The British Occupation 107
The Khedive thereupon called a Council of Ministers,
to which the Controllers were not summoned, and it was
decided to arrest the fellah Colonels, They were sum-
moned to the Kasr-el-Nil Palace, and on arrival were
disarmed by Osman Rifki and his following of Circassian
officers (February 3, 1881). El Franzawi and the Con-
stitutionalists had been as easily despatched as was el
Afghani and the Islamists. It was no doubt now in-
tended that the Colonels should be exiled to the top of
the Nile or to the bottom. But they had been warned,
and had arranged a rescue by one of the feUah regiments.
These jolly fellows burst in on the court-martial, upset
them off their chairs, emptied the inkpots on their heads,
and chased them with roars of laughter out of the
windows. It looked as though Turkish prestige had
lost its power. Arabi became a national hero and Osman
Rifki retired. Riaz would have had to go, too, but for
British support. M. de Ring, who had supported the
Colonels, was recalled, but Malet took up their grievances
and got concessions to their demands. While their con-
stitutionalist protector in the Ministry, Mahmoud Bey
Sami, became Minister of War.
This Kasr-el-Nil incident not only made the fellah
Colonels and their regiments the spokesmen and spear-
head of the national movement, but decided the time-
serving Tewfik to give it his secret support. The rela-
tions between Arabi, Mahmoud Sami, and Tewfik can
at this time be compared to those of Garibaldi, Cavour,
and Victor Emmanuel. The demands of the army also
assumed a national character. The Colonels called for
an increase of effectives to the full eighteen thousand
allowed. To this they added a demand for a Constitu-
tion, which probably they chiefly valued as a protection
for themselves. Finally, they appended a programme