164 
T U R 
vinced of his inability to struggle with his ill fortune, went 
to Mahmud’s apartments and giving his hand to that prince: 
“ The wheel has turned both for you and for me,” said he, 
conducting him to the hall of the divan ; “ I give up to you 
the empire which my brother Mustapha resigned to me on a 
similar occasion. Remember that Mahomet IV., your 
father Mustapha, and myself, were hurled from the throne 
which you are mounting, because we placed too much con¬ 
fidence in our ministers. See every thing with your own 
eyes, and beware of that sloth which proved our ruin. Be 
severe, but just. I recommend to you my children and my¬ 
self.” After this exhortation he returned to the apartments 
from which he had taken his nephew, and where he was 
destined to pass the remainder of his life. 
1730—1754.— Mahmud I. — The new emperor desired 
to see the man who had raised him to the throne. Khalyl 
Patrona appeared before him in the dress of a janissary and 
bare-legged, just as he was before the revolution. His looks 
bespoke a bold but ferocious spirit. The emperor offered 
him a reward ; he asked for nothing but the abolition of the 
tax recently imposed, which was immediately granted. Pre¬ 
sents were distributed among the troops, who nevertheless 
refused to lay down their arms, and did what they pleased. 
Patrona defied the ministers and gave appointments to his 
creatures; but the abuse of the authority assumed by the 
rebels prepared their downfal. The divan secretly agreed to 
get rid of the three ringleaders. On the 25th of October, 
they were summoned to the seraglio, separated by surprize 
from their accomplices, and dispatched with daggers in the 
very hall of the divan. Those who had accompanied them 
into the seraglio were then sent for; and upon pretence of 
rewarding them, they were successively conducted five at a 
time into a vestibule, where they were disarmed and put to 
death. These executions, instead of exciting the slightest 
movement of sedition, gave the greatest joy to the inhabi¬ 
tants of the capital, who could not patiently brook all the 
disorders that were daily occasioned by the licentiousness of 
the insurgents. 
It was a difficult task for the grand-vizir to restore order 
and economy; the spirit of rebellion was not completely 
extinguished, and the sparks of the smothered fire kept con¬ 
tinually bursting forth into a new flame. The high price of 
bread and other necessaries of life rendered the people dissatis¬ 
fied with the government. At length the grand-vizir could 
perceive no other means of stifling rebellion than to make 
peace with Persia. Tauryz and all the country beyond the 
Araxes were restored to it, and Georgia was ceded by it to 
the Turks. Thahmas-Kuli-Khap, displeased with this treaty, 
deposed Shah-Thahmas, banished him to Khorasan, where 
he soon caused him to be murdered, proclaimed a new-born 
infant son of the unfortunate monarch sofy, by the name of 
Shah-Abbas, and declared himself regent of the kingdom. 
This important revolution took place in the month of August, 
1731. Thahmas-Kuli-Khan immediately renewed the war 
with Turkey, and threatened Bagdad; but all the governors 
of Asia having joined the Ottoman troops, he was defeated 
and wounded. The grand-vizir pursued and compelled him 
to sue for peace. The Turkish general, proud of his advan¬ 
tage, attacked his enemy with a small number of men, but 
was vanquished in his turn, and killed in the engagement; 
his troops disheartened fled in disorder. The Persian usurper 
drove them beyond Tauryz, and advanced upon Bagdad, 
which was thrown by this disaster into great consternation. 
The pacha who governed there lost no time in concluding 
peace; but the divan deposed him and disavowed the treaty. 
Fresh dissensions in Europe however induced the Porte to 
renew the negociations, and to cede Georgia and Armenia to 
Persia. 
About this time Russia reduced Asof, and soon afterwards 
Oczakow and Kilbournou, while the Austrian troops, under 
general Wallis, entered Wallachia, and laid Moldavia under 
contribution ; but were soon obliged to evacuate the latter pro¬ 
vince. At length the Turks, after obtaining some advantages, 
accepted the medium of France, just at the moment when they 
KEY. 
were investing Belgrade: and a general peace, destined to 
ensure for many years the tranquillity of the Ottoman em¬ 
pire, was signed on the 22d of September, 1739. 
Mahmud, now in peaceable possession of the throne, was 
wholly engrossed with pleasure, the means of filling his ex¬ 
chequer, and the superintendence of the police of his capital. 
He greatly regretted his having no children. Those of sultan 
Achmet were advancing in age, and he was apprehensive that 
after him the empire would be distracted by dissensions. As 
however, the splendour of the sultan and his ministers %vas 
kept up only by oppressive measures, the people murmured 
at these abuses and at the tyranny of the officers of the 
seraglio. The body of the ulemas could not even obtain 
justice for outrages committed on one of its members. The 
complaints of the people could not reach the throne, on 
which the monarch slumbered, and the general discontent 
manifested itself in frequent fires, which lasted upwards of 
twenty days, consumed great part of the city and gave occa¬ 
sion to numberless disorders. At length Mahmud’s brother 
in-law, a vizir nearly eighty years old, throwing himself at 
the feet of his highness, represented to him, that the confla¬ 
grations which desolated the capital were but the expression 
of the puplic disatisfaction, on account of the abuse of his 
confidence by the qyzlar-agha and his creatures. The 
sultan, moved by the remonstrances of the aged vizir, and 
having consulted the mufty, who held the same language, 
had the magnanimity to sacrifice Ids favourites. The qyzlar- 
agha and the other officers who had given cause for complaint 
were apprehended and publicly executed, and their pro¬ 
perty confiscated. 
This exemplary punishment restored tranquillity, which 
continued during the remainder of Mahmud’s reign. This 
prince, who was endowed with a mildness of disposition 
calculated to render his subjects happy, was long afflicted 
with a disease which at times prevented his leaving the 
seraglio. The people then murmured, suspecting that the 
sultan was dead and that his decease was kept secret from 
them. On Friday the 13th of December, 1754, the officers 
of the palace prevailed upon him to make an effort to shew 
himself according to custom, in order to pacify the populace; 
and the unfortunate monarch expired on his horse, in his 
return from the mosque, between the two gates of the seraglio. 
He was fifty-eight years old, and had filled the throne nearly 
twenty-five. 
1754—1757.— Osman, or Othman III.—Mahmud’s bro¬ 
ther, was proclaimed emperor hy the divan. No sooner 
was he seated on the throne, than he manifested his incapa¬ 
city and the fickleness of his disposition. So frequent were 
the changes in his government, that in less than three years 
there were six vizirs and as many caimacams. 
1757—1774.— Mustapha HI.—The eldest of the chil¬ 
dren of sultan Achmet III., who had survived the bar¬ 
barous designs impuled to Othman, succeeded that prince 
by the name of Mustapha III. He gave a new existence 
to the empire; the people, dismayed by the reign of two 
princes who had not had issue, conceived hopes of seeing 
the house of Othman flourish once more. Mustapha was 
moreover fond of study and application; he was austere, 
just and religious, and possessed equal penetration and 
firmnesS. 
The Ottomans were at peace with their neighbours when, 
in 1763, the dealh of Augustus III., king of Poland,changed 
the aspect of affairs in that part of Europe. Russia inter¬ 
fered in the election of a new king; the Porte took umbrage 
at this, complained of the assemblage of Russian troops in 
the vicinity of Turkey, and war was soon declared. The 
courts of Berlin and Vienna, after offering their mediation 
to the two powers, marched troops into Poland upon the 
pretext of restoring tranquillity there; and that kingdom, 
rent by civil wars, was completely at their mercy. The 
Austrian and Prussian troops took possession of such pro¬ 
vinces as lay conveniently for their respective sovereigns. 
It was to the interest of the Ottoman court to prevent 
the partition of Poland, and to protect that country against 
the 
