DERVISH'S MISSION
I have now come to a point in the history of this wonderful intrigue
where, if I had not semi-official published matter in large measure to
support me, I should find it hopeless to convince historians that I was
not romancing. It seems so wholly incredible that a Liberal English
Government, owning that great and good man Mr. Gladstone as its head,
should, for any reason in the world financial, political, or of private
necessity, have embarked on a plan so cynically immoral as that which I
have now to relate. John Morley in his published life of Gladstone slurs
over the whole of his astonishing Egyptian adventure that year in a
single short chapter of fifteen pages, out of the fifteen hundred pages
of which his panegyric consists, and with reason from his point of view,
for he could have hardly told it in any terms of excuse. It is necessary
all the same that historians less bound to secrecy should have the
details plainly put before them, for no history of the British
Occupation will ever be worth the paper it is written on that does not
record them.
By the 1st of June it was generally acknowledged that the policy of
intimidation by mere threat, even though backed by the presence of the
fleets, had ignominiously failed. Mahmud Sami's Ministry indeed had
resigned, but the initial success had been immediately followed only by
a more complete discomfiture. The Ultimatum had expressly demanded that
Arabi should leave Egypt, and not only had Arabi not obeyed, but the
Khedive had been obliged by the popular voice to reinstate him as
Minister of War, with even larger responsibilities than before, and in
even more conspicuous honour. Our Foreign Office, therefore, found
itself in the position of having either to eat its empty words in a very
public manner, or to make them good against one who was now very
generally recognized in Europe as a National hero. Its colleague in the
matter, France, had long shown a desire to be out of the sordid
adventure, and Mr. Gladstone's Government was left practically to act
alone, if it insisted on going on, according to its own methods. The
method resolved on was certainly one of the most extraordinary ever used
by a civilized government in modern times, and the very last which could
have been expected of one owning Mr. Gladstone as its chief. It was to
beg assistance from the Sultan and persuade him to intervene to "get rid
of Arabi," not by a mere exercise of his sovereign command nor yet by
openly bringing in against him those Ottoman _gens d'armes_ which had
been talked of, but by one of those old-fashioned Turkish acts of
treachery which were traditional with the Porte in its dealings with its
Christian and other subjects in too successful rebellion against it.
A first hint of some such possible plan may be found in the "Pall Mall
Gazette," in one of its little inspired articles, as far back as the
15th May, in which John Morley, explaining with satisfaction the
Government policy of "bottle holding" the Khedive, adds that "Ourabi may
before long be quietly got rid of." The full plan is of course not
divulged in the Blue Books, but it is naïvely disclosed a little later
in the "Pall Mall," where, without the slightest apparent sense of its
impropriety, the dots are put plainly on the i's. The idea as I learned
it at the time was that the Sultan should send a military Commissioner
to Egypt, a soldier of the old energetic unscrupulous type, who, by the
mere terror of his presence, should frighten the Egyptians out of their
attitude of resistance to England, and that as to Arabi, if he could not
be lured on ship-board and sent to Constantinople, the Commissioner
should invite him to a friendly conference, and there shoot him, if
necessary, with his own hand. The suggestion was so like the advice
Colvin had given to the Khedive, and had boasted that he gave, nine
months before, that there is nothing improbable in its having been
again entertained. A Commissioner was consequently asked for at
Constantinople, and one Dervish Pasha was chosen, a man of character and
antecedents exactly corresponding to those required for such a job, and
despatched to Cairo.
The excellent Morley, in an enthusiastic paragraph describing the
arrival of this new Ottoman _deus ex machina_, grows almost lyrical in
his praise.
"The Egyptian crisis," he says, "has reached its culminating point, and
at last it seems that there is a man at Cairo capable of controlling
events. There is something very impressive in the calm immovable dignity
of Dervish Pasha, who is emphatically the man of the situation. After
all the shiftings and twistings of diplomatists and the pitiful
exhibition of weakness on the part of the leading actors in this
Egyptian drama, it is an immense relief to find one 'still strong man'
who, by the mere force of his personal presence, can make every one bow
to his will. Nothing can be more striking than his assertion of
authority, and nothing more skilful than his casual reference to the
massacre of the Mamelukes. Dervish is a man of iron, and Arabi may well
quail before his eye. One saucy word, and his head would roll upon the
carpet. Dervish is quite capable of 'manipulating' Arabi, not in the
Western but in the Eastern sense of that word. In this strong resolute
Ottoman it seems probable that the revolution in Egypt has found its
master."
And again, 15th June: "The past career of Dervish Pasha is filled with
incidents which sustain the impression of vigour he has laid down at
Cairo. He is at once the most vigorous and unscrupulous of all the
Generals of the Ottoman army. Although he is now seventy years old, his
age has not weakened his energy or impaired his faculties. His will is
still as iron as it was of old, and he is quite as capable of ordering a
massacre of the Mamelukes as was Mehemet Ali himself.... His early
military experience was acquired fighting the Montenegrins, who always
regarded him as the most dangerous Commander whom they had had to meet.
In one of the last acute fits of hostility (about 1856) between the
Porte and Montenegro, Dervish penetrated to Grakovo, the northernmost
canton of the Vladikate, as it then was; and the Voivode of the
district, cut off from retreat to the South, took refuge in a cave, the
habitual hiding-place of the people against sudden raids, it being so
situated that the usual expedient of attack, smoking out by fires
kindled at the mouth, was inapplicable. The attempts of the Turks to
force a passage were easily repulsed, and Dervish entered into
negotiations, the result of which was a surrender on condition of the
lives, liberty and property of the besieged being respected. The
Turkish engagements were kept by the extermination of the entire family
of the Voivode. The prisoners were marched off to Trebinji and thrown
into the dungeon of the fortress, tied back to back, one of each couplet
being killed and the survivor not released for a moment from the burden
of his dead comrade.... Dervish's _modus operandi_ during the late
Albanian campaign is not generally understood. He went into Albania to
enforce the conscription in which he utterly failed, though he had very
slight military opposition, most of the battles he reported being purely
mythical. But he was very successful in another plan of operation, which
consisted in quartering himself on the Estates of the principal Beys,
and extorting from them the last pound which could be squeezed out,
when he moved on to the next one. He sent quantities of coin to
Constantinople, but no recruits. If any prediction of the latest result
of Dervish's mission may be based upon the history of those in which he
was formerly engaged, we should say he would succeed with Arabi as he
succeeded with the Lazis and Albanians.... Egyptians are less warlike
than Albanians and Lazis, but even in Egypt the Gordian knot may have to
be severed with the sword."
These are pretty sayings which, if he remembers them, should, I think,
sometimes make John Morley a little ashamed of the part he was persuaded
by his Foreign Office friends to play that summer as apologist of their
iniquities. No wonder he has dismissed the whole Egyptian episode from
his history in a few pages. Pretty doings, too, for Gladstone to explain
to his non-professional or even his professional conscience! The shade
of Disraeli may well have smiled!
The Sultan's new mission, nevertheless, was not, as arranged by Abdul
Hamid, quite so simple a piece of villainy as our Foreign Office
imagined. The Emir el Mumenin had no real idea of lending himself as the
mere cat's paw of the Western Powers to do their evil work for them. He
was pleased to intervene, but not blindly, and he was much in the dark
as to the real situation in Egypt, and desired to be prepared for all
contingencies. Arabi still had friends at Court who represented him as
championing the faith at Cairo, and in Tewfik, Abdul Hamid had never had
any kind of confidence. He still desired to replace him with Halim.
Following, therefore, the method usual with him of checking one agent
by another agent, he added to his appointment of Dervish as chief
commissioner a second commissioner more favourable to Arabi, Sheykh
Ahmed Assad, the religious Sheykh of one of the confraternities
(_tarikat_) at Medina, whom he had at Constantinople with him, and was
in the habit of employing in his secret dealings with his Arabic
speaking subjects, consulting him on all matters connected with his
Pan-Islamic propaganda. Thus it happened that on its arrival at
Alexandria the Ottoman mission in reality bore a double character, the
one of menace in the person of Dervish, the other of conciliation in
that of Assad. This Sheykh had it for his special present business to
inform the Sultan of the tone of Arab feeling in Egypt, and especially
of the Ulema of the Azhar, and he was provided with a private cipher,
unknown to Dervish, with which to correspond with his imperial master.
Arabi and his intimates gained knowledge of this and were consequently
prepared beforehand to receive the mission as one not wholly
unfavourable to them, and the spectacle was witnessed of both parties in
the state showing pleasure at its arrival--the Turks and Circassians at
the appearance of Dervish, and the Egyptians at that of the Medina
Sheykh.
Both the Khedive as head of the State, and Arabi as head of the
Government, sent their delegates to Alexandria to receive the mission,
Zulfikar Pasha on the part of the Khedive, Yakub Pasha Sami, the
Under-Secretary for War, on that of the Minister, and both were well
received. Arabi, too, had commissioned Nadim the Orator to go down some
days before to prepare public opinion to give the envoys a flattering
reception, and at the same time to protest aloud against the Ultimatum
delivered by Malet and his French colleague. Consequently, when the
procession was formed to drive through the streets to the railway
station, the two envoys in their respective carriages, having with them
each a delegate, there was general acclamation on the part of the crowd.
"_Allah yensor el Sultan_," was shouted, "God give victory to the
Sultan"; and at the same time "_El leyha, marfudha, marfudha_," "The
Ultimatum, reject it, reject it!" "Send away the fleet!" These cries had
their effect at once upon the Chief Commissioner, and made Dervish
cautious. Both at Alexandria and at Cairo deputations waited on him at
his levees from the Notables, merchants, and officials. To all alike
Dervish gave a general answer. The Sultan will do justice. He, Dervish,
was come to restore order and the Sultan's authority. Only to the Turks
he announced Arabi's speedy departure for Constantinople, to the
Egyptians the as speedy departure of the fleets. Sheykh Assad meanwhile
in private reassured Arabi, declaring to him that the Sultan meant him
no evil.
As to the fire-eating attitude attributed by our Foreign Office to
Dervish, and alluded to by Morley with so much praise in the passage
already quoted, it was not in reality of a very determined kind. Dervish
was old and was far more intent on filling his pockets than on engaging
in a personal struggle with the fellah champion. Tewfik had managed to
get together £50,000 for Dervish as a _backshish_, and that with £25,000
more in jewels secured him to the Khedive's side, but he made no serious
attempt at any _coup de main_ against Arabi. A single unsuccessful
attempt at brow-beating the Nationalists showed him that the task would
be a dangerous one. On the Friday after his arrival at Cairo he made a
round of the mosques and expressed his annoyance at the boldness of
certain of the Ulema, who, on his leaving the Azhar, presented him with
a petition, and still more clearly in the afternoon when the main body
of the religious Sheykhs called and stated their views to him with a
freedom he was unaccustomed to. All these, with the exception of the
ex-Sheykh el Islam, el Abbasi, of the Sheykhs Bahrawi and Abyari and the
Sheykh el Saadat, who had espoused the Khedive's cause, declared
themselves strongly in favour of Arabi and urged him to reject the
Ultimatum, and especially that part of it which demanded Arabi's exile.
Dervish upon this told them to hold their tongues, saying that he had
come to give orders, not to listen to advice, and dismissed them, at the
same time decorating with the "Osmanieh" the Sheykh el Islam and the
other dissentients.
Popular feeling, however, immediately manifested itself in a way he
could not mistake. The Sheykhs returned from their audience in great
anger, and informed every one of the turn things were taking, and the
very same evening messengers were despatched by the Nationalist leaders
by the evening trains to the provinces to organize remonstrance. Private
meetings of a strong character were held during the night at Cairo,
denouncing the Commissioner, and the next morning, Saturday, a monster
meeting of the students was held in the Azhar mosque to protest against
the insult offered the Sheykhs. There Nadim was invited to address the
meeting from the pulpit, and he did so with the eloquence habitual to
him and with its usual effect. The report of this shook Dervish's
self-confidence, and within a few hours of its reaching him he sent for
Arabi, whom he had hitherto refused to see, and Mahmud Sami, and
addressed them both through an interpreter in terms of conciliation,
Sheykh Assad being with him and supporting him in Arabic. At this
meeting, though no coffee or cigarettes were offered (an omission
remarked by them) Dervish adopted towards them a tone of friendliness.
He made the Nationalist Chiefs sit beside him and expounded the
situation with apparent frankness. "We are all here," he said, "as
brothers, sons of the Sultan. And I with my white beard can be as a
father to you. We have the same object in view, to oppose the Ghiaour,
and to obtain the departure of the fleet, which is a disgrace to the
Sultan and a menace to Egypt. We are all bound to act together to this
end, and show our zeal for our master. This can best be done,"
addressing Arabi, "by your resigning your military power into my
hands--at least in appearance--and by your going to Constantinople to
please the Sultan." To this Arabi replied that he was ready to resign
his command. But that, as the situation was very strained, and as he had
assumed the great responsibility of keeping order he would not consent
to any half measure; if he resigned, he would resign in fact as well as
name, but he would do neither without a written discharge in full.
Moreover, he would not be held responsible for things laid already to
his charge of which he was innocent. He had been falsely accused of
tyrannical acts, of malversation and other matters, and he would not
leave office without a full discharge in writing from all complaints.
Also he would defer his voyage to Constantinople till a time when things
should be more settled, and then go as a private Moslem to pay his
respects to the Caliph. Dervish was not prepared for this answer and he
did not like it. His countenance changed. But he said, "Let us consider
the matter as settled." Then, alluding to the excitement there was at
Alexandria, he added, "You will telegraph at once to Omar Pasha Lutfi
[the Governor of Alexandria] and the commander of the garrison at
Alexandria to say you have resigned your charge on me, and that you are
acting as my agent, and on Monday there will be a meeting of the Consuls
and the Khedive, and we will give you your discharge." Arabi, however,
refused to do this, declaring that until he had received his written
discharge he should retain his post and his responsibility. And so,
without a definite understanding having been come to between them, he
and Mahmud Sami withdrew.
Such is the account, I believe a true one, told by Ninet and confirmed
by others who should know of this important interview. It took place
about noon on Saturday, the 10th of June, and is of importance in many
ways and especially for its bearing on what followed the next day, as is
notorious, a riot, originating in a quarrel between an Egyptian donkey
boy and a Maltese, broke out there about one o'clock in the forenoon and
continued till five, with the result that over two hundred persons lost
their lives, including a petty officer of H. M. S. "Superb," and some
two hundred more Europeans. Also Cookson, the English Consul, was
seriously hurt, and the Italian and Greek Consuls received minor
injuries, the disturbance being only quelled by the arrival of the
regular troops. It was the first act of popular violence which, during
the whole history of the year's revolution in Egypt, had been committed,
and the news of it, spread throughout Europe by telegraph, produced,
especially in England, a great sensation.
As the responsibility for this affair, so unfortunate for the National
cause in Egypt, was afterwards laid upon the person it had most injured,
Arabi, and as the incident was made use of by our Foreign Office and
Admiralty, with other excuses not less unjust, to bring about the
bombardment of Alexandria and the war that followed, the plea being that
Egypt was in a "proved state of anarchy," it will be well here, before
we go any further, to place upon the right shoulders what criminality
there was in the whole incident. When I heard of it in London my first
instinct was that, if not the accident the papers said it was, it was
part of the plot I knew to have been designed through Dervish Pasha at
the Foreign Office to entrap and betray Arabi, but it was not till after
the war that I came into possession of the full particulars concerning
it, or had it in my power to refute the false accusations made a little
later against the Nationalists of having themselves devised and brought
it about. The very contrary to this was then shown to be truth. As we
now all know, who are in the secrets of that time, the riot, though
perhaps accidental in its immediate origin, had for some weeks
previously been in the designs of the Court party as a means at the
proper moment to discredit Arabi as one capable of preserving order in
the country.
The position of things at Alexandria was this: Alexandria, more than any
other town in Egypt, was in large part a European city, inhabited,
besides the Moslem population, by Greek, Italian and Maltese colonists,
all engaged in trade and many of them money-lenders. At no time had
there been much love between the two classes and the arrival of the
fleets, avowedly with the intention of protecting European interests,
greatly increased the ill-feeling. It needed much loyalty, firmness, and
tact on the part of the Governor of the town to preserve order, and
great discretion on the part of the fleet. Unfortunately the Governor,
Omar Pasha Lutfi, was a man entirely opposed to the Nationalist
Ministry. He was a Circassian, a member of the Court party, and a
partisan of the ex-Khedive Ismaïl's, and at the time of the Circassian
plot had done service to Tewfik by entering into communication with the
Western Bedouins to gain them to the Khedive's side. He had, therefore,
rather encouraged than repressed the element of disorder in the
Mohammedan population. The Greeks, on the other hand, had proceeded to
arm themselves, with the assistance of the head of their community,
Ambroise Sinadino, a rich banker, who was also agent of the Rothschilds
in Egypt; and the Maltese, a numerous community, did likewise through
the connivance of Cookson, the English Consul. Things, therefore, were
all it may be said, prepared for a riot as early as the last week of
May, in expectation of that "civil war" which, it will be remembered,
the "Pall Mall Gazette" foresaw as an approved alternative, should the
Nationalist Ministry refuse to resign and Arabi to accept suppression.
There is no doubt that disturbance, as a proof of anarchy, was a thing
looked forward to by our diplomacy at Cairo as probable, and even not
undesirable in the interests of their "bottle-holding" policy. That Omar
Lutfi had a personal interest in the suppression of Arabi is also
easily proved. In the telegrams of the day, when the Ultimatum was about
to be launched, a list is given of the purely Circassian and Khedivial
Ministry which it was intended should succeed that of Mahmud Sami, and
Omar Lutfi is named in it as the probable successor of Arabi at the War
Office. Nor was this announcement unfounded, for a few days later we
know that Omar Lutfi was, in fact, sent for by the Khedive to the
Ismaïlia Palace and offered the post.[16] The Ultimatum was delivered on
the 1st of June, and the Ministers resigned on the 2nd, having waited a
day because the Khedive had told them he would first telegraph for
advice to Constantinople, though on the following morning, when they
again came to him, he informed them that his mind was made up to accept
the Ultimatum notwithstanding that he had received no answer. When,
therefore, on the 3rd the Khedive had been obliged, through the popular
demonstration in Arabi's favour, backed by the German and Austrian
Consuls, who saw in Arabi the man best capable in Egypt of maintaining
order, to rename Arabi Minister of War, the disappointment to Omar Lutfi
is easily understood, and the temptation he was under of creating
practical proof that the German Consuls were wrong. We have, besides
this, evidence that on the 5th of June the Khedive, who, no less than
Omar Lutfi, had received a great rebuff, sent him a telegram in the
following words: "Arabi has guaranteed public order, and published it in
the newspapers, and has made himself responsible to the Consuls; and if
he succeeds in his guarantee the Powers will trust him, and our
consideration will be lost. Also the fleets of the Powers are in
Alexandrian waters, and men's minds are excited, and quarrels are not
far off between Europeans and others. Now, therefore, choose for
yourself whether you will serve Arabi in his guarantee or whether you
will serve us." On this hint Omar Lutfi immediately took his
measures. As civil governor he was in command of the Mustafezzin, the
semi-military police of Alexandria, and through them directed that
quarterstaves, (_nabuts_) should be collected at the police stations to
be served out at the proper moment, and other preparations made for an
intended disturbance. Ample proof may be found in the evidence printed
in the Blue Books of the complicity of the police in the affair, though
a confusion is constantly made by those who give the evidence between
these and the regular soldiers by speaking of the police, as is often
loosely done in Egypt, as _soldiers_. The regulars were not under the
civil, but the military governors, and took no part in the affair until
called in at a late hour by Omar Lutfi when he found the riot had
assumed proportions he could not otherwise control. It is to be noted
that the chief of the Mustafezzin, Seyd Kandil, a timid adherent of
Arabi's, refused to take part in the day's proceedings, excusing himself
to Omar Lutfi on the ground of illness.
The disturbance was therefore prepared already for execution when
Dervish and his fellow Commissioner landed on the 8th at Alexandria. It
was probably intended to synchronize with the plot of Arabi's arrest,
and to prove to the Sultan's Commissioner, more than to any one else,
that Arabi had not the power to keep order in the country that he
claimed. I am not, however, at all convinced that Dervish was in
ignorance of what was intended, and I think there is a very great
probability that he had learned it before his interview with Arabi, and
that if he had succeeded in getting Arabi to resign his responsibility
the riot would have been countermanded. As it is, there is some evidence
that the outbreak took place earlier than was intended. It is almost
certain that the immediate occasion of it, the quarrel between the
donkey boy and the Maltese, was accidental, but probably the police had
received no counter-orders, and so the thing was allowed to go on
according to the program. What is certain is that the Khedive and Omar
Lutfi, the one at Cairo, the other at Alexandria, monopolized
telegraphic communication between the two cities, that Omar Lutfi put
off on one and another pretext, from hour to hour, calling in the
military, who could not act without his orders as civil governor in a
case of riot, and that the occurrence was regarded at the Palace as a
subject of rejoicing and by Arabi and the Nationalists as one to be
regretted and minimized. Also, and this is a very important matter, the
committee named to inquire into the causes of the affair by the Khedive
was composed almost entirely of his own partisans, while he secured its
being of no effective value as throwing light on the true authors, by
appointing Omar Lutfi himself to be its president. The connection of
Omar Lutfi and the Khedive, moreover, is demonstrated in the fact that,
while given leave of absence when suspicion was too strong against him
among the Consuls, he nevertheless reappeared after the bombardment and,
joining the Khedive, obtained the post he coveted of Minister of War, a
post which he held until May, 1883, when Lord Randolph Churchill having
brought the case against him and the Khedive forward in Parliament, he
at the end of the year retired into private life. Fuller proof of their
complicity will be found in the Appendix.
One point only in this sinister affair is still a matter for me of much
perplexity, and that is to determine the exact amount of responsibility
assignable in it to our agent at Cairo and Alexandria. There are
passages in Malet's despatches which seem to show that he was looking
forward, about the time when the disturbance was first contemplated, to
some violent solution of his diplomatic difficulties, and there is no
doubt that it had been for some time past part of his argument against
the Nationalist Government that it was producing anarchy. Also it is
certain that Cookson had connived at the arming of the Maltese British
subjects at Alexandria. Still, from that to complicity in a design to
create a special riot there is a wide difference, and everything that I
know of Malet's character and subsequent conduct in regard to the riot
convinces me that he did not know this one at Alexandria was intended.
Malet honestly believed in Tewfik as a trustworthy and amiable prince,
and accepted whatever tales he told, and his undeception about him after
the war I know to have been painfully complete. With regard to Colvin
much the same may be said. He was probably as ignorant of the exact plan
as he had been of the Khedive's true action the year before at Abdin,
though it is difficult to understand that either he or Malet should not
have soon afterwards guessed the truth. They had both allied themselves
to the party of disorder, and when disorder came they accepted the
Khedive's story without any close inquiry because it suited them to
accept it, and they made use of it as an argument for what they wanted,
the ruin of Nationalist Egypt and armed intervention. That is all the
connection with the crime I personally lay at their doors.
What followed may be briefly sketched here before I return to my
journal. The immediate effect of the riot was not exactly that which the
Khedive and his friends intended. It had been allowed to go much farther
than was in their plan, so much farther that the regular army had been
obliged to be called in, and instead of discrediting Arabi it so
seriously frightened the Levantine population of Alexandria, who were a
chicken-hearted community, that they began to look to him as their only
protector. Even the Foreign Consuls, all but the English, came round to
this view of the case, and the perfect order which the army from this
time on succeeded in maintaining, both there and at Cairo, largely
increased his prestige. I believe that then, late though it was in the
day, Arabi, if he had been really a strong ruler, which unfortunately he
was not, and if he had been a better judge of men and judge of
opportunity--in a word, if he had been a man of action and not what he
was, a dreamer, he might have won the diplomatic game against his
unscrupulous opponents. For this, however, it was necessary that he
should denounce and punish the true authors of the riot; and that he
should have proved with a strong arm that in Egypt he was really master,
and that any one who dared disturb the peace should feel the weight of
it. Then he would have appealed to Europe and to the Sultan in the words
of a strong man and they would not have been disregarded; nor would our
Government in England, who, after all, were no paladins, have stood out
against the rest. Unfortunately for liberty Arabi was no such strong
man, only, as I have said, a humanitarian dreamer, and with little more
than a certain basis of obstinacy for the achievement of his ideals. He
was absolutely ignorant of Europe, or of the common arts and crafts of
its diplomacy. Thus he missed the opportune moment, and presently the
Europeans, frightened by Malet and Colvin, who were playing a double
game with him, getting him to preserve order while they were preparing
the bombardment, lost confidence in him and his chance was over. From
that moment there was no longer any hope of a peaceful solution. A wolf
and a lamb quarrel was picked with him by Sir Beauchamp Seymour, who had
sworn to be revenged on the Alexandrians for the death of his
body-servant, a man of the name of Strackett, who had been killed in the
riot; and the bombardment followed. A greater man than Arabi might, I
say, have possibly pulled it through. But Arabi was only a kind of
superior fellah, inspired with a few fine ideas, and he failed. He does
not however, for that deserve the blame he has received at the hands of
his countrymen. Not one of them even attempted to do better.[17]
Now to return to London and my journal:
"_June 3._--To Lady Granville's party at the Foreign Office. All the
political people there. Everybody connected with the Foreign Office
ostentatiously cordial. Talked about the situation to Wolseley,
Rawlinson, the American Minister (Lowell) and others. Also had a long
talk with Sir Alexander and Lady Malet, who were very kind in spite of
my political quarrel with their son. People seem relieved at the crisis
in Egypt being postponed. But Wolseley tells me the Sultan has refused
the Conference. The Khedive's cousin, the fat Osman Pasha, was there,
and the Princes of Wales and Edinburgh and Prince Leopold and the Duke
of Cambridge and other bigwigs. I was surprised to find Henry Stanley,
too, quite cordial. He said he had a great admiration for Arabi as
champion of the Faith, and that they would promote him, and both he and
Tewfik remain at Cairo. So, as he represents Constantinople views, I
conclude there is no danger from that quarter. The game seems won now,
barring new accidents."
This last reference, which is to Lord Stanley of Alderley, is of
importance. He was a very old and close friend of mine, but we had
hitherto differed about Egypt, and on this ground. He had been many
years before, in the time of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Attaché to our
Embassy at Constantinople, and had imbibed there the extreme
philo-Turkish views then in fashion with Englishmen. In 1860, while
travelling in the East Indies, he had become a Mohammedan, and I had
first made his acquaintance in a rather singular way. I was on my way in
the autumn of that year from Athens and Constantinople to England, and
was travelling up the Danube when there came on board our steamer at one
of the Roumanian ports the family of an ex-hospodar, and with them an
Englishman of no very distinguished appearance, and of rather plain,
brusque manners, whom I took to be their tutor or secretary. As our
journey lasted several days, I made friends with my fellow traveller,
and found him interesting from his great knowledge of the East, but he
did not tell me his name. On our arrival, however, at Vienna, he
proposed to go with me to the Embassy, and I then discovered who he was,
and we travelled on together to Munich, where his younger brother,
Lyulph Stanley, a Balliol undergraduate, was learning German, and in
this way I became acquainted little by little with all his family. I
came to know him very well, and I take this opportunity of saying that,
though he was undoubtedly eccentric in his ideas, he remained through
life one of the sincerest and least selfish men I have known. As a
Moslem he was entirely in earnest, and in many ways he sympathized with
my views, but he would not hear of my preference of the Arabs to the
Turks, whom he considered the natural leaders of Islam. In London he was
always in close relations with the Ottoman Embassy, and his view of the
position as between the Sultan and Arabi--the Dervish mission was
already in the air--has on this account considerable historical value.
"_June 4._--Sunday at Crabbet. The first day for weeks I have not
thought about Egypt. I consider the whole matter settled now, and have
played tennis all the afternoon with a light heart. The Wentworths,
Noels, Frank Lascelles, Henry Cowper, Molony, and others came down from
London. Lovely weather.
"_June 5._--To London again.... Lady Gregory tells me they are
displeased now with Colvin--consider him not suited to his place in
Egypt--this from Lord Northbrook. Lord Granville has sent to consult him
(Sir William Gregory)." Lady Gregory, be it noted, had remained more
staunch than had her husband to the National cause; and later they both
rendered once more important services to Arabi, especially at the time
of his trial. The London newspapers at this time were beginning to take
a more intelligent interest in Egyptian affairs, most of them having
sent special correspondents to Cairo or Alexandria, among them the
"Daily Telegraph," whose correspondent became a strong Arabist.
"_June 6._--The 'Daily News' is already preparing itself for a renewal
of the _status quo ante ultimatum_, and the other papers seem likely to
follow suit,--all but the 'Times' and 'Pall Mall," just the two papers
which had the truth preached to them and which rejected it. English
opinion, however, is hardly now a straw in the balance.... I had another
long talk with Lascelles, and hope that I have more or less converted
him. In the evening I rode with Bertram Currie, who offers to wager
Arabi will have been extinguished in a fortnight." (_N. B._--Bertram was
the elder brother of Philip Currie, a banker, and strong practical
supporter of Gladstone, with whom he was personally intimate. His
opinion, no doubt, reflects that of Downing Street at the moment.)
"_June 7._--Lady Gregory came in and gave me news. She tells me that
Lord Granville told her husband that all their hopes now rested on
Dervish's mission from Constantinople. 'Dervish,' Lord Granville said,
'is quite unscrupulous, and he will get rid of Arabi one way or other.'
I suppose this means by bribing;[18] indeed, Lord Granville seems to
have said as much, but it may also mean by 'coffee.' I do not, however,
fear the latter. The Sultan's object will be to get Arabi to
Constantinople, not to kill, but to keep him as a hostage. I am anxious
all the same Sabunji should arrive. I cannot help fancying they may try
and prevent his landing, knowing his connection with me. A note has come
from him written in the train, with additions to our code of signals
which are rather amusing.... Later saw Gregory, who confirms all his
wife told me of his interview with Granville. He thinks Colvin and Malet
must be recalled.... Pembroke writes to John Pollen that the Foreign
Office is unbounded in its anger against me. Never mind.... I met Austin
Lee, Dilke's secretary, at the Club, and he asked me the latest news
from Egypt. I said, 'I hear you are sending a barrel of salt to put on
Arabi's tail.' 'No,' he answered with some readiness, 'the salt is to
pickle him.' ... Rode in the evening with Cyril Flower (who had married
a Rothschild) advised him to sell his Egyptian Bonds.... Dined with
Bertram, whom I found much more humane. He believes in Gladstone, and
the eventual independence of Ireland. 'Only,' he says, 'Gladstone has
the misfortune of being a generation before his age. We shall all
believe in attending to our own affairs in another twenty years.'
"Frederic Harrison has written to protest in the 'Pall Mall' against
intervention in Egypt." This was a powerful article headed "Money, Sir,
Money," which was followed by other letters. I have always regretted
that I had not earlier become acquainted with the writer, the soundest
and most courageous man on foreign policy then in the Liberal Party, and
by far their most vigorous pamphleteer. Had we met a month or two
before, I feel sure that he might have prevented the war, for though not
in Parliament, he wielded great influence. The misfortune of the public
position that Spring was that there was not a single man of great
intellectual weight in the party, Harrison excepted, free from official
bondage.... "Party at Lady Salisbury's. Talked with Miltown, who was
rather angry, I thought, at my handiwork in Egypt, and not quite polite
about my telegrams. Also with old Strathnairn, who would like 'to go out
with 10,000 men and hang Arabi.' Also with Osman and Kiamil Pashas, the
Khedive's cousins, though not about politics.... The Sultan's Commission
has arrived in Egypt.
"_June 8._--A telegram from Sabunji at Alexandria announcing his
arrival. Now I feel relieved from anxiety. He says the Turkish
Commission has gone to Cairo.... Harry Brand refuses to come to my
lawn-tennis party at Crabbet till he sees how things go at Cairo. I fear
he has much of his money in Egypt and will lose it.
"_June 9._--There is another letter from Frederic Harrison in the 'Pall
Mall.' Wrote to propose to show him my correspondence with Gladstone.
Saw the Gregorys. The Commission is hailed with a great flourish of
trumpets at Cairo, but we fancy this is only to herald a compromise.
Sabunji telegraphs that Arabi has declared publicly he will resist the
landing of Turkish troops. He is still at Alexandria, which disquiets
me. He ought to be in Cairo. Dined at Wentworth House to meet Sir Bartle
Frere, a soft-spoken, intelligent man.
"_June 10._--Luncheon with Mr. and Mrs. Green, very superior and
sympathetic about Egypt." (_N. B._--This was Green the historian. He was
already in failing health. I have a clear recollection of his emotional
sympathy with me and with the cause I was pleading. His loss to an
honest understanding of statesmanship was a great one.) "I am anxious
about things there for the first time for a fortnight. The evening
papers announced that Dervish has won--bought over--a part of the army
and has proclaimed himself Commander-in-Chief, summoning Arabi to
submit. Unless he stands firm now all is lost. After much consideration
I have sent the following telegram to Sabunji: '7 p. m. Arrest
Commission. Fear not but God.' This partly in cipher. My trouble is lest
Sabunji should not have gone to Cairo. Or why does he not telegraph? Can
he have come to grief?... Dinner at Lyulph Stanley's where, besides
others, we met Bright. I found him most humane about Egypt, and spoke a
few words with him, I hope, in season. I spoke my mind pretty freely. It
is now a question of boldness on the part of the National Party. I fancy
Dervish's orders have been to test this, and, if he finds them
determined, to support them. He will crush them, if he can, through the
Circassians. But I trust they may crush him, or at any rate frighten
him. The Sultan dares not put them down by force.
"_June 11_, Sunday.--By early train to Crabbet. I was very nervous
looking into the papers lest some _coupe de main_ should have been made.
But the 'Observer' shows that nothing has yet happened. There are the
same stories of Dervish's swagger to the Ulema and the officers. But
that is nothing.... At 2 o'clock the Princes Osman and Kiamil and their
cousin ---- and their alem Aarif Bey and an English bear-leader, one
Lemprière, came down to see our horses. While we were showing them these
a telegram came in cipher from Sabunji as follows: 'Cairo, 12 p. m.,
June 10. I have just had an interview with Arabi. He is supported by the
Parliament, the University, and the Army, all except Sultan Pasha and
the Sheykh el Islam. The nation is decided to depose the Khedive. The
Porte dislikes the proposals of Europe. Arabi insists there will be no
peace while Malet and Colvin are here. Arabi will resist a Turkish
invasion. He will not go to Constantinople. Sheykh Aleysh has been made
head of the Azhar. The Porte has decided to depose the Khedive. Malet
has urged the proposals of Europe on the Commission. Abdallah Nadim at a
public meeting of 10,000 spoke against these proposals and against the
Khedive.' If the Khedive's cousins whom we were entertaining could have
read it, it would have spoiled their appetites. We have talked the
matter over and are going to telegraph them to proclaim a republic in
case they depose Tewfik. I am relieved of all anxiety now that I know
Sabunji is with them."
In what I here say of Princes Osman and Kiamil I do them less than
justice. They had no love for Tewfik, their father Mustafa having been
driven out of Egypt and despoiled of much of his possessions by Ismaïl,
and they also had a considerable amount of patriotism. At least they
gave proof of it during the war when they were among Arabi's strongest
adherents. Their sister, Nazli Hanum, did much to help us at the time of
the trial. Aarif Bey was a young man of great ability, a Kurd by birth
but with Arab blood, well educated and of high distinction. He
afterwards became Secretary to Mukhtar Pasha at Cairo, and edited a
literary newspaper, but lost himself in intrigues of all kinds and has
disappeared. The fourth person on this occasion was a Europeanized Turk
and member of the Sultan's household, but his name in my diary is not
recorded. We talked Eastern politics, though not Egyptian, freely at
dinner, politics of a Pan-Islamic kind which included the hope that
France as well as England would sooner or later be driven out of North
Africa.
I may here insert a letter I wrote to Sabunji on the 9th, and one I
received from him of the same date as his telegram just given.
"10, James Street, _June 9, 1882_.
"Your telegram announcing your landing in Egypt relieved me of much
anxiety. I hope by this time you are at Cairo and in communication
with our friends. I think they cannot do better just now than keep
on the best possible terms with the Commissioners. Only I would
have them beware of trusting them. I know that great hopes are
placed by the enemies of Egypt on Dervish as a man quite
unscrupulous in his mode of dealing with rebels. Every effort will
be made to get Arabi to go to Constantinople. But this he must not
do. They will try to bribe him and persuade him that his going will
be for the good of the country. He must not be deluded. It is
possible even they may try to arrest or poison him, though I do not
think that likely. When, however, they see he stands firm and has
got the country with him, they will not quarrel with him. My strong
advice to him is that he should make his submission at once to
Mohammed Tewfik as the Sultan's viceroy, on condition of retaining
his place as Minister of War. If he does this the English and
French Governments will have no just cause of quarrel with him; and
the European Conference, if it assembles, will not sanction their
further intervention. I am sure that our Government will not insist
on their Ultimatum as regards Arabi leaving the country. But they
and the French are bound to support Tewfik as nominal sovereign of
Egypt. It would be very dangerous at the present moment for Arabi
to quarrel either with Tewfik or the Sultan. Only let him hold his
ground as practical ruler of the country.... People are very angry
here with me, but I do not care, so long as Egypt gets her
liberty."
I give a letter, somewhat condensed, which was written to me by Sabunji
from Cairo on the day of the Alexandrian riot, but before news of it had
reached him.
"Cairo, _June 11, 1882_.
"On my arrival I called on Arabi Pasha, Mahmud Sami and others who
are of the party. They received me with enthusiasm and inquired
after you. Mohammed Abdu informed me that he had been told you had
been advised by some influential people not to come to Cairo. Arabi
overwhelmed me with joy when he saw me. A week before my arrival he
addressed a large audience and read them a letter I had written, in
which I dwelt upon the necessity of perfect union among
themselves....
"The situation at present stands thus: In my telegram I told you
how we had talked of all that had happened from the discovery of
the Circassian plot down to the present date. Now Sheykh Aleysh,
the great holy man of the Azhar, has issued a _fetwa_ in which he
states that the present Khedive, having attempted to sell his
country to the foreigners by following the advice of the European
Consuls, is no more worthy of ruling over the Moslems of Egypt. He
must therefore be deposed. All the Sheykhs of the Azhar, who
consider Sheykh Aleysh as their spiritual head, have accepted the
_fetwa_.... Sheykh Mohammed Khodeyr of the Azhar went with
twenty-two Notables to meet Dervish Pasha, and presented him a
petition signed by 10,000 persons in which they requested him to
reject the proposals of the Powers and depose the Khedive. There
are fourteen moudiriehs in Egypt. Only three mudirs are personally
opposed to Arabi. The Copt and Arab element of the fellahin
unanimously supports him.... Embabeh (Sheykh el Islam), being
afraid of both the Khedive and the National Party, keeps aloof, and
avoids politics under plea of ill-health. Arabi told me 'he will
never yield either to Europe or Turkey. Let them send European,
Turkish, or Indian troops, as long as I breathe I will defend my
country; and when we are all dead they will possess a ruined
country, and we shall have the glory of having died for our native
land. Nor is this all. A religious war will succeed the political
one, and the responsibility of this will fall on those who provoke
it.' He is determined to resist and will not go to Constantinople;
Arabi is now supported by the majority of the nation. Nine only of
the Deputies are against him. Sultan Pasha has deserted him and
joined the Khedive, being frightened by Malet and the arrival of
the fleet. He and the Khedive are now looked upon by all the Arab
element as traitors.... Deputations from all the provinces came to
Dervish requesting the deposition of the Khedive, a fact which it
is impossible to explain on the supposition that Arabi compelled
them.... Ninety thousand persons have signed petitions to Dervish
to reject the proposals of Europe and keep Arabi in office.
"All the Azhar Sheykhs except Embabeh, el Abbasi, and the Sheykh el
Saadat are supporting Arabi, also Abd-el-Rahman Bahrawi. Nadim held
a large meeting of about 10,000 persons in Alexandria, and spoke
against the proposals of Europe, and proved the unfitness of the
Khedive to reign. He brought proofs from the Koran, the Hadith,
and modern history to prove his case and persuade his hearers.
Arabi also in an animated speech denounced all the misdeeds of the
reigning dynasty from Mohammed Ali down to Tewfik. I have spoken to
Abdu, Nadim, and others about soliciting letters and signatures
from Notables, Ulema, fellahin, merchants, and others, to be sent
to you to prove the reality of the National movement. They agree to
get the documents in ten days and I shall send them to you.
"I have found out that we formed an erroneous idea of Mahmud Pasha
Sami. I have had many conversations with him and have got
information about him even from his opponents. I find he is one of
those who first planned the National movement as long ago as in
Ismaïl's time. He suffered a great deal for his liberalism yet
stuck to his principles. Several of the leaders of the party,
Nadim, Abdu, and even Arabi, confess that they owe their power to
his help and constancy. He was tempted by Ismaïl to give up the
party, but he refused all money. He spends all his income in doing
good to the party, and his house is like a caravanserai. His
private life is that of a philosopher, spending little on himself
and satisfied with his lot and all that comes. He is not an
ignorant man. He is well versed in Arabic literature, better than
Arabi, and if he is hated by the Turks it is a proof of his
patriotism. He is going to write a letter to Lord Granville to
prove the existence of a real National Party in Egypt, and to avow
their friendship to England, which they look upon as the champion
of liberty, and as a nation which has always taken by the hand
people who were struggling for their freedom. I suggested that
similar letters from Arabi and Embabeh to Lord Granville and Mr.
Gladstone would be of use, and I promised to translate the letters
and send them to their destination.
"When it was rumoured that the Sultan intended sending Dervish to
urge Arabi to accept the Powers' Ultimatum, Nadim went to
Alexandria and held a meeting of about 10,000 persons and spoke for
two hours against the Note and suggested that every one in the
Assembly should protest against it. Nadim, the new Oracle of
Delphi, was cordially obeyed. When the men returned home they
taught their wives and children to join them in protesting against
the Note. In fact, when Dervish landed, the children were heard
shouting in the streets '_el leyha, el leyha_,' 'the note, the
note,' and from the windows the women called out, '_marfudha,
marfudha_,' 'reject it, reject it.' Dervish took a lesson from this
and changed his colours....
"Embabeh, who for a few days showed himself hostile to the National
Party for having openly sanctioned the deposition of the Khedive,
yesterday made peace with them. But Sultan Pasha has disappointed
every one. He has joined the Khedive blindly, frightened by the
thought of an European intervention, and being assured by Malet
that Arabi would not be suffered to remain in office. Thus the poor
old fellow fell into the same snare with Sherif. He is no longer
popular, and has got nothing for his change of policy.
"Another curious event took place yesterday. When Dervish summoned
the Ulema to consult about the best measures to be taken for an
honourable peace, two of the Ulema only took the Khedive's part.
All the rest pleaded the National cause. Dervish was vexed and
dissolved the Assembly, decorating the two dissenting Sheykhs,
Bahrawi and Abyari. When the result was published in the papers it
created a revolutionary movement in the Azhar. I was present at
several of the meetings of the Ulema and other persons, and there
was general indignation. The Koran and the Hadith were freely
quoted, showing the unfitness of Tewfik to rule over a Mussulman
community. They were not satisfied, however, with private meetings,
but in my presence insisted upon holding a public meeting in the
Azhar to protest against the insult inflicted on them. Accordingly
the meeting was held in the Azhar Mosque, in the very place where
the prayers are made; and Nadim was ordered by the Ulema to address
the Assembly, which exceeded four thousand persons. The effect
produced by Nadim's oration I have no time to describe. You have
seen Nadim and know how eagerly people hear him and how excited
they get by his eloquence."
FOOTNOTES:
[16] The "Pall Mall" of 28th May, has the following: "Cairo, 27th May,
Omar Pasha Lutfi, Sherif Pasha, Ragheb Pasha, and Sultan Pasha,
President of the Chamber of Notables, assembled at noon to-day at the
Ismaïlia Palace.... The Presidency of the Council will probably be held
by Sherif Pasha or Omar Pasha Lutfi.... Omar Pasha Lutfi will be
Minister of War."
[17] Arabi was probably deterred from taking open action against Omar
Lutfi, in part by the strong solidarity there is among Moslems in all
quarrels with non-Moslems, in part by his suspicion of the Khedive's
complicity, which at first was a suspicion only. He was extremely loath
to quarrel with Tewfik at that moment, as he had just been reconciled to
him, and only a few days before had sworn to protect his life as he
would his own. He preferred therefore, in his language at the time, to
attribute the chief blame to Cookson and Sinadino, who truly on their
side were not without blame. This will be seen in Sabunji's letters and
other documents concerning the riot printed in the Appendix.
[18] My diary of 1888 records: "Dec. 22, Cairo. To breakfast with Zebehr
Pasha.... He spoke highly of Arabi, and said that he had been present at
a conversation, between him and Dervish Pasha, in which Dervish had
offered Arabi E£250 a month if he would go to Constantinople. But Arabi
had said that, even if he were willing, there were 10,000 men would
stand between him and the sea."