out and in danger also to awake his Enemies so far that all Christian Princes might again joyn in a League which is the only thing he fears To avoid therefore this when Christendom is at Peace does he commonly begin a War with Persia and if afterwards differences break out he leaves then that usually fruitless Enterprize to gain upon them who were they united would Conquer more in Five years then ever he yet got in Fifty I cannot think this Royal Sir altogether a Christian Bravado but that which may be probably imagined if I look upon what the glorious Venetians themselves with a small Number have done or consider how destitute of Men and Strong Places all his Provinces are or lastly reflect upon the wideness of his Dominions on this Sea so that 't were impossible to defend them all were they ordinarily populous but they are not so as I said and besides most of the people there are also Christians I cannot estimate his Strength by what it is in Hungary and thereabouts for those Frontiers being but comparatively little he can defend them with his prime Men and therefore if ever his ruine be by force he must be plaid with on that side only and attaqu'd on this Here his Enemies may pick and chuse and if by chance one Country be found well mann'd the Wind without charge in 24 hours will carry them to another which a hundred to one will yield without resistance Doubtless he is but weak as may be seen by his late utmost endeavour against the Emperour And yet his seeming Greatness strikes such terrors in every body neer him that all now allow there is no medium left but either Christianity must destroy this Antichrist or he it that is in their Earthly Rule and Dominion The present State then of the Venetian Affairs is The City of Candie is in a good condition the Island lost in Dalmatia and the Sea they have had the better and yet the Turk expects his ends And this is a Misfortune the Republique has That their nearest Neighbours think they want no help And thus may they be tired out if not beaten at last to the infinite loss of Christendom Gracious Sir To conclude No War as hitherto was ever more extravagant then this for in it the Republique has lost a Kingdom and yet are still Victorious And though the Turks be Conquerors the World may nevertheless see That they are no longer Invincible Venice Novemb. 14. 1665. A Postscript to the Reader ON the 15th of April 1664. the present Generalissimo Andrea Cornaro Embarqu'd himself at Malamocco who civilly received my Resolution of accompanying him into the Levant It was then the expectation of all that much would be done that year since the Turk had drain'd himself to the utmost in his great Preparations against the Emperour But yet the Venetians did nothing wanting what they said they expected and so on the 20th of October following I returned to Venice with Nicolo Cornaro the General of Candie to whom I was particularly obliged for many favours in his Government on the Seas and in the Lazaretto also You must know none comes ever from the East into Italy without keeping a Quarantena which is fourty days Separation to try whether he be infected with the Plague or not and the reason is because they have a received Opinion That the Grand Signiors Dominion is never free from that Pestilential Contagion In the Lazaretto then or place of Sequestration I had time to digest these Observations and this I can assure you Reader that the matter of fact is undoubtedly true since I made use of nothing which was not affirmed by the chiefest Commanders and those of different Nations and Interests Here we had News of the dishonourable Peace made with the Vizier by the Court-party at Vienna which sav'd his Head but brought them little Honour and Reputation for the Christians were not only the death of old Ali Bassa their best Commander with ten thousand Janizaries but put the whole Army into such a consternation that had Montecuculi pursued his advantage it had been the greatest Victory perchance that ever was Never were the Venetians more troubled then at this Accommodation for now their Enemy had no body to divert his Fury and was ready also on the Confines with all manner of Necessaries to fall the next Spring upon Dalmatia Cataro was the place they feared would be first assaulted nor is it so strong but that they might well apprehend a danger Thus stood their Affairs when I took leave of the General for Rome nor did the Senate then think of any thing but defence having quitted all thoughts of regaining the Kingdom of Candie Yet this real occasion of fear at last blew over for the Turkish Army as it were quite mouldred away through the loosness of the Grand Signior having wholly abandoned himself to pleasure Nor did the Vizier's coolness contribute little who was newly escaped from an eminent danger in Hungary and therefore now cautious how to begin a new project seeing his utter ruine must needs accompany the unsuccesfulness of the Action This prime Minister is Son and immediate Successor to the late Vizier a thing not to be parallell'd as I take it in all their Story He is esteem'd a man of Wit and a great pretender to Astrology but no Souldier which though it may well agree with the Constitution of a Christian Government yet never can suit theirs for not to go forward in Conquest with them is assuredly to effeminate their Men and presently to relapse into a far worse condition His being otherwise bred makes him not beloved by the Militia and this is encreased by the hatred they bore his Father for after the Men at Arms had murthered Ibraim the late Emperour upon the Proclaiming of him that now Reigns an Act of Indempnity passed to pardon the numerous Guilty Nevertheless the old Bassa found means by degrees upon other pretences to bring all to execution which thing though by Providence it has half ruined the Empire in scarce leaving one good Officer behind yet the punishing of Regicides has entailed such a Blessing on him that he went not only with gray hairs to the grave but left his Son also Heir to his wonderful Greatness and Power The Venetians having weather'd this Storm and thereby discover'd the incurable Lethargy of the Port resolved to be offensive again and now to provide for the driving them out of the Island The Marquess Villa they appointed General of the Arms who is a Ferrarese by birth and was formerly in the Service of Savoy He was not in the Army during my stay Vert-Miller a Switz having then this Office but now the Affair is recommended to him and in it he has had Success for the Turks are both hindred from expected Supplies and also at present closely Besieg'd in Canea which if the Republique can take as it is verily hoped at Venice no body then doubts of a through Conquest Nor will any thing ever be greater in Story then this That a handful of men perfidiously surprised by the dreadfullest Enemy on earth should yet continue a War more then 20 years and at last send him home naked after so unexpressible a loss both of Blood and Treasure FINIS IMPRIMATUR May 12. 1666. Roger L'Estrange 63 65
well as in personal Valour that they made him Sargente Generale and thereby in the vacancy General of the Arms which Charge also he should have absolutely received had he not died as lately he did of a Feaver in Candie Great Sir It is here to be remembred That the Republick trusts no Gally or Galliasse being of so easie a Conveyance and thereby a bait for a needy Souldier out of the hands of a Noble Venetian who for such a slight thing cannot be imagined to hazard his so considerable Fortunes at home On the other side they never give the Command of the Souldiery to any of their own Gentlemen but all the Officers except some few of their ordinary Subjects from the highest to the lowest are hired Strangers The reason is That finding the Roman Republique which they much imitate was always endangered and in the end ruined by its own Nobilities too much knowledge in War and interest with the Men at Arms they strive to make theirs Statesmen and Overseers leaving the executive part to the Souldiers of Fortune whom Money has made their Servants And moreover by this gathering of Forreigners their People are not lessened few of their own being lost though in an overthrow the number of the Slain be great But 't is not May it please Your Majesty for all this to be thought they blindly leave all to the disposing of Strangers for they reserve the directive Power to themselves and to that end chuse every three years a Captain General commonly a graver Senatour then knowing Souldier To him for the avoiding confusion and Parties like to the old Dictators is given the whole Authority of the Senate He then advises with the Capi di Guerra who are all also Gentlemen viz. the Proveditore the Captain Extraordinary of the Galliasses the like Officer of the Ships with some others and after he has heard their Opinions absolutely determines himself and then the General of the Arms in the best Military Order he conceives executes his Commands and Will In this sort then do they ballance the Ambition of their own in using them to advise and not to act and hereby can they check the insolence of the Souldiers in taking away all direction from them and punishing the least grumbling with a severe Chastisement Thus though in short may be seen the manner of this War which began through the Turks unsatiable avarice of getting Candie and without this 't is certain they can never be quiet in the Levant It is true They have got the Kingdom the Venetians without their Walls having not a foot left yet are the Turks still frustrated in their aims since they have no one Port to winter a Fleet in and on the contrary the Christians have here the same Harbours as formerly for their Navy or Free-booters and more elsewhere then they had before the beginning of the Troubles The advantage the Enemy has now got is hardly yet of greater consequence then the enjoyment of so much Ground for which he has paid besides infinite dishonour and losses at least 400000 Men when as on the side of the Republique there died not a fourth of this though the Clime and Pestilence were great destroyers nor could the tenth of the loss be called their own and proper Subjects After all this stir and purchase at so dear a rate it is a most certain truth The Turks are here now thus weak that a sudden Recruit of 10000 Men would utterly beat them out of the Island All people do therefore wonder why it is not done But some of the Reasons I find for it are these ensuing To get this Supply must be by the Aid of Forreign Princes or by Levies made at their own Charge From Christian Allies the Force now required cannot be expected without Sollicitation and Embassies neither if this would obtain it could it be done without the Turks having notice of it and doubtless thereupon would they send a Supply to their own by which what so many Men at present can twice the number perchance will be scarce then sufficient to perform but more especially if afterwards through some disgusts or by their not being able to do what they came for this friendly Succour should retire the Republique will be left with a stronger Enemy on their hands and so in a worse condition then before If it be expected the Venetians should do it themselves I must answer I verily believe they are not able having run behind as they say so much in the beginning But if at last through private Contributions they could for once make such a Levy yet this their intention would be soon known and most of the same Inconveniences follow And thus if not able to finish the Project the Turks being encreas'd double the number of those that now keep Garrison must be hereafter requisite Nor can it be but hard to maintain new comers since through the poverty of the Publick they are forc'd to shuffle with the few that Serve So much does the exhausted yet cunning State fear over-briskly to engage this lazy Prince lest Anger should raise him to that Life and Fire which by experience his Natural Temper never can The most obvious and easie way now left with this little Supply to regain Candie seems to be when the Barbary Pyrats shall provoke Christendom to punish their Robberies to take that opportunity of sending from their Coast 20 Sail which with a fair Wind in ten days will certainly arrive at the Isle The very sight of such an unexpected Succour will so amaze the Turk that wise men think he will capitulate and be gone but no body doubts of the Success if they come to blows since all his strength here amounts not to 20000 good Men which being in dismay by this unlook'd for help cannot be able to resist the Venetian Army both thus reinforc'd and also assisted by 60000 Natives who emboldened by the new Aid will undoubtedly be up in three days Notwithstanding this they make no question at Constantinople of getting in the end the Place for they well imagine how poor the Publique is and that the report of not being able to keep touch with their Militia has done them such discredit that scarce any now voluntarily come to their Service They know too that the Taxes are heavy on the Venetian Subjects and hope thereby they may be moved through desperation to Rebel it being impossible they think to feed them much longer with the expectation of Peace which hitherto has made them bear their Load with such Quiet and patience Moreover the War as it is now managed costs the Grand Signior little the Island maintaining the Force he hath there and for the present havock at Sea it commonly belongs to private Merchant-men and therefore he resolves to depend upon time which as it brings change so if it proves in the least unfortunate to the Republique he is certainly sure of his ends After this manner does he think
to weary out the Venetians and in fine force them to ask Peace which he resolves not to grant unless it be bought with the surrendring of Candie and its other remaining appendices The Senate being well convinc'd of this a considerable part as the Rich and the Old who neither want or are fit for Preferment wish for an Accommodation on these Terms for fearing the conclusion will be thus they desire betimes to spare their own and Subjects Purses but the Major part are still for War And this is also thought to move them to it 1. First The Gain the Men of Action make by the Trouble For heretofore the Publique Treasury was to a Miracle full and the Nobility poor now on the contrary by the Prizes yearly taken by the advantage of Offices and by often buying Debentures of the Souldiers for 6 per Cent. the Particulars are all rich whilst the Cecca is wholly exhausted and dry 2. The assurance that no Christian Prince will either now quarrel or plot against them And theresore they deem it prudence to be yet in a way of regaining the Kingdom especially while by so doing they protect their dear Terra Firma from the danger it ever lies subject to by the still pretending Successors of the Confederates in the League of Cambray 3. The incertainty how long after this also they shall be yet quiet for 't would be ridiculous by so disadvantageous a loss to purchase Rest when 't is impossible to be assured but the following Month a new pretext of War will be found unless they yield up Zante Cephalonia and Corfu and so in infinitum These are some of the chief Arguments which make them refuse all Treaties of this sort and the rather since by the coolness of the Turk they doubtless may sustain this defensive War with their own yearly Income But they pretend they are in Debt and that 't is not half enough Republiques are always ill Managers of their Money when great and extraordinary Disbursements are made for the Receipts and Payments passing through so many hands of their own every body gets Nor are they yet in fear of punishment if their Thefts exceed not all shame seeing their Relations are their Judges and besides each man knows for the most part himself guilty of what is imputed to his fellow The Venetians had yearly heretofore to the value of 800000 l. English and perchance have half as much more now by their unusual Impositions and to speak truly their indispensible Charges are great for besides the Robberies of Ministers and the numerous Civil Magistrates that draw much they must not be look'd upon as if Candie Dalmatia and the Fleet were the only things of Expence Istria and Friuli which are parts of Italy lie sometimes liable also to the Incursions of the Turk Nor were it prudence in them wholly to disfurnish their Estates in Lombardy which is bounded with so many gaping Princes For their better continuing the War there 's hopes still left that their Subjects will patiently bear the Taxes imposed without Insurrections 'T is the present Custom of the Senate to send for Money with a Complement calling it a Donative to the Towns and Territories belonging as Padua Vicenza Verona c. and then the Chief of these Places raise it as they themselves think fit Now these well know if the War upon necessity should end by reason of their denial to contribute That the Senate being in Peace will no longer entreat them to give this but then force them to pay more both to punish their crime and also to re-fill their drained Coffers against a new occasion For 't would be a folly in them to think ever to quiet the Turk by Concessions To make the Port desist from troubling Christendom is not by yielding but by sending them home with Loss Were therefore the Enemy unkennell'd here he must needs return with great confusion and disgrace For this footing which he has now in the Kingdom is the only thing he can shew for the unspeakable damage that from time to time he has suffer'd yet should he at last master the Place he would not think he has paid too dear seeing by the purchase he quite drives the Christians out of the Levant and let them then be never so strong at Sea without a new Conquest they can only molest and not hurt him for the weather and want will force them back leaving him his desired Rule and Signory Besides with Candie must also fall Zante Cephalonia and perchance Corfu too both the first Places being inconsiderable for strength but of wonderful utility to Christendom as a Recess for their Fleet and abounding in all kind of Plenty If then these Islands be taken Italy must needs be in an ill condition the Turks Navy Harbouring safely so neer with which he can Land in a trice what men he please whensoever he shall think fit to Invade When I arrived here I much admired why the Enemy from the neighbouring Continent did not on a sudden Transport 9 or 10000 Men and thereby possess himself of these places that are weak being a great loss to his Foes and so pertinent for his Designs and Business But I have since found besides the Venetians possibility of preventing there are other causes that wholly divert him from the Enterprize As first Should he make the Surprize now yet he could not accomplish his purpose of setting upon the West For seeing the Infidels declare They are not to encrease their Empire by Victories at Sea they will at no time willingly engage with the Christian Fleet and therefore confess by the overthrows they have had That theirs is at present to Transport Men and Necessaries and not to Fight Now whilst Candie stands and the other Harbours that depend on its resistance if the Turks shall send their Navy to fall on Italy they are sure to be met by ours which they acknowledge will ruine them as often as they are assaulted And thus till they have wholly subdued the Kingdom they can have no safe passage for their Fleet to these Isles let them take what Season of the Year they please Again It thwarts the Turkish Maxim to hazard much without an indispensible necessity in the getting of a place whilst behind there remains something yet to be subdu'd And their ground for it is That undoubtedly believing one day to be Masters of the whole World the method to be used is a progression by degrees and Patience taking first the thing next them and then what borders upon what they got last And by this means they are not only free from an Enemy at their backs and danger in Retreats but have thus lull'd asleep Christianity hitherto as thinking it self yet far enough from danger having lost but one Town more then it had before But should the Grand Signior on a sudden step too forward as when by taking of Otranto he got footing in Italy he is sure to be presently beaten