GENERAL LIBRARY . . . * : *, * :
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
THE
Hagerman Collection
C F B O O. K S R gl. &t 1 fºn G. T. O
HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
B O U Gº H ºf WW IT H M C N E Y PLA C E O B Y
JAAAES J. HAGERMAN OF CHLASS OF '64
1 N T H E H A F4 Os OF
Professor Charles Kendall Adams
* N T H E YEAR
i883,








yºv
^ A-
* …,
A
HISTORY
OF THE
EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION,
FROM THE PERIOD OF THE MAMELUKES TO THE
DEATH OF MOHAMMED ALI;
FROM ABAB AND EUROPEAN MEMOIRS, ORAL TRADITION, AND LOCAL
RESEARCH.
BY
A. A. PATON, F.R.G.S.,
AUTHoR or “RESEARCHES ON THE DANUBE AND ADRIATIC.”
"VOL. II.
L ON DO N :
TRÚBNER & Co., 60, PATERNOSTER Row.
*
1863.


HER, TFO Rib :
PRINTED BY STEPHEN AUSTIN
TT
9
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C O N T E N T S. V. º.
CHAPTER I.
P
Events in Egypt after the Departure of the French Army. Assassination of
Mamelukes by the Capitan Pasha. Khousreff Pasha, Governor of Egypt. He
is Driven from Cairo by the Rebellious Troops. Rise of Mohammed Ali.
Anarchy in Egypt. Return of Elfy. Bey from England to Egypt. Failure of
Elfy Bey's Projects. Mohammed Ali becomes Dictator of Egypt and Pasha of
Djiddah. His Character.............. & e º ºs s a tº e s & © tº tº tº s ºn e g º ºs º º s º * * * * * * * * * * c e º is e º sº tº dº s v & e s e s e s e s is
CHAPTER II.
Mohammed Ali Circumvents the Mamelukes. His Power Causes Uneasiness
to the Porte. He becomes Pasha Öf Egypt. British Expedition to Egypt under
General Fraser ................................................................................
CHAPTER III.
General Appropriation of Landed Property by the Pasha. The Wahaby War.
Decline of the Mameluke Power. General Massacre of the Mamelukes.
Massacres of Mamelukes in the Provinces................... w º 'º tº & & © tº s e º sº e e $ sº º e º e º a s g º is a s e
CHAPTER IV.
History of the Wahabys. Wahaby. Doctrines. Kermelah, the Wahaby
Leader, Defeats the Shereef of Mecca. The Wahabys become Masters of Mecca.
CHAPTER. W.
The Shereef of Mecca and Mohammed Ali concert Measures to Attack the
Wahabys. Capture of Medina by Toussoun Pasha, son of Mohammed Ali. The
Wahabys regain ground. Mohammed Ali disembarks in Arabia. Final
Conquest of the Wahabys.....................................................................
CHAPTER WI.
The Upper Nile, its Climate and Trade. Conquest of Senaar, Dongolah,
and Cordofan resolved on. The Egyptians enter Nubia. The Upper Nile
occupied. Its material Aspect. Senaar and its Traces of Arab Civilization.
The countries of the Upper Nile annexed ................. © & e º s e o e s tº e e º 'º g tº e s s c e e s a e º e º e º a
CHAPTER WII.
Revolution of Manners in Egypt. New Organization of the Army and its
Administrative Departments. Improvement of Alexandria. The Canal of
Alexandria. Egyptian Manufactures not successful. The Pasha fosters Educa-
tion. Civil Administration. The Overland Passage to India revived. Palaces
and Gardens of Mohammed Ali. His extensive and intelligent Intercourse with
Puropeans .................................... tº e e s tº e º 'º e g º ſº e º º º tº º & 8 & © e º e º & tº e s is e e º 'º e s m e º e e º e º e a tº e s &
&
AGF.
19
26
36
42
64
71
~sº-sº
Vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
Retrospect of Turkish History. The Greek Revolution. Causes of the
Maintenance of the Turkish Power in Europe. Conduct of Mohammed Ali
during the Greek War. Energy of Sultan Mahmoud, Mohammed Ali purposes
to invade Syria. Ibrahim Pasha besieges Acre. Acre surrenders to Ibrahim.
The Turks defeated at Homs. The Battle of Konieh gained by the Egyptians
over the Turks. Arrangement at Kiutahia
tº e º ºs e e is e º e º e e g º ºs e e º e g º e g º º e º e º gº e º e º e º 'º & e º e º 'º a
/ CHAPTER IX.
A Survey of Syria at the period of the Egyptian Conquest. Mount Lebanon.
The Druses. The Pashalic of Aleppo. Jerusalem. The Seat of Government
Established at Damascus. Factions of Aleppo. Beginning of discontents among
the natives of Syria. Sack of Safet. Insurrection of the Mountaineers of
Nablouse and Mount Cassius. Disarming of the Inhabitants of Mount Lebanon.
Exasperation of the Population of Syria .......................... & e º e s e a s e a s e º e º s e º u e e
CHAPTER X.
Syrian discontents revive the hopes of the Turks. Armaments of the Sultan.
Wiscount Ponsonby dissuades Mahmoud from precipitate measures. The Sultan
resolves on War........................................................... ....................
CHAPTER XI.
Campaigns of Nezib. Egyptians concentrated in Aleppo. Turkish concen-
tration at Nezib. Night Bombardment. Battle of Nezib. Death of Mahmoud...
CHAPTER XII.
Defection of the Admiral of the Turkish Fleet to Mohammed Ali. The Fleet
at Rhodes. Arrival of the Fleet at Alexandria. Surrender of the Fleet to
Mohammed Ali.................................................................................
CHAPTER, XIII.
Action of European Diplomacy on Turkish Affairs. Survey of Britain. Survey
of France. Survey of Austria, Russia, and Prussia. The Secondary States.
Jealous Apprehensions of Russia by Europe. Prince Metternich. Wiscount
Palmerston. M. Thiers ..... tº º e º s º ºs e º 'º s e e º ºs e º e º te e s is a e º e º e º 'º e s e º is e s e º e º is e º u e º e º e tº e º 'º e º 'º e º e e º ºs
CHAPTER XIV.
Count Nesselrode announces Overtures of Russia to England. First Mission
of Baron Brunnow. His Negociations with Wiscount Palmerston. Exception
to the Acceptance of the Proposals of Russia. Second Mission of Baron Brunnow
to London
s e e º e o e s e a e º e º 'º e º e º 'º e s s e º e s e º e s e º e º ºs e e º s e º e s 6 s is e e s e e e s a e º 'º e s s e e º e º e º e s º e º e e ſº e º ſº tº º º ºs e e º º
CHAPTER XV.
Mission of Colonel Hodges to Egypt. His Instructions. Colonel Hodges'
Presentation to Mohammed Ali. The Divan of Mohammed Ali described.
Decisive language of the British Agent to Mohammed Ali. Mohammed Ali
Refuses to yield, and Prepares an Armed Resistance....................................
CHAPTER XVI.
The Convention of July 15, 1840, is signed in London. Its Provisions. The
Convention notified to Mohammed Ali. His First Refusal. His Final Refusal.
Mohammed Ali deposed by the Sultan, and Egypt and Syria blockaded............
PAGE
86
102
125
130
137
144
156
174
CONTENTS. Wii
CHAPTER XVII.
PAGE
Rigorous Policy of the Egyptian Authorities in Syria. The British Fleet off
the Syrian Coast. The Austrians and Turks. Operations near Beyrout. Ghazir
Occupied. Djebail and Batroun. Hostility of the Mountaineers to the Egyptians 179
CEIAPTER XVIII.
Nomination of Sir C. Smith. Vigour of Sir. C. Napier. Sidon taken. The
Emir Beshir Deposed. Omar's Operations. Battle of the 10th of October.
Defeat of Ibrahim. Surrender of Beyrout. Bombardment of Acre............... 187
CHAPTER XIX.
Policy of Britain and France. , Dejection of Mohammed Ali. Napier off
Alexandria. Letter to Mohammed Ali. Interview with Mohammed Ali, and
Convention. Storm on the Coast. Napier's Convention Disapproved by Admiral
Stopford. Virtually Accepted by Wiscount Palmerston................................. 198
CHAPTER XX.
Ibrahim Pasha at Damascus. His able dispositions. His Retreat. , Sufferings
of the Egyptians. Personal details of Ibrahim Pasha. His high spirits.
Evacuation of Syria. Retreat of Suleyman Pasha by the Gulf of Akaba........ . 206
CEIAPTER, XXI.
Mohammed Ali's Government after the termination of the War. The Army
partially Employed in Agriculture. Mohammed Ali receives the Decoration of
Grand Vizier. Destructive Cattle Murrain. The Transit reorganised. Threat-
ened revolt of Ahmed Pasha of Senaar. His Death. His Slave Hunts. Death
of Boghos Bey. Angry Suspicions of Mohammed Ali on the Discovery of the
Financial Embarrassment produced by his Erroneous and Oppressive System of
Taxation. He Punishes the Governor of Damietta for Cruelty and Fanaticism... 221
CHAPTER XXII.
Personal Habits of Mohammed Ali in his Old Age. Ibrahim Pasha. Abbas
Dasha. Shereef Pasha. The Capitation Tax. Edhem Bey. New Educational
Institutions. Printing Press at Boulak, Improvements in Cairo. Port of
Boulak. Mohammed Ali's Palaces. Hydraulic Improvements ..................... 238
CHAPTER, XXIII.
Public Justice. Thieves. Crimes and Disorders of the Arnauts. Crimes in
Harems. A Revolt in a Harem. Swindlers. Lawsuits. Criminal Punishments,
Imprisonment for Debt. Scene in a Debtors' Prison.................................... 255
CEIAPTER, XXIV.
The Ulema in the last years of Mohammed Ali's rule. State of Arabic
Literature. Party Spirit among the Ulema. The Wahabys and Arabians proper
resident in Cairo. Popular Superstition, and Imposture of Pretended Enchanters.
Execution of the last Wizard ............................................................... 267
CELAPTER, XXV.
State of the Christian population in the last years of Mohammed Ali’s rule.
Laudable Enforcement of Tolerance towards Christians. Basilios Bey's Death.
The Copts. The Franks. Mr. Lane and Clot Bey. The Syrians and Greeks.
The Caraite Jews. The Castle of Dogs. Music and Musicians. Jugglers.
Nubian Population. Negroes............................................ tº ſº e º e º e º e º e º tº ſº tº º & a tº 280
tº gº º
VIIl CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
PAGE
Ibrahim Pasha's Health fails. He sails for Tuscany and France. Splendid
Fêtes given him by the French. Is hospitably received in Great Britain.
Mohammed Ali visits Constantinople. The Nile Bar. Dotage of Mohammed
Ali. Short Government of Ibrahim Pasha, terminated by his death. Death
of Mohammed Ali.............................................................................. 299
CHAPTER, XXVII.
Material Aspect of Cairo at the close of Mohammed Ali’s career. The Khans,
Bazaars, and Thoroughfares. The Slave Market. The Hasheesh Shops. The
Corn Market. The Butchers' Quarter. Nubian Breweries. The Suburban
Population. . The Peasantry of the Environs. The various Markets in Cairo, its
Suburbs, and Environs........................................................................ 309
CHAPTER, XXVIII.
Management of the Mosques and Charitable Endowments. Mosque of
Touloun. The College of the Azhar. The Mosque of Sheikhoun. Mosque of
Hosseyneyn. Mosque of Hakem. Mosque of Daher. The Hospital of Kalaon.
Mosque of Hassan. Mosque of Moeyed. Mosque of Sultan-el-Ghoury.
§: Convents. Oratory of the Hindoos. Various Mosques, Fountains, and 2
000018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... 822
A HISTORY
OF THE
EGYPTIAN REWOLUTION,
CEIAPTER I.
EvenTs IN EGYPT AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF THE FRENCH ARMY.-ASSAssINA-
TION OF MAMELUKES BY THE CAPITAN PASHA.—KHOUSREFF PASHA, Gover NoH.
of EGYPT.-HE Is DRIVEN FROM CAIRo BY THE REBELLIOUs TRoops.-RISE
of MoHAMMED ALI.-ANARCHY IN EGYPT.-RETURN OF ELFY BEY FROM
ENGLAND To EGYPT.-FAILURE OF ELFY BEY’s PROJECTS.—MoHAMMED ALI
BECOMES DICTATOR of EGYPT AND PASHA of DJIDDAH.—HIS CHARACTER.
WE now pass from the grand and elevated parts of
modern Egyptian history to the dead flat of the petty
intrigues and guerilla warfare of little men. From
Bonaparte and Nelson—from Kleber and Abercrombie—
to Elfy and Bardissy, is indeed a descent; and, if
we linger and leisurely survey the more picturesque
parts of our historical journey, we shall pass with all
convenient speed over the uninteresting level which
presents only one object worthy of attention, and that
is the elevation of Mohammed Ali from an obscure station
to be governor of Egypt, and possessed of the power
which served—as will be seen in the sequel—utterly to
annihilate the last remains of the Mameluke dominion.
The importance of events, and not the mere lapse of
years, will now direct us in the apportionment of the
space at our disposal.
WOL. II, 1
2 MOHAMMED ALI.
Like nearly all the celebrated men who have cast their
lot in Egypt, Mohammed Ali came from a colder and
more bracing region; for Egypt has been from time
immemorial the India of the adventurous northerns,
civilian and military, of the Ottoman empire. Born
at Cavula, in Roumelia, Mohammed Ali shewed in early
life both a hankering after trade and personal courage as
a soldier. In Roumelia he traded in tobacco, and during
the British expedition into Egypt he embarked at Mar-
marice under the Capitan Pasha; and, as aga at the head
of three hundred Albanians and Roumeliotes, distin-
guished himself in the march on Cairo, after the battle
in which Abercrombie fell,—having been the first to
enter Rahmanieh on the evacuation of that place by the
troops of General Lagrange.
No sooner were the French expelled from Egypt and
the English about to leave, than the Mamelukes began
again to raise their heads out of the slough into which
they had sunk; and, supposing that they had henceforth
only to deal with the decadence and disorganization of
the old Turkish government, they somewhat too con-
fidently anticipated a resumption of the power that
placed at their feet all the sensual luxuries of this
favoured land. On the other hand, the great object of
the Porte was to retain the power, and prevent it from
again falling into the hands of the Mamelukes. Out of
this complicated game Mohammed Ali rose the winner of
the valley of the Nile.
The first act of the Porte towards a resumption of full
sovereignty took place before the English quitted Egypt,
and was one of those strokes of policy which were
formerly unhappily too common in Turkish history, but
which, it is only justice to say, have fallen into desuetude
in modern Turkish politics. The principal beys of the
party of Murad were invited by the Capitan Pasha to
THE CAPITAN PASHA AND THE MAMELUKE BEYS. 3
enjoy his hospitalities at the encampment of Aboukir,
and confer with him on the future government of Egypt.
Several of the beys were averse to trusting their persons
in the power of the Ottoman Admiral; but others,
regarding the immediate vicinity of the English force
and the high character of General Hutchinson as a
guarantee for fair treatment, resolved to accept the
invitation; more especially as by declining it they might
leave an opening for the Capitan Pasha and General
Hutchinson to make some arrangement for the future
government of Egypt which should exclude them.
The Capitan Pasha received them with sumptuous
hospitality; and, under pretext of a visit to General
Hutchinson, he induced them to embark in his barge,
as if about to confer with the English commander. At
a short distance from the shore a boat approached which
bore dispatches for the Capitan Pasha, who, in order to
peruse them more at his ease, stepped into the other boat
and was borne away from the beys, who, upon their
barge being rowed round a bluff point, discovered the
trap into which they had been allured. Armed boats
rapidly bore down upon them, and they ordered their
own rowers to put back; but, being overtaken, a struggle
took place in which Osman Bey Tambourgi and three
others were killed, and Osman Bey el Bardissy and two
others were wounded.
General Hutchinson was transported with just indig-
nation at a procedure which associated the English name
with an act of treachery so foreign to our principles and
usages. He ordered his troops under arms, and reclaimed
the wounded for surgical care and attendance,—the dead
for honourable sepulture. Nor would he admit the
validity of the Capitan Pasha's excuse, that the Beys
had drawn their swords on a groundless suspicion,--a
statement inconsistent with the other and truer part of
4 ATTACKS ON THE MAMELUKES.
the Capitan Pasha's excuse, that it was the wish of the
Porte to get quit of the Mamelukes, and that the
regulation of the internal affairs of Egypt was within
the sole competence of the Divan.
While this was proceeding on the coast, the same
bloody drama was enacted at Cairo under the eyes of
the Anglo-Indian force. The Mamelukes, who had
received pelisses and flatteries from Yousouff Pasha,
were one night attacked without pity at Gizeh, the
flash of the firing being visible from the windows of the
English officers' quarters in Old Cairo. Later on the
same night, at eleven o'clock, a detachment of Mamelukes
presented themselves at the English quarters and claimed
protection, which they received from General Ramsay in
spite of the pressing and reiterated messages of the Grand
Vizier to deliver them up; General Ramsay very properly
judging that it was by open force and vigorous measures
that the power of the Porte must be re-established.
That a struggle should recommence between the Porte
and the Mamelukes was scarcely avoidable. . These
inexcusable acts precipitated it. The sympathies of the
British troops were estranged, and the Mamelukes,
without being much injured, were stung with resent-
ment; so that throughout all the subsequent transactions
we are reminded of the old adage, that “honesty is the
best policy.”
The new Grand Vizier, Yousouff Pasha, who had made
his triumphal entry into Cairo as the representative of
the resumption of the conquest of Selim, agreed very
badly with the younger and more active Capitan Pasha;
and the latter, by his influence at Constantinople, pro-
cured the nomination of governor of Egypt for Khousreff
Pasha, a personage well known in the modern annals of
the Ottoman empire; who filled the highest places in the
gift of the Sultan; who was for nearly half a century
RHOUSREFF PASHA. 5
the rival and opponent of Mohammed Ali; who was
Pasha of Egypt, when Mohammed Ali was still an aga
of Arnauts; and who, long after Mohammed Ali was in
his grave, was called to the extraordinary consultative
assemblies of the Porte in the most momentous emer-
gency of her modern history. The youth who governed
Iºgypt on the expulsion of the legions of the elder
Bonaparte, was still able, in spite of the caducity of age,
to sit in council on the measures that accompanied the
Menschikoff crisis and immediately preceded the disem-
barkation of the forces of another Bonaparte on the
shores of the Crimea.
Rhousreff Pasha, when he arrived in Egypt, was a
newly emancipated Georgian slave of the Capitan Pasha.
Bis manners were polished, and his person was hand-
some; but the presumption of a parvenu was visible to
those whom he had passed in the social scale: and it
was at this early stage of his career, in the service of
Rhousreff Pasha, and against the Mamelukes, that
Mohammed Ali first made himself talked of in Egypt.
At this period every political circumstance in the
country revealed a double action in operation—the
rivalry of the agents of the Porte, and their efforts
sometimes jointly, and sometimes apart from one another,
against the common enemy, the Mamelukes. It was
not easy to uproot a power that had so long been
nourished on the choice saps of Egypt; and it cannot
be overlooked that the Mamelukes, in returning to their
contest with the Porte, had considerable advantages. They
had been longer in the school of collision with the French
than the soldiers of the Porte. Their system of warfare,
unequal to a contest with European armies, was yet
formidable to the feeble beginnings of the Porte in
European discipline. By long habit they knew Egypt
better than the freshly arrived agents and troops of the
6 OSMAN BEY EL BARDISSY.
Porte; and their name carried more prestige with the
inhabitants than that of the half consolidated Turkish
power. It is true that they were no longer led by the
skill and bravery of Murad Bey, and that Ibrahim Bey
was now old and rapidly declining in vigour; but
Osman Bey el Bardissy and Mohammed Bey el Elfy
still remained.
Osman Bey el Bardissy was a Circassian slave of
Murad Bey, possessed of amazing corporeal strength and
activity; skilful as a horseman, and intrepid in battle.
Being also of a generous disposition, the eyes of the
Mamelukes were fixed on him as their leader in the
absence of Elfy. Nor was expectation disappointed; for
even before Alexandria was finally evacuated by the
English on the 14th March, 1803, the greater part of
both Upper and Lower Egypt was again in the Mame-
luke power. The important places of Cairo, Alexandria,
and some others of less note, remained indeed to the
Porte; but even the capital was soon destined to pass
away from the hands of Khousreff Pasha, its represen-
tative in Egypt. Deprived of a considerable portion of
the revenues of the country, he could not pay the troops,
and on the 2nd of May, 1803, a violent revolt broke
out. The soldiery surrounded the house of the treasurer,
whom they kept prisoner. Khousreff Pasha, incensed at
this, ordered the artillery to fire on the troops, and the
battle became general in the capital. Tahir Pasha, who
commanded the troops as Lieutenant-General of the Pasha,
now presented himself to Khousreff as a mediator between
the insurgents and the governor of Egypt. Khousreff,
however, declined a negociation which hurt his self-love,
and awakened suspicions of the faithfulness of Tahir,
which subsequent events justified; for on the following
day he declared openly against Khousreff, his benefactor,
and even directed the soldiers to escalade the walls. So
POPULARITY OF MOHAMMED ALI. 7
much was the governor taken by surprise, that he never
knew his position until he saw his palace in course of
being battered down. Nothing was therefore left for
him but a precipitate flight, with his household, his
harem, and those officers who remained faithful to him.
By the eastern branch of the Nile he made his way to
Mansourah—so renowned in history for the greater dis-
asters of the valiant and pious St. Louis; and no sooner
was he gone than Tahir, having matured his plans,
assembled at his house in Cairo the principal officers of
the law, and was invested by the cadi with a pelisse,
as caimakaem or deputy, until the will of the Porte
should be known as to the appointment of a successor
to Khousreff Pasha, thus virtually deposed.
But Tahir himself soon met with the just reward of
his perfidy, in the violent termination of his brief tenure
of power. On the 25th May, just twenty-two days after
his provisional investiture, two Binbashis, or chiefs of a
thousand, named Moussa and Ismael, presented them-
selves to him with the old complaint that the pay of the
troops was in arrear. Tahir Pasha attempted to intimi-
date them, but in this he failed, and the complaining
chiefs abruptly ended the dispute by drawing their
swords and cutting off his head, which they threw out
of the window. A general fight ensued, and the affair
ended with the house being burnt down.
By the flight of the Pasha, and the death of the com-
mander of the troops, Mohammed Ali, whose courage
and conciliatory qualities had been equally conspicuous
during the troubles—and who had won the applause of
the military and the civilians by overawing the turbu-
lent, and protecting the citizens—became the virtual ruler
of Cairo. Unable, however, to keep his ground against
both the Mamelukes and Khousreff Pasha, he allied him-
self with the former, and moved against the nominal
8 OWERTHROW OF KHOUSREFF PASHA.
governor of Egypt, who had now ensconced himself at
Damietta ; Osman Bey el Bardissy leading the Mame-
Iuke and Arab cavalry by land, while the force under
Mohammed Ali descended the Nile in the numerous
barges of transport.
When the troops of Mohammed Ali arrived at Da-
mietta, they found that Khousreff had planted his artil-
lery along a canal leading from the Nile. A Turkish
soldier belonging to Osman Bey el Bardissy, who spoke
Arabic, put on the costume of a fellah, and, pretending
to be a seller of melons, entered Damietta. Favoured
by his disguise, he found no difficulty in sounding the
canal. Seeking out the currents, he discovered near the
bridge a place where there were not more than three
feet of water; and during the night Osman Bey and
Mohammed Ali, leading their troops, passed the canal at
this point, the water being up to their middles. This
sudden and unexpected manoeuvre disconcerted the troops
of Khousreff. The artillery was seized, and at daybreak .
the troops, bursting into Damietta, carried it in spite of
an active fire of musketry. Khousreff retired to the fort
of Lesbeh, at the mouth of the Nile; but being unable
to hold out, was obliged to capitulate, and was conducted
to Cairo with the honours due to his nominal rank.
Thus ended in disaster the brief government of Khous-
reff Pasha. But Egypt was not yet regained by the
Mamelukes. Mohammed Ali, with a long train of Ar-
naut and Roumeliote followers, held the balance, which
he could incline with decisive effect for the Porte or the
beys. Egypt was torn to pieces with faction and revolt;
but, nominally, all were the most humble and obedient
servants of the Sultan.
Alexandria and Rosetta still remained to the Porte;
and the news from Egypt having filled the Divan with
disquietude, Ali Pasha Gezairli was sent to govern Egypt.
ALI PASHA GEZAIRLI. 9
This officer, having been expelled from Barbary, had
lived for some years enjoying the protection and hospi-
tality of Murad Bey in Egypt, and had aided in the
resistance to the French after their landing. Gezairli
was more of an intriguer than a soldier, and remained
within the walls of Alexandria while Osman Bey el
Bardissy and Mohammed Ali besieged and took Rosetta
and Fort Jullien, which commands the mouth of the
Nile. Gezairli, finding he could not get a footing by
force, tried fraud, and was overreached by those whom
he sought to deceive.
On the 27th of January, 1804, 6ezairli went to the
camp of Osman Bey el Bardissy as guest; but while
there he entered into a secret understanding with Sheikh
Sadat of Cairo, to raise the native Egyptians against the
Mamelukes. The bearer of the letter being, however,
caught and confronted with Gezairli, who could not deny
his own communication, he preserved a dead silence.
Bardissy and his confederates thereupon adopted prompt
measures to get rid of a pasha who sought to extinguish
the Mameluke rule. The deputy of Osman Bey el
Bardissy proceeded to the tent of Gezairli, and informed
him that his horses awaited him. “Horses for where P’’
said Gezairli. “For Syria,” said the Arnaut of Osman
Bey. “Your conduct has rendered you unworthy of
remaining in Egypt.” A number of mamelukes attended
him for a couple of days, when, in consequence of secret
orders which had been received from the confederates,
Gezairli and his suite were put to death. This ephemeral
governor of Egypt carried his winding sheet always with
him, and met his fate with the resignation of an oriental,
his last wish being that he should not be deprived of the
honours of Sepulture.
These little circumstances show an habitual anarchy .
unknown to Europe, except during the period that
I0 RETURN OF ELFY BEY.
elapsed between the fall of the Roman Empire and the
settlement of the feudal system. How miserable the state
of Society, when perfidy, murder, and rapine, extinguish
hope and even fear, which is replaced by a hardened
indifference—for fear is the exception to the normal
Security of society, and the sign that a violent end is
not the general rule.
An event now occurred which excited general atten-
tion in Egypt—the return of Elfy Bey, after a sojourn
in England. On the 12th of February, 1804, an English
frigate dropped anchor in Aboukir Bay, and disembarked
this Mameluke leader. Selim Aga Tamerlane, the former
master of the youthful Elfy, had made a present of him
to Murad Bey, who returned the compliment by a gift
of a “thousand” (Arabicé Elf) measures of corn; and
hence his surname. Elfy Bey was a brave and intelli-
gent man; but lawless rapine and a disorderly profusion
alternately filled and exhausted his coffers. He was
occasionally violent in his temper, but habitually effemi-
nate in his manner and person, using the various cos-
metics known to the Orientals to hide the approaches of
age.
Uncertain how he might be received, or as to the
best mode of forming a nucleus of political and military
power, Elfy Bey advanced cautiously towards Rosetta,
while his partisans and adherents in the capital proceeded
to Gizeh, in order to prepare for his reception, and to
join him with such forces as might have weight in the
immediate vicinity of Cairo, so that the union of material
force with the intelligence and audacity of the returned
chief, might at once be decisive. But these plans and
movements coming to the ears of his rival, Bardissy, and
of Mohammed Ali, commander of the Turkish troops, a
closer intelligence was established between them, and
after two days’ conference it was determined to take
HIS FLIGHT. 11
prompt and vigorous measures to pluck up Elfy by the
roots, before he should have time to extend and consoli-
date his influence.
At Rosetta, Elfy Bey had been received by the au-
thorities with a respect which gradually grew cooler as
the time of his embarkation for Cairo drew near. He as-
cended the western branch of the Nile without accident ;
and having passed the canal of Menouf, near the capital,
he met some boats filled with Albanians; who, not daring
to attack him, contented themselves with pillaging the
baggage boats containing all the rich presents he had
received in England. Jewellery, trinkets, clothes, and
instruments, were in a few days seen for sale in the
bazaars of Cairo. Meanwhile the partisans who awaited
him at Gizeh, being vigorously attacked by troops under
Mohammed Ali, were killed or dispersed. Elfy Bey
himself was hunted by the men of Bardissy, and only
escaped by preserving his incognito when the cavass
bashi of Bardissy passed in his boat. Thus tracked on
all hands, and aware of the fate of his partisans, Elfy
quitted his boat; and, passing to the Arabs of Hawaytat,
was mounted on a horse, and with a couple of dromedary
guides sought safety in flight. Being pursued, he saved
his life by throwing down his rich dresses and ornaments
to occupy attention, while he escaped to an Arab chief
in the desert between Suez and the Mediterranean.
But the difficulties of Osman Bey el Bardissy were not
ended with the defeat of Elfy. It was not written in
the book of fate that he or any other Mameluke should
continue the line of the Murads and Ibrahims. Moham-
med Ali and his Arnauts could not be put aside by a
section or remnant of the Mamelukes struggling for
power. On the 24th of February, Mohammed Ali and
his Arnauts went to Bardissy and told him that if he did
not pay them their arrears they would immediately act
12 TREACHERY OF MOHAMMED ALT.
against him. Bardissy, whose chief reliance had hitherto
been on Mohammed Ali, alarmed at such a demonstration,
calmed them with a promise of payment; but the fulfil-
ment of his promise carried with it measures which
proved fatal to Bardissy. Heavy contributions were
forthwith levied, not only on the native, but on the
European merchants, in order to raise the necessary sum.
All Cairo was disgusted with these exactions, and the
very measures adopted by Bardissy to prolong his rule
drew him towards the abyss, and procured for Mohammed
Ali the opportunity of finally driving him into the insig-
nificance to which Elfy Bey had fallen. The wily
chief, far from identifying himself with these exorbitant
exactions, consolidated his popularity with the sheikhs of
Cairo by emphatically condemning the measure.
Bublic opinion being now mature, Mohammed Ali
proceeded, in utter disregard of his professions of alliance
with Bardissy, to strike the blow which was to make
straight the way for the direct government of the Porte.
On the 12th of March, 1804, suddenly assembling all
his troops by preconcerted signal, he surrounded the
house of Bardissy; and the first intelligence that the
Mamelukes had of this attack, was the sound of the
musketry of the Arnauts as they forced their way into
the passages. A battery of field-pieces protected the
house of Bardissy, but the chief of his artillery had been
gained over by Mohammed Ali, who was a consummate
master of the Oriental science of intrigue and stratagem;
and this was on a small scale the prototype of the
greater defections which subsequently made Mohammed
Ali so formidable for a brief period. The recreant
artilleryman, wheeling round his cannon, began to batter
down the palace he was employed to protect; and the
unfortunate Bardissy saw that there was no chance of
safety but in flight. Suddenly loading his valuables on
ESCAPE OF BARDISSY. 13
dromedaries, he issued from his great gate, the Mame-
lukes hewing a way for him in front. Encouraging his
own men with drawn sabre, Bardissy broke through the
hostile ranks of the Arnauts; and, though wounded, gained
first the fort of the Institute, and then the open country.
The aged Ibrahim Bey, of whom the Albanians took less
heed, held his own until daybreak next morning, when
he also quitted Cairo amidst a shower of bullets, and
escaped by the desert. The Pasha, who was prisoner
in the citadel of Cairo, was summarily dismissed to
Constantinople; and Khurschid Pasha, then at Alexan-
dria, was called to Cairo amid the general applause of
an eastern public, always ready to throw off the tyrant
of the day.
The government of Khurschid Pasha was only a pro-
longed anarchy. He was pressed on the one hand by the
Turkish and Albanian troops, demanding pay; and, on
the other, he found it impossible to collect the land-tax
regularly since the Mamelukes, no longer able to main-
tain an existence in Cairo, scoured the provinces, par-
ticularly of Upper Egypt, and carried on a petty war-
fare with the Turkish troops, agents, and collectors.
Yhurschid Pasha was thus driven to retrace the vicious
circle of his predecessors; and, in his difficulties, acted
the tyrant and oppressor of the mercantile and monied
interests of the large towns. Sitt Nefeeseh, the inoffen-
sive widow of Murad Bey, was arrested without cause,
for the purpose of extorting money from her, and only
liberated upon her cause being taken up by the heads of
the legal and religious corporations. Khurschid Pasha,
without the power to enforce obedience, or to carry
on the functions of government, and, consequently
unable to act with justice, incurred the same odium
as his predecessors, and shared their fate. His govern-
ment presents a tantalizing monotony of convulsions
14 REVOLT IN CAIRO.
unworthy of record. Indeed, all the pashas that inter-
vened between the French rule and that of Moham-
med Ali, are a will-o'-the-wisp to the historian. A
pasha of some sort flits before the eyes, but when we
attempt to grasp him he is gone. A daring adventurer
is always in pursuit of the possession of power; but no
sooner is the game hunted down than the huntsman
himself is worried to death in turn. Thus successively
rose and fell Mohammed Khousreff Pasha, Tahir Pasha,
Ali Pasha Gezairli, and Khurschid Pasha. Mohammed
Ali alone stands out the distinct historical figure in the
foreground.
During all this time Mohammed Ali increased his
popularity with the native Egyptians, by acting as
moderator between the sheikhs and the oppressive
government. At length, in May, 1805, he was made
titular Pasha of Djiddah, in Arabia, having by this time
become well known to the Porte for his civil and military
capacity. As Khurschid Pasha became more odious by
his exactions, the popularity of Mohammed Ali increased;
so that, although named Pasha of Djiddah, the avenue
to the Pashalic of Egypt gradually opened itself to him,
and his first accession to the government of this most
wealthy and important province of the Ottoman empire
was actually founded upon and favoured by public
opinion.
At length, on the 14th of May, Cairo being filled with
malcontent deputations from the provinces, the town rose
in revolt. The first rush was made to the Mehkmeh, or
Court of Justice, the seat of the cadi, who, in a panic,
caused the gates to be shut. A deputation of sheikhs
then waited on Mohammed Ali, declaring that they
wished no longer to be governed by Khurschid Pasha,
who had rendered himself odious by his persecutions,
and that it was their desire that Mohammed Ali should
DEPOSITION OF KHURSCHID PASEIA. 15
be his successor. This bold captain, who was no stranger
to the preparations made for the purpose of deposing
Rhurschid, appeared to decline the perilous honour; but,
being pressed by the sheikhs, he at length accepted it,
and was invested by the ulema with the pelisse in token
of his new dignity.
The not unwilling defection of Mohammed Ali was to
Khurschid Pasha a fatal event. The commander of his
best troops being virtually put in his place by the most
influential civilians in Egypt, it was only the possession
of the citadel that retained for him the semblance of
power; and the adherence of the Porte to his elevation
could not be counted on when he was no longer in a
position to preserve their authority from contempt. He,
however, stood on his dignity and the letter of the law.
When a deputation went in order to inform him of his de-
position, he replied that he held his commission from the
Sultan, and would not resign it at the dictation of his
inferiors. At the same time he provisioned the citadel,
and proposed to defend his authority by force of arms.
Mohammed Ali, now bound by his interests to side
with the sheikhs, blockaded the citadel, the great mosque
of Sultan Hassan and its lofty minaret serving both as
a post of offence and a tower of observation; and, on the
29th, two mortars were carried up the steep acclivity
of mount Mokattam, which overlooks the citadel, in
order to bombard it. Khurschid Pasha, on his side,
attempted to move the commanders of the Turkish troops
in the provinces to come to his aid and vindicate the
authority of the Sultan; but the star of Khurschid was
on the decline, and they sent his letter to Mohammed
Ali, and came to Cairo in order to receive pelisses from
him, as well as his orders to keep in check the Mame-
lukes, who since the disruption of the Turkish govern-
ment had again began to approach Cairo.
I6 MOHAMMED ALI PASHA OF EGYPT.
The Selikdar of Khurschid Pasha occupied old Cairo,
and made every exertion to supply the citadel with pro-
visions; but a spy having informed the besiegers that a
convoy of fifty camels was directed toward the citadel by
by-paths, escorted by soldiers and armed servants, an
attack on the convoy was organised before it could enter
the walls. This was successful, and the survivors of the
escort, being conducted to Mohammed Ali, were put to
death. Khurschid was so indignant at this proceeding,
that, on the next day, he bombarded the town severely;
while the mortars on mount Mokattam launched their
shells into the citadel, under the direction of Mohammed
Ali’s gunners. At the same time a heavy piece of
Ordnance battered the great gate of the citadel.
From the outset of these proceedings the ulema had
sent their version of the differences to Constantinople.
The agents of Mohammed Ali had been equally active;
and, the siege having continued to the 9th of July, a
capudji bashi, sent by the Porte from Constantinople,
arrived at Cairo, accompanied by an officer of the Grand
Vizier, who was deputed to examine and report upon the
state of affairs. His dispatches were publicly opened,
and, being read in the presence of the ulema, it was seen
that the government of Egypt was at length conferred
on MohammedAli, and that Khurschid Pasha was ordered
to Alexandria to wait the orders of the Porte. This was
followed up by the arrival of a Turkish squadron, having
2,500 troops on board, with a view to act decisively;
for Khurschid, finding himself abandoned by his Turkish
troops, was, in his desperation, renewing correspondence
with the Mamelukes. The arrival of the Ottoman
squadron with the fresh troops, and the vigilance with
which Mohammed Ali intercepted all correspondence,
however, determined Khurschid Pasha to surrender ; and
on the 3rd of August Mohammed Ali received the citadel,
*
AN ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER. 17
the tenure of which has been—from the days of Saladin,
its builder—the recognised proof of the actual possession
of the government of Egypt.
Thus did Mohammed Ali arrive at the first stage of his
extraordinary career; and it certainly was by a rare
union of social, intellectual, and physical powers, that
he emerged from utter obscurity to high rank, and subse-
quently to a power that made itself felt through all the
Ottoman empire. Nor can I here resist the temptation
of giving a summary of his qualities, although somewhat
anticipatory of the period when their development fixed
on him the attention of Europe. His personal courage
was indubitable: amidst shot falling like hail he pre-
served consummate coolness and self-possession. His
sagacity was extraordinary, whether in relation to things
or men. Profound dissembler himself until his hour
came, he was at the same time a master in the penetra-
tion of the motives of those with whom he had to deal.
Nor was any sordid avarice, that worst foe of popularity,
one of his defects. In treasure, as in blood, he was
alieni appetens, sui profusus. An overflowing liberality
was in accordance both with his temperament and his
political plans. His largesses gained him friends; while
the native Egyptians, whom he squeezed to supply his
demands, were impotent in their enmity.
Dut there is much to be said in abatement of his
merits. Although superior to a thirst for blood, from
mere vengeance and resentment, and an easy pardoner
of those who were no longer able to injure him, no com-
punction ever deterred him from removing the obstacles
to his lawless ambition, by fraud or force—most fre-
quently by a compound of both. Nor was he able, with
all his perseverance, to conquer his aboriginal want of
education. Anxious to introduce European civilization
into Egypt, he remained to the end of his life in utter
WOL. II. 2
18 SOME RESULTS OF HIS RULE.
ignorance of the economical principles on which the pros-
perity of a State reposes. Greedy of the praise of Euro-
peans, and, in the latter part of his career, anxious to
count for something in the balance of military power,
his illusions on this head shewed to himself and to others
the wide interval that separates the scientific organiza-
tion of European military and political establishments
from the Egyptian imitations which cost him efforts so
lengthened and persevering. But although unable to
resist the dictation of any European power, he was—
within Egypt—all-potent in establishing an order that had
never existed before, so as to afford those facilities that
have proved so valuable to the Indian transit. He found
Egypt in anarchy; and long before he had terminated
his career, the journey from the Mediterranean to Nubia
was as secure as that from London to Liverpool. He
learned to read, and attempted to write, after he had at-
tained his fortieth year; and, when we add that the prac-
tical result of his efforts was to leave his family in the
hereditary government of Egypt, Mohammed Ali must
be admitted to have been, without exception, the most
remarkable character in the modern history of the Otto-
man empire.
I9
CEIAPTER II.
MoHAMMED ALI CIRCUMVENTS THE MAMELUKES.—HIs Power. CAUSEs UNEASINESS
To THE PORTE.-HE BECOMES PASHA OF EGYPT.-BRITISH ExPEDITION To
EGYPT UNDER GENERAL FRASER.
DURING all this time, as we have seen, the Mamelukes
were by no means extinct. A considerable part of rural
Egypt was in their power. Mohammed Bey el Elfy and
Osman Bey el Bardissy, two able men, possessing a con-
siderable prestige, and having followers well mounted,
maintained more close relations with the nomad Arabs
than the Pashas of Cairo did; but the period was rapidly
approaching when they were to be totally swept away
from the political stage of Egypt, by two massacres
which were revoltingly characteristic of the oriental
school of politics and warfare.
Mohammed Ali, well knowing that with his Albanian
troopers he could make no impression on well-mounted
cavalry, caused his partisans to open communications
with the Mamelukes, proposing, in consideration of a
considerable sum of money, to admit them into Cairo on
the day of the festivity of the cutting the sluices of the
Nile, when Mohammed Ali with all his officers would be
outside the walls above Cairo. The stratagem was suc-
cessful, and the Mamelukes fell completely into the
trap.
A long line of bazaars and narrow streets leads from
the gates on the north side of Cairo to the citadel, one
20 THE MAMELUKES ENTRAPPED,
portion of which—between the gates of Succour and
Victory, on the north, and the so-called Bab Zueileh in
the centre of the town—is the principal thoroughfare of
the Egyptian metropolis; while somewhat to the east of
this line, and nearer mount Mokattam, is the venerated
mosque of the Azhar, the seat of learning and religion.
On the 18th of August, 1805, a corps of mamelukes
burst into the suburb of Hoseyneey, principally inhabited
by the turbulent butchers of the metropolis, and then
proceeded to the Gate of Victory, which was left guarded
only by a few fellaheen, who had opened it to some
peasants with camels loaded with straw. These were
speedily overpowered, and the mamelukes advanced boldly
into the town. Mohammed Ali had fully calculated that
they would proceed up the main thoroughfare of the
bazaars; and therefore, at an advanced part of their pro-
gress, near the Bab Zueileh, a considerable number of
Arnauts, ambuscaded in the houses, fired upon the
mounted mamelukes through the apertures of the carved
wooden lattices, and immediately compelled them to
retreat backwards towards the mosque and bazaar of El
Ghoury. In the narrow streets and crowded thorough-
fares cavalry was of no avail against invisible assailants,
while every bullet from a window, or from behind the
numerous angles, brought down a horse or a man; and,
however little we may approve of the way in which the
mamelukes were led into the trap, there can be no doubt
that it was the most effectual way of putting a cavalry
force in the worst case, and securing for Albanian rifles
the most advantageous opportunity of action.
If a passage could not be found in front, it was equally
impossible for the mamelukes to make good their retreat
through the defile of houses and bazaars in the rear;
for no sooner were they engaged in the centre of the
town, than, by Mohammed Ali’s direction, a binbashi,
AND MASSACRED. 21
with a sufficient force, blocked up the bazaar of the bra-
ziers—the cavern-like shops of which gave ample cover
to the oblique fire of the Albanian rifles, which told with
deadly effect in this narrow passage. Despair seized the
mamelukes. Springing from their horses, they sought
to escape in all directions, entering houses and scrambling
over walls.
Not far from the great hospital which the munificence
of Sultan Kalaoun raised for suffering humanity, is the
superb mosque of Sultan Barkouk, the first of the Circas-
sian Mameluke Sultans, upon the desk of which stand to
this day large and splendidly illuminated Korans—the
admiration of all Egypt. Here the remnant of the
mamelukes took refuge, and here the binbashi agreed
to spare their lives on the delivery of their arms. Upon
acceding to this demand, they were deprived of their
dresses and money, and, being bound, were taken before
Mohammed Ali.
One of the prisoners was Achmet Bey, formerly gover-
nor of Damietta, whom the Pasha addressed with the
words—“Well! and you too have fallen into the trap.”
To this he returned no answer, but only asked leave to
drink, on which the guards untied his hands and gave
him a porous vase of water. With rapidity he seized the
poniard of an aga standing near him, and attempted to
plunge it into the body of Mohammed Ali, who ran up
a staircase out of his way, while the soldiers threw them-
selves on Achmet Bey, and he fell pierced with their
swords. During the night the mameluke prisoners were
kept in the lower part of Mohammed Ali's house, and on
the following morning all were mercilessly massacred,
excepting those who paid a heavy ransom for the recovery
of their liberty.
The power of Mohammed Ali now seemed firmly
established in Egypt, and he appeared himself to confide
22 ATTEMPTS TO SUPERSEDE MOHAMIMED ALI.
*
so much in the permanence of his prosperity, that his
sons Toussoon and Ibrahim were sent for from Turkey
proper, and the former was made commandant of the
citadel. But scarcely had Mohammed Ali reached this
elevation, when the Porte, faithful to its traditionary
policy of never allowing any Pasha to take deep root in
a particular locality, and of always keeping the Supreme
government in function, began to devise means of getting
him removed from a command so isolated as to confer a
virtual independence. Accordingly, the Capitan Pasha
was sent to Egypt with four ships of the line, two
frigates, a corvette, and a brig, having on board Moussa
Pasha, of Saloniki, appointed to the government of Egypt,
the purpose of the Porte being to transfer Mohammed
Ali to the Pashalic of Saloniki. This personage was to
be supported by the feeble remains of the Mamelukes,
who were now no longer formidable to the Porte, and
most willing at this juncture to become the instruments
of its policy.
But Mohammed Ali managed by skill and dexterity
to maintain his ground. All his faithful Albanians swore
on a sabre held by the seniors to support his views; and
the ulema of Cairo, with whom at this time he main-
tained close relations, were also set in motion with
memorials to the Porte setting forth the advantages of
Mohammed Ali's rule. But, in the meantime, the coun-
tenance of the Capitan Pasha again enabled the Mame-
lukes to raise their heads in Lower Egypt; and at
Negyleh a sudden and successful attack of Elfy Bey's
cavalry on the troops of Mohammed Ali, under the com-
mand of his nephew Tahir, augured well for Moussa and
Elfy, who were henceforth to rule conjointly in Egypt.
But the next operation of Elfy, which was the siege
of Damanhour, a town situated between Alexandria and
Rahmanieh, completely failed. The inhabitants defended
HE IS CONFIRMED IN THE PASHALIC OF EGYPT. 23
themselves, as much to avoid pillage as to second the
views of Mohammed Ali; while Elfy, instead of receiving
the undivided support of the other mamelukes, was the
object of the jealousy of Osman Bey el Bardissy and
his partisans. This caused the failure of the projects to
oust Mohammed Ali from his government; and, while
the Mamelukes were divided, the Capitan Pasha was
bribed in accordance with the deplorable manners and
usages of oriental officials. At length, war being about
to break out between Russia and the Porte, the Capitan
Pasha sailed for the Dardanelles loaded with presents
from Mohammed Ali; and on the 2nd of November, 1806,
a capudji bashi of the Porte arrived, bearing firmans
formally constituting him Pasha of Egypt.
Neither Osman Bey el Bardissy, nor Mohammed Bey
el Elfy, long survived the failure of their schemes. The
former, devoured by disappointment, was struck down
by bilious fever; and a remedy, administered to him by
a charlatan, proving worse than the disease, terminated
his troubled existence. Elfy, disappointed at the failure
of the siege of Damanhour, was near Cairo preparing to
retreat into Upper Egypt, watched at Embabeh by
Mohammed Ali — who, as his troops consisted mostly
of infantry, could undertake nothing decisive against the
well-appointed mameluke cavalry. An attack of cholera,
in which his body became quite livid, however, carried
off Elfy, who was buried with all the honours customary
on such occasions. Mohammed Ali was sleeping in his
tent near Gizeh when an Arab brought him the news of
the death of his enemy, and immediately received a lar-
gesse for the intelligence.
At this period took place the second and minor British
expedition to Egypt of 1807, which—futile in object,
inadequate in means, disgraceful rather than disastrous
in its results, and altogether uninteresting in its details—
24 THE SECOND BRITISH EXPEDITION.
need not detain us long. A division under General
Fraser landed in the environs of Alexandria, and took
possession of that city without firing a shot. Britain,
having broken with the Porte, designed to revive the
rule of the Mamelukes, being evidently not fully aware
of the irreparable blows which this oligarchy had re-
ceived, and of the vigour with which the affairs of the
Porte were managed at this period by the Vizier who
was subsequently destined to employ his talents with
dire effect against his imperial constituent; and while
General Fraser was awaiting a demonstration of the
Mamelukes on the coast, Mohammed Ali was in Upper
Egypt, chastising and pursuing them up the Nile, in the
vicinity of Siout.
No sooner was the Pasha informed of the disembark-
ation, than he returned to Cairo with that promptitude
and energy which afford such a contrast to the dilatory
and lethargic methods of the orientals. Well knowing
what chord to touch, he appealed with effect to the reli-
gious feelings of the sheikhs and the ulema; and suddenly
exactions and irregularities were forgotten, in sympathy
for, and confidence in, a champion of Islamism, who,
when the danger was past, shewed them to their aston-
ishment how latitudinarian he could be. Provisions and
funds were liberally given; and Mohammed Ali de-
scended with celerity to the environs of Rosetta, where
a first attempt at settlement by the British had met with
some resistance. Unable, with a feeble and insignificant
force, to maintain their ground against a man of energy
with the resources of Egypt at his back, and cut off by
impassable distance from Mameluke aid, a retreat upon
Aboukir and Alexandria became imperative, after several
combats, which did not prove very deadly to either
party. Mohammed Ali and his troops blockaded rather
than besieged Alexandria; and the British government,
ITS FAILURE AND WITH DRAWAL. 25
at length convinced of the futility of an expedition
which, in dimensions and results, afforded such a contrast
to that which we have previously described, withdrew
the troops to Sicily, to the great satisfaction of Moham-
med Ali, who restored the British prisoners with acts
of courtesy.
26
CELAPTER III.
GENERAL APPROPRIATION OF LANDED PROPERTY BY THE PASHA-THE WAHABY
WAR–DECLINE OF THE MAMELUKE PoweR-GENERAL MASSACRE OF THE
MAMELUKES-MASSACRES OF MAMELUKES IN THE PROVINCEs.
BEING now free from the English, Mohammed Ali
began to develop his plans for taking firm root in
Egypt. He saw that, by extracting large revenues, he
could maintain his influence by rich presents to Constan-
tinople. His military position in Egypt was improved,
and the increasing and advancing power of the Wahabys
rendered him more than ever necessary to the Porte.
With the interior of the country tranquil, and freed from
civil War, one might expect the task of the historian at
this period to be the record of a lucid interval of pros-
perity, however brief, after foreign and domestic wars of
a character so devastating. Such, however, is not the
case; and we have now to relate an act of spoliation—un-
accompanied, to be sure, by bloodshed—but of a grasp
more comprehensive and ruinous than anything that had
been done by the predecessors of Mohammed Ali.
It was in the years 1808-10 that Mohammed Ali
effected a revolutionary transfer of landed property
in Egypt. Not content with greatly increasing the
taxes on the soil, he ordered an inspection to be made of
all title deeds; and, on One pretext or another, his agents
objected to their validity,+contesting the legitimacy of
APPROPRIATION OF LANDED PROPERTY. 27
the successions, imposing additions to the land-tax, and
in a great multitude of instances retaining the title-
deeds, which were burned. A few influential sheikhs
were spared; but, wherever the government chose, the
land, for want of titles, gradually lapsed to the miri; SO
that in a few years the Pasha became landlord of nearly
the whole of the soil of Egypt, some insignificant an-
nuities being granted in compensation. Mohammed Ali’s
elevation to power was, as already said, founded on
public opinion; but his first acts, after the consolidation
of his rule, were the most flagrant defiance of public
opinion, and of the sacred rights of private property in
the modern annals of Egypt. The Mamelukes, the
French, and the intervening pashas, had overwhelmed
the people with exactions; but no attempt had been
made to tear up by the very roots the pacific and legal
possession of property.
The commotion which these proceedings caused was
violent in the extreme, and society was agitated to its
inmost depths. Bven the women and the children
crowded the mosques, and made the Azhar resound with
their wailings. Classes and individuals, utter strangers
to politics and political discussion, stood aghast at an
event which rendered reasoning superfluous, and pre-
cipitated all the rights of property into a common abyss.
The sheikhs met in assembly, and used every resource,
both of representation and petition to the Pasha and the
Porte; but Mohammed Ali was firm in his purpose.
The vehement representations of the sheikhs against the
additional land taxes, and even the persevering refusals
of Said Omar Mekrum, the nackeeb of the shereefs, to go
near the divan of the Pasha, were declared by him to
savour of a stiff-necked and rebellious spirit, which must
be repressed. And, throughout this curious struggle, the
firm defence of the indefeasible rights of property was
28 THE WAHABY REFORMERS.
conveniently characterised by a lawless governor as an
aggression, and an invasion of the Supreme authority.
Said Omar Mekrum was exiled to Damietta. The mili-
tary governors of provinces arbitrarily collected contri-
butions without the intervention of the Coptic clerks;
and thenceforth began that direct grinding of the pea-
Santry, which, before the death of Mohammed Ali, greatly
reduced them in number, and impoverished them almost
to the minimum of possible human existence.
If we cast our eyes abroad at this period (1809), we
find that events in Arabia were preparing a triumph for
Mohammed Ali, and an extension of his political power.
This vast country—the cradle of Islamism—was now
overrun by the Wahaby reformers, who, from small be-
ginnings, had mastered both Mecca and Medina; and,
although without the Science of European warfare, made
up for their deficiencies by an enthusiastic and undaunted
bravery in action, as well as by great powers of endur-
ance in the arduous campaigns of this torrid region. Their
peculiar doctrines were based on the self-denial of the
early Moslems, which made them avoid both those stimu-
lants which expend the nervous and muscular energies,
and those lethargic habits which are alternately the effect
and the cause of inaction.
The barren shores of the Red Sea being in a great
measure devoid of ports and of navigation, and the trade
of Suez having sunk into insignificance, it was not easy
to transport an army from Egypt to Arabia. By a series
of most painful efforts, Wood, cordage, and other mate-
rials for shipbuilding, were carried from the ports of
Turkey to Egypt, and across the desert, on the backs of
camels to Suez. Numbers of men and of those useful
beasts of burden perished in the attempt; but at length,
after incredible efforts, eighteen vessels were launched
in the space of less than a year, and fitted up for the
SEIAEIIN BEY. 29
conveyance of troops and provisions. But a baptism of
blood accompanied their launch, for the solemnity of
the departure from Cairo of the troops destined for the
Arabian expedition was chosen for the final massacre of
the Mamelukes. The infirmities of Ibrahim Bey had
shewn the Mamelukes that they could no longer hope
for any revival of their supremacy ; the remaining
heads of them were therefore disposed towards a passive
and luxurious existence, giving no further umbrage to
the Porte or to Mohammed Ali, and contenting themselves
with as large a share as they could grasp of the produce
of Egypt. Mohammed Ali, on his side, was not dis-
pleased to patch up an accommodation with those turbu-
lent barons of Eastern feudalism, so as to have more
elbow-room to carry out his designs of a virtual sove-
reignty under the mask of zeal for the service of the
Porte, and at the same time to have them more se-
curely in his power when the convenient moment came
for getting entirely rid of them.
Shahin Bey, the elected successor of Elfy Bey, had
made his submission to Mohammed Ali, and signed an
arrangement, the conditions of which were advantageous
to him. From the Pyramids up the left bank of the
Nile to beyond Beni Souef, and including the Faioum,
was assigned to him as an appanage; and, on his present-
ing himself for investiture to Mohammed Ali at Cairo,
he was loaded with rich gifts of shawls, pelisses, and dia-
mond-mounted daggers. The other Mamelukes, even
although jealous of Shahin Bey, were also gradually
obliged to yield. The beys at Siout on the Upper Nile
wished at first to refuse tribute. But the Mamelukes
being no longer a corps united under an Ali Bey, or a
Murad, as in former times, were fain to yield on finding
that Mohammed Ali himself had come to Siout with an
army of several thousand men to collect the tribute.
30 INVESTITURE OF TOUSSOUN PASHA.
After this there was not even the shadow of a rising.
Many of the Mamelukes came to Cairo and sank com-
pletely into sloth and sensuality, passing from the wild to
the tame state like beasts fatted for slaughter.
In February, 1811, the chiefs destined by Mohammed
Ali to extirpate the Wahaby reformers, and restore
Arabia to the Caliph of Constantinople, went to encamp
at Kubbet el Azab, on the desert near Cairo. Here
4000 men were united under the orders of Toussoun
Pasha, the son of Mohammed Ali, who was destined to
command the expedition. On the following Friday the
youthful general was to receive the pelisse of investi-
ture, and thereafter to proceed to the camp by the gate
of Victory—the astrologers having fixed on this day as
propitious to the success of the enterprise. All the civil
and military authorities, and the principal people of the
country, were informed of the approach of the ceremony;
and, on the night before, the Mameluke chiefs were
invited to take part in full costume. A simple invitation
to the Mamelukes in a mass, on any other occasion, would
have been answered by the habitual Oriental mistrust of
such hospitality; but, with a skill in the ways of evil
worthy of a better cause, Mohammed Ali so managed
that the obvious motive of the departure of an army, and
the association of the Mamelukes with all the other
authorities of the country, not only lulled their suspi-
cions, but even flattered their self-love.
On the 1st of March, 1811, all the principal men of
Cairo flocked to the citadel. Shahin Bey appeared there
at the head of his household, having come with the other
beys to pay his respects to Mohammed Ali, who received
them in the great hall. Coffee was then served, and a
conversation took place. When all those who were to
take part in the procession were assembled, the signal for
departure was given, each person taking the place that
THE PROCESSION. 31
was assigned him by the master of the ceremonies. A
corps of delis, commanded by Oozoon Ali, opened the
march ; then came the Waly or municipal governor of
Cairo, the aga of the janissaries, with Turkish troops ;
then came the Albanians, especially devoted to Moham-
med Ali, under the immediate command of Saleh Khosh.
The regular troops came last, and the mamelukes had
their place assigned between the infantry and cavalry at
the rear, and the Albanians, who marched in front of
them. The plateau of the citadel on which are situated
the chief buildings is elevated high above the level of
the city. Down on the lower level, and close to the
public place of the Roumeyleh, is the gate of Azab–a
picturesque object flanked with round towers, painted in
stripes of red and white. Between the high courtyard
and this gate is the old access to the plateau—not the
modern macadamized slope, but a steep winding passage
with sharp angles, and cut in the rock.
Down this road came the procession, and no sooner
were the delis and agas out, than Saleh Khosh ordered
the gates to be shut, and communicated the order he had
received to exterminate the mamelukes to his Albanians,
who immediately turned about, and, jumping aside, or
leaping up the rock, began to fire on the horsemen. To
charge down the steep rock was useless or impossible, for
the gates were shut and exit barred; and on the sloping
or angular rocks the heavily mounted mamelukes, power-
ful on the plains of Egypt, had no chance with Albanians
whose home is only the mountain side. Behind the
mamelukes were the infantry troops closing the proces-
sion, whose advantage was still more decided; for they
poured volleys of musketry down on these devoted men
from the parapets above.
The mamelukes now wished to return by another road
into the citadel; but not being able to manage their
32 FINAL MASSACRE OF MAMELURES.
horses on account of the unfavorable ground, and seeing
that many of their people were killed and wounded, they
alighted, and abandoning their horses and upper clothes,
remounted the road, sabre in hand, but were fired on
from the windows of the citadel above. Shahin Bey fell
pierced with balls before the gates of the palace of Sa-
ladin. Suleyman Bey, another mameluke, ran half naked,
and frightened, to implore the protection of the Harem
of the Viceroy, according to oriental usage, but in vain.
Eſe was conducted to the palace, where he was decapitated.
Others went to beg for mercy from Toussoun Pasha, who
took no part in the events of the day.
The troops had orders to arrest the Mamelukes where-
ever they might be found. Those taken were conducted
to the Kiahia Bey, and instantaneously decapitated.
Many persons not Mamelukes were also killed. The
citadel flowed with blood, and the dead filled up the
passages. The dead body of Shahin Bey was, with bar-
barous stupidity, dragged about with a cord round the neck.
On every side were seen horses, expensively caparisoned,
stretched by the side of their masters, and the richest
dresses saturated with blood—for gold embroidery and
the most costly cloth stuffs, with elaborately finished and
decorated arms and caparisons, were what the Mame-
lukes mostly delighted in ; and all these became the booty
of the blood-thirsty soldiery. Of four hundred and sixty
Mamelukes who had mounted that morning to the citadel,
not one escaped. A few French Mamelukes, in the ser-
vice of Mohammed Ali, who had remained behind after
the departure of Menou, and had been locked up by the
Riahia Bey in a room adjoining his own, were saved. A
bey of the house of Elfy had three French Mamelukes in
his service, but they did not mount on horseback on that
day.
Amyn Bey, another Mameluke, was saved by accident.
THE HOUSES OF THE MAMELUKES PILLAGED. 33
Being prevented by pressing business from arriving in
time, he found himself outside the gate just as the head
of the procession was issuing from under the arch. He
Waited a little until they were gone out, but seeing that
the gate was suddenly closed, and then hearing the
musketry, he put spurs to his horse, and never stopped
until he found his way across the desert into Syria.
Scarcely had the procession begun to move when Mo-
hammed Ali showed signs of agitation, which increased
when he heard the first discharge of musketry. He
grew pale, fearing lest his orders might not have been
properly executed, and that some struggle might ensue
fatal to himself and his party. When he saw the pri-
soners and the trunkless heads he grew calm. Soon after,
his physician, a Genoese, entered, and said with the
sickening gaiety of sycophancy, “The affair is over; this
is a fête for your Highness.” To this Mohammed Ali
gave no answer, and only asked for a draught to quench
his thirst.
Meanwhile the crowds of citizens in the town were
waiting to see the procession, and expectation was suc-
ceeded by surprise when only the Delis forming its head
were seen to pass, followed by grooms hurrying away in
silence. This sudden movement caused an agitation
among the spectators, and then the cry having arisen,
“Shahin Bey is killed,” all the shops were shut, which
was invariably the case when turbulence, bloodshed, and
their concomitant, rapine, were apprehended. The streets
became deserted, and only bands of lawless soldiery were
seen, who rushed to pillage the houses of the Mame-
lukes, violating their women, and committing every
atrocity.
The Turks, who could only marry women of an inferior
class, saw with displeasure that those of a higher rank,
disdaining their alliance, displayed eagerness to marry
WOL. II. 3
34 RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ORDER.
Mamelukes, and therefore took care to avenge them-
selves. The houses of the beys were full of valuables.
Several of these cavaliers were making preparations for
marriage, decorating their apartments, and purchasing
rich clothes, cashmeres, and jewels. Not only the houses
of these persons were pillaged, but others besides. , Cairo
appeared like a place taken by assault, the inhabitants
not shewing themselves in the streets, but awaiting in-
doors what destiny had in store for them.
The murder and pillage continuing on the following
day, Mohammed Ali descended from the citadel to re-
establish order and stop bloodshed. He was in full dress,
and accompanied by a large armed force. At each police
post he reprimanded the officer in charge for having per-
mitted such disorders. Mohammed Ali himself had only
taken the lives of the Mamelukes—he had only mas-
sacred a political party addicted to cashmeres, diamond-
mounted pipes, and enamelled pistols, as well as to
sharing the political power with the agents of the Porte.
He himself had laid the axe to the very root of Mame-
luke appropriation, and therefore all mangling of the
branches excited his just reprobation as a superfluous
expenditure of labour. Near Bab Zueileh the Pasha met
a Mogrebbin, who complained of the pillage of his house,
protesting that he was neither soldier nor Mameluke, on
which Mohammed Ali stopped his horse, and sent an
armed force, who arrested a Turk and a fellah, whose
head they cut off. Advancing towards the quarter of
Kakeen, he was informed that the sheikhs were assem-
bled with the intention of complimenting him ; but the
Pasha answered that he would himself go to receive their
felicitations, on which he proceeded to the house of
Sheikh Abdullah el Sherkawy, and after having passed
an hour with him he returned to the citadel.
The following day Toussoun Pasha went through the
THE MAMELUKES IN THE PROVINCEs. 35
town, followed by a numerous guard, causing those who
were found pillaging to be decapitated ; for more than
five hundred houses had been sacked on this occasion.
Meanwhile the Mamelukes were diligently sought after.
Even the old ones, who in all the troubles had never
quitted Cairo, were unmercifully killed. Many made
their escape by changing their costume for that of Delis;
others escaped to Upper Egypt dressed as women.
In the citadel, the dead bodies were thrown pell-mell
into pits dug for them, the relations of the murdered
being so overwhelmed as not to be able to bury them
decently. The mother of the Emir Merzouk, son of
Ibrahim Bey, was however allowed his dead body, which
was found after two days' search. Protection was also
given to the widows of the Mamelukes by Mohammed
Ali, who allowed his own men to marry them. The
secret of this sanguinary affair had been confided to only
four persons, on whom the Pasha could rely; but he had
at the same time written, through his secretary, to the
commanders of the different provinces ordering them to
arrest and put to death all the Mamelukes they could lay
their hands upon. This order was mercilessly executed,
and their heads were sent to Cairo, and exposed there.
Thus altogether more than a thousand persons perished,
including twenty-three beys.
36
CHAPTER IV.
HISTORY OF THE WAHABYs..—WAHABY DocTRINEs.—KERMELAH, THE WAHABY
LEADER, DEFEATS THE SHEREEF of MECCA.—THE WAHABYs BECOME
MASTERs of MECCA.
SUCH was the bloody spectacle with which the still
more sanguinary Wahaby war was inaugurated. But
before we proceed to give an account of this protracted
struggle, it is requisite to say something of the origin of
a movement which from small beginnings grew to dimen-
sions which endangered the traditional Islamism of Arabia,
until stopped by the vigorous arm of Mohammed Ali.
Mohammed Ezbor Abd-el-Wahab, the author of the
reform of the Wahabys, was born in the year 1696; and,
destined by his father to the calling of an alim, was
learned in the theology and jurisprudence of the Moslems.
Having pursued his studies at Bussorah, he made a pil-
grimage to Mecca and Medina; and returned to his native
village, where he became remarkable for such austere
asceticism as obliged him to quit it for Derayeh, which
was destined to become the capital of the sect of this
fierce reformer, and in which place he had formed rela-
tions with influential persons who concurred with him in
his extreme and rigid system of social and religious
reform.
It is not to be denied that the Moslems of later cen-
turies had fallen from the primitive virtues of those who
had spread the doctrines of Islam over half the old world.
MOHAMMED-ABD-EL-WAHAB. 37
Inheriting the rich countries which their ancestors had
wrested from the Greek Empire, and no longer stimu-
lated to sacrifice or exertion by the contests with the
Crusaders of Europe, the hardy virtues had become the
exclusive appanage of those northern Moslem popula-
tions who, settled on the banks of the Danube and on the
heights overlooking the Adriatic, had to bear the brunt
of resistance to the land forces of the Emperors of Ger-
many, and the maritime strength of the Republic of
Venice. All the Arab countries of the south were sunk
in sloth and luxury. Arabia proper, from its torrid
climate, its scanty endowment with the good things of
this earth, and its nomad population inured to priva-
tion, was the only exception.
But even the scanty luxury of the settled parts of
Arabia was in the eyes of the austere Abd-el-Wahab an
offence in the sight of God, and a departure from the
primitive ways of his people. In some respects he was
the Protestant of Islamism. He stripped away the
whole body of tradition that obscured and encumbered
the simple original doctrines taught by Mohammed.
But while doing this, he at the same time reprobated that
homage to the memory of Mohammed which turned the
Prophet into a demi-god, and idolatrously invested him
with characteristics proper to the Supreme Being. -
The doctrine of the Wahabys had therefore nothing of
novelty in it, but was simply a return to the primitive
usage of Islamism, the duties enforced being fasting,
prayer, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. At
the same time, there was the strict prohibition of stimu-
lating liquors, excesses in carnal lusts, games of hazard,
usury, false witness, the use of tobacco and other nar-
cotics, the wearing of silk dresses by men, and the eleva-
tion of pompous domes and mausoleums to dead men,
which, becoming shrines, tended to idolatry.
6)
38 RISE OF THE WAHABYS.
Such were the doctrines taught by Mohammed-Abd-
el-Wahab with considerable eloquence and powers of
persuasion, and enforced by the severe example of the
preceptor. The ascendancy which this remarkable man
thus acquired over those in his sphere was also enhanced
by a circumstance of a temporary nature, without which
the Wahabys could never have risen to the dominion
of Arabia. Souhoud, the Sheikh of Derayeh, who pro-
tected Abd-el-Wahab, was a man of military prowess
and considerable ambition, who availed himself of the
eloquence of the teacher, and the rapid progress of his
doctrines, to extend his own temporal dominion ; and
his son Abd-el-Aziz also being a daring and suc-
cessful commander, the result was that, between the
years 1746 and 1791—the period comprised in British
history between the Scottish rebellion and the French
revolution—the whole of that large district called the
Nejd was conquered by the Wahabys, village after
village ; sometimes by stratagem and sometimes by
direct attack, in the course of which they developed
an art of warfare perfectly suited to the country, the
climate, and the semi-barbarous organization of their
opponents. Abd-el-Wahab himself lived to see the
expanded power of his adherents; having survived to
the 14th of June, 1791, when he died at the advanced
age of ninety-five, leaving eighteen children, the result
of his twenty marriages. -
It may well be believed that the progress of these
enthusiasts, on whom firm faith had conferred energy
and success, was viewed with the utmost alarm at
Mecca, that Vatican of Moslem tradition. The Shereef
of that city, considered so holy by the Moslems, easily
comprehended that the conquests of the Wahabys were
not likely to be confined to the Nejd; and that that dis-
trict being entirely subdued, Yemen and Hedjaz were not
THEY ATTACK KERBELAH. 39
©
likely to escape. The Shereef Ghaleb therefore, in
1798, the year of the French expedition to Egypt, sent
an army against the Wahabys, which at first had some
show of success; but Kermelah, the Wahaby leader,
although commanding a very inferior number of troops,
knew how to deal with those of the Shereef. Before
the decisive action he told his men not to give way nor
retreat, whatever might happen. The Shereef of Mecca,
assuming from the confidence of the attack made by
Kermelah, that his force must be much larger than it
really was, lost courage and made a disorderly retreat,
which being followed up by the chastisement of some
wavering tribes of Arabs, the Wahabys had nothing
more to fear on the side of Mecca. It was therefore
towards the head of the Persian Gulf that they now
turned their arms; but the Pasha of Bagdad, having
assembled a large army and shown a bold front, peace
was rapidly concluded. The governor of this important
pashalic having, as usual, enough to do in assuring his
own position at Bagdad, evinced no disposition to enter
upon a campaign in the heart of Arabia.
Far from this, without seeking any direct attack upon
Bagdad, the younger Souhoud, with an army of twenty
thousand men, moved upon Kerbelah, not far from the
Euphrates, and near which is the tomb of Husseyn,
the son of the Caliph Ali, regarded by all the Shiite
Moslems as a place of uncommon veneration. In fact
it is a sort of Loretto of the Persians, and at this period
was the depository of prodigious wealth, the offerings
of the numerous pilgrims who annually flocked to this
far-famed shrine. Here the Wahabys spared neither
man, woman, nor children; the mausoleum was broken
down, and the soldiery penetrated into the sanctuary.
“Spare my life,” said the warder, “and I will show
you the hidden treasures;” but an Arab, eager for
40 ASSASSINATION OF ABD-EL-AZIZ.
carnage, pierced his side with a lance, and nothing of
what was concealed was discovered. Nevertheless, great
riches fell to the Wahaby commander—sabres mounted
with precious stones, a pearl the size of a pigeon’s egg,
vases and lamps of gold and silver, as well as other
ornaments of precious stones and metals. In addition
to this, Kerbelah was a place of great trade with Persia,
and the plunder of the warehouses and private dwellings
was immense, including four thousand Cashmere shawls,
and a great deal of hard cash, mostly Dutch and Vene-
tian ducats.
In the following year (1802) the Wahabys at length
marched upon Mecca, and entered it without firing a
shot. The Shereef Ghaleb, not judging it prudent to
await his fate within its walls, had retired to Djeddah,
whither Souhoud followed him ; but an epidemic having
broken out in the army of the Wahabys, they were
compelled to retire, and Ghaleb re-entered Mecca. Nor
did this reverse of the Wahabys come single. The
pillage of Kerbelah and the desecration of the tombs
of Fatimeh, the daughter of Mohammed, and of her
grandson Husseyn, had created loudly expressed indig-
nation through all Persia; and this feeling found, as is
usual in the East, an interpreter who gave effect to
his fanatical feelings by assassination. Abd-el-Aziz,
the son of the elder Souhoud, being occupied with
his prayers in the mosque, the assassin entered, and,
standing behind him, seemed engaged in prayer: but
just as Abd-el-Aziz prostrated himself with his fore-
head to the ground, the assassin, watching the oppor-
tunity, plunged into the loin of the praying prince a
dagger which he had hidden for the purpose; and
before many hours Abd-el-Aziz, who had so often led the
Wahabys to victory, was a corpse. The Persian assassin
was massacred on the spot, his body burnt in the
EMPIRE OF THE WAHABYS. 41
market place, ind in his turban was found a note
which ran thus: “Thy God and thy religion make it
a duty to kill Abd-el-Aziz ; if thou escapest, great
rewards will be thine ; but if thou fallest, paradise is
open to thee.”
The younger Souhoud, the son of Abd-el-Aziz, and
grandson of the elder Souhoud, now succeeded his
father; and, in the year 1809, the Shereef Ghaleb, no
longer able to maintain a struggle with the Wahabys,
made his submission, and asked for the protection of
Souhoud, who ordered him to send away the force of
Turkish soldiers in his service. The Wahaby chief
then proceeded with a large army to Mecca, and had
a distinguished reception from the Shereef and his
family, who even complimented him on the sacred
mount of Arafat. At a subsequent visit the tomb of
Mohammed at Medina was opened and despoiled of
the treasures of ages accumulated there. In addition
to this, the pilgrimage to the holy cities by the caravans
of Syria and Africa was interrupted during several
years. The Imams of Sanaa and Muscat submitted
themselves to the son of Abd-el-Aziz ; and, at the
period of the massacre of the Mamelukes, Souhoud was
the virtual sovereign of the vast country stretching
from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, and from the
Indian Ocean to the desert of Syria. To subdue this
real potentate was the enterprise upon which Mohammed
Ali now entered,—a task arduous in the extreme, and
the successful issue of which, if less prominently before
the European public than the conquest of Syria, was
inferior to nothing accomplished in other spheres of
operations by Mohammed Ali and Ibrahim Pasha, in
earning for them the reputation of military ability pre-
eminent above that of all their native compeers in the
warfare of the East. -
CELAPTER W.
THE SHEREEF of MECCA AND MoHAMMED ALI CoxCERT MEASUREs To ATTACK
THE WAHABYs..—CAPTURE OF MEDINA BY Toussoun PASHA, son of
MoHAMMED ALI.--THE WAHABYS REGAIN GROUND.—MoHAMMED ALI DIS-
EMBARKS IN ARABIA.—FINAL CONQUEST OF THE WAHABYs.
THE submission of Ghaleb, Shereef of Mecca, to the
fierce reformers of Derayeh had been feigned, not real.
The inhabitants of Mecca subsisted almost exclusively
on the profits derived from the vast annual concourse
of pilgrims to a city which, to the Moslem world, was
associated with a sentiment of veneration, but the
pilgrimage to which was to the people of Mecca them-
selves the daily bread of the carnal body. Mohammed
Ali therefore, before thus embarking his army, sent first
an agent to communicate privily with Ghaleb, to sound
his views, secure his assistance, and to pave the way
generally for the success of the expedition, by the
acquisition of such other information on the disposi-
tions of the Arab tribes hostile to the Wahabys as
would enable the force from Egypt to act with decisive
effect.
The military and political fame of Mohammed Ali had
already extended to Arabia; and the Shereef Ghaleb,
anxious for the re-establishment of the regular pilgrim-
age which had filled his coffers, gave a cordial reception
to all the plans and proposals of Mohammed Ali, and
sent back his own confidential man to Cairo with the
agent of the Pasha, to assure him of his support, as well
DEFEAT OF TOUSSOUN PASHA. 43
as to aid him with his intelligence and local experience.
Active preparations were therefore made, both in men and
in money, to carry through the expedition; and there
can be no doubt that, although the Shereef Ghaleb was
not himself a successful general, the information which
he furnished was of great value in assuring the success
of the intended operations.
On the other hand, Souhoud was not idle. Spies
which he kept in Cairo informed him of the preparations
of the Pasha; and an army of fifteen thousand men was
collected without delay to combat the enemy. Eight
thousand men disembarked from Suez at Janbo on the
Sea, situated to the north-west of Mecca, which serves
as the port of Medina. Ghaleb had promised to Souhoud
to defend Jambo with his own troops; but, breaking his
promise, both Janbo on the sea and Janbo inland fell at
once into the power of the invading force. Flushed
with this easy success, Toussoun Pasha, who commanded
the expedition, advanced with the ardour of youth to the
defiles of Safra. The Wahabys posted here advantage-
ously, on rocks overlooking a narrow winding road, did
not deter Toussoum from the attack. The first rush of
the Turks drove the Wahabys before them, but advance
only increased their difficulties. Every step was marked
with blood; and, the steep defiles aiding the defenders,
the Turks halted, and, losing heart at the prospect of
the insurmountable difficulties before them, suddenly
gave way. The Arab blood now got up, and a pursuit
utterly disastrous to the Turks took place. Prisoners,
wounded horses, camels, and baggage were all abandoned
in the disorderly flight; and Toussoun Pasha igno-
miniously regained Janbo inland, having lost nearly
the half of his troops.
Mohammed Ali, on the receipt of this intelligence,
acted with exemplary severity and redoubled activity.
44 A NEW CAMPAIGN IN ARABIA.
Orders were transmitted to put to death the kiahya of
Toussoun Pasha, who, losing heart, had been the first
to retreat in the defiles of Safra. At the same time,
extraordinary measures were resorted to in order to raise
funds to equip the necessary reinforcements, and the
property entailed for the benefit of mosques and other
institutions was unceremoniously laid hands on, in spite
of the complaints of the ulema, who, however, were not
in a position to resist. The whole of the career of
Mohammed Ali shows that Islamism sat very loosely
on this bold captain ; and very little attention was paid
to these complaints during his long career. But there
were other parties in Cairo more difficult to deal with.
The Albanian chiefs, Saleh Khosh and others, through
whom he had risen to power, who were his instruments
in the death-blow dealt to the Mamelukes, and who had
returned to Cairo after the disastrous expedition to
Arabia, were dissatisfied with the privations of an
arduous campaign, and envious of the wealth and
power which their former companion wielded in pomp
and security within the walls of the luxurious capital
of Egypt. Arrested in their houses, and surrounded
with troops, they were completely in the power of
the now autocratic Pasha; who, however, spared their
lives, and even allowed them their property and arrears
of pay, on condition of their leaving the country.
The new campaign in Arabia was attended with more
success. Toussoun Pasha, having received reinforce-
ments, renewed his artillery; and, obeying orders, de-
capitated the kiahya, as a formidable example to the
captains under his orders. He advanced boldly to
Medina, having previously secured the friendship of the
Arabs on his way; and, the artillery being put on the
breaching batteries, the fire commenced. The inhabitants
of Medina were favourable to his enterprise, their in-
MECCA ABANDONED BY THE WAHABYS. 45
terests being associated with those of the Shereef and
the renewal of the pilgrimage, and opposed to those of
the Wahaby garrison, those fanatical roundheads of Mos-
lem puritanism. Toussoun Pasha, having laid his mines,
communicated with the inhabitants, so that in the en-
suing assault they might be distinguished and spared by
his soldiers. On the following day, the mine having
blown up, a part of the wall fell, and the Turks rushed
in, massacring a portion of the garrison, upon which the
rest shut themselves up in the citadel, but were allowed
to capitulate.
This was the first decisive blow that had been struck
against the great Wahaby power that had extended so
far and so wide. The value of the success did not so
much consist in the capture of a town, as in the libera-
tion of the last resting-place of the Prophet from sacri-
legious hands, with all its moral influence upon a nation
in whose minds the formalism of Islam, as contrasted with
its primary spirit, had taken the deepest root. The effects
of this stroke were forthwith felt throughout the rest of the
Hedjaz. Ghaleb, who awaited at Jeddah with trembling
anxiety the result of the expedition, received Toussoun
with joy and gratitude as a God-sent deliverer. Mecca
was abandoned by the Wahabys, mistrustful of its popu-
lation, and now compelled to concentrate their forces,
so that this chief sanctuary of the Moslem nations was
entered by Toussoun without firing a shot.
The pride and joy of Mohammed Ali at the intelli-
gence of these successes may easily be imagined. If his
paternal affection was gratified, his ambition was also in-
flamed by an accession of power, and his self-love tickled
by additional claims on the favour of the Porte, of which
the keys of Medina, transmitted to Constantinople, were a
striking external symbol. Nor was the palace of the
Sultan without the usual trunkless heads of dusky tinted
46 SUCCESSES OF THE WAHABYS,
Wahabys, to enforce the oft-repeated lesson of what
awaited those who were disobedient to the temporal
and spiritual power of the Sultan and Caliph. The fate
of one of those Wahaby chiefs reminds us forcibly of
the cat playing with the mouse within its fangs. Ma-
dayfy, carried prisoner into Egypt, had his fetters taken
off before he entered Cairo; he was then conducted in a
sort of pomp to the citadel, a spectacle to the citizens
who lined the streets, after which the kiahya invited
him to dinner and lodged him well for four days. He
was then embarked in chains for Constantinople, and
beheaded on his arrival there.
It was now high time for Souhoud to act with vigour.
In midsummer 1813 the heats were oppressive, and
therefore the season was arrived when the acclimated
Arab had a great advantage over the Turk, to whom
the climate of even Egypt was sufficiently severe, and
that of Arabia positively oppressive. But Toussoun,
gay and flushed with victory, was eager to follow up his
advantage. He therefore directed his lieutenant, Mus-
tapha Bey, to advance with a force upon Tarabay, a
considerable place to the eastward of Mecca, surrounded
with date plantations in a plain intersected with ditches.
Here the leader of the Wahabys was a woman of amazo-
nian courage and authority—Ghalyeh, the wife of the
Sheikh of Sobeih. The result of a hot engagement was a
complete victory on the part of the Wahabys, and the dis-
astrous retreat of Mustapha Bey upon Tayf, aggravated
by the horrors of thirst and privation under a broiling
sun, which destroyed a great many men and beasts of
burthen. At the same time, the Wahabys, again taking
courage, menaced Medina, while the communications
could be kept up only with great difficulty.
On the receipt of this intelligence, Mohammed Ali
promptly determined to repair the evil by his personal
MOHAMMED ALI IN ARABIA. 47
presence in Arabia; for, with the Mamelukes destroyed
and the Albanians dismissed from Egypt, his presence
could now be spared from the seat of government. Nor
had he anything to fear from the Porte, to which he was
not yet an object of suspicious apprehension, but the
lever of its hopes for the re-elevation of the power of
the Ottoman Caliphate in the original seat of Islamism.
On the 28th of August, 1813, Mohammed Ali dis-
embarked at Jeddah, the port of Hedjaz, where he was
received with great honours by his son and the Shereef
Ghaleb. He then proceeded to Mecca, where he per-
formed all the acts of pilgrimage, and conversed fre-
quently with the learned men established there. Mecca
is not only a place of religion, but, in pacific times, a fair
for commerce, and a place for the intercommunication of
knowledge from the remotest parts inhabited by Moslems,
—the negro of Central Africa, the Chinese from the Yel-
low Sea, the Agha from the highlands of Croatia, and
the Tartar from the steppes of the Ural or the Caspian.
Here at Mecca, as well as at Jeddah, Mohammed Ali re-
ceived every honour from the Shereef Ghaleb ; but, not-
withstanding these reciprocal civilities, Mohammed Ali,
digesting the information he received on all hands, came
to the conclusion that Ghaleb had neither sufficient zeal
nor ability to prosecute the war. He therefore resolved
to depose him, which change was accomplished without
bloodshed, but still in a manner truly oriental, and foreign
to the usages of the European nations.
The arrival of Toussoun Pasha in Mecca was the occa-
sion selected for this stroke of policy. Mohammed Ali,
knowing that the Shereef would go and pay his respects
to Toussoun, gave his son directions how to proceed with
the deposition. After pipes and coffee, during which
the Shereef conversed with Toussoun in presence of their
numerous suites, that of Toussoun retired, on a signal, as
48 ARREST OF THE SHEREEF GHALEB.
if to leave the two grandees in confidential communica-
tion; and, observing this, the attendants of the Shereef
also quitted the apartment. But the Pasha and his
guest did not remain long alone; for a door was opened
from another apartment in which soldiers had been con-
cealed, and out stepped Abdeen Bey, who politely asked
the thunderstruck Shereef for his dagger, which he at
once yielded up. To gild the pill, Toussoun informed
him that the act did not originate with Mohammed Ali,
but was the execution of an imperial mandate, and that
the advocacy of the Pasha of Egypt might be counted
on in his favour. Mohammed Ali himself sent imme-
diately afterwards to confirm this view of the arrest,
and enjoining him to write to his family and kindred
not to hazard a rising in his favour, with which recom-
mendation Ghaleb unhesitatingly complied. The sons
of the Shereef, on their way to offer their submission to
the Pasha, were also seized and imprisoned, but treated
with the greatest civility. Meanwhile, the house of
the Shereef was taken possession of, and his treasures,
amounting to nearly fifty thousand pounds sterling,
appropriated. The Porte subsequently ordered some
restitution of his wealth to be made to him. He and
his family were then removed, first to Cairo, and then
to Salonika, where he lived only four years; disappoint-
ment, and a climate so different from that of his native
land, having brought him to a premature end. Nor was
the Wahaby camp without a change : shortly after the
arrest and fall of Ghaleb, Souhoud, now an old man of
sixty-eight, died at Derayeh, on the 17th of April, 1814;
and with him lapsed the power and vigour of Wahaby
warfare into the less able and efficacious hands of his son.
To this change of commanders must be attributed the
speedy change of fortune on the part of the rivals for
the possession of Arabia. The courage, the perseverance,
RETURN OF MOHAMIMED ALI TO EGYPT. 49
and the momentum of authority, which had hitherto
been on the side of the Wahabys, were now to be found
in the counsels and actions of the Turkish commander.
The place of Souhoud was occupied by his son Abdallah;
but his warlike qualities and influence were not inherited
by this the last tenant of the virtual sovereignty of
which Derayeh was the capital. In the first serious
engagement, which took place on the 10th of January,
1815, Mohammed Ali defeated a force of twenty thou-
Sand Wahabys under the immediate command of Faycal,
another son of Souhoud; after which Toussoun Pasha
pushed his advances into the Nejd, but wanting provi-
sions and stores, was fain to come to an accommodation,
without venturing to follow up his successes to Derayeh.
I’vents in Europe now determined Mohammed Ali to
return to Egypt; for, if the Wahabys were not annihi-
lated, the holy cities had been freed from their presence,
the pilgrimage to Mecca was re-established, and the power
of the reformers was confined to the Hedjaz. In addi-
tion to this, the return of Bonaparte from Elba to
France threw for a time a dark cloud on the prospects
of Europe, and consequently of the Ottoman Empire,
with which the politics of Europe had become more
and more closely interwoven. It was after his arrival
at Cairo, which took place on the 18th of June, 1815,
the very day of the final extinction of the power of
Bonaparte, that Mohammed Ali, now convinced of the
vast superiority of the European system of warfare over
that of the Orientals, resolved to introduce into Egypt
the modern tactics. Long after feudalism had ceased
in Europe it continued in the Ottoman Empire, and it
is scarcely yet entirely extirpated from this vast agglo-
meration of nations and provinces. Up to the 17th
century the kings of Europe called together their mailed
barons when war was projected. Then began the great
WOL. II, 4.
50 EUROPEAN MILITARY ORGANIZATION
revolutions, which ended by establishing large standing
armies directly officered by the nominees of the king;
and the lapse into desuetude of military service in return
for land, either freehold or copyhold. It was more espe-
cially during the age of Louis XIV., under the Turennes,
Vaubans, Cohorns, Eugenes, and Marlboroughs, that the
modern system of warfare was developed. But no
analogous change took place in the armies of the
Ottoman Empire. The Khan of the Crimea and the here-
ditary Beys of Bosnia and Asia Minor continued, as of
old, to lead their men to do battle for the sovereign on
the banks of the Danube ; but as brave vassals, not as
commanders trained by science to the system of modern
warfare. Now and then a French or German renegade
was to be found in the corps of artillery or engineers;
but this was the rare exception, not the rule. Sultan
Selim had in the beginning of this present century made
some feeble attempts to impart a European organization
to several regiments; but turbulence and barbarous
fanaticism was an invincible obstacle to the introduction
of a scheme of exercise associated with infidel Frankdom.
The intelligent and observant Mohammed Ali was
fully impressed with the vast superiority of the Euro-
pean art of war. An eager auditor of the translations
of the European newspapers, which for years had been
filled with the story of the marvellous successes and
reverses of Napoleon Bonaparte, there can be little
doubt that he looked forward to the scientific organiza-
tion of the troops of Egypt as a means,—if not of securing
independence at that early stage, at least of prolonging
the tenure of a power which was a virtual sovereignty;
while that very abasement of the power of the Mame-
lukes by which the authority of the Porte had been re-
established, gave him elbow-room for carrying out
schemes of armament, which at no distant day were
INTRODUCED INTO EGYPT. 51
to produce at Constantinople sentiments of apprehension
and exasperation which had been unknown even in the
palmiest days of Mameluke rule.
But however favoured by such circumstances, the old
spirit of the military corporations of Turkey was averse
from the innovation, and unprepared for the introduction,
of Frank tactics, by the mere fiat of a man in advance
of his contemporaries, even although wielding the power
of Pasha of Egypt. On the 2nd of August Mohammed
Ali went to Boulak to exercise the soldiers of his son
Samad ; and, having put them through several exercises,
he declared that he intended henceforth to adopt European
tactics, and that whoever opposed or resisted should be
severely punished.
Murmurs of dissatisfaction and expressions of in-
dignant surprise were manifested by the malcontents,
who immediately resolved to get quit of the Pasha; but,
through a fortunate circumstance, the conspiracy failed.
A certain Abdeen Bey, having given a dinner or festival,
was made a confidant of the intention to surprise the
Pasha before day-break in his palace; and he, without
attempting to dissuade them, and even promising to join
them, went out privately, and, mounting an ass, pro-
ceeded straight to Mohammed Ali, whom he informed
of what was intended, after which he returned home and
rejoined the conspirators. The Pasha, on receipt of this
intelligence, went from his palace on the Ezbekieh to the
citadel, which he entered on the side of mount Mokattam;
and, being supported by a considerable force on which
he could depend, he caused the gates to be shut.
The chief conspirators, baulked of their object, did
not dare avow themselves; but their disorderly mob of
adherents broke loose upon the town, plundering many
houses, and the Humzawy cloth bazaar kept by Levan-
tine rayahs. The damage done was made good by
52 RETURN OF TOUSSOUN TO EGYPT.
Mohammed Ali, and the revolt having spent its fury
without its object being attained, the authority of the
Pasha was again felt. Abdeen Bey received a large sum
in recompense of his invaluable service, while the heads
of the conspiracy, whom Mohammed Ali might have
visited with exemplary severity, were left unmolested—
a proof of that rare command of temper which Moham-
med Ali frequently exhibited on the most trying occasions
throughout his career.
The news of these events being spread with vague
exaggeration through the Hedjaz, filled the mind of
Toussoun with apprehension ; and he resolved to return
immediately to Cairo, having previously caused salutes
of artillery to be fired, expressive of the falseness of the
report that had been spread, and of the satisfaction he
experienced at the prosperous aspect of his father's
affairs. Toussoun, who was received with great honours
on his arrival at Cairo after his second and more success-
ful campaign in Arabia, proceeded from thence to Alex-
andria, where his father was residing, and where he saw
for the first time his infant son, Abbas, born during his
absence, and destined to be the Pasha of Egypt in the
middle of the nineteenth century. Having furnished an
heir to the fortunes of his house, Toussoun himself was
not destined to be a witness of the later and more
chequered career of his remarkable father, or to form a
link between the sway of Mohammed Ali, and that of his
grandson.
Toussoun Pasha, on his return, led a life totally oppo-
site to that which he had been compelled to live in Arabia.
There—owing to the exercise, the occupation of mind
and body, during an arduous campaign, and in a climate
where all nature forbids indulgence to the rational being
as peremptorily as the written injunctions of Mo-
hammed—the health of Toussoun was excellent; but, on
IHIS DEATH, - - - 53.
his return to the banks of the Nile, he substituted the
excitements of the voluptuary for those of the warrior.
On the day after the arrival from Constantinople of a
Georgian slave of exquisite beauty, his nervous system
being unstrung, he was seized with severe headaches,
followed by cold perspiration, which carried him off in a
few hours. .
Mohammed Ali was on the western bank of the Nile,
at the foot of the Pyramids, when his officers first re-
ceived the intelligence of the death of his favourite son,
a disaster that seems to have made a deeper impression
upon his mind than any other domestic affliction; for
Toussoun, voluptuary as he was, had far more of that
spontaneous kindness which begets affection than the
iron-natured Ibrahim. His officers, all of whom were
sincerely attached to the Pasha (for no man ever re-
quited more cordially the service rendered him), did not
dare to inform him at once of an event which was sure to
affect him profoundly. Such is the prejudice of Eastern.
usage, that the repugnance to be the bearer of painful
intelligence, or the eagerness to announce a happy event,
is carried far beyond those limits which are usual in the
political Society of Europe. On this occasion, Mohammed
Ali was informed that Toussoun had arrived ill, and im-
mediately prepared to go and see him; but the body had
already been removed, and his kiahya had no resource.
but to break to him the sorrowful intelligence. -
“Say no more,” said Mohammed Ali, with a wave of
his hand: his countenance fell, and, as if conscious that
all efforts to compose himself were utterly useless, he
threw himself on the ground, Surrendered himself to a
paroxysm of grief, and for three days maintained an
almost dead silence.
To the south of Cairo, between the palm-clad banks of
the Nile and the sterile precipitous heights of Mount.
54 RENEWAL OF THE WAHABY WAR.
Mokattam, is a region of suburbs and tombs, where, here
and there, the fretted cupola of Saracenic architecture is
seen crumbling to its kindred desert. Here is the last
resting-place of the Imam Shafei, that great doctor of
Islamism whose interpretation of the Koran is adopted
throughout all Egypt and Syria.” To this spot the body
of Toussoun was followed by his sorrowing father on
foot, and there, in a receptacle prepared for the purpose,
the bones of the rest of the family of Mohammed Ali are
also preserved.
Although Toussoun Pasha, in leaving Arabia, had come
to a compromise, which left the Wahabys in possession
of their capital Derayeh, and of a considerable part of the
north-east of Arabia, yet it was no part of the intention
of Mohammed Ali to relax his efforts until they were
entirely subdued. He therefore peremptorily ordered
Abdallah, the son of Souhoud, to proceed to Constanti-
nople, and at the same time to restore the treasures
which his father had found in the tomb of the Prophet.
at Medina and elsewhere. On this the Wahaby chief
answered that those treasures had been dissipated in his
father's time, and implored Mohammed Ali not to insist
upon the journey to Constantinople, offering to pay any
reasonable tribute, and to submit to the authority of the
Porte. This letter was accompanied by presents, which
Mohammed Ali sent back, with the expression of his
serious displeasure at the disobedience of his orders;
for it was not tribute or a declaration of submission that
Mohammed Ali aimed at, but the extinction of the once
formidable political and military power of the Wahabys.
Their chief was at no loss to comprehend this, and hot
war now recommenced between him and the Pasha.
Toussoun being now no more, it was to Ibrahim Pasha
º Except in the town of Nablouse, where, as at Bagdad, the rite of Hambaleh is
adopted. - - -
CHARACTER OF IBRAHIM PASHA. 55
that the command of the expedition was entrusted; and
in the course of it he first showed that eminent natural
capacity as an Oriental general, which at a subsequent
period attracted the attention of Europe. This prince,
endowed with a robust frame which was not until long
afterwards weakened by excesses, was a daring and fear-
less soldier, even far beyond the average of a nation
naturally brave. Utterly wanting in knowledge of
European strategy, he nevertheless possessed a strong
masculine judgment and an intelligence in military
matters that placed him far above his compeers, who
were ignorant of mathematical science and of the tactics
of Europe. He had neither the political acuteness of
Mohammed Ali, nor that suavity of manner which his
father possessed in so eminent a degree as sometimes to
enchant his friends and adherents, while it often served to
neutralize the hostile and attract the indifferent. His
temper was irritable and even ferocious, so that he would
be for days, to his own people, as unapproachable as a
tiger in his lair. On the other hand, his nature was
more truthful than that of Mohammed Ali. He was not
addicted to finesse, and, in fact, despised it : he indulged
in no far-stretching schemes for the future, but exercised
a vigorous and masculine judgment on what was laid
before him. Although stern, severe, and sometimes even
cruel, he was perfectly methodical in business; and con-
sequently possessed to a considerable extent the virtue
of justice, which is a most essential element of dispatch,
and the quickest closer of complicated transactions. If
the generosity of Mohammed Ali created and sustained
the attachment of adherents, his disorderly prodigality
brought him into frequent difficulties. But it was not
so with Ibrahim Pasha. His lever was fear—not attach-
ment: he was accumulative for the public treasury and
the privy purse, and a stranger to munificence; and it is
56 VIGOROUS MOVEMENTS OF IBRAHIM.
not to be disputed that one of the principal causes of the
trouble which the affairs of Syria gave to the Porte, and
to the powers of Europe, was the strict economy and
vigilant supervision which Ibrahim Pasha practised in
the State and in the army.
In September, 1816, Ibrahim Pasha left Cairo for
Arabia; but, instead of proceeding to Suez with his force,
he ascended the Nile in boats to Kench, near Thebes ;
and then, taking with him his artillery and baggage,
which were transported on the backs of six thousand
camels collected for the purpose, he proceeded across the
desert to Cosseir on the Red Sea, and from thence in a
fleet of boats and barks that had been provided, crossed
over to Sanbo, the port of Medina, from thence imme-
diately proceeding to the Holy City itself. But he did
not at once enter into action, the plan of Mohammed
Ali, which Ibrahim was instructed to carry out, being to
await the union and concentration of the means of attack,
and then suddenly to act with decisive vigour.
This plan was successful. The Wavering chiefs of the
Arab tribes, scattered over the eastern parts of the
Hedjaz and the west of the Nejd, at once saw that
they had to deal with a man of resolution and energy,
who not only had with him large military resources, but
who in his first forays had brought in large numbers of
camels and cattle. The immediate result of the vigour
of Ibrahim Pasha was the defection of several important
tribes hitherto entirely in the interest of the Wahabys.
But the smallest towns were defended with vigour, and
at Derayeh the Wahabys made a final stand with all the
resources that remained to them in men and materiel.
The reduction of this place was the most arduous under-
taking of the campaign.
This capital of a warlike and primitive race of Arabs
was such a town as might be seen in various parts of the
DERAYEH ATTACKED. - 57
Peninsula at the period when Mohammed gave forth those
doctrines to the simplicity of which the Wahabys wished
to return. The pompous fanes of Cairo and Granada
found no counterpart in the homely Arab Nejd. Several
straggling little towns on the slopes of hills, each Sur-
rounded by its wall and bastion, with a few of the
simplest mosques, composed the capital of the Wahabys.
With a force of less than six thousand men, and a dozen
pieces of artillery, Ibrahim Pasha sat down before the
place on the 6th of April. Assuredly it was not the
masses of combatants that constituted the interest of the
final struggle of the puritans of Islamism.
Dut it was soon seen that the contact of the Turks
with the European art of war gave them a preponderating
advantage over their opponents behind walls. Although
the bastion was a Turkish invention, and had first been
constructed at Otranto when there were hopes and fears
of Italy sharing the fate of the Greek empire, yet there
had been in the Turkish art of war, all through the
eighteenth century, a notable absence of the rapid progress
in artillery and engineering which had taken place in
the armies of Europe ; and it was the quick and unscru-
pulous appropriation of those European advances in pro-
jectiles and drill that really furnished the family of
Mohammed Ali with the means of first putting down the
resistance of the Oriental forces in their immediate
vicinity, and subsequently of creating that power which
was turned against the Porte itself.
The Wahabys saw with astonishment the solid curtain
and bastion of the detached fort crumble to the dust
under the well-directed fire of Ibrahim Pasha's artillery.
A panic seized them, and they evacuated the place, leav-
ing behind them their wounded, their ammunition, and
their provisions. While the Turks posted to intercept
their retreat pursued them into the gardens of the cen-
58 DESPERATE DEFENCE OF THE WAHABYs.
tral town, many prisoners were taken, whose heads were
cut off, the treasurer of Ibrahim Pasha paying for every
pair of ears brought in to him, in accordance with the
old Turkish practice. The Turks, following up this advan-
tage, took possession of another height on which were
posted two pieces of artillery that gave them much
trouble. Thrahim Pasha thus infused into his troops
that confidence of final victory which is half the battle.
No sooner was this advantage gained, than fortune still
further favoured the besiegers by the arrival of caravans
with gun carriages, ammunition, medicines, and an abun-
dance of provisions of various descriptions to sustain both
the moral and physical energy of the soldiers.
On the other hand, the besieged were fortified with
the courage of despair. They declared to each other,
and believed, that surrender would not be followed by
quarter—that the male inhabitants would be put to the
sword, and the women and valuables would become the
property of the ruthless victor. New entrenchments, not
directed by science but executed with prodigious ac-
tivity, were carried out by the defenders, and vigorous
sorties kept the besiegers on the alert, while the large
extent of ground covered by the scattered capital ren-
dered the strict blockade of the place impossible, so that
provisions and supplies from without were from time to
time furnished. Nor was the diminution of Turkish life,
by the unceasing Wahaby musketry, steadily aimed from
the walls at every head that appeared above the trenches,
an inconsiderable offset to the decided advantage that
Ibrahim Pasha had in artillery served by European
officers, and hospitals tended by European medical science.
The climate also came in for its share as an active force
in the struggle. The heat, dysentery, and ophthalmia,
which had but a very slight effect on the besieged,
carried its ravages into the Turkish camp. Ibrahim
MUTINoUS BEARING OF IBRAHIM's TROOPS. 59
Pasha himself had an attack of opthalmia, which blinded
him for several days; and two months of suffering were
spent before this last stronghold of the Wahabys, with-
out any prospect of success being obtained. Another
bastion was successfully breached by the European
artillery officers; and Ibrahim Pasha, impatient of delay,
and eager to make a decided impression on the scattered
scheme of Wahaby defence, ordered his men to mount the
breach. To his surprise and disappointment, murmurs,
succeeded by a mutinous refusal to march, showed the
stubborn commander how suffering and despair had torn
loose all the bonds of discipline ; and, as misfortunes
never come single, a frightful accident seemed to inter-
pose a final obstacle to perseverance in the siege.
On the 21st of June, one of those whirlwinds that
suddenly rise in Arabia blew some sparks from a camp
kitchen fire to a large tent which was the powder and
ammunition magazine. In a moment several hundred
packages of powder and cartridges flew into the air, with
a prodigious explosion that shook the very hills, and
scattered burnt and blackened human limbs around. It
was at this juncture that Ibrahim Pasha showed an
indomitable firmness and courage that rose to heroism.
“All is lost,” said Ibrahim to the messenger of Ouzoun
Ali, his lieutenant, “except our courage and our sabres:
tell your master to be on the alert to repel attack, and I
will do the same.” Without a day's delay, Ibrahim sent
off messengers to all the posts in his rear for supplies of
powder and ammunition, to make up the losses incurred;
and, foreseeing that this crisis would infallibly embolden
the Wahabys to attempt sorties, he addressed his troops
and stimulated them to fresh efforts. His harangues
had all the more effect as coming from a commander
who was reserved, rather than given to an expansive
loquacity. -
60 A MILITARY STRATAGEM.
These presumptions were fully confirmed by the con-
duct of the Wahaby chief. Although not endowed with
much military talent, the opportunity of striking a suc-
cessful blow on the besieged was too obvious not to be
seized by Abdallah Ebn Souhoud, who, although—from
his avarice and lack of genius—enjoying little of the
popularity of his father and grandfather, yet was not
devoid of personal courage. Accordingly, a party of
fifteen hundred Wahabys broke out upon Ibrahim, who
gave orders to his people steadily to retire in the direc-
tion of an eminence, where three pieces still stood with
a sufficiency of ammunition. Incautiously following up
what appeared to be an advantage, the Wahaby's Sud-
denly found themselves in the midst of showers of grape-
shot, which laid low numbers; and, seized with panic,
they retreated as suddenly as they had advanced. Ab-
dallah, learning that Ibrahim Pasha was absent from the
camp to chastise some villages that supplied the Wahabys
with provisions, made another desperate sortie in the
intense heat of an Arabian midsummer, the women
braving the balls that whistled about their ears, in order
to carry jars of water to cool the lips of their husbands
and brothers in the ardour of combat. But the Turks,
living in the midst of death, repelled the attack with
collected resolution.
Again the tide turned, and while the Wahabys were
astonished rather than dismayed at the failure of their
efforts, supplies of men, ammunition, and provisions,
began gradually to revive the courage of the Turks; and
the resources left scattered in his rear, to occupy various
parts, being now united at Derayeh, Ibrahim, without
waiting for the succours sent by Mohammed Ali, re-
solved to make a final assault with all his strength.
Ordering the artillery to batter uninterruptedly, he at
the same time directed the riflemen in the advanced
CAPITULATION OF THE WAHABY CAPITAL. 61
trenches to aim at the embrasures, and pick off the
people within the walls. After dark, leaving in the
trenches only the men necessary for their defence, he
ordered his troops forward, posting cavalry in ambuscade
to repel a sortie. At several points, the Wahabys, being
prepared for an assault, resisted manfully; but a body
of eight hundred infantry penetrating into gardens
where they were not expected, the Wahabys were over-
powered, and a redoubt defended by artillery was cap-
tured. The successful repulse of the Wahabys by the
cavalry, and the discouragement produced by the loss of
one of their leaders—the brother-in-law of Abdallah,
whose right foot was carried away—now effectually
turned the scale in favour of Ibrahim. -
A fort commanded by Saad, the son of the Wahaby
chief, was held by one hundred and fifty men; and,
although they had a large store of ammunition and artil-
lery, they had provisions for only two days, under the
supposition that they were so far within the circle of
defence as not to be exposed to the Turks. These men,
being compelled to capitulate, Ibrahim Pasha was able
to attack the inner towns of Sahal and Gharybeh, which
were not citadels with garrisons, but inhabited by fami-
lies. The horrors of the siege, which had hitherto been
at a distance from the women and children of the
besieged Wahabys, were now felt in all their fulness.
Showers of shells crumbled to pieces the dwellings of the
families of these brave men; and it was amidst the cries
of terror-stricken women and children that these two
towns capitulated. Tourfieh followed; and, inclosed on
all sides in his residence at Toureyf with his family and
four hundred black slaves, Abdallah was at length, on
the 9th of September, after a bloody five months' siege,
compelled to ask for a suspension of arms.
The Wahaby chief, accompanied by two hundred of
62 SURRENDER OF THE WAHABY CHIEF.
his people, went to the tent of Ibrahim, and was well
received by him. Abdallah, according to Oriental usage,
wished to kiss the hand of the Pasha, who, however,
withdrew it; during five months of dogged resolution
he had sought victory, not the humiliation of a chief
respectable for his valour.
“The war has ended,” said Abdallah; “such are the
decrees of fate.”
“If you wish to hold out, I will supply you with
powder and ammunition,” said Ibrahim, with a politeness
in which the courtesy of chivalry was too largely alloyed
with contempt.
“No,” said Abdallah, scarcely restraining his tears,
“God has willed my humiliation.”
Abdallah asked for peace; but Ibrahim informed him
that he was not allowed to leave him at Derayeh, his
orders being peremptory on that point. On this Abdallah
asked for twenty-four hours to consult, and took his
leave. Ibrahim, however, ordered patrols of cavalry to
be on the outlook lest he should attempt to escape.
There can be no doubt that Abdallah, if mounted on a
swift dromedary, had a great chance of getting clear off:
but his numerous family, his friends, and his capital,
were all hostages to Ibrahim; and, fearing lest they
might suffer by his flight, he again returned to the
Turkish camp, recommending his family to the protec-
tion of Ibrahim, and imploring him to do no damage to
Derayeh. Promises to this effect were made, and Ab-
dallah, guarded by four hundred horsemen, commenced
his journey for Cairo, where he arrived on the 17th of
November, 1818.
IHe was admitted to kiss the hand of Mohammed Ali,
who, admiring the courage of the Wahabys, received
him with honour, and asked him what he thought of his
son Ibrahim. “He has done his duty,” said Abdallah,
DESTRUCTION OF DERAYEH. * 63
“and we have done ours. Thus has God willed.” On
the 19th he started for Constantinople, where, notwith-
standing his surrender at Derayeh, and the intercession
made by Mohammed Ali for his life, he was during three
days shewn through the town, and then decapitated with
his companions.
The gloom and terror that the news of the death of
Abdallah spread over the unhappy Derayeh was but too
soon succeeded by the desolation of this devoted city.
The valour of its defenders, the natural and artificial
strength of its position, the climate fatal to the invader,
and its remoteness from the accessible Turkish resources,
all conspired to make the Ottoman commander leave
behind no such fastness that might endanger a com-
mencement of any future revolt of the puritans of
Islamism. In a few brief weeks the melancholy cry of
the jackal was heard amid the scenes that lately echoed
the hum of a patriarchal Arab capital. Voluntarily the
people of Derayeh levelled their walls with the ground
to appease the victor. But the root as well as the
branch of Derayeh was doomed. The date trees, those
many-gifted providers of the nourishment, necessaries,
and luxuries of the Arabs, were cut down. Without a
metaphor, the axe was laid to the root of the subsistence
of Derayeh; while, within the towns, house after house
was burnt down, with the express intention of utterly
annihilating the place as a residence, and compelling all
the inhabitants to seek other abodes.
64
CHAPTER WI.
THE UPPER NILE, ITS CLIMATE AND TRADE.—CoNo UEST of SENNAAR, DongoDAH,
AND CortDoFAN RESOLVED ON.—THE EGYPTIANS ENTER NUBIA.—THE UPPER
NILE OCCUPIED.—ITS MATERIAL ASPECT.-SENAAR AND ITS TRACEs of ARAB
CrvilizATION.—THE Count RIES OF THE UPPER NILE ANNExED.
IF we survey the globe, there is no part of it so
thoroughly unknown as that vast Alpine region of
eastern central Africa, in which both the White Nile
and the Niger take their origin. From the vast volumes
of water poured into the Atlantic and the Mediterra-
nean, and from the elevation of the nearer mountains
and plateaux already ascertained, it may fairly be pre-
sumed that the central peaks rise to heights which rival
the great chains of other continents; but the Humboldts
of the African Andes have still to appear. The blue
river supposed by Bruce to be the great Nile, turns out
to be only a brief tributary of this lengthened stream.
The true source of the Nile, its situation, its physical
region, and human inhabitants are still the great
mystery of African geography. Abyssinia, forming the
easterly termination of this mountain region before its
rapid descent to the Red Sea, is inhabited by a Caucasian
race, and has much of the temperature of an European
climate : but further to the north, and remoter from the
equator, latitude is more than compensated by the
cessation of the highlands; for from the entrance of the
Nile into the more level country we find the torrid heat
and vegetable productions of the tropics, while, instead
of the tawny high-featured Ethiopian and Caraite Jew of
THE UPPER NILE. 65
Abyssinia, we have the pitch black negro of Senaar
and Cordofan. -
It was to these regions of the Upper Nile that the
Pasha, Mohammed Ali, turned his attention after the fall
of Derayeh. If the conquest of the Wahabys added to his
renown, it exhausted the resources of Egypt. Arabia,
if difficult to obtain from the valour of its inhabitants,
was equally disadvantageous to retain, owing to its scanty
and dispersed material advantages, as well as the con-
stant liability to rebellion. In the countries beyond
Nubia the inhabitants were unskilled in war. Its
resources were abundant, valuable, and approximated
to the great and accessible highway of the Nile. The
climate alone was the worst enemy of the White man.
In the time of the Mameluke Sultans, and before the
development of the passage by the Cape, Cairo was,
through Venetian instrumentality, one of the great
magazines of the Indian trade. This, however, had
passed away, and it was on the gums, the gold-dust,
the ostrich feathers, and other productions of the upper
country that those merchants subsisted who tenanted the
gorgeous Saracenic khans of the seven saloons of Cairo.
But military ambition and mercantile greed had never
approached the land confines of Abyssinia, and the
extension of the power of the Pasha of Egypt from the
Nejd to the Senaar reminds us rather of the Turks
in the days of a Selim and a Solyman than of the
Ottomans of the nineteenth century of the Christian era.
Nor was it alone by force of arms that Mohammed
Ali looked forward to complete the conquest of the semi-
barbarous tribes of the upper country. Three ulema
learned in the laws and rites of Islamism accompanied
the expedition. Their mission was not only to preach
the doctrines of the Koran, but at the same time to
enforce upon those Savage clans the political precept that
WOLe II. 5
66 THE BERBERS.
temporal obedience was strictly due to the heir of the
Caliphate.
In June, 1820, three thousand boats were assembled
at Cairo for the purpose of easily transporting to the
upper country the men, ammunition, and stores requisite
for the expedition. Between three and four thousand
infantry, with several hundred of the gigantic Ababdeh
Arabs, the whole being under the command of Ismael
Pasha, one of Mohammed Ali’s sons, departed for AS-
souan ; the north-west winds, prevalent at this period,
swelling their sails and moderating the intense heat of
the summer solstice. At the same time, a force of
cavalry ascended the valley of the Nile by land.
The general rendezvous was at Assouan, from whence
the little army passed into Nubia. No opposition had
hitherto showed itself. This region, beyond the first cata-
ract, where every shred of cultivable territory between
the river and the mountain is carefully husbanded, is
inhabited by a Berber race, a relic of that vast Numidian
nationality which once occupied the greater part of
northern Africa; but, driven remote from the coast of
the Mediterranean by the Arabs, still straggled in con-
siderable numbers from the Red Sea almost to the
Atlantic, and has given to this portion of the world
the name of the coast of Barbary. Unwarlike at home,
they fulfil servile employments in Cairo, and the forced
frugality of the scanty soil of Nubia becomes penurious-
ness amid the greater plenty of the Egyptian capital.
Barly to quit the sterile region between the cataracts;
laboriously to accumulate pittance on pittance in the
domestic servitude of Cairo, and then to return to a
semi-independent indolence in Nubia, is the height of
the ambition of the modern Berber. A grudging assist-
ance, rather than an opposition, was what Ismael Pasha
met with in the date-growing lands of Ibreem and the
THE SHEIICHIEH ARABS. 67
horse-rearing Dongolah. It was not until five days'
march beyond the latter place that opposition first
showed itself. The Sheikhieh Arabs attempted to draw
the force of Ismael some distance from the Nile, and
then attacked it with several thousand men mounted
on horses and dromedaries. But the steady and well-
directed fire of the Turkish force, now partially drilled
and manoeuvred to some extent on European principles,
sufficed to check this numerous horde with the loss of
only a few men. Then, passing the Nile on the backs
of their horses, the Turkish cavalry completed the rout,
and the army could continue its course.
But the Nile no longer furnished that depth of water
which permitted the navigation of large barks; so the
troops marched in its vicinity—the infantry in detach-
ments, and the artillery carried on scaffolds supported by
two camels abreast. In this way they reached succes-
sively Berber and Shendy. These places, where Turks
found still some traces of Arab civilization, were governed
by “Maleks.” This word, which in the large sense is
“king,” may with reference to these subordinates of the
sovereignty of Senaar be accurately entitled “Reeves,”
as applying to persons seized or possessed of the lieu-
tenancy of power.”
At Shendy, Malek Nimr, unable to resist the force that
entered the territory, made a studious display of sub-
mission ; and the chief of the Sheikhieh, who had retired
here on receiving the promise of Ismael that no harm
would befal him, expressed himself equally ready to
forward this easy conquest, of which he gave substantial
proof on the march to Senaar, by pointing out pits in
which Indian corn was concealed.
* The original and literal meanings of the titles of the “powers that be” are not
uninteresting, Sultan signifying “power;” Malek, “possession”—hence, “Mame-
luke” possessed; “Reeve,” seizure, seisin. The office in Germanic and Frank is Graf,
Greffier: gripe, griffin, and grab are derived from it. -
68 ARAB CIVILIZATION.
All the aspects of nature were now changing to the
little army of Ismael Pasha. The great Nile, which only
acquires its full volume after the junction of the Abbara
which drains Eastern Abyssinia, was above that conflu-
ence, and, particularly in the low season, no longer the
river of the imposing magnitude they had been ac-
customed to : further up, above the confluence of the
Blue and White Niles, the former—by which they held
on their way to Senaar—was still smaller. The alluvial
soil of Egypt is a foreign deposit of perennial floods on
the Lybian desert; but here they had arrived at a part
of the rich aboriginal territorial reservoir itself, where,
instead of the scattered artificial groves of palm and
crops produced by inundation and irrigation, wide-
spread full-growing natural woods reciprocate a heated
humidity with those clouds and rains of heaven which are
so rare in Upper Egypt. Man, too, is different from the
“bonny tawny Moor” of the north coast of Africa; for
the tint has gradually sunk through the dusky brown of
Nubia to the glossy black of Senaar and the neighbour-
ing Cordofan. The climate is deadly to the European.
The true features of Africa, hitherto masked by the cool
climate of the environs of the Mediterranean, here reveal
themselves. In the Nile, the hippopotamus, which is
rare in Egypt, is present in numbers, while the plains
are traversed by the winged step of the ostrich and the
giraffe; the elephant and the rhinoceros drag their
huge bulk through the open glade; the tiger and the
panther have their lair in the jungle, and myriads of
monkies swarm in lofty trees.
But even in this distant region the blessings of Arab
civilization are felt to a certain extent; and, if we are
ready to sneer at the decadence of the East, let us
remember that this remarkable nation, which transmitted
to Europe the civilization of the Romans and Greeks, has
ADVANCE OF ISMAEL PASHA. 60.
scattered far into the heart of Africa scintillations of its
own laws, ethics, arts, and manufactures. The Koran
has for ages attuned the souls of these low races to a
poetry and a morality far above the grovelling level of
the aboriginal mind; and in this world of material want
the town of Senaar presented to the eyes of the Egyptians
Smiths, jewellers, carpenters, masons, tailors, weavers,
and tanners, who rudely resembled those of Cairo. But
in this land of the vigorous generation and production of
the animal and vegetable kingdoms agriculture was still
further behind. The plough was unknown. A pike,
pressed with the foot so as to make an aperture in the
ground, was the native substitute for an instrument
familiar to the Egyptians from the days of the Pharaohs.
Here all was primeval; the land was measured by stone-
casts, and the waters of the Nile were crossed by the
Senaarry, with his wife and children, on the back of an
ox, or swimming alone assisted by a log-float. It was
only considerably down the Nile that navigation was
available for the slaves, the gums, and the ostrich fea-
thers which Senaar exchanged for the coffee of Arabia,
and the products of the looms of Cairo and Manchester.
Circumstances favoured the advance of the son of
Mohammed Ali; and those regions in which he was soon
after to perish by the hand of a patriot assassin were, in
the first instance, annexed to the Pashalic of Egypt with-
out any attempt at resistance. Disunion was in the
councils of the two brothers who held the power at
Senaar : one, who wished to give in to Ismael, was
treacherously murdered by his brother; but the other,
unable to raise a party, or organise a force competent to
resist the invader, was compelled to fly. Mohammed, a
deposed king of Senaar who had some years been lan-
guishing in a prison, resumed the shadowy Sceptre; and,
acknowledging himself to be the faithful vassal of Sultan
70 DEATH OF ISMAEL PASHA.
Mahmoud, the invader became his liberator from bondage
—the constituent of his renewed lease of power, and the
captor of his rival, who narrowly escaped death at the
hands of Ismael, and was only saved at the intercession
of the sheikhs. Thus fell the Upper Nile into the power
of the family of Mohammed Ali, a fief which his grandson
still holds of his sovereign. But it was long before this
acquisition was consolidated. Years of massacre, revolt,
pillage, and conflagration, accompanied and followed the
death of Ismael, which so soon clouded the satisfaction
with which Mohammed Ali viewed the lustre of his
family, and the extension of his dominion to the confines
of Abyssinia. -
The exactions, insults, and haughty demeanour of
Ismael had so exasperated Malek Nimr at Shendy, that
this barbarian collected large quantities of straw, under
pretext of forage, feigned a dancing festival, and, after
nightfall, surrounded the dwelling of the son of Moham-
med Ali with his men, and drove the attendants of
Ismael into the house. Then, lighting the straw, the
house took fire, and those who escaped the sword
perished in the conflagration. Such was the end of
Ismael Pasha. -
71
CELAPTER VII.
REvolution of MANNERS IN EGYPT.-NEW ORGANIZATION of THE ARMY AND
ITs ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS.–IMPROVEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.—THE
CANAL OF ALEXANDRIA.—EGYPTIAN MANUFACTURES NOT SUCCESSFUL.—THE
PASHA FostERs EDUCATION.—CIVIL ADMINISTRATION.—THE OVERLAND PAs-
SAGE To INDIA REVIVED.—PALACES AND GARDENs of MoHAMMED ALI.-HIS
ExTENSIVE AND INTELLIGENT INTERCOURSE WITH EUROPEANs.
IT was at the close of the European struggle of the
first fifteen years of this century that Mohammed Ali
began that great revolution of manners which so utterly
changed the social, political, and mercantile aspect of
Egypt. The vast superiority of Europe in arts and
arms was too evident to all men of intelligence to be
longer resisted. But the association of the reforms with
a religion which is odious and even contemptible to the
Moslems was the great obstacle to an attempt at a
general change. Sultan Selim had lost life and throne
in the attempt; and it was by a miracle that Mahmoud
and Mohammed Ali died in their beds. These two ex-
traordinary men, subsequently sworn foes of each other,
moved in parallel lines to the combat of the most obsti-
nate prejudices of the modern Turk and Arab.
But it was no easy matter in these earlier stages.
Mohammed Ali had no sooner, in August, 1815, an-
nounced his intention to discipline his troops in the
European manner, than a revolt broke out among them;
the bazaars were plundered, and Mohammed Ali himself
was obliged to retire behind the towers and solid
walls of the castle of Saladin, in order to save himself
from a planned assassination. But this momentary burst
72 NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY.
of discontent had to give way to the settled unalterable
resolves and persevering plans of the Pasha, now secure
in his stronghold. Some of the leaders of the troops
were gained by largesse, and the rest intimidated into
submission. The first step was a costly one; and in
course of time the discipline of Europe became habitual
not only to the Egyptian, Turk, and Arab, but even to
the negroes from the upper country, who were formed
into corps and trained to the manual and platoon exer-
cise under the care of Monsieur Seves, an officer of the
army of Bonaparte, who, being thrown out of a career in
France by the events of 1815, sought his fortunes in
Egypt, and, having embraced Islamism, had since risen
to the highest military rank under the name of Soliman
Pasha.
This new organization of the army subsequently de-
veloped itself in large proportions. A school of infantry
officers was formed at El Khankah, where languages and
military exercises were taught. On the other side of the
Nile the palace of Murad Bey, so repeatedly mentioned
during the campaign of the Pyramids, became a cavalry
School where another soldier of the imperial armies,
Monsieur Warin, instructed a corps in the equitation and
drill of Europe on those very sands where, since the days
of Saladin, the Mameluke youth had been taught to use
the mace and sabre against Tartar and Crusader.
Nor was artillery neglected. This arm, often so
decisive and important, had to be created in a country
where pieces cast in the seventeenth century still gar-
nished the walls of forts, and were directed by men who
had not the rudest elements of those mathematical and
technical acquirements which knit the art of the artil-
leryman so closely to the science of the engineer. It
was the artillery well pointed against the impetuous
Mameluke cavalry that had decided the fate of Egypt at
st
EMPLOYMENT OF EUROPEAN WORKMEN. 73
Embabeh, and Mohammed Ali was not the man to neglect
the lesson. A Spanish colonel, Seguera, organised the
artillery school of Mohammed Ali, so much to his satis-
faction that the rank of bey was conferred, with many
expressions of content; for the Greek war and the other
embarrassments of the Ottoman empire left Mohammed
Ali virtual master of Egypt, and dispensing honours
within the attributes of the sovereign. The Divan,
anxious to profit by his talents and resources, swallowed
these affronts, biding the time when some conjuncture in
the vortex of affairs might enable them to make Mo-
hammed Ali share the fate of other powerful individuals,
who, keeping their heads for a time above water, had
been ultimately swallowed up in the system of the Porte.
Master of a large revenue—in the prime of his talents
and activity—and virtually independent of the Porte,
Mohammed Ali neglected none of the auxiliary roads to
the consolidation of his power. A large part of the
citadel was turned into an arsenal where the skilled
workmen of England and Europe directed the industry
of hundreds of native Egyptians in the casting of
cannon, and accoutering of the soldiers from head to
foot. The tide was at the flood, and Mohammed Ali
took it with matchless confidence and precision.
At the period of the French invasion Alexandria was
at its lowest ebb of decadence. It was no longer the
prosperous emporium of the Venetian trade: within and
without its precincts, the ruins of warehouses, mosques
and tombs, chiefly met the eye. But at the conclusion
of the Anglo-French war its commerce began rapidly to
increase; and Mohammed Ali, not content with having
an army on the European model, conceived the idea of
having also a navy, of which Alexandria should be the
arsenal. He had already got frigates constructed at
Venice and Marseilles; and conscious of the multiplied
74 THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON.
power which a naval predominance gives even to small
armies, he, in the year 1829, commissioned Monsieur
Cerisy, of Marseilles, to construct a naval arsenal in
Alexandria, an institution which subsequently assumed
large proportions. French naval instructors were also
drawn to Egypt, and Turco-Egyptian pupils received a
practical training in the dockyards and on board the
ships of war of England. Various other French and
English engineers rendered signal service to Mohammed
Ali, among whom we may mention Galloway Bey, a man
of signal ability.
With a view of getting a large revenue out of Egypt,
of the resources of which he was now so to speak exclu-
sive master, Mohammed Ali readily opened his ears to
all projects which might bring back to this favoured land
its former productiveness; and none seemed so suitable
as the cultivation of cotton, for which both the soil and
the climate are eminently favourable, while the large
demand for this raw material in the manufacturing
centres of Europe left no doubt as to a market being
found for it. An inferior cotton plant was indigenous to
the soil of Egypt ; but it was the introduction of the
American sea island cotton plant that formed so great an
epoch in the modern history of Egypt: and its exten-
sion produced a large proportion of that considerable
revenue which gave such a financial lever to the Pasha
in his subsequent struggles with the Porte. The indigo
culture went in companionship with that of cotton. The
West had furnished the former, while from the East
Indies were brought cultivators of indigo, who introduced
into the valley of the Nile those improved processes
through which the products of Hindostan had for genera-
tions excluded the indigo of Egypt from the markets of
Europe. From Asia Minor were brought rayahs skilled
in the culture of opium, and thus another important and
EGYPTIAN PORTS. 75
lucrative branch was added to the agricultural produc-
tions of Egypt. The plantation of forest trees has, at the
same time, gradually diminished the extreme dryness of
the climate of Egypt, and showers of rain are now less
rare and extraordinary than they were at the beginning
of the century. Nor was the ornamental neglected. In
the delicious island of Raoudah, between Cairo and the
Pyramids, and in which the Mamelukes used to enjoy
the shade of the sycamore and the orange, Ibrahim
Pasha, through the instrumentality of a Scotch horticul-
turist, planted a garden which the hot sun and abundant
water of the basin of the Nile rapidly developed into a
most luxuriant growth of whatever could delight the
eye, the taste, or the sense of perfume. Here were the
bamboo of India, with its heat and shade; the fruits of
the Antilles; the spices of the Asiatic Islands; and the
fauna and flora of the Amazons, with their magni-
foliage, their brilliancy, and endless variety. Here was
the science of the horticulturist, and here the taste of
the landscape gardener, who agreeably surprised the
Briton with a park, showing the variety of natural
scenery, but the details of tropical vegetation as a sub-
stitute for the arboriculture of the grove, and the glades
of our northern demesnes.
The Nile is the great artery of Egyptian commerce;
but neither its Rosetta nor its Damietta mouths are fa-
vourable ports for those large vessels of long course
through which an extensive foreign trade can be kept
up. The contest between the sands of the sea, and an
impetuous river holding so large an amount of alluvium
in solution during its course, and depositing it so largely
at its mouths, has created bars which render Rosetta and
Damietta fit only for the reception of those numerous
coasting barks which carry the rice and corn of Egypt to
the rocky and less alluvial coasts of Syria. The port of
76 ARCHITECTURAL IMPROVEMENTS.
Alexandria—defective in some respects, not only from
exposure to the north-west winds, but also from Want of
depth at the entrance—is still the only one in Egypt fit
to be a naval arsenal and a great emporium of Com-
merce. But it is situated at some distance from the
Rosetta branch of the Nile. The restoration of the canal
connecting Alexandria with the river, was therefore one
of the most useful and important works of Mohammed
Ali. It bore the name of Sultan Mahmoud, and com-
memorates the verbal homage to the Sovereign, with
which this crafty chief honeyed over the bitterest potions
he administered. The canal itself, however, has proved
of much benefit in connecting the only considerable
port of Egypt with the artery of the Nile, the populous
capital, and the productive Delta; and until the opening
of the railway between Alexandria and Cairo it was
largely used for the overland transit to India.
Under the influence of this commercial development
the aspect of Alexandria rapidly changed. Houses in
the European fashion covered the Frank quarter, and the
merchants, no longer confined in khans, peopled the
streets and squares that rose up in the vicinity of the new
port, and spread their villas and gardens along the banks
of the canal. Several large English, French, and Greek
houses carried on a most extensive and lucrative com-
merce. Messrs. Briggs and Thurburn, a great British
firm, in one year purchased the whole of the cotton crop
of Egypt. It is impossible not to condemn the methods
by which the Pasha came into possession of so much
private landed property; but the improvement, in the
adaptation of the culture of this rich region to the com-
mercial wants of Europe, showed an energy and an in-
telligence beyond his age and nation.
It is impossible to assign the same praise to the manu-
facturing efforts of the Pasha. Under the impression
MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS. 77
that, as Egypt possessed materials such as cotton and
indigo, the land of their raw production might also be
the seat of their manufacture, he forgot that a govern-
ment trenching on the sphere of private speculation in
a country where all nations shun labour, and to which
nature has denied coal, could never compete with manu-
facturing countries abounding with individual enterprise
and capital, as well as in the coal, the iron, and the
schools of mechanical ingenuity which designate by
broad and unmistakeable lines the spheres in which
agricultural or manufacturing industry can develope
themselves with success. In short, the manufacturing
schemes of Mohammed Ali were an utter failure, with
some few exceptions, such as the red woollen Tunis cap-
making, carried on at Fouah under economical condi-
tions similar to those of Barbary; and which—forming
an indispensable part of oriental costume, even as
modernised—found a ready market in Egypt itself.
The medical and educational institutions introduced
by Mohammed Ali into Egypt deserve every praise.
At the period of the French invasion the science
of medicine, once so esteemed and studied by the
Arabs, had declined into ignorance and imposture.
Simples, juggles, and talismans were all jumbled up
together in the practice of the native Egyptian; who,
not content with the symptoms of a disease as a key
to the remedy to be applied, would superadd fanciful
calculations suggested by the names of the relatives of
the patient. To Dr. Clot, a native of Marseilles, after-
wards raised to the rank of bey, Egypt owes the establish-
ment of medical institutions, comprising civil hospitals,
in Cairo and the provincés; the organization of the
medical service of the army; and last, not least, the
establishment of a medical school which turns out young
surgeons both for the military and the civil service.
78 CHANGES IN THE INTERNAL
The insane, who used to be kept chained in barred dens,
like wild beasts, were taken away from the hospital of
Ralaon, where many an Indian overland traveller has
seen this afflicting and degrading spectacle, and tended
in accordance with the humane usages of modern Europe.
In the great plague of 1835, which carried off one
hundred and fifty thousand souls—of whom thirty-five
thousand were in Cairo alone—Clot Bey distinguished
himself by his zeal and courage. “You have come out
of a battle that has lasted six months,” said Mohammed
Ali to him, in acknowledging his services.
A council of public instruction was organized by
Mohammed Ali, chiefly with a view to the military
and civil service of the government; not confined to
Turks and ignoring the native Arab Egyptians, as
had been hitherto the case in Egypt, but reviving the
system of Sultan Hassan in developing the native Arab
element. In this respect Mohammed Ali went far
beyond the renowned Mameluke Sultan. Not only
were numerous European scientific works translated into
Arabic, and made text-books in the medical and poly-
technic schools, but French was taught as the most con-
venient opening to the knowledge of Europe, and pupils
were sent to England and France in order to complete
the studies begun in Egypt.
A complete revolution took place in the internal
government of Egypt. All oligarchy was merged in
one common vortex, with a majority of the titles to
landed property. The Pasha became almost the one
great landlord of this magnificent and productive do-
main, while a new and uniform bureaucratic system
was applied to Egypt, which was divided into great
provinces ruled over by mudirs, who maintained the
canals, apportioned the cultivation of the land, and
collected the harvest and revenue. These provinces
GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT. 79
were subdivided into districts under mamours, who
immediately supervised the details of agriculture and
revenue, and who possessed summary police powers.
Thus Egypt became nearly one great farm, held at a
nominal rental of the Sultan. From this Mohammed
Ali derived the usufruct : his bureaucracy were the
overseers, and the population of Egypt the servants.
Under this system the state grew to compactness, sym-
metry, and power; but the opulence, the ease, and the
liberty of private individuals was extinguished. The
landed gentry and the wealthy ulema gradually declined.
The upper servants of the State, enjoying large salaries,
took the place in Society formerly occupied by the
Mameluke beys and sheikhs, holders of landed property.
The oppression of individuals grew excessive. It was
no longer the sudden exaction of the Mameluke bey,
followed by an interval of exemption; but a terroristic
and inhuman systematic pressure on the labour and
resources of every individual. Nor was the heavy new
taxation confined to agricultural provinces. A classified
capitation tax, entitled “ferdeh” (individual or personal)
was collected from the towns with extreme rigour, and
the bastinado applied in all cases where the tax was
in arrear, and often with little regard to the ability
to pay.
The most favourable side of the new system introduced
into Egypt was the improved police, the protection of
the Franks residing in towns from native insolence and
fanaticism, the security of roads and of the great high-
way of the Nile to both the native and the foreign
traveller, and the transformation of the Bedouin tribes
on the borders of the cultivated land—from men whose
hands were against every man into auxiliaries of civili-
zation, into breeders of Camels, and carriers of merchan-
dize ; so that, from being one of the most insecure coun-
80 THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA.
tries for a European traveller, Egypt became a land in
which the stranger might peregrinate without fear of
molestation.
The salient circumstance in this revolution of manners
was the resumption of the overland transit to India by
way of Egypt; the development of the steam naviga-
tion, and the police order produced in Egypt by Mo-
hammed Ali, concurring simultaneously to this end. In
the latter part of the eighteenth century, the great
extension of the British empire in India had caused
attention to be drawn to the necessity of a more direct
communication between the dependency and the domi-
nant country than by the long and circuitous route which
Portuguese enterprise had opened by the Cape of Good
Hope. Two ships—the Endeavour and the Enterprise
—were fitted out for the purpose of keeping up the
communication between Bombay and Suez ; but the
dangerous and uncertain navigation, and the unsettled
condition of Egypt under Mameluke rule, proved ob-
stacles to any decided preponderance of advantage over
the longer route, with its trade winds and ample sea
room. The orderly Egyptian police, and the rising
steam school of Britain in the nineteenth century,
however, created facilities which were not to be thrown
away; and, without entering into details with which
every newspaper reader of this age is familiar, it may
be stated that passengers and letters are now conveyed
overland to India with as much safety and regularity as
the most fastidious can desire, and with that celerity
which characterizes the railway communications of the
most civilized countries of Europe.
But long continued and painful efforts were requisite
at the outset in order to establish the communication.
It was with a single carpet-bag of letters that Wag-
horn—a naval officer of extraordinary shrewdness and
WINTER PALACE AT CAIRO. 81
corporeal activity——first crossed the desert as the more
immediate harbinger of the revived overland transit.
Steamers on the Nile were slowly organised, while, from
England to Alexandria, the communication was kept up
by Admiralty steam vessels; and, at length, in 1840,
a wealthy mercantile company, under contract to the
British Government, placed on both the Mediterranean
and Indian Red Sea lines steamships of power, dimen-
sion, and accommodation, commensurate with British
science and British capital.
Nor were the other maritime powers of Europe idle.
If France, and still more Austria, are unequal to Britain
in maritime resources, they possess, in the vicinity of the
ports of Marseilles and Trieste to the African continent,
and the scales of the Levant, a manifest advantage over
any country of the north of Europe, of which they have
not failed to avail themselves by the establishment of
extensive schemes of steam navigation to those Eastern
parts. These facilities the natives of Britain have taken
the fullest advantage of, because regarding them—in
accordance with the enlarged maxims of modern econo-
mical science—with feelings of honourable rivalry rather
than of a timid and ungenerous jealousy.
Bassing from the public institutions of Egypt to the
private establishments of the Pasha, we find him con-
structing or embellishing luxurious habitations in Alex-
andria, and in Cairo and its environs. The season was
usually passed in the latter capital after the heats of
summer had ceased, the apartments of the Pasha looking
out on a garden perched on the summit of the citadel.
Below was the wide-stretched city—not an unbroken
expanse of roofs, but varied more than any other city,
either of the East or West, with the numerous and
beautiful domes and minarets of the various phases of
Saracenic architecture—from the melon-crowned fanes of
WOL. II, 6
82 COURTESY OF THE PASHA To STRANGERs.
the lieutenants of the Caliphs of Bagdad to the lightest,
airiest, and most elegant minarets of the Circassian
Sultans, under whom the Moslem architecture of Egypt
arrived at perfection in fantastic grace and unimitative
local quaintness, before its decline into the unartificial
baldness of the common Turkish type,
Winter in this delicious climate implies the cessation
of the overpowering heats that prostrate the energies of
the natives of northern countries, but not the privation
of bright exhilarating sunshine, or of the luxuriant
vegetation of the tropics. At Shoubrah—a short dis-
tance from Cairo down the Nile, and connected with it
by a continuous avenue of acacias and sycamores—was a
garden and pavilion, the reverse of the rich wildness of
Roda. Here, thick groves of the luxuriant orange were
disposed in symmetrical mazes, alleys, and terraces in the
style of Italy; while the numerous jets of a fountain
cooled the midday atmosphere of the pavilion.
Whatever Mohammed Ali may have been as a political
character, no man showed more consummate tact and
courtesy in the reception of strangers. Whether it were
the diplomatic or commercial agent of an European Power,
or the passing traveller attracted by the wonders of the
valley of the Nile, this Pasha, untutored in universities
and unlearned in the European boundaries and subdi-
visions of human knowledge, could yet read at a glance
the nature of man; and by the intuition of genius was
marvellously successful in saying the right thing at the
right time. His demeanour was perfectly free from
pomp and hauteur ; and all his most important political
and commercial business was carried on with an easy
garrulity which, in politics, like playful humour in litera-
ture, is often one of the most unmistakeable character-
istics of power.
Knowing well that he was in his own person one of
HIS CONVERSATION. 83
the curiosities of Egypt, and anxious to stand well with
Lurope, he was by no means unwilling, when occasion
offered, to make himself the topic of conversation. The
learned and ingenious Sir John Bowring has preserved a
specimen of this vein. -
“Do not judge me by the standard of your knowledge.
Compare me with the ignorance that is around me. We
cannot apply the same rules to Egypt as to England :
centuries have been required to bring you to your
present state; I have had only a few years. You have
numbers of intelligent persons who comprehend their
rulers and carry on their work. I can find very few to
understand me and do my bidding. I am often de-
ceived, and I know I am deceived; whereas many are
deceived and do not know it. I seek everybody who can
give me information.’
“‘I have been almost alone for the greater part of my
life, finding nobody except Boghos Bey to second me.
It was only for the last fifteen years that I can say I
have lived ; and now I can accomplish more in four
years than in the fifteen that are past. I doubted the
aptitude even of my own children—even of Ibrahim
Pasha; but I have now learned that he is to be relied
upon and fully trusted. We cannot go on as fast as we
wish, nor do everything we desire to do. If I were to
put on Colonel Campbell's trousers (looking at the
Consul-General who is six feet high), would that make
me as tall as Colonel Campbell ?”
“‘Europeans who come to Egypt often think that they
can do with Arabs just what they can do with their own
people. They are wanting what they cannot get ; and
fancy the Arabs will work as Europeans work, and this
cannot be. When I went to Upper Egypt, an officer
was recommended to me as a very distinguished man,
and I was told that at all events I must secure his
84 THE PASHA’s ESTIMATE OF THE ENGLISH.
services, and I did so. So he came to me, and I asked
what I was to do to have things settled according to his
notions; and he answered, “You must have this, and
this, and this.” To which I said, “But this, and this,
and this are not to be had.” So I sent him about his
business.”
“‘Your country, England, has reached its present
eminence by the labours of many generations; and no
country can be made suddenly great and flourishing.
Now I have done something for Egypt. I have begun
to improve her ; and she may be compared, in some
respects, not only with Eastern, but with European
countries. I have much to learn, and so have my
people; and I am now sending Edhem Bey with fifteen
young men to learn what your country can teach. They
must see with their own eyes; they must learn to work
with their own hands; they must examine your manu-
factures; they must try to discover how and why you
are superior to us; and when they have been among
your people a sufficient time, they must come home and
instruct my people.’
“The English have made many great discoveries, but
the best of their discoveries is that of steam navigation.”
I told him that the inventor of steam navigation was an
American, and he replied, “Had they not, had fathers
like you, they would not have been such clever children.’
“‘I had not the benefits of early education. I was
forty-seven years old when I learned to read and write.
I have never seen countries more civilized than my own;
so I do not expect to do what you are able to do, and to
reach the height at which you have arrived.”
“‘The difficulty is to begin. I had to begin by
Scratching the soil of Egypt with a pin; I have now got
to cultivate it with a spade; but I mean to have all the
'benefit of a plough.”
HIS INTELLIGENCE AND WIT. 85
“He frequently spoke of the difference between
European and Oriental modes of government. Once he
said to me, ‘In your country you must have a great
many hands to move the machine of state ; I move it
with my own. I do not always exactly see what is best
to be done; but when I do see it, I compel prompt
obedience to my wishes, and what is seemingly best is .
done.’”
Thus the reader may see that Mohammed Ali had not
only the masculine intelligence and will to govern
Orientals; but also some amount of wit, with its ex-
pansive and illustrating power, to recommend him with
plausibility to intelligent Europeans who visited Egypt.
Strong and general predispositions were thus engendered
in his favour, both in European Society and in the Euro-
pean press, which even his subsequent unjustifiable pro-
ceedings to the Porte only partially removed.
86
CHAPTER VIII.
RETROSPECT of TURRISH HIStory.—THE GREEK REvoluTION.—CAtys Es of THE
MAINTENANCE OF THE TURKISH Power IN EUROPE.--- ConDUCT of MoHAMMED
ALI DURING THE GREER WAR.— ENERGY of SULTAN MAHMoUD.—
MoHAMMED ALI PURPOSEs To INvADE SYRIA.—IBRAHIM PASHA BESIEGEs
ACRE.—ACRE SURRENDERS To IBRAHIM.—THE TURKs DEFEATED AT Homs.
—THE BATTLE OF KONIEH GAINED BY THE EGYPTIANs over THE TURKs.—
ARRANGEMENT AT KIUTAHIA.
WHILE Mohammed Ali was consolidating his power,
that of the Sultan was threatened with imminent disso-
lution.
It was in the middle of the 17th century that Turkey
found herself at the maximum of her dominion. The
Empire of the East being completely absorbed, the
Greeks had not even a glimmering of hope that their
emancipation would take place. The Armenians of
Asiatic Turkey had been so thoroughly absorbed, that,
although Christians, they had even adopted Turkish
as their vernacular language. The Servian state of
Stephan Dushan had been entirely incorporated with
Turkey. Hungary, since 1526, had shared the same
fate, with the exception of a few countries on the
Austrian frontier, which were the debateable lands
between the Turk and the Emperor.
Three great states stood firm against the almost
overwhelming tide of Ottoman invasion—the Empire of
Germany, the Kingdom of Poland, and the maritime
Republic of Venice ; and all three contributed in a
remarkable manner to the turning back of this terrible
inundation. The raising of the siege of Vienna by the
aid of Poland was followed by the conquest of Hungary
RETROSPECT OF TURRISH HISTORY. 87
by the armies, generals, and resources of the House of
Hapsburg; and, accompanied by a vigorous flank move-
ment of the Venetians in Dalmatia, brought about those
treaties of Carlovitz and Passarovitz, which restored
the central basin of the Danube to Christendom. From
this period dates the German civilization of Hungary;
and from this period Turkey ceased to be imminently
dangerous to Europe. But the decline of the Ottoman
Empire arose not only from the loss of territory, but from
her remaining relatively so far in arrear of the science
and military organization of Europe, which arose from
the strictly binding spirit of the Moslem religion, as well
as from that indisposition to the persevering processes
of science which characterises all the Ugrian races from
Hungary to Tartary. Great strength of will, consider-
able finesse in discovering and defeating the schemes of
their seditious and rebellious rayahs, and great bravery
to combat the open foe in the field of battle, have in
all ages been the distinguishing characteristics of the
Ottoman Turks. But after the art of War had in
modern times been subjected to extraordinary improve-
ments by a Turenne, a Vauban, an Eugene, a Marl-
borough, and a Frederick—not to advance in proportion
was for the Turks to retrograde. Indisposed themselves
to adopt the new science of Europe, their national and
religious pride revolted at being commanded by men
they counted infidels; and being in the latter part of
the eighteenth century pitted against the rising power
of Russia—a nation essentially imitative, and greedily
adoptive of the talent of Western Europe—the result
was a further loss of all the rich territories on the north
of the Black Sea and Caspian from the Pruth to the
mouths of the Wolga.
It was with no complacent eye that Austria, in the
beginning of the nineteenth century—now no longer
88 REVOLTS AGAINST TURRISH AUTHORITY.
hostile to Turkey—saw that, where she had sown, Russia
reaped so largely; and though she was more deeply
engaged than Russia in the struggle that sprung out of
the French Revolution of 1792, the latter had compara-
tively free play in her pressure on Turkey. Domestic
revolt, too, came in aid of foreign invasion, and the Ser-
vian rising of 1804–6 and the succeeding years,
headed by the heroic Karu George, was only too de-
plorably justified by the tyranny and oppression exercised
by the old unreformed Turkish Government on this
brave and meritorious population. The remains of the
Empire were consumed by a feudal system that had
taken the place of that administrative unity and compact
power which had been wielded with such tremendous
effect by the Selims and the Solymans. Bosnia, the
seat of a heroic population which occupied the great
bastion of mountain territory forming the north-west
angle of Turkey in Europe, was divided into numerous
districts, each ruled over by a bey—generally a de-
scendant of those Croat nobles who, in the fifteenth
century, had embraced Islamism; and who now, from
fear of Christian emancipation, gave the Porte partial
succours in the suppression of the Servian revolt, but
steadily resisted an administrative fusion with the rest
of the empire. The state of Albania was even worse.
In the pashalic of Yanina, Ali Pasha Tepelene had
raised up an imperium in imperio, in which the power
and authority of the Porte was openly and successfully
defied, as if this part of the Adriatie had been utterly
foreign to the Ottoman dominions. Even in Asia Minor,
which is the heart's core of the empire, and the especial seat
of the Turkish population, the Dereh Beyliks, or bey-
ships of the valleys, constituted a group of turbulent
feudal baronies, holden of the Porte by slight and un-
willing tenures, and in which the welfare of the feeble
THE GREEK SUBJECTS OF THE PORTE. 89
State was subordinate to the interests of the potent
vassal.
But the hardest blow was yet to come. The Greek
population of the southern part of Turkey in Europe
and the islands, maintaining more intimate relations
with Christendom than any other Rayah nations, con-
ceived the idea of a resurrection on the ruins of the
superincumbent Ottoman element. With a few rare
exceptions, the Greeks of the eighteenth and preceding
centuries were sunk in illiterateness; but, in the nine-
teenth, by their inborn intelligence, they quickly imi-
tated the civilization of Europe. Wealth was gained
by merchandize and navigation ; the youth frequenting
the medical schools of Christendom assimilated readily
to the habits of the European capitals, and heard on
all sides expressions of sympathy with Greece and of
hatred and contempt for Turkey. The writings of
Chateaubriand, and other honest and eloquent but vain
and superficial men, became known to the few, while
the great bulk of the nation was conscious of the
grandeur of its antecedents—conscious that no epic poet
had surpassed its own Homer, and that no human in-
telligence had ever approached—much less equalled—
that of Aristotle in variety and profundity. The capital
bore the name of the first and, in some respects, the
greatest of the Eastern Caesars; and even those beyond
the pale of the church that they styled orthodox con-
ceded to them a preference in the vain pretensions of an
apostolic succession over the younger church of Rome.
This recollection of the genius of Attica, and the colossal
proportions of the political and legal fabric of empire,
combined with the visible presence of the still standing
Eastern church, was more than enough to inflame the
pride of any nation, while Europe was auxiliary and
sympathising.
90 THE BUL.GARIANS.
But the power of Turkey in Europe, although seriously
menaced, was not overthrown ; for in the great moral
qualities of sincerity and bravery, the intelligent and
mercantile modern Greek is (particularly as regards the
former virtue) inferior to the Osmanli Turk. Moreover,
the great bulk of Turkey in Europe, from the Gulf of
Thessalonica to the mouths of the Danube, and from
Adrianople to the borders of Albania, is inhabited not by
Greeks, but by Bulgarians, who have formed a sort of
dead weight which neither their Greek, Servian, nor
Russian co-religionists have been able to utilise against
the Porte. The Greek, with his intelligence and the
assistance of Europe, has proved a formidable enemy to
the Porte. The Servian, by his dogged energy, bravery,
and patriotism, has made an unseemly gap in the ad-
ministrative unity of Turkey in Europe; while Russia,
with her vast resources, pressed so frequently, so long,
and so heavily on the Ottoman Empire, as to alarm and
stir up the first powers of Europe to place limits to her
aggressions. But the Bulgarian, Orthodox Greek by .
religion, and far outnumbering either Greek or Servian,
has, from peculiarities of national character, proved far
from hostile to the Ottoman Power in Europe.
As this peculiar political vis inertiae of the Bulga-
rians is at the root of the apparently unaccountable
tenure of Turkey in Europe by so small a proportion of
Moslems; as, to every thinker of large views, there is
a direct and immediate relation between the extreme
regions of every heterogeneous empire in questions of
general cohesion and continued supremacy of the domi-
nant race or dynasty; and as, in this particular Ottoman
Empire, the disturbance of that supremacy by the Greeks
gave a freer scope to Mohammed Ali, while the Russian
war of 1828–9 contributed still farther to the rise of this
remarkable man,—it has been impossible, in our survey
THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 91
of the condition of Turkey immediately preceding the
open revolt of Mohammed Ali, to leave out of view this
peculiarity of the Turkish rule in Europe. It is also im-
possible to write the history of Egypt and ignore Turkey
in Europe; and the pressure of Russia on Turkey cannot
be elucidated without taking into account the events of
which Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor were the theatre.
To the existence of this laborious, obedient, and we
may even say submissive Bulgarian race, may be fairly
attributed the hindrances which the Greeks experienced
in attempting anything like the revival of a Byzantine
kingdom, or empire, on the fertile plains of Thrace and
Macedonia; and the restriction of Greek emancipation to
the Morea and a small part of the neighbouring country,
with a few islands in the AEgean Sea.
It is not however our intention to describe in detail
the successive phases of the Greek Revolution, which
belong rather to the history of Europe than of the Arab
races. But, although the excessive exhaustion which
resulted therefrom to the Ottoman Empire favoured the
internal consolidation of the power of Mohammed Ali, it
is at the same time impossible to deny that he performed
his duty vigorously to his sovereign, the Sultan, during
these vicissitudes. No Sooner had the Greek Revolution
shown its formidable character, than Mohammed Ali, in
1821, sent a squadron of sixteen vessels, large and small,
well provisioned, and carrying eight hundred land troops,
to join the Ottoman squadron in the Dardanelles; and,
on its being seen that the revolt in the Morea could not
be suppressed by the ordinary forces of Roumelia, an
army of twelve thousand men, disciplined in the Euro-
pean manner, was despatched to the Morea under Ibra-
him Pasha in August, 1825.
No reasonable person can doubt that the suppression
of the Greek rising would have been ultimately accom-
92 THE SULTAN MAHMOUD.
plished ; but the battle of Navarino, on the 20th of
October, 1827, being terminated by the destruction of
the Turkish and Egyptian squadron, and followed by the
active military and diplomatic intervention of France,
Britain, and Russia, Greece was henceforth lost to the
Porte. In this concurrence of domestic revolt and
foreign war, at a period of the decline of her political
institutions, Turkey was like a ship in a storm, whose
crew were in a mutiny, and whose tackle was worthless
and worn out. But, in the midst of this tremendous
crisis, the gigantic political figure of Sultan Mahmoud
appeared at the post of the pilot, weathering the storm
with a genius and an energy that challenges the admira-
tion and sympathy of the world. From north, south,
east, and west, the elements seemed to gather themselves
together for a final effort which should engulf the
Ottoman vessel of State; but it was not written in the
book of fate that the hour of the break-up was arrived.
At the darkest crisis of the tempest, the soul of this great
semi-barbarian never quailed. Bursts of passionate rage
occasionally made his mind the too faithful mirror of the
wild uproar of the political elements around him ; but
his spirit rose with the buffets he had to contend with,
and he died at the helm just before the dawn of a new
era for Turkey, and its entrance into the calmness and
security of a general pacification, which guaranteed the
integrity and independence of the State by the five great
Powers of Europe.
Mohammed Ali had certainly a genius of greater range
than that of Mahmoud ; but he had fewer difficulties to
contend with, in destroying a perverse and selfish oli-
garchy: for the breaking of the Mameluke power was
already done to his hands by Bonaparte, and there was
no grievous pressure from without on the capital stock of
the resources which he wielded in Egypt. In fact, from
TREASON OF MOHAMMED ALI. 93
the isolation and productiveness of the country, the gaps
made by the Greek war were soon filled up. It was
otherwise with the empire at large, governed by Sultan
Mahmoud ; for, after the janissary power was broken,
and before his civil and military reforms were com-
pleted, the Russian wars of 1828-9 brought Turkey into
the most grievous difficulties; while the disastrous in-
vasion of Roumelia, which ended with the treaty of
Adrianople, was like an assault on one of Turkey’s
own fortresses, when the old crenellated towers had been
knocked down, but before the new fortifications were
completed.
We have hitherto freely eulogised the conduct of
Mohammed Ali—his personal courage and political skill,
the generosity and nobility of his nature, and that
superiority to the prejudices of his nation and religion
which made Egypt a secure asylum, and even an agree-
able residence for persons of all creeds. But we now
come to the second part of his career, which the most
sympathising must utterly condemn; in which a reckless
ambition prompted him to trample underfoot the most
solemn obligations, and allured him by the prospect of
independent power to strike his sovereign and august
benefactor in that moment of aggravated exhaustion and
prostration when, by all the laws of humanity, he had a
right to claim undeviating obedience and eager assist-
ance. Mohammed Ali maintained a traitorous corres-
pondence with those chiefs of Roumelia who were
opposed to the unfeudalising tendencies of Sultan Mah-
moud ; but the severe example that had been made in
the person of Ali Pasha of Yanina, a few years before,
rendered the Pasha of Scodra apprehensive of engaging
in the intrigue, and he at once placed the communica-
tions in the hands of the Porte.
Mohammed Ali, not daring publicly to declare war
94 THE INWASION OF SYRIA
against the Sultan, of whom he held his investiture,
accused his neighbour, Abdullah Pasha of Acre, of fa-
vouring the export of the products of Upper Egypt vià
the Syrian desert, instead of by Alexandria—an act of
self-condemnation on the part of the ruler of Egypt; for
trade will never leave its natural and legitimate channels
and issues, unless it be diverted by a monopoly, or by
some interruption repugnant to sound administration.
To blame Abdullah Pasha for the results of his own
unsound economical theory and practice, recals the fable
of the wolf and the lamb. The Porte windicated its
dignity by pointing out that the governor of one pro-
vince could not make himself the censor and discipli-
narian of a neighbouring governor, without trenching on
the prerogatives of sovereignty. But these reasonings
had no effect on Mohammed Ali, who was bent on the
conquest of Syria, for which the acts of Abdullah were
merely the pretext.
The number of men with which Ibrahim Pasha, who
was named General-in-chief, undertook the conquest of
Syria, was far larger than that which Bonaparte led
across the desert to Acre ; and equalled, if it did not
surpass, those with which the whole French expedition
to Egypt was attempted—amounting to six regiments of
infantry, four of cavalry, and a proportionate force of
artillery—in all between thirty and forty thousand men.
Nor is this surprising. Having unlimited authority in
Egypt, the whole population was at the disposal of Mo-
hammed Ali; and his large revenue enabled him to
complete the scientific armament of this army, by
IEuropean aid ; while Egypt, having been from time
immemorial the granary of Syria, the advantages of
commissariat, so important in military operations, were
entirely on the side of the invading force.
A large Squadron effected a passage by Sea, carrying
BY IBRAHIM PASHA. 95
the heavy artillery, ammunition, and supplies, and hav-
ing on board Ibrahim Pasha and his staff, including
Solyman Bey (the French officer of the empire, named
Selves, already mentioned); while the cavalry and the
bulk of the infantry, having started for El Arish in the
first days of November, 1831, crossed the desert, and
having taken Gaza and Jaffa without meeting with re-
sistance, the squadron and the army effected a rally at
the latter port. Ibrahim Pasha, disembarking with his
staff, took the command in person, and marched north-
ward to Acre, where Abdullah had concentrated his
strength in the hope of turning back Ibrahim, as Djezzar
had turned back a greater commander. But the com-
mand of the sea was not in the hands of Abdullah. No
Sydney Smith, cruising on the coast, intercepted the
heavy siege material, or repelled assault ; and Ibrahim,
copying the plan of Bonaparte, deliberately landed his
artillery and stores at Caiffa, the port that had proved so
fatal to the plans for disembarking the heavy battering
cannon destined by Bonaparte to reduce the fortress.
While the army skirted the bay and advanced to
Acre by land, the squadron, disburthened of its batter-
ing train, attacked the place by Sea, and enabled the
besiegers to sit down before it under great advantages.
The squadron, instead of disturbing, aided the attacking
party; and, instead of the light field pieces which
played on the strongholds of Djezzar, it was with a
regular siege train that Ibrahim Pasha assailed this
historic city. Having described in the earlier part of
this work the former and much more important siege,
it is unnecessary to prolong the notice of the second
leaguer of Acre. But it must be admitted that the
defence of Abdullah was a gallant one. His batteries
replied to those of Ibrahim from the 26th of November,
when the place was first invested, until February, 1832,
96 SURRENDER OF ACRE.
when, a breach having been effected, two vigorous
assaults were made, but without success. At the same
time, the troops of Ibrahim, accustomed to the mild
winters of Egypt, with dry air and bright sunshine,
were decimated with fever and discouraged by the
terrible moral pressure of nostalgia.
In addition to this, the forces of the Porte in the
north of Syria were not idle. Although having neither
the discipline nor the resources of Ibrahim, and ill-
calculated to withstand the shock of a regular engage-
ment, yet, if skilfully used, they could do much to
harass and distract a besieging force. In order to clear
his rear, Ibrahim Pasha advanced suddenly to the
northward; and Osman Pasha, of Aleppo, having im-
prudently risked a close engagement in the plain of
Zeran, suffered a total rout. This circumstance leaving
Ibrahim free to pursue the siege without interruption,
his plans were further advanced by the return of spring,
so congenial to the Egyptian troops, while the besieged
were hard pressed for want of provisions and stores.
The last terrible assault was made on the 27th of May,
after daybreak. The battle continued through the whole
heat of the day, and it was not until the afternoon, when
many hundred men had been killed in the breach, that
the place was surrendered.
From Acre Ibrahim marched to Damascus, which—
situated in a luxuriant valley, without any considerable
fortifications, and entirely commanded from the heights
of Salahieh-was abandoned to him without firing a
shot, the authorities having taken to flight. This city
might have proved a new Capua to the general of the
Egyptian troops; but Ibrahim, halting merely to re-
plenish his commissariat stores, pushed on to Homs,
where the Pasha of Tripoli had under his orders thirty
thousand men, forming the Vanguard of the Ottoman
THE BATTLE OF HOMS. 97
armies. Instead of waiting in Damascus until this
army was increased by reinforcements from Aleppo,
Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia, Ibrahim’s decisive march
to the north brought him into collision with a force, not
Only inferior in number, but inferior in that unity and
Organization which more than made up for the difference
in personal valour between the private Egyptian Arab,
and the more stubborn tenacity of the Osmanli Turk.
It was at Homs, the first city on the road from Da-
mascus to Aleppo, that the two armies met on the 8th
of July, 1832. Ibrahim did not make the first attack;
but, placing his infantry in solid masses in the centre,
with the cavalry and artillery at the wings, he awaited
the assault of Mohammed Pasha of Tripoli, who ad-
vanced in three columns. A well directed deadly fire
of musketry and grape was opened on the Turks as soon
as they were fairly within range ; and, four battalions
of the Egyptian guard vigorously charging the centre
with the bayonet before the Turks had recovered from
their confusion, while at the same time the cavalry acted
on the wings, the Turkish army was put to utter rout,
by the simplest and most inartificial application of the
rules of European warfare to a contest with commanders
who had not the most distant idea of its rudiments.
The victory was complete. The camp, the commis-
Sariat stores, the baggage, and the ammunition of the
Turks, along with about two thousand prisoners and
thirty-six guns, fell into the hands of the Egyptians, and
the army of the Sublime Porte thus becoming an utter
wreck, all Syria was placed at the feet of Ibrahim.
A large proportion of the tribes of those curious coun-
tries, attached to the Porte neither by the ties of na-
tionality nor religion, gave their voice at once to the
strongest ; and Ibrahim Pasha received letters of con-
gratulation and verbal assurances of support, which
7
98 DEFEAT OF HUSSEIN PASHA.
would have been addressed to the Pasha of Tripoli had
he been the victor on this decisive day. Even the
remnant of the Turkish army was harassed and plun-
dered by the Anazeh Arabs, a great tribe extending
from the borders of Syria to Tadmor and the Euphrates.
Aleppo, to which Hussein Pasha, commander-in-chief of
the Ottoman armies, advanced from Asia Minor, shut its
gates and refused him supplies, which compelled him to
retire to the defiles of the Taurus, while the Aleppines
made no difficulty of receiving the victorious Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, Hussein Pasha, the Turkish seraskier,
encamped at the defiles of Beylan, near Alexandretta,
and fortified this passage from Syria into Asia Minor by
several strong batteries. Ordinary skill and courage,
joined to the strong position, might have given Ibrahim
Pasha a severe check; but the artillery of the Egyptians
being better served, and the tried and confident troops
carrying the heights at the point of the bayonet, the
Turks again took to an ignominious flight. Henceforth,
the opposition which the Turks made to Ibrahim was in-
significant. They nowhere seriously held their ground;
and the Egyptian army, taking the high road to Con-
stantinople, left the Taurus behind and advanced to
Ronieh, the chief city in the southern interior of Asia
Minor. In the eyes of the Ottomans this place is
invested with a semi-sacred character, from its having
been—before Broussa, Adrianople, and Constantinople—
the capital of Turkish power, and still containing the
remains of the revered Mollah Hunkiar, with a univer-
sity and mosques, associated with a religion considered
orthodox, and such learning as the Ottomans possess and
delight to honour.
Beschid Pasha, who had successfully pacified Rou-
melia, and who is not to be confounded with his greater
namesake, the vizier of Turkish reform, was placed by
& Cº., º,
THE BATTLE OF KONIEH. .. i. j9 * **ss, - ***
the Porte at the head of its beaten and renewed—its re-
beaten and rawly-renovated—armies, and opposed to
Tbrahim Pasha, to whom prudence and courage had
given victory, and to whom victory had added that
confidence and experience which are the sure earnests
of ulterior success. Under these circumstances, Konieh
was the easiest of all the conquests of Ibrahim—a victory
without a battle, in which thirty thousand Egyptians
drove nearly double that number of Turks before them,
and menaced the Sultan in his capital. It was on a
thick foggy morning, in the month of December, 1832,
that the two armies met. Reschid bravely led his men
into the thick of the fight; while the Egyptians were
enabled by the Turkish cannonade to find out the posi-
tion of their adversaries, their own guns remaining
silent; but he soon perceived that, in the fog, his
Arnauts had failed to follow him. Bedouins near at
hand, hearing a language they did not understand, took
him prisoner. This event carried consternation into the
Turkish ranks. The whole army of sixty thousand men
took to flight, after a trifling loss on both sides. Ibra-
him Pasha was thus master not only of Syria but of
Asia Minor, which was the centre of the Turkish power
and resources. So low had now sunk the sun of the
great house of Orcan; so potent had the vassal become
in an empire suffering from oppressive foreign war,
effete domestic institutions, and the fatal suicidal policy
of France and England, who, on the disastrous day of
Navarino, abandoned their natural ally to further the
schemes of their natural rival.
It is impossible to describe the consternation which
was produced in Constantinople by the battle of Konieh,
and the subsequent advance of the Egyptians. The
Greek and Servian revolts, and the wars with Russia,
were all on the borders and outlying provinces of

100 EUROPEAN INTERFERENCE.
Turkey; but, if any part of the empire could be con-
sidered a citadel of the loyalty and nationality of the
Ottomans, it was Asia Minor. Yet the sacred Konieh
had seen the military disasters of the Sultan; and
Riutahieh, a great stage nearer to the Bosphorus, was
immediately after the head-quarters of Ibrahim, from
which he menaced the capital. Nor was it either the
power or the legitimate rights of the Sultan which
stopped the advance of the Egyptians. The language
of Mohammed Ali was haughty in the extreme; and
he informed the Porte that if the government of Syria
as well as of Adana, which forms the south-eastern
maritime province of Asia Minor, were not given him
he would cause Ibrahim to march to Constantinople and
enforce his demands.
The fear of a collision with the European powers
prevented Ibrahim from showing himself in the im-
mediate vicinity of the capital. Russia, which had
been chiefly instrumental in reducing Turkey to this
state of weakness, was not prepared to see a total
collapse of the Ottoman empire, which might have
brought about some new and unforeseen arrangement
subversive of her preponderating influence. She there-
fore sent Prince Mouravieff to Alexandria, politely
insisting on orders being sent to stop the march of
Ibrahim. Russia moreover contributed a military force,
which landed in Turkey and encamped on the Bosphorus
in order to ward off the contingency of an Egyptian
attack on the capital. The other powers, without send-
ing troops, held the same language; and, after some
correspondence, an arrangement was at length made by
which Mohammed Ali was confirmed in the government
of Syria, and Ibrahim Pasha, in addition to being
governor of the holy cities, was made, on the 3rd of
May, 1833, mohassil, or collector of the revenues of
THE TREATY OF UNKIAR SKELESI. 101
Adana. This final arrangement was made on the 14th
of May, 1833, by the so-called Convention of Kiutahieh;
and on the 15th of May the names of Mohammed Ali
and of Ibrahim Pasha appeared in the official calendar
of the Porte as the incumbents of those high charges,
with which was included the governorship of the island
of Candia. Thus a great part of the empire was
virtually severed from its trunk, and a power aggran-
dized that might at any time be turned against the
remainder.
The result of all this was the treaty of Unkiar
Skelesi, concluded between Russia and the Porte on
the 26th June, 1833, which engaged the latter to shut
the straits against the ships of war of all nations, by an
article of a secret and segregarious character, which
was justly considered, by the great powers of Europe,
as inconsistent with that comitial action on the most
important questions of the European family by which
the balance of power can be alone secured. The re-
versal of this isolated policy at a later period carried
the European influence of the Emperor Nicholas to its
culmination ; but, unhappily for that monarch, its re-
adoption precipitated him into an untimely grave, after
the most galling humiliations.
CHAPTER IX.
A SURVEY OF SYRIA AT THE PERIOD of THE EGYPTIAN ConquEST.-MoUNT
LEBANON.—THE DRUSEs.--THE PASHALIC of ALEPPo.—JERUSALEM.–THE
SEAT of Gover NMENT ESTABLISHED AT DAMAscus.-FACTIONs of ALEPPo.—
BEGINNING OF DIscontents AMoNG THE NATIVES of SYRIA.—SACK OF SAFET.—
INSURRECTION OF THE MoUNTAINEERs of NABLousB AND MoUNT CASSIUS.—
DISARMING OF THE INHABITANTs of MoUNT LEBANON.—EXASPERATION OF
THE POPULATION of SYRIA.
THE geographical configuration of Egypt has neces-
sarily had much influence on its history. While Egypt
is a plain, Syria consists chiefly of a couple of ranges
of mountains, running parallel to the sea ; and while
Egypt has always bent under the conqueror, Syria—at
first, on account of its intestine divisions, the easy prey
of conquest, has always proved a troublesome acquisition
in the sequel. Those infinite varieties of religion and
nationality which facilitate the invasion of the country
are monuments of the incompleteness of former subju-
gations; while the prominence of the feudal principle
in the political divisions of Syria sprang from the same
accidents of political geography. In vain did Turkey
trace on the map boundaries of Pashaliks; they re-
mained pale and indistinct beside the bolder lines of
feudal authority; and it was not until all the trans-
actions recorded in this history were terminated, that
the provincial campaigns of Omer Pasha in Syria, in
Koordistan, in Bosnia, and Albania, produced a more
vigorous centralization of the administration of the Otto-
man Empire.
Mount Lebanon is the political key of Syria; and as
;
:
•
.
:
:
:
*
:
:
MOUNT LEBANON. 103
the possession of the citadel of Cairo was during many
centuries held to be the visible sign of the command of
Egypt, so the possession of Mount Lebanon is considered
indispensible to a firm grasp of Syria, commanding as it
does the access between Damascus, the luxurious chief
city, and Acre, Sidon, Beyrout, and Tripoli on the coast.
The external aspect of Lebanon is delightful to the
sight of man. The base of the mountain is bathed by
the waters of the Mediterranean, which for nine months
of the year present a surface of unruffled azure ; and in
this latitude even the storms of winter are few and far
between. The palm and the Orange grow luxuriantly
on the low harrow strips of land, between the mountain
and the sea; further up, where the ground rises rapidly,
we have as yet none of the savagery of mountain scenery:
the vegetation of the fig, the vine, and the mulberry, is
traced symmetrically terrace above terrace, like giant
staircases ascending from earth to heaven. Numerous
villages, hung on airy rocks, denote ages of insecurity,
that have compelled the industrious inhabitants to leave
the bounteous plains for the picturesque but more niggard
region of the hills and fortresses. Further up—where
the climate is too cold for the temperate plants already
mentioned, and more subject to the mist, the thunder.
cloud, and the beneficent rain,_the cedar and the
Italian pine present a growth far beyond that of the
scanty fir of our own “land of brown heath and shaggy
wood l’’ Highest of all—the home of the eagle and her
brood—are the peaks of a Makmel or a Sanin, robed half
the year in Snow, and recalling the accurate felicity of a
Volney, or the music of a Moore—winter crowning the
heights, and summer sleeping at its feet.
Such are the mountains of the Druses and Maronites;
but their nooks are not more sequestered from the
dwellings of man than the faith of the former people is
104 THE DRUSE RELIGION.
segregated from that of the Christian or Moslem. The
Druses have a philosophy derived from that of the
Rarmates, those rude opponents of the present form of
Islamism, who sought to allegorise its precepts, to
establish a doctrine of internal sense, and to substitute
metaphysical theories for stringent external formalities.
The manners of the Druses, patent and occult, were
during several years one of the subjects studied by the
author of this history, and have a prominent place in his
work on the Modern Syrians. Their religion, long
obscure, has been brought to light by the late erudite
Baron Sylvestre de Sacy.
The Deity, or rather the last and greatest imperson-
ation of the divinity on earth, was a caliph of the
Fatimite dynasty of Egypt, who was born at Cairo in
the beginning of the eleventh century. Hakem b'emr
Allah, as we have seen, was a fierce persecutor of the
Christians and Jews, upwards of thirty thousand monas-
teries in Egypt and Syria having been destroyed by his
orders; the synagogues of the Jews sharing the same
fate. This monster was whimsical almost to madness,
and cruel beyond anything recorded of ancient tyrants;
for upwards of eighteen thousand persons perished
during his reign. A profuse generosity seems to have
been almost his only virtue.
The Druses to this day believe that Hakem was the
last and most perfect of the manifestations of the Di-
vinity; and that next to the Deity is the Divine Idea,
or Spirit of Universal Intelligence—a sort of spurious
“Holy Ghost”—the first of all the creatures of God and
His instrument in the creation of men and things, and
of which Hamza was an incarnation. It is a prophet—
Hamza, not Hakem, who gives his name to the Druse
era—which is 408 of the Hegira, or A.D. 1033. The
deluge was considered not to have been material, but an
DRUSE MANNERS AND GOVERNMENT. 105
allegory having reference to the inundation of Islamism.
Many doctrines have also been added in the course of
ages since the death of Hamza.
The modern Druses are divided into two classes, the
Akkals and the Djahils—the former initiated into the
mysteries of the religion, and the latter uninitiated.
The former live in great purity and simplicity, enjoy
profound respect, and take precedence in all assemblies;
and the lives of the whole tribe are spent in politics, in
agriculture, and, until latterly, in petty mountain war-
fare. They are strangers to art, science, or commerce;
but the Druse women are all taught reading and writing.
A most remarkable feature in their system is the pro-
found mystery in which they seek to veil everything
political and religious, and with considerable success;
for the greatest crime that a Druse can commit is to
reveal a national secret. There is perhaps no nation in
the world which carries the principle of mutual assist- .
ance and co-operation so completely into practice.
Every one of the seven nobles who governed the
corresponding number of districts in the mountains of
the Druses might be compared to what the chiefs of a
highland clan were at the beginning of the last century:
with a loose allegiance to the Sovereign, and arbitrary
power over the vassals, but with this difference, that
the respect paid to the Akkals considerably tempered
the exercise of arbitrary authority. Each chief gene-
rally lived in a castle perched on a cliff, enclosed within
massive walls, but not calculated to resist artillery.
They led a rude life, surrounded by devoted retainers,
in the practice of a simple hospitality, with falconry and
jousting for recreation; but agriculture and war were
their serious occupations. The attachment of the Druses
to their hereditary chiefs was enthusiastic, and did not
extend to the Sultan until the advent of the Egyptians.
I06 THE MARONITES.
On the contrary, they had no sympathy with the dig-
nity, unity, and power of the Ottoman Empire, their
chief object being to baffle the efforts of the Pasha of
Sidon, always resident at Acre.
The other populations of Mount Lebanon were chiefly
Maronite—a sect of Syrian Christians, united to Rome,
although preserving their own primitive discipline.
Their settlements are northward of the Druse country,
* in the direction of Tripoli and the cedars. Here, as in
the middle ages, the power of the petty nobles was
entirely subordinate to that of the clergy; and like the
Druses they had no attachment to the central govern-
ment of the Sultan.
The Prince of Mount Lebanon occupied a middle
station between these chiefs and the Turkish Govern-
ment. This dignity was occupied successively by the
now extinct houses of Tanooh and Maan ; and about a
century and a half ago came into the hands of the Beni
Shehab–a Moslem family from Mecca, which had been
settled in Anti-Lebanon for several centuries.
In days of yore, when the preponderance of the Druse
over the Christian population was absolute, the immi-
gration of the Christians for the cultivation of the land
was much encouraged. The Christians took to the
plough and pruning hook; the Druses stuck to the
sword. While the Christians were fruitful and multi-
plying their numbers, the increase of the ranks of the
Druses was prevented by their deadly feuds; and hence
we see that now, in all the Druse districts except Shouf,
the Christians form the majority. This, in itself, was
an immense revolution, which was completed by the old
Bmir Beshir Cassim. This crafty man forsook Islam-
ism, turned Maronite, persuaded the Emirs of Meten
(the house of Belemma), with whom the Shehabs inter-
marry, also to embrace Christianity, and by his talents
THE MAGIANS. 107
and position formed a party which completely over-
turned the Druse power.
To the north of Mount Lebanon is another range of
mountains, skirting the coast—not so lofty, but more
productive, particularly in that superior description of
tobacco collected at the neighbouring port of Lattakia.
This district—remarkable for its natural beauty, and
terminating in mount Cassius, at the mouth of the
Orontes—is inhabited by another of those anomalous
sects, which, although historically related to Islamism and
Christianity, are yet in doctrine and practice so widely
different from both. Large masses of the Magians, in
the origin of Islamism, accepted it only through fear
and pro format, but secretly kept up among themselves
the rites and precepts of the older religions of Asia.
Of these, the Nosairies and Ismaelis (the assassins or
Hashasheen of the middle ages) regard Ali, the son-
in-law of Mahomet, as an incarnation of the Divinity,
and Mahomet only as a prophet. Abel and St. Peter
are also supposed to have been previous incarnations
of the Divinity, while Adam and Jesus were supposed
to have been contemporary prophets. This people speak
the Arabic language; but yet, by faith, by manners, and
by marriage, they remain quite distinct from the other
races of Syria : and, as the tree is known by its fruits,
their grovelling superstitions place them below every
other tribe of this heterogeneous land in manners and
civilization.
These mountaineers were nominally under the Pasha
of Tripoli; but, crossing the Orontes, we come to
Aleppo, the second city of Syria, and capital of the
most northerly pashalik. Built with solidity, it had
been for centuries the seat of a great overland commerce
between India and Europe; and in the reign of Charles
II. upwards of fifty British houses were established in
108 ALEPPO.
Aleppo. There were also Venetian, Dutch, and French
factories, which altogether formed a large European com-
munity in the midst of the fanatic Moslem population.
The total number of the inhabitants of the city had not
been less than two hundred thousand souls. But in the
eighteenth century the trade gradually declined: the
British factory became extinct during the French revo-
lutionary war; and in the beginning of the nineteenth
century we find the population reduced to considerably
less than half of what it once had been.
At this period the Moslem population of Aleppo was
divided into two fierce factions—the shereefs, or green-
turbaned descendants of the Prophet, and the janissaries
or military faction: the former, eminent for birth and
wealth, being in a state of humiliation; and the latter,
at this period, enjoying full power. Just as with the
Mamelukes before the French invasion, the Sultan’s
authority was represented by a pasha, who lent his seal
to all public acts, while the real power was in the hands
of the beys and agas, each of whom counted amongst
his protegés, not only his immediate tail and some
wealthy rayahs, but even the consuls of the European
Powers; for without some such intermediary no busi-
ness could be transacted, nor redress for grievances
obtained. Sometimes there was no pasha at all, but
merely a muhassil, or collector, to receive and transmit
the tribute. At length, in the eventful year 1815,
Chapan Oglon was sent as Pasha to Aleppo. He resided
at the villa of Sheikh Abu Bekr, outside the town ; and
for some months after his arrival, no governor could be
more popular, as he did not aim at the shadow of
authority. At length, a rich caravan which had started
for Constantinople was robbed, and two of the principal
janissaries of Aleppo were known to be implicated in
the affair. Chapan Oglan, in this instance, insisted on
THE PASHALIK OF DAMASCUS, 109
the necessity of the property being restored, or compen-
sation being made ; otherwise the merchants would
represent their case to the Porte, and might probably
procure his recal. The majority of the other janissary
chiefs desired to retain a pasha who interfered so little
with their oligarchy; and, as this business offered a fair
excuse for assembling a meeting of the beys and agas,
they repaired to the suburban palace of Abou Bekr.
Suspecting nothing, they were accompanied by but few
attendants. They were well received by the Pasha,
who, after some discussion, went out of the room ; and,
sending in the soldiers whom he had concealed in the
adjoining apartments, the assembled chiefs, to the num-
ber of thirty, were murdered in cool blood. Thus did
the Porte get rid of the most formidable members of the
old Janissary party.
The great event in the history of Aleppo, immediately
preceding the Egyptian occupation, was the earthquake
of 1822, which, throwing down whole streets of houses,
buried six thousand persons in their ruins—a blow from
which this solidly constructed city has not recovered.
The largest and most important of all the pashaliks
of Syria was that of Damascus, which then extended
southward and eastward to the great desert, and in-
cluded at that time Jerusalem, with the massive cyclo-
pean relics of the great temple of the Hebrew Solomon,
where the children of Israel still weep their dispersion;
with its Mount of Olives recalling the life and death of
Christ, and its Byzantine architecture—monuments of
the great middle age fabric of the church, and of its
arduous but unsuccessful enterprise, the crusades; those
pilgrimages of Latinity in buff and steel, with lance and
mace, which the muse of a Tasso has reproduced in the
most complete and harmonious of epics. Here Moslem
pride still held its political Supremacy; and, in the light
110 THE SYRIAN ARISTOCRACY.
egg-dome and perfect lines of the mosque of Omer, Arab
art continued boldly to challenge a comparison with the
more stupendous but not more beautiful proportions of
the most celebrated fanes of Christendom.
Damascus, one of the four holy cities of the Moslems,
was fixed upon by the Egyptians as the seat of the
government of all Syria; a locality well suited for this
purpose, being nearly equidistant from the north and
the south. Provisions were moderate in price, from the
vicinity of the fertile grain-producing Hauran, the
Auranitis of the ancients. Water, a first necessity in
a hot country, is in overflowing abundance. The
climate is mild, for the dense vegetation cools the air,
and the construction of the houses (an uninterrupted
tradition of the antique) aids in reducing the tempera-
ture, while the fevers of autumn, although prevalent,
are not deadly. Damascus was the seat of an ancient
aristocracy of birth, deriving their incomes from the
renowned Ager Damasgenus, with its wide-spreading
orange and apricot groves, watered by the seven arms
of the Pharpar and Abana. This small society, in life
and conversation, offered a complete contrast to the rude
mountain chiefs of Lebanon, occupied with semi-barba-
rous warfare and the sports of the field. The courtyards
of these men, resplendent with mosaic, and cooled by
the umbrageous orange, or spouting marble fountain,
were frequented by the learned and pious doctors of
Islamism. A numerous clientage seemed to confirm
the Greek doctrine that it was better to be wealthy
than to be wise, the latter being always found at the
doors of the former. Many mosques of quaint native
elegance still attest the liberality of this class, as well
as capacious and lofty khans for the convenience of the
stranger, the merchant, and the indigenous traveller.
But the bulk of the inhabitants of Damascus were
THE EGYPTIANS IN DAMASCUS. 111
notorious for their turbulence and fanaticism, particu-
larly those of a suburb called the Meidan—the Fau-
bourg St. Antoine of Damascus; and when troubles
arose, this populous suburb poured out its thousands
of fanatical and sanguinary men into the town, who
were as ready to overawe authority as to plunder their
more peaceably disposed fellow citizens within the gates.
In fact, up to the period of the Egyptian invasion, the
inhabitants thought themselves entitled to control an
exorbitant Pasha; and an occasional revolt and massacre
was the little tacit saving clause in the compact that
engaged them to respect the right divine of the Sultan
to govern wrong. Indeed, one of the governors, named
Selim Mohammed Pasha, on attempting an exaction,
had been murdered by the mob, and his body dragged
through the streets, shortly before the campaign of
Ibrahim Pasha, which we described in the previous
chapter. But no sooner did the Egyptians settle them-
selves in this proud city, than it felt like the wild horse
which first makes the acquaintance of rider and bridle.
The conquest of Syria, and the advance of Ibrahim into
the centre of Asia Minor, filled the Damascenes with
astonishment. The Egyptian government used a rea-
sonable courtesy towards the comparatively speaking
wealthy aristocracy of this ancient city; but to the
general population their attitude was that of masters.
The Egyptians were, nevertheless, hated and feared by the
local influential families; though the intelligent Christian
population to a man gave their sympathies to a govern-
ment that promised to give them protection against the
ignominy and exactions that had pressed them down
since the days of Mohammed.
To organize the government of Syria, after the
Egyptian conquest, was indeed no easy task; the ma-
jority of the population, not only indifferent to the
112 AGENTS OF MOHAMMED ALI.
Porte, but always ready to throw off the government of
the day, were equally indisposed to submit tacitly to
that pressure of taxation and conscription, and to that
defenceless disarmament which would place a free and
energetic people at the mercy of an unscrupulous ruler,
bent on erecting a State quasi-independent of the Porte,
and utterly indifferent as to the inconvenience and
suffering it might occasion to the Syrians. But to pro-
ceed at once with violent measures would have been to
play the game of the Divan at Constantinople. The
greater part of the first two years was therefore devoted
to the acquisition of information; to the discovery of the
Secret enemies of the Egyptians; to a consolidation of
those alliances that might prove most convenient and
serviceable; and to an organization of the military de-
fences, in the event either of local revolt, or of a capacity
or disposition on the part of the Sultan to resume his
own. In short, it was the superfluous wealth of Egypt
that furnished the capital stock of resources at the outset
of this adventurous Syrian speculation.
Shereef Pasha, the near relation of Mohammed Ali–
possessed of considerable political capacity, distinguished
by courteous and dignified manners, and in whom a
kindly disposition in many things was mingled with
occasionally deliberate and revolting cruelty—was the
Governor-general, with a large salary and emoluments.
In the financial administration he was assisted by
Bannah Bahri, a Syrian Christian, of singular energy
and ability, whom the sagacity of Mohammed Ali had
picked out of comparative obscurity, and who enjoyed
the rare distinction of being elevated to the rank of a
bey. The entire abnegation of the old spirit of Moslem
fanaticism, with which Mohammed Ali and his son
Ibrahim not only elevated but vigorously sustained such
men, at once mark their superiority, and extract the
MUSSULMAN PREJUDICE AGAINST CHRISTIANS. 113
tribute of the admiration of the historian. Bahri Bey
being a Christian, the other members of the Council
never rose at his entrance. This was the subject of a
complaint to Ibrahim Pasha; but, like a skilful courtier,
saying nothing of the disrespect shown to his person, he
laid all the stress on the disregard of the decoration on
his breast, which was indicative of the rank given him
by Mohammed Ali. Ibrahim Pasha a few days after-
wards went to the divan. All the members rose ; and,
before they were seated, Ibrahim said, “Bey, come
here.” Hafiz Bey, a Moslem, stepped forward, on
which Ibrahim Pasha said, “No, Bahri Bey.” Hafiz
retired confounded; and on Bahri Bey approaching, he
said, “Buyuroon”—be pleased to sit: to the rest of the
council he added, “Otoor,” which means simply “sit.”
Ever after this scene, the council rose to Bahri Bey.
The Christians—by their local knowledge, by the
ramifications of their intelligence and correspondence
with all parts of Syria, as well as by their aptitude for
accounts and the details of the administration—proved
of invaluable service to the Egyptians. Nor was the
government behindhand in substantial proofs of favour.
The prohibition to wear light coloured turbans and
garments, and to mount on horseback, was removed;
and the Frank costume, which no traveller ever dared
to wear without considerable risk to his life, became
his best protection. Disloyal and rebellious as Mo-
hammed Ali was to his sovereign and benefactor, and
oppressive as he was to the Syrians, it is impossible not
to admit his tolerance. Colonel Campbell, our agent
and consul-general in Egypt at this time, in a report
on Syria, writes on this subject as follows:—
“The Syrian Mussulmans, whatever may be said of
the diminution of their fanaticism, deeply deplore the
loss of that sort of superiority which they all and
"VOL. II. 8
114 STATE OF ALEPPO.
individually exercised over and against the other sects.
Pride, selfishness, and ignorance may be said to be the
characteristics of a Mussulman ; and from the bottom
of his heart he believes and maintains that a Christian,
and still more a Jew, is an inferior being to himself.
'With such principles it is no matter of astonishment
to remark that the political equality to which the other
sects have been raised by the present government of
Syria creates a sort of religious disaffection towards
their rulers, which I am inclined to believe has more
deep roots than all the other just motives of complaint
which they possess. The Christians, as well as the
other sects who have been benefitted by such changes,
are necessarily attached to the present system, and
dread any change that would tend to restore to the
Mussulmans that supremacy of which they would cer-
tainly make them feel the return into their hands. The
condition of the Jews forms perhaps an exception, and
cannot be said to have improved comparatively with
that of other sects: this is owing to a personal feeling,
both of Mohammed Ali and Ibrahim Pasha, as also of
all the Christians and other sects in Syria, against them.”
Aleppo and its district was the object of the serious
study of the military Ibrahim and the civilian Shereef.
Its population had given the Porte a great deal of
trouble, even after the massacre we have described in
the earlier part of this chapter; for although the heads
of the janissary faction had been long taken off, the body
itself remained, as well as the Sons of those unfortunate
individuals and the older chiefs of inferior note. The
most influential man among them was an individual
called Abdallah Babolsi, of low extraction, rough ex-
terior, and destitute of education, but possessed of
unbending energy, inflexible attachment to his own
people, and generosity in pecuniary matters—qualities
BOLICY OF IBRAHIM PASHA. 115
which he used by turns to serve his friends and in-
timidate his enemies.
Able as Ibrahim Pasha was to crush any rising in the
town, he was too politic not to avert the danger which
would arise from the existence of a focus of disorder in the
northern capital, situated but a few days from the Taurus.
He therefore made Abdallah the Mutsellim ; and ap-
pointed, at the same time, the Bey-el-Adlieh as head of
the shereefs. On condition of Abdallah's keeping the
canaille of the janissary faction in order, the Egyptians
shut their eyes upon his system of protecting his own
men; and the Bey-el-Adlieh, a man of ancient family,
but dilapidated fortune (literally dilapidated, for before
the earthquake he possessed whole streets of good
houses), although not a shereef, was very popular, from
his high character, with all the parties. Superior to
the Turks in military force, the Egyptians matched
them in the policy which rules by division of factious
opponents.
It was in the north of Syria that the bulk of the
Egyptian troops were generally quartered. Antioch,
from its salubrious climate, its abundant forage for
cavalry, and its beautiful situation, was a favourite
residence of Tbrahim Pasha, who built here a palace and
large barracks. The civil governor of the district of
Aleppo was Ismael Bey; but the military and civil
operations of the government were so mixed up that
nothing was done without the approbation of the
Seraskier, Ibrahim. Contiguous to the Pashalic of
Aleppo, but forming part of Asia Minor, was the fertile
but insalubrious district of Adana, with its capital
of the same name, and its Tarsus, commemorated by
St. Paul. Achmed Menikli Pasha, one of the bravest
and most skilful lieutenants of Ibrahim, was the go-
vernor of this district, which, being near the frontier,
116 REBELLION IN SYRIA.
was treated with more mildness than those of Syria,
the inhabitants having been allowed to retain their arms
after they had been taken from all the other districts.
To be brief, the two cities of Damascus and Aleppo,
with their contiguous regions, presented no great diffi-
culties to the Egyptian government, but this was not
the case with the Pashaliks of Tripoli and Acre, in-
cluding the turbulent mountain populations of Lebanon,
to which we may add Nablouse, which latter belonged
to Damascus. Up to the middle of 1834 none of the
acts of the Egyptians tended to disclose the project of
raising the taxes, or of conscription and disarmament.
The only complaints made by the natives arose from
vexatious acts committed by the Egyptian soldiery, and
instances of sordid venality in the lower classes of the
administration. It was on such pretexts that a rebellion,
which soon became dangerous to the Egyptians, broke
out at Salt and Karak, and, extending towards Jerusa-
lem, compelled Ibrahim Pasha to shelter himself in this
latter city. The son of Mohammed Ali was here secure;
for Jerusalem is encompassed with strong walls and
contains a mixed population, most of whom are uncon-
cerned spectators of the military struggles and politi-
cal intrigues that from time to time distract the rest
of Syria. This revolt soon gained ground in Samaria;
for, although amongst a remnant of the singular people,
rivals to the Jews, and cognate in language, nationality
and religion still linger within the precincts of the
Sichem of the Samaritans, yet the mountainous district
of the modern Nablouse is inhabited by the bold and
energetic Moslem population who harassed the armies
of Bonaparte in their march to and from Acre, and who
rose vigorously to throw off the Egyptian yoke.
In this anarchical crisis the severest sufferers were the
Jews resident in Safet, the Medina of the Hebrews;
THE MOUNTAINEERS OF NABLOUSE. 117
who, attributing to that place a sanctity exceeded only
by Jerusalem, had settled here in numbers, and were in
easy circumstances. Attacked on the 16th of June by
armed Moslems, their homes were violated, their pro-
perty plundered, their women dishonored, and those who
resisted murdered. For thirty-three days this wretched
town was in the possession of these barbarians; and the
property lost or destroyed on the occasion by the Jews
was estimated at not less than seventy thousand pounds
sterling. The Christians of Syria, being more numerous,
offered an effective resistance to the Moslems, who at-
tempted to make them share the fate of the Jews of
Safet; and at Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, the
attempts of the Moslems were unsuccessful.
Mohammed Ali, who, with his known activity and
presence of mind, had embarked at Alexandria with all
the troops he could collect, and a large supply of money,
landed at Jaffa, and soon gained over to his cause seven
of the most influential chiefs. This union of craft with
an imposing display of strength disunited the Syrians.
The fierce mountaineers of Nablouse were prepared to
resist, but the men of Hebron came to an accommoda-
tion. At Zutah the brave Nablousans attempted to
make a stand; but the steady Egyptian columns and the
well-pointed artillery put them at once to flight, and
Mohammed Ali on the 15th of July made a triumphal
entry into Nablouse, where all the arms were without
difficulty surrendered. At the same time Salt and
Rarak, which attempted to resist, were carried by assault
and partially destroyed.
In the meanwhile other revolutionary movements had
occurred in the Nosairi mountains. A regiment of regu-
lar cavalry was attacked by four thousand Nosairies
while marching from Lattakia to Aleppo, and forced to
retreat, after losing about half of its men. The Nosairies'
118 THE NOSAIRIES.
rebellious—quoad the rebellious Egyptian government—
forced the port of Lattakia (whence the delicious tobacco
of the neighbourhood is exported to all parts of the East),
and immediately began to plunder the property of the
government and of the Christians. The latter, however,
had repaired on board their vessels, waiting the result
of these events. The Egyptians sent a division of seven
thousand regulars under the orders of General Selim
Bey, who, with the assistance of eight thousand Druses
and Maronites, commanded by the Emir Halil—the brave
son of the Emir Beshir, the Prince of mount Lebanon—
marched upon the stronghold of the Nosairies. Beaten
and everywhere disarmed by the superior forces opposed
to them, the Nosairies offered to capitulate through the
medium of the Emir Halil; but Selim Bey having pre-
sented such conditions as appeared of great hardship to
the Emir Halil, this chief left the mountains of the
Nosairies with his followers, and returned to Lebanon.
While continuing to treat with Selim Bey, a large corps
of Nosairies, anxious to revenge themselves upon the
Druses for the part they had taken in favor of the Egyp-
tians against them, followed Emir Halil rapidly in his
retreat, overtook him in a defile, and killed many of his
men. They then voluntarily submitted to Selim Bey;
and, giving up their arms, sent four thousand of their
men to enter the ranks of the Egyptian army. Ibrahim
Pasha distributed these among his guards, leaving a
garrison of two thousand eight hundred men in the
mountains, as a proof of his solicitude for their tran-
quillity, as he expressed himself to them in his address.
The rising in the northern and southern districts of
the great mountain chain of Syria that runs parallel to
the coast was then taken up as a pretext for disarming
the internal towns of Damascus and Aleppo, as well as
all the flat country, on the ground of their having had
THE EMIR BESHIR. II.9
secret intelligence with the insurgents. This was ac-
complished without difficulty; and thus all Syria was
subdued and rendered powerless, except the important
district of Lebanon—the highest and central mountain-
chain, which is the key of the whole land—inhabited
by a more warlike and energetic race than either the
Moslems of Nablouse or the Nosairies of mount Cassius;
and abounding in positions so difficult of access, that but
for the circumstance of a large Christian population
sharing the tenancy of this Syrian Switzerland, and the
complication arising out of internal contests of authority
between the Druse and the Christian element, it is much
to be doubted if even Ibrahim Pasha, with all his vigour,
could have succeeded.
After the occupation of Syria, Ibrahim Pasha and the
Emir Beshir had found out each other to be natural
allies. The Egyptians were delighted to have for a con-
federate the powerful and crafty prince of Mount Lebanon,
and made sure that so long as he held by them, they
had nothing seriously to fear in the interior of Syria.
The Emir Beshir, who had long since secretly adopted
Christianity, and leaned on the Christian element for
abasing the Druse chiefs, was only too happy to close
with any general authority in Syria that might leave
him in possession of a decided supremacy. Thus the
government of Syria and the Prince of Lebanon were
united against their common enemy—the Porte and its
Druse partisans. We may also mention a circumstance
of a personal nature which, if it did not create this
alliance, certainly tended to lubrigate the intercourse of
the Emir Beshir with the government of Mohammed Ali.
On the Emir Beshir, a few years previously, visiting
Egypt, he had been received with most flattering cour-
tesy and gratifying splendour by this Pasha, who,
whether as friend or foe, did nothing by halves; and to
120 DISARMAMENT OF THE SYRIAN POPULATION.
whom we may reasonably attribute the foresight of con-
tingencies in which the Emir Beshir might prove of
signal utility.
The decree of the Emir Beshir, for the disarmament of
Mount Lebanon, was dated the 25th of September, and
ran as follows:—“His Highness Ibrahim Pasha, the
Seraskier, having observed that many of the inhabitants
of the mountains used their arms for criminal purposes,
and as it is difficult to detect the malefactors, he has
demanded the arms of the whole population; wherefore
the Emirs will use all their exertions to get them and
send them to our palace.” The decree concludes with
enjoining a favourable reception of the troops of Ibrahim.
Ibrahim Pasha having concerted with the Emir Beshir
the means to be adopted for the disarmament, left Homs
unexpectedly, and reached Baalbek on the 3rd October,
1836; and, on the following night, surrounded with
three regiments the district of Shouf, the chief seat of
the Druses, while a fourth under Suleyman Pasha,
moved from Beyrout upon Beteddim and arrived at the
same time with Ibrahim Pasha. The Druses, taken by
surprise and menaced with having their villages burnt,
delivered up their arms. The Meten rose in revolt, but
the heights being occupied by Ibrahim Pasha and Emir
Halil, a surrender took place. On the ninth of October
the disarmament of the Druses was completely achieved.
The Christian population had been led to believe that
they would be exempted from the decree, and therefore
looked gleefully on whilst the Druse teeth were drawn;
but their own turn followed, and while they were at
church on a Sunday morning, the officers of the Emir
Beshir (mostly Christians) surrounded the villages, and
the houses were ransacked for arms, many acts of atrocity .
being committed.
It was thus that, in less than sixteen months the
THE CONSCRIPTION IN SYRIA. 121
whole of the population of Syria was disarmed. More
than eighty thousand muskets, and a large number of
pistols, swords, and cutlasses were carried to the arsenal
of Acre to be converted into horse shoes; and in order
effectually to extract the means of resistance from an
unwilling people, each district was assessed in the num-
ber of muskets to be given up, even although they had
them to purchase for the occasion.
No sooner was Syria disarmed and thus deprived of
the power of revolt, than Mohammed Ali, not content
with so negative a success, resolved to render Syria an
active element in his career against the Ottoman Empire,
which a hollow peace masked for the moment. But how
miserable did the means employed defeat his ultimate
objects | The conscription set on foot by him supplied
him with a class of soldiers far superior in moral and
physical vigour to those of Egypt; but their sympathies
were not with him, and the mode of the conscription
created feelings of exasperation far more intense than
those of the disarmament. The rusty rifle that hung on
the wall was often readily given up ; but the rending
of family ties was intolerable from its mode of operation.
The sorrows of the European father, even in the case of
wounds and death, are assuaged by the consciousness
of a service rendered to the lawful sovereign ; but this
was not so in the case of the conscription among the
Syrian Moslems, whose hearts were with the Sultan and
with Islamism.
The mode in which the conscription was carried on
added greatly to the horror that was felt against it.
Thus, if ten or twenty soldiers were wanted from a
given place, a hundred or a hundred and fifty persons,
who appeared of age for the service, were indiscriminately
seized in the streets, and indeed anywhere, by the agents
of the government, and carried to a public building.
|22 OPPRESSIVE ACTS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
There those that had money soon found the means of
liberation, by bribing the inferior agents; and families
of the poorer classes would sell their last rags in hope
of obtaining the same benefit in favour of their relations.
After some days' detention, during which the subaltern
officers would resort to every subterfuge in their power
to extort from the prisoners or their relations the last
para, the number wanted for the army was marched off
to the depôt and the rest set at large, deprived of nearly
all they possessed. Thus the ultimate benefit received
by the government was small in comparison with the
injury inflicted on the people. The tax of blood was the
least evil. Impoverishment, with vague apprehensions
of the next levy, weighed down the spirits of the people;
and later, in the hour of conflict, Syria was lost to Mo-
hammed Ali, not more by the arms of the Sultan and his
allies, than by a revolt which made the whole land rise
as a huge wave throwing off an incubus.
Another of the evils unavoidable in a state of war
was the seizure of animals for transport. The army
which Mohammed Ali was obliged to keep up in order
to sustain his false position, being far beyond what the
Syrians had been accustomed to, and beyond the scanty
resources, of a depopulated country, the most serious
disturbance of the ordinary commerce took place. No
merchant could count with certainty upon carrying his
goods to a port. In the midst of a journey, a whole
caravan would be seized, and the goods left on the ground
at the mercy of the elements; while even the rumour
of an approaching seizure would scare from a seaport
and retain in the mountains the animals wanted for
the transport of commodities. These proceedings consti-
tuted in themselves a heavy tax on the produce of
Syria, a country which was particularly deficient in the
abundance and excellence of those raw products by
ECONOMICAL MISTAKES. 123
which the manufactured goods imported could be paid
for.
In order to counteract the deficiency of produce, and
render Syria independent of other countries for supplies
of grain as well as other growths suited to the climate,
a forced cultivation was resorted to by Ibrahim Pasha,
who embarked money in the enterprise, and made his
officers take shares in it. But that natural and spon-
taneous development which follows zealous and skilful
private enterprise did not result from the efforts of the
Pasha. Agricultural prosperity, like the individual ear
of corn, grows better by care and industry, but must–
after all—grow, and cannot be fabricated by the mere
force of governmental will.
Sometimes the inversions of economical science by the
government partially wrought their own cure, the exac-
tions of labour having led to a sort of protective combi-
nation among workmen. The authorities being in the
habit of seizing a certain number of hands, to whom
they paid wages much beneath the regular rate, this
naturally raised the price of all non-governmental labour;
and the consequence was that the labourers formed them-
selves into communities for mutual assurance against the
loss accruing from deficient government pay, by an
average eked out of the higher private labour; the whole
system being substantially a tax on the general em-
ployer, and an additional drain on the general resources,
for objects foreign to the general interests.
The immediate result of this irregular and violent
appropriation of labour and personal liberty was an ex-
tensive emigration into Asia Minor and Mesopotamia,
which was in some measure made up by a corresponding
emigration from Turkey proper, when the conscription
was instituted by the Sultan. But this severe and op-
pressive government managed to establish a much more
124 CAUSES OF THE INSTABILITY OF THE EGYPTIAN RULE.
regular system of police than had previously existed;
and the tribes of the desert, who used to press on the
cultivated land and commit depredations were, by a com-
bined system of hire for military purposes and of terror
of vengeance, kept in good order. The conqueror of the
armies of the Sultan certainly made himself feared by
the tribes of Syria; and the result of the salutary terror
which he inspired was—that in only a few cases was it
found necessary to resort to capital punishment in the
later years of the rule of Mohammed Ali; and, except
when tribes were in open revolt, Syria became as safe for
the traveller as the countries of Europe.
Nevertheless the conscription, the disarmament, and
the supercession of the influence of the wealthy Moslems,
were fatal to all real stability of the Egyptian rule in
Syria. The government was treading on a smothered
volcano. It was not that the Syrians could either under-
stand or enjoy the liberty of some European countries;
but the pressure of the functionaries being unrestricted,
the exasperation made the country ready to rise. The
Egyptian bent under the yoke; but the Syrian was by
character recalcitrant and rebellious. Egypt produced a
large revenue; but Syria, with its scantier population
and means, ingulphed the surplus from the wealthier
valley of the Nile, and those very Syrian populations
that offered no obstacle to the expulsion of the authori-
ties of the Sultan, were generally ready to rise and cast
off the heavier pressure of the Pasha's rule.
125
CELAPTER X.
SYRIAN TISCONTENTS REVIVE THE HoPEs of THE TURKs.—ARMAMENTs of THE
SULTAN.—WISCOUNT Ponson BY DIssuades MAHMoUD FROM PRECIPITATE
MEASURES.—THE SULTAN REsolves on WAR.
THE principal Syrians, too wary to commit themselves
in collision with the authority of the stern and relentless
Ibrahim, were yet far from having accepted the Egyptian
rule as an accomplished and indefeasible fact, or from
doubting that in the long run the permanent system of
the Porte would efface the accident of a revolt by a
Pasha, howsoever gifted with military and political
genius. The probable future was divined by the light
of all the past history of Turkey. Accounts of these
feelings of the Syrians were constantly sent to the Sultan,
and kept alive in the breast of this vigorous-willed, but
ill-fated, sovereign the determination to try once more
his imperial strength with his haughty subject.
Prominent among those who instigated the Sultan to
war was Hafiz Pasha, a Circassian of handsome person
and polished manners, who, in those days of decadence
and treachery, united honesty and fidelity with great
personal bravery and activity; but certainly was defi-
cient in the strategic genius and experience in directing
large masses of troops, which was needed to enable him to
cope with the Egyptian commander and his able French
Adjutant-General. Mohammed Ali was absent from
Egypt during the winter of 1838-9, having undertaken,
notwithstanding his advanced years, a journey to the
distant regions of Sennaar, in order to satisfy himself of
the gold production of that district; and this was con-
126 WARLIKE MEASURES OF THE PORTE.
sidered a favourable opportunity for making the prelimi-
nary preparations, with a view to striking a blow either
before or soon after his return.
Accordingly, in January, 1839, councils of war were
held at the Porte, a levy of 80,000 men was ordered,
and much movement was visible at the Seraskierate.
On this, the diplomatists at Constantinople most favour-
able to the Porte took the alarm ; and, sharing in neither
the sanguine illusions of Hafiz, nor the impatient unap-
peasable exasperation of Mahmoud, foresaw that events
were approaching which might shake the empire to its
centre; for up to this date no concert had been esta-
blished among the great Powers in order to avert those
fatal contingencies. A wide gulf still separated the
policy of France, of Britain, and of Austria, from that of
Russia, with its exclusive pretensions and its isolated
pressure on the Ottoman empire. It was, therefore,
feared, not without reason, that the impatience of the
Sultan might precipitate that finally destructive crisis
in the affairs of Turkey which it was the anxious desire
of the great majority of the Powers of Europe to avert.
The representative of Great Britain at the Porte at
this period was Viscount Ponsonby, one of the most re-
markable diplomatists of his age. His personal appear-
ance at once created a predisposition in his favour, being
both venerable and aristocratic. To the courtesy of the
perfect man of the world he united great firmness and
high integrity. He had been a spectator of all the
remarkable European events since the first French re-
volution; and although, in youth, a member of Parlia-
ment, and by habit and connection a supporter of Mr.
Tox, he—in mature age—had none of those superficial
views on foreign affairs which have beset many of the
well-meaning and philanthropic members of the Liberal
party in England. With the sound sense of a Briton,
IXIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIONS. 127
he preferred a bird in the hand to two in the bush; and
conceived that amicable relations with Turkey and
Austria were better securities against the ambition of
Russia than any revolutionary combinations arising out
of the disruption of the integrity of those two empires.
He justly conceived that the attitude of Mohammed Ali
in Syria was pro-Russian, because it was anti-Turkish;
but he judiciously opposed the indiscreet zeal of those
who, by inadequate efforts, would expose the Porte to
still further defeats and humiliations.
A great council was held at the Porte on the 22nd of
January, 1839, in order to discuss the question of peace
or war with the Egyptians; and thereafter measures
were taken on a large scale for arraying an imposing
force to be employed against Mohammed Ali. Eighty
thousand men were ordered to be levied, in addition to
the force already under arms. Unfortunately, the means
at the disposal of the Sultan were by no means commen-
surate with his fierce aspirations to a vindication of his
sovereign rights against his wily and powerful satrap;
and the emptiness of the treasury compelled the govern-
ment to continue monopolies which had been condemned
not only by the maxims of a sound commercial policy,
but by positive compacts ratified by Britain and the
Porte. In an interview which Sultan Mahmoud had
with Wiscount Ponsonby, the latter strongly recom-
mended the greatest prudence in his conduct, and said
that “his Highness could not at this moment have suf-
ficient grounds on which to form a sound judgment of
his position.” The Sultan thanked the ambassador for
his communication, and without altering his policy,
renewed the assurances previously given that he would
do nothing precipitately.
The other diplomatic ministers held the same language,
but the great office-bearers in the intimate counsels of
128 FINAL RESOLUTIONS OF THE SULTAN.
the Sultan, although far from fully sharing in either his
deep-seated resentment or buoyant confidence in success,
yet, with true oriental sycophancy, explored the current
of their master's wishes, and did not dare to risk his
displeasure by an uncourtly frankness on the doubtful
chances of the coming conflict.
Mahmoud at length resolved on war, and a message
was sent to the Great Council to the following purport:—
“Hafiz Pasha informs me that my army is able to defeat
the Egyptian army in Syria. The Capudan Pasha tells
me that my fleet is strong enough to defeat and destroy
the Egyptian fleet. It remains for you to be courageous
and do your duty.” To this Hati-Sherif the Great Council
returned for answer, ‘ that his Highness’s ministers would
do everything in their power to act in conformity with
the pleasure of their master.” The brave, courteous,
and sanguine Hafiz had perseveringly inflamed the ardent
imagination of the Sultan by representations that there
would never be again so favourable an opportunity for
driving the Egyptians out of Syria. These, concurring
with an opinion expressed by Reschid Pasha, then on a
mission to Paris and London, that active hostilities for
the Sultan against Mohammed Ali were not to be ex-
pected from France and Britain, decided the final resolu-
tions of the Sultan.
The period has not yet arrived for a thorough pene-
tration of the views of the British government at that
period; but there appears to be little doubt that the
apprehension of a renewal of the direct interference of
Bussia on the northern frontiers of Turkey prevented at
this time active assistance being given to the Porte,
however fully sensible the British government may have
been of the danger and evil of Mohammed Ali's position
in Syria. There was, between Wiscount Palmerston and
Reschid Pasha, some question of a treaty securing the
ATTITUIDE OF MOHAMIMED ALI. 129
eventual interests of the Porte in such a way as to induce
the Sultan to abstain from immediate, hasty, and adven-
turous action; and Wiscount Ponsonby entered therefore
into communication with Nouri Effendi, the Turkish
Minister for Foreign Affairs, who, however, expressed
himself convinced that no treaty would be of any use to
the Porte which had not for its object the destruction of
Mohammed Ali. The Sultan at the same time declared
to the Austrian internuncio that the terms on which he
would arrange the matter could be nothing less than the
evacuation of Syria by Mohammed Ali, and the reduction
of his forces to such a number as would be compatible
with his condition as a subject. .
Mohammed Ali himself, on his return from Sennaar
in March, was equally indisposed towards an accommo-
dation. Abbas Pasha, his grandson, who was intrusted .
with the government of Egypt during the absence of
Mohammed Ali, had been alarmed by the reports received
from Constantinople of the warlike preparations of the
Sultan, and wrote to press the return of the Viceroy to
Cairo. Shortly afterwards a circular was sent to the
consuls-general and agents in Egypt, throwing the respon-
sibility of these complications entirely on the Sultan, and
announcing the determination to oppose force by force.
A copy of this communication having reached the Sultan,
he was highly exasperated, and issued orders to hasten
the equipment of the fleet and press the despatch of
troops and military stores to the army. Mahmoud said
that he would rather die than not endeavour to destroy
his rebel subject; while the language of those about the
Sultan was, “We hope for success, because all the
Syrians are enemies of the Pasha.” Wiscount Ponsonby
wrote home on the 20th May, “Nobody here doubts of
war, and the general opinion is that the army of the
Sultan will be defeated.”
WOLs II, 9
130
CHAPTER XI.
CAMPAIGNs OF NEZIB.—EGYPTIANS CONCENTRATED IN ALEPPo.—TURKISH CoN-
CENTRATION AT NEZIB.—NIGHT BOMBARDMENT.—BATTLE of NEz1B.—
DEATH of MAHMOUD.
IN Syria, Ibrahim Pasha displayed his well-known
activity in preparing for the storm. Conscripts, molentes
volentes, were seen manacled, in motion towards the army,
upon the high road between Damascus and Aleppo;
great quantities of biscuit and other commissariat stores
were collected in Aleppo for the use of the troops; and,
in the end of April, rumours having reached him that
the Sultan’s troops had crossed the Euphrates, Ibrahim
immediately held a council of war in Aleppo, which was
his headquarters at this period in consequence of its
large resources and its vicinity to the northern frontier.
At the council it was determined to concentrate the
troops, and couriers were sent in all directions in order
to bring them together. On the Sultan's side the troops
crossed the river very slowly, the Euphrates being very
high on account of the April floods, and only seven
barges having been found in the neighbourhood of Bir,
to which place the troops had been drawn from Orfa,
Diarbekir, Malatia, and other places in Asia Minor,
Kurdistan, and Mesopotamia.
In the first days of May, every mosque, khan, and
public building in Aleppo was crammed full of Egyptian
troops; and at the same time, in order to overawe the
disaffected Moslem population in Damascus and Tripoli,
the IEmir Beshir received instructions to have large
Christian forces in the environs of those cities, prepared
THE SYRIAN POPULATIONS, 131
to nip in the bud any appearance of outbreak in the
interests of the Sultan. Thus Ibrahim Pasha, compelled
to cast an eye to the rear as well as to the front, had
need of all his craft and of all his physical force; for
even the Arabs to the east of the Jordan were in motion,
not daring to enter into overt or forward hostilities, but
fully on the alert to join the winning party and make
their harvest out of the fallen. The Druses of the
Hauran were still more certain to rise. Close to its
fertile plains, which are the granary of Damascus—and
in which extensive ruined cities, with countless still-
standing columns, attest the wealth and population of the
Auranitis of the ancients—is the Ledgea, less favoured by
nature, but from accidents of surface an easier harbour
for the troublesome. The Druse population of this
district, under the well-known leader Shibly, “the
naked,” had opposed a most obstinate resistance to
the Egyptian projects of taxation and conscription; but
although this chief, yielding to superior force, had made
his peace with Egypt, and gave them an unwilling sup-
port, the people were to a man ready to rise.
Those under the immediate hoof of Ibrahim were more
wary in committing themselves for the Sultan. Ismael
Pasha, of the Ottoman army, having written to the mus-
Selim of Aintab that the Turkish troops were advancing,
and “that he was to get everything ready for them, as
he made no doubt of his fidelity to the Sultan,”—this
municipal officer mounted his horse, and, going to
Aleppo, placed the letter in Ibrahim Pasha's hands, who
having read it, desired the musselim to return to his
post and let them write what they liked, for he was his
musselim and had nothing to fear.
The accumulation of so many troops in Aleppo pro-
duced much temporary inconvenience, the requisition of
provisions for the army being so great that even bread
132 THE TURRISH AND EGYPTIAN FORCES.
could not be obtained in the bazaar. One day Ibrahim
Pasha called Abdallah Babolsi, the musselim, or mayor, of
Aleppo, and required of him a guarantee for the security
and tranquillity of the town of Aleppo during his absence.
The musselim replied, “If your Highness will leave me
four or five thousand troops, I remain responsible that
during the time you are in the camp everything remains
in the greatest quietness here.” The public report among
the Christians of the town was that the population was
very disaffected, and that, in the event of Ibrahim Pasha
meeting with a repulse, a rising would ensue.
The amount of the Sultan's forces was about 80,000
men, of whom 25,000 were Bashi-Bazouks, or irregular
horse militia—a force at one time constituting a formid-
able part of the Ottoman armies, the men being well
mounted, and possessing the impetuous qualities of the
Turk and of the Kurd. Since, however, the introduc-
tion of the European art of war into the military organi-
zation of Turkey, it is doubtful whether the presence of
the Bashi-Bazouks is not more pernicious than useful—
their disorderly and marauding habits neutralising the
services they render in the forage, the skirmish, and the
reconnoissance. Supported by a numerous artillery, this
force was numerically more than a match for the forces
at the disposal of Ibrahim ; but the experience of the
Egyptian commander, aided by the advice and assistance
of the French Suleyman Pasha, more than made up for
the difference in the number of troops.
The Egyptian Seraskier, learning that Hafiz Pasha
had taken up a position close to Nezib, and that a con-
siderable skirmish had taken place between the Bashi-
Bazouks of the Sultan and the Bedouin cavalry of the
Egyptians at Telbashir, Ordered the advance of his troops
from Aleppo, which was carried into effect on the 31st
May, 1839.
THE BATTLE OF NEZIB. 133
The Ottoman position situated at Mezar, south-west
of Nezib, being too strong, from its heights, to be
stormed in front, was turned by a flank movement
so as to come on the camp of the Turks, which was in
three lines—the two first of infantry and the third of
cavalry. The artillery consisted of 140 pieces, and the
troops on each side amounted to about 40,000 men; so
that, notwithstanding the larger force under the com-
mand of Hafiz Pasha, the superior organisation of the
Egyptians enabled them to make proportionally a more
effective concentration at the decisive point. The ground
of the Turkish camp was not badly chosen, that to the
left of the Ottoman camp being very uneven, which
rendered the battle in that direction very disadvantageous
to the Egyptian army.
Hafiz Pasha having been informed that several
regiments of Syrians intended to pass over from the
Egyptian to the Turkish ranks, opened a fire of shells
on the Egyptian camp at eleven o’clock on the night of
the 23rd of June. Four batteries of howitzers were
carried forward in the silence of the night to within a
short distance of the Egyptian camp, which soon became
a scene of disorder and confusion. But Ibrahim and
Suleyman Pashas lost no time in mounting their horses;
and although several hundred Syrians passed into the
Turkish lines, yet the activity which Suleyman Pasha dis-
played prevented a greater number of fugitives from leav-
ing the camp, These indications of the hollowness of his
own position, however, showed to Ibrahim Pasha the
necessity of striking a decisive blow by a general
engagement.
In consequence of this resolution, the Egyptian army
was under arms at daybreak, and a division in six
columns was directed against the rear of the Ottoman
camp. The first column consisted of sixty guns,
I34 DEFEAT OF THE TURRISH FORCES.
followed by twenty-four battalions of infantry, while
nine regiments of cavalry—forming the fifth and sixth
columns—brought up the rear. The intention of Suleyman
Pasha, to whom is due the conception and manipulation
of the manoeuvre, was to form an oblique line on the left
of the Turks; and, to prevent his troops being broken in
their traverse movement, he had filled up the intervals
of his columns—next the Turks—with extra infantry,
in order to form an unbroken line if taken in flank.
Approaching the village of Nezib, which poured a well-
directed fire of artillery on the Egyptians, Suleyman Pasha
made his troops turn left-face in order to take the Otto-
mans in flank. At this moment a sharp cannonade took
place between the two armies; but the Egyptian artillery,
which fired very rapidly, having exhausted its ammuni-
tion was obliged to slacken its fire. At this eritical
moment the right of the Egyptians had already given
way, and a European staff officer of Hafiz Pasha advised
him to march with the bayonet against the Egyptians;
but, whilst Hafiz Pasha hesitated, Suleyman Pasha,
assisted by his aides-de-camp, sword in hand forced the
fugitives to reform in line under the deadly fire of the
Turkish artillery.
The cartridges for the cannon of Ibrahim Pasha having
arrived, the Egyptian grape-shot again began to play"
and the Bashi-Bazouks of Hafiz fled in the greatest dis-
order. The Turkish commander and his staff-officers fell
upon the fugitives sword in hand, to eompel them to
return ; but the terrible fire of Egyptian grape made a
rally impossible, and the Turkish troops, who had begun
the contest without confidence, gave it up in despair.
The army of the unfortunate Hafiz began now rapidly to
melt away. A large body of infantry, which, during the
action, had shown coolness and courage, left the field of
battle, throwing away a great number of muskets; and
DEATH OF SULTAN MAEIMOUD. I35
the Turkish cavalry, which, by the bad generalship of
Hafiz, had remained useless and unaiding spectators
of the fray, were swept backwards, and carried along by
the ebbing tide of Bashi-Bazouks.
Such was the disastrous battle of Nezib. The Turkish
army left on the field more than a hundred pieces of
artillery, besides its camp, baggage, and ammunition,
only the military chest being saved. The number of killed
and wounded Turks was estimated at four thousand, and
the number of Egyptians at three thousand, in round
numbers; but the actual loss of the Turkish commander
was incalculable, and the army of the Sultan may be said
to have ceased to exist—a demoralised and disorganised
rabble, destitute of artillery, commissariat, and baggage,
having preceded and accompanied Hafiz Pasha in his
retreat to Marash.
Sultan Mahmoud did not live to learn the issue of his
great venture against the most formidable of his vassals.
Five days after the battle of Nezib, and several days
before the intelligence of the disaster reached Constan-
tinople, he breathed his last. “It is evident,” writes
Wiscount Ponsonby on the occurrence of this event,
“ that the disease had existed many months. He was
not aware himself of his situation, so that he continued
to do everything calculated to hasten a catastrophe. He
went off at last rapidly. It is astonishing how much and
how generally he is lamented. It is not when a man is
dead, and no longer the dispenser of rewards and punish-
ments, that the voice of flattery is raised. It, therefore,
is reasonable to believe that a man so lamented was
really esteemed when alive. It is certainly the greatest
loss the rayahs could suffer. He always protected them,
and even at the expense of offending his own people.
He had great qualities derived from nature. He had
great views for the country he governed ; but he stood
136 CHARACTER OF MAHMOUD,
alone, and could not find instruments to do the work well
he desired to have performed.”
Such was the most remarkable of the later sons of
Orchan, who sunk into the tomb utterly exhausted by
fierce resentments, corroding disappointments, and ex-
cesses of dissipation which prematurely undermined a
physical constitution originally vigorous.
In contemplating the career of such a man, a tinge of
melancholy passes over the mind; for Mahmoud was a
truly remarkable man, and in his efforts to make the
empire renew its youthful vigour, he underwent the toil
of spring, the heat and burden of summer, but did not
receive the rewards of autumn.
137
CHAPTER XII.
DEFECTION OF THE ADMIRAL of THE TURKISH FLEET To MoHAMMED ALL-
THE FLEET At RHoDEs.—ARRIVAL of THE FLEET AT ALEXANDRIA.—SUR-
RENDER OF THE FLEET To MoHAMMED ALI.
EQUALLY fatal to the Sultan were the events of which
the Mediterranean was the theatre. The Ottoman fleet,
which had been fitted out at a great expense, was in-
trusted to the command of a man whose character was
disfigured by defects of a more serious kind than those
of the unskilful but faithful Hafiz. The stigma of the
darkest perfidy can never be effaced from the name of
Achmed Fevzi, Capitan Pasha, or High-Admiral of the
Turkish fleet. The sombre veil that still covers the
secret relations of this disreputable officer with the
agents of Mohammed Ali has not yet been rent; but
acts and facts compel us to infer that the naval officer to
whom Mahmoud intrusted his fleet must have been tam-
pered with by the Pasha of Egypt.
On the 9th of June the fleet left the Golden Horn for
the Dardanelles, where it remained at anchor. On the
morning of the 4th of July the Capitan Pasha received
the official notification of the death of Sultan Mahmoud.
The accession of his son, the Sultan Abdul Medjid,
mingled the signs of rejoicing with those of mourning.
All the ships of the fleet were dressed with flags, and
fired a royal salute; and in the afternoon of that day
they weighed anchor and stood out of the Dardanelles—
the fleet comprising eight ships of the line, twelve
138 TREASON OF THE CAPITAN PASHA.
frigates, one corvette, four brigs, two schooners, three
fire-ships, and one steam-vessel.
As the fleet had been for a long time under orders for
the coast of Syria, all the officers supposed that to be
their destination. But, on arriving in Besika Bay, the
Capitan Pasha informed Captain Walker, a most able
British naval officer then attached to the Ottoman fleet,
that the Sultan had been poisoned, and four of the prin-
cipal officers of his household beheaded; that this had
been done by the Russian party, who had assumed the
government; and that, to prevent the fleet from falling
into the hands of Russia, he intended to cruise outside
the Dardanelles, so as to be ready to act with England
and France. When off Tenedos, the fleet fell in with
the French Admiral Lalande, whose force consisted of
two ships of the line and a brig. After the usual
salutes had been exchanged, the French Admiral, accom-
panied by the Prince de Joinville, came on board to visit
the Capitan Pasha.
The Turkish Admiral, evidently uneasy in conscience,
had sent a message to the French Admiral, through one
of his officers, with the same story of the Sultan having
been murdered by the Russian party, to which he added
the statement that he proposed to go to Candia. Ad-
miral Lalande pointed out that Candia was in the hands
of Mohammed Ali, and that to take the Ottoman fleet
there would be to deliver it up to that Pasha. Iſe, how-
ever, said that he had no orders to interfere by force with
the movements of the Ottoman fleet. In continuance of
his system of duplicity, the Capitan Pasha afterwards
informed Captain Walker that he had communicated all
to the French Admiral, who highly approved of his
plans; and that he (the Capitan Pasha) intended to
proceed to Thodes. Captain Walker then requested
that he might be allowed to send letters on board of
THE TURECISEI FLEET OFF ALEXANDRIA. 139
the Vanguard, a British ship of the line then in sight, so
that the British ambassador and admiral might be made
acquainted with his intentions; but the Capitan Pasha
replied that the French Admiral had promised to com-
municate all particulars to them.
Nothing of consequence occurred during the run down
to Rhodes, except the departure of the Kiahya Bey on
the 6th July, who separated from the fleet ostensibly to
communicate with Hafiz Pasha by Tarsus or Scanderoon,
but in reality to concoct the betrayal of the fleet with
Mohammed Ali. Accordingly, on the morning of the
12th, the Egyptian steamer-of-war, the Nile, joined the
fleet, having on board the Kiahya Bey on his return
from Alexandria. He communicated with the Capitan
Pasha, and in the afternoon the fleet made sail to the
southward, accompanied by the Egyptian steamer. On
the morning of the 13th, the Vanguard parted com-
pany; and so anxious was the Capitan Pasha to get to
the southward, that he carried such a press of Sail as
obliged him to leave behind a line-of-battle ship and
frigate which were bad sailers. The approach of the
Nile steamer to those ships, with orders to rendezvous off
Alexandria, was the first intimation Captain Walker
received as to the Capitan Pasha's intention of proceed-
ing there. When the British officer spoke to him on
the subject, he told him that he had received by the
Riahya Bey a letter from Mohammed Ali, who offered
to put the Egyptian fleet under his eommand ; but,
before doing so, he wished to consult with him as to
the best steps to be taken for the good of the Turkish
empire, and that he meant to proceed off Alexandria for
that purpose. On the following day, the 14th of July,
they fell in with the Egyptian fleet, consisting of eleven
ships of the line, three frigates, and two brigs, which
were cruising about ten miles off Alexandria; and so
140 VISIT OF THE CAPITAN PASHA To MOHAMMED ALI.
ignorant were the Turkish admirals and captains of the
change in the Capitan Pasha's plans, that many of the
ships cleared for action.
It was at four o'clock in the afternoon that the Turk-
ish fleet became distinctly visible to the astonished people
of Alexandria; and, on the following morning, Mohammed
Ali was looking at the fleet, separated by a short distance
from his own, while the Nile steamer was seen nearer
the shore standing for the port, with the Capitan Pasha's
flag at the main, and his barge towed astern by the
steamer. At nine o’clock the Nile entered the western
harbour, and immediately Hussein Pasha, Mohammed
Ali’s first secretary, was sent from the palace in the
Pasha's own boat to meet him and bring him on shore.
After anchoring, a salute of nineteen guns, fired by the
Nile, was returned by the forts the moment he landed.
He was then received by the Pasha's high officers, and,
mounting the Pasha's own horse, rode to the palace
situated on the rocky peninsula that embraces the har-
bour, preceded by janissaries, with files of troops posted
on each side all the way.
As soon as he entered the palace gate, Mohammed Ali
went out of his room to meet him; and the admiral,
seeing him, unbuckled his sword, gave it to one of the
officers behind him, and, walking respectfully towards
the Pasha of Egypt, bowed to the ground, as if meaning
to kiss his dress, while Mohammed Ali embraced and
kissed him, saying, “Welcome, brother l’” After this,
they walked arm-in-arm into the Pasha's room, all the
officers following them. They sat near each other on
the middle of the sofa, the Capitan Pasha telling Mo-
hammed Ali that for a long time past it had been his
wish to have the honour of seeing him.
After coffee and pipes, the bystanders were dismissed,
and the two Pashas remained by themselves for an hour.
PRETEXTS OF THE CAPITAN PASHA. 141
A little later, at half-past ten, the Turkish Admiral walked
out of the room barefooted, his own servant not being
there to give him his shoes. After walking about twenty
paces without his shoes, his servant brought them as
well as his sword, upon which he went to the “Palace
for Guests” with the same pomp as on his arrival. On
entering this palace, Hussein Pasha and the other officers
of Mohammed Ali kissed his foot. He asked them to
take seats, and gave them coffee, telling them, with the
effrontery of a Judas, that he thanked God that his
desire to meet the Pasha of Egypt was gratified, and
that he had obtained Mohammed Ali’s permission for the
landing of the vice and rear-admirals.
On the 16th the Turkish fleet anchored off the western
entrance of Alexandria, about six miles from the town,
when all the admirals and captains went on shore to
wait upon Mohammed Ali. Captain Walker also landed,
and did not again return to the fleet; for, on the 17th,
when the Capitan Pasha proposed to him to cruise with
the united fleets, he declined, stating as the reason that
he was not authorised by the British Government to
serve under Mohammed Ali. To this the Capitan Pasha
replied, with a flimsy show of rectitude, that it was still
the Sultan's fleet, but united with the Egyptian for the
good of the Turkish empire. Captain Walker having
informed the Capitan Pasha of his intention of proceeding
to Constantinople, the latter asked him if it were not
possible to remain; and, on being answered negatively,
the Pasha gave himself the air of being much hurt.
The political agents of the five European Powers
in Alexandria were utterly astounded by this event.
All of them were personally well inclined towards
Mohammed Ali, so far as their duty permitted; and,
excepting the Austrian consul-general, who was usually
in a state of feud with the Egyptian government, all of
H42 REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CONSULS,
them were more or less under that sort of spell with
which Mohammed Ali by his fascinating manner used to
bind to his interests even those who landed in Egypt
with prejudices in his disfavour. But such an event as
this took them completely aback, and they in a body
represented to the Pasha how groundless were the accu-
sations which the Capitan Pasha had brought about the
poisoning of Sultan Mahmoud, which was so little in con-
formity with the depositions of the European doctors
who had attended that sovereign during the course of his
illness. Mohammed Ali replied that he did not pretend
to exculpate the Capitan Pasha, but as long as Husreff
Tasha was at the head of affairs he could not reckon upon
a sincere reconciliation. He must therefore aim at
something positive. The consuls maintained that the
best method would be to restore the fleet to his High-
ness, and to send to Constantinople without delay some
person charged to make in his name his submission to the
Grand Seignior. They urged that the Capitan Pasha,
having quitted the Dardanelles, after having received the
order to proceed with the fleet to Constantinople, had com-
mitted an act of high treason, and that the representatives
of the great courts were unwilling to believe that he was
ready to make himself an accomplice of the Capitan
Pasha, by accepting the fleet at his hands. Mohammed
Ali loudly protested against such an argument as this,
alleging that “in time of war it was permitted to receive
deserters.”
The officers of the Turkish fleet continued to come
on shore for presentation to Mohammed Ali, and at one
levée he said, with that cool and deliberate inversion of
the truth which almost savours of comedy, “My sons,
henceforward all differences between Constantinople and
Iºgypt must be removed, and we must consider ourselves
as one entire body. Our Sovereign is young, and a pure
OWERTURES OF HUSREFF PASHA. 143
jewel, and we must support him with fidelity, and aid
the nation with all our hearts.” On this the officers
expressed much satisfaction, and requested permission to
adopt the uniform worn by the Egyptian navy, which
had that amplitude of hose characteristic of the eastern
costume, instead of their own Frank uniform which was
said to resemble that of Russia. To this the Tasha
replied that they might do in this as appeared best to
themselves. This colloquy bears every appearance of
having been pre-arranged in accordance with the Pasha’s
views, which were directed towards an amalgamation of
the two fleets.
After this the Turkish fleet anchored within the
capacious port of Alexandria ; and so desperate did the
fortunes of the Sultan at this period appear, that Husreff
Pasha, the prime minister of the Sultan, actually wrote
to the Capitan Pasha to say that if he would return with
his fleet to Constantinople, no notice would be taken of his
late defection, and that a full pardon and oblivion of the
past would be accorded. To this the Capitan Pasha
replied, with a renewal of his duplicity, that he had not
been, and did not intend to be, disloyal to his sovereign;
that what he had done had been for the interest of the
Sultan and of the Turkish empire, and to remove the
fleet out of the power of the intrigues of Husreff Pasha;
and that he would not return so long as the latter
remained in power,
144
CHAPTER XIII.
ACTION of EUROPEAN DIPLoMACY on TURKISH AFFAIRS.—SURvey of BRITAIN.—
SURVEY OF FRANCE. –SURVEY of AUSTRIA, RUSSIA, AND PRUSSIA.—THE
SEcoSDARY STATES.—JEALOUS APPREHENSIONS of RUSSIA BY EUROPE.-
PRINCE METTERNICH.-WIscount PALMERSTON.—M. THIERs.
HITHERTO we have chiefly followed purely oriental
currents of history; but we are now arrived at their con-
fluence with the great streams of European events—at
a period when we are impressed with the decisive action
of the diplomacy of Europe in the affairs of the East, and
when Turkey takes rank definitively as a member of the
European family. It was no longer a struggle between
a Sultan and a Pasha; but a complicated game in which
the primary, secondary, and tertiary moves were studied
and prepared from motives not immediately relating to
Egypt and Syria.
It is therefore now requisite to take a survey of the
states of Europe, especially those which by the extent
of their territory and by their military power had the
management of the grand police of Europe.
We begin with Britain, which, by its maritime power,
was destined to take a chief part in the events which
were preparing in the east of the Mediterranean. The
character of the Briton is substantially Saxon, with
laborious habits, and of a phlegmatic temperament, but
coloured by Gaelic sensibility and Norman strength of
will. With Saxon municipal institutions at an early
period of her history, the constitutional liberty of modern
times has been a natural sequence; and thus public
ACTION OF EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY. 145
liberty is not only congenial to the British character, but
essential to it. When rulers have forgotten this in modern
times, punishments of stringent severity have inevitably
followed. When Charles I., deceived by the congenial-
ity of absolute government to the Roman, Gaulish, and
Slavic races of France, Italy, Spain, and Austria, sought
to infringe the liberties of the British Saxons, his head
was the forfeit of his inability to perceive this necessary
distinction. A century later, when George III. thought
to treat the British colonies of America, as if their
inhabitants were not of our own flesh and blood, the
disruption of this exhaustless region of territorial wealth
from the rest of the empire was the result.
Phlegmatic moderatism has preserved Britain from
wild democracy, and from those express and determinate
Wars of ambition which have kept France within com-
paratively narrow limits. As in the lives of her mer-
chant princes, the political fortunes of Britain have been
made up of parts taken as opportunities offered, with
avoidance of hazardous speculations, and seizures inop-
portunely attempted in defiance of the world. The
liberty she has enjoyed, combined with a felicitous
insular situation, have carried her wealth and power to a
height unparalleled in the history of the world. Re-
quiring neither political centralization nor large stand-
ing armies to infuse terror into domestic factions, and,
in short, being able to preserve order at home chiefly by
moral force, and a semi-religious veneration for the law,
she is embarrassed, encumbered, and unwieldy at the
commencement of every general war, like one of her
great ships on quitting a port or clearing an estuary;
but when the sea-room is large, the emprise high and
arduous, -when opposed by tempest, or impelled by
favouring gales, her firmly knit strength, her long en-
durance, her easy pliability, and her airy buoyancy,
WOL. II, 10
146 GREAT BRITAIN.
extort the tribute of admiration from the most reluctant
nations.
Totally dissimilar from the so-called constitutional
States of the continent, which are in reality military
monarchies with elective consultative councils, the go-
vernment of Britain is an aristocratic republic of birth,
prudently studious of the opinions entertained by the
aristocracies of wealth and intelligence, with an august
and popular dynasty taking the Supreme place in the
political hierarchy. The Whig and Tory factions, into
which this aristocracy is divided, have the function of
preserving the principles of liberty and authority in har-
monizing contrast; and, for the first time in the history
of the human race, a great and complicated government
is seen to realize that model which Aristotle, the greatest
master of political science, considered the most perfect.
IBut two blots still remained on our reputation for
justice; one, an artificial enhancement of the price of
bread, from which no class of society derived any pecu-
niary benefit; the other, the sabbatarian shackle on the
rational liberty of the Lord’s-day Christian;–a violation
of the principles and practice of the earliest and most
illustrious of the leaders of the Reformation, and of the
letter and spirit of Christianity, which, to the astonish-
ment of Protestant Europe, had survived the removal of
all the other obstacles to civil and religious liberty.
During the greater part of modern history, the rival
of Britain has been France. More highly favoured than
herself in climate and extent of soil, and with a great
extent of coast on the Atlantic, the Channel, and the
North Sea, she possesses the additional advantage of ex-
cellent ports in the Mediterranean.
The nationality of France is more Gaulish than Frank,
being distinguished by a greater amount of sensibility,
a greater plasticity of impression, and an intelligence
FRANCE AND AUSTRIAs 147
more rapid than that of the other Northern nations. If
Britain and Germany be the chief seats of Reason,
France is essentially the country of “Esprit,” which is
the dress or decoration of Reason. The French sense
of external beauty is far higher than the British ; and
our ingenious neighbours, in ornamental art, as con-
trasted with the utilitarian character of British manu-
factures, have an eminence of taste analogous to that
which in the world of ideas renders their exposition of
thought more felicitous than our own.
The government most congenial to the French nation
is that of a centralised military absolutism: hence the
radical contrast in principle between the British and
French Revolutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The errors of Louis XVI. were the converse
of those of Charles I. The French monarch, instead of
taking time by the forelock, by an economical and equit-
able despotic government, at the twelfth hour enthroned
anarchy. The greatest error that the Briton can commit
is to curb the rational liberties of the people; nor can
France make a greater aberration than to seek a Saxon
liberty which is repugnant to the Celtic genius.
The most composite of the greater European States
is Austria, the mortar of which, if one may so express
it, is Germanic—its very heterogeneousness being a proof
of the extraordinary power of the cement. However
differing from the British empire in materials, position,
and form, that of Austria has the same vital principle,
in being the domination of a Germanic race over non-
Germanic races. The speculative sciences have had few
pioneers in Austria, resulting from the large proportion
of Slavic population—the Slavic genius tending rather
to develope the State than the individual man. But in
the German provinces of the empire instruction is gene-
rally diffused. Poverty and crime are more rare than in
A48 THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
IFrance or in Britain; the technical sciences are pursued
with ardour; and in music—whether as the colourist of
passion, and the handmaid of poetry, or in its highest
and most independent functions as the creator of those
elevated moods of the soul which cannot be described by
a language that takes its imagery from the phenomena
of external nature—Austria has produced or cherished
men of the highest genius. Her union with Britain in
resisting the ambition of France on two great occasions—
the absence of all maritime rivalry, and the vicinity of
her large military resources to the Russian Empire—
pointed her out as the natural counterpoise to that
Power, and created close and intimate relations between
her and Great Britain.
The Russian Empire is mostly Slavic or Slavicised
TIgrian, but availing itself largely of Germanic science
and perseverance in every sphere of military, political,
and industrial activity. The Germanic race in Russia
being much scantier than even in Austria, the number
of thinkers, of great artists, or of pioneers of Science
is considerably smaller, but great aptitude is shewn
for the lighter accomplishments. Her boundless terri-
ſtorial wealth, and the solid qualities of her Germanic
civil and military servants, and industrial technicians,
have created that power which, previous to the collapse
during the Crimean war, was not inaptly termed a
“Colossus minus the lantern.”
Prussia—although neither a great maritime power
like France and England, nor, like Russia and Austria,
having a frontier to Turkey—was nevertheless an im-
portant power of the European Pentarchy, having, at
various periods of modern history, developed military
strength and resources far beyond her proportions of
territory and population; and although possessed of a
large Saxon population in her Rhenish provinces, the
PRUSSIA AND ITALY. I49
constitution of Prussia is, even since 1848, although not
nominally, yet essentially autocratic, from various causes,
—the chief of which are the large Slavic population in
her eastern provinces, and the circumstance that the
whole of her political arrangements are subordinate to
objects of military defence. Several neighbouring
countries in the north of Europe, more exclusively
Saxon or Scandinavian, were distinguished by consti-
tutional liberty, commercial wealth, and intellectual
culture; but were not populous enough to weigh in the
balance of power, and act with high executive police
powers by the delegation of Europe in common with the
five powers who constitute what is called the European
Pentarchy.
The south of Europe, although a maritime region
adjoining Turkey, took no part in the negotiations
respecting the fate of the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon
Bonaparte had extinguished the once brilliant Venetian
republic, and Italy had in modern times fallen into political
decadence. We Britons are told that Romanism is the
cause of this, an unsatisfactory statement: it appears.
to us that the ultimate cause is much deeper, and that
Romanism is only the symptom of a national character
for which the analytical spirit of the north in religion is
unsuitable. Had free enquiry been better suited to
the imaginative and impassioned Italian race, than the
mystery, the illusion, the symbols, the associations, the
vague ecstatic raptures, and the pompous artistic
splendour of Rome, it is clear that, on the revival of
letters and the restoration of the equilibrium between
reason and sentiment, the Italians, in common with the
northern nations, would have ceased to be Romanists.
This has not been the case. The Roman Catholic.
religion, acting by association upon the imagination,
and by its accessories appealing to the artistic taste,
I56) SPAIN.
is evidently as suitable to the southern and western
Romans and Celts, as Protestantism to the northern
ItaCéS.
But the Italians excel all the other Europeans in the
sense of the beautiful—covering that fascinating land
with the most sublime structures, and rising to ideal
beauty on canvass, with the ease, confidence, and power
of the Greeks in sculpture; producing poets that surpass
those of all other countries, with the solitary exception
of the British Shakespeare; and musicians whose works
strike from the first, by their grace, spirit, and invention;
and to which, if inferior to those of Germany in depth
and earnestness, as well as in the mechanical and scholas-
tic qualities, the most cultivated taste nevertheless turns
with pleasure, attracted by that deep master-craft of
creative genius which shews itself in an easy natural
development and consistent unity of mould.
Spain had also been in decadence. She had made the
ends of the earth feel her power, and at home the 17th
century was a period of splendour in literature and art.
But her valiant race had too easily gained and dissipated
the treasures of the new world; and Spain, no longer a
preponderating state, was slowly recovering from arduous
intestine struggles, which renovated her energies and
laid the foundations of an economical prosperity which is
not yet fully evolved.
Such was Europe, the history of which has been so
admirably traced by Guizot, although one must regret that
a better comprehension of national character has not ac-
companied his illustration of national laws. Towns had
made the Roman Empire: it fell, and the towns remained.
New agglomerations took place: the Slavic and Celtic
races developed military monarchy; the Italian races
revived individual taste and intellectual culture ; the
Germanic-Saxon races cultivated free enquiry in religion
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 151
and liberty in politics. The wars of religion, on the
revival of letters, and the expulsion of the Moslems from
the greater part of Europe, were followed by wars of
dynastic ambition. France, twice dangerous under
Louis XIV. and Napoleon, had been twice checked; and
Russia was in the eyes of Europe the troublesome and
the formidable power. The diplomarchical constitution
of Europe was far from being complete, so as to meet
every emergency; but the destruction of every monarch
or minister who dared to substitute his individual will
for the comitial action of the European Pentarchy had
been erected into a principle.
While Russia had grown by Germanic genius, utilising
the resources of a vast fertile territory and a large Slavic
population, the Asiatic races on her eastern and southern
borders declined and receded,—not from want of physical
courage, but of that science which makes it effective.
At the head of this bulky state was the Emperor Nicholas,
who is certainly destined to fill a large space in the
history of the nineteenth century. Of a handsome and
commanding person, with a refined courtesy when he
chose to exercise it, great capacity for labour, and know-
ledge of the details of military administration, Nicholas
inverted the order usually found in active-minded and
powerful sovereigns—to develope unmeasured ambition in
the prime of life, and in age to bequeath prudent coun-
sels to their successors. Louis XIV., who, with mediocre
political, military, and artistic intelligence, was, never-
theless, a great master of kingcraft, recommended those
who followed him to avoid war and palace-building; and
the truly great Frederick, in spite of ultimate success,
said, in the tranquillity of age, “Ich mache den spass,
nicht wieder.” Nicholas, in his old age, had not the
courage to bear with power and prosperity, and to respect
the integrity of the Ottoman Empire; but, in the prime
152 PRINCE METTERNICEI.
of life, his conduct on the Egyptian question was
admirable, for the same reasons that furnish the condem-
nation of his later policy.
13y her pressure on Turkey in the latter part of the
eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries,
Russia had reaped the fruit of the previous Austrian
wars, when Turkey was really formidable to Europe, and
it was with no friendly eye that Austria saw province
after province of Turkey and Persia added to the already
gigantic Muscovite Empire. The direction of the political
affairs of Austria was in the hands of Clement Wencelaus,
Prince Metternich, a statesman of large philosophic
views, high personal integrity, and consummate court
training. By his energy he had been chiefly instru-
mental in bringing the wars of the French Empire to
a conclusion satisfactory to Europe. The two cardinal
principles of his political career were the cultivation
of amicable relations with Great Britain, and the preser-
vation of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire; for he
clearly comprehended that little fruit of his policy would
remain to Europe if Russia were to be freely permitted
to exercise that dangerous aſid prepouderating power of
which the France of the Empire had been so lately
deprived. Hence an important treaty concluded in
1838 with Great Britain, the foreign affairs of which
were at that time administered by Henry Temple,
Wiscount Palmerston.
The time has not yet come for a complete analysis
of the long varied career and exceptional character of
Viscount Palmerston; and we shall therefore confine our-
selves to what is sufficient to elucidate the events that
preceded the important treaty of 1841, which secured
the integrity of the Ottoman empire. Wiscount Pal-
merston was certainly one of the most remarkable men
of the nineteenth century. Having stepped from the
IORD PALMERSTON. 153
university immediately into public life, he had in middle
age acquired the experience of those whose career is
ended ; and he retains, even in advanced age, much of
the buoyant and sportive activity of the prime of life.
This inversion of the order of normal nature, which rarely
preserves vigour to the experience of age, renders him
an intellectual phenomenon. Strong and healthy in
body, and strong and healthy in mind, with matchless
experience and capacity for labour, he was a living
encyclopædia of political, commercial, and geographical
knowledge. He possessed in an eminent degree the rare
faculty of the true statesman, who, out of a bewildering
mass of details, discerns, evolves, and utilises the essence
of truth. As an orator he was distinguished by concision,
and the skill of the consummate tactician who brings his
full power to bear on the weakest part of his opponent's
argument. Enjoying constitutionally, as well as by a
potent self-imposed discipline, the most admirable good
humour, he has enjoyed great social influence, even in
periods when his policy has been loudly condemned by
eager opponents. An estimate of his political acts as
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and leader in the combina-
tions of domestic party, must be left to another genera-
tion ; but we may safely predict that future historians
will not deny the strength of his British feelings, the
brilliancy of his powers, and the gigantic magnitude of
his labours. Yet he has been accused of having been the
paid agent of Russia; and, incredible as it may appear,
the walls that echoed this charge were not those of a
lunatic asylum.
The dispatch of powerful squadrons to the Mediterra-
nean, with the vigour and intelligence displayed by
Wiscount Ponsonby and Sir John McNeil, our representa-
tives at the courts of Constantinople and Teheran; the
courageous and unflinching support which Wiscount
154 ESTIMATE OF THE
Palmerston gave to the British agents in the East; and
the bold and decisive measures of the Anglo-Indian Go-
vernment on its western frontier, without actual declaration
of war against Russia, kept in check this formidable power.
The actual invasion of Afghanistan by an Anglo-Indian
force, which infused respect into Persia; and the treaty
of 1838 between Britain and Austria, which, although
nominally only securing reciprocal advantages of a com-
mercial character, was, from its mention of the Danube,
in reality an intimation to Russia that the concessions of
Turkey in her favour in that quarter had arrived at their
utmost limit, were finally decisive circumstances that
impressed on Russia the conviction that prudence was
the better part of valour.
Unprepared at this time to enter into conflict with
public opinion, Russia adroitly evaded the storm; and,
acting with Europe in this great oriental crisis, left
France again isolated from Europe on a question in
which this latter Power had not the smallest national
interest, apart from the other Powers. The incarnation
of this erroneous policy of isolation was M. Adolph Thiers,
an intelligent writer, and a fiuent speaker; possessing
great good nature in personal intercourse, making no
useless and unremunerative expenditure of resentment
in the struggles of party, evincing great dexterity in
influencing the press, and the coteries, dispatching the
business of an office, and dealing with the Ordinary pas-
sions and foibles of ordinary men; but deficient in a
knowledge of the true principles of national economy,
and in the political morality which adjusts the policy and
interests of the individual state to the recognized prin-
ciples of European law, and the requirements of inter-
national harmony: wanting in short, in the manifestations
of that higher intelligence which wafts to distant ages and
foreign nations the reputation of a true statesman. Mon-
CHARACTER OF MI. THIERS, 155
sieur Thiers, the brilliant historian of the French Con-
sulate and the Empire, was unconscious of the moral of
his own tale, and himself succumbed, as a too venturous
gambling politician, in the contest with the comitial action
of the European Powers.
His political morality in action reproduces itself in his
voluminous historieal work. Ever and anon his sense of
reason and justice revolts against the passions and pre-
judices of the dominant national pamphleteer and par-
tizan military chronicler; but this revolt is in the long
run always unsuccessful. He condemns the reckless
ventures of Napoleon in the gross, but is elaborately
apologetic in his details. On the other hand, the artist
deserves our warmest eulogy, and M. Thiers is one of the
greatest masters of historical narration. We read Guizot,
as we take a salutiferous and not very palatable medicine.
We are satiated and bewildered with the delicious in-
toxication and Circean fumes of Lamartine. But the
style of Thiers, strong, clear, and agreeable, is equally
remote from either extreme.
156
CEIAPTER XIV.
Count NESSELRODE ANNoUNCES OVERTUREs of RUSSIA To ENGLAND.—FIRST
MISSION OF BARON BRUNNow.—HIs NEGoCIATIONs witH WIscount PALMER-
STON.—ExCEPTION TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE PROPOSALS of RUSSIA.
—SECOND MISSION OF BARON BRUNNow To LoNDoN.
THE immediate direction of the Chancery of State of
the Russian empire had been for many years in the
hands of Count Nesselrode, a statesman of diminutive
physical stature, but of remarkable intelligence, which
is shown in all his gestures, conversation, and public
dispatches; and no greater proofs can be adduced of
his tact and practical ability than the extraordinary
lengthened tenure of his high and envied office in such
a country as Russia, where unscrupulous intrigue and
unprincipled combination drive the most potent into
sudden disfavour.
In August 1839 Count Nesselrode informed the Mar-
quess of Clanricarde, British ambassador at the court
of St. Petersburg, that the Emperor Nicholas, having
reason to believe that the British Government was better
disposed towards Russia, and entertained a more favour-
able and just opinion of his views and policy than here-
tofore, was desirous of improving this disposition to the
utmost, and of strengthening the good understanding
which so happily existed; and that therefore he had
directed Baron Brunnow to proceed to London and offer
the most unreserved explanations of the views and policy
of Russia. Count Nesselrode added that, unless he were
OWERTURES OF RUSSIA. 157
himself to proceed to London, it would not be possible
for the Emperor to send thither any person more
thoroughly acquainted with the foreign affairs and
policy of Russia.
Baron Brunnow arrived in London on the 15th of
September, and left England on the 12th of October,
having in the interval had several long interviews with
Wiscount Palmerston, and with other members of Her
Britannic Majesty's Government. He was frank and
unreserved in his conversations, and said that the Rus-
sian government had witnessed with great satisfaction
what they conceived to be evidences of greater confidence
on the part of the British government in the sincerity
and good faith of Russia with regard to the affairs of
Turkey; that the Emperor felt that he deserved that
confidence, and was anxious to draw closer the ties
between Great Britain and Russia; that he looked upon
the Sultan as a Sovereign who was his ally, and entitled
to his support, and that he considered Mohammed Ali as
a revolted subject; that he concurred with Britain in
thinking that the best arrangement would be to confer
upon Mohammed Ali the hereditary Pashalik of Egypt,
and restore the rest of the territory in the occupation of
the Pasha to the Sultan.
Russia therefore approved of the British proposal to
blockade the ports of Egypt and Syria, if Mohammed
Ali declined the proposed arrangement; but, with refer-
ence to the Egyptian threat of marching on Constanti-
nople, some of the allies must come to the aid of the Sul-
tan, and the Emperor thought that on account of its local
position, Russia was the power which could most easily
afford assistance; and that it should be given, not by
virtue of the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi (which was a
particular pact between Russia and Turkey, the articles
of which constituted a quasi-protectorate of Turkey by
158 BARON BRUNNOW’s
Russia, offensive to the rest of Europe), but that the aid
should be given in virtue of the engagements about to
be entered into between the Powers of Europe and the
Sultan. Baron Brunnow then proposed a division of
labour, so that the operations which might become
necessary in Egypt and Syria should be undertaken by
England, Austria, and France; and that whatever might
be requisite within the Straits, and in Asia Minor, should
be executed by Russia. Baron Brunnow added that if
a convention to this effect were signed, the Emperor
would not renew the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, and that
although the co-operation of France would undoubtedly
render the execution more easy, Russia would be per-
fectly ready to act without France, if she could not be
persuaded to concur.
On the communication of proposals so satisfactory and
important, and contrasting so strongly with that spirit of
occult hostility which for several years had marked the
relations of the two governments, a cabinet council was
held; and Wiscount Palmerston thereafter stated to Baron
IBrunnow what were the sentiments of Her Britannic
Majesty’s confidential servants on the overtures of
Russia. The government declared itself ready to adopt
the whole arrangement, with the exception of one single
point. Every State is considered as having territorial
jurisdiction over the sea which washes its shores as far
as three miles from low water mark, and consequently
any strait which is bounded on both sides by the terri-
tory of the same sovereign, and which is not more than
six miles wide, lies within the territorial jurisdiction of
that sovereign. But the Bosphorus and Dardanelles are
bounded on both sides by the territory of the Sultan,
and are in most parts less than six miles wide, and
consequently the territorial jurisdiction of the Sultan
extends over both of these straits; and the Sultan has
MISSION TO ENGLAND. 159
a right to exclude all foreign ships of war from these
straits, if he should think proper to do so. Now, by the
treaty of 1809, Great Britain acknowledged this right
on the part of the Sultan, and promised to acquiesce in
the enforcement of it ; and it was but just that Russia
should make the same engagement. But Her Majesty's
Government were of opinion that if, for a particular
emergency, one of those straits should be opened for one
party, the other ought at the same time to be opened
also for other parties ; and that if it should become
necessary for a Russian force to enter the Bosphorus, a
British force should at the same time enter the Dar-
danelles: and, as the bulk of the British squadron would
probably be required off the coasts of Egypt or Syria,
the smallness of the number of ships that could be spared
for going up the Dardanelles would of itself shew that
their presence was intended to record a principle and to
manifest union, and not to proclaim distrust or to exer-
cise control.
Daron Brunnow expressed great regret at this decision
of Her Britannic Majesty's Government, because his
instructions did not provide for this case, and he should
therefore be obliged to refer the question for the decision
of his government, so that much valuable time would be
lost. He added, that the will of the Emperor being for
him the sole rule of his conduct he must stop at this
point and, reporting to his court, must wholly reserve
to the Emperor to pronounce upon it. Lord Palmerston
fully admitted the weight and justice of the motives
which hindered Baron Brunnow from going further; and,
on the suggestion of the Russian Envoy that something
should be immediately done in the way of coercing Mo-
hammed Ali, especially with a view to the immediate
surrender of the fleet, Lord Palmerston expressed himself
inclined to prefer the arrival at some preliminary concert
I60 ARRANGEMENTS OF THE ALLIES.
among the European Powers; so as to merge the question
of the fleet in the larger one of a final arrangement.
Baron Brunnow departed from London, and, having
brought to the knowledge of his government the details
of his communications with the British Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, Count Nesselrode announced
the intention of the Emperor of Russia to accede to the
wish of the cabinet of London with reference to the
Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, and therefore directed
Baron Brunnow to return to London in order to com-
plete the arrangement. In January, 1840, definite mea-
sures were suggested by the Russian envoy to Wiscount
Balmerston, obviating the important exceptions taken
to the proposals of his previous mission. We give briefly
the shape which the arrangement had taken in the be-
ginning of this not unmemorable year.
The Allied Cabinets, considering that they had formally
promised the Porte assistance which the latter accepted,
determined to settle among themselves the basis of a
pacification affording assistance and securing independ-
ence to the Ottoman Empire. This basis was to embrace
the grant of the Pashalik of Egypt to Mohammed Ali,
with the right of transmitting to his descendants the
administration of that province, but with the full recog-
nition of the sovereignty of the Sultan. Mohammed Ali,
on his part, was to evacuate Syria and Candia, and to
give back the fleet to the Sultan. But, in case this
arrangement should be declined by Mohammed Ali, and
he should menace Constantinople, Russia would send its
Black Sea fleet with a body of troops to be disembarked
for the defence of that capital, whilst, on the other hand,
the combined fleets of the other Powers should act on
the coasts of Egypt and Syria. Moreover, in order to
prove the union existing among the Allies, the Russian
fleet and troops should be called into the Bosphorus
THE BOSPHORUs. I61
while Austria, Great Britain, and France would cause
two or three vessels of war to enter the sea of Marmora
and cruise between Gallipoli and the Gulf of Mondania;
this measure being exceptional, and not prejudicing
the principle of the exclusion of all foreign vessels of
war in time of peace.
WOL. I.T. 'II
162
CHAPTER XV.
MISSION of ColoneL Hopg|Es To EGYPT.-HIS INSTRUCTIONs.—Colon EL Hodges’
PRESENTATION To MoHAMMED ALI. —THE DIVAN OF MoHAMMED ALI
DESCRIBED.—DECISIVE LANGUAGE OF THE BRITISH AGENT To MoHAMMED
ALI.-MoHAMMED ALI REFUSES To YIELD, AND PREPARES AN ARMED
RESISTANCE.
MEANWHILE Viscount Palmerston had recalled Colonel
Campbell, the British Political Agent and Consul-General,
from Egypt. This, in many respects, able—and, in all re-
spects, honourable—officer, had, unfortunately for himself,
laid before the British Minister a series of considerations
advocating Mohammed Ali’s tenure of Syria at a period
when the British Cabinet had arrived at the conclusion
that decisive measures must be taken, in order not only
to get back the fleet, but to restore Syria to its lawful
sovereign.
A successor was therefore required, unentangled with
any long continued intimacy with Mohammed Ali, and
unaccustomed to proffer on behalf of his government
menaces which were not subsequently supported by acts
and facts. The admonitions to Mohammed Ali having
never been accompanied or followed by military and
naval demonstrations, or by positive hostilities, ceased
to have any effect upon a man naturally self-willed and
hitherto almost uniformly successful in his enterprises.
Colonel Hodges had, in the principality of Servia,
given proofs of no common Sagacity, and was moreover
possessed of the moral and physical energy requisite for
a mission of menace to an unbending military chief.
Many persons have expressed the opinion that had more
MISSION OF COLONEL HODGES TO EGYPT. 163
conciliatory language been used, Mohammed Ali could
have been brought to evacuate Syria without the war
which in the autumn of this year desolated that fine
country; but it is difficult for me to adopt this view,
considering that Mohammed Ali had illusions as to the
power of his Syrian armies, the material strength of Acre,
and the passiveness of the Syrian population; and also
the incautious and ill-judged assurances of moral if
not of actual military and naval support which he con-
tinued to receive from France down to the period of
hostilities.
Colonel Hodges, proceeding from Belgrade to Alex-
andria, vià Vienna and Trieste, received his instructions
from Lord Beauvale (subsequently Viscount Melbourne,
on the death of his brother, the then Premier), the British
Ambassador at Vienna, which were characterised by re-
markable good sense. “It will be well,” said Lord
Beauvale, “that you should state that the British Go-
vernment has no feeling of envy or hostility towards him
(Mohammed Ali); that the order and security which he
has established in Egypt are more valuable to England,
by opening a short communication with India, than to
any other nation ; that the commercial prosperity of
Egypt re-acts upon us; and that for these reasons the
continuance of the system which Mohammed Ali has
created in that country, is of high value and importance
to us.
“In Africa we are friendly to his power and to its
permanence: if we are less so in Asia, it proceeds not
from any hostility to his person, but because in Asia his
presence acts as a solvent to the empire of the Sultan—
an empire which his conquests in that part of the globe
can neither support nor replace; which they can only
weaken and destroy; and which we are determined to
sustain.
164 - LORD BEAUWALE.
“If the object of Mohammed Ali be really the estab-
lishment of his family, it is only in Africa that establish-
ment can be fixed. There he will have Europe friendly
to him; and, reconciled to the Porte, he may pursue the
consolidation of the structure he has raised, with every
facility for success, and with the certainty of transmitting
it to his descendants.
“In Asia, on the contrary, there can never exist
between him and the Sultan but an armed truce. He
must either overthrow or be overthrown. But the
chances are not equal: the loss of a battle expels Mo-
hammed Ali from Asia; the gain of one opens at most
to him the road to Constantinople, which is too strongly
guarded for him to make an impression upon it. Full
and final success is therefore impossible to him ; the
utmost he can gain in Asia is the temporary occupation
of some additional districts; the utmost he can lose may
be read in the history of all conquerors when checked in
their career.”
Such were the sound views expressed in simple and
manly English by Lord Beauvale, and for the ex-
position of which Colonel Hodges had been selected by
Wiscount Palmerston. The author of this history ac-
companied that officer to Egypt in the latter part of
1839, as private secretary, and henceforth he hopes to be
pardoned for interweaving with the texture of his history
some of his own personal impressions. The first scene
had an effect never to be forgotten. We entered, in a
French steam-packet, the old port which then contained
the combined fleets of the Sultan and Mohammed Ali,
amounting to fifty vessels of war and including nineteen
sail of the line. The pace of the steamer slackened, and
we slowly moved up a majestic avenue of line-of-battle
ships, with here and there an immense three-decker, in
all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of naval archi-
fe
PRESENTATION OF COLONEL HODGES. 165
tecture. There stood the motionless sentry, high perched
on the poop, the setting sun glistening on his bayonet,
and warming the congenial tints of his red fez and
dusky visage into the semblance of a statue of rose-
coloured granite. Just as we dropped anchor the sun
went down, the drums rolled from ship to ship, the
evening guns were fired, and up rose a thin vapour that
drew a grey veil over the embers of the glowing horizon,
while we heard for the first time the solemn and im-
pressive tones of the call to prayer from the minarets
on shore.
The presentation of the British Agent to the Pasha of
Egypt took place with considerable pomp and ceremony,
according to oriental usage. At an early hour a detach-
ment of infantry, commanded by a field officer, with a
military band, and a considerable body of Mohammed
Ali’s janissaries assembled in the great square of the
Frank quarter, and the cortége, accompanied by all the
British residents on horseback, proceeded over the sands
of the peninsula to the palace of the Pasha, the windows
of which opened on the wide azure of the Mediterranean;
and in that torrid climate even the Sun of December
rendered its ample halls, with white marble floors and
staircases, refreshing to the sense. As may well be be-
lieved, the reception was courteous. Colonel Campbell
(brother of the Sir Colin who, as British Commissioner, ac,
companied Bonaparte to Elba) presented Colonel Hodges,
who in turn presented Mr. Charles Alison, now Minister
Plenipotentiary in Persia, and the author of these sheets,
who, after pursuing some studies in history and inter-
national law, was about to commence his apprenticeship
as a politician.
Mohammed Ali, at this stage of his career, was a thick-
set man, but not so much so as to be pronounced corpu-
lent. His features were remarkable neither for beauty
T 66 COURT OF MOFIAMIMED ALI.
nor the reverse; but if ever man had an eye that de-
noted genius, Mohammed Ali was that person. Never
dead nor quiescent, it was fascinating like that of a
gazelle; or, in the hour of storm, fierce as the eagle's.
His dress was of a brown colour, embroidered with dark
blue silk, and he wore on his head, not the turban of
the earlier years of his pashalik, but the simple red
Tunis fez.
The old times were not unrepresented. The last of the
Mamelukes, who had escaped all the successive massacres,
and was now in the hoary caducity of old age, wore on
this occasion the ample turban and flowing crimson robes
of those haughty slaves who for centuries had been suc-
cessively elevated to, and precipitated from, an almost
regal power. The shades of Murad and Ibrahim, Bona-
parte and Kleber, flitted transiently through the mind,
as we gazed on this survivor of a wide historical cycle,
long since accomplished and vanishing in the distant
spheres of doom. Here I saw for the first time Boghos
Bey, the faithful minister for foreign affairs and com-
merce. He, too, wore the old oriental costume without
any mixture of modern Frank innovation. His clean white
turban and scrupulously neat person, in spite of his age;
his diction and his courtesy—both of the best old French
school—were all perfectly characteristic of the Levantine
civil satellite of a great bashaw. But the climate of
Egypt had left its mark on this Armenian from Asia
Minor, and a white cataract in the eye reminded us that
we were in the native soil of ophthalmia. Timid, supple,
and a rayah, Boghos Bey had no confidence in himself;
but he was invaluable to Mohammed Ali, from his great
intelligence, his experience in mercantile affairs, and the
oily suavity of the relations which he established with
all the principal members of the European colony, diplo-
matic and mercantile. He was entirely devoted to the
ORIENTAL COURTESIES. 167
interests of the Pasha, and the poverty in which he died
was a convincing proof of his honesty and fidelity. None
of the immediate family of Mohammed Ali were present.
Ibrahim was heading his legions in Syria; Abbas Pasha
—in the sequel the successor of Mohammed Ali–was
his deputy at Cairo; and Said Pasha, then a youth of
eighteen or nineteen, was pursuing the studies requisite
for a naval career in one of the corvettes at anchor in
the roads.
After coffee was presented, and a speech delivered
to the Pasha along with the credentials, and the inter-
change of the compliments usual on the occasion, Colonel
Hodges alluded to the new edifices and improvements
of Alexandria; to which the Pasha replied that he was
doing his best to regenerate his country and merit
the esteem of Europe. Colonel Hodges then assured
Mohammed Ali that his labours in this respect were
fully appreciated by Europeans. To this the Pasha re-
plied emphatically, in consequence of conceiving that
his power was referred to: “I do not know whether it
has been appreciated hitherto, but please God, it shall
be so henceforward.” A magnificent furred pelisse was
then put on the shoulders of the diplomatic agent; and,
after taking leave, a grey blood Arab charger—another
present from the Pasha—awaited the agent at the foot
of the stairs.
These were the mere preliminary courtesies and cere-
monies; the real tug of business was yet to come, and
the interviews between the Pasha and the British agent
in the earlier months of 1840 came like thunder-claps
to awaken Mohammed Ali out of the illusions in which
he had indulged as to the passive spectatorship of Europe
enabling him to realize his airy visions of an Arab
empire. .
In January, 1840, Colonel Hodges proceeded to ac-
168. INTERVIEWS BETWEEN
quaint the Pasha, impressively, that it was England's
firm determination to maintain the integrity of Turkey
under its present dynasty, and that any opposition offered
by his Highness could only entail upon him the most
ruinous consequences; for that Her Majesty's Govern-
ment were determined to carry out their policy by mea-
sures which could leave no doubt as to the spirit of it,
even if they acted alone. The Pasha was evidently
much agitated; and Colonel Hodges awaited his reply,
when Boghos Bey, who stood by him, requested him to
be composed and to allow Colonel Hodges to proceed.
Finding that his Highness was not disposed to continue
the subject, Colonel Hodges remarked that Prince Met-
ternich, with whom he had a short time before an oppor-
tunity of conversing on the Oriental question at Vienna,
had authorised him to state to his Highness that the
Austrian Government were determined to back the
policy of England to its fullest extent; and that he,
the Prince, believed the other Powers were equally
agreed on the subject, for the correctness of which
statement Colonel Hodges referred his Highness to M.
de Laurin, the Austrian Consul-General. Mohammed
Ali here burst forth violently, “Much words are useless.
I don’t deny the power of England, nor can I tie her
hands; but if they pretend to confine me within the
limits (meaning, as Colonel Hodges presumed, of Egypt)
I swear I will do anything before I submit to be thus
sacrificed. As for supporting the Turkish dynasty, who
can be more zealous than I am 2 the very people about
me would rise against me were I to attempt its over-
throw.” Colonel Hodges said that the occupation of the
Turkish provinces in Asia was incompatible with such
an assertion; to which the Vizier replied that, before the
battle of Nezib, it was not concealed at Constantinople
that unless he had a predominant share in the adminis-
COLONEL HODGES AND THE PASHA. 169
tration of the empire, it could never be restored to any
degree of quiet or order, owing to the obstinacy of
Husreff Pasha ; as even the affections of that man (the
Capitan Pasha, who had retired) were alienated. “I
now hold,” said he, “firm possession of those provinces,
and still they are not submissive. I am an old man,
upwards of seventy-one, but I will never consent to the
cession of them during my lifetime.” The Pasha con-
firmed this determination with a solemn oath, and evinced
a desire to close the conversation. He had much re-
liance on the justice and humanity of England, and was
sure she would hesitate before she caused the effusion of
blood which might spring from her present policy.
“Write,” said he, “and I will answer all.”
On a subsequent occasion Colonel Hodges told the
Pasha that England had in no way changed her old
habit of never coming to a rash decision; but that the
decision once made, she would strike boldly, and with
such a force as must command success. He entreated
Mohammed Ali to be assured that England would only
resort to such a measure when he had proved to her
that all means of persuasion were unavailing; and re-
called to his memory a circumstance of no remote date,
which unhappily might bear a strong analogy to his own
case, should he persist in his present course, which was,
that Napoleon Bonaparte refused the offer of the Allied
Sovereigns that he should be the ruler of France, with
the Alps and the Rhine as a boundary, but that at a
later period, having sent. Caulincourt to treat with the
Allied Powers, his tardy offers of acceptance were rejected.
Mohammed Ali having talked of his “rights,” the
British Foreign Secretary was not backward in reading
him a homily thereon, with the stern canons of legal
prescription for his text. “I have to instruct you,”
said Lord Palmerston to Colonel Hodges, “on the next
I'70 MOHAMMED ALI REFUSES TO YIFLD
occasion on which Mohammed Ali shall speak to you of
his rights, to say to his Highness that you are instructed
by your Government to remind him that he has no rights
except such as the Sultan has conferred upon him ; that
the only legitimate authority which he possesses is the
authority which has been delegated to him by the Sultan,
over a portion of the Sultan's dominions, and which has
been entrusted to him for the sole purpose of being used
in the interest, and in obedience to the orders, of the
Sultan; that the Sultan is entitled to take away that
which he has given; that the Sultan may probably do
so, if his own safety should require it; and that if, in
such case, the Sultan should not have the means of self-
defence, the Sultan has allies who may possibly lend
him those means. You should also take an occasion of
suggesting to the mind of Mohammed Ali that—to a
garrison which capitulates in time, honorable conditions
are granted ; but that a garrison which insists on being
stormed, must take the chance of war.”
These stormy interviews and sharp admonitions
inflicted profound wounds on the self-love of Mohammed
Ali; and partly from miscalculation of the relative forces
at his disposal and those of the European Powers that
had taken him to task; and partly from an exasperation
in which temperament, rather than Sober judgment, was
at work, he commenced the vain task of putting himself
in such an attitude of military defence as might impose
respect on the allies of the Sultan—a futile effort of the
Nile frog to expand to the sturdy proportions of the
British bull and the Muscovite bear.
Prom the first entrance of the Turkish fleet into the
harbour of Alexandria, great discontent had manifested
itself on the part of the crews. It was the admiral, and
not the fleet itself that had committed this foul defection.
Obedience, discipline, and profound ignorance on the
THE TURRISH FLEET. 171
part of the ship's captains and companies had enabled
him to consummate his ill-starred designs; but these feel-
ings had given way to surprise, and had been succeeded
by indignation. Coupled with the Egyptian fleet, lying
under the batteries of Mohammed Ali, and still com-
manded by a traitor, the crews could undertake nothing
expressive of their unflinching loyalty; and even the
officers, whose antecedents and consciences absolved them
in their own eyes and in those of others from complicity
in the defection, were by no means insensible to the
unwearied caresses, hospitalities, and attentions of the
Pasha and his officers. To make still more sure of his
objects, Mohammed Ali, in December and in January
1839–40, had amalgamated the crews of the Turkish and
Egyptian squadrons, the former being at the same time
clothed in Egyptian uniforms. Count Medem (after-
wards minister in Persia) and M. de Laurin, the Russian
and Austrian Consuls-General, questioned Mohammed
Ali on this measure, to which he answered very coolly
that “the sailors themselves were anxious and willing
to change the Muscovite costume for the Turkish.”
To explain this, it must be remembered that the
Turkish costume had become almost European ; while
the Egyptian, with its wide trousers, retained much of
the oriental ease and latitude. In spite of all this,
the discontent did not diminish. Deli Mustapha Pasha,
vice-admiral, declared that he would never give up alive
the ship that was entrusted to him by the Sultan; and
Omar, the rear-admiral, refused to accept or wear the
new uniform of the Egyptians.
On land, Mohammed Ali displayed his accustomed
activity, however unavailing or inadequate to the
emergency. The Egyptian troops, which, after the end
of the Wahaby war had occupied a great part of the
Arabian peninsula, were recalled to Egypt. Kurschid
I72 PREPARTIONS FOR WAR.
Pasha was one of the best lieutenants of Mohammed Ali,
uniting bravery with prudence. On his arrival at
Alexandria he received the command of the division
to defend the coast. His address was exceedingly good
natured, and the author well recollects his personal
appearance, which was corpulent to an extreme rarely
seen. A thumb having been carried away from its
socket, he was surnamed both by himself and others
“Parmaksia” or the thumbless Kurschid.
Regiments of national guards were ordered to be
formed from the inhabitants of Alexandria and other
places. But this measure, pompous on paper, proved
null in execution, from the paucity of volunteers and the
total indisposition of the people of Egypt to co-operate.
with any chief, however able, against their lawful,
sovereign, whose “caliphate” or “succession” has more-
over somewhat of a pontifical character—the civil,
military, and religious organism flowing through the
Grand Vizier and Sheikh ul Islam from a common.
Centre.
In anticipation of a blow being struck in Egypt, which
was the centre of his power, and taking alarm at the
curiosity that European officers had shewn as to, the
defences of Alexandria, Mohammed Ali issued orders
to disarm the two squadrons in the port, and form six
regiments from the ships' crews and marines to defend
the coast from Rosetta to Alexandria, and westward
towards the Lybian Desert. He also directed that all
the guns should be brought on shore and placed in
battery to strengthen the positions of Aboukir, the
Catacombs, Marabout, and the entrances of the ports
of Alexandria. At the same time Damanhour was
selected as a convenient place for a camp of reserve,
from which troops could be directed with equal facility
on Rosetta or on Alexandria. This magnificent project
THE LAST INTERVIEW WITH THE PASHA. 173
was only partially carried into effect, strong symptoms
of disaffection in Syria having indicated that country to
be ripe with immediate danger to the Pasha.
Colonel Hodges, on the last day of March, made a
communication to Mohammed Ali which left no doubt that
the hour of decisive action was at hand, and that of di-
plomatic negotiation passed away. He asked the Pasha,
“Pray what does your Highness purpose doing with the
Turkish fleet?” to which he replied, “I shall keep it as
a weapon taken from the hand of my enemies, until my
differences are settled with the Porte, and then I shall
send it back to the Sultan.” To this Colonel Hodges
rejoined, “If the officers of the Turkish fleet knew their
duty to their religion and to the Sultan, they would
return with their ships to Constantinople; and,” added
he, “I do not conceal from your Highness that I am
instructed by my government to advise their adoption
of such a course.” On this, the Pasha, in a state of the
greatesi excitement, jumped up from his Divan, and cried,
“Now you placeme in a state of war. I warn you that
the first defection I perceive, I will shoot the offender.”
Colonel Hodges contented himself with answering:—
“Your Highness may rely upon it, that threats will not
prevent the performance of my duty. I view with
regret the measures you are adopting, which only prove
the eagerness with which you are rushing on certain
destruction.”
From this period no further representations were
made to Mohammed Ali. Courteous persuasion had been
followed by strong arguments which had produced no
effect. Peremptory language and menace had been
equally disregarded; nothing remained but the “ultima
ratio regum.”
174
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CoNvKNTIon of July 15, 1840, Is SIGNED IN LONDON.—ITS PRovisions.—
THE Convention NoTIFIED To MoHAMMED ALI.-HIS Ff.RST REFUSAL.—
HIS FINAL REFUSAL.-MoHAMMED ALI DEPoSED BY THE SULTAN, AND EGYPT
AND SYRIA BLOCKADED. -
THE negotiations between Baron Brunnow and the
British Government, the details of which were candidly
imparted to the French Government, as well as the ill-
timed obstinacy of the Pasha, have no doubt prepared
the reader for the concurrence of Austria, Russia, Prus-
sia, Great Britain, and of the Porte, in coercive measures
against Mohammed Ali. These took the preliminary
form of a convention, or treaty, dated 15th July, 1840,
for which extraordinary Powers were granted to the
plenipotentiaries of the consenting powers. The Porte.
was represented at these London conferences by Shekib
Effendi, a statesman of robust physical frame and mascu-
line intellect, although not having had the advantage
of an European education. -
This treaty or convention was an extension or em-
bodiment of the arrangements concluded between the
British and Russian Governments, and in accordance
with the language and acts of Admiral Roussin, the
French Ambassador at the Ottoman Porte. The two
Straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, as well as
the capital, were placed in security against all aggres-
sion,-the operation of the Allies there to be considered
only as a measure of exception adopted at the express
demand of the Sultan, and in no way derogating from
THE CONVENTION OF LONDON. 175
the normal exclusion of foreign ships of war from these
straits. *
A separate act prescribed the mode in which Mo-
hammed Ali was to be dealt with. The Sultan promised
to grant him not only the hereditary administration of
the Pashalik of Egypt, but, moreover, the fortress of St.
Jean d'Acre and Southern Syria for his life. But the
Sultan, in making these offers, attached to them the
Sybilline condition that Mohammed Ali should accept
them within the space of ten days after the communica-
tion of them should be made to him at Alexandria. If
within this term he should not accept the arrangement,
the offer of the life-administration of the Pashalik of
Acre was to be withdrawn, and after ten days more—
or, in all, twenty days—even the offer of Egypt was no
longer in force on the part of the Sultan.
Rifaat Bey was the commissioner appointed by the
Porte to notify to Mohammed Ali the terms determined
upon at the London conferences. This statesman, since
elevated to the rank of Pasha, distinguished by polished
manners and appearance, was of a conciliatory disposi-
tion, and by no means deficient in intelligence. He had
been previously, and has been since, in high employ-
ments, having been more than once Minister for Foreign
Affairs, and ambassador at European courts of the first
class. He was not remarkable for any energy or activity,
but has rarely shewn deficiency in tact and discrimination.
In the middle of August, a month after the convention
had been signed, Rifaat Pasha had his audience of Mo-
hammed Ali; and, after the customary salutations, the
Constantinople envoy made known to the Pasha those
terms with which the reader is already familiar.
To this Mohammed Ali answered, with professions of
astonishment that his real views should have been so
mistaken—which aimed at restoring the Ottoman Empire
176 REJECTION OF THE TERMS OFFERED BY THE ALLIES.
to its ancient force,—“The propositions which are now
made to me are evidently absurd, and of a nature to
cause my ruin. France is ready to come to my aid, and
has more than once offered to me her intervention ; but
I have always refused it, because my intention is not to
allow the troops of the Christian Powers to ravage the
Mussulman territory, and I am ready to sacrifice my
life and everything that I possess to the love of my
nation.”
“But,” said Rifaat Pasha, “ your insisting upon not
abandoning any one of the provinces which are now
under your sway, only proves too clearly that you really
have your own interest and that of your family in view,
and not that of the Ottoman Empire, as you wished to .
make me believe just now. My mission is only for the
purpose of notifying to you the arrangement concluded
between the four great Powers.”
On the Consuls-General of the four Powers proceeding
to Mohammed Ali on the following day, in accordance
with the instructions they had received, Mohammed Ali
said, “Rifaat Bey has in truth informed me of the object
of his mission, and of the decisions of the conference of
London. The reply which I have made to him is that
which you ought to expect from me. I cannot accept
the terms which are offered to me; and you know the
character of Mohammed Ali too well to suppose that he
will allow himself to be buried alive.”
On the 5th of September, Rifaat Bey, together with
the Consuls-General of the four Powers, waited on Mo-
hammed Ali in order to receive his final reply to the
demands of the Sublime Porte. The Pasha, being con-
fined to his room by a painful indisposition, gave his
official answer through the medium of his confidential
secretary and minister, Sami Bey; the same who go-
verned Widdin during the Russian occupation of the
EWASIVE POLICE OF MOHAMMED ALI. 177
Principalities, and renowned in the Ottoman Empire for
his oriental scholarship, and his diplomatic experience.
After having inspected, along with the four consuls,
the credentials of Sami Bey, Rifaat Bey said, “We are
come at the expiration of the period of twenty days to
ask what is the decision to which his Highness has come
with regard to the stipulations of this second alternative
of the convention.” *
Sami Bey replied, “Before the expiration of the second
period, the Pasha had accepted the inheritance of Egypt,
out of deference to the decisions of the four great
Powers, and to the orders of his benefactor the Sultan;
and I now confirm to you officially this resolution. With
regard to Syria, his non-acceptance not being a refusal,
His Highness, considering his numerous services to the
Ottoman Empire, is desirous of submitting a request on
this subject, as well to his lawful sovereign as to the
four great Powers; and he flatters himself that Rifaat
Bey, as well as the consuls of the four Powers, will
have the goodness to communicate it to their respective
Courts.”
The object of this evasive answer was to enable M.
Thiers to gain time, in order to complete the military and
naval preparations subservient to a policy which minis-
tered neither to the advantage of France nor to the
honour and prudence of this statesman. But it was a
definite yea or nay that the agents required on this
occasion, and the proposals for delay by Mohammed Ali,
having been unaccompanied by the offer of the imme-
diate surrender of the fleet, were regarded as a non-
acceptance.
On receiving this intelligence, the Porte notified to all
the missions at Constantinople the deposition of Mo-
hammed Ali from his post as Pasha of Egypt, and also
the establishment of a blockade of the ports of Egypt
WOL. II. l 2
178 DEPOSITION OF THE PASHA.
and Syria; and the Consuls-General of the four Powers
took their departure from Alexandria. The tempest
lowering over the head of Mohammed Ali had thus been
braved with inconceivable infatuation. The policy of
Thiers had appeared to offer a secure harbour of refuge—
an illusion that was quickly dispelled, when the storm, at
length bursting, aroused the Pasha from his fallacious
security.
179
CHAPTER XVII.
RigoRous Policy of THE EGYPTIAN AUTHoRITIES IN SYRIA.—THE BRITISH
FLEET OFF THE SYRIAN CoAST.—THE AUSTRIANS AND TURRs.-OPERATIONs
NEAR BEYROUT.—GHAZIR OCCUPIED.—DJEBAIL AND BATRoun.—HosTILITY
OF THE MoUNTAINEERs To THE EGYPTIANs.
A PERIOD sometimes arrives in political affairs when
all the efforts of soldiers and statesmen to avert a crisis
are as futile as attempts to smother an earthquake or
erect dams against a rolling flood. Wain were the
precautions and proclamations of Suleyman Pasha, major-
general of the Egyptian troops, in presence of the irre-
pressible ferment in the popular mind of Syria. Partial
risings had taken place in mount Lebanon in the course of
the summer, in consequence of the mountaineers having
been obliged to workin the coal mines; but a force of above
ten thousand men having been sent to Beyrout with Mo-
hammed Ali's usual promptitude and decision, the moun-
taineers were, without being conciliated, compelled to
adjourn their rising to a more favourable opportunity.
But the identification of the forces of four out of
the five great Powers of Europe with the interests of the
Sultan, again placed the Egyptian Government in a most
critical position, without even the firing of a shot; and
in August, not only the mountaineers of Lebanon, but
the Nosairis of mount Cassius, the Moslems of Nablouse,
and the Druses of the Hauran were again in a state of
agitation. Suleyman Pasha, having informed the consuls
at Beyrout of Mohammed Ali's refusal of the conditions
offered him by the Sultan, the coast of Syria was declared
180 COMMODORE NAPIER.
in a state of siege. Every individual, whether native or
foreigner, introducing into Syria writings or proclama-
tions fomenting disobedience or revolt, was to be punished
by death, while the prospect of penal servitude was held
out to all who chose to be guilty of concealment of the
Sultan’s proclamations. The Egyptian Government in
Syria at the same time spread reports of the aid France
was about to give Mohammed Ali. The Moslems of
Damascus and Aleppo were led to believe that the object
of the Allies was to establish Christian supremacy in
Syria, which the Egyptian Government was alone in a
position to resist ; while the Christian population of the
mountains were on the contrary led to fear the revival of
Druse supremacy and Christian abasement.
A small British naval force had been for some weeks
off Beyrout, under the command of Commodore Napier,
a man of daring gallantry, whose forward enterprising
spirit had led him in a varied career to serve as a soldier
as well as a sailor in the troubles of western Europe;
and who, in his own peculiar profession, had earned well
merited fame by encounters of ship to ship during the
latter years of the Anglo-French war, and, finally, by a
naval action off Cape St. Vincent, which had discrowned
Don Miguel, the sovereign of Portugal. The bulk of
the fleet rejoined the squadron of Napier on the 8th of
September, off Beyrout, under the command-in-chief of
Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, an experienced and honour-
able officer, but certainly past the age when extraordinary
personal activity could be fairly expected. The fleet itself
was in the highest state of efficiency, as might be expected
in the case of an insular people, whose ships, colonies,
and commerce encircle the globe. All the admirals and
captains of a certain standing had seen war. Even the
juniors required no schooling to the tug of actual combat.
A fleet, unlike an army, never rusts; and the Sailor is,
THE BRITISH SQUADRON OFF BEYROUT. 181
So to speak, always in campaign. Navigation with its
contrasts of climate, its alternations of weather, its con-
stant exertion and occasional danger, disciplines the mind
to foresight and the body to arduous enterprise.
Austria was represented in this expedition by a small
, force of frigates, on board which was an archduke of the
Imperial House, who had been brought up to a naval
Career, and who has since been cut off in the flower of
youth. The remains of the Turkish naval forces were
commanded by Walker Bey, that British officer who
had been surprised into a passive spectatorship of the
defection of the most effective part of the fleet, and on
board this remnant, hastily fitted out for the occasion,
was a small force of four or five thousand Turkish troops.
As Beyrout was surrounded by a slight wall without
a ditch, it did not appear to Commodore Napier desirable
to make a first attack there; because, had the Allies suc-
ceeded in obtaining possession of the town, they would
have been penned in by a superior force, and would have
had no opportunity of communicating with and arming the
mountaineers, without whose assistance it would have
been impossible to make any impression on Suleyman
Pasha's army. Under these circumstances the com-
modore suggested to the admiral, who was commander-
in-chief of the allied forces by sea and land, that they
should put the troops ashore in Djouny Bay, in the
province of Kesrouan, and there entrench themselves,
and arm the mountaineers who, they had reason to
suppose, would flock down and join the Sultan's standard.
The invention of steam as applied to shipping had
prodigiously increased the military power of the Allies,
who had the command of the coast; and of this full
advantage was taken, in the very first operations. After
dark on the 9th September the Turkish troops and
marines were moved into the steamboats, the operation
|82. A LANDING: EFFEGTED.
being accomplished by two in the morning. Soon after
eight they proceeded off Beyrout Point, to draw the
Egyptian troops in that direction, and there wait until
the sea breeze set in. The Egyptians, anticipating a
landing, issued out to the Westward, prepared to drive the
Allies into the Sea, before they should have time to form ;
but a brisk fire of shells being opened upon them from
the fleet, their columns were disordered, with some loss
of life. Between nine and ten o’clock the azure of the
Mediterranean began to be slightly ruffled by the sea-
breeze which sprang up ; and upon this Napier and
Walker, with the troops, weighed anchor and stood
across the bay to Djouny where they took up a position
on an elevated promontory jutting out from near the base
of mount Lebanon. The position was immediately
entrenched, and the approaches to it completely swept
by the guns of the protecting naval force, while at the
same time lighter craft commanded the coast-road from
Beyrout. In the immediate vicinity, the Dog river not
only intercepted the mountains by a deep ravine, with
its towering rocks and gloomy shades, but afforded
abundance of cool and delicious water. A Turkish
battalion was landed to the north of the river, so as to
prevent the advance of the Egyptians from Beyrout,
when they discovered the real point of attack. On the
heights was a convent, and Commodore Napier took up
his quarters in the chapel, which served for dining room,
bedroom, and powder magazine. His establishment was
landed from the ship which he commanded; and he says
in his narrative, “I looked back to the month I passed
there as one of the happiest of my life. Provisions were
abundant, wine not bad, and archdukes, princes, pashas,
and emirs were entertained; and I fear the laws of the
prophet were frequently infringed by our Turkish allies.”
On the 11th a flag of truce was dispatched to Suley-
MR. RICHARD WOOD. 183
man Pasha to summon him in the name of the Sultan to
surrender the town of Beyrout; but as he returned an
evasive answer, the British admiral ordered the destruc-
tion of the castles and forts to the right and left of the
town. Firing was kept up at intervals for three
, successive days ; the effect of the fire on the town being
tremendous. Many soldiers were killed in the streets by
shot and shell.
One of the most useful auxiliaries of the Allies was
Mr. Richard Wood, one of the interpreters of the British
Embassy in Constantinople, who had been invested with
extraordinary powers by the Porte for temporary pur-
poses. This gentleman had been educated in Syria, was
well acquainted with the language and principal per-
Sonages of these mountainous regions, and all through
the operations gave proofs of intelligence and zealous
activity. He caused Arabic versions of the convention
of London to be distributed in the mountains, which
had an electrical effect on their inhabitants. Intelligent
enough to understand that the Egyptian Government
could not keep its ground with such odds against it, they
thronged the rugged roads, leading like spiral staircases
from the fastnesses above to the coast, and eagerly Sup-
plied themselves with the muskets provided for them.
Eight thousand stand were thus distributed, and more
applied for them than could be furnished with them.
The principal place in the neighbourhood is Ghazir,
situated far above the sea on the brow of a hill. Besides
cool pure air, it enjoys a very romantic situation, being
in the middle of an amphitheatre of lofty mountains,
partly covered with wood, and watered by brooks in all
directions. At the highest part of the hill was the
palace of Emir Abdallah Shehab which overlooks the
whole coast, with the promontory of Beyrout, its town
and shipping, and the Bay of Djouny seawards, while in
T84 SUBMISSION OF GHAZIR.
the opposite direction the landscape is rugged, rocky,
and mountainous.
A powerful feudal Christian family had at one time
possessed this place, but by divisions of inheritance, and
profuse expenditure in horses and retainers, they had
been reduced to poverty; and the Emir Abdallah Shehab
was, at this period of the war, the wealthy man of the
district.
Mr. Wood, availing himself of the impression produced
by the bombardment of Beyrout, marched up to Ghazir
with two hundred Turks and a hundred marines, to free
the inhabitants from the presence of the troops of the
Emir Beshir, the great ally and support of the Egyptians.
Here the inhabitants received the Anglo-Turks with the
greatest enthusiasm, intermingling in their ranks and
offering prayers to the Almighty for their success. At
the same time the troops of the Emir Beshir, offering no
cordial resistance, were speedily dispersed. After this
the Emir Abdallah wrote a letter of submission. Mr.
Wood conducted him to a tent where he presented him to
Sir Robert Stopford and Selim Pasha, who commanded
the Turkish troops, and whose confirmation of him as
Governor of Kesrouan had an excellent effect on the
mountaineers.
Meanwhile Ibrahim Pasha, having correct intelligence
of what was going on, endeavoured, along with Emir
Halil, to enter the province of Kesrouan, with a view to
intimidate the mountaineers who had taken arms, whose
villages were menaced with fire if they joined the Allies
or refused to give up the muskets distributed. Nor were
fair promises neglected, while seeking to intimidate the
mountaineers. Remission of the obnoxious capitation
tax for three years was held out; but the Allies, not to
be outmanoeuvred, promised its total abolition. -
Acting on the principle of striking sudden and un-
SUCCESSES OF THE ALLIES. 185
expected blows in various directions, the towns of
Djebail and Batroun, to the north of Beyrout, were as-
sailed by the light movable shipping of the fleet; but these
efforts were not unattended by casualties. At the former
place the ships opened their fire upon the castle, which was
returned by musket shots. A landing was made—the
marines advancing briskly to the assault; but, on reach-
ing within thirty yards of the tower, a destructive fire
was opened from a crenellated outwork, having a deep
ditch in front, which was completely masked from the
fire of the ships. The men falling fast, and the wall of
the castle being impracticable, with no gate accessible, and
only the muzzles of the muskets visible through the loop-
holes, the men werejudiciously drawn off. But at night a
party of armed mountaineers was established in the town,
and at daylight it was found that the Albanians had evacu-
ated the castle during the night, leaving their wounded
behind them. An attempt was made to bombard the fort
and camp at Tripoli, but the distance was found too great
to produce the desired effect from the sea.
The public spirit, at first slow, timid, and groping,
now shewed a bold front in favour of the Allies, and the
Egyptian power, fragile at the best, became irreparably
damaged after the first shocks. That knowledge is power
is under no circumstances more true than in War. The
Allies had excellent information of all the movements of
the Egyptians. The armed mountaineers, hovering on
their flanks and rear, attacked small parties and convoys,
while the Allies could send ammunition and provisions,
with escorts of four or five men, two or three hours into
the country. The peasantry, who had been forced under
pain of death to leave the villages occupied by the Allies,
began to return in great numbers, and a regular market
was opened in one of them, to which a confluence of the
provisions and resources of the country directed itself.
186 THE SYRIAN MOUNTAINEERS.
All the efforts of the emissaries of M. Thiers to retain
the mountaineers in the Egyptian interest were unsuc-
cessful. The superior of the French Lazarists arrived
off the coast in a French steam vessel from Alexandria,
with a view to prevent the Catholic inhabitants of Mount
Lebanon from embracing the cause of the Sultan, and
taking arms against Mohammed Ali; but the Austrian
Consul-General in Egypt, having information of the
design, apprised the Austrian admiral, Baron Bandiera,
of the fact; and before the superior had time to land,
the French prefect of the convent of the Lazarists at
Antourah—two hours distance from Djouny—visited
the emissary. He had first obtained the consent of
Admiral Stopford, which was necessary, inasmuch as the
convent of Antourah was within the British advanced
post; a permission which was readily granted because
the admiral was not ignorant that the only advice which
could be given to the new comer was to return forthwith,
without putting his foot on shore, since the Christian
mountaineers of all denominations had pronounced them-
selves for the Sultan and his allies. The consequence
was that the Lazarist superior, seeing his labour in vain,
at once returned to Alexandria,
187
CHAPTER XVIII.
NoMINATION of SIR. C. SMITH.—WIGOUR OF SIR. C. NAPIER.—SIDON TAKEN.—
THE EMIR BESHIR DEPoSED.—OMAR’s OPERATIONs.—BATTLE OF THE 10TH of
OCTOBER.—DEFEAT OF IBRAHIM.–SURRENDER OF BEYROUT.-Bom BARDMENT
OF ACRE.
ON the 30th of September the Sultan nominated Sir
Charles Smith, a distinguished British artillery officer,
to be virtual commander of the Ottoman troops in Syria,
to the great discontent of Izzet Mohammed Pasha, the
titular governor of Acre and its dependencies, who was the
chief representative of the Porte in these military opera-
tions. “Be it known unto you,” recites the firman of
the imperial will which gave such disgust to the Pasha,
who belonged to the old leaven of Turkish pride,
ignorance, and corruption, “that Sir Charles Smith,
the most illustrious among the noble followers of the
Messiah, being a man of the most eminent abilities, it
is most necessary and advantageous that you should act
under all circumstances according to his opinion and
judgment; and you shall not deviate from the path of
his instruction, but you shall exert yourself to the utmost,
as you will be held responsible for the commission of
any action contrary to the advice and opinion of Sir
Charles Smith. Conform you therefore scrupulously
to all that is above written and give due credence to the
imperial cypher.”
Izzet Pasha played to the best of his ability the
passive part assigned to him, without, however, being
entirely able to conceal his disgust, and as little his
I88 ACTIVITY OF COMMODORE NAPIER.
overbearing and savage character, which brought down
upon him the hatred of those who were placed under his
orders. One day he ordered five hundred blows to be
given to his cook for having put too much salt into the
soup. One of Admiral Stopford's interpreters, who,
fortunately for the wretch, was present, interceded for
him and obtained his pardon.
But Ibrahim Pasha still held, not only the high road
from Beyrout to Damascus, but many of the more
central and populous points of Lebanon. A revolt had
been formented and extended with signal success, which
gave confidence to the troops of the Sultan, and inflicted
discouragement on the Egyptians. But no positive
encounter had taken place between the respective land
troops. Napier and Jochmus, however, felt that this
crisis of demoralization must not be thrown away, and
that a blow must be struck while it lasted. Accordingly
on the 23rd, at night, a strong force was left to cover
the camp at Djouny, one of the first rules in war being
to obtain the possession of a secure basis. The remain-
ing force of the army, consisting of four battalions of
Turkish infantry, a battalion of British marines, and two
detachments of Austrian rocketeers, was formed with a
view to attack at daybreak the advanced guard of
Ibrahim Pasha, consisting of a thousand men under the
Emir Massoud, entrenched at Ardali in a very strong
mountainous position; but being taken in the rear, after
fatiguing marches over precipitous ground, a part of the
Egyptians were dispersed, and four hundred, having their
retreat cut off, were made prisoners. In this affair the
loss on the part of the Allies was small, but the results
were important, in consequence of its having been the
first success of the Turks over the Egyptians that had
taken place for many years.
Commodore Napier was the soul of the expedition;
SURRENDER OF SIDON. 189
and, fully comprehending that delays were to be avoided
in the face of an army disheartened, disorganised, and
partially defeated, his counsels were all for vigorous
and decisive action—for striking fresh blows before the
enemy could recover himself. The force at the com-
mand of the Allies was small; but the elements conspired
in their favour. Not only sea and land, but rain and
air—not only revolt in the mountains and blockade by
sea, but steam itself co-operated in conferring ubiquity
of intelligence, of movement, and of action.
A reconnaissance was made of the coast from Beyrout
to Sidon, at which place the Egyptians were found busy
in fortifying the town and barricading the streets. The
admiral then decided upon an attack on Sidon, and on
the 26th of October Commodore Napier joined Admiral
Stopford with a force of 1400 Turks and marines. The
town was duly summoned, and, on the refusal of the
authorities to give it up, was bombarded. A landing
was then effected. Captain Walker headed the Turks
in the assault that took place after a breach was made;
Commodore Napier, the English; and the Archduke,
the Austrians. The assault was made in three places
under the fire of the ships, and to prevent the garrison
from running away, the steamers kept sending bombs
away beyond the town and so kept them in. The
Egyptian troops fought well from the houses, but were
turned out and driven back to the barracks, where, at
last, they were compelled to lay down their arms about
sunset; and the garrison, composed of between 2,000
and 3,000 Egyptians were made prisoners.
On the following day Mr. Wood assembled the Divan
of Sidon, and read to them the powers with which he
was invested by the Porte, and in the name of Izzet
Pasha established the government in the name of the
Sultan. Public prayers were offered by the Mufti for
I90 THE EMIR BESHIR PROPOSEs TERMs,
the success of his arms, and the greatest enthusiasm was
displayed by all classes of the inhabitants, who were as
usual ready to throw off the government of the day.
This event had a great moral effect upon the mountaineers
around Sidon, and several Emirs of the house of Shehab
came down to the coast and made their submission. The
Sheikh of Dair el Kamar came personally to Sidon, and
stated that Ibrahim Pasha was there with about four
thousand men, so that it was impossible for the in-
habitants to leave their families and come down for
arms, as the moment it became known to him he would
revenge himself on their families and burn their houses
in their absence.
The old and once influential Emir Beshir was in the
utmost perplexity. Ibrahim Pasha, anxious to retain a
man who had given solid proofs of his power and autho-
rity during so many years, neglected no art of persuasion,
no display of force, and no precautions of espionage to
retain him within his toils. But this hoary chief, not
daring to declare openly for the Allies, had nevertheless
lost all confidence in the star of the Egyptians. He
therefore sent to Commodore Napier a message by a
priest, with a request to meet one of his emissaries at the
advanced posts of the Allies after dark; proposing as
terms—first, the observation of secrecy during the nego-
tiation; secondly, that he should retain his government,
and be guaranteed in it by the four Powers; and thirdly,
that he should be allowed time to withdraw his sons and
grandsons from Ibrahim Pasha before he declared him-
self. The first and third of these propositions were
accepted, but Commodore Napier did not feel justified
in hampering himself with any pledge; and Mr. Wood,
as the political agent of the Porte as well as of the
Dritish ambassador, being impatient of delay, was obliged
to grant the Emir a term, so as to preclude further in-
BUT IS SUPERSEDED. 191
jury to the interests of the Sultan in Syria. On its
expiration on the 8th of October, a firman superseding
him was delivered to another member of the house of
Shehab, the Emir Beshir El Kasim, who had found
means to escape with a few horse from the neighbour-
hood of Beyrout, and had joined the camp of the Allies;
and who, at the head of a troop of mountaineers proved a
most useful commander of an irregular rifle force, having
in a smart skirmish obtained a considerable advantage
over Osman Pasha, one of the lieutenants of Ibrahim,
at Merouba.
Ibrahim Pasha, having persisted in his system of
dividing his forces, in order to cover more ground, the
Allies combined to take advantage of his mistakes. On
the 8th of October, in the afternoon, General Jochmus
occupied the heights of Ardali, where the action of the
24th September had been fought; and Commodore Napier
and Selim Pasha, with Colonel Hodges, marching thither
on the 9th, resolved to drive the Egyptians from their
position at Kalat Maidin, which was of prodigious natural
strength, being covered by a deep ravine, and presenting
three successive lines of entrenchments. The elevation
of the position, from the depth of the ravine to the
highest redoubt, was, perhaps, a thousand yards, and in
many parts the rocks were nearly perpendicular.
It was in the operation which we are about to detail
that the well-known Omar Pasha earned his first horse-
tail. The youthful Lattas was of a nation of heroes.
Born at Ogulin, on the borders of the Croatian Switzer-
land, and close to the frontiers of the north-west corner
of the Ottoman Empire, he was of that race which the
arms of a Selim and a Suleyman could not entirely sub-
due, even in the zenith of the martial power of the sons
of Osman. Strangers to the wealth and luxury of Venice
and Ragusa, the profession of arms and the lays of the
192 AN EARLY EXPLOIT OF OMAR PASHA.
minstrel have formed the business and charmed the
leisure of these heroic mountaineers. When Servia and
Hungary had been prostrated by the Porte, Croatia was
the link between the haughty republicans of maritime
Venice and the successors of Charlemagne. But times
were altered; and Turkey, no longer the menace of
Europe, had become the cordial ally of those who led
the van of European civilization and upheld the balance
of power. No longer in the immediate service of Austria,
but in that of the Porte, the youthful Lattas, adopting
the Turkish language and Moslem religion, pursued one
of the most curious and remarkable careers of which
modern history affords an instance. In the campaign
we record, the ex-Croat officer, now become Omar Bey,
shewed, in a subordinate position and in the execution of
plans devised by others, those qualities of comprehensive
intelligence, of wary caution, and of undaunted audacity
at the moment of decisive action, which—exercised in
larger fields, and in independent commands—have pro-
cured him a solid reputation as a general-in-chief, and
have associated his name with the unfeudalization of the
Ottoman Empire, the consolidation of its domestic ad-
ministration, and the skilful defence of its frontiers
against the most formidable of its foreign foes.
With the double view of saving a great loss of life,
and of obtaining greater results, Omar Bey was directed
to march at night with two battalions of Turks on
Argentoun; and, descending into the deep gorge of the
Dog river, with great caution and secresy, to cross over
to Beckfeya in the rear of the Egyptians, and effect a
junction with the Emir Beshir. Had Omar Bey been
discovered in the bottom of the gorge, his corps would
have been destroyed ; but this very dangerous manoeuvre
was executed by him with great skill, and, at about two
o'clock next day, a firing in the rear of the Egyptian
"NAPTER’s SELF-GLORIFICATION. I93
position announced to Napier and Jochmus that the
movement projected had been executed.
Commodore Napier, having ascertained that Ibrahim
Pasha commanded the Egyptians in person, had ordered
up to the heights of Ardali the three remaining battalions
from Djouny, and two Turkish field pieces; so that when
the fire of Omar Bey was heard approaching, the Allies
had also seven battalions ready to attack in front. One
of these battalions, with the mountaineer rifles, were
directed to cross the ravine which separated the Turks
from the Egyptians, and to arrive on their line of retreat
by the road to Brumana; while four battalions were to
storm the heights of Kalat Meidan, and two more to
remain as reserves on the heights of Ardali. The feelings
of Napier at this moment have been described by himself in
that racy style of undisguised self-glorification with which,
next to his unquestionable merits, his contemporaries are
most familiar, and which too frequently recals the
dubious literary taste of an equestrian circus address:
“It was rather a new occurrence for a British Com-
modore to be on the top of mount Lebanon, commanding
a Turkish army, and preparing to fight a battle that
would decide the fate of Syria; but the very novelty
was exciting to a degree. I was in my glory. Standing
on an eminence, surrounded by the general officers and
my own staff, I fancied myself a great “commander;”
and, surveying the enemy, who had not quite so brilliant
an appearance as the Scottish host—although I could not
exclaim with Marmion:
“Oh, well Lord Lyon, hast thou said,
Thy King from warfare to dissuade
Were but a vain essay.
For, by St. George, were that host mine,
No power, imperial or divine,
Should once my soul to rest incline,
Till I had dimmed their armour's shine
In glorious battle fray !—”
WOL, II, 13
194 DEFEAT OF IBRAHIM PASHA.
yet I said to my friend Hodges, “If we can get the Turks
and mountaineers to mount that rugged hill, and Omar
Bey attacks at the same time their rear, Ibrahim will get
such a dressing as he never had before.”
After two hours' fighting, and the display of the most
daring gallantry on the part of the Turks, the heights
were carried, aided by Omar Bey, who struck boldly into
the rear of the Egyptians, and at the close of the action
was joined by Napier and Jochmus, who had crowned the
heights. Thus, taken in front and in rear, Ibrahim
Pasha had to throw himself into the gorge, not twenty-
five men of any of his corps remaining together at sunset,
and he himself escaping with difficulty, accompanied by
a few horsemen. Eight hundred prisoners, with all the
stores and ammunition, fell into the hands of the Allies on
this occasion, as well as a green banner, which was
Subsequently presented to the Sultan with due solemnity.
Night alone put an end to the conflict. In the dark the
troops of Omar Bey unwittingly got into collision with
a part of the native force under Commodore Napier, and
the conflict was ended with difficulty; opponents, reci-
procally supposed to be prisoners, and who refused to
surrender, turned out to be allies. .
As the displacement of the keystone of an arch entails
the collapse of everything around it, this defeat of
Ibrahim Pasha brought other disasters in its immediate
train, which cleared all the hill country of the Egyptians.
Suleyman Pasha having been weakened by the detach-
ment of four battalions to support the commander-in-
chief, had withdrawn himself altogether from Beyrout in
the night of the 9th of October, and concentrated himself
in a camp one hour and a half east from the town,
having the river between himself and the place. But
the news of the entire defeat of Ibrahim Pasha having
reached Suleyman Pasha's camp, his troops were seized
ADVANCE OF OMAR BEY ON TYRE. 195
with a panic; and, abandoned by them, he fled in the
direction of Damascus with a few squadrons of horse.
At daylight Sir Charles Smith and Captain Henderson,
of the Gorgon, landed at Beyrout for the purpose of ascer-
taining how matters stood, when a colonel of the
Egyptian army treated for terms of surrender for two
thousand of his officers and men, the town being no
longer defended. Another body of infantry of Suleyman
Pasha's corps in camp followed their example ; and thus
not only Beyrout, with its stores, but twenty field pieces,
with camp equipage, fell into the hands of the Allies.
Tripoli was also evacuated, without firing a shot, upon
an Austrian corvette anchoring off the town.
Between Sidon and Acre inwards is the southern
portion of the Lebanon chain, inhabited by the Moutalis,
who, as the name denotes, adopted the Shea or Ali-ite
form of Islamism, in common with the Persians, and in
contradistinction to the Sunnite Turks and Arabs, who
hold by the rite of Aboubekr. This population begged
to be furnished with three thousand stand of arms by
the Allies, in order to take possession of the passes; and
on the 29th October, when it was finally determined that
the siege of Acre should be undertaken, Omar Bey was
detached for the purpose of advancing from Sidon with
two thousand Turks upon Tyre, from thence to occupy
the pass of the White Mountain to the northward of
Acre. On the 31st the admiral made sail from Beyrout
roads, having previously embarked in a squadron, with
three thousand Turks under the immediate command of
Selim Pasha, and small detachments of royal artillery
and Sappers.
Omar Bey reached the position assigned him at the
same time that the fleet appeared off Acre, on the 2nd
of November, and at two p.m. on the following day the
cannonade and bombardment commenced with great
196 BOMBARDMENT OF ACRE.
spirit. Sir Robert Stopford directed the operations from
a steamer, and Commodore Napier, in the Powerful,
followed by the Princess Charlotte, Thunderer, Bellero-
phon, and Pique, having got well round the shoal, now
bore up and ran along shore towards the north angle.
As the ships neared the fortress, the colours were hoisted
from two flagstaffs, one on the citadel, and the other lower
down. Commodore Napier desired the bow-guns of the
Powerful to be fired to prevent the Egyptians pointing
with correctness. At this time, the southern division,
led in with great judgment and gallantry by Captain
Collier of the Castor, were fast approaching their position;
and, when well within range, the Egyptians opened their
fire, the shot going considerably too high. In a few
minutes they passed the circular redoubt, where only
three or four guns were mounted, and then anchored
abreast off the sea wall, defended by forty guns, in six
and a half fathom water.
The Egyptians had not calculated upon the fleet lying
close in under the ramparts of the fortress, which resulted
in the British broadsides telling fearfully, while the balls
from the fortress flew over the hulls of the British
vessels. An accident of a tremendous character, produc-
ing the most decisive results, also occurred. During the
bombardment, the principal magazine, and the whole of
the arsenal blew up, in consequence of a shell supposed
to have been projected from the Gorgon. By the ex-
plosion, two entire regiments, formed in position on the
ramparts, were annihilated, and every living creature
within the area of 60,000 square yards ceased to exist.
The loss of life was variously computed at from 1200
to 2,000 persons. Masses of solid building were also
blown to a great height up in the air, and came down again
in a shower of fragments, which greatly damaged the for-
tifications on the land side.
ENTRY OF THE ALLIES. 197
During the night, the governor with a portion of
the garrison, quitted the town, which was taken posses-
sion of by the allied troops at daylight on the following
morning. The British officers found the devastation
indescribable; dead bodies of men, animals, and fragments
of wall being scattered in all directions.
There was great difficulty in restoring order, in conse-
quence of the propensity to plunder, and the confusion
of languages. Another explosion also took place; for
five casemates, filled with fixed ammunition, had been
neglected, although near the smouldering crater of the
former explosion, and notwithstanding the instructions
of Sir Charles Smith for their removal. The ammunition
blew up three days after the bombardment, at intervals
of five or six seconds between the ignition of each ; and
in a moment the garrison was enveloped in darkness,
accompanied by showers of balls, and the explosion of
shells of every denomination. -
I98
CHAPTER XIX.
Policy of BRITAIN AND FRANCE.—DEJECTION of MoHAMMED ALI.—NAPIER
oFFALEXANDRIA.—LETTER. To MoHAMMED ALI.-INTERVIEw witH MoHAMMED
ALI, AND CONVENTION.—STORM on THE CoAST.—NAPIER's CoNVENTION
DISAPPROVED BY ADMIRAL STOPFORD.—VIRTUALLY AccEPTED BY WIscount
PALMERSTON.
THE important event which we have just described
removed the last remnant of film from the eyes of Mo-
hammed Ali. A bold attack of the united French fleet
on the maritime forces of Britain, Austria, and Turkey,
then scattered along the coasts of Egypt and Syria, and
aided by the Egyptian squadron making a sortie from
Alexandria, must have delayed the evacuation of Syria,
and prolonged for some time at least the power of Mo-
hammed Ali in Asiatic Turkey. But the prudence of
Louis Philippe, aided by the sound sense and experience
of M. Guizot, and other statesmen of eminence, withheld
from M. Thiers that support of his adventurous policy
which was isolating France from Europe, under the
erroneous impression that the interests of that highly
military nation were to be found in a rivalry with
England in Egypt, and in the support of the quasi-inde-
pendence, and hostility of this part of the Ottoman
Empire to the metropolis. All this was founded on
the assumption that Great Britain had an eye to the
annexation of Egypt—a doctrine professed and enter-
tained by no British party, and by no eminent British
statesman, the maintenance of the integrity of the
DESPONDENCY OF MOHAMMED ALI. 199
Ottoman Empire being a broad and secure principle,
recognised by all those European statesmen most dis-
tinguished for political genius and political morality.
On the 8th of November the consul-general of France
had a public audience for the purpose of presenting some
officers, when Mohammed Ali—who was at that time
in conference with Achmet Pasha, and other officers
of the fleet—before them, and in the presence of
many Europeans, loudly complained of the treatment he
had received from the French Government, telling M.
Cochelet that the present disastrous state of his affairs
was entirely owing to his having listened to the counsels
of France. Then, addressing those around him, he said
that he had lost all confidence in the French Govern-
ment, that he had abandoned the hope of its affording
him any effectual aid in the present crisis, and that in
future he would be guided by his own views.
The following day he received the intelligence of the
fall of Acre, which threw him into the deepest dejection.
He however shortly afterwards despatched a courier to
Ibrahim Pasha, with instructions to evacuate the whole
of Syria; and intimated to those in his confidence that
he was now prepared to give up the Turkish fleet, and
comply with all the demands of the Sultan, provided he
could be insured the quiet possession of Egypt. Up to
this point he had gaily kept up his spirits, conversing on
the events of the war with the coolness of a spectator;
but for three successive days after the intelligence of
the fall of Acre, his silence, loss of appetite, and his des-
pondency, were visible to all about him. “Effendumuz
keifsiz,” “Our lord is healthless,” was the expression
which I heard for some days from his officers, after the
fall of Acre.
Admiral Stopford having thought it necessary to
increase the squadron off Alexandria to six sail of the
2003 NAPIER OFF ALEXANDRIA.
line, Commodore Napier went thither to take the com-
mand, in order to make a powerful demonstration, whilst
the rest of the squadron, with the exception of a ship.
of the line, was to be withdrawn from the coast in con-
sequence of the advanced state of the season. On the 21st
of November Napier arrived off Alexandria, and before
communicating with the squadron, ran in and recon-
noitred the defences. The sea face was covered with
guns; but, with the exception of the castle, Napier judged
that there was nothing which could resist a strong naval
force: at the same time an attack without troops could
have led to no result.
On joining the squadron, Napier was put in possession
of the copy of a letter from Wiscount Palmerston to
Wiscount Ponsonby, stating it to be the opinion of Her
Majesty's Government that, if Mohammed Ali should at
an early period make his submission to the Sultan,
restore the fleet, and evacuate Syria, he should have the
hereditary tenure of the Pashalic of Egypt. In addition
to this, Ibrahim Pasha, having given up his system of
scattering his forces, had concentrated them at Zahle and
Damascus, where his chief depôts of provisions had been
established; and, with the cavalry at his command, was
able to defeat any force that might have been sent
against him, either in the plains of Coelo-Syria or on
the comparatively level country in the environs of the
capital. Cognizant of the real aspect of affairs, and
judging correctly of the impression that the fall of Acre.
must have made on Mohammed Ali, Commodore Napier
determined to take on himself the responsibility of
opening a communication with Mohammed Ali through
Captain Mansel of the Rodney, who had previously made
the acquaintance of the Pasha. This officer, entering
Alexandria with a flag of truce, conveyed to Boghos
Bey a letter of which the chief purport is not worth
HIS PROPOSALS TO THE PASHA. 201
detailing, but the appendix to which, like a feminine
postScript, was the most important part:
“Will his. Highness permit an old sailor to suggest
to him an easy means of reconciliation to the Sultan and
the other great Powers of Europe P
“Let his. Highness frankly, freely, and unconditionally
deliver up the Ottoman fleet, and withdraw his troops
from Syria : the miseries of war would then cease, and
his Highness in his latter years would have ample and
Satisfactory occupation in cultivating the arts of peace,
and probably laying foundation for the restoration of the
throne of the Ptolemies.
“He may rely upon it Egypt is not invulnerable ;
he may rely upon it Alexandria itself may be made to
share the fate of Acre; and his Highness, who has now
an opportunity of founding a dynasty, may sink into a
simple Pasha.
“I am,” &c.
The reply of Boghos Bey was conciliatory, and far
from insisting on the retention of Syria and the fleet.
Mohammed Ali gave it to be understood, by a variety
of circumlocutions and excuses, that the war in Syria
had been precipitately entered into at a period when his
favourable dispositions towards a settlement were mis-
understood. In short, both the tone of this letter and
the information afforded to the Commodore by Mr.
Larking, Her Britannic Majesty's intelligent consul,
induced him again to write to Boghos Bey, pressing
£--- * A3 - 4:-- 4- gº tº
for a distinct answer, as he had no discretionary power
and must act against the Pasha according to the best of
his abilities, but that he was nevertheless ready to have
an interview with the Pasha. *
On the morning of the 25th, Commodore Napier
entered the harbour of Alexandria in the Medea steamer,
202 A CONVENTION AGREED TO.
passed through the Turco-Egyptian fleet, and anchored
off the palace. He then landed and proceeded to the
house of the British consul, Mr. Larking; and on the
following day, at noon, he proceeded to the palace, where
a battalion of Egyptian troops presented arms in the
courtyard, while a band of music was playing martial
airs. After several days of discussion and negotiation, a
convention was agreed to, dated the 27th of November,
1840, by which Mohammed Ali engaged to evacuate
Syria, and to restore the fleet; and at the same time a
suspension of hostilities was to take place. Not only
was the Egyptian army to have the liberty of retiring
from Syria with its artillery and stores of every descrip-
tion, but free passage was to be given to vessels bringing
back wounded and invalids by sea. The convention
being moreover based on the statement that the Allied
Powers had recommended the Sublime Porte to give
Mohammed Ali the hereditary government of Egypt,
a guarantee to that effect was implied but not established
therein.
Among the reasons that induced Commodore Napier
to arrive at a prompt conclusion of negotiations was the
state of the weather at this advanced season. On the
very day after the conclusion of the convention, a storm
came on, such as had been seldom seen in the Mediter-
ranean by the oldest persons, and of which the author of
this history was a witness, he residing at that time in
the marine residence of Mr. Larking, Her Majesty's
consul, who had charge of the archives and of the
political affairs after the departure of the diplomatic
agent. The wind blew from the north-west in violent
gusts. Black and murky clouds covered the face of the
heavens, sometimes chequered with openings through
which the sun shot brief and transitory rays; and the
Sea, like mountains and Valleys in motion, rolled its
A. MEDITERRANIEAN STORM. 203
huge waves, which, breaking on the rocks and islets
between the new harbour and the baths of Cleopatra,
made the coast a line of white foam. In the old harbour
the massive ships of the line and three deckers laboured
up and down at anchor, as if influenced by the breezes
of the open sea. At night the new Pharos warned those
outside of Safety and of danger; but the forked lightning
rending the clouds was the best lighthouse on that
fearful night. For two successive days the storm did
not abate; the houses shook with the loud rattle of the
thunder, and the harbour—several miles in length—was
dotted with merchant ships driven ashore. Napier's
Squadron successfully rode out the gale: the Powerful
was struck by a heavy sea which started her forechannels
and endangered the foremast, and the rigging of the
Rodney and Cambridge had given out so much that their
masts became insecure; but no loss had taken place. The
Bellerophon at Beyrout had a narrow escape, having
been obliged to cut her cable, and make sail; and after
scraping the land as far down the coast as Lattakiah, was
saved by a miraculous shift of wind. The Pique, at
Caifa, near Acre, was obliged to cut away her masts to
prevent her going on shore, and at the same time the
Zebra was stranded. Commodore Napier, having
Weathered the storm, and seeing no further necessity
for keeping the squadron at sea, proceeded to Marmarice
Bay, where he anchored on the 8th of December, and was
much gratified to be received by the fleet with three
cheers and the rigging manned.
Admiral Stopford thought proper to withhold his
approval and ratification of the convention signed at
Alexandria, not only on account of what he characterized
as the unauthorised manner and unnecessary haste with
which so important a document was executed, while
the commander-in-chief was within two days' sail; but
204 OBJECTIONS TO THE CONVENTION.
on the ground that it would be productive of more evil
than good, and occasion much embarrassment. To this
Napier answered that his non-communication with the
admiral was from no want of respect, but that it was
of the utmost importance to seize the opportunity, while
the Pasha was highly incensed against M. Thiers, of
bringing him without loss of time to terms, without the
mediation of France.
Sir Charles Smith also disapproved of the convention
in a severe letter, beginning with the words, “Had you
fortunately abstained from honouring me with your letter
of the 27th instant, I should have been spared the
pain of replying to it;” to which Napier answered in a
style of blunt nautical parody, “Had I unfortunately
abstained from writing to you, and the admiral had
quitted the coast, you would have had just cause to have
complained of my want of courtesy. I quite disagree
with you that the convention was prejudicial to the
interests of the Porte, and I am happy to say it has been
approved of, with the exception of the guarantee, by
Her Majesty's Government, and I am now going to
Alexandria to see it carried, into execution.”
The Porte and the ambassadors at Constantinople
also disapproved of the convention. But Wiscount
Palmerston was, upon the whole, satisfied that a con-
clusion had been arrived at, and he requested the Lords
of the Admiralty to convey to Commodore Napier the
approval of Her Majesty's Government. But at the
same time it was necessary that Sir Robert Stopford
should make known to Mohammed Ali that his demand
that the four Powers should guarantee to him the grant
of the hereditary government of Egypt could not be
complied with ; for it would have been inconsistent
with the principles which guided the conduct of the
British Government to guarantee to a subject a grant
IT IS CONFIRMED BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 205
of administrative authority made to him by his
sovereign: and as one of the main objects of the treaty
of the 15th of July was to uphold the independence of
the Sultan, such an interference would have been incom-
patible with it. For these reasons neither Great Britain
singly, nor the four Powers jointly, could give the
guarantee demanded ; but they agreed to counsel the
Porte to establish Mohammed Ali in the hereditary
tenure of Egypt. With these instructions Sir Robert
Stopford complied ; Captain Fanshaw, an able officer,
having been despatched to Alexandria with the noti-
fication.
206
CHAPTER XX.
IBRAHIM PASHA AT DAMASCUS.–HIs ABLE DISPosſTIONs.—HIS RETREAT.—
SUFFERINGS OF THE EGYPTIANS.—PERSONAL DETAILs of IBRAHIM PASHA.—
HIs HIGH SPIRITS.–EVACUATION OF SYRIA.—RETREAT of SULEYMAN
PASHA BY THE GULF OF AKABA.
BUT we must now return to Ibrahim Pasha, who,
after his defeats in mount Lebanon, concentrated himself
in Damascus, to which point Ahmed Menikli Pasha
directed all the scattered corps in the north of Syria,
with exemplary coolness, method, and ability. Ibrahim
Pasha himself, under the pressure of circumstances
enough to unman the boldest, has made his retreat from
Syria a memorial of his greatness of mind and military
ability, which will bear a comparison with anything that
he had previously done in the more palmy days of his
Arabian and Syrian conquests. Giving way neither to
despair, nor even to dejection, he set about boldly the
task of reorganising his shattered divisions, and the pro-
viding of food and transport for so numerous a force,
including a large colony of civilians and their families of
Egyptian origin or connection. The discipline he kept
was the admiration of the Damascenes.
Defeated troops are in all ages and countries prone
to indemnify themselves by the plunder and maltreat-
ment of the unoffending inhabitants; but the severe
examples made by Ibrahim Pasha, and his orderly police,
fully answered their purpose on this trying occasion.
On the 29th of December he evacuated Damascus. All
the bazaars were ordered to be shut ; and, having assured
Fºr
RETREAT OF IBRAHIM PASHA. 207
himself that nothing was in the illegal possession of his
men, he took his station outside the southern gate; and,
making the whole army defile before him, he did not
pursue his journey until the last man, horse, and camel
had quitted the place. Only a small body of Koordish
irregular cavalry deserted on the occasion.
At El-Mezereib, Ibrahim Pasha divided his forces
into five columns. The artillery, the baggage, and the
Women, were sent on to Akaba on the Red Sea, to be em-
barked for Suez; and this corps he entrusted to Suleyman
Pasha. The other four divisions made the best of their
way to Gaza. When they left Damascus they had only
sixteen days’ provisions, in addition to which they
obtained a small supply of flour at El-Mezereib. The
cavalry were sixteen days on the march, the infantry
twenty-seven, and Ibrahim’s corps thirty-four. Small
supplies were occasionally received from the villages, but
they avoided the great towns, and made for the Dead
Sea, which they kept sight of, and approached as near
as the nature of the country would allow.
Gaza was important, for it was still occupied by
Mahmoud Bey and some other superior officers of the
Egyptians, with three thousand cavalry and nine guns.
It is too remote from the sea to be acted upon by naval
artillery, and was all-essential to the Egyptians,—Gaza
being the key of their line of retreat and the locality of
their depôts of provisions; and it is the last town on the
cultivable territory of Syria before the desert begins.
General Jochmus, at the head of a body of Turkish
& o tº e *
cavalry—aided by his intelligent aides-de-camp, Baron
Dumont and Count Szechenyi–showed great activity in
the earlier part of the retreat, in rousing the hostile
populations of the Hauran, the Jordan, and Nablouse, to
annoy the Egyptian army. He was desirous of captur-
ing and destroying the stores at Gaza; but these views
208 SUFFERINGS OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY.
were not warmly seconded by the British admiral and
officers, in consequence of the negotiations then pending
with Mohammed Ali. For, although the Napier conven-
tion had been disallowed by the admiral, pro formal, the
de facto evacuation of Syria was in course of rapid ac-
complishment; and there being no grounds for impugning
the good faith of Mohammed Ali as far as this conven-
tion was concerned, General Michell, who now com-
manded the British force, felt that he ought not to be
behind the Egyptians in scrupulous punctilio.
The army of Ibrahim Pasha suffered very severely
in the retreat through a country deficient in roads,
resources, and population; and the inclement weather
of the middle of winter told severely on troops from the
torrid soil of Egypt. The actual encounters between
the Egyptians and the Allies were few and unimportant.
At Nedjdel, near Gaza, the cavalry of the two forces got
into collision, and in a gallant and successful charge,
Colonel, now General, Rose, was severely wounded. It
may, however, be said, that the Egyptians accom-
plished their retreat with a steadiness that does them
honour, Ibrahim Pasha being familiar with the military
geography of the south of Syria from Dan to Beersheba.
The Allies were not without casualties; and Brigadier-
General Michell, a most meritorious officer, succumbed
to exhaustion and continued exposure to rain in this
inclement season, complicated by old wounds received
on the fields of the Peninsula.
At length the formal orders to evacuate were given
by Mohammed Ali, on the conclusion of the arrange-
ments described in our last chapter. At the same time,
the British officers pledged themselves that no further
molestation or obstacle should be offered to the complete
evacuation; and Colonel Rose, having been sent to
communicate with Ibrahim, fell in with him on the
THE RETREAT TO GAZA. 209
31st January, about four hours from Gaza, which town
he entered with him the same afternoon. When he
came up with Ibrahim Pasha's column there were two
lines of videttes flanking it towards the Syrian side, and
mounted and dismounted cavalry, to prevent desertion.
He rode for several miles along the column, which was
in great disorder, and in fact broken up into groups of
men in twos and threes, some armed, others not, and
Some hardly able to walk. He saw two standards, one
without any escort, the other with a guard of two men,
who must have belonged to battalions which had been
broken up on account of the casualties. Ibrahim Pasha's
own horse had had no barley that day; the troops had
been three days without water, and had subsisted chiefly
on mule and donkey flesh, which sold at a high price.
Two hundred determined cavalry might with great ease
have swept away all that part of the column which
Colonel Rose saw ; he entered it at about two-thirds of
its length.
Colonel Alderson, who was an eye-witness of their
arrival at Gaza, and collected all the information he
could, states that Ibrahim left Damascus with 62,499
Souls, including women and children; and that on his ar-
rival at Gaza, there were not above 30,000 souls: besides
which there were between nine and ten thousand men
forming the column of Suleyman Pasha; so that the
loss could not have been less than 20,000 souls, or one-
third of the whole army. There were many deserters;
but several thousands must have perished by hunger,
fatigue, disease, and the inclemency of the season; for
in such a retreat, without shelter, comforts, or medicines,
disease and death are almost synonymous.
The appearance of Ibrahim Pasha himself at this
period was that of a man considerably past his prime.
He was very fat, with a large full projecting eye, a hand-
WOL. II. 14
210 AN INTERVIEW WITH IIHRAHIM PASHA.
some nose, and a broad forehead projecting over the eyes
and then suddenly retiring. He had strongly marked
eyebrows and a thin grey moustache. He did not appear
pleased when Colonel Rose gave him Mohammed Ali's
letter; and it seemed to the Colonel that he was either
affecting high spirits, or that he had been drinking too
much. He drank frequently from a bottle which hung
in front of his saddle, which an Egyptian colonel of
artillery said was filled with claret; and though then
suffering under a very bad attack of jaundice, his eyes
and head being quite yellow, he talked and laughed
constantly with his servants. On receiving Mohammed
Ali’s letter he was agitated, and it took him five minutes
to read it, although it only consisted of four lines.
Whilst he was thus employed, his camel-rider and chief
groom were also endeavouring to read it over his
shoulder. Colonel Rose rode with him for about four
hours, and accompanied him to Gaza. He spoke with
considerable bitterness of the Turks. He said, “Why
have you turned out the Seraskier?” Colonel Rose
replied that he believed the Turkish Government had
recalled him because they were not satisfied with his
conduct. He answered, “Oh I they are all alike; they
smoke all day, and have people to wash their hands.”
Colonel Rose said, “The present Seraskier is a very good
man and soldier.” “Oh yes!” he replied, “as long as
he is in the saddle ; as soon as he sits down he will rob
like the rest;” on which he laughed very much. “I
am the only man,” he said, “to manage the Arabs and
Bedouins, who never had any master before me: I could
and did cut off their heads, which the Turks never will
do. Lord Palmerston, from London, and Lord Ponsonby,
from Constantinople, will have to come here to manage
Syria.” Colonel Rose said, that certainly they had done
So much without coming to the country, that there was
HIS RECEPTION AT GAZA. 21I
no knowing what they might effect were they actually
to do so.
The Pasha's reception at Gaza was remarkable: the
people flocked from curiosity to see him, but his entry
formed a singular contrast to that of the Turkish troops into
the different towns and villages which they had occupied
for the first time. In the latter case the reception was
enthusiastic, the men lining the roads and saluting them
with all the varieties of an Eastern welcome, and the
women crowding the house-tops, and making with their
tongues that extraordinary noise which is meant to
denote extreme pleasure. But, on the passage of Ibrahim
Pasha, there was a look of deep-rooted dislike on the
faces of the people, which even their dread of him could
not conceal. He, contrary to the eastern fashion, saluted
no one, no one saluted him : certainly, as an inhabitant
afterwards said to Colonel Rose, “Not a tongue nor a
heart blessed him.”
When Colonel Alderson and Captain Loriny went
to see Ibrahim Pasha, after having shewn that they did
not wish to intrude on his privacy, he received them
with loud expressions of joy, made them sit down,
ordered coffee, and, asking if they liked music, sent for
an Arab band, consisting of a violin like a tenor, Hbut
with five strings, a dulcimer, a guitar, and two men who
sang. The music itself was bearable, but when the men
commenced singing at the top of their voices it was
anything but harmonious. His Highness had certainly
no very refined taste in music.
When they entered, the Tasha was surrounded by his
generals, playing vingt-un for handfuls of gazees (gold
dollars). He showed his character in this too, being
always ready to back his own play, and loud in his
expressions of delight when successful. He apologised
for being found so employed, but said he had nothing
212 PRACTICAL JOKES OF A PASHA.
else to do there; but that, when at Cairo, they had their
farms to attend to and plenty of business to occupy
their time.
He was evidently a man of considerable talent, and of
great energy, when needed; and he appeared to have
the most unbounded control over those by whom he was
surrounded. This influence arose partly from fear of
him, and from the known energy of his character and
the confidence everyone had in his succeeding in
whatever he undertook. His smile was anything but
agreeable; and would, as it seemed to his visitors, have
sat on his features, whether ordering an execution or
welcoming a guest. When amongst his generals, if
in a good humour, he showed it by practical jokes,
pulling the beard of one, hitting another with his fist,
or pushing a third about. They all seemed to bear
this as the fondling of a tamed lion or tiger whelp, which
his master might declare to be quite safe, but whose
sportiveness was felt by those exposed to it might have
a disagreeable ending.
The season of the year was very unpropitious for
embarking troops on the coast of Syria, and the position
of Gaza is most treacherous, being in a cul de Sac of
the Mediterranean, from whence there is no escape
should the wind blow on the land; while the surf is
generally so high that the embarcation of troops is
attended with danger. The Egyptian Admiral, with
eight sail of vessels acting as transports, was indefatigable
in his exertions, and Ibrahim and his generals were
frequently in attendance. There being no quay, the
Arabs, whether sick or well, were obliged to strip, take
their clothes on their heads, and wade up to their
armpits. Thus men women and children were at length
set afloat, until the army was conveyed to Damietta.
Ibrahim Pasha remained until the last, and embarked
RETREAT OF SULEYMAN PASHA’s DIVISION. 213
on the 18th February; at the same time, the last corps
of cavalry took their route by land for El-Arish and
Gaza. The last town of Syria was thus put in possession
of the troops of the Sultan.
The greatest sufferings of the Egyptian army were
those undergone by the division of artillery under
Suleyman Pasha, which moved direct south along the
road of the Mecca pilgrims to the east of the Dead Sea,
and onwards to the Gulf of Akaba. Suleyman marched
on the 7th of January out of Mezareib, which may be
called the last town of Syria on the land side; and on
the 15th, the corps, after much suffering, arrived at
Mahaan. This is a place consisting of two walled
villages, within a few hundred yards of each other, in-
habited by Arabs who make a trade of supplying the
Mecca caravan with necessaries, the larger village having
above two thousand inhabitants. Here are always large
stores of provisions. An attempt had been made by the
pursuing Turks to get the inhabitants to sell and destroy
their stores; but Suleyman Pasha got a Bedouin Sheikh
to represent that if the stores were destroyed the town
would be exposed to the vengeance of the Egyptians:
and so, on his arrival, 70,000 piastres’ worth of provisions
were procured for the army. It was only by stern
discipline that the famished troops could be restrained
from plundering the place; but Suleyman had taken his
precautions, and menaced with death those who set foot
within the walls. Two men who transgressed the order
were actually shot, and this saved both the town and
the army.
Suleyman Pasha now turned aside from the Mecca
pilgrim road, and took that of Akaba, which is the other
horn on the head of the Red Sea, corresponding with
that of Suez. Here he arrived, after encountering great
difficulties in the transport of the guns through a granitic
214 ARRIVAL OF SUCCOURS.
valley, which was at one place shut in by a ruinous gate.
At Akaba the army remained a week, and found an old
fort on a rock, where the guns were temporarily stored
up in order to be transported by sea to Suez. By far
the worst sufferings of the army were on the road from
Akaba to Suez, where a great number of horses died, and
also many soldiers. The horses were up to their bellies
in sand, no water was procurable, and no vegetation
was visible, except a few stunted mimosas, so that even
the Bedouins do not encamp here. At Nahlé, there was
a little fort garrisoned by a few irregular troops, and
inside of it a well of nauseous water. It was a terrible
scene, recalling the French retreat from Syria, to see
men and animals rush to the well with disease and
despair depicted on their countenances. But here again
the forethought and firmness of Suleyman had provided
disciplinary checks against mutiny. The battalions were
watered in successive order, and then marched off again.
Unfortunately, the water proved a poison to many ex-
hausted men, who immediately died. Such is the force
of habit on the human frame, for the people of many
places relish brackish water, and consider it more invi-
gorating than sweet water.
The troops no longer marched together ; for the only
enemy was hunger and thirst, and the horses were so
weak that many mounted men had to pursue the journey
on foot as they best could. One night, the moon, which
had hitherto shone brightly, was obscured by clouds;
and this circumstance excited feelings of Superstitious
terror in the minds of the soldiers, whose physical
systems were already lowered by exhaustion. On a
sudden they manifested indescribable joy, on perceiving
a long caravan defiling on the horizon, and which proved,
as was anticipated, to be the succours sent from Suez
by Mohammed Ali’s order. But for this timely support
PROCLAMATION OF MOHAMIMED ALI. 215
the whole division might have perished. At Suez the
army found abundance of provisions and water, and
rested itself until the detachments were successively
drafted across the desert to Cairo, where Suleyman
Pasha arrived on the iIth February. Seven thousand
men, three thousand horses, and the whole of the
artillery of his corps re-entered Egypt, after a retreat
conducted by Suleyman, under circumstances of great
difficulty, with unquestionable ability.
Meanwhile, the Turkish fleet had been restored in
due form to the officers of the Sultan, in the harbour
of Alexandria. Admiral Walker hoisted his flag on
board the Mahmoudieh, a three-decker of 130 guns;
and on the 20th January, 1841, he sailed for Marmarice
Bay, that beautiful landlocked anchorage on the coast
of Caramana.
Thus terminated all the military operations. With
regard to the interior of Egypt, although Mohammed
Ali was strong enough not to fear any rising of the
peasantry against his oppressive rule, yet he deemed
it advisable to issue a proclamation stating his view of
his Syrian disasters, a sort of twenty-ninth bulletin
of his grand army, couched in the following terms:—
“Everything is new and changeable in this world;
so the joys of peace often follow fierce war. When we
look at the progress of events, from the Creation to the
present time, we see them directed by an Almighty and
Unfailing Hand, and that the creature, however he may
think or act, cannot alter the decrees of the Creator.
No oscillation in the scale of destiny takes place without
His permission and command. Hence it has come to
pass that Commodore Napier, the commander of the
British fleet in these seas, has made known to the
Pasha that the hereditary possession of Egypt by his
family would be in accordance with the views of the
216 DIPLOMATIC TRANSACTIONS.
great Powers of Europe. It has, therefore, been found
good to spare the blood of the Moslems, and to impart
contentment to the subjects, so that everybody may re-
joice in peace, and follow his occupations, whether in
handicraft, trade, or agriculture. We have ordered our
Seraskier to evacuate Syria, and to return with our
Egyptian army; therefore, the present writing is made
known to all our servants and subjects.”
If Mohammed Ali was dissatisfied with the perform-
ances of his army, the army was equally dissatisfied with
the humour they found him in, after the great difficulties
and sufferings they had gone through in support of his
Syrian schemes. Sagacious and talented as he was,
Luropean flattery and his own complacent vanity had
so completely deceived him as to the reality and solidity
of his power, that the reactive shock most poignantly
offended his self-love. Ibrahim Pasha was also deeply
mortified at the result of the Syrian campaign; and for
some time Mohammed Ali and Ibrahim Pasha did not
see each other. Ahmed Menikli Pasha, the most capa-
ble of his Syrian lieutenants, after Suleyman, and who
in all circumstances had done his duty with energy and
skill, was also disgusted with his reception when he
visited Cairo, although the moudirship of Benisouf had
been given him.
But we must now close this portion of our narrative
with some mention of the diplomatic transactions con-
sequent on the expulsion of the Egyptians from Syria.
The first of these was necessarily the submission of
Mohammed Ali to the Porte, followed by the grant of
the hereditary government of Egypt, and the concluding
act of this drama, comprising the cessation of the isolated
attitude of France, and the concurrence of the five great
Powers in an act guaranteeing the closing of the Dar-
danelles to the ships of war of all nations,—thereby
SUBMISSION OF MOEIAMIMED ALI. 217
involving on the part of each of the high contracting
Powers an abnegation of isolated pressure on the Otto-
man Empire, the observance of which understanding re-
moves the chief danger of contention from among European
Powers, and the infraction of which can never take place
without imminent peril to the peace of the world.
The principal passages of the submission of Moham-
med Ali are drawn up with all the art which acknow-
ledges supremacy to obtain its end ; but which, far from
betraying contrition, colours even an act of humiliation
with the language of self-respect.
“Commodore Napier, of the British fleet, informed
me by a dispatch dated from before Alexandria, 22nd
November, N.S., that the great Allied Powers have re-
quested the Sublime Porte to grant me the hereditary
government of Egypt on the conditions laid down by
them ; that is, that I shall give up the imperial fleet
which is in the port of Alexandria, and that the Egyp-
tian troops shall retire from Syria and re-enter Egypt.
“The Commodore required that diligence should be
used in preparing the fleet, in order to its being delivered
up, and in withdrawing the troops from Syria.
“After some correspondence, and some discussions
with the Commodore on this matter, these conditions
were accepted, and an authentic Act, manifesting that it
is expected that the favour of him who is the shadow of
God should be granted, and serving also as a document
to both parties, was concluded and signed.
“Thus, then, when your Excellency shall, if it please
God, have taken cognizance of my prompt submission,
carried into effect as above, you will be pleased to lay it
at the feet of the clemency of my most august and most
powerful Sovereign and Master, of whom I am so proud
to be the faithful and submissive servant, and to employ
your good offices, in order to cause a man advanced in
218 GRANT OF THE HEREDITARY GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT.
age, and faithful, who has grown old in his service, to
experience, without ceasing, the effects of his Sovereign's
clemency.
“‘He who can ordain—will ordain.’”
Mohammed Ali, in consequence of his submission,
coupled with the surrender of the fleet and the evacua-
tion of Syria, Arabia, and Candia, was, on the 4th of
February, 1841, gazetted to the hereditary government
of Egypt, in the following terms:—
“Moved by that goodness and that paternal solicitude
by which he is distinguished, the Sultan, who has always
loaded with favours the servants of the Sublime Porte, is
pleased to consider the recent events as having never
taken place, and has not only consented to pardon Mo-
hammed Ali, his children, relatives, and all his servants;
but being desirous also of manifesting his clemency to-
wards Mohammed Ali and towards his children, he has
granted to His Highness the government of Egypt
hereditarily.
“In consequence, the Sublime Porte has decided upon
fixing the conditions necessary for the hereditary suc-
cession, and to make certain arrangements, which are the
consequence and explanation thereof.
“The Egyptian question, is then, God be praised
ended in the manner which has been seen.
“This matter had caused some uneasiness in the minds
of men; but at length it is happily brought to a conclu-
sion, and that is what is communicated to the public.”
While the breach was thus closed between the Sultan
and his vassal, the termination of the Eastern question
created an unseemly difference between France and the
other Powers, particularly Great Britain. Exasperation
rose so high as almost to lead to war, which, however,
was averted by the statesmanlike qualities of Guizot, the
M. GUIZOT. 219
largest political figure in France since the first empire—
equally eminent as a man of letters, an Orator, and a
practical statesman.
The works of Guizot betray vast erudition, and the
phenomena of history are presented with a masterly
scientific classification. The laws of Europe, from the
decline of the Roman empire to the full revival of
civilization, have been unrolled to explain them. But
the various latent forces of nationality, compressed in
the iron bonds of a stringent and uniform feudalism,
and containing the whole enigma of present and future
humanity, have in a great measure escaped this remark-
able historian, who is moreover deficient in the colouring
of a bright imagination and in those great thoughts,
“that,” as Pascal says, “ come solely from the heart.”
In oratory, too, he has none of that southerly glow with
which a Mirabeau, a Vergniaud, a Foy, and a Lamartine
have kindled to enthusiasm the representative assemblies
of France. Addressing himself to the business in hand,
he is what the English style admiringly a “practical,”
and the French depreciatingly, “a technical Orator.”
But great moral dignity cannot be denied to this icy,
academic, and somewhat dogmatic nature; the whole of
his career having shewn that he was neither to be cajoled
nor intimidated by the powerful. In philosophy he is a
partisan of those principles of “duty” which a Cousin
has so ably contrasted with the “utility” of a Helvetius,
a St. Lambert, and a Volney; and in politics, belonging
to the British school, he has been as a statesman free
from the passion of equality, and the despotism of the
majority propounded by a Rousseau and a Louis Blanc,+
theories which are utterly incompatible with that con-
stitutional liberty which Guizot has spent his life in the
vain and tantalizing effort to acclimate on the uncongenial
soil of modern Gaul.
220 THE DARDANELLES AND BOSPHORUS.
The first care of M. Guizot was to effect the re-entrance
of France to the European concert, which he accomplished
with leisurely deliberation and dignity, so as to obtain
the respect of the other Powers. The immediate fruit
of this was the treaty of the 13th July, 1841, concluded
in London, by which the Sultan declared himself firmly
resolved to maintain the principle invariably established
as the ancient rule of his empire—that no foreign ship
of war was to be admitted into the Dardanelles and the
Bosphorus, with the exception of light vessels for which
a firman was to be granted.
221
CELAPTER XXI.
MoHAMMED ALI's GovKRNMENT AFTER THE TERMINATION OF THE WAR.—THE
ARMY PARTIALLY EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE.-MoHAMMED ALI RECEIVES
THE DEcoRATION OF GRAND WIZIER.—DESTRUCTIVE CATTLE MURRAIN.—THE
TRANSIT REORGANISED.—THREATENED REVOLT OF AHMED PASHA of SENAAR.
—HIS DEATH,-HIS SLAVE HUNTS.—DEATH OF Bog Hos BEY.—ANGRY SUS-
PICIONs of MoHAMMED ALI ON THE DISCOVERY OF THE FINANCIAL EMBARRAss-
MENT PRODUCED BY HIS ERRONEOUS AND OPPRESSIVE SYSTEM OF TAxATION.—
HE PUNISHES THE GOVERNOR OF DAMIETTA FOR CRUELTY AND FANATICISM.
LET us now proceed with the narrative of events in
IEgypt during the last years of the rule of Mohammed
Ali, when his ambitious schemes against the Ottoman
empire had broken down, and when Syria, Arabia, and
Candia had been restored to the direct rule of the
Sultan, though the best of all remained to him—Egypt,
with its inexhaustible productive powers and large pecu-
niary revenue. If the possession of a surplus, after pro-
viding for all the civil and military wants of a State, be
taken as the test of the value of lands to be governed,
Mohammed Ali was in reality better off after 1841 than
before, though possessing a smaller extent of territory.
E[is position was no longer precarious. He was not an
obstreperous tenant-at-will, but had a diploma securing
the richest part of the Ottoman empire to his family.
The surplus of the Egyptian revenue was no longer en-
gulphed in the military expenditure of Syria and Arabia,
and could be applied to those public works in Egypt
which occupied the intelligence and activity of Moham-
med Ali, and also excited his imagination and tickled
his vanity by the prospect of celebrity which their exe-
cution afforded to himself or his successors.
222 CIVIL EMPLOYMENTS OF THE ARMY.
And yet suspicions of treachery haunted Mohammed
Ali day and night. He supposed that the Porte would
recommence the ancient policy of seeking to upset the
refractory ruler of Egypt, by an arrangement with some
resolute officer of high rank who could carry out a plot
with secrecy and decision. Sending his son, Said Pasha,
with rich presents to Constantinople, he endeavoured to
regain his former influence, and to free himself from the
more inconvenient of the stipulations affecting his new
position. The presents had been accepted, but nothing
tangible had been obtained; and he therefore philosophi-
cally resigned himself to making the best possible use
of the sphere that remained to him. Unwilling to dis-
perse his now useless army, he turned their spears into
ploughshares and pruning-hooks, and a multitude of
civilians were dismissed from their offices in every part
of Egypt, in order to make way for military men; the
higher officers being thrust into mudirships, and the sub-
ordinate ones into lower civil offices, the flower of the
troops being kept in garrison at Cairo and Alexandria.
The common soldiers of the army were not very well
pleased with this new condition of soldier-labourer; for
the labour deprived them of the leisure they prized as
a compensation for the restraint of military discipline,
and the discipline appeared an irksome addition to the
labour of an ordinary fellah. In the course of time this
system was not found to work very well, for the Pasha
found out that he had neither a good soldier nor a good
labourer, and the army was gradually reduced, and the
purely labouring population reinforced.
Having a surplus revenue, and no offensive military
projects in view, he turned to defensive schemes. During
the war, Colonel Gallice, of the French engineer service,
whom he had elevated to the rank of Bey, had raised
temporary fortifications to protect Alexandria against a
FORTIFICATIONS OF ALEXANDRIA. 223
coup de main ; but a more comprehensive scheme was
now adopted, so as to embrace both harbour and arsenal,
and to inclose the whole of the enceinte of the town, sup-
ported by detached forts to the westward of the town,
commanding the isthmus by which Bonaparte had first
approached Alexandria. But there was a certain diffi-
culty in the application of the European science of fortifi-
cation to the soil of Egypt. One of the usual processes
is to “gazon,” or turf over the earthworks, so as to
retain them by a vegetable envelope from being blown
away as dust. But in Egypt turf does not form easily;
and, moreover, the eyes of the artillerymen are un-
pleasantly affected by the excessive glare of stone and
lime, to say nothing of the heat which they evolve.
But these were minor obstacles. By dint of the large
surplus revenue, and the skill of the French engineers,
the fortifications were accomplished in the course of re-
volving years; but, as they have not yet been put to the
test, it would be presumptuous in a civilian to offer an
opinion on their efficiency.
Meanwhile, Turkey was far from appearing to con-
solidate herself, notwithstanding the apparently fair start
which she had in 1841. It is true that she got quit
of the incubus of a threatened invasion of the heart of
the Empire from the slopes of the Taurus. But on the
other hand, she got back Syria and its unruly popula-
tion without getting back Egypt, the large revenue of
which would have covered any deficit in Syria. A
small number of patriotic men were anxious to consoli-
date the rule of the Sultan by fair government; but the
great majority of the old Pashas desired to maintain the
time-honoured system of peculation and plunder, and
the various nations of Turkey were violently agitated
by their passions, prejudices, or supposed rights. In
consequence of the weakness of the government, civil
224 MOEIAMIMED ALI MADE GRAND WIZIER.
war had broken out between Druses and Maronites in
October, 1841; and in the spring of the following year
Mohammed Ali sounded the Porte as to whether it would
be disposed to accept his assistance. The Pasha even
dreamed of having his son, Said Pasha, made governor of
the Pashalic of Sidon, which includes a considerable part
of Mount Lebanon. But all hints of this description
were coldly received at Constantinople.
The liberal gifts of the Pasha were, however, always
welcome at a corrupt court; and any distinction that
might gratify his vanity, without infringing on the poli-
tical sphere of the divan, was not to be refused. Conse-
quently, in September, 1842, we find the dignity of
Grand Vizier conferred upon him, with a flattering article
in the official Ottoman paper, stating “that Mohammed
Ali, Waly of Egypt, one of the oldest Viziers of the
Bigh Porte, out of gratitude for the numerous marks of
favour with which he had been overwhelmed by his
sovereign, was devoting all his energy and zeal to the
service of the Sultan, who, in recognition of his fidelity
to the imperial throne, had conferred upon him a proof
of his high Satisfaction in the form of a Hattishereef
which elevated this Pasha to the rank of Grand Vizier.
This favour was solely personal to Mohammed Ali, and
the insignia of the honour, as well as a copy of the
Hattishereef, were handed over to Sami Pasha as a proof
of the confidence of the Sultan.”
Such was the language of official courtesy to the rebel
of yesterday. Accordingly Sami Pasha proceeded to
Alexandria, and the delivery of the rescript and
decoration took place with all the pomp appropriate to
the occasion, and in the presence of Ibrahim Pasha.
In the summer and autumn of 1842, Egypt was visited
with a murrain among the cattle, of extraordinary vio-
lence and severity, and which threatened to have the
THE CATTLE MURRAIN. 225
most disastrous effects; for the income of Egypt being
chiefly derived from agriculture, and agricultural labour
being chiefly performed by oxen, the loss was so enormous
that it was necessary to press the horses of the artillery
and cavalry into service for the cultivation of the land.
I myself saw, sometime afterwards, the tall camel and the
diminutive ass yoked together in the primitive Egyptian
plough—a spectacle which might have produced hilarity,
if it had not been checked by the reflection that the
cause of this incongruity was the terrible scourge which
Holy Writ informed us was from time immemorial one
of the periodical plagues of Egypt. In this crisis Mo-
hammed Ali displayed all his energy, feeling that destiny
had laid the axe to the very root of his revenues. Money,
ships, and intelligent officers were immediately despatched
to Turkey proper, and other countries, in order to supply
the deficit. But the animals did not come soon enough
and fast enough ; and bands of villagers yoked them-
selves to the plough, with the palm-fibre ropes strapped
round their shoulders, in order to get through the in-
dispensable operation of preparing the ground for seed.
What increased the evil was, that there was in this year
an extraordinary flood of the Nile; and, as the waters
receded at a later period than usual, there was the less
time to prepare the dried land for the expected crop.
At length, in November, the murrain obviously dimin-
ished, and the Nile began to fall, after causing unusual
damage, much accumulated produce being swept away.
The apprehension of the application of the treaty be-
tween Great Britain and Turkey, abolishing monopolies,
had for sometime alarmed Mohammed Ali; and he there-
fore adopted the simple plan of making large grants of
land to the members of his family and his favourites,
The whole produce of Egypt could thus be controlled to
suit his convenience. It sometimes happened that ships
WOL. II, 15
226 A PLAGUE OF LOCUST.S.
from England and other European ports remained for
weeks in Alexandria, from inability to obtain produce,
although the magazines were full. Mohammed Ali, with
all his intelligence in political and military matters, had
not an idea of the A. B. C. of political economy; but it
is only justice to his successors, to say that they have
arranged matters much better, and that European mer-
chants having large capital at stake, and carrying on
trade in accordance with the liberal provisions of the
capitulations, are no longer subject to the capricious
fancies of a single colossal salesman. In other respects,
this year was signalized by two measures favourable to
European—and particularly to British—interests. A
company was formed under the auspices of Mr. Thurburn,
of which the Pasha was a large shareholder, for the
better management of the transit comprising the steam
navigation on the Nile and the car traffic across the
desert, which was studded with stations. There was as
yet no immediate prospect of the railway being carried
out to Suez; but the electric telegraph to this town was
in this year resolved on and begun: so that we must do
Mohammed Ali the justice to say that in everything
relating to the transit he was generally ready to accom-
modate, and sometimes even to anticipate.
In 1843 the plagues of Egypt showed themselves
again. The cattle murrain of the previous year had
carried off 200,000 oxen, so that the fine cavalry horses
that were put to field labour were in a few months
scarcely recognizable, from leanness, rope wounds and
grazes. In 1843 the plague was that of locusts which
covered the whole land from the cataracts to the sea-
board; so that the government, to encourage their
destruction, gave the peasantry so much per oke for
the dead insects, and men women and children resorted
to the usual absurd incantations, and the astrologers
AHMED PASHA. 227
and magicians had unusually large gains. Mohammed
Ali sent Abbas Pasha to enquire into this fresh source
of loss and suffering, but nothing could effectually stop
it, and in many spots every ear of corn was soon eaten
up. The plague proper, which had begun in that portion
of the army employed in field labour, also raged during
Winter and spring, so that natural accidents of a serious
description kept the government and the mercantile
houses at Alexandria in much inconvenience.
The position of Ahmed Pasha of Soudan, Mohammed
Ali’s lieutenant in the countries of the Upper Nile,
occasioned him great uneasiness this year. Two of the
Pasha of Egypt's most faithful military men died
suddenly, and suspicions were entertained that Ahmed
Pasha, relying on his distance from Cairo, wished to
play Mohammed Ali’s former game—upon a smaller scale,
it is true. Ahmed Pasha continued to send respectful
letters, and presents of ivory, and female slaves for the
Pasha's harem ; but on various pretexts he refused
to come to Cairo. The climate is, however, in itself a
rapid consumer of the life of Europeans, and Ahmed
Pasha died, conveniently for Mohammed Ali, of the
autumnal fever.
Ahmed Pasha, in order to conceal his doings, opened
all letters of Europeans, whether going to or coming
from Egypt, in the last months of his rule, got them
translated and then burnt them; so that some Europeans
were half desperate from having no answers to their
communications. This Pasha's name was also notoriously
associated with those slave hunts in the countries beyond
Nubia which at this period excited the attention and the
indignation of the philanthropists of Europe. The terri-
tory between the White and Blue Nile was the locality
of these human battues. According to an active and
intelligent traveller, who made himself acquainted with
228 SLAWE HUNTS IN THE
all the details of one of these expeditions, Ahmed Pasha
started with nearly 3000 infantry, officered by Turks
and Egyptians, 1000 irregular Arab cavalry, four guns
and 6000 camels, swelled up by accessions that brought
the whole force to 5000 men. When they arrived at
Rhor-el-Sidr, the cavalry was sent on against the Dinkas
Nomade negroes, on the White Nile, while the main
corps marched south to Ule, in the Borun country. In
five days the cavalry came back with 623 slaves, 1500
oxen, and a few sheep. Next day the booty was divided,
one half being apportioned to the government, and the
other half to the captors.
The army now went further into the land of Borun,
and came in sight of the village at Mount Tombak. The
inhabitants, who had taken flight, occupied the tops of
the isolated hills, which were surrounded by the cavalry
and stormed by the infantry. Here the negroes defended
themselves with the courage of despair, but most of the
men capable of bearing arms were killed or wounded.
Their arms consisted, not of muskets, but of bows and
arrows with fine ivory points, so that not a single
Egyptian was killed, although many were wounded. At
about mid-day the soldiers came back with their human
booty. They took from the town all the corn that the
troops were still in need of, and the remainder, with the
village itself, was burnt down.
On the following day, the slaves, 526 in number,
including men, women, and sucking children, were
examined by the physicians in order to see how many
of the men were fit for military service. The males wore
a sheep skin round the shoulder, and the women a frock
or shirt. Only seventy-five were found to be fit for
arms, most of the prisoners having received gunshot
wounds while defending themselves. The Pasha took
the unwounded, as well as the handsomest Women and
COUNTRIES BEYOND NUBIA. 229
boys, as the half belonging to the government, and left the
rest to be divided amongst the army. When the families
were separated, and men, women, and children were torn
asunder, there arose the most melancholy and passionate
wails. The soldiers made sure of their slaves in the
following way: they stuck the neck of each into the
fork of a split pole an arm thick, and bound the two
ends behind the head, and the other end of the pole
to the saddle, so that they could take them along with
them, without giving themselves much trouble. The
march lasted usually from six to eight hours, and as the
soldiers scarcely took water enough for themselves,
the slaves suffered frightfully from thirst, and they
received no other nourishment but Indian corn Softened
with water. Those whose wounds hindered them from
marching were shot at once, so that of the whole number
captured not the half arrived at Khartoum.
The army now marched to Kerr, a district with ten
or fifteen little villages, the inhabitants of which had
sought an asylum in two palisaded enclosures. An
attempt was made by the Egyptians to bring down this
palisade with cannon-balls, but without success. The
infantry therefore stormed the palisades, and tried to
pull them down with their hands, but were three times
beaten back. At length the fire-arms gave the Egyptians
the superiority, and the place was taken. Exasperated
by the resistance, the Soldiers slew all the blacks who,
being wounded, could not serve as slaves. Ahmed
Pasha saw that in this way he would lose the best
slaves, so he sent one of his prisoners into the second
palisade, recommending them to surrender immediately.
The man went unwillingly, as he said he should not be
able to persuade his fellow villagers; and the second
palisade was taken in the same manner as the first. The
Egyptian loss on this occasion was considerable, several
230 GALLANT DEFENCE OF NEGROES AT IXORMOURC.
hundred being wounded by the ivory pointed arrows,
and several killed by the unskilful use of their own fire-
arms. The negroes and cattle were divided in a similar
manner. The best slaves were sent under Bedouin escort
for the use of the government, and those whom the
troops did not choose to take with them were sold at
wretchedly low prices to Arab slave dealers. The army
then marched to Kormouk, inhabited by brave negroes
armed with lances, the chief village being a town con-
taining 1600 huts. The inhabitants having fled to the
mountain, the Pasha first burnt the village, and, after
waiting for two days, four battalions stormed the moun-
tain, the fifth battalion remaining as a reserve, while the
cavalry swept round the foot of the mountain to cut off
the retreat of the fugitives. The first battalion attacked
a palisade containing 1200 women and children; but
the negroes coming down with force from the hill, the
Egyptian troops were panic stricken, and, throwing down
their loaded muskets, fled. This had an epidemic effect
upon the other battalions, which also fled. Six officers
and one hundred and eight soldiers fell in this attack.
The Pasha took three days to reorganise his troops, at
the end of which time a messenger came from the negroes,
who appeared to be without water, for the Pasha had en-
camped at the fountain. The Pasha promised to with-
draw on condition that the negroes paid him fifteen
ounces of gold. This sum was never paid, and Ahmed
Pasha on this occasion had to withdraw, much displeased
with the results of the expedition; for he had only
made 1875 prisoners, while another Egyptian general at
a similar negro hunt, had brought in 5,000 slaves.
The best of these male slaves were enrolled in the
ranks of the army, as Mohammed Ali found it cheaper
and more convenient to use negroes than Egyptian fel-
lahs, who were withdrawn from the culture of the soil of
DEATH OF BOGEIOS BEY. 231
Egypt. On their arrival at Khartoum the men were
placed in the regiments, and the women and the children
divided among the officers. The division took place be-
fore the slaves joined the army; and in this expedition,
of forty-two that were entrusted to Bedouins, the half
died on the road and the Bedouins brought their ears to
Khartoum, no doubt to show that they had not sold them
for individual profit.
In January, 1844, Boghos Bey died, aged seventy-six
years, after a three days' serious illness. All the consuls
and leading merchants of every nation attended the
funeral of the oldest and most faithful of the servants of
Mohammed Ali. The funeral was conducted with pomp,
but, from hauteur or fanaticism, none of the superior
Moslems showed any sort of respect to the memory of
this intelligent and amiable man, who died poor and incor-
ruptible, notwithstanding the rare opportunities he had of
gaining large sums by the peculation and bribery so con-
stantly practised in Levantine communities. At the time
that I knew him he was distinguished by the neatness and
cleanliness of his person and costume, the extreme polite-
ness of his manners, his sagacity in judging of human
character, and by the large amount of political information
on the European States which he had gradually acquired
during the prolonged discussion of many critical ques-
tions relating to Egypt that had given occupation to
the diplomacy of Europe, as well as by contact with many
intelligent travellers of all nations. But although an
excellent instrument of Mohammed Ali, he was deficient
in moral and physical courage. He would have made a
polished courtier and skilful administrator in an absolute
monarchy; but he had not the energy and independence
requisite for a responsible leadership in a free State,
where people will not give confidence to a man who has
not unbounded confidence in himself.
232 AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS IN EGYPT.
Boghos Bey was succeeded by Artim Bey, who had
been first interpreter, a complete sycophant of the Pasha,
vindictive towards those who thwarted or exposed his
schemes, and a complete contrast to his brother Khosreff
Bey, who succeeded him as first interpreter, and was a
man of conciliatory temper. Boghos Bey, having com-
menced his career in the British consulate of Smyrna,
preserved certain relations of courtesy towards the Eng-
lish, even when his master was on bad terms with the
British Government. Artim Bey hated the English,
doubtless from an instinctive perception of their unpliant
and intractable character in cases of gross corruption ;
but he was too prudent not to preserve an external show
of courtesy towards a nation which he detested. His
intelligence was indisputable.
There was considerable distress in the villages this
year, as a result of the cattle murrain and of the taxes
being exacted in some districts with too little consider-
ation for what had occurred. Some peasants, to escape
payment of arrears, fled into the towns; and Mohammed
Ali found it expedient to punish with death any towns-
people who harboured fugitive peasants. Several execu-
tions took place on this ground. Thus Egypt became
practically a slave State, so far as the agricultural popu-
lation was concerned, under the rule of Mohammed Ali.
Revolting acts of barbarity were committed under the
Mamelukes, but there was not a systematic suppression
of personal liberty. The rural state of Egypt this year
presents in other respects little to comment upon. The
wild boars that had formerly been imported from Cyprus,
in order to afford sport to the Mamelukes, were found to
do so much damage in the Delta that measures were
taken to extirpate them.
I have already pointed out the deplorable condition of
the agricultural districts of Egypt. While elegant streets
FISCAI, OPPRESSIONS. 233
on the European model were rising on the ruins of
ancient Alexandria—while a line of telegraph was laid
down to Suez, the overland transit improved, and Euro-
pean luxury introduced into the palaces of Cairo—the
political and financial affairs of Egypt were in a state of
cancer. The great mass of the people were poorer and
worse off than they had been at any period of the history
previously recorded,—certainly worse than they had been
under the Mameluke Sultans; for the precepts of Islam-
ism had still a hold of a large part of the community,
and if there were frequently irregular exactions from
the wealthy in the towns, the exactions in the country
were less systematic. Under the primitive Moslems and
the Caliphs, there was a still stronger feeling of religion,
and the rulers took a pride in punishing the oppressors
of the poor. Under the Greeks and Romans there was a
regular system of law. Under the ancient Egyptians
there appears to have been involuntary servitude and an
abased agricultural population; but they seem to have
lived in plenty, except when the ill-famed plagues of
Egypt visited the land.
In this year, 1844, partly in consequence of the pre-
vious murrain in the cattle, partly from increasing de-
population and flight of the peasantry—in the face of
even the punishment of death, a panic seems to have
seized the sheikhs in the little towns and villages in all
Upper Egypt, on finding that the machine of government
would not work. The consequence was, that the council
of Cairo made a report, laying bare the real state of
affairs. The report showed that when one village had
become depopulated, and could not pay its taxes, the
burthen was thrown on the neighbouring villages; and
the fisc was inexorable in insisting on the maximum.
Where there had been formerly a hundred looms, and
hand-weaving had fallen off, so that only a third of the
234 RUINOUS STATE OF THE FINANCES IN EGYPT.
looms remained, this remainder had still to pay for the
full complement. The report went into minute details
proving that the magnificent public works carried on by
labour unpaid for by the government was the chief cause
of the depopulation; and there can be no doubt that this
was one of the principal causes both of the misery and
exasperation of the people. All the magnificent works
erected by Saladin, Kalaon, Mohammed-el-Nasr, and
Sultan Hassan, were magnificently paid for from the
treasures of these monarchs: in fact Sultan Hassan
beggared himself to carry on the works of the splendid
temple that bears his name. But Mohammed Ali, after
having ceased to recognise any landed property in Egypt
that was not his own, would not even admit that the
peasantry had a right to their own labour. “Slaves,
instead of freeholders,” was in fact the motto of the civil
and financial administration of Mohammed Ali, poorly
compensated by some showy public works on the models
of Europe.
Ibrahim Pasha, who was a shrewd practical man, and
had nothing of the theatrical pomposity and vanity of
Mohammed Ali, resolved that the truth should be made
known to the Pasha, who was in fact in a great measure
ignorant of the ruinous state of Egypt, in consequence of
the system of oriental favoritism, in which the rule
holds good that no communication ought to be made to
a superior which is not agreeable. Lest the shock should
be too severe for Mohammed Ali's self-esteem, his daugh-
ter was commissioned to break the matter cautiously to
him ; and more than the truth flashed upon the Pasha
at this unofficial communication. He suspected that he
had been purposely deceived, that it was a pretext to get
quit of him, and that Ibrahim Pasha wished to step into
his shoes at once. This communication being coincident
with a reaction in his nervous system after Some harem
SUSPICIONS OF MOELAMMIED ALI. 235
excesses, he at once imagined that there was a plot on
foot, and suddenly proceeded from his palace, on the
promontory of Alexandria, to the villa of his brother-in-
law, Moharram Bey, situated on the canal. He ex-
claimed loudly to his immediate attendants, and the
household of Moharram Bey, that he was surrounded by
traitors, and that he would give up the government and
go to Mecca to spend his last days.
Ibrahim Pasha, Said Pasha, and his most intimate
friends were refused access to him. Even Sami Pasha,
his intimate confidant, was expelled from his room with
reproaches, the Pasha maintaining with violence that the
sheikhs of the towns and villages would not have made
such a report unless they had received a hint to do so
from some superior. All this occurred on the 25th and
26th of July, after which Mohammed Ali went to Cairo
with a few subordinate officers and his physician. The
consuls-general at Alexandria, hearing of these affairs,
and of the state of the Pasha's mind, asked Artim Bey,
the Minister of Commerce and Foreign Affairs, what the
intentions of the Pasha were ; but he could give no in-
formation. Ibrahim Pasha said distinctly, “that he
would not accept the government as long as Mohammed
Ali lived.”
Mohammed Ali, during the first half of August, went
over all the reports, studying the question of the financial
collapse which had moved the council to recommend him
to remit the debts of villages amounting to nearly
3400,000; and, having reproached the council for not
letting him know the truth, Ibrahim Pasha offered that
the superior officers should mulct themselves, some in
six months’, others in four months’ pay. Thus a recon-
ciliation was brought about. The Pasha received all his
officers, paid a visit to Ibrahim Pasha, dined with one of
his daughters, and shortly afterwards returned to Alex-
236 IFANATIC VIOLENCE AT DAMIETTA.
andria, his reputation somewhat damaged by freaks be-
traying the passions and caducity of age, rather than the
manly stoicism which is associated with true greatness.
At the approach of autumn, and in the beginning
of the year 1845, the cattle murrain partially re-appeared,
but not with the former violence; and the year 1845,
partly in consequence of the financial reforms which had
followed the explosion of August and September of the
previous year, may be considered a period of revival and
prosperity. But in April the Christian community was
shocked by one of those outbursts of fanaticism, which
had become, comparatively speaking, rare. At the end
of March an event occurred at Damietta which attracted
the attention of the Pasha. The fanatical population had
observed with great dissatisfaction that Christian rayahs
had become consular agents. Two Christians—an
Armenian and a Copt—had become Moslems. The Copt
made his profession of Islamism in the most public
manner, and the Moslem mob paraded the whole day
through the Christian quarter. On such days the
Christians usually remained within doors, as they run
the risk of being maltreated. At length, on the day
of the festival of the birth of the prophet, a poor old
Copt, with a white beard, who worked in a rice threshing-
mill, fell into a dispute with a Moslem ass driver; and,
after exchanging words, the ass driver went to the
governor and complained that the Copt had turned the
prophet and his religion into ridicule. Ali Bey caused
the man to be brought to the court of justice, and, on
this worthless testimony, he was condemned to receive
500 blows of the bastinado. After the man had received
several hundred additional blows, a cross was tied on his
back, and he was paraded on a buffalo through the town.
The procession was then led through the Christian
quarter. A shawl placed round the neck of the Wretched
PUNISHED BY MOHAMMED ALI. 237
man, and held on each side, hindered him from falling,
for he was now more dead than alive; and at one place
near the shore, boiling pitch was thrown on him by a
boat caulker, amid the applause of the mob. Mohammed
Ali, on hearing of this event, sent to Damietta one of his
chief officers, who condemned Ali Bey to five years' im-
prisonment in the fortress of Aboukir, as well as to pay
a heavy fine. The Pasha also pensioned the unhappy
wretch who had been the object of this outrage. What-
ever defects might exist in the agricultural administra-
tion of Mohammed Ali, his punishment of fanatic violence
was prompt and Salutary.
CHAPTER XXII.
PERSONAL HABITS OF MoHAMMED ALT IN HIs OLD AGE.-IBRAHIM PASHA.—
ABBAs PASHA.—SHEREEF PASHA.—THE CAPITATION TAx.—EDHEM BEY.—
NEw EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.—PRINTING PRESS AT Bour,AK.—IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CAIRO,-PORT of BoulAK.—MoHAMMED ALI's PALACEs.—
HYDRAULIC IMPROVEMENTS.
HAVING given the reader a sketch of Cairo and its
inhabitants, under the Mamelukes, just previous to the
French invasion, with which the great military, political,
and social revolution of Egypt commenced, it seems not
inappropriate that, before I record the closing scenes of
Mohammed Ali's career, I should give some description
of the metropolis at the end of the eventful half century
which we have so minutely chronicled. Much of the
ineffaceable character of a Moslem Arab capital remains,
but there are also strong reflexes of the new phase of
history evolved by the vigorous will of the individual,
and the renewed importance to the commerce of the
world which Egypt has assumed through a revolution
of communications, independently of the will of any one
individual however energetic. But first, I must beg the
reader’s permission to sketch the person and habits
of Mohammed Ali, in his old age, from personal
observation.
Mohammed Ali received visitors early in the morning,
in a room hung with green Lyons damask, and look-
ing out upon a terrace from which the whole landscape
of the valley of the Nile up to the Pyramids was visible,
—an Orangery in the open air forming a little table-land
MOHAMMED ALI IN HIS OLD AGE. 239
in the Iofty castle. In the midst of this room stood the
Pasha in conversation with his physician. He saluted
me cordially as I entered, and we proceeded to the
window, where he sat down with his back to the garden.
EIis complexion was excellent, the skin of his brow
slightly sunburnt, but clear and healthy; his eye still
remarkable for lustre and intelligence, but the cheeks
and mouth much wrinkled. Coffee was served, and the
Basha began to talk of his wants, which were comprised
in “coal! coal! coal l’” “That is the one thing needful
for me,” said the Pasha. He then called an attendant
and told him to bring the specimens of this mineral
found in the valley between Gheneh and Cosseir.
Shortly afterwards the servant reappeared, bringing
a little wicker basket with pieces of anthracite. The
Pasha then declared his determination to carry out the
railway between the two seas, if he should live long
enough. Ibrahim Pasha was at that time absent on
a visit to Europe, and had written home that the supe-
riority of Frank civilisation was owing to the better
condition of the humbler classes. Upon this Mohammed
Ali said that he was determined to carry out the im-
provement of the condition of the fellaheen, or peasantry
of Egypt. He even caused a model village to be con-
structed with improved dwellings; but it is unnecessary
to say, that all this was too completely in opposition to
the acts, facts, and opinions of all his career in Egypt
to make any impression upon me. I, however, never
doubted that the railway would be carried out, either
by himself or by his successors. -
Mohammed Ali usually passed the winter in Cairo,
where sunshine rarely fails, and the summer in
Alexandria, where his palace on the promontory of
fig-trees, caught the cool north-western gale. He rose
at the first peep of dawn, when his physician, Gaetano
240 HABITS OF THE PASHA.
Bey, presented himself to enquire after his health. He
then received his immediate officers and various European
merchants, who were in his confidence, and who usually
had the titles of consul, or consul-general of the
secondary Powers. These favourites were chiefly Greeks,
French, and English, rarely of other nations, although
his physician was of Spanish extraction. His chief con-
fidant among the Turks was Sami Pasha, a Moreote,
already noticed. In taking his food, at this part of his
old age, he attended with tolerable strictness to the pre-
scriptions of his physician, but occasional harem excesses
disordered his nervous system. In the afternoon, when
in Cairo, he usually drove out in a carriage, to his orange
paradise of Shoubrah, and smoked a pipe in his marble
kiosk, where Europeans often met him, Notwithstanding
the vast resources of Egypt, Mohammed Ali had rarely
much superfluous cash. He had always expensive
projects in hand, and the knowledge of his liberality
drew projectors to his anti-chambers. The business that
he had with the mercantile houses was of a peculiar
description. They made advances to the verge of their
capital, and they got produce in return, which was
nominally sold to the highest bidder, but in reality
distributed to the favoured houses; not only previous
advances, but the skill with which they paid their court
to the Pasha entering into the transaction. Mohammed
Ali had sagacity enough to distinguish between his
friends and flatterers; but he was so fond of eulogy,
that those who went to Egypt determined to see every-
thing in a rosy hue, rarely failed to forward their
material interests.
Ibrahim Pasha had a mind of a more practical cast
in financial matters than Mohammed Ali, and was free
from his step-father's eager desire to shine before
Europeans; but, greedy and morose, he never obtained
AIBBAS PASHA. 241
popularity. Said Pasha, the younger son of Mohammed
Ali, lived mostly at Alexandria, where he was brought
up to the naval profession under the direction of in-
telligent French officers. He spoke French fluently,
and, having gone through a course of European reading,
he certainly had more enlarged views than Abbas Pasha,
his uncle. Abbas was destined one day to succeed Mo-
hammed Ali, having been the son of Toussoum Pasha,
Mohammed Ali’s eldest son; and it was the wish of the
Pasha to bring him forward as much as possible, and
initiate him in military and political affairs. Abbas had
during the war been sent with a body of troops into
Syria, where he stayed a very short time; but he was
fonder of field sports, birds, horses, and other animals,
as well as of sensual pleasures, than of the details of
political business. Consequently, although he was nomi-
nal governor of Cairo, the business was transacted mostly
by the deputy, Baki Bey, a brother of Sami Pasha.
Abbas Pasha, although not much of a politician, was
perfectly familiar with Cairo and its inhabitants, and
resided not in the castle, but in the centre of the town,
close to the great line of bazaars in a quarter called
the Kroonfish, where I made his acquaintance, and found
him to be perfectly good-natured and entirely free from
any sort of ostentation. On higher subjects, his ignor-
ance of science and literature was remarkable, consider-
ing the training he had had; but he was by no means
deficient in common sense, and knew how to distinguish
between such projects as were really beneficial to Egypt,
as railways, and those that were of doubtful utility. In
person, he was rather inclined to be stout, but not corpu-
lent. He somewhat neglected his dress and personal
appearance, allowing days to elapse without being
shaved. His great delight was in horses, of which he
had a very fine stud, and his challenge to the jockey
WOL. II, 16
242 CHARACTER OF SHEREEE PASHA.
clubs of Paris and London, in order to test the merits of
the old Arab as compared with the British blood horse—
which is in reality in great part of Arab origin—was the
topic of discussion in sporting circles for a considerable
period.
Shereef Pasha, a near relative and formerly intimate
friend of Mohammed Ali, who had been governor-general
of Syria, was the head of the divan of finances. He was
very wealthy and lived in considerable splendour, although
his salary had been reduced from £12,000 to £8,000
per annum at the time of the retrenchments which the
financial crisis had forced on Mohammed Ali. During
the time of his government of Syria his total income
with rations and allowances had been equivalent to
£14,000 a-year. Partly from family ties and partly
from personal qualities he had up to the campaign of
1840, possessed the entire confidence of the Egyptian
government. He was a man of most winning and at-
tractive manners and of rare and remarkable intelligence.
Many traits are recorded of him which procured the
respect and esteem of the European agents exercising
consular functions in Syria. On the other hand (a con-
tradiction often visible in semi-barbarous nations) he
never recoiled from acts of cold-blooded cruelty in order
to fill the treasure chest, or to strike terror into those
ill-affected to the Egyptians, or to minister to the pre-
judices of friends and adherents. Hence the odious mal-
treatment of several members of the Jewish community
supposed (without adequate legal ground) to have been
concerned in the murder of a Tatin priest named Father
Tommaso, will always be a black stain on his memory,
five or six of them having died under the lash for re-
fusing to confess participation in a crime of which there
was no tangible proof. But unscrupulous agent as he
was of Mohammed Ali, he was ready when the last hour
HIS INTRIGUES WITH THE PORTE. 243
of the Egyptians had sounded, to worship the rising sun.
Overtures had been made to him by the government of
the Porte to remain in Damascus as Pasha, where his
experience and the prestige of his personal authority
Would have proved valuable in the transition from Egyp-
tian to Constantinopolitan rule, and there is every reason
to believe that he had either positively or tacitly accepted
these propositions. But Ibrahim Pasha, either suspecting
this plan, or it having been betrayed to him by some one
connected with Shereef Pasha, carried him off prisoner
to Cairo; and, it is supposed, would have taken his life,
had it not been that Mohammed Ali—mastering his
dissatisfaction, and anxious both to preserve so able an
administrator and to renew social relations with an old
friend to whom he had, during many years, borne a great
attachment, and at the same time wishing to preserve a
trump card from falling into the hands of the Sultan’s
government in Syria—patched up a reconciliation between
his stepson and quondam friend.
Shereef Pasha understood financial affairs very well;
but partly from indolence, and partly to avoid having
any disagreeable discussions with his chief, he was de-
ficient in candour relative to his own department, and he
could not shake off the Oriental indisposition to make
communications to a superior that were not agreeable.
The great lever of the revenue of the state was of course
the land monopoly; but a large contribution was received
from the ferdeh. This was the poll-tax which Mohammed
Ali screwed out of every Egyptian and Syrian, that he
could lay his hands on, and was one of the chief fiscal
levers, during the period of his contest with the Sultan,
and the complete payment of it was exacted according
to a classification. Woe to the peasant or townsman
who could not pay his poll-tax, for he was bastinadoed
until it was all acquitted. The Divan-el-ferdeh, or the
244 THE DIVAN-EL-FERDEH.
office of the individual-taw, was in the Sikket-el-Leboudieh.
Passing there I asked my sheikh Ahmed-el-Kotoby what
anecdote of a salient description he could give me for
my budget suggested by the locality; but he stopped
short, and shaking his head and his robe, said, “It is
of no use, for you would plunge me into an ocean of
narration.”
Passing sentries, I found myself in a large hall, along
the walls of which were high desks, on which were the
books of the ferdeh in ponderous folio, and behind them
the Coptic clerks making entries and references. At the
extreme right was the clink of gold, and here were the
sarafs of the government receiving the gold pieces,
weighing and scrutinizing the little gold dollars to see
that the obliquely indented rim was unfiled and un-
clipped, and opposite was the fellah of the environs with
his coarse hair cloak or the townsmen in woollen and
silk. A curtain veiled from the public the dread
sanctuary of the nazir, who seemed to be a Circassian
of exceedingly fair complexion. He was surrounded by
Coptic clerks, with books in their hands investigating
the claims on defaulters. The nazir, or inspector of this
department, was like the grand inquisitor of the palmy
days of Jesuitism. He was the terror of the rich, who
feared lest his wealthometer should reach to those por-
tions of their capital which were concealed from view,
and the terror of the poor on account of the bastinado
which was applied at his discretion. When a creditor
was importunate in dunning, his usual pretext was the
inexorable demands of the nazir of the ferdeh; or if the
debtor sought an excuse, he alleged the necessity of the
discharge of the preferable claim of the government.
The address with which the government penetrated to
the knowledge of the private means of individuals was
fairly matched by the popular ingenuity in evasion.
EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 245
Edhem Bey continued to be the head of the educa-
tional institutions of the Pasha. He occupied, not very
far from the Bridge of the Lion, the very locality which
had been the Institute of Egypt at the time of the
French expedition, and where Monge, Berthollet, Denon,
and Cafarelli had discussed science and art with the hero
of Embabeh. But the palace had been almost rebuilt.
His department was in a satisfactory state, contrasting
with the manufactures and some other new institutions
of the Pasha, which had proved failures, politically and
economically. The printing press of Boulak was in in-
creasing activity, and many of the works translated, such
as Montesquieu's “Grandeur et Décadence des Romains,”
were intended to break down still further the prejudices
of the Arabs, and to set them a-thinking. The printing
of the Koran has always been resisted by the ulema as
unlawful; but, for the first time in the history of Islam-
ism, an edition of the Koran was set up in type, and the
Mufti of Cairo, Sheikh-el-Temimy, was asked to set his
seal of permission upon it in order to ensure its sale.
There was thus a perpetual conflict going on—attack on
the part of the free-thinking Turks, and ingenious evasive
defence on the part of the ulema. -
Edhem Bey pointed out to me the various institutions
in his department which might be interesting, one of
which was the medical college and hospital of Kasr-el-
Ainy, on the banks of the Nile above Cairo. The palace
of Kasr-el-Ainy has the appearance of an immense bar-
rack, and forms a quadrangle. Passing into the court-
yard I found it planted with trees for the sake of greater
coolness, and on ascending the steps entered the galleries
of the military hospital. Here the cleanliness and the
fresh currents of air denoted the introduction of European
pathology, so opposite to the filthy negligence of the
native Egyptian. Having looked through the Wards, I was
246 THE HOSPITAL OF KASR-EL-AINY.
shown into a kiosk with divans that overlooked the Nile.
This was the visiting room of the physicians after their
inspection; and, glancing across the Nile, I saw the
luxuriant groves of Rodah and the nilometer in the
distance. The blighting desert winds and the heats of
summer had not yet commenced, and the birds on the
boughs sang in loud chorus, which reached across the
waters. I recollected that on this very spot had been
held the alarmed councils of the Mameluke Beys on
intelligence of the landing of Bonaparte; for the palace
of Kasr-el-Ainy and its luxurious gardens had been a
villa of Ibrahim Bey.
I then descended to the ground floor, where experi-
ments had been made by a Russian commission for test-
ing the effects of heat on clothes of plague-struck persons;
and the conclusion was come to, that with 60° of Reau-
mer they cease to be pestiferous, the circumambient
globules of infecting fluid being dried up. Besides
being a hospital, Kasr-el-Ainy is also a medical school;
and passing over some mounds of earth, we found our-
selves in the botanical garden where there was a pond
for aquatic plants. There was also a cabinet of natural
history in which I saw a stuffed calf with two heads.
This reminded me of the child with two heads, which
was born at Damietta in the year 377 A.H., one head being
black and the other white, but both from the same neck,
the rest of the body as usual. The infant was taken to
Cairo, and shown to the Caliph Aziz Billah, who gave
the mother a sum of money, but the infant did not
survive beyond a few months.
Unquestionably one of the least equivocal benefits
which Mohammed Ali conferred on Egypt was the es-
tablishment of a printing press on a large scale at
Boulak, from which were sent forth those numerous
works on modern science and literature, particularly
EGYPTIAN LIBRARIES. 247
medical works and history, which form an epoch in the
history of Egypt. Not being intended as a mercantile
speculation, but as a means of spreading a taste for
reading among a people that for three centuries had
ceased to be literary, the prices of the books were very
low. The library for the sale of these books was a large
edifice close to the Mehkemeh, with a gallery above all,
looking quite new and European. I bought a Life of
Napoleon, in closely printed quarto, for little more than
three shillings. The Memoirs of the Empress Catherine, of
the same size, in Turkish, cost two shillings and sixpence;
and the original price of the celebrated Egyptian edition
of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments was ninety piastres
or about eighteen shillings. During my visit to Cairo
the price was much higher, all the copies having been
bought up by the five booksellers of Cairo. The mosque
libraries of Cairo are mere wrecks owing to the dis-
honesty of the supervisors and sub-librarians (nazirs
and moghairs, the latter expression meaning “changers,”
and being applied to the person who gives out and re-
ceives back books). The library of the Azhar is large,
comprising many thousand volumes, but the number I
could not learn. The mosque of Mohammed Bey had
eleven hundred volumes; the mosque of Yezbek four
hundred; and the mosque of Sheikhoun one thousand
volumes. The largest library in Egypt was that of
Ibrahim Pasha, which consisted of 8,000 volumes. The
books of the mosque of the Morea and Greece, brought
away by Ibrahim Pasha, and numbering 1,500 volumes,
were deposited in the citadel. The largest library of
a private individual was that of Habib Effendi, an
intelligent Turk, who had been municipal governor of
Cairo, and consisted of five thousand volumes. At
the time of the flourishing period of Cairo literature,
—that is to say under the Mameluke Sultans, com-
248 POLITIC TOLERATION OF MOHAMIMED ALI.
prising the period of Ebn Khalikan and Makrizi—
the libraries of the principal mosques were of Vast
extent, and the multitude of authors quoted in the
colossal encyclopedia of biography by the former, show
that the literary resources of Cairo at that time must
have been extensive, far beyond what the present state
of the libraries can give any conception of Mohammed
Ali was perfectly indifferent as to old Arabic literature.
He wished to create a new epoch in Egypt, both as a
soldier and revolutionist, and it was the modern science
of Europe that was more likely to suit his purpose than
any amount of the curious theology and literature of the
earlier Arabic period.
Constantly needing the services of Europeans, a part
of Mohammed Ali’s system was to enforce toleration of
Franks, Frank science and Frank usages, on the un-
willing and recalcitrant Moslems. There began to be
greater facility in admission to the mosques, which was
sometimes abused in an offensive manner. A broad-
brimmed white hatted American was once seen forcing
his way into the Azhar and ordering the interpreter to
say, “that he believed that there was no God but God.”
“But you do not believe that Mohammed is the prophet
of God,” said the man at the gate. “That does not
signify,” was the rejoinder; “I have just had a tough
argument with the Coptic patriarch, and now I wish to
have a little discussion with your people.” Notwith-
standing this appeal, admission was refused. Mohammed
Ali was indeed successful in his efforts to compel this
greater tolerance. A Christian said to me with pleasant
exaggeration, “I believe even if the Christians were to
Wear green turbans, the Moslems would say nothing;
but we do not wear green turbans, for as they are now
So tolerant, it would be unfair to come into unnecessary
collision with their prejudices.”
INFLUENCE OF FRENCH CIVILIZATION. 249
I sometimes found young Moslems so thoroughly de-
nationalized and dereligionized as to have a jarring un-
pleasant flippancy. Paris had not only spoiled them for
Mecca, but had even rendered them indifferent to the
beautiful monuments of the four epochs of Moslem archi-
tecture in Cairo; and I recollect one, who pointed to the
fact of a certain amount of wine being annually imported
at Yeddah and secretly sold as a proof that civilization
was extending. But these were the rare exceptions;
and in general it was remarked that Moslems were more
indisposed to Frank society after their return from a
course of education in Europe than before. For this
there were several reasons, one of which was, that they
did not choose to appear before their fellow Moslems as
having been denationalized. The novelty of Frank so-
ciety had completely worn off during their sojourn in
Europe; and at the same time their vanity was often
wounded by the consciousness of the fundamental in-
feriority of the civilization and of the military and politi-
cal power of the eastern nations when contrasted with
those of the west.
The material improvement in the interior of Cairo was
in many respects very considerable, and much was con-
tributed to the comfort of the inhabitants. Travellers
have justly complained of the filth of the oriental cities,
where accumulations of all sorts of offal and rubbish took
place with impunity; but in Cairo a system was adopted
of fining every person a dollar before whose house a
dead dog or cat might be found. With a dishonest
population it sometimes happened that people connected
with the sheikh of the quarter, who collected the
fines, would put a dead dog or cat at the door of a
wealthy person for the purpose of extracting the dollar;
and this led to Mohammed Ali causing the whole
of the cleaning department to be managed by a
250 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS IN CAIRO.
public board called the Divan-el-cassara, or divan of
impurity.
No part of Cairo underwent a greater change than the
Ezbekieh. At the time of the French invasion, the
Ezbekieh was a large pond like the Birket-el-Fyl, during
all the inundation, on which pleasure boats, with coloured
lanterns, filled with persons who played upon the guitar,
used to move about on certain festivals. Mohammed
Ali, by filking it up in a great measure, and planting
alleys of trees, has made it a sort of St. James' Park of
Cairo. An examination of the architecture of the houses
that border it, shew three distinct styles; first, the old
usual Arab ; secondly, the Greco-Turkish, which was in
vogue at the end of the last century and the beginning
of this; and thirdly, the pure European, with forms im-
ported from Marseilles or Trieste.
Boulak, the port of Cairo, was greatly improved in
the time of Mohammed Ali. A substantial new stone
quay was erected for the river-steamers, and as the
period of his rule comprised that in which steam naviga-
tion became general upon the great rivers of the civilized
world, the Nile was not an exception, under a ruler
who certainly did not lack intelligence. Here, too, was
a villa and farm of Ibrahim Pasha, who was the first to
raise water by steam-power for the irrigation of the
land; but the enormous expense of fuel, the coal being
all from England, and the wood from Asia Minor, or the
Black Sea, has prevented the extension of the application
of steam to agricultural purposes. The activity wit-
nessed at Boulak is a complete contrast to the scene
that meets the eye in the sequestered and ruined quarters
of Cairo, with their monuments of the departed grandeur
of the Mameluke Sultans. Boulak is typical of the youth
of Egypt, renewed by the overland passage and by Frank
technical science. The substantial stone quay—the sun
THE ORANGE AND LEMON PARK OF SHOUBRA. 251
on high shining on the broad river, with wooded Rodah
in the distance, steamers in the foreground, and in the
background, a crowd of boats with sails set moving up
and down the river—tall trees, tall masts, and minarets,
all rising together ; and, oppposite, the verdant islands,
beyond which the sharp lines of the pyramids stand
boldly out on the horizon—form together a landscape
of a most characteristic nature, bringing into juxta-posi-
tion most striking monuments of the old native, and the
newly imported civilization of Egypt.
Further down the Nile, one of the most pleasant crea-
tions of Mohammed Ali in the neighbourhood of Cairo,
is the orange and lemon-park of Shoubra. The stranger
finds himself in a labyrinth of trim parterres and box-
wood borders, in triangles, parallelograms, circles, and
segments of circles; while all around well-grown lemon
and orange trees luxuriate in that texture of foliage
which, to other vegetation, is like what satin and velvet
are to ordinary stuffs, and the Orange itself harmonizes
beautifully with the tree from which it grows. There is
an aviary, fountain, and kiosk of white marble. Shoubra
is the converse of a Damascus house, where marble
shines and the orange and lemon relieve; here the
orange and lemon luxuriate, and the marble relieves
their splendour.
No traces of the magnificent architecture of the Arabs
are to be found in the modern palace-building of Egypt.
The houses of the wealthier classes which have been
recently constructed are mostly in the Greco-Constanti-
nopolitan style, with French furniture inside, Lyons
damask hangings, and divans, Aubusson carpets, and
pier glasses. But in the divan tissues, the Europeans
cannot come up to the Aleppines, whose stuffs, with a
mixture of gold thread, silk and wool, have a rich and
magnificent effect. A palace of this description had been
252 MODERN ARCHITECTURE OF EGYPT.
built for one of the family of Mohammed Ali, on the site
of the town house of Elfy Bey, which became the head-
quarters of Bonaparte, and subsequently, of Kleber, who
Was assassinated in the garden attached. One of the
best localities for a palace would undoubtedly be the
Island of Rodah, with its luxuriant park of tropical
vegetation, and its position on the Nile; but unluckily
Once in every twelve or fifteen years it is under water
and the inundation is so high, that the gardeners have
to fly for their lives, and the gardens are completely
devastated.
If the citadel does not possess the advantage of
luxuriant vegetation, it has a healthy airy position. I
minutely examined it in 1845-6, when a few columns
of granite standing upright were the only remains of
the Iwan-el-Kubeer, or great hall, in which had been
the throne of Saladin. The ancient magnificence of the
castle had disappeared, and I found no trace of the
gorgeous gate of bronze, which was so highly orna-
mented with arabesques; or of the celebrated “Refref.”
or corniced terrace of Mohammed-el-Nasr, which com-
manded the view of the whole valley. Nor was I able
to make out the locality of the celebrated drummery and
musicians' barrack, and the large space of ground oppo-
site it used for playing ball. What most strikes the
attention is the new mosque of Mohammed Ali, from its
size, its position, its rich material, and the abundance of
alabaster columns. It is, however, entirely in the modern
taste of Constantinople, and immeasurably inferior to the
school of the period of the Mameluke Sultans, which
united picturesque outline with the most luxuriant de-
tail, presenting a striking contrast to the heavy Byzantine
dome and bald minaret, of modern Turkish mosque
building.
Mohammed Ali did much to improve the water-works
AN EGYPTIAN FESTIVAL. 253
of Cairo. The want of water in the upper part of Cairo,
behind the Azhar, was supplied by him by means of a
water-wheel, at the “Khalidge” or “canal,” and by
means of machinery it is carried still higher. This was
a great boon, for, previously, all the water used in this
quarter, so dry and remote from the Nile, had to be
purchased from those who made a trade of conveying
it in skins on asses' backs. There is a great inequality
in the supply of water, some quarters having it all the
year, and others only during the inundation. At the
Birgouan is a well which during the inundation is of a
reddish colour, and hence the prevalence of the idea that
there exists in this quarter a well of blood.
Egypt depends for its wealth entirely on the proper
irrigation of the land in the agricultural districts. Mo-
hammed Ali well understood this ; and hence the canals
of the Delta were well kept up, and several new ones
added. In old times, besides the cutting of the Khalidge,
denoting the rise of the waters to the proper height, there
was also a great festivity at the opening of the canal of
Abou Monagyeh which was drawn from the Nile in
order to water the land to the east of the Delta. This
rejoicing was as disorderly as a Venetian Carnival, and
used to be celebrated with pomp and licence by all the
people east of Delta. Makrizi speaks with horror of the
orgies of the opening. Men and unveiled women mixed
promiscuously in illuminated boats, moving up and
down during the night, while the air resounded with
guitars, lyres, and musical instruments. This Abou
Monagyeh was a Jew, who enjoyed the stewardship of
the province of Sharkieh; and in the year 506 of the
Begira dug the canal, on which he spent enormous
sums. He was afterwards imprisoned for peculation, or
on account of his enormous wealth; and despairing of
release adopted a curious plan to procure his liberty.
254 ABOU MONAGYEH.
He copied a Koran and wrote on it “Copied by Abou
Monagyeh, the Jew.” The copy was publicly sold and
caused much sensation in Cairo. On being asked “Why
he copied a Koran P” he answered, “In order to obtain
death ;” upon which he was let out of prison.
255
CHAPTER XXIII.
PUBLIC JUSTICE—THIEVEs.—CRIMES AND DISORDERs of THE ARNAUTs.—CRIMES
IN HAREMS.–A REvolT IN A HAREM.–Sw1NDLERS.–LAwsuits.-CRIMI-
NAL PUNISHMENTS.–IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.—SCENE IN A DEBTORs'
PRISON.
LET us now say something of public justice, and of
crime, during the rule of Mohammed Ali. The old
municipal police was abolished, and all united under
the so-called “Zabit Bey,” literally the “Fixing or
Settling Bey,” or in other words the keeper of peace.
EHe had under his immediate orders each of the lieu-
tenants of the eight quarters of Cairo, who again had
under them the sheikhs of the Harats, or subdivisions
of the large quarters. Formerly, the Daoudeey was the
worst part of Cairo, and was originally so called from
the name of Daoud, who was Mokaddem-esh-Shūrta or
head of the detective police, under the Fatimites. We
have a curious specimen of this class of men more or
less distinctly pourtrayed in the Arabian Nights’ Enter-
tainments, in the Ahmed-el-Denf who lived at Bagdad
in the time of Haroun-er-Reshid, and who doubtless was
not a fancy sketch, but a real character, and who trans-
mitted his reputation for ingenuity in those processes
for which the old Bow-street officers were so renowned.
There is, upon the whole, much less domestic theft
and larceny in the East than in Europe. No doubt one
of the causes of this was the old Draconian code, so that
for a petty theft an unprincipled man would not willingly
risk his life, or at least, the loss of his hand, which
256 TEIE EGYPTIAN POLICE,
branded him with infamy for life, and at the same time
by crippling him hindered him from gaining a liveli-
hood. It may be remarked that thefts of every descrip-
tion are much more frequent in Cairo than in Damascus
or Aleppo, on account of the size of the town. Hence
the proverb :—
“Halebi chelebi,
Shami shoumi,
Misri harami;”
which means, that the Aleppine is polite, the Da-
mascene deceptively plausible, but the Egyptian a thief.
In Egypt the agents of the detective police are called
“Bassasseen,” and they are generally old skilled robbers,
who for the sake of a more secure existence have offered
their services to the government. They can tell if a box
has been broken open by a professional robber, or by
one who is beginning the craft. By examining a broken
window shutter, they will know how entrance has been
effected into a house, and make the same distinction as
to the professional or the unpractised robber; and they
know all the thieves in the town. The Daoudeey was
also the principal quarter of female prostitution; but
Mohammed Ali cleared out the quarter, and banished
these women to Upper Egypt.
At the commencement of Mohammed Ali’s rule, his
own Arnauts maintained a deplorable distinction, as
foremost in crimes accompanied by violence; and as it
was through the instrumentality of this class of men
that the Pasha rose to power, he felt bound, in deference
to public opinion, to treat them with summary justice.
Instances occurred of Arnaut soldiers getting richly
dressed prostitutes, adorned with jewels, into their
houses, murdering them for the sake of their ornaments,
and then throwing their dead bodies into the Khalidge,
during the inundation, or into some of the ponds
A “REVoIT OF THE SERAGLIO.” 257
created during this period by the extraordinary overflow.
of the Nile. A case of this occurred in the blind alley,
called the Alifet Rizq. When it was reported to Mo-
hammed Ali, he ordered an immediate example to be
made, and, on the same day, Arnauts in their petticoats
were seen hanging at the most conspicuous places and
frequented thoroughfares of the town.
Crimes in harems are not infrequent, and sometimes
escape detection. The reason of this is, that the harem is
a domestic establishment, partaking of the character of the
fortress and of the prison. The inmates are not to the
same extent under public control and under public pro-
tection as those who live in European houses with
windows opening on a street. An Oriental house is a
dead wall, with a wicket door and lantern sort of
windows, which are never opened to the street; and not
only are the inmates more completely under the control
of the master, but the access of the public is also
controlled. In Europe if one knocks at the door,
whether of a high or humble dwelling, it is opened
immediately; but in the East only with precaution, and
after a time, during which the visitor has been under
examination and probably the subject of discussion. In
fact, the oriental house is perfectly suited to the despotic
position of the head of the family. Revolts rarely occur,
and the “Revolt of the Seraglio,” a subject that has
been treated by European dramatists, is certainly a rare
exception. Such a revolt did, however, occur, in Cairo,
during Mohammed Ali's rule, and created a great
sensation.
In the Derb-el-Habaleh, or “Ropemakers-road,” may
be seen a house which has a curious appearance; for the
architect, in order to procure for the master a view of
the mosque of Sheikhoun, made the rooms of the first
floor project in right angled triangles over the basement.
WOL. II. 17
258 THE GIPSIES AND THEIR OCCUPATIONS.
EIere lived Ahmed Effendi Abou Shenab, one of those
Turks who had been many years in France, but whom
Europe had not civilised. He was a man of a cruel
disposition, and on his horse once shying he applied his
sabre to its buttock in a fit of passion, and this caused
the death of the animal. He had ceased to be a Moslem,
but had learned only the vices of Europe, and was called
by the Arabs, “Formason,” or Freemason, that is to say,
a man who had no religion. He had eleven female
slaves in his house, whom he treated in a tyrannical
manner; for, although intelligent, he was nightly intox-
icated. There had long been murmurs in the harem
against his tyranny, and an accident brought the dis-
content to a head. Having thrown a glass of water
which had been brought him back into the face of one
of his slaves, they consulted together and, during his
drunken sleep, cut the rope of the well, and, nine of .
them being present, he was strangled in the impotence
of drunkenness. Two, who had taken no part in the
murder, were let off, but the nine were all drowned
in the Nile. *
The ingenious deceptions of the dangerous classes
of Cairo are endless; and one of the classes most addicted
to crimes unaccompanied with violence are the gipsies.
They are divided into several tribes, and the females sell
rings and ornaments in harems, and mark with blue
the hands and chins of women. They also circumcise
girls. One hears them crying in the bazaars, “Ya binat
ashash el areed, Ya binat ashash el rafeia,” “Oh
women I have broad and fine sashes to sell.” The
women of these gipsy tribes do not cover their faces;
they have their own laws and secret usages; they all
pretend to be Moslems, as in Syria and the other parts
of the Ottoman Empire. A curious circumstance once
happened, which may be mentioned here. An old woman
THE KORAN-READER AND THE YOUNG BEAUTY. 259
and a young beauty passed in the street an old Fackih,
or Koran-reader, who was known to be uxorious. The
younger Woman allowed her face to be seen, and,
addressing him by name and appealing to his character,
requested him to read a document for her. This was
a bill of divorce by a husband, which was followed by
ejaculations on the part of the beauty and her pretended
relative, such as, “Cruel fate | What shall I do | Where
shall I go l’” In a country where marriages are easily
dissolved, they are contracted with equal facility, and
so the Fackih asked her if she was disposed again to
enter into matrimony ? The beauty was not unwilling,
So a marriage was prepared, the jewels of his female
relations were put in requisition, and on the nuptial
night the beauty was resplendent with the borrowed
gems. When the guests were all gone, the bride
—thanking them for lending the jewels which she
promised to restore on the following day — pretended
to her husband to go up stairs, but suddenly slipped out,
carrying with her all the ornaments. Many asses had
been in waiting in the neighbourhood for their mistresses,
and the beauty having slipped on her veil, was enabled
by the aid of her accomplices to get clear off. I regret
that I did not hear whether the culprit had ever been
discovered; but it was supposed by the police that she
was one of the female gipsies, who are not darker than
the Egyptian women of the humbler classes. -
I have already stated that women of loose life
were sometimes murdered by Arnauts for their jewels.
Instances of a different kind occur from time to time,
in which the males are victims of female deceit. A
woman, handsomely dressed, presented herself in a
house where Turkish officers used to live, and requested
permission to take up her quarters with them, which
they allowed. They were newly come from Constanti-
260 TURBAN SNATOHING.
nople and asked her her name, to which she answered
“Khan Halily.” When they used to go to the bath,
she would say, “Go with little money, for the bath-
keepers are robbers.” So they used to deposit their
money with her, and on returning found it safe. One
day all four went to the bath together, and left their
purses with her. On their return the purses were not
to be found. They shouted, “Rhan Halily, where are
you ?” and then fired off a pistol, and again cried
“Khan Halily, where are you?” They afterwards
went out, and said to the grocer opposite, “Do you
know where Khan Halily is ?” “Further on,” said he.
They asked another, and received the same answer, and
even maltreated a peasant who turned them into ridicule.
When they found out at last, that the Khan Halily was
a bazaar, and the woman was not to be found, their rage
knew no bounds; and long afterwards they were joked
by other Turkish officers, and asked if they had not yet
found the whereabouts of Khan Halily.
As the shawl which is wrapped round the skull-cap
is of considerable value, and as even persons in very
moderate circumstances go to the expense of a Bussorah
or Cashmere wrapper, turban Snatching was a most usual
form of depredation in dark nights in a large capital so
badly lighted as Cairo, where there were no public
lamps, and where the wayfarer carried his own lantern.
Hence the obligation not to be abroad after an early
hour of the evening, without a lantern. In the so called
Harat Abdeen there used to be a man who pretended
to be a saint, and who had a lantern hanging at one part
of the street while he recited verses of the Koran and
received contributions. In reality, however, he was an
accomplice of the turban-snatching Arnauts, who lived
in the quarter. As it was not worth the risk to Snatch
away any but the best turbans, he saw by the light of
SUMMARY ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 261
his lamp whether the turbans of the people were good
or bad; and when a fine turban passed, the signal he
gave was by crying out, “Ya Rab l’’ (O Lord!) Then,
when the wearer had passed on to a dark part of the
street, the turban was snatched. But this soon came to
the ears of the head of the police, who passed himself
One night with a fine Cashmere shawl around his tarboosh.
“A prize,” thought the pretended Wely to himself, as
he cried out “Ya Rabl” (O Lord); and when the head
of the police reached the darker part of the street, off
went his turban, snatched by unseen hands. This
officer, however, had a troop of men approaching from
both directions; and the Arnauts, seeing the first troop,
took to flight in the opposite direction, but had not pro-
ceeded many paces, when they found themselves in the
midst of the troop approaching from the other direction.
The Arnauts were captured and put to death, having
first confessed confederacy with the pretended saint,
who was beheaded on the spot, and his head put under
the mustabah, or stone bench, where he used to sit in the
Harat Abdeen, so that for several days all Cairo streamed
to see it.
A formidable officer of justice during the earlier part
of Mohammed Ali’s rule was the mohtisab, or inspector
of weights and measures. He was a one-eyed old man
of Kurdish extraction, called Mustapha Kashef. He
combined the office of aga of the janissaries with that of
inspector of weights and measures, and was ill-famed for
his extreme cruelty. Once a fat butcher was short of
weight in his mutton, and several ounces of flesh were
cut off that part of his own body which, in the language
of the shambles, may be called the “hind quarter.” On
another occasion he asked the seller of melons called
Ahmed Abou Sitty, who sold fruit at Bab-el-Sharieh,
“What is the price of this melon?” Ahmed Abou Sitty
262 AN OFFICIAL CHECKMATED.
(so called Father of Six, because he had married and
divorced six wives in one week) took hold of his own ear
and said, “Cut off my ear;” “What is the price of this
melon?” thundered the Kurd, “Cut off my ear,”
shouted Father of Six, “I sell cheaper than my neigh-
bours, and no matter what price I ask, you would find
me overcharging.” The Kurd, being checkmated for
once, did not punish him, and Abou Sitty was made
sheikh of the fruit-vendors.
One day a respectable looking man was pointed out
to me with a red Cashmere turban, riding a sleek fine
horse. It was the mokaddem-el-Mezowereen, or chief
observer of the swindlers. His vocation was to keep the
government informed of everything the swindlers were
about; but, when affairs were going badly with one of
the fraternity, he occasionally got him out of the scrape
for a consideration.
The administration of justice was undoubtedly greatly
improved by Mohammed Ali, in civil as well as in
criminal cases, and many suitors with well grounded
rights, who had failed before the Cadi, succeeded on
personal appeal to the Pasha. An instance of this
was the celebrated Roduan case, of which we give an
outline. On the line of bazaars leading from the castle
to the gate of Zueileh is a long shoe-bazaar, called
Rassabat Roduan after the original builder and pro-
prietor of that name, who had been one of the Mameluke
Beys some time previous to the French invasion, and is
frequently mentioned by the historians of the eighteenth
century, and known, although emir of the pilgrimage to
Mecca, to have been a disorderly and dissipated character.
Long after his death his descendant and heir to the
property was accosted by a stranger who called him-
self Roduan, and pretended to be the true heir. A
legal investigation took place, and the Cadi Ordered
PERJURED WITNESSES. 263
witnesses to be produced. The false Roduan pro-
cured false witnesses, and gave the cadi a hand-
some present, but the real Roduan having intelli-
gence of this, promised a larger sum to the witnesses if
they would disappoint their employer. “Where are
your witnesses?” said the cadi, to the false Roduan.
“Here they are,” answered he. “Well and what do
you testify 2” “We testify that in the night this man
came to us with money, and paid us for swearing false.”
As subornation of perjury does not appear to be prac-
ticably cognizable by oriental courts of justice, the cadi
contented himself with sending away the false Roduan,
and said to the true one, “Come to-morrow, and I will
confirm your title.” When the morrow came, the false
Roduan stepped forward, and made out to the pretended
satisfaction of the cadi that the affair of yesterday was
a trick, his witnesses having been suborned. The cadi,
who was no doubt a partner in the speculation of the
false Roduan, decreed half to the plaintiff and half to the
defendant ; but some time afterward, Mohammed Ali
took the matter up, and, as the family of the false Roduan
died off, their shares reverted to the original family.
Criminal justice was also much reformed by the Pasha.
In the midst of this shoe bazaar of Roduan, is a gate
where—from the time of Sultan Bibars down to the
first years of Mohammed Ali’s rule—there was a lamp
which burnt all night, and burglars caught in the night
were killed at once. A bull's hide was laid out, and
their heads cut off. The corners of the hide were then
gathered up, and the body, being put on an ass, was con-
veyed to the washing place at the Roumeyleh. The
washers had an office and received altogether about
a hundred piastres a month through the so called
wekweel-el-haramayn. The ancient law of Islamism
in cases of theft was that the offenders should lose their
264 EGYPTIAN PUNISHMENTS.
right hand for the first offence, and no doubt, the fear
of such a summary punishment kept down larceny ; but
as this incapacitated the criminal from gaining his bread,
Mohammed Ali used to send thieves to work, chained, in
the arsenal. This punishment, however, from having
been so often applied in the case of trivial political
offences, was scarcely held ignominious, and Mohammed
Ali therefore determined that thieves should henceforth
be marked on the hand with the word haramy (robber,)
or at least with the initial of the word. There were,
however, other punishments; for, during my residence
in Cairo, thieves who had attempted to take off the bronze
stanchions of a mosque, were paraded about Cairo with
their hands and heads in a wooden frame, reminding me
of the designs of Chinese punishments.
The horrible punishments of skinning and impalement
were abolished. The former was not uncommon in the
time of the Mameluke Beys, as an excruciating ransom
of the last penalty of the law. Hence the alliterative
expression, “Aslakny la tashnakny,” that is to say,
“Skin me but do not strangle me,” which horrible
process was preferred to death. Europeans would pro-
bably be of a different opinion, if they had only this
abominable alternative.
For debtors, ordinary imprisonment is still the punish-
ment. The debtors’ prison is close to the cadi’s court;
and being desirous of seeing an Egyptian establishment
of this kind, I spent a forenoon in it. In this part of
Cairo, the new offices built by Mohammed Ali, and the
magnificent ancient constructions to the west of them,
are altogether divested of the mean but picturesque
aspect which Cairo often presents. A suitor might be
seen pacing anxiously up and down, with law papers in
his hand, long slips of thick paper, almost black with
the close writing, and a few seals at the bottom of them,
A DEBTOR’s PRISON. 265
imprinted in bluish ink. At the door of the gaol, was a
Kurd, in a short petticoat, who asked, “which of the
prisoners we wanted P” but a backschish smoothed all
difficulties, and the Kurd started up from the wicker-
frame of palm-branches on which he reclined, with easy
agility, and, leading me into a dark passage, opened a
door with a large wooden bolt, and I found myself
among the prisoners. The apartment might be about
twenty feet high, the light being admitted by two barred
unglazed windows, close to the roof. The walls were
perfectly bare, and in the upper corner of the room a
spider's web of thick texture fluttered in the slight
breeze which ventilated the apartment. On the floor
were the mats, carpets, and cushions of the prisoners.
Wearing the native costume, and having my brow
bronzed by the sun, I was supposed to be a prisoner,
and was immediately asked the particulars of the process
or “dawa” which had brought me thither. I answered
that I had come to see the prison. On enquiry I found
the debts for which the people were confined were
generally from three pounds to five pounds. One of the
prisoners was a Bedouin, who had been entrusted with
a camel, which had died in his keeping : he subsisted
entirely on charity. They told me their cases very
freely. One was a miller, who had not understood his
business: he told me that this was the first day of his
imprisonment, and added, with evident distress, that
“his body was with the cadi, but his mind with his
two little children.” Another, a very young man, had
pawned his wife's ornaments, and spent her dowry; and,
being called before the cadi, had been cast into prison.
The prisoners occasionally whispered among themselves,
and a well-dressed townsman said aloud, “You are here
on the part of Effendina, the Pasha, to enquire how we
are treated.” I explained that this was a mistake, and
266 AN INSOLVENT LAW IN EGYPT.
ordered a pilaff for the poorer prisoners, and coffee to be
served all round.
“May God bless you !” said a man with weak eyes, a
grey beard, and green turban ; and he immediately said
in a decided voice, “Elfateha,” that is to say, the reci-
tation of the opening passage of the Koran, which is a
formula of prayer; on which all the prisoners, in chorus,
holding out their hands, and looking upwards, recited
this sublime exordium. One of the prisoners was a
soldier of fortune, who had not been able to make up
his mind to serve with the regular troops. He had
been with Kurschid Pasha in Aleppo, at the period
of the great revolt and siege in 1819, when, on the
occasion of that governor imposing a house-tax, the
officers of the Porte were murdered, though after four
months’ fighting the Pasha put down the revolt by force.
This man praised Kurschid Pasha for the number of
heads he had cut off as a lesson. He spoke with great
contempt of the new Nizam discipline, because, when
men march in lines, the coward is never known from
the man of iron. I need not multiply these details,
further than to say, that imprisonments are not pro.
longed, since, after ninety days’ detention, a debtor, on
making oath of insolvency, is liberated.*
* The readers of Melusina will have no difficulty in remembering this sketch as
the groundwork of a scene in that romance. . It is in the admirable pages of Mr.
Lane that the reader may acquire a thorough knowledge of the population of Cairo.
Still the mine is so rich, that a dozen writers could not exhaust it; and if the
traveller or historian have previously familiarized himself with the colloquial
language, the political history, religious institutions, and domestic. manners of the
Arabs, he will find his materials to accumulate upon him with great rapidity. In
these chapters some points of contact with Mr. Lane have been inevitable; but,
conscious of his immeasurable inferiority to this great Arab scholar and acute
observer, the author of these pages has, as a general rule, selected from his manuscript
volumes of notes matter which might not prove uninteresting to persons already
familiar with Mr. Lane’s delightful works.
267
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE ULEMA IN THE LAST YEARs of MoHAMMED ALI's RULE.—STATE of ARABIc
LITERATURE.-PARTY SPIRIT AMong THE ULEMA.—THE WAHABYs AND
ARABIANS PROPER RESIDENT IN CAIRo.— PopUIAR SUPERSTITION, AND
IMPOSTURE OF PRETENDED ENCHANTERs.-ExECUTION OF THE LAST WIZARD.
APART from the government is the local Arab aris-
tocracy, or leading families, who are distinguished by
ancient birth, and in some instances by considerable
property. Their occupations, too, are interwoven with
the learning and religion of the Arabs. For the youth
are carefully educated in Arab Moslem learning, and in
mature life are nazirs, or inspectors of mosques, or fill
other offices, such as that of mufti, or chief doctor of
the law, or nackeeb-el astaf. They consider them-
selves greatly superior to all the pashas of Turkey; but,
as they have not the political power, or the large
government salaries, their position is in reality inferior
to that of the leading Turks, although they are treated
with a certain amount of deference. In Damascus there
really is, or was until lately, a powerful native aris-
tocracy; but in Cairo the Mamelukes having been for
so many centuries the leading people, there have been
always very few native Arab families of any account.
This was remarked by the Venetians, under the Mame-
luke Sultans, and since then there has been no change,
except for the worse, as Mohammed Ali’s spoliation of
title deeds still further reduced this class.
One of the leading persons of this description was
268 THE ANCIENT FAMILIES.
Sheikh Sadat, who was very fanatical, although he was
said to have been originally of Jewish extraction. He
Was very wealthy and had a magnificent house, and
moreover was honorary wekeel of the house of Ali and
nazir of the mosque of Hosseyneyn. The acknowledged
head of the ancient native families was the Sheikh-el-
Bekri, a lineal descendant of Abou Bekr, one of the
first of the Caliphs. Sheik-el-Bekri held the office of
chief of the Shereefs, or descendants of the prophet, and
his income was said to be about twelve pounds per day.
Eſe was hospitable, and had a large house of dependants.
This was the principal family in Cairo during the
French occupation, and by no means fanatical towards
Franks. One of the females of the family was even
lax in her morals, having been mistress of a French
officer, and was put to death on the departure of the
French. I was taken by a friend to one of the sheikhs’
evening festivals, and he received me very kindly. The
house was splendidly illuminated, and the head of the
family, a fine old man with a white beard, wore bright
crimson robes. The Ananeey family claimed descent
from Omar, and Sheikh-el-Aimany, a merchant who
belonged to both the corps of merchants and ulema, had
an income as small merchant and nazir of a mosque
which did not exceed £200 per annum. A family
who claimed to be descended from Osman, formerly
resided in Cairo, where they still have some pro-
perty; their wekeel, or legal representative, being the
cadi. -
Of the ulema, Sheikh Attar was allowed to be the
most versed in polite literature, and was transferred to
be Imam of the mosque of the Egyptian pupils in Paris.
Sheikh-el-Dessouky (Mr. Lane's sheikh) was the best in
pure philology, having, as was said, “all the dictionary
in his head.” As a general scholar, there was none
A. SHEIROH AT HOME. 269
better than Sheikh Mohammed Shehab. I made the
acquaintance of the latter, whose conversation Mr. Lane
described as “the most delightful banquet which can
be offered to his friends.” He is of the illustrious
Roreishite house of the Hedjaz, one portion of which
remains at Mecca, and another branch has turned
Christian, after having enjoyed the Emirship of Mount
Tebanon for many generations, as I stated in my account
of the Emir Beshir.”
The house of Sheikh Mohammed Shehab, was close to
the Bab-es-Shareey, or gate of vermicelli sellers, which
was one of the gates of Fatimite Cairo, but now, like
Temple-bar, is in the midst of the town. His divan
opened on a garden, and, it being Bairam, was full of
visitors. The house gave signs neither of poverty nor
of wealth, and the company included a fair mixture of
the better classes of native Caireens, for only one person
present besides myself was in the Egyptian-Turkish
dress. A few trees, growing on the terrace that over-
looked the canal, enlivened the apartment and the house
of Burkhardt, and a similar garden overlooking the
JChalidge, but without trees, was pointed out to me. The
Sheikh had two servants, a male Nubian and a woman,
and used to sit on the balcony Smoking his pipe, and
looking down on the Khalidge. The sheikh asked me
after Iakob Effendi (Mr. Burton), who, I perceived, was
generally liked in Cairo, but I could give no intelligence
of him. He also told me that his property was in
Mecca, and that his relations managed it ; but that the
Syrian branch of the family having been settled there
* I saw this family in exile at Constantinople. The old Emir Beshir, although
much broken by age, had that true nobility of look which many years of power,
combined with inherent personal dignity, confer. His son, the Emir Ameen, was
enormously fat, and had returned to Islamism (in appearance, for he was a thorough
Christian at heart—I mean in his political sympathies), no doubt in the hope that the
government would restore to him the principality of Mount Lebanon, an expectation
which was not realised.
270 A SOUVENIR OF THE CRUSADERS.
for seven hundred years, all connexion between them
had been broken off. The circumstance of one of the
oldest families of Mecca, belonging to the tribe of
Mohammed himself, adopting Christianity was con-
sidered perfectly marvellous, and viewed by several
of the company with a species of horror, the expres-
sion of which was accompanied by Sundry quotations
from the Koran, in reference to those who disbelieve
its doctrines. It is a curious circumstance that, although
Hakem was one of the most remarkable of the Fatimite
Caliphs, and although his mosque stands in gloom and
desolation to this day, as a huge and conspicuous ruin,
this company—composed of Caireens of more than
average intelligence—had the most obscure and vague
ideas of the origin of the Druse religion, which has
been so thoroughly illustrated by the learned De Sacy
in his most invaluable work. The Emir Beshir turning
Christian was also a riddle they could not solve.
Another celebrated alim, Sheikh-el-Tunsi, lived near
the bridge of the Lion, which is at the south-west angle
of Cairo, and forms nearly an oblong Square. The bridge
is so called from the lions sculptured on it, no doubt the
arms of some Syrian hostelry, and a souvenir of the
Crusaders, the bridge having been built by Bibars in
1270. The house of the sheikh conveyed no notion of
the comfort in which learning Ought to live. His selamlic
was a damp apartment projecting over the canal, with
the plaster peeling off the walls. What makes the
Cairo people prefer the canal? I know not, for when
the inundation is over, it looks like Fleet ditch.
The sheikh now made his appearance. He was an
elderly man, with a green turban, a weak voice, and a
mild expression of countenance; but spoke such pure
and elegant Arabic that it was a pleasure to hear
him. The sheikh had led a wandering life. He was
PARTIES IN THE ULEMA. 271
originally a native of Tunis, and of course acquainted
with the coast of Barbary; but he had spent no less
than eight years in the kingdom of Darfour, where no
European traveller since Brown had penetrated up to
the close of the last century. Sheikh Omar-el-Tunsi
wrote a book giving an account of Darfour, which has
been translated into French. “Darfour,” said he, “is
very good for the blacks, but a white man is half roasted
alive.” He praised the delightful climate of Cairo,
which was the happy medium between the heat of
Darfour and the intolerable cold and rain of Syria. He
gave me some humorous details of the capital of that
Sable kingdom ; and explained how the dignity of the
monarch was shewn by an officer of a certain rank
wiping up his expectorations as soon as they descended
upon the ground. He also spoke of the luxury of
having a cool bed of white ashes during the intense
heat, at Darfour relieved by the monsoon rains, which
do not extend to Egypt.
There were two parties in the ulema,-the great
majority being obstinately opposed to the Frank inno-
vations of the Pasha, but offering only a slight passive
resistance, through fear of the government. A certain
number, however—some from Superior intelligence,
some from good nature, and others from interested
cupidity—were accommodating. Among the more in-
telligent was Sheikh Rifaa, one of the leading classical
professors (in Arabic) at Cairo. When he spoke of
the growing taste of young Egyptians for European
literature, I mentioned the “Cours de Literature” of M.
Willemain as being the most delightful critical work
that I knew of, throwing all the Blairs, Marmontels,
and Laharpes into ſhe shade; on which he at once
called his secretary, ànd gave the order for its being got
from Paris immediately. A specimen of a good man,
272 THE “PEOPLE OF TRUTH.”
opposed to all Frank innovations and of the true old
stamp of primitive Moslems, might be mentioned in
Sheikh-el-Mawardy. He was considered one of the
Ehl-el-Hakika, or people of truth, to whom God makes
direct communications. He was a very pious and
generous man, gave all he had to the poor, and was
much respected. Coffee being a forbidden narcotic,
he served to his friends vinegar and water to quench
their thirst, and not to heat the blood. He had a habit
of speaking straight on, like a preacher in a pulpit:
he gave all sorts of good advice to visitors, to avoid
the devil and his works; and drew magnificent pictures
of heaven at the last day, when God would be sur-
rounded by his ministers, prophets, and welis, Gabriel,
Michael, Azraeel, Abraham, Noah, Jesus, and Mo-
hammed, Imam-es-Shafei, Said-el-Bedaweey, and Abd-
el-Kader-el-Gilany. He scarcely gave time to ask a
question, but kept pouring out such a cataract of angels,
archangels, prophets, imams, and welis, that visitors
were usually silenced.
The strictest sect in Cairo was certainly that of the
Wahabys, whose lives had been spared on the fall of
their cause in Arabia, and who were living in exile
at Cairo. I have already detailed the great revolt of
these covenanted puritans of Islamism. These exiles
lived at first on the road to Boulak, and when the great
plague of 1835 raged, they got leave to quit Cairo, and
go to Aboudalih, where the plague swept away nearly
the half of them, notwithstanding the change of resi-
dence. I was introduced to the principal of them, a
relative of Souhoud; but on his desiring to know my
motive for making his acquaintance, and on my answer-
ing that it was the vivid interest I had taken in the
struggle of this singular people, he seemed puzzled,
incredulous, and reserved. Literary curiosity, or a
THE WABABYS IN CAIRO. 273
vivid human interest, seemed to be something he could
not understand; and we parted without my having suc-
ceeded in making him comprehend the why or wherefore
of my visit. He was sure that a man wearing the Turk-
ish costume, having a fair complexion, and making now
and then perceptible slips in Arabic, was not a Wahaby,
and therefore could not be an ally of his : I might be an
imprudent friend, and, most likely of all, I might be a
spy of Mohammed Ali. Such were the surmises that
passed through my mind after an unsuccessful attempt
to establish familiar intercourse with this remarkable
Sect. But as I was treated with polite reserve, without
the slightest display of fanaticism, or even discourtesy,
I had no reason to complain. The Wahabys, in Cairo,
although their political pretensions were at an end, con-
tinued their customs. If a dog passed during prayer they
began Washing and praying. They never ate green vege-
tables, but rice and flesh, and were particularly fond of
that of young camels. After the great plague, they main-
tained that the ceasing of this scourge was attributable to
the appearance of a star called Touyah. Ilike the people
of Nablouse, and of Syria and Bagdad, they are of the sect
of Hambaleh, and it is generally remarked that those of
this sect are of a more straightforward disposition than
those who are of the sect of Shafei. The Shafei are
Jesuits; not liars, but men of Jesuitical meanings.
The principal Arabians of Cairo may generally be met
with at the house of the Egyptian Agent of the Shereef
of Mecca, who receives strangers politely and presents a
variety of the coffee berry, which may be relished in
Arabia, and is even preferred, but is the most nauseous
to the European. There are usually at least fifty Mecca-
kewy in Cairo, and ten or twelve from Medina. In the
summer there are from a hundred to two hundred natives
of the Hedjas in Constantinople; but they cannot stand
VOL. II. 18
274 EARTHQUAKES.
the cold, and rarely remain in winter. The wekeel told me
that he even felt the cold of Cairo to be bitter and piercing.
He spoke with enthusiasm of the delightful groves of
Tayf in summer. An earthquake having taken place in
Cairo a few days before, I asked him if he was afraid.
He opened his eyes in astonishment, and said, “Why
afraid, do not I put my trust in God?” So it is in the
East: the undoubting, unquestioning, undissecting awe
of the Deity, is the keystone of their theory of temporal
government. To elude the operation of the physical
laws, even when they are noxious or destructive, may
occur by instinct, but is systematically reprobated. Man
is supposed to be chained helpless in the prison of fate.
Earthquakes occasionally occur in Egypt. Sometimes
temples and mosques are thrown down, and there are
frequently movements of a slighter description. In all
probability the pyramids were constructed for the ex-
press purpose of defying not only the ordinary ravages
of time, but the extraordinary convulsions of nature. I
was one day sitting with my sheikh, when I felt a shaky
motion which prevented me from writing. Some people,
particularly absent and absorbed men of letters, have a
habit of crossing one leg over the other, and shaking
their foot. I said, “What makes you shake your foot
so vigorously P” “You are mistaken,” answered he.
The house next mine had been recently pulled down,
and we had been frequently troubled with noises of
falling stones; so I said, “In pulling down the next
house, I hope they will not knock down mine.” Scarcely
had I said this, when, sitting on the divan, I seemed to
be in a carriage, jolting over a rough pavement, and my
Sheikh Hanife, rising up, pale as death, said it was an
earthquake; and we both rushed out into the street,
which was instantaneously filled with men, women, and
children, in a state of the greatest alarm, some of whom
Hy
SUPERSTITIONS OF ISLAMISM. 275
said, “that the world was changed from one horn of the
great bull to the other.” However, the only damage done
was in the fall of an old minaret, and the circumstance
of so many beautiful and slender minarets still subsisting
in Cairo, is a proof that severe earthquakes are not
frequent in Egypt. They come with extraordinary
violence at intervals of some centuries, but, altogether,
much less frequently than in Southern Italy and Greece.
The principal religious ceremonies have been so fully
described by Mr. Lane, that it is not requisite to go over
the same ground. The most striking of the Superstitions,
not being in any way an essential ceremony of Islamism,
is the doseh or treading by the sheikh of the Saadeey der-
vishes, on the festival of the prophet (Moolid-el-Nebby).
I may briefly describe it, as witnessed by me on one
occasion. Those who bordered the line of procession
were made to lie flat down on their faces; and when
they were packed closely together, the sheikh—a stout
jolly man, with a green kaouk—approached, the horse
on which he rode being led by two grooms. It was
evident that the horse did not like treading on the backs
of the prostrate Moslems, and moved from side to side;
and the sheikh was evidently also much embarrassed,
and did not keep the animal steady in hand. At last
the horse moved rapidly and shouts of pain were heard.
Those who were closely wedged in, were raised up by
the spectators, either seriously bruised or quite uncon-
scious. Death sometimes ensues from this abominable
contravention of the physical laws, as if such delicate
machinery as that of shoulder-blades, the spine, ribs, and
veins, had been constructed to bear the pressure of the
hoofs of a horse, weighted by a stout man and a heavy
saddle. That such a superstitious procedure should be
pleasing to the Deity who made the laws it violates, must
appear to every intelligent man one of the most striking
276 SPELLS AND INCANTATIONS.
instances of human delusion, paralleled only by the
macerations of monkish superstition, the un-Christian
horrors of a Scotch sabbath, or the more inconceivable
tortures of the Indian peninsula.
The superstition of the people of Cairo shows itself
in many other ways, and is quite as absurd as that
recorded of the ignorant, in the time of the ancients. To
this day shrewd people in Cairo make a living by pre-
tending to drive evil spirits out of harems by spells and
incantations,—not only the Evil Eye (Ain-el-wuhsh), but
all sorts of evil spirits. Wives in harems are always
taking alarms of this sort, and by a trifling gratuity to
an impostor, who goes through a hocus pocus in which
reading verses of the Koran forms an essential part,
repose is restored to the harem for some weeks and
months at least. If a strange cat enters a house and
knocks over a jug or glass, and awakes the servant in a
dark night, he may possibly leave on the following day,
on the pretext that the house is haunted by afreets.
Behind the Moristan, a new house was pointed out to me
with an aloe hanging at the gate, placed there to keep
away afreets. Sheikh Ahmed-el-Kotoby, who in my
presence ridiculed the excessive credulity of his fellow-
countrymen, several times insisted that the Bairactar, or
“Standard Bearer” of Sultan Selim, had been living
since the Turkish conquest of Egypt, in 1517, at Con-
stantinople.
I may mention one or two more instances of this
description to which my attention was drawn during my
researches in the highways and byeways of this capital.
On the line of street from the citadel to Bab Zueileh, is
a mosque called Giama-el-Sais, or Mosque of the Groom.
At the corner of it is a high Corinthian pillar, evidently
an antique. I asked how the lower part of the pillar
came to be covered all over with a thick coat of plaster,
FANATICS. 277
and received for answer, that this was the celebrated
Amood-el-Metuely, which was proclaimed by a Mog-
rebbin sheikh to have miraculous effects, and that if
sterile women licked it with their tongue, they would
become mothers. All on a sudden the pillar was so
besieged by people wishing to lick it, that the streets
were blocked up, and the Pasha, hearing of the delusion,
caused a guard to stand, while the masons plastered and
built the lower part of it round with bricks.
There is a bridge over the Khalidge called Cantarat-
el-Kafir, which was formerly called Cantarat-el-Djedeed.
This change of designation arose from the eccentricities
of one of those religious fanatics who are tolerated ac-
cording to Moslem usage. This man was called the
Wely Ali-el-Tantawy. He was a native of Fantah, a
considerable town in the Delta, whither pilgrims throng
to the shrine of the celebrated Said-el-Bedawy. I was
informed by Sheikh Ahmed-el-Kotoby, the glass-eating
bookseller, who figures in the Preface to Mr. Lane's
“Modern Egyptians,” that he had made the acquaintance
of this Wely at Tantah in a very curious manner. “One
day (he said) I was in the mosque of Said-el-Bedawy, at
Tantah; and, after the midday prayers, fell asleep till
night, on a mat; I then looked up, and found myself
awakened by a man who said, ‘It is Eshia, arise and
pray.” After prayers he opened a bag, which was full
of flat cakes and bread. I said, ‘What do you do with
all those loaves?” He replied, “They are begged in the
course of the day, and I feed the dogs of Tantah with
them ; that is my sole occupation.”
When the Wely Ali came to Cairo, he used to stand
naked on this bridge, and when Mohammed Ali passed,
he said, in allusion to his new Frank reforms, “That
man is an infidel!” A multitude of other persons
were called infidels by him, whose external appearance
278 DIVINATION.
indicated a departure from the old Moslem costume. He
was quite naked, and when clothes were given him, used
to tear them. I saw several such persons in Damascus;
but the authorities are gradually getting rid of them.
Bab Arab-el-Ysar is a gate of the suburb of Cairo to
the south, not far from the citadel, the literal translation
of the expression being “The gate of the Arabs to the
left.” This quarter of Cairo has altogether a curious
aspect; it is close under the chain of hills called Mokat-
tam, which have not a blade of grass upon them. Here
is an oratory, which is called Zawiet-el-Wahsh, literally
“of the animals,” for from its proximity to the moun-
tains, it has been known to be frequented by jackals
and other beasts that prowl between the cultivated and
desert territory. Not far off, the strangely called mosque
of the Messiah has its name derived from two Christians
that turned Moslem and built the mosque. Christians
often called themselves Messihieheen, or if I may so
translate it Messiahites. The women of this quarter are
mostly employed in washing wool. I found here a
Dakroory—a man from the upper country, almost a
black—who sat at an open stall and was consulted on
confidential family matters, by women from all parts of
Cairo, and was supposed to make a considerable revenue.
They would come saying, for instance, “Oh Sheikh
open the book, I am barren and desire a child;” or, “Oh
Sheikh my husband wishes to divorce me; pray consult
the book, and turn him from his purpose.” He had two
books of divining science before him, the one called
“Abou Maa’sher,” the other, “Hodour.” He made me
separate beads to the right and left, three times, and
consulting his books, said “that I was to start on my
journey on a Wednesday, but not to wear stockings on
the first day of my journey, and that I should arrive
safely in my own country.” There appears to have been
AN EXECUTION FOR WITCHCRAFT. 279
no hanging or burning for witchcraft in Europe later
than the seventeenth century, but in Cairo, an execution
took place a few years before the French expedition to
Egypt, so as to be remembered by many persons in Mo-
hammed Ali's time, although I regret that I was unable
to get the exact year. The name of the so called-wizard
was Sheikh Hussein, and he was accused of being able
to write powerful talismans, producing hatred between
persons that loved each other. For this he was hanged
at the Bab-Zawiet-el-Wekeel.
280
CHAPTER XXV.
STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN POPULATION IN THE LAST YEARs of MoHAMMED
ALI's RULE.—LAUDABLE ENFORCEMENT OF ToI.ERANCE TowARDS CHRISTIANS.
– BASILIOS BEY's DEATH.—THE Copts.—THE FRANKS.—MR. LANE AND
CLOT BEY.—THE SYRIANs AND GREEKs.—THE CARAITE JEws.—THE CASTEE
of DoGs.–MUSIC AND MUSICIANs.-JUGGLERS.—NUBIAN POPULATION.—
NEGROES.
HAVING given the reader some sketches of the classes
which have the Moslem character most distinctly stamped
upon them, I may now proceed to say something of the
Christians and Jews.
Close to the Ezbekieh, is the Coptic quarter, with
passages dark, dismal, gloomy, and noisome. Here are
neither arabesques, nor covered mustabahs, nor effendis
with pipe-bearers, nor ulema in their white turbans and
smooth chins, and the bazaar itself is shabby and out of
repair; the inhabitants are the descendants of the former
rulers of Egypt, of the constructors of Thebes and the
pyramids. It is chiefly since the time of Caliph Hakem,
that the Copts have fallen into such a wretched condition.
Memorials of the former magnificence of the Copts, their
high positions among the earlier Moslems, and their
learning, are occasionally discoverable. Mr. Lieder,
an intelligent German missionary, informed me that he
had seen a magnificent copy of the Gospels, with much
of the text and beautiful Arabic poetry, and a Coptic
commentary. Five leaves being wanting, he went to
the patriarch, expecting to be able to find five analogous
leaves in the library of this Pope of Eastern African
Christianity, but was astonished at being told that the
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE. 2
patriarch had never seen any copy of the Gospels so
beautiful, and did not even know of the existence of such
a manuscript.
One of the principal characteristics of the rule of
Mohammed Ali was religious tolerance; and, so far as
the Pasha was concerned, complete indifference. His
great object was to get the European powers to think
favourably of his rule; and this was most likely to be
accomplished by strict protection of Franks and
Christians, and such an effective curbing of native
fanaticism, as produced the deepest exasperation in the
Moslem mind. The Pasha not only made the most use
he could of the Copts, who both before and since the
Turkish conquest have always shown a singular expert-
ness in arithmetic and book-keeping, but he raised
several persons of this race to the dignity of Bey. The
most respectable and intelligent was Basilios Bey, the
head of his account department, who died in November,
1847, to the great regret both of the Christian and the
French population. Equally intelligent, but infamous,
was Abderrahman Bey, who had turned Moslem, and
proved himself a most cruel exactor of tribute for the
Pasha's purse; so that out of decency, and in deference
to European opinion, this man was suspended, chiefly in
consequence of the evil effect which his exactions had
produced by being commented upon in the European
newspapers. Mohammed Ali did not care two straws
about the exactions of the renegade Copt, but he found
it politic publicly to repudiate any connection with the
tortures which this heartless man had inflicted on the
peasantry. Much praise must be bestowed on the German
missionaries, who, chiefly with English funds, have been
most active in educating Copts and giving them a
smattering of Frank Science.
On one occasion I determined on attending Divine
282 A COPTIC CATHEDRAL.
service on Palm Sunday in the Coptic cathedral, where
the patriarch was to officiate. Plunging into the Coptic
quarter, I passed through a succession of crooked lanes,
and at length arrived at the temple of this ancient
people, which was undistinguished by any architectural
decoration,--a truly remarkable lapse in the external
circumstances of a nation, when we think of the colossal
magnificence of the Pharaonic and the elegance of the
Greek periods of Egyptian architecture. But one cir-
cumstance vividly recalled the physical conditions of the
region which gave birth to Christianity. The street
was crowded with lads selling palm branches, without
which no one entered the church. The temple was an
oblong square, and lighted from above. A screen of
inlaid chips of carpentry, ebony, and mother-of-pearl,
disposed in all sorts of arabesque devices, separated the
Sanctum sanctorum from the body of the church, and
from the gaze of the congregation: a door in the centre
allowing the altar to be visible in the distance. At the
other end of the church, which was all railed and trel-
lised off by curiously turned and combined wooden
spars, might be seen fair white ruby-ringed hands,
corners of silk dresses, cashmere shawls, and a bright
diamond sparkling in the obscurity, denoting that behind
the fairer portion of the Coptic flock was separated from
the males. The body of the church was covered with
a thick Turkey carpet; and next the door, were hun-
dreds of pairs of shoes, from the bright new morocco of
the ma'alem, to the cobbled and stitched old slipper of
the pauper. Five hundred luxuriant branches of palms,
held upright by the male part of the congregation, gave
to the place an aspect of a greenhouse.
The patriarch and his deacons made their appearance,
the former in a dress of purple and gold, beautifully em-
broidered, and which, being clasped in front with a hood
DISORDERLY WORSHIPPERS. 283
covering the head, reminded the spectator of the mosaic
representations of the Lower Empire. The deacons were
dressed in simple white robes of linen and gold, just as
one sees in the pictures of the old Florentine masters.
The patriarch was so infirm, and coughed so often, that
when, after the Psalms, he rose to read a passage in the
Coptic Gospels, his voice did not rise above a whisper.
A grey-bearded priest then came to a desk, and putting
on a pair of spectacles—which being without ear-joints,
and simply fastened to his nose by elastic compression,
gave him a strong nasal twang, he commenced reading
in an Arabic manuscript Bible the account of the en-
trance of Christ into Jerusalem from St. John. The con-
gregation during the whole service made the sign of the
cross, and bowed at the name of Jesus; but there was
certainly a want of that reverence and absorption which
is visible in our own service. Nothing can exceed the
reverence and humility of a Copt in the presence of a
Pasha; but here there was much general conversation
and whispering, and at one moment a most audible dis-
cussion between the deacons as to the forms of the ser-
vice. And when the Gospels were read in Arabic, there
was so much whispering and talking, that a priest cried
out, “There is no hearing on account of the noise.”
The patriarch now retired, and came back in a vestment
of red satin, richly embroidered with gold, and then
administered the Sacrament, the communicants going
round the table in turn, and receiving a mouthful of
bread, and also a gold spoonful of wine, poured from a
goblet held by the left hand of the priest.
There is an old Coptic quarter in the upper part of
the town, close to the citadel, but now abandoned to the
Moslems in a great measure. I visited its church, which
looked very old, shabby, and neglected; but in the
shrine is preserved a pretended relic of primitive Chris-
284 - OCCUPATIONS OF THE COPTS.
tianity—an arm of St. Theodore, or Mar Tadros (Theo-
dorus), as the Copts call him. Certainly, in antiquity,
none of the oriental churches can reasonably take prece-
dence of that of the Copts, or of Alexandria, as it is
Sometimes called; for in Alexandria, then the second
city of the Roman empire, the Gospel was preached by
Mark, the evangelist, and to this day, Abyssinia receives
its patriarchs from the Coptic church of Egypt.
The occupations of the Copts are various, the most im-
portant being, as already stated, that of keeping the
government accounts, in which they are most expert.
In the Siagha, or goldsmiths' and jewellers' bazaar, we
find Copts and Jews at work, but no Moslems or Syrian
Christians. Nearly all the millers in Cairo were Copts,
and most of the water-carriers, and many carpenters.
Desides the division by trades, there is also a distinction
between Copts, native of Cairo, and those who have
come from the Fayoum, or still more remote provinces,
to essay their fortunes in the metropolis. Sometimes
these latter succeed, get into easy circumstances, and
bring their relatives to Cairo. I heard a pleasant story
of a Copt of the humblest origin from one of the villages
of the Upper Nile, who, after being successful, brought
his widowed mother to Cairo, and thought to honour her
by offering her a diamond ornament; but she refused it
in anger, saying “What I shall I wear glass? No! I
will only wear bendekeey” (Venetian sequins).
The Frank quarter of Cairo is so well known to over-
land travellers as to require very little description. The
old Frank inhabitants used to wear the native costume,
and the females spoke Arabic as their native language;
but the establishment of the overland passage, and the
Prank inundation, have given a different character to
the Frank society of Cairo. To this we may add, that
nearly all government officials of the Superior rank, and
MR. LANE AND CLOT BEY. 285
many also of the inferior rank, speak French; so that,
except in Pera and Smyrna, there is no part of the
Ottoman empire where the native languages are less
requisite for the ordinary necessities of the passing tra-
veller than in Cairo. On the other hand, very little is
to be learned from these Europeanized Moslems; and
Cairo, in all its peculiarities, remains a sealed book to the
man who has not so much of the language as enables
him to converse fluently with the natives.
The most interesting Franks residing in Egypt in the
time of Mohammed Ali were Mr. Lane and Clot Bey:
the one introduced Frank medical science to Egypt,
and the other has done more than any other indi-
vidual to acquaint Europe with the genuine native
Bgyptian in all his peculiarities. These two men were,
therefore, the continuators of the double function with
which Bonaparte wished to invest his Institute of Egypt
—the one to acquaint the people of Egypt with Frank
science, the other to acquaint the people of Europe with
the religion and the manners of Egypt. And without
detracting from the acknowledged value of the men of
the Institute of Egypt, who—including such names as
those of Bonaparte, Monge, Berthollet, Fourier, and
Tarry—were of a higher stamp than their successors,
I must say it is in reality the latter who, by much longer
residence in the country, and by living in an assured
and comparatively pacific state of society, have given a
certain impress to the Egypt of more recent times. I
place Mr. Lane and Clot Bey in juxta-position, not be-
cause their labours were in any way associated, but
because the one is the most complete type of the Euro-
pean profound in Arabic lore, and in knowledge of the
arcana of Cairo life; and the other, a man of European
science who has shown himself active and practical in
its application to the wants of Egypt.
286 AN INTERVIEW WITH MIR. LANE.
Mr. Lane avoided Franks, and seldom quitted the
Moslem quarter ; but, through the kindness of Her
Majesty's Consul, Mr. Walne, I was introduced to him.
One Friday, after the afternoon prayer, we mounted our
asses, and alighting near the Bab-el-Halk, asked for
Mansour Effendi, and were shown into a room fitted up
with book-cases. Mr. Lane wore a dark-green Nizam
dress, and had allowed his beard to grow. He was then
engaged in writing a dictionary of the Arabic language,
and was extremely laborious, although not enjoying
vigorous health. Some persons supposed that, like
Burckhardt, he made a profession of Islamism; but this
is a mistake, he simply conformed to the manners, lan-
guage, and dress of the Arabs. Endowed with intelli-
gence and perseverance, and with that plasticity of
temperament which has enabled him to utilize his oppor-
tunities; the result has been a large mass of valuable
matter added to the common stock of information on
Bgypt, in which he has no rival, much less a superior.”
On being introduced to Clot Bey, he gave an amusing
account of the way in which he first broke through the
prejudices of the Moslems in reference to anatomy.
“First of all,” said he, “let us get a dog and dissect
him—not even a Moslem's dog, but a Jew’s dog, or a
Christian's dog,” and after a little grumbling they con-
* Mr. Lane told me that when he first arrived in Egypt in 1826, there being no
steamboats or overland transit, , and only a few travellers, great hatred existed
towards the Franks; and although the Pasha had begun his reforms, very few French
costumes were to be seen in the Mousky, and on several occasions, going to out-of-
the-way villages, he was in danger of being killed. Sometimes sitting in cafés, and
overhearing conversation, when no one suspected the presence of a Frank, he was
more than once disagreeably surprised by finding that the project of massacring all
the Franks in Cairo as a lesson to the Pasha not to proceed further with his Frank
innovations, was no unusual topic of discussion. On his second visit to Egypt in
1834, there was much more toleration and facility for Franks; but there was still
so profound an irritation against the government, that every man who had relations
with it, or with Franks, was an object of suspicion to the ulema, although he might
be a Moslem. Even a man suspected of frequenting the houses of government people
or conversing with them had a difficulty in getting books out of the mosques to read
or Copy.
MOSLEM PREJUDICES OVERCOME. 287
sented. Then at a cemetery outside of the town some
skeletons and skulls were scattered about. “Really,” said
he, to his pupils, who were adults, “what harm if we
get a few of these skulls and bones for the sake of
explanation to you; they may as well lie upon my table,
as to lay bleaching in the sun.” This point was acceded
to, but when he proposed to come to the dissection of
bodies, there were some murmurs. “Well !” said he,
“we will not take a free white man, but a black slave.”
Again, at length, the point was given up; and thus, by
one step after another, the educated Egyptians have
arrived at a knowledge of anatomy. With reference to
the translations of European medical and scientific books,
he added, that an entirely new technology had been
created out of the existing elements of the Arabic
language, and combined in strict accordance to its ancient
principles, so that Arabic had been amplified without
any violation of the fundamental structure of the language.
Close to the Frank quarter is the so-called Derb-el-
Djennein, or street of the garden, which is inhabited by
a large number of Damascene Christians. Both in the
Frank and Syrian quarters there is an intermingling of
mosques, tombs, and Moslem houses: for instance there
is the Zawiet, or oratory of El-Shooshtery; and, at the
annual festival, the old Franks of the quarter used to
light up their houses out of compliment. Moslem land-
lords generally like Frank tenants, because they get
a better rent than they get from Moslems in other
quarters of the town.
The Khan-el-Hamzawy, is almost exclusively com-
posed of the shops kept by the Damascene Christians,
who inhabit the Derb-el-Djennein, and there is only one
Moslem shopkeeper in the khan. It is consequently
closed on Sunday, and is on that account a curiosity in a
Moslem country. One side of it was in ruins, having
288 ORIENTAL CLOTHING.
been burnt down some years before. The best cloth in
the native bazaars of Cairo, was to be found here, and
came mostly from England, France, and Austria. When
a native wishes to get a good suit of clothes, he does not
order it from the tailor, but purchases the cloth and con-
signs it to the tailor. Oriental robes, not fitting close to
the body, do not require to be of so fine and thin stuff as
the clothes of Europe. I saw much excellent cloth in
this bazaar, but all much thicker than the usual cloth of
Europe; and both in Yorkshire and Moravia, there are
particular sorts destined for the Levantine market. One
of the reasons why the cloth is thicker and stronger is
that it has often to bear heavy silk embroidery. Some
of the favourite colours, such as bright chocolate, with
which black silk embroidery harmonises admirably, are
not usually worn in Frank countries. The consumption
of bright scarlet cloth, which was the staple export of
England in the 17th century, has necessarily greatly
fallen off, since the change of costume on the part of the
government officers; for the Mamelukes used to wear
mostly bright scarlet upper robes, as many of the sheikhs
of Syria do to this day. The last of the Mameluke beys
whom I saw in the halls of Mohammed Ali in 1840, was
dressed from top to toe in Scarlet.
The wealthier Greeks were considered as Franks, and
resided in the Mousky, or Frank quarter. Here also
were to be found many Greek artizans, some of them
Hellenic subjects, and others from the Archipelago. The
proper Greek quarter, for Greeks settled in Egypt from
generation to generation, is in the upper and north eastern
part of Cairo, in which is a handsome convent in con-
nexion with that of Mount Sinai. After the Greek
revolution more than one instance occurred of Greek
priests favouring the escape of Mamelukes of Greek origin
to the European side of the Mediterranean.
THE CARAITE JEWS. 289
The Caraites are to the Jews, what Protestants are to
the Catholics. Their book is the Old Testament and the
Old Testament alone. The Talmud and the traditions
are rejected as damnable innovations. They reside in
the Jews' quarter, with its narrow, unhealthy lanes, but
are not exactly mixed with the Israelite Jews. The
synagogue of the Caraites appears internally just like a
mosque, lamps being hung in broad day on transverse
beams, and the arches which separate the roof longi-
tudinally and transversely being carved in stalactites,
precisely in the Arab manner. The hakam, or priest,
dressed in a plain brown turban, stood at the door, and
the synagogue was immediately filled with the community
in their holiday clothes. The inner part of the church
was railed off and carpeted. In the outer part there was
a mat, with a fountain. I was told that prayers were
said in the morning and at Sunset; that those who were
dressed and pure could go into the inner space, but
that those who were in their daily costume remained
outside.
Taking off our shoes, we entered the inner space, and
we were led up to the Sanctum Sanctorum, where a veil
was withdrawn, and we were shown the Old Testament
in Hebrew manuscript, of a large character on parch-
ment—not bound, but on wooden rollers in the antique
manner. In conversation with the assembly, they told
me that they were the original Jews, and that the split
took place nearly two thousand years ago. They spoke
of their co-religionists in the Crimea, where there are
supposed to be three thousand; and a young man, who
was represented to me to be the wealthiest of the com-
munity in Cairo, stated that he had gone to the Crimea
to try and get Russian protection, but without effect.
The Cairaite community was originally in Arabia, but
was obliged to quit at the Moslem conquest, their
WOL. II. 19
290 OCCUPATIONS OF THE JEWS.
name Caraite being derived from that of a town near
Jambo.
An Abyssinian Caraite presented the contrast of a
healthy swarthy mountaineer to a rather sickly looking
townsman. He had eyes of fire, a finely chiselled
aristocratic nose, and smooth black hair, but he had the
complexion of a creole, which showed that his Caucasian
blood was largely mingled with that of Ethiopia. But,
maugre his dusky tint, the Jewish cast of features was
distinctly visible. One of the community asked me to
look at a house of his, in course of being built; and look-
ing through the rooms I regretted that a decent house
should be erected in so infected a quarter. Going to
the roof, the prospect was dismal beyond description : a
JKhamsin wind darkened the atmosphere, and everything
looked brown and yellow. All around were the house-
tops, looking half ruinous, and the prospect was without
a single palm to relieve its monotony. t
The Jews' quarter was formerly that of the Circassians,
but is now entirely inhabited by Israelite and Caraite
Jews. The latter are much fewer in number, and
are mostly hawkers; one or two make cheese. The
most fanatical Jews are the Mogrebbins. Many instances
have occurred of Egyptian Jews turning Moslem, but
very few of Mogrebbins turning Moslem. The Israelites
are the much wealthier sect, and are engaged as money-
changers and merchants. They have also to this day
continued to connect themselves with the process of coin-
ing. All the female servants of the Jews are Moslems,
and everything is sold dearer in these two Jews' quarters
than in the town, because a proportion of the profits goes
to the synagogues. Instances have been known of some
unprincipled Moslems going to other parts of Turkey,
wearing the Jew turban, and gaining money, by pre-
tending to be converted to Islamism.
A MURDER IN CAIRO. 291.
Jewesses frequent the harems, buying and selling
articles of dress, as well as valuing and exchanging
dresses. The wife of one of the inhabitants of the Derb-
el-Habbaleh, used to receive the visits of a Jewess broker
of ornaments. Her husband was a Turk, connected with
the government, and the wife, who was remarkably
handsome, had brought him a dowry; but he was a man
of pleasure and expense. He bought whatever his wife
took a fancy to, and being himself fond of company, her
dowry was soon dissipated, with her own consent, and
they got into difficulties. One day the Jewess broker
entered with a splendid diamond ckoors, or head orna-
ment, which took the fancy of the Turk's wife, who
pressed her husband to purchase it for her. At length
he seemed to agree to the purchase, being in reality
without money. The Jewess came when the wife was
absent in the bath, and the Turk, pulling out his dagger,
murdered her in the courtyard, and took the ornament.
Eſe then dashed water on the spot so as to wash away
the blood; and, having hacked the body in pieces, hid it
in the garden. A knock was heard at the door; and he,
at this moment seeing one of the Jewess's articles of
dress, which he had forgotten to conceal, ran into the
manearah, or reception room, and placed it under the
cushion of the divan. His wife asked the cause of
the traces of blood, and he said “he had killed a sheep
for a neighbour.” He then went upstairs and gave his
wife the cloors; but, forgetting the article of dress, and
his wife happening to find it, the truth flashed on her.
She did not dare to speak; but, on the trial, it came out
that she saw her husband pounding diamond ornaments
in a mortar so as to separate the diamonds and disfigure
the metal, in order to make the articles no longer
recognizable. The police had been following up the
traces of the woman, and the house being examined, and
292 IMARRIAGES AT THE CASTLE OF DOGS.
both husband and wife placed under arrest, the latter
related all she knew, and the man was executed.
Besides religious or fanatical Moslems, educated
Franks, industrious Christians, and penurious Jews,
there is a large slothful, thoughtless, and pleasure-loving
population in Cairo, who begin with indulgences and
end in the misery of dining on rat ragout. Some quarters
are more disorderly than others. One of these was the
Ralat-el-Kleb, or Castle of Dogs. This quarter is not
far from that of the Franks, which is very high and has
good air, having been formerly the locality of the dog-
kennel of the Emir Yezbek, or Uzbek, after whom the
Ezbekieh is called. Hence its name “Castle of Dogs,”
(Kalat-el-Kleb); but from its good air, and the jolly
manners of its inhabitants, it was sometimes jokingly
called Kalat-el-Tiab. Massive walls of a tower were
still visible when I was last in Cairo, and close by is the
so-called Koom-Sheikh-Selameh, built on a pile of shot
rubbish, and mostly inhabited by the families of servants
and grooms in Cairo. But to return to the Castle of
Dogs, the sheikh of the quarter is generally actively
employed in procuring marriages and divorces; and this
locality is therefore convenient for rakes, who wish to
enjoy a rapid succession of wives. This ought not
to surprise the reader. In the Sikket-el-Tableyta lived
a man, called Said Mohammed-el-Mawardy, who had
married one hundred and fifty wives. When any one
of them was obstinate and would not be divorced again,
he used to put her into a room with a great number
of eats, which usually frightened her into consenting to a
divorce. This man was, however, surpassed in uxori-
ousness by Ahmed Pasha Tahir, one of the wealthiest
men in Egypt, and who had a noble palace not very far
from this quarter, which Franks may remember from its
beautiful portal in white marble, adorned by the tortuous
# - ARAB MUSIC. 293
folds of snakes. Ahmed often married a fresh wife after
the interval of a week, but his divorces were always
effected with handsome compensations to the discarded
spouse.”
Musicians are the chief levers of amusement at these
jovial marriages of the Castle of Dogs, and I caused one
of the most celebrated violin players to be brought to my
house by the invaluable Sheikh Ahmed. As they
entered, Sheikh Ahmed, to show his zeal, said, “Here
is the prince of the fiddlers, whom I have brought hither
by the beard for you. Ask! askſ ask l’” The violin
player was a stout well-dressed man with a white turban
and chequered red and brown robe. He said they
learned only by ear, but had names for the octave—
doka, siky, girky, nua, husseini, oraä, kirden. The
octave is mohair, which is called the jewab, or answer to
doka. The different musical instruments have been fully
described by Mr. Lane, and in the French “Description
d’Egypte,” is a very able treatise on Arab music. This
man told me that the average gain for a party of six
musicians was from a hundred and fifty to three hundred
piastres per night, or from thirty shillings to three pounds
sterling (the pound sterling being then about one hundred
Egyptian piastres).
One must be a helluo musical to enjoy Arab music,
but the European ear soon gets accustomed to it. The
range of musical ideas is very limited, but it is a pleasing
dreamy accompaniment to the reveries of the brain, and
the enthusiastic musician finds it interesting to trace the
relations of those chromatic inflexions to the music of
Lurope of various schools. As I have elsewhere had
occasion to say, the music of Lully, when heard, strikes
* In the great plague of 1835, above fifty persons of his household died from
plague, and this was attributed by the Frank physicians, justly or not I cannot say,
to his not keeping quarantine. -
294 ARAB ORIGIN OF EUROPEAN MUSIC.
at once upon the ear as Arabic in character, derived
through the Spanish court of Naples from Spain (for the
root of all Spanish music is Arabic). It is curious too to
watch how music of the Arabic character has been
idealized and beautified by the genius of the great
European composers, while still preserving the distinct
moods of Hispano-Arab melody. The most striking
examples of this are in Weber's overture to “Preciosa;”
the “Idole de ma vie” in Meyerber’s “Robert le
Diable;” the Neapolitan dance music in Auber’s “La
Muette;” several airs in Auber’s “I’Enfant Prodigue;”
the great work of Felician David, and Conrad in
Rreuzer’s “Nachtlager.” As an instance of failure to
produce beauty, and as an illustration of the absence of
the Arabic vein, we may adduce the eccentric “Turkish
march” of Beethoven, in spite of his indisputably
occupying a place in musical invention certainly inferior
to none who can be named. The Neapolitans did not
derive the Arabic character of their popular music solely
through importation from Spain; for we must remember
that Sicily was a Moslem and Arabic country for a very
long period. It is curious to note how tides of civiliza-
tion turn. We have been describing the violent efforts
of a Turk to fit Egypt with European forms of every
description; and a few centuries back, the aspect of
Venice was entirely Saracenic ; the commercial terms
were derived from the Arabic language, and even in
music the Arabic form had found general acceptance.
The chief of the jugglers, Sheikh Ali-el-Caudeel, was
also brought to me by Sheikh Ahmed. He told me
that he was the commander of the Awlad-el-Fen, or men
of ingenuity or dexterity. In Syria, Arabia, and the
Upper Nile, they are called Skelolo. He informed me
that there were three or four persons in Cairo who had
the real science of divination according to the secret
THE “SONS OF DEXTERITY.” 295
orthodox rules, but that all the rest were impostors.
He styled the fortune-tellers Toraky. All these “sons of
dexterity,” as they were called, pay ferdeh, or capitation
tax, this sheikh aiding in the classification. He took up
a clothes brush and asked if it was of hog's hair. I said
“Yes,” and asked him why he handled it. He said,
“It was dry.” Conversing on the subject, he told me
that a dog's mouth is unclean in the sects of Hawifeh and
Maleky, but not its body. In the sect of Shafei, as also
in the sect of Hanbale, it is all unclean. There are
Seven So-called vain arts, fonoun-el-battal:— 1st. The
jugglers already named, who are sometimes also called
Hawi. 2nd. The violin scrapers at cafés, so that music
is certainly not noble in the East. 3rd. The reciters.
4th. Medaheen—those who beat instruments and sing
rhapsodies at birthday festivals. 6th. Mohabaseen, or
jackpuddings. 6th. Ghisawaty (not Ghwazee), a sort of
harlequin. 7th. Migalateey, or jokers in words. “Not
practical jokers, like the merry-andrews,” said Sheikh
Ali to me.
Then come active arts (Tuabak-el-Amaly), such as
quarter staff, sword and target, and an art called feu-el-
elay, wa-el-sera, a species of wrestling or Savate. As
for the redoubtable feu-el-sinnia, or incantation on the
grand scale through the agency of afreets, Sheikh Ali
declared positively that it was to be classed among the
extinct arts, although there was no doubt that this art
did exist. According to this luminary, another of the
extinct operations of magic was that of changing
the sexes.
A large proportion of the domestic servants of the
Franks, as well as of a multitude of Moslem families,
are Nubians belonging to the Berber or Barabrah race,
who stretch from the Red Sea almost to the Atlantic,
having been driven Southwards from the coasts of the
296 THE BERBERS OF CAIRO.
Mediterranean by the Arabic immigrants into what was
once Numidia; and hence the name Barbary coast applied
to the ancient seat of this north African race, now squeezed
up between the Arab of the sea-board, and the negro of
the interior.
The Berbers of Cairo are a copper coloured race, with
Caucasian, not negro, features; a dependent and not
an independent race, plastic, not indurated by martial
vigour and thirst for domination—a conquered, not a
conquering race; apt for service, not for mastery; flying
from the conquering immigrant, and returning to his
feet to sue for service, which may gratify the love of
ease and gain. The Berber possesses in an eminent
degree the qualities that fit him for domestic employ-
ment; he is honest, saving and economical both of his
master's goods and of his own purse. He is quite
adequate to the various duties of domestic service, and
has much observation within a limited sphere, but he
has no ideal. He cannot create, or rise by his creations
in the arts of peace and war: hence he has no ambition
that gives umbrage. He is a machine man, and his
nationality is not aggressive, but strictly defensive; for
the Berber loves the Berber. They herd together, and
although they are Moslems in religion, carry out the
principle of fraternity in a manner that might shame
Christians. When a young Berber comes fresh from
Nubia, one after another entertains him until he gets
comfortably settled. It does not signify if he landed at
Boulak without a fuddah in his pocket, for he will be
supported even if they have to sell their turbans.
They are both honest and despised—rather a curious
conjunction, or rather the moral qualities are not suf-
ficient to efface the slight esteem in which the nation is
held. Hence a pleasant story of an Egyptian who re-
proached a Nubian with the lowness of his race: “For,”
SLAVE POPULATION. 297
said he, “there is not a bey or alim of your nation in all
Cairo.” “That may be,” said the Nubian, “but you
cannot find in all Cairo a Barabrah with his hand cut
off” (i.e. a convicted thief). There are also some few de-
scendants of Kashefs, who fled from Cairo and took refuge
in Nubia on the approach of the French, and who are
in dialect and other particulars assimilated to the Nu-
bians. Hence they give themselves the title of “Sons
of Kashefs,” mispronounced according to the Nubian
dialect “Ebn Kafesh.” They consider themselves noble,
and Will not act as domestic servants, but engage them-
selves as assistant brewers of beer. The Barabrah pro-
nunciation of Arabic is peculiar: the hard aspirates are
pronounced soft, and all the k's (Arabic kafs) are pro-
nounced as if they were g’s ; for instance, kalah (castle)
is in the mouth of a Nubian, gaelah. In conclusion, the
Nubians have a rivack, or division in the mosque of El
‘Azhar, and are devoted Moslems.
There is a large black slave population in Cairo, in
domestic service, who are so well treated that they view
with horror leaving the family they serve. There is an
Arabic proverb which does not give a very favourable idea
of the negro character—at least of those negroes who come
to Egypt, for in so vast a continent as that of Africa
there must be numerous gradations of character: it is
“that the negro, if in misery, Sneaks away from his
fellow men; if well fed and prosperous, he is cruel,”—
Enja'a harab ; Hungry, he flies;
En shiba a katil. Satisfied, he kills.
“This is the reverse of the lower animals,” said a
bagdadli to me; “for if a wolf is full of food, he flies
away; if hungry, he kills.” There are, comparatively
speaking, few eunuchs in Cairo. Belonging only to the
rich, and having no passions, no family ties, they are in
298 THE EUNUCHS OF CAIRO.
the familiar confidence of the great. Hence they treat
all other servants with great hauteur. The proper
Arabic name for eunuch is “toashy,” but they would be
very angry if called “toashy,” and style themselves
CHAPTER XXVI.
IBRAHIM PASHA's HEALTH FAILs.-HE SAILs For TuscANY AND FRANCE.-
SPLENDID FETES GIVEN HIM BY THE FRENCH.—Is IIospitably RECEIVED
IN GREAT BRITAIN.—MoHAMMED ALI visits CoNSTANTINopLE.—THE NILE
BAR.—DOTAGE OF MOHAMMED ALI.-SHORT Gover NMENT of IBRAHIM PASHA,
TERMINATED BY HIS DEATH.—DEATH of MoHAMMED ALI. -
IN the course of the summer of 1845 the health
of Ibrahim Pasha failed him, from the combined effects
of excesses in strong liquors and the severe heat of the
climate. In Syria, where the climate is much cooler,
and where he had great corporeal activity in the regions
of the Taurus and the Orontes (for his head quarters were
usually at Antioch), these excesses were not so injurious;
but in Egypt, where inaction is in a great measure com-
pulsory during the long summer, the health is under-
mined, if great abstemiousness be not observed. In the
end of August Ibrahim disembarked at Leghorn, and
after spending September and October in Italy—princi-
pally at the baths of Lucca—he proceeded, in November,
his health having been partially restored, to Toulon and
Marseilles. At Toulon, fétes of every description were
offered to him by the naval and military authorities;
but, amid the decorations and epaulettes of a naval
arsenal, he maintained the requisite gravity and de-
corum of an ex-commander of a large army. At
Marseilles, however, he found himself in a congenial
element among the relations and correspondents of the
leading French houses in Alexandria; and he threw off
restraint and surrendered himself like a youngster to the
300 IBRAHIM PASHA
dissipations of the place. Some of the addresses pre-
sented to him during this trip were so fulsome that the
Pasha could not help laughing heartily in the faces of
the deputations; and when the parties who offered their
homage asked, in disappointment, what the hilarity meant,
the interpreter answered, with the voluble plausibility of
this class of men, “that His Highness expressed his
satisfaction.” -
The personal appearance of Ibrahim Pasha was
graphically described in many journals. He seemed
to the Marseillese to be of middle stature, inclining to
stoutness, having the fair complexion of a Turk,+not
the bronze brow of an Egyptian. His beard was silver
white, his look piercing and intelligent, his smile
coming rapidly and going as rapidly; in his general
appearance there was an absence of all nobleness and
distinction. It is not surprising that, coming from
Alexandria and Cairo, where he had mingled with a
European community that had accommodated itself to
oriental habits, he should ask for cigars, and that, in the
midst of a ball at which the élite of Marseilles were
present, he should have puffed forth volumes of smoke
amid the polite titter and curiosity of the fair sex.
Although he knew the theory of European manners, yet
he looked upon Marseilles as a sort of European extension
of Alexandria. In the beginning of December he went
to the baths of Wernet, where he found a triumphal arch
inscribed, “To the conqueror of Koniah and of Nezib.”
After visiting Bordeaux, Ibrahim Pasha proceeded to
Paris, being everywhere fêted by the authorities; and,
arriving at length in the metropolis, he lodged in the
apartments of the Elysée Bourbon. He was presented to
Louis Philippe by the Turkish ambassador, and in the
evening dined with the royal party, being seated on the
left of the king; the circle, as a matter of course,
VISITS FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 301
including Mons. Guizot, the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
On the following days he was shown the sights of Paris;
and, at the “Invalides,” the veterans stood in order to
receive him, headed by the Duke of Reggio. Ibrahim
said on this occasion, “The honour done me is more than
I deserve. I wished simply to visit the old soldiers; I
came here not to receive honours, but to pay a compli-
ment to them.” Among other sights he was much
pleased with Horace Vernet's striking representations of
the military scenes of modern France; but when shown
the celebrated picture of the Massacre of the Mamelukes,
he turned away at the first convenient opportunity from
that disagreeable chapter in the history of Mohammed
Ali, with the remark “that it bore no resemblance to
reality.” As a matter of course, large reviews were not
omitted in the compliments offered him ; and these he
attended in full uniform, riding on an Arab charger from
the royal stables. After the poignant disappointment
and exasperation which the failure of Mons. Thiers' policy
had produced in the minds of the French nation, Ibra-
him Pasha came in for a full share of the sympathy with
which a staunch but luckless ally is usually regarded
under such circumstances; and in fact nothing was
omitted by the French government which could possibly
flatter his vanity.
In England he had equal success as a “lion,” to
use an expression now incorporated into the language.
A sincere wish on the part of the government to forget
the irritation that had been produced by the obstinacy of
Mohammed Ali during the Egyptian crisis, and at the
same time frankly to acknowledge the facilities which
the Egyptian government had afforded for the overland
transit, joined to a disposition to put in good humour
the supposed future ruler of Egypt, a natural curiosity
on the part of the general public, and the recollection
302 MOBIAMMIED ALI AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
which a multitude of eminent individuals in England
retained of the hospitalities they had received from the
Egyptian government, when in Egypt and Syria, all
conspired to procure for Ibrahim a reception which would
have filled with surprise those who lived in the time of
the Greek war, when his name was the bugbear of
Christian Europe. At a banquet given to him at the
Reform Club, at which Wiscount Palmerston and Sir
Charles Napier were the principal speakers, all political
differences were forgotten in the complimentary toasts
and speeches of the occasion. A British steam frigate
conveyed Ibrahim Pasha, in July, to Lisbon, and thence
to Egypt, where he landed with his health apparently
restored.
Mohammed Ali was absent from Egypt when Ibrahim
Pasha returned, having received an invitation from Con-
stantinople to pay his homage to the Sultan. The Pasha
took a large sum with him, arrived at Constantinople on
the 19th of July, 1846, and was lodged in Riza Pasha's
villa of Ortakioi. On being presented to the Sultan in full
Grand Vizier's uniform, he desired to fall down and kiss
his master's feet, but he was raised up and seated. After
this comedy the interview lasted an hour. He also
visited in a spirit of reconciliation his old enemy Khosreff
Pasha, after nearly a century of plots and counterplots.
The reader would be rather fatigued than amused with
the details of such festivals as were offered to the Pasha
of Egypt, who had not come empty-handed. He knew
the foibles of the metropolis, and took care to make
himself a welcome guest. His prodigal expenditure did
not confine itself to presents to the imperial family and
the great men of the State, but comprised the project of
erecting in a prominent position on the Bosphorus an
additional palace for the Sultan,—a design which, con-
sidering the abundance of imperial lodgings, from the
THE DAMMING OF THE NILE. 303
gorgeous seraglio to the fancy kiosk on this glorious
strait, was something like adding a fifth wheel to a
coach.
On the 17th of August Mohammed Ali sailed to
Cavala, his birth-place, in which town are benevolent
establishments endowed by his liberality. Alexandria
was illuminated on his return ; and, overjoyed with his
reception in the metropolis, he received the visits and
congratulations of his friends, wearing the portrait of
the Sultan, adorned with brilliants, on his breast.
For some time back a project had been pressed on the
Pasha which appeared to him to be likely to cause a
large accession of revenue to Egypt: this was the dam-
ming of the Nile, called by the French engineers “Le
barrage du Nil.” In order to explain this project, we
must remind the reader that the volume of the Nile
during the dry season is not above the thirty-second part
of what it is during the inundation,--when it seems to
make lakes in all parts of its course, and when the
thirsty land is abundantly saturated with the floods from
Abyssinia, holding in solution a large proportion of
virgin alluvial soil, the finest of all natural manures.
But if such are the facilities for preparing cultivation at
one season of the year, there is the opposite period in
the spring of the year, when the Nile is at the lowest;
and, as rain is exceedingly deficient, except during the
winter, and even then rarely extends much inwards, the
design of the Nile-bar was to force the limited volume of
the river into three arterial canals, so as to create an
artificial inundation in all Lower Egypt, and thus utilize
the water which would otherwise flow waste into the sea
by the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile. The
engineer of this work was M. Mongel, a gentleman who
has attained a high and merited reputation both in
France and Egypt, although his views in reference to
304 THE SUEZ CANAL PROJECT,
the Suez canal have been entirely disapproved by the
most eminent practical British engineers.
On the 9th of April, 1847, the foundations of the
barrage were laid by Mohammed Ali, in presence of the
principal civil and military functionaries of Egypt and
the foreign agents. A parchment roll, describing the
ceremonies and written on in gold, was sealed by the
Pasha, signed by those present, and then deposited, along
with specimens of all the coins of the Egyptian mint
in Mohammed Ali's time, within the foundation stone.
The old man laid the stone, using, as is customary, a
silver mallet and golden trowel ; and sumptuous repasts
and night illuminations on the banks of the Nile took
place on the occasion.
The execution, or even the commencement, of the glit-
tering project of the Suez canal does not fall within the
period of the life of Mohammed Ali; but in succeeding
years commissions of European engineers had every
facility for a preliminary survey. It would be pre-
sumptuous for a mere political and historical writer to
present any opinion on this great question. Suffice it
to say, that the sure and practised eye of a Stephenson
saw no estimable limit to the sums that might be en-
gulfed in such an undertaking, even supposing it
practicable, the artificial harbour at Pelusium alone
requiring an expenditure beyond the French estimate of
the cost of constructing the whole canal.
Towards the end of 1847, clear indications showed
themselves that the hitherto vigorous physical constitu-
tions of Mohammed Ali and Ibrahim Pasha were giving
way. Ibrahim Pasha, although by no means a very old
man, not yet having attained his sixtieth year, was
attacked by general constitutional decay, and spent the
winter in Tuscany. In February, 1848, Mohammed
Ali’s intestinal functions became deranged, which much
DOTAGE OF MOHAMMED ALI. 305
affected his mind ; and the news of the troubles in
Europe, carrying with it the moral of the insecurity of
all dynasties, so operated on his spirits as to react on the
malady during his residence in Malta from the end of
February to the beginning of April, 1848, when he
returned to Egypt more weakened in intellect than when
he departed. In June, 1848, the dotage had so in-
creased that Ibrahim Pasha became virtual ruler of
Egypt, notwithstanding the feeble state of his health.
In August, Ibrahim Pasha proceeded to Constanti-
nople, and in the beginning of September was installed
in the Pashalic of Egypt, the Sultan decorating him in
person. Public opinion, however, paid no respect to his
bodily sufferings, and the new ruler was unpopular.
Not only was Ibrahim Pasha more feared, and less liked
personally, than Mohammed Ali, whose disposition was
generous, and whose manners were conciliatory; but he
had not a single sincere friend. In the prime of his
career, his influence was sustained by the terror which a
knowledge of the severity of his character excited; and
during the peace that succeeded the termination of the
Syrian war, his large income and prospective succession
to the Pashalic caused him to be sought after by
schemers, dependants, and flatterers, though often with
slender success; his Sagacity, avarice, and comparative
indifference as to the light in which he stood before
Europeans, rendering his system a contrast to that of
Mohammed Ali. He had just as few Moslem prejudices
as the old Pasha, but he was a cold, hard-hearted man,
and had bursts of passion and periods of sullen temper
which repelled all sympathy.
The arrears of taxes due by his brother Said and his
nephew Abbas, were sharply exacted, to their great dis-
pleasure; for the finances of Egypt were again in a
wretched condition, owing to profuse expenditure, which
VOL. II. 20
306 DEATH OF IBRAHIM PASHA.
Ibrahim promised to check, and which intention he no
doubt would have carried out had he lived. But his
web was spun out, and on the 10th of November, 1848,
at one in the morning, he departed this life, in his 60th
year; his immediate disease being consumption, accom-
panied by spitting of blood and neuralgic pains which
ceased four days before his death, and were succeeded by
general prostration of the faculties. Eleven hours after
death, he was buried in the family mausoleum at Iman
Shafei, on the south of Cairo, under mount Mokattam.
Abbas Pasha was then absent on a pilgrimage to
Mecca, not unwilling to get out of the way of his un-
sympathetic uncle ; and, on Ibrahim's death taking place,
a council was held at which it was agreed to solicit his
immediate return to Egypt. On the 24th of December,
Abbas Pasha arrived in Cairo, and was warmly welcomed
as a returning pilgrim, as a decided Moslem, untinged
by Frank prejudices, and individually popular among
the Moslems, both Turk and Arab. Abbas being now
the eldest of the family, the investiture of the Porte took
place without difficulty.
Like the lamp whose oil and wick are both burnt out,
Mohammed Ali, effete in mind and body, at length died
at Alexandria on the 2nd of August, 1849. At any
other period this would have been an event of import-
ance; but for some time previously he had been morally
dead, and, in fact, his real action on the political stage
terminated with the year 1840. Other and graver
matters now occupied public attention in Europe. The
tremendous collapse of the monarchy of July, an event
as sudden as it was unexpected; the return of a Bona-
parte to the Supreme power in France, an event equally
unexpected, but not so sudden; and the revolutionary
incidents in Italy, Germany, and on the Danube, had
conspired to thrust the affairs of Egypt into the back-
DEATH OF MOHAMMED ALI. 307
ground. On the intelligence of the death of Napoleon
Bonaparte at St. Helena, some one said to Talleyrand,
“That is an event.” “No,” said the acute ex-minister,
“it is not an event: it is merely a piece of news.” So
it was with the intelligence of the death of Mohammed
Ali, which being simultaneous with the conclusion of
the Russian campaign in Hungary, passed unnoticed in
Europe, more especially as it had been preceded by a
second childhood of nearly two years' duration.
On the 3rd of August, as the sun rose behind the
barren tawny beach that leads to Aboukir, the consuls-
general and leading functionaries of Egypt assembled at
the palace of the promontory of Figs. In the midst of
the Hall of Audience a cashmere shawl covered the
coffin that contained the remains of this remarkable man.
His sabre and a Koran lay on the breast, and at the head
was deposited the red Tunisian woollen cap worn by the
deceased. Censers shed perfumes around the bier, and
twenty-two of the ulema, wearing white turbans, read ap-
propriate extracts from the Koran with the accustomed
chanting intonation. The scene was unanimously described
as having been affecting, and forming a contrast to the
frigidity with which Ibrahim Pasha had been consigned
to the tomb; for Mohammed Ali, with all his faults, had
made devoted friends, and more than one of the Euro-
peans who had known him intimately for forty years
shed tears at the sight of the coffin of a man who had
surpassed all the Moslems in tolerance, and who was
noble and generous to his friends and dependants.
Said Pasha, the son of the deceased, was—to use a
European expression—the chief mourner ; and, on his
arrival, the procession—composed of the functionaries,
the ulema, the European community, Camels loaded with
provisions for the poor, and attendants who sprinkled
perfumed water on the people—set out on its way to the
308 HIS TOMB IN THE CASTLE OF SALADIN.
place of sepulture, while from the windows of the harem
came the loud wails of the women who had formed his
family and household.
The body was taken to Cairo by Said Pasha, and
Mohammed Ali now reposes in the castle of Saladin,
within the walls of the alabaster columned mosque,
which he himself constructed in the noblest and most
prominent position of the Egyptian metropolis.
309
CHAPTER XXVII.
MATERIAL ASPECT OF CAIRO AT THE CLos E of MoHAMMED ALI's CAREER.—
THE KHANs, BAZAARS, AND THoRough FAREs.--THE SLAVE MARKET.—
THE HASHEESH SHOPS.–THE CoRN MARKET.--THE BUTCHERs' QUARTER.
—NUBIAN BREWERIES.—THE SUBURBAN PopULATION.—THE PEASANTRY
OF THE ENVIRONs.—THE WARIous MARKETs IN CAIRo, ITs SUBURBs, AND
ENVIRONs.
IT is in the khans and bazaars, scattered all over the
metropolis, that we find the middle classes of the true
Caireen type; and to this portion of the population, in
the later years' of Mohammed Ali’s rule, I shall now
denote a brief additional chapter.
The Sebá Kaat, is the quarter in which the principal
khans of Cairo are situated, and in which wealthy Mo-
grebbins reside. In the so-called Seven Saloons, are the
warehouses of the principal wholesale dealers. The
interiors are picturesque, and one sees, piled pell mell,
the coffee bags of Mocha, the cotton bales of Manchester,
and the carpets of Persia. These khans are generally
court-yards, with wooden galleries running round them,
and droll looking verandahs to protect the Sunny side
from the heats of July and August. They are all
built with great solidity, and some are of great elegance.
The immense portal of the Khan-el-Turcomany is one of
the most splendid specimens of Saracenic architecture
in Cairo; but being sequestered among narrow out of
the way streets, it is not surprising that it should have
escaped the attention of tourists and bookmakers. The
structures of beautiful and solid masonry in Cairo seem
310 THE MERCHANTS OF CAIRO.
really endless, but the school is extinct, and in the
new houses built for the natives (I do not mean the
palaces for the higher Turks) one observes a bastard
Turco-Greek style, marked by particular baldness and
inelegance.
There is a great inequality in the means of the mer-
chants, and it may readily be seen how position modifies
manners. Those who possess ample capital, and whose
ancestors have held a good position, are distinguished
by great courtesy and dignity, and their affairs have
nothing of the hurry-scurry and bustle of Frank busi-
ness. Their transactions more resemble a series of
polite morning calls, coffee, pipes, and complimentary
expressions preceding all business. But with all these
fair external forms, the amount of business actually done
is small, compared with that of the corresponding classes
in Europe; and gross frauds, such as would cover a
British merchant with indelible disgrace, and in many
cases bring him within the pale of the criminal law, are
here but little thought of. I once heard a curious
expression used in a discussion between two merchants,
one of whom seemed to have no faith in the assurance
of the other, who answered, “Are you a Frank? I swear
to you by our Lord, and you do not believe me.”
Near Hosh Bardak, is the Wekelet-el-Furrayn, or
furriers' bazaar. One would suppose that in the climate
of Egypt furs were not necessary, and in fact they are
not; but during the forty cold days in the middle of
winter (for of frost there is no question) furs are worn
by orientals of sedentary habits without inconvenience.
There can be no doubt, however, that this is a Turkish
and not an Egyptian custom. In Damascus, where there
is frost almost every winter, furs are worn by all the
wealthier effendis; but in Egypt the practice seems
rather to have been confined to those high official
ORIENTAL AND EUROPEAN ATTIRE. 3II
functionaries who in the Ottoman Empire wore furs as
a mark of distinction. Sultans, pashas, and ulema
Wore fur pelisses of great value, and of most picturesque
cut and disposition, the collar and ledge being of sable
and ermine, which, in combination with the ample folds
of the White or cream coloured silk turban, gave great
dignity to the appearance. The human body seems to
be seen to most advantage, either partially covered—so as
to leave the limbs free and the proportions of the frame
distinctly pronounced, as in the Greek sculptures; or
in those voluminous oriental furred robes, which to a
great extent suppress the true outline of the frame and
concentrate on the head the attention of the spectator.
The modern European dress disguises the real propor-
tions of the frame, but it is certainly convenient in
temperate climates, and allows to the body an activity
which is impossible in those gorgeous but cumbrous
robes, which, however picturesque, are suited only to
classes who are sedentary in their occupations and in-
active in their habits.
At the gold and silversmiths' bazaar might be seen
artificers with their little pots of fire making some
artistic object or ornament for women. Here, rose
diamonds, and diamonds of small size, bring a higher
price than in England or in France ; but when diamonds
of a very high class come to market in Egypt they do
not fetch the European price. In Egypt the ornaments
of women are a sort of investment which creditors may
not touch and which a family can always fall back upon.
There is in this bazaar a great sale for blood-stones to
be worn in rings, being supposed to be an antidote to
hemorrhoidal complaints. At the silversmith's may be
seen articles of oriental family plate: narghileh-heads in
the form of flowers, censers for perfumes, salvers and
basins for preserves, sprinklers for rose-Water, semi-
312 THE BAZAARS OF CAIRO.
globular drinking cups with inscriptions from the Koran,
and small writing cases for reeds, sponge, and ink.
Wekelet Abou Zeit is the bazaar for perfumers' spice
and drugs. I asked for some tea, but could find it only
at one shop, and the entire stock was contained in a
paper-bag. When I asked, “Who purchased tea’’’ the
shopkeeper answered, “Generally Mogrebbins, coming
from Mecca, who have exhausted the stock brought with
them from Morocco.” Khans and wekelets are both
places of sale and places for the reception of travellers
who bring their own bedding, and who can be supplied
with coffee and cooked provisions from the bazaar-shops
in the immediate neighbourhood. Each locality has its
distinct set of customers. For instance, the people of
Tantah in the Delta mostly alight at the Wekelet-el-
Rokn, which was formerly the great place for shoe-
making, but has ceased to be so. The people of Yemen
and Hadramaut usually alight at the Wekelet-Zul-Fighar;
the people from the Hedjas at the Wekelet Morgian ;
and Syrians at the Wekelet Djedeed. The Wekelet
Saboon, or khan of soap, is much frequented by
Syrians, and here may be heard much news from that
country.
For retail trade the most animated part of Cairo con-
tinued to be the great line of bazaars from the gate of
Zueileh to the gates of Succour and Victory. Let us
therefore make an imaginary promenade between these
two points, noting what may be most worthy of atten-
tion. We first come to the bazaar of Moeyed, which is
called the Sukareey, from the numerous grocers' shops
with pyramids of dates and other dried fruits. Many
stolen goods are sold here by the auctioneer brokers
whom we may call hawking agents; and, in consequence
of the number of travellers, purchasers are quickly
found. I have elsewhere described the movement in
AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE BAR. 313
this remarkable thoroughfare, and the following para-
graph from “Melusina” is, with the omission of matters
relating to that tale, perfectly applicable to the object of
this chapter.
“On the left of the crowded bazaar El Moeyed rise
the tall walls of the mosque of that name, which is
joined to the Bab Zueileh, the Temple Bar of Cairo's
Strand and Fleet-street,_an enormous gateway, flanked
by two sturdy towers, such as the luxuriant imagination
of a scene-painter would give to the castle of a giant in an
Eastern pantomime: while, above theiron-ribbed and iron-
bolted gate, twin minarets—“fine by degrees and beauti-
fully less,” shoot up into the blue sky. Here is the greatest
thoroughfare—here are the best furnished shops—here
are many of the noblest architectural monuments—here
is seen the oriental and Arab type of Cairo—here is the
greatest artery of metropolitan life : it is the quarter
neither of the poor, nor of the rich exclusively; nor of
the townsman, nor of the stranger, but the quintessence
of all. “Dahrak, mind your back l’ Here comes a
loaded donkey, pinning the passenger as effectually to
the wall in the crowded passage as the ‘gare’ of the
French coachman in the days of Mercier's inimitable
picture of Paris. The pipe-cleaner with his implements
goes about soliciting employment. The sherbet-man,
with tinkling cup, appeals to the thirsty passenger—the
Moslem townsman, decently dressed in white or yellow
turban, long cloth robe—slow, stately, and sleepy, caring
little for wealth, or power, provided he be kept well-
dressed, with little to do, and as little in the sun as
possible. There, too, may be seen the Coptic clerk, with
black turban and inkstand in his girdle; and the fakeer, or
pauper, with a single blue shirt and cotton cap, without
a turban. And then what a hubbub ahead, while the
crowded retinue of a bey clears the way for a great man
314 THE BAZAAR OF SULTAN-EL-GHOURY,
mounted on a foaming barb in all the splendour of ca-
parison.”
The oldest of the bazaars of Cairo is further on–that
of the Shouaeen, which means “of provision dealers;”
but no provisions are visible, all the shops being those
of mercers. Grey domestics and the printed calicos of
Manchester and Glasgow are now sold in the same
locality where, in the time of the Fatimite Caliphs, the
kebab was roasted and lentiles and rice were cooked.
At the bazaar of Sultan-el-Ghoury, we seem to enter a
magnificent Gothic cathedral, an effect which is produced
by a mosque on one side of the street, and a tomb of
colossal proportions on the other; while, notwithstanding
the breadth which separates them, the street is here
roofed in by great rafters which stretch from cornice to
cornice. The dimly lighted, pure, and beautiful Sara-
cenic architecture of the beginning of the sixteenth cen-
tury, with the brilliant colours of the dresses of the
throngs within, produce an effect like that of a grand
picture of the Venetian school; while a golden ray of
sunshine shooting through a crevice in the roof bisects
the limpid gloom with its bright and well defined radi-
all Cé.
Rents of shops are higher here than in any other part
of Cairo, owing to the central situation ; and further on
is the Khan-el-Halily, where street sales by auction of
praying carpets, pistols, poniards, silk turbans, and girdles
lend their interest to the locality. Halil is the Arabic
word for Hebron; and this khan was built by a native
of that town, called Abd-el-Ma'aty, rikabdar, or equerry
of Saladin. The tombs of the Fatimite Caliphs were
here, but owing to the enmity entertained by Saladin's
party towards that of the Fouatem, or Fatimites, these
tombs were pulled down, and the khan built. Halil
was killed at Damascus, and his carcase being left ex-
MOSQUES. 315
posed, and not receiving the honours of sepulture, it was
said that this was a judgment on him for scattering the
bones of the Fatimite Caliphs.
Further on, a gorgeous confusion of towers, minarets,
and lofty walls are visible in the contiguous mosques of
Kalaon, Mohammed-el-Nasr, and Barkouk. The whole
of this portion of the high street of Cairo is called to this
day the Bayn-el-Kasrayn, or place “between the two
palaces.” Makrizi declares this to have been the most
populous and delightful quarter of Cairo in his time,
being the locality of festivals and the exercises of the
troops; and here for many a long day, after the eleva-
tion of Saladin to power, was the scene of tilt and tour-
nament, as gay and splendid as that which an Ivanhoe
may have seen at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, as far as horse and
foot, knight and Squire, could make them, but in which
no Eastern Rowena could award a palm of victory.
These were the days of the pride of the Moslems, when
a sliding scale was applied to even the reception of the
Byzantine ambassadors; for if the antipathy was stronger
than usual, they had to walk uncovered from the gate of
victory to one of the palaces. A Nilometer also existed
in this busy quarter during the earlier centuries of
Cairo's existence. This is well authenticated by several
authors, but after a careful search I could find no trace
of it. The process of inquiry, however, made me ac-
quainted with the existence of a magnificent old Sara-
cenic house, now tumbling into ruin, and inhabited by
poor persons, but which present such remains of its
magnificence that, at the period of the Mameluke
Sultans, I judge it must have been one of the most
luxurious abodes in Cairo. It is called Kasr-el-Bedowee,
or palace of the Bedouin, and no doubt was the residence
of one of the wealthiest beys or emirs of some bygone
century.
316 THE SLAVE MARKET,
The fountain of Abderrahman Kiahia marks the
separation of the line of bazaars into two branches, one
leading to the gate of Succour, and the other to the gate
of Victory. Although this was once the court end of
the town, it has now little of the bustle and wealth that
it had at the time of the Fatimite Caliphs; but the large
poor population and the numerous provision-shops and
khans for the sale of rural productions, give an anima-
tion of a humble but not uninteresting character to this
part of the town. The decadent Place Royale of the
days of Henri Quatre, and the halles near the Rue de
la Verrerie and the Rue des Lombards flash upon the
European traveller who rambles through this part of the
town, as a sort of distant resemblance. The palaces of
the Fatimites have disappeared as completely as the
Balais des Tournelles; but many a house, by the relics
of its ornaments—many a Cairo Hotel de Senlis—still
exists, to tell an obscure mysterious tale of better days.
A strong odour of garlic is wafted from an archway, and,
without being informed through the ears, the olfactory
nerves at once announce that this is the famed Wekelet-
el-Töm, or garlic market; while a fragrant odour from
another large khan close by comes from the lemon and
orange store.
Close to the gates of Succour and Victory is the slave
market for blacks, called Wekelet-el-Jelabah Gelab,
meaning literally “a bringer,” or slave merchant. A
square court was surrounded with black boys and girls,
thoughtlessly laughing and singing, and waiting to be
sold. They are not used for agricultural labour, but for
the domestic service of the wealthier classes. One can-
not think without horror of the violent separation of
these creatures from their parents. But in reality the
condition of those who come to Egypt is better than
those who remain amid the sanguinary barbarism of the
THE CORN BAZAAR. 317
interior. Darfour is the point whither most of the slave
convoys of the interior are made to converge, from which
point to Upper Egypt they are brēught by the ordinary
caravans. I noticed the mats to be of a very different
sort from those of Cairo, and one of the “bringers” said
that they came from Darfour.
Close to the mosque of Hakem is the hemp-eater’s
coffee-house, called Kahwet-el-Hashasheen, which is fre-
quented by those who indulge in the abominable narcotic
called hasheesh. Of these coffee houses there are five in
Cairo and its environs, and two in Boulak. But at least
twenty per cent. of the male population eat hasheesh in
private, and there were no less than thirty-five retailers
of lozenges of hasheesh. It is divided into three kinds,
the dawa misk, which produces simple gaiety—the
geraweesh, which gives virile power—and the Hindy, or
Indian, which throws people into ecstasy.
The Wekelet Kamh, or corn bazaar, near to Bab-
Foutouh, is one of the busiest and most characteristic
scenes in Cairo. There being little or no rain here, the
corn is all piled up in the open air. A crowd of millers,
fellaheen, bakers, and other townspeople, thronged the
passages so closely, and spoke so loud, that the corn
sellers were obliged to announce the quality of their corn
by bawling out. On examining the sorts on sale, that of
Upper Egypt seemed the best. Each seller comes for-
ward shaking the corn in his hand, each sort having its
name. Menoufieh from Menouf, Kelioubieh from Ke-
lioub. “Shereefey ! Shereefey !” cried one, to denote
that the grain belonged to the Shereef of Mecca, to
whom the Pasha of Egypt had presented 1000 feddans
of land. This corn, owing to the semi-religious cha-
racter of the shereef, always gets a good price. The
Indian corn in the adjoining market was mostly ground
into flour.
©
318 THE BUTCHERS' QUARTERS.
Having now terminated our imaginary promenade in
the town, and arrived at the northern gates of the city,
we find outside the walls a considerable industrious popu-
lation, occupying the suburbs to the north and north-
east. In the so-called Hassaneey reside the butchers of
Cairo, who never wear cloth, but cotton and serge, even
in winter. They are a race powerful in body, as well as
resolute in will; and at the great revolt of Cairo against
the French were the most active amongst the insurgents,
in consequence of which their quarter suffered severely.
To this day, on walking through it, one is struck with
the number of ruined edifices dating from that time.
A Turkish mosque and convent, that of the Bayoumi, is
conspicuous in this quarter, the inmates of which, ac-
cording to the rules of their order, wear their hair long.
Close at hand is the so-called Sook-el-Belah, or date
bazaar, in which this fruit, or rather food, is sold whole-
sale. But there is a superior description, the long red
dates of Breem, in Nubia, which are sold wholesale in
Boulak in the so-called Wekelet-el-Breemy. There are
also some manufactures in the quarter; for instance, in
the Derb-el-Soualy, I found a manufacture of the descrip-
tion of cloaks called abays; but all the finer and gold
worked abays come from Syria. The original abays are
those of the Bedouins, and made of camel hair, or original
camlet. Subsequently, as luxury increased, it became a
manufacture chiefly carried on in Damascus, a large
amount of gold and silver thread being used on the
fabric. Further north is the quarter of the Adouy, and
the Kantarat-el-Wiz, or “Bridge of the Goose,” is directly
on the opposite side of that part of Cairo in which is the
bridge of the Lion. Hence the expression, “All Cairo
from the bridge of the Goose to the bridge of the Lion.”
On this side of Cairo, near Bab Sha'eb, is the best beer
establishment in Cairo. I allude to the so-called booza,
MARKETS OF CAIRO. 319
or Egyptian malt liquor, which is the favourite drink of
the Nubians. A large portion of both the grooms and
the house servants of Egypt are of Nubian extraction.
Booza is therefore the pest of many a Cairo household.
When the Frank finds his servant coming in late, and
talking thick, he may be sure that the cause is a beer-
symposium of Nubian servants—a booeing bout.
Beyond the suburbs, and within the influence of the
Nile, are villas and market and pleasure-gardens; and
beyond them both up and down the Nile is the true
rural population. It is remarked how suddenly the
style of language changes as we leave the walls of the
town. When a townsman sees a well-shaped woman
pass, he says, for instance, “By the life of Our Lord,
that girl is graceful!” The gardeners say, “Such and
such a girl is a gazelle !” but the rude peasant says,
“What a capital cow !”
There are various markets in and around Cairo; the
principal one for asses, horses, and Camels, was at the
large public square between the citadel and Sultan
Hassan. The Boulak market was, in the last years of
Mohammed Ali on Saturdays, from sunrise to midday,
at which cattle, fruit, and provisions were sold. The
market at Old Cairo was for the same object on Sunday;
but much business was done at the markets for agricul-
tural animals, more particularly ploughing oxen, once a
week at Embabeh and Ghizeh, both on the other side
of the Nile, where I repeatedly went to mingle and
converse with the peasantry.
It is needless to expatiate on the grain-producing
capacities of Egypt, for the Banat of Temeswar has not
richer humus than that of the Delta of the Nile. But
what Egypt wants is population, not only much more
numerous, but better skilled in the processes of agricul-
ture. The degraded condition of the fellah is partly the
320 DEGRADED CONDITION
result of the physical condition of Egypt itself. There
are no mountainous districts supplying an energetic rural
population to the plains, and nourishing ideas, if not of
a political independence, at least of individual right.
The vigorous races have been Circassians and Turks,
who came to Egypt to rule it. The native Egyptian,
enervated by an exhausting climate, although in the
midst of a large agricultural production, has been, during
this century at least, pressing on the limits of sub-
sistence,—a wretched creature, who has taken no share
in the revived prosperity of Egypt caused by the over-
land transit, the improved communications, and the
enormously increased export of agricultural produce to
Europe. The family of Mohammed Ali, his numerous
descendants, and the principal mercantile houses of
Alexandria have made their fortunes ; but the fellah
remains what he was before—misera contribuens plebs.
Even before Mohammed Ali’s time the fellah was de-
graded and brutified ; but not so much so as since,
because small landed properties were scattered all over
Egypt, and even under the Mameluke beys the cadis
and ulema were able to protect the proprietors in the
fee-simple. After the Pasha became the one great pro-
prietor, the fellah had the worst landlord in the world, a
bureaucracy with habits and traditions the very opposite
of the patriarchal relation which ought to subsist be-
tween peasant and proprietor. The old proprietors were
more or less responsible to local public opinion, and often
took a pride in acting handsomely; but the sub-steward
of the Pasha knew that his promotion lay in making the
largest returns to the treasury without reference to right
or justice. Hence the apparition of such monsters as
Abderrahman Bey, the renegade Copt, who invented
new tortures for the purpose of despoiling the peasantry
of their most secret stores. It is only justice to the
OF THE FELLAH. 321
successors of Mohammed Ali to say that they have, to
a certain extent, mitigated those evils in accordance
with public opinion in Europe, although every one of all
the Egyptian governments I have ever known held
the doctrine that the fellah will not work without the
stick. -
VOL. II 21
322
CEIAPTER XXVIII.
MANAGEMENT OF THE MosquES AND CHARITABLE ENDow MENTS.–MosquE of
ToULoun.—THE CoILEGE of THE AZHAR.—THE MosquE OF SHEIKHoun.—
MosquE of HossEYNEYN.—MosquE OF HAKEM.–MosquE OF DAHER.—THE
IHospitaL of KALAoN.—MosquE OF HASSAN.—MosquE OF MoEYED.—
MosquE of SULTAN-EL-GHouBY.—DERVISH CoNVENTS.—ORATORY OF THE
HINDoos.-WARIOUs MosquEs, FounTAINS, AND SCHOOLs.
WE described in the beginning of this work the rise of
Cairo, and grouped the historical facts around the prin-
cipal mosques, as they were successively constructed by
the eminent men who ruled over Egypt, and perpetuated
their memory by the splendour and extent of these
religious edifices: we may now therefore examine in
detail the condition and management of these institu-
tions in the later years of Mohammed Ali's rule.
The mosques of Amru, at Fostat, and of Touloun, at
Rataé, Which preceded Cairo Proper, were both in a
ruinous condition, and objects of archaeological curiosity
rather than the magnets of religious worshippers. To
the south of Cairo I examined the ruins of Fostat,
the embryo of the Egyptian metropolis, and found only
mounds of rubbish ; the characteristic features of the
landscape being the long line of the arches of an aque-
duct, a few scattered palm groves, and, in the distance,
the barren ribs of mount Mokattam. The house of
Amru and the famous Street of Candles have all disap-
peared; but the mosque itself remains, and when the
historic student sees this noble forest of columns, he asks
himself how many a temple of the Olympic deities, con-
secrated for Christian worship, must have been despoiled
to adorn the precincts of the new construction. In the
THE COLLEGE OF THE AZHAR. 323
enormous quadrangle of the mosque of Touloun, sur-
rounded with the far-famed arcade of pointed arches, I
found that many of them were in process of being walled
up, to form cells for lunatic asylums. The minaret to
which I ascended by a spiral staircase was in a ruinous
condition ; but I have since learned that efforts have
been made, under the successors of Mohammed Ali, to
rescue this most singular monument of the acknowledged
precedence of the Oriental to the European pointed arch,
from further ruin and decay.
The Azhar, which is at the same time the theological
university of Egypt, deserves especial attention. The
origin of the mosque has been indicated in the intro-
ductory book.” I shall therefore confine myself to the
Azhar, as it was under Mohammed Ali.
The Azhar had seven gates: 1st. Bab Goharieh, from
Gohar-el-kaid, the general of Moezz, the founder of
Cairo, who built the first form of the mosque. 2nd.
Bab Said Omar Mekram. 3rd. Bab Riwack-es-Saidy, or
the gate of the cloister of Upper Egypt, which was built
by the celebrated Abderrahman Kiahya. 4th. Bab Ri-
wack-es-Shuam, or gate of the cloister of the Syrians.
5th. Bab Riwack-el-Mogharbeh, or gate of the cloister
of the Mogrebbins. 6th. Bab-el-Meidah. 7th. Bab-el-
Rubeer, which is also called Bab-el-Mezeien, or Barber's
* The Azhar was begun on Saturday, the 6th last day (or last day but five) of
Jemad-el-Ewel, in the year 359 of the Hegira, and was finished on the 9th, last day
of Ramadan, 361 A.H., and bore the inscription, “Built by the command of the
servant of God, Abou Temim Ma'ad-el-Imam-el-Moezz-Cedin Allah, the Prince of the
Faithful, on whom and on whose fathers be the blessing of God by the hands of his
servant, Gohar, the secretary, the Sicilian (Gohar-el-Kaid-el-likily).” I have omitted
the beginning of the inscription “In the name of the most merciful God,” etc., etc. The
first Friday that it was prayed in was the 7th Ramadan, 361 A.H. Ten years afterwards
it was endowed, and the Fackihs got an allowance out of land which had been bought
and entailed for them in the neighbourhood of the mosque itself. These readers were
thirty-five in number, and each of them had a new dress at the great Biaran, and a
mule. The Caliph Hakem further repaired and endowed the Azhar, and the deed of
settlement as given by Makrizi is a curious specimen of Cairo conveyancing in the
tenth century. A silver rail which crossed the niche was removed by Saladin, both
here and in the mosque of Amru at Fostat, each rail weighing 500 drachms of silver.
Four orange trees were attempted to be planted in the court yard, but they died.
24 DIVISIONS OF THE AZHAR.
3
gate, from the circumstance of many of this profession
waiting for business there. We may also add that each
of the gates has three porters.
The Mameluke Sultan, Kaid Bey, greatly extended
the Azhar ; but the great reconstructor in modern times
was Abderrahman Kiahya, who completely transformed
its appearance. e
The Riwack-el-Shuam, or compartment of the Syrians, is
large, and has no less than three hundred pupils; and the
Mogrebbin Riwack has about a hundred. There is also a
Riwack of the black Dacroorees, and one of a god in India
called Goawy; one called Sharkawy, with an endow-
ment of two hundred loaves a day, in the neighbourhood
of Damietta, for the people of the eastern part of Egypt.
The Riwack of the Upper Shark, or that portion of the
country to the east of the Nile, which is nearer to Cairo
and more remote from the sea, is numerously attended,
but has little bread. The Riwack of Bahyrieh (western
maritime Egypt) is also called that of the Leiptigaweey,
but why I cannot tell. The Riwack-el-Tabarseey is for
the people of the central part of the Delta. The Riwack
of Yemen has few students. The amount of loaves daily
consumed is four thousand in all.
The Azhar used never to be shut, day or night, but
shortly after the conclusion of the Syrian war of 1840,
all the gates were shut except the great one. It has
been remarked that professional robbers are ostentatious
in attendance at the Azhar, and notwithstanding the
supposed sanctity of the place, many thefts occur, and
many pockets are picked here. It has now ceased to be
an asylum for murderers, which it was in the beginning
of the century. That formidable personage the Moh-
tissab, or examiner of weights and measures, had no
power over the immediate neighbourhood of the Azhar,
which had separate officers called Gindy-el-Mudbach, or
MOSLEM SECTS. 325
trooper of the kitchen. These were two in number, one
in the house of the sheikh of the Azhar, the other in the
house of the sheikh of the sect of Malek; and I may
remark that while there are in Cairo sheikhs of the sect
of Hanifeh, as followed at Constantinople; of Shafei, as
followed in Egypt and Syria; and of Malek, as followed
in Morocco, there is no sheikh of Hambaleh in Cairo,
as there are only a few Wahabys of this sect in that
city. The bastinado used to take place in the rice-
kitchen, for these theologians were sometimes rather un-
ruly. Formerly the shereefs in Cairo were all under
the so-called Nackeeb-el-Ashraf, and not directly under
the civil power, just as in certain countries of Europe
monks were under purely monkish jurisdiction. But
this system was abolished by Mohammed Ali, and all the
shereefs, or green-turbaned descendants of the Prophet,
were placed under the head of the police like other men.
The ulema, if they commit a theft or any great trans-
gression, are dealt with by the police ; but if their
offence has been merely quarrelling or fisty-cuffs, the
Sheikh of the mosque judges and punishes them.
Another distinction which we may mention, is, that
the Azhar and Hosseneyn have each of them a mikaty,
or astronomical time calculator, expressly for their own
use ; and the time as given by the mosques from the
observations of these men is the rule for all the other
mosques of Cairo. At the house of the mufti I happened
to meet a khatib of the Azhar, and asked him “if the
Rhotbet for the Caliph was prayed for in the old form;”
“No ; in old times when the Caliphate was contested it
was necessary; but since the Sultan of Constantinople
was recognized as Caliph, without dispute, he confined
himself to waas, or preaching.”
The reader may see from these statements, that there
is an endowment of Spartan fare for the theologians of the
326 REVENUES OF MOSQUES.
Azhar.” In fact, the revenues of the mosques of Cairo
were considerable; but very little remained, after the
direct and indirect exactions of the government and the
jobbing of the inspectors. The endowment of mosques
is often a subject of criticism and even ridicule, and in
illustration of this, I may give a legend and an anecdote
of the mosque of Sheikhoun, not far from the citadel,
and One of the most solid constructions of the second
class of these religious edifices.
Every traveller in Catholic countries has heard
wonderful accounts of the origin of monasteries and
convents, the appearing of angels, the returning of the
shades of the departed, and the indications of treasure,
etc., etc. Connected with the mosque of Sheikhoun
there is a similar legend. This Sheikhoun had been
a poor man, and became an Emir. According to this
story, he had a dream of grapes that fell into his mouth,
and a voice was heard, saying, “Arise and take your
wealth from Egypt, in the place where you used to sleep
there.” So he left Damascus, where he was residing,
dug in the earth at the place told him in the dream,
and found a treasure, of jewels. He then built this
mosque. A hungry hypocrite entered it when it was
finished, and wrote up, in allusion to the absence of any
liberal endowment of idleness, such as was associated
with several of the principal mosques at Cairo –
“Giamá bela eish,
Bunia l’eish.”
(Gaudy mosque, and nought to eat,
Is not this a pious cheat P)
* Sultan Barkouk instituted the law, that whatever property the fellows of the
College possessed, was, like churchmen’s property in Europe, to go to the brethren.
As a corrective of the indolence of such institutions, violent reformers occasionally
arise. Such was the Emir Sodula, the inspector, a sort of John Knox, who in 818
turned out, together with their boxes and trunks, hundreds of old students, who
found themselves in the most miserable condition. Some went back, and even blows
were resorted to, to drive them out. The Emir then caused a black covering to be
put on the manbar, but this harshness created clamours, and the Sultan being
appealed to, the Emir was seized and confined till he died.
THE MOSQUE OF HOSSEYNEYN. 327
The founder of the mosque, or one of his friends,
wrote below that :—
“Bunia lil sala,
Ya kaleel el heia.”
(Built for prayer and praise,
Pert Mr. Brazenface :)
The mosque of Hosseyneyn, which is considered the
most sacred in Cairo, contains the head of Hosseyn, the
son of Ali, who was put to death by the partisans of the
Damascus Caliphate. This mosque was formerly very
small, and for its present form was indebted to the oft-
mentioned Abderrahman Kiahya. It has now seven
gates, 1st, Bab-el-Meshed; 2nd, Bab-el-Mediah; 3rd,
Bab-el-Hanifeey; 4th, Bab Sirr, for women, and the two
larger gates. The festival of the birth of Hosseyn is
one of the greatest of the religious festivals of Cairo. In
the mosque I remarked that the fountain is very large.
One of the peculiarities of the mosque is that the
curtains of the Beit Allah in Mecca are brought every
year and are sewed and repaired there, the place being
thronged by people anxious to put in a few stitches.
The great festival of this mosque is one of the most
remarkable in Cairo. Many mashals, or cressets, are
lighted by religious incorporations; and during the pre-
parations one hears the expressions, “Leile azime !”
“This will be a magnificent night; Sheikh-el-Gouhary’s
Zikr is to be performed. Everybody will be at Saidna
Hosseyn.” -
The quarters of El-Azhar and El-Hosseyneyn are the
residences of the principal ulema; and at the festival of
Hosseyn most of the bazaars in the neighbourhood are
lighted up, and the confectioner's shops, more parti-
cularly, have a splendid display of lamps. Lads may be
seen at various points filling cressets with wood, and
lighting them ; and the shrill tones of the distant
328 THE FESTIVAL OF HOSSEYN.
clarinet, and the throbbing drub of the drum, approach-
ing and crossing the angles of the street, announce that
the procession of Bayoumi dervishes to the mosque of
Hosseyn is about to commence. On the steps of the
fountain of Abderrahman Kiahya, stood the naib of
the Bayoumi dervishes, who are nearly all bakers.
This naib wore a red robe, and was supported on each
side by his two so-called caliphs or delegates; and these
olive complexioned dark-eyed youths, with fanaticism
depicted on every feature, would in turn go forward to
kiss his hand. A forest of cressets shed a flickering
blaze on the curious twisted pillars inlaid with devices
and elaborate stalactites of the fountain of Abderrahman
Riahya, which stood out from the depth of the obscurity
of night so as to make a picture with a force of chiaro-
scuro, that rivetted itself firmly on the memory. The
coup d'oeil of the interior of the mosque is striking; the
roof is supported by about fifty columns, between each
of which there is a light chandelier. The zikr goes on
in the centre, and the mosque is so crowded that there is
scarcely standing room, but all speak in a whisper.
When the zikr is done, thick wax candles, about a yard
long and a couple of inches in diameter, are lighted, and
a procession is formed, which passes into the sanctuary
beyond, where is the head of Hosseyn Imam, son of
Imam. Here the heat is stifling. The walls are
covered with various coloured marbles, and a truly
regal bronze railing that would have done honour to
a Torrigiano, encloses the magnificent tomb around which
the procession slowly passes chanting solemn words
from the Koran. The magnificent oriental costumes,
the impressive bearded and turbaned heads, the oriental
architecture, the blaze of illumination, and the associations
called forth by the recollection of the striking and affect-
ing incidents of the death of Hosseyn, all conspire to
MOSQUE OF DAHER BIBARS. 329
make an impression on the historical and archaeological
student never to be forgotten.
All the memorials of the Caliph Hakem, who had so
much method in his madness, are of interest, but not
many traces of the Cairo of his day are still extant. Near
the Bab-Zueileh, we still find Derb-el-Ahmar, or the
Crimson-street, so called to this day, from the blood shed
in the massacre of the inhabitants of Cairo by his Turkish
troops. The mosque of Hakem is a vast ruin. The
gypsum tracery and the massiveness of the minarets,
with outlines resembling the monuments of ancient
Egypt, have nothing in common with the later style
of Cairo, and carry back the spectator to the period
when the architecture of Bagdad, Irak, and Coufa, still
influenced that of Egypt.* &
The mosque of Daher Bibars is an immense con-
struction forming a square rivalling in extent those of
Hakem and Touloun; but, like those once splendid con-
structions, it is a ruin. From being a mosque of the first
order, it became in the time of the French, Fort Sukowski,
named after that lively Pole who spoke so many languages.
* The so-called mosque of Hakem was begun by El Aziz Ebn Moezz Abou
Hakem, and finished by Hakem, in its first form. It was outside the town, until
Bedr extended Bab-el-Nasr and Bab Foutouh outwards, when it came within the
town. It was first called Giama-el-Khotbeah, or mosque of the Litany, then Giama
Hakem, or the mosque of Hakem, and last, Giama-el-Enwar, or the luminous
mosque. It was first prayed in, in the year 380, by Aziz, who wore the teglasan or
mitre, and carried a sceptre in his hand, accompanied by his son. In the time of
Negm Eddin Salih Eyoub, it was turned into a stable, for the Eyoubites hated the Fati-
raites. In the great earthquake in the eighth century of the Hegira, it was still further
damaged. But what a noble pile it must have been to withstand such a pressure
for in this great convulsion boats were thrown out of the Nile an arrow's distance,
while only two of the minarets of Hakem were thrown down. Bibars repaired and
endowed it, for the Eyoubites, who hated the Fatimites, and were in turn hated by
the Balrirites. It was in its day the Azhar of Cairo, being plentifully supplied with
ulema; and these mosques had their separate sets of partizans, public opinion and
royal favour inclining sometimes to the one, and sometimes to the other. Hakem
himself repaired and made additional endowments for the Azhar ; and in his time
it was more frequented then the mosque of Hakem, being more in the centre of the
town. Up to the completion of the mosque of Hakem, the Azhar had the exclusive
privilege of the Litany, but afterwards it was repeated by turns in the Azhar and
Hakem. Saladin, however, fixed the Litany in the mosque of Hakem on account of
its size, and for a hundred years no Litany was said in El Azhar, until Bibars restored
it to the latter mosque.
330 THE HOSPITAL OF KALAON .
In the latter years of Mohammed Ali, it was a bakehouse
of the government, and eighty ardebs of corn were daily
made into round cakes where the tricolor waved when
the century began.
I had no difficulty in recognizing the style of archi-
tecture, a sort of transition from the plaster tracery in
the Bagdad forms of Touloun and Hakem, to the more
recent Cairo styles. On entering, one sees—instead of the
long arcade, the spacious basin, the elaborate chair of
the preacher, and the bending lines of the congregation
in prayer—something like a factory yard; with a couple
of palms seeking a scanty existence among mounds of
cinders and mean huts frequented by white-coated millers
and bakers. Lines of asses, loaded with grain, tread
where mosaic pavements once shone. The complete
line of fretted windows, each with its inscription in cufic
—a character that seems formed for architectural decora-
tion,--was still visible, a striking monument of departed
splendour over which ruled the Turkish nazir, sitting
motionless on his mat at the gate under the shade of a
sycamore, Smoking his pipe, while beside him a blear-
eyed Coptic clerk, wearing a black turban, registered the
entrance of corn and the exit of loaves.
In the earlier part of this history I gave some account
of Sultan Kalaon who finally expelled the Franks from
Syria, rebuilt the castles, towers, walls, and gates of
Damascus, Aleppo, and other cities, and was also the
father and grandfather of Mohammed-el-Nasr and Sultan
Hassan,—thus shedding the combined lustre of arms and
arts on this family.
The principal edifice erected by Kalaon, in Cairo, was
the great hospital, called the Maristan, which had been
the locality of the house of Sitt-el-Molk, the sister of
Caliph Hakem, who had brought about his death. This
edifice was built in the year 682 of the Hegira, (A.D.
©
EIOW IT WAS BUILT. 331
1283) the cause of Kalaon's building it having been the
cure of a disease, effected on him in the Maristan, or
hospital of Damascus, which had been built by Nour-
eddin and Saladin; and he swore that, if ever he had
the power, he would build a similar establishment.”
His work was aided by a casket of jewels, of considerable
value, found by labourers while employed in digging for
the fountain, and which had doubtless been concealed by
some princess of the Fatimite dynasty. The value of
these jewels was said to have been nearly as much as the
cost of building, for a considerable portion of the palace
of Sitt-el-Molk was retained.
I think it highly probable that Frank architects or
builders may have been employed in the edifices erected
by Kalaon and his son ; for a portal on the great line of
bazaars is as like Gothic as possible. Most of the
materials were taken from the ruins of buildings in the
island of Rodah, and everyone passing was obliged to
carry a stone, so that the road was deserted. In this
matter there seems to have been more of vain-glory on the
part of Kalaon than of charity. It does not appear who
was in possession of the palace of Sitt-el-Molk at the period
in question ; but it is certain that it was pounced upon
by force, and that the ulema made great obstacles to con-
secrating the contiguous mosque, as the ground that
it had been built on had been taken by force, and the
edifice reared by compulsory labour. The argument of
the Mamelukes of Kalaon, was, that the prior possession
had been obtained by force ; and, secondly, that there
was no instance of getting people to work in Egypt
without compulsion.
* This edifice exists to this day in a dilapidated state in Damascus. The entrance
gate is one of the greatest curiosities in Syria; it is of perfectly preserved Roman
architecture of the third or fourth century, and above it is a stalactite superstructure
of Saracenic architecture; the whole aspect being an odd jumble of a reminiscence
of Diocletian and Saladin.
332 HOSPITAL ARRANGEMENTS.
The deed of settlement and endowment states that it
is “for the cure and aid of all—of the king and of the
slave (malek-We-memlook, literally possessor and pos-
sessed), private and commander (or trooper and emir),
great men and small men, free and bond, masculine and
feminine.” Kalaon appointed physicians, servants and
attendants, male and female, and laid down beds for the
sick, with four wards adapted to the climate—one for
ophthalmia, one for dysentery, one for the wounded, and
one for fever. Besides these there were, a kitchen, la-
boratory, and dispensary for out-door patients; while
those sick at home and unable to attend the dispensary
were assisted from this place. The vastness of the
arrangements may be inferred from the fact that the
consumption of sugar alone was five hundred pounds
daily. The mosque, which was also liberally endowed,
is an edifice which the traveller may remember by its
fine antique columns, adapted by the architect. It had
a complete establishment of inspectors, imams, muez-
zins, and readers of the Koran, including six librarians.
In short, all the accounts concur in representing it as a
magnificent establishment. As time rolled on, how-
ever, the funds were gradually dissipated by unfaithful
trustees; and at last it became one of the lions of Cairo
—for the maniacs were kept chained in dens like wild
beasts—until, through the exertions of Clot Bey, in our
own time, a more suitable asylum was provided for these
unhappy persons, with a treatment more in accordance
with the humanity of modern notions. The lofty roof
of the mosque of Kalaon is supported by superb granite
columns, which were, strange to say, painted of a light
green colour when I was last in Cairo. At the great
entrance stood local physicians and apothecaries, pre-
scribing and making up prescriptions, with their drugs in
curious old gallipots, some of considerable size and value.
THE MOSQUE OF HASSAN. 333
The most remarkable monument of this family is the
mosque of Sultan Hassan, the son of Malek-el-Nasr, and
the grandson of Kalaon. It was as much intended to be
a collegiate Seminary as a mosque, and the buildings for
the former purpose range eight stories high. It was the
original intention of Sultan Hassan to have had four
minarets; but in the great earthquake of 1361 a minaret
fell, and then occurred those great slits in the wall and
breaks in the cornice which are still visible. Hassan’s
eunuch, Beshir, completed the mosque, but large endow-
ments by Hassan for this object were withheld by his
successors. The mosque is generally in a ruinous condi-
tion ; for, being opposite to the citadel, it was invariably
occupied during the innumerable rebellions and civil
wars constantly recurring in Cairo, so that the wonder
is that it still stands at all. It was used in this way in
the time of Sultan Barkouk, the first of the Circassian
sultans, who caused the stairs that led to the roof to be
pulled down : they were however built up again. By
this long dark staircase I ascended to the roof, and then
to the balustrade of the minaret. The panorama of
Cairo visible from this height is not so good as that from
Touloun, because Hassan itself, the principal object in
the prospect of the city, is the point of observation, and
is not itself seen. But still it pleased, like a varied
version of a tale Worth telling. The gates are of bronze,
and rivetted with bolts in which zinc and even some
gold and silver enter. The mobakharah, or censer of
bronze, is not the original One, which was transferred to
the mosque of Moeyed. Thus the mosque of Sultan
Hassan has had the disadvantage of not only being
dilapidated through earthquakes and war, but of having
been dismantled to gratify a vanity that failed in its
aim; for the mosque of Moeyed has made its reputation
on purely architectural grounds.
334 ARAB ARCHITECTURAL, ORNAMENTATION.
Those colossal letters carried round the alcoves, in
which verses of the Koran are written, are called
“Toomar,” so denominated from one of the seventy-two
characters in Arab caligraphy, -a pedantic conceit, as if
the tokalon of writing was not that which is easiest of
comprehension. But in reality there are not above three
or four styles of writing Arabic, as known to the most
accomplished persons. It is certainly a characteristic of
the Arabs that there is a greater union of written cha-
racter and architectural ornament with them than with
us. As the representation of the human form (that is to
say, a larger proportion of the most beautiful and
ingenious devices of the later Roman styles, comprising
all sorts of ingenious caryatides, consoles, and mouldings,
in which male or female heads or bodies appear) was
forbidden to the Moslem architects, they were compelled
to eke out the baldness of the earliest mosques by an
ornament which was not vain and sensuous, but com-
memorative of the Deity and the leading doctrines of
Islamism. The object, in the first instance, was, just as in
Christian art, to make it the vehicle of religious senti-
ment: but afterwards came a reverse somewhat ana-
logous to what is presented by later Christian art, and
religious decoration was used solely to display the in-
genuity of the architect, and please the artistic taste of
the worshipper, often with very little reference to didactic
objects. Letters were put together with the symmetrical
ingenuity of a Chinese puzzle, for some geometrical
design had to be aimed at in the disposition, no
matter how difficult it might be to decipher the enigma;
and it is amusing sometimes to see the most learned
orientalist attempting to spell out the sentence in which
the architect thought only of the symmetrical disposition
of his lines and pot-hooks, never troubling himself about
the likelihood of the words being read. In short they
COLOSSAL COPIES OF THE KORAN. 335
ceased to be sentences of the Koran, and were mere
arabesques, with anagrammatic apothegms for their
materials.
The Roumelyeh, or large public square of Cairo, so
often represented in prints, having the mosque of Sultan
Hassan on One side, and the castle on the other, is, like
the Durwe-sheey of Damascus, crowded with a motley
population. Seeing a number of people going out of and
into a dark covered court, with a tank, I entered and
saw the Mughtas-el-Sultany, or Washing place of the
bodies of criminals, which is close to the Giãma-el-
Moumeneen, so called because the imam prays over the
dead with these words, “Nawaito assala ala min hadar
amuat el moumeneen : ” “I hold up my hands and
pray for the defunct believer.” Opposite the mosque
of Nezm-Eddin is that of Sultan Barkouk, remarkable
for having the largest Korans in Cairo, and, as some of the
ulema maintain, the largest extant anywhere. Each page
is a large calf-skin, dressed with the greatest care and cut
square. Both parchment and character are beautiful, and
the illumination, mostly in blue and gold, surpasses any-
thing I have seen in arabesque. Being too large to be
moved, the boards, desk, and stand form one piece of
furniture. In another mosque near the citadel I found
other colossal Korans. The mosque of the Emir Akhor,
or master of the horse, is small, but none in Cairo is more
beautiful in proportions. The relations of minaret, dome,
and elevation to each other are all perfect. I found it
internally mouldering and tumbling to pieces, and one
of those enormous copies of the Koran on vellum,
beautifully illuminated was covered with half an
inch of dust and dirt, thus showing that I had
been the first person who had opened it for several
years.
The mosque of Moeyed is altogether the handsomest
336 MOSQUES OF MOEYED AND GHOURY,
in Cairo, taken in connection with the gate of Zueileh.
Unlike the mosque of Sultan-el-Ghoury, the grand
entrance of Moeyed is lofty and noble in the extreme:
the interior is surrounded by an elegant arcade with
horse-shoe arches, and the pillars are all antique, some in
porphyry and some in white marble. The Mobakharah is
the most magnificent of those taken from Sultan Hassan.
The walls in the Moharrem are covered with porphyry
and old Damascus porcelain, and a large separate pulpit
stands for the reading of the chapter of the Seven Sleepers
from the Koran. Several lofty sycamores have been
planted around the mayda, or fountain for ablution, which
adds much to the noble effect. The masonry of the
whole mosque is painted in alternate courses of white
and red. The interior of Moeyed may not have the awe-
striking lines of the Ewaween of Sultan Hassan; but the
two minarets towering loftily over Bab-Zueileh, the
extent of the mosque, its excellent distribution, and
the picturesque effect of the colour, render it altogether
the most pleasing edifice in Cairo.
Although the bazaar of the Ghoury is the most mag-
nificent in Cairo, the mosque itself is not conspicuously
separated from it. The tank of water is outside the
mosque, and in an out-of-the-way corner, as if it were
not intended for the use of the mosque at all. The
visitor ascends a staircase where a wooden barrier of
about a foot high marks the place where shoes must
be taken off. He then steps over the barrier upon a
richly coloured mosaic pavement in which the dark red
of porphyry is conspicuous; and, going through a dark
angular passage, like the entrance to a bath, enters the
mosque of El Ghoury (whose reign we have described).
The interior is small and dark, but of extreme elegance,
the windows being glazed with a profusion of curious
symmetrical arabesques. This mosque was not finished in
MOHAMMEDAN RELICS. 337
the lifetime of the Sultan. The minaret is exceedingly
beautiful, being encased with purple tiles, so as to form
one of the most picturesque objects in the city. Here
also is the celebrated reliquary of the Prophet Mo-
hammed, consisting of his robe, his box of kohl, or blue
dye, a copy of the Koran, and various other articles, as
described in the following Arabic verses, beginning :—
“Mohalaf ataka subhatan wu mishafon,
Suvakon kissan ibrik Wu malon,” etc.;
which may be translated thus:–
“The relics of the Prophet are beads and a Koran,
A box of black ointment, and a carpet well worn ;
A stick, a tooth-cleaner, a robe and a handmill;
Ewer, sandals, and cloak, and a mule called Dil-dil;
Greaves, mats, and a camel, whose name was Adbad,
When with reverence approached, bring good health out of bad.”
Considering the extraordinary rapidity with which
Islamism spread, even in the lives of those who had
seen Mohammed in their youth, and the immediate
grasp which the Koran took of the human mind, from
its comparatively lofty morality, and the incomparable
eloquence of its style, these relics are unquestionably
less apocryphal than those of the first Christians.
Three centuries had elapsed between the reign of
Tiberius and the public recognition of Christianity
throughout the Roman Empire: during that time much
concealment had been practised, and the public recog-
nition of Christianity was followed, in the middle ages,
by centuries of enthusiastic credulity as to the relics
of the martyrs; so that if it were really of any interest
to possess the bones of a disciple or apostle, the means
of identification were almost null. The Koran was
written, not only in a far more impressive and striking
style than any of the four gospels, but it appeared at
a time when the Empire of the West was extinct, and
VOII, II, 22
338 CONVENTS OF DERWISHES.
when that of the East wanted the compact military
power which characterized the Romans in the time of
Tiberius, and long afterwards, in a state of intimate
connection with the Olympic mythology. We may
therefore assume, from the early and rapid conquest
of Islamism, and the absence of a Moslem period of
persecution, that there is much greater probability of
these being genuine relics of Mohammed, than those
of the Roman Church being authentic remains of the
first Christian martyrs.
Adjoining the mosque of Moeyed is the Gulshany, or
convent of dervishes, mostly Turks, in the middle of
which rises the famous porcelain mosque and tomb, so
as to make it one of the most curious monuments of
Cairo, but quite concealed from view. Although in
the Turkish style of architecture, the elevation is en-
tirely composed of this fine material, the tiles having
mostly all been manufactured at Damascus. This pot-
tery was abandoned in the latter part of the last century,
and long since nearly everywhere else, which is the more
striking when one reflects that the great Italian school
of pottery is of Moslem origin, and that the original
Majolica came from the then Moslem Majorica and Sicily.
The Tekiet-el-Agem is a convent of dervishes, in
which are Turks and Persians: it is an off-shoot of the
celebrated institution of Mollah Hunkiar, in Konieh.
Such establishments are not very numerous in Egypt
and Syria; and the Arabs look upon most Persian and
Turkish dervishes as adventurers. In addition to this,
although the Turks have established their rule in Egypt,
Syria, and the Hedjas, as well as in other Arab countries,
yet the real old Egyptian or Syrian alim looks on all
Turks having pretensions to religion and learning as still
retaining something of the neophite or semi-barbarian :
they scarcely except the learned cadis that come from
ARABS AND TURIXS. 339
Constantinople, and who are so superior to themselves in
external breeding. They can never forget that Islam
is essentially of Arab origin, and that the Caliphates
of Damascus, Bagdad, and Cairo were in Arab dynas-
ties. Theirs is something of the feeling with which
an Athenian regarded a Roman, even when the eagles
were the sign of dominion from the Pillars of Hercules
to the frontiers of Persia, and from the Nile to the Frith
of Forth. Arabic literature may be said to be dead,
and to have been so for three centuries; but the contrast
between the voluminous abundance of Arab literature
and the scantiness of the Turkish, is a fact which never
disappears from the Arab mind. The Arabs are also
much less familiar with the charming poets of Persia
than the Turks are. If a Turk has a theological turn,
it is to the Arabic doctors that he devotes his attention;
but the Turkish dilettante, who wishes to kill time with
a little literature, has a constant resource in the twin
poets of Persia.
The so-called orthodox Islamism of the Sunnite Turk
is acknowledged by the Arab, but he is always looked
upon as a stranger, although Egypt has had none but
Turks, or Turkish speaking Circassians, as rulers for a
period of six centuries.
The Arab is also struck with the superior magnificence
and variety of design of Arabic over Turkish archi-
tecture; and it must be confessed, that, in the eye of
the artist, picturesqueness of situation apart, the archi-
tecture of Constantinople can bear no comparison with
that of Cairo. Turkish mosques are usually picturesque
objects; and the Byzantine dome and the tapering
minarets are generally associated with well grown trees
which partially conceal the body of the edifice out of
which they arise. But there is a great monotony in the
constant repetition of the same lines, even although the
340 THE TOMB OF SULTAN SALIH.
scale be large. It is not so with Arab architecture,
which has far greater variety, both of form and colour,
and the instances of which need not be adduced to the
reader.
Zawiet-el-Hinood is the oratory of the Moslem.
Hindus, many of whom are to be found selling cutlery
and other articles: they are nearly all pedlars, who have
made the pilgrimage to Mecca. I visited the mosque
of Indian dervishes, which was small and neat. The
principal ornament was a plan of a large mosque hang-
ing from the wall ; the sections, elevations, and orna-
ments bearing a rude resemblance to the working plans
of European architects.
On the high line of the bazaars is the mosque of
Negm-Eddin-Salih, a curious ruin, the columns evi-
dently belonging to the antique. The Moezzin, making
great difficulty, took me into the tomb of Sultan
Salih, and, to my surprise, shewed me seven conical
vases around the tomb, said to have been sent as a
present from a king of the Franks, but filled with
powder that they might explode. There were eight of
them, one having exploded. But as gunpowder was not
invented and in use in the time of this monarch, it is
evidently a fable. The saddle of this Sultan is still
hung up at his tomb, and it may be well imagined that
after five hundred years it looks very shabby; but the
tomb itself is a most curious specimen of woodwork.
Near here is also the ancient mosque of El Akmar,
which carries us back to early Cairo: it was built by
the Vizier Mamoun, according to the orders of Ahkam
Allah, in 519, and was repaired by Bibars. The well
belonged to a Christian convent before Islamism, and
Gouhar-el-Caid inclosed it in the original palace of
Moezz, on the foundation of Cairo, and its name Bir-
el-Taam, or “well of repasts,” is a proof that the
MOSQUES. 341.
water was used for the culinary purposes of the palace, or
for drinking water at the Caliph's repasts.
It were an endless task to go in detail through the
rest of the hundred mosques of Cairo ; for almost every
one has its marvellous apocryphical legend—its real
history associated with the phases of political history,
or some quaint illustration of extinct Arab decorative
schools of art. A thick volume might be made out
of the undescribed curiosities of Cairo. At the mosque
Giama Symadian, built by a native of Tlemecen in
Algiers, is shown a running spring which the people
of Egypt believe to find its way into the sea subterra-
neously at Suez; but I dare say it finds its way into
the Nile, somewhere between Boulak and Shoubrah.
The mosque of Sheikh Hamoudeh, a small one in the
upper part of Cairo, was frequented by women desirous
of having the afreets driven out; and it was also said
that assignations were occasionally made here. The
mosque of the Daoudeey is celebrated for the high steps
by which it is entered, and which are cemented with
lead, from whence it is called Giama-el-M’allak, “the
cemented mosque :” it was named after a Sultan Daoud,
and the quarter around it was formerly that of the
prostitutes, but they were transported by Mohammed
Ali to Upper Egypt, and now the quarter is inhabited
by a laborious population. Its former history gave
rise to an untranslatable distich on the fixedness of the
mosque, and the looseness of the female population.
There are mosques which recommend themselves by
their artistic beauty in strange out of the way streets.
For instance, the mosque of Siganem, between that of
Raisoun and the Derb-el-Ahmar, has a mosaic pavement
of plain black and white marble, much admired on
account of the excellence of the joining, and the pecu-
liarity of the arabesque pattern, in which great elegance
342 THE FOUNTAIN OF CAID BEY.
is united with the most curious ingenuity. The mosque
of Kaisoun itself is most picturesque in summer, when
the sun shines fiercely without ; while, within the court-
yard, umbrageous foliage spreading over the tank of
ablution produces an agreeable coolness, and the che-
quered rays of an Egyptian sun turn the wall of the
mosque, with its partial dilapidation, into a scene which
De Hooge would have prized as a subject.
A real and unmistakable gem is also in this part of
Cairo; for there is in all Egypt and Syria no more
beautiful specimen of inlaid architectural elevation than
the fountain of Caid Bey, one of the later Mameluke
Sultans. Although marked by the ravages of time, and
dimmed in many parts, the effect upon the eye is some-
what like that of a colossal table of Florentine Pietra
Commessa turned over from the horizontal to the perpen-
dicular. Such marquetrie in marble, precious stones,
and lapis lazuli, is to be seen in no other part of Cairo.
Faded though this ornament be for want of cleaning,
which would cost but little, one could detect the superior
richness and beauty of the style of the Mameluke Sultans
over that of the moderns; for certainly no workman could
be found in Cairo, at this day, capable of producing this
ornament of the so-called “ropemaker's-road.”
The great renovator of the mosques and fountains
of Cairo, was Abderrahman Kiahya, who lived in the
middle of the eighteenth century. He was a very
wealthy man, and envious people circulated reports that
he had discovered the philosopher's stone, had acquired
his gold by alchemy, and that his piety was a sham.
But when was good done without detraction? The more
probable assumption is that he may have found a treasure:
certain it is that his means, large as they were, and the
munificence with which he acted, seemed out of propor-
tion to each other. In the Oriental style of exaggeration,
ARAB ASTRONOMERS. 343
it was said after his death, “that he had built as many
mosques as there were days in the year.” This muni-
ficent man, in addition to the many mosques which he
built and repaired, constructed in Cairo twenty troughs
of stone for watering asses and camels, with water-wheels
attached to them, so that kindness to animals was
included in the schemes of his beneficence. These
erections have now mostly fallen into ruin.
The master of Abderrahman Kiahya was Osman Kiahya;
—and in the mosque of Osman Kiahya, there are said to
be two pillars of glass, but I did not see them. Sheikh
Ahmed, the last of the great astrologers and astronomers
of Egypt, was connected with this mosque and lived at it.
There were still, in Mohammed Ali’s time, three or four
mikaty, or astronomical time calculators, attached to the
great mosques, who preserved the Arabic traditions and
instruments, being entire strangers to the astronomical
science of Europe. They made their observations nightly
in the clear atmosphere of Cairo, keeping the time of the
town, so that the hour of prayer might be accurately pro-
claimed by the muezzins, and they were sadly puzzled by
the orthodox tradition of the sun moving round the earth,
and the Copernican theory which threatened to subvert
the old system. One of my acquaintances had a passion
for astronomy, and read all the Arabic mediaeval authors
on this science, and was quite familiar with all the stellar
phenomena that immediately meet the naked eye and
with the copious Arabic nomenclature of both constella-
tions and individual bodies; but he was firm in his belief
of the falseness of the Copernican theory. I confess,
that to me a learned native Egyptian is always more
interesting than those natives of the East who are half-
educated Franks, for the one has the national stamp,
while the other is a mongrel. Thus wars the logic of
congruity with abstract reason
4 344 A SCHOOL IN CAIRO.
The Sibeel of Abderrahman Kiahya is one of the most
characteristic specimens of the semi-scholastic fountains
of Cairo. A vast grated window stands at the corner of
the street, bordered with the most florid tracery, present-
ing in miniature something like a Saracenic translation
of such ornaments as those that adorn the chapel of Henry
VIII. ; and beneath it are a couple of brass spouts,
supplying water, while on the first floor above are heard
noises such as those that proceed from a school or charity
endowment—giving food to the mind, and water to the
body. This monument is neither Greek, Roman, Moorish,
nor Turkish, but its general effect is strikingly pic-
turesque. Upstairs sat from twenty to thirty children
on mats, all bowing in turn, and reading aloud extracts
from the Koran from wooden boards. A child, called up
to give a specimen, kissed the master's hand, and then
sitting down, cross-legged and swinging its head, began
to read. The system is the same as Jacotot's, although
not taken from him. They learn to read without knowing
the meaning of the words, the meaning being left to
break slowly upon the pupil’s mind afterwards. The
specimens of writing are beautiful; for the Arab character
has more of the lines of beauty than the Roman, but it
is inconvenient in practice from its being so involved.
The perusal of oriental writing, except it be very clear,
is almost as much spelling as reading, and therefore must
yield the palm to the perspicuous system of Europe
where all the vowels are presented on the same level as
the consonants.
IND E X.
Abbas Pasha, ii. 129, 241.
Abbaside, Caliphs of Bagdad, the, i. 10.
Abdul Medjid, accession of, ii. 137.
Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, arrives in Egypt,
i. 358; gives battle to the French near
Alexandria, 360; death of, 369; cha-
racter of 370.
Aboukir, battle of, i. 157; landing of
the Turks at, 300; land battle of, 303.
Achmet Bey attempts to assassinate Mo-
hammed Ali, ii. 21.
Acre, march of the French army to, i.
256; description of, 261; siege of,
263; renewal of the siege of, 278;
desperate assault on, 281; repulse of
the French before, 285; surrenders to
Ibrahim Pasha, ii. 96; bombardment
of, by the British fleet, 196; evacu-
ated by the Egyptians, 197.
Africa, physical advantages of, i. 1;
natural obstacles to civilization, 2.
African church, Alexandria the metro-
polis of, i. 5.
Agricultural distress in Egypt, ii. 232.
Ahmed Pasha el Djezzar, character of,
i. 259; his activity and energy, 268.
Alexandria as an Egyptian capital, i. 4;
the seat of the Greek power, 5; its
position under the Romans, 5; the
metropolis of the African church, 5;
decline of 85; description of, 100:
entered by the French, 102; present
state of, 106; scarcity in, 388; be-
sieged by General Hutchinson, 388;
armistice of 391 ; occupied by General
Fraser, ii. 24; blockaded by Moham-
med Ali, 25; fortifications of, 223.
Ali, Mohammed, his character, i. 15.
Allied Powers, basis of agreement for
pacification of Ottoman empire entered
into by, ii. 160.
Aleppo, Moslem population, divided into
factions, ii. 108; turbulent character
of 114; earthquake of 109.
America, her capacities for civilization,
i. 2.
Amru, i. 8.
Anarchical government of the Mameluke
Sultans, i. 61. -
Anarchical state of Egypt after the de-
parture of the French, ii. 9.
Ancient families of Egypt, ii. 268.
Annexation of Egypt, France suspects
England of intending the, ii. 198.
Antiquity of commerce between Egypt
and the Indian seas, i. 5.
Antiquities of Egypt, i. 230.
Arab conquest of Egypt, i. 7.
Arab music, i. 210; dreaminess of, ii. 293.
Arab origin of European music, ii. 294.
Arab civilization, ii. 68.
Arab aristocracy of Egypt, ii. 267.
Arabs, the early, their character, i. 6;
influence of Greek art and luxury
upon, 10; the French army harassed
by, 116, 126.
Architectural improvement of Cairo under
the successors of Kalaon, i. 50.
Architectural improvements at Alexan-
dria, ii. 76.
Architecture in France, i. 206; in Egypt,
231.
Assassination of General Kleber, i. 242.
Astronomers, Arab, ii. 343.
Attempted assassination of Bonaparte, i.
293.
Austria, her people and government, ii.
147, 323. .
Azhar, El, a mosque and university, i.
19, 183; ii. 323.
B.
Bahrite Sultans, the, i. 45.
Baird, General, arrives in Egypt with a
Sepoy army from India, i. 393.
Bankers in Egypt, Jew, i. 80.
Bardissy, Osman Bey, el, ii. 6, 8, 9.
Bazaars of Cairo, ii. 310, 317.
Beauvale, Lord, his instructions to Col.
Hodges, ii. 163.
Belliard, General, enters into a conven-
tion to leave Egypt, i. 385; embarks
for France, 386.
Berbers, the, ii. 66; of Cairo, 296.
Berthollet, i. 214.
Beshir, submission of, ii. 190. -
Beyrout, defeat of Ibrahim Pasha at, ii.
194. * *
346
Boghos Bey, ii. 166; death of 231.
Bombardment of Acre by the British
fleet, ii. 196.
Bombastic proclamation of Bonaparte,
announcing the fall of Acre, i. 288.
Bonaparte lands in Egypt, i. 99; declares
himself a prophet of Islamism, 196;
attempt to assassinate, 293; his stoic-
ism, 295; leaves Egypt for France,
308; estimate of the character and
capacity of, 310; defects of his cha-
racter, 320 ; Talleyrand's opinion of,
311; wilfulness of, 317.
Bonaparte and Nelson, i. 91.
Bosphorus and Dardanelles within the
territorial jurisdiction of the Sultan,
ii. 158; claims of England with refer-
ence to opening of, 159; exclusion of
foreign ships of war from, 220.
Boulak, port of, ii. 250.
British squadron, appearance of before
Acre, i. 260.
British expedition to Egypt, i. 356.
British expedition to Egypt under Gene-
ral Fraser, ii. 24.
British squadron off Beyrout, the, ii. 181.
Brueys, death of Admiral, i. 159.
Brunow, Baron, in London on a mission,
ii. 157; leaves and returns, 160.
Bulgarians, the, ii. 90.
Burglars, speedy execution of when de-
tected, ii. 263.
C
Cafarelli, death of before Acre, i. 279.
Cairo, adapted by its position as a capi-
tal, i. 4; (Proper) circumstances under
which it was built, 18; state of public
morals in, 20; the walls and citadel
built by Saladin, 41; description of at
the period of the French invasion, 73;
excitement in on the approach of the
French, 130; submission of to Bona-
parte, 139; revolt of, 182; insurrec-
tion at, 333; bombardment of by the
French, 334; Kleber returns to, after
the battle of Heliopolis, 336; suppres-
sion of the revolt, 338; the plague in,
378; invested by the Anglo-Turkish
army, 384; evacuation of by the
French, 385; winter palace of Mo-
hammed Ali at, ii. 81; sanitary and
public improvements in, 250; dan-
gerous classes of, 258; material aspect
of, at Death of Mohammed Ali, 309;
merchants of, 310.
Caliphs, the character of their govern-
ment, i. 21; the reverence in which
they were held, 22.
Caliphate of Bagdad, its ecclesiastical
Supremacy restored to Egypt by Sala-
din, i. 22.
INDEX.
Callousness of the French soldiers, i. 291
Cambaceres, i. 312-315.
Campaign of Desaix in Upper Egypt, i.
235; close of, 243.
Canal connecting the Nile with the Red
Sea, i. 5.
Cannibalism during a famine in Egypt,
i. 38.
Canso-el-Ghoury, the last of the Mame-
luke Sultans, i. 58; his treatment of
the Venetian merchants, 65; charac-
ter and death of, 67.
Capitals of Egypt, Alexandria and Cairo
adapted by nature as, i. 4.
Capitan Pasha, treachery of, ii. 2.
Caraite Jews, ii. 289.
Carnival, an Egyptian, ii. 253.
Carnot, i. 215.
Christianity in Egypt and Syria, corrupted
in the time of Mohammed, i. 7.
Christian prisoners employed in building
the citadel of Cairo, i. 41.
Christians, massacre of, at Cairo, i. 333;
Moslem prejudice against, ii. 113;
toleration of, 281.
Circassian Sultans, the, i. 55.
Civilization of Asia, i. 2.
Climate of Africa, i. 1; an obstacle to
civilization, 2.
Clot Bey, ii. 77, 285.
Cockade, orders to wear the French, i.
175.
Coercive measures against Mohammed
Ali agreed upon by the Great Powers,
ii. 174.
Commerce of Egypt with India in ancient
times, i. 5.
Commercial classes of Egypt, i. 78.
Comparison of Asian, American, and
African civilization, i. 2.
Conspiracy against Mohammed Ali, on
account of his adopting the military
organization of Europe, ii. 51.
Convention of Alexandria agreed to by
Commodore Napier, ii. 202; Admiral
Stopford refuses to ratify it, 203; Lord
Palmerston approves of it, 204.
Copts, their employments, i. 21, 79, 174.
Coptic Cathedral, ii. 282.
Costume of Republican France, i. 233.
Cotton, cultivation of, introduced into
Egypt, ii. 74.
Country towns of Egypt, i. 82.
Crime in Egypt, ii. 255.
Criminal justice, reform of, by Mohammed
Ali, ii. 263.
Crusaders, a souvenir of, ii. 270.
D
Daher (or Bibars), the Sultan, i. 47, 48.
Damascus, its staple manufactures, i. 47;
Pashalik of, ii.109; city of 110.
INDEX.
Damascus, Ibrahim Pasha concentrates
his forces at, after the fall of Acre, 206.
Damietta, surrender of to Sir Robert
Wilson, i. 382.
Dangerous classes of Cairo, ii. 258.
Darazi, his book on the divinity of Ha-
kem, i. 27; flies from Cairo, and pro-
mulgates his doctrines in the Anti-
Lebanon, 27.
Dardanelles and Bosphorus, exclusion of
foreign ships of war from, ii. 220.
Darizes (or Druses), formation of this
sect, i. 29.
Debtors' prison at Cairo, ii. 264.
Denon, i. 232.
Derayeh, the Wahaby capital, desperate
defence of, ii. 58; capitulates, 61; is
destroyed, ii. 63.
Dervishes, convents of, ii. 338.
Deserter, fate of a, i. 248.
Desertion of French soldiers in Egypt, i.
386.
Divan of Sheikhs, established by Bona-
parte, i. 179.
Divan-el-ferdeh, the, ii. 244.
Djizeh, armistice of, 384.
Domestic tyranny, ii. 258.
Druses, the, i. 23, 28; ii. 103; their
religion, 104; manners, etc., 105.
Dupuy, death of, i. 186.
E.
Earthquakes in Egypt, ii. 274.
Eccentric administration of justice, i. 36.
Ecole Normal, the, i. 218.
Economical mistakes of Ibrahim Pasha,
ii. 123.
Educational institutions of Egypt, ii. 245;
Egypt, resources of, i. 3; ancient trade of,
with Indian seas, 5; in the time of the
Pharaohs, 5; conquest of, by the Arabs,
7; severance of from the Caliphate of
Bagdad, 11; political system of, at the
time of the French invasion, 75; com-
mercial classes of, 78; relations of, with
foreign countries at the close of the 18th
century, 84; French expedition to, pro-
i.” 89; government of, under Napo-
eon Bonaparte, 108, 143; Bonaparte's
opinion of the importance of holding
it, 243; anarchical state of, after the
departure of the French, ii. 9; Mo-
hammed Ali becomes the owner of
the soil of, 78; divided into provinces
and districts for purposes of collection
and revenue, 78, 79; the Sultan offers
the hereditary Pashalic of, to Moham-
med Ali, 175; cattle murrain in, 225;
plague of locusts in, 226; agricultural
distress in, 232; taxation of 243;
educational institutions of, under Mo-
hammed Ali, 245.
347
Egypt and Syria, conquest of by Sultan
Selim, i. 66, 67, 70. *
Egyptian history and geography, intro-
ductory sketch of, i. 1.
Egyptian expedition, objects of, i. 213.
Egyptian troops of Mohammed Ali, re-
volt amongst the, ii. 71 ; European
organization of, 73; civil errloyments
of, 222.
Tºgyptian hospitals, ii. 245; libraries,
247; police, 256.
Egyptians, why subject to other races,
i. 6; in Damascus, ii. 111.
El Arish surrenders to the French, i.
249; invested by the Turks, 327;
convention of, 328.
Elfy Bey returns from England to Egypt,
ii. 10; is defeated by Bardissy, and
flies into the desert, 1 1.
El Kataë, the capital of Ahmed-Ebn-
Touloun, i. 11.
England and France, their position,
character, and resources compared, i.
86 ; differences between, ii. 218.
English government, opposition of, to the
Treaty of El Arish, i. 330; race,
character of the, ii. 144.
Epigram on the French, by an Egyptian
grocer, i. 192.
Eunuchs of Cairo, ii. 298.
European policy of Imperial France, i.
314; military organization introduced
into Egypt, ii. 51, 72; workmen em-
ployed by Mohammed Ali, 73; consuls,
protest of against the treachery of the
Capitan Pasha, 142; diplomacy, action
of, on Turkish affairs, 144.
Evacuation of Egypt by the French
army, i. 395; of Acre by the Egyp-
tians, ii. 197; of Syria by the Egyp-
tians, 215.
Evasive policy of Mohammed Ali, ii. 177.
Evil eye, the, ii. 276.
Exasperation of the Egyptians against
the French, i. 173.
Excesses of the French troops at Jaffa, i.
252.
Execution of the assassin of Kleber, i.
347; of a wizard, ii. 279.
F
Fall of the Fatimite Caliphate, i. 39.
Famine in Egypt, a remarkable, i. 38.
Fanatics, Moslem, i. 344; ii. 277.
Fanaticism at Damietta, ii. 236.
Fatimite Caliphate, origin of, i. 15, 19.
Fatimites, their descent from Ali disputed,
i. 17.
Fatimite Caliphate, fall of, i. 39.
Fellah, degraded condition of, in Egypt,
ii. 320.
Female profligates in Egypt, ii. 259.
348
Fertility of the soil of Africa, i. 1.
Finances of Egypt, ruinous state of, ii.
234.
Firman, a Turkish, i. 194.
Fiscal oppressions in Egypt, ii. 233.
Forced labour introduced into Syria by
Ibrahim Pasha, ii. 123.
Fortifications of Alexandria, ii. 223.
Fostat, the first Arab capital, i. 8, 20.
Fouli, battle of, i. 274. -
Fourier, Joseph, i. 216.
France, character of her people and
government, ii. 147.
France and England, their position, cha-
racter, and resources compared, i. 86;
differences between, ii. 218.
Frank luxuries in Cairo, i. 146.
Frank quarter of Cairo, ii. 284.
Fraser, General, occupation of Alexan-
dria by, ii. 24; he withdraws to Sicily,
25
French expedition to Egypt projected, i.
89; fleet, appearance of, off Alexan-
dria, 94 ; defeat of, at Aboukir, 162;
troops, disembarkation of, in Egypt,
98; home sickness of, 106; sufferings
of 114, 125; return of, from Syria to
JEgypt, 297 ; embark at Alexandria
for France, 395; civilization, its influ-
ence on Egyptian society, ii. 249;
conquest of Egypt, results of, 309;
literature, review of, 201; music of
Arabic origin, 210; Republic, anni-
versary of, celebrated at Cairo, 170;
trade with Egypt, 85.
G.
Gaza surrendered to the French, i. 251.
Gezairli, Ali Pasha sent to the Porte to
govern Egypt, ii. 8; is assassinated by
the Mamelukes, 9.
Ghazir, submission to the Anglo-Turks,
ii. 184.
Gipsies of Cairo, i. 81; of Egypt, ii.
258.
Golden age of Cairo, i, 49.
Gospels, splendid Coptic copy of, ii. 280.
Great Britain, character of its govern-
ment, ii. 146.
Greek Revolution, the, ii. 91.
Guizot, M., political and literary character
of, ii. 218.
H.
Hakem, succession of to the Fatimite
Caliphate, i. 23; a divine character
claimed for him, 23; his government,
24; his capriciousness and cruelty,
26; his prejudice against women, 27;
worship of, taught by Hamza, 28;
pretends to be divine, 29; is assassi-
nated, 34; his character, 35–37.
INDEX.
IHamza, the founder of the Druse reli-
gion, i. 28; gross immorality of his
teaching, 28.
Harems, frequency of crimes in, ii. 257.
EIassan, the Sultan, his character, i. 52;
mosque of 53; his mysterious disap-
pearance, 53.
Heaven, Moslem views of, ii. 272.
Heliopolis, battle of, i. 332.
Hindus, Moslem, oratory of, in Cairo, ii.
340.
Highwaymen outwitted, i. 37.
Hodges, Colonel, sent on a mission to
Egypt, ii. 162; presentation of to
Mohammed Ali, 165.
Homarouiah, his luxury, i. 13.
Eſoms, the battle of, ii. 97.
EIospitals in Egypt, ii. 245,330; arrange-
ments of 332.
Hosseyn, death of, i. 16.
Hydraulic improvements of Mohammed
Ali, ii. 253.
I.
Ibrahim Bey, 128; flight of, into Syria,
153; humiliation of, 383.
Ibrahim Pasha, character of, ii. 55; con-
ducts the Wahaby war, 56; attacks
Derayeh, 57; mutinous bearing of his
troops, 59; indomitable courage of,
59; invades Syria, 94; captures Acre,
96; defeats the Turks at Homs, 97;
captures Konieh, 99; disarmament of
the Syrians by, 120; introduces the
conscription into Syria, 121 ; his eco-
nomical mistakes, 123; defeats the
Turkish army at Nezib, 134; is de-
feated at Beyrout, 194; retreat of,
207; sufferings of his army, 208 ;
personal appearance and habits of, 210;
returns to Egypt, 215; his method of
making known the financial state of
Egypt to Mohammed Ali, 234; practi-
cal character of his mind, 240; failure
of his health, 299; visits France, 300;
and England, 301 ; and Constanti-
nople, 305; becomes Pasha of Egypt,
305; death of, 306.
Impalement, punishment of, 264.
India, overland route to, 80.
Indigo, cultivation of, in Egypt, 74.
Insolvent law of Egypt, 266.
Institute of Egypt, i. 201; savans of,
214; its objects and uses, 221.
Islamism, its original simplicity, i. 9; its
various rites, 42; superstitions of, ii.
275.
Ismael Pasha, conquest of Senaar and
territory of Upper Nile by, ii. 69;
death of, 70. .
Italian races, the, ii. 149. :

INDEX.
J.
Jaffa, assault of, i. 251 ; butchery of the
garrison, 253; the French invalid sol-
diers at, poisoned, 294.
Jews, Israelite and Karaite, i. 80; ii.
289; occupations of 290.
Jugglers, Arabian, ii. 295.
Justice, administration of, in Egypt,
under Mohammed Ali, ii. 255.
Justice, summary execution of, under the
Caliphs, i. 23; in Cairo, under Mo-
hammed Ali, ii. 261.
FC.
Raisaby-Ebn-Kelthoom, colonization of
Egypt by, i. 7, 8.
Kalaon, the Sultan, i. 49-51 ; hospital
of, ii. 330.
Kermelah, the Wahaby leader, ii. 39.
FChans of Cairo, ii. 310.
Rhousreff Pasha, ii. 5; his flight from
Cairo, 7.
Khurschid Pasha, ii. 13-17.
Rleber, character of, i. 323; his descrip-
tion of the state in which Bonaparte
left the army of Egypt, 325; enters
into a treaty to evacuate Egypt, 329;
the English government opposes the
execution of the treaty, 330; assassi-
nation of, 342; burial of, 346.
Yonieh, battle of, ii. 99.
I(oran reader, story of the, ii. 259.
Koran, colossal copies of, ii. 335.
L.
Landed property, revolutionary transfer
of, by Mohammed Ali to himself, ii. 26.
Land-tax of Egypt, additions to, ii. 27.
Lane, Mr. ii. 285; an interview with, 287.
Larrey, his successful treatment of oph-
thalmia, i. 220.
Leeches, the plague of, i. 296.
Le Père, theory of the levels of the Red
Sea and Mediterranean, i. 226.
Libraries of Egypt, ii. 247.
Literary style of Napoleon I., i. 319.
Literature of the Mameluke Sultans, i. 54.
Locusts, plague of, in Egypt, ii. 226.
London, convention of, ii. 174.
L'Orient, French flag ship, destroyed by
fire, i. 160.
M.
Magians, descendants of the, ii. 107.
Mahmoud, character of the Sultan, ii.
92; levies war against Mohammed
Ali, 128; death of, 135.
Makrizi, the historian, i. 55.
Mameluke Sultans, the, i. 41 ; armies of,
43; the fall of, 57; atrocities of, 58.
349
Mameluke court, a scene at, i. 63;
Beys, the, 71; assassination of, by
the Capitan Pasha, ii. 3; army, the,
in the time of Bonaparte, i. 76;
defeat of, by the French, 135; palaces
sacked by Cairo mobs, 140; houses
pillaged by French troops, 142.
Mamelukes in camp, 383; their attempts
to regain power, after the departure of
the French, ii. 2, 6; submission of, to
Mohammed Ali, 29; massacre of, 32.
Mameluke chiefs, mutual jealousy of, ii.
23.
Manners in Cairo during the French
occupation, i. 339 ; revolution of
in Egypt, ii. 71.
Maritime power of England, i. 316.
Markets of Cairo, ii. 319.
Maronites, the, ii. 106.
Massacre of the garrison of Jaffa, i. 254.
Mecca taken by the Wahabys, ii., 40;
abandoned by, 45; deposition of the
Shereef of, by Mohammed Ali, 48.
Medical institutions established by Mo-
hammed Ali, ii. 77.
Mediterranean, a storm in the, ii. 203.
Menagerie of lions, i. 14.
Menou, General, character of, i. 348;
succeeds to the command of the French
army in Egypt, 351; his Moslem pre-
dilections, 352; wild projects of, 353;
his extraordinary dilatoriness, 354; his
indecision after the disembarkation of
the British forces, 364; defeat of,
369; capitulates at Alexandria, 392;
embarks for France, 395.
Metternich, Prince, ii. 152.
Mint, the Egyptian, under the Mame-
lukes and the French, ii. 147.
Mirage, an Egyptian, i. 113.
Misr, or Old Cairo, burnt by the order of
Bakem, i. 32.
Moawieh, the Caliph, i. 15.
Modern architecture of Egypt, ii. 252.
Moezz, invasion of Egypt by, i. 18; the
first Bahrite Sultan, assassinated, 46.
Mogrebbins, the, i. 20.
Mohammed, his character and cloquence,
i. 7; emotional character of, 10.
Mohammed Abd-el-Wahab, ii. 36, 38.
Mohammedan relics, ii. 337.
Mohammed Ali, his origin, ii. 2, 5; be-
comes virtual ruler of Cairo, 7; attacks
Bardissy, 13; popularity of, 14; is
chosen Pasha by the Sheikhs, 15; esti-
mate of his character, 17; entraps and
massacres the Mamelukes, 20; attempt
of Achmet Bey to assassinate, 21; de-
feats the Mamelukes, 22; his energy
and tact, 24; visits Mecca, 47; re-
turns to Egypt, 49; his grief at the
death of Toussoun, 53; courtesy of, to
350
Mohammed Ali–
strangers, 82; conversation of 83; his
estimate of the English, 84; his intel-
gence and wit, 85; his traitorous cor-
respondence with the Roumelian chiefs,
93; determines on the conquest of
Syria, 94; threatens to march on Con-
stantinople, but is prevented by the
interposition of Russia, 100; con-
firmed in the government of Syria
after the battle of Konieh, 100; Sultan
Mahmoud levies war against, 128; his
personal appearance, 165; his visions
of an Arab empire, 167; stormy inter-
views of Col. Hodges with, 168; re-
fuses to give up the Turkish fleet, and
prepares for war, 173; coercive mea-
sures of the Great Powers against, 174;
refuses to accept the conditions of the
Convention of London, 176; evasive
policy of, 177; his dissatisfaction with
the French Government, 199; his
despondency after the fall of Acre, 199;
agrees to a Convention proposed by
Commodore Napier, 202; submission
of, 217; gazetted to the hereditary
government of Egypt, 218; his govern- .
ment after the close of the war with
the Great Powers, 221; endeavours to
regain his former influence at Con-
stantinople, 222; fortifies Alexandria,
223; is appointed Grand Vizier, 224;
his suspicions of Ibrahim Pasha, 234;
examines reports on the financial state
of Egypt, 235; in his old age, 238; his
religious tolerance, 248, 281 ; palaces
of, 251 ; visits Constantinople, 302;
dotage of 305; death, 306; tomb, 308.
Monge, i. 214.
Montanser, the Caliph, i. 38; at Cairo, 48.
Moslem criticism of French savans, i.
223; fanatics, ii. 277; prejudices over-
come, 287; sects, 325; method of
teaching children to read, 344.
Mosque of Amru the first erected, i. 8.
Mosque of Touloun, i. 11.
Mosques of Cairo, ii. 313, 315, 322, 341;
revenues of, 326.
Motuali Sheikhs, territory of, i. 271.
Mount Lebanon, the political key of
Syria, ii. 103; description of, 103;
tribes of, 103.
Murad Bey, and Bekir Pasha, i. 95; and
Ibrahim Bey, flight of 136; defeated
by Desaix, 238; in Upper Egypt,
299; his alliance with the French,
339; death of 383.
Murat, camp of, i. 267; expedition under,
269, 270, 272, 273.
Murder in a seraglio, ii. 258; in a Turk's
house in Cairo, 291.
Murrain in Egypt, ii. 225.
INDEX.
Music, Arabic, i. 210; dreamy character
of, ii. 293.
N.
Nablouse, mountaineers of, ii. 117.
Napier, Commodore, arrives with British
squadron off Beyrout, ii. 180; his
activity and successes, 189; his self-
glorification, 193; proposes terms to
Mohammed Ali, 201; his interview
with Mohammed Ali, 202; agrees to
a convention, 202.
Nasif Pasha, atrocities of, i. 334.
Native Divan formed at Cairo by Bona-
parte, i. 144.
Natural obstacles to civilization in Africa,
i. 2.
Negro race, deficiencies of, i. 3.
Nejd, conquest of by the Wahabys, ii. 38.
Nelson and Bonaparte, i. 91.
Nelson, acuteness of, i. 92.
Nesselrode, Count, ii. 156.
Nezib, battle of the, ii. 133.
Nicholas, Emperor of Russia, ii. 151.
Nile, the, i. 3, 4, 5; canal connecting the
Red Sea with, 5; arrival of the French
army at the, ll:7; the French flotilla
ascend the, 122; rejoicings on account
of the rising of the, 169; damming of,
ii. 303; the Upper, its climate, 54; its
trade, 65; the Upper falls into the power
of Mohammed Ali, ii. 70.
Nile flotilla, battle of the, i. 123.
Nocturnal executions at Cairo, i. 191.
Nosairies, the, ii. 117.
Nureddin, i. 39.
O.
Omar Pasha, an early exploit of, ii. 192.
Opium, cultivation of, in Egypt, ii. 74.
Oriental customs adopted by the French,
i. 198.
Oriental learning, attainments of the
French in, 211.
Ornamentation, Arab architectural, ii.
334.
Ottoman Empire, conquest and annexa-
tion of Egypt and Syria to the, by
Sultan Selim, i. 66, 67, 70. -
Overland route to India, ii. 80.
P.
Painting, French schools of, i. 207.
Palaces of Mohammed Ali, ii. 251.
Palermo, a Moslem town, i. 18.
Palmerston, Lord, character of, ii. 153;
his instructions to Colonel Hodges,
169; approves of the convention of
Alexandria, but declines to guarantee
the hereditary government of Egypt,
204.
INDEX.
Passports introduced into Egypt by the
French, i. 177. -
Patronage of literature by Napoleon I.,
i. 318.
“People of Truth,” the, ii. 272.
Perjured witnesses, ii. 263.
Permanent occupation of Egypt con-
templated by Bonaparte, i. 197.
Persecution of Jews and Christians by
Hakem, i. 25.
Pharaohs, Egypt in the time of the, i. 5.
Philoe, fall of, i. 242.
Plague, horrors of, at Jaffa, i. 295; in
Cairo, the, 378; a plague patient, 292.
Poisoning of soldiers at Jaffa, i. 294.
Police regulations introduced into Cairo
by the French, i. 144.
Police of Egypt, under Mohammed Ali,
ii. 79, 256.
Ponsonby, Wiscount, his efforts to pre-
vent war between the Sultan and
Pasha of Egypt, ii. 126.
Ports of Egypt, ii. 75.
Portuguese, and the Indian trade, i. 65.
Postal communication, under the French
in Egypt, i. 148. -
Printing press, established by Bonaparte
at Cairo, i. 199; by Mohammed Ali
at Boulak, ii. 246. -
Prison for debtors, ii. 264.
Proclamation of Bonaparte to the
Egyptians, i. 109.
Prohibitive policy of Imperial France, i.
316.
Proselytism under Fatimite Caliphs, i. 21.
Prussia, as a Great Power, ii. 148.
Punishments in Egypt, ii. 264.
Pyramids, battle of, i. 133.
R.
Rahmanieh, surrender of, i. 376.
Bed Sea, canal connecting the Nile with,
i. 5; difficulties of navigation in, 229.
Reforms of Bonaparte, hostility of the
Egyptians to, 174, 176.
Relics, Mohammedan, ii, 337.
Religious tolerance of Mohammed Ali,
ii. 248.
Reorganization of the French army on
its return to Egypt, i. 298.
|Pesources of Egypt, i. 3.
Revenues of Mosques, ii. 326.
Revolt of Cairo, i. 182, 184–190; in a
seraglio, ii. 257.
Rifaat Bey, ii. 175.
Rosetta, description of, i. 118; capture
of, by the French, 121; occupied by
the British troops, 373.
Russia, interposition of, to prevent Ibra-
him Pasha from attacking Constanti-
nople, ii. 100; sources of her power,
148; overtures madetolºnglandby, 156.
351
S.
Said Mohammed Kerim, his treason and
death, i. 171.
Said Pasha, ii. 241.
Saladin, i. 22; the founder of the Mame-
luke system, i. 40.
Salahieh, battle of, i. 151.
Samaritans of Nablouse, the, i. 245.
Sanitary measures of the French, i. 178.
Scientific and literary staff of the French
expeditionary army, i. 107.
Science, progress of in France, i. 204.
School in Cairo, a, ii. 344.
Scorpions, the French troops attacked
by, i. 105.
Sculpture in France, i. 210.
Searching a Mameluke's house, i. 178.
Sects of Islamism, ii. 325.
Sediman, battle of, i. 236.
Senaar, conquest of, by Ismael Pasha,
ii. 69.
Seraglio, a revolt in, ii. 257.
Shebreiss. battle of, i. 124.
Sheger-ed-dur, her intrigues, i. 46.
She-goat, story of the Arab's, i. 240.
Sheikh, house of a, at Damanhour, i.
115; at home, a, ii. 269.
Sheikhieh Arabs, the, ii. 67.
Shereef Pasha, his intrigues with the
Porte, ii. 242.
Shoubra, orange and lemonpark of, ii.251.
Sicilian Saracens, i. 18.
Sidon, surrender of the Egyptian garrison
of, ii. 189.
Sitt-el-Mulk, the Caliph Hakem's sister,
i. 31; plots the assassination of her
brother, 33.
Skinning, punishment of, under the Ma-
meluke Beys, ii. 264.
Skirmish between the French troops and
Mamelukes, i. 117.
Slave market at Cairo, ii. 316; -hunts of
Ahmed. Pasha, 227; population of
Cairo, ii. 297.
Smith, Sir Sidney, character of, i. 260;
his intrepidity saves Acre, 282; his
protest in favour of the treaty of El-
Arish, 331. -
Smith, Sir C., commands the Turkish
troops in Syria, ii. 187.
Spain, in a state of renovation, ii, 150.
Stoicism of Bonaparte, i. 295.
Stopford, Admiral, refuses to ratify con-
vention between Mohammed Ali and
Commodore Napier, ii. 203.
Suez Canal project, i. 225; ii. 304.
Suleyman Pasha, retreat of his division
of the Egyptian army, ii. 213.
Superstitions of Islamism, ii. 275.
Swindlers, police arrangements for de-
tecting, ii. 262.
352
Turkish power, rise of the, i. 66; history,
retrospect of, ii. 86; revolts of dependent
nationalities against her authority, 88.
Turkish fleet, treachery of the admiral
of, ii. 138; surrender of the, to Mo-
hammed Ali, 140; the officers of,
adopt the Egyptian uniform, 143;
amalgamation of, with the Egyptian
fleet, 171 ; refusal of Mohammed Ali
to surrender the, 173; restoration of,
to the Sultan, 215.
Turks, advance of, against the French,
after the departure of Bonaparte, i. 326;
defeat of at Nezib, ii. 134.
Tyre, Omar Pasha advances on, ii. 195.
TJ.
Ulema, the, i. 77; two parties in, ii. 271.
Unkiar Skelesi, treaty of, ii. 101.
Upper Nile, the, ii. 64.
W.
Venetians, intercourse of, with the Mame-
luke Sultans, i. 62.
W.
Wahaby reformers in Arabia, ii. 28 ;
Mohammed Ali determines to extirpate
them, 30; Mohammed Ali levies war
against them, 31; history of 36; the
Puritans of Islamism, 37; Mecca en-
tered by the, 40; defeat of, by Tous-
soun Pasha, 45; successes of, 46.
Wahaby war, renewal of the, ii. 54.
Wahaby chief, surrender of the, ii. 62;
is decapitated at Constantinople, 63.
Wahabys of Cairo, reserved character of,
ii. 272.
Winter palace at Cairo, ii. 81.
Witchcraft, an execution for, in Cairo,
ii. 279.
Women of Egypt, laws of inheritance
by, i, 177; an emeute of 179; their
relations with the French soldiers,
379; laxity of morals in, how punished,
ii. 268. &
Workmen from Europe employed by
Mohammed Ali, ii. 73.
Syene, march of the French to, i. 241.
Syria, the races of, i. 244; French ex-
pedition to, 246; invasion of by Ibra-
him Pasha, ii. 94; causes of instability
of Egyptian rule in, 124; description
of 102; Mount Lebanon the political
key of, 102; rebels against Mohammed
Ali, 116; rigorous policy of Mohammed
Ali in, 179; evacuation of by the
Egyptian troops, 215.
Syrian malcontents ally themselves with
the French, i. 269; expedition by the
French, failure of 287; aristocracy,
ii. 110; mountaineers, hostility of to
the Egyptians, 186.
Syrians, disarmament of, ii. 120; op-
pressed by the Egyptians, 122; dis-
content of under the Egyptian rule,
125, 131.
T
Tahir Pasha, perfidy and death of, ii. 7.
Talleyrand, i. 315; his opinion of Napo-
leon Bonaparte, i. 311.
Tallien’s letter to Barras, i. 166.
Tartar incursions into Syria, i. 47.
Taxation of Egypt, ii. 243.
Thebes, past and present condition of,
i. 4.
l.
Thiers, M. estimate of his character, ii.
155; his Eastern policy opposed by
Louis Philippe and M. Guizot, 198.
Throne of Saladin, i. 41.
Toman Bey, massacre of Mamelukes by,
i. 59; his assassination, i. 60.
Toussoum Pasha, his investiture as com-
mander of the army sent against the
Wahabys, ii. 31; is defeated by the
Wahabys, 43; marches on Medina, 44;
returns to Cairo, 52; his excesses and
death, 53.
Treachery of the Capitan Pasha, ii. 138;
visit of to Mohammed Ali, 140.
Treasure hidden by Mamelukes, i. 178.
Turban-snatching in Cairo, ii. 260.
Turkey, reasons for thinking that the
power of the government of, has not
declined, i. 61.
INDEX.
THE END.
STEPHEN AUSTIN, PRINTER, HERTFORD.
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