The Emperor returns to Constantinople.
Towards the end of Rabia II., the emperor, the asylum of the world, left Agria, and passing through Solnuk, Segdin, and Waradin, arrived at Belgrade, where he rested two days, appointed the fourth vezír, Hasan Páshá, commander-in-chief of the army, and afterwards set out for the metropolis.
Jaghaleh, the grand vezír, deposed.—Ibrahím is re-appointed.
Jaghaleh Zádeh Sinán Páshá’s maladministration secured him, as might easily have been prognosticated, the hatred and aversion of all ranks, high and low, prince and people. As soon as the emperor had reached the place called Khurmán, near Adrianople, he dispatched Omar Aghá, secretary to the Chávush Báshí, to receive back the seals from Jaghaleh, and to deliver them to Ibrahím Páshá, his predecessor in office. Jaghaleh himself was exiled to Aksheher, beyond the Hellespont, where he was doomed to spend his days in obscurity and inactivity.
Ibrahím Páshá was no sooner reinstated in the premiership than he waited on his majesty, and paid him all due acknowledgment for the honour conferred on him. On returning to the camp, he banished Mohammed Aghá, master of the horse, the writer of this account; besides several other favourites of the late grand vezír, whom he turned out of office. Ghází Gheráí, the ex-khán, was reinstated in the regal dignity over the Tátárs of the Crimea. Hasan Páshá, the son of Mohammed Páshá, who was lately made commander-in-chief, was deposed, and Satúrjí Mohammed Páshá appointed in his stead. Thus did Ibrahím Páshá compensate his own friends for the injuries they had sustained in consequence of his deposition. Even the reverend prelate Sa’d-ud-dín Effendí was not allowed to escape without feeling the effects of the new vezír’s displeasure. He was deposed from his high office, and to prevent him from carrying on intrigue and fraud with the learned body of which he was a member, he was obliged to live a recluse life, even that of a hermit.
The services and heroism of Jaghaleh Zádeh we have already contemplated. We have seen how he attributed the victory gained over the infidels at Mehaj to his own bravery and proper management; how he endeavoured to throw the services of Ibrahím Páshá into the shade, and, in short, how he succeeded by fraud and artifice to get himself created grand vezír. It is said that the emperor, when he first petitioned to be made prime minister, demurred; and that it was only after he represented the great interest he possessed among the troops, who doubtless would create a tumult in his favour, if he was not raised to the dignity of the premiership, that his majesty at last agreed to confer the seals on him. In fact, he did not scruple even to assert that there were not wanting signs of this disposition in the soldiery at the very time he was speaking to the emperor, and thus urged him to a compliance with his wishes. Jaghaleh was a man of great intrepidity, but wrathful. His heart was unacquainted with gentleness and compassion. In consequence of his reckless and horrible cruelties towards the unfortunate fugitives, and other crimes, the hearts of all were turned against him, and his downfall was sought. When Ibrahím was again raised to the grand vezírship, new life seemed to be transfused throughout all ranks; and all rejoiced at Jaghaleh’s misfortunes. The chancellor, Alí Chelebí, who wrote a detail of the victories obtained in the conquest of Agria, and in the battle of Mehaj, wrote it in the name of Jaghaleh, as if he really were the conqueror, and praised him in the most extravagant manner. For this he was not only sharply rebuked, but also deposed. Okjí Zádeh was appointed in his stead.
When his majesty reached Dávud Páshá, on his return, he was there met by the Káímakám Hasan Páshá, the eunuch, and the mufti, who came thither with a splendid escort to congratulate his majesty on his return, and on the successes which had attended the Moslem arms. On the 6th of Jemadi II. the grandees and nobles preceded the army in solemn procession to the imperial city, and conducted his majesty to his royal palace, and for three successive days and nights the whole exhibited nothing but demonstrations of joy. Núh Páshá was appointed to the government of Caramania; and as a mortification to the reverend prelate, so frequently mentioned in the course of this history, and latterly so very unfortunate, his eldest son, Mohammed Effendí, was deprived of his office of cazí, in Anatolia, which was given to Kúsh Yahiah Effendí, who had been deposed from the jurisdiction of Mecca. Two days after these changes and new appointments had taken place, the prelate’s son-in-law, the governor of Romeili, Yahiah Effendí, just mentioned, and the poet, Bákí Effendí, met and consulted together how they might succeed in again bringing Sa’d-ud-dín into notice and favour. They got the chancellor, Okjí Zádeh, to draw out a document in his favour, recommending him to the cazíship of Mecca. But the grand vezír, the prelate’s enemy, succeeded in getting some of the Aghás about the queen-mother to hinder this document finding its way to the royal presence, and kept it back two days.
In the meantime the reverend prelate was made acquainted with what was going on in his favour, and sent his slaves and other property to the empress, supposing she would, by her interference, prevent his being sent to any place distant from the metropolis. He was mistaken: for an answer to the above document or petition was sent to the petitioner, which intimated that the reverend prelate, to prevent his exercising fraud and deceit in future, should retire to a cell, and there pass the remainder of his life in religious meditation. The learned body of the Ulemá, however, ventured to oppose the grand vezír, and therefore entered into consultation with the mufti, Bostán Zádeh, as to the way they should act.