The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

The Turkish Sultan at War with the Pasha of Egypt

For several years previous to 1840, the sultan had been embroiled in a war with Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt. In 1838 the trouble between the sultan and his Egyptian vassal was for the time being restrained by the influence of the foreign embassadors. In 1839, however, hostilities were again begun, and were prosecuted until, in a general battle between the armies of the sultan and Mehemet, the sultan’s army was entirely cut up and destroyed, and his fleet taken by Mehemet and carried into Egypt. So completely had the sultan been reduced, that, when the war again began in August, he had only two first-rates and three frigates as the sad remains of the once powerful Turkish fleet. This fleet Mehemet positively refused to give up and return to the sultan, and declared that if the powers attempted to take it from him, he would burn it. In this posture affairs stood, when, in 1840, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia interposed, and determined on a settlement of the difficulty; for it was evident that if let alone, Mehemet would soon become master of the sultan’s throne. GSAM 130.2