mit there stood about 100 years ago a Corinthian column, with an inscription dedicated to the Emperor Augustus. The column has disappeared, and the inscription has been defaced by idle visiters. Nothing more remains but the pedestal, which is of white marble, about five feet high and ten in circumference. Festoons of laurel leaves with rams' heads are still to be seen on the pedestal, which is supposed, and with great probability, to be of remote antiquity. It is conjectured to have been an altar, or sacred spot, where the seaman either deposited propitiatory offerings for a fortunate voyage, or offered up grateful sacrifices to the "unknown god" for his safe return.

The wind, which had blown with great violence during the whole day, increased towards evening to a perfect gale, and gave us an opportunity of testing the properties of our six-oared caïk. Almost every wave threatened to overwhelm us; but she floated on the surface like an egg-shell, and we reached home late in the evening, almost famished, and quite drenched to the skin.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Sultan Mahmoud-Deposition of his Predecessor-Narrow Escape of Mahmoud-His Personal Appearance-Final extinction of the Janizaries→→ Waltzing Dervises-Bonneval-His eventful History.

LEARNING that the sultan would perform his devotions this day at the mosque of Beshiktash, we proceeded to that village, in order to have a view of the Commander of the Faithful. Like his royal cousins in other countries, he is exemplary in his attention to the externals of religion, as an example to his subjects. He scarcely ever visits the same mosque twice in succession, but it is always easy to ascertain the day beforehand at what mosque he will pay his devotions. On our arrival at the village we found the street crowded. One side was occupied by a line of soldiers, while the other was filled with a promiscuous crowd of men, women, and children. We took our station in the shop-window of an Armenian cabinet-maker—and while we are waiting for his majesty, let us while away the time in sketching his history.

Mahmoud is the son of the Sultan Abdulhamid, and there is a vague report that his mother was a French-woman, who by some odd casualty found her way into the royal harem. It is probable, however, that this story originated in the fondness which Mahmoud has always displayed for foreign improvements. It is fair to infer that there is no foundation for this story, from the simple fact that the sultan was unacquainted with the French language, when he undertook to learn it thoroughly a few years ago. Upon the death of his father in 1789, according to the Turkish law of succession, his cousin Selim, as the oldest surviving

male heir, ascended the throne. In the various attempts made by this able and virtuous prince to improve the condition of his people, he was continually thwarted by the turbulent and ferocious Janizaries; and at length, in 1807, was compelled to resign. His place was filled by his cousin Mustapha the Fourth, the brother of the present sultan. The character of Mustapha was marked by feebleness and indecision, and his reign was short and bloody. The events which led to his downfall are so distinctly and graphically related by Hobhouse, that no apology will be necessary for transferring his account to our own pages.

"Mustapha, Pacha of Rudshuk, retained in the surname of Bairactar (the ensign) a memorial of the humble rank which he had held in the Turkish armies, and carried about with him, affixed as it were to his person, a visible instance of that exaltation of merit of which Turkish history can furnish so many and such extraordinary examples. He was rude and illiterate, but of a vigorous genius, which supplied the expedients as well as the suggestions of ambition, and rising with every exigency, proved equal to the creation and the accomplishment of the most daring projects. After repeatedly distinguishing himself in the armies of the empire, he attracted the notice of Selim, and was honoured with a pachalik. It was the boast of Bairactar that he owed every thing to the personal regard of the sultan, and his subsequent conduct proved that he respected Selim as his patron and his friend. From the moment he was informed of the deposition of Selim, it appears that he formed the bold design of seizing upon the government, and convinced of the pernicious measures of the Janizarics, or seeing no other way of raising himself than by depressing that lawless body, he determined upon opposing the hardy troops of the provinces to the enervated militia of Constantinople. Accordingly, he collected a force of nearly 40,000 men, composed chiefly of Albanians from the garrisons of Roumelia, and marching to Constantinople, he en

HII

state.

camped on the plains of Davoot Pacha, four miles from the walls of the city. He convoked the chief men of the empire, and depositing the banner of Mohammed, which he had unfurled to give sanction and support to his enterprise, made them swear to the gradual abolition of the Janizaries, and a restoration of the good order and tranquillity of the Even the semblance of power was transferred from the seraglio to the camp at Davoot Pacha, for the minister of the Porte and the foreign missions at Pera, directed their visits of ceremony to the camp of the victorious general, who, without any acknowledged title or specific office, was thus for several months in the full possession of the imperial power. But the pacha, aware that the Mussulmans, accustomed to revere the representative of their prophet, might experience a renewal of pity for their degraded sovereign, resolved upon the elevation of a sultan who, in return for a crown, might render his authority legitimate, and give a sanction to his ambition.

"The 28th of July, 1808, was fixed upon by Mustapha for a hunting expedition to the forests of Belgrade, and it was determined by Bairactar to enter the seraglio on the same day, during the absence of the Grand Seignior, and, preventing his return to the palace, finally to exclude him from the throne. Selim was yet alive in those apartments of the seraglio which the crimes and misfortunes of the Ottomans have set apart for the confinement of their dethroned princes; and it was the preservation of the sultan, whom he resolved to restore, that prompted him to attempt by stratagem that which he might have accomplished by force. Unfortunately the secret of his intentions was not confined to his own breast, but was intrusted to several ministers of the divan, and the grand vizier, though a friend, was suspected of having betrayed him to the sultan; for on the appointed day, when Bairactar marched into the city, he found the gates of the seraglio closed, the pages

and body-guard under arms, and every preparation for a determined resistance.

"The victorious rebel, disappointed, but not intimidated, gave orders for an immediate assault. The contest lasted only a short time, but the interval was fatal to Selim. On the sound of the first shot, the emissaries of the sultan were despatched to his apartment, where they found, as is reported, the dethroned monarch at his devotions, and attempted to surprise him while in the attitude of prayer. He discerned their purpose, and before the bowstring could be fitted to his neck wounded one of the mutes with his handjiar; but being thrown upon his back was overpowered and instantly strangled. From the murder of Selim, the executioners proceeded to the apartments of Mahmoud, the youngest son of Abdulhamid, and the only remaining prince of the blood royal. There was still some hopes for the sultan in the eventual death of his brother. Selim was no more; the rebels, even the audacious Bairactar himself, would respect the last of the Ottoman race. The mutes rushed into the chamber of the confined prince, but Mahmoud was nowhere to be found; the fond fidelity of a slave had concealed him in the furnace of a bath. The feeble contest continued under the walls, and the assailants thundered at the gate, while the search for the prince was prosecuted with redoubled eagerness and anxiety. The place of his concealment had alone escaped the scrutiny, and the fate of the monarchy depended upon whether or not the gates should be forced before the royal prisoner was discovered. What must have been the feelings of Mahmoud, what the sensations of his faithful slave, when the shout of the Albanians proclaimed that Bairactar had forced his way into the seraglio? The insurgents rushed to the interior of the palace, headed by their leader and by the intrepid Seid Ali, the capudan pacha. Advancing to the third gate, they called aloud for the instant appearance of Selim, and the eunuchs of Mustapha, casting the body of