Chapter XXIV: Appendix: B (1)

MR. BLUNT’S ORIENTAL CORRESPONDENCE

I. AS TO HIS PROPOSED MEDIATION WITH THE MAHDI

MR. BLUNT TO SHEYKH MOHAMMED ABDU AT PARIS

London, _April_ 7, 1884.

To my noble and dear friend, the learned Sheykh Mohammed Abdu, the martyr of liberty, may God continue to enlighten him.

Your letter, which Her Ladyship has now translated to me in full, has given me much pleasure except in what you say of your not being able yet to come to England; but I send you by this post the money needful for your journey and trust that you will acknowledge to me its safe arrival. I wrote four days ago to M. Sanua telling him something of the state of opinion here, and since that time I have written a letter which will be published in the ‘Times’ of to-morrow or Wednesday in which I have proposed a solution of the present difficulties and misfortunes in Egypt. I trust that it may meet with your approval, for in it I propose that the Egyptian question shall be referred to an European Congress, that the English army shall retire from the country and that Egypt shall be placed under the joint protection of the Powers, and so govern herself according to her own will.

I propose also that peace shall be made with the Mahdi, and General Gordon be recalled from Khartoum—nor have I forgotten to recommend that the decrees of exile against the patriots of Egypt shall be reversed. With regard to Egypt and Syria and the Arabian Caliphate you know well my views, for they are published in the book which I wrote three years ago founded on your learned instructions and your views conveyed to me through our dear friend (peace be with him) Mohammed Khalil. But with regard to the Mohammedans of India these are my views, and I beg that you will communicate them to the noble prince the Seyyid Jemal-ed-Din (to whom also I send my best compliments) that he may know them himself and communicate them to the Nawab Rasul Yar Khan and the Ulema of Hyderabad, though I have already told them of my thoughts, having spoken freely to all the Mohammedans of India whom I met. My thoughts therefore about India are these. According to the principles which I hold in political affairs I desire to see liberty and self government established everywhere, and in India no less than in other countries of the world now held in subjection, and I am not prejudiced by the fact that I was born an Englishman into wishing for other advantage there than to the Indians, nor should I hesitate to approve of any wise plan which should hasten their freedom. At the same time my journey in India has convinced me that the people of that country are not yet sufficiently united to form an independent nation, unprotected by some external Power. If all Indians were of one creed and one language and one race, as was the case in Egypt, I would say to them as I said to you, “Bismillah,” in the name of God go forward and fear nothing. But it is not so. I see that though they might free themselves from the English domination, which is hateful to them, they are not yet prepared to set anything of profit to them in its place. I see that they must be educated and prepared for self government. Otherwise their effort would not prosper. For this reason I have said to them, and I say it again, take patience for a few years and work out your political education under a government which allows you this privilege of education, and later the moment will come when you shall be able to unite and form a Nation. To the Mohammedans I say this especially, for they are but as one to five of the population of India, and at the present moment they are also inferior to the Hindus and Parsis in education, so that it is possible their condition would be worse under native than under English rule. By advising them to found an University I desired first to give them a centre of unity which should add to their strength, for strength is in union,—and secondly to prepare them to take their full part in the regeneration of their country. At present, by standing aloof from public affairs and by remaining in ignorance of English, which is the official language, they are putting themselves at a disadvantage with the other races and religions of India. I trust therefore that the learned Seyyid, when he writes to Hyderabad will encourage them to proceed in this good work, and not to spare their efforts in the direction I have pointed out.

With regard to your newspaper I shall be happy to do what I can to help you. But I advise you strongly to be moderate in your language about the English Government—not that anything you can say about its action in Egypt can surpass my own anger and impatience,—but because I see in the friendship of England still the best hope for Islam. Believe me, though England has acted through all this matter as an enemy of religion, there are still more Englishmen who sympathise with our hopes for the nations of the East than you will find amongst all the rest of the Europeans. You cannot trust the French or the Russians or the Austrians or the Italians to act with you sincerely as friends—and the English being stronger at sea than all others, must always be counted with, and if possible secured as friendly. This may yet come about, and I should be sorry to see an irreconcilable breach made between the party of reform in Islam and the English people. Think this matter fairly over. For centuries England was the friend of Islam, and I find very many Englishmen now who regret and condemn the change of policy.

You see I have spoken openly all that is in my heart.

Your friend in good and bad fortune,
WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.

SHEYKH MOHAMMED ABDU TO MR. BLUNT

(_Translation from the Arabic._)

Paris, _April_ 11, 1884.

To H. E. my dear friend, friend of the Moslems, helper of the Arabs and defender of the Egyptian nation, etc.

After salutation to you and to the well-instructed Lady Anne Blunt—yesterday your letter reached us, and reading it we found it full of wisdom and useful counsels to the Moslems, and it confirmed our trust in you that you are their friend.

The Seyyid Jemal-ed-Din presents you his salutation and will certainly write to the people of India in Hyderabad and elsewhere, and will advise them to be quiet, and will tranquillize their minds as you suggested; and he will expound to them the idea you have so clearly set forth in your letter, and will put the details before them in the best and most lucid manner.

Next, we rejoiced at the admonition you were kind enough to give us, and at your promise to help our newspaper (the Indissoluble Link), and this was our hope in you. And indeed God the Most High created you to do good, and to assist the cause of right, and to defend the oppressed. And the true character of our newspaper is only this, and to serve those views for which you are labouring, namely, the preservation of the independence of the Eastern peoples, and the admonishing of the English Government that it may abandon its action troubling the minds of Moslems and make fast their friendship, and that so it shall have them with it on its side. And indeed we do not love those other Powers referred to in your letter, nor go with the policy of any one of them.

And so may peace be with you and the mercy of God. Your sincere friend,

MOHAMMED ABDU.

SEYYID JEMAL-ED-DIN TO MR. BLUNT

_Privée._

Paris le 21 _Avril_, 84.

MON CHER MONSIEUR,

J’ai eu l’honneur de recevoir votre aimable lettre dont je vous remercie et à laquelle je m’empresse de répondre.

Quoique je n’ai nullement appris pendant les dix années que j’ai passées en Egypte que M. Gordon fût, à l’époque où il était Gouverneur du Soudan, ami de la liberté et défenseur de l’Islam, je n’hesite pas cependant, étant donnée la pleine confiance que j’ai en votre parole, à plaindre son malheureux sort et à regretter qu’il soit tombé dans une situation qui devient de plus en plus critique.

Je ne vous cache pas, cher Monsieur, qu’il m’aurait été facile, vu la confiance que le Mahdi parait vouloir avoir en moi ainsi que celle de ses principaux partisans dont un grand nombre sont de mes élèves Soudanais, de prévenir ce désastre qui ménace Gordon Pacha si les dernières batailles entre Graham et Osman Digna ne s’étaient pas engagées; mais après ces batailles sanglantes qui ont coûté tant de sang Arabe, je crois que le Mahdi et ses partisans sont réduits à voir que le seul moyen de ratrapper le terrain perdu et de consolider leur prestige serait de s’emparer de Khartoum et d’arrêter M. Gordon sinon de lui arracher la vie.

Cependant, si vous voulez, cher Monsieur, m’écrire avec plus de détails et _en français_ sur les bases de la paix que vous voudriez conclure et avec qui désireriez vous qu’elle soit faite pour qu’elle soit acceptable et en règle, je ne manquerais pas alors de vous fixer sur tout ce que je pourrais faire dans cette circonstance et sur les moyens efficaces dont on pourrait se servir pour sauver la vie à ce malheureux Gordon.

En attendant le plaisir de vous lire, je me mets à votre entière disposition et vous prie d’agréer mes salutations distinguées.

JEMAL-ED-DIN HUSEYNI AFGHANI.

MR. BLUNT TO SEYYID JEMAL-ED-DIN AFGHANI

10, James Street, le 24 _Avril_, 1884.

NOBLE ET CHER AMI,

La bonne réponse que vous avez bien voulu me faire à mes questions sur le sort de Gordon me touche profondément. Je sais combien il a dû vous coûter de prendre ainsi part à un projet qui aurait pour bût de prêter aide à un homme qui malgré ses principes avoués a fait tant de tort à la cause que nous aimons; mais je vois dans cette affaire une occasion puissante pour obtenir du Gouvernement Anglais l’abandon de sa politique actuelle en Egypte. Je viens d’adresser formellement à M. Gladstone une lettre où je lui fais savoir qu’il serait encore possible pour lui non seulement de sauver la vie à Gordon mais d’amener la pacification de toute la vallée du Nil. Hier encore on était résolu d’envoyer une nouvelle expédition Anglo-Egyptienne au Soudan, mais il parait que déjà ma lettre aurait produit quelque effet et qu’on soit maintenant de nouveau à la paix. Je compte donc sous peu de jours recevoir quelque communication du Gouvernement qui ménerait à un tentatif de négociations et je voudrais vous prévenir que je pourrais à tout instant vous prier de vouloir bien venir à Londres où bien d’envoyer le Sheykh Mohammed Abdu me parler.

Je vous prie de regarder d’un bon œil mes idées pacifiques. Comme je vous ai déjà dit, je vois dans l’Angleterre la seule puissance qui pourrait redevenir un ami sincère de l’Islam; et je vois dans la nécessité où est dans ce moment notre Gouvernement un puissant lévier pour amener l’abandon de sa position actuelle d’hostilité. Quant aux conditions de paix je ne suis pas encore en position de vous les formuler. Mais selon moi elles devraient s’étendre jusqu’à la cession du Soudan entier au Mahdi. Je vous envoie copie d’une lettre qui j’ai eu de Gordon il y a près de deux ans qui vous sera preuve de son bon caractère.

Bien votre dévoué,
WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.

MR. BLUNT TO SEYYID JEMAL-ED-DIN

10, James Street, le 25 _Avril_, 1884.

NOBLE ET CHER AMI,

Depuis ma lettre d’hier je l’ai d’une source certaine que notre Gouvernement s’est décidé absolument contre l’expédition, pour le moment, de toute force militaire Anglaise ou Egyptienne à Berber. Or il est presque sûr qu’on se prépare à une négociation, et déjà on me fait entendre que je recevrai sous peu une réponse définitive à ma lettre. Que pensez vous, pourrai je aller en personne à Obeyd en qualité d’Envoyé Britannique traiter avec le Mahdi en lui reconnaisant la souverainté du Soudan? Et croyez vous qu’à ces conditions les tribus qui assiègent Khartoum permettraient à Gordon et aux Chrétiens de la ville de retourner sous sauf-conduite en Egypte? Ou bien, si je ne pourrai pas aller en personne, croyez-vous qu’il se trouverait quelque autre envoyé capable de mener la négociation à bonne fin? Je vous prie de vouloir bien me répondre à ces questions.

En même temps je compte persuader le Gouvernement de restaurer le parti National en Egypte. Mais dîtes moi franchement votre idée. Qui devrons nous proposer en place de Tewfik? Serait ce Arabi ou un autre? Les Circassiens, si je ne me trompe, voudraient Ismaïl. Les autres voudraient encore peut-être Halim. Mais l’opinion change si vite que je n’ose dire absolument à qui on donnerait les votes si la chose était remise à l’election. Surtout qui pourrait agir en Egypte de concert avec le Mahdi?

Inshallah! nous mènerons l’affaire cette fois ci à bonne fin.

Votre bien dévoué,
WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.

MR. BLUNT TO ARABI PASHA

(_Sent in Arabic._)

10, James Street, _April 26th_, 1884.

To my noble and dear friend Arabi Pasha, may God strengthen his patience.

After saying that it has given us extreme pleasure to have news of you and the rest of the noble Egyptian exiles—this is to inform you that the hopes of your return to Egypt are, as I think, greater now than at any previous time since you first went away in Exile. The reason of this is (after the will of Providence that truth should prevail) that the English Government has fallen into great trouble in Egypt, first on account of the finance and secondly with regard to the Mahdi. They are therefore entirely anxious to leave Egypt, and they see that it is necessary in order to do this that a stable Government should be set up at Cairo, and a prince established who should be able to live in friendship with the Mahdi.

Therefore it is probable that they will abandon Tewfik inasmuch as he is incapable of governing and will entrust the government to other hands before they withdraw their troops. And in these last days the danger to General Gordon at Khartoum obliges them to come to terms quickly, and I have proposed (with the permission of God) to go as Envoy to the Mahdi in order to make peace and to save the life of General Gordon; and, if they should accept my offer, I do not fear but that they will also accept my plan for the restoration of good government in Egypt. Now therefore tell me clearly, on what terms could you and your companions return to Egypt? I know that you could serve with Halim Pasha. But tell me, is it impossible that you could serve with Ismaïl? I have several times received messages from Ismaïl, and his friends tell me that he promises to act with you if he is restored. But do you think it would be possible to trust him? I should propose that in any case the command of the army should be in your hands. Or is there any other prince among the Princes of Islam whom you would serve and who could live at peace with the Mahdi; I ask you these things because the aspect of politics continually changes, and what is true to-day is not true to-morrow, and what was rejected yesterday may once again be accepted.

Also a conference is assembling at which it will be necessary that your opinion should be heard. Therefore write to me your full mind and the mind of your companions, and, if you should resolve that you could return to Egypt as Minister to Ismaïl, telegraph to me then one word “content,” and I shall understand. If you consider that it will be impossible for you to serve under Ismaïl, telegraph the word “refused.”

For the rest all things are going well. There are many Englishmen now who recognize your services to Egypt and I am hopeful of your return there.

Your friend,
WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.

You must not suppose from my writing in this sense that I want you to make friends with Ismaïl. What I want is that you should tell me your real opinion as to whether it will be possible for you to work with him.

SEYYID JEMAL-ED-DIN TO MR. BLUNT

_Privée._

Paris, _April_ 28, 1884.

MON CHER MONSIEUR,

J’ai eu l’honneur de recevoir votre lettre que j’ai lue avec beaucoup d’attention et à laquelle je m’empresse de répondre.

Vous ne devez pas ignorer l’importance que les Mohamétans attachent à la mission divine avec laquelle le Mahdi a paru et qu’ils comprennent par ce mot, Mahdi: le sauveur de l’Islam des mains de ceux qui ne sont pas de leur religion. Or je ne vois pas qu’on puisse conclure un traité de paix avec le Mahdi et par consequent arrêter sa marche tant que celui-ci voit les Anglais en Egypte. Mais si les bases de la paix stipulent que l’Egypte sera aux Egyptiens et que Gordon Pacha sera sauvé avec tous les Chrétiens qui sont avec lui et que, enfin, les troupes Anglaises seront retirées de l’Egypte, je vois qu’il serait possible sinon facile de mener cette affaire à bonne fin et d’arrêter l’invasion du Mahdi jusqu’à un certain point et jusqu’à un certain temps. Dans ce cas il faudrait envoyer une commission de paix composée en grande partie de Mussulmans et de quelques Anglais. Quand aux Mussulmans ils auraient pour instruction de dire qu’ils viennent de la part de la Nation Egyptienne Mussulmane car si ils seraient envoyés de la part du Gouvernement Egyptien, je ne crois pas qu’ils réussissent dans leur mission étant donné l’aversion dont le Mahdi est animé à son égard, et de la part du Gouvernement Anglais, ils ne seront pas écoutés. Nous en avons acquis une preuve par le Cheick El Morghani. Quant aux quelques Anglais qui feront partie de la mission, il est bien entendu qu’ils iront de la part de leur Gouvernement; quoique, par le fait, tous, Mussulmans et Chrétiens seront des missionaires Anglais.

Dans le cas qu’on décide à envoyer cette commission, et dans les conditions que je me suis permis de vous exposer, je crois que vous, cher Monsieur, vous devez être le premier nommé parmi les missionaires, car les Mussulmans ne peuvent pas trouver beaucoup de défenseurs comme vous. Pour les Mussulmans qu’il faudrait envoyer, je les désignerai et vous en ferai connaître les noms quand le moment serait venu et qu’on se serait décidé d’une façon definitive.

Vous me demandez en qui faut-il remplacer Tewfik? Je réponds que quand le moment serait venu il ne serait difficile ni à vous ni à moi ni à qui que ce soit de le savoir. Il faudrait se prononcer pour celui que la _nation Egyptienne_ veut et pas pour un autre.

Votre bien dévoué,
JEMAL-ED-DIN HUSEYNI AFGHANI.

MR. BLUNT TO SEYYID JEMAL-ED-DIN

10, James Street, le 2 _Mai_, 1884.

NOBLE ET CHER AMI,

Je vous remercie bien de vos instructions sur la manière de négocier qui sont absolument d’accord avec mes idées personnelles. Pour le moment le Gouvernement se retire du tentatif proposé, mais je suis toujours en rélation indirecte avec eux, et je pense bien qu’ils se trouveront encore dans la nécessité de recourir à nos bons offices. Seulement l’hésitation pourra bien coûter la vie à Gordon. Pour le moment le Gouvernement est toujours dans l’intention d’abandonner Khartoum, Berber et Dongola, mais je prévois que dans le cas que Gordon soit encore debout à Khartoum à l’époque du cru du Nil le public anglais pourra exiger une opération militaire.

Quant au général il se pourra que son intention serait de se retirer vers le Congo, quand il trouvera qu’il ne pourra plus se tenir à Khartoum, et je crois que le Mahdi serait bien avisé de lui laisser le passage libre. L’idée de Gordon au Congo parait avoir toujours été d’y fonder un Etat indigène qui pourrait faire face à l’envahissement de l’Europe, et en tant il mériterait votre sympathie. Faites un pont d’or pour l’ennemi qui s’en fuit. Je suis cependant pleinement de votre avis qu’il soit nécessaire au Mahdi de s’emparer sans delai de Khartoum. Je vous prie de me croire bien votre ami.

WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.

SEYYID JEMAL-ED-DIN TO MR. BLUNT

Paris, le 7 _Mai_, 1884.

MON CHER MONSIEUR,

Je viens d’arriver de l’Italie. J’ai été à l’exposition de Turin et ce n’est que ce matin que l’on m’a remis vos deux lettres que j’ai lues avec beaucoup d’attention.

Votre dernière lettre m’a d’autant plus appris que vous ne vous intéresserez plus au sort de Gordon qu’il m’a édifié encore une fois sur la loyauté et la grandeur d’âme qui vous caractérisent. Tout en vous remerciant d’avoir bien voulu m’envoyer le livre bleu contenant certaines correspondances relatives au Général Gordon, des quelles vous avez pu constater qu’il n’était nullement ami de la liberté ni défenseur de l’Islam, j’ai la ferme conviction que votre nom sera gravé dans le cœur de chaque musulman en particulier et de chaque Arabe et Oriental en général à cause de l’intérêt immense que vous prenez pour eux et dont il ne sauraient vous être trop reconnaissant. J’espère, cher Monsieur, que vous continuerez à suivre cette voie digne d’un caractère aussi loyal que le vôtre et que le bon Dieu vous aidera à récolter les fruits du travail dur que vous faites.

Veuillez, je vous prie, me faire rappeler au bon souvenir de Madame Blunt tout en lui présentant mes respectueux hommages et soyez persuadé que je me mets à votre entière disposition pour tout ce que je pourrais faire pour vous.

Votre bien dévoué,
JEMAL-ED-DIN HUSAYNI AFGHANI.

ARABI PASHA TO MR. BLUNT

(_Sent in English._)

Colombo, _2nd June_ 1884.

To my lord Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, may God preserve him.

It is with the greatest pleasure that I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th April 1884. I must strongly insist on the fact that Ismaïl Pasha is a treacherous person who is notorious for his untrustworthiness, being the causer of the destruction of Egypt. The national Debt of our country is the work of his hands. There is no one of the prince’s family who possesses the requisite qualifications for the throne but Halim Pasha. He is, besides, the direct descendant of the first Khedive, being the son of Mohammed Ali. Tewfik (the present Khedive) and the others are members of a third branch, so that Halim Pasha, who is directly the ancestral representative, is the real owner of the throne. To add to his right he has the voice of all the Egyptians in Egypt to hail him, and he has for a long time undergone trials of a very grave nature, having been subjected to tyranny. Also he would be able to make a treaty between the Mahdi and the Government of Egypt, inasmuch as those whom the Mahdi trusts are able to effect this for him.

If you are resolved to go to the Mahdi, I must most earnestly entreat you to secure beforehand some letters stamped with my seal, in order that they may serve as the proof that you are a faithful friend of the Moslem world, and that you have been instrumental in saving our lives. May God preserve you. Your most faithful friend,

AHMED ARABI.

ARABI PASHA TO LADY ANNE BLUNT

(_Translated from the Arabic._)

Colombo, _March_ 2, 1885.

To the noble and exalted lady, Lady Anne Blunt; may God protect her. Amen.

After presenting my best salutations to your distinguished self and your illustrious husband, and in response to your two letters with inclosures relating what Mr. Blunt had written in the “Times” on Egypt and England and the Sultan, with the remarks made thereon, permit me to assure you that all that Mr. Blunt has stated in the “Times,” and declared publicly in many utterances, and all that he described in his poem (kasid) “The Wind and Whirlwind,” of the disasters and calamities that must ensue, all these are true, and we see them happening now, as it was necessary they should happen, and truly the Most High God inspired him with truth to speak these things, and with a just understanding. For the time has come now when God shall choose his servants, and shall deliver the weak and oppressed and abase the mighty and oppress the oppressor, and shall manifest His power and His strength to the unjust. And thus in times past He confounded men’s reasoning by His wonderful judgements on the nations that are gone. Thus He destroyed Babylon the adulterous, the violent city, and thus the empires of Persia and of Rome; and I grieve with a great grief over the decline of the star of England caused by her misdeeds in Egypt and in the Soudan. But God has heard the cry of the oppressed and the voice of the blood which has been shed, and the terrible cry of the widow and of the young children, and surely He has taken His vengeance on the covetous. Yet, believe me, the people of Egypt used to believe good of the English nation. It was they of all others that they trusted, as the foremost among nations, and as the chief hope of those who sought to obtain their freedom; and they grieve now seeing their belief a deception, and their trust a delusion.

And what has England gained by her invasion of Egypt, and what in the Soudan? Rather let us say, what has she lost? For God knows she has gained nothing. She has lost her good name, the friendship of all Moslems, and of our Lord the Sultan. She has lost, too, Gordon Pasha, through acting on false counsels, and Hicks and Earle, and how many other officers; and she has lost the respect of all hearts by this war against free men in the Soudan. When will she cease to rush forward on her course, to send armies of revenge on men who are themselves avenging their Egyptian brothers; on men defending their country, and who delight to drink the cup of death rather than that they should see an enemy left within its borders. I tell you, _fifteen_ millions of such as these occupy at this moment the Soudan country and Darfur, and all of them are partisans of the Mahdi, having made a convention with him unto death, and in accordance with the precepts of our noble Koran. Thus the Mahdi increases in strength with the English aggression, and this is God’s law with his creatures, with all who have been given intelligence to see and reflect and understand.

“A decree has come forth from God. There is no escape from the judgement of God. God shall exalt whom He will, and abase whom He will. The oppressor shall repent when repentance shall not avail him. And God is not unmindful of the deeds of the unjust.” (Quotations.)

My son Mohammed Bey and the family send you a thousand thousand greetings. From your friend and servant,

AHMED ARABI.

SEYYID JEMAL-ED-DIN TO MR. BLUNT

(_Translated from the Arabic._)

Paris, _May_ 12, 1885.

After salutations, etc. I say; I am not alone in gratitude for your distinguished efforts which have forced the Government to evacuate the Soudan. No, be certain that all Moslems, especially the Arabs, will be grateful for this your action to the end of time and they will write your name on tablets inlaid with precious stones and titles of glory and honour for your zeal and courage.

But there is left one thing still to be done and that is that you should say to the Government, “How can you leave this land thus without a treaty with the Mahdi and whose will be the duty of repelling the Mahdi’s attacks? how also can the Government leave the roads of commerce blocked? or does it desire the destruction of trade? Is it not incumbent on the Government when it has determined to evacuate the Soudan to send a man of trust, a Moslem, to the Mahdi that he may discuss with him as to a peace and secure Egypt from his attacks and to close the gates of conflict and reopen those of Commerce.” I think that if this question were presented to parliament all opinions would agree with it.

I see too that this would be easy, even apart from your own action and that when the cost has been decided on you will be only needed to complete it. But without a treaty of peace with the Mahdi the situation cannot be brought to a final conclusion. This is what I have thought it necessary to say to you.

With salutations to you and your consort,

Your friend,
JEMAL-ED-DIN HUSEYNI AFGHANI.

ARABI PASHA TO LADY ANNE BLUNT

(_Translated from the Arabic._)

Colombo, _August_ 14, 1885.

To my lady, dear Lady Anne Blunt. May God preserve her.

After best salutations to yourself and Mr. Blunt I was happy to receive your letter dated July 17th, and thanked God that you are in good health, of which I hope for the continuance. I sent you a telegram the same day as to my willingness to serve the country even with Tewfik and Sherif, and I now write this in confirmation.

I can assure you that I am prepared to serve my country, to work hard at reforms in it, and to labour for its advancement to the highest pitch of honour and prosperity.

Therefore I should not mind whether I served with Tewfik or another, my one only object being the establishing of just law for all men alike, giving to all security for their persons and for their civil and religious rights, and putting an end to wrong and injustice between class and class of (Egyptian) subjects, always bearing in mind the claims on me of the English people (_nation_) to whom I shall be grateful as long as I live.

I have, too, a firm trust that the English Government would aid me in carrying out reforms, and that, after establishing a strong, just, and equitable Government, it will leave Egypt to the Egyptians, thus fulfilling its promise and completing what it has commenced.

As to Sherif, he is well disposed and anxious for the good of the country, but Nubar is not really interested in the welfare of Egypt, and the Egyptians are weary at his holding high office in the country.

Now, therefore, since you and your friends, and my friends, are of opinion that it would be fitting for me to take office even with Tewfik, I would agree also to that. I should hope for success in making those reforms of which we have already sown the seeds—notwithstanding Tewfik’s remaining—if supported by the English Government, and in surmounting those difficulties, both home and foreign, which have beset Egypt in these latter times.

And God is our Helper, and in Him our trust.

Your sincere friend,
AHMED ARABI THE EGYPTIAN.

II. EVIDENCE AS TO THE MASSACRES AT ALEXANDRIA, TANTAH, AND ELSEWHERE,
IN 1882

SHEYKH MOHAMMED ABDU TO LADY ANNE BLUNT

(_Translated from the Arabic, received 5th August_, 1883, _from
Beyrout._)

To the Lady Anne Blunt. May God show us her countenance, etc.

Next, among those persons who have information about the riot in Alexandria in particular, there is Mustafa Abd el Rahim, who was present at the riot and stopped its rage with the regular soldiers with Suleyman Sami (may God have mercy on him). And he is prepared to bear witness on being requested to do so, as he has informed me this night.

And of those who have complete information of the conduct of the Khedive Tewfik and of his endeavours and the endeavours of his assistants to disturb the peace and tranquillity of Egypt, and to excite the Muslems against the Christians, and vice versa, there is here Ahmed Bey Minshawi, one of the Notables of Egypt, a man of wealth and of determination and of extreme straightforwardness. It was he who protected Christians in the riots of Tantah, and in other massacres in the province of Gharbiyeh, which Ibrahim Pasha Adhem, the Khedive’s protégé, got up after the bombardment of Alexandria; and he is prepared to bear witness against the Khedive and against his agents before any Court or in any Tribunal—even in the Egyptian Tribunals—and he has no fear of anything, and is not alarmed by any danger. He has been intending to write a letter to Mr. Blunt, of his own accord, to express his readiness and his earnest wish to put before Englishmen, and before everyone inclined to justice and equity, the things known to him; and he is now with us in Beyrut, and if you wish to summon him he is ready.

Convey my salutations to Mr. Blunt and present to him on my behalf and on behalf of every Egyptian—indeed of every Englishman—exceeding thanks for his energy and noble deeds. And salute for me Mr. Sabunji. May God protect you in his keeping.

MOHAMMED ABDU.

_13th Ramadan_, 1300.

AHMED BEY EL MINSHAWI TO MR. BLUNT

(_Translated from the Arabic, received August_ 5, 1883.)

To the high-minded Mr. Blunt. May God preserve him!

After presenting salutations and praise and thanks:

Also, I beg you will be my representative in presenting thanks from me and from all Egyptians—indeed from all Eastern people, to Lord (Randolph) Churchill and his companions—though they are all dependent on you for what they accomplished in Parliament.

Also I am prepared, with all preparation, to bear witness against the Khedive and the men of his government as to their plan, which they carried out, of shedding the blood of Christians and others. In so doing I fear not the blame of any blamer, nor do I dread the authority of any ignorant ruler in whatsoever country I may be, or before whatsoever tribunal I may appear; and whenever the indictment against Tewfik is officially brought forward and witnesses are wanted I am ready in Beyrut, and if I went elsewhere I would let you know. And I pledge myself in the name of God that I will also bring witnesses of the Egyptians who will bear witness to the crimes of the Khedive and his wicked accomplices.

And my friend the Sheykh Mohammed Abdu knows that perfectly well, and sends you salutations. Remain in God’s protection.

AHMED MINSHAWI.

_Beyrout, 15th Ramadan_, 1300.

TRANSLATION OF REMARKS BY SHEYKH MOHAMMED ABDU ON MAJOR MACDONALD’S
STATEMENT (RECEIVED _Aug._ 13, 1884)

We have read a statement by Major MacDonald, published in the Blue Book (Egypt, 1884), in refutation of Mr. Blunt’s letter to the “Times” newspaper, and have noticed in it certain things calling for remark.

I do not know whether a ten weeks’ residence with Mr. Cameron at Tantah could have enabled him to understand the true state of matters he has written about, or not.

I shall not here discuss the history of Ibrahim Adhem’s dismissal from his office as Governor; but I assert that Ibrahim Adhem was in fact, on the upper storey of the prefecture on the day of the massacre at Tantah, and that he was looking on from the window of that upper storey at the murderers and the murdered; and that these persons were murdered in the court of the Mudirieh while he looked on at them; and that he himself ordered the water carriers to wash the blood from the ground at the Government House (of which evidence was given by the water carriers before the Court of Inquiry).

As to what Macdonald says about many of the Europeans finding safety in the prefecture of police, it is true; only the person who protected them was the chief of the city police, Ali effendi Lebîb, who saved many lives, but was arrested after the war and kept in prison until the end of the Inquiry, when the Court sentenced him to hard labour for a year, after much intercession. Now what plea was there for the arrest of this Zabit, a person worthy of confidence; whose protection of Christians is testified to by Major Macdonald (who understood the whole truth in ten weeks).

Ibrahim Adhem is a Kurd—not a Circassian—and a man who, each time that they gave him a post, stipulated with the Government that he should be authorized to make use of the kurbaj on the fellahin and the omdehs of the district. Ay, when he was Mudir of Mansourah at the time of Riaz Pasha’s first Ministry, Riaz learned that he was ill-treating people with the kurbaj, and wrote to him as follows: “You are bound to act according to law, governing mercifully; if you use the kurbaj you will incur the censure of the law.” On receiving this communication he chose to resign his post rather than rule mercifully and according to law.

His resignation under the Mahmud Samy Ministry took place for that reason also; and when the Khedive reappointed him as Mudir of the Gharbieh, after the war, he carried on his government with his habitual severity; afterwards, when the number of his enemies increased and the patience of the people of his province was so exhausted that they could no longer bear with him, the Government disgraced him, and, dismissing him, appointed Husseyn Pasha Sarai in his place.

Ibrahim Adhem was one of the supporters of the first movement of Arabi, but when the massacre occurred at Tantah, Arabi learned that he had participated in it either by instigation or by deed, and ordered him to be arrested. He was not arrested for not joining in the rebellion, in fact he was arrested on the third day from the massacre, before it was known whether he would give or refuse his support. Indeed, Ibrahim Adhem’s sworn official despatches to the Ministry of the Interior indicate sufficiently that he did not deserve the praises lavished on him by Major Macdonald. Possibly some of the officers of the English army may have praised him, but I do not consider this enough to exculpate him from his deeds of violence. Let anyone who would like to learn what measure of savagery Ibrahim Adhem attained, inquire of his son—Ibrahim Hafzy Bey.

As to the unhappy Yusuf Abu Diab—he arrived at the railway station on the day of the massacre about three hours after the disturbance had begun. He did not instigate riot (anything or any one), but saved a Christian girl and took her to the Mudirieh; and reprimanded the Mudir, taking him to task for sitting in the Mudirieh while he allowed people to be massacred. And for this reason the unfortunate man was hanged. Those Europeans of whom Macdonald testifies were in such consternation that they did not even distinguish their own children, and were running into every hole—how then could they know Yusuf Abu Diab, and distinguish his face or his words?

The chief of the station and telegraph at the first bore witness to the innocence of Yusuf Abu Diab, but the Mudir Ibrahim Adhem threatened all the people with arrest and death unless they bore witness according to his desire; thus they altered their testimony under coercion. The statements made by people subsequently have all been under fear. But those Courts of Inquiry and their acts are part and parcel of the acts of the Anglo-Egyptian Government after the war, into which it is permissible to examine and investigate. We know indeed what has been its course and its acts. No man in his senses will believe in it, for it has been of that species in which the enemy sits in judgement on his enemy; and if we would speak of it we would have to recount the whole of the conduct of the Government after Tel-el-Kebir, and this would lead us into too great length—without profit.

Yusuf Abu Diab’s innocence was confessed by the blood relations of the people massacred, and they begged his pardon from Lord Dufferin, who asked it from the Khedive—and the pardon was granted, but the order was issued secretly to hang him before the time fixed for the execution. The news of the pardon did not arrive till after the execution.

Possibly Macdonald can testify to the Europeans—French, English, and others—but we know the value of such testimony, and if we had a free and fair Government it would learn the truth through a different set of people.

Seyyid Osman has published a long article in the “Intransigeant” (French newspaper), stating all the facts. It is also well known to a number of people that the first President of the Court of Inquiry at Tantah wanted to carry out the investigation equitably, and to interrogate the Mudir Ibrahim Adhem on his culpability as to the riot, but the Government perceiving him to be upright, dismissed him and appointed in his stead Mahmud Pasha Fellaky, who was nominally at Tantah while his administration was at Cairo.

Thus the Mudir was saved from trial, while Yusuf Abu Diab was hanged in his stead.

I could show the object of silence as to past deeds, to speak of which would open the door wide to censure on the Government of England, which desires to establish justice in Egypt.

MR. BLUNT’S NOTE OF A CONVERSATION WITH ISMAÏL BEY JOWDAT AT
CONSTANTINOPLE, _Oct._ 24, 1884

Ismaïl Jowdat spent 3 hours with me telling the events of the Egyptian Revolution, much of it new, and very interesting. With regard to the Khedive’s responsibility for the massacres he was very explicit. His official position at the time of the war, as Chef du Bureau Européen de la police du Caire, gave him every opportunity of knowing the facts, and he knew them. The following is the account he gave me which I shall transcribe from notes taken while he was speaking:

The first intrigue that he knows of in which the Khedive was concerned was in Boheyra where the Khedive employed Ibrahim Bey Towfik—he lived in the house of Hassaneyn Abu Hamza at Damanhour, Governor of the province—in the spring of 1882 to purchase the alliance of certain Sheykhs of the Oulad Ali Bedouins against the National Ministry, to make a civil war between the Bedouins and the army. They were engaged to make disturbance, and a regular agreement was drawn up in which the Arabs promised to support the Khedive against the army in the case of civil war. For this they were to receive, and actually did receive £E13,000, the signatories to the document being Ibrahim Bey Towfik, the Mudir, and Mahmud abu Ismaïl el Aluani, Mahareb abu Keshik, Abd ed Dayim Hoteiteh, Abu Shayib, Hassaneyn abu Hamza and five others (Sheykhs of the Oulad Ali).

Ismaïl Jowdat was sent down to Boheyra semi officially by Arabi to inquire into this matter, and saw the Sheykhs and the document, and persuaded them to rescind their promise to the Khedive, and obtained from them an oath of allegiance to the National Government in Arabi’s room at Cairo. This same Ibraham Tewfik was sent by the Khedive during the war to Mansourah to stir up trouble, but did not succeed there. There was a report made against him signed by all the Notables of Dakhalieh under Mohammed Bey el Hantour sub Mudir of the province, after which he was imprisoned by order of the National Assembly.

With regard to the riots of the 11th June at Alexandria the details did not come under Ismaïl Jowdat’s official notice. But he heard the main facts at the time. He heard of the riots at 5 o’clock on the 11th, and went at once to the Palace, and heard how it had been ordered, and about the telegram sent by the Khedive, as we know them, viz.: that the disturbance was arranged by Omar Pasha Lutfi with Seyd Kandil, who, however, took to his bed to avoid being connected with its execution. He also heard at the time of a telegram having been sent by the Khedive in cypher to Omar Lutfi giving him his orders. But he did not see a copy of the telegram.

Of what happened during the war he had more certain knowledge, as he was responsible for the safety of all the Europeans in the country, and had spent some £E3,272 of his own money in finding and keeping them—sums which have never been repaid him, though he has the highest testimonials from M. de Martino the Italian Consul at Cairo of the care taken by him.

The Khedive’s chief agent during the war was a certain Osman Raafat, intendant des Ecuries, who is still employed by him on various secret missions. Immediately after the evacuation at Alexandria he sent him in disguise to the house of his brother-in-law, Mohammed Bey Hellál, to concert measures with Ibrahim Pasha Adhem the Mudir; and they concerted together the riots against the Christians in order to force on an English intervention. Ismaïl Jowdat confirms my account given in my letter to the “Times” with regard to Ibrahim Adhem’s conduct, except that the Christians killed were killed at the Mudirieh, not at the Prefecture; and Ibrahim shut himself inside the house and let the killing continue. His words were: “Il était dans une chambre en bas de la Mudirieh pendant le massacre. Les Chrétiens se sont réfugiés dans la Moudirieh. Il s’est enfermé dans sa chambre et a laissé faire. Les vagabonds et galériens d’Alexandrie ont fait le massacre.” Abu Diab did his best to stop the trouble, and protested with the Mudir, and saved many lives. He was condemned on false testimony produced by Ibrahim Adhem, who afterwards, moved with remorse, asked his pardon before he suffered, but Abu Diab refused to forgive him. The only other mistake made by me is that I called Ibrahim a Circassian. He is a Kurd, son of the head employée of Mohammed Ali’s stables.

Osman Raafat also came to Giseh during the war to raise troubles again with the Mufettish Feridun Bey. The details of this affair are known to M. de Martins. Sir Charles Wilson took notes of the Tantah affair from Ismaïl Jowdat. Osman Raafat then went to the Fayoum to stir up the Herabi Bedouins under their chief Abd el Kawi el Jibali and Saadawi el Jibali.

Ismaïl Jowdat knew these affairs at the time of their happening; but he gained positive proof of the Khedive’s connection with them in the following manner: Not long ago Osman Raafat came to see him at Constantinople, and he asked him to breakfast with Husseyn Pasha Ghaleb, one of the Sultan’s A.D.C’s., the same who called on me yesterday; and then having plied him with wine he told them the whole story. He went on from Constantinople to Vienna, where he had a commission from the Khedive to invest certain sums of money and dispose of certain jewels. Osman Raafat was arrested at Wasta by a soldier, but was let go by a Circassian official, and thence fled to Helouan and Suez. After the war Osman Raafat was sent by the Khedive to get back the money taken from Palmer by the Bedouins, and he kept £2,000 out of the £3,000.

NOTES OF CONVERSATION WITH DR. MUSTAFA BEY NEGDI. EXTRACT FROM JOURNAL,
_Oct._ 27, 1884

He (Mustafa) then gave us the whole history of the Tantah massacre in detail, which he knew first from the official inquiry made before Arabi when it happened, and at which he assisted, and secondly from Ahmed Minshawi, with whom he had lived afterwards at Beyrout, and who came here with him, and who had repeatedly told him the story. The true facts were these:

The Mudir of Tantah, Ibrahim Adhem, with Osman Raafat, excited the populace against the Christians, as Ismaïl Jowdat related, telling them that Arabi had ordered it—and the Mudir shut himself up also as related. Minshawi lived at a village called Koreyshiyeh, and happening to come in that day by train with Abdallah Pasha’s son, Emin Bey, and Husseyn Wasif, a magistrate, they found Christians being killed; and Minshawi interfered. They called out to him that Arabi had ordered it, but Minshawi had said to the effect of “damn Arabi,” and insisted on their stopping. He had then gone with Abu Diab, who had also been trying to stop the massacre, to the Mudirieh, and had kicked in the door of his room, and expostulated with him for letting the thing go on, Abu Diab using strong language, for he was very angry. Then they telegraphed to Arabi at Kafr Dowar to send soldiers to stop the massacre, but the telegram had to go round by Ramleh and was delayed. But at last the massacre was stopped. The whole thing was inquired into at Kafr Dowar immediately, and the Mudir was sent to Cairo and there imprisoned till the end of the war, Dawish Pasha replacing him. After the war he was reinstated, and when the Commission was sent to Tantah, Ismaïl Yusri, the President, who was a comparatively honest man, ascertained the truth and informed the Khedive that he should be obliged to find him guilty, and so begged to be superseded on the Commission. This was done, and an officer less scrupulous was appointed who accepted the false evidence Ibrahim Adhem was allowed to trump up against Abu Diab. Ibrahim Adhem, however, was deposed—and Huseyn Wasif (a Circassian, not the same as the magistrate) was appointed. He it was who was made a scapegoat of for Ibrahim Adhem’s sake, and was deprived by Clifford Lloyd and sent to the Soudan. Mehariz Bey, formerly sub-Mudir, is now Mudir of Boheyra. Minshawi is the son-in-law of Abdallah Pasha the English renegade, and his son Emin still goes by the name of the Englishman.

Mustafa Bey confirms all Ismaïl’s statements of the Khedive’s connection with the Alexandrian massacres. He was at Alexandria at the time and was the Doctor employed to examine the bodies. There were 51 Christian bodies, 23 Mohammedan, of which 8 Mustafezzin, all the latter by pistol shots. The English doctor wanted to make out that the Christian bodies had wounds made by “des armes blanches,” but this was not the case. It was certainly Omar Lutfi and Seyd Kandil (a blackguard he calls him), who got up the riot, and Mustafa states his conviction that Cookson also was concerned in it. About Malet he does not know—nor about Dervish. But he feels sure of Cookson. His evidence will be most valuable, and he will come to England to give it. He also says that Omar Lutfi certainly gave orders to the Mustafezzin to come unarmed. I like this worthy doctor much. In face and figure he is not unlike Lord Lyons.

DR. MUSTAFA BEY NEJDI’S FURTHER STATEMENT OF _Nov._ 5, 1884

“Peu de jours après le bombardment nous avons appris à Kafr Dowar qu’il y a eu des Chrétiens tués à Tantah; et Toulba Pacha, d’après l’ordre d’Arabi, a envoyé chercher Ahmed Minshawi pour témoigner sur ce qui y était arrivé. Celui-ci est venu avec un autre notable nommé El Arabi au camp, et Arabi Pacha lui a demandé ce qui en était. J’étais présent avec Toulba Pacha et quelques Colonels. Ahmed Minshawi a répondu qu’il était venu à Tantah et qu’il y avait sauvé la vie à un Chrétien à la gare du chemin de fer, et qu’après il a fait venir ses gens de son village et qu’il a pu étouffer les massacres. Il nous a racconté que le Mudir Ibrahim Adhem et Meheriz son adjoint s’étaient enfermés dans la Moudirieh pendant qu’on tuait le monde, même chez le Mudir. Il nous a aussi dit qu’il avait télégraphié au Khedive et à Arabi Pacha, et Arabi a fait venir le télégraphiste de Kafr Dowar qui n’en savait rien mais il a expliqué la chose en disant que les télégrammes de Tantah à Kafr Dowar devaient d’abord passer à Alexandrie avant d’être remis à destination. C’était la règle du service. Sur ce Arabi a fait une station nouvelle au camp, pour que les dépêches pourraient lui venir directement de l’intérieur. Arabi a remercié Minshawi de ce qu’il avait fait et il est retourné chez lui.”

MINSHAWI’S EVIDENCE AS GIVEN BY HIM _Nov._ 3, 1884