410 chapter 9
Ottoman policy a new emphasis on peace abroad and on the pursuit of
prosperity at home.Although he is generally viewed as one the reformists around Selim III, Ratıb
Efendi seems to have favored “traditionalist” reforms rather than the “modern-
ist” ones his sultan attempted.58 The blurred line between these two stances is
perhaps most evident from the remarks at the end of the previous chapter and,
as will be seen, it remained so even after Selim’s reforms had begun in earnest.
A good example token of this multiplicity of stances can be found in the
memoranda (layiha) on possible ways of reforming the state, which, as was
seen, Selim asked for from all the members of the higher hierarchy of ulema
and bureaucracy in 1792. Most of the authors belonged to the chancery, but
there were also high ulema and palace officials (as well as Western envoys or
employees, such as Mouradgea d’Ohsson, a close associate of Ratıb Efendi, and
a certain Brentano); from these memoranda, an abridged treatise was com-
piled for the sultan containing the parts of the individual memoranda pertain-
ing to army reform, brought together under thematic categories (army, military
stipends, auxiliary forces and artillery, cavalry).59 In more than one way, these
memoranda can be viewed as a synopsis of all the ideas and debates prevailing
in eighteenth-century Ottoman political thought.
Quite a few of the memoranda proposed the recruitment of a new army,
trained in the European way. This idea had been indirectly put forth by
Bonneval (alias Humbaracı Ahmed Pasha), and directly by Resmi Efendi as
early as 1769, but this was the first time it was proposed with such vigor. Koca
(Gürci) Yusuf Pasha (the grand vizier until 1791) suggests that 10,000 or 12,000
youths be recruited from the Muslim families of the Anatolian and Balkan
provinces and trained in strict hierarchy and discipline (Ka415–417). Similarly,
Abdullah Birri Efendi (then reisülküttab) stressed that the recruits to the army
( yazılacak asker) should be young (between 11 and 25 years old) and of peas-
ant stock. They should be drawn from the poor, orphans, and the needy, and,
58 Yeşil 2011a, 237; Ratıb Efendi – Yıldız 2013, 255–256.
59 The abridged treatise was published in Karal 1941–1943. For full editions see Öğreten 1989
and Çağman 1995. Individual memoranda have also been published: “Sultan Selim-i Salis
devrinde nizam-ı devlet hakkında mütalaat”, Tarih-i Osmani Encümeni Mecmuası 7/38
(A.H. 1332), 74–88; 7/41 (A.H. 1332), 321–346; 8/43 (A.H. 1333), 15–34 (Tatarcık Abdullah
Efendi); and Çağman 1999 (Mehmed Şerif Efendi). On the memoranda, their au-
thors, and their ideas see also Berkes 1964, 72–74; Karal 1988, 34–41; Aksan 1993, 62–63
(=Aksan 2004, 41–43); Özkul 1996, 146–164; Beydilli 1999b, 30–34; Şakul 2005; Ermiş 2014,
135ff. On D’Ohsson’s memorandum, see Beydilli 1984, 257–269 and Özkul 1996, 169–174.
On the identity of “Brentano” see Beydilli 1984, 264–266, fn. 85 and cf. Özkul 1996, 164–168.
The most analytical presentation and discussion remains Shaw 1971, 86ff. and esp. 91–111.