"
"And yet, as I have heard, they resort to other sources to refill
their depleted ranks," said Mohammed, respectfully. "I am told that
they recruit their forces with the inhabitants of the desert, with
the children of Albania, and the tribe of Achmed Ali."
"They do, it is true. But the Arabs and Bedouins are poor
substitutes for the Georgian and Circassian slaves. You cannot make
lions of wild-cats, nor tigers of jackals. Moreover, discord has
fallen out among the Mameluke beys themselves, since Mourad Bey
fell. He was a great man and a hero! But since his death they have
lacked a chieftain who could unite them; Tamboudji Bey was such a
one for a brief season, but, as you know, he fell at Aboukir. Three
others are now quarrelling over the succession. There is Osman Bey
Bardissi; Ibrahim Bey, the old Mameluke chieftain; and finally,
L'Elfi Bey, a protege of the English, as Bardissi is of the French.
These three are now at daggers'-ends as to who shall be the leader.
We must, it seems to me, draw advantage from this quarrel. I know
Bardissi and Ibrahim have again applied to France, and have sent
ambassadors to the French general, Bonaparte, to solicit their aid
against their own masters--against us, the Turks. L'Elfi Bey,
however, has sought the intervention of England, and begged for
assistance against us in that quarter. They well know that they are
too weak to resist us alone.
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