Heg.1113.

foldiers against the government, and feek the J.C. 1701. support of the army against the emperor and his favorites.

mies of the

against

Meanwhile Rami, who had penetrated the defigns of his enemy, perceived that he must expect to be the victim of the prime minifter, if he did not take advantage of his credit and the time which he had left, to ruin him. The new bafhaw of the bench attached himfelf more than The ene ever to the mufti, confirming him in the opinion vizier cabal that it was the inftruments of the peace of Car- him. lowitz which were aimed at; and that though the dignity of chief of the Muffulman law feemed to fecure his head, the fnares that a grand vizier had in his power to lay, and the esteem which the latter was in with the people, rendered the fituation of his enemies very dangerous, let them be who they would. Mauro Cordato, who had more reason than any one to dread Daltaban, and who was still alive only because the grand vizier wanted to have all the authors of the peace of Carlowitz put to death at the fame time, pretended to have difcovered that the mufti's life was in danger, and that Daltaban intended to entice him to his houfe to have him ftrangled. Improbable as this attempt was, which would only have stirred up the good Muffulmen against the minister, who had the greatest interest to please them; the mufti, who was really invited to an entertainment at the grand vizier's, inftead of going thither, went to the feraglio and in

formed

Heg.1113.

;

J.C. 1701. formed the fultan of the danger which he thought himfelf in. He added, that the man, who did not respect the life of the chief of the law, would foon attempt that of his fovereign; that in the two months which Daltaban had been at the head of adminiftration, he had done nothing but, blame the peace of Carlowitz, (by means of which the empire would foon recover its exhaufted forces,) menace the authors of that neceffary, treaty, and make the people, particularly, the foldiers, contemn and dislike the prince who governed them. Mustapha was but too much accustomed to They pre liften to the mufti Fezula. He no longer beheld Daltaban but as a traitor and an affaffin, and his have him death was inftantly refolved on; but as the vizier strangled. was thought determined on an immediate revolt,

vail on the

grand feig

nior to

a pretext was necessary to draw him to the feraglio.
The person who had fucceeded Rami bafhaw as
reis effendi, fent word to the grand vizier, from
the
emperor, that the prince, having reflected on
the promotion which he had made of Rami to
the dignity of bafhaw of the bench, was of his
opinion, and that he would rather fend Rami
to Babadachi as fangiac, than put a man at
the head of the divan who had not yet paffed
through the first offices of ftate; and that he
must come to the feraglio to confer with the
grand feignior on the catcherif which it would
be requifite to iffue on this occafion. The
grand vizier, who thought he had the confidence
of his mafter, was pleafed with this pretended
change,

.९

change, and repaired to the feraglio immediately. J.C. 1701. Heg.1113. On entering the divan chamber to wait for the chief of the white eunuchs to introduce him to the grand feignior, he found no one in this great room, the doors of which he faw with furprise were guarded by boftangis. After a quarter of an hour, the chiau pachi came and demanded the feals of the empire from him in the name of Muftapha. The prime minifter, without being ruffled, faid that it was effentially neceffary for him to speak to the grand feignior; that he would remit the feals to him voluntarily, and that he was ready to facrifice his life for him, but that his highness ought not to refuse him a moment's converfation. Mustapha would not grant this requeft. As Daltaban perfifted in his demand, the fultan, tranfported with rage, ordered him to be conducted to the place of execution to be beheaded, which they prepared to do. When the grand vizier was on the point of losing his head, the felictar aga came from Mustapha to invite him to purify himself by the abdest before he died, and to tell the grand feignior the fecret which he had at first been defirous of communicating to him alone. Daltaban replied, that he had never begun an important action without performing the abdeft, and that he had done it before he left his own houfe; that his foul was refigned to God, as his body was to the unjuft men who had it in cuftody; that as to the fecret, he did not think he owed any thing more to the tyrant who was

going

Heg.1113.

J.C. 1701. going to take away his life, for having always ferved the ftate better than any of those whom he had employed before him, and for having fought the means to free the Ottoman empire from the difgrace of the peace concluded by poltrons. This anfwer, which was carried immediately to Muftapha, did not fail to stagger him. He ordered the execution to be fufpended. The condemned prifoner was conducted into the inner prison of the feraglio; but the mufti, and Rami bafhaw, who had just been honored with the dignity of grand vizier, comprehending how dangerous it might be to let Daltaban appear before the grand feignior, employed all their addrefs and influence to haften the execution of Execution the minifter. In fact, he was dragged the next prime morning at break of day to the place of execution, and after purifying himself by the abdeft in a marble bafon appropriated to that ufe, he loft his life, invoking Mahomet, and protefting his innocence and the malice of his enemies.

of the

minifter.

of the people.

The cannon of the feraglio, which announced Difcontent this execution to the city and to the troops, threw both into a confternation. Daltaban was greatly refpected in the empire, not by what he had done in the two months which he had been minifter, but by the reputation which he had acquired, both against the Germans and the Arabians. The janiffaries cried aloud in the ftreets: "How can it be hoped to recover the glory of the Ottomans, if those who have ta<< lents

«lents for war, and the bravery neceffary to J.C. 1701. Heg. 1113. "lead us against the enemy, perish by the hands " of the executioner ? We fhall be neither "governed nor commanded in future but by "chelebs, who have learned war and politics in "the fervile offices of the feraglio, or in the "religious practices of the ulema; and thefe brave

his favor.

agavats, grown old in the fervice, taught by "the faults or fuccefs of their commanders, if they approach the throne, will be facrificed. presently to the intrigues of effeminate cour<< tiers." Thefe complaints were increafing at The mufti Conftantinople, when Kiuperli Abdulla, the fon abufes of Kiuperli Mustapha who was killed at the battle of Salanakem, was fent thither as caimacan. This family, the only one that can be counted among the Turks befides the Ottoman race, had, as we have seen, produced feveral viziers who had all governed with great diftinction. The mufti gave one of his daughters in marriage to the young Abdulla, the only remaining branch of the Kiuperlis; and as the chief of the law knew that the emperor would refuse him nothing that he should afk, he got his fon-in-law appointed bashaw of the bench and caimacan of Conftantinople during the refidence of the court at Adrianople and Karischtiran. He had given the

VOL. IV.

M

They call chelebs all the viziers, bafhaws, or fangiacs, taken from the icoglans, and who have paffed through the feveral offices of the feraglio, or thofe of the ulema; and agavats those who, without ever having been effendis, or had any poft in the feraglio, rife to thefe dignities by their fervices in the army. Daltaban was of these last.