Aali Pasha, a distinguished Turkish statesman, born at Constantinople in 1815. At the early age of fifteen he became a clerk in the foreign office, and rose steadily from one diplomatic post to another, at home, Vienna, and elsewhere, till in 1844 he became ambassador at London. This varied experience left on his acute mind a profound impression of the absolute necessity of extensive reforms in the government of the
Ottoman empire; and with these reforms, under the sultans Abdul Medjid and Abdul Aziz, the name of Aali Pasha is identified. He presided at the Commission which passed the famous reforming decree of 1856, the Hatti-Humayun. At the Congress of Paris he represented the Porte, and maintained its cause with zeal and skill. He was Grand-vizier more than once; and from 1861 till his death, held alternately with the like-minded Fuad Pasha the most influential posts in the Turkish service. He was active in suppressing the Cretan rebellion in 1867-68, and in repressing Egyptian efforts to shake off the supremacy of the Porte. He died 6th September 1871.