Note 18 — Chapter I · A DIPLOMAT IN SPITE OF HIMSELF

Winchilsea to Nicholas, March 4, 1660-61, Nov. 11-21, 1661, S.P. Turkey, 17; Rycaut’s Memoirs, p. 68; J. von Hammer’s Histoire de l’Empire Ottoman, vol. xi. p. 111. Winchilsea mentions only the “six thousand Bashaws and great men,” whom Mohammed put to death “partly by his own hands and by his commands.” Rycaut gives the total of the Vizir’s victims as “thirty-six thousand persons.” Hammer, though he does not consider this statement excessive, is content with an estimate of “trente mille personnes,” or an average of 500 executions a month—figures which, even if reduced by a nought, would still appear respectable.