The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-15

women playing a predominant role at
Asiatic courts. Thus the present Queen
of Siam is a remarkable woman, and
ruled her husband 5 kingdom with the ut
most sagacty and craftsmanship during
his long visit to Europe. In Egypt, too,
the mother of the present Khedive,
strong minded and in every sense of the
word remarkable woman, has frequently
been the power behind the throne during
the somewhat stormy events which nave
succeeded one another in Egypt since the
time Of her marriage. Her husband, The
late Khedive TeWfik, was altogether sub
ject to her rule. Whether this was owing
to his appreciation of her intellectual SUI
periority, or due to fear, 1 have never
been able to discover.
There is reason, however, to believe
that apprehension had something TO do
with it, For his wife took after her
mother, a Turkish Princess, who is as
serted to have presented TO her husband
on a golden salver the head of one of her
odaiisdues that he had ventured to i'd
n1ire. and who then had him fastened up
in a sack and pitched into those swiftly
flowing waters of the Bosphorus, whlch
have witnessed so many tragedies of the
same kind Khedive Tewfik did not
relish the eda of sharing the fate of his
father-in-law, and chiefly on this account
restricted his affections exclusively to the
Khediviah 1t was this, too, that led him
10 obey so implicitly her advice, an ad-
vice which is accountable for the some
What suspicious role which he played at
The time of the Arab Instruction in 1882.
Owing to the fact that the KhediViah had
some near and dear relatives among the
leaders of the rebellion against the
Europeans she induced her husband TO
favor their cause as much as possible
and his loyalty to England was in conse-
ouence to such an extent question: in
London that in 1888 Lord Radolph Church
hin demanded in Parliament chat he should
be deposed.
With the advent Of Lord Cromer to
| Cairo however, matters there underwent
a change. The Khediviah, who is an
! extremely stout woman, entertained the
warmest affection for the late Lady Gro
mer; the latter had befriended her at
times during the reign of Ismail, when
| no one dared to visit Tewfik's palace for
fear of mourning the displeasure of his
| father. who was eager TO put him out OF
| the way and who hated him. The Khe-
! diviah never forgot the kindness of Lady
| Cromer (lrs. Barring, as she was them
in those days of her peril and of loneli-
ness. and the loyalty toward the English
| which from 1884 on became the distinguish
ing trait of Khediye Tewfix was largely
| que 10 the lIltiltiSulp VI AAit III
! Lady Cromer and the kindly, healthy in
huence which the latter exercised in the
| vice regal harem.
| Lady Cromer, however, found it impos-
sib,e to establish relations of the same
kind with the wife of the present Khedive
a poteutate whom she had known from
babyhood, and on the subject of whose
infant ills she had oftentimes been con
suited by his mother. His consort is moi
"a vi IL n
like the widowed Khedivia-, out a former
odalisque, or slave She is a relatively
| ignorant woman, possessed OF no intellect
or breeding, and being largely responsible
| for the antagonstic attitude of the young
Khedive toward the English.
In Abyssina woman is likewise the CHIEF
| factor For it is the Empress who is by
far the most important parsonage, Hel
! influence over the Negus is unboundeC
and he consults her in everything thai
he does, preferring her advice 10 thai
of everybody else. Indeed, IL is to heI
clever craftsmanship that is ascribed the
| extraordinary manner in which he sue.
ceeded in not only freeing himself from
| the protectorate of King Humbert but
/ likewise in driving the Italians out of his
| land All those who have visited his do
minions are united in declaring that she
! Is far ana away the most important figure
IN the contemporaneous history OF Abys-
| slnia, ana that she Is much more dreaded
| by the people and by the great chleftains
than her husband, whose Intellect, IN spite
OF his alleged lineal descent from King
| Solomon, and from the Biblical Queen OF
] sheha, is universally admitted 20 be dis.
/ uncuy inferior 90 her own. The British
/ Authorities IN India have always found
| the Bcgums, or sovereign Princesses Of Tho
| Dccclu, far more dlhicult 60 deal will
than tho Mahadajahs ana uailve kings
And both The great Duke OF Wellington
and LORD cllNe are on record ~ declaring
that iAe Begume had offered more stub.
born rcsistnncc 40 the English conquest
of Hindostan than any OF the more cele.
! DRAFTED Indian potentaiss, IA is IKE Wis,