Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-05-18
Egypt during the Past Seventy Years.


Should the family of Mohommed Ali h,
deposed, it will be the end of Il dvnast,
whose history, comprised within the lifctim,
OF men yet living, is as full of Oriental ro
nance as amy of the strange stories of the
East III Ancient or modern times.
1t seems but yesterday, it was but Il few
years ago, that Mohammed Ali sprung from
the lowest origin. 4 Macedonian bow. wbc
hau French merchant for his patron, be-
came successively Il brilliant soldier. an in
| llucntlal leader III the distracted state of nj
fairs i'll Egypt after the French occupation.
secret manager of Cairene politics and Gov.
crnor OF Egypt by the Sultan's appointment
anu the most powerful man in the Name.
luke ariStocracy which feared neither God
nor Sultan. In 1911 he gave that mcmora-
Die feast in the citadel of Cairo to which tho
unsuspicious Mameukes came, to he shut
i'll and shot down like dogs. By that massa-
ere of 40 men, and the subsequent execu.
lion Of their surviving friends, he removed
all obstacles from his way and established
his family ON the throne. which the Sultan
was compelled to recognize as practically in
dependent. MOhammed Ali was one of the
ablest men Islam has produced He reform
ed Egypt, and brought order and the begin
nlnSs OF prosperity out of the chaos and
mlScry which had prevailed He introdu-
ccd I'LL the Industries out of which the rcyc-
nuc Of Egypt has since been derived. He
constructed the Mahmoudich canal conncc-
ting Alexandria with the Nile and thus with
Cairo.
His expeditions for the conquest ofGrecce.
his contest III Syria with the Sultan, the bril-
liant campaigns Of his soldier son Ibrahim
Iaslla, all form Il page Of the most exciting
history of Eastern politics. The Western
nations were compelled to take part in it for
the repression of the rising power of the
Egyptian dynasty. But for England's love
OF the Sultan in COnstantinople, the story of
the last fifty years in the Levant would have
been altogether another tale.
These are matters of well known history.
but 1t Is well just now to recall and review
them.
BY the Mohametlan law the succession of
princes is not from father to son i'm the di-
rect line, but to the eldest male descendant,
in whatever branch ofthe family. This was
the order by which, until the accession OILS
mail IL few years ago, the family of Moham-
med Ali rei%ned. The succession has been
marked with the old oriental Use of poison
and dagger for the removal of one to make
room for Il successor. We have no space to
enumer.te the murders in Egyptian pal
aces and elsewhere 1t is wholly out of the
order oI things for L descendant of Mollam-
med Ali to die u natural death. After Too
soon lbrahim and lsmail had disappeared
from the scene Abbas Pasha reignet. Un-
der him the wise counsels Of the founder of
the family for the good Of Egypt began to
give way to thcdcsire ofpersonal wealth and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Abbas was murdered in
his bed by dagggcrs hired by the i;lmiIy-for
these Egyptian murders were often family
affairs.
The fat and good-natured Said succeeded.
lie Was the victim of European plundercrs
Easy and suspicious, he was led to pay en-
ormous prices for European steamboats,, and
sugar mills. and engines, and became the
general object of robbery by English and
French contractors. 1t has never been quite
certain, but always suspected, that Said died
Ola slow process OF poisoning. leaving Egypt
mortgaged to Western Europe
When lsmail succeeded he desired to "Eu-
ropeanize' Egypt, enrich himselfand change
the law Of succession SO that his own son
and grandson might succeed him. This lat
ter concession he obtained, at a high price.
the bitter enmity of all other descendants of
Mohammed Ali, and incurred also the op-
position of all Mohammedans who adhere to
the strict law of the relig on New compli-
cations were thus introduced into Egyptian
politics.
1t must be remembered that during all
this time there has been in Egypt a. power
full though silent enmity to the whole family
of Mohammed Ali. That family is Turkish.
The Turks are foreigners in Arabia and
Africa. They are hated in Egypt as the an
cicnt Egyptians hated the shepherds of Asia
An Arab sovereignty would command ten
fold support in Egypt The Turkish inva-
der has sustained his position by giving Of
fees to Turks and excluding Arabs as far as
possible.
The Europeanizing notions of Ismail
brought about their natural result Desti-
tute of the sagacity of his illustrious ances-
tor Mohammed Ali, who knew just what
European ideas, customs and inventions
were suited to his people, Ismail brought in
low class theatres. dance houses and all the
denominations of French and Italian seaport
towns. The calm of old oriental cities gave
way to midnight orgies
Ten years made fearful change in Alex
andria and Cairo, and the change was felt
as far up the Nile as Minieh and Es-Siout,
and even at Es-Souan and worse than all
for himself he borrowed European money
and found that his plantations, palaces, and
crown were in the hands ofEuropean pawn
brokers. He was dethroned by the Sum-
mary process Of foreclosing a personal mort
gage, and the pawnbrokers have since been
trying to use for their own benefit the last
remains of the power which was created
seventy years ago by the son of q Macedo-
nian beggar. 1t has been threescore years
and ten of blood, poison and plunder. and
it is yet unchanged. But the end ought not
to be far off. 'l'''}f&..
Meantime the great population of Egypt
is 4 quiet. Suffering silent neasantrY labor