amounted in the whole to about fifty. The complement of men, which the Ruf fian fhips brought from the Baltic, was about 14000; but of thefe many have died, and numbers were unfit for fervice; the smaller vessels of different kinds, were manned by 3500 Greeks and Albanians. Thefe, who were fit for nothing but pyratical war, committed many robberies on the fhips of all nations, and had long been the scourge and ruin of the Grecian iflands.

The ifle of Paros, anciently famous for its wine and its marble; but rendered immortal by its statuaries, had long been the principal station of the Ruffians. Though the fituation of this ifland, it lying about midway between the Morea and the Leffer Afia, might feem in fome respects to render it an eligible station, it feems in many others to be greatly defective: : among these, its distance from either coatt, particularly from that of the Leffer Afia, might be confidered as a principal objection; and its fmallness and barrennefs, made it an uncomfortable place of refreshment and recovery for fuch great numbers. It indeed feems furprizing, that after the extraordinary fortune by which they deftroyed the Turkifh fleet, and thereby became the uncontrouled fovereigns of those feas, the Ruffians fhould not in fo many years, have been able to poffefs themselves of any one confiderable island, which by its products might have been a fupport in their enterprizes, and by its ftrength a fecurity in cafe of misfortune,

A ftrict connexion and alliance had long fubfifted, between the Ruffians in the Mediterranean, Ali Bey, and the Cheik Daher; and the latter were frequently affifted in their attempts upon the Turkish ports on the coafts of Syria and Paleftine, by the Ruffian fhips, who occafionally landed troops and artillery for that purpose. They alfo fupplied them with fome officers, engineers, and a few hundreds of Greeks and Albanians, to manage their artillery. Previous to Ali Bey's departure for the invafion of Egypt, he fent in the beginning of the year, one of his principal officers, and bofom friend, to the ifle of Paros, to renew and firengthen the alliance with Count Orlow, and to negociate the affiftance he should require in the progrefs of his enterprize, as well as to difcover, the extent of the friendship and protection he might expect in cafe of misfor

tune.

This envoy having met with as kind a reception as he could with, carried back a letter from Count Orlow, in which he promised Ali Bey every affiftance in his power, and pledged himfelf, in the most facred manner, that he should never be abandoned, and that in the worst extremity, he should find an afylum in the Ruffian empire, where he thould be as highly refpected as he had been in Egypt. The defeat and death of this bold and unfortunate adventurer, put an end to the hopes of advantage which the Ruffians would have had a right to entertain, if he had succeeded in recovering the poffeffion of that country.

It appears that the Ruffians, in the month of April, or the beginning of May, made an unsuccessful descent upon the island of Negropont, in which they fuffered great lofs, the Turks, it is faid, having totally cut off all the men that were landed. They foon afterwards quitted the island of Paros entirely, the fick, with a part of the fleet being fent to Leghorn, where they fixed an hofpital, and the fhips were refitted; the reft were employed in cruizes, or expediti ons. It appears that they made feverat defcents upon the iflands of Cyprus, Candia, and others, which were attended with no other advantage than the obtaining of plunder; they were not, however, at all times fuccessful in these attempts, and four facks, full of Ruffian fcalps, were fent from Stanchio to Conftantinople, as a proof of the reception which they met with in that island. Such matters are of little confequence, and if they were otherwise, we are neither furnifhed with dates, nor with facts to be particular in them.

As the Cheik Daher, inftead of being difcouraged by the fate of Ali Bey and his army, feemed to acquire new vigour from this misfortune, and now trulling only to himself, redoubled his efforts in Syria, the Ruffians did not fail to encourage and uphold him in his rebellion; to which purpose, the Greek and Albanian fhips in their fervice, have constantly attended him in his attempts upon the fea ports of that country. Several of the Ruffian fhips have committed great diforders on the Venetian islands, in, and about, the mouth of the Adriatic sea; and by the erecting of batteries and taking poffeffion of the harbours, have exercifed a fovereignty, which feems incompatible with the respect due to the

ders it as a violent infraction of her territorial rights, or whether it is only the confequence of a private good underftanding between thofe powers. It is not impoffible, notwithstanding the cautious conduct and pacific fentiments of the republic, that the continual loffes and fallen ftate of the Ottoman power, might have induced her to liften favourably to the fplendid reprefentations, of her becoming a principal in the war, and thereby recovering with facility and in a little time, thofe provinces and islands, which she had been lofing piece-meal for two hundred years.

The Ruffians, however, took a great number of prizes during the year, which were fold in Leghorn and other ports of Italy, and which might in fome degree indemnify the expences of the fleet. In this refpect they have gone greater lengths, than they had hitherto ventured, in feizing the property aboard chriftian veffels, under the certainty or pretence of its being Turkish; by this means the Levant trade has been totally ruined, and it becomes a doubt, whether the commercial states of Europe, or the Turks, have been the greater sufferers in this pyratical war. It is certain that the most favoured of the former have feverely felt its effects; and it is faid that the merchants of Marseilles, and fome others, who were the most immediately concerned, are irrecoverably ruined.

Such has been the languishing state of the war in the Mediterranean, which has not, fince the first year, in any degree answered the hopes that were formed upon its original success, nor the great expence it has caufed to Ruffia. It is true, that great damage and mifchief have enfued from this naval expedition; but it has fallen principally upon individuals of different nations, without effectually diftreffing, or effentially weakening the enemy. We find that this year, whilft the Ruffians were employed in plunder ing rich merchant fhips, Conftantinople has been fupplied with corn and provifions, from Egypt and Syria, in the greatest abundance; and as the capital was thus preferved, from the only fatal confequence it had to dread in a war of that nature, the ruin of a few merchants, or the ravaging of fome of its remote

State of the Ottoman Empire at the opening of the Congress at Bucharest. Abilities of the Grand Vizir; Time of the Ceflation profitably employed; unwea ried Perfeverance in eftablishing Order and Difcipline in the Army. French Conful at the Dardanelles becomes a Renegade, and establishes a Military School. War in Syria. Ali Bey redu ces Joppa, and marches at the Head of an Army for the Recovery of Egypt; is defeated in a bloody Battle near Cairo, and taken prisoner, by Mahomet Bey Aboudaab; his Death. Tribute Sent from Egypt; good Confequences of the Reduction of that Country. Cheik Daher. Armaments in the Black Sea. Some Account of Hoffein Bey. Dreadful Plague at Bagdat and Basfora. Ruffia. Obfervations on the Armistice. Migration of the Torgut Tribe of TarFleet in the Baltic; Alliance with Denmark; Ceffion of Holftein. Grand Duke's Marriage. Duke of Courland. Ruffian Marine. fue of

tars.

the War in Georgia. Silver Mines difcovered. Magnanimity of the Emprefs; Conduct with respect to the commercial Failures; Attention and Regard to the English Merchants. Parties in Ruffa.

THE

THE time gained from the hurry and fury of war, during the negociations at Foczani and Bucharest, was not unprofitably employed by the Porte. The diforders indeed, which partly from the relaxation of government, and partly from faults in its original constitution, had been accumulating for near a century, were become fo numerous and obftinate, that it seemed almost as difficult to determine which to begin with, as it was to form a right judgment upon the nature of the remedies which were neceffary to be applied.

Egypt, was fcarcely delivered from an enterprizing ufurper, who had long thrown off all dependance on the Ottoman empire; who was ftill ftrongly fupported, and was preparing to recover a country which he confidered as his own, with all the eagerness that revenge and ambition could infpire. Syria, had long been a fcene of open war and rebellion, and the prefervation of that and the neighbouring countries, became every day more precarious. The coafts of the

Leffer

Leffer Afia were every where filled with violence and diforder. The paft relaxation of government, operating with its present weakness, and the contempt drawn upon it by the disgraces and misfortunes of the war, took away all refpect and fear, and put an end to all order and fubordination. The grandees of the country, and even the Turkish bafhas and officers, began to act like independent princes, to levy troops in their diftricts, enter into civil wars, and openly, in defiance of law and juftice, to pursue the gratification of their avarice and revenge, without fear, fhame, or remorse. In Europe, every thing to the north of the Danube and the Black Sea, except Oczacow and Kilburn, were already loft, and a beaten, difpirited, ungovernable foldiery, with the remains of a ruined navy, were left for the defence of the remainder.

In these deplorable circumftances, the Ottomans had a fovereign, who bore his misfortunes with unparalleled firmnefs and dignity, and a minister, whose uncommon abilities, gave hopes that he would redeem the errors of his predeceffors. Of these they had already received a fpecimen, which gave room for every hope in the future; as the addrefs with which Mouffon Oglou, concluded the armistice, and brought on the negociations at Bucharest, may, perhaps, be ranked with the greatest services, that any prince or ftate ever received from a minifter.

During this momentous interval of ceffation, when every quarter presented claims which at another time would have demanded his utmost attention, the Grand Vizir fuperfeded all other confiderations, to the great object of bringing about a reformation in the army. To effect this purpose, he kept the troops from difperfing, and the Janizaries from returning to Conftantinople, as they had hitherto done at the end of the campaign: and thereby preferved them from thofe exceffes and debaucheries, which rendered them equally impatient of fubmiffion, and incapable of service, upon their return to the camp. Their bodies were now, on the contrary, hardened by the length and feverity of a Bulgarian winter, where the harfhnefs of the climate, and the roughness of the country, made them neceffarily experience degrees of hardship and fatigue, with which they had hitherto been little acquainted; while the Vizir himself, who

was an avowed enemy to the Afiatic luxury, taught them by his own example that vigilance, activity, and temperance, which he wifhed them to practise: and being thus conftantly under the eye, and in the power of their commanders, they became infenfibly habituated to regularity and order. He at the same time took care that they should be plentifully fupplied with neceffaries, and their pay regularly iffued; fo that no real caufe being left for complaint, the foldiers were ashamed to murmur at doing what was only their duty.

Thus by perfeverance, and an unremitting induitry, the Grand Vizir gradually curbed that licentiousness, which, during this war, had made the foldiers terrible only to their officers; while their disobedience and contempt of order and difcipline, laid them continually open, as a defenceless prey to their enemies, and rendered their courage only a certain fnare for their deftruction. It is alfo faid, that by the affiftance of feveral French officers, he has taken great pains to introduce the European discipline among the troops, and that the Turks, grown wife at length by their misfortunes, have for once fubdued their pride and their prejudices, and now fubmit to receive inftructions, which they had fo often refufed, and fo long defpifed.

A French renegade, who had been the conful to that nation at the Dardanelles, and had bafely fixed the ftigma upon his country, of producing the first public officer belonging to any western itate, who had abandoned christianity to embrace Mahometifm, formed a kind of military school, under the fanction and immediate inspection of the Grand Signior, which in the prefent difpofitions of the Turks, may be productive of fome effect. This man having a competent degree of mathematical knowledge, and being well verfed in the management of artillery, had been employed, prior to his apoftacy, in repairing the caftles, and erecting new fortifications, at the Dardanelles, so that independent of the defence of a fleet, that paffage, might from its own ftrength, be rendered impracticable to the Ruffians. That fervice having been performed to the fatisfaction of the Porte, and this adventurer being now become its fubject, he undertook the inftruction of the Turkifh engineers, and attended to this office with fuch affiduity, that, it is faid,

he

he has already accomplished a furprizing improvement in the management of their artillery.

The appearances of peace by no means flackened the preparations for war during the negociations; new levies were made with great diligence, and fhips were built, manned, and equipped, with the greateft poffible expedition, Thefe objects, together with the refloration of order and tranquillity in the provinces, were immediately attended to by the Grand Signior, while the Vizir in pursuance of the plan he had formed, continued conftantly with his army. In the mean time, the moft admirable order and police were preferved in the capital, which being purged of its fupernumerary crowds by the war, and cleared of the idle and profligate, became with its beautiful environs, the most pleasant refidence in the world.

The winter in Syria was too moderate, to prove any restraint to the troubles in that country. Ali Bey, by the affiftance of his faithful ally the Chiek Daher, and through that veneration and compaffion, which the brave and unfortunate, experience more among the barbarous tribes than civilized nations, was again grown confiderable; and thefe leaders became every day more formidable. They however spent much time in the befieging of towns, a fervice for which the kind of troops that they commanded were totally unfit, and for which they notwithstanding feemed to have a great paffion. Many inconfiderable places baffled their utmost efforts, notwithstanding the affiftance given them by the Ruffians; and the decayed city of Jaffa, or Joppa, coft them a fiege of feven or eight months, though but meanly fortified, and as badly provided.

The taking of this place was however neceffary to Ali Bey, as it greatly facilitated the enterprize he was meditating against Egypt, and which he then immediately prepared to carry into execution. The forces which he was able to collect for this purpose, were very unequal to fo great a defign; but his eagerness to gain fo defirable a poffeffion out-weighed all other confiderations, and prompted him to put every thing to the hazard.

He accordingly fet out with about 13000 men for Grand Cairo, and met with no obstacle in his march till he approached to that city, near which, at a place called Salekie, he found Mehemet September, 1774.

Bey Aboudaab, too well prepared for his reception, at the head of

an

army of 60,000 men. May 7th. Neither Ali Bey nor his fol- 1773lowers, were difcompofed at the fight of this great army; and though it was on a Friday, a day which the Mahometans fcrupulously dedicate to prayer, and which Aboudaab wanted to keep facred, by deferring the battle till the next day, they obliged him to change his refolution. A defperate engagement enfued, in which Ali Bey and his followers behaved with the utmost resolution, but being alfo encountered with a refolution, which they probably did not expect, they were at length overborne by numbers, and were, almoft, all cut to pieces; not above five hundred being taken prifoners, and their situation not admitting any to efcape.

A fon and nephew of the Cheik Daher, with feveral other Beys were among the flain. Ali Bey, after being defperately wounded, was taken prifoner; and was the fame day brought in that condition, before the Divan at Cairo. In this forlorn fituation, he loft his former refolution, and throwing himfelf at the feet of Aboudaab, called him his fon, and requested his life in the moft endearing terms. The conqueror did not infult his misfortunes; he faid he fhould receive no prejudice from him; but that he asked what it was not in his power to grant, as his life was in the hands of the Grand Signior only. Aboudaab kept his word, and an order was afterwards iffued from Conftantinople for his being beheaded; but it is not known, whether he died of his wounds, or in confequence of that order.

Such was the fate of Ali Bey. A man, who independent of his ambition and rebellion, feemed poffeffed of feveral qualities that rendered him worthy of a better fortune. It does not seem extraordinary that in his circumstances, he should have encountered any dangers, or engaged in any attempt how ever defperate, that might afford a poffibility of retrieving his affairs; but the attachment and intrepidity of his voluntary followers is truly aftonishing; whofe hearts, inftead of being dejected at the fight of fuch an army, or of finking under a confcioufnefs of their own miferable fituation, which afforded neither retreat nor fhelter, on the contraU uu

Ty, beat high for the engagement; and without any refource but their own native courage, fought, till they were cut to pieces, with all the confidence which arifes in veteran troops, from a knowledge of their fuperiority in military fkill and difcipline.

There were about four hundred Ruffians, Greeks and Albanians, in this illfated army, who kept in a diftin&t body, and had the management of the artillery, which amounted to twenty pieces of cannon, and with which they did great execution during the engagement. They also behaved with great courage, and were all killed to about twenty. Some Ruffian fhips appeared at the fame time upon the coafts of Egypt; but difappeared, as foon as they found the unhappy turn that affairs had taken.

The news of this important fuccefs was received with great joy at Conftantinople, which was ftill increased, by the arrival foon after, of four years revenue that was due from Egypt, which had been kept back by the troubles, and was now fent as the firft fruits of the fettlement of that country. In truth, this event was the most fortunate to the Turkish empire, of any that had taken place for many years. Befides the getting rid of a moft daring and dangerous rebel and the recovery of a noble country, on which the fubfiftence of the capital and the army in a great degree depended; this fuccefs ferved to restrain that spirit of diforder and revolt which was fo prevalent in other parts, and had a happy effect at the fame time, in removing that dangerous defpondency at home, which was the inevitable confequence of a continued feries of misfortune. It also fhowed to its enemies, the vaft refources of that great empire, where fuch a man as Aboudaab, with little more than the bare name of government to fupport him, could raise fo confiderable an army, in one of its most unfettled provinces.

The fate of his friend Ali Bey, did not difcourage the Chick Daher, who, feconded by his numerous fons and nephews, and well fupported by the Drufes Mutualis, and other barbarous tribes who have chofen to follow his fortunes, feemed to acquire new strength and courage by that event. He ftill carries on a very troublesome war in Syria, which keeps that and the neighbouring provinces in great diforder; nor does it feem

probable that the Porte, will be able before the conclufion of a peace, to reftore the tranquillity of that country.

The fleet which the Porte, was able to fit out this year at Conftantinople, was only equal to the task of attending to the defence of the Dardanelles, and of preferving the dominion of the BlackSea. A confiderable part of it was employed in guarding the mouths of the Danube, to prevent any defign the Ruffians might form for the invafion of Romania, by a sudden embarkation of troops, aboard fuch veffels as they could procure in thofe vaft channels. A second squadron was fent with troops, ammunition, and provifions, for the relief of Oczacow and Kilburn, and a third was sent with the new Tartar Chan for the recovery of the Crimea. We are not well informed of any particulars relative to this expedition, except its having failed of fuccefs. The Ruffians fay that the Chan landed and was defeated; and the Turks inform us, that the fleet having fuffered much by tempefts, was at length drove into the fea-ports of Amafia, and obliged to land the troops to refit, who being moftly natives of that country, seized the opportunity to disband, and retire to their respective homes, by which the expedition was of neceffity laid aside.

This ftate of inactivity, in which the Turkish marine was restrained by its weakness, ill-fuited the enterprifing genius of the celebrated Haffan, or Hoffein Bey, the Captain Bafha, or Admi ral of the Black Sea. This brave commander, who had already distinguished himself with great honour in the courfe of the war, particularly in the fatal feafight at Cifme, and by his bold and mafterly conduct, in the expulfion of the Ruffians from the iflands of Lemnos and Meteline, upon finding that the Ruffians had paffed the Danube in the latter campaign, obtained leave from the Emperor to appoint a deputy for his naval command, and to go himself in the rank of Serafkier, or principal general, to oppofe the enemy. We have already feen the fuccefs that attended his bravery and conduct upon that expedition, and the precifion with which he fulfilled his promife to the Grand Signior; and as he feems at present to stand very fairly, for being the fecond man in that great empire, and that his history besides, is curious, it may not be improper to take fome notice of it.