83

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.359, cont.)

f. 25b-26a. A letter sent by the, according to the heading, ‘late’ Grand Vizier [Gazi] Hasan Pa§a to General [Grigorii Aleksandrovich] Potemkin [1739-91], dated 11 Rebi'ü l-ahir [1]204 (29 December 1789), reacting positively to a proposition to conclude peace. (Cf. Shaw’s study, pp. 40-50). f. 26a. A similar letter sent by Hasan Pa§a to the Austrian Field-Marshal Prince [Friedrich Josias von] Coburg [1737-1815], dated 11 Cemazi l-ahir [1]204 (26 February 1790); the Porte thinks that the best place to start negotiations would be Ruscuk (Ruse) and requests the addressee to mention a possible date for the first meeting. ff. 26a-b. A translation of the (positive) response to the previous letter in which the sender agrees with a meeting, as soon as possible, in Ruscuk. ff. 26b-28b. A first memorandum by the dragoman appointed for the negotiations (miikaleme terciima.ni), Yakovaki, on the first preliminary negotiations between the dragomans of Russia, Prussia and the Porte on 6 Cemazil-ewel, without year. ff. 28b-29b. A letter on the bad state of affairs within the Greek Patriarchate, particularly the growing debt caused by corrupt relatives of some bishops (who had illegally obtained important church offices), with proposals for reform by a group of eight of them who had discussed matters in Istanbul. ff. 29b-30a. A hüküm addressed to the vali of Egypt, isma‘11 Pa§a, and the Seyhiilbeled isma‘11 Beg, concerning the secret elimination by poison of the Russian consul in Cairo, orders for which had already had been sent by the Porte to the previous governor, ‘Abdï Pa§a; the best way was to summon him to Istanbul and let him perish en route, dated early Ramazan 1204 (15-24 Mav 1790). 7 ff. 30a-31b. A memorandum from Muhammad [Husayn] Khan of Revan (Yerevan) written by the nephew of the shayk al-lslam of Revan, Zayn al- ‘Abidayn Beg, who acts as envoy at the Porte, in which the khan proposes submitting himself to the Sultan as hereditary governor of Revan now that Erkïl Khan of Tiflis [King Erekle II of Georgia, 1747-98] is stirring up trouble in Daghestan and Azerbaijan, after having made a common cause with the Russians. He also requests, apart from sending the necessary berat and informing the vali of Cildir and others, the Porte to defend his country in case of an attack by