EGYPT. 



235 





but solelv because his Majesty was convinced that 

 your Highness, in your wisdom, would not abuse this 

 abstinence, and that, appreciating rightly the benefits 

 of which you have been the object, you would never 

 diverge from the path of loyalty and devotion. 



It was at a moment when this conviction existed 

 in all its strength, and when the benevolence of his 

 Imperial Majesty the Sultan toward you continued 

 and was daily increasing, that the scheme of your in- 

 tended journey to Europe was announced to me. 

 Although your Highness had been good enough to 

 apprise us of your departure, you did not deem it in- 

 cumbent on you to afford us the least information as 

 to the motives assigned by public report for your 

 voyage, nor to give any answer whatever to the re- 

 quests for explanation which were officially addressed 

 to you. Though greatly astonished at this silence, 

 wo still thought it right to await the moment which 

 would throw light upon these facts. It was during 

 this interval that we received information of your 

 visit direct from Alexandria to Corfu, made to his Ma- 

 jesty the King of the Hellenes, and of the invitation 

 which you gave to that sovereign to be present at the 

 opening of the Suez Canal. The news of similar in- 

 vitations to the other sovereigns whom you next 

 visited followed this piece of information. It is 

 needless to say_ that our august master would feel 

 great pleasure in seeing the sovereigns of Europe, 

 if it so pleased them, attending the inauguration of 

 a great public work, accomplished in a portion of 

 his dominion^ and honoring with their benevolence 

 one of the chief members of his government, placed 

 at the head of the Egyptian administration. Only 

 your Highness is too enlightened to render it neces- 

 sary to remind, you that the invitation of an inde- 

 pendent sovereign to a foreign country should be 

 made by the independent sovereign of the country. 

 The contrary infringes alike upon the dignity of the 

 invited and the rights of the territorial sovereign. 

 Thus, the form adopted in this question by your 

 Highness is in all points contrary, both to the respect 

 due to the sacred rights of our sovereign and to the 

 consideration necessary for the august princes whom 

 you proposed to invite. On another point, it was the 

 duty of the representatives of the Sublime Porte 

 abroad to place themselves at the disposition of your 

 Highness as one of the greatest dignitaries of our 

 empire. Your Highness' s official relations required to 

 be carried on through their instrumentality. It would 

 appear, nevertheless, that their solicitude in the ful- 

 filment of this duty, far from having been agreeable 

 to your Highness, had no other effect than that of 

 displeasing you ; and it is with pain that we have 

 learned of all the reserve with which you thought 

 proper to mark your intercourse with them. 



Your Highness knows better than any one, and it 

 is, moreover, expressly stipulated in the imperial fir- 

 mans, that, with the exception of a few privileges es- 

 tablished in her favor, Egypt differs in nothing from 

 the other provinces, and that its administration can- 

 not direct official relations with other powers. The 

 treaties which exist between the Sublime Porte and 

 other states, as well as the fundamental laws of the 

 empire, must have the same force and vigor there. 

 Notwithstanding these fundamental principles the 

 continental journeys to Europe of the personage who 

 takes the name and title of Minister for Foreign Af- 

 fairs of Egypt, with the view of making efforts to ob- 

 tain in favor of the latter a change of those treaties and 

 to enter with the powers into direct negotiations on 

 this subject ; the great care which he takes in conceal- 

 ing from our representatives more than any one else 

 the object of his mission, and his abstaining from all 

 association with them, constitute so many facts which 

 infringe as much on the rights of the Sublime Porte 

 as they are contrary to your obligations, which can no 

 longer be tolerated. For it has oecome evident to the 

 eyes of our august master that if the powers, with 

 whom respect for rights and treaties is an immutable 

 principle, had shown the least favorable disposition, 



the abolition of our treaties, their replacement by 

 others, the suppression, in a word, of the contents 

 of the firmans which serve as the basis of the exist- 

 ence and continuance of the actual administration of 

 Egypt, was the aim which was sought to be attained. 

 At home, also, the incalculable and crushing ex- 

 penses occasioned by orders given for iron-clads, 

 fire-arms, and the like, subject the inhabitants of that 

 part of the empire to burdens far beyond their 

 meansj and inspire them with discontent against tho 

 administration. As has been said above, and we can- 

 nor repeat it too often, his Majesty the Sultan, our 

 august sovereign, animated by the liveliest solicitude 

 for the welfare and prosperity of Egypt, and desirous 

 to see that province enjoy its privileges within their 

 legitimate limits, can never consent to see the ties 

 weakened which attach it to his empire. Placed^as 

 it is under the principle of the safeguard of the in- 

 tegrity of the empire, it is impossible to conceive the 

 reasons which can impose upon the administration 

 of that country the obligation of depleting the pub- 

 lic treasury for the purchase of iron-clad vessels 

 and arms of all kinds. As the people can in no re- 

 spect long support the burden of such expenses, his 

 Majesty the Sultan, who is the legitimate sovereign 

 of the country, cannot permit it. Jt is a truth every- 

 where recognized, that luxury being not the cause 

 but the effect of civilization, true progress consists in 

 the accomplishment of the reforms which produce 

 that civilization. The just and enlightened mind 

 of your Highness renders it superfluous for us to point 

 out the disastrous consequences to which those ex- 

 pose themselves who, neglecting the fundamental 

 basis, begin with objects which ought only to be 

 their effects. The aim of these frank and sincere 

 explanations is to call the serious attention of your 

 Highness to facts the continuance of which, as also a 

 persistence in the path followed, can be reconciled 

 neither with the rightly-understood interests of the 

 imperial province, the good administration of which 

 is confided to you, nor with the maintenance of the 

 acknowledged rights of his Imperial Majesty, which 

 it is essential, above all, to preserve from ail infringe- 

 ment. "We do not doubt that your Highness, in your 

 high wisdom, taking into serious consideration all 

 the preceding observations, will see fit to desist 

 from all that oversteps the limits of your privileges 

 and your obligations, and that, from gratitude for the 

 great benefits of which you have been the object on 

 the part of our august master, you will henceforth 

 concentrate all your efforts upon the development of 

 the prosperity of Egypt and of the security of the 

 lives and property of its inhabitants. ^ In proportion 

 as your Highness confines yourself within the limits 

 of the conditions attached to your privileges, the 

 good-will which our august master does not cease to 

 feel toward you will extend and be redoubled. These 

 conditions, set forth at length in the firmans above 

 mentioned, it were here superfluous to recapitulate. 

 As it would be impossible for the Imperial Govern- 

 ment to desist from a single one of the provisions 

 contained in these firmans, it would be under the 

 necessity, though with regret, of recurring to them 

 whenever it should become a question of taking 

 measures for restoring within their limits and re- 

 pressing any contrary acts which might arise, and for 

 safeguarding acts and traditions. Consequently, and 

 by order of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, our au- 

 gust master, I hereby communicate to your Highness, 

 without the least evasion and in all frankness, the 

 real state of affairs, and await a clear and categorical 

 reply, offering all necessary guarantees for the future, 

 and which cannot be allowed to remain as a dead 



letter. 



A'ALI. 



The difficulties threatened to gravitate into 

 an open breach of the peace ; but neither party 

 felt disposed to go further, the Porte having 

 just come out of a protracted and expensive 



