YOU write, “that you have carried on your approaches to the edge of “the ditch, the filling of which is the only thing remaining to be “done.” It is known. Where is the great difficulty of filling the ditch? That, therefore, being done, let the place (every one concur­ring in the propriety of the measure) be stormed and taken.

It might almost be inferred, from the tenor of this letter, that Mahommed Ali, though a raw and inexperienced officer, was co-ordinate in authority with Bûrhân­ûddeen and Kumrûddeen. But the only conclusion to be justly drawn from this document is, that the Sultan was in the habit of corresponding, separately, with the superior officers of his army, who probably acted as so many spies upon the chief commanders. Such a wretched system would be naturally enough suggested, by the characteristic jealousy and distrust of the Sultan.