CHAPTER IV.
Visit to the Governor of Cairo. Court of the Mamelukes. Their massacre. Schools in the Citadel. Court of Justice. Palace of the Pasha. View from it. The “City of Tombs.” A human monster. Plain of Memphis. Heliopolis. Mosque of the bloody baptism. Joseph’s Well. Mint. Manufactory of Arms. The Citadel. “The Lions.”
Early in the morning of the 21st we found the grooms with our horses in the court below, and after breakfast mounted for a visit of ceremony to the Abdi Effendi, the governor of the city. The carriage was waiting in an adjoining bazaar, where it had been compelled to stop by the narrowness of the streets; and here our cavalcade was formed in the following order: 1. Two Cavasses; 2. The carriage; 3. Eight Cavasses; 4. Two Chaouishes; 5. A Master of the Horse; 6. Dragoman; next the Commodore and Consul, and after them the remaining officers of the party. Having traversed the whole length of the city, we began, near its southern outskirts, to ascend, and presently found ourselves before the frowning walls of the citadel of Cairo. Here, in this strong eyrie, well guarded both by nature and art, the Pasha of Egypt has built his palace, and gathered his treasures, and formed his arsenal for arms. The citadel stands on a spur from the range of Kebel Mokattam, the mountains that, stretching along on the East, help to form the valley of the Nile. Here they make a bend and stretch off far to the eastward; and at the angle, on an irregular platform thrown off from it, the citadel was built, or at least enlarged to its present dimensions, in the 12th century, by the famous Saladin. It is a place of great strength, and may be considered as the key of all the upper parts of Egypt. On passing the heavy exterior gateway, we found ourselves in the court, where, twenty-five years ago, by order of Mohammed Ali, was perpetrated the bloody massacre of the Mamelukes. It is of irregular shape, with high walls on one side, and on the others steep ascents or precipices, surmounted by ramparts, above which again are heavy buildings, and among them the ruins of Saladin’s palace. It was a place well chosen for such a butchery, and the whole plan of operations was strikingly characteristic of the man.
It will, perhaps, be recollected by the reader that the Mamelukes, as a distinct body, owed their origin to Saladin, who, distrusting his native troops, formed a body-guard of slaves, procured by purchase or capture from the countries bordering on the Caspian. They rose gradually under successive sultans, and all the fortresses at length being trusted to them, they concluded to turn the power to their own use, and through their Beys became the governors of Egypt. Various, after this, were their changes of fortune; the hardy soldiers, being generally successful in the field, but circumvented by their cunning adversaries in the council-room. The French found in them most obstinate and determined opposers; and when, at the close of this war, the British arms were triumphant, Lord Hutchinson demanded of the Sultan of Constantinople, to whom the country was yielded, the restitution of the Mamelukes to their former privileges. He promised compliance, but had determined on the extinction of this race of dangerous subjects. The Turkish admiral, who was sent for this purpose, first enticed a great number of them to a pleasure excursion in boats off Aboukir, and his ships opening fire upon them, the greater portion were destroyed. War with their race being thus declared, Mohammed Ali, then first rising into notice, was sent with a force against them, but was defeated and compelled to retreat. This was the origin of the inveteracy of Mohammed Ali towards the Mamelukes.
On the invasion of Egypt by the English in 1807, the Beys united with the rising Pasha; but it was only a momentary truce; and the defeat of the English, giving him secure possession of Egypt, sealed at the same time the fate of his too trustful allies. He immediately formed a plan for the total destruction of the Mamelukes. His son Tousson was about this time preparing to lead an army against the Wahabees, and as this was a religious war, it was determined to invest him with the command under circumstances of unusual splendor. The Mameluke Beys were invited to the ceremony, which was to commence in the citadel. They came, led by their chief, Chahyn Bey; and a more splendid cavalcade never filed in through the portals of this fortress. They amounted to 470 men, on horseback, together with about an equal number of attendants of the same race on foot. Their reception was flattering. The Pasha addressed them individually, and with a bland aspect and smiles, welcomed them to the festivities. At length it was necessary to form a procession, and the Mamelukes were honored by being put in a body near the head of it: they filed down and entered this rocky court; but when their whole body had gained it, the gates were suddenly shut both in front and rear, and they found themselves cruelly entrapped. The heights above were in a moment covered with the Pasha’s soldiers, and a deadly fire was poured down on them. Rage and execration were in vain: they were coolly shot down till not an individual remained alive. One of the Beys escaped by spurring his horse up the steep outer wall; in the descent the animal was dashed to pieces, but the rider was unhurt.
This was the end of the Mamelukes. On the following day the soldiers rushed into the city, and under pretext of searching for more victims, plundered a large part of it before the Pasha and his son durst venture out to repress their fury.
Our horses, on reaching this bloody court, seemed themselves to be seized with the very spirit of violence; for pricking their ears, they rushed up the steep ascent with headlong speed, and, whirling through Saladin’s court, and then through a larger one, brought us up at length in front of the governor’s palace. It is a long building and spacious, but is otherwise by no means remarkable. Abdi Effendi has been in England and France, and speaks the language of the latter country fluently. He received us with great politeness, and entertained us with the usual eastern hospitalities. His questions with regard to our own country were pertinent, and evinced a good knowledge of its laws and institutions. He spoke in terms of high admiration of his own sovereign; and indeed Mohammed Ali seems to have the faculty of creating a strong attachment for himself in all his officers. The governor said that if the Pasha could live twenty years longer, he would make Egypt more civilized and more prosperous than it has ever yet been; but added, that he stood all alone, and greatly needed some one who could be a second self to him.
From the audience-hall we were taken to visit a number of schools in the same building; they occupy a number of rooms, and contained altogether four hundred youths, preparing for public employments in the country. As far as I could judge, they seemed to be awkwardly conducted. At the extreme end of the building we came to the Hall of Justice, where, on an ottoman and all alone, sat the judge, a man of prodigious corporeal dimensions. He was at this time unemployed, but our attention was drawn to a new mat with which the floor was covered. It had just been put down in place of one that, a few days before, had been worn through by the writhings of a poor wretch, who had been bastinadoed here; the punishment having followed close on the heels, if not of justice, at least of the culprit.
The adjoining side of the court into which this palace looks, is formed by a large palace of Mohammed Ali, to which, in the course of sight-seeing, we were next conducted. It is quite new, and in some parts not quite finished; and is more remarkable for the airy and spacious character of the rooms than for any beauties of architecture. Indeed, all the palaces which we visited in Egypt, though cool and spacious, are marked by great simplicity. A hall of great width passes across at the centre of the building, and is intersected by another of somewhat narrower dimensions, running lengthwise; and thus at each angle a chamber is formed. These chambers are carpeted, and have the most luxurious ottomans passing quite around. These, with sometimes a glass lustre suspended from the lofty ceiling, constitute the only furniture. In the palace, which we were now visiting, the ottomans were covered with the richest French silks, with raised figures in beautiful patterns worked on them. In front of the seats hung down an impenetrable veil of silken tassels.