New-York tribune., 1885-07-15

About ten months, in China, Formosa and Tom
quin."
Then You saw something of the war in the EasA
The Chinese, believe, fought well; ct least thsy
had numbers on their side, and made the French =
great deal of trouble. But that is ell 6nished.
hope, new, and it is very cad that Admiral Courbet
should die just as peace was rendered certain"
This is an old palace in which you are now liy.
ingp
Yes, about seventy years old. II was built by
my great-grandfather, Mehemet Ali. like TO coma
here when am worn ont with business. There il
always a sea breeze. and I am very quiet and 70.
tired here as compared with Cairo"
"You doubtless have great deal to occupy youy
attention p
~ certainly have"
"And the Khedives bed is not always bed Of
rosesr
"No. not bed Of roses using the French term),
1t has especially not been duiing tho past year.
Until few days since was constantly busy with
one trouble or another growing out of the situation
in Egypt How do you like Egypt"
Very mneh. But ! could only remain ct Cairo
or months TSere is so mo 10 u three
ing to SEQ and study Egypt Is beautiful coun-
ryyy. e,on,,.t,uu, -.
esting. and it Is so very fertile and rich. and we
were getting well when the rebellion came.
Five years ago everything was 80 prosperous. Our
treasury. Land could hardly be bought then for for
$500 an acre Now the same land can be bought
fS xaU Of moo nsr9 th was them an abundance
caused this change"
IL 81 mad cS the fortune few weeks since to meet
The Khediye's brow darkened. "Yesf And how
"Very imperfectly. He knows but few words
of the language | was unprepared for that as
no
aud English
I" And yet the books and newspapers will tell YOU
| that he is making rapid progress in English and
other branches Of learning. The fact is that he Is
| very ignorant He has no education whatever.
Everybody 10 Egypt Is perfectly well aware Of
that. l shall never forget one Incident that oc-
CURED while he was Secretary of War. 1t was at
the time OF the excitement about the Italians TAX
| the Council where presided. Arab sad Italy
must not be allowed to do this. We will prevent
not get 70 the Red Sea- l said What do you
mean You will destroy the Suez Canal Why,
the suez Canal is national highway and you
would not be permitted to do 1t. Besides. if you
did, you would not prevent the Italians sending
their ships around by the Cape of Good Hope and
entering the Red Sea from the south What
said Arab Is there another way of getting to the
Red Sea than by way OF the canal The fact was
that his geography being very defective he had
not the slightest idea OF the shape or raison ders
of the Red Sea, though It IS body SO intimately
connected with Egypt that 1t may almost be said
TO be Egyptian. But he was an Egyptian and
some people thought him patriot. lie was made
a colonel, the first Egyptian who had ever held
that important rank. He made the people thInk
he was their friend He told the fellaleen that he
the foreigners away, and then take their land and
distribute 1t anong them. Then tue felaheen said.
This is a good man, patriot. We shall be rich
Tomorrow Energetically and with vigorous and
expressive gestures How could tsis man drive
the foreigners out of Egypt ! They had property
in Egypt that they had sht and paid for. There
were among them French, English, Italians.
Greeks, Germans and AustrIans. Was it to be sup
posed that tine respective nations wonld stand by
aud see their people robbedf Certainly not. Never
there more preDosterons idea"
"Was Arab personally brave n
Brave! Quite the contrary. He was lacho
How could he be brave when at Tel el Kebir, where
he had 1000 nen, he was the first to away.
aud his soldiers were not slow 20 follow, except
one black regiment, that did all the lighting. ne
then voluntarily went 10 prison. Was ali this tho
act OF brave man, patriotf have read OF
they manage their soldiers by their example, and
then when all is lost they leave their bodies there
There was none of this stuff in Arasi:"
"Did the people retain thoir confidence in him
after this exhibition of his pIowessf
Not one Iheyat once lost faith in such a
hcro They said: Is this the act of a patriot, TO
90 the FIRST to run away from the field Of battle
is this the way he was going T. relieve III OF taxes
drive the foreigners away and give us their andp
Then they said: Wen have nothing more to do
with him. some OF the soldiers who had served
with him spat upon aim. Tnencefprth he was no
longer hero or Prophet to then, and now, when
they SEQ the eject of bis rebellion the conatIy
how their property has deprecated, how their
taxes are heavier, they detest him moro than
ever"
Here the tears welled up in the eyes of the
speaker as he went on:
:" 1 wculd not speak in this way if / supposed
that Arab was q patriot. But he was nothing OF
the kind. myself am an Egyptian. and, hope, q
true lover OF my country, patriot, but ! could
aot. as Arab dld, when the people asked for bread
give them a stone. have endeayofed in certain
ways to show That was friend OF the people, and
that wa, not afraid to show my love II them.
even in tunes of danger In 1883; when there
the official reports made it only 800 visited the
direreut hospitals and shook hands with the
patients What khedive ever did that beforef Not
Jnr. And yet they were brave men,
This was SAID without tie slightest touch Of
vanity. bnt as II he felt that, having been accused
of weakness and want of syxspathy with his people
10 had right 10 say this in his Justification
After a pause lie continued. still with animation
bat with a tone of sadness
" But what can do. perpleXed as / am by SO
many eonilictlng interests This nation asks this,
and that nation asks that and II is hard 10 satisfy
all 1--we modest y on my evil list of 100000,
when the khediycs before me had E30O,00O, anu
gave money 10 their trends rgnt AID left. They
had property and palaces witfont end which have
al been given up, ann accused Of beng friend
If the English. But what could do They came
tony relief. aud they placed strong government
bchlnd ras. rLe French refused 20 coiic. Was thai
my fault 7 l baye but one wife. though lt has
been the custom oil my ancestors 10 have more ana
have four children, which think is enough. L
cEdeayor III ali respects to ecouomiZe, 10 1--we mod
estly, quietly and within my income, and favor
no one whom do not think friendly TO Egypt aad
Geyoted to her interests r.
Is ityour opinion that the change in the Min-
stry III England VIII make any serious Change in
me affairs of Egypt"
Z" caunot tell. but think not year or two
ago a Conservative came hero and accused me oi
iayoring the Liberals l told him as l tell ycr
now that do not favor one party ~ a party more
than | favor another have every reason 10 re-
member the Conservative party kindly. for Lord
BcacOnsfe!d was in power hen became kheilyc.
Eithor party whom it comes into power does what
IL thinks best for the interests of Egypt ami with
hat ain necessarily satisfied Tie party psiit,c5
Of England Is something with which neither can
nor have any desire to inter ere."