overty, and
idleness, to comfort, activity, and employment, where he could be sure
of possessing the fruits of his labours. But where the unfortunate
peasant is liable to see his whole crop carried off the land at the
pleasure of one of the public officers, or the land itself torn from
him, or himself or his son carried off by the conscription, how can we
be surprised if he should think it not worth the while to trouble his
head or his hands about any thing? Give him security, and he will work;
give him property, and he will keep it; and give him the power of
enjoying his gains in defiance of the tax-gatherer, and he will exhibit
the manliness and perseverance which Providence has given to all.
Whether even the famous Pasha is not still too much of a Turk to venture
on an experiment which was never heard of in the land of a Mahometan
before, must be a matter more for the prophet than the politician; but
Egypt, so long the most abject of nations, and the perpetual slave of a
stranger, seems rapidly approaching to European civilization, and by her
association with Englishmen, and her English alliance, may yet be
prepared to take a high place among the regenerated governments of the
world.

The road from the termination of the canal to Alexandria, about two
miles long, leads through a desert track. At last the Mediterranean
bursts upon the eye. In front rise Pompey's stately and well-known
pillar, and Cleopatra's needle. High sand-banks still intercept the view
of Alexandria. At length the gates are passed, a dusty avenue is
traversed, the great square is reached, and the English hotel receives
the travellers. Mahometanism is now left behind, for Alexandria is
comparatively an European capital. All the houses surrounding the great
square, including the dwellings of the consuls, have been built within
the last ten years by Ibrahim Pasha, who, prince and heir to the throne
as he is, here performs the part of a speculative builder, and lets out
his houses to Europeans. These houses are built as regularly as those in
Park Crescent, and are two stories high above the Porte Cochere. They
all have French windows with green Venetian shutters, and the whole
appearance is completely European. The likeness is sustained by
carriages of every description, filled with smartly dressed women,
driving through all the streets--a sight never seen at Cairo, for the
generality of the streets are scarcely wide enough for the passage of
donkeys