1779. A.D. pensable necessity of encouraging and supporting the Greek islanders, as well from their importance to the Turkish navy, as to prevent their attaching themselves to the Russians, whose influence in the Black Sea, since the treaty of Kainardji, was much to be dreaded by the Porte. Catherine, too, as if to make partial amends for the miseries her indiscretion had entailed upon the Morea, omitted no opportunity to assist and befriend the Greeks; a seminary was established at St. Petersburgh, in which 200 youths received a liberal education; the best ecclesiastical endowments of Russia were enjoyed by Greek prelates; and numerous offices, diplomatic and military, were conferred upon those whom domestic oppression had driven to seek an asylum abroad. By degrees affairs in the Morea began to assume their former aspect; the restoration of tranquillity and the proclamation of amnesty brought back numbers of those families who had fled to the Ionian Islands or the Asiatic continent; agriculture gradually revived; commerce was restored; and education began afresh to diffuse its blessings throughout the Peninsula. A few of those whom unsubdued patriotism, or a prominent interference in the late insurrection, had rendered obnoxious to the Turks, hesitated to comply with their invi 1779. tation, and return to habits of industry and A.D. peace. They continued to hover about the islands and the coast, or betook themselves to warfare and brigandage amongst the hills; and whilst in the lowlands the spread of intelligence was enlightening and civilizing the mass of the people, these resistant spirits served to keep alive the latent spark of freedom, which some future occasion was to kindle into an universal and resistless blaze. In the mean time an individual was rapidly rising into importance, whose name and whose exploits are inseparably connected with the affairs of Modern Greece-Ali Pacha, the celebrated Vizier of Epirus. This renowned barbarian was born about the year 1745,* at Tepeleni, a small village on the banks of the Aoüss, or Voïoussa, near the spot where it issues from the gorges of Klissura. His fa *The exact year of Ali's birth cannot now be ascertained, and his own information misled those who relied on it, as he was always anxious to represent himself much younger than be really was. M. Pouqueville, his most elaborate biographer, states it to be 1740, (v. i. p. 3.) in which he is followed by Dr. Holland, (c. vi. p. 103.) and Mr. Hughes, (v. ii. c. v. p. 100.) An anonymous English author, who seems chiefly indebted for his information to Pouqueville, states the date of his birth to be 1750, (Life of Ali Pacha, c. ii. p. 23. Lond. Svo. 1823.) and a writer in the Biographie des Contemporains mentions it as 1744. 1779. A.D. mily, whose name was Issas, or Jesus, an appellation still common in the East, came originally from Asia Minor with the hosts of Bajazet Ilderim; and his grandfather, Mouctar, was one of those who fell at the siege of Corfu, by Dianun Cogia, in 1716.† He left three sons, of whom the youngest, Veli, after exercising for some years the profession of a bandit in the mountains of Albania, returned to Tepeleni, murdered his elder brothers, seized upon the property of the family, and became the first Aga of his native village. He subsequently married a daughter of the Bey of Conitza, by whom he had two children, Ali, the future lord of Joannina, and his sister Chaïnitza; and, after a life of crime and debauchery, he expired, whilst his offspring were still in their infancy. Khamco, his widow, a woman of singular energy, was shortly after his decease despoiled of her possessions by the inhabitants of Tchormovo and Gardiki, and with her daughter carried off into captivity to the latter, a village among the hills of Liaburia. * According to Pouqueville they were Albanians by descent; the story of their Asiatic origin is that of Ali himself. + Fauriel, p. 9. Besides these, he had likewise two sons and a daughter by a slave, who with their mother fell victims to the jealousy of Khamco. Dr. Holland, p. 104. Dufey, c. ii. p. 26. 1779. After suffering all the horrors of violation and A.D. the miseries of servitude, they were at length ransomed by the generosity of a merchant of Argyrocastro, and restored to liberty and their home. The remembrance of these outrages gave, from the earliest period, a tone of ferocity to the feelings and disposition of her children, into whose minds she instilled the fiercest principles of violence and revenge. Ali, from the age of fourteen, was associated with robbers and banditti; and long ere he had attained maturity, was distinguished as the boldest rider, the surest marksman, and the swiftest runner of his clan. His habits were those of toil, privation, and endurance, and his only resources for subsistence were derived from predatory adventures amidst the passes of Pindus. Detection, however, and a long confinement at Berat, where he owed his life solely to the personal kindness of Courd Pacha, a distant kinsman of his mother, served, in some degree, to detach him from his lawless habits; he returned to Tepeleni, attached himself to the parties of the Beys, and, rising gradually into importance by his military talents, he obtained in marriage Emineh, the gentle daughter of Capelan the Tiger, the Pacha of Del * By a Bey of the family of Dost, according to Mr. Hughes, (v. ii. c. v. p. 103.) 1779. A.D. vino.* This occurrence took place about the period when Stephen the Little was fomenting the insurrection of the Montenegrins; and Capelan having at the suggestion of Ali held back his forces from joining the general levy ordered to march against him, he was secretly denounced to the Porte by his adviser, and beheaded at Monastir. Ali, however, failed in his hopes of succeeding to the government of his father-in-law, which was conferred on Ali, Bey of Argyrocastro, who subsequently married Chaïnitza, the sister of the traitor. After this disappointment, he turned his attention towards home, and resolved on attempting the subjection of Tepeleni. Here he had numerous and powerful adversaries, but by one master-stroke of barbarous policy he freed himself for ever from their machinations, and achieved the object of his ambition. He had been accustomed, after the heat of the chase, to enjoy a cool siesta in the forest of Bentcha, in the vicinity of the village. By means of an attached partisan, he induced his enemies to attempt his assassination on one of those occasions; and having himself given the plan of the adventure, he retired to the wood, flung his capote over the body of a goat, corded and Dr. Holland states erroneously that he married a daughter of Courd, Pacha of Berat, p. 106. |