t by the French, the country became the
scene of more severe troubles, in consequence of the attempts of the
Turks to destroy the power of the Mamelukes. In defiance of promises to
the British government, orders were transmitted from Constantinople to
Husain Pasha, the Turkish high admiral, to ensnare and put to death the
principal beys. Invited to an entertainment, they were, according to the
Egyptian contemporary historian al-Jabarti, attacked on board the
flag-ship; Sir Robert Wilson and M. F. Mengin, however, state that they
were fired on, in open boats, in the Bay of Aboukir. They offered an
heroic resistance, but were overpowered, and some killed, some made
prisoners; among the last was Osman Bey al-Bardisi, who was severely
wounded. General Hutchinson, informed of this treachery, immediately
assumed threatening measures against the Turks, and in consequence the
killed, wounded and prisoners were given up to him. At the same time
Yusuf Pasha arrested all the beys in Cairo, but was shortly compelled by
the British to release them. Such was the beginning of the disastrous
struggle between the Mamelukes and the Turks.

Mahommed Khosrev was the first Turkish governor of Egypt after the
expulsion of the French. The form of government, however, was not the
same as that before the French invasion, for the Mamelukes were not
reinstated. The pasha, and through him the sultan, endeavoured on
several occasions either to ensnare them or to beguile them into
submission; but these efforts failing, Mahommed Khosrev took the field,
and a Turkish detachment 7000 strong was despatched against them to
Damanhur, whither they had descended from Upper Egypt, and was defeated
by a small force under al-Alfi; or, as Mengin says, by 800 men commanded
by al-Bardisi, when al-Alfi had left the field. Their ammunition and
guns fell into the hands of the Mamelukes.

In March 1803 the British evacuated Alexandria, and Mahommed Bey al-Alfi
accompanied them to England to consult respecting the means to be
adopted for restoring the former power of the Mamelukes, who meanwhile
took Minia and interrupted communication between Upper and Lower Egypt.
About six weeks after, the Arnaut (or Albanian) soldiers in the service
of Khosrev tumultuously demanded their pay, and surrounded the house of
the defterdar (or finance minister), who in vain appealed to the pasha
to satisfy their claims. The latter opened fire from the artillery of
his palace on the ins