1798.

amicable respect, Ali compelled the deputies to A.D. 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.

In 1799 he had been invited to aid the A.D. 1799. 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 his year 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

upon Suli; but his impatience for its reduction
was every hour increased by the proceedings of
the Russians at Corfu, who maintained a per-
petual intercourse with the Christians and
Greeks along the Epiriot coast.* The Maho-
metan 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 re-
vival of an ancient prophecy of the Koran, which
was represented by the choriza of the Pacha to
foretell the endurance of the Albanian domi-
nion 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 exter-
minate their enemies, and ensure at least the
peace, if not the permanence, of their approach-
ing empire."+

66

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

1800.

1800.

A.D. being in turn conjectured as their possible destination. The apprehensions of the Suliots had in the mean time been lulled, not only by the precautions of the vizir, but by the exertions of one of their own chiefs, Georgio Botzaris, whom Ali had seduced to his interests by a bribe of 25,000 piastres. He was, at the period of his defection, one of the most influential leaders of his tribe; the ammunition of the state was under his care, and by a treacherous manœuvre, it was conveyed, on the eve of the invasion, to the quarters of the enemy.*

On

June the first intimation, therefore, of the Pacha's march, the warlike little community were

14th.

18,000, (v. ii. p. 146,) Fauriel at 20,000, (v. i. p. 247,) and Perevos, Pouqueville, and Bartholdy at 28,000 men.

* On the advance of Ali upon Suli, in spite of all these disadvantages, he found the mountain in a much more formidable position for defence than he had been led by the representations of Botzaris to believe. Enraged at this disappointment and his frequent defeats, he insisted on the traitor immediately joining his army, with all his family and followers, and it was only by lengthened and earnest entreaty that Botzaris obtained permission to send forward his soldiers, and remain himself behind. Remorse had already seized upon him; his little band of 200 retainers, led on by his sons, were cut to pieces at the mountain of Raidovuni, and, a few months after, the unfortunate chieftain expired of a broken heart. Perevos, v. i. p. 57. Pouqueville, v. 147. Bartholdy, v. ii. p. 270. Fauriel, v. i. p. 247. Dufey, v. i. p. 112.

i. P.

obliged, on a few hours notice, to hurry to their posts, and retire within the fortified villages, almost totally unprovided with arms, ammunition, or even the necessary store of provisions. The number capable of bearing arms amongst them amounted to little more than 1500 men, the chief command of whom was conferred upon Dimo Draco, Christos Botzaris, cousin to the traitor, and Foto Tzavellas, the same who in the preceding war had been left as a hostage by his father in the hands of the Pacha. He had been educated, together with his sister Chaïdo, under the auspices of his amazonian mother, Moscho; and, nursed in the very cradle of war, he had already, at the age of six-and-twenty, become the Achilles of his race. Like Hannibal, whilst yet a child, he had taken an oath of eternal hostility to the enemies of his country, and as he grew to manhood, so conspicuous were his justice and his valour, that "by the sword of Tzavellas" was the ordinary oath of his companions.* In all the athletic exercises of his clan, he was without a rival; in talent, in energy, and endurance, he

* Ὁ δὲ ὅρκος ἐλέγετο παρ' αὐτων οὕτω· “ μὰ τὸν Θεὸν ἀδελφὲ (δεῖνα), ἄν σοι λέγω ψεύματα, ἀπὸ τὸ σπαθὶ τοῦ Φώτου Τζαβελλα νὰ μὴ γλυτώσω.” (Perevos, v. i. p. 93.) Or, "Αν ψευδωμαι, τὸ Σπαθὶ τοῦ Φώτου νὰ μοῦ κόψῃ ταῖς ἡμέραις. (Pouqueville, v. i. n. p. 171.)

A.D.

1800.