#the corruption that girds her country

[ahb-writes]

Book Review: 'Iron Widow'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

action

Asian sci-fi

gender studies

giant robot

rebellion

revenge

sci-fi

social commentary

superhero

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

The unearned demands of the noble class breed a very particular, very familiar stench of greed. Surviving preferential dicta for race, ethnicity, and gender, one encounters a sociopolitical infrastructure whose foundational phobias sting the eyes into blinking. The bigotry, the intolerance, and the chauvinism are ubiquitous, and as such, sweeping efforts of immense chaos are necessary to shake the firmament. IRON WIDOW affirms what is occasionally, truthfully, philosophized: Abrupt revolution is necessary when gradual progress is rendered functionally impossible.

Such are the woeful accuracies framing the corrupt polity of the land of Huaxia, its many provinces, and the army under whose auspices each citizen pays tribute. Forced conscription, unyielding tax burdens, a world under siege from biomechanical alien entities. The glaringly forthright and uncompromisingly distorted culture of violence, scarcity, and sexism of Huaxia gives readers a clear window into the novel's trajectory: Everything is terrible, and one young woman, Wu Zetian, pledges to fight for a new paradigm until it kills her.

Lady Wu, by fashionable accounts, is a mad woman. But readers know better. Readers know she enlists to serve as a concubine, a position of fealty and support during military operations, only to exact revenge upon a pompous fool. Readers know she acquiesces to train with a convicted murderer, only to further her ambitions to end the war on her own terms. Readers know she signs a contract with a sleezy media magnate, with her own blood, only because the manufactured splendor of public adoration is the only mirror that outshines the stratified grandeur of the national army. Many people view Wu Zetian as a bit mad, sure, but everyone in her life has failed her, abused her, or misused her. Zetian cannot unmake the trauma others have wrought, but she can definitely become a nightmare all her own, and terrorize in kind those who deserve it.

IRON WIDOW offers contemporary readers the type of noisy, foul-mouthed, vengeance-seeking young female lead character so many fantasy fiction titles lack. The type of hard-luck woman so many books mimic in earnest but ultimately blink when the blade is swung, when the trigger is pulled, or in the case of IRON WIDOW, when the 40m tall mech transforms and starts ripping people's limbs off. Zetian never knew a good person in her whole life, so why would she ever desire to become one herself?

The novel's setting is a futuristic Asian fantasy realm complete with giant robots, ravaging otherworldly beasts, hover-vehicles, holographic displays, fantastical god-beings, powerful physical manifestations of qì, and sprawling military-industrial complexes. The author clearly loves the mash-up, as readers will find multiple references to ancient Chinese literature and lore alongside sci-fi exploits like transforming mecha that typify the zodiac. The kitsch may not be worth admiring, if the reader isn't in tune with either, but it's plenty enough for those whose interests rightfully intersect.

The best thing about this book is how thoroughly committed the author, and by extension, the protagonist is to seeing this story through to the end. Zetian, for example, isn't bitter and pessimistic about death because she has no options, she's merely giving as much violence as she takes ("Too bad. I am exactly the kind of ice-blooded, rotten-hearted girl he fears I am. And I am fine with that. May he stay unsettled," page 114). Some characters match Zetian's grit; others push back. Another female mech pilot, Dugu Qieluo, for example, is aggressively unlikable. Lady Dugu doesn't hesitate to throw a punch (at a supposed ally) and defends her personhood with vigor ("Never appease. No one's ever been respected for appeasing. The only thing you did was let them know there are no consequences to treating you like trash," page 295).

Fighting massive bug creatures in the wilds beyond the Great Wall occupy the official duties of these and other characters. But piloting giant robots to save humanity feels comically miniscule in importance when juxtaposed with the gravity of avoiding sexual assault, navigating corrupt officials, sniffing out traitors, and spitting in the eye of any supposed fate.

For example, Zetian allies with a wealthy young man, Yizhi, a possible paramour from her days as an impoverished girl in the mountains. Yizhi is a sympathetic man with a gift for big words. His kindness and his wealth seem limitless. But, "How far does the darkness in him go?" (page 183), she asks, knowing full well the corruption that girds her country doubtlessly lines the young man's pockets as well. A soft rich boy doesn't survive as one of dozens of sons what for being only a soft rich boy. He may be an animal, but evidently, Yizhi hides his teeth. A durable contrast to Li Shimin, a 19-year-old man convicted of patricide. Shimin is Zetian's co-pilot, and fittingly, the man is all rough edges, beset with the tired eyes and ruined liver of an alcoholic. Shimin doesn't hide his teeth, and his protective alliance with Zetian, a pledge to bark, tear, and destroy anything in their path, wavers on the border between keenly obligatory and affectionately benevolent. It's a love triangle appropriate for a novel layered with dead bodies.

IRON WIDOW is a thrill. It's difficult to find a fantasy book with female lead characters whose uncompromising disregard for state discrimination and fervent rebuke of institutionalized sexual violence manifest so clearly and cleanly. The first half of the book doesn't waver. Vengeance is on the table from the very first chapter. The action is pointed and the character dynamics are definitive. The violence only recedes when, in the second half of the novel, the story shifts into a rather strategic atmosphere, as Zetian maneuvers her successes and failures into greater grabs for political power.

Nevertheless, the book commits to characters-with-issues and unbuckles their ambitions with glee. It's a riotous adventure whose characters always know the stakes, and whose characters are just smart enough to know the pain of giving in to the greed of others is often greater than the suffering required survive on one's own terms. Buttressing these themes, compelling B-stories fill in the gaps, involving filial piety, bisexuality, the myth of popular karma, the quest to rid the world of entitled pricks, and the sad, disquieting inevitability of death ("Dread hollows through me. We spend so much effort living these lives, yet every trace of their substance and meaning can be erased so quickly. So easily," page 338).

❯ ❯ Book Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads

[zvaigzdelasas]

At his initial court appearance, Castillo looked downcast as he gave simple yes or no answers and his attorney argued that he had been arbitrarily ousted from Peru’s presidency on trumped-up charges of rebellion.

The U.S. condemned Castillo’s power grab as illegal and even leftist allies have refused to speak out against his overthrow. A major exception was Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who called Castillo’s removal a “soft coup” fueled by deep-seated racism against the former school teacher from the heavily indigenous Andean highlands.

“It is no longer military intervention,” said López Obrador. “It’s done with control of the media by the oligarchs, undermining legal and legitimately constituted authorities, especially if they want to do something for the benefit of the long-suffering people who do not belong to the elites.”

Meanwhile , Castillo’s successor, like many Peruvians, seemed eager to turn the page. In comments to journalists Thursday, Dina Boluarte, who served as Castillo’s vice president, appealed for a “truce” from the political feuding that has paralyzed Peru for years so that she can “reorient” the country. With polls showing Peruvians despising Congress even more than they do Castillo, she suggested that she would consider holding early elections — something that requires approval of a hard-to-muster constitutional amendment. [...]

But once in office he cycled through dozens of inexperienced Cabinet choices, a number of whom have been accused of wrongdoing. He also faced a hostile Congress, which first tried to impeach him last December. At the time, a relatively small group of opposition lawmakers cited an investigation by prosecutors into illicit financing of the governing party. To remove the president requires two-thirds of the 130 lawmakers to vote in favor. Only 46 voted in favor.

Congress tried to impeach Castillo again in March for “permanent moral incapacity,” a term incorporated into Peruvian constitutional law that experts say lacks an objective definition and that Congress has used more than a half dozen times since 2017 to try to remove presidents. The effort failed, this time with only 55 votes in favor.

On Wednesday, Peru was girding for a third impeachment vote. The night before, the president said in an unusual midnight address on state television that a certain sector of Congress had it out for him and that he was paying for mistakes made due to inexperience. [...]

The president can dissolve congress to end a political standoff but only in limited circumstances — after losing two votes of confidence in Congress, which last occurred in 2019, when then President Martin Vizcarra dismissed lawmakers. [...]

Despite the high political drama, only small clashes erupted between a handful of Castillo supporters and riot police on guard outside.

Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, was sworn in as Peru’s first female president. She said her first order of business would be to address corruption, ostensibly what led to Castillo’s downfall. [...]

López Obrador said Thursday that he had greenlighted Castillo’s request for asylum that he made in a phone call to the Mexican president’s office. But he said those plans were frustrated when Castillo was intercepted by police on his way to the Mexican Embassy in Lima, where a group of protesters awaited.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said Castillo had committed “political suicide” by weaponizing a seldom-used clause of the constitution to combat his adversaries in Congress, who he said never allowed Castillo to govern.

Anti-democracy can’t be fought with more anti-democracy,” he said, echoing similar comments by Brazil’s incoming president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

8 Dec 22

[cksmart-world]

The completely unnecessary news analysis

by Christopher Smart

January 7, 2020

“RISK IT ALL” — DONALD'S NEW BOARD GAME

& FLY TO MEXICO FOR CHEAP DRUGS

Hey game lovers, do we have good news for you. Pompeo Brothers Inc. has just unveiled it's latest skill game of foreign relations. Now you can while away those sleepless nights, just like the president of the United States, by cooking up fun ways to mess up the balance of power. You can threaten to blow North Korea to kingdom come and then sit on your hands as Kim Jung Un threatens the United States with thermonuclear weapons. From the comfort of your kingsize bed and silk jammies, you can mess with our allies by taking a dump on the Paris Climate Accords and then having a good laugh with your buddies in the fossil fuel industries. You can also screw with those stupid Europeans by kissing up to Russia. They're already frightened stiff of Putin and you can twist their arms into beefing up their NATO payments by blowing into Vladimir's ear. But the real fun is in the Middle East, where you will drive everyone nuts by sidling up to Turkey's demands to rub out Kurds, while allowing Russia to kiss up to Syria. Then, by playing your cards right, you can actually do the impossible: Bring Iraq and Iran together by assassinating the mullah's top general. Pundits will say you're unfit and could blow up the whole region while putting American lives at risk. Is this fun, or what?

LIFE ELEVATED — OR SOMETHING

“Come on vacation. Leave on probation.” That's catchy, isn't it. The Utah Travel Council doesn't like it as much as “Life Elevated” — the slogan that Wilson and the Smart Bomb Band say promotes marijuana. Well, that's up for debate, but as far as drinking goes, the National Restaurant Association came up with “Come on vacation. Leave on probation,” when Utah legislators lowered the blood-alcohol limit for drunken driving from .08 to .05. That means the average woman would be legally shit-faced after one generous glass of wine. Folks in the hospitality industry — restaurants, bars and hotels, etc., worried the new booze law would further blight Utah's reputation as a teetotaling theocracy. Not surprisingly, the white, male, Mormon lawmakers didn't seem to care. Alcohol is the root of all evil and legislators want to keep their Temple Recommends in good standing. But wait, hold the presses, a recent report on alcohol-related traffic stops in the Beehive State shows that no more arrests were made under the new law. Could it be that alcohol-related accidents are usually caused by drivers whose blood-alcohol level is well above the .08 limit, revealing the new law to be meaningless? Hold on to that thought and pass the Jack Daniels.

DOWN AND OUT IN THE CITY OF SALT

If you are homeless and get arrested and put in jail, are you still homeless? Not according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that tracks this stuff. Some home. Last weekend, 17 people were arrested during a protest at Salt Lake City Hall regarding the lack of shelter space and the treatment of homeless campers. The action was organized by folks who have homes but don't like the way police regularly break up homeless camps — most visibly near the downtown library, which happens to be spitting distance (pardon the colloquialism) from Police HQ. Recently, the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that camping is not illegal if there are no other options. But in Salt Lake County, the health department can deem an area as a public health hazard — the green light for cops to take action. Among the problems campers face is a lack of toilet facilities and garbage disposal. Why don't the city and country create a campground for homeless campers that would provide those amenities? Who knows. But the problem isn't going away. You can't afford housing at $7.35 an hour and barely at $15. Since the era of Ronald Reagan, this country— the richest in the world — has been on a trajectory that has led to more than 500,000 homeless people. And don't worry, those protesters didn't stay long in jail — there's no room there, either.

FLY TO MEXICO FOR CHEAP DRUGS

If you need expensive prescription medication but can't afford it, perk up your ears. PEHP, the insurance provider that covers 160,000 Utah public employees, will fly you to Tijuana where you can get your (legal) drugs for a fraction — 40 to 60 percent less — of what you pay here. (We could never make this up in a million years.) As reported by Salt Lake Tribune ace and Pulitzer Prize winner Erin Alberty, PEHP is saving money hand-over-fist with this south-of-the-border maneuver. That's right, they will fly their clients to San Diego, drive them to the district in Tijuana known for it's healthcare, bring them back stateside and fly them home  by suppertime — and PEHP still saves bundles of cash. Good old American know how. WTF. If you don't belong to PEHP, don't worry, Congress is working on this and will have a solution by the time hell freezes over. Right. This country isn't corrupt, it's just that big corporations have bought off our lawmakers. Nonetheless, if you can't get a state job, you can always drive to Mexico yourself, where Americans regularly get dental care, all kinds of medical procedures and medications. It's done so often that it has a name: “Medical Tourism.” And fortunately for us, Mexico isn't building a wall.

Post Script — And that' it for another sterling week here at Smart Bomb, where the staff keeps track of President Trump's golf days so you don't have to. It's been a harrowing few days, what with the impending war with Iran, new evidence that Trump is up to his chin in the Ukrainegate (not that Republicans give a you-know-what), and the New England Patriots getting knocked out of the playoffs. (Don't you just love it when Tom Brady gets bummed out.) Closer to home, Erin Mendenhall was sworn in as mayor of Salt Lake City and faces a handful of crises right off the bat. Why would anyone want to be mayor? Who knows, but Mendenhall will be up to her ankles in alligators over homelessness, the Inland Port, affordable housing and pot holes — don't forget the potholes. Mendenhall's administration likely will be an improvement over that of Jackie Biskupski, but that's a pretty low bar. And Mendenhall actually likes people, which is something of a plus in public service. Soon the new mayor, along with the rest of us, will have to gird her loins (can we say that?) because our illustrious lawmakers will convene to make Utah an even better place with legislation banning all kinds of bad stuff, including immorality. Hold on. Wilson insists the Legislature already banned immorality. OK, sure, but you know they'll do it again — they do it every year. Until then, let's  put our efforts into Life Elevated.

All right Wilson, get the band to send us out with something apropos: Panama Red, Panama Red / He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head / Panama Red, Panama Red... My woman said, "Hey Wilson / You're actin' crazy like a clown" / Nobody feels like working / Panama Red is back in town / Panama Red, Panama Red...

[pooma-bible]

■MESSAGE TITLE: THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY■

Many of you lack integrity that's why God cannot trust you with His blessings and wealth. Please if this message touches you, please try and change and be a better person in life.

■ What is the meaning of integrity?

Many of you are victim of this message today. You will say yes now and say no the next time they ask you. God can't trust you at all.

● Integrity means the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.

● Integrity means the state of being whole and undivided.

● Integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way.

● Integrity means to be very upright in all endeavours of life.

● Integrity means to good virtues and honest in all business deals.

● Integrity means to be straight forward.

● Integrity means to be sincere.

● Integrity means a person who will not disappoint you when you give them responsibility to perform.

● Integrity means when you say yes and people are not afraid.

● Integrity means to live a life of total decision.

Every Christian must walk in the spirit of integrity if you want God to trust you.

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Proverbs 11:3 KJV

Integrity is a spirit from God to help you behave like Him and you need to stir it up until it manifest.

“To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. 2 Samuel 22:26 NLT

Integrity goes with your total faithfulness and commitment to God and humanity.

Because of this, make every effort to add integrity to your faith; and to integrity add knowledge; 2 Peter 1:5 GW

Are you aware that your faith works with your integrity, so without that God won't really bless you at all.

And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Romans 5:4 AMPC

■ WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY?

1.) THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY STABILIZES YOU.

And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: [5] Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 1 Kings 9:4-5 KJV

It was the spirit of integrity that sustain the throne for David, now God is telling Solomon too. Are you aware whatever you want God to sustain for you, you need to add integrity to it.

2.) THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY PRESERVES YOU.

Integrity and honesty will protect me because I wait for you. Psalms 25:21 GW

Judge me, O Yahweh, because I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted Yahweh and not wavered. Psalms 26:1 LEB

When you walk in integrity, enemies are defeated in your absence.

3.) THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY UPHOLDS YOU.

You will help me, because I do what is right; you will keep me in your presence for ever. Psalms 41:12 GNB

And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. Psalm 41:12 KJV

Upholds means to guide and guard. You must be truthful at all time, nobody can kill you.

4.) THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY GUIDES YOU.

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Proverbs 11:3 KJV

And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. [2] And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. [3] But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. [4] But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? [5] Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. [6] And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Genesis 20:1-6 KJV

When you walk in the spirit of integrity, even when you want to make mistakes, God has a way of speaking to our heart. When you operate in the spirit of integrity, you are not afraid.

5.) THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY YOU CARRY BLESSES YOUR CHILDREN AND GENERATION.

The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him. Proverbs 20:7 KJV

A righteous person lives on the basis of his integrity. Blessed are his children after he is gone. Proverbs 20:7 GW

So it goes beyond you and it affects your children and your unborn generations and lineage.

■ HOW CAN YOU OPERATE IN THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY?

A.) TO TAKE A VOWING OR COVENANTAL DECISION.

Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. Isaiah 49:22 KJV

B.) SET A STANDARD TO BE CONSISTENT NO MATTER WHAT.

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” Daniel 6:4‭-‬5 NIV

Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. [5] Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Daniel 6:4-5 KJV

If you want to live in integrity, build a standard for yourself.

C.) DON'T COMPROMISE YOUR INTEGRITY BECAUSE OF PROBLEMS OR TROUBLES.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. [9] Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. Job 2:3,9 KJV

Even with what happened to Job, he refuse to stop going to God and church. Like many of you would have stopped going to church even serving as a church worker in the church because of what has happened to you.

God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. Job 27:5 KJV

D.) SAY THE TRUTH ALWAYS AND DON'T BE AFRAID OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN.

Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. [4] And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. [5] Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. Psalm 45:3-5 KJV

People don't like people who tell them the truth.

The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. Psalm 7:8 KJV

Don't expect to be love or like you for speaking the truth. They will fight you and destroy your names for telling them the truth. They will say you are full of pride and jealous of how God is helping them. Keep telling the truth. Are you aware that people that speaks the truth don't have many friends at all.

■ BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO PRACTISE THE SPIRIT OF INTEGRITY.

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Matthew 5:37 KJV

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. James 5:12 KJV

1.) Daniel as a Prophet and Politician. He was never corrupt or stolen money like many politicians are doing in many part of the world.

2.) Job as a business and God's servant. No matter what happened to him, he never turn against God because of what happens to him. He lost his businesses, children, properties and everything yet he stood his ground and his integrity in God.

3.) Abraham as a father of faith. He is a complete package of integrity, ever obedient to God.

4.) David as a King, Priest and Prophet. Even after the his son died, he return back to God and serve him faithfully.

5.) Esther as Queen and a Jew. She stood her ground for freedom even to the death.

6.) And you, can you be related to one integrity at all?

Stop taking bride that's not integrity. Stop spreading your legs to get that opportunities and jobs that's not integrity. Stop stealing that money as a politician your children and generations will suffer it that's not integrity. Stop falsifying documents to get that jobs, that's not integrity. Stop lying on the pulpit men and women of God, that's not integrity.

If you don't have it, cry to God in prayer it is a spirit. God will release it upon you.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. James 1:5-6 KJV

May God use this teachings to shape and reform you again and again. God bless you all, have a nice day.

ProphetDrChrisMichael

[orbemnews]

Please Don’t Comply with This Cash Taking names A new Supreme Court docket case is asking into query the sincerity of company America’s reckoning with political giving. Many firms and commerce teams say they’re re-evaluating political donations after the riot within the Capitol, demanding accountability for lawmakers who challenged the electoral rely. However in a matter accepted for evaluate by the excessive court docket a number of days after the mayhem, a few of these organizations had argued for a constitutional proper to nameless charitable donations, a place that will make accountability harder. (It’s generally known as “darkish cash.”) The case “nominally entails a tiny technical query” in regards to the tax disclosures of charities’ main donors in California, wrote Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, within the Nationwide Legislation Journal. Nevertheless it “might lock in darkish cash affect as a constitutional proper,” he added, and it comes as “the nation faces a dark-money disaster as nameless affect spreads malicious disinformation and corrupts and disrupts our politics.” Greater than 20 “associates of the court docket briefs” supporting donor anonymity have been filed, together with from enterprise teams. The petitioner says anonymity protects “dissident beliefs.” The People for Prosperity Basis is a Koch-affiliated nonprofit, prohibited from political actions, that describes itself as a “charity that fund-raises nationwide and educates the general public about free-market options.” It’s associated to People for Prosperity, a Koch-affiliated political advocacy group. In its petition to the court docket, the nonprofit notes that “most of the people, together with protesters, doesn’t differentiate” between the 2. The nonprofit unsuccessfully challenged California’s rule on disclosure. (The Supreme Court docket has not but set a date for argument.) The Nationwide Affiliation of Producers took a swift, robust stand towards challenges to the election outcome after the Capitol riot. In its transient final yr urging evaluate of this case, it mentioned that requiring donor disclosures would “chill speech, affiliation and donor contributions, in violation of the First Modification.” The disclosure necessities “threaten to stifle sturdy political debate,” it mentioned, and “with out anonymity, audio system face boycotts, harassment and even threats of violence.” The Chamber of Commerce, which vowed to curb donations to lawmakers who challenged the vote rely, expressed “a powerful curiosity on this vital case.” It argued in its transient that “many donors to nonprofits favor to stay nameless for a wide range of causes, together with to guard themselves from being focused by extremists who maintain totally different views, to keep away from additional requests for solicitations, or just because they don’t want to publicize their charitable good deeds.” Why fear? Anonymity obscures company affect in politics, which is already tough to quantify. And a few charitable giving goes to lobbyists, suppose tanks, nonprofits and gamers within the “market of concepts,” argue the businesswoman Katherine Gehl and the Harvard professor Michael Porter in “The Politics Trade.” These teams have interaction in “shadow lobbying” on behalf of particular pursuits, partly fueled by the untraceable cash on the heart of the court docket case. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING The Paycheck Safety Program kicks into excessive gear. The federal small-business aid program reopens to all lenders at the moment, after smaller banks got entry to the initiative final week. Firms can apply for a second mortgage, however there are tighter restrictions, together with proof of a minimum of a 25 p.c decline in income any quarter final yr. Gary Gensler is called to guide the S.E.C. President-elect Joe Biden picked Mr. Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs dealer and head of the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee, to run the securities regulator. Rohit Chopra was chosen to guide the Client Monetary Safety Bureau, the place he beforehand served as assistant director. Each picks have been supported by progressives. A countdown to a wave of presidential pardons. President Trump is anticipated to bestow clemency on maybe greater than 100 individuals in his ultimate hours in workplace, as would-be fixers gather big charges from some hoping for consideration. Amongst these doubtlessly in line for a pardon: Sholam Weiss, the recipient of a report white-collar jail sentence, and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Group’s C.F.O. A squabble over lifted journey restrictions. Mr. Trump ordered an finish to the ban on vacationers coming from Europe and Brazil, and Biden officers shortly rejected the measure. In different pandemic information: a revelation that anti-vaccine organizations obtained federal bailout cash. The World Financial Discussion board outlines its digital summit’s agenda. The theme of subsequent week’s gathering of political and enterprise leaders, normally held in Davos, Switzerland, is “A Essential Yr to Rebuild Belief.” It’s going to function President Xi Jinping of China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and European leaders like Ursula von der Leyen, the European Fee president. The one U.S. official named as a speaker is Dr. Anthony Fauci. How firms are getting ready for the inauguration As Washington girds itself for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration tomorrow, lawmakers have requested transportation and hospitality firms for assist “figuring out and stopping the continued and excessive risk of additional violent assaults.” Right here’s how firms are responding: Airways: American, Delta, Southwest and United have imposed bans on firearms in checked baggage. American has additionally suspended alcohol service, and Alaska Air has restricted the variety of tickets accessible for flights to and from Washington. Motels and hospitality: Airbnb has canceled reservations for this week. Expedia’s Vrbo is nonetheless accepting bookings, however yesterday rolled out new procedures that embody screening visitors towards federal risk lists. A spokesman for Hyatt mentioned the chain had elevated safety personnel and was limiting resort entry to registered visitors. A consultant for Hilton declined to debate safety measures however mentioned it was “well-informed and conscious of present occasions.” Different journey firms: To “keep away from any disruptions” in Washington, the bus operator Vamoose canceled service for at the moment, tomorrow and Thursday. And the electrical scooter firms Lime, Lyft, Spin and Helbiz are disabling service downtown. The week forward After Wednesday’s presidential inauguration, Joe Biden is anticipated to challenge dozens of government orders on his first full day in workplace, plus legislative proposals for a $1.9 trillion stimulus invoice, modifications to immigration legal guidelines and different priorities of his administration. The Senate affirmation listening to of Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary begins at the moment, with a give attention to reviving the pandemic-stricken economic system, recovering misplaced jobs and regulating Wall Road. On financial stimulus, “proper now, with rates of interest at historic lows, the neatest factor we are able to do is act massive,” Ms. Yellen is ready to say in her opening remarks. Company earnings season is ramping up, with extra of America’s massive banks releasing fourth-quarter earnings. Financial institution of America and Goldman Sachs report at the moment, whereas Morgan Stanley steps up on Wednesday. Netflix additionally experiences its newest earnings at the moment, adopted by Procter & Gamble and United Airways on Wednesday, and IBM and Intel on Thursday. Man within the center The Senate resumes at the moment, with a brand new energy dynamic within the session forward. Evenly break up between Democrats and Republicans, with the vp holding the decisive vote, centrists on each side of the aisle are anticipated to exert elevated sway, maybe none extra so than Joe Manchin of West Virginia, generally known as “probably the most conservative Democrat.” A coal-country businessman essential to the Biden local weather agenda. Mr. Manchin is the grandson of a mining city grocer and labored in the household enterprise earlier than moving into politics. In a conservative-leaning state, he turned governor in 2005 and was elected 3 times as U.S. senator, pitching voters on bipartisanship. “The significance of laborious work and worth of compromise have been instilled in me from a younger age,” he informed DealBook in a press release, noting his dedication to “deliver bipartisanship again to Congress.” Power is his factor. West Virginia is the second-largest coal producer within the nation and is wrestling with the inevitability of renewable vitality, a shift that Mr. Manchin has his eye on. Because the rating member of the Senate’s vitality committee, he superior an innovation invoice final yr with then-committee chair Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, that centered on jobs and expertise. The invoice was lauded by companies and environmentalists, however didn’t survive. Mr. Manchin is now set to guide the committee. Mr. Manchin has lengthy obtained monetary help from the vitality and mining sectors, having obtained extra cash from mining pursuits than some other Democratic senator within the 2018 election cycle. Forward of his 2024 re-election efforts, fund-raising data point out that he has collected from PACs affiliated with oil and pure gasoline firms. “Manchin is not any ideologue,” notes Inside Local weather Information, however his new energy may very well be a “political actuality examine” on environmental laws. Nonetheless, facets of the Biden local weather agenda possible attraction to him. A promise to help 250,000 new jobs fixing and sustaining deserted mines and oil and gasoline wells, a transfer reportedly designed to attract moderates, appears proper up Mr. Manchin’s alley. THE SPEED READ Offers How French politics derailed Couche-Tard’s $19 billion takeover bid for the grocery chain Carrefour. (FT) The courting app Bumble filed its public I.P.O. prospectus, revealing almost $377 million in income from final January to September. (Enterprise Insider) The British meals supply firm Deliveroo raised over $180 million in new funding at a $7 billion valuation. (Bloomberg) Politics and coverage Entrance-runners for the subsequent head of the Justice Division’s antitrust division are mentioned to incorporate the company legal professionals Renata Hesse, who labored on Amazon’s takeover of Complete Meals, and Juan Arteaga, who suggested AT&T in its protection of the Time Warner acquisition. (Reuters) President-elect Joe Biden will bar his senior appointees from accepting particular bonuses from their soon-to-be-former staff. (WaPo) How Consultant Katie Porter, who made her identify with powerful questioning of banking executives, misplaced her seat on the Home Monetary Companies Committee. (Punchbowl) Tech The again story to Twitter’s resolution to droop President Trump’s account. (NYT) An inside take a look at the digital advert pact between Google and Fb. (NYT) Jamie Dimon mentioned JPMorgan ought to be “scared” of fintech upstarts, punctuated with a phrase that may’t be utilized in a well mannered e-newsletter. (CNBC) Better of the remaining Shareholders in Residence Depot and Omnicom requested the businesses to research whether or not their advert spending went to websites that unfold hate speech and misinformation. (NYT) James Murdoch criticized media shops that “propagate lies” that helped result in the Capitol rebellion, implicitly rebuking his household’s Fox Information. (FT) How Carl Icahn stopped a charity public sale that solicited bids to explode President Trump’s former on line casino in Atlantic Metropolis. (Related Press) We’d like your suggestions! Please electronic mail ideas and ideas to dealbook@nytimes.com. Supply hyperlink #Dont #follow #Money

[jk144]

(Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- swept into office on a vow to clean up government after his predecessor was ousted for graft -- wanted a prosecutor who wouldn’t hesitate to go after the most powerful.Problem is, Moon may have gotten what he wished for in Yoon Seok-youl.Almost immediately after being appointed as the nation’s chief prosecutor in July, Yoon launched a series of probes that have rocked Moon’s two-year-old administration. The scandal has forced one justice minister to resign and helped push Moon’s approval rating to a record low -- just as he girds for an April parliamentary election that will shape the second half of his term.The investigations are only the latest in string of high-profile cases brought by Yoon, 58, over the years, including probes of two former presidents, a chief justice and the heads of Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. After then-President Park Geun-hye demoted Yoon, he joined the special prosecutor’s team whose findings laid the groundwork for her impeachment and removal.“I’m not loyal to anyone,” he famously told lawmakers when asked about one such probe in 2013.Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Yoon’s latest case involves a man whom Moon once predicted would make a “fantastic duo” with the chief prosecutor: Former Justice Minster Cho Kuk. Last month, Cho was forced to resign after just five weeks on the job amid investigations into whether members of his family inflated college admission applications and improperly benefited from investments in a private equity fund.While Cho has denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been accused of any crimes, his wife, and nephew have been indicted on various charges while his brother has been detained for questioning. Any expansion of Yoon’s probe to implicate him personally would pose problems for Moon, who decided to force through Cho’s appointment even after the investigations began.“Moon’s presidency was empowered by high public expectations for clean government,” said Park Sung-min, head of MIN Consulting, a political consulting firm in Seoul. If Cho “faces additional allegations related to his duty as part of the prosecutor’s probe into his family, Moon and the ruling party will receive a megablow,” he said.The investigations add a new worry for Moon on top of a slowing economy and a North Korean regime that has mocked his efforts to play a mediating role in nuclear talks with the U.S. The opposition Liberty Korea Party has drawn almost even with the ruling Democratic Party in some polls, raising the prospect that it could gain control of the National Assembly in April and stymie Moon’s agenda.Moon’s office declined to comment Monday, referring to remarks he made in Yoon’s presence Friday praising the prosecutor’s progress toward “political neutrality.” Moon said it was important to establish a fair anti-corruption system that could endure after “Yoon leaves office and regardless of who replaces him.”When announcing Yoon’s appointment, Moon praised him as “a man of integrity who’s not swayed by pressure from power.” Still, the Yonhap News Agency quoted a Moon administration official in September as saying that the investigation was on a scale that would only be necessary for “probing a conspiracy of a rebellion or completely mopping up the mafia.”The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office declined a request for comment. When asked about the investigation during a parliamentary hearing last month, Yoon vowed to follow the facts: “We prosecutors are not swayed by circumstances. We process the case only in accordance with principles and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”Yoon’s reputation for challenging authority goes back at least to his time in law school when he was forced to flee Seoul after participating in a mock trial in which he sought the death penalty against former coup-leader-turned-president Chun Doo-hwan. Back then, Yoon was known for belting out “Ave Maria” and “American Pie” in karaoke sessions, according to a person who has known him for more than 40 years.Yoon became a prosecutor at the relatively late age of 33 after failing the now-defunct annual bar exam eight times. His age and penchant for making bold speeches against powerful elites earned him the nickname “Big Brother” among his fellow prosecutors.In 2006, Yoon displayed characteristic bravado in seeking the arrest of Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo -- one of the country’s most powerful corporate titans, who was later convicted and pardoned. Yoon is someone who wouldn’t let a friend get away with wrongdoing, according to the person who has known him for more than 40 years.The investigations into Cho’s family have dealt a blow to Moon’s plans to overhaul a prosecutorial system that long been seen in South Korea as a tool for the country’s political elite to suppress dissent. While Moon had hoped Yoon would help push through legislation to weaken his own office, the chief prosecutor has publicly disagreed with a key part of the plan: delegating more investigative decisions to the police.Shortly after Yoon took office, the welcome note on the Supreme Prosecutors’ website was revised to include a pledge to “always serve the public by sternly holding those who wield power accountable for their abuses and violence.”In remarks that take on new significance in light of Yoon’s subsequent investigations, Moon urged the incoming chief prosecutor in July not to shy away from inquiries involving his own administration.“I want you to be really strict, even should there be influence-peddling and corruption within my office, government or the ruling party,” he told Yoon. “Thankfully, unlike the past, there hasn’t been a big, contemptible corruption case within my office, government or the ruling party yet.”To contact the reporter on this story: Kanga Kong in Seoul at kkong50@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Pae at ppae1@bloomberg.net;Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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[divanquotes]

Sir Edward Creasy, History of the Ottoman Turks v2, 1858

Page 5: At this very time grave tidings of troubles in the provinces and on the frontiers had reached Constantinople. Intent on the matters, Kara-Moustafa neglected to send the faggots for the ladies. A few days afterwards, while he was presiding in the Divan, he received, two hours before the usual time of the council’s rising, a message from Ibrahim commanding him immediately to dismiss the Divan and appear before the Sultan.

Page 6: The Vizier obeyed, and hastened before his royal master. Ibrahim instantly demanded of him, “Why have not the 500 loads of wood for the Harem been supplied?” “They shall be sent,” replied the Vizier. Then, with more courage than prudence, he added, “My Padischah, is it wise or proper for thee to call on me to break up the Divan, and to confuse and delay the weightiest affairs of state, for the sake of attending to 500 loads of wood, the whole value of which does not amount to 500 aspres? Why, when I am before the, dost thou question me about firewood, but sayest not a word about the petitions of thy subjects, the state of the frontier, and of the finances?”

Page 10: He dreamed all night of sables; and in the morning he commanded in the Divan that letters should be sent to all the governors and great men of the empire, enjoining each of them to collect and forward to Constantinople, a certain number of sable skins. A similar requisition was made on all the Ulema, and all the civil and military officers in the capital. Some of them were driven to desperation by this mad tyranny, and only gave vent to the indignation which it inspired.

Page 11: A colonel of the Janissaries, named Black Mourad, to whom the five hundred men of his regiment were devotedly attached, at this time returned from the Candian wars, and was met on landing by a treasury officer, who, in conformity with the resolution of the Divan, demanded of him so many sable skins, so many ounces of amber, and a certain sum of money.

Page 23: Khan Ghirai read the letter, and coldly replied — “I and all here are the Sultan’s servants. But the Russians only desire peace in appearance; they only ask for it while they feel the weight of our victorious arms. If we give them breathing time, they ravage the coasts of Anatolia with their squadrons. I have more than once represented to the Divan that there were two neglected strong places in this neighborhood, which it would be prudent for us to occupy. Now, the Russians have made themselves masters of them; and they have raised more than twenty little fortified posts. If we are to remain inactive this year, they will seize Akkrmann, and conquer all Moldavia.” With this answer the Sultan’s messengers were obliged to return to Constantinople.

Page 34: Like his father, Ahmed Kiuprili commenced his administration by securing himself against any cabals of the Ulema; and he gave at the same time a noble rebuke to the chief of that order, who spoke in the divan against the memory of the late Grand Vizier. Ahmed Kiuprili said to him, “Mufti, if my father sentenced men to death, he did so by the sanctions thy Fetva.” The Mufti answered, “If I gave him my Fetva, it was because I feared lest I should myself suffer under his cruelty.” “Effendi,” rejoined the Grand Vizier, “is it for thee, who art a teacher of the law of the Prophet, to fear God less than his creature?” The Mufti was silent. In a few days afterwards he was deposed and banished to Rhodes; and his important station given to Sanizadé, a friend on whom Ahmed Kiuprili could reply.

Page 76: In the November of 1689, the Sultan convened an extraordinary Divan at Adrianople, and besought his councillors to advise him as to what hands h should intrust with the management of the State. In the hour of extreme peril the jealous spirit of intrigue and self-advancement was silent; and all around Solyman II advised him to send for Kiuprili-Zadé-Mustapha, brother of the great Ahmed Kiuprili, and to give the seals of office to him as Grand Vizier of the Empire.

Page 77: His authority was greatly increased by the deserved reputation which he enjoyed of being a strict observer of the Mahometan law, and an uncompromising enemy to profligacy and corruption. After having paid homage to the Sultan on his appointment, he summoned to Divan all the great dignitaries of the empire, and addressed them on the state of the country. He reminded them in severe terms of their duties as Moslems, of their sins; and he told them that they were now undergoing the deserved chastisement of God. He described to them the extreme peril in which the empire was placed.

Page 90: The deliberation of the Divan on this summons lasted for three days. Many thought that the presence of the Sultan in the camp was undesirable. Others feared that he had only addressed them with a view of learning their thoughts. Finally, they all resolved that the departure of the Padischah to assume the command-in-chief of the army, would not only expose the sacred person to too much risk and fatigue, but would involve excessive expense. Consequently, the Divan represented to the Sultan, that his Majesty ought not to commit his imperial person to the chances of a campaign, but ought to leave the care of war to the Grand Vizier.

Page 112: The Grand Vizier, Tschuli Ali, was in favor of maintaining peace with the Czar, and opposed vehemently the demands of Charles, who wish the Sultan to furnish him with 30,000 Spahis and 20,000 Janissaries to escort him across Poland towards his own dominions. To have sent such an army as this with Charls, would have necessarily involved the Porte in hostilities with both Poland and Russia; and Tschudi Ali bade the Divan remember the sufferings of Turkey in the last war, as decisive arguments against such a measure. On the other hand, the Sultana Validé, who admired the chivalrous courage of Charles, pleased his cause warmly with the Sultan, and often asked of her son, “When would he aid her lion against the bear?”

Page 114: One measure of foreign policy, that marked Nououman Kiuprili’s brief administration, was singularly unfortunate with regard to the effect which its author wished it to produce. Nououman Kiuprili was as desirous of maintaining peace as his predecessors in office had been; and he endeavored earnestly, but in vain, to persuade the King of Sweden to retire quietly from the Sultan’s dominions. But he thought that it would be politic at the same time to create a general impression that the resources and warlike spirit of the Turkish empire were undiminished; and he accordingly issued orders for the assembling a large army, and caused a resolution of the Divan to be circulated, that the Sublime Porte intended to conduct the Swedish king back to his own country with a host equal to that which Kara Mustafa had led against Vienna. The effect of this boast, and of the military display with which it was accompanied, was to excite to an irrepressible ardour the warlike spirit of the Ottoman troops, who were generally zealous in behalf of the King of Sweden against Russia, and who were also eager for an opportunity of effacing the dishonors of the last war.

Page 115: Besides these causes of complaint against Russia, the partisans of Charles in the Divan referred to the growing ascendancy of that power in Poland, where the troops of the Czar had now seized and garrisoned the important fortresses of Kamienee. Other causes why Turkey should suspect Russia were also mentioned; such as the Czar’s subjugation of the Cossacks Potkal and Bersbach, and the Russian occupation of Stanileschti, a fortress over against Jassy.

Page 135: The Grand Vizier had shown in previous divans that he would brook no opposition to his martial policy, and he now addressed them thus: “We are not met here to waste idle words about the necessity of a war, which we have already resolved on, but to excite ourselves to conduct it in a fitting manner, and in accordance with the word of the Prophet, ‘Fight against the unbelievers, and be wrathful with them.’ Ye, Sirs, who are learned in the law, what say ye?” Some of the Ulemas, whom the Grand Vizier thus addressed, replied, “God sped you and give you success.” Others refried to the generals present, as the fit persons to answer. The Grand Vizier glanced at the military members of the Divan, and they all protested in loud and strong words that thy were the Padischah’s slavs, and that they were ready to offer themselves, body and soul, in the service of the Faith and the Empire.

Page 158: Sultan Mahmoud was recognized by the mutineers, as well as by the court officials; but for some weeks after his accession the empire was in the hands of the insurgents. Their chief, Patrona Khalil, rode with the new Sultan to the Mosque of Eyoub, when the ceremony of girding Mahmoud with the sword of Othman was performed; and many of the chief officers were deposed, and successors to them are appointed at the dictation of the bold rebel, who had served in the ranks of the Janissaries, and who appeared before the Sultan bare-legged, and in his old uniform of a common solider. A Greek butcher, named Yanaki, had formerly given credit to Patrona, and had lent him money during the three days of the late insurrection. Patrons showed his gratitude by compelling the Divan to make Yanaki Hospodar of Moldavia.

Page 159: The insolence of the rebel chiefs became at length insupportable. The Khan of Crima, whom they threatened to depose, was in Constantinople; and with his assistance the Grand Vizier, the Mufti, and the Aga of the Janissaries, succeeded in freeing the government from its ignominious servitude. Patrons was killed in the Sultan’s presence, after a Divan in which he had required that war should be declared against Russia. His Greek friend Yanaki, and 7000 of those who had supported him were also put to death. The jealousy which the officers of the Janissaries felt towards Patrona, and their readiness to aid in his destruction, facilitate greatly the exertions of the Sultan’s supporters in putting an end to the reign of rebellion, after it had lasted for nearly two months.

Page 211: The Divan resolved, on the 4th of October, 1768, that Russia had broken the peace between the two empires, and that a war against her would be just and holy. But it was determined that the Grand Vizier should have a final interview with M. d’Obresskoff, the Russian Minister at Constantinople, and inform him that peace might be preserved, but solely on condition that Russia should bind herself under the guarantee of her four allies, Denmark, Prussia, England and Sweden, to abstain from all future interference with elections to the crown of Poland, or in the religious differences in that kingdom; that she should withdraw her troops from Poland, and no longer hinder the Poles from enjoying full liberty and independence.

Page 212: The Vizier required him to sign instantly a paper containing the pledge on which the Divan had determined. Obresskoff replied that he had not sufficient authority for such an act. The declaration of war was then pronounced, and the Russian minster was sent to the prison of the Seven Towers; an impolitic as well as unjustifiable act of violence on the part of the Turks, which enabled the Russian Empress to represent herself to the world as the injured party; although the war had been sought by her, and all the acts of aggression which caused it, had been deliberately planned by the Russian Cabinet.

Page 221: The same Mufti, Pirizadi Osman Effendi, who was the author of the fetus against the Poles and the Moldo-Wallachians, endeavored also in his rabid fanaticism to excite the Sultan to a general massacre of all the Christians in the empire. This atrocious project had twice before been mooted, in the reigns of Selim I and Mahomet III. It was now revived for the last time; but the Mufti found no seconders or sympathizers in the Divan. He was universally abhorred for his violence and cruelty; and his death at the end of the first year of the war was the subject of general rejoicing to his brethren, and to the great body of the Mussulman as well as the Christian subjects of the empire.

Page 224: The report that a Russian fleet was on its way along the Atlantic to liberate Greece, spread as far even as Constantinople. But the Turkish statesmen refused all credence to the rumor, and would not believe that there could be any communication between the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas. The fact of this astounding ignorance is attested by Massif, the Turkish historian himself. When afterwards, early in 1770, indisputable tidings reached the Divan that the Russian ship were actually approaching Greece, the Ottoman ministers made a formal complaint to the representative of Vienna that the Venetian government had promoted the Russian felt to pass into the Mediterranean by way of the Adriatic.

Page 243: Atallah Bey was sent to Constantinople with these resolutions of the council of war. After a long discussion in the Imperial Divan it was resolved to reject the terms. The Turkish plenipotentiaries endeavored to protract the negotiations, and to induce the Russians to relax some of their demands. The Sultan (who was sincerely desirous for peace) sent an autograph letter to the Reis Effendi, authorizing him to offer to Russia a sum of 70,000 pilasters if Russia would forego the possession of Kertch and Yenikale.

Page 254: Sick in body as in mind, he complained that he was weary of the mode in which his Seraskiers carried on war; and when the news of the second defeat at Karason reached Constantinople, Mustapha exclaimed that he would repair to the army in prison. His ministers represented to him that such an important step ought not to b taken without consulting the Divan; and the Ulema declared that the departure of the Sovereign for the army might be attended with evil consequences in the actual state of circumstances, especially having regard to the bad state of his health.

Page 315: Seventy-two Livas were under the immediate command of Pachas with two horse-tails, and these, as well as the Eyalets, were generally, though not accurately, spoke of as Pachalics. In general the appointments to the Pachalics were annual; though the same individual often retained his post for many years, and sometimes for life, if h was too strong for the Porte to depose him, or if he provided a sufficient sum of money from time to time to purchase his reappointments from the venal ministers of the Imperial Divan. Twenty-two of the Livas are held by Pachas on life appointments.

Page 323: The Imperial Divan was now generally convened not oftener than about on in six weeks. The ordinary Divan of the Grand Vizier sat much more frequently; and formed a court of justice, at which, besides the Vizier, the Kapitan Pacha, the two Kadiaskrs, and the Nischandjis and Deftendars attended. On important occasions a grand council was summoned, consisting of nearly forty members, and comprising the chiefs of all the orders of the State.

Page 324: In extreme emergencies the members were called together to what was termed a standing Divan, and deliberated without taking seats.

Page 330: The Pachas were to pillage the subjects, and impoverish the provinces. The Divan was to follow its maxims of haughtiness and intolerance. The gnarls to carry on war without intelligence, and continue to lose battles, until this incoherent edifice of power, shaken to its basis, deprived of its support, and losing its equilibrium, should fall, and astonish the world with another instance of might ruin.

Page 332: Another reform was proposed, from which the provincials would have derived still greater benefits. All farming of the taxes was to be abolished; and the revenue was to be collected by officers of the Imperial treasury. In the General Central Government the Grand Vizier's power was restrained by making it necessary for him to consult the Divan on all important measures. The Divan was to consist of twelve superior ministers; one of whom was bound to attend especially to the collection of the funds by which the new troops were to be kept on foot. The spread of intelligence, and the advancement of education among all classes of his subjects, were earnestly encouraged by Selim III.

Page 334: The Sultan, hearing of them, expressed a wish to see “how the infidels fought battles,” and went to one of their parades. He instantly saw the superiority of their fire to that of the ordinary Turkish troops, and appreciated more than ever the advantages which the arms and discipline of his Christian enemies had long given them over the Ottoman troops. The little band was kept on foot; and Omer Aga, as its chief was called, was enabled to recruit it by enrolling other renegadoes, and also a few indigent Turks, who consented to learn the exercise and wield the weapons of the Giaour. The Divan was required by the Sultan to consider the policy of introducing the new system among the Janissaries; but this produced a mutiny, which the Sultan appeased for the time by fair promises, and by desisting from any further measures, though Omer Aga's company was still kept together.

Page 349: The Serbians gladly obeyed the summons of the Pacha against their old tyrants, the rebel Janissaries, and victoriously defended the pachalic. But the other Janissaries of the empire, and socially those at Constantinople, received the tidings of the events in Serbia with the highest indignation, with which the Ulema and the Mahometan population in general largely sympathized. “The pride of the Mussulmans revolted at the idea that old Moslems of the True Faith should be banished from the pachalic, and that Rayas and Giaours should be armed and set up against them.” Selim found it necessary to give way; Hadschi Mustapha received an order of the Divan to readmit the Janissaries to Belgrade. Thy were restored accordingly; and they recommenced their sway the by murdering on of the chief Serbian officers, and soon proceeded to overpower and murder the Pacha.  

Page 358: The period when these demands were laid before the Porte, was an important crisis in Selim’s reign. The rival influences of France and Russia in the Divan, and also the conflicting spirits of reform and conservatism in the Ottoman nation, were now engaged in a trial of strength, with which the Serbian question became closely connected.

Page 360: These requisitions of M. Italinsky were made at the same time, that the demands of the Serbian deputation were laid before the Sultan on the avowed recommendation of Russia. It is said that when Sultan Selim heard that Russia required the Protectorate of all the inhabitants of the Turkish Empire, who professed the faith of the Greek Church, he shed tears of anger and humiliation. For many days he remained in silent gloom; he then called to him such members of the Divan, as were not notoriously influenced by Russian bribes, and he took counsel with them in this emergency. All agreed that it would be better to bury themselves beneath the ruins of Constantinople, than to sign a treaty which would annihilate the Ottoman power.

Page 392: Having attain the rank of Pacha of the provinces, he strove sedulously to free the country and himself from the lawless tyranny of the Mamelukes. He effected this in 1811 by a stroke of the vilest treachery and most ruthless cruelty. Under the show of reconciliation and hospitable friendship he brought those formidable cavaliers to his palace; and then caused them to be shot down by his Albania guards, while cooped helplessly together in a narrow passage between high walls. [The following account (in Walpole’s Travels, p. 32,) of the massacre of the Mamelukes, was written by an English gentleman who was at Cairo at the time: — “Nothing can be imagined more dreadful than the scene of the murder. The Mamelukes had left the Divan, and were arrived at one of the narrow passages in their way to the gates of the citadel, when a fire from 2000 Albanians was poured in on them from the tops of the walls, and in all directions. ..

Page 404: A Fetva was forthwith issued, by which Ali was declared Fermanlı (or outlaw), and all loyal viziers and other subjects of the Padischah were ordered to make war upon the rebel. In the conflict which ensued, Ali had at first some success; but Mahmoud inspired his generals with some portion of his own energy; and by sternly declaring that he would put to death any one who dared to speak in favour of the outlaw, the Sultan checked the usual efficacy of the bribes which Ali dispensed among many members of the Divan. Cooped up in Jannina, Ali prolonged his resistance till the beginning of 1822, when he was lured into the power of his enemies by pretended terms of capitulation, and put to death by Churchid Pacha, who commanded the besieging army. But while the “old Lion of Jannina” (as Ali was called) thus long held at bay the Sultan's forces, and detained one of the ablest, though most ferocious, of the Sultan's generals,  almost all Greece had risen and beaten back the Ottomans; and a similar insurrection had been for a time successfully attempted in the trans-Danubian provinces.

Page 435: Invigorated by such success, she could (notwithstanding the Asiatic exploits of Paskievitsch) have maintained the struggle against Russia during 1830; and, before that year was over, the second French Revolution had broken out ; Poland had risen against the Emperor Nicholas; and the obstinate struggle had commenced, in which Diebitsch perished, and in which the full power of Russia was taxed to the utmost, even by the unaided Poles. The whole current of the world's history would have been changed. Poland might now be an independent state ; there would have been no Egyptian revolts; the name of Hunkiar Iskelessi would be unknown in the West ; and France and England might never have been required to join in a Russian war, if a single messenger of truth from Adrianople could have been heard in the Divan, or at Pera, in the August of 1829; or, if Sultan Mahmoud, in happy obstinacy, had resisted a little longer the solicitations of those, who urged on him “Peace, peace,” when there should have been no peace.

Page 448: About the same time that Mahmoud ordained these just and humane changes, he set personally an example of reform, by regularly attending the Divan, instead of secluding himself from the labours of state, according to the evil practice, which had been introduced so long ago as the reign of Solyman Kanoumi, and which had been assigned as one of the causes of the decline of the empire by a Turkish historian nearly two centuries before Mahmoud's time.Page 513:

Page 512:  October 7th. Separate Act concerning the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia being chosen from among the native Bojars, their election will henceforth be made in each of these provinces according to the consent and the will of the Sublime Porte, by the general assembly of the Divan, in conformity with the old use of the country.

The Bojars of the Divan of each province, being the body of the country and with the general agreement of the inhabitants, will make choice for the dignity of Hospodar, one of the oldest Bojars and the most able to fill it well, and they will present to the Sublime Porte, by an application (Arz Mahsar) the elected candidate, which, if approved by the Sublime Porte, will be named Hospodar and will receive his investiture.]

Page 513: Any Hospodar who has been dismissed after having finished his term or who has abdicated, will incur the forfeiture of his title and may return to the class Bojars provided they remain peaceful and quiet, but without power or become a member of the Divan or perform any function public, and without being able to be reelected Hospodar.

The sons of the dismissed or abdicated Hospodars will retain the quality of Bojars, will be able to occupy the positions of the country and be elected Hospodars. In the event of the dismissal, abdication, or death of a Hospodar, and until a successor is given to him, the administration of the principality shall be entrusted to Kaïmacans appointed by the Divan of the said principality.

The Hatti Chérif of 1802, having ordered the abolition of the taxes, royalties, and requisitions introduced since the year 1198 (1783), the Hospodars with the Bojars of the respective Divans will determine and fix the taxes and the annual charges of Moldavia and Wallachia, taking as a basis the regulations which were established following the Hatti Cherif of 1802; the Hospodars | shall in no case be wanting in the strict fulfillment of this provision, they shall have regard to the representations of the Minister of His Imperial Majesty, and to those which the Consuls of Russia shall send to them by his orders, both on this object, and on the maintenance of the privileges of the country, and especially on the observance of the clauses and articles inserted in the present act.]

[bibleread2017]

Jeremiah chapter 6

O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.

 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

 For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

 And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.

 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

[nntodayblog]

Don’t Let Blockbusters Keep You From Seeing Indie Movies This Month

A24 Great Point Media/Paladin Film Amazon Studios

Snag a ticket to "Lean on Pete," "Where Is Kyra?" or "You Were Never Really Here" before the blockbuster deluge.

Now that blockbusters ― namely reboots and franchise fare ― have graduated from summer escapism to year-round fixtures, April is no longer a safe space at the multiplex. The month that once birthed “Field of Dreams,” “The Matrix,” “Election” and “Mean Girls” now belongs to the “Fast and the Furious” vehicles, Marvel and “Clash of the Titans.”

To see “A Quiet Place” rumble into theaters last weekend was to witness a small miracle. Heralding John Krasinski’s directing talents and notching an august $50 million opening, the post-apocalyptic creature feature is the sort of studio product meant to warm jaded cinephiles’ hearts: a high-concept crowd-pleaser that manages to be fresh andwhip-smart ― an increasingly rare sight in the year of our big-budget Lord 2018. “A Quiet Place” boasts the highest-grossing April debut for an original film in history, as well as the heftiest intake for an original live-action release since “Happy Death Day” last October.

The rest of April’s wide releases are, well, less thrilling. Oversized beasts are stampeding Dwayne Johnson and Naomie Harris, “Isle of Dogs” barks its way into more corners of the country, Shia LaBeouf flaunts short shorts in the otherwise staid “Borg vs McEnroe,” Amy Schumer stars in a feminist “Shallow Hal,” we finally get a sequel to ... “Super Troopers” (?), “Truth or Dare” turns its titular pastime into something deadly (Tyler Posey doesn’t take his shirt off in the trailer; skip it), and the Avengers threaten to put more superheroes on one screen than a VH1 Divas telecast.

Those movies will flood multiplexes in the coming weeks, ushering us toward the blockbuster domination that is May, June and July. Meanwhile, three worthwhile underdogs opened opposite “A Quiet Place,” shouldering the month’s indie marketplace. “Lean on Pete,” “Where Is Kyra?” and “You Were Never Really Here” are hardly light fare, but isn’t there some adage about bleak movies being the perfect way to escape April showers? No? You’ll want to invent one after seeing this trio.

We talked to the filmmakers responsible for these gems. If you don’t live near a theater where the movies are playing, add them to a list of rainy-day streaming options for later in the year, when you find yourself wondering who among us requested yet another Robin Hood retelling.

“Lean on Pete”

For fans of “Boyhood,” “The 400 Blows” and “The Black Stallion”

Written and directed by Andrew Haigh Starring Charlie Plummer, Steve Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny, Travis Fimmel, Amy Seimetz and Steve Zahn

A24

Lean on Pete is a racehorse whose cantankerous trainer (Steve Buscemi) describes him as a “piece of shit” ― catnip for our protagonist, Charley (Charlie Plummer), a motherless 15-year-old working the stables for $25 a day, partly as a respite from his aloneness and partly to gird his father’s (Travis Fimmel) limited income. Gentle Charley can’t stomach the thought of Pete being carted off to Mexico, where aged steeds are slaughtered once they are no longer moneymakers. So, in the dark of night, this spindly boy absconds with his beloved horse (an expert listener), trekking through the Oregon desert toward a broader horizon.

On paper, it’s a quintessential coming-of-age tale. But in practice, writer and director Andrew Haigh sees “Lean on Pete” as the events that occur before Charley comes of age. And he’s right: Charley doesn’t yet have the means ― the familial support, the peers, the finances ― to determine his place in the world. The only thing that steadies him is a tender heart. “Until he finds somewhere to have a base, in order to grow, he can’t even deal with ideas of identity or who he’s going to be or what kind of man he wants to be,” Haigh said. “And also, I suppose, in all of my films, I can’t help but want to show a different version of masculinity.”

Haigh is the master of compassionate relationship dramas, having explored a one-night stand in “Weekend,” a long-term marriage in “45 Years,” a group of gay friends on HBO’s “Looking,” and, now, a teenager and his equestrian companion in “Lean on Pete,” based on the novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin. It’s Charley’s desperate need to be kind, and to receive kindness from others, that grounds this particular relationship and separates him from the average teen boy. Whereas most kids his age are striving to master schoolyard politics or sibling rivalry, Charley is trying to conquer the oppressive ugliness of the world around him, hoping that relatives in nearby Wyoming will provide the stability he lacks.

“What do you do in your life if you don’t have support from your loved ones?” Haigh said. “Or you don’t have support from the society around you? It felt like it was something more important, almost, than just questions of identity. It was about something like, how do you survive in the world if you don’t have a framework?”

Charley’s journey makes for a magnificent travelogue in which none of the travel is glamorous. With a parting shot that evokes “The 400 Blows,” this is one of the year’s best movies to date. Another recent release, “Ready Player One,” centered on an orphan in an ugly world, but its virtual-reality bedlam lacked humanity. “Lean on Pete” more than makes up for it, sending its hero ― Plummer’s performance is a wonder; a true star is born ― on an expedition through the great Northwestern outdoors that ends with an introspective discovery. Bring tissues; you’ll need a bunch.

“Where Is Kyra?”

For fans of “Klute,” “99 Homes” and Gena Rowlands movies

Written by Darci Picoult • Directed by Andrew Dosunmu Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kiefer Sutherland, Suzanne Shepherd and Sam Robards

Great Point Media/Paladin Film

“Some people say it almost feels like a horror film,” Darci Picoult, the writer of “Where Is Kyra?,” said. “It becomes this terrorizing psychological deterioration.”

Those horror trappings are evident in Picoult’s sparse script, but they’re largely owed to Andrew Dosunmu’s shadowy direction. Working with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young (“Selma,” “Arrival”), Dosunmu shades Michelle Pfeiffer’s titular Brooklynite with fuzzy grays and anesthetized blues. Laid off from her job and cashing her late mother’s pension checks for income, Kyra is often framed from a distance, the atrophy she’s facing as she nears senior citizenship foregrounded to reveal a genre of poverty rarely explored in popular culture.

Picoult wrote “Where Is Kyra?” in 2013, surveying the aftereffects of the late 2000s’ economic crisis. She first set the movie in Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy that same summer. But Picoult and Dosunmu, who also collaborated on the Nigerian drama “Mother of George,” relocated the backdrop to New York, where the glaring disparity between haves and have-nots underscores everyday economic strife. What is a middle-aged woman to do when she finds herself unemployed and undesirable, reduced to placing advertisements on vehicles’ windshields and being turned down for gigs at fast-food restaurants in favor of younger candidates?

“I always envisioned Kyra being someone who, if you will, had a life that had promise, someone who believed things were going to work out,” Picoult said. “And then, when they don’t, it becomes even more disparaging because she’s holding on, hoping for something better that doesn’t happen.“

Pfeiffer, who made something of a comeback last year with “mother!” and “Murder on the Orient Express,” has found one of the richest roles of her career, looking more desperate with each rejection and more weathered with each dignity-shattering wakeup. Kyra’s corner of the world struggles to blossom into anything sunnier; farther and farther she drifts down the rabbit hole of anguish, Pfeiffer’s oceanic eyes absorbing every psychic bruise.

“You Were Never Really Here”

For fans of “Taxi Driver,” “Good Time” and “Drive”

Written and directed by Lynne Ramsay Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Frank Pando, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alessandro Nivola and Alex Manette

Amazon Studios

“You Were Never Really Here” demands to be seen twice: once to absorb its ethereal grime, and another to peek more clearly into its protagonist’s fractured mind. As Joe, a contract killer (and PTSD-addled war veteran) paid to extricate young girls from corruption, Joaquin Phoenix dances with the camera, angling through the New York streets, slipping between past and present, reality and hallucination. Joe is purposefully elusive, a design that is at once frustrating and hypnotic.

“I thought I was making an action movie, but it also became a character study,” Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, who adapted Jonathan Ames’ novella of the same name, said. “I think I just gravitated to the inner workings of the character.”

Those inner workings are bleak: At home, where he cares for his ailing mother (Judith Roberts), Joe sometimes covers his head with a plastic bag, wondering what would happen if he finally ended it all. Outside, he seems as likely to take a gun to his own head as he does to avenge the brutes holding innocent preteens hostage. But that’s familiar territory for Ramsay, who treats grief and death as leitmotifs (her other credits include “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” “Morvern Callar” and “Ratcatcher”). What makes “You Were Never Really Here” powerful is its ability to place us next to Joe, psychologically and physically, as he flits between avenger and avoider. Think Travis Bickle with a splash of the adrenaline-pumping “Good Time.” The movie telegraphs a woozy paranoia, aided by another stirring score from Jonny Greenwood, who composed the music for “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and last year’s “Phantom Thread.”

For Phoenix, the role encouraged a certain visceral improvisation. “We would make decisions in the moment, and sometimes there are things I’m reacting to in the moment,” he said. “There are times when other actors didn’t know what was going to happen because we didn’t know what was going to happen in that moment. And I think I probably like that way of working in general, but I think it was probably really applicable to that character and this experience.”

You won't find that in "Rampage."

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BEFORE YOU GO

Matthew Jacobs

Entertainment Reporter, HuffPost

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MoviesSteve BuscemiJoaquin PhoenixAndrew HaighCharlie Plummer

Reference source : Don’t Let Blockbusters Keep You From Seeing Indie Movies This Month

[pamphletstoinspire]

The Prophecy of Joel - From The Latin Vulgate Bible

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION.

Joel, whose name, according to St. Jerome, signifies the Lord God, (or, as others say, the coming down of God) prophesied about the same time in the kingdom of Juda as Osee did in the kingdom of Israel. He foretells, under figures, the great evils that were coming upon the people for their sins; earnestly exhorts them to repentance, and comforts them with the promise of a teacher of justice, viz., Christ Jesus, our Lord, and of the coming down of his Holy Spirit (Challoner) upon the hundred and twenty faithful assembled in Sion. [Acts i. 15. and ii. 4.] He describes the land of the twelve tribes made desolate, and the people cast off. (St. Jerome ad Paulin.) --- Yet he speaks chiefly of the kingdom of Juda, and mentions the house of God, sacrifices, &c. (Worthington) --- St. Jerome infers from his being placed after Osee, without any fresh title, (Calmet) that he lived in that order of time. (Worthington) --- But this rule is not general, as Jonas lived before Amos; and [the] Septuagint observe not the same disposition of the prophets as we do. The exact time of the famine, when Joel prophesied, cannot be ascertained. It seems he addressed the people in autumn, when a second year's famine was apprehended. He paints every thing with great force and beauty of style. (Calmet)

Chapter 1

The prophet describes the judgments that shall fall upon the people, and invites them to fasting and prayer.

1 The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel.

Notes & Commentary:

Ver. 1. Planted. Septuagint, "Bathuel." He was born in the tribe of Gad, at Bethaven, the town which Herod styles Livias, Josue xiii. 27. (Calmet)

2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

Ver. 2. Men. Magistrates, and all who have children. (Haydock) He speaks to Juda, as the kingdom of Israel was ruined, chap. iii. 2. His principal object is to describe the ravages of locusts, and to exhort the people to repent, promising them better times after the captivity, and under the Messias, chap. ii. 28., and iii. 20. (Calmet)

3 Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

Ver. 3. Generation. Prophecies relate to all future times, that people may see their accomplishment, (Worthington) and believe. (Haydock)

4 That which the palmer-worm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.

Ver. 4. Left, &c. Some understand this literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other enemies. (Challoner) --- Jerusalem was four times plundered by the Babylonians, and every time worse than before, as these four sorts of destructive things shew. But we shall not enlarge upon these points, nor pursue the mystical sense of the prophets, which may be found in the fathers and Ribera. (Worthington) --- Others suppose that the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Greeks, (particularly Epiphanes) and Romans, are meant. We explain it simply of the devastation by insects. (Calmet) --- Four different species of locusts are denoted. (Bochart, p. 2. b. iv. 1.) --- Mildew. Hebrew chasil, (Haydock) is often rendered "a locust," by [the] Septuagint, (chap. ii. 25., &c.) and most suppose this is here the sense. The mildew destroys corn chiefly in low damp situations. (Calmet)

5 Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.

Ver. 5. Sweet. Hebrew, "wine, because of the sweet wine," (Haydock) or liquors extracted from fruit. The things which you have abused, are now taken away.

6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek-teeth as of a lion's whelp.

Ver. 6. Nations. Some understand the Assyrians or Chaldeans. But locusts are here styled a nation, Proverbs xxx. 25. --- Lion. Such locusts are described, Apocalypse ix. 8. (Calmet) --- "In India they are said to be three feet long, and their legs and thighs are used for saws when dried." (Pliny, [Natural History?] xi. 29.) --- They were attacked by regular troops in Syria. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xi. 29.)

7 He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig-tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

Ver. 7. No explanation given.

8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Ver. 8. Youth, whom she espoused first. Such are more tenderly loved, particularly where polygamy prevails. (Calmet) --- So Dido speaks of Sichæus, Virgil, Æneid iv.:

Ille meos primus qui se mihi junxit amores

Abstulit, ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro.

9 Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned:

Ver. 9. Lord. No harvest being reaped, the fruits could not be paid. Yet it is thought that what was requisite for sacrifice, would be procured from other countries. (Calmet) --- When Jerusalem was destroyed, sacrifices ceased. (Worthington)

10 The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.

Ver. 10. No explanation given.

11 The husbandmen are ashamed, the vine-dressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.

Ver. 11. No explanation given.

12 The vineyard is confounded, and the fig-tree hath languished: the pomegranate-tree, and the palm-tree, and the apple-tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men.

Ver. 12. Withered. The bite of the locust corrupts the juice of plants.

13 Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.

Ver. 13. Go in to the temple, or sleep on sackcloth, Judith iv. 9. (Calmet)

14 Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:

Ver. 14. Sanctify. Appoint (Haydock) or proclaim a general fast, as was usual in such emergencies, 3 Kings xxi. 9., and 2 Paralipomenon xx. 3. Fasting and other good works are calculated to appease God's wrath. (Worthington)

15 Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.

Ver. 15. Day. Hebrew ahah layom: (Haydock) "Ah, what a day!" --- Mighty. Septuagint, "destruction." They have read in a different manner. God is about to give sentence, (Calmet) and to send Nabuchodonosor, (St. Jerome) or to destroy by famine, ver. 17.

16 Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Ver. 16. God. None can bring the first-fruits. All appear in mourning.

17 The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the store-houses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.

Ver. 17. Dung. Horse-dung dried for bedding, was used in the East instead of straw, (Busb. 3.) as it is still by the Arabs. (Darvieux 11.) --- Hebrew, "the seeds are rotten under their clods," (Haydock) finding no moisture. Septuagint, "the cows have stamped in their stalls;" or Syriac, "remain without food in their cribs." Chaldean, "the pitchers of wine have been corrupted under their covers," as there was no new wine. (Calmet) --- Houses. Hebrew mammeguroth. Protestants, "barns, (Haydock) or country houses;" which means cabins erected for the season, (Ruth ii. 7.) the Magaria (Calmet) or Mopalia of the Africans. (St. Jerome pref. Amos.) --- Septuagint, "the wine presses." Wine and corn were preserved in pits carefully covered over, Aggeus ii. 20. These fell to decay, as there was no use for them.

18 Why did the beast groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished.

Ver. 18. No explanation given.

19 To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country.

Ver. 19. Places. Hebrew, "dwellings," or shepherds' huts. --- Wilderness, denoting all pasture land unploughed.

20 Yea, and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness.

Ver. 20. Up, as if to pray for rain, Jeremias xiv. 6. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "cry," (Haydock) or "pant." --- As....rain is not in Hebrew or Septuagint. (Calmet)

[hollywoodjuliorivas]

You can learn a lot about Steve Bannon by watching the films he made

By Ann Hornaday Movie critic February 2 at 1:25 PM

Before becoming President Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon was a filmmaker with many credits to his name. (Chris Kleponis/Bloomberg News) The first and last time I ever saw Stephen K. Bannon was last May at the Cannes Film Festival, where his film “Clinton Cash” was screening for overseas buyers. The documentary, a strategically timed takedown of Hillary Clinton centering on her alleged ethical lapses and dubious financial dealings, was based on Peter Schweizer’s 2015 book of the same name. While I interviewed Schweizer in an empty ballroom of a Croisette hotel, Bannon — who wrote and produced “Clinton Cash” — paced outside, occasionally stealing a furtive glance our way through an open door.

I was familiar with Bannon’s work as a filmmaker, having reviewed his 2011 documentary, “The Undefeated,” about Sarah Palin. So when he joined Donald Trump’s campaign last year, and later assumed duties as the president’s chief strategist, his worldview wasn’t completely unknown to me. The former Navy officer and Goldman Sachs banker entered the movie business on the money side, executive producing such highly regarded feature films as “The Indian Runner” and “Titus.” In 2004, he began producing, writing and sometimes directing his own movies, starting with “In the Face of Evil: Reagan’s War in Word and Deed,” an admiring portrait of Ronald Reagan; since then, he’s produced films about illegal immigration (“Cochise County USA: Cries From the Border,” “Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration”), the roots of the global economic crisis (“Generation Zero”), a nefariously overreaching federal government (“Battle for America”) and conservative women (“Fire From the Heartland”), among others.

Although Bannon has produced the occasional fiction feature, most of his creative energy has gone into making nonfiction agitprop designed to whip viewers into a froth of either adulation or rage, but always into passionate political action. Unlike his most readily comparable counterpart, Michael Moore, who can be relied upon to serve up similarly sanguinary red meat to his base, Bannon prefers to stay in the background, wielding his auteurist power with an invisible hand. His most recent film, “Torchbearer,” features “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson delivering an hour-long sermon about the existential necessity of a Judeo-Christian republic, his long gray beard and booming voice lending Old Testament gravitas to the oratory. In the 2012 film “Occupy Unmasked,” the late Andrew Breitbart — whose website, Breitbart News, Bannon took over that year — debunks the Occupy Wall Street movement as the cynical product of an organized Left “hellbent on the nihilistic destruction of everything the American people care for.”

[‘Why even let ’em in?’ Understanding Bannon’s worldview and the policies that follow.]

Distinct Manichaean themes emerge within Bannon’s collected works, echoing the same urgent, apocalyptic anti-globalism he’s espoused in speeches and on Breitbart News. Contemptuous of the “permanent political class,” crony capitalism, hippies and community organizers (who “hate this country . . . hate the Constitution [and] hate freedom”), Bannon doesn’t see the world in terms of partisan politics as much as a cage-match clash of civilizations: In the 2012 documentary “District of Corruption,” about the conservative watchdog group and longtime Clinton antagonists Judicial Watch, the filmmaker doesn’t exempt George W. Bush from scrutiny, recounting such controversies as the Jack Abramoff scandal, Dick Cheney’s closed-door energy task force and the special treatment of bin Laden and Saudi royal family members immediately after Sept. 11, 2001. Still, most of “District of Corruption” is spent attacking Barack Obama for voting irregularities, lack of transparency, executive overreach and filling high-ranking positions with big-money donors.

Politics News Alerts Major national and political news as it breaks. Sign up (Mike Lynaugh/Corbis/Victory Film Group) Interestingly, Trump himself now stands accused of those very same transgressions, as well as foreign and financial entanglements that have already prompted a clutch of lawsuits. At Cannes last May, when Schweizer insisted that his real target wasn’t the Clintons but the “apparatus which allows foreign money to influence American political figures,” he vowed that if Trump won the election, he would investigate him just as energetically. When I recently inquired how that project was going via Twitter, Schweizer responded, “I had four years of material for the #ClintonCash movie. Give it time . . .”

If Schweizer makes good on his promise, odds are good that the film he makes won’t be a Stephen K. Bannon production. In the meantime, it seems that Trump is clearly a fan of the Bannon canon: His recent policy actions, particularly the travel ban on refugees and on citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries, can be traced, directly or at least philosophically, to the views espoused in Bannon’s films.

But far more than content, it’s Bannon’s formal strategy that has clearly informed the early days of the Trump administration, during which headlong gestures and heated dialogue have outpaced the niceties of protocol and collegial politesse. As a filmmaker, Bannon has refined a distinctive rhetoric, usually composed of a verbal argument illustrated by febrile images, lurid graphics and visual effects that run the gamut from slick to schlocky, all set to vaguely alarmist music that grows more threatening as the film reaches its doomsday climax.

The result is something akin to a Fox News version of Leni Riefenstahl, with all of her propagandistic fervor and none of her compositional elegance. As a visual stylist, Bannon favors standard direct-to-video flourishes: stock footage of money being printed and writhing, unkempt flower children, frenetic editing, and, at least in “Torchbearer,” bloody reenactments of Christian persecution. Even his public statements are grounded in shock-and-awe entertainment values. “Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power,” he told the Hollywood Reporter last year. Two years earlier, during a conference at the Vatican, he could have been delivering an elevator pitch for one of his coming attractions when he described the crisis of what he called “jihadist Islamic fascism”: There’s “a major war brewing, a war that’s already global,” he said during a Skype call from his Los Angeles office. “Every day that we refuse to look at this as what it is — and the scale of it, and really the viciousness of it — will be a day where you will rue that we didn’t act.”

As a seasoned pro with a knack for narrative and heightened emotional stakes, Bannon knows how to work a crowd. And he knows the value of a compulsively watchable protagonist, whether it’s a charismatic figure such as Palin or Robertson, an anti-hero on a par with Hillary Clinton or a “blunt instrument” like Trump, with whom he shares an instinct for camera-ready stagecraft. Even Trump’s rollout of the new immigration plan — announced unvetted, and before the people in charge of implementing and enforcing it had been properly read in — felt more like the adrenaline-fueled jolt of superhero catharsis than carefully considered policy. (Legislative process, apparently, is strictly for art-house nerds.)

In other words, Bannon is as reflexively attuned to the spectacle as the substance of the “major war” that he and his boss are girding themselves to wage. The paradigm shift he craves is less about constitutional norms and democratic institutions — which have a tendency to bog down the second act — than the kind of propulsive provocations he has specialized in as a consummate showman. As far as political reality goes, it’s Bannon’s movie, we’re now in it, and the opening credits have just started to roll.

Stephen Bannon's White House role expands amid immigration turmoil  Play Video2:53 As nationwide protests against President Trump’s immigration mandate rage on, he reshuffled the National Security Council and put chief strategist and former Breitbart News chair Stephen Bannon in an unprecedented national security role. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 58 Comments Share on FacebookShare  Share on TwitterTweet Share via Email

Ann Hornaday is The Post's chief film critic.  Follow @AnnHornaday

[divanquotes]

Alexandre Louis Félix Alix, Precise History of the Ottoman Empire since its Origin v2, 1822

Page 4: The Valid Sultana, indignant at the contempt which the emperor affected for his sex, and for the lack of credit which he granted to himself, was not long in conspiring against him. This Kislar Aga, due to the indifference of the monarch, lost all the authority of which his place was susceptible; the mufti, having seen the Sultan more closely, was more convinced than any of the other officers of the empire of his profound incapacity, and they conferred together to find a means of raising the janissaries and the spahis. A crowd of timariots of every rank helped them in their design. Mustapha had stripped several of their timariots, under the most frivolous pretexts; so he was despised among the troops, as he was in the seraglio and the Divan. 

Page 6: Prince Othman soon appeared in the midst of the people, who responded by his acclamations to the wishes of the militia. He was girded with the scimitar and placed on the throne of the Divan, before Mustapha had heard of the army returning, nor any of the events that had taken place in Constantinople. 

Page 7: The Cayman, who always stands in for the Grand Vizier at Constantinople, whenever the prime minister is commanding the armies, was to preside over the Divan and consequently send orders to the provinces. The boasting pacha, captain of the guards, and the chief of the eunuchs had a great share in his favor. The Valid Sultana and Othman’s grandfather had also acquired great rights to his confidence.

Page 24: The people, who were not armed, seized in the second courtyard the logs found in piles, each of which had been made of masses or clubs. As soon as the cannon shot down the gates, the populace crowded inside. Some icoglans, baltagis, and bostangis told the grand vizier that the people were in the Divan, but that there were no soldiers. Although Dilaver, who was in the Divan room with the pashas of the bench and the effendis, had heard that his head was proscribed or banned, he hoped that his presence would impose it on a leaderless population, and that firmness would bring him back into duty. He went out with some chiaou and pachi bostangi; the other people in the Divan, less reckless than the Grand Vizier, closed the doors on him as soon as he was out. Barely had the minister appeared, than he was struck by the very people he had claimed to disperse. The bostangi pachi was liked; in spite of the fury of the people, it was not to harm to this officer that the janissaries were loudly protesting; he escaped into the crowd, and did not reappear during the entire revolution.

Page 25: Meanwhile the troops were deployed in battle formation in the courtyard of the Divan; Dared and his lieutenants disposed of the guard corps who were outside of and surrounding the seraglio, without first daring to attack the buildings. The people and the soldiers constantly repeat the names of the outcasts, demanding that the Emperor promise to renounce the journey to Mecca, to dismiss the new militia, and the repudiate his wife. The fate fate which the Grand Vizier had just experienced had deprived the other ministers, who remained shut up in the Divan, of wanting to open the doors. The Emperor and all his people remained shut up indoors and persisted in keeping quiet. 

Page 26: He was taken from his place with ropes. As soon as he breathe that air, he lost consciousness, and remained a long time without recovering consciousness. However, due to the sound of what was happening inside of the seraglio, the doors of the Divan were finally pond, and all of the effendis, leaving at the same time, managed the rebels with pleading hands, assuring them that Sultan Othman had renounced his plan of going to Mecca, that he had signed the order to lay off his troops in Cairo, and that he was ready to repudiate his wife, and that he would give them the proscribed as soon as the odas returned to duty.

Page 35: The old eunuch received similar answers on all sides, and his orders became illusory. The Valid Sultana, who regretted Dared, her son-in-law, undertook to have him returned to the Divan in the position of Captain Pasha, which was not vacant. The sums of money which Darud’s wife and mother-in-law poured out with full hands, reconciled this parricide with the principal of his old comrades, who had raised the janissaries against him. Dared reappeared at the Port; it was only a matter of plucking the place of capitan pasha from Calil, who was wearing it. The Valid Sultana and Darud accused him before the Divan of having intelligence of the revolted pashas; but he defended himself  with as much intelligence as firmness, in the presence of the Divan, where were the principal officers of the janissaries and shapes, and he completely proved his innocence. The accuser was confounded….

Page 37:  The officers of the spahis and janissaries, who were more than twenty on the Divan, drew their sabers and exclaimed: “We swear by the prophet that Dared will die tomorrow.” Neither the Valid Sultana nor the Grand Vizier, nor did Mustapha himself think that he was powerful enough to save a head which the Janissaries had proscribed. In the absence of authority, the Sultana had employed the resources of weak princes, violence, artifice and corruption.

Page 39: It was unanimously decided that the ghost of the monarch occupying the throne should be removed. It was only a matter of agreeing on the form that would be given to his deposition. Th chief officers wanted the troops to proclaim for Amurat, nephew of the emperor, as they themselves had proclaimed during the deposition of Othman; but the people of law represented that this form gave too much empire to a soldier whom the least dissatisfaction could arm; that it was necessary, if possible, to make this change without any disturbance, and by doing so, to convince the entire Divan and the ulema of Mustapha’s profound incapacity. In effect, the Grand Vizier scheduled for next day an assembly of the Divan, and the mufti the same of the ulema. As soon as they had met in the great hall of the seraglio, the leader of the religion and the prime minister, followed by one of the effendis, and another, and also several pashas, went to the door of the interior, asking to speak to the Emperor on behalf of the entire state. The doors were opened, and the deputation appeared before the prince. The mufti, after kissing the hem of his jacket, conjure him in very strong terms to descend to the Divan, to listen to the complaints of his faithful subjects and to remedy the disorders that afflicted the empire.

Page 40: Then the imbecility of Mustapha was manifest to all eyes. This prince only answered with puerilities, accompanied by a laugh that demonstrated what had always been suspected. Despite the cries of the Valid Sultan, the deputies went down to the Divan and described everything they had just seen and hard. After this detail, which left no hope for Prince Mustapha, the assembly rid out that there was a need for an empire. The choice could only fall on one of Achmet’s children: the eldest, named Amurat, was under the age of fifteen. An advantageous figure and more intelligence than one might expect from a prince of that age, raised in a prison, raised hopes that he would one day repair the evils that afflicted the empire, and until then he would listen to those who were able to guide him. The same members who had gone to Mustapha went, in the name of the Divan, the ulema and the troops, to offer the empire to his nephew. The young prince, who had been instructed by the Sultaness, his mother, whom we will discuss later, began by refusing this honor. He said that he would not strip his uncle of an authority that he legitimately possessed; but the deputies reiterating to him that that prince was in a state of imbecility that rendered him absolutely incapable of the throne, Amurat went down to the Divan, where he spoke with great precision and grace.]

Page 41: All that remains was to have the new emperor girt with the sword of Othman. This ceremony would be beset with difficulties. It was the first time that the Divan and the ulema had undertaken a revolution in the empire: till then the tremors had always ben caused by the troops, and especially by the janissaries, who had usurped the right to raise and deposit the emperors. The coffers were empty, and if the odas had opposed the proclamation, the disorder would have ben at its height.

Page 42: Three days after Sultan Mustapha had refused to appear on the Divan, the troops repaired in order to the first courtyards of the seraglio, shouting, “Long live Amurat IV, our mighty emperor!” The pashas of the various orders, sangiaks, agas, and principal officers, both of the troops and of the ulema, were entered into the Divan. The mufti asked aloud of this imposing assembly if thy wanted Amurat for their emperor; all responded with shouts of approval and of joy. Then the young prince, speaking with dignity, exhorted the mufti and the Grand Vizier to enforce the laws and to restore the order too much altered in the empire. 

Page 48: The grand seignior wished to appear to confirm of his own free will the election of the Khan Mehemet, and after this prince had sent his homage to the feet of the emperor, serious attention was paid to the affairs of Asia. it was time. The grand vizier, instead of marching against Abassa, as had been agreed in the Divan, went to consume his army before Baghdad, leaving behind him the provinces of the empire in flames. The Persians had entered at four different places. The sophian himself had led an army in the Diarbekir, and he had conquered the whole country beyond Baghdad, which the rebellious Pasha had won difficulty in surrendering to the enemy. Another Persian army had entered Palestine, under the orders of Facardin, prince of the Druses. The sophi wants to make this emir a Sudan tributary of Persia. Another Persian army had passed the Euphrates, marching toward Trebizond. And finally, a fourth had entered Arabia, and had seized Medina. 

Page 63: Finally the Sultan abandoned the one he had been honoring for many months, and to whom he seemed to have given all his confidence. As the old Emir was sitting in the Divan, a pasha of the bench accused him aloud of alternately professing Islamism and Christianity. The Emir stood up to begin his justification: the mufti, present at this Divan, close his mouth, pronouncing a fete that condemned to death any relapsed or hypocritical persons who may profess one religion externally while keeping another in the bottom of his heart. It was useless for the old Facardin to deny that he was a Chrsitian, or to demand the holy word of the emperor; the Sultan was not attending this Divan.]

Page 70: However, the prince seemed to yield to the wish of the army. He wrote to Mehemet a letter in which he appealed his father. He approved of his conduct, but he begged for the seals, wishing, he said, to discharge him from a burden too heavy for his age; he invited him to go to Constantinople, promising him all the consideration due to his long service. Mehemet, on the faith of his mater, left the army to reappear on the Divan; but the apology which he still made of his conduct could not spare him from a very considerable fine, to which the Sultan thought it was his duty to condemn those he was accusing of having mollified or appeased the Persians. 

Page 80: Amurat had scarcely expired, when the grand vizier, newly returned from Asia, the mufti, the two cadileskers, the pashas of the bench, and all those entitled to attend the Divan, went there in large numbers: the officers of the janissaries had murmured about the elevation of Ibrahim, the only prince who remain of the Ottoman race, but who was said to be incapable of reigning. The khan of the Tartars, whom the election alone could consider, and who did not know the weakness of Ibrahim, had made no attempt. Kiosem, Valid Sultaness, mother of Ibrahim as of Amurat IV, had so disposed the spirits, that as soon as the emperor was dead, the great officers unanimously agreed that the last scion of the house that had reigned for nearly there centuries alone had the right to the throne. 

Page 81: The new emperor seemed to have ascended the throne only to fall asleep; he abandoned the weight of affairs to his vizier and the Valid Sultaness; their authority was absolute as long as they lived in good intelligence. Kiosk attended the Divan, or rather she listened to what was agitating in this assembly, by a window, covered with a veil, and was considered dangerous, because this opened a gallery of the seraglio, to the room of the Divan, where the Sultans are in a position to hear from there all that is going on between their ministers. Sometimes emperors opened this window to give strict orders according to what they had just heard.]

Page 93: For a long time it had been believed that the large fleet preparing Constantinople was a threat to the Maltese rock. The Grand Master did not doubt that they would not have to pay the spoils which the knights had won and the glory that they had boasted of in having taken a prince of the Ottoman race as their prisoner. All the knights were sent, and all the ports of the island were put in a defensive position, but it was represented in the Divan that Malta had already been attacked without success; that this conquest, probably very painful and very deadly, would produce only the possession of a barren rock; that the orders of St. John would not be taken down, and that it would be reestablished elsewhere; that it was necessary to strike enemies who had more to lose; that since the Venetians were complicit in the contempt of the Ottoman Empire, they had to seize the island of Candia, which would largely compensate for the wrong of which they had to complain. 

Page 94: The expedition was resolved against Candia, but everything was happening on the Divan in the deepest secrecy. It was all the easier to keep, because the preparations appeared to threatened the island of Malta. The Venetians, however, united their vessels and amassed munitions of war and of propaganda, either to defend their possessions or to help their allies. Finally, in the spring of 1645, the Ottoman fleet was able to weigh anchor. It consisted of 82 galleys, 20 vessels, and 300 saïque boats, mounted by 74,000 troops, 15,000 of whom were janissaries or spahis.

Page 107: After this decision, the whole assembly proceeded to the seraglio. They passed through two rows of janissaries; the shapes on horseback filled the Hippodrome and the other squares of Constantinople. The chiefs, having arrived in the hall of the Divan, ordered the white eunuchs to bring Ibrahim from the women’s apartments and to bring him into their presence. This prince, obliged to appear before those whom he had tried to intimidate, resorted to prayers, and to reminders of his benefactions; but the memory of the insults was more recent. The mufti overwhelmed with reproaches the one whom he saw only as the ravisher of his daughter. All who had helped to dethrone this prince had agreed not to dip their hands in his blood. The mufti and the Grand Vizier signaled the Icoglans to drag Ibrahim away to the prison which had already ben prepared for him.

Page 118: Sciaus reassured the child and the mother as much as possible, and thought it necessary to place the young emperor on his throne, in order to expose him to the eyes of those who were to defend him. When he reached the throne room, h found their several viziers, pashas and kadileskers whom the order of Sciaus had called to the seraglio, and who had brought soldiers and ammunition to them. Then the Grand Vizier, speaking, learned from the Divan what he had seen and heard that evening in the mosque of Ortadjami. 

Page 119: He could not refuse the fetfa that the Valid Sultaness, the Grand Vizier, and the whole Divan were earnestly requesting. It was written on tablets: “What must be done with the grandmother of the emperor, who conspired against his grandson and has master?” The mufti wrote: “This woman must die.” At once the Grand Vizier drew up the death warrant, which the Emperor tremblingly sign. This sentence was handed to the Icoglans, who held it over their heads while walking with the troops towards the women’s apartment. The black eunuchs who guarded the gates read this order on their knees, and they allowed a few Icoglans into the apartment where Kiosem was shut up. 

Page 140: In fact the pasha of Buda required contributions from the cities, or left garrisons there. Agassi first wrote to the Porte to demand capitulations and to complaint that he felt nothing but oppression on the part of those whose help he had expected. The slowness of the Porte consumed this unfortunate province; the vaivode got no answer from the Divan. In this extremity, Abassi wrote to the Emperor of the West and the King of Poland to represent to them the unhappy state to which Transylvania was reduced, and to ask for assistance. The monarchs only thought of fortifying their frontiers. 

Page 141: The Austrian minister replied that heaven and earth would be joined before the emperor, his master, could be resolved to sign such a treaty. However, soldiers were transported from all parts of Anatolia. The boats went continually from Scutari to Constantinople. The rendezvous of this numerous army was reported to Sophie for the month of April; and, as early as February, the tughs, or tails of horses, were standing in front of the door of the Divan, a signal of the war. 

Page 153: This feast had already begun, when it was learned that the battle was lost, that the Grand Vizier had retreated with the troops who had not crossed the river, and with the others who had been beaten. The Divan could only advise Muhammad to seek some way of negotiating a prompt peace. The Turks retreated and the Austrians are pressing them hard. Montecuculli had reached them and was preparing to beat them a second time, when letters arrived from the Emperor’s envoy to the Porte, who was detained in the grand vizier’s camp. This minister announced to Montecuculli that the Ottomans wanted to make proposals for peace. Orders soon arrive from Vienna to suspend hostilities. 

Page 178: At the beginning of the year 1673, M. de Nointell, Louis XIV’s ambassador, concluded an advantageous treaty for France; the Greeks had seized the holy places in Jerusalem, and ransom the pilgrims whom devotion brought to the cradle of their faith. It was stipulated that the church of the Holy Sepulcher should be returned to the Latins; that Christians who go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem should not be troubled in any part of Turkey; that the churches of Galata and Pera, belonging to the French, should be rebuilt in case of fire; that the French should have the right to make wine at home and to sell it to all who are not Muslims; that customs duties would be reduced to 3 percent; and, finally, that the differences arising in matters of commerce between the consuls of France and the officers of the Porte, would be decided in the full divan. This treaty had a full execution for all that concerned commerce; but the restitution of the holy places suffered many difficulties by the greed of the pashas and cadis of Palestine, who favored the Greeks, in recognition of the considerable sums which they drew from them unceasingly. 

Page 183: Upon the refusal of the Greeks to return it (the holy places), the Latins thought themselves authorized to form a sort of crusade, to conquer this armed chapel. In the quarrels between Roman Christians and Greeks, Musims always take the side of the latter. The sangiak helped them. Not only did they recover the chapel of Bethlehem, but they dared to attack the Latins as they celebrated Christmas in the Holy Sepulcher. The blood of some religious persons of both parties defiled the sacrifices offered on this holy night to the redeemer of the world. The Latins were defeated, and when they complained to the Divan of the offenses to the treaty, they were told that the titles of the Greeks announced an ancient possession. 

Page 184: Only the claims of the ambassadors were granted, which the Greeks, possessors of the holy places, should allow the pilgrims should be allowed a Latin rite, on the basis of a royalty for which the Greek prelates would pay the Sulan an annual sum; which satisfied the greed of both. This decision, so contrary to the new treaty, was pronounced in full Divan. 

Page 200: All the Christian ministers were ready to take sides in this quarrel, when a sum of fifty purses was furnished by all the English merchants for whom the time consumed in negotiations was causing great injury. Mustapha, fearing that the claims of all the ambassadors would generate a storm in the Divan, which he could not afford to war off, contented himself with this new boon, and handed over the capitulations. 

Page 202: At last the Grand Vizier gave to France and the other ambassadors of the crowned heads the honors which the caprice and pride of his character had previously refused them. However, Mustapha’s credit began to fall; and the first officers of the Divan, who perceived this, were reporting him to the Grand Lord or Sultan, whenever they found occasion. 

Page’206: This power had, as we have seen, concluded with the House of Austria a truce of twenty years, four of which had not expired. When the Grand Vizier proposed to the Divan to send troops to Tekeli, he made a general complaint. Cara Ibrahim, the first pasha of the bench, represented that the faith of the treaties still bound the two empires; that the honor of the Ottoman name was opposed to attaching an ally who had not failed in his engagements. Cara Irahim’s advice echoed that of the Valid Sultaness, the Mufti, and the entire Divan in which several pashas began to speak against the Grand Vizier’s views. Cara Mustapha replied to all these opponents, that a Muslim prince was obliged to extend Mohammad’s faith whenever the opportunity arose; that Hungary seemed to offer itself to the yoke of the East; that Austria was so exhausted that she offered the Porte a vast field to conquer; that the Ottoman Empire should tend to recover all hat had formerly made up the Roman Empire; and that there were always sufficient reasons to fight the infidels when one could hope for victory. Muhammed managed to bring the Valid Sultaness back to his opinion. 

Page 207: Cara Mustapha, after having determined his master to declare war on Austria, appointed to command 10,000 men sent to Count Tekeli, the same Ibrahim who had appeared in the Divan to oppose the rupture of the truce. The vizier, wishing to remove this dangerous rival, in case the troops were beaten, would blame him. Before the departure of these troops, a chiaoux was despatched to the Emperor Leopold, to declare to him that Tekeli and the Hungarian nobility had implored the protection of the Ottoman Empire; that thus the Sultan required that the Emperor Leopold recall the German troops already arrived in Hungary, unless he wished to be considered an offender of the truce. Leopold sent a minister to the Porte to demand the execution of the last treaty, and to represent that he did not refuse the Hungarians the justice that they had affected to ask for in terms of troops, to cover their rebellion with a pretext. 

Page 229: The insinuations of the Sultaness, who had always loved this minister, persuaded the Grand Lord or Sultan that all the harm that the sacrificed pashas had done had been repaired by he wisdom of the vizier. But after the route of Strigonia, and its seizer, had been learned, the immense losses had reduced such a fine army to less than half; when Tekeli, accused by Cara Mustapha, had come to Constantinople to justify his conduct and the memory of those to whom the Grand Vizier had imputed all of these misfortunes; what remained of janissaries with the Sultan, the Divan, and of the Ulemas, began to rise against a minister as unjust as he was imprudent. Unfortunately for Mustapha, the Valid Sultaness died, and the sister of the Emperor, wife of Cara Ibrhahim, who had been the first victim of the Grand Vizier, sent out all those who had complaints to make. The janissaries assembled one day in the courtyard of the seraglio during the holding of the Divan; and when they had heard that the Great Lord or Sultan, frightened, had just himself up inside of his harem, they protested that they would not eat until the death and dishonor of their leaders and their comrades was avenged by the torment of those to whom the were to be imputed. 

Page 230: The ministers charge the Kilsar Aga with telling Muhammad about the danger of a riot, which he had always feared more than anyone. No one spoke in favor of Mustapha; the defterdar added to all of the reasons for proscribing this minster, that his succession would return to the treasury all the money which had been drawn from it to raise a numerous army which his obstincy, his incapacity, and his cowardice had dissipated. Mahomet went out of the hraem to sign the order condemning the Grand Vizier to perish by the cordon; he was shown to the magistrates who were besieging the doors of the Divan; the sight of him calm them and dispersed them immediately. 

Page 241: The Seraskier Soliman pasha, summoned like the other two generals, thought for a time that the fate was destined for him. But his success had turned to him the eyes of the princes, of his minister, and of the whole Divan, as if upon whom the hopes of the Empire awaited or depended. The Grand Lord or Sultan wrote to him in his own hand, a rare honor in the East; he told him that he was reserved because of his talents and his valor to restore the affairs of the Ottoman Empire. 

Page 252: These sacrifices and promises, however, could not appease the mutineers, and the army was advancing in long days. The Sultan assembled his Divan every day; he descended to justifications, and even to prayers. The pashas and the lawyers answered by telling him that they were not the ons to win. 

Page 256: The two effendis were immediately conducted to the apartment in which Prince Soliman was kept. This prince, who was 46 years old, constantly meditate on the Koran, and had never taken part in the intrigues and revolutions which had several times threatened his life. He had, or appeared to have, some difficulties in accepting the Empire, saying that the habit of a retreat of forty years had allowed him to acquire other knowledge than that of the Koran and the Sunnah. “Mighty emperor,” replied the chief of the Emirs, “that law which you have studied is the one with which you will govern us; it is also that which your brother has so indignantly transgressed. God and the holy prophet command you, by our voice, to come and sit on the throne of your fathers.” The new emperor obeyed with an affected repugnance. He was clothed in a robe lined with sable fur, the three egrets were put on his turban, and the dagger adorned with diamonds, marks of sovereignty. He was brought into the Divan hall, where all the great officers and the principal scholars were waiting to kiss the hem of his jacket. 

Page 257: While being conducted to this ceremony, he asked what would become of the dethroned prince; when the answer given was that Mahomet would occupy the apartment from which he had just been removed, Suleiman, whether from pity or fear of the reproaches of his brother, pray that he should not be required to meet him. This prince showed by his timid countenance that the pomp which surrounded him and the authority with which he would soon be overwhelmed were also foreign to him. He confirmed the Grand Vizier Sciaus Pasha in his dignity, as well as all of the officers who composed the Divan.   

Page 263: The certainty that it would soon come into his hands cooled the ardor of the devotees of Soliman. He put at the head of the army, which he no longer wanted to command, the sergeant Rejeb, formerly a brigadier, who was supposed to have great talents for the war, because he had desolated Asia, and had made himself formidable to the pashas, and the members of the Divan, who had found it safer to admit it than undertake to punish him, were frightened. 

Page 266: Mustapha was deposed and sent into exile to one of the islands of the Archipelago, after seeing his property confiscated. This unfortunate vizier, full of sorrow, survived only a few months of his disgrace. Kiupruli, recently at the head of the Divan, changed the whole interior of the administration, and proved that the resources of a great state are immense, when order and economy are succeeded by depredations. However pressing the need for money, Kiupruli began by relieving Constantinople and the provinces of an arbitrary tax which his predecessor had placed on meat. This unexpected liberality filled the people with joy, and all the officers with surprise. 

Page 288: The Grand Vizier Parabolas Ali wished to place on the throne, Ibrahim, son of Achmet, who was only three years old. He ordered the officers of the seraglio, witnesses of the death of their master, to hide this event. The vizier and the mufti knew Mustapha for a prince who would like to reign. They hoped, on the contrary, to be absolute masters under the name of a child. While deliberating on the Divan, no longer about the choice of sovereign, but on how to proclaim the chosen, the Seliktar Aga and the Chiaoux Pacha appeared in the assembly: they command the Mufti and the Grand Vizier to go immediately to prostrate themselves at the feet of Mustapha II, who was waiting for them on the throne. 

Page 292: Mustapha made Elmas Pasha, who had won his confidence, his grand vizier. During deliberations in the Divan about the maritime operations of the ensuing campgin, a pirate of Tunis, named Mezzomorto, hearing that it was proposed to remain on the defensive, raised his voice, and assured that if he were entrusted with four ships and eight galleys, he would take back the island of Cyprus. To some objections of the captain Pacha, who seemed to want to impose silence on him, the sailor explained his project, the success of which depended on the divisions between the Latins and Greeks, which were extreme, and on the ease of approaching the island. Mustapha, who heard this discussion from behind the curtain of the dangerous window, ordered that Mezzomorto be given the resources and the crew which he judged necessary for this conquest; the pirate justified the trust of his master. 

Page 293: The Grand Lord or Sultan having learned of these succeses, deposed the captain pacha, and conferred his dignity on the pirate of Tunis, and made him a pasha of the bench. In spite of these honors, Mezzomorto never wish to quit the sailor’s uniform, in which he always appeared at the Divan as on the ships. “If the captains pasha, my predecessors,” said he, “had never worn this habit or robe, the navy of the Empire would be in better condition; instead of taking back what they have lost, I would have made new conquests.” Ever since Mezzomorto, the captains pasha have always worn the sailor’s habit, although made of rich stuffs and precious furs. 

Page 298: Finally Mustapha was ready to form the siege of Peterwaradin, believing that Prince Eugene was encamped under Ségedin, until he perceived the Austrian army advancing between the Turks and the place that they wished to besiege. It would be necessary for them to pass the Danube on a bridge they had recently built to attack the enemy before forming the siege. It was the opinion of the Grand Vizier, who presented it with authority in the Divan; but an old pasha of the bench, called Coja Jafer, strongly opposed the proposed project, saying that his experience of wars with the Germans had taught him that in the plain their superiority was infinite. 

Page 299: He recalled their resistance in recent battles, and said that in order to profit by the superiority of numbers, it was necessary to wait until on was attacked. All the pashas were of Jafer’s opinion. The Grand Vizier, indignant at this slowness, perhaps even more so from a pacha inferior to him, to train the votes, replied angrily, calling him a traitor. Jafer exclaimed: “Sublime Emperor, if you hear me, draw the curtain that veils you, and judge for the interest of your glory between your grand vizier and myself.” Mustapha was indeed behind the veil which, in the pavilion of the camp, as in the hall of the Divan of Constantinople, represents the dangerous window, and serves the emperor to hear everything without being sen. The Sultan appeared, and Jafer represents to him with renewed force the reasons for the retrenchment, in order to oblige the enemy to make the first motion and to bear the first blows. Mustapha, presumptuous as he was, bent over the old Pasha’s feeling. 

Page 318: The Grand Vizier proposed that the Sultan give him a pachalik; but the mufti, of whom Rami was a creature, sensed the trap; interested in supporting the work of peace, he obtained that Rami, instead of being a one-tails pasha in some small province of Asia, would be a three-tailed pasha of the bench, a member of the Divan, without any particular pachalik demanding any other residence than that of the court. Daltaban realized that another credit of his hand admitted to the Divan the one he had claimed to raise only to later precipitate his fall. 

Page 319: Mustapha, too accustomed to taking all the impressions that the mufti Fesula wanted to give him, saw Daltaban only as a traitor and an assassin, and the time of his death had been resolved; but as the vizier was supposed to be rebellious, a pretext was needed to draw him away from the seraglio. He was told to come and confer with the Emperor about a khatdi-sherif, which he mediated. The grand vizier, coming to the seraglio and entering the hall of the Divan to wait for the chief of the white eunuchs to introduce him to the Grand Lord or Sultan, saw with some surprise that the bostangis were guarding the doors of the hall, where he found no one. Soon after the Chiaoux Pachi appeared and asked the Grand Vizier, on behalf of Mustapha, for the seals of the Empire. 

Page 325: Mustapha, upon reading the manifesto, ordered that a march against the rebels. He assembled the leaders of the Divan, and made them swear that they would shed their blood for his defense. Then Grand Vizier Rami put himself at the head of about 15,000 men who were at his disposal. The mufti Festal issued a fetfa in opposition to that of the rebellious mufti. As soon as the rebels saw the troops coming out of Adrianople, they took up arms and advanced in battle array. 

Page 327: Mustapha, in fact, had no sooner read the letter addressed to his brother, than he himself bore it, and having kissed this prince, said: “Since heaven wishes it, go up to my place on the throne of our ancestors; remember, as long as I was your master, I treated you kindly. I give you all my rights; but do not forget that your elevation is the work of a few rebels who will treat you the same way if you leave their crime unpunished.”

He begged his brother to go to the Divan room, and he remains in the apartment that the prince was leaving.

Mustapha came down from the throne on August 24, 1702, forty years old, after ruling seven years. The beginnings of his reign had given great hopes; but his blind confidence in the mufti Fezula had enervated his soul, extinguished his lights, and was the cause of his loss. He died of dropsy a year after he was deposed.

Page 328: Acumet went to the throne room, accompanied by all the officers of the seraglio who had led his brother away; he ordered the grand vizier, the mufti, all the chief officers of the ulema, the Divan, and the army to pay their tribute. Though he had kept the words of Mustapha in his heart, he received with kindness those to whom he owed his elevation, and he enlisted in the army. Knowing that Mustapha had been accused of staying in Adrianople, he returned to his capital, where he held the sword of Othman. Achmet was thirty-six years old; he was not without instruction. 

Page 333: Then there was a new spectacle in the Ottoman Empire: a Sultan who neglected his harem to go disguise to seek his mistress in a foreign house, and who held council, no longer in the Divan, but in the apartment of the woman of his grand vizier, where this minister received the orders of his master and the one who was said to be his wife. The credit of Sarai was such that the Valid Sultaness sometimes sought the support of the woman whom she had removed from the frank of Hassessky. 

Page 346: Charles XII had intercepted letters addressed to the khan of the Tartars, according to which he persuaded himself that there were plans to remove him during his journey, and to deliver him to the king of Poland; and although he had received from the Sultan 1200 purses to pay his debts, he was confirmed more and more in his determination to not leave because anything could happen. The king, having this new motive for prolonging his stay, asked for a thousand purses or scholarships from his envoy to the Sultan. His highness was angry and sent the prisoner to prison, having assembled the Divan and expounded on all that he had done for the King of Sweden, to whom he had generously grand hospitality, and asked if he was not allowed to return it by fair means or foul. The whole Divan replied that the Grand Lord or Sultan was acting with justice, and the mufti immediately gave his fetfa. The Pasha of Bender, having received the order and the fetfa, went to Varnrtz to inquire whether the king wanted to leave as a friend, or to be reduced by the orders of the Sultan. Charles XII threatened was not master of his anger. 

Page 351: When Stanislaus was near that city, the Pasha, who was returning after having accompanied Charles XII, a few miles away, sent a magnificently harnessed Arabian horse to the King of Poland, and had him welcomed at Bender by the sound of artillery. Meanwhile the Divan, irritated by the King of Sweden, threatened to relegate him to one of the islands of the Archipelago. It seems that it was proposed to also relegate King Stanislaus to one of these islands, but a few months later the Sultan released him. 

Page 357: Europe did not know what power was threatened; but it was obvious that an expedition by sea was planned. The rumor spread that an attack on the rock of Malta was intended. Coumourgi was not sorry that this error was growing stronger. The Grand Master of the Order sent a declaration to all of the knights, and increased the fortifications of the island. When it was no longer possible to doubt the designs of the Turks on the Morea, the Emperor Charles VI offered to mediate; but the Divan always answered with assurances of an inviolable fidelity to the existing treaties. 

Page 360: The Austrian resident told the Porte that if they did not accept the mediation of the Emperor, this monarch would declare war on them. The Divan had already made preparations. The square of Temeswar was repaired; the column that were to compose the army marched on various sides to Adrianople, where they were reviewed by the Sulan; he entrusted the fleet to the Captain Pacha to attempt the conquest of Corfu, and commanded 150,000 men under the command of his Grand Master Coumourgi, who had never commanded or even served in the lower ranks.

The Vizier had declared war on the vow of the ulema. The effendis The effendis said that a treaty had been breached although the Germans had not missed; that God would not bless the weapons of the Great Lord or Sultan. Coumorgi, wishing to quell these rumors, assembled the Divan and admitted all of the mullas of Adrianople. The mufti, when asked if he would give his fetfa, replied submissively that his fetfa was ready, and immediately he read it.

Page 364: The Grand Seignior or Sultan, during the first bout of his fright, was thinking of returning to Constantinople, but the plague, which was ravaging this great city in a dreadful manner, and the assurance given by his ministers that it was safe to stay in Adrianople, changed his plan. Several members of the Divan wanted to take advantage of this terror to inspire a desire for peace; but the moment was not favorable for starting a treaty. Besides, it was hoped that France would make a diversion to preoccupy the Germans.]

Page 370: The Grand Vizier had neither good intentions nor the same views. A multitude of cases were judged in Turkey on the sole confirmation of the witnesses. Ibrahim, revolted by the multitude of what he was sure were false testimonies, resolved to frighten the guilty by examples. He made the Divan carry imaginary causes. The pretended litigants addressed those who made a profession of selling their testimony. More than fifty of these unfortunates attested to chance what they had been charged to certify, without suspecting the snare laid for them. It was not difficult to convict them of this crime, and they were all impaled on the same day.

Page 373: These successes alarmed the Turks. The khan of the Crimean Tartars demanded that the Russians should fortify their conquests, and maintain intelligence with the Prince of Georgia; that if the Ottomans remained inactive, Russia would spread so much that all of the possessions fo the Porte in Asia would be surrounded. Achmet did not like war; his grand vizier feared it as much as he did. The officers of the Divan and those of the janissaries, however, said loudly that it would be too shameful and too fatal for the Ottoman Empire to let the czar of Russia seize Perisa. Forced by these maneuvers, the Grand Vizier made preparations. The Pashas had orders to assemble the troops of their governments. 

Page 375: In Constantinople the war against Russia was the only topic of conversation. Th Pasha of Diarbekir had entered the province of Erivan; and the Pasha of Van, invited by the Armenians of Nakivan, dissatisfied with Thamas, had seized this country without striking a blow. The Grand Vizier having summoned a general Divan, attended by the principal ulemas and the chiefs of the militia, the dragoman of the Porte spoke for the ambassador of France, mediator. 

Page 386: Ibrahim thought he was stifling the discontent of the people by announcing that the grand seignior or Sultan would himself march at the head of a considerable army. He made the levies begin, and replied to the ambassador of Persia that with the help of God, the Sword of the Sumnits would defend their conquests against the detractors of the law. Achmet passed the strait with great pomp, and went to Scutari, where the court remained for some days in tents; but he did not take a long time to change his way of life, and soon returned to a pleasure palace called the Mirrors, to find his wives, his heaps of gold, and engage in the most futile occupations. All the officers of the divan followed his example in the houses which each had on the banks of the Bosphorus. 

Page 390: He learned that the rebels, encamped in the Ameidan, were guarding them as if the enemy; that the patrols roamed the city, where fires had been lit to avoid surprises; advice was given at that very hour; all the officers of the Divan had returned from Scutari, with the grand seignior or sultan, and the wiser ones said that, without delay, it was necessary to gather as many troops as the seraglio and the odas could provide, to arm all that would have zeal and courage, and to attack the rebels, while their number was not very considerable; but the great lord or sultan, to whom this plan was proposed, preferred to wait for the daylight, adding that the rebels appeared to be peaceful, and that the orders he would then send them could disperse them. 

Page 392: Patrona Calil, whose army was growing visibly, sent a body of six hundred men a short distance from the sacred standard: Ali, who commanded it, was ordered to deflect by promises and threats those who would appear to wish to rank under the banner of Mahomet, and to charge this troop in case of necessity. This precaution was very useful to the rebels, and the standard remained almost isolated. The inaction, the confusion which reigned in the seraglio, announced the terror of the master and of the whole Divan. They had wished to assemble the bostangis; but fear had scattered them, to the point that it was scarcely possible to gather thirty. The icoglans were too few to be opposed, even to Ali's troupe. The capitan pasha, braver than the other members of the Divan, wished to gather his levantis; he ordered the galleys to be brought to the point of the seraglio; he walked there himself. Four hundred levantis had already been landed, and the box or drum was beaten to gather the others, when the small flags of Patrona appeared. He had not lost a moment since he had learned of the movement of the galleys. Two battalions, advancing in good order, fired point-blank at the levantis, who were not yet forma for battle. 

Page 396: In the midst of the dreary silence that Zadi's speeches had occasioned, the viziers were informed that Achmet was ordering an assembly of the divan, at which he wished to be present. The pashas entered the palace, followed by the effendis. And as the emperor asked in an altered voice if the rebels were still in arms in the Ameidan, and what they could still desire: "Lord, tell him the effendi with assurance, your reign is finished; your subjects no longer want you as master; they ask loudly for your nephew Mahmut. You flatter yourself in vain for a return.” At these words the prince turned pale; but having resumed his wits: "Why did not I learn the truth sooner?” he said. “Everyone follow me.” Immediately he went to the prison of Mahmut with his cortege; and having taken this prince by the hand, said: "Fate has pronounced for you," leading him to the hall of the Divan. “I give you the throne that my brother resigned me on a similar occasion.”

Page 399: Mahmut gave a hundred thousand sequins to him who had placed him on the throne, and to let his master retire where he pleased. “I do not need money,” said the rebel, “since all the purses of Constantinople are at my service,” and he added, throwing a lightning glance at the Aga: “Never meddle with what looks at me, if you do not want to suffer the fate of your lieutenant." The rebel, seeing that his master had the design of removing him, redoubled his audacity and license, either to enforce it or to enrich himself before his disgrace. Although the greater number of Janissaries had laid down their arms, Patrona, Muslu, and Ali, presented themselves every day on the Divan, armed with large scimitars; they sat together next to the grand vizier, giving orders in his name, and almost always in spite of himself; they forced the vizier to name their creatures, without the minister daring to resist them. He even appointed a butcher of his friends to the dignity of Prince of Moldavia. Soon it was learned that Patrona wanted to replace the grand vizier, with one more suited to his devotion: he intended the office of Aga of the janissaries for Muslu, and himself claimed to be captain pasha. 

Page 400: In order to dispose of it safely, it was resolved that it would appear that an order had been given by Patrona to admit only a few persons to a Divan which he had organized; thirty years later, after the three tyrants had been brought into the seraglio, they were held in the last court. The only pachas on the bench and a few effendis admitted into the assembly alone, were not surprised to be separated from their courtyard, and to see in the hall of the Divan some gossip, about needing to wait for the orders that would have to be worn. It was agreed, in a word, that the Grand Vizier should say, the claws would be thrown on the three rebels and on two effendis to whom sangiakas had just been distributed, in order to make them lose the exemption to this plea that was enjoyed by all the members of the ulema. 

Page 410: Topal, who had the advantage of the position, beat his opponent again, killing 7,000 men, and taking 3,000 prisoners. He pursued the Persians relentlessly, reached them at Keilan, a town six leagues from Kerkoud, and beat them a third time. Then Thamas Kuli-Kan sent two deputies to ask the conqueror for peace. The Divan was ready to declare war on Russia. These were the motives: a Muscovite army opposed the passage of the Tartars into Persia, and moreover this power, together with the Emperor Charles VI, had sent troops to Poland to support the election of King Augustus II against that of King Stanislas Lecsinski, whom the Poles had called a second time to their throne, and who was favored by the kings of France, Spain, and Sardinia. M. de Villeneuve, ambassador of France at Constantinople, showed the Divan that his interest was to oppose the choice of the emperor of the West. 

Page 411: The discontent was at its height, when two months later it was learned that Achmet, Pasha of Baghdad, who was plenipotentiary for peace with Topal Osman, had concluded, just after the death of his colleague, a treaty with Persia, by which all of Georgia was returned. The muphti, after having lamented in the Divan the loss of Topal Osman, whom he attributed less to the iron of the Persians than to the malice of his enemies, declared that the peace which had just been made with the usurper of the Persia, was against the letter and the spirit of the Koran, which forbids the voluntary surrender to infidels or heretics of the places in which a legitimate worship has been rendered to God. The cries of the effendis and all the Muslims were such that the vizier was compelled to appear to disapprove of the peace. 

Page 412: But the Divan demanded that France promise not to leave arms until the Ottoman Empire had made peace. Louis XV and Cardinal de Fleury, his minister, were reluctant to make an alliance with the Muslims against a Catholic power. During reviewing the temperaments or attitudes, a treaty of pacification was concluded between the houses of Austria and Bourbon. France and King Stanislaus renounced all claims, either in Italy or in Poland, to the property of Lorraine, which Stanislas was to enjoy the rest of his life. The Turks soon knew that they could not hope for any diversion on this side. While the Divan foresaw a war against Russia, with which it was still feared that Charles VI would unite, it was learned that Abdala, far from following the instructions he had received, had dared to measure himself with Thamas Kouli-Kan. and that he had been beaten flat out near Erivan. 

Page 414: The Czarina exhibited there, for reasons of rupture, the races made by the Tartars on Muscovite lands, and the refusal of the Porte to repress them. The Empress, however, foresaw the possibility of accommodation. The ambassadors of England, of Holland, and the residence of the Emperor, offered their mediation. The Turks had motives for defying these powers; the Emperor had the greatest interest in weakening them; England and Holland were linked with the house of Austria. But the Divan, led by a eunuch and by women, showed only weakness and incapacity.

Page 442: The Janissaries, degenerate and degraded, had preserved nothing of their old discipline; the spahis, ruined and softened by luxury, were unable to enter the field; Egypt was agitated and Mecca threatened by the Wahabis. Mustapha yielded to the peaceful advice of the Divan, and contented himself with the assurances Catherine gave him, that he would withdraw his troops from Poland, and that the nobility of that kingdom would be restored to its dignity and independence. 

Page 461: The Turks had left the Danube in disorder, and the fugitives returned to Constantinople at the very moment when that city had just learned of the burning of the fleet and the appearance of the Russians at the Dardanelles. In the midst of these calamities, the Sultan thought that the glory of the empire must bow before the salvation of his people and the will of Heaven. He summoned a Divan to which the principal members of the ulema and all the pashas of the first order were called. "The courts of Vienna and Berlin offer me their mediation," said the Ottoman Emperor; the basis of the negotiations which they propose to open would be that the two belligerent nations would return to their limits, and that the Russians would undertake to evacuate Poland. Thus the true object of war would be fulfilled, and the justice of nations and sovereigns would be satisfied.”

The Divan opted for peace; but during the negotiations, Mustapha made new efforts to support the war. New reinforcements were sent to the army of the Danube, which was entrusted, as well as the seals of the empire, to Schifar Mohammed. Forty thousand Bosnians or Albanians were recruited, and the Baron de Tott ordered a considerable quantity of artillery and ammunition for Varna. But disorder and indiscipline made all these efforts almost useless. 

Page 468: On the shores of the Adriatic, two pachas appeared to be rebellious to their sovereign's orders. Mahmout, in Scutari, and Ali, in Janina, braved the threats of the Divan in the midst of their troops and fortresses. To the east of the empire, Achmet, who ruled Baghdad, was no longer subject; but he repressed the Persians, and preserved the integrity of his territory.]

Page 473: To make matters worse, the Russians demanded that Prince Repnin, their ambassador, make his public entrance to Constantinople, escorted by six hundred armed men. The conditions of such a disadvantageous treaty excited the just alarms of the Divan. It was not difficult to foresee that the independence of the Tartars was only a first step in their meeting with Russia, and that the safety of the capital itself might be compromised by the introduction of the Russian fleets into the Black Sea. As soon as peace had allowed the Porte to cast a glance at the state of its provinces, it took care to punish the traitors who had favored the enemy and the rebels who had increased the disorders during the war. A capidji was charged with bringing to Constantinople the head of Ghicca, hospodar of Moldavia, who had not known how to hide his inclination for Russia. The minister of vengeance of the Divan was able to fill his sinister mission with as much skill as success.

Page 476: The Greeks of Bulgaria crowded past the Danube to take advantage of the privileges granted to Wallachians and Moldavians. At the same time, on the banks of the Nieper, was the city of Cherson, whose port was to contain the fleets that Russia was building on the Black Sea. The policy of the Porte, both weak and cruel, could only alienate more and more the Christians subjected to Ottoman rule. The general proscription of all the Greeks was proposed in the Divan; and without the opposition of the capitan pasha, perhaps the judgment of extermination would have been pronounced. But Hassan soon tarnished the glory that such a noble resistance would have acquired for him. Charged with punishing the Greeks who had taken part in the last insurrection, he went to the Morea, and after having beheaded all the inhabitants whom he judged guilty, he had a pyramid erected with these heads, which outlined all the ferocity of these barbarous peoples. 

Page 478: However, the weak and unhappy Saïm-Gueray, displeased with the Russians, who had abandoned him, was reluctant to yield to the treacherous insinuations of the Divan, which offered him asylum in Constantinople. As soon as he entered the Ottoman territory, he was exiled to Rhodes, and soon put to death. 

Page 479: These arrangements were maintained by the envoys of London and Berlin. They represented to the Sultan that the circumstances were favorable to erase the shame of the last treaties. Prussia promised to hold the Emperor of Germany in check if it were necessary, and England declared that Sweden and Poland would arm in favor of Turkey. Emboldened by these promises, the Divan demanded of Catherine the evacuation of Georgia, the extradition of the Prince of Moldova, Mauro Cordato, who, unfaithful to the grand seignior or sultan, had taken refuge in Russia, and the right to visit the Russian ships, when they passed the walls of Constantinople. 

Page 495: Prince Repnin had just repulsed Joussouf Pasha, who had been recalled to the Vizierate: the place of Varna, the granary of Constantinople, and the Ottoman armies, found themselves threatened again; but the events which had just broken out in France acquired such a character of gravity that England and Prussia interposed between Russia and the divan to put an end to hostilities. The negotiations opened at Galacz prepared a definitive treaty, which was concluded at Yassi on January 9, 1792. 

Page 503: Meanwhile the ambassadors of London, Vienna, and St. Petersburg prevailed; it was decided that M. de Semonville should not be received, and the pashas had orders to oppose his passage. But some time after, the French armies having obtained advantages over the imperial troops, this circumstance induced the Divan to put the matter under deliberation. As, according to the religious ideas of the Turks on predestination, victory is a gift from Heaven and an effect of the judgments of God, it follows that in their eyes the strongest are always right. It was therefore resolved that M. Descorches, who had just been substituted for M. de Semonville by the French Government, should be admitted and recognized as ambassador of the republic. At the same time the Porte occupied itself with putting the frontiers of the empire in a state of defense. 

Page 505: But soon troubles of an even more serious nature broke out on the banks of the Danube. The Pasha of Widdin, so-called Passewan Oglou, raised the banner of the revolt, and drew into his party several other pashas and governors of cities. The rebels seized Orsowa and Tirlova, and threatened Servia and Wallachia with an invasion. At this unfortunate news the divan ordered fifty thousand men to be assembled under the walls of Adrianople, where the Beglierbey de Romelie, Akir Pasha, went at the head of four thousand Janissaries to take command of the army. This seraskier easily succeeded in dispersing the brigands who infested Bulgaria and part of Romania; then he obtained some successes against the rebels of the Danube. 

Page 508: The advantages which Akir Pasha had first gained over Passewan Oglou were followed by setbacks which led to the dismissal of the head of the Ottoman army. The Divan substituted for him the Beglierbey of Anatolia, Alo Pasha; but before he had reached the Danube with a reinforcement of Asian troops, the rebels had seized several fortresses and made further progress. At the same time, a frightful event resulted in the destruction of part of the city of Smyrna. 

Page 509: The Divan, frightened by the number and audacity of the partisans of Passewan Oglou, charged the Prince of Wallachia to begin a negotiation with him; but the rebel carried his pretensions so loudly that all conciliation became impossible. Then his head was priced at sixty thousand piastres, and new levies were ordered from all sides. 

Page 516: The old vizir Mehemet was deposed and replaced by the Pasha of Erzerum, Amidin Jusuf However, it was still swayed for some time to declare war on the oldest ally of the empire. But the representations and proceedings of the ministers of London and Petersburg, as well as the news successively received from the progress of the French army in Egypt, finally determined the Divan to conclude a treaty with England and Russia, an alliance in which these three powers guaranteed the integrity of their territory. 

Page 526: Bonaparte on the same day made his entry into the capital of Egypt with his staff, and published the next day the following proclamation: "People of Cario, I am happy with your conduct: you did well to take sides against me. I came to destroy the race of the Mamelukes, protect the trade and the natives of the country. May all those who are afraid be calmed; that all who are far away return to their homes; that prayer takes place today as usual, as I want it to continue always; do not be afraid for you, families, houses, your  properties, and especially for the religion of the prophet, whom I love. As it is urgent that tranquility be not disturbed, there will be a Divan of seven persons, who will meet at the great mosque; there will always be two members of this Divan near the commandant of the place, and four will be busy maintaining order and watching over the police.” 

Page 539: Then Bonaparte ordered to save the suppliants and to stop the fire. However, fourteen sheikhs and lawyers having been appointed as the principal authors of the sedition, eleven of them were condemned to death; six were shot in the square of Ezbekieh; the others were beaten. Several members of the divan having been compromised in the revolt, this assembly was dissolved; but two months after, the general-in-chief being satisfied with the calm of the inhabitants of Cairo, ordered the formation of a new council, composed of the principal sheikhs of Cairo and the environs, of which there were sixty. 

Page 543: It was on his journey to Suez that the general-in-chief learned of the occupation of Fort El Arich on the road to Syria in Egypt, by a detachment of the Mamelukes of Ibrahim Bey and the troops of Djezzar. Informed, moreover, that the Grand Seigneur or Sultan formally declared himself against the French, he prepared to lead his army on new fields of battle. In the last few years the Pasha of Acre, Achmet Djezzar, had shown himself little subject to the orders of the Divan; but the invasion of the French into Egypt put an end to this misunderstanding. Anticipating that, after having established their dominion in this country, they would turn their arms towards Syria, Djezzar hastened to make common cause with Ibrahim Bey and with the Porte, in order to resist the army of which he was threatened. Bonaparte was in fact meditating an expedition on Syria, when he learned that the Pacha of Acre had already put troops in motion, and had seized the fort of El-Arich which is situated on the borders of Egypt. 

Page 558: Kleber was at Rosette, when he received the letters by which Bonaparte, announcing his departure, invested him with the command of the troops and the colony. He went to Cairo immediately, to be recognized by the army, the members of the Divan, the sheikhs and the ulemas of that capital. He promised the people of Egypt to respect their religion, and to take care of their  happiness. "Reassure yourself," said he to the assembled Muslims, "the government of Egypt has passed into other hands; but all that can be relative to your happiness, to your prosperity, will be constant and immutable.”