aign of 1875 under Ismail Pasha. A
charge of peculation, unproved, was made against him in connexion with
this expedition and he was placed on half-pay. During this time he
joined a secret society formed by Ali Rubi with the object of getting
rid of Turkish officers from the Egyptian army. Arabi also attended
lectures at the mosque El Azhar and acquired a reputation as an orator.
In 1878 he was employed by Ismail in fomenting a disturbance against the
ministry of Nubar, Rivers Wilson and de Blignieres, and received in
payment a wife from Ismail's harem and the command of a regiment. This
increased his influence with the secret society, which, under the feeble
government of Tewfik Pasha and the Dual Control, began to agitate
against Europeans. In all that followed Arabi was put forward as the
leader of the discontented Egyptians; he was in reality little more than
the mouthpiece and puppet of abler men such as Ali Rubi and Mahmud Sami.
On the 1st of February 1881 Arabi and two other Egyptian colonels,
summoned before a court-martial for acts of disobedience, were rescued
by their soldiers, and the khedive was forced to dismiss his then
minister of war in favour of Mahmud Sami. A military demonstration on
the 8th of September 1881, led by Arabi, forced the khedive to increase
the numbers and pay of the army, to substitute Sherif Pasha for Riaz
Pasha as prime minister, and to convene an assembly of notables. Arabi
became under-secretary for war at the beginning of 1882, but continued
his intrigues. The assembly of notables claimed the right of voting the
budget, and thus came into conflict with the foreign controllers who had
been appointed to guard the interests of the bondholders in the
management of the Egyptian finances. Sherif fell in February, Mahmud
Sami became prime minister, and Arabi (created a pasha) minister of war.
Arabi, after a brief fall from office, acquired a dictatorial power that
alarmed the British government. British and French warships went to
Alexandria at the beginning of June; on the 11th of that month rioting
in that city led to the sacrifice of many European lives. Order could
only be restored through the intervention of Arabi, who now adopted a
more distinctly anti-European attitude. His arming of the forts at
Alexandria was held to constitute a menace to the British fleet. On the
refusal of France to co-operate, the British fleet bombarded the forts
(11th July), and a British force, under Sir Ga