sanction and immediate inspection of the Grand Signior, which, in the present disposition of the Turks, may he productive of some effect. This man having a competent degree of mathematical knowledge, and being well versed in the management of artillery, had been employed, prior to his apostacy, in repairing the castles, and erecting new fortifications at the Darda nelles, so that, independent of the defence of a fleet, that passage, might, from its own strength, be rendered impracticable to the Russians. That service having been performed to the satisfaction of the Porte, and this adventurer being now become its subject, he undertook the instruction of the Turkish engineers, and attended to this office with such assiduity, that, it is said, he has already accomplished a surprising improvement in the management of their artillery.

The appearances of peace by no means slackened the preparations for war during the negociations; new levies were made with great diligence, and ships were built, manned, and equipped, with the greatest possible expedition. These objects, together with the restoration of order and tranquillity in the provinces, were immediately attended to by the Grand Signior, while the Vizir, in pursuance of the plan he had formed, continued constantly with the army. In the mean time, the most admirable order and police were preserved in the capital, which being purged of its supernumerary crowds by the war, and cleared of the idle and profligate, became, with its beautiful environs, the most pleasant residence in the world.

The winter in Syria was too mo

derate, to prove any restraint to the troubles in that country. Ali Bey, by the assistance of his faithful ally the Cheik Daher, and through that veneration and compassion which the brave and unfortunate experience more among barbarous tribes than civilized nations, was again grown considerable; and these leaders became every day more formidable. They however spent much time in the besieging of towns, a service for which the kind of troops that they commanded were totally unfit, and for which they notwithstanding seemed to have a great passion. Many inconsiderable places baffled their utmost efforts, notwithstanding the assistance given them by the Russians; and the decayed city of Jaffa, or Joppa, cost them a siege of seven or eight months, though but meanly fortified, and as badly provided.

The taking of this place was however necessary to Ali Bey, as it greatly facilitated the enterprise which he was meditating against Egypt, and which he then immediately prepared to carry into execution. The forces which he was able to collect for this purpose, were very unequal to so great a design; but his eagerness to regain so desirable a possession, outweighed all other considerations, and prompted him to put every thing to the hazard.

He accordingly set out with about 13000 men for Grand Cairo, and met with no obstacle in his march till he approached to that city, near which, at a place called Salekie, he found Mahomet Bey Aboudaab, too well prepared for his reception, at the head of an army of 60000

men.

May 7th.

1773.

Neither Ali Bey,. nor his followers, were discomposed

posed at the sight of this great army; and though it was on a Friday, a day which the Mahometans scrupulously dedicate to prayer, and which Aboudaab wanted to keep sacred, by deferring the battle till the next day, they obliged him to change his resolution. A desperate engagement ensued, in which Ali Bey and his followers behaved with the utmost resolution; but being also encountered with a resolution which they probably did not expect, they were at length overborne by numbers, and were almost all cut to pieces; not above five hundred being taken prisoners, and their situation not admitting any to escape. . A son and a nephew of the Cheik Daher, with several other Beys, were among the slain. Ali Bey, after being desperately wounded, was taken prisoner; and, was the same day brought in that condition before the Divan at Cairo. In this forlorn situation, he lost his former resolution, and throwing himself at the feet of Aboudaab, called him his son, and requested his life in the most endearing terms. The conqueror did not insult his misfortunes; he said he should receive no prejudice from him; but that he asked what it was not in his power to grant, as his life was in the hands of the Grand Signior only. Aboudaab kept his word, and an order was afterwards issued from Constantinople for his being beheaded; but it is not known whether he died of his wounds, or in consequence of that order.

Such was the fate of Ali Bey. A man, who, independent of his ambition and rebellion, seemed possessed of several qualities that rendered him worthy of a better fortune. It does not seem extraordinary that, in his circumstances,

he should have encountered any dangers, or engaged in any attempt however desperate, that might af ford a possibility of retrieving his affairs; but the attachment and intrepidity of his voluntary followers is truly astonishing; whose hearts, instead of being dejected at the sight of such an army, or of sinking under a consciousness of their own miserable situation, which afforded neither retreat nor shelter, on the contrary, beat high for the engagement; and without any resource but their own native courage, fought till they were cut to pieces, with all the confidence which arises in veteran troops from a knowledge of their superiority in military skill and discipline.

There were about four hundred Russians, Greeks, and Albanians, in this ill-fated army, who kept in a distinct body, and had the management of the artillery, which amounted to twenty pieces of cannon, and with which they did great exécution during the engagement. They also behaved with great courage, and were all killed to about twenty. Some Russian ships appeared at the same time upon the coasts of Egypt; but disappeared as soon as they found the unhappy turn that affairs had taken.

a most daring and dangerous rebel, and the recovery of a noble country, on which the subsistence of the capital, and the army in a great degree depended; this success served to restrain that spirit of disorder and revolt which was so prevalent in other parts, and had a happy effect, at the same time, in removing that dangerous despondency at home, which was the inevitable consequence of a continued series of misfortunes. It also shewed to its enemies the vast resources of that great empire, where such a man as Aboudaab, with little more than the bare name of government to support him, could raise so considerable an army, in one of its most unsettled provinces.

The fate of his friend Ali Bey, did not discourage the Cheik Daher, who,, seconded by his numerous sons and nephews, and well supported by the Druses Mutualis, and other barbarous tribes who have chosen to follow his fortunes, seemed to acquire new strength and courage by that event. He still carries on a very troublesome war in Syria, which keeps that and the neighbouring provinces in great disorder; nor does it seem probable that the Porte will be able before the conclusion of a peace, to restore the tranquillity of that country.

The fleet which the Porte was able to fit out this year at Constantinople, was only equal to the task of attending to the defence of the Dardanelles, and of preserving the dominion of the Black Sea. A considerable part of it was employed in guarding the mouths of the Danube, to prevent any design the Russians might form for the invasion of Romania, by a sudden embarkation of troops, aboard

3

such vessels as they could procure in those vast channels. A second squadron was sent with troops, ammunition, and provisions, for the relief of Oczacow and Kilburn; and a third was sent with the new Tartar Chan for the recovery of the Crimea. We are not well informed of any particulars relative to this expedition, except its having failed of success. The Russians say that the Chan landed and was defeated; and the Turks inform us, that the fleet having suffered much by tempests, was at length drove into the sea ports of Amasia, and obliged to land the troops to refit, who being mostly natives of that country, seized the opportunity to disband, and retire to their respective homes, by which the expedition was of necessity laid aside.

This state of inactivity, in which the Turkish marine was restrained by its weakness, ill suited the enterprising genius of the celebrated Hassan, or Hossein Bey, the Captain Basha, or Admiral of the Black Sea. This brave commander, who had already distinguished himself with great honour in the course of the war, particularly in the fatal sea fight at Cisme, and by his bold and masterly conduct in the expulsion of the Russians from the islands of Lemnos, and Meteline. upon finding that the Russians had passed the Danube in the latter campaign, obtained leave from the Emperor to appoint a deputy for his naval command, and to go himself, in the rank of Seraskier, or principal general, to oppose the enemy. We have already seen the success that attended his bravery and conduct upon that expedition, and the precision with

which

which he fulfilled his promise to the Grand Signior; and as he seems at present to stand very fairly for being the second man in that great empire, and that his history, besides, is curious, it may not be improper to take some notice of

it.

This extraordinary adventurer was born in Persia; and by one of those sudden revolutions of fortune, to which the natives of those wide Asiatic regions have in all times been more liable than those of any other part of the world, was reduced in his infancy to a state of slavery. This early change in his condition was the consequence of one of those irruptions which the avarice of the Turks has continually prompted them to make into that ruined empire, since the death of Nadir Shah. He fell by purchase into the hands of a native of Rodosto, in Romania, by whom he was brought up; but growing impatient of his condition when he arrived at maturity, and the situation of that city, upon the Propontis, being favourable to his purpose, he, by the assistance of a Greek, made his escape to Smyrna.

As his genius lay wholly to war, and the Ottoman empire afforded no opportunity then for his indulging it, he enlisted among the recruits that are usually raised in that neighbourhood for the service of the state of Algiers, and was sent with the rest to Africa. The Algerines were then engaged in a hot war with the inland Moors, who are the original possessors, and rightful owners of the country; but from whom that state, partly by force, and more by fomenting the divisions between their princes, extort a precarious submission. Our

adventurer, by an extraordinary intrepidity, uncommon bodily endowments, and a presence of mind and invention, which found continual resources in the greatest dangers, was soon distinguished from his fellows, and by a most rapid progress, rose from being a slave to the command of an army.. Having now room for the exertion of his abilities, and the display of his genius, he conducted the war so successfully, and concluded it so much to the advantage of the state, that the government of the city and province of Constantina, the richest and best belonging to Algiers, was conferred on him as a reward for his services.

But Hassan soon experienced the effects of that envy which always attends fortunate merit, for though he preserved his government for some years, he at length found so powerful a cabal formed against him at Algiers, that he had no other means for the saving of his life, and the wreck of his fortune, but by a precipitate flight into Spain, whither he carried the most portable and valuable of his effects.

The present King of Spain having some knowledge of his merit and quality, gave orders that he should be received and treated with distinction, and afterwards, at his own desire, forwarded him to Naples. There he had the good fortune to freight a Danish ship, which afterwards proved the means of saving his life, and in which he embarked with his effects (which were worth 100000 crowns) for Constantinople. Upon his arrival there, the Agent from Algiers immediately obtained an order for the seizing of his person, as a deserter

from

from that state; which having put in execution, he was next proceeding to the confiscation of his effects. In this design he was how ever vigorously and successfully opposed by Mr. Gahler, the Danish minister at the Porte, who immediately sent his janissaries on board the vessel, and insisted upon supporting the honour of his master's flag, by protecting every thing that was in her.

As the discussion of this subject made some noise, and took up some time, it gave Hassan Bey an opportunity, which he did not neglect, of having his affairs represented to the Grand Signior; and of shewing his services to Algiers, and the design upon his life, which could have been only prevented by his Aight. He at the same time declared his zeal for the Porte, and made a tender of his services in such a manner, as shewed that he considered it to be of importance; an offer which was the more acceptable, as the present war was either then begun or in contemplation. It is also probable, that as his treasure was, through the spirited conduct of Mr. Gahler, at his own disposal, he found means to employ some part of it to better purpose in the seraglio, than it would have answered in the hands of the Algerine agent. However that was, he was discharged, and immediately appointed to the command of a ship of the line. He afterwards acted as vice-admiral in the engagement at Cisme, where the not taking his advice, in standing out to sea and engaging the Russians, first cost the captain basha his fleet, and afterwards his head. In the general destruction of that night, Hassan Bey signalized himself as

usual; he being the only Turkish officer that saved his ship, which he did by forcing his way bravely through the Russian fleet.

This extraordinary man is at present the idol of the people, who look upon him as the restorer of the Ottoman glory. It seems, indeed, as if the Grand Vizir and he may, not unaptly, be considered as the Fabius and Marcellus of the Turkish empire. The enterprising spirit, and brilliant actions of the latter, are, however, better known and understood by the people, and more captivating to their imagination, than the stedfast, deliberate wisdom, and judicious conduct of the former, and they are accordingly loud in their wishes for Hassan Bey's being promoted to his place. This must naturally breed a jealousy between those great officers, which may deprive the state in a great measure of their services, and possibly end in the ruin of one or the other. Whatever Hassan Bey's merits may be, the Porte is probably indebted for its existence to Mousson Oglou.

While the western and northern boundaries of the Ottoman empire have been liable to the ravages of a cruel and destructive war, its eastern limits have been depopulated by that fatal destroyer of mankind the pestilence. This dreadful scourge,

seems either to have varied its form, or under its old, to have assumed a degree of malignity, which is not perhaps to be equalled in history. The ancient city of Bagdat was the first victim to its vengeance, where it carried off, (as it is said) the amazing number of 250,000 people. The fugitives, who fled in great numbers to Bassora, near the mouth of the Eu

phrates