MOHAMMED ALL 



the limits of his career. By his boldness, sagacity, 

 and courage, he has raised himself from an humble 

 station to that of a sovereign, before whom Arabia 

 uiul Nubia tremble, and who is flattered by his proud 

 master, the Porte. He has ruled Egypt, since 1806, 

 on European principles. From his youth, Moham- 

 med exhibited an extraordinary penetration, un- 

 common dexterity in all bodily exercises, and a fiery 

 ambition. The Turkish governor at Cavala gave 

 this poor young orphan a common education, and 

 then an office and a rich wife. Reading and writing 

 he learned after he had become a pacha. A merchant 

 ot Mai>eilles, named Lion, who lived in Cavala, and 

 was his patron, inspired him with an inclination 

 towards the French, and with religious tolerance. 

 On this account the residence of strangers in Egypt 

 has been facilitated. In 1820, the viceroy gave the 

 family of Lion proofs of his gratitude. His first 

 employment was the tobacco trade, and he is now 

 engaged in great commercial enterprises, extending 

 even to India. His first campaign was in Egypt, 

 against the French (1800), as commander-in-chief 

 (binbas/ii) of the contingent of Cavala. The capitan 

 pacha, who was a witness of his bravery in the battle 

 of Ralunanieh against general Lagrange, elevated 

 him to a higher post, in which he also acquired the 

 favour of the Albanian troops. He established his 

 reputation as a soldier in the long contest of the 

 pachas with the mamelukes, after the French had 

 abandoned Egypt in 1802 ; but soon after the gov- 

 ernor became jealous of the ambitious Mohammed, 

 and. to get rid of him, obtained his appointment as 

 pacha of Saloniki. Mohammed's influence was al- 

 ready so great, that the inhabitants of Cairo took 

 arms in his favour, and the ulemas and sheiks repre- 

 sented by agents to the divan of Constantinople, that 

 Mohammed alone was able to restore order and 

 tranquillity to Egypt, which the governor Khurschid 

 Pacha plundered and oppressed. At the same time, 

 they conferred on him the office of governor ; but the 

 prudent Mohammed refused the external dignities of 

 the office, although in secret he directed affairs. At 

 length the Porte (April 1, 1806) confirmed him as 

 governor of Egypt, and elevated him to the rank of 

 a pacha of three tails. He maintained himself in 

 this office by the attachment of the Albanians and 

 the influence of France, when the Porte had been 

 prevailed on by the British to appoint, in his stead, 

 the mameluke Elfy Bey, governor of Egypt. Mo- 

 hammed soon restored the distracted country to 

 order, accustomed the undisciplined troops to obed- 

 ience, and compelled the British, who, in March, 

 1807, had occupied Alexandria, after several battles, 

 to leave Egypt in September. He then reduced the 

 mameluke oeys to subjection, and, in March, 1811, 

 on a festive occasion, perfidiously murdered 470 of 

 them ; the rest were decapitated. They were 

 accused of secret plots. The French mamelukes 

 alone remained unmolested. (See Mamelukes.} 

 From this time tranquillity reigned in Egypt. The 

 campaign of Ibrahim Pacha, the second son of the 

 viceroy (the first died in the field), against the Waha- 

 bees, in 1816, had a successful issue ; he deprived 

 that sect of Mecca and Medina, conquered their 

 capital, Derayeh, in 1818, and sent their leaders 

 prisoners to Constantinople. The expedition to 

 Nubia and Sennaar, in 1821, which the French 

 traveller Cailliaud (see Meroe) accompanied, in the 

 expectation of discovering gold mines, ended with 

 tlie murder of the leader, Ismael Pacha, the youngest 

 son of the viceroy. At the same time Mohammed 

 directed the internal administration of affairs. Ar- 

 mies and fleets, fortifications, and the maintenance 

 of the troops were established upon the European 

 plan ; telegraphs and Congreve rockets were pre- 



pared ; the ulemas were transformed into pai <\ 

 officers ; agriculture was extended, the races of 

 sheep and horses improved ; commerce and manu- 

 factures flourished ; Europeans were protected and 

 rewarded, and learned travellers encouraged. Is- 

 mael Gibraltar and others were sent, in 1818, to 

 Europe, in order to form alliances ; the canal of 

 Mahmoud was dug, connecting Cairo with Alexan- 

 dria ; olive and mulberry trees, hitherto unknown in 

 Egypt, were pliuited, sugar refineries, and saltpetre 

 manufactories, and cannon founderies established, 

 quarantine rules and vaccination introduced, schools 

 founded, &c. The British, French, and other 

 nations now sought the friendship of Mohammed. 

 The Porte was terrified at his power, as he had, 

 during the struggle with the Greeks, established 

 himself in Candia. He was, however, appointed 

 commander-in-chief against the Greeks in 1824 ; but 

 he sent his son Ibrahim, at the head of an army of 

 16,000 men, together with a fleet under the com- 

 mand of Ismael Gibraltar, who was to conquer the 

 Morea, and establish a negro colony there. The 

 latter, with a capudan pacha, was defeated in several 

 naval actions, in September, 1824, by the Greek 

 admiral Miaulis, and Canaris, the commander of the 

 fire-ships ; but a second Egyptian expedition, suc- 

 ceeded, in March, 1825, in effecting a landing at. 

 Modon, and captured Navarino, Tripolizza, and 

 other places. Ibrahim then laid waste the Morea, 

 and sent its inhabitants as slaves to Egypt. In 

 October, 1827, a third expedition of the viceroy was 

 blockaded in the harbour of Navarino by the British 

 admiral Codrington and the French admiral De 

 Rigny, in consequence of the treaty of July 6, 1827, 

 and it was required of the viceroy by the allied 

 powers, that he should refrain from every act of 

 hostility towards Greece. The combined Turkish 

 and Egyptian fleets were shortly after destroyed at 

 this place. See Navarino. 



Mohammed is, in reality, the sovereign of Egypt, 

 though he preserves the external marks of respect 

 towards the grand seignior. He is a despot, and is 

 obliged to be so ; but at the same time he possesses 

 political knowledge, and often exhibits magnanimity. 

 He is the absolute lord of the soil and all its produc- 

 tions. He holds the monopoly of the productions of 

 Egypt, and of the East India goods which pass 

 through Egypt ; only a few houses, designated 

 by himself, are permitted to take part in the com- 

 merce. 



The purchase of ships of war in France, and his 

 expeditions against the Morea, exhausted his trea- 

 sures, and caused oppressive taxes. In Egypt, lie 

 protects the Greeks as well as the Franks ; he causes 

 young Turks to be educated in England and France 

 in the European manner ; the Christians possess his 

 confidence, but there is no security for the perma- 

 nence of his plans. Ibrahim himself appears not 

 to approve of his father's projects of colonization 

 and civilization. Had Mohammed AH never been 

 stained with treachery and murder, he would per- 

 haps deserve to be called the second Saladin of 

 Egypt. See Mengin's Histoire de VEgypte sous It. 

 Gouvernement de Mohammed Aly, etc. (Paris, 1823, 

 2 vols.) ; Histoire de la Regeneration de VEgypte 

 by Planat, a staff-officer in the pacha's service 

 (Geneva, 1830); the travels of Madden, Lushington, 

 Hanniker, Minutoli, &c. Mohammed has a grand- 

 son, whom he is carefully educating, and two mar- 

 ried daughters. (See the articles Egypt, Nubia, 

 fVahabees, Greece, Revolution of.) In 1827, he had 

 twelve regiment^ organized, clothed in uniform, and 

 armed. after the European manner, each regiment 

 consisting of 4000 men. They were raised by im- 

 pressment from the Arabs and peasantry. 



