92

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.359, cont.)

strict defensive character and during the secret negotiations the Porte had insisted that Britain and Persia were to be excluded from it. The separate articles of the proposal were read out and discussed at length. The grand vizier pointed out that the final draft should be legalized by a fetva, approved by the Sultan and finally signed and exchanged by the two parties. The major advantage was that the Ottoman Empire would be certain of French support in the case of attacks by Russia, Austria and even England and this would have the effect of a strong deterrent. The ‘pillars’ finally gave the proposals thier approval. ff. 72b-73a. A letter, probably a telhfs by the grand vizier, reporting on the aforementioned meeting. A protocol of it was offered to the Sultan and the writer requests an appointment for a meeting to discuss matters. (A superscript, copied from a hatt-i hümöyün, in which the Sultan informs the grand vizier that he had proposed the consultation and now that the statesmen present had approved the proposal, he urged that the exchange of documents should take place that same night; the alliance was different from the one concluded with Sweden and because it was secret, legal confirmation was not required, 72b.) ff. 73a-b. A letter confirming the approval of the alliance between Sultan Selfm III and the French Republic and the ittifak-name negotiated by Ebübekir Ratib Efendi and Raymond Veminac. ff. 73b-74a. A letter stating that the secret French-Ottoman treaty contains a clause by which the Porte is obliged to support France if it were attacked by Britain; a copy of the clause had been signed and sealed by the sender and handed over to Veninac; the treaty was concluded in Istanbul on 7 Zf l-ka‘de 1210 (14 May 1796). ff. 74a-75a. A translation of a report signed and sealed by the French ambassador to the Porte in which the conclusion of the defensive French-Ottoman alliance, the clauses of which had been discussed and approved previously, is confirmed, dated 21 Zfl-ka'de 1210 (28 May 1796). ff. 75a- A telhfs by the grand vizier concerning the desirable increase of income for ‘AIT Pa§a who was to be appointed as fortress commander (muhafiz) of Sogucak (Novorossiysk) and was to obtain 45 kfse akge from hass land near Ankara; the defterdar had inspected the garrison troops - their wages were to be paid from the income - as well as the fief concerned and submitted two reports