EGYPT 467 with the Mamelukes, 500 of whom he perfidi- ously massacred in 1811. The dispirited sur- vivors fled to Nubia. Mehemet Ali introduced great reforms into Egypt, in the system of ad- ministration, and in the organization of the army and navy. With the aid of European adventurers he armed and disciplined a large native force, and created a respectable fleet. Manufactures of arms, cloths, and other im- portant articles were introduced and sedulously fostered ; the commerce of Alexandria, which had dwindled almost to nothing, was revived, and the population of the city was increased tenfold during his reign. Egypt, firmly and moderately governed, enjoyed a state of peace and good order to which it had been a stranger for centuries, and attained a commanding posi- tion among the surrounding nations. He car- ried on a long war with the Wahabees of Ara- bia, finally conquering them and taking posses- sion of their country in 1818. He next sub- jected Nubia to his sway. The pasha aimed at complete independence, and so great were his resources that in 1831-'3 he waged a highly successful war with the Turkish sultan, conquered Syria and a great part of Asia Minor, and would have made himself master of Constantinople had not the European pow- ers interfered to arrest the progress of his army, and avert the overthrow of the Ottoman empire. Another war in 1839-'40, though successfully begun, ended with a considerable loss of power, owing to a new interven- tion. In 1848 Mehemet Ali, at the age of 80, grew imbecile, and his son Ibrahim was invested with the pashalic. Ibrahim died at the end of two months, and was succeeded by his nephew Abbas, who as governor of Cairo had been guilty of the greatest atrocities, for which Ibrahim had sent him into exile at Hedjaz as soon as he entered upon his reign. Abbas erected palaces and castles in the des- erts, and withdrew to them for months at a time, without paying any attention to the du- ties of government. One of his first acts was to abolish the educational institutions estab- lished by his predecessors, and his next step was to dissolve the army in order to save the expense of it and increase his personal reve- nues. He hated Europeans, turned them out of office, and tried to drive them out of the country. The only concession he ever made was to permit an English company to build a railway between Alexandria, Cairo, and Suez. In 1852 Abbas received from the Porte an order to introduce the Tanzimat, the funda- mental law of Turkey, dating from 1839, which, while granting greater liberties to the peo- ple, diminished the autocratic power of the pasha. He refused at first to obey the mandate ; but finding that he was involving himself in difficulties which he would not be able to meet, he issued a finnan putting the Tanzimat into immediate effect. The Porte found soon after another opportunity for humiliating the pasha. Abbas treated his relatives with great cruelty and threatened their lives, and they fled to Constantinople and instituted proceed- ings against him. But a liberal use of money saved him from great molestations, and the ensuing Crimean war made it necessary for the Turkish government to keep on good terms with him. He furnished a contingent of 15,000 men and large sums of money, besides providing for the maintenance of his troops. In July, 1854, Abbas suddenly died, being as- sassinated, as is believed, by two Mamelukes in the service of a princess of his family whose life he had threatened. The assassina- tion was kept a secret for nearly a week to gain time for the return of El-Hami, his son, in order to secure to him the viceroyalty, which according to the Turkish law of suc- cession fell to Said Pasha, the fourth son of Mehemet Ali. Said Pasha was however informed of the death of Abbas in time to obtain recognition on the part of the foreign consuls and of the Turkish government. He curtailed the power of the mudirs and sheiks el-beled, instituted a new order of conscrip- tion, ordered a more equitable taxation, per- mitted the sale of produce to other purchasers than the government, and undertook several public works, like the cleansing of the Mah- moudieh canal and the continuation of the rail- way between Alexandria and Cairo to Suez. But the $5,000,000 which he spent on the last enterprise were thrown away, as this portion of the railway failed to pay the expense of running, and was abandoned for the road sub- sequently built from Benha to Suez. The con- struction of the Suez canal is also due to him. His foreign policy was peaceful. After the close of the Crimean war the only use he was called upon to make of his large army was to check the inroads of the Bedouins, and to advance into the Nubian territories not before annexed, which he put under his protectorate. His re- forms failed to bear good fruit during his life- time, because his extravagance heaped upon the country enormous debts. He died Jan. 18, 1863, and was succeeded by his nephew Ismail Pasha. The dearth of cotton caused by the American civil war induced him to cultivate that plant upon his domains, inviting his peo- ple to follow up his experiments ; the result is that Egypt has become a very important cotton market. The difficulties that beset the con- tinuance of the excavation of the Suez canal he managed with considerable tact, and he was equally successful, by the aid of an enor- mous sum of money, in obtaining at Constanti- nople an avoidance of the Mohammedan law of succession as applied to the viceroyalty of Egypt, and the substitution of succession from father to son. In 1866 he put at the service of the Porte an army of 30,000 men to sup- press the rebellion in Candia, and soon after increased voluntarily the amount of his trib- ute. Toward the end of the year he estab : lished a kind of parliament, consisting of 75 members, chosen without regard to religion,
