188 • 12 THE RISE OF NATIONALISMas his admirers claimed, or a spendthrift who would ultimately bring Egypt
into British bondage? His admirers cited the railroads, bridges, docks,
canals, factories, and sugar refineries built during his reign. The Egyptian
government was paying explorers and military expeditions to penetrate the
Sudan and East Africa and trying to abolish slavery and slave trading
within its empire. The Egyptian Mixed Courts were set up to hear civil
cases involving Europeans protected by the Capitulations. Public and mis¬
sionary schools—for girls as well as boys—proliferated in the cities. The
Egyptian Museum, National Library, Geographical Society, and many pro¬
fessional schools were founded during Isma'il's reign.
But Isma'il's detractors point out that he squandered money to impress
Europe with his munificence and power. Building the Suez Canal was costly
for the Egyptian government, for the state treasury had to reimburse the
Suez Canal Company when it was forced to pay wages to the construction
workers (the company had expected to get the peasants' labor for free).
This was the fault of Isma'il's predecessor, Sa'id. But it was Isma'il who
turned the canal's inauguration into an extravaganza, inviting the crowned
heads and leaders of Europe to come—at Egypt's expense. Costing at least
2 million Egyptian pounds (about $300 million in today's prices), it must
have been the bash of the century, with enormous receptions, all-night par¬
ties, balls, parades, fireworks displays, horse races, excursions to ancient
monuments, and cities festooned with flags and illuminated by lanterns.
New villas and palaces sprouted up, streets were widened and straightened,
old neighborhoods were demolished, and even an opera house was erected
in Cairo. Giuseppe Verdi, the Italian composer, was commissioned to write
Aïda for the inauguration of that opera house. Isma'il also paid huge bribes
in Istanbul to increase his independence from the Ottoman government,
changing his title from pasha (governor) to khédive (viceroy) of Egypt and
obtaining the right to pass down his position to his son in Cairo rather
than to a brother living in Istanbul. He also won a fateful privilege: the right
to take out foreign loans without Ottoman approval.
Financial Problems
Where could all this money have come from? Egyptian taxpayers could not
cover Isma'il's extravagance. His reign had begun during the American
Civil War, which caused a cotton boom in Egypt. The British, cut off by the
Northern blockade from their usual cotton supply, would pay any price for
other countries' crops to supply the textile mills of Lancashire. The high
demand for Egypt's cotton stimulated output and enriched both the Egyp-