The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-14 00:00:00

STATE OF EGYPT.

ALEXANDRIA, FEB. 2.
The most noticeable event that has occurred here
since the date of my last letter is the departure of
Said Pasha on his pilgrimage to the holy cities of
the Iledgaz. There is good reason to believe that
the Viceroy has never fAt any very strong inclina-
tion for the journey, but be had talked about it for
a long time past, and various causes, to which the
importunities of the Harem would doubtless add
considerable weight, combined together to urge
upon him the execution of his plans. The consent
of the Porte was accordingly solicited ; in due
course it was obtained, and the arrangements were
gradually completed. There was nothing, there-
fore, in the least sudden or hurried in the matter ;
and yet, from some cause or causes which I could
only attempt to explain by having recourse to con-
jectures more or less plausible, a strong opposition
was at the last moment raised against the execution
of the Viceroy's plans. _ _ _

The objections were vaguely stated to be of a
public nature—not simply on the ground of
anxiety for the personal safety of the Viceroy.
The latter would have been perfectly intelligible,
since no one doubts that, whether by high or low, a
journey such as that which Said Pasha has under-
taken cannot be performed without a certain amount
of risk. Several of the highest functionaries of the
Government joined in signing the petition by which
the Viceroy was entreated to abandon his inten-
tions. The result was that they were instantly
dismissed from their posts. _

The Viceroy, with his brother-in-law, Kamil
Pasha, and with an escort of about 400 men, em-
barked in two steamers belonging to the Red Sea
Company, and sailed from Suez last week. They
are accompanied by the Peninsular and Oriental
Company's steamer Pottinger, with Mr. West, her
Majesty's Consul at Suez ; but his journey, as I am
informed, is chiefly in connection with matters
relating to the lighthouse in course of erection at
the .entrance of the Gulf of Suez. It was thought
likely that the party would fall in with her
Majesty's steamer Hornet, in which case she
will be requested, in the name of our Con-
sul-General, Mr. Colquhoun, to escort the little
I squadron to its destination. This is a small port

M. de Lesseps is still in Egypt and still wasting his
energies and perseverance on the same hopeless
cause. The general position of affairs in the Isthmus
continues meanwhile precisely the same. I should be
glad to be permitted to avail myself of this oppor-
tunity to correct a statement contained in one of my
recent letters. Referring to certain disturbances that
had occurred among the Bedouins in the vicinity of
Suez, I mentioned that they were stated to have
taken place among a number of men recruited by
M. de Lesseps for the canal works. I alluded to
an earlier report, that the disturbances in question
were a propos of the lighthouses. The latter turned
out to be the correct version. The quarrel appears
to have arisen between two rival tribes of Bedouins,
each of which asserted its right to monopolise the
advantages that might be obtainable from the in-
troduction of the lighthouses upon what both
parties claimed as their territory.
The Viceroy's little son Toussoun Pasha, shortly
before his father's departure, underwent at Cairo
the rite of circumcision. The ceremony was per-
formed without any of the display customary on
such occasions, but it was followed a few days
afterwards by a military fete and banquet.
The little Prince, having now attained the mature
age of seven years, enters upon the enjoyment of a
separate establishment of his own,, Towards its
formation he has already been presented with a
couple of Circassian female slaves, while the English
nurse under whose charge he has hitherto been is
about to be diseharged.—Times.