Mehemet Ali
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
one of the most noted of Egypt's sovereigns, who filled the viceroyalty from 1804 to 1848, deserves a place here for his philanthropic acts towards the Christians, and his beneficence towards all men, without distinction of creed. He was born in 1769, and died at Cairo Aug. 3, 1849. Mehemet Ali was particularly noted for his successful wars against the Mamelukes, and for his reduction of Syria, which he. conquered in 1830. " As a ruler," says a contemporary,"' Mehemet Ali displayed talents of a very high order, and few princes have founded more beneficent institutions or shown a more just and liberal spirit. He established schools and colleges, created an army and navy, and introduced the manufactures of Europe. He protected his Christian subjects, and aided by his liberality the researches of Champollion, Lepsius, and other eminent savants." See F. Mengin, Histoire de l'Egypte sous le Gouvernement de -Mohammed Ali (1839); A. de Vaulabelle, Histoire. de I'Egypte; Creasy, Hist. of the Ottoman Turks, 2:392.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
Pasha of Egypt, born in Albania; entered the Turkish army, and rose into favour, so that he was able to seize the pashalic, the Sultan compromising matters by exaction of an annual tribute in acknowledgment of his suzerainty; the Mamelukes, however, proved unruly, and he could not otherwise get rid of them but by luring them into his coils, and slaughtering them wholesale in 1811; he maintained two wars with the Sultan for the possession of Syria, and had Ibrahim Pasha, his son, for lieutenant; compelled to give up the struggle, he instituted a series of reforms in Egypt, and prosecuted them with such vigour that the Sultan decreed the pashalic to remain hereditary in his family (1769-1849).
