328 
E G Y P T. 
were ftiil matters of Egypt. It was left for Solyman, 
furnamed the Legiflator, the fucceffor of Selim, to give 
a new conftitution, not only to Egypt, but to all the dif¬ 
ferent provinces which compofed that heterogeneous mafs 
of empire. He found it in the firft place neceffary to efta- 
blifh a counterpoife for the power and influence of the 
mamalukes; to effect which, he eftablifhed the.corps of 
odjacklis or militia, confiding of the natives of Egypt, 
into which a' fnatnaluke was on no account to be admit¬ 
ted. To thefe corps he gave great powers ; to the ma- 
malukes he left nothing but a fubordinate military au¬ 
thority, and a few villages for their principal officers or 
chiefs, who were to be in number twenty-four, diftin- 
guiflied by the honorary title of beys. He eftabiiflied a 
pacha as his own immediate representative, who was to 
be th.e captain or head of the government; thence called, 
by different writers, the capitan or capoutan pacha ; and 
who had the nomination of the different officers of the 
ffate. The beys had alfo the choice of a fucceffor, to 
fill up any vacancies among themfelves, but they were 
obliged to prefent (he perfon fo chofen to the pacha in a 
full divan, to be inverted with the dignity, and approved, 
by him. Hence the office of pacha of Egypt was often the 
road to theTurkifh vizirate, and was fometimesan honour¬ 
able retreat for a difgraced vizier. He-could be formally 
depofed by the corps of militia in the divan, and made 
to fettle his accounts before he left the country. The 
reafons for his being fo difmiffed were previoufly tranf- 
mitted to Conftantinople, where he was always replaced; 
and indeed it rarely happened that a pacha died in this 
lituation, they were fo frequently changed. 
The divan, which affembled twice a week to deliberate 
on all the affairs of rtate, was compofed of the twenty- 
four beys, the principal officers of the militia, and the 
great lawyers. The pacha, as fupreme, was the prefident 
of th.e affembly. The tribute annually paid to the Porte 
was to be twelve hundred purfes of piaftres, (about fifty 
thoufand pounds,) befide confiderable quantities of rice, 
corn, &c. In this manner the government went on, with¬ 
out any event of importance, at leaf! with nothing more 
than the ufual intrigues, fometimes between the raama- 
lukes and militia to depofe the pacha ; fometimes be¬ 
tween the pacha and militia, to check the daring attempts 
often made by the mamalukes to regain their ancient in¬ 
fluence ; and fometimes between the mamalukes and the 
pacha, to reprefs the afpiring ambition of forne chiefs of 
the militia. This conftitution lafted till the'middle of 
the eighteenth century, when a variety of cattles con- 
fpired to overturn it. The beys were then beginning to 
take the lead in all political affairs, and the pachas were 
reduced to mere ciphers, fcarcely poffelling the fitadow 
of their original authority. 
About the year 1748, a pacha of a more determined cart 
was appointed, who, finding it importable to afiert his lupe- 
riority, without ftriking feme decifive blow, took a refolu- 
tion to dertroy the beys at once by affaffination. Accord¬ 
ingly, as they were coming to take their places at the di¬ 
van, feventeen of them were murdered; the rert efcaped. 
Such a daring and open violation of juftice and humanity 
had not the intended ettedt ; for the indignation of all 
claffes agair.ft the pacha ran fo high, that he was obliged 
to quit his lituation, and fave his life by efcaping to 
Conttantinople. At that period Ibrahim Caya Bey, a 
determined and ambitious mamaluke, had got by intrigue 
into the corps of militia, in which he held a very high 
lituation. He afpired to be eledled Shiek-el-Belled, or 
chief of the mamalukes, and to reftore them to their for¬ 
mer authority ; and he managed fo well, that in a few 
years he had infinuated all the mamalukes of his party 
into the militia, which gave him fuch an afce'ndancy, 
that he eafily kept the remainder quiet. Had he lived, 
lie would in all probability have (ucceeded in making 
liimfelf a ftiltan of Egypt independent'of the Porte; but 
he was poifoned by an emiliary of the court of Conftanti- 
noplc, who hoped, by deftroying this afpiring chief, to 
regain their authority in Egypt, which was fo completely 
Ihaken. 
Ali Bey the Great, a man of more talents, with equal 
ambition and intrepidity, fucceeded Ibrahim, A. D. 1766. 
He was the firft mamaluke who openly declared the bold 
defign of freeing Egypt for ever from the nominal fove- 
reignty of th.e court of Conftantinople. Throwing off 
the matte entirely, he affumed perfect independence; ex. 
pel 1 ed the pacha, refufed the tribute, and coined money 
in his own name. Ifmael Bey and Mahomed Bey ccn- 
l'pired againft him, and drove him into Syria, where he. 
took refuge with the celebrated Daher, who had rendered 
hirnfelf matter of Syria, and laughed at all the feeble ef¬ 
forts of the Porte to reduce him. Ali Bey, having re¬ 
ceived fome fmall affiftance from the Ruffians, as well as 
from Daher, croffed the defert to meet his adverfaries. 
A battle was fought near Salahieh, in which Ali was 
wounded by one of his own party, fuppofed to have been 
Mourad Bey, and was in conlequence taken prifoner. 
He was treated with great refped, and carried to Cairo, 
where he died a few days after : foine fay by poifon. This 
afpiring Have was born in Anatolia, or rather Natolia, a 
province of the Turkifii empire. He was brought young 
into Egypt, where he was purchafed in the fame manner 
as the other mamalukes, and raifed hirnfelf by his enter- 
priling and ambitious fpirit to that fituation, which made 
the Porte tremble for the remains of its power in Egypt', 
Mourad Bey, as chief of the faftion of Ali, foon let up 
for hirnfelf, and drove his opponents, Ifmael and Maho¬ 
med, from Cairo for fomc time ; but they regained poL 
feflion of the capital, and kept it, till they both died 
natural deaths. Mahomed Bey died firft, at Acre, after 
having taken the town. At the death of Ilmael, Mourad 
Bey again affumed the government; but it was foon after 
agreed to be conjointly ftiared between Mourad and Ibra¬ 
him Bey, who reftored the Turkifii pacha, and lent the 
arrears of tribute to Conftantinople, which had not been 
paid for fix years, and which was thus made the olive- 
branch of peace. 
There was never a Shiek-el-Belled, or chief of the 
mamal ukes, whofe reign 'was of longer duration than that 
of Ibrahim Bey. From the year 1776 to 1803, a few in¬ 
terruptions excepted, lie has retained poffeffion of the fu¬ 
preme power. For this continuance in the exercife of 
the lbvereignty, in a country where authority feidom re¬ 
mains long in the fame hands, he was indebted to his un¬ 
bounded liberality and great courage. It is remarkable, 
that during all the revolutions among the mamalukes for 
the laft fixty years, the pacha has been nothing more 
than an empty reprefentative of the authority which the 
court of Conftantinople claimed to exercife in Egypt; 
the whole power having been ufurped by the Shiek-el- 
Belled, fupperted by the reft of the beys. The functions 
of the pacha, during this period, were merely confined 
to receiving and tranfmitting the miri or tribute to the 
grand feignor, whenever the beys thought proper to pay 
any. It was ufelefs for him to difpute the will of the 
all-powerful beys, and accordingly he never made any 
hesitation at obeying their orders. 'Without troops, and 
without any means of enforcing his authority, he could 
not do otherwife. It may here be proper to mention the 
moft celebrated beys 'who bore the fway in Egypt at the 
clofe of the eighteenth century. Ibrahim, as the elder, 
being then upwards of fixty years of age, and at the head 
of a Itrong party, was efteemed the chief; though it is 
the uniform cuftom for all the beys to take precedence 
from the ftrength or number of their mamalukes : of 
thefe mercenaries Ibrahim maintained upwards of a thou¬ 
fand. Mourad Bey, his colleague in the government, 
and once his fuperior, was originally a (lave of Moham¬ 
med Bey: about fifty years of age; bold and intrepid, 
yet deliberate and fagaciotis; maintaining-feventeen hun¬ 
dred mamalukes. Next in power was Mohammed Bey 
Elfi, about thirty-five years of age ; his name imports that 
he was bought for a thoufand I’e quins. His matter was 
Mourad 
