AALEN, a town of Würtemberg, capital of a bailiwick in the circle of Jaxt, on the Kocher, 45 m. E. N. E. of Stuttgart; pop. in 1871, 5,552. It has woollen factories, tanneries, and several iron works.
AALI PASHA, a Turkish statesman, born in Constantinople in 1815, died there, Sept. 7, 1871. The son of a priest and a functionary, he entered the public service at an early age as a protégé of Reshid Pasha. From 1834 to 1836 he officiated as secretary of legation in Vienna, and previous to his return to Turkey visited Russia. In 1838 he was attached to the legation at London, and subsequently became chargé d'affaires. He was under-secretary of foreign affairs in 1840, and ambassador to England from 1841 to 1844. After his return from England he was a member of the supreme council of state and of justice, foreign minister, and chancellor of the imperial divan. Under the administration of Reshid Pasha he continued to be minister of foreign affairs from 1846 to 1852. His ability in settling the controversy with Greece caused his promotion to the rank of mushir (field marshal) and pasha. Toward the end of 1852 he was for a short time grand vizier or prime minister; but disagreeing with his associates in the cabinet on important questions, and being held in a measure responsible for the failure of the first Turkish loan, he retired, and was appointed governor general of Smyrna (1853), and afterward of Brusa (1854). Toward the end of 1854, however, during the Crimean war, he was restored to power as president of the newly established board of reforms (Tanzimat), and as minister of foreign affairs. In 1855 he attended the conference of Vienna, and while absent was appointed grand vizier. He took a leading part in the convention which framed the Hatti-Humayun of Feb. 18, 1856, confirming all the guarantees previously given to the Christian powers for the equal rights and religious liberty of Christians in Turkey. As minister plenipotentiary he signed in 1856 the treaty of Paris, though he did not fully approve of its terms. Indeed, he found so many difficulties in regard to the arrangements of that treaty for the settlement of the Roumanian question that he relinquished his post of grand vizier to Reshid Pasha, Nov. 1, 1856, but the sultan induced him to remain a member of the cabinet without portfolio, and an active member of the supreme council. On Reshid Pasha's death he resumed the office of grand vizier, Jan. 11, 1858, but retired again in 1859, on account of dissatisfaction with the demands of the foreign powers and the reformatory measures of Abdul-Medjid. But he subsequently returned to his old post in the Tanzimat, and acted as grand vizier during the temporary absence of Rushdi Pasha, and as minister of foreign affairs during Fuad Pasha's visit to Syria, on occasion of the massacres of Damascus. After the accession of the present sultan, Aali Pasha was once more called to the head of the cabinet as grand vizier, June 7, 1861, but in November yielded that post to Fuad Pasha, becoming again minister of foreign affairs. In 1864 he attended the conference at Paris to settle the Roumanian question, and continued to preside over foreign relations till 1867, when he once more exchanged offices with Fuad. In June, 1867, the sultan appointed him regent of the empire during his visit to European courts. In September he went to Crete to finish the insurrection in that island, which however continued till 1868; but it was due chiefly to his moderation that a war with Greece was then avoided. After the death of Fuad Pasha (Feb. 11, 1869) Aali discharged the duties both of minister of foreign affairs and grand vizier. In the recent complications with Egypt, as well as in the precarious relations with Roumania, Albania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro, he displayed his characteristic moderation, and prevented an outbreak, while preserving the integrity of the Ottoman empire. In the London conference of 1870 for the consideration of the Russian demand for the deneutralization of the Black sea, and the modification to that effect of the treaty of Paris of 1856, he bore a conspicuous part, insuring the safety of Turkey. Before he died he had restored good relations with Russia and Greece, and checked the ambition of the khedive. His interest in reforms made him unpopular with the Turks of the old school, though with all his appreciation of Christian civilization he never ceased to be a zealous Moslem. He was small in stature, unseemly in appearance, diffident in manner, and distinguished for official honesty. His biographer, Fatin Effendi, ascribes to him poetical talent.
AALST. See Aelst.
AALTEN, a town of the Netherlands, province of Gelderland, district of Zutphen, situated on the Aa; pop. in 1867, 6,160, and increasing rapidly. It has many tanneries and factories.
AAR, or Aare, the largest river of Switzerland after the Rhine and the Rhône. It rises in the glaciers of the Grimsel in the Bernese mountains, forms at Handeck a magnificent waterfall above 290 feet high, flows N. W., N. E., and N. about 120 miles through the lakes of Brienz and Thun, and through the cantons of Bern, Soleure, and Aargau, and falls into the Rhine between the village of Coblenz, in Aargau, and Waldshut, in Baden. Its chief affluents are the Saane, Thiele, Emmen, Wigger, Reuss, and Limmat.—Aar is also the name of several small rivers in Germany.
AARAU, a town of Switzerland, capital of the canton of Aargau, on the Aar; pop. in 1870, 5,449. The town is well built, and is celebrated for its manufactories of mathematical instruments. In August, 1712, a peace was concluded at Aarau between the cantons of Bern and Unterwalden. During the time of the Helvetic republic (1798) Aarau was the seat of the central government.
