2IJ8 



EGYPT. 



carried out, with the exception of the increase 

 of the army, and that the regiments should 

 leave Cairo at the time fixed I >\ Sherif Pasha. 

 Tin- immediate occasion for the outbreak had 

 been an order of Kiaz to transfer Araby Bey 

 and his regiment to Alexandria. 



The now ministry was formed on the 14th. 

 It was composed as follows: Sherif Pasha, 

 President of the Council and Minister of the 

 Interior; 1 1 aidnr Paslia, Minister of Finance; 

 Ismail Ayub Pasha, Minister of Public Works; 

 Mahmoiiil Saiui, Minister of War; Mustapha 

 Fehmi Pasha, Minister for Foreign Affairs, 

 continuing in the same post which he held ; 

 and Kadri Bey, Minister of Justice. 



There was much talk in Europe of a military 

 expedition to Egypt to restore order and en- 

 force the authority of the Government. But 

 such an act on the part of either England or 

 France, or both jointly, might lead to perilous 

 complications which they were not prepared 

 to encounter. The occupation of Egypt by 

 Turkish forces and the active exercise of his 

 authority as suzerain by the Caliph, France 

 would not listen to, in view of the complications 

 in Tunis and Algiers. A protest was raised 

 even against the dispatch of Turkish commis- 

 sioners to the Khedive. The Porte, neverthe- 

 less, sent its messengers, Ali Fuad and Nizami 

 Pasha, who assured the Khedive of the satis- 

 faction of the Sultan as to his course, and en- 

 joined the preservation of the status quo. The 

 commissioners had hardly begun their work 

 of investigation, when they were suddenly re- 

 called. There are evidences of a secret corre- 

 spondence between Tevfik and the wily and 

 scheming Sultan, Abdul Hamid. The Khedive, 

 fretting under the dictation of Riaz and the 

 domination of the comptrollers, was inclined to 

 turn for relief to the Sultan, whose suzerainty 

 Ismail had expended all his craft and uncount- 

 ed treasure to shake off. The Sultan, revolving 

 in his mind the methods of acquiring ascend- 

 ency in Egypt, was captivated by a scheme of 

 a certain Hafyz Pasha for organizing Egypt as 

 a privileged autonomous province on the model 

 of the Lebanon. He had previously encouraged 

 Halim, uncle of Ismail, in his efforts to sup- 

 plant Tevfik on the throne, with French and 

 English consent. The secret agencies of Ori- 

 ental intrigue have been at work for some 

 time at Cairo, and those elements of the pres- 

 ent disorder which can help the Sultan's Pan- 

 islamic aspirations are fomented at Constanti- 

 nople. The ulema* of the great mosque, El 

 Azhar, are willing instruments of the propa- 

 ganda, which has spread among the native 

 merchants and lawyers through the efforts of 

 one Sheik Senussi. By these means a schism 

 was produced in the popular party. The army 

 officers who began the agitation, and the land- 

 owners and peasants who embraced the na- 

 tional cause, were as much opposed to Turkish 

 as to Christian aggression, while the Stamboul 

 wire-pullers found means to partially convert 

 the movement into an anti-Christian ferment. 



The Panislamic pretensions of the Commander 

 of the Faithful gained in popular favor after 

 the French invasion of Tunis. The fears of 

 British annexation, excited by expressions in 

 the English press, strengthened this sentiment 

 as well as the purely national impulse. Sherif 

 Pasha, though a Turk by blood, has the repu- 

 tation of being a stubborn foe to Turkish dom- 

 ination. 



A dispatch of the British Government to Sir 

 Edward Mallet, sent in November, declared 

 that the British policy in Egypt was opposed 

 to all intervention, and would support the na- 

 tive autonomous government within the limits 

 of the rights accorded by the firmans of the 

 Sultan that England does not favor separa- 

 tion from Turkey. The present connection 

 with Turkey is a safeguard against foreign 

 intervention and rival ambition. England and 

 France, who share the same views, have co-op- 

 erated to secure good government. One great 

 reform remains to be effected good and sys- 

 tematic justice between natives in their deal- 

 ings with each other. This work should be 

 accomplished by Egyptians, and not by the 

 extension of the international tribunals. The 

 dispatch ends with a warning that this policy 

 would be changed if anarchy or disorder should 

 become prevalent. The fears of a British occu- 

 pation had taken strong hold of the Egyptians, 

 and were one of the prime causes of the 

 nationalist agitation. The dispatch of Lord 

 Granville was effective in allaying this dread, 

 which was growing stronger. 



The Fellaheen, unable to obtain justice from 

 the native judges, have frequently brought their 

 cases by means of legal subterfuges into the in- 

 ternational courts. A scheme for a local judici- 

 ary was elaborated by the new ministry, and the 

 tribunals were organized and ready to hear com- 

 plaints by the beginning of 1882. In October 

 occurred another manifestation of the new po- 

 litical forces which had come in play. An in- 

 jurious expression, characterizing Mohammed 

 as a "false prophet," was printed in the lead- 

 ing European journal, "L'Egypte." The ule- 

 mas, the students in the great religious univer- 

 sity at Cairo, complained to the ministers, who 

 upon examining the context concluded that the 

 phrase had been inserted through an editorial 

 blunder. They accordingly deemed an official 

 admonition sufficient. But the religious com- 

 munity were not satisfied, and demanded the 

 suppression of the newspaper, uttering vague 

 threats, which were repeated by the military ; 

 until, finally, the ministry revoked their de- 

 cision, and suppressed the paper. 



The regiments which had made the rebel- 

 lious demonstration were after a season trans- 

 ferred to different posts without making further 

 trouble. 



One of the main demands of the nationalist 

 party was for constitutional government and 

 a House of Representatives. In obedience to 

 his new masters, and with the consent of his 

 old ones, the Viceroy called, for the 23d of De- 



