The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-25 00:00:00

P-11 Ei PUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, MO,

rity, even delegated, is absolute. A Pacha is master in
his own province. He is not a prefect, who reecivc.'s
directions from a Minister ; he is a man who com-
mands at his own risks and perils. Mehemet Ali
wishes to hive many pacholics, in order to be more
powerful, but not in order to be independent, in the
same manner as our ancient vassals sought to have
the most fiefs they could. None of these kinds

of pretensions shock the ideas of the Orientals. ;
He would shock them if he proclaimed his independ-
ence, because in the East, religion and the state being
but one, if he proclaimed his independence a schism
would be created, and the Orientals detest schism.
Mehemet Ali has often declared, that if he has not de-
clared himself independent, it has been from regard to
the advice and wishes of France. This is politeness,
not truth. Mehemet has not declared himself inde-
pendent, out of regard to the East, not to us. He
neither wishes nor requires to be independent.
An idea which often occurred to Mehemet Ali, one.
which greatly astonished Europeans, and which seems
very simple, and very natural to Orientals, is the idea
of his coming to Constantinople, and getting
himself made Vizier. I recollect that last
year, at Constantinople, after the death of the
Sultan Mahmoud, every one thought that Mehemet
Ali was coming, and no one doubted but that he
would lyt received with enthusiasm by all the popu-
lat ion ready to salute him as the only Mussulman
who could pretend to glory or grandeur. I asked
66 What will he do with the young Sultan ?" "He will
be his Vizier and his tutor," was the reply. " But some
bright morning will not the tutor make away with the
pupil ?" People did not uaderstand me. They might
have done so had I said, " I feared the Sultan would
some day strangle this troublesome Vizier ;" hut that
the Vizier should kill the Sultan seemed to them
impossible, so strongly is the legitimacy of the Ottoman
race rooted in their minds !

One of the characteristics of Mehemet Ali's Govern
ment is, to have mingled the cares of policy with those
of agriculture and commerce. Ho is the only pro-
prietor and trader of Egypt. The fellahs cultivate for
him, gather the crops for him, and he sells himself the
corn and cotton of his vast domain. He has based an
empire on a farm. Egypt is this great Lam, and the
country is admirably suited for cultivation in the mass ;
it is even the only culture which it is caps•
ble of. The necessity of keeping up the canals,
which distribute the waters of the Nile during the in-
undation, supposes a central power. This great agri-
cultural exploitation requires unity. Divide Egypt
amongst petty cultivators, soma lazy, some ignorant, one
indifferent to the other, and all incapable of agreeing, the
canals conveying the water of the Nile from the higher
to the lower soils would be stopped up , and sterility
so swift to come in a hot climate would soon invade
Egypt. Mehemet Ali, by taking on himself the culti-
vation, has perfectly understood the nature of Egypt ;
but his wish would be to apply the same agricultural ge-
nius, which he has shown in Egypt, to Turkey. His son
seems animated with the same opinions, and one of the
most curious traits of this new Egyptian dynasty is the
curious combination of war and culture—of agricultural
and military enterprises. Have not at all times production
and destruction been the great employments of human
activity ? Have not agriculture and war been at
all times the favourite projects of strong and powerful
nations? The mixture of military and agricultural
institutions which characterises the GOvernment of
Mehemet Ali is a simple and natural idea, and for that
reason more suitable to the East, which, in despite of
its antiquity, has remained more true to nature than
our West. This activity of the Egyptian Govern-
ment forms a striking contrast with the dullness of the
Turkish Government. This was visible after the
conquest of Syria. He was scarcely master of the
country when Mehemet Ali tried the culture of coffee,
cotton, and indigo ; 3,000 olive trees were planted in
the environs of St. Jean d'Acre. This barrenness,
which seems, since the middle age, to be the lot of the
land of Asia, displeases Mehemet Ali. He wishes to
utilise this old garden of the human race, left desert
and barren by the misfortune of times. Mehemet Ali
is not a warrior and a conqueror, although he knows
haw to make war ; he is chiefly at: administrator :
he is, and his word renders best my thought, although
it renders it in a bad sense, an exploitcteur ; he has
the qualities of one, but he has also his faults : lie is
active, intelligent, and full of good sense ; and out of
innnmerable projects brought to him by the mounte-
bank genius of Europe, he has chosen, with some me-
vitable exception, none but those which are practicable.
At the same time he is hard-hearted, he has a fiscal
spirit, -he likes money as a Turk does, and that is
saying everything. What he seems most to reproach
Turkish Government with is, that it does nothing
itself, and prevents him who wishes to do something.
Lost good makes him indignant. What is the Pa-
chalic of :Bagdad worth to the Sultan ? He says no-
thing. " Give it to me, and I will pay a large tribute."

FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR
STEAMERS.! 111,44

• .+1:11/0111,1,,
The Presse publishes A list of the war- steam-bouti
belonging to the British and French navies, and says
that an erroneous opinion prevails in France, that in
case of war between the two countries, the steam navy
of Great Britain could not resist that of France. To
destroy this erroneous impression it thinks it does a
great public service by giving an exact list of the boats
in either service, from which it appears that Great
Britain possesses 79 steam-boats, and France but 34,
and it is to be remarked that. 31 of the English steam•
boats gives a force of 5,900 horse power, and that the
34 French war-steamers give only a force of 5,120 horse-
power.

The following is the list of the French war-steamers,
with their power :
The Lavoisier, 220 horse-power ; Veloce, 220 ; Cha-
meleon, 220 ; Gassendi, 220 ; Mageur, 160 ; Sphinx,
160 ; Ardent, 160 ; Crocodile, 160 ; Fulton, 160 ;
Ch:mere, 160 ; Styx, 160 ; Meteor, 160 ; Vulture,
160 ; Phare, 160 ; Acheron, 160 ; Papin, 160 ; Cer-
berus, 160 ; Tartar, 160 ; Etna, 160 ; Brandon, 160 ;
Cocytes, 160 ; Phaeton, 160 ; Tonnere, 160 ; Eu-
phrates, 160 ; Gregerois, 160 ; Grondeur, 160 ; Ra-
mier, 150 ; Castor, 150 ; Brasier, 100 ; Coureur, SO ;
Flambeau, 80 ; Coursier, 60 ; Erebus, 60 ; African,
40. To these are to be added seven other boats, at
present on the stocks—the Asmodrus, Pluto, Infernal,
Gomere, Tonare, Cuvier, and Chaptal ; but, even if
these seven boats were completed, they would give France
only an effective of 41 steam-boats, whilst the English
have nearly twice as many. It is necessary to remark,
that the Gomere will be of 450-horse power, and
will carry 34 guns under a covered battery, and
the Infernal, 320-horse power. On the other hand,
the English have the Cyclops, which can mount 16
long 32's on swivils. It has four pieces of 48 on its
quarter-deck, and two of 96, in all 22 guns. It can
embark coal for 25 days, take 1,000 soldiers on its
deck, 400 troops across the Atlantic, or 300 to India.
Its usual rate of sailing is 11 knots an hour. It beat
in sailing without its engine, and in a passage of 300
miles, the Pantaloon, the fastest brig in England. Its
crew is composed of 220 seamen in time of war, and
173 during peace.

- - - .
Independent of these war steam-boats, Great 13ritan
possesses immense resources in the commercial steam
navy. She has 899 steam-boats, giving a total force
of 68,145 hors"! power. Amongst these arc 33 steam-
boats, of from 450 to 700 horse power, which trade to
the United States, South America, and India. It
cannot, therefore, be repeated too often, that an impru-
dent confidence in her strength might cost France dear.