Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

MOHAMMED II-MOHAMMED ALI.

and painted; had a knowledge of geography and mathematics, and of the history of the great men of antiquity. In short, he would have been a hero, had not his cruelties blackened his reputation. Policy sometimes kept in check the impetuosity of his character; but he was too often the slave of passions, though all the cruelties ascribed to him are not to be credited.

MOHAMMED IV, born in 1642, was raised to the throne while a boy of seven years, his father, Ibrahim, having been murdered in an insurrection of the janizaries. His grandmother, an ambitious woman, managed the government, but perished in a revolution of the seraglio. The celebrated grand-vizier Mohammed Kuperli (or Kuprili) was now placed at the head of the government. To this great minister, and to his equally great son and successor, the Turkish empire was indebted for the consequence which it maintained till the end of the 17th century. Mohammed was himself an insignificant personage, whose principal passion was the chase. Kuperli turned his chief attention to the restoration of the internal tranquillity of the empire, to which he sacrificed a great number of persons. The war begun in 1645 against the Venetians, mainly respecting the island of Candia, was, therefore, but weakly prosecuted. But, in 1667, Achmet Kuperli, one of the greatest Turkish generals,undertook the famous siege of this island (see Candia), which lasted two years and four months. The capitulation was signed September 5, 1669, at the same time with the terms of peace between Venice and the Turks. A war had already broken out (1660) with the emperor Leopold, on account of Transylvania. The Turks had made considerable progress in Hungary, when they were totally defeated, August 3, 1664, by Montecuccoli, at St. Gothard. Nevertheless, to the astonishment of all, the emperor accepted the disadvantageous truce of Temeswar, of 20 days, proffered by the Turks. Never had the Turks approached so near the boundaries of Germany as now. The anarchy which prevailed in Poland under king Michael, and the disturbances of the Cossacks, gave occasion, in 1672, to a war of the Turks against Poland, which had to purchase peace on ignominious conditions. But the great Polish general John Sobieski revenged the ignominy of his nation by a decisive victory at Choczim, in 1673, and, in 1676, obtained from the Turks an honorable peace. Sobieski also contributed most essentially to the relief of Vienna, which was besieged for more than six

559

weeks by the grand vizier Kara Mustapha, with 200,000 men, in the war caused, in 1683, by the malcontents in Hungary. The Turks were attacked in their camp, September 2, by the allied Christian army, and defeated, with extraordinary loss. The grand-vizier atoned for his ill success with his life. The emperor, Poland, Russia, and Venice, now concluded an alliance against the Turks, who suffered losses in every quarter:-for example, they were utterly defeated at Mohacz by Charles, duke of Lorraine. As all these misfortunes were attributed to the effeminacy and inactivity of the sultan, Mohammed IV, he was deposed in 1687, and died, in prison, in 1691.

MOHAMMED ALI (also MEHEMMED ALI) Pacha, viceroy of Egypt, is of Turkish origin, and was born at Cavala, in Macedonia, in the year 1769. By his boldness, sagacity and courage, he has raised himself from an humble station to that of a sovereign, before whom Arabia and Nubia tremble, and who is flattered by his proud master, the Porte. He has ruled Egypt since 1806, on European principles. From his youth, Mohammed exhibited an extraordinary penetration, uncommon dexterity in all bodily exercises, and a fiery ambition. The Turkish governor at Cavala gave this poor young orphan a common education, and then an office and a rich wife. Reading and writing he learnt after he had become a pacha. A merchant of Marseilles, named Lion, who lived in Cavala, and was his patron, inspired him with an inclination towards the French, and with religious tolerance. On this account the residence of strangers in Egypt has been facilitated. In 1820, the viceroy gave the family of Lion proofs of his gratitude. His first employment was the tobacco trade, and he is now engaged in great commercial enterprises, extending even to India. His first campaign was in Egypt, against the French (1800), as commander-in-chief (binbashi) of the contingent of Cavala. The capitan pacha, who was a witness of his bravery in the battle of Rahmanieh against general Lagrange, elevated him to a higher post, in which he also acquired the favor of the Albanian troops. He established his reputation as a soldier in the long contest of the pachas with the mamelukes, after the French had abandoned Egypt in 1802; but soon after the governor became jealous of the ambitious Mohammed, and, to get rid of him, obtained his appointment as pacha of Saloniki. Mohammed's influence was already so great, that the inhab

[blocks in formation]

itants of Cairo took arms in his favor, and the ulemas and sheiks represented by agents to the divan of Constantinople, that Mohammed alone was able to restore order and tranquillity to Egypt, which the governor Khurschid Pacha plundered and oppressed. At the same time, they conferred on him the office of governor; but the prudent Mohammed refused the external dignities of the office, although in secret he directed affairs. At length the Porte (April 1, 1806) confirmed him as governor of Egypt, and elevated him to the rank of a pacha of three tails. He maintained himself in this office by the attachment of the Albanians and the influence of France, when the Porte had been prevailed on by the English to appoint, in his stead, the mameluke Elfy Bey, governor of Egypt. Mohammed soon restored the distracted country to order, accustomed the undisciplined troops to obedience, and compelled the English, who, in March, 1807, had occupied Alexandria, after several battles, to leave Egypt in September. He then reduced the mameluke beys to subjection, and, in March, 1811, on a festive occasion, perfidiously murdered 470 of them; the rest were decapitated. They were accused of secret plots. The French mamelukes alone remained unmolested. (See Mamelukes.) From this time tranquillity reigned in Egypt. The campaign of Ibrahim Pacha, the second son of the viceroy (the first died in the field), against the Wahabees, in 1816, had a successful issue; he deprived that sect of Mecca and Medina, conquered their capital, Derayeh, in 1818, and sent their leaders prisoners to Constantinople. The expedition to Nubia and Sennaar, in 1821, which the French traveller Cailliaud (see Meroë) accompanied, in the expectation of discovering gold mines, ended with the murder of the leader, Ismael Pacha, the youngest son of the viceroy. At the same time Mohammed directed the internal administration of affairs. Armies and fleets, fortifications, and the maintenance of the troops, were established upon the European plan; telegraphs and Congreve rockets were prepared; the ulemas were transformed into paid officers; agriculture was extended, the races of sheep and horses improved; commerce and manufactures flourished; Europeans were protected and rewarded, and learned travellers encouraged. Ismael Gibraltar and others were sent, in 1818, to Europe, in order to form alliances; the canal of Mahmoud was dug, connecting Cairo with Alexandria; olive

and mulberry trees, hitherto unknown in Egypt, were planted, sugar refineries, and saltpetre manufactories, and cannon founderies established, quarantine rules and vaccination introduced, schools founded, &c.-The British, French and other nations now sought the friendship of Mohammed. The Porte was terrified at his power, as he had, during the struggle with the Greeks, established himself in Candia. He was, however, appointed commanderin-chief against the Greeks in 1824; but he sent his son Ibrahim, at the head of an army of 16,000 men, together with a fleet under the command of Ismael Gibraltar, who was to conquer the Morea, and establish a negro colony there. The latter, with the capudan pacha, was defeated in several naval actions, in September, 1824, by the Greek admiral Miaulis, and Canaris, the commander of the fire-ships; but a second Egyptian expedition succeeded, in March, 1825, in effecting a landing at Modon, and captured Navarino, Tripolizza, and other places. Ibrahim then laid waste the Morea, and sent its inhabitants as slaves to Egypt. In October, 1827, a third expedition of the viceroy was blockaded in the harbor of Navarino by the English admiral Codrington and the French admiral De Rigny, in consequence of the treaty of July 6, 1827, and it was required of the viceroy by the allied powers, that he should refrain from every act of hostility towards Greece. The combined Turkish and Egyptian fleets were shortly after destroyed at this place. (See Navarino.)-Mohammed is, in reality, the sovereign of Egypt, though he preserves the external marks of respect towards the grand seignior. He is a despot, and is obliged to be so; but at the same time he possesses political knowledge, and often exhibits magnanimity. He is the absolute lord of the soil and all its productions. He holds the monopoly of the productions of Egypt, and of the East India goods which pass through Egypt; only a few houses, designated by himself, are permitted to take part in the commerce. The purchase of ships of war in France, and his expeditions against the Morea, exhausted his treasures, and caused oppressive taxes. In Egypt, he protects the Greeks as well as the Franks; he causes young Turks to be educated in Paris in the European manner; the Christians possess his confidence, but there is no security for the permanence of his plans. Ibrahim himself appears not to approve of his father's projects of colonization and civilization. Had Mohammed Ali never

MOHAMMED ALI-MOHS.

been stained with treachery and murder, he would perhaps deserve to be called the second Saladin of Egypt.-See Mengin's Histoire de l'Egypte sous le Gouvernement de Mohammed Aly, etc. (Paris, 1823, 2 vols.); Histoire de la Régénération de l'Egypte, by Planat, a staff-officer in the pacha's service (Geneva, 1830); the travels of Madden, Lushington, Hanniker, Minutoli, &c. Mohammed has a grandson, whom he is carefully educating, and two married daughters. (See the articles Egypt, Nubia, Wahabees, Greece, Revolution of). In 1827, he had twelve regiments organized, clothed in uniform, and armed after the European manner, each regiment consisting of 4000 men. They were raised by impressment, from the Arabs and peasantry.

MOHAMMED, Sheik; the founder of the famous sect of the Wahabees, who derive their appellation from Abd el Wahab, the father of Mohammed. (For an account of him, see the article Wahabees.)

MOHAMMEDAN ERA. (See Epoch.) MOHAWK; a large branch of the Hudson or North river of New York, which rises in the north-east part of Oneida county, about twenty miles north of Rome, to which place it runs nearly south, and then turns eastward towards the Hudson, which it enters by several mouths, between Troy and Waterford, after a course of about 135 miles. Its source is within a short distance of Black river, of lake Ontario; and from Rome it winds along through a deep valley, bordered in many places by high and broken hills, and in others by extensive and very valuable alluvial tracts. The stream of the Mohawk is unequal, with many breaks and rapids, and two considerable falls. The following estimates are from Spafford's Gazetteer of New York-From Rome to Utica, 16 miles, is a descent of 26 feet; Utica, to the German flats, 16 miles, 194 feet; German flats canal to head of Little falls, 6 miles, 42 feet; Little falls to Palatine bridge, 19 miles, 34 feet; Palatine bridge to Schenectady, 40 miles, 763 feet; Schenectady to head of Cahoos, or Cohoes, falls, 12 miles; falls 70 feet; and thence to the Hudson, 2 miles, is a descent of about 70 feet. With the aid of canals, the Mohawk is navigable from Schenectady to Rome; but it serves the purposes of navigation principally by feeding the numerous canals which cross it or range near its borders. It is remarkably well adapted for supplying water-power for all manufacturing purposes. The land on its borders is very rich. It is excellent for

561

wheat, and good also for all common purposes of agriculture.

MOHAWKS; a tribe of North American Indians, belonging to the confederacy of the Five (afterwards Six) Nations. (See Iroquois.) With the rest of the confederacy, they adhered to the British interest during the war of the revolution, and left the country, on its termination, for Canada, where lands were assigned them on the Grand river. Their village is composed of houses built of logs, with few of the conveniences of civilized life. The Mohawks lived originally on the river which still bears their name, and were remarkable for their courage and ferocity. Brandt was a Mohawk chieftain.

MOHICANS, or MOHEGANS; a tribe of Indians formerly occupying the western parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts. (See Iroquois.)

Mонs, Frederic, professor of mineralogy at Vienna, was born in Anhalt-Bernberg, about 1774, and was destined for a mercantile career, which, however, his inclination for the sciences, particularly the mathematical, induced him to abandon. After studying two years at Halle, he went to Freiberg in 1798, and there became acquainted with the Wernerian geognosy, and made himself familiar with practical mining. In 1802, Mohs went to Vienna, and there drew up (1804) a description of Van der Null's mineralogical cabinet, in which appear the gerins of his method, as afterwards developed in his later works. His zeal for the study of mineralogy led him to make several scientific tours in different parts of Austria, and in 1810—11, the Austrian government employed him in similar expeditions in the public service. On the establishment of the institution at Gratz, the professorship of mineralogy was conferred on Mohs, who continued to lecture there until 1818, when he made a tour through Great Britain, and examined the mines of that country. His Versuch einer Elementarmethode zur Naturhistorischen Bestimmung der Mineralien had been published in 1813. In Edinburgh, he renewed his acquaintance with Jameson (q. v.), who had studied with him at Freiberg, and whom he found to entertain views similar to his own on the subject of the natural history of minerals. In the same year (1818), Mohs was appointed royal Saxon commissioner of the mines, and professor of mineralogy at Freiberg, and, in 1826, was created professor of that science at Vienna. The principal works of Mohs are his Charakteristik des Naturhistor. Mineralsystems (Dresden,

[blocks in formation]

1820; new edition, 1821), and Grundriss der Mineralogie (1822–24). (See Mineralogy.)

MOIDORE, OF MOED'OR, Or MOEDA; a gold coin formerly used in Portugal (from 1690-1722) of the value of six dollars.

MOINES, DES, the largest western tributary of the Mississippi above the Missouri, enters the Mississippi in about latitude 40°. It is 150 yards wide at its mouth, and is supposed to be 800 miles long, and navigable for boats for 300 miles. MOIRA, EARL OF. (See Hastings, Francis.)

MOITTE, Jean Guillaume, a French statuary, was born at Paris, in 1747, of a family which produced several distinguished engravers and architects, and early displayed so much talent for drawing, that Pigalle, then the most eminent sculptor in Paris, requested that he might receive the young artist as a pupil. In 1768, Moitte went to Italy, and studied the remains of ancient art, without, however, neglecting the study of nature. He returned to France in 1773, was one of the first members of the national institute, received the cross of the legion of honor from Napoleon, and died in 1810. His works are distinguished for correctness of design, elevated conception, beauty of proportion, variety of expression, and delicacy of taste. A statue of a sacrificateur (1783); the bass-reliefs of several of the barriers of Paris; that of the frontispiece of the Pantheon, representing the country crowning the civic and warlike virtues (destroyed after the restoration, when the Pantheon was consecrated as the church of St. Geneviève); that for the tomb of Desaix; several bass-reliefs in the Louvre, representing the muse of history, with Moses and Numa; warriors devoting themselves for their country, in the chamber of peers, -are among his principal productions.

MOLA, Peter Francis, an eminent painter, was born at Coldra in 1621, or at Lugano in 1609. He was the pupil of the cavalier D'Arpino and of Albani. On leaving the last master, he went to Venice, and studied under Guercino, perfecting himself in coloring from the productions of the Venetian school. On his return to Rome, he painted several scriptural pieces for popes Innocent X and Alexander VII, of which that of Joseph discovering himself to his brothers, in the Quirinal, is the most esteemed. He is still more distinguished as a landscape painter, for his varied composition and vigorous touch. In 1665, he received an invitation to the

court of Louis XIV, with which he was about to comply, when a sudden disorder carried him off. There was another Mola (John Baptist), said by some to be his brother, who acquired some reputation in history and landscape; but he is much inferior to the preceding.

MOLAI, James de, the last grand-master of the order of the knights Templars, of the family of the lords of Longwic and of Raon. He was admitted into the order about 1265, and, on the death of William de Beaujeu, was unanimously elected to the office of grand-master. The wealth and power of the Templars, their pride and their dissolute manners, created them a multitude of enemies, and led to their destruction. In 1307, an order was issued for the general arrest of the knights throughout France. They were accused of heresy, impiety, and other revolting crimes. Fifty-seven were burnt in 1311, and the order was abolished the following year, by the council of Vienne. Molai, with his companions, Guy Dauphin of Auvergne and Hugh de Peralde, was detained in prison at Paris till 1313, when their trial took place before commissioners appointed by the pope; and, confessing their crimes, they were condemned to perpetual seclusion. Molai and Guy, having subsequently retracted their confessions, which they had made in the hope of obtaining their freedom, were executed as relapsed heretics. They perished in the flames at Paris, March 18, 1314, declaring their innocence to the last. (See Templars.)

MOLAR TEETH. (See Teeth.)

MOLASSES, OF MELASSES; the liquid or uncrystallizable part of the juice of the sugar-cane, which separates from the granulated part or sugar. (See Sugar.) The name is also applied to the similar portion of any other vegetable juice from which sugar is obtained.

MOLDAU; a river of Bohemia, which rises in the Böhmerwald (Bohemian forest), flows north through Bohemia, by Budweis and Prague, and empties into the Elbe opposite to Melnik, and thus furnishes Bohemia a communication with the North sea. A project was formed for uniting the Moldau, by means of a canal, with the Danube; but, on account of the difficulty of cutting through the mountains, a railroad has been considered a more practicable undertaking. (See Austria.)

MOLDAVIA (in German, Moldau; Turkish, Bogdan); a province of the Ottoman empire, with the title of principality, extending from lat. 45° 12′, to 48° 5 N., and from lon. 25° 10 to 28° 20′ E.; bounded

MOLDAVIA-MOLE.

on the east by the Russian province of Bessarabia, from which it is separated by the Pruth, on the south by Bulgaria and Walachia, and on the west by Transylvania; superficial extent, 17,000 square miles; population differently stated at from 360,000 to 500,000. Previously to the treaty of 1812, it extended eastward to the Dniester, with a superficial area of about 34,000 square miles, and a population of 800,000. The western part of the country is mountainous, branches of the Carpathian chain projecting towards the interior; the southern is low and marshy. The winters are severe; the heat is great in summer, but the nights are cool. The soil is fertile, but war and an oppressive government have prevented it from being well cultivated. Corn, fruits, wine, honey, wax, and tobacco of an inferior quality, are among the principal productions; the gold, silver and iron mines are not worked; mineral salt and salt-petre are produced in large quantities. The greater part of the country is devoted to pasturage, and immense numbers of horses, black cattle, sheep and swine are raised by the inhabitants. The horses are strong, active and gentle, and 10,000 have been exported annually to Austria and Prussia. The cattle are of an excellent quality, and have been sent generally to Poland and Russia. The inhabitants are strongly attached to the Greek church. The Moldavians are supposed to be descendants of the ancient Dacians, whose country they occupy, of Roman colonists, and of the Sclavonians, who conquered Moldavia. Their language is a corrupt Latin, mixed with Sclavonic. They call themselves Rumuni, or Rumniasti, probably a corruption of Romani. They are described as ignorant, indolent, treacherous and vindictive; although not slaves, they have always been the subjects of the severest oppression. The different professions and trades are almost entirely in the hands of Armenians, Jews, Italians and Russians. The capital of the province is Jassy (q. v.), which is also an archiepiscopal see; Okna and Galacz are the other principal towns; the Pruth and the Sereth, both emptying into the Danube, are the chief rivers. Moldavia has generally shared the fate of Walachia, with which, under the Romans, it formed the province of Dacia Transalpina (beyond the Carpathian). Bogden, a Walachian chief, established himself in the country in the twelfth century, and from him it was called Bogdiana, but afterwards received the name of Moldavia, from the river Mol

563

dava, a branch of the Sereth. Although the Walachians and Moldavians were of the same origin, and spoke the same language, they were often at war with each other, and formed two independent states. (See Walachia.) In the fourteenth century, Moldavia became tributary to the kings of Hungary, and in the beginning of the sixteenth century, became a dependant of Turkey. The inhabitants were permitted to retain their laws and privileges, and the free exercise of their religion, and to appoint their way wode, or hospodar. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Porte assumed the right of appointing the hospodar, and from that time the dignity was sold to the rich Greeks of Constantinople, who practised every means of extortion upon the inhabitants. In 1812, the region lying to the east of the Pruth was ceded to Russia. In 1821, the hospodar Michael Suzzo, a Greek, received the Greek insurgents with open arms, and raised the standard of revolt. Turkish armies were poured into the unhappy province, which became a scene of the most barbarous atrocities. (See Greece, Revolution of, and Ypsilanti). It was not evacuated until 1826, after the most pressing demands of Russia. It was then stipulated that the hospodars should be chosen by the Boyards, from their own number, for a term of seven years, subject to the confirmation of the Porte. In 1828, the Russians occupied Moldavia without resistance. By the peace of Adrianople, 1829, it is provided that the hospodar shall be named for life; that the province shall pay a tribute of 165,000 piastres to Turkey, and be subject to no requisitions; that no Turk shall reside in the country, which remains in the hands of Russia till indemnification for the expenses of the war shall be made by the Porte. (See Russia, and Ottoman Empire.)

MOLE (talpa). The animal so well known in the U. States under the name of mole, belongs to a wholly different genus of quadrupeds from the common mole of Europe, and has been very appropriately named shrew mole (q. v.), by the late doctor Godman. It appears exceedingly doubtful whether the true mole has ever been found in this country, all the evidence of its existence here being furnished by a manuscript note of Bartram, which, in all probability, referred to the shrew-mole, as the true mole has never been detected by any of our recent naturalists. The mole is from five to six inches in length: its head is large, without

« AnteriorContinuar »