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Reviews.
something of his history . He told them his father was " Kani Pacha , who lived at Constantinople , had been more than once Minister of Finances , " and was spoken of as " the only honest Turk . " He added , "I was educated at Paris , and went through tho training necessary for the legal profession , but before I took my degree I returned home to marry ihe daughter of Kamil Pacha tho Imperial
Master of Ceremonies . I was next sent back to Paris as attach ^ at the Embassy , but I lost my post for visiting the exiles of the jeune Turquie party . Shortly afterwards I was appointed Director of European Correspondence at tbe Foreign Office of tbe Porte , but I resolved to seek my fortunes in Egypt . Ismail Pacha first emploved me , and I gradually rose , till on the accession to office of Mahmoud
Sami in February last I became Secretarv of the Council of Ministers and Director of the Press Department . " ' As a Turk , he pointed out , he had no motive to say what was not true , and he went on to speak of Arabi in the following terms , which certainly confirm the statements of his leader . "Arabi had on his side the sympathy of the whole of Egypt . He also gained mine . Arabi was the leader and
spokesman of an ens ' aved and deeply-wronged people striving for freedom , and all Egypt was with him in his struggle . He was betrayed by the Khedive and deceived bv the Sultan . The Nn'ional cause is hopelessly broken now , and the Egyptians , like all oppn-ssed people , are cowards , and cannot withstand the moral demoralisation of their complete defeat . Who can dar <> bear witness in our favour
now ? Even I trembled and faltered before the Commission of In . quiry , which only sought to force me to compromise my chiefs . In spite of all this , if we have a fair trial in the light of day , Europe will learn the true nature of Arabi ' s conduct , and the universality of his cause will , in spite of tbe power of our enemies , become apparent . Arabi need fear nothing then . "
We are next introduced to a high personage very differently placed , namely Ismail Pacha Eyonb , President of the Court of Inquiry , described as " really a remarkable man , " whose career had been a chequered one . "While undergoing banishment in the Soudan he somehow or other contrived to acquire a fair knowledge of English , French , and German . By one of those
turns of fortune so common in oriental history he next became governor of the province which had been the scene of his exile , and succeeded in sending a satisfactory balance of revenue to Cairo . His enemies pretend he was not unfriendly to the Slave Trade , which contributed not a little to his financial sneoess , but I never heard any proof advanced in favour of the assertion . Since his
return to Cairo he has held several posts in a creditable manner , including the titular presidency of the International Tribunals , and the portfolio of Public Works in the Cherif Cabinet of 1881-82 . " This Ismail Eyoub , we further learn , " had joined the National cause , like everybody else , was even a member of the Council of Defence at Cairo , and took part in a famous congratulatory picnic held under
the shade of Arabi ' s tent at Kafr-el-Dowar . Like a prudent man , he had not burned his ships , aud contrived to come to terms with the successful Palace faction in the early days of the Restoration . As a sign of his complete submission , he had accepted the invidious task of helping to judge his fellow-rebels . His character presented a curious combination of uncommon intelligence and great weakness .
and his endeavours to please everybody in the discharge of his duties were hi ghly diverting . Between Riaz Pacha , Lord Dnfferin . the Khedive , and the Counsel on both sides , he had a very difficult task to perform . His really sound judgment and good feeling generally pointed out the conrse he should take , but at the critical moment his moral courage failed him , and he often went hopelessly wrong .
An ordinary spectator wonld have thought him prejudiced and arbitrary , while his experiments at speaking diplomatically certainly savoured strongly of deliberate prevarication . " Such is the description given of the President of the Tribunal before which Arabi was to be examined ; the other members , " selected almost entirely from the Turkish and Circassian parties , " do not seem to have very
favourably impressed Bro . Broadley with either their talents or impartiality . Thus , Ali Gbaleb Pacha and Tusef Choudy Pacha , both of whom were "Circassian memlouks , " had "left the army with Osman Paoha Rifki , and tbe latter had been twice degraded and once exiled to the Soudan . " Muhamed Zeki Pasha , "the creature of the Minister of the Interior Riaz , " on succeeding Ismail Eyoub as
President of the Commission , " did his utmost to harass the prisoners and ourselves . Although a near relative of the lady Aisha Hanem , he had endeavoured to gain favour by loudly applauding her deportation , and the escape of Arabi drove him nearly to frenzy . Every one of his decisions were reversed by the Ministry , and I am glad to say he did not even get a decoration when he went with his colleagues to
give tbe Khedive an account of bis stewardship . " Saad-ed-Dine Bey , once Governor of the Behereh , "had gained credit by illtreating some peculiarly obnoxious prisoners on their road to tbe Soudan . " Muhamed Hamdy Bey was a Turk and brother-in-law of the prisoner Ahmed Rifat , " against whom he entertained a strong personal animosity . He has adroitly managed never to furnish the details of his administration of the late Mustapha Fnzil Pacha ' s
estate . " It was this person who was told off to give out papers to our copyists , and at first was impertinent and disobliging , even going so far as to play a disreputable trick ; which , however , was discovered . After Arabi ' s escape from death , his demeanour changed and he became "friendly and even servile . " Others are described ns " nonentities of the genus sea-lawyer , " muoh given to browbeating prisoners and witnesses , so that the tribunal was far from being a brilliant one .
As to the testimony collected by the Commission against the prisoner , it is delared by the author to have been worthless , its gist being , however , very simple . " Everybody now thought Arabi a rebel and Tewfik a model Sovereign ; the whole Egyptians nation had
acted from a terror of Arabi and the Army ; some persons had heard Arabi had burned Alexandria , and considered it probable that he had something to do with the massacres of June ; nobody had any donbb now that Arabi deserved ill of his country , he had not succeeded , and should certainly be punished . " It is added , " hardly a question
had been asked which was not of the kind technically described as leading , and internal evidence of undue influence was afTorded almost by every page . Whole days had been consumed in those humourous trivialities so congenial to tho oriental mind ; twenty witnesses had been examined to prove that the accused Mahmoud Sami had said , that ' the Khedive should pack up his portmanteau
and go to Shepheard s hotel , while one of the gravest items of accusation against some of tho notables of the Sharkiya province was tbat of having ' shot at some dogs and oats dressed up as Sir Garnet Wolseley and Sir Beauobamp Seymour ' . ' " In the Chapter headed " What Arabi ' s Papers contained , " will bo found many important documents , which are given in order to illua .
trate Bro . Broadley's views of Arabi ' s character and conduct , among them being the " firmans of rank "issued by the Sultan in Arabi ' s favour , the one giving him the dignity of a Pacha , and the other the first grade of the Order of the Medjidieh . There is also the following , written by Mr . Blunt , when publishing by authority six months before the war tbe programme of the Egy tian Nationalists : —
" They acknowledge the Sultan Abd-el-Hamid Khan as their Suzerain and Lord , and as actual Caliph or Head of the Mussulman religion ; nor do they propose , while his empire stands , to alter their relationship . They admit the right of tho Porte to the tribute fixed by-law , and to military assistance in case of foreign war . At the same time they are forcibly determined to defend their national rights and
privileges , and to oppose , by every means in their power , the attempts of those who would reduce Egypt again to the condition of a Turkish Pachalik . They trust in the protecting Powers of Europe , and espeoially in England , to continue their guarantee of Egypt's administrative independence . " But undoubtedly the most important of these documents is the
judgment passed by the " great theological doctors of the El Azhar ( a Moslem university almost as old as Islam itself ) upon the Khedive Tewfik . " It is too long to quote in full , but the following excerpt from the istifta or question is most significant . " What say you of a Suzerain who , being named by the Prince of tho Faithful to govern his subjects with justice , and to act according
to the rules of God , has violated the compact , and sown dissensions among the Moslems , and has broken their staff of unity ? This socalled Sovereign has gone so far as to prefer the government of the Infidels to that of the Faithful , and asked nations who are straying from the path of the true religion to establish their power in tbe Mussulman country over which be rules .
. . . And when the Faithful counselled him to change his conduct , he refnsed , and stubbornly continued in disobedience to the Sultan and tho Holy Law . Knowing this , can this sovereign legally continue to reign , to enable strangers to strengtbem themselves in the country of Islam , or must he not be deposed and another appointed in his place , who will watch over and keep the law ?"
And in the " Fetwa , " or opinion , it is answered , In this case he shall be cast out , and in his place shall be named one who will watch over the law and defend it , and respect the rights of the Prince of the Faithful , our Lord the Caliph , Successor of the Messenger of all men , " the judgment being supported by several passages from Moslem holy writ .
In the chapter that follows we have a succinct and graphic account of the difficulties in which the English counsel found themselves placed as regards the " procedure rules . " As these had long been settled , it might have been supposed that the settlement would have been allowed to pass unquestioned , but the Egyptian authorities thought lightly of evading or attempting to evade them , and it was
as much as Bro . Broadley and those acting with him could do to get them observed even partially . However , as good luck would have it , Lord Dnfferin arrived in Egypt just at this critical stage of the proceedings , an event whioh caused very great excitement , especially on the part of the Khedive and his ministers , who " knew full well that he had baffled the tortuous diplomacy of the Yildiz Kiosk , " aud
awaited the result of his advent " with fear and trembling . " Arabi ' a counsel very soon obtained andience of his lordship , and after that Bro . Broadley tells us he felt " perfectly convinced that the Nationalists need no longe despair of justice , " an opinion which after events very soon confirmed . But , perhaps , it was as well that Lord Dnfferin should have appeared upon the scene at this period , as Bros .
Broadley and Napier once more had their patience severely taxed over the procedure rules , and were again compelled to have recourse to the strongest protests in order to maintain their ground , and this they were enabled to do , thanks to the intervention of British offioials . It is to be regretted that our space forbids us describing even in brief the versions given by Ahmed Rifat , Yacoub Sami , aud
Muhamed Abdn of the events which had then so recently occurred . They fully bore out Arabi ' s statement and justified him in tbe course he pursued before and during the war , while Chapter XX ., in which is recorded the examination of Ahmed Rifat , is equally telling in the same direction , and serves likewise to give the reader an oven better idea than he may possibly have formed from previous parti .
culars of that personage ' s ability and tact . Rifat was more than a match for tho Commission before which he appeared , so tbat his examination was , it is almost needless to say , not unnecessarily prolonged . In Chapter XXI . we learn all about Suleiman Sami , who turned approver in the hope that he might succeed in proving Arabi responsible for the burning of Alexandria , but who iu the end was
justly hanged , on his own confession , for having had a principal hand in the crime . In the course of this portion of his story , Bro . Broadley incidentally refers to Egyptian Freemasonry and its difference from Freemasonry as it is known in England , from the fact of its having in it a strong admixture of the political element . He also tells us that many letters reached him from persons evidently Masons , who
appeared to take a great interest in the trial . Of the trial itself little need be said . It was the result of a compromise , brought about chiefly by Lord Dnfferin . Arabi and his principal coadjutor 3 ° pleaded guilty to rebellion against the Khedive and received sentonce of death , which was immediately commuted into one of perpetual banishment from Egypt aud its dependencies . It was no
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
something of his history . He told them his father was " Kani Pacha , who lived at Constantinople , had been more than once Minister of Finances , " and was spoken of as " the only honest Turk . " He added , "I was educated at Paris , and went through tho training necessary for the legal profession , but before I took my degree I returned home to marry ihe daughter of Kamil Pacha tho Imperial
Master of Ceremonies . I was next sent back to Paris as attach ^ at the Embassy , but I lost my post for visiting the exiles of the jeune Turquie party . Shortly afterwards I was appointed Director of European Correspondence at tbe Foreign Office of tbe Porte , but I resolved to seek my fortunes in Egypt . Ismail Pacha first emploved me , and I gradually rose , till on the accession to office of Mahmoud
Sami in February last I became Secretarv of the Council of Ministers and Director of the Press Department . " ' As a Turk , he pointed out , he had no motive to say what was not true , and he went on to speak of Arabi in the following terms , which certainly confirm the statements of his leader . "Arabi had on his side the sympathy of the whole of Egypt . He also gained mine . Arabi was the leader and
spokesman of an ens ' aved and deeply-wronged people striving for freedom , and all Egypt was with him in his struggle . He was betrayed by the Khedive and deceived bv the Sultan . The Nn'ional cause is hopelessly broken now , and the Egyptians , like all oppn-ssed people , are cowards , and cannot withstand the moral demoralisation of their complete defeat . Who can dar <> bear witness in our favour
now ? Even I trembled and faltered before the Commission of In . quiry , which only sought to force me to compromise my chiefs . In spite of all this , if we have a fair trial in the light of day , Europe will learn the true nature of Arabi ' s conduct , and the universality of his cause will , in spite of tbe power of our enemies , become apparent . Arabi need fear nothing then . "
We are next introduced to a high personage very differently placed , namely Ismail Pacha Eyonb , President of the Court of Inquiry , described as " really a remarkable man , " whose career had been a chequered one . "While undergoing banishment in the Soudan he somehow or other contrived to acquire a fair knowledge of English , French , and German . By one of those
turns of fortune so common in oriental history he next became governor of the province which had been the scene of his exile , and succeeded in sending a satisfactory balance of revenue to Cairo . His enemies pretend he was not unfriendly to the Slave Trade , which contributed not a little to his financial sneoess , but I never heard any proof advanced in favour of the assertion . Since his
return to Cairo he has held several posts in a creditable manner , including the titular presidency of the International Tribunals , and the portfolio of Public Works in the Cherif Cabinet of 1881-82 . " This Ismail Eyoub , we further learn , " had joined the National cause , like everybody else , was even a member of the Council of Defence at Cairo , and took part in a famous congratulatory picnic held under
the shade of Arabi ' s tent at Kafr-el-Dowar . Like a prudent man , he had not burned his ships , aud contrived to come to terms with the successful Palace faction in the early days of the Restoration . As a sign of his complete submission , he had accepted the invidious task of helping to judge his fellow-rebels . His character presented a curious combination of uncommon intelligence and great weakness .
and his endeavours to please everybody in the discharge of his duties were hi ghly diverting . Between Riaz Pacha , Lord Dnfferin . the Khedive , and the Counsel on both sides , he had a very difficult task to perform . His really sound judgment and good feeling generally pointed out the conrse he should take , but at the critical moment his moral courage failed him , and he often went hopelessly wrong .
An ordinary spectator wonld have thought him prejudiced and arbitrary , while his experiments at speaking diplomatically certainly savoured strongly of deliberate prevarication . " Such is the description given of the President of the Tribunal before which Arabi was to be examined ; the other members , " selected almost entirely from the Turkish and Circassian parties , " do not seem to have very
favourably impressed Bro . Broadley with either their talents or impartiality . Thus , Ali Gbaleb Pacha and Tusef Choudy Pacha , both of whom were "Circassian memlouks , " had "left the army with Osman Paoha Rifki , and tbe latter had been twice degraded and once exiled to the Soudan . " Muhamed Zeki Pasha , "the creature of the Minister of the Interior Riaz , " on succeeding Ismail Eyoub as
President of the Commission , " did his utmost to harass the prisoners and ourselves . Although a near relative of the lady Aisha Hanem , he had endeavoured to gain favour by loudly applauding her deportation , and the escape of Arabi drove him nearly to frenzy . Every one of his decisions were reversed by the Ministry , and I am glad to say he did not even get a decoration when he went with his colleagues to
give tbe Khedive an account of bis stewardship . " Saad-ed-Dine Bey , once Governor of the Behereh , "had gained credit by illtreating some peculiarly obnoxious prisoners on their road to tbe Soudan . " Muhamed Hamdy Bey was a Turk and brother-in-law of the prisoner Ahmed Rifat , " against whom he entertained a strong personal animosity . He has adroitly managed never to furnish the details of his administration of the late Mustapha Fnzil Pacha ' s
estate . " It was this person who was told off to give out papers to our copyists , and at first was impertinent and disobliging , even going so far as to play a disreputable trick ; which , however , was discovered . After Arabi ' s escape from death , his demeanour changed and he became "friendly and even servile . " Others are described ns " nonentities of the genus sea-lawyer , " muoh given to browbeating prisoners and witnesses , so that the tribunal was far from being a brilliant one .
As to the testimony collected by the Commission against the prisoner , it is delared by the author to have been worthless , its gist being , however , very simple . " Everybody now thought Arabi a rebel and Tewfik a model Sovereign ; the whole Egyptians nation had
acted from a terror of Arabi and the Army ; some persons had heard Arabi had burned Alexandria , and considered it probable that he had something to do with the massacres of June ; nobody had any donbb now that Arabi deserved ill of his country , he had not succeeded , and should certainly be punished . " It is added , " hardly a question
had been asked which was not of the kind technically described as leading , and internal evidence of undue influence was afTorded almost by every page . Whole days had been consumed in those humourous trivialities so congenial to tho oriental mind ; twenty witnesses had been examined to prove that the accused Mahmoud Sami had said , that ' the Khedive should pack up his portmanteau
and go to Shepheard s hotel , while one of the gravest items of accusation against some of tho notables of the Sharkiya province was tbat of having ' shot at some dogs and oats dressed up as Sir Garnet Wolseley and Sir Beauobamp Seymour ' . ' " In the Chapter headed " What Arabi ' s Papers contained , " will bo found many important documents , which are given in order to illua .
trate Bro . Broadley's views of Arabi ' s character and conduct , among them being the " firmans of rank "issued by the Sultan in Arabi ' s favour , the one giving him the dignity of a Pacha , and the other the first grade of the Order of the Medjidieh . There is also the following , written by Mr . Blunt , when publishing by authority six months before the war tbe programme of the Egy tian Nationalists : —
" They acknowledge the Sultan Abd-el-Hamid Khan as their Suzerain and Lord , and as actual Caliph or Head of the Mussulman religion ; nor do they propose , while his empire stands , to alter their relationship . They admit the right of tho Porte to the tribute fixed by-law , and to military assistance in case of foreign war . At the same time they are forcibly determined to defend their national rights and
privileges , and to oppose , by every means in their power , the attempts of those who would reduce Egypt again to the condition of a Turkish Pachalik . They trust in the protecting Powers of Europe , and espeoially in England , to continue their guarantee of Egypt's administrative independence . " But undoubtedly the most important of these documents is the
judgment passed by the " great theological doctors of the El Azhar ( a Moslem university almost as old as Islam itself ) upon the Khedive Tewfik . " It is too long to quote in full , but the following excerpt from the istifta or question is most significant . " What say you of a Suzerain who , being named by the Prince of tho Faithful to govern his subjects with justice , and to act according
to the rules of God , has violated the compact , and sown dissensions among the Moslems , and has broken their staff of unity ? This socalled Sovereign has gone so far as to prefer the government of the Infidels to that of the Faithful , and asked nations who are straying from the path of the true religion to establish their power in tbe Mussulman country over which be rules .
. . . And when the Faithful counselled him to change his conduct , he refnsed , and stubbornly continued in disobedience to the Sultan and tho Holy Law . Knowing this , can this sovereign legally continue to reign , to enable strangers to strengtbem themselves in the country of Islam , or must he not be deposed and another appointed in his place , who will watch over and keep the law ?"
And in the " Fetwa , " or opinion , it is answered , In this case he shall be cast out , and in his place shall be named one who will watch over the law and defend it , and respect the rights of the Prince of the Faithful , our Lord the Caliph , Successor of the Messenger of all men , " the judgment being supported by several passages from Moslem holy writ .
In the chapter that follows we have a succinct and graphic account of the difficulties in which the English counsel found themselves placed as regards the " procedure rules . " As these had long been settled , it might have been supposed that the settlement would have been allowed to pass unquestioned , but the Egyptian authorities thought lightly of evading or attempting to evade them , and it was
as much as Bro . Broadley and those acting with him could do to get them observed even partially . However , as good luck would have it , Lord Dnfferin arrived in Egypt just at this critical stage of the proceedings , an event whioh caused very great excitement , especially on the part of the Khedive and his ministers , who " knew full well that he had baffled the tortuous diplomacy of the Yildiz Kiosk , " aud
awaited the result of his advent " with fear and trembling . " Arabi ' a counsel very soon obtained andience of his lordship , and after that Bro . Broadley tells us he felt " perfectly convinced that the Nationalists need no longe despair of justice , " an opinion which after events very soon confirmed . But , perhaps , it was as well that Lord Dnfferin should have appeared upon the scene at this period , as Bros .
Broadley and Napier once more had their patience severely taxed over the procedure rules , and were again compelled to have recourse to the strongest protests in order to maintain their ground , and this they were enabled to do , thanks to the intervention of British offioials . It is to be regretted that our space forbids us describing even in brief the versions given by Ahmed Rifat , Yacoub Sami , aud
Muhamed Abdn of the events which had then so recently occurred . They fully bore out Arabi ' s statement and justified him in tbe course he pursued before and during the war , while Chapter XX ., in which is recorded the examination of Ahmed Rifat , is equally telling in the same direction , and serves likewise to give the reader an oven better idea than he may possibly have formed from previous parti .
culars of that personage ' s ability and tact . Rifat was more than a match for tho Commission before which he appeared , so tbat his examination was , it is almost needless to say , not unnecessarily prolonged . In Chapter XXI . we learn all about Suleiman Sami , who turned approver in the hope that he might succeed in proving Arabi responsible for the burning of Alexandria , but who iu the end was
justly hanged , on his own confession , for having had a principal hand in the crime . In the course of this portion of his story , Bro . Broadley incidentally refers to Egyptian Freemasonry and its difference from Freemasonry as it is known in England , from the fact of its having in it a strong admixture of the political element . He also tells us that many letters reached him from persons evidently Masons , who
appeared to take a great interest in the trial . Of the trial itself little need be said . It was the result of a compromise , brought about chiefly by Lord Dnfferin . Arabi and his principal coadjutor 3 ° pleaded guilty to rebellion against the Khedive and received sentonce of death , which was immediately commuted into one of perpetual banishment from Egypt aud its dependencies . It was no