Kings & rulers > History of Charles XII, King of Sweden

240 THE HISTORY OF BOOK VII.
letters to his Highness, and of having, by their artifi¬
ces, extorted from the Sultan an order so contrary to
the hospitality of Mussulmans, by which, in direct vio¬
lation of the laws of nations, and in a manner so un¬
worthy of a great Emperor, they had attacked, with
twenty thousand men, a king who had none but his
domestics to defend him, and who relied upon the sa¬
cred word of the Sultan.
When this memorial was drawn up, it was to be
translated into the Turkish language, and written in
a particular hand, and upon a certain kind of paper,
which is always used in addresses to the Sultan.
For this purpose they applied to several French
interpreters in the town; but the affairs of the King of
Sweden were in such a desperate situation, and the
Vizier was so much his declared enemy, that not a
single interpreter would undertake the task. At last
they found a stranger, whose hand was not known at
the Porte, who, having received a handsome gratuity»
and being fully assured of the most profound secrecy,
translated the memorial into the Turkish tongue, and
wrote it upon the right kind of paper. Baron d’Ar-
vidson, a Swedish officer, counterfeited the king’s sub¬
scription. Fierville, who had the royal signet, ap¬
pended it to the writing, and the whole was sealed
with the arms of Sweden. Villelongue undertook to
deliver it into the hands of the Grand Signor, as he
w’ent to the mosque according to his usual custom-
The like methods had been frequently employed for
presenting memorials to the Sultan against his minis¬
ters; but that very circumstance rendered the success
of this enterprise the more precarious, and the danger
of the attempt the more imminent.
The Vizier, who plainly foresaw that the Swedes
would demand justice of the Sultan, and who, from