DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0291
242
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
and for the manufactories, have reduced the popula-
tion to that degree that vast tracts of fertile land are
left uncultivated; and the repeated levies are so repug-
nant to the people, that they frequently put out an eye,
and otherwise mutilate themselves and their children,
or escape to the mountains to secure their freedom. It
has been supposed, that, if the Pacha's independence and
the quiet possession of the territories at present under his
authority were formally guaranteed, his subjects would
experience relief by a considerable diminution of his army
and navy; but even this result is not probable, for like
all other usurpations his power can only be supported by
extensive military establishments, and they will always be
kept up on some pretext or other : such as the expedition
of 10,000 men, which was contemplated in 1838, to take
possession of the gold mines in Kordofan, and in the
adjoining countries.
The war in the Hedj-as has been a principal cause
of these oppressions, and, after all, is likely to prove an
unsuccessful contest. It occasions (as I have already
observed), not only a vast consumption, but also an im-
mense waste of supplies of every description ; and so great
a loss of men, that the conscription has not only been
extended with great severity into the upper country,
where people are forcibly carried oif by day and by
night; but coffles of slaves have been sent from Suakim,
to repair the vast numbers, who perish by disease, by
famine, and by desultory warfare with an active and
indefatigable enemy.
As the habits of the people in Syria are more domestic
and refined than those of the Arabs, the misery and de-
spair occasioned by conscription are more severely felt in
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
and for the manufactories, have reduced the popula-
tion to that degree that vast tracts of fertile land are
left uncultivated; and the repeated levies are so repug-
nant to the people, that they frequently put out an eye,
and otherwise mutilate themselves and their children,
or escape to the mountains to secure their freedom. It
has been supposed, that, if the Pacha's independence and
the quiet possession of the territories at present under his
authority were formally guaranteed, his subjects would
experience relief by a considerable diminution of his army
and navy; but even this result is not probable, for like
all other usurpations his power can only be supported by
extensive military establishments, and they will always be
kept up on some pretext or other : such as the expedition
of 10,000 men, which was contemplated in 1838, to take
possession of the gold mines in Kordofan, and in the
adjoining countries.
The war in the Hedj-as has been a principal cause
of these oppressions, and, after all, is likely to prove an
unsuccessful contest. It occasions (as I have already
observed), not only a vast consumption, but also an im-
mense waste of supplies of every description ; and so great
a loss of men, that the conscription has not only been
extended with great severity into the upper country,
where people are forcibly carried oif by day and by
night; but coffles of slaves have been sent from Suakim,
to repair the vast numbers, who perish by disease, by
famine, and by desultory warfare with an active and
indefatigable enemy.
As the habits of the people in Syria are more domestic
and refined than those of the Arabs, the misery and de-
spair occasioned by conscription are more severely felt in