Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-07-15
THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION.
How it Arose-The Leader of it and
His History.
From the New York Hour

was present of peaceful and prosperou
; summer. Through the rich soil of tn
Thebaid the peasant drove his plow il
the villages, unopposed, the headmai
gathered his taxes, the small Greel
merchant his rents, the agent of tn,
great foreign banks his interest. Th,
bazaars were filed with native women
bargaining for bracelets, necklaces anC
amulets. At Cairo the crowd of for
eigners sat beneath the sycamores il
the Esbekieh gardens, slipping Turkish
coffee and listening 70 Fahrbach's lates
galop. There had been a ministerial
crisis, trial of Circassian officers, 8
communication of their sentence by the
Khedive; but these matters were left
for the conversation of the consular
cavasses, who strutted about in their
blue uniforms, and Cf the fat Pachas,
who trotted round on their sleek little
donkeys. Who could expect the foreign
colonist to take interest in Egyptian
politics?
Yet the times were ripe for revolt.
After a slow process of CESSATION, Egypt
had given birth to a national leader
When history writes the life of Arab
Bey, it may question his sincerity; it
will not doubt his strength. Like many
other revolutionists, like Wat Tyler,
Tell, Massaniello, he had a personal
grievance. After a rapid promotion
under Said Pacha, he had been accused
of fraud, court t-martialled and degraded.
A fellah by birth, fairly well educated,
master of rude style of eloquence, he
waited his chance to come forward as
patriot. Who shall tell what lessons
he drew from the story of Mehemet
Ali? Who shall interpret his dream of
vast Arab empire, stretching from
Morocco to the Red Sea? Every native
newspaper in Egypt was feeding his
fancies and encouraging his hopes.
Day by day they reminded him of the
past glories of the Arabs, who had been
selected to dwell in the holy lands, and
to endure in places of such consequence
as Bagdad, the eye of Persia; Damas-
Gus, the eye of Syria Constantinople,
the eye of the Turkish empire Neesa-
pore, the eye of Khorassan Candahar,
the eye of India and Cairo. the eye of
the world. They told HIM of the lament
of Khalid, son of Walled, who, lying on
his deathbed, moaned " / have fought
in many and many battle there is not
span OF my body but bears
scar of sword and spear and must
1 die thus like a beast of burden ?"
"will you not battle for your honor?
Why struggle you not for life; why
court you death? What dream you of,
that you ca-e not for your Koran, nor
get for your worldly goods? Why con-
sent You to see your fire extinguished?"
Words like these could not fail to kin
die Arabi's ambition. Hating autocracy,
which had degraded him, he hated the
European powers, from which autocracy
drew its strength. He hated every Gus
tom, every fashion, every institution
which owed its origin to Europe or the
Europeans. He admitted that the Khe-
dive was q just man, scholar, much
interested in schools and religion; but
he could not submit to ruler who was
educated like European, dressed like
q European, had one wife, and resem-
bled the Prince of Wales. He had no
liking for any other member of Ismail's
family. Prince Hassan had been brought
up at Oxford he had hob-a-nobbed
with young English noblemen at Christ
dragoon. Prince Hussein got his train
ing at French lycee; he wore French
clothes, hummed French songs, and
worshipped Nine. Judic. Prince Ibra-
him went to Woolwich and learned to
play cricket; the two younger sons
were with their father in Italy. OF the
elders there was only Prince Hahn, who
lived at Constantinople; and as Prince
Hahn delighted IN French cookery,
read Horace, and had no objection to
billiards, he was hardly the man for the
nationalists of Egypt.
Arab Bey was thus forced to the pain
full conclusion that there was only one
man who could deliver Egypt He
persuaded himself, without calling in a
wizard or consulting the Koran, that
tha savior of society would be named
Arab Bey. He, therefore, proceeded
to review his forces. He had his twenty
thousand regulars. white-uniformed,
smart to behold, purged of disaffection
by the trial of the Circassian officers,
well drilled, fairly we'll armed, the in
fantry provided with Remingtons, the
cavalry mounted on Arab steeds. He
could at any time adopt the tactics of
Mehemet Ali, make a raid on the vii
lagos, put guns into the hands of the
feliaheen, and equip such an army as
that which at Nezib defeated the Turk
ish troops among whom Hellmuth Won
Moltke made his first campaign. be
had hopes of enlisting, by promise OF
high pay and unlimited plunder, the
nomad Bedtween, the warriors of the
desert. He could count on the normal
support of the Uiema, the learned doc
tors of the law, distracted by the feuds
of sects, eager to rally round any good
Mussulman who should reunite and re.
store them to their place in the hier-
archy of Islam. And here his possible
alliances ended. He was opposed by
the rich merchants, who trembled for
their property; he could not STIR the
apathy of the populace, in whom Gen.
turies of oppression had killed the spirit
of resistance.
Were he obliged to meet Europe, or
any great European power, Arabi knew
that his chances would be hopeless.
But in addition to Arab the elect ol
Allah, to Arab the hater of Autocrats
to Arab the champion of the Fellah
there is Arab the diplomatist. In ms
diplomatic character, Arabl was con
vinced that the European deadlock wa
complete, and that none of the power
, dan ed to move against him. TO foreigl
, spectators it has, indeed, proved one o
, fba ,,rattiast 0ameS Of Our time Tur