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African and European Addresses by Theodore Roosevelt
page 10 of 175 (05%)
When Mr. Roosevelt reached Egypt, he found the country in one of those
periods of political unrest and religious fanaticism which have during
the last twenty-five years given all Europe many bad quarters of an
hour. Technically a part of the Ottoman Empire and a province of the
Sultan of Turkey, Egypt is practically an English protectorate. During
the quarter of a century since the tragic death of General Gordon at
Khartum, Egypt has made astonishing progress in prosperity, in the
administration of justice, and in political stability. All Europe
recognizes this progress to be the fruit of English control and
administration. At the time of Mr. Roosevelt's visit, a faction, or
party, of native Egyptians, calling themselves Nationalists, had come
into somewhat unsavory prominence; they openly urged the expulsion of
the English, giving feverish utterance to the cry "Egypt for the
Egyptians!" In Egypt, this cry means more than a political antagonism;
it means the revival of the ancient and bitter feud between
Mohammedanism and Christianity. It is in effect a cry of "Egypt for
the Moslem!" The Nationalist party had by no means succeeded in
affecting the entire Moslem population, but it had succeeded in
attracting to itself all the adventurers, and lovers of darkness and
disorder who cultivate for their own personal gain such movements of
national unrest. The non-Moslem population, European and native, whose
ability and intelligence is indicated by the fact that, while they
form less than ten per cent. of the inhabitants, they own more than
fifty per cent. of the property, were staunch supporters of the
English control which the Nationalists wished to overthrow. The
Nationalists, however, appeared to be the only people who were not
afraid to talk openly and to take definite steps. Just before Mr.
Roosevelt's arrival, Boutros Pasha, the Prime Minister, a native
Egyptian Christian, and one of the ablest administrative officers that
Egypt has ever produced, had been brutally assassinated by a
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