[P.81] During My Stay At Tayf, Letters Arrived From Constantinople, Across The Desert, By Way Of Damascus, Bringing To The Pasha A Turkish Translation Of The Treaty Of Peace Concluded At Paris.

After having read it several times, he ordered his Turkish writer to explain it to me in Arabic, word for word.

This occupied us in a private apartment several hours. I then returned to the audience, and was desired by the Pasha to tell him my opinion of the treaty. Referring to a Turkish atlas, copied from European maps, and printed at Constantinople, he made me point out to him the new limits of Belgium, the islands Mauritius and Tobago, the position of Genoa, &c. &c. With respect to the latter place, a curious mistake occurred. It had been stated to me that Genoa was ceded to the Swedes, which I could not credit. Upon inquiry, I found that Geneva and Switzerland were meant; a town and country which, I am sorry to say, were not comprised in the geographical knowledge of a Turkish viceroy. The mistake, how-ever, was easily made; for in Turkish, Geneva is written like Genoua, and Sweden is pronounced Shwit.

The Pasha observed that much yet remained to be done, before all differences between the parties could be settled; and I clearly saw how impatiently he looked forward to a war among the European powers, which would relieve him from any apprehensions for his own safety, and at the same time occasion a great demand for corn at Alexandria.

With respect to Bonaparte, he seemed quite certain that the English would one day seize him in Elba. "Have the English, then," he exclaimed, "fought for nothing these twenty years? They have only got Malta, and a few other islands!" He was impressed with the fear that there were secret articles in the peace, which assigned to them the possession of Egypt. 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.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 61 of 350
Words from 31341 to 31842 of 182297