Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1882-07-15
ALEXANDRIA.
A Sketch of the Ancient and Modern Me-
trOpOlis.

A Sketch of the Ancient and Modern Me-
tropOlis.
Tho great city, that is reported half
consumed and still burning. is one whose
name has been connected with the most
important events of history. Founded
by Alexander after he had destroyed
Tyre it was the gateway to the fur east
and the valley of the Nile Not long
after the death of its founder its regis
ter showed 100000 free men, which indi-
Gates population of over half mil
Iona city as large or larger than Chi
cago.
Julius Caesar was the first general to
besiege the town. as Admiral Seymour
has been It's latest conqueror, and as now
q considerable part of the place was
burned in the taking. It was to Alexan-
dria Mark Anthony fed after losing the
naval fight at Actium, and with it the
empire of the world. Here he suicided
on hearing that Cleopatra was dead and
here Cleopatra exposed her bosom to the
bite of an asp rather than go captive
to Rome. With the death Of these DC.
tavius Caesar took the town as his uncle
had done before, and again the great
city suffered by fire and pillage.
Between the two sieges the infant
Jesus is supposed to have been carried
into the city when Herod forced the
fight into Egypt. Three Roman gener-
ais and q christian bishop in turn sacked
the town, and each burned a portion of
1.-THE usual accompaniment of o sack.
But in spite of fire and sword it was
an important capital and commercial
center, the seat of learning and the re.
fuge of the oppressed until the Saracens
took the city, A. d. $50. Their sack
their government, and afterwards the re.
moval of the seat of government to Cairo
completed what previous conquerors had
failed to do.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY.
It had been dwindled to a miserable vii.
lage OF few thousand inhabitants when
Mehemet Ali came to the head of Egypt.
ian affairs early in the present century
He made it his capital, erected public
buildings, made it again the gateway tc
the east. and more than oil achieved 9
semi-independence of the nominal gov
ernment at Constantinople.
His successor followed in the samel line
of progress, only making the mistake o
borrowing too much money to put VI
buildings and make internal improve
ments. from English and French capital
lists. During our late war. the khediv,
pronounced kedavy) had an immense
income from the cotton he raised, tn.
Nile valley being his private farm, ant
the wretched Inhabitants his slaves. Blu
with the end of our war, cotton cam
down in price, and the government
the khedive-began to default on the in
terest on his bonds. The English an,
French governments claimed the right t
administer on the Egyptian effects il
the interest of these bondholders. an
this brought on the bombardment.
The Bedouin Arabs who appear {
have committed the massacre and burr
ed the Christian quarter, are distiuc
people from the natives. These Arat
are we'll armed, we'll mounted, and 600
fighters. They are in reality the govern
ing class, though comprising but a sma
per cent of the population. With onl
their flocks and herds, they claim no re.
estate but the desert. This affords scant
living for the stock. but raids on mo,
peaceable people make up the balanc
needed for livelihood. The Bedoui1
are competent to sack city.