Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/28

14 regarded as the champion of his race. But his success was his danger, as it tempted him to resort on all occasions to military force. The next demonstration was a more formidable one, being aimed not at an obnoxious individual, but at the whole Ministry, and even at the Khedive himself. On the 9th of September, Arabi appeared at the head of three regiments well armed, with batteries of Krupp guns, with which he marched to the Abdine Palace in Cairo, around which the troops formed with loaded cannon, while Arabi with his staff rode forward to the presence of the Khedive, who stood on the steps of the Palace, and who drew himself up with an appearance of calmness and courage, while the English Controller, who stood by him, leaned over and whispered to him that he should order the rebel to be shot; but as the Khedive himself would have been blown to atoms in an instant, and his English adviser with him, he prudently refrained, and instead asked what the army wanted. Arabi replied, not in the tone of one who offers a petition, but who issues an order, that they demanded three things: that the Ministry should be dismissed; that the pay of the army should be increased; and that an Egyptian Parliament should be summoned to prepare a constitution for the country. The Ministers, who were standing by, saw the hopelessness of resistance, and assented to their own dismissal, which the Khedive accorded on the spot; to the other two demands he could not assent without referring them to the Sultan.

The result was a triumph: the main point had been gained, which would carry the others with it, at which Arabi bowed, the military saluted, and marched off the ground with bands playing in all the exultation of victory.

In all these proceedings the Americans had taken no part. They had no share in the Financial Control, and had neither interest in, nor sympathy with, any measures which seemed