The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1840-11-27

y towards the serago, planted our standards in the
: Atmeidan, and thence sent message to the Sui.
tan, to choose one of three things to ask pardon
e Of the Janizaries; to throw the head of his vzer
d over the wall to us; or to vacate the throne.
But Mahmoud was daring. He bowstringed our
ambassador on the spot, and answered that he
would do none of the three; adding, that he would
come ont and fight US as soon as he had eaten his
supper. He kept his word, was beaten, and saw
us applying our scaling ladders to the walls of the
seraglo. A quarter of an hour more would have
seen us masters of seraglio and Sultan. But fate
is every thing The empire was to be carcass
for the Muscovite wolf and Arab wild dog to tear
at their leasure. Mahmoud proposed to negotiate.
proposed to carry the walls first, and negotiate
aiter,-There is no diplomacy half so eilectaal as
that which goes on inside an enemy's ramrrt.-
But even then,l found the troubles of sovereignty
A monarch of night, with the Sultan at my feet
found rebellion in my camp. Achmet Ogou led
the malcontents. His notorious bravery had gain
ed him a name among the agas, though his brutal
manners made him hated. But when new par
tizan of the follies of the weak, the fears of the
timid, and the hopes of the doubtful, appears, what
party cares for character' In short, we began TO
negotiate. Three hours were lost in this absurdi-
ty. saw the bowstring in every message, and
proposed, over and over again. to cut short the bu-
siness with my scime,ar. AT length Oslou him
self went to settle the affair with the Sultan at
word. We saw our envoy no more
But Just as dawn was streaking the clouds, we
heard the rafting of cannon carriages and the
trampling of caqalry. saw that we had commit
ted desperate error, and that the scimetar must
settle the negotiation after all. l sprang on my
horse and ordered the troops to advance and sworc
in their hearing never to dismount, until either
had Mahmoud's head at my saddle bow, or he
mine under his heel But the Janizaries were half
asleep, were tired to death with the delay, were
disappointed at being still on the outside of the
palace, and were longing to cut either me or NAH
mould, as it might happen, into thousand pieces,
and go home to their couches. Still, I'VE forced
the gates, and got boldly into the first court of the
| ihc Doo'uHS'o Hcu hchNhN VII US, Dut
we drove them on like chati, and tramplng on their
bodies, made mound of them to scale the second
wall Victory was now before us. But at the
moment mounted scaling adder I heard tre-
mendous discharge Of artillery on the liippodrome,
followed by shouts, yel|s, and the platoon fire of
musketry. | was now on the battlements, and the
palace lay open before me but from the height on
which | stood | saw that the troops which had
left in the IIippodrome had been surprised and at
tackled on all sides, and were falling like corn be-
fore the scyihc under the fire of whole volcano
of cannon and howi,zers As far, too, as the eye
could penetrate the smoke, saw cavalry pressing
towards the scene of action, and cutting down eve
ry fugitive. A glance towards the Bosphorus next
showed me a notla crowded with troops, pulling
at full speed from Scutari.
All was evidently lost. The game was up; yet
| still determined to see the last throw. sprang
from the battlement, called round me all who were
able to move, and we flew like band Of madmen
10 the square. On that day we were all Delhs.-
We produced our effect tore through the ranks of
the Nizam Jcdd and showed those new favoltes
of the Sultan, that the Janizarcs were still their
masters. In short, we cut them up like sheep
They melted before us like wax. We tramplcd
upon them, as the Bedoun horse trampes upon
the sand. But what could we do against those bra
zen mouths, whose breath was fame and swords
were iron 1t was the artillery that ruiued U.S.
Shells rolled in among US, breaking our ranks with
their touch, and blowing us into fragments by their
explosion, Nothing could be more horrible than
the scene now became. II was plain, that NAH
mould had resolved to finish the troubles of his reign
by drawing the last hot blood of the last of the jan
izaries. We were to be massacred. Yet no man
among us cared hair of his beard whether we
were er not. No man cried for mercy. We felt
that we were there to die, since we could not ex-
pect to conquer,--and we died, heaped by humid
reds and thousands upon each other. | still think
upon the last charge that we made on our murder
ers, and think with some surprise on the kind of
sensation which felt at the moment. Death was
before me, behind me, above me, and under me.
The Atneidan was now nothing but place of
buchery, where muskets played, and bayonets
clashed, and cavalry tramped while from every
window came burst Of musle-bas, and from
every opening of the streets shower of grape-shot
Yet felt neither horror, nor even fear. | bound
ed and fought and shouted, with strange kind
of exultation. whole platoons torn into frag-
ments before my face, and yet the whole scene
seemed to me something like the widest yet most
animated Of dreams. But one sight saw, which
brought me back little to the world. II was Oglou
liding at the head of battalion of the Nizam Jedld
But for his pernicous councils, Mabmoud would
have been at that time floating without his turban
down to the Mediterranean, sprang over pile
of corpses, and made blow at the traitor, which
brought him from his horse. But at the same in
slant, felt the scimetar drop from my hand ; my
eyes closed, and all, living and Dead january and
Nizam Jedid, sky and Atmeidan, disappeared from
before me.
When next looked round, the moon was going