A history of events in Egypt from 1798 to 1914 Free Book by Arthur Weigall with Illustrations

Ismael Pasha Image contained in the book

Sir John Eldon Gorst

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

This being so, I do not see how an Egyptologist can hope to understand the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley unless he makes some study of their modern descendants. The antiquarian will reply that modern politics are of too transitory a nature to interest him; but in answer, I would point out to him that all historical episodes are transitory, and yet in bulk, they serve to define the only permanent quality by which a people may be judged namely the national character.The antiquarian must remember that in his archaeological work he is dealing with people who are still alive, still contributing their strength to the labors of the world. The affairs of bygone times must be interpreted in the light of recent events, just as modern conditions can be rightly appreciated only by those who know what has gone before. There must be a constant interchange of suggestion between the past and the present, and both in the study of the distant ages and in that of modern days, we must not lose sight of the fact that the long road of Time stretches in one unbroken line from the far past into the far future, and that the traveler upon that road is indeed a lost wanderer if he sees not from whence it comes and into what direction it seems to go.Egypt has recently passed under the Protection of the British people, and it is therefore incumbent upon those who take their national responsibilities with seriousness to understand how it comes about that we are in any way concerned with the people of the Nile. Lord Cromer once remarked to me that no statesman could hope to understand the Egyptian Question unless he had made some study of ancient history; and with equal reason, it may be said that no antiquarian can expect to interpret rightly the events of Egypt's mighty past unless he has been an interested spectator of Egyptian actions in modern times.Such is my excuse for spending many of my spare hours in the preparation of the following chapters, which, as far as I am concerned, have served to enlighten me very considerably upon certain remote episodes, and have produced in my mind an unbounded confidence in the ability of the Egyptian nation to re-establish its greatness under our very eyes, and, by England's high-minded aid, to become, as the new Sultan has said, " a center of intensive cultivation, both moral and material."Some of the following chapters have been published as papers in ' The Fortnightly Review,' and others have appeared in' Blackwood's Magazine.' I have to thank the editors for allowing them to be reproduced here.I. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE .... 3II. MOHAMMED ALI . . . . .44III. ISMAIL PASHA . . . . .79IV. AHMED PASHA ARABI 121PART II.V. LORD CROMER . . . . 167VI. SIR ELDON GORST ..... 206VII. LORD KITCHENER ..... 237VIII. PROTECTORATE. 267