46 Egypt
Consul Barker in 1831, " everyone was convinced that
the Viceroy could not go on for six months longer, and
that he was driving to ruin with mad projects out of all
proportion to his means. Yet the projects deemed im-
practicable were not one-fifth so considerable as those
since put in effect, nor one-tenth so gigantic as those
now in contemplation. Since, therefore, we have
witnessed the completion of some and the progress of
other projects which seemed four years ago the dreams
of a madman, it is fair to infer that we are unacquainted
with the extent of his resources, and that these are
adequate to his designs.0
For foreign expert assistance Mehemet AH relied
chiefly on the French. Their empire in North Africa
was as yet only a punitive expedition against Algiers.
Whereas British sea-power lay ever in wait at the gates
of Egypt, both at the front gate, Alexandria, and at the
back gate, Suez. Moreover, the French maintained their
scientific interest in Egypt, and were pre-eminent in the
art of war. So ChampolKon, instead of his competitor
Young, became the father of egyptology, while Colonel
S&ve, who as a sailor h^ad fought us at Trafalgar, and as
a soldier at Waterloo, now as Suleiman Pasha, organised
the Egyptian army that nearly again sent ;us to war with
the French.
An able Frenchman, Clot Bey, undertook an ambitious
scheme of national education. According to contem-
porary reports, one might assume that, by 1830, the
Egyptian educational system was little behind that of
Western Europe. There was a Ministry of Education
and an imposing mechanism of primary, secondary, and
technical schools. The latter alone had, on paper at
least, nine thousand pupils. But the value of the product
of this machinery seems to have been doubtful The