THE ORIGIN OF THE KHEDIVIAL DYNASTY. ii

powerful. At his own cost, and by his own energy, he succeeded in raising and drilling a large Egyptian

army, officered mainly^ by Turks and foreign adven-

turers, while he succeeded in allaying the suspicions of Constantinople by employing his troops in various campaigns, undertaken nominally in order to suppress insurrections in Arabia, the Morea, and elsewhere,

against the rule of the Sultan. These campaigns enabled him to raise his troops to a condition of high efficiency by actual warfare. In Egypt itself he undoubtedly improved the condition of the people. The rule of one master, however autocratic and

arbitrary, is as a rule less oppressive than that of an

infinite number of masters, composed of a ruling

caste, alien in race and language to the population whom they govern. Mahomet Ali was determined

to be the absolute ruler of Egypt, and on this account he would not allow any other ruler to share f

his power ; moreover, despot though he was, he had a certain egotistic love of order and regularity of

administration. Mismanagement, oppression, and ex- I

travagance, in as far as they did not operate to his own advantage, were things instinctively distasteful to his mind. Thus, to a considerable extent, he protected his people against the exactions of his own subordinates. There is a story told of him, whether

true or false, the mere existence of which, as a legend, throws a vivid light on his modes of government.

On a visit he paid to Tantah, a fellah stopped him in the street, and begged a hearing. In accordance