Vely, as a return for assisting Sebastiani in promoting a rupture between Turkey and Russia. His services in bringing about a peace in 1808 between the Porte and this country, were rewarded with the not less useful acquisition of a very fine park of artillery, and several hundreds of Congreve's rockets. The effect of the latter he presently tried, by way of a first experiment, under the direction of an English engineer officer, in the bombardment of Berat. This pashalic also was given to his son Mouchtar, though the seizure of the place was an act of the most unprovoked aggression, and Ibrahim, the dispossessed pasha, was held in the highest esteem at court. After this, it cost but a short conflict to overthrow the Pasha of Delvino, and take possession of the place, and to make himself master of Argyro-Castro, by which the whole valley of the Druno, the richest and most populous in Albania, fell entirely under his dominion. The destruction of Gardiki completed his triumphs in that direction, and formed the crowning atrocity of his demon career. But his most brilliant stroke of policy, the achievement in which he most exults, is his having wrested the last tract of Christian land from the hands of Christians, by the cession of Parga; the possession of which makes him master of conti'nental Greece from the Attic boundary of Parnes to the 'rugged mountains of Illyricum.'

In the personal character of this faithful servant of the Father of murderers, we should look in vain for any traits that might relieve the darkness of the portrait. To say, that he is reported to be fond of his children, is only to ascribe to him just so much brute virtue as is compatible with the paramount selfishness of bis character. That he is not wantonly savage, or rather that he is not so wantonly savage as some despots have shewn themselves, proceeds more from his courage and his strength of intellect, than from any compunctious scruples, or from a want of taste for the pleasures of cruelty. Those tyrants who have taken the most delight in human suffering as a spectacle, bave always been characterised by native imbecility and cowardice; or else have had recourse to that way of amusing themselves in the impotence of dotage. The powers of Ali's mind did not, at the time of our Author's visit, appear to have become enfeebled by age, notwithstanding that he is upwards of seventy, and has for many years been the subject of an incurable disease. Since then, however, his increased bulk is said considerably to have soured his temper, and, as a consequence, to have urged him to many acts of wanton barbarity that have left on his character stains of a much deeper dye than it had acquired from any of his former deeds. It has been his policy to exterminate all the independent Albanian chiefs whose struggles to regain their power, might interfere with the interests of his heir; and if he lives

much longer, we are told, the whole race will be extinct. This jealousy of his subjects will naturally increase as he is conscious of the failure of his physical energies; and he will become more and more cruel, partly out of fear, partly out of ill-humour. He seems to have a pretty correct idea of his own character, as well as of the disposition of his subjects, if we may judge from the following anecdote, which is adduced to illustrate his firmness and self-command.

In the year 1813, as he was inspecting some repairs in the great serai of the Castron, a large block of stone fell from a scaffold upon his shoulder, and laid him prostrate on the ground. Every one present thought he was killed, and a general alarm was spread: but Ali, though seriously hurt, ordered a horse to be equipped instantly, upon which he mounted and rode round the city, with a single Albanian attendant, without discovering the least mark of pain, though he had received a wound which confined him several weeks to his bed. After his recovery he told Mons. Pouqueville that he acted thus to assure his people of his safety, and to deprive his enemies of the pleasure of thinking he was likely to die. The consul replied, that every man had his enemies, but he could not think those of his highness went so far as to desire his death. "What?" said Ali, "there is not a minute of the day in which they do not offer up prayers to heaven for my destruction: how can it be otherwise? for forty years I have been doing every thing bad to every body: in this period I have caused 30,000 persons to be hung and put to death in various ways; and they know that if I live longer I shall do more: would you have them not hate me then? their hatred, however, will not affect my health." And upon this he burst into his usual Sardonic laugh.'

Torquemada, the first Spanish inquisitor-general, during the eighteen years of his administration, committed upwards of ten thousand victims to the flames, and sentenced upwards of ninety-seven thousand to confiscation and various penances. When Ali and Torquemada meet, the Mussulman vizir will be enraged to find himself outdone by a priest, and that priest a Christian. There is nothing extraordinary in Ali's achievements as a destroyer. What is extraordinary in him, is, his wonderful cleverness, penetration, and physical energy. All the affairs of his government he transacts himself. He is his own prime minister, giving daily attention to all the concerns of his army, navy, and revenue, receiving petitions and deciding causes in person, and rarely calling for the services of his ministers. His quickness of perception and decision are equalled only by his perseverance. In like manner, all his deep-laid schemes of aggrandisement, all the ramifications of his policy, appear to have their origin in his own mind. On these points, as well as in respect of Ali's consummate dissimulation and address, his insight into character, his engaging familiarity towards his adherents,

especially his troops, and his power of fascinating his victims, Mr. Hughes's testimony perfectly coincides with the very minute account given by Dr. Holland. Nothing is more astonishing than that a man whose perfidy is so notorious that not the slightest reliance can be placed on his most solemu engagements, should yet be capable of beguiling into a fatal confidence those whom he has before deceived; should be able repeatedly to deceive, not only individuals, but his own government; and not only his own government, but every other which has attempted to turn him to its advantage. The following anecdote, if authentic, is highly curious.

He once gave a man a bouyourdee to kill another who was obnoxious to him: the bloody deed was perpetrated, but the assassin found in the pocket of his victim a similar bouyourdee for his own destruction. He carried it to the vizir, and expressed some signs of astonishment; when Ali, laughing, replied, "Hey murrie, if I had not given him this, he would never have put himself in your way, and you would have had no chance of effecting your purpose." In fact, the tyrant wished to get rid of both or either of them."

But although the character of Ali is without relief, and his crimes admit of no palliation, there are considerations which tend to reconcile the mind to the growth and prolonged existence of this monstrous despotism. One is at first almost at a loss to conceive what the previous state of that country must have been, to which the government of this ferocious autocrat should have proved on the whole, as it is on all hands agreed that it is, a very great advantage. Mr. Hughes tells us, that

he should pronounce the people of Albania comparatively happy, whether reference be made to their own state before the consolidation of Ali's power, or to that which still exists in other parts of the Turkish empire. In Albania, though all are subject to one mighty despot, no petty tyrants are suffered to exist, and protection is given equally to the Turk, the Greek, and the Albanian, against the aggressions of each other. Religious toleration is freely granted, and the regularity of monarchical power has in some measure succeeded to the factions of aristocracies and republics. There exists at present a security in these dominions which we should seek in vain where the baleful influence of the Crescent elsewhere extends: a police is organised, robbers are extirpated, roads and canals are made or repaired, rivers are rendered navigable, so that the merchant can now traverse the Albanian districts with safety, and the traveller with convenience; agriculture in spite of all obstacles improves, commerce increases, and the whole nation advances perhaps unconsciously to wards higher destinies and greater happiness.'

The truth is, that, in this world, evil only can cope with evil

* Blockhead; derived, says Mr. H., from the vocative of pos It is a favourite word with the Vizir.

on equal terms. In the moral system, as well as in physical nature, the agency of storm and lightning is requisite to clear the atmosphere; and sometimes a calamitous conflagration shall be the only means of arresting a pestilence. If the Turkish government is doomed to fall, as no doubt it is, no circumstance could more directly tend in its ultimate consequences to hasten that event, than the consolidation of this extensive viceroyalty; by which so large a portion of the nominal empire of the Porte has been in effect so long abstracted from its dominion, and a revolution silently produced in the habits of the population, that will render it very difficult to make them relish the old system again. The dynasty of Ali, king of Epirus, will in all probability be as short-lived as that of Napoleon. The event which Mr. Hughes affirms to be impossible,' has, indeed, already taken place the mountain barriers of Epirus have been scaled by the soldiers of the Porte, and Ioannina is in ruins. But still, should Ali perish-and the latest accounts left him shut up in Tepeleni in a very critical posture of his affairs-we should nevertheless confidently anticipate that the districts which have formed the extensive theatre of his exploits, would not permanently be retained by the imbecile power that claims to be the sovereign proprietor. Ali does not appear to have had the talents of a general: he has conquered by perfidy, and maintained his acquisitions by intrigue. Defeated at Constantinople, he would not long, therefore, be able to reign at loannina. Conscious of the insecurity of his situation in case of his provoking the vengeance of the Porte, he has always discovered a strong anxiety to gain a footing in some one of the Ionian Islands, in order, as it is supposed, that he might have an insular retreat. By what means his present reverse of fortune has been effected, we are not informed; but an old tyrant, hated by his subjects, and unsupported by an army, is an easy conquest. Ali's own sons may very possibly have lent their aid in bringing about his downfal. Vely Pasha, his second son, is described by Mr. Hughes as differing from the Vizir in being at once a strong bigot to the Mahommedan faith, and an attached and faithful subject of the Porte, on which account his pretensions to succeed his father were favoured by a large party of Osmanli Turks, and were thought likely to receive the support of the Sultan. It was not, therefore, in the line of hereditary succession, or of legitimacy, that we could have looked for an efficient inheritor of Ali's dominion, even if he had been allowed to live out the dregs of his existence in security. He has cleared the ground, extirpated some half dozen tribes of fe-. rocious marauders, and put down, at least for the time being, the old trade of kleftes; for all which he richly deserves the thanks of whoever succeeds him in his vizir-ship: but to lay the

foundations of a new Grecian kingdom, will require talents of another order, and iron as well as gold. The high protecting Sovereign of the Seven Islands, that has suffered for wise reasons its old Albanian ally to be reduced to his present exigencies, will do well to keep its eye on the neighbouring continent; and we do not see why, if the people particularly wish it, that same Power should not one day take that section of Continental Greece also under its protection; not failing, of course, to respect and perpetuate there the established religion of the Koran. One of the worst things about Ali, in the estimation of his Mussulman subjects, was, that he visited a mosque but once a year.

Parga will now, it is expected, being delivered from the vindictive despotism of Ali, receive back a considerable portion of its exiled inhabitants. Relative to the cession of this important fortress and territory, so much has been said and written, and assertions and representations so opposite have been positively maintained by the scribes of Government and their opponents, that it is difficult to come at the precise truth. Mr. Hughes stigmatises the transaction as unjust, cruel, and impolitic, as disgraceful to the English name; and he gives a very minute detail of the circumstances under which, after remaining for about three years under the powerful ægis of Great Britain," it was consigned over to its inveterate and bloody enemy. The relation, assuredly, if correct, will justify his expressions. In these details, he professes himself to have been uninfluenced by any party feelings, and unexcited by any motives to de-. traction.'

"I am totally unacquainted with the individuals connected, or supposed to be connected, with the cession of Parga, and no one, I think, who has read these pages, will accuse me of a desire to calumniate my country; a country whose constitution I venerate, and whose very soil I love; but he who loves his own country best will be most tender of the rights of others, and I own I have been anxious that every shadow of reproach should vanish from the name of that country amongst foreign nations, and that its ancient character for honour and generosity should be preserved inviolate: having moreover been a resident upon the rock of Parga, and also resident in Albania, when the tyrant whose history I have undertaken to portray, made his first attempts against that republic, I felt called upon to detail fearlessly and impartially every circumstance of this unfortunate case upon the authenticity of which I could rely.'.......... Let the reader weigh well in his mind the following paragraphs, which appeared in the same paper with his Excellency the Lord High Commissioner's speech (before the Legislative Assembly of the Ionian States, April 7, 1820), and then say whether some inquiry upon this important subject which compromises the honour of a great nation, is not indispensable.