HEALTHY INFLUENCES
Though the outline I have given of the history of Egypt under Mahomed
Ali and his successors has been of the briefest, it is sufficient for
the purpose of this volume. It would no doubt be a study of great
interest to see in some detail how the varying characters and actions
of their rulers and the events these gave rise to affected the people,
but the effects thus produced have proved for the most part of a
purely temporary nature, and have been of such conflicting characters
that without a very elaborate study it would be well-nigh impossible
to trace their influence upon the Egyptian of to-day. Fortunately for
my reader's patience, what we have to do with is the influences that,
broad and general in their results, have also been lasting and are
therefore still in operation, and just as we may appreciate the force
and volume of the mighty Mississippi without studying, as Mark Twain
and his brother pilots had need to do, its ever-varying currents and
eddies, its snags and snarls, so we may learn the strength and
tendency of Egyptian opinion without stopping to analyse all the
incidents that have helped or hindered its development.
As I have said in my last chapter, the full development of the
Egyptian character dates only from the evacuation of Fachoda. As yet,
indeed, the people have taken nothing more than the very first steps
towards the adoption of a definite and clearly shaped policy such as
can alone give them a truly national and distinctive character. During
the whole of the past century, beaten hither and thither by
fluctuating influences and impulses, the constant uncertainty that
overhung their future reacted upon their thoughts and rendered these
as unstable as the events by which they were stirred, but since the
commencement of the English occupation influences have been at work
with steadily growing effect consolidating and directing the thoughts
and aspirations of the whole body of the people and gradually creating
a true public opinion such as has never before existed. These
influences have been but three in number--the increased acquaintance
of the people with European civilisation, their increased knowledge of
the social and political condition of the Mahomedan countries of the
world, and the development of the Arabic Press.
Except in so far as it has contributed to the strengthening and
enlarging of these influences through the facilities it has afforded
for their operation, the English administration of the country has had
but little effect upon its political or mental development as a
nation, although upon the personal character of the people, that is to
say upon the people as individuals, it has had a much greater and
stronger effect than either the English or the Egyptians realise. The
young Egyptian who has grown up under English rule is of altogether a
different type to that which his father was. Whether of the highest or
of the lowest rank, he has a conception of his personal rights and
responsibilities that places him socially and politically upon a
totally different plane to that of his elders. The general effect thus
produced is that he is more self-reliant, more independent, and less
willing to submit to restraint of any kind than was his father. That
this change is the source of some evil is as certain as natural, but
that on the whole it is a change for the better, and one tending to
the elevation of the people, is equally certain. Eventually it must
have a powerful influence upon the political feeling of the country.
As yet those who are most strongly affected by it are for the most
part too young to have any very definite or influential place in the
political affairs of the country, but they are gradually swelling the
ranks of the journalists, and in but a few years will be the men in
whose hands will be gathered most of the strings by which the people
at large are likely to be most strongly moved. Of all the tasks,
therefore, that the Government of the country and those responsible
for it are called upon to perform, if they would ensure the future
stability of the present prosperity and the real welfare of the
people, there is none more important than that of endeavouring by
every legitimate and possible means to guide the development of this
change into healthy and vigorous directions.
Joined with that loyalty to Islam and the Turkish Empire I have shown
to be dominant forces in the country, the three influences I have just
described are those which are to-day, and must be for long to come,
the real controlling influences in the political and social growth of
the Egyptians. It is conceivable, of course, that events might
possibly arise to divert, nullify, or even destroy the effects of one
or more of these influences; but this is a contingency so remote and
so little likely to occur that it is needless to discuss it here. It
will be well, however, for us to see a little more of the nature and
effect of these influences as they actually exist.
That these influences have been healthy will have been gathered from
what I have already said of them, but it is necessary to show in what
way and how far they have been so. First, then, let us see what has
been the effect of the increased acquaintance of the people with
European civilisation. Omitting all consideration of such minor
effects as the adoption of changes in dress, in the furnishing of
their houses and other details of their daily life, the effect that is
most potent for good is one that goes much deeper and further than
such merely superficial matters as these. This effect is the
constantly increasing desire for the improvement of the social and
political conditions that prevail. Keenly awakened to a sense of the
deficiencies from which they have suffered in the past, the people are
more and more being influenced by the wish and the will for
self-improvement. As yet, however, their views are but vague and
indefinite, and lie rather in the direction of ambitious dreams than
of purpose-giving aspirations. But though they are eager, rather than
emulous, to be regarded as the intellectual equals of the European
peoples, it is certain that this desire is at least one of the most
powerful of the impulses by which the life of the nation is being
stirred.
As we have seen, Mahomed Ali, though a Moslem and a native of Turkey,
was essentially a European. His knowledge of and sympathy with Islamic
ideals were of the slightest. Familiar as he necessarily was with
Oriental thought and life, the Egyptian and Arab were to him more
alien than the Western Europeans. Hence his love of European society,
his passion for innovation on European lines, and his frequent
sacrifice of Mahomedan sentiment to European utilitarianism. All that
was best in the man was strikingly European in type and character, all
that was bad was eminently Oriental. Had he had such advantages of
early education and such surroundings as Bonaparte had had, he would
in all probability, nay, certainly, have proved a really great man, a
man of high ambitions and great if not glorious achievements. As it
was, hampered by the want of the most elementary education, cramped in
aspiration by the narrowness of his experience, and with a mind
vitiated by the false ideals of those amidst whom he was reared and
lived and by the evils of the only political system he had any
knowledge of, it is not surprising that his rapid rise quickly
brought him to a point at which he became the victim rather than the
ruler of affairs. His personal influence with the people was but
small, for the popularity that led them to choose him as their
Governor did not long stand the strains he placed upon it, and in
carrying out his schemes for the Europeanising of the country he met
with more opposition than approval and failed to awaken any desire for
the change he was so anxious to bring about. He succeeded, indeed, in
rendering the people more familiar with European thought and ideals
than they had been, and thus set in motion the current of thought that
is to-day leading the Egyptian to look to the West for his standard of
social and political life. As we have seen, the people had been quite
ready and willing to adopt all that they found good in the methods of
the French, and now that Frenchmen and other Europeans came amongst
them, not as conquerors and dictators, but as the guests and friends
of a Moslem Governor, they were much more willing to hear their views
and profit from their advice and instruction. The good results that
might have sprung from this cause were, however, very largely barred
by the spirit of opposition created by Mahomed Ali's attempts to force
the adoption of unwelcome innovations. It was therefore rather in
spite, than in consequence of his European tendencies that during his
reign the Egyptians began to have a clearer conception of and more
friendly feelings towards European civilisation as a whole. Under the
French, with all the faults of their administration, a conviction had
spread in favour of the advantages of a regularly constituted and
properly organised government, and with this had also come the
recognition of the principle that it should be the aim of a government
to protect the interests of the people, and that it was for the good
of all that the various classes should be treated with equity. These
are things taught indeed as part of the law of Islam, but they were
parts of that law of which the people had had no practical experience,
and the discovery they had thus made that Christian nations and
peoples could and did hold out as ideals, and still more, to a certain
extent bring into actual practice the teachings of the Moslem faith,
awakened in them a new interest in the civilisation to which they had
so long felt the most irreconcilable hostility. It was under the
French that these thoughts first began to impress the people. Under
Mahomed Ali they were extended and grew more familiar, but still,
hindered and checked by the unfavourable conditions that encompassed
them, they made but little substantial progress. Yet, in defiance of
all difficulties, they took solid root, and when later on, under the
successors of Mahomed Ali, they were presented under a more favourable
aspect, they began to sway even the classes that had at first most
strenuously opposed them.
The steady growth of the desire for reform that has thus gone on from
the time of the French invasion, has been almost entirely spontaneous.
It has sprung, as I have said, from the increased acquaintance of the
people with European ideals brought about by the presence of Europeans
in their country, but this presence, which has been the chief cause of
the progress made, has at the same time been the greatest obstacle in
the way of that progress. To the present day this is so. All that is
reactionary in the spirit of the country to-day is almost wholly and
directly due to the presence of Europeans in it, and the consequences
entailed by that presence. Again and again have I heard some
enthusiastic advocate of progress and reform silenced and put to shame
by some quietly made allusion to some of the evils nurtured by the
European Consulates, or some of the anti-Islamic laxities, the
presence of Europeans, and the political influence they possess, force
upon the people. This is indeed the great hindrance to progress, the
drag that stops the Egyptian from advancing as he might and could.
Yet, in spite of all difficulties, that which is really good in the
intercourse of the two peoples is bearing fruit. Of necessity the
first produce of the new feelings, thoughts, and aspirations, stirring
to activity the long latent abilities of the people, has been little
more than a few weak saplings of progress, too frail and immature to
send forth aught more than a few fragile blossoms; but the crop is
thriving, and though as yet rich in neither quality nor quantity, it
is the fair promise of a sound, healthy, and abundant harvest to come.
It was not until the first half of the nineteenth century had passed
that the appreciation of European civilisation became at all general;
it is to-day almost universal. Nor is it less powerful for good that
it appeals to various classes with varying aspects. To many it is no
doubt nothing more than an appreciation of the physical advantages
offered to the individual by railways, electric tramways, telegraphs,
and telephones, and the hundreds of other minor inventions that add to
the pleasure or tend to the comfort or convenience of life; to others
it is the higher side of civilisation, its intellectual and social
advantages that appeal most forcibly, but these are at the same time
appalled and repelled by its evils, and thus the very men that it is
most desirable should be most strongly influenced are held back from
accepting much that they would otherwise welcome. And these men, while
always candid and open in their intercourse with Europeans in the
expression of their sense of the merits of European civilisation, and
of the backward condition of their own countrymen, are withheld, by
their fear of appearing discourteous or offensive, from even hinting
at their perception of its evils. Thus, left in ignorance of one of
the chief reasons why the Egyptian does not more enthusiastically
adopt and practise that which he so freely commends, Europeans are
wrongly led to believe that the appreciation he expresses is not
sincere. It is not so. He thoroughly comprehends the advantages he
commends, but at the same time he sees clearly enough, what most
strangely the European seems incapable of perceiving, that the
unrestricted adoption of Western standards could not fail to set loose
a flood of evils far outweighing all the benefits it could confer.
Hence at the present day the problem that of all others attracts
discussion in native circles in Egypt is, How may we secure the
benefits, without incurring the evils of European civilisation?
This, then, is the net result of a century of almost daily increasing
acquaintance with the people of Europe and the civilisation of which
they boast. It is a problem that many earnest men are studying in
various parts of the Mahomedan world, and which is tending to solve
itself by slow but yet perceptible steps. In Egypt the most hopeful
feature of the difficulty to be faced is, that no one appreciates the
need of reform more than, or indeed as much as, the Egyptian himself.
Fortunately he is by no means inclined to accept too hastily the often
ill-considered advice Europeans are prone to give him, for he can see,
as they cannot, the real difficulties to be overcome. Rightly
comprehended, then, the very slowness of the progress being made, so
far from being discouraging or to the discredit of the Egyptians is
quite otherwise, for it shows that the advance being made is sure and
well-grounded, and not a mere passing impulse, and it is a guarantee
that all further progress will be well-considered and deliberate, and
will thus be certain of producing more enduring benefit than any
hastily adopted reforms, however brilliant their first effects might
seem to be, would be likely to secure.
Directly connected with the healthy influence which is thus at work
in Egypt and other parts of the East is another of a very different
character in some respects, but tending in exactly the same
direction--the elevation of the moral, social, and political standards
of the peoples affected by it. It is, however, of much more recent
origin, for it was not until after the English occupation that the
Egyptians, profiting from their increased intercourse with Europeans,
and the development of the native Press, of which they are such avid
readers, began to give attention to the condition of Islam outside the
narrow limits of the Ottoman Empire. To the present day the fellaheen
indeed are indisposed to credit the fact that a majority of the
Moslems of to-day are not only not subjects of the Turkish Sultan but
do not speak either the Arabic or Turkish language. Naturally the
English occupation turned the attention of the more enlightened
classes to the question of England's relations with her Mahomedan
subjects in India and elsewhere. Their conception of those relations
were at first drawn from uncertain and most unreliable sources, and
were scarcely less accurate than unfavourable. Thanks mainly and
directly to the honesty of the _Moayyad_, the leading Mahomedan
journal of the country, the ignorance that formerly existed has
largely disappeared, and the news-reading public are now able to
follow the progress of events in India and other Moslem lands with a
fair knowledge of the circumstances affecting them.
The interest thus excited in the affairs of their brother Mahomedans
in other lands is steadily increasing, and this has led the Arabic
journals to pay special attention to all that appears in the European
Press with reference to any matter in which Moslems are concerned. The
outcome of this is clearly marked. The Egyptians no longer regard
their country as they did a few years ago, as an isolated unit, but
see it as part of a great whole of which it is its right and privilege
to be the head. And with this increased knowledge of the Islamic world
has grown side by side an increased knowledge of the condition of the
European nations and more particularly of the Great Powers. Throughout
Islam it is now recognised that if these Powers are no longer inclined
to enter upon crusades against the Moslem states it is not from any
enlarged tolerance for Islam nor from any peace-decreeing doctrines of
Christianity or civilisation, but because they are restrained by the
political conditions controlling their relations with each other. This
is a matter on which it is no use saying smooth things that have no
basis of actual fact. There is not a single Mahomedan in any part of
the world who believes any of the many protestations of friendship for
Islam made by nations or peoples or governments. That these
professions are genuine enough for the moment, that they are not based
upon either falsehood or dishonesty of intention is not asserted.
Under existing conditions they are honest and true enough, but they
depend wholly upon the continuance of those conditions. Side by side
with the growth of this knowledge and the diffusion of the ideas to
which it gives rise, there has been a similar increase in the
knowledge that the various Moslem peoples have of each other and a
growing perception of the causes that have led to the decadence of
Islam. Of these latter, as every student of history knows, the two
principal have been disunion among the Mahomedan peoples and the
stagnation of social and intellectual progress that followed the
overthrow of the political power of Islam. The recognition of these
facts by the Moslems themselves has pointed them directly to the
obvious remedy--the reunion of Islam and the development of the social
and intellectual capacities of its peoples. Hence the rise of that
Pan-Islamism which has of late been so much discussed and is as yet so
completely misunderstood in Europe and by Europeans living in the
East.
The journalism of to-day is a very different thing to that of the
past. Its writers are for the most part young men of the day
essentially out of touch with the days of their fathers. Whence we
find them presenting to us as novelties ideas that were familiar to
all newspaper readers of the last generation and asking us to solve
problems that we had thought buried with our grandfathers. But in the
modern craze for rush and hurry and inefficiency the public have no
time to stop to inquire the history of the topics brought before them.
To some extent conscious of this defect in themselves and others, the
modern journalist turns to the first comer who can show any pretence
of special knowledge on any subject of the day and, accepting him at
his own valuation, takes him as an expert and builds up his own
theories and speculations on his authority. Thus the Cook-conducted
tourist who rushes through Egypt and the East without ever exchanging
a word with any native, save perhaps Cook's dragoman or donkey-boy, is
invited to give his ideas on the "Egyptian Question" and so forth, and
in doing so very often quotes as an authority some European who has
been living in the country for heaven only knows how many years, and
who, if the truth were known, knows scarcely less of the people than
the tourist himself, since all that he has gained by his years of
residence has been the accumulation of a number of prejudices which
are to him the explanation of all things touching the past, present,
or future of the land and its peoples. If the blind thus lead the
blind whither can their progress tend? As an answer look at the recent
comments upon Pan-Islamism in the European Press. Journals that years
ago spoke of Pan-Islamism as an idea full of lofty promise for the
future, not of Islam only but of the world, have taken it up as a new
subject, treated it as a new movement, and hastened to point out that
it is a menace to civilisation. Some thirty years have passed since
Lord Beaconsfield, speaking as the Minister for Foreign Affairs at the
Guildhall dinner in London, drew a brilliant picture of the effects
that might spring from the regeneration of Islam under the protection
and with the aid of England. His speech created a world-wide interest,
but, as I pointed out in the _Bombay Gazette_ of the time, I had
previously drawn attention to the same idea, and I was thus one of the
first, if not the very first, to discuss the subject in an English
newspaper. In India and in England, after filling the public mind for
a brief space of time, the subject was dropped and the truly Imperial
views of Lord Beaconsfield were relegated to a pigeon-hole in the
Foreign Office, where, if the rats have not yet devoured them, they
are probably still lying. But if England thus neglected the idea that
as the _Globe_, if I am not betrayed by memory, described as the
offspring of a "stupendous intellect," it was not so with the
statesmen of other countries, and from that day to this more than one
of the Foreign Offices of Europe has not lost sight of the subject,
needless to say, not with any intention of promoting the views of Lord
Beaconsfield. Nor among Moslem peoples has the subject ever been
dropped. The yearly increasing facility of travelling in the East and
the growth of the Arabic and Indian Mahomedan Press, have naturally
tended to help forward the efforts of the more enlightened Moslems in
various lands who were first stirred to movement by the discussion in
the European Press, and to-day wherever Islam exists there is a
Pan-Islamic party, generally small, but always having as its leaders
the most enlightened and most advanced men. Under the guidance of
these men Pan-Islamism is essentially a defensive and not an
aggressive movement--one for the elevation of the people, and
therefore an intellectual and peace-promoting and not a military or
war-provoking one. That a few of the most ignorant of the people
should attach some hazy idea of Moslem conquest to their conception of
Pan-Islamism is but natural, but to assume that because their vague,
ill-formed, and wholly undigested thoughts now and then find
expression in the columns of irresponsible journals, run for the most
part by men of no position, education, or influence, these are to be
taken as the true exponents of Moslem thought is absurd. Instead of
being a danger to Europe or civilisation Pan-Islamism is a movement
that should have the support of every lover of peace and civilisation,
and the fact that it is making progress in Egypt is but a proof that
the Egyptians have awakened to a sense of the only way in which the
best and truest interests of their country and their religion can be
served. If the world at large is ever to see that higher and truer
civilisation of which it is capable, the Powers must abandon that lust
of conquest that is but a drag on all true progress, they must cease
to look upon the interest of each as a claim to which the interests of
all others must yield, and combine to seek the benefit of all. The
more nearly that ideal is reached the more important will it be that
Islam should be prepared to take its fitting place in the grand scheme
of regeneration. That it should do so it must follow now and for ever
the ideas that are the mainspring of Pan-Islamism.
The third and last of the healthy influences I have named is the
development of the Arabic Press. Were we to consider merely the number
of years the occupation has lasted, it might seem reasonable to
suppose that it has been the most powerful of all the influences
affecting the general character of the people, but, as I have pointed
out in the last chapter, it was not until after the evacuation of
Fachoda that it had any really solid or lasting effect. Prior to that
event the Egyptians had undoubtedly learned to appreciate the
principles illustrated in the administration of the country by the
English, but the uncertainty that overhung the future prevented even
the warmest admirers and advocates of English methods taking up a
strong or definite position in their favour. During the earlier part
of the occupation which as yet has been by far the longest, the
greatest benefit conferred upon the Egyptians was therefore the
freedom it gave them to profit from the influences with which I have
already dealt. When the change came it found the great majority of the
people ready and willing to accept the friendship and guidance of
England, and the strength and honesty of this feeling was clearly
visible in their attitude during the disastrous opening of the South
African War which followed so soon after. While the Armenians openly
and offensively rejoiced at every fresh telegram of disaster and
defeat, the Egyptians not only preserved in public the calm they had
shown during the Fachoda incident, but among themselves were not slow
in expressing sympathy. The reactionary party and some of the lower
classes were, perhaps not unnaturally, pleased to see English pride
humbled, but the one and only class that really rejoiced at the
humiliation was, as I have said, the Christian Armenians. Among
Pan-Islamic circles there was a sincere wish for the triumph of the
English, for these knew that the interests of the Moslems of South
Africa were bound up with theirs, and that though the Moslems had
many just grounds of complaint against the treatment accorded them by
the colonists, and the lack of protection afforded them by the Home
Government, they knew that the tyranny of the colonist was, after all,
better than the friendship of the Boer. In this view the majority of
the people shared, and though the reactionary Press thought it good
policy to profess a desire for the collapse of British rule, and to
laud the Boers as heroes fighting for liberty and so forth, they knew
well enough that the Boers would have laughed to scorn any idea of
granting social or political freedom or equality to any Egyptian, or
Mahomedan, however high his rank.
Under the Mamaluks, as we have seen, contrary to the commonly held
idea that the people dare not even protest against the injustices by
which they were oppressed, it was no unusual thing for them to do so,
and if they did not profit more from the power of resistance they
possessed, it was because they were too indifferent to, or too
ignorant of, their own interests to defend these as they might have
done. Under Mahomed Ali and his successors they were not only
tongue-tied, but enslaved in a far worse manner than they had ever
been by the Mamaluks. Under the English they have enjoyed the most
perfect liberty of speech--a liberty that is only slowly subjecting
itself to the self-restraint that alone can render it as serviceable
to their true interests as it ought to be. It was but natural
therefore that the Press, for a large part written and conducted by
men of no position or influence, and actuated by no higher desire than
to gain the momentary applause of their readers, should put the
_Eatanswill Gazette_ to shame in its own particular line, and that the
folly and ineptitude of its articles should make the Egyptians
ridiculous in the eyes of all intelligent people. But these are the
faults of youth and inexperience and lack of education, and are
largely due to the bad example of European papers of little if any
higher merit. Slowly but steadily the Egyptian Press has moved, and is
still moving, towards a worthier standard, and the fact that its
movement is a spontaneous and voluntary one is an incontestable proof
that the Egyptians are a people not only capable of, but anxious for,
self-improvement, and a people entirely deserving of liberty. It is a
maxim in mechanics that the weakest link in a chain is a measure of
the strength of the whole. Of the newspaper Press of a country I think
it may be said that its strength and merit are to be judged by its
best. So judged we cannot but think well of the Egyptian Press. That
the liberty accorded to it is still abused by journals on a par with
the lowest type of journalism in Europe is to be regretted. It is an
evil that will eventually cure itself. Meanwhile the liberty granted
to the Press has undoubtedly been the chief boon conferred by England
upon the country. It is a gift that has done more to educate and
elevate the people and promote healthy progress than all else, or
aught else, that has been done for the attainment of these ends.
Slowly but surely it is doing the great work accomplished in England
mainly through the establishment of Sunday and "Ragged" Schools--the
raising of the intellectual standard of the people, the formation and
nurturing of healthy ambitions, and the creation of a higher and purer
conception of all the relations of life. All that England has done for
the financial, commercial, and general material welfare of the country
and of its inhabitants, almost immeasurably great and good as this
work has been, is but a trifle to the results that may ultimately
spring directly from the liberty given to the Press. As I have said,
the progress being made is slow, so slow that European critics fail to
grasp its real extent and value, but it is steady, widespread and
real, a progress that will not be easily checked, and one that is
doing more to change the character of the Egyptians in a healthy,
life-giving manner than any other influence tending in the same
direction.
The good work that is thus being done is due in the first place to the
sound and enlightened views of Lord Cromer, who has persistently
refused to be guided, or rather misguided, by the suggestions of those
who would fain see a censorship established. By the course he has
adopted Lord Cromer has thrown upon the journalists of the country a
degree of responsibility of which, though as yet its obligations are
not fully recognised by those on whom they lie, must tend, and is
indeed tending, to render the Press worthy of the trust reposed in it.
It is due to the sense of this responsibility already felt both by
journalists and the public, that the serious journalists find
themselves compelled more and more to justify the policy they
advocate, and to maintain it with consistency. Thus instructed by
experience, the people are yearly exacting a higher standard of
excellence from the Press, and the demand is being met by a
corresponding improvement. We must not forget, however, that the
possibilities inherent in Lord Cromer's wise policy might have still
been lying dormant and unproductive, if among the Egyptians there had
been no one to see these, and, taking them up, render them in some
degree an actuality. Fortunately the occasion brought the man. It was
in the year 1887 that a small weekly Arabic paper styled the _Adab_
was first established at Cairo. This rapidly becoming known for the
ability with which its articles were written, continued to grow in
favour with the Mahomedan public, to which it was specially addressed,
as a journal devoted to science, literature, and religion, until the
year 1890 when its editor joined the staff of the daily newspaper, the
_Moayyad_, of which, three years later, he became the sole proprietor.
From that date onward the _Moayyad_ progressed rapidly, and becoming
the recognised organ of the Ulema of the Azhar, took the position it
still maintains as the leading Arabic and Islamic journal, not only in
Egypt but throughout the Mahomedan world. Various journals have been
started from time to time in opposition to or rivalry with the
_Moayyad_, but none have ever succeeded in impairing its supremacy.
From first to last this success has been attained and preserved by the
Sheikh Ali Youssef, its proprietor and editor. Well read in all
learning that qualifies a man to take his place among the Ulema, but
ignorant of every language save his own, the Sheikh, as a newspaper
man and a leader writer, is not only foremost among the journalists of
the East, but one who in his chief merit has few, if any, rivals among
the journalists of the world. "His paper," says Mr. Hartmann in his
"Arabic Press of Egypt," "is a power to be reckoned with. Moslems read
it with pleasure, finding in it what most delights their hearts. There
they read in strong, well-chosen and simple language their own
thoughts, or rather, what they imagine to be their own thoughts; for
such is the art of the cunning journalist, that the unsuspicious
reader follows in the track of the writer's thoughts and fancies them
to be his own." When I add that this man is a man of thought, of great
self-restraint, endowed with patience, energy, and perseverance, I
have drawn the picture of one who, in any community, must exercise a
large influence as a journalist, but amidst a people like the
Egyptians, so little prone to think for themselves, must indeed be a
power to reckon with. As a fact, he has done more to guide and mould
Moslem opinion in Egypt than any other ten men that could be named.
Like the historian Gabarty, of Arabic origin he is personally a
reserved, thoughtful man, leading a quiet, studious life, adverse to
ostentation and parade of every kind, and yet possessing keen
business instincts. The position he has won for his journal has been
gained by the steady pursuit of the policy which he from the first
adopted--the love of justice and the desire to promote the interests
of Islam and of Egypt. He has again and again had to meet the open
hostility of different classes of the people he has been trying to
serve, for he has not hesitated to advocate unpopular measures and
ideals when these have commended themselves to his judgment, and yet
he is persistently set down by Europeans as a fanatic and intriguer!
Recognising as fully as any man can do the advantages that the English
occupation has conferred upon the country, he is yet as a Moslem
compelled to weigh these against the disadvantages due, not specially
to the presence of the English but to the influence of the European
Powers generally. Striving always to hold a just balance, never hasty
to judge, fearless though moderate in the expression of his views, he
is the one and only journalist in the country who for years past has
steadily and with absolute honesty of purpose endeavoured to promote
harmony and goodwill between the people and their English rulers. The
Egyptians have long since recognised this. There was a time, indeed,
when not a few of them cried out that he had been bought by the
English. Unfortunately Europeans understand neither the man nor his
policy, and seizing upon some extract from his paper, as often as not
wrested from a qualifying context, and possibly written by an outside
contributor, paint him as a firebrand and fanatic.
The best gift that England has yet given Egypt is, then, the freedom
of the Press, for this has been and is the influence tending more and
more strongly than any other towards the healthy development of the
character of the people. There are some, if not many, who, claiming to
know the country, will be inclined to deny this, but should no malign
counter influence arise to stay the progress now being made, I am
confident the verdict of the future will justify my view.
The three healthy influences I have thus described--the the increased
knowledge of European civilisation, and of the present condition of
the Islamic world, and the development of the Arabic Press--are each
stimulating and correcting the other, and are those which of all
others are working to modify and improve the national character. The
result they have so far jointly produced has been that the Egyptian is
learning to take a broader and therefore a healthier view of himself
and his surroundings, and has acquired new and nobler aspirations. His
ideals are no longer what they were but a quarter of a century ago,
and, in recognising this fact, he recognises that the change has been
brought about very largely through the English occupation, and that it
is a change for the better. Nor is the Egyptian ungrateful, as he is
often and unjustly accused of being. If his gratitude is not more
pronounced, unfortunately there is too ample reason for its
moderation.
Long years ago my old nurse once showed me a pot of my favourite jam
and promised that my watering lips should feast upon it without
restraint provided I were a good boy and first took a spoonful of
Gregory's Powder. I can still remember how my lips dried up at the
very mention of that most abominable of all the medicines ever thrust
upon suffering humanity, and I turned with loathing from the jam that
a moment before had been so lusciously appetising.
Let us see what is the Gregory's Powder that taints the sweetness of
the benefits that England has conferred upon Egypt.