diately hired an appropriate space, surrounded with high palings, in which they commenced their exhibitions. A set of Janissaries, acting as the customary guard of honour to one of the foreign consuls, had been stationed at the entrance of the enclosure for the purpose of keeping order; and the interposition of their authority was rendered necessary by the clamours of several sailors, who were attempting to force their way through without payment. They were at last beaten off, and, enraged at the treatment they had received, determined on revenge. Their vessel (an Ionian, then, under the protection of the Venetian republic) being close at hand, they speedily repaired on board, armed themselves with pistols and blunderbusses, returned to the spot, and fired a volley on the unsuspecting Janissaries, one of whom alone was killed; after performing this valorous exploit, they ran off and took refuge in the Venetian consul's house. This fracas naturally disturbed the numerous audience within, composed of Franks and Turks, and when the particulars became known among them, the greatest confusion took place. The former were seized with the apprehension that the Turks, all armed, (according to the fashion of that period,) would, in the heat of the moment, fall on them, and revenge upon their heads the death of the Mahometan. There was, therefore, such a general scampering off, such rushing for safety under benches, such a precipitate climbing over the palings, that the Turks themselves, forgetting the cause, stood gazing on the comic scene with feelings of merriment. The next day, however, the whole populace made common cause against the unjustifiable outrage, and proceeded en masse to the Mehkiemmay, where they insisted that the most guilty party should be claimed of his consul, in order to receive that public punishment which alone could atone for the murder of a Mahometan. But the Venetian consul, fearful lest

men in Turkey were entitled, should be compromised by too speedy a compliance with the just demand of the Turks, and overawed, perhaps, by the threats of the very Iobians themselves, who had taken refuge in his house, endeavoured to gain time, and proposed that the matter should be referred to the higher powers at Constantinople for decision. The people, however, were not easily to be diverted from their purpose; the delays opposed to them by the consul's hesitation irritated them the more, and threats of destruction were held out to the whole European community, if justice were not speedily done. In vain did the consuls of other nations press their Venetian colleague to give way to the dictates of a justly irritated and infuriated populace; finding their pressing remoustrances not likely to avert the threatened danger, every one then bethought himself of his own safety, and the foreign merchant vessels in the harbour (for unluckily there was no European ship-of-war present at that moment) were soon filled with Frank families and their removeable property. On the fourth day of the fruitless negociation, the Frank part of the town was, as early as five o'clock in the morning, filled with several thousands of armed Turks; their first act of violence was setting fire to the Venetian consul's house, but it had been evacuated on the previous night, and all the neighbouring houses being equally empty, the fire soon spread itself to a frightful extent. It raged with unabated fury for three days and nights, and at last extinguished itself after having destroyed the greater portion of the European houses. During this time many skirmishes took place between parties of Slavonian and Ionian sailors, who came from their ships for the purpose of amusing themselves with sport, against the numerous bands of Turks; the latter were invariably forced to retire with preci pitation from the field of battle, after leaving behind them many dead and

wounded, whom the victors took up and threw into the nearest flames. The Turks being at last satisfied with their vengeance, and tired of a state of warfare in which they had so seldom the advantage, retired to their quarters as soon as the fire had consumed almost every thing devoted to it. The Franks then gradually ventured on shore: most of them possessing country houses, repaired thith er, and a week after the most profound tranquillity was re-established. From that time to the present day, the British Government has made of Smyrna bay a fixed station for a ship-of-war, and the utility of that measure has been seen not only when war broke out in 1806, between England and Turkey, but also during the disturbances which took place at the commencement of the Greek insurrection, when many English and other Franks might have been confounded with Greeks, and treated accordingly, had not a naval force overawed the seditious rabble, and made them careful of committing any such wilful mistakes. It ought to be mentioned here that the excesses to which the rage of the populace carried them on this occasion were loudly condemned by all the respect able Turks, who not only used every possible effort to prevent them, but, when they found it impossible to preserve the public peace, gave secret warning to all their Frank acquaintances of what was likely to take place, opened their houses to them, and treated all those who accepted the offer of their protection with the kindest hospitality during the whole time of danger.

Among the most forward in testifying their anxiety for the safety of their European friends, was the late highly and deservedly popular Moossellim, Kiatib-Ogloo, the particulars of whose subsequent life have filled an important page in the history of Smyrna. He was then a young man; and, being brought up in the business of a general merchant, his intercourse with the Franks had been such as to give him a taste for their more en

lightened ways, and to remove from him in no small degree the roughness of those habits and manners which is almost inherent in Mahometanism. His wealth, and the consideration it gave him in the place, enabled him in 1807 to offer himself as a candidate for the government; and as it came to the knowledge of the Porte that he was rich, it was proposed to him that he should purchase the investment of that authority for the space of three years, and pay for the whole period in anticipation. Kiatib-Ogloo agreed to this with much willingness. The mildness and equitable principles of his administration were soon felt by every description of the inhabitants, and it was supposed that the Porte would allow him to retain the Moossellimlick so long as he chose to remain in office. But it was soon found on this occasion, as, indeed, it ought to have been discovered on many preceding ones, that the views of a Turkish Sultan's government have no reference to the welfare of his subjects. In that country the great foundation of Imperial rule is in the subserviency of others. The Sultan reigns for his own personal purposes and gratification, and looks upon all others as beings formed for his convenience and pleasure; nothing can be more foreign to the notions of this arrogant despot than the propriety or utility of any measure consonant with the wishes of his people, or tending to their prosperity.

Towards the close of the second year of Kiatib-Ogloo's government, it was officially notified to him from Constantinople, that a person had been appointed to succeed him for the following year. Kiatib-Ogloo immediately submitted to the Porte that as he had purchased the office for three years, either he should be allowed to finish his time, or a proportionable amount of the purchasemoney be returned to him. Upon which he was told that the Vizier of that period (since dead) had received his money, and he must claim it of him; and that the Sultan's orders

must, meanwhile, be obeyed. A petition to the Sultan was now got up at Smyrna, which prayed that Kiatib-Ogloo, for the reasons of his justly acquired popularity and the wisdom of his government, should be confirmed in his office: it was signed by every Turk within the city and its jurisdiction, and supported by the all-powerful Kara-Osman-Ogloo himself. The Sultan, however, remained inexorable; and the Janissaries of Smyrna, enraged at his obstinacy in refusing to listen to representations in behalf of their favourite chief, all rose, and publicly declared that no one else should be suffered by them to take his place. This turn had not been anticipated in the seraglio; and as the country was then involved in a disastrous war against the Russians, which necessarily absorbed all the military resources of the state, it was deemed necessary to give way. In order to make it appear that this concession had not been extorted by popular clamour, and the better to conceal any intention of future vengeance on the author of it, the governor's confirmation was notified to Kiatib-Ogloo by means of a Hattisheriff, or autograph letter of the Sultan; a mode which, in Turkey, implies the highest possible enjoyment of sovereign favour that can fall to the lot of a subject. Sultan Mahmood was at that period young on the throne; his personal character, and the principles of his internal policy, were not yet understood by his people; and KiatibOgloo, as well as every other Turk in Smyrna, accounted in various ways for the sudden change of his sentiments on this occasion, without, however, thinking of any detraction from the respect due to the character of a Hattisheriff, which contains the sacred word of Mahomet's descendant. A repeated confirmation of Kiatib-Ogloo for several years after, induced him to place confidence in the favour of his sovereign, which he neglected nothing, consistent with his duty to the public, to appear worthy of. One day, during the summer of 1817, a

Turkish fleet, composed of eight ships of the line, several frigates, brigs, and transports, unexpectedly arrived at Smyrna from Constantinople, and anchored close to the shore. The Captain-Pasha, or High-Admiral, who commanded it in person, was (as most frequently happens with men in power in Turkey) a man of small beginnings, and had formerly been a protegé of Kiatib-Ogloo, to whose assistance and good offices he was, indeed, indebted for the high station he now held. The Turks are habitually as profuse in their testimonies of gratitude, as they are ready to turn treacherously against their benefactors when their own interest requires it, or the will of their supe riors ordains it. This man had, in the height of his prosperity, so frequently evinced his grateful recollection of the services he had formerly received from Kiatib-Ogloo, that the latter could not look upon him otherwise than as one who was sincerely devoted to him through sentiments of gratitude and friendship. His sudden arrival, therefore, far from being a cause of alarm to the unsuspecting governor, was a subject of congratulation, and he hastened on board to welcome the Pasha. He met with the friendly reception he had been taught to expect, and was invited to renew his visit at an appointed hour the next day, in order to accompany the admiral on his landing. The extraordinary authority with which the Captain-Pasha is invested, gives him the power of absolute sovereign. ty in every place in the empire to which he repairs, and where the Sultan is not present; the local government is invariably resigned to him for the time of his stay. Conforma bly to this well-known custom, on the very night of his arrival at Smyr na, he landed six thousand men, who scattered themselves in strong and well-armed parties throughout the town, and also garrisoned the fortress. Kiatib-Ogloo was still far from suspecting any sinister intentions from these preparations of rather an unusual magnitude, and confidently

returned to the admiral's vessel on the following day. The instant he set his foot upon deck, he was seized, bound, and hurried to the other side of the vessel, where a boat, which was in readiness, received him, and conveyed him to a frigate anchored at some distance from the fleet. Here: he was immediately put in irons, and confined to a solitary cabin. Whilst he was left to ruminate on the sudden change of his fortunes and condition, and on the fate which seemed to await him, his friend the Pasha landed in state, convoked the municipal authorities and foreign consuls, made known to then that it was the will and pleasure of the Sultan that Kiatib-Ögloo should suffer death, and informed them that from that time forward the city should be governed by a Pasha of three tails.

Kiatib-Ogloo, whose intercourse with the Frank society had considerably increased since his accession to the governorship, had made himself a great favourite among them by the affability of his manners, divested entirely of Mahometan pomp, gravity, and etiquette. No ball, concert, or assembly, was given by the consuls and principal foreign merchants, to which he was not invited; and in return, he gave them magnificent fêtes at his country seat, situated not far from the Frank quarter. His catastrophe was, therefore, to all the Franks, a subject of such deep regret, that his more intimate friends, Mr. Werry, the British Consul, and Mr. Wilkinson, the Swedish Consul-General, were easily prevailed upon to wait on the Pasha in the name of the whole European community, and of fer any terms for his life. The Pasha assured these gentlemen that what had been done was as much against his own wish as theirs; that the Sultan had reserved this punishment to Kiatib-Ogloo until a favourable opportunity occurred, ever since his disobedience in refusing to give up the government of the place; that the Sultan was inflexible in this matter, and in ordering this formidable expedition to insure the execution of 49 ATHENEUM, VOL. 9, 2d series.

his will, had made him (the Pasha) answerable for the slightest deviation from his instructions. Thus poor Kiatib-Ogloo was unavoidably left to his fate. The frigate took him to an uninhabited part of the coast of Mitylene, where he was landed and strangled on the beach. His head was then severed from its body, and sent to figure at the gates of the seraglio with the usual inscription af fixed to those of" disobedient slaves" and traitors. All his property at Smyrna was confiscated on behalf of the Porte, his harem exiled, and his two brothers (also holding public offices in the place) spoliated, ordered to go and reside elsewhere, and forbidden ever to return to Smyrna without the express permission of the court.

Having adverted to the sacred character attached to a Hattisheriff, and the profound veneration in which it has ever been held by the Turks of all ranks, it may not be out of place that I should briefly relate here the particulars of another curious instance of the deceptive purposes for which the Sultan Mahmood thinks it so apt to serve.

Remiz-Pasha had been promoted to the eminent post of High-Admiral during the short reign of Mahmood's brother and predecessor Sultan Moustapha, and had directed the bombardment of the Janissar'-Aga's palace at Constantinople during the insurrection of the Janissaries, which, in 1808, led to the accession of the present Sultan to the throne. Having thus rendered himself obnoxious to the then triumphant faction, it became of course necessary that he should be removed from the capital, and he was sent to the Grand Vizier's camp at Shoomla with the title of Lieutenant-general of the army. Here he distinguished himself in several skirmishes with the Russians; and his bravery inade him so careless of his own safety that he was at last taken prisoner and sent to St. Petersburgh. After the conclusion of peace, Remiz-Pasha felt by no means sure of returning with any se

curity to Constantinople, and he wrote to some of his friends there, requesting they would lay his case before the Sultan and take his opinion on it. The answer he received was a Hattisheriff, in which the Sultan not only assured him he had no longer to fear the hatred of the Janissaries, but notified to him his appointment to the post of Grand Vizier, and desired him to hasten to the capital in order to assume the functions of that eminent station. The Pasha obeyed his sovereign's commands without hesitation, and soon appeared at the frontiers of the Ottoman States. For some reason, however, which has never been properly known, it was by no means the Sultan's wish that Remiz-Pasha should ever reach again his capital; and the Hattisheriff, as well as the nomination it announced, was expressly employed as a snare for him. Instructions had been at the same time despatched to the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia; and a company of a hundred Turks sent to each of them, with orders that they should act exactly as the princes should find it advisable from circumstances to direct. The commission entrusted to the late humane and excellent Prince Callimachi of Moldavia,* was one in which he felt by no means disposed to act, and he artfully contrived to let the execution of it fall into the hands of his less scrupulous colleague of Wallachia. Remiz-Pasha, therefore, after having met at Yassi with the reception due to his rank, passed on to Buckarest. A numerous guard of honour, in which the hundred Turks were included, with secret instructions to put the Pasha to death, went a few miles out of town to meet him, and the state carriage of the Hospodar was also sent to receive him. This carriage is one of peculiar construc

tion, and does not conceal any part of the persons sitting in it. The Turks took up a favourable position, stationing themselves in such a manner as to be certain of not missing their aim. When the coach, with the Vizier in it, came abreast of them, a volley of no less than a hundred muskets was fired into it, which not only pierced the unfortunate victim with several balls, but also killed the Hospodar's Greek master of ceremonies, who attended him in it, the coachman, and several other attendants, as well as horses. The confusion which ensued may easily be imagined. I was among the inmense number of spectators, of all ranks and conditions, who had come out of the city to witness the ceremony of the Grand Vizier's approach; and, seated on horseback, I was conversing with a very beautiful Greek young lady, betrothed to the master of ceremonies who had gone on to meet the Pasha in the Hospodar's coach. We were in sight of the scene of this horrid butchery; and perceiving the confusion and cries which followed the unexpected firing, it was impossible for us not to guess at once the cause. The poor girl instantly leaped out of her landau, and, with frantic screams, ran towards the spot, to learn the fatal truth of what had taken place. Several persons went after her, and could not stop her without using force. She was, with great difficulty, conveyed back to her carriage, where she fell into a swoon, and in that condition she was hurried home. When her fears, on the next day, received the dreaded confirmation, she shut herself up in her room, and remained there for two years, receiving no visits but those of her nearest relatives, and hardly taking food t

Remiz-Pasha's body was taken to Roosstchiook, a Turkish town on the