ns: one, that Ismail Pacho Bey,
their personal enemy, should be deposed; the other, that the life of
their old vizier should be respected.

The first condition was faithfully adhered to by Kursheed, actuated by
private motives different from those which he gave publicly, and Ismail
Pacho Bey was solemnly deposed. The tails, emblems of his authority,
were removed; he resigned the plumes of office; his soldiers forsook him,
his servants followed suit. Fallen to the lowest rank, he was soon
thrown into prison, where he only blamed Fate for his misfortunes. All
the Skipetar Agas hastened to place themselves under Kursheeds' standard,
and enormous forces now threatened Janina. All Epirus awaited the
denoument with anxiety.

Had he been less avaricious, Ali might have enlisted all the adventurers
with whom the East was swarming, and made the sultan tremble in his
capital. But the aged pacha clung passionately to his treasures. He
feared also, perhaps not unreasonably, that those by whose aid he might
triumph would some day become his master. He long deceived himself with
the idea that the English, who had sold Parga to him, would never allow a
Turkish fleet to enter the Ionian Sea. Mistaken on this point, his
foresight was equally at fault with regard to the cowardice of his sons.
The defection of his troops was not less fatal, and he only understood
the bearing of the Greek insurrection which he himself had provoked, so
far as to see that in this struggle he was merely an instrument in
procuring the freedom of a country which he had too cruelly oppressed to
be able to hold even an inferior rank in it. His last letter to the
Suliots opened the eyes of his followers, but under the influence of a
sort of polite modesty these were at least anxious to stipulate for the
life of their vizier. Kursheed was obliged to produce firmans from the
Porte, declaring that if Ali Tepelen submitted, the royal promise given
to his sons should be kept, and that he should, with them, be transferred
to Asia Minor, as also his harem, his servants; and his treasures, and
allowed to finish his days in peace. Letters from Ali's sons were shown
to the Agas, testifying to the good treatment they had experienced in
their exile; and whether the latter believed all this, or whether they
merely sought to satisfy their own consciences, they henceforth thought
only of inducing their rebellious chief to submit. Finally, eight
months' pay, given the