CHAPTER II
BANKRUPTS AND BROKERS
ABBAS—SAID—ISMAIL
"And they spoiled the Egyptians."—EXOD. xii, 36,
f( MY grandchildren will reap what I have sown/' said
the dying Mehemet AH. Unfortunately they reaped all
too recklessly, and sowed no crops other than wild
oats,
The advantage of revolution by dictatorship is that it
can go farther and faster with less expenditure of force
than can a revolution by democratic committees. It is
no doubt true that in a multitude of councils there is
wisdom; but it is no less true that there is much waste.
On the other hand, the disadvantage is that with the
deposition or death of the dictator the movement loses
driving power and direction. The reaction that lies in
wait for any loss of political impetus then takes effect;
and though the original momentum accumulates and
eventually reasserts itself there is a period of conflict and
confusion before direction is recovered and the delay
made good. In the end, the loss of time and effort by
either method possibly works out at much the same.
The ability of Mehemet AH appears in his having
recognised that the two essentials for all real progress
in any province of the Ottoman Empire were separation
from the Porte and security from the Powers* He had
obtained both by getting a financial autonomy for a
hereditary dynasty that was guarded by an Ottoman
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