AROUN AL RASHID is well known to readers in the Western world as a leading figure in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, and in the literature of the East he is the chief personage of other popular and humorous stories. In authentic history, however, nothing is said of his rambling incognito through the streets of his capital, Bagdad, but he is still a most prominent representative of Moslem despotism.

Haroun al Rashid was the fifth caliph of the dynasty of the Abbassides, that famous line of Saracen emperors which derived its name from Abbas, the uncle and adviser of the prophet Mohammed. He was the second son of the Caliph Mahdi, grandson of Abu Jaffar, and was born in March, 763, A.D., or according to some authorities, three years later. His Moslem biographers declare him the most accomplished, generous and eloquent of all the caliphs; but although his name is a household word, and but few figures are so grandly prominent in the history of their times, we have little real knowledge of his private life and personal history. Like all the Caliphs of Bagdad, he is chargeable with having wrought deeds of blood through jealous policy or unbridled passion.

During the fierce conflicts of the rival lines of Ommiades and Abbassides, the wary Greeks had snatched an opportunity of avenging their wrongs and extending their boundaries. Mahdi, the Commander of the Faithful, sent his second son, Haroun, with an army of 95,000 Persian and Arabian troops

to exact a terrible retribution. The real command was, however, exercised by his tutor, the Barmecide Yahya. He marched triumphantly through Asia Minor, defeating the Greek general Nicetas by the way, and Irene, the Empress of the East, in her palace at Constantinople, needed no other intimation of the defeat of her troops and the loss of her provinces, than Haroun's encampment on the opposite heights of Chrysopolis, or Scutari. Her ministers were forced to subscribe to an ignominious peace, and the payment of 70,000 golden dinars.

Five years after this expedition, rendered glorious through the wise counsels and exertions of Yahya, Haroun, now twenty-two years of age, ascended the throne as successor to his elder brother Hadi, who had vainly attempted to exclude him from the throne, and had even ordered his execution. Hadi's untimely death alone prevented this order from being carried into effect. Haroun, or rather his firm friend Yahya, by his vigorous internal administration, and the fame of his military prowess, raised the caliphate to a high degree of splendor, and made his reign one of the brightest spots in the golden age of the Mohammedan nations. Although his qualities and capacity have been unduly extolled, Haroun himself was still an able and successful ruler, and above the average of Oriental potentates.

Haroun's surname, Al Rashid, "the Just," has reference rather to his public enforcement of justice according to Mohammedan law than to his public character. The chief stain on his reputation is his cruel extirpation of the Barmek family, or Barmecides. Khalid ben Barmek was Haroun's tutor; Yahya had secured for him the throne and was his lieutenant and grand vizier. Yahya, a man of consummate ability and judgment, personally organized and superintended the whole system of government, fortified the frontiers, secured the public safety, filled the treasury, and was the chief factor of Haroun's glory and prosperity. His son Jaffar was the caliph's personal friend and confidant, and was ever near him. Twenty-five other members of the family filled important civil and military offices. By degrees the whole internal administration of the empire had fallen into their hands. They

adorned the court by their luxury; they were liberal patrons of literature and science; they gave lavish entertainments, and made a prodigal display of the vast wealth they had amassed. At last Haroun, who had become jealous of their power and popularity, was deeply incensed on account of the birth of a son of his sister, Abbassa, whom he is said to have secretly married to Jaffar, with the understanding that the union was to be merely Platonic. With furious revulsion from his former affection, he caused Jaffar to be beheaded. On the next day Yahya was thrown into prison, where he died in chains, while nearly all their relatives were arrested, stripped of their property and consigned to perpetual imprisonment.

Haroun invaded the territories of the Eastern Empire eight times, and whenever the emperors refused to hand over the tribute demanded, they had the clearest practical demonstration that a month's depredation was far more costly than a year's tribute. This yearly tribute was a badge of servitude to the barbarians, which Nicephorus, the successor of the Empress Irene, determined to obliterate. He sent ambassadors with a letter to the caliph demanding repayment of all that had been exacted from his pusillanimous predecessor. The reply was characteristic of the Eastern despot: "In the name of the most merciful God, Haroun al Rashid, Commander of the Faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman dog. I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou shalt not hear, thou shalt behold my reply." That reply was written with characters of blood and fire at Crasus, on the plains of Phrygia. When peace was ratified, on terms to his satisfaction, Haroun hastened back to the luxuries of his palace on the Euphrates. The perfidy of the Greek imposed upon the caliph the necessity of undertaking another expedition, in which 300,000 troops of various races marched under the black banner of the Abbassides. They over-ran Asia Minor, penetrated beyond Tyana and Ancyra, and laid siege to the Pontic Heraclea. The dreadful desolation made on sea and land brought Nicephorus to his senses, and compelled him to withdraw his haughty defiance, and to pay an annual tribute of 30,000 gold dinars.

Haroun al Rashid, himself a poet of no mean pretensions,

was a liberal patron of learning and art, poetry and music. He was an accomplished scholar, according to Moslem standards, well versed in history, tradition and poetry, which he quoted freely on appropriate occasions. His affable manner and imposing dignity commanded the respect of his subjects. In his latter years he corresponded with the Emperor Charlemagne, and sent him a clepsydra and other presents. Under Haroun al Rashid, Bagdad was enlarged and adorned, and became the centre of Eastern civilization.

Al Rashid died in 809 A.D. at Tus, in Persia, having gone thither to suppress an insurrection which had started in Samarcand and assumed wide proportions.

Al Rashid was indeed a warrior and conqueror, but not in the same sense as the early Caliphs were. They fought and conquered kingdoms for Allah and for Allah's prophet, whereas the expeditions of Haroun were more like those of a marauder or slave-hunter, undertaken for purposes of gain, or for the parade of his palace. The greater part of the Eastern world submitted to the laws, and paid tribute into the treasury of Al Rashid. Egypt was only a province under his sway, and its ruler merely an officer appointed by his command.

Haroun is represented as one who executed impartial justice; and, like other despots, he did so where his own interest was not concerned, but there is no evidence that he allowed justice against himself. Any supposed insult or injury to himself was sure to be avenged, on innocent and guilty alike, with barbarous atrocity. Still he could listen to the complaint of a poor widow who had been pillaged by his soldiers, and who dared, with a passage of the Koran, to threaten him with the judgment of God.

HAROUN AND CHARLEMAGNE..

About this time, which, in the life of Charlemagne, was a period of negotiations, his first communication was opened with the great ruler of Asia. The throne of the Caliphs had, some time before, passed to the family of the Abbassides, and the mightiest of that family now governed the Eastern

continent. Haroun al Raschid, so well known in both real and fabulous history, first signalized his arms against the Empress of Constantinople, while yet she wielded the sceptre in the name of her son. He also, at that period, acted only as deputy for his father Mohadi. But, after having advanced to the shores of the Bosphorus, and having treated with Irene for the security of her territories, he retired on receiving seventy thousand dinars of gold; and assumed, soon afterwards, the sovereign power, on the death of his father and his brother. Custom, with most of the Oriental nations, is very readily fixed into a law, known amongst some of them by the name of adeth, or canoun; and, once established, is regarded as a kind of covenant, which is as binding as if written. The payment became annual, and the Greek empire found it less expensive to pay than to neglect. Either by the conveyance of this tribute, or by the expeditions to which its occasional cessation gave rise, a constant intercourse of some kind was maintained between Constantinople and Bagdad. Various other means of communication also existed, both in the wanderings of the Jews, who were at this period spread over, and tolerated in, all lands, and in the nascent efforts of commerce on the shores of the Mediterranean.

There were then but two great monarchs in the world; and the ears of the Caliph were filled with the wars and enterprises of the sovereign of the Francs, who was either an open adversary or but a cold ally of the Greeks, on whom he himself trampled, and who was also the continual enemy of the Omaides of Spain, whom the Abbassi contemned as heretics, and hated as rivals. The Caliph beheld in the European king the same bold and daring spirit, the same rapid energy, the same indefatigable zeal, the same magnificent designs, by which he himself was animated, and similarity of mind, free from rivalry of interests, produced admiration, respect and affection. The feelings were the same in the breast of Charlemagne; and reciprocal regard soon produced a more direct communion. At length, in 797, one of those wandering strangers, which are so frequently to be found in the courts of monarchs, undertook to conduct embassadors from the French king to the presence of the Caliph. Three envoys were accordingly sent,