Ali Pacha

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On receiving the message, Ali began to advance, but cautiously, being
uneasy at seeing no signs of the Mirdite troop. Suddenly, furious cries,
and a lively fusillade, proceeding from the vineyards and thickets,
announced that he had fallen into a trap, and at the same moment Omar
Pacha fell upon his advance guard, which broke, crying "Treason!"

Ali sabred the fugitives mercilessly, but fear carried them away, and,
forced to follow the crowd, he perceived the Kersales and Baltadgi Pacha
descending the side of Mount Paktoras, intending to cut off his retreat.
He attempted another route, hastening towards the road to Dgeleva,
but found it held by the Tapagetae under the Bimbashi Aslon of
Argyro-Castron. He was surrounded; all seemed lost, and feeling that
his last hour had come, he thought only of selling his life as dearly as
possible. Collecting his bravest soldiers round him, he prepared for
a last rush on Omar Pacha, when, suddenly, with an inspiration born of
despair, he ordered his ammunition waggons to be blown up. The Kersales,
who were about to seize them, vanished in the explosion, which scattered
a hail of stones and debris far and wide. Under cover of the smoke and
general confusion, Ali succeeded in withdrawing his men to the shelter
of the guns of his castle of Litharitza, where he continued the fight in
order to give time to the fugitives to rally, and to give the support he
had promised to those fighting on the other slope; who, in the meantime,
had carried the second battery and were attacking the fortified camp.
Here the Seraskier Ismail met them with a resistance so well managed,
that he was able to conceal the attack he was preparing to make on their
rear. Ali, guessing that the object of Ismail's manoeuvres was to
crush those whom he had promised to help, and unable, on account of the
distance, either to support or to warn them, endeavoured to impede Omar
pacha, hoping still that his Skipetars might either see or hear him. He
encouraged the fugitives, who recognised him from afar by his scarlet
dolman, by the dazzling whiteness of his horse, and by the terrible
cries which he uttered; for, in the heat of battle, this extraordinary
man appeared to have regained the vigour and audacity of his youth.
Twenty times he led his soldiers to the charge, and as often was forced
to recoil towards his castles. He brought up his reserves, but in vain.
Fate had declared against him. His troops which were attacking the
intrenched camp found themselves taken between two fires, and he could
not help them. Foaming with passion, he threatened to rush singly into
the midst of his enemies. His officers besought him to calm himself,
and, receiving only refusals, at last threatened to lay hands upon him
if he persisted in exposing himself like a private soldier. Subdued by
this unaccustomed opposition, Ali allowed himself to be forced back
into the castle by the lake, while his soldiers dispersed in various
directions.

But even this defeat did not discourage the fierce pacha. Reduced to
extremity, he yet entertained the hope of shaking the Ottoman Empire,
and from the recesses of his fortress he agitated the whole of Greece.
The insurrection which he had stirred up, without foreseeing what the
results might be, was spreading with the rapidity of a lighted train of
powder, and the Mohammedans were beginning to tremble, when at length
Kursheed pacha, having crossed the Pindus at the head of an army of
eighty thousand men, arrived before Janina.

His tent had hardly been pitched, when Ali caused a salute of twenty-one
guns to be fired in his honour, and sent a messenger, bearing a
letter of congratulation on his safe arrival. This letter, artful and
insinuating, was calculated to make a deep impression on Kursheed.
Ali wrote that, being driven by the infamous lies of a former servant,
called Pacho Bey, into resisting, not indeed the authority of the
sultan, before whom he humbly bent his head weighed down with years
and grief, but the perfidious plots of His Highness's advisers, he
considered himself happy in his misfortunes to have dealings with a
vizier noted for his lofty qualities. He then added that these rare
merits had doubtless been very far from being estimated at their proper
value by a Divan in which men were only classed in accordance with
the sums they laid out in gratifying the rapacity of the ministers.
Otherwise, how came it about that Kursheed pacha, Viceroy of
Egypt--after the departure of the French, the conqueror of the
Mamelukes, was only rewarded for these services by being recalled
without a reason? Having been twice Romili-Valicy, why, when he should
have enjoyed the reward of his labours, was he relegated to the obscure
post of Salonica? And, when appointed Grand Vizier and sent to pacify
Servia, instead of being entrusted with the government of this kingdom
which he had reconquered for the sultan, why was he hastily despatched
to Aleppo to repress a trifling sedition of emirs and janissaries?
Now, scarcely arrived in the Morea, his powerful arm was to be employed
against an aged man.

Ali then plunged into details, related the pillaging, avarice, and
imperious dealing of Pacho Bey, as well as of the pachas subordinate to
him; how they had alienated the public mind, how they had succeeded
in offending the Armatolis, and especially the Suliots, who might be
brought back to their duty with less trouble than these imprudent chiefs
had taken to estrange them. He gave a mass of special information on
this subject, and explained that in advising the Suliots to retire to
their mountains he had really only put them in a false position as long
as he retained possession of the fort of Kiapha, which is the key of the
Selleide.

The Seraskier replied in a friendly manner, ordered the military
salute to be returned in Ali's honour, shot for shot, and forbade that
henceforth a person of the valour and intrepidity of the Lion of Tepelen
should be described by the epithet of "excommunicated." He also spoke of
him by his title of "vizier," which he declared he had never forfeited
the right to use; and he also stated that he had only entered Epirus as
a peace-maker. Kursheed's emissaries had just seized some letters sent
by Prince Alexander Ypsilanti to the Greek captains at Epirus. Without
going into details of the events which led to the Greek insurrection,
the prince advised the Polemarchs, chiefs of the Selleid, to aid Ali
Pacha in his revolt against the Porte, but to so arrange matters that
they could easily detach themselves again, their only aim being to seize
his treasures, which might be used to procure the freedom of Greece.

These letters a messenger from Kursheed delivered to Ali. They produced
such an impression upon his mind that he secretly resolved only to make
use of the Greeks, and to sacrifice them to his own designs, if he could
not inflict a terrible vengeance on their perfidy. He heard from the
messenger at the same time of the agitation in European Turkey, the
hopes of the Christians, and the apprehension of a rupture between the
Porte and Russia. It was necessary to lay aside vain resentment and to
unite against these threatening dangers. Kursheed Pacha was, said his
messenger, ready to consider favourably any propositions likely to lead
to a prompt pacification, and would value such a result far more
highly than the glory of subduing by means of the imposing force at
his command, a valiant prince whom he had always regarded as one of the
strongest bulwarks of the Ottoman Empire. This information produced a
different effect upon Ali to that intended by the Seraskier. Passing
suddenly from the depth of despondency to the height of pride, he
imagined that these overtures of reconciliation were only a proof of
the inability of his foes to subdue him, and he sent the following
propositions to Kursheed Pacha:

"If the first duty of a prince is to do justice, that of his subjects is
to remain faithful, and obey him in all things. From this principle we
derive that of rewards and punishments, and although my services might
sufficiently justify my conduct to all time, I nevertheless acknowledge
that I have deserved the wrath of the sultan, since he has raised the
arm of his anger against the head of his slave. Having humbly implored
his pardon, I fear not to invoke his severity towards those who have
abused his confidence. With this object I offer--First, to pay the
expenses of the war and the tribute in arrears due from my Government
without delay. Secondly, as it is important for the sake of example that
the treason of an inferior towards his superior should receive fitting
chastisement, I demand that Pacho Bey, formerly in my service, should
be beheaded, he being the real rebel, and the cause of the public
calamities which are afflicting the faithful of Islam. Thirdly, I
require that for the rest of my life I shall retain, without annual
re-investiture, my pachalik of Janina, the coast of Epirus, Acarnania
and its dependencies, subject to the rights, charges and tribute due now
and hereafter to the sultan. Fourthly, I demand amnesty and oblivion
of the past for all those who have served me until now. And if these
conditions are not accepted without modifications, I am prepared to
defend myself to the last.

"Given at the castle of Janina, March 7, 1821."




CHAPTER X

This mixture of arrogance and submission only merited indignation, but
it suited Kursheed to dissemble. He replied that, assenting to such
propositions being beyond his powers, he would transmit them to
Constantinople, and that hostilities might be suspended, if Ali wished,
until the courier could return.

Being quite as cunning as Ali himself, Kursheed profited by the truce
to carry on intrigues against him. He corrupted one of the chiefs of the
garrison, Metzo-Abbas by name, who obtained pardon for himself and fifty
followers, with permission to return to their homes. But this clemency
appeared to have seduced also four hundred Skipetars who made use of the
amnesty and the money with which Ali provided them, to raise Toxis and
the Tapygetae in the latter's favour. Thus the Seraskier's scheme turned
against himself, and he perceived he had been deceived by Ali's seeming
apathy, which certainly did not mean dread of defection. In fact, no man
worth anything could have abandoned him, supported as he seemed to be by
almost supernatural courage. Suffering from a violent attack of gout,
a malady he had never before experienced, the pacha, at the age of
eighty-one, was daily carried to the most exposed place on the ramparts
of his castle. There, facing the hostile batteries, he gave audience
to whoever wished to see him. On this exposed platform he held his
councils, despatched orders, and indicated to what points his guns
should be directed. Illumined by the flashes of fire, his figure assumed
fantastic and weird shapes. The balls sung in the air, the bullets
hailed around him, the noise drew blood from the ears of those with
him. Calm and immovable, he gave signals to the soldiers who were still
occupying part of the ruins of Janina, and encouraged them by voice and
gesture. Observing the enemy's movements by the help of a telescope, he
improvised means of counteracting them. Sometimes he amused himself by
greeting curious persons and new-comers after a fashion of his own.
Thus the chancellor of the French Consul at Prevesa, sent as an envoy to
Kursheed Pacha, had scarcely entered the lodging assigned to him, when
he was visited by a bomb which caused him to leave it again with all
haste. This greeting was due to Ali's chief engineer, Caretto, who next
day sent a whole shower of balls and shells into the midst of a group of
Frenchmen, whose curiosity had brought them to Tika, where Kursheed
was forming a battery. "It is time," said Ali, "that these contemptible
gossip-mongers should find listening at doors may become uncomfortable.
I have furnished matter enough for them to talk about. Frangistan
(Christendom) shall henceforth hear only of my triumph or my fall, which
will leave it considerable trouble to pacify." Then, after a moment's
silence, he ordered the public criers to inform his soldiers of the
insurrections in Wallachia and the Morea, which news, proclaimed from
the ramparts, and spreading immediately in the Imperial camp, caused
there much dejection.

The Greeks were now everywhere proclaiming their independence, and
Kursheed found himself unexpectedly surrounded by enemies. His position
threatened to become worse if the siege of Janina dragged on much
longer. He seized the island in the middle of the lake, and threw up
redoubts upon it, whence he kept up an incessant fire on the southern
front of the castle of Litharitza, and, a practicable trench of nearly
forty feet having been made, an assault was decided on. The troops
marched out boldly, and performed prodigies of valour; but at the end
of an hour, Ali, carried on a litter because of his gout, having led
a sortie, the besiegers were compelled to give way and retire to their
intrenchments, leaving three hundred dead at the foot of the rampart.
"The Pindian bear is yet alive," said Ali in a message to Kursheed;
"thou mayest take thy dead and bury them; I give them up without ransom,
and as I shall always do when thou attackest me as a brave man ought."
Then, having entered his fortress amid the acclamations of his
soldiers, he remarked on hearing of the general rising of Greece and
the Archipelago, "It is enough! two men have ruined Turkey!" He then
remained silent, and vouchsafed no explanation of this prophetic
sentence.

Ali did not on this occasion manifest his usual delight on having gained
a success. As soon as he was alone with Basilissa, he informed her with
tears of the death of Chainitza. A sudden apoplexy had stricken this
beloved sister, the life of his councils, in her palace of Libokovo,
where she remained undisturbed until her death. She owed this special
favour to her riches and to the intercession of her nephew, Djiladin
Pacha of Ochcrida, who was reserved by fate to perform the funeral
obsequies of the guilty race of Tepelen.

A few months afterwards, Ibrahim Pacha of Berat died of poison, being
the last victim whom Chainitza had demanded from her brother.

Ali's position was becoming daily more difficult, when the time of
Ramadan arrived, during which the Turks relax hostilities, and a
species of truce ensued. Ali himself appeared to respect the old popular
customs, and allowed his Mohammedan soldiers to visit the enemy's
outposts and confer on the subject of various religious ceremonies.
Discipline was relaxed in Kursheed's camp, and Ali profited thereby to
ascertain the smallest details of all that passed.

He learned from his spies that the general's staff, counting on the
"Truce of God," a tacit suspension of all hostilities during the feast
of Bairam, the Mohammedan Easter, intended to repair to the chief
mosque, in the quarter of Loutcha. This building, spared by the bombs,
had until now been respected by both sides. Ali, according to reports
spread by himself, was supposed to be ill, weakened by fasting, and
terrified into a renewal of devotion, and not likely to give trouble
on so sacred a day. Nevertheless he ordered Caretto to turn thirty guns
against the mosque, cannon, mortars and howitzers, intending, he said,
to solemnise Bairam by discharges of artillery. As soon as he was sure
that the whole of the staff had entered the mosque, he gave the signal.

Instantly, from the assembled thirty pieces, there issued a storm of
shells, grenades and cannon-balls. With a terrific noise, the mosque
crumbled together, amid the cries of pain and rage of the crowd inside
crushed in the ruins. At the end of a quarter of an hour the wind
dispersed the smoke, and disclosed a burning crater, with the large
cypresses which surrounded the building blazing as if they had been
torches lighted for the funeral ceremonies of sixty captains and two
hundred soldiers.

"Ali Pacha is yet alive!" cried the old Homeric hero of Janina, leaping
with joy; and his words, passing from mouth to mouth, spread yet more
terror amid Kursheed's soldiers, already overwhelmed by the horrible
spectacle passing before their eyes.

Almost on the same day, Ali from the height of his keep beheld the
standard of the Cross waving in the distance. The rebellious Greeks were
bent on attacking Kursheed. The insurrection promoted by the Vizier of
Janina had passed far beyond the point he intended, and the rising had
become a revolution. The delight which Ali first evinced cooled rapidly
before this consideration, and was extinguished in grief when he found
that a conflagration, caused by the besiegers' fire, had consumed part
of his store in the castle by the lake. Kursheed, thinking that
this event must have shaken the old lion's resolution, recommenced
negotiations, choosing the Kiaia of Moustai Pacha: as an envoy, who gave
Ali a remarkable warning. "Reflect," said he, "that these rebels bear
the sign of the Cross on their standards. You are now only an instrument
in their hands. Beware lest you become the victim of their policy." Ali
understood the danger, and had the sultan been better advised, he would
have pardoned Ali on condition of again bringing Hellas under his iron
yoke. It is possible that the Greeks might not have prevailed against an
enemy so formidable and a brain so fertile in intrigue. But so simple an
idea was far beyond the united intellect of the Divan, which never
rose above idle display. As soon as these negotiations had commenced,
Kursheed filled the roads with his couriers, sending often two in a day
to Constantinople, from whence as many were sent to him. This state of
things lasted more than three weeks, when it became known that Ali,
who had made good use of his time in replacing the stores lost in the
conflagration, buying actually from the Kiaia himself a part of the
provisions brought by him for the Imperial camp, refused to accept the
Ottoman ultimatum. Troubles which broke out at the moment of the rupture
of the negotiations proved that he foresaw the probable result.

Kursheed was recompensed for the deception by which he had been duped by
the reduction of the fortress of Litharitza. The Guegue Skipetars, who
composed the garrison, badly paid, wearied out by the long siege, and
won by the Seraskier's bribes, took advantage of the fact that the time
of their engagement with Ali had elapsed some months previously, and,
delivering up the fortress they defended, passed over to the enemy.
Henceforth Ali's force consisted of only six hundred men.

It was to be feared that this handful of men might also become a prey
to discouragement, and might surrender their chief to an enemy who had
received all fugitives with kindness. The Greek insurgents dreaded such
an event, which would have turned all Kursheed's army, hitherto detained
before the castle, of Janina loose upon themselves. Therefore they
hastened to send to their former enemy, now their ally, assistance which
he declined to accept. Ali saw himself surrounded by enemies thirsting
for his wealth, and his avarice increasing with the danger, he had for
some months past refused to pay his defenders. He contented himself with
informing his captains of the insurgents' offer, and telling them that
he was confident that bravery such as theirs required no reinforcement.
And when some of them besought him to at least receive two or three
hundred Palikars into the castle, "No," said he; "old serpents always
remain old serpents: I distrust the Suliots and their friendship."

Ignorant of Ali's decision, the Greeks of the Selleid were advancing,
as well as the Toxidae, towards Janina, when they received the following
letter from Ali Pacha:

"My well-beloved children, I have just learned that you are preparing to
despatch a party of your Palikars against our common enemy, Kursheed.
I desire to inform you that this my fortress is impregnable, and that I
can hold out against him for several years. The only service I require
of your courage is that you should reduce Arta, and take alive Ismail
Pacho Bey, my former servant, the mortal enemy of my family, and
the author of the evils and frightful calamities which have so long
oppressed our unhappy country, which he has laid waste before our eyes.
Use your best efforts to accomplish this; it will strike at the root
of the evil, and my treasures shall reward your Palikars, whose courage
every day gains a higher value in my eyes."

Furious at this mystification, the Suliots retired to their mountains,
and Kursheed profited by the discontent Ali's conduct had caused, to win
over the Toxide Skipetars, with their commanders Tahir Abbas and Hagi
Bessiaris, who only made two conditions: one, that Ismail Pacho Bey,
their personal enemy, should be deposed; the other, that the life of
their old vizier should be respected.

The first condition was faithfully adhered to by Kursheed, actuated by
private motives different from those which he gave publicly, and Ismail
Pacho Bey was solemnly deposed. The tails, emblems of his authority,
were removed; he resigned the plumes of office; his soldiers forsook
him, his servants followed suit. Fallen to the lowest rank, he was soon
thrown into prison, where he only blamed Fate for his misfortunes.
All the Skipetar Agas hastened to place themselves under Kursheed's
standard, and enormous forces now threatened Janina. All Epirus awaited
the denoument with anxiety.

Had he been less avaricious, Ali might have enlisted all the adventurers
with whom the East was swarming, and made the sultan tremble in his
capital. But the aged pacha clung passionately to his treasures. He
feared also, perhaps not unreasonably, that those by whose aid he might
triumph would some day become his master. He long deceived himself with
the idea that the English, who had sold Parga to him, would never allow
a Turkish fleet to enter the Ionian Sea. Mistaken on this point, his
foresight was equally at fault with regard to the cowardice of his sons.
The defection of his troops was not less fatal, and he only understood
the bearing of the Greek insurrection which he himself had provoked,
so far as to see that in this struggle he was merely an instrument in
procuring the freedom of a country which he had too cruelly oppressed
to be able to hold even an inferior rank in it. His last letter to the
Suliots opened the eyes of his followers, but under the influence of a
sort of polite modesty these were at least anxious to stipulate for the
life of their vizier. Kursheed was obliged to produce firmans from the
Porte, declaring that if Ali Tepelen submitted, the royal promise
given to his sons should be kept, and that he should, with them, be
transferred to Asia Minor, as also his harem, his servants; and his
treasures, and allowed to finish his days in peace. Letters from Ali's
sons were shown to the Agas, testifying to the good treatment they had
experienced in their exile; and whether the latter believed all this,
or whether they merely sought to satisfy their own consciences, they
henceforth thought only of inducing their rebellious chief to submit.
Finally, eight months' pay, given them in advance, proved decisive, and
they frankly embraced the cause of the sultan.

The garrison of the castle on the lake, whom Ali seemed anxious to
offend as much as possible, by refusing their pay, he thinking them
so compromised that they would not venture even to accept an amnesty
guaranteed by the mufti, began to desert as soon as they knew the
Toxidae had arrived at the Imperial camp. Every night these Skipetars
who could cross the moat betook themselves to Kursheed's quarters.
One single man yet baffled all the efforts of the besiegers. The chief
engineer, Caretto, like another Archimedes, still carried terror into
the midst of their camp.

Although reduced to the direst misery, Caretto could not forget that he
owed his life to the master who now only repaid his services with
the most sordid ingratitude. When he had first come to Epirus, Ali,
recognising his ability, became anxious to retain him, but without
incurring any expense. He ascertained that the Neapolitan was
passionately in love with a Mohammedan girl named Nekibi, who returned
his affection. Acting under Ali's orders, Tahir Abbas accused the woman
before the cadi of sacrilegious intercourse with an infidel. She could
only escape death by the apostasy of her lover; if he refused to deny
his God, he shared her fate, and both would perish at the stake. Caretto
refused to renounce his religion, but only Nekibi suffered death.
Caretto was withdrawn from execution, and Ali kept him concealed in a
place of safety, whence he produced him in the time of need. No one had
served him with greater zeal; it is even possible that a man of this
type would have died at his post, had his cup not been filled with
mortification and insult.

Eluding the vigilance of Athanasius Vaya, whose charge it was to keep
guard over him, Caretto let himself down by a cord fastened to the end
of a cannon: He fell at the foot of the rampart, and thence dragged
himself, with a broken arm, to the opposite camp. He had become nearly
blind through the explosion of a cartridge which had burnt his face. He
was received as well as a Christian from whom there was now nothing to
fear, could expect. He received the bread of charity, and as a refugee
is only valued in proportion to the use which can be made of him, he was
despised and forgotten.