VIOLENCE OF THE SULTAN. 747 
enquiry, I learnt the cause of the wrath which had applied the 
brand. 
It appears that the executed Janissaries had suffered under 
the royal sentence, in consequence of having publicly censured 
the higher power for some recent and extreme severities against 
an unhappy Armenian family, old inhabitants of the capital. 
These people were called Dooz-Oogli, and having been indus¬ 
trious and prosperous, in the course of time became so rich as 
to attract the attention of the Sultan; who, in consequence, was 
pleased to appoint four brothers, the heads of the family, to the 
direction of his mint. An unfortunate distinction for them ; for 
some while afterwards 1,000,000 of piastres were pronounced 
deficient, and the gold of the coinage considerably debased. 
On this result the four brothers, who were living in elegance 
and comfort with their respective families, were immediately 
seized, and as immediately punished ; two were beheaded at the 
gate of the Seraglio, and two hanged from the windows of their 
own houses. In the same hour all their known relations, men, 
women, and children, were dragged from their houses, and cast 
into the loathsome dungeons of the Seven Towers. At this last 
act a few Janissaries were heard to murmur, and for such manly 
compassion they lost their lives. But the vengeance of His 
Ottoman Majesty against the connections of these guilty, or 
slandered Armenians, is not yet satiated. He has made atone¬ 
ment to his guards for the deaths of their comrades, but the 
executions in the families of the Dooz-Oogli, and the sums 
amassed from the sale of their property, amounting to double 
the wealth of the alleged defaulted monies, have not yet been 
deemed sufficient; in short, persecution in every form is going 
5c 2 
