My dear ——,
I am here yet, not liking to stir till I see a little what turn things take. The pasha has offended all the cavalry (the Delibashes commanded by the son of the famous deposed pasha, Yousef Pasha): the infantry (the Albanians) are on the side of the present pasha, and every day a battle is expected. A report also has been in circulation that 50,000 Wahabees are within four days’ journey of this city, but I do not believe it. It takes its rise from a letter from Mecca to the pasha, saying several thousand dromedaries mounted by Wahabees have set off they know not where, but not improbably for this place, which they once before attempted to take, but were driven back, after having burnt and ransacked every village upon the road. Why this concerns me is for this reason: the strongest tribe of Bedouin Arabs, my friends, who do not like the present pasha, will probably join any party against him, and there will be a fine confusion in the desert as well as here, and the roads in every direction will be filled with Delibashes, &c., &c. These men are more dreaded in every part of Turkey than you can imagine, as they stick at nothing. But luckily for me I am well known to some of them, who have been in the habit of seeing me with their chief looking at their horses; he has visited me accompanied by them, and they have everywhere treated me with the greatest civility, even when their chief has not been with them; so I have less to fear than any one else, but yet when such disturbances take place few are safe.
Should the worst come to the worst, I shall take fifty of them, and set off to my friend, the Emir Beshýr, the Prince of the Mountain, where I shall be quite safe. He has troops at his disposal, which he can assemble at will, and nothing was ever so kind as he has been to me; therefore, hear what you may, believe me better off than any one else. The bey, who commands the Delibashes, took a great fancy to me when at Cairo, and everything he can command is at my disposal, I know; he is a simple, honest soldier, and has no intrigue about him at all, and is extremely beloved by the troops. It is a good thing that old North is safe off, for he would be in a sad fright. I am not at all, knowing my own presence of mind under all circumstances, and that I have excellent friends in this country. Even with the French I am upon terms of friendship and confidence; they command everything upon the coast; for we have nobody in this country but Mr. Barker.
I scribble in great haste, as a messenger to Acre is just going off. Be perfectly easy about me; my good luck will not forsake me, when any confusion takes place. All I can say about myself sounds like conceit; but others could tell you I am the oracle of the Arabs, and the darling of all the troops, who seem to think that I am a deity because I can ride, and because I wear arms; and the fanatics all bow before me, because the Dervises think me a wonder, and have given me a piece of Mahomet’s tomb, and I have won the heart of the pasha by a letter I wrote him from Dayr el Kamar. Hope will tell you how I got on upon the coast, and if he could make anything of the Pasha of Acre, his ministers, or the rest of them, who were all at my feet. I was even admitted into the library of the famous mosque, and fumbled over the books at pleasure—books that no Christian dare touch, or even cast his eyes upon.
Adieu, and believe me ever,
most sincerely yours,
H. L. S.
I sent you, about a fortnight ago, a large packet for England by a respectable Damascus merchant going to Malta. Pray do not put any women or fools into a fright about the state of things in this country; besides, to tell the truth is here often the greatest danger one can run.
Lady Hester Stanhope to ——