AN EGYPTIAN PARLIAMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 801, 6 April 1867, Page 1

AN EGYPTIAN PARLIAMENT.

(From the Daily Times, April 2.)

Tn the Old World Representative Government is taking root in lands where so great a change was hardly to be looked for. It is not difficult to imagine, in countries so near to Great Britain as France and Germany, where the people have derived their ideas of Government from the same feudal institutions, that, sooner or later, Government by representation would be adopted. But it has not been found equally applicable to every country in which it ha 3 been tried. In some, the people were not prepared for so great a change ; in others, nobles rebelled asain^t it, and in some, monarchs were unwilling to have their authority limited by the people whom they governed. Yet democratic institutions are gaining ground. The fact that those peoples who have the freest governments are the most enlightened and prosperous, is rapidly making itself known throughout the world, and is beginning to attract the attention of rulers, whose sway is still as despotic as that of any potentate of whom we read in Eastern history. Had the question been put, which of these despotic rulers was likely to seek to confer upon his people the advantages of representative institutions, perhaps none would have replied, "The Viceroy of Egypt." The recollection of Egypt in its ancient glory might present itself to the imagination, but with its history would be remembered the impassable barriers of caste, the degradation of the lower classes below the common level of humanity, the raising others to " privileges almost super- " natural," the awe with which the Soothsayers, Magicians, aud Augurs, were recarded ; the pride, pomp, and power, of the military ; and the sacredness of the Monarchs. Or, dismissing these memories of by-gone institutions, and endeavoring to realise what Egypt is in its degeneracy, it is impossible "to forget the depresoing influences of Mahomedanism, the ignorance and indolence of the people, the slavery in wh'ch a larse portion of the population is held, and the complete domination of the Turkish race.

For representative institutions to take root in such a soil seems little short of an absurdity. The mass of the people have no idea of political responsibility. They go about their usual avocations feeling bound implicitly to obey the powers that b?, and are, by habit and education, little - calculated to appreciate the advantages that the Anglo Saxon race has derived from self-government. Yet it is true that the attempt to govern by representative institutions is being made. The last Mail from England tells of the meeting of the Egyptian Parliament. That there are ludicrous associations connected with the attempt is not surprising. Neither Viceroy nor representatives appear to have any conception of the spirit of Parliament. It seems that a Ministry was first formed, and that after the members of Parliament were duly elected

Sfii?C^ivas the greatest trouble "to get " them to come up from the country " to town for the Parliamentary Session.' 1 It does not appear whether payment of members is to form part of the Parliamentary practice of Egypt. Judging by the unwillingness of the new legislators .to give attendance to their duties it seems probable that such an advance has not been made, and that the honorable position in which they were placed had not sufficient charms to induce them to give up more profitable engagements. But at length they assembled ; and, raw and untutored in the ways of Parliament, " they did .not know " very well what was expected of them." Probably the Ministry themselves were not well up in " May's Parliament- " ary Practice;" for we do not leant that, ia accordance with, time- honored custom, they proceeded to the election of Speaker; but beiug assembled they were addressed by the Premier in aa effective speech upon their duties as deputies. With such elements to deal with ; with nothing definite before them ; with no measures for consideration, and consequently nothing on which to differ, it would have been surprising had there been at once an Opposition. But the Egyptian Ministry were not content to have ail the representatives of one mind. They were prepared to think that without opposition there could be no good Government; so the Premier concluded his lecture to the Deputies on their duties by telling them that, " Those who " are for the Government will take their "places to-morrow, on the open* " ing of Parliament, on the right, " and the Opposition Members will " take their station on the left." The next day Parliament was formally opened by the Speech from the Throne being read, but there were no Opposition, members ; every one of them took his seat on the right. Complimentary as thia was to the Viceroy and his Ministry, it did not look Parliamentary, and " at length," says the authority whence we quote, " some " few devoted men were found, and " his Majesty's Opposition, or his Vice- " Royalty's Opposition, mustered half-a- " dozen Courtiers, setting up as peaceable " rebels for the nonce. So ereat waa the " Ticeroy's magnanimity, that he did not " send them off to Narvaez, with pass- " ports for Fernando Po." Such are some of the incident connected with the attempt at founding Representative Institutions in Egypt. It aeems unlikely for a long period to work out the regeneration of such a nation, by such iastitutions, even should they continue. In Great Britain and the Continent of Europe, they were concessions to popular demand ; but in Egypt they are gifts to the people unsought for, unwished, and unvalued. Not even the most enlightened appear to comprehend their genius. The form may remain, but the Government will continue as autocratic as before.