Lastly, those venerable unwarlike forms, bearded and saint-like, at whose approach knights and sentinels and glittering ranks kneel down as for a father’s blessing, are not the least among the defenders of Rhodes. Leonard Balestein is the Latin metropolitan, reckoned the most eloquent preacher of his day; Clement, the Greek archbishop, you have already heard of; and they love one another as brothers; so that, as they go from post to post, they are seldom to be met apart.
All this you may see as you look down upon the city. But glance over the ocean, and another spectacle awaits you. The blue line of the Levant, sparkling in the summer sunshine, and kissed into life and motion by a northern breeze; and on its heaving bright expanse 300 Turkish sail, gathered from every coast that owns the Ottoman rule,—from Egypt, Syria, and every part of Asia,—and having on board, in addition to the regular crews, 8000 chosen soldiers and 2000 pioneers; whilst 100,000 men under Solyman himself are advancing along the western coast of Asia Minor.[24] Alas for Rhodes and her 6000 defenders! We may well be pardoned this glance at her as she stands in the last hour of her beauty and display. The 26th of June sees her indeed magnificent to the eye, and in all the pomp and pride of chivalry and warlike show; but soon that gay and martial music will be exchanged for the thunder of artillery, and those battlemented bannered walls will be crumbling to the dust.
We must, however, commence a fresh chapter before entering on the story of the last siege of Rhodes.
CHAPTER VI.
Ill success of the Turkish troops—Arrival of the sultan—The English bastion blown up—Conduct of the grand master—Fresh assault under Peri Pasha—Panic produced by the appearance of L’Isle Adam—Attack on the ruins of the English bastion by Mustapha Pasha—Assault-general—Retreat of the infidels—Renewed hostilities—State of Rhodes during the last month of the siege—Solyman has recourse to negotiation—The grand master is compelled to yield by the entreaties of the citizens—Honourable terms of capitulation—Interview between L’Isle Adam and the sultan—Cruelties of the Janizaries—Generous conduct of the sultan Solyman.
The Turkish forces now before the capital of Rhodes were commanded by Mustapha Pasha, whose counsel had in the first instance urged on the sultan to undertake the enterprise, and to whom its conduct had been intrusted. The troops were landed on the 28th of July 1522, but siege-operations did not commence until the 1st of August. In the expectation of finding an abundance of provisions in the fertile island, scarcely any had been brought by the fleet. The first thing, therefore, perceived on the disembarkment of the troops was the fact that the army stood in no small danger of starvation. Instead of the abundance they had expected to meet with, they found on all sides a desert, without crops, inhabitants, or forage; for to such a state had the wise precautions of the grand master reduced the whole country round. The wells were choked and rendered nauseous and poisonous; and Mustapha soon found that to keep the field for many days together, he would require something more than the garlic, dried fruits, fish, and salt meat, which, as his physician Ramadan tells us, were all the provisions he had deemed it necessary to bring.
His principal hopes of success had been placed in the operations of his miners: but at the commencement the frequent sorties of the Knights, and their ruinous fire, prevented the Turks from gaining any advantage; and what with continual conflicts in which they were always the losers, the prospect of starvation, and no hopes of booty, the soldiers of the besieging army showed symptoms of discontent which soon broke out into open mutiny. Peri Pasha, the second in command, and appointed by the sultan to furnish him with exact intelligence of all that passed, lost no time in acquainting him with the gloomy aspect of affairs; adding, that perhaps the “gentle omnipotence” of his presence might restore the courage of his troops. The celerity with which Solyman acted on this advice rivalled, says Bosio, the intrepid marches of Cæsar. Embarking with a few followers in two small open boats, he appeared at Rhodes before his approach could have been suspected, and declared to the army, who received him with all military honours, that he was only come to punish their rebellion and decimate his cowardly battalions. The interference of Peri Pasha, perhaps pre-arranged, turned him from this design; and the troops, recalled to their duty by his presence, sought to regain their reputation for valour and discipline by entering on the siege with an ardour hitherto unparalleled. If we are to judge by the language employed by Ramadan in his history of the expedition, the Turkish soldiery were stimulated to the conquest of the island by descriptions addressed to their vilest passions,—descriptions which, by throwing a veil of voluptuousness and romance over the most detestable enormities, were calculated to stifle every feeling of humanity in their breasts, and to make them regard the worst crimes they could perpetrate as the legitimate rewards of bravery and daring. But what else could be expected of a creed so foul and revolting? With a Mahometan heaven as the hoped-for reward, sensuality the most licentious must be a virtue and a merit in the eyes of the “true believer”.