'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎1442] (1597/1782)

1442
reasonable ; indeed, it shows the unreality of his claim fn ,
atatesmatK He had heard, or perhaps seen, that the fortification, ef'^e™. *
towns m Europe had been pulled down, to make room for the cities f} othe i-
which were outgrowing them ; and, arguing from this fact that all will ' ^
date, he proceeded to level those of Bagdad. I dare sav he jl's were out of
and feared lest they should remind stranger, of
gunpowder and the Ottoman Empire were invented, the age of Ha tn j P T
He seems, too. to have had a curious idea of oeoupying I,is soldiers in t 1 . ^
paying them their arrears in hrieke, a rather unsaleable article one wo .dVth b
country where little is built and nothing at all mended. ' •! ''
the Caliphate were " removed " and the city left onen to n t ? ' niay ' t ' IC: lv:llls ,,f
wolves and Bedouins, for it is but a few years sincp R 1 ^ " lo choseto enter, thieves
the Shammar. The townsmen protested, but the thing ^Zne' livvllr^ 1 ^ ^
defenceless as any of the villages near it.* Bagdad is now as
thewhll^^rtg^i:^ ^ «t benefits
Southern Mesopotamia. I4ZV were » " ° work, once fertilising
the cost levied, and Midhat himself, before his term ' "'"""pfesse^ a speo.al far fo,
satisfaction of opening ti.e new canal ^ 7 r ' " *
Europe. But, oh cruel fatp nf r *■ a i- ' tne tashion of digmtanes in
stream to fertilise the thirsty earth "behold' it^ 0 the iT^' mStea(1 of a beneficie,lt
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. with his spade let in the In ' . that Midhat
in a pestilential marsh and obliged at cert < - 0 ' U ' ei 60 Bagdad ,nto an ,8l and, standing
world by means of boats Th^a/en^ ZT ^ ^ ^
and entrusted him instead with (i,, ° '• e saw tlle ncl!es8lt y of his recall
power of virtue, Midhat ^ l.^ t .7 r fT Zat,0n of Em P ire - k tW
Bagdad. They narrate of him still that ,,0t t a " 0getl ' er .'" eTil e ™" "
pocket and left his watch in pawn for the ' v "' l0<lt " sbillmg in his
journey. An honest a,„. n flL J, V™ t0 !,lr<, his horses torthe
. n^nonest man, ,n a laud of d.ehonesty , an enthusiast, in fact, not a knave.
MidlTll^nTLfTt'tr' bat 0 " C Wh °* a " —1»» tested to,ecwa.
of administrative reform, which waTJt that tt! VT 8 "' ^ ^
for the Turkish Emnire M n at ,hat tlme seriously believed in by Europeans
•m.*, r-r p r g " ^
and knowing the h^n,- f Sehe8 ' thou g h sceptical on these matters
at E ' g r 100 wei1 to6it " i "
and partly, it must he owned, out of curilsit'v 'iT" '' r"' 1 ^ ^
had devised anything so fanciful as n r . seeme(i ^pos^ble that a man who
otherwise than S0Ve " nme ' ,t ^ ^
a more essentially commonplace, even ill' tat""" dis8I " ,oinW ' for
himself, we had never met out of P . t ^ 0ne m0re naively p]eased with
tone with us as the so t f fb' ^ ir0 ^ e " P oss ^' e that he may have adopted this
— «°rt.fth, n g which would suit English people, but Idon't think so.
the fiite o^f the^sity wa^ls^ whon^the^ ponders of the world, bad almost .hsr»i
were already at work. Yet this is fhl gI1 '' ( J ms, ' ls interfered. Mid-hat's soldiers
letters, who writes French and English ' ep ^ sei ^ atlve progress in Turkey, a man of
Vortmghtly Bevietv, (Lady Anne BluntT an Contributed his P a per lately to the