Heg.1123. J.C.1711. king's letters. He did more; he retrenched his thaïm, that is to fay, the provifion which the Porte allows thofe princes to whom it grants an afylum. That of the king of Sweden was immenfe, confifting of fixty-three guineas a day in money, and a profufion of every thing neceffary to maintain a court in fplendor and affluence. When he is in want of every thing, he increases his magnificence. As foon as the king was informed that the vizier had prefumed to retrench his allowance, he turned to the steward of his household and faid: "Hitherto you have only had two tables, I com"mand you to have four for the future." 'Charles XII.'s officers had been used to find nothing impoffible which their master ordered ; at present however they had neither money nor provifions. They were forced to borrow at twenty, thirty, and forty per cent. of the officers, fervants, and janiffaries, who were grown rich by the king's profufion. Fabricius the envoy of Holstein, Jeffreys the English minifter, and their fecretaries and friends, gave all they had. The king, with his ufual magnificence, and without any concern about the morrow, lived on these prefents, which could not have fufficed him long. It was neceffary to elude the vigilance of the guards, and to fend privately to Conftantinople to borrow money of the European merchants. But every body refused to lend a king who seemed to have put himself out of a condition of ever being able to repay them. One English merchant alone, called Cook, ventured to lend him about about five thousand pounds fterling, contented to J.C.1711. Heg.1123. lofe that fum if the king of Sweden fhould happen to die. This money was brought to the king's little camp just as they began to be in want of every thing, and even to give over all hopes of any further relief. During this interval, count Poniatowski wrote, even from the camp of the grand vizier, an account of the campaign at Pruth, in which he accused Baltagi Mehemet of perfidy and cowardice. An old janiffary, provoked at the vizier's weakness, and gained moreover by Poniatowski's liberality, undertook the delivery of the letter, and, having obtained a furlough, prefented it himself to the fultan. A few days after, Poniatowski left the camp, and repaired to the Ottoman Porte, to form cabals as ufual against the grand vizier. Every thing favored his project. The czar being now at liberty, was in no hafte to perform his engagements. The keys of Afoph were not yet come; the grand vizier, who was anfwerable for them, justly dreading the indignation of his master,* durft not venture to appear in his presence. VOL. IV. X 'At The *This minifter, full of impatience, fent for the Ruffian hoftages, and, after the feverest reproaches on account of the non-performance of the treaty, he faid to them: "My having trufted to your mafter is likely to coft me my life; but I will have the confolation to fee you perish before me." hoftages, frighted, defired two months, in order to give notice to their mafter, and for the full execution of the treaty. Baltagi Mehemet was depofed before the expiration of these two months. AUTHOR. J.C. 1712. At that time the feraglio was filled more than ever with intrigues and factions. Thefe cabals, Intrigues which prevail in all courts, and which in ours feraglio. commonly end in the difmiffion, or, at most, in A flave made vi zier. the banishment of the minister, never fail at Conftantinople to occafion the lofs of more than one head. The prefent plot coft the old vizier Chourlouli his life, and also Ofman, the lieutenant of Baltagi Mehemet, who had been the principal author of the peace at Pruth, and had afterward obtained a confiderable post at the Porte. Among Ofman's treasures were found the czarina's ring, and twenty thousand pieces of gold of Saxon and Ruffian coin; a plain proof that money alone had extricated the czar from his dangerous fituation, and ruined the fortune of Charles XII. The vizier Baltagi Mehemet was banifhed to the the ifle of Lemnos, where he died three years after. The fultan did not feize his effects, either at his banishment or at his death. He was far from being rich, and his poverty was a fufficient vindication of his character. This grand vizier was fucceeded by Juffuf, (that is Jofeph) whose fortune was as fingular as that of his predeceffors. Born on the frontiers of Mofcovy, and taken prifoner at fix years old, with his relations, he had been fold to a janiffary. He was long a fervant in the feraglio, and at last became the fecond perfon in the empire where he had been a slave; but he was only the shadow of a minifter. • The Heg.1124. The young felictar, Ali Coumourgi, raised J.C. 1712. him to that flippery post, in hopes of one day filling it himself; and Juffuf, his creature, had nothing to do but to fet the feals of the empire to whatever the favorite defired.* From the very beginning of this vizier's ministry, the politics of the Ottoman court feemed to undergo a total alteration. The czar's plenipotentiaries, who refided at Conftantinople both as minifters and hostages, were treated with greater civility than ever. The grand vizier confirmed with them the peace of Pruth; but what mortified the king of Sweden more than all the reft was, to hear, that the fecret alliance made with the czar at Conftantinople was brought about by the mediation of the English and Dutch ambaffadors. Conftantinople, from the time of Charles's retreat to Bender, was become, what Rome had often been, the centre of the negotiations of Christendom. Count Defalleurs, the French ambassador at the Porte, fupported the interests of Charles and Stanislaus; the emperor of Germany's minister opposed them; and the factions of Sweden and Mofcovy clafhed, as thofe of France and Spain have long-done at the court of Rome. England and Holland feemed to be neuter, but were not fo in reality. The new trade which the czar had opened at Petersburg attracted the attention of these two commercial nations. VOL. IV. X 2 • The Without doubt Sarai Li Kaden was then dead, or difgraced. We have not been able to find any more traces of her power, or of her. AUTHOR. J.C. 1712. 'The fultan' Charles to depart. The English and Dutch will always fide with that prince who favors their trade the most: there were many advantages to be derived from a connexion with the czar; and therefore it is no wonder that the minifters of England and Holland fhould ferve him privately at the Ottoman Porte. One of the conditions of this new alliance was, that Charles fhould be immediately obliged to quit the dominions of the Turkish empire: whether it was that the czar hoped to feize him on the road, or that he thought him lefs formidable in his own kingdom than in Turkey, where he was always on the point of arming the Ottoman troops against the Ruffian empire. The king of Sweden was perpetually folicitorders ing the Porte to fend him back through Poland with a numerous army. The divan was refolved to fend him back with a fimple guard of feven or eight thousand men, not as a king whom they meant to affift, but as a guest of whom they wanted to get rid. For this purpose the fultan Achmet wrote him the following letter. "Moft powerful among the kings that adore "Jefus, addreffer of wrongs and injuries, and "protector of juftice in the ports and republics of the fouth and north, fhining in majefty, "lover of honor and glory, and of our fublime "Porte, Charles, king of Sweden, whose enterprifes may God crown with fuccess. "As foon as the most illuftrious Achmet, formerly chiau pachi, fhall have the honor to ¶ deliver |