"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎٨‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٤٣٩)

biasbmtosaillai
1284
The Pasha forsook Baghdad as soon as the presence of plague in
the city was reported, and no steps were taken, or even prescribed, by
him for withstanding its progress; but he issued " unjust and inhuman
orders thai none of the inhabitants should presume to follow his example
of seeking safety in flight.
Sulaiman Pasha, distinguished in earlier days by energy and courage,
had now sunk into his official * dotage. The general stare of the Pashaliq
in May 1802 was one of inefficiency, confusion, and alarm. The city
of Baghdad and the town of Basrah were both insufficiently defended
against attack ; and the garrison of the former, apart from some 500
ragamuffins described as Baratalis, Tufangchis, etc., consisted of 6,000
to 7,000 Janissaries, "undisciplined and unruly, who probably, when
" distressed by the inconveniences of a siege, would turn like a wounded
"elephant on their own party/' The greater part of Kurdistan was
still comprised in the Pashaliq, but the leading Kurdish families were
distracted by feuds and broils, and the district itself, apart from the
military contingents which it furnished, was not a source of strength to
the Baghdad (xovernment. Of the Arab tribes of the country the
Shammar Toqah upon the Tigris near to Baghdad were disaffected
towards the authorities, by whom they had often been cruelly treated;
and the more distant Bani Lam were in partial revolt through the
attack of a Shaikh, recently deposed by the Turks, upon the successor
whom they had set up in his place. The whole district from Kut-al-
Amarah to Jassan and thence to Hawizeh was, owing to these causes,
pre} to disorder. Besides these troubles at home there was also the
constant danger, or at least the constant fear, of invasion from Central
Arabia on the one side and from Persia on the other.
At the end of July 1802, though the condition of Sulaiman Pasha,
who had then been ill for some ftiine, was studiously concealed from the
public, it was generally known to be critical; and plots and preparations
for seizing the succession began. The ordinary medical attendent of
the Pasha was M. Outrey, a French surgeon, long resident at Baghdad;
but on the 6th of August Sulaiman was visited, at the request of his
re ations and a number of influential persons, by Dr. Short, the Surgeon
o e British Residency, who at once perceived that he had not
Death of
SnUuinaji
Pasha,! 7th
August 1803.
Se ' n A a - ^ ^ in '» • st »" > ° £ drowsiness and
PTalyfeTfrom I,0el " i5d rei>0rted """ tl ' e I,ashi " M °° W