Abdul Hamid, whose two sons, Mustapha and Mahmoud, were confined in the
Old Seraglio. This change of rulers, however, made no difference to Ali;
the peaceful Selim, exchanging the prison to which his nephews were now
relegated, for the throne of their father, confirmed the Pacha of Janina
in the titles, offices, and privileges which had been conferred on him.

Established in his position by this double investiture, Ali applied
himself to the definite settlement of his claims. He was now fifty
years of age, and was at the height of his intellectual development:
experience had been his teacher, and the lesson of no single event
had been lost upon him. An uncultivated but just and penetrating mind
enabled him to comprehend facts, analyse causes, and anticipate results;
and as his heart never interfered with the deductions of his rough
intelligence, he had by a sort of logical sequence formulated an
inflexible plan of action. This man, wholly ignorant, not only of the
ideas of history but also of the great names of Europe, had succeeded
in divining, and as a natural consequence of his active and practical
character, in also realising Macchiavelli, as is amply shown in the
expansion of his greatness and the exercise of his power. Without faith
in God, despising men, loving and thinking only of himself, distrusting
all around him, audacious in design, immovable in resolution, inexorable
in execution, merciless in vengeance, by turns insolent, humble,
violent, or supple according to circumstances, always and entirely
logical in his egotism, he is Cesar Borgia reborn as a Mussulman; he is
the incarnate ideal of Florentine policy, the Italian prince converted
into a satrap.

Age had as yet in no way impaired Ali's strength and activity, and
nothing prevented his profiting by the advantages of his position.
Already possessing great riches, which every day he saw increasing