THE ARABI MUTINY. 253 gifts had fallen off lamentably in value. The officers complained that the wives thus thrown on their hands gave themselves airs on account of their Court connection, and encouraged all sorts of extravagant expenditure in their new homes. Then, again, there was a\ jealousy of long standing between the Circassian and ) the Egyptian officers, the latter of whom believed, ( that, owing to Court favouritism, their interests in the / matter of pay and promotion were always sacrificed to \ those of the former. -It was this jealousy which formed the immediate cause of the mutiny. Ali Fehmi, a fellah officer, who had been captain of the guard at Abdin, was dismissed in favour of a Circassian. Thereupon he formed a sort of camarilla amongst the native Egyptian officers, the secret council of the organization consisting of himself, Abd el Al, and Achmed Arabi. I have long ago come to the conclusion that there is always some sort of ability about a man who, by his own efforts, pushes his way to the front in any walk of life.

I have no doubt, therefore, that there must have been some force of character, some power of influencing his fellow-men, in the ignorant fellah who, later on, was supposed by his English admirers to be the chosen champion of Egyptian nationality. But in what his merits consisted, it is hard to explain. He was a~ native of the Delta, the son of an obscure peasant,/ farming his own land by his own labour and that of? his sons. He was educated at a village school, where/ all the knowledge the teachers possess, or seek to