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service, a Pasha, Latif Bey, was sent to Cairo to arrange
again for his assassination ; while Ibrahim was made a
Prince of Mecca, and so the superior in rank of his
father. The quarrel between Mehemet Ali and Mahmoud
then became acute. Crete was substituted for Syria,
which had been the agreed reward for Egypt's services
in Greece and occupied (1830-1841). But resenting this
and taking advantage of the PorteJs defeats in the
Russo-Turkish War, Mehemet Ali anticipated an attack
on himself by invading Syria. Acre, that had defeated
Napoleon, fell to Ibrahim (May, 1832). The prestige
of this success gave the Egyptian invasion an impetus
that carried it from victory to victory across Syria and
Anatolia right to the gates of Constantinople (February,
1833). Whereupon the Russians intervened, covering the
capital with a fleet and a force. The Egyptians with-
drew, and the Russians exacted from the Turks, in re-
turn, the Treaty of Hunkiar-Skelessi, that put the Empire
under Russian protection (July 8, 1833). Mehemet Ali
had to content himself with the acquisition of Syria and
Adana under the Treaty of Kutahia, and a firman con-
firming him as Pasha (May 6, 1833).
An Empire of Egypt in the Near East had, indeed,
become morally a possibility when armies of fellaheen
could defeat their Turkish oppressors in three pitched
battles—Horns, Beylan, and Koniah. The Ottoman
armies were disorganised by the reforms of Mahmoud,
disheartened by the Russian defeats, and disabled by
the treason of Khosrew, who had been denied the
supreme command. But the welcome given to the
Egyptians by the oppressed populations of the Empire
was soon worn out. Syria and Palestine revolted against
Egypt, and the Druses and Maronites were not reduced
until 1836. Moreover, the effort was exhausting Egypt