Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/786

762 762 E G Y P T [lIlSTOF.?. on both sides. This reverse in a measure united the two great Memlook parties, though their chiefs remained at enmity. El-Bardeesee passed to the south of Cairo, and the Ghuzz gradually retreated towards Upper Egypt. Thither the pasha despatched three successive expeditions (one of which was commanded by Mehemet Ali), and many battles were fought, but without decisive result. At this period another calamity befell Egypt ; about 3000 Delees arrived in Cairo from Syria. These troops had been sent for by Khursheed in order to strengthen himself against the Albanians ; and the events of this portion of the history afford sad proof of their ferocity and brutal enormities, in which they far exceeded the ordinary Turkish soldiers and even the Albanians. Their arrival immediately recalled Mehemet Ali and his party from the war, and in stead of aiding Khursheed was the proximate cause of his overthrow. Cairo was ripe for revolt; the pasha was hated for his tyranny and extortion, and execrated for the deeds of his troops, especially those of the Delees : the sheykhs enjoined the people to close their shops, and the soldiers clamoured for pay. At this juncture a firman arrived from Constanti nople conferring on Mehemet Ali the pashalic of Jiddeh; but the occurrences of a few days raised him to that of Egypt On the 12th of Safar 1220 (May 1805) the sheykhs, with an immense concourse of the inhabitants, assembled in the house of the kadee; and the Ulema, amid the prayers and cries of the people, wrote a full statement of the heavy wrongs which they had endured uudsr the administration of the pasha. The Ulema, in answer, were desired to go to the citadel; but they were apprised of treachery; and on the following day, having held another council at the house of the kadee, they proceeded to Meher.net Ali, and informed him that the people would no longer submit to Khursheed. &quot; Then whom will ye have 1 &quot; said he. &quot; We will have tJu-e&quot; they replied, &quot; to govern us according to the laws ; for we see in thy countenance that thou art possessed of justice and goodness.&quot; Mehemet Ali seemed to hesitate, and then complied, and was at once invested. On this, a bloody struggle commenced between the two pashas. Cairo had before experienced such conflicts in the streets and over the housetops, but none so severe as this. Khursheed, being informed by a messenger of the insurrection, immediately laid in stores of provisions and ammunition, and prepared to stand a siege in the citadel. Two chiefs of the Albanians joined his party, but many of his soldiers deserted. Mehemet All s great strength lay in the devotion of the citizens of Cairo, who looked on him as their future deliverer from their afflictions ; and great num bers armed themselves, advising constantly with Mehemet Ali, having the seyyid Omar and the sheykhs at their head, and guarding the town at night. On the 19th of the same month, Mehemet Ali besieged Khursheed. lletrenchments were raised, and the lofty minaret of the mosque of the sultan Hasan was used as a battery whence to fire on the citadel ; while guns were also posted on the mountain in its rear. After the siege had continued many days, Khur sheed gave orders to cannonade and bombard the town; and for six days his commands were executed with little interrup tion, the citadel itself also lying between two fires. Me hemet Ali s position at this time was very critical : his troops became mutinous for their pay ; the silahdar, who had com manded one of the expeditions against the Ghuzz, advanced to the relief of Khursheed; and the latter ordered the Uelees to march to his assistance. The firing ceased on the Friday, but recommenced on the eve of Saturday and lasted until the next Friday. On the day following, news came of the arrival at Alexandria of a messenger from Constantinople. The ensuing night in Cairo presented a curious spectacle ; many of the inhabitants gave way to rejoicing, in the hope that this envoy would put an end to their miseries, and fired off their weapons as they paraded the streets with bands of music. The silahdar, imagining the noise to bo a fray, marched in haste towards the citadel, while its garrison sallied forth, and commenced throwing up retrenchments in the quarter of Arab-el- Yesar, but were repulsed by the armed inhabitants and the soldiers stationed there ; and during all this time, the cannonade and bombardment from the citadel, and on it from the batteries on the mountain, continued unabated. The envoy brought a firman confirming Mehemet Ali, and ordering Khursheed to repair to Alexandria, there to await further orders; but this he refused to do, on the ground that he had been appointed by a khatt-i-shereef. The firing ceased on the following day, but the troubles of the people were rather increased than assuaged ; murders and robberies were daily committed by the soldiery, the shops were all shut and some of the streets barricaded. While these scenes were being enacted, El-Elfee was besieging Demenhoor, and the other beys were returning towards Cairo, Khursheed having called them to his assistance. Soon after this, a squadron under the command of the Turkish high admiral arrived in Aboo-Keer Bay, with despatches confirmatory of the firman brought by the former envoy, and authorizing Mehemet Ali to continue to discharge the functions of governor for the present. Khursheed at first refused to yield; but at length, on con dition that his troops should be paid, he evacuated the citadel and embarked for llosetta. Mehemet Ali now possessed the title of Governor of Egypt, but beyond the walls of Cairo his authority was everywhere disputed by the beys, who were joined by the army of the silahdar of Khursheed; and many Albanians deserted from his ranks. To replenish his empty coffers he was also compel ed to levy exactions, principally from the Copts. An attempt was made to ensnare certain of the beys, who were encamped north of the metropolis. On the 17th of August 1805, the dam of the canal of Cairo was to be cut, and some chiefs of Mehemet Ali s party wrote, informing them that he would go forth early on that morning with most of his troops to witness the ceremony, inviting them to enter and seize the city, and, to deceive them, stipulating for a certain sum of money as a reward. The dam, however, was cut early in the preceding night, without any ceremony. On the following morning, these beys, with their memiooks, a very numerous body, broke open the gate of the suburb El-Hoseyneeyeh, and gained admittance into the city from the north, through the gate called Bab el-Futooh. They marched along the principal street for some distance, with kettle-drums behind each company, and were received with apparent joy by th- citizens. At the mosque called the Ashrafeeyeh they separated, one party proceeding to the Azliar and the houses of certain sheykhs, and the other continuing along the main street, and through the gate called Bab Zuweyleh, where they turned up towards the citadel. Here they were fired on by some soldiers from the houses; and with this signal a terrible massacre commenced. Falling back ~ O towards their companions, they found the bye-streets closed; and in that part of the main thoroughfare called Beyn-el- Kasreyn, they were suddenly placed between two fires. Tims shut up in a narrow street, some sought refuge in the collegiate mosque El-Burkookeeyeh, while the remainder fought their way through their enemies, and escaped over the city-wall with the loss of their horses. Two memiooks had in the meantime succeeded, by great exertions, in giving the alarm to their comrades in the quarter of the Azh;ir, who escaped by the eastern gate called Bab el-