Ismailia

Ismailia Synopsis

Excerpt from Ismailia: A Narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, Organized by Ismail, Khedive of Egypt

Few persons have considered the position of the Egyptian ruler when attacking the institution most cherished by his people. The employment of an European to overthrow the slave-trade in deference to the opinion of the civilized world was a direct challenge and attack upon the assumed rights and necessities of his own subjects. The magnitude of the operation cannot be understood by the general public in Europe. Every household in Upper Egypt and in the Delta was dependent upon slave service the fields in the Soudan were cultivated by slaves; the women in the harems of both rich and middle class were attended by slaves the poorer Arab woman's ambition was to. Possess a slave in fact, Egyptian society without slaves would be like a carriage devoid of wheels - it could not proceed.

The slaves were generally well treated by their owners; the brutality lay in their capture, with the attendant lawlessness and murders; but that was far away, and the slave proprietors of Egypt had not witnessed the miseries of the weary marches of the distant caravans. They purchased slaves, taught them their duties, fed and clothed them - they were happy; why should the Khedive of Egypt prohibit the traffic and thus disturb every household in his territory?

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