Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1840-12-03
TYRANNY OF MEHEMEr ALI.
BY AN EYE WITNESS.

/
The boasted civilization which Mehemot
Ali has introduced into countries under his
sway is entirely superficial, and has no origin
whatever in any rea! improvement, or ameli-
Grafton in the condition or for the benefit of
their respective populations.
In Egypt the whole of the land belongs to
the Pacha besides himself there is no landed
proprietor, and he has the absolute monopoly
Of every thing that is grown in the country.
The following is the manner in which it is
cultivated: Portions of land are divided out
among the fellahs of a village, according to
their numbers; seed, corn, cotton, or other
products is given to them; this they SOW and
reap, and of the produce rs per cent is imme-
diately taken to the Pacha's depots. The re-
naming 35 per cent. is left with them, with,
however, the power to take it at price fixed
by the Pacha himself; and resold to them at
a higher rate. This is generally done, and
reduces the pittance left them about five per
cent. more; from this day they are to pay
the capitation tax, which is not levied accor.
ding to the real number Of the inhabitants of
"A village, but according to numbers at which
II is rated in the Government books !, 80 that
in one instance with which was acquainted,
a village, originally rated at 300, reduced by
conscrip,ion TO 100, and by death or flight to
10, was still Obliged to pay the full capita
ton and, when l went there, % of the 40
had been Just bastinadced to extort from
them the proportion of the sum claimed. AZ
ter the capitation comes the tax on tn, date
trees, raised from 80 to 60 paras by the Pacha.
and that of 200 piastres year for permission
to use their own water-wheels, without which
lands situated beyond the overflow of the
Nile, or too high Tor it to reach, would be
barren. Then comes an infinity of taxes, on
every article of life, even TO the cakes ofcam-
els dung, which the women and children
collect and dry for fuel, and which pay %
per cent in kind at the gates of Cairo and the
other towns. Next to the taxes GENES the
corree in the worst form. and in continual ac-
ton at any moment the fallahs 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 withot reference TO the state of their
crops.
When Mehemet Ali made his famous ca
nal from Alexandria to the Nile, he did it by
i1rcibly marching down I5O,0U0 men from
all parts of the country, and obliging them to
excavate with their hands, as tools they had
not, or perhaps could not be provided. The
excavation was completed in three months,
but 10000 men died in the operation. Then
comes the curse of the CONSUMPTION, which is
exercised in a most cruel and arbitrary man
ner, without any sort of rule or law To regu-
late it. An order is given to the chief of
district to furnish 4 certain number of men !;
these he seizes like wild beasts wherever he
can find them, without distinction OF exenp-
ton, the weak as well as the strong, the sick
as well as those in health and, as there is
no better road to the Pacha's favor than show
ing great zeal in this branch OF the service,
hn If noSsih1o noIla,tc tlo,
demanded. These are chained, marched
down to the river, and embarked amidst the
tears and lamentations of their families who
know that they shall probably never see them
again for change of climate, bad treatment,
and, above all, despair, cause a mortality in
the Pacha's army beyond belief; mutlation
Is now considered an exemption, and the con-
sequence of the system is, that from Assouna,
at the first cataract, TO Aleppo, you, literally
speaking, never see young man in a village,
and such is the depopulation, that il things
continue as they now are, for two years more,
and the Pacha insists on Keeping up his army
to its present force it will be utterly imposs-
BILE for the crops to be got in, or for any of
the operations of agriculture to be carried on.
The whole of this atrocious system is car
RED into action by the cruelest means-no
justice Of any sort for the weak no security
ioi tioSe WHO are DcLte1 OH the DdSllliddo
and other tortures applied on every occasion,
at the arbitrary will Of every servant of the
Government. Inaddi;ion to this, the natives
of the country are rarely employed-never in
office OF trust-and the whole Government is
entrusted to Turks. In short, the worst fca-
lures of the Mamelukc and Turkish rulers are
still in active operation; but the method Of
applying them is much more ingenious, and
the boosted civilization Of Mehemet Ali al
mounts to this-that being beyond doubt a
man of extraordinary talents, he knows how
to bring into play the resources of the coun-
try better than his predecessors did, but, like
them, entirely for his own interest, and with
out any reference to the well being Of the peo-
pie; and that with the aid of his European in
sfrumen;s he has, if may say so, applied the
screw with master hand, and squeezed
from the wretches under his sway the very
last drop Of their blood.
such is the state Of these two coun:ries.-
Syria is perhaps the worse off Of the two
Tor the Egyptians used to oppression, bear ii
without struggle whilst the Syrians, who
had been less harshly treated in old times,
writhe under and gnaw their chain. Meh M
ct Ali is now II years cid.