tical ftate of nations. Not three each other in the ftreet, fabre in centuries ago they exifted among ourfelves, and their being laid afide is lefs owing to the accident of Henry the Second, or to a fpirit of philofophy, than to the ftate of internal peace which has rendered them ufelefs. Among the Turks and Mamlouks, on the contrary, they are retained, because the anarchy in which they live continues to render whatever relates to the art of war abfolutely neceffary. Let us now confider whether their progrefs in this art be proportionate to their practice. Military Skill of the Mamluks. hand; a few murders decide the quarrel, and the weakest or most timid is exiled. The people are mere cyphers in these affrays. Of what importance is it to them that their tyrants cut each others throats? But it muft not be imagined that they ftand by indifferent fpectators, that would be too dangerous in the midst of bullets and fcymetars: every one makes his escape from the fcene of action till tranquillity is reftored. Sometimes the populace pillage the houses of the exiled, which the conquerors never at. tempt to prevent. And it will not be improper here to obferve, that the phrafes employed in the European Gazettes, fuch as "The Beys. "have raised recruits, the Beys have "excited the people to revolt, the Beys calculated to furnish accurate ideas. In the differences of the Beys, the people are never any thing more than mere paflive inftruments. In Europe, when we hear of troops, and of war, we immediately figure to ourselves a number of men diftributed into companies, batta.." have favoured one party," are ill lions, and fquadrons; with uniforms well fitted, and of different colours, ranks and lines formed, combinations of particular mancuvres, or general evolutions; and, in a word, a complete fyftem of operations founded on established principles. Thefe ideas are juft, relative to ourselves, but, when applied to the countries of which we are treating, are erroneous indeed. The Mamluks know nothing of our military arts; they have neither uniforms, nor order, nor difcipline, nor even fubordination. Their troops are a mob, their march a riot, their battles duels, and their war a scene of robbery and plunder, which ordinarily begins even in the very city of Cairo; and, at the mo. ment when there is the leaft reafon to expect it. A cabal gathers to. gether, the Beys mount on horseback, the alarm fpreads, and their adverfaries appear: they charge Sometimes the war is transferred to the country, but the art and con-" duct of the combatants is not more confpicuous. The ftrongeft, or most daring party purfues the other. If they are equal in courage, they wait for each other, or appoint a rendezvous, where, without regarding the advantage of fituation, the respec tive troops affemble in platoons, the boldeft marching at their head. They advance towards their ene mies, mutual defiances pafs, the attack begins, and every one chooses his man: they fire, if they can, and prefently fall on with the fabre : it is then the manageableness of the horfe and dexterity of the cavalier are difplayed. If the former fails, the deftruction of the latter is inevitable. In defeats, the valets, who who are always prefent, remount their masters; and if there are no witneffes near, frequently knock them on the head to obtain the fequins they never fail to carry. The battle is often decided by the death of two or three of the combatants. Of late years, efpecially, the Mamlouks feem convinced, that as their patrons are the perfons prin. cipally interested, they ought to encounter the greateft dangers, and therefore prefently leave them the enjoyment of that honour. If they gain the advantage, fo much the better for all concerned; if they are overcome, they capitulate with the conqueror, who frequently makes his conditions before hand. There is nothing to be gained but by remaining quiet; they are fure of finding a mafter who pays, and they return to Cairo to live at his expence until fome new revolution takes place. Difcipline of the Mamlouks. The interested and inconftant character of this militia, is a neceffary confequence of its origin and conftitution. The young peafant, fold in Mingrelia or Georgia, no fooner arrives in Egypt, than his ideas undergo a total alteration. A new and extraordinary fene opens before him, where every thing conduces to awaken his auda. city and ambition; though now a flave, he feems deftined to become a master, and already affumes the fpirit of his future condition. He calculates how far he is neceffary to his patron, and obliges him to purchafe his fervices and his zeal; thefe he measures by the falary he receives, or that which he expects; and as in fach flates money is the only motive, the chief attention of the mafter is to fatisfy the avidity of his fervants, in order to fecure their attachment. Hence that prodigality of the Beys, fo ruinous to Egypt, which they pillage; that want of fubordination in the Mam. louks, fo fatal to the chiefs whom they defpoil; and thofe intrigues, which never ceafe to agitate the whole nation. No fooner is a flave enfranchifed than he afpires to the principal employments; and, who is to oppofe his pretenfions? In those who command, he difcovers no fuperiority of talents which can im. prefs him with refpect; in them he only fees foldiers like himfelf, arrived at power by the decrees of fate, and if it pleafe fate to favour him, he will attain it alfo, nor will he be lefs able in the art of governing, which confifts only in taking money, and giving blows with the fabre. From this fyitem alfo has arifen an unbridled luxury, which, indulging the gratification of every imaginary want, has opened an un. limited field to the rapacity of the great. This luxury is fo exceffive, that there is not a Mamlouk, whose maintenance cofts lefs then twentyfive hundred livres (a hundred and four pounds) annually, and many of them coft double that fom. every return of the Ramadan, they must have a new fuit, French and Venetian cloths, and Damafcus and India ftuffs. They must often likewife be provided with new horfes and At harness. They must have piftols and fabres from Damafcus, gilt ftirrups, and faddles and bridles plated with filver. The chiefs, to diftinguith them from the vulgar, muft have trinkets, precious ftones, Arabian horfes of two or three hundred pounds value, fhawls of 3 Cafhmire, Cashmire, worth from five-andtwenty to fifty pounds each, and a variety of peliffes, the cheapest of which coft above twenty pounds*. The women have rejected the ancient cuftom of wearing fequins on the head and breaft, as not sufficiently fplendid and coftly, and in their ftead have fubftituted diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and the fineft pearls; and to their fondness of fhawls and furs, have added a paffion for Lyons ftuffs and laces. When fuch luxuries are become the neceffaries of thofe whofe authority is without controul, and who neither refpect the rights of property, nor the life of their inferiors, it is easy to conceive what must be the condition of their subjects who are obliged to furnish them with whatever their caprice may require. Manners of the Mamluks. The manners of the Mamlouks are fuch, that though I fhall strictly adhere to truth, I am almost afraid I fhall be fufpected of prejudice and exaggeration. Born for the moft part in the rites of the Greek church, and circumcifed the moment they are bought, they are confidered by the Turks themselves as renegadoes, void of faith and of religion. Strangers to each other, they are not bound by thofe natural ties which unite the rest of mankind. Without parents, with out children, the past has done no thing for them, and they do nothing for the future. Ignorant and fuperftitious from education, they become ferocious from the murders they commit, perfidious from fre. quent cabals, feditious from tumults, and bafe, deceitful, and corrupted by every fpecies of debauchery. They are, above all, addicted to that abominable wickednefs which was at all times the vice of the Greeks and of the Tartars, and is the first leffon they receive from their mafters. It is difficult to account for this tafte, when we confider that they all have women, unless we fuppofe they feek, in one fex, that poignancy of refufal which they do not permit the other. It is however very certain, that there is not a fingle Mamlouk but is polluted by this depravity; and the contagion is fpread among the inhabitants of Cairo, and even the Chriftians of Syria who refide in that city. Government of the Mamluks. Such are the men who at prefent govern and decide the fate of Egypt: a few lucky ftrokes of the fabre, a greater portion of cunning, or audacity, have conferred on them this pre-eminence; but it is not to be imagined that in changing fortune these upstarts change their cha. racter; they have ftill the mean. nefs of flaves, though advanced to the rank of monarchs. Sovereignty with them is not the difficult art of directing to one common object the various paffions of a numerous fo ciety, but only the means of pof. feffing more women, more toys, hories, and flaves, and fatisfying all their caprices. The whole adminiftration, internal and external, *The European Merchants, who have adopted this luxury, do not think they have a decent wardrobe, unless its value exceeds twelve or fifteen thousand livres (five or fix hundred pounds.) It lives on his inheritance, improving in fome diftricts they grow tobacco, cotton, and fome grain, but the quantity of thefe is inconfiderable. It appears that, at first, all the lands were, as formerly in Europe, in the hands of a fmall number of fami. But to render them produc lies. tive, is conducted on this principle. confifts in managing the court of his mulberry-trees and vineyards; Conftantinople, fo as to elude the tribute or the menaces of the fultan; and in purchafing a number of flaves, multiplying partifans, countermining plots, and deftroy ing their fecret enemies by the dagger, or by poifon. Ever tortured by the anxiety of fufpicion, the chiefs live like the ancient tyrants of Syracufe. Morad and Ibrahim fleep continually in the midst of carbines and fabres, nor have they any idea of police or public order *. Their only employment is to procure money; and the method confidered as the moft fimple, is to feize it wherever it is to be found, to wrest it by violence from its poffeffor, and to impofe arbitrary contributions every moment on the villages and on the cuftom-houfe, which, in its turn, levies them again upon commerce. A particular account of the government of the Druzes, a People of Syria. From the fame Work. HE Druzes, as well as the Maronites, may be divided into two claffes, the common people, and the people of eminence and property, diftinguifhed by the title of Shaiks and Emirs, or defcendants of princes. The greater part are cultivators, either as far. mers or proprietors; every man the great proprietors were forced to fell part of them, and let leafes, which fubdivifion is become the chief fource of the power of the ftate, by multiplying the number of perfons interested in the public weal: there ftill exifts, however, fome traces of the original inequality, which even at this day pro duces pernicious effects. The great property poffeffed by fome familes, gives them too much influence in all the meafures of the nations; and their private interefts have too great weight in every public tranfaction. Their history, for fome years back, affords fufficient proofs of this; fince all the civil or foreign wars in which they have been engaged have originated in the ambition and perfonal views of fome of the principal families, fuch as the Lefbeks, the Djambelats, the Ifmaels of Solyma, &c. The Shaiks of thefe houses, who alone poffefs one tenth part of the country, procured creatures by their money, and, at laft, involved all the Druzes in their diffenfions. It must be owned, however, that, poffibly, to this conflict between *When I was at Cairo, fome Mamlouks carried off the wife of a Jew, who was paffing the Nile with her husband. The Jew having complained to Morad, that Bey replied in his rough tone of voice: Well let the young folks amuse themfelves! In the evening the Mamlouks acquainted the Jew that they would reftore him his wife if he would pay them one hundred piaftres for their trouble; and to this he was obliged to fubmit. This inftance is the more in point, fince in this country women are held more facred than life itself. contending never contending parties the whole nation owes the good fortune of having been enslaved by its chief. This chief, called Hakem, or go. vernor, alfo Emir, or Prince, is a fort of a king, or general, who unites in his own perfon the civil and mi. litary powers. His dignity is fome. times tranfmitted from father to fon, fometimes from one brother to another, and the fucceffion is determined by force rather than any certain laws. Females can in no cafe pretend to this inheritance. They are already excluded from fucceffion in civil affairs, and, con. fequently, can fill lefs expect it in political in general, the Afiatic governments are too turbulent, and their adminiftration renders military talents too neceffary to admit of the fovereignty of women. Among the Druzes, the male line of any family being extinguished, the government devolves to him who is in poffeffion of the greatest number of fuffrages and refources. But the firft ftep is to obtain the approbation of the Turks, of whom he becomes the vaffal and tributory. It even happens, that not unfrequent. ly to affert their fupremacy, they name the Hakem contrary to the wifhes of the nation, as in the cafe of Ifmael Hafbeya, raised to that diginity by Djezzar; but this conftraint lafts no longer than it is maintained by that violence which gave it birth. The office of the governor is to watch over the good order of the ftate, and to prevent the Emirs, Shaiks, and villages, from making war on each other; in cafe of difobedience, he may employ force. He is alfo at the head of the civil power, and names the Cadis, only, always referving to himself the power of life and death. He collects the tribute, from which he annually pays to the Pacha a flated fum. This tribute varies, in proportion as the nation renders itself more or lefs formidable: at the beginning of this century, it amounted to one hundred and fixty purfes, (eight thoufand three hun. dred and thirty pounds), but Mel. hem forced the Turks to reduce it to fixty. In 1784, Emir Youfef paid eighty and promifed ninety. This tribute, which is called Miri, is impofed on the mulberry-trees, vineyards, cotton, and grain. All fown land pays in proportion to its extent; every foot of mulberries is taxed at three Medins, or three Sols, nine Deniers, (not quite twopence). A hundred feet of vine. yard pays a Piafter, or forty Medins, and fresh measurements are often made, to preferve a ju pro. portion. The Shaiks and Emirs have no exemption in this refpect, and it may be truly faid, they con. tribute to the public ftock in pro portion to their fortune. The colleation is made almoft without ex. pence. Each man pays his contingent at Dair-el-Kamer, if he pleafes, or to the collectors of the prince who make a circuit round the country after the crop of filks. The furplus of this tribute is for the prince, fo that it is his intereft to reduce the demands of the Turks, as it would be likewife to augment the import; but this measure requires the fanction of the Shaiks, who have the privilege of oppofing it. Their confent is neceffary, likewife, for peace and war. In thefe cafes, the Emir muft convoke general affemblies, and lay before them the ftate of his affairs. There, every |