MAHMUD II. 



MAHMUD II. 



50 



Bairaktar occupied the seraglio, after a bloody struggle, and after 

 having confined Sultan Mustafa in the same prison in which Selim was 

 murdered, he proclaimed Mahmud, who was found in a room hid 

 under carpets and books, and more ready to believe that he was going 

 to be murdered than to be placed on the throne of Osman. Hitherto 

 Mahmud had spent his days in the quiet confinement of the seraglio, 

 chiefly occupied with Turkish and Persian literature, and enjoying, 

 during the last twelve months previous to his accession, the instruc- 

 tion of the captive Selim, who, it is said, foretold his nephew's future 

 elevation, and initiated him in those principles of reform through 

 which he had endeavoured, though in vain, to reorganise Turkey. 

 Mahmud was also imbued with that deep hatred of the Janissaries 

 which was one of the leading principles of his future actions. 



Mahmud ascended the throne when Turkey was in a violent political 

 and social crisis. In consequence of the enlightened but weak govern- 

 ment of Selim the prejudices of the people were roused without 

 meeting with a power sufficient to keep them in check ; the sultan's 

 authority was disregarded by the pashas of Europe, Asia, and Africa ; 

 and the Janissaries, who were exasperated through Selim's attempts 

 upon their privileges, were ready instruments in the hands of those 

 agitators who, under the pretext of either avenging the murder of 

 Selim, or the deposition of Mustafa, were, at first secretly, then 

 openly, sowing the seeds of discord. In spite of this threatening 

 state of the empire, Sultan Mahmud boldly proclaimed that he would 

 carry out the reforms of Selim, and by choosing Mustafa Bairaktar his 

 grand vizir, he proved that he was not using idle words. Several pashas 

 who were severely punished for disobedience were the first to perceive 

 that Turkey was now governed by a reformer more energetic than 

 Selim. When the turn of the Janissaries came, they broke out in 

 open rebellion, and besieged Mustafa Bairaktar, whom they believed 

 to be the originator of the reforms, in his fortified palace. Unable to 

 hold out longer, and receiving no relief from the sultan, who was 

 himself assailed by the rebels, the gallant vizir blew himself up. 

 Mustafa wag proclaimed sultan, and the rebels cried out for the head 

 of Mahmud. In this critical position Mahmud did a deed at which 

 humanity shudders, but which was one of the boldest political 

 strokes ever attempted by a Turkish sultan : he ordered his captive 

 brother to be strangled, together with his infant son ; and those of 

 Mustafa's women and concubines who were pregnant, four in number, 

 were sewn up in leathern sacks, and drowned in the Bosporus. ( By 

 these murders Mahmud became the only male descendant of Osman. 



His life was in the utmost danger. Yet he had no higher thought 

 than the glory of Turkey, and he made its existence depend upon his 

 own, for with the death of the last of the house of Osman, the empire 

 of Osman would have become a prey to anarchy. The very fact 

 however of his being the only descendant of Osman, was a sort of 

 guarantee for his life, for although the people had massacred more 

 than one sultan, and the sultans themselves had shed the blood of 

 more than a hundred royal princes, these crimes were committed 

 against individuals and not against the reigning family, the popular 

 belief being that Turkey would last no longer than the family by 

 whose great ancestor the empire was founded. Mahmud was fully 

 aware of this when he sacrificed his brother and his brother's children, 

 and we may fairly presume that his object wag to make himself the 

 only representative of tlie founder's family. 



Mahmud succeeded in crushing this bloody rebellion after a struggle 

 of two days, and having conciliated the Janissaries by abolishing the 

 Nizam Jedid and establishing hu authority at home, he turned his 

 attention to his relations with the European powers. The war with 

 Russia had just broken out The Turks were defeated ; Constantinople 

 wag in danger : the principal pashas in Asia, Africa, and Europe 

 threatened a revolt or had revolted; and Czerni George raised the 

 standard of independence in Servia. Mahmud, although pressed to 

 make peace, persisted in continuing war, and he waa encouraged to 

 do so by French diplomacy, for a war between France and Russia was 

 imminent. That war broke out in 1812, and Constantinople became 

 the centre of European intrigue, Russia and Great Britain being active 

 in making peace acceptable to the Sultan, while Napoleon I. made the 

 greatest effort) to rouse him to further resistance. Although the 

 Russians had conquered Northern Turkey as far as the Danube, 

 Mahmud could fairly hope that the Russian army would soon be com- 

 pelled to evacuate the Turki-h territory, and he would perhaps have 

 continued the struggle, but for the strong remonstrances of England, 

 which were backed by a large fleet in the Mediterranean. Under 

 thne circumstances he made peace with Russia at Bukarest, on the 

 28th of May 1812, on conditions more favourable to him than the 

 unfortunate turn of the war allowed him to expect. He lost only 

 that part of Moldavia which lies east of the Pruth, which now became 

 the frontier of the two empires, and a few districts in the Caucasus ; 

 while the Servians, abandoned by Russia, were obliged to submit once 

 more to the Turkish yoke. 



Mahmud availed himself of the peace to continue the work of reform, 

 in which he was ably assisted by his personal friends Berber Bashi 

 and Kbalet Efendi. He succeeded in keeping down tbo rebellions 

 fj.ii it of the pashas of Baghdad, Damascus, Wiildin, and Silistria; and 

 he received good news from Mehmed 'All, the pasha of Egypt, who 

 had retaken Mecca from the Wabrtbis who had seized it. His attention 

 was chiefly directed to 'Ali Pasha of Janina, whom he watched with 



BIOO. civ. VOL. iv. 



great suspicion, being convinced that sooner or later that great 

 feudatory would kindle a rebellion all over Greece. His conduct 

 towards 'Ali Pasha waa signalised by that mixture of craft and frank- 

 ness which is so striking in the character of eastern nations; and 

 while he deprived the sons and grandsons of 'Alt of their offices, or 

 drew them over to his side by bribes, he still professed to ba a friend 

 of 'Ali himself, till the moment came for ensnaring and crushing him. 

 The downfall and death of 'Ali Pasha, in 1822, seemed to promise a 

 harvest of future success to the Sultan. But Turkey's enemies were 

 like the hydra ; the more heads fell the more foes rose ; and no sooner 

 was 'Ali's head exposed on the gate of the seraglio, than Mahmud had 

 to prepare for a contest with Russia, a deadly struggle with Mehmed 

 'Ali of Egypt, and au open rebellion of the Greeks. 



The Greek rebellion came first. The attempts of Alexander Ypsilanti 

 in Wallachia, and of the Greeks of Constantinople, who had formed a 

 plan to get possession of the Turkish fleet, were easily frustrated ; but 

 the insurrection in Greece compelled the Sultan to make the greatest 

 efforts. Unable to quell the revolution with the forces under his 

 immediate command, Mahmud persuaded Mehmed 'Ali to join him, 

 on the promise that he should be invested with Candia as soon as 

 the object of the campaign was attained. An Egyptian fleet, with au 

 army of 12,000 men, commanded by Mehmed 'Ali's son, Ibrahim, the 

 conqueror of the Wahiibis, sailed for the Peloponnesus, and the com- 

 bined Turkish and Egyptian forces committed those atrocities which 

 roused a cry of indignation throughout Europe, and induced Great 

 Britain, France, and Russia to interfere on behalf of the unfortunate 

 Greeks. Mahmud, bent upon crushing all rebellion within his domi- 

 nions, and making himself equally respected by both his Turkish and 

 Christian subjects, declined any interference, and the three powers 

 entered into an alliance by the convention of the 7th of July 1827. 

 They proposed that Greece should be a vassal state of Turkey, and 

 should acknowledge the Sultan's suzerainty by paying an annual 

 tribute. The Greeks promised to submit on that condition, but the 

 Sultan rejected the proposition with disdain. Upon this the combined 

 British, French, and Russian fleets attacked the Turko-Egyptian fleet 

 in the bay of Navarino (20th of October 1827), and the pride of the 

 Sultan, his splendid ships of war, which had cost him so dear, were 

 destroyed after a gallant resistance. A French army now landed in 

 the Peloponnesus, Ibrdhim Pasha evacuated the country, and Greece, 

 without being independent, was freed from her invaders. None of 

 these defeats dispirited the Sultan, and proud of having humbled the 

 most dangerous of Turkey's internal foes, he boldly proclaimed " a 

 holy war " against Russia, well knowing that the insurrection in Greece 

 waa in a great measure the work of .the czar. Before however we 

 proceed to the Russian war, it is necessary to speak of the destruction 

 of the Janissaries. 



Mahmud accomplished this the greatest of his measures at a time 

 when the whole of his attention seemed to be absorbed by the inter- 

 ference of the three powers in the Greek insurrection. At this time 

 he proceeded so openly with his reforms as to leave no doubt of his 

 firm intention to overthrow the ancient institutions of Turkey, and to 

 form an entirely new state of things. He had musical and theatrical 

 entertainments performed in the seraglio ; he dressed after the fashion 

 of Europe, and abandoned the sacred turban for the fez ; and, to the 

 deep indignation of the Janissaries, gave orders to form another Nizam 

 Jedid, or Azfoiri Mahammediyeh, as he now chose to call these troops. 

 When he signed that order he had likewise resolved to destroy the 

 Janissaries, who did not allow him to wait for an occasion to begin 

 the contest. On the loth of June 1826 the Sultan and the graud vizir 

 being then in the country, a strong body of Janissaries, reinforced by 

 a crowd of the worst characters, met at their great barrack, the 

 Et-Meiddn, and thence marched in battle array to the palace of the 

 grand vizir, which they took and burnt after a feeble resistance on 

 the part of the domestics, who were cut to pieces. The vizir's women 

 escaped by hiding themselves in some subterraneous vaults in the 

 garden. The grand vizir hastened to Constantinople as soon as he 

 had heard of the riots, informed the absent Sultan of the event, assem- 

 bled the diviin, and concentrated round the seraglio all the troops 

 than he could dispose of. The shouts of "Down with the Niza'cn 

 Jedid ! we will have the heads of all those who advised the Sultan to 

 introduce new institutions !" soon reached the ears of the ministers, 

 who were then assembled in the ' Arsldn Khdneh,' or the menagerie of 

 the seraglio. Thither crowded the "ulemds and the students, the 

 marines, the sappers, and the officers of the artillery with their guns, all 

 ready to shed their blood for the Sultan and his reforms. Encouraged 

 by the presence of so many adherents, the grand vizir sent au answer 

 to the rioters, that he would not satisfy their demands, but would 

 rej>el, force by force. The Janissaries were preparing for an attack 

 upon the seraglio, when Mahmud arrived in a small boat from his 

 country-seat at Beshik Tdah, on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus. 

 Fully aware of the danger of his position, he harangued his troops, 

 and declared that he would put himself at their head and attack the 

 rebels, but having beou dissuaded from this resolution he sent the 

 grand vizir with a body of troops to the mosque, of Sultan Ahmed, 

 which was to be the chief meeting-place of the Sultan's party, and 

 contented himself with encouraging his meu from a kiosk on one of 

 the outer wails of the seraglio. On his order the mufti unfolded the 

 sherif,' or the standard of the prophet, and hundreds of 



