fix upon a monarch of their own nation, as gained the hearts of the people, and gradually drew to him fo numerous an army as enabled him to approach Ifpahan, the capital; upon which Shah Doub, the relation of Kouli Kan then clothed with that title, thought fit to retire to the mountains. The Turks, now become jealous of that prince's fuccefs, fent to Bagdat one whom they had long given out to be a grandfon of Shah Huffein, the laft of the ancient race of Sophis, who they faid had been a refugee in the Ottoman dominions, that he might fet up his claim to the Perfian throne. Early in 1753 Pr. Heraclius pulled off the mafk, laid down the title of protector, made a triumphant entry into Ifpahan, where he talked in the ftyle of a conqueror, and was proclaimed Sophi. This conduct loft him the affections of the natives, which had been his chief fupport; and fo his army foon decrea fed. Notwithstanding that, we had information of his having afterwards defeated Shah Doub in a bloody battle, and obliged him to retire dangeroufly wounded to Indoftan, fince which time there have been no accounts concerning him. But notice foon arrived of Heraclius being ftill more upon the decline. Nothing further was heard concerning the pretended heir of the ancient Sophis, whom the Turks had fent to Bagdat, till laft year, when we were given to understand he had not fucceeded in that character; that upon this he had appeared in feveral other forms in Perfia; and at length affumed the name of Shah Sultan Huljein, faid he was returned from Ruffia, where he had lain concealed, and pretended to be a fon of the late Kouli Kan. About the fame time advice arrived, that Karini Kan, who governed at Ifpahan after Heraclius left it, had been twice defeated by Azad Kan, an Ophgoon; and that the latter had declared himself in favour of Shah Sultan Huffcin. Next we had fucceffive accounts of Pr. Heraclius being totally defeated by Shah Mahmod, King of the Agwans; and of the former having, in his turn, gained a victory over three Kans who had leagued against him. According to latest letters rece year, Azad Kan had twice prove rious over Kerim Kan, one of t principal competitors for the thro on which the former had Ifpaha vered to him. It does not appe he had by that time any intention port the pretenfions of Shah Sulta fein, but rather to fet up for h as we were told that he had app a viceroy to govern in the capital. acted with great mildness, and w.‹ paring the palaces for his master's re tion. It is well known, that the O MAN PORTE has for a confiderable had a close connection with the co Verfailles, Stockholm, and Berlin, th is confidered as one of their confta lies, and that they are generally re ed to have great influence over her fels. The Grand Signior himself, " well advanced in years, has she ftrong inclination for peace ever the late unfuccefsful war with But his nephew, Sultan Ibrahim, y has been declared heir-apparent throne, and is of an enterprising martial genius, has a powerful pa the divan, which, with the affiftar. popular infurrections, and the cla and mutinies of the janifaries, can his Sublime Highnefs to declare against any of the Chriftian powers neighbourhood, whenever the fcl. of France and her allies fhall requ. all which he knows fo well, as to to fuch meafures as are necessary t own fecurity and repofe. In confeq of this, it has been the conftant for fome years paft, to put the T troops in motion, to change and ment certain garrifons, to talk campments, and to affect a clof refpondence with the French and difh ambassadors; which, accord the general opinion, was all inten keep the courts of Vienna and Pete in awe, by fhewing how ready the was to act, fo fcon as, the fituat affairs fhould render it requifite. laft fpring the fame game was aga gun to be played; and about the n of June the Ottoman forces on the pr Ruffia fuddenly appeared in mohen a body of 25,000 men inI under the cannon of Oczakow, at Choczim, and as many at . When the reasons of this conre demanded by the powers who themfelves moft immediately inin the confequences of it, affuvere given, as had formerly been, Porte's pacific difpofition; and ifters of thofe powers were told, e troops had marched from the es bordering upon the Black fea, account of the scarcity of provind forage there; and that their aders were ordered to take care hing should be done which might : leaft umbrage to the neighbour5. Notwithstanding fuch smooth is behaviour hindered the Rufom marching fome troops out of arter, to another for which they figned. Much about this time it ated in the divan, whether the fhould lay hold on the prefent ture, in order to annex fome proof the Perfian empire to that of omans? but it was carried in the e, and the honour of this modeafcribed to the equity of the Signior, who would not, during fufions of his neighbours, endearecover what had been ceded by And indeed, confidering the n, covetousness, and refentment kind in general, there feems to ceffity of acknowledging, either re has been a more than common to public faith in the prefent cafe, ch from other circumftances is as that it has been very ftrong influanother kind, which has hinderOttomans from embracing fo fale an opportunity, for attempting ke reprisals upon the Perfians, nder the late Kouli Kan, treated > roughly, and wrefted from them erritories of which they had been flion. This point being fettled, e next informed, that fome Turkces were affembling towards the rs of Poland; where they could remain, or file off for Tranfylvaungary, or the Ukraine, as might beft fuit the views of their court. The probable reafon for drawing them together on that fide may afterward be taken notice of. Several violent fhocks of earthquakes were felt in different parts of the Cttoman empire during the last year, particularly one along the coaft of the Morea, on the 15th of July, which, befides other damages, fwallowed up nine populous villages, and killed a great number of people and cattle: a great many through the month of September, and one in October, at Conftantinople; which demolished public and private buildings in different quarters of the city; rendered the Grand Signior's pa laces for the moft part uninhabitable; laid a whole fine fuburb quite in ruins; threw down four towers of the famous caftle of the Seven Towers; which must have been particularly alarming, if what we have been told concerning the tradition among the Turks be true, that when thefe feven towers are deftroyed, their empire is near an end; and killed between 3 and 4000 people: one in Armenia on the 2d of September, the fame day that the first happened at Conftantinople, which entirely fwallowed up a large city in that province, converting the place where it flood into a lake of water and fome terrible ones at Grand Cairo in Egypt in September, which laid at least two thirds of that city, one of the largest and most populous in the world, in ruins, and, according to our latest information, buried about 40,000 people under them. Some tell us, that thefe awful events have for the prefent effectually tamed the reflefs fpirits of people who were defirous of a war at all events, for the glory, as they called it, of the Ottoman empire; but how long fuch a difpofition, if real, will laft, is very uncertain. His POLISH Majefty, accompanied by the Princes Xavier and Charles, his fons, arrived from Dresden at Warsaw on the 23d of June laft, in order to hold a general diet of the kingdom of Poland. His first cares were employed in endeavouring to restore a good understanding between the grandees, and terminate the the differences which had for fome years divided the clergy and the civil courts; in both which he was faid to have con fiderable fuccefs. In the univerfalia which were published about the beginning of Auguft, for convening the diet on the 30th of September, his Majefty declared, that the fecurity of the ftate, the augmentation of its forces, improvement in domeftic economy, and the abolition of fuch abuses as had crept in to the administration of juftice, had been the great and important points which he had always recommended to the diets, without receiving the confolation to fee any of his efforts for the public good prove in the leaft fuccessful; that he would propofe nothing to the then enfuing one but matters of general utility; and that all regard to the private intereft of his own family fhould be excluded. He concluded with fignifying his withes, that the nuncios would make ufe of their freedom of voting to raife their drooping country, and not further to deprefs it; that they would lofe no time in vain debates about matters fubject to controverfy; but that, according to ancient custom, and as he had recommended to them in former univerfalia, they would refer to a future diet fuch affairs as they might not be able to determine in this. A good many of the previous dietines broke up without chufing deputies, which ufes to be a bad prognoftic of peaceable measures afterward; and in fome places the difputes ran fo high as to end in wounds, and even death. The general diet being opened, on the day appointed, with the ufual ceremonies, the Mar fhal of the preceding diet, in quality of director of the chamber, exhorted the affembly to chufe a Marshal to the prefent one But the nuncio of Wilkomitz food up, and defired, that, previous to all other matters, he might be allowed to speak of certain affairs in which the interest of the state was concerned. "This motion produced long and turbulent de bates, which lafted from meeting to meeting till the 23d of O&tober, with out its being poffible to bring the election of a Marthal upon the tapis. That day a ftop was put to their activity, by the retiring of the nuncio of Starodub Lithuania, after protelting against an future deliberations. He grounded h proteft on the affair of the ordination Oftrog; and befides complained, th the court-party in the diet had attemp ed to change the form and method voting, and had in other respects add contrary to the fundamental laws an conftitutions of the republic. Endea vours were ufed to find and bring hi back on the 24th; but he had gone of Some contended, that the retiring of the nuncio could have no effect, as bein contrary to his instructions from his con flituents; but fo fond were the many o retaining that power by which ever nuncio can put a stop to all proceeding when he pleases, that they abfolutely fufed to do any thing without him. Th director therefore difmiffed the affemb on the 25th, by a fpeech, which he con cluded with recommending the republi to divine Providence, as its only protec tion and refource, after having loft a hopes of human affiftance. Thus th diet broke up as fruitletsly as many ceffive preceding ones had, as they di no one thing, except the chufing Count Potocki Marshal of the tribun of Petricow. fuc An account of the ordination of C ftrog was lately published, which we the give entire, as follows. "Oftrog the capital of a canton in Volhinia, palatinate of Poland, fituated at the e tremity of the kingdom towards Mc cow. The frequent incurfions of t Tartars in former times, obliged t Poles to concert certain regulations wi the inhabitants of that canton, for t fecurity of the country; and it was th the ordination, as it is called, was for ed. Certain lands were fet apart, who produce or revenue was appointed a appropriated to defray the expence. the crown-troops, who were to repel ftop the incurfions of the Tartars. T Palatine of Volhinia had the direction this affair, and applied the money cording to the fpirit of the inflituti The Tartars having ceafed th incurfions into Volhinia, and ev fought the friendship of the Poles, ordinati ordination became of no ufe, and the Palatine confidered the lands as his property. The Prince of Sangufko, who was in poffeffion of them, imagined, when he quitted the world to turn monk, that he had power to difpofe of them; and, according to his difpofition, a general difmembering of them fhould be made, and they ought to be divided into as many portions as there are perfons who do now, or may hereafter put in a claim. Even the French King has by his ambaffador claimed a part, in right of his father-in-law K. Stanislaus. The order of Malta alfo claims a fhare, if a partition is to be made; and Count Collworth, Grand Prior of the order in Bohemia, took a journey to Poland, charged with a commiffion from the Grand Matter, relative to this affair.The Grand General of the crown oppofed the difpofition of Prince Sangufko, and the difmembering of the ordination, from the firft; and fent troops to Dubno to preferve it entire. But though his conduct was approved by the King, he was obliged to justify it to the public by a manifefto. The affair being in the fequel laid before the King, and his Majesty having come to no refolution in it, the claimants on the eftate of the ordination perfifted in demanding a divifion of it; and the diet approaching, they endeavoured to make this one of the mot important points that were to be taken into confideration in it.Accordingly it was the chief fubject of the debates at the fittings of the diet, hindered the election of a Marfhal, without whom no bufinefs could be difpatched, and in the end occafioned the breaking up of the diet. Nevertheless, as the partition of the lands of the ordination could not be made without prejudicing the republic, the King, at the request of the fenators, has fequeftered them, as the most efficacious means of putting an end to the difputes which this affair has can fufpend its activity, and render the beft as well as the worft fchemes abortive; fo it is eafy to fuppofe, that particular deputies may be impofed upon by defigning men; or, if that were not the cafe, it would be difficult to find an affembly confifting of fome hundreds, no one of whom were capable of being corrupted by a bribe, which, though very large for a fingle perfon, would be no temptation to the majority to betray any important intereft of their country. Though his prefent Majefty has all along fhewn great tenderness of the liberties of his Polish fubjects, yet a good many of them, by whatever means, have got it into their heads, that, through his clofe connection with the courts of Vienna and Petersburg, he aims at rendering the crown hereditary in his family. This is enough, especially with the help of artful management, to beget an oppofition to all his measures. They who fet up for traverfing the defigns of the court, call themfelves the patriots; a character which people in their fituation affume, fometimes with, fometimes without reafon, in all countries. As might naturally be expected, they alfo give themfelves up, in a good measure, to the counfels of thofe powers whom they look upon as moft likely to protect them against the courts they fear. It is pretty remarkable, that three Turkish minifters arrived at Warfaw before the opening of the last general diet, one of them from the Kan of Crim-Tartary, another from the Hofpodar of Walachia, and the third from the Weywood of Moldavia, but without any public character from the Grand Signior. Though it was intimated by fome of the miniftry that it would be proper for them to return home, they all infifted for leave to remain in the country till the iffue of the diet; a thing which no minifter of their nation had done, or fignified his defire of doing, before that time. This being a privilege commonly allowed to the miThe Poles are extremely jealous of nifters of other powers, it was alfo granttheir liberty, which would be of great ed to them, though perhaps with fome advantage to them, had they a better reluctance. The envoy from the Weyformed conftitution: but as, according wood of Moldavia brought letters from to it, every member of a general diet his mafter to feveral Polish Lords fupVOL. XVII. occafioned." B pofed pofed to be in the patriot or oppofition intereft; one of which, to a minifter of ftate, was published. In it the Weywood intimated the great friendship of the Porte for Poland, with the protection and affistance she had granted it as occafion required; that fhe was then ready to anticipate its defires, and afford the fame fuccours; that his Sublime Highness had exprefsly ordered him, as the nearest neighbour of the republic, to be doubly attentive to fecure to her every advantage the might defire, and to act with warmth in preventing any affair that might occur from taking a turn contrary to her true intereft; that he had been ordered to write to feveral Polish Lords, friends to the Porte, on the fame fubject; and that, for his own part, he would employ all his cares and all his forces to fecond the views of the Sublime Porte, and to fulfil all the duties of a good neighbour. After confidering all this, particularly the laft part of it, we can hardly think it very improbable, that the affembling of Turkish troops towards the frontiers of Poland, formerly mentioned, was with defign to encourage that party in the diet which inclined to oppofe the views of the court; or that the three Ottoman minifters came to Warsaw with the fame intention. It was also affured, that their Moft Chriftian and Pruffian Majefties certainly contributed as far as they could to the fruitlefs breaking up of the diet, and that it was thought this would determine his Polish Majefty, as Elector of Saxony, to enter into a yet clofer alliance with the courts of Vienna and Petersburg. Parties of the Haidamacks, that favage people inhabiting the fens and iflands near the mouth of the Nieper, continued to ravage the country at different times during the last year, as they had for feveral preceding ones, owing in great measure to the fmallness of the crown-army. In fummer it was affured, that Erneft de Biron late Duke of COURLAND, of whofe death we had repeated advices fome years ago, died at Jaroflow only about the middle of june laft. They again talk about the clection of a new Duke; an affair which will not probably be transacted without difputes, as feveral powers have very different views of it. pro In 1753 we were informed, that the Emprefs of RUSSIA had refolved to keep a body of 75 or 80,000 men on the frontiers about Livonia, ready to march; which was supposed to be in pursuance of the treaty of Petersburg, concluded between the two Empreffes fome years ago, and afterwards acceded to by G. Britain. It is not improbable that they were ftationed there with a parti cular defign, that they might be near the King of Pruffia's dominions, from which Livonia is divided only by the duchy of Courland and the fmall vince of Samogitia, and fo be able immediately to attack those dominions, if that monarch fhould attempt any thing against Hanover, in confequence of the differences fubfifting between him and that electorate. Early laft fpring his Pruffian Majefty caused fet about repairing and augmenting the fortifications of Koningsburg, Pillaw, Memel, and fome other towns in Pruffia-Royal, and filling the magazines, with the utmost diligence. He likewife provided artille ry, tents, pontoons, and every thing else On the oneceffary for a field-army. ther hand, the Ruffians were no less diligent in making the like difpofitions. The troops cantoned in and near Livonia were reinforced with feveral thoufand men; and orders were given for a confiderable body of Coffacks and other irregulars forthwith to march from the Ukraine towards that quarter. That the army there might be compleat, inftructions were given for immediately raifing 30,000 recruits; though the ftanding forces were formerly reckoned at 250,000 well-difciplined men, befides 100,000 Coffacks and Calmucks. Some regiments were taken on board thirtyfour galleys at Petersburg, and landed at Revel, where they were cantoned. With this augmentation, the fquadron at Revel was rendered fufficient for carrying a confiderable army, on the firft occafion, to be difimbarked where-ever it might be thought proper. Another body of Coffacks |