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<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2011-11-22</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Simon Charles</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
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<IDG S="marc" R="OX" ID="A81942">
<STC T="W">D2921A</STC>
<STC T="C">R226668</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99899271</BIBNO>
<VID>152938</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<P>A NEW ACCOUNT Of the pre&s;ent Condition of the <HI>T&V;RKISH</HI> Affairs, With the Cau&s;es of the Decay of the <HI>OTTOMAN</HI> POWER; Of their Wars with the pre&s;ent Empe|ror, <HI>&amp;c,</HI> And the Facility the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes now have of retaking <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople,</HI> according to a Prophecy of the <HI>Turks</HI> them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Together with &s;everal Notable Remarks upon the late In&s;olence of the Army; of their depo&s;ing <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. (who had Reigned Eight and forty Years) and &s;et|ting his <HI>younger</HI> Brother in his Seat.</P>
<P>To which is prefixed, the <HI>Effigies</HI> of this <HI>New</HI> Emperor, <HI>Solyman</HI> the Third.</P>
<P>By a Per&s;on of Quality, who long re&s;ided among&s;t them, and is lately returned Home.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed and &s;old by <HI>Randal Taylor,</HI> MDCLXXXVIII.</P>
<PB REF="2">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 page">
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="3" MS="y">
<PB REF="3" MS="y">
<HEAD>TO HIS SERENE HIGHNESS, THE GREAT DUKE OF TUSCANY.</HEAD>
<BYLINE>By the Sieur <HI>Du Vignau,</HI> Secre|tary of the <HI>French</HI> Emba&s;&s;ador to the <HI>Port, &amp;c.</HI> A. D. 1687/8.</BYLINE>
<OPENER><SALUTE>My Lord;</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IMagining my &s;elf ob|liged to give an Account to the Publick,
<PB REF="4"> of whatever I could learn of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Policy, and different Manners of Govern|ment, during Nine Years Abode at <HI>Con&s;tantino|ple,</HI> and &s;everal other Parts of their Empire, which I have pa&s;s'd o|ver; I have therefore laid hold on this Con|juncture of their Down|fal, to &s;hew the <HI>Chri|&s;tian</HI> World, that this great <HI>Colo&s;s,</HI> which has been hitherto re&s;pected
<PB REF="4"> as Impregnable, &s;tands on Foundations ea&s;ily mov'd and overthrown, as &s;ub&s;i&s;ting by &s;uch Prejudices, and fal&s;e De|&s;criptions, as have been made of its Greatne&s;s.</P>
<P>I acknowledge, <HI>my Lord,</HI> that this Imagi|nation might pa&s;s for a <HI>Chimera,</HI> had it come into my Head, whil&s;t <HI>Mahomet</HI> the <HI>Conqueror, Selim</HI> II. and <HI>Soly|man</HI> the <HI>Magnificent,</HI> e|qual'd
<PB REF="5"> the Number of their Victories to that of their Enterpri&s;es; and whil&s;t Fortune made Kingdoms and Empires &s;toop to the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Yoke. But the&s;e vali|ant Conquerors, here|tofore &s;o Redoutable, are only heard of now by the &s;orry Enterpri|&s;es of a piteous Defence; and I do not doubt, but every body will enter into the Sentiments which I have of the
<PB REF="5"> Weakne&s;s of their Em|pire, e&s;pecially in com|paring what they &s;ee, with what I &s;hall &s;ay: Whence they will judge, that a Power, which, maugre the Fiercene&s;s of its fir&s;t Maxims, &s;toops to &s;uch &s;upplicating Ex|pre&s;&s;ions for Peace, is not &s;uch as has been al|ways de&s;crib'd, and is only capable of &s;u&s;tain|ing a War, to bring grea|ter Honour to tho&s;e who attack Her.</P>
<PB REF="6">
<P>What Occa&s;ion &s;oe|ver I might have of flat|tering my &s;elf, <HI>my Lord,</HI> that this Reflection will di&s;po&s;e Mens Minds to accept of my De&s;ign, yet I &s;hall fear to expo&s;e my &s;elf to the Publick, &s;hould <HI>your &s;erene High|ne&s;s</HI> refu&s;e the Grace of bringing it into the World under the Pa|tronage of your great Name.</P>
<PB REF="6">
<P>In effect, <HI>my Lord,</HI> under who&s;e more effi|cacious and happy Pro|tection, can I &s;helter it from the Severity of Mens Cen&s;ures, than in a Family where &s;o ma|ny great Princes have always appeared, and where the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Ha|tred again&s;t the De&s;po|tick Grandure of the <HI>Ottomans,</HI> has &s;ignaliz'd it &s;elf by &s;o many he|roick Actions on Sea
<PB REF="7"> and Land, making con|tinual War again&s;t them, for the Glory and Ad|vantage of Religion, the Benefit of Commerce, and Safety of <HI>Italy?</HI></P>
<P>Let a Man run over the Coa&s;ts of <HI>Africk,</HI> the <HI>Helle&s;pont,</HI> the <HI>Archipe|lago, Adriatic</HI> Sea, the Gulfs, Havens, and all the I&s;les of the <HI>Mediter|ranean,</HI> and is there any Part which is not Wit|ne&s;s of the Exploits, and
<PB REF="7"> great Actions, which the Valour of Princes, or Captains of the Augu&s;t Hou&s;e of the <HI>Medici's,</HI> have there perform'd?</P>
<P>I &s;hall leave this <HI>Elo|gium</HI> to the Ju&s;tice and Fidelity of Hi&s;tory, which will be far from forgetting one of her mo&s;t precious Orna|ments, the glorious Par|ticulars of whatever your <HI>&s;erene Highne&s;s</HI> does eve|ry day, and whatever
<PB REF="8"> your Illu&s;trious Prede|ce&s;&s;ors have done in De|fence of the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Name, again&s;t the <HI>Ma|hometan</HI> Super&s;titions. I leave to publick Fame, the care of finding more eloquent Expre&s;&s;ions, and more proportiona|ble than mine can be, to the Merit and Maje&s;ty of &s;o Augu&s;t a Subject; whil&s;t following my Un|dertaking, of entering into the <HI>Penetralia</HI> of the Government of the
<PB REF="8"> <HI>Port,</HI> I &s;hall endeavour to make it known, that its Greatne&s;s &s;ub&s;i&s;ts on|ly on the Prejudices of tho&s;e who never truly under&s;tood it.</P>
<P>This is indeed a con|&s;iderable De&s;ign, but it's a De&s;ign, <HI>my Lord,</HI> which does not a&s;toni&s;h me, and which will meet with Applau&s;es, even among&s;t tho&s;e who take Plea&s;ure in cen&s;u|ring all Mens Works,
<PB REF="9"> when it &s;hall be &s;een, I have produced this un|der the Patronage of one of the mo&s;t glorious Princes of the World, to whom I e&s;teem it my greate&s;t Glory to be</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>A mo&s;t Humble and devoted Servant, <HI>Du Vignau.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="9">
<HEAD>THE PREFACE TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<P>IT'S well known, how for|midable the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Pow|er has made it &s;elf to all the Earth, and what a great Part of <HI>Chri&s;tendom</HI> groans under the Yoke of its Tyranny. The Terror of its Arms had taken &s;uch deep Root, that there &s;eem|ed no pre&s;ent Means of De|fence, but by Prayers and Tears, the Churches Weapons. But
<PB REF="10"> it's now time to &s;hew the ground|le&s;ne&s;s of this Fear, by &s;erious Reflections on the pre&s;ent Con|juncture of Affairs, and by ju&s;t and well grounded Ob&s;er|vations, which are &s;ufficient to di&s;cover perfectly the Pow|er and Weakne&s;s of a Domi|niation &s;o malign and pernici|ous to the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Name.</P>
<P>If we con&s;ider its Original, we &s;hall find, according to the Relation of mo&s;t Writers, that it's owing to a deform'd Pow|er, which not having the means of encrea&s;ing, or &s;ub&s;i&s;ting in the va&s;t Campaigns of <HI>Turco|mania,</HI> where it took its Birth, has extended its &s;elf with Pre|cipitation in the Three be&s;t
<PB REF="10"> Parts of the &V;niver&s;e, where it has form'd its Greatne&s;s, of as many Empires, Kingdoms and Principalities, as there are Relations in Hi&s;tory. It has moreover reduced the &s;o great Diver&s;ity of Laws, Cu&s;toms and Sciences, which reigned in the Countries of its Conque&s;ts, almo&s;t all to one certain Princi|ple of a Soveraign Will and Ab&s;olute Power, &s;uch as they bragg of their acknowledging in God, to the Exclu&s;ion of <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> and <HI>Pagans.</HI></P>
<P>This Power has made it &s;elf &s;o con&s;iderable, both by Sea and Land, that he who con&s;iders it in the gro&s;s, mu&s;t needs be af|frighted at it. It moreover
<PB REF="11"> &s;eems, that in all which has been hitherto written on this Subject, there's no one has da|red to undeceive Mens fal&s;e Imaginations, but rather to heighten and encrea&s;e them; and rather, to entertain the Rea|ders with what they take Plea|&s;ure to believe, than to inform them of what they be de&s;irous to know.</P>
<P>And, as we cannot better undeceive Mens Minds, and obliterate the &s;trong Impre&s;&s;ions which are had of a thing, than by Facts, and In&s;tances of the contrary; I &s;hall therefore in the Cour&s;e of this Relation, lay down nothing, but what &s;hall be grounded on &s;en&s;ible Proofs,
<PB REF="11"> e&s;pecially on what has pa&s;s'd in the&s;e latter times, and what actually happens, not only be|tween the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> and his Neighbours, but in the <HI>Grand seignior</HI>'s own Armies; who&s;e In&s;olence has a&s;pired as high as his Throne, to the De|po&s;ing of him, and &s;etting his younger Brother in his Seat; Whence it will appear without any Di&s;gui&s;e, that there needs no Miracle, for the effecting tho&s;e things which depend wholly on our &s;elves, and are in our own Power.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="lists of Turkish and English rulers">
<PB REF="12">
<HEAD>A Catalogue of the <HI>Turki&s;h Kings</HI> and <HI>Emperors</HI> from their fir&s;t Original, and of the <HI>Kings</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> Co|temporary with them.</HEAD>
<P><TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL ROLE="label">Turki&s;h Kings.</CELL>
<CELL ROLE="label">Kings of <HI>England</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="3">1. Othoman, Fir&s;t King of the <HI>Turks,</HI> began his Reign <HI>An. Dom.</HI> 1300.</CELL>
<CELL>Edward I.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Edward II.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Edward III.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>2. Orchanes.</CELL>
<CELL>Edward III.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="2">3. Amurath. I.</CELL>
<CELL>Edward III.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Richard II.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="2">4. Bajazet. I.</CELL>
<CELL>Richard II.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Henry IV.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>5. I&s;a Zebelis</CELL>
<CELL>Henry IV.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>6. Solyman I.</CELL>
<CELL>Henry IV.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>7. Mu&s;a.</CELL>
<CELL>Henry IV.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="2">8. Mahomet I.</CELL>
<CELL>Henry IV.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Henry V.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="2">9. Amurath II.</CELL>
<CELL>Henry V.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Henry VI.</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE>
<PB REF="12">
<TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL ROLE="label">Turki&s;h Emperors.</CELL>
<CELL ROLE="label">Kings of <HI>England.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="2">1. Mahomet II. who taking <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople,</HI> was made Emperor of the <HI>Ea&s;t May</HI> 29th. <HI>Anno Dom.</HI> 1453.</CELL>
<CELL>Henry VI.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Edward IV.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="5">2. Bajazet II.</CELL>
<CELL>Edward IV.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Edward V.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Richard III.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Henry VII.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Henry VIII.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>3. Selymus I.</CELL>
<CELL>Henry VIII.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="4">4. Solyman II.</CELL>
<CELL>Henry VIII.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Edward VI.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Q. Mary.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Q. Eliz.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>5. Selymus II.</CELL>
<CELL>Q. Eliz.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>6. Amurath III.</CELL>
<CELL>Q. Eliz.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>7. Mahomet III.</CELL>
<CELL>Q. Eliz.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>8. Achmat.</CELL>
<CELL>James I.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>9. Mu&s;tapha.</CELL>
<CELL>James I.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>10. O&s;man.</CELL>
<CELL>James I.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Mu&s;tapha again</CELL>
<CELL>James I.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>11. Amurath IV.</CELL>
<CELL>Charles I.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>12. Ibrahim.</CELL>
<CELL>Charles I.</CELL>
</ROW>
<PB REF="13">
<ROW>
<CELL ROWS="2">13. Mahomet IV.</CELL>
<CELL>Charles II.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>James II.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>14. Solyman III. whom the Army (after their ill Succe&s;s this la&s;t Campaign) &s;eated in the Throne, having fir&s;t de|po&s;ed his elder Brother, <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. who had reigned 48 Years.</CELL>
<CELL>James II.</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="13">
<HEAD>A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>CHAP. I. OF the Strength and Weakne&s;s of the <HI>Turks</HI> in general. <HI>pag.</HI> 1.</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHAP. II. Of the Two Principal Means of the Growth of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power. With an Hi&s;torical Abridgment of the Ancient Re|volutions of the <HI>Turks,</HI> from which <HI>Chri&s;tendom</HI> never drew any Advan|tage. <HI>pag.</HI> 11.</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHAP. III. Several other Rea&s;ons of the Encrea&s;e of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power, and particular Ob&s;ervations on the La&s;t War, with
<PB REF="14"> the <HI>Emperor,</HI> the <HI>Venetians, Poles,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;covites. pag.</HI> 54.</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHAP. IV. Of the principal Cau&s;es of the Decay of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power, with a De&s;crip|tion of the Pa&s;&s;age of the <HI>Dardanello's,</HI> and a Relation of the Facility the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes have at pre&s;ent of retaking <HI>Con|&s;tantinople. pag.</HI> 80.</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHAP. V. Proofs of the la&s;t Weakne&s;s of the <HI>Turks</HI> at Sea, with a Relation of the Affair at <HI>Chio. pag.</HI> 129.</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHAP. VI. Some Politick Reflections on the pre|&s;ent ill Condition of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Affairs, &s;ince the rai&s;ing the Siege of <HI>Vienna. p.</HI> 151.</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHAP. VII. A Recapitulation of &s;everal Rea&s;ons of the approacking Overthrow of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Empire: With &s;everal Remarks upon the late Revolutions at <HI>Con&s;tantinople. pag.</HI> 180.</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="report">
<PB N="1" REF="14">
<HEAD>THE PRESENT STATE OF THE <HI>OTTOMAN POWER:</HI> With the CAUSES OF ITS ENCREASE and DECAY.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. I. Of the Strength and Weakne&s;s of the <HI>Turks</HI> in General.</HEAD>
<P>THE Re&s;t which the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire has almo&s;t time out of Mind enjoy'd on the &s;ide of <HI>Per&s;ia,</HI> by rea&s;on of the effeminate, and unwarlike Humor of the <HI>Sophies,</HI> e&s;pecially &s;ince <HI>Sultan Mu|rat</HI> retook from them the important
<PB N="2" REF="15"> and famous City of <HI>Bagdat</HI> or <HI>Babylon;</HI> has given her the Opportunity of bend|ing all her Forces again&s;t the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> and extending them both by Sea and Land. <HI>Syria, Pale&s;tine, Aegypt, A&s;ia minor,</HI> the Two Empires of <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople</HI> and <HI>Trebizond,</HI> the Coa&s;t of the <HI>Red Sea,</HI> all the <HI>Black Sea,</HI> the great|e&s;t Part of the <HI>Mediterranean,</HI> the whole Coa&s;t of <HI>Africk, Greece, Hungary, Ge|orgia, le&s;&s;er Tartary,</HI> and the be&s;t Por|tion of <HI>Poland;</HI> are Proofs as convin|cing, as co&s;tly to <HI>Chri&s;t endom.</HI></P>
<P>But if on one hand it has appeared Great, Maje&s;tical and Formidable, and is maintain'd by &s;everal Troops always in a readine&s;s, by their blind Obedi|ence to their Emperor, and by a great Number of malign, and indu&s;trious Con&s;titutions, which have conduc'd to &s;o terrible an Aggrandi&s;ement, and rendred it to this pre&s;ent Invincible; there will be on the other part, &s;o ma|ny Defects, as will be of them&s;elves capable of overthrowing and de&s;troy|ing it.</P>
<P>It's in the Fir&s;t manner, whereby the <HI>Turk</HI> has ever attackt the Princes his Neighbors, and a&s;toni&s;ht them by the
<PB N="3" REF="15"> boldne&s;s of his Enterpri&s;es. He has always been the Aggre&s;&s;or, even to the Prejudice of Treaties, &s;urprizing his Enemies with numerous Armies; whil&s;t he has had no regard to the inward Parts of his Empire, which he has &s;tript and reduc'd to extream Weak|ne&s;s, by depriving it of the greate&s;t and be&s;t part of the People, to gather its Forces to the out-Parts and Fron|tiers.</P>
<P>Mo&s;t Strangers dazled with the greatne&s;s of this Empire, have never truly known the Weak Sides of it, ap|plying them&s;elves only to the outward Appearance, without penetrating to the Bottom. But, to clear up the Truth, we are to con&s;ider in what manner the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Policy has extended to Exce&s;s, the Maxim of not letting its Subjects be too Rich, to avoid Softne&s;s, and all other Accidents thereunto belonging.</P>
<P>The People, which is the la&s;t of the <HI>Three</HI> Orders or E&s;tates of this Em|pire, is tyranniz'd over by the <HI>Two</HI> others, which is the <HI>Military,</HI> and that of the <HI>Law.</HI> They are almo&s;t beggar'd, and employ'd in the vile&s;t and meane&s;t Services; and the Tyranny goes &s;o
<PB N="4" REF="16"> far, that the Mini&s;try of Religion and Ju&s;tice (of which the <HI>Second</HI> Rank or Order con&s;i&s;ts) &s;erves for a means to the continual and incredible Per&s;ecuti|ons, which are exercis'd by the <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> which is the <HI>Military,</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Third;</HI> which, when it &s;hould compo&s;e the Bo|dy of the Empire, is in a manner lo&s;t, and every day manife&s;tly decaying.</P>
<P>It's a radicated Mi&s;chief, and as an|cient as the Original of the <HI>Ottomans,</HI> That the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Emperors have not be|gun to conquer with Facility &s;o va&s;t an Extent of Land, but by entirely de|&s;troying the People, as fa&s;t as they &s;ubdued them. This De&s;truction was authoris'd by them of the <HI>Law,</HI> who have continued to be the Mini&s;ters of it; and 'twas executed by the Souldi|ers, commanded by the <HI>Grand Seigniors</HI> them&s;elves, who&s;e <HI>Vizirs</HI> were the Li|eutenants, and the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's</HI> fill'd the o|ther Offices.</P>
<P>All the Officers which apply'd them|&s;elves to the Execution of the&s;e great De&s;igns, and the pur&s;uit of &s;o many Conque&s;ts, &s;har'd the Profits and Ho|nours. And if it be true, that this Di&s;tribution of Military Dignities and
<PB N="5" REF="16"> Governments, is now no other than a kind of Rent or Farming, which falls on the People; hence may be con|jectured, what will become in the End of this <HI>Third</HI> E&s;tate, which the Marti|al People continue to de&s;olate, by a Cu&s;tom to which all contribute with &s;uch Force and Violence, that even the very <HI>Janizaries,</HI> which are taken from among&s;t the People, are weakned and de&s;troy'd every Day, in ruining it.</P>
<P>We may add to this ill Conduct, the Application of the latter <HI>Sultans</HI> to de|&s;troy this <HI>Militia,</HI> or at lea&s;t to dimi|ni&s;h its Authority, and overthrow the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's</HI> and other Officers; which al|ways falling on the People, &s;hews, that even the Head, as well, as the re&s;t, who are the Members of the Empire, labour at their De&s;truction.</P>
<P>The People have &s;carcely any part in the Privileges or Honours. The Commerce which &s;hould belong to them in great Towns, is divided by the Souldiers, and e&s;pecially by the <HI>Jani|zaries,</HI> who &s;et up for Merchants at <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI> They do the &s;ame in other Places of their Abode, and more|over with more Impunity, as well as
<PB N="6" REF="17"> in their Cour&s;es and Pa&s;&s;ages; entring into Gardens, to take the Fruits, and what they find there, for nothing, or at a pitiful Price, they &s;ell at an ex|ce&s;&s;ive Rate, in Towns, Burghs and Villages, to the Exclu&s;ion of other Peo|ple, whom they hinder by their Au|thority or Addre&s;s, from concerning them&s;elves. How little &s;oever their Traffick is, they draw thence a con|&s;iderable Gain, becau&s;e they are ex|empt from all the Charges and Impo|&s;itions, which are laid on the Lands and People; and have Bread, Meat, a Ve&s;t, and a Turbant as a Gift, be&s;ides their Pay.</P>
<P>Hence is &s;een, that the People is the Patient, on which the <HI>Military</HI> State works; and 'twill be granted, that that of the <HI>Law,</HI> no le&s;s oppre&s;&s;es them, by authorizing the Inju&s;tices of the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's,</HI> and other Officers, who pra|cti&s;e incredible Extortions. The&s;e are the principal Cau&s;es, which have de|populated, and reduced into Solitude, the greate&s;t Part of this Empire. If in the&s;e latter times, the <HI>Sultans</HI> have extended con&s;iderably their Limits, by the Conque&s;t of &s;everal Provinces;
<PB N="7" REF="17"> this Augmentation has not been &s;uffi|cient, to make amends for the Dimi|nution of one Third of the People, and their Habitations; which is vi&s;ible by the Regi&s;ters of Chancery of the Two <HI>Cadileskiers</HI> of <HI>Europe</HI> and <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> who are the Two chief Judges of the Em|pire. The <HI>Cadiliks,</HI> or Jurisdictions of the <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> were reduced before the pre&s;ent War, to Three hundred and ten, from more than Five hundred, which they were at fir&s;t; and tho&s;e of the <HI>Second,</HI> are not more than Four hundred and thirty, in&s;tead of about Seven hundred. Whence may be con|cluded, that the Troops of the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's, Timars,</HI> and others, are dimini&s;hed proportionably, and even farther, by the Diminution and Ruin of &s;everal Places, which contributed to their Sub&s;i&s;tence.</P>
<P>Whence may be inferr'd, that the la&s;t Conque&s;ts of the&s;e <HI>Infidels,</HI> have yielded no other Advantage, than the hiding from the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> their ex|tream Weakne&s;s, and the Mi&s;ery of <HI>Turky;</HI> which, in fine, begins to di&s;|cover it &s;elf, and that the Efforts which they have u&s;ed for this, have
<PB N="8" REF="18"> only &s;erv'd to augment the De&s;olati|on of the inward Parts of their Em|pire.</P>
<P>Whatever there is of Augmentation and Greatne&s;s, in the Center and Ca|pital of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire, &s;erves on|ly to give further Proof of its Ruine and Decay. And, if it be almo&s;t im|po&s;&s;ible to believe the great Number there are of Towns, Burghs, and Vil|lages, where there remains only bare Walls, and de&s;olate Hou&s;es, wherein no Body inhabits; one may moreover con&s;ider, how many Burghs about <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> are form'd on the Sides of the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Bo&s;phorus,</HI> and the <HI>White Sea.</HI> Every day new Buildings are there rai&s;ed: The People who are here at pre&s;ent, far &s;urpa&s;s the ancient Num|ber of tho&s;e, who inhabited it before; and this Concour&s;e proceeds from the great Quantity of People, who flying the Per&s;ecutions in the Provinces, find only Ea&s;e and Security in the Vicinity of their Emperor.</P>
<P>Abandoning as they do, again&s;t their Wills, the Country of their Birth, 'tis ea&s;y to judge by what Violence they are con&s;train'd to it. And, becau&s;e this
<PB N="9" REF="18"> Tyranny &s;till continues, as may be ob|&s;erv'd by the I&s;les which are almo&s;t de|populated, and by the De&s;erts, and Ruins on the main Land; it's certain, that the Neighbourhood of <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople</HI> would ari&s;e into a Province on lit|tle Spaces of Ground, and on Moun|tains rough and barren enough, had not the Imperial Edicts &s;ometimes ob|liged the&s;e new Inhabitants, to return to their own Countries. The Expedi|ent is al&s;o practi&s;ed in re&s;pect of tho&s;e, who have left their Country after they have been written in the Book of Tax|es, to make them contribute to the Charges of their Compatriots, when the&s;e require it; and many con&s;ent, and pay moreover the Impo&s;itions on their new Habitations, rather than re|turn into their Country. All the&s;e Peo|ple, who fill'd con&s;iderable Provinces, and the farthe&s;t di&s;tant of the Empire, being driven thence by the Violence and Tyranny of the Government, run to the Borders of great Towns, and e&s;pecially of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> and leave all the&s;e Countries, which were here|tofore the riche&s;t, and mo&s;t abounding, de&s;art, and abandoned.</P>
<PB N="10" REF="19">
<P>What I now come from &s;aying, may &s;erve as a general Idea of the Strength and Weakne&s;s of the <HI>Ottomans.</HI> But to make a more exact De&s;cription, 'twill be nece&s;&s;ary to in&s;i&s;t on Two principal Cau&s;es, which &s;eem the mo&s;t natural Foundation of this Dominion, which has extended it &s;elf &s;o far. We &s;hall afterwards exhibit &s;everal others, which will appear no le&s;s, to be tho&s;e of its Ruine and Decay; and come to par|ticular In&s;tances, both of Sea and Land; by which having prov'd the Weakne&s;s of this Empire, we &s;hall undeceive Mens Minds in their favourable Precon|ceits of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Power.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="11" REF="19">
<HEAD>CHAP. II. Of the Two Principal Means of the Growth of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power. With an Hi&s;torical A|bridgment of the Ancient Revo|lutions of the <HI>Turks,</HI> from which <HI>Chri&s;tendom</HI> never drew any Advantage.</HEAD>
<P>THE Di&s;tributions and Share of the Conque&s;ts, which the Offi|cers and <HI>Turki&s;h Militia</HI> received from the Fir&s;t <HI>Ottoman</HI> Emperors in the Be|ginning of their Progre&s;s; has oblig'd them to con&s;ider the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> who granted them tho&s;e Favours, not only as their Benefactor, but al&s;o as him who drew them from Nothing, and out of De&s;arts, to di&s;tribute to them the Grandures and Riches of the mo&s;t plentiful Countries, as fa&s;t as they made him the Ma&s;ter of them. This Hope flattered them in &s;uch &s;ort, as to oblige them to fear no Dangers and Combats, where the Glory and Pro&s;perity of their Emperor were con|cern'd.
<PB N="12" REF="20"> But, the mo&s;t part dying in the&s;e Occa&s;ions, and leaving their Recom|pences for others; it was thence ea&s;y for tho&s;e who remain'd &s;ucce&s;&s;ively one after another, to leave the Fir&s;t Bene|fices of their Soveraign, to pa&s;s on continually by new Victories to new and greater Recompences: And, hence it may be believ'd, that this Ab&s;olute Power of the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s, of di&s;po|&s;ing of the E&s;tates and Lives of his Sub|jects as he plea&s;es, has taken its Ri&s;e.</P>
<P>The Mini&s;ters of their Religion, who receiv'd their E&s;tabli&s;hment from the &s;ame Power, have not been wanting to contribute to his Greatne&s;s and Autho|rity; teaching, That an entire Submi&s;|&s;ion &s;hould be paid him, &s;eeing it came from <HI>God,</HI> for the E&s;tabli&s;hment of the <HI>true Faith,</HI> and this Power which they preach'd extended to them&s;elves; for, they were the Fir&s;t in obeying him, flattered by the great Advantages which their Emperors be&s;towed on them, who hereby engaged them to be inviolably faithful to them, and &s;ubmit Religion to their Plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>We need not &s;earch el&s;ewhere the Cau&s;e of tho&s;e profound and re&s;pect|ful
<PB N="13" REF="20"> Submi&s;&s;ions, with which all the <HI>Turks,</HI> of either Sex, Age, and Profe&s;|&s;ion, humble them&s;elves in the Pre&s;ence, and to the Orders of their Emperors. They con&s;ider him as the Vicar and Lieutenant of <HI>God</HI> on Earth. They render him, after <HI>God</HI> and after <HI>Ma|homet,</HI> all po&s;&s;ible Honours. When they adore the Divine Maje&s;ty, they fall on their Knees, and touch the Ground with their Heads, to &s;ignify they are as Nothing, before his Al|mighty Power. When they pray to <HI>Mahomet,</HI> and in pronouncing his Name and Quality of <HI>Prophet,</HI> they fall on their Knees, and bow only the Head: And when they will render their Ve|neration to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> they &s;toop very low, and touch the Earth with one Hand, which they reach up afterwards to their Mouth to ki&s;s it, and then to their Head; to &s;hew, That this Emperor being the greate&s;t Man on Earth, they are but Du&s;t in his Sight. They would al&s;o &s;hew, that being not worthy to approach him, they think them&s;elves happy to ki&s;s the Hand, which has touch'd the Earth which his Imperial Grandure has trod
<PB N="14" REF="21"> on: And they take care, never to fix their Eyes on tho&s;e of his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> nor on his Countenance; becau&s;e, that ha|ving, as they &s;ay, Maje&s;ty, Prudence, Valour, and Boldnefs in his Front, they de&s;erve not, neither ought to be &s;o bold to look on him; it being &s;uf|ficient that they are beheld by him.</P>
<P>The Re&s;pect they bear him, is &s;o well e&s;tabli&s;hed, that when he pa&s;&s;es by, there's not the lea&s;t Noi&s;e heard, how great and numerous &s;oever his Train may be, and tho&s;e that behold it. The <HI>Turks</HI> accompany the&s;e Sub|mi&s;&s;ions, with a punctual Obedience. They all, as well the greate&s;t as the &s;malle&s;t, do glory in being the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Slaves; the Term of which being taken in the &s;trict Significati|on of their Law, as was that of the <HI>Romans,</HI> comprehends at lea&s;t an ab&s;o|lute Power of his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> over the E&s;tates of his Subjects, &s;uch as a Pa|tron may have over tho&s;e of his Slaves; which is to &s;ay, that a <HI>Turk</HI> can enjoy nothing which he has but at the Empe|ror's Plea&s;ure. The great Emba&s;&s;ador of <HI>Poland, John Guinski,</HI> being come to <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> in the year 1677. with a
<PB N="15" REF="21"> Train of Six hundred Per&s;ons, for the compleating the Treaty of <HI>Zouravuno;</HI> and the <HI>Grand Vizir, Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> treating him at Dinner in one of his Gardens on the Canal of the <HI>Black Sea,</HI> where this <HI>Poli&s;h</HI> Lord Com|plementing him on the Beauty of the Place, and e&s;pecially on the Honour of being near one of the <HI>Seraglio</HI>'s of the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> the <HI>Vizir</HI> replied to him, <HI>Being all of us his</HI> Highne&s;&s;es <HI>Slaves, and our E&s;tates belonging to him, he &s;ome|times vouch&s;afes to come and walk in the Gardens which we make ready for him.</HI></P>
<P>This Law of Slavery is confirm'd by the proper Intere&s;t of particular <HI>Turks,</HI> who have <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Slaves, over which they have all Power, excepting that of putting them to Death, as not being inve&s;ted with the Publick Authority. It's not &s;o with the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> who, by his Ab&s;olute Power, is Ma&s;ter not only of the E&s;tates, but al&s;o of the Lives of his Subjects. And this Power, without any Re&s;erve or Re&s;triction, having been originally e&s;tabli&s;hed by Conque&s;ts, as has been ob&s;erv'd; their Religion has farther authorized it, and &s;o &s;olidly confirm'd it, that it has been
<PB N="16" REF="22"> &s;carcely ever &s;een oppo&s;ed or contra|dicted to any Purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>Their Religion gives the <HI>Grand Seig|nior</HI> the right of being his Subjects Heir when they die, and of peeling them in their Life-times, to the Exclu&s;ion and Prejudice of their Kindred and Chil|dren, becau&s;e all are his Slaves. This Maxim &s;eems &s;omething hard, even ac|cording to the Sen&s;e of the mo&s;t able Lawyers of the Empire; but 'tis &s;alv'd by &s;ome &s;eeming Rea&s;on, in that the Succe&s;&s;ions which the Emperor &s;eizes on being the riche&s;t, &s;eeing otherwi&s;e he would de&s;pi&s;e them; they mu&s;t then be of tho&s;e who have had the Admini|&s;tration of his Trea&s;ures, who have been Governors, or born other con&s;i|derable Offices; or being accus'd of Inju&s;tice, afford a plau&s;ible Pretence for the Seizure of their E&s;tates.</P>
<P>This Imperial Privilege is &s;o great|ly in U&s;e, that the Heirs of a rich <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> or other principal Officer, altho they never fail to hide what they can, will not undertake to divide the Succe&s;&s;ion which belongs to them, without the Permi&s;&s;ion of his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> who gives it entirely, or without re&s;erve, but
<PB N="17" REF="22"> &s;eldom. He cau&s;es the Imperial Seal to be &s;et on their Goods, whether by an expre&s;s Me&s;&s;enger, or the Officers on the Place do it by their Authority; and, taking what &s;eems good to him out of all their Riches, he di&s;tributes com|monly &s;ome Portion to the Children of him who is &s;tript, whether alive or dead; and, he thinks he does them a great Favour, in allowing them the Honour of being call'd his Co-heirs. The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es more|over this Right, which makes him Ma&s;ter and Owner of the E&s;tates of his Subjects, e&s;pecially of the Rich|e&s;t, with &s;o ab&s;olute an Authority, that be&s;ides the Per&s;ons which he deprives at once of their E&s;tates when he puts them to Death, his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> gives from time to time to tho&s;e whom he lets enjoy their E&s;tates, certain Adver|ti&s;ements, which &s;hould per&s;wade them, that this Enjoyment is only an Effect of his Imperial Benignity on Sufferance. He often vi&s;its them, not &s;o much to honour them, as to draw Pre&s;ents from them, which may pa&s;s for the Redemp|tion of the re&s;t he leaves them; and he makes no Difficulty to explain him&s;elf
<PB N="18" REF="23"> &s;o, as has been &s;everal times known, e&s;pecially when having been entertain'd with a &s;plendid Banquet, and a con&s;i|derable Pre&s;ent by <HI>Cara Ha&s;&s;anoglou&s;on, Aga</HI> of the <HI>Janizaries,</HI> in a Garden ad|joining to the <HI>Black Sea,</HI> he &s;aid to him at departure, <HI>I leave thee thy Hou&s;e, I do not take that, but remember that all thou po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e&s;t, to the very Fruits of the Garden, belong to me.</HI></P>
<P>His <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> has al&s;o often gon on <HI>Friday</HI> to &s;ay his Prayers at a certain <HI>Mo&s;que,</HI> becau&s;e 'twas near &s;ome fine <HI>Seraglio;</HI> of which having adverti&s;ed the Ma&s;ter, that he &s;hould entertain him, and that he would do him the honour of vi&s;iting his Hou&s;e, this was only to receive a Pre&s;ent: This Con|duct is &s;o generally known, that they are not very willing to have Palaces near the Places where the <HI>Grand Seig|nior</HI> pa&s;&s;es and u&s;ually walks. And a certain <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> U&s;urer, extreamly Rich, became once &s;ick with Fear, that the Reputation of his Riches would draw a Vi&s;it to him from his <HI>Highne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's</HI> or Governors of Provin|ces, who return to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> after the Term of their Admini&s;tration,
<PB N="19" REF="23"> pa&s;s not over to other Dignities with|out well paying for them, and giving in Pre&s;ents whatever they have gathe|red in the Employ they come out of. And to &s;hew in what manner this Em|peror attends the&s;e &s;ort of Spoils, we may ob&s;erve an Hi&s;tory which hap|pened on the Occa&s;ion of one of his Gentlemen, named <HI>O&s;man Aga.</HI></P>
<P>He having ca&s;t him&s;elf at the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Feet, to entreat him to grant him a Government; his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> bad him think on what he ask'd, and that he might repent of it. But on <HI>O&s;man</HI>'s Per&s;everance, and mo&s;t humble Suppli|cation to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> that it would plea&s;e him not only to grant him the Government for Three Years, but al&s;o to write the Order with his own Hand, which would take away all Fear from him during the Pro&s;perity of his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> he con&s;ented to this: And, as he &s;till held the Pen in his Hand, he demanded whether any other would have the like Grace; but no body an|&s;wered to this Invitation, except ano|ther of his Gentlemen, who was a <HI>Re|negado</HI> of <HI>Malta,</HI> who running away as fa&s;t as he could, cryed out, <HI>God pre&s;erve
<PB N="20" REF="24"> me from it;</HI> which made the <HI>Grand Seig|nior</HI> laugh exceedingly.</P>
<P>The Pre&s;ents which the <HI>Grand Vi&s;ir</HI> makes him at <HI>Bairam</HI> or <HI>Ea&s;ter</HI> (which is the beginning of their Year) and tho&s;e of the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's,</HI> and other Officers of the Empire; though they ri&s;e very high, yet are reckoned as nothing, as being Rights of Obligation. But, there are a great many other occa&s;ions, where|in mu&s;t be continued the&s;e Pre&s;ents, which are a kind of Tribute, proper to con&s;erve the rank and credit of each of the&s;e Mini&s;ters. Oftentimes the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> vi&s;its them, on purpo&s;e to receive at the &s;ame time their per&s;onal Submi&s;&s;ions and ready Money; and here 'twill not be impertinent to &s;et forth, in what manner this Vi&s;it is made.</P>
<P>The <HI>Grand Vi&s;ir</HI> being adverti&s;ed that the Emperor comes to vi&s;it him, goes out to meet him, about an hun|dred Paces from the Gate of his Pa|lace in the Street; where apperceiving his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> he makes three profound Reverences, bending very low; and ki&s;&s;es, and brings to his forehead, the hand with which he comes from touching the Ground. He places him|&s;elf,
<PB N="21" REF="24"> after the&s;e re&s;pects, before the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Hor&s;e, and marches thus on foot to the &s;econd Court of his Hou&s;e, and near a kind of Hor&s;e|block, on which his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> de&s;cends from his Hor&s;e.</P>
<P>During this time, and whil&s;t he be|gins to a&s;cend the Stairs, led under the arm by his <HI>Selictar</HI> or Sword-Bearer, and by the <HI>Capi Aga,</HI> Captain of the <HI>Port;</HI> the <HI>Vi&s;ir</HI> runs up immediately before, and enters into his Chamber, whence he goes out at the &s;ame time the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> appears at the Door of the <HI>Divan,</HI> which is a great Parlour. This Mini&s;ter &s;hews him&s;elf with his hands cro&s;s his Stomach; he renews his three Reverences down to the Ground, in three mea&s;ured Intervals, according to the largene&s;s of the place; and at the third, he lets his Hands go, and conducts his Ma&s;ter on the <HI>Sofa,</HI> marching before him.</P>
<P>The <HI>Sofa</HI> is a kind of Way or Eleva|tion of a Foot high, which takes up ge|nerally half or two thirds of the Cham|ber, covered with rich Tapi&s;try du|ring the Winter, and the Summer time with curious Mats of Ru&s;hes, neat|ly
<PB N="22" REF="25"> wrought, or &s;ome light, fine Stuff; and all about is &s;pread a Quilt to &s;it on, there being long Cu&s;hions laid on the &s;ide to the Wall, all covered with rich <HI>Per&s;ia</HI> Stuffs, and the place of Honor is in the Corner, which regards the en|trance of the Chamber.</P>
<P>When his <HI>Imperial Highne&s;s</HI> is &s;at, the <HI>Vi&s;ir</HI> puts him&s;elf into the po&s;ture of a Courtier, out of the <HI>Sofa,</HI> &s;tand|ing up with his Hands cro&s;s. When the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> by a &s;ign of his Head or Hand, orders him to &s;it down, it's commonly on a little white Blanket, which is &s;pread two foot di&s;tant from the <HI>Sofa;</HI> where the Mini&s;ter &s;its kneel|ing on his Heels, ob&s;erving this po|&s;ture in great re&s;pect; whereas other|wi&s;e they &s;it flat cro&s;s-legged.</P>
<P>Whether the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> dines at the <HI>Vi&s;ir</HI>'s or not, there's u&s;ually plac'd, before he arrives, behind one of the Cu&s;hions on which he leans, five Pur&s;es, which make two thou&s;and five hundred Crowns, and &s;ometimes more; and his Officers mu&s;t take care to car|ry them away after him. He is more|over pre&s;ented with two <HI>Bokchas</HI> or <HI>Toylets,</HI> in each of which, is contained
<PB N="23" REF="25"> a Ve&s;t of <HI>Martre Zibelin,</HI> and a Magni|ficent Suit of Cloths, accompanyed with a Ponyard and Girdle, &s;et out with Precious Stones, with three Hor&s;es, two of which be richly har|ne&s;s'd. The Whole may be valued at twelve or fifteen thou&s;and Crowns.</P>
<P>As oft as the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's</HI> and other great Men, and even private Per&s;ons, re|ceive the Honour in being vi&s;ited by the Emperor; they are obliged to make con&s;iderable Pre&s;ents, according to their Rank, and exigency of Affairs. <HI>Hu&s;&s;ein Aga</HI> was much in his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI>'s Mind, who for one while came almo&s;t every Week into a very fine Hou&s;e he had on the Sea &s;ide. But finding him|&s;elf tir'd with this two great Honour, by rea&s;on of the frequent Disbur&s;ment of his Money, which he loved as well as any of his Employ; he thought on a Trick which did him a Kindne&s;s, and which much plea&s;ed the <HI>Grand Seignior.</HI> One Day when his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> came to vi|&s;it him according to Cu&s;tom, he went to meet him farther than he was wont; and carrying him all the Keys of his Chambers, pray'd him to accept of them with his whole Hou&s;e, which he
<PB N="24" REF="26"> made bold to offer him. His <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> well under&s;tanding the Meaning of this, told him laughing, <HI>Well, well, I know thou art a poor Fellow, and I am not wil|ling to eat thee out of Hou&s;e and Home.</HI> Thus <HI>Hu&s;&s;ein Aga</HI> was exempt from parting with ready Money, but was forc'd to continue his other Expen|ces.</P>
<P>Not only the <HI>Vizir</HI> and the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's</HI> never fail in their Re&s;pects, and Pre|&s;ents to their Emperor; but moreover, when his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> &s;ends them an <HI>Hat|cherif</HI> (which is, an Order under his Hand) accompanied with a Ve&s;t of <HI>Martre,</HI> for which they are obliged to pay the Bearer by extraordinary Libe|ralities. The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> is plea&s;ed al&s;o, in another manner, to require Pre|&s;ents from tho&s;e that are about him. Commonly all the <HI>Ottoman Emperors</HI> are skilful in &s;ome Trade, or Handy-craft, wherein they &s;pend their Time. This la&s;t <HI>Emperor</HI> was a great Arti&s;t at making horn-Tooth-pickers; and, when he intends to honour any <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> or &s;ome other Per&s;on with Tokens of his Remembrance, he &s;ends him one the&s;e Tooth-pickers, or &s;ome Flower
<PB N="25" REF="26"> out of a Garden where his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> walks, which mu&s;t be dearly paid for by con&s;iderable Gratifications to him that brings them.</P>
<P>The&s;e Particulars plainly confirm the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s ab&s;olute Power over his Subjects E&s;tates, which he &s;iezes on if he thinks good, in their Life time, as well as after their Deaths. It's far|ther to be ob&s;erv'd, that all the chief Military Officers, as the <HI>Janizary Aga,</HI> the <HI>Seimen Bachi,</HI> General of the Caval|ry, the <HI>Bo&s;tangi Bachi,</HI> Intendant over the Gard'ners, and the <HI>Topchi Bachi,</HI> great Ma&s;ter of the Artillery; are Heirs of tho&s;e Per&s;ons who depend, and are in Office under them, when they have no Children. Whence it follows, That the Emperor may with greater pre|tence of Right, be his Subjects Heir, when they die without Children, be|cau&s;e they are all his Slaves.</P>
<P>The <HI>Turks</HI> are &s;o far from di&s;cove|ring their E&s;tates, that excepting cer|tain Expences to which their Employs oblige them, they forget no Artifice to di&s;&s;emble their Riches; and therefore they make &s;uppo&s;ed Debts, to be thought poor, to be thereby exempted
<PB N="26" REF="27"> from the Envy of the Imperial Autho|rity.</P>
<P>This Artifice becomes oftentimes u&s;ele&s;s, it being too Cu&s;tomary, and the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> not paying the Debts of tho&s;e, who&s;e E&s;tates he &s;eizes on; for; &s;uppo&s;ing the Cau&s;e was to be brought to Ju&s;tice, which never hap|pens when the Imperial Name is inter|e&s;ted, there would not be wanting pre|tences to baffle all Creditors, &s;eeing the Effects cannot be &s;ufficient to the &s;atisfying his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI>'s demands.</P>
<P>It's certain, that the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> when he will po&s;&s;e&s;s him&s;elf of the E&s;tates of any of his Subjects, e&s;peci|ally of the Riche&s;t, may ea&s;ily do it, excepting what cannot be di&s;co|vered. They are commonly very obe|dient in con&s;igning them according to his Order, and it is more ea&s;y for him to put them to death, for they may conceal &s;ome of their Effects; but it's not the &s;ame with their Per&s;ons, which they cannot conceal, but for a time, and who&s;e di&s;obedience has ever been imperfectly upheld by Military Rebellions, &s;o that they mu&s;t yield at la&s;t.</P>
<PB N="27" REF="27">
<P>It &s;hould moreover be con&s;idered, that the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> knows when to take his time, as well as tho&s;e who are the carriers of his Orders, who&s;e Execution is never attempted in vain. The Emperor's Will &s;erves for a &s;uffi|cient form of a Proce&s;s. If heretofore the <HI>Fetfa</HI> of the <HI>Mufti</HI> was taken in important occa&s;ions, that is to &s;ay, his judgdment, or &s;ence on &s;uch or &s;uch a Fact, and what Puni&s;hment for Example, the Criminal might de&s;erve; this Formality is not now ob&s;erved, on|ly in important occa&s;ions, in which the <HI>Mahometan</HI> Religion finds it nece&s;|&s;ary to join to the Authority of the Prince an appearance of Ju&s;tice; to the end the Soldiery and People having knowledge of it, may concurr in the making his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> obeyed, if need be, or at lea&s;t not re&s;i&s;t his Or|ders.</P>
<P>It's then commonly on the inability of re&s;i&s;ting, that the <HI>Turks</HI> yield their Heads. When a <HI>Capidgi Bachi,</HI> or the <HI>Ha&s;&s;eki Aga,</HI> having pronounced to them from the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s part the&s;e or the like words, <HI>The mo&s;t High Lord commands you to die;</HI> if they an|&s;wer,
<PB N="28" REF="28"> <HI>his Will be done;</HI> or, if an&s;wering nothing, they ask only time to &s;ay their Prayers, 'tis becau&s;e there's no avoiding the &s;troke, and therefore they make a Vertue in &s;ubmitting to Nece&s;&s;ity. Perhaps then they draw &s;ome con&s;olation from what &s;everal of their Divines affirm, That the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> mu&s;t be &s;o obeyed, that if one refu&s;es him his Head, they fall into the crime of Infidelity and Apo&s;tacy from the <HI>Mahometan</HI> Religion; whereas, he is Crowned with Martyrdom, that obeys and embraces Death at the lea&s;t of his Sovereigns Orders.</P>
<P>Yet there are few <HI>Vizirs, Ba&s;&s;a's,</HI> or other Officers, who in virtue of this Maxim, have voluntarily yielded their Heads every time they could &s;ave it; but there have been &s;everal, who di&s;|gui&s;ing them&s;elves, and doing what they could to avoid Death, yet have fell into the Precipice; and others who have &s;aved them&s;elves, have been &s;een to die in the Employ, of their na|tural death. A <HI>Vizir</HI> named <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> was killed flying tra|ve&s;ted; he of the &s;ame Name that was Strangled after the Siege of <HI>Vienna,</HI>
<PB N="29" REF="28"> would not have been engaged as he was after his Defeat, had he been per|&s;waded there were Orders to put him to Death. <HI>Firari Ba&s;&s;a</HI> of <HI>Cair</HI> avoid|ed death by concealing him&s;elf under the Habit of a <HI>Dervis</HI> or <HI>Religious,</HI> and he died a natural death, being <HI>Ba&s;&s;a</HI> of <HI>Bagdat. Ha&s;&s;an Aga</HI> was &s;trangled in the very place where he had hid him|&s;elf. There are &s;everal others who have taken, or would take the &s;ame cour&s;e, endeavouring to avoid the Choler of the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> as being &s;ugge&s;ted by their Enemies, without having recour&s;e to an open Rebellion. And they have al&s;o Lawyers who main|tain, they ought not to yield their Heads, but on the contrary, defend them&s;elves to the la&s;t, and not render them&s;elves criminal before God, by &s;uffering his Image to be &s;o ea&s;ily defa|ced.</P>
<P>Whence appears, with how little foundation we attribute to the <HI>Turks,</HI> this blind Obedience of embracing vo|luntarily death on the fir&s;t Orders from the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> although they be per&s;waded they do not de&s;erve it; and we have more regarded, in advan|cing
<PB N="30" REF="29"> this Propo&s;ition, the great num|ber of tho&s;e that die, than the manner in which they receive this puni&s;hment. It's u&s;ually urged, that the <HI>Turks</HI> &s;ay they are all ready to give their Heads at the fir&s;t &s;ign from their Emperor; but this ought to be con&s;idered as mere o&s;tentation, never putting this in practice, but when they cannot avoid it. In fine, though the obedience be blind and voluntary, or forced and vi|olent, yet it produces its effect; and thus rendring the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> Ab&s;o|lute over the Lives and E&s;tates of his Subjects, it is the fir&s;t foundation of his Greatne&s;s and Power.</P>
<P>The &s;econd foundation of the Au|thority, and Power of the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> ari&s;es from the A&s;cendant he has over the Politick and Civil Laws, of which he is &s;o much Ma&s;ter, that he has no obligation to follow them. He can Interpret them, and even Abo|li&s;h them when he plea&s;es, or make new ones, without receiving any kind of oppo&s;ition, provided that they thwart not the Doctrine of the <HI>Alcoran,</HI> which they regard as Divine, and de&s;cended from Heaven.</P>
<PB N="31" REF="29">
<P>Yet there be found Reconciliations and Mitigations with the Maxims of their Religion; and when the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> engaged to do any thing by the intere&s;t of his Authority, &s;hall be obli|ged to carry him&s;elf contrary to any Article of the <HI>Alcoran,</HI> provided it be not a Capital point, he finds means enough to &s;urmount all the difficulties. It's &s;ufficient he does it by the advice of the <HI>Mufti,</HI> without whom he ordi|narily undertakes nothing in what con|cerns Religion; being moreover cer|tain, he will never fail to be favourable to him, becau&s;e a Succe&s;&s;or which his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> might &s;ub&s;titute to him, would &s;oon repair the defect of his complacency.</P>
<P>The <HI>Alcoran</HI> does not prohibit the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> the u&s;e of Churches, which they have always had, as long as they can &s;ub&s;i&s;t, and till they fall to ruin; but it forbids the reparations and the building of new ones. Yet a Church be|ing burnt, and the Ground redeemed, they will permit it to be rebuilt as it was; on the Principle, That the Law is not broke, &s;eeing 'tis the &s;ame Church as before, and not a new one; that
<PB N="32" REF="30">
'tis not a Reparation, but an entire Structure. This is a gro&s;s &s;ubtilty, yet is Authoriz'd, becau&s;e the <HI>Otto|man</HI> Policy finds its Reckoning in it, in that, this is chiefly u&s;ed in Capitu|lations, and to facilitate the Treaties of Peace; where the <HI>Turks</HI> acquiring &s;o many Churches, which they pro&s;ti|tute into <HI>Mo&s;ques,</HI> may well a&s;&s;ure them|&s;elves of the peaceable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of them, provided they grant &s;ome one; as is &s;een, for example, at <HI>Galata,</HI> in re|&s;pect of that of St. <HI>Francis;</HI> the re-e&s;tabli&s;hment of which in recompence of the lo&s;s of <HI>Candia,</HI> has been obtained by the Republick of <HI>Venice</HI> on its anci|ent Foundations, Redeemed by the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> Money.</P>
<P>That of S. <HI>George</HI>'s belonging to the <HI>Capucins,</HI> has al&s;o been rebuilt by vir|tue of the Capitulations renewed in the year 1673. between <HI>France</HI> and the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> which confirm to the <HI>French</HI> King's Emba&s;&s;adors the Protection of bi&s;hops, and <HI>Religious</HI> of the <HI>Latin</HI> Rite, the peaceable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Churches, and Exerci&s;es of Religion, e&s;pecially in favour of the <HI>Je&s;uits</HI> and <HI>Capucins.</HI></P>
<PB N="33" REF="30">
<P>There are other Examples, which prove, that the <HI>Mufti</HI> and the <HI>Mahome|tan</HI> Law, do not only bound the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Authority, but moreover &s;erve to deliver it from the Yoke, and Con&s;traint, which it might lay on it &s;elf; and which by a Principle of Re|ligion &s;he might think, &s;he could not be di&s;engaged from, although the Execu|tion might procure notable prejudices to it. There has been &s;een one very remarkable, in the Per&s;on of <HI>Mahomet</HI> III. Great Grand-father of him who is now depo&s;ed. He had &s;worn, on &s;ome extraordinary occa&s;ion, to put to death all the Emba&s;&s;adors, and <HI>Chri|&s;tians</HI> which were to be found in his Empire, the Execution of which was to be begun in <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI></P>
<P>His <HI>Grand Vizir</HI> fore&s;eeing the Con|&s;equences of &s;o barbarous and impo|litic a Cruelty, which would not have failed to draw along with it the Ruin of the Empire, and to procure to the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes, an opportunity of revenging them&s;elves; oppo&s;ed him|&s;elf by his Remon&s;trances, and Entrea|ties to this Re&s;olution. But, &s;eeing the Emperor &s;tuck to his Oath, he had
<PB N="34" REF="31"> Recour&s;e to the <HI>Mufti,</HI> who found out an Expedient to &s;atisfie his <HI>Highne&s;&s;es</HI> Con&s;cience, in putting to death all the Dogs of the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> he having Sworn the Death of all the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Dogs; and the Execution was done with Pomp on the&s;e Animals, which the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> furni&s;h'd; and which perhaps they accompanyed with &s;ome Sums of Money to the <HI>Mufti,</HI> the <HI>Vi|zir,</HI> and the Emperor him&s;elf.</P>
<P>After the&s;e Proofs, and &s;everal o|thers, which will be needle&s;s to relate, we need not doubt of the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Power in his States, and over his Peo|ple. If it has been &s;een &s;ometimes agitated by great Di&s;orders, attended by the Death of &s;ome <HI>Sultans,</HI> 'tis be|cau&s;e there are no Rules &s;o well e&s;ta|bli&s;h'd, but are &s;ubject to &s;ome Revo|lutions: And it's &s;urprizing, that the Conduct which has induced the <HI>Turks</HI> to put to Death &s;everal of their Empe|rors, and which de&s;erves no Commen|dation, has vi&s;ibly &s;erved to pre&s;erve and re-e&s;tabli&s;h the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power and Authority.</P>
<P><HI>Sultan O&s;man</HI> would have de&s;troyed the <HI>Jani&s;aries,</HI> and transferred to <HI>Da|ma&s;cus</HI>
<PB N="35" REF="31"> the Seat of the Empire, in fa|vour of the <HI>Arabians.</HI> This was to a|bandon <HI>Europe,</HI> and re&s;tore it to the <HI>Chri&s;tians;</HI> but the Death of this Em|peror, hindred their receiving this ad|vantage.</P>
<P><HI>Sultan Mu&s;tapha</HI> had twice rai&s;ed Di&s;turbance in the Order of the Impe|rial Succe&s;&s;ion, having been preferred to his Nephews, <HI>O&s;man</HI> and <HI>Murat,</HI> to whom it belonged to &s;ucceed; whence mu&s;t have happened great and Advan|tageous Revolutions to <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> had they taken hold of the Opportu|nity; but 'twas neglected. <HI>Sultan Ibrahim</HI> was re&s;pected a long time, as the Object of the Complacency of the <HI>Turks;</HI> for, his Mini&s;ters and Subjects to &s;hew him their punctual Obedience, became the In&s;truments of a thou&s;and Di&s;orders, to which he abandoned him&s;elf, only minding to &s;atisfie his Sen&s;uality and Di&s;lolutions. The Trea&s;ures of the <HI>Seraglio</HI> (which are e&s;teemed Sacred Pledges, and which are only touched in great Extremities) were exhau&s;ted, and the Con&s;umption of the Imperial Revenues was antici|pated by &s;even years; &s;o that the Em|pire
<PB N="36" REF="32"> &s;eemed to &s;tand on the Precipice of its Ruin.</P>
<P>Hence appears, That the <HI>Tarki&s;h</HI> Monarchy has found its &s;afety in the Death of the&s;e Three Emperors; the <HI>Fir&s;t</HI> of which, tho brave and enterpri|&s;ing, yet very young, knew no Poli|tics; &s;eeing, to &s;atisfie his Revenge on the <HI>Jani&s;aries,</HI> who would not obey him in <HI>Poland,</HI> he hazarded, in tran|&s;lating to <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI> the Imperial Seat, the lo&s;ing of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> (the be&s;t Flower in his Crown) with the re&s;t of <HI>Europe.</HI> The <HI>Second,</HI> was an U&s;urper, to the prejudice of the true Heirs; and the <HI>Third,</HI> &s;uch a Prodigal, as was like|ly to de&s;troy the State.</P>
<P>It &s;eems, as if &s;uch Events could not happen, without extraordinary Revo|lutions, and even without Rebellions again&s;t the Emperor. But it's ob&s;er|vable, that in the time of the greate&s;t Di&s;orders and Revolt, the Malecon|tents have not failed to &s;hew their Re|&s;pect and Veneration, to the Imperial Blood they were to &s;hed. They dur&s;t not undertake it of their own Authori|ty, withheld by the Augu&s;t Quality of Emperor: but yet believing the
<PB N="37" REF="32"> thing nece&s;&s;ary for the Pre&s;ervation of the State, they have di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;s'd their Emperor; and putting the Lawful Succe&s;&s;or in his Place, they have obli|ged him with pretences of Religion, to Pronounce and Write with his own Hand the Sentence of the others Death, who came from being di&s;po&s;|&s;e&s;s'd of his Throne.</P>
<P>In this manner <HI>Sultan O&s;man</HI> had Im|pri&s;oned his Uncle <HI>Sultan Mu&s;tapha;</HI> which was ju&s;t, &s;eeing it did not belong to him to po&s;&s;e&s;s the Throne, to the prejudice of the other. The Uncle was revenged by the Death of this Ne|phew, not through any Principle of Ju&s;tice, but becau&s;e he would de&s;troy the <HI>Jani&s;aries,</HI> and go and live at <HI>Da|ma&s;cus.</HI> The &s;ame Uncle fell him&s;elf at la&s;t, to the Hereditary Right of his other Nephew, <HI>Sultan Murat, O&s;man</HI>'s <HI>Brother.</HI> And <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. (who is now depo&s;ed) was obliged to Con|demn his Father, <HI>Sultan Ibrahim,</HI> to lo&s;e his Life; the <HI>Jani&s;aries</HI> having been the Cau&s;es, and Executors of the&s;e Sentences, which they have at la&s;t Expiated them&s;elves by their own Blood, &s;eeing the greate&s;t part of them
<PB N="38" REF="33"> have been &s;trangled in different occa&s;i|ons, and with all nece&s;&s;ary Secrecy.</P>
<P><HI>Bajazet</HI> I. their Fourth <HI>Sultan,</HI> was beaten by <HI>Tamerlin,</HI> a Vagabond Prince, who came from far to make him&s;elf Ma&s;ter of this Emperor; who found Means to rai&s;e him&s;elf from this Fall, and to re-e&s;tabli&s;h his Affairs without the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> making any Advantage of it. His Son <HI>Mahomet</HI> I. was con|&s;train'd to de&s;troy his Brethren; who&s;e Number, and different Dominations, although they were not Emperors, were on the Point of de&s;troying the <HI>Otto|mans.</HI> He &s;ubdued them without re|ceiving any con&s;iderable Traver&s;es from the <HI>Chri&s;tians;</HI> and he pa&s;&s;es among the <HI>Turks</HI> for the Re&s;torer of the Empire, but for the perfecting of the Affliction of <HI>Chri&s;tendom.</HI> It was the Grandfather of <HI>Mahomet</HI> II. Surnam'd <HI>the Conque|ror,</HI> the Thunderer.</P>
<P>The Conque&s;t of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> by the &s;ame <HI>Mahomet</HI> II. was pre&s;erv'd in its Beginning, notwith&s;tanding the Troubles and Civil Wars which &s;hould make it be retaken by the <HI>Chri&s;tians:</HI> For, <HI>Bajazet</HI> II. Son of <HI>Mahomet,</HI> and Second Emperor of this City, receiv'd
<PB N="39" REF="33"> no Prejudice from the Diver&s;ion which he might apprehend by his Brother <HI>Dgem,</HI> or <HI>Zidgim;</HI> whom Di&s;content, after the Death of <HI>Mahomet,</HI> made withdraw to <HI>Rhodes, Rome,</HI> and <HI>France,</HI> to <HI>Charles</HI> VIII. for A&s;&s;i&s;tance, to di&s;|pute the Throne with his Brother. This mo&s;t <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Monarch, was on the Point of carrying <HI>Dgem</HI> into the <HI>Ea&s;t,</HI> and to make u&s;e of him to make War with <HI>Bajazet,</HI> and to repair at the &s;ame time the Mi&s;eries which <HI>Ma|homet</HI> II. came from bringing to <HI>Chri|&s;tendom.</HI> But by a &s;ad and wretched Example of the Blindne&s;s of the <HI>Chri|&s;tians, Dgem</HI> died empoi&s;on'd; whil&s;t, on the other hand, the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> States began a War among&s;t them&s;elves, and made &s;uch Leagues, as hindred <HI>Charles</HI> VIII. from undertaking any thing a|gain&s;t the <HI>Infidels.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ame <HI>Bajazet,</HI> though he had won the Battle of <HI>Chiourlou</HI> again&s;t his Son <HI>Selim,</HI> let him e&s;cape by Compa&s;|&s;ion, and was afterwards forc'd to yield him the Empire in <HI>Con&s;tantinople;</HI> and, if for a Recompence this ingrateful Son made him lo&s;e his Life, we have &s;een the <HI>Turks</HI> comforting them&s;elves
<PB N="40" REF="34"> in all the&s;e Agitations, in that the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have not known to draw Advantage thence. They qualify the Emperor <HI>Bajazet</HI> as a Martyr; they acknowledge him to be a great Con|queror and Saint, making <HI>Elogium's</HI> of his Piety. But, to denote how far their Exaggeration reaches in his Re|&s;pect, they attribute to him by a kind of Super&s;tition, That having him&s;elf gathered up from his Cloths, his Feet, Hands and Face, all the Du&s;t and Sweat mingled together, gotten in Combats wherein he was; he preci|ou&s;ly con&s;erv'd them, and ordered a Compo&s;ition to be made of them, to put into his Tomb on his right Cheek, to profit by the Advice which the <HI>Al|coran</HI> gives them, in the&s;e Terms, <HI>He who&s;e Feet &s;hall be fill'd with Du&s;t in the Lord's Battels, &s;hall be by his Bounty and Divine Mercy exempt from the Pains of Hell.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Selim, Bajazet</HI>'s elde&s;t Son, notwith|&s;tanding his Parricide, pa&s;&s;es al&s;o a|mong&s;t the <HI>Turks</HI> for one of the mo&s;t holy Conquerors of this Empire; ha|ving thereunto joined the Domination of <HI>Mecha, Medina, Egypt, Dama&s;cus,
<PB N="41" REF="34"> Jeru&s;alem,</HI> and all <HI>Syria,</HI> without the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> of his Time attempting to oppo&s;e the Aggrandi&s;ement of this <HI>Infidel</HI> Prince, the Father of the <HI>Great Solyman.</HI> It's known whereto this &s;ame Prince extended the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Pow|er; but to whatever Exce&s;s of Gran|dure 'twas rais'd, he began to leave his Re&s;idence of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> fearing it &s;hould prove ominous to him, con|tenting him&s;elf with giving this great Town the Marks of his Magnificence, by the &s;tately <HI>Mo&s;que</HI> which bears his Name, and other Edifices which he caus'd to be built; and, his Succe&s;&s;ors <HI>Selim, Murat, Mahomet, Ahmet, Mu&s;ta|pha, O&s;man,</HI> and the la&s;t <HI>Murat,</HI> have been for the mo&s;t part Pri&s;oners, who never went out of this Capital.</P>
<P><HI>Murat</HI> IV. would have left the Em|pire in great Di&s;orders, having de|&s;ign'd before he died to have had his Brother <HI>Ibrahim</HI> put to Death, and this &s;ame <HI>Ibrahim</HI> was &s;trangl'd in Con&s;e|quence of the Judgment pronounced by his Son <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. whom the Army has now dethron'd. The Revolutions at the beginning of his Reign, which had almo&s;t overthrown it, are &s;uffici|ently
<PB N="42" REF="35"> known, and &s;o con&s;iderable, that he was forc'd to put to Death his Grandmother. It was cu&s;tomary in tho&s;e times, to change often the <HI>Chief Vizirs,</HI> which hindred them from taking any ju&s;t Mea&s;ures in the Enter|pri&s;es again&s;t the <HI>Chri&s;tians;</HI> and <HI>the&s;e</HI> had an ea&s;y Means, not only to defend them&s;elves again&s;t <HI>tho&s;e Infidels,</HI> but moreover to de&s;troy them.</P>
<P>It has happened otherwi&s;e. The <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power rai&s;ed it &s;elf from the Danger wherein it was. It had for this, (by an Effect perhaps of the con|tinuation of the Wrath of God on the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI>) a <HI>Vizir</HI> named <HI>Mehemmet Kupruli.</HI> He was a <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> by Birth, and the Son of a <HI>Papas,</HI> or <HI>Greek</HI> Prie&s;t, of a Village in <HI>Albany</HI> near <HI>Beigrade;</HI> and, though he ought to have been an Enemy to the <HI>Mahometans,</HI> yet he be|came their Protector, and the Re&s;torer of their Empire. An Uncle by his Mother's &s;ide (who was chief of the Kitchin in the <HI>Seraglio,</HI> in the time of <HI>Sultan Ahmet</HI>) was con&s;idered as the Object, and In&s;trument of his Fortune. He was &s;ent to this Officer, who made him immediately embrace the <HI>Mahome|tan</HI>
<PB N="43" REF="35"> Religion, and procur'd him Ad|mi&s;&s;ion into one of the Chambers of the <HI>Seraglio;</HI> whence he came to the Office of <HI>Chief Vizir</HI> by different De|grees, during the Reigns of Five <HI>Sul|tans, Ahmet, Mu&s;tapha, O&s;man, Mu|rat, Ibrahim,</HI> and during the Di&s;orders of the Beginning of the Reign of the Sixth <HI>Sultan, Mahomet.</HI> And when this latter being but Sixteen Years old, re|mitted the Government of the Affairs of the Empire to him, <HI>Kupruli</HI> would not accept of it, till he had taken an Oath, That he would hearken to no Propo&s;ition which directed again&s;t his Coun&s;els, and that he would leave him in the Exerci&s;e of his Office du|ring his whole Life.</P>
<P>If <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. kept his Word, <HI>Ku|pruli</HI> has not been wanting for his part in re-e&s;tabli&s;hing the Affairs of the Em|pire, in whatever ill Condition they then lay. It cannot enough be admi|red, that a Man, who knew neither to|write nor read, the Son of a <HI>Greek</HI>-Prie&s;t, and come by chance from the Depths of <HI>Albania</HI> to <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> there to make Advantage of the For|tune of a mean Officer, who had ne|ver
<PB N="44" REF="36"> commanded nor &s;erv'd in the Troops; who knew not the Sea, and was Poor; could rai&s;e him&s;elf to &s;uch a Degree as <HI>Mehemmet Kupruli</HI> has done: For, not to mention that he quell'd the Dome&s;tick Enemies; he has been &s;een at the Head of Armies, com|bating foreign Forces, and taking from them whole Provinces.</P>
<P>If this Mini&s;ter has on one hand re|medi'd the Misfortunes of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire, he has introduced other Mi|&s;eries which are no le&s;s dangerous; for, he has de&s;troyed mo&s;t of the <HI>Mi|litia,</HI> e&s;pecially the <HI>Jani&s;aries;</HI> taken off the chief Men in the Empire; made the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> leave his Re&s;idence at <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI> He has de&s;olated and depopulated whole Provinces by his Covetou&s;ne&s;s. If he has corrected any Abu&s;es in the Revenues, he has &s;et on Foot Pretences to levy, &s;everal times in one Year, the &s;ame Taxes, and to load the People with them to an intolerable Exce&s;s. And, it's very &s;ur|prizing, that having reduc'd &s;o many Countries of this Empire into &s;o great Weakne&s;s, the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have not at|tempted to fini&s;h the De&s;truction, which
<PB N="45" REF="36"> the ill Policy of this Mini&s;ter had &s;o well begun; and, which was the more fea|&s;ible, on account of the Rebellions which happened during his governing: But, on the contrary, the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> gave Lea&s;ure to the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Mini&s;try, to cha&s;ti&s;e and bring down the Rebels, to de&s;troy tho&s;e who a&s;pir'd to the Government, and to change no more the <HI>Vizirs;</HI> which &s;erv'd not only to re|e&s;tabli&s;h the ab&s;olute Authority of his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> but moreover occa&s;ioned the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> to lo&s;e afterwards <HI>Neuheu&s;el, Candia,</HI> and <HI>Caminiec,</HI> who&s;e Conque&s;t has not a little contributed to the up|holding the Reputation of the&s;e <HI>In|fidels.</HI></P>
<P>It's no le&s;s extraordinary, that the Revolts, which have cau&s;ed the Ruine of &s;o many Monarchies, have not to this time brought any Damage to the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire, although &s;everal have happened: And one may &s;ay, they have only &s;erv'd, to &s;hew the more the pro|found Re&s;pect and Obedience to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> (which is imprinted on the Hearts of the <HI>Turks,</HI> and the Re|bels them&s;elves) and what Effect the Imperial Authority produces, though
<PB N="46" REF="37"> loos'd from the greate&s;t part of its ex|ternal Forces, and directed again&s;t tho&s;e within, which through Rebeili|on have ri&s;en up again&s;t it.</P>
<P>There have been &s;everal Examples, during the Minority of this la&s;t <HI>Grand Seignior:</HI> One of the mo&s;t con&s;iderable of which, was that of the <HI>Odgiack</HI> of the <HI>Jani&s;aries</HI> (which is an A&s;&s;embly of chief Officers in Office and out of Of|fice.) <HI>Tcheleby Kiahia Bey, Cara Tchia|ous,</HI> and <HI>Bektach Aga,</HI> were the Heads, and put the <HI>Jani&s;aries</HI> into Commotions according to their Capricio's, and Pa&s;&s;ions they had again&s;t the Officers in the <HI>Seraglio;</HI> again&s;t whom they pretended to have Rea&s;on to complain, e&s;pecially on occa&s;ion of the Di&s;tribu|tion of Offices, and the ill Manage|ment of the Trea&s;ury; with &s;everal other Pretences which they had to au|thori&s;e their Factions.</P>
<P>The&s;e Three Commanders found, among&s;t the <HI>Jani&s;aries,</HI> great Di&s;po|&s;itions in their Favour, and Obedience in all things. The City of <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople</HI> was &s;ubmitted to them, and the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> him&s;elf obeyed them, in &s;ending them the Heads of tho&s;e of
<PB N="47" REF="37"> his Palace, which they demanded with Arms in their Hands; a&s;&s;embling for this purpo&s;e in the <HI>Hippodrom</HI> of <HI>Con|&s;tantinople,</HI> nam'd <HI>At-Meidam,</HI> which is the mo&s;t &s;pacious place in the Town, and neare&s;t the <HI>Seraglio.</HI> The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Dignity began to &s;hake; no Force upheld it; &s;o that he was con|&s;trained to act purely by him&s;elf, ma|king u&s;e of Two Orders, contained in Two Pages of Paper, and confirm'd by one or Two Lines writ by his <HI>High|ne&s;s</HI>'s own Hand. By Virtue of the <HI>one,</HI> the Office of <HI>Jani&s;ary Aga</HI> was given to <HI>Hu&s;&s;ein Aga,</HI> and <HI>Cara Tchia|ous</HI> was deprived; and the <HI>Second</HI> put out <HI>Tcheleby</HI> from the Office of <HI>Kiahia Bey,</HI> and put in <HI>Ca&s;&s;oum Aga</HI> in his Room.</P>
<P>The&s;e Two Orders of the Empe|ror, which in Appearance &s;eem'd of little Authority, were carried by Two <HI>Capidgi</HI>'s, and read in full A&s;&s;embly of the <HI>Odgiack.</HI> They produced an a&s;to|ni&s;hing and &s;uddam Effect; for, at the &s;ame Moment, all the <HI>Jani&s;aries</HI> ran to the Obedience of their new Of|ficers, abandoning the Heads of the Rebellion; one of which, <HI>Tcheleby
<PB N="48" REF="38"> Kiahia Bay,</HI> intending to expre&s;s his Di&s;content, <HI>Ca&s;&s;oum Aga,</HI> who came from being &s;ub&s;tituted in his Room, mildly &s;aid to him; <HI>Be &s;atisfied, this Office is not for Life, the Emperor be|stows it on whom he plea&s;es, I po&s;&s;e&s;s it now in&s;tead of you, and after me the</HI> Zagardgibachi, <HI>which is here, will be rai&s;ed thereto.</HI> The Seditious &s;eeing them&s;elves thus abandoned, were ob|liged to go to the Execution of the Of|fices given them, but they were all &s;trangled in their Way.</P>
<P>The Power of the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> or rather his Happine&s;s, has moreover appeared at <HI>Adrianople,</HI> in a manner which is no le&s;s con&s;iderable, in re&s;pect of the <HI>Spahi's;</HI> who revolting almo&s;t for the &s;ame Cau&s;es as the <HI>Jani&s;aries,</HI> a&s;&s;embled out of the Town in Arms, being re&s;olved to make no &s;mall Noi&s;e. The <HI>Vizir,</HI> who was <HI>Kupruli,</HI> was &s;o greatly di&s;turb'd, that he knew not which way to turn him&s;elf; but, <HI>Solyman Aga,</HI> Captain of the <HI>Jani&s;aries</HI> (who was &s;ince made <HI>Kiahia,</HI> or Superin|tendant under the <HI>Vizir,</HI> and lately po&s;&s;e&s;s'd the place of <HI>Grand Vizir</HI> him|&s;elf) drew him out of this Perplexi|ty.
<PB N="49" REF="38"> He went into the mid&s;t of the Rebels, attended only with Ten <HI>Jani|zaries,</HI> with a Paper in his Hand, where|in there was nothing written; and, feigning that this Paper which was folded was a <HI>Hatcherif,</HI> he drew near to the chief of the Seditious, where he lifted up the Hand which held the Pa|per, and with the other took hold of him by the Collar, in &s;aying to him, <HI>The Emperor commands this;</HI> and with|out any Attempt to re&s;cue him, he led him to the <HI>Grand Vizir,</HI> who cau&s;ed him to be put to Death. This ap|pea&s;ed the Tumult, and imprinted &s;uch Terror on the Minds of the Male|contents, who were then very nume|rous, that they have had time &s;ince that, to change and put to Death the Principals among&s;t them; &s;o that the Re&s;t have not had the Boldne&s;s to form any Enterpri&s;e.</P>
<P>There are many other In&s;tances of the Vertue, which the only Name of the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> has made to appear, in occa&s;ions wherein his Authority &s;eemed to be attack'd more nearly; but here's one which will &s;hew in what manner the Veneration which is paid
<PB N="50" REF="39"> him, is effectual in far di&s;tant Provin|ces.</P>
<P><HI>Ha&s;&s;an Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> the la&s;t of the Rebels which made a Noi&s;e out of <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople,</HI> formed a Rebellion, which he covered under pretence of oppo&s;ing the Tyranny of <HI>Mehemmet Ku|pruli;</HI> and having found means to draw to his Party Eight <HI>Ba&s;&s;as,</HI> and &s;e|veral <HI>Bey's</HI> of <HI>Anatolia,</HI> he &s;aw him|&s;elf in a &s;mall time at the Head of an Army of Four&s;core thou&s;and men, threatning even the City of <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople.</HI> He was greatly feared when he be&s;ieged <HI>Bur&s;a,</HI> before which rai&s;ing neverthele&s;s the &s;iege, and being gone &s;ome di&s;tance for Money, <HI>Kupruli</HI> promis'd him&s;elf good Fortune from his Retreat; and, for the more &s;peedy Riddance of him, he di&s;patched an <HI>Hatcherif</HI> containing the Sentence of his Death.</P>
<P>He to whom it was entru&s;ted, na|med <HI>Mourtaza Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> did not believe he could execute it, by &s;hewing im|mediately the Orders of the <HI>Grand Seignior.</HI> He al&s;o knew, That his For|ces were not &s;ufficient to de&s;troy this Rebellion; for which Rea&s;ons he had
<PB N="51" REF="39"> recour&s;e to Artifices, which probably had been &s;ugge&s;ted to him by <HI>Kupruli.</HI> He feigned him&s;elf to be of the Rebels Party, and pretended great zeal to &s;erve him; and having invited him one day to a Collation, he ro&s;e up at the end of it, and read the <HI>Hatcherif</HI> of the Death of <HI>Ha&s;&s;an Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> in the hearing of all the other <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's,</HI> who were at the Banquet; who finding them&s;elves not comprehended in this dreadful Decree, and con&s;idering that one of their A&s;&s;ociates, who was the Bearer of it, for&s;ook them, thought it their be&s;t Cour&s;e to abandon the Condemned Party, who&s;e Head, after he was &s;trangled, was &s;ent to <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople;</HI> and this Revolt was ap|pea&s;ed, the Soldiers disbanding them|&s;elves.</P>
<P>There are who would conclude from this Example, that the Rebels in the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Army, how far &s;oever they may extend their Rebellion, do not believe them&s;elves di&s;obedient, nor criminal, but when the <HI>Hatcherif</HI> (which contains an Order, approved by the Hand of the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>) is &s;ignified to them; becau&s;e, otherwi&s;e,
<PB N="52" REF="40"> they &s;uppo&s;e that all things are ma|naged by the Authority of the <HI>Vizir;</HI> who &s;atisfying his own particular Pa&s;|&s;ion, dares not communicate any thing of what pa&s;&s;es to the <HI>Grand Seignior;</HI> and &s;o that when his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> by one or two Lines from his own Hand, confirms their Condemnation, they believe they have no further rea&s;on to doubt of it; and that they &s;hall become unfaithful to their Religion, &s;hould they he&s;itate to &s;ubmit to the Imperi|al Commands. But to be ignorant of it, all the Precaution con&s;i&s;ts, in hin|dring him, who is the Bearer, from en|tring into the Camp; becau&s;e that by the reading of this Command in the Pre&s;ence of the Army, they are &s;ure not to e&s;cape Death.</P>
<P>The&s;e Arguings are o'erthrown by the very In&s;tance on which they &s;eem grounded; &s;eeing 'tis apparent that <HI>Mourtaza Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> u&s;ed the greate&s;t &s;ub|tilty to compa&s;s his De&s;ign. He was far from trying the Execution of it at the Head of the Army. He had for to facilitate it, taken the Form of a Traytor; and, it's very likely, he was Ma&s;ter in the Place where the Fea&s;t
<PB N="53" REF="40"> was made; and 'twas from the&s;e Mo|tives, rather than on any Maxim of Religion, that <HI>Ha&s;&s;an Ba&s;&s;a</HI> was con|&s;trained to lo&s;e his Life. Not but that a <HI>Hatcherif</HI> is extreamly reverenced, and produces great Effects, e&s;pecially among&s;t the People; but when they are intended to allay Seditions, it is &s;ent again&s;t the Head of it. He that is the Bearer, manages him&s;elf with the greate&s;t Secrecy; and, tru&s;ting ra|ther to his Dexterity, than to the Cri|minal's &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, he executes his Or|der rather on the <HI>former</HI> Account, than the <HI>latter.</HI> In fine, notwith&s;tanding the Criminal obeys by Force, without rendring him&s;elf to the Rea&s;ons of the Ca&s;ui&s;ts of his Law (who re&s;pect him as an <HI>Infidel</HI> that does not willingly part with his Head, as has been already ob|ferved) the <HI>Fetfas</HI> of the <HI>Mufti,</HI> and the <HI>Hatcherifs</HI> of the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> do always produce marvellous Effects, and have ever been the two Principal Means, to con&s;erve the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Autho|rity; &s;eeing a Leaf of Paper, with five or &s;ix Words writ with his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI>'s Hand, does more than confiderable Ar|mies could do.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="54" REF="41">
<HEAD>CHAP. III. Several other Rea&s;ons of the En|crea&s;e of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power, and particular Ob&s;ervations on the La&s;t War, which the <HI>Turks</HI> had with the <HI>Emperor,</HI> the <HI>Ve|netians, Poles,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;covites.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE <HI>Turks</HI> pretend, that their Mini&s;ters and Officers, cannot neglect their Duty, by confiding in the Protection, and familiar Acce&s;s they may have to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> by the tru&s;ting to their Merits, through the Number of their <HI>Parti&s;ans,</HI> or Crea|tures; and by the Quantity of their Riches, which are all Motives; which together, or &s;eparately, have many times engaged &s;everal Mini&s;ters of <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes to neglect their Du|ty, or to prefer their Pa&s;&s;ion to the Intere&s;t of their Prince. For, how rich &s;oever an <HI>Aga, Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> or <HI>Vizir</HI> may be; whatever Merit may be uni|ver&s;ally acknowledged in them, and how great &s;oever the Number of their
<PB N="55" REF="41"> Va&s;&s;als may be; it's certain, that if they come to be guilty of a Fault, all their Advantages are of no Value; they &s;ave them not from Death, or at lea&s;t from running a great Ri&s;que; but on the contrary, the more Powerful he becomes, the more rea&s;on is there for ha&s;tning his De&s;truction, if he has not the Dexterity to manage him&s;elf very circum&s;pectly.</P>
<P>It's to be ob&s;erved, that whatever Fa|miliarity the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> may have with any one, no body ever takes the Liberty to make An&s;wers, unle&s;s they be Dwarfs, Fools, or the Mutes of his <HI>Seraglio;</HI> who, under pretence of di|verting him, have great Liberty. The re&s;t (whatever Familiarity they may have with his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> who called the two <HI>Vizirs, Kupruli's, Lala,</HI> which is to &s;ay, <HI>Father</HI>) always keep them&s;elves in their Di&s;tance, without emancipa|ting them&s;elves, or departing, in any &s;ort, from the re&s;pectful Terms, in which they appear continually before him.</P>
<P>If &s;ometimes the <HI>Grand Vizirs</HI> would effectually &s;et before the <HI>Sultans,</HI> the nece&s;&s;ity of putting &s;ome Per&s;on to
<PB N="56" REF="42"> Death, or, the placing another in a great Office, again&s;t the Cabals with|in the <HI>Seraglio,</HI> whch hinder the Exe|cution; they have remon&s;trated it, as a thing ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to the Con&s;ervation, or Welfare of the State. They declare, that the Emperor not doing it, they will deliver up to him the Imperial Seal, which is the Token of the Di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of their Office; and al&s;o offer their Heads, which they humbly entreat his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> to accept of, if he will not yield to their Re|mon&s;trances. And it has been &s;een in the Time of the <HI>Grand Vizir Kupruli,</HI> that the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> now Reigning, would accept of neither one, nor the other; choo&s;ing rather to con&s;ent to the Death of a <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> whom this Mini|&s;ter had Condemned, although his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> had a great Kindne&s;s for him, and was perhaps grieved at his Lo&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> before he left the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> to pa&s;s the <HI>Danube,</HI> at the Head of the Army, and march again&s;t the <HI>Mo&s;covites,</HI> then in the Campain of <HI>Cheherim</HI> (of which men|tion &s;hall be made hereafter) &s;eeing
<PB N="57" REF="42"> his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> would have the <HI>Mou&s;&s;aip,</HI> his Favorite, to &s;upply the place of <HI>Caima|cam</HI> (or, Lieutenant of the <HI>Grand Vizir</HI>) delivered up the Seal to him, and be|&s;ought him rather to take off his Head, if he per&s;i&s;ted in this De&s;ign. He Re|mon&s;trated to him, that the <HI>Mou&s;|&s;aip</HI> being his Enemy (as indeed he was) would not fail to for&s;ake him, and not &s;end him &s;uch things as his Enterprize required, to the end the bad Succe&s;s, might fall on him his <HI>Chief Vizir;</HI> and for this rea&s;on, ano|ther, named <HI>Cara Ibrahim Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> was made <HI>Caimacam.</HI></P>
<P>Thus the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Power, cannot appear truly dimini&s;h'd; &s;ee|ing, that on the contrary, the better to e&s;tabli&s;h his Imperial Authority, tho&s;e who may be thought able to le&s;|&s;en it, are always ready to offer him their Heads. It's certain, that the A&s;&s;urance which the <HI>Grand Vizirs</HI> take from the Dignity of their Office, to &s;peak to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> &s;eldom proceeds farther than this Remon|&s;trance. They have done thus, as well for their own Advantage, as for that of his <HI>Highne&s;s;</HI> which has been par|ticularly
<PB N="58" REF="43"> ob&s;ervable of late Times, &s;ince <HI>Mehemmet Kupruli</HI> has o'erthrown the Intrigues of the <HI>Seraglio.</HI> This is all the Effect which the <HI>Grand Seigni|or</HI>'s familiarity may produce, and the Conde&s;cendance which he &s;ometimes u&s;es towards his Chief Mini&s;ters; and, in re&s;pect of tho&s;e I now mentioned, <HI>Kupruli, Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> and the <HI>Mou&s;&s;aip Couloglou,</HI> its &s;aid, that the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> re&s;pected the <HI>fir&s;t,</HI> fear|ed the <HI>&s;econd,</HI> and loved the <HI>third.</HI></P>
<P>The Doctrine of <HI>Prede&s;tination,</HI> has mightily &s;erved to e&s;tabli&s;h and ex|tend the Limits of this Empire. Mo&s;t of the <HI>Turks,</HI> and e&s;pecially the Soldi|ery, firmly believe, That the Bounds of Human Life being determined by the Power of God, its impo&s;&s;ible to die, though a Man throws him&s;elf in|to the Fire, if the Hour of his Decea&s;e be not come. And, on the contrary, That another does in vain endeavour to pre&s;erve him&s;elf from Dangers, &s;eeing all the Cares, and Pre-cautions, cannot re&s;cue him from the End put to his Days, and that we mu&s;t obey the ab|&s;olute Power of Fate, which has regu|lated both the Time, and Manner.
<PB N="59" REF="43"> The&s;e Maxims have imprinted in the Minds and Actions of the Soldiery &s;uch a Boldne&s;s, which without this would pa&s;s for Ra&s;hne&s;s; and therefore 'tis, that the <HI>Turks,</HI> with but a few Men, made in the Beginning &s;uch con&s;idera|ble Progre&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>This Belief of <HI>Prede&s;tination,</HI> was the &s;ame to them as a numerous Army, &s;eeing it in&s;pired them with Courage, which does more than Multitudes of Soldiers. It's true, that this Intrepi|dity is much dimini&s;h'd, in Compari|&s;on of what it was heretofore; but there are &s;till &s;ome Remains, e&s;pecially among&s;t the <HI>Janizaries,</HI> and the <HI>Serden Guetchti,</HI> or, <HI>Forlorn Hope.</HI> The&s;e, as well as the other Military People, do now u&s;e &s;ome Precautions; and there are &s;everal, who on the Reproaches made them touching their Flight, and &s;mall Courage in certain Rencounters, ingenuou&s;ly an&s;wer, <HI>Dgian Tateli, Life is &s;weet;</HI> and alledge, they are in the&s;e Latter Times, <HI>Prede&s;tinated</HI> to run a|way, and be wor&s;ted; as they were heretofore to vanqui&s;h or die. In fine, if the <HI>Turks</HI> be per&s;waded (as they are for the mo&s;t part) that we
<PB N="60" REF="44"> mu&s;t die according as Fate has Decreed; yet they believe, their good or bad Actions, (touching which they hold Free-Will) will obtain the Glory of Paradi&s;e, or the Pains of Hell.</P>
<P>They al&s;o hold for an unque&s;tiona|ble Maxim of the <HI>Alcoran, That he who dies in War, in the Emperor's Service, is a Martyr, and, if he returns Victorious, he is</HI> Mahomet<HI>'s Champion.</HI> To this purpo&s;e, they have oft in their Mouths the&s;e Words, <HI>If I die in Battel I am a Martyr; and if I return alive, having &s;lain the Enemies, I &s;hall be a Champion.</HI> This Conceit, at fir&s;t produced great Effects; it engaged the <HI>Turks,</HI> with great &s;atisfaction, to undertake all Mili|tary Expeditions, though never &s;o ha|zardous, from the A&s;&s;urance they had of lo&s;ing nothing; and, that in dying, they &s;hould obtain the Remi&s;&s;ion of all their Sins, except ill-gotten Goods.</P>
<P><HI>Mahomet</HI> made not this Exception without De&s;ign, but that his Followers might behave them&s;elves with more Courage, in Rencounters wherein are great Dangers; as, in Naval Combats, where u&s;ually there's no flying away, the <HI>Prophet</HI> has declared, <HI>That tho&s;e</HI>
<PB N="61" REF="44"> Turks <HI>who &s;hould die therein, all their Sins, none excepted, even that of ill-got|ten Goods, &s;hall be forgiven.</HI> Thus, the Fortune of Temporal, and Eternal Life, being an infallible Motive to tho&s;e who peri&s;h in the Wars, both by Sea and Land, or who return Victorious; it's no wonder, if the En|terprizes of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Emperors, have been attended with &s;uch pro&s;pe|rous Succe&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>We may al&s;o &s;ay, the exact Di&s;ci|pline and Rule, which has been here|tofore among&s;t the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Troops, and e&s;pecially among&s;t the <HI>Janizaries,</HI> has been a con&s;iderable Means for the Aggrandizement of the Empire: And, the Method of Educating Young Peo|ple, cho&s;en for the mo&s;t part, out of tho&s;e that are taken Captive, (who are carefully in&s;tructed in <HI>Seminaries,</HI> or particular <HI>Seraglio's,</HI> each according as his <HI>Genius</HI> and <HI>Di&s;po&s;ition</HI> &s;eems to incline) is an excellent way of furni&s;h|ing the State with Per&s;ons capable for all Employs.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides what we have now mention|ed, which appears &s;ufficient to e&s;tabli&s;h a powerful Government, 'tis further
<PB N="62" REF="45"> to be ob&s;erv'd, That mo&s;t of the Mi|ni&s;ters and <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Officers, have been always of Opinion, that the Enemies of the <HI>Port</HI> would e&s;teem them&s;elves happy, &s;hould they let them enjoy their States without di&s;turbing them; and when they have done it, being always the fir&s;t to begin the War, they &s;ee no deliverance, but by the lo&s;s of &s;ome Place, and granting them always their Demands, believing it impo&s;&s;ible for them, long to re&s;i&s;t &s;o formidable a Power; and they cannot do better, than to gain time, and not to provoke them too much; to the neglecting, on this rea&s;on, the making Profit of tho&s;e great Advantages, which they have oft obtained again&s;t them, and to the carrying them on as far as they could.</P>
<P>It's not likely, the pre&s;ent War &s;hould have the &s;ame Succe&s;s; but this has been too oft &s;een in all others, which the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> have many times had with their Neighbours; as, in that of <HI>Candia,</HI> which the <HI>Republick</HI> of <HI>Venice</HI> &s;u&s;tained for &s;o long a time, and du|ring which the <HI>Turks</HI> have in all Com|bats been wor&s;ted; &s;o that their Na|val Forces, which were in the begin|ning
<PB N="63" REF="45"> near Three hundred Sail, were reduced to Forty Galleys, ill equipt, and &s;ome few Ve&s;&s;els of <HI>Barbary:</HI> Yet, this War ended in the Lo&s;s of an en|tire Kingdom, and, in &s;uch a Treaty, as became far more favourable to the <HI>Turks,</HI> than they could dare to hope.</P>
<P>The winning the Battle of <HI>Cotzim,</HI> which could procure the <HI>Poles</HI> nothing le&s;s than the taking of <HI>Bialogrod,</HI> the Pa&s;&s;age of the <HI>Danube,</HI> and Conque&s;t of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> (according as they them|&s;elves own'd) did not yield them &s;o much as the retaking of <HI>Caminiec,</HI> nor to &s;ecure <HI>&V;krania</HI> and <HI>Podolia,</HI> which they have &s;ince yielded by the Treaty of <HI>Zourawno.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Mo&s;covites</HI> had (according to their General <HI>Kamadanowski</HI>'s Expre&s;|&s;ions) innumerable and terrible Legi|ons of Souldiers, when the <HI>Grand Seig|nior</HI> denounced War again&s;t them in the Year 1677. on the Difference which was between his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> and the <HI>Mo&s;co|vites,</HI> touching the Protection given to Prince <HI>Dorozensko,</HI> and the <HI>Co&s;&s;acks.</HI> They had brought into inevitable Dan|ger, the <HI>Great Vizir, Cara Mu&s;tapha,</HI> and all the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Army, near the <HI>Bo|ri&s;thenes;</HI>
<PB N="64" REF="46"> where, according to the Confe&s;&s;ion of the <HI>Turks</HI> them&s;elves, they might have pa&s;t this River, of which they were Ma&s;ters, cut them in pieces, or de&s;troy them with Hunger: Yet, however this happened, they hindred not the taking and Ruin of the Town and Fortre&s;s of <HI>Cheherim</HI> by the <HI>Infidels,</HI> nor the triumphant Return of the <HI>Vi|zir</HI> with his broken Troops, having been as Fortunate in this Rencounter, as he had &s;hew'd him&s;elf ra&s;h and ig|norant.</P>
<P>The Victory of the <HI>Germans</HI> in the Battle of St. <HI>Godard,</HI> was immediately followed by a Truce prejudicial to the Emperor, by the yielding of one of his be&s;t Places, and Articles &s;tipulated a|gain&s;t the Intere&s;ts of his Subjects; who&s;e following Di&s;contents have pro|cur'd to his Imperial Maje&s;ty as much Trouble, as it has drawn Submi&s;&s;ions to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> from the&s;e Peo|ples part. And one may admire, in this Occa&s;ion, the manner of mo&s;t E|vents, which by a certain Chain of Contingencies and different Affairs, are oft found contrary to the Fir&s;t Cau&s;e producing them. The Emperor ha|ving
<PB N="65" REF="46"> made a Peace with the <HI>Turks,</HI> the <HI>Hungarians</HI> have &s;hew'd them&s;elves di&s;|contented, and demanded a War again&s;t the <HI>Infidels,</HI> to recover the Country yielded to them, and to drive them en|tirely out of <HI>Hungary.</HI> But this great De&s;ire, which put them on fighting the <HI>Infidels,</HI> has at la&s;t termin'd, in &s;ubmitting them&s;elves and Part of the Kingdom to them. Here are Move|ments, and Engagements very oppo&s;ite; and, we mu&s;t not wonder after this, if the <HI>Turks</HI> have &s;o re&s;olutely expo|&s;ed their Party.</P>
<P><HI>Mehemmet Kupruli,</HI> the <HI>Grand Vizir,</HI> thought him&s;elf much mi&s;taken in this Maxim at the Battle of <HI>Raab.</HI> He be|gan with a kind of Raillery; for, &s;ee|ing the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> March, he ask'd, <HI>Who are the&s;e Wenches?</HI> by rea&s;on of the Officers Periwigs. But when he &s;aw the&s;e People whom he de&s;pi&s;ed, were not a&s;toni&s;h'd at the dreadful Cries, thrice reiterated, of the Name of God, <HI>Allah, allah, allah,</HI> with which the <HI>Turks</HI> do alwaies, with great Im|petuo&s;ity, begin their Attacks; the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> imagining to draw a great Ad|vantage, by the Confidence which they
<PB N="66" REF="47"> &s;hew in God, and the Belief that the &s;urpri&s;ing Noi&s;e with which they pro|nounce his Name all together, is &s;uffi|cient to di&s;courage and overthrow their Enemies; when, I &s;ay, the <HI>Vizir</HI> heard, that far from being affrighted, the&s;e pretended Wenches cry'd, <HI>Come charge through them,</HI> which was followed by a &s;peedy Execution, he perceiv'd he had not to do with Enemies who were a|fraid of him, but with &s;uch as were re|&s;olved to exterminate him by the De|feat of all the Troops that had pa&s;s'd the River, of which tho&s;e who had e&s;caped the Edge of the Sword, were drown'd in their Attempts of a Pa&s;|&s;age.</P>
<P>He clap'd his Hand at the &s;ame time to his Scimitar, to oppo&s;e the Flight of his Souldiers, &s;ome of which he kill'd; and being not able to gain his Point, he fell into &s;uch an exce&s;s of Fu|ry, as to weep, and attempt the kil|ling him&s;elf. He thought there was no Remedy, and that the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> whom he derided, were coming to fi|ni&s;h their Victory on his Per&s;on, and the re&s;t of his Army: But, he came to him&s;elf, on the Remon&s;trance which
<PB N="67" REF="47"> was made him, <HI>That the</HI> Germans, <HI>who commanded, would be contented with the granting a Peace from the</HI> Port.</P>
<P>The <HI>Vizir</HI> being thus rea&s;&s;ured, was glad to find his Maxim true, which he began to di&s;tru&s;t, &s;eeing him&s;elf at|tack'd with &s;uch Succe&s;s. The <HI>Ger|man</HI> Re&s;ident was di&s;cours'd, who at|tended the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Army; Deputies came from the Emperor, and the Peace was concluded with the Surrender of <HI>Neuheu&s;el,</HI> and the Demoli&s;hment of the Fort <HI>Serini.</HI> To which 'tis not hard for the <HI>Germans</HI> to find a &s;uffici|ent Excu&s;e for being tired with the length of the War: It's no marvel, if they de&s;ired to be deliver'd from it, on Conditions di&s;advantageous, re&s;erving their being reveng'd to &s;ome fitter Opportunity, which they now do not want.</P>
<P>The <HI>Polanders</HI> might, according to all Probabilities, not have neglected the Advantage Heaven offer'd them at the Battle of <HI>Cotzim,</HI> in the Facility of retaking <HI>Caminiec,</HI> which was pre&s;t with Famine, and which &s;eem'd an in|evitable Sequel of this Victory. But they cho&s;e rather to &s;et to the Pillag|ing
<PB N="68" REF="48"> of <HI>Moldavia,</HI> and to feed them|&s;elves with the Prai&s;es which all <HI>Chri|&s;tendom</HI> gave them. A ju&s;t Title, and of which they mu&s;t have been more worthy, had they not &s;topp'd in &s;o fair a Way. But, in&s;tead of ha&s;tning to the infallible Con&s;ummation of the Triumph, by pur&s;uing the Remains which had e&s;cap'd from their Victory; in &s;ecuring Two con&s;iderable Provinces from the Inva&s;ion of the <HI>Turks,</HI> and in retaking <HI>Caminiec,</HI> they return'd in|to <HI>Poland:</HI> and have been &s;ince &s;een to enter into an Engagement &s;o void of Precautions, that they &s;aw no means of getting out of it, but by a vexatious Treaty, which they were forc'd to conclude at <HI>Zourawno,</HI> with a Precipi|tation not u&s;ual in &s;uch Occa&s;ions, and which &s;tripp'd the <HI>Poles</HI> of the Remain|ders of <HI>&V;krania</HI> and <HI>Podolia.</HI> Here's an Oppo&s;ition very much contrary to the Cu&s;tom they have, of vaunting their Bravery, their Intrepidity, and Irreconcilable Hatred again&s;t the <HI>Turks.</HI> What may one not &s;ay on this &s;o large a Subject, and on the Cau&s;e of &s;o deplorable a Di&s;grace, which has afflicted one of the mo&s;t valorous Na|tions
<PB N="69" REF="48"> in the World; and which is &s;o intere&s;ted to &s;u&s;tain this great Reputa|tion, which &s;he had obtain'd in the O|pinion of the <HI>Turks,</HI> wherein there re|main &s;till very &s;trong Impre&s;&s;ions of it?</P>
<P>Of the Two Peaces we now menti|oned, one was too voluntary and ha|&s;ty from the <HI>Germans</HI> Part, and the o|ther &s;eems to have been concluded too generou&s;ly from the <HI>Poles</HI> Part. It was not the &s;ame in re&s;pect of that of <HI>Can|dia,</HI> which is a mo&s;t &s;olid Proof of the admirable Conduct of a mo&s;t ancient <HI>Republick,</HI> which having always pa&s;t in the World for a real Example of Wi&s;dom, by the ju&s;t Effects of its Po|licy, mu&s;t have al&s;o continu'd the Greatne&s;s of her Victories, and Con|que&s;ts, if the terrible Aggrandizement of the Hou&s;e of <HI>Au&s;tria,</HI> had not ob|lig'd them to unfurni&s;h their Places in the <HI>Levant</HI> and <HI>I&s;lands,</HI> the better to a&s;&s;ure the Con&s;ervation of tho&s;e in the <HI>Terra firma;</HI> which has given the <HI>Ot|toman</HI> Emperors an extream Facility, &s;ince one Century, to u&s;urp a great Part of them.</P>
<P>The&s;e out-Parts of <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> have been defended, to the Glory and Ad|vantage
<PB N="70" REF="49"> of Religion. They have &s;erv'd to blunt the greate&s;t Effort of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power. And it's evident, we owe to the <HI>Republick</HI> of <HI>Venice,</HI> the weakening and di&s;&s;ipation of the <HI>Tur|ki&s;h</HI> Naval Armies; which being &s;o pu|i&s;&s;ant, and numerous in the Beginning, are not le&s;&s;ened, or (to &s;peak better) de|&s;troy'd, but by the vigorous Re&s;i&s;tance of the Gallies, Galea&s;&s;es, and other <HI>Venetian</HI> Ve&s;&s;els. We mu&s;t then grant, that 'tis to their Forces and Intelli|gence on the Sea, that is due this &s;o va|luable an Effect to <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> That the <HI>Turks</HI> have never yet reached to <HI>Rome,</HI> but are reduc'd to that Condi|tion wherein we &s;ee them.</P>
<P>As to the la&s;t War, which the <HI>Turks</HI> had with the <HI>Mo&s;covites</HI> on account of the <HI>Co&s;&s;acks,</HI> which caus'd the Siege and Ruin of the Town and Fortre&s;s of <HI>Che|herim</HI> by the&s;e <HI>Infidels;</HI> its certain, that the <HI>Vizir, Cara Mu&s;tapha,</HI> who com|manded in Per&s;on in this Expedition, lo&s;t therein more than half of his Ar|my, which was about Four&s;core thou|&s;and Man, and tho&s;e who e&s;cap'd were reduc'd to extream Mi&s;ery. But to comfort him&s;elf in this Di&s;grace, and
<PB N="71" REF="49"> to make his Peace with his Ma&s;ter, it was enough that he had extricated him&s;elf out of this Difficulty, and car|ry'd away <HI>Cheherim.</HI></P>
<P>If after the Place had been taken, the <HI>Mo&s;covites</HI> had remained firm camped on the &s;ide of the <HI>Bori&s;thenes,</HI> which they had happily pa&s;s'd, to the Number of above an Hundred and &s;e|venty thou&s;and Men, whil&s;t the <HI>Turks</HI> were bu&s;ied in taking and burning <HI>Che|herim</HI> (which, a Man may &s;ay, was no more than one and the &s;ame thing) the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> who were before them, and dared not attack them, nor retire for fear of being charg'd, mu&s;t have certainly peri&s;h'd by the Rigor of the Winter, the Bogs, and Want of Pro|vi&s;ions, by rea&s;on of their Di&s;tance from their own Country. For &s;o great an Advantage, the <HI>Mo&s;covites</HI> needed only have &s;at &s;till, profiting by the Fa|cility they have of enduring Cold, to which they are accu&s;tomed, and in that they were in their own Territo|ries, where they wanted nothing, through the commodiou&s;ne&s;s of a great River, of which they were wholly Ma&s;ters. In fine, they were fenced on
<PB N="72" REF="50"> the Land &s;ide, by their Retrenchment, which they call <HI>Tabour,</HI> &s;o formidable to the <HI>Turks.</HI> But in&s;tead of receiving the Fortune which pre&s;ented her &s;elf to them, they for&s;ake her, by repa&s;&s;ing the <HI>Bori&s;thenes,</HI> and con&s;train her to re|turn to the <HI>Infidels,</HI> whom &s;he &s;eem'd to be willing to for&s;ake.</P>
<P>Certainly the&s;e <HI>Mahometans</HI> mu&s;t mightily value them&s;elves, &s;eeing their Enemies grow impatient on the very point of Triumphing, and give them|&s;elves the trouble of repa&s;&s;ing a great River, to avoid a glorious Victory, which might have been gain'd by &s;itting &s;till. They were in &s;o low a Condi|tion, that it's &s;carce credible; and, their Policy would not have upheld them &s;o long, had not the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> been &s;o prejudic'd (as they have al|ways been) in their Favour, and high E&s;teem of the Power of the&s;e <HI>Infi|dels.</HI></P>
<P>It has been to this time believ'd, that this Empire is another <HI>Peru</HI> for Men and Money; they have been all taken for Souldiers, Captains, and Generals of a Con&s;ummate Experience. The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> and his <HI>Vizir,</HI> have the
<PB N="73" REF="50"> &s;ame Belief; for, by their Authority, they rai&s;e Men, lay continual Taxes, and place in Governments of Provin|ces, and at the Head of Armies and particular Troops, Gardiners, Bar|bers, and other &s;uch like People of Qua|lity, who never &s;aw the Face of an Enemy. It's &s;ufficient a Man be <HI>Grand Vizir,</HI> to be Generali&s;&s;imo; and, that Souldiers know how to &s;hoot, to fight, and overthrow their Enemies.</P>
<P>To which we may add, tho&s;e Soul|diers who are wont oft to purcha&s;e an Exemption from going to War, and others who in &s;o great Numbers exerci&s;e Trades. A man makes him&s;elf a Souldier on Foot or Hor&s;eback, to live on pillaging and robbing the Peo|ple. The Officers do the &s;ame, they be all Thieves by Nece&s;&s;ity; for, they are peel'd from time to time. There are Thou&s;ands of Souldiers, who having either Credit or Money, obtain their Pay, and are excu&s;ed from all manner of Duty. And fal&s;e Mu&s;ters are no where more practi&s;ed, it being the In|tere&s;t of the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> him&s;elf, that his Companies &s;hould not be compleat; this being &s;o much Money &s;av'd in his Coffers.</P>
<PB N="74" REF="51">
<P>It appears from the&s;e real Ob&s;erva|tions, and others, which the Sequel of this Di&s;cour&s;e will furni&s;h us withal; That, if the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have had hi|therto the Mi&s;hap to judge &s;o ill of the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Power, which has cau&s;ed them con&s;iderable Lo&s;&s;es; his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> him&s;elf has fallen into the like Fauit, in &s;uch a manner, which is no le&s;s prejudicial to him: For, if he could heretofore vaunt of filling his Trea&s;uries, and rai&s;ing as many Peo|ple as he would; he begins now to per|ceive, that his &s;o va&s;t Domination end|ing in Solitude and De&s;arts, all the Money he may have will &s;ignify little, not finding any body to whom he may part with it, to any u&s;eful Purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>A Man may be convinc'd of his Co|vetou&s;ne&s;s, by con&s;idering his Conduct toward <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha,</HI> when he re|turn'd from his fir&s;t Enterpize, &s;ince he was rai&s;ed to the Supreme <HI>Vizir|&s;hip;</HI> I mean, from the Campaign of <HI>Cheherim,</HI> we now mentioned; I was then at <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI> His <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> did not &s;et him&s;elf on reproaching him, that in &s;o important an Occa&s;ion as that was, he had &s;o little Care and
<PB N="75" REF="51"> Fore&s;ight, that in&s;tead of managing the Officers in exciting them by &s;ome Liberality, he had di&s;couraged them in exacting Money from each of them, to the very lowe&s;t, to keep them in their Po&s;ts; whil&s;t on the other hand, he reduced them to Famine, making him&s;elf the Ma&s;ter of the Provi&s;ions, which he &s;old them at what rate he plea&s;ed. Perhaps this Irregularity, which was &s;ufficient to overturn all, never came to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s No|tice, and &s;hould he have been informed of it, 'twas &s;ufficient there was no ill Ef|fect; and the Profit the <HI>Grand Vizir</HI> had drawn hence, would have &s;erv'd him as a Means, to pre&s;s him the more to deliver into the Imperial Trea&s;ury the Tribute he ow'd, by putting there|in a con&s;iderable Summ of the Remains of the Expence of the Campaign, after the Pay of the <HI>Militia</HI> was acquit|ted.</P>
<P>His <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> pretended, that the <HI>Vizir</HI> ought to do it, according to the Example of the other <HI>Vizir's,</HI> his Pre|dece&s;&s;ors; it not being po&s;&s;ible, ac|cording to his Expre&s;&s;ion, that &s;uch extraordinary Summs of Money, as
<PB N="76" REF="52"> tho&s;e which were rai&s;ed, could be en|tirely con&s;um'd; altho this Chief Mi|ni&s;ter, repre&s;ented they were, and that he would give a good Account of them. In the mean time, the Souldiers Pay was deferr'd; but his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> intending not to let it be taken out of his Trea|&s;ury, and his Mini&s;ter con&s;tantly af|firming, he could not acquit it; the Expedient was, That the Trea&s;urer &s;hould furni&s;h the Summs required, and the <HI>Vizir</HI> and Superintendant of the Exchequer, &s;hould be bound to make them good.</P>
<P>A Man may ea&s;ily judge of the Con|&s;equences of the&s;e Examples, and how a War well ordered is capable of over|throwing the&s;e <HI>Infidels;</HI> &s;eeing, that be&s;ides the Ruin, which may be cau&s;ed by the re&s;pective Armies, the Cove|tou&s;ne&s;s of the Ma&s;ter and the Mini|&s;ter, may produce a De&s;olation more effective than that of Arms.</P>
<P>It's al&s;o further to be ob&s;erved, in favour of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power, that the <HI>Turks</HI> &s;eldom travel, and go not into &s;trange Countries, unle&s;s they be Do|me&s;ticks, and belong to &s;ome Envoy, or on &s;ome other extraordinary Occa|&s;ion;
<PB N="77" REF="52"> That mo&s;t of tho&s;e Per&s;ons, as well as tho&s;e who are in the Service of the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> or <HI>Ba&s;&s;a's,</HI> and in the Troops, are Men cho&s;en for their Size and Shapes, being taken out of the Children of Tribute, or Slaves which are bought and pick'd according to Fancy. This has given Occa&s;ion to believe, e&s;pecially when no other <HI>Turks</HI> have been &s;een than tho&s;e I now men|tioned, that all in general are of this kind; whereas it's certain, that in <HI>Tur|ky</HI> there are Per&s;ons of &s;mall Stature, and as ill Shap'd as el&s;ewhere; they have only more O&s;tentation and Vanity, and are, as much as po&s;&s;ible, fill'd with their own Conceits. And I have ob|&s;erv'd, that the <HI>Turks</HI> in general e&s;teem them&s;elves very Rich with a mean E|&s;tate, as they believe them&s;elves very knowing with a &s;mall &s;tock of Learn|ing.</P>
<P>It has al&s;o been of &s;ingular Advan|tage to this Empire, that mo&s;t of tho&s;e who have travelled thither, have out of a vain fooli&s;h Humour, di&s;gui&s;ed, in Favour of the <HI>Turks,</HI> the mo&s;t con&s;ide|rable Truths, of which they pretend to be the faithful Relaters. This Car|riage
<PB N="78" REF="53"> is exceeding unju&s;t; the Truth ought to be made publick, that People may not be prepo&s;&s;e&s;s'd with the&s;e fal&s;e Notions.</P>
<P>But on the contrary, if &s;ome do re|late Things clearly according to what they are, how many are there of tho&s;e who have travel'd thither, and even liv'd long in <HI>Turky,</HI> who have only minded their Employs, their Plea&s;ure or Profit, and are at their Departure le&s;s informed of Particulars which re|late to the e&s;&s;ential Part of this Em|pire, than of Diverti&s;ements, which are taken very di&s;agreeably? In&s;tead of a De&s;cription in general of what every one may &s;ay in <HI>Geography;</HI> in&s;tead of Relations of the Beauty or Ugline&s;s of the <HI>Levantine</HI> Women; in&s;tead of enter|taining the World with the Terror of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Arms; in&s;tead of writing Letters, which have made Impre&s;&s;ions on Peoples Minds, by repre&s;enting their Abode in <HI>Turky</HI> as in a Paradi&s;e, and the <HI>Turks</HI> as extraordinary People; they &s;hould have in&s;tructed the Pub|lick with what is nece&s;&s;ary, for an exact Information of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Pow|er, and of the Hatred and Oppre&s;&s;ion
<PB N="79" REF="53"> of the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> of the Defects of their Government and their great Weakne&s;s, of which it's time we &s;hew the principal Cau|&s;es.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="80" REF="54">
<HEAD>CHAP. IV. Of the principal Cau&s;es of the De|cay of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power, with a De&s;cription of the Pa&s;&s;age of the <HI>Dardanels,</HI> and a Relation of the Facility the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes have at pre&s;ent, of re|taking <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE Fir&s;t Cau&s;e of the Ruin of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Empire, comes from the Large&s;&s;es and Magnificences, which <HI>Sultan Solyman</HI> I. exerci&s;ed during his Reign. He did it with &s;uch Pro|fu&s;ion, that having exhau&s;ted all the Trea&s;ures of the Empire, his De&s;cen|dants were con&s;trained to engage their Domains, e&s;pecially <HI>Sultan Ibrahim,</HI> un|der whom the Revenues were found alienated for &s;everal Years. This ob|liged the <HI>Grand Vizir Mehemmet Ku|pruli</HI> (of whom we have &s;poke) to impo&s;e new Taxes, which were very hard; not &s;o much by rea&s;on of the con&s;iderable Summs, as from the Se|verity of tho&s;e who receiv'd them, in extorting much more than was their
<PB N="81" REF="54"> Due, and requiring them to make De|clarations that they had paid no more than they ought. This Di&s;order pro|ceeded from the Number of <HI>Aga's</HI> or Officers, whom the Chief <HI>Vizir</HI> and, <HI>Tefterdar,</HI> &s;end for the Service of the <HI>Port,</HI> and for the Exaction of the&s;e Rights, which &s;erve for a Pretence of taking whatever they can lay hands on, and to enrich them&s;elves, without Fear of any Puni&s;hment; becau&s;e the Superior Mini&s;ters &s;acrificing the <HI>Pub|lick</HI> Intere&s;t to their <HI>Particular,</HI> do here|by ordinarily &s;atisfy their Officers, and only give them the&s;e &s;ort of Commi&s;|&s;ions, by way of Recompence, and In|demnity of Charges, which they are forc'd to make by their Attendance.</P>
<P>Money being the Prop and Mainte|nance of all States, when it flows free|ly from the Subjects to the Prince, and from the Prince to the Subjects, as well as by the good Order of Moneys, and Purity of its Kinds; one may be|lieve in this Re&s;pect, that the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire is fallen, and falls every Day into a great Di&s;order. The Summs which have once enter'd into the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Coffers, never come out thence,
<PB N="82" REF="55"> but on Account of an extraordinary War, or the Structure of &s;ome <HI>Mo&s;que;</HI> far from being employ'd in continual Gratifications, and innumerable Pen|&s;ions, and glorious and &s;urpri&s;ing Ex|pences, which maintain and enrich &s;o many Thou&s;ands of poor People, as there are &s;een authentick Examples of this in <HI>Chri&s;tendom.</HI> And, the Cur|rant Money of <HI>Turky,</HI> is almo&s;t all fal&s;e, or extreamly deba&s;ed. They &s;uffer great Quantities to come from &s;trange Countries, and permit it to be here currant; and tho&s;e who bring this Money, change it for better, e|&s;pecially the <HI>Pia&s;ters Sevillanes,</HI> or el&s;e they lay it out in Merchandi&s;e: Thus they carry away whatever is good in the Empire, leaving nothing but Bra&s;s, which would have been to this pre&s;ent a real Means of in&s;en&s;ibly exhau&s;ting the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Empire of all its good Silver or Gold, had it not been for the great Avidity of Gain of &s;ome of tho&s;e who carry thither the&s;e Mo|neys, which have been often cry'd down; as, the <HI>O&s;mani's,</HI> the <HI>Temins,</HI> or Five Peny Pieces of <HI>France,</HI> and the <HI>Quar|to's</HI> of <HI>Poland;</HI> the Lo&s;s of which a|mounted
<PB N="83" REF="55"> to incredible Summs, e&s;peci|ally in Reference to the Five Peny Pieces, which the Merchants pay'd here at Twelve for Five Shillings, at Twenty and Eight only in the Begin|ning, whil&s;t that for Five Shillings, they had Thirty, Thirty &s;ix, and to Forty; &s;o much were they chang'd. This Money was made in the <HI>States</HI> of <HI>Ge|noa,</HI> under the Coin of the Principa|lity of <HI>Dombes;</HI> and, had the Mer|chants been contented with the Gain of <HI>Cent. pro Cent.</HI> they might have pa&s;t as much as they would: But, the Al|teration becoming too exce&s;&s;ive, which well proves the Sotti&s;hne&s;s of the <HI>Turks;</HI> they at la&s;t opened their Eyes, and cryed down this Money, which caus'd the Ruin of a World of People.</P>
<P>It's not to be imagined what Fines are tolerated in the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Empire. All tho&s;e who are Ju&s;tices, do &s;earch for occa&s;ions of &s;eizing on other Peo|ples E&s;tates; and, when there is no Murther, or Robbery committed with|in the Extent of their Juri&s;diction, (which are commonly the Two Princi|pal Means to excite them) they know how to &s;uppo&s;e them. They cau&s;e
<PB N="84" REF="56"> Blood to be &s;pilt in a Quarter; they have Thieves at their devotion, or el&s;e they make the Door of &s;ome Shop to be broke open, and they require for the Blood Forty thou&s;and <HI>A&s;pers;</HI> which they force tho&s;e of that Preeinct to pay, in giving the mo&s;t apparent Strokes on the Soals of their Feet, or throwing them into Pri&s;on. They do the &s;ame in re&s;pect of Robbery, obliging them to produce the Thief, which is impo&s;|&s;ible, &s;eeing he is the Judges Confi|dent; or el&s;e condemning them to great Fines, which not being determi|ned as the price of Blood, the&s;e poor people cannot get quit, but by deliver|ing up all they are worth.</P>
<P>Fal&s;e Witne&s;&s;es, which are very common in the Empire, cau&s;e therein much Di&s;order; there are for all &s;orts of Affairs, and at all Prizes. They have their Agents or Cur&s;iters, who a&s;|&s;i&s;t at Pleadings, and fail not of &s;up|plying Evidences to tho&s;e who have been remitted to make proof by this way; and, according to the Con&s;e|quence of the Affair, they furni&s;h more or le&s;s con&s;iderable, who&s;e apparent Virtue may give Weight to the Te&s;ti|mony.</P>
<PB N="85" REF="56">
<P>Fires have oft ruined, and do ruin every day &s;everal Per&s;ons; they often happen by the Wickedne&s;s of certain People, who fire Hou&s;es on purpo&s;e, to make advantage of the Di&s;order caus'd thereby; for, they being only of Wood, and full of Painting, and be&s;meared with Oily Stuff, after their manner; there are many burnt in a &s;mall time. The Rapidity of this Element is &s;ome|times &s;o violent, that the Inhabitants can only &s;ave them&s;elves; and a Man that is rich, and at his Ea&s;e, is, in the &s;pace of two hours time, reduced to a &s;tate of Beggary. Not only in <HI>Con|&s;tantinople,</HI> but al&s;o in &s;everal other pla|ces, there are Te&s;timonies of this De|&s;olation; and they look upon it as nothing, if there are not above four or five hundred Hou&s;es burnt at a time. It's not long &s;ince the Town of <HI>Galata</HI> was wholly burnt down in the &s;pace of two days; in the year following, <HI>Con|&s;tantinople</HI> received al&s;o the &s;ame Di&s;|grace, there being only one of the Ends of the Town which could be &s;a|ved from the Fire; and, of more than forty Fires which I &s;aw, during &s;even Years continual Re&s;idence in this Ca|pital
<PB N="86" REF="57"> of the Empire, there have been five or fix Fires, which have con&s;u|med Fifteen, Sixteen, and Twenty Thou|&s;and Hou&s;es.</P>
<P>The Cau&s;e of the lo&s;s of &s;everal Em|pires, and which has de&s;troyed that of the <HI>Romans</HI> in <HI>Rome,</HI> and the <HI>Greeks</HI> in <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> I mean, Luxury; is now in Exce&s;s among&s;t the <HI>Turks.</HI> They be not like tho&s;e Ancient <HI>Turcomans,</HI> who lay in the Fields, who never ne|ver eat but when nece&s;&s;itated, who flept on the bare Ground, who drank only Water, and cloathed them&s;elves with Bea&s;ts Skins. The&s;e, on the con|trary, are very commodious and rich in their Hou&s;es, eat delicious Meats, drink Liquors mixt with Amber and Musk, and very often Wine and &s;trong Waters. The <HI>Grand Vizir, Ahmet Ku|pruli,</HI> was &s;o accu&s;tomed to it, that he could not meet with Drinks &s;trong e|nough; which &s;et him on making Com|po&s;itions of E&s;&s;ences, and mo&s;t violent Liquors, of which he at la&s;t drank &s;o great a Quantity, that he dyed three Days after. They &s;leep on Beds of of Swans Feathers; and to promote &s;leep, cau&s;e the Soals of their Feet, to
<PB N="87" REF="57"> be gently tickled by young Boys. They Cloath them&s;elves with the fi|ne&s;t Cloth, and Stuffs of Silver and Gold, e&s;pecially the Women, who are wholly covered with them. They make u&s;e of precious Furrs, and Silken Shifts; and when they go to the Army, carry along with them &s;o many Per|&s;ons, Hor&s;es, and &s;o much Baggage, that be&s;ides the delays which this cau&s;es, the great number of u&s;ele&s;s Mouths &s;tarves the re&s;t.</P>
<P>A mo&s;t grievous Abu&s;e to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> and which falls always on his <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Subjects, is, the bad U&s;e, or the Cheat offered his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> in the gathering the Children of Tribute. This U&s;age is not now &s;o con&s;iderable as it was heretofore, although it ought to have been much encreas'd, &s;eeing they were not wont to be taken but once in thirty Years, and now they are Colle|cted every Tenth Year. The fault of this, be&s;ides that the Countries continue eve|ry day to be di&s;peopled, is from hence, in that the Officers entru&s;ted with this Commi&s;&s;ion, de&s;igning their own Pro|fit, &s;ell the Children very dear to their Fathers and Mothers, who furni&s;h
<PB N="88" REF="58"> them with others, whom they buy of poor <HI>Turks,</HI> without being Circumci|&s;ed. Thus is his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI>'s Inten|tion deceived, who thinking to do an Action of Piety and Religion, by encrea&s;ing the Number of the <HI>Mu&s;&s;ul|men,</HI> locks up in his <HI>Seraglio's, Turks</HI> in&s;tead of <HI>Chri&s;tians.</HI> The Villages are hereby ruined; for, a Father im|poveri&s;hes him&s;elf, to &s;ave his Child; and only the Exacters make their ad|vantage of the&s;e Di&s;orders, which beg|gars the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> and does not en|rich the <HI>Grand Seignior.</HI> It's certain, in proof of what I now &s;ay, that the <HI>Seraglio</HI> which &s;tands above the Vine|yards of <HI>Perce,</HI> named <HI>Galata</HI> of <HI>Sarai,</HI> (which was one of the mo&s;t con&s;iderable Places for Education of the&s;e Chil|dren, of which there were great num|bers) &s;erves only now for a Dog-Hou&s;e, and the entertainment of &s;ome Gardiners.</P>
<P>The <HI>Turks</HI> know not now the Or|der of the lea&s;t Battel. They content them&s;elves with being &s;wift in &s;eizing on &s;ome Po&s;ts, in making a great Noi&s;e, and imprinting Fear, by running out of Order, and the dreadful Cries with
<PB N="89" REF="58" MS="y"> which they fall to Action; and, when they carry away any advantage, 'tis by Terror, by the little Re&s;i&s;tance they find, by the number of <HI>Renegadoes</HI> they have always with them, and by the greatne&s;s of their Numbers, rather than by any true Skill in matters of War, or true Bravery.</P>
<P>The <HI>Janizaries,</HI> who were a <HI>Militia</HI> of the mo&s;t Warlike Per&s;ons, brought up under mo&s;t exact Di&s;cipline, train|ed up by the con&s;tant Experience of Combats and Victories; are not now the lea&s;t &s;hadow of what they have been: This was &s;uch a dreadful, and well ordered Body of Troops, that the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> him&s;elf had not the liberty of di&s;po&s;ing of Offices, without the participation of the <HI>Janizary Aga,</HI> or Chief of the <HI>Janizaries.</HI> But, the Policy of the two <HI>Vizirs, Kupruli's,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> &s;o greatly exhau&s;ted them, during the late Wars of <HI>Candia,</HI> and by rea|&s;on of &s;ome other Accidents which have &s;ince happened; that they are re|duced to &s;o low an e&s;tate, that the <HI>Grand Vizir, Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> of his only Authority, did, during the Siege of <HI>Cheherim,</HI> deprive of his Of|fice,
<PB N="90" REF="59"> the <HI>General</HI> of this <HI>Militia,</HI> for not entirely &s;ubmitting to his Humours. Peace has notably contributed to the Decay of this Empire. Here is excer|ci&s;ed, during this time, an univer&s;al pillaging, of which the People is the Source; where all the Thieves, in what number &s;oever they be, come and &s;tore them&s;elves, and apparently they'll take &s;o much, that all will be found con&s;umed at la&s;t, which is palpably &s;een by the De&s;ertion of all the Peo|ple, who for&s;ake the Country, to re|tire into Towns. From <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> to <HI>Adrianople,</HI> which are about Fifty Leagues di&s;tance, the mo&s;t populous Place, and which ought to be the mo&s;t commodious of the Empire, a man mu&s;t carry along with him what he needs; Pa&s;&s;engers lie in <HI>Hans,</HI> or Pub|lick Places de&s;tined for Travellers, and excepting &s;even or eight Villages which he in the Roau, a Man &s;ees in all this Space not above Three or Four <HI>Hamlets</HI> on the right or left of this great Road. The be&s;t half of the Em|pire is de&s;erted, by rea&s;on of the Rob|beries committed by the Mini&s;ters of Ju&s;tice and of the Sword, as well as
<PB N="91" REF="59"> by tho&s;e of Religion, (as has been am|ply Remark'd, and to which I &s;hall add the following Ob&s;ervations.)</P>
<P>The <HI>Turks</HI> buy their Employs very dear, not by the Price and Value of each Office, for there's no &s;et Tax on that, but by the Intrigues, and Pre|&s;ents they mu&s;t make to come thereto. And when once they be entered, they are obliged, tarrying in it but a &s;hort time, to Rob and Tyrannize over the People, to reimbur&s;e them&s;elves of their Expences, and to get &s;ome thing over, to pa&s;s to other Dignities, where they pillage and commit their Rapines as before. By this means, there are &s;een an endle&s;s company of Thieves; and who taking all the E&s;tates and Riches of the People, makes them pa&s;s from the lowe&s;t Offices to the greate&s;t. This is a perpetual Flux, which never de&s;cending, cau&s;es gene|ral Ruins. And this Di&s;order pro|ceeds from this, that the <HI>Grand Vizir,</HI> the <HI>primum mobile</HI> of this Empire, ma|king continually, either by Duty or Policy, Pre&s;ents to his Ma&s;ter, is ob|liged to procure others from the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a</HI>'s and under-Officers, and the&s;e
<PB N="92" REF="60"> from others, who are under them; and &s;o of the re&s;t to the mean people, who are found to be a Sacrifice to the Covetou&s;ne&s;s of both one and the o|ther.</P>
<P>The rapacious humour of <HI>Cara Ma|&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> tran&s;ported him to that Exce&s;s, as cannot be expre&s;s'd; putting him on all kinds of Extortions and Violences, which might bring him in Money. He often &s;old Licences for &s;uch things as were forbidden, to have a pretence to &s;eize on mens Per&s;ons, and the Effects of poor people, who thought them&s;elves &s;heltered from the&s;e Violences; which he cea&s;ed not to make them feel, under pretence that it was contrary to his knowledge they had granted them the&s;e Licences, but that his <HI>Kiahia,</HI> or Superintendant, had done it. There were &s;een &s;everal Examples of this Perfidiou&s;ne&s;s, which he knew how to di&s;&s;emble to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> or di&s;cover them to him in &s;uch a manner as &s;hould excu&s;e him from blame, and lay the fault on others; e&s;pecially once, when the <HI>Boza</HI> was forbidden.</P>
<PB N="93" REF="60">
<P>This <HI>Boza,</HI> is a Drink made of Ho|ney and <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Corn, which inebriates after much drinking of it; and, not|with&s;tanding the Prohibitions which the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> had ordered the <HI>Grand Vizir</HI> to i&s;&s;ue out, there were &s;till &s;ome part of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> where the <HI>Turks</HI> went to regal them&s;elves with it. His <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> coming one day out of a <HI>Mo&s;que,</HI> found a man who was dead drunk with this Liquor; which gave him to under&s;tand, as well from his own Ob&s;ervations, as what he was told by &s;ome attending on him, that his Commands were not ob&s;erved. The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> &s;pake with great heat about it to the <HI>Vizir,</HI> who excu|&s;ed him&s;elf, &s;aying, That he was igno|rant they &s;old any more &s;ince his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI>'s Order: And, having mali|ciou&s;ly thrown the blame on his <HI>Kiahia,</HI> he went in the &s;ame Moment to his Hou&s;e, where he immediately cau&s;ed his Head to be cut off, which he &s;ent to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> to prove the better to him, by this &s;evere treatment of one of his own Creatures, his Zeal and Fidelity for the Execution of his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI>'s Orders; who apear'd &s;o
<PB N="94" REF="61"> &s;atisfi'd with this, that he gave him a great part of the decea&s;ed's E&s;tate, which amounted to above a Million of Crowns, gathered only in Four Years time, wherein he had exerci&s;ed this Office.</P>
<P>It was muttered in <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> that <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha</HI> was far from &s;ending his <HI>Kiahia</HI> to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> before he took off his Head, becau&s;e he would have inform'd his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> of &s;everal Things concerning his Ma&s;ters Con|duct, again&s;t which all the World ex|claimed. He was very careful to ap|propriate to him&s;elf tho&s;e Parts of the Town where the Hou&s;es had been burn'd, to build Shops; which he hi|red out to his own private Advantage, to the Prejudice of particular Per&s;ons to whom the Hou&s;es before belonged; and without con&s;idering, that be&s;ides the Fire which came from ruining the&s;e poor People, they were farther more unhappy, in not having a Place to &s;et up in.</P>
<P>There happened in my time an Oc|ca&s;ion of his Covetou&s;ne&s;s; a Bu&s;ine&s;s as ridiculous, as it had been then little Cu&s;tomary. The <HI>Bey</HI> of <HI>Moldavia,</HI> be|ing
<PB N="95" REF="61"> to &s;end the u&s;ual Tribute to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> of Money, propos'd to the <HI>Vizir,</HI> to &s;end him in&s;tead of Money, certain Herds of Cattle, which he might ea&s;ily di&s;po&s;e of, and put a con|&s;iderable Summ into his own Coffers. The Bargain was &s;truck, &s;o that for &s;ome time after there was &s;carcely any thing &s;een in the Streets of <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople, Galata, Pera,</HI> and tho&s;e Parts, but Herds of He and She-Goats, of an extraordinary Strength and Stature, having each of the Males Four Horns Two Foot long, which put the <HI>Turks</HI> on fa&s;tning them together, to hinder them from doing Mi&s;chief. The <HI>Turks</HI> were con&s;train'd for Fifteen Days to|gether to eat no other Meat, there be|ing no other in the Butcheries; but the foreign Mini&s;ters and chief of the Town, having had the Liberty to &s;tore them&s;elves with Beef and Mut|ton for that time, only the common People &s;uffered, which was not with|out great Imprecations again&s;t the <HI>Vizir,</HI> to whom was wi&s;h'd, that the Fire which happened Three Months after, and burn'd the neighbouring Parts, might have con&s;umed the mag|nificent
<PB N="96" REF="62"> Palace, which he had in a fine part of <HI>Con&s;tantinople;</HI> but this happened not, by rea&s;on of his cau&s;ing &s;uch va&s;t Numbers of Hou&s;es to be pull'd down which &s;tood near his, to which Lo&s;s he would not contribute a Peny, &s;aying, <HI>That if he had not done it, the Fire would have con&s;um'd them.</HI></P>
<P>If the ba&s;e Birth of the Officers of this State, and their Education, &s;erve to keep them in an ab&s;olute Depen|dance on the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> it al&s;o &s;hews them, that they have nothing, and that they mu&s;t u&s;e all the Means imaginable to get Money. Their Ju&s;tice, of which People are plea&s;ed to recite Examples, to blame the Lengths and Chican'ries of that which is exerci&s;ed in the greate&s;t part of <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> is for the mo&s;t part, and at bottom, mere Violence; which, with the Avarice of the Military Officers, de|populating &s;uch a great many Countries, has made of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> and circum|jacent Parts along the Chanal, a kind of Province, where &s;everal people are gathered together, and do &s;till flock; which has made, as I have el&s;ewhere
<PB N="97" REF="62"> ob&s;erved, mo&s;t of the other Parts aban|doned, and reduced this Empire to emi|nent ruin.</P>
<P>It's probable this may happen ere long, at lea&s;t, in the <HI>Europaean</HI> parts, if the Enemies of the <HI>Turks</HI> profiting by the&s;e Di&s;orders, and tho&s;e which it has fall'n into within the&s;e three or four years, do &s;trike home, and fol|low their blow. The City of <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople,</HI> which is Triangular, and with|out que&s;tion the fine&s;t Pro&s;pect the Imagination can de&s;ire; is to be con&s;i|dered, as the Heart, and noble&s;t part of this Empire, on which depend all the re&s;t. It lies wholly open like an <HI>Amphitheatre,</HI> on little Mounts and Hillocks, to the Brinks of the Sea. It's true, &s;he has very neat high and double Walls, with good Towers at the face of its Triangle, on the &s;ide which looks to the Land, where &s;he is pa&s;&s;ing well &s;ecured: but, as a con|&s;iderable Per&s;on among&s;t the <HI>Turks</HI> told me, with whom I had a long di|&s;cour&s;e; it's not &s;o ea&s;ie for the Ene|my to enter there, as by the two o|ther &s;ides, which lie expo&s;ed to the Sea, and in &s;everal places without the
<PB N="98" REF="63"> Walls, by rea&s;on the Water, Storms, and Time, have ruined them, and the <HI>Turks</HI> have never minded to repair them.</P>
<P>All thereabouts, and what is at the Entrance of the Port Town of <HI>Scuta|ri</HI> in <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> Tower of <HI>Leander, Galata, Topana, Fondukli, Bechi, Ktache,</HI> the Point of the <HI>Seraglio,</HI> and above two Thirds of the Town, are of like Situa|tion. If it &s;hould chance that four or five good Ve&s;&s;els, as this &s;ame <HI>Turk</HI> ob&s;erved, &s;hould come here, they would make &s;ad work with Bombs a|mong&s;t the <HI>Seraglio's</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;ques;</HI> and as for the re&s;t of the Town, your Fire-Pots, and other &s;uch Inventions, would cau&s;e an univer&s;al Terror and De&s;olation. To which would not a little contribute, a great number of <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Slaves, and other people, who always are de&s;irous of the&s;e Di&s;|orders; and the Combu&s;tion would be the more ea&s;ie, by means of the Wind which continually reigns there, and that the Hou&s;es which are one a|bove another, by rea&s;on of the di&s;po|&s;ition of the Ground, are only of Tim|ber, having &s;everal Balconies, and
<PB N="99" REF="63"> great Tops of thin and fine Wood, dawbed over with Oil and Paintings, after their manner.</P>
<P>The <HI>Turk</HI> I now &s;poke of, who di|&s;cour&s;ed with this freedom to me, was a <HI>Circa&s;&s;ian Renegado,</HI> named <HI>Bekir Bey.</HI> He had been taken a Slave at the Age of ten Years, and brought up by a Captain <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> who had gotten him the Preferment of commanding a Galley; but, e&s;caping from a Wrack, which he &s;uffered with Five or Six other Galleys, which were lo&s;t in the <HI>Black Sea,</HI> he made a Vow never to leave the Land, by rea&s;on (&s;aid he to me) that having conceived the De|&s;ign of returning if he could this Cam|paign into his own Country, to re-im|brace the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Religion, on occa|&s;ion of an In&s;piration which he thought he had felt for that; God had &s;hewed him by this Misfortune, that he was mi&s;taken, and that he could not die more happily than in the <HI>Mahometan</HI> Religion, &s;eeing that was the be&s;t. How &s;hould one doubt it? added he, con&s;idering the blindne&s;s and folly wherein God &s;uffered the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> to lie, in letting the <HI>Turks</HI> continually in|vade
<PB N="100" REF="64"> their Countries, and biting and devouring one another like Dogs, and not to have the &s;ence, not only not to defend them&s;elves from the <HI>true Be|lievers,</HI> but to leave unattempted two &s;imple Fortre&s;&s;es, meaning the <HI>Darda|nels,</HI> and the ruining entirely <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople;</HI> &s;eeing its &s;o ea&s;y; it being plainly apparent, God pre&s;erved this great Town, being the <HI>Zoar</HI> of the <HI>Faithful.</HI></P>
<P>I remember, that being with Mr. <HI>du Qu&eacute;ne,</HI> at the fir&s;t Bombarding of <HI>Algiers,</HI> the&s;e <HI>Barbarians</HI> complained at their being Surpriz'd i'th' Night, and that the <HI>French</HI> did not do well to War again&s;t them with Infernal Fires, which fell from the Clouds, and with Pottage-Pots full of Powder and Fu|ry, &s;peaking of the Carca&s;&s;es and Bombs. <HI>N&ograve; Star bono</HI> (&s;aid they in the <HI>More&s;co</HI> Language) <HI>France&s;i Ve|nir &agrave; Ka di notte come ladri.</HI> They threw the Bombs by Night, to &s;hun the Enemies Cannon, they being not then made to carry &s;o far as now. If then the&s;e Pyrates, who are u&s;ed to Fire and Combats, were &s;o afrighted at them; and if the <HI>French</HI> reduced <HI>Algiers,</HI>
<PB N="101" REF="64"> which is undoubtedly one of the &s;tronge&s;t Maritim Towns in the <HI>Me|diterranean,</HI> and the be&s;t defended by its Situation, by rea&s;on of a dangerous Road, and its numerous and great Ar|tillery; what would become of <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople</HI> in the Condition it now is, even of the <HI>Dardanels,</HI> and all the Towns of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire, which are &s;i|tuated on the Sea, of which Three Quarters of the Merchant-Inhabitants, <HI>Greeks, Armenians, Jews,</HI> or Slaves, do not know what Colour, nor even what kind of thing Power is?</P>
<P>We have already &s;aid, how the Hou&s;es of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> are built. The great Commodiou&s;ne&s;s of its <HI>Port,</HI> the Depth and Goodne&s;s of the Shoar, un|to which all forts of Ve&s;&s;els may come to the very Doors; the Tower of <HI>Le|ander,</HI> which is almo&s;t in the mid&s;t of the Water, and a little on the Coa&s;t of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> between <HI>Scutari,</HI> the Point of the <HI>Seraglio,</HI> and <HI>Topana,</HI> is more con&s;ide|rable for its Name, than any thing el&s;e; &s;eeing it's only a kind of Dungeon &s;ur|rounded by a piteous Wall, in which there is for all the Garri&s;on, only a poor Fi&s;herman and Three pieces of Cannon
<PB N="102" REF="65"> without Stocks. The <HI>Turks</HI> call it <HI>Kizcoulaci,</HI> the <HI>Maids-Tower,</HI> which an&s;wers the Hi&s;tory of <HI>Leander</HI> and <HI>Hero,</HI> which we attribute to it.</P>
<P>The Town of <HI>Scutari,</HI> which lies a little higher towards the <HI>Black Sea,</HI> is not much better &s;tored with Artillery, there being not above Five or &s;ix Pie|ces, which are near the Cu&s;tom-hou&s;e, to &s;alute the Ve&s;&s;els; and the&s;e Can|nons (no more than tho&s;e which might be planted on the &s;ide of the Sea at <HI>Topana</HI>) do not de&s;erve the lea&s;t Con|&s;ideration, lying uncover'd on the Shoar. There's only the Arti&s;&s;ery ly|ing from the Point of the <HI>Seraglio,</HI> which are about Four &s;core Pieces, a|mong&s;t which we may reckon Forty of the be&s;t; which being taken from the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> may indeed pa&s;s for very good ones; but then their ill Si|tuation is to be con&s;idered, lying al&s;o open out of Walls, without any Re|trenchment, and the &s;mall Experience, joined to the Poltronry of &s;ome &s;orry Gardiners, with their great Sugar-loaf-Bonnets, who attend them, and which &s;erve rather for an Ornament to the Entrance of the <HI>Port</HI> and the <HI>Seraglio,</HI>
<PB N="103" REF="65"> than any thing which ought to im|print the lea&s;t Sentiments of Careful|ne&s;s or dread to Ve&s;&s;els of War, who can fire their Cannon as fa&s;t as their Muskets, and which in&s;ult over For|tre&s;&s;es and be&s;t fenced Towns.</P>
<P>All this is undoubtedly certain, and cannot by any one be gain-&s;aid. But it may be an&s;wer'd what the <HI>Turks</HI> &s;ay, That for the Execution of an Enter|prize of this Con&s;equence, Ships with Mortar-Pieces cannot fall down from the Clouds, neither can they be tran&s;|ported over the Land: In a Word, That be&s;ides the New Ca&s;tles which &s;tand at the Mouth of the Chanel of the <HI>Dardanello's,</HI> they mu&s;t moreover pa&s;s between the Two Ca&s;tles which bear this Name, which have been judg|ed hitherto in&s;urmountable, as well by rea&s;on of the Straitne&s;s of the Chanel, and Current, which is very rapid, as al&s;o becau&s;e there are in each about Thirty Pieces of Cannon of Twenty and Twenty five Foot long, and of Two and Three Foot Diameter in the Mouth, which carry Stone-bullets weighing Seven or eight hundred Pound, and which being pointed ju&s;t
<PB N="104" REF="66"> above the Water, traver&s;e the Cha|nel with marvellous Exactne&s;s, making Rebounds like a Shell, glancing on the Water from one Shoar to another, where they may be taken up, to &s;erve again the Fortre&s;s on the other &s;ide. That no one has hitherto tried this Pa&s;&s;age, unle&s;s the <HI>Venetian</HI> General <HI>Lazaro Mocenigo,</HI> who (victorious in the great Combat of the <HI>Dardanello's</HI> in the Year 1657, of which he pur|&s;ued the Remains of the Naval Army of the <HI>Turks,</HI> whom he came from de|feating) unfortunately peri&s;hed in the Pa&s;&s;age between the&s;e Ca&s;tles; a Mi&s;|hap which obli&s;hed the re&s;t of the Ar|my to de&s;i&s;t from the De&s;ign which they had, of going to <HI>Con&s;tantinople:</HI> All this may be true, yet hence cannot be inferr'd the Impo&s;&s;ibility of the Pa&s;&s;age.</P>
<P>One may find, on the contrary, the Enterprize very ea&s;y, when the Mat|ter &s;hall be &s;incerely con&s;idered; for, not to &s;peak of the New Ca&s;tles, which are at too great Di&s;tance from one an|other, to do any great Execution, &s;hould one pa&s;s through the mid&s;t of the Mouth of the Chanel, having been
<PB N="105" REF="66"> built &s;ince the War of <HI>Candia,</HI> to guard the Roads which lie on both Sides, and to hinder the Stay or De&s;cents of an Army, without thinking on the Mea|&s;ures which tho&s;e who have Wars with the <HI>Turks</HI> may take, to make them|&s;elves Ma&s;ters of the Old Ca&s;tles, by Storm, by applying the <HI>Petard,</HI> or in &s;ome other manner, &s;eeing they have only a &s;imple Wall without a Ditch, Towers, or Palli&s;ado's: I had the Lea|&s;ure to ob&s;erve them in this Conditi|on, e&s;pecially that of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> which is the le&s;s &s;trong, the la&s;t time I &s;aw it in the Year 1682. when I went with the Captain of the <HI>French</HI> King's Ve&s;|&s;el, to interpret the Di&s;cour&s;e he had with the Captain <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> anchoring with all his Galleys above the Ca&s;tles; where the &s;aid <HI>French</HI> Commander was &s;ent, by the Marquis <HI>du Qu&eacute;ne,</HI> who lay at Anchor between the I&s;le of <HI>Te|nedos</HI> and the Coa&s;t of <HI>Troyes,</HI> without con&s;idering that great Ve&s;&s;els firing fiercely from both Sides, in the Con|juncture of a fre&s;h Wind, may ea&s;ily pa&s;s the&s;e Ca&s;tles, which after the fir&s;t Di&s;charge of their Cannon, can fire no more, by rea&s;on of the great
<PB N="106" REF="67"> Fla&s;hes of Light, which perfectly di&s;|cover tho&s;e that attend them, and that the&s;e Ve&s;&s;els with their Sailing would &s;urmount the Stream with more Swift|ne&s;s than <HI>Mocenigo</HI>'s Galley had done, which had already pa&s;s'd, and gone through all the Batteries of the Ca&s;tles, when he was kill'd by a Sail-yard which fell on his Head; without u&s;ing the Expedient &s;o oft propo&s;ed, of making the Ships of War pa&s;s with Two other Ve&s;&s;els, which on both Sides &s;hould be cram'd with Wool or Earth, to deaden the Blow, and here|by be &s;ecured from the Shot of the&s;e great Pieces in the Ca&s;tles. There's no need of all the&s;e Preparations, now that with the marvellous Invention of Bombs, and the way of making them fly &s;o far as they do, Two Galleys with Mortar-Pieces might beat down the&s;e Ca&s;tles in Twelve Hours Time, the Weather being almo&s;t always fa|vourable, by rea&s;on of the Shelter of the Capes; there being moreover in all Places very good Anchoring. This might be done with greater Facility, than <HI>Algiers</HI> was reduced, and other places far better provided with Artil|lery,
<PB N="107" REF="67"> and skilful Gunners, than all the Fortre&s;&s;es together of the <HI>Turks.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e great Cannons of <HI>Se&s;tos</HI> and <HI>Ahydos,</HI> which we call <HI>Dardanello's,</HI> are retain'd and &s;topp'd by the hinder part, with Beams and Free-&s;tones on the Ground; &s;o that having no Stocks, they never &s;uffer the lea&s;t Movement. So that to u&s;e them, it's only ob&s;er|ved, whether the Ve&s;&s;el they would &s;hoot at lies between both, or right a|gain&s;t a Mark or Place, which is known on the other Side of the Cha|nel, in which time they Fire &s;uch or &s;uch a Cannon, which carries not directly over-again&s;t, to avoid damni|fying the oppo&s;ite Ca&s;tle, but a little &s;looping higher and lower on the Chanel, each of the&s;e Ca&s;tles ob&s;er|ving the other's Motions.</P>
<P>There has not been heard of any Example, &s;ince the la&s;t <HI>Venetian</HI> War, of the&s;e Fortre&s;&s;es having fired any otherwi&s;e than to &s;alute; excepting again&s;t a Bark, either of <HI>Genoa</HI> or <HI>Ve|nice</HI> (if I be not mi&s;taken.)</P>
<P>'Tis the Cu&s;tom for all Merchant|men who leave <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> to &s;top at the&s;e Ca&s;tles two Days to be &s;earch|ed,
<PB N="108" REF="68"> to hinder the e&s;capings of Slaves, the Non-payment of Cu&s;toms, and counterband Goods. This Bark ha|ving here ca&s;t Anchor, it did not go to the Bottom of the Sea; &s;o that be|ing carried away by the Stream, it was judged on either Shoar that &s;he &s;hifted away, although all her Sails were folded. I was told for certain; that both Ca&s;tles fired all their Guns at her, without any effect, or any o|ther Hurt, &s;ave the &s;ending her a great deal of Water, ca&s;t up by the Re|bounds of the Bullets. It's true, this was towards the Evening; and the Fear which tho&s;e on Board conceiv'd, was &s;o great, that &s;ome Seamen leap'd over-board, to get to Shoar by &s;wim|ming; dreading to be drowned with the Bark; which having at length got near the Shoar &s;ome Miles off, and the Ma&s;ter having &s;ome time before come down into the Ca&s;tles to give an Ac|count of his Lading, this ju&s;tified his Innocency.</P>
<P>It's in truth very Fine, to &s;ee the&s;e Fortre&s;&s;es all in Fire, and to hear at the &s;ame time the dreadful Roaring of the&s;e Cannons, and the Echo's in all
<PB N="109" REF="68"> the Chanel, which is bordered with Mounts: The Sea, which skips up, and becomes white with Froth, by rea&s;on of the Rebounds which the&s;e. Bullets make on the Water, and the prodigi|ous Smoak mix'd with Fire accompa|nying all this, forms a Spectacle very a&s;toni&s;hing. I had the Plea&s;ure of ob|&s;erving it, and telling Twenty five Re|bounds of one Bullet, when I was ju&s;t between the&s;e Ca&s;tles with the fore|mentioned <HI>French</HI> Commander, in the time when the Captain <HI>Ba&s;&s;a</HI> weighing Anchor to continue his Cour&s;e to the <HI>White Sea,</HI> was &s;aluted by &s;everal Di&s;|charges of all the Guns of the&s;e For|tre&s;&s;es. Which may be imputed to another Motive, than that of pure Civility or Duty to the Captain <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> as knowing there was a <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Of|ficer, who was Spectator; &s;eeing, when the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Admiral pa&s;&s;es, the Ca&s;tles are wont to &s;alute him but by a &s;ingle Di&s;charge of their Cannon; whereas then, they made &s;everal Di&s;|charges, which we could not di&s;tin|gui&s;h, by rea&s;on of the great Noi&s;e and Smoak.</P>
<P>The Enemies of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire,
<PB N="110" REF="69"> may elude the&s;e Fortre&s;&s;es &s;o much the ea&s;ier, in that their Cannons are not pointed the length of the Chanel, which cannot be done without a new Con&s;truction of the whole Fabrick of the Ca&s;tles; and &s;hould this be, it's ob&s;ervable that their Bullets go not &s;o far by much, as an Iron Bullet of Twelve Pound would do, by rea&s;on of their extream Gro&s;&s;ne&s;s and Weight; &s;everal of them al&s;o are &s;ubject to be broke, by the &s;trength of the Powder. Thus Galleys with Mortar-Pieces, ly|ing above the Ca&s;tles at a rea&s;onable Di&s;tance, may ea&s;ily in&s;ult over, and beat down the&s;e Fortre&s;&s;es, mi&s;takenly reputed &s;o formidable. And, is it not known by every Body, &s;ince the Ex|amples which have happened, that whoever &s;hall be Ma&s;ter of the Sea, and without Apprehen&s;ion of a Naval Ar|my on the Enemies Parts coming to di&s;turb him, may now by means of Eombs (which fly farther and almo&s;t as &s;wift as the Cannon) make every Maritim Town &s;ubmit, however &s;trong it be?</P>
<P>Only Four good Ve&s;&s;els between <HI>Te|nedos, Troyes,</HI> the <HI>Janizaries Cape,</HI> and
<PB N="111" REF="69"> the Pa&s;&s;age to the New Ca&s;tles (where 'tis every where good Anchoring) would be &s;ufficient to hinder any Ve&s;|&s;el from coming out or into <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople,</HI> which they might de&s;troy with Famine, or by means of Rebellions. To hinder then the Execution of the&s;e Projects (which &s;eem to be equally ea&s;y and nece&s;&s;ary to <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes) there mu&s;t be Politick Rea&s;ons, which God only can di&s;&s;ipate, when he plea&s;es; for, its impo&s;&s;ible to believe, as &s;eve|ral pretend, that the Con&s;ideration of interrupting Commerce, has been hi|therto the real Hinderance.</P>
<P>Yet it &s;eems, that Trade is &s;uch a delicious Mor&s;el, as makes it hard to be denyed; however, it's deplorable, that tho&s;e who are mo&s;t intere&s;s'd to hinder the Aggrandi&s;ment of the <HI>Turks,</HI> have under the &s;pecious Pretence of Commerce, &s;acrific'd the Intere&s;ts of States, the Honour of Kings, and the Advantage and Encrea&s;e of <HI>true Religi|on.</HI> The <HI>Spaniards</HI> al&s;o have not a lit|tle profited the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire by driving out the <HI>Moors</HI> and <HI>Jews</HI> from their Conque&s;ts, who have in great Numbers peopled the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s
<PB N="112" REF="70"> Countries, in &s;upplying the Defect of natural <HI>Turks,</HI> and entertaining Com|merce with the <HI>Franck</HI> Nations. We may al&s;o affirm, that <HI>Rome</HI> (as Holy as it is) has contributed to the Gran|dure of the <HI>Turks,</HI> by the <HI>Greeks</HI> in|&s;tructed in <HI>Italy,</HI> of which there are publick Colleges; who return Home after they have got Learning, where they are <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> and Interpreters to <HI>Vizirs,</HI> and in&s;truct the <HI>Turks</HI> in all Affairs, though never &s;o di&s;advanta|geous and pernicious to the <HI>Chri&s;tians.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Reflections will exclude the Complaints of &s;o great an Evil; for, in fine, tho&s;e over whom the <HI>Turks</HI> have made &s;uch con&s;iderable Progre&s;|&s;es, being them&s;elves the Cau&s;es of them, it belongs to them to procure the nece&s;&s;ary Remedy, and whatever Means they may have for this; yet it &s;eem'd as if they never ought to have thought of them, without the Occa&s;i|on which <HI>God</HI> now puts into their Hands in the pre&s;ent War again&s;t the <HI>Infidels,</HI> and the Liberty all <HI>Chri&s;tendom</HI> now has, by Enjoyment of Peace a|mong them&s;elves, to unite their Arms again&s;t the&s;e <HI>Infidels.</HI></P>
<PB N="113" REF="70">
<P>And if this pre&s;ent Expedition does not procure the entire Ruin of the <HI>Turks,</HI> yet will it put their Empire in|to &s;uch a great Di&s;order, out of which they will never be able to rai&s;e them|&s;elves; and the Arrogance of the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> will be confounded, e&s;pecially that of <HI>Vanli Effendi,</HI> Preacher in Or|dinary to the <HI>Grand Seignior.</HI> This fal&s;e Prophet preaching, in his <HI>High|ne&s;s</HI>'s Hearing, in the City of <HI>Caminiec,</HI> two Days after it was taken, and con|gratulating him for this new Conque&s;t; foretold him with great A&s;&s;urance, the Conque&s;t of <HI>Rome,</HI> &s;eeing that accord|ing to &s;ome of their Prophecies, the <HI>Mu&s;&s;ulmen</HI> mu&s;t take <HI>Spain,</HI> and in &s;ine, predominate over the <HI>Red Apple;</HI> for thus do they call the City of <HI>Rome, Kizil Alma.</HI></P>
<P>He enlarged him&s;elf much on this matter, but took care not to fall in his Di&s;cour&s;e on another Prophecy, re|ceived by &s;everal of the mo&s;t able Per|&s;ons among&s;t them, which &s;ays, <HI>They &s;hall be driven from</HI> Rome, <HI>afterwards from</HI> Con&s;tantinople, <HI>and the whole Em|pire; That this which had been &s;ubdued, and re-e&s;tabli&s;hed by</HI> Con&s;tantine the
<PB N="114" REF="71"> Great, <HI>was to he &s;natched from the</HI> Chri|&s;tians <HI>under the Reign of another</HI> Con|&s;tantine, <HI>by a</HI> Turki&s;h Emperor <HI>named</HI> Mahomet; <HI>but, that the</HI> Chri&s;tians <HI>al&s;o &s;hould retake it, during the Reign of an|other</HI> Ottoman <HI>Emperor of the &s;ame Name.</HI></P>
<P>It may be, that this taking of the City of <HI>Rome,</HI> Prophe&s;ied by the <HI>Turks,</HI> has been accompli&s;hed by <HI>Mahamet</HI> II. in the &s;ame time he became Ma&s;ter of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> where <HI>Con&s;tantine the Great,</HI> who was the Re&s;torer of it, and who gave it its Name, having tran&s;|ferred the Imperial Seat from <HI>Rome,</HI> Enacted, it &s;hould be called <HI>New Rome:</HI> For being de&s;irous to Erect it as a Ca|pital of the <HI>Roman</HI> Empire, he endea|voured to equalize it to <HI>Ancient Rome,</HI> by the Magnificence of its Buildings, Number of its Inhabitants, and the rich Spoils, which he took from other Cities of his Obedience, to make up the Glory and Splendor of this; and, in con&s;equence of this, the <HI>Grand Seigniors</HI> at this day call them|&s;elves <HI>Koum Padichahi,</HI> Emperors of <HI>Rome,</HI> which is one of their fine&s;t Ti|tles. In fine, if the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have
<PB N="115" REF="71"> lo&s;t this Capital of the <HI>Ea&s;tern</HI> Em|pire, which was al&s;o that of the <HI>Roman</HI> Empire, under the Reign of <HI>Con&s;tan|tine Paleologus;</HI> &s;urnamed <HI>Draco&s;ez;</HI> and if, for the Accompli&s;hment of the <HI>Turks</HI> Prophecy, he that took it was called <HI>Mahomet,</HI> the Emperor who was &s;o lately Ma&s;ter of this famous Ci|ty, and again&s;t whom the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have had &s;uch wonderful &s;ucce&s;s, is al&s;o called <HI>Mahomet,</HI> and con&s;equent|ly may well be he, who according to the &s;ame Prophecy, &s;hall re&s;tore it to the <HI>Chri&s;tians.</HI> But if this Explication be not &s;ufficient, although it appears clear enough; may one not fancy after the manner of the <HI>Ea&s;tern</HI> People, That the <HI>Turks</HI> being obliged to eat of the <HI>Apple</HI> of <HI>Di&s;cord,</HI> and to make it <HI>Red</HI> by the effu&s;ion of their own <HI>Blood,</HI> &s;hall &s;ee on them&s;elves the Accompli&s;h|ment of their Prophecy?</P>
<P>It is very vexatious, that their Ene|mies have not moreover made them experience this Ju&s;tice, and let &s;lip &s;o many occa&s;ions, making no advantage of the Rebellions, and con&s;iderable Commotions, which often, and almo&s;t in all times have &s;haken this <HI>Ottoman
<PB N="116" REF="72"> Colo&s;&s;us.</HI> It has advanced in its Ori|ginal, leaving many Enemies behind it; pa&s;t from <HI>A&s;ia</HI> into <HI>Europe,</HI> with|out fini&s;hing the Conque&s;ts of the Countries, which lay on either &s;ide; it's Children and Brethren, became &s;o many U&s;urpers; the Son became the A&s;&s;a&s;&s;in of the Father; Bre|thren Fratricides, and the lawful Heir, which was in the greate&s;t Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, pa&s;s'd no &s;ooner into one of the two Parts of the World, but he was cal|led back into the other.</P>
<P>The <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes have never drawn the lea&s;t advantage from their Di&s;orders (as has been ob&s;erved) and tho&s;e of the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have been always profitable to them. What &s;atisfaction was it not to them, to &s;ee them&s;elves &s;ought to, as they have always been, and to &s;ee their &s;ignal faults, the lo&s;|&s;es of Battels, and their frequent Re|bellions, to be of no Value to the <HI>Chri|&s;tians?</HI> Their Enemies mu&s;t not excu&s;e them&s;elves, on the innumerable Land and Sea-Forces, which their Ima|ginations di&s;turbed with a pannic Fear, has made them attribute to the&s;e <HI>In|fidels.</HI> The weakne&s;s of the <HI>Turks</HI> on
<PB N="117" REF="72"> the Sea, cannot be greater than 'tis now; and their Land-Forces, far le&s;s than believed, are &s;o ill ordered, and led by &s;o few Officers, mo&s;t of them without Experience, e&s;pecially the Chief Commanders; that a&s;&s;uredly, how little &s;oever we reflect hereon, and profit by the&s;e reflections, we may &s;oon find Means, not only to free our &s;elves from the Inva&s;ions of this Enemy, but to retake with ju&s;tice each for his part, in a &s;hort time, what he has U|&s;urp'd &s;ince many Ages.</P>
<P>Could it be comprehended, that a|mong&s;t the <HI>Turks,</HI> mo&s;t of the Gene|rals, Colonels of Foot, and Comman|ders of Hor&s;e, are drawn from the <HI>Ward-robe,</HI> the <HI>Gardens,</HI> or, <HI>Cu&s;tom-Hou&s;es?</HI> that a Body of &s;even thou&s;and Hor&s;e, has no more Officers, than another of three hundred, and that a Chamber, or Company of two hun|dred <HI>Janizaries,</HI> have no more than one of an hundred and fifty? They are mo&s;t certainly, very able to make a great Noi&s;e, to expre&s;s them&s;elves in their Di&s;cour&s;es and Writings, with emphatick and &s;welling Terms, big with Vanity and O&s;tentation, extend|ing
<PB N="118" REF="73"> them&s;elves in Campaigns, to ap|pear more numerous than they are, and in &s;hewing them&s;elves de&s;perate on Breaches, the <HI>Scimitar</HI> in their Hands, them&s;elves half naked, bawl|ling and roaring out like po&s;&s;e&s;s'd People, to imprint Terror, and to cut off mens Heads when they have fir&s;t &s;truck them with this fooli&s;h Fear. But tho&s;e who are concerned and in|tere&s;ted, &s;hould know how to deal with them, by the Examples which all the World has &s;een of St. <HI>Godard, Cochim, Cheherim,</HI> and lately of <HI>Vienna, Gran, Buda,</HI> &amp;c. and whatever has pa&s;s'd, and &s;till pa&s;&s;es in <HI>Poland,</HI> the <HI>Morea, Hungary, Dalmatia,</HI> even in the lea&s;t Rencounters, both by Sea and Land.</P>
<P>Cannot <HI>Chri&s;tendom</HI> now undeceive her &s;elf in this Subject? If we would expre&s;s the Force and Bravery of a Man, we compare him to a <HI>Turk, fierce as a Turk.</HI> In a word, this Name is a mere Phanta&s;m, to afright Chil|dren, with which we take plea&s;ure to feed them, and educate them in this Fear.</P>
<PB N="119" REF="73">
<P>It's quite otherwi&s;e with the <HI>Turks,</HI> who begin in their very Infancy, and are exactly in&s;tructed to de&s;pi&s;e the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> and to have only for them Sentiments of Hatred and Indignation. They never write, or &s;peak of us, (whatever Amity and Familiarity you have with them, even in &s;peaking to us in common Conver&s;ation), but by treating us with <HI>Ghiaour, Infidel.</HI> It &s;eems as if this Hatred was Heredita|ry to them; and it's certain, it's en|creas'd by Education, and takes its greate&s;t &s;trength, from the adhe&s;ion of the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> to <HI>Mahometani&s;m,</HI> and the great re&s;pect they have generally for whatever concerns their <HI>fal&s;e Religion;</HI> whereas, there are but too many <HI>Chri|&s;tians,</HI> who &s;hew a great Indifferency for theirs.</P>
<P>The <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have been di&s;mayed at the lea&s;t &s;hock the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power has given them. They have con&s;idered the Conque&s;ts whereby that Empire has aggrandi&s;ed her &s;elf, as an in&s;ur|mountable Bar; and all their Con&s;o|lation lies in &s;aying, <HI>That the</HI> Turks <HI>never lo&s;e, or part with any thing they are once po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of.</HI></P>
<PB N="120" REF="74">
<P>On the&s;e Principles they would al|ways be at Peace with them, which is not a likely means to make them lo&s;e, or return any thing. They have not profited by Peace, to in&s;truct them|&s;elves rightly of their Forces, Poli|ticks, and Conduct as well within, as without their Empire; whereof tho&s;e who are intere&s;ted, &s;hould be fully in|formed, to excite in them&s;elves the Motions of a proportionable Zeal, for the de&s;truction of this Enemy, to which they are obliged by the two mo&s;t powerful Means in the World, <HI>Religion</HI> and <HI>Liberty;</HI> and by the Glory of de&s;troying &s;o barbarous and Tyran|nick a Government.</P>
<P>We &s;hould greatly endeavour, to di&s;cover perfectly the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Affairs, by a &s;earch and penetration into their Policy; &s;eeing that in the &s;ight and habit, which the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have of ma|king much of their weakne&s;&s;es, in re|&s;pect of the&s;e <HI>Infidels,</HI> they are &s;o inge|nious in repre&s;enting them to them|&s;elves otherwi&s;e than they are.</P>
<P>The <HI>Turks</HI> are &s;o addicted to an abo|minable Filthine&s;s, which hinders Ge|neration, that notwith&s;tanding the
<PB N="121" REF="74"> Plurality of Women, there are few of them who have above four or five Children, excepting <HI>Sultan Murat,</HI> and &s;ome others, of whom there are mentioned extraordinary Stories. There's no doubt, but this rea&s;on join|ed to the Plague (which is almo&s;t con|tinually in <HI>Turky,</HI> much or little, ac|cording to the Sea&s;ons, and which &s;ometimes makes horrible Ravages) have been to this time capable to re|duce this Empire into De&s;arts, with|out the Number of Slaves, which are ince&s;&s;antly brought from the Fron|tiers, where the <HI>Turks</HI> have always Wars. The Truth of this appears, in that there are very few <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Men or Women, who have not been taken young from the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> or that are not the Sons or Grand&s;ons of <HI>Rene|gadoes,</HI> or Slaves; who for the mo&s;t part change their Religion, through Nece&s;&s;ity or Ignorance, without a di|&s;tinct knowledge of any. So neither is there any Hou&s;e, where there is not for <HI>Men</HI> and <HI>Maid-Servants</HI> &s;everal Slaves, e&s;pecially <HI>Ru&s;&s;ians;</HI> and one needs only to read Hi&s;tory to know, That the <HI>Turks</HI> have ever tran&s;ported
<PB N="122" REF="75"> to the inward parts of their Em|pire, and e&s;pecially to <HI>Con&s;tantino|ple;</HI> the chief Inhabitants of the Pla|ces of their Conque&s;ts, as fa&s;t as they have enlarged their Frontiers; which they will no more do, if the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have but the Will to hinder them.</P>
<P><HI>Prede&s;tination</HI> has little effect, now a-days, in the Minds of the <HI>Turks;</HI> for though they believe it, they al&s;o give &s;ome ear to what they call Prudence, which con&s;i&s;ts in the not expo&s;ing them|&s;elves in &s;mall Numbers to great For|ces; and, as I have already &s;aid el&s;e|where, mo&s;t believe now them&s;elves to be <HI>prede&s;tinated</HI> to fly, and be wor&s;t|ed, ju&s;t as they were before to vanqui&s;h or be &s;lain. They are only &s;een not to withdraw from the Plague, which &s;weeps away every year incredible Numbers of them. And, if they ap|pear ob&s;tinate and re&s;olute in &s;u|&s;taining a Siege to the la&s;t Extremity, or, in any other occa&s;ion; this is le&s;s by an effect of <HI>Prede&s;tination,</HI> or true Bravery (although it is certain, there are people of great Courage among&s;t them) than out of De&s;pair, to which
<PB N="123" REF="75"> they are forced, by the well grounded fear of peri&s;hing more ignominiou&s;ly, if they have bad Succe&s;s. They come to this extremity, becau&s;e ordinarily the greate&s;t Officers among&s;t them &s;eldom mi&s;s of being put to Death, even when they are not in Fault; un|le&s;s they u&s;e precautions to avoid it, by keeping them&s;elves from Court, or withdrawing wholly from the Em|pire, as hath been lately done by the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a</HI> of <HI>Napoli de Romania,</HI> who retired to <HI>Venice</HI> with all his Family, and &s;ome Commanders in other places taken in the <HI>Morea,</HI> who have de&s;ired to be tran&s;ported into <HI>Africa.</HI> And the <HI>Grand Vizir, Solyman Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> after his ill &s;ucce&s;s in the lo&s;s of <HI>Buda,</HI> would not return to <HI>Adrianople,</HI> to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> by rea&s;on of the uncer|tainty of the manner wherein he &s;hould be received.</P>
<P>One may infer then from all the&s;e Rea|&s;ons, That it's only the ill Conduct of the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> which has made the <HI>Turks</HI> &s;o Powerful; it being that which made the <HI>Venetian Fleet</HI> mi&s;carry, which con&s;i&s;ted of Four&s;core and fifteen Gal|leys, &s;even Galea&s;&s;es, and fifty Ve&s;&s;els,
<PB N="124" REF="76"> with which they might not only have pre&s;erved <HI>Candia,</HI> but attempted <HI>Con|&s;tantinople.</HI></P>
<P>The extream Ignorance of the <HI>Turks,</HI> and their Contempt of whatever has not relation to their Manners, or Needs, is to them al&s;o a notable Prejudice. It may ea&s;ily be di&s;cern'd, by what has been already &s;aid; but I remember one Encounter, which for the &s;ingula|rity of the Fact, I mu&s;t relate here, as a remarkable In&s;tance of their Igno|rance, on occa&s;ion of the <HI>Grand Vizir, Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> who was &s;tran|gled for rai&s;ing the Siege of <HI>Vienna.</HI></P>
<P>As he gave fir&s;t Audiences (in the time he was made <HI>Grand Vizir,</HI> after the death of <HI>Ahmet Kupruli</HI>) to Emba&s;|&s;adors, and other Mini&s;ters of Foreign <HI>States,</HI> who paid their Vi&s;its of Con|gratulation, on account of this new Dignity; the <HI>Sieur Colier,</HI> Re&s;ident for the <HI>States</HI> of <HI>Holland,</HI> in his Turn, made his Vi&s;it. I happened on that day to be at the <HI>Vizir</HI>'s Hou&s;e, where, &s;eeing the Re&s;ident enter in Ceremo|ny, I took my place in his Train and Attendance, con&s;i&s;ting of tho&s;e of his Nation, of whom I was known, which
<PB N="125" REF="76"> commonly is far from being refu&s;ed, it adding to the Mini&s;ters Credit. I a&s;|&s;i&s;ted at this Audience, becau&s;e <HI>Mon|&s;ieur</HI> the Emba&s;&s;ador had privately de|&s;ired it, to avoid all &s;u&s;picion, and the better to under&s;tand what pa&s;s'd; this was in the time of the great Di&s;pute of the <HI>Sofa,</HI> which has made &s;uch a great noi&s;e. I under&s;tood all that the <HI>Vizir</HI> and Re&s;ident &s;aid on each hand. And becau&s;e the Interpreter of this Chief Mini&s;ter, the famous <HI>Greek Maurocordato,</HI> knew not <HI>Dutch,</HI> the Re&s;ident delivered him&s;elf in <HI>Italian,</HI> which was explained to the <HI>Vizir</HI> in the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Language; which is not done with the <HI>French</HI> Emba&s;|&s;adors, who always &s;peak their own Tongue, and only u&s;e their own In|terpreters, unle&s;s on &s;ome extraordi|nary Occa&s;ion.</P>
<P>After the Complements, and accu|&s;tomed Civilities, the <HI>Vizir</HI> demand|ed of the Re&s;ident, What News he had from <HI>Chri&s;tendom;</HI> he enquired, Whe|ther the King of <HI>France</HI> had re&s;tored to the <HI>States</HI> of <HI>Holland,</HI> what he had taken from them: The Re&s;ident Re|ply'd, <HI>His Ma&s;ters had recovered their
<PB N="126" REF="77"> Lo&s;&s;es; and that at la&s;t, his Maje&s;ty had re&s;tored them</HI> Mae&s;trich, <HI>a con&s;iderable Place, which was the only one remaining in his hands.</HI> The <HI>Vizir</HI> being well skilled in <HI>Geography,</HI> and as well in&s;tru|cted in the Rights of Princes, drew immediately this Conclu&s;ion to the Re&s;ident, with a Tone extreamly con|fident, thinking he &s;pake &s;omething very con&s;iderable; <HI>You have now then</HI> Sicily <HI>and</HI> Me&s;&s;ina? But the <HI>Reis-Effen|di,</HI> of <HI>Secretary</HI> of <HI>State,</HI> who &s;tood at his Elbow, having whi&s;pered him, <HI>That they belonged to the</HI> Spaniards; the Conver&s;ation &s;tuck at the clearing up of this wonderful Di&s;covery, and the Audience ended as is u&s;ual, with <HI>Coffee, Sherbet,</HI> &s;weet <HI>Waters,</HI> and <HI>Per|fumes.</HI></P>
<P>It's about three years &s;ince, That the Governour of <HI>Neuheu&s;el,</HI> as (learn|ed as <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha</HI> was in <HI>Geo|graphy,</HI> and Affairs of his time) made ab&s;urd Reproaches to a <HI>French</HI> Gentle|man, named the <HI>Sieur Dalera,</HI> who was one of the King of <HI>Poland</HI>'s Gentle|men. After the Battel, and rai&s;ing of the Siege of <HI>Vienna,</HI> wherein he was, His Maje&s;ty of <HI>Poland</HI> &s;ent him to his
<PB N="127" REF="77"> Queen, to carry her the News, but ha|ving been met with by a party of <HI>Turks,</HI> he was taken and carried to <HI>Neuheu|&s;el,</HI> where he was kept a Pri&s;oner of War. In expectation of his Redem|ption (which was long fir&s;t, by rea&s;on the <HI>Turks</HI> took him for the Queens Brother) the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> or Governour of the Town, oft diverted him&s;elf in trifling Di&s;cour&s;es with him. Seeing the Shooes he wore &s;ince &s;even or eight Months of Impri&s;onment, were much decayed, he ask'd him <HI>Whether he could not &s;ow and mend his Shooes:</HI> The Gentle|man having an&s;wer'd, <HI>It was never his Profe&s;&s;ion; What an Animal art thou,</HI> re|ply'd the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a? What art thou good for, &s;eeing thou can&s;t not mend thy things?</HI> And at the end of the detention of the <HI>Sieur Dalera,</HI> after his Ran&s;om was agreed on, which was thirty <HI>Turks,</HI> whom the King of <HI>Poland</HI> &s;ent in Exchange; the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a</HI> told him, <HI>He was well per&s;waded of the Bravery and Courage of this Mo|narch, but he could never have thought the</HI> Chri&s;tians <HI>&s;o hone&s;t, as to give thirty</HI> Mu&s;&s;ulmen, <HI>the lea&s;t of which he valu|ed as a Trea&s;ure, for an helple&s;s Crea|ture, who knew not &s;o much as to &s;ow.</HI>
<PB N="128" REF="78"> But that which is more particular, and comes to my Subject, is, That one day the <HI>Ba&s;&s;a</HI> argued &s;eriou&s;ly with the <HI>Sieur Dalera,</HI> on Affairs of his Time. He affirmed to him, that of all the Di&s;graces which then hapned to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> his Ma&s;ter, and to the <HI>Mu&s;&s;ulmen,</HI> there was not one more &s;en&s;ible to him, than that which the <HI>French</HI> cau&s;ed them; who not being their Enemies, yet gave pa&s;&s;age to the King of <HI>Poland</HI> through <HI>France,</HI> to join the Imperial Army, and to &s;uccour <HI>Vienna,</HI> without which the <HI>Vizir</HI> had certainly become Ma&s;ter of the Place.</P>
<P>The &s;ame <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha,</HI> was made Admiral at Sea, when he never had made a Voyage, or knew any thing of that Profe&s;&s;ion. And it's not to be imagined, that the&s;e In&s;tances are rare and extraordinary; the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Em|pire is full of them, as may be judged from tho&s;e I come from relating, and others which follow.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="129" REF="78">
<HEAD>CHAP. V. Proofs of the la&s;t Weakne&s;s of the <HI>Turks</HI> at Sea, with a Relation of the Affair at <HI>Chio.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE <HI>Ottoman</HI> &s;trength being found much decayed, by what we have recited in the preceding Chapter, one may farther ea&s;ily di&s;cover to what degree it's dimini&s;h'd by exami|ning its Naval Forces, which only con|&s;i&s;t in &s;ome Galleys, which are not capable of making the lea&s;t Re&s;i|&s;tance.</P>
<P>There are few Per&s;ons, who have not heard &s;everal Relations of this; whence plainly appears, that the&s;e Galleys of the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> &s;erve &s;carcely for any thing el&s;e, e&s;pecially &s;ince the Peace of <HI>Candia,</HI> but only for the Collecting the <HI>Kharatch</HI> or Tribute from the I&s;les, and Coa&s;ts of the <HI>Ar|chipelago.</HI> Yet are they de&s;tined to clear the <HI>White Sea</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Py|rates, who di&s;turb the Commerce of his <HI>Higne&s;s</HI>'s Subjects. The &s;mall Ex|perience
<PB N="130" REF="79"> and Courage of their Com|manders, have always appeared by the refu&s;al of Fighting, in avoiding the lea&s;t Ve&s;&s;els in Rencounters, un|le&s;s their Galleys be all together, or a&s;|&s;i&s;ted by the <HI>Barbary Co&s;&s;airs.</HI></P>
<P>It was never heard, but they have been beaten, every time they have been concerned, not only with the <HI>Ve|netian</HI> Army, or Galleys of <HI>Malta,</HI> but with two or three Ve&s;&s;els only well uni|ted, and acting in Con&s;ort. In&s;tances are very numerous; but the World having been &s;ufficiently informed of all the great Fights with the <HI>Infidels,</HI> I &s;hall content my &s;elf with Relating only &s;ome particular ones, under the Officers of greate&s;t Reputation, who have commanded in Chief their Naval Army, and which will make it ea&s;ily judged what the re&s;t are capable of doing. And we may premi&s;e, that whatever Advantage they may have obtained, it has been always by Chance, through Surprize; and without de&s;er|ving the lea&s;t Prai&s;e.</P>
<P>When <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> of whom we have &s;poke, Commanded the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Fleet, con&s;i&s;ting of fifty &s;ix
<PB N="131" REF="79"> Galleys, he was in the <HI>Archipelago,</HI> at the <HI>Port</HI> of St. <HI>Georges</HI> of <HI>Skiri,</HI> when the Galley which made the Rounds, came and gave him Notice of the Di&s;|covery of a <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Ve&s;&s;el that was very near. He di&s;patch'd at the &s;ame time Twelve Galleys, the chief Com|manders of which were <HI>Dourack Bey, Ma&s;&s;ammam,</HI> and <HI>Memmi Ba&s;&s;a Oglou,</HI> to take this Ve&s;&s;el, which was a <HI>Vene|tian</HI> Bark, arm'd with Twenty two Pieces of Cannon, Fifty four <HI>Candiot</HI> Souldiers, and Twenty eight Sea-men, and commanded by one <HI>Barban.</HI> This was during the War of <HI>Candia.</HI></P>
<P>This Ve&s;&s;el long with&s;tood the&s;e Twelve Galleys, and having vigorou&s;|ly kept them from coming on Board, &s;he di&s;gu&s;ted them from continuing the Fight. The Captain <HI>Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> which was not plea&s;ed in &s;eeing this Spectacle, re&s;olv'd to Advance with his whole Fleet; which having done, Drums beating, and Trumpets &s;ounding, the Bark was boarded, and carried away by as many Galleys as could fa&s;ten them&s;elves to her, and was thus tow|ed along by this valiant <HI>Armado.</HI></P>
<PB N="132" REF="80">
<P>After this glorious Expedition, this brave General &s;teer'd his Cour&s;e near Mount <HI>Athos,</HI> commonly call'd <HI>Monte Santo,</HI> in de&s;ign of &s;earching after Gal|liots, or &s;ome other &s;uch Prey as this Bark; but met with Four Ve&s;&s;els of <HI>Majorca,</HI> which leaving the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Ca&s;&s;andria,</HI> at the Entrance of the Gulph of <HI>Salonica,</HI> &s;teer'd the &s;ame Cour&s;e as he. He at fir&s;t &s;hewed great Re&s;oluti|on to attack them, and effectually made ready for that Purpo&s;e. They &s;oon drew near the Enemies; but this Ge|neral, with greater Speed commanded the Retreat, which he thought ab&s;o|lutely nece&s;&s;ary to his Pre&s;ervation, by rea&s;on of &s;ome Volleys of Cannon, which the chief Ve&s;&s;el of <HI>Majorca</HI> made him hear very near. And he judged it more expedient to go and refre&s;h him|&s;elf at <HI>Chio,</HI> than to engage in a peri|lous Combat, likely to le&s;&s;en the Re|putation which he came from obtain|ing, by the taking of one <HI>Venetian</HI> Bark with his Fifty &s;ix Galleys.</P>
<P><HI>Memmi Ba&s;&s;a Oglou</HI> being in the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Chio</HI> with Forty Galleys, had no|tice, that in the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Cardumila</HI> of the &s;ame I&s;le towards <HI>Tramontane,</HI> there
<PB N="133" REF="80"> was a Pirate-Ve&s;&s;el; he determined to take the Opportunity of the fair Wea|ther to attack him, with all his Army. This was the <HI>Chevalier</HI> of <HI>Hoquincourt</HI> under the Flagg of <HI>Malta,</HI> who being informed of the Neighborhood of his Enemies, and having unloaded a &s;mall Cargo of Coffee and Linen-Cloth, which he had taken, he hoped to have &s;till time to get out to have Sea-room to receive them. He was on the Point of compa&s;&s;ing his End, when the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Galleys being arrived, tho&s;e of <HI>Dourak Bey,</HI> and <HI>I&s;&s;ouf Ba&s;&s;a</HI> &s;ingling from the re&s;t, &s;truck again&s;t this Ve&s;|&s;el with that Strength, as did not a little help to clear it off the <HI>Port,</HI> without which it could not have been defended without extream Danger.</P>
<P>The <HI>Knight,</HI> vigorou&s;ly an&s;wered his Enemies Di&s;charge of all their Can|non; and, his Souldiers and Sea-men, animated by his Example, and the Pre&s;ervation of their Liberty, &s;o &s;tout|ly &s;econded him, that <HI>Dourak Bey,</HI> and <HI>I&s;&s;ouf Ba&s;&s;a</HI> were obliged to cut the grapling Irons, with which their Gal|leys had fa&s;tened his Ve&s;&s;el, to get them&s;elves Sea-room, and con&s;erve the
<PB N="134" REF="81"> Remainders of their Rowers, leaving their grapling Irons fa&s;tned to the Stern of his Ve&s;&s;el. The great Number of Shot from the other Galleys, had extreamly damaged the whole Ve&s;&s;el, and e&s;pecially the Ma&s;ts, which made the <HI>Turks</HI> apprehend, that with a lit|tle Wind which began to ri&s;e, they would fall on their Galleys, and take them into their Ruin; wherefore they thought it fit, to get at a greater Di|&s;tance.</P>
<P>This Di&s;tance gave Liberty to the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> to put their Ropes, Sails, Ma&s;ts and Ve&s;&s;el into &s;ome Order. The <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> had defended them&s;elves from Ten a-Clock in the Morning till Two in the Afternoon, and then being clear of the Fire and Smoak, with which they were covered, and profiting by the Wind which began to blow; they pur&s;ued their Aggre&s;&s;ors, &s;howring down upon them Storms of Chain|&s;hot and Bullets rain'd in with that Vi|olence, that the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Galleys were &s;oon di&s;per&s;ed to avoid &s;uch a Tem|pe&s;t, and did not rejoin but to gain the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Scio,</HI> where they entered with &s;uch Precipitation, that they
<PB N="135" REF="81"> grievou&s;ly battered one another.</P>
<P><HI>Captain Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> who had &s;uch a great Reputation for Bravery, that the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> had given him the Name of <HI>Caplan</HI> (which &s;ignifies, a <HI>Tyger</HI>) thought to &s;ignalize him&s;elf very much by pa&s;&s;ing with Forty Galleys into the <HI>Port</HI> of the I&s;le of <HI>Nio,</HI> to attack the Knight of <HI>Binanville,</HI> who there took in Refre&s;hments with Three Ve&s;&s;els which he commanded; one of which being on the Stocks, and con&s;equently u&s;ele&s;s, the <HI>Knight</HI> turned the Sides of the Two others towards the Enemy, without having time to weigh Anchor, as being &s;urprized, and fired &s;o hot upon them, that the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> General with his whole Navy dur&s;t not ap|proach him, but was forced to retire with Lo&s;s.</P>
<P>The &s;ame <HI>Captain Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> in the Year following, thought it nece&s;&s;ary to join to his Forty Galleys Six <HI>Tripoly</HI> Ve&s;|&s;els, and took all imaginable Precau|tions to attack in one of the <HI>Ports</HI> of the I&s;le of <HI>Metelin,</HI> Captain <HI>George</HI>'s <HI>Ma|ria,</HI> who was there with his Ve&s;&s;el of Forty Pieces of Cannon; attended on|ly with an other Ve&s;&s;el far le&s;s, of
<PB N="136" REF="82"> which he was the Convoy. It's true this was &s;unk after Eight or nine Hours Fight, but <HI>George's Maria</HI> held out fighting Two Days, and apparently would not have yielded notwith&s;tand|ing the continuance of the Calm, had not a Cannon-&s;hot took him off. His Souldiers and Sea-men fought Two Hours after, with &s;uch Re&s;olution and Courage, as was worthy of the Re|venge which they would take for the venge which they would take for the Death of their Captain, even to the charging their Cannons with Baggs of <HI>Pia&s;ters,</HI> having no more Bullets; but, in fine, they were obliged to render on Compo&s;ition, which (according to the u&s;ual Cu&s;tom of the <HI>Turks</HI>) was not ob&s;erved. News was immediate|ly &s;ent of this important Victory to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> who was at <HI>Salo|nica,</HI> for which he made publick Re|joicings, which were by &s;o much the more agreeable to the People, as <HI>Ge|orge's Maria</HI> had the Reputation of be|ing the mo&s;t dangerous Enemy, which the <HI>Turks</HI> had among the <HI>Cor&s;arys.</HI> And his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> in Recompence of &s;o heroick an Exploit, confirm'd this <HI>Cap|tain</HI> in his Office of <HI>Generali&s;&s;imo</HI> of the Seas.</P>
<PB N="137" REF="82">
<P>The Campaign following, <HI>Captain Ba&s;&s;a</HI> met in the <HI>Port</HI> of the I&s;le of <HI>Eginus</HI> in the Gulph of <HI>Athens,</HI> Five Pirate Ve&s;&s;els which were at Anchor, and which he went in Pur&s;uit of, be|ing inform'd of them by a <HI>Genoe&s;e</HI> Bark; the Ma&s;ter of which had thought, in giving this News to the <HI>Captain Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> to be exempted from making him a Pre&s;ent, as is u&s;ual, be|cau&s;e the Admiral and other <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Commanders, never fail to exact &s;om|thing of all the Ve&s;&s;els they meet at Sea. <HI>Captain Ba&s;&s;a</HI> prepared him&s;elf to fight the&s;e <HI>Cor&s;ary's,</HI> profiting by the favourable Conjuncture of the Weather. The&s;e were the Nephew of the Chevalier of <HI>Binanville, Cruvil|lier, Daniel,</HI> and Two others; each of which Ve&s;&s;els, according to the Or|der of the Combat, was to be attack'd by Eight Galleys, the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Admi|ral having thus di&s;po&s;ed the Forty, of which his Navy con&s;i&s;ted.</P>
<P>He &s;et forward in good Order a|gain&s;t the Enemies, and he was &s;till Two Cannon-&s;hot di&s;tance, when <HI>Ma&s;&s;ammam,</HI> the mo&s;t intelligent and couragious <HI>Bey</HI> of his Army, whether
<PB N="138" REF="83"> he thought his Artillery carried far|the&s;t, or by &s;ome other Motive, fired on the <HI>Cor&s;ary's. Caplan</HI> ob&s;erving this Ha&s;t (for the Shot reached not half way) fell into a Fit of Anger, and cry'd out to <HI>Ma&s;&s;ammam; Hitherto I held thee for a Man, and a good Servant of the</HI> Grand Seignior, <HI>now I have lo&s;t all E&s;teem for thee, and only Shame re|mains to thee.</HI> After this fir&s;t Di&s;|charge (to which the Ve&s;&s;els an&s;we|red only by a Salute of Muskets out of a Bravado) the <HI>Captain Ba&s;&s;a</HI> being advanced with all his Calleys, began to thunder upon the <HI>Cor&s;ary's</HI> for a|bout Seven or Eight Hours.</P>
<P>The Ve&s;&s;e&s;s appeared always un|moveable and in the &s;ame Condition, when a &s;mall fre&s;h Wind which began to blow, joined to the approaching of the Night, made the Galleys appre|hend a too rude Engagement, and the rather, as judging the great firing they had made was u&s;ele&s;s, not knowing they had kill'd Four Men on <HI>Cruvillier</HI>'s Ve&s;&s;el. It was judged then expedient to &s;u&s;pend the Combat, to reflect on the Approaches of the Night, and the Ac|cidents which might happen, if the
<PB N="139" REF="83"> Wind &s;hould encrea&s;e. And the&s;e pru|dent Con&s;iderations, were followed by a &s;peedy Retreat into the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Ter|mis,</HI> whence the <HI>Captain Ba&s;&s;a</HI> removed into that of <HI>Napoli de Romania,</HI> where here&s;ted Thirty &s;even Days, for Se|ven or eight Hours of fruitle&s;s Com|bat; and required of the Governour of the Fort, a good Summ of Money, to deliver him&s;elf from the Puni&s;hment of being drowned, to which he had con|demn'd him, becau&s;e in &s;aluting his Army, one of the Bullets had done &s;ome Damage to a Galley, and carried a|way Two Banks with Five Slaves.</P>
<P>It's to be ob&s;erv'd, that if &s;ince this time till the Year 1683, the Wars which the <HI>Turks</HI> have had again&s;t <HI>Po|land</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;covy,</HI> has obliged them at different Times to a great Diver&s;ion of their Sea-Forces on the &s;ide of the <HI>Euxine Sea,</HI> &s;ending for the mo&s;t part to the <HI>White Sea,</HI> only <HI>Serdars,</HI> or Lieu|tenant Generals, with far le&s;s Galleys; &s;o is it true, that mo&s;t of the Forces of the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes are di&s;&s;ipated, excepting the Six Frigats of which <HI>Mr. de la Breteche</HI> was the chief Commander, which in the Cour&s;es they have &s;teer'd
<PB N="140" REF="84"> under the Flagg of <HI>Portugal,</HI> have much incommoded the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Gal|leys, and damnified his Subjects trade|ing.</P>
<P>I &s;aw (being in the Year 1682, with <HI>M. du Qu&eacute;ne</HI> in the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Milo</HI>) <HI>Captain Manetti</HI> bring in thither a <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Ve&s;&s;el of Eight Guns, which he had taken only with his Galliot of Twelve or fourteen Banks. In fine, it's certain, that all tho&s;e Galleys where|of the Naval Army of the <HI>Turks</HI> con|&s;i&s;ts, have for the&s;e Twenty five Years made no other Expedition, than on &s;ome wretched <HI>Petache</HI> of Five or &s;ix Guns, which they have &s;urpriz'd in a Calm, or in &s;ome <HI>Port,</HI> the Men be|ing many times at Land.</P>
<P>But, to relate other In&s;tances of their want of Courage and Strength, it's apparent, that even the <HI>French</HI> King's Ve&s;&s;els, have been lately &s;een in the mid&s;t of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire, be|fore <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> daring all the Na|val Forces which came in or went out of the <HI>Port,</HI> and refu&s;e the Salute; had they not Ho&s;tages given, they &s;hould have the &s;ame again. Never, by the &s;ame Rea&s;on, do they &s;alute this
<PB N="141" REF="84"> Imperial City, neither in going in nor coming out, nor the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s <HI>Seraglio,</HI> which is guarded with this Artillery heretofore mentioned, and to which all &s;orts of <HI>Mahometan</HI> or <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Ve&s;&s;els, of what Nation &s;oe|ver (excepting tho&s;e of the <HI>French</HI> King) cannot be di&s;pen&s;ed from do|ing Homage, by firing &s;everal Guns, according to what they be, to which the <HI>Seraglio</HI> or Town di&s;dain to an|&s;wer, even to the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Admiral's Flagg.</P>
<P>This obliges the other <HI>States</HI> of <HI>Eu|rope</HI> (who cannot endure this Di&s;tincti|on, and will not have their Ve&s;&s;els &s;a|lute, without being &s;aluted again) not to permit their Ve&s;&s;els of War which carry any Emba&s;&s;ador, or &s;erve for Convoys, to enter into the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Con|&s;tantinople,</HI> making them tarry in the I&s;les of <HI>Princes,</HI> which are at Five or &s;ix Leagues thence, or in the Chanel of the <HI>Black Sea,</HI> a little above or below <HI>Con&s;tantinople;</HI> which tho&s;e of <HI>France</HI> are re&s;olved never to do, no more than the &s;aluting the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Com|manders, and the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> him|&s;elf, who have &s;ometimes in vain &s;hew|ed
<PB N="142" REF="85"> their Di&s;&s;atisfaction, yet pa&s;s'd un|der Silence this Pretention, rather than to engage in the maintaining it, in the uncertainty of the Event.</P>
<P>In the Time of <HI>Mr. Aplemont</HI>'s Com|manding a Squadron, which had car|ried to <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> the <HI>Marquis de Nointel Olier,</HI> the King of <HI>France</HI>'s Em|ba&s;&s;ador to the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> there was a Sea-man who left one of the Ve&s;|&s;els to turn <HI>Turk.</HI> It was judged re|qui&s;ite to demand him; but as the <HI>Turks</HI> neither could nor would &s;urrender him, under pretence he had already chang|ed his Religion, the Officer who had landed to bring him back, affirmed, that this ought not to be an Hindrance to the obtaining of this Fellow; and in|vited at the &s;ame time in his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI>'s Ar&s;enal, and in the Pre&s;ence of above Two hundred <HI>Turks,</HI> the Lieutenant of the Admiralty to come and &s;ee the Re|paration which was going to be made to the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Church, by other Re|negado's, in one of the King of <HI>France</HI>'s Ve&s;&s;els named the <HI>Prince&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>This Squadron of <HI>M. Aplemont</HI> (on which were every day perform'd the Exerci&s;es of Religion, as well as tho&s;e
<PB N="143" REF="85"> of War, and whence the Noi&s;e of <HI>Bells, Drums</HI> and <HI>Trumpets,</HI> with that of the Cannons made <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> and all the <HI>Bo&s;phorus</HI> re&s;ound) attempted to force open the Pa&s;&s;age of the <HI>Dar|danello's,</HI> which was di&s;puted them; pretending to retake the <HI>Chevalier de Beaujeu,</HI> who had e&s;caped out of the Seven Towers into the King's Ve&s;&s;els, with Three or four other Slaves of Con&s;ideration, belonging to <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Ob&s;ervations cau&s;ed by divers Events in all the Campaigns of this pre&s;ent War, and by the Detention for above a Month (which Twelve <HI>Vene|tian</HI> Ve&s;&s;els and Two Fire-&s;hips have made in the <HI>Port</HI> of <HI>Rhodes</HI>) of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Naval Army, who dared not come out, though con&s;i&s;ting of Forty eight Galleys and Twenty &s;even Ve&s;|&s;els of War, to wit, Ten great ones newly built at <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> &s;even <HI>Tripolines,</HI> and Ten or twelve <HI>Algerines; Tunis</HI> not being able to furni&s;h any, by rea&s;on of its own Inte&s;tin Troubles: All this Fleet mu&s;t have been fami&s;hed, or nece&s;&s;itated to accept of Combat, had not the <HI>Venetian</HI> Ve&s;&s;els left their
<PB N="144" REF="86"> Po&s;t to join the Body of their Army, to continue the Expeditions of the <HI>Morea.</HI></P>
<P>We were told at <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> that the Siege of <HI>Coron</HI> obliged the <HI>Turks</HI> for the &s;uccouring of the Place, to un|lade whatever they had on their Gal|leys; and the &s;ame Advice al&s;o in|form'd us, that of all the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Ar|my, there were not above Five or &s;ix Galleys, which returned fit for Ser|vice; and, &s;ince that, we have heard that all this Fleet was moreover in a piteous Condition, having neither Pow|der nor Bullets; that Divi&s;ions and Revolts were common among&s;t the Souldiers, and that they had &s;carcely and Sea-Men; that the Ten great Ve&s;|&s;els of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> were good for no|thing, being built of green Wood, and by bad Workmen, which had occa&s;i|oned the Lo&s;s of one of the greate&s;t, being &s;unk without one Mans &s;aving him&s;elf who was thereon. They al&s;o parted in &s;uch Ha&s;t, that there were Two of them, which could not take in their Guns, but in pa&s;&s;ing by the Ca&s;tles, and at <HI>Tenedos,</HI> where the other Ve&s;&s;els gave them &s;ome Pieces.</P>
<PB N="145" REF="86">
<P>The Plague and Scarcity (which have been extraordinary great this Year at <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> as well as among&s;t the Troops) cau&s;es among&s;t the Peo|ple an horrible Con&s;ternation; and &s;o much the more, that flattering them|&s;elves with the retaking of the Places conquered by the <HI>Venetians,</HI> as well as the rai&s;ing the <HI>Imperiali&s;ts</HI> to Flight, for which they made Bonfires; they have felt the Fal&s;ity of all this News, by their want of Corn and other Provi|&s;ions, which <HI>Greece,</HI> and the <HI>White Sea</HI> yielded this Capital City; and that the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> on the contrary, conti|nued &s;till to advance by new and more important Conque&s;ts, and by the ta|king of their Ve&s;&s;els at Sea. They al&s;o write, That <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> is in an ex|tream Apprehen&s;ion, le&s;t the <HI>Co&s;&s;acks</HI> &s;hould come by the <HI>Black Sea</HI> to ravage the Chanel, and even the Suburbs of the Town, as has been &s;een hereto|fore; and its fear'd, for the compleat|ing their Mi&s;eries, le&s;t the <HI>Venetians</HI> &s;hould block up the Chanel of the <HI>Dar|danello's</HI> to come and fire all therea|bouts, and fami&s;h the Town, by &s;ei|zing <HI>Tenedos,</HI> and keeping the Roads
<PB N="146" REF="87"> which lie near the fir&s;t Ca&s;tles.</P>
<P>In fine, &s;everal People in <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople</HI> have long ago begun to prepare them&s;elves to leave that City, to pa&s;s into <HI>A&s;ia:</HI> The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI>'s Trea|&s;ure is exhau&s;ted, and there are great De&s;ertions, and Mutinies among&s;t the Souldiers, who pillage and u&s;e the In|habitants as they li&s;t. And who knows what Confu&s;ions and In&s;urrections this late Action of the Army (of depo|&s;ing their Emperor, <HI>Sultan Mahomet,</HI> who had reigned Eight and forty Years, and &s;etting up his Brother <HI>Sul|tan Solyman</HI> in his place) may pro|duce? But what will they do, and what will become of them, if their E|nemies act as powerfully as they are able; and if it be true, that Rebel|lions begin to ari&s;e in <HI>Egypt</HI> and other Parts? In a word, however great and formidable Armies they are &s;aid to have, to defend or &s;uccour a Place; could they hinder the Lo&s;s of <HI>Buda?</HI> Has there been any general or parti|cular Battle in <HI>Hungary, Greece</HI> and <HI>Poland,</HI> which they have not lo&s;t? Has there been any Ve&s;&s;el &s;een to hinder the Conque&s;t of <HI>Coron, Navarrin,</HI> St.
<PB N="147" REF="87"> <HI>Maure, Modon, Napoli de Romania,</HI> and other Pl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">es, where the <HI>Venetians</HI> behave them&s;elves &s;o bravely both by Sea and Land? Where is then this great Power?</P>
<P>Troops and whole Armies have in|deed pre&s;ented them&s;elves to hinder the&s;e Exploits; but has not this been rather to encrea&s;e the Reputation of the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Arms, and the better to prove the Propo&s;ition which we have a&s;&s;erted, <HI>of the Invalidity at pre&s;ent of the</HI> Ottoman <HI>Troops, and the extream Weakne&s;s of the&s;e</HI> Infidels? Be&s;ides what has pa&s;s'd in the Conque&s;t of <HI>Buda,</HI> in the Pre&s;ence of a fre&s;h Army, which was the Witne&s;s of it (an Action re|ally Worthy the Blood of &s;o many Princes, who, in Imitation of their Head, have &s;o valiantly &s;hewed their Courage and Re&s;olution) one may al|&s;o remark a like &s;tate of Affairs in the taking of <HI>Coron,</HI> where General <HI>Mo|ro&s;ini,</HI> having only Eight thou&s;and Men when he be&s;ieged this Place, finds him|&s;elf inve&s;ted and hemm'd in by the <HI>Ser a&s;quier</HI> at the Head of Ten thou&s;and <HI>Turks,</HI> who hold him be&s;ieged, and in great likelyhood of de&s;troying him
<PB N="148" REF="88"> with all his Army: But, notwith&s;tand|ing the Danger, and the Fatigues of above Thirty Days vigorous Siege; notwith&s;tanding the Ob&s;tinacy of the Garri&s;on of the Place, and the Lo&s;s of near Two thou&s;and Souldiers; <HI>Moro|&s;ini</HI> does not only defend his Counter|vallation, but cuts on one hand all the <HI>Turks</HI> in pieces, and on the other car|ries away the Town by A&s;&s;ault.</P>
<P>What happen'd at the taking of <HI>Na|poli de Romania,</HI> and which well de|&s;erves the extraordinary Rejoicings which have been made, does appear &s;till more honourable to the <HI>Venetians,</HI> &s;eeing that at the end of a Campaign, after &s;everal Places already &s;ubdued by Sieges, and fierce Combats; we &s;ee the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> beaten on their own Ground, as often as they offer them|&s;elves, by an Army which comes from far, which is obliged to di&s;embark, and which the Sick alone have weak|ened to an half part: And it's on this Account, as well as on others, that the Bravery and Conduct of <HI>Moro&s;ini,</HI> render him worthy of immortal Re|putation, and of the Honours which the &s;erene <HI>Republick</HI> of <HI>Venice</HI> (in ac|knowledgment
<PB N="149" REF="88"> of the great Services done to <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> and to her &s;elf in particular) has taken plea&s;ure to heap on the Per&s;on and Family of this Ge|neral.</P>
<P>The Illu&s;trious <HI>Venier</HI> had only Three Ve&s;&s;els, with which he came from transporting to <HI>Tenedos</HI> the Gar|ri&s;on of <HI>Napoli de Romania,</HI> in pur&s;u|ance of the Capitulation granted to this Place: And, having been expected at his Return by Twenty Galleys of <HI>Beigs,</HI> and Seven or eight <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Ve&s;&s;els, which would have fallen on him again&s;t all Ju&s;tice and Rules of War; he fought them &s;o vigorou&s;ly, that he &s;unk &s;eve|ral of their Ve&s;&s;els, and the Galleys needed much their Oars and Swiftne&s;s, to &s;ave them&s;elves from an entire Ruin.</P>
<P>It's not then nece&s;&s;ary, after what has been mentioned, to relate any thing el&s;e, to &s;hew the Extremity and wretch|ed State whereto the <HI>Turks</HI> are redu|ced in all Parts and in all Manners. The&s;e are not the Armies, nor pow|erful Fleets, which have appeared un|der <HI>Mahomet</HI> II. under the <HI>Solymans</HI> and <HI>Selims.</HI> In fine, all the World being
<PB N="150" REF="89"> &s;ufficiently in&s;tructed of what actually pa&s;&s;es again&s;t the&s;e <HI>Infidels,</HI> we ought no longer to in&s;i&s;t on the &s;ad Experi|ences, which had plung'd almo&s;t all <HI>Chri&s;tendom</HI> in a lethargick Benumm'd|ne&s;s, &s;eeing there are at pre&s;ent &s;o many others, which ought to inipire contrary Sentiments.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="151" REF="89">
<HEAD>CHAP. VI. Some Politick Reflections, on the pre&s;ent ill Condition of the <HI>Ot|toman</HI> Affairs, &s;ince the rai|&s;ing the Siege of <HI>Vienna.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes were wont to think them&s;elves Happy, when they were not attack'd by &s;uch pow|erful Enemies as the <HI>Turks;</HI> and, if they were, 'twas alwaies thought the be&s;t Cour&s;e, to endeavour a Peace, and not to do their utmo&s;t again&s;t them. We have recited &s;ufficient Examples, but may we not with Grief &s;till &s;ay, that what pa&s;s'd la&s;t at <HI>Ratisbon,</HI> when the <HI>Turks</HI> invaded <HI>Hungary,</HI> and du|ring the Siege of <HI>Vienna,</HI> was an Effect of this pernicious Maxim?</P>
<P>They di&s;puted at the <HI>Diet</HI> on Preli|minaries, and &s;ought the Security of <HI>Germany</HI> on the &s;ide of the <HI>Rhine,</HI> where there were no Enemies, whil&s;t it was pre&s;&s;ed on the <HI>Danube,</HI> by tho&s;e who were &s;aid to be &s;o formidable. One might infer, That they were afraid
<PB N="152" REF="90"> of di&s;obliging the <HI>Grand Seignior,</HI> in only thinking of Means to oppo&s;e the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Army, which threatned <HI>Ger|many,</HI> and all <HI>Chri&s;tendom;</HI> and if they be&s;ieged immediately <HI>Neuheu&s;el,</HI> would it not &s;eem that it was an Enterprize of pure Hazard, and to acquire Reputa|tion (in &s;hewing they were ready to act again&s;t the&s;e <HI>Infidels,</HI> who were thought as yet far di&s;tant) were one not otherwi&s;e extraordinary well con|vinc'd, of the Bravery, wi&s;e and vigi|lant Conduct of Prince <HI>Charles de Lor|rain?</HI></P>
<P>One might al&s;o &s;ay, That if the ta|king of <HI>Vienna</HI> had not been of &s;o great Importance they would have given to the <HI>Turks</HI> this Conque&s;t. There was an ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity of row&s;ing on this occa&s;ion; but, no &s;ooner were the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> retreated, but the fear (perhaps) of irritating them too much, made them not be pur&s;ued; yet this might having ea&s;ily been, according to all appearances; and the Victuals and Munitions, which they left in their Camp, facilitated this happy and ne|ce&s;&s;ary &s;equel, of the rai&s;ing of a Siege, and of a Defeat; which without doubt
<PB N="153" REF="90"> might have had from this Campaign a greater Succe&s;s; the <HI>Pope</HI>'s Intenti|ons might have been better &s;econded, and the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> Affairs might have been a great deal forwarder than they are now. But the Ceremonials which were to be ob&s;erved in the Town delivered, between the Empe|ror and the King of <HI>Poland,</HI> and the fear the Army had of the flying Ene|mies returning, occa&s;ioned the Lo&s;s of &s;everal Mea&s;ures, and much time: And this was it which produced the Safety and Pre&s;ervation of the re&s;t of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Troops.</P>
<P>How could they have e&s;caped a|mong&s;t &s;o many difficult Pa&s;&s;es, Turn|ings, Rivers, and Mountains; &s;eeing, that having had the Means of rea&s;&s;u|ring them&s;elves, yet fell they, for all this, into great Confu&s;ion, and that Di&s;order, which commonly attends an Army cut in pieces? Its certain, that the Soldiers of both Hor&s;e and Foot, arrived at <HI>Belgrade,</HI> and other Places, mo&s;t of them quite naked, and kill'd one another for a bit of Bread; and that they pillaged, and wa&s;ted their own Ma&s;ters Country. What great
<PB N="154" REF="91"> Advantages might not have been drawn from &s;uch a Flight; and why did not the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> immediately take hold of it?</P>
<P>The <HI>Turks</HI> believed for a great while, That the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> followed them and would &s;oon be on their Backs; there were Rebellions among&s;t them at this very time. But if they abandoned <HI>Vienna</HI> very briskly, it mu&s;t al&s;o be granted, That the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> who contributed to this good Fortune, as well by their Pre&s;ence, as force of their Arms, remained them&s;elves in a kind of Enchantment at &s;o great a Suc|ce&s;s, and had not (as one may &s;ay) the Liberty of reflecting, That Peo|ple who fled &s;o fa&s;t, and in &s;o great Di&s;order, although they had &s;uffered but &s;mall Efforts, were not &s;o redoubt|able as they were fancy'd.</P>
<P>They had neither, in effect, the Number of Troops, nor Conduct, nor Officers, as was imagined. But if notwith&s;tanding all this, the <HI>Chri&s;ti|ans</HI> did not take the advantage of their Victory; &s;o its certain, that if the <HI>Turks</HI> had taken <HI>Vienna,</HI> they would not have faln into the &s;ame fault, but
<PB N="155" REF="91"> have de&s;olated all <HI>Germany,</HI> or &s;et it under Tribute, and even <HI>Italy</HI> too.</P>
<P>They are now far from &s;o high a point of Glory, and do every day more decline; but that which ought to en|crea&s;e their Con&s;ternation and Trou|ble wherein they are, is, that they nei|ther do, nor can blame any but them|&s;elves; and that it cannot be &s;aid, 'tis the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> to whom belongs the Honour of beginning &s;o great a Work, &s;eeing the fir&s;t Circum&s;tance, and Ori|gin which has cau&s;ed &s;uch dreadful Effects for the&s;e <HI>Infidels,</HI> comes preci&s;e|ly from the <HI>Grand Vizir, Cara Mu&s;ta|pha Ba&s;&s;a.</HI></P>
<P>It was of Advantage to <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> that the Ignorance, Pride, and Avarice of this Chief Mini&s;ter (which I have &s;ufficiently denoted) &s;hould make him lo&s;e all rational Mea&s;ures. It was like|ly the Fines and Per&s;ecutions, which he was wont to offer the Mini&s;ters of the Neighbouring <HI>States,</HI> which re&s;ided at the <HI>Port,</HI> would be at length capable of exciting their Ma&s;ters, to re&s;ent them at a fitting time; and, perhaps he would have been continued in the&s;e Exce&s;&s;es, had not his Bruti&s;h|ne&s;s
<PB N="156" REF="92"> tran&s;ported him beyond all Mea|&s;ure.</P>
<P>He had &s;een the Empire of <HI>Ger|many,</HI> willing to purcha&s;e his Friend|&s;hip at any rate, to the Honour and Advantage of the <HI>Port.</HI> This <HI>Otto|man</HI> Mini&s;ter might have ea&s;ily percei|ved, That in favouring thus the <HI>Ger|mans</HI> with his Ma&s;ters good Will, he might have had the Plea&s;ure of &s;eeing all the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> bent one again&s;t ano|ther, which would have yielded him an advantageous Opportunity of at|tacking them, when he plea&s;ed. He might have contented him&s;elf, with giving directly &s;ome A&s;&s;i&s;tance to the <HI>Hungarian</HI> Malecontents, who im|plored the Protection of the <HI>Port,</HI> with|out openly declaring him&s;elf again&s;t the <HI>Germans.</HI> He might have kept him&s;elf quiet, and renewed the Truce with the <HI>Emperor</HI> to the Advantage of his Ma&s;ter; but, by a &s;ingular Grace of <HI>God,</HI> in favour of the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> he pa&s;s'd over all the&s;e Con&s;iderations; and one may &s;ay, that in making War with the Emperor, and putting all <HI>Hungary</HI> and <HI>Au&s;tria</HI> into Confu&s;ion, he could not have procured a greater
<PB N="157" REF="92"> advantage to the Empire. He has unblinded <HI>Chri&s;terdom,</HI> and made her know what kind of People the <HI>Turks</HI> are, and that there's no rea&s;on to fear them.</P>
<P>But apparently this Experience had been neglected, had not the <HI>Pope</HI> by his Entreaties, Liberalities, and zealous Care, oppo&s;ed him&s;elf to the Inclina|tion which the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> (who are Neighbours to the <HI>Turks</HI>) always have, of entring into his Favour a|gain.</P>
<P>Here's a great Obligation, for which <HI>Chri&s;tianity</HI> is indebted to <HI>Innocent</HI> XI. and at the &s;ame time to <HI>Cara Mu&s;ta|pha Ba&s;&s;a.</HI> But if it be true, that the Death of this latter, may be regarded as di&s;advantageous to <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> &s;eeing he was a Man who would have repaired one Extream by another that is wor&s;e; yet it mu&s;t be granted on another Re|gard, that it is advantageous to the <HI>Chri|&s;tians,</HI> that the Cu&s;tom of &s;trangling the <HI>Grand Vizirs</HI> is come again in Fa&s;hion. It was the <HI>Grand Vizir, Mehemmet Ku|pruli,</HI> who Remon&s;trated to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> (that is now depo&s;ed) when he would rai&s;e him to this Fir&s;t Place in
<PB N="158" REF="93"> the Empire, That he could not act therein with Succe&s;s, in re-e&s;tabli&s;hing the Authority of his <HI>Highne&s;s,</HI> which was a Prey at the frequent Changes of the <HI>Vizirs,</HI> if he let him not enjoy this Supreme Dignity to his Natural Death. The <HI>Sultan,</HI> who &s;aw him&s;elf every day expo&s;ed to Seditions, and in danger of lo&s;ing his Life, &s;tuck not to receive a Propo&s;ition, in which he was no le&s;s intere&s;&s;ed than <HI>Mehemmet Kupruli;</HI> and his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> found hereby &s;uch benefit in a few Years, that he ever main|tained this Mini&s;ter, and his Son (who Succeeded him in the &s;ame Po&s;t, though then but twenty &s;even years of Age) during their whole Lives. But we need &s;ay no more of <HI>Mehemmet Kupru|li,</HI> of whom we have largely &s;poken el&s;ewhere; and we have only mention|ed thus much now, to &s;hew, That if the Con&s;ervation of this Fir&s;t Mini&s;ter, and his Son likewi&s;e to their Deaths in the Government, had been &s;o advan|tageous to the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire, it is very probable, That <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. put|ting <HI>Cara Mu&s;tapha Ba&s;&s;a</HI> to Death, terrified the &s;ucceeding <HI>Vizirs;</HI> as is effectually &s;een from the taking of <HI>Bu|da,</HI>
<PB N="159" REF="93"> in &s;uffering mode&s;tly a Place of that con&s;equence to be taken before their Eyes, without daring to ha|zard a Fight to hinder it, though they had a con&s;iderable fre&s;h Ar|my, and come expre&s;ly for this a|gain&s;t another that was very weak, and dimini&s;h'd by a three Months Siege.</P>
<P>This Cu&s;tom of getting rid of the <HI>Vizirs,</HI> having been &s;u&s;pended for twenty Years, has been re-e&s;tabli&s;h'd, as a mark of the happy preparation, which has faln out on both &s;ides, by the Hand of <HI>God,</HI> in favour of the <HI>Chri|&s;tians.</HI> There never was a more wi&s;h'd for Overture, to regain on the <HI>Turks</HI> what they took from the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> at lea&s;t in <HI>Europe;</HI> and it's certain, they may effect it in one Campaign more, if they attack the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> as vigorou&s;ly as they ought to do.</P>
<P>All the Neighbours of the <HI>Turks</HI> may expect great Progre&s;&s;es, if each one on his &s;ide does his endeavour: And, if the <HI>Mo&s;covites</HI> and the King of <HI>Poland</HI> enter into <HI>Turky</HI> and <HI>Crimea,</HI> will they not then give a notable Op|portunity to the <HI>Germans,</HI> to pu&s;h on vigorou&s;ly on their &s;ide, and to &s;ub|due
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<PB N="160" REF="95"> all <HI>Bulgaria,</HI> and the re&s;t of the Coun|try as far as <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> now it lies open by the taking of <HI>Buda, E&s;&s;eck</HI> and all <HI>Hungary?</HI> It is certain, (not to &s;peak of <HI>Per&s;ia,</HI> and the Inte&s;tine Rebellions which may happen) that if the&s;e <HI>Chri|&s;tian States,</HI> to wit, the <HI>Germans, Vene|tians, Polanders,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;covites,</HI> ad|vance again&s;t the <HI>Turks</HI> &s;eparately, and with Vigour, they will mutually aid one another, and do him more Prejudice, than if they acted together, and only on one &s;ide.</P>
<P>To Crown the enterpri&s;e, its certain, That if the King of <HI>Poland</HI> does once advance to the Banks of the <HI>Danube,</HI> as he has almo&s;t already done, leaving behind him <HI>Caminiec,</HI> and &s;ome other Place of &s;mall con&s;equence, carefully ob&s;erved by flying Camps; there's not the lea&s;t Ob&s;tacle, which can hinder his Armies always triumphing, e&s;peci|ally over the <HI>Turks,</HI> from going to <HI>Con|&s;tantinople.</HI></P>
<P>If heretofore the <HI>Co&s;&s;acks</HI> have come by Sea and Land, ravaging and pilla|ging all along the Chanel, even Su|burbs of the Imperial City, though the <HI>Port</HI> had Land and Sea-Armies
<PB N="161" REF="95"> again&s;t <HI>Poland;</HI> though &s;he had no Di|ver&s;ion otherwi&s;e, nor any inward Agi|tation; and though &s;he was, in fine, in her highe&s;t point of Splendor, Power, and Riches; what may not the <HI>Poles</HI> do now by Land, and the <HI>Co&s;&s;acks</HI> at Sea, now the <HI>Turks</HI> are exhau&s;ted of Men and Money, having almo&s;t none on this &s;ide, no more than el&s;ewhere; and that the <HI>Tartars,</HI> who are the Bul|wark and Prop, are employed in de|fending their own Country again&s;t the <HI>Mo&s;covites?</HI></P>
<P>But after all, &s;hould the <HI>Venetians</HI> go directly to <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> whether during the&s;e Projects were executed on the &s;ide of <HI>Poland,</HI> and the <HI>Black Sea,</HI> or even without this; its certain, that the only Fame of the march of ei|ther of the&s;e, and yet better of all at once, would cau&s;e an univer&s;al De&s;o|lation, and be &s;ufficient to put the Land-Armies in Di&s;order; whence may be concluded, what would happen, &s;hould they de&s;troy this great Town, as it is ea&s;y to do, as I have already &s;hewed. They might find their reck|oning here; for, be&s;ides the Booty, they might a&s;&s;ure the Domination of
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<PB N="162" REF="97"> the <HI>Mediterraneari</HI> and <HI>Archipelago,</HI> and con&s;equently, the retaking of <HI>Candia, Negropont,</HI> and all the I&s;les.</P>
<P>The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> would fall under &s;uch a rude and fatal Blow. He puts all his Strength in <HI>Con&s;tantinople;</HI> and if it be not really there, one may &s;ay, it's there by Reputation. This Capi|tal of the <HI>Ea&s;t,</HI> is e&s;teemed &s;o impor|tant in all the Empire, and there's thought &s;uch a great impo&s;&s;ibility to &s;et on it, that all would &s;eem lo&s;t, &s;hould it be ruined. The <HI>Sultan</HI> could not e&s;cape; for &s;hould he &s;teal away from the Victories of the <HI>Germans, Poles, Venetians,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;covites,</HI> this mu&s;t be by Flight, which would be travers'd by his own Subjects, by the <HI>Morlaques, Sclavonians,</HI> and &s;o many others, who expect only the occa&s;ion and a&s;&s;urance, that their In&s;urrections &s;hould be upheld. The <HI>Turks</HI> would repa&s;s the Sea, and abandon <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople</HI> with greater ha&s;t than they took it; and his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> would think him|&s;elf happy were he permitted to make <HI>Bur&s;a</HI> (the Capital of <HI>A&s;ia Minor</HI>) the Seat of his Empire; and, if in this other part of the World, he could be
<PB N="163" REF="97"> freed from Rebellions and Di&s;or|ders.</P>
<P>It is well known, that <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. (the depo&s;ed Emperor) was much be|loved by his People, as a Prince of great Goodne&s;s; and without Con|trover&s;y, the gentle&s;t of all who have preceded him. And who can tell what will be the Fate of his Brother <HI>Solyman</HI> now Reigning? For, the <HI>Turks</HI> per|&s;wade them&s;elves, that the good or bad &s;ucce&s;s of Affairs, depend on the good or bad Planet of him who manages them, therefore it is, that they willingly incline to the change of their Emperor.</P>
<P>The&s;e great and &s;olid Con&s;iderations, would have pa&s;s'd for <HI>Chimera's</HI> in an|other time, and one mu&s;t have &s;uppo|&s;ed for the executing of them, That the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> mu&s;t have been at|tack'd in &s;everal Parts; That there being a firm League of all the Neigh|bouring <HI>States</HI> to his Countries, he will not have innumerable Armies, nor could oppo&s;e Two hundred thou&s;and men to each Prince who &s;hould attack him; and that, on the contrary, be|ing obliged to divide his Forces, he would have but mean ones again&s;t each
<PB N="164" REF="98"> of his Enemies. But; O good God! The&s;e Suppo&s;itions, are they not now certain and clear Truths as the day?</P>
<P>If he was obliged to withdraw at the Siege of <HI>Vienna,</HI> although he had all his Forces joined together, which yet a|mounted not to what was imagined; and, if &s;ince he has lo&s;t his be&s;t Troops, Places, and all the Battels which have been fought; what will it be now; when he mu&s;t &s;till more divide his Forces by rea&s;on of the <HI>Mo&s;covites?</HI> And it's apparently this Rea&s;on, which has obliged the &s;age Policy of <HI>Venice,</HI> to carry her Arms to the end of the <HI>Peloponne&s;e,</HI> and as far &s;he can, to divert as much as may be, the Enemy from the Neighbourhood of her E&s;tates.</P>
<P>There could not happen to the <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> a greater Good, than to &s;ee the King of <HI>Poland</HI> return again into <HI>Hungary;</HI> for, his <HI>Highne&s;s</HI> keep|inging him&s;elf on this &s;ide on the de|fen&s;ive, and the <HI>Germans</HI> relying on the <HI>Poles,</HI> whom they might have em|ployed in the difficult Rencounters, the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Army might have ra|vaged <HI>Poland,</HI> which would have lain open.</P>
<PB N="165" REF="98">
<P>It will be demanded perhaps, Why the <HI>Turk</HI> &s;ent not Forces into this Kingdom, the fir&s;t Campaign, and du|ring the Siege of <HI>Vienna?</HI> but it's to be con&s;idered, that the King of <HI>Poland</HI> did not declare him&s;elf again&s;t the <HI>Turks</HI> till late, and though he had Sign'd the League with the Emperor, the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> were &s;till in hopes he would not execute it. Yet one may be per&s;waded, they would not have done much Hurt to <HI>Poland,</HI> nor have o|verprofited by the ab&s;ence of this Prince, e&s;pecially if the <HI>Mo&s;covites</HI> did their Duty; but it's probable, that his Maje&s;ty of <HI>Poland,</HI> would omit the op|portunity of doing them much damage, and procuring him&s;elf as much advan|tage on his &s;ide, as he has obtained for his Allies.</P>
<P>If, in fine, the <HI>Port,</HI> which might have ea&s;ily fore&s;een the Engage|ment of his <HI>Poli&s;h</HI> Maje&s;ty to &s;uccour the Emperor, could not &s;pare Forces to oppo&s;e him; If the <HI>Turks</HI> (&s;o Powerful, according to the vulgar O|pinion) could not make the lea&s;t De|tachment, to hinder the Pa&s;&s;age of this Prince, and his joining the Imperial
<PB N="166" REF="99"> Troops; If they find them&s;elves under a Nece&s;&s;ity of &s;eeking now Peace from their Enemies, by reiterated Suppli|cations, in &s;uch a manner as &s;till &s;hall be pre&s;cribed them; and if again once more, they cannot &s;hew any Body of an Army &s;mall or great, which is not always beaten, whether in <HI>Hungary,</HI> the <HI>Morea, Daimatia,</HI> or in <HI>Poland,</HI> and on Sea; it's certain, that in opening only ones eyes, without great Penetra|tion, a man may more and more di&s;co|ver the Weakne&s;s and Ignorance of this Enemy which mu&s;t be thought &s;o for|midable.</P>
<P>Not to mention the advantage from the <HI>Moldavians, Walachians, Tran&s;ylva|nians,</HI> which are Sub&s;idiary Advanta|ges, from whom there's no Benefit to be expected, but when the <HI>Chri&s;ti|ans</HI> &s;hall be &s;tronge&s;t. One may al&s;o in good Policy, not rely much with|out great Precaution, on the&s;e <HI>Chri&s;ti|ans,</HI> who are half <HI>Mahometans;</HI> who readily &s;ubmit when they &s;ee a Power falling on them, which they cannot avold by Artifices; and who, if they be intere&s;ted that the <HI>Infidels</HI> &s;hould be mortified, &s;eeing this &s;u&s;pends the
<PB N="167" REF="99"> Fines which are wont to be laid on them, and procures them good Treat|ments from the <HI>Chri&s;tians;</HI> yet are they more intere&s;ted in the main, That the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Power be not overthrown, by rea&s;on their particular Intere&s;t would be &s;oon lo&s;t in the Emperor, or King of <HI>Poland.</HI></P>
<P>It &s;eems, as if the <HI>Turks</HI> had or|dered their Affairs politickly enough, in leaving the&s;e <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Princes on their Frontiers, and contenting them&s;elves with drawing a Tribute from 'em, and their A&s;&s;i&s;tance. They indeed could not do otherwi&s;e in the beginning of their Conque&s;ts, but in the Sequel they might have erected the&s;e Provinces in|to <HI>Ba&s;&s;a-&s;hips,</HI> or Governments. But they cho&s;e rather, to rai&s;e particular Per&s;ons to the&s;e Principalities, or keep tho&s;e who were in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of them; and they fail not to make known to tho&s;e Princes, when by grieving them they give them occa&s;ion to complain, that without the Authority of the <HI>Port,</HI> they would not be in the Rank they are. The <HI>Grand Vizir, Cara Mu&s;ta|pha Ba&s;&s;a,</HI> could &s;ay to the <HI>Ragu&s;ians; What do you complain of? Would you not
<PB N="168" REF="100"> have been long before now incorporated into the</HI> Venetian <HI>Territories, without the Pro|tection of my Ma&s;ter? and in&s;tead of that You are Sovereigns, equal to other</HI> States <HI>of the Nations of the</HI> Me&s;&s;ias.</P>
<P>It's not thus with the <HI>Morlaques, Sclavonians,</HI> and <HI>Bulgarians.</HI> They ought to be held for Warlike People, which find no Oppo&s;ition contrary to their Liberty, by the Intere&s;t of a particular Prince, and who for the mo&s;t part are Exerci&s;ed in the Art Military during the <HI>Venetian</HI> Wars. It remains now to &s;peak of the <HI>Co&s;|&s;acks,</HI> who are a bold, Warlike Peo|ple, that can endure Labours; great Enemies of the <HI>Turks,</HI> but very much for their own Intere&s;t; They are to be con&s;idered as real Thieves, fit for Cour&s;es and Pillages: The&s;e are the <HI>Chri&s;tian Tartars,</HI> and con&s;equently ve|ry uncapable of making Conque&s;ts; yet they may act profitably, whil&s;t the <HI>Mo&s;covites</HI> and <HI>Poles,</HI> &s;hall apply them|&s;elves to any important Enterpri&s;e, if they can be tru&s;ted.</P>
<P>What comes from being denoted, lays open the di&s;advantageous Circum|&s;tances of the <HI>Infidels;</HI> but though they
<PB N="169" REF="100"> them&s;elves are per&s;waded of this, yet they have &s;till hopes that the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> will weary them&s;elves at length, and give over their Undertaking. They con&s;idered as a great Advantage for them, what pa&s;s'd after the rai&s;ing of the Siege of <HI>Vienna;</HI> for, to con|firm what has been already ob&s;erved, they well conceived, that they had been lo&s;t at that Bout, had they been pur|&s;ued; and con&s;equently, whatever Di&s;po&s;ition, or Cu&s;tom they have of thanking God, as well in bad as good Fortune, yet were they in a manner certain of this Inference, <HI>That the</HI> Chri|&s;tians <HI>are incapable of profiting from the good Succe&s;&s;es which happen to them a|gain&s;t the</HI> Ottomans, <HI>&s;eeing they then failed in that which was &s;o e&s;&s;ential to them, and, in all Probability, &s;o ea&s;y.</HI></P>
<P>They al&s;o beheld the Conduct of the Emperor towards the King of <HI>Poland,</HI> with great Con&s;olation: for, although they acknowledge the Bravery of this latter, and that they fear him, for ha|ving felt con&s;iderable Effects of it; they per&s;waded them&s;elves, that the Jealou&s;ies between the&s;e two Crown|ed Heads, during their Enterview at
<PB N="170" REF="101"> <HI>Vienna,</HI> and &s;ince, would produce &s;ome good Effect. They believed, that without this it would have been ea&s;ie for the King of <HI>Poland</HI> to exterminate Count <HI>Teckely;</HI> and that according to the Vigilance, Activity, and indefati|gable Cares, which all the World ac|knowledges in his Maje&s;ty, to his Glo|ry, he would without Controver&s;ie have preferred the Fatigues and La|bours of remaining in the Winter &s;ea|&s;on, to the &s;weet Plea&s;ures of returning into his own Country; and, that this <HI>Monarch</HI> would have profited by the Rigour of a Sea&s;on, which the <HI>Poles</HI> &s;uffer &s;o ea&s;ily, to retake the Cour&s;e of the Victory, and extend his Advan|tage of the rai&s;ing of the Siege of <HI>Vi|enna.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Turks</HI> ingenuou&s;ly acknowledge their Fear in this Occa&s;ion; but that on the Advice of <HI>Teckley,</HI> and on their own Knowledge, they flattered them|&s;elves, that the&s;e beginnings of Divi|&s;ion among their Enemies would pro|ceed farther. They al&s;o thought, That the Emperor might engage the King of <HI>Poland</HI> to return into <HI>Hungary;</HI> and that to oblige him the more, the Coun|cil
<PB N="171" REF="101"> of <HI>Vienna</HI> did not much matter the Weakne&s;s of the <HI>German</HI> Troops on that &s;ide, nor the Diver&s;ion which they imagined he would make el&s;e|where. The <HI>Turks,</HI> in fine, whatever they had &s;uffered from his <HI>Poli&s;h</HI> Ma|je&s;ty at the Defeat of <HI>Vienna,</HI> hoped and cho&s;e rather to &s;ee him return in|to <HI>Hungary,</HI> for the Rea&s;ons already mentioned, than to remain in <HI>Poland.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> learn'd moreover with Plea&s;ure, the Mi&s;intelligence which reigned between the <HI>Emperor,</HI> and &s;ome of the <HI>Electors,</HI> and even among&s;t the Princes, and Generals of the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Army. They built much on the &s;mall Stock of Money his Imperial Maje&s;ty had: They could never imagine that the <HI>Mo&s;covites,</HI> who are naturally &s;worn Enemies of the <HI>Poles,</HI> could al|ly them&s;elves with them again&s;t the <HI>Port;</HI> being per&s;waded on the contra|ry, that they &s;hould profit by their Engagement to attack them, and war again&s;t them on their ancient Differen|ces. As to the <HI>Per&s;ian,</HI> notwith&s;tand|ing the Report which ran of his March again&s;t them, they hold them&s;elves at pre&s;ent in Safety, by rea&s;on of his
<PB N="172" REF="102"> &s;mall Experience in War, by a Peace of near Fifty Years; and the &s;en&s;ual Plea|&s;ures in which the <HI>Sofi</HI> is plunged, which he may colour over with a Motive of his Religion. And as to the <HI>Veneti|ans,</HI> the <HI>Turks</HI> were in a manner a&s;&s;u|red they would be mode&s;t, and not undertake any important Enterpri&s;e; That mo&s;t of their Officers would think only of continuing the War, and rai&s;e Di&s;ta&s;ts and Mi&s;intelligences between the Auxiliary Tioops, and tho&s;e of the <HI>Republick,</HI> which would cau&s;e great Di&s;orders, as have &s;everal times hap|pened; and, that at lea&s;t in the I&s;les of which they &s;hould be the Ma&s;ters, they would permit (as was practi&s;ed during the War of <HI>Candia</HI>) the Tri|bute to be rai&s;ed for the <HI>Grand Seig|nior.</HI></P>
<P>If it be to be pre&s;um'd, that the&s;e <HI>Infidels</HI> flatter them&s;elves too much by the&s;e Imaginations, yet is it to be feared on the other hand, that &s;ome of them may be true. But in what manner &s;oever this is, it cannot be e|nough repeated, That if the <HI>Turks</HI> are not con&s;trained to for&s;ake entirely what they po&s;&s;e&s;s in <HI>Europe,</HI> before a Peace
<PB N="173" REF="102"> be granted them, 'tis purely the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> Fault: And after &s;o many Proofs which we have &s;hew'd, let us con&s;ider a little, before we fini&s;h this Di&s;cour&s;e, what Circum&s;tance of Af|fairs is nece&s;&s;ary, to procure us &s;o hap|py an Overture.</P>
<P>The <HI>Grand Seignior</HI> undertakes a War again&s;t his own Intere&s;t, and the more Advantageous to the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> as it hinders them from entring into a War again&s;t one another. But a Man cannot enough reflect on the Di&s;po&s;i|tions which the Council of <HI>Vienna</HI> &s;eem'd to have had, of renewing the Truce with the <HI>Port,</HI> even of a long time. The Appearances were &s;o great, that I &s;aw come, in le&s;s than Two Years, to <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> and <HI>Adrianople,</HI> Four Agents from the Emperor, one after another, becau&s;e they died as &s;oon as ever they arrived, on which the Policy of the <HI>Turks</HI> was &s;u&s;pected, who would hereby retard this Nego|tiation, and terminate fir&s;t the Affairs they had el&s;ewhere; and the <HI>Sieur Ca|parara,</HI> who in the la&s;t place was &s;ent extraordinarily for this to the <HI>Port,</HI> gathered no other Fruit from this,
<PB N="174" REF="103"> than that of &s;eeing him&s;elf obliged to follow the <HI>Grand Vizir,</HI> and be Wit|ne&s;s of the Ravages of <HI>Hungary</HI> and <HI>Au&s;tria,</HI> where the <HI>Germans</HI> have been nece&s;&s;itated to blunt the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Arms. The one begins the War though he ought not to have undertook it, the other &s;ees him&s;elf engaged thereto maugre his Policy.</P>
<P>The King of <HI>Poland</HI> comes to their A&s;&s;i&s;tance with few Men, not having time to rai&s;e many, and the <HI>Turks</HI> fly, although they have more than an Hundred and thirty thou&s;and. It &s;eem'd al&s;o, according to the natu|ral Pre&s;umptions which the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> had in favour of the&s;e <HI>Infidels,</HI> that they might have return'd to the fol|lowing Campaign the more powerful by &s;ome great Effort, and more fill'd with Fury and Vengeance.</P>
<P>The King of <HI>Poland</HI> to &s;uccour them, engages him&s;elf in the War again&s;t the <HI>Infidels,</HI> in favour of tho&s;e who had been &s;u&s;pected to have intended his hinderance to the Throne. This Ge|nerous Monarch for&s;akes his own In|tere&s;ts, and expo&s;es his Sacred Per&s;on. He appears ill &s;atisfied with <HI>Teckely,</HI>
<PB N="175" REF="103"> and he becomes his Protector, to pro|cure him an Accommodation. <HI>Germany</HI> cannot reduce this Malecontent, and &s;he will not receive him. She falls in|to Mi&s;intelligence on this Account with his Maje&s;ty of <HI>Poland.</HI> This <HI>Hunga|rian</HI> Lord becomes in a manner a <HI>Ca|tholick,</HI> writing to the <HI>Pope</HI> in a mo&s;t judicious manner, and very vindica|tive of his Proceedings.</P>
<P>The <HI>Venetians</HI> engage in the League again&s;t the <HI>Turks</HI> with a Vigilance, and Addre&s;s &s;o extraordinary, that they have as &s;oon began Expeditions, as declared the War again&s;t the&s;e <HI>Infi|dels;</HI> though their &s;age Politicks and Rea&s;ons of State, might have alledged &s;ome Difficulties, and cau&s;ed &s;ome De|lays. The <HI>Ottoman</HI> Empire thinks not of augmenting his Naval Army, but at the la&s;t Extremity; and yet, no le&s;s dreads the Maritime Force of this mo&s;t ancient and illu&s;trious <HI>Republick,</HI> than it admires with all the re&s;t of the Uni|ver&s;e, the &s;olid and prudent Delibera|tions which flow from their Councils and unimitable Policy.</P>
<P><HI>Spain,</HI> notwith&s;tanding the Di&s;gra|ces and Weakne&s;&s;es of its Monarchy,
<PB N="176" REF="104"> yet gives all po&s;&s;ible Demon&s;trations of its Good-Will, by remitting of Mo|ney, and rai&s;ing of Troops; which &s;he permits to be done in her <HI>States,</HI> for the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> and the Oppre&s;&s;ion of the common Enemy.</P>
<P>The <HI>Pope</HI> &s;pares not the Churches Revenues, his own particular, and is imitated in his Zeal by &s;everal Prin|ces. His <HI>Holine&s;s</HI> has no other Ne|phews, nor other Family, than the De&s;truction of the common Enemy. Yet he &s;ees, that all this Money can|not be employ'd as he would have it; that, the more he gives the more is re|quired, though he devi&s;es all po&s;&s;ible Means to remedy this Inconvenience, and &s;ends his Gallies.</P>
<P>The great Duke of <HI>Tu&s;cany</HI> joins his Ve&s;&s;els with them: He &s;ends a Regiment of a Thou&s;and Men, and a con&s;iderable Number of <HI>Knights</HI> of St. <HI>Stephen,</HI> and other illu&s;trious Volun|tiers, to make De&s;cents; with great quantity of Bombs, Powder, Bullets, and other Munitions of War, at his own Charge. In a word, his &s;erene Highne&s;s forgets nothing which is po&s;|&s;ible to prove his Zeal again&s;t the <HI>Infi|dels.</HI>
<PB N="177" REF="104"> I &s;aw he held in the <HI>Grand Seig|nior</HI>'s Family a <HI>Phy&s;ician,</HI> who&s;e Advices were equally good, profitable, and important.</P>
<P>The great Ma&s;ter of <HI>Malta,</HI> has of|fer'd him&s;elf, by a Bravery and Genero|&s;ity worthy of him, to come in Per&s;on again&s;t the <HI>Infidels.</HI> He has &s;et out, with all &s;peed, the Gallies of the <HI>Re|ligion.</HI> He has thereunto added Ve&s;&s;els, and a mo&s;t important &s;uper-Addition of <HI>Knights</HI> and Souldiers, who&s;e Valour and undaunted Re&s;olutions are &s;o ter|rible to the <HI>Turks</HI> in all Occa&s;ions, and particularly at the Siege of <HI>Coron,</HI> and <HI>Napoli de Romania,</HI> and in all the De|feats of the <HI>Sera&s;quier.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Elector</HI> of <HI>Bavaria,</HI> by the he|roick Vertues hereditary to him, and which he has extended &s;o far the&s;e la&s;t Campaigns, does not deferr the aban|doning his own <HI>States,</HI> to tran&s;port him&s;elf in Per&s;on with all his Troops to this War. He contents not him&s;elf with &s;ending &s;everal times a prodigi|ous Quantity of Bombs, Bullets, Pow|der, and all &s;orts of nece&s;&s;ary Ammu|nitions,
<PB N="178" REF="105"> and to entertain, at his own Charge, a mo&s;t con&s;iderable Army; but moreover, expo&s;es his Per&s;on in all Occa&s;ions and Perils, where Ho|nour is to be obtain'd.</P>
<P>All concurs; in fine, to the Ruin of the <HI>Infidels.</HI> The <HI>Republick</HI> of <HI>Genoa,</HI> notwith&s;tanding her Lo&s;&s;es, lends Two Gallies; and furni&s;hes proportionably what &s;he can, to denote her Piety and Zeal in this Encounter.</P>
<P>The a&s;toni&s;h'd <HI>Turks</HI> place now their Confidence in the Cu&s;tom of the <HI>Chri|&s;tians,</HI> who u&s;ually make little Profit of the good Succe&s;&s;es they obtain a|gain&s;t them. They hoped al&s;o they could make Peace to their Advantage, when the War was not favourable to them. But they are &s;o mi&s;taken in this la&s;t Hope, that though &s;ome bad Politicians (which &s;eem'd to de&s;ire on|ly Trouble in <HI>Chri&s;tendom,</HI> and Con|fu&s;ion of <HI>Germany</HI>) would have hereto|fore induced the Emperor to accom|modate him&s;elf with the <HI>Port;</HI> we ought to pre&s;ume, that the Ju&s;tice and Intere&s;t of his Imperial Maje&s;ty, will
<PB N="179" REF="105"> not &s;uffer him to adhere to Coun&s;els of this Nature, nor to agree to any thing which may hinder the conti|nuation of the glorious Exploits per|formed under his Standards.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="180" REF="106">
<HEAD>CHAP. VII. A Recapitulation of &s;everal Rea&s;ons of the approaching Overthrow of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Empire: With &s;everal Remarks upon the late Revolutions at <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE &s;atal Error of the <HI>Turks</HI> in this la&s;t Age, &s;eems to have been their undermining the very Foundati|on of their own Government. It ap|pears from all Accounts of the Ri&s;e and Progre&s;s of <HI>Mahometani&s;m,</HI> that much Power, but little Policy at fir&s;t acquired, and till of late maintained their Dominion; that &s;trength of Arm and not of Rea&s;on, was their Excellency; and that what the Sword got them, the Sword kept for them. They have been the only Left-handed Men in Government, who&s;e Play, &s;o long as they kept to it, was never well known to any Adver&s;ary; but now at la&s;t, that they are fallen to &s;hifting of Hands, every body beats them. For in &s;hort, the true &s;tate of their Ca&s;e is this; their Security as well as Glo|ry, lay wholly in their ability for Mi|litary
<PB N="181" REF="106"> Atchievements: But the unfor|tunate <HI>Mahomet</HI> the la&s;t, (by the Ad|vice of his Creature <HI>Kupruli,</HI> who carried <HI>Candy</HI> by his Conduct from the <HI>Venetians</HI>) did what in him lay, to keep under the mutinous Order of the <HI>Janizaries,</HI> by taking care that their old &s;evere Di&s;cipline &s;hould be neg|lected, and raw unexperienced Fellows &s;hould be li&s;ted into their Order; to the end, the In&s;olence of that Order might never more be able to wre&s;t the Scepter out of their Soveraign's Hand, not dreaming they were the Glory and Support of his Throne, till the Defeat before <HI>Vienna</HI> &s;how'd him his Mi&s;take. Had the <HI>Port,</HI> in&s;tead of refining its Politicks, in&s;i&s;ted on keep|ing &s;tricter to its old military Di&s;ci|pline: Had it, I &s;ay, not effeminated and di&s;armed the <HI>Janizaries;</HI> but in|&s;pir'd them with a glorious Courage for the enlarging the Bounds of their Empire, and &s;o kept them employ'd, <HI>Mahomet</HI> might in this la&s;t War have advanced his Frontiers as far on this &s;ide <HI>Vienna,</HI> as now they are retrench|ed on the other. Their little Skill in Affairs &s;how'd its &s;elf remarkably
<PB N="182" REF="107"> this la&s;t Year, in hindring the Duke of <HI>Lorrain</HI>'s Retreat from <HI>E&s;&s;eck;</HI> for whom, as a flying Enemy, they ought to have built a Bridge of Gold, and not, when the Flight came to their own turn, break down the Bridge, as they did, and &s;o expo&s;e the &s;hattered Army to the Fury of the Conqueror. But into what a Panick, but impolitick Fear, did their Fate put them, when they &s;o cowardly abandoned <HI>E&s;&s;eck,</HI> without daring fir&s;t to &s;pring tho&s;e Mines, which might have laid the whole Town in Ruins, when all was in readine&s;s, but a Hand to give fire to the Train. And, after all this, that the remainder of a broken Army &s;hould &s;et up a new General, <HI>Osman Hirsy,</HI> in&s;tead of the <HI>Grand Vizir;</HI> and that to &s;ave him&s;elf, and &s;top the Muti|neers, the <HI>Grand Vizir</HI> &s;hould order the Bridge on the <HI>Save</HI> to be broken down, is an unparallell'd In&s;tance of ill Conduct; Unle&s;s the Failure in Ma|nagement appear more in the&s;e Muti|neers &s;aw&s;y Behaviour to their Sove|raign, in butchering mo&s;t of his great Officers of State, and in compleating their Villainy in depo&s;ing him, not|with&s;tanding
<PB N="183" REF="107"> he had at their In&s;tance, retrenched his Expences, di&s;mi&s;s'd ma|ny of his Dome&s;ticks, &s;acrificed mo&s;t of his Friends and Favourites to their Rage, and then given their E&s;tates to &s;atisfy the&s;e Mutineers; which evi|dently makes appear, how little &s;afe it is for a Prince to comply with the unrea&s;onable Expectations of factious Subjects. And to add to the Weak|ne&s;&s;es of the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Government, there appears a great Backwardne&s;s in the People to furni&s;h their Prince either with Men or Money; &s;o that <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople</HI> &s;eems in a fair way to be retaken by the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> as it was fir&s;t taken from them: For would, but the Citi|zens of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> who were very Rich, have contributed any thing to the <HI>Greek</HI> Emperor, their Soveraign, toward the keeping of that important Metropolis, when be&s;ieged by the <HI>Turks,</HI> it might perhaps have been in <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Hands to this day: So, had the great Officers of the <HI>Port</HI> volunta|rily given but a Third of tho&s;e Pur&s;es which were by the mutinous Army taken from them, with their own Heads; the Army, in all likelihood,
<PB N="184" REF="108"> might have been kept in Di&s;cipline and Obedience; and as many Towns won, as now, for want of Pay, and through their ungovernable Temper, they have quitted to the <HI>Chri&s;tians.</HI> But how can it be expected that a Kingdom divided again&s;t it &s;elf can &s;tand? How fatal Jealou&s;ies between Prince and People are, the &s;inking of this huge Empire proves.</P>
<P>There is one thing more, which has been a great Abatement to the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Power; which is, their Aver&s;ene&s;s to Arts, or to any thing that is Polite. For, let any one con&s;ider what <HI>Greece</HI> did, while &s;he was Mi&s;tre&s;s of the Arts; this one &s;mall Part now of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Empire, once atchieved more than all the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Force was ever able to perform. The <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> are at this day (in &s;pite of the <HI>Turks</HI>) a potent King|dom, who when they were Emperors of the Earth, &s;ubmitted to a <HI>Grecian</HI> Youth; and the whole Bravery of the&s;e new Inhabitants of <HI>Greece,</HI> with all their enlarged Territories, cannot e|qual the Actions of either <HI>Sparta, A|thens,</HI> or <HI>Macedon,</HI> much le&s;s the uni|ted Glory of all learned <HI>Greece.</HI> Con|&s;ider,
<PB N="185" REF="108"> I pray, their Weakne&s;s on this Account; whereas, it was the Happi|ne&s;s of former barbarous Ages, to be the Conque&s;t of either Civil <HI>Greece</HI> or <HI>Rome,</HI> in&s;omuch that their Skill in Arts and all manner of Learning, invited Men to be their Subjects. I never yet heard any Man glory, that he was a Citizen of <HI>Con&s;tantinople;</HI> but have of|ten read, that the Freedom of the City of <HI>Rome</HI> was an invaluable Dona|tion; &s;o far has Learning the Prehe|minence of Barbari&s;m.</P>
<P>Nor is the Weakne&s;s of the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Government le&s;s Con&s;picuous in the Corruption of its Admini&s;trators: All Intere&s;ts are mea&s;ured by Profit, nor is it much matter, whom the Prince puts into Places of Tru&s;t, &s;ince him&s;elf will be their Heir, &s;aving, that there &s;uch generally are pitch'd on, as know the be&s;t how to pillage the People; which has al&s;o taught the People how to take the like Mea&s;ures; for, they never brook their Emperor's Commands, much longer than his Mea&s;ures are &s;uc|ce&s;sful in gratifying them with the Spoils of their Neighbours; &s;o that all mutual Obligation between Prince
<PB N="186" REF="109"> and People, is there purely founded on Profit. As to Royal Goodne&s;s, or Subjects Duty, how little they are known now at <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> let this la&s;t Revolution witne&s;s. No que&s;tion, but the <HI>Sultan</HI>'s greate&s;t Favourites led his Arms in this la&s;t, as well as in o|ther more fortunate Wars; yet not one Miscarriage by a General from the running from before <HI>Vienna,</HI> till this la&s;t Years return of the Rebels to <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> co&s;t any thing le&s;s than lo&s;s of Life and All. Who but an impotent Tyrant, would have abando|ned his Bo&s;om-Friends to the heady Humour of the Multitude? He mu&s;t certainly have been very regardle&s;s of his Intere&s;ts, who would quit them &s;o &s;lightly to the Preten&s;ions of his Slaves. And the People &s;how'd their Prince the like Duty and Gratitude, in de|po&s;ing him, who in the former part of his Reign had brought under the <HI>Cre&s;cent, Candia, Caminiec,</HI> and &s;o ma|ny Places in <HI>Hungary.</HI> Thus, when every body became greater than his Prince, as he had &s;pared many of his Favourites Lives no longer than to tell where their Trea&s;ures lay, the <HI>Anar|chites</HI>
<PB N="187" REF="109"> be&s;towed as many Ba&s;tinado's on the Survivers, as did complete the Ruin of the Old Court. But, what a &s;trange Impotence in the Management of the Reins of his Government &s;how'd it &s;elf, when the very <HI>Eunuchs</HI> could venture to oppo&s;e his Indignation; and the <HI>Bo&s;tangi,</HI> or Gardiner, dur&s;t refu&s;e to acknowledge his lawful Soveraign, and bid him look to his own Head, who demanded his for Rebellion.</P>
<P>Their Divinity likewi&s;e is of equal Con&s;ideration with their Politicks, which allows, that the Lawful Sove|raign may, for the good of the Em|pire, be depo&s;ed, and an U&s;urper (for he can be no other) placed in the Throne: And this &s;olemn Deci&s;ion was pa&s;s'd, by no le&s;s Man than the <HI>Mufti.</HI></P>
<P>Their Incon&s;tancy likewi&s;e to their old &s;evere Maxims, in taking off all that might in any probability pretend to the Throne, &s;hows the In&s;tability of their Coun&s;els, and the tottering Condition of the Government. <HI>Ma|homet,</HI> it's true, &s;hewed &s;ome weak Ef|forts of the old Policy, when he would have concluded his Butcheries with
<PB N="188" REF="110"> his own Relations; but it proved too late: Yet (which is &s;till more &s;trange) the <HI>Mufti,</HI> who &s;et up an U&s;urper, dur&s;t pronounce, that the lawful Prince, after he had denounced the Sentence of Depo&s;ition upon him, ought to live. But, whether he may not live to give &s;ome of his Rebellious Sub|jects their De&s;erts, Time, and <HI>Soly|man</HI>'s Succe&s;&s;es again&s;t the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> mu&s;t &s;how.</P>
<P>One great Mi&s;take in this barbarous Polity, is, that all Men and their Un|dertakings are mea&s;ured altogether by their Succe&s;s, and not by the Rules of Prudence and Coun&s;el. Whereas in <HI>Rome</HI> once a General puni&s;hed his Son, who had purcha&s;ed a Victory by the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion of his Orders: In this rough-hewen Government, the mo&s;t unpolitick Actions, if but crowned with Succe&s;s, are accounted Brave and Glorious. Nor dare a Generali&s;&s;imo for the wi&s;e <HI>Venetians,</HI> at this day pur|&s;ue a Victory beyond his Ma&s;ters In|&s;tructions; for, &s;hould he thereby gain <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> it &s;elf, he would be &s;o far from meriting by it, that the Acti|on would very much want a Pardon;
<PB N="189" REF="110"> &s;uch a Value have all wi&s;e Men for a prudent Conduct in Affairs above the utmo&s;t Efforts of Courage and Brave|ry. If the Rea&s;on of things &s;waied in <HI>Turky,</HI> little cau&s;e had that People to blame <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. for undertaking a War again&s;t the <HI>German</HI> Emperor, when Factions were &s;o &s;trong on their Side in <HI>Hungary,</HI> and the <HI>Germans</HI> were brought &s;o low on the other by the Power of <HI>France.</HI> It is very &s;trange, that a People &s;hould be &s;o violently per&s;waded of their Fate; and yet act as if there were no Providence. For, whoever drives on without prudenti|al Conduct, mu&s;t depend on a fortui|tous Hit, and can &s;carce do well with|out a Miracle; whereas, he that &s;teers by Council, &s;eems guided by the Clew of Providence, whither Fate has de|termined him. Certainly it is a &s;trange Defect in the&s;e Peoples Policy, to be &s;o much &s;wayed by Fortune, and &s;o little by Coun&s;el: For, grant but an Army to judge of their General by the Succe&s;s of a Battle; it mu&s;t be left to their Di&s;cretion, whether they will be|led by him to a &s;econd Engagement: Ju&s;t thus has it fared with the <HI>Turks</HI> in
<PB N="190" REF="111"> this la&s;t War; it has not been the In|di&s;cretion of <HI>Mahomet</HI> IV. that has brought things to &s;o low an Ebb, but it was the fal&s;e Maxims of Policy, on which the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Government was founded. Where Arms are managed with a &s;teady Hand, let the Succe&s;s be what it will, the Attempt is good; but once allow an Army to act beyond Commi&s;&s;ion, though for the publick Good, that &s;ame Army, by virtue of the &s;ame Liberty, may act for the Subver&s;ion of the Soveraign and Go|vernment; of which this la&s;t Revolu|tion at <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> is a pregnant In|&s;tance.</P>
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