children, were indiscriminately butchered; and not content with the perpetration of this horrid barbarity, he caused an immense pyramid, composed of the heads of his victims, to be erected in commemoration of his victory. Leaving this bloody scene, he advanced to Acre, and demanded that all the immense wealth of the city should be delivered to him, under pain of the massacre of its inhabitants, together with the numerous European merchants who resided there; and this fearful alternative would have been enforced by him, had not his sudden death prevented its execution, and caused the immediate return of his army to Egypt, being led back by Mourad, his favorite general.

The death of this tyrant, who, throughout his bloody career, had displayed the ferocity of a robber, the rapacity of a plunderer, and the baseness and ingratitude of a traitor, opened the way for new scenes of anarchy and bloodshed, in the choice of a successor. The moment his death was known at Grand Cairo, Ibrahim Bey, one of his freedmen, endeavored to grasp the vacant sovereignty; but in this he was opposed by Mourad, who, more warlike and powerful than his rival, disputed his pretensions with the sword; when the former, fearing to risk his throne in a contest with the fierce Mamlouk, consented to share it with him, and they reigned together. This joint administration, while it could not be more cruel than that by which it had been preceded, fostered the spirit of anarchy, which reigned in fearful triumph throughout the entire country, and in a short time excited the jealousies of the beys, two of whom, Hassan and Ishmael, of the house of the renowned Ali, armed their followers, collected their adherents, took the field against the double head of their nation, fought one long and bloody battle, and sustained a terrible defeat, amounting almost to annihilation.

But the harmony which had induced the rivals to arm against their common enemy, disappeared with their destruction. Each placed himself at the head of a fierce and powerful party; each in turn fled from Cairo into Upper Egypt; and when at length their armies were drawn up in sight of each other, and a few hours would have decided which was to sway the destinies of Egypt, a negotiation was opened, a treaty was formed between them, friendship was restored, they again mounted their throne, and renewed their tyrannical government.

In 1786, the sultan resolved to assert his long lost sovereignty over Egypt, and for that purpose sent Hassan Pasha with 25,000 men, who landed at Alexandria in July, and at Mentorbes was met by Mourad at the head of his Mamlouks. Here a terrible conflict ensued; but the ground was so soft, that the Mamlouk horsemen, sinking deep into the earth at every step, formed no match for the Turkish infantry; by whom, after a dreadful slaughter, they were routed in every direction. Cairo opened its gates to the victorious pasha, who continued his march into Upper Egypt, in pursuit of the beys, with whom he at length made a treaty, by which the Mamlouks were guarantied the possession of the entire country, from Barbich to the frontiers of Nubia, on condition of relinquishing the remainder.

After accomplishing this, the Turkish pasha returned to Cairo, where he ruled with moderation and wisdom, until 1790, when he was carried off by the plague. At his death, the sultan endeavored to continue his authority over the Egyptian territory; but the fierce Mourad and the wily Ibrahim, returned from their exile, seized upon the supreme power, turned

their weapons against all who opposed them, armed their numerous ad. herents, and bid defiance to the Porte and his authority. From that time, until 1798, they exercised the most despotic sway over this devoted na. tion; and at that period, as our readers well know, Napoleon landed at Alexandria. Continuing his march, he reached Imbaba, a small village about seven miles from the great pyramids; when the Mamlouks, who there awaited his approach, charged upon his army, but were terribly beaten, and precipitately fled.

The result of this expedition to the French is well known. Bonaparte crossed into Syria, reduced Elarish and Jaffa, and opened his trenches before the important city of Acre, from whence he was soon compelled to retreat with the loss of a large portion of his choicest troops.

This invasion of Egypt by the French, accomplished, in the end, that which the sultan had been impotent to achieve. England, fearful that France contemplated the conquest of Syria and Egypt, and the mastery of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, that she might control this great highway to India, resolved to thwart her views; and for this purpose sent a strong naval and land force to co-operate with the Turks in Egypt. On the 21st of March, eighteen hundred French were defeated near Alexandria, and the city taken by the English and Turkish forces; and Egypt was once more compelled to acknowledge the sultan as its master; who agreed that as the Mamlouks had assisted in destroying Napoleon's army, they should retain their former rights, on condition of paying the annual tribute, maintaining allegiance to him, and acknowledging the authority of his pasha as viceroy of the nation. This they consented to observe, and the beys, who were thus pardoned for their former rebellious conduct, accepted an invitation of the capitan pasha to visit the Turkish camp. There they were entertained with the utmost apparent hospitality; every attention was lavished upon them; costly amusements were provided for their gratification, and no expense spared to render their stay pleasant and agreeable. But beneath all this show of kindness the Mamlouks suspected treachery, and communicated their suspicions to General Hutchinson, commanding the British army, who silenced them by pledging his word that they were unfounded. Nothing took place during their stay which furnished the least foundation for their fears; and in a short time they were again invited by the pasha to visit his camp. This, like the other, was accepted by the rough Mamlouks, and the same pleasures and amuse. mens were provided for them as before. But a terrible tragedy, planned by the sultan, who was determined to destroy their power at a blow, awaited them. They were invited, in company with the pasha, to proceed upon a sailing party. They had proceeded a short distance from the shore, when a small cutter swiftly pursued and soon overtook them, containing an individual who professed to be the bearer of despatches from the sultan to his pasha. The latter stepped into the cutter, on pretence of reading them more at leisure, and fell astern, while the beys were propelled swiftly onward. They had not proceeded far before several large heavy armed ships were seen approaching; and when escape was hopeless, they saw the inevitable destruction which awaited them. A deadly fire was soon opened upon them from the frigates, and with such effect, that nearly all were slain; a few only escaping to bear the tale of Turkish treachery to their fierce companions in the provinces.

After the consummation of this hellish act, Mahommed Kusrouf, a

Georgian by birth, and once a slave, was appointed pasha; whose weakness of mind, indecision of character, suspicious and tyrannical disposition, rendered his administration more destructive to the liberties, the happiness, and true interests of the miserable inhabitants, than any with which Egypt had been cursed and desolated for many years.

It was during the rule of this pasha, that Mohammed Ali, now so prominent among the sovereigns of the earth, first distinguished himself, and by his talents and bravery, commanded the admiration of his countrymen. This celebrated individual was born about the year 1769, is now 71 years of age, and still retains, in a wonderful degree, the mental vigor of his youth. He is a native of Cavalla, a small town in Roumelia, a district of Albania. Losing his father at a very early age, he was taken under the protection of the governor of the place, by whom he was provided for and educated. The bravery and impetuosity, and what was still more remarkable, the great skill and judgment for which he was distinguished, even in extreme youth, excited the admiration, and not unfrequently the astonishment of all who knew him. One instance will illustrate his character in these respects with peculiar force. When he was but thirteen years old, the inhabitants of a neighboring village refused to pay his protector the accustomed tribute. The moment he heard of their disaffection, he exclaimed, "Give me a dozen troopers, and a good horse, and I will engage to get the impost." A fleet steed was furnished, which he mounted, and placing himself at the head of nine soldiers, soon reached the village. Most of the inhabitants were absent in the fields, and he at once proceeded to the mosque, and demanded to see four of the principal men of the place, who, supposing him to be the bearer of some amicable proposition from the governor, appeared before him. These, by his or ders, were instantly seized and carried away, and although pursued by a host of the enraged inhabitants, he threatened them with the instant destruction of their chiefs if they molested him; and they were rapidly borne off to the governor, who, having them in his power, compelled the prompt payment of the tribute, which was never afterwards refused or withheld.

This bold and daring act made him celebrated throughout the country; and the reputation he acquired procured him a wealthy wife, a relation of the governor; and, having a taste for commerce, he embarked a portion of her riches in the tobacco trade, by which he rapidly amassed a large fortune. But his peaceful pursuits in no degree quenched the warlike ardor that burned within him, ready to burst forth upon the first occasion. A fierce robber, who headed a 'powerful band of well-armed followers, had long committed depredations throughout the district, defying all the attempts that were made to take or destroy him. At length, so universally was he feared that none could be found bold enough to attack him; and Mohammed Ali, whose daring spirit nothing could intimidate, with a little handful of soldiers, met the bandit leader near an old ruined dwelling, accompanied by a few of his followers; and under pretence of effecting some compromise, they entered it alone, when Ali struck him dead at a single blow, cut off his head, and threw the bloody trunk out of the win. dow. This act, while it relieved the district from the scourge which had so long infested it, spread the fame of Mohammed far and wide; and upon the invasion of the French, he was placed at the head of three hundred troops, and made a captain in the regular army. He then applied him

self with the utmost intensity to the study of French tactics, and endeavored to obtain a thorough acquaintance with the suggestions so earnestly enforced by Napoleon, on the importance of the regeneration of Egypt. His conduct in the field attracted the marked attention of the Turkish commander, by whom he was recommended to the governor of Cairo, and in a short time he was appointed to command one great division of the grand army; and when the Georgian pasha we have mentioned, ac tuated by motives of revenge, resolved upon the massacre of the Mamlouks, he enjoyed the rank of second in command of the forces sent against them. This expedition proved most disastrous to the Turks, who were met by the Mamlouks, and dreadfully defeated; and whether this result was attributable to the fault of Ali or his commanding officer, or to the superiority of their fierce enemies, certain it is that he was accused of misconduct and disaffection, and was ordered into exile. The moment he learned this, he placed himself at the head of his division, and refused to leave Cairo until his troops were paid. This alarmed the pasha, who instantly opened its gates, and admitted Taher Pasha, at the head of his Albanian guards, for the purpose of keeping Ali in check. In doing this, he sealed his own destruction. The Albanians were no less clamorous for their pay, which had long been withheld from them; and growing furious, they attacked the palace, expelled the pasha and his household, and invested Taher Pasha with the viceroyalty of Egypt.

The horrid barbaritics perpetrated by this new ruler, terminated his reign in twenty-two days, and the actual government of the country reverted to the Mamlouks, under the veteran Ibrahim, Osman Bardissy, and Mohammed Ali. The sultan, whose mandates had long been disregarded, sent a pasha of distinguished rank to control the affairs of Egypt; but the beys, who were high in the ascendant, revenged the treachery inflicted upon their order when on their sailing excursion, by putting him to death. This indignity offered to his authority, the sultan was impotent to avenge; and the rule of the Mamlouks continued, until Ali, who was not one of their number, fearing they might attempt his destruction, succeeded in embroiling Bardissy, who was hot-headed and violent, with his associate beys, and in the confusion that reigned, attacked him with his own hand, drove him from the capital, and reinstated the exiled pasha.

The plans of Ali were at this time hardly matured, although the more prominent lines of his future policy were nearly completed. His object in restoring the expelled pasha, was to conciliate the Porte, until his vast scheme should be ripe for execution, when he could safely throw off the mask and embark upon the accomplishment of his grand and long-cherished project of civilizing and regenerating Egypt.

The views he entertained were at length suspected by the sultan, who, in 1804, issued orders requiring his immediate return to the country, with his Albanians. In answer to his mandates, Ali urged the power of the Mamlouks, the fierce hostility they breathed towards the authority of the Sublime Porte, intimated that the state of Egypt was too unsettled to permit his departure with safety to the interests of the nation, and absolutely refused to obey. To attempt his forcible expulsion was out of the ques tion; but, firmly resolved to accomplish his purpose, the sultan, in the year following, sent a firman to Grand Cairo, conferring upon the power. ful chief of the Albanians the appointment of pasha of Djidda, and of the port of Mecca, on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. Perceiving the ob

ject of his nominal master at a glance, the aspiring Ali declined to accept the proffered honor; and his army, incensed at the efforts made to banish their brave general, became seditious and violent; and, as he alone was able to calm the rising tempest, and rule the furious elements which again threatened Egypt with the horrors of civil warfare, the pretext for his continuing in Cairo daily strengthened. The pasha, a mere puppet in his hands, to whom he owed his restoration and the gaudy trappings of office, without the shadow of its power, could not enforce the will of his master, and Ali continued to remain in his stronghold. But the grand act of the drama, in which he played the principal part, was yet to appear. His skill and bravery as a general had warmly attached the army to his interests, and being a native-born Egyptian, and the natural enemy of the Mamlouks, to whom, for centuries, the people had owed the greatest portion of their miseries and their degradation, he was greatly endeared to them; and, by universal acclamation, he was entreated to assume the title and duties of viceroy. This he at first refused; but it was the consummation of his brightest hopes, and a little persuasion induced him to mount the throne of the Pharaohs. The pasha, again deprived of his seat, called in the aid of the Mamlouks, to assist in hurling Ali from his place; and, while making preparations to take the field with his dangerous allies, he received orders from the sultan to deliver up the citadel, and leave Cairo. But the Mamlouks, resolved upon the destruction of their powerful enemy, refused to abandon the field. They attacked the viceroy with their whole strength, were dreadfully beaten, and retreated with the loss of so many slain as to render their number no longer formidable.

The result of this battle inspired the sultan with many apprehensions; who, determined that no one interest should predominate in Egypt, and ever treacherous and cruel in the means he employed to effect his purposes, sent his capitan pasha to that country, with secret orders to assist the Mamlouk beys in dethroning Ali and recovering their authority. On the arrival of this envoy, Ali was ordered to appear before him. This he refused to do; and the Porte, finding him too firmly seated in power to be shaken, directed his capitan pasha to make the best terms with him he could, and then to leave him in possession of the viceroyalty. This was accordingly done, and soon after, he was voluntarily confirmed in his high office by the Ottoman Porte; and, Elfy Bey and Bardissy, two of the most powerful of the Mamlouk beys, dying about that time, he found himself undisputed master of Egypt.

Having traced the political revolutions which, until this period, had for centuries distracted the land of the Pharaohs, and having proved, as we promised, that these revolutions have been equally if not more violent and destructive, since the conquest of the Turks, and that the sovereignty of the grand seignior has generally existed but in name, we need hardly inform our readers that when Mohammed Ali commenced his reign, the condition of the country was wretched almost beyond description. Anarchy reigned in every department of the government; the laws, such as existed, were disregarded; and the privileges of the humble and weak were trampled upon by those whom nature or circumstances had rendered more powerful, The barbaritics of the Mamlouks had reduced the lower classes to the most pitiable state of slavery, while their property was seized and appropriated by these military robbers, with the utmost impunity. Security of person or of property was unknown, justice was no longer administered,