T U R 
left the reins of government in the hands of a son, incapable 
of guiding them, the Ottomans determined to prosecute the 
war, and the grand-vizir set out for Mossul, which was the 
rendezvous of his army. 
The Ottoman army at first gained some advantages over 
the Persians, and was afterwards beaten. Hafez-Ali, already 
advanced in years and worn out with the toils of so harassing 
a war, was attacked by a mortal disease. He immediately 
wrote to his master, advising him to make peace, and died a 
few days afterwards, in 1631. Amurat sincerely lamented 
the loss of this excellent minister, and complied with hisjast 
exhortations. 
Some commotions in Transylvania, occasioned by the 
Poles, were soon quelled; and Amurat, who was yet but 24 
years old, having restored peace to his empire both at home 
and abroad, resolved to shew himself worthy of commanding 
his troops, by whom he was feared and respected. Pretexts 
were not wanting for renewing the war with the Persians. 
The prince therefore put himself at the head of his army. He 
shared the fatigues of the soldiers, prevented excesses on the 
march, and laid seige to Revan, which was surrendered by 
the governor. Amurat sullied this first success by the death 
of his brother Bajazet, of whom he had become jealous. 
The army which the sultan had left behind in Europe was 
unfortunate. He returned to that quarter, retrieved his 
affairs, and received tribute from a new waywode of Tran¬ 
sylvania, while his generals foliowed up the advantages 
which he had gained in Persia. 
During these operations, the Cossacks reduced Azof, and 
the sofy, in the middle of winter, retook Revan. The 
plague, which broke out in Constantinople and ravaged all 
Anatolia, was a great impediment to Amurat’s exertions. 
He was himself ill of the gout; and immediately on his reco¬ 
very, he again put himself at the head of his army in Persia. 
On Christmas day, 1638, he entered Bagdad, but before he 
set out on his return to Constantinople, he gave permission 
for the sacking of the unfortunate city. Twenty-five thou¬ 
sand persons of both sexes and all ages were butchered on 
this occasion. 
The affairs of Europe demanded the emperor’s attention. 
A quarrel had arisen between the Porte and the republic of 
Venice. The envoy of the latter was thrown into prison, 
and though in confinement, he had the glory of concluding 
a treaty which prevented a war. Peace with Persia soon 
followed, and the empire became more and more flourishing, 
while the health of the sultan gradually declined. Excessive 
intemperance in regard to wine and strong liquors brought 
on dropsy, the progress of which was very rapid. Finding 
his end approaching, he desired to see his brother, that he 
might give him advice respecting his future government; 
but as it was feared that in one of the gusts of passion to 
which he was extremely subject, he might take away his life, 
the sultana-valydeh kept Ibrahim aloof from his brother’s 
apartment. 
Amurat died on the 8th of February, 1640, at the age of 
31 years. 
1640—1648.— Ibrahym. —This prince, of a weak con¬ 
stitution and a timid disposition, had become still more 
fearful after Amurat put to death his brother Bajazet. When 
he was sent for to be placed upon the throne, he imagined 
that his last hour had arrived, and mistook the acclamations 
of joy for shouts of uproar. He displayed so little firmness 
and dignity during the ceremony of his inauguration, that 
the people thence deduced an unfavourable omen for his 
reign. Released from a severe captivity, this prince im¬ 
mediately plunged into voluptuousness and debauchery, 
relinquishing the affairs of government to his vizir and the 
sultana-valydeh, who overheard unseen the deliberations of 
the divan. 
The empire appeared flourishing, but its chief was not 
respected, and the intrigues of the seraglio had an influence 
upon the government of the whole empire. The qyzlar- 
agha, the chief of the black eunuchs and superintendent over 
the women of the seraglio, occasioned the celebrated war of 
Vox,. XXIV. No. 1634. 
KEY. 157 
Candia. This officer, to gratify a luxury equally useless 
and cruel, had a great number of women in his harem. He 
purchased one, who, being pregnant, produced a son. This 
female was selected for the nurse of the young prince 
Mehemet. The emperor conceived a strong attachment 
for her and her child, who was called the son of the qyzlar- 
agha. The favourite sultana having obliged the feeble 
monarch to remove the objects of her jealousy from his court, 
that officer solicited permission to perform a pilgrimage to 
Mecca with his reputed family. He travelled with such 
pomp, that the people concluded it must be a sultana and 
a son of Ibrahym’s, whom he was sending to Mecca; and 
the presence of the chief officer of the seraglio gave plau¬ 
sibility to the rumour. He embarked for Alexandria with a 
squadron, which on entering the Archipelago, was overtaken 
by a tempest and obliged to bear away for Rhodes. The news 
of the appearance of so rich a prize having reached Malta, the 
galleys of the order were dispatched to intercept the squadron 
bound to Alexandria. They fell in with it; a bloody 
conflict ensued, in which the eunuch was slain, and the 
knights took the squadron which he commanded. After 
touching at Candia to refit, they returned in triumph to 
Malta, persuaded they had a son of the Turkish emperor in 
their power. The report spread and was believed by all 
Europe. The child was treated with the honours that were 
thought to be due to the son of a great sovereign. The 
truth however was soon known, and the supposed prince 
quitted Malta. 
The rage of Ibrahym, on receiving the intelligence of 
the capture of the adopted son of the qyzlar-agha, was 
sufficient to authorise the belief that the Maltese had really 
taken a child of his own. He swore to destroy that haunt 
of pirates, and a formidable fleet, commanded by Yusuf, 
the capitan-pacha, set sail in 1645. On reaching Candia, 
there was nothing to prevent the Turkish troops from land¬ 
ing and laying siege to Canea, which was found incapable 
of making a long resistance, any more than Retino, the 
governor of which was slain in the breach. The Venetians 
who had now nothing left but the city of Candia, implored 
the aid of the Christian princes, but could not obtain any, 
because each power laid claim to the honour of the flag. 
But Ibrahym had soon to encounter a more dangerous foe. 
The sultan, more engrossed by the concerns of his family 
than those of government, married his daughter, scarcely 
four years of age, to Yusuf, the capitan-pacha, who was im¬ 
mensely rich. Ibrahym, accustomed to consider the wealth 
of all his subjects as belonging to himself, determined to 
secure Yusuf’s property for his daughter, and soon caused 
him to be strangled upon some slight pretext. The pacha 
was beloved by the troops, who mutinied and exclaimed 
loudly against a prince equally blood-thirsty and effeminate. 
Some nocturnal executions imposed silence on the malcon¬ 
tents. One of his emissaries having spoken in high terms 
of the beauty of the mufty’s daughter, he demanded her of her 
father, and on his refusal caused her to be carried off while 
going to the bath attended only by a few women. She was 
dragged to the harem, where she was violated by Ibrahym, and 
then sent back to her father. The mufty cherished in his 
heart the strongest resentment of this outrage, and resolved 
to revenge himself. Of the janissaries, he heard the mur¬ 
murs, and did not fail to encourage them : he assembled all 
the mollas, and the officers of the janissaries and spahys, in 
the mosque called Ortah Djami. The emperor sent the bos- 
tandjy-bachy, and the capydjy-bachy to disperse the as¬ 
sembly; they were admitted into the mosque, and the mufty 
delivered to them a fetva, proscribing the grand vizir, whose 
head they required before they separated. The sultan’s 
officers returned to him with this answer. Ibrahym refused 
to comply with the demands of the malcontents, on which 
the mufty appointed another vizir, and sent him with all the 
effendys and officers to the seraglio, into which they were 
introduced; but Ibrahym fell furiously upon the new mi¬ 
nister; the deputies having rescued him from the sultan’s rage 
withdrew in disorder [from the palace. The people then 
2 S cried 
