Page images
PDF
EPUB

Heg.1125.

J.C. 1713. him fpeak with the greater boldness. The pretended officer of the janiffaries faid to Villelongue: "Christian, be affured that the fultan, my mafter, " has the foul of an emperor; and that thy king " of Sweden, if he has reafon on his fide, fhall "obtain justice." Villelongue was foon fet at liberty; and, in a few weeks after, a fudden change took place in the feraglio, which the Swedes attributed to this conference alone. The mufti was depofed; the khan of the Tartars was banished to Rhodes; and the ferafkier bafhaw of Bender was confined in one of the ifles of the Archipelago.

< The Ottoman Porte is fo fubject to these revolutions, that it is hard to fay whether the fultan really meant to gratify the king of Sweden by thefe facrifices. From the treatment which that prince received, it cannot furely be inferred that the Porte had any great inclination to oblige him. The favorite, Ali Coumourgi, was fufpected of having brought about all these changes, in order to serve his own particular views. The khan of the Tartars and the ferafkier of Bender were faid to have been banished for giving the king of Sweden the twelve hundred purfes, in contradiction to the express orders of the grand feignior. Coumourgi raised to the throne of Tartary the brother of the depofed khan, a young man of his own age, who had little regard for his brother, and upon whom the favorite depended greatly in profecuting the wars he had already planned.

With respect to the grand vizier Juffuf, he was J.C. 1713. Beg. 1125. not depofed 'till fome weeks after; and the title of prime minifter was bestowed on Solyman bafhaw. Truth obliges me to declare, that Mr. Villelongue and several Swedes affured me, that all these great revolutions at the Porte were entirely owing to the letter which was prefented to the fultan in the king's name; whereas the marquis of Fierville is of a quite contrary opinion.

I have fometimes found the like contradictions in fuch papers as have been fubmitted to my perufal. In all these cafes, it is the duty of a hiftorian honestly to relate the plain matter of fact, without endeavouring to dive into the motives; and to confine himself to the relation of what he does know, instead of indulging his fancy in vague conjectures about what he does not know.

Meanwhile Charles XII. was conducted to the little caftle of Demirtafh, in the neighbourhood of Adrianople. An innumerable multitude had crowded to this place to fee his majesty arrive, who was carried from his chariot to the caftle on a fofa; but Charles, in order to conceal himself from the view of the populace, put a cufhion upon his head.

• The Porte was strongly folicited to allow him to refide at Demotica. Coumourgi said to the grand vizier Solyman: "Go and tell the king "of Sweden, that he may ftay at Demotica all "his life long, if he pleases; but I will answer "for him, that, in lefs than a year, he will want Dd2

VOL. IV.

"to

[ocr errors]

J.C.1713. to be gone of his own accord.
Take care,
Heg.1125. " however, not to give him any money."

A common failor grand vizier.

Thus was the king conveyed to the little town of Demotica, where the Porte allotted him a confiderable quantity of provisions for himself and his retinue; but all the money they would grant him was three guineas a day, to buy pork and wine, two kinds of provifions which the Turks never furnish to others. The allowance of fixty guineas a day, which he had enjoyed at Bender, was entirely withdrawn.

с

Hardly had he reached Demotica with his little court, when the grand vizier Solyman was depofed, and his place filled by Ibrahim Molla, a man of a high spirit, of great courage, and unpolished manners. It may not be amifs to give a short sketch of his hiftory, that fo the reader may be the better acquainted with the characters of all thofe viceroys of the Ottoman empire upon whom the fortune of Charles fo long depended.

'He had been a common failor 'till the acceffion of Achmet III. This emperor frequently disguised himself in the habit of a private man, of a priest, or a dervis, and slipped into the coffee-houses and other public places of Conftantinople, to hear what the people faid of him, and what were their opinions concerning the affairs of ftate. One day he overheard this Molla complaining that the Turkish fhips never took any prizes, and fwearing, that, if he were captain of a fhip, he would never enter the port of Conftan

tinople

In

Heg.1125.

tinople without bringing fome veffel of the Infidels J.C.1713. along with him. Next day, the grand feignior ordered the command of a fhip to be given him, and that he should be fent on a cruize. The new captain returned in a few days, with a Maltese bark and a galliot of Genoa. In two years time he was appointed captain-general of the navy, and at last grand vizier. As foon as he had attained his new poft, he thought he could easily dispense with the intereft of the favorite. order to render himself the more neceffary, he formed a scheme for beginning a war against the Ruffians; and with this view pitched a tent not far from the place where the king of Sweden refided. 'He invited his Majefty to come and fee him, with the new khan of the Tartars, and the French This failor ambaffador. The king, whofe pride rofe with the king to his misfortunes, considered it as a most intolerable affront for a fubject to fend him an invitation. He ordered his chancellor Mullern to go in his place; and, left the Turks fhould not pay him Charles, that refpect which was due to his royal perfon, or health, oblige him to condefcend to any thing beneath bed ten his dignity, Charles, who was ever in extremes, took to his bed, which he refolved not to leave during his abode at Demotica. This refolution he kept for ten months, under pretence of ficknefs; chancellor Mullern, Grothufen, and colonel Dubens, being the only perfons that were admitted to his table. They had none of the conveniencies with which the Franks are ufually provided:

fends to

come and speak to

him.

tho'ingood

keeps his

months.

J.C. 1713. provided: all thefe they had loft at Bender; Heg.1125. confequently it could not be expected that their meals were ferved with much pomp or elegance. In effect, they were obliged to serve themselves; and during the whole time, chancellor Mullern was cook in ordinary.

'Whilft Charles XII. was thus paffing his time in bed, he received the disagreeable news of the I.C. 1714. defolation of all his provinces that lay without Heg.1126. the limits of Sweden.

[ocr errors]

'Pomerania, all but Stralfund, the ifle of Rugen, and fome neighbouring places, being left defenceless, became a prey to the allies, and fell into the hands of the king of Pruffia. Bremen was filled with Danish garrifons. At the fame time the Ruffians over-ran Finland, and beat the Swedes, who, being now difperfed, and inferior in point of number, began to lose that fuperiority over their enemies which they had poffeffed at the commencement of the war.

To complete the misfortunes of Sweden, the king refolved to stay at Demotica, and still flattered himself with the delufive hopes of obtaining affiftance from the Turks, in whom he ought no longer to have repofed any confidence.

Ibrahim Molla, that bold vizier who had been fo obftinately bent on a war with the Ruffians, in oppofition to the favorite, was ftrangled in one of the paffages of the feraglio.

The place of vizier was become fo dangerous, that no one would venture to accept of it; and

of

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »