Annals of the Turkish Empire, from 1591 to 1659

by Mustafa Naima

The emperor of Austria was no sooner apprized of Botchkai’s revolt, than he sent a person of the name of Báshtái Yúrkí with German forces to chastise the rebel; but the former were totally defeated in the very first engagement. Botchkai, in the meantime, having received a reinforcement of Tátár and Temiswar troops from the grand vezír, his courage was amazingly increased, and he followed up his victory with rapidity and zeal. Every town and village which owned subjection to the German despot he exposed to all the horrors of war and rapine, and returned with immense booty, and joined the Moslem army in the capacity of a vassal of the Ottoman empire.

The promise which the vezír had made to obtain for him the royalty of Hungary (not of Transylvania, as before mentioned) he also punctually fulfilled after he returned to Constantinople, as we shall afterwards see. Gúzelcheh Mahmúd Páshá, who, in consequence of the part he had acted in the tumult which had taken place in the affair of Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, as formerly mentioned, had fled in disguise, and had lived all this interval in a sort of monastery or cell belonging to some Súfis, received his majesty’s pardon, was raised to the dignity of his former vezírship, and afterwards married Ayesha Sultána, the widow of the late Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, for whom he paid a dowry of four thousand akchas (pieces of money).

Concerning the defeat of Kásim Páshá.

We noticed sometime ago, that Kásim Páshá, on the 22d of Rabia II., had been appointed to the government of Baghdád. We referred particularly also to his conduct towards Alí Páshá, and to the tyranny and oppression he had exercised at Scutari. In the neighbourhood of Brúsa, whither he had gone after leaving, or rather after he was obliged to leave Scutari, he committed the same kind of shameless excesses he had been guilty of in other places. Complaints against his cruelty and tyranny having been laid before the emperor, a bostánjí báshí was forthwith dispatched with orders to cut him off, but who was so overawed by the páshá that he had not the resolution to fulfil his mission. The grand vezír, because he did not obey the order of government, removed the bostánjí báshí from his office, and appointed Dervísh Aghá, ketkhodá of the bostánjís, in his stead. This is the same Dervísh Aghá who afterwards obtained a near access to the emperor’s ear, and was made páshá for the important services he had rendered to the state. But to proceed. Kásim Páshá not only escaped the snare which had been laid for him, and the death he ought to have suffered, but was actually appointed to the government of Kutahia. Here he also manifested a spirit of carelessness and indifference, which eventually entailed upon him the punishment which had formerly been meditated against him. In order, however, to make sure of this, it was considered wise to send him a royal letter appointing him to the deputyship of Constantinople, in room of Háfiz Páshá, and an invitation to him to return and take possession of that office. Confiding in the royal letter Kásim returned to Constantinople, and was hardly one day in office, when he received three royal communications on important affairs, which, at once, had the effect of clearing away all doubt from his mind as to his being firmly fixed in the deputyship. This being the case, as he believed, he that very day appointed his predecessor Háfiz Páshá, third vezír. Ibrahím Aghá he made master of the horse, and Mím Ibrahím his remembrancer. About supper-time Chobán Soleimán, chief of the royal messengers, waited upon the new deputy, and informed him that on the following morning a council was to be held in the royal presence; and also that the emperor’s chaplain, the mufti, the vezírs, and other magnates of the state, had all been invited to attend. Accordingly, at daybreak next morning Kásim Páshá proceeded to the diván with great pomp and ceremony. On entering into the royal presence, and before all who were present, he advanced towards the emperor and did obeisance. The emperor, without any sort of preamble, began immediately to question him with respect to his conduct in neglecting to obey his royal mandates on more occasions than one. Kásim was confounded, and could find nothing to say in reply: to vindicate himself was impossible. The emperor then turned to the high-priest and consulted with him as to the nature of the guilt and crime with which Kásim stood chargeable, and from which he could in no way clear himself, when the reverend prelate gave it forth as his verdict, that Kásim should be put to death. This sentence had scarcely been pronounced, when, on a signal having been given, in rushed a number of bostánjís, who instantly severed Kásim Páshá’s head from his body. His carcass, by imperial orders, was carried in a dray and thrown into a ditch before the gates of Adrianople. Thus ended the eventful life of this ambitious and turbulent páshá.

Sárukjí Mustafa Páshá is made deputy of Constantinople.—Other promotions take place.

Immediately after Kásim Páshá was dispatched, as we have just now related, the emperor of sublime dignity and glory turned to Sárukjí Mustafa Páshá, and appointed him to the deputyship or káímakámship of Constantinople, saying, in the presence of the whole council, that if he should be found guilty of any maladministration, he should deal with him as he had done to him that was lying before him—pointing to the body of Kásim Páshá—and thus warned him of his danger. After this solemn address to the new deputy the council broke up, and every one went to his own house.

The new deputy, Sárukjí Mustafa Páshá, began his administration by effecting various changes in the different departments of the palace. Gúrjí Mohammed Páshá, chief eunuch in the royal harem, he raised to the dignity of third vezír; who, in consequence of this promotion, had it in his power to advance and befriend his own friends. Dávud Páshá, chief of the kapújís, and Mustafa Aghá, grand master of the horse, were, in about a week or two afterwards, exalted to the dignity of vezírs, and were married to two of Sultán Mohammed Khán’s daughters. Nukásh Hasan Aghá, who had been deposed from the command of the janissaries for his pusillanimity, came to Islambol, where his friends had interested themselves in his favour. He was created beglerbeg of Romeili, and soon afterwards was raised to the dignity of vezír. This deputy, amongst his other acts of administration, secured above a million of money to the royal treasury; and, in fact, every person wondered at the changes and alterations he had effected.

Towards the end of Jemadi II. a messenger arrived from Egypt, bringing to the court of Constantinople the sad intelligence that the Egyptian troops had murdered Hájí Ibrahím Páshá. The eunuch, Gúrjí Mohammed Páshá, who had lately been raised to the rank of third vezír, was appointed válí of Egypt in the room of the deceased. The galley in which the new válí had embarked reached the port of Alexandria in one week’s time; and after having entered upon the government of Egypt, he put to death every individual of those who had been in any way involved in the tumult in which his predecessor had perished. By force of arms he established peace throughout the whole of his jurisdiction, attended to the state of the finances, and inspired all ranks with terror.

On the 25th of Rajab the válí of Romeili, Hasan Páshá, was advanced to the rank of fourth vezír; Hasan Aghá, the brother of Tarnákjí Páshá, was, in the same month, made commander of the janissaries. The government of Algiers was conferred on Mustafa Aghá, who had been chief of the eunuchs in the days of Selím II.