E G Y P T. 
345 
triple . would tend to produce fnore wickednefs in the 
world than has ever been yet committed; for what is 
there to intimidate ambition, in full po He Hi on of power, 
but the pen of the hiftorian ? What can guarantee man¬ 
kind from the atrocities of a licentious defpotifm, but an 
atfurance that the memory of great crimes is perpetuated 
in the records of hiftory ? 
“ If the charges are not founded, the man yet lives to 
exonerate his injured character. If he cannot refute 
them, then mult he fink into his grave loaded with the 
heavy weight of fuch offences, and the miferable pre- 
fcience that execration fit all attach to his memory, infiead 
of.the fame he coveted.”—Thus far lieutenant-colonel 
Wilfon, p. 74, &c. 
Doftor William Wittman, phyfician to the royal artil- 
lerv, in his Travels in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt, pub- 
liHied in 1803, dates as follows : “ It was probably owing 
to the obftinate defence made by the Turks at Jaffa, that 
the French commander in chief was induced to give or¬ 
ders for the horrid maflacre which fucceeded. Four 
thou fa nd of the wretched inhabitants who had furren- 
dered, and who had in vain implored the mercy of the 
conqueror, were, together with a part of the late Turkilh 
garrifon of El-Arilh, (amounting, it has been faid, to 
hve or (ix hundred,) dragged out in cold blood, four days 
after the French had obtained poffeffion of Jaffa, to the fand- 
hills, about a league diftant, in the way to Gaza, and 
there inoff inhumanly put to death. I have feen the 
Skeletons of tliefe unfortunate viClims, .which lie' Scat¬ 
tered over the hills, a modern Golgotha, which remains 
a lading difgrace to a nation calling itfeif 'civilized. It 
would give pleafure to the author of this work, as well 
as to every liberal mind, to hear thefe fails contradicted 
on fubffcantial evidence. Indeed, I am forry to add, that 
the charge of cruelty againft the French general does not 
reft here. It having been reported that, previoufly to 
the retreat of the French army from Syria, their com¬ 
mander in chief had ordered all the French fick at Jaffa 
to be poifoned, 1 was led to make the enquiry, to which 
every one who fltould have vifited the fpot would natu¬ 
rally have been directed, refpeCting an aCt of fuch lin¬ 
gular, and it fltould feem wanton, inhumanity. It con¬ 
cerns me to have to date, not only that fuch a circum- 
ftance was pofitively afeerted to have happened ; but 
that, while in Egypt, an individual was pointed out to 
me, as having been the executioner of thefe diabolical 
commands.”-—See Dr. Wittman’s Travels, 4to ed. p.128. 
In allufion to this (hocking event, the following paflage 
might be aferibed, taken from the'vvork of the phTFTo- 
pliic Denon : “ In marching we rfnift abandon our wound¬ 
ed, and give them up to certain defruElion —a melt dillrefling 
circumflance in all wars, and el'pecially in tiie favage con- 
teft in which we were now engaged !” 
The reader will perhaps be lels fur prized at thefe atro¬ 
cities, when he reflects that they were decreed by a man 
who had apoftutized from the mild doctrines of the Cln ifl- 
ian difpenfation, to embrace the tenets of Mahorpet. 
His own official documents eflablilh this fa'Ct: and having 
adopted the ideas, the ferocious character naturally fol¬ 
lows. Read but the hiftory of the Caliphate or Modem 
empire, and the maxims of the modern conqueror of 
Egypt will be found exemplified in almoft every reign of 
the Saracen tyrants. And it may here be proper to re¬ 
mark, that the indecent treatment of lord Whitworth, 
the late English ambafi'ador at Paris, probably arofe from 
a fpirt t of revenge in the firfl coriful, who complained of 
the charges contained in lieutenant-colonel Wllfon’s book, 
calling the work a libel on the French nation, and meanly 
requiring that the author fhould be punilhed, and the 
charges publicly retracted ; without offering the fm all eft 
evidence to diiprove tiie fact. Thofe, therefore, who 
have believed that the Maltanean war arofe in great mea- 
fure out of the refentinent of the firfl c.onful on this oc- 
cafion, might not have adopted an entirely unfounded 
creed. The natural ferocity of the muffulman character. 
Von. VI. Ho. 354. 
may, in fome meafure, be appreciated from the following 
bale and cruel tranfaCfion : 
After the reftoration of peace to the defolated province 
of Egypt, it was the with of general Hutchinfon to re- 
ftore its civil government, and cal! back to their refpeCtive 
flations all thofe under whole official departments it had 
been conducted. The extreme jealoufy of the Porte, 
however, in its anxious care once more to get firm hold 
of Egypt, had fecretly determined on the extirpation of 
the prefent race of beys ; the only men in the country 
who had made head againft the common enemy. This 
political but fanguinary meafure was confided to the ma¬ 
nagement of the grand vizier. On the 21ft of October 
1801, all the beys then in Alexandria, with the capitan 
pacha, were invited to dine on-board fir Richard Bicker- 
ton’s (hip, then lying in the harbour. With this inten¬ 
tion they were taken into the capit.in pacha’s barge; but 
while they were failing through the lake Mareotis, a 
cawouafli, or meffenger of ft.tte, appeared on the fliore, 
and hailing them, informed the capitan pacha that he had 
brought difpatches of the ulmoft confequence for him 
from Conftantinople. Upon this the capitan pacha left 
the beys, and went away in a boat ; after which, as they 
were palling under the (fern of a Turkilh gun-boat at an¬ 
chor, a volley of mufketry was fired at them, and feveral 
boats full of men affailed them on every fide. After a 
gallant and defperate refiftance, rendered more furious 
by the idea of being treacheroufly facrificed, they were 
overpowered by numbers, and made prifoners. In the 
conteft, Ofman Bey Tambourgi, Ofman Bey Afcar, Ma¬ 
homet Bey Mafice, and the black Caya Bey, were killed 
in the barge. Ofman Bey Berdici, and Solyman Aga, 
were very leverely wounded, but fortunately recovered. 
The furvivors were then taken and confined on-board the 
capitan pacha’s fliip, the Sultan Selim. Immediately 
upon the above tranfaCtion being made known to general 
Hutchinfon, he ordered brigadier-general Stuart, at the 
head of his regiment, and with guns and lighted matches, 
to proceed to the Turkilh camp on the eaftvvard of Alex¬ 
andria, and to infill upon the bodies of the beys being 
given up to the Britilh. This, after fome hefitation, was 
acceded to by tire capitan pacha, and the remaining beys 
were liberated the next day, and lent to Alexandria, 
where the bodies of thofe who had been (lain were bu¬ 
ried by the Britilh army, with all pollible military ho¬ 
nours. While thefe things were palling at Alexandria, 
(he grand vizier, by prefents, and. other demonstrations of 
friendlhip, having lulled the mamaluke beys at Cairo 
into perfeCt fecurity, he made, on the 20th of October, 
an attempt to feize them. Several of them thus fell 
treacheroufly into his hands; but Selim Bey, and a party 
of bis Officers and men, effected their efcape. After in¬ 
numerable hardships and difficulties, they arrived at GU 
zeh, where they were received and kindly treated by tiie 
commandant, colonel Ramfay. As foon as general 
I-futchinfon was made acquainted with this transaction, 
he difpatched brigadier-general Stuart to the grand vizier, 
with a peremptory letter, infilling on the unconditional 
delivery of the beys, whom he kept prifoners in Cairo. 
This demand was, after fome hefitation, complied with ; 
and on the 16th of November the beys came into Gizeh, 
where they were placed under the protection of the Bii- 
tilh army. General Hutchinfon, after this Scandalous 
behaviour of the grand vizier, determined to bring back 
tiie government to the flrict regulations formed for it by 
Solyman the L’egillator, in 1521. He direCte i that the 
number ol beys Should be augmented to their full com¬ 
plement of twenty-four ; that the capitan pacha fhould 
be the fupreme president in the divan; that the new. 
cleCted beys Ihould be fubjeCt to his approval ; and that 
lie Should no longer remain a cypher in the date, but 
have -an army under his command, fufficient to enforce 
his legal authority. Thus, at the commencement of the 
year 1802, the fovereignty of Egypt was reftored by the 
valour of the Britilh arms, to its ancient privileges and 
4 T coiiftitution. 
