formerly given battle to his father, and where, according to the Venetian narrative of his death, he had received his father's curse, the agony of his disease became so violent that he was compelled to stop. On the seventh night after he had left Constantinople, Hasandschan, who was his inseparable companion, was sitting by the dying monarch, and reading to him from the Koran. The movement of Selim's lips seemed to show that he followed the words of the reader; but, suddenly, at the verse "The word of the Almighty is salvation," Selim clenched his hand convulsively, and ceased to live (22nd September, 1520). This prince died in the 54th year of his age, and the ninth of his reign. The maxim which, in our great dramatist, the evil spirit gives to the northern usurper, "Be bloody, bold, and resolute," might seem to have been the ruling principle of Sultan Selim's life. But no one can deny his high administrative and military abili ties; and in religion, though a bigot of the darkest order, he was unquestionably sincere. His personal eminence in literature, and his enlightened and liberal patronage of intellectual merit in others, are matters of just eulogy with the oriental writers. One of the most remarkable legal characters of this reign is the Mufti Djemali. If he disgraced himself by the fetva with which he sanctioned, on the most frivolous pretexts, the war with Egypt, the honesty and the courage with which he often opposed the cruelty of Selim are highly honourable to his memory; nor can we refuse our praise to the monarch, who repeatedly curbed his haughty will, and abstained from the coveted blood shedding at his subject's rebuke. On one occasion Selim had, for some slight cause of wrath, ordered 150 of the persons employed in his treasury to be put to death. Djemali stood before the Sultan, and said to him, "It is the duty of the Mufti to have a care for the weal of the Sultan of Islam in the life to come. I therefore ask of thee the lives of the 150 men unrighteously sentenced by thee to death." Selim answered, "The Ulema have nothing to do with affairs of state. Besides, the masses are only to be kept in order by severity." Djemali replied, "It is not a question of policy of this world, but of the next, where mercy meets with everlasting reward, but unjust severity with everlasting punishment." Selim gave way to the Mufti; and not only spared those whom he had sentenced, but restored them to their functions. At another period in Selim's reign he had issued an ordinance prohibiting the trade in silk with Persia, and he had seized the goods of the merchants engaged in the traffic, and ordered the merchants themselves, to the number of 400, to be put to death. Djemali interceded in their favour as he rode by the Sultan's side on the Adrianople road. Selim cried out, in indignation, "Is it not lawful to slay two-thirds of the inhabitants of the earth for the good of the other third?" "Yes," answered the Mufti, "if those twothirds threaten to bring great wickedness upon earth." And can there be greater wickedness," said Selim, "than disobedience to a sovereign's command ? Every country that renounces obedience to its rulers * The German of Von Hammer gives this more pithily:- He goes headlong to destruction." "The disobedience is not proved here," rejoined the intrepid Djemali. "The trade in silk was not previously prohibited." "Keep yourself from meddling with state affairs," exclaimed Selim in fury; and the Mufti, not seeking to conceal his indignation, left the Sultan without the customary reverence. Selim's surprise equalled his wrath. checked his horse, and sate for some time absorbed in reflection. But at last he gained the victory over himself, and on his return to Constantinople he set the condemned merchants at liberty, and restored their merchandise. He then sent a letter to Djemali, in which he announced his royal pleasure to confer on him the united highest dignities of the law, those of Judge of Roumelia and Judge of Anatolia. Djemali declined the proffered rank, but continued to retain the Sultan's esteem and friendship. The most memorable exercise of his salutary influence was in preserving the whole Greek population of the Ottoman empire from the destruction with which they were menaced by Selim's bigotry. After the massacre of the heretical Shiis, Selim formed the idea of extirpating unbelief and misbelief of every kind from his dominions, and resolved to put all the Christians to death, and turn their churches into Mahometan mosques. Without avowing his precise purpose, he laid before his Mufti Djemali the general question, "Which is the most meritorious-to conquer the whole world, or to convert the nations to Islamism?" The Mufti gave an answer that the conversion of the infidels was incontestably the more meritorious work, and the one most pleasing to God. Having obtained this fetva, Selim ordered his grand vizier forthwith to change all the churches into mosques, to forbid the practice of the Christian religion, and to put to death all who refused to become Mahometans. The grand vizier, alarmed at this sanguinary edict, consulted Djemali, who had unconsciously given the fetva, which the Sultan used to justify the massacre of the Christians. By Djemali's recommendation the Greek patriarch sought an audience of the Sultan; and, although with much difficulty, was heard before the Divan at Adrianople. He appealed to the pledges given by Mahomet II. in favour of the Christians when Constantinople was conquered; and he eloquently invoked the passages of the Koran which forbid compulsory conversion, and enjoin the Mussulmans to practise religious toleration to all the people of the Books, who submit to pay tribute. Selim yielded to the remonstrances and entreaties of the menaced Greeks, and to the urgent advice of his best counsellors, so far as to abstain from the slaughter of the Rayas which he had intended. But he refused to suffer the finest churches of Constantinople to be used any longer by the Christians : -they were changed into mosques; but inferior structures of wood were built in their stead, and the ruinous churches were repaired by Selim's orders, so that apparent respect might be paid to the grant of liberties from his great ancestor to the Greeks. CHAPTER IX. IMPORTANCE OF THE EPOCH OF SOLYMAN'S REIGN-HIS CHARACTER-JOY AT HIS ACCESSION-CONQUEST OF BELGRADE AND RHODES-BATTLE OF MOHACZ-SIEGE OF VIENNA CRITICAL REPULSE OF THE TURKS.* THE period comprised within the reign of Solyman I. (1520–1566), is one of the most important, not only in Ottoman history, but in the history of the world. The great monarchies of Western Christendom had now emerged from the feudal chaos. They had consolidated their resources, and matured their strength. They stood prepared for contests on a grander scale, for the exhibition of more sustained energy, and for the realisation of more systematic schemes of aggrandisement, than had been witnessed during the centuries which we term the ages of mediaval history. At the commencement of this epoch (1520), nearly forty years had passed away since the Ottomans had been engaged in earnest conflict with the chief powers of central and western Europe. The European wars of the feeble Bajazet II. had been coldly waged, and were directed against the minor states of Christendom; and the fierce energies of his son, Selim the Inflexible, had been * See Von Hammer, books xxv., xxvi. |