DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0327
and lower egypt. 299
veneration, did not enjoy the right of appearing
on horseback in the streets of the capital of Egypt.
The Consuls of the European nations that had es-
tablishments in Cairo, might ride on horses there,
conformably to treaties with the Porte; but this
was a privilege they rarelyexcrciscd, availing them-
selves of it only when they went into the country,
or to have an audience of the Pacha at entering
upon or leaving their consulship. It was a danger-
ous prerogative, which it was incumbent on the
Consuls to maintain, but which they asserted
with trembling, and never without experiencing
insults from a populace, to whom every European
is an object of horror.
To my great regret I was present at one of these
ceremonies of pride and humiliation, which a mo-
mentary vanity purchased at the expense of danger
and disgrace. The Inspector-general Tott took it
into his head to have a public audience of the Pacha
of Cairo, though he well knew that this officer was
nothing but an empty representative of the autho-
rity which the court of Constantinople anciently
exercised in Egypt, the whole of the power being
in the hands of the Sheik-el-Belkd. He was de-
term- ned, he saiJ, to assert the rights of the Grand
Sigi,.or: as if he 1i2j been intrusted with such a
commission ; as if, while alarming the restless jea-
lousy of the Be\s, he had not foreseen that he had
nothing
veneration, did not enjoy the right of appearing
on horseback in the streets of the capital of Egypt.
The Consuls of the European nations that had es-
tablishments in Cairo, might ride on horses there,
conformably to treaties with the Porte; but this
was a privilege they rarelyexcrciscd, availing them-
selves of it only when they went into the country,
or to have an audience of the Pacha at entering
upon or leaving their consulship. It was a danger-
ous prerogative, which it was incumbent on the
Consuls to maintain, but which they asserted
with trembling, and never without experiencing
insults from a populace, to whom every European
is an object of horror.
To my great regret I was present at one of these
ceremonies of pride and humiliation, which a mo-
mentary vanity purchased at the expense of danger
and disgrace. The Inspector-general Tott took it
into his head to have a public audience of the Pacha
of Cairo, though he well knew that this officer was
nothing but an empty representative of the autho-
rity which the court of Constantinople anciently
exercised in Egypt, the whole of the power being
in the hands of the Sheik-el-Belkd. He was de-
term- ned, he saiJ, to assert the rights of the Grand
Sigi,.or: as if he 1i2j been intrusted with such a
commission ; as if, while alarming the restless jea-
lousy of the Be\s, he had not foreseen that he had
nothing