Show Twentieth Century Egypt IV Egypt for the Egyptians BY FREDERIC J HASKIN ASKIN I Cairo Egypt The war cry Cr of the Nationalist party in the valley of the Nile Is IE Egypt for the Egyptians No Noone Noone one ODe can deny deDY the worthiness of the pa Pd p sentiment expressed but the tho En English gUsh glish uh masters of the country tr meet the Uie slogan with the quiet Julet question Who Vho are the Egyptians And that question Is very difficult to answer The proclaimed desire of the Nationalist party is to re ic restore restore store the ruling power of the khedive The khedive Is la not an Egyptian He is isa Isa isa a Turk and his dynasty is that of a usurper The khedive has smiled upon the Nationalist movement more than once onee yet Europeans and Ameri Amen Americans Americans cans In Egypt declare that when the English go the te khedive will follow at once bag and baggage All the financial woes of ot Egypt EgIt are the result of the mis misrule misrule misrule rule of the Turkish grandfather of the reigning Turkish khedive A genuine movement to reclaim Egypt for the finns might dispose of Abbas II 11 as ef as of the British Before the present Turkish dynasty dynast ruled In Egypt EgIt the th power of government was WIS In the hands of or the de descendants descendants descendants of the slaves of the earlier sultans Those sultans were Os mall Turks and they the had be n preceded by Arabian sultans and caliphs Before the Arabians there came ame the Byzantine rulers before them Roman rule and the and the Greek ascendancy It has bas been centuries since an Egyptian ruled over Egypt The British government has declared repeatedly dur ing the last five years ears that it is lq endeavoring end to prepare the Egyptians for If It that declaration Is false fals as IS the Egyptian patriots assert it still must be admitted that the English have done more to bring the native and ancestral Egyptian to a realizing sense of civic liberty than all that had ben done in the he hundred years ears before bottON the British occupation There been a day dB since the Brit ish soldiers marched Into Cairo that some patriot has not denounced the tion The Nationalist party has had more or less 1 inchoate existence during nearly all of that time Newspapers printed In Arabic English and French abuse the British rule almost without limitation It is the British policy to per permit permit permit mit the malcontents to let off steam in that manner Yet the only real organization tion ti n and genuine movement for national autonomy was led by Moustafa Kamel Pasha who died a II little more than a year ago at the early age of 34 3 years ears With his h l death the movement was ar arrested arre arrested rested re ted the party part divided into as many cliques as there were men ambitious to fill fin Moustafas shoes The consultative assembly a a sort of or parliament boldly de demanded demanded demanded freedom while Moustafa lived but now it Is silent The defenders of the British regime point to this fact as proof that Egypt is not ready to take up the task of arguing that thata a party that depended de solely upon the life lICe of on one one man could not be expected expect to ad administer administer minister a nations nation II affairs with safety Moustafa Kamel Pasha entered politics when he was ws SI 1 years old and until the theof day of his hie W death In February liO he was th tM the central figure of the agi agitation agitation tation In Egypt For the first several years of f his mission he relied almost im iiii implicitly Implicit upon the French rench F as al the future de da deliverers deliverers of his country Like most niost of wealth and nd position he lie had been educated in France he be looked upon French civilization as the highest type of Occidental culture and he nor nor tolerate i lent the the cold c logic i ithe ef of the The stern stem reasoning g of ot the British people which has gained tem tema a full measure of personal Utterly rt while retaining the forms f of ancient absolutism a did not n t appeal to Moustafa He II chose rather the volatile Frenchman who has bas always preferred the forms of perfect lib Ith liberty 1 erty regardless of the actual tyranny imposed under those forms The traditional French hatred of England the con COR continual continual tl ual protests from the French foreign office against the British occupation of Egypt E t the encouragement given the Egyptian Nationalist cause by French journalist ad literary men all these things led Moustafa to identify Egyptian E liberty and nd French interest as one cause Moustafa established a newspaper Al AI Lewa lAwa which almost Immediately became berame the leading journal of Islam a position p which It still occupies French and En Es eish gush editions of this Journal soon fol followed followed lowed wed and the influence 8 of ot the trilingual newspaper organ orlan of the Nationalist cause was wall marked The Th young testier leader main maintained maintained tamed very close cI relations with the th khedive and nd was given the title of pasha from the sublime porte At hi his instance the khedive invited a party of French writers to take a trip tripon on the Nile as his guests The English government protested with vehemence This caused Moustafa to break with the khedive and the Nationalist movement became more intensely Egyptian and therefore more generally popular Th n Moustafa came ame to a realization that the Gaul had encouraged encouraged aged him not net because he loved more but England less The French formed a new entente with the British h and agreed to the lode Indefinite 1 niLe nite occupation of Egypt The British permitted the Nationalist newspapers to publish what they thy pleased pie and to circulate freely In Egypt But the French fear fearIng fearing Ing lug the doctrine of liberty in Africa re refused refused fused to admit Al AI Lewa to the malls In Tunis and nd Algeria Moustafa was forced to the conclusion that he must rely upon Egyptians alone to establish a government by Egyptians And at the seine same time he realised the pitiful weakness weak of hi nople In his latter 1 days he preach d patriotism and preparation pre for forthe forthe forth the th liberty that was wu sure to come It was wa a better lesson leMon than that which l he had tad formerly taught that the French would help and that liberty would come without preparation Always delicate in health and worn out by the strenuous life he had lived since boyhood his hla body gave way and he died diedt at t an age ace when most moat great statesmen have not Dot laid off their swaddling clothes cl theS If Moustafa had lived there Is II little doubt that his hta name would have been carved high on the tablets sacred to national patriots and liberators His HIli body was w followed to the grave gme by bya a half million people the greatest funeral procession of modern tImes timet Ills His brother received more mom than telegrams telf ams and letters Jette of condolence when Moustafas Moustafa death was announced Two millions of copies of hi his hie last It great speech have been sold On the first anniversary of hi his hIli death eath the people of Egypt mourned as they did in the ancient days when the angel of death smote the firstborn in every house Despite his faults of logic despite his dreamy lack of responsibility despite de pl his hill passionate attachments and quick quarrels reis rei Mou Kamel Wamel Pasha possessed the elements of greatness and no one can contemplate hi h his career without sympathy for tor the man and for the cause for which he be fought so aD valiantly When hen he died an attempt was made to tarry carry tarl on the Nationalist party organize organization ties tion in th the manner he had directed Jut hut It was a II failure and the party part ie Is I now broken Into a score II ON of cliques each In Intent Intent intent tent upon fighting the others The TIle Brit Unit British tab lab overlords now the situa situation situation tion Don with satisfaction The khedive Is on more pleasant terms tennis with Sir idon Gone Gent the present pre ent British consul general than he was with Lord Cromer The French agitation against the British no longer ha has any aDY support from the French official quarters quarter and nd Is If waning In fact nee nce the agreement of TOM 04 the tile Nationalist movement has been beenen en n the decline since nce the death of Mona tous Moustafa tata Kamel Kernel Pasha It has been moribund Another r feature of nf the missIon of nf Ufa was that he predicated his beliefs b if is upon the Mohammedan religion He Ue be bf believed in the restoration of the power of Islam and it was on religious r grounds that he obtained much of his support in Egypt The Egyptian peasant does not net fall to realize that hi his condition Is much better etter under British rule than ev ever eel r be bo before before fore but at the same seme time he can call be beroud roused roud to fury against his benefactors by bv an sn appeal appell to his religious enthusiasm Death Deth to Infidels Is ie a cardinal feature of his reed Teed not dead but only olly sleeping At the same time Moustafa knew the weakness of or tn N i religion In its opposition n nto to education and he set about to reform it t He HI MolEm schools of greet great gr t merit but in doing thing so he offended man manof many of I Ih h hp more mH conservative of his core coreligionists Fighting hard liard to restore Islam to tG a commanding place in the world he k must have chafed bitterly at the realize realization realization tion that It was the chains of the law of the prophet that bound his people in an Intellectual prison No one can say eay that Moustafa 1 Pasha lived JIved and worked In vain He awoke the embers of a latent national patriotism to glowing life He taught the people to read newspapers and to take a lively In Interest Interest terest In governmental affairs He brought support to the cause of general education He organized a party of na native native native tive Egyptians to strive for a national autonomy by peaceful means and not by b armed revolt In the Occident such things are born in men as a heavenly heaven birthright In the Orient these things must be ba brought to a people from without Moul Moustafa Moustafa tata Kamel Pasha did that Strange as asIt asIt asit It may seem the net result is that Eng Bog lands task ot of governing the nation has been made easier for f r the tho time being whatever the future may ma hold Although admitting that England has done great good in Egypt the unbiased observer ob probably will wUl conclude by indulging the hope nope that in some not distant day a free fr Egyptian government will erect a splendid splendid splendid did monument to the memory of Moos Ious Moustafa Kamel Pasha Copyright 1909 by Frederic J T Haskin Tomorrow Twentieth Century Egypt V The Dimming Crescent of f Islam |