f Cantemir, appropriated certain funds which he
had received for the supply of the army to his own use, and placed
himself in communication with the Grand Vizier. The Porte, aided by its
allies, raised a powerful army, which crossed the Danube; and although
one of Peter's generals is said to have obtained some temporary
advantage, the Czar soon found himself so hard pressed by the superior
forces of the Ottomans that he was glad to conclude a treaty with the
Porte and make the best of his way home, harassed on his return by
fierce Tartar hordes.

At Stephanesti the Czar was met by Cantemir, who sought and obtained his
protection, and returned with him into Russia, where it is said that his
representations inflamed the desire of Peter to possess the
Principalities, if not Constantinople, and led to those subsequent wars
of which Roumania afterwards became the seat and the victim.[151]

Brancovano, Prince of Wallachia, who had not taken any active part in
the war, met with the fate which his neighbour had escaped. His secret
correspondence and alliance with Peter the Great were betrayed to the
Porte by a member of his own family, and after the conclusion of peace
steps were taken to depose him. With this view the Kapidgi Mustapha was
sent with a small escort to arrest and bring him to Constantinople with
his whole family. The story of his deposition is narrated with great
dramatic effect: how the Kapidgi with twelve janissaries entered the
throne-room where Brancovano awaited him unconscious of his impending
fate; and how the former, refusing to take a seat by his side, drew a
long crape shawl from his breast and, throwing it over the shoulders of
the prince, pronounced the terrible word 'deposed.' He then called the
boyards together, read the decree of the Sultan, and threatened them
with an invasion if they resisted. The cowardly boyards allowed their
prince and his family to be carried off to Constantinople without an
effort to save them. On his arrival at Constantinople, Brancovano was
declared a traitor, and, having refused to embrace Islamism, he and four
of his sons and his son-in-law were decapitated (A.D. 1714) in
the Sultan's presence. Satiated with their blood, it is said that the
Sultan Achmet III. spared the last member of his family, a young
grandchild, and that this one, with the widow, were permitted to retire
into Wallachia.[152]

One of the temptations to put an end to the life as well as the reign of