Celebrated crimes

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ALI PACHA

COUNTESS OF SAINT GERAN

MURAT

VOLUME VII
ILLUSTRATED

P F COLLIER & SON
NEW YORK

Copyright 1910
By P. F Collier & Son

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ALI PACHA
CHAPTER I

THE beginning of the nineteenth century was
a time of audacious enterprises and strange
vicissitudes of fortune. Whilst Western Europe in
turn submitted and struggled against a sub-lieuten-
ant who made himself an emperor, who at his
pleasure made kings and destroyed kingdoms, the
ancient eastern part of the Continent, like mummies
which preserve but the semblance of life, was grad-
ually tumbling to pieces, and getting parcelled out
amongst bold adventurers who skirmished over its
ruins. Without mentioning local revolts which pro-
duced only short-lived struggles and trifling changes
of administration, such as that of Djezzar Pacha,
who refused to pay tribute because he thought him-
self impregnable in his citadel of Saint- Jean-d'Acre,
or that of Passevend-Oglou Pacha, who planted
himself on the walls of Widdin as defender of the
janissaries against the institution of the regular
militia decreed by Sultan Selim at Stamboul, there
were wider spread rebellions which attacked the

1— Dumas— Vol. 7 2II7

CELEBRATED CRIMES

constitution of the Turkish Empire and diminished
its extent; amongst them that of Czerni-Georges,
which raised Servia to the position of a free state;
of Mahomet Ali, who made his pachalik of Egypt
into a kingdom; and finally that of the man whose
history we are about to narrate, Ali Tepeleni, Pacha
of Janina, whose long resistance to the suzerain
power preceded and brought about the regeneration
of Greece.

Ali's own will counted for nothing in this import-
ant movement. He foresaw it, but without ever
seeking to aid it, and was powerless to arrest it.
He was not one of those men who place their lives
and services at the disposal of any cause indiscrim-
inately ; and his sole aim was to acquire and increase
a power of which he was both the guiding influence
and the end and object. His nature contained the
seeds of every human passion, and he devoted all
his long life to their development and gratification.
This explains his whole temperament; his actions
were merely the natural outcome of his character
confronted with circumstances. Few men have
understood themselves better or been on better
terms with the orbit of their existence, and as the
personality of an individual is all the more striking
in proportion as it reflects the manners and ideas
of the time and country in which he has lived, so
the figure of Ali Pacha stands out, if not one of the

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most brilliant, at least one of the most singular in
contemporary history.

From the middle of the eighteenth century Tur-
key had been a prey to the political gangrene of
which she is vainly trying to cure herself to-day,
and which, before long, will dismember her in the
sight of all Europe. Anarchy and disorder reigned
from one end of the empire to the other. The Os-
manli race, bred on conquest alone, proved good
for nothing when conquest failed. It naturally
therefore came to pass when Sobieski, who saved
Christianity under the walls of Vienna, as before
his time Charles Martel had saved it on the plains
of Poitiers, had set bounds to the wave of Mussul-
man westward invasion, and definitely fixed a limit
which it should not pass, that the Osmanli warlike
instincts recoiled upon themselves. The haughty
descendants of Ortogrul, who considered them-
selves born to command, seeing victory forsake
them, fell back upon tyranny. Vainly did reason
expostulate that oppression could not long be exer-
cised by hands which had lost their strength, and
that peace imposed new and different labours on
those who no longer triumphed in war ; they would
listen to nothing ; and, as fatalistic when condemned
to a state of peace as when they marched forth con-
quering and to conquer, they cowered down in mag-
nificent listlessness, leaving the whole burden of

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

their support on conquered peoples. Like ignorant
farmers, who exhaust fertile fields by forcing crops,
they rapidly ruined their vast and rich empire by
exorbitant exactions. Inexorable conquerors and
insatiable masters, with one hand they flogged their
slaves and with the other plundered them. Nothing
was superior to their insolence, nothing on a level
with their greed. They were never glutted, and
never relaxed their extortions. But in proportion
as their needs increased on the one hand, so did
their resources diminish on the other. Their op-
pressed subjects soon found that they must escape
at any cost from oppressors whom they could nei-
their appease nor satisfy. Each population took the
steps best suited to its position and character; some
chose inertia, others violence. The inhabitants of
the plains, powerless and shelterless, bent like reeds
before the storm and evaded the shock against which
they were unable to stand. The mountaineers
planted themselves like rocks in a torrent, and
dammed its course with all their might. On both
sides arose a determined resistance, different in
method, similar in result. In the case of the peas-
ants labour came to a stand-still; in that of the hill
folk open war broke out. The grasping exactions
of the tyrant dominant body produced nothing from
waste lands and armed mountaineers; destitution
and revolt were equally beyond their power to cope

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with; and all that was left for tyranny to govern
was a desert enclosed by a wall.

But, all the same, the wants of a magnificent
sultan, descendant of the Prophet and distributor
of crowns, must be supplied; and to do this, the
Sublime Porte needed money. Unconsciously imi-
tating the Roman Senate, the Turkish Divan put
up the empire for sale by public auction. All em-
ployments were sold to the highest bidder; pachas,
beys, cadis, ministers of every rank, and clerks of
every class had to buy their posts from their sov-
ereign and get the money back out of his subjects.
They spent their money in the capital, and recuper-
ated themselves in the provinces. And as there was
no other law than their master's pleasure, so there
was no other guarantee than his caprice. They had
therefore to set quickly to work; the post might be
lost before its cost had been recovered. Thus all
the science of administration resolved itself into
plundering as much and as quickly as possible. To
this end, the delegate of imperial power delegated
in his turn, on similar conditions, other agents to
seize for him and for themselves all they could lay
their hands on; so that the inhabitants of the empire
might be divided into three classes — those who were
striving to seize everything ; those who were trying to
save a little; and those who, having nothing and
hoping for nothing, took no interest in affairs at all

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

Albania was one of the most difficult provinces
to manage. Its inhabitants were poor, brave, and
the nature of the country was mountainous and
inaccessible. The pachas had great difficulty in
collecting tribute, because the people were given to
fighting for their bread. Whether Mahomedans
or Christians, the Albanians were above all sol-
diers. Descended on the one side from the uncon-
querable Scythians, on the other from the ancient
Macedonians, not long since masters of the world;
crossed with Norman adventurers brought east-
wards by the great movement of the Crusades; they
felt the blood of warriors flow in their veins, and
that war was their element. Sometimes at feud
with one another, canton against canton, village
against village, often even house against house;
sometimes rebelling against the government of
their sanjaks; sometimes in league with these
against the sultan; they never rested from combat
except in an armed peace. Each tribe had its mili-
tary organisation, each family its fortified strong-
hold, each man his gun on his shoulder. When
they had nothing better to do, they tilled their
fields, or mowed their neighbours', carrying off, it
should be noted, the crop; or pastured their
flocks, watching the opportunity to trespass over
pasture limits. This was the normal and regular
life of the population of Epirus, Thesprotia, Thes-

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saly, and Upper Albania. Lower Albania, less
strong, was also less active and bold; and there, as
in many other parts of Turkey, the dalesman was
often the prey of the mountaineer. It was in the
mountain districts where were preserved the recol-
lections of Scander Beg, and where the manners
of ancient Laconia prevailed ; the deeds of the brave
soldier were sung on the lyre, and the skilful robber
quoted as an example to the children by the father
of the family. Village feasts were held on the
booty taken from strangers ; and the favourite dish
was always a stolen sheep. Every man was
esteemed in proportion to his skill and courage,
and a man's chances of making a good match were
greatly enhanced when he acquired the reputation
of being an agile mountaineer and a good bandit.

The Albanians proudly called this anarchy lib-
erty, and religiously guarded a state of disorder
bequeathed by their ancestors, which always assured
the first place to the most valiant.

It was amidst men and manners such as these
that AH Tepeleni was born. He boasted that he
belonged to the conquering race, and that he
descended from an ancient Anatolian family which
had crossed into Albania with the troops of Bajazet
Ilderim. But it is made certain by the learned
researches of M. de Pouqueville that he sprang
from a native stock, and not an Asiatic one, as he

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

pretended. His ancestors were Christian Skipe-
tars, who became Mussulmans after the Turkish
invasion, and his ancestry certainly cannot be traced
farther back than the end of the sixteenth century.

Mouktar Tepeleni, his grandfather, perished in
the Turkish expedition against Corfu, in 1716.
Marshal Schullemburg, who defended the island,
having repulsed the enemy with loss, took Mouktar
prisoner on Mount San Salvador, where he was
in charge of a signalling party, and with a bar-
barity worthy of his adversaries, hung him without
trial. It must be admitted that the memory of this
murder must have had the effect of rendering Ali
badly disposed towards Christians.

Mouktar left three sons, two of whom, Salik and
Mahomet, were born of the same mother, a lawful
wife, but the mother of the youngest, Veli, was a
slave. His origin was no legal bar to his succeed-
ing like his brothers. The family was one of the
richest in the town of Tepelen, whose name it bore;
it enjoyed an income of six thousand piastres, equal
to twenty thousand francs. This was a large for-
tune in a poor country, where all commodities were
cheap. But the Tepeleni family, holding the rank
of beys, had to maintain a state like that of the great
financiers of feudal Europe. They had to keep up
a large stud of horses, with a great retinue of ser-
vants and men-at-arms, and consequently to incur
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ALI PACHA

heavy expenses; thus they constantly found their
revenue inadequate. The most natural means of
raising it which occurred to them was to diminish
the number of those who shared it; therefore the
two elder brothers, sons of the wife, combined
against Veli, the son of the slave, and drove him
out of the house. The latter, forced to leave home,
bore his fate like a brave man, and determined to
levy exactions on others to compensate him for the
losses incurred through his brothers. He became a
freebooter, patrolling highroads and lanes, with his
gun on his shoulder and his yataghan in his belt,
attacking, holding for ransom, or plundering all
whom he encountered.

After some years of this profitable business, he
found himself a wealthy man and chief of a war-
like band. Judging that the moment for vengeance
had arrived, he marched for Tepelen, which he
reached unsuspected, crossed the river Vojutza, the
ancient Aous, penetrated the streets unresisted, and
presented himself before the paternal house, in
which his brothers, forewarned, had barricaded
themselves. He at once besieged them, soon forced
the gates, and pursued them to a tent, in which they
took a final refuge. He surrounded this tent,
waited till they were inside it, and then set fire to
the four corners. " See," said he to those around
him, " they cannot accuse me of vindictive repri-

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

sals ; my brothers drove me out of doors, and I retal-
iate by keeping them at home for ever."

In a few moments he was his father's sole heir
and master of Tepelen. Arrived at the summit of
his ambition, he gave up freebooting, and estab-
lished himself in the town, of which he became chief
aga. He had already a son by a slave, who soon
presented him with another son, and afterwards
with a daughter, so that he had no reason to fear
dying without an heir. But finding himself rich
enough to maintain more wives and bring up many
children, he desired to increase his credit by allying
himself to some great family of the country. He
therefore solicited and obtained the hand of Kamco,
daughter of a bey of Conitza. This marriage
attached him by the ties of relationship to the prin-
cipal families of the province, among others to
Kourd Pacha, Vizier of Berat, who was descended
from the illustrious race of Scander Beg. After a
few years, Veli had by his new wife a son named
Ali, the subject of this history, and a daughter
named Chalnitza.

In spite of his intentions to reform, Veli could
not entirely give up his old habits. Although his
fortune placed him altogether above small gains and
losses, he continued to amuse himself by raiding
from time to time sheep, goats, and other perqui-
sites, probably to keep his hand in. This innocent

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ALI PACHA

exercise of his taste was not to the fancy of his
neighbours, and brawls and fights recommenced in
fine style. Fortune did not always favour him,
and the old mountaineer lost in the town part of
what he had made on the hills. Vexations soured
his temper and injured his health. Notwithstand-
ing the injunctions of Mahomet, he sought conso-
lation in wine, which soon closed his career. He
died in 1754.

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CHAPTER II

A LI thus at thirteen years of age was free to
indulge in the impetuosity of his character.
From his early youth he had manifested a mettle
and activity rare in young Turks, haughty by nature
and self-restrained by education. Scarcely out of
the nursery, he spent his time in climbing moun-
tains, wandering through forests, scaling preci-
pices, rolling in snow, inhaling the wind, defying
the tempests, breathing out his nervous energy
through every pore. Possibly he learnt in the midst
of every kind of danger to brave everything and
subdue everything; possibly in sympathy with the
majesty of nature he felt aroused in him a need of
personal grandeur which nothing could satiate. In
vain his father sought to calm his savage temper
and restrain his vagabond spirit; nothing was of
any use. As obstinate as intractable, he set at defi-
ance all efforts and all precautions. If they shut
him up, he broke the door or jumped out of the win-
dow; if they threatened him, he pretended to com-
ply, conquered by fear, and promised everything
that was required, but only to break his word the

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ALI PACHA

first opportunity. He had a tutor specially attached
to his person and charged to supervise all his
actions. He constantly deluded him by fresh tricks,
and when he thought himself free from the conse-
quences, he maltreated him with gross violence. It
was only in his youth, after his father's death, that
he became more manageable; he even consented to
learn to read, to please his mother, whose idol he
was, and to whom in return he gave all his affection.

If Kamco had so strong a liking for Ali, it was
because she found in him, not only her blood, but
also her character. During the lifetime of her hus-
band, whom she feared, she seemed only an ordinary
woman ; but as soon as his eyes were closed, she
gave free scope to the violent passions which agi-
tated her bosom. Ambitious, bold, vindictive, she
assiduously cultivated the germs of ambition, hardi-
hood, and vengeance which already strongly showed
themselves in the young Ali. " My son," she was
never tired of telling him, " he who cannot defend
his patrimony richly deserves to lose it. Remember
that the property of others is only theirs so long as
they are strong enough to keep it, and that when
you find yourself strong enough to take it from
them, it is yours. Success justifies everything, and
everything is permissible to him who has the power
to do it."

Ali, when he reached the zenith of his greatness,
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CELEBRATED CRIMES

used to declare that his success was entirely his
mother's work. " I owe everything to my mother,"
he said one day to the French Consul ; " for my
father, when he died, left me nothing but a den of
wild beasts and a few fields. My imagination, in-
flamed by the counsels of her who has given me
life twice over, since she has made me both a man
and a vizier, revealed to me the secret of my des-
tiny. Thenceforward I saw nothing in Tepelen
but the natal air from which I was to spring on the
prey which I devoured mentally. I dreamt of noth-
ing else but power, treasures, palaces, in short what
time has realised and still promises ; for the point I
have now reached is not the limit of my hopes."

Kamco did not confine herself to words; she
employed every means to increase the fortune of
her beloved son and to make him a power. Her
first care was to poison the children of Veli's favour-
ite slave, who had died before him. Then, at ease
about the interior of her family, she directed her
attention to the exterior. Renouncing all the habits
of her sex, she abandoned the veil and the distaff,
and took up arms, under pretext of maintaining the
rights of her children. She collected round her her
husband's old partisans, whom she attached to her
service, some by presents, others by various favours,
and she gradually enlisted all the lawless and adven-
turous men in Toscaria. With their aid, she made

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ALI PACHA

herself all powerful in Tepelen, and inflicted the
most rigorous persecutions on such as remained
hostile to her.

But the inhabitants of the two adjacent villages,
Kormovo and Kardiki, fearing lest this terrible
woman, aided by her son, now grown into a man,
should strike a blow against their independence,
made a secret alliance against her, with the object
of putting her out of the way the first convenient
opportunity. Learning one day that Ali had started
on a distant expedition with his best soldiers, they
surprised Tepelen under cover of night, and carried
off Kamco and her daughter Cha'initza captives to
Kardiki. It was proposed to put them to death, and
sufficient evidence to justify their execution was
not wanting ; but their beauty saved their lives ; their
captors preferred to revenge themselves by licen-
tiousness rather than by murder. Shut up all day
in prison, they only emerged at night to pass into
the arms of the men who had won them by lot the
previous morning. This state of things lasted for
a month, at the end of which a Greek of Argyro-
Castron, named G. Malicovo, moved by compassion
for their horrible fate, ransomed them for twenty
thousand piastres, and took them back to Tepelen.

Ali had just returned. He was accosted by his
mother and sister, pale with fatigue, shame, and
rage. They told him what had taken place, with

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

cries and tears, and Kamco added, fixing her dis-
tracted eyes upon him, " My son ! my son ! my soul
will enjoy no peace till Kormovo and Kardiki,
destroyed by thy scimitar, will no longer exist to
bear witness to my dishonour."

Ali, in whom this sight and this story had aroused
sanguinary passions, promised a vengeance pro-
portioned to the outrage, and worked with all his
might to place himself in a position to keep his word.
A worthy son of his father, he had commenced life
in the fashion of the heroes of ancient Greece, steal-
ing sheep and goats, and from the age of fourteen
years he had acquired an equal reputation to that
earned by the son of Jupiter and Maia. When he
grew to manhood, he extended his operations. At
the time of which we are speaking, he had long
practised open pillage. His plundering expeditions,
added to his mother's savings, who since her return
from Kardiki had altogether withdrawn from pub-
lic life, and devoted herself to household duties,
enabled him to collect a considerable force for an
expedition against Kormovo, one of the two towns
he had sworn to destroy. He marched against it
at the head of his banditti, but found himself vigor-
ously opposed, lost part of his force, and was obliged
to save himself and the rest by flight. He did not
stop till he reached Tepelen, where he had a warm
reception from Kamco, whose thirst for vengeance

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ALI PACHA

had been disappointed by his defeat. " Go ! " said
she, " go, coward ! go spin with the women in the
harem ! The distaff is a better weapon for you than
the scimitar ! " The young man answered not a
word, but, deeply wounded by these reproaches,
retired to hide his humiliation in the bosom of his
old friend the mountain. The popular legend,
always thirsting for the marvellous in the adven-
tures of heroes, has it that he found in the ruins of a
church a treasure which enabled him to reconstitute
his party. But he himself has contradicted this
story, stating that it was by the ordinary methods
of rapine and plunder that he replenished his
finances. He selected from his old band of brigands
thirty palikars, and entered, as their bouloubachi, or
leader of the group, into the service of the Pacha
of Negropont. But he soon tired of the methodical
life he was obliged to lead, and passed into Thes-
saly, where, following the example of his father
Veli, he employed his time in brigandage on the
highways. Thence he raided the Pindus chain of
mountains, plundered a great number of villages,
and returned to Tepelen, richer and consequently
more esteemed than ever.

He employed his fortune and influence in collect-
ing a formidable guerilla force, and resumed his
plundering operations. Kurd Pacha soon found
himself compelled, by the universal outcry of the

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

province, to take active measures against this young
brigand. He sent against him a division of troops,
which defeated him and brought him prisoner with
his men to Berat, the capital of Central Albania
and residence of the governor. The country flat-
tered itself that at length it was freed from its
scourge. The whole body of bandits was con-
demned to death ; but Ali was not the man to sur-
render his life so easily. Whilst they were hanging
his comrades, he threw himself at the feet of the
pacha and begged for mercy in the name of his
parents, excusing himself on account of his youth,
and promising a lasting reform. The pacha, seeing
at his feet a comely youth, with fair hair and blue
eyes, a persuasive voice, and eloquent tongue, and
in whose veins flowed the same blood as his own,
was moved with pity and pardoned him. Ali got
off with a mild captivity in the palace of his power-
ful relative, who heaped benefits upon him, and did
all he could to lead him into the paths of probity.
He appeared amenable to these good influences, and
bitterly to repent his past errors. After some years,
believing in his reformation, and moved by the
prayers of Kamco, who incessantly implored the
restitution of her dear son, the generous pacha
restored him his liberty, only giving him to under-
stand that he had no more mercy to expect if he
again disturbed the public peace. Ali taking the

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ALI PACHA

threat seriously, did not run the risk of braving- it,
and, on the contrary, did all he could to conciliate
the man whose anger he dared not kindle. Not only
did he keep the promise he had made to live quietly,
but by his good conduct he caused his former esca-
pades to be forgotten, putting under obligation all
his neighbours, and attaching to himself, through
the services he rendered them, a great number of
friendly disposed persons. In this manner he soon
assumed a distinguished and honourable rank
among the beys of the country, and being of mar-
riageable age, he sought and formed an alliance
with the daughter of Capelan Tigre, Pacha of Del-
vino, who resided at Argyro-Castron. This union,
happy on both sides, gave him, with one of the most
accomplished women in Epirus, a high position and
great influence.

It seemed as if this marriage were destined to
wean Ali for ever from his former turbulent habits
and wild adventures. . But the family into which he
had married afforded violent contrasts and equal
elements of good and mischief. If Emineh, his
wife, was a model of virtue, his father-in-law, Cape-
lan, was a composition of every vice — selfish, ambi-
tious, turbulent, fierce. Confident in his courage,
and further emboldened by his remoteness from the
capital, the Pacha of Delvino gloried in setting law
and authority at defiance.

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

Ali's disposition was too much like that of his
father-in-law to prevent him from taking his meas-
ure very quickly. He soon got on good terms with
him, and entered into his schemes, waiting for an
opportunity to denounce him and become his suc-
cessor. For this opportunity he had not long to
wait.

Capelan's object in giving his daughter to Tepe-
leni was to enlist him among the beys of the
province to gain independence, the ruling passion
of viziers. The cunning young man pretended
to enter into the views of his father-in-law,
and did all he could to urge him into the path of
rebellion.

An adventurer named Stephano Piccolo, an emis-
sary of Russia, had just raised in Albania the stan-
dard of the Cross and called to arms all the Chris-
tians of the Acroceraunian Mountains. The Divan
sent orders to all the pachas of Northern Turkey
in Europe to instantly march against the insurgents
and quell the rising in blood.

Instead of obeying the orders of the Divan and
joining Kurd Pacha, who had summoned him,
Capelan, at the instigation of his son-in-law, did all
he could to embarrass the movement of the imperial
troops, and without openly making common cause
with the insurgents, he rendered them substantial
aid in their resistance. They were, notwithstand-

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ALI PACHA

ing, conquered and dispersed; and their chief, Ste-
phano Piccolo, had to take refuge in the unexplored
caves of Montenegro.

When the struggle was over, Capelan, as Ali had
foreseen, was summoned to give an account of his
conduct before the roumeli-valicy, supreme judge
over Turkey in Europe. He was not only accused
of the gravest offences, but proofs of them were
forwarded to the Divan by the very man who had
instigated them. There could be no doubt as to the
result of the inquiry; therefore, the pacha, who had
no suspicions of his son-in-law's duplicity, deter-
mined not to leave his pachalik. That was not
in accordance with the plans of Ali, who wished to
succeed to both the government and the wealth of
his father-in-law. He accordingly made the most
plausible remonstrances against the inefficacy and
danger of such a resistance. To refuse to plead
was tantamount to a confession of guilt, and was
certain to bring on his head a storm against which
he was powerless to cope, whilst if he obeyed the
orders of the roumeli-valicy he would find it easy
to excuse himself. To give more effect to his per-
fidious advice, Ali further employed the innocent
Emineh, who was easily alarmed on her father's
account. Overcome by the reasoning of his son-in-
law and the tears of his daughter, the unfortunate
pacha consented to go to Monastir, where he had

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

been summoned to appear, and where he was imme-
diately arrested and beheaded.

Ali's schemes had succeeded, but both his ambition
and his cupidity were frustrated. Ali, Bey of
Argyro-Castron, who had throughout shown him-
self devoted to the sultan, was nominated Pacha
of Delvino in place of Capelan. He sequestered all
the property of his predecessor, as confiscated to
the sultan, and thus deprived Ali Tepeleni of all the
fruits of his crime.

This disappointment kindled the wrath of the
ambitious Ali. He swore vengeance for the spolia-
tion of which he considered himself the victim. But
the moment was not favourable for putting his pro-
jects in train. The murder of Capelan, which its
perpetrator intended for a mere crime, proved a
huge blunder. The numerous enemies of Tepeleni,
silent under the administration of the late pacha,
whose resentment they had cause to fear, soon made
common cause under the new one, for whose support
they had hopes. Ali saw the danger, sought and
found the means to obviate it. He succeeded in
making a match between Ali of Argyro-Castron,
who was unmarried, and Chainitza, his own sister.
This alliance secured to him the government of
Tigre, which he held under Capelan. But that was
not sufficient. He must put himself in a state of
security against the dangers he had lately experi-

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ALI PACHA

enced, and establish himself on a firm footing
against possible accidents. He soon formed a plan,
which he himself described to the French Consul
in the following words: —

" Years were elapsing," said he, " and brought
no important change in my position. I was an
important partisan, it is true, and strongly sup-
ported, but I held no title or Government employ-
ment of my own. I recognised the necessity of
establishing myself firmly in my birthplace. I had
devoted friends, and formidable foes, bent on my
destruction, whom I must put out of the way, for
my own safety. I set about a plan for destroying
them at one blow, and ended by devising one with
which I ought to have commenced my career. Had
I done so, I should have saved much time and pains.

" I was in the habit of going every day, after
hunting, for a siesta in a neighbouring wood. A
confidential servant of mine suggested to my ene-
mies the idea of surprising me and assassinating
me there. I myself supplied the plan of the con-
spiracy, which was adopted. On the day agreed
upon, I preceded my adversaries to the place where
I was accustomed to repose, and caused a goat to
be pinioned and muzzled, and fastened under the
tree, covered with my cape; I then returned home
by a roundabout path. Soon after I had left, the
conspirators arrived, and fired a volley at the goat.

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

They ran up to make certain of my death, but were
interrupted by a piquet of my men, who unexpect-
edly emerged from a copse where I had posted them,
and they were obliged to return to Tepelen, which
they entered, riotous with joy, crying ' Ali Bey is
dead, now we are free ! ' This news reached my
harem, and I heard the cries of my mother and my
wife mingled with the shouts of my enemies. I
allowed the commotion to run its course and reach
its height, so as to indicate which were my friends
and which my foes. But when the former were at
the depth of their distress and the latter at the
height of their joy, and, exulting in their supposed
victory, had drowned their prudence and their cour-
age in floods of wine, then, strong in the justice
of my cause, I appeared upon the scene. Now was
the time for my friends to triumph and for my foes
to tremble. I set to work at the head of my par-
tisans, and before sunrise had exterminated the last
of my enemies. I distributed their lands, their
houses, and their goods amongst my followers, and
from that moment I could call the town of Tepelen
my own."

A less ambitious man might perhaps have re-
mained satisfied with such a result. But Ali did
not look upon the suzerainty of a canton as a final
object, but only as a means to an end; and he had
not made himself master of Tepelen to limit him-

2140

ALI PACHA

self to a petty state, but to employ it as a base of
operations.

He had allied himself to Ali of Argyro-Castron
to get rid of his enemies; once free from them, he
began to plot against his supplanter. He forgot
neither his vindictive projects nor his ambitious
schemes. As prudent in execution as bold in de-
sign, he took good care not to openly attack a man
stronger than himself, and gained by stratagem
what he could not obtain by violence. The honest
and straightforward character of his brother-in-
law afforded an easy success to his perfidy. He
began by endeavouring to suborn his sister Cha'i-
nitza, and several times proposed to her to poison
her husband; but she, who dearly loved the pacha,
who was a kind husband and to whom she had
borne two children, repulsed his suggestions with
horror, and threatened, if he persisted, to denounce
him. Ali, fearing the consequences if she carried
out her threat, begged forgiveness for his wicked
plans, pretended deep repentance, and spoke of his
brother-in-law in terms of the warmest affection.
His acting was so consummate that even Chainitza,
who well knew her brother's subtle character, was
deceived by it. When he saw that she was his dupe,
knowing that he had nothing more either to fear
or to hope for from that side, he directed his atten-
tion to another.

214T

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The pacha had a brother named Soliman, whose
character nearly resembled that of Tepeleni. The
latter, after having for some time quietly studied
him, thought he discerned in him the man he
wanted; he tempted him to kill the pacha, offering
him, as the price of this crime, his whole inherit-
ance and the hand of Cha'initza, only reserving for
himself the long coveted sanjak. Soliman accepted
the proposals, and the fratricidal bargain was con-
cluded. The two conspirators, sole masters of the
secret, the horrible nature of which guaranteed
their mutual fidelity, and having free access to
the person of their victim, could not fail in their
object.

One day, when they were both received by the
pacha in private audience, Soliman, taking advan-
tage of a moment when he was unobserved, drew a
pistol from his belt and blew out his brother's
brains. Cha'initza ran at the sound, and saw her
husband lying dead between her brother and her
brother-in-law. Her cries for help were stopped by
threats of death if she moved or uttered a sound.
As she lay, fainting with grief and terror, Ali made
a sign to Soliman, who covered her with his cloak,
and declared her his wife. AH pronounced the mar-
riage concluded, and retired for it to be consum-
mated. Thus was celebrated this frightful wedding,
in the scene of an awful crime, beside the corpse of

2142

ALI PACHA

a man who a moment before had been the husband
of the bride and the brother of the bridegroom.

The assassins published the death of the pacha,
attributing it, as is usual in Turkey, to a fit of cere-
bral apoplexy. But the truth soon leaked out from
the lying shrouds in which it had been wrapped.
Reports even exceeded the truth, and public opinion
implicated Chainitza in a crime of which she had
been but the witness. Appearances certainly jus-
tified these suspicions. The young wife had soon
consoled herself in the arms of her second husband
for the loss of the first, and her son by him pres-
ently died suddenly, thus leaving Soliman in lawful
and peaceful possession of all his brother's wealth.
As for the little girl, as she had no rights and could
hurt no one, her life was spared, and she was even-
tually married to a bey of Cleisoura, destined in
the sequel to cut a tragic figure in the history of the
Tepeleni family.

But AH was once more deprived of the fruit of
his bloody schemes. Notwithstanding all his in-
trigues, the sanjak of Delvino was conferred, not
upon him, but upon a bey of one of the first families
of Zapouria. But, far from being discouraged, he
recommenced with new boldness and still greater
confidence the work of his elevation, so often begun
and so often interrupted. He took advantage of his
increasing influence to ingratiate himself with the

2143

CELEBRATED CRIMES

new pacha, and was so successful in insinuating
himself into his confidence, that he was received
into the palace and treated like the pacha's son.
There he acquired complete knowledge of the de-
tails of the pachalik and the affairs of the pacha,
preparing himself to govern the one when he had
got rid of the other.

The sanjak of Delvino was bounded from Ven-
etian territory by the district of Buthrotum. Selim,
a better neighbour and an abler politician than his
predecessors, sought to renew and preserve friendly
commercial relations with the purveyors of the
Magnificent Republic. This wise conduct, equally
advantageous for both the bordering provinces,
instead of gaining for the pacha the praise and
favours which he deserved, rendered him suspected
at a court whose sole political idea was hatred of
the name of Christian, and whose sole means of
government was terror. Ali immediately perceived
the pacha's error, and the advantage which he him-
self could derive from it. Selim, as one of his com-
mercial transactions with the Venetians, had sold
them, for a number of years, the right of felling
timber in a forest near Lake Peloda. Ali immedi-
ately took advantage of this to denounce the pacha
as guilty of having alienated the territory of the
Sublime Porte, and of a desire to deliver to the
infidels all the province of Delvino. Masking his

2144

ALI PACHA

ambitious designs under the veil of religion and
patriotism, he lamented, in his denunciatory report,
the necessity under which he found himself, as a
loyal subject and faithful Mussulman, of accusing
a man who had been his benefactor, and thus at the
same time gained the benefit of crime and the credit
of virtue.

Under the gloomy despotism of the Turks, a man
in any position of responsibility is condemned almost
as soon as accused ; and if he is not strong enough to
inspire terror, his ruin is certain. AH received at
Tepelen, where he had retired to more conveniently
weave his perfidious plots, an order to get rid of
the pacha. At the receipt of the firman of execu-
tion he leaped with joy, and flew to Delvino to
seize the prey which was abandoned to him.

The noble Selim, little suspecting that his pro-
tege had become his accuser and was preparing to
become his executioner, received him with more
tenderness than ever, and lodged him, as heretofore,
in his palace. Under the shadow of this hospitable
roof, Ali skilfully prepared the consummation of the
crime which was for ever to draw him out of
obscurity. He went every morning to pay his court
to the pacha, whose confidence he doubted; then,
one day, feigning illness, he sent excuses for inabil-
ity to pay his respects to a man whom he was accus-
tomed to regard as his father, and begged him to

2145

CELEBRATED CRIMES

come for a moment into his apartment. The invi-
tation being accepted, he concealed assassins in one
of the cupboards without shelves, so common in
the East, which contain by day the mattresses
spread by night on the floor for the slaves to sleep
upon. At the hour fixed, the old man arrived. Ali
rose from his sofa with a depressed air, met him,
kissed the hem of his robe, and, after seating him
in his place, himself offered him a pipe and coffee,
which were accepted. But instead of putting the
cup in the hand stretched to receive it, he let it fall
on the floor, where it broke into a thousand pieces.
This was the signal. The assassins sprang from
their retreat and darted upon Selim, who fell, ex-
claiming, like Caesar, " And it is thou, my son, who
takest my life! "

At the sound of the tumult which followed the
assassination, Selim's bodyguard, running up, found
Ali erect, covered with blood, surrounded by assas-
sins, holding in his hand the firman displayed, and
crying with a menacing voice, " I have killed the
traitor Selim by the order of our glorious sultan;
here is his imperial command." At these words,
and the sight of the fatal diploma, all prostrated
themselves terror-stricken. Ali, after ordering the
decapitation of Selim, whose head he seized as a
trophy, ordered the cadi, the beys, and the Greek
archons to meet at the palace, to prepare the official

2146

ALI PACHA

account of the execution of the sentence. They
assembled, trembling; the sacred hymn of the Fata-
hat was sung, and the murder declared legal, in the
name of the merciful and compassionate God, Lord
of the world.

When they had sealed up the effects of the victim,
the murderer left the palace, taking with him, as a
hostage, Mustapha, son of Selim, destined to be
even more unfortunate than his father.

A few days afterwards, the Divan awarded to
Ali Tepeleni, as a reward for his zeal for the State
and religion, the sanjak of Thessaly, with the title
of Dervendgi-pacha, or Provost Marshal of the
roads. This latter dignity was conferred on the
condition of his levying a body of four thousand
men to clear the valley of the Peneus of a multitude
of Christian chiefs who exercised more power than
the officers of the Grand Seigneur. The new pacha
took advantage of this to enlist a numerous body of
Albanians ready for any enterprise, and completely
devoted to him. With two important commands,
and with this strong force at his back, he repaired
to Trikala, the seat of his government, where he
speedily acquired great influence.

His first act of authority was to exterminate the
bands of Armatolis, or Christian militia, which in-
fested the plain. He laid violent hands on all whom
he caught, and drove the rest back into their moun-

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

tains, splitting them up into small bands whom he
could deal with at his pleasure. At the same time he
sent a few heads to Constantinople, to amuse the
sultan and the mob, and some money to the min-
isters to gain their support. " For," said he, " water
sleeps, but envy never does." These steps were
prudent, and whilst his credit increased at court,
order was re-established from the defiles of the Per-
rebia of Pindus to the vale of Tempe and to the
pass of Thermopylae.

These exploits of the provost-marshal, amplified
by Oriental exaggeration, justified the ideas which
were entertained of the capacity of Ali Pacha.
Impatient of celebrity, he took good care himself
to spread his fame, relating his prowess to all
comers, making presents to the sultan's officers who
came into his government, and showing travellers
his palace courtyard festooned with decapitated
heads. But what chiefly tended to consolidate his
power was the treasure which he ceaselessly amassed
by every means. He never struck for the mere
pleasure of striking, and the numerous victims of
his proscriptions only perished to enrich him. His
death sentences always fell on beys and wealthy
persons whom he wished to plunder. In his eyes
the axe was but an instrument of fortune, and the
executioner a tax-gatherer.

2148

CHAPTER III

HAVING governed Thessaly in this manner
during several years, Ali found himself in
a position to acquire the province of Janina, the
possession of which, by making him master of Epi-
rus, would enable him to crush all his enemies and to
reign supreme over the three divisions of Albania.
But before he could succeed in this, it was nec-
essary to dispose of the pacha already in posses-
sion. Fortunately for Ali, the latter was a weak
and indolent man, quite incapable of struggling
against so formidable a rival ; and his enemy speed-
ily conceived and put into execution a plan in-
tended to bring about the fulfilment of his desires.
He came to terms with the same Armatolians
whom he had formerly treated so harshly, and let
them loose, provided with arms and ammunition,
on the country which he wished to obtain. Soon
the whole region echoed with stories of devasta-
tion and pillage. The pacha, unable to repel the
incursions of these mountaineers, employed the few
troops he had in oppressing the inhabitants of the
plains, who, groaning under both extortion and

2 — Dumas — Vol. 7 2 1 49

CELEBRATED CRIMES

rapine, vainly filled the air with their despairing
cries. Ali hoped that the Divan, which usually-
judged only after the event, seeing that Epirus lay
desolate, while Thessaly flourished under his own
administration, would, before long, entrust himself
with the government of both provinces, when a
family incident occurred, which for a time diverted
the course of his political manoeuvres.

For a long time his mother Kamco had suffered
from an internal cancer, the result of a life of de-
pravity. Feeling that her end drew near, she des-
patched messenger after messenger, summoning
her son to her bedside. He started, but arrived
too late, and found only his sister Chainitza mourn-
ing over the body of their mother, who had ex-
pired in her arms an hour previously. Breathing
unutterable rage and pronouncing horrible impre-
cations against Heaven, Kamco had commanded
her children, under pain of her dying curse, to
carry out her last wishes faithfully. After having
long given way to their grief, Ali and Chainitza
read together the document which contained these
commands. It ordained some special assassina-
tions, mentioned sundry villages which, some day,
were to be given to the flames, but ordered them
most especially, as soon as possible, to exterminate
the inhabitants of Kormovo and Kardiki, from
whom she had endured the last horrors of slavery.

2150

ALI PACHA

Then, after advising her children to remain united,
to enrich their soldiers, and to count as nothing
people who were useless to them, Kamco ended by
commanding them to send in her name a pilgrim
to Mecca, who should deposit an offering on the
tomb of the Prophet for the repose of her soul.
Having perused these last injunctions, Ali and
Chainitza joined hands, and over the inanimate re-
mains of their departed mother swore to accom-
plish her dying behests.

The pilgrimage came first under consideration.
Now a pilgrim can only be sent as proxy to Mecca,
or offerings be made at the tomb of Medina, at
the expense of legitimately acquired property duly
sold for the purpose. The brother and sister made
a careful examination of the family estates, and
after long hunting, thought they had found the
correct thing in a small property of about fifteen
hundred francs income, inherited from their great-
grandfather, founder of the Tepel-Enian dynasty.
But further investigations disclosed that even this
last resource had been forcibly taken from a Chris-
tian, and the idea of a pious pilgrimage and a sa-
cred offering had to be given up. They then agreed
to atone for the impossibility of expiation by the
grandeur of their vengeance, and swore to pursue
without ceasing and to destroy without mercy all
enemies of their family.

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

The best mode of carrying out this terrible and
self-given pledge was that Ali should resume his
plans of aggrandizement exactly where he had left
them. He succeeded in acquiring the pachalik of
Janina, which was granted him by the Porte under
the title of "arpalik," or conquest. It was an old
custom, natural to the warlike habits of the Turks,
to bestow the Government provinces or towns af-
fecting to despise the authority of the Grand Seign-
eur on whomsoever succeeded in controlling them,
and Janina occupied this position. It was prin-
cipally inhabited by Albanians, who had an enthu-
siastic admiration for anarchy, dignified by them
with the name of " Liberty," and who thought them-
selves independent in proportion to the disturbance
they succeeded in making. Each lived retired as if
in a mountain castle, and only went out in order
to participate in the quarrels of his faction in the
forum. As for the pachas, they were relegated to
the old castle on the lake, and there was no diffi-
culty in obtaining their recall.

Consequently there was a general outcry at the
news of Ali Pacha's nomination, and it was unani-
mously agreed that a man whose character and
power were alike dreaded must not be admitted
within the walls of Janina. Ali, not choosing to
risk his forces in an open battle with a warlike
population, and preferring a slower and safer way

2152

ALI PACHA

to a short and dangerous one, began by pillaging
the villages and farms belonging to his most power-
ful opponents. His tactics succeeded, and the very
persons who had been foremost in vowing hatred
to the son of Kamco and who had sworn most
loudly that they would die rather than submit to
the tyrant, seeing their property daily ravaged, and
impending ruin if hostilities continued, applied
themselves to procure peace. Messengers were
sent secretly to Ali, offering to admit him into
Janina if he would undertake to respect the lives
and property of his new allies. Ali promised what-
ever they asked, and entered the town by night.
His first proceeding was to appear before the cadi,
whom he compelled to register and proclaim his
firmans of investiture.

In the same year in which he arrived at this dig-
nity, really the desire and object of Ali's whole
life, occurred also the death of the Sultan Abdul
Hamid, whose two sons, Mustapha and Mahmoud,
were confined in the Old Seraglio. This change
of rulers, however, made no difference to Ali; the
peaceful Selim, exchanging the prison to which
his nephews were now relegated, for the throne of
their father, confirmed the Pacha of Janina in the
titles, offices, and privileges which had been con-
ferred on him.

Established in his position by this double inves-

2153

377335

CELEBRATED CRIMES

titure, AH applied himself to the definite settle-
ment of his claims. He was now fifty years of
age, and was at the height of his intellectual de-
velopment: experience had been his teacher, and
the lesson of no single event had been lost upon
him. An uncultivated but just and penetrating
mind enabled him to comprehend facts, analyse
causes, and anticipate results; and as his heart
never interfered with the deductions of his rough
intelligence, he had by a sort of logical sequence
formulated an inflexible plan of action. This man,
wholly ignorant, not only of the ideas of history
but also of the great names of Europe, had suc-
ceeded in divining, and as a natural consequence
of his active and practical character, in also real-
ising Macchiavelli, as is amply shown in the ex-
pansion of his greatness and the exercise of his
power. Without faith in God, despising men,
loving and thinking only of himself, distrusting all
around him, audacious in design, immovable in
resolution, inexorable in execution, merciless in
vengeance, by turns insolent, humble, violent, or
supple according to circumstances, always and en-
tirely logical in his egotism, he is Cesar Borgia re-
born as a Mussulman; he is the incarnate ideal of
Florentine policy, the Italian prince converted in-
to a satrap.

Age had as yet in no way impaired Ali's strength

2154

ALI PACHA

and activity, and nothing prevented his profiting
by the advantages of his position. Already pos-
sessing great riches, which every day saw increas-
ing under his management, he maintained a large
body of warlike and devoted troops, he united the
offices of Pacha of two tails of Janina, of Toparch
of Thessaly, and of Provost Marshal of the High-
way. As influential aids both to his reputation
for general ability and the terror of his arms, and
his authority as ruler, there stood by his side two
sons, Mouktar and Veli, offspring of his wife Em-
ineh, both fully grown and carefully educated in
the principles of their father.

Ali's first care, once master of Janina, was to
annihilate the beys forming the aristocracy of the
place, whose hatred he was well aware of, and
whose plots he dreaded. He ruined them all, ban-
ishing many and putting others to death. Know-
ing that he must make friends to supply the va-
cancy caused by the destruction of his foes, he
enriched with the spoil the Albanian mountaineers
in his pay, known by the name of Skipetars, on
whom he conferred most of the vacant employ-
ments. But much too prudent to allow all the
power to fall into the hands of a single caste, al-
though a foreign one to the capital, he, by a sin-
gular innovation, added to and mixed with them
an infusion of Orthodox Greeks, a skilful but de-

2155

CELEBRATED CRIMES

spised race, whose talents he could use without
having to dread their influence. While thus en-
deavouring on one side to destroy the power of his
enemies by depriving them of both authority and
wealth, and on the other to consolidate his own by
establishing a firm administration, he neglected no
means of acquiring popularity. A fervent disciple
of Mahomet when among fanatic Mussulmans, a
materialist with the Bektagis who professed a rude
pantheism, a Christian among the Greeks, with
whom he drank to the health of the Holy Virgin,
he made everywhere partisans by flattering the
idea most in vogue. But if he constantly changed
both opinions and language when dealing with
subordinates whom it was desirable to win over,
Ali towards his superiors had one only line of con-
duct which he never transgressed. Obsequious
towards the Sublime Porte, so long as it did not
interfere with his private authority, he not only
paid with exactitude all dues to the sultan, to whom
he even often advanced money, but he also pen-
sioned the most influential ministers. He was bent
on having no enemies who could really injure his
power, and he knew that in an absolute govern-
ment no conviction can hold its own against the
power of gold.

Having thus annihilated the nobles, deceived
the multitude with plausible words and lulled to

2156

ALI PACHA

sleep the watchfulness of the Divan, AH resolved
to turn his arms against Kormovo. At the foot
of its rocks he had, in youth, experienced the dis-
grace of defeat, and during thirty nights Kamco
and Chamitza had endured all horrors of outrage
at the hands of its warriors. Thus the implacable
pacha had a twofold wrong to punish, a double
vengeance to exact.

This time, profiting by experience, he called in
the aid of treachery. Arrived at the citadel, he
negotiated, promised an amnesty, forgiveness for
all, actual rewards for some. The inhabitants, only
too happy to make peace with so formidable an
adversary, demanded and obtained a truce to settle
the conditions. This was exactly what Ali ex-
pected, and Kormovo, sleeping on the faith of the
treaty, was suddenly attacked and taken. All who
did not escape by flight perished by the sword in
the darkness, or by the hand of the executioner
the next morning. Those who had offered violence
aforetime to Ali's mother and sister were carefully
sought for, and whether convicted or merely ac-
cused, were impaled on spits, torn with red-hot
pincers, and slowly roasted between two fires; the
women were shaved and publicly scourged, and
then sold as slaves.

This vengeance, in which all the nobles of the
province not yet entirely ruined were compelled

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

to assist, was worth a decisive victory to Ali.
Towns, cantons, whole districts, overwhelmed with
terror, submitted without striking a blow, and his
name, joined to the recital of a massacre which
ranked as a glorious exploit in the eyes of this
savage people, echoed like thunder from valley to
valley and mountain to mountain. In order that
all surrounding him might participate in the joy of
his success Ali gave his army a splendid festival.
Of unrivalled activity, and, Mohammedan only in
name, he himself led the chorus in the Pyrrhic and
Klephtic dances, the ceremonials of warriors and
of robbers. There was no lack of wine, of sheep,
goats, and lambs roasted before enormous fires,
made of the debris of the ruined city; antique
games of archery and wrestling were celebrated,
and the victors received their prizes from the hand
of their chief. The plunder, slaves, and cattle were
then shared, and the Tapygae, considered as the
lowest of the four tribes composing the race of
Skipetars, and ranking as the refuse of the army,
carried off into the mountains of Acroceraunia,
doors, windows, nails, and even the tiles of the
houses, which were then all surrendered to the
flames.

However, Ibrahim, the successor and son-in-law
of Kurd Pacha, could not see with indifference
part of his province invaded by his ambitious

2158

ALI PACHA

neighbour. He complained and negotiated, but ob-
taining no satisfaction, called out an army com-
posed of Skipetars of Toxid, all Islamites, and
gave the command to his brother Sepher, Bey of
Avlone. Ali, who had adopted the policy of op-
posing alternately the Cross to the Crescent and the
Crescent to the Cross, summoned to his aid the
Christian chiefs of the mountains, who descended
into the plains at the head of their unconquered
troops. As is generally the case in Albania, where
war is merely an excuse for brigandage, instead of
deciding matters by a pitched battle, both sides con-
tented themselves with burning villages, hanging
peasants, and carrying off cattle.

Also, in accordance with the custom of the
country, the women interposed between the com-
batants, and the good and gentle Emineh laid pro-
posals of peace before Ibrahim Pacha, to whose
apathetic disposition a state of war was disagree-
able, and who was only too happy to conclude a
fairly satisfactory negotiation. A family alliance
was arranged, in virtue of which Ali retained his
conquests, which were considered as the marriage
portion of Ibrahim's eldest daughter, who became
the wife of Ali's eldest son, Mouktar.

It was hoped that this peace might prove per-
manent, but the marriage which sealed the treaty
was barely concluded before a fresh quarrel broke

2159

CELEBRATED CRIMES

out between the pachas. Ali, having wrung such
important concessions from the weakness of his
neighbour, desired to obtain yet more. But close-
ly allied to Ibrahim were two persons gifted with
great firmness of character and unusual ability,
whose position gave them great influence. They
were his wife Zaidee, and his brother Sepher, who
had been in command during the war just termi-
nated. As both were inimical to Ali, who could
not hope to corrupt them, the latter resolved to
get rid of them.

Having in the days of his youth been intimate
with Kurd Pacha, Ali had endeavoured to seduce
his daughter, already the wife of Ibrahim. Being
discovered by the latter in the act of scaling the
wall of his harem, he had been obliged to fly the
country. Wishing now to ruin the woman whom
he had formerly tried to corrupt, Ali sought to turn
his former crime to the success of a new one.
Anonymous letters, secretly sent to Ibrahim,
warned him that his wife intended to poison him,
in order to be able later to marry Ali Pacha, whom
she had always loved. In a country like Turkey,
where to suspect a woman is to accuse her, and ac-
cusation is synonymous with condemnation, such a
calumny might easily cause the death of the inno-
cent Zaidee. But if Ibrahim was weak and indo-
lent, he was also confiding and generous. He took

2160

ALI PACHA

the letters to his wife, who had no difficulty in
clearing herself, and who warned him against the
writer, whose object and plots she easily divined,
so that this odious conspiracy turned only to Ali's
discredit. But the latter was not likely either to
concern himself as to what others said or thought
about him or to be disconcerted by a failure. He
simply turned his machinations against his other
enemy, and arranged matters this time so as to
avoid a failure.

He sent to Zagori, a district noted for its doc-
tors, for a quack who undertook to poison Sepher
Bey on condition of receiving forty purses. When
all was settled, the miscreant set out for Berat,
and was immediately accused by Ali of evasion,
and his wife and children were arrested as accom-
plices and detained, apparently as hostages for the
good behaviour of their husband and father, but
really as pledges for his silence when the crime
should have been accomplished. Sepher Bey, in-
formed of this by letters which Ali wrote to the
Pacha of Berat demanding the fugitive, thought
that a man persecuted by his enemy would be faith-
ful to himself, and took the supposed runaway
into his service. The traitor made skilful use of
the kindness of his too credulous protector, insin-
uated himself into his confidence, became his
trusted physician and apothecary, and gave him

2161

CELEBRATED CRIMES

poison instead of medicine on the very first ap-
pearance of indisposition. As soon as symptoms
of death appeared, the poisoner fled, aided by the
emissaries of Ali, with whom the court of Berat
was packed, and presented himself at Janina to re-
ceive the reward of his crime. Ali thanked him
for his zeal, commended his skill, and referred him
to the treasurer. But the instant the wretch left
the seraglio in order to receive his recompense, he
was seized by the executioners and hurried to the
gallows. In thus punishing the assassin, Ali at one
blow discharged the debt he owed him, disposed of
the single witness to be dreaded, and displayed his
own friendship for the victim! Not content with
this, he endeavoured to again throw suspicion on
the wife of Ibrahim Pacha, whom he accused of
being jealous of the influence which Sepher Pacha
had exercised in the family. This he mentioned
regularly in conversation, writing in the same style
to his agents at Constantinople, and everywhere
where there was any profit in slandering a family
whose ruin he desired for the sake of their pos-
sessions. Before long he made a pretext out of the
scandal started by himself, and prepared to take up
arms in order, he said, to avenge his friend Sepher
Bey, when he was anticipated by Ibrahim Pacha,
who roused against him the allied Christians of
Thesprotia, foremost among whom ranked the Su-

2162

ALI PACHA

liots, famed through Albania for their courage and
their love of independence.

After several battles, in which his enemies had
the advantage, Ali began negotiations with Ibra-
him, and finally concluded a treaty offensive and
defensive. This fresh alliance was, like the first,
to be cemented by a marriage. The virtuous Emi-
neh, seeing her son Veli united to the second daugh-
ter of Ibrahim, trusted that the feud between the
two families was now quenched, and thought her-
self at the summit of happiness. But her joy was
not of long duration ; the death-groan was again to
be heard amidst the songs of the marriage-feast.

The daughter of Cha'initza, by her first husband,
Ali, had married a certain Murad, the Bey of Cle-
isoura. This nobleman, attached to Ibrahim Pacha
by both blood and affection, since the death of
Sepher Bey, had, become the special object of Ali's
hatred, caused by the devotion of Murad to his
patron, over whom he had great influence, and
from whom nothing could detach him. Skilful in
concealing truth under special pretexts, Ali gave
out that the cause of his known dislike to this
young man was that the latter, although his nephew
by marriage, had several times fought in hostile
ranks against him. Therefore the amiable Ibra-
him made use of the marriage treaty to arrange an
honourable reconciliation between Murad Bey and

2163

CELEBRATED CRIMES

his uncle, and appointed the former " Ruler of the
Marriage Feast," in which capacity he was charged
to conduct the bride to Janina and deliver her to
her husband, the young Veli Bey. He accom-
plished his mission satisfactorily, and was received
by Ali with all apparent hospitality. The festival
began on his arrival towards the end of November
1 79 1, and had already continued several days, when
suddenly it was announced that a shot had been
fired upon Ali, who had only escaped by a miracle,
and that the assassin was still at large. This news
spread terror through the city and the palace, and
everyone dreaded being seized as the guilty person.
Spies were everywhere employed, but they declared
search was useless, and that there must be an ex-
tensive conspiracy against Ali's life. The latter
complained of being surrounded by enemies, and
announced that henceforth he would receive only
one person at a time, who should lay down his
arms before entering the hall now set apart for
public audience. It was a chamber built over a
vault, and entered by a sort of trap-door, only
reached by a ladder.

After having for several days received his cour-
iers in this sort of dovecot, Ali summoned his
nephew in order to entrust with him the wedding
gifts. Murad took this as a sign of favour, and
joyfully acknowledged the congratulations of his

2164

ALI PACHA

friends. He presented himself at the time ar-
ranged, the guards at the foot of the ladder de-
manded his arms, which he gave up readily, and
ascended the ladder full of hope. Scarcely had the
trap-door closed behind him when a pistol ball,
fired from a dark corner, broke his shoulder blade,
and he fell, but sprang up and attempted to fly. AH
issued from his hiding place and sprang upon him,
but notwithstanding his wound the young bey de-
fended himself vigorously, uttering terrible cries.
The pacha, eager to finish, and finding his hands
insufficient, caught a burning log from the hearth,
struck his nephew in the face with it, felled him to
the ground, and completed his bloody task. This
accomplished, Ali called for help with loud cries,
and when his guards entered he showed the bruises
he had received and the blood with which he was
covered, declaring that he had killed in self-defence
a villain who endeavoured to assassinate him.
He ordered the body to be searched, and a letter
was found in a pocket which Ali had himself just
placed there, which purported to give the details of
the pretended conspiracy.

As Murad's brother was seriously compromised
by this letter, he also was immediately seized, and
strangled without any pretence of trial. The whole
palace rejoiced, thanks were rendered to Heaven
by one of those sacrifices of animals still occasion-

2165

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ally made in the East to celebrate an escape from
great danger, and Ali released some prisoners in
order to show his gratitude to Providence for hav-
ing protected him from so horrible a crime. He
received congratulatory visits, and composed an
apology attested by a judicial declaration by the
cadi, in which the memory of Murad and his
brother was declared accursed. Finally, commis-
sioners, escorted by a strong body of soldiers, were
sent to seize the property of the two brothers, be-
cause, said the decree, it was just that the injured
should inherit the possessions of his would-be as-
sassins.

Thus was exterminated the only family capable
of opposing the Pacha of Janina, or which could
counterbalance his influence over the weak Ibra-
him of Berat. The latter, abandoned by his brave
defenders, and finding himself at the mercy of his
enemy, was compelled to submit to what he could
not prevent, and protested only by tears against
these crimes, which seemed to herald a terrible fu-
ture for himself.

As for Emineh, it is said that from the date
of this catastrophe she separated herself almost
entirely from her blood-stained husband, and spent
her life in the recesses of the harem, praying as a
Christian both for the murderer and his victims.
It is a relief, in the midst of this atrocious satur-
2166

ALI PACHA

nalia, to encounter this noble and gentle character,
which, like a desert oasis, affords a rest to eyes
wearied with the contemplation of so much wicked-
ness and treachery.

Ali lost in her the guardian angel who alone
could in any way restrain his violent passions.
Grieved at first by the withdrawal of the wife
whom hitherto he had loved exclusively, he en-
deavoured in vain to regain her affection ; and then
sought in new vices compensation for the happi-
ness he had lost, and gave himself up to sensuality.
Ardent in everything, he carried debauchery to a
monstrous extent, and as if his palaces were not
large enough for his desires, he assumed various
disguises ; sometimes in order to traverse the streets
by night in search of the lowest pleasures; some-
times penetrating by day into churches and private
houses seeking for young men and maidens re-
markable for their beauty, who were then carried
off to his harem.

His sons, following in his footsteps, kept also
scandalous households, and seemed to dispute pre-
eminence in evil with their father, each in his own
manner. Drunkenness was the speciality of the
eldest, Mouktar, who was without rival among the
hard drinkers of Albania, and who was reputed to
have emptied a whole wine-skin in one evening
after a plentiful meal. Gifted with the hereditary
2167

CELEBRATED CRIMES

violence of his family, he had, in his drunken fury,
slain several persons, among others his sword-
bearer, the companion of his childhood and con-
fidential friend of his whole life. Veli chose a dif-
ferent course. Realising the Marquis de Sade as
his father had realised Macchiavelli, he delighted
in mingling together debauchery and cruelty, and
his amusement consisted in biting the lips he had
kissed, and tearing with his nails the forms he had
caressed. The people of Janina saw with horror
more than one woman in their midst whose nose
and ears he had caused to be cut off, and had then
turned into the streets.

It was indeed a reign of terror; neither fortune,
life, honour, nor family were safe. Mothers cursed
their fruitfulness, and women their beauty. Fear
soon engenders corruption, and subjects are speed-
ily tainted by the depravity of their masters. Ali,
considering a demoralised race as easier to govern,
looked on with satisfaction.

While he strengthened by every means his au-
thority from within, he missed no opportunity of
extending his rule without. In 1803 he declared
war against the Suliots, whose independence he
had frequently endeavoured either to purchase or
to overthrow. The army sent against them, al-
though ten thousand strong, was at first beaten
everyhere. Ali then, as usual, brought treason to

2168

ALI PACHA

his aid, and regained the advantage. It became
evident that, sooner or later, the unhappy Suliots
must succumb.

Foreseeing the horrors which their defeat would
entail, Emineh, touched with compassion, issued
from her seclusion and cast herself at All's feet.
He raised her, seated her beside him, and inquired
as to her wishes. She spoke of generosity, of mer-
cy; he listened as if touched and wavering, until
she named the Suliots. Then, filled with fury, he
seized a pistol and fired at her. She was not hurt,
but fell to the ground overcome with terror, and
her women hastily intervened and carried her
away. For the first time in his life, perhaps, AH
shuddered before the dread of a murder.

It was his wife, the mother of his children, whom
he saw lying at his feet, and the recollection af-
flicted and tormented him. He rose in the night
and went to Emineh's apartment; he knocked and
called, but being refused admittance, in his anger
he broke open the door. Terrified by the noise,
and at the sight of her infuriated husband, Emineh
fell into violent convulsions, and shortly expired.
Thus perished the daugher of Capelan Pacha, wife
of Ali Tepeleni, and mother of Mouktar and Veli,
who, doomed to live surrounded by evil, yet re-
mained virtuous and good.

Her death caused universal mourning through-
2169

CELEBRATED CRIMES

out Albania, and produced a not less deep impres-
sion on the mind of her murderer. Emineh's spec-
tre pursued him in his pleasures, in the council
chamber, in the hours of night. He saw her, he
heard her, and would awake, exclaiming, "My
wife! my wife! — It is my wife! — Her eyes are
angry; she threatens me! — Save me! Mercy!"
For more than ten years Ali never dared to sleep
alone.

2170

CHAPTER IV

IN December, the Suliots, decimated by battle,
worn by famine, discouraged by treachery,
were obliged to capitulate. The treaty gave them
leave to go where they would, their own mountains
excepted. The unfortunate tribe divided into two
parts, the one going towards Parga, the other
towards Prevesa. Ali gave orders for the destruc-
tion of both, notwithstanding the treaty.

The Parga division was attacked in its march,
and charged by a numerous body of Skipetars. Its
destruction seemed imminent, but instinct suddenly
revealed to the ignorant mountaineers the one ma-
noeuvre which might save them. They formed a
square, placing old men, women, children, and cat-
tle in the midst, and, protected by this military for-
mation, entered Parga in full view of the cut-throats
sent to pursue them.

Less fortunate was the Prevesa division, which,
terrified by a sudden and unexpected attack, fled in
disorder to a Greek convent called Zalongos. But
the gate was soon broken down, and the unhappy
Suliots massacred to the last man.
2171

ELEBRATED CRIMES

The women, whose tents had been pitched on the
summit of a lofty rock, beheld the terrible carnage
which destroyed their defenders. Henceforth their
only prospect was that of becoming the slaves of
those who had just slaughtered their husbands and
brothers. An heroic resolution spared them this
infamy; they joined hands, and chanting their
national songs, moved in a solemn dance round the
rocky platform. As the song ended, they uttered a
prolonged and piercing cry, and cast themselves and
their children down into the profound abyss beneath.

There were still some Suliots left in their coun-
try when Ali Pacha took possession of it. These
were all taken and brought to Janina, and their suf-
ferings were the first adornments of the festival
made for the army. Every soldier's imagination
was racked for the discovery of new tortures, and
the most original among them had the privilege of
themselves carrying out their inventions.

There were some who, having had their noses
and ears cut off, were compelled to eat them raw,
dressed as a salad. One young man was scalped
until the skin fell back upon his shoulders, then
beaten round the court of the seraglio for the
pacha's entertainment, until at length a lance was
run through his body and he was cast on the funeral
pile. Many were boiled alive and their flesh then
thrown to the dogs.

2172

ALI PACHA

From this time the Cross has disappeared from
the Selleid mountains, and the gentle prayer of
Christ no longer wakes the echoes of Suli.

During the course of this war, and shortly after
the death of Emineh, another dismal drama was
enacted in the pacha's family, whose active wicked-
ness nothing seemed to weary. The scandalous
libertinism of both father and sons had corrupted
all around as well as themselves. This demoralisa-
tion brought bitter fruits for all alike: the subjects
endured a terrible tyranny; the masters sowed
among themselves distrust, discord, and hatred.
The father wounded his two sons by turns in their
tenderest affections, and the sons avenged them-
selves by abandoning their father in the hour of
danger.

There was in Janina a woman named Euphro-
syne, a niece of the archbishop, married to one of
the richest Greek merchants, and noted for wit and
beauty. She was already the mother of two chil-
dren, when Mouktar became enamoured of her, and
ordered her to come to his palace. The unhappy
Euphrosyne, at once guessing his object, summoned
a family council to decide what should be done. All
agreed that there was no escape, and that her hus-
band's life was in danger, on account of the jeal-
ousy of his terrible rival. He fled the city that same
night, and his wife surrendered herself to Mouktar,

2173

CELEBRATED CRIMES

who, softened by her charms, soon sincerely loved
her, and overwhelmed her with presents and
favours. Things were in this position when Mouk-
tar was obliged to depart on an important expe-
dition.

Scarcely had he started before his wives com-
plained to Ali that Euphrosyne usurped their rights
and caused their husband to neglect them. Ali,
who complained greatly of his sons' extravagance,
and regretted the money they squandered, at once
struck a blow which was both to enrich himself
and increase the terror of his name.

One night he appeared by torchlight, accom-
panied by his guards, at Euphrosyne's house.
Knowing his cruelty and avarice, she sought to
disarm one by gratifying the other: she collected
her money and jewels and laid them at All's feet
with a look of supplication.

" These things are only my own property, which
you restore," said he, taking possession of the rich
offering. " Can you give back the heart of Mouk-
tar, which you have stolen ? "

Euphrosyne besought him by his paternal feel-
ings, for the sake of his son whose love had been
her misfortune and was now her only crime, to spare
a mother whose conduct had been otherwise irre-
proachable. But her tears and pleadings produced
no effect on Ali, who ordered her to be taken, loaded
2174

ALI PACHA

with fetters and covered with a piece of sackcloth,
to the prison of the seraglio.

If it were certain that there was no hope for the
unhappy Euphrosyne, one trusted that she might
at least be the only victim. But Ali, professing to
follow the advice of some severe reformers who
wished to restore decent morality, arrested at the
same time fifteen ladies belonging to the best Chris-
tian families in Janina. A Wallachian, named
Nicholas Janco, took the opportunity to denounce
his own wife, who was on the point of becoming a
mother, as guilty of adultery, and handed her also
over to the pacha. These unfortunate women were
brought before Ali to undergo a trial of which a
sentence of death was the foregone conclusion.
They were then confined in a dungeon, where they
spent two days of misery. The third night, the exe-
cutioners appeared to conduct them to the lake
where they were to perish. Euphrosyne, too ex-
hausted to endure to the end, expired by the way,
and when she was flung with the rest into the dark
waters, her soul had already escaped from its
earthly tenement. Her body was found the next
day, and was buried in the cemetery of the monas-
tery of Saints-Anargyres, where her tomb, cov-
ered with white iris and sheltered by a wild olive
tree, is yet shown.

Mouktar was returning from his expedition when

2175

CELEBRATED CRIMES

a courier from his brother Veli brought him a let-
ter informing him of these events. He opened it.
" Euphrosyne ! " he cried, and, seizing one of his
pistols, fired it at the messenger, who fell dead at
his feet, — "Euphrosyne, behold thy first victim!"
Springing on his horse, he galloped towards Jan-
ina. His guards followed at a distance, and the
inhabitants of all the villages he passed fled at his
approach. He paid no attention to them, but rode
till his horse fell dead by the lake which had en-
gulfed Euphrosyne, and then, taking a boat, he
went to hide his grief and rage in his own palace.

AH, caring little for passion which evaporated in
tears and cries, sent an order to Mouktar to appear
before him at once. " He will not kill you," he
remarked to his messenger, with a bitter smile.
And, in fact, the man who a moment before was
furiously raging and storming against his father,
as if overwhelmed by this imperious message,
calmed down, and obeyed.

" Come hither, Mouktar," said the pacha, extend-
ing his murderous hand to be kissed as soon as
his son appeared. " I shall take no notice of your
anger, but in future never forget that a man who
braves public opinion as I do fears nothing in the
world. You can go now ; when your troops have
rested from their march, you can come and ask for
orders. Go, remember what I have said."
2176

ALI PACHA

Mouktar retired as submissively as if he had just
received pardon for some serious crime, and found
no better consolation than to spend the night with
Veli in drinking and debauchery. But a day was
to come when the brothers, alike outraged by their
father, would plot and carry out a terrible ven-
geance.

However, the Porte began to take umbrage at the
continual aggrandisement of the Pacha of Janina.
Not daring openly to attack so formidable a vassal,
the sultan sought by underhand means to diminish
his power, and under the pretext that Ali was be-
coming too old for the labour of so many offices,
the government of Thessaly was withdrawn from
him, but, to show that this was not done in enmity,
the province was entrusted to his nephew, Elmas
Bey, son of Suleiman and Cha'initza.

Chainitza, fully as ambitious as her brother, could
not contain her delight at the idea of governing in
the name of her son, who was weak and gentle in
character and accustomed to obey her implicitly.
She asked her brother's permission to go to Trikala
to be present at the installation, and obtained it, to
everybody's astonishment ; for no one could imagine
that Ali would peacefully renounce so important a
government as that of Thessaly. However, he dis-
sembled so skilfully that everyone was deceived by
his apparent resignation, and applauded his mag-
2177

CELEBRATED CRIMES

nanimity, when he provided his sister with a bril-
liant escort to conduct her to the capital of the prov-
ince of which he had just been deprived in favour
of his nephew. He sent letters of congratulation
to the latter as well as magnificent presents, among
them a splendid pelisse of black fox, which had
cost more than a hundred thousand francs of West-
ern money. He requested Elmas Bey to honour
him by wearing this robe on the day when the sul-
tan's envoy should present him with the firman of
investiture, and Cha'initza herself was charged to
deliver both gifts and messages.

Cha'initza arrived safely at Trikala, and faith-
fully delivered the messages with which she had
been entrusted. When the ceremony she so
ardently desired took place, she herself took charge
of all the arrangements. Elmas, wearing the black
fox pelisse, was proclaimed, and acknowledged as
Governor of Thessaly in her presence. " My son is
pacha! " she cried in the delirium of joy. " My son
is pacha ! and my nephews will die of envy ! " But
her triumph was not to be of long duration. A few
days after his installation, Elmas began to feel
strangely languid. Continual lethargy, convulsive
sneezing, feverish eyes, soon betokened a serious
illness. Ali's gift had accomplished its purpose.
The pelisse, carefully impregnated with smallpox
germs taken from a young girl suffering from this
2178

ALI PACHA

malady, had conveyed the dreaded disease to the
new pacha, who, not having been inoculated, died
in a few days.

The grief of Cha'initza at her son's death dis-
played itself in sobs, threats, and curses, but, not
knowing whom to blame for her misfortune, she
hastened to leave the scene of it, and returned to
Janina, to mingle her tears with those of her
brother. She found Ali apparently in such depths
of grief, that instead of suspecting, she was actually
tempted to pity him, and this seeming sympathy
soothed her distress, aided by the caresses of her
second son, Aden Bey. Ali, thoughtful of his own
interests, took care to send one of his own officers
to Trikala, to administer justice in the place of his
deceased nephew, and the Porte, seeing that all
attempts against him only caused misfortune, con-
sented to his resuming the government of Thessaly.

This climax roused the suspicions of many per-
sons. But the public voice, already discussing the
causes of the death of Elmas, was stifled by the
thunder of the cannon, which, from the ramparts
of Janina, announced to Epirus the birth of an-
other son to Ali, Salik Bey, whose mother was a
Georgian slave.

Fortune, seemingly always ready both to crown
Ali's crimes with success and to fulfil his wishes,
had yet in reserve a more precious gift than any of

2179

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the others, that of a good and beautiful wife, who
should replace, and even efface the memory of the
beloved Emineh.

The Porte, while sending to Ali the firman which
restored to him the government of Thessaly, ordered
him to seek out and destroy a society of coiners who
dwelt within his jurisdiction. Ali, delighted to
prove his zeal by a service which cost nothing but
bloodshed, at once set his spies to work, and having
discovered the abode of the gang, set out for the
place attended by a strong escort. It was a village
called Plikivitza.

Having arrived in the evening, he spent the night
in taking measures to prevent escape, and at break
of day attacked the village suddenly with his whole
force. The coiners were seized in the act. Ali
immediately ordered the chief to be hung at his own
door and the whole population to be massacred.
Suddenly a young girl of great beauty made her
way through the tumult and sought refuge at his
feet. Ali, astonished, asked who she was. She
answered with a look of mingled innocence and ter-
ror, kissing his hands, which she bathed with tears,
and said —

" O my lord ! I implore thee to intercede with the

terrible vizier Ali for my mother and brothers.

My father is dead, behold where he hangs at the

door of our cottage! But we have done nothing

2180

Of unrivalled activity, and Mohammedan only in name, he
himself led the chorus in the Pyrrhic and Klephtic dances, the
ceremonials of warriors and of robbers.

—p. 2158
From the painting by J. L. Gerome

ALI PACHA

to rouse the anger of our dreadful master. My
mother is a poor woman who never offended any-
one, and we are only weak children. Save us from
him!"

Touched in spite of himself, the pacha took the
girl in his arms, and answered her with a gentle
smile —

"Thou hast come to the wrong man, child : I am
this terrible vizier."

" Oh no, no! you are good, you will be our good
lord."

" Well, be comforted, my child, and show me thy
mother and thy brothers ; they shall be spared.
Thou hast saved their lives."

And as she knelt at his feet, overcome with joy,
he raised her and asked her name.

" Basilessa," she replied.

" Basilessa, Queen! it is a name of good augury.
Basilessa, thou shalt dwell with me henceforth."

And he collected the members of her family, and
gave orders for them to be sent to Janina in com-
pany with the maiden, who repaid his mercy with
boundless love and devotion.

Let us mention one trait of gratitude shown by
Ali at the end of this expedition, and his record of
good deeds is then closed. Compelled by a storm
to take refuge in a miserable hamlet, he inquired
its name, and on hearing it appeared surprised and

3— Dumas— Vol. 7 - 2I&I

CELEBRATED CRIMES

thoughtful, as if trying to recall lost memories.
Suddenly he asked if a woman named Nouza dwelt
in the village, and was told there was an old infirm
woman of that name in great poverty. He ordered
her to be brought before him. She came and pros-
trated herself in terror. Ali raised her kindly.

" Dost thou not know me? " he asked.

" Have mercy, great Vizier," answered the poor
woman, who, having nothing to lose but her life,
imagined that even that would be taken from her.

" I see," said the pacha, " that if thou knowest
me, thou dost not really recognise me."

The woman looked at him wonderingly, not
understanding his words in the least.

" Dost thou remember," continued Ali, " that
forty years ago a young man asked for shelter from
the foes who pursued him? Without inquiring his
name or standing, thou didst hide him in thy hum-
ble house, and dressed his wounds, and shared thy
scanty food with him, and when he was able to go
forward thou didst stand on thy threshold to wish
him good luck and success. Thy wishes were heard,
for the young man was Ali Tepeleni, and I who
speak am he ! "

The old woman stood overwhelmed with aston-
ishment. She departed calling down blessings on
the pacha, who assured her a pension of fifteen hun-
dred francs for the rest of her days.
2182

ALI PACHA

But these two good actions are only flashes of
light illuminating the dark horizon of Ali's life for
a brief moment. Returned to Janina, he resumed
his tyranny, his intrigues, and cruelty. Not con-
tent with the vast territory which owned his sway,
he again invaded that of his neighbours on every
pretext. Phocis, CEtolia, Acarnania, were by turns
occupied by his troops, the country ravaged, and the
inhabitants decimated. At the same time he com-
pelled Ibrahim Pacha to surrender his last remain-
ing daughter, and give her in marriage to his
nephew, Aden Bey, the son of Cha'initza. This
new alliance with a family he had so often attacked
and despoiled gave him fresh arms against it,
whether by being enabled better to watch the pacha's
sons, or to entice them into some snare with greater
ease.

Whilst he thus married his nephew, he did not
neglect the advancement of his sons. By the aid of
the French Ambassador, whom he had convinced
of his devotion to the Emperor Napoleon, he suc-
ceeded in getting the pachalik of Morea bestowed on
Veli, and that of Lepanto on Mouktar. But as
in placing his sons in these exalted positions his only
aim was to aggrandise and consolidate his own
power, he himself ordered their retinues, giving
them officers of his own choosing. When they de-
parted to their governments, he kept their wives,

2183

CELEBRATED CRIMES

their children, and even their furniture as pledges,
saying that they ought not to be encumbered with
domestic establishments in time of war, Turkey
just then being at open war with England. He also
made use of this opportunity to get rid of people
who displeased him, among others, of a certain
Ismail Pacho Bey, who had been alternately both
tool and enemy, whom he made secretary to his
son Veli, professedly as a pledge of reconciliation
and favour, but really in order to despoil him more
easily of the considerable property which he pos-
sessed at Janina. Pacho was not deceived, and
showed his resentment openly. " The wretch ban-
ishes me," he cried, pointing out Ali, who was sit-
ting at a window in the palace, " he sends me away
in order to rob me; but I will avenge myself what-
ever happens, and I shall die content if I can procure
his destruction at the price of my own."

Continually increasing his power, Ali endeav-
oured to consolidate it permanently. He had en-
tered by degrees into secret negotiations with all
the great powers of Europe, hoping in the end to
make himself independent, and to obtain recogni-
tion as Prince of Greece. A mysterious and unfore-
seen incident betrayed this to the Porte, and fur-
nished actual proofs of his treason in letters
confirmed by Ali's own seal. The Sultan Selim
immediately sent to Janina a " kapidgi-bachi," or
2184

ALT PACHA

plenipotentiary, to examine into the case and try the
delinquent.

Arrived at Janina, this officer placed before Ali
the proofs of his understanding with the enemies of
the State. Ali was not strong- enough to throw off
the mask, and yet could not deny such overwhelm-
ing evidence. He determined to obtain time.

" No wonder," said he, " that I appear guilty in
the eyes of His Highness. This seal is certainly
mine, I cannot deny it; but the writing is not that
of my secretaries, and the seal must have been ob-
tained and used to sign these guilty letters in order
to ruin me. I pray you to grant me a few days in
order to clear up this iniquitous mystery, which
compromises me in the eyes of my master the sultan
and of all good Mahommedans. May Allah grant
me the means of proving my innocence, which is as
pure as the rays of the sun, although everything
seems against me ! "

After this conference, Ali, pretending to be en-
gaged in a secret inquiry, considered how he could
legally escape from this predicament. He spent
some days in making plans which were given up as
soon as formed, until his fertile genius at length
suggested a means of getting clear of one of the
greatest difficulties in which he had ever found
himself. Sending for a Greek whom he had often
employed, he addressed him thus : —
2185

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" Thou knowest I have always shown thee fa-
vour, and the day is arrived when thy fortune shall
be made. Henceforth thou shalt be as my son, thy
children shall be as mine, my house shall be thy
home, and in return for my benefits I require one
small service. This accursed kapidgi-bachi has come
hither bringing certain papers signed with my seal,
intending to use them to my discredit, and thus to
extort money from me. Of money I have already
given too much, and I intend this time to escape
without being plundered except for the sake of a
good servant like thee. Therefore, my son, thou
shalt go before the tribunal when I tell thee, and
declare before this kapidgi-bachi and the cadi that
thou hast written these letters attributed to me, and
that thou didst seal them with my seal, in order to
give them due weight and importance."

The unhappy Greek grew pale and strove to
answer.

" What f earest thou, my son ? " resumed Ali.
" Speak, am I not thy good master ? Thou wilt be
sure of my lasting favour, and who is there to
dread when I protect thee ? Is it the kapidgi-bachi ?
he has no authority here. I have thrown twenty
as good as he into the lake! If more is required to
reassure thee, I swear by the Prophet, by my own
and my sons' heads, that no harm shall come to
thee from him. Be ready, then, to do as I tell thee,
2186

ALI PACHA

and beware of mentioning this matter to anyone, in
order that all may be accomplished according to our
mutual wishes."

More terrified by dread of the pacha, from whose
wrath in case of refusal there was no chance of
escape, than tempted by his promises, the Greek
undertook the false swearing required. Ali, de-
lighted, dismissed him with a thousand assurances
of protection, and then requested the presence of
the sultan's envoy, to whom he said, with much
emotion —

" I have at length unravelled the infernal plot laid
against me ; it is the work of a man in the pay of the
implacable enemies of the Sublime Porte, and who
is a Russian agent. He is in my power, and I have
given him hopes of pardon on condition of full
confession. Will you then summon the cadi, the
judges and ecclesiastics of the town, in order
that they may hear the guilty man's deposition,
and that the light of truth may purify their
minds? "

The tribunal was soon assembled, and the trem-
bling Greek appeared in the midst of a solemn
silence. " Knowest thou this writing?" demanded
the cadi— "It is mine."— " And this seal?"— "It
is that of my master, Ali Pacha." — " How does it
come to be placed at the foot of these letters? " — " I
did this by order of my chief, abusing the confidence
2187

CELEBRATED CRIMES

of my master, who occasionally allowed me to use
it to sign his orders." — "It is enough: thou canst
withdraw."

Uneasy as to the success of his intrigue, Ali was
approaching the Hall of Justice. As he entered the
court, the Greek, who had just finished his exam-
ination, threw himself at his feet, assuring him that
all had gone well. " It is good," said Ali ; " thou
shalt have thy reward." Turning round, he made
a sign to his guards, who had their orders, and who
instantly seized the unhappy Greek, and. drowning
his voice with their shouts, hung him in the court-
yard. This execution finished, the pacha presented
himself before the judges and inquired the result of
their investigation. He was answered by a burst
of congratulation. " Well," said he, " the guilty
author of this plot aimed at me is no more; I or-
dered him to be hung without waiting to hear your
decision. May all enemies of our glorious sultan
perish even as he! "

A report of what had occurred was immediately
drawn up, and, to assist matters still further, Ali
sent the kapidgi-bachi a gift of fifty purses, which
he accepted without difficulty, and also secured
the favour of the Divan by considerable presents.
The sultan, yielding to the advice of his coun-
cillors, appeared to have again received him into
favour.

2188

ALI PACHA

But AH knew well that this appearance of sun-
shine was entirely deceptive, and that Selim only
professed to believe in his innocence until the day
should arrive when the sultan could safely punish
his treason. He sought therefore to compass the
latter's downfall, and made common cause with his
enemies, both internal and external. A conspiracy,
hatched between the discontented pachas and the
English agents, shortly broke out, and one day,
when Ali was presiding at the artillery practice of
some French gunners sent to Albania by the Gov-
ernor of Ulyria, a Tartar brought him news of the
deposition of Selim, who was succeeded by his
nephew Mustapha. Ali sprang up in delight, and
publicly thanked Allah for this great good fortune.
He really did profit by this change of rulers, but he
profited yet more by a second revolution which
caused the deaths both of Selim, whom the pro-
moters wished to re-establish on the throne, and of
Mustapha whose downfall they intended. Mah-
moud ii, who was next invested with the scimitar of
Othman, came to the throne in troublous times,
after much bloodshed, in the midst of great political
upheavals, and had neither the will nor the power to
attack one of his most powerful vassals. He re-
ceived with evident satisfaction the million piastres
which, at his installation, Ali hastened to send as a
proof of his devotion, assured the pacha of his
2189

CELEBRATED CRIMES

favour, and confirmed both him and his sons in their
offices and dignities. This fortunate change in his
position brought Ali's pride and audacity to a cli-
max. Free from pressing- anxiety, he determined
to carry out a project which had been the dream
of his life.

2190

CHAPTER V

AFTER taking possession of Argyro-Castron,
JT\. which he had long coveted, AH led his vic-
torious army against the town of Kardiki, whose
inhabitants had formerly joined with those of Kor-
movo in the outrage inflicted on his mother and
sister. The besieged, knowing they had no mercy
to hope for, defended themselves bravely, but were
obliged to yield to famine. After a month's block-
ade, the common people, having no food for them-
selves or their cattle, began to cry for mercy in the
open streets, and their chiefs, intimidate^ by the
general misery and unable to stand alone, consented
to capitulate. Ali, whose intentions as to the fate
of this unhappy town were irrevocably decided,
agreed to all that they asked. A treaty was signed
by both parties, and solemnly sworn to on the
Koran, in virtue of which seventy-two beys, heads
of the principal Albanian families, were to go to
Janina as free men, and fully armed. They were
to be received with the honours due to their rank
as free tenants of the sultan, their lives and their
families were to be spared, and also their posses-
2191

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sions. The oilier inhabitants of Kardiki. being Mo-
hammedans, and therefore brothers of Ali, were to
be treated as friends and retain their lives and prop-
erty. On these conditions a quarter of the town
was to be occupied by the victorious troops.

One of the principal chiefs, Saleh Bey, and his
wife, foreseeing the fate which awaited their
friends, committed suicide at the moment when, in
pursuance of the treaty, Ali's soldiers took pos-
session of the quarter assigned to them.

Ali received the seventy-two beys with all marks
of friendship when they arrived at Janina. He
lodged them in a palace on the lake, and treated
them magnificently for some days. But soon, hav-
ing contrived on some pretext to disarm them, he
had them conveyed, loaded with chains, to a Greek
convent on an island in the lake, which was con-
verted into a prison. The day of vengeance not
having fully arrived, he explained this breach of
faith by declaring that the hostages had attempted
to escape.

The popular credulity was satisfied by this ex-
planation, and no one doubted the good faith of
the pacha when he announced that he was going to
Kardiki to establish a police and fulfil the promises
he had made to the inhabitants. Even the number
of soldiers he took excited no surprise, as Ali was
accustomed to travel with a very numerous suite.
2192

ALI PACHA

After three days' journey, he stopped at Libok
hovo, where his sister had resided since the death
of Aden Bey, her second son, cut off recently by
sickness. What passed in the long interview they
had no one knew, but it was observed that Cha-
initza's tears, which till then had flowed incessant-
ly, stopped as if by magic, and her women, who
were wearing mourning, received an order to at-
tire themselves as for a festival. Feasting and
dancing, begun in Ali's honour, did not cease after
his departure.

He spent the night at Chenderia, a castle built
on a rock, whence the town of Kardiki was plainly
visible. Next day at daybreak Ali despatched an
usher to summon all the male inhabitants of Kar-
diki to appear before Chenderia, in order to receive
assurances of the pacha's pardon and friendship.

The Kardikiotes at once divined that this injunc-
tion was the precursor of a terrible vengeance: the
whole town echoed with cries and groans, the
mosques were filled with people praying for de-
liverance. The appointed time arrived, they em-
braced each other as if parting for ever, and then
the men, unarmed, in number six hundred and
seventy, started for Chenderia. At the gate of the
town they encountered a troop of Albanians, who
followed as if to escort them, and which increased
in number as they proceeded. Soon they arrived
2193

CELEBRATED CRIMES

in the dread presence of AH Pacha. Grouped in
formidable masses around him stood several thou-
sand of his fierce soldiery.

The unhappy Kardikiotes realised their utter
helplessness, and saw that they, their wives and
children, were completely at the mercy of their
implacable enemy. They fell prostrate before the
pacha, and with all the fervour which the utmost
terror could inspire, implored him to grant them
a generous pardon.

Ali for some time silently enjoyed the pleasure
of seeing his ancient enemies lying before him
prostrate in the dust. He then desired them to
rise, reassured them, called them brothers, sons,
friends of his heart. Distinguishing some of his
old acquaintances, he called them to him, spoke
familiarly of the days of their youth, of their
games, their early friendships, and pointing to the
young men, said, with tears in his eyes —

" The discord which has divided us for so many
years has allowed children not born at the time of
our dissension to grow into men. I have lost the
pleasure of watching the development of the off-
spring of my neighbours and the early friends of
my youth, and of bestowing benefits on them, but
I hope shortly to repair the natural results of our
melancholy divisions."

He then made them splendid promises, and or-
2194

ALI PACHA

dered them to assemble in a neighbouring cara-
vanserai, where he wished to give them a banquet
in proof of reconciliation. Passing from the
depths of despair to transports of joy, the Kardi-
kiotes repaired gaily to the caravanserai, heaping
blessings on the pacha, and blaming each other for
having ever doubted his good faith.

Ali was carried down from Chenderia in a litter,
attended by his courtiers, who celebrated his clem-
ency in pompous speeches, to which he replied with
gracious smiles. At the foot of the steep descent
he mounted his horse, and, followed by his troops,
rode towards the caravanserai. Alone, and in si-
lence, he rode twice round it, then, returning to the
gate, which had just been closed by his order, he
pulled up his horse, and, signing to his own body-
guard to attack the building, " Slay them !" he
cried in a voice of thunder.

The guards remained motionless in surprise and
horror, then as the pacha, with a roar, repeated his
order, they indignantly flung down their arms. In
vain he harangued, flattered, or threatened them;
some preserved a sullen silence, others ventured to
demand mercy. Then he ordered them away, and,
calling on the Christian Mirdites who served under
his banner —

" To you, brave Latins," he cried, " I will now
entrust the duty of exterminating the foes of my

2195

CELEBRATED CRIMES

race. Avenge me, and I will reward you magni-
ficently."

A confused murmur rose from the ranks. Ali
imagined they were consulting as to what recom-
pense should be required as the price of such a
deed.

" Speak," said he; " I am ready to listen to your
demands and to satisfy them."

Then the Mirdite leader came forward and threw
back the hood of his black cloak.

"O Pacha!" said he, looking Ali boldly in the
face, " thy words are an insult ; the Mirdites do not
slaughter unarmed prisoners in cold blood. Re-
lease the Kardikiotes, give them arms, and we will
fight them to the death ; but we serve thee as sol-
diers and not as executioners."

At these words, which the black-cloaked bat-
talion received with applause, Ali thought himself
betrayed, and looked around with doubt and mis-
trust. Fear was nearly taking the place of mercy,
words of pardon were on his lips, when a certain
Athanasius Vaya, a Greek schismatic, and a fa-
vourite of the pacha's, whose illegitimate son he
was supposed to be, advanced at the head of the
scum of the army, and offered to carry out the
death sentence. Ali applauded his zeal, gave him
full authority to act, and spurred his horse to the
top of a neighbouring hill, the better to enjoy the
2196

ALI PACHA

spectacle. The Christian Mirdites and the Moham-
medan guards knelt together to pray for the miser-
able Kardikiotes, whose last hour had come.

The caravanserai where they were shut in was
a square enclosure, open to the sky, and intended
to shelter herds of buffaloes. The prisoners having
heard nothing of what passed outside, were aston-
ished to behold Athanasius Vaya and his troop ap-
pearing on the top of the wall. They did not long
remain in doubt. AH gave the signal by a pistol-
shot, and a general fusillade followed. Terrible
cries echoed from the court; the prisoners, terri-
fied, wounded, crowded one upon another for shel-
ter. Some ran frantically hither and thither in this
enclosure with no shelter and no exit, until they
fell, struck down by bullets. Some tried to climb
the walls, in hope of either escape or vengeance,
only to be flung back by either scimitars or muskets.
It was a terrible scene of despair and death.

After an hour of firing, a gloomy silence de-
scended on the place, now occupied solely by a heap
of corpses. Ali forbade any burial rites on pain of
death, and placed over the gate an inscription in
letters of gold, informing posterity that six hun-
dred Kardikiotes had there been sacrificed to the
memory of his mother Kamco.

When the shrieks of death ceased in the enclo-
sure, they began to be heard in the town. The as-
2197

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sassins spread themselves through it, and having
violated the women and children, gathered them in-
to a crowd to be driven to Libokovo. At every halt
in this frightful journey fresh marauders fell on
the wretched victims, claiming their share in cruel-
ty and debauchery. At length they arrived at their
destination, where the triumphant and implacable
Cha'initza awaited them. As after the taking of
Kormovo, she compelled the women to cut off their
hair and to stuff with it a mattress on which she lay.
She then stripped them, and joyfully narrated to
them the massacre of their husbands, fathers, broth-
ers and sons, and when she had sufficiently enjoyed
their misery they were again handed over to the
insults of the soldiery. Cha'initza finally published
an edict forbidding either clothes, shelter, or food
to be given to the women and children of Kardiki,
who were then driven forth into the woods either
to die of hunger or to be devoured by wild beasts.
As to the seventy-two hostages, Ali put them all to
death when he returned to Janina. His vengeance
was indeed complete.

But as, filled with a horrible satisfaction, the
pacha was enjoying the repose of a satiated tiger,
an indignant and threatening voice reached him even
in the recesses of his palace. The Sheik Yussuf,
governor of the castle of Janina, venerated as a
saint by the Mohammedans on account of his piety,
2198

ALI PACHA

and universally beloved and respected for his many
virtues, entered Ali's sumptuous dwelling for the
first time. The guards on beholding him remained
stupefied and motionless, then the most devout pros-
trated themselves, while others went to inform the
pacha ; but no one dared hinder the venerable man,
who walked calmly and solemnly through the
astonished attendants. For him there existed no
antechamber, no delay; disdaining the ordinary
forms of etiquette, he paced slowly through the
various apartments, until; with no usher to announce
him, he reached that of Ali. The latter, whose
impiety by no means saved him from superstitious
terrors, rose hastily from the divan and advanced
to meet the holy sheik, who was followed by a crowd
of silent courtiers. Ali addressed him with the
utmost respect, and endeavoured even to kiss his
right hand. Yussuf hastily withdrew it, covered it
with his mantle, and signed to the pacha to seat
himself. Ali mechanically obeyed, and waited in
solemn silence to hear the reason of this unexpected
visit.

Yussuf desired him to listen with all attention,
and then reproached him for his injustice and
rapine, his treachery and cruelty, with such vivid
eloquence that his hearers dissolved in tears. Ali,
though much dejected, alone preserved his equanim-
ity, until at length the sheik accused him of having

2199

CELEBRATED CRIMES

caused the death of Emineh. He then grew pale,
and rising, cried with terror —

" Alas ! my father, whose name do you now pro-
nounce? Pray for me, or at least do not sink me to
Gehenna with your curses! "

" There is no need to curse thee," answered
Yussuf. " Thine own crimes bear witness against
thee. Allah has heard their cry. He will summon
thee, judge thee, and punish thee eternally. Trem-
ble, for the time is at hand! Thine hour is coming
— is coming — is coming! "

Casting a terrible glance at the pacha, the holy
man turned his back on him, and stalked out of the
apartment without another word.

Ali, in terror, demanded a thousand pieces of
gold, put them in a white satin purse, and himself
hastened with them to overtake the sheik, imploring
him to recall his threats. But Yussuf deigned no
answer, and arrived at the threshold of the palace,
shook off the dust of his feet against it.

Ali returned to his apartment sad and downcast,
and many days elapsed before he could shake
off the depression caused by this scene. But soon
he felt more ashamed of his inaction than of the
reproaches which had caused it, and on the first
opportunity resumed his usual mode of life.

The occasion was the marriage of Mousta'i, Pacha
of Scodra, with the eldest daughter of Veli Pacha,
2200

ALI PACHA

called the Princess of Aulis, because she had for
dowry whole villages in that district. Immediately
after the announcement of this marriage Ali set on
foot a sort of saturnalia, about the details of which
there seemed to be as much mystery as if he had
been preparing an assassination.

All at once, as if by a sudden inundation, the very
scum of the earth appeared to spread over Janina.
The populace, as if trying to drown their misery,
plunged into a drunkenness which simulated
pleasure. Disorderly bands of mountebanks from
the depths of Roumelia traversed the streets, the
bazaars and public places; flocks and herds, with
fleeces dyed scarlet, and gilded horns, were seen on
all the roads driven to the court by peasants under
the guidance of their priests. Bishops, abbots,
ecclesiastics generally, were compelled to drink, and
to take part in ridiculous and indecent dances, Ali
apparently thinking to raise himself by degrading
his more respectable subjects. Day and night these
spectacles succeeded each other with increasing
rapidity, the air resounded with firing, songs, cries,
music, and the roaring of wild beasts in shows.
Enormous spits, loaded with meat, smoked before
huge braziers, and wine ran in floods at tables pre-
pared in the palace courts. Troops of brutal
soldiers drove workmen from their labour with
whips, and compelled them to join in the entertain-

2201

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ments; dirty and impudent jugglers invaded private
houses, and pretending that they had orders from
the pacha to display their skill, carried boldly off
whatever they could lay their hands upon. Ali saw
the general demoralization with pleasure, especially
as it tended to the gratification of his avarice.
Every guest was expected to bring to the palace
gate a gift in proportion to his means, and four
officers watched to see that no one forgot this obli-
gation. At length, on the nineteenth day, Ali
resolved to crown the feast by an orgy worthy of
himself. He caused the galleries and halls of his
castle by the lake to be decorated with unheard-of
splendour, and fifteen hundred guests assembled for
a solemn banquet. The pacha appeared in all his
glory, surrounded by his noble attendants and cour-
tiers, and seating himself on a dais raised above
this base crowd which trembled at his glance, gave
the signal to begin. At his voice, vice plunged into
its most shameless diversions, and the wine-steeped
wings of debauchery outspread themselves over the
feast. All tongues were at their freest, all imagina-
tions ran wild, all evil passions were at their height,
when suddenly the noise ceased, and the guests
clung together in terror. A man stood at the
entrance of the hall, pale, disordered, and wild-eyed,
clothed in torn and blood-stained garments. As
sveryone made way at his approach, he easily

2202

ALI PACHA

reached the pacha, and prostrating himself at his
feet, presented a letter. Ali opened and rapidly-
perused it; his lips trembled, his eyebrows met in a
terrible frown, the muscles of his forehead con-
tracted alarmingly. He vainly endeavoured to smile
and to look as if nothing had happened, his agita-
tion betrayed him, and he was obliged to retire,
after desiring a herald to announce that he wished
the banquet to continue.

Now for the subject of the message, and the cause
of the dismay it produced.

2203

CHAPTER VI

A LI had long cherished a violent passion for
Zobeide, the wife of his son Veli Pacha.
Having vainly attempted to gratify it after his son's
departure, and being indignantly repulsed, he had
recourse to drugs, and the unhappy Zobeide
remained in ignorance of her misfortune until she
•found she was pregnant. Then, half-avowals from
her women, compelled to obey the pacha from fear
of death, mixed with confused memories of her
own, revealed the whole terrible truth. Not know-
ing in her despair which way to turn, she wrote to
Ali, entreating him to visit the harem. As head
of the family, he had a right to enter, being sup-
posed responsible for the conduct of his sons' fam-
ilies, no law-giver having hitherto contemplated the
possibility of so disgraceful a crime. When he
appeared, Zobeide flung herself at his feet, speech-
less with grief. Ali acknowledged his guilt, pleaded
the violence of his passion, wept with his victim,
and entreating her to control herself and keep
silence, promised that all should be made right.
Neither the prayers nor tears of Zobeide could
2204

ALI PACHA

induce him to give up the intention of effacing the
traces of his first crime by a second even more
horrible.

But the story was already whispered abroad, and
Pacho Bey learnt all its details from the spies he
kept in Janina. Delighted at the prospect of aveng-
ing himself on the father, he hastened with his
news to the son. Veli Pacha, furious, vowed ven-
geance, and demanded Pacho Bey's help, which was
readily promised. But Ali had been warned, and
was not a man to be taken unawares. Pacho Bey,
whom Veli had just promoted to the office of sword-
bearer, was attacked in broad daylight by six emis-
saries sent from Janina. He obtained timely help,
however, and five of the assassins, taken red-
handed, were at once hung without ceremony in
the market-place. The sixth was the messenger
whose arrival with the news had caused such dis-
may at Ali's banquet.

As Ali reflected how the storm he had raised
could best be laid, he was informed that the ruler
of the marriage feast sent by Moustai, Pacha of
Scodra, to receive the young bride who should reign
in his harem, had just arrived in the plain of Janina.
He was Yussuf Bey of the Delres, an old enemy
of Ali's, and had encamped with his escort of eight
hundred warriors at the foot of Tomoros of Do-
dona. Dreading some treachery, he absolutely
2205

CELEBRATED CRIMES

refused all entreaties to enter the town, and AH
seeing that it was useless to insist, and that his
adversary for the present was safe, at once sent
his granddaughter, the Princess of Aulis, out to
him.

This matter disposed of, Ali was able to attend
to his hideous family tragedy. He began by effect-
ing the disappearance of the women whom he had
been compelled to make his accomplices; they were
simply sewn up in sacks by gipsies and thrown into
the lake. This done, he himself led the execution-
ers into a subterranean part of the castle, where
they were beheaded by black mutes as a reward for
their obedience. He then sent a doctor to Zobeide,
who succeeded in causing a miscarriage, and who,
his work done, was seized and strangled by the black
mutes who had just beheaded the gipsies. Having
thus got rid of all who could bear witness to his
crime, he wrote to Veli that he might now send for
his wife and two of his children, hitherto detained
as hostages, and that the innocence of Zobeide would
confound a calumniator who had dared to assail
him with such injurious suspicions.

When this letter arrived, Pacho Bey, distrusting
equally the treachery of the father and the weakness
of the son, and content with having sown the seeds
of dissension in his enemy's family, had sufficient
wisdom to seek safety in flight. Ali, furious,
2206

ALI PACHA

vowed, on hearing this, that his vengeance should
overtake him even at the ends of the earth. Mean-
while he fell back on Yussuf Bey of the Debres,
whose escape when lately at Janina still rankled in
his mind. As Yussuf was dangerous both from
character and influence, AH feared to attack him
openly, and sought to assassinate him. This was
not precisely easy; for, exposed to a thousand
dangers of this kind, the nobles of that day
were on their guard. Steel and poison were
used up, and another way had to be sought. AH
found it.

One of the many adventurers with whom Janina
was filled penetrated to the pacha's presence, and
offered to sell the secret of a powder whereof three
grains would suffice to kill a man with a terrible
explosion — explosive powder, in short. AH heard
with delight, but replied that he must see it in action
before purchasing.

In the dungeons of the castle by the lake, a poor
monk of the order of St. Basil was slowly dying,
for having boldly refused a sacrilegious simony
proposed to him by AH. He was a fit subject for the
experiment, and was successfully blown to pieces,
to the great satisfaction of AH, who concluded his
bargain, and hastened to make use of it. He pre-
pared a false firman, which, according to custom,
was enclosed and sealed in a cylindrical case, and
2207

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sent to Yussuf Bey by a Greek, wholly ignorant of
the real object of his mission. Opening it without
suspicion, Yussuf had his arm blown off, and died
in consequence, but found time to despatch a mes-
sage to Moustai Pacha of Scodra, informing him
of the catastrophe, and warning him to keep good
guard.

Yussuf 's letter was received by Moustai just as a
similar infernal machine was placed in his hands
under cover to his young wife. The packet was
seized, and a careful examination disclosed its
nature. The mother of Moustai, a jealous and
cruel woman, accused her daughter-in-law of com-
plicity, and the unfortunate Ayesha, though shortly
to become a mother, expired in agony from the
effects of poison, only guilty of being the innocent
instrument of her grandfather's treachery.

Fortune having frustrated Ali's schemes concern-
ing Moustai Pacha, offered him as consolation a
chance of invading the territory of Parga, the only
place in Epirus which had hitherto escaped his rule,
and which he greedily coveted. Agia, a small
Christian town on the coast, had rebelled against
him and allied itself to Parga. It provided an ex-
cuse for hostilities, and Ali's troops, under his son
Mouktar, first seized Agia, where they only found
a few old men to massacre, and then marched on
Parga, where the rebels had taken refuge. After a
2208

ALI PACHA

few skirmishes, Mouktar entered the town, and
though the Parganiotes fought bravely, they must
inevitably have surrendered had they been left to
themselves. But they had sought protection from
the French, who had garrisoned the citadel, and the
French grenadiers descending rapidly from the
height, charged the Turks with so much fury that
they fled in all directions, leaving on the field four
" bimbashis," or captains of a thousand, and a con-
siderable number of killed and wounded.

The pacha's fleet succeeded no better than his
army. Issuing from the Gulf of Ambracia, it was
intended to attack Parga from the sea, joining in
the massacre, and cutting off all hope of escape from
that side, Ali meaning to spare neither the garrison
nor any male inhabitants over twelve years of age.
But a few shots fired from a small fort dispersed
the ships, and a barque manned by sailors from
Paxos pursued them, a shot from which killed Ali's
admiral on his quarter-deck. He was a Greek of
Galaxidi, Athanasius Macrys by name.

Filled with anxiety, Ali awaited news at Pre-
vesa, where a courier, sent off at the beginning of
the action, had brought him oranges gathered in
the orchards of Parga. Ali gave him a purse of
gold, and publicly proclaimed his success. His joy
was redoubled when a second messenger presented
two heads of French soldiers, and announced that
2209

CELEBRATED CRIMES

his troops were in possession of the lower part of
Parga. Without further delay he ordered his at-
tendants to mount, entered his carriage, and started
triumphantly on the Roman road to Nicopolis. He
sent messengers to his generals, ordering them to
spare the women and children of Parga, intended
for his harem, and above all to take strict charge of
the plunder. He was approaching the arena of
Nicopolis when a third Tartar messenger informed
him of the defeat of his army. Ali changed coun-
tenance, and could scarcely articulate the order to
return to Prevesa. Once in his palace, he gave way
to such fury that all around him trembled, demand-
ing frequently if it could be true that his troops
were beaten. " May your misfortune be upon us ! "
his attendants answered, prostrating themselves.
All at once, looking out on the calm blue sea which
lay before his windows, he perceived his fleet doub-
ling Cape Pancrator and re-entering the Ambracian
Gulf under full sail; it anchored close by the pal-
ace, and on hailing the leading ship a speaking-
trumpet announced to Ali the death of his admiral,
Athanasius Macrys.

" But Parga, Parga ! " cried Ali.

"May Allah grant the pacha long life! The
Parganiotes have escaped the sword of His High-
ness."

" It is the will of Allah! " murmured the pacha,

22IO

ALI PACHA

whose head sank upon his breast in dejection.
Arms having failed, Ali, as usual, took refuge
in plots and treachery, but this time, instead of cur-
rupting his enemies with gold, he sought to weaken
them by division.

22 1 1

CHAPTER VII

THE French commander Nicole, surnamed the
" Pilgrim," on account of a journey he had
once made to Mecca, had spent six months at Janina
with a brigade of artillery which General Marmont,
then commanding in the Illyrian provinces, had for
a time placed at Ali's disposal. The old officer had
acquired the esteem and friendship of the pacha,
whose leisure he had often amused by stories of his
campaigns and various adventures, and although it
was now long since they had met, he still had the
reputation of being Ali's friend. Ali prepared his
plans accordingly. He wrote a letter to Colonel
Nicole, apparently in continuation of a regular cor-
respondence between them, in which he thanked the
colonel for his continued affection, and besought
him by various powerful motives to surrender
Parga, of which he promised him the governorship
during the rest of his life. He took good care to
complete his treason by allowing the letter to fall
into the hands of the chief ecclesiastics of Parga,
who fell head-foremost into the trap. Seeing that
the tone of the letter was in perfect accordance with
2212

ALI PACHA

the former friendly relations between their French
governor and the pacha, they were convinced of
the former's treachery. But the result was not as
Ali had hoped: the Parganiotes resumed their for-
mer negotiations with the English, preferring to
place their freedom in the hands of a Christian
nation rather than to fall under the rule of a
Mohammedan satrap. The English immediately
sent a messenger to Colonel Nicole, offering hon-
ourable conditions of capitulation. The colonel
returned a decided refusal, and threatened to blow
up the place if the inhabitants, whose intentions he
guessed, made the slightest hostile movement.
However, a few days later, the citadel was taken
at night, owing to the treachery of a woman who
admitted an English detachment; and the next day,
to the general astonishment, the British standard
floated over the Acropolis of Parga.

All Greece was then profoundly stirred by a faint
gleam of the dawn of liberty, and shaken by a sup-
pressed agitation. The Bourbons again reigned in
France, and the Greeks built a thousand hopes on
an event which changed the basis of the whole Euro-
pean policy. Above all, they reckoned on powerful
assistance from Russia. But England had already
begun to dread anything which could increase either
the possessions or the influence of this formidable
power. Above all, she was determined that the

4— Dumas— Vol. 7 22I3

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Ottoman Empire should remain intact, and that the
Greek navy, beginning to be formidable, must be
destroyed. With these objects in view, negotia-
tions with Ali Pacha were resumed. The latter was
still smarting under his recent disappointment, and
to all overtures answered only, " Parga ! I must
have Parga." And the English were compelled to
yield it!

Trusting to the word of General Campbell, who
had formally promised, on its surrender, that Parga
should be classed along with the seven Ionian Isles,
its grateful inhabitants were enjoying a delicious
rest after the storm, when a letter from the Lord
High Commissioner, addressed to Lieutenant-
Colonel de Bosset, undeceived them, and gave warn-
ing of the evils which were to burst on the unhappy
town.

On the 25th of March, 181 7, notwithstanding the
solemn promise made to the Parganiotes, when they
admitted the British troops, that they should always
be on the same footing as the Ionian Isles, a treaty
was signed at Constantinople by the British Pleni-
potentiary, which stipulated the complete and abso-
lute cession of Parga and all its territory to the
Ottoman Empire. Soon there arrived at Janina
Sir John Cartwright, the English Consul at Patras,
to arrange for the sale of the lands of the Par-
ganiotes and discuss the conditions of their emi-

2214

ALI PACHA

gration. Never before had any such compact dis-
graced European diplomacy, accustomed hitherto to
regard Turkish encroachments as simple sacrilege.
But Ali Pacha fascinated the English agents, over-
whelming them with favours, honours, and feasts,
carefully watching them all the while. Their cor-
respondence was intercepted, and he endeavoured
by means of his agents to rouse the Parganiotes
against them. The latter lamented bitterly, and
appealed to Christian Europe, which remained deaf
to their cries. In the name of their ancestors, they
demanded the rights which had been guaranteed
them. " They will buy our lands," they said ; " have
we asked to sell them? And even if we received
their value, can gold give us a country and the
tombs of our ancestors ? "

Ali Pacha invited the Lord High Commissioner
of Great Britain, Sir Thomas Maitland, to a con-
ference at Prevesa, and complained of the exorbi-
tant price of £500,000, at which the commissioners
had estimated Parga and its territory, including
private property and church furniture. It had been
hoped that Ali's avarice would hesitate at this high
price, but he was not so easily discouraged. He
gave a banquet for the Lord High Commissioner,
which degenerated into a shameless orgy. In the
midst of this drunken hilarity the Turk and the
Englishman disposed of the territory of Parga,

2215

CELEBRATED CRIMES

agreeing that a fresh estimate should be made on the
spot by experts chosen by both English and Turks.
The result of this valuation was that the indemnity
granted to the Christians was reduced by the En-
glish to the sum of £276,075 sterling, instead of the
original £500,000. And as Ali's agents only arrived
at the sum of £56,750, a final conference was held at
Buthrotum between Ali and the Lord High Com-
missioner. The latter then informed the Pargani-
otes that the indemnity allowed them was irre-
vocably fixed at £150,000! The transaction is a
disgrace to the egotistical and venal nation which
thus allowed the life and liberty of a people to be
trifled with, a lasting blot on the honour of Eng-
land!

The Parganiotes at first could believe neither in
the infamy of their protectors nor in their own
misfortune; but both were soon confirmed by a
proclamation of the Lord High Commissioner, in-
forming them that the pacha's army was marching
to take possession of the territory which, by May
10th, must be abandoned for ever.

The fields were then in full bearing. In the
midst of plains ripening for a rich harvest were
81,000 square feet of olive trees, alone estimated
at two hundred thousand guineas. The sun shone
in cloudless azure, the air was balmy with the scent
of orange trees, of pomegranates and citrons. But

2216

ALI PACHA

the lovely country might have been inhabited by
phantoms; only hands raised to heaven and brows
bent to the dust met one's eye. Even the very dust
belonged no more to the wretched inhabitants ; they
were forbidden to take a fruit or a flower, the priests
might not remove either relics or sacred images.
Church ornaments, torches, tapers, pyxes, had by
this treaty ail become Mahommedan property. The
English had sold everything, even to the Host!
Two days more, and all must be left. Each was
silently marking the door of the dwelling destined
so soon to shelter an enemy, with a red cross, when
suddenly a terrible cry echoed from street to street,
for the Turks had been perceived on the heights-
overlooking the town. Terrified and despairing,
the whole population hastened to fall prostrate be-
fore the Virgin of Parga, the ancient guardian of
their citadel. A mysterious voice, proceeding from
the sanctuary, reminded them that the English had,
in their iniquitous treaty, forgotten to include the
ashes of those whom a happier fate had spared the
sight of the ruin of Parga. Instantly they rushed
to the graveyards, tore open the tombs, and col-
lected the bones and putrefying corpses. The beau-
tiful olive trees were felled, an enormous funeral
pyre arose, and in the general excitement the orders
of the English chief were defied. With naked dag-
gers in their hands, standing in the crimson light of

2217

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the flames which were consuming the bones of their
ancestors, the people of Parga vowed to slay their
wives and children, and to kill themselves to the last
man, if the infidels dared to set foot in the town
before the appointed hour. Xenocles, the last of the
Greek poets, inspired by this sublime manifestation
of despair, even as Jeremiah by the fall of Jeru-
salem, improvised a hymn which expresses all the
grief of the exiles, and which the exiles interrupted
by their tears and sobs.

A messenger, crossing the sea in all haste, in-
formed the Lord High Commissioner of the terrible
threat of the Parganiotes. He started at once,
accompanied by General Sir Frederic Adams, and
landed at Parga by the light of the funeral pyre.
He was received with ill-concealed indignation, and
with assurances that the sacrifice would be at once
consummated unless Ali's troops were held back.
The general endeavoured to console and to reassure
the unhappy people, and then proceeded to the out-
posts, traversing silent streets in which armed men
stood at each door only waiting a signal before
slaying their families, and then turning their weap-
ons against the English and themselves. He
implored them to have patience, and they answered
by pointing to the approaching Turkish army and
bidding him hasten. He arrived at last and com-
menced negotiations, and the Turkish officers, no

2218

ALI PACHA

less uneasy than the English garrison, promised
to wait till the appointed hour. The next day passed
in mournful silence, quiet as death. At sunset on
the following day, May 9, 18 19, the English stand-
ard on the castle of Parga was hauled down, and
after a night spent in prayer and weeping, the
Christians demanded the signal of departure.

They had left their dwellings at break of day, and
scattering on the shore, endeavoured to collect some
relics of their country. Some filled little bags with
ashes withdrawn from the funeral pile ; others took
handfuls of earth, while the women and children
picked up pebbles which they hid in their clothing
and pressed to their bosoms, as if fearing to be
deprived of them. Meanwhile, the ships intended
to transport them arrived, and armed English sol-
diers superintended the embarkation, which the
Turks hailed from afar with ferocious cries. The
Parganiotes were landed in Corfu, where they suf-
fered yet more injustice. Under various pretexts
the money promised them was reduced and with-
held, until destitution compelled them to accept
the little that was offered. Thus closed one of the
most odious transactions which modern history has
been compelled to record.

The satrap of Janina had arrived at the fulfilment
of his wishes. In the retirement of his fairy-like
palace by the lake he could enjoy voluptuous pleas-

2219

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ures to the full. But already seventy-eight years
had passed over his head, and old age had laid the
burden of infirmity upon him. His dreams were
dreams of blood, and vainly he sought refuge in
chambers glittering with gold, adorned with ara-
besques, decorated with costly armour and covered
with the richest of Oriental carpets, remorse stood
ever beside him. Through the magnificence which
surrounded him there constantly passed the pale
spectre of Emineh, leading onwards a vast proces-
sion of mournful phantoms, and the guilty pacha
buried his face in his hands and shrieked aloud for
help. Sometimes, ashamed of his weakness, he
endeavoured to defy both the reproaches of his con-
science and the opinion of the multitude, and sought
to encounter criticism with bravado. If, by chance,
he overheard some blind singer chanting in the
streets the satirical verses which, faithful to the
poetical and mocking genius of their ancestors, the
Greeks frequently composed about him, he would
order the singer to be brought, would bid him repeat
his verses, and, applauding him, would relate some
fresh anecdote of cruelty, saying, " Go, add that to
thy tale; let thy hearers know what I can do; let
them understand that I stop at nothing in order to
overcome my foes! If I reproach myself with any-
thing, it is only with the deeds I have sometimes
failed to carry out."

2220

ALI PACHA

Sometimes it was the terrors of the life after
death which assailed him. The thought of eternity
brought terrible visions in its train, and Ali shud-
dered at the prospect of Al-Sirat, that awful bridge,
narrow as a spider's thread and hanging over the
furnaces of Hell, which a Mussulman must cross
in order to arrive at the gate of Paradise. He
ceased to joke about Eblis, the Prince of Evil, and
sank by degrees into profound superstition. He
was surrounded by magicians and soothsayers; he
consulted omens, and demanded talismans and
charms from the dervishes, which he had either
sewn into his garments, or suspended in the most
secret parts of his palace, in order to avert evil influ-
ences. A Koran was hung about his neck as a
defence against the evil eye, and frequently he
removed it and knelt before it, as did Louis xi
before the leaden figures of saints which adorned
his hat. He ordered a complete chemical laboratory
from Venice, and engaged alchemists to distil the
water of immortality, by the help of which he hoped
to ascend to the planets and discover the Philoso-
pher's Stone. Not perceiving any practical result
of their labours, he ordered the laboratory to be
burnt and the alchemists to be hung.

Ali hated his fellow-men. Pie would have liked
to leave no survivors, and often regretted his inabil-
ity to destroy all those who would have cause to

2221

CELEBRATED CRIMES

rejoice at his death. Consequently he sought to
accomplish as much harm as he could during the
time which remained to him, and for no possible
reason but that of hatred, he caused the arrest of
both Ibrahim Pacha, who had already suffered so
much at his hands, and his son, and confined them
both in a dungeon purposely constructed under the
grand staircase of the castle by the lake, in order
that he might have the pleasure of passing over
their heads each time he left his apartments or
returned to them.

It was not enough for AH merely to put to death
those who displeased him, the form of punishment
must be constantly varied in order to produce a
fresh mode of suffering, therefore new tortures had
to be constantly invented. Now it was a servant,
guilty of absence without leave, who was bound
to a stake in the presence of his sister, and destroyed
by a cannon placed six paces off, but only loaded
with powder, in order to prolong the agony; now, a
Christian accused of having tried to blow up Jan-
ina by introducing mice with tinder fastened to
their tails into the powder magazine, who was shut
up in the cage of Ali's favourite tiger and devoured
by it.

The pacha despised the human race as much as
he hated it. A European having reproached him
with the cruelty shown to his subjects, Ali replied —

2222

ALI PACHA

" You do not understand the race with which I
have to deal. Were I to hang- a criminal on yonder
tree, the sight would not deter even his own brother
from stealing in the crowd at its foot. If I had an
old man burnt alive, his son would steal the ashes
and sell them. The rabble can be governed by fear
only, and I am the one man who does it success-
fully."

His conduct perfectly corresponded to his ideas.
One great feast-day, two gipsies devoted their lives
in order to avert the evil destiny of the pacha; and,
solemnly convoking on their own heads all misfor-
tunes which might possibly befall him, cast them-
selves down from the palace roof. One arose with
difficulty, stunned and suffering, the other remained
on the ground with a broken leg. Ali gave them
each forty francs and an annuity of two pounds of
maize daily, and considering this sufficient, took no
further trouble about them.

Every year, at Ramadan, a large sum was dis-
tributed in alms among poor women without dis-
tinction of sect. But Ali contrived to change this
act of benevolence into a barbarous form of amuse-
ment.

As he possessed several palaces in Janina at a
considerable distance from each other, the one at
which a distribution was to take place was each day
publicly announced, and when the women had waited

222$

CELEBRATED CRIMES

there for an hour or two, exposed to sun, rain or
cold, as the case might be, they were suddenly
informed that they must go to some other palace,
at the opposite end of the town. When they got
there, they usually had to wait for another hour,
fortunate if they were not sent off to a third place
of meeting. When the time at length arrived, an
eunuch appeared, followed by Albanian soldiers
armed with staves, carrying a bag of money, which
he threw by handfuls right into the midst of the
assembly. Then began a terrible uproar. The
women rushed to catch it, upsetting each other,
quarrelling, fighting, and uttering cries of terror
and pain, while the Albanians, pretending to enforce
order, pushed into the crowd, striking right and left
with their batons. The pacha meanwhile sat at a
window enjoying the spectacle, and impartially ap-
plauding all well delivered blows, no matter whence
they came. During these distributions, which really
benefited no one, many women were always severely
hurt, and some died from the blows they had
received.

Ali maintained several carriages for himself and
his family, but allowed no one else to share in this
prerogative. To avoid being jolted, he simply took
up the pavement in Janina and the neighbouring
towns, with the result that in summer one was
choked by dust, and in winter could hardly get

2224

ALI PACHA

through the mud. He rejoiced in the public incon-
venience, and one day having to go out in heavy-
rain, he remarked to one of the officers of his escort,
" How delightful to be driven through this in a
carriage, while you will have the pleasure of follow-
ing on horseback! You will be wet and dirty,
whilst I smoke my pipe and laugh at your con-
dition."

He could not understand why Western sovereigns
should permit their subjects to enjoy the same con-
veniences and amusements as themselves. " If I
had a theatre," he said, " I would allow no one to
be present at performances except my own children ;
but these idiotic Christians do not know how to
uphold their own dignity."

There was no end to the mystifications which it
amused the pacha to carry out with those who ap-
proached him.

One day he chose to speak Turkish to a Maltese
merchant who came to display some jewels. He
was informed that the merchant understood only
Greek and Italian. He none the less continued his
discourse without ahowing anyone to translate what
he said into Greek. The Maltese at length lost
patience, shut up his cases, and departed. Ali
watched him with the utmost calm, and as he went
out told him, still in Turkish, to come again the
next day.

2225

CELEBRATED CRIMES

An unexpected occurence seemed, like the warn-
ing ringer of Destiny, to indicate an evil omen for
the pacha's future. " Misfortunes arrive in troops,"
says the forcible Turkish proverb, and a forerunner
of disasters came to Ali Pacha.

One morning he was suddenly roused by the
Sheik Yussuf, who had forced his way in, in spite
of the guards. " Behold! " said he, handing Ali a
letter, " Allah, who punishes the guilty, has per-
mitted thy seraglio of Tepelen to be burnt. Thy
splendid palace, thy beautiful furniture, costly stuffs,
cashmeers, furs, arms, all are destroyed! And it is
thy youngest and best beloved son, Salik Bey him-
self, whose hand kindled the flames!" So saying,
Yussuf turned and departed, crying with a trium-
phant voice, " Fire ! fire ! fire ! "

Ali instantly ordered his horse, and, followed by
his guards, rode without drawing rein to Tepelen.
As soon as he arrived at the place where his palace
had formerly insulted the public misery, he hastened
to examine the cellars where his treasures were
deposited. All was intact, silver plate, jewels, and
fifty millions of francs in gold, enclosed in a well
over which he had caused a tower to be built. After
this examination he ordered all the ashes to be care-
fully sifted in hopes of recovering the gold in the
tassels and fringes of the sofas, and the silver from
the plate and the armour. He next proclaimed

2226

ALI PACHA

through the length and breadth of the land, that,
being by the hand of Allah deprived of his house,
and no longer possessing anything in his native
town, he requested all who loved him to prove their
affection by bringing help in proportion. He fixed
the day of reception for each commune, and for
almost each individual of any rank, however small,
according to their distance from Tepelen, whither
these evidences of loyalty were to be brought.

During five days Ali received these forced benev-
olences from all parts. He sat, covered with rags,
on a shabby palm-leaf mat placed at the outer gate
of his ruined palace, holding in his left hand a vil-
lainous pipe of the kind used by the lowest people,
and in his right an old red cap, which he extended
for the donations of the passers-by. Behind stood
a Jew from Janina, charged with the office of test-
ing each piece of gold and valuing jewels which
were offered instead of money; for, in terror, each
endeavoured to appear generous. No means of
obtaining a rich harvest were neglected; for in-
stance, Ali distributed secretly large sums among
poor and obscure people, such as servants, mechan-
ics, and soldiers, in order that by returning them in
public they might appear to be making great sacri-
fices, so that richer and more distinguished persons
could not, without appearing ill-disposed towards
the pacha, offer only the same amount as did the

2227

CELEBRATED CRIMES

poor, but were obliged to present gifts of enormous
value.

After this charity extorted from their fears, the
pacha's subjects hoped to be at peace. But a new
decree proclaimed throughout Albania required
them to rebuild and refurnish the formidable palace
of Tepelen entirely at the public expense. Ali then
returned to Janina, followed by his treasure and a
few women who had escaped from the flames, and
whom he disposed of amongst his friends, saying
that he was no longer sufficiently wealthy to main-
tain so many slaves.

Fate soon provided him with a second opportun-
ity for amassing wealth. Arta, a wealthy town
with a Christian population, was ravaged by the
plague, and out of eight thousand inhabitants, seven
thousand were swept away. Hearing this, Ali has-
tened to send commissioners to prepare an account
of furniture and lands which the pacha claimed as
being heir to his subjects. A few livid and emaci-
ated spectres were yet to be found in the streets of
Arta. In order that the inventory might be more
complete, these unhappy beings were compelled to
wash in the Inachus blankets, sheets, and clothes
steeped in bubonic infection, while the collectors
were hunting everywhere for imaginary hidden
treasure. Hollow trees were sounded, walls pulled
down, the most unlikely corners examined, and a

2228

ALI PACHA

skeleton which was discovered still girt with a belt
containing Venetian sequins was gathered up with
the utmost care. The archons of the town were
arrested and tortured in the hope of discovering
buried treasure, the clue to which had disappeared
along with the owners. One of these magistrates,
accused of having hidden some valuable objects,
was plunged up to his shoulders in a boiler full of
melted lead and boiling oil. Old men, women, chil-
dren, rich and poor alike, were interrogated, beaten,
and compelled to abandon the last remains of their
property in order to save their lives.

Having thus decimated the few inhabitants re-
maining to the town, it became necessary to re-
people it. With this object in view, Ali's emissaries
overran the villages of Thessaly, driving before
them all the people they met in flocks, and compel-
ling them to settle in Arta. These unfortunate
colonists were also obliged to find money to pay
the pacha for the houses they were forced to occupy.

This business being settled, Ali turned to another
which had long been on his mind. We have seen
how Ismail Pacho Bey escaped the assassins sent
to murder him. A ship, despatched secretly from
Prevesa, arrived at the place of his retreat. The
captain, posing as a merchant, invited Ismail to
come on board and inspect his goods. But the lat-
ter, guessing a trap, fled promptly, and for some

2229

CELEBRATED CRIMES

time all trace of him was lost. Ali, in revenge,
turned his wife out of the palace at Janina which
she still occupied, and placed her in a cottage, where
she was obliged to earn a living by spinning. But
he did not stop there, and learning after some time
that Pacho Bey had sought refuge with the Nazir
of Drama, who had taken him into favour, he
resolved to strike a last blow, more sure and more
terrible than the others. Again Ismail's lucky star
saved him from the plots of his enemy. During a
hunting party he encountered a kapidgi-bachi, or
messenger from the sultan, who asked him where
he could find the Nazir, to whom he was charged
with an important communication. As kapidgi-
bachis are frequently bearers of evil tidings, which
it is well to ascertain at once, and as the Nazir was
at some distance, Pacho Bey assumed the latter's
part, and the sultan's confidential messenger in-
formed him that he was the bearer of a firman
grantd at the request of Ali Pacha of Janina.

"Ali of Tepelen? He is my friend. How can
I serve him? "

" By executing the present order, sent you by the
Divan, desiring you to behead a traitor, named
Pacho Bey, who crept into your service a short time
ago."

" Willingly ! but he is not an easy man to seize,
being brave, vigorous, clever, and cunning. Craft

2230

ALI PACHA

will be necessary in this case. He may appear at
any moment, and it is advisable that he should not
see you. Let no one suspect who you are, but go to
Drama, which is only two hours distant, and await
me there. I shall return this evening, and you can
consider your errand as accomplished."

The kapidgi-bachi made a sign of comprehension,
and directed his course towards Drama; while
Ismail, fearing that the Nazir, who had only known
him a short time, would sacrifice him with the usual
Turkish indifference, fled in the opposite direction.
At the end of an hour he encountered a Bulgarian
monk, with whom he exchanged clothes — a dis-
guise which enabled him to traverse Upper Mace-
donia in safety. Arriving at the great Servian con-
vent in the mountains whence the Axius takes its
rise, he obtained admission under an assumed name.
But feeling sure of the discretion of the monks,
after a few days he explained his situation to them.

AH, learning the ill-success of his latest strata-
gem, accused the Nazir of conniving at Pacho Bey's
escape. But the latter easily justified himself with
the Divan by giving precise information of what
had really occurred. This was what AH wanted,
who profited thereby in having the fugitive's track
followed up, and soon got wind of his retreat. As
Pacho Bey's innocence had been proved in the ex-
planations given to the Porte, the death firman

2231

CELEBRATED CRIMES

obtained against him became useless, and AH
affected to abandon him to his fate, in order the
better to conceal the new plot he was conceiving
against him.

Athanasius Vaya, chief assassin of the Kardiki-
otes, to whom Ali imparted his present plan for the
destruction of Ismail, begged for the honour of put-
ting it into execution, swearing that this time Ismail
should not escape. The master and the instrument
disguised their scheme under the appearance of a
quarrel, which astonished the whole town. At the
end of a terrible scene which took place in public,
Ali drove the confidant of his crimes from the pal-
ace, overwhelming him with insults, and declaring
that were Athanasius not the son of his children's
foster-mother, he would have sent him to the gibbet.
He enforced his words by the application of a stick,
and Vaya, apparently overwhelmed by terror and
affliction, went round to all the nobles of the town,
vainly entreating them to intercede for him. The
only favour which Mouktar Pacha could obtain for
him was a sentence of exile allowing him to retreat
to Macedonia.

Athanasius departed from Janina with all the
demonstrations of utter despair, and continued his
route with the haste of one who fears pursuit.
Arrived in Macedonia, he assumed the habit of a
monk, and undertook a pilgrimage to Mount Athos,

2232

ALI PACHA

saying that both the disguise and the journey were
necessary to his safety. On the way he encountered
one of the itinerant friars of the great Servian
convent, to whom he described his disgrace in ener-
getic terms, begging him to obtain his admission
among the lay brethren of his monastery.

Delighted at the prospect of bringing back to the
fold of the Church a man so notorious for his
crimes, the friar hastened to inform his superior,
who in his turn lost no time in announcing to Pacho
Bey that his compatriot and companion in mis-
fortune was to be received among the lay brethren,
and in relating the history of Athanasius as he him-
self had heard it. Pacho Bey, however, was not
easily deceived, and at once guessing that Vaya's
real object was his own assassination, told his doubts
to the superior, who had already received him as a
friend. The latter retarded the reception of Vaya
so as to give Pacho time to escape and take the road
to Constantinople. Once arrived there, he deter-
mined to brave the storm and encounter Ali openly.

Endowed by nature with a noble presence and
with masculine firmness, Pacho Bey possessed also
the valuable gift of speaking all the various tongues
of the Ottoman Empire. He could not fail to dis-
tinguish himself in the capital and to find an opening
for his great talents. But his inclination drove him
£t first to seek his fellow-exiles from Epirus, who

2233

CELEBRATED CRIMES

were either his old companions in arms, friends, or
relations, for he was allied to all the principal fam-
iles, and was even, through his wife, nearly con-
nected with his enemy, Ali Pacha himself.

He had learnt what this unfortunte lady had
already endured on his account, and feared that she
would suffer yet more if he took active measures
against the pacha. While he yet hesitated between
affection and revenge, he heard that she had died of
grief and misery. Now that despair had put an end
to uncertainty, he set his hand to the work.

At this precise moment Heaven sent him a friend
to console and aid him in his vengeance, a Christian
from QEtolia, Paleopoulo by name. This man was
on the point of establishing himself in Russian
Bessarabia, when he met Pacho Bey and joined
with him in the singular coalition which was to
change the fate of the Tepelenian dynasty.

Paleopoulo reminded his companion in misfor-
tune of a memorial presented to the Divan in 1812,
which had brought upon Ali a disgrace from which
he only escaped in consequence of the overwhelm-
ing political events which just then absorbed the
attention of the Ottoman Government. The Grand
Seigneur had sworn by the tombs of his ancestors
to attend to the matter as soon as he was able, and
it was only requisite to remind him of his vow.
Pacho Bey and his friend drew up a new memorial,

2234

ALI PACHA

and knowing the sultan's avarice, took care to dwell
on the immense wealth possessed by Ali, on his
scandalous exactions, and on the enormous sums
diverted from the Imperial Treasury. By over-
hauling the accounts of his administration, millions
might be recovered. To these financial consider-
ations Pacho Bey added some practical ones. Speak-
ing as a man sure of his facts and well acquainted
with the ground, he pledged his head that with
twenty thousand men he would, in spite of Ali's
troops and strongholds, arrive before Janina with-
out firing a musket.

However good these plans appeared, they were
by no means to the taste of the sultan's ministers,
who were each and all in receipt of large pensions
from the man at whom they struck. Besides, as in
Turkey it is customary for the great fortunes of
Government officials to be absorbed on their death
by the Imperial Treasury, it of course appeared
easier to await the natural inheritance of Ali's
treasures than to attempt to seize them by a war
which would certainly absorb part of them. There-
fore, while Pacho Bey's zeal was commended, he
obtained only dilatory answers, followed at length
by a formal refusal.

Meanwhile, the old (Etolian, Paleopoulo, died,
having prophesied the approaching Greek insur-
rection among his friends, and pledged Pacho Bey

2235

CELEBRATED CRIMES

to persevere in his plans of vengeance, assuring
him that before long Ali would certainly fall a vic-
tim to them. Thus left alone, Pacho, before taking
any active steps in his work of vengeance, affected
to give himself up to the strictest observances of the
Mohammedan religion. Ali, who had established
a most minute surveillance over his actions, finding
that his time was spent with ulemas and dervishes,
imagined that he had ceased to be dangerous, and
took no further trouble about him.

2236

CHAPTER VIII

A CAREER of successful crime had established
Ali's rule over a population equal to that
of the two kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. But
his ambition was not yet satisfied. The occupation
of Parga did not crown his desires, and the delight
which it caused him was much tempered by the
escape of the Parganiotes, who found in exile a safe
refuge from his persecution. Scarcely had he
finished the conquest of Middle Albania before he
was exciting a faction against the young Moustai
Pacha in Scodra, a new object of greed. He also
kept an army of spies in Wallachia, Moldavia,
Thrace, and Macedonia, and, thanks to them, he
appeared to be everywhere present, and was mixed
up in every intrigue, private or political, throughout
the empire. He had paid the English agents the
price agreed on for Parga, but he repaid himself
five times over, by gifts extorted from his vassals,
and by the value of the Parga lands, now become
his property. His palace of Tepelen had been
rebuilt at the public expense, and was larger and

2237

CELEBRATED CRIMES

more magnificent than before; Janina was embel-
lished with new buildings ; elegant pavilions rose on
the shores of the lake; in short, Ali's luxury was
on a level with his vast riches. His sons and grand-
sons were provided for by important positions, and
Ali himself was a sovereign prince in everything but
the name.

There was no lack of flattery, even from literary
persons. At Vienna a poem was printed in his
honour, and a French-Greek Grammar was dedi-
cated to him, and such titles as " Most Illustrious,"
" Most Powerful," and " Most Clement," were
showered upon him, as upon a man whose lofty
virtues and great exploits echoed through the
world. A native of Bergamo, learned in heraldry,
provided him with a coat of arms, representing, on
a field gules, a lion, embracing three cubs, emble-
matic of the Tepelenian dynasty. Already he had
a consul at Leucadia accepted by the English, who,
it is said, encouraged him to declare himself Hered-
itary Prince of Greece, under the nominal suzerainty
of the sultan; their real intention being to use him
as a tool in return for their protection, and to employ
him as a political counterbalance to the hospodars
of Moldavia and Wallachia, who for the last twenty
years had been simply Russian agents in disguise.
This was not all; many of the adventurers with
whom the Levant swarms, outlaws from every

2238

ALI PACHA

country, had found a refuge in Albania, and helped
not a little to excite Ali's ambition by their sugges-
tions. Some of these men frequently saluted him
as King, a title which he affected to reject with
indignation; and he disdained to imitate other
states by raising a private standard of his own,
preferring not to compromise his real power by
puerile displays of dignity; and he lamented the
foolish ambition of his children, who would ruin
him, he said, by aiming, each, at becoming a vizier.
Therefore he did not place his hope or confidence in
them, but in the adventurers of every sort and kind,
pirates, coiners, renegades, assassins, whom he kept
in his pay and regarded as his best support. These
he sought to attach to his person as men who might
some day be found useful, for he did not allow the
many favours of fortune to blind him to the real
danger of his position. " A vizier," he was accus-
tomed to say, " resembles a man wrapped in costly
furs, but he sits on a barrel of powder, which only
requires a spark to explode it." The Divan granted
all the concessions which AH demanded, affecting
ignorance of his projects of revolt and his intelli-
gence with the enemies of the State; but this
apparent weakness was merely prudent temporising.
It was considered that Ali, already advanced in
years, could not live much longer, and it was hoped
that, at his death, Continental Greece, now in some

2239

CELEBRATED CRIMES

measure detached from the Ottoman rule, would
again fall under the sultan's sway.

Meanwhile, Pacho Bey, bent on silently under-
mining Ali's influence, had established himself as an
intermediary for all those who came to demand
justice on account of the pacha's exactions, and he
contrived that both his own complaints and those
of his clients should penetrate to the ears of the
sultan ; who, pitying his misfortunes, made him a
kapidgi-bachi, as a commencement of better things.
About this time the sultan also admitted to the
Council a certain Abdi Effendi of Larissa, one of
the richest nobles of Thessaly, who had been com-
pelled by the tyranny of Veli Pacha to fly from his
country. The two new dignitaries, having secured
Khalid Effendi as a partisan, resolved to profit by
his influence to carry out their plans of vengeance
on the Tepelenian family. The news of Pacho
Bey's promotion roused Ali from the security in
which he was plunged, and he fell a prey to the most
lively anxiety. Comprehending at once the evil
which this man, trained in his own school, might
cause him, he exclaimed, "Ah! if Heaven would
only restore me the strength of my youth, I would
plunge my sword into his heart even in the midst of
the Divan."

It was not long before Ali's enemies found an
extremely suitable opportunity for opening their

2240

ALI PACHA

attack. Veli Pacha, who had for his own profit
increased the Thessalian taxation fivefold, had in
doing so caused so much oppression that many of
the inhabitants preferred the griefs and dangers of
emigration rather than remain under so tyrannical
a rule. A great number of Greeks sought refuge
at Odessa, and the great Turkish families assem-
bled round Pacho Bey and Abdi Effendi at Constan-
tinople, who lost no opportunity of interceding in
their favour. The sultan, who as yet did not dare
to act openly against the Tepelenian family, was at
least able to relegate Veli to the obscure post of
Lepanto, and Veli, much disgusted, was obliged to
obey. He quitted the new palace he had just built
at Rapehani, and betook himself to the place of
exile, accompanied by actors, Bohemian dancers,
bear leaders, and a crowd of prostitutes.

Thus attacked in the person of his most powerful
son, AH thought to terrify his enemies by a daring
blow. He sent three Albanians to Constantinople
to assassinate Pacho Bey. They fell upon him as
he was proceeding to the Mosque of Saint-Sophia,
on the day on which the sultan also went in order to
be present at the Friday ceremonial prayer, and
fired several shots at him. He was wounded, but
not mortally.

The assassins, caught red-handed, were hung at
the gate of the Imperial Seraglio, but not before

2241

CELEBRATED CRIMES

confessing that they were sent by the Pacha of
Janina. The Divan, comprehending at last that so
dangerous a man must be dealt with at any cost,
recapitulated all Ali's crimes, and pronounced a
sentence against him which was confirmed by a
decree of the Grand Mufti. It set forth that AH
Tepelen, having many times obtained pardon for
his crimes, was now guilty of high treason in the
first degree, and that he would, as recalcitrant, be
placed under the ban of the Empire if he did not
within forty days appear at the Gilded Threshold of
the Felicitous Gate of the Monarch who dispenses
crowns to the princes who reign in this world, in
order to justify himself. As may be supposed, sub-
mission to such an order was about the last thing
Ali contemplated. As he failed to appear, the
Divan caused the Grand Mufti to launch the thun-
der of excommunication against him.

Ali had just arrived at Parga, which he now saw
for the third time since he had obtained it, when
his secretaries informed him that only the rod of
Moses could save him from the anger of Pharaoh —
a figurative mode of warning him that he had noth-
ing to hope for. But Ali, counting on his usual
luck, persisted in imagining that he could, once
again, escape from his difficulty by the help of gold
and intrigue. Without discontinuing the pleasures
in which he was immersed, he contened himself

2242

ALI PACHA

with sending presents and humble petitions to Con-
stantinople. But both were alike useless, for no
one even ventured to transmit them to the sultan>
who had sworn to cut off the head of anyone who
dared mention the name of Ali Tepelen in his
presence.

Receiving no answer to his overtures, Ali became
a prey to terrible anxiety. As he one day opened
the Koran to consult it as to his future, his divining
rod stopped at verse 82, chap, xix., which says, " He
doth flatter himself in vain. He shall appear before
our tribunal naked and bare." Ali closed the book
and spat three times into his bosom. He was yield-
ing to the most dire presentiments, when a courier,
arriving from the capital, informed him that all
hope of pardon was lost.

He ordered his galley to be immediately pre-
pared, and left his seraglio, casting a look of sad-
ness on the beautiful gardens where only yesterday
he had received the homage of his prostrate slaves.
He bade farewell to his wives, saying that he hoped
soon to return, and descended to the shore, where
the rowers received him with acclamations. The
sail was set to a favourable breeze, and Ali, leaving
the shore he was never to see again, sailed towards
Prevesa, where he hoped to meet the Lord High
Commissioner Maitland. But the time of prosperity
had gone by, and the regard which had once been

2243

CELEBRATED CRIMES

shown him changed with his fortunes. The inter-
view he sought was not granted.

The sultan now ordered a fleet to be equipped,
which, after Ramadan, was to disembark troops on
the coast of Epirus, while all the neighbouring
pachas received orders to hold themselves in readi-
ness to march with all the troops of their respective
Governments against Ali, whose name was struck
out of the list of viziers. Pacho Bey was named
Pacha of Janina and Delvino on condition of sub-
duing them, and was placed in command of the
whole expedition.

However, notwithstanding these orders, there
was not at the beginning of April, two months after
the attempted assassination of Pacho Bey, a single
soldier ready to march on Albania. Ramadan, that
year, did not close until the new moon of July 10.
Had Ali put himself boldly at the head of the
movement which was beginning to stir throughout
Greece, he might have baffled these vacillating pro-
jects, and possibly dealt a fatal blow to the Ottoman
Empire. As far back as 1808, the Hydriotes had
offered to recognise his son Veli, then Vizier of the
Morea, as their Prince, and to support him in every
way, if he would proclaim the independence of the
Archipelago. The Moreans bore him no enmity
until he refused to help them to freedom, and would
have returned to him had he consented.

2244

ALI PACHA

On the other side, the sultan, though anxious for
war, would not spend a penny in order to wage it;
and it was easy to corrupt some of the great vassals
ordered to march at their own expense against a
man in whose downfall they had no special interest.
Nor were the means of seduction wanting to Ali,
whose wealth was enormous; but he preferred to
keep it in order to carry on the war which he
thought he could no longer escape. He made, there-
fore, a general appeal to all Albanian warriors,
whatever their religion. Mussulmans and Chris-
tians, alike attracted by the prospect of booty and
good pay, flocked to his standard in crowds.

He organised all these adventurers on the plan of
the Armatolis, by companies, placing a captain of
his own choice at the head of each, and giving each
company a special post to defend. Of all possible
plans this was the best adapted to his country, where
only a guerilla warfare can be carried on, and
where a large army could not subsist.

In repairing to the posts assigned to them, these
troops committed such terrible depredations that
the provinces sent to Constantinople demanding
their suppression. The Divan answered the peti-
tioners that it was their own business to suppress
these disorders, and to induce the Klephtes to turn
their arms against Ali, who had nothing to hope
from the clemency of the Grand Seigneur. At the

5— Dumas— Vol. 7 2245

CELEBRATED CRIMES

same time circular letters were addressed to the
Epi rotes, warning them to abandon the cause of a
rebel, and to consider the best means of freeing
themselves from a traitor, who, having long op-
pressed them, now sought to draw down on their
country all the terrors of war. Ali, who every-
where maintained numerous and active spies, now
redoubled his watchfulness, and not a single letter
entered Epirus without being opened and read by
his agents. As an extra precaution, the guardians
of the passes were enjoined to slay without mercy
any despatch-bearer not provided with an order
signed by Ali himself, and to send to Janina under
escort any travellers wishing to enter Epirus.
These measures were specially aimed against Suley-
man Pacha, who had succeeded Veli in the govern-'
ment of Thessaly, and replaced Ali himself in the
office of Grand Provost of the Highways. Suley-
man's secretary was a Greek called Anagnorto, a
native of Macedonia, whose estates Ali had seized,
and who had fled with his family to escape further
persecution. He had become attached to the court
party, less for the sake of vengeance on Ali than to
aid the cause of the Greeks, for whose freedom he
worked by underhand methods. He persuaded
Suleyman Pacha that the Greeks would help him to
dethrone Ali, for whom they cherished the deepest
hatred, and he was determined that they should

2246

ALI PACHA

learn the sentence of deprivation and excommuni-
cation fulminated against the rebel pacha. He
introduced into the Greek translation which he was
commissioned to make, ambiguous phrases which
were read by the Christians as a call to take up
arms in the cause of liberty. In an instant, all
Hellas was up in arms. The Mohammedans were
alarmed, but the Greeks gave out that it was in
order to protect themselves and their property
against the bands of brigands which had appeared
on all sides. This was the beginning of the Greek
insurrection, and occurred in May 1820, extending
from Mount Pindus to Thermopylae. However, the
Greeks, satisfied with having vindicated their right
to bear arms in their own defence, continued to
pay their taxes, and abstained from all hostility.

At the news of this great movement, Ali's friends
advised him to turn it to his own advantage. "The
Greeks in arms," said they, " want a chief : offer
yourself as their leader. They hate you, it is true,
but this feeling may change. It is only necessary
to make them believe, which is easily done, that if
they will support your cause you will embrace
Christianity and give them freedom."

There was no time to lose, for matters became
daily more serious. Ali hastened to summon what
he called a Grand Divan, composed of the chiefs of
both sects, Mussulmans and Christians. There were

2247

CELEBRATED CRIMES

assembled men of widely different types, much
astonished at finding themselves in company: the
venerable Gabriel, Archbishop of Janina, and uncle
of the unfortunate Euphrosyne, who had been
dragged thither by force ; Abbas, the old head of the
police, who had presided at the execution of the
Christian martyr; the holy bishop of Velas, still
bearing the marks of the chains with which Ali had
loaded him; and Porphyro, Archbishop of Arta, to
whom the turban would have been more becoming
than the mitre.

Ashamed of the part he was obliged to play, Ali,
after long hesitation, decided on speaking, and,
addressing the Christians, "O Greeks!" he said,
" examine my conduct with unprejudiced minds,
and you will see manifest proofs of the confidence
and consideration which I have ever shown you.
What pacha has ever treated you as I have done?
Who would have treated your priests and the
objects of your worship with as much respect?
Who else would have conceded the privileges which
you enjoy? for you hold rank in my councils, and
both the police and the administration of my States
are in your hands. I do not, however, seek to deny
the evils with which I have afflicted you; but, alas!
these evils have been the result of my enforced
obedience to the cruel and perfidious orders of the
Sublime Porte. It is to the Porte that these wrongs

2248

ALI PACHA

must be attributed, for if my actions be attentively
regarded it will be seen that I only did harm when
compelled thereto by the course of events. Inter-
rogate my actions, they will speak more fully than
a detailed apology.

"My position with regard to the Suliotes allowed
no half-and-half measures. Having once broken
with them, I was obliged either to drive them from
my country or to exterminate them. I understood
the political hatred of the Ottoman Cabinet too
well not to know that it would declare war against
me sooner or later, and I knew that resistance would
be impossible, if on one side I had to repel the Otto-
man aggression, and on the other to fight against
the formidable Suliotes.

" I might say the same of the Parganiotes. You
know that their town was the haunt of my enemies,
and each time that I appealed to them to change
their ways they answered only with insults and
threats. They constantly aided the Suliotes with
whom I was at war; and if at this moment they
still were occupying Parga, you would see them
throw open the gates of Epirus to the forces of the
sultan. But all this does not prevent my being
aware that my enemies blame me severely, and
indeed I also blame myself, and deplore the faults
which the difficulty of my position has entailed upon
me. Strong in my repentance, I do not hesitate to

2249

CELEBRATED CRIMES

address myself to those whom I have most griev-
ously wounded. Thus I have long since recalled
to my service a great number of Suliotes, and those
who have responded to my invitation are occupying
important posts near my person. To complete the
reconciliation, I have written to those who are still
in exile, desiring them to return fearlessly to their
country, and I have certain information that this
proposal has been everywhere accepted with enthu-
siasm. The Suliotes will soon return to their ances-
tral houses, and, reunited under my standard, will
join me in combating the Osmanlis, our common
enemies.

" As to the avarice of which I am accused, it
seems easily justified by the constant necessity I
was under of satisfying the inordinate cupidity of
the Ottoman ministry, which incessantly made me
pay dearly for tranquillity. This was a personal
affair, I acknowledge, and so also is the accumula-
tion of treasure made in order to support the war
which the Divan has at length declared."

Here AH ceased, then having caused a barrel full
of gold pieces to be emptied on the floor, he con-
tinued— ■

" Behold a part of the treasure I have preserved
with so much care, and which has been specially
obtained from the Turks, our common enemies:
it is yours. I am now more than ever delighted at

2250

ALI PACHA

being the friend of the Greeks. Their bravery is a
sure earnest of victory, and we will shortly re-estab-
lish the Greek Empire, and drive the Osmanlis
across the Bosphorus. O bishops and priests of
Issa the prophet! bless the arms of the Christians,
your children. O primates! I call upon you to
defend your rights, and to rule justly the brave
nation associated with my interests."

This discourse produced very different impres-
sions on the Christian priests and archons. Some
replied only by raising looks of despair to Heaven,
others murmured their adhesion. A great number
remained uncertain, not knowing what to decide.
The Mirdite chief, he who had refused to slaughter
the Kardikiotes, declared that neither he nor any
Skipetar of the Latin communion would bear arms
against their legitimate sovereign the sultan. But
his words were drowned by cries of " Long live Ali
Pacha! Long live the restorer of liberty! " uttered
by some chiefs of adventurers and brigands.

2251

CHAPTER IX

THE next day, May 24th, 1820, Ali addressed
a circular letter to his brothers the Chris-
tians, announcing that in future he would consider
them as his most faithful subjects, and that hence-
forth he remitted the taxes paid to his own family.
He wound up by asking for soldiers, but the Greeks
having learnt the instability of his promises, re-
mained deaf to his invitations. At the same time
he sent messengers to the Montenegrins and the
Servians, inciting them to revolt, and organised
insurrections in Wallachia and Moldavia to the
very environs of Constantinople.

Whilst the Ottoman vassals assembled only in
small numbers and very slowly under their respec-
tive standards, every day there collected round the
castle of Janina whole companies of Toxidse, of
Tapazetse, and of Chamida?; so that Ali, knowing
that Ismail Pacho Bey had boasted that he could
arrive in sight of Janina without firing a gun, said
in his turn that he would not treat with the Porte
until he and his troops should be within eight
leagues of Constantinople.

2252

ALI PACHA

He had fortified and supplied with munitions of
war Ochrida, Avlone, Cannia, Berat, Cleisoura,
Premiti, the port of Panormus, Santi-Quaranta,
Buthrotum, Delvino, Argyro-Castron, Tepelen,
Parga, Prevesa, Sderli, Paramythia, Arta, the post
of the Five Wells, Janina and its castles. These
places contained four hundred and twenty cannons
of all sizes, for the most part in bronze, mounted
on siege-carriages, and seventy mortars. Besides
these, there were in the castle by the lake, independ-
ently of the guns in position, forty field-pieces, sixty
mountain guns, a number of Congreve rockets,
formerly given him by the English, and an enor-
mous quantity of munitions of war. Finally, he
endeavoured to establish a line of semaphores
between Janina and Prevesa, in order to have
prompt news of the Turkish fleet, which was ex-
pected to appear on this coast.

AH, whose strength seemed to increase with age,
saw to everything and appeared everywhere; some-
times in a litter borne by his Albanians, sometimes
in a carriage raised into a kind of platform, but it
was more frequently on horseback that he appeared
among his labourers. Often he sat on the bastions
in the midst of the batteries, and conversed famil-
iarly with those who surrounded him. He narrated
the successes formerly obtained against the sultan
by Kara Bazaklia, Vizier of Scodra, who, like him-

2253

CELEBRATED CRIMES

self, had been attained with the sentence of depriva-
tion and excommunication ; recounting how the
rebel pacha, shut up in his citadel with seventy-two
warriors, had seen collapse at his feet the united
forces of four great provinces of the Ottoman Em-
pire, commanded by twenty-two pachas, who were
almost entirely annihilated in one day by the
Guegues. He reminded them also of the brilliant
victory gained by Passevend Oglon, Pacha of
Widdin, of quite recent memory, which is celebrated
in the warlike songs of the Klephts of Roumelia.

Almost simultaneously, Ali's sons, Mouktar and
Veli, arrived at Janina. Veli had been obliged, or
thought himself obliged, to evacuate Lepanto by
superior forces, and brought only discouraging
news, especially as to the wavering fidelity of the
Turks. Mouktar, on the contrary, who had just
made a tour of inspection in the Musache, had only
noticed favourable dispositions, and deluded him-
self with the idea that the Chaonians, who had taken
up arms, had done so in order to aid his father.
He was curiously mistaken, for these tribes hated
Ali with a hatred all the deeper for being compelled
to conceal it, and were only in arms in order to
repel aggression.

The advice given by the sons to their father as
to the manner of treating the Mohammedans
differed widely in accordance with their respective

2254

ALI PACHA

opinions. Consequently a violent quarrel arose be-
tween them, ostensibly on account of this dispute,
but in reality on the subject of their father's inher-
itance, which both equally coveted. Ali had brought
all his treasure to Janina, and thenceforth neither
son would leave the neighbourhood of so excellent
a father. They overwhelmed him with marks of
affection, and vowed that the one had left Lepanto,
and the other Berat, only in order to share his
danger. Ali was by no means duped by these pro-
testations, of which he divined the motive only too
well, and though he had never loved his sons, he
suffered cruelly in discovering that he was not
beloved by them.

Soon he had other troubles to endure. One of
his gunners assassinated a servant of Veli's, and
Ali ordered the murderer to be punished, but when
the sentence was to be carried out the whole corps
of artillery mutinied. In order to save appearances,
the pacha was compelled to allow them to ask for
the pardon of the criminal whom he dared not
punish. This incident showed him that his author-
ity was no longer paramount, and he began to doubt
the fidelity of his soldiers. The arrival of the Otto-
man fleet further enlightened him to his true posi-
tion. Mussulman and Christian alike, all the inhabi-
tants of Northern Albania, who had hitherto
concealed their disaffection under an exaggerated

2255

CELEBRATED CRIMES

semblance of devotion, now hastened to make their
submission to the sultan. The Turks, continuing
their success, laid siege to Parga, which was held
by Mehemet, Veli's eldest son. He was prepared
to make a good defence, but was betrayed by his
troops, who opened the gates of the town, and he
was compelled to surrender at discretion. He was
handed over to the commander of the naval forces,
by whom he was well treated, being assigned the
best cabin in the admiral's ship and given a brilliant
suite. He was assured that the sultan, whose only
quarrel was with his grandfather, would show him
favour, and would even deal mercifully with Ali,
who, with his treasures, would merely be sent to an
important province in Asia Minor. He was induced
to write in this strain to his family and friends in
order to induce them to lay down their arms.

The fall of Parga made a great impression on the
Epirotes, who valued its possession far above its
real importance. Ali rent his garments and cursed
the days of his former good fortune, during which
he had neither known how to moderate his resent-
ment nor to foresee the possibility of any change of
fortune.

The fall of Parga was succeeded by that of Arta,
of Mongliana, where was situated Ali's country
house, and of the post of the Five Wells. Then
came a yet more overwhelming piece of news : Omar

2256

ALI PACHA

Brionis, whom AH, having formerly despoiled of
his wealth, had none the less recently appointed
general-in-chief, had gone over to the enemy with
all his troops !

Ali then decided on carrying out a project he had
formed in case of necessity, namely, on destroying
the town of Janina, which would afford shelter to
the enemy and a point of attack against the for-
tresses in which he was entrenched. When this
resolution was known, the inhabitants thought only
of saving themselves and their property from the
ruin from which nothing could save their country.
But most of them were only preparing to depart,
when Ali gave leave to the Albanian soldiers yet
faithful to him to sack the town.

The place was immediately invaded by an un-
bridled soldiery. The Metropolitan church, where
Greeks and Turks alike deposited their gold, jewels,
and merchandise, even as did the Greeks of old in
the temples of the gods, became the first object of
pillage. Nothing was respected. The cupboards
containing sacred vestments were broken open, so
were the tombs of the archbishops, in which were
interred reliquaries adorned with precious stones;
and the altar itself was defiled with the blood of
ruffians who fought for chalices and silver crosses.

The town presented an equally terrible spectacle ;
neither Christians nor Mussulmans were spared,

2257

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and the women's apartments, forcibly entered, were
given up to violence. Some of the more courageous
citizens endeavoured to defend their houses and
families against these bandits, and the clash of
arms mingled with cries and groans. All at once
the roar of a terrible explosion rose above the
other sounds, and a hail of bombs, shells, grenades,
and rockets carried devastation and fire into the
different quarters of the town, which soon pre-
sented the spectacle of an immense conflagration.
AH, seated on the great platform of the castle by
the lake, which seemed to vomit fire like a volcano,
directed the bombardment, pointing out the places
which must be burnt. Churches, mosques, libraries,
bazaars, houses, all were destroyed, and the only
thing spared by the flames was the gallows, which
remained standing in the midst of the ruins.

Of the thirty thousand persons who inhabited
Janina a few hours previously, perhaps one half had
escaped. But these had not fled many leagues
before they encountered the outposts of the Otto-
man army, which, instead of helping or protecting
them, fell upon them, plundered them, and drove
them towards the camp, where slavery awaited
them. The unhappy fugitives, taken thus between
fire and sword, death behind and slavery before,
uttered a terrible cry, and fled in all directions.
Those who escaped the Turks were stopped in the

2258

ALI PACHA

hill passes by the mountaineers rushing down to the
prey; only large numbers who held together could
force a passage.

In some cases terror bestows extraordinary
strength, there were mothers who, with infants at
the breast, covered on foot in one day the fourteen
leagues which separate Janina from Arta. But
others, seized with the pangs of travail in the midst
of their flight, expired in the woods, after giving
birth to babes, who, destitute of succour, did not
survive their mothers. And young girls, having
disfigured themselves by gashes, hid themselves in
caves, where they died of terror and hunger.

The Albanians, intoxicated with plunder and
debauchery, refused to return to the castle, and only
thought of regaining their country and enjoying the
fruit of their rapine. But they were assailed on
the way by peasants covetous of their booty, and by
those of Janina who had sought refuge with them.
The roads and passes were strewn with corpses,
and the trees by the roadside converted into
gibbets. The murderers did not long survive their
victims.

The ruins of Janina were still smoking when,
on the 19th August, Pacho Bey made his entry.
Having pitched his tent out of range of Ali's can-
non, he proclaimed aloud the firman which inaugu-
rated him as Pacha of Janina and Delvino, and then

2259

CELEBRATED CRIMES

raised the tails, emblem of his dignity. Ali heard
on the summit of his keep the acclamations of the
Turks who saluted Pacho Bey, his former servant,
with the titles of Vali of Epirus, and Ghazi, or
Victorius. After this ceremony, the cadi read the
sentence, confirmed by the Mufti, which declared
Ali Tepelen Veli-Zade to have forfeited his dignities
and to be excommunicated, adding an injunction to
all the faithful that henceforth his name was not to
be pronounced except with the addition of " Kara,"
or " black," which is bestowed on those cut off from
the congregation of Sunnites, or Orthodox Moham-
medans. A Marabout then cast a stone towards the
castle, and the anathema upon " Kara Ali " was
repeated by the whole Turkish army, ending with
the cry of " Long live the sultan ! So be it ! "

But it was not by ecclesiastical thunders that
three fortresses could be reduced, which were
defended by artillerymen drawn from different
European armies, who had established an excellent
school for gunners and bombardiers. The besieged,
having replied with hootings of contempt to the
acclamations of the besiegers, proceeded to enforce
their scorn with well-aimed cannon shots, while the
rebel flotilla, dressed as if for a fete-day, passed
slowly before the Turks, saluting them with
cannon-shot if they ventured near the edge of the
lake.

2260

ALI PACHA

This noisy rhodomontade did not prevent AH
from being consumed with grief and anxiety. The
sight of his own troops, now in the camp of Pacho
Bey, the fear of being for ever separated from his
sons, the thought of his grandson in the enemy's
hands, all threw him into the deepest melancholy,
and his sleepless eyes were constantly drowned in
tears. He refused his food, and sat for seven days
with untrimmed beard, clad in mourning, on a mat
at the door of his antechamber, extending his hands
to his soldiers, and imploring them to slay him
rather than abandon him. His wives, seeing him in
this state, and concluding all was lost, filled the air
with their lamentations. All began to think that
grief would bring Ali to the grave ; but his soldiers,
to whose protestations he at first refused any credit,
represented to him that their fate was indissolubly
linked with his. Pacho Bey having proclaimed that
all taken in arms for Ali would be shot as sharers in
rebellion, it was therefore their interest to support
his resistance with all their power. They also
pointed out that the campaign was already ad-
vanced, and that the Turkish army, which had for-
gotten its siege artillery at Constantinople, could
not possibly procure any before the end of October,
by which time the rains would begin, and the enemy
would probably be short of food. Moreover, in
any case, it being impossible to winter in a ruined

2261

CELEBRATED CRIMES

town, the foe would be driven to seek shelter at a
distance.

These representations, made with warmth and
conviction, and supported by evidence, began to
soothe the restless fever which was wasting Ali, and
the gentle caresses and persuasions of Basillissa,
the beautiful Christian captive, who had now been
his wife for some time, completed the cure.

At the same time his sister Cha'initza gave him
an astonishing example of courage. She had per-
sisted, in spite of all that could be said, in residing
in her castle of Libokovo. The population, whom she
had cruelly oppressed, demanded her death, but no
one dared attack her. Superstition declared that
the spirit of her mother, with whom she kept up a
mysterious communication even beyond the portals
of the grave, watched over her safety. The men-
acing form of Kamco had, it was said, appeared to
several inhabitants of Tepelen, brandishing bones
of the wretched Kardikiotes, and demanding fresh
victims with loud cries. The desire of vengeance
had urged some to brave these unknown dangers,
and twice, a warrior, clothed in black, had warned
them back, forbidding them to lay hands on a sacri-
legious woman, whose punishment Heaven reserved
to itself, and twice they had returned upon their
footsteps.

But soon, ashamed of their terror, they attempted
2262

ALI PACHA

another attack, and came attired in the colour of
the Prophet. This time no mysterious stranger
appeared to forbid their passage and with a cry of
joy they climbed the mountain, listening for any
supernatural warning. Nothing disturbed the
silence and solitude save the bleating of flocks and
the cries of birds of prey. Arrived on the platform
of Libokovo, they prepared in silence to surprise the
guards, believing the castle full of them. They
approached crawling, like hunters who stalk a deer,
already they had reached the gate of the enclosure,
and prepared to burst it open, when lo ! it opened of
itself, and they beheld Cha'initza standing before
them, a carabine in her hand, pistols in her belt,
and, for all guard, two large dogs.

" Halt! ye daring ones," she cried; "neither my
life nor my treasure will ever be at your mercy. Let
one of you move a step without my permission,
and this place and the ground beneath your feet'
will engulf you. Ten thousand pounds of powder
are in these cellars. I will, however, grant your
pardon, unworthy though you are. I will even
allow you to take these sacks rilled with gold; they
may recompense you for the losses which my
brother's enemies have recently inflicted on you.
But depart this instant without a word, and dare
not to trouble me again; I have other means of
destruction at command besides gunpowder. Life

2263

CELEBRATED CRIMES

is nothing to me, remember that; but your moun-
tains may yet at my command become the tomb of
your wives and children. Go! "

She ceased, and her would-be murderers fled in
terror.

Shortly after the plague broke out in these moun-
tains, Chainitza had distributed infected garments
among gipsies, who scattered contagion wherever
they went.

"We are indeed of the same blood!" cried AH
with pride, when he heard of his sister's conduct;
and from that hour he appeared to regain all the
fire and audacity of his youth. When, a few days
later, he was informed that Mouktar and Veli,
seduced by the brilliant promises of Pacho Bey, had
surrendered Prevesa and Argyro-Castron, " It does
not surprise me," he observed coldly. " I have long
known them to be unworthy of being my sons, and
henceforth my only children and heirs are those
who defend my cause." And on hearing a report
that both had been beheaded by Pacho Bey's order,
he contented himself with saying, " They betrayed
their father, and have only received their deserts;
speak no more of them." And to show how little it
discouraged him, he redoubled his fire upon the
Turks.

But the latter, who had at length obtained some
artillery, answered his fire with vigour, and began

2264

ALI PACHA

really to discrown the old pacha's fortress. Feeling
that the danger was pressing, Ali redoubled both
his prudence and activity. His immense treasures
were the real reason of the war waged against
him, and these might induce his own soldiers to
rebel, in order to become masters of them. He
resolved to protect them from either surprise or
conquest. The sum necessary for present use was
deposited in the powder magazine, so that, if driven
to extremity, it might be destroyed in a moment;
the remainder was enclosed in strong-boxes, and ,
sunk in different parts of the lake. This labour
lasted a fortnight, when, finally, Ali put to death
the gipsies who had been employed about it, in order
that the secret might remain with himself.

While he thus set his own affairs in order, he
applied himself to the troubling those of his
adversary. A great number of Suliots had joined
the Ottoman army in order to assist in the destruc-
tion of him who formerly had ruined their country.
Their camp, which for a long time had enjoyed
immunity from the guns of Janina, was one day
overwhelmed with bombs. The Suliots were terri-
fied, until they remarked that the bombs did not
burst. They then, much astonished, proceeded to
pick up and examine these projectiles. Instead of
a match, they found rolls of paper enclosed in a
wooden cylinder, on which was engraved these

2265

CELEBRATED CRIMES

words, " Open carefully." The paper contained a
truly Macchiavellian letter from Ali, which began
by saying that they were quite justified in having
taken up arms against him, and added that he now
sent them a part of the pay of which the traitorous
Ismail was defrauding them, and that the bombs
thrown into their cantonment contained six thou-
sand sequins in gold. He begged them to amuse
Ismail by complaints and recriminations, while his
gondola should by night fetch one of them, to whom
he would communicate what more he had to say.
If they accepted his proposition, they were to light
three fires as a signal.

The signal was not long in appearing. Ali des-
patched his barge, which took on board a monk, the
spiritual chief of the Suliots. He was clothed in
sackcloth, and repeated the prayers for the dying,
as one going to execution. Ali, however, received
him with the utmost cordiality. He assured the
priest of his repentance, his good intentions, his
esteem for the Greek captains, and then gave him a
paper which startled him considerably. It was a
despatch, intercepted by Ali, from Khalid Effendi
to the Seraskier Ismail, ordering the latter to exter-
minate all Christians capable of bearing arms. All
male children were to be circumcised, and brought
up to form a legion drilled in European fashion;
and the letter went on to explain how the Suliots,

2266

ALI PACHA

the Armatolis, the Greek races of the mainland and
those of the Archipelago should be disposed of.
Seeing the effect produced on the monk by the
perusal of this paper, Ali hastened to make him
the most advantageous offers, declaring that his own
wish was to give Greece a political existence, and
only requiring that the Suliot captains should send
him a certain number of their children as hostages.
He then had cloaks and arms brought which he
presented to the monk, dismissing him in haste, in
order that darkness might favour his return.

The next day Ali was resting, with his head on
Basilissa's lap, when he was informed that the
enemy was advancing upon the intrenchments which
had been raised in the midst of the ruins of Janina.
Already the outposts had been forced, and the fury
of the assailants threatened to triumph over all
obstacles. Ali immediately ordered a sortie of all
his troops, announcing that he himself would con-
duct it. His master of the horse brought him the
famous Arab charger called the Dervish, his chief
huntsman presented him with his guns, weapons
still famous in Epirus, where they figure in the
ballads of the Skipetars. The first was an enormous
gun, of Versailles manufacture, formerly presented
by the conqueror of the Pyramids to Djezzar, the
Pacha of St.-Jean-d'Arc, who amused himself by
enclosing living victims in the walls of his palace,

2267

CELEBRATED CRIMES

in order that he might hear th*ir groans in the
midst of his festivities. Next came a carabine given
to the Pacha of Janina in the name of Napoleon in
1806; then the battle musket of Charles xir of
Sweden, and finally the much revered sabre of
Krim-Guerai. The signal was given; the draw-
bridge crossed; the Guegues and other adventurers
uttered a terrific shout; to which the cries of the
assailants replied. Ali placed himself on a height,
whence his eagle eye sought to discern the hostile
chiefs ; but he called and defied Pacho Bey in vain.
Perceiving Hassan-Stamboul, colonel of the Im-
perial bombardiers outside his battery, Ali
demanded the gun of Djezzar, and laid him dead
on the spot. He then took the carabine of Napo-
leon, and shot with it Kekriman, Bey of Sponga,
whom he had formerly appointed Pacha of Lepanto.
The enemy now became aware of his presence, and
sent a lively fusillade in his direction; but the balls
seemed to diverge from his person. As soon as the
smoke cleared, he perceived Capelan, Pacha of
Croie, who had been his guest, and wounded him
mortally in the chest. Capelan uttered a sharp cry,
and his terrified horse caused disorder in the ranks.
Ali picked off a large number of officers, one after
another; every shot was mortal, and his enemies
began to regard him in the light of a destroying
angel. Disorder spread through the forces of the

2268

ALI PACHA

Seraskier, who retreated hastily to his intrench-
ments.

The Suliots meanwhile sent a deputation to Ismail
offering their submission, and seeking to regain
their country in a peaceful manner; but, being re-
ceived by him with the most humiliating contempt,
they resolved to make common cause with AH.
They hesitated over the demand for hostages, and
at length required Ali's grandson, Hussien Pacha,
in exchange. After many difficulties, AH at length
consented, and the agreement was concluded. The
Suliots received five hundred thousand piastres and
a hundred and fifty charges of ammunition, Hussien
Pacha was given up to them, and they left the Otto-
man camp at dead of night. Morco Botzaris re-
mained with three hundred and twenty men, threw
down the palisades, and then ascending Mount
Paktoras with his troops, waited for dawn in order
to announce his defection to the Turkish army. As
soon as the sun appeared he ordered a general salvo
of artillery and shouted his war-cry. A few Turks
in charge of an outpost were slain, the rest fled. A
cry of " To arms " was raised, and the standard of
the Cross floated before the camp of the infidels.

Signs and omens of a coming general insurrec-
tion appeared on all sides; there was no lack of
prodigies, visions, or popular rumours, and the
Mohammedans became possessed with the idea that

2269

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the last hour of their rule in Greece had struck.
AH Pacha favoured the general demoralisation ; and
his agents, scattered throughout the land, fanned
the flame of revolt. Ismail Pacha was deprived of
his title of Seraskier, and superseded by Kursheed
Pacha. As soon as Ali heard this, he sent a mes-
senger to Kursheed, hoping to influence him in his
favour. Ismail, distrusting the Skipetars, who
formed part of his troops, demanded hostages from
them. The Skipetars were indignant, and Ali hear-
ing of their discontent, wrote inviting them to
return to him, and endeavouring to dazzle them
by the most brilliant promises. These overtures
were received by the offended troops with enthusi-
asm, and Alexis Noutza, Ali's former general, who
had forsaken him for Ismail, but who had secretly
returned to his allegiance and acted as a spy on the
Imperial army, was deputed to treat with him. As
soon as he arrived, Ali began to enact a comedy in
the intention of rebutting the accusation of incest
with his daughter-in-law Zobeide; for this charge,
which, since Veli himself had revealed the secret of
their common shame, could only be met by vague
denials, had never ceased to produce a most un-
favourable impression on Noutza's mind. Scarcely
had he entered the castle by the lake, when Ali
rushed to meet him, and flung himself into his
arms. In presence of his officers and the garrison,

2270

ALI PACHA

he loaded him with the most tender names, calling
him his son, his beloved Alexis, his own legitimate
child, even as Salik Pacha. He burst into tears,
and, with terrible oaths, called Heaven to witness
that Mouktar and Veli, whom he disavowed on
account of their cowardice, were the adulterous off-
spring of Emineh's amours. Then, raising his
hand against the tomb of her whom he had loved
so much, he drew the stupefied Noutza into the
recess of a casemate, and sending for Basilissa,
presented him to her as a beloved son, whom only
political considerations had compelled him to keep
at a distance, because, being born of a Christian
mother, he had been brought up in the faith of
Jesus.

Having thus softened the suspicions of his
soldiers, Ali resumed his underground intrigues.
The Suliots had informed him that the sultan had
made them extremely advantageous offers if they
would return to his service, and they demanded
pressingly that Ali should give up to them the citadel
of Kiapha, which was still in his possession, and
which commanded Suli. He replied with the infor-
mation that he intended, January 26, to attack the
camp of Pacho Bey early in the morning, and
requested their assistance. In order to cause a
diversion, they were to descend into the valley of
Janina at night, and occupy a position which he

2271

CELEBRATED CRIMES

pointed out to them, and he gave them the word
" flouri " as password for the night. If successful,
he undertook to grant their request.

Ali's letter was intercepted, and fell into Ismail's
hands, who immediately conceived a plan for
snaring his enemy in his own toils. When the
night fixed by AH arrived, the Seraskier marched
out a strong division under the command of Omar
Brionis, who had been recently appointed Pacha,
and who was instructed to proceed along the west-
ern slope of Mount Paktoras as far as the village of
Besdoune, where he was to place an outpost, and
then to retire along the other side of the mountain,
so that, being visible in the starlight, the sentinels
placed to watch on the hostile towers might take
his men for the Suliots and report to Ali that the
position of Saint-Nicolas, assigned to them, had
been occupied as arranged. All preparations for
battle were made, and the two mortal enemies,
Ismail and Ali, retired to rest, each cherishing the
darling hope of shortly annihilating his rival.

At break of day a lively cannonade, proceeding
from the castle of the lake and from Lithoritza,
announced that the besieged intended a sortie.
Soon Ali's Skipetars, preceded by a detachment of
French, Italians, and Swiss, rushed through the
Ottoman fire and carried the first redoubt, held by
Ibrahim-Aga-Stamboul. They found six pieces of

2272

ALI PACHA

cannon, which the Turks, notwithstanding their
terror, had had time to spike. This misadventure,
for they had hoped to turn the artillery against the
intrenched camp, decided Ali's men on attacking
the second redoubt, commanded by the chief bom-
bardier. The Asiatic troops of Baltadgi Pacha
rushed to its defence. At their head appeared the
chief Imaun of the army, mounted on a richly
caparisoned mule and repeating the curse fulmi-
nated by the mufti against Ali, his adherents, his
castles, and even his cannons, which it was supposed
might be rendered harmless by these adjurations.
Ali's Mohammedan Skipetars averted their eyes,
and spat into their bosoms, hoping thus to escape
the evil influence. A superstitious terror was be-
ginning to spread among them, when a French
adventurer took aim at the Imaun and brought him
down, amid the acclamations of the soldiers; where-
upon the Asiatics, imagining that Eblis himself
fought against them, retired within the intrench-
ments, whither the Skipetars, no longer fearing the
curse, pursued them vigorously.

At the same time, however, a very different
action was proceeding at the northern end of the
besiegers' intrenchments. Ali left his castle of the
lake, preceded by twelve torch-bearers carrying
braziers filled with lighted pitch-wood, and ad-
vanced towards the shore of Saint-Nicolas, expect-

2273

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ing to unite with the Suliots. He stopped in the
middle of the ruins to wait for sunrise, and while
there heard that his troops had carried the battery
of Ibrahim-Aga-Stamboul. Overjoyed, he ordered
them to press on to the second intrenchment, prom-
ising that in an hour, when he should have been
joined by the Suliots, he would support them, and
he then pushed forward, preceded by two field-
pieces with their waggons, and followed by fifteen
hundred men, as far as a large plateau on which he
perceived at a little distance an encampment which
he supposed to be that of the Suliots. He then
ordered the Mirdite prince, Kyr Lekos, to advance
with an escort of twenty-five men, and when within
hearing distance to wave a blue flag and call out
the password. An Imperial officer replied with the
countersign " flouri," and Lekos immediately sent
back word to Ali to advance. His orderly hastened
back, and the prince entered the camp, where he
and his escort were immediately surrounded and
slain.

On receiving the message, Ali began to advance,
but cautiously, being uneasy at seeing no signs of
the Mirdite troop. Suddenly, furious cries, and a
lively fusillade, proceeding from the vineyards and
thickets, announced that he had fallen into a trap,
and at the same moment Omar Pacha fell upon
his advance guard, which broke, crying " Treason ! "

2274

ALI PACHA

All sabre'd the fugitives mercilessly, but fear carried
them away, and, forced to follow the crowd, he
perceived the Kersales and Baltadgi Pacha descend-
ing the side of Mount Paktoras, intending to cut off
his retreat. He attempted another route, hastening
towards the road to Dgeleva, but found it held by
the Tapagetse under the Bimbashi Aslon of Argyro-
Castron. He was surrounded, all seemed lost, and
feeling that his last hour had come, he thought
only of selling his life as dearly as possible. Col-
lecting his bravest soldiers round him, he prepared
for a last rush on Omar Pacha; when, suddenly,
with an inspiration born of despair, he ordered his
ammunition waggons to be blown up. The
Kersales, who were about to seize them, vanished
in the explosion, which scattered a hail of stones
and debris far and wide. Under cover of the smoke
and general confusion, Ali succeeded in withdraw-
ing his men to the shelter of the guns of his castle
of Litharitza, where he continued the fight in order
to give time to the fugitives to rally, and to give
the support he had promised to those fighting on
the other slope; who, in the meantime, had carried
the second battery and were attacking the fortified
camp. Here the Seraskier Ismail met them with a
resistance so well managed, that he was able to
conceal the attack he was preparing to make on
their rear. Ali, guessing that the object of Ismail's

2275

CELEBRATED CRIMES

manoeuvres was to crush those whom he had prom-
ised to help, and unable, on account of the distance,
either to support or to warn them, endeavoured to
impede Omar Pacha, hoping still that his Skipetars
might either see or hear him. He encouraged the
fugitives, who recognised him from afar by his
scarlet dolman, by the dazzling whiteness of his
horse, and by the terrible cries which he uttered;
for, in the heat of battle, this extraordinary man
appeared to have regained the vigour and audacity,
of his youth. Twenty times he led his soldiers to
the charge, and as often was forced to recoil
towards his castles. He brought up his reserves,
but in vain. Fate had declared against him. His
troops which were attacking the intrenched camp
found themselves taken between two fires, and he
could not help them. Foaming with passion, he
threatened to rush singly into the midst of his
enemies. His officers besought him to calm him-
self, and, receiving only refusals, at last threatened
to lay hands upon him if he persisted in exposing
himself like a private soldier. Subdued by this un-
accustomed opposition, Ali allowed himself to be
forced back into the castle by the lake, while his
soldiers dispersed in various directions.

But even this defeat did not discourage the fierce
pacha. Reduced to extremity, he yet entertained
the hope of shaking the Ottoman Empire, and

2276

ALI PACHA

from the recesses of his fortress he agitated the
whole of Greece. The insurrection which he had
stirred up, without foreseeing what the results
might be, was spreading with the rapidity of a
lighted train of powder, and the Mohammedans
were beginning to tremble, when at length Kursheed
Pacha, having crossed the Pindus at the head of an
army of eighty thousand men, arrived before
Janina.

His tent had hardly been pitched, when Ali
caused a salute of twenty-one guns to be fired in
his honour, and sent a messenger, bearing a letter
of congratulation on his safe arrival. This letter,
artful and insinuating, was calculated to make a
deep impression on Kursheed. Ali wrote that,
being driven by the infamous lies of a former
servant, called Pacho Bey, into resisting, not indeed
the authority of the sultan, before whom he humbly
bent his head weighed down with years and grief,
but the perfidious plots of His Highness's advisers,
he considered himself happy in his misfortunes to
have dealings with a vizier noted for his lofty quali-
ties. He then added that these rare merits had
doubtless been very far from being estimated at
their proper value by a Divan in which men were
only classed in accordance with the sums they laid
out in gratifying the rapacity of the ministers.
Otherwise, how came it about that Kursheed Pacha,

6— Dumas— Vol. 7 2277

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Viceroy of Egypt after the departure of the French,
the conqueror of the Mamelukes, was only rewarded
for these services by being recalled without a
reason? Having been twice Romili-Valicy, why,
when he should have enjoyed the reward of his
labours, was he relegated to the obscure post of
Salonica? And, when appointed Grand Vizier and
sent to pacify Servia, instead of being entrusted
with the government of this kingdom which he
had reconquered for the sultan, why was he hastily
despatched to Aleppo to repress a trifling sedition
of emirs and janissaries? Now, scarcely arrived
in the Morea, his powerful arm was to be employed
against an aged man.

Ali then plunged into details, related the pillag-
ing, avarice, and imperious dealing of Pacho Bey,
as well as of the pachas subordinate to him; how
they had alienated the public mind, how they had
succeeded in offending the Armatolis, and espe-
cially the Suliots, who might be brought back to
their duty with less trouble than these imprudent
chiefs had taken to estrange them. He gave a mass
of special information on this subject, and explained
that in advising the Suliots to retire to their moun-
tains he had really only put them in a false position
as long as he retained possession of the fort of
Kiapha, which is the key of the Selleide.

The Seraskier replied in a friendly manner,
2278

ALI PACHA

ordered the military, salute to be returned in Ali's
honour, shot for shot, and forbade that henceforth
a person of the valour and intrepidity of the Lion of
Tepelen should be described by the epithet of " ex-
communicated." He also spoke of him by his
title of " vizier," which he declared he had never
forfeited the right to use; and he also stated that
he had only entered Epirus as a peace-maker.
Kursheed's emissaries had just seized some letters
sent by Prince Alexander Ypsilanti to the Greek
captains at Epirus. Without going into details of
the events which led to the Greek insurrection, the
prince advised the Polemarchs, chiefs of the Selleid,
to aid Ali Pacha in his revolt against the Porte,
but to so arrange matters that they could easily
detach themselves again, their only aim being to
seize his treasures, which might be used to procure
the freedom of Greece.

These letters a messenger from Kursheed
delivered to Ali. They produced such an impression
upon his mind that he secretly resolved only to make
use of the Greeks, and to sacrifice them to his own
designs, if he could not inflict a terrible vengeance
on their perfidy. He heard from the messenger at the
same time of the agitation in European Turkey, the
hopes of the Christians, and the apprehension of
a rupture between the Porte and Russia. It was
necessary to lay aside vain resentment and to unite

2279

CELEBRATED CRIMES

against these threatening dangers. Kursheed Pacha
was, said his messenger, ready to consider favour-
ably any propositions likely to lead to a prompt
pacification, and would value such a result far more
highly than the glory of subduing by means of the
imposing force at his command, a valiant prince
whom he had always regarded as one of the
strongest bulwarks of the Ottoman Empire. This
information produced a different effect upon AH to
that intended by the Seraskier. Passing suddenly
from the depth of despondency to the height of
pride, he imagined that these overtures of reconcil-
iation were only a proof of the inability of his foes
to subdue him, and he sent the following proposi-
tions to Kursheed Pacha: —

" If the first duty of a prince is to do justice,
that of his subjects is to remain faithful, and obey
him in all things. From this principle we derive
that of rewards and punishments, and although my
services might sufficiently justify my conduct to all
time, I nevertheless acknowledge that I have de-
served the wrath of the sultan, since he has raised
the arm of his anger against the head of his slave.
Having humbly implored his pardon, I fear not to
invoke his severity towards those who have abused
his confidence. With this object I offer — First, to
pay the expenses of the war and the tribute in

2280

ALI PACHA

arrears due from my Government without delay.
Secondly, as it is important for the sake of example
that the treason of an inferior towards his superior
should receive fitting chastisement, I demand that
Pacho Bey, formerly in my service, should be
beheaded, he being the real rebel, and the cause of
the public calamities which are afflicting the faithful
of Islam. Thirdly, I require that for the rest of
my life I shall retain, without annual re-investiture,
my pachalik of Janina, the coast of Epirus, Acar-
nania and its dependencies, subject to the rights,
charges and tribute due now and hereafter to the
sultan. Fourthly, I demand amnesty and oblivion
of the past for all those who have served me until
now. And if these conditions are not accepted with-
out modifications, I am prepared to defend myself
to the last.

" Given at the castle of Janina, March 7, 182 1."

2281

CHAPTER X

THIS mixture of arrogance and submission only
merited indignation, but it suited Kursheed
to dissemble. He replied that, assenting to such
propositions being beyond his powers, he would
transmit them to Constantinople, and that hostilities
might be suspended, if Ali wished, until the courier
could return.

Being quite as cunning as Ali himself, Kursheed
profited by the truce to carry on intrigues against
him. He corrupted one of the chiefs of the gar-
rison, Metzo-Abbas by name, who obtained pardon
for himself and fifty followers, with permission to
return to their homes. But this clemency appeared
to have seduced also four hundred Skipetars who
made use of the amnesty and the money with which
Ali provided them, to raise Toxis and the Tapygetae
in the latter's favour. Thus the Seraskier's scheme
turned against himself, and he perceived he had
been deceived by Ali's seeming apathy, which cer-
tainly did not mean dread of defection. In fact,
no man worth anything could have abandoned him,
supported as he seemed to be by almost supernatural

2282

ALI PACHA

courage. Suffering from a violent attack of gout,
a malady he had never before experienced, the
pacha, at the age of eighty-one, was daily carried
to the most exposed place on the ramparts of his
castle. There, facing the hostile batteries, he gave
audience to whoever wished to see him. On this
exposed platform he held his councils, despatched
orders, and indicated to what points his guns should
be directed. Illumined by the flashes of fire, his
figure assumed fantastic and weird shapes. The
balls sung in the air, the bullets hailed around him,
the noise drew blood from the ears of those with
him. Calm and immovable, he gave signals to the
soldiers who were still occupying part of the ruins
of Janina, and encouraged them by voice and ges-
ture. Observing the enemy's movements by the
help of a telescope, he improvised means of counter-
acting them. Sometimes he amused himself by
greeting curious persons and new-comers after a
fashion of his own. Thus, the chancellor of the
French Consul at Prevesa, sent as an envoy to Kur-
sheed Pacha, had scarcely entered the lodging
assigned to him, when he was visited by a bomb
which caused him to leave it again with all haste.
This greeting was due to Ali's chief engineer, Car-
etto, who next day sent a whole shower of balls
and shells into the midst of a group of Frenchmen,
whose curiosity had brought them to Tika, where

2283

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Kursheed was forming a battery. " It is time,"
said Ali, " that these contemptible gossip-mongers
should find listening at doors may become uncom-
fortable. I have furnished matter enough for them
to talk about. Frangistan (Christendom) shall
henceforth hear only of my triumph or my fall,
which will leave it considerable trouble to pacify."
Then, after a moment's silence, he ordered the pub-
lic criers to inform his soldiers of the insurrections
in Wallachia and the Morea, which news, pro-
claimed from the ramparts, and spreading imme-
diately in the Imperial camp, caused there much
dejection.

The Greeks were now everywhere proclaiming
their independence, and Kursheed found himself
unexpectedly surrounded by enemies. His position
threatened to become worse if the siege of Janina
dragged on much longer. He seized the island in
the middle of the lake, and threw up redoubts upon
it, whence he kept up an incessant fire on the south-
ern front of the castle of Litharitza, and a prac-
ticable trench of nearly forty feet having been made,
an assault was decided on. The troops marched
out boldly, and performed prodigies of valour; but
at the end of an hour, Ali, carried on a litter because
of his gout, having led a sortie, the besiegers were
compelled to give way and retire to their intrench-
ments, leaving three hundred dead at the foot of

2284

ALI PACHA

the rampart. " The Pindian bear is yet alive," said
Ali in a message to Kursheed ; " thou mayest take
thy dead and bury them; I give them up without
ransom, and as I shall always do when thou attack-
est me as a brave man ought." Then, having en-
tered his fortress amid the acclamations of his sol-
diers, he remarked on hearing of the general rising
of Greece and the Archipelago, " It is enough! two
men have ruined Turkey! " He then remained silent,
and vouchsafed no explanation of this prophetic
sentence.

Ali did not on this occasion manifest his usual
delight on having gained a success. As soon as he
was alone with Basilissa, he informed her with
tears of the death of Chainitza. A sudden apoplexy
had stricken this beloved sister, the life of his coun-
cils, in her palace of Libokovo, where she remained
undisturbed until her death. She owed this special
favour to her riches and to the intercession of her
nephew, Djiladin Pacha of Ochcrida, who was
reserved by fate to perform the funeral obsequies
of the guilty race of Tepelen.

A few months afterwards, Ibrahim Pacha of
Berat died of poison, being the last victim whom
Cha'initza had demanded from her brother.

Ali's position was becoming daily more difficult,
when the time of Ramadan arrived, during which
the Turks relax hostilities, and a species of truce

2285

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ensued. AH himself appeared to respect the old
popular customs, and allowed his Mohammedan
soldiers to visit the enemy's outposts and confer on
the subject of various religious ceremonies. Dis-
cipline was relaxed in Kursheed's camp, and AH
profited thereby to ascertain the smallest details of
all that passed.

He learned from his spies that the general's staff,
counting on the " Truce of God," a tacit suspension
of all hostilities during the feast of Bairam, the
Mohammedan Easter, intended to repair to the chief
mosque, in the quarter of Loutcha. This building,
spared by the bombs, had until now been respected
by both sides. Ali, according to reports spread by
himself, was supposed to be ill, weakened by fast-
ing, and terrified into a renewal of devotion, and
not likely to give trouble on so sacred a day. Never-
theless he ordered Caretto to turn thirty guns
against the mosque, cannon, mortars and howitzers,
intending, he said, to solemnise Bairam by dis-
charges of artillery. As soon as he was sure that
the whole of the staff had entered the mosque, he
gave the signal.

Instantly, from the assembled thirty pieces, there
issued a storm of shells, grenades and cannon-balls.
With a terrific noise, the mosque crumbled together,
amid the cries of pain and rage of the crowd inside
crushed in the ruins. At the end of a quarter of

2286

ALI PACHA

an hour the wind dispersed the smoke, and dis-
closed a burning crater, with the large cypresses
which surrounded the building blazing as if they
had been torches lighted for the funeral ceremonies
of sixty captains and two hundred soldiers.

"Ali Pacha is yet alive! " cried the old Homeric
hero of Janina, leaping with joy; and his words,
passing from mouth to mouth, spread yet more ter-
ror amid Kursheed's soldiers, already overwhelmed
by the horrible spectacle passing before their eyes.

Almost on the same day, Ali from the height of
his keep beheld the standard of the Cross waving
in the distance. The rebellious Greeks were bent
on attacking Kursheed. The insurrection promoted
by the Vizier of Janina had passed far beyond the
point he intended, and the rising had become a rev-
olution. The delight which Ali first evinced cooled
rapidly before this consideration, and was extin-
guished in grief when he found that a conflagration,
caused by the besiegers' fire, had consumed part of
his store in the castle by the lake. Kursheed, think-
ing that this event must have shaken the old lion's
resolution, recommenced negotiations, choosing the
Kiaia of Moustai Pacha as an envoy, who gave Ali
a remarkable warning. " Reflect," said he, " that
these rebels bear the sign of the Cross on their
standards. You are now only an instrument in their
hands. Beware lest you become the victim of their

2287

CELEBRATED CRIMES

policy." Ali understood the danger, and had the
sultan been better advised, he would have pardoned
Ali on condition of again bringing Hellas under
his iron yoke. It is possible that the Greeks might
not have prevailed against an enemy so formidable
and a brain so fertile in intrigue. But so simple an
idea was far beyond the united intellect of the
Divan, which never rose above idle display. As
soon as these negotiations had commenced, Kur-
sheed filled the roads with his couriers, sending
often two in a day to Constantinople, from whence
as many were sent to him. This state of things
lasted more than three weeks, when it became known
that Ali, who had made good use of his time in re-
placing the stores lost in the conflagration, buying
actually from the Kiaia himself a part of the pro-
visions brought by him for the Imperial camp,
refused to accept the Ottoman ultimatum. Troubles
which broke out at the moment of the rupture of
the negotiations proved that he foresaw the probable
result.

Kursheed was recompensed for the deception by
which he had been duped by the reduction of the
fortress of Litharitza. The Guegue Skipetars, who
composed the garrison, badly paid, wearied out by
the long siege, and won by the Seraskier's bribes,
took advantage of the fact that the time of their
engagement with Ali had elapsed some months pre-

ALI PACHA

viously, and delivering up the fortress they de-
fended, passed over to the enemy. Henceforth Ali's
force consisted of only six hundred men.

It was to be feared that this handful of men
might also become a prey to discouragement, and
might surrender their chief to an enemy who had
received all fugitives with kindness. The Greek
insurgents dreaded such an event, which would have
turned all Kursheed's army, hitherto detained before
the castle of Janina, loose upon themselves. There-
fore they hastened to send to their former enemy,
now their ally, assistance which he declined to
accept. Ali saw himself surrounded by enemies
thirsting for his wealth, and his avarice increasing
with the danger, he had for some months past
refused to pay his defenders. He contented him-
self with informing his captains of the insurgents'
offer, and telling them that he was confident that
bravery such as theirs required no reinforcement.
And when some of them besought him to at least
receive two or three hundred Palikars into the
castle, " No," said he; " old serpents always remain
old serpents : I distrust the Suliots and their friend-
ship."

Ignorant of Ali's decision, the Greeks of the
Selleid were advancing, as well as the Toxidse,
towards Janina, when they received the following
letter from Ali Pacha: —

2289

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" My well-beloved children, I have just learned
that you are preparing to despatch a party of your
Palikars against our common enemy, Kursheed. I
desire to inform you that this my fortress is im-
pregnable, and that I can hold out against him for
several years. The only service I require of your
courage is, that you should reduce Arta, and take
alive Ismail Pacho Bey, my former servant, the
mortal enemy of my family, and the author of the
evils and frightful calamities which have so long
oppressed our unhappy country, which he has laid
waste before our eyes. Use your best efforts to
accomplish this, it will strike at the root of the evil,
and my treasures shall reward your Palikars, whose
courage every day gains a higher value in my eyes."

Furious at this mystification, the Suliots retired
to their mountains, and Kursheed profited by the
discontent Ali's conduct had caused, to win over the
Toxide Skipetars, with their commanders Tahir
Abbas and Hagi Bessiaris, who only made two con-
ditions: one, that Ismail Pacho Bey, their personal
enemy, should be deposed; the other, that the life
of their old vizier should be respected.

The first condition was faithfully adhered to by
Kursheed,. actuated by private motives different
from those which he gave publicly, and Ismail Pacho
Bey was solemnly deposed. The tails, emblems of

2290

ALI PACHA

his authority, were removed ; he resigned the plumes
of office; his soldiers forsook him, his servants fol-
lowed suit. Fallen to the lowest rank, he was soon
thrown into prison, where he only blamed Fate for
his misfortunes. All the Skipetar Agas hastened
to place themselves under Kursheeds' standard, and
enormous forces now threatened Janina. All Epirus
awaited the denoument with anxiety.

Had he been less avaricious, AH might have en-
listed all the adventurers with whom the East was
swarming, and made the sultan tremble in his capi-
tal. But the aged pacha clung passionately to his
treasures. He feared also, perhaps not unreason-
ably, that those by whose aid he might triumph
would some day become his master. He long
deceived himself with the idea that the English,
who had sold Parga to him, would never allow a
Turkish fleet to enter the Ionian Sea. Mistaken on
this point, his foresight was equally at fault with
regard to the cowardice of his sons. The defection
of his troops was not less fatal, and he only under-
stood the bearing of the Greek insurrection which
he himself had provoked, so far as to see that in this
struggle he was merely an instrument in procuring
the freedom of a country which he had too cruelly
oppressed to be able to hold even an inferior rank
in it. His last letter to the Suliots opened the eyes
of his followers, but under the influence of a sort of

2291

CELEBRATED CRIMES

polite modesty these were at least anxious to stip-
ulate for the life of their vizier. Kursheed was
obliged to produce firmans from the Porte, declar-
ing that if Ali Tepelen submitted, the royal promise
given to his sons should be kept, and that he should,
with them, be transferred to Asia Minor, as also
his harem, his servants, and his treasures, and
allowed to finish his days in peace. Letters from
Ali's sons were shown to the Agas, testifying to the
good treatment they had experienced in their exile ;
and whether the latter believed all this, or whether
they merely sought to satisfy their own consciences,
they henceforth thought only of inducing their
rebellious chief to submit. Finally, eight months'
pay, given them in advance, proved decisive, and
they frankly embraced the cause of the sultan.

The garrison of the castle on the lake, whom Ali
seemed anxious to offend as much as possible, by
refusing their pay, he thinking them so compro-
mised that they would not venture even to accept an
amnesty guaranteed by the mufti, began to desert
as soon as they knew the Toxid?e had arrived at the
Imperial camp. Every night these Skipetars who
could cross the moat betook themselves to Kur-
sheed's quarters. One single man yet baffled all the
efforts of the besiegers. The chief engineer, Car-
etto, like another Archimedes, still carried terror
into the midst of their camp.
2292

ALI PACHA

Although reduced to the direst misery, Caretto
could not forget that he owed his life to the master
who now only repaid his services with the most
sordid ingratitude. When he had first come to
Epirus, Ali, recognising his ability, became anxious
to retain him, but without incurring any expense.
He ascertained that the Neapolitan was passionately
in love with a Mohammedan girl named Nekibi,
who returned his affection. Acting under Ali's
orders, Tahir Abbas accused the woman before the
cadi of sacrilegious intercourse with an infidel. She
could only escape death by the apostasy of her
lover; if he refused to deny his God, he shared her
fate, and both would perish at the stake. Caretto
refused to renounce his religion, but only Nekibi
suffered death. Caretto was withdrawn from exe-
cution, and Ali kept him concealed in a place of
safety, whence he produced him in the time of need.
No one had served him with greater zeal ; it is even
possible that a man of this type would have died
at his post, had his cup not been filled with morti-
fication and insult.

Eluding the vigilance of Athanasius Vaya, whose
charge it was to keep guard over him, Caretto let
himself down by a cord fastened to the end of a
cannon. He fell at the foot of the rampart, and
thence dragged himself, with a broken arm, to the
opposite camp. He had become nearly blind

2293

CELEBRATED CRIMES

through the explosion of a cartridge which had
burnt his face. He was received as well as a Chris-
tian from whom there was now nothing to fear,
could expect. He received the bread of charity,
and as a refugee is only valued in proportion to the
use which can be made of him, he was despised and
forgotten.

The desertion of Caretto was soon followed by a
defection which annihilated All's last hopes. The
garrison which had given him so many proofs of
devotion, discouraged by his avarice, suffering from
a disastrous epidemic, and no longer equal to the
necessary labour in defence of the place, opened all
the gates simultaneously to the enemy. But the
besiegers, fearing a trap, advanced very slowly; so
that Ali, who had long prepared against every sort
of surprise, had time to gain a place which he called
his " refuge."

It was a sort of fortified enclosure, of solid
masonry, bristling with cannon, which surrounded
the private apartments of his seraglio, called the
" Women's Tower." He had taken care to demolish
everything which could be set on fire, reserving only
a mosque and the tomb of his wife Emineh, whose
phantom, after announcing an eternal repose, had
ceased to haunt him. Beneath was an immense nat-
ural cave, in which he had stored ammunition,
precious articles, provisions, and the treasures which

2294

ALI PACHA

had not been sunk in the lake. In this cave an
apartment had been made for Basilissa and his
harem, also a shelter in which he retired to sleep
when exhausted with fatigue. This place was his
last resort, a kind of mausoleum; and he did not
seem distressed at beholding the castle in the hands
of his enemies. He calmly allowed them to occupy
the entrance, deliver their hostages, overrun the
ramparts, count the cannon which were on the plat-
forms, crumbling from the hostile shells; but when
they came within hearing, he demanded by one of
his servants that Kursheed should send him an
envoy of distinction ; meanwhile he forbade anyone
to pass beyond a certain place which he pointed out.

Kursheed, imagining that, being in the last ex-
tremity, he would capitulate, sent out Tahir Abbas
and Hagi Bessiaris. Ali listened without reproach-
ing them for their treachery, but simply observed
that he wished to meet some of the chief officers.

The Seraskier then deputed his keeper of the
wardrobe, accompanied by his keeper of the seals and
other persons of quality. Ali received them with
all ceremony, and, after the usual compliments had
been exchanged, invited them to descend with him
into the cavern. There he showed them more than
two thousand barrels of powder carefully arranged
beneath his treasures, his remaining provisions, and
a number of valuable objects which adorned this

2295

CELEBRATED CRIMES

slumbering volcano. He showed them also his bed-
room, a sort of cell richly furnished, and close to the
powder. It could be reached only by means of
three doors, the secret of which was known to no
one but himself. Alongside of this was the harem,
and in the neighbouring mosque was quartered his
garrison, consisting of fifty men, all ready to bury
themselves under the ruins of this fortification, the
only spot remaining to him of all Greece, which
had formerly bent beneath his authority.

After this exhibition. Ali presented one of his
most devoted followers to the envoys. Selim, who
watched over the fire, was a youth in appearance as
gentle as his heart was intrepid, and his special duty
was to be in readiness to blow up the whole place at
any moment. The pacha gave him his hand to kiss,
inquiring if he were ready to die, to which he only
responded by pressing his master's hand fervently
to his lips. He never took his eyes off Ali, and the
lantern, near which a match was constantly smok-
ing, was entrusted only to him and to Ali, who
took turns with him in watching it. Ali drew a
pistol from his belt, making as if to turn it towards
the powder magazine, and the envoys fell at his feet,
uttering involuntary cries of terror. He smiled at
their fears, and assured them that, being wearied of
the weight of his weapons, he had only intended to
relieve himself of some of them. He then begged

2296

ALI PACHA

them to seat themselves, and added that he should
like even a more terrible funeral than that which
they had just ascribed to him. " I do not wish to
drag down with me," he exclaimed, " those who
have come to visit me as friends; it is Kursheed,
whom I have long regarded as my brother, his
chiefs, those who have betrayed me, his whole army
in short, whom I desire to follow me to the tomb —
a sacrifice which will be worthy of my renown, and
of the brilliant end to which I aspire."

The envoys gazed at him with stupefaction, which
did not diminish when Ali further informed them
that they were not only sitting over the arch of a
casemate filled with two hundred thousand pounds
of powder, but that the whole castle, which they
had so rashly occupied, was undermined. " The
rest you have seen," he said, " but of this you could
not be aware. My riches are the sole cause of the
war which has been made against me, and in one
moment I can destroy them. Life is nothing to
me, I might have ended it among the Greeks, but
could I, a powerless old man, resolve to live on
terms of equality among those whose absolute mas-
ter I have been? Thus, whichever way I look, my
career is ended. However, I am attached to those
who still surround me, so hear my last resolve. Let
a pardon, sealed by the sultan's hands, be given me,
and I will submit. I will go to Constantinople, to

2297

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Asia Minor, or wherever I am sent. The things I
should see here would no longer be fitting for me to
behold."

To this Kursheed's envoys made answer that
without doubt these terms would be conceded. AH
then touched his breast and forehead, and, drawing
forth his watch, presented it to the keeper of the
wardrobe. " I mean what I say, my friend," he
observed; "my word will be kept. If within an
hour thy soldiers are not withdrawn from this castle
which has been treacherously yielded to them, I will
blow it up. Return to the Seraskier, warn him that
if he allows one minute more to elapse than the time
specified, his army, his garrison, I myself and my
famliy, will all perish together : two hundred thou-
sand pounds of powder can destroy all that sur-
rounds us. Take this watch, I give it thee, and
forget not that I am a man of my word." Then,
dismissing the messengers, he saluted them gra-
ciously, observing that he did not expect an answer
until the soldiers should have evacuated the castle.

The envoys had barely returned to the camp when
Kursheed sent orders to abandon the fortress. As
the reason for this step could not be concealed,
everyone, exaggerating the danger, imagined deadly
mines ready to be fired everywhere, and the whole
army clamoured to break up the camp. Thus AH
and his fifty followers cast terror into the hearts

2298

ALI PACHA

of nearly thirty thousand men, crowded together
on the slopes of Janina. Every sound, every whiff
of smoke, ascending from near the castle, became a
subject of alarm for the besiegers. And as the
besieged had provisions for a long time, Kursheed
saw little chance of successfully ending his enter-
prise; when Ali's demand for pardon occurred to
him. Without stating his real plans, he proposed
to his Council to unite in signing a petition to the
Divan for Ali's pardon.

This deed, formally executed, and bearing more
than sixty signatures, was then shown to Ali, who
was greatly delighted. He was described in it as
Vizier, as Aulic Councillor, and also as the most
distinguished veteran among His Highness the Sul-
tan's slaves. He sent rich presents to Kursheed
and the principal officers, whom he hoped to cor-
rupt, and breathed as though the storm had passed
away. The following night, however, he heard
the voice of Emineh, calling him several times, and
concluded that his end drew nigh.

During the two next nights he again thought
he heard Emineh's voice, and sleep forsook his pil-
low, his countenance altered, and his endurance
appeared to be giving way. Leaning on a long
Malacca cane, he repaired at early dawn to Emineh's
tomb, on which he offered a sacrifice of two spotted
lambs, sent him by Tahir Abbas, whom in return

2299

CELEBRATED CRIMES

he consented to pardon, and the letters he received
appeared to mitigate his trouble. Some days later,
he saw the keeper of the wardrobe, who encouraged
him, saying that before long there would be good
news from Constaninople. Ali learned from him
the disgrace of Pacho Bey, and of Ismail Pliaga,
whom he detested equally, and this exercise of
authority, which was made to appear as a beginning
of satisfaction offered him, completely reassured
him, and he made fresh presents to this officer, who
had succeeded in inspiring him with confidence.

Whilst awaiting the arrival of the firman of par-
don which Ali was reassured must arrive from Con-
stantinople without fail, the keeper of the wardrobe
advised him to seek an interview with Kursheed.
It was clear that such a meeting could not take
place in the undermined castle, and Ali was there-
fore invited to repair to the island in the lake. The
magnificent pavilion, which he had constructed there
in happier days, had been entirely refurnished, and
it was proposed that the conference should take
place in this kiosk.

Ali appeared to hesitate at this proposal, and the
keeper of the wardrobe, wishing to anticipate his
objections, added that the object of this arrange-
ment was, to prove to the army, already aware of
it, that there was no longer any quarrel between him-
self and the commander-in-chief. He added that

2300

ALI PACHA

Kursheed would go to the conference attended only
by members of his Divan, but that as it was natural
an outlawed man should be on his guard, Ali might,
if he liked, send to examine the place, might take
with him such guards as he thought necessary, and
might even arrange things on the same footing as
in his citadel, even to his guardian with the lighted
match, as the surest guarantee which could be given
him.

The proposition was accepted, and when Ali, hav-
ing crossed over with a score of soldiers, found him-
self more at large than he did in his casemate, he
congratulated himself on having come. He had Bas-
ilissa brought over, also his diamonds, and several
chests of money. Two days passed without his
thinking of anything but procuring various neces-
saries, and he then began to inquire what caused
the Seraskier to delay his visit. The latter excused
himself on the plea of illness, and offered mean-
while to send anyone Ali might wish to see, to visit
him. The pacha immediately mentioned several of
his former followers, now employed in the Imperial
army, and as no difficulty was made in allowing
them to go, he profited by the permission to inter-
view a large number of his old acquaintances, who
united in reassuring him and in giving him great
hopes of success.

Nevertheless, time passed on, and neither the
2301

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Seraskier nor the firman appeared. AH, at first
uneasy, ended by rarely mentioning either the one
or the other, and never was deceiver more completely
deceived. His security was so great that he loudly
congratulated himself on having come to the island.
He had begun to form a net of intrigue to cause
himself to be intercepted on the road when he should
be sent to Constantinople, and he did not despair
of soon finding numerous partisans in the Imperial
army.

2302

CHAPTER XI

FOR a whole week all seemed going well, when,
on the morning of February 5th, Kursheed
sent Hassan Pacha to convey his compliments to
AH, and announce that the sultan's firman, so long
desired, had at length arrived. Their mutual wishes
had been heard, but it was desirable, for the dignity
of their sovereign, that Ali, in order to show his
gratitude and submission, should order Selim to
extinguish the fatal match and to leave the cave,
and that the rest of the garrison should first dis-
play the Imperial standard and then evacuate the
enclosure. Only on this condition could Kursheed
deliver into Ali's hands the sultan's decree of
clemency.

Ali was alarmed, and his eyes were at length
opened. He replied hesitatingly, that on leaving the
citadel he had charged Selim to obey only his own
verbal order, that no written command, even though
signed and sealed by himself, would produce any
effect, and therefore he desired to repair himself
to the castle, in order to fulfil what was required.

Thereupon a long argument ensued, in which
2303

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Ali's sagacity, skill, and artifice struggled vainly
against a decided line of action. New protestations
were made to deceive him, oaths were even taken
on the Koran that no evil designs, no mental reser-
vations, were entertained. At length, yielding to
the prayers of those who surrounded him, perhaps
concluding that all his skill could no longer fight
against Destiny, he finally gave way.

Drawing a secret token from his bosom, he
handed it to Kursheed's envoy, saying, " Go, show
this to Selim, and you will convert a dragon into
a lamb." And in fact, at sight of the talisman,
Selim prostrated himself, extinguished the match,
— and fell, stabbed to the heart. At the same time
the garrison withdrew, the Imperial standard dis-
played its blazonry, and the lake castle was occupied
by the troops of the Seraskier, who rent the air with
their acclamations.

It was then noon. Ali, in the island, had lost all
illusions. His pulse beat violently, but his coun-
tenance did not betray his mental trouble. It was
noticed that he appeared at intervals to be lost in
profound thought, that he yawned frequently, and
continually drew his fingers through his beard. He
drank coffee and iced water several times, inces-
santly looked at his watch, and taking his field-glass,
surveyed by turns the camp, the castles of Janina,
the Pindus range, and the peaceful waters of the

2304

ALI PACHA

lake. Occasionally he glanced at his weapons, and
then his eyes sparkled with the fire of youth and
of courage. Stationed beside him, his guards pre-
pared their cartridges, their eyes fixed on the land-
ing-place.

The kiosk which he occupied was connected with
a wooden structure raised upon pillars, like the
open-air theatres constructed for a public festival,
and the women occupied the most remote apart-
ments. Everything seemed sad and silent. The
vizier, according to custom, sat facing the doorway,
so as to be the first to perceive any who might wish
to enter. At five o'clock boats were seen approach-
ing the island, and soon Hassan Pacha, Omar
Brionis, Kursheed's sword-bearer, Mehemet, the
keeper of the wardrobe, and several officers of the
army, attended by a numerous suite, drew near with
gloomy countenances.

Seeing them approach, Ali sprang up impetu-
ously, his hand upon the pistols in his belt. " Stand !
. . . what is it you bring me? " he cried to Hassan
in a voice of thunder. " I bring the commands of
His Highness the Sultan, — knowest thou not these
august characters?" And Hassan exhibited the
brilliantly gilded frontispiece which decorated the
firman. " I know them and revere them." " Then
bow before thy destiny ; make thy ablutions ; address
thy prayer to Allah and to His Prophet; for thy

23°5

CELEBRATED CRIMES

head is demanded. . . ." Ali did not allow him to
finish. " My head," he cried with fury, " will not
be surrendered like the head of a slave."

These rapidly pronounced words were instantly
followed by a pistol-shot which wounded Hassan
in the thigh. Swift as lightning, a second killed
the keeper of the wardrobe, and the guards, firing
at the same time, brought down several officers.
Terrified, the Osmanlis forsook the pavilion. Ali,
perceiving blood flowing from a wound in his chest,
roared like a bull with rage. No one dared to face
his wrath, but shots were fired at the kiosk from
all sides, and four of his guards fell dead beside
him. He no longer knew which way to turn, hear-
ing the noise made by the assailants under the plat-
form, who were firing through the boards on which
he stood. A ball wounded him in the side, another
from below lodged in his spine ; he staggered, clung
to a window, then fell on the sofa. " Hasten," he
cried to one of his officers, " run, my friend, and
strangle my poor Basilissa; let her not fall a prey
to these infamous wretches."

The door opened, all resistance ceased, the guards
hastened to escape by the windows. Kursheed's
sword-bearer entered, followed by the executioners.
"Let the justice of Allah be accomplished! " said
a cadi. At these words the executioners seized Ali,
who was still alive, by the beard, and dragged him

2306

ALI PACHA

out into the porch, where, placing his head on one
of the steps, they separated it from the body with
many blows of a jagged cutlass. Thus ended the
career of the dreaded AH Pacha.

His head still preserved so terrible and imposing
an aspect that those present beheld it with a sort
of stupor. Kursheed, to whom it was presented on
a large dish of silver plate, rose to receive it, bowed
three times before it, and respectfully kissed the
beard, expressing aloud his wish that he himself
might deserve a similar end. To such an extent did
the admiration with which Ali's bravery inspired
these barbarians efface the memory of his crimes.
Kursheed ordered the head to be perfumed with the
most costly essences, and despatched to Constan-
tinople, and he allowed the Skipetars to render the
last honours to their former master.

Never was seen greater mourning than that of
the warlike Epirotes. During the whole night, the
various Albanian tribes watched by turns around
the corpse, improvising the most eloquent funeral
songs in its honour. At daybreak, the body, washed
and prepared according to the Mohammedan ritual,
was deposited in a coffin draped with a splendid
Indian Cashmere shawl, on which was placed a
magnificent turban, adorned with the plumes Ali
had worn in battle. The mane of his charger was
cut off, and the animal covered with purple hous-

2307

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ings, while Ali's shield, his sword, his numerous
weapons, and various insignia, were borne on the
saddles of several led horses. The cortege pro-
ceeded towards the castle, accompanied by hearty-
imprecations uttered by the soldiers against the
" Son of a Slave," the epithet bestowed on their
sultan by the Turks in seasons of popular excite-
ment.

The Selaon-Aga, an officer appointed to render
the proper salutes, acted as chief mourner, sur-
rounded by weeping mourners, who made the ruins
of Janina echo with their lamentations. The guns
were fired at long intervals. The portcullis was
raised to admit the procession, and the whole gar-
rison, drawn up to receive it. rendered a military
salute. The body, covered with matting, was laid
in a grave beside that of Amina. When the grave
had been filled in, a priest approached to listen to
the supposed conflict between the good and bad
angels, who dispute the possession of the soul of
the deceased. When he at length announced that
AH Tepelen Zadi would repose in peace amid celes-
tial houris, the Skipetars, murmuring like the waves
of the sea after a tempest, dispersed to their quar-
ters.

Kursheed, profiting by the night spent by the
Epirotes in mourning, caused Ali's head to be en-
closed in a silver casket, and despatched it secretly

2308

ALI PACHA

to Constantinople. His sword-bearer Mehemet,
who, having presided at the execution, was entrusted
with the further duty of presenting it to the sultan,
was escorted by three hundred Turkish soldiers.
He was warned to be expeditious, and before dawn
was well out of reach of the Arnaouts, from whom
a surprise might have been feared.

The Seraskier then ordered the unfortunate
Basilissa, whose life had been spared, to be brought
before him. She threw herself at his feet, implor-
ing him to spare, not her life, but her honour; and
he consoled her, and assured her of the sultan's
protection. She burst into tears when she beheld
Ali's secretaries, treasurers, and steward loaded with
irons. Only sixty thousand purses (about twenty-
five million piastres) of Ali's treasure could be
found, and already his officers had been tortured,
in order to compel them to disclose where the rest
might be concealed. Fearing a similar fate, Basil-
issa fell insensible into the arms of her attendants,
and she was removed to the farm of Bouila, until
the Supreme Porte should decide on her fate.

The couriers sent in all directions to announce
the death of Ali, having preceded the sword-bearer
Mehemet's triumphal procession, the latter, on ar-
riving at Greveno, found the whole population of
that town and the neighbouring hamlets assembled
to meet him, eager to behold the head of the ter-

7— Dumas— Vol. 7 23°9

CELEBRATED CRIMES

rible Ali Pacha. Unable to comprehend how he
could possibly have succumbed, they could hardly
believe their eyes when the head was withdrawn
from its casket and displayed before them. It
remained exposed to view in the house of the Mus-
sulman Veli Aga whilst the escort partook of
refreshment and changed horses, and as the public
curiosity continued to increase throughout the jour-
ney, a fixed charge was at length made for its grati-
fication, and the head of the renowned vizier was
degraded into becoming an article of traffic exhib-
ited at every post-house, until it arrived at Con-
stantinople.

The sight of this dreaded relic, exposed on the
23rd of February at the gate of the seraglio, and
the birth of an heir-presumptive to the sword of
Othman — which news was announced simultane-
ously with that of the death of Ali, by the firing
of the guns of the seraglio — roused the enthusiasm
of the military inhabitants of Constantinople to a
state of frenzy, and triumphant shouts greeted the
appearance of a document affixed to the head which
narrated Ali's crimes and the circumstances of his
death, ending with these words : " This is the Head
of the above-named Ali Pacha, a Traitor to the
Faith of Islam."

Having sent magnificent presents to Kursheed,
and a hyperbolical despatch to his army, Mahmoud

2310

ALI PACHA

II turned his attention to Asia Minor, where Ali's
sons would probably have been forgotten in their
banishment, had it not been supposed that their
riches were great. A sultan does not condescend to
mince matters with his slaves, when he can despoil
them with impunity ; His Supreme Highness simply
sent them his commands to die. Veli Pacha, a
greater coward than a woman-slave born in the
harem, heard his sentence kneeling. The wretch
who had, in his palace at Arta, danced to the strains
of a lively orchestra, while innocent victims were
being tortured around him, received the due reward
of his crimes. He vainly embraced the knees of his
executioners, imploring at least the favour of dying
in privacy ; and he must have endured the full bitter-
ness of death in seeing his sons strangled before
his eyes, Mehemet the elder, remarkable for his
beauty, and the gentle Selim, whose merits might
have procured the pardon of his family had not
Fate ordained otherwise. After next beholding the
execution of his brother, Salik Pacha, Ali's best-
loved son, whom a Georgian slave had borne to him
in his old age, Veli, weeping, yielded his guilty head
to the executioners.

His women were then seized, and the unhappy
Zobeide, whose scandalous story had even reached
Constantinople, sewn up in a leather sack, was flung
into the Pursak — a river whose waters mingle with

2311

CELEBRATED CRIMES

those of the Sagaris. Katherin, Veli's other wife,
and his daughters by various mothers, were dragged
to the bazaar and sold ignominiously to Turcoman
shepherds, after which the executioners at once pro-
ceeded to make an inventory of the spoils of their
victims.

But the inheritance of Mouktar Pacha was not
quite such an easy prey. The kapidgi-bachi who
dared to present him with the bowstring was in-
stantly laid dead at his feet by a pistol-shot.
" Wretch ! " cried Mouktar, roaring like a bull
escaped from the butcher, " dost thou think an Arna-
out dies like an eunuch? I also am a Tepelenian!
To arms, comrades! they would slay us!" As he
spoke, he rushed, sword in hand, upon the Turks,
and driving them back, succeeded in barricading
himself in his apartments.

Presently a troop of janissaries from Koutaieh,
ordered to be in readiness, advanced, hauling up
cannon, and a stubborn combat began. Mouktar's
frail defences were soon in splinters. The vener-
able Metche-Bono, father of Elmas Bey, faithful to
the end, was killed by a bullet ; and Mouktar, having
slain a host of enemies with his own hand and seen
all his friends perish, himself riddled with wounds,
set fire to the powder magazine, and died, leaving as
inheritance for the sultan only a heap of smoking
ruins. An enviable fate, if compared with that of

2312

ALI PACHA

his father and brothers, who died by the hand of the
executioner.

The heads of Ali's children, sent to Constantinople
and exposed at the gate of the seraglio, astonished
the gaping multitude. The sultan himself, struck
with the beauty of Mehemet and Selim, whose long
eyelashes and closed eyelids gave them the appear-
ance of beautiful youths sunk in peaceful slumber,
experienced a feeling of emotion. " I had imagined
them," he said stupidly, " to be quite as old as their
father;" and he expressed sorrow for the fate to
which he had condemned them.

2313

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

ABOUT the end of the year 1639, a troop of
horsemen arrived, towards midday, in a little
village at the northern extremity of the province of
Auvergne, from the direction of Paris. The
country folk assembled at the noise, and found it
to proceed from the provost of the mounted police
and his men. The heat was excessive, the horses
were bathed in sweat, the horsemen covered with
dust, and the party seemed on its return from an
important expedition. A man left the escort, and
asked an old woman who was spinning at her door
if there was not an inn in the place. The woman
and her children showed him a bush hanging over
a door at the end of the only street in the village,
and the escort recommenced its march at a walk.

There was noticed, among the mounted men, a
young man of distinguished appearance and richly
dressed, who appeared to be a prisoner. This dis-
covery redoubled the curiosity of the villagers, who
followed the cavalcade as far as the door of the
wine-shop. The host came out, cap in hand, and
the provost enquired of him with a swaggering air

2317

CELEBRATED CRIMES

if his pothouse was large enough to accommodate
his troop, men and horses. The host replied that
he had the best wine in the country to give to the
king's servants, and that it would be easy to collect
in the neighbourhood litter and forage enough for
their horses. The provost listened contemptuously
to these fine promises, gave the necessary orders as
to what was to be done, and slid off his horse,
uttering an oath proceeding from heat and fatigue.
The horsemen clustered round the young man : one
held his stirrup, and the provost deferentially gave
way to him to enter the inn first. No more doubt
could be entertained that he was a prisoner of im-
portance, and all kinds of conjectures were made.
The men maintained that he must be charged with
a great crime, otherwise a young nobleman of his
rank would never have been arrested; the women
argued, on the contrary, that it was impossible for
such a pretty youth not to be innocent.

Inside the inn all was bustle : the serving-lads ran
from cellar to garret ; the host swore and despatched
his servant-girls to the neighbours, and the hostess
scolded her daugher, flattening her nose against
the panes of a downstairs window to admire the
handsome youth.

There were two tables in the principal eating-
room. The provost took possession of one, leaving
the other to the soldiers, who went in turn to tether

2318

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

their horses under a shed in the back yard ; then he
pointed to a stool for the prisoner, and seated him-
self opposite to him, rapping the table with his thick
cane.

" Ouf ! " he cried, with a fresh groan of weari-
ness, " I heartily beg your pardon, marquis, for the
bad wine I am giving you ! "

The young man smiled gaily.

" The wine is all very well, monsieur provost,"
said he, " but I cannot conceal from you that how-
ever agreeable your company is to me, this halt is
very inconvenient; I am in a hurry to get through
my ridiculous situation, and I should have liked
to arrive in time to stop this affair at once."

The girl of the house was standing before the
table with a pewter pot which she had just brought,
and at these words she raised her eyes on the
prisoner, with a reassured look which seemed to
say, " I was sure that he was innocent."

" But," continued the marquis, carrying the glass
to his lips, " this wine is not so bad as you say,
monsieur provost."

Then turning to the girl, who was eyeing his
gloves and his ruff —

" To your health, pretty child."

" Then," said the provost, amazed at this free
and easy air, " perhaps I shall have to beg you to
excuse your sleeping quarters."

2319

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" What ! " exclaimed the marquis, " do we sleep
here?"

" My lord," said the provost, " we have sixteen
long leagues to make, our horses are done up, and
so far as I am concerned I declare that I am no
better than my horse."

The marquis knocked on the table, and gave
every indication of being greatly annoyed. The
provost meanwhile puffed and blowed, stretched
out his big boots, and mopped his forehead with
his handkerchief. He was a portly man, with a
puffy face, whom fatigue rendered singularly un-
comfortable.

" Marquis," said he, " although your company,
which affords me the opportunity of showing you
some attention, is very precious to me, you cannot
doubt that I had much rather enjoy it on another
footing. If it be within your power, as you say,
to release yourself from the hands of justice, the
sooner you do so the better I shall be pleased. But
I beg you to consider the state we are in. For my
part, I am unfit to keep the saddle another hour, and
are you not yourself knocked up by this forced
march in the great heat ? "

" True, so I am," said the marquis, letting his
arms fall by his side.

" Well, then, let us rest here, sup here, if we can,
and we will start quite fit in the cool of the morning."

2320

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

" Agreed," replied the marquis; " but then let us
pass the time in a becoming manner. I have two
pistoles left, let them be given to these good fellows
to drink. It is only fair that I should treat them,
seeing that I am the cause of giving them so much
trouble."

He threw two pieces of money on the table of
the soldiers, who cried in chorus, " Long live M.
the marquis!" The provost rose, went to post
sentinels, and then repaired to the kitchen, where he
ordered the best supper that could be got. The
men pulled out dice and began to drink and play.
The marquis hummed an air in the middle of the
room, twirled his moustache, turning on his heel
and looking cautiously around ; then he gently drew
a purse from his trousers pocket, and as the daugh-
ter of the house was coming and going, he threw
his arms round her neck as if to kiss her, and
whispered, slipping ten louis into her hand —

" The key of the front door in my room, and a
quart of liquor to the sentinels, and you save my
life."

The girl went backwards nearly to the door, and
returning with an expressive look, made an affirma-
tive sign with her hand. The provost returned,
and two hours later supper was served. He ate
and drank like a man more at home at table than in
the saddle. The marquis plied him with bumpers,

2321

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and sleepiness, added to the fumes of a very heady
wine, caused him to repeat over and over again —

" Confound it all, marquis, I can't believe you are
such a blackguard as they say you are; you seem
to me a jolly good sort."

The marquis thought he was ready to fall under
the table, and was beginning to open negotiations
with the daughter of the house, when, to his great
disappointment, bedtime having come, the pro-
voking provost called his sergeant, gave him
instructions in an undertone, and announced that
he should have the honour of conducting M. the
marquis to bed, and that he should not go to bed
himself before performing this duty. In fact, he
posted three of his men, with torches, escorted the
prisoner to his room, and left him with many pro-
found bows.

The marquis threw himself on his bed without
pulling off his boots, listening to a clock which
struck nine. He heard the men come and go in
the stables and in the yard.

An hour later, everybody being tired, all was
perfectly still. The prisoner then rose softly, and
felt about on tiptoe on the chimneypiece, on the
furniture, and even in his clothes, for the key
which he hoped to find. He could not find it. He
could not be mistaken, nevertheless, in the tender
interest of the young girl, and he could not believe

2322

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

that she was deceiving him. The marquis's room
had a window which opened upon the street, and
a door which gave access to a shabby gallery which
did duty for a balcony, whence a staircase ascended
to the principal rooms of the house. This gallery
hung over the courtyard, being as high above it as
the window was from the street. The marquis had
only to jump over one side or the other : he hesitated
for some time, and just as he was deciding to leap
into the street, at the risk of breaking his neck, two
taps were struck on the door. He jumped for joy,
saying to himself as he opened, " I am saved! " A
kind of shadow glided into the room; the young
girl trembled from head to foot, and could not say
a word. The marquis reassured her with all sorts
of caresses.

" Ah, sir," said she, " I am dead if we are
surprised."

" Yes," said the marquis, " but your fortune is
made if you get me out of here."

" God is my witness that I would with all my
soul, but I have such a bad piece of news "

She stopped, suffocated with varying emotions.
The poor girl had come barefooted, for fear of
making a noise, and appeared to be shivering.

" What is the matter ? " impatiently asked the
marquis.

" Before going to bed," she continued, " M. the
2323

CELEBRATED CRIMES

provost has required from my father all the keys
of the house, and has made him take a great oath
that there are no more. My father has given him
all: besides, there is a sentinel at every door; but
they are very tired; I have heard them muttering
and grumbling, and I have given them more wine
than you told me."

" They will sleep," said the marquis, nowise dis-
couraged, " and they have already shown great
respect to my rank in not nailing me up in this
room."

" There is a small kitchen garden," continued the
girl, " on the side of the fields, fenced in only by
a loose hurdle, but "

" Where is my horse? "

" No doubt in the shed with the rest."

" I will jump into the yard."

" You will be killed."

" So much the better ! "

"Ah! monsieur marquis, what have you done?"
said the young girl with grief.

" Some foolish things ! nothing worth mention-
ing ; but my head and my honour are at stake. Let
us lose no time; I have made up my mind."

"Stay," replied the girl, grasping his arm; "at
the left-hand corner of the yard there is a large heap
of straw, the gallery hangs just over it "

" Bravo! I shall make less noise, and do myself
2324

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

less mischief." He made a step towards the door;
the girl, hardly knowing what she was doing, tried
to detain him ; but he got loose from her and opened
it. The moon was shining brightly into the yard;
he heard no sound. He proceeded to the end of the
wooden rail, and perceived the dungheap, which
rose to a good height : the girl made the sign of the
cross. The marquis listened once again, heard
nothing, and mounted the rail. He was about to
jump down, when by wonderful luck he heard mur-
murings from a deep voice. This proceeded from
one of two horsemen, who were recommencing their
conversation and passing between them a pint of
wine. The marquis crept back to his door, holding
his breath : the girl was awaiting him on the
threshold.

" I told you it was not yet time," said she.

" Have you never a knife," said the marquis, " to
cut those rascals' throats with ? "

" Wait, I entreat you, one hour, one hour only,"
murmured the young girl ; " in an hour they will all
be asleep."

The girl's voice was so sweet, the arms which she
stretched towards him were full of such gentle en-
treaty, that the marquis waited, and at the end of
an hour it was the young girl's turn to tell him to
start.

The marquis for the last time pressed with his
2325

CELEBRATED CRIMES

mouth those lips but lately so innocent, then he half
opened the door, and heard nothing this time but
dogs barking far away in an otherwise silent coun-
try. He leaned over the balustrade, and saw very
plainly a soldier lying prone on the straw.

" If they were to awake? " murmured the young
girl in accents of anguish.

" They will not take me alive, be assured," said
the marquis.

"Adieu, then," replied she, sobbing; "may
Heaven preserve you ! "

He bestrode the balustrade, spread himself out
upon it, and fell heavily on the dungheap. The
young girl saw him run to the shed, hastily detach
a horse, pass behind the stable wall, spur his horse
in both flanks, tear across the kitchen garden, drive
his horse against the hurdle, knock it down, clear it,
and reach the highroad across the fields.

The poor girl remained at the end of the gallery,
fixing her eyes on the sleeping sentry, and ready to
disappear at the slightest movement. The noise
made by spurs on the pavement and by the horse at
the end of the courtyard had half awakened him.
He rose, and suspecting some surprise, ran to the
shed. His horse was no longer there ; the marquis,
in his haste to escape, had taken the first which came
to hand, and this was the soldier's. Then the soldier
gave the alarm; his comrades woke up. They ran

2326

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

to the prisoner's room, and found it empty. The
provost came from his bed in a dazed condition.
The prisoner had escaped.

Then the young, girl, pretending to have been
roused by the noise, hindered the preparations by
mislaying the saddlery, impeding the horsemen
instead of helping them; nevertheless, after a
quarter of an hour, all the party were galloping
along the road. The provost swore like a pagan.
The best horses led the way, and the sentinel, who
rode the marquis's, and who had a greater interest
in catching the prisoner, far outstripped his com-
panions; he was followed by the sergeant, equally
well mounted, and as the broken fence showed the
line he had taken, after some minutes they were in
view of him, but at a great distance. However, the
marquis was losing ground ; the horse he had taken
was the worst in the troop, and he had pressed it as
hard as it could go. Turning in the saddle, he
saw the soldiers half a musket-shot off; he urged
his horse more and more, tearing his sides with his
spurs; but shortly the beast, completely winded,
foundered; the marquis rolled with it in the dust,
but when rolling over he caught hold of the holsters,
which he found to contain pistols ; he lay flat by the
side of the horse, as if he had fainted, with a pistol
at full cock in his hand. The sentinel, mounted on
a valuable horse, and more than two hundred yards

2327

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ahead of his serafile, came up to him. In a moment
the marquis, jumping up before he had time to
resist him, shot him through the head ; the horseman
fell, the marquis jumped up in his place without
even setting foot in the stirrup, started off at a
gallop, and went away like the wind, leaving fifty
yards behind him the non-commissioned officer,
dumbfounded with what had just passed before his
eyes.

The main body of the escort galloped up, thinking
that he was taken; and the provost shouted till he
was hoarse, " Do not kill him ! " But they found
only the sergeant, trying to restore life to his man,
whose skull was shattered, and who lay dead on the
spot.

As for the marquis, he was out of sight; for,
fearing a fresh pursuit, he had plunged into the cross
roads, along which he rode a good hour longer at
full gallop. When he felt pretty sure of having
shaken the police off his track, and that their bad
horses could not overtake him, he determined to
slacken to recruit his horse; he was walking him
along a hollow lane, when he saw a peasant ap-
proaching; he asked him the road to the Bourbon-
nais, and flung him a crown. The man took the
crown and pointed out the road, but he seemed
hardly to know what he was saying, and stared at
the marquis in a strange manner. The marquis

2328

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

shouted to him to get out of the way; but the
peasant remained planted on the roadside without
stirring an inch. The marquis advanced with
threatening looks, and asked how he dared to stare
at him like that.

" The reason is," said the peasant, " that you

have " and he pointed to his shoulder and his

ruff.

The marquis glanced at his dress, and saw that
his coat was dabbled in blood, which, added to the
disorder of his clothes and the dust with which he
was covered, gave him a most suspicious aspect.

" I know," said he. " I and my servant have been
separated in a scuffle with some drunken Germans;
it's only a tipsy spree, and whether I have got
scratched, or whether in collaring one of these
fellows I have drawn some of his blood, it all arises
from the row. I don't think I am hurt a bit." So
saying, he pretended to feel all over his body.

"All the same," he continued, " I should not be
sorry to have a wash; besides, I am dying
with thirst and heat, and my horse is in no better
case. Do you know where I can rest and refresh
myself?"

The peasant offered to guide him to his own
house, only a few yards off. His wife and children,
who were working, respectfully stood aside, and
went to collect what was wanted — wine, water,

2329

CELEBRATED CRIMES

fruit, and a large piece of black bread. The marquis
sponged his coat, drank a glass of wine, and called
the people of the house, whom he questioned in an
indifferent manner. He once more informed him-
self of the different roads leading into the Bour-
bonnais province, where he was going to visit a
relative; of the villages, cross roads, distances; and
finally he spoke of the country, the harvest, and
asked what news there was.

The peasant replied, with regard to this, that it
was surprising to hear of disturbances on the high-
way at this moment, when it was patrolled by
detachments of mounted police, who had just made
an important capture.

" Who is that? " asked the marquis.

" Oh," said the peasant, " a nobleman who has
done a lot of mischief in the country."

" What! a nobleman in the hands of justice? "

"Just so; and he stands a good chance of losing
his head."

" Do they say what he has done? "

" Shocking things ; horrid things ; everything he
shouldn't do. All the province is exasperated with
him."

" Do you know him? "

" No, but we all have his description."

As this news was not encouraging, the marquis,
after a few more questions, saw to his horse, patted

233°

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

him, threw some more money to the peasant, and
disappeared in the direction pointed out.

The provost proceeded half a league farther along
the road; but coming to the conclusion that pursuit
was useless, he sent one of his men to headquarters,
to warn all the points of exit from the province, and
himself returned with his troop to the place whence
he had started in the morning. The marquis had
relatives in the neighbourhood, and it was quite
possible that he might seek shelter with some of
them. All the village ran to meet the horsemen,
who were obliged to confess that they had been duped
by the handsome prisoner. Different views were
expressed on the event, which gave rise to much
talking. The provost entered the inn, banging his
fist on the furniture, and blaming everybody for the
misfortune which had happened to him. The
daughter of the house, at first a prey to the most
grievous anxiety, had great difficulty in concealing
her joy.

The provost spread his papers over the table, as
if to nurse his ill-temper.

" The biggest rascal in the world ! " he cried ; " I
ought to have suspected him.'*

" What a handsome man he was ! " said the
hostess.

" A consummate rascal ! Do you know who he
is? He is the Marquis de Saint-Maixent ! "

2331

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" The Marquis de Saint-Maixent ! " all cried with
horror.

" Yes, the very man," replied the provost ; ** the
Marquis de Saint-Maixent, accused, and indeed con-
victed, of coining and magic."

"Ah!"

" Convicted of incest."

"O my God!"

" Convicted of having strangled his wife to marry
another, whose husband he had first stabbed."

" Heaven help us ! " All crossed themselves.

" Yes, good people," continued the furious
provost, " this is the nice boy who has just escaped
the king's justice! "

The host's daughter left the room, for she felt
she was going to faint.

" But," said the host, " is there no hope of catch-
ing him again? "

" Not the slightest, if he has taken the road to
the Bourbonnais; for I believe there are in that
province noblemen belonging to his family who will
not allow him to be rearrested."

The fugitive was, indeed, no other than the
Marquis de Saint-Maixent, accused of all the enor-
mous crimes detailed by the provost, who by his
audacious flight opened for himself an active part
in the strange story which it remains to relate.

It came to pass, a fortnight after these events,
2332

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

that a mounted gentleman rang at the wicket gate
of the chateau de Saint-Geran, at the gates of
Moulins. It was late, and the servants were in no
hurry to open. The stranger again pulled the bell in
a masterful manner, and at length perceived a man
running from the bottom of the avenue. The ser-
vant peered through the wicket, and making out in
the twilight a very ill-appointed traveller, with a
crushed hat, dusty clothes, and no sword, asked him
what he wanted, receiving a blunt reply that the
stranger wished to see the Count de Saint-Geran
without any further loss of time. The servant
replied that this was impossible; the other got into
a passion.

" Who are you? " asked the man in livery.

" You are a very ceremonious fellow! " cried the
horseman. " Go and tell M. de Saint-Geran that
his relative, the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, wishes
to see him at once."

The servant made humble apologies, and opened
the wicket gate. He then walked before the
marquis, called other servants, who came to help
him to dismount, and ran to give his name in the
count's apartments. The latter was about to sit
down to supper when his relative was announced ; he
immediately went to receive the marquis, embraced
him again and again, and gave him the most friendly
and gracious reception possible. He wished then to

2333

CELEBRATED CRIMES

take him into the dining-room to present him to all
the family; but the marquis called his attention to
the disorder of his dress, and begged for a few
minutes' conversation. The count took him into
his dressing-room, and had him dressed from head
to foot in his own clothes, whilst they talked. The
marquis then narrated a made-up story to M. de
Saint-Geran relative to the accusation brought
against him. This greatly impressed his relative,
and gave him a secure footing in the chateau.
When he had finished dressing, he followed the
count, who presented him to the countess and the
rest of the family.

It will now be in place to state who the inmates
of the chateau were, and to relate some previous
occurrences to explain subsequent ones.

The Marshal de Saint-Geran, of the illustrious
house of Guiche, and governor of the Bourbonnais,
had married, for his first wife, Anne de Tournon,
by whom he had one son, Claude de la Guiche, and
one daughter, who married the Marquis de Bouille.
His wife dying, he married again with Suzanne des
Epaules, who had also been previously married,
being the widow of the Count de Longaunay, by
whom she had Suzanne de Longaunay.

The marshal and his wife, Suzanne des Epaules,
for the mutual benefit of their children by first
nuptials, determined to marry them, thus sealing

2334

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

their own union with a double tie. Claude de
Guiche, the marshal's son, married Suzanne de
Longaunay.

This alliance was much to the distaste of the
Marchioness de Bouille, the marshal's daughter,
who found herself separated from her stepmother,
and married to a man who, it was said, gave her
great cause for complaint, the greatest being his
threescore years and ten.

The contract of marriage between Claude de la
Guiche and Suzanne de Longaunay was executed at
Rouen on the 17th of February 1619; but the tender
age of the bridegroom, who was then but eighteen,
was the cause of his taking a tour in Italy, whence
he returned after two years. The marriage was a
very happy one but for one circumstance — it pro-
duced no issue. The countess could not endure a
barrenness which threatened the end of a great
name, the extinction of a noble race. She made
vows, pilgrimages; she consulted doctors and
quacks ; but to no purpose.

The Marshal de Saint-Geran died on the 10th of
December 1632, having the mortification of having
seen no descending issue from the marriage of his
son. The latter, now Count de Saint-Geran, suc-
ceeded his father in the government of the Bour-
bonnais, and was named Chevalier of the King's
Orders.

2335

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Meanwhile the Marchioness de Bouille quarrelled
with her old husband the marquis, separated from
him after a scandalous divorce, and came to live at
the chateau of Saint-Geran, quite at ease as to her
brother's marriage, seeing that in default of heirs all
his property would revert to her.

Such was the state of affairs when the Marquis de
Saint-Maixent arrived at the chateau. He was
young, handsome, very cunning, and very successful
with women ; he even made a conquest of the dow-
ager Countess de Saint-Geran, who lived there with
her children. He soon plainly saw that he might
easily enter into the most intimate relations with the
Marchioness de Bouille.

The Marquis de Saint-Maixent's own fortune
was much impaired by his extravagance and by the
exactions of the law, or rather, in plain words, he
had lost it all. The marchioness was heiress pre-
sumptive to the count : he calculated that she would
soon lose her own husband ; in any case, the life of
a septuagenarian did not much trouble a man like
the marquis; he could then prevail upon the mar-
chioness to marry him, thus giving him the com-
mand of the finest fortune in the province.

He set to work to pay his court to her, especially
avoiding anything that could excite the slightest
suspicion. It was, however, difficult to get on good
terms with the marchioness without showing out-

2336

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

siders what was going on. But the marchioness,
already prepossessed by the agreeable exterior of
M. de Saint-Maixent, soon fell into his toils, and the
unhappiness of her marriage, with the annoyances
incidental to a scandalous case in the courts, left
her powerless to resist his schemes. Nevertheless,
they had but few opportunities of seeing one
another alone: the countess innocently took a part
in all their conversations; the count often came to
take the marquis out hunting; the days passed in
family pursuits. M. de Saint-Maixent had not so
far had an opportunity of saying what a discreet
woman ought to pretend not to hear; this intrigue,
notwithstanding the marquis's impatience, dragged
terribly.

The countess, as has been stated, had for twenty
years never ceased to hope that her prayers would
procure for her the grace of bearing a son to her
husband. Out of sheer weariness she had given
herself up to all kinds of charlatans, who at that
period were well received by people of rank. On
one occasion she brought from Italy a sort of
astrologer, who as nearly as possible poisoned her
with a horrible nostrum, and was sent back to his
own country in a hurry, thanking his stars for hav-
ing escaped so cheaply. This procured Madame
de Saint-Geran a severe reprimand from her con-
fessor; and, as time went on, she gradually accus-

2337

CELEBRATED CRIMES

tomed herself to the painful conclusion that she
would die childless, and cast herself into the arms
of religion. The count, whose tenderness for her
never failed, yet clung to the hope of an heir, and
made his Will with this in view. The marchioness's
hopes had become certainties, and M. de Saint-
Maixent, perfectly tranquil on this head, thought
only of forwarding his suit with Madame de
Bouille, when, at the end of the month of November
1640, the Count de Saint-Geran was obliged to
repair to Paris in great haste on pressing duty.

The countess, who could not bear to be separated
from her husband, took the family advice as to
accompanying him. The marquis, delighted at an
opportunity which left him almost alone in the
chateau with Madame de Bouille, painted the jour-
ney to Paris in the most attractive colours, and said
all he could to decide her to go. The marchioness,
for her part, worked very quietly to the same end ;
it was more than was needed. It was settled that
the countess should go with M. de Saint-Geran.
She soon made her preparations, and a few days
later they set off on the journey together.

The marquis had no fears about declaring his
passion; the conquest of Madame de Bouille gave
him no trouble; he affected the most violent love,
and she responded in the same terms. All their
time was spent in excursions and walks from which

23&

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

the servants were excluded; the lovers, always
together, passed whole days in some retired part
of the park, or shut up in their apartments. It was
impossible for these circumstances not to cause gos-
sip among an army of servants, against whom they
had to keep incessantly on their guard; and this
naturally happened.

The marchioness soon found herself obliged to
make confidantes of the sisters Quinet, her maids;
she had no difficulty in gaining their support, for
the girls were greatly attached to her. This was
the first step of shame for Madame de Bouille, and
the first step of corruption for herself and her para-
mour, who soon found themselves entangled in the
blackest of plots. Moreover, there was at the
chateau de Saint-Geran a tall, spare, yellow, stupid
man, just intelligent enough to perform, if not to
conceive, a bad action, who was placed in authority
over the domestics ; he was a common peasant whom
the old marshal had deigned to notice, and whom
the count had by degrees promoted to the service of
major-domo on account of his long service in the
house, and because he had seen him there since he
himself was a child; he would not take him away
as body servant, fearing that his notions of service
would not do for Paris, and left him to the super-
intendence of the household. The marquis had a
quiet talk with this man, took his measure, warped

2339

CELEBRATED CRIMES

his mind as he wished, gave him some money, and
acquired him body and soul. These different agents
undertook to stop the chatter of the servants' hall,
and thenceforward the lovers could enjoy free
intercourse.

One evening, as the Marquis de Saint-Maixent
was at supper in company with the marchioness, a
loud knocking was heard at the gate of the chateau,
to which they paid no great attention. This was
followed by the appearance of a courier who had
come post haste from Paris; he entered the court-
yard with a letter from the Count de Saint-Geran
for M. the marquis; he was announced and intro-
duced, followed by nearly all the household. The
marquis asked the meaning of all this, and dismissed
all the following with a wave of the hand; but the
courier explained that M. the count desired that the
letter in his hands should be read before everyone.
The marquis opened it without replying, glanced
over it, and read it out loud without the slightest
alteration : the count announced to his good rela-
tions and to all his household that the countess had
indicated positive symptoms of pregnancy; that
hardly had she arrived in Paris when she suffered
from fainting fits, nausea, retching, that she bore
with joy these premonitory indications, which were
no longer a matter of doubt to the physicians, nor
to anyone ; that for his part he was overwhelmed

2340

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

with joy at this event, which was the crowning
stroke to all his wishes; that he desired the chateau
to share his satisfaction by indulging in all kinds
of gaieties; and that so far as other matters were
concerned they could remain as they were till the
return of himself and the countess, which the letter
would precede only a few days, as he was going
to transport her in a litter for greater safety. Then
followed the specification of certain sums of money
to be distributed among the servants.

The servants uttered cries of joy; the marquis
and marchioness exchanged a look, but a very
troublous one; they, however, restrained themselves
so far as to simulate a great satisfaction, and the
marquis brought himself to congratulate the ser-
vants on their attachment to their master and mis-
tress. After this they were left alone, looking very
serious, while crackers exploded and violins re-
sounded under the windows. For some time they
preserved silence, the first thought which occurred
to both being that the count and countess had
allowed themselves to be deceived by trifling symp-
toms, that people had wished to flatter their hopes,
that it was impossible for a constitution to change so
suddenly after twenty years, and that it was a case
of simulative pregnancy. This opinion gaining
strength in their minds made them somewhat calmer.

The next day they took a walk side by side in a

8— Dumas— Vol. 7 234*

CELEBRATED CRIMES

solitary path in the park and discussed the chances
of their situation. M. de Saint-Maixent brought
before the marchioness the enormous injury which
this event would bring them. He then said that
even supposing the news to be true, there were many
rocks ahead to be weathered before the succession
could be pronounced secure.

" The child may die," he said at last.

And he uttered some sinister expressions on the
slight damage caused by the loss of a puny creature
without mind, interest, or consequence ; nothing, he
said, but a bit of ill-organised matter, which only
came into the world to ruin so considerable a person
as the marchioness.

" But what is the use of tormenting ourselves? "
he went on impatiently ; " the countess is not preg-
nant, nor can she be."

A gardener working near them overheard this
part of the conversation, but as they walked away
from him he could not hear any more.

A few days later, some outriders, sent before him
by the count, entered the chateau, saying that their
master and mistress were close at hand. In fact,
they were promptly followed by brakes and travel-
ling-carriages, and at length the countess's litter
was descried, which M. de Saint-Geran, on horse-
back, had never lost sight of during the journey.
It was a triumphal reception: all the peasants had
2342

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

left their work, and filled the air with shouts of wel-
come; the servants ran to meet their mistress; the
ancient retainers wept for joy at seeing the count
so happy and in the hope that his noble qualities
might be perpetuated in his heir. The marquis and
Madame de Bouille did their best to tune up to the
pitch of this hilarity.

The dowager countess, who had arrived at the
chateau the same day, unable to convince herself
as to this news, had the pleasure of satisfying her-
self respecting it. The count and countess were
much beloved in the Bourbonnais province; this
event caused therein a general satisfaction, par-
ticularly in the numerous houses attached to them
by consanguinity. Within a few days of their
return, more than twenty ladies of quality flocked
to visit them in great haste, to show the great inter-
est they took in this pregnancy. All these ladies, on
one occasion or another, convinced themselves as to
its genuineness, and many of them, carrying the
subject still further, in a joking manner which
pleased the countess, dubbed themselves prophet-
esses, and predicted the birth of a boy. The usual
symptoms incidental to the situation left no room
for doubt : the country physicians were all agreed.
The count kept one of these physicians in the chateau
for two months, and spoke to the Marquis of Saint-
Maixent of his intention of procuring a good mid-
2343

CELEBRATED CRIMES

wife, on the same terms. Finally, the dowager
countess, who was to be sponsor, ordered at a great
expense a magnificent store of baby linen, which
she desired to present at the birth.

The marchioness devoured her rage, and among
the persons who went beside themselves with joy
not one remarked the disappointment which over-
spread her soul. Every day she saw the marquis,
who did all he could to increase her regret, and
incessantly stirred up her ill-humour by repeating
that the count and countess were triumphing over
her misfortune, and insinuating that they were
importing a supposititious child to disinherit her. As
usual both in private and political affairs, he began
by corrupting the marchioness's religious views, to
pervert her into crime. The marquis was one of
those libertines so rare at that time, a period less
unhappy than is generally believed, who made
science dependent upon atheism. It is remarkable
that great criminals of this epoch, Sainte-Croix for
instance, and Exili, the gloomy poisoner, were the
first unbelievers, and that they preceded the learned
of the following age both in philosophy and in the
exclusive study of physical science, in which they
included that of poisons. Passion, interest, hatred
fought the marquis's battles in the heart of Madame
de Bouille; she readily lent herself to everything
that M. de Saint-Maixent wished

2344

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

The Marquis de Saint-Maixent had a confidential
servant, cunning, insolent, resourceful, whom he
had brought from his estates, a servant well suited
to such a master, whom he sent on errands fre-
quently into the neighbourhood of Saint-Geran.

One evening, as the marquis was about to go to
bed, this man, returning from one of his expedi-
tions, entered his room, where he remained for a
long time, telling him that he had at length found
what he wanted, and giving him a small piece of
paper which contained several names of places and
persons.

Next morning, at daybreak, the marquis caused
two of his horses to be saddled, pretended that he
was summoned home on pressing business, fore-
saw that he should be absent for three or four days,
made his excuses to the count, and set off at full
gallop, followed by his servant.

They slept that night at an inn on the road to
Auvergne, to put off the scent any persons who
might recognise them; then, following cross-coun-
try roads, they arrived after two days at a large
hamlet, which they had seemed to have passed far
to their left.

In this hamlet was a woman who practised the
avocation of midwife, and was known as such in
the neighbourhood, but who had, it was said, mys-
terious and infamous secrets for those who paid

2345

CELEBRATED CRIMES

her well. Further, she drew a good income from
the influence which her art gave her over credulous
people. It was all in her line to cure the king's evil,
compound philtres and love potions; she was useful
in a variety of ways to girls who could afford to
pay her; she was a lovers' go-between, and even
practised sorcery for country folk. She played her
cards so well, that the only persons privy to her
misdeeds were unfortunate creatures who had as
strong an interest as herself in keeping them pro-
foundly secret; and as her terms were very high,
she lived comfortably enough in a house her own
property, and entirely alone, for greater security.
In a general way, she was considered skilful in her
ostensible profession, and was held in estimation by
many persons of rank. This woman's name was
Louise Goillard.

Alone one evening after curfew, she heard a loud
knocking at the door of her house. Accustomed to
receive visits at all hours, she took her lamp without
hesitation, and opened the door. An armed man,
apparently much agitated, entered the room. Lou-
ise Goillard, in a great fright, fell into a chair; this
man was the Marquis de Saint-Maixent.

" Calm yourself, good woman," said the stranger,
panting and stammering; "be calm, I beg; for it is
I, not you, who have any cause for emotion. I am
not a brigand, and far from your having anything

2346

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

to fear, it is I, on the contrary, who am come to
beg for your assistance."

He threw his cloak into a corner, unbuckled his
waistbelt, and laid aside his sword. Then falling
into a chair, he said —

" First of all, let me rest a little."

The marquis wore a travelling-dress ; but although
he had not stated his name, Louise Goillard saw at
a glance that he was a very different person from
what she had thought, and that, on the contrary, he
was some fine gentleman who had come on his love
affairs.

" I beg you to excuse," said she, " a fear which
is insulting to you. You came in so hurriedly that
I had not time to see whom I was talking to.
My house is rather lonely; I am alone; ill-
disposed people might easily take advantage of
these circumstances to plunder a poor woman who
has little enough to lose. The times are so
bad! You seem tired. Will you inhale some
essence? "

" Give me only a glass of water."

Louise Goillard went into the adjoining room,
and returned with an ewer. The marquis affected
to rinse his lips, and said —

" I come from a great distance on a most import-
ant matter. Be assured that I shall be properly
grateful for your services."

2347

CELEBRATED CRIMES

He felt in his pocket, and pulled out a purse,
which he rolled between his ringers.

" In the first place, you must swear to the greatest
secrecy."

" There is no need of that with us," said Louise
Goillard; "that is the first condition of our
craft."

" I must have more express guarantees, and your
oath that you will reveal to no one in the world
what I am going to confide to you."

" I give you my word, then, since you demand it ;
but I repeat that this is superfluous; you do not
know me."

" Consider that this is a most serious matter, that
I am as it were placing my head in your hands, and
that I would lose my life a thousand times rather
than see this mystery unravelled."

"Consider also," bluntly replied the midwife,
" that we ourselves are primarily interested in all
the secrets entrusted to us; that an indiscretion
would destroy all confidence in us, and that there
are even cases You may speak."

When the marquis had reassured her as to him-
self by this preface, he continued : " I know that
you are a very able woman."

" I could indeed wish to be one, to serve you."

" That you have pushed the study of your art to
its utmost limits."

2348

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

" I fear they have been flattering your humble
servant."

" And that your studies have enabled you to pre-
dict the future."

" That is all nonsense."

" It is true; I have been told so."

" You have been imposed upon."

" What is the use of denying it and refusing to
do me a service ? "

Louise Goillard defended herself long: she could
not understand a man of this quality believing in
fortune-telling, which she practised only with low-
class people and rich farmers; but the marquis
appeared so earnest that she knew not what to think.

" Listen," said he, " it is no use dissembling with
me, I know all. Be easy; we are playing a game
in which you are laying one against a thousand;
moreover, here is something on account to compen-
sate you for the trouble I am giving."

He laid a pile of gold on the table. The matron
weakly owned that she had sometimes attempted
astrological combinations which were not always
fortunate, and that she had been only induced to
do so by the fascination of the phenomena of
science. The secret of her guilty practices was
drawn from her at the very outset of her defence.

" That being so," replied the marquis, " you must
be already aware of the situation in which I find

2349

CELEBRATED CRIMES

myself; you must know that, hurried away by a
blind and ardent passion, I have betrayed the con-
fidence of an old lady and violated the laws of hos-
pitality by seducing her daughter in her own house ;
that matters have come to a crisis, and that this
noble damsel, whom I love to distraction, being
pregnant, is on the point of losing her life and
honour by the discovery of her fault, which is
mine."

The matron replied that nothing could be ascer-
tained about a person except from private ques-
tions; and to further impose upon the marquis, she
fetched a kind of box marked with figures and
strange emblems. Opening this, and putting
together certain figures which it contained, she
declared that what the marquis had told her was
true, and that his situation was a most melancholy
one. She added, in order to frighten him, that he
was threatened by still more serious misfortunes
than those which had already overtaken him, but
that it was easy to anticipate and obviate these mis-
chances by new consultations.

" Madame," replied the marquis, " I fear only
one thing in the world, the dishonour of the woman
I love. Is there no method of remedying the usual
embarrassment of a birth ? "

" I know of none," said the matron.

" The young lady has succeeded in concealing
2350

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

her condition ; it would be easy for her confinement
to take place privately."

" She has already risked her life, and I cannot
consent to be mixed up in this affair, for fear of the
consequences."

" Could not, for instance," said the marquis, " a
confinement be effected without pain? "

" I don't know about that, but this I do know,
that I shall take very good care not to practise any
method contrary to the laws of nature."

" You are deceiving me : you are acquainted with
this method, you have already practised it upon a
certain person whom I could name to you."

" Who has dared to calumniate me thus ? I op-
erate only after the decision of the Faculty. God
forbid that I should be stoned by all the physicians,
and perhaps expelled from France ! "

" Will you then let me die of despair? If I were
capable of making a bad use of your secrets, I could
have done so long ago, for I know them. In Heav-
en's name, do not dissimulate any longer, and tell
me how it is possible to stifle the pangs of labour.
Do you want more gold? Here it is." And he
threw more louis on the table.

" Stay," said the matron : " there is perhaps a
method which I think I have discovered, and which
I have never employed, but I believe it efficacious."

" But if you have never employed it, it may be
235 1

CELEBRATED CRIMES

dangerous, and risk the life of the lady whom I
love."

" When I say never, I mean that I have tried it
once, and most successfully. Be at your ease."

" Ah ! " cried the marquis, " you have earned my
everlasting gratitude! But," continued he, " if we
could anticipate the confinement itself, and remove
from henceforth the symptoms of pregnancy? "

" Oh, sir, that is a great crime you speak of! "

" Alas! " continued the marquis, as if speaking to
himself in a fit of intense grief, " I had rather lose
a dear child, the pledge of our love, than bring into
the world an unhappy creature which might pos-
sibly cause its mother's death."

" I pray you, sir, let no more be said on the sub-
ject; it is a horrible crime even to think of such a
thing."

" But what is to be done? Is it better to destroy
two persons and perhaps kill a whole family with
despair? Oh, madame, I entreat you, extricate us
from this extremity ! "

The marquis buried his face in his hands, and
sobbed as though he were weeping copiously.

" Your despair grievously affects me," said the
matron ; " but consider that for a woman of my
calling it is a capital offence."

" What are you talking about ? Do not our mys-
tery, our safety, and our credit come in first?

2352

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

They can never get at you till after the death
and dishonour of all that is dear to me in the
world."

" I might then, perhaps But in this case you

must insure me against legal complications, fines,
and procure me a safe exit from the kingdom."

" Ah ! that is my affair. Take my whole fortune !
Take my life! "

And he threw the whole purse on the table.

" In this case, and solely to extricate you from
the extreme danger in which I see you placed, I
consent to give you a decoction, and certain
instructions, which will instantly relieve the lady
from her burden. She must use the greatest pre-
caution, and study to carry out exactly what I am
about to tell you. My God! only such desperate

occasions as this one could induce me to

Here "

She took a flask from the bottom of a cupboard,
and continued —

" Here is a liquor which never fails."

" Oh, madame, you save my honour, which is
dearer to me than life ! But this is not enough :
tell me what use I am to make of this liquor, and in
what doses I am to administer it."

" The patient," replied the midwife, " must take
one spoonful the first day ; the second day two ; the

third "

2353

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" I shall never remember all that ; write it out for
me, I pray you, in my pocket-book."

The midwife hesitated for a moment; but the
pocket-book when opened let fall a draft to bearer
for five hundred francs; the marquis took this draft
and presented it to her. " Here," said he, " since
it has fallen out, it is not worth while replacing it."

This last present was so handsome as to allay all
suspicions in the mind of the midwife, so she wrote
the full instructions in the marquis's pocket-book.

The marquis put the bottle in his pocket ; took the
pocket-book, making sure that the instructions were
fully given ; then, turning to the midwife with a dia-
bolical smile —

" And now, my darling," cried he, " you are com-
pletely in my power."

" What do you mean, sir? " demanded the aston-
ished midwife.

" I mean," continued the marquis, " that you are
an infamous sorceress and a miserable poisoner.
I mean that I have proof of your crimes, and that
now you shall do what I want or die at the stake."

"Mercy! mercy!" cried the matron, throwing
herself at the feet of the marquis.

" Your fate is in my hands," coolly replied the
marquis.

"Well, what must I do?" asked the midwife.
" I am ready to do anything."

2354

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

" Then it is my turn to tell you my secrets ; only
I shall not write them down."

" Name them, my lord, and you shall be satisfied
with my devotion."

" Sit down, then, and listen to me."

The midwife rose and sank back into a chair.

" Now, then," said the marquis, " I see that you
grasp the alternative : on one hand, prison, torture,
the stake; on the other, three times as much gold
as you have there; in short, ease and comfort for
the rest of your life."

The midwife's eyes sparkled, and she thanked
the marquis by a nod of the head, as if to show him
that she was his, body and soul.

" There is," continued the marquis, fixing a
piercing look in the eyes of the poor woman, —
" there is in a chateau thirty leagues away a lady
of high rank who is some months advanced in preg-
nancy. The birth of this child is hateful to me.
You will be entrusted with the delivery. I will tell
you what to do, and you will do all that I tell you.
Now we must set out to-night. You will accom-
pany me. I have horses not far from here, and will
take you to a place where you will await my orders.
You will be warned when the time comes. You
will want for nothing, and all the money you re-
quire shall be forthcoming."

" I am ready," said the midwife curtly.
2355

CELEBRATED CRIMES

"You will obey me to the minutest particular? "

" I swear it."

" Let us start, then."

She asked but for time to pack a little linen, put
things in order, then fastened her doors, and left
the house with the marquis. A quarter of an hour
later they were galloping through the night, with-
out her knowing where the marquis was taking
her.

The marquis reappeared three days later at the
chateau, rinding the count's family as he had left
them — that is to say, intoxicated with hope, and
counting the weeks, days, and hours before the
accouchement of the countess. He excused his hur-
ried departure on the ground of the importance of
the business which had summoned him away; and
speaking of his journey at table, he related a story
current in the country whence he came, of a sur-
prising event which he had all but witnessed. It
was the case of a lady of quality who suddenly
found herself in the most dangerous pangs of
labour. All the skill of the physicians who had
been summoned proved futile; the lady was at the
point of death; at last, in sheer despair, they sum-
moned a midwife of great repute among the peas-
antry, but whose practice did not include the gentry.
From the first treatment of this woman, who ap-
peared modest and diffident to a degree, the pains

2356

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

ceased as if by enchantment; the patient fell into
an indefinable calm languor, and after some hours
was delivered of a beautiful infant; but after this
was attacked by a violent fever which brought her
to death's door. They then again had recourse to
the doctors, notwithstanding the opposition of the
master of the house, who had confidence in the
matron. The doctors' treatment only made matters
worse. In this extremity they again called in the
midwife, and at the end of three weeks the lady
was miraculously restored to life, thus, added the
marquis, establishing the reputation of the matron,
who had sprung into such vogue in the town where
she lived and the neighbouring country that nothing
else was talked about.

This story made a great impression on the com-
pany, on account of the condition of the countess;
the dowager added that it was very wrong to ridicule
these humble country experts, who often through
observation and experience discovered secrets which
proud doctors were unable to unravel with all their
studies. Hereupon the count cried out that this
midwife must be sent for, as she was just the kind
of woman they wanted. After this other matters
were talked about, the marquis changing the
conversation; he had gained his point in quietly
introducing the thin end of the wedge of his
design.

2357

CELEBRATED CRIMES

After dinner, the company walked on the terrace.
The countess dowager not being able to walk much
on account of her advanced age, the countess and
Madame de Bouille took chairs beside her. The
count walked up and down with M. de Saint-Maix-
ent. The marquis naturally asked how things had
been going on during his absence, and if Madame
de Saint-Geran had suffered any inconvenience, for
her pregnancy had become the most important affair
in the household, and hardly anything else was
talked about.

" By the way," said the count, " you were speak-
ing just now of a very skilful midwife; would it
not be a good step to summon her ? "

" I think," replied the marquis, " that it would
be an excellent selection, for I do not suppose there
is one in this neighbourhood to compare to her."

" I have a great mind to send for her at once,
and to keep her about the countess, whose consti-
tution she will be all the better acquainted with if
she studies it beforehand. Do you know where I
can send for her? "

" Faith," said the marquis, " she lives in a vil-
lage, but I don't know which."

" But at least you know her name ? "

" I can hardly remember it. Louise Boyard, I
think, or Polliard, one or the other."

" How ! have you not even retained the name ? "
2358

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

" I heard the story, that's all. Who the deuce
can keep a name in his head which he hears in such
a chance fashion ? "

" But did the condition of the countess never
occur to you? "

" It was so far away that I did not suppose you
would send such a distance. I thought you were
already provided."

" How can we set about to find her ? "

" If that is all, I have a servant who knows peo-
ple in that part of the country, and who knows how
to go about things: if you like, he shall go in quest
of her."

" If I like? This very moment."

The same evening the servant started on his
errand with the count's instructions, not forgetting
those of his master. He went at full speed. It
may readily be supposed that he had not far to seek
the woman he was to bring back with him ; but he
purposely kept away for three days, and at the end
of this time Louise Goillard was installed in the
chateau.

She was a woman of plain and severe exterior,
who at once inspired confidence in everyone. The
plots of the marquis and Madame de Bouille thus
throve with most baneful success; but an accident
happened which threatened to nullify them, and,
by causing a great disaster, to prevent a crime.

2359

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The countess, passing into her apartments, caught
her foot in a carpet, and fell heavily on the floor.
At the cries of a footman all the household was
astir. The countess was carried to bed ; the most
intense alarm prevailed; but no bad consequences
followed this accident, which produced only a fur-
ther succession of visits from the neighbouring
gentry. This happened about the end of the seventh
month.

At length the moment of accouchement came.
Everything had long before been arranged for the
delivery, and nothing remained to be done. The
marquis had employed all this time in strengthen-
ing Madame de Bouille against her scruples. He
often saw Louise Goillard in private, and gave her
his instructions ; but he perceived that the corruption
of Baulieu, the house steward, was an essential fac-
tor. Baulieu was already half gained over by the
interviews of the year preceding; a large sum of
ready money and many promises did the rest. This
wretch was not ashamed to join a plot against a
master to whom he owed everything. The mar-
chioness for her part, and always under the instiga-
tion of M. de Saint-Maixent, secured matters all
round by bringing into the abominable plot the
Quinet girls, her maids; so that there was nothing
but treason and conspiracy against this worthy fam-
ily among their upper servants, usually styled con-

2360

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

fidential. Thus, having prepared matters, the con-
spirators awaited the event.

On the 1 6th of August 1641 the Countess de
Saint-Geran was overtaken by the pangs of labour
in the chapel of the chateau, where she was hearing
mass. They carried her to her room before mass
was over, her women ran around her, and the count-
ess dowager with her own hands arranged on her
head a cap of the pattern worn by ladies about to be
confined — a cap which is not usually removed till
some time later.

The pains recurred with terrible intensity. The
count wept at his wife's cries. Many persons were
present. The dowager's two daughters by her sec-
ond marriage, one of whom, then sixteen years of
age, afterwards married the Duke de Ventadour
and was a party to the lawsuit, wished to be present
at this accouchement, which was to perpetuate by a
new scion an illustrious race near extinction. There
were also Dame Saligny, sister of the late Marshal
Saint-Geran, the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, and
the Marchioness de Bouille.

Everything seemed to favour the projects of these
last two persons, who took an interest in the event
of a very different character from that generally
felt. As the pains produced no result, and the
accouchement was of the most difficult nature, while
the countess was near the last extremity, expresses

2361

CELEBRATED CRIMES

were sent to all the neighbouring parishes to offer
prayers for the mother and the child; the Holy
Sacrament was elevated in the churches at Moulins.
The midwife attended to everything herself. She
maintained that the countess would be more com-
fortable if her slightest desires were instantly
complied with. The countess herself never spoke a
word, only interrupting the gloomy silence by heart-
rending cries. All at once, Madame de Bouille, who
affected to be bustling about, pointed out that the
presence of so many persons was what hindered
the countess's accouchement, and, assuming an air
of authority justified by fictitious tenderness, said
that everyone must retire, leaving the patient in the
hands of the persons who were absolutely necessary
to her, and that, to remove any possible objections,
the countess dowager her mother must set the
example. The opportunity was made use of to
remove the count from this harrowing spectacle, and
everyone followed the countess dowager. Even the
countess's own maids were not allowed to remain,
being sent on errands which kept them out of the
way. This further reason was given, that the eldest
being scarcely fifteen, they were too young to be
present on such an occasion. The only persons remain-
ing by the bedside were the Marchioness de Bouille,
the midwife, and the two Quinet girls; the countess
was thus in the hands of her most cruel enemies.

2362

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

It was seven o'clock in the evening; the labours
continued; the elder Quinet girl held the patient by
the hand to soothe her. The count and the dowager
sent incessantly to know the news. They were told
that everything was going on well, and that shortly
their wishes would be accomplished; but none of the
servants were allowed to enter the room.

Three hours later, the midwife declared that the
countess could not hold out any longer unless she
got some rest. She made her swallow a liquor
which was introduced into her mouth by spoonfuls.
The countess fell into so deep a sleep that she
seemed to be dead. The younger Quinet girl
thought for a moment that they had killed her, and
wept in a corner of the room, till Madame de Bouille
reassured her.

During this frightful night a shadowy figure
prowled in the corridors, silently patrolled the
rooms, and came now and then to the door of the
bedroom, where he conferred in a low tone with
the midwife and the Marchioness de Bouille. This
was the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, who gave his
orders, encouraged his people, watched over every
point of his plot, himself a prey to the agonies of
nervousness which accompany the preparations for
a great crime.

The dowager countess, owing to her great age,
had been compelled to take some rest. The count

2363

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sat up, worn out with fatigue, in a downstairs room
hard by that in which they were compassing the
ruin of all most dear to him in the world.

The countess, in her profound lethargy, gave
birth, without being aware of it, to a boy, who thus
fell on his entry into the world into the hands of
his enemies, his mother powerless to defend him by
her cries and tears. The door was half opened, and
a man who was waiting outside brought in ; this
was the major-domo Baulieu.

The midwife, pretending to afford the first neces-
sary cares to the child, had taken it into a corner.
Baulieu watched her movements, and springing
upon her, pinioned her arms. The wretched woman
dug her nails into the child's head. He snatched it
from her, but the poor infant for long bore the
marks of her claws.

Possibly the Marchioness de Bouille could not
nerve herself to the commission of so great a crime;
but it seems more probable that the steward pre-
vented the destruction of the child under the orders
of M. de Saint-Maixent. The theory is that the
marquis, mistrustful of the promise made him by
Madame de Bouille to marry him after the death of
her husband, desired to keep the child to oblige her
to keep her word, under threats of getting him
acknowledged, if she proved faithless to him. No
other adequate reason can be conjectured to deter-

2364

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

mine a man of his character to take such great care
of his victim.

Baulieu swaddled the child immediately, put it in
a basket, hid it under his cloak, and went with his
prey to find the marquis; they conferred together
for some time, after which the house steward passed
by a postern gate into the moat, thence to a terrace
by which he reached a bridge leading into the park.
This park had twelve gates, and he had the keys of
all. He mounted a blood horse which he had left
waiting behind a wall, and started off at full gallop.
The same day he passed through the village of
Escherolles, a league distant from Saint-Geran,
where he stopped at the house of a nurse, wife of a
glove-maker named Claude. This peasant woman
gave her breast to the child; but the steward, not
daring to stay in a village so near Saint-Geran,
crossed the river Allier at the port de la Chaise, and
calling at the house of a man named Boucaud, the
good wife suckled the child for the second time;
he then continued his journey in the direction of
Auvergne.

The heat was excessive, his horse was done up,
the child seemed uneasy. A carrier's cart passed
him going to Riom ; it was owned by a certain Paul
Boithion of the town of Aigueperce, a common
carrier on the road. Baulieu went alongside to put
the child in the cart, which he entered himself,

2365

CELEBRATED CRIMES

carrying the infant on his knees. The horse fol-
lowed, fastened by the bridle to the back of the
cart.

In the conversation which he held with this man,
Baulieu said that he should not take so much care
of the child did it not belong to the most noble
house in the Bourbonnais. They reached the village
of Che at midday. The mistress of the house where
he put up, who was nursing an infant, consented to
give some of her milk to the child. The poor
creature was covered with blood ; she warmed some
water, stripped off its swaddling linen, washed it
from head to foot, and swathed it up again more
neatly.

The carrier then took them to Riom. When they
got there, Baulieu got rid of him by giving a false
meeting-place for their departure ; left in the direc-
tion of the abbey of Lavoine, and reached the village
of Descoutoux, in the mountains, between Lavoine
and Thiers. The Marchioness de Bouille had a
chateau there where she occasionally spent some time.

The child was nursed at Descoutoux by Gabrielle
Moini, who was paid a month in advance; but she
only kept it a week or so, because they refused to
tell her the father and mother and to refer her to a
place where she might send reports of her charge.
This woman having made these reasons public, no
nurse could be found to take charge of the child,

2366

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

which was removed from the village of Descoutoux.
The persons who removed it took the highroad to
Burgundy, crossing a densely wooded country, and
here they lost their way.

The above particulars were subsequently proved
by the nurses, the carrier, and others who made legal
depositions. They are stated at length here, as they
proved very important in the great lawsuit. The
compilers of the case, into which we search for
information, have however omitted to tell us how
the absence of the major-domo was accounted for
at the castle; probably the far-sighted marquis had
got an excuse ready.

The countess's state of drowsiness continued till
daybreak. She woke bathed in blood, completely
exhausted, but yet with a sensation of comfort
which convinced her that she had been delivered
from her burden. Her first words were about her
child; she wished to see it, kiss it; she asked where
it was. The midwife coolly told her, whilst the girls
who were by were filled with amazement at her
audacity, that she had not been confined at all. The
countess maintained the contrary, and as she grew
very excited, the midwife strove to calm her, assur-
ing her that in any case her delivery could not be
long protracted, and that, judging from all the indi-
cations of the night, she would give birth to a boy.
This promise comforted the count and the countess

2367

CELEBRATED CRIMES

dowager, but failed to satisfy the countess, who
insisted that a child had been born.

The same day a scullery-maid met a woman going
to the water's edge in the castle moat, with a parcel
in her arms. She recognised the midwife, and
asked what she was carrying and where she was
going so early. The latter replied that she was very
inquisitive, and that it was nothing at all; but the
girl, laughingly pretending to be angry at this
answer, pulled open one of the ends of the parcel
before the midwife had time to stop her, and
exposed to view some linen soaked in blood.

" Madame has been confined, then? " she said to
the matron.

" No," replied she briskly, " she has not."

The girl was unconvinced, and said, " How do
you mean that she has not, when madame the
marchioness, who was there, says she has? "

The matron in great confusion replied, " She
must have a very long tongue, if she said so."

The girl's evidence was later found most impor-
tant.

The countess's uneasiness made her worse the
next day. She implored with sighs and tears at
least to be told what had become of her child,
steadily maintaining that she was not mistaken when
she assured them that she had given birth to one.
The midwife with great effrontery told her that the
2368

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

new moon was unfavourable to childbirth, and that
she must wait for the wane, when it would be easier
as matters were already prepared.

Invalids' fancies do not obtain much credence;
still, the persistence of the countess would have con-
vinced everyone in the long run, had not the dow-
ager said that she remembered at the end of the
ninth month of one of her own pregnancies she had
all the premonitory symptoms of lying in, but they
proved false, and in fact the accouchement took place
three months later.

This piece of news inspired great confidence. The
marquis and Madame de Bouille did all in their
power to confirm it, but the countess obstinately
refused to listen to it, and her passionate transports
of grief gave rise to the greatest anxiety. The mid-
wife, who knew not how to gain time, and was losing
all hope in face of the countess's persistence, was
almost frightened out of her wits; she entered into
medical details, and finally said that some violent
exercise must be taken to induce labour. The
countess, still unconvinced, refused to obey this
order ; but the count, the dowager, and all the family
entreated her so earnestly that she gave way.

They put her in a close carriage, and drove her
a whole day over ploughed fields, by the roughest
and hardest roads. She was so shaken that she lost
the power of breathing; it required all the strength

2369

CELEBRATED CRIMES

of her constitution to support this barbarous treat-
ment in the delicate condition of a lady so recently
confined. They put her to bed again after this cruel
drive, and seeing that nobody took her view, she
threw herself into the arms of Providence, and con-
soled herself by religion; the midwife administered
violent remedies to deprive her of milk ; she got over
all these attempts to murder her, and slowly got
better.

Time, which heals the deepest affliction, gradually
soothed that of the countess; her grief nevertheless
burst out periodically on the slightest cause ; but
eventually it died out, till the following events
rekindled it.

There had been in Paris a fencing-master who
used to boast that he had a brother in the service of
a great house. This fencing-master had married a
certain Marie Pigoreau, daughter of an actor. He
had recently died in poor circumstances, leaving her
a widow with two children. This woman Pigoreau
did not enjoy the best of characters, and no one knew
how she made a living, when all at once, after some
short absences from home and visit from a man who
came in the evening, his face muffled in his cloak, she
launched out into a more expensive style of living;
the neighbours saw in her house costly clothes, fine
swaddling-clothes, and at last it became known that
she was nursing a strange child.

2370

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

About the same time it also transpired that she
had a deposit of two thousand livres in the hands of
a grocer in the quarter, named Raguenet ; some days
later, as the child's baptism had doubtless been put
off for fear of betraying his origin, Pigoreau had
him christened at St. Jean en Greve. She did not
invite any of the neighbours to the function, and
gave parents' names of her own choosing at the
church. For godfather she selected the parish sex-
ton, named Paul Marmiou, who gave the child the
name of Bernard. La Pigoreau remained in a con-
fessional during the ceremony, and gave the man ten
sous. The godmother was Jeanne Chevalier, a poor
woman of the parish.

The entry in the register was as follows: —

" On the seventh day of March one thousand
six hundred and forty-two was baptised Bernard^
son of . . . and . . . , his godfather being
Paul Marmiou, day labourer and servant
of this parish, and his godmother Jeanne
Chevalier, widow of Pierre Thibou."

A few days afterwards la Pigoreau put out the
child to nurse in the village of Torcy en Brie, with
a woman who had been her godmother, whose hus-
band was called Paillard. She gave out that it was
a child of quality which had been entrusted to her,

2371

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and that she should not hesitate, if such a thing were
necessary, to save its life by the loss of one of her
own children. The nurse did not keep it long,
because she fell ill ; la Pigoreau went to fetch the
child away, lamenting this accident, and further
saying that she regretted it all the more, as the
nurse would have earned enough to make her com-
fortable for the rest of her life. She put the infant
out again in the same village, with the widow of a
peasant named Marc Peguin. The monthly wage
was regularly paid, and the child brought up as one
of rank. La Pigoreau further told the woman that
it was the son of a great nobleman, and would later
make the fortunes of those who served him. An
elderly man, whom the people supposed to be the
child's father, but who Pigoreau assured them was
her brother-in-law, often came to see him.

When the child was eighteen months old, la
Pigoreau took him away and weaned him. Of the
two by her husband the elder was called Antoine,
the second would have been called Henri if he had
lived; but he was born on the 9th of August 1639,
after the death of his father, who was killed in June
of the same year, and died shortly after his birth.
La Pigoreau thought fit to give the name and con-
dition of this second son to the stranger, and thus
bury for ever the secret of his birth. With this end
in view, she left the quarter where she lived, and
2372

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

removed to conceal herself in another parish where
she was not known. The child was brought up
under the name and style of Henri, second son of
la Pigoreau, till he was two and a half years of
age ; but at this time, whether she was not engaged
to keep it any longer, or whether she had spent the
two thousand livres deposited with the grocer
Raguenet, and could get no more from the prin-
cipals, she determined to get rid of it.

Her gossips used to tell this woman that she cared
but little for her eldest son, because she was very
confident of the second one making his fortune, and
that if she were obliged to give up one of them, she
had better keep the younger, who was a beautiful
boy. To this she would reply that the matter did
not depend upon her ; that the boy's godfather was an
uncle in good circumstances, who would not charge
himself with any other child. She often mentioned
this uncle, her brother-in-law, she said, who was
major-domo in a great house.

One morning, the hall porter at the hotel de Saint-
Geran came to Baulieu and told him that a woman
carrying a child was asking for him at the wicket
gate; this Baulieu was, in fact, the brother of the
fencing-master, and godfather to Pigoreau's second
son. It is now supposed that he was the unknown
person who had placed the child of quality with her,
and who used to go and see him at his nurse's. La

9— Dumas— Vol. 7 **' ^

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Pigoreau gave him a long account of her situation.
The major-domo took the child with some emotion,
and told la Pigoreau to wait his answer a short dis-
tance off, in a place which he pointed out.

Baulieu's wife made a great outcry at the first
proposal of an increase of family; but he succeeded
in pacifying her by pointing out the necessities of
his sister-in-law, and how easy and inexpensive it
was to do this good work in such a house as the
count's. He went to his master and mistress to ask
permission to bring up this child in their hotel ; a
kind of feeling entered into the charge he was under-
taking which in some measure lessened the weight
on his conscience.

The count and countess at first opposed this
project; telling him that having already five children
he ought not to burden himself with any more, but
he petitioned so earnestly that he obtained what he
wanted. The countess wished to see it, and as she
was about to start for Moulins she ordered it to be
put in her women's coach ; when it was shown her,
she cried out, "What a lovely child ! " The boy was
fair, with large blue eyes and very regular features.
She gave him a hundred caresses, which the child re-
turned very prettily. She at once took a great fancy
to him, and said to Baulieu, " I shall not put him in
my women's coach ; I shall put him in my own."

After they arrived at the chateau of Saint-Geran,
2374

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERATT

her affection for Henri, the name retained by the
child, increased day by day. She often contemplated
him with sadness, then embraced him with tender-
ness, and kept him long on her bosom. The count
shared this affection for the supposed nephew of
Baulieu, who was adopted, so to speak, and brought
up like a child of quality.

The Marquis de Saint-Maixent and Madame de
Bouille had not married, although the old Marquis
de Bouille had long been dead. It appeared that they
had given up this scheme. The marchioness no
doubt felt scruples about it, and the marquis was
deterred from marriage by his profligate habits. It
is moreover supposed that other engagements and
heavy bribes compensated the loss he derived from
the marchioness's breach of faith.

He was a man about town at that period, and was
making love to the demoiselle Jacqueline de la
Garde; he had succeeded in gaining her affections,
and brought matters to such a point that she no
longer refused her favours except on the grounds of
her pregnancy and the danger of an indiscretion.
The marquis then offered to introduce to her a
matron who could deliver women without the pangs
of labour, and who had a very successful practice.
The same Jacqueline de la Garde further gave evi-
dence at the trial that M. de Saint-Maixent had
often boasted, as of a scientific intrigue, of having

2375

CELEBRATED CRIMES

spirited away the son of a governor of a province
and grandson of a marshal of France; that he spoke
of the Marchioness de Bouille, said that he had made
her rich, and that it was to him she owed her great
wealth ; and further, that one day having taken her
to a pretty country seat which belonged to him, she
praised its beauty, saying " c'etait un beau lieu " ; he
replied by a pun on a man's name, saying that he
knew another Baulieu who had enabled him to make
a fortune of five hundred thousand crowns. He
also said to Jadelon, sieur de la Barbesange, when
posting with him from Paris, that the Countess de
Saint-Geran had been delivered of a son who was in
his power.

The marquis had not seen Madame de Bouille for
a long time ; a common danger reunited them. They
had both learned with terror the presence of Henri
at the hotel de Saint-Geran. They consulted about
this ; the marquis undertook to cut the danger short.
However, he dared put in practice nothing overtly
against the child, a matter still more difficult just
then, inasmuch as some particulars of his discredit-
able adventures had leaked out, and the Saint-Geran
family received him more than coldly.

Baulieu, who witnessed every day the tenderness
of the count and countess for the boy Henri, had
been a hundred times on the point of giving himself
up and confessing everything. He was torn to pieces

2376

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

with remorse. Remarks escaped him which he
thought he might make without ulterior conse-
quences, seeing the lapse of time, but they were
noted and commented on. Sometimes he would say-
that he held in his hand the life and honour of
Madame the Marchioness de Bouille; sometimes
that the count and countess had more reasons than
they knew of for loving Henri. One day he put
a case of conscience to a confessor, thus : " Whether
a man who had been concerned in the abduction of
a child could not satisfy his conscience by restoring
him to his father and mother without telling them
who he was?" What answer the confessor made
is not known, but apparently it was not what the
major-domo wanted. He replied to a magistrate of
Moulins, who congratulated him on having a nephew
whom his masters overburdened with kind treat-
ment, that they ought to love him, since he was
nearly related to them.

These remarks were noticed by others than those
principally concerned. One day a wine merchant
came to propose to Baulieu the purchase of a pipe
of Spanish wine, of which he gave him a sample
bottle ; in the evening he was taken violently ill.
They carried him to bed, where he writhed, uttering
horrible cries. One sole thought possessed him
when his sufferings left him a lucid interval, and in
his agony he repeated over and over again that he

^377

CELEBRATED CRIMES

wished to implore pardon from the count and
countess for a great injury which he had done them.
The people round about him told him that was a
trifle, and that he ought not to let it embitter
his last moments, but he begged so piteously that
he got them to promise that they should be sent
for.

The count thought it was some trifling irregular-
ity, some misappropriation in the house accounts;
and fearing to hasten the death of the sufferer by
the shame of the confession of a fault, he sent word
that he heartily forgave him, that he might die tran-
quil, and refused to see him. Baulieu expired, taking
his secret with him. This happened in 1648.

The child was then seven years old. His charm-
ing manners grew with his age, and the count and
countess felt their love for him increase. They
caused him to be taught dancing and fencing, put
him into breeches and hose, and a page's suit of
their livery, in which capacity he served them. The
marquis turned his attack to this quarter. He was
doubtless preparing some plot as criminal as the
preceding, when justice overtook him for some
other great crimes of which he had been guilty. He
was arrested one day in the street when conversing
with one of the Saint-Geran footmen, and taken to
the Conciergerie of the Palace of Justice.

Whether owing to these occurrences, or to
2378

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

grounds for suspicion before mentioned, certain
reports spread in the Bourbonnais embodying some
of the real facts ; portions of them reached the ears
of the count and countess, but they had only the
effect of renewing their grief without furnishing a
clue to the truth.

Meanwhile, the count went to take the waters at
Vichy. The countess and Madame de Bouille fol-
lowed him, and there they chanced to encounter
Louise Goillard, the midwife. This woman renewed
her acquaintance with the house, and in particular
often visited the Marchioness de Bouille. One day
the countess, unexpectedly entering the mar-
chioness's room, found them both conversing in an
undertone. They stopped talking immediately, and
appeared disconcerted.

The countess noticed this without attaching any
importance to it, and asked the subject of their con-
versation.

" Oh, nothing," said the marchioness.

"But what is it?" insisted the countess, seeing
that she blushed.

The marchioness, no longer able to evade the
question, and feeling her difficulties increase,
replied —

" Dame Louise is praising my brother for bearing
no ill-will to her."

H Why ? " said the countess, turning to the mid-
2379

CELEBRATED CRIMES

wife, — " why should you fear any ill-will on the
part of my husband? "

" I was afraid," said Louise Goillard awkwardly,
" that he might have taken a dislike to me on account
of all that happened when you expected to be con-
fined."

The obscurity of these words and embarrassment
of the two women produced a lively effect upon the
countess; but she controlled herself and let the
subject drop. Her agitation, however, did not
escape the notice of the marchioness, who the next
day had horses put to her coach and retired to her
estate of Lavoine. This clumsy proceeding strength-
ened suspicion.

The first determination of the countess was to
arrest Louise Goillard ; but she saw that in so serious
a matter every step must be taken with precaution.
She consulted the count and the countess dowager.
They quietly summoned the midwife, to question her
without any preliminaries. She prevaricated and
contradicted herself over and over again ; moreover,
her state of terror alone sufficed to convict her of a
crime. They handed her over to the law, and the
Count de Saint-Geran filed an information before
the vice-seneschal of Moulins.

The midwife underwent a first interrogatory.
She confessed the truth of the accouchement, but she
added that the countess had given birth to a still-born

2380

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

daughter, which she had buried under a stone near
the step of the barn in the back yard. The judge,
accompanied by a physician and a surgeon, repaired
to the place, where he found neither stone, nor
foetus, nor any indications of an interment. They
searched unsuccessfully in other places.

When the dowager countess heard this statement,
she demanded that this horrible woman should be
put on her trial. The civil lieutenant, in the absence
of the criminal lieutenant, commenced the pro-
ceedings.

In a second interrogation, Louise Goillard posi-
tively declared that the countess had never been
confined ;

In a third, that she had been delivered of a mole ;

In a fourth, that she had been confined of a
male infant, which Baulieu had carried away in a
basket ;

And in a fifth, in which she answered from the
dock, she maintained that her evidence of the
countess's accouchement had been extorted from
her by violence. She made no charges against either
Madame de Bouille or the Marquis de Saint-
Maixent. On the other hand, no sooner was she
under lock and key than she despatched her son
Guillemin to the marchioness to inform her that she
was arrested. The marchioness recognised how
threatening things were, and was in a state of con-

2381

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sternation; she immediately sent the sieur de la
Foresterie, her steward, to the lieutenant-general,
her counsel, a mortal enemy of the count, that he
might advise her in this conjuncture, and suggest a
means for helping the matron without appearing
openly in the matter. The lieutenant's advice was
to quash the proceedings and obtain an injunction
against the continuance of the preliminaries to the
action. The marchioness spent a large sum of
money, and obtained this injunction ; but it was
immediately reversed, and the bar to the suit
removed.

La Foresterie was then ordered to pass to Riom,
where the sisters Quinet lived, and to bribe them
heavily to secrecy. The elder one, on leaving the
marchioness's service, had shaken her fist in her
face, feeling secure with the secrets in her knowl-
edge, and told her that she would repent having
dismissed her and her sister, and that she would
make a clean breast of the whole affair, even were
she to be hung first. These girls then sent word
that they wished to enter her service again ; that the
countess had promised them handsome terms if they
would speak ; and that they had even been questioned
in her name by a Capuchin superior, but that they
said nothing, in order to give time to prepare an
answer for them. The marchioness found herself
obliged to take back the girls ; she kept the younger,

2382

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

and married the elder to Delisle, her house steward.
But la Forestrie, finding himself in this network
of intrigue, grew disgusted at serving such a mis-
tress, and left her house. The marchioness told
him on his departure that if he were so indiscreet as
to repeat a word of what he had learned from the
Quinet girls, she would punish him with a hundred
poniard stabs from her major-domo Delisle. Hav-
ing thus fortified her position, she thought herself
secure against any hostile steps; but it happened
that a certain Prudent Berger, gentleman and page
to the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, who enjoyed his
master's confidence and went - to see him in the
Conciergerie, where he was imprisoned, threw some
strange light on this affair. His master had nar-
rated to him all the particulars of the accouchement
of the countess and of the abduction of the child.

" I am astonished, my lord," replied the page,
" that having so many dangerous affairs on hand,
you did not relieve your conscience of this one."

" I intend," replied the marquis, " to restore this
child to his father : I have been ordered to do so by a
Capuchin to whom I confessed having carried off
from the midst of the family, without their knowing
it, a grandson of a marshal of France and son of a
governor of a province."

The marquis had at that time permission to go
out from prison occasionally on his parole. This

23S3

CELEBRATED CRIMES

will not surprise anyone acquainted with the ideas
which prevailed at that period on the honour of a
nobleman, even the greatest criminal. The marquis,
profiting by this facility, took the page to see a child
of about seven years of age, fair and with a beautiful
countenance.

" Page," said he, " look well at this child, so that
you may know him again when I shall send you to
inquire about him."

He then informed him that this was the Count de
Saint-Geran's son whom he had carried away.

Information of these matters coming to the ears
of justice, decisive proofs were hoped for; but this
happened just when other criminal informations
were lodged against the marquis, which left him
helpless to prevent the exposure of his crimes.
Police officers were despatched in all haste to the
Conciergerie ; they were stopped by the gaolers, who
told them that the marquis, feeling ill, was engaged
with a priest who was administering the sacraments
to him. As they insisted on seeing him, the warders
approached the cell : the priest came out, crying that
persons must be sought to whom the sick man had
a secret to reveal ; that he was in a desperate state,
and said he had just poisoned himself; all entered
the cell.

M. de Saint-Maixent was writhing on a pallet, in
a pitiable condition, sometimes shrieking like a wild

2384

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

beast, sometimes stammering disconnected words.
All that the officers could hear was —

" Monsieur le Comte . . . call . . . the Countess
. . . de Saint-Geran ... let them come. . . ."
The officers earnestly begged him to try to be more
explicit.

The marquis had another fit ; when he opened his
eyes, he said —

" Send for the countess ... let them forgive me
... I wish to tell them everything." The police
officers asked him to speak; one even told him that
the count was there. The marquis feebly mur-
mured—

" I am going to tell you " Then he gave a

loud cry and fell back dead.

It thus seemed as if fate took pains to close every
mouth from which the truth might escape. Still,
this avowal of a deathbed revelation to be made to
the Count de Saint-Geran and the deposition of the
priest who had administered the last sacraments
formed a strong link in the chain of evidence.

The judge of first instruction, collecting all the
information he had got, made a report the weight of
which was overwhelming. The carters, the nurse,
the domestic servants, all gave accounts consistent
with each other; the route and the various adven-
tures of the child were plainly detailed, from its
birth till its arrival at the village of Descoutoux.

2385

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Justice, thus tracing crime to its sources, had no
option but to issue a warrant for the arrest of the
Marchioness de Bouille; but it seems probable that
it was not served owing to the strenuous efforts of
the Count de Saint-Geran, who could not bring
himself to ruin his sister, seeing that her dishonour
would have been reflected on him. The marchioness
hid her remorse in solitude, and appeared again no
more. She died shortly after, carrying the weight
of her secret till she drew her last breath.

The judge of Moulins at length pronounced sen-
tence on the midwife, whom he declared arraigned
and convicted of having suppressed the child born
to the countess; for which he condemned her to be
tortured and then hanged. The matron lodged an
appeal against this sentence, and the case was
referred to the Conciergerie.

No sooner had the count and countess seen the
successive proofs of the procedure, than tenderness
and natural feelings accomplished the rest. They no
longer doubted that their page was their son; they
stripped him at once of his livery and gave him his
rank and prerogatives, under the title of the Count
de la Palice.

Meanwhile, a private person named Sequeville
informed the countess that he had made a very
important discovery ; that a child had been baptized
in 1642 at St. Jean-en-Greve, and that a woman

2386

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

named Marie Pigoreau had taken a leading part in
the affair. Thereupon inquiries were made, and it
was discovered that this child had been nursed in
the village of Torcy. The count obtained a warrant
which enabled him to get evidence before the judge
of Torcy; nothing was left undone to elicit the
whole truth; he also obtained a warrant through
which he obtained more information, and published
a monitory. The elder of the Quinet girls on this
told the Marquis de Canillac that the count was
searching at a distance for things very near him. The
truth shone out with great lustre through these new
facts which gushed from all this fresh information.
The child, exhibited in the presence of a legal com-
missary to the nurses and witnesses of Torcy, was
identified, as much by the scars left by the midwife's
nails on his head, as by his fair hair and blue eyes.
This ineffaceable vestige of the woman's cruelty was
the principal proof; the witnesses testified that la
Pigoreau, when she visited this child with a man
who appeared to be of condition, always asserted
that he was the son of a great nobleman who had
been entrusted to her care, and that she hoped he
would make her fortune and that of those who had
reared him.

The child's godfather, Paul Marmiou, a common
labourer; the grocer Raguenet, who had charge of
the two thousand livres ; the servant of la Pigoreau,

2387

CELEBRATED CRIMES

who had heard her say that the count was obliged
to take this child; the witnesses who proved that la
Pigoreau had told them that the child was too well
born to wear a page's livery, all furnished convinc-
ing proofs ; but others were forthcoming.

It was at la Pigoreau's that the Marquis de Saint-
Maixent, living then at the hotel de Saint-Geran,
went to see the child, kept in her house as if it were
hers; Prudent Berger, the marquis's page, perfectly
well remembered la Pigoreau, and also the child,
whom he had seen at her house and whose history
the marquis had related to him. Finally, many other
witnesses heard in the course of the case, both before
the three chambers of nobles, clergy, and the tiers
etat, and before the judges of Torcy, Cusset, and
other local magistrates, made the facts so clear and
conclusive in favour of the legitimacy of the young
count, that it was impossible to avoid impeaching
the guilty parties. The count ordered the summons
in person of la Pigoreau, who had not been com-
promised in the original preliminary proceedings.
This drastic measure threw the intriguing woman
on her beam ends, but she strove hard to right
herself.

The widowed Duchess de Ventadour, daughter by
her mother's second marriage of the Countess dow-
ager of Saint-Geran, and half-sister of the count,
and the Countess de Lude, daughter of the March-
2388

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

ioness de Bouille, from whom the young count
carried .away the Saint-Geran inheritance, were very
warm in the matter, and spoke of disputing the judg-
ment. La Pigoreau went to see them, and joined
in concert with them.

Then commenced this famous lawsuit, which long
occupied all France, and is parallel in some respects,
but not in the time occupied in the hearing, to the
case heard by Solomon, in which one child was
claimed by two mothers.

The Marquis de Saint-Maixent and Madame de
Bouille being dead, were naturally no parties to the
suit, which was fought against the Saint-Geran
family by la Pigoreau and Mesdames du Lude and
de Ventadour. These ladies no doubt acted in good
faith, at first at any rate, in refusing to believe the
crime; for if they had originally known the truth it
is incredible that they could have fought the case so
long and so obstinately.

They first of all went to the aid of the midwife,
who had fallen sick in prison ; they then consulted
together, and resolved as follows : —

That the accused should appeal against criminal
proceedings ;

That la Pigoreau should lodge a civil petition
against the judgments which ordered her arrest and
the confronting of witnesses;

That they should appeal against the abuse of
2389

CELEBRATED CRIMES

obtaining and publishing monitories, and lodge an
interpleader against the sentence of the judge of first
instruction, who had condemned the matron to
capital punishment ;

And that finally, to carry the war into the enemy's
camp, la Pigoreau should impugn the maternity of
the countess, claiming the child as her own; and
that the ladies should depose that the countess's
accouchement was an imposture invented to cause it
to be supposed that she had given birth to a child.

For more safety and apparent absence of collusion
Mesdames du Lude and de Ventadour pretended to
have no communication with la Pigoreau.

About this time the midwife died in prison, from
an illness which vexation and remorse had aggrava-
ted. After her death, her son Guillemin confessed
that she had often told him that the countess had
given birth to a son whom Baulieu had carried off,
and that the child entrusted to Baulieu at the chateau
Saint-Gerin was the same as the one recovered; the
youth added that he had concealed this fact so long
as it might injure his mother, and he further stated
that the ladies de Ventadour and du Lude had helped
her in prison with money and advice — another
strong piece of presumptive evidence.

The petitions of the accused and the interpleadings
of Mesdames du Lude and de Ventadour were dis-
cussed in seven hearings, before three courts con-

2390

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

vened. The suit proceeded with all the languor and
chicanery of the period.

After long and specious arguments, the attorney-
general Bijnon gave his decision in favour of the
Count and Countess of Saint-Geran, concluding
thus : —

" The court rejects the civil appeal of la Pigoreau,
and all the opposition and appeals of the appellants
and the defendants; condemns them to fine and in
costs; and seeing that the charges against la Pigo-
reau were of a serious nature, and that a personal
summons had been decreed against her, orders her
committal, recommending her to the indulgence of
the court."

By a judgment given in a sitting at the Tournelle
by M. de Mesmes, on the 18th of August 1657, the
appellant ladies' and the defendants' opposition was
rejected with fine and costs. La Pigoreau was for-
bidden to leave the city and suburbs of Paris under
penalty of summary conviction. The judgment in
the case followed the rejection of the appeal.

This reverse at first extinguished the litigation
of Mesdames du Lude and de Ventadour, but it
soon revived more briskly than ever. These ladies,
who had taken la Pigoreau in their coach to all the
hearings, prompted her, in order to procrastinate, to
file a fresh petition, in which she demanded the
~.onfrontment of all the witnesses to the pregnancy

2391

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and the confinement. On hearing this petition, the
court gave on the 28th of August 1658 a decree
ordering the conf rontment, but on condition that for
three days previously la Pigoreau should deliver
herself a prisoner in the Conciergerie.

This judgment, the consequences of which greatly
alarmed la Pigoreau, produced such an effect upon
her that, after having weighed the interest she had
in the suit, which she would lose by flight, against
the danger to her life if she ventured her person
into the hands of justice, she abandoned her false
plea of maternity, and took refuge abroad. This
last circumstance was a heavy blow to Mesdames
du Lude and de Ventadour; but they were not at
the end of their resources and their obstinacy.

Contempt of court being decreed against la
Pigoreau, and the case being got up against the
other defendants, the Count de Saint-Geran left for
the Bourbonnais, to put in execution the order to
confront the witnesses. Scarcely had he arrived
in the province when he was obliged to interrupt
his work to receive the king and the queen mother,
who were returning from Lyons and passing
through Moulins. He presented the Count de la
Palice to their Majesties as his son; they received
him as such. But during the visit of the king and
queen the Count de Saint-Geran fell ill, over
fatigued, no doubt, by the trouble he had taken to
2392

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN"

give them a suitable reception, over and above the
worry of his own affairs.

During his illness, which only lasted a week, he
made in his will a new acknowledgment of his son,
naming his executors M. de Barriere, intendant of
the province, and the sieur Vialet, treasurer of
France, desiring them to bring the lawsuit to an end.
His last words were for his wife and child; his only
regret that he had not been able to terminate this
affair. He died on the 31st of January 1659.

The maternal tenderness of the countess did not
need stimulating by the injunctions of her husband,
and she took up the suit with energy. The ladies
de Ventadour and du Lude obtained by default
letters of administration as heiresses without
liability, which were granted out of the Chatelet.
At the same time they appealed against the judgment
of the lieutenant-general of the Bourbonnais, giving
the tutelage of the young count to the countess his
mother, and his guardianship to sieur de Bompre.
The countess, on her side, interpleaded an appeal
against the granting of letters of administration
without liability, and did all in her power to bring
back the case to the Tournelle. The other ladies
carried their appeal to the high court, pleading that
they were not parties to the lawsuit in the Tour-
nelle.

It would serve no purpose to follow the obscure
2393

CELEBRATED CRIMES

labyrinth of legal procedure of that period, and to
recite all the marches and countermarches which
legal subtlety suggested to the litigants. At the
end of three years, on the 9th of April 1661, the
countess obtained a judgment by which the king in
person —

" Assuming to his own decision the civil suit pend-
ing at the Toumelle, as well as the appeals
pled by both parties, and the last petition of
Mesdames du Lade and de Ventadour, sends
back the whole case to the three assembled
chambers of the States General, to be by
them decided on its merits either jointly or
separately, as they may deem fit."

The countess thus returned to her first battlefield.
Legal science produced an immense quantity of
manuscript, barristers and attorneys greatly dis-
tinguishing themselves in their calling. After an
interminable hearing, and pleadings longer and
more complicated than ever, which however did not
bamboozle the court, judgment was pronounced in
conformity with the summing up of the attorney-
general, thus : —

" That passing over the petition of Mesdames
Marie de la Guiche and Eleonore de Bouille, on the
grounds," etc. etc. ;

2394

THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN

" Evidence taken," etc. ;

"Appeals, judgments annulled," etc.;

" With regard to the petition of the late Claude de
la Guiche and Suzanne de Longaunay, dated 1 2th
August 1658,"

" Ordered,

" That the rule be made absolute ;

" Which being done, Bernard de la Guiche is
pronounced, maintained, and declared the lawfully
born and legitimate son of Claude de la Guiche and
Suzanne de Longaunay; in possession and enjoy-
ment of the name and arms of the house of Guiche,
and of all the goods left by Claude de la Guiche, his
father; and Marie de la Guiche and Eleonore de
Bouille are interdicted from interfering with him;

" The petitions of Eleonore de Bouille and Marie
de la Guiche, dated 4th June 1664, 4th August
1665, 6th January, 10th February, 12th March, 15th
April, and 2nd June, 1666, are dismissed with costs;

" Declared,

" That the defaults against la Pigoreau are con-
firmed; and that she, arraigned and convicted of
the offences imputed to her, is condemned to be hung
and strangled at a gallows erected in the Place de
Greve in this city, if taken and apprehended; other-
wise, in effigy at a gallows erected in the Place de
Greve aforesaid; that all her property subject to
confiscation is seized and confiscated from whom-

2395

CELEBRATED CRIMES

soever may be in possession of it ; on which property
and other not subject to confiscation, is levied a fine
of eight hundred Paris livres, to be paid to the King,
and applied to the maintenance of prisoners in the
Conciergerie of the Palace of Justice, and to the
costs."

Possibly a more obstinate legal contest was never
waged, on both sides, but especially by those who
lost it. The countess, who played the part of the
true mother in the Bible, had the case so much to
heart that she often told the judges, when pleading
her cause, that if her son were not recognised as
such, she would marry him, and convey all her
property to him.

The young Count de la Palice became Count de
Saint-Geran through the death of his father, mar-
ried, in 1667, Claude Franchise Madeleine de Farig-
nies, only daughter of Frangois de Monfreville and
of Marguerite Jourdain de Carbone de Canisi. He
had only one daughter, born in 1688, who became
a nun. He died at the age of fifty-five years, and
thus this illustrious family became extinct.

2396

MURAT

MURAT
1815

I

TOULON

ON the 1 8th June, 181 5, at the very moment
when the destiny of Europe was being
decided at Waterloo, a man dressed like a beggar
was silently following the road from Toulon to
Marseilles.

Arrived at the entrance of the Gorge of Olli-
oulles, he halted on a little eminence from which he
could see all the surrounding country; then either
because he had reached the end of his journey, or
because, before attempting that forbidding, sombre
pass which is called the Thermopylae of Provence,
he wished to enjoy the magnificent view which
spread to the southern horizon a little longer, he
went and sat down on the edge of the ditch which
bordered the road, turning his back on the moun-
tains which rise like an amphitheatre to the north of
the town, and having at his feet a rich plain cov-

2.399

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ered with tropical vegetation, exotics of a con-
servatory, trees and flowers quite unknown in any-
other part of France.

Beyond this plain, glittering in the last rays of
the sun, pale and motionless as a mirror lay the sea,
and on the surface of the water glided one brig-of-
war, which, taking advantage of a fresh land
breeze, had all sails spread, and was bowling along
rapidly, making for Italian seas. The beggar fol-
lowed it eagerly with his eyes until it disappeared
between the Cape of Gien and the first of the islands
of Hyeres, then as the white apparition vanished he
sighed deeply, let his head fall into his hands, and
remained motionless and absorbed in his reflections,
until the tramplings of a cavalcade made him start ;
he looked up, shook back his long black hair, as if
he wished to get rid of the gloomy thoughts which
were overwhelming him, and, lookinsr at the en-
trance to the gorge from whence the noise came,
he soon saw two riders appear, who were no doubt
well known to him, for, drawing himself up to his
full height, he let fall the stick he was carrying, and
folding his arms he turned towards them. On their
side the new-comers had hardly seen him before
they halted, and the foremost dismounted, threw his
bridle to his companion, and uncovering, though
fifty paces from the man in rags, advanced respect-
fully towards him. The beggar allowed him to

2400

MURAT

approach with an air of sombre dignity and without
a single movement ; then, when he was quite near —

"Well, marshal, have you news for me?" said
the beggar.

" Yes, sire," said the other sadly.

"And what are they?"

" Such that I could wish it were anyone but my-
self to announce them to your Majesty "

" So the Emperor refuses my services ! He for-
gets the victories of Aboukir, Eylau, and Moscow?"

" No, sire ; but he remembers the treaty of
Naples, the taking of Reggio, and the declaration
of war of the viceroy of Italy."

The beggar struck his forehead.

" Yes, yes ! I daresay he thinks I deserve his
reproaches, and yet it seems to me that he ought to
remember that there are two men in me — the soldier
whom he made his brother, and the brother whom
he made a king. . . . Yes, as brother I have
treated him ill — very ill, but as king, upon my soul,
I could not have acted differently. ... I had to
choose between my sword and my crown, and
between a regiment and a people. Listen, Brune :
you do not know how it all happened. There was
an English fleet, the guns of which were growling
in the port, there was a Neapolitan population howl-
ing in the streets. If I had been alone, I would have
passed through the fleet with one boat, through the

2401

CELEBRATED CRIMES

crowd with my sword alone, but I had a wife and
children. Yet I hesitated; the idea of being called
traitor and deserter caused me to shed more tears
than the loss of my throne, or perhaps the death
of those I love best, will ever wring from me. . . .
And so he will have nothing- more to do with me?
He refuses me as general, captain, private? Then
what is left for me to do? "

" Sire, your Majesty must leave France imme-
diately."

"And if I don't obey?"

" My orders are to arrest you and deliver you up
to a court-martial!"

" Old comrade, you will not do that? "

" I shall do it, praying God to strike me dead
in the moment I lay hands on you ! "

" That's you all over, Brune. You have been
able to remain a good, loyal fellow. He did not
give you a kingdom, he did not encircle your brow
with a band of iron which men call a crown and
which drives one mad ; he did not place you between
your conscience and your family. So I must leave
France, begin my vagabond life again, and say
farewell to Toulon, which recalls so many memories
to me! See, Brune," continued Murat, leaning on
the arm of the marshal, " are not the pines yonder
as fine as any at the Villa Pamfili, the palms as
imposing as any at Cairo, the mountains as grand

2402

MURAT

as any range in the Tyrol? Look to your left, is
not Cape Gien something like Castellamare and
Sorrento — leaving out Vesuvius? And see, Saint-
Mandrier at the farthest point of the gulf, is it not
like my rock of Capri, which Lamarque juggled
away so cleverly from that idiot of a Sir Hudson
Lowe? My God! and I must leave all this! Is
there no way of remaining on this little corner of
French ground — tell me, Brune ! "

" You'll break my heart, sire ! " answered the
marshal.

" Well, we'll say no more about it. What
news ?"

" The Emperor has left Paris to join the army.
They must be fighting now "

" Fighting now and I not there ! Oh, I feel I
could have been of use to him on this battlefield.
How I would have gloried in charging those mis-
erable Prussians and dastardly English! Brune,
give me a passport, I'll go at full speed, I'll reach
the army, I will make myself known to some colonel,
I shall say, ' Give me your regiment.' I'll charge
at its head, and if the Emperor does not clasp my
hand to-night, I'll blow my brains out, I swear I
will. Do what I ask, Brune, and however it may
end, my eternal gratitude will be yours ! "

" I cannot, sire."

" Well, well, say no more about it."
2403

CELEBRATED CRIMES

"And your Majesty is going to leave France?"

" I don't know. Obey your orders, marshal, and
if you come across me again, have me arrested.
That's another way of doing something for me.
Life is a heavy burden nowadays. He who will
relieve me of it will be welcome. . . . Good-bye,
Brune."

He held out his hand to the marshal, who tried
to kiss it; but Murat opened his arms, the two old
comrades held each other fast for a moment, with
swelling hearts and eyes full of tears ; then at last
they parted. Brune remounted his horse, Murat
picked up his stick again, and the two men went
away in opposite directions, one to meet his death
by assassination at Avignon, the other to be shot
at Pizzo. Meanwhile, like Richard in, Napoleon
was bartering his crown against a horse at Water-
loo.

After the interview that has just been related,
Murat took refuge with his nephew, who was called
Bonafoux, and who was captain of a frigate; but
this retreat could only be temporary, for the rela-
tionship would inevitably awake the suspicions of
the authorities. In consequence, Bonafoux set
about finding a more secret place of refuge for his
uncle. He hit on one of his friends, an avocat, a
man famed for his integrity, and that very evening
Bonafoux went to see him.
2404

MURAT

After chatting on general subjects, he asked his
friend if he had not a house at the seaside, and
receiving an affirmative answer, he invited himself
to breakfast there the next day ; the proposal natur-
ally enough was agreed to with pleasure. The
next day at the appointed hour Bonafoux arrived
at Bonette, which was the name of the country
house where M. Marouin's wife and daughter were
staying. M. Marouin himself was kept by his work
at Toulon. After the ordinary greetings, Bonafoux
stepped to the window, beckoning to Marouin to
rejoin him.

" I thought," he said uneasily, " that your house
was by the sea."

" We are hardly ten minutes' walk from it."

"But it is not in sight."

" That hill prevents you from seeing it."

" May we go for a stroll on the beach before
breakfast is served?"

" By all means. Well, your horse is still saddled.
I will order mine — I will come back for you."

Marouin went out. Bonafoux remained at the

window, absorbed in his thoughts. The ladies of

the house, occupied in preparations for the meal,

did not observe, or did not appear to observe, his

preoccupation. In five minutes Marouin came back.

He was ready to start. The avocat and his friend

mounted their horses and rode quickly down to the

2405
10— Dumas— Vol. 7

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sea. On the beach the captain slackened his pace,
and riding along the shore for about half an hour,
he seemed to be examining the bearings of the coast
with great attention. Marouin followed without
inquiring into his investigations, which seemed
natural enough for a naval officer.

After about an hour the two men went back to
the house.

Marouin wished to have the horses unsaddled,
but Bonafoux objected, saying that he must go back
to Toulon immediately after lunch. Indeed, the
coffee was hardly finished before he rose and took
leave of his hosts. Marouin, called back to town
by his work, mounted his horse too, and the two
friends rode back to Toulon together. After riding
along for ten minutes, Bonafoux went close to his
companion and touched him on the thigh —

" Marouin," he said, " I have an important secret
to confide to you."

" Speak, captain. After a father confessor, you
know there is no one so discreet as a notary, and
after a notary an avocat."

" You can quite understand that I did not come
to your country house just for the pleasure of the
ride. A more important object, a serious responsi-
bility, preoccupied me; I have chosen you out of all
my friends, believing that you were devoted enough
to me to render me a great service."

2406

MURAT

" You did well, captain."

" Let us go straight to the point, as men who
respect and trust each other should do. My uncle,
King Joachim, is proscribed, he has taken refuge
with me; but he cannot remain there, for I am the
first person they will suspect. Your house is in an
isolated position, and consequently we could not find
a better retreat for him. You must put it at our
disposal until events enable the king to come to
some decision."

" It is at your service," said Marouin.

" Right. My uncle shall sleep there to-night."

" But at least give me time to make some prepara-
tions worthy of my royal guest."

" My poor Marouin, you are giving yourself
unnecessary trouble, and making a vexatious delay
for us. King Joachim is no longer accustomed to
palaces and courtiers ; he is only too happy nowadays
to find a cottage with a friend in it ; besides, I have
let him know about it, so sure was I of your answer.
He is counting on sleeping at your house to-night,
and if I try to change his determination now he will
see a refusal in what is only a postponement, and
you will lose all the credit for your generous and
noble action. There — it is agreed : to-night at ten
at the Champs de Mars."

With these words the captain put his horse to a
gallop and disappeared. Marouin turned his horse

2407

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and went back to his country house to give the
necessary orders for the reception of a stranger
whose name he did not mention.

At ten o'clock at night, as had been agreed, Mar-
ouin was on the Champs de Mars, then covered with
Marshal Brune's field-artillery. No one had arrived
yet. He walked up and down between the gun-
carriages until a functionary came to ask what he
was doing. He was hard put to it to find an answer:
a man is hardly likely to be wandering about in an
artillery park at ten o'clock at night for the mere
pleasure of the thing. He asked to see the com-
manding officer. The officer came up: M. Marouin
informed him that he was an avocat, attached to
the law courts of Toulon, and told him that he had
arranged to meet someone on the Champs de Mars,
not knowing that it was prohibited, and that he was
still waiting for that person. After this explana-
tion, the officer authorised him to remain, and went
back to his quarters. The sentinel, a faithful adher-
ent to discipline, continued to pace up and down with
his measured step, without troubling any more
about the stranger's presence.

A few moments later a group of several persons
appeared from the direction of Les Lices. The
night was magnificent, and the moon brilliant.
Marouin recognised Bonafoux, and went up to him.
The captain at once took him by the hand and led

2408

MURAT

him to the king-, and speaking- in turn to each of
them —

" Sire," he said, " here is the friend I told you
of."

Then turning to Marouin —

" Here," he said, " is the King of Naples, exile
and fugitive, whom I confide to your care. I do
not speak of the possibility that some day he may
get back his crown, that would deprive you of the
credit of your fine action. . . . Now, be his guide
— we will follow at a distance. March ! "

The king and the lawyer set out at once together.
Murat was dressed in a blue coat — semi-military,
semi-civil, buttoned to the throat; he wore white
trousers and top boots with spurs ; he had long hair,
moustache, and thick whiskers, which would reach
round his neck.

As they rode along he questioned his host about
the situation of his country house and the facility
for reaching the sea in case of a surprise. Towards
midnight the king and Marouin arrived at Bonette ;
the royal suite came up in about ten minutes ; it con-
sisted of about thirty individuals. After partaking
of some light refreshment, this little troop, the last
of the court of the deposed king, retired to disperse
in the town and its environs, and Murat remained
alone with the women, only keeping one valet named
Leblanc.

2409

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Murat stayed nearly a month in this retirement,
spending all his time in answering the newspapers
which accused him of treason to the Emperor. This
accusation was his absorbing idea, a phantom, a
spectre to him; day and night he tried to shake it
off, seeking in the difficult position in which he had
found himself all the reasons which it might offer
him for acting as he had acted. Meanwhile the ter-
rible news of the defeat at Waterloo had spread
abroad. The Emperor who had exiled him was
an exile himself, and he was waiting at Rochefort,
like Murat at Toulon, to hear what his enemies
would decide against him. No one knows to
this day what inward prompting Napoleon obeyed
when, rejecting the counsels of General Lalle~
mande and the devotion of Captain Bodin, he
preferred England to America, and went like a
modern Prometheus to be chained to the rock of
St. Helena.

We are going to relate the fortuitous circum-
stance which led Murat to the moat of Pizzo, then
we will leave it to fatalists to draw from this strange
story whatever philosophical deduction may please
them. We, as humble annalists, can only vouch for
the truth of the facts we have already related and of
those which will follow.

King Louis xviii remounted his throne, conse-
quently Murat lost all hope of remaining in France;

2410

MURAT

he felt he was bound to go. His nephew Bonafoux
fitted out a frigate for the United States under the
name of Prince Rocca Romana. The whole suite
went on board, and they began to carry on to the
boat all the valuables which the exile had been able
to save from the shipwreck of his kingdom. First
a bag of gold weighing nearly a hundred pounds,
a sword-sheath on which were the portraits of the
king, the queen, and their children, the deed of the
civil estates of his family bound in velvet and
adorned with his arms. Murat carried on his per-
son a belt where some precious papers were con-
cealed, with about a score of unmounted diamonds,
which he estimated himself to be worth four
millions.

When all these preparations for departing
were accomplished, it was agreed that the next
day, the ist of August, at five o'clock, a boat
should fetch the king to the brig from a little
bay, ten minutes' walk from the house where
he was staying. The king spent the night mak-
ing out a route for M. Marouin by which he
could reach the queen, who was then in Austria,
I think.

It was finished just as it was time to leave, and
on crossing the threshold of the hospitable house
where he had found refuge he gave it to his host,
slipped into a volume of a pocket edition of Vol-

241 1

CELEBRATED CRIMES

taire. Below the story of Micromegas the king had
written :x —

" Reassure yourself, dear Caroline; although un-
happy, I am free. I am departing, but I do not
know whither I am bound. Wherever I may be my
heart will be with you and my children. " J. M."

Ten minutes later Murat and his host were wait-
ing: on the beach at Bonette for the boat which was
to take them out to the ship.

They waited until midday, and nothing appeared ;
and yet on the horizon they could see the brig which
was to be his refuge, unable to lie at anchor on
account of the depth of water, sailing along the
coast at the risk of giving the alarm to the sentinels.

At midday the king, worn out with fatigue and
the heat of the sun, was lying on the beach, when a
servant arrived, bringing various refreshments,
which Madame Marouin, being very uneasy, had
sent at all hazards to her husband. The king took a
glass of wine and water and ate an orange, and got
up for a moment to see whether the boat he was
expecting was nowhere visible on the vastness of
the sea. There was not a boat in sight, only the
brig tossing gracefully on the horizon, impatient
to be off, like a horse awaiting its master.

The king sighed and lay down again on the sand.

'The volume is still in the hands of M. Marouin, at
Toulon.

2412

MURAT

The servant went back to Bonette with a message
summoning M. Marouin's brother to the beach. He
arrived in a few minutes, and almost immediately
afterwards galloped off at full speed to Toulon, in
order to find out from M. Bonafoux why the boat
had not been sent to the king. On reaching the
captain's house, he found it occupied by an armed
force. They were making a search for Murat.

The messenger at last made his way through the
tumult to the person he was in search of, and he
heard that the boat had started at the appointed
time, and that it must have gone astray in the creeks
of Saint Louis and Sainte Marguerite. This was,
in fact, exactly what had happened.

By five o'clock M. Marouin had reported the
news to his brother and the king. It was bad news.
The king had no courage left to defend his life even
by flight, he was in a state of prostration which
sometimes overwhelms the strongest of men, incap-
able of making any plan for his own safety, and
leaving M. Marouin to do the best he could. Just
then a fisherman was coming into harbour singing.
Marouin beckoned to him, and he came up.

Marouin began by buying all the man's fish ; then,
when he had paid him with a few coins, he let some
gold glitter before his eyes, and offered him three
louis if he would take a passenger to the brig which
was lying off the Croix-des-Signaux. The fisher-

2413

CELEBRATED CRIMES

man agreed to do it. This chance of escape gave
back Murat all his strength ; he got up, embraced
Marouin, and begged him to go to the queen with
the volume of Voltaire. Then he sprang into the
boat, which instantly left the shore.

It was already some distance from the land when
the king stopped the man who was rowing and
signed to Marouin that he had forgotten something.
On the beach lay a bag into which Murat had put a
magnificent pair of pistols mounted with silver gilt
which the queen had given him, and which he set
great store on. As soon as he was within hearing
he shouted his reason for returning to his host.
Marouin seized the valise, and without waiting for
Murat to land he threw it into the boat; the bag
flew open, and one of the pistols fell out. The
fisherman only glanced once at the royal weapon,
but it was enough to make him notice its richness
and to arouse his suspicions. Nevertheless, he went
on rowing towards the frigate. M. Marouin seeing
him disappear in the distance, left his brother on the
beach, and bowing once more to the king, returned
to the house to calm his wife's anxieties and to take
the repose of which he was in much need.

Two hours later he was awakened. His house
was to be searched in its turn by soldiers. They
searched every nook and corner without finding a
trace of the king. Just as they were getting desper-

2414

MURAT

ate, the brother came in; Marouin smiled at him,
believing the king to be safe, but by the new-comer's
expression he saw that some fresh misfortune was
in the wind. In the first moment's respite given him
by his visitors he went up to his brother.

" Well," he said, " I hope the king is on board? "

" The king is fifty yards away, hidden in the out-
house."

" Why did he come back ? "

" The fisherman pretended he was afraid of a
sudden squall, and refused to take him off to the
brig."

"The scoundrel!"

The soldiers came in again.

They spent the night in fruitless searching about
the house and buildings; several times they passed
within a few steps of the king, and he could hear
their threats and imprecations. At last, half an
hour before dawn, they went away. Marouin
watched them go, and when they were out of sight
he ran to the king. He found him lying in a cor-
ner, a pistol clutched in each hand. The unhappy
man had been overcome by fatigue and had fallen
asleep. Marouin hesitated a moment to bring him
back to his wandering, tormented life, but there was
not a minute to lose. He woke him.

They went down to the beach at once. A morn-
ing mist lay over the sea. They could not see any-

2415

CELEBRATED CRIMES

thing two hundred yards ahead. They were obliged
to wait. At last the first sunbeams began to pierce
this nocturnal mist. It slowly dispersed, gliding
over the sea as clouds move in the sky. The king's
hungry eye roved over the tossing waters before
him, but he saw nothing, yet he could not banish
the hope that somewhere behind that moving cur-
tain he would find his refuge. Little by little the
horizon came into view ; light wreaths of mist, like
smoke, still floated about the surface of the water,
and in each of them the king thought he recog-
nised the white sails of his vessel. The last grad-
ually vanished, the sea was revealed in all its im-
mensity, it was deserted. Not daring to delay any
longer, the ship had sailed away in the night.

" So," said the king, " the die is cast. I will go
to Corsica."

The same day Marshal Brune was assassinated
at Avignon.

2416

II

CORSICA

ONCE more on the same beach at Bonette, in
the same bay where he had awaited the boat
in vain, still attended by his band of faithful fol-
lowers, we find Murat on the 22nd August in the
same year. It was no longer by Napoleon that he
was threatened, it was by Louis xviii that he was
proscribed ; it was no longer the military loyalty of
Marshal Brune who came with tears in his eyes to
give notice of the orders he had received, but the
ungrateful hatred of M. de Riviere, who had set a
price1 on the head of the man who had saved his
own.2 M. de Riviere had indeed written to the ex-
King of Naples advising him to abandon himself to
the good faith and humanity of the King of France,
but his vague invitation had not seemed sufficient
guarantee to the outlaw, especially on the part of
one who had allowed the assassination almost before
his eyes of a man who carried a safe-conduct signed
by himself. Murat knew of the massacre of the
1 48,000 francs. : Conspiracy of Pichegru.

2417

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Mamelukes at Marseilles, the assassination of Brune
at Avignon; he had been warned the day before by
the police of Toulon that a formal order for his
arrest was out ; thus it was impossible that he should
remain any longer in France. Corsica, with its
hospitable towns, its friendly mountains, its impene-
trable forests, was hardly fifty leagues distant; he
must reach Corsica, and wait in its towns, moun-
tains, and forests until the crowned heads of Europe
should decide the fate of the man they had called
brother for seven years.

At ten o'clock at night the king went down to
the shore. The boat which was to take him across
had not reached the rendezvous, but this time there
was not the slightest fear that it would fail; the
bay had been reconnoitred during the day by three
men devoted to the fallen fortunes of the king —
Messieurs Blancard, Langlade, and Donadieu, all
three naval officers, men of ability and warm heart,
who had sworn by their own lives to convey Murat
to Corsica, and who were in fact risking their lives
in order to accomplish their promise. Murat saw
the deserted shore without uneasiness, indeed this
delay afforded him a few more moments of patriotic
satisfaction.

On this little patch of land, this strip of sand, the
unhappy exile clung to his mother France, for once
his foot touched the vessel which was to carry him

241S

MURAT

away, his separation from France would be long, if
not eternal. He started suddenly amidst these
thoughts and sighed: he had just perceived a sail
gliding over the waves like a phantom through the
transparent darkness of the southern night. Then
a sailor's song was heard; Murat recognised the
appointed signal, and answered it by burning the
priming of a pistol, and the boat immediately ran
inshore; but as she drew three feet of water, she was
obliged to stop ten or twelve feet from the beach;
two men dashed into the water and reached the
beach, while a third remained crouching in the stern-
sheets wrapped in his boat-cloak.

" Well, my good friends," said the king, going
towards Blancard and Langlade until he felt the
waves wet his feet the moment is come, is it not ?
The wind is favourable, the sea calm, we must get
to sea."

" Yes, answered Langlade, " yes, we must start ;
and yet perhaps it would be wiser to wait till
to-morrow."

"Why?" asked Murat.

Langlade did not answer, but turning towards
the west, he raised his hand, and according to the
habit of sailors, he whistled to call the wind.

" That's no good," said Donadieu, who had
remained in the boat. " Here are the first gusts ;
you will have more than you know what to do with

2419

CELEBRATED CRIMES

in a minute. . . . Take care, Langlade, take care!
Sometimes in calling the wind you wake up a
storm."

Murat started, for he thought that this warning
which rose from the sea had been given him by the
spirit of the waters; but the impression was a pass-
ing one, and he recovered himself in a moment.

"All the better," he said; "the more wind we
have, the faster we shall go."

" Yes," answered Langlade, " but God knows
where it will take us if it goes on shifting like this."

" Don't start to-night, sire," said Blancard, add-
ing his voice to those of his two companions.

"But why not?"

" You see that bank of black cloud there, don't
you? Well, at sunset it was hardly visible, now it
covers a good part of the sky, in an hour there won't
be a star to be seen."

" Are you afraid? " asked Murat.

"Afraid! " answered Langlade. " Of what? Of
the storm? I might as well ask if your Majesty is
afraid of a cannon-ball. We have demurred solely
on your account, sire; do you think sea-dogs like
ourselves would delay on account of the storm? "

" Then let us go ! " cried Murat, with a sigh.

" Good-bye, Marouin. . . . God alone can reward
you for what you have done for me. I am at your
orders, gentlemen."

2420

MURAT

At these words the two sailors seized the king
and hoisted him on to their shoulders, and carried
him into the sea; in another moment he was on
board. Langlade and Blancard sprang in behind
him. Donadieu remained at the helm, the two other
officers undertook the management of the boat, and
began their work by unfurling the sails. Imme-
diately the pinnace seemed to rouse herself like a
horse at touch of the spur ; the sailors cast a careless
glance back, and Murat feeling that they were sail-
ing away, turned towards his host and called for a
last time —

" You have your route as far as Trieste. Do not
forget my wife! . . . Good-bye — good-bye !"

" God keep you, sire ! " murmured Marouin.

And for some time, thanks to the white sail which
gleamed through the darkness, he could follow with
his eyes the boat which was rapidly disappearing;
at last it vanished altogether. Marouin lingered on
the shore, though he could see nothing; then he
heard a cry, made faint by the distance; it was
Murat's last adieu to France.

When M. Marouin was telling me these details
one evening on the very spot where it all happened,
though twenty years had passed, he remembered
clearly the slightest incidents of the embarkation
that night. From that moment he assured me that
a presentiment of misfortune seized him; he could

2421

CELEBRATED CRIMES

not tear himself away from the shore, and several
times he longed to call the king back, but, like a
man in a dream, he opened his mouth without being
able to utter a sound. He was afraid of being
thought foolish, and it was not until one o'clock — -
that is, two and a half hours after the departure of
the boat — that he went home with a sad and heavy
heart.

The adventurous navigators had taken the course
from Toulon to Bastia, and at first it seemed to the
king that the sailors' predictions were belied; the
wind, instead of getting up, fell little by little, and
two hours after the departure the boat was rocking
without moving forward or backward on the waves,
which were sinking from moment to moment.
Murat sadly watched the phosphorescent furrow
trailing behind the little boat: he had nerved himself
to face a storm, but not a dead calm, and without
even interrogating his companions, of whose un-
easiness he took no account, he lay down in the
boat, wrapped in his cloak, closing his eyes as if he
were asleep, and following the flow of his thoughts,
which were far more tumultuous than that of the
waters. Soon the two sailors, thinking him asleep,
joined the pilot, and sitting down beside the helm,
they began to consult together.

" You were wrong, Langlade," said Donadieu,
" in choosing a craft like this, which is either too

2422

MURAT

small or else too big; in an open boat we can never
weather a storm, and without oars we can never
make any way in a calm."

" 'Fore God ! I had no choice. I was obliged to
take what I could get, and if it had not been the
season for tunny-fishing I might not even have got
this wretched pinnace, or rather I should have had
to go into the harbour to find it, and they keep such
a sharp lookout that I might well have gone in
without coming out again."

" At least it is seaworthy," said Blancard.

" Pardieu, you know what nails and planks are
when they have been soaked in sea-water for ten
years. On any ordinary occasion, a man would
rather not go in her from Marseilles to the Chateau
d'lf, but on an occasion like this one would willingly
go round the world in a nutshell."

"Hush!" said Donadieu. The sailors listened;
a distant growl was heard, but it was so faint that
only the experienced ear of a sailor could have
distinguished it.

" Yes, yes," said Langlade," " it is a warning
for those who have legs or wings to regain
the homes and nests that they ought never to have
left."

" Are we far from the islands? " asked Donadieu
quickly.

"About a mile off."

2423

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" Steer for them."

" What for? " asked Murat, looking up.

" To put in there, sire, if we can."

" No, no," cried Murat; " I will not land except
in Corsica. I will not leave France again. Besides,
the sea is calm and the wind is getting up again "

" Down with the sails! " shouted Donadieu. In-
stantly Langlade and Blancard jumped forward to
carry out the order. The sail slid down the mast
and fell in a heap in the bottom of the boat.

" What are you doing? " cried Murat. " Do you
forget that I am king and that I command you? "

" Sire," said Donadieu, " there is a king more
powerful than you — God; there is a voice which
drowns yours — the voice of the tempest: let us save
your Majesty if possible, and demand nothing more
of us."

Just then a flash of lightning quivered along the
horizon, a clap of thunder nearer than the first one
was heard, a light foam appeared on the surface
of the water, and the boat trembled like a living
thing. Murat began to understand that danger
was approaching, then he got up smiling, threw his
hat behind him, shook back his long hair, and
breathed in the storm like the smell of powder — the
soldier was ready for the battle.

" Sire," said Donadieu, " you have seen many a
battle, but perhaps you have never watched a storm :

2424

MURAT

if you are curious about it, cling to the mast, for you
have a fine opportunity now."

"What ought I to do?" said Murat. "Can I
not help you in any way ? "

" No, not just now, sire ; later you will be useful
at the pumps."

During this dialogue the storm had drawn near;
it rushed on the travellers like a war-horse, breath-
ing out fire and wind through its nostrils, neighing
like thunder, and scattering the foam of the waves
beneath its feet.

Donadieu turned the rudder, the boat yielded as
if it understood the necessity for prompt obedience,
and presented the poop to the shock of wind; then
the squall passed, leaving the sea quivering, and
everything was calm again. The storm took breath.

" Will that gust be all? " asked Murat.

" No, your Majesty, that was the advance-guard
only; the body of the army will be up directly."

" And are you not going to prepare for it? " asked
the king gaily.

"What could we do?" said Donadieu. "We
have not an inch of canvas to catch the wind, and
as long as we do not make too much water, we
shall float like a cork. Look out — sire! "

Indeed, a second hurricane was on its way, bring-
ing rain and lightning; it was swifter than the first.
Donadieu endeavoured to repeat the same manceu-

2425

CELEBRATED CRIMES

vre, but he could not turn before the wind struck
the boat, the mast bent like a reed ; the boat shipped
a wave.

" To the pumps ! " cried Donadieu. " Sire, now
is the moment to help us "

Blancard, Langlade, and Murat seized their hats
and began to bale out the boat. The position of the
four men was terrible — it lasted three hours.

At dawn the wind fell, but the sea was still high.
They began to feel the need of food : all the provi-
sions had been spoiled by sea-water, only the wine
had been preserved from its contact.

The king took a bottle and swallowed a little wine
first, then he passed it to his companions, who drank
in their turn : necessity had overcome etiquette. By
chance Langlade had on him a few chocolates, which
he offered to the king. Murat divided them into
four equal parts, and forced his companions to take
their shares; then, when the meal was over, they
steered for Corsica, but the boat had suffered so
much that it was improbable that it would reach
Bastia.

The whole day passed without making ten miles ;
the boat was kept under the jib, as they dared not
hoist the mainsail, and the wind was so variable that
much time was lost in humouring its caprices.

By evening the boat had drawn a considerable
amount of water, it penetrated between the boards,

2426

MURAT

the handkerchiefs of the crew served to plug up the
leaks, and night, which was descending in mourn-
ful gloom, wrapped them a second time in darkness.
Prostrated with fatigue, Murat fell asleep, Blancard
and Langlade took their places beside Donadieu,
and the three men, who seemed insensible to the
calls of sleep and fatigue, watched over his slumbers.

The night was calm enough apparently, but low
grumblings were heard now and then.

The three sailors looked at each other strangely
and then at the king, who was sleeping at the bottom
of the boat, his cloak soaked with sea-water, sleep-
ing as soundly as he had slept on the sands of Egypt
or the snows of Russia.

Then one of them got up and went to the other
end of the boat, whistling between his teeth a
Provencal air; then, after examining the sky, the
waves, and the boat, he went back to his comrades
and sat down, muttering, " Impossible ! Except by
a miracle, we shall never make the land."

The night passed through all its phases. At dawn
there was a vessel in sight.

" A sail ! " cried Donadieu,—" a sail ! "

At this cry the king awoke; and soon a little
trading brig hove in sight, going from Corsica to
Toulon.

Donadieu steered for the brig, Blancard hoisted
enough sail to work the boat, and Langlade ran to

2427

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the prow and held up the king's cloak on the end of
a sort of harpoon. Soon the voyagers perceived
that they had been sighted, the brig went about to
approach them, and in ten minutes they found them-
selves within fifty yards of it. The captain appeared
in the bows. Then the king hailed him and offered
him a substantial reward if he would receive them
on board and take them to Corsica. The captain
listened to the proposal ; then immediately turning
to the crew, he gave an order in an undertone which
Donadieu could not hear, but which he understood
probably by the gesture, for he instantly gave
Langlade and Blancard the order to make away
from the schooner. They obeyed with the unques-
tioning promptitude of sailors; but the king stamped
his foot.

" What are you doing, Donadieu ? What are you
about? Don't you see that she is coming up to us? "

" Yes — upon my soul — so she is. . . . Do as I
say, Langlade ; ready, Blancard. Yes, she is com-
ing upon us, and perhaps I was too late in seeing
this. That's all right — that's all right : my part
now."

Then he forced over the rudder, giving it so
violent a jerk that the boat, forced to change her
course suddenly, seemed to rear and plunge like a
horse struggling against the curb ; finally she obeyed.
A huge wave, raised by the giant bearing down on

2428

MURAT

the pinnace, carried it on like a leaf, and the brig
passed within a few feet of the stern.

"Ah! . . . traitor!" cried the king, who had
only just begun to realise the intention of the
captain. At the same time, he pulled a pistol from
his belt, crying " Board her! board her! " and tried
to fire on the brig, but the powder was wet and
would not catch. The king was furious, and went
on shouting " Board her! board her! "

" Yes, the wretch, or rather the imbecile," said
Donadieu, " he took us for pirates, and wanted to
sink us — as if we needed him to do that! "

Indeed, a single glance at the boat showed that
she was beginning to make water.

The effort to escape which Donadieu had made
had strained the boat terribly, and the water was
pouring in by a number of leaks between the planks ;
they had to begin again bailing out with their hats,
and went on at it for ten hours. Then for the
second time Donadieu heard the consoling cry, " A
sail ! a sail ! " The king and his companions imme-
diately left off bailing; they hoisted the sails again,
and steered for the vessel which was coming towards
them, and neglected to fight against the water, which
was rising rapidly.

From that time forth it was a question of time,
of minutes, of seconds; it was a question of reach-
ing the ship before the boat foundered.

2429

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The vessel, however, seemed to understand the
desperate position of the men imploring help; she
was coming up at full speed. Langlade was the first
to recognise her; she was a Government felucca
plying between Toulon and Bastia. Langlade was
a friend of the captain, and he called his name with
the penetrating voice of desperation, and he was
heard. It was high time: the water kept on
rising, and the king and his companions were al-
ready up to their knees; the boat groaned in its
death-struggle ; it stood still, and began to go round
and round.

Just then two or three ropes thrown from the
felucca fell upon the boat; the king seized one,
sprang forward, and reached the rope-ladder: he
was saved.

Blancard and Langlade immediately followed.
Donadieu waited until the last, as was his duty, and
as he put his foot on the ladder he felt the other
boat begin to go under; he turned round with all a
sailor's calm, and saw the gulf open its jaws beneath
him, and then the shattered boat capsized, and
immediately disappeared. Five seconds more, and
the four men who were saved would have been lost
beyond recall ! 1

'These details are well known to the people of Toulon,
and I have heard them myself a score of times during the
two stays that I made in that town during 1834 and 1835.
Some of the people who related them had them first-hand
from Langlade and Donadieu themselves.
2430

MURAT

Murat had hardly gained the deck before a man
came and fell at his feet : it was a Mameluke whom
he had taken to Egypt in former years, and had
since married at Castellamare ; business affairs had
taken him to Marseilles, where by a miracle he had
escaped the massacre of his comrades, and in spite
of his disguise and fatigue he had recognised his
former master.

His exclamations of joy prevented the king from
keeping up his incognito. Then Senator Casabianca,
Captain Oletta, a nephew of Prince Baciocchi, a
staff-paymaster called Boerco, who were themselves
fleeing from the massacres of the South, were all
on board the vessel, and improvising a little court,
they greeted the king with the title of " your
Majesty." It had been a sudden embarkation, it
brought about a swift change: he was no longer
Murat the exile; he was Joachim I, the King of
Naples. The exile's refuge disappeared with the
foundered boat; in its place Naples and its magni-
ficent gulf appeared on the horizon like a marvellous
mirage, and no doubt the primary idea of the fatal
expedition of Calabria was originated in the first
days of exultation which followed those hours of
anguish. The king, however, still uncertain of the
welcome which awaited him in Corsica, took the
name of the Count of Campo Melle, and it was
under this name that he landed at Bastia on the

2431

CELEBRATED CRIMES

25th August. But this precaution was useless; three
days after his arrival, not a soul but knew of his
presence in the town.

Crowds gathered at once, and cries of " Long live
Joachim!" were heard, and the king, fearing to
disturb the public peace, left Bastia the same even-
ing with his three companions and his Mameluke.
Two hours later he arrived at Viscovato, and
knocked at the door of General Franceschetti, who
had been in his service during his whole reign, and
who, leaving Naples at the same time as the king,
had gone to Corsica with his wife, to live with his
father-in-law, M. Colonna Cicaldi.

He was in the middle of supper when a servant
told him that a stranger was asking to speak to him :
he went out, and found Murat wrapped in a military
greatcoat, a sailor's cap drawn down on his head,
his beard grown long, and wearing a soldier's
trousers, boots, and gaiters.

The general stood still in amazement ; Murat fixed
his great dark eyes on him, and then, folding his
arms —

" Franceschetti," said he, " have you room at
your table for your general, who is hungry? Have
you a shelter under your roof for your king, who is
an exile? "

Franceschetti looked astonished as he recognised
Joachim, and could only answer him by falling on

2432

MURAT

his knees and kissing his hand. From that moment
the general's house was at Murat's disposal.

The news of the king's arrival had hardly been
handed about the neighbourhood before officers of
all ranks hastened to Viscovato, veterans who had
fought under him, Corsican hunters who were
attracted by his adventurous character; in a few
days the general's house was turned into a palace,
the village into a royal capital, the island into a
kingdom.

Strange rumours were heard concerning Murat's
intentions. An army of nine hundred men helped
to give them some amount of confirmation. It was
then that Blancard, Donadieu, and Langlade took
leave of him; Murat wished to keep them, but they
had been vowed to the rescue of the exile, not to the
fortunes of the king.

We have related how Murat had met one of his
former Mamelukes, a man called Othello, on board
the Bastia mailboat. Othello had followed him to
Viscovato, and the ex-King of Naples considered
how to make use of him. Family relations recalled
him naturally to Castellamare, and Murat ordered
him to return there, entrusting to him letters for
persons on whose devotion he could depend.
Othello started, and reached his father-in-law's
safely, and thought he could confide in him; but the
latter was horror-struck, and alarmed the police,

2433

CELEBRATED CRIMES

who made a descent on Othello one night, and seized
the letters.

The next day each man to whom a letter was
addressed was arrested and ordered to answer
Murat as if all was well, and to point out Salerno as
the best place for disembarking: five out of seven
were dastards enough to obey; the two remaining,
who were two Spanish brothers, absolutely refused;
they were thrown into a dungeon.

However, on the 17th September, Murat left
Viscovato; General Franceschetti and several Cor-
sican officers served as escort; he took the road to
Ajaccio by Cotone, the mountains of Serra and
Bosco, Venaco and Vivaro, by the gorges of the
forest of Vezzanovo and Bogognone; he was
received and feted like a king everywhere, and at the
gates of the towns he was met by deputations who
made him speeches and saluted him with the title of
"Majesty"; at last, on the 23rd September, he
arrived at Ajaccio. The whole population awaited
him outside the walls, and his entry into the
town was a triumphal procession; he was taken to
the inn which had been fixed upon beforehand
by the quartermasters. It was enough to turn
the head of a man less impressionable than Murat ;
as for him, he was intoxicated with it. As he
went into the inn he held out his hand to Fran-
ceschetti.

2434

MURAT

" You see," he said, " what the Neapolitans will
do for me by the way the Corsicans receive me."

It was the first mention which had escaped him of
his plans for the future, and from that very day he
began to give orders for his departure.

They collected ten little feluccas: a Maltese,
named Barbara, former captain of a frigate of the
Neapolitan navy, was appointed commander-in-
chief of the expedition; two hundred and fifty men
were recruited and ordered to hold themselves in
readiness for the first signal.

Murat was only waiting for the answers to
Othello's letters : they arrived on the afternoon of
the 28th. Murat invited all his officers to a grand
dinner, and ordered double pay and double rations
to the men.

The king was at dessert when the arrival of M.
Maceroni was announced to him : he was the envoy
of the foreign powers who brought Murat the
answer which he had been awaiting so long at
Toulon. Murat left the table and went into another
room. M. Maceroni introduced himself as charged
with an official mission, and handed the king the
Emperor of Austria's ultimatum. It was couched
in the following terms : —

" Monsieur Maceroni is authorised by these
presents to announce to King Joachim that His

2435

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Majesty the Emperor of Austria will afford him
shelter in his States on the following terms :

*' I. The king is to take a private name. The queen
having adopted that of Lipano, it is proposed that
the king should do likewise.

"2. It will be permitted to the king to choose a
town in Bohemia, Moravia, or the Tyrol, as a place
of residence. He could even inhabit a country
house in one of these same provinces without
inconvenience.

" 3. The king is to give his word of honour to
His Imperial and Royal Majesty that he will never
leave the States of Austria without the express per-
mission of the Emperor, and that he is to live like a
private gentleman of distinction, but submitting to
the laws in force in the States of Austria.

" In attestation whereof, and to guard against
abuse, the undersigned has received the order of the
Emperor to sign the present declaration.

" (Signed) Prince of Metternich

"Paris, 1st Sept. 18 15 "

Murat smiled as he finished reading, then he
signed to M. Maceroni to follow him.

He led him on to the terrace of the house, which

looked over the whole town, and over which a

banner floated as it might on a royal castle. From

thence they could see Ajaccio, all gay and illumi-

2436

Before he had time to pick himself up, the populace had fallen
on him.

From the painting by A. Wald.

—p. 24-48

MURAT

nated, the port with its little fleet, and the streets
crowded with people, as if it were a fete-day.

Hardly had the crowd set eyes on Murat before
a universal cry arose, " Long live Joachim, brother
of Napoleon ! Long live the King of Naples ! "
Murat bowed, and the shouts were redoubled, and
the garrison band played the national airs.

M. Maceroni did not know how to believe his own
eyes and ears.

When the king had enjoyed his astonishment, he
invited him to go down to the drawing-room. His
staff were there, all in full uniform: one might have
been at Caserte or at Capo di Monte. At last, after
a moment's hesitation, Maceroni approached Murat.

" Sir," he said, " what is my answer to be to His
Majesty the Emperor of Austria? "

" Sir," answered Murat, with the lofty dignity
which sat so well on his fine face, " tell my brother
Francis what you have seen and heard, and add that
I am setting out this very night to reconquer my
kingdom of Naples."

2437

11— Dumas— Vol. 7

Ill

PIZZO

THE letters which had made Murat resolve to
leave Corsica had been brought to him by a
Calabrian named Luidgi. He had presented him-
self to the king as the envoy of the Arab, Othello,
who had been thrown into prison in Naples, as we
have related, as well as the seven recipients of the
letters.

The answers, written by the head of the Nea-
politan police, indicated the port of Salerno as the
best place for Joachim to land ; for King Ferdinand
had assembled three thousand Austrian troops at
that point, not daring to trust the Neapolitan sol-
diers, who cherished a brilliant and enthusiastic
memory of Murat.

Accordingly the flotilla was directed for the Gulf
of Salerno, but within sight of the island of Capri
a violent storm broke over it, and drove it as far as
Paola, a little seaport situated ten miles from
Cosenza. Consequently the vessels were anchored
for the night of the 5th of October in a little inden-
tation of the coast not worthy of the name of a
roadstead. The king, to remove all suspicion from

2438

MURAT

the coastguards and the Sicilian scorridori,1 ordered
that all lights should be extinguished and that the
vessels should tack about during the night; but
towards one o'clock such a violent land-wind sprang
up that the expedition was driven out to sea, so
that on the 6th at dawn the king's vessel was
alone.

During the morning they overhauled Captain
Cicconi's felucca, and the two ships dropped anchor
at four o'clock in sight of Santo-Lucido. In the
evening the king commanded Ottoviani, a staff offi-
cer, to go ashore and reconnoitre. Luidgi offered
to accompany him. Murat accepted his services.
So Ottoviani and his guide went ashore, whilst
Cicconi and his felucca put out to sea in search of
the rest of the fleet.

Towards eleven o'clock at night the lieutenant of
the watch descried a man in the waves swimming
to the vessel. As soon as he was within hearing
the lieutenant hailed him. The swimmer imme-
diately made himself known : it was Luidgi. They
put out the boat, and he came on board. Then he
told them that Ottoviani had been arrested, and he
had only escaped himself by jumping into the sea.
Murat's first idea was to go to the rescue of Otto-
viani; but Luidgi made the king realise the danger
and uselessness of such an attempt; nevertheless,

1 Small vessels fitted up as ships-of-war.
2439

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Joachim remained agitated and irresolute until two
o'clock in the morning.

At last he gave the order 10 put to sea again.
During the manoeuvre which effected this a sailor
fell overboard and disappeared before they had
time to help him. Decidedly these were ill omens.

On the morning of the 7th two vessels were in
sight. The king gave the order to prepare for
action, but Barbara recognised them as Cicconi's
felucca and Courrand's lugger, which had joined
each other and were keeping each other company.
They hoisted the necessary signals, and the two
captains brought up their vessels alongside the
admiral's.

While they were deliberating as to what route to
follow, a boat came up to Murat's vessel. Captain
Pernice was on board with a lieutenant. They came
to ask the king's permission to board his ship, not
wishing to remain on Courrand's, for in their opin-
ion he was a traitor.

Murat sent to fetch him, and in spite of his pro-
testations he was made to descend into a boat with
fifty men, and the boat was moored to the vessel.
The order was carried out at once, and the little
squadron advanced, coasting along the shores of
Calabria without losing sight of them; but at ten
o'clock in the evening, just as they came abreast of
the Gulf of Santa-Eufemia, Captain Courrand cut

2440

MURAT

the rope which moored his boat to the vessel, and
rowed away from the fleet.

Murat had thrown himself on to his bed without
undressing; they brought him the news.

He rushed up to the deck, and arrived in time to
see the boat, which was fleeing in the direction of
Corsica, grow small and vanish in the distance. He
remained motionless, not uttering a cry, giving no
signs of rage; he only sighed and let his head fall
on his breast : it was one more leaf falling from the
exhausted tree of his hopes.

General Franceschetti profited by this hour of dis-
couragement to advise him not to land in Calabria,
and to go direct to Trieste, in order to claim from
Austria the refuge which had been offered.

The king was going through one of those periods
of extreme exhaustion, of mortal depression, when
courage quite gives way: he refused flatly at first,
and then at last agreed to do it.

Just then the general perceived a sailor lying on
some coils of ropes, within hearing of all they said;
he interrupted himself, and pointed him out to
Murat.

The latter got up, went to see the man, and recog-
nised Luidgi ; overcome with exhaustion, he had
fallen asleep on deck. The king satisfied himself
that the sleep was genuine, and besides he had full
confidence in the man. The conversation, which

2441

CELEBRATED CRIMES

had been interrupted for a moment, was renewed:
it was agreed that without saying anything about
the new plans, they would clear Cape Spartivento
and enter the Adriatic ; then the king and the general
went below again to the lower deck.

The next day, the 8th October, they found them-
selves abreast of Pizzo, when Joachim, questioned
by Barbara as to what he proposed to do, gave the
order to steer for Messina. Barbara answered that
he was ready to obey, but that they were in need
of food and water; consequently he offered to go on
board Cicconi's vessel and to land with him to get
stores. The king agreed; Barbara asked for the
passports which he had received from the allied
powers, in order, he said, not to be molested by the
local authorities.

These documents were too important for Murat
to consent to part with them; perhaps the king was
beginning to suspect : he refused. Barbara insisted :
Murat ordered him to land without the papers;
Barbara flatly refused.

The king, accustomed to being obeyed, raised his
riding-whip to strike the Maltese, but, changing his
resolution, he ordered the soldiers to prepare their
arms, the officers to put on full uniform; he himself
set the example. The disembarkation was decided
upon, and Pizzo was to become the Golfe Juan of
the new Napoleon.

2442

MURAT

Consequently the vessels were steered for land.
The king got down into a boat with twenty-eight
soldiers and three servants, amongst whom was
Luidgi. As they drew near the shore General Fran-
ceschetti made a movement as if to land, but Murat
stopped him.

" It is for me to land first," he said, and he sprang
on shore.

He was dressed in a general's coat, white breeches
and riding-boots, a belt carrying two pistols, a gold-
embroidered hat with a cockade fastened in with
a clasp made of fourteen brilliants, and lastly he
carried under his arm the banner round which he
hoped to rally his partisans. The town clock of
Pizzo struck ten. Murat went straight up to the
town, from which he was hardly a hundred yards
distant. He followed the wide stone staircase which
led up to it.

It was Sunday. Mass was about to be celebrated,
and the whole population had assembled in the Great
Square when he arrived. No one recognised him,
and everyone gazed with astonishment at the fine
officer. Presently he saw amongst the peasants a
former sergeant of his who had served in his guard
at Naples. He walked straight up to him and put
his hand on the man's shoulder.

" Tavella," he said, "don't you recognise me?"
But as the man made no answer —

2443

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" I am Joachim Murat, I am your king," he said.
" Yours be the honour to shout ' Long live Joa-
chim! ' first."

Murat's suite instantly made the air ring with
acclamations, but the Calabrians remained silent,
and not one of his comrades took up the cry for
which the king himself had given the signal; on
the contrary, a low murmur ran through the crowd.
Murat well understood this forerunner of the storm.

" Well," he said to Tavella, " if you won't cry
' Long live Joachim ! ' you can at least fetch me a
horse, and from sergeant I will promote you to be
captain."

Tavella walked away without answering, but in-
stead of carrying out the king's behest, went into
his house, and did not appear again.

In the meantime the people were massing to-
gether without evincing any of the sympathy that
the king had hoped for. He felt that he was lost
if he did not act instantly.

" To Monteleone ! " he cried, springing forward
towards the road which led to that town.

" To Monteleone! " shouted his officers and men,
as they followed him.

And the crowd, persistently silent, opened to let
them pass.

But they had hardly left the square before a great
disturbance broke out. A man named Giorgio Pel-

2444

MURAT

fegrino came out of his house with a gun and crossed
the square, shouting, " To your arms ! "

He knew that Captain Trenta Capelli command-
ing the Cosenza garrison was just then in Pizzo, and
he was going to warn him.

The cry "To arms!" had more effect on the
crowd than the cry " Long live Joachim ! "

Every Calabrian possesses a gun, and each one
ran to fetch his, and when Trenta Capelli and Gior-
gio Pellegrino came back to the square they found
nearly two hundred armed men there.

They placed themselves at the head of the column,
and hastened forward in pursuit of the king; they
came up with him about ten minutes from the
square, where the bridge is nowadays. Seeing them,
Murat stopped and waited for them.

Trenta Capelli advanced, sword in hand, towards
the king.

" Sire," said the latter, " will you exchange your
captain's epaulettes for a general's ? Cry ' Long live
Joachim ! ' and follow me with these brave fellows
to Monteleone."

" Sire," said Trenta Capelli, " we are the faith-
ful subjects of King Ferdinand, and we come to
fight you, and not to bear you company. Give your-
self up, if you would prevent bloodshed."

Murat looked at the captain with an expression
which it would be impossible to describe ; then with-

2445

CELEBRATED CRIMES

out deigning to answer, he signed to Capelli to move
away, while his other hand went to his pistol. Gior-
gio Pellegrino perceived the movement.

" Down, captain, down ! " he cried. The captain
obeyed. Immediately a bullet whistled over his
head and brushed Murat's head.

" Fire ! " commanded Franceschetti.

" Down with your arms ! " cried Murat.

Waving his handkerchief in his right hand, he
made a step towards the peasants, but at the same
moment a number of shots were fired, an officer
and two or three men fell. In a case like this,
when blood has begun to flow, there is no stop-
ping it.

Murat knew this fatal truth, and his course of
action was rapidly decided on. Before him he had
five hundred armed men, and behind him a precipice
thirty feet high : he sprang from the jagged rock
on which he was standing, and alighting on the
sand, jumped up safe and sound. General Frances-
chetti and his aide-de-camp Campana were able to
accomplish the jump in the same way, and all three
went rapidly down to the sea through the little wood
which lay within a hundred yards of the shore, and
which hid them for a few moments from their
enemies.

As they came out of the wood a fresh discharge
greeted them, bullets whistled round them, but no
2446

MURAT

one was hit, and the three fugitives went on down
to the beach.

It was only then that the king perceived that the
boat which had brought them to land had gone off
again. The three ships which composed the fleet,
far from remaining to guard his landing, were sail-
ing away at full speed into the open sea.

The Maltese, Barbara, was going off not only
with Murat's fortune, but with his hopes likewise,
his salvation, his very life. They could not believe
in such treachery, and the king took it for some
manoeuvre of seamanship, and seeing a fishing-boat
drawn up on the beach on some nets, he called to
his two companions, " Launch that boat ! "

They all began to push it down to the sea with
the energy of despair, the strength of agony.

No one had dared to leap from the rock in pur-
suit of them; their enemies, forced to make a
detour, left them a few moments of liberty.

But soon shouts were heard : Giorgio Pellegrino,
Trenta Capelli, followed by the whole population
of Pizzo, rushed out about a hundred and fifty
paces from where Murat, Franceschetti, and Cam-
pana were straining themselves to make the boat
glide down the sand.

These cries were immediately followed by a vol<-
!ey. Campana fell, with a bullet through his heart.

The boat, however, was launched. Franceschetti
2447

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sprang into it, Murat was about to follow, but he
had not observed that the spurs of his riding-boots
had caught in the meshes of the net. The boat,
yielding to the push he gave it, glided away, and the
king fell head foremost, with his feet on land and
his face in the water. Before he had time to pick
himself up, the populace had fallen on him: in one
instant they had torn away his epaulettes, his ban-
ner, and his coat, and would have torn him to bits
himself, had not Giorgio Pellegrino and Trenta
Capelli taken him under their protection, and giv-
ing him an arm on each side, defended him in their
turn against the people. Thus he crossed the square
as a prisoner where an hour before he had walked
as a king.

His captors took him to the castle : he was pushed
into the common prison, the door was shut upon
him, and the king found himself among thieves and
murderers, who, not knowing him, took him for a
companion in crime, and greeted him with foul
language and hoots of derision.

A quarter of an hour later the door of the gaol
opened and Commander Mattei came in : he found
Murat standing with head proudly erect and folded
arms. There was an expression of indefinable lofti-
ness in this half-naked man whose face was stained
with blood and bespattered with mud. Mattei bowed
before him.

2448

MURAT

" Commander," said Murat, recognising his rank
by his epaulettes, " look round you and tell me
whether this is a prison for a king."'

Then a strange thing happened : the criminals,
who, believing Murat their accomplice, had wel-
comed him with vociferations and laughter, now
bent before his royal majesty, which had not over-
awed Pellegrino and Trenta Capelli, and retired
silently to the depths of their dungeon.

Misfortune had invested Murat with a new
power.

Commander Mattei murmured some excuse, and
invited Murat to follow him to a room that he had
had prepared for him; but before going out, Murat
put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a handful
of gold and let it fall in a shower in the midst of
the gaol.

" See," he said, turning towards the prisoners,
" it shall not be said that you have received a visit
from a king, prisoner and crownless as he is, with-
out having received largesse."

" Long live Joachim! " cried the prisoners.

Murat smiled bitterly. Those same words re-
peated by the same number of voices an hour
before in the public square, instead of resound-
ing in the prison, would have made him King of
Naples.

The most important events proceed sometimes
-449

CELEBRATED CRIMES

from such mere trifles, that it seems as if God and
the devil must throw dice for the life or death of
men, for the rise or fall of empires.

Murat followed Commander Mattei : he led him
to a little room which the porter had put at his dis-
posal. Mattei was going to retire when Murat
called him back.

" Commander," he said, " I want a scented
bath."

" Sire, it will be difficult to obtain."

" Here are fifty ducats ; let someone buy all the
eau de Cologne that can be obtained. Ah — and let
some tailors be sent to me."

" It will be impossible to find anyone here capable
of making anything but a peasant's clothes."

" Send someone to Monteleone to fetch them
from there."

The commander bowed and went out.

Murat was in his bath when the Cavaliere Alcala
was announced, a General and Governor of the
town. He had sent damask coverlets, curtains, and
arm-chairs. Murat was touched by this attention,
and it gave him fresh composure. At two o'clock
the same day General Nunziante arrived from
Santa-Tropea with three thousand men. Murat
greeted his old acquaintance with pleasure; but at
the first word the king perceived that he was before
his judge, and that he had not come for the

245°

MURAT

purpose of making a visit, but to make an official
inquiry.

Murat contented himself with stating that he had
been on his way from Corsica to Trieste with a pass-
port from the Emperor of Austria when stormy
weather and lack of provisions had forced him to
put into Pizzo. All other questions Murat met with
a stubborn silence; then at least, wearied by his
importunity —

" General," he said, " can you lend me some
clothes after my bath?"

The general understood that he could expect no
more information, and, bowing to the king, he went
out. Ten minutes later, a complete uniform was
brought to Murat; he put it on immediately, asked
for a pen and ink, wrote to the commander-in-chief
of the Austrian troops at Naples, to the English
ambassador, and to his wife, to tell them of his de-
tention at Pizzo. These letters written, he got up
and paced his room for some time in evident agita-
tion; at last, needing fresh air, he opened the win-
dow. There was a view of the very beach where
he had been captured.

Two men were digging a hole in the sand at the
foot of the little redoubt. Murat watched them
mechanically. When the two men had finished, they
went into a neighbouring house and soon came out,
bearing a corpse in their arms.

245 1

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The king searched his memory, and indeed it
seemed to him that in the midst of that terrible scene
he had seen someone fall, but who it was he no
longer remembered. The corpse was quite without
covering, but by the long black hair and youthful
outlines the king recognised Campana, the aide-de-
camp he had always loved best.

This scene, watched from a prison window in the
twilight, this solitary burial on the shore, in the
sand, moved Murat more deeply than his own fate.
Great tears filled his eyes and fell silently down
the leonine face. At that moment General Nunzi-
ante came in and surprised him with outstretched
arms and face bathed with tears. Murat heard him
enter and turned round, and seeing the old soldier's
surprise —

" Yes, general," he said, " I weep ; I weep for that
boy, just twenty- four, entrusted to me by his par-
ents, whose death I have brought about. I weep for
that vast, brilliant future which is buried in an
unknown grave, in an enemy's country, on a hos-
tile shore. Oh, Campana! Campana! if ever I am
king again, I will raise you a royal tomb."

The general had had dinner served in an adjacent
room. Murat followed him and sat down to table,
but he could not eat. The sight which he had just
witnessed had made him heart-broken, and yet with-
out a line on his brow that man had been through
2452

MURAT

the battles of Aboukir, Eylau, and Moscow ! After
dinner, Murat went into his room again, gave his
various letters to General Nunziante, and begged
to be left alone. The general went away.

Murat paced round his room several times, walk-
ing with long steps, and pausing from time to time
before the window, but without opening it.

At last he overcame a deep reluctance, put his
hand on the bolt and drew the lattice towards him.

It was a calm, clear night: one could see the
whole shore. He looked for Campana's grave.
Two dogs scratching the sand showed him the spot.

The king shut the window violently, and without
undressing threw himself onto his bed. At last,
fearing that his agitation would be attributed to
personal alarm, he undressed and went to bed, to
sleep, or seem to sleep all night.

On the morning of the 9th the tailors whom
Murat had asked for arrived. He ordered a great
many clothes, taking the trouble to explain all the
details suggested by his fastidious taste. He was
thus employed when General Nunziante came in.
He listened sadly to the king's commands. He
had just received telegraphic despatches ordering
him to try the King of Naples by court-martial as
a public enemy. But he found the king so confident,
so tranquil, almost cheerful indeed, that he had not
the heart to announce his trial to him, and took

2453

CELEBRATED CRIMES

upon himself to delay the opening of operations
until he received written instructions. These ar-
rived on the evening of the 12th. They were
couched in the following terms : —

Naples, October g, 1815
" Ferdinand, by the grace of God, etc. . . . wills
and decrees the following: —

"Art. 1. General Murat is to be tried by court-
martial, the members whereof are to be nominated
by our Minister of War.

" Art. 2. Only half an hour is to be accorded to
the condemned for the exercises of religion.

" (Signed) Ferdinand "

Another despatch from the minister contained the
names of the members of the commission. They
were : —

Giuseppe Fosculo, adjutant, commander-in-chief
of the staff, president.

Laffaello Seal faro, chief of the legion of Lower
Calabria.

Latereo Natali, lieutenant-colonel of the Royal
Marines.

Gennaro Lanzetta, lieutenant-colonel of the En-
gineers.

W. T., captain of Artillery.
2454

MURAT

Frangois de Venge, ditto.

Francesco Martellari, lieutenant of Artillery.

Francesco Froio, lieutenant in the 3rd regiment
of the line.

Giovanni della Camera, Public Prosecutor to the
Criminal Courts of Lower Calabria.

Francesco Papavassi, registrar.

The commission assembled that night.

On the 13th October, at six o'clock in the morn-
ing, Captain Stratti came into the king's prison;
he was sound asleep. Stratti was going away again,
when he stumbled against a chair; the noise awoke
Murat.

"What do you want with me, captain?" asked
the king.

Stratti tried to speak, but his voice failed him.

" Ah ha ! " said Murat, " you must have had
news from Naples."

" Yes, sire," muttered Stratti.

" What are they? " said Murat.

" Your trial, sire."

" And by whose order will sentence be pro-
nounced, if you please? Where will they find peers
to judge me? If they consider me as a king, I must
have a tribunal of kings; if I am a marshal of
France, I must have a court of marshals; if I am a
general, and that is the least I can be, I must have
a jury of generals."

2455

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" Sire, you are declared a public enemy, and as
such you are liable to be judged by court-martial : it
is the law which you instituted yourself for rebels."

" That law was made for brigands, and not for
crowned heads, sir," said Murat scornfully. " I am
ready; let them butcher me if they like. I did not
think King Ferdinand capable of such an action."

" Sire, will you not hear the names of your
judges? "

" Yes, sir, I will. It must be a curious list. Read
it: I am listening."

Captain Stratti read out the names that we have
enumerated. Murat listened with a disdainful
smile.

" Ah," he said, as the captain finished, " it seems
that every precaution has been taken."

"How, sire?"

" Yes. Don't you know that all these men, with
the exception of Francesco Froio, the reporter, owe
their promotion to me? They will be afraid of
being accused of sparing me out of gratitude, and
save one voice, perhaps, the sentence will be unani-
mous."

" Sire, suppose you were to appear before the
court, to plead your own cause ? "

"Silence, sir, silence!" said Murat. "I could
not officially recognise the judges you have named
without tearing too many pages of history. Such

2456

MURAT

a tribunal is quite incompetent; I should be dis-
graced if I appeared before it. I know I could not
save my life, let me at least preserve my royal
dignity."

At this moment Lieutenant Francesco Froio came
in to interrogate the prisoner, asking his name, his
age, and his nationality. Hearing these questions,
Murat rose with an expression of sublime dignity.

" I am Joachim Napoleon, King of the Two
Sicilies," he answered, "and I order you to leave me."

The registrar obeyed.

Then Murat partially dressed himself, and asked
Stratti if he could write a farewell to his wife and
children. The Captain no longer able to speak,
answered by an affirmative sign; then Joachim sat
down to the table and wrote this letter : —

1 " Dear Caroline of my Heart, — The fatal
moment has come : I am to suffer the death penalty.
In an hour you will be a widow, our children will
be fatherless : remember me ; never forget my mem-
ory. I die innocent; my life is taken from me
unjustly.

" Good-bye, Achille ; good-bye, Laetitia ; good-
bye, Lucien ; good-bye, Louise.

" Show yourselves worthy of me ; I leave you in

1 We can guarantee the authenticity of this letter, hav-
ing copied it ourselves at Pizzo, from the Cavaliere
Alcala's copy of the original.

2457

CELEBRATED CRIMES

a world and in a kingdom full of my enemies.
Show yourselves superior to adversity, and remem-
ber never to think yourselves better than you are,
remembering what you have been.

" Farewell. I bless you all. Never curse my
memory. Remember that the worst pang of my
agony is in dying far from my children, far from
my wife, without a friend to close my eyes. Fare-
well, my own Caroline. Farewell, my children.
I send you my blessing, my most tender tears, my
last kisses. Farewell, farewell. Never forget your
unhappy father, Joachim Murat

"Pizzo, Oct. 13, 181 5"

Then he cut off a lock of his hair and put it in
his letter. Just then General Nunziante came in;
Murat went to him and held out his hand.

" General," he said, " you are a father, you are
a husband, one day you will know what it is to part
from your wife and sons. Swear to me that this
letter shall be delivered."

" On my epaulettes," said the general,1 wiping
his eyes.

" Come, come, courage, general," said Murat ;
" we are soldiers, we know how to face death. One
favour — you will let me give the order to fire, will
you not? "

1 Madame Murat never received this letter.
2458

MURAT

The general signed acquiescence : just then the
registrar came in with the king's sentence in his
hand.

Murat guessed what it was.

" Read, sir," he said coldly; " I am listening."

The registrar obeyed. Murat was right.

The sentence of death had been carried with
only one dissentient voice.

When the reading was finished, the king turned
again to Nunziante.

" General," he said, " believe that I distinguish
in my mind the instrument which strikes me and
the hand that wields that instrument. I should
never have thought that Ferdinand would have had
me shot like a dog; he does not hesitate apparently
before such infamy. Very well. We will say no
more about it. I have challenged my judges, but
not my executioners. What time have you fixed
for my execution? "

"Will you fix it yourself, sir?" said the
general.

Murat pulled out a watch on which there was a
portrait of his wife; by chance he turned up the
portrait, and not the face of the watch ; he gazed
at it tenderly.

" See, general," he said, showing it to Nunzi-
ante ; " it is a portrait of the queen. You know
her; is it not like her? "

2459

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The general turned away his head. Murat sighed
and put away the watch.

" Well, sire," said the registrar, " what time have
you fixed ? "

" Ah yes," said Murat, smiling, " I forgot why
I took out my watch when I saw Caroline's por-
trait."

Then he looked at his watch again, but this time
at its face.

"Well, it shall be at four o'clock, if you like;
it is past three o'clock. I ask for fifty minutes. Is
that too much, sir? "

The registrar bowed and went out. The general
was about to follow him.

" Shall I never see you again, Nunziante ? " said
Murat.

" My orders are to be present at your death, sire,
but I cannot do it."

" Very well, general. I will dispense with your
presence at the last moment, but I should like to
say farewell once more and to embrace you."

" I will be near, sire."

" Thank you. Now leave me alone."

" Sire, there are two priests here."

Murat made an impatient movement.

" Will you receive them ? " continued the general.

"Yes; bring them in."

The general went out. A moment later, two
2460

MURAT

priests appeared in the doorway. One of them
was called Francesco Pellegrino, uncle of the man
who had caused the king's death ; the other was Don
Antonio Masdea.

" What do you want here? " asked Murat.

" We come to ask you if you are dying a
Christian?"

" I am dying as a soldier. Leave me."

Don Francesco Pellegrino retired. No doubt he
felt ill at ease before Joachim. But Antonio Mas-
dea remained at the door.

" Did you not hear me ? " asked the king.

" Yes, indeed," answered the old man; " but per-
mit me, sire, to hope that it was not your last word
to me. It is not the first time that I see you or beg
something of you. I have already had occasion to
ask a favour of you."

"What was that?"

"When your Majesty came to Pizzo in 1810, I
asked you for 25,000 francs to enable us to finish
our church. Your Majesty sent me 40,000 francs."

" I must have foreseen that I should be buried
there," said Murat, smiling.

" Ah, sire, I should like to think that you did not
refuse my second boon any more than my first
Sire, I entreat you on my knees."

The old man fell at Murat's feet.

" Die as a Christian! "

2461

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" That would give you pleasure, then, would it ? "
said the king.

" Sire, I would give the few short days remain-
ing to me if God would grant that His Holy Spirit
should fall upon you in your last hour."

" Well," said Murat, " hear my confession. I
accuse myself of having been disobedient to my
parents as a child. Since I reached manhood I have
done nothing to reproach myself with."

" Sire, will you give me an attestation that you
die in the Christian faith ? "

" Certainly," said Murat.

And he took a pen and wrote : " I, Joachim
Murat, die a Christian, believing in the Holy
Catholic Church, Apostolic and Roman."

He signed it.

" Now, father," continued the king, " if you have
a third favour to ask of me, make haste, for in half
an hour it will be too late."

Indeed, the castle clock was striking half -past
three. The priest signed that he had finished.

" Then leave me alone," said Murat; and the old
man went out.

Murat paced his room for a few moments, then
he sat down on his bed and let his head fall into his
hands. Doubtless, during the quarter of an hour
he remained thus absorbed in his thoughts, he saw
his whole life pass before him, from the inn where

2462

MURAT

he had started to the palace he had reached; no
doubt his adventurous career unrolled itself before
him like some golden dream, some brilliant fiction,
some tale from the Arabian Nights.

His life gleamed athwart the storm like a rain-
bow, and like a rainbow's, its two extremities were
lost in clouds — the clouds of birth and death. At
last he roused himself from this inward contempla-
tion, and lifted a pale but tranquil face. Then he
went to the glass and arranged his hair. His strange
characteristics never left him. The affianced of
Death, he was adorning himself to meet his bride.

Four o'clock struck.

Murat went to the door himself and opened it.

General Nunziante was waiting for him.

" Thank you, general," said Murat. " You have
kept your word. Kiss me, and go at once, if you
like."

The general threw himself into the king's arms,
weeping, and utterly unable to speak.

" Courage," said Murat. " You see / am calm."
It was this very calmness which broke the general's
heart. He dashed out of the corridor, and left the
castle, running like a madman.

Then the king walked out into the courtyard.

Everything was ready for the execution.

Nine men and a corporal were ranged before the
door of the council chamber. Opposite them was a

2463

CELEBRATED CRIMES

wall twelve feet high. Three feet away from the
wall was a stone block: Murat mounted it, thus
raising himself about a foot above the soldiers who
were to execute him. Then he took out his watch,
kissed his wife's portrait, and fixing his eyes on it,
gave the order to fire. At the word of command
five out of the nine men fired: Murat remained
standing. The soldiers had been ashamed to fire on
their king, and had aimed over his head. That
moment perhaps displayed most gloriously the lion-
like courage which was Murat's special attribute.
His face never changed, he did not move a muscle ;
only gazing at the soldiers with an expression of
mingled bitterness and gratitude, he said —

" Thank you, my friends. Since sooner or later
you will be obliged to aim true, do not prolong my
death-agonies. All I ask you is to aim at the heart
and spare the face. Now "

With the same voice, the same calm, the same
expression, he repeated the fatal words one after
another, without lagging, without hastening, as if
he were giving an accustomed command; but this
time, happier than the first, at the word " Fire ! " he
fell pierced by eight bullets, without a sigh, without
a movement, still holding the watch1 in his left hand.

The soldiers took up the body and laid it on the

1 Madame Murat recovered this watch at the price of
200 louis.

2464

MURAT

bed where ten minutes before he had been sitting,
and the captain put a guard at the door.

In the evening a man presented himself, asking
to go into the death-chamber: the sentinel refused
to let him in, and he demanded an interview with
the governor of the prison. Led before him, he
produced an order. The commander read it with
surprise and disgust, but after reading it he led the
man to the door where he had been refused entrance.

"Pass the Signor Luidgi," he said to the sentinel.

Ten minutes had hardly elapsed before he came
out again, holding a bloodstained handkerchief con-
taining something to which the sentinel could not
give a name.

An hour later, the carpenter brought the coffin
which was to contain the king's remains. The
workman entered the room, but instantly called the
sentinel in a voice of indescribable terror.

The sentinel half opened the door to see what had
caused the man's panic.

The carpenter pointed to a headless corpse !

At the death of King Ferdinand, that head, pre-
served in spirits of wine, was found in a secret cup-
board in his bedroom.

A week after the execution of Pizzo everyone
had received his reward: Trenta Capelli was made
a colonel, General Nunziante a marquis, and Luidgi
died from the effects of poison.

2465

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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