Osterghún Is Laid Siege to
The victorious Moslems, the terror of whose arms spread dismay among the infidels, marched upon Osterghún, and on the 23d of Jemadi II. formed the siege of that place. Every gun and musket throughout the whole army were put in requisition, and every arrangement was made for commencing hostilities; but, alas, the constant fall of snow and rain, the winter season having commenced, rendered it impracticable for the troops to make any use of trenches, or at least they found it difficult to stand in them. The truth seems to be, that too much time had been taken up in repairing and attending to the lately retaken fortresses, Pest, Khutwán, and Wáj, and also with the rebuilding of the bridge formerly mentioned, to be able, at so late a period of the year, to carry on the siege of Osterghún with any great prospect of success.
In consequence of the length of time the Moslems spent unnecessarily with the fortresses they had retaken, as just observed, the infidels found ample opportunity to erect tabúrs or fortifications on the opposite bank of the river, and to extend a bridge from Osterghún to these fortifications. The whole line of these tabúrs were also protected by a range of field-pieces, and every thing, in fact, presented a most formidable appearance. For several successive nights the enemy rushed forth upon the Moslems, attacked them with the utmost celerity, and succeeded in killing many of their bravest heroes.
When it was resolved to augment the number of Moslems who were actually engaged in endeavouring to reduce Osterghún (i.e. those who were immediately engaged in active operations against it), the janissaries refused to comply, and urgently demanded that the siege should be raised. The commander-in-chief perceiving himself involved in difficulties of no ordinary kind, ordered Toktamish Gheráí, the son of his royal highness Ghází Gheráí, who had that year joined the royal camp instead of his royal father, to go, with a few thousands of his Tátárs, along with Hasan Páshá, beglerbeg of Romeili, and some of his troops, and scour the country round about, commit all the damage to the enemy they could, and take what spoil they could find.
The commander-in-chief, after a period of thirty-one days uselessly spent in endeavouring to reconquer Osterghún, was obliged to raise the siege and return to Buda. Having made the necessary arrangements with regard to the garrisons on the frontiers, for protecting the Ottoman dominions in that quarter, the commander-in-chief set out for Belgrade, and arrived there on the 3d of Rajab.
The stipulated period of the old pretorian band in Buda for serving having expired, one thousand of them were again hired, and divided into four companies.
We have still to add, by way of appendix, what Petcheví says in reference to the siege of Osterghún, which we have been describing. “Nukásh Hasan Páshá acted at the above siege,” he says, “as ághá of the janissaries, but he was so cowardly that he never once showed his face where he anticipated danger. For this dereliction of duty and disgraceful pusillanimity, the commander-in-chief deprived him of his office, and degraded him. He afterwards, however, sent a petition to the court of Constantinople, requesting to have the judgment of the serdár reversed, but his petition was regarded with contempt.”
The same historian observes, “that formerly, when Ibrahím Páshá was commander-in-chief, the Tátárs, emírs, and other great men under his command, had proposed to exchange Osterghún for Agria; because the latter was much more distant from Buda than the former, and therefore not of such importance to the Ottomans.” When Mohammed Ketkhodá, vezír Murád Páshá, Ahmed Aghá, the khán’s vezír, and Hábel Effendí, the cazí of Buda, went to the enemy’s camp, as the reader may remember, with the view of endeavouring to negotiate a peace between the two belligerent powers, the proposals above-mentioned were the principal subjects submitted to the consideration of the negotiators; but no settlement of any kind at that time was agreed to, and things remained as they had been until this period, when the infidels began to show a disposition favourable to a cessation of hostilities. Accordingly, ten counts, ornamented with golden chains, and the great ministers of state, arrived (probably at Belgrade), and gave their consent to the propositions above alluded to, and Petcheví Ibrahím Effendí, whose sentiments we are here quoting, was sent to the Sublime Porte as the bearer of the propositions for a general pacification. Petcheví, on arriving at Constantinople, presented his dispatches to the káímakám, and to the reverend mufti, the venerable Siná-allah Effendí. Siná-allah Effendí appeared greatly surprised at the nature and import of the propositions which had been thus submitted; and exclaimed, “that they were such as could never be agreed to; that they were altogether unfit to be expressed in words; that they were unworthy of ever having been thought of,” he therefore rejected them with scorn, and ordered the officer who had brought them to retrace his steps, and deliver this answer. The messenger obeyed, and met the commander-in-chief in the plains of Serim; who having anticipated the result of his mission, and without allowing him time to tell the message wherewith he was charged, replied abruptly, “we must bear the disgrace;” and, immediately, without any further reference to the subject, began to call the messenger’s attention to the recent appearance of Botchkai, one of the Transylvanian princes, to whose exploits our attention must now be turned.