Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/782

758 758 EGYPT [lUSTOilY. This event took place on the 26th of Regeb 922 (A.D. 1516). With his death Egypt lost her independence. The shattered remains of the army collected in Cairo. Toomaii Bey, a nephew of the deceased king, was elected sultan, and at once determined on every resis tance to the conqueror. His general in Syria, El-Ganbardee, dis puted the road with Selim step by step, and Tooman Bey awaited his arrival near Cairo. Between El-Khankah and the metropolis, at the village of Er-Reydaneeyeh, the opposing armies joined battle, on the 29th of Zu-l- lleggeh (January 1, 1517). The fall of a favourite general, Sinan Pasha, infuriated the Turks, and the brilliant bravery of the Mernlooks availed them not. Immense numbers of them were slain by their enemies in the pursuit, and the survivors reunited in Cairo. El-Ganbardee, however, sacrificed his fame by joining the victor. The Turkish army paused for rest ; and time was thus given to Tooman Bey to hire Arabs at a great cost to replenish his thinned ranks. Selim now passed to the west of Cairo. A night surprise conducted by Tooman failed, but he succeeded in putting to the sword a great many Turks. He fortified himself in the city, and a house-to-house combat en sued, the Memlooks defending every foot with the energy of despair ; the citadel fell by assault, and the unfortunate Tooman effected his escape towards Alexandria ; but on the way he was taken by Arabs, given up to El-Ganbardee and another, and brought in chains to Selim, who at first received him with honour, but afterwards falsely accused him of conspiring against him, and, with the cruelty and perfidy characteristic of his race, hung him over the Bdb-Zuweyleh, the p e lace of execution for common male factors. Thus miserably perished the last independent ruler of Egypt, who possessed the best qualities of his line, and whose noble defence of his kingdom would have secured to him the commisera tion of any but a Turk. In reviewing the period during which Egypt was governed by independent Muslim princes, it is necessary to consider the spirit of the times and the people over whom they ruled. They succeeded to the government of countries worn out by incessant warfare, overrun by savage hordes, and debased by the rule of the Lower Empire. Egypt had long struggled against the slavery to which it was con demned, and the history of the last three dynasties of Pharaohs evinces the patriotism which yet animated her people. But the successive tyranny of the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans appears to have annihilated their nationality: and when the Arabs invaded the country, these causes, combined with religious strife, induced the people to afford to the conquerors every assistance in their power. But the changeful rule of the lieutenants and the troubles of the caliphs debarred Egypt (except at times under the Benee-Tooloon and the Ikhsheedeeyeh) from profiting by the enlightenment of the race who held the dominion over it, until the conquest by the Fatimees. The caliphs of that dynasty contributed in a great degree to restore to Egypt some portion of its ancient prosperity, and with the house of Eiyoob it attained its greatest military glory under the Muslims ; but the edifices erected during the rule of the two dynasties of Memlook kings, the libraries collected in Cairo at that period, and the learned men who then flourished would point to it as the age in which literature and the arts were cultivated with the most success, a sure evidence of the internal prosperity of any country. This is the more surprising when we consider the state of Syria, which had long before their accession fallen a prey to . intestine wars and the ravages of the Tatars, the Crusaders, and other invaders, and also bear in mind the constitution of their government, in which the more powerful chiefs were constantly aiming at the supreme authority ; and the practice of purchasing memlooks, and rearing them in the households of the great to enable their masters to maintain their ascendency augmented the number of these aspirants to the throne. These slaves were, unlike the Bahrees (who were the Turkish Memlooks of Es-Salih Eiyoob), chiefly Circassians, who afterwards composed the Second (or Bur gee) Dynasty. Many of the Memlook sultans rivalled in military achievements the great Saladin, and even penetrated further than he in their foreign expeditions. In Cairo are still seen the finest specimens of Arab architecture, almost ail dating during the period comprised under the domination of the two Memlook dynasties ; the libraries of the mosques, and the private collections of that city, though grievously injured since the Turkish conquest, are or very recently were the best and most considerable of those of Egypt or Syria i 1 and, as before remarked, the university El-Azhar is still, owing to the fostering care of these sultans, the principal seat of learning of the Eastern world. In this sketch of the history of Egypt we have given no account of the state of commerce, taxation, &c., under the Muslims. Those only who have read the Arab histories of this and other Eastern countries can appreciate the general fallacy of the conclusions based on their authority. It would be tedious and unprofitable to follow the details of Turkish misrule and tyranny which are from this time presented to the student of Egyptian history. Although Selim had apparently destroyed the power of the Memlooks, he thought it wise to conciliate them, and to appoint twenty-four beys over the military provinces of that number into which he divided Egypt, subject to the supreme control of a pasha, whose council was formed of seven Turkish chiefs (ojaklees), while one of the beys held the post of Sheykh el-Beled, or Governor of the Metro polis, an officer who became an object of hatred to the other chiefs. This system was begun by Selirn, and com pleted by his successor. For nearly two centuries the successive pashas were mostly obeyed; but the ambition of becoming Sheykh el-Beled was the fruitful cause of intrigue and murder. The Memlooks who then held power in Egypt were called the Ghuzz, that being the name of the tribo to which they are said to have at first generally belonged ; and they continually bought slaves, of Circassian or Georgian race, to supply the place of children, for they did not intermarry with natives of Egypt, and women of more northern climates are generally either barren or bear sickly offspring in that country. Thus they lacked the surest source of power ; few possessed any family ties ; but at the same time the slaves in general were remarkably faithful to their patrons. After two centuries, the beys gradually increased in power, until the autho rity of the pasha was almost nominal, and the govern ment became a military oligarchy. This brings us to the rise of the celebrated AH Bey. He was created Sheykh el-Beled in A.H. 1177; but, having revenged himself on an old enemy who had assassinated Ali s master, to whom he owed his elevation to the rank of bey, he shortly after fled to Syria, and took refuge with the governor of Jerusalem, and thence went to Acre, where the Sheykh Dhahir bacame his friend ; and that same year he returned to Cairo in his former capacity of Sheykh el-Beled. In 1179 his enemies again compelled him to flee, and he betook himself this time to El-Yemen, once more to return to Egypt; after which lie gained increased power. His favourite memlook, Mohammad A.boo-Dhahab, proved un grateful, and, while enjoying the highest power, entered into a conspiracy against his life ; but after receiving the presents of the hostile beys, he denounced them to his master, who would not listen to warnings of his meditated treachery. In the year 1182 (A.D. 1768) the Porte demanded the assistance of AH Bey in the Russian war, an order which he was about to obey, when he was apprised of the depar ture of a messenger with a firman demanding his head, he having been falsely accused at Constantinople of intending to aid the Russians and throw off his allegiance. He caused the bearer of this order to be wuylaid and put to death, and having possessed himself of the firmnn, he con- 1 It should, however, be mentioned that many of the most precious of their contents are plunder brought from the libraries of mosques iu Syria, as is proved by seals which they bear.