The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Aali Pasha, Mehemed Emin

AALI PASHA, Mehemed Emin, ä-lē′ pä-shä′, mĕ-hĕm-ed′ ā-min′, a Turkish statesman: b. Constantinople 1815; d. 6 Sept. 1871. Entering public life at 15, he was chargé d'affaires at London 1838, ambassador to Great Britain 1841–44; chancellor of the divan 1845; thrice minister of foreign affairs in the troublous years 1846–52; grand vizier a short time in 1852 but soon displaced as not in political accord with his companions. Recalled as foreign minister during the Crimean war of 1854, in March 1855 he took part in the treaty of the “four guarantees”; in July again became grand vizier, and at the Treat of Paris in 1856 showed great decision and cleverness in looking after Turkish interests, but without entire success. In November his political tone forced him to resign, but he remained minister without portfolio, and member of the Great Council. After Reshid Pasha's death in 1858 he was again grand vizier, and soon again withdrawn; but in November 1861 he resumed the office of foreign minister. He was president of the convention on Rumanian affairs, Paris 1864, and member of the Black Sea Conference in London 1871. During the Sultan's absence at the Paris Exposition in 1867 he was regent; and while the very soul of the reform movement energetically suppressed the Cretan rebellion and the movement for Egyptian independence. In the full tide of activity he suddenly died,– an excellent man and statesman who strove all his life, like Midhat Pasha, but with little success, to regenerate and modernize his country.