It was only as he was ascending

Ebu Bekir, the new Pacha appointed to Belgrade, was provided with a firman, which commanded the Janissaries to quit Belgrade, and the entire Pachalic. However, on the very first occasion that offered for enforcing it, they maintained their ground so deterininedly, that this order could he executed only hy stratagem and violence. Before Ebu Bekir could venture even to publish the firman, it was necessary for him to get rid of their most powerful Chief.

When he arrived on the frontier of the Pachalic, at Nisch, the Spahis hastened to welcome him ; the other former proprietors of the country also appeared there, and Peli-Achmet amongst them. But the latter was surrounded by so numerous a suite, that they dared not at that time seize him : it was only as he was ascending the stairs to a second audience, with but few attendants, that they ventured to attack him ; and even then only as base assassins : a servant of the Pacha’s who lay concealed, shot him from behind. The firman was then immediately published and enforced.

The Spahis again enjoyed the benefit of their tithes, and of their Glawnitza; and the Servians who had emigrated now resumed their former property, and could more confidently reckon on the performance of the stipulations which had been made in their favour. The possessions of the Janissaries, on the other hand, were considered as forfeited to the crown; and they themselves sought refuge in the neighbouring districts.

It could not be otherwise: only by artifice and bloodshed could the proposed measures be carried out!

It excites less surprise, then, to find that the parties who had been thus chastised, resisted ; and were supported by those who participated in their claims. The revolt of Passwan Oglu, at Widdin, which occurred at that time, proved of especial advantage to the Janissaries: though it cannot be proved with certainty that his revolt originated with them.

It appears that Osman Passwan Oglu first distinguished himself at the head of a troop of volunteers, in the war of 1788 ; and he afterwards took forcible possession of his hereditary estates, from which his father had been expelled.