class of religious devotees who live in indolence by
working upon the superstition of their co-religionists. My friend,
however, was a man of some affluence, and very superior in all respects
to the generality of his order. By birth an Affghan, he has spent many
years in the Herzegovina, and had followed the army for some weeks
before I chanced to meet him. Wherever there was a prospect of work or
danger there were his little bay stallion and tufted lance always to be
seen. There was something weird-like in his presence, as he now sat
like a statue on his horse, and anon darted forward with a flourish of
his lance, sending up wreaths of blue smoke from the inseparable
chibouque. We thus rode in company until we overtook the small force of
irregulars, who had been sent in advance of the main body. This constant
use of, and great reliance on, the Bashi Bazouks, is most prejudicial to
the efficiency of the service; for while it tends to deteriorate the
spirit of the regulars by depriving them of the first chance of meeting
the enemy, it exposes the others to the influence of bribery, which
constitutes so prominent a feature of Oriental warfare. Omer Pacha well
understands the disadvantages resulting therefrom, and will soon have
established a more healthy system. Already he has succeeded in inspiring
the troops with a degree of self-confidence, quite unprecedented, by
merely avoiding that error into which Turkish Generals so often fall, of
detaching small bodies of troops, who are cut up by the enemy without
object and without result. Individually, he is perhaps somewhat
destitute of the _elan_ which is generally associated with the character
of a Guerilla chief, and yet without detracting from his character as a
master in the art of modern war, there is no species of campaigning
which he understands so well as that which he has successfully waged in
Montenegro and the other hill countries of the Turkish empire. Energy
and caution are the two qualities indispensable to success in these
countries, and these he possesses to an eminent degree. It may be deemed
presumptuous in me to pass an opinion upon one whose fame is world-wide;
but that very fact must be my excuse, that those who are entitled to
universal admiration are likewise subject to universal criticism. I have
heard it urged that Fuad Pacha, the present Grand Vizier, who displayed
much ability in the conduct of the war against the rebels in Thessalyand
Epirus in 185