The Birth of Modern Egypt 61
(August, 1849) appropriately closes the first chapter of
the story of the nation. There are, indeed, few stranger
stories in the history of nationalism than that of how
Egypt, long before the awakening of its national
conscience, made itself a corporate and self-contained
nation through the ambition of an alien adventurer. It
is especially interesting to observe how, when that adven-
turous ambition overstepped the bounds of true national
growth, it was driven back on to safe ground again by
such strange guardian angels as Nicholas, Mahmoud,
and Palmerston. Mehemet AH has, in consequence, been
accepted by Egypt as its founder. And one of the first
public ceremonies of the new nation was the celebration
of his centenary. He was certainly the most interesting
of the reforming rulers that have appeared in all the
border countries from Morocco to Turkey. If in one
aspect he was an unscrupulous scoundrel, in another he
was the Napoleon of the East and the national hero of
Egypt, and, in the words of the Koran, " his works will
plead for him/'