A good deal of interest and some alarm is felt
about a visit of three weeks which the young Khedive is about to pay to Constantinople. It is thought that he may make some secret agreement with the Sultan, or may arrange with him some demonstration against the English. We question if the Sultan, who keeps Ismail in a sort of prison, and has an incurable jealousy of the only orthodox Mussulman House reigning on the Mediterranean except his own, will be at all attracted to the young Khedive. Abbas II. is much more likely to learn in Constantinople how little the Sultan can do, and how much more unpleasant it is to be bullied by six Embassies than to be guided by one. There is much more to be feared from the influence of the ex-Khedive Ismail, who will undoubtedly try to capture his grandson, and who may inspire him with his own ambitious projects for establishing an Empire over the whole valley of the Nile. The Khedive, however, must be rid of the pressure of Europe first, and that is a task which it will take a lifetime, perhaps more, to accomplish fully. Note, however, how Oriental this Egyptian, carefully educated in Europe, has already become.
Previous page
