Of myself, I can say but little which is amusing; for, from the time the Egyptian troops entered this country until now, I have been in hot water. After the siege,[55] all that remained of the wretched population fled here, and my house and the village were, for the space of three years, the tower of Babel. Indeed, it was only at the beginning of this year that I got rid of the last of eighteen persons of one family, all orphans and widows; and only a lad, who was not capable, from his want of education, of gaining anything for himself and family, remained. I had, at one time, seventy-five coverlets out for strangers, chiefly soldiers—the village full of families—and those at Sayda and other places coming and going for a little money to buy their daily bread.
I have saved many lives by my energy and determination, and have stood alone in such a storm! All trembled, Franks as much as the rest; and, if they pretended to act with a little spirit, they were sure to have folly, and not justice, on their side, and to be at last obliged to give in: but the most of them joined, heart and hand, with the usurpers, whom I have treated without mercy, and, in the end, carried all before me. God helped me in all; for, otherwise, I never could have got through with it, having no one of any sort of use to me.
Lunardi, Mr. Webb’s man, whom you so strongly recommended to me, turned himself into a doctor, and was too much taken up with his new title to be of any use to me: yet this useless Lunardi is a good-hearted fellow. Were you to see him now, however, you would hardly know him; his manners are so improved, as well as his understanding: I believe, also, that he is attached to me.
Anxiety, agitation, and fatigue, together with the violent passions I sometimes put myself in, caused me, only a year ago, to vomit blood enough several times to have killed a horse. In seven days it stopped; but yet I was obliged to be bled eleven times in four months and a half, fearing a return. Yesterday, I was working like a fellah [ploughman] in my garden. I am very thin, but contented about my health, as this gives proof of my natural strength. With the blood running out of my mouth, I was collected enough to give orders respecting a man, who, if he had been caught, would have lost his head; and no soul in the family knew of this but one, who insisted on seeing me in the state I was in: and although I could hardly speak, I reflected much, and, thank God! settled all to my satisfaction.
Abdallah Pasha has behaved very ill at Constantinople—a vain, stupid fool, without heart and without common sense: but it is for the Sultan that I have worked, as I am really attached to him, he being a most superior character.
Your friend Urquhart will be very useful to Lord Ponsonby, who, though a sensible man, is idle. Should U. gain the confidence of the Turks, he may learn their opinion of me; but he must not repeat it to the Franks, as a great jealousy exists respecting my politics. I have long foretold the change that must take place in those of the French and English, and now say that Sultan Mahmood will be mansôor [victorious.]
P.[56] has gambled away nearly five hundred dollars I gave him about four years ago for things that I wanted, and never sent me anything.
Do not be uneasy about my health; for an English medical man, who came here after my illness, said he never saw such a constitution in his life, and that my pulse was then a better pulse than his.
I am reckoned here the first politician in the world, and by some a sort of prophet. Even the Emir [Beshýr] wonders, and is astonished; for he was not aware of this extraordinary gift formerly: but yet, all say—I mean enemies—that I am worse than a lion when in a passion, and that they cannot deny I have justice on my side.
Write whenever you please; do not expect me to write, as it hurts my eyes too much, and I have no one to assist me.