S. Rappoport - History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12)

S >> S. Rappoport >> History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12)

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The first pasha invested with the viceroyalty of Egypt after the
departure of the French troops was Muhammed Khusurf, who faithfully
served the Porte. His government was able and zealous, but the
measures he employed against his haughty antagonists lacked the lofty
intelligence indispensable to so difficult a task. Muhammed Khusurf,
whose rivalry with Mehemet Ali had for some years attracted European
attention, found himself at last face to face with his future opponent.

Mehemet Ali, by dint of hard work and the many important services
rendered to his country, had passed through successive stages of
promotion to the rank of serchime, which gave him the command of three
or four thousand Albanians. Foreseeing his opportunity, he had employed
himself in secretly strengthening his influence over his subordinates;
he allied himself with the Mam-luks, opened the gates of Cairo to them,
and, joining Osman-Bardisi, marched against Khusurf. He pursued the
viceroy to Damietta, taking possession of the town, conducted his
prisoner to Cairo, where he placed him in the custody of the aged
Ibrahim Bey, the Nestor of the Mamluks (1803).

At this moment, the second Mamluk bey, Muhammed el-Elfi, returned from
England, whither he had accompanied the British to demand protection
when they evacuated Alexandria in March of the same year, and landed
at Abukir. This arrival filled Bardisi with the gravest anxiety, for
Muhammed el-Elfi was his equal in station, and would share his power
even if he did not deprive him of the position he had recently acquired
through his own efforts. These fears were but too well founded. Whilst
Bardisi was securing his position by warfare, el-Elfi had gained the
protection of England, and, as its price, had pledged himself to much
that would compromise the future of Egypt.

Far from openly joining one or other of the rival parties, Mehemet Ali
contented himself with fanning the flame of their rivalry. The rank
of Albanian captain, which gave him the air of a subaltern, greatly
facilitated the part he intended to play. He worked quietly and with
unending perseverance. Flattering the ambitions of some, feeding
the resentment of others, winning the weak-minded with soft words,
overcoming the strong by his own strength; presiding over all the
revolutions in Cairo, upholding the cause of the pashas when the Mamluks
needed support, and, when the pasha had acquired a certain amount of
power, uniting himself with the Mamluk against his allies of yesterday;
above all, neglecting nothing which could secure him the support of the
people, and making use for this end of the sheikhs and Oulemas, whom
he conciliated, some by religious appearances, others by his apparent
desire for the public good, he thus maintained his position during the
numerous changes brought about by the respective parties.

At length, in the beginning of March, 1805, as the people were beginning
to weary of disturbances as violent as they were frequent, Mehemet Ali
promised the sheikhs to restore peace and order if they would assure him
their co-operation and influence. He then incited a revolt against the
Oulemas, besieged Kourshyd Pasha in the citadel, made himself master of
Cairo in the space of a few days, and finished his work by expelling
the Mamluks. The Albanians and Oulemas, completely carried away by his
valour and manouvres, proclaimed him pasha immediately. Always prudent,
and anxious to establish his claims upon the favour of the Porte,
Mehemet Ali feigned to refuse. After considerable hesitation, which
gave way before some costly gifts, or possibly on consideration of the
difficulties hitherto experienced in establishing the authority of the
pashas, the Turkish government determined to confirm the choice of
the Egyptian people. Mehemet Ali received, therefore, the firman of
investiture on July 9,1805; but during the ensuing seven months he
governed in Lower Egypt only, Alexandria still being under the authority
of an officer delegated by the sultan. As for Upper Egypt, it had
remained the appanage of the Mamluk beys, who had contrived to retain
possession of the Said.

Mehemet Ali had no sooner been proclaimed than Elfi, who had reorganised
his party in Upper Egypt, did all in his power to overthrow the
new pasha. He first offered to assist Kourshyd to regain his former
position; he promised his allegiance to the Porte on condition of the
dismissal of Mehemet Ali, and then turned his attention to England. He
found difficulty in obtaining her concurrence by promising to give up
the chief ports of Egypt. These negotiations, suspended the first time
by M. Dro-vetti, the French consul at Alexandria, co-operating with the
pasha, were again renewed some time after through the influence of
the English ambassador, who, in the name of his country, demanded the
re-establishment of the Mamluks, guaranteeing the fidelity of Elfi. The
Porte at once sent a fleet to Egypt bearing a firman, appointing Mehemet
Ali to the pashalic of Salonica. At this juncture, the viceroy, feeling
sure of the support of the sheikhs, who had assisted him to his present
position, only sought to temporise. He soon received the further
support of the Mamluk beys of Bardisi's party, who forgot their personal
grievances in the desire to be revenged upon the common foe; at the same
time, twenty-five French Mamluks, urged thereto by M. Drovetti, deserted
the ranks of Elfi's adherents and joined Mehemet Ali.

The Pasha of Egypt possessed a zealous partisan in the French ambassador
at Constantinople. The latter, perceiving that the secession of
the Mamluks made the regaining of their former power an absolute
impossibility, pleaded the cause of Mehemet Ali with the Porte, and
obtained a firman re-establishing his viceroyalty, on condition of his
payment of an annual tribute of about $1,000,000.

The power of Mehemet Ali was beginning to be more firmly established,
and the almost simultaneous deaths of Osman-Bardisi and Muhammed el-Elfi
(November, 1806, and January, 1807) seemed to promise a peaceful future,
when, on March 17th, the English, displeased at his reconciliation with
the Porte, arrived in Egypt. Their forces numbered some seven or eight
thousand men, and it was the intention to stir up the Mamluks and
render them every assistance. A detachment of the English forces, led
by General Fraser, took possession of Alexandria, which the English
occupied for six months without being able to attempt any other
enterprise. The remainder of the troops were cut to pieces at Rosetta by
a small contingent of Albanians: thus ended the expedition. The viceroy,
who at the beginning of the campaign had displayed really Oriental
cruelty, and sent more than a thousand heads of English soldiers to
Cairo to decorate Rumlieh, finished his operations by an act of European
generosity, and delivered up his prisoners without demanding ransom. The
plan of defence adopted by the pasha was the work of Drovetti, to whom,
consequently, is due some of the glory of this rapid triumph.

Mehemet Ali, having nothing further to fear from the English, who
evacuated Egypt in September, 1807, began to give scope to his ambitious
schemes, when the easily disturbed policy of the Porte saw fit to send
the wily pasha against the Wahabis, who threatened to invade the Holy
Places. Before obeying these injunctions, the viceroy deemed it wise,
previous to engaging in a campaign so perilous, to ensure Egypt against
the dangers with which, in the absence of the forces, she would be
menaced.

[Illustration: 151.jpg MOSQUE OF MEHEMIT ALI]

But Egypt had no more powerful enemies than the Mamluks, who, since
1808, had kept the country in a constant state of agitation. Mehemet Ali
therefore determined to put an end to this civil war, root and branch,
and to exterminate completely this formidable adversary. He did not
hesitate in the choice of means. War would not have succeeded; murder,
therefore, was the only alternative, and the viceroy adopted this
horrible means of accomplishing his designs. He invited the entire
Mam-luk corps to a banquet, which he proposed to give in the Citadel
Palace in honour of the departure of Tussun Pasha for Mecca. This palace
is built upon a rock, and is reached by perpendicular paths. On May 1st,
the day fixed upon for the festivity, Mehemet Ali received his guests
in great splendour and with a cordiality calculated to dispel any
suspicions the Mamluks might have entertained. At the conclusion of
the banquet, as they were returning home, they were fired upon in the
narrow pass, where retreat and resistance were perfectly impossible.
Thus, after having defeated the bravest troops in the world, they died
obscurely, ingloriously, and unable to defend themselves. Hassan Bey,
brother of the celebrated Elfi, spurred his horse to a gallop, rode over
the parapets, and fell, bruised and bleeding, at the foot of the walls,
where some Arabs saved him from certain death by aiding his flight. The
few who escaped massacre took refuge in Syria or Dongola.

Whilst this horrible drama was being enacted in Cairo, similar scenes
were taking place in those provinces whose governors had received
stringent commands to butcher every remaining Mamluk in Egypt. THUs
nearly all perished, and that famous corps was destroyed for ever.

Although Mehemet Ali had no doubt whatever as to the intentions which
had prompted the Porte to organise the expedition against the Wahabis,
he hastened to prepare for this lengthy war. Mehemet himself was in
command of an army in the Hedjaz when Latif Pasha arrived, bearing a
firman of investiture to the pashalic of Egypt. Luckily, Mehemet Ali on
his departure had left behind him, as vekyl, a trustworthy man devoted
to his interests, namely, Mehemet Bey. This faithful minister pretended
to favour the claims of Latif Pasha, and then arrested him, and had him
publicly executed.

From this moment the real reign of Mehemet Ali begins. Possessed of a
fertile country, he promptly began to consider the ways and means of
improving the deplorable state of its finances, and to grasp all the
resources which agriculture and commerce could yield for the realisation
of his ambitious schemes. Nothing must be neglected in the government of
a country for so many years the scene of incessant warfare; the labourer
must be made to return to the field he had deserted during the time
of trouble; political and civil order must be reestablished so as to
reassure the inhabitants, and secure the resumption of long abandoned
industries.

The most important matter was to restrain the depredations of the
Bedouins, and, to assure the obedience of these hitherto unsubdued
tribes, he kept their sheikhs as hostages: at the same time he checked
the delinquencies of the Kopts, in whose hands the government of the
territories had been from time immemorial. A sure and certain peace thus
having been ensured to the interior of the country, the pasha turned his
attention to another enterprise, the accomplishment of which is always
somewhat difficult after a lengthy crisis. He wished to encourage and
regulate the payment of taxes without hindering the financial operations
of private individuals. To this end, he re-established the custom of
receiving tribute in kind, and to support the payment of this tribute he
organised the export trade. A thousand vessels built at his own expense
ploughed the waters of the Nile in all directions, and conveyed Egyptian
produce to the shores of the Mediterranean, where huge warehouses stored
the goods destined for foreign countries.

Mehemet Ali preserved a continual intercourse with foreign merchants,
and the country owed many fortunate innovations to these relations:
agriculture was enriched by several productions hitherto unknown.
A Frenchman, M. Jumel, introduced improvements in the production of
cotton, whilst M. Drovetti, the pasha's tried friend, helped to further
the establishment of manufactories by his advice and great experience of
men and things. Before long, cotton mills were built, cloth factories, a
sugar refinery, rum distillery, and saltpetre works erected. The foreign
trade despatched as much as seven million _ardebs_ of cereals every
year, and more than six hundred thousand bales of cotton. In return,
European gold flowed into the treasury of this industrious pasha, and
the revenues of Egypt, which hitherto had never exceeded $150,000,000,
were more than doubled in 1816.

The very slight success which Mehemet Ali had obtained when commanding
the irregular forces during the expedition against the Wahabis decided
him to put a long-cherished idea into execution, namely, to organise an
army on European lines. Henceforth this became the sole occupation of
the enterprising pasha and the exclusive goal of his perseverance.
The Nizam-Jedyd was proclaimed in the month of July, 1815, and all the
troops were ordered to model themselves after the pattern of the French
army.

This large undertaking, which in 1807 had cost Selim III. his life,
proved almost as fatal to Mehemet Ali. A terrible insurrection broke
out amongst the alien soldiers, who principally composed the army; the
infuriated troops rose against the tyrant and the unbeliever, the palace
was pillaged, and the pasha had scarcely time to seek the shelter of his
citadel. His only means of saving his life and recovering his authority
was solemnly to promise to abandon his plan. Mehemet Ali therefore
deferred his military schemes and awaited the opportunity to test its
success upon the natives, who would be far more easily managed than the
excitable strangers, brought up as they were on the old traditions of
the Okaz and the Mamluks. The war which still raged in Arabia gave
him the means of ridding himself of the most indomitable men, whom he
despatched to Hedjaz under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, his eldest son.

Now came success to console Mehemet Ali for the failure of his
reformatory plans. After a long series of disasters, Ibrahim succeeded,
in the year 1818, in taking Abd Allah Ibn-Sonud, the chief of the
Wahabis, prisoner. He sent him to the Great Pasha, a name often applied
to Mehemet Ali in Egypt, at Cairo, bearing a portion of the jewels
taken from the temple at Mecca. The unfortunate man was then taken
to Constantinople, where his punishment bore testimony to the victory
rather than the clemency of his conquerors.

In reward for his services, the sultan sent Ibrahim a mantle of honour
and named him Pasha of Egypt, which title conferred on him the highest
rank among the viziers and pashas, and even placed him above his own
father in the hierarchy of the dignitaries of the Turkish Empire. At the
same time Mehemet Ali was raised to the dignity of khan, an attribute
of the Ottomans, and the greatest distinction obtainable for a pasha,
inasmuch as it was formerly exclusively reserved for the sovereigns of
the Crimea.

[Illustration: 157.jpg THE COTTON PLANT]

After destroying Daryeh, the capital of Nedj, Mehemet Ali conceived
the idea of extending his possessions in the interior of Africa, and
of subduing the country of the negroes, where he hoped to find much
treasure. He accordingly sent his son, Ishmail Pasha, with five thousand
men, upon this expedition, which ended most disastrously with the murder
of Ishmail and his guard by Melek Nemr, and the destruction of the
remainder of his forces.

In the year 1824, Sultan Mahmud, realising the impossibility of putting
down the Greek insurrection by his own unaided forces, bent his pride
sufficiently to ask help of his vassal Mehemet Ali. Mehemet was now in
possession of a well-drilled army and a well-equipped fleet, which were
placed at the service of the sultan, who promised him in return the
sovereignty of Crete, the pashalic of Syria, and possibly the reversion
of Morea for his son Ibrahim. The Greeks, deceived by their easy
successes over the undisciplined Turkish hosts, failed to realise
the greatness of the danger which threatened them. The Egyptian fleet
managed, without serious opposition, to enter the Archipelago, and, in
December, 1824, Ibrahim, to whom Mehemet Ali had entrusted the supreme
command of the expedition, established his base in Crete, within
striking distance of the Greek mainland. The following February he
landed with four thousand regular infantry and five hundred cavalry at
Modon, in the south of Morea.

The Greeks were utterly unable to hold their own against the
well-disciplined fellaheen of Ibrahim Bey, and, before the end of
the year, the whole of the Peloponnesus, with the exception of a few
strongholds, was at the mercy of the invader, and the report was spread
that Ibrahim intended to deport the Greek population and re-people the
country with Moslem negroes and Arabs.

The only barrier opposed to the entire extinction of the Greek
population was their single stronghold of Missolonghi, which was now
besieged by Rashid Pasha and the Turks. If Ibrahim had joined his forces
with the besieging army of the Turks, Missolonghi could hardly have
resisted their combined attack, and the Greek race would have been in
danger of suffering annihilation.

Meanwhile the Great Powers of Europe were seriously concerned with
this threatened destruction of the Greeks. England proposed a joint
intervention in defence of Greece on the part of the Powers, but Russia
desired to act alone. A huge army was gradually concentrated upon the
Turkish frontier. The Greek leaders now offered to place Greece
under British protection, and the Duke of Wellington was sent to St.
Petersburg to arrange the terms of the proposed joint intervention. A
protocol was signed at St. Petersburg April 4, 1826, whereby England
and Russia pledged themselves to cooperate in preventing any further
Turco-Egyptian agression. A more definite agreement was reached in
September, aiming at the cutting off of Ibrahim in Morea by a united
European fleet, thus forcing the Turks and Egyptians to terms. On July
6,1827, a treaty was signed at London, between England, France, and
Russia, which empowered the French and English admirals at Smyrna to
part the combatants--by peaceful means if possible, and if not, by
force.

Admiral Codrington at once sailed to Nauplia. The Greeks were willing to
accept an armistice, but the Turks scorned the offer. At about this
time an Egyptian fleet of ninety-two vessels sailed from Alexandria and
joined the Ottoman fleet in the bay of Navarino (September 7th). Five
days later Admiral Codrington arrived and informed the Turkish admiral
that any attempt to leave the bay would be resisted by force. French
vessels had also arrived, and Ibrahim agreed not to leave the bay
without consulting the sultan. A Greek flotilla having destroyed a
Turkish flotilla, Ibrahim took this as a breach of the convention and
sailed out to sea, but Codrington succeeded in turning him back. Ibrahim
now received instructions from the Porte to the effect that he should
defy the Powers. A new ultimatum was at once presented and the
allied fleet of the European Powers entered the bay of Navarino. The
Turco-Egyptian fleet was disposed at the bottom of the bay in the form
of a crescent. Without further parleying, as the fleet of the English
and their allies approached, the Turks and Egyptians began to fire, and
a battle ensued, apparently without plan on either side: the conflict
soon became general, and Admiral Codrington in the _Asia_ opened a
broadside upon the Egyptian admiral, and quickly reduced his vessel to
a wreck. Other vessels in rapid succession shared the same fate, and the
conflict raged with great fury for four hours. When the smoke cleared
off, the Turks and Egyptians had disappeared, and the bay was strewn
with fragments of their ships.

[Illustration: 161.jpg A DISTINGUISHED EGYPTIAN JEW]

Admiral Codrington now made a demonstration before Alexandria, and
Mehemet Ali gladly withdrew his forces from co-operating with such a
dangerous ally as the sultan had proved himself to be. Before the French
expedition, bound for the Morea, had arrived, all the Egyptian forces
had been withdrawn from the Peloponnesus, and the French only arrived
after the Anglo-Egyptian treaty had been signed August 9, 1828.

Mehemet Ali's chief ambition had always been to enlarge the circle
of regeneration in the East. In Morea he had failed through European
intervention. He felt that his nearer neighbour, Syria, which he had
long coveted, would be an easier conquest, and he made the punishment of
Abdullah Pasha of Acre, against whom he had many grievances, his excuse
to the Porte. In reality it was a case of attacking or being attacked.
Through a firman of the Divan of Constantinople, which had been
published officially to the European Powers, he knew that his secret
relations with Mustapha Pasha of Scodra had become known. He knew also
that letters had been intercepted in which he offered this pasha money,
troops, and ammunition, while engaging himself to march on the capital
of the empire, and that these letters were now in the hand of the Sultan
Mahmud. He wras also informed that the Porte was preparing to send a
formidable army to Egypt; and his sound instinct taught him what to do
in this position.

Ibrahim Pasha was appointed commander-in-chief of the invading army,
which was composed of six regiments of infantry, four of cavalry,
forty field-pieces, and many siege-pieces. Provisions, artillery, and
ammunition were on board the men-of-war. Thousands of baggage camels and
ambulances were being collected ready for departure when cholera broke
out. Coming from India, after having touched along the coasts of the
Persian Gulf, it had penetrated into the caravan to Mecca, where the
heat and dearth of water had given it fresh intensity. It raged in the
Holy Town, striking down twenty thousand victims, and touched at Jeddah
and Zambo, where its effects were very dire. Passing through Suez, it
decimated the population, and in August it reached Cairo and spread to
Upper and Lower Egypt. The army did not escape the common scourge, and
when about to invade Syria was overtaken by the epidemic. Five thousand
out of ninety thousand perished. All preparations for the expedition
were abandoned until a more temperate season improved the sanitary
conditions.

About the beginning of October, 1831, the viceroy gave orders to his son
to prepare for departure, and on November 2d the troops started for
El Arish, the general meeting-place of the army. Ibrahim Pasha went
to Alexandria, whence he embarked with his staff and some troops
for landing. Uniting at El Arish, the army marched on Gaza and took
possession of that town, dispersing some soldiers of the Pasha of Acre.
Thence it turned to Jaffa, where it met with no resistance, the Turkish
garrison having already evacuated the town.

At this time the army which had sailed from Alexandria was cruising
about the port of Jaffa, and Ibrahim Pasha landed there and took over
the command of the army, which advanced slowly on St. Jean d'Acre,
seizing Caiffa to facilitate the anchoring of the fleet, which had
landed provisions, artillery, and all kinds of ammunition. After six
months' siege and ten hours' fighting, Ibrahim Pasha obtained possession
of St. Jean d'Acre, under whose walls fell so many valiant crusaders,
and which, since the repulse of Napoleon, had passed for all but
impregnable. Abdullah Pasha evinced a desire to be taken to Egypt, and
he landed at Alexandria, where he was warmly welcomed by the viceroy,
who complimented him on his defence.

Hostile in everything to Mehemet Ali, the Porte seized every opportunity
of injuring him. When Sultan Mahmud learned of the victory of the
viceroy's troops in Syria, he sent one of his first officers to enquire
the reason of this invasion. The viceroy alleged grievances against the
Pasha of Acre, to which his Highness replied that he alone had the right
to punish his subjects.

The eyes of Europe were now fixed upon the Levant, where a novel
struggle was going on between vassal and suzerain. Authority and liberty
were again opposing each other. The Powers watched the struggle with
intense interest. The viceroy protested against bearing the cost of
the war, and demanded the investiture of Syria. Mehemet Ali was then
declared a rebel, and a firman was issued against him, in support of
which excommunication an army of sixty thousand men advanced across Asia
Minor to the Syrian boundaries, while a squadron of twenty-five sail
stood in the Dardanelles ready to weigh anchor.

[Illustration: 165.jpg MOSQUE OF MUAD AT CAIRO]

The Porte forbade the ambassadors of the Powers to import ammunition
into Egypt, for it feared that the viceroy might find a support whose
strength it knew only too well. But the viceroy had no need of this,
for his former connections with Europe had put him in a position of
independence, whereas the Porte itself was obliged to fall back on this
support. Russia, the one of the three Great Powers whose disposition
it was to support the authority of the sultan, lent him twenty thousand
bayonets, whilst Ibrahim Pasha made his advance to the gates of
Constantinople.

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