The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-06-03

Cairo, Egypt The war-cry OF the
Nationalist Party in the valley Of the
Nile is Egypt for the Egyptians" NO
one can deny the worthiness Of the pa
triotic sentiment expressed. but the
English masters Of the country meet
the slogan with the quiet question.
who are the EgyptiansT And that
question Is very dif1cult to answer. The
proclaimed desire OF the Nationalist
Party Is to restore the ruling power
to the Khedive. The Khedive 10 not
an Egyptian. He 10 q Turk and his
dynasty IL that OF a usurper. the
Khedive has smiled upon the National-
ist movement more than once. yet well
informed Europeans and Americans IN
Egypt declare that when the English
60 the Khedive will follow at once:
bag and baggage. All the nnanciai
woes of Egypt are the result efs the
the refsning Turkish Khediye. A
genuine movement to reclaim Egypt
for the Egyptians might dispose or
Abbes II. as effectually as OF the Brit
ish Consul Generals overlordship.
Before the present Turkish dynasty
ruled In Egypt the power Of govern
ment was In the hands OF the Mame-
slaves OF the earlier sultans. THESE
Sultans were Osmali Turks. and they
had been preceded by Arabian Sultans
and Caliphs. Before the Arabians there
came the Byzantine rulers. before them
Roman rule and the fPtolemies and
the Greek ascendancy. It has been
twenty-five centuries since an Egyp-
tian ruled over Egypt The British
Government has declared repeatedly
during the last twenty-five years that
II Is endeavoring TO prepare the Egyp-
tians for self-government. II that dec
laration is false, as the Egyptian pa
triots assert, II still must be admit
ted that the English have done more
to bring the native and ancestral
Egyptian to q realizing sense OF Civic
liberty than all that had been done In
the twenty-five hundred years beIofe
the British occupation.
There hasn't been day since the
British soldiers marched into Cairo
that some patriot has not denounced
the Occupation" The Nationalist
Party has had more or less inchoate
existence during nearly all OF that
time. Newspapers printed in Arabic.
English and French abuse the British
rule almost without limitation. 1t II
the British policy to permit the mall
contents to let Off steam In that man
ner. Yet the only real organization
and genuine movement for national au-
tonomy was led by Moustafa Karael
Pasha, who died little more than q
year ago at the early age OF "a years.
With hts death the movement was
arrested. the party divided into as
many cliques as there were men am
bilious to fill Moustafa's shoes. The
consultative assembly, q sort OF par
lament, boldly demanded freedom
while Moustafa lived. but now II Is
silent. The defenders Of the British
regime point to this fact as proof that
y - -. - aNr 80 l.
of self government, arguing that q
party that depended solely upon the
life Of one man could not be expected
to administer a nations affairs with
safety.
Moustafa Kamel Pasha entered poll
itics when he was 81 years old. and
until the day OF his death in Febru-
airy, 1908, he was the central figure OF
the anti-British agitation In Egypt.
For the first several years Of his mis-
sion he relied almost implicitly upon
the French as the future deliverers OF
his country. Like most Egyptians OF
wealth and position he had been ed
ucated in France. he looked upon
French civilization as the highest type
Of Occidental culture. and he could
neither understand nor tolerate the
cold logic of the An9lo-Saxon. The
stern reasoning Of the British people
which has gained for them a full meas
ure OF personal liberty while retain
ing the forms Of ancient absolutism did
not appeal to Moustafa. He chose
rather the volatile Frenchman who
has always preferred the forms OF
perfect liberty, regardless OF the ac-
tual tyranny imposed under those
forms. The traditional French hatred
Of England the continual protests from
the French Foreign once against the
British occupation Of Egypt, the enc
enlargement given the Egyptian Ma
tionaltst cause by French Journalists
and literary men--all these things led
Moustafa to identify Egyptian liberty
and French interest as one cause.
Moustafa established a newspaper.
al Lewa." which almost Immediately
became the leading journal of Islam,
n position which 1t still occupies.
French and English editions of this
journal soon followed, and the infiu-
ence of the tri-lingual newspaper or
gan OF the Nationalist cause was mark
ed. The young leader maintained very
close relations with the Khedive and
was given the title Of '.pasha" from
the Sublime Porte. At his instance.
the Khedive invited a party OF French
Anglophobe writer's to take q trip on
the Nile as his guests. The English
Government protested with vehemence-
This caused Moustafa to break with
the hneu1VSp anu lAio NattoHaAiSt hONS~
ment became more intensely Egyptian
and therefore more generally popular.
Then Moustafa came to realization
that the soft-spoken Gaul had encour-
aged him not because he loved Egypt
more, but England less. The French
formed a new entente cordiale with
the British, and agreed TO support the
indefinite occupation of Egypt. The
British permitted the Nationalist news
papers to publish what they pleased
and to circulate freely in Egypt. But
the French, fearing the doctrine of lib
erty in Africa, refused "Al Lewa" to
the mails in Tunis and Algeria. Nous
tafa was forced to the conclusion that
he must rely upon Esyptians alone to
establish a government by Egyptians
for Egyptians. And at the same time
he realized the pftiful weakness of his
people. In his latter days he preached
patriotism and preparation for the lib-
erty that was sure to come. It was q
better lesson than that which he had
formerly taught, that the French
would help and that liberty would come
without preparation.
Always delicate in health, and worn
out by the strenuous life he had lived
since boyhood, his body gave way and
he died at an age when most great
statesmen have not laid of their swad-
ding clothes. II Moustafa had lived
would have been carved high on the
tabletA sacred to national patriots ana
liberatora.
His body was followed to the grave
by half a million people, the greatest
funeral procession of modern times.
His brother received more than $4,000
kilograms and letters OF coincidence