"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٣‎١‎٠] (١٧٨٢/١٤٦٥)

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Appointment
of 'Abdullah
Pasba to
Baghdad,
1810.
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Campaign of
Abdullah
Paaha in
Kurdistan,
1812.
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# 5
1310
overpowered his small escort and killed him. His head was cut off,
stuck on a pole, and carried to the Turkish Commissioner, who at once
caused it to be " carefully packed up, sealed, and sent as a trophy to
Constantin ople."
Snlaiman Pasha showed undeniable courage in the closing scenes of
his life; and his death was much regretted by Mr. Rich, the British
Resident at Baghdad, who described him as " a man of warm affection and
actual good principles, " adding: " His faults were such as proceed from
extreme youth, and would have been corrected by age'and experience/' His
age at his death was only twenty-four years.
The choice of the people of Baghdad, in nominating Sulaiman Paslia ; s
successor, fell upon Asad Baig, the eighteen-year old son of the Sulaitnan
Pasha who had ruled the province from 1779 to 1802. The youth at
first agreed to accept the charge, if conferred upon him; but, on
learning the miserable fate of his predecessor, he burst into tears and
refused upon any consideratinn to enter public life. Apparently in the
month of December 1810, one 'Abdullah was appointed by the Porte
to the Baghdad Pashaliq. This may have been the same ; Abdullah,
formerly Mutasallim * of Basrah, who was living in temporary exile
at Bushehr in 1808 at the time of Sir Harford Jones's mission to the
Persian Court; and in that case the new Pasha was a man t of unusual
intelligence and character, and particularly well disposed towards the
British. One of his first acts was to substitute Ibrahim Agha for Ahmad
Baig in the Mutasallimate of Basrah.
The most important task imposed on ' Abdullah Pasha by the
Turkish Government was the reduction of 'Abdur Rahman Pasha,
Kurd, who for his own ends had helped the Commissioner of the Porte
to remove Sulaiman Pasha from power, but who, having formed a close
connection with Persia, was no longer inclined to admit his dependence
on the Porte. In June 1812 'Abdullah Pasha entered Kurdistan; and
on the 18th of that month he achieved " a most signal and unexpected
victory" over 'Abdur Rahman Pasha, giving hope of "the entire
" subjection of the Courdistan to the Pasha of Bagdad, by which that
" Pachalic would acquire a strength and respectability it had not
" possessed for the last ten years, and would in reality become the most
* See page 1300 ante.
f See Mr. Saldanha's Precis of Turkish Arabian Affairs, 1801-1905, page 32; also
Brydges' Mission-
mm