Part of this money is to go to your
government, and part to the Vezier and other Generals of your army. We
have purchased your country with money; the sum that has just been given
is the price of Constantinople which we have bought and shall soon
enter. My motive for informing you of this is that you may henceforth
look to yourselves; do not remain in your camp, nor even lose time at
Constantinople; but go to your own country that you may not be made
prisoners. Keep all this secret, and say nothing of it in your camp.”
With these words he led them back to the Ottoman confines. The comrades
returned to our camp, and being all three simple fools, they gave
implicit confidence to the falsehood contrived to deceive them; and
whenever they met their friends and acquaintances they said to them,
“Breh! what did we come here for? Our chiefs have sold their country and
are now receiving the money for it: we have seen it with our own eyes;
why should we stay here? all that passes is but lost labour.” By this
means they struck with consternation many who were as great asses as
themselves, and these spread confusion and alarm through the whole
Imperial camp. Finding this pretext of going home, a great number of the
troops went off and dispersed, like a flock of young partridges.
The Russian hogs, availing themselves of so favourable an opportunity,
brought the devil among us. But the best of the story is, that they all
laughed at us in relating it to each other, saying that in order to
disperse a Turkish army, they had only to weigh a little gold in the
presence of three of their men, and then send them to inform the rest of
it. Thus, on account of so many ignorant fools, who understand nothing
of the wiles and machinations of the enemy, it is necessary that we
should give our troops such a form of discipline as may prevent similar
disorders, and the danger of the spies who mix with our men and can
never be discovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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