AN INTERVIEW WITH ARABI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6572, 9 December 1882, Page 3 (Supplement)

AN INTERVIEW WITH ARABI.

A si'Koi.w. vrar correspondent reports an interview which he says he has hail with Arahi. He says communism with Ahmed Arab: Pasha astonishes one at every turn. Ignorant he undoubtedly is ot many things which the traditional " merest school boy " has at his tinners' end. Yet this fellahpatriot bas studied history to good purpose, and ean adorn his tale with parallels moie or less plausible ami apposite, drawn from the tomes of the past. The following are the salieut passages from his conversation : " None of you ean understand Egypt or Egyptian politics. We in many ways resemble Mexico. Ton call yourselves the champions of liberty, and would send us back in the most abject serfdom. Yon are great anil powerful, but I cannot respect yru. This Tewfik, in whose cause you have made so grand a display, is utterly contemptible— well-meaning possibly, like. Louis XVI., but a prey to the worst advisers. He is not so bad as his father, I admit, nor so silly and useless us his brother ; but the wickedness of his councillors makes up for such deficiencies. You restore Tewtik in spite of the unanimous desire of a country to the contrary. On your head be our misery then. I do not like you, but I am oblig. . to rjspect your power ; knowing what I now know, I see how vain were my hopes, and can only be proud to think that miserable Kgypt could stand against your strength for nearly sixty days. If you great European Powers choose to dictate, we have no option but to obey." ''Then Egyptian liberty is but i dream?"' "Yes, alas! since the so-called champions of liberty side against the oppressed. Two days before your bombardment Tewtik loaded me with honours, and called me friend. I have not, nor ever had any personal hate against tne Khedive. The Khedive is nothing in himself, but always the servant of another. If you like to give him a tutor who will whisper to him all may go well, but if not the Turkish and Circassian regime will be reestablished, and the bastinado be rampant as of yore, and it will be your doing. What would 1 wish to do ': I would wisli to be banished from Kgypt for ever. .My heart is sick of Egypt. I would live quietly in Europe with my family, and trouble no one any more, for my dream is passed and I was deceived. Quietly'' lia, ha! How could I live otherwise? Liars say that I tilled my purse wheu in office. I am a very poor man : have only one little house :iear Zagazig, where I was born : my palace at Cairo is not mine—was only lent to me as minister. I am very poor indeed, and if you set me free shall have to work for my living and my family. But you will give us up to our enemies—l feel a presentiment of that," he concluded quietly, "audit will soou be all over, all over." " When we declared war did you think we were in earnest?' , I asked idly.

■'No !" replied Arabi, with emphasis, "and that was one of the most dreadful moments in my life. Your Seymour sent me a message that he would liomhaid the city of Alexandria at eight o'clock next morning. I laughed, for I thought i:.ilf the wealth cf Alexandria is English, and they will Mirely not wreck their own property. J lay awake air niyht thinking, ei"owii:g surer and more sure ; and dawn came, and eight o'clock struck, and there was no unusual noise, and 1 breathed freely and turned to sk< p. At half-past eight 1 heard the first pin, and it set me shivering, for I heard in it the knell of established hopes, and wondered who would wiu the victory. You are a great nation," be repeated presently. "You can afford to be generous and great to Cetewayo —a savage —aud surely should be to me. Treat me as you treated Cetewayo, and 1 will he satisfied."