86 MUHAMMAD ALI AND HIS FAMILY. A. D. people. He 1805. Muḥammad 'Ali is elected Pâsha of Egypt by the His election was afterwards confirmed by the Porte. He was born at Cavalla, a small town on the sea-coast of Albania, in 1769, and he served in the Turkish army at an early age. was sent with a body of troops to fight against the French, and enjoyed at that time the rank of major (bimbashi); he married the daughter of the governor of his native town, and by her had three sons, Ibrâhîm, Țusûn, and Ismâ'îl. 1807. General Fraser arrives at Alexandria with 5,000 British troops (March 17), but being unsuccessful in his mission, he evacuated Alexandria on September 14. 1811. Assassination of the Mamluks by Muhammad 'Ali. These unfortunate men were invited by Muḥammad 'Alî to attend the investiture of his son Tusûn with a garment of state at the Citadel on March 1. When they arrived they were graciously received and led into the Citadel, but as soon as they were inside, the gates were closed and Muḥammad 'Ali's soldiers opened fire upon them; about 470 of the Beys and their followers were murdered, and of all who entered, only one is said to have escaped. The Mamlûks then fled into Upper Egypt and Nubia, where they raided the villages and pillaged caravans. They met with stout resistance on the part of the natives, but they succeeded in fortifying certain positions, and at length Muḥammad 'Ali was obliged to send troops to punish them. A. D. 1820. Expedition to the Sûdân led by Ismail, who was burned to death at Shendi by an Arab shêkh called Nimr (1822). Khartûm founded. 1821. Muḥammad 'Ali sends about 8,oco troops to assist the Turks against the Greeks. In 1824 a false Mahdi appeared near Thebes, with about 25,000 followers, but nearly all of them were massacred by the Government troops. 1831. Invasion of Syria by Ibrâhim, son of Muhammad 'Ali. Acre was invested on November 29, but was not captured until May 27, 1832. Ibrahim was victorious at Emesa on July 8, he defeated Rashid Pâshâ, and destroyed the Turkish fleet so completely that Constantinople was in imminent danger of capture. In 1833 the whole of Syria was ceded to Muḥammad Ali, and the rule of his son Ibrahim was firm but just. In 1839 war again broke out between the Turks and Egyptians, and two years later Syria was given back to the former. In 1847 Muhammad 'Ali visited Constantinople, and soon after his reasoning powers became impaired. 1849. 1848. Ibrâhîm is appointed to rule Egypt on account of his father's failing health. He died after the reign of a few months, but Muhammad did not die until August 3, 1849. Muhammad Ali was an able ruler, and one who, after a fashion, had the interest of his country at heart. He created an army and a navy, and established equitable laws for collecting the revenues; he founded colleges of various kinds, and also the famous Bûlâk printing press. There is no doubt that but for the obstacles placed in his way by the British Government, and its interference, he would have freed Egypt entirely from Turkish misrule. His health and spirits were A. D. 1849. broken by England when she reduced his army to 18,000 men and forbade him to employ his fleet, which rotted away as it lay inactive at Alexandria. The policy which he inaugurated in the Sûdân led to the depopulation of the country, and produced the state of affairs which made the Mahdi's revolt possible. 1849. 'Abbâs Pâshâ, the son of Tusûn, the son of Muhammad 'Ali, succeeds Ibrâhîm. He was an incapable ruler, and is said to have been strangled at Benha in July, 1854. 1854. Sa'id Pâshâ, the fourth son of Muḥammad Ali, becomes ruler of Egypt. Though not a strong ruler, he was a just man, and he will be chiefly remembered for having abolished a number of cruel monopolies. In many particulars he sought to carry out his father's plans, and first and foremost among these must be mentioned the building of railways in the Delta, and the enlarging of the canals with the view of improving irrigation and of facilitating communication. He it was who supported the project of making the Suez Canal, and he gave M. de Lesseps the concession for it. He founded the Bûlâk Museum, and encouraged excavations on the sites of the ancient cities of Egypt. 1863. Ismâ'îl, son of Ibrâhîm Pâshâ, and grandson of Muḥammad Ali, becomes the ruler of Egypt; he was born in 1830, and by a decree of the Sulțân, dated May 14, 1867, was made "Khedive"* of Egypt. In the early years of the rule of this remarkable man everything seemed to go well, and the material welfare of the country of Egypt * The Arabic form of the title is .Ahototy خديوي A. D. 1863. 1875 1878. appeared to be secured. Apparently Isma'il was straining every nerve to rule his country according to Western ideas of justice and progress. Railways were built, schools were opened, trade of every kind was fostered, and agriculture, upon which the prosperity of Egypt depends, was encouraged to a remarkable degree. The making of the Suez Canal, which was begun in 1859, was carried on with great zeal under his auspices (as well as the Fresh Water Canal, which was begun in 1858 and finished in 1863), and the work was successfully accomplished in 1869. But the various enterprises in which he embarked cost large sums of money, and towards the end of 1875 his liabilities amounted to £77,667,569 sterling. The salaries of the officials were in arrear, and the Treasury bills were shunned by all. In this year he sold 176,602 Suez Canal shares to the British Government for £3,976,582 sterling; these shares. are now worth over 25 millions sterling. In 1878 M. Waddington, the French Minister of Foreign. Affairs, urged Lord Derby to co-operate with France in an attempt to put the finances of Egypt on a sounder base, and a Commission of Inquiry was instituted by the Decree of March 30, under the presidency of Mr. Rivers Wilson. In April Isma'il was obliged to find the sum of £1,200,cco to pay the May coupon of the Unified Debt, and it is said that he did so by the familiar process of "squeezing" the native. The labours of the Commission proved that "the land tenures were so arranged that the wealthier proprietors evaded a great portion of the land tax, and the system of forced labour was applied in a way which was ruinous to the country." (Royle, Egyptian Cam A. D. 1878. 1879. paigns, p. 6.) Ismail had built himself palaces everywhere, and he and his family had become possessed of one-fifth of the best of the land of Egypt. The taxes were collected with great cruelty and injury to the native, and peculation and bribery were rampant everywhere. In August of this year a Cabinet was formed with Nubar Pasha at the head, with Rivers Wilson as Minister of Finance, and M. de Blignières as Minister of Public Works. At this time Ismâ'il announced that he was, in future, determined to rule the country through a Council of Ministers. It must be remembered that the debt of Egypt at this time was about £90,000,000. that On February 18th, 1879, Nubar Pasha and his |