New Egypt

Amedee Baillot de Guerville

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9783849650292
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Egyptian Ancient History
• Index: History

De Guerville, the author of "New Egypt, " is able to break through the hedges that surround the divinely-appointed affairs of many foreign places. In his own words he obtained his intormation about the new Egypt from " highly placed personages in the Egyptian world, English, French, natives, and others; these men, keen and talented, who in palaces, ministries, legations, schools, hospitals, bands, or large industrial concerns, are working without ceasing for the regeneration of Egypt." Not for a long time has there been a book of travel that is so very interesting and refreshingly instructive. The author took the trip from Alexandria to Cairo, thence to Luxor, Karnac, Assouan, Khartoum, and Fashoda - now called Kodok. His account of these places is interspersed with facts relative to the French in Egypt, the pleasures of Cairo, Ismail and his reign, the commercial and industrial life of the land, and the social, religious, and political conditions in this rapidly changing country.

CHAPTER I ALEXANDRIA

First impressions—East and West—Poverty and riches—The Stock Exchange—Every man a speculator—Rolling in money —Wild extravagance—Women's hearts and men's purses— Place Mohamed Ali—The statue of a great man—How he founded his dynasty—English soldiers—Here since 1882—The bombardment of Alexandria—The rôle of France—Did Admiral Seymour exceed his orders?—Kitchener's presence —An admiral's fears—The decline of French influence.

“WHAT! you miserable person, sailing for Egypt under the German flag?”

Such was the greeting of one of my friends at Marseilles, whilst he added ruefully:

“Heavens! What are we coming to? After having abandoned Egypt to the English, we allow the Germans to make themselves masters of the Mediterranean, the famous French lake, and these Teutonic devils have actually the audacity to start a line of fast steamships between Marseilles and Alexandria.”

This loyal son of Marseilles was deeply in earnest, and not without cause. In fact, whilst ever renewed strikes are threatening the large French ports with certain ruin, paralysing all their efforts, all their energies, and all their schemes, the English, the Germans and the Italians are working continuously to gain a footing where the French were yesterday supreme.

In establishing this new service between Marseilles and Alexandria, with a stay of twelve hours at Naples, and in setting aside for it two of their finest boats, the Schleswig and the Hohenzollern, of 8000 tons, the Norddeutscher Lloyd of Bremen have made a master-move.

It was because I had heard so much said of the pleasure and comfort of this new line that I determined to try it myself and find out how far it was true. I can now say that, from every point of view, all the praise was thoroughly deserved, and it must be admitted that, for the present, it is undoubtedly the service de luxe of the Mediterranean.

Before even arriving at Marseilles, I had proof of the energy and enterprise of the German shipping companies. I travelled down by the new P.L.M. express train, the “Côte d'Azur,” the finest and most rapid train, I believe, not only in France, but in the world. As usual, the restaurant car attached was divided into two compartments, for smokers and non-smokers, between which was a door with a large glass panel. Here, on the glass, a magnificent picture of a huge steamship had been engraved, with, surrounding it in letters of gold, the name of a German Company, the “Hamburg-American Line.”

So, whilst from Marseilles to Cairo the best service to-day is that of Lloyd of Bremen, the other powerful Company will not allow itself to be forgotten; and to the thousands of strangers making their way South for the winter, they draw attention to their magnificent steamers, and their motto, “Remember.”

After five days of wind, rolling and pitching seas, came absolute calm. We had just entered the outer port of Alexandria, the famous town founded by Alexander the Great, the town which, in the time of Cleopatra, reigned queen of the Mediterranean.

The calm was of short duration. A noise, atrocious, infernal, indescribable, rose on every side. The Schleswig had hardly cast her anchor before she was surrounded by hundreds of small boats crammed with Egyptians, Turks and Arabs, who howled and gesticulated frantically. In a few seconds the boat was invaded by this extraordinary crowd, dragomans, interpreters, porters from different hotels, boatmen, touts from different agencies, &c. &c. It was pandemonium, a Tower of Babel gone mad; whilst the poor tourist, at his wit's end, saw fifty devils, black or brown, throw themselves on to his luggage. But at this moment a stentorian voice was heard: “All right, gentlemen, all right! Here are Cook's men, they will look after everything.” And on the deck, a huge Arab, in a superb costume, suddenly appeared, surrounded by a crowd of sturdy porters. Tight red jerseys covered the chests of these men, on which in white letters was sewn “Thos. Cook and Sons.” As if by magic quiet was restored: like a general on the field of battle, Cook's agent took command, answering politely the numerous questions put to him by the travellers; and to those anxious about the formalities to be gone through at the Custom House, he explained that, severe as these were, they need not trouble: “There is no Custom examination for you,” he said, smiling quietly; “we have obtained special permission to pass the luggage of all our passengers without being opened. You have only to give us your luggage tickets and let us know where you wish it sent, either to your hotel or to the station, and you will find it there awaiting you.”

Nothing could have explained better the justice and appropriateness of the title given to the directors of Messrs. Cook, “the uncrowned kings of Egypt and the East!” Was not the Emperor William himself, when he wished to visit the Holy Land, obliged to confide himself and all his belongings to Messrs. Cook, like the most ordinary of tourists? The white boats of the Agency lay alongside the Schleswig, and we soon found ourselves installed in one of them with all our baggage.

A few minutes later, a victoria with a couple of excellent little horses, took us swiftly along the streets of Alexandria.

First of all came the Arab quarter: its streets muddy and filthy, its shops open to all the winds of heaven, its houses dark and mysterious, its swarming crowd, the negro, the brown-skinned, and the white; its beggars, its cripples, its children almost naked, crying, running, shouting; its veiled women; and above all, its smells, acrid and indescribable, the odour of the East, which at first sickens and disgusts.

But our little horses going hard, all that was soon passed, and the quarter inhabited by the Europeans and the rich Egyptians came into view, with its large and beautiful streets, its huge houses, superb palaces, its gay cafés, and its shops, worthy of the Parisian Boulevards.

More than anything else, this is the land of contrasts. Here a palace where reigns unbridled luxury, there a hovel swarming with beings scarcely human.

We slacken our pace as we enter the famous “Place Mohamed Ali,” in the middle of which rises the equestrian statue of the founder of the reigning dynasty, a fine piece of work by Jaquemart. This is the centre of the European life, the Hyde Park Corner of Alexandria, where at certain hours of the day all the rank and fashion of the town may be seen.Here and there, in passing, I get a shake of the hand from some old friend, business man, banker or broker. As for speculators, every one, more or less, is that.

For several years the mania for speculation seems to have attacked the whole population, and the Stock Exchange at Alexandria is, as it were, the heart of the body politic, full of life, of hopes and fears, where every one large and small, rich or poor, strong or weak, meets on common ground. Cotton, its rise or fall, that is the predominant thought in the minds of all those men amongst whom are so many familiar faces.

Indeed, after nine months' scraping and hoarding, these good Alexandrians troop across to Paris and the best known watering-places on the Continent, to disgorge in the remaining three their accumulated gains.

All have the look of men well pleased with the world, and all explain themselves thus: “My dear fellow, business is A 1. Egypt has entered on an era of prosperity hardly credible. We are making money hand over fist, every one is in the swim. You will see for yourself, from one end of Egypt to the other you will hear the same story. The Government has been able to reduce taxation and increase the salaries of its employees, big and little. The golden age has arrived!”

Can this be possible? Can it be that, whilst in Europe and America every one cries poverty, there is only prosperity here, in this land of Egypt, which scarcely twenty years ago was in a state of bankruptcy?

And, strange as it may seem, not one of these men will speak to you of Egypt, of its history, of its artistic treasures, not one of them will advise you to visit a museum, a monument, or a park.

The Stock Exchange and Cotton, these are the be-all and end-all of existence. If by chance they do advise you to go to the theatre, it will not be because there is something particularly good to be seen, but simply because “X receives £4000 for three performances, and that the stones and jewels in the hair or round the necks of the élégantes represent a sum of £10,000,000 sterling!”

When he talks cotton or diamonds, your Alexandrian is a bit of a braggart. In a word, his head is a money-box, and his heart a purse, and they are both crammed to repletion with bank notes. All the same he is a good fellow, pleasant, hospitable, and generous. If he has the faults of the confirmed gambler he has also his good qualities.

As to his better-half, it is difficult to judge. Admiration has perhaps blinded me, for the “Alexandrine” is so pretty, so elegant, and so chic, that criticism is quite disarmed. One would have to travel far to find a town where there are so many young women whose good looks and perfect elegance continually charm the eye. It may be said, of course, that they are somewhat shallow, that their dresses, their jewels, and especially their flirtations are of more interest to them than the graver questions of life; but what does that matter when they are so charming, and so deliciously feminine?

Certainly we are far from the time when in Alexandria there was a famine of femininity either “d'un monde ou de l'autre.”

In a town in which the upper classes are composed of so many different nationalities, Egyptians, Greeks, Levantines, Italians, French, English and Germans, there are as a matter of course many cliques, more or less jealous of one another; but there is one common ground where all unite and all help—Charity, which, here as elsewhere, seems to bring out all that is best in our common humanity.

The Greek colony, rich, numerous and powerful, is at the head of all those good works whose end is the alleviation of human suffering; and amongst those whose efforts in welldoing are continuous I would mention the Salvagos, the Zervudachis, the Em. Benackis and the Sinadinos.

The first-named family has just given to the town the sum of £20,000, in order to found a School of Art, a step in the right direction, and one which, I trust, will help considerably to raise Alexandria from its present state of rather sordid money-making.

Immense as the progress of the town has been in the last quarter of a century, and brilliant as its present position is, I have not a doubt that, in the near future, it will be called upon to occupy a position much more important.

To do so, however, it must, above all, render its port safer and more accessible, make its quays and docks considerably larger, its facilities to international trade greater, and reduce its port dues, to-day standing at much too high a figure.

Great efforts have been made, I know, and the Egyptian Government have already expended a sum of over £200,000 on important works, whilst an equal amount has just been set aside for new works. Only last winter, the situation was such that ships, after having tried in vain to unload their cargoes, were obliged to leave without discharging. There was no room on the quays. This state of things, deplorable as it seems, is not due, as one might think, to any slackness on the part of the Government, but simply to the fact that the trade of the port has grown so enormously and so rapidly that it has been impossible for the Minister of Public Works to keep pace with it with the means at his disposal.

If Alexandria cannot assert the possession of the remains of her founder (Alexander the Great), she can at least boast of having a statue of the greatest man which modern Egypt has seen. I refer to Mohamed Ali, the founder of the Khedivial dynasty, and a hero of whom his descendants and Egypt have every reason to be proud.

The story of his life reads like a most captivating romance. This man, of humble origin, thanks to his extraordinary talents and iron will, became Pasha of Egypt at a time (1805) when the country, a Turkish province, was governed and sucked dry by the Mamelukes. With a small sum of money, lent to him, it is said, by an Armenian, uncle of the future great Egyptian Nubar, and accompanied by a handful of adventurers as hardy as himself, he landed in Egypt, and commenced that epic which lasted forty years, and in which he made himself, in a way, the arbiter of the destinies of the Mussulman world.

Thanks to him and to his genius, Egypt played the part of a great Power and made Turkey tremble.

Great diseases sometimes require drastic treatment, and, without hesitation, he caused the Mamelukes to be massacred, and commenced the pacification of Upper Egypt. Whilst he thus waged war in a far country the English landed at Alexandria (1807), and advanced on Rosetta. But Mohamed Ali was cast in a different mould from Arabi and the insurgents of 1882. Returning rapidly he fell like a thunderbolt on the English, driving them back on Alexandria, where, thanks to the protection afforded them by their fleet, they were enabled to re-embark.

A faithful vassal of the Sultan, he helped him in his wars against Greece, and also against England. For Turkey he conquered Crete (1823), and recovered Morea (1824). His army, at one time only 20,000 strong, had now been raised to 100,000.

His son Ismaïl, ascending the Nile, had planted t...

Table of contents

• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER I ALEXANDRIA
• CHAPTER II ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO
• CHAPTER III CAIRO
• CHAPTER IV RESURRECTION
• CHAPTER V FRANCE IN EGYPT
• CHAPTER VI THE PLEASURES OF CAIRO, AND HER LAWS
• CHAPTER VII ISMAIL AND HIS REIGN
• CHAPTER VIII THE KHEDIVE ABBAS HILMI
• CHAPTER IX THE KHEDIVIAL FAMILY
• CHAPTER X HAREMS AND THE WOMAN IN EGYPT
• CHAPTER XI EDUCATION AND RELIGION
• CHAPTER XII CAIRO TO LUXOR
• CHAPTER XIII LUXOR, KARNAC, AND THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS
• CHAPTER XIV ASSOUAN
• CHAPTER XV ASSOUAN TO KHARTOUM
• CHAPTER XVI KHARTOUM
• CHAPTER XVII THE SUDAN OF TO-DAY
• CHAPTER XVIII SOCIETY IN KHARTOUM
• CHAPTER XIX TWENTIETH-CENTURY COMFORTS IN CENTRAL AFRICA
• CHAPTER XX FASHODA