Our Manners and Morals

To the Editor of the "Egyptian Gazette."

Sir, -An interesting feature of the Press campaign now being carried on by our Nation alist opponents is the reiteration of attacks on our morals and our manners. We British are accused of superciliousness, discourtesy, and aloofness. Mustapha Pasha Kamel falls back on these accusations whenever at a loss of material. "Al Moayad" gives us a lamentable picture of young Englishmen standing pipe in mouth and trousers turned up at the ends, accompanied - horror of horrors - by their dogs in the presence of Legislative Councillors, Ministers, and other grave and reverend seniors. In fact, we are accused of boorishness and arrogance at all times and season, and the good patriot who is zealous for the reputation of his countrymen naturally feels pained that such accusations should be brought against them and apparently accept as being wholly true by the readers of many Nationalist journals.

As far as I can gather, there is some ground for the assertion that the British and the educated Moslems of Egypt have to some extent drawn apart since the Occupation. But the fault is not all on our side, and in justice to our countrymen let me attempt to explain their conduct.

In many cases the young Englishman has no conscious bias against the people of the country, but his tastes, but interests, and his work lead him among his fellow countrymen, or at least among other Europeans, and by force of circumstances he finds it difficult to meet any Egyptian Moslem, other than a bowab or a ferrash, and the former is probably a Berberine. He cannot spend much time in studying the people his work is often sufficiently hard - especially if he is a member of that energetic commercial section of our colony of which we are rightly proud - to make him hail with joy the coming of a few leisure hours which he can devote to bridge, games, or some form of exercise or to reading, to which he may be devoted. Be it remembered that the very knowledge of Arabic is no longer a necessity for many members of the colony. Commercial men have their clerks who can interpret Arabic or Turkish into English or at least French. Servants are learning pidgin English or Nilotic Italian in large numbers and even should they be innocent of a word of their master's tongue, it is parlous Arabic that one learns from the Berberine.

Then there are those who consciously avoid intercourse with the native - I have nothing to say on behalf of some of them - their insularity is irreclaimable; they will have no traffic with any but true born Anglo Saxons - or ancient Britons - who, by the way, often boast strangely exotic names.

Still these interesting survivals of days when ententes were undreamt of and foreigners qualified by sauguinary adjectives by the multitude must be decreasing in numbers. They are a dwindling band - they are out of fashion in days of Lord Mayoral visits and international flirtations, and we have to thank the national snobbishness for the certainty that the unfashionable will speedily pass away. It is a "good form" now to be civil to foreigners, and John Bull to his amazement find that civility is appreciated. Being - in reality - very pleased to hear himself complimented on virtues which he had thought were unappreciated by a hostile world, he grows more amicable every day and is indeed likely to suffer from his kindly advances to certian rather surly and jealous neighbours.

But there are other who have reasons for their refusal to mix to any extent with native society, and their reasons may be summarised as follows :--

"We are not anxious to pose as saints or to ride high moral hobby horses to the death. But what we have seen and heard of good Moselm society, does not make us anxious to frequent it. Turks, Albanians and Circassians we like but they are rare and grow steadily rarer. The Egyptian Moslem of pure or mixed race has in our opinion two great weaknesses. He cannot as a rule be trusted to behave civilly to European women. We grant that all countries have their Arries and their rakes but the Egyptian cad is unusually offensive. They neglect the good points in our civilisation, but wallow in its mire. Their knowledge and ideas of European women are based on their acquaintance with such poor creatures who have been driven by financial reasons to disreagard ethnological considerations. They do not meet respectable European women and their ways of thinking are not such as to make them desirable visitors to a European household. We think that it is too risky an experiment to bring the average Egyptian Moslem into our houses. We generalise - but we must generalise. We do not find the same weaknesses among decent Turks, Syrians, and other Eastern races, Moslem or Christian. We know that the former, however low their opinion of women, can be trusted - that the majority of Eastern Christians know what home life is, and respect women in word and conduct.

Again we find the extraordinary moral laxity of the people a deterrent. We out men who cheat at car is. We avoid gaol birds, we regard fraudulent bankrupts with aversion; even if the memory of former friendship or pity for the man who has gone under prompts us at times to continue our connection with him, we do not ask our friends to meet him. But here we find an amazing and phenomenal tolerance. We see a swindling mudir the object of universal sympathy, we see gaol birds received on their return by their respectable friends with demonstrations of joy, we find ourselves introduced to worthies whore grue some record does not prevent their sitting on the divans of decent men. We know that the European adventurer is to be found in Egypt, and we regret it. But we do not rush into his arms, nor do we hold that a man eminently respectable because he is rich. Such is one defence. We should of course be called canting hypocrites by the Englishmen who backed the Burghers against our troops and now support Mustapha Kamel. But we have our reasons, and there they are. No doubt there is some exageration in this indictment, but in the writer's opinion it contains a great deal of truth. And what is the moral - well, that morals are wanted by the younger generation of Egyptians, as much as intellect.