The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-03
base such rumor upon. and declares that
no trouble Is expected
THE STORY OF ISMAIL
HIS TYRANNY AND HIS FALL, AFTER
WASTING MILLIONS ON FANCIEs.
With LimitIess Powers, His Schemes
All Ended I'm Failure, and He Died
in Exile, Far from Egypt.

ruler of Egypt, occupied in 1859. He was
not yet forty, and though he possessed
neither the statecraft of his grandfather,
the Albanian tobacconist's son, who so
nearly rebuilt the Caliphate on the ruin of
the house of Gilman, nor the genius for
battle of his terrible father, Ibrahim, he
had made for himself as conspicuous a posi-
ton in the Mussulman world. man of
daring, with some large IDEAS and abso-
lutely INSCRIPTIONS, he hao gained repute
among all Ottomans and Arabs which re-
vived the splendid traditions of the only
Caliph still known to Europeans, the mag
nificent, willful, and murderons Haroun al
Raschid.
Egypt, owing to its wealth and its his
tory, looms large in the imagination of the
East, and Ismail had made himself as much
master in Egypt as any slavehoider OF tne
Southern States was ever master on ms
own estate. Owing partly to his descent
but chiefly, we believe. to Just COM
ness. he was regarded by his people with
slavish awe, Which, during his reign, was
position ro His Pash has area. dreaded him as one
who could enrich them with a word or
with wora send them to die Of ennui or
of coffee in the deserts or upper Egypt;
his soldiers obeyed him, ,..ough they were
expended in thousands on proiltless eX-
bore the most tremendous stretches Of au-
thority without even a thought OF re-
ton famine, he trebled their taxation; when
he took over for himself, at nearly nominal
rates. ,one-fifth of the land OF Egypt, ana
when he issued the frightful order that the
Suez canal should be completed by forced
labor, and it is believed killed out more
preston, he was equally obeyed without
resistance an. even without murmuring
second COZ Solomon D or Haroun al Raschid, too
splendid, too potent, and too wise Tor nu-
energy to & If IN a ss
to increase his own glory and that OF his
country, he had surrounded himself, like
though it was ability of a different kind.
Where Haroun built mosques he built thea
ters; where Haroun created gardens he es-
tablished experimental farms, and instead
of Haroun's astrologers, poets and makers
of romance, he surrounded himself with en-
gineers, antiquarianS and ministers to the
Partisan kind of pleasure.
MILLIONS OF MONEY.
He seemed, too to have obtained the
purse of Fortunatus. Immensely rich while
the price of cotton lasted he had learned
the secret of European State debts, and in
thirteen years borrowed and spent a hum
dred millions sterling. He spent, too, royal
ly. 1t is probable that he had no more con-
ception of what money meant than the En-
peror Jehangeer of India, who expended a
years revenue of his empire on a tomb for
a favorite wife, or than Mr.. Tasker when
he agreed to give 100000 for three or four
reputedly famous diamonds. At all events
he never allowed a consideration of expense
to stand in the way of his will, and the
stories told of his lavishness to favortes,
to advisers, to foreign courts, and to an
endless tribe of f1atterers. scrbes and agents
IN procuring European pleasures are almost
incredible.
We remember hearing forty years ago of
the extent of 100000 which were never
used he bought his rank as Khedve. and a
f1rman granting succession to his sons, in
stead of his brothers, by an expenditure in
bribes of 100000; and he might have torn
XIV tore up the accounts of Versailles, in
very shame at his own extravaganza He
Mas prGoseldy Plllaged by man whom
cellor of the Exchequer, who stole three
who forwarded a set of mirrors for "a dane
ing troupe, and he never grumbled at de-
mand. His profusion excited. among men
who knew nothing of stock exchanges, adj
miration such as was felt three thousand
years before for Solomon, and when he
ent at the opening of the Suez canal he
seemed to all Mohammedans che greatest,
faith. Whether he intended to use this
impression. and calling. the Arabs to arms
now be- Known nor me but f is eera W
stantlnople thought he did, and regarded
s hm with Wh,ch furious eye0 bs that
! We're powerless to allay, and which years
after induced the sultan to keep him
state prisoner. and to refuse him fperrnis-
sion even to die upon the soil of Egypt
It was wonderful position, but Ismail
devoted to his own glory, SO lacking n
steady policy. that he failed ultimately IN
tebH eve rant ne undertook, except perhaps
from Cairo to the Pyramids. He meant
to sway, the rulers of Constantinople and
he hardly even created a party there. He
meant to enlist Europe in his favor and
never found there a single trustworthy
and made such deadly enemies of the
Soudanese that after his deposition his
southern empire disappeared like dream,
and but for the English once again, as
IN the days of the Pharohs. the "Etho-
plans, would ,a,,b have conquered Egypt. He
meant to build a great throne for Ibra-
him, the son he loved, and he was sue
eeeded by Tewfik, the son born of an
and despiSed.
WHY HE FAILED
Even his effort to build a grand capital
| did not succeed. He found Cairo of wood
and left it only stucco. 1t was, in fact,
impossible for him to build for he would
never wait. The Pharaohs must have
wasted trasure beyond counting on their
buildings but they built as men who would
live forever, and even tropical nature has
been powerless to destroy their structures
| Ismail, on the contrary, when he wanted
| building, wanted it in week. He
| wished for instance, for a European quar-
| ter, and he gave valuable sites to any
one who would build, and even granted
| he gave these sums in proportion to the
| shortness of the time employed on the
structures, the highest rewards being Of
| fered for the houses built within three
months.
Nor did he excite any true loyalty among
his people. The Ottoman clan has clung
Hereby for nine hundred years to it's nered-
| itary lords nor has there ever been an oc-
| casion when the Sultan's summons to bat
| tie was not answered by a rising of hum
| dreds of thousands of brave men; and even
| the half-caste Arabs of Morocco will when
the hour arrives, which must come soon
| die in heaps around the descendant of Fati-
| ma; but when at last Europe, wearied out
| decided that Ismail must go, not blow
| was struck for him. He had alienated the
Arabs alike OF Arabia and of the valley of
the upper Nile; he had not organized his
1 own Arabs of the delta, and he had
planted distrust of himself among his
| nearest and most confidential pashas.
That he should squeeze his Chancellor of
| the Exchequer, Sadyk, who had heaped up
/ millions, was all fair and in accordance
| with the ways of Asia, but that he should
| lure him, his own foster brother, to death
| by driving him with soft words and IA
! miiiar laughter in his own carriage TO a
| place OF confinement, then sending him 10
| upper Egypt, then announcing that he had
| died of drinking, and then selling the fur
| niture of his palace at auction-this was a
| repetition of the murder of the Barmecide,
| which still stains even in the Arab mind
| the repute of Haron al Raschid. 1t is prob
| able. too, that Ismairs own nerve had
| failed Had he refused to obey the decree
| of deposition, repudiated his debts and de-