t as before the
French invasion, or whether the country would again fall under the
dominion of the Porte.

There was occasion for anxiety among the Mamluks themselves; their
two principal beys, Osman-Bardisi and Muhammed el-Elfi, instead of
strengthening their forces by acting in concert, as Murad Bey and
Ibrahim Bey had done before the French occupation, permitted their
rivalry for power so completely to absorb them that it was finally the
means of encompassing their ruin and that of their party.

The first pasha invested with the viceroyalty of Egypt after the
departure of the French troops was Muhammed Khusurf, who faithfully
served the Porte. His government was able and zealous, but the
measures he employed against his haughty antagonists lacked the lofty
intelligence indispensable to so difficult a task. Muhammed Khusurf,
whose rivalry with Mehemet Ali had for some years attracted European
attention, found himself at last face to face with his future opponent.

Mehemet Ali, by dint of hard work and the many important services
rendered to his country, had passed through successive stages of
promotion to the rank of serchime, which gave him the command of three
or four thousand Albanians. Foreseeing his opportunity, he had employed
himself in secretly strengthening his influence over his subordinates;
he allied himself with the Mam-luks, opened the gates of Cairo to them,
and, joining Osman-Bardisi, marched against Khusurf. He pursued the
viceroy to Damietta, taking possession of the town, conducted his
prisoner to Cairo, where he placed him in the custody of the aged
Ibrahim Bey, the Nestor of the Mamluks (1803).

At this moment, the second Mamluk bey, Muhammed el-Elfi, returned from
England, whither he had accompanied the British to demand protection
when they evacuated Alexandria in March of the same year, and landed
at Abukir. This arrival filled Bardisi with the gravest anxiety, for
Muhammed el-Elfi was his equal in station, and would share his power
even if he did not deprive him of the position he had recently acquired
through his own efforts. These fears were but too well founded. Whilst
Bardisi was securing his position by warfare, el-Elfi had gained the
protection of England, and, as its price, had pledged himself to much
that would compromise the future of Egypt.

Far from openly joining one or other of the rival parties, Mehemet Ali
contented himself with fanning the flame of their rivalry. The rank