STORY OF THE TRAITOR PALASCA. 173 bitter complaint of this when he next visited his friend at the seraglio, but gained no other kind of pity except a loud laugh and a taunt respecting the caution which he had received. "Well, well," said Anastasi, "I will at least make one attempt for the recovery of my property." Upon this he went home and dispatched a messenger to Palasca with a letter, to which he received an immediate answer from the robber informing him that his goods were all restored at the dogana of Salagora, and that if the bales had been full of sequins not one should have been taken: he made an apology for neglecting his advice and following such a life, but pleaded the impossibility of inaction, or pursuing any other course but that to which he had been so long habituated. The outrages of this gang at length became so daring that Ali was obliged to send a little army against them, when Palasca was so hotly pursued that he deserted his company and fled for refuge to the rocks of Suli. There he lived for some time in good repute, married a daughter of the Captain Botzari, and led many parties of Suliots with great success against the forces of the vizir. At last it struck Ali, who knew the character of the man, that he might be converted into a fit instrument for the promotion of his designs. He therefore entered into communication with him by means of his selictar-agà, with whom Palasca was before acquainted, gained him over to betray those who had so hospitably received him, and through his influence persuaded Botzari also to act as a traitor to his country. Palasca was now not only pardoned but received into high honour by the vizir; was made a captain in his army, and accompanied him in his expedition against Paswan Oglou: there he so distinguished himself that he was soon promoted to a still higher command, and taken completely into confidence. Upon their return to Ioannina he was made a member of the divan and intrusted with many important commissions: amongst others was that of collecting the tribute in one of the districts of the pashalic. Here however the temptation became too strong, his old habits returned in full vigour, he ran off with the money, and again took 174 ALI'S QUARREL WITH THE BEYS OF TZAMOURIA. refuge in Suli. At the capture of this place he was one of that party who were attacked by the Albanians at the monastery of Seltzo, but with about fifty others made his escape and fled into the forests of Acarnania: there he took up again his old trade of robber with a large brigade, but was at last routed by Ali's troops, discovered by a shepherd amidst the reeds of a marsh, and carried off to Ioannina. There he found no Anastasi again to plead for him; but having had his skin flayed from his face, and his hands and feet chopped off, he was left to die by the side of the public road, a miserable spectacle to all beholders. The Suliots had not long been banished from their country before they were engaged by Hassan Zapari and the beys of Tzamouria to attempt its recovery. Ali, after the reduction of Suli, refused to withdraw his troops from the Tzamouriot district, before all its seaports should be delivered into his power. In fact, for political purposes, he entered into an agreement to rent the duties of these ports from the Capudan Pasha; but the beys refused to pay the revenue into his hands, or allow his garrisons to collect it, though they expressed a perfect readiness to receive and pay any other officer whom the Porte should appoint. They now brought into the field about 7000 men, and retook the important fortress of Leftherochori, which Ali had occupied by a coup de main: but still fearing the event of the contest, they applied to the Russians in Corfu for assistance, and allured the Suliots to join their cause, with the hope of recovering their native mountains. From Count Mocenigo at Corfu, they received an auxiliary force of Albanian warriors, and the Suliots landed to the number of about 1500, at the mouth of the Acheron or Porto Fanari. The issue of this contest however turned out most disastrous to the independent cause. Ali took about forty towns and villages, with much plunder and many prisoners, and would at this time have conquered all Tzamouria, but that he thought it his best policy to act with forbearance and yield to SULIOTS ENTER THE RUSSIAN SERVICE. 175 the desire of his adversaries for peace, which was mediated by the Turkish admiral Seramet Bey: thus he deceived the Porte by shewing a deference to its authority and pleading his own wish to preserve order and tranquillity as the sole inducement for taking up arms. The Suliots in the mean time were very ungenerously treated by their allies, having been left in total want of clothes, ammunition, provisions, and every kind of assistance; nor was any attempt ever made to reinstate them in the land of their ancestors, though this had been held out as the chief inducement for their services. Thus deserted they fought their way back to Parga, repelling their enemies wherever they met them, and from thence retreated again to Corfu: there they accepted an offer of the Russian authorities to form a regiment in the Albanian battalion*, just as they were deliberating upon a plan of emigration, for the purpose of founding a republic in some other district of Greece. The part taken in these affairs by the Russians served but to augment Ali's hatred against them; and his jealousy was this year (1805) still further alarmed by an event in the north of Albania, where the republic of Monte Negro, which is able to bring 20,000 muskets into the field, voluntarily took the oath of allegiance to the Russian government. The Russians on their part were equally jealous of Ali Pasha's increasing power, from whence they foresaw the most serious obstacles against their own designs upon European Turkey: hence they * This_battalion was commanded by a Russian officer named Bekendorff; and was increased and recruited by exiles from all parts of the continent who fled either from the tyranny or the justice of Ali Pasha. Each regiment consisted of nine companies, each company being commanded by a captain, two lieutenants and one ensign; the pay of a captain was only sixty piastres per month, of a lieutenant forty, of an ensign twenty-five, and a private nineteen. In the war which soon ensued between Russia and France this corps was employed in the Neapolitan expedition, and after the peace of Tilsit it passed into the service of the French under the command of Col. Minot. Foto Tzavella and Mosco his mother both held commissions, the former that of a captain, the latter of a major in this battalion, but resigned them, like many others from disgust at ill treatment, as well as from that inherent love in the Albanian for his native soil, which, as in the case of the Swiss, never forsakes him. Foto with forty men passed over to Ioannina, threw himself at the feet of the pasha, made the poσkúvnois or adoration, and was received into his service. Mosco who accompanied him married a second husband, and was living in that capital at the time of our residence there. 176 ALI RECOVERS THE GOODWILL OF BONAPARTE. sought by every method to counteract his designs and controul his movements; but not succeeding in any of their enterprises for want of spirit, activity, and proper intelligence, they always involved the poor Greeks in the most serious calamities, and promoted the very plans which it was their intention to oppose. They did however succeed in counteracting his machinations at Constantinople, where he began to put all his arts in practice to gain permission for re-occupying the exVenetian towns, or at least to get the appointment of the commissioner vested in himself, which would have led to the same result. About this time also the rapid progress of the French arms in Dalmatia excited his apprehensions, and in this dilemma he turned his views towards the English government, with which he had continued to carry on an active correspondence through Lord Collingwood, the successor of Lord Nelson in command of the Mediterranean fleet. Hence it was that Major Leake, who had this year been sent upon a commission to Ioannina, was detained to take a military survey of the country and point out the best means of defence against an invading enemy. In these measures Ali was employed, building fortresses, reforming his police, clearing the country of banditti, and above all endeavouring to sow dissensions in the neighbouring states, of which he might take advantage, when the victory of Austerlitz, which was followed by the union of Illyricum and Dalmatia with the French empire, made him think it prudent to recover the favour of the Emperor. Bonaparte having at this time serious designs upon European Turkey, did not think proper to repel his advances, but even sent him some very valuable presents through General Massena. Ali himself declares that he offered to make him independent king of Epirus; but he has no document to prove the truth of this assertion. As Russia still continued in hostility with France and at the same time manifested designs of aggrandizing herself at the expence of Turkey, Ali thought the opportunity was now arrived for attacking that power in the Ionian islands, and of establishing an authority there ALI OCCUPIES THE CONTINENTAL DEPENDENCIES. 177 which he had long ardently desired. He sent a request to Bonaparte that a French resident might be established in his capital, and Mr. Pouqueville was selected for that important office with the title of consul general, whilst his brother was appointed vice-consul under him at Prevesa. The French minister at the Porte at this time governed the councils of the Divan, not only by the influence of his emperor's success but by the bribes which he distributed amongst its members. Through his interest Ali procured the pashalic of Lepanto for his son Mouchtar and that of the Morea for Vely: in return he assisted Sebastiani in promoting the rupture which succeeded between Turkey and Russia, at the very commencement of which he obtained the permission he so eagerly coveted of re-occupying the continental dependencies of the Ionian islands. Upon taking possession of Prevesa he reduced that unfortunate place by systematic oppression to the state of abject misery in which it is now seen. Having, in defiance of the treaty of 1800, deprived most of the original proprietors of their lands and houses, which he distributed amongst his Mahometan followers, he demolished two-thirds of the city, overthrew the churches, laid the foundation of a splendid seraglio for his own residence, and built a spacious mosque All this was done not only to prevent any European state from taking an interest in its restitution, but to furnish a plausible pretext to the Ottoman Porte for refusing ever after to restore a Turkish city to the protection of an infidel power. Vonizza also and Butrinto were in like manner ruined, though these places in the height of their prosperity were insignificant if compared with Prevesa. Parga luckily escaped this storm by receiving a Russian garrison from Corfu into its fortress. Ali nevertheless anticipating the completion of his views upon the Seven Islands, strenuously urged Mr. Pouqueville to furnish him with artillery and engineers, engaging to push the war in this quarter so vigorously against the Russians, that they should be unable to annoy the French army of Dalmatia, or send any reinforcements to Cattaro, |