Sept.] 



CHRONICLE. 



127 



of some others. Fears were 

 entertained for the lives of these 

 and several other persons. 



The whole of the following 

 day passed in anxious expecta- 

 tion, till at length towards the 

 evening it M^as announced that 

 the Siek Itsch-Ili-Ahmed Pacha 

 (hitherto Captain Pacha) was 

 removed to Brussa, and Hassan 

 Pacha, Governor of that Place, 

 sent for to fill the office of High 

 Admiral. 



During these events the Go- 

 vernment doubled its vigilance, 

 to which alone we owe the most 

 perfect tranquillity and safety, 

 especially in the quarter of the 

 Franks, where not only the guards 

 were augmented and ordered to 

 patrol without interruption both 

 night and day, but several sus- 

 picious persons were arrested and 

 put into prison. It was in vain 

 that some malicious persons en- 

 deavoured to terrify the public 

 by fresh alarms of fire, and to 

 delay the re-opening of the public 

 market, which had been cleared 

 of the goods on account of the 

 threatening danger. All foreign 

 legations were requested by the 

 Porte strictly to enjoin all per- 

 sons of their respective nations 

 not to go out after dark without 

 lanterns, in order to prevent un- 

 pleasant consequences. 



On the 17th of August there 

 was a great extraordinary meeting 

 of the Council of State, in the 

 house of the Mufti. After it 

 broke up, an Imperial Firman 

 was published, in which the 

 people were exhorted to keep 

 peace and order, and to re-open 

 the shops that remained shut in 

 the public markets; and the assur- 

 ance was added, that the Govern- 



ment, fully relying on the zeal 

 and support of the well-disposed 

 inhabitants of the capital and of 

 the empire, had no apprehension 

 from the intrigues of some dis- 

 turbers of the public peace, and 

 would know how to punish them 

 with all the rigour of the laws. 



The Chiefs of the several 

 regiments of Janissaries also 

 appeared, to exculpate those 

 under their command from the 

 accusation of having been con- 

 cerned in causing the fire. They 

 Avere dismissed, with injunctions 

 to look after all such persons 

 among their body as were suspi- 

 cious and capable of incendiary 

 plots, and in case of detection 

 to punish them Avith all the rigour 

 of the statute of the corps. 

 Lastly, to indulge the prejudices 

 of the people, who are accus- 

 tomed to regard the elephant as 

 an animal of ill omen, and to 

 attribute all fires to the presence 

 of these animals in Constanti- 

 nople, it was resolved to banish 

 all the elephants from the metro- 

 polis, which resolution has been 

 already carried into effect. 



That in all these troubles, over 

 which the Government has with 

 equal dexterity and prudence 

 thrown a veil, the hand of a 

 seditious party was at work, 

 appears from the execution (on 

 the 18th) of a public officer 

 equally distinguished by his 

 immoral character and his re- 

 markable talent for legal subtle- 

 ties, by name Kaubur Suleimann 

 Effijnui, of the Court of Justice 

 at Galati. He had been several 

 times exiled from Constantinople 

 for his licentiousness, and had 

 obtained towards the end of the 

 Kamadan, as it is affirmed, on the 

 intercession 



