View PDF version of this page

pay drew from all parts mercenaries and captains of renown, all were accepted and trans-ported with all speed to Cyprus. [The armaments were thus complete, but dissensions prevailed in the Senate as to how they could best be employed. The writer inclines to the opinion that a squadron of some forty galleys should have been despatched at once, to infuse courage in their friends, to anticipate the forays, and to interrupt communications between the various provinces of the enemy. A League of the Christian princes would involve delays, provoke jealonsies, and result in a display of force more magnificent than effective. The majority however held that it were unwise to scatter their ships, and invite pursuit. Their fortresses were well found iu men and munitions; they could well wait until they had secured the adhesion aud help of other Christian powers. Appeal was first made to the Pope, Pius V., who promised his aid, sanctioned the levy of 100,000 ducats from the Venetian dominions, and accepted the conduct of the Leagne. At his instance the King of Spain, Philip II., ordered his ships to assemble in Sicily, and to await the Pope's directions. The King of Portugal, Sebastian I., pleaded the poverty of his kingdom, recently wasted by the plague, aud sent no ships. The German Emperor, Maxi-milian IL, gave a general approval only to the object of the League. The King of Prance, Charles IX., declined to join it, but offered to interpose with friendly connsel between the Porte and the lïepnblic. The Dukes of Savoy and Urbino, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany promised their help : the Duke of Ferrara was only with difficulty persuaded not to side with the enemies of Venice. The Persian king refnsed to receive its ambassador. The Turks meanwhile hastened their preparations, though the Venetian ambassador was able to postpone tho declaration of war until the return of Kubat Chawush, who was despatched to Venice to treat directly with the Senate. Their reply was a defiance, and hostilities commenced on the eastern shores of the Adriatic. At Corfu the Venetians lost twenty thousand men from the plague. The galleys of Venice, Spain and the Chnrch assembled at last at Candia; those of the Porte, under the Hungarian Piale, with Lala Mustafa and Onlonj Ali, Turks, after an unsuccessful attack on the island of Tenos, embarked the troops mustered about Adalia, and sailed for Cyprus. There were one hundred and fifty galleys, with lighters and other smaller craft, pp. 215—228.] On July 1, 1570, the Turkish fleet was descried off the western point of Cyprus near Paphos. It sailed South and passed from Limisso to the promontory of Curium, Capo de* Gatti, ravaging the sea shore and carrying off prisoners. The next day it arrived at the Salines, and anchored off the Marina on the East. There Mustafa, meeting no resistance, landed his men and guns, and pushed on a few squadrous towards the interior to discover from prisoners the condition of the country and its fortresses, 'litis happy Ijeginning gave them courage, and they won over to their side many of the inhabitants, taking special care to attract by promises and gifts the hill-folk, whose fastnesses would have been difficult to reduce by force of aims. Mustafa was unwilling to commence the investment of the fortresses before he had collected round him all his troops, and despatched eighty galleys and other vessels to Tripoli and the Caramanian coaste tu embark the whole of the land forces, so that in a few days he had assembled with the colours fifty thousand infantry, two thousand five hundred cavalry, as many more carriera, three thousand pioneers, with thirty pieces of large artillery, and fifty of lesser calibre. The garrisons of the Cypriot fortresses were ill matched with so powerful au army. There were but two thousand paid foot soldiers, a thousand delle Cernide di Terra Ferma, 90 EXCERPTA CYPRIA.

View PDF version of this page