text:  The sultan even dispatched a confidential agent to the seat of war to examine personally into the state of affairs; and finding from his report that the army was reduced by the sword and the ravages of disease to half its original effective strength he issued peremptory firmans to the pashas of the empire to hasten the equipment of their contingents; and even announced his intention of repairing in person to Crete to share the perils and glories of the _holy war_