Sir John, “knowing how subitaneous the Visir is in all his motions and not judging it prudent to provoke him at first,” would fain decline a direct answer to that strange doctrine—strange, yet, from the Turkish point of view, perfectly orthodox. But as Kara Mustafa, with great heat, calls for an answer, he replies:
“The Gran Signor is a Great Emperour and yet He cannot secure His ships from Gran Cairo from the Corsaros, nor His Caravans by land from the Arabians, both being often robbed. Neither can my Master secure His own subjects or the Gran Signor’s from pirates; for none but God Almighty could doe it.”
This soft answer turned away the Vizir’s wrath, and the case went on.
Finch pleads that he is not in the least concerned in the Pasha’s losses, seeing that the ship from which his goods were taken was no English ship, and the captain, a renegade of his country and religion settled and married at Leghorn, was the Great Duke’s subject. But even supposing, for the sake of argument, that he were concerned? Here is the discharge by which the Pasha’s own Procurator released Captain Chaplyn and all Englishmen from any liability in the matter.
How that discharge had been obtained we know already; also the statement that the Mediterranean was no English ship was less accurate than we could have wished. But Sir John is here to defend a case, not to speak the truth; and, it must be owned, he defends it as one to the manner born. Unfortunately, the Grand Vizir has no taste for dialectics. A Turk had come to grief whilst travelling under the English flag, and the English Nation was bound to indemnify him: that is the sum and substance of the whole matter, in accordance with the traditional Turkish view[259]—a view to which, in the present instance, the English Government appeared to lend colour by recovering part of the Pasha’s property: if part, why not the whole? Finch, too, by dwelling on the point of the ship’s and captain’s nationality, did he not implicitly admit the validity of that view? Therefore, the Vizir, breaks into the argument by ordering the Ambassador to write to his King to cause full restitution of the Pasha’s goods. Sir John answers that what His Majesty had already done was done out of kindness and not from any obligation; it would be useless to trouble His Majesty. But Kara Mustafa insists with so much vehemence that Sir John has to say, if His Excellency so commands, he will write, though nothing can come of it, as it is impossible to find what pirates and thieves have stolen. The Vizir presses the matter no further, and the case goes on.
The Pasha denies that the Aga in question was his Procurator. Finch produces a document under the Pasha’s own hand and seal, drawn up at Constantinople before a Cadi, in which he recognised him as such. This unexpected stroke disconcerts the Pasha, but it does not disarm him. Changing his ground, he denies that he has received any of the goods recovered at Leghorn or Malta. Finch produces the receipt which the Pasha had given to his Aga. Unabashed, the Pasha changes his ground again and alleges that the English Consul at Tunis had given him a Hoggiet, guaranteeing the property laden on Captain Chaplyn’s ship: but for that guarantee, he says, he would have gone overland. Finch replies, First, that the Barbary Coast is not under his jurisdiction and therefore the Consul must answer for himself; Secondly, that, even if the Consul were under him, an inferior could not bind his superior, any more than any Pasha in the Empire could bind the Grand Vizir; Lastly, that he cannot believe that any Consul of His Majesty’s would become surety. Therefore he asks to see the Hoggiet. The Pasha says that it was taken from him with the rest of his property. Finch retorts that a document of such importance could easily have been carried about him, and that, though he is not concerned in the loss of his gold and jewels, yet it is probable he has lost neither, since he had time to carry out of the ship five boatloads of goods before the Corsair came up with the Mediterranean, and men do not usually leave gold and jewels to the last. This the Pasha does not deny; but changes his ground once more by denouncing the Captain. Finch replies that, although he is not answerable for the Captain, yet he had brought him along with him to answer for himself: Captain Chaplyn had stayed at Smyrna seven months, and the Pasha’s Procurator had given him, before a Cadi, a certificate of good conduct.
At this point the Cadilesker who was to pronounce judgment began to write down his verdict. But the Vizir stopped him, saying that the case could not be decided at one hearing. Finch “much misliked” this; but, of course, he could do nothing. So the case was adjourned.
In spite of that ominous move, the Ambassador left the Court not without hopes: both the Cadileskers had throughout declared for him, and the Vizir had distributed his thunders pretty evenly between the litigants. He was not, however, allowed to continue in this hopeful state of mind long. Next day, the Vizir’s Kehayah and Rais Effendi sent for his Dragoman and told him that a very large sum was demanded from the Ambassador: the Pasha, who governed Tunis during an insurrection, had raised his great fortune by plundering rebels and, in addition, had given the whole of it to the Grand Signor: therefore, the Vizir would expect a good deal to rid him of this claim. Sir John’s answer was that “he could as a gentleman thank his friends, but could not as an Ambassador treat by way of contract for an asper.” This brought a milder demand: 15 purses for the Vizir and 7 for the other Ministers—altogether 11,000 dollars.
To those who made it, this demand no doubt appeared moderate, considering the amount of the claim involved; but our Ambassador thought it monstrous, considering that the claim was nothing but a false pretence. Besides, would compliance really free him from further molestation? Sir John did not believe it would. He knew the Turks too well by now, and simply looked upon these overtures as a new example of “their old way of inviting a man to treat and then screwing him up to what they please.” So he returned a categorical answer in writing to the effect that he was in no way to blame; he had not only a most just cause, but also a cause full of merit; that this suit was directed against the King his master, the merchants being not in the least concerned in it, and that, consequently, he could not treat for a single asper; but to those who should free him from this injurious pretension, when the business was done, he could and would show his gratitude. “So,” he concluded, “remitting my selfe to the justice of the Gran Visir, I implore the Divine Protection, and shall acquiesce in His Holy Will, happen what will.” In answer to this, the Kehayah sent Finch word that he should repent his rejection of the proposed adjustment.[260]