New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-16
EGYPT AND THE PORTE.
THE ALEXANDRIA ACKNOWLEDGMENT
PACHAS MISSION.

'f'o" LIE "''' CONsTANTINOPLE June 80
Upon the arrival of Dervisch Pachs at Alex
| andria the gag removed from the long
suffering press in order that the Government
might publish thrilling accounts OF the loyalty
displayed by the Egyptians III receiving Tue
Imperial Commissioner. But the echoes OF thes'
nlaud,ts had not died away when the city truly
thrilled with the news of the outbreak at Alex
andria. Then it was understood that the Egyptian
question was to take the high Importance which
croakers have Or edicted for it from the first
| The riot at Alexandria is said to have been ar
ranged with long foresight by unknown schemers
This may be true The immediate impulse for the
massacre did probably come from someone in
position to assure safety to the members OF the
mob Yet one who knows the workings OF these ir-
regular Oriental minds can see that the sudden out
burst of fury might well occur without more pre-
meditation that is ever present in the minds oil
Moslem people The Moslems breathe III with the
air the exclusiveness of the Chinese and the re-
ligious egotism Of the ancient Jews NOTWITHSTANDING
ing the assumption of superiority incucaied by
their religion they have to endure the victorious
competition of foreigners. In the struggle LOT ex-
istence they see that both native Christians and
foreign coonists carry off the prizes unless cneckeu
by arbitrary force They also to endure thes ght
of foreign emissaries interfering to save native chris
tians from the checks which arbitrary force woull
impose In the presence OF a steady prosperity, Tor
which they themselves decline to compete, endur-
ance is the mldest emotion felt by the Moslems
They know that Moslems are Gods people, and that
the time will one day come when the Lord will send
them forth again to apply the sword to all mlsbe-
LEVERS That they yearn earnestly for the dawn of
this day is in no wise diminished by the fact that
they themselves are so averse to the work which
makes Christians worth attack to lead their best
writer's to compile books of prooftexts snoring the
moral right of Mosems to engage III commerce. aud
industrial pursuits The place OF a readiness TO de-
velop trade is taken by deep sense of grievance
among masses of Moslems because the national
funds are becoming too limited to support the city
populations on pensions. During year the woes OF
the Egyptians under foreign tasknasters have been
sung in all the minor keys. The injustice OF Eng
land and France the encroachments Of Christians
upon the territories of Islam, have been eloquently
impressed on the popular mind by editorial and
pulpit laborers. The approach of the fateful year
1900 of their calendar has been used to excite gen
eral expectancy of an opportunity for Islam. Dur
ing wear have rarely walked the streets of Con-
stantinope without meeting men who have NUT
tered in my ears the prayer that some power may
consign all foreigners to the nethermost limbo OF
the lost The feeling of these ignorant people con-
/ II
to explode upon the first touch of fire. The pre-
meditation of violence to foreigners exists in the
! abstract everywhere IN Turkey, and is, unhapplly
deeply grounded in the most sacred feelings OF the
people. 1t is safe to say that. given similar OPP
portunity of relaxed control and similar supposed
provocation in any Turkish city the fierce wratl
which is consuming mems hearts would, IN as shor
moment of fate, unite similar frantic mob In Il
similar bloody revel. The people OF this land are
deeply re gous, but it is hard to lind among them, as
no instructed moral principle to which to appea
in favor of peace. One hears good deal III Amer
lea abont religion that has no trademark of good
deeds But the full capabhty OF the race in this
respect can only be seen under Eastern skies Here
yon can see a man who thinks no more before com
hitting robbery than before picking ripe plum
| from the tree-a man who can kill neghbor will
| as clear a conscience az he can wish him good morn
! nr-a man who can tell to hair the number o.
blows with a club that will kill and the number
that will merely stun, and who understands how tC
pad club with sand so that it will kill without
breaking the skin /; and you will find the same maj
| talking to you about love 10 God. and about dill
| gence IN prayer producing conscientious scruple'
about eating his mutton unless it has been butch
cred IN peculiar way; groaning in spirit when by
accident he kills flea and calling servant to re
move bed-bug from his wrist lest his own les
|
that the Turks are cutthroats as a rule Amonl
them are many most generous gentlemen. Yet TIT
atmosphere of the land produces AS great ncon
rrnities of religious and moral principle as thos'
which have selected from real life. You cannO
calculate upon the forces that will move such {
people
The mob at Alexandria came together as by magic
because its members had one and all been dreaming
/ for xvoals of soua such Onnnrtuuitv They wer1
unarmed they seized the clubs that were at hand
and they rushed upon the accursed forei gners Will
| one consent and with unbounded fury. They Dea
men to death they knocked them down with stones
and so reached them with their knives; they dashet
out mems brains upon the pavement; they
commanded no means sufficiently savage to reliev,
| the VOLUME of their long-pent feeling. And the pc
| lice were so far i'll sympathy with these feeling
that they stood and smiled, or drew the attention o
the rioters to unobserved chances of getting hold o
| victims; sometimes they even lent hand witt
their firearms. when half-stunned wretch seemed
likely to escape the knives and clubs. Ny own in
formation from Alexandria is to the effect that thu
larger number of Europeans were killed where The
police the most numerous.
a Upon Europeans tho effect of sucl
an outburst Is always paralyzng. They do no
know that the rabble means to kill, yet they in
sllutllNtIN itcI thd' 'hoS ha'O W wv
passions and mysterious forces Hence in Alexan
dra the foreigners more often chose to he' rather
than to risk arOnsing new passions by the o.
arms In the presence Of unknown motives anC
possibilities, they shrank from violent resistance
that might prove either needless or rash. Men will
revolvcrs on their persons were killed with clubs
and at the last when after hours the troops ar
rived with orders to stop the massacre, there wer
in the city streets only the rabble and the dead
The foreign population was barricaded within the
| houses.
The result of the Alexandria massacre has been tC
fix more distinctly upon the Egyptian mbrogli'
the character OF q reappearance of the Eastern
question. 1t has been the dearest wish of states