Q. I understand that you treated with two of the Mamelouk Beys at Ibrim;
was it so?
The word treated (if the dragoman rightly translated the Turkish word),
startled me very much; for the Pasha, while he was in Egypt, had heard
that, on my journey towards Dongola, I had met two Mamelouk Beys at
Derr; and as he still suspected that the English secretly favoured the
Mamelouk interest, he probably thought that I had been the bearer of
some message to them from government. I therefore assured him that my
meeting with the two Beys was quite accidental that the unpleasant
reception which I experienced at Mahass was on their account; and that I
entertained fears of their designs against my life. With this
explanation the Pasha seemed satisfied.
Q. Let us only settle matters here with the Wahabys, and I shall soon be
able to get rid of the Mamelouks. How many soldiers do you think are
necessary for subduing the country as far as Senaar?
A. Five hundred men, good troops, might reach that point, but could not
keep possession of the country; and the expenses would scarcely be
repaid by the booty.
Q. What do those countries afford?
[p.78]
A. Camels and slaves; and, towards Senaar, gold, brought from Abyssinia;
but all this is the property of individuals. The chiefs or kings in
those countries do not possess any riches.
Q. In what state are the roads from Egypt to Senaar?
A. I described the road between Asouan and Shendy, and from Souakin to
the same place.
Q. How did you pass your time among the Blacks?
A. I related some laughable stories, with which he seemed greatly
amused.
Q. And now, Sheikh Ibrahim, where do you mean to go?
A. I wish to perform the Hadj, return to Cairo, and then proceed to
visit Persia.--(I did not think it advisable to mention my design of
returning into the interior of Africa.)
Q. May God render the way smooth before you! but I think it folly and
madness to travel so much. What, let me ask, is the result of your last
journey?
A. Mens lives are predestined; we all obey our fate. For myself, I
enjoy great pleasure in exploring new and unknown countries, and
becoming acquainted with different races of people. I am induced to
undertake journies by the private satisfaction that travelling affords,
and I care little about personal fatigue.
Q. Have you heard of the news from Europe?
A. Only some vague reports at Djidda.
The Pasha then gave me an account of the events which ended in
Bonapartes banishment to Elba, after the entrance of the allies into
Paris. Bonaparte, he said, behaved like a coward; he ought to have
sought for death, rather than expose himself in a cage to the laughter
of the universe. The Europeans, he said, are as treacherous as the
Osmanlys; all Bonapartes confidants abandoned him--all his generals, who
owed to him their fortunes.
He was eager in his inquiries about the political relations between
Great Britain and Russia, and whether it was not likely that war might
break out between them, on account of the hostile
[p.79] intentions of the latter towards the Porte. (On this point he had
received false intelligence.) His only fear seemed to be that the
English army, which had been employed in the south of France, and in
Spain, would now be at liberty to invade Egypt. The great fish swallow
the small, he said; and Egypt is necessary to England, in supplying
corn to Malta and Gibraltar. I reasoned with him in vain on this
subject, and perceived that the dragoman did not always interpret my
answers correctly, from the fear of contradicting the well-known
opinions of his master. These opinions, indeed, were deeply rooted, and
had been fostered by the French mission in Egypt. I am the friend of
the English, he continued. (This addressed by a Turk to a Christian,
means only that he fears him, or wants his money.) But to tell you the
truth, among great men we see many compliments, and very little
sincerity. My hope is, that they will not fall upon Egypt during my stay
in the Hedjaz; if I am there myself, I shall at least have the
satisfaction of fighting personally for my dominions. Of the Sultan I am
not afraid, (this he repeatedly asserted, but I much doubt his
sincerity,) and I shall know how to outwit him in all his measures. An
army from Syria can never attack Egypt by land in very large bodies,
from the want of camels; and separate corps are easily destroyed as soon
as they have passed the desert.
I took the liberty of telling him that he was like a young man in
possession of a beautiful girl; although sure of her affection, he would
always be jealous of every stranger. You say well, he replied. I
certainly love Egypt with all the ardour of a lover; and if I had ten
thousand souls, I would willingly sacrifice them for its possession.
He asked me in what state I had found Upper Egypt; and whether his son
Ibrahim Pasha (the governor) was liked there. I replied, in the language
of truth, that all the chiefs of villages hated him (for he had
compelled them to abandon their despotic treatment of their fellow-
peasants); but that the peasants themselves
[p.80] were much attached to him. (The fact is, that instead of being
oppressed, as formerly, by the Mamelouk Beys and Kashefs, as well as by
their own Sheikhs, they have at present only one tyrant, the Pasha
himself, who keeps his governors of districts in perfect order.)
Mohammed Aly wished to know my opinion respecting the number of troops
necessary for defending Egypt against a foreign army. I answered, that I
knew nothing of war, but from what I had read in books. No, no; he
exclaimed, you travellers always have your eyes open, and you inquire
after every thing. He persisted in his question; and being thus forced
to reply, I said that twenty-five thousand chosen troops would probably
be able to resist any attack. I have now thirty-three thousand, said
he--a false assertion, for I am quite certain that he had at that time
not more than sixteen thousand men, dispersed over Egypt and the Hedjaz.
He would next explain to me the Nizam Djedyd, or new system of
discipline and military regulations He said it was only the avidity of
the chiefs, and not the dislike of the common soldiers, that obstructed
the institution of a well-organised army in Turkey, and opposed the
mustering necessary to prevent the officers from imposing on the public
treasury. But I shall make a regular corps of negro soldiers, he
added. This his predecessor Khurshid Pasha had attempted, but with
little success. The subject of the Nizam Djedyd was resumed as soon as
Mohammed Aly returned to Egypt from this expedition; but the revolt of
his soldiers, who plundered his own capital, obliged him to abandon the
undertaking, which had been badly planned. In the defence of Egypt, he
said, he should principally use his cavalry and horseartillery; the
former should destroy all the provisions in advance of the enemy, as the
Russians had lately done; and the latter would harass them on all sides,
without ever attempting to make a stand.
[p.81] During my stay at Tayf, letters arrived from Constantinople,
across the Desert, by way of Damascus, bringing to the Pasha a Turkish
translation of the treaty of peace concluded at Paris. After having read
it several times, he ordered his Turkish writer to explain it to me in
Arabic, word for word. This occupied us in a private apartment several
hours. I then returned to the audience, and was desired by the Pasha to
tell him my opinion of the treaty. Referring to a Turkish atlas, copied
from European maps, and printed at Constantinople, he made me point out
to him the new limits of Belgium, the islands Mauritius and Tobago, the
position of Genoa, &c. &c. With respect to the latter place, a curious
mistake occurred. It had been stated to me that Genoa was ceded to the
Swedes, which I could not credit. Upon inquiry, I found that Geneva and
Switzerland were meant; a town and country which, I am sorry to say,
were not comprised in the geographical knowledge of a Turkish viceroy.
The mistake, however, was easily made; for in Turkish, Geneva is
written like Genoua, and Sweden is pronounced Shwit.
The Pasha observed that much yet remained to be done, before all
differences between the parties could be settled; and I clearly saw how
impatiently he looked forward to a war among the European powers, which
would relieve him from any apprehensions for his own safety, and at the
same time occasion a great demand for corn at Alexandria.
With respect to Bonaparte, he seemed quite certain that the English
would one day seize him in Elba. Have the English, then, he exclaimed,
fought for nothing these twenty years? They have only got Malta, and a
few other islands! He was impressed with the fear that there were
secret articles in the peace, which assigned to them the possession of
Egypt. The notion of their having re-established the balance of power in
Europe, and secured their own safety and independence, did not enter
into his mind. They should not leave Spain, he continued, without
[p.82] being handsomely paid by the Spaniards; and why now abandon
Sicily? That the English were guided in their policy by the laws of
honour, and a sense of the general good of Europe, he could not
comprehend. A great king, he exclaimed, with much warmth, knows
nothing but his sword and his purse; he draws the one to fill the other;
there is no honour among conquerors!--a frank avowal of the sentiments
which guide even the most petty of the Turkish rulers.
Mohammed Aly had some notions of the English parliament; the name of
Wellington was familiar to him. He was a great general, he said; but
he doubted whether, if his Lordship had commanded such bad soldiers as
the Turkish troops are, he would have been able to do with them as much
as he (the Pasha) had done in conquering Egypt and the Hedjaz. He
betrayed great anxiety about the fate and future possession of Corfu and
the Seven Islands. On the one hand, he wished the Russians to make war
on the Porte, and to drive the Sultan out of Europe; on the other, he
feared that, if the Russians should seize Turkey in Europe, the English
would not remain quiet spectators, but would take their share of the
Turkish empire, which he was firmly persuaded would be no other than the
province of Egypt.
I am still ignorant of the Pashas real opinion concerning my sincerity
in professing the Mohammedan faith. He certainly treated me as a
muselman, and I flattered myself that the boldness of my conduct at Tayf
had convinced him that I was a true proselyte. As to the Kadhy, who was
a shrewd Constantinopolitan, most people supposed that the Porte had
sent him to watch the proceedings of Mohammed Aly, and give information
accordingly to the Sultan; and it struck me that his behaviour towards
myself was connected with an intention of accusing the Pasha, on his
return to Constantinople, of having protected a Christian in his visit
to the holy cities, a crime which would be considered unpardonable in a
Pasha. Mohammed Aly, after his return to Cairo,
[p.83] (where, contrary to his expectations, he again found me, and
where I only saw him once,) took frequent opportunities, and indeed
seemed anxious, to convince Mr. Salt and Mr. Lee, His Majestys and the
Levant Companys consuls, as well as several English travellers of note
who passed through Cairo, that he knew perfectly well, in the Hedjaz,
that I was no Moslem, but that his friendship for the English nation
made him overlook the circumstance, and permit me to impose upon the
Kadhy. He entertained a notion, suggested to him by some of his Frank
counsellors at Cairo, that, in some future account of my travels, I
might perhaps boast of having imposed upon him, like Aly Bey el Abassi,
whose work had just been received at Cairo, and who declares that he
deceived not only the Pasha, but all the olemas, or learned men, of
Cairo. To Mohammed Aly it was of more consequence not to be thought a
fool than a bad muselman.
Notwithstanding these declarations of the Pasha to the English
gentlemen, which were made in private, and certainly were not occasioned
by any imprudent speeches of mine, I continued to live, after my return
to Cairo, without molestation, as a Moslem, in the Turkish quarter. I
have to thank him for his polite reception of me at Tayf, and for his
having thrown no obstacles in the way of my travels through the Hedjaz.
I was at Mekka in December, and at Medina in the April following, when
the Pasha was at both places; but I did not think it necessary or
advisable to wait upon him at either place, where I was otherwise wholly
unknown. My practice in travelling has been to live as retired as
possible; and, except during my short visit to Tayf, where circumstances
forced me to appear somewhat conspicuously, I was known only in the
Hedjaz as a hadjy, or pilgrim, a private gentleman from Egypt, one with
whom no person was acquainted but the few officers of the Pasha whom I
had seen at Tayf.