The Former Distinguish Themselves By
Twisting A Green Turban Round A Small Red Cap, The Latter Wear High
Barbary Caps, With A Turban Of Shawl, Or White Muslin, And A Khandjar,
Or Long Crooked Knife In Their Girdles.
There are few Turks in the city
who have been able to keep aloof from both parties.
The Sherifs first showed their strength about forty years ago, during a
tumult excited by their chiefs in consequence of a supposed insult
received by Mr. Clarke, the then British Consul. Aleppo was governed by
them in a disorderly manner for several years without a Pasha, until the
Bey of Alexandretta, being appointed to the Pashalik, surprised the town
and ordered all the chief Sherifs to be strangled[.] The Pasha however,
found his authority greatly limited by the influence which Tshelebi
Effendi, an independent Aleppine grandee, had gained over his
countrymen. The immense property of Tshelebi’s family added to his
personal qualities, rendered his influence and power so great that
during twenty years he obliged several Pashas who would not yield to his
counsels and designs to quit the town. He never would accept of the
repeated offers made by the Porte to raise him to the Pashalik. His
interests were in some measure supported by the corps of Janissaries;
who in Aleppo, as in other Turkish towns, constitute the regular
military force of the Porte; but until that period their chiefs had been
without the smallest weight in the management of public affairs.
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