BOLO PASHA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12176, 27 November 1917, Page 4

BOLO PASHA.

TYPICAL OF LEVANT'S WORST.

THE STORY OF A GERMAN BRIBE AGENT. (Br F. CFNLTFFE OWEN in the Now York " i~-mi.") Although the Levant, strictly :<;>V,i.l:- ,-'V tI, - li'Uu V. h>.'l'O i-0 sun rises, and in the days of the old Crusaders was synonymous with the Holy Land, yet the term Levantine has' long since, become a term of reproach. "From the iifteenth con fury to the end of the eighteenth it suggested not. only corsairs, but likewise those white renegades who enriched themselves by betraying Christian men, women and children of the southern coast towns and villages of Europe into the horrors of Moslem slavery. Since, however, the elimination of piracy from the Mediterranean, the word' Levantine has been used to designate ike unscrupulous adventurer of nondescript nationality and faith,, born of the male and female srum that are indigenous to the shores of the great inland sea, who prey on soeiety, unhampered by any sense of honour, of patriotism, or of conscience. No class of people has furnished a larger quota to the. annals of crime.

BOLD PASHA'S HISTORY. Paul 8010 Pasha, now confined in the military prison at Paris awaiting trial by eourt-iriartial on charges of treason, of espionage, and of being in the pay of the enemy, is a typical Levantine. Bom in some gutter ot the Levant, he. turned up as a boy in his teens nt Marseilles, where ho made his debut as a gorcon-coiffeur, or barber's assistant.

Dismissed, lie star tod a species of soap lottery., That is to say. he had first n. barrow and then a small shop adorned with signs to the effect that in two or threw of the hundreds of pieces of soap which he had on salo for five cents there was a gold 10 franc piece. Tliis proved a profitable enterprise until the police interfered, and then with the money that he had realised he embarked in the lobster business. Before a. year was over tlio lobster business came to grief, his partner heinc ruined, whereas he with a well stocked purse made his way to Lyons, where he first ran a photography establishment, and then went into business as an agent for wines and liqueurs with a German Baron Saalfeld. In time the Baron, like most of those associated with 8010, came to grief, and- 8010, this time with several warrants out for his arrest 1 on charges of fraud, moved to Paris, where, at the time, twenty-five years ago, he became the husband of a sexagenarian lady whoso most reputable portion of her career had been spent behind opera bouffe footlights. She was fairly well off. and when she died 8010 inherited her gains. 8010 next, turned up in -Egypt, where he found himself in his element, since it has from time immemorial been the happy hunting ground of the Levantine adventure,]-. In due course he found means of securing access to the Khedive and then of obtaining the ear of Abbas. The latter found in 8010 the very man that he needed for the shady financial operations ui which ho w <is at the time engaged. Tt may be recalled that at' the time of the deposition of the Khedive in December. 1914. it was discovered by the Anglo-Egyptian authorities that he had misappropriated all the property and funds belonging to tho younger members of the reigning family, of whom he was as sovereign ex officio the guardian and trustee. If Abbas had not been deposed for throwing in his lot with the Central Powers at the beginning of the war, he would assuredly have been dethroned for bis financial irregularities. For they could not have been kept secret much longer, and it was probably in view of this eventuality that the very moment hostilities were declared in August, 1914, he at once established himself at Constantinople with all his ill-gotten gains, leaving no available property or resources of any kind in Egypt, MOVED OX TO GENEVA. After a time it occurred to Abbas that there were perhaps safer places for his treasures and likewise for his person than Stamboul. So the exKhedive moved on to Geneva, whorehe had spent most of his boyhood amid intensely anti-English influences, and with a view of ingratiating himself with the. Kaiser he assumed the direction there of the German espionage and propaganda in France. Ffe enjoyed unique advantages, for reigning sovereigns possess by law the same ex-terri-torial prerogatives and immunities in foreign countries as are accorded to their ambassadors. All that: can be done in extreme cases is to ask him to leave. That is what has been done in thp case of ex-Khedive Abbas, who at the request of the Swiss Government has taken his departure for Vienna. BOLO BE JOINS EX-KHEDIVE. Khedive Abbas made free use of his services during the last four years of his reign in transferring to Europe all his own fortune as well as the trust funds he held. It must be thoroughly understood that 8010, rhe Levantine, was always an instrument-, and that he never attained the. dignity of a principal in any of the nefarious schemes in which he was concerned, no matter whether in behalf of the ex-Khedive personally or in behalf of the Germans- He had mado Egypt too hot to hold him nearly a year prior to the outbreak of the war, but rejoined Abbas as soon as tho latter established himself at. Geneva, and was able to travel too and fro between Paris and Geneva without let or hindrance, and to spend freely themoney placed in his hands for espionage and " peace propaganda in France through ex-Khedive Abbas, by Arthur von Gwinner, the head of the Deutshe Bank of Berlin and far and away the most powerful captain of finance, of commerce and of industry in the entire German Empire. There is no more demoralising influence than association with Levantines. To say that it contaminates even the most upright and high principled Europeans of northern and southern Europe is to put it mildly. It is difficult to regard men, women and things as strictly and as severely after a sojourn of any length in the Levant; or in a Levantine atmosphere as prior to such an pxperience. It is apt to poison everything within its radius, like the upas tree, and those in whoso system the poison becomes instilled seldom get rid of it.