Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1840-11-12
TYRANNY OF MEHEMEr ALI.
gYAS Eye WITNESS.

his sway Is entirely superficial, aud has no
origin whatever IN any real Improvement,
or anelioration in the condition, or for the
benefit Of their respective populations.
In Egypt the whole of The land belongs
10 the Pacha besides himself there is no
landed proprietors, and he has the absolute
monopoly of every thing that is grown in
the country. The following is the manner
an which it is cultivated Portions OF land
are divided out between the fellahs of a vii
iage, according to their numbers; seed,
corn, cotton, or other produce is given to
them this they sow and reap, and of the
produce 75 per cent is Immediately taken
10 he Pacha's depots. The remaining %
per cent is left with them, with, however,
the rover to take it at price fixed by the
Pacha himself, and then resold to them at
a higher rate. This is generally done and
reduces the pit;ance left them about five per
cent more; from this pay they are TO pay
the caphation tax which is not levied ac-
cordiDg to the real number of the inhabi-
fants of village, bat according to numbers
at which it is rated in the Government books
SO that in one instance with which | was
acquainted village originally rated at two
reduced by the conscrip,ion to one hundred
and by death or fight to forty, was still
obliged to pay the full captation, and when
i went there, twenty six of the forty had Just
been bastinadoed TO extort from them their
proportion of the sum claimed. After the
capitation comes the tax on the date trees,
raised from thirty to sixty paras by the Pa
cha, and that oftwo hundred piasers year
for permission to use their own water wheels
without which the lands situated beyond the
overflow of the Nile, or too high for it to
reach, would be barren. Then comes an
infnity of taxes, on every article of life
even TO the cakes Of camels' dung, which
the women and children collect aud dry for
fuel, and which pay twenty per cent in kind
at the gate OF Carlo and the other towns
Next TO the taxes comes the cOrree in the
worst form, and in continual action; at any
moment The fellahs are liable to be seized
for public works, for the transport of the
baggage of the troops, or TO track the boats
of the Government or its officers and this
without pay or reference to Tie state OF
their crops.
When Mehemet Ali made his famous
.capal from Alexandria to the Nile, he did
it by forcibly marching down one hundred
and fifty thousand men from all parts of the
country, and oblgine them to excayate with
their hands, as tools they had not or perhaps
could not be procured The excavation
was completed in three months, but thirt,
thousand men died in the operation. Then
comes the curse of the couscription. which
is exercised in most cruel and arbitrary
manner, without any sort of rule or law To
regulate it. An order is given TO the chief
of u district to furnish n certain number of
men these he seizes like wild beasts
wherever he can find them without disiinc-
ton or exemption, the weak as well as the
strong. the sick as we'll as those in health.
and as there IL ne better road 10 the Pacha's
favor than showing great zeal in this branch
of the service, he, if possible, collects more
even than were demanded. These are
chained. marched down to the river. and
embarked amidst the tears and Iamenta-
aions Of their faMlies who know that thew
shall probably never see them again; for.
change ofclimate, bad Treatment, and above
all, disPair, cause mortality in the Pachas
army beyond belief; mu,ilation is not now
considered an exemption, and the conse-
quence OF the system is, that from Assouan
at the first cataract, to Aleppo, you literally
speaking, never sec young man in a vii
iage, and such is the depopulation, that if
things continue as they now are, for two
years more, and the Pacha insists on keep
ing mp his army to its present force it will
be utterly impossible for the crops to be
got IN, or for any of the operations of agri-
culture to be carried on.
The whole Of this atrocious system is
carried into action by the cruelIest means
no justice of any sort for the weak no
security for those who are better off. The
bastInado and other fortunes applied on ey-
cry occasion, at the arbitrary will of every
servant ofthe Government. In addition to
this. the natives of the country are rarely
empioyed-neyer in Office oftrust-and the
whole Government is entrusted to Turks
In short. the worst features of the Name
luke and Turkish rules are still in active
operation; bat the method ofapplyine them
is much more ingenious. and the boosted
civilization Of Mehemet Ali amounts to this
that being beyond doubt man of extra
ordinary talents, he knows how to bring
into play the resources of the country bet
ter than bis predecessors did, but, like them
entirely for his own interest, and without
any reference to the well being of the peo-
pie and that with the aid of his European