NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13451, 30 May 1907, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

.., -. ........ .......... THE EGYPTIAN NATIONALIST A-"--'" ■ PRESS. - -■■:-■'; : '-. An article by Mustapha Pasha /Kamel, published at Cairo, under the title of " The; Moslem Awakening," is of considerable interest as showing the methods by which i the Egyptian Nationalist leader appeals both to European Liberals am! to Moslem Conservatives. . After contrasting the methods of Tunisian and] Indian Moslems with those of 'the Egyptian Nationalists, and pointing out that the Tunisians are helpless beiore the, overwhelming power of France, and that; the Moslems of India are but " the fifth i part of c nation conquered and subjug- j ated by England," the Pasha. makes the usual appeals to European sympathy, from which th«» following passages may be quoted:" Our country is neither conquered not subjugatedit is simply occupied, and this occupation is temporary. We form 92 per cent, of the nation, we live 'on the best terms with our Coptic brethren. • Our fortune is. large, our resources are inexhaustible ... for more than «■ century we have stretched out our hand to the civilisation of Europe. Everything encourages us to claim our independ- { ence, and to fight for it. . .■ . ■ That Egypt may keep the place which . has been hers for "so many centuries to be the source of all progress in the East, she must be free." So far Mustapha Pasha Kamel has appealed to a European audience. ! An Orientalist might urge that Cordova, j Bagdad, and Persia played a far greater] part in the diffusion of civilisation in the East than Egypt, and an economist mightremark that, however, attractive the theory that the resources of Egypt are " inexhaustible" to advocates of the instant creation of an Egyptian Parliament, it can hardly be said to be borne out by historical facts; but, as a whole, the article is," perhaps, well calculated to appeal to the unreflecting sentimentalist. ' For the benefit of the world in general and the Moslem in particular, the writer then remarks that the liberty of Egypt is a guarantee- of peace for the world, for "the master of our country, as soon as he feels himself strong, aims always at the conquest of Arabia. The example of Mehemet AH and Napoleon before him are. there for our edification. If England could ever become the mistress of Egypt. . . . she would attempt the conquest of Arabia in order to become the moral suzerain of all Islam." It is somewhat surprising to find Mehemet Ali, a Mussulman ruler and the founder of the Khedival dynasty, bracketed with Napoleon and some hypothetical British "master" of Egypt. Put, whatever may be thought of Kamel Pasha's interpretation of history, his motives are abundantly clear.