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212 DESTEUCTION OF THE GEEEK EMPIEE had already shown himself ready to join Hunyadi and other enemies of the Turks, was in revolt. 1 There must be no repetition of the incident which had made Murad's attempt to capture the city a failure. No sooner had the sultan left Europe than, with an indiscretion which Ducas condemns, ambassadors from the emperor were sent to ask that the pension promised for the support of Orchan should be doubled and at the same time to demand leave, if the request were refused, that Constantine might be at liberty to set him free. The messengers insinuated that in such case Orchan would be an acceptable candidate for the Ottoman throne. The request was of course a threat, and was so treated by Halil Pasha — who had been friendly to the late emperor and who continued his friendship to Constan- tine — and by Mahomet himself. When Halil heard their demand he bluntly asked them if they were mad. He told them that they had a very different man to deal with from the easy-going Murad ; the ink on the treaty was not yet dry, and yet they came as if they were in a position to demand better conditions than had been already granted. ' If you think,' said Halil, ' you can do anything against us, do it : proclaim Orchan prince ; bring the Hungarians across the Danube and take from us, if you can, the lands we have captured ; but I warn you that you will fail and that if you try you will lose everything.' 2 The account given by Ducas has every appearance of truthfulness. Halil felt that his own attempts to save the city were being thwarted by the emperor himself. He, however, promised to report to Mahomet what they had said and kept his word. His master dealt with the ambassadors much more diplo- matically. He was outside Europe, and it would be inconvenient if any attempt should be made to prevent him returning to Adrianople. Besides, he must have time to come to terms with Caramania. He therefore represented that he was quite disposed to accede to the demands sub- mitted to him, but that, as he was going to Adrianople in a short time, it would be better that they should submit to 1 Chal. vii. ; Ducas, xxxiv. 2 Ducas, xxxiv.