Annals of the Turkish Empire, from 1591 to 1659

by Mustafa Naima

Dervísh Páshá is murdered.—Murád Páshá is made grand vezír.

Ferhád Páshá, we have seen, was sent to take the command of the war in the east, and Dervísh Páshá, the grand vezír, remained at home. In consequence of his utter want of the talents and skill of a general, and his total unfitness, in every respect, for the important office assigned him, Ferhád failed most deplorably in obtaining the least advantage; on the contrary, his conduct was productive of the most serious evils. Kilmamemkila, the son of Kalander, a noted rebel, during the time Ferhád was commander-in-chief, entered into Aydin and Sarúkhán (sanjáks of Anatolia), where he committed the most dreadful outrages and violence. A number of the inhabitants hastened to Constantinople and complained bitterly to the emperor against Ferhád and his adventurers, who, they said, tyrannized over them and oppressed them. These evils, of course, were attributed, in the first instance, to the maladministration of the grand vezír, who, instead of having taken upon himself the charge of the expedition, had sent Ferhád, of whom we have heard so much, to supply his place. The eyes of the people began to be opened to see and to appreciate the conduct of the prime minister, and in their hearts they became totally opposed to him, and those who had the nearest approach to his majesty’s ear began to urge his removal. The late reverend mufti, Siná-allah Effendí, who, for having spoken his mind freely and openly, the reader will remember, had been turned out of the muftiship, was now again, a third time, installed into that high office, which Abulmeymín Mustafa Effendí had scarcely enjoyed three months. Things now began to wear a new aspect. The maladministration of the grand vezír could no longer be concealed or connived at. The excesses of Dervísh Páshá and his wicked government were represented to his majesty, who had hitherto favoured his minister. These things, with the complaints which had reached him from Anatolia, greatly excited his displeasure; and so clear and evident did his minister’s guilty conduct appear, that he became as much opposed to him as he had previously been swayed by his advice. The emperor, now thoroughly satisfied of the maladministration of his minister, summoned the reverend mufti and the reverend professors, in order to converse with them respecting the grand vezír’s conduct and mismanagement, and to consult with them as to the person most competent to fill the office of premier. This consultation, as might easily have been foreseen, terminated unfavourably to the interests of the grand vezír, who soon afterwards expiated his crimes by the forfeiture of his life. A hare’s sleep (i.e. a false promise) having been given to him, he was, for a short time, flattered and caressed, until he was one day called to the royal palace, when he was suddenly assassinated by the bostánjís. It is said that he was first strangled with a tent-rope, but a short time after a movement being perceived in his feet, the emperor drew his dagger and cut his throat.

The cause of his death more particularly related.

We have already adverted to the wicked and fraudulent methods which Dervísh practised during his short vezírship, and for which he suffered the just reward: the following assisted to accelerate his miserable end. One of those Jews usually employed by the grandees was engaged in the service of Dervísh Páshá, and, owing to the fidelity with which he served his master, he succeeded in securing a very near access to him. It was a practice among these Jews, when any of them were thus employed, to keep an account of what they expended as well as of what they received. The Jew just referred to kept an account of this kind, and the páshá, his master, had every confidence in his integrity and honesty, and, in short, intrusted him with all his money transactions. Dervísh Páshá having begun to build a palace, the outlay was wholly left to the management of this agent. When it was nearly finished, he asked the Jew, his factor, for an account of the expenditure, which was instantly put into his hand. The páshá, on looking over the various items, perceived that a very large sum had already been expended, and remarked with astonishment, knitting his brows, that such was the case, for he was an avaricious, regardless, fraudulent man. The Jew, conscious of his own honesty, and that he had acted according to the rules which had been prescribed for his conduct, became greatly enraged, especially when he perceived that the páshá was seeking his ruin, and therefore he at once hit on the following cunning stratagem by which he might be revenged on his unjust master. He took back the statement of accounts, and, in the presence of the páshá, tore it in pieces and threw it into the fire, saying, it was not with a view of robbing his master that he kept a statement of the outlay, for the whole belonged to him, whose servant he was. “Is it not well known to you,” added he, “that whatever I may have gained by acting as your factor, I have not appropriated the least part of it to my own use? Nevertheless, if you inquire what has been expended, the answer is easy: I have kept a statement of the expenses, but the páshá has deceived himself, and has been negligent.” The foolish but avaricious páshá believed the Jew and dismissed him, but the Jew had not yet done with him. He instantly set about laying a stratagem, as already hinted, for ensnaring his obnoxious master. In order to accomplish this, he instructed some labourers, who were employed at the páshá’s palace, to dig, by night, underneath the ground, a passage from the páshá’s palace to the wall of the imperial treasury. And although several men were employed, during the night, in digging out this subterraneous passage, yet none, except those in the secret, were aware of it. When the mouth of the passage was finished, he caused them to build it up with stones, and then ordered them to retire. The malicious Jew, after having succeeded thus far in his mischievous plan, entered into a secret alliance with the kapú ághá, a collector of taxes, and an enemy to Dervísh Páshá, to whom he communicated the whole secret, and whom, by making him splendid presents, he gained to act along with him in the sequel of this mystery. The Jew, after this, wrote a letter to the kapú ághá, wherein he secretly, as it were, accused the páshá of dishonest practices, and described to him the subterraneous passage above-mentioned. The kapú ághá informed his majesty of the fact; and he, believing the account to be correct, especially when he considered the numerous complaints which had already been lodged against the páshá, was roused to indignation against his treacherous and deceitful minister, and caused him to be slain.

A very short time before this tragical event, a tax of a thousand akchas for each of the palaces in Constantinople was ordered to be levied upon the inhabitants, but which the death of Dervísh Páshá fortunately saved them from paying, and for which they were most thankful.

Dervísh Páshá perished about the commencement of Shabán, and on the 10th of the same month, Siná-allah Effendí, after mature deliberation, recommended the celebrated Murád Páshá for the office of grand vezír, who, in consequence of this, was immediately recalled from Belgrade to the Sublime Porte.

The following is a copy of the letter which the emperor sent him on that occasion.

“Murád Páshá, thou art my vezír. Without the advice or persuasion of any one, but by our own special royal will, we have thought fit to confer on you the grand vezírship, and have sent you the imperial seals. It is hoped the Divine Majesty will assist you and further you in your labours. We shall carefully attend to the endeavours you make in every department. You will, therefore, be solicitous to come to our sublime city.”

Murád Páshá, at the time he was thus honoured, was busily engaged in carrying on negociations for a final peace with Austria, the preliminaries of which had been entered into some time before. Several important personages who had an interest in the making of the treaty, on the part of Hungary, had been invited to Belgrade to consult with Murád Páshá.