Ali Pasha Jazirli Attempts To Regain Control
Days later, Ali Pasha Jazirli landed at Alexandria with a firman from the Ottoman Porte appointing him the new governor of Egypt, and assumed control of the remaining Turkish forces. He threatened the Mameluke beys, now virtual masters of Upper Egypt, as well as of the capital and nearly all of Lower Egypt. Muhammad Ali and his Mameluke ally, al-Bardisi, therefore descended on Rashid, which had fallen into the hands of a brother of Ali Pasha Jazirli. The town and its commander were successfully captured by al-Bardisi, who then proposed to proceed against Alexandria; his troops, however, demanded back-pay which he was unable to provide. During this delay, Ali Pasha Jazirli destroyed the dykes between the lakes of Aboukir and Mareotis, creating a moat around Alexandria. Unable to proceed with operations against Alexandria, Al-Bardisi and Muhammad Ali returned to Cairo.
The troubles of Egypt were exacerbated by an insufficient flood of the Nile, resulting in great scarcity, aggravated by the onerous taxation the Mameluke beys were forced to resort to in order to pay their troops. Riots and violence continued in the capital, with the bashi-bazouks under little or no control.
Meanwhile, Ali Pasha Jazirli had been behaving with brutality towards the French in Alexandria. He received written instructions from the Ottoman sultan, which in an effort to sow dissension and mistrust between Muhammad Ali Pasha and his Mameluke allies, he sent to Cairo and caused to be circulated there. The Ottoman sultan announced that the Mameluke beys could live peaceably in Egypt with annual pensions of fifteen purses and other privileges, provided the government returned to the hands of the Turkish governor. To this many of the beys assented, and in the process opened a rift with Muhammad Ali Pasha and the Albanians. The Mameluks had already been suspicious of their Albanian allies, having previously intercepted letters addressed to them from Jazirli, endeavoring to win their alliance as well.
Ali Jazirli advanced towards Cairo with 3,000 men to discuss his resumption of control. The forces of the beys still with Muhammad Ali Pasha and their Albanian allies advanced to meet Jazirli at Shalakan, forcing the Ottoman governor to fall back on a place called Zufeyta.
At this point, the Albanians managed to seize Jazrili's transport boats, capturing soldiers, servants, ammunition, and baggage. They then demanded to know why he had brought such a large host with him, contrary to both custom and a prior warning to not do so. Finding his advance blocked, reluctant to retreat with his forces to Alexandria, and being surrounded by the enemy in any case, Ali Jazirli attempted to give battle, but his men refused to fight. He therefore abandoned his troops and went over to the camp of the Mameluke beys. His army was eventually allowed to retire to Syria.
With Ali Pasha Jazirli in the hands of the beys, a horseman was seen to leave his tent one night at full gallop, and it was discovered that he bore a letter to Osman Bey Hasan, the governor of Kine. This gave the Mamelukes a welcome pretext to rid themselves of him. Jazirli was sent under an escort/ guard of forty-five men towards the Syrian frontier; about a week later, news was received that during a skirmish with some of his own soldiers, he had fallen mortally wounded.
Read more about this topic: Muhammad Ali's Seizure Of Power
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