FOOTNOTES:
[259] See [Appendix XV].
[260] Finch to Jenkins, Sept. 24, 1680, S.P. Turkey, 19.
[261] The Same to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12, 1680; Life of Dudley North, p. 95.
[262] Finch to Jenkins, Sept. 29.
[263] The Same to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12.
[264] Life of Dudley North, p. 97.
[265] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 2-12.
[266] Register (S.P. Levant Company, 145), p. 71; Hist. MSS. Com. Seventh Report, pp. 475, 478.
[267] “To the King’s most Excellent Majestie: The humble petition of Paul Ricaut late Consul of Smyrna,” S.P. Turkey, 19.
[268] Life of Dudley North, p. 114.
[269] Register, pp. 95 foll.
[270] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 8-18.
[271] The Same to Jenkins, Oct. 8-18.
[272] The Same to Sunderland, Nov. 6-16.
[273] Ibid.
[274] Register, pp. 73-81.
[275] Finch to Sunderland, Oct. 8-18, Nov. 6-16.
CHAPTER XX
A LULL IN THE STORM
“God be praisd’ that I can once write your Lordship Good Newes out of Turky: the Kehaiah of the Gran Visir is cut off!”—with these words Sir John Finch began his next despatch; and then went on to describe “the occasion of the fall of this Tyrant and worst of Men” as follows.
Whilst hunting in the Thracian plain, the Grand Signor had learnt that at Constantinople, despite his edicts against drunkenness, boza—a fermented liquor made from millet-seed—was openly sold! In a transport of prohibitionist frenzy, the Sultan ordered all the boza-vessels to be smashed. Whereupon the boza-sellers submitted to His Majesty a protest: They had not only paid to the Vizir’s Kehayah 70 purses for their license, but also bound themselves to pay a similar sum every six months; further, the Kehayah had created a Head for their Guild and vested him with one of the Grand Signor’s kaftans: was it just, after such a solemn and costly recognition of their trade, that they should have their vessels smashed? When the Hunter heard this, his rage knew no bounds. It was then for this—to enrich a miserable Kehayah—that he had deprived himself of the 400 purses per annum which the wine-tax yielded him! Let his head fly off—and straightway the Kehayah’s head flew off.
Truly a fine piece of work; no finer done in Turkey for many a year; and the fruits of it manifold, immediate and remote, tangible and otherwise. Take this, for a beginning: “His Hoggera’s and Houses Seald’ Up, and His whole Estate confiscated to the Gran Signor. As yett they have onely opend’ one Hoggera, where they found in ready mony 700 Purses, and 500 Purses in rich Persian furniture: They goe on dayly opening the rest, and at last They intend to open His Mansion House. The expectation is of finding No lesse then 3,000 Purses in all; from which hopes if they fall or find any clancular Imbezzlements, they have in hold His two Treasurers, Him of Adrianople, and the other of this Place, who will be forcd’ by Torture to confesse all.” This is the sum-total: three thousand purses (or a million and a half dollars) amassed in three years! Lost in as few minutes! No people in the world ever were more greedy of wealth than Turkish pashas—or less certain of its enjoyment. But on these aspects of the work—the economic and the moral—Sir John is silent: he feels, perchance, that little which is new can be said of the one, and little which is helpful of the other. Instead, he gives us a glimpse into the fiend incarnate’s invisible world, which so long submissive had thus suddenly risen in revolt. Let us, for Sir John’s sake, and to illustrate the situation, quote:
“The Visir was extreamly Jealous of two Great Men about the Gran Signor: Soliman, Kehaiah to the former Visir and Master of the Horse at present to the Gran Signor, was one; and the Kisler Aga, the Black Eunuch, was the other. The former, the Visir endeavourd’ to have removed by preferring Him to great Bassalikes. Against the latter He had workd’ so farr, that He had separated Him from the Gran Signor and the Queen Regent in this present removall of the Court, under pretence of giving Him the Honour of conducting the Queen Mother to Adrianople. But the Kisler Aga was not without a true friend, the Gran Signor’s Secretary, who had Confidence and Witt, and He took upon Him to acquaint the Emperour, that there were dayly Quarrells amongst His Women and that till the Kisler Aga returnd’, things would never be in good Order. Hereupon the Gran Signor gives order for His returne and He came doubly armd’, First with Presents to the Gran Signor of the value of Seventy Purses to regain His favour; for which the Emperour said to Him, Thou art now Twice My Sonne; then in the Second Place, He caused Seven Men to appear with an Arrs [Memorial] to the Gran Signor, wherein was expressed’, That His Majesty having deprived Himselfe of 400 Purses Per Annum, which the Custome of Wines did yield Him, to the End that the Mussulmen might not be drunk and kill each other, that His Ministers had introducd’ and licensed the publick Selling of Boza.” Hence that smashing of boza-vessels and flying off of Kehayah-heads: followed, in the orthodox Turkish course, by sealing up of dollar-crammed hoggeras and houses: a sequence as inevitable as any ever planned by a Harem-bred brain.
Going deeper into this Oriental labyrinth of plots, stratagems, and spoils, our Ambassador adds, though as a thing “which I cannot averr for certain,” that secret information of the Imperial rage had been conveyed in advance to the Vizir by one of his creatures, and that Kara Mustafa, to exonerate himself and to prevent awkward revelations, hastened, before the fatal command arrived, to give a striking demonstration of his public spirit by cutting off his Kehayah’s head and sending it to the Grand Signor. Probable enough! Not the least use of the delegation of powers in which the Ottoman polity delighted was to provide a superior with a handy scape-goat—some one upon whom, on emergency, he could shift the responsibility and the odium. The Grand Signor had such a convenient deputy in his Grand Vizir, the Grand Vizir in his Kehayah, and so every other grandee. For the rest, this was not the first time Kara Mustafa had saved his own head by offering up to justice that of another.[276] “But be it as it will,”—what really concerns us—“Dead He is, and a great Blow given by it to the Gran Visir; and many thinke that now the Gran Signor hath once Tasted of Blood that the Sword will not stop here: Nay further the Gran Signor Himselfe hath placd’ a New Kehaiah about the Visir who was an Officer of the last Visir and had the reputation of a Man of great Integrity; and when the Gran Signor conferrd’ the Charge upon Him, He told Him, Look you to it that things of this Nature doe not passe, else Your Head shall answer for it as Your Predecessours has done. All Men from this one Action expect a great change of Affayrs so that what were judgd’ Impossibility’s before become Now possibility’s, and possibility’s become Now Probability’s in effecting any thing. The French Ambassadour may Now at last in all likelyhood obtain His Audience upon the Saffà, and Our Affayrs Now give Us also a better prospect.” The age of thunder has gone—the lightnings of Kara Mustafa are extinguished for ever! Never, never more shall we tremble at thoughts of the Seven Towers. The spirit of servitude is dead: hail to Freedom, the nurse of manly sentiment, of that sensibility to “puntiglios,” which feels a slight like a wound. The King my Master’s honour will once again become a reality, instead of a mockery. All this, and much more of the same exalted nature, we may credibly suppose, radiated through Sir John’s mind, as he concluded: “I hope Your Lordship will Every Day hear better Newes and that My Successour will find as great a Calme as I have done a Storm.”[277]
In all this one thing stands conspicuous—not by its presence. The opposition to Kara Mustafa in the Seraglio is led by our “good friend” the late Vizir’s Kehayah, and by the Kislar Aga who, as we have heard, had with that other good friend of ours, the Customer, a pointed talk about our grievances on the very eve of our great enemy’s fall. It is impossible to avoid the surmise that our grievances and the consequent peril to the Grand Signor’s revenue had contributed something towards the Imperial fire which consumed the Kehayah. Yet in vain do we search our Ambassador’s reports for any hint that he played the humblest part in bringing about the happy conflagration; or for any indication that he tried to feed it, once kindled by others. Some presents to the “Queen Regent”—such as Elizabeth’s envoys knew so well how to distribute—one imagines, would not have come amiss. Sir John has here an excellent opportunity of reaching the Grand Signor behind the Grand Vizir’s back; and Sir John does not even see, much less stretch forth to seize it! Not to do, but to look on: commenting, chorus-like, upon the wonderful ways of Providence, speculating upon the benefits that may accrue to him from a situation he has neither helped to create nor to consolidate—such is his function in the drama of life. Does not here, in this monumental inadequacy, properly lie the source of the maltreatments and all the other “sinister Accidents” that befell us ever since that thrice-unfortunate strategic retreat to our bed?
However, in his prognostications, at least, Sir John was not wholly wrong. The fall of his Kehayah had a sobering effect upon Kara Mustafa. It revealed to him the limits of his power and the existence within the Seraglio of elements of danger hitherto unsuspected. With such an example staring him in the face, it was incumbent upon the Vizir to avoid all actions likely to furnish those hostile elements with handles against him: such, for instance, as the persecution of foreign Ministers. The result was a holiday for the Diplomatic Corps. Their Excellencies took advantage of the relief so miraculously vouchsafed them to renew their petty squabbles. Sir John as usual was among the first in the fray. The quarrel was with the representative of Holland: it was, of course, about a point of honour. Let him relate it himself: “According to the Custome sending my Druggerman to wish Him a happy Christmasse (his Christmasse falling Ten dayes before Ours) He Detaind’ Him above half an houre in Expectation of an Answer, and at last His Secretary came out and askd’ my Druggerman what He came for, who saying that He came to His Excellency from me to wish Him Le buone Feste, the Secretary told Him That His Master being now an Ambassadour could not receive a Druggerman but expected My Secretary and so sent Him away, My Druggerman with a smile telling Him, that He just then came from performing the same office to the Holland Ambassadour’s Superiours, for indeed I had sent Him before to the Ambassadour of Venice who receivd’ Him with respect, and afterwards to the Ambassadour of France who was not inferiour in his Civility’s. And really, My Lord, it hath bin a custome near thirty yeares for the Ambassadours to send reciprocally to each other upon this Ceremony their Druggermen, as my Druggermen under their hands have attested to me.... The French Ambassadour is at irreconcilable odds with him, for diverse other neglects He hath receivd’ from this Holland Minister, and the Venetian Ambassadour is no lesse sensible of the disrespects placd’ upon Him. As for my own Part, I found in few dayes some way of expressing my resentment, for some Holland Merchants comming to wish me a happy Christmasse, I bid my Secretary thank them for their Civility, but withall to tell them that my Character would not permitt me to receive any that depended upon the Holland Ambassadour S. Justinus Collyer, till he had made reparation for the publick disrespect shown to my Character. In short the Truth is My Lord, that when He was Resident onely, He would make himselfe equall to me in challenging Visit for Visit: And now He is but half an Ambassadour He would make Himselfe Superiour to Us all, in pretending that Wee must send Him a Secretary; when Wee three are well satisfyd’ with the sending of Our Druggermen to each other.”[278]
In this ridiculous way Sir John Finch began the new year—to such account he turned the calm Providence had vouchsafed him. However, the calm continued, and our Ambassador went on anticipating all manner of blessings therefrom, even “it may be hopd’ that My Lord Chandos is now also in some possibility of procuring reparation for what is past.” Kara Mustafa did nothing to discourage such anticipations. Quite the contrary. Here is an instance. Early in February, Sir John, understanding from the letters which reached the merchants that Lord Chandos was not likely to arrive, at soonest, before the middle of March, and the time assigned by the Vizir in the case of the Pasha of Tunis expiring at the end of February, thought it necessary to despatch a Dragoman to Adrianople with a letter for the Grand Vizir: “acquainting Him that the King My Master, upon the account of the many Sinister Accidents that befell Me in this Charge, had namd’ a New Ambassadour to succeed Me, who was like to come fully instructed; Therefore I desird’ the Visir that there might be no further proceeding in that Case till the arrivall of my Successour. To which the Visir readily assented, and that with some Ceremony also, patiently hearing my Druggerman. It is the opinion of all Men, that the fury of this Great Storm is blown over. So great and suddain a change does the taking away one Kehaiah’s Head make in this Vast Empire.”[279]
When, towards the end of March, the Court returned to Constantinople, Kara Mustafa still lay under this strange spell of uncongenial geniality. Indeed, he was more genial than ever. Sir John had another proof of his curious conversion: “For all the Ministers here sending Him in their Presents at His return, I was forcd’ to follow their Example, having more need of Him then all the rest putt together; which, though it was but a small one, He receivd’ with great kindnesse, presenting my Druggerman Ten Dollars, though never before He had given Him a Penny.”[280] Dollars instead of a drubbing: the Dragoman must have nearly fainted. A change, indeed!
The subordinate officials, as always, took their cue from their Chief. About a month later Sir John wrote to the Levant Company:
“I receivd’ two messages at different times from the Rais Affendi, both to this effect: That I might rest quyett with a contented Heart, in regard that the Bassà of Tunis should give Me No Trouble, He having His beard in His Hand. A third passe was also made to Me, which was, That the Rais Affendi seeing My Druggerman, calld’ to Him and askd’ whether the Ambassadour of England had any occasion of His service. Laying these things together I sent My Druggerman with this message, That I was extreamly obligd’ to Him for His Civilitys, and that reciprocally I desird’ to know wherein I could any way’s testify my respects to Him; And as to that repeated message sent Me, that neither I nor My Successour need to fear, He having the Bassà of Tunis his beard in His Hand, I desird’ Him more particularly to explain it to Me; I having still the power in My Hand to gratify them that should doe me right, and revenge My Cause, though I could, not treat about it. Upon this I receivd’ the following answer: That until the new Ambassadour was arrivd’ at Smyrna, He could not unfold and open Himselfe fully; but that in the very moment I sent Him notice of my Successour’s arrivall there, that He and I should adjust it here.
“What the meaning of this message was I did not then understand, nor doe not as yett fully comprehend. Most certain it is that they doe not yett fully believe that I have a Successour upon the way. Neverthelesse I made this return to Him: In the first place, I thankd’ Him for the Civill offices past in behalfe of My selfe and My Successour; and that in case the same Powers rested in Me upon the arrivall of my Successour which now I am invested withall, that I should make use of His favour; but not knowing whether His Majesty’s fresh Commands may wholely devest me from power of acting, in case they did I should pray His Excuse, and begg from Him the same acts of kindnesse towards My Successour.”[281]
But strong as was Sir John’s desire to believe in the permanence of the change, it did not quite befool him. Notwithstanding these promising appearances, he knew too well that, until the harbour was reached, there could be no sleep with safety. He therefore kept a vigilant eye on the horizon, ready to note every disquieting sign. Such signs became visible before spring was far advanced. The Grand Signor had been prevailed upon to send his Master of the Horse, Kara Mustafa’s sworn enemy, away to Mecca—“to see that place repayrd’.” From this and several other circumstances our Ambassador deducts, with such sensations as may be imagined, that the Vizir, “after the last violent shock, beginns to take firm root again.” In proportion as he regains confidence, Kara Mustafa recovers his natural amiability. Only, pending complete rehabilitation, he deems it expedient to go slowly: where delay was necessary Kara Mustafa could display the most indefatigable patience. Sir John by this time has learnt to read the Vizir pretty accurately. Personally he has nothing to complain of; but his colleagues have. In the past every indication of differential treatment was for him a ground for exultation, for self-glorification. He knows better now: “like a Bear that hath bin freshly bated, I am left to some repose that I might recover strength, whilst other Ministers are brought upon the Theatre.” He proceeds to describe the performance. His reports are coloured by prejudice; but it may well be asked whether reporters of any kind ever have described, or could ever have been reasonably expected to describe, much more than the ways in which facts impinge on their own individual minds.
“As to the Holland Resident or Ambassadour, for as yet I know not what to call Him, His Intrigues upon the score of his new sought for Honour alwayes encreasing, and his Titles alwayes diminishing; His Condition is this. By the last conveyance He receivd’ Letters of Credence from the States His Masters to the Visir owning Him for their Ambassadour; upon which He demands Audience of the Visir, and Having obtaind’ it, He carryd’ with Him the Presents of an Ambassadour, viz. 20 Vests, and 2 gold watches. The Visir receives his Presents and bids the Rais Affendi or Chancellour take his Papers; but tells Him that the G. Visir had no power of constituting Ambassadours and that it was presumption in Him to thinke He could, that the G. Signor must have his Letters of Credence and Presents also, and that He must give a Talkish or Memoriall to the Gran Signor of this Proceeding of the Dutch Minister. So He was dismissd’ without so much as receiving One Vest, or being perfumd’ which is the characteristicall distinction of the reception of an Ambassadour from that of a Resident. The World knows what this meanes, which is mony, and his Enemys say (for I thinke He hath not one friend) that the Summe will amount to 50,000 Dollars; but though mony will be the conclusion of it, yet a farr lesse summe will doe the buisenesse.” From the tone of this lively narrative it is plain that Sir John had not forgiven Collyer the disrespect he had placed upon him at Christmas. On the contrary, he had since had fresh causes for annoyance, some of which he shared with the Dutchman’s other colleagues and some were peculiar to himself. It appears that, at the audience just mentioned, Collyer, before he sat down, kissed the Vizir’s vest, and, moreover, instead of giving the Vizir the usual appellation of Excellency, he bestowed upon him the title of Highness. For these concessions “all the Ambassadours vehemently exclaim against Him”—“And I have particular Reason to complain of Him for the Visir asking Him, What Newes, He told Him that England was in Civill Warrs and like to be ruind’; the Duke of Yorke being retired into Scotland, whither His Most Christian Majesty had ordred a Fleet in His assistance, but that the States His Masters had ordred 60 sayl of Men of Warr to helpe the Protestants of England against His Royall Highnesse and the Roman Catholicks.”[282]
In view of these grievances, how could Sir John sympathise with the Dutchman’s distress? No such animosity clouds his account of the French Ambassador’s predicament.
M. de Guilleragues, after defying the Grand Vizir for eighteen months, had resolved to force a decision—as he might have said, brusquer un dénouement. Letters from his King had reached him for the Grand Signor and the Grand Vizir. In these letters Louis disavowed M. de Nointel’s surrender, demanded audience for his Ambassador on the Soffah, declaring that he would not be satisfied with less, and, in case of refusal, requested leave for him to return home. Guilleragues informed Kara Mustafa through his Dragoman of the arrival of these letters and said that, if the Vizir would not give him audience on the Soffah, he would not present them in person, but deliver them through his Secretary. The Vizir answered that he could not grant the Soffah; and as to the Secretary, he would not do the Grand Signor and His Majesty of France the disrespect to receive Royal letters by other hands than those of the Ambassador. This passage of arms had taken place in March, while Kara Mustafa’s position was still shaken;[283] and Guilleragues was so confident of victory that he put himself to the expense of rigging out his attendants in new rich liveries, and made many of his gentlemen provide costly clothes for the Audience. But all his thrusts were skilfully parried by Kara Mustafa, who now brought the duel to a halt by telling Guilleragues that, “If he would have audience, he must receive it as the other Ministers had done, or be gone.”[284] There was a deadlock.
The whole of Constantinople, from both banks of the Golden Horn, watched this queer combat for a foot-high eminence with breathless interest: Stambul gnashing its teeth at the Giaour’s unheard-of impudence; Pera rejoicing, as openly as it dared, at his prowess. For the Soffah was a symbol. To the Turks it typified their superiority, to the Franks their abasement. Therefore all Franks, irrespective of nationality, saw in M. de Guilleragues their gallant champion. Like a paladin of olden times he stood forth as a defender of Christendom and its dignity against the arrogant hosts of Islam. In fighting for the Soffah, the Ambassador of France fought the battle of Europe. The anxiety was universal; but no one felt more anxious than Sir John Finch. To him the recrudescence of Kara Mustafa’s obduracy was of ill augury for his own affairs: “Methink’s,” he wrote with reference to the Pasha of Tunis case, “the Visir should be enclind’ to something of Temper in this Concern.”[285]
In the midst of these melodramatic doings, news came that Lord Chandos had reached Smyrna in the Oxford. Immediately Finch sent a special messenger to inform him of the Rais Effendi’s mysterious overtures and to ask for guidance in the matter without delay. “The noble Lord’s answer from thence was that he was hastening all he could to communicate to me His Majesty’s Commands and the Company’s Instructions, adding that he feard’ our latitude was not great on the submissive part.”[286] On receipt of this reply, Sir John notified the Rais Effendi that his successor was at Smyrna and that he hourly expected him at Pera: the pulling of the Pasha’s beard would have to be put off for a while. That and all other operations henceforth passed out of his hands.
For the first time after many years Sir John felt able to breathe. But patience to a man in a state of suspense is difficult. He counted the days, the hours, he consulted the weather prophets: it was the time of year when the Etesian winds setting N.E. rendered navigation in that corner of the Mediterranean exceedingly slow. The ship, faced by a thousand snares of sea and land, had to struggle along the Asia Minor coast, continually tacking and taking careful soundings, frequently casting and weighing anchor, and casting it again—now before Mytilene, now before Tenedos, until after a whole week’s voyage from Smyrna it reached Gallipoli—there to meet the millrace of the Dardanelles. So fierce was the current in that season and, owing to the tortuous nature of the channel, so dangerous, that ships had to wait at the mouth of the Hellespont for the wind to change before they could even enter the Straits. Sometimes they had to wait so long that, it is said, in Byzantine times, the corn which was transported from Egypt to Constantinople rotted on board. Sir John could not wait: “I long for dispatch, all delay being a just ground (if any can be so) of impatience.”[287] The moment he heard that the Oxford had arrived at Gallipoli, he sent thither a brigantine with twenty oars and four boats to expedite the last stage of Lord Chandos’s journey. His Lordship, no less sensible of the need of dispatch, promptly left the Oxford at Gallipoli and with a few servants performed the last 125 miles in the brigantine, landing at Constantinople incognito on Friday, July 22nd, “to my no small joy.”[288]
Of course, Sir John could not get away at once. The Pasha of Tunis’s beard had to be pulled first. Until that operation was over, he was practically a prisoner. But he relied on Lord Chandos to release him from captivity.
The new Ambassador came armed with a double set of Letters of Credence from the King, two addressed to the Grand Signor and two to the Grand Vizir: the one set was couched in milder, the other in sterner terms; and his instructions were to present the one or the other, as he should think most suitable to the actual posture of affairs and most likely to achieve the end in view—namely, security for the present, guarantees for the future, and, if possible, reparation for the past: all this had to be managed with due regard to “the frowardness of the present Ministers and the state of a fixed and Radicated Tyranny.” Courage tempered by circumspection was the word. But a postscript to his Instructions, dictated by the Levant Company, empowered the Ambassador, in case “the Vizier doth persist in his great oppressions upon Our Subjects,” to acquaint him (and the Grand Signor, too, if need be) that he would only remain at the Porte until he should receive final directions from home “how to dispose of Our Subjects and their Trade for the future.”[289] This, translated into plain language, amounted to a threat of a rupture of relations.
Long has the Majesty of England suffered insult and injury meekly. But now it would seem meekness had reached its uttermost limit: an august Monarch, a Most Honourable Privy Council—nay, a Company of timorous traders itself—in their despair, had taken to a new course: we were to make a solemn final remonstrance and appeal for justice; failing which, we were to fling down the wet and worthless piece of parchment at the Grand Signor’s feet, and depart shaking the dust of his dominions off ours—or, perhaps, not to depart, but to stay on under entirely new conditions: our ambassadors unaffronted, our merchants going to market sure that they shall come back unplundered? or, horrible thought! to fall once more under the yoke, our remonstrances and veiled menaces alike ending—in smoke?