e British consul-general, Colonel
Campbell:--

"The government (he wrote), possessing itself of the necessaries of
life at prices fixed by itself, disposes of them at arbitrary prices.
The fellah is thus deprived of his harvest and falls into arrears with
his taxes, and is harassed and bastinadoed to force him to pay his
debts. This leads to deterioration of agriculture and lessens the
production. The pasha having imposed high taxes has caused the high
prices of the necessaries of life. It would be difficult for a
foreigner now coming to Egypt to form a just idea of the actual state
of the country as compared with its former state. In regard to the
general rise in prices, all the ground cultivated under the Mamelukes
was employed for producing food--wheat, barley, beans, &c.--in immense
quantities. The people reared fowls, sheep, goats, &c., and the prices
were one-sixth, or even one-tenth, of those at present. This continued
until Mehemet Ali became viceroy in 1805. From that period until the
establishment of monopolies prices have gradually increased; but the
great increase has chiefly taken place since 1824, when the pasha
established his regular army, navy and factories."

The conclusion in 1838 of a commercial treaty with Turkey, negotiated by
Sir Henry Bulwer (Lord Dalling), struck a death-blow to the system of
monopolies, though the application of the treaty to Egypt was delayed
for some years. The picture of Egypt under Mehemet Ali is nevertheless
not complete without regard being had to the beneficent side of his
rule. Public order was rendered perfect; the Nile and the highways were
secure to all travellers, Christian or Moslem; the Bedouin tribes were
won over to peaceful pursuits, and genuine efforts were made to promote
education and the study of medicine. To European merchants, on whom he
was dependent for the sale of his exports, Mehemet Ali showed much
favour, and under his influence the port of Alexandria again rose into
importance. It was also under Mehemet Ali's encouragement that the
overland transit of goods from Europe to India via Egypt was resumed.

Ibrahim in the Morea.

Mehemet Ali was fully conscious that the empire which he had so
laboriously built up might at any time have to be defended by force of
arms against his master Sultan Mahmud II., whose whole policy had been
directed to curbing the power of his too ambitious valis, and who was
under the in