struck with terror the functionaries of government, who anticipated a
continuance of the iron rule under which they had so long trembled; but
the disposition of Ahmed-Kiuprili was not naturally sanguinary, and few
measures of unnecessary severity characterized his subsequent sway. The
war in Hungary, meanwhile, had assumed a serious aspect; for though
Kemény had perished in battle, the Imperialists still continued to
oppose the claims of Abaffi to the crown of Transylvania; and their
armies, guided by the valour and experience of Montecuculi, a general
formed in the Thirty Years' War, were making rapid progress in the
reduction of the principality. War was now openly declared between the
two empires; and Kiuprili, assuming the command in person, opened the
campaign of 1663, in Hungary, with 100,000 men--a force before which
Montecuculi had no alternative but to retreat, as the rapidity with
which the Turks had taken the field, had completely outstripped the
dilatory preparations of the Aulic Council[10]. The exploits of the
Ottomans, however, were confined to the capture of Ujvar, or Neuhausel,
after a siege maintained on both sides with such extraordinary vigour,
as to have given rise to a Hungarian proverb--"As fixed as a Turk before
Neuhausel,"--after which both armies withdrew into winter-quarters. The
campaign of 1664 opened also to the advantage of the Ottomans; but in
attempting the passage of the Raab, (Aug. 1,) at the fords near St
Gothard, the sudden swelling of the stream cut off the communication
between one division of their army and the other; and being attacked at
this juncture by Montecuculi, they sustained the most signal overthrow
which the Osmanlis had ever yet received from a Christian power--17,000
of their best troops were slain or drowned, and the vizir, hastily
drawing on the remains of his forces, sent proposals of peace to the
Austrian headquarters. Yet such was the indefinite awe with which the
prowess and resources of the Ottomans were at that time regarded, that
the Imperialists made no further use of their victory than to conclude a