stress in my own country, in your country, in
all countries--the need of entire honesty as the only foundation on
which it is safe to build. It is a prime essential that all who are in
any way responsible for the beginnings of the University shall make it
evident to every one that the management of the University, financial
and otherwise, will be conducted with absolute honesty. Very much
money will have to be raised and expended for this University in order
to make it what it can and ought to be made; for, if properly managed,
I firmly believe that it will become one of the greatest influences,
and perhaps the very greatest influence, for good in all that part of
the world where Mohammedanism is the leading religion; that is, in all
those regions of the Orient, including North Africa and Southwestern
Asia, which stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the farther confines of
India and to the hither provinces of China. This University should
have a profound influence in all things educational, social, economic,
industrial, throughout this whole region, because of the very fact of
Egypt's immense strategic importance, so to speak, in the world of the
Orient; an importance due partly to her geographical position, partly
to other causes. Moreover, it is most fortunate that Egypt's present
position is such that this University will enjoy a freedom hitherto
unparalleled in the investigation and testing out of all problems
vital to the future of the peoples of the Orient.

Nor will the importance of this University be confined to the Orient.
Egypt must necessarily from now on always occupy a similar strategic
position as regards the peoples of the Occident, for she sits on one
of the highways of the commerce that will flow in ever-increasing
volume from Europe to the East. Those responsible for the management
of this University should set before themselves a very high ideal. Not
merely should it stand for the uplifting of all Mohammedan peoples and
of all Christians and peoples of other religions who live in
Mohammedan lands, but it should also carry its teaching and practice
to such perfection as in the end to make it a factor in instructing
the Occident. When a scholar is sufficiently apt, sufficiently sincere
and intelligent, he always has before him the opportunity of
eventually himself giving aid to the teachers from whom he has
received aid.

Now, to make a good beginning towards the definite achievement of
these high end