#everyone get ready to salute and honor our brave troops in black

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

Aradia: respect 0ur men in unif0rm (g0ths in the summer)

[divanquotes]

Charles Colville Franklin, Travels to and from Constantinople, 1829

Page 107: It is related, I think, by that quaint old writer, Busbequius, that the Turks (whose humanity to animals presents a strange contrast to their cruelty towards man) once deliberated in full Divan upon the expediency of ridding the capital of this canine nuisance. Many plans were proposed by which the object might be effected, and poison seemed to be the most ready and least troublesome means; but one of the Divan, being more human than the rest, observed, that the stench which would be caused by so many carcasses lying about the streets, would, in all probability, create a pestilence in the city, and cause a much greater nuisance than the one proposed to be abated. He observed, moreover, that it was against the precepts of their holy law to be cruel to animals, which are held by the Prophet to be irresponsible beings; he therefore propose, that the wisdom of the Divan should adopt a sort of mezzo termine, and ship off all the dogs for a small desert island in the Sea of Marmora; his perceptions of humanity not suggesting to him that the poor doggies would soon die there of starvation.

Page 118: April 19. — Today we want to see the Sultan go in great state to Mosque, and found no difficulty whatever in getting very near the person of his Highness. He is a handsome, fine-looking man, with very black eyes and beard. We saw some women present a petition to him, which is done by holding it over the head, and calling out to attract his notice. He stopped, and desired the Divan Effendi who followed him to take it, who placed it in a silk bag. I was very much amused with the Kislar Aga (or chief of the black eunuchs): this guardian of the purity of the Ottoman blood seemed to be of much more consequence than his Imperial Master, and bowed, and showed his white teeth, and blessed the people with his hand in all the consequence and vanity of his brethren of the coast of Guinea, or the Carribee Islands. The Selictar Aga, or sword-bearer, was a noble-looking Turk, and carried the sword of state with great majesty. The horses of the Sultan, richly caparisoned, were not the least interesting part of the show; and the imperial turban, borne before the Dulbendi Aga, seemed to be almost worshipped by the crowd.

Page 167: When I had finished my sketch, I joined the ladies of our party, who were sitting together upon a kind of temporary divan near a handsome fountain, in the foreground, and not far from the banks of the Bosphorus. Close behind them was a group of Turkish female, apparently of consequence, as thy were attended by two well-dress chaoushes, who remained at a little distance, with their heads turned directly another way, and by several black slaves.

Page 184: They tolerate the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish religions among them, because of the obstinate adherence of the several races to their belief, from which nothing but dat can separated them; and because, presupposing the total extermination of these sects, “what would the true believers do for slaves?” as was sagaciously remarked in full Divan, by one of its members, when upon the breaking out of the Moreote war, such an expedient was recommended. What would they do for bankers, dragomans, architects, engineers, artisans, merchants, etc, etc.?

Page 185: Again, the Turks are, personally, extremely brave, but so are all barbarians; and this quality is more than counterbalance by their want of discipline, tactics, and activity. Thy are generally esteemed for their veracity; and yet no government has ever been stand by so many acts of perfidy and atrocity as theirs. They are said to be honorable in their dealings; and yet they worship gold, and are sordid and avaricious, and will have recourse to any measures show tof actual theft, to obtain this sovereign good. Nay, they have a proverb, “Riches are power;” and it is notorious, that corruption has always been, and still is, the medium through which almost everyone is transacted in the Divan; that the Pachalicks and great offices are generally sold to the highest bidder, and that each great man has his agent at the Porte, to make a golden bridge to all his opponents in the council.

Page 198: “Sultan Mahmoud has given himself a vizier without talents, and of ordinary capacity. He watches over his Divan with extreme care, and leaves to it nothing but the symbols of power: he directs and regulates everything himself: better and sooner informed than his ministers, by means of a secret and active police, his measures are taken before the reports of his grand vizier have reached him. Active, laborious, impenetrably secret, a zealous observer of his religion, faithful to his word, sober, and a respecter of morals, Sultan Mahmoud may be justly look upon as a phenomenon for Turkey.” — Androssi.

Page 209: Almost the only buildings of stone in Constantinople, are the Seraglio, Eski Serai (or old Palace), the Palace of the Porte or Divan, the great Khans or Bazaars, the Mosques, Mausoleums, and, perhaps, a few Palaces of the great officers of state; the set of this immense city is built of wood; and, I must say, that however beautiful and picturesque it is from a distance, it is, in its interior, one of the meanest and most filthily disagreeable cities I ever beheld. Its population is very variously estimated; but I believe, from all that I could learn from persons who had ben many years resident at Pera, that four hundred thousand is about the number of its inhabitants, including those of the fauxbourgs of Pera, Galata, and Tophana.

Page 273: Mehmt Effendi was so much affected by what he deemed a proof of friendship, and a gentle rebuke for his own want of confidence in his old schoolmate, that he fell into the snare, as the Captain Pasha had foreseen. He immediately sent off his Divan Effendi to compliment him, and to entreat him to come on shore with as many troops as he might deem necessary for his own bodyguard, promising on his side, as a proof of good faith, that he would only keep an equal number of soldiers in Smyrna.

Page 295: Our party consisted of eight or ten, besides servants: we were all soon mounted, à la Turque, and rode on toward a little eminence, at the foot of which we found the Pasha’s Divan Effendi, and an Aga of Delhis, said upon their carpets, smoking in the shad cast by the hillock (for the sun was yet low). We alighted to salute them, and soon squatted down cross-legged like themselves, smoking the long chibouque, and drinking coffee with them.

Page 297: We soon remounted, and rode in great state through the olive grove, hatred by the river Cephisus, and saw several picquets of Albanian soldiers lying about under the trees; reaching the camp of the Pasha at about 11 o’clock, situated at a village upon the Via Sacra, and about three miles from Athens. We found his Excellency ill-lodged enough, in a dirty Greek kiosk, seated upon his divan, smoking, and driving away the flies with a little instrument made of horse-hair, of different colours; and having, like his own insignia, two tails. He was a most sinister-looking and ferociousv visaged Turk, squinting fatally with both his eyes, his butcher-like face overgrown with a most enormous and goat-like beard of black frizzled hair.

We were, however, well received, and placed upon the same divan with himself, — an honour only conferred by Turks upon people of distinction. We smoked and drank coffee with him, and opened a negotiation for seeing the Acropolis, but in vain. The Turk was offended because the frigate had not saluted him; and although this was satisfactorily accounted for, by the circumstance of the castle of the Acropolis not being in sight from the anchorage, still we saw that he could not overcome what he looked upon as a breach of etiquette. In vain the Captain offered to send orders on board to fire a salute: His Excellency was inexorable.

Page 299: We had then no remedy but to wait until the Pasha had dined and slept his siesta, when we hoped to find him in a better humour, and that Mr. Elliot's firman might turn up. We agreed then, after much discussion, that we had better accept the offer made us by a poor miserable-looking Greek Papa, (who they said was a bishop, and detained by the Pasha as a sort of hostage,) to make use of his house wherein to repose and dine. The care of Captains Sotheby, Dalling, and Martin, had supplied us with a most bountiful stock of cold viands, wines, and spirits; and we resolved upon making the best of our disappointment about the Acropolis, by enjoying a cheerful dinner among ourselves, inviting likewise the Divan Effendi, the Aga of the Delhis, the Kehaya, and the Greek bishop, to partake of our fare.

Page 322: We found his Excellency seated upon his divan, and surrounded by his Albanian guards. We were ushered into his presence with considerable pomp, and invited by him to seat ourselves on his divan. He told us that we were welcome, and that he was delighted to make our acquaintance, and so forth.