to reinstate his brother Mustapha, ordered him to be put to death; the Janissaries, misinformed as to the fate of Bairactar, who, as they supposed, had escaped, sent deputies to the Sultan Mahmoud to assure him of their attachment, and to ask pardon for their last revolt; and the mufti, at the head of the principal oulemas, congratulated the sovereign on this new triumph of religion and the ancient laws. The old order of things was completely re-established; the Janissaries and the oulemas resumed their political influence; and an anathema was denounced against any one who should be hardy enough to speak even of the military system of the Franks, which had been the cause of so many evils.

Mahmoud, however, had seen enough of the vicious system of the Turkish armies, and the insolence of the Jauissaries, to determine him to effect a radical reform. The Greek insurrection made such a measure the more necessary. One Halet Effendi, some time ambassador at the court of France, had returned home, bringing with him some tincture of the literature and feelings of civilized Europe. This man gained great ascendancy over the sultan's mind, and, for several years, was considered as the mainspring that moved the whole machine of government. The Janissaries, and those who held public situations, were jealous and offended at Halet's secret influence. The haughty soldiery held frequent meetings; at one of which they drew up a petition to the sultan, or rather a demand, for the dismissal of those of his ministers who were most offensive to them. No answer being returned, their aga was charged to demand an explanation. It is the duty of this officer to hold the sultan's stirrup while he dismounts from his horse, and he took that opportunity to inquire into the result of their petition. The sultan expressed his surprise and entire ignorance of any such petition. Inquiries were made, and it was found in the bureau of one of those ministers whose dismissal was demanded. Mahmoud, like his predecessor Haroun Alraschid, alarmed at the state of affairs, is said to have proceeded frequently in disguise through the streets and into the coffeehouses of Constantinople, and formed his opinion from the conversation of those with whom he mixed. The result was, the breaking up of the ministry, and the exile of four of its members to Asia Minor. A report also was spread that Halet Effendi had been strangled to appease the resentment of the Janissaries; but, as Dr. Walsh observes, he was reserved to exhibit another extraordinary proof of Turkish faith in their transactions with one another.'

The sultan was strongly attached to Halet, and on his dismissal assured him of his personal safety; and, to confirm his word, he had given him a written protection under his own hand. He further told

him, that he meant to recall him when the present excitement should subside; and in the mean time directed him to retire to Brusa, as the pleasantest place of exile he could appoint. Halet set out with perfect confidence, being allowed to take with him a retinue of forty horse as a guard of honour, and having his written protection in his bosom. On his way, however, he found his place of exile changed to Konia, which he considered as further proof of the sultan's good-will. To ingratiate himself, it is supposed, with the Janissaries, he had formerly become a member of a college of dervishes; at Konia there was a large establishment of them, among whom he intended to retire for the present, and live in perfect security under the protection of their sanctity. He advanced leisurely, by easy stages, and was treated with distinguished respect by the constituted authorities wherever he rested.

When he arrived near the village of Bola-Vashee, where he intended to pass the night, he was overtaken by chouash, attended by an escort of twenty horse, who passed him rapidly on the road. This man had been despatched after Halet, and had in his bosom another firman from the sultan to bring back his head. He arrived first at Bola-Vashee, apprized the Muzzellim, or governor, of the object of his mission, and that his victim was following immediately after him. It was then agreed between them, that Halet should not be permitted to proceed to Konia, lest the influence of the dervishes should throw any obstacle in the way of his execution: so, having arranged everything, the Muzzellim and his attendants met Halet at the gate with the usual show of attention and respect, introduced him to an apartment in his house, and after the refreshment of coffee, they sat on the divan, smoking their pipes in friendly conversation; one having no suspicion, and the other not giving the slightest intimation of what was to follow.

The executioner now entered the room, and immediately produced from his bosom the sultan's firman for Halet's death. Halet, in reply, coolly put his hand also into his bosom, and produced the sultan's firman for his safety. The Muzzellim calmly examined them, found that his death-warrant was that which was last dated, and gave it as his opinion that it was that which must now be executed. Halet then proposed to proceed to Konia, and write back by the chouash a letter to the sultan, to rectify what he affirmed was all a mistake; but the executioner would consent to no delay; he therefore produced his bowstring, and at once put an end to all discussion, by strangling him on the divan where he sat.'-pp. 75—77.

Halet, among other acts of munificence, and in accordance with those ideas which he had adopted from Christian company, had built a fine library at the college of Dancing Dervishes, and had annexed to it a mausoleum in which his body was to be deposited after his decease: his wife purchased his head for two thousand piastres, and placed it in this splendid tomb. The inveteracy

of

of the Janissaries, however, was not to be appeased by his death; they insisted that the head should be thrown into the sea; and, notwithstanding all opposition, it was actually disinterred, brought to the seraglio point, and cast into the Bosphorus.'

The death of Halet, though not the immediate, may be said to have been the remote cause of the extinction of the Janissaries. Mahmoud saw the absolute necessity of introducing European discipline among these troops. Like Peter the Great, he found the domineering of his Prætorian guards no longer tolerable; and as Peter rid himself of his Strelitz, so Mahmoud determined to dispose of his Janissaries.' Unlike the unfortunate Selim, Mahmoud possessed energy enough to adopt, and a relentless rigour to execute, any purpose. By promises, menaces, and executions, he brought over a majority of the Janissary officers to acquiesce in his plan. They agreed to furnish one hundred and fifty men from each regiment, and Egyptian officers were sent for to drill and discipline the new corps; but as Turks, like most ignorant people, annex more importance to words than things, and hate the very sound of anything like an innovation on ancient usage, the ill-omened name of Nizam-geddite, or New Regulars, was laid aside, and the same thing, now named Nizam-attic, or the old regulars, satisfied the troops.

The 15th June, 1822, was appointed for a grand field-day of the new troops, on the Etmeidan, at which the sultan, the oulemas, and the ministers, were to be present. On the day preceding, the different corps assembled to practise together, that they might be more expert in their evolutions, and they now discovered, for the first time, that they were practising the very thing they, had all determined to resist: Why this is very like Russian manœuvring,' says one- It is much worse,' exclaims another. To stifle this rising discontent, the aga of the Janissaries severely reprimanded the one, while the other was imprudently struck in the face by an Egyptian officer. Instantly all discipline was abandoned, the assembled corps were thrown into commotion; they turned into the streets; robbed and insulted all they met; proceeded to the house of their aga, who had made himself obnoxious by promoting the new plan, and not finding him at home, assassinated his lieutenant, destroyed everything they found in the building, and even went so far, says Dr. Walsh, as to violate those observances which a Turk holds in the highest respect-they entered his harem, and abused his women.' They tore off their uniforms, and trampled them in the streets; and being joined by an immense rabble, proceeded to the Porte, carried off what valuables they could lay their hands on, and destroyed the archives,

6

'The

The janissaries now displayed a spirit of determination, which they never manifest but in extreme cases. The first thing that struck me, on my arrival, as odd and singular in the streets of Constantinople, was an extraordinary greasy-looking fellow dressed in a leather jacket, covered over with ornaments of tin, bearing in his hand a Jash of several leather thongs; he was followed by two men, also fantastically dressed, supporting a pole on their shoulders, from which hung a large copper kettle. They walked through the main streets with an air of great authority, and all the people hastily got out of the way. This, I found on inquiry, was the soup kettle of a corps of janissaries, and always held in high respect; indeed, so distinguishing a characteristic of this body is their soup, that their colonel is called Tchorbadge, or the distributor of soup. Their kettle, therefore, is, in fact, their standard; and whenever that is brought forward, it is the signal of some desperate enterprise. These kettles were now solemnly displayed in the Etmeidan, inverted in the middle of the area, and in a short time twenty thousand men rallied round them.'-Walsh, pp. 84, 85.

The crisis was now arrived. The sultan ordered such troops as he could depend on, and the artillery, to hold themselves in readiness; summoned a council, declared his intention of either ruling without the control of the Janissaries, or of passing over to Asia, and abandoning Constantinople and European Turkey to their mercy! and submitted, as a measure of immediate expediency, to raise the Sandjâc Sheriff, or Sacred Standard of Mahomet, that all good Mussulmans might rally round it. This last proposal met with unanimous applause. The holy banner, which is said to have been made out of the capacious nether garment of the Prophet, and which it is forbidden to all but Moslems to look upon, is never produced but on the most solemn occasions, and had not been seen in Constantinople since the year 1769; when the Austrian ambassador, his wife, his daughters, and a numerous suite of distinguished Europeans, having permitted themselves to view it from the window of a house in Constantinople, as it passed, were insulted and ill treated by the fanatical populace. The ambassador complained to the Porte, and, as an expiation of the offence, a few individuals (who had been guilty of other crimes) were strangled. The Court of Vienna, however, had the good sense to recall its ambassador, for disregarding the local customs and the religious feelings of the country in which he was residing.

No sooner came the important news of the sacred relic being brought forth, on the present occasion, than thousands rushed from their houses in all directions, and joined the procession with the fiercest enthusiasm. The mufti planted the standard on the pulpit of the magnificent mosque of St. Sophia, and the sultan pronounced

VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXII.

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pronounced an anathema against all who refused to range themselves under it. Four officers were despatched to the Etmeidan to offer pardon to the janissaries if they would acknowledge their errors and immediately disperse; but this was rejected with scorn, and they on the instant put to death the four officers who had dared to propose submission. Mahmoud now saw that nothing was left for him but to decree the total destruction of this insolent corps: desirous, however, to cover the deed he contemplated with the sanction of the mufti, and thus enlist on his side the authority of the priesthood, he demanded whether it was lawful to put down his rebellious subjects by force; the sheik replied that it was: Then,' says the sultan, ' give me your fetva to slay if resistance be offered;' which was accordingly done, and the fate of the janissaries was sealed.

'The Aga Pasha had by this time collected a force of sixty thousand men, on whom he could entirely depend; and he received immediate orders to put the janissaries down by force, which he lost no time in executing. He surrounded the Etmeidan, where they were all tumultuously assembled in a dense crowd, and having no apprehension of such a measure; and the first intimation many of them had of their situation was a murderous discharge of grape-shot from the cannon of the Topghees. Vast numbers were killed on the spot, and the survivors retired to their kislas, or barrack, which was close by: here they shut themselves up; and, in order to dislodge them, it was necessary to set the kislas on fire, as they refused all terms of surrender. The flames were soon seen from Pera, bursting out in different places; and that none might escape, the barracks were surrounded, like the Etmeidan, with cannon, and the discharges continued without intermission. It is not possible, perhaps, to conceive any situation more horrible than that in which the janissaries now found themselves; the houses in flames over their heads, and the walls battered down about them, torn to pieces with grape-shot, and overwhelmed with ruins and burning fragments. As it was determined to exterminate them utterly, no quarter was any longer offered or given, and the conflagration and discharge of artillery continued for the remainder of the day. The janissaries, notwithstanding the surprise and comparatively unprepared state in which they were taken, defended themselves with a desperate fierceness and intrepidity. The Aga Pasha was wounded, and had four horses killed under him, and his troops suffered severely. At length, however, opposition ceased, when there was no longer anything left alive to make it. The firing slackened and silenced-the flames were extinguished of themselves; and the next morning presented a frightful scene,-burning ruins slaked in blood-a huge mass of mangled flesh and smoking ashes.'Walsh, pp. 88, 89.

For three whole days the gates of the city were closed, during which those who had not perished in the barracks were hunted and

put