Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-03


use to which Moslem discomfort
Pan-Islamic or merely national
might conceivably be turned by rival
power in the event Of international
hostilities Is no more reprehensible
than Kriegspiel battles Of Dorking or
hypothetical poundings between two
fleets somewhere between Sheerness
and Borkum Island.
Anyway, Young Egypt's immediate
business Is to expel John Bull. His
way Of stating his case Is, in Paul
Kruger's phrase, something to stag
ger humanity" One may ask, has
he read any history-has he ever
heard of the miseries Of the half dozen
years preceding John Bulls reluctant
apparition on the scene? Initiating
Mustapha Kane, the nationalists have
announced their determination not to
endure from the British representative
what they would not put up with un-
der the native rulers; declare that
these rulers were the patrons Of the
popular education which the English
destroy; that England Is the obstacle
to the revival Of the glory and the
pride Of Egypt's past; that the occupa-
ton is a calculated breach Of solemn"
promises given by Queen Victoria and
her ministers during its earlier years;
that the nationalist movement is CO.
extensive with the nation, and the
most purely racial which the land OF
the Sphinx has ever known" Imagine
the happier age of Ismail and Said,
ruinous spendthrifts both; Of their
predecessors, Abbas, the worst type Of
Oriental despot; Of Ibrahim the brave,
but "a half lunatic savage" as LORD
Cromer justly described him; OF
Mehemet Ali, the ruthless adventurer
Of genius; of the Memlooks; Of Byzan-
tine monkery; Of the Romans, the
hardest Of tax gatherers. The most
accurate symbol of Egypt's ideal past
Is the fate Of the hundreds OF thou
sands who in the course Of two gen.
erations died Of famine, sunheat, and
the whip, in building their mountain
Of stone for the repose Of Pharaoh's
Kheop's stuffed corpse.
But now, retorts Young Egypt, we
can walk alone; we are ripe for par
liamentary government. The best an
swer to this startling statement Is an
election to the legislative assembly.
The townsmen and the peasants are
to vote for the men who are to elect
the deputies. On the day Of the popu-
lar poll the village headman has con-
siderable trouble In collecting his free
and Independent voters. Save for the
absence Of the whip, the headman goes
to work as he used to when In the good
old time Of despotism he went hunting
after runaway recruits for forced Ia
Dor on some landlords estates. Not
that the voters are afraid. Under the
British peace they have nothing to be
afraid of. They simply don't under
stand what the other Is about, and
don't want to be bored. However, to
the poll they go, submissively as sheep
before their drover. They vote as they
are told. And the Young Turk, when
the deputies of his political complex
ion turn up in Cairo, exclaims, see how
our nationalist movement Is spreading!
According to the census Of three
years ago the population of Egypt
numbered 11,1S9,97S-an advance OF
100000 in ten years, manifesting the
great progress Of the country under
least 100000 Of the total are abso-
lutely Indifferent to what Lord Cromer
has called the wholly spurious and
manufactured demand for parliament
tary institutions" In Egypt there is
a class of intelligent natives who may
be described as liberal-conservatives
and who have indorsed his opinion.
Self-government Is Of course their as
piration, but to quote one OF their
number, their ideal being now unat-
tainable, they must rely upon the
power to which we owe such liberty,
justice and progress as we never be-
fore have known" Natives Of this
stamp frankly and fully approve the
press laws and the recent law for spe-
cial supervision over persons or known
criminal propensities.
But because the nationalist agitation
Is the work Of q comparatively small
minority it does not follow that the
masses are proof against condition.
On the contrary, the danger Is real.
It Is the danger Of combined igno-
rance, credulity and fantastic imagina-
tion utilized by an energetic, clever
and unscrupulous class. They are
"MercuriaP people was the warning
uttered by the strong pro-consul, whose
kindly concern for the blue skirteo
fellaheen," whose best friend he was,
gives one q pleasing glimpse Of his
true character. Secret agents are
busy among the blue gowns. The anti
English papers are devoured by my
riads who cannot read, for exactly as
in India the illiterate rustics crowd
round somebody who can, 80 that In
this way the circulation Of such a pa
per as the seditious Lewa may amount
to a hundred times the ten thousand
or so Of its subscription list. The ma
tionalist press has attacked the khe-
dive himself for his alleged civilities
to the English officials. 1t has defend
ed political assassination. When ADD
el-Kadr, leader Of the ex-Dervish
band. was executed for the murder Of
Inspector Scott Moncrieff and twelve
of the band-captured after q hard
fight-were sentenced to death, but
subsequently let off with life imprison-
ment, the nationalist press accused the
British authorities Of "massacring'
their captives.
Young Egypt has been misled by the
ingenious, genial blarney Of passages In
Lord Dufferin's Memnon dispatch.
But their eloquent author himself was
under no delusion as to the Egypts
ability to walk alone" He knew, as
well as all his successors have known
long time must elapse before an Egyp-
tian house Of commons would or could
be anything but an "unmanageable
mob" Young Egypt forgets that the
English governments so-called prom
ise Of evacuation was conditional and
that Mr.. Gladstone and Lord Granville,
to whom the occupation was an unwel-
come necessity, laid 1t down that In all
important matters the Egyptian OFF,
cials must accept guidance from their
English advisers or resign their posts.
AS one Of the makers Of modern
Egypt-Sir Auckland Colvin-remark-
ed to me, 'The rayah Of the northwest
or Of the Pun5ab is more intelligent
than the Egyptian peasant and less
excitable, but who can tell when the
rayah will be At for government"
Young Egypt has turned the corner
Of the road from the oppressive, de-
moralizing despotism Of thousands Of
years. but his goal Of self government
Is still beyond measurable distance.
That need not discourage him, for the
ideal Of Freedom" Of independence"
naturally and rightly cherished by ev-
cry patriotic Egyptian, is also the
trustees ideal. 1t would indeed be
strange If the teacher Of freedom
should feel no pride in her pupils ad-
mission of fitness for its exercise