Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/319

Rh rebellion in Mardeen, and were reduced by Resheed Pasha, and who rebelled again after that the government of that town had been entrusted to him by Mohammed Pasha of Mosul, were both refugees in the Hakkari, under the wing of Noorallah Beg. Ismael Pasha, the ex-governor of Amedia, who had an old grudge against the Nestorians, and who afterwards took an active part in the warlike expeditions against them, was also a frequent visitor there. The cause of this enmity on his part deserves to be related. We have already described this chief as the hereditary Pasha of Amedia, who claimed descent from the Abbaside Caliphs, and whose family was consequently held in high veneration by the Coords. In 1832 the chief of Rawandooz, in his campaign into these parts, ejected him from his fortress, and placed a garrison there under the command of Resool Beg, his brother, to whom he made over a large portion of the province of Bahdinân, which he had seized upon and appropriated. In order to regain possession of his inheritance, Ismael Pasha applied to Mar Shimoon for assistance, who, with the consent of Noorallah Beg, headed a force of 3,000 armed Nestorians, many of whom were priests, and led them as far as the village of Ba-Merni, in the Supna. Just before this, the army of Mohammed Pasha of Mosul, had taken the castle of Daoodia, and a messenger was despatched from thence to Mar Shimoon, informing him that it was the intention of the Pasha of Mosul to take Amedia, and consequently, if the Nestorians followed up their design of re-instating Ismael Pasha in the government of the province, they would be fighting against the Osmanlis. On hearing this, the Patriarch sent a reply, to the effect that they never wished to oppose the Sultan's authority, and that as affairs had taken such a turn, he would contrive a scheme to withdraw from the contest. He accordingly informed Ismael Pasha that it was necessary for him and his troops to celebrate Easter at the church of Arâden, a Nestorian village a few miles distance from Ba-Merni, promising to return as soon as the feast was over. In the dead of the night the Nestorian contingent crossed the Tcah Meteenah, and the day following re-entered the Tyari country. Ismael Pasha never forgot this treachery: for a long time after he was kept under surveillance at Mosul, from whence he escaped to Bedr Khan Beg, with whom, and with Noorallah