siege to the Castle required them either to surrender themselves or else Mortaza and his Complices into their hands The Curdi perceiving themselves thus hardly beset and in a manner defrauded their Garison which possessed the pass without the Confines the enemey gotten possession of the Gate which opened to their Countrey their Castles besieged and in danger to be gained and an inlet made to an Inundation by their Enemies caused them to request a three days truce for Consultation which being granted they began to consider whether it were better to hazard the welfare of their Country in a dangerous War of which the Turks having already compassed the passage had made half the Conquest or to surrender up Mortaza to his own King one in whom they had no part no interest nor relation The latter counsel was most generally pleasing wherefore they seized Mortaza promising at first to conduct him through the Mountains to the Persians but afterwards being on horse-back and about a mile distant from the Camp they bound his hands behind him and with his Steward the Master of his Horse and a Page delivered him into the hands of the Turks who immediately struck off their heads and sent them to Constantinople where for three or four days
taught by their Imaum and more by example of others that Wine being against their Law is only dispensable in wild and unbridled Youth but in those of riper age is a vice to be reproached by all sober and well-governed men In the place of which they take up the lawful and innocent Pill of Opium which makes men serious and setled as they say because that it operates not like Wine which makes men mad and rash and violent but disposes them to be Sots and to sit grave and quiet without doing hurt to any man which is a qualification accounted very laudable amongst them and is one of the greatest Vertues which they endeavour to acquire in their Tekeés or Monasteries This being the reason for which it is taken and allowed it is grown a common custom almost amongst all the Country-people who in the morning before they go to work take first their Opium and upon it three or four dishes of Coffee for it is observable that none eats Opium but who accompanies it with great quantities of Coffee which is doubtless a kind of Opiate in it self and partakes very much of a Narcotick Quality by this means and constant use some arrive to take strange quantities the most that ever I knew any man take was three drams in twenty four hours viz. a dram and an half or thereabouts in the morning and as much an hour after noon the which for more exactness I had the curiosity to see weighed The same person offered for a small reward to take five drams in twenty four hours but then he said it required a long time to digest and did not doubt but to overcome it but I was too scrupulous to put a man into a sleep from whence I feared he might never awake This person was of a thin and livid complexion his skin shriveled no more beard than a few hairs his mouth commonly open because his chap was fallen his countenance putting me osten in mind of the Picture I have seen of the Gorgons head for had it been incompassed with Snakes instead of his Turbant it might have served for a perfect Original He had arrived to the years of forty eight and from the years thirty he had entred into Opium from a great excess of Wine in which condition he found that his stomach required little other nourishment being content with a small quantity of bread and water for his other Diet Opium supplying him with all the other Delicacies he could desire he was the father notwithstanding of two or three children which he confessed to have begot in the strength of his Opium having no desire to accompany with his wife until he was first invigorated with his usual Dose being till then like a Trunk or Log wanting spirits almost to turn his body For his Opium was that only which could revive all which about a quarter of an hour after it was taken began to operate and then we discovered in his eyes which before were dull and heavy scarce opening a certain quickness and sparkling and then soon after he was sitted for the work of the day and could labour as others and take a journey on foot of seven or eight miles to Market and return home at night his body was always bound or his belly constipated with the hardness of his excrement and yet he was subject to no other sickness unless his vitiated desire to this Poyson which can nourish no wholesom or healthful body The Turks as I have learned make little other use of Opium than this yet sometimes they will put it into their Camels ears and the nostrils of their Horses when faint and weary wherewith they revive again and soon recover their strength and force to travel The Vizier having thus passed some days of Entertainment at Scio entred again his Gally and passing through the Streights of the Hellespont arrived at Rodesto where having landed many of his Janisaries and such of the Army as remained with him after a few days continuance he marched to Adrianople where he was received by the Grand Signior with all evidences of satisfaction and entred the City triumphant after the manner of the Turkish Allai The Ceremonies and Complements being past which usually intervene between Great Personages after a long absence the grand Consultation was In what manner to prevent the seditious irruptions of the Souldiery and how to reconcile the Jealousies between the Grand Signior and his Brothers For the former two things were concluded necessary First to divide the Militia of the Janisaries which was immediately executed and eight thousand of them under pretence of Incursions were sent through Moldavia to remain on the Frontiers of Poland Secondly it being observed that most of the Souldiery drank Wine from whence in ancient times arose many Mutinies and Seditions of the Souldiery dangerous to the Ottoman State as namely in the time of Mahomet III. when the Janisaries in the heat of drunkenness entred the Seraglio by force and demanded the Heads of the chief Favourites And as then it was judged the best Expedient to cool the hot brains of the Janisaries to proclaim a Prohibition of Wine at Constantinople and to command upon pain of death That those who had any Wine in their Houses should bring it forth and stave it so now the use of it was universally forbidden in all the parts of the Grand Signiors Dominions and a special Command was sent to all places respectively under the penalty of death and a thousand maledictions cursing Wine as come from Hell and as a Liquor produced by the Devil to ensnare mens souls and inebriate their heads and confound States And so generally was this Prohibition enjoyned that his Majesties Ambassadour at Constantinople with long solicitation and charge obtained licence for his Family and the Merchants there to make Wine but for the Merchants at Smyrna there was more difficulty and this year Wine was not made in their Houses according to custom and not without scruple permitted to be imported from the Greeks Islands and other parts where the Command extended not its force for the Prohibition was to all places where were Moschs or Turks Inhabitants the Villages or Isles where Christians only lived were not included To this Prohibition were added on every Friday Sermons to the People inveighing against Wine and cursing the Drinkers of it in which affair Vanni Efendi the Grand Signiors Preacher was much concerned from whom the Original of this Counsel was judged to proceed And now to please the Reader who perhaps may be curious to know the stile of this Prohibition I have here inserted the Command verbatint as translated out of the Original and directed to the Kadi of Smyrna TO the most persect of the Judges amongst Musulmin or Believers the most worthy amongst those Powers which profess one God the Mine of Vertue and Wisdom the Exemplar of Justice to all People the Inheritor of the Sciences of the Prophets and
present that would not permit him time to perfect all matters with the Ambassadour whom they should assure that at his return with Glory and Victory from the Enterprises in hand those requests should be granted and his promises performed and in the mean time his Nation should remain secure in these Dominions as in former times and the League and Friendship continued and maintained The Ambassadour was strangely surprised at this last Farewel but being a Gentleman of great Morality and Vertue knew no doubt how to bear such a disappointment with an equality of mind agreeable to the greatness of his Soul and therefore with a due resentment of the injury received he returned to Constantinople whilst the Sultan and his Vizier proceeded in their March towards the Confines of Poland But before I enter into a relation of the motives of that War and the success thereof which is the subject of the following Year let us return to the place from whence we have digressed and observe in this Year of Peace and repose of this Empire what the Sultan contrived for security of himself by the death of his Brothers We acquainted you formerly in what manner the Sultan was disappointed in his designs against his Brothers by means of his Mother to whom the Janisaries had committed the care of their safety which she according to her promise had maintained and tendered equally with her own But now the Vizier being returned from the Wars and the most seditions amongst the Janisaries withdrawn from Constantinople it was thought sit to make a new attempt on the Princes still residing in the old Seraglio which was performed with those due preparations and secrecy that it took effect on Sultan Orchan the eldest of the two who in the month of September 1671. dyed by a draught of poyson which was administred to him as a Present from his courteous Brother some say he was strangled and that before he submitted his neck to the Bow-string he killed one of the Executioners with his Hanjarre This Prince was reported by the people to be a comely Person of a strong and robustious body of large and black eyes like Sultan Morat his death was lamented by all and presaged as fatal to the Empire in regard that that very night that he was murthered the Moon suffered a greater Eclipse than it had done for many years before which happening out in this conjuncture was interpreted as ominous and served to increase the maledictions and evil speeches which the Turks in all places cast out upon those who gave this counsel to the Sultan About this time the State of Genoua desirous to change their Officers in Turkie sent a new Resident to Constantinople and a Consul to Smyrna which change was principally obtained at the request of the old Ministers who weary of an employment so tedious without a benefit corresponding to their melancholy life and perceiving their Trade decline before it was arrived to any tolerable state or degree of reputation by the assistance and mediation of friends sollicited their Letters of Revocation For the Trade of Genoua being chiefly founded on hopes of those advantages which they expected from a coarse or base alloy of money did instantly decay so soon as the Turks discovered themselves to be abused by the vast quantities of Temins imported as we have before related after which their profit failing the Consulage consequently decayed which is the only subsistence and encouragement of such Officers as are necessary to reside for the continuance of that Peace which but a few years before they unadvisedly made with the Turk The new Resident had no sooner arrived at Constantinople and considered the poor and mean estate and ill foundation of their Trade the growing charge of the Residency and the great debts thereof that were to devolve upon him from his Predecessour but he perceived into what a Labyrinth of troubles he had ingulfed himself instead of being preferred according to his hopes into a place of Honour and happy retirement In which confusion of thoughts arising one morning before day from his bed and sitting on his Close-stool as the servants of the house report reached at a Towel which being intangled within the Lock of a Carbine that hanged always charged near his bed unfortunately drew the Trigger too hard which with that gave fire and shot the poor Gentleman into the belly with a brace of Bullets of which being mortally wounded after Confession and some Prayers in a few hours he passed to another life unhappy mischance if it may be called a chance for I have understood from a sober person of that Nation that the anguish of mind which he conceived at the evil condition of his Affairs wrought in him a deepness of melancholy and despair under which languishing some days did at last most miserably lay violent hands upon himself And now it is time to recal to mind the Conspiracy of Count Serini Marquess Frangipani and Count Nadasti Persons of Quality and of great Power in Croatia and Hungary who as we said before had sent their Messengers to the Great Vizier then remaining in the Leagure of Candia with overtures of submission to the Ottoman Power It was strange News to the World to hear that the House of Serini should abandon the Christian Party and those renowned Defenders of their Country should apostatize though not from Christianity yet from that Cause and Liberty which their Ancestors and themselves had defended with Blood Treasure Valour and Constancy But dissentions and animosities sown by Satan the Enemy of the Christian Church did strangely corrupt the minds of those famous Persons and raise in them a Spirit resolved to avenge the neglect and injuries put upon them by the Ministers of the Imperial Court though at the expence and hazard of their fortunes and lives and ruine and shipwrack of their Honour and Consciences For the neglects and affronts undeservedly cast on Nicholas Serini during the late War as before related and the contempt and scorn put on the Croatian and Hungarian Nobility was supposed to have fired the hot and ambitious Spirits of these Persons who could more easily endure the slavery of the Turkish yoke than condescend to the Government and prevalency of a contrary Party Wherefore in prosecution of their design being resolved to submit to the Turk they dispatched two Gentlemen to the Ottoman Court who arrived at Adrianople the 11 th of February 167 demanding the protection of the Sultan for which they promised a Tribute of thirty Purses or fifteen thousand Dollars every year for those Lands they held in Croatia To make Answer hereunto a Divan or Council was called in which were weighed all the Arguments and Reasons on one side and the other The Muftee opposed their receiving into protection as being against the Capitulations and Agreement so lately concluded with the Emperour wherein the receiving or abetting of Rebels is expresly forbidden and provided against by