bashaw of the bench, and gave him one of his J.C. 1702. Heg.1114. fifters in marriage. When feveral months had confolidated his power, he confulted with his brother-in-law on the means to punish the con"spirators, in order to take from the great officers of the Porte in future the temptation of depofing their fovereign.

He depofes

and the

profcribes

put him

throne.

He firft, under different pretexts, difperfed all J.C.1703. Heg.1115. the odas of janiffaries and fpahis. Caracach Mehemet, that officer of the jebeggis who had been the vizier the foul of the confpiracy, without having ever mufti, and confented to be invested with any of the prin- thofe who cipal charges, for fear of being facrificed in the on the end, was the dupe of his own policy, for he was the first that was punifhed. Achmet, in order to take from him all miftruft and to flatter him in his own way, had made him bafhaw of one-tail, or fangiac, promifing to advance him by degrees. He was fent to the cherif of Mecca with the caftan and fword, which every new fultan always fends, on his acceffion, to this phantom of a tributary prince. Caracach Mehemet on his return was fecretly ftrangled in Aleppo. The day after the receipt of the news of this execution, the aga of the janffaries was fent for to the feraglio to be appointed, as they faid, captain bafhaw. Mezzomorto was lately dead. The aga of the janiffaries disappeared, without any one's knowing, for feveral weeks, what was become of him. It was at length rumoured, that he had been thrown into the fea by night. A little after, the grand

VOL. IV.

J.C.1703. grand vizier Dorojan loft his place: Achmet was Heg.1115. willing to leave him his life, as he had not been the author of the fedition, and could be reproached only with having yielded to the torrent. Doro

new vizier,

jan was banished to Lepanto with a pension of Affan, the three hundred afpers a day. Affan received the is the au- feals of the empire from the hands of the dethefe pro- pofed grand vizier. This new prime minister fcriptions. fhed the blood of the confpirators, without taking

thor of

any other precaution than to have all the executions made in the towns where he had dispersed them. Affan advised the grand feignior to depose the mufti, and he told this chief of the law, that after the example which the confpirators had given of the mufti Fezula, he, the new mufti, who had fo little pretenfion to that dignity, fhould bless the clemency of the monarch, who was pleased to leave him his life.

The news of thefe repeated executions, moft of which were made by surprise, filled all those with terror who were confcious of being guilty, and even those who were not fo. However, as none of the foldiers who then compofed the garrison of Conftantinople had been concerned in the confpiracy, they had no thoughts of preferving themselves from a danger which did not threaten them. The foldiers who had been diftributed in the other towns found themselves in too small a number for it to be poffible for them to form another confpiracy. The number of the profcribed has been estimated at fourteen thou

fand.

leg.1115.

occafion

vizier Af.

pofed and

fhaw to

Cairo.

fand. For fix months there appeared lifts of fol- J.C. 1703. diers and officers ftrangled or thrown into the fea. This fanguinary vizier would at length have on what excited by fo many cruelties the infurrection the grand which he was defirous of quelling, if a domeftic fan is de quarrel had not soon removed him from the head fent baof administration. We have faid that he was Grand brother-in-law to the fultan, and it has been obferved in the courfe of this hiftory that the princeffes of the Ottoman blood, more happy than the other Mahometan women, enjoy in their houses a liberty and even an authority, which they sometimes abuse. Aiefa, the only wife of the grand vizier, as the husband of the princeffes are not permitted, like other Muffulmen, to have a plurality of wives, took a liking to her spouse's kiaia, whom fome preffing affairs drew to the prime minister's palace. The princess, who had feen him by chance in Affan's apartment, enticed him into the women's quarter, contrary to the law of the Alcoran and the manners of the Turks, who think that a woman cannot without a crime let her face be seen by any other man than her husband, and that two perfons of different fexes cannot be innocently alone together for a moment. Any other Mahometan woman than a princefs would have been liable to a rigorous chaftisement on the fufpicion of the least of these crimes; but the hufband of Aiefa had no coercive authority over his wife. The little poniard fet with diamonds which fhe wore at her girdle was her fafeguard.

VOL. IV.

O 2

J.C. 1703. fafeguard. As this restraint rendered the hufHeg.1115. band's jealoufy more cruel, he fatisfied his vengeance on the man whom he believed the cause of his difhonor. The unfortunate kiaia was feized as he came out of Aiefa's apartment, and the grand vizier had him ftrangled immediately, without diffembling the cause of his punishment. The princess, who had a great deal of influence over the fultan her brother, ran immediately to the feraglio, and complained bitterly of the unjust death of the kiaia, and the disgrace which it threw on her. Her complaints were not without effect; and her husband, though fuch a favorite with the grand feignior, was ftripped of the viziership and fent bafhaw to Grand Cairo. The princefs was too much enraged to follow Affan into that province; fhe remained in her palace at Conftantinople free from reftraint.

Achmet III. gave the feals of the empire to a bafhaw of the bench, called Caia Lili, who had been fome time caimacan of Conftantinople in the absence of the court, and whose administration the emperor had heard praised by feveral perfons in the excurfions which he often made through the streets of Conftantinople, disguised fometimes like a janiffary, fometimes a levanti, and at other times an effendi of the lowest order. This Caia for, who Lili hated the Chriftians greatly when he was Chriftians, caimacan; he had endeavoured to oblige them infult the to wear only clothes of a courfe ftuff with a par

His fuccef

hates the

attempts to

French

ambaffa ticular mark, and had feverely fined those who

dor.

had

had dared infringe this hard law.

This was con- J.C.1703. Heg.1115. fidered as a great merit by the devout Muffulmen, and, to say the truth, was the only one of the new grand vizier. His incapacity in the first place of the empire was glaring to a degree; and he enjoyed it only three months. During this short administration he had a difference with Mr. Deferiolles, the French ambaffador, in which Caia Lili manifefted his hatred against the Chriftians, and the French minifter courageoufly fupported the dignity of his character and the honor of his nation.

Mr. Deferiolles, having received news of the birth of the duke of Brittany, the eldest fon of the duke of Burgundy, a child that lived about two years, thought he ought to celebrate this event with magnificence. He invited all the French of any confideration at Pera, and the ambaffadors of the different powers, to a fumptuous entertainment which lafted a day and a night. In the evening, all the courts of the French palace being illuminated, the light was feen at a distance. The novelty drew a great many to look at it. The grand vizier, either to mortify the French, or that he was afraid of a fire, sent a capiggi pachi to tell Mr. Deferiolles to put out his illumination. The ambaffador answered, that he was celebrating the birth of the prefumptive heir to the crown of France, and that in confequence he could not too much manifeft his joy; that as to the reft, he had no orders to receive

but