652 TURKISH ACCOUNT OF THE JANISSARIES, 



an officer having traced his -wife to the house of one of her friends, 

 he there discovered Mustafa concealed in a chest which served as a 

 seat for the assembled women. He fastened the lid, and had it con- 

 veyed to the Sultan. It was set down in the imperial chamber, and 

 on Mustafa being dragged forth " Wretch ! " said the Sultan, " has 

 not my clemency already saved you from the punishment due to 

 many a revolt ? " Mustafa attempted to stammer out some excuse. 

 "' Blessed be the name of the Almighty," said the Sultan, " for thus 

 confining within the narrow bounds of that chest a man whose pride 

 the vast circle of Constantinople was insufficient to contain ! " 



Following up this decisive blow with vigour, the Sultan took 

 measures to prevent the possibility of the recurrence of revolt. By 

 an imperial edict he abolished the Janissaries ; still, however, per- 

 mitting them to receive their pay, which, coupled with the immense 

 expenses incident to the formation and equipment of the new troops, 

 fell heavily on the already almost exhausted revenues of the state. 

 These were still further impaired by the largesses and presents with 

 which it was found necessary to reward the zeal and fidelity of those 

 Janissary officers who had espoused the cause of the Sultan in oppo- 

 sition to their companions. Seventy-five thousand piastres were dis- 

 tributed among the body of students who had taken an active part in 

 the suppression of the insurrection. Hussein and Hassan Pachas 

 were individually rewarded with large sums, and the inferior officers 

 in proportion to their rank and zeal. Orders were transmitted 

 to the different cities throughout the empire for carrying the royal 

 firman into execution. The pressure of a superabundant population 

 in the metropolis, and affording ever-ready materials for sedition, was 

 alleviated by copious transportations to the neighbouring towns and 

 villages, and by these measures tranquillity was finally restored. 



The suppression of the Janissary corps involved that of the 

 religious order of the Begtachis, with which it was identified. By 

 virtue of a firman " for purifying the faith which had been cor- 

 rupted by their mal-practices," the congregations of the Begtachis 

 were abolished, and their chief functionaries seized, tried, and exe- 

 cuted, for the crime of heresy. Great numbers of the order shared 

 the same fate ; and those to whom life was vouchsafed, were sent into 

 banishment. Thus did Mohammed annihilate that formidable body 

 which had been the terror of his predecessors, and which for several 

 successive centuries had wielded all the real power of the state. 



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