170 T U R 
pelling the local authorities, and laying the grievances of the 
people before the Porte. 
Vladimiresco marched triumphantly to Buckarest, but he 
had not been many days there before Prince Alexander arrived 
at the head of five hundred men, dragging with them some 
pieces of iron cannon, mounted on ship carriages. Both 
himself and Suzzo had already made overtures to Theodore, 
for combining their plans and forces; but the latter being 
but little interested in the more extensive designs of the 
Hetcerists, and desirous to make war on his own account, de¬ 
murred at first, betraying no disposition to act; he was how¬ 
ever at length prevailed on to accede to the proposal by 
Douka, his lieutenant, who exercised great influence over the 
irregular bands composing his forces, and had previously 
entered into all the views of Ipsilanti. In the arrangements 
which followed, it was understood that each of the two 
chiefs should command his own corps, independent of the 
other, but that they were to act in unison against the common 
enemy. 
It was now that the Prince began to feel all the difficulties 
of his situation. He was indeed master of the two provinces, 
but so far from being able to advance, it plainly appeared that 
he had little chance of being allowed to maintain his position 
at Buckarest. To crown all, the most fatal blow to his hopes 
came from a quarter whence he had expected support and 
even direct assistance. The Emperor of Russia issued a 
manifesto, in which the Greek leader was treated as a rebel 
and incendiary, and his conduct formally disapproved. 
In this hopeless situation, obliged to pass from an offensive 
to a purely defensive system of operations, and menaced with 
an attack by superior forces, the state of his own army gave 
Ipsilanti still more uneasiness. Accustomed to regular war¬ 
fare, he naturally wished to introduce discipline and tactics 
into the army, as well as to arm it on the European model, 
but these intentions were defeated by the envy and intrigues 
of his lieutenants, while the soldiers, composed of different 
nations, eager only for plunder, and strangers to all subordi¬ 
nation, were not less intractable than their chiefs. There 
was but a single corps on which dependence could be placed, 
this was a battalion of young Greeks, educated in Europe, 
and for the most part students or merchant’s clerks, who re¬ 
paired to his standard from Russia and Germany. They 
were clothed alike in a regular uniform, and perfectly obe¬ 
dient. The zeal and patriotism of these young men, induced 
the prince to confer on them the appellation of the Sacred 
Band, a distinction which their subsequent heroism proved 
to have been most justly merited. With such indifferent 
troops, never exceeding nine thousand men, even after the 
junction of Vladimiresco; without possessing a single forti¬ 
fied place; unprovided with field artillery, and having but a 
very scanty supply of ammunition, he was charged with the 
defence of an extensive region, consisting of level plains, ex¬ 
tremely favourable to the operations of the Ottoman cavalry. 
The Turks appeared in the field in the beginning of April: 
some trifling skirmishes of advanced posts were followed by 
the capture of Galatz, which the Pacha of Ibrail assailed 
with a body of land forces, and a flotilla of gun boats. The 
Greek garrison, surprised and greatly inferior in number, 
made a brave but ineffectual resistance. A part was cut to 
pieces, while the remainder were obliged to seek safety in 
flight. The Turks avenged the death of their countrymen 
who fell on the 4th of March, by completing the destruction 
of the town, and putting all the inhabitants of the adjacent 
districts, whom they could seize, to the sword, without dis¬ 
tinction of age or sex. In the meantime, Kara Mehamed, 
Seraskier of Silistria, advanced on the northern bank of the 
Danube at the head of ten thousand men, and on the 10th 
entered Bukarest, without firing a shot. Measures were im¬ 
mediately taken by the Seraskier, in concert with some officers 
of the Austrian consulate, for preserving order in the city ; 
but the open country was exposed to every species of 
violence: the Turkish soldiery carrying their barbarity so far 
as to hang up numbers of little children by the feet on the 
K E Y. 
trees along the public roads, and impaling such of the Hetae- 
rists as fell into their hands. What with treachery, and 
those divisions which unhappily prevailed in the Christian 
army, there were no hopes left of impeding these successes of 
the enemy. 
Although Vlademiresco had consented to unite his forces 
and co-operate with Ipsilanti, still no cordiality existed be¬ 
tween them. The motives of the Wallachian chief were ex¬ 
clusively selfish, and, as he is said to have confessed in a 
conference with the prince, unconnected with the emancipa¬ 
tion of Greece, he only wished to gain some personal ad¬ 
vantage from the storm he had excited : besides, he pre¬ 
tended to an entire equality, while his vanity was offended 
at Ipsilanti’s assuming the supreme command and title of 
generalissimo. The Ottomans, whose favourite weapon is 
perfidy, availed themselves of these dispositions in Vlademi¬ 
resco with considerable address, and he was soon gained 
over by a promise of being raised to the dignity of Hos- 
podar, if he would only betray his associates. The result of 
this offer was, that Theodore kept aloof, and openly refused 
to second the prince, who was anxious to risk a battle for 
the defence of Bukarest. That city was, therefore, aban¬ 
doned ; and the retreat to Tergovist effected with precipita¬ 
tion and disorder. While at this place, Vlademiresco met the 
punishment due to his perfidy and crimes. The prince, re¬ 
solving to rid the army of a chief whose treachery was 
apparent, caused him to be arrested, and tried by a council 
of war; being condemned to death, the sentence was carried 
into immediate execution. All the troops who had served 
under Theodore, were then incorporated with those of 
Ipsilanti. 
This act of vigour did not, however, stop the progress of 
disaffection or treason; desertions were frequent, while 
Douka, Sava, and most of the principal officers, continued 
secretly to negotiate and intrigue with the Turks. In order 
to bring his projects with those traitors to maturity, the 
Pacha remained quietly at Bukarest, in a slate of comple'e 
inactivity, for nearly six weeks; during which period, the 
Pacha of Ibrail overran Moldavia, and occupied Yassy with, 
out the least opposition. 
Had it not been for these obstacles, and the sudden depar¬ 
ture of Cantacuzene, with the alleged intention of checking 
the progress oE Ibrail Pacha, the strong and commanding 
position of Tergovist might have enabled Ipsilanti to make 
a formidable stand there. Convinced that he possessed no 
adequate means of defence at Tergovist, the prince determined 
to march on to Rirnnik, a small town on the Oltau, and 
close to the Transylvanian frontier. While proceeding to 
this place, he heard that a Turkish division was advancing 
on the left bank of the river, and therefore lost no time in 
preparing to attack the enemy. A council of war being 
held, it was decided that a battle should be risked. Pur¬ 
suant to this determination, Ipsilanti crossed the Oltau on the 
17th of June, and took up a position at the monastery of 
Dragachan, within a few miles of Rimnik. The Turks had, 
by this time, approached so near, that the two armies were 
in sight of each other on the morning of the 19th. In a 
second council of war, Karavia, one of the chiefs, strongly 
urged the necessity of an immediate attack, while Giorgaki 
suggested that it would be much better to defer it for another 
day, when the expected reinforcements would arrive.' They 
could, in the meantime, amuse the Turks with some skir¬ 
mishing, and post detachments in the adjacent woods to 
attack the enemy’s rear, when the action became general: 
but the advice of Karavia unhappily prevailed. 
Ipsilanti having made the necessary disposition of his 
troops, the attack commenced at ten o’clock in the morning. 
A few rounds of grape-shot from five small pieces, flanked 
by the sacred battalion, was followed by a charge of the 
Turkish infantry, who rushed forward with loud shouts, and 
were repulsed at the point of the bayonet. A second charge 
was repelled with equal intrepidity by the sacred band, and 
had the cavalry come up at this moment, the fate of the day 
was 
