The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-15
A TRICK IN COLONIZATION.

CA. C. Babize in Chicago Times-Herald)
Whether war results or not between
France and Great Britain from the
formers occupation of Fashoda and
the reopening of the whole Egyptian
question-Which, like the so-called
eastern question, is chemically a source
of irritation to the nations of Europe
the world at large since early last
spring has learned more of the Soudan,
the topography of the Nile country, the
khalifa, dervisheS, ETC., than it prOba-
bly, ever did before. But in the flood
of news which came in daily over the
wires there was constant reference,
an iteration and reiteratiOn of one
word, which, while persons who read
might surmise it referred probably to
title, yet had no positive proof of ex-
actly what it meant. That one word
was invariably preiXed to Sir Herbert
Kitchener's name: The sirdar. Now,
what meant this word sirdar?
@ @ @
A quarter of a century ago or there
abouts, at the time when Great Britain
by right of might and not for any other
reason occupied Egypt and took the
sultan's khedive under it's tutelage, one
of it's first acts was to reorganize the
Egyptian army. The reorganization of
sions is invariably the first step which
Great Britain always takes toward
civilizing new province. And this it
is, too, which has made England so
successful as colonizing nation. Brit
iSh officers then were sent to Egypt
and placed at the head of the native
troops. These officers drilled the troops,
taught them the manual Of arms and
gradually instilIed in them that same
| n ,i,aL,
makes the British army itself such a
compact and formidable body. The ma
tive troops were allowed to retain their
colors, their flags and insignia, and all
| the paraphernalia of war distinctively
the attribute of an unconquered peo-
pie. British statesmen went further
| They even allowed the same military
titles to remain. 1t was a tactful thing
to do; Britain lost nothing thereby,
and the Egyptian warriors retained all
that was sentimentally sacred to them.
@ @ @
Thus, therefore, the ancient words,
sirdar, bimbashi, jougoul. etc, re-
manned in the army. The sirdar of the
Egyptian army is the general-in-c chief.
The binbashi is a major, the jCugOul a
captain. Sirdar-literally it means Of
ficer-is as old an expression almost as
the country of the Pharaohs itself. In
Arabic the word means head man."
There needs be little stretch of the i'm
agination to see how the term came to
be given to the commandant of the
Egyptian forces.
! Sir Herbert Kitchener is the second
sirdar of Egypt, the first to bear that
name being Major General Sir Francis
| Wallace Grenfell. Now the military
forces occupying Egypt are of two
| classes: The British army, whose COM
mander is General GrenfeIl, and the
native army, commanded by Sir Kitch-
ener, the Sirdar. Each works independ-
emily of the other. General GrenfelTs
forces are under direct control of the
+ war office in London; Sirdar Kitch-
! ener's troops are controlled by the khe-
! dive, Abbas Pasha's war minister, until
recently Abani Pasha. That is. the
| khedive's government, for those IA
miliar with Egyptian politics know
very well that Abbas Pasha is but the
servant of Lord Cromer, Great Brit
aims agent in Cairo. Several times in
recent years the khedive, chatting under
British so-called protection, has sought
to dismiss the sirdar, but British bonds
were too strong to be shaken Off 1t is
scarcely more than year and a halt
ago that Abani Pasha sought to get rid
of Sir Herbert Kitchener. And how
near he came succeeding French dipIo-
mats, and particularly NJ. Hanotaux
well know. 1t was at this juncture that
Lord Cromer's powerful diplomacy
came into good use. This strong man
of Egypt's land, whom England has
just sent back to Cairo at an immeas-
urable personal sacrifice-a sacrifice
which cost him the life of his devoted
wife-plainly told the khedive he
wouldn't have it. "It is absolutely
necessary for your own safety and that
of the army and the land" ne is re-
ported to have said, that Sir Kitch.
ener should remain. And the khedive
bowed to the dictum, and Abani Pashe
was dismissed from office. "And events
have fully justified this decision" sale
/ a British diplomat in this city yester.
day.
Sir Herbert Kitchener became sirdal
in 1897. 1t is not a generally known
fact that he was a fellow student of the
late prince imperial at WoOlwich mill
tary academy. Born in 1850, he was
so to say, brought up in a barracks
His father Colonel Horatio Kitchener
was a soldier, and the future hero O.
Omdurman dreamed of soldering il
early boyhood. County Kerry, Ireland
THE STATE B