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T U R 
antagonists. This brilliant action attracted the notice of the 
army, and won the confidence of his predecessor, Tersanik- 
Oglou, agha of Rudschuk. He accompanied him in all his 
campaigns, especially in the war with Paswan Oglou, 
attended him in 1804 to Rudschuk, and at length succeeded 
him. Mustapha Bairactar conceived the design of putting 
an end to the anarchy by replacing Selym on the throne ; he 
alone possessed the courage requisite for the execution of 
such a design, and on him the hopes of Constantinople were 
founded. In the prosecution of his purpose he suddenly 
marched with part of his army to Adrianople, and after 
some conferences with the grand-vizir, he proceeded direct 
to Constantinople. These two generals, whose troops were 
united under the standard of the Prophet, encamped not far 
from the walls of the capital. Mustapha’s real intentions 
were as yet but matter of conjecture; he gave out that he 
was come only to pay homage to his new master. The sultan 
either was or feigned to be convinced of his sincerity, and 
went forth with his whole court to meet the sacred standard. 
He was received in the camp with all the honours due to 
imperial majesty; but it was not long before the governor 
of the forts of the Bosphorus, who had contributed to 
Mustapha’s elevation, was assassinated by unknown persons. 
The agha of the janissaries, the mufty and the ulemas of 
his party were displaced. So far Mustapha had rendered 
a service to the sultan, who had been a mere tool in the 
hands of his ministers; but on the 28th of July, that general 
made his entry into Constantinople, at the head of eight 
thousand men, cashiered the grand-vizir, assembled the ulemas 
and the mufty, and borrowing the sacred voice of religion, 
deposed the new sultan, and at the same time advanced 
towards the seraglio for the purpose of demanding Selym. 
The gates were shut at his approach, and Mustapha IV. 
thinking to secure the crown for himself and to deprive 
Selym’s partisans of all hopes, ordered that prince to be put 
to death. The execution of this command was committed 
to the haznadar agha (private treasurer,) the buyuk-embrokhor 
(chief-equerry,) and bach-tchocadar (governor of the pages). 
As soon as Selym perceived them, he suspected their in¬ 
tention and drew his poniard to defend himself. The three 
murderers instantly rushed upon him, and while one of 
them cut the cord of a pendulum to strangle him with, 
another plunged a poisoned dagger into his bosom and the 
prince expired without uttering a word. His corpse was 
wrapped in a carpet, and carried to the gate of the seraglio, 
which opened only to exhibit to the view of Mustapha 
Bairactar the bleeding body of his beloved master. At this 
horrid sight Bairactar was overwhelmed with, affliction: he 
embraced the lifeless corpse, covered it with kisses, bathed it 
with tears, and swore to be revenged. 
Thus died at the age of about forty-four years, one of the 
best princes that ever reigned over the Ottoman empire, and 
whose memory will never cease to be cherished by those 
foreigners to whom he was known. Just and humane, but 
too weak to sustain the sinking fortunes of the empire, he 
had the mortification to be aware of its desperate state, with¬ 
out being able to apply a remedy. The future always 
seemed to him to present a most gloomy prospect. For 
more than ten years he deplored the condition of his subjects. 
Superior to the Turks in the elevation of his sentiments, the 
extent of his acquirements, and the correctness of his judg¬ 
ment, he had measured the immense distance which parted 
them from Europeans in point of knowledge, which he 
made it his particular study to propagate. He gave a kind 
reception to foreigners, re-established printing-houses, en¬ 
couraged talents of all kinds, and combated fanaticism and 
prejudice with all his might; but these very efforts, which 
will hand down his name to posterity, were the principal 
cause of his downfal. 
Mustapha IV., who hoped to secure the empire by putting 
Selym to death, derived no other fruit from his crime than 
the disgrace of having perpetrated it: for he was conducted 
from the throne to the prison of his victim. 
1807—1828.— Mahmud II.—On the deposition of Mus- 
K E V. 167 
tapha IV., his brother Mahmud was proclaimed sultan. 
He conferred on Mustapha Bairactar the dignity of grand- 
vizir. His first care was to rid himself by death or exile of 
the adherents of Mustapha, and to crush the party of the 
janissaries. He caused the castles of the Dardanelles, garri¬ 
soned by the rebels, to be evacuated, and sent a detachment 
of the artillery to occupy them; and the new commandant 
received orders to put his predecessor to death. For several 
days the heads of the principal officers in the preceding 
reign were exhibited on the gates of the seraglio. 
If the sober class, the great majority of the nation, ap¬ 
plauded the appointment of Mustapha Bairactar, the janis¬ 
saries could not without horror behold their most inveterate 
enemy raised to the second, or rather to the first place in the 
empire. From this contrariety of sentiments arose two 
parties, that of the grand-vizir and that of the janissaries, 
which was less numerous but more powerful than the 
other. Nothing but a bloody and decisive catastrophe could 
put an end to the state of continual warfare that subsisted 
between them. The circumstances are as follow:— 
So soon as the 10th of December, 1808, that is, three 
months after Mahmud’s inauguration, seditious movements 
were observed at Constantinople. Troops successively ar¬ 
rived from the Dardanelles, and from the interior of Romelia: 
on the 14th, the janissaries attacked the seymens, and this 
was the signal for a fresh revolution. Several obstinate con¬ 
flicts took place between these two bodies, always to the dis¬ 
advantage of the seymens. The janissaries, after murdering 
the agha appointed over them by Mustapha Bairactar, elected 
another. In the night of the 16th, they set fire to the palace 
of that minister, and posted themselves in such a manner 
that they could scarcely fail to intercept him in case he should 
not perish by the flames. Being fortunate enough, how¬ 
ever, to effect his escape, he took refuge in the seraglio, 
where the other chief officers of the Porte had likewise sought 
an asylum. On the morning of the 15th, the city was but 
one vast scene of carnage and conflagration. The janissa¬ 
ries were masters of the city, properly so called; the suburbs 
were in the hands of the sekbans or seymens; while Bairac- 
tar’s troops and a numerous artillery defended the seraglio. 
Two brigs and two ships of the line, lying in the harbour, 
cannonaded the city and the janissaries who appeared upon 
the shore, and intercepted the communication between the 
suburbs of Galata and Pera. The fighting was kept up for 
two days without intermission; and for two days the flames 
continued their ravages: the seymens made an obstinate re¬ 
sistance. Mustapha Bairactar paraded the streets at the head 
of a few thousand men, hastening to every point w’here the 
danger was most urgent, encouraging the troops by exhor¬ 
tation and example, and issuing orders with extraordinary 
coolness. Twenty times he fell upon the janissaries, and 
carried destruction into their ranks. It was for a moment 
doubtful to which side victory would incline; at length, in 
the evening of the 16th, the janassaries gained the ascen¬ 
dancy; and on the 17th, the face of things was entirely 
changed. Mustapha Bairactar was no more : the new troops, 
beaten at all points, were compelled to seek safety in flight. 
The fleet and the artillery had declared in favour of the 
janissaries, who were masters of Tophanah, the arsenal, the 
shipping and Galata; and the sultan, having lost his prin¬ 
cipal officers, came to terms with the rebels. On the 18th, 
the gates of the seraglio were thrown open, and Mahmud, 
after causing his brother Mustapha IV. to be strangled, re¬ 
paired to the mosque to perform Friday’s devotions. The 
partisans of Bairactar were put to death, and the janissaries 
resumed their influence. The public tranquillity was never¬ 
theless gradually restored, and in a fortnight Constantinople 
was perfectly quiet. The shops were open, the artisans pur¬ 
sued their occupations, the police was administered as usual, 
and a stranger arriving in that unfortunate capital, would 
have known nothing of the revolution of the 14th of Decem¬ 
ber, had not the heaps of ashes and ruins that met his view 
and the offensive effluvia arising from the carcases of four 
thousand Musulmans, apprized him of it. 
Th) 
