ALI PASHA, one of the most ferocious and unscrupulous men that even the east has produced, was descended from an Albanian pasha, who perished at the siege of Corfu in 1716. He was b. at Tepelen, a small place at the foot of the Klissoura mountains, in Albania, in 1741. His mother was a vindictive and merciless woman, who never hesitated to employ the most revolting means of accomplishing her purposes. Hav ing lost his father, a comparatively quiet and enlightened man, his education necessarily devolved upon her ; and she did not fail to inspire him with the same remorseless senti ments that animated herself. His youth was passed in extreme peril and hardship, for the neighboring pashas combining, had robbed his father of nearly all his possessions, in the 'effort to recover which, young All was repeatedly defeated, and at last had to betake himself to the mountains, and even to pledge his sword to save himself from dying of hunger. These calamities were not calculated to soften the native ferocity of his dis position • they only nurtured a mingled boldness and cunning, which afterwards devel oped itself in a variety of qualities, such as subtlety, dissimulation, foresight, treachery, vigor, and diabolical cruelty. It is said that the change in his fortune arose from his having accidentally discovered a chest of gold, with which he raised an army of 2000 men, gained his first victory and entered Tepelon in triumph. On the very day of his return, he murdered his brother; and then imprisoned his mother in the harem on the charge of poisoning him, where she soon after died. He next reconciled himself to the porte by helping to subdue the rebellious vizier of Scutari ; and thus acquired not only the lands that had been wrested from his father, but likewise several Greek cities. He also attacked and slew (with the permission of the sultan) Selim, pasha of Delvino, and, as a reward, was appointed lieutenant to the new pasha of Derwend ; but instead of attend ing to the security of the high-roads (which was his office), he rendered them more insecure than ever, by participating in the plunder which the hie/Alia (robbers) were allowed to make. The result was, his deposition by the porte ; but he speedily purchased back its favor, for he was a master-hand at bribery. Shortly after this, he acquired a high reputation as a soldier, and did such good service to the Turks in their Austro Russian war of 1787, that he was named pasha of Trikala in Tbessaly ; at the same time he seized Janina or Joannina, of which he got himself appointed pasha by the instru mentality of terror, a forged finnan, and bribery. It must be admitted that, as a ruler, he now displayed many excellent qualities. He swept his old friends, the robbers, from the mountain-roads, incorporated them into military troops, quelled the wretched factions that prevailed, and everywhere introduced order in the place of anarchy by the vigor and vigilance of his administration.
A short time after this, he entered into an alliance with Napoleon Bonaparte, who sent him engineers. When Bonaparte was defeated in Egypt, Ali, in 1798, took the places in Albania possessed by the French. After a three years' he subdued the Suliotes, for which the Porte promoted him to be governor of Romania. About this time, he revenged upon the inhabitants of Gardiki an injury done to his mother 40 years before, by the murder of 739 male descendants of the original offenders, who themselves were all dead.
In the interior of his dominions, Ali maintained the strictest order and justice. Secu rity and peace reigned, high-roads were constructed, and industry flourished, so that the European travelers, with whom he willingly held intercourse, considered him an active and intelligent governor. From the year 1807, when he once more entered into an alliance with Napoleon, the dependence of Ali on the porte was merely nominal. Having failed, however, in his principal object, which was to obtain, at the peace of Tilsit, through the influence of Napoleon, Parga, on the coast of Albania, and the Ionian islands, he now entered into an alliance with the English, to whom he made many con cessions. In return for these, they granted Parga, nominally to the sultan, but really to Ali. As he now considered his power to be securely established, be caused the commanders of the Greek armatoles (or Greek militia), who had hitherto given him assistance, to be privately assassinated one by one, while at the Sallie time he put to death the assassins, to save himself from the suspicion Of having been their instigator.
The porte at length determined to put an end to the power of this daring rebel ; and in 1820, sultan 31alimoud sentenced him to be deposed. Ali resisted for a time several pashas that were sent against him ; but at last surrendered, on the security of an oath that his life and property would be granted him. Regardless of this, he was put to death, Feb. 5, 1822. Ali possessed, indisputably, great natural gifts, but along with them a character of the worst description. He never scrupled to use any means, pro vided it speedily secured his end. Yet we can hardly help admiring the singular talent which lie invariably displayed. Like many other half-civilized monarchs and ehlefs who have lived within the sphere of European influence, he was keenly alive to whatever transpired among the powers of Christendom. Though utterly illiterate himself, he had all the foreign journals translated and read to him. He watched every political change, as if conscious that the interests of his little region depended for their future prosperity on the west, and not on the east ; and made friendly advances to both the French and the English, recognizing, with a sagacity remarkable in a barbarian, that the practical dominion of the world had passed from the crescent to the cross.