“Such glaring injustice has compelled me to forbid my merchants to engage in traffic in your country.  From whence come these acts of violence?  Formerly these merchants paid only the legal tax, and they were permitted to trade without annoyance.  Are you aware of this, or not?  One word more.  Mahomet II., your father, was a prince of grandeur and renown.  He wished, it is reported, to send to us embassadors, proposing friendly relations.  Providence frustrated the execution of this project.  But why should we not now see the accomplishment of this plan?  We await your response.”

The Russian embassador received orders from Ivan III. to present his document to the sultan, standing, and not upon his knees, as was the custom in the Turkish court; he was not to yield precedence to the embassador of any other nation whatever, and was to address himself only to the sultan, and not to the pachas.  Plestchief, the Russian envoy, obeyed his instructions to the letter, and by his haughty bearing excited the indignation of the Turkish nobles.  The pacha of Constantinople received him with great politeness, loaded him with attentions, invited him to dine, and begged him to accept of a present of some rich dresses, and a purse of ten thousand sequins.  The haughty Russian declined the invitation to dine, returning the purse and the robes with the ungracious response,

“I have nothing to say to pachas.  I have no need to wear their clothes, neither have I any need of their money.  I wish only to speak to the sultan.”

Notwithstanding this arrogance, Bajazet II., the sultan, received Plestchief politely, and returned a conciliatory answer to the grand prince, promising the redress of those grievances of which he complained.  The Turk was decidedly more civilized than the Christian.  He wrote to Mengli Ghirei, the pacha of the Crimea, where most of these annoyances had occurred: 

“The monarch of Russia, with whom I desire to live in friendly relations, has sent to me a clown.  I can not consequently allow any of my people to accompany him back to Russia, lest they should find him offensive.  Respected as I am from the east to the west, I blush in being exposed to such an affront.  It is in consequence my wish that my son, the sultan of Caffa, should correspond directly with the grand prince of Moscow.”

With a sense of delicacy as attractive as it is rare, Bajazet II. refrained from complaining of the boorishness of the Russian envoy, but wrote to the grand prince, Ivan III., in the following courteous terms: 

“You have sent, in the sincerity of your soul, one of your lords to the threshold of my palace.  He has seen me and has handed me your letter, which I have pressed to my heart, since you have expressed a desire to become my friend.  Let your embassadors and your merchants no longer fear to frequent our country.  They have only to come to certify to the veracity of all which your envoy will report to you from us.  May God grant him a prosperous journey and the grace to convey to you our profound salutation—­to you and to your friends; for those whom you love are equally dear to us.”