The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-18

kzsss ssszaaas.asaseaa.zazaszaaa
t,alro.-IIas@a- 40 ,4ze orders from
london and pay tribute 10 Coustanti-
marie. tie khedive of Egypt may wei
Le said TO be q ruler i'm pawn. His
hk!rness. Abbas Hilnii II, is The sew
eath of the 1Ichen,et Ali line 10 act as
the head of the Egyptian people, but
he is only a nominal ruler. There IS
little about his appearance or daily life
to- suggest that he is the successor Of
the Pharaoi1s and Ptolemies. Were It'll
not for his escort Of cavalry and his
fez. YOU would pass him i'm the streets
of Cairo without sUspecting that he
was the occupant of the place once held
by Alexander and Cleopatra. Before
giving further details about the khediVe
It may be well 10 dwell for a space upon
the causes which contributed directly
10 his reduced position.
Egypt is the scene of the Arabian
Nights tales, and to them might well
be added the fanciful but truthful story
OF IsmaH, that extraordinary spend
thrift whose unparalleled generosity
and wastefuIness delivered unborn gen
erations of his COuntTymen into flpan-
cial bondage, and deprived mis- own
heirs of their birthright of authority.
Although this prince of spenders was
y
upon his people a debt Of $45OOOO,OOO,
the largest sum ever contracted in
similar manner by q single Individual
To souander this amount it was neces-
sary for him to get rid of $4,000 day
On an average. At first glance It would
Ekem almost impossible for one person
fel spend so much. but even the br1efeSt
aAcount of the career of this open
hearted Oriental is sufficient to show
that a million dollars was hardly peck
ct money for him.
"Send a Wagon-Load of Money"
one of his daughters once sent him
a note saying: please send me a Wa
son load of money 1 want II quick.
This request coming 50 suddenly might
easily have assumed the proportion OF
a run on the bank, but Ismail. without
having the slightest idea what the girl
wanted with so much money, promptly
sent her wagon load of cash. When
General Sherman's daughter was mar
ried this imDrOvident ruler sent her a
handful of diamonds as a wedding gift
The value of these gems was so great
that when the question Of paying duty
on them arose, it threatened to wreck
the small family fortune IsmaH was
great admirer Of the United States. and
his gifts were not confined to individual
citizens of that country The great
obelisk in Central Park, New York. was
presented by him. Although this valued
object had been secured to Alexandra
by the enterprise of Julius Caesar, and
was covered with hieToglyphics of the
time of Rameses and Sati, antedating
the Christian era by twelve hundred
years, he gave il away To foreigners
without a moments reluctance or re-
gret.
The promoters of the Suez canal
promised that this enterprise should
cost Egypt nothing, but by the time it
was ready to open they had reached
deep into IsmaiI's treasury. An Ordi-
nary man. having his experience with
that, unbIuShing band of plunderers,
would have had enough of the project.
but this forgiving Oriental merely took
advantage of the occasion to dwarf all
his other acts of magnificence. He in
augurated a reign of festivities so
EumDtuOus as to rival even the extrav-
agances of Akbar In India. 1t took
forty-eight ships to convey his guests
ia the triumphal opening procession
through the canal
The Sport of Kings.
Among those who accepted the spend
thrills hospitality at this time We're
half the crowned heads of Europe, in
Guiding the French empress, the Aus
TRAN emperor and the Prince and PTin-
cess of Wales For q month Cairo was
the scene OF the most udILlilS SuCNNO-
sion of gaities the modern east has
ever seen. An opera house was built
especially for the production of the
opera Aida and after the first per
formance Verdi the composer, was
given a complimentary purse Of $4,000
After his guests had gone home and
his auditors had footed Up the bills. this
masquerade in the role of CrOesus
found that his entertainment of them
had cost him S21 GOO 600
It is not surprising that a man so
fond of ostentatiOn should have been
suspected of gaining his position by
foul play. When IsmaiFs education
was completed in Paris he returned to
Egypt with big notions in his head.
but with an elder brother obstructing
his way TO the throne When a special
train conveying the heir apparent to a
garden party in Alexandria ran into an
osen drawbridge over the Nile. drown
Ing him in his apartment. the gOssips
naturally accused Ismail of being re-
sponsible for his brothers death. The
circumstances warranted this opinion,
F, because IsmaH and his crOny. the di-
rector of railways both of whom We're
axpected TO be passengers on the same
train. excused themselves at the last
1 moment.
\ The Man With One Thumb.
| on stfiI9another occasion the khedive
showed that he was not afraid of
bIoodv hands. 4 minister Of his treas