On the 1st of July 1277 Bibars died, and the events that followed set an

example repeatedly followed during the period of the Mamelukes. The

sultan's son _Malik al-Sa'id_ ascended the throne; but within little

more than two years he was compelled to abdicate in favour of his

father-in-law _Kala'un_, a Mameluke who had risen high in the former

sovereign's service. The accession of Kala'un was also marked by an

attempt on the part of the governor of Damascus to form Syria into an

independent kingdom, an attempt frequently imitated on similar

occasions. The Syrian forces were defeated at the battle of Jazurah

(April 26th, 1280) and Kala'un resumed possession of the country; but

the disaffected Syrians entered into relations with the Mongols, who

proceeded to invade Syria, but were finally defeated by Kala'un on the

30th of October 1281 under the walls of Homs (Emesa).

The conversion to Islam of Nikudar Ahmad, the third of the Ilkhan rulers

of Persia, and the consequent troubles in the western Mongol empire, let

to a suspension of hostilities between Egypt and the Ilkhans (see

PERSIA: _History_, S B), though the latter did not cease to agitate in

Europe for a renewal of the Crusades, with little result. Kala'un,

without pursuing any career of active conquest, did much to consolidate

his dominions, and especially to extend Egyptian commerce, for which

purpose he started passports enabling merchants to travel with safety

through Egypt and Syria as far as India. After the danger from the

Mongols had ceased, however, Kala'un directed his energies towards

capturing the last places that remained in the hands of the Franks, and

proceeded to take Markab, Latakia, and Tripoli (April 26th, 1289). In

1290 he planned an attack on Acre, but died (November 10th) in the

middle of all his preparations. Under Kala'un we first hear of the

Burjite Mamelukes, who owe their name to the citadel (Burj) of Cairo,

where 3700 of the whole number of 12,000 Mamelukes maintained by this

sovereign were quartered. He also set an example, frequently followed,

of the practice of dismissing all non-Moslems from government posts:

this was often done by his successors with the view of conciliating the

Moslems, but it was speedily found that the services of the Jewish and

Christian clerks were again required. He further founded a hospital for

clinical research on a scale formerly unknown.

Malik al-Nasir.

Mongol Wars.

Decline of the Bahri power.

Kala'un was followed by his son _Khalil_ (_Malik al-Ashraf Salah

al-din_), who carried out his father's policy of driving the Franks out

of Syria and Palestine, and proceeded with the siege of Acre, which he

took (May 18th, 1291) after a siege of forty-three days. The capture and

destruction of this important place were followed by the capture of

Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, Athlit and Beirut, and thus Syria was cleared of the

Crusaders. He also planned an expedition against the prince of Lesser

Armenia, which was averted by the surrender of Behesna, Marash and Tell

Hamdun. The disputes between his favourite, the vizier Ibn al-Sa'lus,

and his viceroy Baidara, led to his being murdered by the latter

(December 12th, 1293), who was proclaimed sultan, but almost immediately

fell a victim to the vengeance of the deceased sultan's party, who

placed a younger son of Kala'un, _Mahommed Malik al-Nasir_, on the

throne. This prince had the singular fortune of reigning three times,

being twice dethroned: he was first installed on the 14th of December

1293, when he was nine years old, and the affairs of the kingdom were

undertaken by a cabinet, consisting of a vizier ('Alam al-din Sinjar), a

viceroy (Kitboga), a war minister (Husam al-din Lajin al-Rumi), a

prefect of the palace (Rokneddin Bibars Jashengir) and a secretary of

state (Rokneddin Bibars Mansuri). This cabinet naturally split into

rival camps, in consequence of which Kitboga, himself a Mongol, with the

aid of other Mongols who had come into Egypt after the battle of Homs,

succeeded in ousting his rivals, and presently, with the aid of the

surviving assassins of the former sultan, compelling Malik al-Nasir to

abdicate in his favour (December 1st, 1294). The usurper was, however,

able to maintain himself for two years only, famine and pestilence which

prevailed in Egypt and Syria during his reign rendering him unpopular,

while his arbitrary treatment of the amirs also gave offence. He was

dethroned in 1296, and one of the murderers of Khalil, Husam al-din

_Lajin_, son-in-law of the sultan Bibars and formerly governor of

Damascus, installed in his palace (November 26th, 1296). It had become

the practice of the Egyptian sultans to bestow all offices of importance

on their own freedmen (Mamelukes) to the exclusion of the older amirs,

whom they could not trust so well, but who in turn became still more

disaffected. Husam al-din fell a victim to the jealousy of the older

amirs whom he had incensed by bestowing arbitrary power on his own

Mameluke Mengutimur, and was murdered on the 16th of January 1299. His

short reign was marked by some fairly successful incursions into

Armenia, and the recovery of the fortresses Marash and Tell Hamdun,

which had been retaken by the Armenians. He also instituted a fresh

survey and division of land in Egypt and Syria, which occasioned much

discontent. After his murder the deposed sultan Malik al-Nasir, who had

been living in retirement at Kerak, was recalled by the army and

reinstated as sultan in Cairo (February 7th, 1299), though still only

fourteen years of age, so that public affairs were administered not by

him, but by Salar the viceroy, and Bibars Jashengir, prefect of the

palace. The 7th Ilkhan, Ghazan Mahmud, took advantage of the disorder in

the Mameluke empire to invade Syria in the latter half of 1299, when his

forces inflicted a severe defeat on those of the new sultan, and seized

several cities, including the capital Damascus, of which, however, they

were unable to storm the citadel; in 1300, when a fresh army was

collected in Egypt, the Mongols evacuated Damascus and made no attempt

to secure their other conquests. The fear of further Mongolian invasion

led to the imposition of fresh taxes in both Egypt and Syria, including

one of 33% on rents, which occasioned many complaints. The invasion did

not take place till 1303, when at the battle of Marj al-Saffar (April

20th) the Mongols were defeated. This was the last time that the Ilkhans

gave the Egyptian sultans serious trouble; and in the letter written in

the sultan's name to the Ilkhan announcing the victory, the former

suggested that the caliphate of Bagdad should be restored to the titular

Abbasid caliph who had accompanied the Egyptian expedition, a suggestion

which does not appear to have led to any actual steps being taken. The

fact that the Mongols were in ostensible alliance with Christian princes

led to a renewal by the sultan of the ordinances against Jews and

Christians which had often been abrogated, as often renewed and again

fallen into abeyance; and their renewal led to missions from various

Christian princes requesting milder terms for their co-religionists. The

amirs Salar and Bibars having usurped the whole of the sultan's

authority, he, after some futile attempts to free himself of them, under

the pretext of pilgrimage to Mecca, retired in March 1309 to Kerak,

whence he sent his abdication to Cairo; in consequence of which, on the

5th of April 1309, _Bibars Jashengir_ was proclaimed sultan, with the

title _Malik al-Mozaffar_. This prince was originally a freedman of

Kala'un, and was the first Circassian who ascended the throne of Egypt.

Before the year was out the new sultan had been rendered unpopular by

the occurrence of a famine, and Malik al-Nasir was easily able to induce

the Syrian amirs to return to his allegiance, in consequence of which

Bibars in his turn abdicated, and Malik al-Nasir re-entered Cairo as

sovereign on the 5th of March 1310. He soon found the means to execute

both Bibars and Salar, while other amirs who had been eminent under the

former regime fled to the Mongols. The relations between their Ilkhan

and the Egyptian sultan continued strained, and the 8th Ilkhan Oeljeitu

(1304-1316) addressed letters to Philip the Fair and the English king

Edward I. (answered by Edward II. in 1307), desiring aid against Malik

al-Nasir; and for many years the courts of the sultan and the Ilkhan

continued to be the refuge of malcontents from the other kingdom.

Finally in 1322 terms of peace and alliance were agreed on between the

sultan and Abu Sa'id the 9th Ilkhan. The sultan also entered into

relations with the Mongols of the Golden Horde and in 1319 married a

daughter of the reigning prince Uzbeg Khan (see MONGOLS: _Golden

Horde_). Much of Malik al-Nasir's third administration was spent in

raids into Nubia, where he endeavoured to set up a creature of his own

as sovereign, in attempts at bringing the Bedouins of south-eastern

Egypt into subordination, and in persecuting the Nosairis, whose heresy

became formidable about this time. Like other Egyptian sultans he made

considerable use of the Assassins, 124 of whom were sent by him into

Persia to execute Kara Sonkor, at one time governor of Damascus, and one

of the murderers of Malik al-Ashraf; but they were all outwitted by the

exile, who was finally poisoned by the Ilkhan in recompense for a

similar service rendered by the Egyptian sultan. For a time Malik

al-Nasir was recognized as suzerain in north Africa, the Arabian Irak,

and Asia Minor, but he was unable to make any permanent conquests in any

of these countries. He brought Medina, which had previously been

governed by independent sherifs, to acknowledge his authority. His

diplomatic relations were more extensive than those of any previous

sultan, and included Bulgarian, Indian, and Abyssinian potentates, as

well as the pope, the king of Aragon and the king of France. He appears

to have done his utmost to protect his Christian subjects, incurring

thereby the reproaches of the more fanatical Moslems, especially in the

year 1320 when owing to incendiarism in Cairo there was danger of a

general massacre of the Christian population. His internal

administration was marked by gross extravagance, which led to his

viziers being forced to practise violent extortion for which they

afterwards suffered. He paid considerable attention to sheep-breeding

and agriculture, and by a canal which he had dug from Fuah to Alexandria

not only assisted commerce but brought 100,000 feddans under

cultivation. His taste for building and street improvement led to the

beautifying of Cairo, and his example was followed by the governors of

other great cities in the empire, notably Aleppo and Damascus. He paid

exceptionally high prices for Mamelukes, many of whom were sold by their

Mongol parents to his agents, and accustomed them to greater luxury than

was usual under his predecessors. In 1315 he instituted a survey of

Egypt, and of the twenty-four parts into which it was divided ten were

assigned to the sultan and fourteen to the amirs and the army. He took

occasion to abolish a variety of vexatious imposts, and the new budget

fell less heavily on the Christians than the old. Among the literary

ornaments of his reign was the historian and geographer Isma'il Abulfeda

(q.v.), to whom Malik al-Nasir restored the government of Hamath, which

had belonged to his ancestors, and even gave the title sultan. He died

on the 7th of June 1341. The son, _Abu Bakr_, to whom he had left the

throne, was able to maintain himself only a few months on it, being

compelled to abdicate on the 4th of August 1341 in favour of his infant

brother _Kuchuk_; the revolution was brought about by Kausun, a powerful

Mameluke of the preceding monarch. This person's authority was, however,

soon overthrown by a party formed by the Syrian prefects, and on the

11th of January _Malik al-Nasir Ahmad_, an elder son of the former

sultan of the same title, was installed in his place, though he did not

actually arrive in Cairo till the 6th of November, being unwilling to

leave Kerak, where he had been living in retirement. After a brief

sojourn in Cairo he speedily returned thither, thereby forfeiting his

throne, which was conferred by the amirs on his brother _Isma'il

al-Malik al-Salih_ (June 27th, 1342). This sultan was mainly occupied

during his short reign with besieging and taking Kerak, whither Ahmad

had taken refuge, and himself died on the 3rd of August 1345, when

another son of Malik al-Nasir, named _Sha'ban_, was placed on the

throne. The constant changes of sultan led to great disorder in the

provinces, and many of the subject principalities endeavoured to shake

off the Egyptian yoke. Sha'ban proved no more competent than his

predecessors, being given to open debauchery and profligacy, an example

followed by his amirs; and fresh discontent led to his being deposed by

the Syrian amirs, when his brother _Hajji_ was proclaimed sultan in his

place (September 18th, 1346). Hajji was deposed and killed on the 10th

of December 1347, and another infant son of Malik al-Nasir, _Hasan_, who

took his father's title, was proclaimed, the real power being shared by

three amirs, Sheikhun, Menjek and Yelbogha Arus. During this reign

(1348-1349) Egypt was visited by the "Black Death," which is said to

have carried off 900,000 of the inhabitants of Cairo and to have raged

as far south as Assuan. Towards the beginning of 1351 the sultan got rid

of his guardians and attempted to rule by himself; but though successful

in war, his arbitrary measures led to his being dethroned on the 21st of

August 1351 by the amirs, who proclaimed his brother Salih with the

title of _Malik al-Salih_. He too was only fourteen years of age. The

power was contested for by various groups of amirs, whose struggles

ended with the deposition of the sultan Salih on the 20th of October

1354, and the reinstatement of his brother _Hasan_, who was again

dethroned on the 16th of March 1361 by an amir Yelbogha, whom he had

offended, and who, having got possession of the sultan's person,

murdered him. The next day a son of the dethroned sultan Hajji was

proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Mansur_. On the 29th of May

1363 this sultan was also dethroned on the ground of incompetence, and

his place was given to another grandson of Malik al-Nasir, _Sha'ban_,

son of Hosain, then ten years old. The amir Yelbogha at first held all

real power and is said to have acquired a degree of authority which no

other subject ever held. During this reign, on the 8th of October 1365,

a landing was effected at Alexandria by a Frankish fleet under Peter I.

of Cyprus, which presently took possession of the city; the Franks were

speedily compelled to embark again after plundering the city, for which

compensation was afterwards demanded by Yelbogha from the Christian

population of Egypt and Syria. Alexandria was further made the seat of a

viceroy, having previously only had a prefect. On the 11th of December

1366 Yelbogha was himself attacked by the sultan, captured and slain.

His successor in the office of first minister was a mere tool in the

hands of his Mamelukes, who compelled him to institute and depose

governors, &c., at their pleasure. In 1374 the Egyptians raided Cilicia

and captured Leo VI., prince of Lesser Armenia, which now became an

Egyptian province with a Moslem governor. On the 15th of March 1377 the

sultan was murdered by the Mamelukes, owing to his refusing a largess of

money which they demanded. The infant son of the late sultan _'Ali_, a

lad of eight years, was proclaimed with the title _Malik al-Mansur_; the

power was in the hands of the ministers Kartai and Ibek, the latter of

whom overthrew the former with the aid of his own Mamelukes, Berekeh and

Barkuk. An insurrection in Syria which spread to Egypt presently caused

the fall of Ibek, and led to the occupation of the highest posts by the

Circassian freedmen Berekeh and Barkuk, of whom the latter ere long

succeeded in ousting the former and usurping the sultan's place; on the

19th of May 1381, when the sultan 'Ali died, his place was given to an

infant brother Hajji, but on the 26th of November 1382, _Barkuk_ set

this child aside and had himself proclaimed sultan (with the title

_Malik al-Zahir_), thereby ending the Bahri dynasty and commencing that

of the Circassians. For a short period, however, Hajji was restored,

when on the 1st of June 1389 Cairo was taken by Yelbogha, governor of

Damascus, and Barkuk expelled; Hajji reigned at first under the

guardianship of Yelbogha, who was then overthrown by Mintash; Barkuk,

who had been relegated to Kerak, succeeded in again forming a party, and

in a battle fought at Shakhab, January 1390, succeeded in gaining

possession of the person of the sultan Hajji, and on the 21st of January

he was again proclaimed sultan in Cairo.

Timur in Syria.

Wars with European Powers.

(7) _Period of Burji Mamelukes._--Barkuk presently entered into

relations with the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I., and by slaying an envoy of

Timur incurred the displeasure of the world-conqueror; and in 1394 led

an army into Syria with the view of restoring the Jelairid Ilkhan Ahmad

to Bagdad (as Barkuk's vassal), and meeting the Mongol invasion. Barkuk,

however, died (June 20th, 1399) before Timur had time to invade Syria.

According to the custom that had so often proved disastrous, a young son

of Barkuk, _Faraj_, then aged thirteen, was appointed sultan under the

guardianship of two amirs. Incursions were immediately made by the

Ottoman sultan into the territory of Egyptian vassals at Derendeh and

Albistan (Ablestin), and Malatia was besieged by his forces. Timur, who

was at this time beginning his campaign against Bayezid, turned his

attention first to Syria, and on the 30th of October 1400 defeated the

Syrian amirs near Aleppo, and soon got possession of the city and the

citadel. He proceeded to take Hamah, Homs (Emesa) and other towns, and

on the 20th of December started for Damascus. An endeavour was made by

the Egyptian sultan to relieve Damascus, but the news of an insurrection

in Cairo caused him to retire and leave the place to its fate. In the

first three months of 1401 the whole of Northern Syria suffered from

Timur's marauders. In the following year (September 29th, 1402) Timur

who had in the interval inflicted a crushing defeat on the Ottoman

sultan, sent to demand homage from Faraj, and his demand was readily

granted, together with the delivery of the princes who had sought refuge

from Timur in Egyptian territory. The death of Timur in February 1405

restored Egyptian authority in Syria, which, however, became a

rendezvous for all who were discontented with the rule of Faraj and his

amirs, and two months after Timur's death was in open rebellion against

Faraj. Although Faraj succeeded in defeating the rebels, he was

compelled by insubordination on the part of his Circassian Mamelukes to

abdicate (September 20th, 1405), when his brother _Abd al-al-'aziz_ was

proclaimed with the title _Malik al-Mansur_; after two months this

prince was deposed, and Faraj, who had been in hiding, recalled. Most of

his reign was, however, occupied with revolts on the part of the Syrian

amirs, to quell whom he repeatedly visited Syria; the leaders of the

rebels were the amirs Newruz and Sheik Mahmudi, afterwards sultan. Owing

to disturbances and misgovernment the population of Egypt and Syria is

said to have shrunk to a third in his time, and he offended public

sentiment not only by debauchery, but by having his image stamped on his

coins. On the 23rd of May 1412, after being defeated and shut up in

Damascus, he was compelled by Sheik Mahmudi to abdicate, and an Abbasid

caliph, Mosta'in, was proclaimed sultan, only to be forced to abdicate

on the 6th of November of the same year in _Sheik's_ favour, who took

the title _Malik al-Mu'ayyad_, his colleague Newruz having been

previously sent to Syria, where he was to be autocrat by the terms of

their agreement. In the struggle which naturally followed between the

two, Newruz was shut up in Damascus, defeated and slain. Sheik himself

invaded Asia Minor and forced the Turkoman states to acknowledge his

suzerainty. After the sultan's return they soon rebelled, but were again

brought into subjection by Sheik's son Ibrahim; his victories excited

the envy of his father, who is said to have poisoned him. Sheik himself

died a few months after the decease of his son (January 13th, 1421), and

another infant son, _Ahmad_, was proclaimed with the title _Malik

al-Mozaffar_, the proclamation being followed by the usual dissensions

between the amirs, ending with the assumption of supreme power by the

amir _Tatar_, who, after defeating his rivals, on the 29th of August

1421 had himself proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Zahir_.

This usurper, however, died on the 30th of November of the same year,

leaving the throne to an infant son _Mohammed_, who was given the title

_Malik al-Salih_; the regular intrigues between the amirs followed,

leading to his being dethroned on the following 1st of April 1422, when

the amir appointed to be his tutor, _Barsbai_, was proclaimed sultan

with the title _Malik al-Ashraf_. This sultan avenged the attacks on

Alexandria repeatedly made by Cyprian ships, for he sent a fleet which

burned Limasol, and another which took Famagusta (August 4th, 1425), but

failed in the endeavour to annex the island permanently. An expedition

sent in the following year (1426) succeeded in taking captive the king

of Cyprus, who was brought to Cairo and presently released for a ransom

of 200,000 dinars, on condition of acknowledging the suzerainty of the

Egyptian sultan and paying him an annual tribute. Barsbai appears to

have excelled his predecessors in the invention of devices for exacting

money from merchants and pilgrims, and in juggling with the exchange.

This led to a naval demonstration on the part of the Venetians, who

secured better terms for their trade, and to the seizure of Egyptian

vessels by the king of Aragon and the prince of Catalonia. In a census

made during Barsbai's reign, it was found that the total number of towns

and villages in Egypt had sunk to 2170, whereas in the 4th century A.H.

it had stood at 10,000. Much of Barsbai's attention was occupied with

raids into Asia Minor, where the Dhu 'l-Kadiri Turkomans frequently

rebelled, and with wars against Kara Yelek, prince of Amid, and Shah

Rokh, son of Timur. Barsbai died on the 7th of June 1438. In accordance

with the custom of his predecessors he left the throne to a son still in

his minority, _Abu'l-Mahasin Yusuf_, who took the title _Malik

al-'Aziz_, but as usual after a few months he was displaced by the

regent _Jakmak_, who on the 9th of September 1438 was proclaimed sultan

with the title _Malik al-Zahir_. In the years 1442-1444 this sultan sent

three fleets against Rhodes, where the third effected a landing, but was

unable to make any permanent conquest. In consequence of a lengthy

illness Jakmak abdicated on the 1st of February 1453, when his son

_'Othman_ was proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Mansur_. Though

not a minor, he had no greater success than the sons of the usurpers who

preceded him, being dethroned after six weeks (March 15th, 1453) in

favour of the amir _Inal al-'Ala'i_, who took the title _Malik

al-Ashraf_. His reign was marked by friendly relations with the Ottoman

sultan Mahommed II., whose capture of Constantinople (1453) was the

cause of great rejoicings in Egypt, but also by violent excesses on the

part of the Mamelukes, who dictated the sultan's policy. On his death on

the 26th of February 1461 his son _Ahmad_ was proclaimed sultan with the

title _Malik al-Mu'ayyad_; he had the usual fate of sultans' sons,

earned in his case by an attempt to bring the Mamelukes under

discipline; he was compelled to abdicate on the 28th of June 1461, when

the amir _Khoshkadam_, who had served as a general, was proclaimed

sultan. Unlike the other Mameluke sovereigns, who were Turks or

Circassians, this man had originally been a Greek slave.

Early relations with Turkey.

In his reign (1463) there began the struggle between the Egyptian and

the Ottoman sultanates which finally led to the incorporation of Egypt

in the Ottoman empire. The dispute began with a struggle over the

succession in the principality of Karaman, where the two sultans

favoured rival candidates, and the Ottoman sultan Mahommed II. supported

the claim of his candidate with force of arms, obtaining as the price of

his assistance several towns in which the suzerainty of the Egyptian

sultan had been acknowledged. Open war did not, however, break out

between the two states in Khoshkadam's time. This sultan is said to have

taken money to permit innocent persons to be ill-treated or executed. He

died on the 9th of October 1467, when the Atabeg _Yelbai_ was selected

by the Mamelukes to succeed him, and was proclaimed sultan with the

title of _Malik al-Zahir_. This person, proving incompetent, was deposed

by a revolution of the Mamelukes on the 4th of December 1467, when the

Atabeg _Timurbogha_ was proclaimed with the title _Malik al-Zahir_. In

a month's time, however, there was another palace revolution, and the

new Atabeg _Kait Bey_ or _Kaietbai_ (January 31st, 1468) was proclaimed

sultan, the dethroned Timurbogha being, however, permitted to go free

whither he pleased. Much of Kait Bey's reign was spent in struggles with

Uzun Hasan, prince of Diarbekr, and Shah Siwar, chief of the

Dhu'l-Kadiri Turkomans. He also offended the Ottoman sultan Bayezid

II. by entertaining his brother Jem, who was afterwards poisoned in

Europe. Owing to this, and also to the fact that an Indian embassy to

the Ottoman sultan was intercepted by the agents of Kait Bey, Bayezid

II. declared war against Egypt, and seized Adana, Tarsus and other

places within Egyptian territory; extraordinary efforts were made by

Kait Bey, whose generals inflicted a severe defeat on the Ottoman

invaders. In 1491, however, after the Egyptians had repeatedly defeated

the Ottoman troops, Kait Bey made proposals of peace which were

accepted, the keys of the towns which the Ottomans had seized being

restored to the Egyptian sultan. Kait Bey endeavoured to assist his

co-religionists in Spain who were threatened by King Ferdinand, by

threatening the pope with reprisals on Syrian Christians, but without

effect. As the consequence of a palace intrigue, which Kait Bey was too

old to quell, on the 7th of August 1496, a day before his death, his son

_Mahommed_ was proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Nasir_; this

was in order to put the supreme power into the hands of the Atabeg

Kansuh, since the new sultan was only fourteen years old. An attempt of

the Atabeg to oust the new sultan, however, failed. After a reign of

little more than two years, filled mainly with struggles between rival

amirs, _Malik al-Nasir_ was murdered (October 31st, 1498), and his uncle

and vizier _Kansuh_ proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Zahir_.

His reign only lasted about twenty months; on the 30th of June 1500 he

was dethroned by Tumanbey, who caused _Jan Belat_, the Atabeg, to be

proclaimed sultan. A few months later _Tumanbey_, at the suggestion of

Kasrawah, governor of Damascus, whom he had been sent to reduce to

subjection, ousted Jan Belat, and was himself proclaimed sultan with the

title _Malik al-'Adil_ (January 25th, 1501). His reign lasted only one

hundred days, when he was displaced by _Kansuh al-Ghuri_ (April 20th,

1501). His reign was remarkable for a naval conflict between the

Egyptians and the Portuguese, whose fleet interfered with the pilgrim

route from India to Mecca, and also with the trade between India and

Egypt; Kansuh caused a fleet to be built which fought naval battles with

the Portuguese with varying results.

The Turkish conquest.

In 1515 there began the war with the Ottoman sultan Selim I. which led

to the close of the Mameluke period, and the incorporation of Egypt and

its dependencies in the Ottoman empire (see TURKEY: _History_). Kansuh

was charged by Selim with giving the envoys of the Safawid Isma'il

passage through Syria on their way to Venice to form a confederacy

against the Turks, and with harbouring various refugees. The actual

declaration of war was not made by Selim till May 1515, when the Ottoman

sultan had made all his preparations; and at the battle of Merj Dabik,

on the 24th of August 1515, Kansuh was defeated by the Ottoman forces

and fell fighting. Syria passed quickly into the possession of the

Turks, whose advent was in many places welcome as meaning deliverance

from the Mamelukes. In Cairo, when the news of the defeat and death of

the Egyptian sultan arrived, the governor who had been left by Kansuh,

_Tumanbey_, was proclaimed sultan (October 17th, 1516). On the 20th of

January 1517 Cairo was taken by the Ottomans, and Selim shortly after

declared sultan of Egypt. Tumanbey continued the struggle for some

months, but was finally defeated, and after being captured and kept in

prison seventeen days was executed on the 15th of April 1517.

(8) _The Turkish Period._--The sultan Selim left with his viceroy Khair

Bey a guard of 5000 janissaries, but otherwise made few changes in the

administration of the country. The register by which a great portion of

the land was a fief of the Mamelukes was left unchanged, and it is said

that a proposal made by the sultan's vizier to appropriate these estates

was punished with death. The Mameluke amirs were to be retained in

office as heads of twelve sanjaks into which Egypt was divided; and

under the next sultan, Suleiman I., two chambers were created, called

respectively the Greater and the Lesser Divan, in which both the army

and the ecclesiastical authorities were represented, to aid the pasha by

their deliberations. Six regiments altogether were constituted by the

conqueror Selim for the protection of Egypt; to these Suleiman added a

seventh, of Circassians. As will be seen from the tables, it was the

practice of the Porte to change the governor of Egypt at very short

intervals--after a year or even some months. The third governor, Ahmad

Pasha, hearing that orders for this execution had come from

Constantinople, endeavoured to make himself an independent ruler and had

coins struck in his own name. His schemes were frustrated by two of the

amirs whom he had imprisoned and who, escaping from their confinement,

attacked him in his bath and killed him. In 1527 the first survey of

Egypt under the Ottomans was made, in consequence of the official copy

of the former registers having perished by fire; yet this new survey did

not come into use until 1605. Egyptian lands were divided in it into

four classes--the sultan's domain, fiefs, land for the maintenance of

the army, and lands settled on religious foundations.

Troubles with the army.

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.

At length, in consequence of the remonstrances of the English, and a

promise made by al-Alfi of 1500 purses, the Porte consented to reinstate

the twenty-four beys and to place al-Alfi at their head; but this

measure met with the opposition of Mehemet Ali and the determined

resistance of the majority of the Mamelukes, who, rather than have

al-Alfi at their head, preferred their present condition; for the enmity

of al-Bardisi had not subsided, and he commanded the voice of most of

the other beys. In pursuance of the above plan, a squadron under Salih

Pasha, shortly before appointed high admiral, arrived at Alexandria on

the 1st of July 1806 with 3000 regular troops and a successor to Mehemet

Ali, who was to receive the pashalik of Salonica. This wily chief

professed his willingness to obey the commands of the Porte, but stated

that his troops, to whom he owed a vast sum of money, opposed his

departure. He induced the ulema to sign a letter, praying the sultan to

revoke the command for reinstating the beys, persuaded the chiefs of the

Albanian troops to swear allegiance to him, and sent 2000 purses

contributed by them to Constantinople. Al-Alfi was at that time

besieging Damanhur, and he gained a signal victory over the pasha's

troops; but the dissensions of the beys destroyed their last chance of a

return to power. Al-Alfi and his partisans were unable to pay the sum

promised to the Porte; Salih Pasha received plenipotentiary powers from

Constantinople, in consequence of the letter from the ulema; and, on the

condition of Mehemet Ali's paying 4000 purses to the Porte, it was

decided that he should continue in his post, and the reinstatement of

the beys was abandoned. Fortune continued to favour the pasha. In the

following month al-Bardisi died, aged forty-eight years; and soon after,

a scarcity of provisions excited the troops of al-Alfi to revolt. That

bey very reluctantly raised the siege of Damanhur, being in daily

expectation of the arrival of an English army; and at the village of

Shubra-ment he was attacked by a sudden illness, and died on the 30th of

January 1807, at the age of fifty-five. Thus was the pasha relieved of

his two most formidable enemies; and shortly after he defeated Shahin

Bey, with the loss to the latter of his artillery and baggage and 300

men killed or taken prisoners.

The British expedition of 1807.

On the 17th of March 1807 a British fleet appeared off Alexandria,

having on board nearly 5000 troops, under the command of General A.

Mackenzie Fraser; and the place, being disaffected towards Mehemet Ali,

opened its gates to them. Here they first heard of the death of al-Alfi,

upon whose co-operation they had founded their chief hopes of success;

and they immediately despatched messengers to his successor and to the

other beys, inviting them to Alexandria. The British resident, Major

Missett, having represented the importance of taking Rosetta and

Rahmanieh, to secure supplies for Alexandria, General Fraser, with the

concurrence of the admiral, Sir John Duckworth, detached the 31st

regiment and the Chasseurs Britanniques, accompanied by some field

artillery under Major-General Wauchope and Brigadier-General Meade, on

this service; and these troops entered Rosetta without encountering any

opposition; but as soon as they had dispersed among the narrow streets,

the garrison opened a deadly fire on them from the latticed windows and

the roofs of the houses. They effected a retreat on Aboukir and

Alexandria, after a very heavy loss of 185 killed and 281 wounded,

General Wauchope and three officers being among the former, and General

Meade and nineteen officers among the latter. The heads of the slain

were fixed on stakes on each side of the road crossing the Ezbekia in

Cairo.

Mehemet Ali, meanwhile, was conducting an expedition against the beys in

Upper Egypt, and he had defeated them near Assiut, when he heard of the

arrival of the British. In great alarm lest the beys should join them,

especially as they were far north of his position, he immediately sent

messengers to his rivals, promising to comply with all their demands if

they should join in expelling the invaders; and this proposal being

agreed to, both armies marched towards Cairo on opposite sides of the

river.

To return to the unfortunate British expedition. The possession of

Rosetta being deemed indispensable, Brigadier-Generals Sir William

Stewart and Oswald were despatched thither with 2500 men. For thirteen

days a cannonade of the town was continued without effect; and on the

20th of April, news having come in from the advanced guard at Hamad of

large reinforcements to the besieged, General Stewart was compelled to

retreat; and a dragoon was despatched to Lieutenant-colonel Macleod,

commanding at Hamad, with orders to fall back. The messenger, however,

was unable to penetrate to the spot; and the advanced guard, consisting

of a detachment of the 31st, two companies of the 78th, one of the 35th,

and De Roll's regiment, with a picquet of dragoons, the whole mustering

733 men, was surrounded, and, after a gallant resistance, the survivors,

who had expended all their ammunition, became prisoners of war. General

Stewart regained Alexandria with the remainder of his force, having

lost, in killed, wounded and missing, nearly 900 men. Some hundreds of

British heads were now exposed on stakes in Cairo, and the prisoners

were marched between these mutilated remains of their countrymen.

Final massacre of the Mamelukes.

The beys became divided in their wishes, one party being desirous of

co-operating with the British, the other with the pasha. These delays

proved ruinous to their cause; and General Fraser, despairing of their

assistance, evacuated Alexandria on the 14th of September. From that

date to the spring of 1811 the beys from time to time relinquished

certain of their demands; the pasha on his part granted them what before

had been withheld; the province of the Fayum, and part of those of Giza

and Beni-Suef, were ceded to Shahin; and a great portion of the Sa'id,

on the condition of paying the land-tax, to the others. Many of them

took up their abode in Cairo, but tranquillity was not secured; several

times they met the pasha's forces in battle and once gained a signal

victory. Early in the year 1811, the preparations for an expedition

against the Wahhabis in Arabia being complete, all the Mameluke beys

then in Cairo were invited to the ceremony of investing Mehemet Ali's

favourite son, Tusun, with a pelisse and the command of the army. As on

the former occasion, the unfortunate Mamelukes fell into the snare. On

the 1st of March, Shahin Bey and the other chiefs (one only excepted)

repaired with their retinues to the citadel, and were courteously

received by the pasha. Having taken coffee, they formed in procession,

and, preceded and followed by the pasha's troops, slowly descended the

steep and narrow road leading to the great gate of the citadel; but as

soon as the Mamelukes arrived at the gate it was suddenly closed before

them. The last of those to leave before the gate was shut were Albanians

under Salih Kush. To these troops their chief now made known the pasha's

orders to massacre all the Mamelukes within the citadel; therefore,

having returned by another way, they gained the summits of the walls and

houses that hem in the road in which the Mamelukes were confined, and

some stationed themselves upon the eminences of the rock through which

that road is partly cut. Thus securely placed, they began a heavy fire

on their victims; and immediately the troops who closed the procession,

and who had the advantage of higher ground, followed their example. Of

the betrayed chiefs, many were laid low in a few moments; some,

dismounting, and throwing off their outer robes, vainly sought, sword in

hand, to return, and escape by some other gate. The few who regained the

summit of the citadel experienced the same fate as the rest, for no

quarter was given. Four hundred and seventy Mamelukes entered the

citadel; and of these very few, if any, escaped. One of these is said to

have been a bey. According to some, he leapt his horse from the

ramparts, and alighted uninjured, though the horse was killed by the

fall; others say that he was prevented from joining his comrades, and

discovered the treachery while waiting without the gate. He fled and

made his way to Syria. This massacre was the signal for an

indiscriminate slaughter of the Mamelukes throughout Egypt, orders to

this effect being transmitted to every governor; and in Cairo itself the

houses of the beys were given over to the soldiery. During the two

following days the pasha and his son Tusun rode about the streets and

tried to stop the atrocities; but order was not restored until 500

houses had been completely pillaged. The heads of the beys were sent to

Constantinople.

A remnant of the Mamelukes fled to Nubia, and a tranquillity was

restored to Egypt to which it had long been unaccustomed. In the year

following the massacre the unfortunate exiles were attacked by Ibrahim

Pasha, the eldest son of Mehemet Ali, in the fortified town of Ibrim, in

Nubia. Here the want of provisions forced them to evacuate the place; a

few who surrendered were beheaded, and the rest went farther south and

built the town of New Dongola (correctly Dunkulah), where the venerable

Ibrahim Bey died in 1816, at the age of eighty. As their numbers

thinned, they endeavoured to maintain their little power by training

some hundreds of blacks; but again, on the approach of Ismail, another

son of the pasha of Egypt, sent with an army in 1820 to subdue Nubia and

Sennar, some returned to Egypt and settled in Cairo, while the rest,

amounting to about 100 persons, fled in dispersed parties to the

countries adjacent to Sennar.

See A. A Paton, _History of the Egyptian Revolution_ (2 vols., 2nd

ed., enlarged 1870); and FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS.

(E. S. P.; S. L.-P.; D. S. M.*)