The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-12 00:00:00

AUGUST 12, 1854•

EGYPT AND ITS RULERS.
A NEW ERA would seem opening for Egypt, under
the government of a Viceroy who, unlike any of his
predecessors, has received a completely European
education. Said Pacha, who is now in his thirty-
second year, was brought up under the superinten-
dence of a Frenchman, M. liming, whose memory is
still cherished by many who have heretofore travelled
in the Levant. The new Viceroy speaks English
well, and French, which is his favourite tongue, with
perfect fluency. Destined by his father, Mehemet
Afi, for the naval service, he was at an early age
brought into companionship with M. Houssard, a
French officer, who acted as his aide-de-camp, and
to whom the creation of the Egyptian fleet is princi-
pally due. Said Pacha, however, has been very little
afloat. When about sixteen he was attacked with a
disease in the eyes, which threatened total blindness,
and though he recovered his sight has ever since re-
mained too weak to flt him for much active service.
Since the death of Mehemet Ali, also, the jealousy
of Abbas Pacha kept his uncle and, treaty-recognised
heir aloof from all public affairs. Eagerly oblite-
rating the great works and improvements set on foot
by his grandfather, Abbas Pacha could not pardon
the taste for science and for European civilisation
displayed by Said Pacha.
Abbas was, indeed, very early spoiled by the indul-
gence of his grandfather, aided by his own natural
predisposition co luxury and vice. When, at the age
of thirty-eight, he succeeded to the viceroyalty of
Egypt he was already blase in every sense of the
word, and sought only to obtain, by the exercise of
his despotic power, the realisation of impossible pro-
jects, whose very impracticability too often consti-
tuted their sole interest in his mind. All the enjoy-
ments which the fortune, the grandeur, or the glory
of his house might have offered to a man by no
means old he had already forestalled, or had forgotten
when he sunk into the depths of Oriental sensualism.
Policy he had none. His neglect of the men who
had served his predecessor was but the consequence
of a narrow-minded selfishness. He hated men
whose advice he would not follow, though unable
altogether to blind himself to the error he was thus
committing. Nor could it be pleaded in excuse for
his conduct that he was prompted by a desire to
restore the Mahometan religion to its ancient vigour.
A superstitious motive, though much to be regretted,
would have been still respectable. But, while dis-
carding and persecuting the Europeans, Abbas Pacha
retained in full vigour the tyrannical contrivances
by which Mehemet Ali had wrung the last man and
the last pars from the miserable fellah population.
Mehemet was a tyrant, doubtless, but his despotism
assumed a character of grandeur which has given
it a prestige still uneffaced, and the important
role he played in the world has done much
to lessen the detestation with which his san-
guinary policy and cruel administration must other-
wise have been viewed. Of Abbas Pacha, history
will record that Egypt under his rule was just as
heavily crushed and drained as by his grandfather,
but that, instead of leaving works which should
excite the admiration of posterity, such as the arse-
nal of Alexandria, the mosque and citadel of Cairo,
or the Mahmoudie canal, Abbas employed all the
vigour of his fiscal system to gratify the only passion
winch still remained unsatiated—avarice. He wrested
the last coins from his subjects in order to put them
in his money-chests : his end was accordingly that of
a miser and a tyrant. Before they performed the last
services to his corpse, the domestics pillaged his
palace, and his funeral took place by stealth, in the
fear that his remains might be treated with indig-

nity.
The new reign is welcomed with hope and enthu-
siasm, alike by the Egyptians and by foreigners.
The best hopes are attached to the future career of
Said Pacha ; whether they will be realised remains to
be seen. The new prince is young, and has been
brought up in almost total unacquaintance with the
duties of royal or public life. He is known to have
excellent dispositions, no little information, and a
keen sense of the benefits of civilisation. Will these
suffice? He is called upon to raise his country out
of the misery into which it has been plunged by sixty
years of cruel oppression; and to change all the tra-
ditions of an administrative system whose sole pur-
pose has been to absorb the largest possible quantity
of men and money. For this task is it enough to
possess intelligence and good intentions ? In power
Said Pacha may show qualities of energy, activity, and
skill which while he remained a mere subject it would
have been dangerous to display. Without such it
will be difficult for him to make much progress in the
gigantic task of raising Egypt out of the degraded
position she has so long occupied as a land of bond-
age and barbarism.

SIR JAMES GRAHAM has been suffering from an
attack of pleurisy. He was a little better on Thurs
day evening, but still confined to his bed. The
labour of his office has of late been very severe.
MAJOR-GENERAL CEATTERTON, K.H., has received
from her Mkjesty the pension for distinguished ser
vices in the army.

THE PRESS.