The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-09-10
Trouble With tho Obelisk.

Trouble With tho Obelisk.
Commander Gorlinge, in charge of
the vessel which brought Cleopatra's
needle from Alexandria, Egypt, to New
York, had consider able trouble in get
ting away with the khedive's present.
would rather" lIe said, when pressed
for description of the fight he was
cOmpellod d 10 make ut Alexandria before
and after the removal of the monolitb
from its long occupied site, drop a
curtain over tint entire affair. ! hate
TO think that there are in this world SO
many picayune and disagreeable people
MS those who opposed my work in Alex
andria. l desire, however," he added,
" to give to the American consular agent
at A lexandria- Constantine NJ. Salvage,
a Greek merchant of that tseity-the
credit and praise that is due 20 him for
his share in the enterprise. But for his
influence among the merchants of Al
exandria, which was constantly ex-
erted in my behalf, l fear we would
have had much more serious trouble
than befell us"
What was the nature or form of the
opposition to your removal OF the obe-
liskP" asked the reporter.
oh, it took dozen different FORMS"
replied the lieutenant. 1.-THE Egyp-
tlars themselves were, | thick, well
pleased with the gift of the knedive to
the great country of the United State
for. which country they have unquali,
fed and unbounued respect and admira-
ton, but the population of Alexandria
consists in a very limited degree OF Egyp-
tians. 1t is made up of Greeks and Eng
lishmen. Italians and Frenchmen, and
Syrian Jews. The latter were most Bit
Ter in their objection to the removal of
the needle" ...-..s.
"For what reason P'asked the reporter.
Ah," replied Commander Gorrinpe.
that is just what would like to know.
For no reason apparently beyond the
reason entertained by the famous dog
who made a resting place in the manger.
really do not know why it was, but
there was certainly ut first very gen.
eral opposition on the part of the for
eigners at Alexandria (who, by the way,
pay no taxes, being under consular
jurisdiction) to any disturbance of the
obelisk. All of sudden they were
seized with the deepest and livelIest in
terest in the ancient monument, which
for years had stood neglected in the out
skirts OF the city near the Ramleh depot.
The young bloods,' swore that the
obelisk should not be removed. l was
told by friend that sort of society
had been formed for the purpose of op-
posing the removal by force. / imagine,
however, that there was never very
much backbone to that society. At all
events, told my informant that in my
humble opinion it would bo poor policy
and exceedingly dangerous for those
young gentlemen of Alexandria to at
tempt force, and they. on reflection,
seemed to arrive at the same conclu-
sion."
Were there any threats of personal
violence against yourselfp" asked the
reporter. tpf
Commander Gorringe shrugged his
shoulders and answered with doubtful
sort of no" lie admitted, how
ever, that while walking in the
bourse " one morning he was loudly
hissed.
"What did you doP" asked the re-
porter.
II deliberately retraced my steps,"
stopped"
A forcible detention of the obelisk
having been decided to be at too
great a risk, the foreign population of
Alexandria next attempted to clog his
work with legal barriers All sorts of
injunctions and stop papers were issued
by the mixed courts of the city. One
man made atfidavit-Or whatever is the
Egyptian equivalent of that process
that the removal of the obeisk would
seriously endanger the stability of his
house. 1t being shown that the gentle
mans house was not nearer than 2l2
yards from the base of the monument,
his complaint was thrown out of court.
The next step taken to impede the pro-
gress OF the removal came in the form
OF sort OF combination which seemed
to have been formed for tie sole and
express purpose of cheating the Ameri-
can commander. 1t was with the ut
most difficulty that he could make the
slightest purchase without being cheated
and defrauded. "I really do not know /"
said Commander Gorringe, "why / am
rehearsing all this that is past and gone.
assure you would much sooner for
get all about it."
But the opposition to your work
did not continue to the last, did it?"
asked the reporter. flit
I'm some quarters-yes," was the re-
ply, but not rs a common thing"
when you first removed the stone
from the perpendicular, was there any
. demonstration of disapprovalP"
"There was an immense crowd as
sembled, but the intense and universal
curiosity with which the process was
regarded seemed to preclude all other
feelings. You remember we made the
first attempt to lower the obelisk on De-
cember 3, two days before it actually
was lowered. Well, on that occasion
the Russian admiral sent a guard of SOL
diers to see that the work was not inter-
Tered with. Hence, you see, he feared
trouble if nobody else did"