Some Further Account of the Affairs Relative to Kaniza — The Arrival of the Commander-in-chief at Sigetwar
The commander-in-chief, Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, notwithstanding the opposition which had been manifested against his marching towards Kaniza, during the cold season, forced his way as far as Sigetwar. After the weather had become more intensely cold, a spirit of envy and insubordination began to manifest itself among his troops. They assembled together in a tumultuous manner, and attacked the Commander-in-chief’s tent with stones; and three days afterwards, when order seemed to have been restored, they broke loose and set off for Belgrade. This took place on the 12th of Jemadi II. However, the commander-in-chief received a letter from Hasan which announced to him the success which had been obtained over the enemy in their expulsion from Kaniza, and which gave him great joy. On the same day, towards evening, he received another from the same quarter, intimating the complete dispersion and defeat of the whole of the enemy’s army, a copy of which he immediately transmitted to Constantinople. He afterwards issued orders to the various troops to go into winter-quarters. He himself remained at Shuklúshka. On the 15th of the above month, one division of the troops, on its return, reached the bridge of Usk, and passed over in safety; but the next division was not quite so fortunate. Owing to the great and severe frost which had commenced, the river Drave was frozen over, and on the 20th, when the next division was crossing this bridge, it fell. All that were on it, at the time, perished. It was repaired, however, in two or three days afterwards.
Hasan Páshá, the celebrated governor of Kaniza, went to Shuklúshka to pay his respects to the commander-in-chief, who, in return, showed to the heroic Páshá every mark of esteem, and granted a favourable reception to every request he made to him. The government of Kústandil was conferred on Meseli Beg, and Korah Omar Aghá was confirmed in the sanjakship of Petcheví. To each of the veteran soldiers who sustained the siege along with him five pieces of money were allowed, besides the provisions which were due. Hasan Páshá dispatched his lieutenant, Iskender Páshá, to court, whose arrival there gave the emperor the sincerest joy. He approved of the distribution and appointments which had been made, and raised Hasan to be one of his favourite vezírs. Three robes of honour, a richly ornamented sword, and three beautiful horses, were sent as presents to the celebrated páshá. The commander-in-chief, in like manner, conferred marks of esteem upon him, and sent his lieutenant, Mustafa Khetkodá, to Petcheví, to furnish provisions for Kaniza, and then set out for Belgrade.
In consequence, however, of the violence of the mountain-like masses of ice which drifted down the Save, the bridges on that river were broken down, and the returning troops had to cross it in boats. In this journey they suffered great hardship, and had to overcome many difficulties before they reached Belgrade. About this time the ághá of the janissaries, Alí Aghá, was sent to Constantinople in order to negotiate a marriage between Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, the commander-in-chief and prime minister to the Ottoman emperor, and the sultana, the widow of the late prime minister, Ibrahím Páshá.
The following is a copy of a letter from the grand sultán to Hasan Páshá in reference to his brave and wise conduct during the siege of Kaniza. After having referred to the great glory which had accrued this year, by his instrumentality, to the Ottoman empire, he says, that the celebrated name of his choice servant, his prudent vezír, the beglerbeg of Kaniza, Hasan Páshá, was to be inserted among the other great and celebrated names recorded in the annals of the empire. He then proceeds: “I have appointed you a vezír; and may my servants who were with you in the siege of Kaniza, and who, in a peculiar sense, are my children, receive a benediction; who, beyond all conception, exemplified the most strenuous courage, not regarding their own lives in their faithfulness to their religion and to us; who in the most arduous struggle of human exertion never once flinched from the dangers of either fire or water; who manfully and heroically maintained their ground on the batteries of Kaniza; who in open battle, on the field of blood, discomfited, routed the hateful enemy, and hewed them down whenever they attempted to rally; who caused the iron-cased host to fly, leaving all their valuables a prey to their pursuers; and, in one word, who acquired peculiar glory by their unexampled heroism. We therefore request that in every thing they continue to manifest towards you the most implicit obedience, which will secure to them our approbation. You will read this letter, which contains the expression of our will, in the presence of our brave veterans, and cause them to understand it. We sanction, by our royal authority, the distribution of money, &c. to be made to our servants at Kaniza under your command. We commend you all to the true God.”
The day on which this letter was read in Hasan Páshá’s diván there was not one in it who did not weep; and many a kind and benevolent wish was offered up for the happiness of the emperor of the Moslems. This solemn scene was afterwards changed into that of joy, the demonstrations of which were every where manifested. Three full months were spent in collecting and bringing into Kaniza the cannon, arms, ammunition, tents, &c. which the enemy had left behind them.
Many of the illustrious European young men who were employed in this war lost their hands and feet by reason of the severe frost; and several of them were killed in order to relieve them from pain and sufferings. The Franks formerly mentioned purchased, at a low price, about two hundred of the Spanish and Italian prisoners.
Before the spring of the following year commenced, about three thousand villages put themselves under the protection of the Ottomans; and more than two thousand peasants came from Usk, from Púzgha, from Petcheví, from Shuklúwish, and from Bosnia, to repair the fortress of Kaniza. Its outer works these labourers greatly enlarged and strengthened with trees cut down for the purpose. They surrounded the whole with a line of fortifications; erected minarets on its walls; built a mosque, a palace, and an arsenal within the citadel; erected sheds over the guns, and made a new bath. The successful warriors, however, never ceased to make excursions into the enemy’s territories, almost as far as Vienna, and uniformly returned with much booty and many captives.