156 
T U R 
The ministers calculated upon governing in the name of 
this boy. The grand-vizir put himself at the head of a pow¬ 
erful army, which-was raised by the emperor Achmet, and 
had been long waiting to be led into Persia. The young 
sultan was left under the care of an ambitious lawyer, who 
had been his preceptor. 
The zeal of the young sultan for the observance of the 
laws of the Prophet was extreme. He was shocked at the 
frequent use which the Turks made of wine, and ordered the 
delinquents to be put to death. As it happened, almost all 
those on whom this punishment was inflicted were janissa¬ 
ries ; and hence arose a bitter hatred between the latter and 
their emperor. 
Meanwhile success attended the arms of the grand-vizir; 
he retrieved in Persia the losses which the Turks had there 
sustained, and obliged the sofy to conclude peace. The 
young prince felt an ardent desire to signalize himself. The 
waywode of Transylvania, who had gained some advantage 
in a war against Austria, allied with Poland, proposed to 
him to besiege Vienna; but the sultan, adhering to the 
treaties which subsisted between the two empires, resolved 
to attack the Polish monarch, Sigismund, only. He accord¬ 
ingly marched toward that country at the head of 300,000 
men, and attacked Vladislaus, Sigismund’s son, near Khoc- 
sim. The Turks, repulsed with loss, could not even gain 
possession of a castle which stood on the summit of a steep 
mountain. It was the wisest policy in the Poles to weary 
out their enemy; they daily routed in detail the different 
corps of Othman’s army, who persisted in blockading the 
enemy’s camp. He resolved at length upon a general 
assault. The janissaries, thrice repulsed with slaughter, 
received orders to charge a fourth time; and when the vizir 
represented that the flower of the army would be thereby 
sacrificed, the sultan angrily replied: “ When I have lost the 
asses, I will supply their place with horses.” This expression, 
being repeated to the janissaries, contributed in an equal 
degree with the murder of one of his brothers, for which he 
issued orders, to the catastrophe which shortly afterwards 
befel him. As the repeated attacks of Othman continued to 
prove unsuccessful, conferences were opened, and peace was 
concluded. 
A report was soon spread that the sultan intended to dis¬ 
band the corps of janissaries, and perhaps to employ the pre¬ 
text of a pilgrimage to Mecca, in order to transfer the seat of 
the empire to Damascus. Iu spite of the remonstrances of 
the mufty and all the grandees, he insisted on marrying the 
sister of sultan Mahomet III., who was already the wife of a 
pacha. All Constantinople was filled with indignation. 
The mufty published a fetvah declaring the marriage incom¬ 
patible with the dignity of the throne, and the journey to 
Mecca adverse to the welfare of the state. This decree, in 
fact, authorized rebellion. The sultan, being informed that 
the janissaries and spahys were ready to rise, abused the 
effendys who had come to remonstrate with him. The troops 
immediately beset the seraglio, put to death the grand vizir, 
and demanded Othman’s uncle, sultan Mustapha, again for 
their emperor. They broke open the prison in which that 
unfortunate prince was confined and removed him from it. 
He was recognized by the effendys, and conducted to the old 
seraglio. 
At this intelligence the rage and obstinacy of Othman 
were converted into despair. He had recourse to intreaties, 
but it was too late. He quitted the. seraglio with some 
officers who were cut in pieces before his face : he would 
then have turned back, but was prevented and forced into a 
mosque, where his rival had just girded on the sword of 
Othman ; but when Mustapha beheld the young prince sur¬ 
rounded by several officers approaching, under the idea that 
he had gained over the soldiery, he fell at his feet and implored 
his mercy. “ Is this the master ye prefer to me ?” cried the 
unfortunate Othman, with a sarcastic smile, and loudly ex¬ 
pressing the contempt which such a competitor excited, he 
endeavoured to retrieve his fortunes, but was interrupted by 
the shouts of the people, who declared that his reign was at 
KEY. 
an end, but that his life should be spared. Notwithstanding 
this promise, the new vizir, the principal instigator of this 
revolution, caused him to be strangled the following day. 
May 20th, 1622, in the castle of the Seven Towers, to 
which he had been removed. 
1622— 1623.—Mustapha had not during the interval of 
his deposition, become more worthy of the throne. The 
sultana-valydeh and the grand-vizir assumed the supreme 
authority. The latter would have taken away the liberty 
and perhaps the lives of Othman’s brothers, but the seraglio 
rose against him and he was obliged to flee. The pachas of 
Asia took advantage of this state of affairs to rebel. Anarchy 
was at its height, when the grandees of the empire assembled 
and resolved to chuse a new master, in whose name the 
government might be administered. As the election could 
fall only on one of Achmet’s children, they chose Amurat, 
the eldest, then 15 years of age. He at first modestly refused 
the proffered dignity; but the troops, having been prepared 
by the aghas for this change, repaired to the first court of the 
seraglio, shouting, “ Long live Murad!” The young prince 
then went down to the divan, and addressing the assembly 
with great majesty, he recommended to the mufty and the 
vizir to enforce the laws and to re-establish order, which had 
been too long interrupted in the empire. Mustapha was 
again shut up on the 10th of September, 1623, in his former 
place of confinement. 
1623— 1640— Amurat IV.—The first use that Amurat 
made of his authority was to perform an act of justice and seve¬ 
rity ; he condemned the pacha of Cairo to death. He then 
directed his attention to the re-establishment of the finances; 
for the affairs of Europe and the rebellion of the Asiatic 
pachas required a considerable expenditure. The Tartars 
of the Crimea having manifested a disposition to shake off 
the yoke, the capitan-pacha collected the whole naval force 
against those people, while the grand-vizir marched toward 
Amacyeh, against Abazah, pacha of Erzerum, one of the 
insurgents. The capitan-pacha, having landed at Kaffah, 
the capital of the Crimea, his troops falling into an ambus¬ 
cade were almost all cut in pieces, and such as were fortunate 
enough to escape precipitately re-embarked. The Cossacks, 
taking advantage of the absence of the Turkish fleet, pene¬ 
trated into the Bosphorus, struck terror into Constantinople 
itself, and plundered and burned all the adjacent villages. 
The Turks were forced to secure the entrance of the port 
with an iron chain ; and the fleet of the capitan-pacha, 
which was hastily recalled, had great difficulty to disperse 
these pirates. The state of affairs in Asia was not more pros¬ 
perous. To crown all, the janissaries who remained in the 
capital excited fresh disturbances ; they murdered the ca'ima- 
cam, and Could not be appeased without the distribution of 
money ; but Amurat afterwards caused the mutineers to be 
secured and their heads struck off. 
The Persians meanwhile entered the Ottoman territory at 
several points, and overran Dyarbekir, Palestine, and Arabia; 
they even made themselves masters of Medina, and were ad¬ 
vancing upon Trebisond. Amid these disasters, Amurat 
found a wise minister, in whom he could repose confidence, 
and conferred on him the post of the caimacam, who had 
been put to death by the janissaries. This officer, whose 
name was Hafez-Ali, restored order in the finances, and ad¬ 
vised his sovereign to shew himself frequently to the people 
and the janissaries, that he might excite their respect apd 
affection for his person. The sultan mingled in the sports 
of the soldiers, and sometimes won the prize in contests with 
the bow and the djeryd. 
The Ottoman troops having been beaten in Asia, the vizir, 
to whom were attributed all these disasters, was sacrificed. 
The ca'imacam, who was appointed his successor, exhorted 
the sultan to listen to the overtures for peace made to him by 
Persia, and to take advantage of this negociatipn to draw the 
rebellious pacha away from the interest of the sofy. The 
emperor received the homage of the rebel, who, in the sequel, 
rendered him important services. 
At this juncture Shah Abbas died, in 1628; and having 
left 
