Chapter XVIII: Part 18

It would seem that the constant changes in the government caused the army to get out of control at an early period of the Ottoman occupation, and at the beginning of the 11th Islamic century mutinies became common; in 1013 (1604) the governor Ibrahim Pasha was murdered by the soldiers, and his head set on the Bab Zuwela. The reason for these mutinies was the attempt made by successive pashas to put a stop to the extortion called _Tulbah_, a forced payment exacted by the troops from the inhabitants of the country by the fiction of debts requiring to be discharged, which led to grievous ill-usage. In 1609 something like civil war broke out between the army and the pasha, who had on his side some loyal regiments and the Bedouins. The soldiers went so far as to choose a sultan, and to divide provisionally the regions of Cairo between them. They were defeated by the governor Mahommed Pasha, who on the 5th of February 1610 entered Cairo in triumph, executed the ringleaders, and banished many others to Yemen. The contemporary historian speaks of this event as a second conquest of Egypt for the Ottomans. A great financial reform was now effected by Mahommed Pasha, who readjusted the burdens imposed on the different communities of Egypt in accordance with their means. With the troubles that beset the metropolis of the Ottoman empire, the governors appointed thence came to be treated by the Egyptians with continually decreasing respect. In July 1623 there came an order from the Porte dismissing Mustafa Pasha and appointing 'Ali Pasha governor in his place. The officers met and demanded from the newly-appointed governor's deputy the customary gratuity; when this was refused they sent letters to the Porte declaring that they wished to have Mustafa Pasha and not 'Ali Pasha as governor. Meanwhile 'Ali Pasha had arrived at Alexandria, and was met by a deputation from Cairo telling him that he was not wanted. He returned a mild answer; and, when a rejoinder came in the same style as the first message, he had the leader of the deputation arrested and imprisoned. Hereupon the garrison of Alexandria attacked the castle and rescued the prisoner; whereupon 'Ali Pasha was compelled to embark. Shortly after a rescript arrived from Constantinople confirming Mustafa Pasha in the governorship. Similarly in 1631 the army took upon themselves to depose the governor Musa Pasha, in indignation at his execution of Kitas Bey, an officer who was to have commanded an Egyptian force required for service in Persia. The pasha was ordered either to hand over the executioners to vengeance or to resign his place; as he refused to do the former he was compelled to do the latter, and presently a rescript came from Constantinople, approving the conduct of the army and appointing one Khalil Pasha as Musa's successor. Not only was the governor unsupported by the sultan against the troops, but each new governor regularly inflicted a fine upon his outgoing predecessor, under the name of money due to the treasury; and the outgoing governor would not be allowed to leave Egypt till he had paid it. Besides the extortions to which this practice gave occasion the country suffered greatly in these centuries from famine and pestilence. The latter in the spring of 1619 is said to have carried off 635,000 persons, and in 1643 completely desolated 230 villages.

Rise of the Beys.

By the 18th century the importance of the pasha was quite superseded by that of the beys, and two offices, those of Sheik al-Balad and Amir al-Hajj, which were held by these persons, represented the real headship of the community. The process by which this state of affairs came about is somewhat obscure, owing to the want of good chronicles for the Turkish period of Egyptian history. In 1707 the Sheik al-Balad, Qasim Iywaz, is found at the head of one of two Mameluke factions, the Qasimites and the Fiqarites, between whom the seeds of enmity were sown by the pasha of the time, with the result that a fight took place between the factions outside Cairo, lasting eighty days. At the end of that time Qasim Iywaz was killed and the office which he had held was given to his son Isma'il. Isma'il held this office for sixteen years, while the pashas were constantly being changed, and succeeded in reconciling the two factions of Mamelukes. In 1724 this person was assassinated through the machinations of the pasha, and Shirkas Bey, of the opposing faction, elevated to the office of Sheik al-Balad in his place. He was soon driven from his post by one of his own faction called Dhu'l-Fiqar, and fled to Upper Egypt. After a short time he returned at the head of an army, and some engagements ensued, in the last of which Shirkas Bey met his end by drowning; Dhu'l-Fiqar was himself assassinated in 1730 shortly after this event. His place was filled by Othman Bey, who had served as his general in this war. In 1743 Othman Bey, who had governed with wisdom and moderation, was forced to fly from Egypt by the intrigues of two adventurers, Ibrahim and Ridwan Bey, who, when their scheme had succeeded, began a massacre of beys and others thought to be opposed to them; they then proceeded to govern Egypt jointly, holding the two offices mentioned above in alternate years. An attempt made by one of the pashas to rid himself of these two persons by a _coup d'etat_ signally failed owing to the loyalty of their armed supporters, who released Ibrahim and Ridwan from prison and compelled the pasha to fly to Constantinople. An attempt made by a subsequent pasha in accordance with secret orders from Constantinople was so far successful that some of the beys were killed. Ibrahim and Ridwan escaped, and compelled the pasha to resign his governorship and return to Constantinople. Ibrahim shortly afterwards fell by the hand of an assassin who had aspired to occupy one of the vacant beyships himself, which was conferred instead on 'Ali, who as 'Ali Bey was destined to play an important part in the history of Egypt. The murder of Ibrahim Bey took place in 1755, and his colleague Ridwan perished in the disputes that followed upon it.

'Ali Bey.

'Ali Bey, who had first distinguished himself by defending a caravan in Arabia against bandits, set himself the task of avenging the death of his former master Ibrahim, and spent eight years in purchasing Mamelukes and winning other adherents. He thereby excited the suspicions of the Sheik al-Balad Khalil Bey, who organized an attack upon him in the streets of Cairo, in consequence of which he fled to Upper Egypt. Here he met one Salh Bey, who had injuries to avenge on Khalil Bey, and the two organized a force with which they returned to Cairo and defeated Khalil, who was forced to fly to Tanta, where for a time he concealed himself; eventually, however, he was discovered, sent to Alexandria and finally strangled. The date of 'Ali Bey's victory was 1164 A.H. (A.D. 1750), and after it he was made Sheik al-Balad. In that capacity he executed the murderer of his former master Ibrahim; but the resentment which this act aroused among the beys caused him to leave his post and fly to Syria, where he won the friendship of the governor of Acre, Zahir b. Omar, who obtained for him the goodwill of the Porte and reinstatement in his post as Sheik al-Balad. In 1766, after the death of his supporter the grand vizier Raghib Pasha, he was again compelled to fly from Egypt to Yemen, but in the following year he was told that his party at Cairo was strong enough to permit of his return. Resuming his office he raised eighteen of his friends to the rank of bey, among them Ibrahim and Murad, who were afterwards at the head of affairs, as well as Mahommed Abu'l-Dhahab, who was closely connected with the rest of 'Ali Bey's career. He appears to have done his utmost to bring Egyptian affairs into order, and by very severe measures repressed the brigandage of the Bedouins of Lower Egypt. He appears to have aspired to found an independent monarchy, and to that end endeavoured to disband all forces except those which were exclusively under his own control. In 1769 a demand came to 'Ali Bey for a force of 12,000 men to be employed by the Porte in the Russian war. It was suggested, however, at Constantinople that 'Ali would employ this force when he collected it for securing his own independence, and a messenger was sent by the Porte to the pasha with orders for his execution. 'Ali, being apprised by his agents at the metropolis of the despatch of this messenger, ordered him to be waylaid and killed; the despatches were seized and read by 'Ali before an assembly of the beys, who were assured that the order for execution applied to all alike, and he urged them to fight for their lives. His proposals were received with enthusiasm by the beys whom he had created. Egypt was declared independent and the pasha given forty-eight hours to quit the country. Zahir Pasha of Acre, to whom was sent official information of the step taken by 'Ali Bey, promised his aid and kept his word by compelling an army sent by the pasha of Damascus against Egypt to retreat.

The Porte was not able at the time to take active measures for the suppression of 'Ali Bey, and the latter endeavoured to consolidate his dominions by sending expeditions against marauding tribes, both in north and south Egypt, reforming the finance, and improving the administration of justice. His son-in-law, Abu'l-Dhahab, was sent to subject the Hawwarah, who had occupied the land between Assuan and Assiut, and a force of 20,000 was sent to conquer Yemen. An officer named Isma'il Bey was sent with 8000 to acquire the eastern shore of the Red Sea, and one named Hasan Bey to occupy Jidda. In six months the greater part of the Arabian peninsula was subject to 'Ali Bey, and he appointed as sherif of Mecca a cousin of his own, who bestowed on 'Ali by an official proclamation the titles Sultan of Egypt and Khakan of the Two Seas. He then, in virtue of this authorization, struck coins in his own name (1185 A.H.) and ordered his name to be mentioned in public worship.

His next move turned out fatally. Abu'l-Dhahab was sent with a force of 30,000 men in the same year (A.D. 1771) to conquer Syria; and agents were sent to negotiate alliances with Venice and Russia. Abu'l-Dhahab's progress through Palestine and Syria was triumphant. Reinforced by 'Ali Bey's ally Zahir, he easily took the chief cities, ending with Damascus; but at this point he appears to have entered into secret negotiations with the Porte, by which he undertook to restore Egypt to Ottoman suzerainty. He then proceeded to evacuate Syria, and marched with all the forces he could collect to Upper Egypt, occupying Assiut in April 1772. Having collected some additional troops from the Bedouins, he marched on Cairo. Isma'il Bey was sent by 'Ali Bey with a force of 3000 to check his advance; but at Basatin Isma'il with his troops joined Abu'l-Dhahab. 'Ali Bey intended at first to defend himself so long as possible in the citadel at Cairo; but receiving information to the effect that his friend Zahir of Acre was still willing to give him refuge, he left Cairo for Syria (8th of April 1772), one day before the entrance of Abu'l-Dhahab.

At Acre 'Ali's fortune seemed to be restored. A Russian vessel anchored outside the port, and, in accordance with the agreement which he had made with the Russian empire, he was supplied with stores and ammunition, and a force of 3000 Albanians. He sent one of his officers, 'Ali Bey al-Tantawi, to recover the Syrian towns evacuated by Abu'l-Dhahab, and now in the possession of the Porte. He himself took Jaffa and Gaza, the former of which he gave to his friend Zahir of Acre. On the 1st of February 1773 he received information from Cairo that Abu'l-Dhahab had made himself Sheik al-Balad, and in that capacity was practising unheard-of extortions, which were making Egypt with one voice call for the return of 'Ali Bey. He accordingly started for Egypt at the head of an army of 8000 men, and on the 19th of April met the army of Abu'l-Dhahab at Salihia. 'Ali's forces were successful at the first engagement; but when the battle was renewed two days later he was deserted by some of his officers, and prevented by illness and wounds from himself taking the conduct of affairs. The result was a complete defeat for his army, after which he declined to leave his tent; he was captured after a brave resistance, and taken to Cairo, where he died seven days later.

After 'Ali Bey's death Egypt became once more a dependency of the Porte, governed by Abu'l-Dhahab as Sheik al-Balad with the title pasha. He shortly afterwards received permission from the Porte to invade Syria, with the view of punishing 'Ali Bey's supporter Zahir, and left as his deputies in Cairo Isma'il Bey and Ibrahim Bey, who, by deserting 'Ali at the battle of Salihia, had brought about his downfall. After taking many cities in Palestine Abu'l-Dhahab died, the cause being unknown; and Murad Bey (another of the deserters at Salihia) brought his forces back to Egypt (26th of May 1775).

Isma'il Bey now became Sheik al-Balad, but was soon involved in a dispute with Ibrahim and Murad, who after a time succeeded in driving Isma'il out of Egypt and establishing a joint rule (as Sheik al-Balad and Amir al-Hajj respectively) similar to that which had been tried previously. The two were soon involved in quarrels, which at one time threatened to break out into open war; but this catastrophe was averted, and the joint rule was maintained till 1786, when an expedition was sent by the Porte to restore Ottoman supremacy in Egypt. Murad Bey attempted to resist, but was easily defeated; and he with Ibrahim decided to fly to Upper Egypt and await the trend of events. On the 1st of August 1782 the Turkish commander entered Cairo, and, after some violent measures had been taken for the restoration of order, Isma'il Bey was again made Sheik al-Balad and a new pasha installed as governor. In January 1791 a terrible plague began to rage in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt, to which Isma'il Bey and most of his family fell victims. Owing to the need for competent rulers Ibrahim and Murad Bey were sent for from Upper Egypt and resumed their dual government. These two persons were still in office when Bonaparte entered Egypt.

_Moslem Authorities._--Arabic literature being cosmopolitan, and
Arabic authors accustomed to travel from place to place to collect
traditions and obtain oral instruction from contemporary authorities,
or else to enjoy the patronage of Maecenates, the literary history of
Egypt cannot be dissociated from that of the other Moslem countries in
which Arabic was the chief literary vehicle. Hence the list of authors
connected with Egypt, which occupies pages 161-275 of Suyuti's work,
_Husn al-muhadarah fi akhbari Misr wal-Qahirah_ (Cairo, 1321 A.H.),
contains the names of persons like Mutanabbi, who stayed there for a
short time in the service of some patron; Abu Tammam, who lived there
before he acquired fame as a poet; 'Umara of Yemen, who came there at
a mature age to spend some years in the service of Fatimite viziers;
each of whom figures in lists of authors belonging to some other
country also. So long as the centre of the Islamic world was not in
Egypt, the best talent was attracted elsewhere; but after the fall of
Bagdad, Cairo became the chief seat of Islamic learning, and this
rank, chiefly owing to the university of Azhar, it has ever since
continued to maintain. The following composed special histories of
Egypt: Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, d. 257 A.H.; 'Abd al-Rahim b. Yunus, d. 347;
Mahommed b. Yusuf al-Kindi, d. somewhat later; Ibn Zulaq, d. 387; 'Izz
al-Mulk Mahommed al-Musabbihi, d. 420; Mahommed b. Salamah al-Qoda'i,
d. 454; Jamal al-din 'Ali al-Qifti, d. 568; Jamal al-din al-Halabi, d.
623; 'Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, d. 629; Mahommed b. 'Abd al-Aziz
al-Idrisi (history of Upper Egypt), d. 649; his son Ja'far (history of
Cairo), d. 676; Ibn Sa'id, d. 685; Ibrahim b. Wasif Shah; Ibn
al-Mutawwaj, d. 703; Mahommed b. Dani'al, d. 710; Ja'far b. Tha'lab
Kamal al-din al-Adfu'i (history of Upper Egypt), d. 730; 'Abd al-Qarun
al-Halabi, d. 735; Ibn Habib, d. 779; Ibn Duqmaq, d. 790; Ibn Tughan,
Shihab al-din al-Auhadi, d. 790; Ibn al-Mulaqqin, d. 806; Maqrizi,
Taqiyy al-din Ahmad, d. 840; Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, d. 852;
al-Sakhawi, d. 902; Abu'l-Mahasin b. Taghribirdi, d. 874; Jalal al-din
al-Suyuti, d. 911; Ibn Zunbul al-Rammal; Ibn Iyas, d. after 928;
Mahommed b. Abi Surur, d. after 1017; Zain al-din al Karami, d. 1033;
'Abd al-Rahman Jabarti, d. after 1236. Of many of the Mameluke
sultans there are special chronicles preserved in various European and
Oriental libraries. The works of many of the authors enumerated are
topographical and biographical as well as purely historical. To these
there should be added the Survey of Egypt, called _al-tuhfah
al-saniyyah_ of Ibn Ji'an, belonging to the time of Kait Bey; the
treatise on the Egyptian constitution called _Zubdat Kashf
al-Mamalik_, by Khalil al-Zahiri, of the same period; and the
encyclopaedic work on the same subject called _Subh al-Insha_, by
al-Qalqashandi, d. 821.

Arabic poetry is in the main encomiastic and personal, and from the
beginning of the Omayyad period sovereigns and governors paid poets to
celebrate their achievements; of those of importance who are connected
with Egypt we may mention Nusaib, encomiast of 'Abd al-Aziz b. Merwan,
d. 180; the greater Nashi (Abu l-Abbas 'Abdallah), d. 293; Ibn
Tabataba, d. 345; Abu'l-Raqa'maq, encomiast of al-Mo'izz, d. 399;
Sari' al-Dila ('Ali b. 'Abd al-Wahid), encomiast of the Fatimite
al-Zahir, d. 412; Sanajat al-dauh (Mahommed b. al-Qasim), encomiast of
Hakim; 'Ali b. 'Abbad al-Iskandari, encomiast of the vizier al-Afdal,
executed by Hafiz; Ibn Qalaqis al-Iskandari, encomiast of the
Ayyubites, d. 607; Muhaddhab b. Mameti, encomiast of the Ayyubites, d.
616; Ibn Sana' al-Mulk, encomiast of the Ayyubites, d. 658; Ibn
al-Munajjim, d. 626; Ibn Matruh, encomiast of the Ayyubites, d. 654;
Baha' al-din Zuhair, encomiast of al-Salih, d. 656; Ibn 'Ammar, d.
675; al-Mi'mar, d. 749; Ibn Nubatah, d. 768; Ibn Abi Hajalah, d. 776;
Burhan al-din al-Qirati, d. 801; Ibn Mukanis, d. 864; Ibn Hijjah
al-Hamawi, d. 837. Poets distinguished for special lines are al-Hakim
b. Dani' al, d. 608, author of the Shadow-play; and al-Busiri
(Mahommed b. Sa'id), d. 694, author of the ode in praise of the
prophet called Burdah. The poets of Egypt are reckoned with those of
Syria in the _Yatimah_ of Tha' alibi; a special work upon them was
written by Ibn Fadl allah (d. 740); and a list of poets of the 11th
century is given by Khafaji in his _Raihanat al-alibba_.

The needs of the Egyptian court produced a number of elegant
letter-writers, of whom the most famous were 'Abd al-Rahim b. 'Ali
al-Baisani, ordinarily known as al-Qadi' al-Fadil, d. 596, secretary
of state to Saladin and other Ayyubite sultans; 'Imad al-din
al-Ispahani, d. 597, also secretary of state and official chronicler;
and Ibn 'Abd al-Zahir, d. 692, secretary of state to Bibars I. and
succeeding sultans; he was followed by his son Fath al-din, to whom
the title "Secret writer" was first given.

In the subject of law Egypt boasts that the Imam Shafi'i, founder of
one of the schools, resided at Fostat from 195 till his death in 204;
his system, though displaced for a time by that invented by the
Fatimites, and since the Turkish conquest by the Hanifite system, has
always been popular in Egypt: in Ayyubite times it was dominant,
whereas in Mameluke times all four systems were officially recognized.
The eminent jurists who flourished in Moslem Egypt form a very lengthy
list. Among the Egyptian traditionalists the most eminent is
Daraqutni, d. 385.

Among Egyptian mystics the most famous as authors are the poet Ibn
al-Farid, d. 632, and Abd al-Wahhab Sha rani, d. 973. Abu'l-Hasan
al-Shadhili (d. 656) is celebrated as the founder of the Shadhili
order; but there were many others of note. The dictionary of
physicians, compiled in the 7th century, enumerates nearly sixty men
of science who resided in Egypt; the best-known among them are Sa'id
b. Bitriq, Moses Maimonides and Ibn Baitar. Of Egyptian miscellaneous
writers two of the most celebrated are Ibn Daqiq al'-id, d. 702, and
Jalal al-din Suyuti.

_European Authorities._--For the Moslem conquest, A. J. Butler, _The
Arab Conquest of Egypt_ (Oxford, 1902); for the period before the
Fatimites, Wustenfeld, "Die Statthalter von Agypten," in _Abhandlungen
der koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen_, vols.
xx. and xxi.; for the Fatimite period, Wustenfeld, "Geschichte der
Fatimiden-Chalifen," ibid. vols. xxvi. and xxvii.; for the Ayyubite
period, Ibn Khallikan's _Biographical Dictionary_, translated by M'G.
de Slane (London, 1842-1871); for the Mameluke period, Weil,
_Geschichte der Chalifen_, vols. iv. and v. (also called _Geschichte
des Abbasidenchalifats in Agypten_), (Stuttgart, 1860-1862); Sir W.
Muir, _The Mameluke or Slave Dynasty of Egypt_ (London, 1896); for the
Turkish period, G. Zaidan, _History of Modern Egypt_ (Arabic), vol.
ii. (Cairo, 1889). See also Maqrizi, _Description topographique et
historique de l'Egypte_, translated by Bouriant (Paris, 1895, &c.); C.
H. Becker, _Beitrage zur Geschichte Agyptens_ (Strassburg, 1902).
(D. S. M.*)

Battle of the Nile.

(9) _From the French Occupation to the Rise of Mehemet Ali._--The ostensible object of the French expedition to Egypt was to reinstate the authority of the Sublime Porte, and suppress the Mamelukes; and in the proclamation printed with the Arabic types brought from the Propaganda press, and issued shortly after the taking of Alexandria, Bonaparte declared that he reverenced the prophet Mahomet and the Koran far more than the Mamelukes reverenced either, and argued that all men were equal except so far as they were distinguished by their intellectual and moral excellences, of neither of which the Mamelukes had any great share. In future all posts in Egypt were to be open to all classes of the inhabitants; the conduct of affairs was to be committed to the men of talent, virtue, and learning; and in proof of the statement that the French were sincere Moslems the overthrow of the papal authority in Rome was alleged. That there might be no doubt of the friendly feeling of the French to the Porte, villages and towns which capitulated to the invaders were required to hoist the flags of both the Porte and the French republic, and in the thanksgiving prescribed to the Egyptians for their deliverance from the Mamelukes, prayer was to be offered for both the sultan and the French army. It does not appear that the proclamation convinced many of the Egyptians of the truth of these professions. After the battle of Ambabah, at which the forces of both Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey were dispersed, the populace readily plundered the houses of the beys, and a deputation was sent from al-Azhar to Bonaparte to ascertain his intentions; these proved to be a repetition of the terms of his proclamation, and, though the combination of loyalty to the French with loyalty to the sultan was unintelligible, a good understanding was at first established between the invaders and the Egyptians. A municipal council was established in Cairo, consisting of persons taken from the ranks of the sheiks, the Mamelukes and the French; and presently delegates from Alexandria and other important towns were added. This council did little more than register the decrees of the French commander, who continued to exercise dictatorial power. The destruction of the French fleet at the battle of the Nile, and the failure of the French forces sent to Upper Egypt (where they reached the first cataract) to obtain possession of the person of Murad Bey, shook the faith of the Egyptians in their invincibility; and in consequence of a series of unwelcome innovations the relations between conquerors and conquered grew daily more strained, till at last, on the occasion of the introduction of a house tax, an insurrection broke out in Cairo on the 22nd of October 1798, of which the headquarters were in the Moslem university of Azhar. On this occasion the French general Dupuy, lieutenant-governor of Cairo, was killed. The prompt measures of Bonaparte, aided by the arrival from Alexandria of General J. B. Kleber, quickly suppressed this rising; but the stabling of the French cavalry in the mosque of Azhar gave great and permanent offence. In consequence of this affair, the deliberative council was suppressed, but on the 25th of December a fresh proclamation was issued, reconstituting the two divans which had been created by the Turks; the special divan was to consist of 14 persons chosen by lot out of 60 government nominees, and was to meet daily. The general divan was to consist of functionaries, and to meet on emergencies.

In consequence of despatches which reached Bonaparte on the 3rd of January 1799, announcing the intention of the Porte to invade the country with the object of recovering it by force, Bonaparte resolved on his Syrian expedition, and appointed governors for Cairo, Alexandria, and Upper Egypt, to govern during his absence. From that ill-fated expedition he returned at the beginning of June. Advantage had been taken of this opportunity by Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey to collect their forces and attempt a joint attack on Cairo, but this Bonaparte arrived in time to defeat, and in the last week of July he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turkish army that had landed at Aboukir, aided by the British fleet commanded by Sir Sidney Smith. Shortly after his victory Bonaparte left Egypt, having appointed Kleber to govern in his absence, which he informed the sheiks of Cairo was not to last more than three months. Kleber himself regarded the condition of the French invaders as extremely perilous, and wrote to inform the French republic of the facts. A double expedition shortly after Bonaparte's departure was sent by the Porte for the recovery of Egypt, one force being despatched by sea to Damietta, while another under Yusuf Pasha took the land route from Damascus by al-Arish. Over the first some success was won, in consequence of which the Turks agreed to a convention (signed January 24, 1800), by virtue of which the French were to quit Egypt. The Turkish troops advanced to Bilbeis, where they were received by the sheiks from Cairo, and the Mamelukes also returned to that city from their hiding-places. Before the preparations for the departure of the French were completed, orders came to Sir Sidney Smith from the British government, forbidding the carrying out of the convention unless the French army were treated as prisoners of war; and when these were communicated to Kleber he cancelled the orders previously given to the troops, and proceeded to put the country in a state of defence. His departure with most of the army to attack the Turks at Mataria led to riots in Cairo, in the course of which many Christians were slaughtered; but the national party were unable to get possession of the citadel, and Kleber, having defeated the Turks, was soon able to return to the capital. On the 14th of April he bombarded Bulak, and proceeded to bombard Cairo itself, which was taken the following night. Order was soon restored, and a fine of twelve million francs imposed on the rioters. Murad Bey sought an interview with Kleber and succeeded in obtaining from him the government of Upper Egypt. He died shortly afterwards and was succeeded by Osman Bey al-Bardisi.

On the 14th of June Kleber was assassinated by a fanatic named Suleiman of Aleppo, said to have been incited to the deed by a Janissary refugee at Jerusalem, who had brought letters to the sheiks of the Azhar, who, however, refused to give him any encouragement. Three of these, nevertheless, were executed by the French as accessories before the fact, and the assassin himself was impaled, after torture, in spite of a promise of pardon having been made to him on condition of his naming his associates. The command of the army then devolved on General J. F. (Baron de) Menou (1750-1810), a man who had professed Islam, and who endeavoured to conciliate the Moslem population by various measures, such as excluding all Christians (with the exception of one Frenchman) from the divan, replacing the Copts who were in government service by Moslems, and subjecting French residents to taxes. Whatever popularity might have been gained by these measures was counteracted by his declaration of a French protectorate over Egypt, which was to count as a French colony.

French evacuation.

In the first weeks of March 1801 the English, under Sir R. Abercromby, effected a landing at Aboukir, and proceeded to invest Alexandria, where on the 21st they were attacked by Menou; the French were repulsed, but the English commander was mortally wounded in the action. On the 25th fresh reinforcements arrived under Husain, the Kapudan Pasha, or high admiral; and a combined English and Turkish force was sent to take Rosetta. On the 30th of May, General A. D. Belliard, who had been left in charge at Cairo, was assailed on two sides by the British forces under General John Hely Hutchinson (afterwards 2nd earl of Donoughmore), and the Turkish under Yusuf Pasha; after negotiations Belliard agreed to evacuate Cairo and to sail with his 13,734 troops to France. On the 30th of August, Menou at Alexandria was compelled to accept similar conditions, and his force of 10,000 left for Europe in September. This was the termination of the French occupation of Egypt, of which the chief permanent monument was the _Description de l'Egypte_, compiled by the French savants who accompanied the expedition. Further than this, "it brought to the attention of a few men in Egypt a keen sense of the great advantage of an orderly government, and a warm appreciation of the advance that science and learning had made in Europe" (Hajji Browne, _Bonaparte in Egypt and the Egyptians of to-day_, 1907, p. 268).

British, Turks and Mamelukes.

Soon after the evacuation of Egypt by the French, the country became the scene of more severe troubles, in consequence of the attempts of the Turks to destroy the power of the Mamelukes. In defiance of promises to the British government, orders were transmitted from Constantinople to Husain Pasha, the Turkish high admiral, to ensnare and put to death the principal beys. Invited to an entertainment, they were, according to the Egyptian contemporary historian al-Jabarti, attacked on board the flag-ship; Sir Robert Wilson and M. F. Mengin, however, state that they were fired on, in open boats, in the Bay of Aboukir. They offered an heroic resistance, but were overpowered, and some killed, some made prisoners; among the last was Osman Bey al-Bardisi, who was severely wounded. General Hutchinson, informed of this treachery, immediately assumed threatening measures against the Turks, and in consequence the killed, wounded and prisoners were given up to him. At the same time Yusuf Pasha arrested all the beys in Cairo, but was shortly compelled by the British to release them. Such was the beginning of the disastrous struggle between the Mamelukes and the Turks.

Mahommed Khosrev was the first Turkish governor of Egypt after the expulsion of the French. The form of government, however, was not the same as that before the French invasion, for the Mamelukes were not reinstated. The pasha, and through him the sultan, endeavoured on several occasions either to ensnare them or to beguile them into submission; but these efforts failing, Mahommed Khosrev took the field, and a Turkish detachment 7000 strong was despatched against them to Damanhur, whither they had descended from Upper Egypt, and was defeated by a small force under al-Alfi; or, as Mengin says, by 800 men commanded by al-Bardisi, when al-Alfi had left the field. Their ammunition and guns fell into the hands of the Mamelukes.

In March 1803 the British evacuated Alexandria, and Mahommed Bey al-Alfi accompanied them to England to consult respecting the means to be adopted for restoring the former power of the Mamelukes, who meanwhile took Minia and interrupted communication between Upper and Lower Egypt. About six weeks after, the Arnaut (or Albanian) soldiers in the service of Khosrev tumultuously demanded their pay, and surrounded the house of the defterdar (or finance minister), who in vain appealed to the pasha to satisfy their claims. The latter opened fire from the artillery of his palace on the insurgent soldiery in the house of the defterdar, across the Ezbekia. The citizens of Cairo, accustomed to such occurrences, immediately closed their shops, and every man who possessed any weapon armed himself. The tumult continued all the day, and the next morning a body of troops sent out by the pasha failed to quell it. Tahir, the commander of the Albanians, then repaired to the citadel, gained admittance through an embrasure, and, having obtained possession of it, began to cannonade the pasha over the roofs of the intervening houses, and then descended with guns to the Ezbekia and laid close siege to the palace. On the following day Mahommed Khosrev made good his escape, with his women and servants and his regular troops, and fled to Damietta by the river. This revolt marks the beginning in Egypt of the breach between the Albanians and Turks, which ultimately led to the expulsion of the latter, and of the rise to power of the Albanian Mehemet Ali (q.v.), who was destined to rule the country for nearly forty years and be the cause of serious European complications.

First appearance of Mehemet Ali.

Tahir Pasha assumed the government, but in twenty-three days he met with his death from exactly the same cause as that of the overthrow of his predecessor. He refused the pay of certain of the Turkish troops, and was immediately assassinated. A desperate conflict ensued between the Albanians and Turks; and the palace was set on fire and plundered. The masters of Egypt were now split into these two factions, animated with the fiercest animosity against each other. Mehemet Ali, then in command of an Albanian regiment, became the head of the former, but his party was the weaker, and he therefore entered into an alliance with the Mameluke leaders Ibrahim Bey and 'Osman Bey al-Bardisi. A certain Ahmed Pasha, who was about to proceed to a province in Arabia, of which he had been appointed governor, was raised to the important post of pasha of Egypt, through the influence of the Turks and the favour of the sheiks; but Mehemet Ali, who with his Albanians held the citadel, refused to assent to their choice; the Mamelukes moved over from El-Giza, whither they had been invited by Tahir Pasha, and Ahmed Pasha betook himself to the mosque of al-Zahir, which the French had converted into a fortress. He was compelled to surrender by the Albanians; the two chiefs of the Turks who killed Tahir Pasha were taken with him and put to death, and he himself was detained a prisoner. In consequence of the alliance between Mehemet Ali and al-Bardisi, the Albanians gave the citadel over to the Mamelukes; and soon after, these allies marched against Khosrev Pasha, who having been joined by a considerable body of Turks, and being in possession of Damietta, was enabled to offer an obstinate resistance. After much loss on both sides, he was taken prisoner and brought to Cairo; but he was treated with respect. The victorious soldiery sacked the town of Damietta, and were guilty of the barbarities usual with them on such occasions.

The Mamelukes and Ali Pasha.

A few days later, Ali Pasha Jazairli landed at Alexandria with an imperial firman constituting him pasha of Egypt, and threatened the beys, who now were virtual masters of Upper Egypt, as well as of the capital and nearly the whole of Lower Egypt. Mehemet Ali and al-Bardisi therefore descended to Rosetta, which had fallen into the hands of a brother of Ali Pasha, and having captured the town and its commander, al-Bardisi purposed to proceed against Alexandria; but the troops demanded arrears of pay which it was not in his power to give, and the pasha had cut the dyke between the lakes of Aboukir and Mareotis, thus rendering the approach to Alexandria more difficult. Al-Bardisi and Mehemet Ali therefore returned to Cairo. The troubles of Egypt were now increased by an insufficient inundation, and great scarcity prevailed, aggravated by the taxation to which the beys were compelled to resort in order to pay the troops; while murder and rapine prevailed in the capital, the riotous soldiery being under little or no control. Meanwhile, Ali Pasha, who had been behaving with violence towards the Franks in Alexandria, received a _hatt-i-sherif_ from the sultan, which he sent by his secretary to Cairo. It announced that the beys should live peaceably in Egypt, with an annual pension each of fifteen purses (a "purse" = 500 piastres) and other privileges, but that the government should be in the hands of the pasha. To this the beys assented, but with considerable misgivings; for they had intercepted letters from Ali to the Albanians, endeavouring to alienate them from their side to his own. Deceptive answers were returned to these, and Ali was induced by them to advance towards Cairo at the head of 3000 men. The forces of the beys, with the Albanians, encamped near him at Shalakan, and he fell back on a place called Zufeyta. They next seized his boats conveying soldiers, servants, and his ammunition and baggage; and, following him, they demanded wherefore he brought with him so numerous a body of men, in opposition to usage and to their previous warning. Finding they would not allow his troops to advance, forbidden himself to retreat with them to Alexandria, and being surrounded by the enemy, he would have hazarded a battle, but his men refused to fight. He therefore went to the camp of the beys, and his army was compelled to retire to Syria. In the hands of the beys Ali Pasha again attempted treachery. A horseman was seen to leave his tent one night at full gallop; he was the bearer of a letter to Osman Bey Hasan, the governor of Kine. This offered a fair pretext to the Mamelukes to rid themselves of a man proved to be a perfidious tyrant. He was sent under a guard of forty-five men towards the Syrian frontier; and about a week after, news was received that in a skirmish with some of his own soldiers he had fallen mortally wounded.

The death of Ali Pasha produced only temporary tranquillity; in a few days (February 12, 1804) the return of Mahommed Bey al-Alfi (called the Great) from England was the signal for fresh disturbances, which, by splitting the Mamelukes into two parties, accelerated their final overthrow. An ancient jealousy existed between al-Alfi and the other most powerful bey, al-Bardisi. The latter was now supreme among the Mamelukes, and this fact considerably heightened their old enmity. While the guns of the citadel, those at Old Cairo, and even those of the palace of al-Bardisi, were thrice fired in honour of al-Alfi, preparations were immediately begun to oppose him. His partisans were collected opposite Cairo, and al-Alfi the Less held Giza; but treachery was among them; Husain Bey (a relative of al-Alfi) was assassinated by emissaries of al-Bardisi, and Mehemet Ali, with his Albanians, gained possession of Giza, which was, as usual, given over to the troops to pillage. In the meanwhile al-Alfi the Great embarked at Rosetta, and not apprehending opposition, was on his way to Cairo, when a little south of the town of Manuf he encountered a party of Albanians, and with difficulty made his escape. He gained the eastern branch of the Nile, but the river had become dangerous, and he fled to the desert. There he had several hairbreadth escapes, and at last secreted himself among a tribe of Arabs at Ras al-Wadi. A change in the fortune of al-Bardisi, however, favoured his plans for the future. That chief, in order to satisfy the demands of the Albanians for their pay, gave orders to levy heavy contributions from the citizens of Cairo; and this new oppression roused them to rebellion. The Albanians, alarmed for their safety, assured the populace that they would not allow the order to be executed; and Mehemet Ali himself caused a proclamation to be made to that effect. Thus the Albanians became the favourites of the people, and took advantage of their opportunity. Three days later (March 12th, 1804) they beset the house of the aged Ibrahim Bey, and that of al-Bardisi, both of whom effected their escape with difficulty. The Mamelukes in the citadel directed a fire of shot and shell on the houses of the Albanians which were situated in the Ezbekia; but, on hearing of the flight of their chiefs, they evacuated the place; and Mehemet Ali, on gaining possession of it, once more proclaimed Mahommed Khosrev pasha of Egypt. For one day and a half he enjoyed the title; the friends of the late Tahir Pasha then accomplished his second degradation,[22] and Cairo was again the scene of terrible enormities, the Albanians revelling in the houses of the Mameluke chiefs, whose hareems met with no mercy at their hands. These events were the signal for the reappearance of al-Alfi.

The Albanians now invited Ahmed Pasha Khorshid to assume the reins of government, and he without delay proceeded from Alexandria to Cairo. The forces of the partisans of al-Bardisi were ravaging the country a few miles south of the capital and intercepting the supplies of corn by the river; a little later they passed to the north of Cairo and successively took Bilbeis and Kalyub, plundering the villages, destroying the crops, and slaughtering the herds of the inhabitants. Cairo was itself in a state of tumult, suffering severely from a scarcity of grain, and the heavy exactions of the pasha to meet the demands of his turbulent troops, at that time augmented by a Turkish detachment. The shops were closed, and the unfortunate people assembled in great crowds, crying "Ya Latif! Ya Latif!" ("O Gracious [God]!") Al-Alfi and Osman Bey Hasan had professed allegiance to the pasha; but they soon after declared against him, and they were now approaching from the south; and having repulsed Mehemet Ali, they took the two fortresses of Tura. These Mehemet Ali speedily retook by night with 4000 infantry and cavalry; but the enterprise was only partially successful. On the following day the other Mamelukes north of the metropolis actually penetrated into the suburbs; but a few days later were defeated in a battle fought at Shubra, with heavy loss on both sides. This reverse in a measure united the two great Mameluke parties, though their chiefs remained at enmity. Al-Bardisi passed to the south of Cairo, and the Mamelukes gradually retreated towards Upper Egypt. Thither the pasha despatched three successive expeditions (one of which was commanded by Mehemet Ali), and many battles were fought, but without decisive result.

At this period another calamity befell Egypt; about 3000 Delis (Kurdish troops) arrived in Cairo from Syria. These troops had been sent for by Khorshid in order to strengthen himself against the Albanians; and the events of this portion of the history afford sad proof of their ferocity and brutal enormities, in which they far exceeded the ordinary Turkish soldiers and even the Albanians. Their arrival immediately recalled Mehemet Ali and his party from the war, and instead of aiding Khorshid was the proximate cause of his overthrow.

Cairo was ripe for revolt; the pasha was hated for his tyranny and extortion, and execrated for the deeds of his troops, especially those of the Delis: the sheiks enjoined the people to close their shops, and the soldiers clamoured for pay. At this juncture a firman arrived from Constantinople conferring on Mehemet Ali the pashalic of Jedda; but the occurrences of a few days raised him to that of Egypt.

Struggle between Khorshid and Mehemet Ali.

On the 12th of Safar 1220 (May 12th, 1805) the sheiks, with an immense concourse of the inhabitants, assembled in the house of the kadi; and the ulema, amid the prayers and cries of the people, wrote a full statement of the heavy wrongs which they had endured under the administration of the pasha. The ulema, in answer, were desired to go to the citadel; but they were apprised of treachery; and on the following day, having held another council at the house of the kadi, they proceeded to Mehemet Ali and informed him that the people would no longer submit to Khorshid. "Then whom will ye have?" said he. "We will have _thee_," they replied, "to govern us according to the laws; for we see in thy countenance that thou art possessed of justice and goodness." Mehemet Ali seemed to hesitate, and then complied, and was at once invested. On this, a bloody struggle began between the two pashas. Khorshid, being informed of the insurrection, immediately prepared to stand a siege in the citadel. Two chiefs of the Albanians joined his party, but many of his soldiers deserted. Mehemet Ali's great strength lay in the devotion of the citizens of Cairo, who looked on him as a deliverer from their afflictions; and great numbers armed themselves, advising constantly with Mehemet Ali, having the sayyid Omar and the sheiks at their head, and guarding the town at night. On the 19th of the same month Mehemet Ali began to besiege Khorshid. After the siege had continued many days, Khorshid gave orders to cannonade and bombard the town; and for six days his commands were executed with little interruption, the citadel itself also lying between two fires. Mehemet Ali's position at this time was very critical: his troops became mutinous for their pay; the silahdar, who had commanded one of the expeditions against the Mamelukes, advanced to the relief of Khorshid; and the latter ordered the Delis to march to his assistance. The firing ceased on the Friday, but began again on the eve of Saturday and lasted until the next Friday. On the day following (May 28th) news came of the arrival at Alexandria of a messenger from Constantinople. The ensuing night in Cairo presented a curious spectacle; many of the inhabitants, believing that this envoy would put an end to their miseries, fired off their weapons as they paraded the streets with bands of music. The silahdar, imagining the noise to be a fray, marched in haste towards the citadel, while its garrison sallied forth and began throwing up entrenchments in the quarter of Arab al-Yesar, but were repulsed by the armed inhabitants and the soldiers stationed there; and during all this time the cannonade and bombardment from the citadel, and on it from the batteries on the hill, continued unabated.

Mehemet Ali granted the pashalic.

The envoy brought a firman confirming Mehemet Ali and ordering Khorshid to go to Alexandria, there to await further orders; but this he refused to do, on the ground that he had been appointed by a _hatt-i-sherif_. The firing ceased on the following day, but the troubles of the people were rather increased than assuaged; murders and robberies were daily committed by the soldiery, the shops were all shut and some of the streets barricaded. While these scenes were being enacted, al-Alfi was besieging Damanhur, and the other beys were returning towards Cairo, Khorshid having called them to his assistance; but Mehemet Ali forced them to retreat.

Soon after this, a squadron under the command of the Turkish high admiral arrived at Aboukir Bay, with despatches confirming the firman brought by the former envoy, and authorizing Mehemet Ali to continue to discharge the functions of governor. Khorshid at first refused to yield; but at length, on condition that his troops should be paid, he evacuated the citadel and embarked for Rosetta.

First massacre of the Mamelukes.

Mehemet Ali now possessed the title of Governor of Egypt, but beyond the walls of Cairo his authority was everywhere disputed by the beys, who were joined by the army of the silahdar of Khorshid; and many Albanians deserted from his ranks. To replenish his empty coffers he was also compelled to levy exactions, principally from the Copts. An attempt was made to ensnare certain of the beys, who were encamped north of Cairo. On the 17th of August 1805 the dam of the canal of Cairo was to be cut, and some chiefs of Mehemet Ali's party wrote, informing them that he would go forth early on that morning with most of his troops to witness the ceremony, inviting them to enter and seize the city, and, to deceive them, stipulating for a certain sum of money as a reward. The dam, however, was cut early in the preceding night, without any ceremony. On the following morning, these beys, with their Mamelukes, a very numerous body, broke open the gate of the suburb al-Husainia, and gained admittance into the city from the north, through the gate called Bab el-Futuh. They marched along the principal street for some distance, with kettle-drums behind each company, and were received with apparent joy by the citizens. At the mosque called the Ashrafia they separated, one party proceeding to the Azhar and the houses of certain sheiks, and the other continuing along the main street, and through the gate called Bab Zuwela, where they turned up towards the citadel. Here they were fired on by some soldiers from the houses; and with this signal a terrible massacre began. Falling back towards their companions, they found the bye-streets closed; and in that part of the main thoroughfare called Bain al-Kasrain they were suddenly placed between two fires. Thus shut up in a narrow street, some sought refuge in the collegiate mosque Barkukia, while the remainder fought their way through their enemies and escaped over the city-wall with the loss of their horses. Two Mamelukes had in the meantime succeeded, by great exertions, in giving the alarm to their comrades in the quarter of the Azhar, who escaped by the eastern gate called Bab al-Ghoraib. A horrible fate awaited those who had shut themselves up in the Barkukia. Having begged for quarter and surrendered, they were immediately stripped nearly naked, and about fifty were slaughtered on the spot; and about the same number were dragged away, with every brutal aggravation of their pitiful condition, to Mehemet Ali. Among them were four beys, one of whom, driven to madness by Mehemet Ali's mockery, asked for a drink of water; his hands were untied that he might take the bottle, but he snatched a dagger from one of the soldiers, rushed at the pasha, and fell covered with wounds. The wretched captives were then chained and left in the court of the pasha's house; and on the following morning the heads of their comrades who had perished the day before were skinned and stuffed with straw before their eyes. One bey and two others paid their ransom and were released; the rest, without exception, were tortured and put to death in the course of the ensuing night. Eighty-three heads (many of them those of Frenchmen and Albanians) were stuffed and sent to Constantinople, with a boast that the Mameluke chiefs were utterly destroyed. Thus ended Mehemet Ali's first massacre of his too confiding enemies.

The beys, after this, appear to have despaired of regaining their ascendancy; most of them retreated to Upper Egypt, and an attempt at compromise failed. Al-Alfi offered his submission on the condition of the cession of the Fayum and other provinces; but this was refused, and that chief gained two successive victories over the pasha's troops, many of whom deserted to him.