Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-12-30
THE EGYPTIANS.
" They Like the Occupation of Their
Country by the EnglisIl.

W Iheg like LHt occupation Ol lneIf
Country by the English.
A few months since | was sitting in
the Esbekeeyeh gardens at Cairo, listen
ing to the music of an Egyptian mill
tary band when native military Off
Ger of high rank took his seat beside
me, and, on learning that | was an
American, entered into conversation
with me in an unconstrained manner
An inquiry as to how the Egyptians
liked the occupation of their country by
the English elected the following reply:
Suppose you had happy home,
with your lovel family gathered about
you. You are poor and have a hard
struggle to obtain the dates, and wheat,
and corn, and eggs on which to feed
your family, and the cloth with which
to dress them, but are contented. A
man richer and more powerful than
you comes into the home by force. He
says it doesn't suit him; the furniture
must be rearranged, the divans made
higher or lower, window cut here,
and door there, and all the appoint
ments of the house altered to suit his
fancies and whims. Suppose that when
your melons, and onions and doora
are sold he takes the money from you,
and only allows you a small pittance
for the needs of yourself and wife and
children. Suppose that he takes advan-
tage of his strength and compels you to
do in all things as he may see fit, with
out regard to your ownership of the
home; and all the while claims to be
your friend; how would you like it?"
And the officers eyes flashed in anger,
and his hand involuntarily grasped his
sword hilt
He continued: THE English have
come here under a claim of a friendly
interest and a desire to secure their
claims of Indebtedness. 1t is true that
they have increased the revenues of the
country, but they have appropriated to
themselves much more than the in
crease, and have made the people of
Egypt much poorer than ever before.
They have taken possession of our forts,
our custom houses and our public de-
partments of various kinds What have
we received in return? The English say
protection We say nothing If an
Egyption officer demonstrates on ac-
count of any action of the English. he is
removed from Office. Every intelligent
Egyptian is heartily sick of the English
occupation, and / think the English
government sees that it has lost our
good will.
why do they still occupy the coun-
try, when the causes for their original
invasion have ceased TO exist?"
ventured to ask.
For two reasons. one is their jealousy
toward the French, and the other the
hope that they may yet possess the
Soudan for England. The English
would welcome a fight with Egypt now,
if only Egypt would be the aggressor,
merely for the excuse it would give her
to seize and hold the Soudan as an
English possession.
But would it repay England for the
expense in money and lives it would
cost to retake the Soudan? p
Certainly it would. There are vast
stores of ivory held by the natives in
the interior of the Soudan 10 an amount
greater than that in all the rest of
Africa; and the knowing ones i'll the
English government realize that this
alone would amply reIay them for the
conquest. The Soudan would yield d
ten times greater immediate return to
the troops who should march there as
conquerors than any other portion OF
Africa. Then the danger and expense
of conquest Of these half-naked. half
starved dervishes is not nearly so great
as the English officers would have the
world believe With the power Of the
/ English nation exerted. their troops
could march in and oyerrun the Soudan
any winter that they pleased. The
reason why they do not do this is that
I undpr pfQspnt conditions fhey cnuld