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Updated: May 1, 2025
The soldiers were to remain quietly in their quarters, and not to mingle with the revolters. "Wait quietly for three hours, and, if you receive no message from me by that time, him bashis, you may allow the soldiers to go out and satisfy their curiosity. Now go and wait until then." The insurgents had again repaired to the house of the defterdar, situated on the square of the Esbekieh.
Taher Pacha thinks differently. During the night he had examined the books of the defterdar, held a prisoner in his house, and had been compelled to admit that he was innocent, and had no money with which to pay off the soldiers. On the following morning he announced to his soldiers that the defterdar was innocent, and the viceroy alone guilty.
If the defterdar does not pay up we will tear him to pieces, and pay ourselves with his flesh!" "Let us surround his house, and keep him prisoner until he gives us our pay!" yelled the soldiers, as they scaled the garden-wall and surrounded the house. The terrified defterdar sent a messenger through a secret passage into the street, to convey intelligence of what had happened to the viceroy.
His Nubian slave now enters and announces to his master that the sarechsme, Mohammed Ali, stands without, awaiting his pleasure. Cousrouf's countenance quickly assumes a friendly expression. "Leave me, defterdar, and await me in the next room. I shall not detain the sarechsme long." The defterdar withdrew, and the Nubian slave opened the door to admit the general.
In accordance with this demand, the soldiers had then repaired to the house of the defterdar, and had, upon admission being denied them, broken down the doors. The minister of finance, however, rid himself of them by telling them to demand their pay of Mohammed Ali, who had a few days before received ten purses of gold from the viceroy for the payment of the troops.
The messenger returned by the same secret passage to his master, and delivered the viceroy's message, and the delighted defterdar presented himself on the balcony once more. "Go to the citadel, to the viceroy, he will receive you, and give you your money; I have none!" "Allah il Allah !" cried the soldiers. "The viceroy is a great man! He will deal justly with us!"
Fierce cries now resounded from below: "We will not be trodden under foot like dogs! We are no beggars! Give us our pay, Mohammed Ali! The defterdar sends us to you! You have our money, and we want it!" He sprang to the window, tore it open, and, in tones that were heard above the uproar, commanded silence. "The defterdar has deceived you. I have no money! I will come down to you."
The Defterdar, after commending my openness, said, 'I suspect that you will find very little to remark in the pashalik of Silistria. It is an agricultural country, and the majority of the inhabitants are Turks. The Rayahs are very peaceable, and pay few taxes, considering the agricultural wealth of the country.
They have been allowed to accumulate wealth here, without bearing any of the burdens of government." "You are right: it should be done. My defterdar shall take the necessary steps at once. The Levantines and Franks shall be made to pay this very day, and your soldiers shall have the money." Bardissi hastily departed to give the necessary instructions.
The sarechsme assents with a gracious inclination of the head, and smiles benignantly on the finance minister. "We understand each other right well, my good defterdar. You are right; go in advance, and announce me to the viceroy." He waited a short time in the court-yard, conversing with the soldiers who gathered around him to complain of their wrongs.
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