| Chapter 13: | The End of the Kurdish Wars |
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To our beloved friend the Consul Bey…we commence by inquiring after your health and well being, and then inform you that we received your kind letter by the Tatar, and have read it attentively and understood its contents, with which were much pleased. We are well aware that you take great interest in our welfare, and do all in your power to arrange matters with the Porte, and that you have represented our case at Constantinople, by which you have infinitely obliged us. But we beg you to adjust our affairs and excuse our coming; for fear has penetrated our heart, and you are aware that the dread of death surpasses all other fear. Thus we entreat you, if it is in your power, to arrange matters without our coming until this fear quits our heart…we have entrusted all our affairs into your hands, and you are our agent, with the exception of life, which is not to be placed in comparison with anything else.
(Signed) Bedr Khan Beg.22
The vice-consul replied by stating,
The cause of our writing to you is that we received your letter in a fortunate time, and have read it with great attention. It seems that you excuse yourself from coming on account of the fear from your mind, and to calm your apprehension, if you will listen to the advice of His Excellency the Ambassador, which we communicated to you, no evil will befall you, for we all desire earnestly to save both yourself from death, and your country from the ruin of war. You must be well aware that the forces of the Sublime Porte are so great that you cannot stand before them, and hostilities once commenced, you will not be able to save your life by flying to other places…and to take courage and go immediately to His Excellency Osman Pasha the Mushir, whom I have addressed on the subject, and His Excellency will show you all due attention and respect. The reason that I have sent Hojja Antoon (
) to you is that his brother Hojja Toma (
) is too unwell to travel. I hope that you will not listen to the advice of others, but trust in God and start immediately for Diarbekir, where you will be convinced that our counsel was for your good. May God preserve you.
) to you is that his brother Hojja Toma () is too unwell to travel. I hope that you will not listen to the advice of others, but trust in God and start immediately for Diarbekir, where you will be convinced that our counsel was for your good. May God preserve you.
(Signed) C. A. Rassam.23
3 May 1847
Rassam’s envoy to Bedr Khan returned to Mosul and reported, among other things, that the Kurdish leader Sa’adun Agha Khalgholi (
) and other leading supporters had been convinced by the ambassador’s message to their chief and now believed that it was useless to resist the sultan and that there were two alternatives: peace or war.