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are beaten

grade, and

furrenders

Meanwhile the new grand vizier Aftchi Ali J.C. 1717. Heg.1129. received orders to fuccour Belgrade. Whilft prince Eugene was erecting his batteries and cut- The Turks ting off all communication with the town by before Belmeans of his fleet, which was quite mafter of the the place Danube, the grand vizier left Niffa, and advanced to prince Eugene. at the head of a hundred and fifty thousand men. He came and pitched his camp on the heights that furround Belgrade. This army, in which there were a hundred thousand regular troops, a numerous artillery, and the choice of the Tartars and of the timarians, was encamped in the form of an amphitheatre, and presented a most terrible and magnificent fpectacle. Prince Eugene, who would by no means wait for them to come and force him in his lines, refolved to go and offer them battle. Without entering into particulars, which have been mentioned by fo many hiftorians, we fhall content ourselves with faying, that prince Eugene put to flight an army of double the force of his own (for he had left troops to guard his trenches), and that the Turks, notwithstanding their number and the advantage of their situation, abandoned the field of battle, after a fight of eight hours, leaving thirteen thousand dead on the fpot, without counting the wounded, a hundred and thirty-one pieces of cannon, thirty mortars, and their tents pitched, which offered to the victorious army an abundant booty. Prince Eugene, all wounded as he was (for the only fault of this great general was to expofe himself

like

1.C. 1717. like a common foldier), entered the tent of the
Heg.1129.
grand vizier, as he had done after the battle of
Peterwaradin, to return thanks to God, and have
his wound dreffed. He retained this rich pavi-
lion for his fhare, as a trophy of one of the moft
glorious victories that he had ever gained. The
cannon had not yet made any impreffion on the
walls of the town; but the garrifon was fo weak-
ened by famine and terror, that, after the first
affault, the bashaw defired to capitulate, and ob-
tained the honors of war for his garrifon; but
the troops that had been put to flight retired in
confufion into the small towns which border upon
the Save. The confternation was fo general
among the Turks, that the grand vizier, who had
appointed Niffa for the rendezvous of his routed
army, could hardly affemble thirty thousand men
there.

J.C. 1718.

These news, being arrived at Adrianople, conHeg.1130. vinced the fultan and his caimacan Ibrahim of

The Turks

pofals for a

make pro- the neceffity of making a peace at any rate. peace, not- This minifter would fain convince the divan of

withstand.

pofition of

ng the op- it likewife. Having drawn in this affembly a the mufti, ftriking picture of the wretched fituation to which who is de- the Porte was reduced, he gave to understand,

pofed.

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that the grand feignior was determined to give
up the places which the Auftrians had taken; and
that, whatever repugnancy he might have to
leave the barriers of his European dominions in
the hands of his neighbours, he found himself
conftrained to fubmit to circumftances, and to

wait for a more fortunate period to endeavour to J.C. 1718. Heg.1130 recover Belgrade and Temefwar. The mufti, who was better acquainted with the Alcoran than the strength of the empire, declared, that towns confecrated to Iflamifm by a great number of mofques could not, without infringing the law, be left in the hands of the Infidels; and in the heat of his zeal he called God and Mahomet to witness the oppofition which he, the chief of the ulerna, made to this ignominious peace in the name of the whole body of effendis. The caimacan replied to the interpreter of the Alcoran by the Alcoran itself, that neceffity oppofed this law which he wished to enforce, and that Mahomet said in exprefs terms he had never meant to oblige Muffulmen to do impoffibilities. "Demon"ftrate to us this impoffibility then," answered the mufti "when you fhall have proved to us "that there is no money in the public treafury,

or in that of the fultans, or in thofe of the CC mofques: that there are no more true Mufful"men who are willing to enlift under the ftandard " of Mahomet for the fervice of God and the glory " of the prophet, then I will give my fetfa to "authorife this difgraceful treaty." The caimacan, being justly alarmed at the authority which Muffa effendi (that was the name of the mufti) affumed, and the spirit of revolt that he might inftil, not only into the ulema, but even into the people, made his master sensible of the neceffity to depofe this dangerous fanatic. The

mufti

J.C. 1718. mufti was fent for to the feraglio, under pretence Heg.1130. of conferring with the emperor, where he was depofed and fent, with three of the most turbulent of his effendis, to one of the caftles of the Dardanelles. Ibrahim wrote immediately to the grand vizier from the fultan, to enter upon a negotiation with prince Eugene, who was not only generaliffimo of the emperor's armies, but likewise president of his council of war.

The Turks would willingly have separated the caufe of the Germans from that of the Venetians. Though the latter had almost always been as fortunate as their allies, and had taken, this campaign, three places in Albania and feveral veffels in a naval engagement, the Turks would have made a more advantageous peace with each nation feparately; but prince Eugene replied to the first overtures of the grand vizier, that his imperial majefty would not liften to any proposals but conjointly with the republic his ally, to whom the most strict justice should be rendered; that, for the furety of the treaty, the emperor was defirous likewife that Great Britain and Holland fhould be mediators. Thefe conditions, which were no other than might have been expected, no way astonished Achmet III.; but when, by prince Eugene's fecond difpatch, he found that Charles VI., taking advantage of the confternation of the Turks, demanded, not only Belgrade and Temefwar, to which he was already adding new

fortifi

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vizier is

The cai

macan

Ibrahim

feals.

fortifications, but that he would have likewife, J.C. 1713. Heg.1130. as an indemnity for the expences of the war, Bosnia and Servia on the right of the Danube, and Walachia from the river Moldaw to the Niefter, and that the Morea fhould be restored to the Venetians, he refigned himself to the most violent defpair, protefting that he would rather lofe his fceptre, than confent to a peace which would for ever difhonor his reign. As the nego- The grand tiation had thus far been carried on by Aftchi depofed. Ali, the fultan thought that this grand vizier, who had been beaten by prince Eugene with an takes the inferior force, was fo much contemned by his vanquisher, that the latter would never offer any thing but difgraceful conditions whilft he faw him at the head of the empire. The grand vizier received orders at Niffa, where he then was, to deliver up the feals; which the.caimacan Ibrahim was forced to accept. Aftchi Ali thought himself happy to be reduced to a fimple fangiacate at the extremity of Afia; and his fucceffor, having united the ftate of prime minifter to the power and authority which he had enjoyed a long time, fought the means to procure his mafter a lefs difgraceful peace.

Notwithstanding the general difcouragement, the empire was far from being reduced to the laft extremity, as the Germans and the major part of the fubjects of the Porte fuppofed it. Achmet, Riches laid who was a very covetuous prince, had hoarded up reraglio. a great deal of money, which he could not prevail

VOL. IV

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