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J.C. 1703. but from the king his mafter, and that he was Heg.1115. aftonished the minifter of another power fhould pretend to fend him any. On this refufal, there was a fresh meffage from the grand vizier, which had the fame answer from Mr. Deferiolles. At laft Caia Lili fent the capiggi pachi with feveral of his men to repeat his orders. The capiggi pachi was ordered to declare to Mr. Deferiolles, that, if he did not obey immediately, the janiffaries fhould enter the French palace to extinguish the illumination by force. The capiggi pachi was greatly embarraffed with this commiffion; however, he refolved to execute it with all the difcretion which the circumftances would admit Firmness of. This menace, already foftened by the officer baffador. who carried it, was ftill more fo by the druggerman who rendered it to the ambaffador in his native tongue. However, Mr. Deferiolles comprehended the fort of danger which he ran, and taking his measures immediately, he said to the capiggi pachi and those who accompanied him : "You are welcome, you fhall join in our joy; "I will conduct you every where myself, and "you fhall foon be convinced that the alarms of "the grand vizier are without foundation. An "illumination cannot fet a ftone edifice on fire, "and my palace is at a distance from all the "wooden houfes of the fuburbs." The ambaffador immediately ordered the great door to be fhut, and that all the Frenchmen fhould take their arms, as they had done in the morning at

the

the finging of Te Deum, in order, as he faid, to J.C. 1703.
Heg.1115-
fhew the capiggis how graceful his countrymen
were under arms, and how well they knew the
ufe of them. Mr. Deferiolles then returned to
the foreign ambaffadors, and told them, that he
had asked their company to honor his nation by
partaking of his joy; but that it was neither
feemly nor just to make them fhare the dangers
which this circumstance might occasion, and that
therefore he earnestly intreated their excellencies
to withdraw by a back door which he would have:
opened to them. As thefe minifters feemed un-
willing to retire and leave him in this dilemma,
the French ambaffador obferved, that it was he
alone who had to fupport the honor of his cha-
racter; that they might be blamed if they risked
theirs, the quarrel abfolutely concerning only the
French, and the other nations having no part in
the infult. On this, the foreign minifters took
their leave. When they were gone, Mr. Defe-
riolles made those who were under arms, to the
number of more than five hundred, perform
some military evolutions, and particularly to fire
feveral volleys, which were very diftinctly heard
out of the palace. He caufed a table to be
prepared for the capiggis, and had plenty of
refreshments ferved up to them. Neverthe-
lefs the illumination ftill continued.
The ca-

piggi pachi and his men vainly endeavoured to
retire; but the ambaffador, under pretence of
being very earneft to do them the honors of his

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J.C. 1703 entertainment, declared, that they should not Heg.1115. leave his palace 'till day-light, when the fun fhould eclipfe the illumination; that then he would beg the capiggi pachi to go and affure the grand vizier that there had not been the least danger of fire. The whole night was paffed in expectation of a catastrophe that never happened. The grand vizier, who was unwilling without doubt to expose the officers whom he had imprudently fent into the palace, and who moreover respected Lewis XIV. and the firmnefs of his ambaffador, diffembled and Mr. Deferiolles, who had at first threatened to complain to his court of the behaviour of the prime minifter, gave a faithful account of his conduct in this delicate affair.

If the French had expected fome fatisfaction for this infraction of the law of nations, Achmet III. would have fcarcely left them the time to demand it; for the grand vizier was depofed a The grand few days after the entertainment given by the depofed. ambaffador. This man, whom the favor of the

vizier is

people had raised to the highest dignity in the empire, was depofed at the end of three months by the general clamour. The faults which he was continually committing had put Conftantinople into confufion. The promp justice which is rendered to individuals in the divan, no longer confifted but in arbitrary decifions founded in caprice, and not in equity. Caia Lili was deprived of the feals and fent into exile in an island

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of the Archipelago. In the first year of the reign J.C. 1703. of Achmet, we have feen a vizier depofed by a love intrigue. A violent paffion, in which he was thwarted, was the cause of his choosing the third, who did not feem formed for governing. It is neceffary to take the circumftances of this Reafons affair a little higher. About the middle of the for apreign of Muftapha II. Achmet, who enjoyed in Mehemet the feraglio more liberty than the brothers of the for. reigning emperor had ever had before, faw with the valid fultanefs, who was his mother as well as Mustapha's, a young flave whofe elegant form and pleasing voice charmed him. He foon grew violently in love with her, and had no great difficulty to get thofe charming features unveiled which he already adored without having feen. In a place where the women are so strictly watched, and where the conduct of the princes is fo minutely obferved, the intrigue of Achmet and the young flave could not fail of being foon difcovered. As foon as the valid fultanefs was informed of it, fhe was very uneafy for the confequences. Nothing lefs than both their lives was at ftake. For much smaller faults girls of the feraglio had been thrown into the fea inclofed in leather facks; and fince the Ottoman emperors kept their brothers and children in the feraglio, they had never let them come near women capable of having children. Curdifca (that was the name of the valid fuitanefs) had an affection for the two culprits. She was well convinced

VOL. IV.

P

J.C. 1703 vinced that there was not an inftant to be loft to Heg.1115. separate them. The fame day the young flave, called Sarai, was married to the fon of the first physician, and the valid fultaness gave her a confiderable portion. This intelligence drove prince Achmet to defpair; he fent for the first physician, and feverely menaced him if his fon fhould ever dare confider Sarai as his wife. The anger of a prince of the blood royal is not of any very great confequence in the Ottoman empire; but the provident phyfician, who knew how much all the Orders of the empire were already diffatisfied with the mufti Fezula and the weaknefs of Muftapha II. foresaw that a revolution was not very diftant, and that the prince, who for the moment was the leaft to be feared of all mankind, would be foon perhaps the most terrible enemy that a man could have. He advised his fon to receive with honor the wife that he could not refuse without expofing himself to a prefent difgrace, but to treat her always as his fifter. Achmet, as we have seen, became emperor fome years after. His first attention was to get himself confirmed on the throne. We have faid that he was obliged to banish the valid fultanefs; but when he thought he had fecured his power by the execution of those who had procured it him, he recalled his mother, and fent in fearch of the young flave, whom he ftill loved. Nuhé ef fendi, her husband, had removed from Conftantinople with her, in hopes that the cares of the

throne,

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