The Opelousas courier., 1885-03-14
The Cause Of the Egyptian War.
New York World.

New York World.
The origin of the present Egyptian
campaign dates from the reign of Is
mail Pasha, a shrewd and unscrupu-
lous intriguer, who succeeded SAID
Pasha in 1868, and accumulated a for
tune from the expectation of cotton
during our civil This money he
lavished on Turkish officials, till he
soon found himself a favorite with the
Sultan and endowed with almost regal
power. He had been educated in Pa
ris, and his ambition was to European
ize Egypt and make Cairo the Paris OF
the East. To accomplish this purpose
he borrowed money by the million at
the most exorbitant rates of interest.
This money was not devoted to patton
al purposes, but was expended III
Oriental display, in bribing favorlte
friends of the Sultan in Constantine
pie, in covering Egypt with palaces
and stocking harems. The fellahs. or
native population, were robbed to
pay the interest on those debts .irom
which they derived no benefit, and
had no share in contracting, aud when
the money could not be raised the khe-
dives tax-gatherers used to surround
the villages, catch the inhabitants and
lply the bastinado till the taxes were
paid.
At last things came to such a pass
that Ismail could borrow no more
money, and the fellahs could pay no
more taxes. In the interest of the
bondholders, mostly English and
French, Ismail was deposed and his
SOD, the present ruler, made Khe-
dive. To secure payment on the
bonds a joint or dual control was
established over Egyptian finan-
ces by England and France. Sir
Rivers Wilson, the English represen-
%tative, dismissed from public employ
ment all the native Egyptian officials
and flooded the country with a swarm
of hungry English officials, who knew
nothing about Egypt save that it owed
them exorbitant salaries. A spirit of
disaffection. soon manifested itself, and
a national party was formed headed
by Arab Pasha, an officer of the army.
A bra wi occurred in the streets Of AL
exandria, which was magnifed by the
English press into q wholesale massa-
ere and measures were taken by the
English government to suppress the
Egyptian national party, now. in Incl
pient rebellion against the Khedive,
who was only a puppet in the hands
of his English and French masters.
France refused to cooperate with Eng
land in suppressing the rebellion and
the latter resolved to act alone. Ad-
miral Seymour bombarded Alexandria
and Wolseley, passing through the
Suez Canal, met the Egyptian army at
TeI-el- Keber, defeated it and. captur-
ed Arab Pasha, who was banished to
Ceylon. Meantime the Arabs of Sou
dan-an immense tract Of country COM
prising Kordofan, Nubia proper, Sc
naar and Toka ON the East, and some
Of the Nile districts further south-un-
der the leadership of Ell Mahdi, the
False Prophet, had risen in rebellion
against Egyptian rule, and held the
Egyptian garrisons prisoners. The
Sondan region had been gradually an
nexed since 1921, but was never reduc-
ed to complete subsection. 1t was the
centre of the great African slave trade,
which had always been monopolized
by the Arabs, and which was partially
broken up by Sir Samuel Baker aud
Gen. Gordon, in the service of the
Khedive, some years before. England
having undertaken to restore order in
Egypt new found herself compelled to
liberate the Egyptian garrisons and
suppress the Mahdi's rebellion. The
Arabs, on the other hand, were insti-
gated to resistance under the impulses
of .patriotism, religious fanticism and
the profits of slave-catching
EH&M&