The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-12-19
#fsrsllaneous.
A TURKISH ADvENTURER.

An English traveller from Constantinople 10
Vienna, by way of the Euxine and Danube,
gives the following sketch of an adventurer
whom he met on a Danube steamer, styling him
self 'Nadir Achmet Bey'-one OF class quit as
frequent and as remarkable, it appears, in the
Orient as in Christendom:
During our brief voyage he had surprised the
passengers by his marvellous knowledge of lam
guages, and by his intimate acquaintance with
European habits, acquired during his travels
and through books. This singular parsonage
represented himself as an Asiatic Turk in the
military service of the Sultan; he stated that his
rank was that of General OF Artillery, that he
had 10000 men under his command, and that
he possessed estates in Bulgaria, conferred upon
him by the Sultan as mark Of personal favor
The only external evidence Of Turkish origin
were his beard, his Turkish uniform, and his
slippers ; but his dress was so well made, and
his slippers covered so Parisian-like a boot, that
they rather confirmed our disposition to question
the accuracy of his statement. His Fec cap
which, contrary to Oriental etiquette, he inva-
riaby removed at meals, covered not shaven
crown, but very luxuriant growth of hair, sin
gulary at variance with Turkish customs. He
conversed with remarkable huency with the
passengers Of different nations whom he found
on board, Turkish, French, English, Germans,
Greeks, Hungarians and Wallacks; and assur-
ed us that he was equally versed in Arabic, Per-
sian, Russian and Polish. He gave ample proof
Of his knowledge of English for he not only
quoted Milton and Shakespeare, but presented an
impromptu stanza of very Oriental poetry to an
English lady, whose own powers as linguist
gave her ample opportunities OF testing his pro-
fcency in the European tongues. He professed
| a profound hatred OF Russia; and said that if
England declared war with that power he would
march against it with his 10000 men, even if
the Sultan should forbid his interference; his
violent Indignation against Russia appeared TO
many of our party to be suspicious, and we
concluded that he was Polish spy in the SER
vice of the Autocrat.
We afterwards discovered that, before he
landed at Varna, he confessed to the captain of
the steamer that he had no money to pay his
passage, and begged to be trusted until he came
on board again at Sillistria. After some delay,
the captain submitted to this arrangement, being
satisfied of the truth of this part Of his story.
As we had landed before him, we had an oppor-
tunity Of seeing that when he entered the town
the sentries took no notice of him, and treated
him as perfect stranger-a circumstance not to
be reeonciled with his statement of high official
rank and great possessions in the province. He
had also stated that he was on special mission
from the Sultan 10 the Pacha of Varna another
fact which we could not reconcile with the
nature of his reception. However, he had hith-
erto been so agreeable and had so diverted our
voyage ny tNcltIng specuidtions as " Ills iedi
character, that we were sorry TO lose him.
During his stay on board, he mystified the
French and German passengers by his extraor-
binary familiarity with the literature of ther Ian
guages; and his conversation was frequently
seasoned by very apt quotation from the Latin
classics. He was warmly welcomed by the
whole parry but, as if anxious TO show that h.
was cosmopolite in manners as well as in Ian
guage, he INDUCED so freely in WINE at dinner
hat ha lnct oil Golf al nnd far elicit
exercise of authority on the part of the captain,
he abused him in the choicest specimens of
Italian Billingsgate that ever heard out Of Ma
pies. The conduct of the captain was firm, but
respectful; while the language and demeanour
of Nadr Bey were so uncalled-for, so unjust,
and so ntolerabe TO any person acquainted with
the discipline of ship, that several of the Eng
glish party demonstrated with him. He was so
irritated at finding that the passengers were not
disposed TO encourage him, that he vented his
Indignation against the Englishman who first as
sured him that he was wrong, by saying that he