Firman

Definition and stakes

The European Concert in the Eastern Question (1885)

“ Firman addressed by the Sultan to Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, relative to hereditary succession, the levying of taxes in the name of the Porte, the coinage of money, and the number of troops to be raised for service in Egypt, 1st June, 1841. The act of submission which thou hast just made, the assurances of fidelity and devotion which thou hast given, and the upright and sincere intentions which thou hast manifested, as well with regard to myself as in the interests of my Sublime Porte, have come to my sovereign knowledge, and have been very agreeable to me. ”
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas,  Ali Pacha

“ CHAPTER XI For a whole week all seemed going well, when, on the morning of February 5th, Kursheed sent Hassan Pacha to convey his compliments to Ali, and announce that the sultan’s firman, so long desired, had at length arrived. Their mutual wishes had been heard, but it was desirable, for the dignity of their sovereign, that Ali, in order to show his gratitude and submission, should order Selim to extinguish the fatal match and to leave the cave, and that the rest of the garrison should first display the Imperial standard and then evacuate the enclosure. ”
Source: Gutenberg

Portrait of Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas,  Ali Pacha

“ The roads and passes were strewn with corpses, and the trees by the roadside converted into gibbets. The murderers did not long survive their victims.
The ruins of Janina were still smoking when, on the 19th August, Pacho Bey made his entry. Having pitched his tent out of range of Ali’s cannon, he proclaimed aloud the firman which inaugurated him as Pacha of Janina and Delvino, and then raised the tails, emblem of his dignity. Ali heard on the summit of his keep the acclamations of the Turks who saluted Pacho Bey, his former servant with the titles of Vali of Epirus, and Ghazi, of Victorius.
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Source: Gutenberg

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