THE LUCKY QUEEN OF A GREAT NATION.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9735, 25 May 1897, Page 6

THE LUCKY QUEEN OF A GREAT NATION.

Mrs Crawford in Truth. I found deeply rooted in the East and from end to end of Egypt that the Queen is England's luck. Luck is written on her forehead. It is no use resisting , her, and all the more so because she tries to make good use of the favour Allah shows her. Mehemet Ali, it appears, was told, by Admiral Napier that she was a lucky woman, and gave many instances that had come to his knowledge. The great adventurer either believed or feigned to believe him, and made the idea of the Queen's luck an excuse for signing with a good grace the convention that, to the disgust of Lord Ponsonby, H.B.M.'s ambassador at Constantinople, Sir Charlee (then Commodore) Napier proposed and got him to sign. Sir Charles was sent with the lightest vessels of Admiral Stopford'a fleets to threaten Alexandria, where Mehemet was staying. He had had an intimation that Lord Palmerston did not want to turn Mehemet out of Egypt. Napier went fifteen times to see and dine with Mehemet with the convention he drew; up in his pocket. He flattered Mehemet, called him to his face'ah Orienta,rNapoleon;but with more good sense than Napoleon ; declared the deepest admiration for him and his work in Egypt; threatened bombardment, and quite by chance spoke of the Queen as being a lucky woman. Mehemet pricked up his ears at this. He was a believer in fate. When a Turkish colonel he served as an auxiliary of England at Aboukir. A Mohammedan saint who set up _to read futurity _eatne into the Anglo-Turkish camp to announce that Bonaparte had immediate defeat before him, but that his subsequent career would dazzle the world. . It was written that he would overrun all the Frahkish kingdoms, and then miserably collapse. Turning to Mehemet, the saint foretold that he waa to effect in Egypt what Bonaparte had been sent to; do. This part of the prophecy helped to fulfil itself. Mehemet really fancied, that he was a chosen instrument of Allah and an Oriental Bonaparte, though he did not know how to read or write and had no military instrntfon beyond what he picked up. It may be that St" Helena served as a warning to be moderate in his> ambition, and not to let his stepson Ibrahim lead him too far. The resources of Egypt .flad been strained by Ibrahim's naval and military canipaignjs. However, it does appear* that superstition came to the help of good sense. The British Consular agent (vice-consul, I believe), who translated for Commodore Napier, was an '<■ Egyptian and a Mohararncflan. He always accompanied him to dino at Mehemet Ali s, for though Napier came to compel Mehemet to give in, the most friendly personal relations were kept up. At the last dinner the Queen and her luck were again talked of. A few hours after the guests had departed" the consular agent was sent for by Mehemet. He obeyed the summons. When he arrived, a conversation to this effect took place :—' " You were Effendi in London at the Queen's Coronation. Were there any bad omens?" " None ; only good omens." " Did yon see her on that occasion ?" " I saw her twice." " Were you near her?" "No ; but I was near her at the Lord Mayor's dinner that she went to." " How did she strike you f " She was young, blooming, and innocentvery affable, and looked sq happy." " But did you think that luck was written on her forehead ?" " I did not think then on the mailer, but now that you ask mc, I do think that it was. Allah takes into consideration the prayers of the guileless. The young Queen's eyes, I heard, ran over when, at her Coronation, she prayed Him to protect and guide her, and to govern all her doings for the honour and happiness of. England." "And so you conclude that she is lucky V* " Yes." Next morning the same agent went with the ultimatum. Mehemet was quite, willing to sign. What waa the use, he remarked, of withstanding the lucky Queen of a great nation.