all those interested (and they are immensely in the majority) whose
rights have been recognized up to now by the competent authorities;
it will continue to be actively proceeded with.
The service of the Consolidated Debt, which includes the special
administrations of the Daïra and the Domains employed to guarantee
the Loan of 1878 is being regularly performed. The administrations
which were created to secure this service, the General Control, the
Commission of the Debt, the Control of the Daïra, the Commission of
Domains, are institutions which must be always loyally supported by
the Government; they have always been so up to the present day.
Nothing will be changed in this state of things in the future: the
Ministry will endeavour to consolidate these institutions and to
facilitate their action. It considers harmony in all these public
services as an essential condition to the regular course of
affairs, and it thinks that the general administration of the
country owes incontestable advantages to this policy.
Your Highness has always been convinced that, to accomplish
internal reforms with wisdom and security, the co-operation of a
Chamber of Deputies was necessary, and it is with this idea that
the present Chamber has been convoked.
The Ministry share these sentiments. They will concentrate all
their attention upon the reorganization of the Tribunals, the
reform of the administration, the improvements necessary to public
education to aid the country to advance in the path of progress and
civilization. They will study measures suitable for the development
of agriculture, commerce, and industry, as well as all the other
projects of reform which have been the object of your Highness's
constant solicitude. But before all they believe it necessary to
determine the powers of the Chamber of Deputies, in order to enable
it to give to the Government the co-operation which it expects, and
to realize the hopes of the people.
This is why the Cabinet's first act will be to sanction an Organic
Law for the Chamber of Deputies.
This law will respect all rights and obligations of a private or
international character, as well as all engagements relating to the
Public Debt and to the charges which the latter imposes upon the
State Budget. It will determine wisely the responsibility of the
Ministers before the Chamber, as well as the mode of discussing the
laws.
Far from being a source of anxiety, this Organic Law will unite all
the conditions necessary for securing the interests of the public.
Such is, Monseigneur, the programme of the new Ministry,
conformable to the wishes of the country.
The High Powers--and particularly the Sublime Porte, whose friendly
support has never failed us in the exercise of the rights and
privileges which it has granted us--will continue, I confidently
hope, to lend to your Highness's Government, as in the past, that
valuable co-operation which has always been beneficial to Egypt.
I also hope that the authority of your Government will be devoted
solely to safeguarding individual rights and the maintenance of
order, and that it will guide the nation in the way of progress and
prosperity.
The day on which your Highness took in hand the reins of power you
promised to Egypt a new era of progress. We come to assure your
Highness of our absolute unanimity for the realization of that
promise. The goal you would attain, Monseigneur, is the same which
we are striving for. Full of confidence in you, we have faith in
the future.
If your Highness deigns to consent to the programme which I submit,
I have the honour to beg your Highness to sanction the decrees
which I present for signature, to constitute the Ministry.
MAHMOUD SAMY.
LETTER FROM HIS HIGHNESS THE KHEDIVE TO HIS EXCELLENCE MAHMOUD SAMY
PASHA
15, Rabi-Awel, 1299.
(February 4, 1882.)
MY DEAR MAHMOUD SAMY PASHA,
In accepting the task of forming a new Cabinet, without being
ignorant of the importance of this undertaking, you give a new
proof of your devotion and of your patriotism. If I have charged
you with this mission, it is because I knew these your noble
sentiments of which you have given many proofs, by the numerous
services you have rendered in the various offices you have already
filled. I approve of your programme, and of the principles which
you develop in it. These principles are the foundation of justice.
They are calculated to maintain and assure order in the country as
well to give security to all those who inhabit it.
I share your opinion that my Government should take the necessary
measures to ensure judicial and administrative reforms, and that it
should promulgate for the Chamber of Deputies the Organic Law in
conformity with the ideas explained in your programme.
My Government ought also to take upon itself the task of developing
public instruction, agriculture, commerce, and industry. My loyal
and sincere co-operation shall always be yours in the
accomplishment of this object.
I pray God to crown our common efforts for the benefit and
prosperity of the people.
MEHEMET TEWFIK.
DECREE
We, Khedive of Egypt,
In view of our Decree of the 4th October, 1881 (11 Zilcadé, 1298),
In view of the decision of the Chamber of Delegates, and conformably
with the advice of our Council of Ministers,
Have decreed and decree,
_Art. 1._ The Members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected.
An ulterior and special Law will make known the conditions of
electorability and of eligibility for election, and at the same time the
mode of election to the Chamber of Deputies.
_Art. 2._ The Members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected for a
period of five years. They receive an annual payment of £E.100.
_Art. 3._ The Deputies are free in the exercise of their mandates. They
cannot be bound either by promises or by (government) instructions, or
by an (administrative) order, or by menaces of a nature to interfere
with the free expression of their opinions.
_Art. 4._ The Deputies are inviolable. In case of crime or misdemeanour
committed during the course of the Session, they cannot be put under
arrest except with the leave of the Chamber.
_Art. 5._ The Chamber may also, after its convocation, demand,
provisionally and for the duration of the Session, that any one of its
Members who has been imprisoned shall be set at liberty, or that all
action directed against him shall be suspended during the Chamber's
recess, if for a criminal matter, where no judgment has yet been
pronounced.
_Art. 6._ Each Deputy represents not only the interests of the
constituency which has elected him, but also the interests of the
Egyptian people in general.
_Art. 7._ The Chamber of Deputies shall sit at Cairo. It is convoked
each year by Decree of the Khedive, and according to the advice of the
Council of Ministers.
_Art. 8._ The ordinary annual Session of the Chamber of Deputies shall
be for three months, viz., from the 1st November to the 31st January.
But if the work of the Chamber is not finished by the 31st January, it
may then demand a prolongation of fifteen to thirty days. This
prolongation will be accorded by Decree of the Khedive.
_Art. 9._ In case of necessity the Chamber will be convoked in
Extraordinary Session by the Khedive. The duration of the Extraordinary
Session will be fixed by the Decree convoking it.
_Art. 10._ The Sessions of the Chamber shall be opened in the presence
of the Ministers either by the Khedive or by the President of the
Council of Ministers, acting by delegation of the Khedive.
_Art. 11._ At the first sitting of each annual Session an opening Speech
shall be pronounced by the Khedive, or in his name by the President of
the Council of Ministers. It shall have for its object to make known to
the Chamber the principal questions to be presented to it in the course
of the session. After the reading of the opening speech the sitting
shall be adjourned.
_Art. 12._ During the three following days, the Chamber, having named a
Committee for the purpose of preparing a reply to the opening speech,
shall vote its reply, which shall be presented to the Khedive by a
deputation chosen from amongst its members.
_Art. 13._ The reply to the opening speech may not treat of any question
in a decisive sense, nor contain any opinion which has been the object
of previous deliberations.
_Art. 14._ The Chamber shall submit to the Khedive a list containing the
names of three Members whom it may propose for the office of President.
The Khedive shall name by Decree one of the Members, thus designated,
President of the Chamber of Deputies. The office of President shall
continue for five years.
_Art. 15._ The Chamber shall elect two Vice-Presidents which it shall
choose from among its Members, and shall name the Secretaries of its
Bureau.
_Art. 16._ An official report of the sittings of the Chamber shall be
drawn up under the direction of the Bureau of the Chamber, composed of
its President, Vice-President, and Secretaries.
_Art. 17._ The official language for the Chamber shall be Arabic. The
proceedings and reports of the Chamber shall be drawn up in the official
language.
_Art. 18._ The Ministers shall have the right of being present at the
sittings of the Chamber, and of speaking there, when they shall think
fit. They may cause themselves to be represented there by high state
officials.
_Art. 19._ If the Chamber decides that there is reason for summoning one
of the Ministers to appear before it to give explanations on any
question, the Minister shall appear in person or cause himself to be
represented by another official to give the required explanations.
_*Art. 20._ The Deputies shall have the right to supervise the acts of
all public functionaries during the Session, and through the President
of the Chamber they may report to the Minister concerned all abuses,
irregularities, or negligences charged against a public official, in the
exercise of his functions.
_Art. 21._ The Ministers are jointly and severally responsible to the
Chamber for every measure taken in Council, which may violate existing
rules and regulations.
_Art. 22._ Each Minister is individually responsible, in the cases
foreseen in the preceding article, for his acts occurring in the
exercise of his functions.
_*Art. 23._ In case of persistent disagreement between the Chamber of
Deputies and the Ministry; when repeated interchanges of views and
motives shall have taken place between them, if then the Ministry does
not withdraw, the Khedive shall dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, and
decree that new elections shall be proceeded with, within a period of
time not exceeding three months, counted from the day of dissolution to
that of reassembly. All Deputies thus dismissed shall be eligible for
reelection.
_Art. 24._ If the new Chamber confirms by its vote that of the preceding
Chamber which had provoked the disagreement, this vote shall be accepted
as final.
_*Art. 25._ The Bills and Regulations emanating from the initiative of
the Government shall be brought into the Chamber of Deputies by the
Ministers, to be examined, discussed and voted. No Law shall become
valid until it has been read before the Chamber of Deputies, Article by
Article, voted clause by clause, and consented to by the Khedive. Each
Bill shall be read three times and between each reading there shall have
been an interval of fifteen days. In case of urgency a single reading
shall, by a special vote of the Chamber, be declared sufficient. If the
Chamber judges it necessary to demand the introduction of a Bill from
the Council of Ministers, it shall make the demand through the
intermediary of the President of the Chamber, and in case of the
approval of the Government, the Bill shall be prepared by the Ministry
and introduced to the Chamber according to the forms fixed by this
Article.
_Art. 26._ The Chamber shall choose from amongst its Members a
Committee, charged to examine all Bills and Regulation submitted to it.
This Committee may propose to the Government amendments of such bills as
it has been charged to examine; in which case, the bill and the
amendments proposed shall be sent back, before any general discussion,
by the President of the Chamber, to the President of the Council of
Ministers.
_Art. 27._ If the Committee does not propose any amendments or if those
proposed are not adopted by the Government, the original text of the
Bill shall be placed for discussion before the Chamber. If the
amendments proposed by the Committee are accepted by the Government,
then the text thus amended shall be placed for discussion before the
Chamber. In case the Government should not accept the amendments
proposed by the Committee, then the latter shall have the right of
submitting its opinion and observations to the Chamber.
_Art. 28._ The Chamber of Deputies may adopt or reject all Bills
submitted to it by the Committee. It may also return them to the
Committee to be examined a second time.
_Art. 29._ The President of the Chamber shall convey to the President of
the Council of Ministers the Laws and Regulations voted by the Chamber.
_Art. 30._ No fresh tax--direct or indirect--on movable, immovable or
personal property may be imposed in Egypt without a Law voted by the
Chamber. It is therefore formally forbidden that any new tax shall be
levied, under whatever title or denomination it may be, without having
been previously voted by the Chamber of Deputies, under penalty, against
the authority which shall have ordered it, against the employés who
shall have drawn up the schedules and tariffs and against those who
shall have effected the recovery of the amounts, of being prosecuted as
peculators. All contributions thus unduly levied shall be returned to
those who have paid them.
_Art. 31._ The Annual Budget of the Receipts and Expenditures of the
State shall be communicated to the Chamber of Deputies not later than
the 5th of November of each year.
_Art. 32._ The General Budget of Receipts shall be presented to the
Chamber, accompanied by notes explanatory of the nature of each receipt.
_Art. 33._ The Budget of Expenditure shall be divided Department by
Department, and shall be subdivided into sections and chapters,
corresponding to the various branches of the public service depending
upon each Ministry.
_Art. 34._ The following cannot on any account be objects of discussion
in the Chamber:
The service of the Tribute due to the Sublime Porte.
The service of the Public Debt.
Also all matters relating to the Debt and resulting from the Law of
Liquidation, or Conventions existing between the Foreign Powers and the
Egyptian Government.
_*Art. 35._ The Budget shall be sent to the Chamber, to be examined and
discussed there (under reserve of the preceding Article).
A Committee composed of as many Deputies, and having the same number of
votes as the Members of the Council of Ministers and its President,
shall be named by the Chamber to discuss, in common with the Council of
Ministers, the Budget Estimates, and to vote them either unanimously or
according to the majority.
_Art. 36._ In case of an exact division of votes between the Commission
of the Chamber and the Council of Ministers, the Budget shall be
returned to the Chamber and, should the Chamber confirm (by its vote)
that of the Council of Ministers, this vote shall become executory
(_exécutoire_). But if the Chamber should maintain the vote of its
Committee, then the procedure shall be according to Articles 23 and 24
of the present Law. In this case, the credits of the Budget Estimates
which shall have caused the division of votes, if they figured in the
Budget of the preceding year, and if they are not affected to any new
object of expenditure, such as public works or others, shall be employed
provisionally and until the meeting of the new Chamber, according to
Article 23.
_Art. 37._ If the new Chamber confirms the vote of the preceding
Chamber, on the Budget, this vote shall become definitely executory, in
conformity with Article 23.
_Art. 38._ No Treaty or contract between the Government and third
parties and no farming concession shall acquire a final character
without having been first approved by a vote of the Chamber, provided
that such Treaty, contract or concession does not relate to an
object for which a sum has already figured in the approved Budget,
corresponding to the year for which the Treaty, contract or concession
shall have been proposed. Likewise no concession for public works, the
execution of which shall not have been foreseen by the Budget, and no
sale, or gratuitous alienation of the State domains, nor concession of
privilege of any kind shall become definitive until it shall have been
approved by the Chamber.
_Art. 39._ All Egyptians may address a petition to the Chamber of
Deputies. The petitions shall be sent to a Committee chosen by the
Chamber from among its Members. Upon the report of this Committee the
Chamber shall take into consideration or reject the petitions. The
petitions taken into consideration shall be sent back to the Minister
concerned.
_Art. 40._ All petitions relative to personal rights or interests shall
be rejected if they are outside the competence of the Administrative and
Civil Tribunals, or if they have not been previously addressed to the
competent administrative authority.
_Art. 41._ If during the recess of the Chamber grave circumstances shall
demand that urgent measures be taken to avoid a danger menacing the
State, or to assure public order, the Council of Ministers may, then,
upon its own responsibility and with the sanction of the Khedive, order
those measures to be taken, even if they should be within the competence
of the Chamber, supposing the time to be too short for the convocation
of the latter. Nevertheless, the affair should be submitted for
examination, at its next sitting, to the Chamber.
_Art. 42._ No one may be admitted to explain or discuss questions or to
take part in the deliberations of the Chamber other than its Members,
with the exception of the Ministers or of those who are assisting or
representing them.
_Art. 43._ The votes of the Chamber shall be given by the holding up of
hands or by calling over of names or by ballot.
_Art. 44._ The vote by calling over of names shall only be on the demand
of at least ten Members of the Chamber of Deputies. All votes which may
affect the provisions of Article 47 shall be made openly.
_Art. 45._ The naming of the three candidates for the Presidency of the
Chamber, as well as the election of the two Vice-Presidents and the
nomination of the first and second Secretaries to the Chamber shall be
made by ballot.
_Art. 46._ The Chamber of Deputies may not validly deliberate unless at
least two-thirds of its Members are present at the deliberation. All
decisions shall be taken absolutely according to the majority of votes.
_Art. 47._ No votes entailing Ministerial responsibility shall be given
without a majority of at least three-quarters of the Members present.
_Art. 48._ No opinion shall be given by proxy.
_Art. 49._ The Chamber of Deputies shall elaborate its own internal
Regulations. These shall be made executory by Decree of the Khedive.
_*Art. 50._ The present Organic Law may be amended after agreement
between the Chamber of Deputies and the Council of Ministers.
_*Art. 51._ The interpretation of all Articles and phrases of the
present law which it may be necessary to make clear shall be made on
agreement between the Chamber of Deputies and the Council of Ministers.
_Art. 52._ All provisions of Laws, Decrees, Superior Orders,
Regulations, or Usages contrary to the present Law are and shall remain
revoked.
_Art. 53._ Our Ministers are charged, each in what concerns him, with
the execution of the present Law.
Done in the Palace of Ismaïlieh, 7th February, 1882 (18 Rabi Awel,
1299).
(_Signed_) MEHEMET TEWFIK.
By the Khedive:
The President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of the Interior.
(_Signed_) MAHMOUD SAMY.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Justice.
MOUSTAPHA FEHMY.
The Minister of War and Marine.
AHMED ARABI.
The Minister of Finance.
ALI SADIK.
The Minister of Public Works.
MAHMOUD FEHMY.
The Minister of Public Instruction.
ABDALLAH FIKRY.
The Minister of the Wakfs.
HASSAN CHÉRÉY.
APPENDIX IV
LETTER RECEIVED BY MR. BLUNT FROM BOGHOS PASHA NUBAR AS TO HIS FATHER
NUBAR PASHA'S POLITICAL CONNECTION WITH THE KHEDIVE ISMAÏL. (TRANSLATED
FROM THE FRENCH.)
Paris, _September 26th, 1907_.
SIR,
I have just read in the _Egyptian Gazette_ of the 14th instant your
reply to Mr. Lucy about the Cyprus Convention, and I was very glad
to observe the offer you made in it of correcting in your book any
errors which might be pointed out to you. It has decided me to
appeal to your loyalty in regard to a mistake about my father which
has found its way into it. I do not know from what sources you have
drawn your information, nor do I doubt your good faith, which has
certainly been misled.
You say that Nubar Pasha was Ismaïl's Minister of Finance, and that
in virtue of this office he was responsible for the ruinous loans
contracted by the latter. This is evidently a complete mistake, my
father never having been Minister of Finance, and having had
nothing to do directly or indirectly with any of the loans.
The only offices which he filled during Ismaïl's reign were the
Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He
was never, I repeat, Minister of Finance, for this very good reason
that, in spite of his great intelligence and qualities as a
statesman, he recognized that he did not understand financial
questions, and the Khedive, who also knew it, would never have
thought of confiding a Ministry to him, which he himself felt he
was incapable of directing.
Ismaïl's Minister of Finance was the Moufettish Ismaïl Pasha Sadek,
whom you speak of on pages 18, 39 and 40 of your book. He was the
sole collaborator and confidant of the Khedive upon financial
matters, and it was he who organized the loans.
As to my father, I think what will best show you how entirely he
was a stranger to financial administration, is a simple _résumé_ of
his career, under Ismaïl, which I shall try to condense into a few
lines.
"In the very first year of Ismaïl's accession, 1863, Nubar Pasha
was sent on a mission to Paris to regulate the differences relating
to the Suez Canal. He remained there two years, and upon his return
to Egypt he was appointed, first, Minister of Public Works, and
then, Minister for Foreign Affairs. A year later, in 1866, he went
once more on a mission to Europe, and remained three years absent.
It was during this period that he obtained the Firman of 1867,
granting to Egypt administrative autonomy, the right of making
Customs Conventions with the Powers, and the title of Khedive for
the Viceroy. It was at this time, too, that he commenced the first
negotiations for Judicial Reform with the Powers. He did not return
to Egypt until 1869, and then for six months only, in order to
assist at the opening of the Suez Canal, and preside at the
Commission of Inquiry for Judicial Reform which was sitting at
Cairo, and he returned to Paris in 1870 to continue there the
negotiations for the Reform. These negotiations, begun in 1867,
lasted until 1875, about eight years, during which time Nubar Pasha
lived almost entirely in Europe, with the exception of short
intervals of a few months in Egypt. In 1874 he was dismissed by the
Khedive on account of a difference of opinion relative to the said
negotiations, and he remained in Europe without employment for a
year. He was recalled by Ismaïl to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
in June, 1875. Six months later, he was again dismissed, January,
1876. He then remained two years in Europe, exiled, and did not
return until 1878, when recalled by the Khedive to form the Mixed
Ministry in conjunction with Sir Rivers Wilson."
My father declares in his memoirs, which I hope one day to be able
to publish, that during the fifteen years of Ismaïl's reign, he
spent twelve in Europe on missions, on leave of absence, or in
exile. The dates and facts which I have recited above prove the
accuracy of this statement. During all these absences from Egypt,
Nubar Pasha, exclusively occupied with his negotiations, could not
take any part in the interior affairs of the country, about which
he was not even consulted. Thus, while in Paris in 1869, he learnt
from M. Béhic, Minister of Public Works to the Emperor Napoleon
III, in the course of a conversation with him relative to the
Judicial Reform, that the Khedive had just arranged a loan of ten
millions sterling, of which my father had not even been informed;
and again, at Constantinople in 1873, where he was pursuing his
negotiations for the Reform, it was indirectly that he learned that
the Khedive was negotiating a fresh loan of thirty millions.
You see, Sir, by these facts, which it will be easy for you to
verify, that not only was my father never Minister of Finance, nor
connected with the Khedive's loans, but that all his energy, his
talents and the influence which he had acquired were employed in
negotiations abroad: (1) for the regulation of the question of the
Suez Canal, which culminated in the arbitration of Napoleon III,
through which Egypt obtained a verdict for the abolition of forced
labour in the making of the Canal; (2) for obtaining Firmans from
the Sublime Porte; (3) for the Judicial Reform which was his
conception and his work, and to which he consecrated all his
energy, his intelligence, and the best years of his life. I must
also add that he continued to work zealously for the abolition of
forced labour while Director of Railways and at the Ministry of
Public Works. This we owe in large measure to him, as Sir W.
Wilcocks so courteously testifies in his book on the Irrigation of
Egypt.
Do you not think, Sir, that I have a right under these
circumstances to appeal to your courtesy in asking you to rectify
in the new edition of your book the erroneous passages which I have
mentioned? You cannot fail to see the importance which I attach to
these corrections, for it would not be just, in a work bearing upon
history, for my father to be held responsible for government
measures to which he was altogether a stranger.
My father in the course of his laborious career made many friends,
but also many enemies, as all politicians do. His enemies have not
failed to spread calumnies about him and to invent stories. I will
only cite two: First, that concerning his nationality. His
political adversaries, in the interest of their cause, successively
reproached him with being an English and a German subject! These
allegations, the object of which was to discredit him in the course
of his negotiations for Judicial Reform by contesting, though he
was a Minister of the Khedive, his Egyptian nationality, have been
since recognized as being without any foundation. Another legend
relates to his supposed immense fortune. The most calumnious and
fantastic assertions have been made with regard to this, generally
by people who were interested in tarnishing the memory of an
adversary by leaving it to be understood that such great wealth
could only have been acquired by unlawful means. They did not
hesitate to say and write that he possessed more than four millions
sterling. Although I have not condescended up to now to reply to
calumnies which have appeared in newspapers, there is no reason why
I should not give you, for your personal information, the precise
facts and figures.
At his death my father left a fortune of £155,000, having settled
upon my mother during his lifetime a personal fortune amounting to
an equal sum. Thus the four millions, at which the most moderate
estimators valued what he possessed, were not in reality more than
about £300,000. This is a fact which can easily be verified, for
the Deed of Partition of his inheritance--there being children who
were minors among the heirs--was registered at the Mixed Tribunal
at Cairo.
It is equally easy to show the sources from which this fortune was
derived. It consisted of donations, which he had received from the
Khedive in recompense for services rendered, and of an
exceptionally fortunate investment of a part of these donations.
By the _résumé_ which I have given of his career, you will see the
importance of the services he rendered to his country and the
results obtained by his various negotiations. The Khedive did not
fail to recompense him, as he had recompensed others of his
Ministers, and as the British Parliament has recently done for Lord
Cromer by voting him a donation of £50,000. Thus he received, upon
the successful result of the negotiations relating to the Suez
Canal, the Firman of 1867 and the Judicial Reform, various
recompenses consisting of sums of money, of a property of nine
hundred acres, and of a house in Alexandria--the whole being of the
value of about £80,000.
My father had the fortunate inspiration, at the creation of the
Cairo Water Company, of which he was President, to invest an
important part of this sum, £25,000, in shares of the Company; and
this investment alone sufficed to raise his fortune to the sum I
have indicated, for it is a matter of public knowledge that the
Cairo Water Company's shares had gone up to ten times their value
at the date of Nubar Pasha's death.
I will end by begging you to excuse my having written you so long a
letter, but your offer of rectification proves your anxiety to be
impartial and has authorized my doing so. Thanking you in advance,
therefore, for the corrections which my information will enable you
to make, I beg you will accept, Sir, etc.,
BOGHOS NUBAR.
_Note._--I am glad to have obtained Boghos Pasha's permission to publish
the whole of this interesting letter, and regret that I cannot, at the
late date of my receiving it, make any alteration in the text of this
edition, such as he at first suggested. I think, however, that the
letter, published in full, will be found more satisfactory than a mere
omission of the passages it corrects could possibly have been.
W. S. B.
APPENDIX V
NOTE AS TO THE BERLIN CONGRESS.
It has been pointed out by Mr. Lucy, in the _Westminster Gazette_, that
the account given in the text, page 34, of the quarrel between M.
Waddington and Lord Salisbury, at the Berlin Congress, is manifestly
incorrect, inasmuch as it was the Anglo-Russian agreement of 31st May,
not the Cyprus Convention with Turkey of 4th June, that was published by
the _Globe_ newspaper through the instrumentality of Marvin, the Cyprus
Convention being issued in the ordinary way. The confusion between the
two instruments in the text is undeniable and needs correction. At the
same time the result of as full an enquiry as I have been able to make
into the affair, by a reference to contemporary documents, is not such
as to make me doubt the substantial truth of the story. What seems
precisely to have happened is this:
Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury, before entering the Congress, had
concluded two separate agreements, both secret, regarding Ottoman
affairs--the one with Russia, the other with Turkey. These while
conceding something to Russia, would, they thought, conjointly secure
the integrity of the Sultan's dominions on the Asiatic side against
further aggression. The agreement with Russia recognized her permanent
possession of Batum, but was more than counterbalanced, in their
opinion, by the second Convention, unknown to the Russian Government as
to the rest of the world, guaranteeing the remainder of his Asiatic
dominions under English protection to the Sultan. The two treaties were
drafted at the Foreign Office almost simultaneously, and by accident or
negligence that with Russia became known, the very day it was signed, to
M. Charles Marvin, a poor journalist and teacher of languages, who had
been taken on as extra Writer for his knowledge of Russian in the Treaty
Department at the Foreign Office. Marvin, who was wretchedly underpaid
at the rate of tenpence an hour, had been intrusted with the copying of
the agreement, and yielded to the temptation of betraying a summary of
it to his employers in the Press. This was on the 31st May, a fortnight
before the Congress met.
For some days after this Marvin seems to have remained on unsuspected at
the Foreign Office, it being imagined at first that it was perhaps Count
Schouvalof himself, the Russian ambassador in London, who had given the
information to the Press. Later, seeing that the summary was no more
than a summary, and had appeared in one newspaper only, the _Globe_, it
was resolved to deny it; and Lord Salisbury had little difficulty in
persuading the House of Lords and the country that it lacked
authenticity. In answer to a question put to him about it by Lord Grey,
Lord Salisbury declared roundly "the statement to which the noble Earl
refers, and other statements that have been made that I have seen, are
wholly unauthenticated and are not deserving of the confidence of your
Lordship's House."
Nevertheless, the incident raised a suspicion of England's good faith
abroad, and, doubtless was the cause of the declaration, mentioned in
the text, being demanded of the Ambassadors at the first sitting of the
Congress. This must have been subscribed to by Lords Beaconsfield and
Salisbury on the 13th June, the other dates being:
The Agreement with Russia, signed in London, 31st May.
The _Globe_ summary, published in the evening of the same day, 31st
May.
Lord Salisbury's denial in the House of Lords, 3rd June.
First sitting of the Berlin Congress, 13th June.
Publication by the _Globe_ of the full text of the Agreement, on
evening of 14th June.
Lord Beaconsfield's and Lord Salisbury's discomfiture must consequently
have been still more sudden than in my account of it when the news
became public property at Berlin on the 15th; and doubtless the
sensation caused there was primarily on account of the Agreement, not of
the Convention, which latter was not published till 8th July. All the
same I still adhere to my recollection of the letter shown me at Simla
that it was the Cyprus Convention that was the main cause of M.
Waddington's resentment, and of Lord Salisbury's concession to him about
Tunis and the rest. That it was so is confirmed to me by a passage in my
diary of 1884, when, being at Constantinople and having just had a
conversation with Count Corti on the subject, I made the following
entry. It must be remembered that the Count had been Italian ambassador
at the Berlin Congress, and was actually ambassador to the Sultan at the
date of the conversation; nor was he other than a friendly witness, for
he was always regarded as an _Anglomane_ and ally of our British
diplomacy.
"_October 26._ Count Corti came to take us in a steam launch to
Therapia. We had luncheon with the Wyndhams, and called on the
Noailles (at the English and French Embassies).... On our way back
to Constantinople Count Corti entertained us with stories of the
Berlin Congress and of Lord Salisbury's antics there. Disraeli and
Salisbury had gone there quite on their high horse to curb the
territorial ambitions of Russia, and the publication of the secret
convention for the acquisition of Cyprus was a great shock to
everybody. Salisbury broke it gently to Waddington before the news
was published, and Waddington consulted his colleagues, it being
generally agreed that there was no middle course between going to
war and saying nothing. 'Il faut la guerre ou se taire.' But the
publication was a great blow to Disraeli, who took to his bed and
did not appear for four or five days. Lord Salisbury, however,
brazened it out, and came to the Congress with an air of defiance.
There was no rupture between him and Waddington, and they remained
on apparently friendly terms, but Waddington had his revenge. He
was sitting one day with Salisbury, and, the conversation leading
that way, Waddington asked what the English Government would say to
France taking Tunis, and Salisbury said he did not see the harm.
Whereupon Waddington communicated this to Paris, and on his return
the French ambassador in London was instructed to write to Lord
Salisbury reminding him of his words. Thus Salisbury was caught.
'But,' said Corti, 'if he had known anything of his business he
would have declined to answer the note officially and would have
pleaded a private conversation.' He did not believe that any
arrangement of _condominium_ was come to between Salisbury and
Waddington at that time, though I told him, without mentioning
names, of the letter Lytton had shown me. Corti is interesting
diplomatically, as he has been to more congresses than any man in
Europe."
This entry, which is a contemporary record of Count Corti's recollection
of the incident, five years after it happened, shows that the two secret
agreements had remained closely connected in his mind as the cause of
Waddington's displeasure. They certainly were present in the Duke of
Richmond's mind when, representing the Foreign Office on 17th June, in
answer to a further question about the authenticity of the full text of
the Anglo-Russian Agreement, he said "as an explanation of the policy of
Her Majesty's Government it is _incomplete_ and therefore inaccurate,"
for this _incompleteness_ can only be understood as an allusion to the
Cyprus Convention in 1878, and the seizure of Tunis by France in 1881,
which after all is the important matter. Some day, no doubt, the whole
incident will be made clear by a publication of the secret records at
the Foreign Office or at the Quai d'Orsay. In the meantime we may accept
it as probable that, finding the Russian Agreement divulged, Lord
Salisbury resolved to make a clean breast also of the other Agreement,
and, in Count Corti's words, broke gently to M. Waddington the existence
also of a Convention with Turkey. One thing I am certain of in my
recollection, that the letter shown me at Simla described the quarrel
and the terms obtained in the reconciliation with M. Waddington.
The Cyprus Convention was published in London on the 9th July, having
been signed on the 4th June, but there is evidence of its having been in
Lord Beaconsfield's thoughts at least three months earlier, for Lord
Derby, speaking in the Lords, 18th July, gave it as his reason for
leaving the Cabinet in March that the policy of the Government had
become such, that it was already, at that date, being considered
necessary "to seize and occupy the island of Cyprus."
W. S. B.
APPENDIX VI
THE WIND AND THE WHIRLWIND
A POEM BY WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT
PUBLISHED 1883
I
I have a thing to say. But how to say it?
I have a cause to plead. But to what ears?
How shall I move a world by lamentation--
A world which heeded not a Nation's tears?
How shall I speak of justice to the aggressors,--
Of right to Kings whose rights include all wrong,--
Of truth to Statecraft, true but in deceiving,--
Of peace to Prelates, pity to the Strong?
Where shall I find a hearing? In high places?
The voice of havock drowns the voice of good.
On the throne's steps? The elders of the nation
Rise in their ranks and call aloud for blood.
Where? In the street? Alas for the world's reason!
Not Peers not Priests alone this deed have done.
The clothes of those high Hebrews stoning Stephen
Were held by all of us,--ay every one.
Yet none the less I speak. Nay, here by Heaven
This task at least a poet best may do,--
To stand alone against the mighty many,
To force a hearing for the weak and few.
Unthanked, unhonoured,--yet a task of glory,--
Not in his day, but in an age more wise,
When those poor Chancellors have found their portion
And lie forgotten in their dust of lies.
And who shall say that this year's cause of freedom
Lost on the Nile has not as worthy proved
Of poet's hymning as the cause which Milton
Sang in his blindness or which Dante loved?
The fall of Guelph beneath the spears of Valois,
Freedom betrayed, the Ghibelline restored,
--Have we not seen it, we who caused this anguish,
Exile and fear proscription and the sword?
Or shall God less avenge in their wild valley
Where they lie slaughtered those poor sheep whose fold
In the gray twilight of our wrath we harried
To serve the worshippers of stocks and gold?
This fails. That finds its hour. This fights. That falters.
Greece is stamped out beneath a Wolseley's heels.
Or Egypt is avenged of her long mourning,
And hurls her Persians back to their own keels.
'Tis not alone the victor who is noble.
'Tis not alone the wise man who is wise.
There is a voice of sorrow in all shouting,
And shame pursues not only him who flies.
To fight and conquer--'tis the boast of heroes.
To fight and fly--of this men do not speak.
Yet shall there come a day when men shall tremble
Rather than do misdeeds upon the weak,--
--A day when statesmen baffled in their daring
Shall rather fear to wield the sword in vain
Than to give back their charge to a hurt nation,
And own their frailties, and resign their reign,--
--A day of wrath when all fame shall remember
Of this year's work shall be the fall of one
Who, standing foremost in her paths of virtue,
Bent a fool's knee at War's red altar stone.
And left all virtue beggared in his falling,
A sign to England of new griefs to come,
Her priest of peace who sold his creed for glory
And marched to carnage at the tuck of drum.
Therefore I fear not. Rather let this record
Stand of the past, ere God's revenge shall chase
From place to punishment His sad vicegerents
Of power on Earth.--I fling it in their face.
II
I have a thing to say. But how to say it?
Out of the East a twilight had been born.
It was not day. Yet the long night was waning,
And the spent nations watched it less forlorn.
Out of the silence of the joyless ages
A voice had spoken, such as the first bird
Speaks to the woods, before the morning wakens,--
And the World starting to its feet had heard.
Men hailed it as a prophecy. Its utterance
Was in that tongue divine the Orient knew.
It spoke of hope. Men hailed it as a brother's.
It spoke of happiness. Men deemed it true.
There in the land of Death, where toil is cradled,
That tearful Nile, unknown to Liberty,
It spoke in passionate tones of human freedom,
And of those rights of Man which cannot die,--
--Till from the cavern of long fear, whose portals
Had backward rolled, and hardly yet aloud,
Men prisoned stole like ghosts and joined the chorus,
And chaunted trembling, each man in his shroud.
Justice and peace, the brotherhood of nations,--
Love and goodwill of all mankind to man,--
These were the words they caught and echoed strangely,
Deeming them portions of some Godlike plan,--
A plan thus first to their own land imparted.
They did not know the irony of Fate,
The mockery of man's freedom, and the laughter
Which greets a brother's love from those that hate.
Oh for the beauty of hope's dreams! The childhood
Of that old land, long impotent in pain,
Cast off its slough of sorrow with its silence,
And laughed and shouted and grew new again.
And in the streets, where still the shade of Pharaoh
Stalked in his sons, the Mamelukian horde,
Youth greeted youth with words of exultation
And shook his chains and clutched as for a sword.
Student and merchant,--Jew, and Copt, and Moslem,--
All whose scarred backs had bent to the same rod,--
Fired with one mighty thought, their feuds forgotten,
Stood hand in hand and praising the same God.
III
I have a thing to say. But how to say it?
As in the days of Moses in the land,
God sent a man of prayer before his people
To speak to Pharaoh, and to loose his hand.
Injustice, that hard step-mother of heroes,
Had taught him justice. Him the sight of pain
Moved into anger, and the voice of weeping
Made his eyes weep as for a comrade slain.
A soldier in the bands of his proud masters
It was his lot to serve. But of his soul
None owned allegiance save the Lord of Armies.
No worship from his God's might him cajole.
Strict was his service. In the law of Heaven
He comfort took and patient under wrong.
And all men loved him for his heart unquailing,
And for the words of pity on his tongue.
Knowledge had come to him in the night-watches,
And strength with fasting, eloquence with prayer.
He stood a Judge from God before the strangers,
The one just man among his people there.
Strongly he spoke: "Now, Heaven be our witness!
Egypt this day has risen from her sleep.
She has put off her mourning and her silence.
It was no law of God that she should weep.
"It was no law of God nor of the Nations
That in this land, alone of the fair Earth,
The hand that sowed should reap not of its labour,
The heart that grieved should profit not of mirth.
"How have we suffered at the hands of strangers,
Binding their sheaves, and harvesting their wrath!
Our service has been bitter, and our wages
Hunger and pain and nakedness and drouth.
"Which of them pitied us? Of all our princes,
Was there one Sultan listened to our cry?
Their palaces we built, their tombs, their temples.
What did they build but tombs for Liberty?
"To live in ignorance, to die by service;
To pay our tribute and our stripes receive:
This was the ransom of our toil in Eden,
This, and our one sad liberty--to grieve.
"We have had enough of strangers and of princes
Nursed on our knees and lords within our house.
The bread which they have eaten was our children's,
For them the feasting and the shame for us.
"The shadow of their palaces, fair dwellings
Built with our blood and kneaded with our tears,
Darkens the land with darkness of Gehennem,
The lust, the crime, the infamy of years.
"Did ye not hear it? From those muffled windows
A sound of women rises and of mirth.
These are our daughters--ay our sons--in prison,
Captives to shame with those who rule the Earth.
"The silent river by those gardens lapping
To-night receives its burden of new dead,
A man of age sent home with his lord's wages,
Stones to his feet, a grave-cloth to his head.
"Walls infamous in beauty, gardens fragrant
With rose and citron and the scent of blood.
God shall blot out the memory of all laughter,
Rather than leave you standing where you stood.
"We have had enough of princes and of strangers,
Slaves that were Sultans, eunuchs that were kings,
The shame of Sodom is on all their faces.
The curse of Cain pursues them, and it clings.
"Is there no virtue? See the pale Greek smiling.
Virtue for him is as a tale of old.
Which be his gods? The cent. per cent. in silver.
His God of gods? The world's creator, Gold.
"The Turk that plunders and the Frank that panders,
These are our lords who ply with lust and fraud.
The brothel and the winepress and the dancers
Are gifts unneeded in the lands of God.
"We need them not. We heed them not. Our faces
Are turned to a new Kebla, a new truth,
Proclaimed by the one God of all the nations
To save His people and renew their youth.
"A truth which is of knowledge and of reason;
Which teaches men to mourn no more and live;
Which tells them of things good as well as evil,
And gives what Liberty alone can give,
"The counsel to be strong, the will to conquer,
The love of all things just and kind and wise,
Freedom for slaves, fair rights for all as brothers,
The triumph of things true, the scorn of lies.
"Oh men, who are my brethren, my soul's kindred!
That which our fathers dreamed of as a dream,
The sun of peace and justice, has arisen
And God shall work in you His perfect scheme.
"The rulers of your Earth shall cease deceiving,
The men of usury shall fly your land.
Your princes shall be numbered with your servants,
And peace shall guide the sword in your right hand.
"You shall become a nation with the nations.
Lift up your voices, for the night is past.
Stretch forth your hands. The hands of the free peoples
Have beckoned you--the youngest and the last.
"And in the brotherhood of Man reposing,
Joined to their hopes and nursed in their new day,
The anguish of the years shall be forgotten
And God, with these, shall wipe your tears away."
IV
I have a thing to say. But how to say it?
How shall I tell the mystery of guile--
The fraud that fought--the treason that disbanded--
The gold that slew the children of the Nile?
The ways of violence are hard to reckon,
And men of right grow feeble in their will,
And Virtue of her sons has been forsaken,
And men of peace have turned aside to kill.
How shall I speak of them, the priests of Baal,
The men who sowed the wind for their ill ends?
The reapers of the whirlwind in that harvest
Were all my countrymen, were some my friends.
Friends, countrymen and lovers of fair freedom--
Souls to whom still my soul laments and cries.
I would not tell the shame of your false dealings,
Save for the blood which clamours to the skies.
A curse on Statecraft, not on you my Country!
The men you slew were not more foully slain
Than was your honour at their hands you trusted.
They died, you conquered,--both alike in vain.
Crime finds accomplices, and Murder weapons.
The ways of Statesmen are an easy road.
All swords are theirs, the noblest with the neediest.
And those who serve them best are men of good.
What need to blush, to trifle with dissembling?
A score of honest tongues anon shall swear.
Blood flows. The Senate's self shall spread its mantle
In the world's face, nor own a Cæsar there.
"Silence! Who spoke?" "The voice of one disclosing
A truth untimely." "With what right to speak?
Holds he the Queen's commission?" "No, God's only."
A hundred hands shall smite him on the cheek.
The "truth" of Statesmen is the thing they publish,
Their "falsehood" the thing done they do not say,
Their "honour" what they win from the world's trouble,
Their "shame" the "ay" which reasons with their "nay."
Alas for Liberty, alas for Egypt!
What chance was yours in this ignoble strife?
Scorned and betrayed, dishonoured and rejected,
What was there left you but to fight for life?
The men of honour sold you to dishonour.
The men of truth betrayed you with a kiss.
Your strategy of love too soon outplotted,
What was there left you of your dreams but this?
You thought to win a world by your fair dealing,
To conquer freedom with no drop of blood.
This was your crime. The world knows no such reasoning.
It neither bore with you nor understood.
Your Pharaoh with his chariots and his dancers,
Him they could understand as of their kin.
He spoke in their own tongue and as their servant,
And owned no virtue they could call a sin.
They took him for his pleasure and their purpose.
They fashioned him as clay to their own pride.
His name they made a cudgel to your hurting,
His treachery a spear-point to your side.
They knew him, and they scorned him and upheld him.
They strengthened him with honours and with ships.
They used him as a shadow for seditions.
They stabbed you with the lying of his lips.
Sad Egypt! Since that night of misadventure
Which slew your first-born for your Pharaoh's crime,
No plague like this has God decreed against you,
No punishment of all foredoomed in Time.
V
I have a thing to say. Oh how to say it!
One summer morning, at the hour of prayer,
And in the face of Man and Man's high Maker,
The thunder of their cannon rent the air.
The flames of death were on you and destruction.
A hail of iron on your heads they poured.
You fought, you fell, you died until the sunset;
And then you fled forsaken of the Lord.
I care not if you fled. What men call courage
Is the least noble thing of which they boast.
Their victors always are great men of valour.
Find me the valour of the beaten host!
It may be you were cowards. Let them prove it,--
What matter? Were you women in the fight,
Your courage were the greater that a moment
You steeled your weakness in the cause of right.
Oh I would rather fly with the first craven
Who flung his arms away in your good cause,
Than head the hottest charge by England vaunted
In all the record of her unjust wars.
Poor sheep! they scattered you. Poor slaves! they bowed you.
You prayed for your dear lives with your mute hands.
They answered you with laughter and with shouting,
And slew you in your thousands on the sands.
They led you with arms bound to your betrayer--
His slaves, they said, recaptured for his will.
They bade him to take heart and fill his vengeance.
They gave him his lost sword that he might kill.
They filled for him his dungeons with your children.
They chartered him new gaolers from strange shores.
The Arnaout and the Cherkess for his minions,
Their soldiers for the sentries at his doors.
He plied you with the whip, the rope, the thumb-screw.
They plied you with the scourging of vain words
He sent his slaves, his eunuchs, to insult you.
They sent you laughter on the lips of Lords.
They bound you to the pillar of their firmans.
They placed for sceptre in your hand a pen.
They cast lots for the garments of your treaties,
And brought you naked to the gaze of men.
They called on your High Priest for your death mandate.
They framed indictments on you from your laws.
For him men loved they offered a Barabbas.
They washed their hands and found you without cause.
They scoffed at you and pointed in derision,
Crowned with their thorns and nailed upon their tree.
And at your head their Pilate wrote the inscription--
"This is the land restored to Liberty."
Oh insolence of strength! Oh boast of wisdom!
Oh poverty in all things truly wise!
Thinkest thou, England, God can be outwitted
For ever thus by him who sells and buys?
Thou sellest the sad nations to their ruin.
What hast thou bought? The child within the womb,
The son of him thou slayest to thy hurting,
Shall answer thee "an Empire for thy tomb."
Thou hast joined house to house for thy perdition.
Thou hast done evil in the name of right.
Thou hast made bitter sweet and the sweet bitter,
And called light darkness and the darkness light.
Thou art become a bye-word for dissembling,
A beacon to thy neighbours for all fraud.
Thy deeds of violence men count and reckon.
Who takes the sword shall perish by the sword.
Thou hast deserved men's hatred. They shall hate thee.
Thou hast deserved men's fear. Their fear shall kill.
Thou hast thy foot upon the weak. The weakest
With his bruised head shall strike thee on the heel.
Thou wentest to this Egypt for thy pleasure.
Thou shalt remain with her for thy sore pain.
Thou hast possessed her beauty. Thou wouldst leave her.
Nay. Thou shalt lie with her as thou hast lain.
She shall bring shame upon thy face with all men.
She shall disease thee with her grief and fear.
Thou shalt grow sick and feeble in her ruin.
Thou shalt repay her to the last sad tear.
Her kindred shall surround thee with strange clamours,
Dogging thy steps till thou shalt loathe their din.
The friends thou hast deceived shall watch in anger.
Thy children shall upbraid thee with thy sin.
All shall be counted thee a crime,--thy patience
With thy impatience. Thy best thought shall wound.
Thou shalt grow weary of thy work thus fashioned,
And walk in fear with eyes upon the ground.
The Empire thou didst build shall be divided.
Thou shalt be weighed in thine own balances
Of usury to peoples and to princes,
And be found wanting by the world and these.
They shall possess the lands by thee forsaken
And not regret thee. On their seas no more
Thy ships shall bear destruction to the nations,
Or thy guns thunder on a fenceless shore.
Thou hast no pity in thy day of triumph.
These shall not pity thee. The world shall move
On its high course and leave thee to thy silence,
Scorned by the creatures that thou couldst not love.
Thy Empire shall be parted, and thy kingdom.
At thy own doors a kingdom shall arise,
Where freedom shall be preached and the wrong righted
Which thy unwisdom wrought in days unwise.
Truth yet shall triumph in a world of justice.
This is of faith. I swear it. East and west
The law of Man's progression shall accomplish
Even this last great marvel with the rest.
Thou wouldst not further it. Thou canst not hinder.
If thou shalt learn in time thou yet shalt live.
But God shall ease thy hand of its dominion,
And give to these the rights thou wouldst not give.
The nations of the East have left their childhood.
Thou art grown old. Their manhood is to come;
And they shall carry on Earth's high tradition
Through the long ages when thy lips are dumb,
Till all shall be wrought out. O Lands of weeping.
Lands watered by the rivers of old Time,
Ganges and Indus and the streams of Eden,
Yours is the future of the world sublime.
Yours was the fount of man's first inspiration,
The well of wisdom whence he earliest drew.
And yours shall be the flood time of his reason,
The stream of strength which shall his strength renew.
The wisdom of the West is but a madness,
The fret of shallow waters in their bed.
Yours is the flow, the fulness of Man's patience
The ocean of God's rest inherited.
And thou too, Egypt, mourner of the nations,
Though thou hast died to-day in all men's sight,
And though upon thy cross with thieves thou hangest,
Yet shall thy wrong be justified in right.
'Twas meet one man should die for the whole people.
Thou wert the victim chosen to retrieve
The sorrows of the Earth with full deliverance.
And, as thou diest these shall surely live.
Thy prophets have been scattered through the cities.
The seed of martyrdom thy sons have sown
Shall make of thee a glory and a witness
In all men's hearts held captive with thine own.
Thou shalt not be forsaken in thy children.
Thy righteous blood shall fructify the Earth.
The virtuous of all lands shall be thy kindred,
And death shall be to thee a better birth.
Therefore I do not grieve. Oh hear me, Egypt!
Even in death thou art not wholly dead.
And hear me, England! Nay. Thou needs must hear me.
I had a thing to say. And it is said.
THE END
Transcriber's notes:
The words:
"Sultan Pasha. It demands the resignation of the Ministry and
Arabi's"
between
"force. The dates are: May 17th, Malet finally secures"
and
"Alexandria. May 25th, Malet and Sinkiewicz issue their ultimatum,"
were deleted.
The following is a list of changes made to the original.
The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
Canal north of Ismailiyah. What a sight it was! Lake
Canal north of Ismaïlia. What a sight it was! Lake
claims had been discharged, probably not less that a couple of
claims had been discharged, probably not less than a couple of
Ali had claimed and exercised for some years a monoply
Ali had claimed and exercised for some years a monopoly
fish it was or that that I was the object of its attack. I had
fish it was or that I was the object of its attack. I had
tyrant. Every villayet had been bought with money at
tyrant. Every vilayet had been bought with money at
Ismaïl and his creditors, The moment was a favourable one
Ismaïl and his creditors. The moment was a favourable one
Berlin could not long be concealed. Our two plenipotentaries
Berlin could not long be concealed. Our two plenipotentiaries
had been no open rupture wth Waddington, the case having been
had been no open rupture with Waddington, the case having been
take the part he did against his master Ismaïl and utimately to
take the part he did against his master Ismaïl and ultimately to
brother-in law, Latif Effendi Selim, who, as Director of the
brother-in-law, Latif Effendi Selim, who, as Director of the
of the Syrian villayet of which he had just been appointed Valy,
of the Syrian vilayet of which he had just been appointed Valy,
at Haïl. It stood us in good stead with Ibu Rashid that we had
at Haïl. It stood us in good stead with Ibn Rashid that we had
East or West, the three great blessinsg of which we in Europe
East or West, the three great blessings of which we in Europe
have our own government. Here we are satisfied," It was
have our own government. Here we are satisfied." It was
message from the Viceroy of Ibn Rashid. I am
message from the Viceroy to Ibn Rashid. I am
down to Contantinople would be a greater misfortune
down to Constantinople would be a greater misfortune
'We thought it best to say nothing."
'We thought it best to say nothing.'"
made one thus feel like a child?
made one thus feel like a child?"
He also told me that when he was going to India Schouvaloff called
He also told me that when he was going to India Schouvalof called
fromEurope to relieve it of the cost of an army. For
from Europe to relieve it of the cost of an army. For
difficulty of keeping the peace betwen the mixed Mohammedan
difficulty of keeping the peace between the mixed Mohammedan
indirectly throught the intermediary of their distinguished friend
indirectly through the intermediary of their distinguished friend
called with him and Ali Ibn Antiyeh on Abd-el-Kader,
called with him and Ali Ibn Atiyeh on Abd-el-Kader,
not altogether military, connected with the Khedive's Daira.
not altogether military, connected with the Khedive's Daïra.
servants, His attitude, therefore, towards the fellah officers
servants. His attitude, therefore, towards the fellah officers
"You three, Arabi, Abd-ed-Aal, and yourself, are three
"You three, Arabi, Abd-el-Aal, and yourself, are three
son of El Khattab," said they, "thou has indeed walked
son of El Khattab," said they, "thou hast indeed walked
with a general Mohammedan revolt against the French Governmen
with a general Mohammedan revolt against the French Government
with Gambetta about the Treaty of Commerce ("Times),"
with Gambetta about the Treaty of Commerce ("Times"),
supreme in Egypt. It was only frustrateed that winter by the
supreme in Egypt. It was only frustrated that winter by the
come that a French force was being assembled for embarkation
came that a French force was being assembled for embarkation
only the firstfruits of a radically wrong policy which has lost
only the first fruits of a radically wrong policy which has lost
of their words, especially Morley's words, la haute politique,"
of their words, especially Morley's words, "la haute politique,"
do not know, it was probably the Khedive, whose malicious jealcusy
do not know, it was probably the Khedive, whose malicious jealousy
with my friends at the Azhur, to whom I communicated my design,
with my friends at the Azhar, to whom I communicated my design,
was epecially insistent. These things, with others almost as
was especially insistent. These things, with others almost as
The atmosphere of Westminister and the public offices was therefore
The atmosphere of Westminster and the public offices was therefore
it may be noticed, has been slurred over in a few pages
it may be noticed, has been slurred over in a few pages.
Ismail, and that the whole thing in Egypt was an intrigue to
Ismaïl, and that the whole thing in Egypt was an intrigue to
Ismail may have had for making this assertion, for his word
Ismaïl may have had for making this assertion, for his word
to the Circassian pashas, Ismail's adherents, who were
to the Circassian pashas, Ismaïl adherents, who were
actively intriguing with Tewfik against him. Ismail, however,
actively intriguing with Tewfik against him. Ismaïl, however,
India, where he had been namel Lieutenant-Governor of the
India, where he had been named Lieutenant-Governor of the
menance to the National Party, but which I think was never sent,
menace to the National Party, but which I think was never sent,
not let any grass grow under my feet, I had neverthless failed
not let any grass grow under my feet, I had nevertheless failed
the Egytian cause.
the Egyptian cause.
it was threating the existence of his Government--the condition,
it was threatening the existence of his Government--the condition,
wrong in the fact that Ratib had left the ex-Khedive so suddently
wrong in the fact that Ratib had left the ex-Khedive so suddenly
laugh if it were stated publicly that Engand was on the verge
laugh if it were stated publicly that England was on the verge
of anarchy because a madman, sodier or civilian, had tried to
of anarchy because a madman, soldier or civilian, had tried to
on this point was a firm one.. He hated the Turks, and would
on this point was a firm one. He hated the Turks, and would
Turk," the "Bashi-bazouk," fresh from his."Bulgarian atrocities,"
Turk," the "Bashi-bazouk," fresh from his "Bulgarian atrocities,"
told Glyns (my bankers, Messrs, Glyn, Mills, and Currie) to
told Glyns (my bankers, Messrs. Glyn, Mills, and Currie) to
of the Sheykhs Bahrami and Abyari and the Sheykh el Saadat,
of the Sheykhs Bahrawi and Abyari and the Sheykh el Saadat,
police of Alexandria, and through them directed that quartertaves,
police of Alexandria, and through them directed that quarterstaves,
in, and intead of discrediting Arabi it so seriously frightened
in, and instead of discrediting Arabi it so seriously frightened
were beginnning to take a more intelligent interest in Egyptian
were beginning to take a more intelligent interest in Egyptian
know Sabunji is with them.
know Sabunji is with them."
are supporting Arabi, also Abd-el-rahman Bahrawi.
are supporting Arabi, also Abd-el-Rahman Bahrawi.
I have found out that we formed an erroneous idea of Mahmud
"I have found out that we formed an erroneous idea of Mahmud
When it was rumoured that the Sultan intended sending
"When it was rumoured that the Sultan intended sending
them himself before Mr. Gladstone and the English Parlament.
them himself before Mr. Gladstone and the English Parliament.
"_June 23._--Ah soon as Ragheb Pasha was confirmed by the
"_June 23._--As soon as Ragheb Pasha was confirmed by the
"_June 29._--Called on Bright at his house in Picadilly. He
"_June 29._--Called on Bright at his house in Piccadilly. He
Punic War.") 'He says all are waiting in Tripoli and Tunis
Punic War.") "He says all are waiting in Tripoli and Tunis
He had, however, written to Mr Gladstone after the war
He had, however, written to Mr. Gladstone after the war
country Notables, and also, representating the non-Mussulman
country Notables, and also, representing the non-Mussulman
13th, the Egpytian army was in clover and could wait events.
13th, the Egyptian army was in clover and could wait events.
She is at least as clever as she is pretty Her conversation
She is at least as clever as she is pretty. Her conversation
French Canal authorites it should be done. Arabi, however--and
French Canal authorities it should be done. Arabi, however--and
the arrival of the British fleet at port Saïd conveying Wolseley
the arrival of the British fleet at Port Saïd conveying Wolseley
d'un soldat français. Je reponds de tout." This occasioned
d'un soldat français. Je réponds de tout." This occasioned
it and do something towards winning it for our side.... The
it and do something towards winning it for our side...." The
On the 21st, I am anxious to get to Suez, because I have
On the 21st, "I am anxious to get to Suez, because I have
Stone Pasha, the American, after the war stated it freely at his
Stone Pasha, the American, after the war stated it freely as his
some of which his wife took to Ismail Jawdat's wife to change.
some of which his wife took to Ismaïl Jawdat's wife to change.
The whole state of things was very disgracful, and
The whole state of things was very disgraceful, and
Dilke's, Colvin's, and Malet's secretivenes. Dilke, especially,
Dilke's, Colvin's, and Malet's secretiveness. Dilke, especially,
"I need hardly say that Mr. Gladstone has been much exercise
"I need hardly say that Mr. Gladstone has been much exercised
been made at Tel-el Kebir, he would indulge in some conspicuous
been made at Tel-el-Kebir, he would indulge in some conspicuous
former letter in Lord Granvillle's hands, as Hamilton informed
former letter in Lord Granville's hands, as Hamilton informed
counsel; and this they had not had not the face publicly to disavow.
counsel; and this they had not the face publicly to disavow.
at the Foreign Office, till by hook or crook to establish
at the Foreign Office, still by hook or crook to establish
The proved of supreme value--including as they did the letters
They proved of supreme value--including as they did the letters
better could be got?... This question will probobly soon have
better could be got?... This question will probably soon have
than I had originally thought probable. Or course the main
than I had originally thought probable. Of course the main
is a man who will quickly see through our friend Twefik,
is a man who will quickly see through our friend Tewfik,
rebel?" 'I don't know.' 'You bad, wicked man, why don't
rebel?' 'I don't know.' 'You bad, wicked man, why don't
death with, as the property of most of them was insignificant,
dealt with, as the property of most of them was insignificant,
Shahin Pasha, and his brother-in-law, Latil Eff. Selim,
Shahin Pasha, and his brother-in-law, Latif Eff. Selim,
I showed, however, that its was impossible we
I showed, however, that it was impossible we
Nadi being sent to Mansura, Roubi to the Fayum, and I to Alexandria
Nadi being sent to Mansura, Roubi to the Fayûm, and I to Alexandria
of the importace of this undertaking, you give a new proof
of the importance of this undertaking, you give a new proof
The Deputies are free in the exercise of their mandates They
The Deputies are free in the exercise of their mandates. They
Afer the reading of the opening speech the sitting shall
After the reading of the opening speech the sitting shall
question, the Minister shall apear in person or cause
question, the Minister shall appear in person or cause
this vote shall become executory (_executoire_).
this vote shall become executory (_exécutoire_).
administration, is a simple _resumé_ of his career,
administration, is a simple _résumé_ of his career,
By the _resumé_ which I have given of his career,
By the _résumé_ which I have given of his career,