The Eighteenth Century: the Westernizers 403
After being registered in special lists, they should be reviewed and inspected
every two or three days. This way, Resmi notes,
even if they were not fit for major battles they would at least [be able
to] serve in minor skirmishes (vakt-ı hacetde külli omazsa bari umur-ı
cüziyyede istihdamları mümkün olmak gerek).With this impressive proposal, modestly hidden in six lines out of 22 pages,
Resmi proves himself another precursor of the Nizam-i Cedid reforms, al-
though, it should be noted, such was the method of recruiting locally-raised ir-
regulars, the levend, which were the bulk of the army by his time and which, as
Virginia Aksan remarks, “ultimately serv[ed] as the model for Selim III’s ‘New
Order’ (Nizam-i Cedid) troops”.44
In his second treatise, Resmi deals with international politics and more par-
ticularly tries to give (to quote the lengthy title)45
a response to those who state that it is impossible for the Russian infidels
to be expelled or to withdraw from the territories they have temporarily
(kuvve-i istidraciye ile) occupied for three or four years now in Ukraine,
Wallachia, and Moldavia.We should note the use of the term istidrac, which was used in Vasıf Efendi’s
short essay as well as in the Su’âl-i Osmânî—and indeed, there are parts of the
latter that show a striking resemblance to Resmi’s treatise.
Completed in 1772, this work was requested by the-then grand vizier
Muhsinzade Mehmed Pasha as well as (according to some manuscripts) the
44 Aksan 1998, 28. This model of provincially-recruited armies, with the consequent inter-
dependence of the central state and the local elites, was to wholly prevail by the early
nineteenth century: Şakul 2014b.
45 Moskov keferesi kuvve-i istidraciye ile üç dört sene Bender ve Bucak ve Boğdan ve Eflak’ta
yerleşib etraf ü eknafa tasallutta müstemir olmağın fi mâ-ba ’d bu taife rızasıyla bu ma-
halden çekilmek müşkil ve zor ile ihracı muhal görünür diyenlere vech-i tecribeyi iraet ve
ale’l-husus bu vahime ile perişan-hatır olan Sadrâzam Muhsınzâde Mehmed Paşa hazretle-
rine tevsi-i daire-i tesliyet ve tenvir-i basıra-ı mekanet için kaleme alınan makaledir. Ahmed
Resmi – Parmaksızoğlu 1983 (modern Turkish version with facsimile); see also Aksan 1993,
57–59 (=Aksan 2004, 35–36); Aksan 1995, 195–198. The MS is anonymous, but a compari-
son with other works by Ahmed Resmi clearly shows its authorship (see Ahmed Resmi –
Parmaksızoğlu 1983, 527; also accepted by Aksan). Topkapı Sarayı Ktp. H. 375 (Karatay
1961, 1:508 no. 1553) seems to be a very short synopsis.