The homely diary of a diplomat in the East, 1897-1899

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Foreword

_ Ir was in the spring of 1915 that Colonel Thomas Skelton Harrison, whose long friendship it has been my privilege to enjoy, while chatting with me about the old Cairo days, confided to me that he had kept a diary in which as he went along he had jotted down facts and impressions as to the men and events with which he had been connected in the course of his two years’ residence in the old Khedivial capital.

It so happened that in 1898 I had been sent by the American. Exploration Society of Philadelphia, with strong letters from the State Department at Washington, to negotiate for a permit to work over the ruins of Tanis, in the Eastern Delta, and to obtain the right to remove to Philadelphia some of the large monuments still strewn over the site of the Hycksos City. Mr. Daniel Baugh was ready to charter a ship to bring over the results, and it was thought that if I went myself I might, with the assistance of Mr. Harrison, then our Consul-General and Diplomatic Agent in Cairo, overcome some of the obstacles expected. to be raised against the project.

Mr. Harrison, in his. official capacity of Consul-General and Diplomatic Agent, had made himself persona grata to the Khedive and his Government, and we could count upon his. heartiest codperation as a Philadelphian as well as. a personal friend. Through his gracious hospitality that winter I had met many of his Cairo circle of friends and colleagues, and his diary and reminiscences interested me greatly.

V1il FOREWORD

After talking over many things, he suggested, in the most modest way, that I look it over, and, if I thought it of sufficient interest, that I select from it what I should think suitable for publication. Mrs. Harrison, when she was told about it, also took a lively interest in the idea; and before she and her husband went to their summer home at Pomfret for the season, Mr. Harrison left the volumes of typewritten manuscript at my house, and it was agreed that I should go over them at my leisure during the summer. Plans often go astray. Things happened, and it was only in August that I found time to take up the manuscript.

Then, however, the simple narrative of those old days of pomp and glitter, when great personages who were making history seemed daily associates, and big international schemes took the place of small local interests, fascinated me, bringing back personal memories. For during the weeks I spent in Cairo at the very height of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison’s brilliant career as representatives of the United States, they most generously shared with me many of their good things, and I could read between the lines of the diary much that the writer had not put down. Soon I became quite absorbed in the work.

One night, late on the 6th of September, a strong feeling came over me that I should write next day to Mr. Harrison to suggest certain additions in elucidation of the identity of important personages possibly unfamiliar to an American public, but whose personality as factors in international affairs must be made to appear. The next day I received a telegram 'from my broken-hearted friend, announcing the sudden death of his wife.

. As Mrs. Harrison was the one who most loved Cairo

FOREWORD 1X and the life and position which she had graced so well, for a while the entire plan was suspended. Mr. Harrison felt that there no longer was any meaning in the work. With time, however, he came to look upon it from another angle. There was no longer any joy in it, but was it not a pleasure —if a sad one — to re-live those happy days which Mrs. Harrison had so truly enjoyed? To rehearse those scenes of brilliant splendor in which she had played her part and had her share?

The years she spent in Cairo were probably the pleasantest years of Mrs. Harrison’s life. She may have had happier days; but I doubt whether her life ever was so crowded with interesting experiences. They were a great tax on her strength, as she was a most conscientious official hostess, and she never allowed her feelings to interfere with her official duties; but I cannot believe that Mrs. Harrison, in looking back upon those wonderful years, felt that the price had been too high for the pleasure which she had derived from the effort.

Often she reverted to her memories of those days, when her associates, Lord and Lady Cromer, Sir Elwin and Lady Palmer, Sir William Garstin, and other remarkable Englishmen such as General Kitchener, Slatin Pasha, Major-General Sir Francis and Lady Grenfell, and many more, were making a new Egypt. Great business schemes, such as the building of the great dam at Assuan, the great deals with Philadelphia firms for locomotives and for the Atbara Bridge, and other ventures connected with the reconquest of the Sudan, filled the air and brought to Cairo the important men of all countries. Mrs. Harrison’s familiars then were Count and Countess della Sala — the latter born Princess Gagarine, a most agreeable Russian x FOREWORD woman of the world, who knew every one and everything, and who had her place at the Khedivial table whenever she chose to occupy it. Countess Montjoie was another friend with whom and with her husband Mr. and Mrs. Harrison kept up the friendship made at the time, and in the following pages will be found many names of personages who remained their good friends.

Egypt then, being technically a dependency of Turkey, was not entitled to a legation. But there was no point at that time where more important affairs and combinations of interests were involved. The result was that the European Powers, especially England, kept their eyes closely set upon Cairo, and sent some of their strongest men to represent their interests, political and financial, who, under the relatively humble title of Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General, played an important réle in European affairs.

In the course of the winter Egypt became a political stage, across which passed a procession of international summities. The social life naturally was filled with the electric current that makes the atmosphere of society in the great capitals so intensely stimulating. The Spanish War in 1898 also added to the importance of the United States representative.

Through all this Mrs. Harrison, with her sweet, kindly disposition, her hospitable doors wide open to all, with her lavish entertainments and her cordial manner, made herself most popular with the greatest of Government Officials, whether European or Turk, while she and her husband endeared themselves to their own countrymen. Most charmingly did Mrs. Harrison do the honors of her official residence, and she left many warm friends when

FOREWORD xl the time came for her and her husband to depart. Many were the letters received by Mr. Harrison at the time of her death; and a touching note from Lord Cromer, with whom relations in Cairo had been especially close in those days long ago, was especially valued.

After all the glitter of this most glittering of capitals, she and Mr. Harrison returned home quite unspoiled and adapted themselves to the old familiar Philadelphia ways with renewed pleasure in their old friends.

As Mr. Harrison’s diary was so full of Mrs. Harrison’s presence, it seemed almost a sacred duty to take up its publication, and to preserve in some permanent form the memory of those days as a tribute to her. It is thus that I was entrusted once more with the collecting of the material now given to the public, cutting out the unimportant and adding such notes as may serve to elucidate passages which might not be clear to those who are unfamiliar with life in Egypt at the close of the nineteenth century.

SARA YORKE STEVENSON.

PHILADELPHIA, October, 1917.

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Mrs. THoMas SKELTON HARRISON. . . ._ . Frontispiece

THOMAS SKELTON HARRISON PRINCE SAID TUSSUN .

Lorp CROMER IN 1898 :

Tue Kina oF SIAM WITH THE KHEDIVE AND HIS COURT.

LADY CROMER. .

GENERAL KITCHENER

JUDGE SOMERVILLE PINKNEY TUCK oA abate RRA PAPO MVITICHTAR PASHA \ 07 <5). ihe) Seis uw ebt veh PRINCE HussEIN KAMEL, SULTAN OF EGYPT SINCE 1914 GENERAL SIR FRANCIS GRENFELL .

MusTAaPHa FEHMyY PASHA

Str ELWIn PALMER

Boutros PAsHA GHALI

BARON OPPENHEIM .

SMOKING-ROOM

“Bay Harrison” AND JACK FERO

ANTE-SALON

Tue UNITED STATES AGENCY AND CONSULATE-GENERAL OFFICE OF THE AGENT.

PRINCE OSMAN. .

TIGRANE PASHA .

‘SOLEMN AUDIENCE”? PROCESSION . Soares t

XIV ILLUSTRATIONS

Nisa CORNELIUS DLEVENSUNMISE Ge) wef et 4g le 6 LAS PEYNCHSS SNASELLI( hie eee sh be ve tG ke 4 te IUSSEIN FP AKHRIGEASHA Teme 40) oi Mie are) ie Alh th) ve hbole PRINCE MEHEMET VALI) Sali ay iial a) iw tht oil shocks mn cits BL OD AsBAS Hitm1, KHEDIVE OF EGYPT UNTIL 1914 a vibe BLO IMAZLOUMPASHA 3. 0 se) aS aT re IRIAZ (PASHAM NS ie i/ei, fees eye ml) ho) | MOWRaR W , Ciaee a THE PROCESSION OF THE MAHMAL: First VIEW . . . 232 THE PROCESSION OF THE MAHMAL: SECOND VIEW. . . 234 AIMED |PASTAUINACHAAT (5004000 ie) 900 em) 9), aekaeee eee STARTING FOR THE KHEDIVE’S RECEPTION. . . . . 274 SLATIN PASHA (BARON RUDOLF CARL SLATIN). . . . 282 TocorD “LONSDALES 650 ete oe) AD A

REVIEW OF BRITISH TrRooPS: THE TWENTY-FIRST LANCERS 296

GENERAL SIR FRANCIS REGINALD WINGATE . . . . 9310 Masor-GENERAL Hon. Sir REGINALD TALBOT Pees the Mrs. THOMAS SKELTON HARRISON 5 Gites 8 alla a Sin eee

From the painting by D. Sani, Florence

THOMAS SKELTON HARRISON IN THE UNIFORM OF A LIEU- TENANT-COMMANDER, UNITED STATES NAvy. . . . 324

Introduction

In 1898 the Khedive of Egypt seemed to be popular with all classes of his subjects. Every day in the season he rode from Abdin Palace to the railway station. His way lay through the narrow and rather shabby Sharia Abdin. He drove in an open carriage with an escort of cavalry in front and rear. The people stood and saluted as he passed, greetings which he returned in a pleasant manner. Although by no means as handsome as his brother, the Prince Mehemet Ali, the Khedive was yet a very prepossessing young man.

The birth of the young Prince, Abdul Munaim, was a source of great delight to the Khedive. He had ardently longed for a male heir, and now the wish of his heart was realized. He undoubtedly intended that this young Prince should succeed him on the throne.! The advent of the prince héritier, as he was called, somewhat complicated the situation from the English point of view. Had the Khedive died leaving no male issue, it would not have been so difficult to declare the dynasty extinct.

The person most affected pecuniarily was the Prince Mehemet Ali, who, as I have observed, is the Khedive’s brother. The arrival of the heir cut down the allowances of the Prince materially. He was a young man, of cosmopolitan tastes, and he must have felt some embarrassment at the curtailment of his revenues. He was deemed one of the handsomest young men in Egypt, and he certainly was

1 Recent events in Egypt have made sucha hope remote. (1917.) (Eprror.)

XV1 INTRODUCTION good-looking. Everything about him was highly elegant. He wore his tarbouche cocked at a very fetching angle, while his clothes were of the latest fashion. He lived in a splendid palace in the heart of the capital. His taste for horseflesh was well known, and he tooled a coach like an expert. Inmanner, he was very agreeable. At the ball given in honor of the newly born prince héritier, Mehemet Ali received the guests and conducted himself like a man who had had his income doubled rather than halved.

The Prince, according to one view of the matter, would not have succeeded to the throne of Egypt in any event, because the Sultan’s firman of 1866 grants succession downward in the main branch, and not laterally. This interpretation of the firman, however, has been in dispute. The title of Khedive, itself, was but of recent date, dating only from 1867. The word is of Persian origin; it is accented on the second syllable and means “‘sovereign.”’ The bearer of the title was strictly a tributary vassal of the Sublime Porte, and paid an annual sum to the Sultan. The Khedive Ismail had most exalted notions of the absolute character of his office. This Khedive was succeeded in 1879 by his son, Tewfik I. The death of the latter made way for his son, the last Khedive, His Highness Abbas Hilmi.!

The natives of the country had but a vague idea of the real relation of their young sovereign to the British Government. The Pashas and high officials, of course, knew that Lord Cromer’s will was law, but the people generally were unaware of the fact. Indeed, Abbas Hilmi was himself ignorant of the true state of affairs when he ascended

1 Recently deposed and replaced by Sultan Hussein Kamel. See note, p. xxii. (Eprror.)

INTRODUCTION XV the throne. The attitude of Lord Cromer opened the eyes of the Khedive, it is said, in a very disagreeable way. When the Khedive saw that he was helpless and must submit, he turned to the French. They were not able to help him. Abbas Hilmi was, therefore, in the position of a man who waited for something to turn up. He was inclined to be enlightened and progressive, and it is possible he might have taken no backward steps had he been freed from English control. But the control itself, according to the views of the Nationalists, was galling to a man of his spirit, readily as he must himself admit the unquestioned good wrought by England in Egypt.

Every problem connected with the government of a colony can be studied at leisure in Egypt. Not one question arising out of our administration in the Philippines and Cuba has not presented itself to the English in the land of the Khedive.

Our British cousins take the position that the Oriental races are not to be put on a level with Western peoples. It would appear that the English have but little intention of educating the Egyptians up to self-government. They admit, frankly, that at present the thing is out of the question and not to be attempted. Therefore, their plan of government is wholly pro-consular. Unless a fundamental change of policy occurs or the Egyptians themselves by force or ability compel it, the world may never witness self-government in Egypt as we understand the term.

Lord Cromer, with the Cabinet in London behind him, was the source of all authority. The government was divided among various departments. The real head of xviii INTRODUCTION each of the great departments usually was a British subject, known as Under-Secretary, although many Frenchmen occupied posts of great responsibility. The idea ever in Lord Cromer’s mind was to have a few Europeans at the head of affairs under an Egyptian or Turkish figurehead, and with almost every subordinate post occupied by a native. The scheme worked well. Dozens, nay, hundreds, of young men came out from England, to Egypt, in the hope of securing a comfortable berth. They brought good references and had strong influences behind them, but they were not encouraged. There are, to be sure, many young fellows from England in the Egyptian service, but they have been appointed only when native talent was absolutely unavailable.

The natives have been quick to perceive and to take advantage of the vast opportunities afforded by such a policy. At first they could not grasp the idea that ability and merit were the basis of a career in the public service. They have been convinced by experience, however, and to-day hundreds of natives are in responsible positions who under the old system of things might be barefooted fellaheen.

The results of this policy greatly encouraged Lord Cromer and the believers in his system. The creation of a civil service based upon merit has been a blessing to the Egyptians in many ways. For one thing, it destroys the native belief that government is an inevitable evil. The Egyptians are grasping the idea that the Government is an institution which can be made to subserve their interests in many ways. I wrote in my diary in 1898: “‘I believe it would be impossible to get up a rebellion against the Government among the fellaheen and the working

INTRODUCTION XIX population of the town. I do not mean that the masses love the Government — I simply mean that they do not hate it. In Egypt, this means that a vast change has been brought about.” !

Although the English aimed at nothing like democracy in Egypt, they did look forward to the creation of a legislative branch of the Government based upon restricted suffrage. They created a sort of legislative council with advisory powers. The members of this body were appointed from the upper classes and they acquitted themselves creditably as legislators.

The Turks, Pashas, the upper classes, now Egyptians, that may be embraced in the words, “the governing people,’’ considered themselves victims of the insincerity of England in matters that pertained to Egypt. An idea of their point of view was imparted to me by a distinguished visitor, of whom I have spoken under date of November 22, 1897, and who called upon me not long after my arrival in Cairo. This personage was Ghazi Mukhtar Pasha, the official representative of the Sublime Porte at the Court of the Khedive. I had from this gentleman’s lips a choice morsel of diplomatic history.

From his statement it would appear that in or about 1885, England and Turkey came to an agreement on the subject of the evacuation of Egypt. A treaty was drawn up and formally approved by the Ambassadors of both Powers. The document was sent to London, and, after some days of deliberation, the Queen signed it. When the paper in due time was placed before the Sultan, he made

1 The event has proved the above prediction to be correct. The alliance of German and Turk, working upon the fanaticism and race feeling of the Egyptians, has failed to arouse serious disaffection. (Eprror.)

tk INTRODUCTION some objections to it. If I am not im error, the English had made every arrangement to get out of Egypt. They were much embarrassed at the Sultan’s hesitation. That monarch persisted in delay, although what his real reason was I never could learn. It was said to be due to French influence. The matter dragged on, month after month, nor did the pressure brought to bear by the English Ambassador at Constantinople suffice to move the Sultan. One day, however, when some six months had elapsed, the Sultan actually signed the treaty. He was about fortyeight hours too late. The English Cabinet had made up its mind to stay in Egypt.

The Turks were overcome with amazement. They pointed to the Queen’s signature at the foot of the treaty. The English retorted that the long delay in the ratification had practically abrogated the agreement.

I frequently met Ghazi Mukhtar Pasha, who was the official representative of the Sublime Porte in this matter, and who could be induced to talk of it only reluctantly, as for nearly thirteen years he had been in Egypt as the representative of Turkish sovereignty — practically exiled, as he put it, from his native land. So long as the present situation endured, he said, the Sultan would maintain a mission to the Khedive, as the living embodiment of Turkish ascendency. I learn he has, since my departure from Egypt, sent to the Sultan his resignation and that he positively declined to serve longer.

Ghazi Mukhtar impressed me favorably. He was a man of sixty-five or seventy years, well preserved, swarthy, like the darker Turks, and wore both beard and mustache. He lived in a handsome palace, the structure being surrounded by high walls which completely concealed it from

INTRODUCTION XXi view. He always walked by the side of the Khedive in all public ceremonies and generally conducted himself, as by right he should, as the equal of His Highness, from, the fact that he was the embodiment of Turkish sovereignty. His manner had the charm of simplicity — or of its. consummate affectation. He is, I should judge, highly educated, although not cultured in the sense of the word known to us.

I once asked Mukhtar if ““Lord Cromer had any hand in the refusal of England,’’ because I wished to learn his opinion of the great Englishman. He looked at me and made a gesture without saying anything. I could not get him to express an opinion in words on the subject, but he was quick to express his liking and admiration. This is a noteworthy characteristic of Arab and Turk where Lord Cromer is concerned. They cannot help admiring him, even though they may fear him. It was beyond my power to extract from any Mohammedan in Egypt an opinion of Lord Cromer as an official. They look volumes at mention of his name, but they say not a word. I was given to understand later that the Turks are distrustful even of Americans who happen to be invested with a diplomatic character. They consider our country greatly influenced by, and over-friendly to, England. This cue is. given them, it would seem, from the Sultan himself, who is much annoyed at the persistence of our Government in pushing claims against the Sublime Porte. Had I been a Frenchman, perhaps my Turkish friends might have confided to me precisely what they thought of Lord Cromer. :

In times past there were various ways in which the Khedive could make himself annoying to the English in

XX INTRODUCTION

Egypt. He created what might be called a Turkish party. The leading officials — that is, the Arabs — paid him a great deal of attention and strained points in his favor. This was because he gave them to understand that the English might yet be driven out of Egypt. How he could establish this possibility, I have never been able to learn. But do it he could and did, and there it dangled before the native mind, in potential warning of what might be expected in the event of British evacuation. The native Pashas have had some vague notion that the Powers might ultimately combine to drive England away from Cairo.!

The telephone had established itself in Cairo in 1898, but the typewriter had not. There was an admirable police force and there was a public-school system, but there were no sewers. These were the gaps which bring one to a realization of what Cairo really is. It is the largest city in all Africa — 450,000 to 500,000 being the estimated population.

The civilization of the place, so far as it has any, leaves nothing to be desired. The hotels are unsurpassed in the world. Railway and telegraph service are at command. Even the department store has made its appearance, while walls, fences, and even relics of the Mohammedan

1 The Khedive and his brother, Prince Mehemet Ali, had been brought up and educated in Vienna, Austria. Their inclinations, therefore, were entirely toward the Teutonic interests. It is worth while to bear this in mind if one wishes to understand the antagonism which the British, who were developing his country, met at the Khedive’s hands; and the subsequent behavior of the young Princes when war broke out in the summer of 1914, resulting in the downfall of the Khedive and the elevation of Hussein Kamel Pasha as Sultan of Egypt, he being the eldest living Prince of the family of Mehemet Ali, and now reigning under the English Protectorate. It is possible that, after the war, he will become Caliph of Islam, which title for many centuries was vested in Egypt and was seized by the Turkish sovereign in 1517. (Ep1ror.)

INTRODUCTION XXill past begin to be adorned with announcements regarding the merits of beer, soap, and corsets.

But in spite of all these things there is scarcely a veneer of modern progress. The European population of Cairo is about 25,000. The remaining 425,000 to 475,000 are mostly natives, Copts, and Turks.

It is very easy, when walking about the European quarter, to mislead one’s self into an over-estimate of the extent to which modern progress has established itself.

Cairo to-day is spread over some dozen square miles. “The mother of the world,” “the brightest gem in the handle of the green fan of Egypt,’’ and endless other phrases are applied to it by the Arabs. Yet the city of to-day is by no means identical with the city of these panegyrics. Four great towns were founded upon its site and crumbled away before there existed even the material out of which Cairo has been built. The eldest of the four was founded in 641. What is left of it may be seen in Kasr-el-Atika, or old Cairo. This specimen of the Arabesque in architecture has a well-defined history. Some hundred years after it came into existence, a Mohammedan ruler of the land established himself a little farther off. The place of his residence was El Askar (The Camp). A third essay in the founding of an Egyptian capital was made by the renowned Achmet-ib-Tolon. Finally, a great Fatimite conqueror, named Johar, built himself a palace and called it El] Kahira, which means The Victorious. This was in 969. From El Kahira to Cairo, the descent is obvious. The Cairenes of to-day call their*city Masr-el-Kahira. This again is shortened into Masr. Egypt, too, is Masr in Arabic.

The four old sites form to-day one new site. The masses

XXIV INTRODUCTION of ruin which meet the eye here and there in Cairo are, for the most part, relics of a wall built about the Fatimite foundation. The splendors of the past, however, must be sought towards the Citadel. The streets in this, the northern or higher city, are as typical of the Thousand and One Nights as anything in the modern world could be. I have wandered about this region for hours without molestation from the native denizens. Mosques, palaces, courts, and gateways afford an endless panorama. The lines of camels and donkeys, the throngs of men, women, and children, the life of the people exposed to view in the frankest and simplest fashion, give rise to a most novel series of impressions. The University of El Azhar, the resort of students from all the Mohammedan world, the mosque of the Sultan Hassan and that of El Ghori, and other wonders, are in this quarter. The narrow streets or lanes are lined with private dwellings, rendered doubly picturesque by the projecting windows above the doorways. These structures are adorned with the famous arabeyah or lattice-work, some of which is the workmanship of the Middle Ages. As I have said, the visitor in these regions meets with little molestation from the inhabitants. The only inconvenience is attendant upon the succession of smells. The odor which the Arab declares to surpass aloes wood, and to be cheering to the heart, in my own nostrils, is most oppressive. The emanations from the soil at every footfall are almost palpable. The native delights in them. They are in no exaggerated sense the breath of his nostrils. The effect upon the population, however, is in the highest degree unsanitary. Contagious diseases are always rife here. Smallpox is said to lurk for the European artist who penetrates into the remoter courts and alleys.

INTRODUCTION XXV

But these evidences of a dead and gone day are now fading. The modern city — by which term is denoted the Ismailieh. quarter — constantly enlarges its boundaries. In this section of Cairo are wide thoroughfares, well lighted and policed, and lined with stately dwellings. Here is the Esbekieh, or City Park, surrounded by hotels and business houses; to the right of the Esbekieh is the opera house; farther on, accessible through a narrow and not splendid thoroughfare, one comes to the Abdin Palace, where the Khedive has his official residence and in which most of the royal functions take place.

Great changes are undoubtedly imminent for Cairo. The most radical of them will be the inauguration of a system of sewerage. The absence of any such factor of municipal development hampers the city greatly. The occasional rainfalls flood the streets until wagons are sent about to collect the water and haul it off to the Nile, as already has been told.

The municipal government is admirable. Order prevails everywhere, and the stranger may visit every nook and cranny of the city with safety, provided he mind his own business. Even the criminal quarter is safe, although anything but edifying.