WHEN SLAVES BECAME EULERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1933, Page 4

WHEN SLAVES BECAME EULERS.

Nearly 700 years ago the Turkish conquerors of Egypt took, with them some white slaves as a bodyguard, and for 600 years the descendants of those slaves had a big .say. in the government of the country.

To be ruler of Egypt was no peaceful job. Chieftain warred against chieftain and the slave bodyguard saw no reason why it should not seize power. By tlie process of killing some opponents and buying off othej® they and their; descendants increased their hold until only two great factions remained, one led by descendants of Albanian slaves, the other by those of the former Turkish conquerors. The power changed hands many times during the centimes, but the “Mamelukes” as the Albanians came to be called, were Sultans long enough to endow the city of Cairo with nearly all the beauties of architecture in mosques and private residences for which it is famous.

- At the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the Napoleon-Nelson duel was at its height, the rulers of Egypt favoured first the French and then the English. One of them, Mehemet Ali, decided to clear away his enemies and obtain supreme control. By two acts of treachery he succeeded in massacring the Mamelukes almost to a man. A few escaped to the Sudan where their descendants were found when Lord Kitchener reconquered that province. The last massacre took place in 1811, and a “tulwar” (short sword) which was taken from one of the murdered Mamelukes will be shown at the Rotarians’ exhibition which opens at New Plymouth on June 27.”