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and ambition. These bands, kier Hussein Pacha--a man of

formed in haste, ill-accoutred, and worse paid, wielding, indeed, European arms, but with only a scanty portion of regular European discipline, had yet been able to rout his best commanders and most trust-worthy troops, and compelled him to send to Egypt for the dangerous aid of Ibrahim. The career of the latter, from his arrival in the Morea, had tended no less to convince and determine the emperor. Ibrahim brought with him troops trained to European discipline by European officers: his course had been one of almost uninterrupted victory, and he had just wrested Missolonghi from the Greeks, leaving to them little prospect of safety but in submission. Mahmoud resolved to attempt again to remodel the Ottoman army, and he conceived that both the violence and imprudence of Bairactar, and the too facile disposition of Selim, might be avoided. Even superstition, or the priests of superstition, was now in some measure upon his side; the ulemas themselves saw the rapid decay of the national strength, and the increasing dangers of the Mahommedan faith, in the necessity in which the empire had found itself of yielding implicit compliance with the imperious demands of the unbelieving Czar of Moscow. He did not act hastily, without a plan, but prepared his measures with much precaution. He visited the garrisons on the Bosphorus to be satisfied as to their fidelity; he assured himself of the hearty cooperation of the dignitaries of the empire, and the heads of religion; and he found a zealous and able supporter of reform in the Seras VOL. LXVIII.

great decision of character, a favourite too of the people, because he had always been successful. The emperor gave the first public indication of his intentions by increasing the number and pay of the corps of Topschi, or artillerymen, a corps amounting to nearly fourteen thousand men, which had been formed some years before, and always maintained, upon something like an approach to European principles, and of which Hussein Pacha had the command. The predilection shewn in their favour made them objects of jealousy and dislike to the Janis saries, which instantly became mutual, and only bound them more firmly to the fortunes of their imperial master, whose fall would be the signal for their own' destruction. In the beginning of June, Mahmoud promulgated his regulations, and commenced the formation of his new army, by ordering the enrolment of a certain number of men out of every company of Janissaries, to be drilled to European exercise and manoeuvres. Their pay was raised: to conciliate their hatred of innovation, an old name, sigu nifying organized light troops, was taken from the ordinances of Soliman the great, whose military regulations, as he had first given them the perfect organization which they once boasted, were esteemed sacred as the precepts of the Koran. Their uniform was selected with the same views, and whatever might recal any idea of the Nizam Djedid was carefully avoided. To all ap pearance the chiefs of the Janissaries, as well as the greater part of the men, were disposed to ac[2 A]

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quiesce in the change; the former had bound themselves to the adoption of the new system by oath; it was supported by all the influence of the Ulemas, formerly the most bigotted enemies of innovation, and united with the cause of their religion by a solemn act of consecration, performed with much pomp in presence of the troops, and a large concourse of the people. But, amidst the calm, symptoms of discontent, threatening an approaching storm, were distinctly visible; and the Sultan soon found that the precautions he had taken were any thing but superfluous. The Janissaries incorporated into the new regular troops showed, in the performance of their new exercise, a resistance to their officers, which plainly betrayed a smothered fermentation. The first traces of it manifested themselves on the evening of the 14th of June, by several groups of the Janissaries being seen assembled at different points, as if prepared to take part in some general enterprise; and, in the night between the 13th and 14th, it became an open revolt. A troop of the mutineers proceeded, after midnight, to the hotel of the Aga of the Janissaries to murder their general in chief; but he had found time to escape to the palace of the Porte. Having failed in their principal object, they indulged their rage by pillaging the house of the Aga, and outraging his family. They then proceeded to the residence of Nedschib Effendi, the agent of Mohammed Ali Pacha, who had recently returned from his mission in the Morea, and who, as one of the most ardent admirers of the new order of things, was particularly hated

by the Janissaries. They did not find him, but his house was pillaged, and its inmates abused with barbarous cruelty.

In the mean time, the principal body had directed their march towards the palace of the Porte, for the purpose of surprising the grand vizier. He having received intimation from the Aga, had withdrawn from the palace, with his family, and retired to a pavilion of the Sultan's, situated near the seraglio, on the side of the harbour. It was here that the partizans of the government assembled, by degrees, while the rebels were occupied in pillaging the palace of the Porte, or, dispersed among the wine-houses, were indulging in the grossest

excesses.

At day-break the Janissaries who were in the barracks, assembled in the square of Atmeidan, situated in the centre of the barracks, and well known in previous revolts. Thither they took their camp-kettles, and caused procla mation to be made by criers, that every Janissary should repair to the place of general rendezvous. A like summons was addressed: to the Tschebedschis, or cutlers, in the neighbourhood of the mosque of Santa Sophia; but it was evaded by the superintendant of these men, under various pretexts.

Government, however, was not inactive. On the first intelligence of the seditious movement, the sultan Mahmoud left his summer palace, on the European side of the Bosphorus, for the purpose of returning to the seraglio. In a short time the ministers, the heads of the departments, the Mufti, and the principal Ulemas,

assembled at Zali-Koschk, round to them. Enraged at the demand,

the grand vizier. Immediately after, the Aga, Hussein Pacha, commander of the camp of observation on the European frontier, and Mohammed Pacha, commander of the Asiatic camp, arrived with a large body of troops, among whom were many battalions of cannoneers and bombardiers, with pieces of ordnance from the battery of Tophana. A considerable force was assembled at the same time under the eye of the Sultan, who, in military uniform, directed the arrange ments in person, and it marched towards the Hippodrome or Atmeidan. The customary prayers in times of disturbance were put up, and the sacred standard of Mahomet was brought forth from the Treasury, and unfurled-a summons to all good believers to arm in defence of the religion of the prophet. A proclamation announcing the call was published, at the same time, by criers in all the quarters of the city and suburbs. Numerous armed groups came from all parts of the Atmeidan, encouraged by the intrepidity of the Sultan and the warlike ardour of Hussein Pacha, and vowed to defend the Sultan and the throne to the last drop of their blood.

The same appeal was addressed to all the mutineers. Three times they were summoned to repair to the standard of the prophet. They indignantly rejected all summons, and answered, that they would not submit to the will of the Sultan, until the new regulations should have been abolished, and the heads of the grand vizier, of Hussein Pacha, of the Aga of the Janissaries, and of Nedschib-Effendi, were delivered

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and very different from his predecessor, Selim III., who was the victim of his weakness, Sultan Mahmoud ordered Hussein Pacha to march with all the troops at his disposal against the rebels, whom a fetwa from the Mufti had put out of the protection of the law. Hussein Pacha, at the head of several thousand men, marched rapidly against the rebels, who could not resist the impetuosity of his attack. They retired on the Atmeidan, and flung themselves into the barracks. Cannon shot and bomb-shells burst upon the strong-holds of the revolutionists; after a short struggle the rebels were defeated; a dreadful slaughter ensued in the barracks, which were set on fire, the conflagration extending to some neighbouring houses. The number of the rebels killed amounted to between two and three thousand, including those who perished in the fire: the loss of the troops of the Sultan was comparatively small. In the barracks considerable treasure was found, which was given as booty to the conquerors. The fugitives were pursued in all directions, and those who threw themselves into the stone buildings about the Adrianople gate, and the Seven Towers, were compelled to surrender.

In the mean time, the cabinet held its sittings beneath tents on the Atmeidan, under the presidency of the grand vizier, Hussein Pacha, and the Mufti, and formed a tribunal to try the rebels. All the Janissaries who had been taken with arms in their hands, but principally their Ustas, and other officers who had formerly

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The state reasons for proceeding slowly with reform, and veiling its features under the mask of old names, had now disappeared; and, on the 16th the Sultan issued a proclamation, formally abolishing the corps of Janissaries for ever, and devoting their name to execration as habitual rebels. In this proclamation he described them with much accuracy, and showed that the Porte both knew well where its weakness lay, and felt deeply the mortifications to which that weakness exposed them. The Janissaries, said Sultan Mahmoud, who had formerly gained so many victories, and conquered so many countries by their courage in attack, and above all, by their blind obedience to the orders of their master, had insensibly degenerated, and become cowardly sand mutinous. These troops, in the wars which had been carried on for a century past, had despised the orders of their chiefs had been seized with consternation from the slightest causes-had sspread terror by false newsquitted their ranks, and shamefully fled before the enemy, abandoning to them the fortresses and provinces. During this time, the enemies of the faith, considering this degeneracy and cowardice as equally to be attributed to all Mussulmen, had not ceased daily to importune the Porte with fresh pretensions and demands. On the other hand, considering that {the whole nation was bound by Jaw to arm itself with the zeal of

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the faith, and to find means to resist, lunder the auspices of religion, the enterprises of the enemy; that it had convincingly shown, in the late wars, that the enemy owed his superiority only to the exercise to which his troops had been accustomed; that since the wars of 1202 (1787), attempts had been twice made, to introduce that exercise into the army; that the corps of Janissaries had shown itself unfavourable to the military manoeuvres, had disapproved, and always opposed; them; and that several sovereigns, who deserved to live as long as the world, had been the victims of the obstinacy and the ferocity of this corps;

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he decreed that the name of Janissary should no longer exist, and ordered the formation of regular and disciplined troops under the name of askeri-muhammedije, for the defence of the empire and Islamism. No one was allowed to appear in the dress, or to bear the name, of a Janissary. All their barracks were demolished; their camp-kettles, which had so often served as a signal of revolt, were broken; their distinctive marks of ortas, or regiments, were taken away, trampled under foot by the Mufti, and destroyed; in fine, every thing was annihilated, that belonged to this once formidable militia. All the posts hitherto occupied by the Janissaries were delivered up to artillery men, or bostandschis, and at the twenty-four gates of the city were established as many Kahidschi-baschi, with a guard of twenty-five men of these troops.

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The only further resistance to be apprehended was what might be made by the Yamaks, who garrisoned the castle on the Bosphorus,

celebrated in former insurrections than Tartars of the Porte were to

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of the Janissaries. But these troops remained perfectly tranquil, and even declared that they were disposed to assist the Sultan with all their force in putting down the sedition. The grand seignior thanked them for their loyalty, and sent a present of three hundred purses, to be divided among the garrisons of the castles. Every body of men that had been more particularly connected with, or dependent upon, the Janissaries, was pursued with stern vigilance, and disabled from becoming dangerous. The class of hamomals, or porters, who, for the greater part, were enrolled upon the list of Janissaries, and had shewn, upon all occasions, a disposition to pillage, and particularly during the late troubles, were excluded from the tribe of porters. Their chief was executed, and they were banished from the capital. Many thousands of them were conductsed to the coast by an escort of soldiers, and shipped off for Asia. Each received a passport, containing an express prohibition against returning to Constantinople. The Kurds were treated in the same manner. The greater part of the pumpers were banished, their chief executed, and both these classes were in future to consist of Armenians.

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The numerous class of watermen also, who were mostly Janissaries, underwent some reform. Similar regulations were extended to the Janissaries who acted as guards of honour, or couriers, to the different foreign embassies. The government deprived them of their distinctive badge as couriers, and in future no other

be employed in that capacity.

During these tumultuous scenes, the Sultan himself displayed much energy both of purpose and activity, and sternness of execution. It was only by the entreaties of his attend+ ants that he was prevented, on the 15th, from putting himself at the head of the troops who were to act against the mutinous Janissaries. A strict search was kept up in Constantinople after such of the rebels as had escaped the vollies of the artillery, and the conflagration of the barracks, and no mercy was shewn to them when discovered; they were hurried to the Hippodrome, and, so soon as they were identified, were handed over to the executioner. Death was denounced, too, against all who should harbour these proscribed individuals, and the banishment of every man against whom even suspicion was entertained, secured the tranquillity of the capital and` its environs. The total and instant failure of the main body of the mutineers in Constantinople over-awed and disheartened their brethren in the provinces. An insurrectionary movement which took place at Adrianople, was put down without difficulty; the governors of the fortresses along the Danube were faithful to the Sultan, and their garrisons submitted to his will without resistance. firman was sent to every province, to be read publicly by the imams in the mosques, explaining the state of affairs, and the object of the recent changes; they were enjoined to make known to the people, that the only thing intended by the dissolution of the Janissaries was the necessity and the desire of reviving religion, of

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