The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-07-14

THE KHEDIvE OF EGYPT
is a good French scholar and he has learne'
to speak English within the past few years
Our talk was carried on in English and HI
highness chatted freely, now and thel
breaking out in chuckling laugh as some
thing amusing entered into the talk ant
again growing sober and impressive as h
discussed the more sober problems OF MI
reign. In speaking of his life as khedive
he said:
81 am told that many people envy me n.y.
position. They say that am young mar
and that my lot must be pleasant one
They do not understand the troubles tina
surround me. Many time l would have
been glad to have laid down all OF thu
honors l have for rest and peace. My tel
years of reign have been equal to forty
years of work and worry. If life were {
matter of pleasure l would be fool to re
main on the throne. l believe, however
that God put man on the world for pur
pose other than this. Duty, not pleasure, Is
the chief end of man. do the best | can
for my country and my people, and l feel
the happiest when 1 do the most work and
when my work is the hardest"
AS the khedive said these words thought
of the thorns which have filled the d0Wny
pillow of his reign. l thought OF how,
upon his entering manhood, his 1ather
Ismail was deposed and he was put upon
the throne. [ thought of his troubles under
the foreign dictation of the past, OF the plots
and nearly successful rebellion of Arabl
Pasha, of the revolution of the Mahdi, and
of the vulture- like creditors, who to-day are
grinding Egypt between their upper and
neither millstones, of the plottings and the
of the danger of assassination,
and of the other dangers which are ever
present about the throne of an oriental
and l could appreciate why his
mouth hardened and his eyes grew serious
when he uttered the above remark.
THE TALK THEN TURNED
upon the condition of Egypt and its future,
but as to this the king was reticent. He
spoke proudly of the reforms which he had
in government and OF the
fact that now, though the taxes were heavy,
every peasant knew just what his taxes
were to be and that they were honestly
collected. He spoke of the improvements
of the courts and said that the Pasha and
the fallahin now stood on the same footing
before the law. ''When l came to the
throne" said he, ''the people were sur
prised that put the prince on the same
footing as other people before the courts.
Now, thank God, there is no difference in
Justice. The prince and the fellah are the
same in our courts and the former may be
punished like the latter"
COFFEE AND CIGARETTES.
we're at this point brought in by the serv
ants of the palace. The coffee was a la
TurQue. 1t was served in little china cups
n holders of gold tillagree, shaped like an
egg cup and each cup held about three
of rich, black coffee as thick
rs chocolate and as sweet as mOlasses.
There were no saucers nor spoons and l
5ried in my drinking to follow the khedive.
took the holder in my fist and gllped down
lalf the contents of the cup at d swallow.
i was as hot as liquid fire. could feel
he top of my mouth rising in blister, the
ears came into my eyes and my stomach
elt as though it had taken an internal
Turkish bath. 1t was lucky that at this
the khedive had just addressed
'emark to Consul General Cardwell, who
;at on the other side of him, and he did not
notice my emotion. He took the boiling
mixture without winking and went on talk
ng as though his throat were used to
liquid fire. 1 was surprised to see him re-
use the cigarette and | asked him If he did
lot smoke. He replied:
mol NEITHER SMOKE NOR DRINK.
do not drink on two grounds. / believe
more moment to me it is against the laws Of
ife as laid down in the Koran. We do not be
ieve it right to drink anything intoxicating
md good Musselmans drink neither wine
Tor liquor. believe that every man should
De faithful to the religion which he pro
'esses. Ny faith is that of Islam and try
% follow it as well as | can. l am not
liberal in it, however, and 1 tolerate all
'eligions and all sects in my kingdom. We
lave Copts, Jews and Christians, and your
are at work in the land. They
make very few conversions, if any, among
he people of my faith, but they have
schools in upper Egypt which are doing
much in the way of education. You ask
ne as to my attendance upon the mosque.
Yes, go regularly, and it was surprise
o the people of the court when attended
he mosque Immediately after my acces-
ion"
Colonel Cardwell here spoke of the
KHEDrvE's KNOWLEDGE OF THE KORAN
md cited the fact that his majesty knows
he whole book by heart and that he can
at any point and recite 1t from
me end to the other. There is no doubt that
he khedive has as much faith in his re-
igion as we have in ours and he expressed
himself here, intimating that every man
should abide by the faith of his fathers.
he referred to Mohammedan conversions
II Africa and to the fact that there are
more than one hundred millions of people
n the world who believe the same as he
loes. He spoke of the band of one hundred
American Catholics, who are stopping in
egypt on their way to the holy land, and
vas interested in Colonel CardwelPs de-
cription of the pilgrimage which they are
aking in following the footsteps of Jesus
nd Mary. He spoke Of the immense
brought into Egypt by tourists and
aid that il bettered the condition of Egypt.
lie expressed great sorrow at the prospect
hat Colonel Cardweu would, with the
hange of administration, probably be re-
allied and another consul general ap
ointed, and he told me that he had written
personal letter to the president of the
United States without the knowledge of
If Cardwell, asking him to retain him
S his consul general to Egypt. Throughout
ne whole conversation the talk was of the
lost cordial and unceremonious character,
nd l left the palace with the impression
lat the khedive of Egypt is man of great
sense and Of more than ordinary
bility.
THE KHEDIvE STANDS WELL
18th his people, and leading men in Cairo
I'll me he would do much tor Egypt II he |
-ere not hampered by foreign intervention
lie gave up number of his palaces year
r so ago and he is, for king, most econ |
mical He has, as far as / can learn, no |
xtravagant habits and no vices and he |
YES within the half million dollars year, |
,hich is known as his civil list Had other |
hedives of the past been equally careful, |
egypt would be rich country today in
tead of mortgaged one. He is man Of |
trong domestic tastes, and though a |
and an oriental king, he is |
ne husband of but one wife and he is as
rue to her as the most chaste American. |
friend CT his gave me tonight talk he |
ba5 HK-iHh him 11nnO this GDhippf in /