to the decrees of fate, but only cowards will be content to sit with their hands in their laps because the predestined fate of the Ottoman Empire is written in Heaven.  If the prophecy says that a time must come when the Ottoman Empire must fall to pieces because of the cowardice of the Ottoman nation, does it not depend upon us and our children whether the prophecy be accomplished, or whether its fulfilment be far removed from us?  Of a truth the signification of that prophecy is this:  We shall perish if we are cowards; let us not be cowards then, and never shall we perish.  And if the foe whose sword shall one day deal the nations of Muhammad the most terrible wounds, and whose giant footsteps shall leave on Turkish soil the bloodiest and most shameful imprints—­if I say this foe be already pointed out to us, why should we not anticipate him, why should we wait till he has grown big enough to swallow us up when we are now strong enough to destroy him?  The opportunity is favourable.  The Cossacks demand help from us against the Muscovite dominion.  If we give them this help they will be our allies, if we withhold it they will become our adversaries.  The Tartars, the Circassians, and Moldavians are the bulwarks of our Empire, let us join to them the Cossacks also, and not wait until they all become the bulwarks of our northern foe instead, and he will lead them all against us.  When he built the fortress of Azov he showed us plainly what he meant by it.  Let us also now show that we understood his intentions and raze that fortress to the ground.”

With these words Halil resumed his place.

As pre-arranged Kaplan Giraj now stood up in his turn.

Halil fully expected that the Tartar Khan, who was to have played such an important part in his project, inasmuch as his dominions were directly in the way of an invading enemy, and therefore most nearly threatened, would warmly support his proposition.  All the greater then was his amazement when Kaplan Giraj turned towards him with a contemptuous smile and replied in these words: 

“It is a great calamity for an Empire when its leading counsellors are ignorant.  I will not question your good intentions, Halil, but it strikes me as very comical that you should wish us, on the strength of the prophecy of a Turkish recluse, to declare war against one of our neighbours who is actually living at peace with us, is doing us no harm, and harbours no mischievous designs against us.  You speak as if Europe was absolutely uninhabited by any but ourselves, as if there was no such thing as powerful nations on every side of us, jealous neighbours all of them who would incontinently fall upon us with their banded might in case of a war unjustly begun by us.  All this comes from the simple fact that you do not understand the world, Halil.  How could you, a mere petty huckster, be expected to do so?  So pray leave in peace Imperial affairs, and whenever you think fit to occupy your time in reading poems and fairy-tales, don’t fancy they are actual facts.”