The Notion Of Their Having Re-Established The Balance Of Power In
Europe, And Secured Their Own Safety And Independence, Did Not Enter
Into His Mind.
"They should not leave Spain," he continued, "without
[P.82] being handsomely paid by the Spaniards; and why now abandon
Sicily?" That the English were guided in their policy by the laws of
honour, and a sense of the general good of Europe, he could not
comprehend. "A great king," he exclaimed, with much warmth, "knows
nothing but his sword and his purse; he draws the one to fill the other;
there is no honour among conquerors!" - a frank avowal of the sentiments
which guide even the most petty of the Turkish rulers.
Mohammed Aly had some notions of the English parliament; the name of
Wellington was familiar to him. "He was a great general," he said; but
he doubted whether, if his Lordship had commanded such bad soldiers as
the Turkish troops are, he would have been able to do with them as much
as he (the Pasha) had done in conquering Egypt and the Hedjaz. He
betrayed great anxiety about the fate and future possession of Corfu and
the Seven Islands. On the one hand, he wished the Russians to make war
on the Porte, and to drive the Sultan out of Europe; on the other, he
feared that, if the Russians should seize Turkey in Europe, the English
would not remain quiet spectators, but would take their share of the
Turkish empire, which he was firmly persuaded would be no other than the
province of Egypt.
I am still ignorant of the Pasha's real opinion concerning my sincerity
in professing the Mohammedan faith. He certainly treated me as a
muselman, and I flattered myself that the boldness of my conduct at Tayf
had convinced him that I was a true pro-selyte. As to the Kadhy, who was
a shrewd Constantinopolitan, most people supposed that the Porte had
sent him to watch the proceedings of Mohammed Aly, and give information
accordingly to the Sultan; and it struck me that his behaviour towards
myself was connected with an intention of accusing the Pasha, on his
return to Constantinople, of having protected a Christian in his visit
to the holy cities, a crime which would be considered unpar-donable in a
Pasha. Mohammed Aly, after his return to Cairo,
[p.83] (where, contrary to his expectations, he again found me, and
where I only saw him once,) took frequent opportunities, and indeed
seemed anxious, to convince Mr. Salt and Mr. Lee, His Majesty's and the
Levant Company's consuls, as well as several English travellers of note
who passed through Cairo, that he knew per-fectly well, in the Hedjaz,
that I was no Moslem, but that his friendship for the English nation
made him overlook the circum-stance, and permit me to impose upon the
Kadhy. He entertained a notion, suggested to him by some of his Frank
counsellors at Cairo, that, in some future account of my travels, I
might perhaps boast of having imposed upon him, like Aly Bey el Abassi,
whose work had just been received at Cairo, and who declares that he
deceived not only the Pasha, but all the olemas, or learned men, of
Cairo. To Mohammed Aly it was of more consequence not to be thought a
fool than a bad muselman.
Notwithstanding these declarations of the Pasha to the English
gentlemen, which were made in private, and certainly were not occasioned
by any imprudent speeches of mine, I continued to live, after my return
to Cairo, without molestation, as a Moslem, in the Turkish quarter. I
have to thank him for his polite reception of me at Tayf, and for his
having thrown no obstacles in the way of my travels through the Hedjaz.
I was at Mekka in December, and at Medina in the April following, when
the Pasha was at both places; but I did not think it necessary or
advisable to wait upon him at either place, where I was otherwise wholly
unknown. My practice in travelling has been to live as retired as
possible; and, except during my short visit to Tayf, where circumstances
forced me to appear somewhat conspicuously, I was known only in the
Hedjaz as a hadjy, or pilgrim, a private gentleman from Egypt, one with
whom no person was acquainted but the few officers of the Pasha whom I
had seen at Tayf.
My information respecting Tayf is very scanty, and was not
[p.84] committed to paper until after I had left the town. I was never
suffered to be alone during my stay there. I had no acquaintances from
whom much could be learned; and during the fast of Ramadhan, few
individuals of the higher classes, among whom I lived, stir out of their
houses in the day-time.
The town of Tayf is situated in the midst of a sandy plain, about four
hours in circuit, overgrown with shombs, and encompassed by low
mountains, called Djebal Ghazoan. These are subordinate ridges of the
great chain, which, continuing for four or five hours farther east, are
then lost in the plain. Tayf is an irregular square, of thirty-five
minutes quick walking in circum-ference; it is inclosed with a wall and
a ditch, newly constructed by Othman el Medhayfe. The wall has three
gates, and is defended by several towers; but it is much less solid than
the walls of Djidda, Medina, and Yembo, being in few places more than
eighteen inches thick. On the west side, within the town, and forming a
part of its wall, stands the castle, upon a rocky elevated site. It was
built by Sherif Ghaleb, and has no claim to the title of a castle,
except that it is larger than the other buildings in the town, and that
its stone walls are stronger. Though it is now half ruined, Mohammed Aly
had made this castle his head-quarters.
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