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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Under the Turk in Constantinople - A record of Sir John Finch's Embassy, 1674-1681. - -Author: George Frederick Abbot - -Release Date: December 25, 2020 [eBook #64131] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Turgut Dincer, John Campbell and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The Internet - Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE TURK IN -CONSTANTINOPLE *** - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - - Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have - been placed at the end of each chapter. - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - - A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example y^e or w^{ch}. - - Contractions of “it” such as “t’ is” or “t’ was” are displayed with - a space, if that space is in the original text. - - Contractions of “ed” such as obligd’ or receivd’ or receiv’d are - displayed as they are in the original text. Almost all have the - apostrophe after the d. - - Other contractions are denoted by an arc over two characters in the - original text. These will display on this device, using Unicode - combining diacritical U+0361, as Com͡erce or protec͡on, for example. - - A blank space (for a date to be inserted) has been replaced by an - underline ‘________’ (three occurrences). - - Dates are given for the O.S. (Old Style or Julian) calendar, unless - noted as N.S. indicating the New Style or Gregorian calendar. A few - dates are shown as O.S. over N.S. in the original text, displayed - in this etext with /, for example, Feb. 24/March 6. A few dates are - shown as O.S.-N.S. for example June 20-30, 1676. - - Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected after careful - comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation - of external sources. All misspellings in the text, and inconsistent - or archaic usage, have been left unchanged. - - - - - UNDER THE TURK - - IN CONSTANTINOPLE - - - - - [Illustration: (colophon)] - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MADRAS - MELBOURNE - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO - DALLAS · SAN FRANCISC - - THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. - TORONTO - - - - - [Illustration: SIR JOHN FINCH. - - From the Portrait by Carlo Dolci at Burley-on-the-Hill.] - - - - - UNDER THE TURK IN - CONSTANTINOPLE - - A RECORD OF - SIR JOHN FINCH’S EMBASSY - - 1674-1681 - - BY - - G. F. ABBOTT - - AUTHOR OF - “TURKEY IN TRANSITION,” “TURKEY, GREECE AND THE GREAT POWERS,” ETC. - - WITH A FOREWORD BY - - VISCOUNT BRYCE, O.M. - - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON - 1920 - - - - -COPYRIGHT - - - - -FOREWORD - -BY LORD BRYCE - - -Whoever discovers a dark bypath of history and opens it up by -careful research renders a service to scholars. If he has also -the gift of presenting the results of his investigation in a form -agreeable to the general reader who has a taste for novelties -in other books as well as in novels, he earns a double meed of -thanks. Mr. Abbott has not only had the good fortune to find such -a bypath and the acuteness to note its interest, but is also the -possessor of a talent enabling him to make the best use of his -materials. To most Europeans and Americans, even among the class -which reads for instruction as well as for pleasure, the annals of -the Turkish Empire had remained almost a blank from the triumphant -days of Solyman the Magnificent through the long process of decay -down to the time when Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt and Syria and -thereafter the Greek War of Independence had drawn attention to -the long-forgotten Near Eastern countries. Just in the middle -of this period of two and a half centuries several intelligent -observers from England and France visited Constantinople and -described the singular phenomena of a semi-civilised Empire which, -despite its internal corruption and weakness, was still strong -enough to threaten its neighbours, maintain a long sea war against -Venice and besiege Vienna. One of these observers was Sir John -Finch, a man of learning and ability, who had begun his career by -studying medicine at the University of Padua, had held the chair -of anatomy in the University of Pisa, and had for five years been -King Charles II.’s Minister at Florence. In 1672 he was named -ambassador at Constantinople, and accepted, somewhat reluctantly, -the post, yielding to the counsels of the influential friends who -had procured it for him. There he remained till 1681, and his -experiences in the discharge of his functions there are recorded -in this volume. The letters on which it is based, and from which -many extracts are given, present a vivid picture of what Turkish -administration was, and of the way in which the long-suffering -representatives and merchants of civilised countries had to adjust -themselves to it. Mr. Abbott’s book is not only a contribution to -history, but a narrative lively enough and dramatic enough to be -worth reading as a study in human nature, and more particularly of -that Oriental human nature in which guile and folly, inconstancy -and obstinacy are so strangely combined. - - - - -PREFACE - - -The history of Anglo-Turkish relations as a whole still remains to -be written--a strange and not very creditable fact, considering -the part which the Ottoman Empire has played in our commercial and -political career since the age of Queen Elizabeth. This monograph -deals only with a fraction of a vast subject--the English Embassy -to Turkey from 1674 to 1681, though for the sake of intelligibility -it glances at the years which preceded and followed that septennium. - -Critics, I hope, will not do my work the injustice of thinking that -it is not serious because, perhaps, it is not very dull. A piece -of historical narrative is a sort of superior novel: it has its -heroes and its villains, its vicissitudes, its catastrophes: all -of which are eminently capable of administering amusement even to -the most seriously minded. Only the amusement must be founded in -truth; and the discovery of truth requires painstaking industry. -This condition I have endeavoured to fulfil to the utmost of my -ability. Every bit of the story here related is the result of -careful research among original and, for the most part, hitherto -unexploited documents--chiefly the Manuscripts preserved at the -Public Record Office (Foreign Archives, _Turkey_ and _Levant -Company_) and the Coventry Papers in the possession of the Marquis -of Bath, by whose courtesy I was able to make use of them. - -It is impossible to convey the impression given by -seventeenth-century despatches in any words but their own: nothing -can be more striking to modern eyes and ears than their language, -their spelling, their grammar and punctuation, or want of it. -The handwriting itself betrays not only the writer’s normal -character, but often the particular emotions which swayed him -at the moment of writing: as we peruse those ancient sheets of -paper--extraordinarily fresh most of them, with sometimes the -sand still clinging to the dry ink--we see the person who penned -those lines, the very way in which he held his quill. The same -facts, extracted, paraphrased, and printed, no longer arouse the -same sense of reality, nor grip the imagination in the same way as -they do when presented in their native garb. I have attempted to -reproduce something of this effect by transcribing as frequently -and fully as it is convenient the original utterances in all the -individuality and quaintness which belong to them. - -In addition to this mass of manuscript, there exists for the -period a surprising amount of printed material, some of which, -though available for centuries, has not yet been exhausted, and -the rest was but recently made public. It so happened that, -besides our Ambassador, there resided at the time in Turkey three -other Englishmen who left behind them records of current events. -They were our Consul at Smyrna, Paul Rycaut; our Treasurer at -Constantinople, Dudley North; and the Chaplain, John Covel: all -three men of leading and light in their day. Their letters, -memoirs, and journals, written independently and from different -angles of vision, go a long way towards supplementing, confirming, -or correcting the Ambassador’s reports, as well as the information -handed down by several foreign contemporaries.[1] For, by another -rare coincidence, the representative of France, Nointel, whose -history blends with that of Finch, also had round him a number of -Frenchmen busy writing. Joseph von Hammer had access to some of -these sources and drew in some small measure upon them; but it was -left for a modern French writer to turn them to full account in a -book which I have consulted with much pleasure and some profit.[2] -Lastly, reference should be made to two new works bearing on the -subject. Although both publications deal with matters mostly -outside the scope of this book, they have furnished me with a -number of suggestive details.[3] - -I may take this opportunity of mentioning that, in my dates, unless -otherwise stated, I follow the Old Style, which still was the style -of England, and, in the seventeenth century, lagged behind the -New by ten days; but I reckon the year from the first of January. -All lengthy notes are relegated to an Appendix, so that matters -calculated to benefit the seeker after solid instruction may not -bore the reader who seeks only entertainment. - - G. F. A. - - CHELSEA, _March 1920_. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] My references are to the following editions:-- - -_The Memoirs of Paul Rycaut, Esq._, London, 1679; _The Present -State of the Ottoman Empire_, by Sir Paul Ricaut, Sixth Edition, -London, 1686; _The Life of the Honourable Sir Dudley North, Knt._, -by the Honourable Roger North, Esq., London, 1744; _Extracts from -the Diaries of Dr. John Covel, 1670-1679_ (in _Early Voyages and -Travels in the Levant_), edited by J. Theodore Bent, The Hakluyt -Society, London, 1893; _Some Account of the Present Greek Church_, -by John Covel, D.D., Cambridge, 1722. - -[2] _Les Voyages du Marquis de Nointel (1670-1680)_, par Albert -Vandal de l’Académie Française, Paris, 1900. - -[3] _Report on the Manuscripts of Allen George Finch, Esq., of -Burley-on-the-Hill_, edited by Mrs. Lomas for the _Historical -Manuscripts Commission_, vol. i., London, 1913; _Finch and Baines_, -by Archibald Malloch, Cambridge, 1917. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - PAGE - A DIPLOMAT IN SPITE OF HIMSELF 1 - - - CHAPTER II - - SIR JOHN’S PROGRAMME 24 - - - CHAPTER III - - LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE 33 - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE MEN ABOUT THE AMBASSADOR 46 - - - CHAPTER V - - STRENUA INERTIA 68 - - - CHAPTER VI - - SIR JOHN GOES TO COURT 89 - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE FESTIVITIES 105 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - DIPLOMACY--HIGH AND OTHERWISE 116 - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE SUBLIME THRESHOLD 136 - - - CHAPTER X - - HOPES DEFERRED 147 - - - CHAPTER XI - - FROM PURGATORY TO PERA 163 - - - CHAPTER XII - - HALCYON DAYS 178 - - - CHAPTER XIII - - THE STOOL OF REPENTANCE 196 - - - CHAPTER XIV - - KARA MUSTAFA AND THE ALEPPO DOLLARS 227 - - - CHAPTER XV - - INTERLUDE 246 - - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE CASE OF MRS. PENTLOW 266 - - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE PILOT AT REST 278 - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - THE PRICE OF PARCHMENT 290 - - - CHAPTER XIX - - SIR JOHN’S “TICKLISH CONDITION” 301 - - - CHAPTER XX - - A LULL IN THE STORM 322 - - - CHAPTER XXI - - RELEASE 339 - - - CONCLUSION 355 - - - APPENDICES 377 - - - INDEX 409 - - - - -_The portraits of Sir John Finch and Sir Thomas Baines are supplied -by the Cambridge University Press by permission of Dr. Malloch and -Mr. Wilfred Finch._ - - “_Under the Turk in Constantinople._” - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Sir John Finch. From the Portrait by Carlo Dolci at - Burley-on-the-Hill _Frontispiece_ - FACING PAGE - Sir Thomas Baines. From the Portrait by Carlo Dolci at - Burley-on-the-Hill 42 - - Paul Rycaut. From the Engraving by R. White after the - Portrait by Sir Peter Lely 53 - - Sultan Mahomet the Fourth, Emperor of the Turks. From an - Engraving by F. H. van den Hove 106 - - Dr. John Covel. From the Portrait by Valentine Ritz at - Christ’s College, Cambridge 372 - - Sir Dudley North. From an Engraving by G. Vertue, 1743 376 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -A DIPLOMAT IN SPITE OF HIMSELF - - -It was apparently an invincible fatality that compelled Sir John -Finch to accept, in the month of November 1672, the appointment of -English Ambassador to the Porte, in place of Sir Daniel Harvey who -had died at his post some weeks before. - -Finch sprang from a family which, under the Stuarts, had attained -to great eminence in the law and in politics. His father, Sir -Heneage Finch, had been Recorder of the City of London and Speaker -of the House of Commons in the reign of Charles I. During the -same reign his father’s first cousin, Sir John (afterwards Baron) -Finch, had been Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas -and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, as well as Speaker of the -House of Commons: in all these capacities he had shown himself so -ardent a Royalist that, in 1640, he was impeached together with -Lord Strafford and Archbishop Laud, and barely saved his head by -flying to Holland. His elder brother, the eloquent Sir Heneage -Finch, whose pleadings, in the years that immediately followed -the Restoration, were the delight of the Council Chamber and of -Westminster Hall,[4] after serving the Crown as Solicitor-General -and Attorney-General, was about to become Lord Keeper of the Great -Seal, and in due time Lord High Chancellor of England and Earl -of Nottingham. His nephew (another Heneage Finch), “a celebrated -orator in Chancery practice,”[5] was Solicitor-General in 1679, and -crowned a long and distinguished Parliamentary career under Charles -II. and James II. with a Barony from Queen Anne and an Earldom from -George I. - -Notwithstanding this remarkable family record, Sir John had evinced -no inclination for a public career. After a brief residence at -Balliol, he was obliged, when Oxford became the headquarters of -the Royalist troops, to migrate to Christ’s College, Cambridge, -and thence, in 1651, he pursued his studies at Padua, where he -took a medical degree. From that University, of which he was made -Pro-Rector and Syndic, he went, in 1659, to Pisa, to occupy the -Chair of Anatomy, having refused the post of English Consul at -Padua, ostensibly because it meant getting drunk “at least forty -times in the year,” more probably because he did not wish to -compromise himself by accepting office under the Usurper. Thus, -while Cromwell ruled in England, Finch led a severely private life -in Italy, and at the Restoration, like other Cavaliers, he came -home to reap the reward of his loyalty. Unlike most of them, he was -not disappointed. Honours of all kinds awaited him. In 1661 he was -elected an Extraordinary Fellow of the College of Physicians of -London, was created M.D. by the University of Cambridge, and was -knighted by the King.[6] - -Such was the position in which, at the age of thirty-five, when -one might think enough of a man’s zest and freshness are left to -give an edge to ambition, Finch found himself. The embarrassments -which had overcast his earlier prospects were lifting; royal favour -seemed assured; the path to fortune lay open before his feet; and -there were his brother Heneage and Lord Conway, the husband of -his theosophical sister,[7] who wished for nothing better than to -smooth it for him. But Finch was a singularly unenterprising man. -With a natural propensity to solitude, increased by exile, and -with a desultory inclination to poetry and philosophy, he found -the boisterous Court of Charles little to his taste. After a very -short stay in England, he went back to Tuscany and Anatomy (1663). -His friends, amused rather than annoyed at such perversity, did not -cease to conspire for his good, and, next year, they prevailed on -him to return and let them make his fortune. - -Not long afterwards (March 1665) Lord Arlington, then Secretary -of State, fulfilled a promise they had extracted from him by -appointing Sir John His Majesty’s Minister at Florence. If there -was any foreign country which Finch liked, it was Italy: he had, -since he came to manhood, resided principally there, had learned -its language, and had made himself thoroughly familiar with its -manners and customs. If there was any Italian State for which he -felt a preference, it was that of Tuscany, where he was highly -esteemed and beloved by the Great Duke, his brother Prince Leopold, -and every one whose love and esteem were worth having. Yet Finch -was not happy. He complained that the dignity of his employment -far exceeded the emolument: he would gladly have exchanged it for -something better paid at home. His friends agreed; but that ideal -something could not be found. The only alternative to Florence -was Constantinople. To that post the Finch family, since the -Restoration, seemed to have established a sort of prescriptive -right: Charles II.’s first representative at the Porte, the Earl -of Winchilsea (yet another Heneage Finch), was Sir John’s first -cousin, and the second, Sir Daniel Harvey, his elder brother’s -near relative by marriage. Sir John could have Constantinople for -the asking. But Sir John cherished a profound and, in the light -of subsequent events, one might well say, a prophetic aversion to -Constantinople: “Nay, though to be sent to Constantinople were a -charge of great gaine, yet I would not buy that charge with the -affliction so long a separation would create mee,” he wrote to -Lord Conway in 1667; and again, a little later: “I doe perfectly -abhorr the thoughts of goeing to Constantinople.” He would rather -“undertake anything then to be banished any longer from seeing -your Lordship and my sister.” But at the same time he admitted, -“any thing is better then my present condition, in which I neither -enjoy myselfe nor any thing else.”[8] His friends sympathised -and continued their efforts on his behalf with indefatigable -pertinacity. - -There is still extant a letter in which Lord Conway describes -how, in 1668, he lingered in London after the adjournment of -Parliament on purpose to get an opportunity of speaking to Lord -Arlington about him. The Secretary of State hesitated: to attach -to himself, partly by services and partly by hopes, the greatest -possible number of adherents was Arlington’s constant aim; but what -if Mr. Solicitor-General should enlist his brother in the hostile -camp of the fallen Chancellor Clarendon? Conway overcame these -apprehensions by bringing about a personal interview between the -Secretary and the Solicitor, who assured his Lordship that Sir John -would be his Lordship’s faithful retainer. Arlington, satisfied, -promised to recall Sir John from Florence and to recommend him -to the King for preferment in connexion with foreign affairs. -This arrangement Conway thought much better than bargaining -for a reversion of some lucrative Court office--a boon perhaps -more tempting, but less certain. As to fitness, he assured his -brother-in-law that he would have no competition to fear: “You will -have the advantage of coming into a Court where there is not one -man of ability.” The King, “destitute of counsel, is jealous of all -men that speak to him of business.” All that was really needed was -a good word from Lord Arlington, “for though Lord Arlington labours -with all art imaginable not to be thought a Premier Minister, yet -he is either so, or a favourite, for he is the sole guide that the -King relies upon.”[9] - -And so, after five years of eminently undistinguished and -discontented sojourn at Florence, Sir John returned home, in August -1670, served for two years on the “Councell for matters relating to -Our Forreigne Colonies and Plantations,” and then, the ideal office -still failing to present itself, he had, after all, to accept the -Embassy he abhorred. - -He set out in May 1673. His frame of mind on leaving England can -be seen from the note by which he bade Lord Conway farewell: “This -is the third time I have left my Native Soyl,” he wrote. “If God -Almighty make me so happy as to return once more to your Lordship, -I shall then thinke it is time to fix at home and leave of (_sic_) -all thoughts of further wandering. But [if] my life by its period -abroad putts one to my Travell I beseech your Lordship to believe -that you have lost the most faythfull and zealous servant the World -yet was ever possessed of....”[10] - -This letter brings into relief the writer’s characteristic -attachment to home and dislike of separation from dear relatives, -heightened by a vague anxiety not unnatural in the circumstances. A -man who had fretted for five years in Italy could not look forward -to an exile of at least six years in Turkey without some alarm. -Turkey was not then the accessible, comparatively debarbarised -country of our time: the Grand Signor’s dominions were two and a -half centuries ago regarded as an obscure and distant region of -disease and death. Sir John, in leaving England, felt like one -stepping into the unknown: melancholy filled his heart, and pious -prayer seemed the only refuge from despondency. Indeed, if he could -have foreseen what lay before him, it is a question whether any -earthly consideration could have induced him to quit his “native -soyl.” One of the many dubious blessings granted by the gods to men -is the inability to see into the future. - -Meanwhile Sir John knew that, short as it fell of his aspirations, -the Constantinople post had not a few advantages. It was the only -English mission abroad that, under a King who had little money -to spare from his personal pleasures, rejoiced in the rank of -Embassy; it carried with it a salary of 10,000 dollars, or about -£2500, a year, not to mention perquisites of various kinds; and, -be it noted, this salary, not coming out of the reluctant purse of -a capricious and impecunious prince, but out of the Treasury of a -wealthy business corporation--the Company of “Merchants of England -Trading into the Levant Seas”--entailed no heart-breaking delays, -no wearisome solicitations of friends at Court, but could be -depended upon with as much certainty and regularity as any dividend -from a sound investment: all the more, because Finch’s kinsmen, -the Harveys, were leading members of that Company. Distinctly, a -diplomat might go farther and fare worse. As to the duties of the -post, Sir John was well equipped. Apart from ceremonial functions, -his time at Florence had been taken up by questions arising out of -the English trade in the Mediterranean; and both his correspondence -from that place and a report on commerce with Egypt which he had -drawn up lately[11] prove that he could do that sort of work easily -enough. Now, that was the sort of work he would be called upon to -do at Constantinople. - -Owing its origin to the enterprise of merchants and maintained -entirely at their expense, the English Embassy on the Bosphorus -existed chiefly for their benefit; the principal part of the -Ambassador’s mission being to promote trade and to protect those -engaged therein both against the Turks and against each other. -Politics, it is true, were not altogether lost sight of. The -Ottoman Empire, though past its meridian, still weighed heavily -in the “Balance of Europe,” and the Grand Signor’s attitude was -an object of no small concern to the rival groups into which -Europe was divided. In the abstract, political writers continued -to echo, with unction, the admonitions which the celebrated -Imperial Ambassador Busbequius had addressed to Christendom a -hundred years before. But since no means had yet been devised -“to unite our Interests and compose our Dissensions,”[12] what -were we to do? Obviously, what everybody was doing. When occasion -arose, it was part, if only a subsidiary part, of an English -envoy’s business to intrigue for the good of his country and try -to defeat the intrigues of those wicked foreign diplomats who -intrigued for the good of theirs. Thus, in the time of Queen -Elizabeth, her representatives had exploited Turkey’s hatred of -Spain to some purpose; and again during the Thirty Years’ War the -representative of Charles I. made strenuous efforts, not of course -to set on the “common enemy of Christendom” against the Emperor -directly--that, as he recognised, would have been too great a -“scandal”--but to procure the Sultan’s indirect support for the -Prince of Transylvania who was fighting the Emperor. During the -earlier period of Charles II.’s reign, too, Lord Winchilsea had -exerted himself to prevent the establishment of friendly relations -between Stambul and Madrid, and both he and his successor Harvey -had endeavoured to bring about a cessation of hostilities between -Stambul and Venice. The former of these ambassadors, in fact, was -very eager to play a great political rôle, urging that, as, with -the acquisition of Tangier, English sea-power and possessions were -expanding Eastwards, the English envoy should no longer confine -himself exclusively to mercantile affairs.[13] But Charles had -neither funds nor thoughts for such ambitious schemes. So his -representative at the Porte had nothing more to do, as regards -State affairs, than “to be truly informed of all negotiations and -practices in that Court which may disturbe the peace of Christendom -in any part of it,”[14] and to transmit his information to London: -a passive rôle which suited Sir John’s temperament admirably. As -his _alter ego_ wrote to Lord Conway: “Your Lordship will say your -Brother here will have little to doe in State Affayrs, which my -Lord is very true and so much the more is his quiett.”[15] - -This was only one of several happy auspices under which -Sir John Finch entered upon his new employment. As a rule, -the diplomatic seat on the Bosphorus bristled with thorny -peculiarities--peculiarities that had proved trying to most of his -predecessors and to some even fatal. - -To begin with, our representatives at Constantinople, unlike their -colleagues at other capitals, had not one master, but two: the -Court from which they held their commission and the Company from -which they drew their pay. It is proverbially difficult to serve -two masters to the satisfaction of both, and in this case the -difficulties of the servant were often accentuated by differences -between his employers. With characteristic repugnance to clear -definition, our ancestors had left the question of appointment -open. There was neither fixed rule nor consistent precedent to show -with which of the two masters lay the choice of servant. Hence a -periodical feud between the Court and the Company, each claiming -a right which the other was loth to concede. Under James I. and -Charles I. the Court had more than once forced upon the Company its -own nominees, with disastrous results to all concerned. Sir John -Eyre, appointed in 1619 under pressure from the Duke of Buckingham, -after barely two years, which he spent making himself obnoxious to -the English residents and contemptible to the Turkish Ministers, -had to be recalled in disgrace. Sir Sackville Crow, similarly -appointed in 1638, rivalled Eyre in incompetence, surpassed him -in iniquity, and was at last brought home by force and cast into -the Tower (1648). At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Company, -having thrown in its lot with the Rebels, obtained from Parliament -a recognition of its claim to elect and remove the Ambassador, -and, much as Cromwell would have liked to follow the example of -the Stuarts, he had found it expedient to acquiesce. When the -Commonwealth collapsed, the Levant Merchants, who had joined in -acclaiming the Restoration as heartily as they had acclaimed the -Rebellion, got Charles II. to renew their Charter (April 2, 1661). -But submission to the Crown had become so much the fashion that -this Charter again left the question of the Ambassador’s election -open, thereby affording zealots for the royal prerogative a chance -of stirring up discord.[16] - -In practice, however, a new spirit seemed to animate the rival -authorities now. Both sides had learned by suffering the wisdom of -compromise. Now the Merchants begged from the King, as an act of -grace proceeding solely from his goodness, leave to offer for his -Majesty’s approval such a person as they esteemed most competent to -manage their affairs at Constantinople, thus loyally acknowledging -the King’s right; while the King, on his part, graciously granted -their request, thus waiving the exercise of it. In this way the -dignity of the Crown was saved, and the interests of the Company -did not suffer. This sweet reasonableness breathes through the -petition by which, on Sir Daniel Harvey’s death, the Levant -Merchants approached the King for a successor: “They have,” so runs -the document, “at a General Meeting of their Company, presumed -to fix upon the Hon. Sir John Finch, as one they humbly desire -may undertake that affaire, if your Majestie will be graciously -pleased to afford your Royal assent; which they humbly beg, wholly -submitting the same to your Majestie’s pleasure.”[17] The King, -as was expected, readily assented; and thus Sir John set out with -the goodwill of both his employers. He travelled across France and -North Italy to Leghorn, and there met the _Centurion_, a frigate of -52 guns, which was to carry him to Turkey. - -If we turn from those who sent the Ambassador to those to whom -he was sent, we shall see here also Finch greatly favoured by -circumstances. Most of his predecessors had found themselves -engaged in a Sisyphean labour. For the wrongs to which the English, -like other Frank dwellers in the Grand Signor’s dominions, were -constantly exposed at the hands of insolent and rapacious -officials they could only procure redress, if at all, by purchasing -the friendship of the Grand Vizir and of the two or three other -grandees who between them ruled the Empire. But, such had long been -the stability of the Ottoman Government, none of those personages -remained in power for more than a few months--a military mutiny, -a popular upheaval, or a palace intrigue was sure to hurl them -down the moment after they had reached the top; and our Ambassador -was obliged to seek new friends. This state of things had come to -an end. In 1656 Mohammed Kuprili assumed the Grand Vizirate with -a free hand to purge the body politic of its corruptions, and he -performed the task by cutting off all the parts that he could not -cure: a dreadful remedy, but not more dreadful than the condition -of the patient demanded. Turkey was so split up by factions that -it could not have survived, unless all rebellious spirits were -implacably extinguished. This great practitioner, who alone had -preserved the Empire from falling into as many fragments as there -were Pashaliks, died in 1661 of old age, and was succeeded by his -son Ahmed--a fact which, being utterly unprecedented in a country -where the hereditary principle, except in the royal family, was -unknown, amazed the Turks even more than the miracle of a Grand -Vizir maintaining himself in office for five whole years and then -dying peaceably in his bed.[18] - -Ahmed Kuprili at first seemed to have inherited, together with his -father’s power, his father’s recipe. The late Vizir’s dictatorship -had raised up a multitude of malcontents who imagined that his -successor’s youth offered them an opportunity for revenge: -“every hour he has a new game to play for his life,” wrote our -Ambassador.[19] But once rid of his enemies, the son presented a -pleasing antithesis to his father. Mohammed had been an uncouth -and illiterate warrior who cared for no laws that stood between -him and his will, who valued no arguments that conflicted with -his preconceived notions, who even in his dealings with foreign -envoys employed methods only one degree less savage than those -he applied to the treatment of domestic problems. Ahmed, on the -other hand, was the first Grand Vizir with a political, instead -of a martial, mind. He had been bred to the study of the Law and -had actually practised as a judge in civil causes. By temperament -and education alike he was averse to violence. It is true that -he had already carried out two successful campaigns and was now -engaged in a third. But to this he was impelled by necessity: the -Ottoman Empire, having arisen out of war and being constituted for -war, would perish in peace. Its rulers could only avoid rebellion -at home by providing their turbulent subjects with constant and -congenial occupation abroad--a bleeding operation intended to -relieve the body politic of its “malignant humours”--and it was -particularly necessary for Ahmed, in order to keep his place, to -show that he could graft the soldier on the lawyer. But he never -became a general. His successes were won in spite of his strategy. -In his war against the Emperor he was defeated at St. Gothard (Aug. -1, N.S. 1664), yet immediately after, profiting by the Emperor’s -difficulties, he secured a treaty (Peace of Vasvar, Aug. 10, 1664) -as advantageous as if it had been the fruit of victory. In Crete -his military operations against the Venetians (1666-69) were so -clumsy that at one moment he seriously meditated abandoning the -siege of Candia, “his ill success having given his enemies hopes of -supplanting him.”[20] Yet he obtained by negotiation the surrender -of a fortress which until then had been deemed impregnable, and -brought a twenty-five years’ struggle to a glorious conclusion. The -Polish war which he was now conducting was likewise a matter of -diplomatic as much as of military manœuvring. There can be no doubt -that, if he had the choice, Ahmed would never have striven to get -by force what might be got by subtler means. - -To these traits, common among lawyers, he added a genuine love of -justice and a scrupulous integrity rare among lawyers everywhere, -and nowhere rarer than in the East. Endowed with such qualities, -Ahmed proved himself one of the most moderate, and, at the same -time, one of the least pliant Ministers that Turkey ever knew. -Under his firm and equitable administration the Ottoman Empire -recovered some of its prosperity, and, what is more pertinent -to note here, the Frank residents enjoyed a Sabbath of rest. -Tyranny, of course, could not be altogether avoided. But, on the -whole, the privileges conferred upon them by their Capitulations -were respected, extortions (_avanias_) were seldom indulged -in with impunity, and the foreign merchants were treated with -unexampled forbearance.[21] Towards the English the Grand Vizir was -particularly well disposed, and with good reason. - -The main principle of Charles II.’s policy in foreign as in -domestic affairs was to avoid friction. Indolent, unambitious, -and a hater of everything likely to disturb the even flow of -his voluptuous existence, the Merry Monarch would sooner have -surrendered his rights than have taken the trouble to defend -them. No prince ever stood less upon his dignity; perhaps because -no prince ever had less dignity to stand upon. In the course of -their protracted struggle for the conquest of Candia, the Turks -repeatedly pressed English ships into their service. Cromwell -had opposed vigorously all encroachments of the sort; but the -representatives of Charles, after some feeble and ineffectual -protests, not only acquiesced tamely, but bitterly blamed those -captains who ventured to resist; and, while the Grand Signor -violated the neutrality of England, the English Secretary of State -overwhelmed him with assurances that his Majesty “does inviolably -observe his peace with the Grand Signior.”[22] Nor were these empty -assurances. Individual Englishmen might assist the Venetians in -what contemporary Christendom regarded as a holy war, but, unlike -the French, whose volunteers passed on in a steady stream from -Paris itself to reinforce the garrison of Candia, they did so at -their own risk and peril without the least countenance from their -Government. Indeed, such crusaders were so few and far between that -Ahmed Kuprili commented on the fact that he did not find “soe much -as an English seaman amongst his enemies att Candia.”[23] - -To these general conditions which at the time rendered our Embassy -unusually comfortable for any tenant of average tact, must be -added an event that secured for Sir John Finch’s person special -consideration. - -Soon after his appointment, an English ship, the _Mediterranean_, -on her passage from Tunis to Tripoli, had been met by the -redoubtable corsair Domenico Franceschi--a Genoese by birth, but -then domiciled at Leghorn and holding a privateering commission -from the Great Duke of Tuscany. Normally an English vessel had -nothing to fear from a Tuscan man-of-war; but the _Mediterranean_ -happened to carry the retiring Pasha of Tunis, homeward bound with -his family and the spoils of his province, and, as the Duke was -at perpetual war with the Sultan, Domenico could not well forgo -such a chance of serving his sovereign and enriching himself. -The _Mediterranean_ managed, before the corsair could come up -with her, to set the Pasha with some of his belongings ashore at -Tripoli, but she was captured, taken to Malta, and pillaged of the -bulk of the Pasha’s treasure, including his women. The incident -was serious: it was one of those incidents which often strained -Turkey’s relations with Western Powers in those days; and with -no Western Power more often than with England. Not to dwell on -remoter instances,[24] only a year before some other Turkish -passengers on another English ship, the _Lyon_, whilst sailing -from Tunis to Smyrna, had been carried off with their goods by -the same pirate. At that time Sir Daniel Harvey addressed to the -home Government an energetic protest against “the insolence and -piracy” of a person in the service of a friendly prince, pointing -out that his exploit endangered the safety of the English colonies -in Turkey, and, if not taken notice of, might be an encouragement -to him and others to do likewise.[25] But nothing was done, and -the late Ambassador’s prediction had now come true even beyond -his anticipation. For in that case the victims were Turks of very -humble rank (a cap-maker with his two servants, and two old men -who had just been redeemed at Malta, one after 48, the other after -50 years’ captivity), and the booty a trifle--3 chests of caps, -3 bales of blankets, and 3 boxes of botargoes.[26] This time the -victim was a high functionary of the Porte, and the loot enormous. -The Turks’ wrath was proportionate. They threatened that, if the -property was not restored, the loss should be made good by the -English residents; the Porte’s position always being that a Frank -nation was collectively responsible for any Turkish passengers or -goods that fell into the hands of pirates whilst travelling under -that nation’s flag. Matters were not improved by the fact that the -_Mediterranean_ had offered no resistance, but was seen sailing -away in the corsair’s company with every appearance of being a -willing captive. - -The directors of the Levant Company in London were not slow -to realise the gravity of the situation. As soon as official -reports from the Consuls at Leghorn and Tripoli reached them, -they petitioned the King to write to the Great Duke and to demand -complete restitution of the Pasha’s property and reparation for -damages, with due punishment of “so notorious an offender.”[27] The -King hastened to indite an epistle in that sense to the Duke,[28] -and, at the same time, instructed Sir John Finch, then on his way -out, to repair to Florence and make the necessary representations -to his Highness by word of mouth. These instructions found Finch -at Genoa; and he applied himself to the task with energy, anxiety -for his own future in Turkey lending a spur to his concern for the -public good. - -In order to simplify matters, he procured, before leaving Genoa, -the banishment of the corsair from that State, and then proceeded -to Leghorn. There he found an Aga whom the Pasha of Tunis was -sending to England as his Procurator on that very business. When -he heard of Finch’s arrival, the Aga thought to save himself -the journey to London by laying his case before him. Finch made -the most of this lucky encounter. Concealing from the Aga his -instructions, he gave the affair a totally different turn. The -_Mediterranean_, he argued, was not an English ship. It is true -that her Master, Captain Chaplyn, was an Englishman; but he had -changed his religion, renounced his country, and, having for ten -years lived at Leghorn and married there, had become a Tuscan -subject, so that his Majesty of England was no longer concerned -in him. With these “and other motives” (a delicate euphemism for -the motive vulgarly known as bribery), the Ambassador prevailed on -the Aga to give him a declaration in writing, attested by public -notaries, that he had no claim upon Captain Chaplyn or any other -Englishman; only, as Finch was accredited to the Porte, it would be -taken very kindly of him if he would assist a Pasha in distress, -the more as he lay under no obligation to do so. Having had this -document signed and sealed, the resourceful diplomat approached the -Duke in another way--the way dictated by the facts of the case and -his instructions. - -In that quarter also, Sir John’s efforts, thanks to his long -connection with the Tuscan Court, met with success. At Florence -itself he recovered 5000 dollars in ready money and a portion of -the stolen goods. Then, armed with letters from the Duke, and -accompanied by the Aga and Captain Chaplyn, he went on to Malta, -where he managed, though not without great difficulty, to obtain -the restitution of 75 more bales of goods and the redemption of -seven captives, among them the Pasha’s sister-in-law, whom the -Pasha afterwards made his wife. At Smyrna, where the Ambassador, -still accompanied by the Turkish Aga and the English Captain, -landed on the 1st of January 1674, he caused the former to give -him before the Cadi of that place an official receipt for all the -recovered goods--30,000 dollars--and a full discharge to Captain -Chaplyn.[29] - -We are told that the Turks expressed boundless admiration at this -action--an action without a parallel in the annals of piracy: who -had ever heard of a corsair being made to disgorge? They applauded -the Ambassador’s skill and regarded his success as a manifest -proof of his sovereign’s influence over foreign Governments. They -were also impressed by his luck--no small recommendation to a -superstitious people in an astrologically-minded age. Had not his -landing on Turkish soil synchronised with the celebration of the -holiest of Moslem feasts--the Feast of the Bairam?[30] As to the -English Factory, its sixty members (merry young blades most of -them) manifested their joy at the sight of their long-expected -Ambassador after a fashion which must have made it a little -difficult for his Excellency to maintain the reserve and gravity -proper to his exalted station. - -From Smyrna Sir John continued his journey to Constantinople, -arriving there about the end of March; and some two months after, -in the absence of the Grand Vizir, he had audience of the Vizir’s -Kaimakam, or Deputy. On this occasion the new Ambassador gave the -first evidence of that meticulous devotion to forms which made up -then an enormous, and still makes up a very considerable, part of -the complete diplomat’s mentality. Before going to audience he -took care to find out how many _kaftans_, or robes of honour, the -Kaimakam meant to present him and his suite with. “I was offerd’,” -he says, “But 15: no English Ambassadour ever having had more from -the Chimacam: But understanding the Venetian Bailo had 17, I would -abate nothing of what he had had.” After a tug of several weeks, he -wrested the two extra vests from the Turk. - -One or two other features of that ceremony remain on record. - -“I am,” said the envoy to the Kaimakam, “I am come Ambassadour from -Charles the Second, King of England, Scottland, France and Ireland; -sole and Soveraigne Lord of all the seas that environ His Kingdome: -Lord and Soveraigne of Vast Territory’s and Possessions in the -East and West Indy’s: Defender of the Christian Faith against all -those that Worship Idolls and Images, To the Most High and Mighty -Emperour Sultan Mahomet Ham, Cheif Lord and Commander of the -Mussulman Kingdome, Sole and Supream Monarch of the Eastern Empire, -To maintain that Peace which has bin so usefull and that Commerce -which has bin so profitable to this Empire; For the continuance and -encrease whereof I promise you in my station to contribute what I -can; And I promise to myselfe that you in yours will doe the like.” - -Sir John had written this speech in Italian and given it to his two -chief Interpreters, with orders to study it carefully beforehand, -so that they might not omit one word in interpreting what he -should say. The Interpreters having fulfilled their function, some -conversation ensued, in the middle of which the Kaimakam, abruptly, -“as if he had much reflected on what his Lordship said,” asked -whether the King of England had any fortresses in the Indies. Finch -answered: “He had very many and not a few of those Inexpugnable.” -The Kaimakam did not carry his cross-questioning any further. -Presumably he understood that the English were imbued, like other -nations, with a very sincere opinion of their own greatness. - -Sir John reported this his début on the official stage of Turkey -to his patron with evident self-satisfaction.[31] He had every -reason to feel proud of the past and confident of the future. He -had shown himself possessed of energy, finesse, firmness, and, -though innocent of any acquaintance with the habits and prejudices -of the Turks, he was already _persona gratissima_ with them. The -flattering way in which he had been received on his arrival in -the Grand Signor’s dominions gave him not only the hope, but the -certainty of a residence agreeable to himself and profitable to -his country. Clearly, the Turks had been much maligned by common -report. These feelings are faithfully reflected in a letter which -Sir John’s _alter ego_ penned to Lord Conway, while Sir John -himself was penning his report to Lord Arlington: - -“Give me leave to turne to ... your Brother my Lord Ambassadour’s -condition under this Embassy: He hath dealt with the crafty close -Genevese; with the wise and stayd Florentine; with the untameable -and rugged Maltese; with the faythlesse Greek and false Jew; and -lastly with the sober and stubborne Turk,”--then, leaving the -others to rejoice in their respective epithets, the writer fixes -his penetrating eye upon the Turks: “Under correction and with -modesty I will say that I find them a sober and ingenious people; -sober they are because they never drink wine, ingenious I call -them from the Bassa who came to visit my Lord at the galley, so -soon as he arrived at the port, for I seldom heard in Europe a -more dextrous, short, and courtly reply then what the Bassa made -to my Lord. I, over and above, find an Ambassadour here to have, -according to their customes, as much respect as they have in most -places in Europe. Certainly there is a mutuall and reciprocall -jealousy betwixt the Court and foreign publick Ministers, between -which there is neither religion nor custome of life, nor laws that -beget any confidence or publick tie, and to the captious it gives -many exceptions. But, setting these things apart, as yett I can -call nothing strange.” Thus wrote this acute judge of national -characters, after seeing only one Turk for a few moments; thus he -wrote, no doubt with my Lord Ambassador’s concurrence, and thus he -thought. Yet even in the midst of his rosy illusions, he had some -dim, subconscious perception of realities. For he adds: “But, my -most noble Lord, these are my first sentiments, perhaps when I have -stayed here longer, I may have as much reason to reclaime against -them as other men....”[32] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[4] Evelyn’s _Diary_, Oct. 27, 1664; Pepys’s _Diary_, May 3, 1664, -April 21, 1669. - -[5] Roger North’s _Life of Guilford_, p. 226. - -[6] _Dictionary of National Biography_; Malloch’s _Finch and -Baines_. - -[7] Anne, Viscountess Conway--a very learned lady and a very odd. -There is a notice of her in the _Dict. of Nat. Biog._, where her -father’s name is given wrongly as “Henry.” - -[8] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 54. - -[9] _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1667-68_, pp. 258-9. - -[10] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 59. - -[11] Finch to Arlington, Dec. 23, 1672, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[12] Rycaut’s _Present State_, p. 404. - -[13] Winchilsea to Secretary Nicholas, March 18-28, 1660-61, June -12, 1661, _S.P. Turkey_, 17. - -[14] Instructions for Sir John Finch, Cl. 6. See Appendix I. - -[15] Sir Thomas Baines, May 25, 1674, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[16] See Appendix III. - -[17] _Register, 1668-1710_, p. 22; _S.P. Levant Company_, 145. - -[18] Winchilsea to Nicholas, March 4, 1660-61, Nov. 11-21, 1661, -_S.P. Turkey_, 17; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 68; J. von Hammer’s -_Histoire de l’Empire Ottoman_, vol. xi. p. 111. Winchilsea -mentions only the “six thousand Bashaws and great men,” whom -Mohammed put to death “partly by his own hands and by his -commands.” Rycaut gives the total of the Vizir’s victims as -“thirty-six thousand persons.” Hammer, though he does not consider -this statement excessive, is content with an estimate of “trente -mille personnes,” or an average of 500 executions a month--figures -which, even if reduced by a nought, would still appear respectable. - -[19] Winchilsea to Nicholas, May 20, 1662, _S.P. Turkey_, 17. - -[20] Harvey to Arlington, Jan. 31, 1669 [-70], _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[21] See Appendix IV. - -[22] For illustrations of this timorous attitude see Winchilsea -to Nicholas, March 4, 1660-61, Feb. 11, 1661-62; the Same to -Arlington, March 26, 1668; Rycaut to Arlington, July 18, 1668; -Letters from Messrs. Thomas Dethick & Co., Smyrna, Feb. 7, March 1, -1667-68; Harvey to Arlington, June 19, 1669, _S.P. Turkey_, 17 and -19. - -[23] Harvey to Arlington, Aug. 18, 1669, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[24] See Appendix V. - -[25] Harvey to Arlington, Jan. 24, March 15, 1671-72, _S.P. -Turkey_, 19. - -[26] “A Relation of the Damage rec. by me, Thomas Parker, Master of -the _Lyon_ pinke from a Corsair near the Island of Delos. Smyrna, 9 -Dec. 1671,” _ibid._ - -[27] _Register_, p. 39, _S.P. Levant Company_, 145. - -[28] _Ibid._ pp. 40-41. This letter, written in Latin, is dated “ex -pallatio nostro Westmonasteriensi, Quarto die Augusti, Anno Doñi -1673, Regni nostri 25^o.” - -[29] Sir John Finch’s own Narrative, Sept. 24, 1680, _S.P. Turkey_, -19. - -[30] Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 312. - -[31] Finch to Arlington, May 25, 1674 (with Inclosure), _Coventry -Papers_. - -[32] Sir Thomas Baines to Conway, May 25, 1674, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. -The letter, though unsigned and unaddressed, carries within it -conclusive proof of its authorship and destination. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -SIR JOHN’S PROGRAMME - - -Sir John regarded his audience with the Kaimakam as nothing more -than a prologue: the real action had yet to begin. His first -business was “to make my selfe an Ambassadour by delivering His -Majesty’s Credentials to the Gran Signor and His Letter to the Gran -Visir.”[33] But that could not be done at Constantinople. For over -a dozen years the seat of the Ottoman Empire had been at Adrianople. - -Mohammed IV. nourished an unconquerable detestation of -Constantinople. It was said that when any of his Ministers ventured -to urge upon him the advisability of showing himself there, he -used to answer: “What shall I do in Stambul? Did not Stambul -cost my father his life? My predecessors, were they not always -the prisoners of rebels? Rather than go back to Stambul, I would -set fire to it with my own hands.” True or apocryphal, these -words describe the position accurately. Constantinople under the -Sultans, like Rome under the Caesars, was the home of an insolent -militia and a turbulent mob. The maladies which infected the -Empire had their breeding-ground in it. It supplied a centre for -all the intrigues and seditions which time and again had brought -Turkey within an inch of disruption. Its revolutionary habits -made it insecure. So the reigning monarch, except for occasional -visits reluctantly undertaken and speedily terminated, kept away -from the ill-omened city. Love of sport conspired with fear of -death to drive the Grand Signor from his capital. For never had -Turkey known so great a Nimrod. With other Sultans the chase -had been a recreation; with Mohammed IV. it was an obsession--a -monomania. “When He cannot range to Hunt,” says Finch, “He is -never well.”[34] Hence his nickname of _Avji_, or the Hunter. -The fatigues he underwent in the indulgence of this consuming -passion are almost fabulous: in the height of summer as well as in -the depth of winter, he sallied forth two or three hours before -sunrise and spent the whole day dashing up hill and down dale like -one possessed by a thousand restless demons. The courtiers whose -privilege it was to ride in the Sultan’s train looked back with -unfeigned regret to the soft vices of his father: what were the -amorous whims of Ibrahim compared with the strenuous vagaries of -Mohammed? But if he spared his courtiers as little as he spared -himself, this sportsman spared his humbler subjects even less. -Wherever he hunted, the inhabitants of the district were obliged -either to provide beaters--sometimes as many as 30,000--or to beat -the woods themselves. In the summer, they had, in addition, their -crops ruined. In the winter, numbers of these wretched peasants, -exposed to cold and hunger during several days and nights, paid -for their master’s pleasure with their lives. So it came to pass -that, while the titular capital of the Empire, in the absence of -the Grand Signor’s luxurious Court, drooped like a flower in the -shade, the Imperial sun shone upon Adrianople: the environs of that -town affording exceptional facilities for the pursuit of game--of -all pursuits the one this degenerate son of Osman loved the most -and understood the best.[35] - -To Adrianople, therefore, Sir John would have to betake himself. -The journey was expensive, and the Levant Company extremely -close-fisted. But in this juncture our Merchants could not stint -the piper, seeing that they called the tune. For the presentation -of his Credentials, though the first, was the least of the motives -that impelled Finch to the Sublime Threshold. - -It had been the ambition of every English Ambassador up to -that date to renew the Capitulations originally granted to -the English by Sultan Murad III. in 1580,[36] with a view to -obtaining a confirmation and elucidation of old and the addition -of new privileges. During the reign of the present Sultan the -Capitulations had already been renewed twice, by Sir Thomas -Bendyshe and by Lord Winchilsea; and Sir Daniel Harvey would have -renewed them for the third time, if death had not prevented him. -Sir John Finch was anxious to tread the path of his predecessors -and to go farther than they. - -There were, in the first place, tariffs to be revised and -Customs-duties to be reduced, or defined to our advantage. For -instance, by a Hattisherif, or Imperial decree, granted to Sir -Sackville Crow, the Merchants of Aleppo had to pay 3 per cent -_ad valorem_ on the goods they imported--cloths, kerseys, cony -skins, tin, lead--as well as on the goods they exported--raw -linen, cotton yarn, galls, silk, rhubarb and other drugs. This -decree determined what was to be called 3 per cent in terms of -Turkish weights, measures, and money, leaving no loop-hole for -extortion. But, resting as it did solely upon the Sultan’s word, it -was regarded as reversible at his pleasure. Therefore, Sir John’s -predecessors had laboured to have it inserted in the Capitulations, -but without success, and the Hattisherif had gradually become so -antiquated that not only the local Customs authorities refused to -obey its provisions, but the Grand Vizir himself refused to enforce -them. Finch wished to embody this decree in the Charter, so that -the English should henceforth have not only the Grand Signor’s -signature but also his oath, and convert what was a mere concession -to merchants into a covenant between prince and prince. - -Another Article coveted by the Ambassador aimed at securing a -similar definition for duties levied upon our Factors at Smyrna -and Constantinople. By the Capitulations they were obliged to pay -3 per cent on imports and exports. But differences had lately -arisen between them and the Customs authorities concerning English -cloth. The duty had been fixed when the English imported only a -kind of coarse cloth called “Londras,” for which they were content -to pay _ad valorem_; but since they had begun to import finer -cloths they demurred, insisting that the Customs authorities were -not entitled to more than the amount of duty established of old. -The authorities, on their part, to avoid what they considered an -attempt to cheat the Grand Signor, insisted that the duty should -be paid in kind. Sir John had so far let the merchants compound -with the authorities underhand, in order that our case might not -be prejudiced by the judgment of inferior Courts; but it was his -intention to have the matter settled at Adrianople: success on -this point, he reckoned, meant some 60,000 dollars a year saved; -and besides, it would enable the English to trade in cloth of -equal fineness with that of their Dutch competitors on infinitely -more advantageous terms--paying only two where the Dutch paid six -dollars per piece. - -Next, there was in our Capitulations a clause by which Englishmen -engaged in litigation with natives for a sum above 4000 aspers were -entitled to bring their case before the Divan. But this clause, -being limited to private individuals, did not protect the English -against the Grand Signor’s officials, whose arbitrariness grew in -proportion to their distance from the “Fountain of Justice”; for -they had it in their power to squeeze the defendants by detaining -them and sequestering their ships and goods. The Ambassador wished -to deprive the local tyrants of every temptation by introducing -into the Capitulations an Article which authorised the English -Consul on the spot to become surety for his countrymen. - -Another abuse Finch sought to remedy was of a converse nature. -Native defendants used to evade prosecution by putting in a claim -not to be sued except before the Divan, where the practice was for -the successful litigant to pay 10 per cent on the debt recovered, -instead of the 2 per cent with which the provincial Cadis were -nominally content. This frightened Englishmen from suing in the -best Court of Justice, and gave the Cadis a chance of extorting -from them 6 or 8 per cent. It was the Ambassador’s object to render -such evasions and extortions impossible by obtaining an Article -which made the fees uniform. - -Further, Sir John wished to establish uniformity in the anchorage -charges imposed upon English shipping, and to remove a chronic -grievance by exempting a ship which had paid anchorage at one -Turkish port from a like liability in another she might call at in -the course of her voyage. - -Such were the most important innovations Sir John contemplated. -But the most piquant of all referred to the contingency of English -factors in Turkey robbing their principals in England and shielding -themselves from English justice by becoming Mohammedans--“turning -Turks,” as the phrase went. This interesting problem had arisen -out of a recent incident at Smyrna. In September 1673 a young -gentleman of good family and rigid religious upbringing, one, too, -who had a fair fortune of his own, was tempted by the Evil One to -commit a deed that covered the English “Nation” in the Levant with -shame. Availing himself of his partner’s absence, he appropriated a -large quantity of goods and gold belonging to several merchants at -home. Then he went before the Cadi and made a solemn profession of -Islam, so that he might shelter himself under the Moslem Law, which -admitted no Infidel’s evidence against a True Believer. We possess -a full account of this scandalous affair from the pen of our Consul -at Smyrna, who tells how, after seven months’ unremitting pursuit, -he managed to recover the best part of the property and to reduce -the culprit to such distress that at last the wretch humbly begged -him to contrive his return to Christendom and Christianity in the -frigate which had brought Sir John out.[37] As a safeguard against -similar accidents, the Ambassador proposed that the Porte should be -asked to allow in future Christian witnesses in such cases.[38] - -Over and above all these matters of business, there was a point -of honour to be struggled for--a point by which Sir John set -immense store. The French enjoyed a privilege which the English -had for generations craved in vain: the King of France, alone -among Christian monarchs, was honoured by the Turks with the -title of _Padishah_, or Emperor; the King of England was styled -simply _Kral_, or King. The representatives of Queen Elizabeth, -it seems, not caring much for titles, had acquiesced in that -modest designation, and the precedent once established, all the -efforts of later envoys had failed:[39] “So hard a thing it is -to unrivitt what Time has fixd’,” moralised Sir John; but the -hardness of the thing, instead of damping, fanned his ardour. If -he could only get that high-sounding title for his sovereign, what -a feather would it be in his cap! He had already, at his audience -with the Kaimakam, taken the first step towards that goal. He had -commanded his Interpreters most particularly not to forget, in -translating his speech, to render the word “King” by “Padishah,” -_not_ “Kral”; and as they, aware of the tenacity with which the -Turks clung to established customs, evinced some reluctance to -attempt an innovation, Sir John had agreed, when he uttered the -word “King,” to add “or Padishah,” thus securing the Interpreters -by his authority. That was done accordingly, and “taken without any -exception.” But it was only the thin end of the wedge. Sir John was -resolved to prosecute “with my utmost Vigour” the insertion of the -title into the new Capitulations;[40] and so to score off all the -ambassadors who went before and bequeath a legacy of imperishable -lustre to all those who should come after him. - -A comprehensive programme, excellent in conception; but for its -execution Sir John had to wait. - -While the Grand Signor hunted, his Grand Vizir was busy conducting -hostilities with Poland and, simultaneously, negotiations for -peace. Sir John was kept informed of these proceedings by the Dutch -Resident, who, with his wife, his children and his Secretaries, -followed the Ottoman camp, having orders from his Government to -watch the march of events in concert with the Emperor’s Resident. -Holland and Germany were then at war with France, which endeavoured -to bring about an agreement between Poland and Turkey and to induce -the latter Power to turn her arms against the Emperor. England, on -the other hand, had recently made peace with Holland, and the Dutch -Resident, before his departure from Constantinople, had recommended -his “Nation” to Sir John’s protection. He now wrote to him about -the prospects of peace. - -An envoy from the new King of Poland, John Sobieski, was expected -in the Grand Vizir’s camp every moment; and in case of an -agreement, it was said that the Ottoman Army would join the Polish -in a common campaign against the Muscovite. What inclined the Turks -to an accommodation, besides Sobieski’s conciliatory attitude, -was the fear of an attack from Persia. So Sir John’s informant -reported. “But, My Lord,” said Sir John, “notwithstanding these -fayr Intimations of Peace there can be no certainty of it, For the -Publique Prayers have bin made these ten dayes over the Empire -for the Gran Signor, which begin not till He is out of His own -Territory’s, and must continue till victory or Peace.... In the -Interim it seems by the vast Quantity of Slaves that dayly from -the Black Sea are sent hither, that the Turke meets with little -opposition.”[41] - -In the interim, we, for our part, cannot do better than take a look -round at the place in which Sir John lived, the people among whom -he moved, and the things that occupied his enforced leisure. Such -a description will make the subsequent narrative more intelligible -and instructive, without unduly delaying the action; for, truth to -tell, many months had to elapse before there was any action worth -mention. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[33] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675, _Coventry Papers_. - -[34] Finch to Coventry, Jan. 11-21, 1674-75, _Coventry Papers_. - -[35] See Winchilsea’s despatches, _passim_, _S.P. Turkey_, 17, 18, -19; _Finch Report_; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_; Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 207. - -[36] The Latin version of that Charter is preserved at the Public -Record Office, _S.P. Turkey_, 1. A copy of it, with an English -rendering, will be found in Hakluyt’s _Navigations_ (Glasgow, -1904), vol. v. pp. 178-89. - -[37] Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 311. For an amusing example of the -young man’s Puritan scrupulosity see Covel’s _Diaries_, pp. 107-8. - -[38] See “New Articles added to the Capitulations,” together with -“The Grounds and Advantages” thereof, by Sir John Finch, in the -_Coventry Papers_. - -[39] _E.g._ Sir Thomas Glover to Salisbury, March 3, 1606-7; -Winchilsea to Nicholas, Nov. 11-21, 1661, _S.P. Turkey_, 5 and 17. - -[40] Finch to Arlington, May 25, 1674; the Same to Coventry, Sept. -9, 1675, _Coventry Papers_. - -[41] Finch to Arlington, July 27, S.N., 1674, _Coventry Papers_. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE - - -To a man who had passed the better part of his life in the elegant -cities of Italy--cities like Florence, famous for its neat streets -and palaces of sculptured stone--Constantinople assuredly was no -paradise. Its streets were narrow, crooked, and dirty. The houses, -built of timber and sun-dried brick, soon fell into decay. Nor was -there the least attempt to make up in style what these ephemeral -habitations wanted in solidity. In the whole of the Ottoman capital -you would not have found one stately house. Western visitors, -impressed by this phenomenon, endeavoured to account for it, each -according to his lights. Some saw in it a manifestation of Turkish -other-worldliness; making the Turk say to himself: “’Tis a sign of -a proud, lofty and aspiring mind, to covet sumptuous houses, as if -so frail a creature as man did promise a kind of immortality and -an everlasting habitation to himself in this life, when alas! we -are but as pilgrims here. Therefore we ought to use our dwellings -as travellers do their inns, wherein if they are secured from -thieves, from cold, from heat, and from rain, they seek not for -any other conveniences.”[42] But this pretty theory was refuted -by the fact that not only the Turks, but the Greeks, the Jews, -and the Armenians manifested the same studious avoidance of any -approach to architectural display. The true explanation was much -more prosaic: a fine dwelling would have been a proof of wealth, -and wealth, in a country where all men were slaves except one, was -a dangerous thing. A trumped-up charge, on the sworn testimony of -two incredible witnesses, was enough to bring about the ruin of the -man who had the misfortune to be rich. So, while the interior of -an Eastern home might teem with all the luxury that vanity could -prompt and money procure, outwardly it presented to the onlooker -a picture of abject meanness.[43] The picture had its charm; but -it was a charm too subtle for ordinary seventeenth-century eyes. -Judged by contemporary aesthetic standards, the metropolis of the -Ottoman Empire was, as a predecessor of Sir John’s had described -it, “a sink of men and sluttishness.”[44] Sir John must have often -wondered what his cousin Winchilsea could have meant when in years -gone by he had written to him: “This city I hold much better worth -seeing then all Italy.”[45] - -On the other hand, there were the magnificent relics of Greco-Roman -antiquity, brought into strong relief by their paltry surroundings: -towers and arches, aqueducts and temples, that had defied the havoc -of the ages. For such antiquarian treasures seventeenth-century -Europeans had an eye, and they lavished upon the past all the -enthusiasm which the Orient of their day failed to evoke in them. -There were also the public buildings added by the Turks--superb -mosques, vaulted baths, and bazaars resplendent with the fabrics -and redolent of the spices of the East. Above all, there was the -matchless beauty of the situation--a natural privilege which -rendered the capital of the Sultans beyond comparison the most -wonderful city on the face of the earth; and of all parts of that -capital not the least advantageously situated were the suburbs of -Galata and Pera in which the Franks had their residence, separated -from Stambul by the harbour of the Golden Horn. - -Galata, the business quarter, occupying the lower slopes of a -hill, and Pera, where the Embassies stood, the higher, formed an -amphitheatre which commanded a panoramic view of the circumjacent -seas with all their bays and islands. Down below gleamed the -Golden Horn: a scene of ceaseless animation: merchant ships of all -nations riding at anchor; light caïcks flitting to and fro with -the grace and the swiftness of swallows; enormous, heavily gilded -galleys sailing in and out, some bound north for the Black Sea, -others south for the Aegean. From behind this ever-moving panorama, -the city of Stambul surged up in all its majesty; a sierra of -seven hills broken by the massive domes and slender minarets of -innumerable mosques, it glittered in the sunlight and moonlight of -the East like a jewel in a silver setting. The most precious gem -in this regal jewel was the Grand Signor’s Seraglio--a gorgeous -assemblage of palaces, mosques, baths, and kiosks scattered -amidst gardens and groves. It covered a walled space four miles -in circumference, with the Golden Horn on one side, the Sea of -Marmara on the other, while round the third side, blue and limpid -as the sky itself, swept the rapid stream of the Bosphorus. Across -the Bosphorus, on the coast of Asia, rose the bold promontory of -Scutari, its slopes encrusted with kiosks and grottos, thickets and -hanging gardens, its summit crowned with the domes and minarets of -a stately mosque. And close by, in striking contrast, were seen the -dark cypress-groves of Scutari--a procession of mourners watching -over a city of the dead. In these congenially solemn groves the -Turks loved to sleep their last sleep, permitting the infidels to -plant their cemeteries with other trees, but reserving the cypress -jealously to themselves. Hither, to the soil of Asia, whence he had -come, the Turk loved to return at the last, as if he considered -himself a stranger and a sojourner in Europe, as if he felt that -here alone his remains would not be disturbed by the revengeful -Giaour, when the day of reckoning dawned. - -Amidst these exotic scenes, the witchery of which no artist has -yet found means to represent on canvas, our countrymen dwelt in -spacious and commodious, if unpretentious, houses, with many -servants and slaves to minister to their wants. His rank naturally -imposed upon the Ambassador proportionate magnificence, and before -leaving England he had laid out no less than £2500 on clothes and -plate: he knew that his foreign colleagues tried to outshine each -other, and he was resolved not to be eclipsed by any of them.[46] -The merchants also, though free from such onerous obligations, -lived on a scale which at the present day would be pronounced -extravagant. Every self-respecting factor kept horses, dogs, and -hawks; dressed, drank, gambled--led in the East the existence his -contemporaries led at home: we are dealing with English gentlemen -of the Restoration, a period when the excessive austerity of the -Puritan regime had yielded to a reaction of debauchery.[47] Only in -the East the opportunities for self-indulgence were more ample. - -No part of the globe has been so liberally blessed with the things -that enter into the mouth as the Levant. Western residents and -travellers grew ecstatic at the abundance of good cheer they -found in Turkey and its amazing cheapness. For a halfpenny it was -possible to buy bread enough for three meals; for little more than -a halfpenny a robust man might get as much mutton as he could -consume; a pheasant could be had for five pence, and a brace of -partridges for nine farthings.[48] The soil there yields its -fruits and the sea its fish in equal profusion and variety; and a -temperate climate imparts to everything an exquisite flavour. Not -less remarkable than the abundance of food was the multiplicity -of forms under which it made its appearance on the table. Greek, -Turkish, and Italian Masters had combined for centuries to bring -the gentle Art of Levantine cooking to a height of perfection that -only the Archimageirus of Zeus could have excelled. It is not hard -to understand the sentiments of mingled pleasure and mystification -with which these succulent dishes were approached by people fresh -from a land where a sirloin of beef or a venison pasty represented -the utmost achievements of the kitchen, and where every meal -was haunted by the unsalted and unsanctified presence of the -tedious boiled potato. Turkey was, indeed, a veritable Academy -for any Englishman who chose to devote himself seriously and -single-mindedly to the cultivation of his stomach. - -As for drink--a mighty question!--at home few Englishmen could -afford to intoxicate themselves and their guests properly with -anything less coarse than beer; in the Levant the choicest wines -were common beverages; and those Franks whose palates craved -greater variety supplemented their cellars with the products of the -West. Ambassadors were even privileged to import 7000 measures of -wine a year duty-free. Sir John Finch, who loved the wines of Italy -dearly, but could not consume in his own household more than 2000 -measures, was thus able, by selling the surplus, to have his annual -supply for nothing.[49] - -Things being so, Britons, on the whole, found life in Turkey -tolerable enough, and in a place like Constantinople well worth -living. To be sure, there were frequent earthquakes and fires, -which always caused inconvenience, often grave trouble, sometimes -severe suffering. But the most vexatious affliction of all--Turkish -oppression--was least felt at Pera. In that suburb Europeans -tasted a snatch of liberty not to be found elsewhere throughout -the Ottoman Empire, except at Smyrna. There hats and wigs might -show themselves abroad with little fear of being struck off the -wearer’s head. In each other’s houses the merchants could indulge -their sociable proclivities without let or hindrance. Those among -them who had more room than they knew what to do with harboured -paying guests, and every now and again there arrived from England -a transient visitor whom the residents entertained with hospitable -prodigality; for the English in the Levant had caught all the -geniality of the Levantine climate, and prided themselves on -nothing more than on their warmth towards strangers. - -When the summer heats and the Plague, which visited every -Turkish town with devastating regularity, made Pera unendurable, -the English “Nation” resorted to Belgrade--a well-wooded and -well-watered, peaceful little village not more than ten miles -distant, open to the fresh and wholesome breezes of the Black -Sea. Here, in the company of other Franks, they could dine and -dance on the grass near the rivulets and fountains as freely as -in any country-place in Europe. Here the ladies also, who at -Constantinople were obliged to efface themselves, more or less, in -conformity to Oriental notions of decorum, joined in the amusements -of the men. All this served to alleviate the pains of exile for -ordinary Britons. - -But alas! the best of these sources of happiness--the happiness -that comes from free and unrestrained human intercourse--was sealed -to seventeenth-century ambassadors. The trammels of Etiquette -lay upon them heavily, and their method of living was calculated -to inspire respect, not to promote good fellowship. Although -they might receive any visitors they liked, they visited only -their colleagues, and those rarely. When they issued from their -houses, they did so with all the pomp and circumstance of Eastern -satraps--attired in the most sumptuously uncomfortable clothes, -attended by numerous servants in gaudy liveries, hampered by -half-a-dozen led horses. This state they affected, were it only -to cross a narrow street. For the rest, they never appeared in -the streets of Pera on common occasions, nor went over to Stambul -except on ceremonial occasions. With such solemnity and mystery -they surrounded themselves in order to create among the Turks the -impression that an ambassador was a different being from the common -run of his countrymen--that he stood in the scale of creation as -far above them as the Grand Signor stood above his own subjects. -This splendid isolation, whether impressive or not, was very -irksome. Men used to liberty and to living in their own way could -not easily submit to such constraint, self-imposed though it was; -and, indeed, there were few among those arrogant Excellencies who -could afford to dispense with society, who could find a sufficient -fund of entertainment in their own minds to make solitude pleasant. - -Fortunate in this respect also, Sir John Finch had under his own -roof all the society he needed. It consisted of one person--Sir -Thomas Baines, another Doctor of Medicine, some years his senior. -Finch had made Baines’s acquaintance at Christ’s College, and from -that moment the two had become inseparable. Together at Cambridge, -they went together to Padua, where they read the same books and -took the same degrees. When Finch returned to England in 1661, he -saw to it that Baines shared his good fortune. Both were elected -Fellows of the College of Physicians of London on the same day, -and together they were made Doctors of Medicine at Cambridge. -Finch’s devotion knew no bounds. When he was appointed Minister at -Florence, he got his friend appointed physician to the Legation, -interested all his relatives in him, and, through the influence -of his brother-in-law, Lord Conway, procured him the honour of -Knighthood in 1672. After living with Finch in Italy and England, -Baines followed him to Turkey in the character of a comrade and -confidant. - -His life-long attachment to this College chum is the one romantic -episode in Sir John Finch’s history. Without wife and children, he -had concentrated all his unused affections on this friend for whom -he entertained an admiration little short of idolatry, to whom he -communicated all his thoughts, and whose advice he sought in all -his difficulties. At Constantinople it soon became a current jest -that there were two Excellencies, and the merchants humorously -distinguished between them, by referring to the one as the -Ambassador, and to the other as the Knight or the Chevalier.[50] It -must be owned that the sight of that eternal pair of middle-aged -physicians turned diplomats, each wrapped up in the other and each -sufficient unto the other, had its comic as well as its romantic -side. They presented to our ribald factors an object lesson in -what the French call _égoïsme à deux_--natural only in the case of -married couples, especially if they have not been married long. - -Truly, it was, in Sir John’s own words, “a beautiful and unbroken -marriage of souls”--_suave et irruptum animorum connubium_; and, -like all unions of the kind, it owed its strength to a happy -meeting of opposites. If we may judge from the correspondence -of the pair, their minds belonged to widely different types. -The letters of the younger man are, on the whole, simple, -straightforward, and spontaneous; the writer every now and again -proves himself capable of a picturesque phrase, of a pithy -statement, of a sound, if not very profound, observation. On the -other hand, the elder man’s ponderous and pedantic epistles are -unreadable, often unintelligible; his attempts at pleasantry -painful; his whole style that of a pompous pedagogue. Of the -talents which Sir John attributed to him no trace is visible in -these dissertations. It is impossible to find in any of them a -single remark on philosophy, religion, or society which is not -dreary commonplace. And the same thing applies to the records of -his conversation: they reek of stale school-learning. There can -be no doubt that Finch, though no dazzling genius, had the finer -intellect of the two. But intellect is not everything. As the -portraits of the two friends stand confronting each other, Finch’s -sensitive face with its weak mouth and melancholy eyes contrasts -very suggestively with Baines’s stronger and coarser countenance: -look at those lips still shaped in a firm, superior, benignant -smile--the smile of one sure of his own wisdom and of his power of -guiding weaker mortals! It is easy to guess at a glance to whom, in -this “marriage of souls,” belonged the masculine and to whom the -feminine part. - -[Illustration: SIR THOMAS BAINES. - -From the Portrait by Carlo Dolci at Burley-on-the-Hill. - - _To face p. 42._] - -Further, Finch’s face reveals vanity, and Baines’s letters a turn -for flattery--gross and inflated beyond even a seventeenth-century -measure. Thomas, clearly, had established over John an ascendancy -by accustoming him to lean upon his strength and to feed upon his -praises. There is also evidence to show that Thomas was not the -man to relax his hold: to surrender or share a domination which -interest and sentiment alike made precious to him. In 1661 Finch -met in Warwickshire a young lady who had the good fortune to please -him. The moment Baines got wind of this matrimonial project, he -set vigorously to work to defeat it. He used many arguments of a -prudential nature, but the one that clinched the matter was this: -Suppose you have children, then you die, and she marries again, -how can you be sure that she will not dispose of her estate to her -second husband and his progeny?[51] The logic of Thomas triumphed -over what John called his love, and he never again caused his -friend any uneasiness upon that score. Thenceforward his whole life -was annexed and welded to the life of Baines in a degree which, -perhaps, has no counterpart in authentic history. As to Baines, he -does not seem to have ever loved anybody except Finch and himself. - -Needless to say, Sir Thomas did his best to solace Sir John for -the loneliness which is the penalty of greatness. That he was a -cheerful companion it would be absurd to imagine: he was just as -cheerful as could be expected from one who often lay, as he himself -tells us, “under the torment of gout and stone both in bladder -and rheyns”[52]--common distempers of the times. Not that Finch -enjoyed wild spirits either. Both were of a studious and sedentary -disposition, and their long residence in Italy had confirmed their -constitutional languor: so much so that their friends in England -had found the ways of these “Italians,” as they nicknamed them, a -little hard to understand. As a consequence, they both indulged -rather freely in exercises of a theologico-philosophical character -and in the pleasures of the table. For the rest, their recreations -appear to have been of a strictly conventual innocence. Let us -intrude for an instant upon their domestic privacy. - -It is the beginning of summer, 1674, and Sir Thomas is seated at -his escritoire, writing to Lord Conway. After enumerating “my Lord -Ambassadour’s” multitudinous achievements, he descends to matters -of a less exalted and more pleasing nature. His very style loses -much of its rhetorical affectation as he writes: - -“As to the House in itself, it affords no great aspect to the eye -without, but truly it is very convenient within, and I think it -gives great content to my Lord, as I am sure it does to me. We both -taking a great delight to set in our chairs and see the birds in -the court lodge upon the cypress tree with as much alacrity and -security as the malefactors fly into a church in Italy or a publick -Minister’s house, upon the foresight of which my Lord from his -first coming gave order to all his servants not only [not] to shoot -a gun at them, but not to throw a stone: insomuch that at this time -we have little wrens which begin to learn to fly first from bough -to bough, then from tree to tree, then from tree to the top of the -house and so back again, and all under safe protection.”[53] - -It is a vividly realised picture, sympathetically painted. We see, -across the dead years, that long since vanished courtyard at Pera, -with its tall bird-haunted cypress tree--and on the open gallery -above, behind its wood railing, two clean-shaven, middle-aged -English bachelors in full-bottomed wigs, seated side by side, -watching the young wrens try their wings; while around them lay the -splendour and the havoc of the East: a world in which semi-tones -existed not--in which the dominant note was exaggeration--where -life was a singular, often a sinister, mixture of brilliant light -and deep gloom, and reality partook alternately of the enchantments -of a dream and the horrors of a nightmare. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[42] _Busbequius_ (Eng. Tr., 1694), p. 18. - -[43] Roger North’s _Life of Sir Dudley North_, pp. 118-19; Covel’s -_Diaries_, pp. 178-9. - -[44] Sir Thomas Roe to Lord Carew, May 3, 1622, _Negotiations_ -(London, 1740), p. 37. - -[45] March 30, 1663, _Finch Report_, p. 247. - -[46] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 58. - -[47] See Appendix VI. - -[48] Henry Blount’s _Voyage into the Levant_, in Pinkerton’s -Collection, vol. x. p. 263; Thevenot’s _Travels into the Levant_ -(Eng. Tr., 1687), Part I. pp. 27, 92; Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, -p. 58. More than two generations later, the famous French renegade -Comte de Bonneval could keep an establishment including six wives -and twenty horses at less than 20 sequins, or £10, a month. See his -_Mémoires_ (Paris, 1806), vol. ii. p. 339. - -[49] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 58. - -[50] See _Life of Dudley North_, _passim_. - -[51] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 33. - -[52] Baines to Conway, June 1-11, 1677, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[53] Baines to Conway, May 25, 1674, _ibid._ - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE MEN ABOUT THE AMBASSADOR - - -Not the least of the many features that differentiated the -Constantinople Embassy from all other embassies was the institution -of the Dragomans[54]--persons through whom all transactions -with the Porte were carried on and upon whom therefore the -Ambassador had to depend for the most essential part of his work. -The Dragomans, in their dual capacity of Intelligencers and -Interpreters, had always been important members of the Embassy -staff. But their importance had increased immeasurably since the -Elizabethan tradition of appointing ambassadors who had served -their apprenticeship as secretaries to their predecessors had -yielded to the practice of sending out diplomats new to Turkey, -her language, and her ways. Cut off from direct contact with -the country, the Ambassador now relied almost entirely upon his -Dragomans’ reports. The Dragomans were his eyes and his ears, as -well as his mouth: they were, in fact, absolute masters of business -and of their employer. - -The system laboured under the usual disadvantages of dealing by -proxy, and a good many more peculiar to Turkey. As Intelligencers -the Dragomans were not all that might have been desired: their -information was often inaccurate, and sometimes, when information -failed, they, in order to keep up their reputation for omniscience, -had recourse to invention. Our Ambassadors had already learnt -from experience to receive their news with extreme caution.[55] -Hardly more satisfactory were the Dragomans in their character of -Interpreters. Absurd as it may sound, the persons who performed -this most delicate and confidential function were not subjects -of the sovereign they served, but of the Grand Signor: natives -of Pera, mostly of Italian extraction. This rendered them very -indifferent vehicles of the ambassadorial mind. When the message -with which they were charged happened to be disagreeable to the -Porte, they manifested the strongest disinclination to deliver -it. Fear tied their tongues: they would much rather risk their -employer’s displeasure than the brutal fury of an angry pasha. -There was nothing to wonder at in this: Dragomans had often been -drubbed, sometimes even hanged or impaled, for doing their duty. So -real was the danger and so powerless was the Ambassador to protect -his own servants against the savagery of their liege lords that -even in his presence the Dragomans dared not translate faithfully -his words, if they were of a nature to irritate his Turkish -collocutor. At the mere sound of such words, they were seized with -panic: their faces grew red and white by turns, their foreheads -were covered with beads of sweat, their limbs trembled, their -mouths went suddenly dry--as if they already felt the stick on the -soles of their feet or the halter round their necks. It was no -unusual thing to see the Dragoman of a European Ambassador, after -stammering out an expurgated version of the message, drop on his -knees before the Turkish Minister and burst into abject apologies -for his temerity. At times, ingenious interpreters gifted with -presence of mind were known to improvise imaginary dialogues--to -substitute speeches of their own inspiration for those really made -by the parties on whose behalf they acted. The position was both -tragic and ludicrous; but no ambassador not utterly devoid of -reason and humanity could complain. He himself, if he were in the -Dragoman’s shoes, would behave as the Dragoman behaved. Even as it -was, despite his non-subjection to the Grand Signor, despite also -the theoretical inviolability of his person, a prudent ambassador -shrank from irritating a Turkish pasha: envoys of various Powers -who had forgotten to hold their tongues had been affronted, -assaulted, dragged down the stairs by the hair of their heads, -imprisoned in noisome dungeons. All things considered, the wonder -is not so much that the Dragomans fulfilled their perilous task -inadequately, as that they dared undertake it at all. - -Other inconveniences connected with the system enhanced its -inherent viciousness. The Dragomans of the English Embassy were -Roman Catholics, and as all Roman Catholics in Turkey were -protected by the representatives of the Catholic Powers, they -were so much biassed in favour of their patrons that, when the -interests of England clashed with those of a Catholic Power, the -English Ambassador could scarcely trust them. Again, the Dragomans -were often men with large families, and they were very poorly -paid. The temptation therefore to betray their trust for money -was hard to resist. Further, motives of religious sympathy and -cupidity apart, there was the lure of vanity which frequently -impelled a Dragoman to babble out the secrets of his employer in -order to show his own importance. As if to multiply the dangers -of indiscretion, Dragomans serving different ambassadors were -often nearly related to one another, or a Dragoman who served one -embassy at one time might later on transfer his services to its -rival. It was even possible for a Dragoman of an embassy to become -a Dragoman of the Porte, or, while employed by the embassy, to have -a kinsman similarly employed at the Porte. How secrecy and fidelity -under such conditions could ever be looked for it is not easy to -understand. - -The vices of the system were flagrant; but the difficulty of -finding a remedy was no less great. An interpreter to do his duty -satisfactorily had to be both competent and courageous. But no -interpreter, under the Turkish rule, could possess both these -qualifications in the same degree. If he was a foreigner, he could -not have the necessary knowledge of the Turkish language, customs, -and character. If he was a native, he could not have the necessary -courage. The French, whose Dragomans had suffered most grievously -from Turkish ferocity, were the only European nation to attempt a -solution of the problem. Their great Minister Colbert had, a few -years since, initiated a reform by sending twelve young Frenchmen -to Smyrna, there to be taught in the Convent of the Capuchins -Turkish, Arabic, and Modern Greek, and then be distributed among -the French Consulates, the ablest of them being destined for the -service of the Embassy. This departure secured to the Diplomatic -and Consular services of France in the Levant a supply of -interpreters who, though they might not possess a native’s intimacy -with Turkish ways, could be trusted to carry out their instructions -honestly and boldly. The advantage gained by this change was so -patent, that the best-informed Englishmen hastened to recommend its -adoption;[56] and, in fact, it was adopted by England--two hundred -years later. - -Meanwhile, Sir John Finch had to work through his Perote, -Italian-speaking “Druggermen.” The chief of them, Signor Giorgio -Draperys, “knight of Jerusalem, and of the most noble and ancient -family in this country,”[57] was a man well stricken in years. -He had served the English Embassy for half a century, and had -witnessed all its vicissitudes under six different occupants. His -long and varied experience made Signor Giorgio invaluable to a -novice: no man had a more thorough acquaintance with the rules of -Turkish procedure or with the usages and precedents that governed -the mutual intercourse of foreign envoys than this Patriarch of -Pera. His honesty was not above the normal. For instance, a Prince -of Moldavia, who owed his elevation to Lord Winchilsea, presented -the Dragoman with 6000 sheep for himself, and with 12,000 sheep--as -well as 4000 crowns in cash, a ring worth 1000 crowns, and a horse -worth 300 crowns--for the Ambassador. There is reason to believe -that none of these tokens of Moldavian gratitude ever reached His -Excellency.[58] Of the second Dragoman, Signor Antonio Perone, who -eventually succeeded Signor Giorgio, we shall hear enough in the -course of this story. - -In addition, Sir John had an English Secretary, a Mr. William -Carpenter, of whom little more than the name is known to us; and, -besides, he was assisted by the Levant Company’s Cancellier, an -officer whose business it was to draw up all legal documents and to -register them in the Embassy Cancellaria. This office was at the -time filled by Mr. Thomas Coke, a man small in stature, but, it -would seem, of great ability and amiability.[59] - -Three other Englishmen with whom business brought Sir John -into frequent contact were personages sufficiently notable in -themselves, and they play sufficiently prominent parts in our story -to deserve special notice. - -[Illustration: Paul Rycaut Esq. late Consul of Smyrna; Fellow of -the Royall Societie. - -From the Engraving by R. White after the Portrait by Sir Peter Lely. - - _To face p. 53._] - -At Smyrna he had met our distinguished Consul, Mr. (afterwards -Sir) Paul Rycaut, a graduate of Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal -Society, and an author of European reputation. As his name implies, -Rycaut was of foreign extraction--the son of a wealthy banker of -Brabant who, having settled in England under James I. and ruined -himself for Charles I., died leaving a large family all but -destitute. It fell to the lot of Paul to provide by his labours for -most of these victims of Loyalty. After six arduous years at the -Constantinople Embassy, as Secretary to Lord Winchilsea--who found -him “so modest, discreet, able, temperate and faithfull” that he -transferred him from the steward’s table to his own and treated -him “more like a friend than a servant”[60]--he obtained from the -Levant Company the Consulate of Smyrna. Important and lucrative as -this post was, it was hardly one of those that give tranquillity -to an ambitious heart or enjoyment to a cultivated mind. While -performing its duties with exemplary energy and conscientiousness, -Rycaut looked upon it as a stepping-stone to higher things. In -1666, during a long visit home on public business, he had brought -himself to the notice of the Court by his work on _The Present -State of the Ottoman Empire_--a book which, running into many -editions and translated into French, Italian, German, and Polish, -made the author famous,[61] without, however, making him what he -wished to be. Lord Arlington testified to Rycaut’s “good parts” -and other good qualities,[62] but did nothing for him. We may -congratulate ourselves that his promotion was postponed so long; to -that circumstance we are indebted for much valuable information. -But Rycaut had small cause to feel pleased. The Smyrna Consulate -cramped him like a prison cell. His discontent is written -as plain as large print can make it in the Epistle Dedicatory -prefixed to the _History of the Turkish Empire_ which he published -a few years later: “Ever since the time of Your Majesties happy -Restauration,” he grumbles, “my Lot hath fallen to live and act -within the Dominions of the Turk.” The same feeling is not less -plain in the portrait (a fine engraving after Sir Peter Lely) which -adorns the volume. It shows us a refined face that combines the -irritability of a scholar with the keenness of a place-hunter; an -emaciated face with eyes large, expressive and aggressive, thin -lips tightly pressed, and a chin of remarkable pugnacity--the face -of a man determined to get on and very angry at Fortune’s slow -pace. It is said to resemble Molière’s. The resemblance certainly -does not extend to a sense of humour. Perhaps it was this want -(for assuredly it was not want of push) that condemned a person -of Rycaut’s abilities and attainments to rust in the Consulate of -Smyrna, when his intellectual inferiors became Secretaries of State -in London. Charles II. had little use for men who could not laugh. - -Many were the prickly problems that Sir John Finch and Mr. Paul -Rycaut had to handle together during the next few years; and on -all occasions the Ambassador found a most loyal and respectful -lieutenant in this highly accomplished and polished Cavalier. - -Of quite a different mould was the Rev. John Covel, Chaplain to the -Embassy and afterwards Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge. Like Finch -and Baines, Covel hailed from Christ’s College. Like them, too, he -had studied Medicine in early life, but eventually discovering an -easier vocation, he threw physic to the dogs, took holy orders, and -got a Fellowship at his College. To him also, as to the others, the -Restoration had come as a providential blessing: witness the Latin -prose and English verse wherein he vented his feelings. The merits -of his Latin performance were such as might have been expected from -an erudite young don. Those of his English effusion may be judged -by the following sample: - - The horrible winter’s gone, - And we enjoy a cheerful spring; - The kind approach of the Sun - Gives a new birth to every thing. - -Among other things, it gave a new birth to the songster’s prospects. - -In 1670 an adventure beckoned the Rev. John from afar, and his -heart leapt to greet it. The Constantinople chaplaincy had fallen -vacant by the retirement of the learned Dr. Thomas Smith (known to -history as “Rabbi” Smith). There was the romance of the East with -its new skies and seas and lands; there were curious old creeds to -be investigated, a strange world of Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, -Franks, with their various ways of life: by all means let us go! He -obtained the appointment from the Levant Company, and from the King -a dispensation which enabled him to retain his Fellowship at the -same time. Thus, while drawing at Constantinople a handsome salary -and considerable perquisites for the little he did, our lucky -divine also received from Cambridge, for doing nothing at all, -“all and singular the profits, dividends, stipends, emoluments, -and dues belonging to his Fellowship in as full and ample manner -to all intents and purposes as if he were actually resident in the -College.”[63] - -It may be doubted whether a happier Englishman ever trod the -soil of the Grand Signor than the Rev. John. He revelled in the -rich colours and savours of the Levant. The ceremonies of the -Turkish Court and the rites of the Greek Church were a perennial -fountain of interest to him, while the noisy wrangles of theology -touched a vibrant chord in his sympathetic breast. Did Eastern -Christians believe that the bread and wine in the Eucharist -turned into flesh and blood, or did they believe that it remained -bread and wine? This riddle raged just then at Constantinople; -and the reverberations of the controversy, expanding in wider -and yet wider circles, reached Rome, Paris, London, stirring up -everywhere suitably attuned minds to intense, passionate, and -to us almost incomprehensible virulence. The Rev. John plunged -into the transubstantial vortex with all the polemical zest of a -theologian and with a vague notion of writing a big book about -it one day. He discussed the holy and unwholesome question with -everybody--Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant--he could lay hands -on, always ending at the point whence he started--the creed of -Christ’s College, Cambridge. Not less eagerly did our Chaplain -plunge into the ecclesiastical politics than into the metaphysical -polemics of the place. The age-long feud between Greek and Latin -was then blended with the squabbles of rival Greek pretenders to -the Patriarchal throne of Constantinople: Patriarchs arose and -Patriarchs fell as Grand Vizirs did formerly; anathematising their -predecessors cordially and being as cordially anathematised by -their successors, to the Rev. John’s indescribable delight.[64] -That was life, pardieu--the absorbing interplay of warm human -hearts and even warmer human heads. - -Though Covel devoted some attention to archaeology, it was with -a lack of interest which he is at no pains to conceal. He could -hardly express his scorn for the “whiflers” who came out of -England and France and careered over the Ottoman Empire buying or -stealing classical antiques. The lore he really loved was folklore: -Greek legends, Turkish songs, living superstitions. If we except -manuscripts dealing with early Heresies, for which he had a passion -(even the sanest of us are mad), the Rev. John only collected -curios that appealed to his sense of the beautiful--if he came -across them cheap. For the same reason he had an appreciative eye -for costumes, jewels, carpets, and other articles of personal or -domestic adornment: they all served to make life pleasant. On all -these topics our Chaplain would talk and scribble with unflagging -volubility--“at full gallop,” to use his own racy simile--repeating -himself, digressing, returning to the subject, straying from it -again, losing himself in a labyrinth of minute irrelevancies. Fond -of shooting and riding, a friend of gay young men and no enemy -to gay young women, especially pretty ones, the Rev. John was -immensely popular with our factors, who found in him a “papas”[65] -after their own hearts. - -To the Ambassador also the Rev. John was very acceptable. Going -everywhere, seeing everybody, and hearing everything, the -divine had much to say that was useful for a diplomat to know, -particularly about Greek Patriarchs, Latin friars and their -quarrels; a subject, as we shall see hereafter, by no means foreign -to an English ambassador’s business in those days. Precluded by -his dignity from crossing the water in person, Sir John could -employ the Rev. John as a channel of communication between Pera -and the Phanar. And the Rev. John, as one gathers from his own -voluminous writings, was versatile enough to act as the friend of -all contending parties in turn, according to the exigencies of the -political vane, far too worldly-wise to let consistency interfere -with preferment. For Covel, though content with the present, never -forgot the future; he was not less anxious to get on than Rycaut, -only built on softer, more supple and sinuous lines, he glided -where the other stumbled.[66] Altogether an astonishingly brisk, -jovial, garrulous parson of six-and-thirty this, full of harmless -little vanities, human levities, and healthy little profanities. - -But the most striking personality among the English residents, and -the one Sir John Finch had most to do with, was the Treasurer of -the Levant Company at Constantinople, the Honourable (afterwards -Sir) Dudley North, younger son of Lord North,--a handsome man -of thirty-three, already eminent and destined to be famous. In -literary attainments North fell far short of Rycaut and Covel, but -in natural intelligence, in initiative, in resource, in tenacity, -in self-command, in knowledge of the world, and in the other -qualities which conduce to success in life, he was surpassed by no -man of his time. His career is one of the most deeply interesting -documents that have come down to us from the seventeenth century; -even episodes apparently trifling in themselves become full of -meaning when viewed in connection with the general character of the -times. - -Like all younger sons Dudley had to carve his own way to -independence. One of his brothers went to the Bar,--ending as Lord -Keeper of the Great Seal in succession to Sir John Finch’s own -brother,--another went into the Church. Dudley might have followed -in the footsteps of either. But the Bar required much reading, the -Church imposed many restraints. Dudley, not studious enough for the -one profession and too lively for the other, revealed at an early -age the calling for which Nature designed him. At school, while -proving himself a hopeless dunce at book-work, he drove a most -profitable trade among the other boys, buying cheap and selling -dear. Manifestly commerce was his metier. - -In seventeenth-century England no social cleavage existed between -the world of commerce and the world of the Court. Since Feudalism -had expired in the Wars of the Roses, differences of birth had -ceased to divide the landed from the moneyed classes. All the -county families had their kinsmen in the towns, and the ambition of -many a nobleman’s younger son was to become an alderman, to attain -which eminence he had to serve his apprenticeship behind the -counter and to work with his hands like a menial. The snobbishness -which again divides the two worlds in our day did not set in until -the latter part of the eighteenth century. It is necessary to -emphasise this fact in order to correct an erroneous impression -promulgated by brilliant and superficial historians.[67] - -So young Dudley was forthwith placed in a London “writing school” -to acquire the arts of book-keeping and penmanship. At that school -he gave further evidence of his financial genius by extricating -himself from the clutches of his creditors through the simple -device of presenting his noble parents with faked bills of -expenses--not crudely, as an amateur might, but as a born artist -would. The next step in our promising youth’s fortunes was his -being bound apprentice to a Turkey Merchant. By this time Dudley, -with remarkable precocity, had sown his wild oats and had made -up his mind on the one thing needful. As his master’s limited -business left him ample leisure, he employed it in helping his -landlord, a packer, at the packing-press, whereby he not only eked -out his slender allowance, but also acquired experience which was -to be of great value to him--the skilful packing of cloth sent -to Turkey being one of the first mysteries of the trade a novice -had to master. His initiation over, North at the age of eighteen -was sent out to Smyrna as a factor. For capital to trade with on -his own account he had only four hundred pounds advanced him by -his family, and he depended therefore chiefly on the commissions -from his master, supplemented by an occasional order from some -other Turkey Merchants he had ingratiated himself with in London -by officiously doing odd jobs for them. These resources were very -meagre, and the standard of living in the Smyrna Factory, as at the -other Levant factories, was very high. Nowhere did conviviality -reach greater heights.[68] With extraordinary strength of mind -young North refused to bow to fashion. He lodged humbly, dressed -plainly, fed simply, kept no horses, dogs, or hawks, made in every -way a virtue of penury; his settled principle being to save abroad -that he might one day be able to spend at home. From that principle -neither the gibes of his fellows nor the impulses of his own young -blood ever swayed him. Once the others pressed him very earnestly -to go a-hunting with them. The wise youth, not to give offence, -complied--but with characteristic originality, instead of buying a -horse he hired an ass. - -In this thrifty way, mindful of his high aim and philosophically -indifferent to public opinion, North passed several years at -Smyrna, working hard, thinking hard, conciliating by his wit the -young whom his eccentricity would otherwise have alienated, earning -by his capacity the respect of the old, and making his company -sought after by “the top merchants of the Factory.” His letters are -full of acute observations and mature reflections on all matters -that fell within his vision. His curiosity was as voracious as -Covel’s, but it did not feed on the external aspect of things. -North took nothing for granted. He burnt with a desire to know the -cause and reason of everything--from an earthquake to a fever, from -the navigation of a ship or the construction of a building to the -government of an empire. He was perpetually on the path of inquiry -and discovery, never allowing his faculties to rest or rust. While -engaged in the practice of commerce, he brought his vigorous -analytical mind to bear on its underlying laws, striking out, in -opposition to the generally accepted views of his day, a theory -of trade which anticipated David Hume’s and Adam Smith’s economic -philosophy by nearly a hundred years. - -The chance for which North waited and prepared came at last. There -was a celebrated house of English commission agents and merchants -at Constantinople--the house of Messrs. Hedges and Palmer. Their -business was very large, but through mismanagement it had fallen -into the utmost confusion. North was invited to become a partner -and set things straight. He jumped at the invitation. Through -his doggedness, resourcefulness, and adroitness, old debts were -recovered, compounded for, or written off, the book-keeping -department was reorganised; and order was evolved out of chaos. As -soon as Mr. Hedges saw the business fairly under way he retired to -England at the beginning of 1670, leaving him and Palmer to carry -on by themselves. Then the trouble began. Palmer was everything -that North was not. He lived in a great house and at great expense. -His table was loaded with plenty, and guests were never absent from -it. They came at noon and spent the rest of the day helping their -host to empty his bottles. By the time North had finished his work -Palmer had finished his dinner. North returned home very tired -and found his partner very drunk. After many unpleasant scenes, -he took a strong line. He wrote to all the correspondents of the -firm in Europe, explaining the reasons which led him to break with -his partner and soliciting the continuance of their patronage to -himself. His reputation stood so high, and apparently Palmer’s so -low, that the principals did not hesitate. - -This may be described as our Factor’s first stride. He was now -captain of his own ship. Only, as English merchants did not care -to trust single agents abroad, because on their deaths, or even in -their lives, there was always danger of embezzlement, he thought -fit to take into partnership his younger brother Montagu, who, -like himself, had been bred a Turkey Merchant and then resided as -factor at Aleppo. Henceforward North’s career was one continuous -run of prosperity. He soon became the chief English merchant in -Constantinople, was elected Treasurer by the Levant Company, and -went on amassing wealth at a great rate, deeming no enterprise too -high or too low for the end he had in view, imparting to everything -he did a touch of his own original genius. - -The ordinary Englishman in the polyglot Levant was content to -transact his business through interpreters. North would have -nothing to do with vicarious communication. He acquired Italian, -which was the Lingua Franca of the Near East, the debased Spanish -spoken by the Jews of Turkey--descendants of the refugees -expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella--who had made themselves -indispensable as brokers to Franks and Turks alike, and (a much -rarer accomplishment) the Turkish tongue. Moreover, he learnt the -laws of Turkey. In litigation before a Turkish court he was his -own pleader, as in conversation he was his own interpreter. He -did not, however, trust implicitly to his own intimacy with the -subtleties of Ottoman Justice. He kept a tame Cadi to whose advice -he had recourse upon occasion. Further, before a trial, he took -care to make his case known to the judge and to quicken the judge’s -intelligence with a present. When his case came on, if North had -no true witnesses to produce, he produced false ones. Indeed, he -preferred the latter kind on principle, having found by experience -that a false witness was safer; for, if the judge had a mind to -confuse a witness, an honest man who did not know the game could -not so well wriggle through the net of captious questions as a -rogue versed in all its rules. - -The Honourable Dudley showed equal tact in his other dealings -with the Turks. Not the least remunerative of his occupations was -usury--lending money to necessitous pashas at 20 or 30 per cent. -Now, by Turkish law all interest was illegal, and the debtor could -not be forced to pay a farthing on that score. So a world of -cunning and caution was needed, and the wisest might suffer through -inadvertence. To avoid accidents, North combined hospitality with -business. He built and furnished a room where his victims could -loll on soft cushions, sip endless cups of coffee and liquids -stronger than coffee, smoke endless tchibooks in safety (under -Mohammed IV. tobacco was rigorously forbidden), and be fleeced -in comfort. The host, it goes without saying, was not fastidious -about the morals of his guests. No narrow prejudices of virtue ever -hindered his familiarity with all human beings that chance might -fling in his way. The sinner and the saint were equally welcome, -so long as there was anything to be got out of them. Among his most -intimate boon companions and clients was a particularly unsavoury -captain of one of the Grand Signor’s galleys. North used to lend -him money and also to palm off upon him his rotten cloths. - -The fertility of North’s invention did not stop there. His shrewd -study of human nature had taught him that men are influenced by -externals far more than by essentials. He endeavoured to make the -Turks feel at home with him by making himself outwardly like one of -them. Knowing their prejudice against clean-shaven faces he grew -a prodigious pair of moustaches, such as the best of them had. He -tried to sit cross-legged, as they sat, and learnt to write as they -wrote, resting the paper on his left hand, and making the lines -slope from the left top corner downwards. He taught himself to use -parables, apologues, and figures of speech, as they did, and to -swear as they swore. Of this last accomplishment he was especially -proud. He held that for purposes of vituperation Turkish was more -apt than any other language, and he grew so accustomed to its -aptness that even when he returned home his tongue would run into -Turkish blasphemy of itself. Let us add another external trait that -tended to make this infidel acceptable to true believers, though -it was a trait for which he was indebted to nature rather than to -self-culture. “It seems,” says his biographer, “that after he found -his heart’s ease at Constantinople he began to grow fat, which -increased upon him, till, being somewhat tall and well whiskered, -he made a jolly appearance, such as the Turks approve most of all -in a man.” - -North’s pains to please had not been wasted. The Turks whom he -entertained at 30 per cent were so delighted with this wonderful -Giaour that they pressed him to become really and wholly one of -them by abjuring his false religion. North always parried these -awkward blandishments with his usual adroitness. He never argued on -religion, or indeed on any other subject, with the Turks. Nobody -likes to be contradicted, and the Turks were not accustomed to bear -dissent from a Giaour. Our Treasurer would not lose profitable -customers for any consideration. He had not gone to Constantinople -to quarrel but to climb; and he had long since learnt that at -Constantinople, as elsewhere, climbing could only be performed in -the same posture as crawling. So without attempting to argue, he -laughed away the suggestion of apostasy by saying, “My father wore -a hat and left that hat to me. I wear it because my father left it, -and”--clapping his hands on his head--“I will wear it as long as I -live!” He knew the Turks well enough to know that he lost nothing -in their eyes by his attachment to the paternal hat. For though -keen on proselytising--always by temptation and persuasion, hardly -ever by constraint--they had little respect for the proselyte. - -By such means our Treasurer waxed not only wealthy but also wise. -The Turks, as a rule, were too proud to converse familiarly -with Christians, thinking (perhaps not without reason) that few -Christians were worthy of their confidence. The result was that the -English and other Franks who lived amongst them and dealt with them -knew about as much of Turkish life, of Turkish ways of thought, -of Turkish maxims of conduct, as an undesirable alien dwelling -in Whitechapel knows of English life. Dudley North was the only -Frank who, thanks to his natural adaptability and flexibility, -had contrived to insinuate himself, more or less, into the spirit -of Turkey. On those occasions of convivial expansion, while his -guests sedulously swilled his liquids, North not less sedulously -pumped their minds. He picked up every hint that dropped from their -lips, hoarded it in his retentive memory, connected it with other -hints, and, assisted by uncommonly quick powers of deduction and -induction, learnt a good deal more in five minutes than the average -European would in as many months. Conscious of his unique position -as a first-hand authority on the Turks, he thought very little of -Rycaut as an expert in the religion, manners, and politics of the -Ottoman Empire. He described his work as very shallow. Once he went -over the whole of it, and noted on the margin its errors. That -copy, with some other curiosities he had collected and a Turkish -dictionary he had compiled, was stolen from him. He could never -discover the thief, but he thought that the things he had lost -might perhaps be found among the belongings of the Rev. John Covel. - -From this it would appear that the Consul and the Chaplain had not -an admirer in our Treasurer. Nor, it may be presumed, had he in -them fanatical worshippers. - -Such was the Honourable Dudley: independent, self-reliant, -holding in profound contempt the weaknesses, stupidities, and -conventionalities of his neighbours; yet withal knowing how to use -them for his own ends; a man infinitely flexible of plan, but -fixed of purpose, and, happen what might, intent not to play the -dilettante in this world.[69] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[54] “Dragoman” is of course a clumsy transliteration of -the Turkish, or rather Arabic, _Targuman_, interpreter. -Seventeenth-century Englishmen gave to this word many forms, -more or less fantastic and more or less remote from the original -(_drichman_, _truckman_, etc.), but it most commonly figures as -Druggerman (pl. Druggermen). - -[55] See _e.g._ Harvey to Arlington, Dec. 4, 1670; April 30, July -19, 27, 1671, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. But the most eloquent testimonial -to Dragoman information is furnished by Harvey’s Secretary: “Here -seldome happens anything worthy remarke and when there does it is -so uncertainly reported to us by our Druggermen who are our only -Intelligencers, that experience makes us very incredulous; what -wee heare one day is com͡only contradicted the next, and shou’d I -give you a dayly account of things according to your desire, my -busines wou’d bee almost every other Letter to disabuse you in what -I had writt to you before.”--Geo. Etherege to Joseph Williamson; -Endorsed: “R. 8 May, 1670,” _ibid._ - -[56] Rycaut’s _Present State_, pp. 169-70. For examples of the -terrorism exercised by the Turks towards European envoys and -their Dragomans, see that work, pp. 155 foll., as well as the -same author’s _History of the Turkish Empire_, and his _Memoirs_, -_passim_. - -[57] Finch to Coventry, Jan. 6-16, 1675-76, _Coventry Papers_. - -[58] See _Finch Report_, p. 521. - -[59] “A man of singular parts, an excellent gentleman’s -companion, capable to undertake and go through with any business -whatsoever.”--Lord Pagett to the Right Hon. James Vernon, July 23, -1698, _S.P. Turkey_, 21. - -[60] Winchilsea to Sir Heneage Finch, Jan. 11, 1662 [-3], _Finch -Report_, p. 233. How much the Ambassador owed to his Secretary is -shown by a comparison between his despatches and Rycaut’s _Memoirs_. - -[61] Pepys, after the Great Fire, which burnt most of the first -edition, had to pay 55 shillings for a copy. It is true that this -was one of the six copies printed with coloured pictures, “whereof -the King and Duke of York and Duke of Monmouth, and Lord Arlington -had four.”--_Diary_, March 20, April 8, 1667. - -[62] Arlington to Winchilsea, Oct. 13, 1666, _Finch Report_, p. 442. - -[63] “Extracts from the Diaries of Dr. John Covel,” in _Early -Voyages and Travels in the Levant_, Introd. p. xxix. This essay -can be safely recommended only to experts capable of checking its -innumerable ineptitudes. - -[64] See such a scene in his _Diaries_, p. 145, where for the -printed date “Nov. 8th 1674” read “Nov. 8th 1671” (cp. his _Account -of the Greek Church_, Pref. p. xi). - -[65] Greek for priest: so the English in the Levant styled their -parsons familiarly. - -[66] Among the State Papers at the P.R.O. (_Turkey_, 19) there are -several letters from him to Lord Arlington and his secretary Joseph -Williamson. The one in which Covel congratulates this very mediocre -gentleman (to whom he was a perfect stranger) on his elevation to -the post of Principal Secretary of State, dated “Pera, Jan. 8th -1674-5,” breaks all the records of adulation known even to that -sycophantic age. - -[67] See Appendix VII. - -[68] See Appendix VIII. - -[69] My sketch of Dudley North is based on the _Life_ of him by -Roger North. It is amusing to find the biographer, who idealised -and idolised his brother, holding him up as a pattern of -truthfulness, probity, and honour, and at the same time relating -all the above facts, without the least suspicion of the impression -that some of them might convey to an unbiassed reader. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -STRENUA INERTIA - - -We must now return to Sir John Finch. - -We left him in the middle of 1674 at Pera, and there we still -find him at the end of the year. In the interval the Grand Vizir, -after a successful summer’s campaign, had returned to Adrianople -and taken up his winter pastime--negotiations for peace. French -emissaries and Hungarian malcontents fostered these attempts with -all their might in the hope of turning the attention of the Turks -against their Austrian enemy. The Turks, Sir John understood, -were “heartily weary of this lean warr in so cold and beggarly -a country, having spent allready in it 13 Millions of Dollars,” -but as the Poles were in precisely the same mood, Ahmed Kuprili, -like a good diplomat, had no mind to come to terms in a hurry. -Hostilities, therefore, were to be continued, but in a languid -fashion, and to be pleasantly diversified with festivities. The -Sultan had decided to pass the next season in mirth and jollity, -celebrating the circumcision of his son and the marriage of his -daughter. Both these interesting domestic events had been in -contemplation since 1669--when the boy was about six and the girl -not more than one year old; but circumstances over which the -happy father had no control had caused their postponement. They -were at last to take place in the spring of 1675, “with all the -magnificence that at such a feast can be shown. The Records of the -Serraglio here being to this effect sent for to Adrianople, it -being 60 years since this publick festivall has bin celebrated.” -So Sir John reported, adding, “My Audience I have designd’ to be -at the same time that I may see the Grandeur of this Empire in all -its glory; I imagine that I shall see a Great Army, Great Quantity -of Excellent Horses; Most rich furniture and Livery’s as to Jewells -and all Pompe of Embroaderys.”[70] - -It would have been better for Sir John, if he had hastened to a -Court whither business called him, and where he was expected, -instead of waiting for festivals to which he had not been invited. -But, at any rate, in the months that were yet to elapse before -he moved, he found at Constantinople plenty of scope for his -diplomatic skill. - -First of all, it was in these months that the thread of Sir -John Finch’s career became intertwined with that of his French -colleague, the extravagant, eccentric, magnificent, and altogether -picturesque Marquis de Nointel, who aimed at notability and -achieved notoriety. He broke in upon Sir John’s life at this -moment like a flaming meteor, to illumine it or otherwise we need -not say: perhaps the story itself will show. The connection was -inevitable. By the Treaty signed at Dover in May 1670, Charles, -for a consideration which he hoped would enable him to settle -domestic affairs to his own liking, had bound himself, in foreign -affairs, to the chariot of Louis. Thanks to this covenant, the -secular antagonism between the Governments of England and France -had ceased, and together with it the friction between their -representatives at the Porte. This is not to say that English -diplomacy in Turkey had become entirely subservient to French -diplomacy. Sir John’s immediate predecessor Harvey, as is made -abundantly clear by his despatches, knew perfectly well where -to draw the line. During his last two years at Constantinople -(1671-1672) he had lived on the most intimate terms with Nointel. -Yet not only he never did anything calculated to prejudice the -interests of his country, but showed the greatest vigilance in -checking every encroachment on the part of his friend: watching his -attempts to obtain from the Porte privileges detrimental to English -commerce or prestige, preparing to counteract all such attempts, if -necessary, and reporting home the French Ambassador’s failures with -undisguised satisfaction.[71] In the queer business of diplomacy -co-operation on some points does not preclude opposition on others, -and the closest friendship can flourish beside the bitterest -enmity. It is perhaps the only field of human activity that -presents such a constant combination of incompatibles. It was part -of Sir John’s duty to continue this qualified cordiality. - -Unfortunately, since his arrival, there had occurred some incidents -which, unless very tactfully handled, threatened to jeopardise the -success of his efforts. - -Although the Courts of England and France were at this time allies, -the English and French nations in the Levant continued to be as, -without interruption, they had always been, jealous rivals in -trade and everything else; and the intercourse between them had -not been improved by the character of that alliance: the English -felt irritated at the humiliating position in which the policy -of Charles placed them, while the French felt proportionately -vain of the eminence they owed to the power of Louis. In these -circumstances every tiff was magnified into a tempest, as must be -the case whenever the point at issue, however trivial in itself, -can be brought into any relation with national pride. When men meet -each other in a spirit of discord, predisposed at every moment to -give or receive offence, how soon is difference converted into -hostility, hardened into hatred, exasperated into rage. What folly -and outrage may not be expected to ensue! These psychological -conditions rendered the incidents Sir John had to deal with -serious--even alarming. - -The first had occurred at the very moment of his landing at -Smyrna. A number of French merchants had been sent by their -Consul to greet him and to grace his entry into the town. But the -cavalcade had scarcely moved when a lively dispute about precedence -broke out between the French and the English Factors, and the -former--hot-tempered and not overbred Marseillese for the most -part--in spite of Consul Rycaut’s endeavours to appease them, left -the procession, hurling at the English words unfit for polite ears. -After this scene Sir John during his sojourn at Smyrna received -from the French “Nation” none of those civilities to which the -representative of a Court in alliance with theirs was entitled, nor -any mark of respect from the French ships on his departure, though -all the other European vessels in the harbour hoisted their flags -and fired their guns in his honour. Sir John was sorely vexed: -he had intended his advent to be an occasion for strengthening -Anglo-French relations, and it had been the signal for fresh -animosities. Doubtless he would have offered an explanation to -the French Ambassador as soon as he reached Constantinople, -but that gentleman was at the time away on a tour through the -Levant--visiting the various centres of French enterprise, -commercial and religious, and spreading the fame of France over -the Orient. Thus the matter remained pending, and meanwhile to the -Smyrna incident had been added another at Aleppo. - -On June 22nd, 1674, three Majorca corsairs--part of a squadron -of 20 that was infesting the Syrian coasts--entered the port of -Scanderoon, where an English man-of-war, the _Sweepstakes_, lay -refitting after a bad storm, and two French merchantmen ready -to sail for home. On the appearance of the corsairs the French -vessels besought the protection of the English warship, the -captain of which, though in a sad plight himself--his topmast was -down--promised to protect them, on condition they took no action -until they saw him begin. In accordance with this promise, when -the pirate flagship came within speaking distance, he hailed -her and warned her not to violate the peace. The pirate replied -in the affirmative, and then, passing under the stern of the -_Sweepstakes_, cast anchor between her and the French vessels. -The latter, panic-stricken, fired, whereupon the Majorcans made -short work of them. The French of Aleppo furiously denounced the -English commander to the Turkish authorities as an accomplice of -the pirates, and, when they had cooled a little, referred their -grievance to M. de Nointel, who just then was at Tripoli in Syria. -The English Consul of Aleppo stopped the mouth of the Turkish -governor with a bribe of 1500 dollars and wrote to the French -Ambassador the truth of the matter. But Nointel, unconvinced, sent -to Sir John the French version of the affair, accusing the English -commander of treachery and collusion, and asking that Finch should -give a proof of his friendship and at the same time furnish the -King of England with the means of restoring the honour of his flag -by procuring the punishment of one who, whether from interest or -from whatever other motive, had tarnished it in such a cowardly -manner.[72] - -This “imbroyl” had cost the English Factory no small trouble. -Nevertheless, when presently M. de Nointel came to Aleppo, -our factors went out in a body to meet him--a troop of young -cavaliers whose looks, mounts, and garments excited in the -French Ambassador’s entourage admiration and envy mingled with -astonishment. Why, these English traders were cadets of good -family--even “des fils de milords,” making their own fortunes in a -far-away land! But M. de Nointel spurned them, for they had come -without their Consul, and therefore their homage was not “dans les -formes.”[73] - -Evidently the noble Marquis was, to use the slang of the times, “in -a Huff”; and it was in no amiable frame of mind that, on the 31st -of December, the very anniversary of Sir John’s arrival, he touched -at Smyrna on his return voyage. - -Our Factory seized the opportunity to pay the French back in -kind: neglect for neglect, and slight for slight. Twenty-four -boats, carrying the French Consul and all his compatriots--also the -Consuls of Venice, Genoa, and Messina, each in a boat flying his -national colours--met the man-of-war that bore the noble Marquis -in the middle of the bay; but of the English Nation there was no -sign or ensign. Neither did the good ship _Hunter_ that chanced -to be in port hang out her “Ancient” or fire a gun as the French -Ambassador passed by. We simply did not know that “any such person -was come.” The French received exactly the treatment they had meted -out to us a year ago. “Onely our Consul did more like a Gentleman -then theirs.” That this snub might not seem strange to the noble -Marquis, Mr. Rycaut sent him a letter in beautiful French, -explaining at length the weighty reasons of national dignity -which compelled us to abstain from paying his Excellency the -homage, etc. M. de Nointel returned a verbal answer: he was sorry -for that misunderstanding, but he was none the less the courtly -Consul’s friend and servant. “Thus farr things seemd’ to looke like -reciprocations, and to be layd asleep.” But Eris--the dread goddess -of strife--slept not. She lay awake revolving in her heart how to -set the “Nations” by the ears. And behold: twenty-four hours after, -at break of day, discord broke forth afresh. - -As dawn spread her saffron twilight over the Bay of Smyrna, two -French ships sailed in: they came from Marseilles, bringing, among -other things, many letters for the English Factory. The _Hunter_ -did not salute them. And M. de Nointel retaliated by detaining the -English letters. Let it be said at once that this fresh neglect -had nothing of human design in it: it was a pure accident--solely -the work of the mischievous goddess aforesaid. The commander of -the _Hunter_, in Sir John’s own words, “having bin merry over -night, was not so early in the morning fitted either for ceremony -or buisenesse.” Mr. Rycaut, after reprimanding him very severely, -sent to the French Consul his excuses, protesting that what seemed -a deliberate affront was really done without order and was due -entirely to the fact that Captain Parker had passed the night -ashore--folk at all acquainted with the traditions of Smyrna did -not need to be told more. He begged that the letters might be -delivered. But our candid apology met with a worse response than -it deserved. The French Consul, in a mighty passion and with much -noise, cried out that his Ambassador was highly offended with Mr. -Rycaut, that he regarded both him and his Nation as enemies, and -that his Excellency was resolved not only to keep those letters, -but also to give orders at Marseilles to throw overboard all -English despatches that should be consigned to French vessels. - -This was surely hitting below the belt: this was degrading a -stately duel to the level of a sordid business squabble. Not thus -did Mr. Rycaut understand the law of retaliation. He sent his -passionate colleague word that this was more than the English in -time of war did to their foes; but it mattered not: every day the -Smyrna factors expected English ships which would bring them copies -of their letters, and also many letters for the French, which he -would deliver, notwithstanding the detention of ours. But both -this and several subsequent applications remained fruitless: the -English mail was kept from the 2nd of January until the 8th of -February, to the great prejudice of the whole Levant Company and -to the scandalisation of all disinterested foreigners who, looking -upon letters as the life of trade, pronounced the interception of -them an act unfriendly and all the more unpardonable since the -Dutch, who were actually at war with France, had their mail duly -delivered to them. Meanwhile Mr. Rycaut makes another effort “to -moderate,” as he says, “the heat of contests, not knowing how -farre they may proceed nor in what point they may terminate.” -Two English ships, the _William and John_ and the _Bonaventure_, -as they came into port, saluted, by order of their Consul, the -French man-of-war; but they received no return of the compliment -by express order from the French Ambassador. So pass the days; and -one’s hopes of reconciliation are baulked; and Eris goes on adding -fuel to the flame.... - -The French then, as now, were governed by their hearts more than by -their heads. But, in the present instance, they were not prompted -wholly by wounded _amour propre_. Their vindictiveness had its -roots somewhat deeper. Just before M. de Nointel’s arrival at -Smyrna a French manufacturer of spurious dollars had been detected -by an interpreter of the English Embassy who had had a number of -such coins foisted upon him, and through Mr. Rycaut’s exertions -had been caught in the act and committed to the French Consul’s -prison, whence, however, he was soon after released. In the same -way, during the last year, two or three other French coiners had -been exposed and allowed to escape, the French authorities, in -order to save the face of their Nation, smothering the crime -and spiriting away the criminals. The English, however, whose -business suffered by the circulation of false money, considered -it a vital interest to bring the culprits to book, and Mr. -Rycaut, despite the rejection of his apologies, lodged a vigorous -protest with the French Ambassador against the release of that -offender. M. de Nointel, in a very short and very sharp reply, -characterised the Consul’s Memorial as “ripiena di falsità”--“full -of falsehood”--denouncing the English factors as abettors of the -forgeries, and declaring that he would demand from their Ambassador -reparation for the “calumny.” This scurrilous reply inflamed -the whole English colony. In a petition to Sir John Finch they -indignantly repudiated Nointel’s aspersion--“an accusation of -this nature, given under the handwriting of an Ambassador,” they -said, “carry’s force of beliefe and weight and authority in it -selfe”: what would the Levant Company think of them: what would -be the impression upon their principals, “and perhaps some of our -Relations at home?” Therefore, they concluded, “Wee most humbly -beseech Your Excellency to take this matter into your serious -consideration, that in some publick manner the ancient repute of -our Nation may be justify’d and maintaind’, and that this occasion -may be so improved by a strict examination of this affayr as may -wholely discover and disappoint the farther progress of false -coyners by the punishment of whom others taking example may be -deterr’d.”[74] - -Here was a pretty state of things for a diplomat anxious to -consolidate the Anglo-French alliance. But diplomacy is nothing if -not the application of intelligence and tact to the management of -international susceptibilities. Sir John could not believe that -M. de Nointel would push matters so far as to make accommodation -impossible. Their correspondence had hitherto been marked by -a friendliness which he hoped a personal interview would not -diminish. Certainly he intended to do all that in him lay to -preserve a good understanding with the impetuous Frenchman. At the -same time, he was not prepared to sacrifice one jot of his dignity. -“If He comes in Person to make me a Visit as Ambassadours of long -Residence, are obligd’ to them that come after them;” he wrote to -the Secretary of State, “Our Intercourse will not easily breake -off; But if by the returning newly from a long Journy, He hopes, -or designs, to evade that Act of respect due to my character; His -Majesty’s Honour will never permitt us to meet. But,” he added, -“the Prudence of His Excellency conversant with buisenesse; will I -presume never putt me upon that necessity.” - -A few days afterwards M. de Nointel arrived at Constantinople,[75] -and immediately Sir John sent his Secretary to inform him of a -fact with which the Marquis was already perfectly well acquainted: -namely, that he had come here, whilst Nointel was touring, as -English Ambassador to the Porte, and to congratulate him on his -safe return to his accustomed residence: so there could be no doubt -which of the two was the new-comer and entitled to the first visit. -Very politely Nointel, within half-an-hour, sent _his_ Secretary -to tell Finch that it was that Secretary’s fault that he had been -forestalled, adding that he desired very close relations with him. -Finch thanked the Marquis, assuring him that, on his own part, -nothing would be wanting to promote such relations, “since that, -there passing between both the Kings our Masters a friendship of -most entire confidence, t’ would be scandalous in the face of the -world for their Ministers to admitt of a conversation that had -anything repugnant to intimacy.” Would the noble Marquis take the -hint? Desire for cordiality battled with sense of dignity in Sir -John’s bosom, filling it with tremulous speculation: “When He has -made me a visit, as according to His obligation He is bound, and -His Secretary tells me He designs; I shall then see upon what Basis -our conversation is like to be built. I have reason to believe, -if once wee meet, that all the past misunderstandings will be -rectifyd’ and redressd.” But would they meet? Would the noble -Marquis be reasonable enough to pay the first visit? - -For about a fortnight this question racked the bosom of Sir -John. During that fortnight the Carnival ended and Lent began. -M. de Nointel, a good Catholic, sent to Sir John “for some white -Herrings.” Sir John gave his Excellency not only herrings, but “all -the sorts of our English salt fish” that were to be found among our -factors at Galata. Not to be outdone in generosity, his Excellency -“made a return of a Doz: bottles of Vin de St Laurens and a Barell -of Cyprus Birds”--a veritable Trojan of a Frenchman this: rare -wines and birds for white herrings. It augured well. Better still, -at the end of the fortnight M. de Nointel’s Chief Dragoman made -Sir John “a very large complement in his Name; and the Visit is -appointed at three of the clock this afternoon.” - -Sir John, you see, and from this you may gauge his trepidation, -rushed to his escritoire and picked up his quill the moment the -Dragoman was gone: he could not wait until the visit was over to -let the Secretary of State know how it went off: he must needs -relieve his heart by pouring out what was in it: “When I receive -him, this being the first time wee have seen each other, I shall -give a fayr guesse how affayrs are like to proceed between us.” It -would all depend on the Marquis’s manners and pretensions: he would -have measure for measure: neither more nor less: “This, Sir, you -may be assurd’ of, I shall not part with the least puntiglio of the -King’s Honour, or the Publick Interest. And I am halfe perswaded -He will decline the trespassing against either, for I hear that He -is a Prudent, and Good Naturd’ Gentleman, but how he comes to be -misled by false informations I know not.” - -The momentous interview took place on the 24th of February 1675. -It lasted three hours--three hours spent mostly “in Expostulations -upon the mutuall dissatisfactions receivd’ and given.” Item was set -against item, in the usual debit-and-credit style, so that it might -be ascertained on whose side lay the balance of offence. And now -it transpired that, after all their neglects at his entrance into -Smyrna, our factors had inflicted upon M. de Nointel an affront -of a peculiarly exasperating nature. It was this: one fine day, -as the noble Marquis was passing by the sea-shore, he espied on -a gallery that overlooked the sea three or four of those blades. -Did they salute him? Far from it: the moment they saw him, they -set their hats fast upon their heads, lest peradventure the wind -should blow them off and the accident be construed into a salute, -and then sat still with their arms “a kimbow.” Stifling his wrath, -the Marquis tried a ruse, by ordering those of his retinue who -followed close behind him to salute first, which was accordingly -done; but it worked nothing: the young Englishmen kept their -original posture, for all the world as if they were not aware of -his Excellency’s existence. What had Sir John to set against this -piece of cool effrontery? Sir John rose to the occasion: “As to -the unmannerly young men; I could not but confesse That it was -high rudenesse”; but when he was at Smyrna he passed, not once -but several times, under the French Consul’s gallery without his -taking any notice of him: “And this was done by a Magistrate in -goverment who should know and practise more Civility.” Having thus -beaten back the attack, Sir John proceeded to carry the war into -the enemy’s territory: “I told Him He must now Give me Leave to -Instance in Two things which I had reason to beleive He could not -Parallel.” The first was the detention of the English mail, the -second the aspersion on the English factors’ character. Nointel -answered the first by explaining that it was done upon the petition -of the French Captains whom the _Hunter_ had omitted to salute, but -it was only a temporary delay: the letters were delivered after -his departure. As to his accusation of our factors, he confessed -that he had been provoked to it by Mr. Rycaut’s assertion that the -French coiner had paid to one of Sir John’s interpreters “35 false -Dollars, which in Truth were but five.” - -Enough has been said to show that in this combat of wits, which was -continued for three more hours on Sir John’s return visit three -days later, the French Marquis found more than his match in the -English Knight. On this, as on other occasions of the same kind, -Finch proved, to the satisfaction of any impartial critic, that he -had inherited a sufficient share of his family’s forensic talent. -It is pleasant to hear that the combat was conducted on both sides -“with patience, mutuall deference, and reciprocall respect.” It -ended as it ought. “I thought it most proper,” says Sir John, “that -they who had first divided us, should make the first step towards -the uniting us. And therefore I propounded that the French Consul -meeting our Consul at Smyrna in the usuall walke of the Cappuchin’s -Garden; Should Be the First to addresse Himselfe to our Consul -Telling Him That He had orders from His Ambassadour to endeavour -to begett a mutuall good understanding between themselves and the -reciprocall Nations; which passe being made, our Consul is to reply -That He has the same orders from me.” The proposal, after some -hesitation, was accepted, and the incident closed, to Sir John’s -no small content with himself and with his French colleague: “I -cannot but say That the character I formerly gave His Excellency is -fully made good by Him; of being a Gentleman of Great Prudence and -Civility.”[76] - -No sooner was this bone of contention “buryd” than another affair -rose on our Ambassador. The Barbary Corsairs--those redoubtable -sea-wolves who seemed to take a perverse pleasure in harassing -the friends of their suzerain--were once more at their old game. -For some time past English navigation in the Mediterranean had -enjoyed exceptional prosperity: all sorts of foreign merchants, -whose nations were at war, choosing to convey their goods under the -flag of the only country that was at peace with the whole world. -By these voyages between Spanish, Italian, and Turkish ports, our -countrymen not only reaped the benefit of the foreign freights, -but besides put out their money at “Cambio Marittimo”--that is, on -security of the merchandise they carried, at 20 and 25 per cent: an -immense gain. But lately the Tripolines disturbed this lucrative -traffic by seizing two of the vessels engaged in it. The English -Consul at Tripoli managed to free the ships, as well as the English -men and goods in them, but the property of foreigners, which -constituted the bulk of the cargoes, could not be rescued: even as -it was, the liberation of the ships and crews had raised a loud -outcry against the Dey, whose subjects were either pirates or such -as got their livelihood from them; and a revolt had barely been -averted. In the circumstances the Dey, even if he had the will, -lacked the power to restore the booty, claiming that by her Treaty -with England Tripoli had the right to search English ships and to -confiscate foreign goods. - -These outrages had dealt a severe blow at the prestige of the -English flag, and it was feared that they might prove a cause of -greater damage still, if left unavenged: “unlesse His Majesty -is pleasd to resent this searching of His ships and taking out -Strangers Goods,” wrote Finch to the Secretary of State, “T’ -will be impossible to keep long Argiers and Tunis from the same -Trade and liberty; and at last the Maltese and other Christian -Corsari will pretend to the same.” He went on to suggest that the -appearance of an English squadron in the Mediterranean would have -a salutary effect both as a corrective and as a preventive.[77] As -a fact, the English Government had anticipated the suggestion; and -presently the Ambassador received from Smyrna a letter enclosing -a communication from Sir John Narbrough to Mr. Consul Rycaut: the -Admiral, having been denied by the Dey satisfaction, had commenced -hostilities. This vigour, no doubt, redounded to the glory of -England; but at the same time it created a delicate situation for -her representative at the Porte. - -The Barbary States still were, at least in name, parts of the -Ottoman Empire. When their enormities were brought to the notice -of the Porte by European ambassadors, the Grand Signor’s Ministers -professed themselves greatly shocked. But what would you? they -said. The Barbary people were rebels for whose sins the Grand -Signor could not be held responsible. When the ambassador requested -that, such being the case, the Grand Signor should not consider -himself aggrieved if his master should take his own vengeance and -right his own wrongs, the Ministers used to answer that it was only -just that malefactors should suffer and that those who inflicted -injuries on others should receive injuries themselves. But the -Grand Signor could not see with indifference his vassal States -attacked: the utmost he would permit was reprisals on pirate ships -afloat--an assault on the towns ashore would be regarded as an act -of hostility against himself. Hence, every time an English fleet -came forth to punish the African rogues, the English in Turkey -trembled lest it should do something that might draw the Sultan’s -wrath down upon them. Such was the situation created in 1661 by Sir -John Lawson’s, and in 1669-71 by Sir Thomas Allin’s and Sir Edward -Spragge’s expeditions against Algiers.[78] As Winchilsea and Harvey -on those occasions, so Finch now had to bestir himself to prevent -disagreeable developments. He began by transmitting the news of -the rupture with Tripoli to the Grand Vizir, “that it might not be -thought His Majesty Our Master had broken with those Vile People an -Agreement subscribd’ by both Monarchs, but according to the Tenour -of the Articles.”[79] - -And that was not all: troubles seldom come single. The Pasha -of Tunis, it now appeared, was not satisfied with the 30,000 -dollars the Ambassador had recovered for him. He affirmed that -this sum represented only a fraction of his loss, and claimed -60,000 dollars more. As to Sir John’s settlement with his Aga, the -Pasha had already shown what he thought of that transaction in an -unmistakable manner. The moment the Aga reached home he received, -in lieu of thanks, a merciless drubbing. When he could walk, -the wretched Procurator came to Finch, told him how he had been -treated, and left with him the written dismissal he had from his -master, saying that the Pasha was a bad man, and that document -might be of use to the Ambassador one day. Then he went away to -Trebizond, where he died. In the meantime the Pasha had obtained -a new post at the Porte, and now favoured Sir John with a list of -his alleged losses, sent through no less a person than the Grand -Vizir’s Kehayah or Steward. How much this unexpected missive -perturbed Sir John may be judged by his own expression: “The storm -which I had thought had bin blown over, as to the depredation of -the Pashah of Tunis, is turnd’ upon me more violent then ever.”[80] - -He did not think it politic, however, to betray his agitation by -taking direct notice of the claim. But he immediately despatched -to Adrianople his second Dragoman, Signor Antonio Perone, under -pretence of finding lodgings for his Audience, with instructions -to own no other errand: only, after he had been there four or five -days to invent an excuse for waiting upon the Kehayah and, in case -that official made no mention of the matter, to say nothing about -it; but if he broached the question, the Dragoman was primed what -to answer. Should the Kehayah prove obstinate, the Dragoman was -to address himself, in the Ambassador’s name, to the Grand Vizir -and complain of the Tripoline outrages, thus meeting the Pasha’s -grievance with a counter-grievance. Even if the Grand Vizir did -not allude to the subject of his own accord, Signor Antonio had -orders, unless he found him out of humour, to open it himself -and predispose him in Sir John’s favour. It was not the weakness -of his case that troubled our Ambassador: he believed that in an -argument he could more than hold his own; what made him fear was -the fact that the Pasha had presented one half of his claim to the -Sultan, who just now wanted money badly to defray the cost of the -coming festivities: “in order to which extraordinary expense He has -imposd’ a great Taxe upon all those that have any charge under Him -throughout the Empire.”[81] - -The inadvisability of further inaction thus borne in upon our -Ambassador from more quarters than one, he hurried on his -preparations for the trip to Adrianople. - -It was “a grand equipment,” and the task of providing the -thousand and one things needed for it--tents, horses for saddle -and carriage, hired servants, and so forth--devolved on the -Levant Company’s Treasurer. The Ambassador was far too great a -man to concern himself about matters of this sort. He serenely -abandoned to Dudley North all the drudgery, and, with the drudgery, -all the amusement and emolument. North enjoyed both. The only -matters connected with the expedition that Sir John seems to -have considered worthy of his care were matters which gave rise -to points of honour--sundry acts of commission or omission, mere -pinholes, maybe, to the ordinary eye; significant enough to one -whose guiding maxim was, “Never to part with the least Puntiglio of -the King’s Honour.” - -Signor Antonio at Adrianople demanded a Command for the Kaimakam -of Constantinople to supply the Ambassador with carts. The Command -was issued, but it was worded in a way which suggested that the -Porte had been annoyed by Sir John’s delay in presenting his -Credentials: the Kaimakam was ordered to _send_ the Ambassador to -Audience. Signor Antonio returned the document, saying that his -Excellency would never come on such terms: why should he be sent, -when he had offered to come? The phrasing was altered accordingly. -But when the Command reached Constantinople, Sir John found himself -obliged to fight for the King’s honour on another “puntiglio.” -The Kaimakam allotted him thirty carts, as he had done to his -predecessor (Harvey, it would seem from this as well as from other -instances, was not very sensitive on “puntiglios”--but then he had -not the advantage of an Italian education). On being informed that -the French Ambassador, when he went to Adrianople, had double that -number, Sir John declared that he “was an Ambassadour of no lesse -King, and had as good a Retinue,” consequently he required an equal -number of carts. The Kaimakam said it was true that Nointel had -been assigned sixty, but had been content with fifty. Very well, -was Sir John’s rejoinder, “I would have the same assignment to me -and I would be content with fifty-five.”[82] - -These points carried, Sir John could proceed to his Audience with -an easy mind. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[70] Finch to Coventry, Jan. 11-21, 1674-75, _Coventry Papers_. - -[71] Harvey to Arlington, July 1, 1672. Cp. Rycaut to the Same, -June 29, 1671, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[72] Nointel to Finch, A Tripoly le 12 Juillet 1674; Consul -Gamaliel Nightingale to the Same, Aleppo, July 10, 1674; Finch to -Arlington, July 27, S.N., 1674, _Coventry Papers_. - -[73] A. Vandal, _Les Voyages du Marquis de Nointel_, p. 155. - -[74] Rycaut to Nointel (in French), Smirne ce 31 Décembre 1674; -the Same to the Same (in Italian) 8, 4-14 Jennaro, 1674-75, with -Nointel’s reply (in Italian); the Same to Joseph Williamson, March -8, 1674-75, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. Finch to Coventry, Feb. 1-11, 4-14; -the Factory of Smyrna to Finch, Jan. 19, 1674-75, _Coventry Papers_. - -[75] The exact date of his Excellency’s arrival can scarcely be a -matter of deep concern to any man now living; yet, as an example of -the discrepancies which beset the path of the historical student, -the following may be of some interest: “The French Amb.: the -Marquis de Nointell arrivd’ here the 13th at breake of day.” Finch -to Coventry, Feb. 5-15; “His Excellcy: arrivd’ here Saturday Febr. -the 15-25.” Same to Same, Feb. 24-March 6; “Le 20 février 1675, -Nointel rentrait à Constantinople,” Vandal, p. 175. - -[76] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 5-15, Feb. 24/March 6, March 1-11, -1674-75, _Coventry Papers_. - -[77] Finch to Coventry, Jan 11-21, 1674-75, enclosing letter from -Consul Nathaniel Bradley, dated Tripoli di Barbaria, Nov. 23, 1674, -_Coventry Papers_. Cp. Rycaut to Arlington, Smyrna, Nov. 21, 1674, -_S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[78] Winchilsea to Nicholas, March 4, 1660-61; Aug. 20, Oct. -19, Nov. 11-21, 1661; Jan. 13, 1661-62; May 24, 1662; Harvey to -Arlington, Aug. 18, 1669; Jan. 31, 1669-70; April 30, 1672, _S.P. -Turkey_, 17 and 19. - -[79] Finch to Narbrough, May 24: S V. 1675, _Coventry Papers_. - -[80] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 24/March 6, 1674-75, _Coventry Papers_. - -[81] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 24/March 6, 1674-75, _Coventry Papers_. - -[82] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675, _Coventry Papers_. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -SIR JOHN GOES TO COURT - - -On Sunday, the 2nd of May 1675, after morning prayers and a sermon -by the Rev. John Covel, his Excellency set out from Pera with -a very great retinue. Besides the Embassy staff and servants, -there were all the English merchants of Constantinople and some -of Smyrna with their own servants--altogether one hundred and -twenty horsemen, fifty-five baggage-wagons, three led horses in -rich trappings, a gorgeous coach-and-six with postillions, a -coach-and-four for the Chief Dragoman, and a double litter canopied -with fine wrought cloth and carried by four mules harnessed -together two and two: in that litter, attended by four muleteers -and preceded by two link-bearers, Sir John Finch and Sir Thomas -Baines lay in state. - -It must have been a comely sight to watch these English travellers -on that spring day, two hundred and fifty years ago, clatter over -the wooden bridges which spanned the streams at the head of the -Golden Horn, skirt the walls of Stambul, and enter upon the highway -to Adrianople. We will follow their slow progress along that dusty -road; for the details of their journey are all on record, and one -might do sillier things than that. - -Four hours through clouds of dust brought our wayfarers, hot -and hungry, to their first _konak_ or stage: Kuchuk Chekmejé--a -township “about the bignesse of Newmarket,” half Turkish, half -Greek, near the Sea of Marmara. There they halted for the night. -His Excellency with his suite was lodged in a Moslem hostel--one -of those pious foundations which, by their statutes, were obliged -to afford travellers shelter and some food. As to bed, they had to -bring their own. The Ambassador and the Knight, after supping on -rice boiled with onions, fish, and bread, had their travelling beds -set up indoors and slept in stuffy state. The Chaplain and two or -three other humble mortals, as the night was very warm, slept on -carpets in the cloisters that ran round a fair-sized quadrangle -with a fountain murmuring in the middle--not unlike, thought the -Rev. John, a Cambridge College court. The Treasurer--there had been -little or no sleep for him that night; for here he was surprised -with a “jolly fever” (his own phrase), got by over-harassing -himself about the expedition. For this reason next morning, when -the journey was resumed, the coach-and-six fell to his share. The -Ambassador and the Knight continued their progress as before, -leaning back in their canopied litter, so that, though all the rest -might sweat and swear at the sun, the dust, and the flies, they -were cool and collected, free to doze or to survey the scenery at -their ease. - -The country traversed was, to speak in the language of that time, -“perfect champion ground”--a lovely plain, here swelling to low -mastoid hills, there sinking into green valleys. But though the -land appeared naturally fertile, our wayfarers were struck by its -desolation. About the towns and villages they saw good husbandry; -but elsewhere they saw nothing to remind them of man and his works. -For many miles the Rev. John could discover neither cornfield nor -vineyard, neither flock of sheep nor herd of cattle: only a fair -wilderness--an ideal place for beasts to lie down in. It was easy -to understand the Imperial Hunter’s attachment to this plain. - -On our pilgrims crept and on, at the rate of three miles an hour -and an average of six hours a day, every evening halting at some -township or village--Buyuk Chekmejé, Selivria, Chorlu, Karistran, -Lule-Burgas, Eski-Baba, Hafsa--and always sending ahead to each -stage a caterer with two chaoushes to procure them board and -lodging by force: “else the people would in most places not afford -us anything.” Small wonder. The Grand Signor’s subjects had long -since learned to shun travellers of quality as they shunned other -robbers. For such a traveller’s progress bore a strong resemblance -to a hostile invasion: his Janissaries raided the villages, -slaughtering all the sheep and fowls they could lay hands on, with -absolute impartiality and, of course, with absolute impunity. When -provincial governors travelled to or from their Pashaliks, it -was even worse. The Pasha drained the very vitals of the country -he passed through, sparing neither Turk, nor Christian, nor Jew; -and (in Turkey humour was seldom far from horror), after cramming -himself and his numerous retinue, he levied upon his hosts what -was called “teeth money” (_dishe parassi_)--a tax for the use of -his teeth, worn in the process of devouring their substance.[83] -The peasants had recourse to all sorts of prophylactics dictated -by the instinct of self-preservation. Among other things, they -made their doors just big enough for a man to creep in at, so that -distinguished travellers might, at least, not be able to use their -houses as stables. - -So the English Ambassador journeyed on, extorting the necessary -provisions from the Greeks, for his myrmidons knew better than to -touch Turks on behalf of a Giaour. All this was in strict accord -with the custom of the country. And so was this: wherever his -Excellency took up his lodging, as soon as it began to grow dark -the link-bearers would come and plant their beacons before his door -and intone a sonorous prayer for the Grand Signor, the Ambassador -and all his company, naming every one: the Treasurer, Secretary, -Chaplain, Dragomans, and the rest, even as was done to the Grand -Vizir and all other grandees on their journeys. - -For eight days the long train of horses and carriages and -baggage-wagons straggles across the Thracian plain in mediaeval -caravan style: of all styles of travel the most delightful as an -experience, the most refreshing as a memory. - -At the last konak, Sir John sends for Signor Antonio Perone, to -make sure, before it is too late, that the arrangements for his -reception are correct; and “taking an account,” he finds, to -his immense satisfaction, that the Dragoman has not only kept -a vigilant eye on “the King’s Honour,” but has “exceeded any -example.” And so he moves forward, another day’s march, five -and a half hours, say seventeen miles, to the consummation of -his journey. He moves, rehearsing in his mind the ceremonial -theatricalities that lie ahead; and by and by, as a sort of -curtain-raiser, we have the first of them. When within six miles -of his destination, our Ambassador is met by a party of Frenchmen -and Dutchmen--residents of Pera who were then at Adrianople -sight-seeing; mere private, unofficial folk, yet well-meaning, and -they help to swell our train. We move on, and presently, in the -early afternoon, the sight we long for bursts into view: stately -cupolas, slim white minarets, brown tile-roofs amidst green -leaves--a dream of urban beauty completely realised. - -About two miles from this magic city, at a spot where a fine -_kiosk_, or summer-house, stood beside a sparkling fountain, a -dozen grooms are waiting, with a dozen of the Grand Signor’s -horses--“all admirable good ones, and set out as rich as possible”: -bridles, saddles, stirrups, and buttock-cloths aglow with gold and -silver; the animal destined for the Ambassador himself glittering, -in addition, with precious stones and pearls “most gloriously.” -My Lord, quitting his litter, mounts this steed, the staff follow -suit, and the cavalcade moves on. They have not gone far before -they are met by a guard of honour of sixty chaoushes under the -command of the Chaoush-bashi, who acts as Master of the Ceremonies, -and the Capiji-bashi, or Marshal of the Court. The two parties -exchange the usual compliments, then the guard of honour faces -about, and the procession enters the city. - -It was a triumphal entry, attended with an éclat that left -nothing to be desired. The chaoushes, in their tall white turbans -of ceremony, marched first, two abreast. After them rode the -Chaoush-bashi and Capiji-bashi in their gala uniforms: long -sleeveless cloaks of cloth of gold lined with rich furs. His -Excellency followed, with the French and Dutch holiday-makers -before him; then came the Englishmen, with their servants behind -them; then the link-bearers with Sir Thomas Baines; then the -coach-and-six; then the Chief Dragoman’s coach-and-four; the -baggage-wagons bringing up the rear. Janissaries flanked the narrow -streets through which the procession threaded its way. Everything -was marked by a splendour that did the Chaplain’s ritualistic -heart good, and wrung even from our cynical Treasurer a grudging -admission that the Merchants had full value for their money. As -to the Ambassador, no sordid thought of cost, we may be certain, -sullied his soul, as he rode in, high-headed, high-hearted, proud -of his trappings, horses, chaoushes, and what not, feeling that he -was received with all the honour and glory due to his character. -In this fashion our visitors reached the house allotted his -Excellency--and there, by one of those strokes of grim humour in -which (as has been said) the Turkish genius delighted, the whole -scene underwent a sudden transformation. - -“The house,” says the Rev. John, astonished into a fit of most -unclerical eloquence, “was the damn’dest, confounded place that -ever mortall man was put into: it was a Jewes house, not half big -enough to hold half my Lord’s family--a mere nest of fleas and -cimici [bugs] and rats and mice, and stench, surrounded with whole -kennells of nasty, beastly Jewes.”[84] - -In his wildest nightmares Sir John had never seen himself living -in a Ghetto. And this was no nightmare, but hard, solid, filthy -reality. A spasm of rage came over him--rage at everybody, but -more especially at Signor Antonio Perone who had had two months -in which to provide for his honourable accommodation. He swore -at the miserable Dragoman as perhaps no ambassador had ever sworn -before. “He vowed,” says our Treasurer, whose mischievous spirit -had been moved to impish glee, “he vowed with the most execrable -protestations never to be reconciled to him.” He ordered him off -to Constantinople in twenty-four hours, else he would have him -drubbed.[85] Apparently Sir John knew not that the magnificent -Marquis de Nointel had been treated to precisely the same fragrant -surprise;[86] or if he did, the knowledge carried no comfort. - -Signor Antonio retired to his private lodging to wait for the -ambassadorial wrath to evaporate; and three days later, by the -mediation of Mr. Hyet, the oldest English merchant, he received -plenary absolution. Meanwhile, after an unforgettable night in -that salubrious abode, Sir John had sent his Chief Dragoman, the -venerable Signor Giorgio Draperys, to the Grand Vizir to beg for a -better residence. With gratifying celerity the Vizir turned a rich -Jew out of his home; and the Ambassador, accompanied by his staff -and the friend of his bosom, removed thither, still keeping the -other house for the servants. Mr. North turned Signor Antonio out -of his quarters and made himself comfortable therein. The others -shifted as best they could, until little by little every infidel -dog found his kennel. - -Quickly as these transmigrations were effected, Sir John had had -time, in the midst of them, to save the King of England’s honour -from some fresh perils that menaced it. There were at Adrianople -several foreign diplomats: Count Kindsberg, the German Emperor’s -Resident; the Ambassador, as they called him, of the little -Republic of Ragusa; and M. de La Croix, second secretary to the -Ambassador of France. Contrary to Sir John’s expectations, none of -these, save the Ragusan, had sent out to meet him on his approach -to the city. So, the instant he set foot to earth, he “searchd’ -into the Point Whether the Emperors Resident was wont to send to -meet the Ambassadour of France,” and heard that “for certain, -yes.” Immediately after, one of the Resident’s gentlemen came to -tell Sir John that the Caesarean Excellency desired to wait upon -him. Sir John answered that the house he was in “was so infamous” -that he could receive no one, but when in a convenient lodging he -would invite the Resident, “unlesse He, as I was informd’, had -sent to meet the French Ambassadour, which He had not done to me.” -Similar overtures from the French diplomat met with a similar -rebuff. Count Kindsberg hastened to explain that his Excellency -was terribly misinformed: “He never sent to meet the Ambassadour -of France in his life, but he had sent to meet me, had not the -Gran Signor at the same time sent for Him to Audience; which I -knew to be true, and amongst other Reasons this was one that he -would have sent out to meet me, because my Lord of Winchelsea -did so to Count Lesley”--Walter Leslie, the Scottish Ambassador -Extraordinary from the Emperor to Turkey, whose mission had -created a great sensation ten years before.[87] Mollified by these -explanations, Sir John intimated to the Resident that he “would -gladly receive His Favour in another House.” When he moved to that -new house, Count Kindsberg came; Sir John returned his call two -days after; and their intercourse acquired a distinct flavour of -familiarity thenceforward. The Resident turned out to be “a Civill -understanding Gentleman. He invites me to Dinner, and I Him, and -frequently comes to visitt me.” - -Would that all “Publick Ministers” were equally reasonable! “But -Monsieur Le Croix (_sic_) Huffs and gives out that He could not -come to see me being once refusd.” He had reported this affront to -his master and was waiting for instructions. When these arrived, -however, La Croix called to apologise. He was, he said, “tender -of His Master’s Honour”--Nointel “had raisd’ Him from nothing, -and all he had was owing to Him.” The Frenchman’s words and his -tone appealed to Sir John’s magnanimity. With a gracious air and -a smiling look, he told the penitent that “He did ill to take -exceptions at that at which Ministers of farr greater figure took -none, and so Wee friendly parted.”[88] - -It was well for Finch that he established good relations with these -gentlemen: their society would go a long way towards making his -sojourn in that environment bearable. The Greeks have a saying, -“Without fair as a doll, within foul as the plague.” To this -description Adrianople answered admirably. Despite its Seraglio, -its mosques, its baths and bazaars, it was, in our Chaplain’s -words, a “very mean and beastly” city, and just now it was crowded -to overflowing by all sorts and conditions of strangers drawn -to the spot by the lure of profit or pleasure, or by the Grand -Signor’s commands. And of all quarters of this dirty and congested -city the most dirty and congested was the Jewish quarter where our -pilgrims had their habitation: a slum that offended every sense -at every hour. At night rest was impossible: a multitude of pests -conspired to murder sleep: rats, mice, bugs and fleas indoors; -outside, carts rumbling over the rough cobbles, and legions of -pariah dogs brawling in the moonlight. During the day, as during -the night, “the stink of the Jewes did give us no small purgatory,” -wails the Rev. John. Even the sense of novelty could not atone for -the sense of discomfort and disgrace. - -The only compensation for Sir John was the promptitude with which -the Grand Vizir granted him an audience, in little more than a week -after his arrival (May 19). This smoothed somewhat the Ambassador’s -ruffled feathers and, moreover, induced the consoling belief that -his purgatory would, at all events, not last long. Why should it, -anyhow? Lord Winchilsea had started for Adrianople on December 5th -(1661); by January 13th he had the Capitulations renewed with all -the additions obtainable; and by January 23rd he was back at Pera. - -The audience, as all men conversant with such matters assured -Sir John, was “very courteous and very honorable”--even the most -captious eye could detect no “puntiglio” to cavil at. - -Like all state apartments in Turkey, the room in which this -function took place had for its main feature a Soffah--part of -the floor raised a foot or so higher than the rest and furnished -with cushions and bolsters. When an ambassador was received with -great formality two chairs appeared on this dais: one for him and -the other for the Vizir; when the audience was less formal, the -Vizir sat cross-legged on his cushions in the corner, and the -ambassador had a stool set for him upon the dais--a point worth -remembering. It was upon such a stool that Sir John was now placed, -while his suite stood close behind him, on the common level of -the floor. Round about the room stood many chaoushes and other -attendants, motionless and mute. At the end of a quarter of an -hour, there was a loud “_Whish! whish!_”--to impose silence, rather -unnecessarily--and the Grand Vizir entered. - -He was a man of about forty, of medium height and somewhat inclined -to corpulence. He had a small round face thinly fringed by a -short black beard, and a smooth erect forehead crowned, as far -as his turban permitted to see, by thick, close-cut hair. His -complexion was of a dark brown, and as his cheeks were deeply -pitted with small-pox the general impression was hardly one of -enchanting beauty.[89] Walking with a slight limp and a slight -stoop--though young in years, Ahmed Kuprili was already loaded with -infirmities--he dropped down upon the cushions and crossed his legs. - -The Ambassador’s stool was moved nearer to the Vizir, and, once -seated again, his Excellency delivered the royal letter,[90] saying -that his Master commanded him to do so and withal to give him a -message by word of mouth: namely, to solicit for his Majesty’s -subjects trading in the Grand Signor’s territories protection in -the enjoyment of all their privileges and immunities, according -to the Capitulations, assuring him, on the other part, of his -Majesty’s desire, not only to confirm the good relations already -existing between the two Courts, but also to improve them. He -was told in reply that, as long as his Master observed the laws -of friendship with the Grand Signor, the Grand Signor would -reciprocate. These mutual civilities were exchanged through the -Dragoman of the Porte, Dr. Mavrocordato, who stood at the edge of -the Soffah, in stereotyped phrases which had suffered no variation -since the foundation of the Ottoman Empire. - -At that point, the Ambassador and the Vizir were treated to -coffee, sherbet, and perfume; and then Sir John and his gentlemen -were clothed with _kaftans_, or robes of honour--loose garments, -shaped like night-gowns and bespangled with large yellow flowers, -half-moons, and other decorative devices. The material of which -they were made varied according to the rank of the recipient: cloth -of gold or silver, or silk with more or less of gold and silver -wrought in it. At most audiences such garments were given to the -visitors, in return for the many valuable cloaks of cloth, silk, -velvet, cloth of gold and silver, which the visitors had to give at -all audiences: as the English of the period proverbially said of -the Turk: “if he gives you an egg, he will expect at least a pullet -for it.”[91] - -While refreshments and investments were proceeding, the Ambassador -and the Vizir continued their conversation. Sir John dwelt at -some length on the steadfast friendship the English nation had -shown towards Turkey for nearly a hundred years, laying stress -on the fact that during the protracted war for the conquest of -Candia, which the Vizir had brought to a happy conclusion, not one -Englishman had appeared amongst the numerous Christian volunteers -who had assisted the Venetians. Ahmed replied that it was true: he -himself was witness to it. Next Finch thanked him for so speedy an -audience. Ahmed said it was a time of mirth, great affairs were -laid aside for a while, so he had leisure. Finch expressed the -wish that it might always be a time of mirth with him, and went on -emitting many other compliments, to which he got the briefest of -answers--or no answer at all. - -Ahmed Kuprili was no great dealer in words. Platitudes, especially -when the speaker repeated himself, as Sir John was prone to do, -wearied him. But he did not interrupt: he simply did not listen. -He sat in the corner of the Soffah, with his hands glued to his -knees, and his countenance fixed in a sort of stony composure: -hardly did a hair of his beard stir to show that he breathed. He -was somewhat short-sighted, which caused him to knit his brows and -peer very intently when a stranger entered his presence; but after -that one searching look his small eyes, having taken the visitor’s -measure, remained resolutely half-closed. Once, and only once, when -he said it was a time of mirth, his English guests fancied they saw -some shadow of a smile on his lips: so faint that it was hardly -perceptible. Thus he sat, dark, remote, silent, and inscrutable, -looking at the verbose Frank through half-closed, bored eyes. Such -calm, such silence, such hauteur, in any other man, would have been -exasperating. As practised by Ahmed Kuprili, they were simply -subduing. For even his quietude conveyed somehow a suggestion of -latent energy--of strength in reserve. On the present occasion, -however, we discern a little relaxation from this glacial grandeur. -“He look’t very pleasantly,” says the Rev. John, “and as we were -inform’d, with an unusuall sweetnesse; though, at best, I assure -you, I thought he had Majesty and State enough in his face all the -time.”[92] Sir John describes the Vizir as “in his discourse very -free and affable, oftentimes inclining his body towards me, which I -am told was not usuall.”[93] - -These exceptional tokens of affability emboldened the Ambassador, -contrary to the rules and the plain hints given him that this was -no time for affairs, to broach the question of Tripoli. As we -know, he had already notified to the Vizir the rupture. “Here,” -he says, “I renewd’ my complaints desiring him over and above -that the Gran Signors owne hand being to that Treaty he would not -onely approve of the King my Master’s just vindicating the Right -of his Treaty by Arms, but also make his due resentment upon their -perfidiousness to his Imperiall Majesty. Answer was made me that he -would take nothing ill of the Kings part in that affayr, but that -he would seek to remedy what they had offended in, as to their owne -score.”[94] Whereupon Ahmed rose to his feet, and with a slight bow -to the Ambassador limped out of the room. - -The visitors departed carrying away with them a mental picture of -an overpowering personality, and sixteen _kaftans_, which they -had the curious taste to appraise. The Ambassador’s was valued -at 25 or 30 dollars; those of the Treasurer, Secretary, and Chief -Dragoman at about 8 dollars apiece: the Chaplain sold his for 6½ -dollars.[95] - -All this was most interesting, but it was not business. The -interview was an empty formality. Nor could Finch hope for many -direct business dealings with the Vizir. It is true that Ahmed -Kuprili’s established monopoly of power saved an ambassador a -world of trouble. Often the Grand Vizirs were mere ciphers, and -the Palace usurped all the functions of the Porte. At such times -the Grand Signor’s minions counted for a good deal more than his -Ministers. The ambassador, therefore, was obliged to discover those -minions and the subterraneous channels which led to them, and, -while openly carrying on formal conversations with the Vizir, to -conduct real negotiations secretly with the Kislar Aga, or Chief of -the Black Eunuchs, and other magnates of the Harem. Again, common -Grand Vizirs, even when they had no rival in the Harem, had a -master at home. They were generally governed by some old friend, or -perhaps a favourite slave, through whose hands the great man’s most -momentous affairs passed, and who had such an ascendancy over his -mind that he could bring him to accept any proposals he liked. To -discover and propitiate this omnipotent adviser was no easy matter. -Ahmed had simplified a foreign envoy’s task in this respect also. -He never had any favourites, or if he had, he was never governed by -them. - -But still Turkey was Turkey. The Grand Vizir did not quite -correspond to a European Prime Minister. Sir John spoke with awe -of “this most great and most important charge; the like to which -no age at no time under any Christian prince could ever parallel, -either as to grandeur or authority.” In fact, Ahmed, though more -accessible than many of his predecessors and successors, being the -Grand Signor’s vicar, was only less unapproachable than his master. -The way to him lay through his Kehayah, or Steward, and his Rais -Effendi, or Chief Secretary. With these officers all preliminary -negotiations had to be conducted. - -Sir John, already initiated in the rudiments of Turkish procedure, -shaped his course accordingly. In consultation with the leading -English merchants, he had the new Articles of the Capitulations -drawn up, translated into Turkish, and sent by his Dragomans to the -Kehayah that he might submit them to the Vizir, after first taking -the advice of the Rais Effendi, who had been gained in advance. -The Kehayah had received the document very favourably and promised -his assistance. That was done as soon as Finch had settled down at -Adrianople. Since then nothing more had been heard from the Porte. -The Ambassador thought the Pashas should not be allowed to go to -sleep. So he despatched his Dragomans, soliciting an answer from -those obliging functionaries, but he was put off with the reply -that he must wait till the festivities were over.[96] - -Alas, poor Ambassador! What maladroit demon had inspired thee to -select for business a time of mirth? - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[83] See Appendix IX. - -[84] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 190. - -[85] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 103. - -[86] “Imaginez-vous la puanteur et la vilenie des Juifs causées -par la quantité de misérables familles qui logent ensemble, et -vous jugerez qu’on a besoin de bonnes cassolettes pour s’en -préserver.”--Nointel à Lyonne, in Vandal’s _Nointel_, p. 58. - -[87] See Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 180-2, 188. Cp. _Present State_, -Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Arlington. - -[88] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675, _Coventry Papers_. - -[89] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 195; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 332. J. von -Hammer’s portrait of Ahmed Kuprili (_Histoire de l’Empire ottoman_, -vol. xi. p. 434) is singularly inaccurate. - -[90] See Appendix II. - -[91] Covel’s _Account of the Greek Church_, Pref. p. lv. - -[92] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 195. - -[93] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[94] _Ibid._ - -[95] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 196. - -[96] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 104. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE FESTIVITIES - - -Recking nothing of State affairs, the Turks, from the highest to -the lowest, rejoice as they have not rejoiced for many a long -year. The scene is the plain outside the walls. There, in the -part farthest from the city, the Grand Signor, the Grand Vizir, -the Mufti, and all the great pashas have pitched their sumptuous -pavilions. Opposite, in the part towards the city, stand poles -and frames for the illuminations. The space between lies open -for the sports. Every day about noon there is an entertainment -of the craftsmen and tradesmen, not only of Adrianople but also -of Constantinople, all of whom have been invited for the sake -of the presents they have to make. Each guild comes out of the -city in procession, with some pageant representing its particular -occupation, and passes before the Sultan, who sits on a lofty -platform, upon a richly-wrought quilt, under an awning of cloth of -gold stretched between two tall elms. - -At this time the Hunter is in his prime: a lean, long-visaged, -sparsely-bearded man of thirty-five, with a skin tanned to a -shiny brown, a “beetled” nose, and sparkling black eyes--not -disagreeable to look at, though generally accounted almost as -ugly as his son.[97] He sits with unsmiling gravity, and about -him stand eight or ten handsome youths continually fanning him -by turns. Day after day he takes up that position to receive the -offerings of his subjects--according to rigidly fixed scale: -from him who has much, much being expected; and woe betide him -whose performance disappoints expectation! Thus, the shoe-makers -present shoes adorned with precious stones; the bakers and -butchers velvet cushions and rich Persian stuffs; the jewellers -a garden with begemmed nightingales perched on silver trees; the -farriers horse-shoes of silver; and so on. As Mr. North gazes -upon this great idol of human worship, to which so much gold is -offered up every day, his mind whirls: “What a world of riches -must be gathered from such a vast concourse of people! I say no -more....”[98] - -The gifts delivered, all the givers retire to their appointed -places, where they are regaled liberally with mountains of boiled -rice and oceans of cold water. - -After the meal, those who have children of a suitable age bring -them to the Grand Signor, and he bestows upon each some garments -and a pension of three _aspers_ (about 2d.) a day for life--quite -a competence for a Turkish artisan of the period. In addition, -there is no dearth of Christian converts to Islam appearing to be -circumcised with the others. - -[Illustration: SULTAN MAHOMET THE FOURTH, EMPEROR OF THE TURKS. - -From an Engraving by F. H. van den Hove. - - _To face p. 106._] - -To the solemnities of the day succeed, after about an hour’s -respite, the jollities of the night. They are ushered in by public -prayers held just as the dusk begins to overcast the plain. From -every minaret in the city and every pavilion in the encampment -outside, the muezzins lift their sonorous voices. For a few minutes -the message floats, with a strangely touching sweetness, through -the deepening twilight: a chorus of aerial criers calling upon each -other to worship the Creator of all things. Suddenly the chants die -away; and then the whole multitude from the Grand Signor to the -meanest of his slaves, wherever each happens to be, single or in -groups, begin their prostrations: kneeling, sitting back on their -heels, rising, bowing, kneeling again, and again, and again, in -perfect silence and with the regularity of a perfectly drilled army -on parade. Who, having once witnessed, can ever forget the sight, -so simple and so sublime? - -Devotions ended, the music bands strike up: trumpets, hautboys, -great drums, little kettle-drums, brass platters. At the -signal, a broad glare is seen to appear from the Grand Signor’s -stables--a troop of link-men march forth, with lighted grates -in their hands: onward they come chanting; and soon the plain -is ablaze with myriads of lamps arranged in various patterns -in the frames prepared for the purpose. By their light the -sports go on: wrestling-matches, athletic feats, acrobatic -performances, conjuring tricks, puppet shows, dances of young men -disguised as women (like the ancient Romans, the Turks believed -that no man danced unless he was drunk or mad), and theatrical -exhibitions--farces amusing, obscene, or insipid, according to the -spectator’s point of view. These pastimes go on with all alacrity -till about midnight, and conclude with a display of fireworks, -which does credit to the ingenuity of the two renegades--a Venetian -and a Dutchman--responsible for them. - -There are monstrous giants, many-headed and stuffed with rockets, -which burst out of their eyes, nostrils, and ears, fly writhing and -hissing up into the night air, leaving a trail of sparks in their -wake, and then break into a rain of stars. There are artificial -trees with all manner of explosive fruit fastened to their -boughs. There are fountains gushing forth jets of fire. There are -hobby-horses which, taking fire, run up and down and encounter one -another most bravely. There are hanging galleys most dexterously -contrived: each with a crew of two or three men who manage the guns -and fireworks on board, and pull the vessels backwards and forwards -to imitate sea-fights against Christian corsairs. There are huge -castles of pasteboard: one of them, the biggest of the lot, -representing the Castle of Candia. After an infinitude of rockets -discharged from its battlements, it catches fire at last and burns -in a most realistic manner, till the whole fabric collapses in one -vast heap of flames and smoke. Besides these and countless other -pyrotechnic devices, there is one that thrills the spectators with -more dread than delight: iron tubes, much like the chambers of -petards, but far larger and longer, fixed into the ground, which -vomit up a continuous stream of fire at least sixty feet high, with -a roar that makes the very earth tremble. - -In this fashion the circumcision festival goes on from May 11th -till May 25th, with little variation, the same things being done -over and over again. It culminates in a stupendous cavalcade in -which all the grandees with their guards take part and of which -the young Prince himself, blazing with jewels, forms the central -figure: “an ugly, il-favour’d, and (I guesse) very ill-natured -chit” of about twelve, with a low forehead, a short flat nose -embellished by a little lump at the end, and ears the size of which -even his turban cannot hide.[99] He is mounted on a splendid horse, -smothered from head to tail under precious metals and stones, led -by two richly clad officers of the Janissaries, one on each side, -and fanned by two others with large fans of bustards’ feathers. The -press is immense: men and women of every degree throng the lanes -through which the procession passes; yet the order is perfect, and -the silence almost uncanny. - -After an interval of two weeks begin the wedding celebrations -and continue from June 10th till June 25th: the same old sports, -the same old dances, the same old plays and pyrotechnic displays -over again; punctuated by similar processions to and from the -Seraglio, with drum-beating and pipe-blowing enough to sing in -one’s ears for a lifetime. First there is the procession of the -bridegroom’s presents to the bride--strings of mules loaded with -sweet-meats and sugar-works made up in all sorts of fantastic -shapes: elephants, camels, lions--so fashioned that there is no -breach of the commandment which forbids Moslems to counterfeit -the likeness of any living thing; then rows of men loaded with -vests of silk, cloth, velvet, and cloth of gold; then open baskets -exhibiting jewels worth half-a-million dollars. Next comes a -counter-procession of the bride’s dowry: including a dozen -coachfuls of female slaves and three dozen black eunuchs. Lastly, -the world beholds the carrying of the bride to the bridegroom’s -house. She is conveyed hidden in a closely-latticed, gold-plated -coach drawn by six plentifully plumed and bejewelled white horses, -and escorted by troops of black eunuchs, some of whom scatter -handfuls of aspers among the rabble. The pageant is headed by -hundreds of slaves carrying pyramidal candelabra as tall as the -masts of ships (_Naculs_)--perhaps emblems of phallic significance; -and it closes with scores of music-makers perched upon camels, -whose gruntings and gurglings contribute a vocal note to the -instrumental din. - -Such, by all first-hand accounts, pruned and trimmed into -legibility, were these famous entertainments--a medley of grandeur -and grotesqueness which could hardly have been matched outside -Turkey. Sir John had postponed his journey in order to witness -this grandeur. But, having received no invitation (only envoys -from tributary States had that expensive honour) he felt compelled -by his dignity to hold aloof, and never saw anything. The other -Englishmen, however, were not so punctilious. They mixed with -the mob which, on foot or on horseback, filled the plain and was -kept in disorder by a body of policemen armed with oil-smeared -sheep-skins. Wherever they saw the crowd pressing most, they rushed -to disperse it by laying about them with their skins. To save their -holiday garments from greasy defilement, the crowd surged this way -and that, in terrible confusion, those on foot treading on each -other’s heels, those on horseback being flung by their stampeding -steeds one over another in a hundred different directions. “There -never was such a dance of brave horses seen as at that place,” -declares our Treasurer; adding, with an engaging candour, “to tell -you the truth, I had small joy in this diversion; and, however we -endeavoured all that was possible to procure horses that were -temperate, yet I could not help making one in the dance, and -that not without much hazard, which not a little retrench’d my -enjoyments, till I found out the way to leave my horse at a good -distance from me.”[100] - -Our Chaplain had to pay much more dearly for his insatiable -curiosity: “My horse snorted and trembled, so I suspected no good, -yet I was resolved to stay and see all. Just as the fireworkes -began, he and many other horses by ran mad and rising up fell on -his hams, then, trembling, on his side; [he] fairly layd [me] along -[the ground] and ran away as if the Divel had drove him. I was -getting up, but seeing many, many mad Jades coming, I fell flat on -my face, and committed the event to God.” Thus the Rev. John lay -prostrate on the broad Thracian plain that dreadful night, while -crazy stallions with cocked ears and flying manes dashed about, -snorting, squealing, thundering this way and that. The reverend -gentleman listened to the drumming of their hoofs with a horror -which his dislike of death rendered agonising. His terror grew as -the sound of those irresponsible, irreverent hoofs drew nearer. -He heard the frantic animals as they went by, rocking, leaping, -plunging, slipping, recovering themselves within the ever-narrowing -circle of which he formed the unhappy centre. Their iron shoes -rang in his ears--an odious knell. He could do nothing but -crouch, stupefied, against the Thracian plain. He had just enough -initiative left to pray to God that He might save a future Master -of Christ’s College, Cambridge, from a premature demolition under -infidel hoofs. Never before, and never after, did the Rev. John -Covel feel so paralysed or so pious. But God did not forsake him: -“His name be ever praised! for though I dare sware at least 100 -horse and people came over me, I got not the least harm imaginable -in the world.”[101] - -After this miraculous escape, our Chaplain hastened to attach -himself to the Ambassador of Ragusa, “a lusty, gallant fellow,” -who, as the representative of a tributary State, had the privilege -of participating in the celebrations and making presents. Under -this minor Excellency’s wing, he was able to go everywhere, to -stare at everybody, to pry into everything, to glut himself on -pomp, without the least danger. They had always a Janissary or two -who looked after them and treated them to sherbet. Thus attended, -they strutted about as they liked, sat on quilts, and lolled on -cushions near the Grand Vizir’s own tent--nay, several times the -Rev. John found himself near to the Grand Signor himself: once -he actually stood within five yards of his Majesty, all the time -his Majesty prayed! How eagerly he noted everything, how glibly -he gossiped afterwards to his companions, how keenly he enjoyed -their envy! And the friends at home--those poor untravelled Fellows -in Cambridge: think of their wonder and awe as they perused his -immense, discursive epistles from Adrianople--messages from -fairyland, sent to reveal to them the existence of a strange, -wondrous world, beyond the humdrum of their drab academic routine. -The Rev. John could hear himself quoted in every Combination Room -as one versed in all the secrets of the mysterious East. Verily our -Chaplain had much to praise God for. - -How did the Turks view the intrusion of these unbidden and -inquisitive unbelievers? Covel speaks with rapture of the -“strange prodigious civility all Franks found everywhere at these -festivals.” The Turks, he says, “took the greatest pride that we -should see and (at least seem to) admire everything.” He gives -examples from his own experience. He had been taken twenty times -to see the sights, while the Turks themselves were being “huncht -away.” He had been many times “very, very near the G. Signor -himself (sometimes ½ an hour together, as long as I pleased), -with my hat and in my hair, both which they hate as the Divel.” -He had walked right through the city, once or twice, “al alone,” -in the midst of great Moslem multitudes, and “never met the least -affront in the world, but rather extraordinary kindnesse.”[102] -No one who knows Covel’s writings can doubt that he believed what -he said. Only he failed to make allowance for the privileged -position he occupied in Turkish eyes, first, as the guest of their -Ragusan guest, and, secondly, as a priest; the Turks had unbounded -respect for all religious ministers quite irrespective of their -creed. North’s evidence, as always, is less uncritical. The Turks, -he tells us, incurious themselves, did not suffer curiosity in -others gladly, and were “apt to beat a man that pretends to it. -They look upon those idlenesses and impertinences (as at best they -account them) with a sinister eye; and always suspect mischief at -the bottom, though they do not discern it.”[103] In other words, -strangers were tolerated as long as they did not make themselves -conspicuous. Once our Treasurer had the misfortune to draw -attention to himself; and never forgot the result. - -The occasion was an acrobatic performance of extraordinary -interest: a rope-dancer sliding down from a lofty tower. North, -for whom feats of skill possessed a peculiar fascination, thought -to time him by his watch. As he stood counting the seconds, the -rope broke, and down came the dancer. He heard the Turks around -him asking one another how the accident had happened; then he -heard some one say that he believed “that fellow,” pointing to our -Treasurer, was the cause of it: he had seen him hold something -in his hand and mutter over it. North, well acquainted with the -Turkish fear of witchcraft, and also with the summary methods of -Turkish mobs, did not wait to hear more, but slank away as fast -as he could. That was the only way: the Frank who did not like -being beaten should slink away from an excited Turkish crowd. With -many of our merchants this habit of slinking endured after their -return home: the sight of a mere church beadle made them think of -a Turkish chaoush.[104] Modern tourists who fill their books with -scornful comments on the servile attitude of Greeks and Armenians -towards the Turk would do well to remember their own ancestors. - -While all this went on, what was Sir John doing? - -It would argue a profound misconception of Sir John’s character -to suppose that, because he had been told that no business could -be transacted until the feasts were over, he kept quiet. Much -otherwise was the fact. His Dragomans, at his behest, seized every -opportunity to come to speech with either the Kehayah or the Rais -Effendi and to worry these worthies away from thoughts of mirth and -sprightliness. The Ambassador himself paid several visits to the -Kehayah in person. To quote his own words: “I attempt all wayes I -can thinke of, that since I could not have Audience till the Feasts -were done, in the mean time my Capitulations may goe forward.”[105] - -We will look into these activities and try to set them forth as -briefly as we can. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[97] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 206; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 317. Cp. -George Etherege to Joseph Williamson, “R. 8 May. 1670,” _S.P. -Turkey_, 19. - -[98] Letter from Adrianople, in _Life of Dudley North_, p. 213. - -[99] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 203. - -[100] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 217. - -[101] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 226. - -[102] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 205. - -[103] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 116. - -[104] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 124, 197. - -[105] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675, _Coventry Papers_. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -DIPLOMACY--HIGH AND OTHERWISE - - -Our Ambassador’s first interview with the Kehayah had for its -primary object a demand of the greatest delicacy, though no -way connected with English interests in the Levant: a sort of -“side-show” springing out of Charles II.’s secret diplomacy and -directed from the inmost recesses of the Cabal. Whether Finch knew -the dark inwardness of the policy he served can only be matter of -conjecture: his despatches are too guarded.[106] But certain it is -that he threw himself unflinchingly into measures which he knew to -be agreeable to his master and his patron, Lord Arlington. - -The custody of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem had for ages -supplied an apple of discord between Greek and Latin monks, who -fought for the tomb of the Prince of Peace with more rancour than -monarchs ever displayed in their struggles for temporal gains. It -was not the ownership of the holy places, which belonged to the -Grand Signor; it was not even the exclusive occupation of them that -the unholy contest raged about. The whole feud was for certain -honorific privileges or tokens of pre-eminence, such as the right -to decorate a shrine, to light the lamps, or to keep the keys of -a church. For these trifles both sects were prepared to spend -thousands in corrupting the pashas of the Divan with whom the -decision lay, and, besides, the Latin friars in Palestine, though -being Spaniards, they had no ambassador of their own to assist -them, enjoyed the diplomatic support of France, of Germany, of -Venice, and of Poland. The Greeks would fain rely on their wits -and their dollars. So equipped, each sect had alternately turned -the other out. When M. de Nointel came to Turkey in 1670, he found -the dispute in progress: it was one of the aims of his mission to -have it settled in favour of the Latins, and on renewing the French -Capitulations, in the summer of 1673, he had, as he imagined, -carried his point. - -The Greeks, however, had at that time a powerful champion in the -First Dragoman of the Porte, Panayoti Nicusi, commonly called by -the diminutive Panayotaki--an exceedingly clever and accomplished -Greek, who easily persuaded the Vizir of the impolicy of taking the -custody of the Holy Sepulchre from subjects of the Grand Signor -and giving it to the protégés of foreign Powers--Powers which -once owned the Holy Land and hoped to own it again: religious -penetration being but the first step to ultimate conquest. A -Hattisherif was, accordingly, handed to Panayoti, confirming the -Greek claim. But, as Germany and the other European Powers whom -Panayoti, before entering the service of the Porte, had served -in the capacity of interpreter, were patrons of the Latins, and -Panayoti did not wish to appear as his former employers’ opponent, -the grant remained dormant until after his death, which took -place in October 1673. Once the Dragoman safe in his grave, his -countrymen produced the document and asserted their rights. The -feud had reached its climax at Easter 1674, when M. de Nointel was -on the spot. - -Greek and Latin friars were preparing to adorn their respective -portions of the marble shrine that covered the Tomb, when, -stimulated by the presence of the French Ambassador, they fell -out about the use of a ladder. The quarrel soon grew into a free -fight which ended in the murder of one or two--some said two or -three--Greek Caloyers. Result, in the French Ambassador’s own -words, “un enfer déchaîné”--hell let loose. The whole of the Greek -community, clergy and laity, men, women, and children, rushed to -the Cadi clamouring for help against the Latin assassins; the -Latins stoutly denied the deed, affirming that the Caloyer or -Caloyers had died of old age. M. de Nointel, in a paroxysm of -diplomatico-religious frenzy, wrote to his King, to the Pope, to -the Queen of Spain, to all the Catholic princes and potentates in -Europe, denouncing the Greeks as usurpers, calling for vengeance, -begging for money--much money wherewith to purchase the favour of -the pashas and foil the intrigues of the schismatics. - -All this, however, had failed to undo the dead Panayoti’s work. -Ahmed Kuprili never was the man to be moved by any one, least of -all by the representative of a nation which, while calling itself -the ally of Turkey, openly aided Turkey’s enemies: the Vizir had -met thousands of Frenchmen fighting against him both in Hungary -and in Crete. Moreover, as Sir John remarks, the murder of the -Greek or Greeks had “highly displeasd’ the Gran Visir.” The Spanish -Cordeliers of Jerusalem, reduced to their own devices, sent to -Adrianople Padre Canizares, their Commissary at Constantinople, -armed with letters from the Bailo of Venice and good store of gold -of his own, to see what they could do at the Porte. The Greeks, -on their part, sent to Adrianople the Patriarch of Jerusalem, -Dositheos, armed with the Sultan’s Hattisherif and good store of -gold of his own, to see that the Spaniards did nothing at the -Porte. Thus things stood on the eve of Sir John Finch’s appearance -on the scene: Greek and Latin Christians wrangling for the -possession of Christ’s grave before a Moslem tribunal.[107] - -Our Ambassador had followed the feud from Pera with profound -attention. England, looking upon the Greeks as natural allies -against the common enemy--Popery--had, since the time of Elizabeth, -consistently supported them in all their quarrels with the Latins. -That Queen’s representative, Edward Barton, lived on terms of -affectionate intimacy with the Patriarch Meletios. His successors, -Henry Lello and Sir Thomas Glover, likewise maintained the closest -friendship with the successors of Meletios. After enduring unabated -throughout the reign of James I., this Anglo-Greek alliance -had attained its height in the time of Charles I., during the -Patriarchate of the renowned and unfortunate Cyril Lucaris, when -the Catholic intrigues against the Greek Church reached their -depth. Sir Thomas Roe and Sir Peter Wych, all the years they were -at Constantinople, strove to save that prelate from the infamous -plots of the Jesuits and their patron the French Ambassador, who, -however, succeeded at length in compassing his strangulation -at the hands of the Turks.[108] The first departure from this -policy appears, strangely enough, to have occurred during the -Commonwealth. When Lord Winchilsea arrived at Constantinople, in -1661, the Latin President of the Holy Sepulchre appealed to him for -his favour on the ground that his antecessor, Sir Thomas Bendyshe, -was a great defender of the Catholics in Turkey against the -Greeks[109]--at a time when the Catholics in England were treated -as almost outside the Christian pale and all heretics scattered -over the Catholic world regarded Cromwell as their protector! Such -a paradox might give food for interesting speculation indeed.[110] -What concerns us here is Winchilsea’s response to the appeal: it -forms a tolerably good example of the edifying ways of diplomacy. - -Among the King’s Instructions to Winchilsea there is a clause -bidding him “show all kindness and humanity to those of the Greek -Church,” and counteract, by all the means in his power, the -machinations of her antagonists, “especially such Jesuits and -Friars as under religious pretences compass other ends.”[111] This -looks as if at the beginning of his reign Charles II. meant to -revert to the ancient tradition. Very soon, however, his attitude -changed. As everybody now knows, though at the time the thing was -a secret known to very few, Charles, already a crypto-Catholic, -promised himself to establish papacy in England--to re-unite his -kingdom to the Church of Rome. After the displacement of Secretary -Nicholas (who, like Clarendon, always opposed the King’s favour for -the Catholics) by Arlington, in 1662, the Romanist tendencies of -the English Court became more pronounced, culminating in the Treaty -of Dover which, among other things, stipulated the subversion of -Protestantism in England. It was natural, therefore, for a king who -entertained such projects at home to foment similar designs abroad; -that his representatives at Constantinople should promote in the -East the cause which their master promoted in the West. - -What verbal orders Winchilsea may have had it is impossible to -say; but it can be shown that, even while pretending to exert -himself on behalf of the Greek Patriarchs of Constantinople and -Jerusalem, he earned the gratitude of their Latin rivals. After -the supersession of Nicholas, he dropped all pretence, obtained -His Majesty’s authority to disregard the pro-Greek clause, and -thenceforward made the protection of the Roman Catholics an -integral part of his programme.[112] His successor, Harvey, went -out to Turkey with Instructions from which the awkward clause -was significantly omitted,[113] and this negative evidence is -supplemented by that Ambassador’s confidential relations with the -Marquis de Nointel who had on his eager mind the “re-union” of the -Greek and Roman Churches under the aegis of Louis. The Rev. John -Covel, who assisted at many after-dinner discussions between the -two diplomats about the doctrine of Transubstantiation and kindred -topics, makes it quite clear that in Harvey the Catholic cause had -found, at least, a benevolent neutral.[114] In the more zealous and -less discreet Finch it was to find an active ally. - -From his arrival in Turkey Sir John had shown his bias. The Greek -Patriarch of Constantinople who had been deposed in 1674 would, in -pursuance of the old tradition, have fled to the English Embassy. -But Sir John refused him asylum.[115] In the quarrel over the Holy -Sepulchre, without hesitation or examination, he adopted the Latin -view and offered Padre Canizares his assistance--an offer which the -monk declined, to the Ambassador’s intense annoyance: “He thankes -me, but desird’ not so much as a letter from me. I keep this in -Petto.” It was not long before the Providence that watches over -aggrieved diplomats supplied Finch with a chance of unburdening -his “petto.” The Commissary of the Cordeliers, by means either of -the Bailo’s letter or of his own gold, had contrived to obtain -from the Porte a suspension of the sentence which assigned the -custody of the Holy Sepulchre to the Greeks, and a revision of the -case; but in this new hearing the Vizir upheld the Greek side, -acting, as the Latin Fathers said, rather the part of an advocate -for the Greeks than of a judge. The upshot was that the former -sentence was confirmed; and, though no order for its execution had -yet been issued, the Cordeliers were in such a fright that Padre -Canizares sent an express to Jerusalem requiring them to remove out -of the holy places all the costly plate which had been presented -by several Christian princes, so that, if the worst came to the -worst, their rivals might find the prize denuded. At the same time, -two of them came to Finch with an account of their parlous state. -This was Sir John’s opportunity: “I told them that I was sorry as -a Christian, that they had lost their just Possessions, But as a -Publick Minister I was not the least concernd’ in it. P. Canizares -having, though I offerd’ him my Assistance at a time when He found -himselfe in so great danger, wholely declind’ all application to -me, as if the King of Englands Ambassadour weighd’ nothing at this -Court: and thus much occasionally I causd’ to be signifyd’ to the -Bailo of Venice; and upon occasion shall doe the like to the French -Ambassadour.”[116] - -The French Ambassador had already written to Finch from Rama[117] -on behalf of the Jerusalem Friars, and on his return to -Constantinople in February 1675, after adjusting his differences -with Sir John, he renewed his efforts to engage the Englishman’s -co-operation. With this object in view he paid Finch a visit a -little before the latter set out for Adrianople, and urged him -to befriend the Latin Fathers near the Grand Vizir and Grand -Signor, vehemently complaining of the Greeks, whom he described -as “a company of Traditori, treacherous false wretches.”[118] The -Venetian Bailo also approached our Ambassador on the same subject, -and our Ambassador was not a little flattered to find himself, all -of a sudden, the arbiter of Christendom. - -It was, then, as a champion of Papacy that Sir John came to -Adrianople: an odd rôle for one who had taken such pains to -introduce himself to the Turks as the envoy from a “Defender of -the Christian Faith against all those that worship Idolls and -Images.” Whether the incongruity struck the Turks, we do not -know. It certainly did not strike Sir John. The Jerusalem Fathers -hastened to wait upon him, and “having excusd’ themselves and -askd’ Pardon,” they “beseechd’ the King of Englands Protection,” -declaring that they were prepared to spend for the purpose a sum -of 15,000 dollars. Sir John willingly acceded to their request and -promised to set about it straightway. What form was the protection -to take? Sir John tells us that the money placed at his disposal -was to be used “for the obtaining a Hattesheriffe for the clear -possession of the Rights that were in dispute.” Dudley North -asserts that the Fathers proposed and the Ambassador agreed to get -an Article in their favour inserted into our Capitulations, adding -that they showed Sir John the Article they desired ready-made both -in Italian and in Turkish; and North’s assertion is inherently -very probable. Lord Winchilsea in a letter to the Latin Procurator -of the Holy Land had long ago stated that he found himself much -hindered in his efforts to act as a patron of the Jerusalem Fathers -by the fact that their protection was not mentioned in the English -Capitulations.[119] However that may be, Sir John immediately -procured a private interview with the Kehayah, and asked him -“whether there was any hopes left for the Latin Fathers.” He was -told that the Grand Vizir had sent to Jerusalem to inquire into -the case, and “upon the sentence that was given no execution would -be issued forth till the messenger was returnd’.” Thereupon the -Ambassador prayed “that the execution might not be given out, -untill I was heard what I had to say,”--intimating that he was able -to bring forward 15,000 arguments. The Kehayah, in the kindest -possible manner, agreed that a case so well supported was entitled -to respectful consideration; and the Ambassador went away persuaded -that the difficulties of the question had been greatly exaggerated: -his only fear was lest some other diplomat should steal a march -upon him.[120] - -Thus blithely did Sir John thrust his hand into that hornets’ nest. - -As was to be expected, the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem very soon -got wind of this step. He had already made the English Ambassador’s -acquaintance at Constantinople through the Rev. John, who, being -intimate with both sides, knew of the Latin design to turn the -Greeks out of the holy places even before Sir John Finch’s arrival -in Turkey, and thought it in his heart an unjust design: they -should be kept in, for they were natives and in possession. To the -sympathetic Chaplain, therefore, Dositheos now had recourse and -through him obtained an audience of our Ambassador.[121] - -Simmering with excitement, his Holiness reminded his Excellency of -the protection the Greeks had always had from the English nation, -and desired that his Excellency should continue it. Finch replied -in most courteous terms that his wish was to adjust the controversy -between them and the Latins: they should abide by what was right -and reasonable; and he argued at great length in favour of the -Latins. The Patriarch went away highly dissatisfied. - -A few days later, he wrote that he was not well enough to wait on -his Excellency in person again, but asked that Mr. Covel might be -sent to him, as he had to say some things which could not be said -in a letter. When Covel went, Dositheos told him plainly that he -knew well the Ambassador had taken up the Latins’ part for a sum of -money, and that he meant to write to the King of England and to the -Archbishop of Canterbury about it. - -Whether these threats would have had any effect upon Finch may -be doubted. But, as luck would have it, at this juncture letters -reached him from home, relating that the Catholic cause was in a -bad way. The Parliament which met on April 13th, 1675, had drawn -up a new Bill against Popery. In the circumstances, his Excellency -thought it expedient to modify his enthusiasm for the Cordeliers, -and began to declare that he would not put their Article into the -Capitulations, but would endeavour to procure a Hattisherif on -their behalf. At this change of tone the Friars were much troubled, -and pressed him to fulfil his original promise, offering more -money; but they had to be content with what Sir John now promised -them.[122] And even for that they would have to wait. - -Sir John was meditating another descent upon the Kehayah, when the -latter sent for his Dragomans and told them that the Grand Signor -desired an English ship to convey to Tunis an Aga on important -business: the old story of requisitioning over again! - -The situation was one of those that Sir John loved to deal with -and to describe in detail: they called for precisely the sort of -qualities he possessed: he felt that in such a situation he looked -at his best. Do not let us, then, withhold from him the pleasure of -telling how he acquitted himself: - -“I make my Druggermen return with this answer, That there could not -be a thing more grievous to the King my Masters subjects then to -have their ships employd’ in this manner, for our ships were not -like the French ships and other Nations, but ships that carry’d -great wealth, besides that the Captains were bound by Charter Party -not to goe out of their way upon forfeiture of their estates, if -not their lives; That if I being at the Court could not be heard as -to the defence of this Right, what could I doe when I was absent -from the Court?” - -The Kehayah replied that there were no ships in the port of Smyrna -ready to sail but the English, and the Grand Signor’s need was -urgent: he looked upon Finch as the greatest friend to the Empire -amongst all Ambassadors, so that a denial would be taken very -unkindly, especially when he came to the Court to ask favours and -would grant none. Sir John realised that it would never do to -disoblige the Turks at a moment when he needed their goodwill, by -refusing what they considered a very small thing--a thing to which -they had been used, and, for the rest, a thing which they could -take by force. But he thought to try a personal appeal first, “and -then, if I must, to doe it in as obliging a manner as I could.” So -he sent his Dragomans back to tell the Kehayah that he would wait -upon him and bring his own answer. - -“When I came to him I gave him leave to use all his Arguments and -all his pressures, which he did with great earnestnesse, before I -spake one word; but thereby having a sense within my selfe that it -could not be avoided, before I answerd’ him one word, I plucked out -the letter of Command, which I had in my pockett, prepared in case -I found things irremediable, which I wrote to the Consul of Smyrna -for to land the Aga at Tunis, which I deliverd’ him, and told him, -Sir, There is the Command, of which you now being in possession you -may well give me leave to speak all the Arguments of prejudice that -wee lye under by this action, the end of which onely is to make you -sensible that you ought not to presse me in this point at any other -time. So I made him very apprehensive of the inconveniences he -brought us to, and he promisd’ me to be very tender allway’s in it, -and this way of treating with him seemd’ to please him very much.” - -Did diplomat ever yield to pressure with a better grace? And what -shall we say of that dramatic plucking out of the letter from his -pocket: just when the Kehayah least expected such a thing? It was -a great gesture. Then, again, think of the originality of yielding -first and arguing afterwards! No wonder the Kehayah was delighted -at “this way of treating with him.” - -But Sir John had not yet exhausted the possibilities of the -situation: “Being thus reducd’ to order a ship to land him at -Tunis, I bethought my selfe how to make use of a bad markett, and -so made it my request to him that, finding in my last Audience with -the Gran Vizir that he did utterly disapprove the actions of the -Tripolines, promised me to endeavour to remedy them, I offerd’ him -amongst other expedients this for one that the Gran Vizir would be -pleasd’ to write a letter of resentment to them at Tripoli, and -command them to make restitution of what depredations were made -upon His Majesty’s subjects ships, which if they gave obedience -to, I would write to His Majesty’s V: Admirall Sir John Narbrough, -to prepare him for it, and that if the Commission He had from His -Majesty would permitt Him to accept of it (which I had reason to -beleive) Peace would follow.”[123] - -A promise was given that the Vizir would write in that sense. -Whether he did or not (nobody ever saw the letter),[124] Sir John, -taking much for granted, wrote on his own account to Narbrough, how -in consequence of his representations “the Gran Signor was this day -pleasd’ to give by the Visir Azem His severe Commands to the Dei of -Tripoli and that Goverment, to make you Restitution of whatsoever -was by the men of warr of that place taken out of the ships of His -Majesty’s subjects.” He added: “the Gran Visir desird’ me to write -to you,” (a bit of diplomatic licence--nothing to speak of!) “that -having Restitution made you, the warr might cease.” For such a -consummation Sir John devoutly prayed, not without good reason; -but, of course, he did not presume to dictate to the Admiral. - -“Sir,” he goes on, “Persons in your command are under Instructions -from which you cannot deviate: I can onely tell you, that His -Majesty having Restitution, has a dore opend’ with Honour to goe -out of a warr that will be of a certain expense but of an uncertain -issue, for I am not so great a stranger to your worth, but that -I know t’ will be harder for you to find the Enemy then to beat -Him: In the Interim when Restitution is offerd, the Agreement -between the Crowns seems to enjoyn a Peace. If so, your Prudence -knows how to serve yourselfe of this advice, and to endear the -manner of doeing what His Majesty’s Interest requires to be done -howsoever. But if you have orders of a different nature, and of -later injunction, then I know of, I cannot who owe entire obedience -to the King our Masters Commands to the utmost Puntiglio, speake -any thing: Onely if your orders allow you to conclude Peace upon -Restitution, I think you will doe His Majesty’s Honour right, and -your owne Reputation no wrong to renew the Peace; which if you doe, -I pray send me early notice of; and if you doe not, the Reasons -why, that in this great Empire I may vindicate the friendship his -Majesty owns with the Gran Signor and secure the great estates of -his subjects the Levant Company.”[125] - -These transactions illustrate sufficiently the graver side of Sir -John’s employment during the festive season; what follows exhibits -him in a lighter vein. - -Our Ambassador knew that there is nothing people like better than -attentions: those little offices of civility which, by flattering -their pride, never fail to conciliate their friendship or at least -their good-will; and he carried his attentions from the highest -down to the lowest with an assiduity which would have done credit -to Dudley North himself. - -For instance, he had a large English mastiff which had worsted -bears of the greatest size and savagery in single-fight. Aware -of the Imperial Hunter’s tastes, he hastened to send him this -ferocious dog as a present: “which,” the Rev. John tells us, “the -Grand Signor took mightily kindly.”[126] This courtesy, let us -hope, made the Avji more friendly towards us than a more important -service would have done. His subordinates had to be wooed according -to their own particular weaknesses. - -Among these, sad to relate, none was more prevalent than a weakness -for wine and spirits. The Sultan, himself an habitual abstainer, -had twice (in 1661 and 1670) forbidden the use of intoxicants: the -second time by a most drastic edict most drastically enforced: -taverns pulled down, butts broken in pieces, wine spilt, and the -making and selling of it banned “upon no less penalty than hanging, -or being putt into the Gallies.”[127] Yet the cult of Bacchus -flourished more luxuriantly than ever. Legislation had overreached -itself. The abolition of the tax had lowered the price of the -article, so that those who before could afford to drink only one -bottle openly, now drank two in secret. During Sir John’s stay at -Adrianople intoxication was common among Turks of all classes, and -particularly rampant in Court circles. With the exception of the -Grand Signor and the Mufti, there was hardly a sober grandee. Our -Chaplain, whom nothing escaped, has much to say about this phase -of Turkish life also: “I have seen,” he declares, “the Vizier -himself _mamur_, that is, crop sick severall times.” Alas! it was -only too true. Ahmed Kuprili, up to the end of the siege of Candia -(1669), had never tasted a drop of anything stronger than sherbet. -But on his return from that campaign he stopped at the fair isle -of Chios to refresh himself from his toils. This holiday, the -first he had ever had, proved his undoing. For a whole fortnight -he refreshed himself among the mastic groves of Chios, allowing no -public affairs, however urgent, to interrupt his potations. Ahmed -was nothing if not thorough. From that date he seemed anxious to -atone for his past temperance, and at such a rate that, by 1675, -his stomach could no longer keep warm without the most fiery of -liqueurs.[128] - -It was with wine, therefore, that Sir John wooed those whom his -Dragomans worried. He sent them, at short intervals, samples of -his cellar, and anxiously inquired how they were appreciated. “My -Florence wines,” he reports, “were not likd’ at the Court, the -wines I had out of the Pope’s State well approved; but the sack -that I brought with me mightily admird’, and none esteemd’ to come -near it; so that I gave Him [the Vizir] all I had, save onely one -double Bottle I kept to drink His Majesty’s Health for the day that -I should receive my Capitulations.”[129] - -This way of dealing with the Turks was so novel that it excited -comment among Sir John’s colleagues; and one day Count Kindsberg, -as the two were “talking merrily together,” ventured to say “that -He understood I went on with this Court by fair and Courtly -mean’s, which was not others, nor His practise.” Sir John readily -answered, “that he did well, and very possibly I might doe so to, -he immitating his Master who hath had allway’s Warr with the Gran -Signor and I mine who had allwayes Peace.”[130] - -In another matter, too, Sir John showed himself surprisingly -careless of his neighbours’ opinion. There was at Adrianople a -disreputable Italian renegade, Count Bocareschi. The Ambassador -shared this highly undesirable acquaintance with--the Rev. John -Covel. Our Chaplain had known the Count for years and cherished -no illusions about him: “this Bocareschi,” he told one of his -Cambridge correspondents, “was a very parasite as [ever] lived: an -excellent wit, and some little learning, the Latin toung perfectly; -but for his damned traiterous perfidious tricks, was kick’t out -of all publick ministers’ companyes.”[131] Yet, though he knew -the Italian well for “a damned rogue” and “a beast,” as he calls -him elsewhere, he cultivated him because the adventurer, being a -Muteferrika, or quartermaster, had access to many places which -the Rev. John itched to explore. From a like opportunism, his -Excellency now entertained the ignoble Count at dinner nearly ever -day. Diplomacy, like Providence, is not very particular in its -choice of instruments. The proud Lord Ambassadour must stoop to -caress a Muteferrika; the representative of a monarch who styled -himself Defender of the Faith must consort with a renegade. - -Thus during the six weeks that the Festivities lasted Sir John -utilised every means he could think of for making himself popular -with everybody and anybody who might be of use to him in his -mission: bakshishing and flattering the Turks up to the scratch. -His methods, scandalous though they might seem to others, to him -appeared successful. The officials who received his fine wines gave -him in return fair words: the Capitulations, Sir John understood, -had been read over to the Grand Vizir several times: article -after article was considered and passed. Finally, one day, as his -Dragomans went by the house of Hussein Aga, Director of Customs, -or, as the English of that day styled him, Chief Customer, that -officer called them up and told them that all the demands his -Excellency had put forward were granted; but he wondered that they -should think such boons were to be had for nothing! Whereupon the -Dragomans went to the Rais Effendi, who corroborated the Customer’s -statement, adding that he had reason to believe that the Kehayah’s -sentiments were the same. When this was reported to Sir John, he -sent the Dragomans to the Kehayah, promising him 1000 sequins -(£500) for the Grand Vizir, 1000 dollars (£250) for himself, and a -similar sum for the Rais Effendi.[132] - -That Sir John was overjoyed at the near prospect of his release -it would be superfluous to state. There is a satiety of all -things, even of rats, mice, fleas, bugs, Jew-stenches and Turkish -festivities. How ill-advised he had been to put off his journey -till this season! But now it is only a question of days--he will -soon have done now. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[106] Even in touching upon such an open secret as the Turkish -Ministers’ susceptibility to the charm of dollars, Finch dares not -speak out: “the greatest arguments I cannot write to you without a -Cipher, reflecting upon great Persons,” he tells Coventry: Sept. 9, -1675. - -[107] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 24/March 6, 1674-75, Sept. 9, 1675; -Covel’s _Greek Church_, Pref. pp. lii, liv; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. -315-7; _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 104-5; Vandal’s _Nointel_, pp. -136, 141-2; Hammer, vol. xi. pp. 362, 425. - -[108] See the despatches of all those ambassadors in _S.P. Turkey_. -A few of them are in print: Sir Thomas Roe’s _Negotiations_ -(1621-28). The story may be read, however, in Rycaut’s _History_ -and in Covel’s _Greek Church_. - -[109] Father Bonaventura to Winchilsea, July 24, 1661, _Finch -Report_, p. 137. - -[110] At the same time we find “the Eldest Son of the Church” -supporting in Germany and Hungary the Protestants he persecuted -in France; yet historians with a faculty for generalisation and -idealisation tell us that the struggle which rent Europe at that -period was essentially a religious struggle! - -[111] _S.P. Turkey_, 17. - -[112] Winchilsea to Nicholas, Dec. 19, 1662, _S.P. Turkey_, 17. -In contrast with this, see numerous letters, beginning so early -as April 1662, in the _Finch Report_. The same volume (p. 297) -contains the King’s permission to the Ambassador to ignore his -Instructions regarding the Greek Church; it is dated, Dec. 23, 1663. - -[113] See “Instructions for Our Trusty and Wellbeloved Servant Sir -Daniell Harvey, Knt., at Whitehall, Aug. 3, 68,” _S.P. Turkey_, -19. The clause in question is also omitted from the Instructions -to Finch. It reappears in those to Lord Chandos, 1680--when the -anti-Catholic agitation in England was at its height. - -[114] Covel’s _Greek Church_, Pref. p. xi. - -[115] Finch to Arlington, July 27, S.N., 1674, _Coventry Papers_. - -[116] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 24/March 6, 1674-75. - -[117] Nointel’s letter from Rama seems to have been lost, but its -purport is preserved in his letter from Tripoli, July 12, 1674. - -[118] Covel’s _Greek Church_, Pref. p. lii. - -[119] Winchilsea to Fra Dominico del Arzival, Oct. 10, 1662, _Finch -Report_, p. 218. - -[120] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675; _Life of Dudley North_, p. -105. - -[121] Covel’s _Greek Church_, Pref. p. vi. - -[122] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 106-7. - -[123] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[124] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 106. - -[125] Finch to Narbrough, Adrianople, May 24, S.V. 1675, _Coventry -Papers_. - -[126] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 238. - -[127] Harvey to Williamson, Sept. 5, 1670, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. Cp. -Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 105, 285. - -[128] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 245; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 282-3, 318. - -[129] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[130] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. Rycaut, who always reflects -the conventional view, would have agreed with Kindsberg: “It is -certainly a good Maxime for an Ambassador in this Countrey, not to -be over-studious in procuring a familiar friendship with Turks,” -_Present State_, p. 170. This maxim arose from the belief that “a -Turk is not capable of real friendship towards a Christian.” - -[131] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 226. - -[132] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 107. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE SUBLIME THRESHOLD - - -As soon as the Feasts ended (June 25th) the Ambassador applied -for his Audience--“and here,” he says, “I find I was mistaken, -that it was not the Feasts that hinderd’ my Audience, but a Pay -day to the Souldiery.” The Turks commonly chose that day for the -reception of new ambassadors in order to dazzle them with the sight -of their strength and wealth. But Sir John, who did not yet know -all the ins and outs of Ottoman etiquette, readily believed what -he was told--“that the Gran Signor had an Intention to place the -highest Respect upon me in giving me audience on the pay day of his -Janizarys.”[133] - -This honour is promised him at once; but the days pass, and it is -still to come. Instead, other things come--things enough to try the -temper of a saint. Just then--beginning of July--the Plague breaks -out in the overcrowded city of Adrianople; and to the nuisance of -interminable festivals now succeed the horrors of interminable -funerals. Hundreds die every day. It is impossible to stir out of -doors without meeting a corpse. All slaves and poor people, the -moment they expire, are wrapped up in some rag, thrust upon the -back of a _hamal_, or porter, and conveyed to their destination -like bales of cadaverous goods. What is worse, one knows that there -lies as much danger of contagion in touching the clothes of the -living as the bodies of the dead. There is no protection against -the foul disease except in flight. Even the Turks, who are much -less given to panic than the Franks, fly in great numbers from the -town into the country. The Grand Signor himself, good Mohammedan -though he is, sets the example of lack of faith by retiring to a -palace which he has built at Ak-bonar, some ten miles north of -Adrianople, leaving the Grand Vizir in the infected city to carry -on the business of government as usual. What is left for mere -infidels? - -They retreat as fast as they can to Karagatch--a Greek village -about a mile and a half south-west of Adrianople, on the river -Arda. There the Ambassador gets a house for himself, Sir Thomas -Baines, and their servants; the Chaplain, through the kind offices -of his brother-papas, the village priest, obtains a tiny apartment -in a cottage close by; and the others lodge, one here, one there, -wherever they can find room--no easy matter in a small village for -a company of one hundred and twenty persons. For the Treasurer -alone there is no escape from the pestilent city. Business compels -him to be always there. “Care was taken,” he says, “to find me -constant employment, and for the most part I went at the will -and pleasure of his Excellency.” North is a philosopher, and -takes health and sickness as he does light and darkness or the -vicissitudes of the seasons: as things to which a wise man has to -accommodate himself; only taking care, whatever befalls him on this -moonstruck planet, not to lose his temper with it. Nevertheless, -though prudence holds his tongue, he cannot help some sarcastic -reflections on “the Italick caution of the Ambassador and -selfishness of the Knight,” who thus shift almost the whole burden -on to his shoulders.[134] - -Curiously enough, while showing so little regard for the English -Treasurer’s safety, Sir John invites the Spanish friars to share -his retreat with him--an invitation which is, naturally, accepted -with gratitude and alacrity.[135] Let us hope that they repay -him by their saintly exhortations and example of patience under -affliction: there is call enough for both from that day onward. - -As the weeks go by, and the Plague, with the increasing heat, grows -fiercer, the Ambassador’s desire to have his Audience and his -Capitulations, and to be gone, becomes acuter. His Dragomans are -incessantly at work, pressing the Kehayah for dispatch; and, to -add weight to their solicitations, Sir John writes to that worthy, -desiring to know if there is any hitch in the business, declaring -himself ready to argue any point before the Grand Vizir against -any one, and asking whether he should make a direct application -to the Vizir. The Kehayah answers, with his accustomed suavity, -that his Excellency should not fret: all is well. As soon as the -Tefterdar, or Lord Treasurer, can get ready the money for the pay -of the Janissaries, Sir John will have his heart’s desire. There is -nothing to be done but to let things take their course. - -At last the Grand Signor decides to return to the Seraglio for -the Audience. And, on the 27th of July, an hour before dawn, two -chaoushes arrive at Karagatch to fetch his Excellency. - -“Is my Lord ready?” - -Ready for anything is my Lord--anything that promises deliverance -from purgatory. Dressed and wigged and breakfastless, he and his -companions follow briskly the thrice-welcome messengers to the head -of a wooden bridge on the Arda, and there wait till the rest of the -chaoushes who compose the guard of honour make their appearance. -Then, crossing the river, our pilgrims mount their horses and set -off through the dim twilight. About them the plain lies veiled in -pestiferous mists; overhead a few stars still twinkle in the pale -sky; the dew sparkles on the bare sandy soil underfoot. In front, -with its solemn domes and slender minarets silhouetted against the -horizon, looms the city of Adrianople. - -They enter, and ride up the crooked, deserted streets, pitch-dark -under the overhanging upper storeys of the houses, the noise of the -horses’ hoofs on the rough cobbles rousing the inhabitants from -their feverish dreams. Sir John’s heart grows almost merry within -him at the thought that he is seeing that mournful city of death -for the last time. - -At about half-past five they alight at the great gate of the -Seraglio. Our old friends, the Chaoush-bashi and Capiji-bashi, -reinforced by a new one, the Peskeshji-bashi, or Chief Receiver -of Gifts, come forth and conduct the visitors across a vast court -lined with Janissaries to whose officers the Ambassador bows as -he goes on, prompted by the Peskeshji-bashi, who walks before him -with a long silver staff in his hand. After traversing this court, -they step through a stone porch into the Divan: a small hall--not -more than eight or nine yards square--with a bench running round -the three sides, covered, as is also the floor, with embroidered -silk. This hall serves many purposes: it is here that laws are -enacted, lawsuits decided, troops paid, and ambassadors made fit to -be introduced to the august presence of the Grand Signor: it has no -doors, but stands always open for all the world to enter and seek -justice. - -The visitors look about them curiously: “The Truth is, Right -Honorable, it was a sight worthy of any man’s seeing,” says Sir -John, “but I have not here any time to dilate upon it.” Fortunately -the Rev. John has and does. On one side of the bench sits a -Secretary of State designated Nishanji-bashi, whose function it is -to affix the Sultan’s cipher (_toughra_) to Imperial decrees. On -another sits the Grand Vizir, with the two Cadileskers, or Supreme -Judges of Europe and Asia. On the third side sits the Tefterdar. -Over the Vizir’s head protrudes something that every one present -thinks of all the time, though no one dares for a single moment -gaze at--a bow-window screened with gilded lattice-work, through -which, it is understood, the Grand Signor watches the proceedings -unseen. - -Having made his obeisance to the Vizir and the rest, the Ambassador -is given a velvet stool to sit on, and, after “a little discourse,” -is conducted to the bench on the Vizir’s right-hand side and placed -beneath the Nishanji-bashi, “which, as I am told, was a Respect.” -Next to him stands Dr. Mavrocordato, the Dragoman of the Porte, and -his own two chief Dragomans. The other members of the suite take -their appointed places at the farther end of the room: they may -turn sideways to look out into the court, but when one or two of -them, in so doing, venture to turn their backs to the Vizir, they -are sharply reprimanded. - -Several hundred small leather bags, each containing coin to the -value of 500 dollars, are brought in and piled in heaps of ten -upon the floor. The Tefterdar presents his accounts to the Vizir. -He, after kissing them, sends them to the Grand Signor by the -Peskeshji-bashi, and by him they are presently returned to the -Vizir, who receives them with another kiss. Thereupon the bags are -taken out to the porch; the companies of the Janissaries are called -by the Peskeshji-bashi, one after another, and each company comes -running up to receive its quota. When they are all paid off, their -officers step into the Divan and, kneeling down before the Vizir, -lift the corner of his cloak to their foreheads and lips; then, -retiring three or four paces backwards and sideways, go out again; -Ahmed Kuprili all the time sitting as one who does not know what is -going on. - -This solemn tomfoolery over, there follows another performance more -cheering for the wearied and hungry Englishmen. Ewers and basins -are brought in, and when the Vizir, Tefterdar, Nishanji-bashi, -and the Ambassador have washed their hands, three little round -tables are planted respectively in front of the three grandees and -covered with leather mats. Upon these tables are laid flat loaves -of bread like pancakes, coarse wooden spoons, some saucers of -capers, olives, parsley, and pickled samphire, a little salt-cellar -and a little pepper-box. The Ambassador sits at the Vizir’s table, -having beside him only his chief Dragoman, who “rendred us mutuall -Intelligible to each other.” He sits on a velvet stool, facing his -host, who is seated on the bench. Three similar stools are set at -the Nishanji-bashi’s table for our Treasurer, the oldest merchant, -Mr. Hyet, and Dr. Pickering of Smyrna. Three more stools at the -Tefterdar’s table are occupied by the Ambassador’s Secretary, the -Cancellier, and the Chaplain. All these are “most Civilly and -Courteously entertaind’.” The rest of the suite dine in the porch -outside, some with the Rais Effendi, some with the Chaoush-bashi, -and are none too gently treated by the Turkish attendants, who -shove them with their elbows and address to them rude words. The -two Cadileskers dine by themselves--too strict observers of the Law -to eat with infidels. - -Thanks to our parson’s loquacious quill, supplemented with a few -touches from the Ambassador’s pen, we are able to raise the ghost -of that repast of long ago from the limbo of dead dinners. It is a -banquet in the very best Turkish style. There are roast chickens -and roast pigeons piled one upon another; kebobs, or bits of -mutton, both roast and boiled, skewered in alternate layers; gourds -stuffed with minced meat, and soups of several sorts, and puff -pastry pies, both plain and stuffed, and pillaf, and dates, and -pine kernels, and very, very many other things, sweet or savoury, -solid or sloppy--anything from fifty to a hundred courses--served -up in dishes of a glazed metal (_martaban_) much heavier and -costlier than china, and whipped away with disconcerting swiftness, -to be scrambled for by the Janissaries in the courtyard. The soups -are eaten with the wooden spoons; for the meats the banqueters have -to use the implements provided by Nature. At each table the host -begins by pinching the flesh with his finger and thumb and inviting -the guests to fall to; which they do, nipping and tearing lustily -with hands and teeth. About half-way through this “horse-feast,” -as the Rev. John calls it, the Ambassador asks for something to -drink, and is given--a cup of water. As he takes it, he catches the -Grand Vizir’s eye fixed upon his Dragoman with a quizzical smile, -“knowing very well that I usd’ to drink very Excellent Wines, for -He Himselfe had tasted of it.” But, at the other tables, the diners -have excellent lemon sherbet to wash down the viands with; the host -at each table beginning with a hearty draught and then passing the -cup round. The Rev. John deeply regrets that after this one round -he sees that blessed cup no more. - -Turkish banquets, as a rule, were funereal affairs. But this one -was enlivened by some “very free and merry discourse” between the -Ambassador and the Vizir, the latter “often laughing out right, -though the Gran Signor stood in the window all the while to look on -us.”[136] It was over much sooner than the hungry Englishmen would -have liked or than might have been expected from the number of -courses; but the waiters at each table kept such good time that all -ended, as they had begun, together: even in their dinners the Turks -forgot not their discipline. - -After the necessary ablutions, the guests are led by the Dragoman -Mavrocordato out into the porch, where they sit on a long bench and -are vested with kaftans. In this masquerade they wait for half an -hour, till the Vizir and the other Ministers come forth on their -way to the Grand Signor’s Audience Chamber. Shortly afterwards -the Ambassador is summoned to proceed in the same direction, and -he does so, followed by his presents and accompanied by all his -gentlemen; but only six are allowed to enter--the two Dragomans, -the Treasurer, the oldest merchant, the Cancellier, and the -Secretary, who carries the royal letter on his head. The Rev. John -is bitterly disappointed. Both the Ambassador and the Knight had -solemnly promised him before they set out from Constantinople and -all along that he should infallibly be one of the persons admitted -to the presence--and he has been left out. ’Tis no use for the Rev. -John to assure us that he does not mind a bit, because, forsooth, -he has already seen the Grand Signor again and again--that it is -only the furniture of the room he wishes to see. He does mind, -very, very much. But he consoles himself with the reflection that -he has not missed much that was worth having. - -The proceedings appear to have been marked by rather more than the -ceremonial violence customary on such occasions: so much so that -those who took part in them could afterwards give only the vaguest -and most confused account of what had happened: it looked as if -the Avji wished to pay the giaours back for bringing him into the -plague-stricken city. - -At the entrance they were each seized by two capijis, one holding -them under one arm, the other under the other, and were dragged -in. As soon as ever they crossed the Sublime Threshold, their -conductors, laying their hands on their necks, forced them to bow -down till their foreheads touched the floor: once-twice-thrice; and -immediately afterwards all, except the Ambassador, his Secretary, -and Chief Dragoman, were hustled out again in such a manner that -the Treasurer who came out first swore that he saw practically -nothing--only in a general sort of way he had an impression of a -very large, dimly lighted room with in it something that looked -like a thing they call the Grand Signor. The poor Cancellier, being -a little man, was crushed quite down at the door, and the oldest -merchant nearly tumbled over him as he lay sprawling over the -Sublime Threshold: so they saw even less than the Treasurer. - -The Ambassador stayed in about four minutes altogether: the -Chaplain timed him by his pulse--a method of measuring time which -the Rev. John had often practised at sea by a half-minute glass. -All his Excellency could tell of the interview was this: the Grand -Signor sat upon a sort of four-post bed covered with a crimson -counterpane embroidered with pearls, and had by him “a Rich -Cabinett or Standish, sett all over with larg Diamonds to a great -Value.” The front of his cloak from the neck down was also set with -large diamonds and pearls. He wore on his head a small plain turban -with a little feather fastened to it by a jewelled brooch, and upon -his face a most severe, terrible, stately scowl. - -After the three compulsory prostrations, Sir John’s Dragoman was -ordered to read his Excellency’s address--just twelve and a half -lines given to him beforehand in Italian: “wherein was all His -Majesty’s titles that I could thinke of, and the word Padesha in, -where there was occasion to putt it, at which my Druggerman being a -little startled when I gave Him the Paper the day before I went in, -I bad Him fear nothing for I was to be by Him.”[137] But in spite -of the brevity of the speech, in spite of his rehearsal of it, in -spite of the Ambassador’s protecting vicinity, poor old Signor -Giorgio, what with the violent exercise he had just undergone, -what with the Grand Signor’s scowl, was so flurried that he very -nearly lost the thread. That done, the Secretary handed the King’s -Letter to the Dragoman, who passed it on to the Vizir, who laid it -on the bolster at the Grand Signor’s right hand, who cast a kind -of scornful eye towards it and said--nothing. Whereas, the Rev. -John well remembered, he had spoken to Finch’s predecessor Harvey a -great deal. Clearly, the Avji was sulking. The Vizir spoke instead, -saying, “All right,” and, without more ado, Ambassador, Secretary, -and Dragoman were dragged out again.[138] - -Pitiful to see the representative of a great Christian Power -crawling to the Ottoman throne in such a manner--and glad to arrive -there at all. The more we gaze on the picture, the more pitiful -it seems: that free men should from interest adopt an attitude to -which slaves are compelled by fear! That is the permanent fact we -discover in this passing show; and it is inevitable that we should -discover it. As long as our policy has an essentially illiberal -aim--be it dollars, be it domination--so long will our posture be -servile: to reach what lies low, you must stoop. Such is the tragic -moral of the picture; yet there are many touches of comedy in it, -too. A picture well worth looking at, in more ways than one. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[133] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[134] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 227, 116; Covel’s _Diaries_, pp. -242, 244. - -[135] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[136] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[137] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[138] Covel’s _Diaries_, pp. 257-67. See also Appendix X. For the -King’s Letter to the Sultan, see Appendix II. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -HOPES DEFERRED - - -Having duly “wiped the dust of the Sublime Threshold with his -face”--a Turkish figure of speech not far removed from a literal -statement of fact--Sir John expected that the Capitulations would -forthwith be handed to him. There was not, in his mind, the shadow -of an excuse for putting him off longer. But when he applied to -the Kehayah, he found that, instead of everything being settled, -as he had been led to believe, the Grand Vizir and his Ministers -had only just begun to study the Articles. Indeed, the draft which -he had sent in two and a half months ago had been lost during the -festal confusion, and, after a long search (the Kehayah and the -Rais Effendi each saying that the other had it), was but lately -discovered in the hands of a page of the Grand Vizir’s.[139] So -all those messages about the Articles being read over, considered, -passed, etc. etc., had been from beginning to end a tissue of -poetic inventions! The trick was gross, but not unusual. Nor, -fairly viewed, was it undeserved: the Turks had begun by telling -Sir John frankly that no business could be transacted during the -Feasts; as he went on pestering them, they had no alternative but -to lie--politeness forbade any other course towards a man whose -wine they drank. - -Although unspeakably disgusted, our Ambassador would fain suppress -his mortification: he was old enough, and man of the world -enough, to know that, where one cannot strike, one must smile. -But never was smiling more difficult. The Plague from Adrianople -now travelled to Karagatch, and first seized the daughter of our -Chaplain’s landlady. - -Up to that moment the English had dwelt there as happily as might -have been expected. In spite of the Grand Signor’s edicts, the -village was a notorious resort for citizens in quest of liquid -solace. Every now and then the Aga of the Janissaries came to -see that the law was observed; but, as he made at least 10,000 -dollars a year by its breach, he gave at least one hour’s notice -of his raids. The greatest purveyor of spirituous consolation in -the locality was Covel’s friend, the village priest, who used to -secure his stock by hiding it in the church. Englishmen could not, -of course, let themselves be outdone by Turks and Greeks. It has -always been the way of our race to develop its greatest capacity -in the hour of sternest need. So they drank deeply to find joy, -more deeply still to drown fear: trying all the while to appear -outwardly unconcerned. The Rev. John wrote home that he frequently -went into Adrianople, and had become so inured to funerals that he -minded no more meeting a dead man than a dead calf. That may be; -but when the little girl with whom he had been prattling died, it -was not so pleasant. - -In a few days the epidemic spread through the whole village, and -drove the Ambassador and his party out into the fields, where they -set up their tents, and waited. - -The Articles, once recovered from the Vizir’s page, were studied -by the pashas, revised by the Rais Effendi, and brought to the -Ambassador in what he understood to be their final form. When they -were read over to him, Sir John heaved a sigh of relief: this time -there could be no doubt that his ordeal was at an end. But alas! -when they were shown to the Grand Vizir, he caused some of them to -be straightway incorporated in the Capitulations, but the financial -clauses to be submitted to the Tefterdar for his opinion, and the -Article regarding Englishmen turning Turks to be referred to the -Mufti. So the pudding that had for a moment appeared ready to be -served up, was once more in the pot.[140] - -The situation might have been amusing, but for the fact that Sir -John did not think it so. Sir John felt intensely unhappy, and when -Sir John was unhappy nobody connected with him could be happy. How -those wretched Dragomans must have blessed him! - -A fresh series of conferences ensues. First the Dragomans are -sent to the Tefterdar, who wishes to know what do we want these -new clauses for, and why the Capitulations may not stand as they -are. They reply that the reason is very simple: we want to be -certain and not fall every day into disputes with ignorant and -impertinent Custom-House officials. The Tefterdar smiles: That, -he says, is not the true reason: we intend to start importing a -finer cloth and want to pay no more duty than for the cheaper. -The Tefterdar has hit the mark with wonderful accuracy; but the -Dragomans repudiate the vile insinuation. Then again, he goes on: -that Aleppo Hattisherif--why can it not remain as it has been for -so many years: why must it needs be put into the Capitulations now? -However, in the end, he declares himself satisfied and promises to -pass everything.[141] - -But Sir John, whose soul has been stirred to most dismal -scepticism, cannot rest. “What troubled me most,” he says, “was -for the three Articles referrd’ to the Tefterdar which were of the -greatest concern, knowing that he was a Judicious, sower, severe -man, and in His apprehension very quick also.” What harm might -not this shrewd Turk work? Full of misgivings, next morning the -Ambassador goes once more into Adrianople and seeks a personal -interview with the Kehayah. At this conference he surpasses -himself: “I muster up all the Arguments that I could think of.” -After listening to his Excellency’s oration, the Kehayah, suave as -ever, says: “Ambassadour, all things by the Grace of God will be -well, for I will stand by you to the outmost, but send not your -Druggermen to the Tefterdar till I advise you the hour.”[142] -This speech brings sweet balm to the soul of Sir John, who then -proceeds to touch upon the title, Padishah. He is very proud to -have been the first to give His Majesty this title before the Grand -Signor; but that was only planting the seed: the fruit had yet to -be plucked. He receives assurances that, as the Kehayah thinks the -claim just and reasonable, he will move the Vizir again about it. -Further, our Ambassador mentions the question of the Latin friars, -and on this point also the Kehayah is eager to oblige: only he -needs a Petition (_Arz_) for the Vizir. Sir John, who has the paper -ready, hands it to him, and departs recomforted.[143] - -The Cordeliers had all this time been with Sir John, filling -his ears day and night with the tale of their misfortunes, -exaggerating them, and laying the chief blame for them upon the -French Ambassador. They had received him at Jerusalem with all -honour imaginable and at great cost, expecting wonders from his -protection, and he had caused their ruin. The object of these -tirades obviously was to inspire Finch with the desire to capture -the position which Nointel had forfeited; and Finch would very -much like to do so. But he was cautious. He defended Nointel, -telling the Friars that the noble Marquis certainly did intend -nobly, according to his power; but the inexpedient murder of the -Greek Caloyers, added to Ahmed’s dislike of the French, had made -the Grand Vizir implacable. Of course, he would do all he could -for them. But the Ambassadors of France and Venice were their -official protectors. Therefore he advised them to inform those -Ambassadors that he was disposed to protect them, but that he -would be more earnest in it if they who had orally solicited his -aid before he left Constantinople would repeat their request in -writing. The “good Fathers” did as they were bidden; but the result -was negative. The Venetian replied that, for certain reasons, he -could not write to Sir John to undertake their protection, and -that he verily believed his undertaking it would not be pleasing -to the French Ambassador. The French Ambassador did not reply at -all. While both diplomats wished to make use of the Englishman -as an auxiliary, neither wanted to be supplanted by him. Sir John -understood the position perfectly: “if a Hattesheriffe had bin -procurd’ by me in favour of the Fathers it must have runn in the -King my Masters name, which the Fathers Protection being in both -their Capitulations had bin a slurr to them.”[144] Nevertheless, he -pursued his way, and after that most satisfactory interview with -the Kehayah he had great hopes of success. - -Meanwhile he thought it advisable, plague or no plague, to go into -Adrianople again and pay his respects to the Mufti, upon whose -decision depended one at least of the new Articles. He found the -“Wisest of the Wise” sitting cross-legged, with a coarse kind of -linsey-woolsey blanket over his knees and three or four books -beside him: a swarthy, good-natured elderly gentleman, who received -the Ambassador with the same ceremony as the Grand Vizir. There was -no conversation worth mention. After some formal compliments, Sir -John hurried back to his rural retreat.[145] - -There was another personage that Sir John would have been well -advised to cultivate even at some personal risk: a certain Mustafa -Pasha, the Grand Vizir’s brother-in-law, who, having already acted -as Ahmed’s Deputy, was destined to rise at no distant date to the -highest post open to a Turkish subject. But Sir John, whose energy -was limited and whose fear of the Plague was unlimited, contented -himself with sending to that pasha his Dragomans with a present and -an excuse. No doubt, he felt that by calling on the Mufti he had -done his part. It was now Sir Thomas’s turn to do his. Had they -not always hunted in couples? - -To the Knight’s lot fell a far more interesting figure--the -much-honoured and fawned-upon Sheikh Vani Effendi, chief counsellor -and preacher to the Grand Signor: a holy man who knew how to retain -the Imperial favour by reassuring the Imperial conscience on -such points as giving to hunting and to the harem what was meant -for the Empire. Ahmed Kuprili had wisely avoided making a rival -of this redoubtable saint by taking him as an ally. In personal -appearance, the two had nothing in common. What Ahmed was like, -we know. Vani, as painted by the Rev. John, was a repulsive old -hunch-back with shrivelled flesh and one eye smaller than the -other, as if it had shrunk in the washing: an uglier saint could -not easily be imagined. Yet they shared a common passion. Ahmed -was animated by a statesman’s love for political morality; Vani -burned with a fanatic’s zeal for religious purity. It is hard to -determine which of the two unclean things he hated most: Moslem -heretics or Christian infidels. But it was amongst the latter that -his fervour had found its choicest victims. As far back as 1661 he -had announced that the decline of the Ottoman Empire was due to the -excessive liberty permitted to its Christian subjects--the liberty -to live amongst the Turks and to sell wine to them. The fires and -plagues which afflicted Constantinople were likewise traced to -divine anger at such unseemly tolerance. It was at his instigation -that Imperial edicts were issued forbidding the reconstruction of -ruined churches and the consumption of wine, and commanding all -infidels to clear out of the capital. While the Sultan threatened -wine-bibbers with death in this world, the Sheikh promised them -eternal damnation in the next. Every Friday he fulminated in one -mosque or another, and the Grand Signor himself was an assiduous -listener to his sermons. - -Nevertheless, one regrets to hear, Vani Effendi imbibed in his -closet vast quantities of the liquor he cursed from the pulpit. It -may be, of course, that, like other saints, he issued some kind -of a special dispensation to himself in the matter. He certainly -held that indulgences which in an ordinary man would be sinful -were lawful to a saint. When one of his disciples asked him how he -reconciled the anathemas he continually hurled against the use of -gold and silver, of silk and pearls, and against certain other joys -of the flesh, with his own marked predilection for such things, -he replied: “Worldly goods are not evil in themselves; it is the -manner they are got by and used that decides the cases in which and -the persons to whom they may be permitted or forbidden.” For the -holy nothing is impure.[146] - -Benighted unbelievers looked upon the Sheikh as a ranting -hypocrite--he reminded the English Cavaliers in Turkey of -the Puritan Pharisees they knew at home. But among his own -co-religionists Vani was above scandal. He was “more than a Pope -amongst them,” says the Rev. John: nay, in a sense, “this old -coxcomb” was more than the Grand Signor himself. For your Grand -Signor could only put you to death. But your saint could put you -in a particularly unpleasant corner of a particularly unpleasant -place, where people had garments of fire fitted unto them, boiling -water poured on their heads, and were beaten with maces of iron -for ever and ever. Or, on the other hand, he could procure you an -exceptionally comfortable pavilion in Paradise, furnished with -green cushions and beautiful carpets, and couches of silk and -gold; and a garden planted with shady trees full of all kinds of -fruit growing close at hand; and rivers of milk and honey flowing -conveniently by; and troops of fine black-eyed dancing girls with -complexions like rubies and pearls, to ensure domestic peace and -felicity. Either of these lots it was in Vani Effendi’s power to -bestow, and he made a very good thing of it in the way of presents: -a poor saint’s only recognised source of revenue. - -From all this it is easy to understand the Knight’s anxiety to win -over Vani Effendi. - -One of Sir John’s Dragomans and the renegade Count Bocareschi were -sent to solicit an interview. They returned with the answer that -Sir Thomas would be welcome. He went and acquitted himself after -a fashion which showed that he had not spent so many years in -diplomatic circles for nothing. With exquisite tact he attacked the -Sheikh on his weak side, putting to him a number of questions in -the tone of one consumed with a violent thirst for illumination. -Did women and children have souls of the same size as men’s? Could -women go to heaven? What infidels might be suffered to live amongst -True Believers? Had a good Christian a chance of salvation? - -The Sheikh found some of these questions rather embarrassing, -and met them with evasions; but on others he was as precise and -positive as became one who had direct access to the Creator’s -inmost secrets. He seemed very glad to parade his exclusive -information, and very pleased with the man who gave him the -opportunity. The crafty Knight followed up his advantage by -becoming confidential. He told the Sheikh what kind of Christian he -was: he would rather die than worship images, pictures, crosses, or -the like abominations. He adored only one God, and he believed that -a Mohammedan who lived up to his Law would undoubtedly be saved. -For his part, he would never hurt a hair of a Mohammedan’s head on -account of religious difference, but would rather help and cherish -him in every possible way. On hearing this confession of faith, -all the bystanders (needless to say, the saint had taken care that -there should be a full house) cried out: - -“_Ey adam_--a good man!” - -Vani Effendi burst into tears, and said he had never thought any -Christian could come so near to being a Mussulman. But--but there -was no real perfection except in Islam. Would not Sir Thomas----? - -Sir Thomas shook his curls, sadly. He was now over fifty-five years -of age, he said; his bones were hardened to their shapes, and so -were his opinions; it would be a difficult process, and one that -would require some time, to unrivet his mind. - -Vani did not despair of completing the education of so promising a -pupil. He pressed him to come again, guaranteeing him full security -and freedom of speech. The Knight went no more. If the way to -Mohammed’s Paradise lay through the plague-stricken streets of -Adrianople, he preferred to stay outside it. But he continued the -discussion through the disreputable Count, until Vani (with better -taste) intimated that Bocareschi was not a fit channel for divine -truth, and desired the Knight, if he had any more questions, to -put them down in writing, and he would answer in like manner. But -the Knight had had enough.[147] By that time the necessity which -had impelled him to brave the sickness and enter the lists of -Moslem theology appeared to be over, or nearly over. - -The Tefterdar, having made it quite clear that he was not duped -by our diplomacy, passed the clauses submitted to him; and the -Kehayah, having thus redeemed his pledge, reminded Sir John’s -Dragomans of the bakshish they had promised. Sir John wasted no -time. He gives twice who gives quickly; besides, the reminder was -tantamount to an intimation that his deliverance was now actually -at hand. In the plenitude of his gratitude, Sir John even proposed -to bestow some of the Levant Company’s gold upon the Tefterdar, -who had never asked for any. Then, contrary to every expectation, -new difficulties sprang up; bringing with them fresh doubts and -disquietudes. - -When, on the appointed day, the Treasurer of the Levant Company and -the Dragomans came to the Kehayah with the cash, that gentleman -said he could not touch it before he had spoken with the Vizir. -The Rais Effendi proved less coy. He very kindly pocketed his -present and showed the bearers the Capitulations being drawn up -fair. Fair they were, indeed, so far as calligraphy went; but the -Dragomans noted that one Article--the Article about English factors -turning Turks--had, in the process of copying, undergone a curious -transmutation. In the draft read to Sir John, though the evidence -of Christian witnesses was not granted, it had been conceded that -the proofs of embezzlement should be derived from the Levant -Company’s books and bills of lading: wherewith his Excellency was -well satisfied. This concession had entirely vanished.[148] In Sir -John’s own phrase, “the Mufti castrats the Article as to manner of -Proofe,” or, “the Byshop had His foot in it.” However, the point -was not worth fighting for--English factors were not likely to -turn Turks every day. The thing that made Sir John uneasy was the -Kehayah’s new-born repugnance to bribery. What did it mean? - -Sir John was not left in doubt long. When his Dragomans went to -the Kehayah for an answer to his Petition on behalf of the Latin -Fathers, they brought back word that his Excellency would do well -to give up all thoughts of that matter. The Vizir was inflexible: -“He cannot deferr the Execution of the sentence any longer; for the -messenger being now returnd’ from Jerusalem which He had employd’, -He was resolvd’ to issue out the Gran Signor’s Command immediately -in order to putt the sentence in execution.” Sir John bore this -blow with comparative equanimity. He had at first been led to -believe that the sentence involved expulsion of the Cordeliers -from Jerusalem and confiscation of their convents. But two months’ -close intercourse with the “good Fathers,” assisted perhaps by the -wish to minimise in his own eyes the magnitude of his failure, -enabled him to see things in their true proportions. “Now, Sir,” -he tells the Secretary of State, “you will wonder that so great a -noise should be made about so small a thing, the sentence being -onely this, That the Latin Fathers who were in possession of the -Luoghi Santi at Jerusalem are to be lookd’ upon as living in the -Patriarchicall See of Jerusalem, and so under the Patriarch: which -jurisdiction is onely to be shown in this, that when the Greek -Easter and theirs fall on the same day, the Ceremony’s of Palme -Sunday and Easter Day are to be performd’ first by the Greeks, -and the Latins are to pay a small recognition besides in mony; -Both which points the Latin Fathers look upon as renouncing the -Pope’s Supremacy; For the rest they are to enjoy their convents and -freedome of Mass as formerly.”[149] - -It was less easy for our Ambassador to bear another disappointment. -For months the Kehayah had nourished his hopes about the title of -Padishah; and now he sent him word that this also was a thing that -the Grand Vizir would not hear of: “He was loath that I above all -should depart from this Court any wayes discontented, but He could -not with safety alter the ancient style.”[150] Had mortal ever -suffered such vexing frustrations? Why did the Turks tease him -so--holding the cup to his lips only to snatch it away? - -On the other hand, the copying out of the Capitulations seems to -be going on satisfactorily. The Dragomans daily report progress; -they are engrossed; signed by the Rais Effendi; decorated with -the Imperial cipher by the Nishanji-bashi; and so on. At last -it is announced that they are in the hands of the Grand Vizir, -who only waits for an opportunity to present them to the Grand -Signor for signature. That opportunity seems to the sorely tried -Ambassador very long in coming, and he thinks to accelerate matters -by ordering his Dragomans to inquire into the Vizir’s pleasure -concerning his bakshish. But here also the unexpected happens: the -Dragomans are told that Ahmed Kuprili has never hitherto taken -anything from any ambassador and will not now: what he did, he did -purely for right and justice.[151] It was an astounding statement -for a Grand Vizir to make, and the most astounding part of it was -that it was true. Ahmed had never soiled his hands. His probity was -notorious. Strange, that Sir John alone should never have heard of -this peculiarity. - -At any rate, it now became evident to him that the Vizir knew -nothing of the demand made on his behalf by his underlings. It was -another of their little tricks; and another lesson for Sir John -in the mysteries of Ottoman procedure. He does not seem to have -profited greatly by it. For he sends his Dragomans again to press -the Kehayah about the title of Padishah. The Kehayah replies that -he has done all he could, but without effect. Yet, that wily and -oily one adds, the Ambassador need not despair: so desirous is -he to oblige the English, and to spite the French, that he would -gladly spend five purses (or 2500 dollars) of his own money to get -this feather for the King of England. On whom was he to spend that -money? The matter rested entirely with the Vizir, and the Vizir was -proof against corruption. Obvious as these reflections were, they -did not occur to Sir John. The Kehayah’s suave message, and the -gentle hint it conveyed, spur him to fresh exertion: he immediately -orders the Treasurer and the Dragomans to renew to the Kehayah -their offer of bakshish, and moreover, since the Grand Vizir has so -courteously refused money, to tell his Steward that the Ambassador -has a copy of the Atlas which the Dutch Resident some time before -had presented to the Grand Signor--a work in twelve volumes which -had pleased the Sultan so much that he had commanded its instant -translation into Turkish.[152] If the Kehayah thinks this gift -would be acceptable, his Excellency will bring it to the Vizir -together with some superfine vests of cloth at his final audience. -The Kehayah undertakes to sound the Vizir, and meanwhile graciously -signifies his own readiness to pocket the English gold without -further delay. - -Even bribery, however, did not run in Turkey smoothly. Early next -morning the Treasurer and Dragomans carried the moneybags to the -Kehayah’s house and waited for him to come out of the women’s -apartments. After waiting for some time in vain, they were informed -that he had taken horse at the door of his harem and was riding -away to the Vizir’s. Swiftly they ran after him with the coin. He -bade them deliver it to his Hasnadar or Treasurer. Back to the -house they went and begged the Hasnadar to relieve them of their -burden. But the Hasnadar absolutely refused to touch the money -without a formal order from his master. He had many times suffered -in such cases--the sum paid him proving less than it ought to have -been. So the Dragomans went to the Vizir’s palace and spoke to the -Kehayah of this new difficulty. He was kind enough to write two -words on a scrap of paper, which removed the Hasnadar’s scruples. -The transaction was concluded as if it had been payment of a debt: -the Hasnadar bending and testing the pieces of gold and counting -them twice over.[153] - -By this time Sir John was fairly tired. Italian diplomacy was -simple, transparent, and child-like beside this Ottoman maze with -its supple turns and sudden twists, its infinite ambiguities and -bewildering mutabilities. The game was much too elusive for Sir -John’s grasp: the moment you thought your fish safe in the net, -somehow it slipped through the meshes; the moment a concession -seemed crystallised, it melted again. Nothing was ever fixed; -everything was fluid. Our metaphors are rather perplexed; but so -was Sir John’s mind: so would be anybody’s mind after several -months of promises and refusals continually interchanging. He did -not know what to think. “I am sensible enough,” he confesses, “that -all buissenesse of moment is hardly done; but here the perplexity -of doeing affayrs is still attended with more of difficulty and -intrigue, by having to doe with a people who neither in language, -custome, manners, or religion, have any affinity with us.”[154] He -longs to leave this baffling scene of suave, slippery Kehayahs and -be back in his peaceful house at Pera--that scene of retirement -and wrens from which he set out--how long ago? But hitherto his -fortitude has not been tried beyond easy endurance. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[139] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 108. - -[140] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 108; Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, -1675. - -[141] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 109. - -[142] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[143] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 109. - -[144] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[145] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 268. - -[146] See Winchilsea to Nicholas, May 20, 1662; Harvey to -Williamson, Sept. 5, 1670, _S.P. Turkey_, 17 and 19. Rycaut’s -_Memoirs_, pp. 105, 154, 285; Hammer, vol. xi. pp. 163-4, 336. - -[147] Covel’s _Diaries_, pp. 269-72. - -[148] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 110. - -[149] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[150] _Ibid._ - -[151] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 110. - -[152] See Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 318. - -[153] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 111. - -[154] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -FROM PURGATORY TO PERA - - -The price had been paid. Yet the goods were not forthcoming. -The pashas were always about to act, but never acted. And, in -the meantime, the Plague grew fiercer and fiercer. There was no -escaping the foul visitant: it pursued the fugitives even into -their privacy. Count Bocareschi came constantly to dine with the -Ambassador, and one day, as he sat next to him at table, Sir John -noticed that, contrary to habit, he ate little. After looking at -him he remarked that his countenance was changed. The Italian -answered that he died daily of fear: he was not yet Moslem enough -to despise the Plague, but his wife, a born believer, would not -hear of moving: however, whether she would or not, he had made up -his mind to move. Alas! it was too late--the noble parasite had -eaten his last free meal.[155] All this was very depressing, and it -was not all: “The weather was excessive hot, and the air stagnated -in a manner, we being placed in a pan or flat: so that it was -plague enough merely to stay there.... The terrible heat of the sun -reflected from a dry barren sandy soil, and the fulsome foggy aire, -broyled us and choked us.”[156] So pass the sultry dog-days in the -most purgatorial manner; and the whole month of August. And still -nothing accomplished. - -Under these conditions the poor Ambassador’s patience and temper -broke down utterly. For weeks he had waited weary and dissatisfied -with everything and everybody: not knowing what to trust to after -so many disappointments, or where to lay the fault, whether in -the incapacity of his Dragomans or the insufficiency of his own -diplomacy. In this uncertain and perplexed state, often abused and -deceived by the men who professed to be his friends, Sir John had -possessed his soul. He could possess it no longer. One day his -feelings burst through all restraint and leapt from his lips. He -railed against the Dragomans, blaming them for all the delays and -vowing that, if in forty-eight hours he had no categorical answer -as to when his business should be done, or where it had stuck, -he would apply to the Grand Vizir through Dr. Mavrocordato, or -himself go to the Kehayah without them. This explosion braced up -Signor Giorgio and Signor Antonio to fresh efforts, and about three -days after they brought Sir John word that all was arranged: next -Friday, please God, his Excellency would have his farewell audience -of the Grand Vizir and receive from his hands the new Capitulations -as well as the Grand Signor’s and his own answers to the King’s -letters.[157] - -A little psychological essay would not be out of place here. The -English of that day attributed the Porte’s dilatoriness to sheer -indolence intensified by debauchery. They noted that, since Ahmed -Kuprili had espoused the bottle, State affairs had suffered as -much as his health, “soe that all business which must pass the -Vizir is done with great disadvantage and after many delays.”[158] -That was true; but perhaps it was not the whole truth. In the first -place, we know that the Turks had been offended by Sir John’s -delay in coming to present his Credentials, and we may surmise -that they paid inertness for inertness. This so far as the Vizir’s -subordinates are concerned. As to the Vizir himself, Ahmed may have -been above petty pique; but Ahmed, as the Rev. John described him, -as everybody who had dealings with him said, was “a subtle cunning -man.”[159] All his actions and inactions were premeditated, all -his steps were measured, all his words were carefully weighed. -The whole of his life was nothing but a part which he played with -that consummate astuteness, dissimulation, and suppleness of -mind which mark the born diplomat. He knew human nature, and he -had apparently gauged pretty accurately Sir John’s nature. The -Ambassador, the Vizir reasoned, if he only made his sojourn long -enough and disagreeable enough, would get impatient to return to -his comfortable home at Pera, and would waive points that he might -otherwise have insisted upon. All he had to do was to wear him out -by a process of procrastination. For the rest, Ahmed had tried -exactly the same system a few years before in the same place on -another highly-strung Frank, the Marquis de Nointel, with complete -success. That he was no less successful now can easily be shown. - -Just as things had reached that point, there arrived from Smyrna -an express courier with a letter from Consul Rycaut. It was -signed by all the English merchants, who prayed his Excellency to -protect them against an administrative innovation that threatened -their interests and privileges. In different circumstances, Sir -John would have turned every stone: as it was, he did not even -acknowledge receipt of the complaint.[160] The same lassitude and -anxiety to shake the dust of Adrianople from off his feet were -manifest in what follows. - -On the Thursday before the Friday fixed for his farewell audience, -Signor Antonio Perone went to the Kehayah to see if the appointment -held. He found that the appointment stood good, but that--the -Capitulations lacked the Grand Signor’s autograph (_Hattisherif_). -To his protest the Kehayah blandly replied that, as the Venetians, -the French, and the Dutch were content to do without the Imperial -autograph, there was no need for it. The Dragoman insisted; -but all the answer he obtained was, _Olmaz_--it could not be! -Thereupon, without going back to the Ambassador for instructions, -he ran straight to the Rais Effendi and besought his help. The -Rais Effendi also said, _Olmaz_: the Grand Vizir had decided that -there should be no Imperial autograph--only the Imperial cipher. -It was no use pressing him: he knew the Vizir to be a man who -never changed his mind. Signor Antonio returned to the Kehayah -and implored him so earnestly that at last he got him to write to -the Vizir’s Muhurdar, or Keeper of the privy seal, and ask him to -approach his master on the subject. But the Muhurdar also declined -to interfere. The Dragoman, at his wits’ end, ran and fetched the -old Capitulations, as renewed by Lord Winchilsea, and, laying -them before the Kehayah, showed him the Grand Signor’s handwriting -upon them: here is the precedent, he said, and pointed out what -an unreasonable thing it was that the new Charter should want -the force of the old. In the end the Kehayah unbent so far as to -send a Memorial to the Grand Vizir, and by and by informed Signor -Antonio that the thing was as good as done: “Give the Ambassador -my salaams,” he said, “and tell him that I hope to get everything -ready in a few days more: you may say three to the Ambassador, -but I doubt not that I shall have it done in two.” Meanwhile, the -audience, naturally, was postponed. - -The news was calculated to perturb a nature much less combustible -than Sir John’s. No language could express his rage and despair. -He was furious--furious with the Kehayah and Rais Effendi for -not informing him of the hitch sooner, but at the eleventh hour -putting him off; even more furious with the Dragoman for having -insisted on the Hattisherif! Rather than wait another day, Finch -would have gone without, thinking it enough that the other -Europeans had none, and forgetting how it must have reflected on -his diplomatic dexterity to lose an advantage his predecessors -had secured--and one, too, “whereof,” says Dudley North, “we had -swaggered and gloried so much!” So efficacious was Ahmed’s system -for dealing with ambassadors. Luckily, there was our Treasurer -to prevent mischief. In him both the Vizir and the Ambassador -had found their match. To Ahmed’s impassivity North opposed his -tireless perseverance, and to Sir John’s febrile impatience his -imperturbable phlegm. Often, disapproving of his Excellency’s -orders to the Dragomans, he countermanded them behind his back, and -now he defeated his insane inclination to play into Kuprili’s hand: -all the time managing Finch’s pride by an attitude of absolute -submissiveness.[161] North had a sense of humour. - -“In two days,” had said the Kehayah. But many more than two days -pass, and the thing is not yet done. The Dragomans are at their -old trade of soliciting for dispatch, prodded on by the Treasurer. -Sometimes they find the Kehayah arguing against the necessity of -having the Grand Signor’s autograph, but he always ends by telling -them that they will have it. One day he says that the Capitulations -are in the hands of the Vizir’s Muhurdar, waiting to be presented -to the Grand Signor with several other documents as soon as the -signing-time should arrive. Thereupon Sir John orders four vests to -be sent to the Muhurdar. - -At length, the Turks having exhausted the possibilities of delay, -news comes that the Grand Signor has signed the Capitulations and -that his Excellency should be ready to receive them from the Grand -Vizir’s hands on Wednesday, the 8th of September, at three in the -afternoon. - -Of a truth, the long-promised will now be done! - -Sir John, in his eagerness, went too soon and had to wait in the -Kehayah’s apartment till prayers were over. Coffee and sherbet were -served, while Dr. Mavrocordato, like Finch a medical graduate of -Padua, entertained him with light talk about the Plague--no topic -could be more topical: in that very apartment there were many sick -Turks. After a time Ambassador and suite were conducted into the -Vizir’s room. Ahmed’s face, especially about the eyes, looked -bloated. The guests understood that the Vizir had had as much as -he could carry the night before. Yet he was in very good humour. -“He vested eleven of my Retinue, besides my selfe: my Druggerman -informing me that my Predecessor had none at all, and that usually -besides the Ambassadour but one was vested who was thought to be -Him who was to carry the Gran Signor’s Letters to the King. Thus -the Vizir and I setting downe after welcome given me, in the first -place He gives me with His owne Hands (which He did not to the -French Ambassadour) the Capitulations.”[162] - -No bond could be more binding. It secures to the English all their -privileges “so long as Charles the Second King of England (whose -end may it terminate in Happynesse) maintains good friendship and -corrispondence with Us,” and it concludes with a solemn oath to -this effect: “Wee swear and promise by Him that has created the -Heaven and the Earth and all creatures: By that Creator, the One -God, Wee do promise, that nothing shall be done contrary to this -Imperiall Capitulation.” There follows the name of the Sultan “in -a knott of Great Letters”--and the famous autograph: “Lett every -thing be observd’ in conformity to this Our Imperiall Command, and -contrary to it lett nothing be done.” So much concerning the form; -as to substance, besides the additional articles already familiar -to the reader, the Charter contains a surprise: “There passing good -corrispondence between Us and the King of England, out of regard -of this good friendship, Wee doe grant that two ships lading of -Figgs, Raisins, or Currants, may be yearly exported for the use of -His Majesty’s kitchin.”[163] - -Sir John rose up to receive the imposing document and kissed it. -How his fingers must have trembled as they clutched at last that -precious, never-to-be-enough-valued parchment which had cost him so -many hours of unutterable anguish! - -Next the Grand Vizir handed to the Ambassador the Grand Signor’s -Letters for his Majesty. Sir John received them standing and -likewise kissed them. Then Ahmed gave him his own letter for his -Majesty, “which I onely carryd’ to my Breast, at which He smild’.” -This done, Sir John, in touching and dignified language, thanked -the Vizir for his particularly tender care of our interests, -adding that he would see that it received a particularly grateful -acknowledgment from our King. Ahmed replied “He knew there was -great favour done in them [the Capitulations], but all was owed -justly to the Friendship of the King your Master; for He was -esteemd’ here for one of the best friends amongst the Christian -Princes that the Emperour had.” - -There ensued some conversation about international affairs. -It turned on the seizure of Prince William of Furstenberg, a -plenipotentiary at the Congress of Cologne, by the Imperialists and -the consequent breakdown of the negotiations between France and -Germany. In reply to a question from the Vizir, the Ambassador said -this outrage made Peace very difficult: the French king declared -that the Prince was under his protection and refused to treat -before his release; while the Emperor would not deliver him until -after a Treaty was concluded. - -“That,” said Ahmed, “is easily adjusted: Lett the Emperour take off -His head, and then all Questions about Him are ended.” - -“This had better bin done the first day then now,” replied Sir -John, and went on to give another reason why he thought the -prospects of peace remote: “The King of France had many of the -Town’s and Fortresses of the King of Spaines in Possession, which -would hardly be deliverd’, and particularly France could not -abandon nor Spayn quitt Messina.” - -“This is something,” said Ahmed. - -“But Sir,” came from Finch, “now I think better of it, there is one -way which if it is taken an adjustment will questionlesse suddainly -follow.” - -“What is that?” - -“Your Excellency’s goeing once more as a Generall into Germany with -a Powerfull Army.” - -“At which the Gran Vizir laughd’ profusely; and so Wee made a -friendly Parture.”[164] - -Jubilant at such issue of his labours--not quite equal to the -best he had hoped, yet far above the worst that, in moments of -despondency, he had feared--our Ambassador returned to the camp -outside Karagatch; and drank his Majesty’s health in the double -bottle of sack he had saved up for the occasion. - -Next morning he proceeded to draw up his report: not a syllable had -he yet written to the Secretary of State from Adrianople, reserving -all he had to say for the end. The letter (eighteen pages) is as -interesting as it is long, and not the least interest of it lies -in the light it throws upon the writer. The honours he received -are accented, while only the faintest allusion is made to the -Jew’s house; Kuprili’s affability is heavily underlined; the Grand -Signor’s ungraciousness is entirely suppressed; and the whole -of the ceremonial part of his mission is presented to the best -possible advantage. But it is when he comes to business that Sir -John shows how little free he was from the weakness of glorifying -his own achievements. He speaks of the “Five Moneths and some -dayes” spent on this negotiation and dwells upon the difficulties -and dangers it entailed: “I was never under a more tedious, -troublesome, and more perplexd’ Negotiation in my life.” But it was -worth it. Such Capitulations had never been known: “Taking them at -the worst and lett the lowest estimate passe which can be made of -them, yett I think, with modesty I may say, that they are farr the -greatest Present that ever was made to the Company since the first -forming of this Trade.”[165] - -For this estimate Sir John had the authority of the crafty Rais -Effendi who affected wonder at his phenomenal success, “saying he -never knew the like before,”--“that I went away with an honour -No Ambassadour had ever receivd’ in this Court, which was the -having every Article granted me that I gave in writing”--this, -while admitting that one of the Articles had been so eviscerated -as to be worthless. Likewise as to the title of Padishah upon -which he had set his heart, that it proved unobtainable Sir John -could not deny; but he flattered himself that “it was not wholely -lost, for at another time it should be brought again,”--so “the -Kehayah assured me.” Such was Sir John’s capacity for believing -what he wished. In the same way, if he realised how much he owed -to others, he was not the man to admit the debt, even to himself. -His self-esteem was of that sensitive quality that the slightest -wound to it had to be carefully avoided. Not only in general terms -he attributes the whole of his success, under God (whom he duly -thanks), to his own resourcefulness, energy, and resolution, but -he specifically states that it was he who carried the point of the -Imperial autograph.[166] Perhaps if the Treasurer’s account had -not come down to us, the Ambassador’s claims would have been more -convincing. But that he himself was convinced that everything was -due to him and him alone can hardly be doubted. The Rais Effendi -had told him, “Two things, the first was that I came into this -Empire with a great stock of reputation in having bin able to doe -so much in Christendome for the Bassà of Tunis; but that I had -like to have forfeited it all by staying so long before I came -to Audience: The Court being putt upon resolutions to oppose my -Instances for that Neglect; But in the second place he told me my -way of Treaty had regaind them.”[167] - -The “Bassà of Tunis”--yes, indeed, not the least of the results -of his trip to Adrianople that Sir John congratulated himself -upon was connected with that gentleman. The Vizir was so far from -countenancing the Pasha’s pretensions, that he publicly thanked -Finch for the service he had done, and sent the Pasha away to a -Governorship in the uttermost confines of Arabia. This curious -affair was not really over. Resentment had struck root so deeply -in the bosom of the Pasha of Tunis that afterwards it shot up and -flowered afresh, and grew into a noxious umbrage which was to -darken Sir John’s latter years. But of this Sir John knew nothing -at the time: he only knew that he had triumphed. - -Thus ended the most adventurous and most important transaction Sir -John Finch had ever been engaged in. But his troubles had not yet -ended. Before he could get away, he had to take out Commands to -give effect to the new Articles, also to pay farewell visits to the -Kehayah and the Rais Effendi--to thank those worthies for their -help. In the houses of both the Plague was more rife than at the -Vizir’s; but he “must run the Gantlett.” Fortunately, “both did me -the Civility to appoint me a meeting in _luogo terzo_: the Kehaiah -at an Appartment of the Visir’s and the Rais Affendi at his Garden -House. A condiscension seldome practisd’ by any Turkes, especially -of so great a Figure.” - -These “visits of congé” took place on September 16th. “The Kehaiah -was very melancholy, having that very morning buryed four out of -his house, two of which were his near kinswomen.” The Rais Effendi -felicitated Sir John on his release, saying that there never had -“bin in the memory of man known such a Plague in Adrianople.” At -one of these calls, two men with running sores stood for a full -quarter of an hour within a yard of the Ambassador: even the _luogo -terzo_ offered no security.[168] - -The final departure for Constantinople was a hustling and -thoroughly undignified affair: all other considerations yielding -to that of self-preservation. Not only the ceremonies but the very -decencies of life were sacrificed, without scruple or shame, on the -altar of the primitive goddess who knows no law. At her behest all -those acquired habits fell away from our punctilious diplomat like -so many borrowed plumes. - -After his leave-takings, the Ambassador went back to the tents, -where thirty carts had already arrived to load for the return -journey; and there, within twenty-four hours, five of his retinue -were stricken with the hideous pest. Sir John and Sir Thomas fled -incontinently to the village again, leaving the rest to shift for -themselves--and even leaving one of their Greek servants unburied -in the fields. The other Greek and Armenian servants, utterly -unable to appreciate this knightly conduct, mutinied and were going -up to the Ambassador’s cottage in a threatening tumult, when the -invaluable Mr. North came to the rescue, and quelled the riot. -After this, Sir John would not wait another minute. With the carts -already provided he set out, leaving his luggage to be sent after -him, and two of his Dragomans to receive the Commands which had -been promised. - -But notwithstanding his haste, Sir John had not yet seen the end -of his woes. Just as he was starting, one of his carters dropped -dead beside his cart; and before he reached the first station, news -overtook him that a servant of one of the Dragomans left behind -had fallen sick. His anxiety on account of the long-suffering -and indispensable Dragomans increased as he went on, for though -they had both given him assurances to overtake him before the end -of the journey, he heard nothing from or of either of them for -weeks.[169] - -All the way home our pilgrims felt miserable in a transcendent -degree. The road was full of the disease and full of robbers. To -escape the first peril, they shunned the towns and camped in the -open. Every day they sent their tents before them to be pitched at -the next _konak_. When they arrived there, they drew all the carts -and coaches around them, made a great fire, supped, and then lay -down to rest, as best they could, in their boots and clothes. But -though they themselves did not go into the towns, most of their -wagoners and servants did, so the danger of infection was, in a -measure, the same. As to the other danger, not a day passed but -they heard of some fresh exploit of the gangs that scoured the -country-side. These stories had a most deplorable effect upon their -nerves. They dared not straggle an inch from the road, and, the -Rev. John says, “a calf with a white face disheartened them all”; -observing thoughtfully, “if we had not had guards, it would have -been very easy cutting our throats.”[170] - -In this dishevelled manner our friends journeyed back the way they -came, reaching their destination on September 27th. - -It was a very weary ambassador who returned to Pera. But there -was no rest for him yet. The Plague raged at Constantinople as at -Adrianople. And that was not the worst. Two of his retinue, it -now appeared, had the disease all the way home undiscovered. One -of them, an Arab conductor of his litter, died the day after his -arrival. The other, a young footman who always was about Finch and -Baines, fell sick two days later in the Embassy. “I suspecting -it might be the Plague, sent him out of my House to be attended -by Armenians that are accustomd to it; and within two days the -Boy dyed of the Plague.” With wondrous agility both knights fled -to St. Demetrius Hill, which henceforth became Sir John’s summer -resort.[171] - -Distressing as all this was, it might have been worse. Lord -Winchilsea had lost not only two servants, but also his -daughter, and fled from place to place--from Pera to Yarlikioi, -from Yarlikioi to Belgrade, from Belgrade to Zacharlikioi--in -“perplexity where to find security unless in the providence of -the Almighty,”--he fled with a wife in hourly expectation of a -child, pursued by “this disconsolate disease.” Sir John’s other -predecessor and kinsman, Harvey, on his way to Salonica had to -carry in his own coach a friend who had fallen sick of the Plague -on the road, “as longe as he was able to suffer the Journie,” and -“to leave him att last at a town,” in Macedonia, where he died.[172] - -It was all in the day’s work. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[155] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. - -[156] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 246. - -[157] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 111. - -[158] Harvey to Williamson, Nov.... 1670, _S.P. Turkey_, 19; -Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 318. - -[159] Covel’s _Diaries_, p. 195. - -[160] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 111; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 327-8. - -[161] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 112-13, 116. - -[162] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675; _Life of Dudley North_, p. -113; Covel’s _Diaries_, pp. 272-3. - -[163] “New Articles added to the Capitulations Renewed by Sr John -Finch Knt, and Deliver’d to His Excell^{cy} by the Hands of the -Gran Vizir In Adrianople, September the 8-18th 1675,” _Coventry -Papers_. - -[164] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. The Rev. John mentions this -dialogue as taking place at the banquet of July 27. See _Diaries_, -p. 263. - -[165] Finch to Coventry, Sept. 9, 1675. Seeing that Sir John did -not arrive at Adrianople till May 10, it is a little hard to -understand how he arrives at his “Five Moneths and some dayes.” -Dudley North also speaks of “our tedious Attendance at Adrianople,” -as having lasted “near five Months,” _Life_, p. 113. No doubt, to -them the time seemed longer than it was. - -[166] See Appendix XI. - -[167] Finch to Coventry, Oct. 6-16, 1675. - -[168] The Same to the Same, Oct. 6-16, 1675. Cp. Covel’s _Diaries_, -p. 274. - -[169] Finch to Coventry, Oct. 6-16, 1675. - -[170] Covel’s _Diaries_, pp. 274-5. - -[171] Finch to Coventry, Oct. 6-16, 1675. - -[172] Winchilsea “Intelligence,” Aug. 24 [1661]; Harvey to -Arlington, Jan. 31, 1669 [-70], _S.P. Turkey_, 17 and 19. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -HALCYON DAYS - - -The Plague over, Sir John resumed his quiet life at Pera; and for -the space of a twelvemonth we find him resting on his laurels and -garnering the fruits of his labour complacently. - -He had, indeed, much cause for complacency. Our Levant Trade -flourished as never before, and the Constantinople Factors were -guilty of no exaggeration when they told the Ambassador that it was -twice, if not thrice, bigger than the trade of all other European -nations put together. Sir John took the keenest interest in this -progress and foresaw even greater development at the expense of -our rivals, if only we would sell on credit, as they did, and if -we could keep the privileges secured by the new Capitulations in -force. As to the first point, the Ambassador’s exhortations fell on -deaf ears. The Levant Company had a rooted objection to the credit -system, being on the contrary persuaded that the growth of their -business was due to the prohibition of “Trusting” which they had -enacted a few years before.[173] - -Nor did the home authorities sufficiently appreciate the -Ambassador’s services with regard to the Capitulations. As so often -happens, the giver and the recipient differed widely about the -value of the gift. Indeed, the Levant Company’s attitude in this -matter was so ungracious and ungrateful that Sir John, stung to -the quick, wrote to the Secretary of State: “Lett them make the -Service as mean as they please now they are in possession of it; -were the new Articles I obtaind, to be again procurd’, I very well -know at what rate they would be content to purchase them. Neither -in the estimate of their advantage which I sent your Honour, did -I write any thing more, then what fell from the Merchants mouths -here, before I had obtaind them. But it may be tis esteemd’ by -some a good Method, to depretiate that Merit, which being ownd’; -would become an obligation, and begett the incumbence of an -acknowledgment.”[174] Like others before him, and after him, Sir -John had to learn the lesson that “He who serves a community must -secure a reward by his own means, or expect it from God.”[175] - -Particularly hurt was our Ambassador by the total lack of -enthusiasm which both the Merchants and the King showed on the -Article of the figs. The former made no haste to avail themselves -of the concession, and their indifference filled Sir John with the -fear lest the privilege should lapse through disuse. The latter -did not, as he expected, write to the Grand Signor and Vizir to -thank them for the favour conferred upon his kitchen. After waiting -long and in vain, Sir John felt constrained to urge his Majesty -to rectify the omission, though late, “as having tasted and bin -pleasd’ with some of that fruit.” It was clear that people at home -did not care a fig for Smyrna figs. They were wrong; for, under -the “two ships lading” figment, the English were able as time -went on to export vast quantities of dried fruit from Smyrna--and -housewives yet unborn would have blessed the name of their -benefactor, if they knew it.[176] - -However, happily for his peace of mind, it was some time before Sir -John heard of this ingratitude; and meanwhile he did everything to -ensure the execution of the Articles he had obtained at the cost of -so much hardship and hazard. The task presented some difficulties; -for, though the Grand Vizir granted the Commands which the -Ambassador asked readily enough, the local officials evinced the -strongest disinclination to part with any profit to which they -had been used. A test case was offered by the Chief Customer of -Constantinople, who, on the arrival of the first English ship, -detained five bales of cloth--the duty in kind which he had been in -the habit of levying under the old Capitulations. Finch immediately -sent his Dragoman with the new Capitulations and required Hussein -Aga to restore the goods at his peril. The Customer complied, -but, at the same time, got the Vizir’s Kehayah to write to the -Ambassador complaining that the English merchants were trying to -defraud the Grand Signor. Sir John’s reply was that his good friend -the Kehayah was misinformed: the merchants were not to blame, for -they acted by his own order. To the Customer also he declared -that if any English merchants should dare, directly or indirectly, -pay for any cloth one asper more than the sum specified in the new -Capitulations, he would imprison them, adding that for what he -did he had the Grand Signor’s oath and hand, and if the Customer -engaged in a dispute on that point, either he or the Ambassador -must sink. This peremptory message made Hussein Aga submit to the -new dispensation. Sir John, however, did not rest satisfied with -his victory: to prevent any “after claps,” he exacted from the -Customer a letter to the Kehayah formally acknowledging the justice -of our proceedings, and this letter he caused to be registered -by the Cadi as well as in his own Cancellaria. The effect of his -action appeared when, on the arrival at Constantinople of two more -ships, the goods passed through the Custom-House without the least -controversy. At Aleppo he met with similar opposition and overcame -it with equal success. And all this without any bakshish, except a -few judiciously distributed bottles of Canary, “which the Grandees -at Court baptize by the name of English sherbett.” In the same way, -every other question relating to commerce was settled as it arose -by means of Imperial Commands, so that in a year’s time the New -Articles were firmly established over the Empire. - -Not a little of this success was due to the happy termination -of our Tripolitan enterprise, which “has given great reputation -and terrour to His Majesty’s arms in this Court.” While Finch -was negotiating at Adrianople, Narbrough had been capturing or -destroying pirate galleys; and, on January 14th, 1676, the boats -of his squadron had even forced their way into the port of -Tripoli and there burnt four men-of-war. The upshot of these bold -operations was a Peace by which the Dey agreed to release all -English captives, to pay an indemnity, and to grant a number of -commercial privileges. The Ambassador made the most of our triumph. -As soon as he received from the Admiral the terms of the Treaty, he -sent his Dragoman to inform the Kehayah, who said that he believed -the Grand Vizir’s letters had helped to bring the Tripolines to -reason. The Dragoman was far too polite and prudent to contradict a -Turk, but he remarked that “the firing of their men-of-warr in port -had much of perswasion in it.” “Wee know it, wee know it,” replied -the Kehayah, with a laugh.[177] - -Other circumstances helped Finch to strengthen his position at the -Porte. In the spring of 1676 the Grand Signor, after ten years’ -absence, surprised Constantinople by appearing in its environs: a -step which was hailed as a sign that the sovereign’s distrust of -his capital had vanished, and that henceforth he would refresh the -eyes of its inhabitants with his presence and fill their purses -by his extravagance. It is true that these expectations were not -fulfilled. Instead of taking up his abode in the Seraglio which -had been prepared for him, the Grand Signor encamped outside the -city “like an enemy,” and only ventured to pay spasmodic visits -to some of its mosques. Nevertheless, the vicinity of his camp, -with all its pomp, created a welcome diversion for the Franks as -well as for the Turks. The Rev. John Covel was once more in his -element. With a roving, inquisitive eye, he prowled about the -Imperial tents, comparing them with those he had seen at Adrianople -and taking stock of every detail.[178] The Ambassador himself was -not less excited. He reports to the Secretary of State the various -theories current about the motives which had induced the Sultan to -come so near and those which prevented him from coming any nearer; -he describes his movements; and he relates how adroitly he managed -to turn them to account. The Sultan often went by water from place -to place. Finch noted this, and one day, “making inquisition when -His Majesty would passe,” he ordered the two English ships in -port to give him a salute; and that the performance might be more -impressive he ordered the guns to be fired from the lower tier: so -that they might speak louder than those of two Algerine men-of-war -which were also then in port. His orders were carried out to the -letter. As the Grand Signor passed by our ships, a fanfare from -their trumpets entertained him: when he was a little past them, -they began to fire: 31 guns from the _Mary and Martha_, and 21 -from the _Hunter_. The Grand Signor stopped his barge to receive -the salute, and till it was quite done rowed very slowly. The -performance was repeated on his return; “which was very kindly -taken.”[179] Presently, “by reason of dust in foule weather, dust -in fayr weather, and want of water,” the Grand Signor pitched his -camp in a new place--“just before my house, and I sitt at dinner in -the Prospect of His own Tent and His Trayn about Him!”[180] - -Then, suddenly, turning from the contemplation of externals, our -Ambassador penetrates for a moment into the passions that seethed -inside those stately pavilions. - -There lived in Stambul an unvenerable old Princess, popularly -known as Sultana “Sporca,” or “the Dirty”--an epithet which she -had earned by making it her profession to bring up young girls for -the entertainment of the grandees. Among her troupe of nymphs she -had “a Circassian slave that was extraordinaryly beautifull, and -did dance, sing, and tumble in the height of perfection after the -Turkish mode.” During the previous year the Grand Signor, hearing -of this prodigy, had sent for her. But the old lady, unwilling to -lose so lucrative a pupil, evaded the Imperial command by alleging -that she had given the girl her freedom and therefore could not -dispose of her. Now, however, the truth came out. One day, while -the girl was exercising her arts for the amusement of some pashas, -she attracted the attention of the Captain of the Grand Vizir’s -Guard, who gave her 300 sequins and sent 1000 more to the Sultana -on condition that she let the damsel and her companions perform -in his house. The Sultana readily agreed to the bargain; but she -reckoned without her client. After the performance the gallant -Captain, while dismissing the other members of the troupe, kept -the handsome slave. Next morning the Sultana petitioned the Grand -Signor, confessing her former deception. The Grand Signor, enraged -at his own disappointment, ordered the Sultana to be banished, the -damsel to be annexed to his harem, and the Captain’s head to be -exposed in his camp: “So true is that of Virgil: - - “Quisquis amores - Aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros.”[181] - -His Christian colleagues this year afforded our Ambassador as much -food for self-satisfaction as the Ottoman Court. There had lately -arrived at Constantinople two new Ministers: a Venetian Ambassador -and a Genoese Resident. The former, Signor Morosini, who had -already represented Venice at Paris and Vienna, was “an experiencd’ -and dexterous” diplomat with whom one found it easy to maintain -“good corrispondence.” The latter, Signor Spinola, “really acts -such low and mean things that he exposes the dignity of a Publique -Minister both to Turkes and Christians” and renders friendly -intercourse with him impossible. - -On Spinola’s arrival, which occurred during our absence at -Adrianople, Finch had ordered the merchant left in charge of -the Embassy to compliment him in his name. Yet when the Genoese -sent his Dragoman to Adrianople, he gave him no orders to make -any compliment to Finch. We magnanimously passed this slight by, -attributing it to “his want of breeding and experience.” Some -weeks later, finding himself embroiled with his predecessor, -Spinola begged for our mediation--a request to which we acceded, -only to hear suddenly, not from Spinola himself but from a third -quarter, that a reconciliation had been effected through the good -offices of the Bailo of Venice and the Resident of Holland. This -discourtesy also we put up with patiently. But at last the Genoese -did something we could not digest. - -“The story is this. S: Spinola brought over with Him a pittifull -fellow under the name of a Merchant, who sett up His onely Trade of -Distilling strong waters (a thing in the highest degree forbidden -by the Turkes). For secrecy He with Jewes that assisted Him make -their Destillation in an upper Room where there was no chimney; -This comes to the Notice of the Community of Pera, amongst whom -three of my Druggermen are the chief; The Community reflecting upon -the last firing of Galata by destilling of strong waters, Resolvd’ -amongst themselves to goe to the Laboratory and complain of the -danger Apprehended. My First Druggerman, being Prior or Chief -Magistrate, accompanyd’ with others went to the House, and finding -at the Door two Jew servants to this Distiller, tells them that -the Community if they did not leave of (_sic_) their distilling of -strong waters where there was no chimney nor hearth, they would -complain to the Chimacam, who immediately would send those Jewes -to the Gally’s. Their Master comming home the Jewes tell him what -happend’, The small Merchant Recurrs to his Resident, His Resident -sends him to me, He relates His story, I askd’ Him what He was, He -told me He was a Merchant that came over with the Resident, I told -Him that I usd’ not to receive messages from Publick Ministers but -by Druggermen or their own Secretary’s, nor to other Informations -would I give any credence. However having taken my Informations -from my First Druggerman I sent my Third Druggerman to the -Resident, first to tell him that either He knew not the Respect -due to Publick Ministers Here, or else that He was very wanting in -it towards me, in sending me a message neither by his Secretary -nor his Druggerman, That the grounds of this complaint were so -just, that must in my own name renew the complaint against this -Destiller in order to the Preservation of my Merchants’ estates, as -well as of my Druggermen’s Houses, That what my First Druggerman -had sayd’ was to the Jewes and not to His Merchant and that they -would certainly goe into the Gally’s if the Destillator continud’ -His Trade there, That however he had never enterd’ into the House, -but sayd’ this to them in the street. The Resident answerd’ That he -knew Signor Giorgio Drapery’s very well, and knew as well that he -was not within the House, For had he gon in, he should have mett -with Bastonate. - -“Upon the return of this answer I sent him word, That both with -the Ambassadour of France and Bailo of Venice, Persons of the same -character with me, our meanest servants were mutually treated with -greater respect then he showd’ to my First Druggerman, Knight -of Jerusalem, and of the most Noble and Ancient family in this -Country, and that therefore, unlesse that the Resident did make -Him some Reparation or Satisfaction, I must be forcd’ to resent -it: wondring both at His Passion and Indiscretion to say at the -same time he knew him to be my First Druggerman, he should tell the -other Druggerman the Jewes should have bastonadod’ him, had he said -those words within the House.” - -Thereupon Signor Spinola’s Secretary came to beg Sir John’s pardon, -offering him all reparation in his master’s name, “even submitting -himselfe to be bastonadod’.” Sir John, however, who felt that he -had been wounded in his most tender point, was not yet satisfied: -to appease him, it was necessary that the atonement should be as -public as the injury: “the thing being Publick and making no passe -to Sigr Giorgio I told him, till he had sent some message to him -I could not admitt of any corrispondence.” Accordingly he cut off -all relations with the Resident and declared to the Secretary -of State that he would continue “so to doe till I have farther -satisfaction.” The Secretary of State duly expressed his resentment -to the Genoese Minister in London. But in the meantime Sir John -had received Spinola’s submission as he desired, in the form of “a -passe toward the personall satisfaction of my Druggerman done in -Publique before my servants, and then after four moneths I returnd’ -him his visit.” - -Thus ended “this Storm in a Bason.”[182] - -Not very long afterwards our Ambassador found himself involved in a -difference with his French colleague. - -Sir John’s religious activities at Adrianople had led to a little -coolness between those hitherto firm friends. In five months -Nointel had not paid Finch one visit, and now that he had to see -him on a matter of business (a dispute between the English and -French merchants of Aleppo referred to the adjudication of their -respective ambassadors), he pretended that it was Finch’s turn to -call. Hence a pretty quarrel. Finch declared that he had made the -last visit. Nointel maintained that that visit was a return to one -he had made and insisted that Finch should begin afresh. Finch -protested that this was contrary to the diplomatic practice of -Pera, and “a most dangerous point--to make two visits for one, it -being the note of distinction between Ambassadours and Residents.” -No doubt the noble Marquis’s _amour-propre_ would be gratified by -such a recognition of French superiority, but the honour of his -Majesty did not permit Sir John to afford him that gratification -on any account. Both by letters and by oral messages he assured -Nointel, blandly but firmly, that, unless he made the first visit, -all intercourse between them would cease. “And certainly,” he wrote -to the Secretary of State, “I shall not give way to him one hair, -without the orders of the King my Master.” Courteous as Sir John -was, he could be very obstinate where his King’s honour was at -stake. - -For three weeks both ambassadors remained immovable; and then the -Frenchman sent to inform the Englishman that he desired to call on -him in the afternoon. But it so chanced that Finch had just engaged -himself for that very afternoon to the Bailo of Venice. He was -therefore forced to beg Nointel to excuse him for that day. It was -a most unfortunate _contretemps_: Finch, on one hand, feared that -Nointel might think he had put a slight upon him by feigning that -engagement, and on the other he suspected that perhaps Nointel had -heard of it and, knowing that it was impossible for him to receive -his visit that day, imagined that the offering of it should serve -for the having paid it and oblige Sir John to make one in return. -Tormented by these doubts, he sent his own Dragoman to repeat -his explanations and excuses. Great was his relief when Nointel -appointed the day following for his visit, which accordingly he -performed; and the day after Finch returned it. “So that all things -were reducd’ to the ancient friendship and cheerfullnesse.”[183] - -We may picture the noble Marquis once more adorning Sir John’s -dinner-table. Nointel was a great table-talker, and he had varied -experiences which he could narrate with all the vivacity of his -race. But the conversation at our Ambassador’s board must have -seemed to him painfully restrained in its tone and restricted in -its range of subject. It turned persistently on religion, and was -carried on under the unexhilarating auspices of Sir Thomas Baines. -He was the conductor of the theological concert, and there was a -deferential manner in the bearing of the host towards him which -must have stifled in the guest all sense of freedom. What weighty -dogmas Baines uttered, what profundities of erudition he disclosed, -how he answered the arguments he provoked--all these things Finch -noted down with the reverence of a disciple and the vicarious -pride of a lover. In such an atmosphere thoughtless loquacity was -obviously out of place, memories gained in wanton ways had to be -kept under lock and key: the only proper demeanour was that of a -prig or a prude. One day the Frenchman, who was neither, stirred -by Florentine wine or by the spirit of mischief, kicked over the -traces. After a discussion concerning the Crucifixion, he wandered -off into some reminiscences of his early life in Paris. Sir Thomas -listened scandalised but self-possessed: of the jarring sensations -that ran along his spinal cord there was no sign upon his austere -countenance; only when the raconteur had done, he leaned forward -and remarked: - -“_Che dirà il Crucifisso?_” - -The reproof brought the errant Marquis back to his actual -milieu and its proprieties. He was, Sir John tells us, “struck -dumbfounded and was filled with astonishment at so unexpected a -glosse, which he sayd was a more efficacious sermon then he had -heard from the Capuchin Fryers.”[184] What he said to himself we do -not know. - -From these trivialities, which enveloped his mind like fine-spun -cobwebs, Sir John was suddenly roused by a very serious event: -nothing less than the death of the great Ahmed Kuprili. - -At the approach of the autumnal equinox the Grand Signor broke -up his camp and began his migration to Adrianople. The Vizir -was then ill--so ill that he refused Sir John’s request for a -farewell audience with these words: “If God pleasd’, wee should -meet in the Spring, but then he was not in a state to receive my -Visit.” Nevertheless, Ahmed followed his master in a galley as -far as Selivria, where our Ambassador’s Dragoman, who had been -sent to obtain some Commands, saw him, on his landing, carried by -four persons to a litter, on which, too weak to sit upright, he -stretched himself at full length. In this critical condition he -went on another day’s journey, and at that point, his strength -failing him, he had to be taken a mile off the road into a private -house. Mindful of the public interest to the very last, he called -his Kehayah and ordered him to march with the army to Adrianople. -The Kehayah, with tears in his eyes, begged to be allowed to stay -and wait upon him, saying that no man could serve him with so much -care or so much affection. “No,” replied Ahmed, “the Gran Signor’s -Army ought not to want a Head, and since I cannot, you must Head -them.” - -The Grand Signor at the moment was, as usual, hunting; but as -soon as news of the Vizir’s state reached him, he hastened to -his bedside--a signal proof of the sentiments which the master -cherished towards his illustrious servant. Sir John was deeply -impressed: “I must needs say,” he writes, “That I have read of -the Privacy’s of many Great Ministers of State with their Prince, -I have livd’ to be no stranger to the story’s of the Modern -one’s. But Nothing in Christendome neither Card: Richlieu, Card: -Mazarin, or Don Louis de Haro, or any other Christian favourite -can parallell either the Power, Influence, or Intimacy, That this -Gran Visir had with this Emperour.” Thus Ahmed lingered on till the -24th of October, when he succumbed to a dropsy inherited from his -father but intensified by worries of government, hardships of war, -and excessive indulgence in strong waters. He had ruled the Ottoman -Empire for fifteen years, and at the time of his death he was not -above forty-five. - -His body was brought back to Constantinople in a plain coach drawn -by six horses and attended by only half-a-dozen footmen. It was -taken to a mosque where the Kaimakam and other dignitaries awaited -it with the religious ministers, and was laid in the same sepulchre -as his father’s. No pomp distinguished Ahmed’s funeral from that -of an ordinary pasha. But the mourning was universal. Moslems and -Christians, natives and aliens joined in paying tribute to the -virtues of the departed statesman, to his moderation, his justice, -his inflexible probity. He was a pasha free from greed; he was -an autocrat who knew how to temper absolutism with gentleness: a -memorable, and in some respects a unique exemplar of a beneficent -despot. The English, in particular, remembered with gratitude -Ahmed’s scrupulous observance of their Capitulations, and his -readiness to punish any official who violated them. It was not -probable that they would see his like again. - -To Sir John Finch the death of Ahmed, “my Great and Good friend,” -came as a severe shock, and it evoked from him a eulogy more -eloquent in its unaffected simplicity than any elaborate panegyric: -“Most certainly He was a Great Minister of State, and Master of -Great Resolutions; For whatsoever He sett upon He allwayes went -through. He was undoubtedly Just; and the freest from Corruption of -any that ever held that charge, for He was no lover of mony.” How -was the event likely to affect himself? This question, naturally, -mingled itself with Sir John’s sorrow: “I hope things will not upon -the change of the Ministers change their Face too; But the Truth is -In the Visir I lost a True friend, and with Him all the Rest, For -they will be Turnd’ out of their severall charges, so that I must -begin my Interest anew.”[185] - -Immediately on Ahmed’s death the Seal was carried by his brother -to the Grand Signor and, according to general expectation, was -conferred upon Mustafa Pasha--commonly called Kara Mustafa, or -Black Mustafa, from the darkness of his complexion. He was a man -of fifty-three. Having begun as a page in the household of old -Mohammed Kuprili and married his daughter, he had risen under that -Vizir to the position of Capiji-bashi. Ahmed had made him Capitan -Pasha, or Lord High Admiral, and, on going to Candia, left him as -his Deputy with the Sultan. Mustafa had taken the utmost advantage -of this proximity to the sovereign, pandering to all his passions -and always accompanying him in his hunting. He was just about to -marry one of the Grand Signor’s daughters--a damsel of six. - -As soon as the appointment was announced, Sir John hastened to find -out all about Kara Mustafa’s character and antecedents, so that he -might from the past form a forecast of the future. Information was -easy to obtain: a person who had for so many years been the second -grandee in the Empire had naturally become an object of interested -study to every one that came into contact with the Court. Had he -access to the Foreign Office archives, Finch would have found a -terse summary of the new Vizir’s character from the pen of Sir -Daniel Harvey’s secretary: “well spoken, subtill, corrupt, and a -great dissembler.”[186] As it was, he learnt that Kara Mustafa -was reputed “a Great Souldyer, and a Great Courtier; and of a -very Active Genious.” But these qualities were marred by two very -pronounced vices: avarice and arrogance. The English merchants had -suffered from his cupidity, and all the foreign envoys from his -pride. These reports made Sir John uneasy: he saw the outlines of -trouble in the future: he had a disquieting sense of uncertainty; -but he hoped that the example of his famous predecessor and the -responsibility of his present position might cure Kara Mustafa of -his propensities. - -The new Grand Vizir began his career after a fashion which -justified Sir John’s best hopes. He removed no Minister from his -post, except the Kehayah, a necessary measure, and he softened it -by making him Master of the Horse to the Sultan: a place which, if -less profitable, was not less honourable. Neither did he put any -man to death, except a paymaster, and that was an act of justice -rather than of severity, for the official had been convicted of -paying out false money. In brief, Ahmed’s death did not seem to -have produced any change at the Porte other than the change of -the Vizir’s person. Sir John felt reassured: much as he missed -the suave Kehayah, he was glad to know that he still occupied a -position of influence; and that, apart from this alteration, he -would not have “to begin his Interest anew.” As late as the first -of March 1677 he was able to write: “Both with the Court it selfe -and the Publick Ministers that reside Here, things passe with me -so peaceably that I am in a perfect calme.” Indeed, the Government -was so “regular,” that, in the dearth of “occurrences of remarque,” -the Ambassador could scarcely find “materialls enough to furnish a -Dispatch.”[187] - -For the fact is that Kara Mustafa was to be six months a Grand -Vizir before anything happened. But what then happened was in -itself a drama. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[173] See Appendix XII. - -[174] Finch to Coventry, May 26: S.V. 1677. See also Appendix XIII. - -[175] Such was the mournful reflection of a contemporary merchant -who, after doing the “Nation” a great service at Constantinople, -got not “common thanks and scarce good looks” for his pains. See -_Life of Dudley North_, p. 102. - -[176] Richard Pococke, who visited Smyrna in 1739, notes: “they -export a great quantity of raisins to England, under the pretence -of a privilege they have by our Capitulations of loading so many -ships for the King’s table.”--_A Description of the East_ (London: -1745), Bk. II. ch. i. - -[177] Finch to Coventry, May 4-14, _Coventry Papers_; the Same to -Right Hon. [Joseph Williamson], May 31: S.V. 1676, _S.P. Turkey_, -19. - -[178] Covel’s _Diaries_, pp. 163-8. - -[179] Finch to Coventry, May 4-14. - -[180] The Same to the Same, June 20-30, 1676. - -[181] Finch to Coventry, Aug. 4-14, 1676. Cp. Covel’s _Diaries_, -pp. 160-2; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 331-2. - -[182] Finch to Coventry, Jan. 6 16, 1675-76; May 4-14; Aug. 4-14, -1676. - -[183] Finch to Coventry, Aug. 4-14, enclosing Nointel to Finch (in -French), Aug. 11 and 13 (N.S.); Finch to Nointel (in Italian), Aug. -2-12 and 4-14. The Same to the Same, Aug. 29/Sept. 8, 1676. - -[184] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 68. - -[185] Finch to Coventry, Oct. 26, S.V. 1676. Cp. Rycaut to John -Field “At Mr Secretary Coventry’s office att Whitehall,” Dec. 13, -_Coventry Papers_; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 332-3. - -[186] George Etherege to Joseph Williamson, letter endorsed “R. -8 May, 1670,” _S.P. Turkey_, 19. It is interesting to compare -this verdict with this: “One of the most refined witts, the most -accomplished Courtier, and a person of the greatest experience,” -Rycaut to Field, _loc. cit._ Etherege was a poet, Rycaut a -historian; which of the two had a truer insight time was to show. - -[187] Finch to Coventry, Nov. 20-30, 1676; March 1-11, 1676-77. Cp. -Rycaut to Field, _loc. cit._, Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 334-5. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE STOOL OF REPENTANCE - - -Early in March 1677 Mohammed IV. returned to Constantinople, -followed three weeks later by his Vizir; and behold, all of a -sudden, the government which hitherto had been a model of mildness -took on a face such as “the Oldest Man here never saw.”[188] Of -this metamorphosis the representatives of foreign States became -aware when they asked to be permitted to offer the new Grand Vizir -their felicitations. - -Before this epoch Christian envoys had often been subject to -contumely, violence, and outrage at the hands of the Grand Signor’s -curious Ministers. But no attempt had ever been made to treat them -systematically as pariahs. To Kara Mustafa--“an embitterd’ enemy -to all Christians,” as Sir John calls him--belongs the credit of -evolving out of those desultory essays in truculence a regular -system of calculated indecency--a system which was to endure -for more than a hundred years, becoming, in course of time, as -established things do, respectable, consecrated, all but decent. -He it was who collected every planless affront, threat of rage, -artifice of greed--every caprice of a decrepit despotism,--and -wove them all together into one net of humiliation out of which -only force could liberate its victims. - -The process was inaugurated with the representative of France, the -excitable Marquis de Nointel, who, eager for precedence, hastened -to seek the first audience, and after a month’s solicitations -secured an appointment. His Dragomans then, according to custom, -asked to have the number of _kaftans_ which were to be bestowed -upon the Ambassador fixed; but they were told that the Ambassador -was to expect none. This was only a slight prelude to what was to -follow: “where,” as Sir John sententiously remarks, “the Preface -speaks innovations, the body of the discourse will have them at -large.” - -On arriving at the Porte on the appointed day (Sunday, April 22nd), -Nointel had to wait three whole hours in the room of the Kehayah--a -surly Turk--without conversation or any other entertainment; and -when at last he was called in, he found the narrow corridor that -led to the Audience Chamber crowded with chaoushes who jostled -him most rudely. Truth to tell, this rudeness, at all events, was -not premeditated. The poor chaoushes had come in the turbans of -ceremony worn on such occasions, but had been ordered by the Vizir -to go and exchange them for their ordinary headgear: hence their -hurry to get back to their places before the Ambassador made his -entry. Nointel, however, whose nerves were already on edge with -the long waiting, saw in their behaviour a fresh insult, and he -elbowed his way down the passage fiercely flinging the chaoushes -to right and left against the walls. In this temper he entered the -Audience Chamber, and there he observed something at which his -resentment reached the height of exasperation: the stool destined -for him was not upon the Soffah, but on the floor below! He ordered -his Dragoman to set it where it should be; one of the Vizir’s pages -brought it down again. Then the Ambassador, in a towering rage, -seized the stool with his own hand, carried it to the Soffah, and -sat upon it. - -When this act was reported to the Vizir, who was in an adjoining -apartment, he sent for the Ambassador’s Dragoman and commanded -him to tell his master that he must move his seat back where he -had found it. The trembling Dragoman delivered the message and -was bidden by the angry Ambassador to hold his tongue. Next the -Vizir sent his own Dragoman, Dr. Mavrocordato, with whom Nointel -maintained the closest friendship. In vain did the Greek try to -soothe the enraged Frenchman, imploring him to moderate his temper -and yield gracefully to the inevitable. Nothing could prevail over -M. de Nointel’s obstinacy: the pride of the wig was pitted against -the pride of the turban, and it must be remembered that both wigs -and turbans were then at their zenith. In the end, Mavrocordato, -finding argument useless, changed his tone and said, in Italian: -“The Grand Vizir commands the chair to be placed below.” Nointel -replied: “The Grand Vizir can command his chair: he cannot command -me.” At that moment the Chaoush-bashi burst into the room, roaring, -“_Calder, calder_--Take it away, take it away!”--and before he -knew what was happening, Nointel found the stool snatched from -under him. In an access of fury, his Excellency dashed out of the -room, sword on shoulder, pushed his way through the throng, and, -ordering the presents which he had brought to follow him, mounted -his horse and departed, exciting, as he boasted, by his firmness, -“the astonishment of the Turks and the joy of the French.” Kara -Mustafa alone remained calm. His comment, when he heard that the -Ambassador was gone, was one word: “_Gehennem_” (Let him go to -Hell).[189] - -One barbarous word, that can be shown to be authentic, is worth -volumes of descriptive writing. - -Such was the beginning of the celebrated “Affaire du Sofa”--a -quarrel which drew the attention of all Europe and nearly led to a -rupture between France and Turkey. The question arises: was Nointel -justified in resenting so violently Kara Mustafa’s innovation? -Here, more fitly perhaps than afterwards, we may discuss this -question, and try to obtain that true perspective of things, -without which there can be no true understanding of our story, nor -any appreciation of the agitations and mortifications which its -chief character underwent from that day onward for about eight -months to come. - -Much ridicule has been poured by modern English writers upon the -vanity of seventeenth-century French courtiers--a foible which made -the most insignificant trifles swell in their minds to matters of -the highest moment. What, indeed, could be more puerile than for -the representative of a great monarch to quarrel with the head of -the Government to which he was accredited about the position of a -stool? But we, wise democrats of to-day, ought not to be surprised -that frivolous nobles of the old régime displayed such childish -folly and petulance: these are the natural characteristics of every -monarchical régime, of every hereditary aristocracy, melancholy -features of a state of things which has now happily passed away. - -That the French nobility under Louis XIV. carried punctiliousness -to the length of absurdity is well known to readers of contemporary -French literature: the memoirs and letters of the men and women -who composed the Court of Louis are full of serious, sometimes -dangerous, disputes arising out of the most ludicrous points of -etiquette, and narrated with a becoming sense of their importance. -Nowhere was this triumph of Ceremonialism over common sense more -notable than in the rules that governed diplomatic relations. -But--a thing forgotten by modern critics--the French Republic -of our time is hardly less tenacious of ceremonial forms in -its international relations than the French Monarchy was. Nay, -democratic America herself, as everybody acquainted with her -State Department will bear witness, sets as much store by these -trifles as any country of aristocratic Europe. The truth is that, -when nations deal with one another, they have to stand on strict -ceremony: forms have been invented to prevent friction; and States -which wish to cultivate mutual friendship are therefore extremely -wary of departing from established usages. - -The extreme irritability of M. de Nointel may have been relative -to the nation--a great nation, but a thin-skinned--to which he -belonged. But its cause, however contemptible it may appear to -us, to English diplomats of his time--men not wholly devoid of -understanding--did not appear so. - -Sir John Finch was at dinner with some of the merchants, when one -of the Embassy Janissaries, whom Nointel had borrowed from him for -the solemn function, returned home bringing the sensational news -that the French Ambassador, after four hours’ stay at the Porte, -had gone away without audience. - -From all he had heard of Kara Mustafa Finch had foreseen that -many strange things would befall; and for that reason, instead of -competing with the Frenchman for precedence, as his habit was, -he had deliberately let him have the first audience: much as the -polite fox in the fable let the elephant try first the rickety -plank that bridged a dangerous-looking stream. Nevertheless, he -was greatly startled by the news. What had happened to Nointel -might happen to him. So, dismissing his guests, he set at once to -work to ascertain what _had_ happened: there was not a moment to -lose; and indeed, before he had completed his investigations, a -messenger arrived from the Porte. Finch easily guessed the purport -of his errand, and in order to gain time for further information -and reflection, he decided to have an attack of diplomatic fever. -To give his fiction verisimilitude, he retired hastily to his -bedroom and received the messenger in his bed. The message was as -he expected: “The Grand Vizir desired that His Excellency should -come to audience on the following morning.” Sir John answered from -his couch that it was a favour which he had sought for, but he was -sorry that his “indisposition of body” would not permit him to -accept it. He prayed the Grand Vizir to excuse him. - -Kara Mustafa had no difficulty in diagnosing the “indisposition -of body” which afflicted Sir John, but dissembling his wisdom, -he promptly ordered that, since the Ambassador of England was -indisposed, the Bailo of Venice should take his place next morning, -and the Resident of Holland should come in the afternoon. Both -these diplomats were content to receive their audiences on the -Vizir’s terms, while the Resident of Genoa sought for audience -on those same terms and could not obtain it. Such, then, was the -position of the Diplomatic Corps on the Bosphorus in the spring -of 1677: the French Ambassador in open defiance of the Porte; the -Venetian Ambassador, the Dutch Resident, and the Genoese Resident -in open compliance with it; the English Ambassador alone remained -uncommitted, “as lying under the Maschera of indisposition of body.” - -Sir John counted that by his clever strategy he had at least -gained this: that he had not set the example of submission. Had -he done so, the King would have received complaints from all -Christendom that his envoy was the first to put on “the yoke of -this high-minded Visir” and by his example had forced the other -foreign Ministers to take up the same yoke: ay, the meanest of them -would have said that, had he not established a precedent, they -would have scorned to submit. As it was, Sir John had freed himself -from any imputation, and left the others to answer for their own -pusillanimity. “Neverthelesse,” he naïvely admits, “this Maschera -of a distemper at the first seen clearly through both by Turk and -Christian must not be wore long.” - -Seven days he considered enough to get well. He spent this period -of convalescence studying the situation and deliberating what -“prudent and wary resolutions” it befitted him to take. Then he -called his Dragomans to him and asked them whether they had ever -known an English ambassador receive from a Grand Vizir audience -with his stool below the Soffah? They answered with one voice No! -such a thing had never been known; and their memories served them -so readily that they went through eight or nine Vizirates by name, -as if they were repeating a lesson they had by heart. Whereupon Sir -John bade them deliver to the Vizir a Memorial which he had drawn -up. In this document the Ambassador informed Kara Mustafa that the -King his master was known to be equal to the greatest prince in -Christendom, but he was even more widely renowned as surpassing -all other princes in the sincerity and constancy of his friendship -towards the Sublime Porte: his Majesty had at all times not only -abstained from sending succours to any of Turkey’s enemies, but -supplied her with whatsoever served for the convenience of peace -or the necessity of war. After thus hinting at his claim to better -treatment than his French colleague, Sir John pointed out that not -only he himself in all his audiences of the deceased Vizir had his -seat upon the Soffah, but that, as far as he could learn, there had -never been an instance of a Vizir denying an English ambassador -such a seat. Lastly, he declared that he was under rigorous -instructions from his King to preserve intact the respect always -rendered him in this Court; and his master might justly shed his -blood, if he should do anything repugnant to his Majesty’s honour -and commands.[190] - -When the Dragomans came to the passage in which Finch, as his -composition originally stood, told the Vizir that he had about him -servants of so many years’ standing who knew what the practice had -been under so many Vizirs, they said that they dared not deliver -“such a Paper.” - -“Why,” asked the Ambassador, “is this part not true?” - -“Yes,” they agreed, “but we dare not say it is so.” - -His Excellency had the inconceivable fatuity to retort: - -“Do I name you as the informers?” - -“No,” was the obvious answer, “but the Vizir must know it can be -none but us.” - -It is amazing to find Sir John, in his report to the Secretary -of State, while moralising on the terrors of Turkish tyranny, -also complaining of the “timidity and cowardesse of Druggermen,” -who refused to risk hanging and impaling in order to please -him. However, in the end, finding it impossible to overcome the -Dragomans’ perverse regard for their lives, he couched his Note in -vaguer terms. - -To this Note Sir John received no answer for three days, and on -the fourth he had one which he did not know what to make of; it -looked as if Kara Mustafa had been rather annoyed by his Memorial, -though he did not tear it up. So next day he sent his Dragomans -to sound the Rais Effendi. This Minister told them that he -would be sorry to see an ambassador who enjoyed so good credit -at the Porte forfeit it by opposing the Grand Vizir, who, if the -Ambassador came to audience, was ready to embrace him. Encouraged -by this message, Sir John wrote to the Rais Effendi, thanking him -for his friendship, hinting at a more substantial reward for any -good offices he might do him with “the Most Excellent Vizir,” and -protesting his willingness to give his Excellency every possible -satisfaction. His one passion was to maintain his ambassadorial -character with due decorum, to preserve the peace and commerce -according to the “Sacred and Sublime Capitulations,” and to -render to the Imperial Majesty of the Grand Signor “all acts of -obsequiousness and reverence.” His heart being thus disposed, he -hoped that it would be clear “to the lucid understanding of the -Most Excellent Supream Visir” that a first-class Ambassador from -one of the greatest potentates in Christendom ought not to be -treated in parity with a Resident of whatsoever prince, much less -with the Residents of inferior Republics. Therefore he trusted that -some expedient would be found to make a distinction between the -highest and the lowest sorts of foreign Ministers; for he burned -with a desire to do reverence in person to the Most Excellent Vizir -Azem. Such was the tenor of his letter.[191] The Rais Effendi read -it but said nothing. - -We may observe here that the distinction between Ambassadors and -Residents which meant so much to European envoys did not exist -for the Turks. Whenever an Ambassador claimed precedence over a -Resident upon the ground of superior rank, they used to say: -“What, has he not a Commission? have you more?” For all diplomatic -agents they had only one name, _Elchi_, and their attitude towards -them all was equally contemptuous.[192] This, however, as we shall -see in the sequel, did not prevent them from exploiting a prejudice -which they did not share. - -Having made such advances as he deemed compatible with his dignity -to very little purpose, Sir John resolved to wait and see what Kara -Mustafa’s next move would be. Meanwhile he ordered his Dragomans to -frequent the Porte as usual, so that the other foreign Ministers -might not think that he had either given or taken offence--M. de -Nointel had withdrawn his Dragomans; but Sir John judged himself -“to be in no way, nor in no condition, in his case.” How long the -affair would last or how it would end he had no idea. He wished -he were nearer home that he might have instructions from the King -for his guidance. As it was, he was obliged to walk by his own -lights, hoping that in all he had done hitherto and in all that he -should do hereafter, if he did not deserve his Majesty’s approval, -he might at least obtain his pardon. Of one thing he asked the -Secretary of State to be sure: “I shall to the uttmost of my -possibility keep my selfe off from any condescention.” “For if I -should condescend and the French Ambassadour afterwards gain the -Point, then for him to be receivd’ with a distinction of Honour -from the Ambassadour of the King my Master would be an everlasting -Blemish.” Of course, if he capitulated, Sir John would do his best -to hinder his colleague from stealing a march upon him; but “the -best may not be good enough.” Then, again, there was another thing -to consider: suppose he yielded to the Porte on this point, no man -knew what the Porte would exact next: all the present Ministers -were “sower, ante Christian Turk’s, and very Covetous”; and of them -all Kara Mustafa was the worst. Sir John was unaffectedly afraid of -Kara Mustafa; “and what gives me to fear him the more,” he says, -“is that he is like allway’s to continue Visir; for there was never -no Visir yett that ever was the tenth part, nay the twentyeth, so -free or rather profuse in his gifts to the Gran Signor as he is.” - -Now, Kara Mustafa assuredly deserved all, or nearly all, that -Sir John said about him. But it must not be supposed that, in -this particular case, he had not something to say for himself. -His self-justification, according to Sir John’s own report, was -this: Though it might be an undeniable truth that no Vizir had -ever received an ambassador but with his stool upon the Soffah, -yet he, whilst only a Kaimakam, had never received any but with -their stools below the Soffah. It was thus that he had received -M. de Nointel himself, and, what troubled Sir John most, it was -thus that he had received Sir John’s own predecessor Harvey. M. de -Nointel might argue that he had paid Kara Mustafa then only a visit -of courtesy, and that as Ahmed Kuprili, the then Vizir, received -him on the Soffah, he had not thought it worth his while to make -a fuss about a subordinate pasha’s manners. This argument was not -open to Sir John, for when Harvey called on Kara Mustafa, Ahmed -Kuprili being away in Candia, Kara Mustafa acted as his Deputy, nor -was that a mere courtesy call, but a solemn audience. Therefore, -Kara Mustafa reasoned, why should Sir John object to paying him -now, when he was a full-blown Grand Vizir, the respect which his -predecessor had paid him without the least reluctance, when he was -but the Grand Vizir’s shadow? - -An interesting point, but not worth dwelling upon. Whether right -was on Kara Mustafa’s side or not, might certainly was; and -he exercised it without pity. Leaving Finch for the moment in -suspense, he turned his undivided attention to Nointel. After -tearing up a Memorial of the French Ambassador’s and abusing the -Dragoman who presented it, he confined the noble Marquis in his -house and threatened to commit him to the Seven Towers--an old -Byzantine fortress which served the purposes of an Ottoman Bastille. - -M. de Nointel’s distress was indescribable. From his King he could -expect no support. For some time past, owing to his consistent -failures at the Porte, he had been under a cloud at Versailles--a -cloud that not one ray of royal clemency or one livre from the -royal exchequer came to pierce. An attempt to make both ends meet -by fleecing French merchants with the help of Turkish soldiers -had deepened his disgrace without relieving him permanently from -his financial difficulties. Day after day his debts mounted; day -after day his spirits sank. Creditors clamoured for payment at his -door, and not daring to attack him directly as yet, attacked his -secretaries. Any day he might find himself in the Seven Towers. -At last, in despair, the miserable Marquis sued for peace on the -Grand Vizir’s terms, and only procured it by agreeing to pay him -an extraordinary present of 3000 dollars--in household stuff and -plate, for of ready money he had none. In spite, or perhaps -because, of his abject surrender, the representative of the great -Louis was made to drink the cup of humiliation to its bitterest -dregs. Twice Kara Mustafa summoned him to audience, and twice he -sent him away without audience; and when the third time he did -receive him, he declined to partake of coffee and sherbet, or to -be perfumed with him, but let the Giaour have his refreshments -alone.[193] - -Sir John had not been ignorant of Nointel’s overtures to the -Porte, nor was he unaware of the fact that, after the Frenchman’s -capitulation, his own position would be much worse. Yet what could -he do? To forestall Nointel by submitting first would have been too -great a degradation, and would have afforded the French Ambassador -a warrantable excuse for transferring the whole responsibility for -his own submission upon Finch’s shoulders. In this dilemma, our -Ambassador displayed his noted talent for expedients. He ordered -his Dragomans to tell the Vizir’s Kehayah that he had received -instructions from the King of England to thank the Grand Signor -by the Vizir’s mouth for a favour (meaning the Smyrna figs, -though he did not say so), and that he was ready at any time to -wait upon his Excellency, if the Grand Vizir would be pleased to -receive him “with any distinction from the lowest Minister of the -meanest Prince.” But in vain: Nointel’s pliancy had stiffened Kara -Mustafa’s back. So Sir John acquiesced in his destiny, and again -let the Frenchman proceed first. The day after Nointel’s surrender, -he applied for audience without reservations or conditions. He -received a patronising reply, that his “Motion was very good”; but -the Vizir was so taken up with the Polish Treaty that he could not -at present appoint a day. Several times, during the next three -months, Sir John repeated his “motion,” and every time he met with -the same evasive answer. - -For the first time since his strategic retreat to his bedroom Sir -John doubted the wisdom of that step. Even now he did not regret -the deed itself--that was worthily done. Any other conduct would -have been inconsistent with punctilious care for the honour of -the King his master. Sir John tried to fortify himself with these -thoughts. But as week after week came and went, and still there -was no invitation to audience, he could not but feel that a deed -which is right in principle may be pernicious in its consequences. -At length, beginning to grow seriously anxious, he begged his -very good friend Hussein Aga to find out the real origin of these -delays. The Chief Customer sent back word that there was not the -least “disgusto” against him at Court: the Polish Treaty really -took up all the Vizir’s time, and he would have his audience in -due course and with due honour--that was the whole truth of the -matter “upon his head.” This reassuring message allayed Sir John’s -anxiety, till--let Sir John himself speak--“till an unpreventable -accident disorderd’ and discomposd’ all things and incensd’ the -Visir so much that He satisfyd’ his passion upon me.”[194] - -The accident deserves to be related at some length; for, besides -the effect it had upon our Ambassador’s fortunes, it illustrates -very vividly, if not very pleasantly, the manners of the times and -the morals of the men involved. - -An English merchant of Smyrna had lent to a Venetian native of -Candia, called Pizzamano, 3000 dollars, and received some goods as -security. After the merchant’s death, his partner, Mr. John Ashby, -who at the time of the deal was away, found this pledge among the -assets of the deceased, and also found that, in the interval, -Pizzamano had gone bankrupt and was hiding from his creditors. -Although the term of the loan had not yet expired, Mr. Ashby, -fearing no trouble from a man who was unable to show his face, -proceeded to sell the goods at the Consul’s gate, in the usual -Frank fashion, “by inch of candle.”[195] Besides being premature, -the proceeding was irregular in other respects. Turkish law did -not recognise a sale at the Consul’s gate by inch of candle, but -ordained that all auctions should be held in the market-place, by -leave of the Cadi, and after three days’ public notice. Further, -it must be observed that Mr. Rycaut, in sanctioning the sale, had -exceeded his powers: an English Consul’s jurisdiction was limited -to persons of his own nation, and he had no right to settle an -affair between an Englishman and a foreigner. - -These grave irregularities gave Pizzamano a chance, when he found -that the sale of his goods had yielded not only less than they were -worth, but even less than they had been pawned for, to denounce -the transaction and to claim compensation. Armed with an authentic -copy of the sale, which he had procured from the Cancellaria of the -English Consulate, he went up to Constantinople; and there this -bankrupt who was regarded as utterly helpless, by a singular piece -of luck, found powerful friends in Court. It was one of those odd -coincidences that seem to occur in order to show how much more -romantic life can be than the wildest fiction. The Venetian, before -setting up as a trader, had served as a purser on a French pirate -ship which Kara Mustafa, whilst Capitan Pasha, had captured. Now it -so happened that among the captives was a French cabin-boy who had -found favour in Kara Mustafa’s eyes, turned Turk, and become his -Hasnadar or Treasurer. For the sake of old times, the ex-cabin-boy -espoused the cause of the ex-purser heartily; several influential -Turks, creditors of Pizzamano’s, joined the crew in hopes of being -repaid out of the loot; and thus supported, the Venetian appealed -for redress to the Vizir as a Candiote and therefore now a subject -of the Grand Signor. - -The Vizir immediately sent a chaoush to fetch Mr. Ashby up to -Constantinople, without notifying the Ambassador, who, according -to the Capitulations, should have been informed in order to -lend the defendant his assistance. This snub, however, did not -prevent Sir John from making Ashby’s quarrel his own. Ashby had -been exalted by the Smyrna factors into a popular hero: great -numbers of them accompanied him to the capital, “with swords and -pistolls”--quite a guard of honour; and he arrived bringing a -petition to the Ambassador signed by the Consul and forty members -of the Factory, that the expenses of the case should be defrayed -out of public funds. To this request Sir John demurred on purely -tactical grounds: “fearing that if I had declard’ my sense at -first, wee should starve our cause, I told Ashby that it was time -enough for my Answer when the thing was brought to a period.” With -this reservation, which shows that a man can be at once indiscreet -and cautious, Sir John made the defendant an object of his warmest -solicitude: the merits of the case seem to have had as little -weight with him as with the English colony in general. - -At first everything went well. The Grand Vizir, when the litigants -appeared before him at the Divan, treated Ashby and his supporters -with the utmost indulgence, looking upon them, “as my Druggerman -told me, with the same smiling countenance as when he was -Chimacham,” and even declining to take notice of an aggravating -circumstance brought forward by the plaintiff--namely, that the -English factors who had accompanied Ashby to Constantinople -had tried on the way to rescue him by force of arms and had -actually come to blows with the Turks at Magnesia. Ignoring this -charge--which, in itself, might have supplied material for very -serious trouble--Kara Mustafa referred the case for trial to the -Stamboli Effendi, or Chief Justice of Constantinople, precisely as -we desired. On the eve of the trial an attempt was made to settle -the dispute out of court. Our friend Hussein Aga undertook the -part of arbiter and, after estimating the goods in question by the -advice of Turkish and Jewish merchants, he condemned Ashby to pay -the Venetian 1600 Lion dollars. But as Ashby would not abide by the -arbitration, the matter went before the Judge. - -And now, to all the other illegalities mentioned, our countrymen -added an offence of a truly shocking nature. Ashby and his -abettors, from the Ambassador down, had by this time come to see -that a sale of pledged goods to which the owner’s consent could -not be proved was indefensible in Turkish law. They, therefore, -thought fit to deny the sale, and to affirm that the goods -were _in esse_--an attitude to which they were prompted by the -knowledge that the goods could easily be got back from those who -had bought them. In vain did Pizzamano produce his copy of the -sale, signed and sealed by the English Consul. Mr. Ashby, backed -by the Ambassador’s Dragoman and all the Englishmen present, -stoutly denied the authenticity of the document. Pizzamano then -produced two Turkish witnesses who had assisted at the sale. But -these witnesses, not being professional rogues, found themselves -unable to answer some questions on matters of detail put to them by -the Judge, and the bad impression which their inadequate replies -produced was deepened by the vehemence and apparent sincerity -with which the English persisted in affirming that the goods had -not been sold and would be restored on payment of the debt. The -Stamboli Effendi, confounded by this mendacious unanimity, departed -from the ordinary Turkish maxim of considering the word of two True -Believers worth more than that of a crowd of Infidels, and gave -sentence that both litigants should return to Smyrna, the one to -receive his money and the other his goods. - -So far the English had been guilty only of a crime which, as long -as it remained undetected, could not hurt them. From this point -they began to commit blunders which were to cost them dearly. -Sir John congratulated Mr. Ashby on his victory, but at the same -time, knowing its seamy side, strongly advised him to come to an -adjustment with the Venetian, who offered to cry quits for 1000 -dollars. Ashby, however, would not think of sacrificing an atom -of his ill-gotten advantage. And that was not all. Blinded by a -false sense of security and by cupidity, he did something that -proved fatal. The Grand Vizir’s complaisance and his reference of -the dispute to the Stamboli Effendi had been procured in the usual -way. At the very outset of this unfortunate business, Sir John had -got his friend Hussein Aga to buy off Kara Mustafa’s Hasnadar by a -bribe of 500 dollars. This sum had been handed to Dudley North and -Mr. Hyet, who deposited it by Hussein’s order in the Custom-House. -Soon after obtaining his verdict, Ashby met in the street a servant -of Hussein Aga’s who had charge of the 500 dollars, but did not -know what they were for. “My master,” he said, “has not yet asked -for that money. What am I to do with it?” The merchant’s avarice -got the better of his prudence: “Give it back to me,” he said, and -carried the dollars away. A day or two later Hussein Aga asked -his servant for the money, and on hearing what had happened, -sent to Ashby for it. Ashby refused to part with his dollars -again. Thereupon the Customer, already piqued by the rejection -of his arbitration, lost his temper completely. “He stormd’ like -a madman, and swore he would be revengd’ of the whole Nation for -this affront.” The Hasnadar was not less enraged at this breach of -faith. And the two, seconded by all their friends, revealed to the -Grand Vizir the whole plot, telling him how the English Ambassador -had, through his Dragoman, deceived the Stamboli Effendi about the -sale, and substantiating their damning statements with documentary -and other evidence. In great fury Kara Mustafa summoned once more -all parties concerned to the Divan, and there and then, without so -much as waiting to hear one word in Ashby’s defence, shouted to the -Chaoush-bashi: “Take that Giaour to prison, till he has satisfied -Pizzamano.” - -Let us now leave Mr. Ashby in his dungeon, with an iron collar -round his neck and iron manacles on his hands, ruminating on the -fruits of fraud aggravated by folly, and see how this “accident” -affected his august protector. - -The great Feast of the Bairam, at which it was customary for all -ambassadors to send presents to the Grand Vizir, drawing near, -Sir John’s Dragoman went to the Porte to ask when he should bring -his “Bairamlik,” and, incidentally, to see if he could not for -once get access to Kara Mustafa, who, “beyond all the example of -his predecessours had not yett sufferd’ any Publick Ministers -Druggerman to speak with him.” A fruitless endeavour! Kara Mustafa -is invisible, and his Kehayah coldly replies that there is no need -of a Bairamlik from you, since your Ambassador has not yet paid his -respects to the Vizir. The Dragoman protests that his Excellency -has constantly pressed for audience and is ready to come either -that night or next morning. “No,” answers the Kehayah; adding that -perhaps the Ambassador thought the Vizir would be content with the -ordinary first audience presents, but that was a delusion--“vests -would not doe the buisenesse.” From the surly Kehayah our Dragoman -goes to Dr. Mavrocordato: they talk the matter over, and it is -agreed between them that we should give fifty vests of a much -larger size than the usual; but when this agreement is propounded -to the Vizir, he rejects it scornfully. - -Alarmed by these symptoms of ill-humour, Sir John addressed to Kara -Mustafa, through the Kehayah, a conciliatory message: he was very -sorry to have incurred the Grand Vizir’s displeasure, and begged to -know precisely what would restore him to his favour. He appealed -to the Vizir’s equity by pointing out that he had been obliged to -act as he had done by the exigencies of his position: “If I was in -the same conjuncture again I could doe no lesse: in regard that -if I had submitted to what the Ambassadour of another Christian -Monarch had refusd’, the King my master might justly have cutt off -my head.” He ended by expressing the hope that the Grand Vizir -would not enjoin upon him “any thing exorbitant or dishonourable,” -but that he would rather command his decapitation, “for that I had -rather submitt to the latter, then the former.” - -The message was delivered to Kara Mustafa immediately after his -noon prayers, and “he seemd’ to be very much surprisd’” by it--as -well he might. After passing a whole hour in profound meditation, -he said to his Kehayah: “Methinkes the Ambassadour should not -thinke much to send me four thousand zecchins”--say, £2000. The -Kehayah added four hundred on his own account. As the result of -much haggling, the demand fell to 6000 dollars, or £1500, which -included the usual presents, amounting to 600 dollars. - -This was Kara Mustafa’s prescription for Sir John’s diplomatic -fever. It plunged the patient into gloom. What could he do? He -could, no doubt, continue staying in his house, even in his bed. -But that would have deprived the English of their protector and -delivered them up to the tender mercies of every official robber -in the Empire. There was already the wretched Ashby groaning in -his chains. There was a claim on the Aleppo Factory for silk dues, -and an accusation of buying Turkish goods from Christian pirates -at Scanderoon. There was the charge, which Kara Mustafa had -brushed aside when in a good temper, against the English factors -of Smyrna of attempting to rescue Ashby by main force: now that -Kara Mustafa was in an ugly mood that charge might be brought -on the tapis again. Sir John considered these things, and also -another thing that concerned him more directly--the old pretensions -of the Pasha of Tunis, which, should a breach take place, were -not likely to remain dormant long. Even as it was, Sir John had -reasons to apprehend a revival of that nasty affair. The Pasha, -it is true, was still in his distant province on the borders of -Arabia, “where,” Sir John says, “I pray God detayn him”; but he -had at Constantinople a Vekil or Procurator in the person of--the -Grand Vizir’s Kehayah: an ominous connection. Lastly, Sir John -had to consider the feelings of the English merchants about him. -Their standard of values was the standard of the counting-house, -not of the Court. They thought it worse than futile to resent -affronts which we had not the means of resisting. Where the Turks -knew that big words were empty bluster, where business men could -be hurt without hope of redress--the only way to peace lay through -bakshish.[196] The factors with one voice urged Sir John to pay up. - -There was not much time for hesitation. The Vizir had presented his -final demand in the form of an ultimatum: the Ambassador should -give a “categoricall and positive answer,” Yes or No, not later -than the day following. Sir John said “Yes.” He agreed to purchase -his audience for 6000 Lion dollars, ready money; and tried to -persuade himself that, all things considered, the price was not -excessive: he would save on the size of the vests--one yard here, -two there-so that “in time, though with length,” we should get our -money back! But nothing could minimise the cost in self-respect. -“I never in my life enterd’ upon a Resolution more unwillingly, -nor more against my Genious,” complains the poor diplomat, and we -may well believe him. No Englishman ever “sent to lie abroad for -the good of his country” had a keener sense of honour (we use the -term in its technical acceptation). As we have seen, not once or -even twice, the “point of honour” was to him what his creed is to -a monk, what his flag is to a soldier, what her virtue is to a -maiden--and now he had parted with it. - -At the same time, we may ask (certain that Sir John will not mind -our impertinence), was that solution really as inevitable as it -was unpalatable? Was there no other way? On one hand, it is -possible to argue as our merchants argued, and to reinforce the -argument with such considerations as these: although the Law of -Nations which prescribes respect for ambassadors--a law older than -Homer--was not unknown to the Turks, no law is binding upon men -unless it is backed by fear. This requisite was completely absent -in the relations between the Western Powers and the Ottoman Empire. -There were no Turkish ambassadors resident in foreign capitals upon -whom to retaliate, and the Turks were at liberty to act as they -pleased without fear of reprisals. For the rest, their brutality -had been encouraged for generations by impunity. A whole series -of European envoys had been treated by them in the most revolting -manner, and their sovereigns had submitted with true Christian -meekness. On the other hand, there is on record a case which -suggests the existence of a more excellent way. - -In the reign of James I., whilst the Elizabethan spirit still -lingered among us, the great English ambassador Sir Thomas Roe, -fired with indignation at the contempt shown by the Sultan’s -Ministers to the representatives of Christian Europe, took a -strong line. He began by writing to the Grand Vizir that he had -orders from his King either to obtain the respect due to English -ambassadors or else to break off relations. The Vizir promised -reform, but forgot to keep his promise. Roe did not waste any more -time, but threw the Capitulations at the Vizir’s feet, and invited -his colleagues to joint action. They all met and set out for the -Seraglio, determined to procure from the Grand Signor either -the Vizir’s head or leave to withdraw their subjects and their -goods out of the country. It so happened that a superior power -intervened. On the way the procession was met with the news that -the Janissaries had risen, that the Vizir had fled, and that orders -had been issued that he should be killed wherever found.[197] - -Suppose Finch had taken a leaf out of Roe’s book? Was it not a -fact that the impotence of the European envoys was essentially the -result of their disunion? Finch himself confesses that “had Wee all -united, the case had bin easily carryd’ against the Visir.” But he -excuses himself to himself for making no attempt to unite them, -partly on the ground that the Turks had forestalled him by inviting -the Venetian and the Dutchman to audience the moment they got his -refusal: “so diligent were they in using this pressure, least Wee -Ministers should unite”; partly on the ground that his colleagues -neglected to profit by his “indisposition of body”: they all knew -it was an artifice, why then did they not copy it, or why did they -not put off the Vizir by saying that the priority of audience -belonged to the Ambassador of England? Thus by hastening to submit, -they left him no alternative. It was not his fault: it was the -fault of his colleagues, particularly of M. de Nointel: “The -French Ambassadour’s example and desertion of me, together with -the unadvisd’ deportment of the Factory (for neither of them alone -could have done it),” compelled him to that ignominious surrender. - -Thus Sir John bought his peace. He bought it upon assurances that -he would be reinstated in the Grand Vizir’s good opinion, and -have his audience at once. But what with the celebrations of the -Bairam, the payment of the troops which began as soon as the Feasts -ended, and several other excuses (whether real or pretended, Sir -John could not say), the audience was deferred from day to day. -In the meantime Mr. Ashby continued to groan in his chains; which -grew, as such things are apt to do, heavier with every day that -passed. The Ambassador, having some grounds to believe that the -Vizir did not wish to see him till that disagreeable affair was -settled, exerted himself to this end, with the result that the -prisoner was first relieved of his collar and wristlets, then -had the 5000 dollars to which he had been condemned reduced by -one-fifth, and at last, after about twenty days’ incarceration, -was set at liberty. Temporarily cured of his avarice, Mr. Ashby, -besides paying Pizzamano 4000 dollars, also paid 500 to the -Hasnadar, and, we may suppose, resolved not to prevaricate again. - -The last obstacle having been removed, our Ambassador found the -Porte open to him, and on the 12th of December (nearly eight months -since that memorable Sunday when Nointel’s mishap had thrown him -into a diplomatic distemper--a truly fatal illness) he had his -audience. It went off without a hitch.[198] - -Kara Mustafa, at close quarters, appeared somewhat less terrible -than Sir John had pictured him at a distance; and, although he did -not honour the visitor with any vests, he accorded to him several -marks of (shall we say?) respect, which he had denied to the other -foreign Ministers. Instead of three hours, he kept him waiting only -a quarter of an hour; he permitted all the members of his suite to -enter the Audience Chamber; he deigned to drink coffee and sherbet -with him; and (greatest condescension of all!), while he had let no -ambassador talk for more than seven minutes, and then only about -news, he suffered Sir John to go on for over three-quarters of an -hour, and (“bating the first Ceremony of Congratulation,” and a few -words “of how things passd’ in England”) all about solid business. - -Sir John took full advantage of this unexpected amiability. Very -adroitly he began with the Smyrna figs and currants: the King his -master was infinitely grateful for the favour conferred upon his -kitchen; but the benefit was mutual: the Grand Signor’s subjects -had already made 130 walled vineyards where there was nothing -but stones before, and, if the Vizir was pleased to encourage -the trade by enlarging the concession, “gold would grow instead -of pebbles”--a million of dollars a year which we now spent in -Christendom for fruit would then most probably come to Turkey. The -topic was eminently calculated to capture Kara Mustafa’s attention. -He asked with interest whether this concession was in the -Capitulations; and, on hearing that it was, he said that it would -be punctually observed together with the rest of our privileges. - -Following up this propitious opening, Finch broached a number of -kindred subjects, begging, among other things, that in future no -Englishman might be dragged to the Divan by a chaoush for debt, -until after his creditors had applied to the Ambassador for -satisfaction. He implored the Grand Vizir to consider that the -calling of a merchant from his business upon any frivolous or false -claim often spelt ruin for the merchant. The Grand Vizir replied -that, so long as the English merchants acted with sincerity, they -should be protected; but if they acted unjustly and dishonourably, -they must answer for their bad actions like other men. - -Impartial justice, however, was not quite what the Ambassador -wanted. He dwelt on the fact--a fact which, he said, must be well -known to “a great captain in warr and a great Minister of State -in peace,” such as Kara Mustafa was--that the Porte had never -encountered at sea any English ships nor on land any English troops -operating against it: a proof positive of the reality of the King’s -friendship for the Grand Signor. After all this, it must surely be -a subject of great joy to the enemies of the Porte, and a great -discouragement to its well-wishers, to see no distinction made -between friend and foe, but its best friends treated, if anything, -worse than “those that exercise acts of hostility against it.” To -this tender appeal, with its covert hit at the French, Kara Mustafa -made a suitable answer: “He very well knew our friendship and he -had a very great value for it.” - -Towards the close of the interview Sir John expressed a hope that -he was now entirely in the Grand Vizir’s good graces and that he -might henceforth count on his favour and protection, declaring, -upon the word of an Ambassador, that, unless assured of it, he was -so unwilling to see the ancient friendship between England and -Turkey grow cold on his account, that he would immediately write -and ask the King his master to recall him and send some other -person who might be more acceptable to his Excellency. “There is -no occasion for any such thing,” replied the Vizir, looking very -kindly upon the Ambassador: He had both esteem and kindness for -him, and the Ambassador would find it so in all his business. - -Then Sir John, besides the presents which he had delivered already, -presented to Kara Mustafa “an incomparable perspective glasse[199] -of 4 feet made by Campana, and a pockett one, also of Campana’s, -and one of ten feet made in England,” and took his leave with a bow -which the Grand Vizir was good enough to return. - -Such, in substance, is Sir John’s own version of this historic -interview. His feelings after it may be described as a mixture -of relief and doubt, in which doubt predominated. “The -misunderstandings between the Visir and me have, like the breaking -of a Bone well sett, made our friendship the stronger,” he reported -to the Secretary of State; and immediately, as if fearing the -Nemesis which pursues boastfulness, he hastened to add: “But who -can promise himself any thing in these times out of a certain -prospect, or who can say that any thing is well done?” - -Who, indeed! Turkey was no longer the Turkey to which Sir John -had come, in which he had dwelt for three uneventful years so -happily--the Turkey “of the two famous Visirs, Kuperli the father -and Achmett his sonne; whose Justice, Detestation of Avarice, and -Accesse renderd’ their Administration and all Buisenesse under it -easy.” Gone was that golden age, and all men who during that twenty -years’ interlude of righteousness had forgotten the normal rigour -of Turkish rule, protested that “the Violence of this Goverment, -as to Pride and Rapine is beyond all Memory and example.” Only -a man like Dudley North saw that Kara Mustafa’s régime was not a -departure from, but a return to normality. Finch, like the rest, -stood aghast at a “barefacd’” arbitrariness utterly new to his -experience: “I would,” he wrote, “all the Mutineers in England -against their too much happinesse were exild’ for two yeares onely -to be under this present Goverment!” and made no attempt to conceal -his apprehensions for the future; “I shall count it a wonder, as -well as a blessing,” he says, “if I scape thus.” - -Prophetic words! - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[188] This quotation and those that follow (until further notice) -are taken from Finch’s despatch to Coventry, May 26, S.V. 1677, -and the inclosed “Account of what Relates to Publick Ministers and -their affayrs”--an astonishing document of fourteen closely written -pages, _Coventry Papers_. - -[189] Besides Finch’s “Account,” see his despatch of Nov. 29, S.V. -1677; Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, p. 335; Vandal’s _Nointel_, p. 230; _Life -of Dudley North_, p. 74. If we are to believe the version of the -incident transmitted by the Imperial Resident Kindsberg, Nointel’s -exit was still more dramatic: two chaoushes flung him down from -the Soffah, shouting to him, “_Haide, kalk giaour_” (Off with you, -infidel), Hammer, vol. xii. p. 8. - -[190] Two copies of this Memorial, an Italian and an English one, -both dated April 28, 1677, accompany Finch’s despatch of May 26. -For the instructions to which he refers see Appendix I. Cl. 2. - -[191] See copies of it, dated May 12-22, 1677, _ibid._ - -[192] See Rycaut’s _Present State_, p. 166; _Life of Dudley North_, -p. 114. - -[193] Finch to Coventry, Nov. 29, S.V. 1677, _Coventry Papers_; -_Life of Dudley North_, p. 75; Vandal’s _Nointel_, pp. 231-2. This -last version, based on Nointel’s own despatches, suffers from -excess of discretion. - -[194] Finch to Coventry, Nov. 29, S.V. 1677. This monumental -despatch (22 pages), which the writer himself describes as “rather -a History then a Letter,” is my main authority for what follows. - -[195] Dudley North (_Life_, p. 77) says that the time for repayment -of the debt had passed and that Ashby did not proceed to the sale -until repeated applications to the Venetian had made him despair -of ever getting his money back. A similar assertion appears in a -thoroughly partisan “Narrative” presented by the Levant Company -to the King (_Register_, _S.P. Levant Company_, 145). But this is -flatly contradicted by Finch’s definite statement that the sale -was carried out “three moneths before the mony was due.” The only -palliation the Ambassador offers for an act which he condemns as -“unjustifiable” is that Ashby had obtained Pizzamano’s verbal -consent to the sale: a point which, in the absence of written -evidence, could not be proved. It need hardly be said that Sir John -had no motive to represent things as worse than they were, or that -he was not prejudiced in favour of the Venetian, whom he describes -as “a Rogue declard’”--“a Merchant that robbd’ all his Principles -(_sic_) of Venice, and the Captain that brought him thence, and is -by order of that State to be hangd’ if they can gett him.” - -[196] On this point see _Life of Dudley North_, p. 76. - -[197] See Roe to Calvert, Feb. 9-19, July 1, 1622, _Negotiations of -Sir Thomas Roe_ (London, 1740), pp. 18, 61-2. - -[198] We have “a precise Account of it, and all the Circumstances -that attend it, without the least variation,” in Finch to Coventry, -Dec. 15-25, 1677, _Coventry Papers_. - -[199] Telescope. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -KARA MUSTAFA AND THE ALEPPO DOLLARS - - -Sir John Finch, on second thoughts, did not hold the Ashby -“accident” entirely responsible for the grievous _dénouement_ at -which we have assisted. That bit of ill-luck, he believed, had but -precipitated a crisis which was bound to come anyway--any spark -will set fire to a train already laid. If the Grand Vizir had not -met with a ready-made pretext for “satisfying his passion upon -him,” he would have manufactured one--perhaps even a worse one. For -such a belief Sir John had ample warrant. We know how M. de Nointel -had been made to purchase his peace. Sir John, who always measured -his own fortunes and misfortunes by those of his French colleague, -and with whom the wish generally was father to the thought, had -by degrees convinced himself that the price paid by the Marquis -was much higher than his own.[200] But, after all, Nointel had -provoked Kara Mustafa. The Bailo of Venice, though he had tried to -propitiate him by taking his seat below the Soffah without demur, -was immediately afterwards forced by threats of imprisonment in -the Seven Towers to pay 45,000 dollars in settlement of a claim -which his predecessor had actually settled four years before, under -Ahmed Kuprili, for 1500 dollars. The Resident of Holland had been -driven out of his house, and was glad to take 2500 dollars for what -had cost him 10,000. The Emperor’s Resident was made to disburse -daily large sums of money on every idle plea that arose out of the -chronic disturbances on the Hungarian frontier. The Ambassadors -of Ragusa trembled under an “avania” which menaced their Republic -with ruin; Kara Mustafa demanding no less than 1,600,000 dollars -as compensation for the Customs-duties which Ragusa had levied -on Turkish goods these forty years past, though in so doing the -Republic had only exercised a legal right. Sir John ends his list -of fellow-sufferers with a most sympathetic account of the plight -of the Genoese Resident. How he spoke of Signor Spinola in bygone -days, we have already seen. Now he refers to him as that “poor -gentleman”; and, in truth, the tribulations of this diplomat were -such as to touch a much harder heart than Sir John’s. Ever since -his arrival he had been begging for an audience; and recently, -on the very day before Kara Mustafa sent his ultimatum to Finch, -he had been haled to the Porte by an Aga and a Chaoush, like a -prisoner, and after being detained there all day without seeing -the Vizir, was given the option to sign a promissory note for 7500 -dollars or pass the night in the Seven Towers. “And what was his -fault? They calld’ him Infidell, Dog, and Thief, because he durst -keep so long by him the Gran Signor’s presents the Republick had -sent. It being, they told him, his duty to have sent the presents, -though he himselfe was not worthy to see the Gran Signor.” Spinola -promised, but, on failing to pay up at the appointed time, the -Vizir, to punish him for his unpunctuality, raised the sum to -20,000 dollars and, for security, seized a Genoese ship then in -port. So prolific was Kara Mustafa in pretexts for extortion. His -subordinates were not less ingenious: - -“They have introducd’ a new Custome of giving no Commands to any -Publick Minister without extravagant Demands: selling them as if -they were in a Markett at the highest of their value. The French -Ambassadour told me that finding himselfe dayly aggrievd’ with this -innovation, he went in person to the Rais Affendi to expostulate -the matter: he told the Ambassadour he askd’ no presents; but the -Ambassadour sending the day following the very same Druggerman -who had heard and interpreted the words, for some Commands, he -had urgent occasion of, the Rais Affendi plainly told him that, -if he brought no presents he should have no Commands. The Holland -Resident payd’ beforehand thrice as much as ever yet he gave for -a Command, and after a moneth was past urging the expedition of -those Commands, he was told that they knew nothing of the matter, -and denyd’ the having receivd’ any presents, so he was forcd’ to -present again and has not yet his Commands out. The Venetian Bailo -after the payment of his Avania, having gott a Nisanisheriffe -for his discharge, though the Visir sent his Command to the Rais -Affendi for it, he refusd’ to under-write it unlesse the Bailo -would give him 500 Dollars, though his Fees were never above 30, -or two vests, and he was so insolent that he bid the Venetian -Druggerman goe and tell the Visir that he would not sett his hand -to it under that summe: so the Bailo thought himselfe well usd’ -when at last he gott him to take 300. Thus is the Turkish Proverb -verifyd’: Goverment like Fish beginns to stink from the head.”[201] - -Let it not be supposed that the Turks themselves escaped Kara -Mustafa’s far-reaching shears. His appetite for money was both -keen and catholic. He collected it wheresoever he could find it, -making no invidious distinctions between True Believer and Infidel, -between native and alien. It was enough that a man should have -money to become at once an object of the Grand Vizir’s special -attention. Not without reason did the Rais Effendi ask the Ragusan -Ambassadors, when they pleaded for mercy, to consider “how many -rich Musulmen the Visir had stript to their shirts.” And again, -when some despoilt Beys heard the ambassadorial Dragomans murmur -at the Porte, they cried out: “You Giaours: how can you wonder -at being hardly dealt with, whenas we Musulmen, who for many -generations have spent our blood in service of the Empire, are thus -dealt withall?” - -Kara Mustafa, of course, was not tyrannical for the mere pleasure -of being so; he had to think of his finances. No Grand Vizir was -ever burdened with heavier domestic obligations. He kept a harem -of more than fifteen hundred concubines with at least as many -slaves to serve them and half as many eunuchs to guard them. His -attendants, his horses, his dogs, his hawks were counted by the -thousand. How could he meet all these pressing claims upon him -without cash? Besides, all the cash Kara Mustafa collected did not -flow into his own coffers: he had to let considerable rivers of it -pass into the lap of the Grand Signor, who since Ahmed Kuprili’s -death had been growing more and more dissolute, and squeezed his -Vizir as hard as his Vizir squeezed others. Further, like most -great collectors of cash, Kara Mustafa had a conscience; and -conscience is an expensive luxury. It made Kara Mustafa devote no -small part of his plunder to works of piety, charity, and public -utility: mosques, schools, baths, fountains, bazaars.[202] Let -us add that Kara Mustafa was as ambitious as he was ravenous. He -cherished grandiose dreams of conquest. He saw in fancy the Ottoman -Empire spreading to the West as far as it had spread in the East: -swallowing up new kingdoms--fulfilling its Imperialist destiny. -Thus, the poor man could not possibly dispense with rapacity--it -was his one resource for humbling his enemies and the enemies of -his country; for extending the dominion of Islam; for procuring -for himself glory and power in this world and bliss in the next. -He needed money: he must have it from any hand, on any pretext, -by any means--except one. Sir John notes the exception: “hitherto -the Visir has showd’ no inclinations to shed blood.” It is well to -remember this virtue of Kara Mustafa’s; for it is his only one. - -From this exposition of Kara Mustafa’s methods and motives it -is evident that the case of Mr. Ashby had only served him as an -excuse. For all that, the figure which we made in that case must -have contributed not a little to our disgrace. Indeed, a better -case could not well have been devised for extinguishing in the -Grand Vizir every spark of respect he might have had for the -English and their Ambassador. As we know from his own despatches, -Sir John laboured under no illusions as to the merits of Ashby’s -cause; yet he did not hesitate to defend in public--and by the most -disreputable means--what he condemned in private as unjustifiable. -In so doing, of course, he acted as any other ambassador would -have done. A diplomat everywhere is essentially an advocate whose -duty it is to make the worse case seem the better. And in Turkey, -perhaps more than elsewhere, it has always been the tradition of -European representatives to shield their nationals from punishment -at all costs; imagining that thus they saved their nation’s -“honour”--a whimsical conception not very closely related to -honesty. What was the use of Sir John telling the Vizir, as he did -at his audience, that he was “so great an enemy of dishonesty and -injustice that I should begg protection for my merchants no further -then they were honest and just”? The Vizir, in listening to him, -must have only wondered at the Giaour’s effrontery. And how could -he, after that shameful exhibition, ever believe an Englishman -again? This is not a mere inference of the present writer’s. The -Treasurer of the Levant Company, who participated in the whole -performance, had the candour, after it was over, to acknowledge, -without mincing words, that the part he and the rest had played was -“impudent,” “base,” and such as “must needs make an ill impression -on the Vizier against our Nation, not easily to be removed.”[203] - -It was not long before the distrust thus sown in Kara Mustafa’s -mind bore fresh fruit. - -To make this new Avania intelligible to the modern reader it is -necessary to say something first about the fiscal chaos that -reigned in seventeenth century Turkey. - -The only money coined by the Grand Signor’s mint, and therefore the -only money properly speaking Turkish, was the _asper_--a very small -piece of _white_ (Greek _aspron_) metal, once upon a time silver -and worth over 2 pence, now so much debased that it was worth -about 3 farthings, and so badly made and so sadly clipped that it -commanded very little esteem even at that price. The coin most -generally current in the Empire was of foreign manufacture--Spanish -pieces of eight, Lion dollars of Holland, the Rix dollars of -Germany, the Quarts of Poland, Venetian and Hungarian sequins, -French scudes, and, lately, French five-sous pieces of silver -worth about 5 pence English and called by the Turks _temeens_, -by the Franks _Luigini_ or _Ottavi_. These polyonymous coins -had experienced many vicissitudes, and our tale is indissolubly -intertwined with the history of their rise and fall in the Ottoman -Empire. - -First introduced about 1660 by a French mariner, they immediately -acquired a great vogue among the Turks. They were bright little -things, most attractive to the eye by their pretty stamp of -fleurs-de-lys, most agreeable to the touch, and altogether ideal -for small change. The mariner made a handsome profit out of his -adventure, bartering his five-sous pieces at the rate of 8 to the -dollar--getting, that is, about 5 shillings for 3s. 4d. Tempted by -his success, the merchants of France began to import _temeens_ in -enormous quantities, till the market was glutted, and the dealers -had to pass them at 10 to the dollar. To make up for the decrease -of profit, they increased the alloy; of course, that could not be -effected in the Royal Mint of France: it was effected by a French -lady who had the privilege of coining and who luckily bore in her -coat-of-arms three fleurs-de-lys. The fraud was not detected by the -Turks, and the _temeen_, debased, once more became so profitable -a commodity that others stepped in to compete with the French in -fraud: the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Republic of Genoa, all -the petty Italian States that could by hook or by crook put in -fleurs-de-lys; and those who were not fortunate enough to boast -such flowers put in something else that looked more or less like -them--for example, spread eagles so cunningly contrived as to need -an expert in heraldic natural history to tell the difference. -Never was the subtle East more grossly outwitted by the West; -and the swindlers had the impudence to add ribaldry to injury by -adorning their bastard coin with such legends as “_Voluit hanc -Asia mercem_--That’s the stuff Asia wants,” or “_De procul pretium -ejus_--Don’t look at it too closely.” Dutch, German, and English -speculators joined in the nefarious traffic, so that by 1668 it -was estimated that there was forty million dollars’ worth of this -debased currency in Turkey, and more was coming--whole shiploads of -it. Naturally, the more _temeens_ flowed in, the lower they sank in -value (in 1668 they passed at Smyrna for 20 or 24 to the dollar); -and the lower they sank in value, the higher rose the proportion of -alloy. By gradual transmutations the original silver of the coin -became almost pure copper. Rascals had the time of their lives. All -men who failed as merchants became bankers, flooding the country -with counterfeit silver and draining it of all the gold and genuine -silver that fell into their hands. - -Hitherto the Porte, engrossed by the Cretan War, had made no effort -to check the evil. But it was thought that, the moment peace was -signed, the first thing taken in hand would be the regulation of -the currency. And if the Sultan’s Ministers were not disposed to -move of their own accord, there were those whose interest it was -to instigate them. English merchants considered that the vast -importation of false money must at last redound to their serious -prejudice: the French and Italian importers, making 50 per cent -profit on the _temeens_, were able to outbid us in the Turkish -market. Therefore, in 1668, the Levant Company forbade under severe -penalties its Factors to receive this money, and, at its instance, -the King ordered Sir Daniel Harvey to call the attention of the -Grand Signor to “the mischiefs and ill consequences of that abuse.” -The Ambassador was so successful as to get the Turkish Government -to forbid the circulation of the _temeens_ by Proclamation: “I -have,” he reported, “spoyld I hope the Trade of the French and -Italians, with thare false mony, every body refusing to take them.” -But this sudden and absolute denunciation of the most common coin -in the country spelt ruin for millions of people, especially of -the poorer classes, and the distress was heightened when the -tax-gatherers refused to accept the _temeen_ as legal tender, -but demanded Lion dollars or Seville and Mexico pieces of eight, -coins which had by now become almost unobtainable. The upshot was -drubbings and imprisonments on one side, riots on the other: at -Brusa and Angora the outraged taxpayers rose in rebellion, and -some of the Grand Signor’s officers fell victims to their wrath. -However, from that hour the _temeen_ was irrevocably doomed; and -fraudulence had to seek a new field in the false dollar, which -was now pushed into the market with as much vigour and as little -scruple as its predecessor. Harvey lost no time in obtaining -samples and in lecturing the Grand Vizir on the subject, with the -result that, in 1671, a severe inquiry was instituted and several -officials who connived at the importation of these products of -Western Art smarted for it.[204] - -Nevertheless, the traffic continued to flourish, Lion dollars being -manufactured even at Smyrna, as we have seen from Mr. Rycaut’s -dispute with the French Consul at the end of 1674;[205] and the -Levant Company, fearing lest, in spite of its prohibitions, some -Englishmen should again engage in it, passed an order that all -specie arriving in Turkey on English bottoms should be examined by -the Ambassador and Consuls, and none, save such as was of perfect -alloy, should be permitted to enter the country. Further, to -prove their good faith, the directors of the Company ordered that -the examination should be carried out in the presence of Turkish -officials. From this well-intentioned measure were to spring some -very serious ills. The Turkish officials displayed the liveliest -reluctance to meddle in the matter. They frankly regarded the whole -business as a blind designed to cover the importation of false -money, and were afraid of laying themselves open to the charge -of connivance. In fact, the more earnestly the English invited -the Turks to witness their probity, the worse grew the Turks’ -opinion of the English. Their attitude, not unreasonable in men -who had had such experience of Western probity, might have warned -our Ambassador that he was skating on exceedingly thin ice. But -he did not heed the warning. It was the Company’s order, and Sir -John, who had in a superlative degree the fault that so often -belongs to conscientious public servants--an excess of zeal over -discretion--was anxious not only to carry out his instruction, -but even to better it. Not content with inviting the Customer, he -invited the Kaimakam himself to the inspection. Nor did anything -occur to demonstrate the injudiciousness of these proceedings until -the Ashby case. - -At that inauspicious moment the Levant Company’s “General” ships -arrived at Aleppo carrying, over and above their freight of cloth -and other English manufactures, 200,000 new Lion dollars. The -unusual quantity of the coin was in itself calculated to engender -doubts about its quality: never before had so vast a sum of new -money been imported in a lump--30, 40, or 50 thousand dollars had -hitherto been the maximum. And as if the quantity alone was not -enough, “our back friends” (Sir John’s expression), the Dutch -and the French, did all they could to confirm the Turks in their -scepticism by positively asserting that our dollars were bad. -However, the Pasha of Aleppo would have let the consignment pass: -2000 or 2500 dollars was all that he needed to be fully persuaded -of our probity. But as our Consul, having already been reprimanded -by the Company for indulging the Turks with bakshish, dared not -gratify him unless he was prepared to do so out of his own pocket, -the Pasha, in revenge, notified the Grand Vizir that the English -had imported so many thousands of false dollars and asked for -instructions. - -Kara Mustafa caught fire at the news, and all the foreign Ministers -at Constantinople hastened to blow the coals: the Dutch were angry -with us, because the coin was coin of Holland and by dealing in it -we, as it were, took the bread out of their mouths; the French, -because we had taken away from them all their Turkey trade, and -more particularly because our Aleppo Factory had just erected a -Company to trade directly with Marseilles in those very commodities -which the French had until now regarded as their exclusive -monopoly. The Venetians were dissatisfied because the influx of -silver dollars in such quantities hindered the advantageous vent of -their gold sequins. And all of them owed us a grudge for exposing -their fiscal frauds. Thus stimulated, Kara Mustafa ordered the -consignment to be sequestered, and two dollars out of each bag to -be sent to him for trial. - -The English at Constantinople heard of these proceedings by -accident a few days before Sir John’s audience of reconciliation; -and the Ambassador seized that opportunity to discuss the matter -with the Grand Vizir, who told him plainly what he had done, -stating that, if the money proved good, it would be restored to the -owners, “for God forbid that any man should loose an Asper”; but, -if it proved bad; it should all be confiscated. Sir John, after -assuring him that it was perfectly good, pleaded that, in case some -small part of it, “either by the mistake of good men or malice -of ill men,” turned out bad, the error or knavery should not be -visited upon the innocent; let only that part of it be confiscated. -For the rest, he urged, all the English factors were under an oath -to receive no imported money till it was inspected by the Turkish -authorities, and if the Inspectors approved it not, they were -obliged to send it away again; so, as there was no clandestine -importation, there could be no possibility of fraud. Lastly, he -added, if difficulties were put in the way of good money, we who -now imported more than any other nation should be forced to give -up importing any at all. The Vizir, in answer to this plea, merely -said that, when the money came, he would communicate further with -the Ambassador. - -Sir John, _en attendant_, could do nothing more than pray, “God -give me a just cause, and a just Judge!” - -He was not kept long in suspense. On December 28th--a fortnight -after his audience--the Aga despatched to Aleppo returned bringing -with him 1000 dollars as a sample, and within two hours of his -arrival the Ambassador was invited to assist at the trial in the -courtyard before the Divan. He hurried to the scene, attended by -his Dragomans, the Treasurer of the Levant Company, and some of the -English merchants. There he found everything ready, and all the -principal Officers of State waiting: the Tefterdar, the Kehayah, -the Chaoush-bashi, the Chief Customer, the Master of the Mint, -the Dragoman of the Porte, and several others; the Grand Vizir -himself watched the performance from a window--not openly, but just -“peeping out.” - -Decorum was the order of the day. As soon as the Ambassador -appeared, a seat was brought for him, and he sat down upon it for -a moment to assert his right; but, seeing that all those Ministers -of State stood, he rose too and sat no more--a courtesy which, as -he was afterwards informed, “was kindly taken by them.” Meanwhile, -the sample, in eight bags of 125 dollars each, was shown to him, -sealed up as it had left Aleppo with the Consul’s and Cadi’s seals; -and the test commenced. Two hundred and fifty dollars were taken -out. Young Dollars, fresh from your Maker’s hands, what destiny -awaits you? Are you pure and innocent, or born in sin? All eyes are -fixed upon them, spell-bound with hope and fear. They are melted -down--refined--the silver that is in them is carefully weighed.... -But we must not go into details. On the whole, the result seems -satisfactory, and our friends go away in high spirits. - -The Dutch raise a mighty and malicious clamour: your dollars are -7 per cent below the standard--we know all about them. Were they -not coined at Kampen? Here is a “Placart” sent to our Resident by -the States, wherein you may read, and the Turks may read, in a -translation we have taken good care to make for their edification, -that “certain false Lyon Dollars coynd’ at Campen this year were -prohibited, and that orders was given to enquire after the Persons -that coynd’ that false mony, whose punishment was to be boyld’ in -oyl.” Let the Grand Vizir release them, if he pleases, no Dutchman -will take any of them. A studied revenge, Sir John believed, for a -like boycott by the English Factory of Smyrna, which had banished -all the Dutch new dollars out of the country. Thus cry out the -Hollanders, and others, whom Sir John could name if High Diplomacy -did not forbid. Notwithstanding these ill-offices of “our back -friends,” the English persisted in their optimism that night; then -came the awakening. - -Next morning Hussein Aga sent for Sir John’s Dragoman and the -Levant Company’s Treasurer, to inform them by order that the Grand -Vizir considered their dollars bad and had determined to fetch the -whole lot from Aleppo, melt it down, and return them the silver.... -A very sore stroke--most stunning in its unexpectedness. What -they said to the Customer we are not informed. But the Customer, -after putting them in a fright and enjoying their emotions, hinted -to them that the catastrophe might be averted--the Vizir was not -implacable: he could be mollified. - -Kara Mustafa, without a doubt, felt much disappointed by the result -of the trial. He had made sure that the money was defective, and -had counted on gobbling up the lot: otherwise he would hardly have -given himself the trouble of a public test. Hence his need of -consolation. The emollient suggested was 12,500 dollars for the -Vizir, and 2500 for his Kehayah: in all, 15,000 dollars. Could we -refuse such a trifle to a lenient Judge in want of cash? - -Sir John called a meeting of the Factory, at which it was -unanimously decided to give the Vizir his due without delay: else -the merchants calculated that the loss would be nearly thrice -as much--to say nothing of the expense of getting the molten -silver out of Kara Mustafa’s grasp. Accordingly the Ambassador -sent to Hussein Aga word that “the least mischiefe being the -most eligible, Wee were resolvd’ to comply with the Visir. Upon -which promise, what doe you imagine they did?” They instituted a -second trial, conducted before the same high dignitaries, with the -same publicity, and palpably with a view to finding a favourable -verdict: so that the release of the money might appear as the -effect of justice, not of bribery. Ten ancient Lion dollars--some -of them aged 106 years--were produced as a pattern, and, after -being melted down, came out with a proportion of pure silver equal -to or even smaller than ours; which was not to be wondered at, -considering the attrition they had undergone in the course of their -long career. This done, the Judges solemnly reported to the Grand -Vizir that the new money was quite as good as, if not indeed better -than, the old! - -One might have thought that a termination of their trials which -fell so much short of the hopes of their ill-wishers, would have -been welcomed by our countrymen with thankfulness. But, glad -as they were to have got off so cheaply, they imagined, in the -simplicity and cupidity of their souls, that they might get off -more cheaply still--thereby very nearly spoiling the comedy. Mr. -North and Sir John’s Dragoman went to Hussein Aga and pleaded for -a remission, or at least an abatement, of the fine they had agreed -to pay. “What fault was committed,” they asked, “since our Dollars -had proved as good as the old ones?” Not without humour, the -Customer replied, “As to fault, it was no small one in these times -to bring in 200,000 Dollars at a clap.” “But,” they insisted, “they -have been found as good as the old ones.” This was too much even -for the friendly Hussein. He retorted angrily that they owed that -finding to the bakshish they had promised. However, if they were -not satisfied, he would cancel the bargain and leave them to make -a new one with the Grand Vizir as well as they could. - -The rebuke brought our friends to their senses. Without another -word they parted with their 15,000 dollars, besides 1000 which -the Turks wanted for the Aga who had fetched the sample; and, -in return, they got back what remained unmelted of the sample, -together with the melted silver. Here ended the comedy--no, not -quite. The Pasha of Aleppo, before letting the treasure go out -of his grip, squeezed the merchants to the tune of 4000 dollars, -“which,” Mr. North wistfully observes, “was more than at first -would have done the business with him.”[206] It was not the first, -or the last, time our Turkey Merchants went near to losing the ship -for the sake of a ha’p’orth of tar. - -Sir John’s reflections upon this fresh experience of Kara Mustafa’s -cash-collecting mania are interesting. That the Grand Vizir was -right in subjecting every importation of silver and gold to severe -scrutiny he would not deny: nor could we complain of measures -which we ourselves had instigated. “But,” with characteristic -imperception of the exquisite irony of the situation, he thought -“this is no reason why he should begin with us who have allway’s -bin innocent.” Worse still, he mulcted us, the authors of the -measure! “Here you see the justice of this present Goverment. It -is impossible if the Visir once getts ready mony into his power -that he can make any pretence upon whatsoever to lett it goe free -without his share of it. Neither is there any officer about him, -that has not the same tincture, but of a deeper dye.” - -In the circumstances, the poor Ambassador sees ahead of him -nothing but “disasters from dormant pretensions awakend or from -unforeseen miscarriages.” He sees himself “being further preyd’ -upon by Ravenous and Insatiable appetites upon dormant or future -pretences.” In the first category he places “the reviving of -the old Pretensions of the Bassà of Tunis.” In the second, -“the probability of a warr with Argiers.” Admiral Narbrough, -shortly after his return from Tripoli, was ordered back to the -Mediterranean to chastise the Algerine pirates: “if wee should -chance to batter any thing upon Terra firma, God knows what use -this Visir would make of it.” The prospect fills Sir John with a -dismay that has something of terror in it: “Capitulations being now -declard’ to be but contemptible things and like a peice of wett -parchment that may be stretchd’ any way, renders this place to me -very wearysome and tedious, for it does me a great deal of hurt, -both in body and mind, to see your estates rent and torne from -you, and no help to be avaylable, neither prudence nor language -having any place, where all accesse to the Visir is denyd’ not -onely to the Druggermen but to the Ambassadours themselves.” Thus -he wrote to the Levant Company, ending with a pious “God give you -and me patience for from Him alone must come deliverance.” In his -communications to the Secretary of State he was even more piteously -emphatic: “It makes my condition of life here very uneasy to me who -have the care upon me of the whole estate of His Majesty’s subjects -in the Levant.” And again, striking a more poignant note: “God -preserve us from unreasonable and inflexible men,” he cries. “I -beseech Almighty God to deliver me from unreasonable and wilfull -men; in the maintenance of His Majesty’s honour and defence of the -estates and Interest of His subjects.” - -It is evident from these utterances that, by the end of 1677, Sir -John Finch felt the burden too heavy for his shoulders. But his -contract with the Company had yet some time to run, and besides -he did not wish to return home before his friends had found him -some other employment. His mentor Baines, to whom as usual Finch -delegated the task of string-pulling, had already discussed the -subject in a letter to Lord Conway, in the course of which he said: -“If your Brother leaves this charge without being in possession -of a fayr and convenient post in England, I shall think that He -hath not a friend there, or at least very few, and those of no -influence.”[207] Pending the fruition of these exertions on his -behalf, Sir John could do nothing but set his teeth and stick to -his saddle like a fearful rider. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[200] It is amusing to watch the process as mirrored in his -reports. On Nov. 29 Finch tells Coventry that his audience cost -Nointel “near the same with me,” which was not true. On Dec. 15 he -emends this statement: “I now judge His Expense to have bin much -higher; for one Persian carpett alone is valud’ to me by a Jew that -serves the Visir, at three thousand five hundred Dollars. This,” -he adds, “I mention, not to advantage my Own Condition, but to -compassionate His.” Very likely! - -[201] Finch to Coventry, Nov. 29, S.V., 1677. - -[202] Hammer, vol. xii. p. 136. - -[203] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 78. - -[204] See Rycaut’s _Memoirs_, pp. 258-60; _Life of Dudley North_, -pp. 79-80; and the following State Papers: Intelligence for Lord -Arlington, Constantinople, Feb. 22, 1667-68; Unsigned Letter dated -Smyrna, June 1, 1668; The King’s Instructions to Harvey, Aug. 3, -1668; Inclosure in Winchilsea’s despatch of April 4-14, 1669; -Harvey’s despatches March 10, 15, 1668 [-69]; Jan. 31, 1670 [-71]; -April 30, 1671. _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[205] See above, p. 76. Cp. Instructions to Finch, Appendix I. Cl. -7. - -[206] _Life of Sir Dudley North_, pp. 81-4; Finch to Coventry, Dec. -15-25, 1677; Jan. 19-29, 1678; the Same to the Levant Company, Jan. -19-29, 1678, _Coventry Papers_; _Register, S.P. Levant Company_, -145. Wherever there is any slight discrepancy between North’s and -Finch’s accounts of this Avania, I have, for reasons which seem -adequate to me, followed the latter. - -[207] Baines to Conway, June 1-11, 1677, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -INTERLUDE - - -Despite his forebodings, Sir John during the year 1678 had no -oppression to complain of. - -Hussein Aga, whom our Ambassador considered, in point of influence -with the Grand Vizir, to be the third man in the Empire, continued -most friendly. He swore by his head that he would make the Pasha of -Aleppo refund the sum he had extorted from our Factory, and, in the -event of a new importation of specie by the English, he promised -all possible favour. The first of these pledges could not be taken -seriously: as a predecessor of Sir John’s had observed long ago, -“Restitution of money was never yet procured from a Turk; his head -more easily.”[208] But with regard to the second, the Customer -proved as good as his word. A consignment of 30,000 dollars that -reached Constantinople was, thanks to him, brought off for nothing; -while a much larger sum (200,000 dollars) was landed at Smyrna -for a trifle--2180 dollars: “as Times goe, no ill Bargain.” Nay, -in another matter, the Customer proved even better than his word: -though he threatened, in pursuance of his old policy, to raise -the duty upon the finer cloth we now imported, “yet,” says our -Ambassador, “I have brought Him to Acquiesce with those very duty’s -I had ascertaind upon our Cloth by the New Capitulations I made; -to the grief of heart of them who have reason to envy our Great -and Vast Trade, because it Ruines Theirs.” In truth, both French -and Dutch had cause to gnash their teeth. The rigour with which -Hussein Aga treated them seemed to keep pace with the favour he -showed to us: he made both pay for goods that came from Smyrna to -Constantinople the difference between the duty levied at the former -and the latter port, while he ostentatiously let our goods, once -taxed at Smyrna, enter Constantinople scot free. This in addition -to the preferential tariff we enjoyed under the New Capitulations. -No wonder both the French Ambassador and the Dutch Resident -struggled by might and money at the Porte to resist the intolerable -tyranny of the Custom House. But nothing availed. They had “a hard -head to deal with, and one whose obstinacy is powerfully backd’ -at Court.” All they gained was Hussein Aga’s anger: irritated by -these attempts to undermine his position, the Customer detained -the French merchants’ cloth till they paid up, and let that of the -Dutch rot in the Custom-House.[209] - -What Frenchmen and Dutchmen thought of Hussein Aga’s partiality for -the English may be imagined. But it is to be noted that neither -our Ambassador’s despatches nor our Treasurer’s comments contain -any hint that the motives which dictated the Customer’s attitude -towards us were of a mercenary nature. In the absence of evidence -to the contrary, we must assume that he spared us because he liked -us. Hussein and Dudley North were fast friends: they often dined -together at each other’s houses, the Turk even partaking of the -Giaour’s pork and getting drunk on his wine like a good Christian. -From Finch, too, he had received more than once samples of his -cellar, as well as other civilities.[210] That seems to have been -the extent of his obligations to us; and he repaid us with interest. - -Equally satisfactory was the attitude of some other Turkish -grandees. By the new Bostanji-bashi, to whom Sir John paid a visit, -he was received “with all possible demonstrations of respect and -kindnesse,” while he was captivated by the affability of the new -Capitan Pasha--a personage who by his place was the second man in -the Empire, and by his intimacy with the Grand Vizir certainly -the first. At the audience which he granted to the Ambassador he -was very polite, and they had “many pleasant Reparty’s upon each -other;” and what seemed more significant, he honoured the visitor -with six vests. Now, as Kara Mustafa made a practice of vesting no -man, and as the Capitan Pasha was Kara Mustafa’s prime favourite, -Sir John could not but think “that this was done by the Visir’s -Privity,” and drew therefrom the hope that maybe Kara Mustafa at -last “_Malis nostris mitescere discit_.” - -As regards the pretensions of the Pasha of Tunis also Sir John’s -fears went off like other forebodings; and the emergency he -apprehended from Narbrough’s operations did not arise: the Admiral -managed to wage a successful war of reprisals against the Algerine -pirates--seizing their ships and blockading their ports--without -any infringement of the Sultan’s suzerain rights. - -“In short,” Finch sums up, “though wee cannot bragg of our usage, -yet wee may justly say wee have fard’ better then any other Nation. -For hitherto though in the worst of Times, I have maintaind’ all -the Capitulations Inviolable.” He knew that he was well off, and -meant to continue so. He had had his lesson. If his cherished -Capitulations were attacked, he would indeed defend them to -the utmost of his ability. But as to matters of etiquette, the -King having graciously granted him his “dispensation for that -complyance” on the point of the Soffah, he registered a vow to “be -caught no more in a Ceremoniall Nett.”[211] Acquiescence, after -all, has this merit: it prevents noise and saves time. - -In the absence of personal history, the Ambassador gives us the -history of others. Time was when Sir John, as we have seen, could -not find “materialls enough to furnish a Dispatch.” Now it is -“conveyances, not matter” that he wants, in order to keep abreast -of the “variety’s of change and newes” which crowd upon him. -Whatever else Kara Mustafa could not make, he could make things -move; and, under his rule, Turkey found herself transformed from -a placid lake into a foaming torrent. This transformation is well -depicted in our Ambassador’s despatches. A rich chronicle, alive -with events, domestic and foreign, civil and military, supplying -abundant food for reflection to those who have accustomed -themselves to meditate on the characters of men and the fortunes of -nations. A thoroughly honest chronicle too. Sir John scrupulously -discriminates between reliable intelligence and irresponsible -rumour. When dealing with first-hand information, he gives us its -sources; when not, his favourite expression, “Tis said,” serves us -as a warning that the writer relates what he has heard, but cannot -vouch for. He is deeply conscious of the extreme difficulty of -getting at the truth of things in Turkey, and does not by any means -profess always to believe the reports he transmits.[212] We have -variant accounts set forth with perfect candour, and statements -previously made corrected as the result of further inquiry. Fond -though he is of speculating on the causes and consequences of -events, our chronicler takes care to keep surmise severely distinct -from certainty. He never pretends to do more than present to the -Secretary of State the most plausible conjectures he can form, with -the proviso, “Time will make all things plain.” - -Not the least interesting, or the least melancholy, of these -events is the conduct of Kara Mustafa--the ruler of a mighty -Empire--towards the representatives of the little tributary -Republic of Ragusa: one of them, Signor Caboga, the “lusty, -gallant fellow” whom we saw in happier days disporting himself -at Adrianople with our gay Chaplain. The Vizir had consented to -treat for an adjustment upon payment of a preliminary instalment -of 200,000 dollars, and despatched an Aga to collect this sum, -threatening that, in case of refusal, he would order the Pasha -of Bosnia to seize the City and territory of the Republic and -make slaves of the inhabitants. The messenger returned with the -answer that the Ragusans offered 100 purses (50,000 dollars) as a -ransom. This offer was rejected, and the Ambassadors were summoned -before the Divan, where they were asked whether they would pay -the sum demanded or not. On their replying that they could not, -Kara Mustafa “calld’ them Doggs, Infidells, Hoggs, and Atheists; -commanding them to be carryd’ to prison.” By and by one of their -pretended creditors visited them, and finding them sitting upon -their beds, cried out that this was not the way to pay their debts. -Signor Caboga was unwise enough to retort, “You see us on our beds, -but wee hope ere long to see you impald’ upon stakes.” For this -speech they were removed, by order of the Vizir, “into a common and -filthy gaole.” While they lay in that “infamous prison,” among the -vilest criminals, two more envoys arrived from Ragusa “to mitigate -the implacable mind of the Visir. But they no sooner came to -Silistria where the Gran Signor was, but they were suddainly clapt -in chaines and one of them dyd with the insupportable weight of the -chaines about his neck.”[213] - -Hardly less drastic was Kara Mustafa’s treatment of the -representative of a much greater State than Ragusa. In the -previous autumn the Palatine of Kulm had come from Poland, with a -magnificent suite of at least three hundred persons, as Ambassador -Extraordinary, to conclude the long-drawn-out negotiations for -peace. On his arrival, Sir John had showered upon the newcomer -those tokens of friendship which he had never known to fail of -their effect: “I presented him with five chests of Florence and -other choice Wines out of Christendome, amongst which was one chest -of the Pope’s Wine; which he never drank of but that he first -signd’ himselfe with the crosse and rose up and was uncoverd!” But -Kara Mustafa nipped this friendship in its juicy bud. For reasons -which Sir John could not fathom, the Vizir forbade all further -intercourse with the Pole, at the same time ordering our Ambassador -to keep the prohibition secret. This embargo placed Sir John in -a very awkward position: the world wondered why he paid no visit -to his colleague, and Sir John had to dissemble until the Plague -breaking out in the Pole’s house afforded him a plausible excuse -for holding aloof.[214] But though he had no direct communication -with the Palatine, he kept himself informed of all that passed -between him and the Porte. - -It is by no means our intention to recite the Iliad of miseries, -the humiliations, the terrors and utter harrowing to despair, -which the poor Palatine underwent incessantly till the end of his -mission. Let the following extracts from Sir John’s despatches -speak for themselves. - -_Dec. 15-25, 1677._--“The Polish Ambassadour has the Plague very -hott in his house, 14 persons of quality being dead out of it -(for the Visir would suffer none of the Nobility to depart), and -two particularly last night; and yet I found one Druggerman who -had the courage to goe to him and wish him in my name a happy -Christmas: He sent me word that he intended to visit me before he -left this place; not knowing, good gentleman, the restraint that I -am under: tis hard really that in all this danger the Visir will -not permitt him to change his house, calling the motion when it was -made by him, a Christian Panick fear.” - -_Jan. 19-29, 1677-78._--“The Polish Ambassadour is here still and -yet alive, though the Plague was very hott in his house, he could -not get leave to remove to another, having no other answer but -this, Let him run his destiny.” - -_March 1-11, 1677-78._--“At last the Peace between the Port and the -Poles is concluded; which was effected three dayes since but is -not yet underwritten.... The Ambassadour was so long inflexible, -but he gott nothing by his standing out thus long but bad words -and worse Treatment, a great part of his trayn being dead of the -Plague by ill accommodation when Infection was gott amongst them.” -So if this treatment, as seems probable, was the result of policy -rather than of mere cruelty, it proved efficacious. “The Peace -was patchd’ up by the Tartar Han or Crim Tartar ... the Polish -Ambassadour applying himselfe to the Mediation of this Prince with -such Humility that though His Principality is so qualifyd’ ... He -kissd’ the very Hem of his Garment that touchd’ the Ground.” - -_March 2-12, 1677-78._--“The Peace with Poland is subscribd’ on -both sides ... the Poles have deliverd’ up not onely a great part -of Ukrania, two places there onely remaining to them, but what is -of worse consequence to them, they have surrenderd’ all Podolia -entirely, the richest province they had.” - -In return for these territorial sacrifices, the Ambassador -expected some religious concessions, among them the restoration -of our old friends, the Latin Fathers, to the possession of the -Holy Sepulchre. The Poles set immense store by this point, “for -their wisedome tells them, that if the Restitution of the Holy -Sepulchre depends upon the Peace with that Crowne, they shall be -sure hereafter of the assistance of all Christian Princes upon any -new warr with the Turk.” And in fact they had managed to insert an -Article to such effect in the Treaty. But it was not for nothing -that the Porte had for its chief Interpreter a Greek. The Treaty -had been drawn up in two languages--Latin and Turkish. Now, in the -Turkish version, that Article, from possession and guardianship of -the Holy Sepulchre--the form under which it figured in the Latin -text--had been whittled down to mere access to it: a privilege that -the Latin Fathers already enjoyed. The Ambassador demanded that -the Article should be interpreted according to the Latin text; the -Porte adhered to the letter of the Turkish text. Hence several -stormy conferences, in the course of which the Grand Vizir’s -Kehayah and the Rais Effendi told the Pole that they would give -him war if he would not have peace on their terms, called him a -faithless Giaour who would fly from what he had signed, and reviled -him with such violence that at length the poor Palatine, terrified -for his liberty, if not for his life, fairly gave in. - -Immediately messengers were despatched to Jerusalem to acquaint the -Cordeliers “with to them most dreadfull Newes.” What made the news -exceptionally dreadful was the sinister circumstance that, as this -year the Latin and Greek Easter fell on the same day, the Greek -Patriarch had an opportunity of celebrating his victory with a _Te -Deum_ at which they themselves, as well as all Eastern Christians, -would of necessity be present. Sir John, who describes all these -diplomatic manœuvres in detail, could not have been very sorry to -see another foiled where he himself had striven in vain. So much at -least may be inferred from his sardonic comment on the sole favour -for the Faith his unhappy colleague seemed likely to secure: “He -shall have the honour of rebuilding two churches that have bin -burnt down: so wee encrease our churches here though the number of -Christians decreases dayly; and the Pastours are here equall in -number allmost to their sheep.”[215] - -It should be mentioned that, apart from the other forces that -compelled the Palatine to an over-hasty signature of Articles -he did not fully understand, there was the fear of an agreement -between Turkey and Russia, which appeared imminent. Yet the envoy -from Muscovy, whose advent at that critical hour hastened the -Polish surrender, had little reason to feel pleased with the good -turn he had unwittingly done the Turks. He came from a Power which -by its military resources, its proximity to the Sultan’s Persian -enemies, and its influence over his Orthodox subjects, inspired -respect in the Turks. But he came at a moment when respect was -eclipsed by resentment. - -In the preceding autumn, when peace with one country had come in -sight, Kara Mustafa had begun provoking war with another. Turkish -troops attacked the Russian fort of Zechrin, were badly beaten, -and only escaped a total rout by a speedy retreat. The news of -this disaster had been the signal for an Ottoman mobilisation on -a colossal scale and accompanied with commensurate squeezing. No -class or creed was spared: Moslems, Christians, and Jews, high -and low, laity and clergy, were all mulcted indiscriminately. The -Turkish ecclesiastics had to give up one-third of their income. -The feudal land magnates had to renew their ancient conveyances at -great expense, under pain of forfeiting their fiefs. The Prince of -Moldavia was ordered to contribute 150 purses, and the Prince of -Wallachia 300 purses, besides enormous quantities of provisions. -Throughout the Empire old taxes were increased and new ones -imposed: “All which things,” says Sir John, “make the people of -the Country ready to hang themselves.” The Janissaries alone were -left untouched by Kara Mustafa’s lash; for they alone could make -a revolution. Before the Muscovite envoy had crossed the frontier -the mobilised bodies had begun to move from the various provinces -to the place of rendezvous three miles outside the capital, where -the Grand Signor and Grand Vizir joined them about the middle of -March, with more than the parade usual on such occasions. It was -an astonishing sight. It lasted four days, and each day had its -peculiar pageant. Sir John was present at the most important parts -of the ceremony, and he sent to the Secretary of State a minute -description of what he saw. - -On the first day the Grand Vizir’s retinue marched out under the -command of his Kehayah--over one hundred pages clad in cloth of -gold and coats of mail. On the second day there was a solemn -procession of the Guilds--weavers, tailors, shoe-makers, bakers, -blacksmiths, and so forth, about 12,000 men in all--one-third of -whom would accompany the Army on its campaign and minister to its -wants. Some of them rode past in glittering coats of mail with long -lances in their hands and swords at their sides, while musketeers -of the same trade marched on either side of the mounted squadrons. -In the middle of each squadron there were representatives of each -Guild engaged in their peculiar craft either on foot or perched -on the backs of camels, according to the exigencies of their -occupation. In this fashion they went on, fifty-three companies of -warrior-workers, with their kettle-drums, their great drums, their -trumpets and other instruments of barbaric music: “So the Turkish -Military Camp,” comments the chronicler, “is nothing else but a -civil camp being furnishd’ with all the Arts of Peace in Time of -Warr.” The third day witnessed the exodus of the Janissary Aga at -the head of his Janissaries--about 20,000 of the best Infantry in -the whole world. And then, on the fourth day, the Grand Signor in -person made his _Alloy_, as the Turks called this marching out in -state. - -He went forth accompanied by his son, his son-in-law, the Grand -Vizir, the Vizirs of the Bench, the Capitan Pasha, and all the -other great pashas of the Empire with their retinues “most proudly -clad, jackd’, and mounted.” Here was, indeed, the grandeur of which -Sir John had dreamed. He gazed on, dumbfounded by the profusion -of wealth that met his eyes; the Sultan’s led horses were almost -hidden under embroideries of gold, thick-set with jewels of -fabulous value. Behind them came a camel on the back of which -was strapped a chest of beaten gold, made in the form of a square -tower, richly encrusted with precious stones, and enclosing the -Alcoran. Immediately after rode the young Prince on “as fine a -Horse as Nature ever producd’”--bridle and trappings aglow with -diamonds. Last of all came the Grand Signor himself, attired in -a vest lined with black fox fur worth ten thousand crowns, and -bestriding a steed the furniture of which was “all over besett with -Jewells of Immense Price”--“really He appeard like an Emperour.” He -was followed by a numerous body of royal attendants of all ranks -and stalwart Spahis. - -The procession closed with a caravan of camels, some laden with the -Imperial baggage, others carrying the Treasure--“a Million and a -halfe in Gold, and as much more in Silver: every cammel carrying -fifty thousand Zecchins, or ten Purses of silver”--under a guard of -trusty Janissaries. - -“I do not know,” says the Ambassador, “whether what in the sight -gave so much divertisement, can afford any in the reading.” -The actual description of the pageant may not--descriptions -seldom do. But it is enlivened by notes which are certainly more -diverting than they could have been intended by the writer. One -of them reveals the diplomat’s keen eye for points of etiquette; -he observes that the Vizir rode with the Sultan’s son-in-law on -his left; “which seems to me to evidence that the right hand is -amongst the Turkes the Place of Precedence; though even in Turky -tis generally thought otherwise.” Another reveals his credulity: -in the train of the Sultan’s son-in-law Sir John saw, or imagined -that he saw, eight tamed tigers warmly clad, carried behind eight -horsemen: “of these I am informd’ the Gran Signor makes use when He -Hunts Hares and other Animals; They having gott their prey, leap -again upon the Horses behind their Masters.” What wag supplied -His Excellency with this valuable information must remain matter -of conjecture--one suspects the Honourable Dudley. A third note -reveals the Ambassador’s vanity. Speaking of the Guilds, he says: -“T was pretty to see the Respect of the Blacksmiths towards me; -for seeing me they layd one of their companions upon His back; and -placing Boards upon His Belly they layd’ a Great Stone upon them -for an Anvill and putting a Red Hott Iron upon the Stone, eight -of them with their Great Hammers fell to worke.” Another tribute -of respect paid to Sir John on the same occasion makes a less -severe demand on our faith: a large boat, like a brigantine, armed -with half-a-dozen small guns was drawn along on sledges: when it -passed by the Ambassador, the commander stopped and fired all the -guns for a salute--“a thing,” his Excellency adds modestly, “of -no great moment, but that any Civility is so when Turkes make a -solemnity; and especially No others having receivd the like.” For -all that, Sir John was very glad to see the backs of Kara Mustafa -and his satellites: “T’ is sayd that they cannot returne hither this -following winter. If so, t’ is very good new’s for me, for from -thence I hope for some quiett and repose after the turmoyls and -vexations I and all others have bin under.”[216] - -It was shortly after this exit that the envoy from Muscovy arrived -and met with a reception which showed how little reasonable -accommodation was to the Grand Vizir’s taste. The first thing Kara -Mustafa did was to ask the envoy to hand over to him the letters -he had for the Grand Signor, and as the envoy refused to deliver -them into any but the Grand Signor’s hands, he had recourse to a -ruse. A day was appointed as if for an Imperial Audience, and the -Russian set out holding up his letters before his forehead, after -the Muscovite manner. On the way, the chaoushes who pretended to -be conducting him to the Sultan snatched the letters from him -and carried them to the Grand Vizir, who, on finding that they -contained expostulations for his hostile designs and expressions -of a desire for an amicable settlement, informed the envoy that it -was too late; the army was ready for a campaign; only if, before -it crossed the frontier, Muscovy would give satisfaction war could -be averted; the price of peace being a cession of the object under -dispute. With this message and without “any Testimony from the Port -of the least imaginable respect,” the envoy was dismissed. And the -march towards the Danube began.[217] - -At this point Sir John ceases to be a mere spectator of the -international drama and becomes for a moment an actor. For -some time past a strong feeling of opposition to Charles II.’s -Francophile policy had been growing up in England; and at last the -King, yielding to public opinion, made an attempt to curb the power -of Louis, who so far had carried everything before him against the -whole Continental Alliance. France was asked to come to terms, and -as she returned an evasive answer England began preparations for -forcing her. News of the crisis had reached Turkey early in March, -and created a considerable flutter in the diplomatic dovecote; -but it was not until the end of April that the consequences of an -Anglo-French conflict, should it arise, were brought home to our -Ambassador. - -A drunken English sailor at Smyrna met some Frenchmen in the -street and, addressing them as “French dogs,” cried out that he -hoped ere long to get one of their jackets and be “Allamode.” The -Frenchmen fell upon him and wounded him in the head. Thereupon a -body of about thirty English seamen gathered together and rushed -to the French Consul’s house, breathing vengeance. The French -merchants hastened to the defence of their Consul, and tried to -repel the attack with stones and cudgels; but with no success. The -English, after breaking all the windows, climbed up into the outer -gallery, drove the defenders into the inner rooms, and were already -beginning to pull down the house, when our Consul, accompanied -by Sir Richard Munden, who was then in the Levant with H.M.S. -_St. David_ for the protection of English trade, and the other -Commanders then in port, arrived upon the scene. The assailants -at first refused to obey; “one of them swearing a desperate oath -that He would not give over till He had drunke the Bloud of a -Frenchman.” But in the end they were induced by threats of martial -law to abandon their sanguinary design. - -This incident filled Sir John with alarm as to what might have -happened, “had these Mad fellows executed their fury according to -their Intentions either in Murdring the Consul or pulling down His -house.” Even in normal times the mutual animosities of the Franks -exposed them to rapine on the part of the Turks; in time of war, -and under a government like Kara Mustafa’s, such animosities might -lead to utter ruin; and the English, whose property in Turkey -was twenty times greater than that of the French, would suffer -in proportion: “where most mony is, the most will be extorted -even in a Parity of Crime.” Prompted by these considerations, Sir -John took a step never before taken in Turkey: he invited the -French Ambassador to a frank and free discussion of a situation -which was disagreeable for the present and might in the future -prove extremely dangerous. The result was as pleasing an example -of sweet reasonableness as is to be found in the whole domain of -Anglo-French diplomacy. The two ambassadors, after recalling to -each other’s mind what quarrels of this nature had cost in the -past (the Cancellarias of both Embassies abounded with cases in -point)--“when sometimes one Nation, sometimes the other sufferd’ -highest under Avanias that arose from thence; though in the -Conclusion neither scapd’ without severe payments,”--agreed, if -war broke out between their Governments in Europe, to continue -living in Turkey “with all the same Circumstances of Civility and -formality as also respects towards each other; as if there was no -Warr: That by our Example the Factory’s under us might practise -the same.” Further, “considering that Example without Precept -is little, as Precept without Example is lesse,” they agreed to -send to their respective Consuls and Factories orders couched in -identical terms, requiring them to conform unswervingly to the line -of conduct pursued by the Ambassadors themselves.[218] - -So unprecedented an action, taken by the Ambassador on his own -initiative, needed justification; and Sir John, in reporting it -to Whitehall, explains his motives at length, adding that, when -all the circumstances are weighed, he has reason to hope that the -King will be pleased to think that what he has done is “for His -Majesty’s Honour, and for the Interest of His Subjects.” As a -matter of fact, there was every reason to believe (and both Finch -and Nointel must have known it) that Charles, in his heart, had no -desire to fall out with France; and in due course Sir John received -His Majesty’s approval. But long before that approval reached him -all danger of war had blown over. The English Parliament, while -urging Charles to fight Louis, refused him the means of doing so, -for fear lest the arms placed in his hands for the humiliation of -France should be turned against the liberties of England. The only -practical fruit of the agitation was an interdiction of trade with -our rival. And so Louis, profiting by England’s neutrality, made a -peace (Treaty of Nimeguen, 1678) which put the coping-stone on his -power. - -After this little ferment Sir John relapsed into his rôle of -chronicler. At the beginning of summer a German Internuncio, -Hoffmann, arrived from Vienna, with a new Imperial Resident, -Sattler. Whereupon the old Resident, Kindsberg, broke up his -household, took leave of his colleagues, and set out, with the -newcomers, for the Vizir’s camp. But they had scarcely gone three -days when an express command from Kara Mustafa obliged them to -return to Constantinople and stay there till further orders. -Kara Mustafa had his reasons for postponing an interview: the -Internuncio’s business was to renew the truce between the Ottoman -and the German Empires, which was about to expire, and Kara Mustafa -wanted to see how the Polish Treaty was observed and how the -Russian campaign went, before he committed himself to peace or -war with Germany. The consequences were ghastly for the Caesarean -diplomats: Sattler died of the plague, Hoffmann was seized with an -apoplexy which paralysed him, Kindsberg, after losing his brother -and a number of his attendants through the plague, himself fell -victim either to the disease or to poison. The plague also carried -off the Venetian Bailo’s chief Dragoman and Treasurer. Sir John, -however, in his summer resort at St. Demetrius, was safe from -the terrible epidemic. As for that other pest, he reckoned that, -what with Muscovy and Germany, the Vizir was certain to be away -for two years at least, and his reckonings seemed confirmed by a -reported resolution of the Grand Signor’s to build a palace on the -Danube--“a sign there’s no quick Dispatch expected either with the -Muscovite or the Emperour. So that during the short remainder of -my Time, I have now a Probable prospect of Quietnesse and a Calm, -which I have not enjoyd hitherto One Moment Since my Arrivall.” -He could now take a dispassionate, even an amused, view of his -past calamities and cap Latin verses thereon with the Secretary of -State, sending him, in return for a line out of a Comedian, two out -of a Tragedian.[219] - -But alas for the futility of human calculations! In the very -midst of his self-gratulation, Sir John received the news “that -Zechrin is taken by storm, And that the Triumphant Visir will -return hither this winter. When that Lion comes, if successe don’t -make Him milder, the contrary of which is to be feard, God direct -me.”[220] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[208] Sir Peter Wyche to Lord Conway, Constantinople, July 26/Aug. -5, 1628, _S.P. Turkey_, 14. The occasion for this apophthegm was -supplied by another predatory Pasha of Aleppo. - -[209] Finch to Coventry, March 1-11, April 12-22, May 14-24, 1678, -_Coventry Papers_. - -[210] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 60-1, 107. - -[211] Finch to Coventry, March 1-11, May 14-24, 1678. - -[212] “I doe not find it easy to arrive to a true knowledge of -them; For things passe here under Great Taciturnity.”--Finch -to Williamson, May 31, 1676, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. “The New’s of -this Court (which would to God Christendome could imitate) is -secrecy.”--The Same to Coventry, June 20-30, 1676; “Things are so -secretly transacted at this Court that there is no certainty to be -had.”--The Same to the Same, March 9-19, 1677-78, _Coventry Papers_. - -[213] Finch to Coventry, Jan. 19-29, March 1-11, 9-19, April 12-22, -Sept. 2-12, 1678. - -[214] The Same to the Same, Nov. 29, S.V. 1677. - -[215] The Same to the Same, March 2-12, 9-19, 16-26, 1678. - -[216] The Same to the Same, March 9-19; 16-26, 1677-78. - -[217] The Same to the Same, April 12-22, 1678. - -[218] The Same to the Same, May 14-24, 1678, and inclosures: Two -Orders from Finch to the English Consuls of Smyrna and Aleppo (in -Italian), dated April 20-30 and May 2-12; and two from Nointel to -the French Consuls of the same places (in French), dated May 1 and -9. - -[219] The Same to the Same, June 20-30; Sept. 2-12, 1678. - -[220] The Same to the Same, Sept. 2-12, 1678. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE CASE OF MRS. PENTLOW - - -Among the numerous devices for the collection of cash to which the -Grand Vizir had recourse before setting out on the war path, were -some that touched foreign residents directly. Until his time all -Franks had been exempt, by virtue of their Capitulations, from the -_Haratch_, or poll-tax, levied upon non-Moslem Turkish subjects. -The immunity extended to the Dragomans of the various European -Embassies and Consulates, as well as to other natives under foreign -protection. Every Ambassador received from the Porte a number of -_Barats_, or Patents, which, though given to him for the benefit -of his own servants only, he was, by an abuse of privilege, in the -habit of selling to wealthy _rayahs_--Greeks, Armenians, or Jews: -so that the suburbs of Galata and Pera had come to be peopled very -largely by privileged persons (_Baratlis_). For some years past the -Farmers of the Revenue had been drawing attention to this state of -things, and even overstating it, in order to beat down the Farm; -but their representations had produced no effect until 1677, when -by order of Kara Mustafa an inquisitor was appointed to ascertain -the facts. This official came over, and not being offered a bribe, -as he expected and as one who had come on a similar errand some -time before had received, executed his commission with exemplary -conscientiousness. The upshot was an edict limiting foreign -Ministers and Consuls to three Dragomans and obliging them to -obtain fresh Barats for them. Moreover, the Grand Vizir ordained -that every Frank who was married to a country-born woman should -henceforth be deprived of the benefits of the Capitulations, pay -_Haratch_, and be treated in all respects as a _rayah_. - -As was natural, married Franks denounced the measure bitterly: -they had come to Turkey on the understanding that they should -live in it as free men, and now by a stroke of Kara Mustafa’s -pen they were suddenly reduced to the position of slaves. The -outcry was loudest among the French and the Dutch, upon whom the -innovation fell most heavily: some forty Frenchmen, including the -chief merchants, and three of the principal Dutch merchants had -native wives. But notwithstanding all that the French Ambassador -and the Dutch Resident could say or do, and all the endeavours -of private individuals, and all their offers of money, not the -least grace was shown to them. The rich French merchants escaped -the consequences of the edict by purchasing titular Consulships -at Gallipoli, Athens, and so forth; but their poorer compatriots -were disfranchised. The English had so far been very little -affected. Sir John had easily obtained the necessary Patents for -his Dragomans. Nor did the marriage disqualification trouble -them, as, with very few exceptions, our colony consisted of gay -bachelors.[221] - -But now--soon after Kara Mustafa’s return to Adrianople--there -arose a case which was to cost our countrymen dearly. - -Mr. Samuel Pentlow, a wealthy English merchant of Smyrna, who was -married to a Greek lady, had just died, leaving his widow and his -children--a son about three years of age and a daughter three or -four months old--to the care of his Assigns, Mr. Gabriel Smith -and our old acquaintance Mr. John Ashby, with instructions that -they should be sent home to enjoy the lands and other possessions -he owned in England, together with his Smyrna estate, which was -commonly estimated at something between two hundred thousand and -half a million dollars: fruit of thirty years’ labour in the -Levant. In obedience to the wishes of the deceased, the Assigns -took passage for his family in an English ship about to sail from -Smyrna. But the other residents, fearing, in view of Kara Mustafa’s -recent edict, that the departure of the woman and children without -official permission might expose the colony to the Grand Vizir’s -attentions, protested to the Consul and the Ambassador, who agreed -that this business could not safely be done in a clandestine -manner. The Assigns, therefore, entered into negotiations with the -Cadi. This gentleman was quite willing to wink; but he demanded his -reward in advance, while Messrs. Smith and Ashby would not part -with a single asper until after the thing was done. Their caution -offended the sensitive Cadi, who, out of spite, hastened to inform -the Grand Vizir of the contemplated elopement. - -Kara Mustafa so far had only had enough of English gold to -stimulate his appetite, not enough to satisfy it: gratification -but gave him ampler zest. He only waited for an occasion to take -another and bigger bite. And here was the best of all imaginable -occasions. Without delay he passed the information on to the Grand -Signor, who, in his turn, consulted the Mufti: What should be done -to Turkish subjects that attempted to fly the country? The oracle -responded that they deserved to have their property confiscated: -that was the Law. A decree was accordingly issued, and despatched -to Smyrna by an Aga, who also had orders to bring Messrs. Smith and -Ashby to Adrianople that they might give an account of the estate. -This done, another messenger was despatched to Constantinople with -a letter from the Grand Vizir for the Ambassador, notifying to him -the fact and asking him to send to Adrianople a Dragoman to be -present at the examination of the Assigns: which, Sir John said, -was very civil of the Vizir; “but this civility was attended by a -Sting in the Tayl bidding me take care that in Smirna nothing was -acted contrary to this Command.” - -The message upset Sir John very much. He did not want to have any -more trouble with the terrible Vizir. Things had been going on so -well--and now this Sting in the Tayl! Sir John was angry--not with -Kara Mustafa, nor even with Messrs. Smith and Ashby: strange to -say, he was angry with the late Mr. Pentlow. His thoughts of the -deceased, when he reported the case to the Secretary of State, -became winged words--his quill an arrow barbed and envenomed: “He -is the onely man since our Trade into Turky that ever marryed Here, -and was worth any thing,” he wrote, and as he wrote, his wrath grew -into virulence: “How it [Pentlow’s estate] was gott I know not, How -he livd’ I know, He would not afford Himselfe bread, but livd’ -upon other Merchants’ Tables; After the Birth of His Sonne the -first child, when the Mother was bigg of a second, He dischargd’ -a Pistoll unwares just behind her back to make Her miscarry, That -charges might not encrease.”[222] - -It would be idle to enter into a serious examination of these -scurrilous irrelevancies. That the Pentlow fortune had not been -built up wholly with clean hands, may easily be credited (few -great fortunes ever are); and there is some evidence that the late -merchant had not been exceptionally careful about his methods.[223] -But what, in the name of common sense and common decency, had the -ethics of the deceased to do with the case? The question at issue -was one of law: it all turned upon the interpretation of a clause -in the Capitulations, which ran as follows: “If any Englishman -shall come hither either to dwell or traffique, whether he be -married or unmarried, he shall be free.” Hitherto this clause -(which figured in the Capitulations of all other nations also) -had been construed by everybody as including Europeans married -to native as well as to foreign women; and the Turks had never -questioned that construction, until Kara Mustafa, the year before, -had thought fit to announce that “that Article was to be understood -onely of such who were marryd’ to those that were not subjects -of the Gran Signor.” Was he justified in so doing? The Levant -Company thought not. In an account of this case presented to the -King, it emphatically maintained that the Turkish contention that -“Pentlow his wife and children were subjects to the Grand Signor” -was a breach of “the Article wee have in Our Capitulations to the -contrary.”[224] On the other hand, the Company’s Treasurer at -Constantinople, after recording both interpretations, refused to -commit himself to a definite pronouncement, though, on the whole, -he thought that, “in a case any thing dubious, it is shrewdly to -be feared that their [the Turks’] interpretation will stand before -ours.”[225] The Ambassador, however, preferred the line of least -resistance. Rather than risk another conflict with the Grand Vizir, -he accepted without question his view of the matter. “Pentlow,” -he wrote, “by marrying a Greeke made Himselfe a subject to the -Gran Signor, as the Visir in Pentlow’s life time had declard’; the -Turkish Law making them all so. But Pentlow having children They -without all dispute were by the Turkish Law born subjects.” - -Acting upon this trouble-saving view, Sir John had tried to -dissuade the Assigns from sending away the widow and children, -and when he perceived that his remonstrances made no impression -upon them, he advised the Consul to keep out of the affair. But -he did not venture to issue a categorical prohibition, lest he -should be accused of betraying the Pentlow estate into the hands -of the Turks, “who,” it might have been said, “had not otherwise -taken notice of their advantage.”[226] From this neutral attitude -nothing could induce Sir John to depart. However, he sent his -Dragoman with a letter to the Vizir, to assist the Assigns--at -least so he says; though, according to another version, before the -Grand Vizir’s disturbing message had reached the Ambassador, his -Dragoman, Signor Antonio Perone, had gone to Adrianople with Mr. -North on some other affairs, and to their surprise they found the -Assigns with the Chief Dragoman of the Smyrna Consulate already -there. Be that as it may, Messrs. Smith and Ashby certainly did not -profit by the presence of those gentlemen; but, left to their own -resources, made a mess of the business. - -To begin with, they declared that all the property entrusted to -them amounted to no more than 50,000 dollars. Kara Mustafa was -not convinced; common report credited the late merchant with ten -times that amount; and he already knew Mr. Ashby. He therefore -informed him and his co-administrator that, unless they rendered -a true account, they would have their arms and legs broken, or -at least be put into the galleys. At the sound of these gruesome -threats, Messrs. Smith and Ashby raised the inventory to 70,000 -dollars: and that, they said, was all. But the Turks still refused -to believe them: the whole truth or torture! At length the Assigns, -overcome by fear, agreed to deliver within two months 90,000 -dollars: 50,000 for the Grand Signor’s Exchequer; 30,000 for the -Grand Vizir; and 10,000 for his Kehayah. Then the Turks proceeded -to give a final turn to the screw--one of those humorous little -turns that marked every Turkish extortion: Messrs. Smith and Ashby -were made to promise the Aga, who had escorted them from Smyrna -and who would escort them back and keep them in custody until -payment was completed, a present of 3500 dollars “for his pains and -charges.”[227] - -Kara Mustafa, too, had his little joke. After finishing with -the Assigns, he informed the Ambassador that he had done _him_ -a friendly turn: he had interceded with the Grand Signor on his -behalf and had prevailed upon his Majesty to pardon him--for 90,000 -dollars--the crime of endeavouring to send away the Grand Signor’s -subjects: the Ambassador must now take care that the money was paid -within the time agreed upon. - -The humour of this message was lost upon Sir John: “Two things -here I cannot understand,” he gravely told the Secretary of State, -“First, How I come to be taxd’ of an Action I expressely wrote -against to the Consul at Smirna many moneths together, and made -him disown it. Secondly, how I come to be responsible for a summe -of mony, for the freeing of Private Persons and a Private Estate, -by virtue of an Agreement made without my Notice: Suppose the Rack -and Tortures had made them subscribe 10 Times that summe?” Was this -what he got after all his strenuous efforts not to enmesh himself -in the snares of that unspeakable Kehayah and his master? Verily, -the ways of the Turks were past comprehension. “It seems they looke -upon Publick Ministers Here as Publick Hostages; and will have -the Prince to answer for the miscarriages of every one of their -subjects.”[228] - -Meanwhile the subjects in question were beginning to regret at -leisure the bargain they had huddled up in panic. On their way to -Smyrna they paid the Turks 10,000 dollars on account, and when -they got there they made some further payments. But presently they -perceived that they had not so many assets of the deceased in their -hands as they thought, and what they had it was not easy to dispose -of--who dared buy goods that lay under Kara Mustafa’s thumb? After -selling all they could at such prices as they could get, they still -found themselves short of the stipulated sum by 20,000 dollars. -In their perplexity they asked the Nation for a loan wherewith -to clear themselves. Both the Factory of Smyrna and that of -Constantinople unanimously petitioned the Ambassador to advance the -money out of the Levant Company’s Treasury, in order to avoid an -“avania.” Kara Mustafa, they knew, would stick at nothing. But the -Ambassador refused to interfere. He would do nothing to countenance -the Turkish pretension that the Public was in any way responsible -for the liabilities of individuals. - -To crown the wretched Assigns’ embarrassment, the Turks would not -wait for the day of payment. They demanded the balance at once, -and, on being told that the money was not available, they seized -the house in which the widow lived, broke open her late husband’s -warehouses, and put the goods they found therein up for sale. But -the plunder meeting with few buyers at Smyrna, most of it was sent -up to Constantinople, and the remainder, as was natural in the -circumstances, fetched only a fraction of its real value. When the -Turks had counted the proceeds, they declared that there was still -a deficit of 15,000 dollars to be made good. Utterly demoralised by -this catastrophe, Messrs. Smith and Ashby abandoned all thoughts -of fulfilling their bargain, and fled to the Ambassador for -protection. His Lordship answered that what they suffered was -entirely their own doing: he could not free them from an engagement -to which they had set their signatures; but he would see what he -could do to mitigate their distress by obtaining for them, if -possible, an extension of the time limit. The Assigns declined -such qualified assistance, and declared that they washed their -hands of the whole business. So the Turks, who, on their part, were -determined not to remit one asper of their bond, put them in prison. - -This brought upon the stage Mrs. Pentlow. While our men of the West -were content with a rôle of Oriental passivity, this lady of the -East decided on direct action. - -In the springtime of the year (1679), when the Imperial Court -arrived at Constantinople, the widow, taking one of her children, -went up to the capital with the intention, it was said, of making a -personal appeal to the Grand Signor. The Grand Signor’s Ministers, -alarmed, endeavoured, partly by fair and partly by other means, -to deter her. She persisted, and at last got back her house and -some money for her expenses, and, as to the Assigns, the promise -that they should be released for 2000 dollars--a concession which -Kara Mustafa could well afford to make, for the tin brought to -Constantinople from Pentlow’s warehouse, when sold, had yielded a -large sum above the estimate at which it had been taken, almost -making up the balance due. - -Mrs. Pentlow returned to Smyrna thinking that the Assigns would be -pleased with her efforts. But Messrs. Smith and Ashby were past -being pleased with anything. Though their liability had narrowed -down to a matter of only 2000 dollars, they refused to pay. In vain -did their friends urge them to be sensible. They met all counsels -with the angry obstinacy of exasperated sheep: they would not -disburse another penny: they would rather lie in prison till a new -Ambassador came out, when, they doubted not, justice would be done -them. They had been robbed, they cried, by the Kehayah and his -accomplices. The Grand Signor knew nothing of it: it only required -a competent ambassador to bring their case to his notice, and all -would be well. The Turks, failing to bend, decided to break, their -obstinacy by throwing them into a dungeon. Our merchants, however, -had by this time lashed themselves into furious recklessness: they -resisted and very nearly killed the officer who came to remove them. - -Things had reached this dangerous climax when the Smyrna Factory -stepped in to avert a tragedy. By the instrumentality of the -Chaplain there was raised a fund for the prisoners’ redemption; and -so Mr. Ashby is out of it again, without bone broken--not, we hope, -without instruction from the adventure. As for Mrs. Pentlow and her -children, we shall hear of them again in due time. - -Sir John Finch, as usual, praised God that the trouble was over, -and took to himself credit for keeping it off himself and the -Consul of Smyrna and for saving the Company 20,000 dollars by his -non-interference. Things, he believed, might have been much worse -but for his masterly inactivity: “so high did the Sea’s run, which -God be thanked, are now brought to a Calm.” But how long would the -calm last?--“the being in Turky under this Goverment,” he says, -“is like the being in a ship, where though Wee are this houre under -a fair wind and a serene skye, the Next hour may bring us a cloudy -Heaven, and a fierce Storm. And I protest to you, it takes my whole -thoughts to become a Good Pilot.”[229] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[221] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 84-5; Finch to the Levant -Company, Jan. 19-29, 1677-78, _Coventry Papers_. - -[222] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 17-27, 1678-79. - -[223] See _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1672-73_, p. 114: -“Thomas Bankes to the King. Petition for the needful order to Sir -John Finch, now going ambassador to Constantinople, to call to -account Samuel Pentlow, John Folio [Foley], and other merchants of -Smyrna, to whom he sent a large estate 13 years ago, which they -enjoy at their pleasure, that they may give satisfaction for the -same.” - -[224] _Register, S.P. Levant Company_, 145. See also Appendix XIV. - -[225] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 86. - -[226] Finch to Coventry, _loc. cit._ - -[227] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 87. - -[228] Finch to Coventry, Feb. 17-27, 1678-79. - -[229] Finch to Coventry, Aug. 19-29, 1679. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE PILOT AT REST - - -For about ten months--that is, till the summer of 1680--Sir John -Finch had no further opportunity of displaying his skill as a -pilot. He was a mere passenger in the diplomatic vessel, and he -availed himself of the privilege which belonged to his position -by diligently noting the behaviour of his fellow-passengers. -Sir John’s despatches have none of the verve of M. de Nointel’s -descriptions of life and manners: he is never less entertaining -than when he means to be so. Yet casual notices--occurrences -mentioned as matters of course--sometimes creep in to relieve -the formality of the narrative. “This Imperiall City,” he writes -in June 1679, “is now filld’ with the whole Court; and the Gran -Signor has filld’ all his Serraglio’s to the heigth of any former -Precedent, with the choice Virgin beauty’s of his Empire, giving -order for the providing of no lesse then five hundred at one -time.” The writer, however, knows that this is not business: it -has nothing to do with those “negotiations and practices” which it -was his duty to keep an eye on. So he proceeds: “In the midst of -all these enjoyments, there wants not the application of Christian -Ministers in order either to the making or preserving peace.” -There follows a record of these efforts for peace which, thanks -to Kara Mustafa’s statesmanship, were to end in a war that brought -the Ottoman Empire to the brink of the abyss. Little did Kara -Mustafa dream that, in browbeating the representatives of Poland -and Russia, of the German Empire and the Venetian Republic, he was -digging his own grave. But that was still in the future. Meanwhile -the Grand Vizir had all these Powers at, or rather under, his feet. - -On the departure of the Palatine of Kulm, a Polish Resident was -left at Constantinople. Nevertheless, King Sobieski now sent a -special envoy charged to inform the Porte that the Poles had -renewed their truce with the Muscovites for fifteen years longer. -Poland thought it necessary to give this notice, lest the Turks -should take umbrage: “Such is the awe which that halfe conquerd’ -Kingdome hath of this Empire.”[230] - -An envoy from Muscovy, at the same time, laboured for peace -under conditions which anywhere outside Turkey would have been -intolerable. Sixty Janissaries kept strict watch over him to -prevent all access to his person; while Kara Mustafa sent the -Capitan Pasha to fortify the Black Sea. By this move the Turks put -“a Bridle into the Muscovites mouthes.” For the rest, it seemed -unlikely that they had any desire to advance farther northwards, -“their camels and horses not being able to endure the rigour of -that climat.”[231] - -The duped diplomat departed in disgust; but six months after -another came to treat with the Porte and fared no better. Before -admitting him to audience, the Grand Vizir obtained a translation -of the letter he had brought: it was couched in the usual style -of the Tsars, who loved to fill their letters with as high threats -and as hyperbolical boasts and titles as the Sultans. The Vizir, -incensed by so good an imitation of Turkish arrogance, when the -envoy appeared in the Audience Room, asked him whether this was -indeed his letter, and on the envoy replying “Yes,” he dismissed -him with a “_Chick Haslagiack_--Be gone, you Rogue, you deserve -to be hangd’!” One would think, says Sir John, that this “studyd’ -affront” might give a stop to the negotiations. But such was not -the case: “the Visir learnes dayly, that He looses nothing by -the rough treatment of forreign Ministers; as the Ambassadour of -Poland’s ill usage, as well as others have confirmd’ to him.”[232] - -Take, for instance, that other great Empire, which, calling itself -(Heaven only knows why) “Holy” and “Roman,” claimed to be the -bulwark of the Christian West. - -The Emperor’s Internuncio Hoffmann, since the previous summer when -he arrived to renew the truce, had been accorded only one business -audience and that was little to his satisfaction: a circumstance -from which it might, Sir John thought, justly be suspected that -the Grand Vizir meant to keep him in suspense till he drew the -army to the Danube, and then suddenly to clap up a peace with the -Muscovites and turn his course upon Hungary. Other circumstances -pointed in the same direction. Before he could obtain a second -interview, Hoffmann died, and was soon followed to the grave by his -successor Terlingo. A little earlier, as we have seen, Kindsberg -and Sattler had had their careers cut short by death. So that -in fifteen months the Emperor had lost four Ministers. Sir John -could not help regarding this mysterious mortality as “a presage -of a warr, but,” he adds, “omens then worke upon me when they are -accompanyd’ with naturall reasons, and a considerable one is this, -that the Turke cannot live without a warr.”[233] - -That Sir John, eminently a man of peace though he was, prayed for -war, is plain from the eagerness with which he dwells on every -symptom of a bellicose intention, from the disappointment with -which he notes the absence of any bellicose preparations. Hopeful -and despondent by turns, he ends with the sad admission, “Wee are -like to have the Gran Signor’s and Visir’s company here, much to -the advantage of our commerce but as much to the disquiett of all -Ministers here.” - -Our Ambassador’s sentiments can easily be understood. For at this -time Kara Mustafa, who was always most at ease when he was violent, -appears to have indulged his peculiar genius at the expense of -foreign Ministers a little too far. - -We know already the “avania” brought against the Bailo of Venice. -Sir John had since learnt from a person present at the inspection -of the Venetian Treasurer’s books after his death, that the sum -extorted was not, as he had been told, 45,000, but 85,000 dollars. -Now a fresh claim for Customs-duties lay upon the Signoria, and the -Vizir threatened that, if a bond for 20,000 dollars was not given -him, he would bring the case before the Divan and there condemn -the Bailo to more than double that amount and shut him up in the -Seven Towers till it was paid: afterwards His Excellency might -complain to the Sultan, if he liked. Signor Morosini had no option -but to comply. Including the supplementary fleecing by the Vizir’s -Kehayah, Treasurer, and Rais Effendi, Sir John reckoned that the -operation would come to 40,000 dollars. This treatment made so -painful an impression upon the Bailo that he told Finch that he -intended, on his return home, to advise the Senate to break off -relations with Turkey once for all rather than “be thus eaten up by -degrees.”[234] - -A new Venetian Ambassador who arrived to relieve the much-tried -Morosini was treated like an envoy from a vassal State. The Turks -searched the men-of-war that escorted him, and detained them on the -plea of having stolen slaves and killed them. Several corpses found -floating about the vessels lent colour to the accusation, though -the Venetians protested that the corpses came from shipwrecks in -the Black Sea. Be that as it may, the affair was finally settled -for an amount which no man knew: it was said that both the Vizir -and the Bailo wished to keep it private, for, if the Grand Signor -heard of it, he would want his share. And so at length the -new-comer had his audience. From the Venetians themselves Sir -John obtained a graphic account of the function. The Commander of -one of the men-of-war told him that, just as he went out of his -boat, a ragged Turk stepped up to him and, calling him “Giaour,” -gave him a blow with his fist in the nape of the neck, which for -some time deprived him of consciousness: and this was done in the -presence of the Turkish officers who conducted the Ambassador. The -Ambassador’s own son informed Finch that his father sat at a great -distance from the Vizir, who, for all welcome, brusquely asked him, -“When do your ships depart?” though he very well knew that he was -the person who detained them, and throughout the interview looked -another way.[235] - -Likewise from the Genoese, whose trade with Turkey, since the -suppression of the traffic in false coin, was worse than nothing, -Kara Mustafa wrung a large sum, though Sir John could not learn how -large nor upon what ground. This secrecy annoyed our Ambassador -sorely: “I much wonder,” he wrote, “that men endeavour to smother -their Avanias whenas I proclaim mine rather by sound of Trumpett -not that I hope for Pity, but that our Great Trade might be lesse -envious.” However, thus much was certain: Signor Spinola, unable -to bear any more bleeding, asked that he might be allowed to ship -off his Nation and quit the country; but he was answered that, if -he again repeated such an unmannerly motion, he should be clapt -into irons. Spinola was presently superseded. But Genoa had to -pay fifteen purses before her old Resident was permitted to go -away, and as much more before the new one could enter. And that, -apparently, was only the beginning of a fresh innovation. Kara -Mustafa’s Kehayah gave out that the Vizir intended thenceforward -to make every new Resident pay 25,000 dollars, and every new -Ambassador double that sum. Further, a high official of the Porte -was heard to say that the Vizir expected monthly presents from all -foreign Ministers, and that they who forgot their duty should -quickly be put in mind that the Vizir was here.[236] - -Evidently, success had not made Kara Mustafa milder. The victor -of Muscovy could afford to despise Genoa, Venice, and every other -Power. But it was upon the tributary and vassal States that -he thought himself at liberty to vent the full measure of his -greed and ferocity. It was the Ragusans’ obvious interest not -to multiply their hostages in the Vizir’s hands. But they could -not help themselves: the annual tribute had to be paid. Two new -Ambassadors were accordingly sent with it, and added to the number -of prisoners. They were thrown into the same “loathsome Dungeon” -as the others. “They have been beaten there, stript naked, and -threatned Torments.” All the appeals which the Republic addressed -to Italy for aid had remained fruitless. “The Pope, who will be -concernd’ for Ancona if the Turkes take possession of Ragusi; that -City loosing all its Trade and the Casa Santa it selfe being in -danger; contributes not an Asper to their relief; Hereticks it -seems being in his judgment more dangerous to the Romish Religion -then the Turk’s.” As to the Prince of Moldavia, our Ambassador -briefly informs us that he had “24 times the Torment for non -payment of mony agreed for.”[237] - -In this way, to quote Sir John’s phrase, “the Gran Visir thunders -amongst us.” The phrase is one of those that make a picture -leap to the mind’s eye: the picture of a monster, half-human, -half-diabolic, whose voice was thunder and whose gesture lightning. -This picture is, of course, over-drawn and over-coloured. But -there can be no doubt that it is a faithful enough portrait of -Kara Mustafa as he appeared to the contemporary diplomats who -had the misfortune to come into contact with him. They all speak -of his cruelty, avarice, and cunning in terms of unqualified -abhorrence. They all describe him as a creature whose soul was as -black as his face, whose heart held not one generous or merciful -sentiment, whose appetite for gold was as insatiable as that of -a ghoul for blood: a fiend incarnate.[238] In truth (things have -become sufficiently remote to be visible in their true perspective) -Kara Mustafa, a miscreant of imposing magnitude as he was, was not -much more violent, grasping, and unprincipled than the average -Grand Vizir:[239] he was only more consistent. His iniquities, -historically viewed, are but a memorable instance of the misery -which it was in the power of a Turkish Prime Minister to inflict. -But men who smarted under his lash could not be expected to see -current events in the proportions in which, after the lapse of -centuries, they appear to the philosophic historian. “These -things,” says Finch, “will appear to others as they doe to me my -selfe incredible.” He consoles himself, however, by reflecting that -“_Res nolunt male administrari_--Things mend themselves when they -become insupportable.” - -Sir John based his hopes of a “mending” on France. A new French -Ambassador, M. de Guilleragues, had arrived in the autumn of -1679, with instructions to demand redress for all the wrongs -which M. de Nointel had failed to prevent: restoration of the -Holy Sepulchre to the Latin Fathers; exemption from the poll-tax -for Frenchmen married to country-born women; and, above all, -restitution of the Stool upon the Soffah. He was understood to be -a man of determination, and he had shown the spirit in which he -meant to approach the Porte on his very arrival by refusing to -salute the Seraglio as he sailed into the Golden Horn, or to suffer -his men-of-war to be searched before they left. In the treatment -that awaited M. de Guilleragues the other foreign Ministers would -read their own fate. They could not hope, as Finch said, to fare -better than the envoy of France, seeing that he possessed two great -advantages over everybody else: a large quantity of new presents, -and a number of French renegades in high places about the Vizir. -Would his advent make the clouds grow lighter, the thunders roll -away, and the horizon at length clear up? - -The Turks had let the French men-of-war depart -unsearched--carrying, it was said, seventy fugitive slaves with -them--and otherwise had given the Frenchman a much more respectful -reception than the new Venetian and Genoese envoys. This was a -good omen; but nothing could be predicted with certainty until M. -de Guilleragues had his audience--that would be the real test. -Sir John awaited that crucial event with keen interest: but the -months passed, and the audience did not take place. As far as he -could learn from the Ambassador’s own mouth, as well as from other -sources, M. de Guilleragues was making no progress. Kara Mustafa -had positively refused to move the Stool: whereupon the Ambassador -had refused audience, averring that he must wait for fresh orders -from his King. “How this matter will end,” Finch wrote on the 1st -of March 1680, “I know not.” - -Meanwhile his friend and partner in many good and evil days had -left in the vessel that had brought out his successor, making -the third colleague gone during the year. Ruined in pocket and -reputation, Nointel must still have been an object of envy to -Finch: he had, at all events, reached the end of his martyrdom: he -was gone home--to Christendom, to civilisation, where Grand Vizirs -raged not, nor were gentlemen treated like galley-slaves. Another -person, even nearer to Finch, was also just gone: the Honourable -Dudley North. He went not ruined in pocket and reputation like -Nointel: far from it. He went to enjoy at home, according to plan, -the wealth he had piled up abroad, while his brother carried on the -prosperous business at Constantinople. North was the third English -associate to vanish from Sir John’s circle since the accession of -Kara Mustafa. Mr. Paul Rycaut, after seventeen years’ residence in -the East, had found himself suddenly “affected with a passionate -desire of seeing my owne country,” and forthwith “signifyed as much -to the Levant Company, desiring them to send me their favourable -dismission, and to supply this office with another Consul.”[240] He -retired with the consent of his employers, who expressed their high -appreciation of his services. The Rev. John Covel had also resigned -his engagement with the Levant Company and “left Stambul, which, -for many reasons, I may well liken to the prison of my mother’s -belly.”[241] - -Lucky, indeed, were all those who could leave a land in which life -had become so hard. But Sir John himself would not now be very -long. His six years’ contract had expired, and he had informed -the Levant Company that he cherished no wish to renew it--nor, -we may easily surmise from many hints, was the Company reluctant -to dispense with his services. All that he waited for was the -appointment of a successor. As to another post, he had put himself -in the hands of his brother, the Lord Chancellor, and would -acquiesce in whatever was done for him: any seat would be a seat of -roses after Stambul.[242] - -The waiting was not now so irksome to Sir John as it would have -been a year or two ago. It is true that in one of his despatches -there occurs a passage tinged with pessimism: “I must,” he wrote -towards the end of 1679, “committ all to the Protection of the -Almighty, and God direct me in these difficult times in the -carrying on His Majesty’s concerns in the commerce of His subjects, -which is at this time greater then ever in this place, and by -consequence more envious and more exposd.”[243] But this was only -a passing mood. In the same despatch he thanked God for not being -“strooke” by Kara Mustafa’s thunder; and some months later we -even detect in his tone an optimism to which he had long been a -stranger: “As to _my_ condition here, I must needs say, that I -loose no ground as to the Publick Interest, but advance”[244]--we -seem to hear again the complacent, self-satisfied Finch of the -pre-Mustafa period. And then, all of a sudden, we hear him asking -the Secretary of State to guess how he is “tossd’” by “the present -tempestuous Goverment in Turky.” - -What had happened? - -The curious will find it in the next chapter. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[230] Finch to Coventry, June 17-27, 1679. - -[231] _Ibid._ - -[232] The Same to the Same, March 4-14, 1679-80. - -[233] The Same to the Same, Jan. 3-13, 1679-80. - -[234] The Same to the Same, Dec. 12-22, 1679. - -[235] The Same to the Same, March 1-11, 1679-80. - -[236] The Same to the Same, Dec. 12-22, 1679. - -[237] The Same to the Same, June 17-27, 1679. For details about the -treatment of the Princes of Moldavia and Wallachia see Hammer, vol -xii. p. 41. - -[238] _Un diable incarné_ is the French Ambassador’s verdict, -supported by a great many counts which are absent from Sir John’s -indictment. See Vandal’s _Nointel_, pp. 225, foll. - -[239] Let one example suffice for many. In 1620 Sir Thomas Roe -tersely described the Grand Vizir of his day as “the veriest -villaine that ever lived.” _Negotiations_, p. 61. - -[240] Rycaut to Coventry, April 18, 1677, _Coventry Papers_. The -Same to Williamson, same date; the Same to the King (undated), -_S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[241] _Diaries_, p. 282. - -[242] Baines to Covel, in _Finch and Baines_, p. 70. - -[243] Finch to Coventry, Dec. 12-22, 1679. - -[244] The Same to the Same, March 1-11, 1679-80. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE PRICE OF PARCHMENT - - -Whenever Sir John thought of his miscarriage over the Soffah--and -hardly a day passed without his thinking of that melancholy -event--he comforted himself with the reflection that he was the -last of all the European Ministers to submit.[245] By holding out -longer than the others, he believed that he had gained the respect -of the Turks, including that of Kara Mustafa.[246] Hence his -comparative quiet amidst the general turmoil. This, however, was -but a fancy--one of those pleasing fancies with which we all try to -minimise in our own eyes the importance of a thing we are sorry or -ashamed to have done. It cannot be questioned that, last or first, -by submitting to the Grand Vizir’s caprice Sir John had lost caste -among the Turks. An ambassador who once endured an affront at their -hands patiently could not expect the Turks to respect him ever -afterwards. He could only expect them to trespass further on his -patience; “for certainly,” as our sensible Rycaut remarks, “Turks -of all Nations in the World are most apt to crush and trample on -those that lie under their feet.”[247] - -Moreover, there were certain little foibles about Sir John that did -not tend to enhance his prestige in Stambul. Such was his habit of -speaking too much. His interminable discourses, with their frequent -repetitions, were calculated to inspire a very poor opinion of his -understanding in a people which held more obstinately than any -other the superstition that silence is golden. Such also was his -habit of going about in a sedan chair. He had brought out with him -two of these ornamental boxes, one for himself and one for Sir -Thomas Baines; and he used to be carried to and fro, instead of -riding on horseback. This he did, according to Baines,[248] partly -because his country-house was not above half-a-mile from his town -residence, partly because his friend was, by reason of his stone, -unable to ride, and Finch would not stir a yard without him; but -chiefly, if the truth must be told, because he was no horseman. To -ordinary Turks our Ambassador’s mode of locomotion appeared a vile -effeminacy unbecoming a man: a man, they said, should ride a horse -and not be carried in a cradle like a baby.[249] To Kara Mustafa it -not only appeared unbecoming, which would have simply excited the -Grand Vizir’s derision, but it also savoured of presumption, which -aroused the Grand Vizir’s wrath. Once he spoke of ordering his -chaoushes “to break that cage on his [Sir John’s] head.”[250] - -In the circumstances, it is rather a wonder that our Ambassador -had managed to “maintain all the Capitulations inviolable” so long. -But it was not in the nature of things that he should maintain -them much longer. All that Kara Mustafa waited for to let loose -the forces of his “tempestuous Goverment” fully upon him was an -occasion. It presented itself in the summer of 1680, and from that -date on there was no more peace for our hapless pilot: nothing but -the roar of rushing winds, the awful sight of foam-crested billows. -We see him tossed about at the mercy of the elements, now defiant, -now despairing, always anxious to do his very utmost for the ship -confided to him, with or without hope, till the very end. - -The trouble once again originated at Smyrna. A local Jew had pawned -to a member of the English Factory some goods--part merchandise -and part wearing apparel and jewels--which, as he was unable to -redeem them, were in time eaten up by interest. By and by the -Englishman went home, leaving his affairs in the hands of two -other merchants, his Assigns; and the Jew, who in the interval -had been reduced to the verge of starvation, thinking that if he -made noise enough and put in a claim large enough, he would be -sure to get something, lodged with the Cadi of Smyrna a complaint -against them. An ill-founded complaint perhaps; but we, at this -distance of time, have no means of judging. With whatever mental -reservations, we must needs tell the story as it has come down to -us.[251] Unsuccessful at Smyrna, the Jew carried his grievance up -to Constantinople and threw himself at the Grand Vizir’s feet -with horrid cries, praying to be rescued from the claws of those -English harpies. Kara Mustafa was only too ready to believe any -charge brought against a Frank, and never denied his sympathy to -the oppressed if he saw a chance of turning compassion into current -coin. So the two Englishmen were promptly summoned to appear before -the Divan. - -Sir John, who had consistently protested against these frequent -summonings of English factors from their business,[252] could -do no less than lend them such protection as the Capitulations -afforded. The defendants, knowing that the Jew relied entirely upon -witnesses, thought to cut the ground from under him by appealing -to an Article in the Capitulations which provided that no evidence -should be valid against a Frank unless supported by a _Hoggiet_, or -written statement made in the presence of a Dragoman. This Article -had on many occasions proved useful in inferior courts and even, -several times, in the Grand Vizir’s tribunal itself, when the Grand -Vizir happened to be favourably inclined to the defendants. But -at other times even the best Vizirs had declared that the Article -was intended only for inferior courts and that the Vizir looked -upon himself as being above the Capitulations, were they never so -precise. - -To understand the position we must clear our minds of the -suggestion which the word “treaty” naturally produces: it implies a -totally false conception of the relations between the parties. The -Capitulations were not “treaties” in the ordinary meaning of the -word. They were mere concessions made by the Grand Signor, for the -sake of his revenues, to wretched Giaours in need of trade. As such -they depended for their duration on his pleasure, and for their -interpretation on the ingenuity or candour of his Ministers. For -that reason ambassadors who knew their business--who knew, that is, -the spirit of their environment--urged the Capitulations as seldom -as possible, never entered into litigation on their basis, if they -could avoid it, and suffered a small injury to pass unnoticed -rather than bring it before the supreme tribunal. The English, -perfectly aware of these conditions, never cited the Capitulations -except when they were assured beforehand that the citation would be -received favourably. - -Sir John could not plead ignorance of these conditions. Some four -years before he had had an object lesson on this very point. In -1676 the Genoese Resident Spinola had tried to swindle a Greek out -of a sum of money, and on the matter being brought up to the Divan, -had tried to screen himself behind that Article. Ahmed Kuprili -was so angry to see a privilege granted to foreigners for their -protection used by them for the spoliation of the Grand Signor’s -subjects that he not only forced Spinola to an adjustment with the -plaintiff, but shortly afterwards condemned the Dutch Cancellier -also to pay a debt on the bare testimony of witnesses. Finch, -considering this procedure “a thing of pernicious consequence” to -all Franks, had done all he could to get the sentence against the -Dutchman reversed, but with little success.[253] If such was the -attitude of Ahmed Kuprili, what might be expected from a Vizir -who, in Finch’s own words, declared Capitulations to be “like a -peice of wett parchment that may be stretchd’ any way”? Yet, in -the present case, forgetting his experience, Sir John did a most -reckless thing. - -Although utterly lacking any assurance of a favourable reception, -though, in fact, having every reason to anticipate the opposite, -he caused the Capitulations to be produced in Court. Whereupon the -Grand Vizir ordered them to be left with him, that he might study -that interesting article at leisure. - -It was not long before the folly of his action became manifest to -our Ambassador. When he asked to have the Charter back, he was told -that the Grand Vizir perceived in it many things which he supposed -had been obtained in former times by corruption, without the Grand -Signor’s knowledge: he intended to show it to the Grand Signor and -learn his pleasure in the matter. - -Sir John listened with blank dismay: “His Majesty’s Capitulations -thrice sworn to and subscribd’ by this present Gran Signor,” -the Capitulations which had cost him so much “care, paynes, and -hazard,” to say nothing of gold and silver and Florence wines--in -the hands of Kara Mustafa! And that, too, “at a time when, -besides the great estate wee had allready in the country, wee -had the accession of 300,000 Dollars in ready mony, and above -three millions of Dollars in effects by our Generall Ships which -arrivd’ in this conjuncture.”[254] It was a prospect to shudder at. -Something ought to be done, and done quickly--before Kara Mustafa -should work some great mischief. But what? Before doing anything we -must find out what the Vizir’s aim is. - -Overtures were made to the Vizir’s underlings--his Jewish man of -business acting as a go-between; and it was found that his aim -was--money. How much? Fifteen thousand for the Capitulations, and -three thousand for the claim against the Smyrna merchant: in all, -18,000 dollars. A big sum; but not too big for the emergency. With -all its limitations, the Charter constituted the only safeguard -of our estates and persons. Even in the worst of times, when the -most cruel and covetous Ministers had governed, we had always fled -to that Charter, as to a stronghold; and, though it had sometimes -been assaulted and shaken, yet it had never failed to afford us -some shelter. Without it we were lost. That was the plain fact of -the matter, and however much it might be embroidered by diplomatic -phraseology it remained fundamental. Sir John had to choose between -a course which wounded his pride and a course which imperilled the -existence of the English colony: he preferred the former. So the -sum was paid, and the Capitulations were restored by the Grand -Vizir “at a publick Court, in presence of all the Bassàs.”[255] - -This was a master-stroke of Kara Mustafa’s--it threw into the shade -the turpitude of any previous Vizir. No Vizir had ever before -thought of such a thing. No Vizir had ever before ventured to flout -the dignity of the King of England in such a way, or to put the -Grand Signor’s faith up for sale. It was nothing less than holding -the whole English Nation, with its Ambassador and its Consuls, to -ransom: an achievement without example. - -Having discovered that a European nation could be held to ransom, -Kara Mustafa hastened to exploit his discovery for all it was -worth. After the English came the turn of the Dutch; and in their -case the Vizir’s rapacity was aggravated by the brutality that -arose from the violence of his temper. A private lawsuit here also -supplied the occasion. M. de Broesses, the principal Dutch merchant -at Constantinople, who besides was Secretary to the Minister of -Holland commissioned direct from the States and had formerly -been Resident at the Porte, sued a Greek for a debt before the -Divan. The Grand Vizir, after listening to his claim, said that it -appeared to be a false demand. “Sir,” replied the Dutchman, “we -Franks use not to make false demands.” Taking this as a reflection -on the Turks, Kara Mustafa in an access of fury, ordered him to be -laid down and drubbed in sight of the Divan. M. de Broesses had -184 blows upon his bare feet out of the 300 to which he had been -condemned, and was carried home in a critical condition. “The poor -man is in danger of being crippled all his life, his feet since his -recovery being twice opend’,” wrote Finch at the time; but it seems -that he never really recovered, and his death, which occurred soon -after, was attributed to this cruel punishment.[256] - -Presently (August 13th) the Dutch Capitulations were taken away, -not by sleight of hand, as the English had been, but by an express -command from the Vizir. Nor was it alleged as an excuse for their -detention that they contained anything contrary to Moslem Law or -detrimental to the Grand Signor’s Exchequer. Kara Mustafa no longer -thought it necessary to cover his tyranny under an appearance of -law. When the Dutch Dragoman asked why they were detained, the -Vizir’s Kehayah bluntly answered: “You infidel dog, do not you eat -the Grand Signor’s air, and will you contribute nothing to him?” -The Minister of Holland proceeded to negotiate through the Vizir’s -Jew, as Finch had done; and it was not without some satisfaction -that the latter heard from the Jew that the ransom would be at -least double of what he himself had paid: “but as to this point,” -he comments, “wee have but a Jew’s word for it.” He need not have -been so sceptical. Kara Mustafa’s dragon-appetite grew in eating. -The Dutch Minister, Justinus Collyer, unable to protect his people -ashore, endeavoured at least to save their property afloat, and -kept their General ships, which arrived at that moment, outside the -Castles of Smyrna, declaring that he would not let them come in, -until his Capitulations were restored. But Kara Mustafa possessed -other means of persuasion. He threatened Collyer with the Seven -Towers and similar severities; and Collyer, with the example of -his Secretary before him, had no need to be told that the Vizir -threatened not in vain. So, after holding out for nearly two -months, at last, anxious for peace and persuaded that peace could -be obtained only in one way, he ordered the ships to come in; -and immediately got his Capitulations back on payment of 40,000 -dollars.[257] - -Such was Kara Mustafa’s fiscal system. So well did this gifted -statesman know how to levy tribute on foreign envoys; and those -envoys, instead of joining forces against the common oppressor, -invited his depredations by their insane dissensions. - -The imbecility of these diplomats and their pettiness never -showed in a worse light than at the present conjuncture, the hour -of extremest danger for all of them. As our Ambassador played a -prominent part in this suicidal squabble he may be allowed to give -his own account of it: - -“I read in Our printed Gazettes, That the Resident of Holland -here, complaining to His Masters that the Ambassadours of France -and Venice would not return his visits, they thought fitt to -change His Title from Resident into that of Ambassadour. Though my -name is left out in the Print, yet there was more reason perhaps -to have inserted It then that of the others.” He proceeds to -demonstrate that he amply deserved the fame which the newspapers -had so unaccountably refused him. “During the Warr between France -and the States, the Dutch Resident made me constantly two visits -for one, as He did likewise to my Predecessours; and is the style -of all Residents towards Ambassadours in this place: But no sooner -was the Peace made with France, but that the Dutch Resident gave -me to understand that He expected Visit for Visit. My answer was, -That the King my Master’s Ambassadour was never a jot the lesse for -the Peace, nor the States Resident the greater: And so wee passd’ -without visiting each other.” There followed a similar estrangement -between the Dutchman and the representatives of France and -Venice, so that, when Collyer announced to them his promotion to -Ambassadorial rank, all three refused to acknowledge him, alleging -that it was neither honourable nor safe for them to do so till the -Porte had received him as such; and some of them (Finch says it -was not he) had the meanness to inform the Porte of the intrigue. -Nothing could be more pleasing to Kara Mustafa than discord among -his victims. He hastened to foment it by forbidding them to -recognise the Dutchman as Ambassador, and to turn it to account in -his characteristic fashion. When Collyer spoke to him about his new -Commission, the Vizir said, “Where are then the Letters of Credence -to me, and the accustomed presents?” Collyer replied that they were -both on the way. “Well,” said the Vizir, “when they arrive, we -will talk further of the matter,” and cut the audience short. The -visitor gone, he sent for the Register to find out what presents he -was supposed to be entitled to. He found that Cornelius Haghen, who -had originally made the Dutch Capitulations, gave presents to the -value of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars; and to fix this -claim more firmly, the very same night he despatched his Dragoman, -Dr. Mavrocordato, to take possession of Collyer’s Commission.[258] - -Meanwhile the party in England which called for closer relations -with Holland had temporarily gained the ascendant, and, in -obedience to instructions from home, Sir John would fain support -her representative now. But it was too late. The utmost he could -do was to send Collyer his compliments privately, and to explain -to him the reasons why he dared not do more: by this time himself -stood in a “Ticklish condition” (such is his expression) with the -Porte again. - -“Ticklish,” indeed, was hardly the word for it. Had Finch foreseen -all that lay in front of him, he would probably have described his -condition as “Tragick.” - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[245] “To my dayly comfort I was the last of all the Christian -Ministers that submitted.”--Finch to Coventry, March 1-11, 1679-80. - -[246] “I am fully perswaded that in the Turkes’ judgment, nay, that -of the Visir himselfe, I am a gainer every way.”--The Same to the -Same, Sept 2-12, 1678. - -[247] _Present State_, p. 168. - -[248] Baines to Conway, June 1-11, 1677, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[249] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 124-5. Oddly enough, Sir John -himself tells a similar anecdote at the expense of the Polish -Ambassador: Finch to Coventry, Nov. 29, S.V. 1677. If we could but -see ourselves as we see others! - -[250] Vandal’s _Nointel_, p. 227. - -[251] Owing to a gap in the Ambassador’s correspondence and to -the absence from the scene of our candid Treasurer, much of what -follows rests on the authority of North’s second-hand reports -(see _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 90-92) and of a Narrative which -the Levant Company submitted to the King (_Register, S.P. Levant -Company_, 145), both sources in sad need of critical scrutiny. - -[252] A parallel case, between an Englishman and a Greek of Smyrna, -had just elicited such a protest. See Finch to Coventry, March -1-11, 1679-80. - -[253] Finch to Coventry, Aug. 4-14, Aug. 29/Sept. 8, 1676. - -[254] Finch to Sir Leoline Jenkins, Aug. 21-31, 1680, _S.P. -Turkey_, 19. - -[255] _Ibid._ - -[256] _Ibid._ Cp. _Life of Dudley North_, p. 100. - -[257] Finch to Jenkins, _loc. cit._; the Same to Sunderland, Nov. -6-16, 1680, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[258] Finch to Jenkins, Aug. 21-31; the Same to Sunderland, Nov. -6-16. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -SIR JOHN’S “TICKLISH CONDITION” - - -Our Ambassador bad every right to expect that the ransom he had -paid down would be accepted by Kara Mustafa as a price of immunity -from persecution for the remainder of his sojourn in Turkey. But it -was not to be. Kara Mustafa had in store for him another tempest--a -tempest beside which all those he had outlived might seem as spells -of fine weather. It arose, by a singular irony, out of the very -event which had once filled him with so much pride and so many -hopes of a serene and prosperous career at the Ottoman Court. - -It will be remembered that the late Grand Vizir had relieved Finch -from the importunities of the Pasha of Tunis by sending that worthy -to a Governorship in the utmost confines of Arabia--somewhere -beyond Egypt--near Ethiopia: nobody exactly knew where, but -everybody earnestly hoped that, wherever his place of honourable -exile was, he would never quit it. Finch, as we know, had not -forgotten him: every now and again, in moments of depression, -thoughts of the Pasha forced themselves upon his mind; and these -apprehensions, once vague, had become particularly vivid of late. - -The thing which Sir John feared came to pass at last. - -Towards the end of June 1680 the Pasha returned to Constantinople -with his grievance, which, carefully nursed in the tropical climate -of his residence, had grown to gigantic dimensions. In 1674 he had -simply desired that the Ambassador should procure restitution of -his remaining goods from the corsair. Now he demands them from him. -Moreover, now he alleges his loss to be far greater than he had -represented it before, and, indeed, greater than it could possibly -be. - -He began by applying to the Vizir’s Kehayah, to the Rais Effendi, -and to the Chaoush-bashi. Sir John sent to them a Dragoman who -set forth his case, relating all that he had done for the Pasha -in Italy and Malta out of sheer courtesy. The Ministers appeared -fully convinced, and Finch thought that the story had ended; -but it was only beginning. The plaintiff, disappointed with the -result of his first step, addressed himself directly to the Vizir, -who appointed the same three officers to hear the Pasha and the -Ambassador face to face, and to report to him. Finch confronted -the Pasha accordingly; the plaintiff’s demands and his own defence -were heard, and, to all seeming, the case went wholly as he wished: -the Rais Effendi undertook to obtain a favourable verdict from the -Vizir for a trifle of two purses, that is, a thousand dollars, -which sum was promised to be paid when sentence had been issued. -On receipt of the report, the Vizir, as was anticipated, announced -that he must take cognisance of the cause himself, and summoned -both parties to appear before his tribunal. - -Friday, September 3rd, Sir John goes to the Divan, and finds the -Grand Vizir seated on the bench with the two Cadileskers, or Chief -Justices of Europe and Asia. All the great Ministers of the Porte -are also present. Kara Mustafa opens the proceedings by bidding -the Pasha produce the list of his losses, and saying that, if the -plaintiff can prove his claim, he will find him a paymaster and -clap up the Ambassador in the Seven Towers. The list is produced -and read out: it amounts to 700 purses, or 350,000 dollars! The -reading over, Finch asks: “Who has taken all those goods?” “The -Corsair,” answers the Pasha. “He that has taken them, let him -restore them”--a good retort; but it does not seem to please the -Grand Vizir. - -“Ambassador,” he breaks in sharply, “you and all other ambassadors -are sent hither by your respective princes to answer for the lives -and estates of all Mussulmans all over the world that are endamaged -or suffer by your respective subjects, and you are here a hostage -to answer for all damage done by Englishmen all over the world.” - -Sir John, “knowing how subitaneous the Visir is in all his motions -and not judging it prudent to provoke him at first,” would fain -decline a direct answer to that strange doctrine--strange, yet, -from the Turkish point of view, perfectly orthodox. But as Kara -Mustafa, with great heat, calls for an answer, he replies: - -“The Gran Signor is a Great Emperour and yet He cannot secure His -ships from Gran Cairo from the Corsaros, nor His Caravans by land -from the Arabians, both being often robbed. Neither can my Master -secure His own subjects or the Gran Signor’s from pirates; for none -but God Almighty could doe it.” - -This soft answer turned away the Vizir’s wrath, and the case went -on. - -Finch pleads that he is not in the least concerned in the Pasha’s -losses, seeing that the ship from which his goods were taken was -no English ship, and the captain, a renegade of his country and -religion settled and married at Leghorn, was the Great Duke’s -subject. But even supposing, for the sake of argument, that he -were concerned? Here is the discharge by which the Pasha’s own -Procurator released Captain Chaplyn and all Englishmen from any -liability in the matter. - -How that discharge had been obtained we know already; also the -statement that the _Mediterranean_ was no English ship was less -accurate than we could have wished. But Sir John is here to defend -a case, not to speak the truth; and, it must be owned, he defends -it as one to the manner born. Unfortunately, the Grand Vizir has no -taste for dialectics. A Turk had come to grief whilst travelling -under the English flag, and the English Nation was bound to -indemnify him: that is the sum and substance of the whole matter, -in accordance with the traditional Turkish view[259]--a view to -which, in the present instance, the English Government appeared -to lend colour by recovering part of the Pasha’s property: if -part, why not the whole? Finch, too, by dwelling on the point of -the ship’s and captain’s nationality, did he not implicitly admit -the validity of that view? Therefore, the Vizir, breaks into the -argument by ordering the Ambassador to write to his King to cause -full restitution of the Pasha’s goods. Sir John answers that what -His Majesty had already done was done out of kindness and not from -any obligation; it would be useless to trouble His Majesty. But -Kara Mustafa insists with so much vehemence that Sir John has to -say, if His Excellency so commands, he will write, though nothing -can come of it, as it is impossible to find what pirates and -thieves have stolen. The Vizir presses the matter no further, and -the case goes on. - -The Pasha denies that the Aga in question was his Procurator. Finch -produces a document under the Pasha’s own hand and seal, drawn up -at Constantinople before a Cadi, in which he recognised him as -such. This unexpected stroke disconcerts the Pasha, but it does not -disarm him. Changing his ground, he denies that he has received -any of the goods recovered at Leghorn or Malta. Finch produces the -receipt which the Pasha had given to his Aga. Unabashed, the Pasha -changes his ground again and alleges that the English Consul at -Tunis had given him a _Hoggiet_, guaranteeing the property laden on -Captain Chaplyn’s ship: but for that guarantee, he says, he would -have gone overland. Finch replies, First, that the Barbary Coast -is not under his jurisdiction and therefore the Consul must answer -for himself; Secondly, that, even if the Consul were under him, -an inferior could not bind his superior, any more than any Pasha -in the Empire could bind the Grand Vizir; Lastly, that he cannot -believe that any Consul of His Majesty’s would become surety. -Therefore he asks to see the _Hoggiet_. The Pasha says that it was -taken from him with the rest of his property. Finch retorts that a -document of such importance could easily have been carried about -him, and that, though he is not concerned in the loss of his gold -and jewels, yet it is probable he has lost neither, since he had -time to carry out of the ship five boatloads of goods before the -Corsair came up with the _Mediterranean_, and men do not usually -leave gold and jewels to the last. This the Pasha does not deny; -but changes his ground once more by denouncing the Captain. Finch -replies that, although he is not answerable for the Captain, yet -he had brought him along with him to answer for himself: Captain -Chaplyn had stayed at Smyrna seven months, and the Pasha’s -Procurator had given him, before a Cadi, a certificate of good -conduct. - -At this point the Cadilesker who was to pronounce judgment began -to write down his verdict. But the Vizir stopped him, saying -that the case could not be decided at one hearing. Finch “much -misliked” this; but, of course, he could do nothing. So the case -was adjourned. - -In spite of that ominous move, the Ambassador left the Court not -without hopes: both the Cadileskers had throughout declared for -him, and the Vizir had distributed his thunders pretty evenly -between the litigants. He was not, however, allowed to continue in -this hopeful state of mind long. Next day, the Vizir’s Kehayah and -Rais Effendi sent for his Dragoman and told him that a very large -sum was demanded from the Ambassador: the Pasha, who governed Tunis -during an insurrection, had raised his great fortune by plundering -rebels and, in addition, had given the whole of it to the Grand -Signor: therefore, the Vizir would expect a good deal to rid him -of this claim. Sir John’s answer was that “he could as a gentleman -thank his friends, but could not as an Ambassador treat by way of -contract for an asper.” This brought a milder demand: 15 purses for -the Vizir and 7 for the other Ministers--altogether 11,000 dollars. - -To those who made it, this demand no doubt appeared moderate, -considering the amount of the claim involved; but our Ambassador -thought it monstrous, considering that the claim was nothing but -a false pretence. Besides, would compliance really free him from -further molestation? Sir John did not believe it would. He knew -the Turks too well by now, and simply looked upon these overtures -as a new example of “their old way of inviting a man to treat -and then screwing him up to what they please.” So he returned a -categorical answer in writing to the effect that he was in no way -to blame; he had not only a most just cause, but also a cause -full of merit; that this suit was directed against the King his -master, the merchants being not in the least concerned in it, and -that, consequently, he could not treat for a single asper; but to -those who should free him from this injurious pretension, when -the business was done, he could and would show his gratitude. -“So,” he concluded, “remitting my selfe to the justice of the Gran -Visir, I implore the Divine Protection, and shall acquiesce in His -Holy Will, happen what will.” In answer to this, the Kehayah sent -Finch word that he should repent his rejection of the proposed -adjustment.[260] - -That, indeed, was the opinion of the English merchants, too. So -far from not being in the least concerned in the matter, they were -terribly interested, and warned the Ambassador that, if the Vizir’s -mouth was not stopped at once, they might have to pay very heavily -in the end. Some even reproached him for driving the Company to a -dangerous precipice. But the Ambassador, having been censured by -the Company for his other adjustments, was this time determined to -stand firm at all hazards and let Kara Mustafa do his worst.[261] - -Some twenty-four days passed, and then the Vizir’s Jew came to -inform Sir John “with many threats intermingled” of the resolution -taken at the Porte--that he should enter into negotiations for -an agreement. Sir John referred the emissary to his former -declaration, adding that, far from seeing any reason to recede from -it, he must confirm and ratify it again, “and the rather because -since the writing I had receivd positive orders from England not to -enter into any contract”--he could not make one step further: the -Vizir “might doe what he pleasd.” “Thus,” he reported on September -29th, “stands this case, either victory or imprisonment of my -person is like to be the result of it.”[262] - -It is impossible to contemplate without admiration the intrepidity -with which Finch faced the alternative before him. Happen what -might, he had decided to hold out, and the only effect which the -expostulations of the English and the threats of the Turks produced -on his decision was to strengthen it. Courage, as we have seen, -was by no means a conspicuous feature of Sir John’s character; yet -on this occasion he displayed all the steadfastness of a hardened -fighter. He would not let the Turks lure or intimidate him on to -ground which no Ambassador could consent to occupy without grave -detriment to the interests confided to him. The question was vital -“not onely in regard of the Great Summe which under all the -variety of demands is at the lowest very high: but in regard it is -a Precedent of pernicious consequence to Our Commerce, so long as -this Visir livs.”[263] - -Kara Mustafa’s choler at this calm defiance is not inconceivable. -It behoved him to teach the English, as he had taught other -Giaours, what they got by defying his thunder. You refused all -terms of peace? You shall have war. - -On October 1st the Ambassador was once more summoned before the -Grand Vizir’s tribunal--to plead the same cause for the third and -last time. He went, accompanied by five of the leading English -merchants and his Dragomans. What his emotions were as he went we -know from his own mouth. Victory or imprisonment, he had said, with -a certain glow of internal pride--like that of a resolute pilot -amid the piled tempests. But Sir John was not either a hero or a -martyr by nature: he was merely a man with a sense of duty--which -does not exclude other senses. With perfect frankness he confesses -that “When I went to the Tryall, accompanyd’ onely with five of -the chief of the Factory, wee all, and our Druggermen too, had -apprehensions of imprisonment.” - -The manner in which the proceedings were conducted was not -calculated to reassure the defendants. The Pasha’s claim had in -the interval risen to the colossal figure of 1000 purses, that -is, half-a-million dollars: so much for this, so much for that. -He went on specifying the various items, until the Grand Vizir -himself ordered him to stop--he had heard enough. Then turning -to the Ambassador, he asked for his answer. Sir John’s answer -was the same as before: a flat denial of responsibility, backed -with the familiar arguments. But how poor is the eloquence of him -who advocates a cause which we disapprove: how inadmissible his -statements, how unconvincing his reasons! Kara Mustafa, who had put -on his most thunderous look for the occasion, overruled everything -that might be said for the defence with such truculence, that -“when wee saw how prodigiously things were carry’d against us, wee -thought imprisonment unavoidable”--we already saw ourselves in the -cell of the condemned.... - -In this fearful emergency Sir John had an inspiration--one of -those inspirations that panic sometimes begets. It occurred to him -suddenly to beg for time to write home for instructions. Contrary -to his own expectation, Kara Mustafa agreed to suspend proceedings -till the end of February--five months being necessary for an -interchange of communications between Constantinople and London. -This prompt assent could easily be accounted for. In Turkey a -request for time was commonly understood to be equivalent to a hint -that the party had a mind to come to terms.[264] Certainly so the -Grand Vizir understood it, though Sir John, far from suspecting the -construction put upon his words, congratulated himself upon his -strategy. “Had I not thus prevented the pronouncing of sentence,” -he wrote next morning, “Wee had all not onely bin clapd’ up -in prison, but the estates also of the Levant Company had bin -violently seizd’ till I had complyd’ with the summe.” It was -not, to be sure, an acquittal, but it was the next best thing--a -respite. “Now I must say with the Italian, _chi da tempo, da vita_. -I should think that, when the five moneths are expird’, it would -not be hard to get three moneths more, though I doe not say that -it is to be relyd’ upon for who knows this Visir.” Thus checking -his own elation, he went on to press for his supersession. He -had occupied that thorny seat on the Bosphorus long enough; it -was time that somebody else had his turn. “I believe,” he told -the Secretary of State, “most men will be of opinion that a new -Ambassadour, accompanyd’ with particular orders and fresh Letters -from His Majesty relating to this case, will, in so palpably a just -cause, make the false pretensions of the Bassà of Tunis wholely -vanish.”[265] - -People at home entirely agreed that a new broom was needed to clear -up the mess in Stambul, and steps had already been taken to provide -one. After some discussion on the advisability of sending out an -ambassador at all whilst Kara Mustafa raged in Turkey, the Levant -Merchants, at a Court held on October 3rd, 1679, had decided to -take the risk; six months later they petitioned the King to order -Sir John Finch’s return, so that they might select a successor; -and, having obtained the King’s permission so to do, they took a -ballot on April 22nd, 1680.[266] - -It is a very curious thing that, though the Constantinople Embassy -was a byword for difficulty and even for danger in the diplomatic -world, and though few of its tenants had not, sooner or later, -begged for recall as for an inestimable boon, yet there never -were wanting keen candidates: the pay and perquisites offered an -irresistible attraction, and, apparently, each would-be ambassador -flattered himself that Fortune would prove kinder to him than she -had done to his predecessors. No fewer than eight individuals -(some of whom ought to have known better) were eager to step into -Sir John’s tight shoes. One of these was our friend Paul Rycaut. -As soon as the recall of Finch was decided upon, the ex-Consul, -encouraged by his former chief Lord Winchilsea with assurances that -“neither his person nor endeavours towards this promotion would -be displeasing to his Majesty,” hastened to put in a claim with -the Crown, dwelling on his past services, his qualifications, and -“the knowne loyaltie of his family.” At the same time he canvassed -the Levant Company, which, on his return home, had acknowledged -its obligations to him with a gratuity. Everything tended to make -Rycaut think that “he stood as faire in the nomination as any -person whatsoever.” But suddenly the Earl of Berkeley, Governor of -the Company, put an end to Rycaut’s expectations by announcing that -the King did not wish that any one who had lived in Turkey “under -a lesse degree and qualitie then that of an Ambassadour” should be -chosen.[267] - -Another aspirant was the Hon. Dudley North. He also felt sure that, -with all his experience of Turkey, he would be able to do the -nation better service there than anyone else. But his aspirations -never got beyond the stage of aspirations. Before leaving -Constantinople he had sounded his brothers, and they laughed him -out of the project by telling him that he knew “as little of London -and interest at Court here, as they did of Constantinople and -the Turkish Court there.”[268] This, in fact, was the one fatal -objection to North, as it was to Rycaut. Either of these gentlemen -would have made an ideal envoy at the Porte: no contemporary -Englishman could be compared with either in all the essential -qualifications for the post. But neither stood the slightest -chance; for neither possessed the influence (or, as they said in -those days, the “interest”) without which qualifications then, as -now, were of little account. - -The other six suitors were men of weight in Court and commercial -circles: Sir Thomas Thynne, Mr Thomas Neale, Major Knatchbull, -Sir Phi. Matthewes, Sir Richard Deereham, and Lord Chandos. The -last-named candidate was particularly well furnished with the -qualifications that count. On one hand, he was connected, though -remotely, with the Earl of Berkeley, Governor of the Company, and -on the other, very closely, with Sir Henry Barnard, an influential -Turkey Merchant whose daughter he had married. To these merits -Chandos had just added by taking his freedom of the Company. -Thus amply supported, he made no secret of his hopes to get the -appointment; and the event showed that he was right. In the ballot -mentioned, he was chosen by 72 voices as against the 55 given for -Sir Thomas Thynne. There was some little doubt whether the King -would confirm the choice, for Chandos was one of the “petitioning -lords”--that is, one of the band of politicians who at that time -of extreme party virulence were bitterly hated by the Court and -its adherents for ventilating their views in the form of petitions -addressed to the Crown: a hate which they repaid with generous -interest, the nation being, in fact, divided into “Petitioners” -and their “Abhorrers,” epithets equivalent to those of “Whig” and -“Tory” that were just coming into fashion. Although the King could -not punish these importunate patriots, he was not obliged to show -them any preference. But, in truth, the very argument used to -the disadvantage of Chandos was a very strong one in his favour. -Charles at that particular moment had every reason to conciliate -the popular party. He therefore magnanimously forgave Chandos -his little indiscretion, and before the end of the year 1680 the -Letters which accredited “Our Right Trusty and well belov’d James -Lord Chandos, Baron of Sudely and one of the Peeres of this Our -Kingdome of England” to the Porte, were signed at Whitehall.[269] - -Meanwhile Sir John at Constantinople had enough to keep him busy. -Two days had hardly elapsed since the adjournment of the case, -when he received from Kara Mustafa’s Kehayah a request not to -write to his king, as the Pasha of Tunis would appear against -him no more--the Grand Vizir had freed him wholly from that -suit--wherefore he expected a present commensurate with the service -rendered. This was, of course, the logical sequel to the grant of -time. Kara Mustafa in putting forward his demand was simply asking, -in perfect good faith, for the fulfilment of what he imagined -to be a tacit understanding. Sir John, as we have seen, had -neither understood himself nor had he asked some more experienced -Englishman to enlighten him. So he also in perfect good faith -answered that, as to not writing, he could not oblige the Vizir, -having already done so. As to his being wholly freed, he could -not think himself clear of the Pasha’s pretensions until he had -a formal sentence given in his favour, and a copy of it delivered -to him. Had that been done, the Grand Vizir would not have found -him wanting in due acknowledgments, but, as things stood, he was -far from having any such security. Although he had appealed to the -Capitulations, and to the Pasha’s own acquittances, he had been -overruled on every point; nay, indeed, he had not heard one word in -his favour except from the Cadilesker, who had rejected the Pasha’s -witnesses. In the circumstances, he was “out of all capacity of -answering the Visir’s expectation.” - -The Kehayah, shocked at the Giaour’s perfidy, sent him word -that he would make him, some way or other, pay the sum demanded -thrice over, and drove his Dragomans out of the room with the -coarsest abuse, calling them “infidels” and “dogs.” The wretched -Interpreters fled in dread of being drubbed. Sir John’s feelings on -hearing of this--who could paint them better than he? - -In great amazement, the Ambassador sat down to give an exhaustive -account of what had happened to both Secretaries of State at once, -so that, if the Earl of Sunderland should be too preoccupied, -he might at least secure the attention of Sir Leoline Jenkins. -To Sunderland he writes: “My Lord, affayrs in this Court are -incredible, indicible, nay really inconceivable. What is true -to-day, is not true to-morrow. No promise is strong enough to bind. -No reasons, be they never so cogent, powerfull enough to perswade. -Impetuous passion, accompanyd’ with avarice, over rules all Laws -and Capitulations....”[270] - -The letter to Jenkins is even more pregnant with comments which -depict the writer’s mental condition: “This is the State of things. -I pray Acquaint his Majesty with it, that the Ambassadour here may -be sure not to want Positive Orders and Directions, how to proceed -by the end of February; that being the uttmost Time limited by the -Visir. Nay Truly, The Violence of the Times here is such that I -know not whether they will have Patience with me till the 150 dayes -from the first of October are expired. For it may justly be feard, -That by the Turkish Violence offerd’ to my Person, and to the -Estates of the Kings Subjects under my Protection here, that I may -be compelld’ to doe that, which is abhorrent to the Trust reposd’ -in me, and my own reason. I have twice in Person appeard’ before -this Visir in Publick Divan, a thing that no Publick Minister ever -yet durst doe under this Visir, though His Prince was attacqud’. -In these Appearances I may modestly say, I usd’ some resolution -even when the Visir expressd’ much anger: I gott from Him 150 dayes -respite, which I believe He now repents to have granted, thinking -that all Ministers will from this Precedent, make the like plea -when any demands are made upon them.” - -He had written thus far when the Dragomans whom he had sent to -the Porte about the present, given in accordance with the usual -etiquette by all ambassadors at the Bairam, returned and told -him that the Kehayah had said curtly, They had no need of his -presents. If a Turk’s demand for bakshish was disturbing, his -refusal of bakshish was terrifying. It was an act which, as the -poor Ambassador added in his despatch, “every one that knows -Turky, knows how to interpret.” It meant the Seven Towers. At the -best that Ottoman Bastille was a miserable gaol, and even robust -ambassadors had been known to contract in it mortal diseases. Sir -John was anything but robust. The possibility that at any moment he -might find himself shut up in that hideous prison--his body wasting -away with sickness and his soul withering with hope of deliverance -deferred--was more than he could bear. He closed his despatch with -a heart-rending cry, which seems still to ring in the reader’s -ear across the gulf of the dead centuries: “God Almighty protect -me!”[271] - -Shortly afterwards the Grand Signor left for Adrianople, followed -by the Grand Vizir and his Kehayah, whose parting words to Sir -John’s Dragoman were: “Let your Ambassador vaunt that he has -outwitted us.” Outwitted them! when? how? Incredible though it -will sound, Sir John even now has no inkling of the tragedy of -cross-purposes in which he has entangled himself: so utterly out of -touch, after seven years’ residence in Turkey, he remains not only -with the Turks and their ways, but also with his own countrymen. -Any factor at Galata could have solved the riddle for him; his -Dragomans likewise. But Sir John is too aloof to ask them for a -solution, and they do not volunteer one, because obviously they -think that he has, indeed, outwitted the Vizir. Thus, while the -world about him admires his astuteness, Sir John dolefully wonders -what the meaning of that cryptic utterance may be. “I am apt to -believe,” he repeats, “that the Visir was surprisd’ in granting me -5 moneths time; Upon second thoughts imagining that all Ministers -would, upon all demands, from this Precedent, recurr to the same -Expedient, which made the Kehaiah tell my Druggerman when he -parted, in anger, Let your Ambassadour vaunt that he has outwitted -us.” The more he thinks it over, the more probable does this -explanation appear to Sir John. But, however that may be, “these -things being thus, Wee are not to expect now (what I insinuated in -my first letter as possible) any prorogation of time, but rigorous -Proceeding. In the meantime how they will deal with Me or the -Merchants by their forgery’s and Avanias, God know’s; for the Visir -I fear sayes within Himselfe Who has resisted My Will? But at the -best if His Majesty’s Commands and Directions accompanyd’ with His -Letters to the Visir arrive not by the 27th of February next, The -Ambassadour here will be at a great losse.”[272] - -Sir John casts about for some means of conjuring away the storm he -sees hanging over his head. At length an idea comes to him: those -Bairam presents--true, the Kehayah had rejected them once; but -what if we paid him the respect of sending them a day’s journey -after him, “accompanyd’ with the addition of a rare pendulum, an -excellent gold watch, and a long Perspective glasse”? Surely, such -an act of humility could not fail to soften even an unspeakable -Kehayah’s heart. But alas! the Kehayah is uncajoleable: he -dismisses both the olive branch and the dove that brought it with -contumely. - -The days drag on, and the face of things remains as black as -ever. It is the beginning of November. A month ago Sir John, -buoyed up by his imaginary respite, was proud to feel that he had -“carry’d this case so high”--that he had made good his bit of -resolution--that he was the one mortal who had prevailed, if but -for a short season, against the fiend incarnate. But he does not -feel at all proud now. The disdainful silence of the Porte somehow -cows him more than the vehemence to which he had been subjected -before. He lives trembling at what this silence may portend. -Utterly mystified and profoundly alarmed, he sends one of his -Dragomans to the friendly Hussein Aga “to penetrate into the sense -of the Court.” The Customer, being the last man who took leave of -the Kehayah, would probably know what dark designs lay behind that -cryptic utterance. The Dragoman returned just as Sir John finished -his report. We have the result in a Postscript. Before the emissary -opened his mouth, Hussein of his own accord said that he had -twice spoken to the Kehayah, telling him that the King of England -had suspended commerce with Turkey (he had the news from the -Hollanders) and that now he might as well throw up his office and -shut up the Custom-House, as the English were the only people who -brought any considerable profit to it. That, he said, had made the -Kehayah pause, but had not elicited one word. Next day, he added, -he told the Kislar Aga, or Chief of the Black Eunuchs, the same -thing. He concluded by sending Finch a message to the effect that -he did well to keep up his resolution, for “things at last would -end well.”[273] - -The Customer’s information was correct: the Levant Company -had decided at a General Court to suspend commerce with -Constantinople and Smyrna temporarily, in order to “take from -before the Turks those baits and occasion of temptations which -the vastness of our trade hath of late years administered.” This -resolution they submitted to the King and his Privy Council, for -approval, justifying it by a minute account of “the many grievous -oppressions” which the English merchants and Ambassador “of late -years have sustained and at present labour under in Turkey, by the -corruption of the Vizir Azem and other Turkish officers.”[274] -It was a measure which several times in the past, at periods of -similar stress, had been proposed as the only remedy for Turkish -greed. But it had never yet been tried, with the result that the -Turks, arguing that either the trade was lucrative enough to bear -any amount of squeezing or that the English could not subsist -without it (in the words of a Cromwellian Consul, “that if they -should bore out our eyes to-day, yet we would return to trade with -them again to-morrow”), set no limit to their rapacity. - -It remained to be seen whether the remedy would prove efficacious -now. Certainly the impression which the news of the strike -had made on the Kehayah, “if true,” was encouraging. Also the -Customer’s friendly message was comforting. These things revived -Sir John’s drooping spirits somewhat. But they did not quite -exorcise the anxiety that was gnawing at his heart. At no time -since the Grand Vizir first declared war on him had the hope of -peace seemed more remote. The only consolation Sir John had in his -affliction was the knowledge that he was not the only sufferer. -All his colleagues were in the same ticklish condition. The Dutch -Minister’s difficulties have been described. The Bailo of Venice, -notwithstanding the vast sums Kara Mustafa had already wrung from -him, was faced with a fresh claim on his purse. The Resident of -Genoa likewise groaned under another “avania.” Only the French -Ambassador seemed exempt: though, after a full twelvemonth, he -still continued to refuse audience unless he had it on the Soffah, -nothing, “to all men’s astonishment,” had happened to him: yet -even his position was so precarious that he bitterly repented -having brought his lady and his daughter, an only child, with -him.[275] Sir John noted the troubles of his neighbours with all -the fortitude with which we note other people’s troubles; but, as -the days went by, he was less able to endure his own. - -Thus matters stood till the end of November--when the situation -underwent a sudden change. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[259] See Appendix XV. - -[260] Finch to Jenkins, Sept. 24, 1680, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[261] The Same to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12, 1680; _Life of Dudley -North_, p. 95. - -[262] Finch to Jenkins, Sept. 29. - -[263] The Same to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12. - -[264] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 97. - -[265] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12. - -[266] _Register_ (_S.P. Levant Company_, 145), p. 71; _Hist. MSS. -Com. Seventh Report_, pp. 475, 478. - -[267] “To the King’s most Excellent Majestie: The humble petition -of Paul Ricaut late Consul of Smyrna,” _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[268] _Life of Dudley North_, p. 114. - -[269] _Register_, pp. 95 foll. - -[270] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 8-18. - -[271] The Same to Jenkins, Oct. 8-18. - -[272] The Same to Sunderland, Nov. 6-16. - -[273] _Ibid._ - -[274] _Register_, pp. 73-81. - -[275] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 8-18, Nov. 6-16. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -A LULL IN THE STORM - - -“God be praisd’ that I can once write your Lordship Good Newes out -of Turky: the Kehaiah of the Gran Visir is cut off!”--with these -words Sir John Finch began his next despatch; and then went on to -describe “the occasion of the fall of this Tyrant and worst of Men” -as follows. - -Whilst hunting in the Thracian plain, the Grand Signor had learnt -that at Constantinople, despite his edicts against drunkenness, -_boza_--a fermented liquor made from millet-seed--was openly sold! -In a transport of prohibitionist frenzy, the Sultan ordered all -the _boza_-vessels to be smashed. Whereupon the _boza_-sellers -submitted to His Majesty a protest: They had not only paid to -the Vizir’s Kehayah 70 purses for their license, but also bound -themselves to pay a similar sum every six months; further, the -Kehayah had created a Head for their Guild and vested him with one -of the Grand Signor’s _kaftans_: was it just, after such a solemn -and costly recognition of their trade, that they should have their -vessels smashed? When the Hunter heard this, his rage knew no -bounds. It was then for this--to enrich a miserable Kehayah--that -he had deprived himself of the 400 purses per annum which the -wine-tax yielded him! Let his head fly off--and straightway the -Kehayah’s head flew off. - -Truly a fine piece of work; no finer done in Turkey for many a -year; and the fruits of it manifold, immediate and remote, tangible -and otherwise. Take this, for a beginning: “His Hoggera’s and -Houses Seald’ Up, and His whole Estate confiscated to the Gran -Signor. As yett they have onely opend’ one Hoggera, where they -found in ready mony 700 Purses, and 500 Purses in rich Persian -furniture: They goe on dayly opening the rest, and at last They -intend to open His Mansion House. The expectation is of finding -No lesse then 3,000 Purses in all; from which hopes if they fall -or find any clancular Imbezzlements, they have in hold His two -Treasurers, Him of Adrianople, and the other of this Place, who -will be forcd’ by Torture to confesse all.” This is the sum-total: -three thousand purses (or a million and a half dollars) amassed -in three years! Lost in as few minutes! No people in the world -ever were more greedy of wealth than Turkish pashas--or less -certain of its enjoyment. But on these aspects of the work--the -economic and the moral--Sir John is silent: he feels, perchance, -that little which is new can be said of the one, and little which -is helpful of the other. Instead, he gives us a glimpse into the -fiend incarnate’s invisible world, which so long submissive had -thus suddenly risen in revolt. Let us, for Sir John’s sake, and to -illustrate the situation, quote: - -“The Visir was extreamly Jealous of two Great Men about the Gran -Signor: Soliman, Kehaiah to the former Visir and Master of the -Horse at present to the Gran Signor, was one; and the Kisler Aga, -the Black Eunuch, was the other. The former, the Visir endeavourd’ -to have removed by preferring Him to great Bassalikes. Against the -latter He had workd’ so farr, that He had separated Him from the -Gran Signor and the Queen Regent in this present removall of the -Court, under pretence of giving Him the Honour of conducting the -Queen Mother to Adrianople. But the Kisler Aga was not without a -true friend, the Gran Signor’s Secretary, who had Confidence and -Witt, and He took upon Him to acquaint the Emperour, that there -were dayly Quarrells amongst His Women and that till the Kisler Aga -returnd’, things would never be in good Order. Hereupon the Gran -Signor gives order for His returne and He came doubly armd’, First -with Presents to the Gran Signor of the value of Seventy Purses -to regain His favour; for which the Emperour said to Him, Thou -art now Twice My Sonne; then in the Second Place, He caused Seven -Men to appear with an Arrs [Memorial] to the Gran Signor, wherein -was expressed’, That His Majesty having deprived Himselfe of 400 -Purses Per Annum, which the Custome of Wines did yield Him, to the -End that the Mussulmen might not be drunk and kill each other, -that His Ministers had introducd’ and licensed the publick Selling -of Boza.” Hence that smashing of _boza_-vessels and flying off of -Kehayah-heads: followed, in the orthodox Turkish course, by sealing -up of dollar-crammed hoggeras and houses: a sequence as inevitable -as any ever planned by a Harem-bred brain. - -Going deeper into this Oriental labyrinth of plots, stratagems, -and spoils, our Ambassador adds, though as a thing “which I cannot -averr for certain,” that secret information of the Imperial -rage had been conveyed in advance to the Vizir by one of his -creatures, and that Kara Mustafa, to exonerate himself and to -prevent awkward revelations, hastened, before the fatal command -arrived, to give a striking demonstration of his public spirit by -cutting off his Kehayah’s head and sending it to the Grand Signor. -Probable enough! Not the least use of the delegation of powers in -which the Ottoman polity delighted was to provide a superior with -a handy scape-goat--some one upon whom, on emergency, he could -shift the responsibility and the odium. The Grand Signor had such -a convenient deputy in his Grand Vizir, the Grand Vizir in his -Kehayah, and so every other grandee. For the rest, this was not the -first time Kara Mustafa had saved his own head by offering up to -justice that of another.[276] “But be it as it will,”--what really -concerns us--“Dead He is, and a great Blow given by it to the Gran -Visir; and many thinke that now the Gran Signor hath once Tasted -of Blood that the Sword will not stop here: Nay further the Gran -Signor Himselfe hath placd’ a New Kehaiah about the Visir who was -an Officer of the last Visir and had the reputation of a Man of -great Integrity; and when the Gran Signor conferrd’ the Charge upon -Him, He told Him, Look you to it that things of this Nature doe not -passe, else Your Head shall answer for it as Your Predecessours -has done. All Men from this one Action expect a great change of -Affayrs so that what were judgd’ Impossibility’s before become -Now possibility’s, and possibility’s become Now Probability’s in -effecting any thing. The French Ambassadour may Now at last in all -likelyhood obtain His Audience upon the Saffà, and Our Affayrs Now -give Us also a better prospect.” The age of thunder has gone--the -lightnings of Kara Mustafa are extinguished for ever! Never, -never more shall we tremble at thoughts of the Seven Towers. The -spirit of servitude is dead: hail to Freedom, the nurse of manly -sentiment, of that sensibility to “puntiglios,” which feels a -slight like a wound. The King my Master’s honour will once again -become a reality, instead of a mockery. All this, and much more of -the same exalted nature, we may credibly suppose, radiated through -Sir John’s mind, as he concluded: “I hope Your Lordship will Every -Day hear better Newes and that My Successour will find as great a -Calme as I have done a Storm.”[277] - -In all this one thing stands conspicuous--not by its presence. -The opposition to Kara Mustafa in the Seraglio is led by our -“good friend” the late Vizir’s Kehayah, and by the Kislar Aga -who, as we have heard, had with that other good friend of ours, -the Customer, a pointed talk about our grievances on the very eve -of our great enemy’s fall. It is impossible to avoid the surmise -that our grievances and the consequent peril to the Grand Signor’s -revenue had contributed something towards the Imperial fire which -consumed the Kehayah. Yet in vain do we search our Ambassador’s -reports for any hint that he played the humblest part in bringing -about the happy conflagration; or for any indication that he -tried to feed it, once kindled by others. Some presents to the -“Queen Regent”--such as Elizabeth’s envoys knew so well how to -distribute--one imagines, would not have come amiss. Sir John has -here an excellent opportunity of reaching the Grand Signor behind -the Grand Vizir’s back; and Sir John does not even see, much less -stretch forth to seize it! Not to do, but to look on: commenting, -chorus-like, upon the wonderful ways of Providence, speculating -upon the benefits that may accrue to him from a situation he -has neither helped to create nor to consolidate--such is his -function in the drama of life. Does not here, in this monumental -inadequacy, properly lie the source of the maltreatments and all -the other “sinister Accidents” that befell us ever since that -thrice-unfortunate strategic retreat to our bed? - -However, in his prognostications, at least, Sir John was not -wholly wrong. The fall of his Kehayah had a sobering effect upon -Kara Mustafa. It revealed to him the limits of his power and the -existence within the Seraglio of elements of danger hitherto -unsuspected. With such an example staring him in the face, it -was incumbent upon the Vizir to avoid all actions likely to -furnish those hostile elements with handles against him: such, -for instance, as the persecution of foreign Ministers. The result -was a holiday for the Diplomatic Corps. Their Excellencies took -advantage of the relief so miraculously vouchsafed them to renew -their petty squabbles. Sir John as usual was among the first in -the fray. The quarrel was with the representative of Holland: it -was, of course, about a point of honour. Let him relate it himself: -“According to the Custome sending my Druggerman to wish Him a -happy Christmasse (his Christmasse falling Ten dayes before Ours) -He Detaind’ Him above half an houre in Expectation of an Answer, -and at last His Secretary came out and askd’ my Druggerman what He -came for, who saying that He came to His Excellency from me to wish -Him Le buone Feste, the Secretary told Him That His Master being -now an Ambassadour could not receive a Druggerman but expected My -Secretary and so sent Him away, My Druggerman with a smile telling -Him, that He just then came from performing the same office to the -Holland Ambassadour’s Superiours, for indeed I had sent Him before -to the Ambassadour of Venice who receivd’ Him with respect, and -afterwards to the Ambassadour of France who was not inferiour in -his Civility’s. And really, My Lord, it hath bin a custome near -thirty yeares for the Ambassadours to send reciprocally to each -other upon this Ceremony their Druggermen, as my Druggermen under -their hands have attested to me.... The French Ambassadour is at -irreconcilable odds with him, for diverse other neglects He hath -receivd’ from this Holland Minister, and the Venetian Ambassadour -is no lesse sensible of the disrespects placd’ upon Him. As for -my own Part, I found in few dayes some way of expressing my -resentment, for some Holland Merchants comming to wish me a happy -Christmasse, I bid my Secretary thank them for their Civility, but -withall to tell them that my Character would not permitt me to -receive any that depended upon the Holland Ambassadour S. Justinus -Collyer, till he had made reparation for the publick disrespect -shown to my Character. In short the Truth is My Lord, that when -He was Resident onely, He would make himselfe equall to me in -challenging Visit for Visit: And now He is but half an Ambassadour -He would make Himselfe Superiour to Us all, in pretending that Wee -must send Him a Secretary; when Wee three are well satisfyd’ with -the sending of Our Druggermen to each other.”[278] - -In this ridiculous way Sir John Finch began the new year--to such -account he turned the calm Providence had vouchsafed him. However, -the calm continued, and our Ambassador went on anticipating all -manner of blessings therefrom, even “it may be hopd’ that My Lord -Chandos is now also in some possibility of procuring reparation -for what is past.” Kara Mustafa did nothing to discourage such -anticipations. Quite the contrary. Here is an instance. Early in -February, Sir John, understanding from the letters which reached -the merchants that Lord Chandos was not likely to arrive, at -soonest, before the middle of March, and the time assigned by the -Vizir in the case of the Pasha of Tunis expiring at the end of -February, thought it necessary to despatch a Dragoman to Adrianople -with a letter for the Grand Vizir: “acquainting Him that the King -My Master, upon the account of the many Sinister Accidents that -befell Me in this Charge, had namd’ a New Ambassadour to succeed -Me, who was like to come fully instructed; Therefore I desird’ the -Visir that there might be no further proceeding in that Case till -the arrivall of my Successour. To which the Visir readily assented, -and that with some Ceremony also, patiently hearing my Druggerman. -It is the opinion of all Men, that the fury of this Great Storm is -blown over. So great and suddain a change does the taking away one -Kehaiah’s Head make in this Vast Empire.”[279] - -When, towards the end of March, the Court returned to -Constantinople, Kara Mustafa still lay under this strange spell -of uncongenial geniality. Indeed, he was more genial than ever. -Sir John had another proof of his curious conversion: “For all -the Ministers here sending Him in their Presents at His return, -I was forcd’ to follow their Example, having more need of Him -then all the rest putt together; which, though it was but a small -one, He receivd’ with great kindnesse, presenting my Druggerman -Ten Dollars, though never before He had given Him a Penny.”[280] -Dollars instead of a drubbing: the Dragoman must have nearly -fainted. A change, indeed! - -The subordinate officials, as always, took their cue from their -Chief. About a month later Sir John wrote to the Levant Company: - -“I receivd’ two messages at different times from the Rais Affendi, -both to this effect: That I might rest quyett with a contented -Heart, in regard that the Bassà of Tunis should give Me No Trouble, -He having His beard in His Hand. A third passe was also made to Me, -which was, That the Rais Affendi seeing My Druggerman, calld’ to -Him and askd’ whether the Ambassadour of England had any occasion -of His service. Laying these things together I sent My Druggerman -with this message, That I was extreamly obligd’ to Him for His -Civilitys, and that reciprocally I desird’ to know wherein I could -any way’s testify my respects to Him; And as to that repeated -message sent Me, that neither I nor My Successour need to fear, -He having the Bassà of Tunis his beard in His Hand, I desird’ Him -more particularly to explain it to Me; I having still the power -in My Hand to gratify them that should doe me right, and revenge -My Cause, though I could, not treat about it. Upon this I receivd’ -the following answer: That until the new Ambassadour was arrivd’ -at Smyrna, He could not unfold and open Himselfe fully; but that -in the very moment I sent Him notice of my Successour’s arrivall -there, that He and I should adjust it here. - -“What the meaning of this message was I did not then understand, -nor doe not as yett fully comprehend. Most certain it is that they -doe not yett fully believe that I have a Successour upon the way. -Neverthelesse I made this return to Him: In the first place, I -thankd’ Him for the Civill offices past in behalfe of My selfe and -My Successour; and that in case the same Powers rested in Me upon -the arrivall of my Successour which now I am invested withall, -that I should make use of His favour; but not knowing whether -His Majesty’s fresh Commands may wholely devest me from power of -acting, in case they did I should pray His Excuse, and begg from -Him the same acts of kindnesse towards My Successour.”[281] - -But strong as was Sir John’s desire to believe in the permanence -of the change, it did not quite befool him. Notwithstanding these -promising appearances, he knew too well that, until the harbour was -reached, there could be no sleep with safety. He therefore kept a -vigilant eye on the horizon, ready to note every disquieting sign. -Such signs became visible before spring was far advanced. The Grand -Signor had been prevailed upon to send his Master of the Horse, -Kara Mustafa’s sworn enemy, away to Mecca--“to see that place -repayrd’.” From this and several other circumstances our Ambassador -deducts, with such sensations as may be imagined, that the Vizir, -“after the last violent shock, beginns to take firm root again.” -In proportion as he regains confidence, Kara Mustafa recovers his -natural amiability. Only, pending complete rehabilitation, he deems -it expedient to go slowly: where delay was necessary Kara Mustafa -could display the most indefatigable patience. Sir John by this -time has learnt to read the Vizir pretty accurately. Personally he -has nothing to complain of; but his colleagues have. In the past -every indication of differential treatment was for him a ground for -exultation, for self-glorification. He knows better now: “like a -Bear that hath bin freshly bated, I am left to some repose that I -might recover strength, whilst other Ministers are brought upon the -Theatre.” He proceeds to describe the performance. His reports are -coloured by prejudice; but it may well be asked whether reporters -of any kind ever have described, or could ever have been reasonably -expected to describe, much more than the ways in which facts -impinge on their own individual minds. - -“As to the Holland Resident or Ambassadour, for as yet I know not -what to call Him, His Intrigues upon the score of his new sought -for Honour alwayes encreasing, and his Titles alwayes diminishing; -His Condition is this. By the last conveyance He receivd’ Letters -of Credence from the States His Masters to the Visir owning Him -for their Ambassadour; upon which He demands Audience of the -Visir, and Having obtaind’ it, He carryd’ with Him the Presents -of an Ambassadour, viz. 20 Vests, and 2 gold watches. The Visir -receives his Presents and bids the Rais Affendi or Chancellour -take his Papers; but tells Him that the G. Visir had no power -of constituting Ambassadours and that it was presumption in Him -to thinke He could, that the G. Signor must have his Letters of -Credence and Presents also, and that He must give a Talkish or -Memoriall to the Gran Signor of this Proceeding of the Dutch -Minister. So He was dismissd’ without so much as receiving One -Vest, or being perfumd’ which is the characteristicall distinction -of the reception of an Ambassadour from that of a Resident. The -World knows what this meanes, which is mony, and his Enemys say -(for I thinke He hath not one friend) that the Summe will amount -to 50,000 Dollars; but though mony will be the conclusion of it, -yet a farr lesse summe will doe the buisenesse.” From the tone of -this lively narrative it is plain that Sir John had not forgiven -Collyer the disrespect he had placed upon him at Christmas. On -the contrary, he had since had fresh causes for annoyance, some -of which he shared with the Dutchman’s other colleagues and some -were peculiar to himself. It appears that, at the audience just -mentioned, Collyer, before he sat down, kissed the Vizir’s vest, -and, moreover, instead of giving the Vizir the usual appellation -of Excellency, he bestowed upon him the title of Highness. For -these concessions “all the Ambassadours vehemently exclaim against -Him”--“And I have particular Reason to complain of Him for the -Visir asking Him, What Newes, He told Him that England was in -Civill Warrs and like to be ruind’; the Duke of Yorke being retired -into Scotland, whither His Most Christian Majesty had ordred a -Fleet in His assistance, but that the States His Masters had ordred -60 sayl of Men of Warr to helpe the Protestants of England against -His Royall Highnesse and the Roman Catholicks.”[282] - -In view of these grievances, how could Sir John sympathise with the -Dutchman’s distress? No such animosity clouds his account of the -French Ambassador’s predicament. - -M. de Guilleragues, after defying the Grand Vizir for eighteen -months, had resolved to force a decision--as he might have said, -_brusquer un dénouement_. Letters from his King had reached him -for the Grand Signor and the Grand Vizir. In these letters Louis -disavowed M. de Nointel’s surrender, demanded audience for his -Ambassador on the Soffah, declaring that he would not be satisfied -with less, and, in case of refusal, requested leave for him to -return home. Guilleragues informed Kara Mustafa through his -Dragoman of the arrival of these letters and said that, if the -Vizir would not give him audience on the Soffah, he would not -present them in person, but deliver them through his Secretary. -The Vizir answered that he could not grant the Soffah; and as to -the Secretary, he would not do the Grand Signor and His Majesty of -France the disrespect to receive Royal letters by other hands than -those of the Ambassador. This passage of arms had taken place in -March, while Kara Mustafa’s position was still shaken;[283] and -Guilleragues was so confident of victory that he put himself to the -expense of rigging out his attendants in new rich liveries, and -made many of his gentlemen provide costly clothes for the Audience. -But all his thrusts were skilfully parried by Kara Mustafa, who now -brought the duel to a halt by telling Guilleragues that, “If he -would have audience, he must receive it as the other Ministers had -done, or be gone.”[284] There was a deadlock. - -The whole of Constantinople, from both banks of the Golden Horn, -watched this queer combat for a foot-high eminence with breathless -interest: Stambul gnashing its teeth at the Giaour’s unheard-of -impudence; Pera rejoicing, as openly as it dared, at his prowess. -For the Soffah was a symbol. To the Turks it typified their -superiority, to the Franks their abasement. Therefore all Franks, -irrespective of nationality, saw in M. de Guilleragues their -gallant champion. Like a paladin of olden times he stood forth as a -defender of Christendom and its dignity against the arrogant hosts -of Islam. In fighting for the Soffah, the Ambassador of France -fought the battle of Europe. The anxiety was universal; but no one -felt more anxious than Sir John Finch. To him the recrudescence -of Kara Mustafa’s obduracy was of ill augury for his own affairs: -“Methink’s,” he wrote with reference to the Pasha of Tunis case, -“the Visir should be enclind’ to something of Temper in this -Concern.”[285] - -In the midst of these melodramatic doings, news came that Lord -Chandos had reached Smyrna in the _Oxford_. Immediately Finch sent -a special messenger to inform him of the Rais Effendi’s mysterious -overtures and to ask for guidance in the matter without delay. “The -noble Lord’s answer from thence was that he was hastening all he -could to communicate to me His Majesty’s Commands and the Company’s -Instructions, adding that he feard’ our latitude was not great -on the submissive part.”[286] On receipt of this reply, Sir John -notified the Rais Effendi that his successor was at Smyrna and that -he hourly expected him at Pera: the pulling of the Pasha’s beard -would have to be put off for a while. That and all other operations -henceforth passed out of his hands. - -For the first time after many years Sir John felt able to breathe. -But patience to a man in a state of suspense is difficult. He -counted the days, the hours, he consulted the weather prophets: it -was the time of year when the Etesian winds setting N.E. rendered -navigation in that corner of the Mediterranean exceedingly slow. -The ship, faced by a thousand snares of sea and land, had to -struggle along the Asia Minor coast, continually tacking and taking -careful soundings, frequently casting and weighing anchor, and -casting it again--now before Mytilene, now before Tenedos, until -after a whole week’s voyage from Smyrna it reached Gallipoli--there -to meet the millrace of the Dardanelles. So fierce was the current -in that season and, owing to the tortuous nature of the channel, so -dangerous, that ships had to wait at the mouth of the Hellespont -for the wind to change before they could even enter the Straits. -Sometimes they had to wait so long that, it is said, in Byzantine -times, the corn which was transported from Egypt to Constantinople -rotted on board. Sir John could not wait: “I long for dispatch, all -delay being a just ground (if any can be so) of impatience.”[287] -The moment he heard that the _Oxford_ had arrived at Gallipoli, -he sent thither a brigantine with twenty oars and four boats to -expedite the last stage of Lord Chandos’s journey. His Lordship, no -less sensible of the need of dispatch, promptly left the _Oxford_ -at Gallipoli and with a few servants performed the last 125 miles -in the brigantine, landing at Constantinople incognito on Friday, -July 22nd, “to my no small joy.”[288] - -Of course, Sir John could not get away at once. The Pasha of -Tunis’s beard had to be pulled first. Until that operation was -over, he was practically a prisoner. But he relied on Lord Chandos -to release him from captivity. - -The new Ambassador came armed with a double set of Letters of -Credence from the King, two addressed to the Grand Signor and two -to the Grand Vizir: the one set was couched in milder, the other -in sterner terms; and his instructions were to present the one or -the other, as he should think most suitable to the actual posture -of affairs and most likely to achieve the end in view--namely, -security for the present, guarantees for the future, and, if -possible, reparation for the past: all this had to be managed -with due regard to “the frowardness of the present Ministers and -the state of a fixed and Radicated Tyranny.” Courage tempered by -circumspection was the word. But a postscript to his Instructions, -dictated by the Levant Company, empowered the Ambassador, in -case “the Vizier doth persist in his great oppressions upon Our -Subjects,” to acquaint him (and the Grand Signor, too, if need be) -that he would only remain at the Porte until he should receive -final directions from home “how to dispose of Our Subjects and -their Trade for the future.”[289] This, translated into plain -language, amounted to a threat of a rupture of relations. - -Long has the Majesty of England suffered insult and injury meekly. -But now it would seem meekness had reached its uttermost limit: an -august Monarch, a Most Honourable Privy Council--nay, a Company -of timorous traders itself--in their despair, had taken to a new -course: we were to make a solemn final remonstrance and appeal for -justice; failing which, we were to fling down the wet and worthless -piece of parchment at the Grand Signor’s feet, and depart shaking -the dust of his dominions off ours--or, perhaps, not to depart, -but to stay on under entirely new conditions: our ambassadors -unaffronted, our merchants going to market sure that they shall -come back unplundered? or, horrible thought! to fall once more -under the yoke, our remonstrances and veiled menaces alike -ending--in smoke? - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[276] When Governor of Erzerum, he had by his oppression driven the -inhabitants to complain to the Sultan. Ahmed Kuprili shielded him -as a kinsman: so the fault was laid upon the Governor’s Kehayah, -who lost his head, while Kara Mustafa lost only his post. See Finch -to Coventry, inclosure in despatch of May 26, S.V. 1677, _Coventry -Papers_. - -[277] Finch to Sunderland, Dec. 3-13, 1680, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[278] Finch to Sunderland, Jan. 1-11, 1680-81. - -[279] The Same to the Same, Feb. 9-19, 1680-81. - -[280] The Same to the Same, April 12-22, 1681. - -[281] Finch to the Levant Company, May 9-19, 1681. - -[282] Finch to Jenkins, May 10-20. The law of retaliation may be -pleaded in extenuation of Collyer’s garrulity; and, at any rate, -what he told the Vizir was the common talk of Europe. The actual -facts were as follows: Just then the Duke of York had “obtained -leave to retire to Scotland, under pretence still of quieting the -apprehensions of the English nation, but in reality with a view of -securing that Kingdom in his interests.”--Hume, vol. viii. p. 118. - -[283] Finch to Sunderland, April 12-22. - -[284] The Same to Jenkins, May 10-20. - -[285] The Same to the Levant Company, May 9-19. - -[286] The Same to Jenkins, July 25. - -[287] The Same to Jenkins, July 25. - -[288] _Ibid._ - -[289] “The Humble Addresse of the Company” “to the King’s most -Excelent Majestie and to the Lords of his most Honourable -Privy Councill,” dated Oct. 27, 1680, _Register_ (_S.P. Levant -Company_, 145), p. 81. The same Register contains the Company’s -and the King’s Instructions to Chandos, the latter dated Dec. -29; the former Jan. 28 (pp. 82-95); copies of the two sets of -Credentials, dated Dec. 29 (pp. 95-101); also a supplementary -letter from Charles to the Sultan, dated Jan. 24, (pp. 103-4) -dealing exclusively with the Pasha of Tunis affair, and demanding -“the said Pasha and his false witnesses to be brought to condigne -punishment.” In his sterner Letter of Credence, Charles desires -the Grand Signor “to make enquiry” into, “besides many other -insupportable greivances,” the taking away “of those Imperiall -Capitulations which are the onely security of their Trade” and “to -doe Justice upon all such as shall be found culpable therein.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -RELEASE - - -How Lord Chandos would have acquitted himself of his delicate -mission, had he been left to his own resources, it is impossible to -say. As it was, the unaccountable Power which, for want of a better -term, we call “luck” seconded him beyond his own or any one else’s -most sanguine hopes. Just as he arrived on the scene, the strain -between France and Turkey ripened to a crisis. - -Besides her grievances against the pashas on the Bosphorus, France -had many scores to settle with the pirates of Barbary. Louis had -put up with their depredations for eight years--so long, that -is, as his war against Holland, Denmark, Spain, and Germany tied -his hands. But the pacification of the West had set him free for -action in the East. The monarch who had humbled all the Powers -of Europe would no longer brook humiliation at the hands of the -petty principalities of Africa. He decided to deal with them -summarily and, at the same time, with their patron in Stambul: -the combination, in truth, was unavoidable, for the corsairs were -permitted to prey upon the French even in the ports--nay, in the -very towns--that lay directly under the Grand Signor’s rule. Only a -few months ago the French Consul at Cyprus and a French merchant -were carried out of their houses during the night aboard a Tripoli -man-of-war, and after being soundly drubbed were forced to ransom -themselves. M. de Guilleragues could obtain from the Grand Vizir -no satisfaction for this outrage; and the pirates improved the -occasion by taking a French ship worth 100,000 dollars as it sailed -from Smyrna.[290] - -So the famous Admiral Duquesne was sent with a squadron to scour -the Mediterranean. His orders were to seek and destroy the pirates -wheresoever he found them. After sweeping everything before him -farther west, Duquesne entered the Archipelago. The Grand Signor’s -Capitan Pasha met him with his Fleet and asked what he came into -these seas for. The Frenchman quoted his orders. “Nay,” said the -Turk, “the Grand Signor will never allow the Tripolines to be -attacked in his own ports.” “We shall see about that,” replied -Duquesne, and made for Chios, where four Tripoli men-of-war and -four petaches lay careening with their guns all ashore. The Admiral -sailed into the port (July 13, 1681) and, without any ceremony, -went for the disarmed pirates. They fled into the Grand Signor’s -Castle, which fired two guns. Duquesne retorted with thirty, and a -message that, if the Grand Signor’s Castle protected them, he would -knock it down about the ears of the Grand Signor’s garrison. The -Turks, terrified, desisted from further acts of hostility, turned -the Tripolines out, and sent word to the Admiral that they would -remain neutral. Duquesne then set to work: in four hours, and at -the expense of 8000 shots, he disabled the Tripoline vessels (how -he managed not to destroy them does not appear), slaying about 300 -of their crews and, incidentally, doing some damage to the town. -Some of his shots battered down several buildings, among them a -minaret, and killed some of the inhabitants. Whereupon loud uproar -in Stambul: it was the greatest affront the Ottoman Empire had -ever received since its foundation! Rumour added that Duquesne had -sailed to the Dardanelles, whence he had addressed, through the -Turkish commander of the Castles at the Straits, a message to the -Vizir demanding to know how the French Ambassador would be treated -as to the Soffah and stating that he would shape his conduct -accordingly! Cause enough for uproar. - -At the Porte all is confusion. Councils are held in quick -succession; orders are despatched to the Capitan Pasha to put his -Fleet in a place of safety; couriers fly in different directions on -secret errands. Until their return, what steps Kara Mustafa will -take, no man can tell, he least of all. - -Among the French residents all is consternation. M. de -Guilleragues, after repeated demands and denials, had only a week -before obtained leave for his wife and daughter to depart on the -plea of ill-health: now, fearing lest the Porte should cancel the -permission, he hastens to send them away; but he is not quick -enough: the vessel has fallen down the Sea of Marmara some leagues, -the ladies are on the very point of following in a boat, when a -peremptory command from the Vizir stops them and compels the vessel -to turn back. Simultaneously the Ambassador is summoned to give an -account of what was done at Chios; but before he has set out, a -countermand comes, ordering him to hold himself ready for another -summons. While waiting for this summons, M. de Guilleragues gives -out that, when he appears before the Vizir, he will not utter one -word, unless he has his seat on the Soffah: he will only hand -to him the King’s letters--which all these months still remain -undelivered--and, let him do his worst, Kara Mustafa shall have no -other answer. Very fine--but the French merchants, in great alarm, -apply to the various foreign Ministers to save the best of their -effects. - -The English await developments with tense interest: “Every day is -like to produce great matters,” writes Sir John, and the writing, -much larger and with wider spaces between the lines than usual, -illustrates his excitement. “The result of these resolute orders -of His Most Christian Majesty can end in nothing mean.” France, -he thinks, has gone too far to draw back: she must either come to -an absolute breach with the Porte, or “make the Proud Heads of -this place to stoop”--in which case all Christendom will reap the -benefit: “If the Turk once finds that things are not tamely putt -up, transactions here will be more easy, and I hope My Lord Chandos -will find the good effect of this passe.”[291] - -The anticipation was abundantly verified. Chandos made the most -of this fortunate conjuncture. During the weeks he remained -incognito waiting for the _Oxford_, he prepared the ground, and -in his audience with Kara Mustafa he delivered the sterner letter -from the King: the Vizir read it through most carefully and bade -the Ambassador welcome, without any allusion to its contents. -But it was obvious that he had been deeply impressed; and the -Ambassador did not fail to strike while the iron was hot. He -struck so vigorously and skilfully that by the 5th of September -he had obtained full satisfaction on the two main points: The -money extorted from Finch for the Capitulations was refunded to -the Treasurer of the Levant Company by Kara Mustafa’s Jew, who, to -save the Grand Vizir’s face, pretended that it came out of the dead -Kehayah’s hoard. This was a triumph of which Chandos might well -be proud--restitution of money had never yet been procured from a -Turk; and it was followed by another, not less pleasant: in his -own words, “the false demand upon his Excellency for a prodigious -sum of money by the Pasha of Tunis is also for ever damn’d by the -most valid way in their Law we could desire without parting with -one asper.” And even that was not all: “We are also now promised -several other Articles of considerable benefit to trade in these -parts and shall have them in our custody in a few days.” On one -point only the Ambassador found the Vizir adamant and was forced by -the haste which the Company’s interests required not to lose time -in disputing it, but to accept his “parole of honour that if any -prince in the world ever had the priviledge of the Suffra we should -have it the first”--a promise which the Vizir had no difficulty -in making, as he went on to add that “heaven should be earth and -earth heaven before any such thing should be condescended to by -them!”[292] That a man, while parting with solid cash, should cling -so passionately to an empty form, is but another manifestation of -the mysterious workings of the official mind. However, we were -more than satisfied with a liberality which would have been more -meritorious, but could not have been more welcome, had it been -voluntary. - -At the same time Lord Chandos obtained leave for Sir John to depart -when he pleased. But alas! the boon which a little while ago -would have filled Sir John with joy found him now unable to enjoy -anything. On the 22nd of August his friend Baines had been seized -with a malignant double tertian, of which he was very certain that -he would die, in accordance with the method of Providence. “For,” -he told Finch, “God had under many diseases preserved him so long -as he could be any wayes usefull or serviceable to me, but that -now, returning into England where my friends were all so well in -their severall posts, he could no longer be of any use to me, and -therefore God would putt a period to that life which he onely -wished for my sake.” - -His comrade’s condition, reacting upon Finch’s own system through -the subtle laws of sympathy, “cutt off the thread of all my -worldly happinesse and application to business,” so much so that -he himself fell ill of a tertian. Then, on September 5th, the very -day on which the leave to depart was brought to him, Baines died: -the friend from whom during thirty-six years he had never been -separated for more than a week or two at a time--“the best friend -the world ever had, for prudence, learning, integrity of life and -affection”--was taken away from him. - -For this calamity Sir John’s mind ought to have been prepared. -About a year before, while he and Sir Thomas were sitting in -their gallery after supper, there came upon the table a “loud -knocking.” Such was the first warning. The second was not less -significant. A few days before Sir Thomas’s illness one of Sir -John’s teeth dropped out of his head without any pain whilst they -dined together: “which,” notes the ex-Professor of Anatomy, “seemes -to confirm the interpretation of those who make the dreaming -of the losse of a tooth to be the prediction of the losse of a -friend.”[293] - -These reflections, however, came to poor Sir John afterwards. -At the moment he was not in a state for coherent thought of any -kind. The blow fell upon him with all the stupefying force of an -unforeseen catastrophe: it prostrated him: his tertian rose to a -double continual tertian, which reduced him to such weakness that -he was given over by his physician and all others. Thus he lay, -forlorn, desolate, broken in mind and body, for about a fortnight. -By September 22nd, however, he had recovered sufficiently to indite -a lengthy despatch, in which, after touching upon his bereavement, -he gives the sequel of the French Admiral’s exploit. - -So far the only outcome of the debates held at the Porte had been -an embargo imposed on French ships and men throughout the Empire. -The Turks did not find themselves in a condition to express greater -resentment; for Duquesne’s squadron, small as it was, was “more -than doubly able to fight all the force the Ottoman Empire is able -to make appear at sea. So that, contrary to the bilious and proud -procedure of this Court, they go on with Spanish phlegm. The Porte -are very sensible that France can doe them all manner of mischief, -both by its power and its vicinity, and that they can take no other -but the small, pitifull revenge of exercising their indignation -upon the French Ambassadour and as many of the King’s subjects as -reside in the Empire.” The Tripolines, left in the lurch, sued for -peace. But “Mons. de Quesne refusd’ to treat with such a company -of rascalls.” Some fruitless negotiations between the Admiral and -the Capitan Pasha ensued. Then, Sir John adds three weeks later, a -courier from the Capitan Pasha came with the news that the Admiral -had blocked up his whole Fleet in the port of Chios. On receipt -of this fresh instance of the Giaour’s temerity, “the heat of the -Gran Signor was such that he ordred the Gran Visir to send for -Mons. de Guilleragues and send him to the Seven Towers. The Visir -sent for the Ambassadour using great threats towards him; but his -Excellency carry’d himselfe with great courage, not onely refusing -to sit below the Saffa, but being pressd’ to doe it, kickd’ his -stool down with his feet, and then delivring the Letter from the -King his master, which for more than 8 moneths the Visir had -refusd’ to receive.” When Kara Mustafa urged reparation for the -affront and damage done to the Grand Signor’s port of Chios, M. de -Guilleragues retorted that the King of France had received none for -the affront and damage done to his Consul and subjects at Cyprus, -concluding that, “it was as lawfull for the King his Master to set -upon his enemy’s in the Gran Signor’s ports, as for them to attack -the French.” Thanks to his “dexterous and resolute prudence,” the -French Ambassador was only detained in custody of the Chaoush-bashi -for a while, and then, on signing a paper to acquaint his Most -Christian Majesty with the Grand Signor’s desires, was released; -and it was thought now that in the agreement the point of the -Soffah would be included. “Certainly Mons. de Guilleragues has -shown himselfe in this a Great Minister.”[294] - -This is Sir John’s last official report from Pera. While penning -it, he was busy with his preparations for leaving a spot to which -he was now bound by nothing save memories of suffering. Every hour -he passed in that house only accented his sense of desolation. With -Sir Thomas Baines all that had made Turkey bearable had vanished. -He was no longer there to support him. The hapless bachelor, -physically and mentally worn out, and relieved of all public -concerns, had now nothing to do but brood over his personal grief. -He was like a shipwrecked mariner stranded on an alien and hostile -shore. His one desire was to hasten home. It is much to his credit -that of all this inner misery the only hint we have is contained -in a paragraph of unwonted self-restraint: “I with some impatience -attend the recovery of my health that I may be once freed from -the commands of a Goverment so irregular that they are wholely -irreconcilable to all methods of reason and honour and return into -my native soyl.”[295] - -It was with the same wish, expressed in the same words, that -Sir John had left his “native soyl” in 1673. Eight years had -passed--had he known what lay at the end of it all, would he -have had the strength to persevere? And now, more than ever, he -languishes for home: the longing grows, as the days go by. At last, -in November 1681, he set sail in the _Oxford_, carrying with him -the body of his friend embalmed. But he was destined to have one -more experience of Kara Mustafa’s “irregular goverment” at Smyrna, -where the _Oxford_ put in that she might take under her escort four -English merchantmen which lay there richly freighted. The convoy -was ready for its homeward voyage, when a command from the Porte -forbade it to sail. Why, oh why had he not departed two months ago? -Why had he waited to recover: will accidents never cease to dog his -steps? Without sharing Sir John’s superstition, no one that studies -his life can help being struck by the continuity of his bad luck: -everything seems to go wrong with him--not always through any wrong -calculation of his own; and when something lucky happens, it is not -he that reaps the gain and the glory, but his successor. - -The causes of this latest check were as follows: - -The panic into which Duquesne’s feat had thrown the Porte had -subsided. The French admiral was still cruising about the Levant -coasts, but did nothing. Kara Mustafa saw that he had little to -fear from France. Nor had he much to fear from England. Scarcely -had Lord Chandos received satisfaction for past injuries, and he -had not yet received the additional privileges promised to him, -when news reached Constantinople that English ships laden with -a vast estate were on their way to Turkey. For this injudicious -precipitancy the Levant Company was not to blame, but only some -members of it, our old friend Dudley North chief among them. For -reasons of his own he had from the first opposed the suspension -of trade, and now, by representing the scheme to the King and -the Privy Council, through his brother the Lord Keeper, as a -treacherous design inspired by the Opposition with a view to -hurting the Royal Exchequer, he got the Government to force the -merchants to rescind all they had done.[296] The result was such as -might have been foreseen. Kara Mustafa, concluding that the English -were anxious for trade at any price, decided to make them pay for -the blow they had dealt at his purse and his pride. All that he -needed was a specious pretext; and he had not far to look for one. - -The English by their Capitulations were obliged to pay a 3 per -cent export duty on silk. But the Turks, to avoid fraud--an art -in which foreigners surpassed the natives--preferred to collect -this duty from the native seller, who charged it to the foreign -buyer and handed over to him together with the goods the official -receipt. Such had been the established practice for over thirty -years. Nevertheless, the letter of the law remained unaltered; -and it was in this pure technicality that Kara Mustafa found his -pretext. Suddenly our merchants were called upon to pay the duty -on all silk they had exported for five years past, a sum amounting -to over 100,000 dollars, and it was suspected that this was only a -beginning, the intention being to extort ultimately the duty for -the whole thirty years. On their refusal to comply, the Customer of -Smyrna stopped the ships which the _Oxford_ was to convoy. - -Lord Chandos was summoned by the Grand Vizir to the Divan and asked -if his Nation ought not, in accordance with their Capitulations, -to pay a 3 per cent duty. He replied in the affirmative. “But,” -said the Vizir, “do you?” Chandos naturally answered that the -duty was paid by the sellers on account of the buyers. “Oh,” said -Kara Mustafa, “that shall not serve your turn. The sellers are -the Grand Signor’s subjects, and he may lay what he pleases on -them. What they paid was on their own account, but you must pay -for yourselves,” and, without further argument, he gave a kind -of sentence against the English. The Ambassador protested, but -was told that, if he did not obey, he should be put in irons, and -was sent away to think about it. What a clap of thunder to our -merchants: their victory turned suddenly into a ruinous disaster! - -Chandos thought of nothing less than submitting; but Finch, -who itched to see the last of Turkey, positively declared that -he would not stay more than a few days: if the matter was not -settled quickly, he would sail in the _Oxford_, leaving the four -merchantmen behind. Chandos considered what this would mean: an -indefinite detention of the ships, to the great loss of freighters -and owners, not to mention the danger of confiscation. He therefore -offered the Vizir 25,000, 40,000, 55,000 dollars. But all these -offers were rejected. Thereupon the English had recourse to “other -means, wherein by a marvellous Providence we succeeded.” This -providential intervention consisted of a bribe of 12 purses, or -6000 dollars, administered to the Smyrna authorities. It acted like -a charm: the vessels were suffered to slip away, and Sir John was -able to pursue his voyage in peace.[297] - -The shores of Turkey gradually merged in the sea-mists. That harsh -Eastern world lay hushed behind him. Before him, ready to welcome -the exile, friendly Italy; and beyond, England, dear relatives, and -leisure, and rest. - -On January 18th, 1682, we hear of the ex-Ambassador’s arrival at -Argostoli on the island of Cephalonia, where he was treated by -the Venetian Governor very courteously.[298] On March 11th he was -at Leghorn, purchasing Italian pictures, statues, and wines. From -Marseilles he intended to travel overland to Calais in a litter; -but he changed his mind and continued his journey by sea, visiting -Seville on the way and purchasing Spanish wines. By the time he -reached the Downs he had with him, besides some sixty trunks, -nineteen enormous chests of books, twenty-three of Italian pictures -and statues, fifteen of Florence wine, a butt of Smyrna wine, and -six of Saragossa. From the _Oxford_ he wrote to his nephew, giving -him minute directions about this baggage: “I believe a barge will -be most convenient as I can put three or four trunks upon it which -cannot well be left for any other passage.” The chests of books and -pictures and statues “will require a hoy or vessell that hath a dry -hold to keepe them from rain above and sea water below.” “If wine -in bottles pay no custome, I will have 50 dozen bought for me with -good corks.”[299] - -That a man who had suffered such a bereavement should have any -thoughts left for pictures and statues; that he should, to the sad -cargo of his friend’s coffin, be adding chests of wine and ordering -corks, may to the impercipient seem strange, and to the cynical -convey a suggestion of insincerity. But those acquainted with the -psychology of grief will understand. In reality it was distraction -from thought which these thoughts brought him. Sir John sought -some antidote--he felt the need, which certain natures under the -stress of intolerable sorrow feel, of turning to commonplace -occupations, of busying himself with trivial details, as the only -means of reducing the dreary melancholy which else would crush him -utterly. - -His attempt was rewarded by a measure of success. Although during -the early part of the voyage he had been so depressed that he -made his will, in July he landed on his “native soyl” in much -better spirits than he could have hoped “after so much weaknesse -and sicknesse and sorrow.” But the rally was only temporary: the -anxieties, the mortifications, the apprehensions he had endured -at Constantinople had undermined his delicate constitution: the -worm of grief had gnawed too far into his heart for anything to be -remedial now; and after laying the remains of Sir Thomas in the -chapel of Christ’s College, Cambridge, as if the last frail tie -that held him to life had snapped, Finch himself succumbed to an -attack of pleurisy on the 18th of November 1682. - -His body was conveyed to Cambridge and buried, as he had desired, -beside his friend’s under the tomb which is still visible: a marble -monument, the laboured elegance of which reflects the Italian -tastes of the age and of the men in whose joint memory it stands. -It is adorned with a Latin epitaph from the pen of Henry More--the -tutor who had first introduced the two friends to each other. Thus -years that were far asunder were bound together, and the hand which -had started Sir John and Sir Thomas on their common course rounded -off its common end. - -Beneath that stone the Ambassador whose doings and sufferings we -have witnessed sleeps quietly--the sleep of clay and dust. Of all -those agonies and vanities: emotions once so real and vibrant--of -that personality so impulsive, so susceptible to flattery, so prone -to anger and fear--remains only a pale reflection in the letters -we have deciphered. Out of those fussy despatches he who cares may -still call up the phantom of Sir John Finch: there, if anywhere, he -still lives--a soul infinitely pathetic. - -For Sir John was nowise great; and such elements of greatness -as may have been in him were frustrated by his one life-long -attachment. From the time he met Baines, Finch lost every chance -of self-development and self-realisation. Tied, heart and mind, to -that monotonous, masterful pedagogue, he never used his own powers. -The universe had contracted round him to the narrow circle limited -by that pedant’s exiguous vision. How completely Baines kept the -world, its inhabitants, and its interests from Finch may be seen -from the fact that, after seven years’ residence, our Ambassador -knew almost as little of Turkey as on the day of his landing. -During all those years the realities about him took a second -place in his thoughts: the first place was filled by abstractions -according to Sir Thomas: on Sundays the twain composed essays on -Theology, and on week-days they talked what Sir Thomas imagined -to be Philosophy. Life-long tutelage must have a debilitating, -devitalising effect; and it can hardly be questioned that the -benignant Baines exercised over his friend a most malignant -influence. Not intentionally, of course: Baines, we are persuaded, -meant well; but much of the mischief done on this planet is done by -people who mean well. - -It was a sound instinct that made Finch shy at public life. As -a diplomat he displayed all the faults of one to whom zeal and -judgment had not been given in equal proportions. He was not -born for diplomacy: certainly not for Turkish diplomacy. In all -those oscillations of mood and fluctuations of the will which he -so naïvely betrayed when wrought up by his feelings, we see a -temperament very ill adapted to a profession which requires above -all things coolness and firmness. That he failed at Constantinople -cannot be disguised. But, despite his foibles and his friend, he -would have done as well as any average ambassador, if he had had -no exceptional difficulties to contend with. So much is clear -from his history: as long as the sun shines and the waters are -smooth, we see him steering on, happily enough; as soon as the -tempest bursts, the helm slips from his hold and he flounders on -in thick darkness, inward and outward--a fair-weather pilot, like -many another. To drop metaphor, the man--everything reckoned--was -essentially a victim of circumstances: chief among them the death -of Ahmed Kuprili. Even more mediocre natures would have succeeded -under that Grand Vizir; under Kara Mustafa only talents of the very -first order could have availed. And it is poignant to reflect what -a trifle would have turned Sir John’s failure into a success: had -he accepted the Turkish Embassy when it was first offered to him, -in 1668, his career at Constantinople would have terminated before -the death of Ahmed--on such little ironies hang the destinies of -poor mortals. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[290] Finch to Sunderland, Nov. 6-16, 1680. - -[291] Finch to Jenkins, July 25, 27, 1681. - -[292] Chandos to Jenkins, Sept. 23, St. Vet. 1681. - -[293] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 72. - -[294] Finch to Jenkins, Sept. 22, Oct. 14-24. - -[295] _Ibid._ - -[296] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 171-2. - -[297] Chandos to Jenkins, April 17-27, 1682; Petition of the Levant -Company to the King in _Register_, pp. 114-17; _Life of Dudley -North_, p. 98. - -[298] Sir Clement Harby to Jenkins, Zante, Feb. 10, 1681-82, _S.P. -Turkey_, 19. - -[299] Malloch’s _Finch and Baines_, p. 77. - - - - -CONCLUSION - - -The death of Sir John Finch forms so fitting an end to the drama -in which he bore a principal, if not a leading, part that, in a -work of the imagination, any further addition would have been -an artistic crime. But in a book like the present the claims of -artistic fitness must yield to those of historic completeness. - -After getting their ships out of the Vizir’s clutches, the English -endeavoured to come to an arrangement with him on the basis of -their original offer of 55,000 dollars, in which the sum paid -at Smyrna should be included; but they failed. Kara Mustafa, -infuriated, meant to have his revenge; and a few days later he -summoned the merchants to the Porte--the merchants only, for his -policy now was to treat the matter as a quarrel between them and -the Customer--a purely commercial lawsuit in which neither the King -of England nor his representative had any concern. But Lord Chandos -would have none of these fictitious distinctions. He assembled all -the merchants in the Embassy, and when the Chaoush came to fetch -them, he positively refused to let them go without him. After a -day’s parley, he carried his point; and so, on Sunday morning, -January 15th, 1682, Ambassador and merchants went together. They -were shown into the Kehayah’s room, where they found, besides -that officer, the Chaoush-bashi, the Customer, and three or four -other dignitaries. The discussion soon degenerated into a violent -altercation, until the Kehayah, proceeding from words to deeds, -ordered a Chaoush to seize the two chief merchants, Montagu North -and Mr. Hyet. Chandos at once interposed and, getting hold of -them, declared that he would go to prison in their place: he was -there to act as surety for the Nation under his protection. “No, -no,” said the Kehayah, “the King of England and the Grand Signor -are good friends, and you shall be treated accordingly: this is a -mere matter of trade, in which the merchants are the only parties -concerned,”--and he asked his Lordship to sit down and drink his -coffee and sherbet! His Lordship hung on to the prisoners, as the -Chaoush dragged them out--he hung on to them across the courtyard: -the Chaoush pushed him off, but he still hung on with true bull-dog -tenacity: so that the Chaoush had to resort to a ruse: he carried -the prisoners back into the house, shut Lord Chandos out, and got -them off by a back-door. - -Baulked, angered, thoroughly disgusted, the Ambassador mounts his -horse and returns home--to plan such measures as the situation -demands. That afternoon he seals up all the English warehouses -at Constantinople and despatches to the Smyrna Factory notice to -provide against the worst. During the following days he plies -the Vizir with memorials, messages, petitions for audience--“too -tedious to relate”; to all of which he receives but one answer: -the Vizir has given him an audience on his arrival, he has also -seen him since about the business in dispute, and has heard all -that could be said on that subject: the Grand Signor will soon be -back: His Excellency will have an audience of him then, and an -opportunity of saying anything he has to say. An appeal to the -Mufti falls equally flat: the Mufti stands in too much awe of Kara -Mustafa. And meanwhile our merchants remain in custody: for a month -and a week they keep in tolerable health, but on the thirty-ninth -day one of them sickens: he seizes the chance of a visit from -the Ambassador’s Dragoman to say in Turkish that he will not die -there--if he owes any man anything, he is ready to pay; if he has -committed any crime, let his head fly. All he demands is justice: -since the Ambassador cannot free him, he has slaves in his house, -and he will send one of them to the Grand Signor with a pot of -fire on his head![300] This threat, it was thought, reported to -the Vizir by one of his spies, produced, or contributed towards -producing, the desired effect. Soon afterwards Kara Mustafa agreed -to Chandos’s original proposal that, for 55,000 dollars, he should -condemn his own sentence and absolve the English from all such -claims, past and future. The bargain struck, our prisoners, after -forty-two days’ confinement, were released, and the Ambassador -reported home: - -“Thus are we restored to free commerce with these unrightuous -people once again, how long it may continue is past my guess for -never was there a people more false and ficle in theyr words then -I have found thos here I have had to doe with ... but I consider’d -it the duty of a faithfull servant to his master to avoid all is -possible the necessity of pushing disputes to such extremities as -to bring a war or great dishonor on his master and for this reason -in the first place and secondly in regard to trade which would -infallibly have receiv’d a deadly blow had their violence byn a -little more provok’d for ’tis most certain that we have stuck many -days at the pit’s brink.... I had my _ar’s_ ready to have gone in -person to the Visier and G: Signor but was overcome and prevented -by the merchants reasons and intreaties and I hope all is for the -best for there is not one instance of any one’s having ever got any -good by wrangling with this Visier.”[301] - -In adjusting this avania Lord Chandos had hoped, as he tells -us, to find “some faire quarter” in other matters; but he soon -found that “there is no peace with the wicked.” When he applied -for his Audience of the Grand Signor, Kara Mustafa demanded an -extraordinary present--not, he explained, as a price for the -Audience, but as a recognition of the great favour he had done -us by letting us off the silk claim on such easy terms. Chandos -replied that all he had parted with was to purchase the Vizir’s -goodwill, and he was willing to strain yet further to give him -satisfaction; only he entreated his patience till the Audience was -over, lest it should be said that he had paid money for it: which, -being an alteration of the ancient practice between the Crowns, -imported much more than his head was worth. This reply, in spite -of its urbanity, set the Vizir in a mighty passion: he doubled his -demand, and, as the Ambassador took no notice, he refused to let -him deliver his Credentials. Moreover, every time an Englishman -was sued before the Divan, Kara Mustafa condemned him out of hand; -and, in short, missed no chance of showing his malice against -us. Not that we enjoyed the exclusive monopoly of his rancour. -The Dutch underwent a fresh fleecing on the same pretext as the -English--silk export duties--and were glad enough to compound for -25,000 dollars; the Venetians were forced to pay ten times that -sum by way of reparation for an affray between their own and some -Turkish subjects in Dalmatia--it was, in truth, reparation for -wrongs suffered rather than inflicted, but that made no difference: -the Bailo, finding reason useless, had to employ “the rhetorick -of chequins”--’twas the only means “to make faire weather with a -Visier who is of a temper to doe anything for mony and nothing -without it.” When describing to the Secretary of State how he and -his colleagues fared at the hands “of this greivous oppressor of -all Christians,” Chandos ventured to drop a hint that His Majesty -might, “if the intolerable tyranny of this vile Minister receiv’s -not a speedy check,” find “some other way to make him sensible of -His iust indignation”--some way more “becoming His great wisedome -and high honor.” But what could poor, lazy Charles do, where the -haughty and energetic Louis was content to eat humble pie by the -plateful? It was, indeed, the “submission,” as the Turks very -correctly called it, of the French Padishah that had raised Kara -Mustafa’s rapacious insolence to its present pitch. This brings us -to the conclusion of the Chios exploit in which the Franco-Turkish -quarrel had culminated. - -Nothing more humiliating for Christendom, nothing better calculated -to inflate Ottoman arrogance, could be imagined. The French -Admiral, after hovering aimlessly about the Dardanelles with his -squadron for nine months, sailed away leaving the French Ambassador -to pay for his feat. It was no longer a question of exacting -satisfaction for past insults, but of averting imminent calamities: -M. de Guilleragues had to fight not for a stool, but for safety. -A three days’ struggle ensued--the French gazettes of the time -styled it an “audience.” The first day, when the Ambassador was -brought before the Vizir, he spoke and acted with spirit; but -Kara Mustafa, unimpressed by what he knew to be empty bluster, -ordered him to be locked up. Three days’ confinement brought M. de -Guilleragues to reason: he signed a bond to pay within six months -an indemnity thinly veiled under the euphemism of a “galantaria” -emanating from his private pocket--“a present of such value as -became a Chivaliere.” When the six months expired, the “present” -was duly tendered, but was rejected as falling short of what became -a Chevalier in distress to give or a victorious Pasha to receive. -After some kicking against the pricks, the Ambassador submitted -to a valuation of his “galantaria” by experts appointed by Kara -Mustafa, with the result that he was “screw’d up to 100 purses, -that is, 50,000 Dollars.” This was for the Grand Signor. “What -he paid the Visier himself and his inferior officers, by his own -confession, came to between 15,000 and 20,000 Dollars and most of -this mony was taken up at 18 or 20, and some at 22 per cent.” - -Thus the long-drawn-out duel between the wig and the turban ended -in a decisive victory for the turban. It was not pleasant to -witness “the barbarous triumphing of the Turks over all Christians -upon this their success against the French, for the Turks judge -all things by the event and impute all that hitts right to the -great wisedome and conduct of their Visier, for in this business -they say (according to their proverb) the Visier _caught a hare -with a cart_, and the French who are the loosers have nothing to -say, which is hard according to our English proverb.” Nothing to -say--they who a few months before “made many high brags of great -wonders they resolv’d to doe.”[302] - -But in ascribing their triumph to Kara Mustafa’s genius the Turks -paid him a tribute to which he was not entitled. The causes of the -French defeat lay in Paris rather than in Stambul. Louis was a -calculating politician as well as an arrogant prince. His arrogance -prompted him to beard the Turks, his policy forbade him to break -with them. It was essential for the success of his ambition in the -West that the German Empire should be engaged in the East; and -he did not hesitate to purchase the co-operation of Kara Mustafa -at any price. Kara Mustafa, on his part, had long nourished the -wish to attack Austria, and he had a good opportunity of doing so -in the first two years of his Vizirate, when the French harassed -the Emperor on one side and the Magyars on the other; but, with -characteristic acumen, he had chosen to go to a profitless war with -Russia and to postpone the realisation of his favourite dream to a -less convenient moment. However, Louis thought, better late than -never. - -In the meantime, while these machinations were maturing, Kara -Mustafa sharpened his sword. Chandos heard of “nothing soe much as -the drawing togeather of great forces from all parts of this vast -Empire,”[303] and, though he prayed “God defend all Christians -from the violence of Turks,” he could not help feeling that in -a long-protracted war lay his only hope of escaping further -molestation. It was therefore with profound relief that he saw -the Vizir make his stately exit from Constantinople: “nor doe we -dispair of God’s mercy either to convert him from or confound him -in his malice against us before his returne.” - -Of the two contingencies it was the more probable that came -to pass; and, if the English had good reason to attribute the -aggravation of their woes to the Machiavellian policy of Louis, it -was to that same policy that they owed their final deliverance. - -Kara Mustafa, in the spring of 1683, marched north at the head of -as numerous an army as ever Grand Vizir led--the whole strength -of the Ottoman Empire was bent against Austria. With this host, -augmented, too, by Hungarian rebels, he crossed the frontier, -traversed Hungary performing miracles of ferocity and perfidy, and, -not finding in his way either fortified towns or armies capable to -arrest his progress, penetrated to the very gates of Vienna (July -14, N.S.). At the approach of the enemy the Emperor Leopold fled -with precipitation, leaving the Duke of Lorraine with a small force -to defend his capital. - -The unhappy citizens, isolated and abandoned by their natural -protector, presented to the world a memorable example of courage -and initiative. But hunger and disease soon began to decimate them. -Of succour there was no sign. The beleaguered city seemed doomed, -and with it the whole of Central Europe. Only a combination of -chances could save Vienna. - -Such a combination was provided by Kara Mustafa’s multiform -imbecility. Eager to secure the treasures of the Hapsburg capital -for himself, he declined to stimulate the ardour of his soldiers -with the promise of plunder and avoided a general assault which -could have reduced the town before the arrival of relief, hoping -to take it intact by capitulation. Being as arrogant as he was -greedy, he disdained to keep himself informed of the movements of -the enemy, took no measures to prevent their passage of the Danube, -and allowed them to concentrate close behind his camp without the -slightest opposition. At the very moment when Vienna seemed ready -to succumb, John Sobieski joined the Imperial forces under the Duke -of Lorraine on the neighbouring heights. - -Next day (Sept. 11, N.S.) this army of only 77,000 men descended to -the plain like an irresistible avalanche and beat Kara Mustafa’s -host into confusion, defeat, destruction. Some ten thousand Turks -remained dead on the field of battle. The rest, including the Grand -Vizir, fled leaving behind them their guns, their tents, their -archives, and all their colours except the sacred standard of -the Prophet. Not the least notable item in the long list of loot -was the Grand Vizir’s pavilion: a miniature palace surrounded -by baths, gardens, and fountains: which that night afforded a -luxurious resting-place to the happy King of Poland--the King whose -ambassadors Kara Mustafa had treated as we have seen. And so in a -few hours the cloud that had hung over Central Europe for months -melted away. - -This rout, aggravated by some other disasters which overtook -shortly afterwards the demoralised Ottoman army, exhausted the -Grand Signor’s favour for his Vizir. Kara Mustafa’s enemies at -Court fanned the Imperial wrath to a white heat, and an Aga was -sent to Belgrade, where the would-be conqueror had retired, with -orders to relieve him of his head. The Aga arrived on December -25th (N.S.) after sunset; and before sunrise he had fulfilled his -mission. Thus perished, in the height of his pride, one of the -most wicked Ministers, and one of the weakest-minded, that ever -tyrannised over a country. His death was lamented only by those few -who had had no cause to regret his birth. - -Kara Mustafa’s disappearance brought comparative peace and -contentment to foreign residents in Turkey. Not long afterwards -Lord Chandos had the Audience from which he had been debarred for -three years, and after a prosperous career this shrewd and sturdy -Englishman retired, in 1687, with a full purse.[304] - -But for Kara Mustafa’s country there was neither peace nor -contentment. The discomfiture before Vienna afforded a revelation -of Turkey’s weakness which tempted Russia and Venice to join -Austria and Poland in what they called a “Holy League.” As we -have seen, they all had many scores to settle with the Porte. -They settled them now with a vengeance. From 1684 on to 1699 this -struggle for dominion and plunder raged under the name of religion. -The religious fervour of the Moslems was not less holy than that -of the Christians, but Allah fought on the side of the majority. -Misfortune followed misfortune and loss came on the top of loss. -In 1687 the Turks thought to change their luck by changing their -Sultan. But to no purpose: the cycle of their misfortunes went on -unbroken. Famine, fires, and insurrections at home heightened the -dismay caused by defeats abroad, until at last the mighty Ottoman -Empire, stripped of vast territories, distracted, and utterly -spent, had to seek the mediation of the Maritime Powers--England -and Holland. Lord Pagett and Jakob Collyer, the successors of the -diplomats whom Kara Mustafa had outraged so grievously, tried in -1699 to rescue what was possible from the wreck Kara Mustafa had -wrought. (Peace of Carlowitz, Jan. 26.) - -Not long after this remarkable instance of historic retribution, -one of Kara Mustafa’s victims reappeared upon the stage. Mrs. -Pentlow had, on his fall, endeavoured to obtain reparation for -the injury done to her, and the new Grand Vizir, our old friend -Soliman, Ahmed Kuprili’s suave Kehayah, was very willing to see -both that and our other claims settled out of his enemy’s estate. -But the Grand Signor, who had confiscated that estate, demanded due -proofs, which was demanding the impossible. Avanias were always so -conducted that hardly any one besides the persons concerned knew -the details: the Turks concerned were Kara Mustafa’s creatures -who, on his death, were dispersed; the evidence of his Jew and -of our Dragomans was inadmissible against True Believers; the -only witness who could have helped us was the Chief Customer; but -Hussein Aga would not, for prudential reasons, come forward.[305] -So the matter dropped, and Mrs. Pentlow went away to England, where -she married a member of the St. John family, apparently resigned -to her loss. But she had not abandoned all hope, and in the autumn -of 1700, when our Ambassador was basking in the sun of popularity, -she arrived at Constantinople with her daughter, now grown into a -fine young “Mrs. Susanna Pentlow,” and a letter from the Earl of -Jersey, Secretary of State, to Lord Pagett, requesting him to use -his influence for the recovery of the Smyrna estate. - -Lord Pagett enjoyed among the English in the Levant the reputation -of a diplomat who made “no great figure at Court, contenting -himself with being feared by his own nation.”[306] And in this -case he did precisely as the unfortunate Sir John Finch would have -done. He indited a lengthy despatch in which he gave five different -reasons why he could do nothing. The records of the Porte had been -lost before Vienna, and without them no claim would be considered. -The widow had no documents to prove her case. By the Turkish law -all debts for which no demand had been made for fifteen years were -invalid. The Vizir then in power was the son of Kara Mustafa’s -sister who was still alive, and there was nobody in the whole of -the Ottoman Empire who respected the memory of that “unfortunate -great man” so much or who showed a stronger devotion to his family. -Lastly, the Turkish Government had no money to pay off its soldiers -and sailors, all of whom were clamouring for their long overdue -stipends: “and while pressing, clear, just debts can’t be got in, -there’s little hopes of recovering an old, doubtfull, litigious -pretence, pursued upon a very cold scent.”[307] His Lordship -therefore advised that the matter should be allowed to rest till -some favourable opportunity turned up. Such an opportunity, to the -best of the present writer’s knowledge, has not yet turned up. And -so we may part for ever with Mrs. Pentlow, _alias_ Mrs. St. John, -and direct our attention to some of the other characters that have -figured in our story--those three distinguished Englishmen who, it -is hoped, did in Turkey enough to inspire the reader with a wish to -know what became of them afterwards. - -The subsequent career of Paul Rycaut need not detain us long. On -missing the Constantinople appointment, our late Consul entreated -the King to cast a gracious eye upon him, when any office which -His Majesty’s wisdom should judge most agreeable to his talents -and experience became vacant; and in 1685 he obtained the post -of Secretary to the Earl of Clarendon who had recently been made -Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. At the same time he was knighted and -sworn of the Privy Council and judge of the Admiralty in Ireland. -In this employment the ex-Consul earned his Chief’s commendations -for integrity and, among the Irish Catholics, the character of an -extortionate official. Whichever of these two opinions was correct, -Sir Paul did not hold that office long. At the beginning of 1688 -he returned to England, and about the middle of the following year -he was transferred at last to a sphere for which his linguistic -attainments and his diplomatic and commercial experience really -fitted him--that of English Resident in Hamburgh and the Hanse -Towns. He filled that position almost till his death, which -occurred in 1700, a few months after his recall. As in Turkey, -so in Europe, Rycaut devoted much of his time to literary work, -publishing _The Present State of the Greek and Armenian Churches_ -(1678); _The History of the Turkish Empire from 1623 to 1677_, -including his _Memoirs_ (1680); and some translations from the -Spanish and the Latin. Of these productions the _History_ was -long considered one of the best works of its kind in the English -language; and the _Memoirs_ part of it, at least, can still be read -with profit and not without pleasure. - -To turn to the Rev. John Covel. Thanks to his trip to Adrianople, -supplemented just before he left Turkey by some swift excursions -to Nicomedia, Nicaea, and the islands of the Sea of Marmara, and -by a passing view of such classic spots as the homeward bound ship -touched at, our Chaplain returned home with his fame as “a great -Oriental traveller” firmly established.[308] Soon afterwards he -was made Doctor of Divinity by royal warrant, instituted to two -sinecure rectories, and, in 1681, was appointed Chaplain to the -Princess of Orange at the Hague. He was now forty-three. With his -faculties unimpaired and patronage from high quarters flowing -in, he seemed to have the ball fairly at his feet. For about -four years he flowered in the sun of princely favour; and then, -suddenly, the fair prospect became overcast. Dr. Covel would never -speak of the cause which brought his residence at the Hague to an -abrupt close--it was, perhaps, the one subject on which he ever -succeeded in holding his tongue. But we know it. Among the various -and, doubtless, useful functions a divine had to perform in the -Orange household, that of gossip and newsagent was not included. -Dr. Covel, however, unable to break himself of an old habit, -continued his investigations into other people’s affairs with -unabated ardour. To put it plainly, he became one of the spies and -tale-bearers who were encouraged, if not actually employed, by King -James to make mischief between his daughter and his son-in-law. A -letter from the Chaplain giving the English Ambassador an account -of the way in which William treated Mary was intercepted--and Dr. -Covel had to pack at three hours’ notice. - -King James tried to console the dismissed cleric with the -Chancellorship of York during its vacancy (Nov. 9, 1687); and -the Mastership of Christ’s College falling vacant, the Fellows, -to avoid having a certain Smithson thrust upon them by the King, -hastily chose (July 7, 1688) Dr. Covel: “a choice,” it has been -guessed, “they probably would not have made, had they had more -time.”[309] But the Rev. John was not to be consoled for the -loss of his place in the princely sun. He denied the accusation, -denounced his accusers, did everything possible to regain the -Paradise Lost. But all in vain. That William neither believed -nor forgave him became painfully obvious when, soon after the -Revolution, he visited Cambridge. That year (1689) Dr. Covel was -Vice-Chancellor of the University, and since he could not avoid -coming into personal contact with the King he had offended as a -Prince, he anxiously inquired how His Majesty would be pleased -to receive him. The answer must have made him wince: His Majesty -could distinguish between Dr. Covel and the Vice-Chancellor of the -University. Curt, caustic Majesty! - -His garrulity had ruined Dr. Covel’s chances of ecclesiastical -preferment; but it did not stand in the way of his academic career. -He retained the Mastership of Christ’s all his life, and spent -much of his leisure in transcribing, expanding, correcting, and -every way spoiling the notes he had made at Constantinople: to the -satisfaction of himself, though not of others. No publisher could -be found courageous enough to undertake the publication of these -masses of immense discursiveness and laborious irrelevance. It was -only in our own time that a learned society ventured to print a -selection from them. But Dr. Covel was not fortunate even in this -tardy and partial emergence. To the author’s minute inaccuracies -the editor has added a multitude of absurdities of his own; the -upshot being the most bewildering bundle of blunders that ever -issued from the press of any country in the guise of a book.[310] - -So much concerning Dr. Covel’s Travels. His _magnum opus_ on the -Greek Church, after nearly fifty years’ incubation, came out at -last when it was least wanted, in 1722--more than a generation -after the question with which it deals had lost its actuality. It -came out in folio, with a florid dedication to the Duke of Chandos, -son of our late Ambassador and at the time Governor of the Levant -Company: the author hints that, had he been made a Bishop, he would -have had time to finish his book sooner. The delay, indeed, had -its advantages: _non cito, hoc est, non cito ac cursim agere; vel -non temere et inconsulte_. Yet, despite fifty years’ revisions and -manipulations, he fears “some few things may yet appear Defective, -and others Confus’d and Indigested.” The fear is well founded. -Its diffused and confused style, and still more its creator’s -fundamental inability to take an objective view of things, render -this _Account of the Greek Church_ one of the best illustrations -extant of the aphorism _mega biblion, mega kakon_. - -But, after all, it is not Dr. Covel the bad writer, but John the -good fellow we care most about. In course of time he left off -hoping for royal favours and episcopal mitres, and settled down to -a mechanical routine of existence such as good dons lead. Whether -he knew it or not, Dr. Covel was happy; the jollity which had made -the Papas popular with the Factors of Constantinople helped to -make the Master popular with the Fellows of Cambridge. This placid -existence lasted till December 19th, 1722, when the Rev. John, in -the 85th year of his age, went to join Finch and Baines under the -pavement of Christ’s College chapel. - -An inscription commemorates the virtues of Dr. Covel. A good -portrait of him, in his congregational robes, preserves the -features of his countenance. His voluminous journals and letters, -stored in the British Museum, supply an ample and by far the most -trustworthy testimony to the traits of his mind and character; they -exhibit him as an amiable man rather than one of a very superior -understanding. - -[Illustration: DR. JOHN COVEL. - -From the Portrait by Valentine Ritz at Christ’s College, Cambridge. - - _To face p. 372._] - -Much more exciting were the fortunes of the Honourable Dudley -North. We saw him in Turkey a shrewd merchant, keen and -unscrupulous in his pursuit of wealth. We find him in England a -shrewd politician, keen and, some said, remorseless in his pursuit -of power. He returned at a moment when the feud between Whig and -Tory--to give the factions their new-fangled designations--was at -its fiercest. By that infamous fiction, the Popish Plot, the Whigs -had for a time driven the nation to madness and their principal -opponents to an ignominious death. The public was just beginning -to find out how it had been duped, and the Tories, profiting by -the reaction, were getting ready to pay the Whigs back in their -own false coin; the same gang of spies, witnesses, informers, and -suborners who had hounded innocent Tories to the gallows, were -now employed to hound innocent Whigs. North had come home a firm -believer in Titus Oates’s murderous myth. He was undeceived--all -the sooner because he was not slow to perceive that his interest -lay on the same side as the truth: the Tory side. At the instance -of his brother, then Lord Chief Justice, he was called to serve -the King’s party as Sheriff of London and Middlesex: an expensive -office which conferred the power of packing juries and securing -convictions. Dudley performed the services expected from him -with more energy than scruple. He considered it, indeed, very -unfortunate that so many trials for high treason and executions -should happen in his year of office; but business is business. - -In the midst of all this sanguinary work, he found time to court a -wealthy widow, Lady Gunning, and, in spite of her father, to marry -her. She loved him, admired him, idolised him, and presided over -the splendid banquets he gave in his Basinghall Street mansion. He -returned her affection fully, and it was partly that she might not -remain, were it only in name, separate from him, but become Lady -North, that he accepted the honour of knighthood which a grateful -Court bestowed upon him. Thus happy both in his private and public -affairs, Sir Dudley climbed from height to height, becoming in -quick succession an Alderman, a Commissioner of the Customs, a -Commissioner of the Treasury, a Member of Parliament, and the chief -advocate for the Crown in all questions of revenue that came before -the House of Commons. In this last capacity North shone with a pure -light. - -Men who spend their lives in making money are usually the least -competent to understand the abstract principles that govern the -accumulation and distribution of wealth. The distant views and -ultimate conclusions which make up the science of Political Economy -are beyond their vision. All the progress achieved in that most -important field of knowledge has been achieved by philosophers, to -whose discoveries our merchants and manufacturers were the last to -be converted. North, by a most rare gift of nature, combined in his -mental constitution the contradictory qualities of the practical -trader and the speculative thinker. Together with a large fortune, -he had brought from the Levant a large fund of original deductions -from his experience.[311] Withal, he possessed a faculty of -expressing himself, at once homely and forcible, which arrested -attention and carried conviction. As a speaker on financial topics -the Member for Banbury had no rival. - -How much higher a man of so many gifts and so few scruples might -have climbed must remain matter of speculation. The Revolution of -1688 pulled the ladder from under him. The day which witnessed -the victory of the Whigs was a day of reckoning for the Tories. -Forgetting the wrongs they had inflicted and remembering only -the injuries they had suffered, the victors were grimly set on -revenge. Parliamentary Committees were appointed to inquire into -the late judicial proceedings, to punish all persons concerned in -them, and to indemnify the victims out of their estates. Among the -rest, Sir Dudley North had to stand his trial. Great sport was -expected from his baiting. The galleries and benches of the House -of Commons were crowded with spectators; but they got very little -satisfaction. To all the questions put to him as to the manner in -which he had obtained his Shrievalty and his conduct therein, North -gave fearless and, apparently, full and frank answers. This was -not well! After much whispering into the Chairman’s ear, one of -the members of the Committee moved that the ex-Sheriff should be -asked to name the Aldermen who, as he pretended, had assisted at -his election. The Chairman nodded. That was Sir Dudley’s supreme -moment. He turned quietly round and with his cane pointed to five -Aldermen present, who since the Revolution had gone over to the -Whigs, naming them one after another with deadly distinctness. -This was worse than ever! To prevent further sensations, a cunning -Parliamentarian stood up hastily, and “Mr. Foley,” he said, -addressing the Chairman, “you had best have a care: you have an -honourable gentleman before you: that you do not ask him, etc.” -Having thus turned the tables upon his prosecutors, the clever -Dudley left the House with colours flying, sped away by the very -persons who had dragged him there. - -For a time he continued in the Commission of the Customs. But, -presently, that and his other offices were taken from him; and Sir -Dudley relapsed to his original status of a Turkey Merchant. He -went back to the buying and selling of cloth with the resignation -of a philosopher and the spirit of a veteran trader. But even -there luck had at the last rounded upon him. The War with France -just begun (1689) hit North as hard as it did most of the other -merchants of England trading into the Levant Seas. Their trade -was attacked by the enemy both in Turkey and on the way to it. -These calamities abated North’s mettle and affected his health. -He decided to give up the perilous business and turn country -gentleman--a quiet rural life, he thought, would restore to him the -health of body and peace of mind of which the bustle of the world -had robbed him: he would beat his clothyard into a ploughshare; he -would raise crops with as much pleasure as he had raised dollars or -cut off heads. Alas! even here his good fortune failed him. After -inspecting several great estates and offering great prices for them -in vain, he succeeded at last in finding a home in Norfolk; the -date was fixed for him to go down to sign the agreement; but on -the day before, he was seized with the disease which killed him. -He died on the last day of 1691, at the comparatively early age of -fifty. - -However his character may be appraised, Dudley North will always -be remembered as one of the outstanding figures of his time: the -most brilliant of those seventeenth century merchant-adventurers -who were the founders of our national prosperity and commercial -pre-eminence. - -So with all our actors off the stage, we may ring the curtain down. -_La commedia è finita._ - -[Illustration: The Hon.^{ble} S.^r DUDLEY NORTH K.^t Commissioner -of the Treasury to King Charles the Second. - -From an Engraving by G. Vertue, 1743. - - _To face p. 376._] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[300] As a rule, all petitions to the Sultan had to pass through -the Vizir’s hands; but in cases where the Vizir himself was -involved a direct appeal was possible through the above formality: -which secured to the petitioner access to the throne, but entailed, -if his complaint proved false, loss of his head. See Rycaut’s -_Present State_, p. 84; _Life of Dudley North_, p. 100. - -[301] Chandos to Jenkins, April 17-27, 1682; cp. Sir John -Buckworth’s “Narrative of the Distresses of our Turkey Merchants at -C.P.,” Jan. 22, 1681-82, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[302] Chandos to Jenkins, Oct. 11, st. vet. 1682. _The Turk -catches the hare with a cart_ still is a common proverb among the -inhabitants of the Near East. It conveys an appreciation of Turkish -tactics: slow and blundering in appearance, yet forming parts of a -strategic plan, based on the principle that the ultimate outcome of -a struggle depends on which side can show the greatest endurance -and shall have most reserves when it comes to the final tussle. - -[303] Chandos to Jenkins, March 29, 1683. - -[304] “Few have made more of the place than he hath. He has -doubtless raised his estate considerably by it.”--Nathaniel Harley -to Sir Edward Harley, Aleppo, Oct. 29, 1687, _Hist. MSS. Com. -Thirteenth Report_, Part II. p. 242. - -[305] _Life of Dudley North_, pp. 102-3. - -[306] Nathaniel Harley to Sir Edward Harley, Aleppo, July 20, 1694, -_Hist. MSS. Com. Thirteenth Report_, Part II. p. 245. - -[307] Pagett to Vernon, Jan. 17, O.S. 1700-1, _S.P. Turkey_, 21. - -[308] Evelyn’s _Diary_, Nov. 23, 1695. - -[309] _Dictionary of National Biography._ - -[310] It would be invidious to single out particular pearls, -but one is too precious to be passed over. Dr. Covel wrote in -his Diary: “Just at two o’clock Antonio called us to go to the -Alloy.” Now, as the reader may remember, “Alloy” was the name for -the ceremonial march-out of the Army. The editor, mistaking this -Turkish word for the name of an English ship, and then drawing upon -his imagination, evolves a pretty myth: “Dr. Covel and Sir John -Finch, the ambassador, started together on the _Alloy_, and the new -Grand Vizier, Kara Mustapha, came to see them off, and brought them -large quantities of presents.” He goes on to describe the voyage -of the phantom vessel as far as Venice (pp. 282 foll.). The only -parallel instance of an editor’s mythopoeic faculty working upon a -verbal misapprehension known to me is to be found in the _Rigveda_. - -[311] See Appendix XVI. - - - - -APPENDIX I - -[_Ellis Papers_ at the British Museum: _Add. MSS. 28937_, pp. -167-9.] - - - Instructions for our Trusty and wellbeloved Servant S^r John - Finch Knt going in Quality of our Amb^{r.} to reside at y^e - Court of y^e Grand Seig^{r.} Given at y^e Court at Whitehall the - ________ 1672. - -1. You shall embarque your self upon y^e ship designed to carry -you, and dispose thereof according to y^e instruc͡ons of our most -Dear Brother the Duke of York, our High Adm^{ll.} of England. - -2. Being arriued at Constantinople you shall in y^e first place -informe your self from Mr Newman Secretary to y^e late Amb^{r.} -S^r Daniel Haruy, and by him left in the care of our affaires, -and of our subjects in that Court, in what state things now are, -and by him and such others as are best able to informe you, to -instruct your self in the manner of making your addresses with -our credentialls to the Grand Seignior and the Grand Vizier -according to the accustomed stiles used by those inuested with your -character, remembering allways not to suffer it to be prejudiced or -uiolated in any circumstance either by that Court, or any forreign -Ministers residing there. - -3. In your Addresses to y^e Grand Seig^{r.} and Vizier you -shall expresse the Great Value wee haue for their persons, and -satisfac͡on in the obseruance of y^e peace & good correspondence -these towards our Subjects in their Trade & Com͡erce, w^{ch} -is so beneficiall to those parts aboue any other nac͡on, and -particularly those made with Algiers, Tunis, Tripoly, which wee -desire they would continue to protect & recom͡end, assuring them -wee shall seuerely punish any of our subjects, that shall in any -degree uiolate the same; or if in your passage, or upon the place -you shall learne any infringem^{ts.} haue been made on either side, -you shall as occasion shall furnish you with matter for it, frame -excuses or complaints. - -4. In all y^e time of y^r Residence there you must be carefull to -maintain a good correspondence with all y^e Amb^{rs.} and Agents of -Christian Princes, especially those y^t shall be in a nearer degree -of alliance and amity with us, But not forgetting it euen towards -those that are lesse so: to protect their persons, and render your -self usefull to them with all good offices, employing effectually -likewise towards the good of all Christians in generall of what -Degree, Quality, Sect, or opinion so euer they be, giuing the -preference therein still to those of our own profession in Religion -in procuring them Justice & Fauour in all things. - -5. You will learne best upon the place in what manner you must -proceed towards the protec͡on of all the priuiledges and im͡unityes -of our subjects of the Turky Company, for whose good and Benefitt -you are most especially to reside there, by preseruing firme and -inuiolable to them the Capitulac͡ons that are allready in being -with the Grand Seig^{r.} and by solliciting & procuring such -further additionall ones, as time and other circumstances may make -usefull for them to haue, so wee need not be particular in our -Direc͡on to you therein, assuring our self that you will not be -wanting in any thing to performe all good offices towards them to -their entire satisfac͡on. - -6. You shall make it y^r particular care & endeauour to be -truly informed of all negotiac͡ons & practises in y^t Court -which may disturbe the peace of Christendom in any part of it, -and accordingly informe us thereof under the surest and most -speedy conueyance you can, by the hands of one of our principall -Secretaryes of State, with whom you usually correspond, who will -likewise take care on their parts, to signify our pleasure & -further Instruc͡ons to you upon all Emergencyes, com͡unicating to -you all such aduices from hence as may be of use to you there. - -7. And whereas frequent Representac͡ons haue been made to us by the -Turky Company and otherwise of the great mischeifs occasioned in -Trade by the permitting of false and faulty monyes to be imported -or passed in payment in Turky, you shall take some fitt opportunity -to insinuate to the Grand Seig^{r.} and Vizier the mischeifs and -ill consequences of that abuse, and shall in some publick way, such -as you shall find most fitt, disowne the same in Relac͡on to the -English, and in case any English Factor shall transgresse therein, -either in importing those monyes or colouring them, or in receiuing -them by consignac͡on from others, wee do, with the aduice of our -Priuy-Councell, hereby giue you sufficient power & authority to -punish such offenders. - - - - -APPENDIX II - -[_S.P. Turkey_, 19, at the Public Record Office.] - - -ROUGH DRAFT - -Charles the Second by the Grace of the most High God, King of -Great Brittaine, France & Ireland, Defender of the Christian -Faith &c. To the most High & Mighty Emperor Sultan Mahomet Ham -Chiefe Lord and Commander of the Musulman Kingdome, sole and -Supream Monarch of the Easterne Empire, sendeth Greeting. Most -High & Mighty Emperor, Having received advice of the death of S^r -Daniel Harvey, Our late Ambassador in Your Court, and desiring -above all things to entertaine firme & inviolable on Our part -that Good Amity & Friendship which is between Us & You, to the -Mutuall benefit & advantage of both Our Subjects in their Trade -& Commerce, We have made choice of Our Trusty & Wellbeloved S^r -John Finch K^{nt} a Principall Gentleman of Our Court [lately Our -Resident with Our Cousin the Great Duke of Tuscany & Councellor -to Us in][312] Our Councell for matters relating to Our Forraigne -Colonies & Plantations, who is the Bearer of these Our Letters[313] -to reside at Your Port as Our Ambassador in the roome & place of -the said S^r Daniel Harvey, We pray you therefore to receive & -admitt him favourably to negotiate with You as Our Ambassador, & -to give entire beliefe & Credit to him in whatsoever he shall -at any time move, propose, or treate in Our name for the mutuall -good & welfare of Our Dominions & People Our Friends and Allyes, -the protection of Our Merchants trading into Your Empire from all -wrongs, oppressions & violence in their persons or Estates, & in -what else may conduce to the strengthening & increase of that -Amity, Commerce & good Correspondence, w^{ch} hath been soe long -continued between our Crownes & Subjects And which We on Our part -are resolved to preserve most sacred & inviolable. All whereof We -have given Our said Ambassador charge more particularly to assure -you, Not doubting but he will find in all things the same favour & -good respect with You w^{ch} his Predecessor the said S^r Daniel -Harvey reported to Us to have ever found from You & Your Ministers -in all his negotiations, For which We now acknowledge Our thankes, -& shall be ready to make on all occasions those returnes that may -expresse the particular esteeme, We have of y^r Friendship & Good -Will & soe We committ You & Your affaires to the Almighty. - -Given at Our Court & Palace of Whitehall the ________ day of -November in the Yeare of Our Lord God one thousand six hundred -seventy & two & of Our Reigne the four & twentieth. - - * * * * * - -Charles the Second by the Grace of the most High God, King of Great -Brittaine, France & Ireland, Defender of the Christian Faith &c. To -the High & Excellent Lord the Vizier Azem, sendeth Greeting. - -High & Excellent Lord, Having received advice of the death of -S^r Daniel Harvey Our Ambassador with the Grand Signior Your -Lord & Master, & being desirous by all means to provide for the -improvement & encrease of that Amity & Friendship w^{ch} We have -hitherto soe happily entertained with the Grand Signior to the -mutuall profit & content of both our subjects, We have made choice -of this Bearer Our Trusty & Wellbeloved servant S^r John Finch -K^t a principall Gentleman of Our Court & one of Our Councell for -matters relating to Our Forreigne Colonies & Plantations, as one -who by the Employments he hath held on Our part for many yeares -in Courts of severall Forreigne Princes, We have judged more -particularly qualified to succeed the said S^r Daniel Harvey, to -reside with the Grand Signior as Our Ambassador, to negotiate on -our part & soe doe & performe those Offices on all occasions, by -which the Amity & good Friendship between us may be strengthened & -confirmed, & Our Subjects reciprocally reap the fruit thereof in -their Trade & Commerce, and therefore considering the eminent place -You justly hold in the favour, as well as the businesse, of the -Grand Signior your Lord & Master, & in regard of the good affection -you have alwayes expressed to Us & Our affaires, of w^{ch} We shall -ever retaine a very particular sense, We have desired by this to -recommend Our said servant to your kindnesse, as one of whose -discreet & respectfull carriage towards your Master & your selfe -We are very confident & doe therefore pray you to receive him as -your friend, to believe him in what he shall at any time deliver -to you in Our name, & to be aiding to him in all occasions by your -authority and support, in what may concerne the preservation of -that Friendship & good correspondence that is between Our Kingdomes -& that Empire & w^{ch} We are resolved to observe inviolably on -our part, as We doubt not of the Justice & good Disposition of -the Grand Signior to doe at all times on his. In w^{ch} We againe -pray your best Offices, & soe leaving Our said Ambassador in Your -favour, We recommend You to that of the Almighty. - -Given at Our Court & Palace of Whitehall the ________ day of -November in the yeare of Our Lord God one thousand six hundred -seventy & two & of Our Reigne the four & twentieth. - - Your affectionate Friend. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[312] This sentence is crossed out; the Great Duke being the -Sultan’s enemy, the fact that Sir John came from his Court would -scarcely be a recommendation! - -[313] Here the following is added in the margin: “After haveing -served Us with good satisfac͡on s̶e̶v̶e̶r̶a̶l many yeares in -severall Foreigne Negotiac͡ons.” - - - - -APPENDIX III - - -The Levant Company’s Charter of 1605, which established it in -perpetuity, superseding the earlier patents granted by Elizabeth -for a limited number of years, conferred on the Merchants full -power “to name, choose, and appoint at their will and pleasure” -Consuls or Vice-Consuls; but on the point of the Ambassador it was -silent, unless the Company’s right to name him might be inferred -from a clause which authorised it “to assign, appoint, create, and -ordain such and so many officers and ministers,” both at home and -abroad, as “shall seem expedient for the doing and executing of -the affairs and business appertaining to the said Company.” At the -same time, the Merchants were authorised, “for the sustentation of -the necessary stipends and other charges,” to levy upon all goods -transported from England to the Levant or vice versa, and upon -every ship so employed, such sums of money, “by way of Consulage -or otherwise,” as “to them shall seem requisite and convenient.” -[The original is to be found in _S.P. Levant Company_, 107, at the -Public Record Office; for a printed copy see M. Epstein’s _Early -History of the Levant Company_, London, 1908, Appendix I.] - -The Parliamentary ordinance of 1643 accorded to the Merchants -explicitly “free choice and removal of all ministers by them -maintained at home and abroad, whether they be dignified and called -by the name of Ambassadors, Governors, Deputies, Consuls, or -otherwise,” and also recognised in specific terms their right to -levy import and export duties on foreign merchandise carried under -the English flag to and from the Levant (“Strangers’ Consulage”), -as well as on English merchandise (“Native Consulage”). Thus the -Company obtained an official recognition of its claim to appoint -the Ambassador and an undisputed power over all the funds by which -the Embassy was maintained. - -The new Charter of 1661, though not ratifying the Company’s claim -to appoint the Ambassador, sanctioned its hold upon both kinds -of Consulage. [See the Charter in _S.P. Levant Company_, 108.] -In other words, the Merchants retained the material means of -keeping, and therefore, by implication, the right of appointing the -Ambassador. - -In 1668, when, upon the recall of Lord Winchilsea, the question of -a choice of Ambassador once more arose, Sir Sackville Crow, still -smarting from his grievances, presented to Charles a vindictive -Memorial in which he recapitulated the old disputes and urged -him to recover “one of the Supreme Prerogatives of your Crowne, -viz. the Election of the Ambassadours for Turky,” by depriving -the Company of the Consulage which enabled it to maintain and, -in consequence, to claim the right of naming, the Ambassador. -Otherwise, he said, His Majesty’s envoys, by depending entirely -on the Company for their maintenance, would be the Merchants’ -“stipendiaries and vassalls, and obliged to serve theire Lustes and -Pleasures (good or badd) agaynst the Law or Crowne, whereof his -late Majestie had too sadde an experience and may justly caution -your Majestie to take care of and provide agaynst.”[314] - -Nothing came of this instigation, and the anomalous position of the -Constantinople Embassy continued for ages a source of intermittent -friction. - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[314] _Narrative Levant Companies Proceedings with the Crowne And -my Petition to His Majesty thereon for Examination_, in _S.P. -Turkey_, 19. Cp. _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series_, -1667-1668, pp. 226, 230. - - - - -APPENDIX IV - - -Ahmed Kuprili’s age is uncertain: “only thirty years of age”--Lord -Winchilsea to Secretary Nicholas, Nov. 11-21, 1661 [_S.P. Turkey_, -17]; “Not exceeding 32 years of Age”--Sir Paul Rycaut, 1661 -[_Memoirs_, p. 82]; “The Vizier, they say, exceeds not the age of -two and thirty yeares”--Geo. Etherege[315] to Joseph Williamson, -“R. 8 May 1670” [_S.P. Turkey_, 19], which would make him at his -accession only 24. John Covel in 1675 writes: “He is, they say, 44 -years old, though, for my own part, I guesse him not above 40, if -so much” [_Diaries_, p. 195]. Covel’s guess would make Ahmed at the -time of his accession 26--an estimate which coincides with Hammer’s -statement: “Kœprilu Ahmed, alors âgé de vingt-six ans” [_Histoire -de l’Empire Ottoman_, vol xi. p. 113]. - -Concerning his merits contemporary English opinion is unanimous. -“He was one of the best Ministers that People ever knew” [_Life of -Dudley North_, p. 72]. “This great Kupriogle was a Man of Honour -... and just” [Covel’s _Account of the Greek Church_, Pref., p. -lii.]. “He is prudent and just, not to be corrupted by money, -the general vice of this country, nor inclined to cruelty as his -father was” [George Etherege, _loc. cit._]. “Very prudent, honest -... not given to blood as his father, not mercenary, an enemy to -_avanias_ and false pretences ... just in his decrees” [Lord -Winchilsea, “Memorandums touching the Turkish Empire” (1669), in -_Finch Report_, p. 522]. Sir Paul Rycaut gives him the character -of “a prudent and Politick Person,” speaks of his “gentleness and -moderation,” and adds that “he was not a Person who delighted in -bloud, and in that respect of an humour far different from the -temper of his Father. He was generous, and free from Avarice, a -rare Vertue in a Turk!... In the administration of Justice very -punctual and severe” [_Memoirs_, p. 333]. - -Equally unanimous is the evidence as regards his favour to the -English. “I shall apply myself to the Vizier and doubt not to have -all satisfaction from him, being assur’d of his good will to us -and aptness to favor us in all our reasonable demands”--Sir Daniel -Harvey to Lord Arlington, Jan. 31, 1669 [-70]; “Your Lordship may -be assurd our merchants heer in Turkie are soe farr from meeting -with any obstruction in their affayrs, that they have all the -countenance and incouradgment the publick ministers which reside -in those places where we have factories can give them and that -not without some preference to other nations”--the Same to the -Same, April 30, 1671; “As to the honour and privilege which our -Nation enjoyeth here, and security of our persons and estates -under the Turkes, it is beyond the example of former times”--Paul -Rycaut, Smyrna, July 26, 1675 [_S.P. Turkey_, 19]. Cp. “He was -very observant of the Capitulations between our King and the Grand -Signior, being ready to do Justice upon any corrupt Minister who -pertinaciously violated and transgressed them” [_Memoirs_, p. -333]. “And whereas under the Government of Kuperlee Ahmet Pasha -... our Merchants enjoyed great security and freedome in the -Trade....”--Charles II. to the Grand Vizir, Whitehall, Dec. 28, -1680 [_Register_, 1668-1710, pp. 99-100, _S.P. Levant Company_, -145]. - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[315] The celebrated Restoration dramatist. He had gone with Sir -Daniel Harvey to Turkey as his Secretary and, in the winter of -1669-70, accompanied him to Salonica, where the Ambassador had -his audience of the Grand Signor. Of this, Sir George Etherege’s -first step in the diplomatic service, no mention is made in the -article on him in the _Dictionary of National Biography_. The one -letter from him on Turkish affairs and personalities preserved at -the Public Record Office makes us wish for more: a better informed -or better written document does not exist in all the Turkey State -Papers. - - - - -APPENDIX V - - -Two such instances may be quoted as affording an instructive -parallel to the present case. In 1661 the Algerines complained -“That the ship the _Goodwill_, bound, with the persons and goods -of several Turkish passengers from Tunis to Smyrna, meeting with -some Maltese galleys, without any dispute or contest, resigned them -up all with their estates into the hands of the Grand Signor’s -enemies. That another ship, the _Angel_, had done the like to the -Venetian fleet and rather sought excuses to cover the treachery -than means to avoid the enemy”--Lord Winchilsea to Secretary -Nicholas, Adrianople, Jan. 13, 1661-2 [_S.P. Turkey_, 17]. - - - - -APPENDIX VI - - -The Instructions given by the Levant Company to every new -Ambassador and Consul contain a clause to this effect: “If you -shall find any of our Factors or others of the English Nation to be -notoriously addicted to Gaming, Drinking, Whoreing, or any other -licentious course of life, to the dishonour of God, the scandal of -our Religion and Nation, their principalls’ damage, and the ill -example of others, wee doe straitly require and recommend to you -to endeavour to reclaim them by your good admonitions or, finding -them incorrigible, to give us speedy notice of such persons to the -end some other course may be taken with them.” [See Instructions to -Sir Daniel Harvey (1668); to Lord Chandos (1681); to Sir William -Trumbull (1687); to Sir William Hussey (1690); to Lord Pagett -(1693); to Sir Robert Sutton (1701); to Paul Rycaut, Smyrna (1668); -to Thomas Metcalfe, Aleppo (1687); to George Brandon, Aleppo -(1700); to William Sherrard, Smyrna (1703); to William Pilkington, -Aleppo (1708)--_Register_, 1668-1710, _S.P. Levant Company_, -145; _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series_, 1667-8.] The -repetition of this injunction shows at once how necessary and how -ineffective it was. - -Another means employed by the Company to combat licentiousness -deserves attention. Macaulay has grossly exaggerated the scarcity -of books during the 17th century.[316] From John Evelyn’s letters, -Pepys’s diary, and many other contemporary sources, it is clear -that England abounded both in private and in public libraries: -Norwich had one since 1608, Bristol since 1615, Leicester since -1632, Manchester since 1653. As to the English in the Levant, -that even there books were not lacking for those who cared to -make use of them is proved by two documents before me. The first -is “A Catalogue of the Library belonging to the English Nation at -Aleppo, taken in the year of our Lord 1688”--seven folio pages, -giving the titles of 210 works. The other is “A Catalogue of the -Books in the Library belonging to the English Nation at Smyrna. -Taken in the year of our Lord 1702”--a list of some 110 volumes. -[_Register_, pp. 157-164, 301-304, _S.P. Levant Company_, 145.] But -these collections, apparently formed under the inspiration of the -chaplains and, one might suspect, for their own benefit, consisted -mostly of Theological, Classical, Historical, and other ponderous -tomes hardly calculated to allure gay young sportsmen. With the -exception of “Lovelace his Poems, 8o Lond. 1649,” light literature -is represented in them by nothing lighter than “Bacon his Essayes, -12o Lond. 1664,” and “Lock, of Understanding, Lond. 1690.” - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[316] Of that popular historian’s way of writing history one -instance will suffice. He cites Roger North’s Life of his brother -John as evidence that the booksellers’ shops in Little Britain -were crowded by readers who could not afford to purchase books -(_History of England_, 4th ed. vol. i. p. 392). In point of -fact, what North says is that scholars went to Little Britain, -“a plentiful and perpetual Emporium of learned Authors,” as to a -Market. “This drew to the place a mighty Trade; the rather because -the Shops were spacious, and the learned gladly resorted to them, -where they seldom failed to meet with agreeable Conversation. And -the Booksellers themselves were knowing and conversible Men, with -whom, for the sake of bookish Knowledge, the greatest Wits were -pleased to converse.” (_Life of the Hon. and Rev. Dr. John North_, -1742, p. 241.) North’s whole intention is to draw a picture of the -abundance and diffusion of books at the time, in contrast with the -opposite state of things which, he asserts, prevailed at a later -period, when the bookselling trade had “contracted into the Hands -of two or three Persons,” with the result that bookshops diminished -in number, deteriorated in quality, and, as places of resort, were -superseded by the tavern or the coffee-house. - - - - -APPENDIX VII - - -When Macaulay, in his Third Chapter, depicted the English squire of -the 17th century as looking down upon those of his neighbours who -“were so unfortunate as to be the great grandsons of aldermen,” he -attributed to a past age prejudices derived from his own. A little -serious investigation might have taught him better. The Earl of -Danby, afterwards Marquis of Caermarthen (1680) and Duke of Leeds -(1694), was the great grandson of an alderman--the clothworker -Sir Edward Osborne, one of the founders of the Levant Company. -The Norths, whose _Lives_ he often quotes, emerged from obscurity -when the first North of whom we have any distinct knowledge -settled in London and became a merchant, sometime before the end -of the fifteenth century; his son rising to the peerage about the -middle of the next century. Sir John Finch’s brother, the Earl of -Nottingham, married the daughter of Daniel Harvey (about 1650); his -cousin, the Earl of Winchilsea, the daughter of John Ayres (1681); -and his successor at the Constantinople Embassy, Lord Chandos, the -daughter of Sir Henry Barnard (about 1670)--all of them merchants -of London. Another London merchant, Sir Josiah Child, as Macaulay -himself notes, married his daughter to the eldest son of the Duke -of Beaufort (1683). Further illustrations of the absence of any -chasm between the two classes will readily occur to any student of -literary history. For instance, the father of Sir Thomas Browne -(who was born in London in 1605), a merchant, sprang from a good -Cheshire family; the father of John Milton (who was born in London -in 1608), a scrivener, came of an ancient Oxfordshire stock; Edward -Gibbon was descended from a younger son of the Gibbons of Kent, -who, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, had migrated to -the City of London and become a clothworker. In mentioning this -fact, Gibbon very truly remarks that “our most respectable families -have not disdained the counting-house or even the shop” (_Memoirs -of My Life and Writings_, 1st ed., p. 5). Hume also, in speaking -of the Commonwealth, observes, “the prevalence of democratical -principles engaged the country gentlemen to bind their sons -apprentices to merchants” (_History of England_, chap. lxii.): he -is only wrong in the time he assigns to this social revolution--it -was much older than the Commonwealth, and was due to economic -causes rather than to political principles. - - - - -APPENDIX VIII - - -Of all the excesses of the age the most fashionable was excess in -drink. Smyrna was particularly famous for a kind of wine which -connoisseurs pronounced only inferior to Canary:[317] so excellent, -indeed, was this wine that a butt of it formed a most acceptable -present from an English Ambassador to a Secretary of State.[318] -The Franks made it in their own houses, buying the grapes in the -town. In the circumstances, it is not surprising that inebriation -nowhere attained greater heights than at Smyrna. When ships from -home came into port, captains and merchants vied with each other in -feats of conviviality. Here is a picture of these jollifications -drawn by a competent and appreciative eye-witness: “_Les marchands -vont quelquefois se divertir à bord des vaisseaux.... Ils y -viennent de bon matin et s’en retournent fort tard. Très souvent -les conviés ont besoin qu’on les mette dans leurs bateaux avec -des palans, de crainte que les pieds leur manquent en descendant -par les échelles. Cette précaution est sage et nécessaire après -ces sortes de longs festins où l’on a bu beaucoup, et, pour -l’ordinaire, beaucoup trop.... Quand les divertissements se font -à terre chez les marchands, et surtout chez les Anglois, on ne -peut rien ajouter à la magnificence des festins ni à la quantité -de vin qui s’y boit. Après qu’on a cassé tous les verres et les -bouteilles, on s’en prend aux miroirs et aux meubles. On casse et -on brise tout pour faire honneur à ceux à qui on boit et on pousse -quelquefois la débauche si loin que, ne trouvant plus rien à -casser, on fait allumer un grand feu et on y jette les chapeaux, -les perruques, et les habits, jusqu’aux chemises, après quoi ces -messieurs sont obligés de demeurer au lit jusqu’à ce qu’on leur ait -fait d’autres habits._”[319] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[317] Thevenot, _Travels into the Levant_, Part I. p. 92 (Eng. tr. -1687). - -[318] Sir Daniel Harvey to Lord Arlington, Dec. 9, 1668; Jan. 31, -1670; Paul Rycaut to the Same, June 29, 1671, _S.P. Turkey_, 19. - -[319] D’Arvieux, _Mémoires_, t. i. pp. 131-2. - - - - -APPENDIX IX - - -This outrageous specimen of oppressive impudence, like other -abuses, can be traced up to a very respectable origin--to one of -those feelings which do honour to human nature. It is still the -custom among the Turks, after a banquet, to give the guests a -present which, in the quaint language of Oriental courtesy, they -style _dishe parassi_--“teeth-money”--a slight return for the -trouble the guest gave himself in partaking of their hospitality. -But what was originally a delicate token of respectful affection, -under the tyrannical circumstances of Ottoman rule, assumed the -form of a degrading and disgusting imposition. - -In the same way, _bakshish_ generally, if considered in its origin, -is only a very natural expression of love and respect. Presents -have always been and still are the proper tokens of friendship -among men the world over. But observances of this kind have a -knack of degenerating; and the Turk in power soon learnt to exact -presents as tribute, until the institution became one of the -greatest political evils that ever afflicted a community: it would -be no overstating the case to say that the Ottoman Empire has died -of _bakshish_. - - - - -APPENDIX X - -SIR DANIEL HARVEY TO LORD ARLINGTON - - -[_S.P. Turkey_, 19] - -(_Extract_) - - PERA OF CONSTANTINOPLE, - _Jan. 31, 1669 [-70]_. - -I was received by y^e Grand Segnior according to y^e custome of -this Court, except in a condescention w^{ch} I am told this Monarch -does not accustome himself to, for after my Memorial was read by my -Druggerman, containing a congratulation for his success in Candy -& recom͡ending to his consideration y^e senceritie of my Master’s -frendshipe by such instances as ware proper to doe it, he asked me -if I had anything more to say by word of mouth, whareupon I pressd -y^e renuing y^e Capitulations, & y^e adding some new Articles to -explain & fortify y^e rest, w^{ch} ware often misinterpreted by -inferior ministers to y^e prejiduce of my Masters subjects. he -replied y^e Chimacham was his Deputie to whome he refer’d me, & y^t -if any of his subjects did any thing contrary to y^e Capitulations -w^{th} y^e King of England, he com͡anded him to cutt of thare -heads. - - - - -APPENDIX XI - -SIR JOHN FINCH TO SECRETARY COVENTRY - - -[_Coventry Papers_] - -(_Extract_) - - CARAGAS NEAR ADRIANOPLE, - _September the 9th, 1675_. - -This done, I thought no other difficulty could remain; but when -they were wrote out and the Gran Sig^{rs} seale to them, and I -appointed to come to receive them from the Vizir, asking whether -the Gran Sig^{rs} Hattesheriffe or Hand was to them, I was answerd’ -No. I said then, I could not receive them: Here I send to the Rais -Affendi who desires me to desist for it was impossible to be done, -for neither France, Venice, nor Holland had a Hattesheriffe to -their Capitulations who were renewd’ since ours. Then I send to -the Kehaiah my good Friend the Capitulations renewd’ by my Lord -of Winchelsea, to which the Imperiall Hand was sett, with this -message by my Druggerman, that it was a point I could not depart -from, for the Capitulations would not onely be thought by the King -my Master to whome I was to send them to be surreptitiously gott, -but also it was the losse of my Head to accept of lesse then what -my Predecessors had gott: Whereupon the Kehaiah immediately takes -Pen and Ink, and writes to the Vizir, who had an Answer immediately -that it should be done, but I attended a whole week before it was -effected, and three days more before the Vizir deliverd’ them. - - - - -APPENDIX XII - - -Sir John Chardin, writing from first-hand knowledge, described -our export trade with Turkey at that time as amounting to between -£500,000 and £600,000 a year (a quarter of the total export trade -of the kingdom), and estimated the annual exportation of cloth, the -staple commodity of England, at about 20,000 pieces [_Travels into -Persia_, London, 1691, pp. 4-6]. These statements are corroborated -by an official Account which the Levant Company delivered to the -Lords Commissioners for Trade in 1703. We find there the exports of -cloth from 82,032 pieces (the total for the six years 1666-1671) -rising in the next six years (1672-1677) to 120,451: the high-water -mark of our Turkey trade [_Register_, p. 308, _S.P. Levant -Company_, 145]. Further evidence that the embassy of Sir John Finch -coincided with our commercial zenith is supplied by a Petition from -the Levant Company against the Woollen Manufacture Encouragement -Bill of 1678. The Petitioners claim that they have advanced the -consumption of broad cloth in Turkey from 14,000 or 15,000 to -24,000 or 25,000 a year [_House of Lords Calendar_, in _Hist. MSS. -Comm._, Ninth Report, Part II. P. 111.] - -As to selling on credit, the Company’s attitude is illustrated -by the comment which accompanies the Account cited above: “My -Lords, By the foregoing particulars of our exportations does -plainly appear that the Trade hath been considerably increased -since the year 1672 when the Oath against Trusting first took -place.” Ambassadors and Consuls were instructed to watch over the -strict observance of that oath [see the Company’s Instructions -to Lord Chandos, Sir William Trumbull, Sir William Hussey, Lord -Pagett, Sir Robert Sutton, to Thomas Metcalfe, Consul at Aleppo, -to George Brandon, also Consul at Aleppo, and to William Sherrard, -Consul at Smyrna, in the _Register_ already cited]. It was found, -however, that the Factors, in spite of their oath, would “trust.” -Whereupon, in 1701, the wise men in London put their heads together -to discover “what methods were best to be used to prevent so ill -a practice” [Instructions to Sutton, Clause 7], and “made a new -Oath against Trusting, more full and comprehensive than the former, -to be taken by all our Factors in Turkey, which you are to see -strictly observed, with this limitation only: that our Factors -may sell on trust such goods of the growth and product of Turkey, -Persia, and India as are not proper to be sent to England, upon -their own account, being willing to make an experiment of the -effects which such an indulgence may produce” [Instructions to -Sherrard, Clause 5]. The text of this new Oath was as follows. I -reproduce a copy enclosed in a despatch from Sir Robert Sutton to -the Secretary of State, dated “Pera of Constantinople, Nov. 30th, -O.S. 1702” [_S.P. Turkey_, 21]: - -“I A. B. do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God and upon -the holy Evangelist that I will not sell or barter upon Trust, -for my own or any English-man’s account, any Cloth or other goods -and commodities whatsoever, nor suffer it to be done by any other -person or persons for or under me directly or indirectly. - -And I do further swear that I will not deliver out of my -possession, nor suffer to be delivered directly or indirectly any -goods or commodities for my own or any English-man’s account, -before I have received full payment for the same in mony, if such -goods and commodities were sold for mony, but if such goods and -commodities were sold in barter against goods I will not deliver -the goods I so sell before I have received the full value in the -goods bartered for, and they to be at my immediate disposal to all -intents and purposes as if I had bought and paid for them with mony. - -And I do likewise further swear that I will not take in payment or -in pawn as security for any goods sold or bartered, neither by -myself or any other person directly or indirectly, any Temesooks, -Mery Tescarees, Beghlar Tescarees, Sebeb Takrirs, Hojets, or any -assignments or other writing or writings of what nature soever of -or from any person or persons of what nation soever. - -All which I will duely observe without any equivocation or mental -reservation so long as I shall remain in Turky, unless the Levant -Company shall sooner annul their order in this behalfe. - - So help me God. - -At a General Court of the Levant Company held at Pewterers’ Hall -London the 24 October 1701. - -Ordered that every person taking this Oath shall repeat the words -after him that administers it and the same shall be entered in -Cancellaria and subscribed by the respective parties.” - - - - -APPENDIX XIII - - -That the Levant Company did not consider the result of Sir John’s -expedition to Adrianople at all commensurate with the expenditure -it had entailed may be seen from its Instructions to subsequent -ambassadors: not to go out of Constantinople for the presentation -of their Credentials, but to await there the return of the Court, -and to forbear renewing the Capitulations, unless the juncture of -affairs should happen to prove so favourable that some new Articles -for the security and advancement of trade might be obtained; but, -in any case, not to entertain any thoughts of renewing them without -first consulting the Company [_Register_, 1668-1710, _S.P. Levant -Company_, 145]. - - - - -APPENDIX XIV - - -To avoid similar complications, the Levant Company instructed -the Ambassadors: “Many Evils have ensued upon the marriage of -Englishmen with the Subjects of the Grand Signor. We therefore -pray your Lordship to discourage and discountenance that -practice, it being prejudiciall to themselves as well as to the -publique” [see Instructions to Chandos, Trumbull, Hussey, Pagett, -Sutton--_Register, S.P. Levant Company_, 145]. But the practice -continued. In 1758 the Grand Vizir Raghib Pasha re-opened the whole -question by issuing an ordinance which forbade Franks to marry the -daughters of _rayahs_ or to acquire real estate, and once more -the authorities at Galata were commanded to send in a list of all -Franks who were in the one or the other category [Hammer, _Histoire -de l’Empire Ottoman_, vol. xvi. p. 12]. But still the practice -went on, and in the end the Turks, whatever they may have held -in theory, acquiesced in our view that the descendants of Frank -fathers, no matter how remote, did not become Ottoman subjects. -Hence the so-called Levantine families settled at Constantinople, -Smyrna, Salonica, and other trade centres in the Near East; forming -ex-territorial colonies the members of which, amenable to their own -laws, administered by their own magistrates, and subject only to -the jurisdiction, within certain limits, of their own Governments, -preserved their respective nationalities and their civil and -political rights, just as if they lived in the countries of their -origin. This régime, unique in modern Europe, though common in -antiquity, endured unchallenged down to the Turkish Revolution of -1908. - - - - -APPENDIX XV - - -In 1687 James II. extorted from the embarrassments of the Porte -what Charles II. and his predecessors had failed to obtain from -its sense of justice. The occasion was curiously similar to the -present one. An Italian corsair, operating under a commission from -the King of Poland, robbed an English ship, the _Jerusalem_, of -some passengers and goods belonging to the Pasha of Tripoli and -carried them off to Malta. On the petition of the Levant Company, -King James instructed his new Ambassador Sir William Trumbull, -who was on the point of sailing for Turkey, to call in at Malta, -expostulate with the Grand Master on the protection he gave to -pirates preying upon English vessels, obtain liberation of the -captives and restitution of the stolen goods, take both to Tripoli -and hand them over to their rightful owner. This was done, and King -James, in a letter to the Grand Vizir, after describing the service -rendered, proceeded “to declare our positive resolution pursuant to -the Capitulations in that behalfe that neither We nor any of our -subjects shall at any time answer for the persons or estates of -such subjects of your Imperial Master as shall of their own accord -embark themselves upon any of our Merchants ships. But that all -such persons as shall intrust either themselves or their goods upon -any English ship shall bear their own hazard of corsairs and pyrats -of what nature soever and sustain all other accidents whereunto the -sea is lyable and from which they can only be protected by the one -omnipotent God. And to this which is in itself so highly reasonable -and agreeable to the rules of common justice, We cannot doubt of -your assent.” - -As at the moment the Ottoman Empire was assailed by four Powers -from without and was convulsed by rebellions from within, the -Grand Vizir readily gave his assent: “In conformity to the good -accord of peace established with the happy Port of the Empire -who is the refuge of the world, it is necessary and fit that the -subjects on both parts should be in safety one with the other; and -if the subjects of these Imperial Dominions shall enter voluntarily -into the ships of your Merchants and your Merchants shall give them -a writing any ways obliging themselves as security for said loss, -or damage, according to that writing which shall be given it shall -be obeyed and observed as to the security given for the loss or -damage. And if your Merchants are not in this manner obliged nor -give a writing of such import, the subjects of this Empire entering -voluntarily into the ships of the Merchants, any loss or damage -happening so to them, there shall be nothing pretended from your -Merchants nor your subjects on any such pretexts. This rule ... We -shall keep it an established Rule....”[320] - -But alas for promises given under compulsion! Notwithstanding this -solemn engagement, the Porte clung to its favourite principle, and -every English Ambassador had to repeat, age after age, his nation’s -disclaimer of corporate responsibility. [See, for instance, the -Credentials of Abraham Stanyan (1717) and of James Porter (1746) -in _S.P. Turkey_, 56.] As to the Levant Company, it did what it -could to avoid trouble by instructing the Ambassadors either to -forbid English ships to carry Turks and their goods, under severe -penalties (such as making them pay double Consulage), or at least -to see that the necessary precaution was taken by a writing given -at the port of embarkation to secure the Company from any damage, -in accordance with the Grand Vizir’s letter. [See the Company’s -Instructions to Sir William Hussey (1690), to Lord Pagett (1693), -to Sir Robert Sutton (1701), in the _Register_ already cited.] - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[320] For the documents (Levant Co.’s petition to Earl of -Sunderland; King James to Grand Vizir; Grand Vizir to King James), -see _Register_, pp. 132, 134, 151, in _S.P. Levant Company_, 145. - - - - -APPENDIX XVI - - -Dudley North’s genius is proved and his place in the history of -Political Economy established by an anonymous pamphlet which he -published shortly before his death under the title _Discourses -upon Trade, principally directed to the cases of the Interest, -Coinage, Clipping and Encrease of Money_. This great little -treatise, suppressed by the Government of William III. in 1691, -was reprinted, from one of the very few copies extant, in 1856 -by J. R. M’Culloch among his _Early English Tracts on Commerce_. -It embodies, briefly and boldly, a system the originality and -completeness of which may be judged from the following abstract--a -theory in essence similar to, in some respects more consistent -than, that enunciated by Adam Smith generations later: - -“The whole world, as to trade, is but one nation or people, and -therein nations are as persons. The loss of a trade with one nation -is not that only, separately considered, but so much of the trade -of the world rescinded and lost, for all is combined together. -There can be no trade unprofitable to the public; for if any prove -so, men leave it off: and, wherever the traders thrive, the public -of which they are a part thrive also. To force men to deal in any -prescribed manner, may profit such as happen to serve them, but the -public gains not, because it is taking from one subject to give to -another. No laws can set prices in trade, the rates of which must -and will make themselves. But when such laws do happen to lay any -hold, it is so much impediment to trade, and therefore prejudicial. -Money is merchandize, whereof there may be a glut, as well as a -scarcity, and that even to an inconvenience. A people cannot want -money to serve the ordinary dealing, and more than enough they will -not have. No man will be the richer for the making much money, -nor any part of it, but as he buys it for an equivalent price.... -Exchange and ready money are the same; nothing but carriage and -re-carriage being saved. Money exported in trade is an increase to -the wealth of the nation; but spent in war and payments abroad, -is so much impoverishment....” The tract ends with these weighty -words: “No people ever yet grew rich by policies: but it is peace, -industry, and freedom that bring trade and wealth, and nothing -else.” - -The author describes his propositions as “paradoxes, no less -strange to most men than true in themselves.” Their truth may -still be a matter of controversy; their strangeness at the time -at which they appeared is unquestionable. They were rank heresies -against the dominant creed of the day. According to the cardinal -article of that creed--the “balance of trade”--wealth consisted -solely of money: whatever sent the precious metals out of a -country impoverished it: whatever tended to swell the quantity of -bullion in a country added to its riches. Therefore, no trade with -any country was profitable, unless we exported to that country -more value in goods than we imported, receiving the difference -in money, which was considered the measure of our profit. North, -presumably, had his eyes opened to the fallacy of this mercantile -doctrine by the facts of our Levant trade. In the earlier days our -exports to Turkey fully paid for our imports, and in those days -English writers proudly contrasted our position with that of other -nations--the French, Dutch, Italians, Germans--who paid a balance -in cash. It did not occur to them that those nations must have -found it as profitable to pay for what they got in gold and silver -as we did in goods, else they would not have done so: and if they -got their money’s worth for their money, which no doubt they did, -they were quite as well off as the English who, of course, got no -more than the worth of their manufactures. [See Munn’s _Discourse -of Trade_, 1621, in Geo. L. Craik’s _History of British Commerce_, -1844, vol ii. pp. 19-20.] However, before North left Turkey, our -merchants had got into the habit of sending, in addition to goods, -large quantities of specie: in other words, now the “balance of -trade” was against us--and yet our Levant trade never was more -profitable! Here was a paradox to set a sensible man thinking. - -But few men can think. Acting upon the established belief, English -public opinion clamoured for the exclusion from the Kingdom of -the products of foreign countries, particularly those of our -traditional rival, France. In one of these paroxysms of popular -frenzy an entire prohibition of French goods was proclaimed by Act -of Parliament (1678). On that occasion, indeed, national hatred -and religious excitement combined to invigorate and envenom the -feelings arising from commercial jealousy, for it was the time -of the ferment about the secret designs of France and Charles, -out of which sprang the wild delusion of the Popish Plot. But -the chief motive of that legislative measure was the prevailing -notion that the country was suffering enormous pecuniary loss in -consequence of our excessive importation of French commodities. -Dudley North’s comments on that notion are refreshing: “trade is -not distributed, as government, by nations and kingdoms; but is -one throughout the whole world, as the main sea, which cannot be -emptied or replenished in one part, but the whole, more or less, -will be affected. So when a nation thinks, by rescinding the trade -of any other country, which was the case of our prohibiting all -commerce with France, they do not lop off that country, but so much -of their trade of the whole world as what that which was prohibited -bore in proportion with all the rest; and so it recoiled a dead -loss of so much general trade upon them. And as to the pretending -a loss by any commerce, the merchant chooses in some respects to -lose, if by that he acquires an accommodation of a profitable trade -in other respects.” [_Life of Francis North, Baron of Guilford_, -1742, p. 168.] No wonder such views were obnoxious to a Government -bent blindly on crushing France, as the Whig Government of 1691 -was, and it may be suspected that in choosing that moment for the -publication of his heresies North was actuated quite as much by the -wish to thwart the war policy of his opponents as by the desire to -promote the cause of Truth. - -The Act of 1678 had been repealed in the beginning of James II.’s -reign, but immediately after the Revolution all commerce with -France was again barred. The boycott continued through the two wars -of 1689-97 and 1701-12, and the attempt made by the Tories in 1713, -when peace was restored between England and France, to re-open -the trade with the latter country, failed: the merchants took the -alarm, the Whig politicians exploited that alarm, public opinion -was roused, and the Bill was lost. We have heard the same clamour -for breaking off all commercial relations with a rival nation in -our own day--over two hundred years after Dudley North exposed the -egregious folly of such a policy. - - - - -INDEX - - - Adrianople: - Court at, 24, 26, 28, 68; - Finch’s preparations for, 86-8; - entry into, 93-4; - quarters in, 94-5, 172; - foreign diplomats in, 96-7; - the city, 97; - festivities in, 68-9, 105-113, 131; - plague in, 136-7, 138, 139, 156, 163, 174; - departure from, 175-6; - Levant Company and Finch’s visit, App. XIII. 400 - - Affaire du Sofa, _see_ Soffah - - Aga of Pasha of Tunis, 16-20, 85-6, 305, 306 - - Ahmed Kuprili, Grand Vizir: - character, 12-15, 103, 104, 160, 165, 191-3, 225, 354, App. IV. - 385-386; - siege of Candia, 14, 16, 132, 207; - negotiations with Poland, 31, 68; - and Pasha of Tunis, 85, 86, 173-4; - finds quarters for Finch, 95; - Finch’s audience with, 98-103; - Charles II.’s letter to, App. II. 381-382; - and Holy Sepulchre disputes, 117, 118-19, 123, 125, 158; - and Tripoli corsairs, 129, 182; - his intemperance, 132, 164, 165, 169; - and Capitulations, 134, 147, 149, 158, 159, 160, 166, 169-71, 180; - at Finch’s audience with Grand Signor, 140, 141, 142, 143, 146; - and Vani Effendi, 153; - letters to Charles II., 170; - and Genoese Resident, 294; - his death, 191, 192, 193; - Kara Mustafa and, 325 (_note_) - - Ak-bonar, 137 - - Aleppo: - Anglo-French disputes at, 72-3, 188; - customs duties at, 181, 218; - dollars consigned to, 237-243; - Hattisherif, 27, 150; - library at, App. VI. 389; - Pasha of, 237-8 - - Algiers pirates, 85, 244, 248-9 - - Allin, Sir Thomas, 85 - - _Alloy_, the, described, 257-8, 370 (_note_) - - Ambassadors: - state kept by, 36, 39-40; - Turkish conception of responsibilities of, 273, 303-4, App. XV. - 402-3 - - American ceremonialism, 200 - - Anchorage charges, 28 - - Ancona, 284 - - _Angel_, the, App. V. 387 - - Angora, 236 - - Argostoli, 351 - - Arlington, Lord, 3, 4-5, 52, 116, 121 - - Ashby, Mr. John: - the Pizzamano case, 211, 212-13, 214, 215-16, 218, 222, 231; - the Pentlow case, 268, 269, 271-6 - - _Asper_, 233 - - Austria attacked, 361, 362; - in Holy League, 364-5 - - Avanias, 15, 228, 229, 233, 264, 274, 281, 283, 365 - - Avji, the Hunter, 25, 131, 144, 146. - _See_ Mohammed IV. - - - Bailo of Venice, the, 20; - and religious disputes, 119, 122, 124, 151; - and Sir John Finch, 185, 189; - Kara Mustafa and, 202, 227-8, 229-30, 281-3, 321, 359 - - Baines, Sir Thomas, 40-44, 353; - on the Turks, 22-3; - journey to Adrianople, 89, 90, 94; - at Karagatch, 137, 175; - and Vani Effendi, 153, 155-7; - reproves Nointel, 190-91; - pulls strings for Finch, 245; - his sedan chair, 291; - death, 344-5, 347; - burial, 352 - - Bairam, Feast of the, 20, 216, 222, 316 - - _Bakshish_, App. IX. 394 - - _Barat_, 266, 267 - - _Baratlis_, 266 - - Barbary corsairs, 83-5, 339-41, 345, 348 - - Barton, Edward, 119 - - Belgrade, 39 - - Bendyshe, Sir Thomas, 26, 120 - - Berkeley, Earl of, 312, 313 - - Bocareschi, Count, 133, 155, 156, 163 - - Books in 17th century, App. VI. 388-9 - - Bostanji-bashi, 248 - - _Boza_, 323, 324 - - Broesses, M. de, 297 - - Brusa, 236 - - Busbequius, 8; - quoted, 33 - - - Caboga, Signor, Ambassador of Ragusa, 96, 112, 113, 250, 251 - - Cadileskers, 140, 142, 303, 306, 315 - - Caloyers, Greek, 118, 119, 151 - - “Cambio Marittimo,” 83 - - Cambridge, 2, 40, 112; - Covel at, 54-55, 369-70, 371-2 - - Cancellier, Levant Company’s, 51, 142, 144, 145 - - Candia, siege of, 14, 15, 16, 101, 132 - - Canizares, 119, 122 - - Capiji-bashi, 93, 139 - - Capitan Pasha, 193, 212; - the new, 248, 257, 279, 340, 341, 346 - - Capitulations, the, 14, 26-31, 98, 100, 293-5; - prepared, 104, 134; - Latin Fathers and, 124-5; - postponements, 147, 149-51; - draft shown, 157, 158, 159; - the signature question, 166-7, App. XI. 396; - signed, 168, 169, 170; - not appreciated, 178-9; - difficulties in execution, 180-81; - Ahmed Kuprili maintains, 180, 193; - Grand Signor and, App. X. 395; - Kara Mustafa and, 223, 244, 249, 270-71; - and cloth trade, 247; - married Franks and, 266-7, 270-71; - Kara Mustafa holds for ransom, 292, 293-6; - silk duty under, 349 - - Capitulations, the Dutch, 296-8, 300 - - Carlowitz, Peace of, 365 - - Carpenter, Mr. William, 51, 142, 144 - - Catholics, _see_ Roman Catholics - - Ceremonialism, diplomatic, 199-200 - - Chandos, Lord: - appointment, 313-314, 329; - arrival, 335-6, 337; - delivers his letters, 339, 342-3; - silk duty dispute, 348, 349-50, 355-8; - his Audience delayed, 358, 364; - retirement, 364 - - Chaoush-bashi, 93, 139, 142, 198, 216, 239, 346, 355, 356 - - Chaplyn, Captain, 18-19, 304, 305, 306 - - Charles II.: - knights Finch, 2; - Arlington and, 5; - policy of, 9, 15, 359; - and Levant Merchants, 10-11, App. III. 384; - and Grand Duke of Tuscany, 18; - and Rycaut, 53, 367-8; - Treaty of Dover, 69, 71, 121; - and Roman Catholics, 120-121; - letter to Grand Vizir, 99, App. II. 381-2; - letter to Grand Signor, 144, 145-6, App. II. 380-81; - gift of figs to, 170, 179-180, 209, 223; - and Turkish currency, 235; - turns against Louis, 260, 263; - appoints Finch’s successor, 311, 312, 313, 314, 329; - suspends trade with Turkey, 319, 320; - letters borne by Chandos, 337-8, 342; - resumes trade, 348-9 - - Chios: - Ahmed Kuprili at, 132; - French bombard, 340-41, 346, 359 - - Christ’s College, Cambridge: - Finch at, 2, 40; - Baines at, 40; - Covel at, 53, 55; - Finch and Baines buried at, 352; - Covel Master of, 369-70 - - Circassian slave, 184 - - Circumcision festival, 68, 105-9 - - Clarendon, Earl of, 121, 367 - - Cloth trade, English, 27-8, 149-50, 247, App. XII. 397 - - Coke, Mr. Thomas, Cancellier, 51, 142, 144, 145 - - Colbert, 50 - - Collyer, Jakob, 365 - - Collyer, Justinus, 298, 299-300, 328, 333. - _See_ Dutch Resident - - Constantinople: - city described, 24-25, 33-6, 38-9, 44-5; - Finch reaches, 20; - Grand Signor’s dislike of, 24-6, 182; - customs duties, 27; - plague in, 24, 176-7; - religious disputes in, 55-6, 57; - Finch returns to, 176; - Grand Signor at, 182-4, 196, 278 - - Constantinople Embassy: - Finch’s aversion to, 4, 5; - Finch accepts, 1, 5, 11; - appointments to, App. III. 383-4; - character of post, 7-11; - chaplaincy, 54 (_see_ Covel); - candidates for, 311-14 - - Constantinople factory and Pentlow case, 274 - - Conway, Anne, Viscountess, 3 - - Conway, Lord, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 22, 44, 245 - - Cordeliers, Spanish, 119, 122-7, 138, 150-52, 158-9, 254-5, 286 - - Corsairs: - and Porte, 16-17, 84-5, 340-41, App. XV. 402-3; - and English ships, 16-17, 83, 85, App. V. 387, App. XV. 402-403 - - Counterfeit coin, 76-7, 82, 234-7, App. I. 379 - - Covel, Rev. John: - Constantinople chaplain, 53-7, 66, 89; - journey to Adrianople, 90, 91; - on Adrianople quarters, 91, 94, 97, 98; - on Ahmed Kuprili, 102; - during festivities, 111-13, 250; - and religious controversy, 122, 125-6; - on Turkish Court, 131, 132; - and Bocareschi, 133; - at Karagatch, 137, 148; - at Grand Signor’s Audience, 142, 143, 144, 145; - on Vani Effendi, 154; - return to Constantinople, 176; - in Grand Signor’s camp, 182-3; - leaves Constantinople, 287-8; - later career, 368-72 - - Crete, war in, 14, 118 - - Crim Tartar, 253 - - Cromwell, Oliver, 10, 15, 120 - - Crow, Sir Sackville, 10, 26, App. III. 384 - - Currency, Turkish, 233-6 - - Customer, Chief, _see_ Hussein Aga - - Customs-duties, 26-8, 349-50, 355-9 - - Cypress trees, 36 - - - Deereham, Sir Richard, 313 - - Dey of Tripoli, 83, 84, 129, 182 - - _Dishe parassi_, 91, App. IX. 394 - - Divan, 139-40 - - Dositheos, 119, 125-6 - - Dover, Treaty of, 69, 71, 121 - - Dragoman of the Porte, _see_ Mavrocordato, Dr. - - Dragomans, 46-50, 204, 266, 267; - Finch’s, 50-51, 86-7, 94-5, 164, 175-6, 186-7, 203-4, 272, 315, - 330. - _See_ Draperys _and_ Perone - - Draperys, Signor Giorgio, 50-51, 89, 94, 95, 141, 144, 145-6, 164, - 186-7, 188 - - Drink, excess in, fashionable, 60, App. VIII. 392-3 - - Druggermen, _see_ Dragomans - - Duquesne, Admiral, 340-41, 345, 346, 348, 359-60 - - Dutch: - Kara Mustafa and, 202, 228, 296-8, 300, 359; - married, 267; - rivalry with English, 28, 237, 238, 240, 242, 247 - - Dutch Cancellier, 294 - - Dutch Capitulations, 296-8, 300 - - Dutch Resident, 31, 160-161; - Kara Mustafa and, 202, 228, 298, 300; - Finch’s quarrels with, 299-300, 327, 332-3 - - - Elizabethan relations with Turks, 8, 30, 46, 326-7; - with Greeks, 119 - - English: - Dutch and, 28, 237, 238, 240, 242, 247; - French and, 71-72, 73-6, 80-82, 261-2, 262-3; - Greeks and, 119; - Turks and, 16-17, 100-101, 224, 231-2, 236-7 - - English, custom-house privileges of, 246-8 - - English merchants, 36-9; - married, 267, 269, App. XIV. 401; - Turkish justice and, 28-30, 63, 157-8, 223-4, 231-2, 274, 307-8 - - English renegades, 29-30, 149, 157-8 - - English shipping: - pirates and, 16-17, 83, 85, App. V. 387, App. XV. 402-3; - Turks requisition, 15, 127-9 - - Eyre, Sir John, 10 - - - False coin, manufacture of, 76-7, 82, 234-7 - - Festivities at Adrianople, 68, 105-113, 131 - - Finch, Sir Heneage (father), 1 - - Finch, Sir Heneage (brother), 1, 2, 3, 288. - _See_ Nottingham, Earl of - - Finch, Heneage (cousin), 4. - _See_ Winchilsea, Earl of - - Finch, Heneage (nephew), 2 - - Finch, Sir John (Baron), 1 - - Finch, Sir John, Ambassador at Constantinople: - family, 1-2, 4; - early career, 2-3; - knighted, 2; - in Italy, 2, 3-5; - appointed Ambassador to the Porte, 1, 5, 11; - character of post, 7-11; - his instructions, 9, App. I. 377-379; - credentials, App. II. 380-382; - the case of the Pasha of Tunis, 16-20, 85-6; - landing at Smyrna, 19-20, 22, 71; - arrival at Constantinople, 20; - audience of the Kaimakam, 20-21, 30-31; - the new Capitulations, 26-31; - life in Constantinople, 36-41, 43-5; - devotion to Baines, 40-44, 353; - Dragomans, 50-51; - colleagues and friends, 51-67; - delays presenting credentials, 69, 88, 165, 173; - Anglo-French difficulties, 69-77; - relations with Nointel, 69, 78-82; - the Tripoli corsairs, 83-5, 102, 129, 181-2; - claims of the Pasha of Tunis, 85-6, 173-4, 244, 300; - preparations for journey, 69, 86-8; - journey to Adrianople, 89-93, App. XIII. 400; - enters city, 93-4, 172; - his quarters, 94-5, 97-8, 172; - and other diplomats, 96-7; - audience of Grand Vizir, 98-103; - preparing the Capitulations, 104, 115, 134; - at festivities, 110, 134; - dispute between Greek and Latin Fathers, 116, 119, 122-6, 150-152, - 158-9; - requisitioning of English ship, 127-30; - winning favour at Court, 131-4; - Capitulations promised, 134, 138; - audience of Grand Signor, 136, 139-46, 172; - Capitulations delayed, 147-8, 149-53, 157-9; - the bribery system, 159-162; - further delays, 162-8; - Capitulations signed and delivered, 168-73, 174, App. XI. 396; - return to Constantinople, 175-6; - Levant Company’s ingratitude, 178-80; - Capitulations upheld, 180-81; - Tripoli corsairs punished, 181-2; - Grand Signor at Constantinople, 182-4; - quarrel with Genoese Resident, 185-8; - difference with Nointel, 188-190; - death of Ahmed Kuprili, 191-3 - Kara Mustafa, 194-5, 196-7, 207, 225-6; - the Soffah affair, 198-201, 202, 203-5, 207-8, 249; - diplomatic illness, 201-3, 210; - negotiations for an audience, 203-5, 207-8, 209-10, 216-19; - the Ashby case, 211-216, 218, 222, 227, 232; - audience of Kara Mustafa, 222-5; - on Kara Mustafa’s extortions, 227-30, 256; - the Aleppo dollars case, 237-43; - troubles to come, 244-245; - friendly Turkish dignitaries, 246-9, 326, 330; - on Kara Mustafa and Ambassadors, 250-255; - Greek and Latin Fathers again, 254-5; - description of the _Alloy_, 256-9; - Anglo-French disagreement, 260-62; - compact with Nointel, 262-3; - on Vizir’s return, 264-5; - the Pentlow case, 268-77; - on Court affairs, 278-84; - colleagues leave Turkey, 287-8; - contract with Levant Company expires, 288; - standing with Turks, 290-92; - the Smyrna Jew’s case, 293-5; - Kara Mustafa holds Capitulations for ransom, 295-6, 343; - quarrels with Dutch Resident, 299-300, 327-9, 332-4; - revival of case of Pasha of Tunis, 301, 302-10; - Finch stands firm, 308-10; - proceedings suspended, 310-11, 314, 329, 330-31, 335, 336, 337; - his successor appointed, 311-14, 329; - breach with Kara Mustafa, 314-20; - on the Kehayah’s execution, 322-6, 327, 329; - Kara Mustafa’s temporary friendliness, 330-31; - awaiting Chandos, 335, 336, 337, 342; - on trouble between France and Turkey, 342, 345-7; - the Pasha of Tunis defeated, 343; - death of Baines, 344-5, 347; - departure from Turkey, 347-8, 350; - the voyage home, 350-52; - death and burial, 352 - - Fireworks, Turkish, 107-8 - - Florence, Finch at, 3, 4, 5, 7, 18, 19, 33, 40 - - France: - England and, 69, 71, 121; - war with, 375, App. XVI. 406-7; - Germany and, 31, 170, 171, 361; - Spain and, 171 - Turkey and, 15, 118; - crisis between, 339-342, 345, 348, 359, 361 - - France, King of, styled _Padishah_, 30 - - Franceschi, Domenico, 16, 17, 18 - - Franks: - marriages of, 266-7, App. XIV. 401; - Turks and, 11-12, 14-15, 17, 65-6, 335, 359, 360-361, 365 - - French: - against Turks in Crete, 15, 118; - and interpreter problem, 49-50; - ceremonialism, 200; - married factors, 267, 286; - rivalry and disputes with English, 69-70, 71-6, 80-82, 203, 206, - 224, 238, 247; - war on Tripoli pirates, 339-41, 345, 348, 359 - - - Galata, 35, 186, 266, App. XIV. 401 - - Genoa, 18, 234, 283 - - Genoese Resident, 185-8, 202, 228-9, 283, 286, 294, 321 - - German Emperor’s Resident, 31, 96. - _See_ Kindsberg - - German Internuncio, 263-4, 280 - - Germany: - France and, 31, 170, 171, 361; - supports Latin Fathers, 117 - - Glover, Sir Thomas, 119 - - Golden Horn, the, 35 - - _Goodwill_, the, App. V. 387 - - Grand Signor, 8, 15, 35; - and vassal corsairs, 84-5, 102, 244, 248-9, 303, 340-41. - _See_ Mohammed IV. - - Grand Vizirs, 12, 103-4, 293. - _See_ Ahmed Kuprili, Kara Mustafa, Mohammed Kuprili - - Greek and Latin Churches, feud between, 55-6, 57, 116-19, 120, - 122-7, 150-52, 158-9, 254-5, 286 - - Greek Patriarchs, 55-6, 122 - - Greeks, English and, 119 - - Guilds, processions of, 105, 106, 257, 259 - - Guilleragues, M. de: - the Soffah question, 285-7, 321, 326, 334-5, 342, 346-7; - and bombardment of Chios, 340, 341-2, 346-7, 360 - - Gunning, Lady, 373 - - - Haghen, Cornelius, 300 - - _Haratch_, 266, 267 - - Harem intrigues, 103, 324, 326-7 - - Harvey, Sir Daniel, 1, 4, 8, 17, 26, 177; - and pirates, 17, 85; - and Nointel, 70; - and Catholics, 121-2; - and false coin, 235, 236; - Grand Signor and, 146, App. X. 395; - Ahmed Kuprili and, App. IV. 386; - Kara Mustafa and, 207 - - Hasnadar, 161, 212, 215, 216, 222 - - Hattisherif, Aleppo, 27, 150 - - Hedges and Palmer, Messrs., 61-2 - - Hoffmann, German Internuncio, 263-4, 280 - - _Hoggiet_, 293, 305 - - Holland, Resident of, _see_ Dutch Resident - - Holy League, 365 - - Holy Roman Empire, 280 - - Holy Sepulchre disputes, 116-19, 122-7, 158-9, 254-5, 286 - - _Hunter_, the, 74, 81, 183 - - Hunter, the (Mohammed IV.), 25 - - Hussein Aga, Chief Customer, 134, 180-81; - friendly to Finch, 210, 246-8, 319, 320, 326; - and Ashby case, 214, 215-16; - and Aleppo dollars, 239, 241, 242; - and Pentlow case, 366 - - Hyet, Mr., 95, 142, 144, 356 - - - Ibrahim, Sultan, 25 - - Imperial Resident, _see_ Kindsberg _and_ Sattler - - Interpreters, 21, 30-31, 47-8, 49-50 - - Italy, Finch in, 2, 3, 33 - - - James II., 369, App. XV. 402-3 - - Janissaries, 91, 136, 139, 141, 256, 257, 258 - - Jenkins, Sir Leoline, 315, 316 - - Jersey, Earl of, 366 - - _Jerusalem_, the, App. XV. 402 - - Jerusalem: - Holy Sepulchre disputes, 116-19, 122-7, 151, 158-9, 254-5, 286; - Patriarch, 119, 125; - Nointel at, 151 - - Jesuits, 120 - - Jew, Kara Mustafa’s, 296, 298, 343, 366 - - Jew of Smyrna, case of, 292-3, 296 - - Jewish quarter, Adrianople, 94, 98 - - - _Kaftans_, 20, 100, 102-3, 169, 197, 217, 219, 248 - - Kaimakam, 19-20, 30-31, 88 - - Karagatch, 137, 139, 148, 175 - - Kara Mustafa, 152, 193-5, 196, 230-231, 284-5; - motives of his extortions, 230-31 - Ambassadors and Residents, 196-197, 202 - Dutch, 202, 228, 229, 297-8, 300, 332-3, 359 - English: - Finch: - diplomatic illness, 201-3, 210; - negotiations for audience, 203-8, 209-10, 216-19, 221-2; - the Ashby case, 212, 213, 216, 217-18, 219, 222, 231-2; - audience with, 222-5; - Aleppo dollars case, 238-44; - the Pentlow case, 286-76; - Capitulations held for ransom, 293-6, 343; - the Pasha of Tunis, 302-10, 314-20 - Chandos: - and Charles II.’s letters, 337-8, 342-3; - silk duty case, 349-50, 355-9 - French: - Nointel, 197-9, 200, 201, 207, 208-9, 226; - Guilleragues, 286-7, 334-5, 341, 342, 346-7, 360-61 - Genoese, 202, 228-9, 283, 321 - German, 228, 264, 280, 279, 280-81 - Polish, 251-4, 255, 259-60, 279 - Ragusan, 228, 230, 250-51, 284 - Russian, 255, 256, 279-80 - Venetian, 202, 227-8, 229-30, 279, 281-3, 321, 359 - the Soffah affair, 198-9, 203, 207 208, 286, 290, 334-5, 341, 342, - 343, 346-7; - and Capitulations, 223, 244, 293-6, 343; - extortions from Turks, 230, 256; - the Russian war, 257, 258, 265, 361; - and married Franks, 267, 270; - his Kehayah executed, 323-5, 326, 327, 329; - attacks Austria, 361-2; - defeated, 363-4; - executed, 364 - - Kehayah, Ahmed Kuprili’s (Soliman), 86, 104; - Finch interviews, 114, 115, 116, 125; - and requisitioning of English ship, 127-8; - and delayed Capitulations, 134, 138, 147, 150, 158, 166-7, 174; - and title of Padishah, 150, 159, 160-161, 173; - and customs dues, 180-181; - and Tripoli corsairs, 182; - and Ahmed’s death, 191; - becomes Master of the Horse, 195, 323, 324, 331-2; - Kara Mustafa and, 323, 324, 326, 331; - sent to Mecca, 332; - becomes Vizir, 365 - - Kehayah, Kara Mustafa’s, 197; - refuses Finch’s Bairamlik, 216-217; - and Aleppo dollars, 239, 241; - and Polish Ambassador, 254; - and Pentlow case, 272, 273, 276; - threatens tax on Ambassadors, 283; - and case of Pasha of Tunis, 218, 306, 307, 315, 316, 317-18, 319; - executed, 320-25 - his successor, 355, 356 - - Kindsberg, Count, German Emperor’s Resident, 31, 96-7, 133; - Kara Mustafa and, 228, 263, 279, 280; - death of, 264, 280-81 - - Kislar Aga, 103, 319, 323-4, 326 - - Knatchbull, Major, 313 - - _Konaks_, 90 - - Kuchuk Chekmejé, 90 - - - La Croix, M. de, 96, 97 - - Landed and trading classes, 58-9, App. VII. 390 - - Latin and Greek Churches, feud between, 55-6, 57, 116-19, 120, - 122-7, 150-52, 158-9, 254-5, 286 - - Lawson, Sir John, 85 - - Lello, Henry, 119 - - Leopold, Emperor, 362 - - Leopold, Prince, 3 - - Leslie, Walter, 96 - - Levant, luxuries of the, 37-9 - - Levant Company, 7; - Charter of, 10, App. III. 383-4; - and Ambassador’s appointment, 7, 10-11, App. III. 383-4; - instructions to officers by, App. VI. 388-9; - trade of, App. XII. 397-8; - and Pasha of Tunis, 17-18; - opposes credit system, 178, App. XII. 397-9; - forbids _temeens_, 235, 236-7, 238; - imports Lion dollars, 237; - false economy of, 238, 243; - and Pentlow case, 270-71; - and suspension of trade with Turkey, 319-20, 337-8; - forced to resume trade, 348-9 - Finch and, 9, 11, 178-9, 288, 311 - Treasurer of, _see_ North - - Levantine Families, 267, App. XIV. 401 - - Libraries, 17th century, App. VI. 388-9 - - Lion dollars, 233, 235, 236, 237-43 - - Lorraine, Duke of, 262, 263 - - Louis XIV.: - Charles II. and, 69, 71, 260, 263; - and Soffah, 334; - and Barbary pirates, 339, 342, 359; - and Turkish campaign against Austria, 361, 362 - - Lucaris, Cyril, 119-120 - - _Luigini_, 233-6 - - - Mahomet Kuprili, _see_ Mohammed Kuprili - - Majorca corsairs, 72 - - Malta, Finch at, 19 - - Marriages of Franks, 267, App. XIV. 401 - - _Mary and Martha_, the, 183 - - Matthewes, Sir Phi., 313 - - Mavrocordato, Dr., Dragoman of the Porte, 100, 140, 143, 144, 164, - 168, 198, 217, 239, 300 - - _Mediterranean_, the, 16, 17, 18, 304, 306 - - Meletios, 119 - - Merchants trading into Levant Seas, _see_ Levant Company - - Mohammed IV., Grand Signor, 24, 25, 105-6; - and hunting, 25, 259; - dislike of Constantinople, 24-6, 182; - and Capitulations, 27, 166-8, 169; - forbids tobacco, 63; - at his festivities, 68-9, 87, 105-6; - requisitions English ship, 127-8; - prohibits intoxicants, 131, 148, 153, 322, 324; - flees plague, 137; - Finch’s audience with, 138, 140, 143-6; - and Vani Effendi, 153-4; - signature to Capitulations, 166-8, 169; - letters to Charles II., 170; - in Constantinople, 182-3; - leaves Constantinople, 191; - and death of Ahmed Kuprili, 192, 231; - returns to Constantinople, 196; - demands on Kara Mustafa, 231; - in Silistria, 251; - his _Alloy_, 257-258; - fills Seraglio, 278; - returns to Adrianople, 317, 318; - executes Kehayah, 322-3, 324, 325; - and Soliman, 331; - Charles II.’s letters to, 337-8, App. II. 380-381; - and corsairs, 84-5, 102, 244, 248-9, 303, 340; - and Guilleragues, 346; - reign ends, 365 - - Mohammed Kuprili, 12, 13, 225, App. IV. 385-6 - - Moldavia, Prince of, 51, 256, 284 - - Money, Turkish, 233-6 - - More, Henry, 352 - - Morosini, Signor, 185, 282. - _See_ Bailo of Venice - - Mufti, the, 105, 132, 149, 152, 158, 269, 357 - - Muhurdar, 166, 168 - - Munden, Sir Richard, 261 - - Murad III., 26 - - Muscovy: - campaign against, 32, 257, 258, 265, 361; - Embassy from, 255-6, 259-60, 279-80 - - Mustafa Pasha, 152. - _See_ Kara Mustafa - - Muteferrika, 133, 134 - - - _Naculs_, 110 - - Narbrough, Admiral Sir John, 129, 181-2, 244, 248-9 - - Neale, Mr. Thomas, 313 - - Nicholas, Secretary, 121 - - Nicusi, Panayoti, 117, 118 - - Nimeguen, Treaty of, 263 - - Nishanji-bashi, 140, 141, 142, 159 - - Nointel, Marquis de, 69; - and Smyrna disturbance, 72, 73; - Rycaut and, 73-5, 77, 82; - Finch’s interview with, 78-82; - at Adrianople, 95; - and religious disputes, 117, 118, 122, 123, 151, 152; - Ahmed Kuprili and, 165; - quarrel with Finch, and reconciliation, 188-91; - Kara Mustafa and, 197-9, 200, 201, 207, 208-9, 227, 229; - the Soffah question, 198-201, 206, 207, 208-9; - Anglo-French compact with Finch, 262-3; - leaves Turkey, 287 - - North, Hon. Dudley: - early career, and character, 57-67; - economic genius, 67, 373-4, App. XVI. 404-6; - and journey to Adrianople, 87, 90, 94, 95; - at festivities, 106, 110-11, 113-14; - and religious disputes, 124; - during plague, 137-8; - at Grand Signor’s audience, 142, 144-5; - and Capitulations negotiations, 157, 160, 161, 167-8; - leaving Adrianople, 175; - on Ashby case, 211, 232; - and Kara Mustafa, 226; - and Aleppo dollars, 239, 242, 243; - Hussein Aga and, 248; - in Adrianople, 272; - leaves Turkey, 287; - a candidate for Embassy, 312-13; - resumes trade too soon, 348; - political career, 372-5; - trial, 374-5; - pamphlet by, App. XVI. 404-6; - back in Turkey trade, 375; - farming, 375; - death, 376 - - North, Lady Dudley, 373 - - North, Montagu, 62, 287, 356 - - Nottingham, Earl of, 2, App. VII. 390 - - - _Ottavi_, 233-6 - - _Oxford_, the, 336, 337, 347, 348 - - - _Padishah_, the title of, 30-31, 145, 150, 159, 160, 172-3 - - Padua, Finch at, 2, 40, 168 - - Pagett, Lord, 365, 366-7 - - Palatine of Kulm, 251-3, 254, 255 - - Palmer, Mr., 61-2 - - Panayotaki, 117-18 - - Parker, Captain, 75 - - Pasha of Aleppo, 237-8, 243 - - Pasha of Tunis, 16-20, 85-7, 173-4, 218, 244, 248; - his Vakil, 218; - his case revived, 301-11, 314-17, 329, 330, 335, 337; - Chandos defeats, 343 - - Pashas and Pashaliks, 91 - - Patriarch of Constantinople, 122 - - Patriarch of Jerusalem, 119, 125 - - Pay day of troops, 136, 140-141 - - Pentlow case, 268-76, 365, 366-7 - - Pera, 35, 38, 162, 165, 176, 267, 335; - illicit still at, 186 - - Perone, Signor Antonio, 51, 86-7, 88, 92, 94-5, 164, 166-7, 272 - - Peskeshji-bashi, 139, 141 - - Pickering, Dr., 142 - - Pirates: - and English shipping, 16-17, 72-3, 83, 85, App. V. 387, App. XV. - 402-3; - French and, 72-3, 339-41, 345, 348, 359; - the Porte and, 16-17, 84-5, 102, 244, 248-9, 303, 340-41, App. XV. - 402-3 - - Pisa, Finch at, 2 - - Pizzamano, Signor, 211, 212, 214-15, 216, 222 - - Plague, 39; - in Adrianople, 136-7, 138, 156, 163, 168, 174, 175-6; - in Constantinople, 39, 176-7; - in Karagatch, 148; - Ambassadors die of, 252-3, 264 - - Podolia, 254 - - Poland: - Turkey and, 14, 31, 32, 68; - peace negotiations, 210, 251-3, 254, 264; - and Holy Sepulchre, 254; - announces truce with Muscovites, 279; - and Turkish overthrow, 363-4; - in Holy League, 365 - - Polish Ambassador, Kara Mustafa and, 251-4, 255, 259-60, 279 - - Pope and Turks, 284 - - Popish Plot, 372, App. XVI. 406 - - Prince, the Turkish, 108-9, 258 - - Puntiglio, Finch and, 20, 30-31, 78, 80, 87, 88, 95-6, 188-9, 199, - 200, 203-4, 210, 217, 219, 299, 326, 327-9 - - - Queen Regent, 324, 326 - - - Ragusa, Ambassador of: - at Adrianople, 96, 112, 113; - Kara Mustafa and, 228, 230, 250-51, 284 - - Rais Effendi, 104; - and Capitulations, 114, 134, 147, 149, 157, 159, 166, 167, 172, - 173, 174; - and audience with Kara Mustafa, 204-5; - and Kara Mustafa’s extortions, 229, 230; - and Palatine of Kulm, 254; - and Pasha of Tunis case, 302, 306, 330-31, 336 - - _Rayahs_, 266, 267, App. XIV. 401 - - Renegades, 29-30, 107, 149, 157-8, 212 - - Residents and Ambassadors, 205-6 - - Roe, Sir Thomas, 120, 220-21, 285 (_note_) - - Roman Catholics: - in England, 119, 120, 121, 126; - in Turkey, 48-9, 120, 121; - Charles II. and, 120-121 - - Russia: - Turco-Polish campaign against, 32; - Kara Mustafa attacks, 255-60, 264, 361; - peace negotiations, 279-80; - in Holy League, 361 - - Rycaut, Sir Paul, 51-3, 66; - and Anglo-French disputes, 71, 73-75, 77, 82, 261; - and Turks, 133 (_note_), 290; - on Ahmed Kuprili, App. IV. 386; - and Ashby case, 211-12; - and coining, 236; - and Pentlow case, 271, 273, 276; - leaves Turkey, 287; - desires Constantinople Embassy, 312, 313; - subsequent career, 367-8 - - - St. Demetrius Hill, 177, 264 - - St. Gothard, battle of, 14 - - St. John, Mrs., 366, 367 - - Sattler, Imperial Resident, 263, 264, 280 - - Scanderoon, 72, 218 - - Scutari, 36 - - Sedan chairs, Turks and, 291 - - Selivria, 91, 191 - - Seraglio, Grand Signor’s, 35, 182, 278; - intrigues in, 103, 324, 326-7 - - Seven Towers, 208, 228, 282, 298, 317, 346 - - Silk duty dispute, 349-50, 355-9 - - Smith, Mr. Gabriel, 268, 269, 271, 272-6 - - Smith, Dr. Thomas, 54 - - Smyrna: - Finch lands at, 19, 20, 71-2; - Anglo-French disputes at, 71-2, 73-6, 80-82, 261-2; - library at, App. VI. 389; - life in, 38-9; - North at, 59-60 - - Smyrna factory, 20, 27, 38-9, 60, 165-6; - and Ashby case, 213, 218; - and Pentlow case, 274, 276 - - Smyrna figs, 170, 179-80, 209, 223 - - Smyrna Jew, case of, 292-3, 296 - - Smyrna wine, App. VIII. 392-3 - - Sobieski, King of Poland, 32, 279, 363, 364 - - Soffah, the, 98-9; - Nointel and, 198-201, 206, 207, 208-9; - Finch and, 201-208, 209, 249, 290; - Guilleragues and, 285-7, 321, 326, 334-5, 342, 346-7; - Chandos and, 343 - - Soliman, _see_ Kehayah, Ahmed Kuprili’s - - Spain: - France and, 171; - Turkey and, 8, 117, 119 - - Spanish Cordeliers, 119, 122-7, 138, 150-52, 158-9, 254-5, 286 - - Spinola, Signor, 185-8, 228-9, 294, 321. - _See_ Genoese Resident - - “Sporca,” Sultana, 184 - - Spragge, Sir Edward, 85 - - Stamboli Effendi, 213, 214, 215, 216 - - Stambul described, 35; - Grand Signor and, 24 - - Sultan, _see_ Mohammed IV. - - Sultana “Sporca,” 184 - - Sunderland, Earl of, 315 - - _Sweepstakes_, the, 72 - - - Tangier, 9 - - Tartar Han, 253 - - “Teeth money,” 91, App. IX. 394 - - Tefterdar, 138, 140, 141, 142, 149, 150, 157, 239 - - _Temeens_, 233-6 - - Terlingo, German Internuncio, 280 - - Thynne, Sir Thomas, 313 - - Tobacco forbidden, 63 - - Tories and Whigs, 372, 374, App. XVI. 407 - - Trading and landed classes, 58-9, App. VII. 390-391 - - Travellers, fear of, 91-2 - - Treaty of Dover, 69, 71, 121 - - Treaty of Nimeguen, 263 - - Tripoli corsairs: - English and, 16, 83-5, 86, 102, 129, 181-2; - French and, 339-41, 346; - the Porte and, 16-17, 84-5, 102, 244, 248-9, 303, 340-41 - - Tunis, Pasha of, _see_ Pasha of Tunis - - Turkey, 6, 8, 12; - cheap and luxurious living in, 37-8; - oppression in, 11-12, 38, 290-291; - plague in, 39 - - Turkey: - Austria and, 361, 362; - England and, 16-17, 100-101; - France and, 15, 118, 339-42, 345, 348, 359, 361; - Poland and, 14, 31, 32, 68, 251-4, 264, 363-364; - Russia and, 32, 255-6, 264, 279-80, 361; - Spain and, 8, 117, 119; - Venice and, 8, 14, 15-16, 281-3, 286 - - Turks: - and European envoys, 205-206, 220-21, 303-4, App. XV. 402-3; - tyranny of, 11-12, 38, 290-91; - Baines on, 22-3; - and Finch, 19-20, 291; - North’s popularity with, 63-6 - - Tuscany: - Finch in, 2,3; - coining in, 234 - - Tuscany, Grand Duke of: - Finch and, 3, 16, 19; - and pirates, 16, 18, 19 - - - Ukrania surrendered, 253 - - - Vani Effendi, Sheikh, 153-7 - - Vasvar, Peace of, 14 - - Venetian Ambassador, _see_ Bailo of Venice - - Venetians: - and Aleppo dollars, 238; - affray between Turks and, 359 - - Venice: - and Turkey, 8, 14, 15-16, 281-3, 286; - in Holy League, 364-5 - - Vienna, siege of, 362-4, 366 - - - Wallachia, Prince of, 256 - - Wedding festivities, 68, 109-110 - - Whigs and Tories, 372, 374, App. XVI. 407 - - William of Orange, Covel and, 369-70 - - William, Prince of Furstenberg, 170-171 - - Winchilsea, Earl of, 4, 8-9; - on Ahmed Kuprili, 13, App. IV. 386; - on Constantinople, 34; - Rycaut and, 52, 312; - his Dragoman, 51; - and Capitulations, 26, 98, 167; - and pirates, 85, App. V. 387; - and Jerusalem Fathers, 120, 121, 124-5; - during plague, 177 - - Wych, Sir Peter, 120 - - - Zechrin, 256, 264 - - -THE END - - -_Printed by_ R. & R. 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