o doubt whatever as to the intentions which
had prompted the Porte to organise the expedition against the Wahabis,
he hastened to prepare for this lengthy war. Mehemet himself was in
command of an army in the Hedjaz when Latif Pasha arrived, bearing a
firman of investiture to the pashalic of Egypt. Luckily, Mehemet Ali on
his departure had left behind him, as vekyl, a trustworthy man devoted
to his interests, namely, Mehemet Bey. This faithful minister pretended
to favour the claims of Latif Pasha, and then arrested him, and had him
publicly executed.

From this moment the real reign of Mehemet Ali begins. Possessed of a
fertile country, he promptly began to consider the ways and means of
improving the deplorable state of its finances, and to grasp all the
resources which agriculture and commerce could yield for the realisation
of his ambitious schemes. Nothing must be neglected in the government of
a country for so many years the scene of incessant warfare; the labourer
must be made to return to the field he had deserted during the time
of trouble; political and civil order must be reestablished so as to
reassure the inhabitants, and secure the resumption of long abandoned
industries.

The most important matter was to restrain the depredations of the
Bedouins, and, to assure the obedience of these hitherto unsubdued
tribes, he kept their sheikhs as hostages: at the same time he checked
the delinquencies of the Kopts, in whose hands the government of the
territories had been from time immemorial. A sure and certain peace thus
having been ensured to the interior of the country, the pasha turned his
attention to another enterprise, the accomplishment of which is always
somewhat difficult after a lengthy crisis. He wished to encourage and
regulate the payment of taxes without hindering the financial operations
of private individuals. To this end, he re-established the custom of
receiving tribute in kind, and to support the payment of this tribute he
organised the export trade. A thousand vessels built at his own expense
ploughed the waters of the Nile in all directions, and conveyed Egyptian
produce to the shores of the Mediterranean, where huge warehouses stored
the goods destined for foreign countries.

Mehemet Ali preserved a continual intercourse with foreign merchants,
and the country owed many fortunate innovations to these relations:
agriculture was enriched by several productions hitherto unknown.
A Frenchman, M