850
OSSOEY— OULESS.
after the outbreak of the Crimean war. His gallantry in action, and general soldier-like qualities, led to his rapid advancement, and at the termination of the campaign he was ap]X)inted a captain in the Imperial Uuard at OonBtantinoj)le. Before long he was promoted to the rank of major, and, as such, took part in the fighting in Crete, from 1866 to 1869. Returning to Constantinople after the suppression of the insur- rection in the island, he was pro- moted to the rank of colonel ; and on attaining the rank of brigadier- general he was appointed to the command of a division in the 5th Army Corps. In the Turko-Servian war Osman Pasha commanded the division of the Turkish army as- sembled at Widdin, and for his conduct in the campaign he was promoted, by an Imperial irade, to the rank of Muschir, or Field-Mar- shal. When the war between Rus- sia and Turkey broke out he still remained at Widdin, but his com- mand was increased to sixty-eight battalions, sixteen squadrons, and 174 guns; and it was with the greater part of this force that he appeared at Plevna in July, 1877, and turned the tide of war in favour of the Turks. He defended that place with such gallantry, that in October he received from the Sultan the title of "Ghazi," or "Victo- rious," aiid the decoration of the Osmani^ in brilliants. At last Plevna surrendered (Dec. 10, 1877), eft or Osman had made a desperate at- tempt to break through the Rus- sian lines. Osman Ghazi Victorious surrendered unconditionally the gallant army with which he had held this famous stronghold for so long, with which he upset the whole Russian plan of campaign, and with which he defeated, in three pitched battles, Russia's finest armies. For some time Osman was a prisoner of war, but shortly after the conclu- sion of peace in March, 1878, he re- turned to Constantinople, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of
the Imperial Guard. On June 10 he was appointed Marshal of the Palace, at the same time retaining his command of the army for the defence of Constantinople. He was next appointed Governor-General of the island of Crete. Ghazi Osman Pasha was appointed Minister of War in the administration formed in Dec, 1878, and he elaborated a plan for the radical. reorganisation of the army. In a short time he acquired considerable influence over the mind of the Sultan. Being ac- cused by two mushirs, Fuad and Nusret, of maladministration, before the Sultan himself and the Council of Ministers, he was successful in preventing the charges from being pressed (June, 1879). To his in- fluence, and that of the Sheikh-ul- Islam, was attributed the dismissal of the Grand-Vizier Khereddin Pasha. In July, 1880, his diamisaal from the post of Minister of War was announced, but in Jan., 1881, he was again appointed to that office in the pl^ of Hussein Huvni Pasha. After being for some time out of office, he once more, on Dec. 3, 1882, reassumed the Minister of War with the title of Seraekier.
O S S O R Y, Bishop or. (See MoRAN, Db. ; Walsh, Db.)
OULESS, Walter William. R.A., was born at St. Helier, Jersey, Sept. 21, 1848, and educated at Vic- toria College, in that island. He came to London in 1864, and was admitted a student of the Royal Academy in the following year. While there, he took a silver medal in the Antique School, and was an unsuccessful competitor for the His- torical gold medal. Mr. Ouless has been a constant exhibitor at Btir- lington House since 1869, and his first works were subject pictures, the principal being " Home Again," and "An Incident in the French Revolution." In 1872, acting on the advice of Mr. Millais, he took to portrait-painting, and has since devoted himself almost exclusively to that branch of the profession.
