158 
T U R 
cried out that the sultan himself must be deposed. The 
janissaries secured all the gates of the city ; the troops at 
night surrounded the seraglio; the old vizir was brought 
forth, declared a traitor, and put to death. Next day another 
meeting was held in the mosque of St Sophia. The mufty 
addressed the assembly and painted in strong colours the 
misfortunes of the empire, and the vice, and incapacity of 
its ruler. The new grand vizir proposed the issuing of a 
fetva, requiring the emperor to appear before his people and 
to account to them for his conduct. The fetva was carried 
to Ibrahym, who tore it in pieces, and threatened to make 
an example of the mufty; but when the agha of the janis¬ 
saries represented to him, that the life of his highness was in 
much more imminent danger than that of the head of the 
Mahometan religion, his rage was suddenly changed to fear. 
He implored, but in vain, the aid of the officers around him, 
and fled for protection to the apartments of his women. 
He was brought forth and conducted before his judges. 
The mufty loaded the violator of his daughter with re¬ 
proaches. It was agreed that the sultan’s life should be 
spared; he was therefore thrown with some old female slaves 
into a prison, the doors and windows of which were walled 
up, and in which a single aperture only was left for the 
introduction of food. The public criers immediately pub¬ 
lished in the capital the accession of Mahomet IV., who was 
but seven years of age. The implacable mufty ordered the 
old sultan to be strangled. 
1649—1687.— Mahomet IV.—'The troops learned with 
anger that they had been made instrumental to a murder 
which they would fain have prevented. The mufty had the 
art to throw all the blame on the vizir, who was punished for 
it. Synan-pacha was appointed in his stead; but he was 
disliked by the sultana Kieuzel, who gained over the agha of 
the janissaries and concerted with him the deposition of 
Mahomet IV. and the elevation of Solel'man, the younger 
brother of that prince, to the throne. The politic mufty 
resolved to espouse the cause of the stronger party, and 
awaited the event. The agha of the janissaries collected 
troops, and Synan the vizir, being surprised at night, and 
obliged to attend this meeting, affected to enter into the views 
of the rebels. Upon pretext of convoking the divan, be 
demanded permission to repair immediately to the seraglio, 
the gates of which he found shut: he ordered them to be 
again closed after him, and employed the rest of the night 
in barricading himself there, and in arming the troops and 
all the persons belonging to the household of the sultan. 
By his command the young sultana-valydeh was awakened, 
and conducted to the chamber of her son who was still a 
child. The murmurs raised through the whole seraglio in 
spite of the endeavours of those who wished to stifle them, 
the light of torches, the terror expressed in every coun¬ 
tenance, and the imminent danger which all these things 
bespoke, filled the young sultana with terror, and mingling 
her tears with those of her son, she incessantly exclaimed 
“ O my child, it is all over with us.” The emperor of the 
East, whose ordinary titles are Lightning of Heaven and 
Terror of the World, hid his face in his mother’s bosom, 
and seizing the hands of the grand vizir, cried: “ Save us, 
father, save us.” Synan did his best to cheer them, and 
ordered the throne of the young emperor to be placed in 
such a manner as to be exposed to the view of those whose 
duty it was to defend it. The prince, in walking to the 
spot where the throne was raised, saw the bodies of the 
bostandjy-bachy and the qyzlar of Kieuzel, who had been 
strangled, extended on the ground. This spectacle increased 
the terror of the child, which was at its height, when the 
baltahdjys put to death in his presence a white eunuch, 
master to the chamber of Kieuzel. The blood of this un¬ 
fortunate man, who had fallen at the foot of the throne, 
sprinkled the infant emperor, who, unable to support the 
horrible sight, sought refuge in the arms of the grand vizir. 
Some of the itchoghlans perceiving a veiled female behind 
the gauze that covered the dangerous window, from which 
the sultan can observe every thing without being himself 
KEY. 
seen, imagined that it was the sultana Kieuzel, and insisted 
that she should be secured. The affrighted woman, forgetting 
the laws of the seraglio, immediately drew back the gauze 
curtain, threw aside her veil, and showing her face bathed in 
tears, “ I am not Kieuzel,” cried she, “ but the real sultana 
Valydeh, the mother of his Highness;” then descending in 
in haste she rushed through the crowd and ran to embrace 
the knees of her son. The vizir presented the young 
Mahomet to his future defenders, and made them take the 
oath of allegiance to him. The mufty declared by a fetva 
that the sultana Kieuzel must die. A decree drawn up by 
the vizir and signed with a trembling hand by the young 
emperor, purporting that she should be strangled, but that 
her body should neither be bruised with blows nor cut with 
the sword. She was strangled, and her partisans were after¬ 
wards put to death. Synan’s boldness was attended with 
success equal to the most sanguine expectation. The janis¬ 
saries deserted their agha and his supporters, who were put to 
death, and order was restored. The vizir, who had rendered 
his master such essential service, met with a fate he did not 
merit. The relatives of those whom he had sacrificed to 
the welfare of the state having met with him one evening 
almost unaccompanied, stabbed him and had time to 
escape. 
The first years of Mahomet’s reign were marked by all 
the disorders that might be expected in a state without a 
master. In the course of seven years, six vizirs were 
deposed or strangled ; pachas rebelled; and the spahys and 
janissaries cut one another’s throats tor the sake of the 
property of the chief's whom they had proscribed. The 
Turkish fleet was several times beaten by that of the Vene¬ 
tians, who, however, had not the promptitude to follow up 
their advantages and drive their enemies out of Candia. 
Meanwhile the sultana-valydeh quietly educated the young 
emperor in the recesses of the seraglio; and in concert with 
the divan ~she at length chose the aged Mehemet Kiuperly, 
who had always been beloved and respected by all parties, 
for grand vizir. The wise minister devoted his attention to 
the re-establishment of internal tranquillity and the means of 
ensuring prosperity to the arms of the empire. He began 
by separating the spahys from the janissaries, as the as¬ 
sociation of those two bodies tended only to perpetuate 
discord, and dispersed the former in the provinces. The 
Venetians were victorious in the Bosnia, where they had 
driven back the Ottomaus to Sarai, the capital of that pro¬ 
vince. Kiuperly was content to keep them in check in 
that quarter, and sent more considerable reinforcements to 
the army in Candia. Moncenigo, the admiral of the re¬ 
public, after defeating the Ottoman fleet, took, in 1659, the 
island of Tenedos and Lemnos. The Venetians then made 
overtures for peace; but Kiuperly would not listen to any 
accommodation, unless they would evacuate the island of 
Candia. In a subsequent naval engagement, Moncenigo 
was slain, and this irreparable loss to the Venetians opened 
all the seas to the Turks, and Tenedos and Lemnos soon fell 
again into the possession of the Porte. 
When the emperor had attained the age of fourteen years, 
Kiuperly thought it time to show him to the troops; he 
therefore took him to Adrianople, then the general rendezvous 
of the army. Meanwhile the pacha of Aleppo hoisted the 
standard of rebellion, and gave out that a son of Amurat IV., 
proscribed by Ibrahym, had been concealed by his mother 
and saved lrom the researches of his executioner's. This 
pretended prince was twenty years of age. The love of 
novelty soon collected an army round this impostor, who 
assumed the insignia of royally. Mahomet’s troops pro¬ 
ceeded towards Smyrna; those of the usurper advanced by 
forced marches. Kiuperly, conceiving them not so strong 
as they really were, sent against them only ten thousand 
meft', who were beaten ; he then went to meet them himself 
with the main army. The battle was fought in the presence 
of the young emperor; the rebels were dispersed, and the 
pacha of Aleppo, as well as the spurious sultan, being taken 
in their flight, were condemned and put to death. 
Commotions 
