“Mirrors for Princes”: The Decline Theorists^169
distribution, especially when “by and by they turn to do business with cash”
(nakdîye ile satu bâzâra mübâşeret idüb), lead to the disintegration of public
matters (ihtilal-i cumhur) (Τ2:20–25/135–41). And, after noting the shortcom-
ings of financial agents (ummal) and tax-farmers (mültezim), he proposes
the abolition of tax-farming (according, also, to the Sharia) and conferring
the collection of mukata ’as to sipahis by way of trusteeship and supervision
(emanet u nezaret) (T2:43–44/167–69). In contrast, Ali’s distrust of the kuls
appears to extend to the janissary army. He maintains that the janissary cavalry
(bölük halkı) must be sent to Egypt, rather than alowing them to go astray in
Istanbul after departing the imperial palace (T1:54–55/146–48; cf. a similar pas-
sage in Mevâidü’n-nefâis, B18).42 Yet while a large part of Ali’s idea about the
present decline is founded on departures from an ideal timariot system, we do
not see the fully-fledged attack on the janissary army that is so clear a charac-
teristic of seventeenth-century authors (see below, chapter 5). His comments
often appear to be more on the side of unthinking janissaries, who must be
protected from going astray, rather than focusing on their excessive numbers
or insolent behavior:
While staying at the Imperial Palace, the [ janissary horsemen] are given
lavish supplies and unlimited furnishings ... [Others] who had left the
Palace before them and, under the influence of drinking wine and listen-
ing to harp and rebeck, had given themselves over to a life of passions,
[now] like stirrups never budge from their side ... Being led astray and
being seduced every day a little more, they soon reach the point where
their cash runs out and their horse trappings and garments all go down
the drain ... They withdraw from view ... and get married in one of the
towns in the neighborhood of Istanbul ... Thus they too begin, like those
who are living there, settling in that place with farming and ploughing ...
and the possibility of the arms and the horse, which are the precondi-
tions of a sipahi, moving farther and farther away.Yet, the facts that Ali does not concern himself with the janissaries to any great
extent and that there is plenty of advice concerning the army on campaign
(usually in terms of logistics and appointing the right people) shows that he
does not consider them a central and crucial part of the Ottoman military force.
His description of the abuses connected with the devşirme system of collect-
ing children for the janissaries is telling: not only does he deem it contrary to
42 Obviously Ali would have rewritten this passage after his stay in Cairo, since he denounc-
es at some length the behavior of the imperial slaves stationed in Egypt (Ali – Tietze 1975).