easily to place the yoke upon your necks. The chiefs of ArgyroCastro and Gardiki, already too formidable for the liberty of their neighbours, will profit by my fall to gain the sovereignty of the whole district. Tepeleni, strong by nature, fortified by art, and garrisoned by my faithful Arnaouts, might, if I were supported, present an invincible barrier against their ambitious designs: but if they once gain possession of this fortress, they will not only have the means of annoying their neighbours, but of securing themselves from all retaliation. Destroy me then, if you please, but be assured that my destruction will be the prelude to your own."

It is a most fortunate circumstance, that there was a shorthand writer in the camp to take down this pithy oration, which Mr. Hughes has doubtless faithfully translated from the original Albanian. He is, however, singularly reserved in mentioning his authorities.

In the mean time Ali's mother came as usual to his chamber door, and was answered by his wife according to her instructions. In about an hour she returned, and received a similar answer: this being repeated a third time, she began to be alarmed, and suspecting that all was not right, ordered the door to be broken open. Not finding Ali within, and learning in what manner he had departed, she tore her hair, and rushing out of the house in wild disorder, took the same route her son had taken, shrieking violently, and calling upon his name till the mountains echoed with her cries. No long time elapsed before she met the object of her search returning to her presence at the head of those very troops who had espoused his cause, and whose assistance enabled him so effectually to make head against his remaining enemies, that he obtained a peace, strengthened the fortifications of his native place, and secured his family and fortune. It is from this decisive act that he dates the commencement of all his future glory.'

The old lady died soon after-some will have it not a natural death, but our Author totally disbelieves the accusation that would add to her son's crimes that of matricide: he only kept her a state prisoner in the apartments of the harem, to prevent her from fatiguing herself any further with the cares of government. Ali, now his own master, became a leader of banditti on a grand scale; but, some how or other, his good fortune, which has always served him in intrigue, has repeatedly failed him in the field. He fell into the hands of Kourt, pasha of Berat ; but the conqueror, instead of treating him like a rebel, honoured him,' as Mr. Hughes has it, with his confidence: that is to say, he made good use of his services in a war in which he was engaged with the pasha of Scutari; and at length, finding the young hero too great a favourite with the soldiery, as well as with certain members of his own household, sent him back to Tepeleni enriched with presents of considerable value. Again Ali resumed the profession of kleftes, choosing the mountains of Epirus as the scene of his operations. Again he became a

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prisoner; and earnest application was made to the pasha of Ioannina, who was now master of his fate, to make a public example of him. The pasha, however, had his reasons for preferring to make a friend of his prisoner, and is said not only to have liberated him, but to have supplied him with the means of raising a fresh band of freebooters, at the head of whom Ali rendered the whole country so unsafe for merchants and travellers of every description, that his fame reached Constantinople, and the Porte issued an order to the derven-pasha of Rumelia to attack and exterminate the offenders. The dervenpasha happened to be no other than Ali's old friend, Kourt, pasha of Berat; and an amicable negotiation was entered into between the two parties, the result of which was, that Kourt accepted of Ali's services in an expedition he was about to undertake against some enemies of the state, procured his pardon from Constantinople, and gave him a high military command at his own court. This he did not long retain he was detected in an intrigue with the pasha's married daughter, and obliged to flee. He then entered into the service of the pasha of Negropont, and having acquired a great deal of wealth, returned once more to Tepeleni, to recommence operations on his own private account. His first attempt was too daring for his means he endeavoured, we are told, to take advantage of internal sedition in the great city of Argyro-Castro, and to introduce his own troops into the place; but this project did not succeed. He then fell upon the town of Libochobo, which, together with several others of small note, submitted to his arms. The strong place of Chormovo, he contrived to take by what hardly deserves the name of stratagem; by perfidy of the most unblushing and atrocious kind. The inhabitants had been among the earliest confederates against his family, and his revenge longed to glut itself with a sacrifice. Having massacred a great multitude of the inhabitants, he sold the women and children into slavery, and razed the town to the ground. This was not enough: the most delicious morsel of vengeance® remains behind. The head of a family named Prifti, particu larly obnoxious to Ali, was seized by his orders; a spit was run through his body, and the wretched victim was roasted alive. By this horrid act, in which he emulated the first Crusaders, he spread a terror of his name throughout the surrounding tribes, many of whom submitted to him without resistance.

Ali was now wealthy; and from this time he began to act upon the systematic preference of bribery to force of arms. His favourite maxim is, Get money, and that will procure all things. By means of his emissaries at Constantinople, he cured a commission for attacking Selim, pasha of Delvino, whom he first cajoled, and then assassinated, seizing at the same

time his son, by whose ransom he enriched himself to boot. By aid of large bribes, be next got himself nominated lieutenant to a new derven-pasha of Rumelia, exchanging the trade of highwayman for the functions of police-officer general for the district; but, instead of attempting to clear it of banditti, he traded in licenses, which he sold regularly to the kleftes, receiving, over and above the price, a share of their booty. The natural consequence of this policy, was, that the country became absolutely impassable: the derven-pasha was recalled, and paid the penalty of his head, while his crafty lieutenant bought himself off. In the year 1787, when war broke out between Turkey and the allied powers of Austria and Russia, Ali got himself nominated to an important command in the army of the Grand Vizir, Usouf, under whom he established his character for military talent. His services were rewarded with the government of Triccala, in Thessaly, and the title of a pasha of two tails. During this campaign, he is suspected to have entered into a secret negotiation with Potemkin, under cover of treating for the release of his nephew, Mahmoud, which had for its object to secure to himself the sovereignty of Epirus, when his friend should be seated on the throne of Constantinople. His conduct on this occasion had nearly involved him in disgrace with the Porte; and he is said to have been indebted to the good offices of the French minister, for his restoration to favour. His next manœuvre we 10 must give in the words of his present biographer, premising, that the pasha of Ioannina was dead, and that every rival chieftain was caballing to succeed him.

When Ali thought affairs were ripe enough for his presence, he collected a considerable number of troops, passed the chain of Mount Pindus, and made his appearance on the plains to the north of Ioannina. This manoeuvre caused great consternation in the city: the beys, in imminent danger, stifled their enmity towards each other, joined their forces together, and advanced to meet the invader. In a great battle which was fought at the head of the lake, they were beaten and driven back into the city by Ali, who encamped before it with his victorious troops. Not being strong enough to attempt it by storm, he employed a surer method for success. He had already gained a considerable number of adherents amongst the Greeks in the city, and especially in the district of Zagori: these by bribery and large promises he engaged to enter into his views and send a deputation to Constantinople to solicit for him the pashalic. They acted as he requested; but the opposite interest proved too strong for them at the Porte, and they were made the bearers of an order to their principal to retire immediately to his own government and disband his troops. One of the deputies, most attached to his interest, rode forward night and day, to give him early information of the failure of their mission, and on this occasion Ali executed one of those strokes of policy which have given him such advantage over the imbecility of the Ottoman VOL. XIV. N. S.

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Porte. After a short consultation with his friend, he dismissed him to return and meet the deputies, who waited a few days on the road, and then proceeded straight to Ioannina. The beys, to whom its contents had been already intimated, advanced as far as the suburbs to meet the firman. It was produced, and drawn out of its crimson case; when each reverently applied it to his forehead, in token of submission to its dictates. It was then opened, and to the utter consternation of the assembly it announced Ali, pasha of Ioannina, and ordered instant submission to his authority.

The forgery was suspected by many, but some credited it; whilst others, by timely submission, sought to gain favour with the man who they foresaw would be their ruler: in short, his partizans exerted themselves on all sides, the beys were dispirited, and whilst they were irresolute and undetermined, Åli entered the city amidst the acclamations of the populace: his chief enemies in the mean time sought their safety by flight, passing over the lake and taking refuge in the districts of Arta, Etolia, and Acarnania.

Ali's first care was to calm the fears of all ranks; to the people he promised protection, to the beys who remained rich offices and plunder; his friends were amply recompensed, and his enemies reconciled by his frankness and engaging affability: in the mean time he put a strong garrison into the castron or fortress, and thus acquired firm possession of the pashalic before the imposture of the firman was discovered. It was now too late to dispossess him of his acquisition : his adherents increased daily; a numerous and respectable deputation, led by Signore Alessio's father, carried a petition to Contantinople, and seconding it with bribes to a large amount ultimately prevailed in establishing his usurped dominion. Thus, according to custom, despotism succeeded to the turbulence of faction, and the people not unwillingly submitted to the change.'

Soon afterwards, Ali, doubtless by the same potent agencygold, obtained from the Porte the important office of derven-pasha of Rumelia: whether he had a lieutenant, is not stated, but if he had, he took good care that he should not trade in licenses to the kleftes. This office not only augmented his revenue, 'but gave him an opportunity to create an influence in many provinces of the Turkish empire. His next step was to pick a quarrel with his neighbour, the pasha of Arta, and to annex his territories, as well as the whole of Acarnania, to his own dominions. Then, in order to establish a free communication between Ioannina and his native territory, he attacked and took possession of the strong post of Klissura, following it up by the reduction of Premeti, Ostanizza, and Konitza, which secure the whole course of the Voïussa, from its source in Mount Pindus to Tepeleni.

We are at a sad loss, throughout Mr. Hughes's narrative, for dates. The year 1792, however, is given as the date of Ali's first expedition against the Suliots, a warlike tribe who, in their almost impregnable mountain fastnesses, braved his power, and did not scruple, when he was attacking some of his northern

neighbours, to carry their incursions into the southern districts of his territory. According to our Author's statement, it was not, therefore, without ample provocation, and a sort of political necessity, that Ali determined upon subduing them; and worthy representatives as they might be of the ancient Greeks, fond as they were of their mountain homes, their wives, and their wild freedom, it does not appear that they were really any better than a clan of banditti. Mr. Hughes has made a very affecting story, however, of the heroic resistance by which they long succeeded in baffling their infuriated foe. It forms the most interesting chapter in the volume. Ali was at one time during this campaign in great personal danger. A detachment of these brave mountaineers, to the number of 200, marched out with the determination to take him alive or dead, and, but for the information conveyed to Ali by a traitor, would probably have succeeded, as the despot was at the time encamped with only his body guard at a distance from the main army. The women took an active part in the defence of the republic, and very materially contributed to the success which, in the first war, crowned the exertions of the mountain patriots. Ali was completely repulsed, with the loss of all his baggage and ammunition. The victorious Suliots pursued their enemies as far as the village of Vareatis, within seven hours of Ioannina; and about six thousand of the Albanians are said to have been slain or taken prisoners. Ali himself killed two horses in his precipitous escape, and when he arrived at his capital, he shut himself up in his harem for several days, where " he admitted no one to his presence except a few of his most confidential friends.' At length, he concluded a peace with the Suliots on the degrading conditions of ceding to them possession of their acquired territory as far as Dervitziana, of restoring the seventy prisoners he had in the outset obtained by an act of the most shameless treachery, together with the son of one of their chiefs, and of paying a very large sum as a ransom for his captive troops. This was in the summer of 1792. His second expedition, eight years after, was not more successful, although he had by bribery won over to his interest, Botzari, one of the Suliot leaders. The Albanians were in their repeated attacks driven back and put to rout with great slaughter, the loss in killed and prisoners far exceeding in numbers the sum total of the Suliot army. Despairing to subdue such valiant and determined enemies in open warfare, Ali turned the siege into a blockade, resolving to trust to famine and treachery; but his troops began to desert, and while the Suliots are said by a Parghiote historian to have lost in nine months but twenty-five men, Ali lost by defection and in various skirmishes within the same period, nearly 4000. In the desperate emergency to which the besieged were sometimes reduced, many stratagems were resorted to for procuring