1798. late, was sent to demand the submission of A.D. Vonizza. He succeeded, and, on his return, having induced a multitude of fugitives to accompany him back to Prevesa, they were the following day conducted by the Pacha to Salagora, and, to the number of two hundred, murdered in cold blood. Satiated with slaughter, the Pacha hastily turned his attention to the seizure of Santa Maura. He had drawn up his army on the opposite strand of Playa, and summoned the inhabitants to surrender: they were on the point of compliance, and the articles of capitulation were even said to have been signed and transmitted to the tyrant, when the timely arrival of a Russian squadron inspired them with fresh courage, and Ali was compelled to retire disappointed to Joannina. Parga was his next attempt, but here again his overtures were rejected, and his menaces rendered futile by the firmness of the inhabitants and the impregnable nature of the position. They sent instantly to place themselves under the protection of the Russian admiral Ockzakow, and they entered into an immediate alliance with *This document Ali is said to have ever after worn next his heart, and in right of it he never failed to assert his undoubted claim to the possession of the island. Hughes, v. ii. p. 142. 1798. A.D. the Suliots, by which the latter engaged, in the event of any attack of the enemy, to furnish 800 soldiers for the defence of Parga,* in return for which Suli was to be supplied with ammunition and provisions in case of a rupture with the Pacha. Ali, notwithstanding these arrangements, summoned them to submit,† and called upon them to slaughter the French garrison which occupied their fortress; but his demands met no other reply than a contemptuous refusal. On receiving assurances of support from Ockzakow, they subsequently sent a deputation to Preveza, where the vizir still remained, to offer not their submission, but their alliance. Not content with this expression of Perevos, v. i. p. 121. + The correspondence between Ali and the primates of Parga on this occasion will be found at length in Perevos, v. i. p. 183, &c. The concluding paragraph of the address, which was borne by their deputies on the occasion, is highly characteristic of the genius of the two people. "If," say they, "the Pacha be not satisfied with this act of simple homage as specified above, but should attempt, by threatening our deputies with death, to compel them to enter into any compact prejudicial to the interests of our country, we unanimously empower them to accede unhesitatingly to his wishes, in order to preserve their lives, since no such convention can ever be considered by us as binding." "Avevavrías ó ῥηθεις Πασας δὲν ἐυχαριστηθῇ ὡς ἄνωθεν, ἀλλ ̓ ἤθελε τους στε νοχωρήσῃ μὲ κίνδυνον ζωῆς των, διὰ να δεχθοῦν, καὶ ὑπογράψουν amicable respect, Ali compelled the deputies to affix their names to a document, by which they assigned to him the sovereignty of Parga; but this unauthorized proceeding was of course instantly disclaimed by the Parguinotes, and a Turkish officer, commissioned by the vizir to plant the Ottoman flag upon their walls, was with difficulty permitted to escape with life. At the same time the prompt assistance which they derived from Suli, and the generous protection of the Russian commander, enabled them to set at defiance the haughtiest menaces of the enraged vizir. Gomenitza and Butrinto were, however, less resolute or less fortunate; they were occupied almost without opposition by the Albanians: Parga alone remained to tempt the ambition of Ali, and, convinced that its strength arose solely from its alliance with the Suliots, he prepared to concentrate all his energies for the extermination of that turbulent and contumacious tribe. A.D. 1798. 1799. In 1799 he had been invited to aid the A.D. united forces of Russia and the Porte in the siege of Corfu, which they were investing, and κακήν τινα συνθήκην διὰ τὴν πατρίδα μας, ἡμεῖς ὅλοι συμφώνως (διὰ ν' ἀποφύγουν τὸν θάνατον) τοὺς δίδομεν τὴν ἄδειαν νὰ τὸ μεταχειρισθοῦν ἀνεμποδίστως· ἐπειδὴ αἱ τοιαῦται συνθῆκαι δεν θέλει ποτὲ λάβουν τόπον, ὅνπερ ὑπόληψιν. (Perevos, v. i. p. 127.) 1799. A.D. during the early portion of the year his army lay encamped beneath Butrinto: on the capture and occupation of the island by the allies,* he was at length permitted to retire, and his services were acknowledged by the Sultan and the divan with thanks and congratulations. By the subsequent treaty of March, 1800, the independence of the Ionian republic was guaranteed under the joint protection of the courts of Constantinople and St. Petersburgh, and the continental dependencies were annexed to the dominions of the Sultan. The privileges secured to them, with regard to religion and the administration of justice, were the same enjoyed by the Hospodariats of Wallachia and Moldavia; no Turk, with the exception of one chief governor, was to reside amongst them; their churches were to be repaired without any reference to the Ottoman authorities; and their tribute (which was surrendered for the first year in consideration of their sufferings in the war) was in no instance to exceed that exacted by the Venetians. A.D. 1800. It was early in the year 1800, ere Ali had thoroughly matured his plans for an attack * March 3, 1799. + See vol. i. of this History, c. viii. p. 259. M. Pouqueville states this war to have commenced in the summer of 1799, but this is at variance with his details 1800. upon Suli; but his impatience for its reduction A.D. was every hour increased by the proceedings of the Russians at Corfu, who maintained a perpetual intercourse with the Christians and Greeks along the Epiriot coast.* The Mahometan troops in his service, flushed with their late successes, were eager to be employed in fresh expeditions against the giaours; and their enthusiasm was heightened by the timely revival of an ancient prophecy of the Koran, which was represented by the choriza of the Pacha to foretell the endurance of the Albanian dominion for forty years after the overthrow of the Turkish power; "that power," he exclaimed, "was now verging to its decline, and this was the moment for the chiefs of Albania to exterminate their enemies, and ensure at least the peace, if not the permanence, of their approaching empire." + His assembled forces, on the completion of his levies, amounted to upwards of 20,000 men, whose intended service was kept a profound secret, Santa Maura, Parga, and Egypt, of its progress. I have followed the dates of Perevos, who states it to have begun on the 2nd of June, O. S. * Pouqueville, v. i. p. 142. + Perevos, v. i. p. 52. Bartholdy, Voyage en Grèce, v. ii. p. 259. Hughes, v. ii. p. 146. Rizo, p. 159. Dufey, v. i. p. 111. Rizo estimates them at 30,000, (p. 159.) Hughes at VOL. II. 2 G |