I regret that I cannot procure this excellent piece, since, as we are preparing to sail on our second voyage to the Archipelago, I was obliged to come on board the moment the ceremony was over.
But before I leave this place, I will raise your philanthropy, by mentioning a charitable institution which is here carried to a particular height. I mean a foundation, by which a number of female children are not only brought up in morality and religion, and taught some useful art, that will enable them to earn their bread; but when they arrive at a certain age, and are qualified to undertake the cares of a family, portions are assigned to those who choose to marry. When virgins have these advantages, their Guardians will never be long in search of unexceptionable husbands.
LETTER XXVI.
TO CAPTAIN SMITH.
Smyrna, May 27th, 1788.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
After an absence of four months, we returned here on the 24th instant, and found the Turks in the highest spirits. The Emperor has declared against them: but this was a proceeding they had been prepared for; and, far from his arms having as yet been attended with any decisive success, he tarnished them in the onset, by beginning the war in a pusillanimous style, not at all expected from so powerful an enemy.
We had scarce left this country, before advice was received of a treacherous attempt to take Belgrade; but the slovenly manner in which this enterprise was conducted, gave the Emperor an opportunity of denying his being privy to it. It proved unsuccessful; and, as the Baron De Herbert, the Imperial Minister, had changed his threats into negociations for settling a peace between Turkey and Russia, the Porte, unwilling to provoke the Emperor to hostilities, and in hopes that this failure would discourage him from pursuing his designs against a people who were so much better prepared than he expected, very politically seemed to admit the Internuncio's excuses for this breach of faith.
It seems, that an officer who had passed through Belgrade, reported at Vienna, that the fortifications were in a most ruinous state, and that none of the cannon were fit for service. On this fallacious information, orders were hastily sent to Generals Mitrowski and Alvinzy, to pass the Save, with a detachment of troops, who were to be supported by Generals De Gomingen and Klebeck, and to make an immediate attempt on this important fortress; but the latter Generals not arriving at the appointed time, and the fortifications appearing in a very different state from that in which they had been represented, Mitrowski and Alvinzy were obliged to retreat, and to repass the Save.