The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-03

! are the egyptians And that question is
/ very ditticult to answer. The proclaimed
/ desire OF the Nationalist party is to re-
store the ruling power of the khedive.
! The khedtve is not an Egyptian He is
/ a Turk, and his dynasty is that of a
/ usurper. The khedive has smiled upon
| the Nationalist movement more than once.
yet well-infOrmed Europeans and Ameri-
/ cans IN Egypt declare that when the
English 60 the khedive will follow at
/ once, bag and baggage. All the financial
woes OF Egypt are the result of the mis-
rule or the Turkish grandfather of the
relgning Turkish khedive. A genuine
movement to reclaim Egypt for the Egyp-
lans might dispose of Abbas III as eff
erals OverlOrdship.
Before the present Turkish dynasty
/ ruled IN Egypt the power of government
was in the hands of the Mamelukes de-
| scendants of the Circassian slaves of the
earlier Sultans- Those sultans were Os-
mali Turks, and they had been preceded
/ Dy Arabian sultans and Caliphs. Before
/ the Arabians there came the Byzantine
rulers, before them Roman rule and the
Ptoe mics and the Greek ascendancy. II
/ has been twenty-five centuries since an
Egyptian ruled over Egypt. The British
government has declared repeatedly dur
ing the last twenty-five years that il is
endeaVoring to prepare the Egyptians for
Set-gOVernment If that declaration is
/ false, as the Egyptian patriots assert. it
still must be admitted that the English
have done more to bring the native and
ancestral Egyptian to a realizing sense
Of civic liberty than all that had been
done in the twenty-five hundred years
| before the British occupation.
There hasn't been day since the Brit
lsh soldiers marched into Cairo that some
patriot has not denounced the "occupa-
ton. The Nationalist party has had
more or less inchoate existence during
nearly ali of that time Newspapers
printed in Arabic, English and French
/ abuse the British rule almost without
| limitation 1t is the British policy to per
nit the malCCntents to let off steam in
that manner Yet the only real organiza-
ton and genuine movement for national
autonomy was led by Moustafa Kamel
Pasha, who died little more Lhan a year
| ago at the early age of 81 years.
With his death the movement was ar
rested, the party divided into as many
/ c1ques as there were men ambitious to
fill Moustafa's shoes The consultative
assembly. a sort of parliament boldly de-
manded freedom while Moustafa lived
/ but now it is silent The defenders Of
the British regime point to this fact as
proof that Egypt is not ready to take up
the task OF Self-gOVernment. arguing that
d party that depended solely upon the life
Of one man could not be expected to ad-
minister a nations affairs with safety.
MoUstafa Kamel Pasha entered politics
when he was p years old, and until the
day of his death in February, 1903. he was
the central figure of the ant-British agi-
tatlOn in Egypt For the first several
years Of his mission he relied almost i'm
plC1tly upon the French as the future de-
liverers OF his country. Like most Egyp-
tians Of wealth and position. he had been
educated 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 AnglO-SaXOn. The stern reasoning Of
the British people, which has gained them
a full measure Of personal liberty while
retaining the forms OF ancient absOlutism.
II q
rather the volatile Frenchman who has
always preferred the forms Of perfect lib
erty, regardless of the actual tyranny
imposed under those forms The tradi-
tiOnai French hatred Of England. the con-
tinual protests from the French foreign
office against the British occupation of
Egypt. the encouragement given the
Egyptian Nationalist cause by French
journalists a3d literary men-all these
things led Moustafa to identify Egyptian
liberty and French interest as one cause.
Moustafa established a newspaper Al
LeWs,' which almost immediately became
the leading journal of Islam. a position
which it still occupies. French and En-
glish editions OF this journal soon fol-
lowed, and the influence of the tri-lingual
newspaper organ of the Nationalist cause
tanned very close relations with the
khedive. and was given the title of
pasta from the sublime porte At his
instance, the khedive invited a party OF
French anglOphObe writer's to take a trip
on the Nile as his guests. The English
government protested with vehemence.
This caused Moustafa to break with the
khediVe, and the Nationalist movement
became more intensely Egyptian, and
therefore, more generally popular.
Then MOustafa came to a 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 indefi-
mite occupation of Egypt. The British
permitted the Nationalist newspapers to
publish what they pleased and to circulate
freely in Egypt But the French, fear
ing the doctrine of liberty in Africa. re-
fused to admit al Lewa" to the mails
in Tunis and Algeria. Moustafa was
forced to the conclusion that he must
rely upon Egyptians alone to establish a
government by Egyptians. And at the
same fine he realized the pitiful weakness
of his people. In his latter days he
preach ID patriotism and preparation for
the liberty that was sure to come. 1t
was a 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
boyh0od, his body gave way and he died
at an age when most great statesmen
have not laid off their swaddling clothes.
Ii Moustafa had lived there is little doubt
that his name would have been carved
high on the tablets sacred to national
patriots and liberators.
His body was followed to the grave by
a half million people. the greatest funeral
procession of modern times. His brother
received more than 25000 kilograms and
letters of coincidence when MOustafa
death was announced. Two millions of
copies Of his last great speech have been
sold. On the first anniversary of his
death the people of Egypt mOuTned as
they did in the ancient days when the
angel Of death sm0te the first-born in
every house.
Despite his faults Of logic. despite his
dreamy lack Of responsibility, despite his
passionate attachments and quick quar-
rels. MOustafa Kamel Pasha possessed
the elements of greatness and no one can
contemplate his career without sympathy
for the man and for the cause for which
he fought so vdliantly.
When he died an attempt was made to
carry on the Nationalist party organiza
ton in the manner he had directed, but
it was a failure and the party is now
broken into a score of cliques, each in
tent upon fighting the others. The Brit
ism oVerlOrds now contemplate the situd-
ton with satisfaction. The khedive is on
more pleasant terms with Sir Eldon
Gorst. the present British consul general.
than he was with Lord Cromer. The
French agitation against the British no
longer has any support from the French
official quarters and is waning. In fact,
since the Franco British agreement Of
1904. the Nationalist movement has been
On the decline; since the death of Nous
fafq Kamp1 paE6a Il has beeu norih1fn6