"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎٩‎٩] (١٧٨٢/١٤٥٤)

y-~n,
1299
night, and this attempt on the Ag-ha's part to secure a valuable hostage
consequently failed. A little after 10 o^clock the Agha, on horseback,
passed the British Residency at the head of a rabble of 1,000 to 1,500
men u all with naked sabres and using the most furious gesticulations /'
he was then on his way to occupy the citadel as a preliminary to
attacking the palace ; iii which was ^Ali Pasha, the Kehiyah, with his
supporters; but he assured Mr. J ones that he, the British Resident, had
nothing to fear from any of the contending factions. At twelve noon,
Sulaiman Pasha being then probably dead, fire was opened from, the
citadel, first with an unmounted gun of enormous calibre throwing a stone
ball, and then with mortars; but the practice was so poor that the
palace hardly suffered at all from the bombardment. From the moment
that the first shot was fired, all business in the city was suspended and
the people shut themselves up in their houses.
During the next eight or nine days the S.gha persevered in his
enterprise; but after that, in consequence of the bribes which 'Ali
Pasha's party, having possession of the treasure in the palace, were able
to lavish, his supporters began to desert him. He then attempted to bring
forward a Georgian slave of the late Pasha as a rival to 'Ali Pasha; but
this manoeuvre failed, and he had to retire from the citadel to his own
house, in which he was immediately besieged. Ultimately, having been
taken prisoner, he was cut to pieces in the presence of 'Ali Pasha ; and
fourteen of his principal Janissary supporters were strangled in succes- -
sion on one night, a cannon being fired as the fatal cord was adjusted
upon the neck of each. Within a fortnight or three weeks from the
death of Sulaiman Pasha, order had been completely restored by 'Ali
Pasha ; and, though an immense amount of firing had taken place during
that time, the actual number of casualties was extremely small.
The chief anxiety of the British Resident during the disturbances Difficulties of
arose from the presence in the river, only a few miles below Baghdad, Resident^
of boats laden with muskets, bayonets and shells which had been ordered during the
by Sulaiman Pasha from Bombay; but, by causing the vessels to be stlun ^ e •
anchored at a distance from the bank, by hoisting British colours on
board, and by informing both the Kehiyah Pasha and the Agha that the
consignments were still British property and must not be touched, Mr.
Jones was able to prevent these additional arms and ammunition from
falling into the hands of the combatants.*
1: fi
• The whole crisis is well described by Sir H. J. Brydges (Mr. Jonos) in a note to
hi« Wahauhy, pages 204-210.