resolved should be agreed upon between the two parties have been seen in
a previous article; and it may be sufficient to state that Belgium, at
least accepted them with great reluctance. In Turkey events occurred
which attracted the notice of European powers. In 1838 the pacha of
Egypt had refused to pay any further tribute to the Porte; and this
announcement, together with the usurpation on the part of Meliemet
Ali of attributes peculiar to the commander of the faithful alone,
determined the sultan to make another effort for the reduction of his
vassal. He assembled a large army on the eastern bank of the Euphrates,
which menaced the Syrian dominions of the pacha; while Ibrahim, on
the other hand, proceeded to concentrate his forces around Aleppo.
The governments of France and England were apprehensive lest the
discomfiture of the Turkish army should be followed by the arrival of a
Russian force in the Bosphorus, in accordance with the stipulations of
the treaty signed on an analogous juncture at Unkiar Skelessi. Under
this apprehension the representatives of their respective courts at
Constantinople and Alexandria were directed to make every effort to
prevent war. Large concessions were made by Ibrahim through their
mediation; but the interpreters of the law at Constantinople assured
the sultan that it was the duty of every true believer to take up
arms against an impious usurper, and a solemn declaration of war was
accordingly read in all the mosques. In the month of June a great battle
took place between the contending armies near Nezib, in which the Turks,
under Hafiz Pacha, were utterly discomfited; six thousand of them were
left dead on the field, and ten thousand were left in the hands of
Ibrahim Pacha, together with fifteen thousand muskets, and more than
one hundred pieces of artillery. The sultan did not live to hear of
this disaster; he died on the 1st of July, and Abdul Mcdjio, a youth of
seventeen, assumed the reins of empire. The death of Sultan Mahmoud the
Second gave rise to negociation. The first act of the new sultan was to
forward to the viceroy of Egypt an offer of pardon, together with the
hereditary possession of the province of Egypt, on the condition that he
conformed to his duties of obedience and submission. Mehemet Ali appears
to have been willing to submit to these terms; but about the same time
that he received them, Achmet, the capitan pacha, had revolted from
the sultan, and had arrived at