s.

The beys became divided in their wishes, one party being desirous of
co-operating with the British, the other with the pasha. These delays
proved ruinous to their cause; and General Fraser, despairing of their
assistance, evacuated Alexandria on the 14th of September. From that
date to the spring of 1811 the beys from time to time relinquished
certain of their demands; the pasha on his part granted them what before
had been withheld; the province of the Fayum, and part of those of Giza
and Beni-Suef, were ceded to Shahin; and a great portion of the Sa'id,
on the condition of paying the land-tax, to the others. Many of them
took up their abode in Cairo, but tranquillity was not secured; several
times they met the pasha's forces in battle and once gained a signal
victory. Early in the year 1811, the preparations for an expedition
against the Wahhabis in Arabia being complete, all the Mameluke beys
then in Cairo were invited to the ceremony of investing Mehemet Ali's
favourite son, Tusun, with a pelisse and the command of the army. As on
the former occasion, the unfortunate Mamelukes fell into the snare. On
the 1st of March, Shahin Bey and the other chiefs (one only excepted)
repaired with their retinues to the citadel, and were courteously
received by the pasha. Having taken coffee, they formed in procession,
and, preceded and followed by the pasha's troops, slowly descended the
steep and narrow road leading to the great gate of the citadel; but as
soon as the Mamelukes arrived at the gate it was suddenly closed before
them. The last of those to leave before the gate was shut were Albanians
under Salih Kush. To these troops their chief now made known the pasha's
orders to massacre all the Mamelukes within the citadel; therefore,
having returned by another way, they gained the summits of the walls and
houses that hem in the road in which the Mamelukes were confined, and
some stationed themselves upon the eminences of the rock through which
that road is partly cut. Thus securely placed, they began a heavy fire
on their victims; and immediately the troops who closed the procession,
and who had the advantage of higher ground, followed their example. Of
the betrayed chiefs, many were laid low in a few moments; some,
dismounting, and throwing off their outer robes, vainly sought, sword in
hand, to return, and escape by some other gate. The few who regained the
summit of the citadel experienced the same fate as the rest, for