Article XV. The villages which paid tribute or taxes before the reduction of Agria (i. e. the villages of that district) shall continue to pay the same still.
Article XVI. Those villages which belonged to Filk, Sichan, and Novograde, but now connected with Agria, Khutván, Buda, and Osterghún, shall pay their accustomed dues.
Article XVII. Those villages which were accustomed to pay taxes when Osterghún fell into the hands of the Austrian emperor shall still continue to pay him their dues as formerly. All the other villages on the frontiers shall continue to pay their usual taxes to whichever government they may belong. In consequence of the unsettled state of the district of Kaniza, a person shall be nominated by the Moslem government, who, along with Bíkám Oghlí, shall make enquiry into the state of matters, and determine which of the villages of that district belong to Kaniza, and which not; when their taxes shall be regulated according to what is right.
Concerning Nesúh Páshá.
On the 4th of Moharrem in this year, Nesúh Páshá, who, by the instrumentality of the late grand vezír, Mohammed Páshá, had been appointed to the government of Baghdád, went to take possession of his new government. On reaching the Euphrates he learned, that Píáleh Páshá, the deposed governor of Bassora, had succeeded in gaining the good-will of the people of Baghdád, and that by means of flattery and promises he had secured the affections of the soldiery. He also received intelligence concerning the rebel Mohammed, son of Túyel Ahmed Oghlí, who had been válí of Irák. The beglerbeg of Wærka, Mír Sheríf, whom Nesúh met on his march to Baghdád, showed him much respect, and promised him his support. Nesúh was furnished with letters and robes of honour to Seyed Khán Beg, one of those Kúrd princes who, before Nesúh’s time, had come on business to Baghdád: also to the begs of Sehran, and to Obrish Oghlí Emír Ahmed, an Arab prince. These letters enjoined the several parties above specified, in the most flattering manner, to attach themselves without delay to the interests of Nesúh Páshá, the emperor’s commander-in-chief, and to proceed with him to Baghdád then in the hands of the rebels.
Obrish Oghlí, and the other chiefs, sent the commander-in-chief deceitful answers; and after waiting at Mosul for nearly six weeks for their arrival, he found at last that he had been duped by their fraud. To add to his distress, he found also, that the letter which he had sent off to Seyed Khán had been intercepted, and that the rebels were thus apprized of his march upon Baghdád.
It may be proper to observe, however, that before the imperial letters above alluded to arrived, the Válí Páshá, Píáleh Páshá, and Emír Sheríf Páshá, had advanced as far as Arabel, whence they wrote to Seyed Khán, and to the emírs of Seheran to join them, but without any good result. The Turkoman tribe, however, which for some insignificant advantage had been tempted to revolt, joined the rebels. Upon this, and trusting to the promises of Abúrish Oghlí, they entered the city of Baghdád on the 3d of Shabán, the very day fixed on by him, but they neither heard nor saw any thing of him. The Kurds and Arabian insurgents, who had been sent by Arazil and Abúrish Oghlí, and who now supported Túyel Oghlí in his rebellion, also entered Baghdád, and prepared for resistance. Túyel, it would appear, had secretly succeeded, by means of 30,000 ducats, in bribing a number of faithless mercenaries, who served in the army under Nesúh. Túyel, in consequence of the success his bribery had met with, ventured out of the city and offered battle to Nesúh. At the commencement of this engagement, the superiority of Nesúh’s troops over their adversaries seemed evident; but a body of the mercenaries who had been bribed joining the insurgents, the remainder of the army fled from the field. This catastrophe was attended with terrible consequences to Nesúh; yet although his army, by this revolt, was considerably weakened, he nevertheless, with Válí Páshá, Píáleh Páshá, and Mír Sheríf, fought with unparalleled bravery. Válí Páshá fell on the field of battle, and Nesúh was wounded in two places. A considerable number of brave soldiers who fought under the banner of Nesúh, besides many princes who had attended Mír Sheríf, also died martyrs in this bloody contest. Nesúh and Mír Sheríf however, when they perceived the battle turning against them, succeeded in getting their fighting Muselmans to retire from the unequal conflict. Nesúh retreated to an island which belonged to Mír Sheríf, where he remained until the severe cold weather set in, and thence he sent a report of his misfortunes to the court of Constantinople. Túyel, not long after this victory which he had gained, was murdered in the city of Baghdád.
Death of Botchkai.
Petrus, the pope’s legate in Hungary, and Arúmendi, Botchkai’s intimate friend, informed the court of Constantinople that King Botchkai Ashetwan had departed this life on the 5th of Ramazán. Some time before his death he summoned to his presence the two above-mentioned persons, and nominated as his successor his sister’s son-in-law, his own vezír, the bravest prince that was in Hungary, one Hemon; and whose name had been inserted in the contract between Botchkai and the Ottoman government as the successor of Botchkai to the crown of Transylvania. Hemon having been raised to the throne of Transylvania, as now described, the Sublime Porte sent him a robe of honour lined with wolf-skin, and a sanják, as tokens of esteem. This Hemon, called also Hemon Baturi, was a descendant of the ancient kings of Transylvania, and on this account was chosen successor to Botchkai.