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J.C. 1713. the feraskier of Bender, he asks a thousand Heg.1125.

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"purfes more, and refuses to depart, under pretence that the escort is too small, whereas, in "fact, it is but too large to pass through the << country of a friend.

"I ask you then, whether it be a violation of the laws of hofpitality to fend back this prince? and whether foreign powers ought to accuse "me of cruelty and injuftice, in cafe I fhould be obliged to compel him to depart ??'

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• All the members of the divan answered, that fuch a conduct would be confiftent with the stricteft rules of justice.

The mufti declared, that Muffulmen were not bound to fhew any hofpitality to infidels, and much less to the ungrateful; and he gave his fetfa, a kind of mandate which commonly accompanies the important orders of the grand feignior. These fetfas are revered as oracles, though the perfons by whom they are given are as much flaves to the fultan as any others.

• The order and the fetfa were carried to Bender by the bouyouk imraour, grand master of the horfe, and a chiau pachi, first usher. The bafhaw of Bender received the order at the lodgings of the khan of Tartary, from whence he immediately repaired to Varnitza, to afk the king whether he would depart in a friendly manner, or lay him under the neceffity of executing the fultan's orders.

< Charles

His rage.

- Charles XII. being thus menaced, could not J.C. 1713 Heg.1125. reftrain his paffion." Obey thy mafter if thou "dare," fays he to the bafhaw," and leave my "prefence immediately." The bafhaw, fired with indignation, returned at full gallop, contrary to the common custom of the Turks; and meeting Fabricius by the way, he called out to him, without halting: "The king will not liften to rea

fon; thou wilt fee ftrange things presently." The fame day he difcontinued the supply of the king's provifions, and removed the guard of janiffaries. He caufed intimation to be made to the Poles and Coffacks at Varnitza, that if they had a mind to have any provifions, they must quit the king of Sweden's camp, repair to Bender, and put themselves under the protection of the Porte. Thefe orders were readily obeyed by all, and the king was left without any other attendants than the officers of his houfhold aad three hundred Swedish foldiers, to make head against twenty thousand Tartars, and fix thousand Turks.

There was now no provifion in the camp, either for man or horfe. The king ordered twenty of the fine Arabian horfes, which had been fent him by the grand feignior, to be shot without the camp, adding: "I will have none "of their provifions nor their horses." This was an excellent feast to the Tartars, who, as all the world knows, think horfe flesh delicious fare. Meanwhile the Turks and Tartars invested the king's little camp on all fides.

• Charles,

J.C. 1713.
Heg.1125.

He refolves, with

a few fervants, to

fight an army.

< Charles, without the leaft difcompofure, ordered his three hundred Swedes to raise regular intrenchments, in which work he himself affifted; as did likewife his chancellor, his treasurer, his fecretaries, his valets de chambre, and all his fervants. Some barricaded the windows, and others fastened beams behind the doors, in the form of buttreffes.

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After the houfe was fufficiently barricaded, and the king had ridden round his pretended fortifications, he fat down to chefs with his favorite Grothufen, with as much tranquility as if every thing had been perfectly fafe and fecure. Happily Mr. Fabricius, the envoy of Holstein, did not lodge at Varnitza, but at a small village between that and Bender, where Mr. Jeffreys, the English envoy to the king of Sweden, likewife refided. These two minifters, feeing the ftorm ready to burst, undertook the office of mediators between the king and the Turks. The khan, and especially the bafhaw of Bender, who had no inclination to offer any violence to the Swedish monarch, received the offers of these two minifters with great fatisfaction. They had two conferences at Bender, in which the ufher of the feraglio, and the grand mafter of the horse, who had brought the fultan's order and the mufti's fetfa, affifted.

Mr. Fabricius* declared to them, that his Swedish majefty had good reason to believe that

they

The whole of this account is related by Mr. Fabricius in his letters. VOLTAIRE.

they defigned to deliver him up to his enemies J.C.1713. Heg.1125. in Poland. The khan, the bafhaw, and all the reft, fwore by their heads and called God to witnefs, that they detefted fuch a horrible piece of treachery; and that they would shed the last drop of their blood, rather than fuffer even the least disrespect to be fhewn to the king in Poland; adding, that they had in their hands the Ruffian and Polish ambaffadors, whofe lives fhould be answerable for any affront that should be offered to the king of Sweden. In fine, they complained bitterly that the king fhould entertain fuch injurious fufpicions of those who had received and treated him with fo much humanity and politenefs.

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tate.

Though oaths are frequently the language of treachery, Fabricius could not help being convinced of their fincerity. He thought he could discern in their proteftations such an air of veracity as falfhood can, at beft, but imperfectly imiHe was fenfible there had been a fecret correspondence between the khan of Tartary and Augustus; but he was firmly persuaded that the only end of their negotiation was to oblige Charles XII. to quit the dominions of the grand feignior. Whether Fabricius was deceived or not, he affured them he would reprefent to the king, the injuftice of his fufpicions. "But," adds he, "do you intend to compel him to depart?" "Yes," says the bashaw, "for fuch are the orders of our

mafter." He then intreated them to confider

feriously

J.C.1713. feriously whether that order implied that they Heg.1125. fhould fhed the blood of a crowned head, "Yes,"

replies the khan, in a paffion," if that crowned "head difobey the grand feignior in his own "dominions.

However, every thing being ready for the affault, the death of Charles XII. feemed inevitable. But as the fultan had not given them pofitive orders to kill him, in cafe of refiftance, the bashaw prevailed upon the khan to let him dispatch an exprefs to Adrianople, where the grand feignior then refided, to receive the last orders of his highness.

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Mr. Jeffreys and Mr. Fabricius having procured this fhort refpite, haftened to acquaint the king with it. They came with all the eagerness of those who bring good news; but were received very coldly. He called them unfolicited mediators, and ftill perfifted in the belief that the fultan's orders and the mufti's fetfa were both forged, inasmuch as they had fent to the Porte for fresh orders.

The English minifter retired with a firm refolution to interfere no more in the affairs of a prince fo very obftinate and inflexible. Mr. Fabricius, beloved by the king, and more accuftomed to his humour than the English minifter, remained with him, and earnestly entreated him not to hazard fo precious a life on fuch an unneceffary occafion.

• For

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