He had sent to Stamboul intelligence of all that had
occurred--of Cousrouf's flight, and of his defeat and capture at
Damietta.
"Who is now to be appointed viceroy?" This was the question to be
decided at Stamboul.
"Do you command, O master, that our troops march against Cairo to
drive out the Mamelukes, and reinstate Cousrouf as viceroy! Command,
O master, and your servants will obey!"
While the Turks were awaiting an answer from Stamboul, affairs in
Cairo were becoming more and more complicated, and law and order no
longer reigned there. The Mamelukes were daily becoming more violent
and overbearing. They roamed through the city in bands, plundering
and burning, and the beys could no longer control them. Daily the
sufferings of the people became greater, and their hatred of the
lawless Mamelukes more intense.
Robbed and outraged as they were, they were, in addition,
continually being called on to pay new taxes to their detested
rulers.
The Mameluke beys, Bardissi and Ismail, need money, need it more
than ever. But where are they to get it? The question is a
perplexing, a tormenting one, and with dismay Bardissi submits it to
his faithful friend and untiring adviser, the sarechsme, Mohammed
Ali.
And it was Mohammed who continually advised the imposition of new
taxes, and who was constantly engaged with Bardissi in devising new
means of raising money; and the imposition of each new burden was
the signal for a new cry of rage from the oppressed people.
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