CHAPTER XIX
SIR JOHN’S “TICKLISH CONDITION”
Our Ambassador bad every right to expect that the ransom he had paid down would be accepted by Kara Mustafa as a price of immunity from persecution for the remainder of his sojourn in Turkey. But it was not to be. Kara Mustafa had in store for him another tempest—a tempest beside which all those he had outlived might seem as spells of fine weather. It arose, by a singular irony, out of the very event which had once filled him with so much pride and so many hopes of a serene and prosperous career at the Ottoman Court.
It will be remembered that the late Grand Vizir had relieved Finch from the importunities of the Pasha of Tunis by sending that worthy to a Governorship in the utmost confines of Arabia—somewhere beyond Egypt—near Ethiopia: nobody exactly knew where, but everybody earnestly hoped that, wherever his place of honourable exile was, he would never quit it. Finch, as we know, had not forgotten him: every now and again, in moments of depression, thoughts of the Pasha forced themselves upon his mind; and these apprehensions, once vague, had become particularly vivid of late.
The thing which Sir John feared came to pass at last.
Towards the end of June 1680 the Pasha returned to Constantinople with his grievance, which, carefully nursed in the tropical climate of his residence, had grown to gigantic dimensions. In 1674 he had simply desired that the Ambassador should procure restitution of his remaining goods from the corsair. Now he demands them from him. Moreover, now he alleges his loss to be far greater than he had represented it before, and, indeed, greater than it could possibly be.
He began by applying to the Vizir’s Kehayah, to the Rais Effendi, and to the Chaoush-bashi. Sir John sent to them a Dragoman who set forth his case, relating all that he had done for the Pasha in Italy and Malta out of sheer courtesy. The Ministers appeared fully convinced, and Finch thought that the story had ended; but it was only beginning. The plaintiff, disappointed with the result of his first step, addressed himself directly to the Vizir, who appointed the same three officers to hear the Pasha and the Ambassador face to face, and to report to him. Finch confronted the Pasha accordingly; the plaintiff’s demands and his own defence were heard, and, to all seeming, the case went wholly as he wished: the Rais Effendi undertook to obtain a favourable verdict from the Vizir for a trifle of two purses, that is, a thousand dollars, which sum was promised to be paid when sentence had been issued. On receipt of the report, the Vizir, as was anticipated, announced that he must take cognisance of the cause himself, and summoned both parties to appear before his tribunal.
Friday, September 3rd, Sir John goes to the Divan, and finds the Grand Vizir seated on the bench with the two Cadileskers, or Chief Justices of Europe and Asia. All the great Ministers of the Porte are also present. Kara Mustafa opens the proceedings by bidding the Pasha produce the list of his losses, and saying that, if the plaintiff can prove his claim, he will find him a paymaster and clap up the Ambassador in the Seven Towers. The list is produced and read out: it amounts to 700 purses, or 350,000 dollars! The reading over, Finch asks: “Who has taken all those goods?” “The Corsair,” answers the Pasha. “He that has taken them, let him restore them”—a good retort; but it does not seem to please the Grand Vizir.
“Ambassador,” he breaks in sharply, “you and all other ambassadors are sent hither by your respective princes to answer for the lives and estates of all Mussulmans all over the world that are endamaged or suffer by your respective subjects, and you are here a hostage to answer for all damage done by Englishmen all over the world.”