ARABI PASHA'S DEFENCE.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1649, 30 January 1883, Page 4

ARABI PASHA'S DEFENCE.

. i m — v The following letter to the editor of tho Times neMftpaporn appears in a recent issue :— " Sir,— I have seen in No. 1105 of theyfaloaib, under tho heading of the •ArreBt'6f tho Seditious in Euypt,' an articlff^ayhftj that so many rebel officers have bieniaoizcd, and so many Bedouin Shoik»,<Hndi^uch'and such a Cadi, and such aDepiity, and such an one of the Ulema, and such a.Mudir, and such an officer, or interpreter, or merchant, or clerk, and have been Bent a prison. Now, all yo champions of liberty, if it is the soldiers who are rebels, why have so many Notables and Ulema and C* Us of such different duties been imprisoned and ill-treated? "And if the wholo of the nation of every class was of one mind in one work, and that the liberation of their country and its defence, why then are they U bo stigmatised by the name of rebels' ? In the name of truth this is evident tyranny that they should be treated' as such. The war was in accordance With the laws of God and man, consonant to a solemn decree of a Council under the presidency of tho Khedive and Dervish Pasha, the envoy of the Sultan. And after the soldiers and inhabitants had 16ft Alexandria, the Khedive returned and went over to those who were tightning against his country — a thing prohibited by every law. The entire Egyptain nation was unanimous as to the necessity of suspending Tewfik Pasha for having transgressed the prescription of the Divine and highest law, and demanded the continuation of the defence of the country by a decree which was made known to his Majesty the Sultan. After that, are we rebels ? I say that we were defending our country in a way approved by tho laws of God and man, and whoever says tho contrary does not speak tho truth, bnt on the contrary, is a slave to passion and monej*. I add that the Ulema of Islam and the Moslems of every country of the world allow that we never exceeded the limits laid down in God's book, and deprecate the illtreatment wo receive, which is contrary to all justice. oye just men !is it lair that the sons of the country should be deprived of every office, and that foreigners should take their places, together with those who have come to Egypt, like Circassians, Albanians, and Bulgarians :so that even down to the lowest ranks such as the onbashis of the army, the places are given to others than tho sons of Egypt ? Are not the Egyptians as good as the Bulgarians and other foreigners ? But we shall lind among the champions of humanity some to defend the right against the tyranny of the time which blackens the face of man. From my prison cell at Cairo, Nov. 1. " Ahmed Aram, the Egyptian."