The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-05-04


the Egyptian Thr~sac. Hut ubo
''saddsniy" Da~<s-sn.si.er War
rsor Pals to Cassar~ Jerusalem.
the Sacred city.
Correspondence Of The Caucasian
Enterprise
Bilkinsviile. \. C.. May /. isii.
For more than \ hundred years
+ from i%05 10 I5i7-shere wux but
little worthwhile history made in
Egypt The monarehx Who ruled
were LOT oT weakiings who. If they
did anything. hit wuz apt to be the
wrong thing. No reason la given for
this radical deterioration ov Egyp-
tian manhood or citizenship. but
nations, like families. hey their dull
dishonest sometimes BOTH admins
trations come and go and nobody can
tell Why such gigantic mistakes are
made one time after another.
At the end ov the period ov bad
luck Egypt became "A province ov the
Turkish empire. That fact alone IL
or wuz proof that Egypt had reached
the very bottom an further decline
wuZ out ov the question.
] Soliman mot Solomon) succeeded
hiz father, Selim; and he began hiz
/ rule over Egypt an Turkey by crush
/ in the rebellion in the various prov
/ inces. Hiz name wuz terrible among
nations. He even overthreg the
power oy the knights ov Rhodes But
things didn't last. Egypt wuZ divided
into twenty-four districts. An Of
! fetal called a bey had control ov
each. He could collect taxes or trib-
ute az he pleased, an not a few oy
them sought popularity by maxim the
taxes low. But they awlways man
aged to guage the cash receipts Ia
proportion to the size ov their own
trouserloon pockets. This meant that
When tax gatherin' wuZ over In the
fall the pockets worn by the beys
would resemble balloons. But hit iZ
quite likely that their pockets
''swunk" up just az quickly az do bal
looms when the gas (money) wuz ex-
hausted, for most ov the Turks were
high rollers" an they hey not got
ten over that in our day. The beys
became unduly important on this ac-
count an favoritism wuz notorious
in that day. BY indulging the MEM
| bers ov the regency. the beys in
creased in power until they obtained
the complete disposal ov publick af-
fairs. Every hey had had originally
few Mamelukes or slaves at hiz
command, for enabling him to make
his authority respected in the pro-
vince where he resided; but az the
power ov the beys wuz enlarged, they
| increased their attendants, an In
proportion to the number ov slaves
or Mamelukes, so wuZ their strength.
When a vacancy occurred In a prov
ince the hey would fill hit by putin
in hiz favorite Mameluke. Naturally
the sharp beys soon had things COM
| in easy. The Mamelukes finally be-
came the real standin' army ov Tur-
key an Egypt. All this wuz followed
| by an era ov reckless politicks an
Egypt an Turkey were soon goin'
toward the end like two wild steers
yoked together.
/ In this state ov affairs an active
youth among the Mamelukes who wuz
brought from Mount Caucasus, grew
an became both prominent an pow
erful: in fact, he finally reached a
point where he wuz the ruler ov
Egypt an Turkey, probably the only
| instance ov the kind since the real
ancient days. He must hev been
gifted politician. But while he had
risen to great power by some means.
| he wuz not well received an soon
| found that he could not collect trib-
ute with any regularity an that a
self-made man wuz not wanted upon
the throne, at least not By those in
/ high authority. Hiz name wuz Ali
Bey. In the bitter struggle to hold
hiz footin,' Ali Bey wuz forced to
fee from Egypt TO Palestine He be-
came Objectionable to the Turkish d.
van an hiz life wuz sought by high
officials. But in 1858 the court ov
Constantinople declared war against
Russia, an while the ottomans were
employed in defendin' their prov
inces against the Russian invasion,
Ali Bey got busy in Egypt an reduced
| the people to obedience Then he
quickly sent an army into Arabia for
conquest an to pick mp anythin' not
nailed down. He soon attacked sew
eral Turkish cities an captured them.
Then he went to Jerusalem, or hiz
soldiers did. and havin' formed a
junction with the troops ov Sheik Da-
her, notice soldier ov the day. the
combined forces entered Damascus.
Continued on page 3D.