mond de Chatillon; but five years afterwards he captured Aleppo. In 1187, he gained a decisive victory over the Christians; and in the same year made himself master of Jerusalem. The croisaders, however, having, after a siege of two years, captured Akka, or Acre, the ancient Ptolemais, Salah-ed-din concluded a truce with Richard I. king of England. By this treaty the Christians were left in possession of Acre and Jaffa, almost the only remains of their conquests in the east. Salahed-din died in 1193, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and the twenty-second of a glorious reign. Although this great prince left sixteen sons, his posterity was soon hurled from the throne, which, about seven years after his death, was usurped by Adel-Sief-ed-din, his brother. Under the succes sors of this prince, the croisaders made several attempts on Egypt. In 1249, St. Louis, king of France, seized on Damietta; but in the following year was captured, with his whole army of about 20,000 men, by the sultan, Turan Shah. In 1250, Turan was massacred by the Mamalukes, who placed on the throne a youth of the royal line; but afterwards them, selves usurped the sovereignty. These Mamalukes were ori ginally Turkish slaves, whom Malek, the father of Turan Shah, had purchased from the Tartars of Kaptschak, these he had formed a guard and a marine, and had advanced many of them to the highest employments. This military corps established an elective monarchy, and raised one of their own officers to the throne, a system to which they ever after adhered. They are styled in history the Baharite Mamalukes, from having been employed as mariners on board the sultan's fleet. Most of the reigns of those sovereigns were short, and most of them fell by assassination. They performed, however, considerable feats of arms: they finally expelled the Christians from Syria; and during several reigns con tested the possession of that country with the successors of Tschinghis Khan, when the Mongolian empire was in the height of its power, and in the full career of its conquests. The last of the Baharite sultar's was Hadgi Salah, who being a minor, was deposed by Barkuk Daher, his atabek, or governor. Barkuk having seized the throne, founded the dynasty of the Borgite Mamalukes, A. D. 1389. These were Cir

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cassian slaves, who had been purchased by the Baharite sultans, and were in number about 12,000. They derived their name from the word borge, which signified a tower, because their residence was in the castle of Cairo, where they kept guard, and went through their education. Being favoured by the sultans, they rose to the first dignities, engrossed all the powers of government, and having supplanted the Baharite, or Turkish Mamalukes, succeeded to their empire. The system of government, however, continued the same: the sceptre was transferred to the hands not of a different class, but only a different race of men. Barkuk, the first sultan of this line, having twice defeated the troops of the victorious Timur, or Tamerlane, had the honour of checking the progress of the Mongols in Syria. In the year 1442, the Mamaluke sultan of Egypt conquered Cyprus, took its king and most of his nobility prisoners, and rendered the kingdom tributary. Nothing further of any great importance occurred till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the Mamaluke and Ottoman powers came into contact. In 1516, the sultan, Kansu-el-Guiri, being defeated and slain in battle by Selim II. emperor of the Turks, Syria was annexed to the Ottoman empire, after having so long been an appendage to the Mamaluke kingdom of Egypt. Toman Bey was elected sultan by the Mamalukes; but his reign proved of short duration. Selim II undertook in the following year his grand expedi tion against Egypt, having first made immense preparations for insuring success. The Mamalukes, on their side, were not neglectful in providing the means of defence. The contest was arduous and bloody. Tornan Bey displayed the talents of a sovereign and a general; but being defeated by Selim in two decisive engagements, he was made prisoner, and hanged at one of the gates of Cairo A. D. 1517, after a reign of about one year. Thus ended' the singular monarchy of the Mamalukes in Egypt, which, during the space of 263 years had exhibited the extraordinary political phænomenon of a small body of military slaves, ruling an extensive, populous, and powerful kingdom..

But although the monarchy of the Mamalukes was abolish. ed, their aristocracy was, for political reasons, retained, and

this military body subsisted without any alteration. A convention was made with the Ottoman emperor, who confirmed to the Mamalukes their former privileges, on conditions of allegiance and tribute, and also of acknowledging the spiritual jurisdiction of the Mufti of Constantinople. The power of the Beys, however, has of late almost entirely set aside that of the Porte; and Egypt, strictly speaking, has, during a great part of the last century, been a military aristocratical republic, acknowledging a merely nominal allegiance to the Ottoman emperor. Since that period Egypt presents no memorable occurrence till 1770, when Ali Bey, taking advantage of the distressed situation of the Porte in the Russian war, threw off its yoke, assumed independence, conquered the adjacent coasts of Arabia, with a great part of Syria, and seemed about to revive the empire of the great Salah-ed-din. His conduct and views tended to render Egypt once more the seat of commerce and wealth. The assistance of a small foreign force would have enabled him to execute all his designs; and the non-interference of Russia, on this occasion, appears a political mystery. His views, however, were rendered abortive by the treachery of his brother-in-law, Mohammed Abudahab. His troops were defeated, and he himself, being mortally wounded and made prisoner, in the month of March 1773, soon after died, and was honourably buried at Cairo. Mohammed Abudahab received from the Porte the office of Sheik-el-Bellet, or governing Bey, which he held during the remainder of his life. Egypt was, for some time convulsed with civil wars among the Beys; but in 1785, the contending parties came to an accommodation.

This country, however, in 1798, exhibited a novel scene, and became a splendid theatre of French and British valour. The French army, amounting to between 30 and 40,000, commanded by the present emperor, took Alexandria by assault on the night of the 5th July, with the loss of little more than two hundred men. On the 21st the French appeared before Cairo. On the 23d that metropolis was attacked and carried by assault. And the battle of the Pyramids may be said to have completed the conquest of Egypt. The fugitive Mamalukes retreated into the Thebaid. The French pursued them

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the whole length of the country as far as Assuan, the ancient Syene, and drove them into the deserts. The arms of Britain, however, soon wrested from France her splendid, but transient conquest. The memorable battle of the Nile, August 1st, in which Lord Nelson, with his brave commanders, gained fresh laurels, entirely altered the position of the French, and changed their ideas of conquest into thoughts of defence. "On the morning of the 1st of August," says Denon, " were masters of Egypt, Corfu, and Malta; and the security of these possessions annexed to France, seemed, in a great measure, to depend on the thirteen ships of the line that we had with us.' This author adds, that General Buonaparte would have brought the fleet into the old port of Alexandria; "but," says he, "the evil genius of France persuaded the Admiral to moor his ships in the bay of Aboukir; and thus to change in one day the result of a long train of successes."+ This was the beginning of the British triumphs: the moment at last arrived for their completion. On the 8th March, 1801, the brave Sir Ralph Abercrombie landed his army, in spite of the opposition of the French, and the tremendous fire of their batteries.t On the 13th and 21st, two obstinate and well fought battles took place near Alexandria, both terminated to the advantage of the English; but in the last the gallant general was mortally wounded; and out of Buonaparte's invincible legion of 900 men, 650 bravely fell by the British bayonets. On the death of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, General Hutchinson took the command, and shewed himself neither in courage nor skill inferior to his predecessor. He insured his own glory, and the gratitude of his country, by completing the conquest of Egypt.

Denon's Travels, vol. 1. p. 159. † Idem, Travels, vol. 1. p. 160. Denon relates the operations of the French in Upper Egypt. For an account of the British expedition, see Sir R. Wilson's narrative.

CHAP. IV.

Present State, political and moral.....Religion.....Government..... Laws.... Army......Navy.....Revenues.....Commerce.....Manufactures..... Population "....Political importance..... Language..... Literature.....Polite Arts.....Education...... Manners and Customs.....National Character.

Religion. -THE predominant religion in Egypt is the Mahomedan ; but the Cophtic Christians are numerous, and have their churches and monasteries. There are also in some of the towns several Greeks, and some Roman Catholics.*

Government. The government of Egypt is singular. This country is little more than nominally subject to the Grand Seignior; or, at the most, can only be called a tributary state. On the conquest of Egypt, by Selim II., 1517, that sultan, considering the distance, the local circumstances, and refractory spirit of that country, thought it a measure of policy to compromise with the Mamaluke beys, in order to securé their subjection, as well as to counterbalance by their power that of any rebellious Pasha, whom the secure situation and resources of the province might inspire with ambitious designs. A convention was therefore made with the Beys, according to which, a great part of the sovereign power was left in their hands. The Grand Seignior nominated a Pacha, or governor, to preside in their councils, to receive the annual tribute, and manage the affairs of the Porte. The authority of the Pacha at first was extensive; but, in process of time, the ambition and intrigues of the Beys have reduced it to a mere name. They obey the mandates of the Grand Seignior only as it may suit the present occasion; and are, to all intents and pur• Of the latter Browne reckons only about 1800 in Upper Egypt. Trav. p. 139.

+ Browne's Travels, p. 52.