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J.C.1700. been fo much wanted, and which they had been

Heg.1111,

The em. peror is deceived by a fpy

that he

fends to the frontiers of Ruffia.

& 1112. obliged to purchase at fo dear a rate; the grand feignior refolved to send a fpy into Crimean Tartary and to the confines of Ruffia, in order to affure himself of the facts. He chofe for this delicate commiffion Kibleli, his master of the horse, who was to vifit, without any public gharacter, and without a retinue, all the czar's new fortreffes, examine the levies of troops, the ftores, in fhort, to render an exact account of every thing that was obvious, and endeavour to penetrate by addrefs and money the intentions of the court of Ruffia. This Kibleli was nephew by his mother's fide to the grand vizier; but the prince, who had not confulted the minifter on the choice which he had made of the mafter of the horfe, knew nothing of it. The envoy, or rather fpy, of the Porte, agreed fecretly with his uncle, before he fet out, that they would concert together on his return what account he fhould give the emperor. He faw in fact that veffels were building at a great expence in two ports of Ruffia, Voronefchi and Afoph; that feveral places had been fortified on the other fide of the Borifthenes; that the cataracts of this river were rectified, and that by great labour the navigation of it was made quite free; that the Ruffians threatened Turkey aloud; and that the last peace had given great hopes and fpirits to the enemies of the Porte. Kibleli, on his return to Conftantinople, communicated what he had learned to

the

the grand vizier and the mufti, who were both J.C.1700. Heg.1111 united in inclination, opinion, and intereft. & 1112. Thefe timid old men thought that if they kept the emperor in the dark, all would go right. They dictated to Kibleli an account to give the grand feignior, quite different from that which they had just heard. He was to tell the prince, that the fortifications of the places on the Borifthenes, which had been begun during the war, had been ftopt as foon as the news of the truce had been received; that the Ruffians were building veffels for commerce only; and that the czar was preparing an embaffy to the Porte to confirm the peace between the two nations. Muftapha, whom the battle of Zenta and fo many other unfortunate events had given a diflike to war, eafily believed what he wished. He wrote thundering letters to the khan of the Tartars, with the tone which a powerful prince makes ufe of to a vaffal removeable at will, reproaching him with having deceived him. The prince of the Tartars replied with firmness, that the envoy of Muftapha was the fole deceiver; he perfifted in every thing that he had already faid, adding, that the evil grew worse and worse, and that perhaps it would be too late to remedy it when it fhould be defired. This letter was carried to the emperor by an officer of the feraglio, who was no friend to the grand vizier. The khan had taken precautions to prevent this new advice from falling into hands interested in fuppreffing it. Kibleli, being

VOL. IV.

L

fent

Heg,111,

& 1112.

J.C. 170c. fent for again, would fain maintain what he had firft advanced; but being clofely preffed by the questions of the monarch, he varied on fome circumftances; and as he was threatened to have the truth wrested from his mouth by the torture, which was prepared before him, he fell on his knees to the fultan, and confeffed that the grand vizier, his uncle, had forced him to disguise the truth to his highnefs. After having agreed to all that the khan of the Tartars had faid, he was conducted to the Seven Towers, where a few days. is punish after he was ftrangled. The mufti, whom Kibemperor leli had not accufed, protected the grand vizier grand vi his friend: his life was not taken; he got off with the loss of the feals and part of his fortune; for the chief of the law obtained, that he should be left wherewithal to live quietly in a private ftate; but grief, or natural infirmities, put an end to his days two months after his depofition.

This fpy

ed, and the

deposes the

zier.

J.C.1701.

The mufti, who, fince Muftapha had been Heg.1113. difgufted with war, had acquired a great afcendency over his mafter, pointed out to him for grand vizier Daltaban, who, being bafhaw of grand vi- Bofnia, had had the glory of ftopping prince Eugene, and who had been fince fent to Bagdad

Daltaban

is made

zier.

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to keep the Arabians in order, because he had formerly protected the caravans in their way to Mecca. This was the only baihaw who had acquired any reputation in the laft war; and his firft exploits in Afia had gotten him such a degree

of

leg.11.13.

1-e blames

of Carlo

of favor, that the efforts of feveral enemies had J.C.1791. only increafed his credit. On his arrival at Adrianople, where he received the feals of the the peace empire, he demanded of Rami reis effendi and witz, and Mauro Cordato an account of the peace which quarrels they had concluded as plenipotentiaries, and the mufti. 'facrifices that they had made to gain it. When

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he learned that the Porte had given up all Tran fylvania, and every thing that it poffeffed in Hungary; that it had loft Kaminieck, that bulwark fo neceffary and fecure on the fide of Poland; and that a great part of the country of which he had been bafhaw was reduced under the power of the Giaurs, he could not difguife his indignation, and repeated feveral times to the two plenipotentiaries, that they had betrayed the empire. Though the mufti, who had juft raised him to the dignity of grand vizier, had confirmed this peace by a fetfa, Daltaban boldly declared to the grand feignior and to the mufti himself, that the Ottoman empire could not be established on a solid basis 'till this fhameful treaty were broken. The Muffulman law, oppofed it; the Alcoran abfolutely forbids the breaking of an engagement, even with the Giaurs, unless they have broken it firft. Now both the Poles and Auftrians had faithfully executed all the articles, and there was no pretext for freeing the empire from the difgrace of this peace. The only way the grand vizier could think of was to pretend that the minifters, fent to Carlowitz, had exL 2 ceeded

VOL. IV.

with the

Heg.1113.

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J.C.1701 ceeded their powers, to have them punished in confequence, and to declare, after their chastisement, that a treaty made without fufficient powers was void. The first of these ambaffadors, in quality of effendi, could not be put to death. The privileges of the clergy had always been greatly refpected in this defpotic country. When they want to put an effendi to death, means muft be found to get him out of the ulema, where he is fure to find protection. The grand vizier, in order to conform to the law, and fatisfy his wifh, proposed to the fultan to give Rami a bashawcy; this promotion drew the reis effendi out of the ulema, and, by giving him an almost abfolute authority over a province, deprived him of his own fafety. The mufti, whofe creature Rami was, perceived the fnare; being himself interested in countenancing the peace, he obtained that Rami, inftead of being a bafhaw of one-tail in fome petty Afiatic province, which would remove him from the Porte and expofe him to lofe his life at the pleasure of the grand vizier, should be a bafhaw of the bench or of three-tails, a member of the divan, without any particular bafhawcy that should require his refidence from court. Daltaban clearly perceived, that another interest than his had opened the entrance of the prince's council to the man whom he had meant to raise only to deftroy. He complained highly of the proceedings of the mufti, and for the fecond time a grand vizier was feen speak to the

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