Ali Pasha on nationalism

Abstract

The following letter, from the private papers of Jemil Pasha, was published by the late Professor M. Cavid Baysun, with a brief introduction, in the Turkish historical review Tarih Dergisi, Vol. V, September 1953, pp. 137-145. Its interest is such that it deserves to be made accessible to a wider circle of readers.1 The letter was sent by Ali Pasha, at that time Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire, to the Ottoman Ambassador in Paris, Mehmed Jemil Pasha, incidentally the eldest son of the famous Mustafa Reshid Pasha. It was written by the Foreign Minister in French in his own hand, and Professor Baysun suggested that it was probably sent in this form in order to be shown to the French Foreign Minister. The letter deals with several points. The first is the settlement of the troubles in Montenegro, and the opening of the road from Montenegro to Herzegovina to commercial traffic. The second is the choice of a new King of Greece, following the abdication of King Otto, and the rival candidatures supported by the various European governments. Ali Pasha notes some possible dangers to the Ottoman Empire arising from this issue. The third topic is the smuggling of arms to the Balkan provinces, with the complicity of local rulers and committees. The letter ends with an eloquent plea for the survival of the Ottoman Empire, seen as a necessity for the balance of power in Europe. Ali Pasha alludes briefly to the difficulties which would arise if the Turks, who alone can join the conflicting parties, were to disappear. In a remarkably prophetic passage, he observes that 'Italy, which is inhabited only by a single race speaking the same language and professing the same religion, experiences so many difficulties in achieving its unification ... Judge what would happen in Turkey if free scope were given to all the different national aspirations which the revolutionaries and with them a certain government are trying to develop there. It would need a century and torrents of blood to establish a fairly stable state of affairs'. Ali Pasha's prophesy has been amply fulfilled. The century is not yet over; the torrents of blood continue to flow.