Ancient discovery or mystery,Shadows over Reform, Selim III and the Rising Tide of Rebellion (1803–1805)

The dawn of the nineteenth century set up Sultan Selim III both hopeful and uneasy. He'd survived storms that would have broken numerous autocrats — the French irruption of Egypt, the Janissaries' growling, the endless wars on the conglomerate's borders. His reforms, the Nizam- ı Cedid or New Order, had survived long enough to take root. But like youthful saplings in a harsh wind, they were fragile, their survival uncertain. In Istanbul, whispers swirled through the stores, the coffeehouses, and the barracks whispers of treason, of foreign influence, of a sultan who no longer heeded to his dogfaces. The megacity breathed with pressure, though its thoroughfares brimmed as ever with the commerce of conglomerate.