No. 648.
Mr. Farman to Mr. Evarts.
Cairo, Egypt, July 13, 1880. (Received August 5.)
Sir: I have to inform you that on the morning of the 9th instant, Friday last, five negro slaves came to this consulate-general and asked my assistance in procuring their freedom. They were fine, intelligent looking young men, the four elder being in appearance from twenty to twenty-five years of age, and the youngest about sixteen. They said they belonged to Prince Hassan Pasha, a brother of the Khedive, who is now living in exile in Italy. * * * They stated that they had always been well treated by the prince, but that since his departure a little over a year ago they had been unkindly treated by his wakil (superintendent).
On questioning them I found that they were born free in Central Africa, south of Darfür; that about eight years ago an Egyptian general, whose name I refrain from mentioning, as he is still occupying a high position in Egypt, was carrying on a war in their country and subduing all the tribes in that region; that he burned the villages, and killed and drove away many of the inhabitants, and that they with others were taken and made slaves. They served for some time in the army as porters, and about four years ago were brought to Cairo and given to Prince Hassan.
Four of them had marks upon their faces—three lines, each between one and two inches in length, on the right cheek—being the scars of gashes cut with a sharp instrument. I asked them how they came to be marked in this manner, and they all replied that when they were made slaves the general had them marked so that if they ran away they could be known. I asked how it was done, and they said with a knife. The youngest of the five had no marks. They said at the time they were taken he was too young to run away, and they indicated with a gesture of the hand his height at that time, showing that he was a [Page 1019] small boy. I frequently see on the faces of the negroes of Cairo marks of the character of those mentioned, and have been told, not by the persons themselves, but by others, that they were marked in this way when children to keep off the influences of the “evil eye.” This may be true in the case of certain tribes of Arabs and Nubians, but so far as I can learn there is no such habit among the tribes of Central Africa. When taken and reduced to slavery they are marked as a herdsman marks his animals.
I sent the men with my cavass and a note in Arabic to the bureau for the liberation of slaves. In the note I asked that they be liberated in accordance with the law and custom in such cases, and that they be returned to the consulate.
It is necessary to take the precaution of having them returned, otherwise it is always a question of doubt as to what is ultimately done with them. In two or three hours my cavass returned without the men, but with a note from the official in charge of the bureau saying they had been liberated.
The verbal explanation given to the cavass was that they must be put into the army; and, as he learned, they had been sent to prison, the common Arab jail. I was not wholly satisfied with this manner of freeing slaves. To give them their papers of manumission and at the same time send them to jail, was not a very pleasing solution of the difficulty, even if the real intention was to put them in the army.
To enter the army in Egypt means going into perpetual servitude. Sometimes levies are made for special objects and the soldiers discharged when their services are no longer needed, but hitherto those who were put into the regular army have been retained as long as their services were of any value, those only being dismissed who have become infirm by sickness or age. The government has applied the system adopted by Said Pasha, who once said he could not see the economy of dismissing an experienced and trained soldier and supplying his place with a recruit who for a considerable time would be good for nothing. When a young man is taken for a soldier in Egypt his name is stricken from the roll of his village, and he is mourned by his female relatives as if he were dead. There is practically no pay for military service, and no slave, however badly treated, would be willing to change his condition for that of an Egyptian soldier.
All the ministers were at Alexandria on Friday, where the Khedive is now stopping, and they did not return till late Saturday evening. I took occasion on Monday morning, yesterday, to call upon Riaz Pasha, minister of interior and president of the council of ministers, and stated to him the case. I, of course, talked very courteously, but in the course of the interview I stated to his excellency that it appeared to me very unjust that these young men, who seemed to have more than ordinary capacity for persons of their class, having evidently been selected for the prince on account of their brightness and fine physical condition, should have been taken from their homes and brought two thousand miles to a strange country as slaves, and then, after being held for a number of years, should, on asking to be liberated, be given papers of manumission, it is true, but be, nevertheless, sent to jail in order to be afterward transferred to the army. Much other conversation was had, which resulted in the Pasha giving an immediate written order for their liberation.
I sent my interpreter and cavass with the order, and the men were found in jail, but it was said they were about to be transferred to the army. It was the fourth day that they had been confined with common criminals. They were at once set free and came to the consulate. After [Page 1020] a conversation with them as to how they expected to obtain a subsistence, and in which they said they were instructed in various kinds of work and could readily get employment, they went away to seek places. They all expressed many times, in their own simple manner, their gratitude for the kindness I had rendered them, and agreed to come back from time to time and inform some one in the consulate of their success.
I have, &c.,