The Embassy of Moralı Seyyid Ali Efendi and His Parisian Pamphlet

Abstract

Ottoman State started to assign resident ambassadors during the reign of Sultan Selim III. This process was regarded as an event of New Order and resulted in ambassies in four European Capitals. Moralı Seyyid Ali Efendi who was educated from the finance was assigned as an ambassador to Paris. A new ambassador to France was regarded as a cheerful event by the newly established French Republic in post revolution period. This was mainly because by this embassy the new republic was recognized officially. After the arrival of the Ambassador, French troops under the control of General Napoléon started to disembark to Egypt. As the war outbroke following this event and the diplomatic relations were cut, the stay of Seyyid Ali Efendi in Paris as “Ex-ambassador of the Porte” turned into an obligatory one. Ali Efendi collected his Parisian memories, observations, and experiences between 1797 and 1802 through two works. His first work is traditional embassy report, and it is known thanks to various manuscripts, and was printed in late ottoman period. The second one, is referred as a pamphlet of Paris concerning a short French History and known owing to a single manuscript. This is most probably the first work on French Revolution written by a Turk. The Parisian Pamphlet is written on sixteen leaves which makes it in the size of one-fourth of his embassy report. In this, two works of Seyyid Ali Efendi have been compared in terms of content and the rarely known pamphlet has been noted and published in latin letters.

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The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest.