164 Turkey, Conduntinople, Egypt, [Aug. 



usurper long enough installed in his government to have coDected treasure, 

 his ruin was determined on, and every means was tried to get rid of him ; 

 but Mohammed Ali was too wily for the Porte, he defeated its clumsy attempts 

 without affecting to perceive them ; he sent his tribute, with the most solemn 

 assurances of fidelity, to the Sultan, the hvunblest of whose slaves he affected 

 to appear. The Sultan was not deceived ; he received the tribute of the 

 Giaour Pacha (for such IMohammed Ali is called in Constantinople to this 

 day, on account of his intercourse with Christians), but his head was still 

 wanted to adorn the gate of the Seraglio. 



" Mohammed Ali was now firmly fixed in his government, and it was 

 evident that something more than Turkish wisdom preserved liim in it. Tele- 

 graphs were established from Alexandria to Cairo; and every insurrection 

 which begun, was disconcerted in the space of a few hours. The Mamelukes 

 deemed his agents supernatural, but his only agent was M. Drovetti,* the 

 French consul. This gentleman still holds the office of consul, and he it 

 was whose prudence and dexterity seated Mohammed Ali on the throne. 

 Every measure of the latter was of his planning ; and the Viceroy well knows 

 that to him the success of his ambition is wholly dye. Drovetti is the most 

 perfect courtier in his manners and appearance I ever met; the elegance of 

 his address is only surpassed by the depth of his dissimvdation, and the skilful- 

 ness of his subterfuge. There is, however, something terrible in his counte- 

 nance ; and as he stalks along the plain of Alexandria every evening, muffled 

 up in his white hernoiis, the Franks are seen to retire with a sort of deferential 

 horror, and whisper, as he passes, ' Make way for Catiline.' 



" What share he had in the destruction of the ]\Iamelukes, I know not ; 

 but, in his quality of privy counsellor, it is to be presumed the bloody 

 business was not transacted without his knowledge: of the expediency of the 

 policy which dictated the measure, I believe there can be little doubt, consi- 

 dering the matter ' « la Turque.' The Mamelukes or IMohammed Ali must 

 have fallen ; the viceroy determined it should be the former. He invited them 

 to a grand feast, said to be given in honour of his son, at the citadel, and for 

 the alleged purpose of a reconciliation with the Beys, for whom it was reported 

 he had prepared magnificent presents. The Mamelukes distrusted the Pacha's 

 sudden friendship; they resolved not to attend the banquet. The emissaries 

 of the Pacha laboured to convince them that their suspicion was unfounded : 

 and they prevailed, at last, on the generous minded Mamelukes (for such they 

 were) to trust to the honour and hospitality of Mohammed Ali. They went 

 to the feast, they were received with every demonstration of friendship ; but 

 the Pacha was not to be seen : the Beys suspected treachery, they looked to 

 the doors by which thev entered the citadel, but they were fast closed ; imme- 

 diately a galling fire of musquetry, from the surrounding parapets, opened 

 upon them ; there was no escape ; they looked their murderers in the face ; 

 they caked for quarter, but there was noinercy; they shook their swords at 

 their assassins, but they were beyond their reach. 



" A soldier, who assisted at the massacre, informed me, that the poor 

 wretches in their despair kept running to and fro, from one door to another, 

 vainly seeking a place of safety, until there was not a single Mameluke left 

 standing. The greater number were despatched; but many were only 

 wounded; the ferocious soh^iers now descended from the walls and cut and 

 hacked the expiring Beys. 1 asked the soldier, if it was not a sorry sight ? 

 He said, it was lamentable to see such fine clothes as they wore spoiled with 

 blood! „ , 



" The Pacha all this time was shut up in a turret of the citadel, lookmg at 

 the slaughter of his guests." 



• This is the gentleman who has recently played ISlr. Burton a very dirty trrick, in 

 chousing him out of the Roman tablet which had been given to him by Jiehmet Ali, 

 and which has now got into the hands of the younger Champollion, Drovetti's worthy 

 eoadjutor in the affair See the Literary Gazette, No. 650. 



