You are now only an instrument in their hands.

Beware lest you become the victim of their policy." Ali understood the danger, and had the sultan been better advised, he would have pardoned Ali on condition of again bringing Hellas under his iron yoke.

It is possible that the Greeks might not have prevailed against an enemy so formidable and a brain so fertile in intrigue.

But so simple an idea was far beyond the united intellect of the Divan, which never rose above idle display.

As soon as these negotiations had commenced, Kursheed filled the roads with his couriers, sending often two in a day to Constantinople, from whence as many were sent to him.