EGYPT AND MOHAMMED A L I.

THE remote antiquity, the favourable geographical position, the

ancient commercial importance of Egypt, and its probable revival —the extraordinary remains of their knowledge and their arts which the inhabitants bequeathed to modern tines—and the sin-

gular character of the present ruler —were among the motives which took Mr. ST. JOHN to Egypt. A prospective of the taking

title prefixed to this notice, and of two thick octavos, was probably one of the untold reasons, if not the most cogent one. And here at last we have them. We say at last : for the volumes smack of

the countries they describe—they have a true Turkish tardiness about them, and have been long in reaching us : " Yuvash, yuvash —slowly, slow we will proceed." Arriving at Alexandria in November 1S32, Mr. ST. JOHN saw the sights and the singular characters of the city. He next passed on to Cairo, where lie lionized again. Ile then proceeded up the

Nile as far as the second cataract. It was his original intention to have gone on to the confines of Dongola, but the camel-drivers at Wady Haifa wished to overcharge him ; so he came back again,

sojourning at the hundred-gated Thebes on his way. During his second residence at Cairo, he made an excursion to Lake Moeris. Ile closes his volume, so far as regards Eitypt as she is, with an account of the government, institutions, and policy of Mon AMMED, and an historical sketch of the late war against the Sultan.

These last parts, though neither very learned nor profound, are by far the most valuable. Of late years, travelling in Egypt has been attended with so little danger or even hardship — NO many persons have visited it for business, curiosity, or a love of the arts —that a mere book of travels in the country was not wanted. Our author, moreover, has published his peregrinations in the shape of a journal; a form which detracts from the interest of an account of a cauntry visited for the first time, however it may then be tolerable from the novelty of the subject, and the greater minute- ness of the information it conveys: but the narrative of events day by day, or even of a day's events, would defy the most keen and quick observer, possessing the most graphic power, to render them attractive. Mr. Sr. JOHN is not exactly either one or the other. He has the clear and easy style of a practised writer ; but lie cannot impart a charm to a trivial or a commonplace circum- stance from his mode of narration. His views of life and nature are somewhat superficial: he sees little more than any well-edu- cated man would see. His ideas are vulgar (we mean in the scientific sense), not learned. He perceives what is obvious ; the recondite escapes him. Where the most striking peculiarities have been once presented, he has nothing left but to repeat others or himself.

A good many of these peculiarities, however, are to be found in Egypt. There are its various inhabitants —Turks, Arabs, and Fellabs; not new people certainly, but whose manners have been modified under the iron rule of Au. Then there are the foreign residents; many, disreputable adventurers, and all, or nearly all, corrupted by the atmosphere in which they breathe. The Turks, indeed, are making some approaches to European civilization in externals — getting as far as sitting on chairs and eating with knives and forks. The Franks get a little further—many of them acquiring the Oriental faithlessness and servility, and keeping their harems like true Osmanlis. Then we have the vices of the country — for in this respect Egypt still supports her ancient fame; upon which, perhaps, Mr. Sr. JOHN touches somewhat too often and too clearly, in a work intended for general read- ing. Lastly, we have the public establishments of the Paeha; a pretty full account of his monopolies; the character and man- ners of the man, of his family, and some of his officers; with a variety of social anecdotes, which though not greatly in stump above the class of our police reports, are curious coming from Cairo and Alexandria. Had the work been half the size, its interest and agreeableness would have been more than doubled. The extraordinary man who has to all appearance permanently established his dynasty in Egypt, has never yet been approached by a traveller capable of thoroughly comprehending him. From Mr. ST. JOHN'S account, it would appear that he is a complete master of the political science of his age and country, whilst his practical improvements show that he is very far beyond their prejudices. When contending with Asiatics, be is easily supreme; but he is also a match for European diplomacy. His progress to power, and then to independence, has been managed with un- wearied patience and profound skill; and if he did not create op- portunities, he took immediate advantage of them. Even in the war just closed, our author intimates, that in the full career of victory, and notwithstanding the boldness of his tone and the extent of his demands, the virtual acknowledgment of indepen- dence was his real aim, for which he would have been content with less than he obtained. Wherever men and events have been the subject, MOHAMMED has been happy. In making

extensive civil and political changes amongst a barbarous and bigoted people, and rendering them respectful to infidel strangers, be' has been eminently successful ; he has substituteda regular individual caprices at present a most grinding authority for the

caprices of despotic anarchy. That his political economy is bad —that he has no ideas of the best mode of developing the wealth of nations—is true : true also is it that his notions of internal government are indifferent, and his sway perhaps unnecessarily oppressive to the people, even considering the difficulties by which he has been surrounded. All these errors might be palliated, on the pleas of early education, Oriental training, and the prejudices of a barbarian, by those who consider the Paella a great man : but it is scarcely needed. It is not ne- cessary to travel to Egypt to find rulers indifferent to the happi- ness of the people, and grossly ignorant of the first principles of economical and political science. His system of tasation is op- pressively heavy ; but it is direct. His monopolies—and he mo- nopolizes every thing—produce him less than freedom of industry and a moderate taxation upon its products, and he is perpetually robbed by his officers : but then, MOHAMMED is a " practical" man. By his manufactories a heavy annual loss is incurred : but the Pacha is a " great landed gentleman," and, like a true squire, lie wishes Egypt to be independent of foreign supply ; and he is surrounded by interested projectors who plunder him. Tremendous from their extent are the miseries which the conscription inflicts upon the Fellahs : but NAPOLEON the Great had a conscription too; and we have our impressment, the delight of the Seceders,* which, allowing for the difference in the characters and mode of living of the respective people, inflicts as much misery as the kidnapping plan of our ally, though the sufferers are fewer. But better days are perhaps in store for Egypt. The establishment of peace and of practical independence—for till lately the Paella's position was a species of armed neutrality—will enable him to reduce his army, and if he please, his taxes. His son IBRAHIM is said to have sounder economical notions; and not being pledged to the manufactory and monopoly systems, will have no reasons for upholding them which it is "not expedient to disclose." Mr. Sr. JOHN informs us, that till he felt the effects of the European system in the war of the Morea, this conqueror of Asia Minor was opposed to his father's innovations. A love of civilization was beaten into him. Now he is so apt a pupil as to keep a French cook, though he does not take him with him in his cam- paigns.

We pick out an extract or two, as specimens of the volumes : had we received them earlier, our quotations might have been more extensive. The following account of the traveller's descent into the Crocodile Pits is not without interest. It also indicates what we have not told—that he visited and has described many excava- tions, subterraneous chambers, and other remains of antiquity.

While we were undressing and lighting out candles, those who were to enter betook themselves to prayer, as persons about to plunge into desperate peril. I again descended before the others, and as the smell seemed less disgust- ing than on the day before, did not in the least doubt being able to withstand the malaria, or mephitic vapour, whatever it might be. When the Arabs had prayed, and stripped themselves nearly naked, we took each a taper in our hands and began to move forwards. The old man, his son, and two other Arabs, led the way ; my servant and I followed ; and Monro came close after me, with a guide, who was to show the way back, if we should find it impossible to pro- ceed. Having reached the large chamber, where we had wasted so much time on the preceding day, the old guide turned to the right, and crept forward through a small hole, the mouth of se:Iiich was concealed by a projecting rock. We all followed in the order we had observed in entering, and after proceeding about twenty yards, arrived in the large natural chamber described by Legh and Hen- niker, the latter of whom advanced no further. Continuing to push forward, we entered a portion of the cavern resembling the mouth of hell ; enormous rocks huddled together forming the floor, where chasms of unknown depth yawned between the dark masses, while prodigious black stalactites, with shin- ing spars of crystal glittering; between them, hung like dead snakes from the roof, and composed a kind of fretwork round the sides. Every thing wore the fuliginous appearance of a place which had been the seat of some durable con- flagration; black as night, covered with soot, oily, slippery, and exhaling a stench unutterably disgusting. Bats without number hung from the roof, or flew against our faces, from the countless holes and narrow diverging passages of the cavern ; sonic striking against the rocks and falling senseless to the ground, where we trod or pressed upon them with our hands—for there was no time to be nice in picking our way. At length they began to cling about my neck, and bite my hands ; and several times extinguished my taper ; but this was merely disagreeable. By degrees, however, the passage grew low anti narrow, so that it became necessary to creep thrward on hands and knees, with our heads very low, that they might not strike against the rocks. This position I found extremely painful. The heat likewise appeared to be insufferable, anti the perspiration streamed from our bodies like rain. Mv companions, according to the advice of the principal guide, hail stripped nearly to the skin; but, trusting to my capacity for enduring heat I had slighted his counsel, and now suffeted the penalty

of my imprudence. Still, however, I continued in the track of the guide; but having advanced about three or four hundred yards, I felt the hlocd rush to my head, and experienced great sickness and faint- ness, accompanied by an extraordinary oppression of the lungs, greatly aug- mented by the odour of putrid corpses which issued from the extremities of the cave, and appeared to increase every moment. For this effect I never could fully account. In all the tombs, and caverns, and mummy-pits which we bad hitherto entered, I had seemed to suffer less than any one; and could remain in them whole hours without inconvenience; but now the case was different. In a short time, my head grew dizzy, and the cavern seemed to reel and swim round. Supposing I was about to faint, in which case recovery would have been next to impossible, I requested Monro, who seemed to experience nothint, of the kind, to endeavour to pass me, which the narrowness of the passage rendered nearly impracticable, and ordered the Arab in the rear to lead the way back. Mont° anti Suleiman proceeded. When I had regained that part of the passage where it was possible to stand upright, the fulness and nizziness in the head abated ; but my eyes seemed to have grown dim, and I fancied we had lost Our way. The guide, who evidently shared my suspicion, paused and surveyed the various openingr with terror, while his trembling hands could scarcely huld • GRAHAM, STANLEY, "11114 CO," RS the Globe would say. the taper. The cavern, in fart, appeared to have enlarged, the passages to have grown more numerous, and the stench and blackness more internal.I crept along with the utmost difficulty, the bats flitting before or striking against me and looked with intense longing for the appearance of light and the smell of fresh air. A draught of water might, pethaps, have revived me ; but the guides had neglected to bring any into the cavern, and to this circumstance I, probably, owed my extreme disappointment, and might have owed something worse. As the way appeared so much longer than it had in entering, the SUS pieion frequently recurred that we had missed it ; but at length I discovered a glimmering of light, anti felt the rushing in of the external air, which now seemed perfumed, though, on my first descending, I thought it execrable. On arriving at the entrance, the Arab flung himself with a groan upon the ground ; and I, completely exhausted inul overcome, sat below upon the rock in a kind of dream unable to climb the rocky ascent to the plain."

The attack upon Acre, which led to the late Syrian war, was commenced under the authority of the Sultan. Repenting when too late, he sent an envoy to MOHAMMED to forbid the expe- dition (which had already taken place in despite of the season) Here is the interview; characteristic of the politician—wily or bold, as suited the occasion.

When the Sultan's envoy arrived at Alexandria, he was received in the usual style of courtesy. Mohammed Ali, who is a master of dissimulation, affected the utmost deference for the imperial orders; but obAtitved that the ex- pedition hail sailed, that operations had commenced, and that, if his excellency would wait, he should shortly bear back to his sovereign the keys of Acre. Ott this occasion, however, the amliassador was an aide mail, to deceive whom wits impracticable. Ile at once pushed aside the thins's, veil of hypocrisy', and coining to the real point, demanded what it was that the Paella desned from the Porn-. " To keep what I have," he replied ; "and let me explain to you my policy ;old my views in a few words. In a few days Acre wilt be mine. If the Sultan couseigt that I shall keep it, I will stop there ; if not I will take Damaseus. There, again, if Damascus be gt anted me, I will stop; but if not I will take Aleppo : and if the Sultan will not then consent—who knows? Allah heri»t I—God is merciful. " The Turk in a moment saw the character of the man with whom his sovereign hail to deal ; and, returning to Constantinople, counselled Mahmond to grant the Pacha wh itever lie ieqtmiieil, and make peace; " For,' said he, "you have to contend with it man of sense and talent, who understands his position." At this honest and upright conduct, however, the Sultan was grievously offended, and, pretending that the ambassador had been corrupted In- In ibery, cast him into prison. It should be added, that our author has devoted a chapter to an essay on the origin and purp6se of the Pyramids. The conclusion to which he comes is similar to the opinion advanced by Mr. O'BRIEN—that they were " temples sacred to that mysterious power by whose agency the principle of life is transmitted from one being to another." In phraseology which might be used by our friend of the twenty-pound prize, the Pyramids were square Round Towers.