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CHAP. XXXII.

1832.

16. Forces on both sides.

Pressed by reiterated orders from Constantinople to exterminate the invader, the Turkish army at length broke up from Ladik, which was about fifteen miles from Konieh, and advanced to give battle. The Turkish force was triple that of the Egyptian; the ranks of the latter having been severely weakened by fatigue and sickness, and a considerable part of the army necessarily left behind to keep up the long line of communication with Egypt. Ibrahim had only twenty battalions of infantry, (about 10,000 combatants), sixteen squadrons of cavalry, mustering 2600 sabres, 36 guns, and 4000 irregular horse; in all not more than 17,000 men. The Ottoman force was above 48,000; but its discipline and equipment were by no means equal to those of its opponents: the troops, in great part newly raised, were little inured to Ann. Hist. war; they were ignorant of each other, had no mutual 405; Ragu- confidence, and went into battle with that sad presentiment of defeat which so often works out its own accomplishment.1

xv. 404,

sa, ii. 346, 347.

17.

Battle of
Konieh.

Dec. 21.

Informed of the approach of such a formidable army, Ibrahim drew up his little force in the position which he had studied with so much care, and on which they had been so sedulously exercised during the last month. They were arrayed in two lines. The first, consisting of eight battalions, was drawn up in line; the second, also of eight battalions, in columns of battalions at deploying distance. The columns on the left and right of this second line were drawn up in hollow squares, and a little thrown forward, so as to cover by their fire both the flanks of its own line and those of the line in front. The four battalions of the Guard were stationed in reserve, and on its two flanks the cavalry, also in column. The artillery was divided, one-half being on the wings of the first line, and the other half in reserve, beside the cavalry in the third line. These positions were taken up and the movements executed with the utmost precision, under cover of a thick fog, which entirely concealed them from

XXXII.

1832.

the enemy; and when the mist cleared away, like the CHAP. raising up of a drop-scene on the theatre, the Ottomans beheld their antagonists marshalled as on a parade, in the finest order. Their force, though much inferior in discipline, was greatly superior in number, and far outflanked on either side the Egyptian host. The Turks were drawn up in four lines; the first deployed, the three others in column, the cavalry on either flank and in reserve, the artillery in front of the first line. Their position was well chosen; their right resting on the mountain of Sile, their left on the morasses of Konieh, both of which were impenetrable for cavalry or artillery; but this was Ragusa, ii. of the less importance, that their force, being so much Ann. Hist. superior in number, was obviously charged with duties of attack.1

1

348, 349;

xv. 404,

the 405.

18.

movement

on his right.

The battle began with a general discharge of the Turkish artillery along the whole line, to which the Decisive Egyptian replied with a well-directed fire, though from of Ibrahim half the number of pieces, and soon the fire of musketry became extremely warm on both sides. Ibrahim wisely drew back his left, so as to compel the enemy, if he followed it, to abandon the strong cover of the mountain of Silè; if not to render a part of it disposable for the attack on his right, where he meditated the chief onslaught, as the ground in that direction was level, and practicable for all arms, and if successful, he might cut the enemy off from the road to Ladik, and force them to abandon their artillery. The Turkish army showed at first a good countenance, and advanced in tolerable order against the Egyptian; but not having calculated the distances correctly, a huge gap was left between the infantry on their left and the cavalry. Ibrahim no sooner perceived this opening than he prepared to take advantage of it, by advancing his reserve infantry, and nearly the whole of his cavalry, into the undefended space. They came up immediately in admirable order, and turning sharp on the Ottoman horse, now entirely severed from support, de

XXXII.

1832.

CHAP. feated them entirely, and drove them to a distance from the field of battle. The Grand Vizier, to repair this disaster, brought up his best infantry, and charged the Egyptian Guard, now established in the opening, with great vigour. But they were received with not less intrepidity, and ere long the close and well-directed fire from the Guard threw them into confusion, and they fled behind the second line, which advanced, headed by the Grand Vizier in person. The contest now was short and terrible, but it terminated in the entire defeat of the Turks. Their best battalions, assailed by the Egyptian Guard in front, and the cavalry, which had returned from the pursuit of the discomfited horse, were forced to lay down their arms, and were made prisoners, with the Grand Vizier at their head.

tians.

19.

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While this desperate conflict was going on on the Victory of Turkish left, the Egyptian left was exposed to the greatest the Egy dangers. The Turkish right there advanced in such force as completely to envelop the Egyptian battalions, which were speedily surrounded by a surging mass of turbans, while the artillery made huge gaps in their ranks. Formed in square, however, they kept up a rolling fire, and though sorely weakened by constantly closing up their ranks, succeeded in maintaining their ground, till Ibrahim, with the victorious right, came up to their support. Meanwhile a corps of three thousand Turkish horse, by a headlong charge, succeeded in breaking through the Egyptian centre, and, passing straight on, reached Konieh, which they pillaged, and spread far and wide the report that all was lost. But Ann. Hist. this success, considerable as it was, could not compensate 405; Ragu- the disaster sustained on the centre and the Turkish left, and the capture of the Grand Vizier with the flower of him Pacha's the army. Soon the intelligence of this catastrophe count, Dec. spread through both armies, and the Ottomans, seized Ann. Hist. with a sudden panic, and being cut off from the line of (Doc. Hist.) retreat to Ladik, dispersed in all directions.1 It was no longer a battle, but a carnage: the victorious Egyptians

xv. 404,

352; Ibra

Official Ac

22, 1832;

xvi. 224,

XXXII.

1832.

continued to pursue and cut down the fugitives, till their CHAP. wearied arms could no longer wield a sabre; and before nightfall, fifteen thousand Turks had been slain or made prisoners, with forty-four guns, and the whole ammunition, magazines, and camp equipage of the army.

effects of

Such was the great and decisive battle of Konieh, 20. which, in the skill with which it was conducted on the Immense part of the victors, and the immense results with which this victory. it was attended, recalls the days when the Macedonian phalanx led by Alexander, or the Roman legions headed by Lucullus and Pompey, dissipated the countless hordes of the Asiatic cavalry. Not less than the battles of the Issus or Arbela, it was a blow which prostrated at once the strength of the Ottomans, and, but for the intervention of Russia, would beyond all doubt have changed the ruling power at Constantinople, and altered the whole face of the East. Great as the victory was, it was exceeded by its effects. Since the days of Timour and Bajazat no such shock had been felt in the East. The army which had fought at Konieh completely dispersed ; not two battalions or three squadrons could be collected next day around the standards of the Osmanlis. Ibrahim taken advantage of the first moments of consternation, and marched direct upon Constantinople, he would beyond all doubt have made himself master of that capital, and dethroned the race of Othman. But the Egyptian general was ignorant of the magnitude of his own success; he could not conceive that the power of the Sultan was so soon to be overthrown; the empire of Constantinople, in its last extremity, was protected by the shadow of its former renown. He remained inactive at Konieh till the 20th January, when he advanced Jan. 20. without opposition towards the Bosphorus, declaring his intention of letting the Oulemas determine between him and the Sultan, and had reached Kutahieh, near Scutari, on the 1st February, when his farther progress was Feb. 1. stopped, as will immediately appear, by the armed in

Had

XXXII.

1832.

CHAP. tervention of Russia and the diplomatic efforts of Europe. But the fame of his victories had preceded him; the sensation in the East was immense; and the whole warlike tribes in Asia Minor were prepared to have joined his standard, and established a new dynasty on the throne of Constantinople. Universally he was regarded by the Mussulmans as the man of destiny who was to punish the backslidings of the followers of the Prophet, and re-establish in their pristine purity the usages of the faithful. Even in Europe the marvellous successes of the Egyptian army attracted great attention among the thoughtful. The interpreters of prophecy were rife, as they always are on any considerable events in the East; and it was said by many that Ibrahim's triumphs were foretold in the words," The King of the South shall push at him :" forgetting that the Egyptians were even more orthodox Mussulmans than the Turks, and that it was not to be supposed that the Euphrates was to be dried up by the swelling of one of its tributary streams. 1

1 Ragusa, ii. 353, 359; Ann. Hist. xv. 403, 405, and xvi. 448.

21.

applies to

succour, and

1

In this extremity the Porte had recourse to the only The Porte power which, in the circumstances in which Turkey was England for placed, could be solicited without danger. The Divan is refused. applied to England, the ancient and steady ally of the Ottoman Government, which in 1789 had rescued them from the jaws of Russia, and in 1801 saved them from dismemberment by France, and whose remote situation removed its Government as much from territorial ambition in the East as its powerful navy gave it the means of effective support to its allies in that quarter. Never was such an opportunity afforded for the establishment of a powerful and efficacious barrier against Russia in the East imagination itself could not have conceived anything more favourable. The British Government was now applied to by an ancient ally for succour against a rebellious vassal, and an opportunity afforded of rendering a service to the Ottoman rulers

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