A L I 



illerranean and the Red Si-a. Fluflicd with fiiccefs in the 

 pitty cnteqiriies ht had already acconipUnitd, and flattered 

 by his fcrvilc courtiers, his ambition fuggcllcd to him more 

 extenlive conqnelts. Syria was the full objedt of his con- 

 tcniphition ; and the war with the Ruffians, which broke 

 out in 1769, and which occupied all the Turkifh forces ui 

 the north, favoured his defign. liefides, (heik Daher, m 

 attual rebellion againll the Forte, would be a powerful and 

 faithful allv ; and the extortions of the pacha of Damaf- 

 cus difpofcd thofe he had opprcfTed for revolt, and made 

 way fur liis obtaining the title of the deliverer of n;itions. 

 Ali having laid his plan, detached in 1770 a corps of Mam- 

 louks to take polTtfrion of Gaza, and thus to fccure an en- 

 trance into Paltlline: and foon after he fent a larger army, 

 to foi-m a junftion with Daher at Acre, and to proceed from 

 thence to Damafcus. Ofman, pacha of Damafcus, was 

 diligent in his preparations, and collected an army equally 

 numerous and ill regul.ited. On the 6th of June 1771, 

 the two annies met, and a dtcifive aftion took place, in 

 which Mohammed, the friend of Ali, and Daher his ally, 

 proved viclorious. Tlicy immediately took poffcffion of 

 jbamafcus ; but the caftle reiiiled. At the moment when 

 the figna! of fuiTcnder was cxpefted, Mohammed fuddenly 

 commanded a retreat, and all his cavaliy turned towards 

 Egypt. This fingular revolution was at firft attributed to 

 a pretended report of the death of Ali Bey ; but it was 

 really owing to a conference which had pafTed the preceding 

 night between a crafty agent of Ofman and Mohammed Bey, 

 Ali's commander. Ali, though difappointed and chagrin- 

 ed, did not renounce his projects : he prepared, in conjunc- 

 tion with Daher, a fecond army for the campaign of 1772 ; 

 but the event was unpropitious. The efcape of Moham- 

 med roufed his jealouCy and his fears ; he beheld in him a dan- 

 gerous rival, and refolved on his ruin. Having ordered the 

 gates of Cairo to be (liut, and no Mamlouk to be allowed 

 to pafs, he fentenced Mohammed into immediate exile in 

 the Said. Mohammed, however, contrived to make his 

 efcape ; and from this moment all was loft. The Mam- 

 louks, wearied with the infolence of Ali Bey, repaired in 

 crowds to his rival, and in about fix weeks he left the Said, 

 ivith a ftrong force, and marched towards Cairo. Ali pre- 

 pared to meet him ; and in the month of Apiil 1772, the 

 two armiis had a rencontre in the plains of El-Mafateb, at 

 the gates of Cairo ; the ifTue of which was, that Moham.- 

 med and his party entered the city, fabre in hand ; and Ali 

 Bey had barely time to efcape with 800 of his Mamlouks. 

 With this inconfiderable force he repaired to Gaza, and at- 

 tempted to join his ally, Daher, at Acre, who, aiter fome 

 danger from which he was refcued, conducted him to Acre. 

 Both Ah and Daher marched to the fuccour of Said, 

 (Sidon) which was then befieged by the troops of Ofman, 

 in conjunction with the Dnizes. At their approach the 

 Turks raifed the fiege, and retired to a place about a league 

 north of the city, on the river Aoula, There, in July 

 1772, an engagement took place; and the Turkifli army, 

 three times more numerous than that of the two allies, was 

 entirely defeated. The feven pachas, who commanded it, 

 fled ; and Said remained in the pofleffion of Daher. Ali 

 Bey and Daher, on their return to Acre, proceeded to chaf- 

 tife the inhabitants of Yafa or Jaffa, who had revolted ; 

 and after a fiege of eight months the town capitulated in 

 February 1773. Ali now determined to return to Cairo; 

 and he was encouraged in his purpofe by the promifed fuc- 

 cours of Daher, and of the Ruflians. This afCftance was 

 delayed, and Ali became impatient. In April 1773, quick- 

 ened in the execution of his purpofe, by fabricated letters, 

 which he received from Cairo, he began his march at the 



A L J 



head of his Mamlouks, and fome troops furnifhed by Da- 

 her ; but when he advanced into the Defart, which fepa- 

 rates Ga/.a from Egypt, he fell into an ambulh of 1000 

 Mamlouks, who were waiting his arrival, 'i'his corps 

 was commanded by Mourad, a young bey, who, being en- 

 amoured of tlic wife of Aii Bey, had obtained a promife 

 of her from Mohammed, in cafe he fliould bring him the 

 head of Ali. The attack was impetuous ; Mourad met 

 with Ali in the crowd, wounded him in the forehead, made 

 him prifoncr, and conduced him to Mohammed. By his 

 former mailer, Ali was received with perfidious refpeft : 

 but on the third day, tliis parade of civility and politencfs 

 terminated by the death of Ali Bey, who, according tp 

 fome, died of his wounds ; or, as others report, by poi- 

 fon. 



Ali_ Bey was certainly a charafter of original vigour and 

 capacity ; and was fuperior in his views to what could have 

 been cxpecled from one who was bred in a fchool of bar- 

 barifni and ignorance. He governed Egypt with a fleady 

 hand, and v>as particularly favourable to the Franks; but 

 he undertook more than he had power or talents to per- 

 form, and exhaufttd his revenues in fruitleis enterprifes. 

 He is alfo blamed for too foon refigning aftive labours to 

 his lieutenants, and for placing unlimited confidence in his 

 favourites, and winking at the exaftions of his officers. His 

 morals were thofe of his clafs and countiy, where perfidy 

 and murder are allowable means in purluing the objc6ls of 

 ambition ; yet he was not devoid of generofity and a fenfe 

 of juftice. During his adminiftration, feveral nefts of 

 robbers in Egypt were annihilated, villages which had been 

 inhabited by the pirates of the Nile were razed ; the com- 

 munication between different parts of the country was 

 free ; the roads were no longer infefted with robbers, nor 

 was navigation interrupted by that fpirit of pillage, which, 

 fince his death, has relumed its fatal activity. It was his 

 wiih, " that every man might be able to can-y his purfe in 

 his hand, and leave his door open, even during the night, 

 without running any rifle." 



Volney has pointed out the errors of Savary's account 

 of this fingular perfon and the fource whence they were 

 derived. Volney's Travels in Egypt and Syria, vol. i. c. 8. 

 p. 114 — 142. Sonnini's Travels in Egypt, p. 391, 410. 

 Gen. Biog. 



ALI, in Geography, a town of Afia, in the country of 

 Georgia, 50 miles weft of Teflis. 



Ali, a town of Afia, in the country of Georgia, in the 

 province of Satabago; 22 miles fouth-weft of Akalzika. 



ALIA, AAia, in Grecian Jlntiquity, folemn games cele- 

 brated at Rhodes on the 24th day of the month Gorpia;a, 

 ccrrefponding to the Athenian Bosdromion, in honour of 

 the fun, K\io;, or Aaio;, who is faid to have been born there; 

 the inhabitants of which were hence called HAiaJsf, Heliadae. 

 The vitlors were crowned with poplar. Strabo, toin. ii. 

 p. 966. 



ALIABAD, in Geography, a town of Perfia, in the 

 province of Tabriftan, 10 leagues fouth fouth-eall of Fe- 

 rabad. 



ALIACMON, or Haliacmon, in vlncient Gecgraphy, 

 a river of Macedon, feparating it from Theffaly, rifes in 

 the PeneftoE mountains, and running fouth-eaft, enters the 

 bay of Thelfalonica, between the cities of Pydna, and 

 Dium. 



ALJAKI, in Geography, a town of Poland in the pa- 

 latinate of Kiov, 20 miles fouth-eaft of Czerkafy. 



ALJAMEIA is a name which the Morefcoes in Spain 

 give to the language of the Spaniards. 



Among other articles agreed on by the junto, which was 

 7 appointed 



