36 Egypt
and his descendants reign to-day as independent kings in
Cairo, His better success with a much worse start may
be explained in the first place by his being a Mahomedan,
not merely a Moslemophil; in the second place, by the
Powers and the Porte being occupied during his advent
with the final struggle against Napoleon ; and in the third
place, by his obtaining the support of the Egyptians
themselves. His success in uniting all Egyptians behind
him for the establishment of an Egypt independent of the
Porte and of the Powers has been insufficiently appre-
ciated in the historical accounts of his adventure. It was
indeed his shady accomplishments as a demagogue rather
than his more showy achievements as a despot that made
him the founder of Modern Egypt, In other words,
Egypt made Mehemet Ali quite as much as Mehemet
Ali made Modern Egypt.
Like later reformers of the Ottoman Empire, Mehemet
Ali was a Macedonian Mahomedan, the son of an
Arnaut watchman, born at Kavalla in 1769. Brought up
by the Turkish Pasha, he served the usual apprentice-
ship of Ottoman administrators. He did well for his
patron as a tax-collector, and even better for himself as
a tobacco trader. Sent to Syria with the first expedition
against Napoleon, he attached himself to Khosrew
Pasha, his future lifelong enemy, and intrigued himself
into command of an Albanian contingent. These
Albanians were the backbone of the Ottoman army, and
the buttress of Turkish authority in Egypt; so any
prominent commander became ex-officio a power in
Egyptian politics.
The French were no sooner gone than the various
political parties in Egypt began to struggle for power.
These parties were the Mamelukes, the Albanians, and
the Turks, with the British supporting and subsidising