was bound to deliver up the rebels who had sought refuge in her dominions. The document itself will be found among the State-papers at the end of the vo lume.

The departure of Strogonoff did not throw any obstacle in the way of peace; it was, perhaps, rather advantageous than otherwise; for the whole of his conduct was calculated to force the Porte into hostilities. The Austrians, the French, and the English ministers, but, above all, the latter, who seems to have acted in such a manner as to have acquired great influence with all parties, continued their good offices; and though the Turks assembled a formidable force in Moldavia and Wallachia, and were called upon by the proclamations, of their sovereign to take the field for the defence of their faith, while the Russians on their part kept a powerful army hovering on the frontier, the year passed away without producing any results, except frequent conferences between the Reis Effendi and the ambassadors of England and Austria. During the latter part of the year, too, the capital seems to have remained in a state of tolerable tranquillity.

Thus far the Porte had been not a little successful; she had reduced Moldavia and Wallachia; and she had hitherto avoided a war with Russia; but the insurgent Greeks were more formidable than ever. So early as the month of May, the Greek fleet had the command of the Archipelago. It consisted then of upwards of 60 vessels, fitted out chiefly from the islands of Hydra, Spezia, and Ipsara, most of them well manned and armed. In June, their naval

force was estimated at 250 vessels, which formed four squadrons. The first cruized on the coast of Peloponnesus; the second near Tenedos, at the entrance into the Dardanelles; the third among the Cyclades; the fourth was the most considerable, and formed the reserve which directed all the rest; it was stationed near Hydra and Ipsara, whither the captured vessels were sent. They captured many trading vessels, and even ships of war belonging to the Turks. A 74 gun-ship was burnt by them on the western side of Metelin. They massacred the crews of the prizes, which they took; and it was calculated, that, before the beginning of June, two or three thousand Musselmen had fallen victims to their fury. They increased rapidly in numbers and audacity; and even ventured to blockade some of the fortresses on the coast of the Morea. greatest armament, which the Turks could muster, was not sufficient to keep in check a naval force, which, though inferior in weight of metal, was manned by experienced mariners, acquainted with every creek and harbour, and was composed of vessels that could find safety in flight, whenever it would not have been prudent to have ventured upon a battle. This naval superiority roused the fury of the Mahometans in towns and districts adjacent to the sea, and their rage vented itself upon the Christians who were within their reach. For two weeks, in the month of June, Smyrna was a scene of confusion and carnage; some hundreds of Greeks were massacred; and probably every Christian would have perished, had not the ships in the harbour afforded them a refuge.

The

A similar scene occurred in November.

The war in the Morea was a series of bloody skirmishes, in which the conqueror showed no mercy to the vanquished. The Greeks rose successively on a multitude of different points; and the Turks, unable to keep the field against their opponents, defended themselves in their fortresses. Many of these were reduced, generally through famine, and the most solemn capitulations were violated on more occasions than one. Malvasia, Novareno, and Tripolizza were taken: Patras was besieged, but without success. The Turkish army in the Morea is supposed not to have exceeded five thousand men, and yet it gave ample employment to the Greeks though nearly four times their number. It is worth while to mention, that the Porte issued a proclamation, purporting to be made at the request of the English ambassador, by which the commanders of the troops were required to take care, that the temples and antiquities of Athens should sustain no injury in the operations of the war.

The revolt had spread far to the North. Thessaly, Ætolia, Acarnania, and Epirus, were in a state of insurrection. Churchid Pacha, who still lay before the forts of Janina, beleaguering the old Ali Pacha, after having made him an ineffectual offer of accommodation, saw that his line of communication might soon be intercepted, and was forced to dispatch three corps to resist the rebels. Churchid himself was obliged to proceed into Thessaly. Having received reinforce ments, he renewed the siege; but on the 2nd of September he again

suspended the active prosecution of it, and leaving a corps to continue the blockade, marched against the insurgents in Epirus, who, after three attacks, retreated in disorder with the loss of their artillery.

In November, Churchid received a fresh supply of Asiatic troops, which increased the besieging army to 25,000 men, while Ali was obliged, from the scarcity of provisions, to diminish the superfluous numbers of his garrison, by seizing opportunities of sending detachments to disperse themselves among the mountains. A small flotilla was also manned and armed for the purpose of attacking the island of the lake, and dispositions were made for carrying the forts of Janina by escalade. The general assault was announced for the 20th of November, but did not take place. In the course of the month of December, Churchid got possession of the island of the lake, and prevailed upon the Albanian garrison to open to him the gates of the fortress of Litaritza; so that, at the end of the year, Ali had nothing left except his treasures, the citadel, and a small body of resolute adherents.

Vicinity to the seat of war, and the ties of a common descent and a common language with one of the contending parties, had induced the people of the Ionian islands to take a deep interest in the operations and fortunes of the Greeks. The government had declared, that it would observe the strictest neutrality; and it would have been the grossest inconsistency for England, whilst she was labouring to prevent hostilities between Turkey and Russia, to have permitted her own

dependencies to attack the former power. She found, however, no small difficulty in enforcing the neutrality, which it was her duty to observe. The ministers of religion, under the very eye of the government, offered up public prayers in the churches for the destruction of the Ottoman power. Vessels under the Ionian flag cruized against the Turks, and joined in the blockade of the forts of Lepanto; and many adventurers quitted the islands to augment the ranks of the insur gents. Various decrees were issued to prevent or punish these infringements of neutrality. By one edict all vessels under the Ionian flag, taking an active part in the war against the Ottoman Porte, were to be treated as pirates. By another, all natives of Parga, who had participated in an attempt to retake the place of their former abode, were expelled from the Ionian states, ten days being allowed them for the removal of their families and their property. On the 12th of October, the troops who were employed in Zante in preventing a Greek vessel from violating our neutrality, were attacked by the inhabitants, and the island was placed under martial law. From the particular circumstances of the times the duties of the government of the Ionian islands were necessarily at variance with the feelings of their subjects. The latter could not but sympathise with their brethren in blood and language, and share in their ardent animosity against the Turkish oppressors: the government, on the contrary, could not deviate from neutrality, without plunging the whole East of Europe in war; and therefore, to perform its du

ties, was forced to prohibit and punish acts, which flowed natu rally from generous feeling.

The difficulties of the Turks seemed at one-time likely to be increased by a war with Persia. In September, two eruptions were made into the Turkish dominions by the Persian princes Mahomed Ali Mirza and Abbas Mirza. The former penetrated into the province of Bagdad; the latter, into that of Erzerum. This invasion, occurring at such a moment, might have given a mortal blow to the Ottoman power in Asia. But in the following month, the Schah of Persia declared, that these operations had taken place without his knowledge; that positive orders had been since sent to the two princes not to permit any hostilities against the Turkish provinces; and that he had never any inten tion of engaging in a war with the Porte.

During the present year, the empire of Morocco was distracted by a contest for the crown be tween the old emperor Muley Soliman and his nephew Muley Zeid. Several engagements appear to have taken place, in which the advantage was almost uniformly on the side of the uncle; and it was more than once believed, that the struggle was at an end, and that the nephew had either fallen in battle or been taken prisoner. In November, however, he had still an army in the field, one division of which was in possession of Tetuan.

This year may be regarded as the date of the final extinction of the Mamelukes. These warriors, upon their expulsion from Egypt in 1812, had established themselves in Dongola, and occupying

the islands and the western bank of the Nile from the frontier of Dar Mahass as far as Hannech; intermarried with the natives, built and ornamented a capital, promoted commerce, and introduced improvements into the district of which they had acquired the dominion. But even here, the vengeance and ambition of the Pacha of Egypt still pursued them. Mahommed Ali, eager to annihilate the remnant of his once formidable enemies, and anxious at the same time, to carry his conquests to the borders of Abyssinia, began, in 1820, to assemble an army which was destined to penetrate into the countries beyond the second cataract. While the preparations were going on, he sent a message to New Dongola, in the hope that flattering promises might reduce the Mamelukes into submission. Their only answer was an expression of indignant contempt-"Tell Mahommed Ali, that we will be on no terms with our servant." Hearing of the approach of his army, they celebrated the Ramadan with unusual solemnity, and, in the middle of June, mustering about three hundred strong (they had lost about a hundred men, and among these was Ibrahim Bey, one of their two chiefs, during their residence in Dongola), with

double that number of women and slaves, they took their departure for Shendy.

The subsequent story of this last remnant of the Mamelukes is soon told. The malech or king of Shendy, at first allowed them to encamp near his capital, though not within its walls; but he was afterwards so terrified by the successes of the Pacha over the Sheygyá, that, being determined not to offer any resistance to the conqueror, he ordered the Mamelukes, in the beginning of 1821, to quit his country. The greater part of them retired under the command of Rochman Bey towards Darfour, where they would probably be either destroyed or dispersed by an expedition, which was at that moment advancing thither from Egypt. Some went in the opposite direction to seek refuge on the banks of the Red Sea; and a few, it was said, forgetful of the fate of all who had trusted to the pro mises of Mahommed Ali, threw themselves on the mercy of their persecutor.

The army of the Pacha advanced as far as Sennaar, and met every where with ready submission from the petty states, into which the country, through which it had penetrated, was divided.