The Khedive and His Court

ISMAIL PACHA, Khedive of Egypt, is a man now of about forty-five years of age. He is the son of Ibrahim Pacha, the most valiant and most distinguished of the sons of Mehemet Ali, and is accordingly the grandson of the illustrious founder of the dynasty in which the rule of Egypt has been vested for three generations of men. He is short in stature, stout in figure, with a face whose expression indisputably betrays the fact that he is a statesman of ability.

The mother of the Khedive is still living, and is beyond question the personage of most consideration at his court, next to himself, although she is never present at state entertainments, and is never seen by foreigners, except in a few instances by ladies. She lives in a large palace, said to contain six hundred apartments, situated on the right bank of the river Nile, at Cairo, opposite the island of Roda. When I arrived in Alexandria in 1864, she had recently returned from a visit to Constantinople, and the whole town was blazing with illuminations in her honor. During this visit, it was said, the fact had disclosed itself that she and the mother of the Sultan were sisters. When I remarked upon this interesting circumstance in my first interview with his Highness, he replied, “ Yes, God is great, and always finds some way to aid those who serve him,” — a reply which indicates the full significance of the discovery. It is now twenty - seven years since her husband died. She is treated with the greatest deference and respect by the wives of the Khedive, of whom he has four. They readily yield the first place to their lord’s mother.

On the annual fête day of the beiram, the consuls-general make an official visit to the mother of the Khedive, at her palace, where they are welcomed in her behalf by one of the ministers of the state. They are received in a handsome saloon, seated upon broad divans, and served with pipes and coffee. They express their respects in a message communicated to the minister by their doyen, or senior member in service, and by the minister to the lady by some unseen emissary; for even he could not venture into her presence. Through the same emissary a gracious answer is returned, and is audibly expressed by the minister to the whole body of consuls - general. Thus much of attention the mother of the Khedive receives from the representatives of foreign powers.

In the recent relaxation of the severity of some Oriental rules, the women, when they go out, wear veils more transparent than formerly, permitting a view of the features of the face. The wives of the Khedive take advantage of this relaxation, and in the gay season at Cairo frequently drive out in carriages, attended by one or more black men on horseback, seeing and seen by the whole fashionable world, but with no opportunities for conversation. The consuls-general gravely salute them as they pass, by raising the hat. At least it is understood to be the correct thing to do this, although there seems to be an anomaly in a salute that cannot be returned.

Copyright, H. O. HOUGHTON & Co. 1876.

If the wives of the Khedive are kept in the background at his court, his sons, on the other hand, are somewhat prominently thrust forward. Of these he has several, and great pains has been taken with the education of all of them. The oldest is known as the prince héritier, as he is the heir-apparent of the Khedive, and, according to the present arrangement, will succeed him in the rule of Egypt. His name is Mehemet-Tewfik, to which is properly attached the customary title of pacha. The American newspapers sometimes name him “ Prince Heretin,” from an odd confusion of words and letters. I was present at a ceremony in Cairo on the 1st of August, 1868, when he received the grade of vizier at the hands of a special envoy from the Sultan. He was then thought to be about seventeen years of age. If that computation were correct, he is now about twenty-five. He is of a very different build from his father, is of slender form, a well-educated, self-possessed, and intelligent youth. In the Egyptian government he holds the honorable position of president of the privy council. In the decree of the Khedive dated May 10, 1875, he is named president of the special commission thereby created to organize and direct the Egyptian department at the Philadelphia exposition in the present year.

The sons of the Khedive next to the hereditary prince, and of nearly equal age, are the princes Hassan Pacha and Hussein Pacha. The former of these was educated in England, passing the latter portion of his time at the University of Oxford; and the second, in France. In the catalogue of the Cobden Club for the current year, the name of Prince Hassan, with the date 1871, is included in the list of foreign honorary members. Prince Hussein’s place in the Egyptian government is that of minister of war, marine, and public works.

The fourth son of the Khedive bears his grandfather’s name, Ibrahim Pacha. Others, named Mahmoud Pacha and Fuad Pacha, are mentioned as taking part in recent public proceedings, for which they were too young when I was in Egypt. The Khedive had then adopted an excellent plan for the education of two of his youngest children, a little boy and girl, of the ages of perhaps seven and five years. They were literally brought up in an English family, or rather a Scotch family. A retired officer of the British Indian army, and his wife, — with their daughter (a most charming young lady, who was married to a British army officer during her residence in Egypt) and several young children, — were persuaded to become the instructors of the young prince and princess, and to establish themselves in Egypt for that purpose. The family had a nice house upon the island of Roda, to which the little pacha and his sister came every morning at breakfasttime, retiring at sundown. During the day they were treated as members of the family, sharing in the lessons of the general’s own children, and growing up under the influences of the Christian household.

Next to the princes, among personages who may be said to belong to the court of the Khedive, must be mentioned the ministers. The number of persons who from time to time have held one or another portfolio is considerable. The two most distinguished among them are Chérif Pacha and Nubar Pacha, who have alternated for a long series of years in the office of minister of foreign affairs. Chérif Pacha is altogether a Turk and a Mussulman; he comes of a rich Ottoman family, and would wield a considerable social influence independently of any position in the government. He speaks and writes French with elegance. Nubar Pacha is a Christian, an Armenian, like Mehemet Ali. Besides Turkish and Arabic, he is said to speak and write six European languages, among which number, no doubt, is included the Greek. Both Chérif and Nubar are beyond mistake statesmen and politicians of great ability, and zealously faithful to the Khedive.

It would not be fitting to omit to mention some of the officers of the household, and especially Zeky Bey, who, during the whole time of my residence in Egypt, held the difficult position of master of ceremonies, and discharged its duties with an amiability and delicacy not to be surpassed by the lord high chamberlain at the most august European court. He has since been deservedly promoted to the grade of pacha. He had several apt and accomplished assistants.

The confidential physician in constant attendance upon the Khedive was a French medical man known in Egypt as Bourgieres Bey. His wife is an English lady, and by her presence and that of her accomplished English relatives added much to the pleasure of the little circle of society in Egypt. With this exception and that of the wife of Nubar Pacha, none of the personages that have been mentioned at the court of the Khedive brought to it, with their own manly distinctions, the sweet influences of ladies’ society. This could not be otherwise in an Oriental country. For fair and witty ladies we were indebted in other quarters.

The Khedive has a great number of palaces, and this circumstance is sometimes mentioned as an evidence of extravagance. It may be doubted, however, whether he has more than the King of Italy, since the unification of that kingdom has placed at the disposal of the monarch all the palaces that formerly served the needs of half a dozen separate sovereigns. At all events, there are few if any of the Khedive’s palaces which are wholly useless, or which can be said to contribute only to his selfish enjoyment. They are most willingly used for public pageants, such as will presently be mentioned, or are placed at the disposal of royal or princely guests visiting Egypt. At Alexandria there is the beautiful palace of Ras-el-tin (Cape of Figs), which is a prominent object visible to all eyes on sailing into the harbor. This is the usual residence of the Khedive for the portions of his time which he spends at the principal seaport of his dominions. He has another palace on the Mediterranean, farther east, at Ramleh, about four miles from the public square of Alexandria; and there is another upon the Mahmoudieh Canal, about the same distance from the square in a different direction, which is known by no other name than “Number Three,” a designation certainly of ultra-republican simplicity. At Cairo there is a palace in the citadel; that of Kasr-el-Nil, on the right bank of the Nile; another, known as Abdin, nearer the centre of the city; that of Gizeh, on the left bank of the Nile, opposite the island of Roda; and that of Gezireh, on the same side of the river, a little lower down, nearly opposite Boulak, the port of Cairo. The Khedive also has some palaces upon his sugar estates in the upper country, where he spends some portions of the time, and others in lower Egypt, upon the Nile, as those at Tantah and at Mansoura. During the construction of the Suez Canal he sometimes occupied a châlet of wood near Ismailia, in the central portion of the isthmus. He is also at present the owner of the palace of Shoubrah, formerly the property of his uncle, Halim Pacha, situated at the extremity of the Shoubrah road, the fashionable drive of Cairo. This palace and that of Gezireh are shown to visitors furnished with cards of admission obtained through the consulates. The latter is that in which the Empress of the French, the Emperor of Austria, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and other illustrious guests have been from time to time lodged, and travelers are called upon to admire the massive bedsteads of solid silver in the state chamber.

In all of these palaces one is struck with the spacious apartments; the polished wooden floors, upon which it is difficult to walk, or those of variegated stones; the broad divans, of heavy stuffs richly upholstered, and embroidered with gold; and the enormous mirrors, which indeed furnish almost the only decoration of the walls, for of pictures there are none. In one instance, at least, this lack of pictures proved a test of the popularity of Egypt as a place for traveling. “ Yes,” said a young bridegroom to me on his wedding journey, who, with his bride, had found everything couleur de rose, from the Pyramids to the donkeys, “yes, I will tell you the best thing about Egypt; there are no confounded pictures there. Now when Mary and I go about in the European towns, we have to stretch our necks back till our heads nearly fall off, looking at the pictures; we must see them, every one of them, you know; but in all Egypt there is n’t a single picture!”

I am convinced that the Khedive uses such of the palaces as are situated in the interior, elsewhere than at Cairo, chiefly as places of refuge when the pressure of business at the capital becomes intolerable. He is a hard-working and hardworked man; this is no doubt the necessary lot of every ruler who really attends to the affairs of government, and it is especially the case in an arbitrary government like that of Egypt. But the Khedive is not only occupied with cares of state; he is the proprietor of vast landed estates, upon which he is constantly introducing improved methods of cultivation, and he is the owner of mechanical establishments supplied with machinery of the highest standard of perfection. The demands upon his time are incessant. He is a very early riser, and I believe that he accomplishes a great deal of work in the first hours of the morning; and whenever he is accessible, a large part of every day is occupied not only with audiences given to the consulsgeneral, or consultations with his own ministers on affairs of state, but in the transaction of business with men of affairs, and sometimes in baffling a crowd of contractors and adventurers who throng the antechambers of the palace where he may be residing. Once in a while he takes the resolution to break loose from these.

I remember a visit I made to him in March, 1867, at the palace of Mansourah, a town on the Damietta branch of the Nile, about forty miles inland from the Mediterranean. The place is known in the history of the Crusades as that where King Louis was made prisoner. The Khedive had been living there in retirement for several days, when I received at Cairo an instruction from Washington covering a message which I was directed to communicate personally to his Highness. The message was of a nature that I knew would make it agreeable to him to receive it. A special train was immediately placed at my disposal to convey me from Cairo to Mansourah. The railroad line is far from direct. The distance to he traveled was about one hundred and twenty miles. The train consisted of an express locomotive and a single carriage. It sped through the heart of the scriptural land of Goshen at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It left Cairo at about three o’clock in the afternoon and arrived at Mansourah at about seven, an hour after sundown. The palace, with a marble-paved esplanade upon the river, stood out boldly in the moonlight, the sky without a cloud, the atmosphere as clear as pure ether, and every object as distinctly visible as in broad daylight. “ I envy you the nights in Egypt,” Mr. Seward said to my predecessor, as he was taking leave on his departure for his post. The nights in Egypt are certainly very beautiful, and I almost envied the Khedive the opportunity to sit under the moonlight upon that marble pavement, while the full tide of the mighty river rushed by. The day had been intensely warm, and the rapid journey fatiguing, so that the cool evening air was especially refreshing. About the palace some of the ministers, officers of the household, and other attendants were encamped in tents, for there were no other buildings in the immediate vicinity, nor does the town of Mansourah (at some little distance) contain any hotel, or more than one or two houses affording any greater degree of comfort than the native hovels. After my audience I was served with dinner, and informed that the special train waited my orders. I used it to return at a slower and safer rate of speed to Cairo, where I arrived at about four o’clock in the morning.

A Mussulman prince of course has no occasion to pay regard to the holidays of Christendom, nor does the usage of celebrating New Year’s Day (not even the new year of the Mohammedan calendar) prevail m Egypt. But the religion of the Koran affords a multitude of fêtes of its own, and there is no remissness in their due observance. The two most important of these, as regards the relations of the government with foreigners, are the two separate days of beiram, because these days, always one and sometimes both of them in each year, are made the occasion of an official reception by the Khedive similar to that given on New Year’s Day in former years by the Emperor of the French at Paris, and now by the President of the United States at Washington.

These two days are distinguished as the less and greater beiram. The former marks the end of the month of Ramadan, thirty days of abstinence, during the whole of which time no Mussulman faithful to the Koran will eat, drink, or smoke between sunrise and sunset. It will readily be imagined that the advent of this beiram is awaited with the most eager interest. The month of abstinence is held to be ended as soon as the new moon appears in the sky. Sometimes (it is alleged), when reasons of convenience or caprice in high quarters make it desirable to anticipate the feast of beiram, the guardian of the observatory at Cairo receives a hint to see the moon one night sooner than the almanac promises her appearance. Indeed, it is not impossible that the narrow crescent may sometimes show itself twenty-four hours sooner than the time calculated for “ new moon,” without supposing any suggestion to that effect from an impatient potentate.

At any rate, the incident once happened during my residence in Egypt. I was at Alexandria on Wednesday, the 14th of February, 1866, expecting to go to Cairo the next day, to take part in the ceremonies of the beiram on Friday, the 16th, on which day, according to the almanacs, the month of Chawal would begin; the month of Ramadan ending on the 15th. I had gone out to Ramleh, a place in the suburbs of Alexandria, to pass the night at a friend’s house. We were just preparing to go to bed, at about ten o’clock in the evening, when the janissary of the consulate appeared, in a state of wild excitement, declaring, “ They 've seen the moon! they’ve seen the moon! Ramadan is done, and beiram has come! ” It was the fact that somebody at Cairo had descried the moon with sufficient clearness to pass official acceptance — perhaps an unwillingness to celebrate beiram on Friday had something to do with the matter. At all events, the beiram was appointed to be celebrated at Cairo on the morrow; his Highness would receive the consuls-general at the citadel at halfpast nine o’clock. The telegraph had been put in requisition to transmit these tidings to Alexandria, and emissaries from the foreign office were rushing about to convey them to the consulates, with the added information that a special train would leave Alexandria for Cairo at midnight, to carry persons having occasion to take part in the ceremonies. My visit at Ramleh was thus abruptly annihilated. I was forced to return to my house at Alexandria and thence proceed to the railway station, where several of my colleagues were already assembled, and the locomotive seemed to chafe with impatience. “ L’Amérique est arrivé!” shouted the guard as he helped me into a carriage, and the train instantly started. We reached Cairo in season for bath and breakfast, before donning our uniforms and presenting ourselves at the citadel at the appointed hour.

The reception is a gay scene. It begins at an early hour in the morning. The Khedive is probably not living in the citadel at the time, but proceeds thither under a brilliant escort not long after sunrise. He receives at different hours, besides the members of the consular body at their appointed time, his ministers, the religious bodies, the officers of the army and navy, the members of the assembly (if it is in session, which is sometimes the case), the magistrates, some other organizations, and finally le commerce, or the merchants, which last is very like a reception of “ citizens generally.” All of these persons are passing in carriages, in a constant stream, up the rugged road which leads into the citadel, while another stream of carriages is bringing away those who have already paid their respects to his Highness, and are hastening to make other visits. In the courtyard of the citadel are stationed one or more regiments of troops ready to present arms to the most distinguished personages, and bands of music starting at each principal arrival a fresh peal which drowns the lingering notes of the last. The thunders of artillery add to the excitement of the scene outside.

Meanwhile, in the interior of the palace each reception is conducted with becoming order. The various classes of personages who attend are marshaled in appropriate antechambers. The consuls-general are received, as they arrive, by the minister of foreign affairs. When all are assembled, they march in the order of official seniority, under the lead of their doyen, to the hall where the Khedive receives them, standing, while the doyen makes a brief address, to which his Highness replies. All then take seats upon the divans, Long pipes with mouth-pieces of amber, and coffee in tiny cups of porcelain upon little stands encrusted with jewels, are brought by an army of attendants, decorously clad in sable garments. However numerous the attendance (and it is sometimes large, as some of the consuls-general are accompanied by a numerous retinue), the supply of jeweled pipes and coffee cups, and the strength of the army of attendants, seems never to fail. All are served at the same time.

I do not know that the utterances of the Khedive, on occasion of any of these receptions, have equaled in importance the few words addressed by the Emperor of the French to the Austrian minister at the New Year’s Day reception of the diplomatic body in Paris in 1859, which was the presage of the war that broke out soon afterwards; but they are often noteworthy, and sometimes really witty. It was always surprising to find him so ready in conversation. I recollect that at a special reception which was given early in the year 1866, on occasion of the celebration of the anniversary of his own accession to power (January 18, 1863), he remarked to myself and two or three of my colleagues near him, that the year 1865, just closed, would deserve to be known in history as “l'an des noirs.” This was the year which not only witnessed the emancipation of four million slaves in America, but was also the occasion of a correspondence, probably rather troublesome to his Highness, about the contingent of Egyptian negro troops serving in Mexico, which the Emperor of the French was pressing him to double and reënforce, as urgently as Mr. Seward was objecting thereto. In the end the American counsels prevailed.

It is on occasion of the state balls that the splendor of the palaces appears to the best advantage; and, thanks to the hospitality of the Khedive, the balls are frequent in the winter season both at Alexandria and at Cairo. The great difficulty with regard to a ball in Egypt is the relative paucity of ladies. Including all those in the resident circle of society who can with any propriety be invited (the lists of invitations of foreigners are generally prepared upon the recommendations of the consuls-general), and including all the ladies among the passing travelers who will accept invitations, the largest number of ladies that can be gathered to grace a state ball in Egypt will scarcely exceed two hundred, while the guests of the opposite sex number sometimes one or even two thousand. Among these are large numbers of young gentlemen employed in the various divans of the civil service, wearing faultless white neck-ties and gloves; black frock-coats, single-breasted; and black trousers; on their heads the red tarboosh which in Egypt is regarded as the honorable badge of service under the Khedive. It need scarcely be said that ladies who dance are in no lack of partners ; but the dancing inevitably becomes a spectacle engaged in by the few for the entertainment of the many, and almost justifies the traditional phrase attributed to one after another Oriental personage in witnessing this form of Western civilization, “ I employ servants to perform that amusement for me.” The supper at one of these state balls is a miracle of hospitality. Arrangements are made for seating the guests in considerable numbers at one time, sometimes as many as two hundred and fifty, at tables at which the supper is regularly served in courses, from the beginning to the end of a prescribed menu. There are smaller tables at which parties of friends may assemble themselves to enjoy their supper together. As fast as places are vacated by one set of guests, the tables are freshly equipped, and are thus constantly renewed throughout the night. At times some special luxuries are introduced and served with a lavishness truly Oriental. Oysters do not grow on the Egyptian shores, and fresh oysters are a rarity in Egypt. On the occasion of one of the Khedive’s balls a quantity had been imported on purpose for the occasion, enough to be served to twenty-five hundred guests at the supper.

Sometimes the balls were given at the palace of Gezireh, when the garden connected with the palace was illuminated, and several grottoes were arranged through which people might walk in the mild evening atmosphere, on escaping from the heated ball-room. On one of these occasions the water was drawn off from a fountain in the garden, and its large basin was filled with American petroleum oil, of which great use is made in Egypt. This was set on fire, producing of course a most brilliant blaze of light, which lasted several hours before the whole quantity of oil was consumed.

While the social hospitality of the Khedive finds an expression consistent with Oriental traditions in these large balls, his Highness appreciates also the pleasures of more select entertainments. During the last two or three winters of my residence in Egypt, invitations were occasionally issued for dramatic representations or concerts, generally at the palace of Kasr-el-Nil, in which there is a large upper room well adapted to the purpose. These entertainments were most often given as a means of showing attention to some particular royal or princely guests, and a dozen or twenty of the ladies in the circle of foreign residents, with a due proportion of the other sex, would be included in the invitations. A company selected from the artists of the theatre or opera-house would give a choice performance; ices would be served between the acts, and at the conclusion a magnificent supper. Sometimes a state dinner preceded the dramatic entertainment.

Sometimes, also, the varying taste of the Khedive determined him upon an out-door entertainment. The climate in his dominions is admirably adapted for hospitalities of this sort. Indeed, socially speaking, I am inclined to regard Egypt as preëminently the land for picnics. It furnishes every requisite for that species of enjoyment, — weather never deceitful, and plenty of things to be seen. The pages of this magazine, were they indefinitely multiplied, could not contain the record of the happy picnics Egypt has known in modern times. I remember a garden-party of his Highness, on the morning of one of the days appointed for the races at Cairo. It was at a small palace, little known, of which I will not even record the name. It was understood to be very select; there were eighteen ladies, and perhaps twice as many gentlemen. There was a pavilion built in the garden on purpose to receive the company; and another pavilion, upon an island in a lake, where the lunch was served. The roof of this latter pavilion was supported by three large trees, growing upon the spot, and suffered to remain. From this entertainment the company went in carriages directly to the races.

The American travelers in Egypt generally remain too short a time at the capital to allow our ladies to take much part in the festivities of the Khedive’s court, beyond attendance at one of the state balls, if it happens to fall within the period of their sojourn. But there were several notable exceptions, of cases in which one or two of our fair countrywomen remained long enough to confirm and deepen the favorable impression made by their first appearance in the court circle, and to become enrolled upon the most select page of the register for the réunions intimes. They were indeed most acceptable reënforcements. The wit of les Américaines, in comparison with that of the other ladies with whom they were thus associated, was generally equal to their beauty, which is saying a great deal; and they had a frankness of expression in conversation which was much approved by the Khedive. Nevertheless, a short experience of life at the Egyptian court (and I suspect at any court) should be enough to satiate any American lady, however keenly alive to amusement, and however hospitably received.

I have undertaken to write about the court of the Khedive, and I have not mentioned the races, or the French theatre, or the opera, all of which are maintained at a high standard of excellence, and almost exclusively at the expense of his Highness. I have also omitted many things of less importance, such as the music in the public gardens by the government band on Fridays and Sundays; on the former days the native music prevailing, and on the latter that to which the ears of Franks are more accustomed. The leader of the government military band is Juppa Bey, and he has trained the musicians under him to a high degree of perfection. He composed a piece in honor of President Grant and of America, when it was hoped that the country would be specially represented at the opening of the Suez Canal. The piece, at his request, was transmitted to Washington, but I have never heard whether they tried to play it there.

Nor do I essay to describe the special fêtes at the inauguration of the canal, when were collected, as guests of the Khedive, the Empress of the French, the Emperor of Austria, the Crown Prince of Germany, the ambassadors of Russia and of England, besides other princes and princesses, — a gathering of royal personages such as perhaps had never before been assembled in one place. So also I pass over some ceremonies of less wide-spread interest, but characterized on the spot by Oriental hospitality not less profuse; as when, on occasion of the marriage of the Khedive’s daughter, in March, 1869, there were fêtes lasting three days and three nights at the palace of Kasr-el-Aali, at Cairo, in which in one form or other almost everybody of note or distinction in any respect, native or foreign, was specially invited to participate, while the whirl of entertainment and amusement provided for the public at large continued seventy - two hours without cessation, in the open grounds near the palace. Something in particular, also, might be said in description of the illuminations and fire-works on various occasions. But the proper limits of this paper have already been exceeded.

It amuses me sometimes to recall the memory of the Cairo which I knew as a traveler in the winter of 1861-62. There was then little that one could do in the evening; the streets were not lighted, and even visiting one’s friends in the town was difficult. The police regulations required that everybody out at night should be provided with a lantern, and at every one of the gates that frequently barred the way, even in a short walk through the dark and narrow streets, it was necessary to rouse a sleepy watchman and explain one’s title to a right of way. Almost perforce, in those days, we used to go to bed at nine o’clock in the evening.

The Cairo of to-day is a very different capital. The whole of the new part of the town is brilliantly lighted with gas and traversed by broad thoroughfares, so that those who are in quest of amusement, whether residents or travelers, can freely go about, and enjoy the entertainments provided by the liberality of the Khedive.

Charles Hale.