mies; nor was it for their interest to spread its light among the Turks. The nations subject to the dominion of the Porte believed themselves invincible. The remembrance of their former conquests filled their memory. The high and exaggerated opinion which they entertained of their own strength and importance was necessarily strengthened by the conduct of the European powers themselves, who permitted, for a long course of years, a few miserable barbarian pirates to make war upon Europe with impunity, defy every nation, and impose ransom and tribute upon every government of Christendom. The power that first refused to pay tribute to the piratical states of Barbary was the United States of America!

The successes of the French in Egypt were calculated to strike the imagination of the Mussulmans and fill them with astonishment. Thus instructed by expe rience to appreciate the military superiority of the people of the West, they were prepared to admit among themselves the experiment of European civilization. For an account of the individual who has been the main instrument in evolving from the event of the French invasion the mighty consequences which it was destined to produce, in relation to the Eastern world, we refer the reader to the following chapter.

MEHEMET ALI.

AMONG the adventurers who resorted to Egypt to assist the Turks in their war against the French, was an Albanian soldier, who, by his courage, talents, and address, gradually forced himself into notice, and distinguished himself so highly above all his competitors, that at length he rose to the supreme command, with the title of Pacha. This man was Mehemet Ali, the present sovereign of Egypt, who gained the high position in which he is now placed, through a thousand obstacles, which he either demolished by his courage, or evaded by his address. Of his early life he gave the following short sketch to Mr. Barker, the British consul-general in Egypt. "I was born in a village in Albania. My father had ten children besides me. They are all now dead, but, while living, not one of them ever thought of contradicting me. Although I left my native mountains before I attained to manhood, yet the principal people in the place never took any step in public business without previously inquiring what was my pleasure. I came to Egypt an obscure adventurer, and when I was yet but a bimbashi (captain), it happened one day that the commissary was to give each of the

bimbashis a tent. They were all my seniors, and naturally claimed the precedence over me; but the officer said, 'Stand by, all of you; this young fellow, Mehemet Ali, shall be served first.' And I was served first. I advanced step by step, as it pleased God to ordain, and now here I am," (rising a little on his seat, and looking out of the window, which was at his elbow, and commanded a view of the Lake Mareotis,) " and now here I am. I never had a master." With these words he glanced his eye at the roll containing the imperial firman.

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One of the most formidable obstacles which he found in the way of his schemes for the improvement of the country, was the constant opposition of the Mamelukes. The plan which he adopted to rid himself of these antagonists, and the execution of it, have brought much obloquy upon his name. In 1811, he collected them by a stratagem in the citadel of Cairo, where they were massacred, as the janizaries were subsequently put to death at Constantinople. In judging of transactions of this kind, we ought to take into consideration, not only all the relative circumstances of the opposing parties in the particular case, but the degree of justification furnished by the existing state of the moral and political principles and practices which prevail in the country. The morals of the Mamelukes were utterly depraved; they were, to the last degree, rapacious and cruel; and their extirpation relieved the country from a great amount of suffering. Self-defence is the ground on which Mehemet Ali must rest his justification of this act; though we must admit that he resorted to treachery for its accomplishment.

The Egyptian reformer must not be looked upon as an apostle either of morality or civilization. We may regard him as a man of genius, who, having learned nothing from the society in which he was brought up, and receiving no impulse from the people about him, has acted with great ability in building up and maintaining his own power. To preserve his authority, an army was necessary; not an army after the Turkish fashion, a mere turbulent militia, dangerous to those who keep it in their pay, and whom it is supposed to protect, but an army subjected to the rigor of discipline, that would submit to the tactics of military science, and insure success in the field. The first object of Mehemet Ali was to obtain power, the second to consolidate and establish it on a firm basis; and his great merit is that of having chosen and applied the best means of attaining those ends, the organization of regular troops. After having created a respectable army and navy, he turned his attention to the establishment of schools, hospitals, &c.

Mehemet Ali is the first Osmanlee who appears to have had just ideas of administrative government, and he is the first that has applied them in practice. The government of Egypt, it is true, is still absolute, in the strictest sense of the word; but the Pacha has chosen to govern according to systematic forms and regulations. His administration is vastly more rational, orderly, and humane, than that of the Mamelukes, or that of the old Pachas in the other dominions of the Porte. He has formed a council, consisting of his chief officers, and of the provincial and local governors and sheiks, whom he occasionally consults. He ad