Chapter CIX: Act 1890: was passed and the reconstruction commenced in (15)

In spite of the long neglect, wilful vandalism and ill-judged restoration which the Alhambra has endured, it remains the most perfect example of Moorish art in its final European development, --freed from the direct Byzantine influences which can be traced in the cathedral of Cordova, more elaborate and fantastic than the Giralda at Seville. The majority of the palace buildings are, in ground-plan, quadrangular, with all the rooms opening on to a central court; and the whole reached its present size simply by the gradual addition of new quadrangles, designed on the same principle, though varying in dimensions, and connected with each other by smaller rooms and passages. In every case the exterior is left plain and austere, as if the architect intended thus to heighten by contrast the splendour of the interior. Within, the palace is unsurpassed for the exquisite detail of its marble pillars and arches, its fretted ceilings and the veil-like transparency of its filigree work in stucco. Sun and wind are freely admitted, and the whole effect is one of the most airy lightness and grace. Blue, red, and a golden yellow, all somewhat faded through lapse of time and exposure, are the colours chiefly employed. The decoration consists, as a rule, of stiff, conventional foliage, Arabic inscriptions, and geometrical patterns wrought into arabesques of almost incredible intricacy and ingenuity. Painted tiles are largely used as panelling for the walls.

Access from the city to the Alhambra Park is afforded by the Puerta de las Granadas (Gate of Pomegranates), a massive triumphal arch dating from the 15th century. A steep ascent leads past the Pillar of Charles V., a fountain erected in 1554, to the main entrance of the Alhambra. This is the Puerta Judiciaria (Gate of Judgment), a massive horseshoe archway, surmounted by a square tower, and used by the Moors as an informal court of justice. A hand, with fingers outstretched as a talisman against the evil eye, is carved above this gate on the exterior; a key, the symbol of authority, occupies the corresponding place on the interior. A narrow passage leads inward to the Plaza de los Aljibes (Place of the Cisterns), a broad open space which divides the Alcazaba from the Moorish palace. To the left of the passage rises the Torre del Vino (Wine Tower), built in 1345, and used in the 16th century as a cellar. On the right is the palace of Charles V., a cold-looking but majestic Renaissance building, out of harmony with its surroundings, which it tends somewhat to dwarf by its superior size. Its construction, begun in 1526, was abandoned about 1650.

The present entrance to the Palacio Arabe, or Casa Real (Moorish palace), is by a small door from which a corridor conducts to the Patio de los Arrayanes (Court of the Myrtles), also called the Patio de la Alberca (Court of the Blessing or Court of the Pond), from the Moorish birka, ``pond,'' or berka, ``blessing.'' This court is 140 ft. long by 74 ft. broad; and in the centre there is a large pond set in the marble pavement, full of goldfish, and with myrtles growing along its sides. There are galleries on the north and south sides; that on the south 27 ft. high, and supported by a marble colonnade. Underneath it, to the right, was the principal entrance, and over it are three elegant windows with arches and miniature pillars. From this court the walls of the Torre de Comares are seen rising over the roof to the north, and reflected in the pond.

The Sala de los Ambajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors) is the largest in the Alhambra, and occupies all the Torre de Comares. It is a square room, the sides being 37 ft. in length, while the centre of the dome is 75 ft. high. This was the grand reception room, and the throne of the sultan was placed opposite the entrance. The tiles are nearly 4 ft. high all round, and the colours vary at intervals. Over them is a series of oval medallions with inscriptions, interwoven with flowers and leaves. There are nine windows, three on each facade, and the ceiling is admirably diversified with inlaid-work of white, blue and gold, in the shape of circles, crowns and stars--a kind of imitation of the vault of heaven. The walls are covered with varied stucco-work of most delicate pattern, surrounding many ancient escutcheons.

The celebrated Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) is an oblong court, 116 ft. in length by 66 ft. in breadth, surrounded by a low gallery supported on 124 white marble columns. A pavilion projects into the court at each extremity, with filigree walls and light domed roof, elaborately ornamented. The square is paved with coloured tiles, and the colonnade with white marble; while the walls are covered 5 ft. up from the ground with blue and yellow tiles, with a border above and below enamelled blue and gold. The columns supporting the roof and gallery are irregularly placed, with a view to artistic effect; and the general form of the piers, arches and pillars is most graceful. They are adorned by varieties of foliage, &c.; about each arch there is a large square of arabesques; and over the pillars is another square of exquisite filigree work. In the centre of the court is the celebrated Fountain of Lions, a magnificent alabaster basin supported by the figures of twelve lions in white marble, not designed with sculptural accuracy, but as emblems of strength and courage.

The Sala de los Abencerrajes (Hall of the Abencerrages) derives its name from a legend according to which Boabdil, the last king of Granada, having invited the chiefs of that illustrious line to a banquet, massacred them here. This room is a perfect square, with a lofty dome and trellised windows at its base. The roof is exquisitely decorated in blue, brown, red and gold, and the columns supporting it spring out into the arch form in a remarkably beautiful manner. Opposite to this hall is the Sala de las dos Hermanas (Hall of the two Sisters), so-called from two very beautiful white marble slabs laid as part of the pavement. These slabs measure 15 ft. by 7 1/2 ft., and are without flaw or stain. There is a fountain in the middle of this hall, and the roof--a dome honeycombed with tiny cells, all different, and said to number 5000--is a magnificent example of the so-called ``stalactite vaulting'' of the Moors.

Among the other wonders of the Alhambra are the Sala de la Justicia (Hall of Justice), the Patio del Mexuar (Court of the Council Chamber), the Patio de Daraxa (Court of the Vestibule), and the Peinador de la Reina (Queen's Robing Room), in which are to be seen the same delicate and beautiful architecture, the same costly and elegant decorations. The palace and the Upper Alhambra also contain baths, ranges of bedrooms and summer- rooms, a whispering gallery and labyrinth, and vaulted sepulchres.

The original furniture of the palace is represented by the celebrated vase of the Alhambra, a splendid specimen of Moorish ceramic art, dating from 1320, and belonging to the first period of Moorish porcelain. It is 4 ft. 3 in. high; the ground is white, and the enamelling is blue, white and gold.

Of the outlying buildings in connexion with the Alhambra. the foremost in interest is the Palacio de Generalife or Gineralife (the Moorish Jennat al Arif, ``Garden of Arif,'' or ``Garden of the Architect''). This villa probably dates from the end of the 13th century, but has been several times restored. Its gardens, however, with their clipped hedges, grottos, fountains, and cypress avenues, are said to retain their original Moorish character. The Villa de los Martires (Martyrs' Villa), on the summit of Monte Mauror, commemorates by its name the Christian slaves who were employed to build the Alhambra, and confined here in subterranean cells. The Torres Bermejas (Vermilion Towers), also on Monte Mauror, are a well-preserved Moorish fortification, with underground cisterns, stables, and accommodation for a garrison of 200 men. Several Roman tombs were discovered in 1829 and 1857 at the base of Monte Mauror.

See Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra; from drawings taken on the spot by J. Goury and Owen Jones; with a complete translation of the Arabic inscriptions and a historical notice of the Kings of Granada, by P. de Gayangos. These two magnificent folios, though first published in London between 1842 and 1845, give the best pictorial representation of the Alhambra. See also Rafael Contreras, La Alhanabra, El Alcazar, y la gran Mezquita de Occidente Madrid, 1885); The Alhambra, by Washington Irving, was written in 1832, and rewritten in 1857, when it had already become widely celebrated for its picturesque and humorous descriptions. A well-Illustrated edition was published in London in 1896.

ALHAZEN (ABU ALI AL-HASAN IBN ALHASAN), Arabian mathematician of the 11th century, was born at Basra and died at Cairo in 1038. He is to be distinguished from another Alhazen who translated Ptolemy's Almagest in the 10th century. Having boasted that he could construct a machine for regulating the inundations of the Nile, he was summoned to Egypt by the caliph Hakim; but, aware of the impracticability of his scheme, and fearing the caliph's anger, he feigned madness until Hakim's death in 1021. Alhazen was, nevertheless, a diligent and successful student, being the first great discoverer in optics after the time of Ptolemy. According to Giovanni Battista della Porta, he first explained the apparent increase of heavenly bodies near the horizon, although Bacon gives the credit of this discovery to Ptolemy. He taught, previous to the Polish physicist Witelo, that vision does not result from the emission of rays from the eye, and wrote also on the refraction of light, especially on atmospheric refraction, showing, e.g. the cause of morning and evening twilight. He solved the problem of finding the point in a convex mirror at which a ray coming from one given point shall be reflected to another given point. His treatise on optics was translated into Latin by Witelo (1270), and afterwards published by F. Risner in 1572, with the title Oticae thesaurus Alhazeni libri VII., cum ejusdem libro de crepusculis et nubium ascensionibus. This work enjoyed a great reputation during the middle ages. Works on geometrical subjects were found in the Bibliotheque nationale de Paris in 1834 by E. A. Sedillot; other manuscripts are preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford and in the library of Leiden.

See Casiri, Bibl. Arab. Hisp. Escur.; J. E. Montucla, Histoire des mathemaltiques (1758); and E. A. Sedillot, Materiaux pour l'histoire des sciences mathematiques.

ALI, in full, 'ALI BEN ABU TALIB (c. 600-661), the fourth of the caliphs or successors of Mahomet, was born at Mecca about the year A.D. 600. His father, Abu Talib, was an uncle of the prophet, and Ali himself was adopted by Mahomet and educated under his care. As a mere boy he distinguished himself by being one of the first to declare his adhesion to the cause of Mahomet, who some years afterwards gave him his daughter Fatima in marriage. Ali proved himself to be a brave and faithful soldier, and when Mahomet died without male issue, a few emigrants thought him to have the best claim to succeed him. Abu Bekr, Omar and Othman, however, occupied this position before him, and it was not until 656, after the murder of Othman, that he assumed the title of caliph. The fact that he took no steps to prevent this murder is, perhaps, the only real blot upon his character. Almost the first act of his reign was the suppression of a rebellion under Talha and Zobair, who were instigated by Ayesha, Mahomet's widow, a bitter enemy of Ali, and one of the chief hindrances to his advancement to the caliphate. The rebel army was defeated at the ``Battle of the Camel,'' near Bassorah (Basra), the two generals being killed, and Ayesha taken prisoner. Ali soon afterwards made Kufa his capital. His next care was to get rid of the opposition of Moawiya, who had established himself in Syria at the head of a numerous army. A prolonged battle took place in July 657 in the plain of Siffin (Suffein), near the Euphrates; the fighting was at first, it is said, in favour of Ali, when suddenly a number of the enemy, fixing copies of the Koran to the points of their spears, exclaimed that ``the matter ought to be settled by reference to this book, which forbids Moslems to shed each other's blood.'' The superstitious soldiers of Ali refused to fight any longer, and demanded that the issue be referred to arbitration (see further CALIPHATE, section B. 1). Abu Musa was appointed umpire on the part of Ali, and `Amr-ibn-el-Ass, a veteran diplomatist, on the part of Moawiya. It is said that `Amr persuaded Abu Musa that it would be for the advantage of Islam that neither candidate should reign, and asked him to give his decision first. Abu Musa having proclaimed that he deposed both Ali and Moawiya, `Amr declared that he also deposed Ali, and announced further that he invested Moawiya with the caliphate. This treacherous decision (but see CALIPHATE, ib.) greatly injured the cause of Ali, which was still further weakened by the loss of Egypt. After much indecisive fighting, Ali found his position so unsatisfactory that according to some historians he made an agreement with Moawiya by which each retained his own dominions unmolested. It chanced, however--according to a legend, the details of which are quite uncertain--that three of the fanatic sect of the Kharijites had made an agreement to assassinate Ali, Moawiya and `Amr, as the authors of disastrous feuds among the faithful. The only victim of this plot was Ali, who died at Kufa in 661, of the wound inflicted by a poisoned weapon. A splendid mosque called Meshed Ali was afterwards erected near the city, but the place of his burial is unknown. He had eight wives after Fatima's death, and in all, it is said, thirty-three children, one of whom, Hassan, a son of Fatima, succeeded him in the caliphate. His descendants by Fatima are known as the Fatimites (q.v.; see also EGYPT: History, Mahommedan period). The question of Ali's right to succeed to the caliphate is an article of faith which divided the Mahommedan world into two great sects, the Sunnites and the Shiites, the former denying, and the latter affirming, his right. The Turks, consequently, hold his memory in abhorrence; whereas the Persians, who are generally Shi`as, venerate him as second only to the prophet, call him the ``Lion of God'' (Sher-i-Khuda), and celebrate the anniversary of his martyrdom. Ali is described as a bold, noble and generous man, ``the last and worthiest of the primitive Moslems, who imbibed his religious enthusiasm from companionship with the prophet himself, and who followed to the last the simplicity of his example.'' It is maintained, on the other hand, that his motives were throughout those of ambition rather than piety, and that, apart from the tragedy of his death, he would have been an insignificant figure in history. (See further CALIPHATE.)

In the eyes of the later Moslems he was remarkable for learning and wisdom, and there are extant collections (almost all certainly spurious) of proverbs and verses which bear his name: the Sentences of Ali (Eng. trans., William Yule, Edinburgh, 1832); H. L. Fleischer, Alis hundert Spruche (Leipz. 1837); the Divan, by G. Kuypert (Leiden, 1745, and at Bulak, 1835); C. Brockelmann, Gesch. d. arabisch. Lit. (vol. i., Weimar, 1899).

ALI, known as ALI BEY (1766-1818), the assumed name of DOMINGO BADIA Y LEBLICH, a Spanish traveller, born in 1766. After receiving a liberal education he devoted particular attention to the Arabic language, and made a special study of the manners and customs of the East. Pretending to be a descendant of the Abbasids, Badia in 1803 set out on his travels. Under the name of Ali Bey el Abbassi, and in Mussulman costume, he visited Morocco, Tripoli, Egypt, Arabia and Syria, and was received as a person of high rank wherever he appeared. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca, at that time in the possession of the Wahabites. On his return to Spain in 1807 he declared himself a Bonapartist, and was made intendant first of Segovia and afterwards of Cordova. When the French were driven from Spain, Badia was compelled to take refuge in France, and there in 1814, published an account of his travels under the title of Voyage d'Aii Bey en Asie et en Afrique, &c. A few years later he set out again for Syria, under the assumed name of Ali Othman, and, it is said, accredited as a political agent by the French government. He reached Aleppo, and there died on the 30th of August 1818, not without suspicion of having been poisoned.

An account of his Eastern adventures was published in London in 1816, in two volumes, entitled Travels in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Turkey, between the years 1803 and 1807.

ALI, known as ALI PASHA (1741-1822),Turkish pasha of Iannina, surnamed Arslan, ``the Lion,'' was born at Tepeleni, a village in Albania at the foot of the Klissura mountains. He was one of the Toske tribe, and his ancestors had for some time held the hereditary office of bey of Tepeleni. His father, a man of mild and peaceful disposition, was killed when Ali was fourteen years old by neighbouring chiefs who seized his territories. His mother Khamko, a woman of extraordinary character, thereupon herself formed and led a brigand band, and studied to inspire the boy with her own fierce and indomitable temper, with a view to revenge and the recovery of the lost property. In this wild school Ali proved an apt pupil. A hundred tales, for the most part probably mythical, are told of his powers and cunning during the years he spent among the mountains as a brigand leader. At last, by a picturesque stratagem, he gained possession of Tepeleni and took vengeance on his enemies. To secure himself from rivals in his own family, he is said to have murdered his brother and imprisoned his mother on a charge of attempting to poison him. With a view to establishing his authority he now made overtures to the Porte and was commissioned to chastise the rebellious pasha of Scutari, whom he defeated and killed. He also, on pretext of his disloyalty, put to death Selim, pasha of Delvinon. Ali was now confirmed in the possession of all his father's territory and was also appointed lieutenant to the derwend-pasha of Rumelia, whose duty it was to suppress brigandage and highway robbery. This gave him an opportunity for amassing wealth by sharing the booty of the robbers in return for leaving them alone. The disgrace that fell in consequence on his superior, Ali escaped by the use of lavish bribes at Constantinople. In 1787 he took part in the war with Russia, and was rewarded by being made pasha of Trikala in Thessaly and derwend-pasha of Rumelia. It now suited his policy to suppress the brigands, which he did by enlisting most of them under his own banner. His power was now already considerable; and in 1788 he added to it by securing his nomination to the pashalik of Iannina by a characteristic trick.

The illiterate brigand, whose boyish ambition had not looked beyond the recovery of his father's beylick, was now established as one of the most powerful viziers under the Ottoman government. Success only stimulated his insatiable ambition. He earned the confidence of the Porte by the cruel discipline he maintained in his own sanjak, and the regular flow of tribute and bribes which he directed to Constantinople; while he bent all his energies to extending his territories at the expense of his neighbours. The methods he adopted would have done credit to Cesare Borgia; they may be studied in detail in the lurid pages of Pouqueville. Soon, by one means or another, his power was supreme in all central Albania. Two main barriers still obstructed the realization of his ambition, which now embraced Greece and Thessaly, as well as Albania, and the establishment in the Mediterranean of a sea-power which should rival that of the dey of Algiers. The first of these was the resistance of the little Christian hill community of Suli; the second the Venetian occupation of the coast, within a mile of which--by convention with the Porte--no Ottoman soldier might penetrate. It needed three several attacks before, in 1803, Ali conquered the Suliot stronghold. Events in western Europe gave him an earlier opportunity of becoming master of most of the coast towns. Ali had watched with interest the career of Bonaparte in Italy, and the treaty of Campo Formio (1797), which blotted the Venetian republic from the map of Europe, gave him the opportunity he desired. In response to his advances commissaries of the French republic visited him at Iannina and, affecting a sudden zeal for republican principles, he easily obtained permission to suppress the ``aristocratic'' tribes on the coast. His plans in Albania were interrupted by the war against Pasvan Oglu, the rebellious pasha of Widdin, in which Ali once more did good service. Meanwhile international politics had developed in a way that necessitated a change in Ali's attitude. Napoleon's occupation of the Ionian Islands and his relations with Ali had alarmed Russia, which feared that French influence would be substituted for her own in the Balkan peninsula; and on the 5th of September 1798 a formal alliance, to which Great Britain soon after acceded, was signed on behalf of the emperor Paul and the sultan. Once more Ali turned Turk and fought against his recent friends with such success that in the end he remained in possession of Butrinto, Prevesa and Vonitza on the coast, was created pasha ``of three tails'' by the sultan, and received the congratulations of Nelson. But the campaign of Austerlitz followed, then the peace of Pressburg which guaranteed to Napoleon the former dominions of Venice, and finally the treaty of Tilsit, which involved, among other things, the withdrawal of the Russians from the Ionian Islands and the Albanian coast.

Amid all the momentous changes the part of Ali was a difficult one. He had, moreover, to contend with domestic enemies, and with difficulty defeated a league formed against him by some Mussulman tribes, under Ibrahim of Berat and Mustapha of Delvinon, and the Suliots. He knew, however, how to retain the confidence of the sultan, who not only confirmed him in the possession of the whole of Albania from Epirus to Montenegro, but even in 1799 appointed him vali of Rumelia, an office which he held just long enough to enable him to return to Iannina laden with the spoils of Thessaly. He was now at the height of his power. In 1803 the Suliot stronghold fell; and he was undisputed master of Epirus, Albania and Thessaly, while the pashalik of the Morea was held by his son Veli, and that of Lepanto by his son Mukhtar. Only the little town of Parga held out against him on the coast; and in order to obtain this he once more in 1807 entered into an alliance with Napoleon. The French emperor, however, preferred to keep Parga, as a convenient gate into the Balkan peninsula, and it remained in French occupation until March 1814, when the Pargiots rose against the garrison and handed the fortress over to the British to save it from falling into the hands of Ali, who had bought the town from the French commander, Cozi Nikolo, and was closely investing it. The cordial relations between Napoleon and the pasha of Iannina had not long continued. Ali was angered by the refusal to surrender Parga and justly suspicious of the ambitions which this refusal implied; he could not feel himself secure with the Ionian Islands and the Dalmatian coast in the hands of a power whose plans in the East were notorious, and he was glad enough to avail himself of Napoleon's reverses in 1812 to help to rid himself of so dangerous a neighbor. His services to the allies received their reward. Still bent on obtaining Parga, he sent a special mission to London, backed by a letter from Sir Robert Liston, the British ambassador at Constantinople, calling the attention of the government to the pasha's supereminent qualities'' and his services against the French. After some hesitation it was decided to evacuate Parga and hand it over to the Ottoman government, i.e. Ali Pasha. The convention by which this was effected was ultimately signed on the 17th of May 1817, being ratified by the sultan on the 24th of April 1819. By its terms the Pargiots were to receive an asylum in the islands, the Ottoman government undertaking to pay compensation for their property. Ali had no difficulty in finding the money; the garrison, as soon as it was received, marched out with the bulk of the inhabitants; and the last citadel of freedom in the Balkans fell to the tyrant of Iannina.1

Ali's authority in the great part of the peninsula subject to him now overshadowed that of the sultan; and Mahmud II., whose whole policy had been directed to destroying the overgrown power of the provincial pashas, began to seek a pretext for overthrowing the Lion of Iannina, whose all-devouring ambition seemed to threaten his own throne. The occasion came in 1820 when Ali, emboldened by impunity, violated the sanctity of Stamboul itself by attempting to procure the murder of his enemy Pacho Bey in the very precincts of the palace. A decree of disposition was now issued against the sacrilegious vali, who had dared ``to fire shots in Constantinople, the residence of the caliph, and the centre of security.'' Its execution was entrusted to Khurshid Pasha, with the bulk of the Ottoman forces.

For two years Ali, now over eighty years of age, held his own, in spite of the defection of his vassals and even of his sons. At last, in the spring of 1822, after a prolonged siege in his island fortress at Iannina, which even the outbreak of the Greek revolt had not served to raise, the intrepid old man was forced to sue for terms. He asked and received an interview with Khurshid, was received courteously and dismissed with the most friendly assurances. As he turned to leave the grand vizier's tent he was stabbed in the back; his head was cut off and sent to Constantinople. Notwithstanding their treason to their father, his sons met with the same fate.

In spite of the ferocious characteristics which have been suggested in the above sketch, Ali Pasha is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable, as he is one of the most picturesque, figures in modern history; and as such he was recognized in his own day. His court at Iannina was the centre of a sort of barbarous culture, in which astrologers, alchemists and Greek poets played their part, and was often visited by travellers. Amongst others, Byron came, and has left a record of his impressions in ``Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,'' less interesting and vivid than the prose accounts of Pouqueville, T. S. Hughes and William M. Leake. Leake (iii. 259) reports a reproof addressed by Ali to the French renegade Ibrahim Effendi, who had ventured to remonstrate against some particular act of ferocity: ``At present you are too young at my court to know how to comport yourself. . . . You are not yet acquainted with the Greeks and Albanians: when I hang up one of these wretches on the plane-tree, brother robs brother under the very branches: if I burn one of them alive, the son is ready to steal his father's ashes to sell them for money. They are destined to be ruled by me; and no one but Ali is able to restrain their evil propensities.'' This is perhaps as good an apology as could be made for his character and methods. To the wild people over whom he ruled none was needed. He had their respect, if not their love; he is the hero of a thousand ballads; and his portrait still hangs among the ikons in the cottages of the Greek mountaineers. All accounts agree in describing him in later life as a man of handsome presence, with a venerable white beard, piercing black eyes and a benevolent cast of countenance, the effect of which was heightened in conversation by a voice of singular sweetness.

AUTHORITIES.--Apart from the scattered references in the published and unpublished diplomatic correspondence of the period, contemporary journals and books of travel contain much interesting material for the life of Ali. Of these may especially be mentioned Francois C. H. L. Pouqueville, Voyage en Moree, a Constantinople, en Albanie, &c. (3 vols., Paris, 1805), of which an English version by A. Plumptre was published in 1815; ib. Voyage dans la Grece (5 vols., Paris, 1820, 1821). Pouqueville, who spent some time as French resident at Iannina, had special facilities for obtaining firsthand information, though his emotionalism makes his observations and deductions at times somewhat suspect. Very interesting also are Thomas Smart Hughes, Travels in Greece and Albania (2 vols., 2nd ed., Lond. 1830); John Cam Hobhouse (Lord Broughton), A Journey through Albania, &c. . . . during the years 1809 and 1810 (Lond., 4to, 1813, a new ed., 2 vols., 1855); William Martin Leake, Travels in Northern Greece (4 vols., Lond. 1845). See also Pouqueville's Hist. de la regeneration de la Grece, 1740-1824 (4 vols., Paris, 1824, 3rd ed., Brussels, 1825); R. A. Davenport, Life of Ali Pasha, vizier of Epirus (1861). (W. A. P.)

1 In his report on the Ionian Treaty presented to Lord Castlereagh at the congress of Vienna in December 1814, Sir Richard Church strongly advocated, not only the retention of Parga, but that Vonitza, Prevesa and Butrinto also should be taken from Ali Pasha and placed under British protection, a measure he considered necessary. for the safety of the Ionian Islands. ``Ali Pasha,'' he wrote, ``is now busy building forts along his coast and strengthening his castles in the interior. In January 1814 he had 14,000 peasants at work on the castle of Argiro Castro, and about 1500 erecting a fort at Porto Palermo, nearly opposite Corfu.'' In 1810 he had erected a fort directly opposite Santa Maura commanding the harbour.

The fate of Parga created intense feeling at the time in England, and was cited by Liberals as a crowning instance of the perfidy of the government and of Castlereagh's subservience to reactionary tendencies abroad. The step, however, was not lightly taken. In occupying the town the British general had expressly refrained from pledging Great Britain to remain there; and the government held that any permanent occupation of a post on the mainland carried with it risks of complications out of all proportion to any possible benefit.

ALIAGA, a town of the province of Nueva Ecija, Luzon, Philippine Islands, about 70 m. N. by W. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 11,950. It has a comparatively cool and healthful climate, and is pleasantly situated about midway between the Pampanga Grande and the Pampanga Chico rivers, and in a large and fertile valley of which the principal products are Indian corn, rice, sugar and tobacco. Tagalog is the most important language; Ilocano, Pampango and Pangasinan are also used.

ALIAS (Lat. for ``at another time''), a term used to connect the different names of a person who has passed under more than one, in order to conceal his identity, or for other reasons; or, compendiously, to describe the adopted name. The expression alias dictus was formerly used in legal indictments, and pleadings where absolute precision was necessary in identifying the person to be charged, as ``John Jones, alias dictus James Smith.'' The adoption of a name other than a man's baptismal or surname need not necessarily be for the purpose of deception or fraud; pseudonyms or nicknames fall thus under the description of an alias. Where a person is married under an alias, the marriage is void when both parties have knowingly and wilfully connived at the adoption of the alias, with a fraudulent intention. But if one of the parties to a marriage has acquired a new name by use and reputation, or if the true name of any one of the parties is not known to the other, the use of an alias in these cases will not affect the validity of the marriage.

ALIBI (Lat. for ``elsewhere''), in law, the defence resorted to in criminal prosecutions, where the person charged alleges that he was so far distant at the time from the place where the crime was committed that he could not have been guilty. An alibi, if substantiated, is the most conclusive proof of innocence.

ALICANTE, a province of south-eastern Spain; bounded on the N. by Valencia, W. by Albacete and Murcia, S. by Murcia, and S.E. and E. by the Mediterranean Sea. Pop. (1900) 470,149; area, 2096 sq. m. Alicante was formed in 1833 of districts taken from the ancient provinces of Valencia and Murcia, Valencia contributing by far the larger portion. The surface of the province is extremely diversified. In the north and west there are extensive mountain ranges of calcareous formation, intersected by deep ravines; while farther south the land is more level, and there are many fertile valleys. On the Mediterranean coast, unhealthy salt marshes alternate with rich plains of pleasant and productive huertas or gardens, such as those of Alicante and Denia. Apart from Segura, which flows from the highlands of Albacete through Murcia and Orihuela to the sea, there is no considerable river, but a few rivulets flow east into the Mediterranean. The climate is temperate, and the rainfall very slight. Despite the want of rivers and of rain, agriculture is in a flourishing condition. Many tracts, originally rocky and sterile, have been irrigated and converted into vineyards and plantations. Cereals are grown, but the inhabitants prefer to raise such articles of produce as are in demand for export, and consequently part of the grain supply has to be imported. Esparto grass, rice, olives, the sugar-cane, and tropical fruits and vegetables are largely produced. Great attention is given to the rearing of bees and silk-worms; and the wine of the province is held in high repute throughout Spain, while some inferior kinds are sent to France to be mixed with claret. There are iron and lignite mines, but the output is small. Mineral springs are found at various places. The manufactures consist of fine cloths, silk, cotton, woollen and linen fabrics, girdles and lace, paper, hats, leather, earthenware and soap. There are numerous oil mills and brandy distilleries. Many of the inhabitants are engaged in the carrying trade, while the fisheries on the coast are also actively prosecuted, tunny and anchovies being caught in great numbers. Barilla is obtained from the sea-weed on the shores, and some of the saline marshes, notably those near Torrevieja, yield large supplies of salt. The principal towns, which are separately described, include Alicante, the capital (pop. 1900, 50,142), Crevillente (10,726), Denia (12,431), Elche (27,308), Novelda (11,388), Orihuela (28,530), and Villena (14,099). Other towns, of less importance, are Aspe (7927), Cocentaina (7093), Monovar (10,601), Pinoso (7946), and Villajoyosa (8902).

ALICANTE, the capital of the Spanish province described above, and one of the principal seaports of the country. Pop. (1900) 50,142. It is situated in 38 deg. 21' N. and 0 deg. 26' W., on the Bay of Alicante, an inlet of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the termini of railways from Madrid and Murcia. From its harbour, the town presents a striking picture. Along the shore extends the Paseo de los Martires, a double avenue of palms; behind this, the white flat-roofed houses rise in the form of a crescent towards the low hills which surround the city, and terminate, on the right, in a bare rock, 400 ft. high, surmounted by an ancient citadel. Its dry and equable climate renders Alicante a popular health-resort. The city is an episcopal see, and contains a modern cathedral.

The bay affords good anchorage, but only small vessels can come up to the two moles. The harbour is fortified, and there is a small lighthouse on the eastern mole; important engineering works, subsidized by the state, were undertaken in 1902 to provide better accomodation. In the same year 1737 vessels of 939,789 tons entered the port. The trade of Alicante consists chiefly in the manufacture of cotton, linen and woollen goods, cigars and confectionery; the importation of coal, iron, machinery, manures, timber, oak staves and fish; and the exportation of lead, fruit, farm produce and red wines, which are sent to France for blending with better vintages. Fine marble is procured in the island of Plana near the coast.

Alicante was the Roman Lucentum; but, despite its antiquity, it has few Roman or Moorish remains. In 718, it was occupied by the Moors, who were only expelled in 1304, and made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the city in 1331. Alicante was besieged by the French in 1709, and by the Federalists of Cartagena in 1873. For an account of the events which led up to these two sieges, see SPAIN.,

For further details of the local history, see J. Pastor de la Roca, Historia general de la ciudad y castillo de Alicante, &c. (Alicante, 1854); and the Ensayo biografico bibliografico de escritores de Alicante y de su provincia, by M. R. Garcia and A. Montero y Perez (Alicante, 1890).

ALICE MAUD MARY, GRAND-DUCHESS OF HESSE-DARMSTADT (1843-1878), second daughter and third child of Queen Victoria, was born at Buckingham Palace, on the 25th of April 1843. A pretty, delicate-featured child--``cheerful, merry, full of fun and mischief,'' as her elder sister described her--fond of gymnastics, a good skater and an excellent horsewoman, she was a general favourite from her earliest days. Her first years were passed without particular incident in the home circle, where the training of their children was a matter of the greatest concern to the queen and the prince consort. Among other things, the royal children were encouraged to visit the poor, and the effect of this training was very noticeable in the later life of Princess Alice. After the marriage of the Princess Royal in 1858, the new responsibilities devolving upon Princess Alice, as the eldest daughter at home, called forth the higher traits of her character, and brought her into still closer relationship with her parents, and especially with her father. In the summer of 1860, at Windsor Castle, Princess Alice first met her future husband, Prince Louis of Hesse. An attachment quickly sprang up, and on the prince's second visit in November they were formally engaged. In the following year, on the announcement of the contemplated marriage, the House of Commons unanimously voted a dowry of L. 30,000 and an annuity of L. 6000 to the princess. In December 1861, while preparations were being made for the marriage, the prince consort was struck down with typhoid fever, and died on the 14th. Princess Alice nursed her father during his short illness with the utmost care, and after his death devoted herself to comforting her mother under this terrible blow. Her marriage took place at Osborne, on the 1st of July 1862. The princess unconsciously wrote her own biography from this period in her constant letters to Queen Victoria, a selection of which, edited by Dr. Carl Sell, were allowed to be printed in 1883. These letters give a complete picture of the daily life of the duke and duchess, and they also show the intense love of the latter for her husband, her mother and her native land. She managed to visit England every year, and it was at her special request that when she died her husband laid an English flag upon her coffin.

In the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, Hesse- Darmstadt was upon the side of the Austrians; Prince Louis accompanied his troops to the front, and was duly appointed by the grand-duke to the command of the Hessian division. This was a time of intense trial to the princess, whose husband and brother-in-law, the crown prince of Prussia, were necessarily fighting upon opposite sides. The duke of Hesse also took part in the principal battles of the Franco-Prussian war, while the duchess was actively engaged in organizing hospitals for the relief of the sick and wounded. The death of the duke's father, Prince Charles of Hesse, on the 20th of March 1877, was followed by that of the grand-duke on the 13th of June, and Prince Louis succeeded to the throne as Grand Duke Louis IV. In the summer of 1878 the grand-duke and duchess, with their family, came again to England, and went to Eastbourne, where the duchess remained for some time. She returned to Darmstadt in the autumn, and on the 8th of November 1878 her daughter, Princess Victoria, was attacked by diphtheria. Three more of her children, as well as her husband, quickly caught the disease, and the youngest, ``May,'' succumbed on the 16th. On the 7th of December the princess was herself attacked, and, being weakened by nursing and anxiety, had not strength to resist the disease, which proved fatal on the 14th of December, the seventeenth anniversary of her father's death. She left one son and four daughters. .

See Carl Sell, Alice: Mittheilungen aus ihrem Leben und Briefen, &c. (Darmstadt, 1883), with English translation by the Princess Christian, Alice: biographical sketch and letters (1884). (G. F. B.)

ALIDADE (from the Arab.), the movable index of a graduated arc, used in the measurement of angles. The word is used also to designate the supporting frame or arms carrying the microscopes or verniers of a graduated circle.

ALIEN (Lat. alienus), the technical term applied by British constitutional law to anyone who does not enjoy the character of a British subject; in general, a foreigner who for the purposes of any state comes into certain domestic relations with it, other than those applying to native-born or naturalized citizens, but owns allegiance to a foreign sovereign.

English law, save with the special exceptions mentioned, admits to the character of subjects all who are born within the king's allegiance, that is, speaking generally, within the British dominions. In the celebrated question of the post-nati in the reign of James I. of England, it was found, after solemn trial, that natives of Scotland born before the union of the crowns were aliens in England, but that, since allegiance is to the person of the king, those born subsequently were English subjects. A child born abroad, whose father or whose grandfather on the father's side was a British subject, may claim the same character unless at the time of his birth his father was an attainted traitor, or in the service of a state engaged in war against the British empire (4th Geo. II. c. 21). Owing to this exceptional provision some sons of Jacobite refugees born abroad, who joined in the rebellion of 1745, were admitted to the privilege of prisoners of war.

It has been enacted in the United Kingdom with regard to the national status of women and children that a married woman is to be deemed a subject of the state of which her husband is for the time being a subject; that a natural-born British woman, having become an alien by marriage, and thereafter being a widow, may be rehabilitated under conditions slightly more favourable than are required for naturalization; that where a father or a widow becomes an alien, the children in infancy becoming resident in the country where the parent is naturalized, and being naturalized by the local law, are held to be subjects of that country; that those of a father or of a widow readmitted to British nationality or who obtains a certificate of naturalization, becoming during infancy resident with such parent in the British dominions in the former case or in the United Kingdom in the latter, become readmitted or naturalized (Naturalization Act 1870, s. 10). The nationality of children not covered by these enactments is not affected by the change of their parents' nationality. The same statute provides that a declaration of alienage before a justice of peace or other competent judge, having the effect of divesting the declarant of the character of a British subject, may be made by a naturalized British subject desiring to resume the nationality of the country to which he originally belonged, if there be a convention to that effect with that country; by natural-born subjects who were also born subjects of another state according to its law; or by persons born abroad having British fathers.

Naturalization, which means conferring the character of a subject, may now, under the act of 1870, be obtained by applying to the home secretary and producing evidence of having resided for not less than five years in the United Kingdom, or of having been in the service of the crown for not less than five years, and of intention to reside in the United Kingdom or serve under the crown. Such a certificate may be granted by the secretary of state to one naturalized previously to the passing of the act, or to a British subject as to whose nationality a doubt exists, or to a statutory alien, i.e. one who has become an alien by declaration in pursuance of the act of 1870.

In the United States the separate state laws largely determine the status of an alien, but subject to Federal treaties. (For further particulars see ALLEGIANCE and NATURALIZATION.)

Many of the disabilities to which aliens were subject in the United Kingdom, either by the common law or under various acts of parliament, have been repealed by the Naturalization Act 1870. It enables aliens to take, acquire, hold and dispose of real and personal property of every description, and to transmit a title to it, in all respects as natural-born British subjects. But the act expressly declares that this relaxation of the law does not qualify aliens for any office or any municipal, parliamentary or other franchise, or confer any right of a British subject other than those above expressed in regard to property, nor does it affect interests vested in possession or expectancy under dispositions made before the act, or by devolution of law on the death of any one dying before the act. A ship, any share in which is owned by an alien, shall not be deemed a British ship (Merchant Shipping Act 1894, s. i.) By the Juries Act 1870, s. 8, aliens who have been domiciled for ten years in England or Wales, if in other respects duly qualified, are liable to serve on juries or inquests in England or Wales; and by the Naturalization Act 1870, s. 5, the ahens' old privilege of being tried by a jury de medietate linguae (that is, of which half were foreigners), was abolished.

It seems to be a rule of general public law that an alien can be sent out of the realm by exercise of the crown's prerogative; but in modern English practice, whenever it seems necessary to expel foreigners (see EXPULSION), a special act of parliament has to be obtained for the purpose, unless the case falls within the extradition acts or the Aliens Act 1905. The latter prohibits the landing in the United Kingdom of undesirable alien steerage passengers, called in the act ``immigrants,'' from ships carrying more than twenty alien steerage passengers, called in the act ``immigrant ships''; nor can alien immigrants be landed except at certain ports at which there is an ``immigrant officer,'' to whom power of prohibiting the landing is given, subject to a right of appeal to the immigration board of the port. The act contains a number of qualifications, and among these empowers the secretary of state to exempt any immigrant ship from its provisions if he is satisfied that a proper system is maintained to prevent the immigration of undesirable persons. The principal test of undesirableness is not having or being in a position to obtain the means of supporting one's self and one's dependents, or appearing likely from disease or infirmity to become a charge on the rates, provided that the immigrant is not seeking to avoid prosecution or punishment on religious or political grounds, or persecution, involving danger of imprisonment or danger to life or limb, on account of religious belief. Lunatics, idiots, persons who from disease or infirmity appear likely to become a detriment to the public otherwise than through the rates, and persons sentenced in a foreign country for crimes for which they could be surrendered to that country, are also enumerated as undesirable. Power is also given to the secretary of state to expel persons sentenced as just mentioned, or, if recommended by the court in which they have been convicted, persons convicted of felony or some offence for which the court has power to impose imprisonment without the option of a fine, or of certain offences against the police laws; and persons in receipt of any such parochial relief as disqualifies for the parliamentary franchise, or wandering without ostensible mean of subsistence, or living under insanitary conditions due to overcrowding. (JNO. W.)

ALIENATION (from Lat. alienus, belonging to another), the act or fact of being estranged, set apart or separated. In law the word is used for the act of transfer of property by voluntary deed and not by inheritance. In regard to church property the word has come to mean, since the Reformation, a transfer from religious to secular ownership. ``Alienation'' is also used to denote a state of insanity (q.v..)

ALIEN-HOUSES, religious houses in England belonging to foreign ecclesiastics, or under their control. They generally were built where property had been left by the donors to foreign orders to pray for their souls. They were frequently regular ``priories,'' but sometimes only ``cells,'' and even ``granges,', with small chapels attached. Some, particularly in cities, seem to have been a sort of mission-houses. There were more than 100 in England. Many alien-houses were suppressed by Henry V. and the rest by Henry VIII.

ALIENIST (Lat. alienus, that which belongs to another, i.e. is external to one's self), one who specializes in the study of mental diseases, which are often included in the generic name ``Alienation.'' (See INSANITY.)

ALIGARH, a city and district of British India in the Meerut division of the United Provinces. The city, also known as Koil, was a station on the East Indian railway, 876 m. from Calcutta. Sir Sayad Ahmad Khan, K.C.S.I., who died in 1898, founded in 1864 the Aligarh Institute and Scientific Society for the translation into the vernacular of western literature; and afterwards the Mahommedan Anglo-Oriental College, under English professors, with an English school attached. The college meets with strong support from the enlightened portion of the Mussulman community, whose aim is to raise it to the status of a university, with the power of conferring degrees. The population (1901) 70,434, showed an increase of 14% in the decade. There are several flour-mills, cotton-presses and a dairy farm. Aligarh Fort, situated on the Grand Trunk road, consists of a regular polygon, surrounded by a very broad and deep ditch. It became a fortress of great importance under Sindhia in 1759, and was the depot where he drilled and organized his battalions in the European fashion with the aid of De Boigne. It was captured from the Mahrtatas under the leadership of Perron, another French officer, by Lord Lake's army, in September 1803, since which time it has been much strengthened and improved. In the rebellion of 1857 the troops stationed at Aligarh mutinied, but abstained from murdering their officers, who, with the other residents and ladies and children, succeeded in reaching Hathras.

The district of Aligarh has an area of 1857 sq. m. It is nearly a level plain, but with a slight elevation in the centre, between the two great rivers the Ganges and Jumna. The only other important river is the Kali Nadi, which traverses the entire length of the district from north-east to south-west. The district is traversed by several railways and also by the Ganges canal, which is navigable. The chief trading centre is Hathras. In 1901 the population was 1,200,822, showing an increase of 15% in the decade, due to the extension of irrigation. There are several factories for ginning and pressing cotton.

ALIGNMENT (from Fr. a and ligne, the Lat. linea, a line), a setting in line, generally straight, or the way in which the line runs; an expression used in surveying, drawing, and in military arrangements, the alignment of a regiment or a camp meaning the situation when drawn up in line or the relative position of the tents. The alignment of a rifle has reference to the way of getting the sights into line with the object, so as to aim correctly.