One of their number, however, who was any thing but friendly towards the lord high treasurer, addressed the grand vezír thus: “How long will it be that you will screen this treasurer? On a former occasion you did not hesitate to deliver up Mohammed Páshá, who was a beglerbeg and a vezír. This man is only a treasurer: deliver him up, and you will put an end to the present tumults.” One of the military judges, Bostání Zádeh, on hearing these sentiments was perfectly astonished, raised his voice and said, “What! is this diván become so far heretical, as even to agree to permit the head of a descendant of the Prophet to be struck off and hurled upon the ground? What madness and insanity is this! Cease, I beseech you, from this rashness, and let justice take her own course.” This short but energetic speech had the desired effect on the mind of him to whom it was directed.
In the mean time a royal mandate was sent to the ághá of the Janissaries, requiring him to repair to the diván, whilst the Janissaries were ordered to surround the forum. The immense multitude of ruffians who had rushed into the court continued their tumultuous noise and uproar till the afternoon; but at last the ághá of the household troops succeeded in awing this unwelcome concourse, and inspired them with such a degree of terror as caused them to give way. The members of the diván, and other servants of the court, perceiving the Spáhís were awed, seized what weapons they could find. One took hold of a cudgel, another of a culinary implement, and a third of a garden rake, and turned with fury on the Spáhís, who, through fear of the Janissaries, had turned their backs, and sought to make their escape as fast as they were able. Such, indeed, was the crush and pressure in trying to get out of the court, that three hundred and fifty persons were trampled to death, and the rest hardly escaped with their lives. Thus did God, in his wise providence, defeat the wicked purposes of this lawless multitude, and peace and good order was again restored. The ághá of the Janissaries dispersed the crowd of spectators which had assembled on this occasion, and thus cleared the way for the members of the diván, who all returned to their respective homes. The dead bodies of the insurgents were thrown into the sea.
The emperor was so very much pleased when he learned the fate of the insurgent Spáhís, and the conduct of the grand vezír, Síávúsh Páshá, that he presented him with a robe of honour. The money which had been furnished for paying the Spáhís was distributed as on former occasions; but the lord high treasurer was deposed, and Hájí Ibrahím Páshá was appointed in his stead. Borhán Effendí was made treasurer of Anatolia.
The Grand Vezír, Síávúsh Páshá, deposed.
After the insurgent Spáhís were chastised and punished, and the grand vezír was graced with the robe of honour, as a token of his majesty’s approbation, he (i.e. the grand vezír), next day rode round the city and laid a heavy tariff on commodities in the market-place, and then returned, with great pomp and show, to his palace. On the 25th day of Rabia II., however, the emperor’s chamberlain waited on him, demanded, in the name of his master, the seals of office, and sent them to the formerly exiled, but now renowned Khoja Sinán Páshá. Síávúsh Páshá, who but yesterday was clothed in a robe of honour, and admired, is to-day, to the astonishment of the vulgar multitude, debased!
Sinán Páshá, the new grand vezír, entered upon the duties of his office on the first day of Jemadi I. This is the third time he became premier. The following able councillors held their situations in the diván at this time, and were accordingly arranged as follows: Ferhád Páshá, who had been deposed from the office of grand vezír, held the second; Ibrahím Páshá, the third; Jeghaleh Zádeh Sinán Páshá, the fourth; Jeráh Mohammed Páshá, the fifth; Boyálí Mohammed Páshá, the sixth; and Khusur Páshá, the seventh.
On the 15th of Shabán the ceremony of circumcision was performed on the young prince, Mirzá Haider, and a splendid feast was given to the great men of the state in the palace of Mohammed Páshá.
A rupture between the Ottomans and the Austrians.
The rupture just now announced took place when Hasan Páshá, formerly mentioned, commanded on the frontiers of Bosnia. Before alluding directly to the result of this rupture, it is necessary to observe, first, that Mustafa Páshá, son of Ahmed Páshá, who had been formerly governor of Semendria, had his father’s palace in the At-maidán pulled down, on the ruins of which Sultán Ahmed’s mosque was built. This Mustafa Páshá, when he was commander in the Sanjak of Kilis, was in the habit of committing depredations on the frontiers of the infidels’ dominions; and this also provoked the Germans and Croatians to cross their respective boundaries, and to commit atrocities against the Osmánlís. The Beglerbeg of Bosnia, Hasan Páshá, entered the country of the Croatians, as we have already observed, and erected two fortresses there, which he named Novograde. On one or two occasions he succeeded in defeating the infidels, and thus acquired some considerable degree of glory. When he communicated this intelligence to the Ottoman court, he stated at the same time, that if the enemy should assemble in greater numbers in future, the Bosnian troops alone would not be able to cope with them, and therefore requested that the troops of Romeili might be sent to his aid. The former grand vezír, Síávúsh Páshá, conferred on a relative of his own, Kirli Hasan Páshá, the government of Romeili, and appointed him to afford the aid which Hasan Páshá deemed necessary. When Kirli Hasan Páshá, with his Romeilian troops, reached the Sanjak of Serim, he learned that Sinán Páshá had been created grand vezír. It is necessary to observe here, however, that when Sinán Páshá was formerly grand vezír, the válí of Bosnia, Hasan Páshá, gave him his house in Constantinople, but the Páshá refused to give it back when he was deposed. The circumstance of Hasan’s seeking back his house offended Sinán Páshá and put him into a complete rage.
About the end of the Ramazán of this year Kirli Hasan Páshá was translated to the vezírship of Temisvar, and his son, Mohammed Páshá, was made governor of Romeili in his father’s stead.
Hasan Páshá, proud of the succours he had reason to anticipate, and, in addition to his eruptions for the last two years, in violation of the existing treaty of peace, went and besieged a fortress called Siska, in the enemy’s country. The infernal infidels, in consequence of this infringement of the peace by Hasan Páshá, collected an immense army, the command of which was given to the accursed wretch, Zerín Oghlí, ruler of Katpaz. With this mighty army, furnished with all sorts of apparatus of war, he marched to the frontiers of Bosnia.
Hasan Páshá, in the mean time, becoming hopeless as to the aid which had been promised him, and not suspecting that the enemy was on his march to attack him, threw two bridges over the Kupa, near Yení Hisár, and marched over into Croatia. Hearing of the movements of the enemy, he hastened to prepare to give them battle, although he had only about ten thousand Bosnians under his command. Being a very brave and fearless man, he acquired very great glory by his skill in military tactics on this occasion.
The enemy having asked assistance from Maximilian, brother of the Emperor of Austria, received a large augmentation of forces, raised by the great princes of Germany, and thus became much more formidable. This vast multitude, many of whom were covered with steel, resembled the raging waves of the sea. The brave and veteran Páshá resolved on encountering the enemy, and commanded Ghází Khoja Mimí Beg, father of Serkhúsh Ibrahím Páshá, celebrated in war, to cross the river and reconnoitre the enemy. He did so; and when he returned, he assured Hasan Páshá that it would be altogether ruinous to give battle to so superior a force as the enemy possessed. When Ibrahím delivered this disheartening report Hasan happened to be playing at chess, and, after hearing him patiently