EGYPT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3479, 6 May 1920, Page 3

EGYPT.

(By A. L. KING.)

AR ABI "S RLICBELLION.

T-Early in the Kherliviate of Tewfik oceurr(\(] the rebellion of Alnned ;\r;ll>i, the ltlgyptian. which brought about military intervention in Egypt. Arubi was an ignorant Egyptian of the pea.~'allt- class, who :<tal'te(l a revolt in the lflgyptiaii army. in which he was an ofiicer, and by some strange capricc of eil'euln.~:tane.es, became practically inilitary tllClLl.TO1".ll1 Egypt, defying both the Porto and the Powers. I~I:ul ;—\.rabi’s rebellion succeeded, Egypt would umlonbtedly have become independent, under an Egyptian ruler. But a Divine voice in the long ago had or<lere<l the xlestiny Bf Egypt otherwise. V On account of the jeopardy of the lives of Europeans, and Arabi’s preparations for war, Great Britain cleeided to intervene. France was invited to co-operate, but declined, a decision she later keenly regretted. The Britiszli fleet, in 1.882, l)on1barcle(l the forts of Alex-an«tll'ia, and two nlonths later the British troops, under Sir G2ll‘l]Cf- Wolseley, encountered ;\ra‘oi’.s army entrenched at Tel~el-Kehir. V\7olseley launched a night attack, and twenty minutes later the whole Egyptian army was in headlong flight. Awaliing from his s’ieep,‘Al'abi fled b-o.re~footed from the field. In after years he oomplainecl that the British had not given him time to put. his boots on. .

BRITAIN LN E(;‘«Yl"l‘. From that tinlc, but with m1(1ouh‘;ed :Idvzlntagc to Egypt and its people, the hand of LLllg‘iand has been at the 11.01111 of lEg_,ryl')tiall ui}_'-.lil's. Sir Evelyn B:-.1‘ing (aftcrwal'ds Lord Cl'omCl') (10votcal his great abilities and jrwcnfyfive years of his life to bringixlg equity and pruspel'it_V out of L‘gyptizul chaos Jjld misrulo. He found Egypt. ruined and Ini:sel‘ablo; he left it in 1907 not only wealthy and pl'ospol'ous,, but one of the lightest taxed countries in the world.

The great hulk_of the Egyptians consist of the fellahin, or peasant‘ class. These, while, perhaps, not par- ' 'ticulz\l'ly gr:il‘et'ul for what England! has done for them, seem 011.t11e whole well satisfied with the prosperity and other benefits British rule has brought. A far smaller class is the efiendi, 01" educated Egyptians. It is this class; that mainly breeds the malcontents who clamour for autonomy. For Bri-1 tish rule has prevented them from! preying and battening, as they form—‘ crly did, on the down‘-trodden fell-ahin. \ Moral worth and incorruptibility they| have found it difficult to'undel'stal_ld 011:9} appreciate, and they loathed Lord‘ Cromer, a man of high principles and‘ sterling worth.

In the light of the destiny that hasl inexorably controlled over two millenniums of Egypt’s immemorial past,‘ an independent Egypt, governed by Egyptians is an impossibility. Event the Sultan, Prince Hussein Pllßll3‘ Kzunei, appointed to the Sultanie throne by Britain when she declared a protectorate over Egypt in 1914, is of foreign blood, being the oldest. living member of the House of Mohammcd Ali, the great Albanian. Egypt and Egyptians would gain nothing, and probably lose very much if British rule were withdrawn. As things are the Egyptian inaleontents would be wise in knowing just when they and their countrymen were really well oft‘. For ages oppressed, downtrodden, .zlnd misruled. the Egyptians have never been so well governed and prosperous as under British guidance and 1 protection. ' '

A R-EMARKABLE J’R()l’l-ll‘I()Y.

The I'ecru'descenee of a little trouble in Egypt from time to time, and the agitation of the Nationalist societies for independence, recalls a remarkable prophecy, which was already considerably more than two thousand years of ‘fulfilment in verification of its accn. Tracy, the Egyptians can never hope to k be any more than :1 “base” or subject ‘people, 01' have again :i. ruler of their own blood. There was -.1 time in the dim dis‘ tant past, when Egypt was one of the: greatest and most cultured of nations. The imposing ruins of the country to» day are a mute \\'ii,m-ss of what Slitmust once have been in st-ience, :u~chi.i teeture, and national glory. But Egypt-4 failed to fulfill the purpose of the Most High, and weighed in the Divinei balances was found wanting. .'Her day} of destiny pa.<.'<ed, and with it 1101“ national pomp and glory found a wind— ‘ ing sheet in the desert sands. ‘ The prophecy referred to was uttered by the prophet Ezekiel, in the days of Pharaoh Hoph_r:l., or Apries, about 589 8.C.: “They (the Egyptians) shall be :1. base kingdom.” “And the:-e shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.” Ezek. 29: 14.; 30: 13. The prophecy took a little while to develop fully, but it has never :<.illco relaxed its grip on the destinies of the Egyptians. Egypt was ravaged by the Babylonians under nebuehadnez—zar, and later was subject to the Persians wlien the latter attained to world empire. In the Persian period the last native Prince of Egypt, New ‘tanebus IL, sat on the throne. He fled lbefore the invading Persian for-ce.~, about 34:0 8.C., and since that time, although over 2200 years have rolled aw-ay, not another native prince, or

“Prince of the land of Egypt," has sat upon the throne. . On th'e downfall of Mo<lo—Pcl'sia, in 3.31 8.C., the Egyptians became subject. to the ail-conquering Alexander the Grout, than to the I‘tol(‘nli<‘-5, and in 30 8.C., Egypt becanw :1 Roman province. .5

BIOHAMMEDAN R-L'l’.E IN EGrYPT.I The Molnnamnieclans conquered l Egypt in the seventh century, A.D.,l and the country was for long centuries I umler the hec-1 of the Caliphs and other} Moslem dynasties. In the thirteenth‘ century the I\lamelul<es—~tho wordi comes from the Arabic “.\lzunluk,” :1] slnve——usurped the supreme power_. and the Egyptians sufi’el‘e<l for e(‘ntul'iesl the indignity of being ruled by :1 rapid succession of first 'l‘ul'kish znnl then Circassian Sultznis, who had risen from the ranks of slaves. .-Xlthou-_zll there '\\'cl'e periods when Moslem (l_\'n:xsties l ruling Egypt were macticzxlly indel pendent of other rulers and countl'ies. xyet. it could not be said that the Egyptians themselves were independ? ent. They were ruled by foreign masters, downtrodden and oppressed, Mal had no voice in the :Ifi':'airs of their I country. \

Egypt \~.':ls comxquoered by the Turks in AD. 1517', although the power of the ".\[ameluke» chiefs continued until they were freacherously murdered by ummmmea Ali in 1311'. - M_OHAMI\IED ALI.

M.ollnnllned Ali was an Albanian of peasant ‘birth, and practic:lll_\j no education, who by his great n:l’tural abili-ti-cs_.‘lnilita'l"y ‘skill, and powol':s"o‘r' intrigue. nl:ul:lged to got. himself appointed by ‘rho Porto governor of Egypt in 1805. For years 110 \\‘a:< tho 'nn.<t sfx*ikim_g‘lfigllr(c in the ()1-ioxlf, and secured for 'himself the nicknmne of the “Lion of‘ the Lovanf.” Qu:lrrol- - with his Overlord, the Sultan of Turkey, hc‘c(mle, in 1839-40, very near to driving the Sultan from his throne, but the Pow-ers intervened in the .~:’rrn;l‘glo, and'»Moh:llnln'Cd Ali's grand «h'(‘mn dissolved into thin air." ' - , . IS‘M:\II4. PASHA.

His gl'2lm_l~s(»;.)_'. Ismail Piislm, pzl\'On.l the way fol'_.~,Eu};()poall intervvntitm in the’ l]1l'0I_’I]:1l :n"t'ail's of ltlgypt. iln his fill;ulg.igil]_y’ I'u_inou.~‘ cfi"ol'l' to secure ;:v-ostigie V\i\"lfll‘ ll3u1'op(::m so\*el'oigns and h«;moul's from the Sultan, Ism:1il beemne the most reckless spc-n<ltlll'ift of his day. VVhen he became Vic-oi-o_\f in l.<'»(i2}, tho‘ lC§,ryptian debt was :1 little oV'(‘]‘-£3,0(ll:l,U0_Ol Only sixteen years later, in _lS‘7_o_. it stood at nearly mu-I’y ;:In‘gf<')i..iu_(»uo. 01) his visits to 1-Eu:-op_c':'l'll i;.:l‘pit‘a].<.':‘ll)(l to the Sultan. he sv:lt'tel'c(l gold with a lavish hand, 21 vex-sonzll Pl'€’>"~‘li’fWi"tC) the .‘4ultnn in one instzulce amounting to £900,000. Yet ])l'act'ir:.ully all‘the'honour he I'uog\i\'v<l 'r‘ronl‘Coiistanfinoplc was The hev'mlitary 't.itle"‘of Khedive. Finding himself‘ ll:u'<l'-pnslle(‘l for funds, he sold, in 1875, some 177,000 shares in the Suez Canal to the"Disra<2li Government for £4,000,000.‘ But Isnlail coma not :Ili\?a.ys keep on borrowing money in Eilrope ‘vto Spend it with :1. pl'o(ligzLl lxancl, zind heavier taxes could not. possibly ‘be extortml from an over-taxed, poverty-stricken, and tlespairing peov ple. The ’crash came suddenly in 1879, when the 15orte, at the iiistanco of the Pn\vm's, disposed Ismail from the k'he(livi:lto. and zmpginted his son. T'\’_“~.‘.'lll{. in‘ his stone].