The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-01-03
10 The humblest tax collector and mill

to the humbIest tax collector and milf
taTy officer,
Barring at once. set to work 10
stTaighten things out and make the
government honest at any cost" said
a British colonel who knew him well
in those days. If an official was found
to be receiving brides or opposing the
people-and dozen Of them were dis
covered every day-he had to 60.
NO plea, no argument stopped his
cTuSadinE zeal. It was useless TO tell
him that such a scamp was related to
the khedive, or that such another
scamp was q lineal descendant of the
prophet and his dismissal would there
fore arouse the fanaticism of the peo-
pie.
Il remember once ne went TO the
khedive-not the present one, but his
predeceSsor-to demand the dismissal
OF one Of the leading officials Of the
palace. who was an intimate friend of
the khedives Barring made his de-
mand in plain language. Either he
must go on 7 viii 60 he said for I
am convinced that he is plotting
against England and doing his best to
spoil my work here
The khedive white with passion,
refused violently. Am 1 king or
dog? he asked The man is my per
sonal servant and my friend. ] VIII
never. send him away. If do so, my
people would know that Lam nothing
but the shadow of ruler
I leave the palacesin five minutes
replied Barring. Unless ] have the or
der of dismissal then, I shall so
straight to the cable Office and wire
to the British government that / am
coming home. telling them why. You
know wei enough that that VIII mean
vour dpthr0nement'
For a moment Baring's life must
have hung in the balance The khe-
dive, trained to oespotic authority, had
never been spoken TO in that manner.
He was mad with rage; he had only 10
shout TO his bodyguard in the corridor
outside and Barring would have been
killed in the twinkling Of an eye, But
he thought better of IL, and the En-
glishman left the palace with the order
in his pocket"
That was only one of many such
scenes. In time the masteTful BTitQn
made the Oriental understand who was
the ruler of Egypt and then there was
20 more open friction. The khedive
accepted a life Of luxurious indolenee,-
and Barring governed his country in his
name.
But this was not accomplished until
he had passed through a hundred per
lis Many another man. besides his
Turkish friend told Barring that if he
went Oh disCharging officials and dust
ing away the cobwebs Of centuries of
misrule he would certainly be poisoned
BY bis own cook or sta 5bed some dark
night as he passed through the dark
alleys of Cairo. But ne went on his
way without needing these warnings.
Fortunately his English assistants
end aides-de-camp were alive to his
danger and formed a kind of body
guard to watch him night and day
Plot after plot against his life was
discovered but the facts were never
made public-just as numerous an
archial attempts against the lives Of
European sovereigns. are carefully kept
secret
One day at a public audience a
ragged dervish approached Barring. car
rying q long roll of parchment The
guards, supposing that the man wanted
to present a petition. allowed him to
Iass. But Sir William Garst1n. who is
now under secretary Of state for pub
lie works IN Egypt. stepped up to him.
gripped his right wrist and gave it a
sharp twist With a howl Of pain, the
dervish opened his hand. and a knife
which had been concealed in the roll Of
parchment, fell clatteTing on the mar
bic pavement of the han
One night in 1855 an English tourist
was found dead in the streets of Cairo.
He had been stabbed three times in
the hack His watch and purse had
not been stolen, and the police officers