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attached to the ftate of valid fultanefs. All the J.C. 1695. Heg.1106. favorite courtiers of Mahomet IV. were recalled from their exile. One Elmas bashaw, who had been a favorite with that prince, was fent for from the ifle of Metelin, to enjoy the confidence and favor of his fon. Muftapha made him nifchangi, which answers nearly to the dignity of fecretary of state in Great Britain, 'till he could be raised to a higher place. The emperor ordered the horse-tails to be hung up at the door of the feraglio as a fign of war before the return of the spring, and that the troops should encamp immediately in the plains of Adrianople.

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Mustapha had not affembled his army fo early He affem without fubftantial reasons; he was defirous of army early. knowing the difpofition of the troops; and in order to get over the immenfe diftance which feparated him from the private foldiers, and even from the fubaltern officers, who are the foul of an army, he went, after the example of fome of his predeceffors, difguifed into the camp, difcourfing familiarly with those that he met, both on military difcipline and the abuses which were crept into the government. These conversations procured him a great deal of information. He heard the vizier Tarabolus Ali fpoken of as a mifer who had devoured the fubftance of the empire, not only whilft in the place that he had poffeffed but a fhort time, but in all the bafhawcies which had been intrufted to him fince he had left the feraglio. They confirmed to Mustapha

VOL. IV.

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what

J.C. 1695. what he knew already, that the mufti had taken Heg.1106. advantage of the influence which he had acquired over the last monarch, to keep back the revenues of the mofques, which ought to be applied to the carrying on of the war against the Giaurs; and that the favorite fultanefs of Achmet II. had immenfe fums in the old feraglio, which the kiflar agafi had procured her for the bashawcies that she fold to those who oppreffed the people. These discoveries determined the emperor to depose the mufti inftantly, as likewife the kiflar agafi. He He depofes fent word to fultanefs Fatima, that the muft either & the kif- prepare to die, or remit to the public treasury the

the mufti

lar agafi.

riches which she had plundered from the empire. Some historians affert that Mustapha received the value of eight hundred and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three pounds fterling in money and jewels from these three confifcations. He left the mufti, the sultaness, and the kislar agafi, only fufficient to lead an obscure, miserable life in exile. We remark, with fome furprise, that fixty female flaves belonging to this black monster were fold by auction.

The grand feignior bestowed the dignity of mufti on Fezula effendi, who had been his preceptor, and he made the black eunuch, who had informed him of the death of Achmet, killar agafi. He was indebted to him for his fceptre and perhaps his life. The emperor did not confine himself to thefe changes: the grand vizier, more culpable in his eyes than those who had

been.

J.C.

Heg. 1106.

been juft depofed, was faid to be richer than any .15: of them. Muftapha, who had not forgotten that this minister had been defirous of putting the fon of Achmet on the throne, fought only a pretence to be revenged and get poffeffion of his immenfe fortune. As he was visiting the artillery, he remarked that the cannon were mounted on carriages too flight and badly fhod. The grand vizier having thrown the fault on the toppchi pachi or great master of the ordnance, this officer reproached the minifter, in the prefence of the grand feignior, with never having, fince his being raised to the chief place in the empire, furnished the ordnance with the money neceffary for its expences, even for those that were indispensable, and he offered to prove what he advanced by the examination of his accounts. More was not neceffary for Muftapha. This prince, on his return to the feraglio, had Tarabolus Ali arrested. The grand vichiau pachi, having demanded the feals of the bolus put empire from him, delivered him immediately to the executioners, who left him only time to purify himself by the abdeft, and to fay a fhort prayer. This confifcation alfo increased the public treasure.

Mustapha made Elmas baihaw grand vizier, to whom he had given his confidence. The youth of this new minifter, hardly thirty years old, made the old bafhaws murmur among themselves; but the severity of the fultan, and the pains which he feemed refolved to take, equally prescribed the

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J.C.1695. fame to the divan and the troops. Mustapha cannot be denied the merit of having loved order and fought men worthy to command. As they morto ad- were deliberating in the divan on the maritime expedition operations of the following campaign, a pirate of Scio, & ex- Tunis, called Mezzomorto, who 'till then had. followed no other trade than fcouring the feas, hearing that it was proposed to keep on the defenfive, rofe up, without being interrogated, and declared, that if they would give him the command of four veffels called fultaneffes and eightgalleys, he would retake the ifle of Scio from the Venetians. On the captain bafhaw's making fome objections, and feeming defirous to impose filence on him, this mariner entered into an explanation of his project, the fuccefs of which he founded principally on the facility of landing in the ifland, and on the divifion of the Latin and Greek Chriftians, which, according to him, was gotten to fuch a height, that it must be easy to procure intelligence in the principal town, and to obtain great fuccours from the Greeks, who were rich and numerous in Scio, and who would rather obey the tolerating Turks than the Venetians, who were declared enemies of their feet and deftroyers of their churches. Muftapha heard this difcourfe from behind the curtain of the dangerous window; he undrew it inftantly, and ordered that Mezzomorto fhould have the veffels he

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not deceive the confidence of his mafter. Having C. 1695. found the Venetian fleet in the road, he fell upon and difperfed it with the lefs difficulty, as these Italians, accustomed for many years paft to great advantages over the Turks, had not expected fuch a smart attack. After a complete victory, the Ottoman fleet arrived at the isle of Scio, and the troops landed just as if it had been on the territory of the grand feignior. The Venetians had not made any new fortification to the principal town, nor even attempted to repair the old. ones. The approach of the Turks increased the animofity of the Latins and Greeks; combats were fought every day within the walls of Scio, the besieged confidering much less how they fhould repulfe the enemy than deftroy one another. Mezzomorto encamped in the plain without being in hafte to make his approaches, though the Greeks invited him earnestly. The Venetians, convinced of the impoffibility of defending a place full of enemies, took advantage of this delay to haften their flight; they embarked the effects that they were able to remove, without the Turks' throwing any obftacle in their way, and abandoned the island to the enemy, who as yet had only menaced them. The Turks having entered the town, put in chains all the Venetians, and even the Roman catholics that they met. Mezzomorto, in order to convince the Greeks of his protection and gratitude, caufed all the Latin churches to be deftroyed, and for

bade

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